MISC MONDAY...Yearbook Photos

Bruce and I had a lot of fun with this site...and sadly, I had almost every single haircut...as well as every single outfit that corresponded with the year.

1974

This one looks like my older sister, who graduated in 1977 and had this same hair.

1990
Oh yeah, I was totally rockin' those bangs that only came about by holding the curling iron for the precise amount of time...too long, and you had a little tootsie roll thing laying on your forehead!

1996
This looks scarily like me in 1996...just starting to let my hair grow out and a little heavy on the highlights...I think I even had that same denim dress.

1981

This is the most pathetic of them all...how humiliating to admit that I did in fact have this same haircut by way of a perm gone horribly, horribly wrong. I was in college at the time and no, I did NOT think it looked good! Didn't look good then and doesn't look good now...perms should be outlawed.

1992
Let's see...the big hair of the 80's was deperately trying to hang on, as were the remnants of a perm. Those soft, romantic sweaters (probably with some pastel argyle design) and the flat gold chains (I have a jewelry box of gold jewelry...ick...that my kids keep telling me to MAIL IN FOR CASH!) but I also opted for a strand of pearls.

1966

Again, I look very much like my oldest sister, who graduated in 1968 ..I was just a preschooler in 66 you know!

2000

This was way too glamorous for me in the year 2000...I was deep in the throes of raising 6 kids aged 3-17 and pregnant with my 7th child...no way would I have had time to style my hair like that!

And finally, here's my very handsome husband...

1996

Yeah he'd look like that...if he had hair then!1998

Ok they're kidding right??? This one is wrong...on so many levels that all I can say is that this is a pretty darn good John Travolta imitation.

1970
Hmmm....not sure what to say...

1980

Nice polyester shirt...stay away from open flames please!

1982
Bruce sooooo had that hair cut!

1990
my achey breakey....MULLETT!

Some Florida Sunshine!

Welcome to Florida! This post is part of the Blog Around the World series ...I actually feel a little more qualified to post about Maryland, where I lived for about 13 years or PA, where I lived for close to 30, but I'll give it a go! We moved here a few months ago and even though I've already posted this blessing, now that I have a Florida summer under my belt, I thought I'd leave a few thoughts along with it!

~ Florida Blessing~

Bless this house, oh Lord, we cry.

Please keep it cool in mid-July.

July I can handle! August and September are definitely the HOTTEST months in Florida! I have to say that living on the Gulf side of the state does provide a nice breeze most days which makes it a little more bearable!

Bless the walls where termites dine

While ants and roaches march in time.

Almost everyone down here has a "bug guy" who comes and sprays every few weeks. We even have some kind of weird pipe system in our walls to keep us bug free...and I have to say that inside the house, I really haven't seen any bugs...outside is a different story!

Bless our yard where spiders pass

Fire ant castles in the grass.

See Exhibit A and this post

and Exhibit B

Jonah got bitten the very first week of school and Evan not long after that. Most homeowner yards are treated, it's the open areas and grassy areas that you have to worry about! The mounds aren't usually as obvious as this, so it's best to just stick to walking on concrete. Once you're bitten, apparently the ants send out some kind of signal that says "DINNER TIME!" and they swarm!

Bless the garage, home to please

Carpenter beetles, tics and fleas

Fortunately the only thing I find in my garage are nosey geckos...and I'm sure even

they don't survive too long because it's about 500 degrees hotter in my garage!

Bless the love bugs, two by two,

The gnats and mosquitoes that feed on you.

AHH yes...the love bugs. They come twice a year for about two weeks and require an explanation to young children about WHY two bugs are stuck together! They usually only appear for about two weeks, twice a year so it gives me time to expand my explanation! Gnats and mosquitoes aren't so bad, as long as you aren't outside at dusk or later and you have several cans of Off!

Millions of creatures that fly or crawl,

In FLORIDA , Lord, you've put them all!

notice the miniature gecko on her shirt? they're usually ten times that size!

But this is home, and here we'll stay,

So thank you Lord, for insect spray.

