Project 365 ~ Day 61 (Monday, March 2, 2009)

Out of the mouths of babes: My son, Hunter (age 10), said to me the other day that he cannot wait until the year 2011. Of course, I asked him what he meant by that and he replied: "because I'll be a teenager then"! Not something I even want to think about, especially with having raised two through the teen years already and I have another one that is there now! As my dad would've said "may the saints preserve us"! :)

Project 365 ~ Day 65 (Friday, March 6, 2009)

Do you ever have random thoughts enter your head without provocation? Does it ever make you wonder why? I was once told that when a person pops into your head, it is the Holy Spirit's way of letting you know that that person needs prayer and maybe a helping hand. Maybe they could use a friendly phone call or a kind note. The next time you think of someone that you haven't thought of in a long time, stop and take a moment to pray for them and to ask God what you can do to help that person.

Project 365 ~ Day 64 (Thursday, March 5, 2009)

I went on the fourth grade field trip with Hunter's school today. We went to the San Jacinto Monument. I rode with a friend, Amy Schlauch, whose family we've known since we started attending the same church as they do. Amy (who happens to be from Thailand) and her husband, Art, have three wonderful children. The oldest, Wittiker, is the same age as my son Hunter and they get along beautifully. Wittiker and Hunter were on the same baseball team at Bay Area Texas Baseball for at least three seasons! The first two of those were coached by Wittiker's dad, Art. I'll post more about the field trip and the San Jacinto Monument at a later date.

Project 365 ~ Day 60 (Sunday, March 1, 2009)

I love our Church! There are so many wonderful friends that we have made there and our minister, Randy Hageman, preaches the Bible truths. Our lead singer, Betsy Burke, as well as the other singers of course, all have beautiful melodic voices and the instrumentalists are just as wonderful. We also have a church band called "The Resurrection Band" which is working on their second CD! Mike Lively, the youth leader, is well respected by my daughter and my 10 year-old enjoys the 11 a.m. Sunday School class (especially the Sundays that I help in there; ha)! There are many southern baptists that attend there, as well as "reformed catholics", etc. PLUS: we have the bonus of a real Starbuck's inside of the church!

Project 365 ~ Day 59 (Saturday, February 28, 2009)

Today is Little League Opening Day! All of the teams of the Nasa Area Little League lined up on decorated floats for a 9 a.m. parade. And...all the team players had bubble gum and/or candy to throw-out to the parade viewers! The boys (team players) have as much fun, if not more, than the siblings trying to catch the candy that they are tossing to them from the floats! A funny thing happened with our float, however (and I am sure it was not funny to the dads at the time). One of the team player's dad's made some awesome large wooden Astro's stars to put on the flat bed to decorate the sides and back of our team's float. They were scurrying in an attempt to hurry to get all nailed in place by the time the parade headed out of the parking lot. Well, as soon as they got to the end of the parking lot, they were stuck! It seems that the beautifully made wooden stars were too tall to fit through the height limit at the parking lot entrances! Not only did they hold up the floats following behind them, but they had to quickly dismantle the wooden stars even more quickly than they had nailed them up! And the parking lot entrance was only a few yards from where the float had started. After all of that, everything turned out to be a beautiful day! The boys teams were all announced on the major ball park diamond and then they all enjoyed a rock climbing wall, inflatables, cake walk (my son won TWO cakes!), hair painting (my son had an Astro's red and black star spray painted on the top of his head), pitching game, tug of war, etc., not to mention all the food provided by Chick-Fil-A. (BTW, Chick-Fil-A is another fast food restaurant that I had not heard of before moving to Texas)!

Project 365 ~ Day 58 (February 27, 2009)

Girl Scouting: We are a "scouting" family. My youngest, Hunter, was a cub scout in first grade. Had things gone more smoothly that year, I am sure that he would still be a boy scout! My daughters, Courtney and Peyton, were both in scouting (and Peyton still is). Courtney was in girl scouts in elementary school. Peyton started in scouts in fifth grade in Texas. I would have put her in a troop in Ohio, but there was not enough interest at her elementary school for a troop to be formed. The troop she is in here has been the same one, with the same leader and same girls (except for the addition of a couple and the leaving of a few girls), since she was in fifth grade. Peyton's leader's name is Kim and her "fellow" girl scouters are Sarah, Nikki, Caroline, Summer and Maddie. This is a great group of girls! No problems whatsoever. And they are now considered "senior" scouts! Peyton is working on her silver award now. One of the troop members has a very ill parent and the girls are going to cook a meal for that parent (and family) this week. This is also teaching them the christian principle of reaching out to others in need. And as Mother Theresa would say: "Even if they don't want help, you help them anyway".

