Loving My Life as Wife, Mother and Grandmother

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Animal pics from our house

Mark loves Mickey....and he loves to play with him too. He likes sticking one of Mickey's babies in his pocket and watching what he does.....See how he is holding his foot up? He takes it really serious. His babies are like gold to him :)
He eventually comes to get it...and he is quick too!! He LOVES his babies..he is SO rotten :)
When I went out to let the dogs out this morning....this is what we saw in the yard! At first, I thought it was the black & white wild momma cat that lives in the neighborhood...but, then I took a second look. I hurriedly grabbed the dogs and ran in the house for my camera. (Thinking of course, I am definately going to blog this :) When I came back out and after taking the pic, I realized there was something very wrong with the skunk. It had evidentally been hit by a car and was having great difficulties just moving its back legs across the yard. We have been so bothered by the skunks in the last couple of months...really badly. There for a while we were smelling it almost every night. Mark had went to get something out of our old shed at the back of the property and opened the door and was greeted by one. Thankfully, he got the door shut before it sprayed him. So, I hate to say it...but I won't miss this guy. I called animal control, but no one called me back. It ended up crawling away...south of our house, hopefully to die. I hated that Mark wasn't here. Maybe he or one of his buddies could of put it out of it's misery. I'm just glad that me and the dogs didn't get sprayed :)

Saturday night we had another visitor by the house. It was very warm here over the weekend. 58 and 59 degrees. It was lovely...like spring :) My crocuses are blooming and some of the trees have buds on them. Mark was out in the building out back and I had came out to check on him. I was standing in the doorway and he looked at me and said...."go in the house and get your camera." I said..."why?" He said, " turn around and look in the bush." When I did...this is what I saw! Can you tell what it is? I don't know how to make the picture bigger..and my camera doesn't do very well at taking pictures in the dark. Mark walked up very close with Sam and I standing behind him with me holding the camera out, trying desperately to get a good picture. This was about as good as I could get.....If you can't tell...it's a possum. Or do they call it an O'possum? He didn't growl or hiss at us...but I was just a little bit scared of him. They sure are strange looking. We didn't bother him though. We just went in the house and he finally went on his way. It was really neat for Sam to get to see it up so closely. I just wish we could get that lucky with an owl. I would love for Sam to see one up close. They are so neat to look at and to listen too. We have on occasion had deer in the yard. The neighbors have all seen them, but we haven't got to yet. I'm sure once we get the garden going, that they'll be back.


If I could ask everyone to still remember my family in their prayers. Especially my oldest son...he is going through some very serious problems...and it is affecting the whole family. Also, Sam. With the stress with Zachary...it is not helping Sam with his tourettes at all. His tourettes have been the worst that they have been in a very long time. He is hurting constantly every day from the severe tics. His back and kneck, and now his eyes from blinking them so much. His vocal tics are to the point of pretty much yelling. It is hard to watch him going through this. It is making it very, very difficult to even get school work done. He is taking his medicine. I don't know if maybe his medicine is starting to lose it's effectiveness or if it's just a bad spell that he is going through. I happened to run across this web site for a little boy that also suffers from tourettes. I thought I would share the link with you. If you don't really know what it's like for a child to have tourettes, you can go to the link on Jaylen's page that says videos. This is a lot like what Sam is going through. He has done a punching thing similar to this at times...but right now he is flexing his back backwords and jerking his neck and eyes. Here is the link Jaylen's page.
Unless you've been through this yourself, it's very hard to grasp what it's like. So, again...please remember Zachary and Sam (and Jaylen) in your prayers.
I do hope all my dear friends are doing well...Life has been kind of busy and crazy around here. Mark has been offered a job opportunity. The pay isn't huge....but, with him working at night and not having anything to do during the day...it will be a big help. Hopefully he will get the job. It is another custodial job...but as jobs are rather hard to come by right now...we just hope and pray that God will provide :)
You are all in my thoughts and prayers...
With Love, Jerelene

Monday, February 8, 2010

Veggie soup, Mickey and some music ;)

I am just LOVING the new crock pot my Mother gave me for Christmas. I have been chopping more veggies and peeling more carrots than I have in a very long time. It is so nice just to throw everything in it and let it cook. Chicken is just so much better after cooking for hours in it. Saturday night we had vegetable soup. Yummy carrots, celery, cabbage and green beans cooked in a tomato juice broth. It turned out really yummy. I think cabbage always makes everything delicious...
And what goes on when you are trying to dip some out into bowls? This...............he thinks it was good too :) No this isn't a joke..he really was standing next to me and I happened to catch him licking his lips..You can see why we love this little guy so much :) And no, he isn't spoiled at all!


Here's a little something just for fun...I ran across it on another blog and it made me smile..I hope it makes you smile too :) Just be sure to scroll down and turn my playlist off before you play the video.


We are under a Winter Storm Warning until tomorrow afternoon. We are suppose to get 3 to 5 inches of snow. It's coming down hard now...it's really pretty :)
Stay warm, stay safe, and stay happy!!
With Love, Jerelene

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Daffodils and the Quiltmakers Gift

I just had to share this with everyone....yes, this is daffodils popping up in the sunlight. Unreal huh? See Rebecca...I told you :)

And just to prove how wierd this is....you can see the remnant snow from last weekend. They are calling for some more snow possible this weekend. We actually got around 6 inches last weekend. It was pretty...
Sam just read this wonderful book..to me :) We both really liked it! It has the most wonderful message...No matter how old you are....I think you couldn't help but love it...
The pictures are beautiful too...It tells the story of a quiltmaker who only makes quilts for the poor. The king wants a quilt badly...but she won't make him one. He already has everything...but isn't happy. He finds out that giving all of his precious belongings away to those in need...is what really makes him happy. Then....when he has nothing else to give away...she gives him a quilt. I LOVED this book. I think we all struggle with having wants...this book is a wonderful reminder that you can have everything and still not be happy...that belongings aren't what brings us happiness....
This is another book about the quiltmaker...this time you learn where she came from. I couldn't help myself and went ahead and read it...Sam hasn't read it yet...but we will read it very soon...I LOVED this one too :)
Here is a link to the website for these books. It has neat links about the author & the artist, about the books, quilt stories and a quilt gallery........go here :)
Sorry I've not posted about pen-paling before now...but we've had some family issues and I just haven't had my mind able to think straight...Please keep us in your prayers as my oldest son Zachary is having problems...and Mark is laid off from his day job. He still has the part-time school work in the evenings...but it's been tight. So any prayers would be so greatly appreciated.
As for the pen-paling....I have Bernie, Marcy and Eileen. If I have overlooked anyone that wanted to...please let me know. I can't remember pen-paling with Marcy at all...so I will pen-pal with Marcy and Bernie and Eileen can pen-pal with each other....I hope that sounds ok...If not...please, please let me know..Bernie...I promise to pen-pal with you next month :) :)
That's all for now.....
Big hugs from me to you :)
With Love, Jerelene