Project 365 ~ Day 57 (February 26, 2009)

My 10 year-old son's baseball team, the "Astro's", have their first practice game of the season tonight. If I am not mistaken (imagine that! LOL), Little League's Spring season started a month earlier this year. We're still finishing up basketball and yet baseball games are starting. We've been having baseball practice since January! I don't recall it being this early in the past. Or maybe I am just more tired than usual? Go 'Stro's! (And after the practice game tonight, I am taking a scorekeeper's class)!

Project 365 ~ Day 56 (February 25, 2009)

The kids and I saw 'Coraline' a few days ago. It is directed by Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas". The movie is based on a 2002 fantasy/horror novella written by Neil Gaiman. I believe that Peyton (my 15 yo) enjoyed the movie to an extent, but my 10 yo son thought it was scary in parts, especially when Coraline's "other mother" wants to sew buttons over Coraline's eyes. She escapes but not without severing the hand of her "other mother" which comes to haunt her by trying to steal the key to the hidden door and allowing the "other mother" to visit. After Coraline has escaped, she finds that her real parents are missing. Hence, there are some scenes that are terrifying to young children. I would recommend the movie for those over the age of 11 at least.

Project 365 ~ Day 55 (February 24, 2009)

Today is International Pancake Day! Mmmm.... love those pancakes! My mother used to make what she called "sand dollar pancakes" which were in fact the size of the larger sand dollars (only about 3 to 4 inches in diameter). I miss those days of my mother cooking when I was growing up. But my favorite pancakes as an adult are the cinnamon pancakes found only at Bob Evans restaurants. We had one back home but they don't exist in Texas (the Bob Evans restaurants that is). Oh, if only I could have another Bob Evans' cinnamon pancake!!!

Project 365 ~ Day 54 (February 23, 2009)

Bunco! I love Bunco! I had never heard of it before moving to Texas, however. Here it seems to be almost as addictive as scrapbooking amongst the women. The first time I played it was during a Girl Scout Mother-Daughter Mother's Day event with my daughter, Peyton. Then not very long ago, a dear scrapbooking friend (Suzanne) asked me if I would like to fill in as a bunco player at her house one evening. I had a blast! I even won a prize (although I don't remember what the prize was for LOL). And the food was wonderful! Tons of it! I am now going to play with them every month (there's about 12 women in this group that get together once a month to play bunco). Bring on the dice! I call BUNCO!

Project 365 ~ Day 53 (February 22, 2009)

Woo-hoo! My little boy's basketball team, aka "Rockets", is going to the play-offs! Their semi-final game is on March 2 and if they win that one, they'll go to the finals on March 4. Only the top two teams of both the east and the west divisions go to the play-offs. They then have tournaments starting on March 7. All teams go to the tournaments. Those playing in the all-star games will have those after the tournaments are over. The league that my son plays in is Clear Lake Boys Basketball. He had to try out to get a place on the team! Let's go, Rockets! Win, win, win!!!

Project 365 ~ Day 52 (February 21, 2009)

I cannot help but wonder what's going on with our country that we are slowly losing our freedoms. This is happening right under our noses and we are so oblivious to what's going on or is it that we just don't care? Why can't we speak up and let our voices be heard? Our country is turning into a country of socialism; we are losing our freedom as individuals. With the plans to make health insurance a government choice and not an individual's choice, we are slowly beginning to fade. If a procedure is needed to prolong life, the government will have a say as to whether or not it is worth it according to how long that person's life will be prolonged and so on. We won't have the choice of paying out of pocket as europeans do because the government won't allow those who have the most money to pay for the best care. We also depend on imports and exports and when other countries get wind of us becoming socialists, they won't want to trade with us and we'll be doomed. And once our government takes away our freedoms to choose our own healthcare, there will be no turning back as we won't have any other option open to us. What is happening to our freedom of choice? Somehow, someway, we need to let our voices be heard!