We've lived here almost five months now and it IS starting to feel like home! We've always wanted to live in a warmer climate and to be near the beach, so when our four oldest children went off to college, we packed up the three youngest left at home and headed south baby...and never looked back! Being a native Northerner, Florida seems to get a bad rap! It's really not all hot weather and bugs! We're about 20 minutes from the gulf coastline, which has some of the most beautiful beaches I've seen and rival the crystal clear blue green of the Caribbean! The sand is soft and white and the abundance of sea life is always intersting! After the kids get on the bus, I'm always up for a day at the beach!

We live very near the Tropicana Orange Juice plant and if you drive a little north and roll down your windows on a cool evening, you can smell the sweet scent of oranges in the air! It amazes me that even with the abundance of orange groves here, they still sell CA oranges at the supermarket!

We're about halfway between Sarasota and the Tampa/St. Pete area, which are cities where there is always something going on! One of the biggest reasons we moved here was the weather and even though the last month has been pretty brutal, I'm sure we'll be getting calls from our friends up north looking for a winter getaway! Please! Give us a call! You're always welcome!

Doggie Paddle...

Guess who likes to swim?? The "Coop from the Loop" does! Actually his favorite thing is to relax on a float, but if he sees a ball in the water, he's right in there swimming after it! It's pretty funny and great exercise for him! Since his haircut is so short, he looks hilarious when he's wet but at least he dries really fast!

I Couldn't Help Myself...

...we adopted a new member of the family! Since we left Tanner, our very rambunctious goldendoodle with friends in MD, I've been missing him like crazy....especially since there's a goldendoodle up the street who looks just like him (dialed down about a hundred notches). Anyway, now that the kids are back at school and Harley, our 14 year old Lab, sleeps most of the day, it's been pretty quiet around here. So I started searching the rescue groups here for another poodle mix. The kids wanted a smaller dog and I just love poodle mixes because they're so smart and they don't shed! I applied to a few different rescue groups and after lots of emails, we found our perfect match!

Introducing....

Mini Cooper....better known as Cooper!

He's an 8 pound Malti-Poo, who is about a year and a half old. He is the sweetest, most lovable little guy! He was a stray in central Florida and was quite a mess when he was found in a high kill shelter where he was rescued by Coastal Poodle Rescue. He got a pretty short hair cut because he was so matted and has a few wounds that are still healing but other than that...he's just about perfect! He follows me everywhere I go and either sits at my feet or on my lap when he's not busy playing with his squeaky toys! He's already learned how to sit and shake (I'm became almost an expert at dog obedience since Tanner was the most educated dog on the block) and just is so anxious to please! Harley has been great with him though he usually looks at us like "I cannot believe you did this to me AGAIN!" but Cooper pretty much leaves him alone (he knows who's the alpha dog of the family!). You'll be seeing lots more pictures in the coming weeks!

Back to School...Again

So Evan finally agreed (reluctantly!..he does actually smile!) to let me take a picture of him going back to school! He said it's so cold in school that he's been wearing jeans everyday...though he must be dying at recess because the humidity has been through the roof! Anyway, he's really enjoying his teacher and has a few friends from last year in his class. I've been encouraging him to read more, so over the summer he read Marley, A Dog Like No Other (highly recommeded! Marley and Me is the adult version, which is also a really good, quick read!) and now he's into the Bailey School Kids books. Still a gear head, Evan has been begging us to head south to Naples so he can see where they sell Bugatti Veyrons (his favorite car...ever). He'll be turning 10 in December...hard to believe!

Just What I Need...

for when the next hurricane arrives!

It's what every fashionable woman will be wearing this hurricane season!

MISC MONDAY...Freecycle

I heart Freecycle! Especially when we were packing up to move, I had lots of stuff that I needed to get rid of that wasn't really yard sale ready, wasn't right for Goodwill, but not quite ready for the dump. I'm sure lots of it ended up at someone else's yard sale but out of sight, out of mind! Most of the people who came by were so appreciative and I knew that in most cases, Freecycle was working the way it was designed to. I continue to get postings from Freecycle locally now that we move and so I had been planning a post about this topic for quite a while when this post showed up on my local Freecycle board...

WANTED POSTINGS: Please use this with discretion; this group is not to be confused with a personal gift registry, so don't abuse the concept by asking for 10 or 15 things at once, or something on the order of a new computer or late-model SUV,and don't offer money; however, it's fine to ask for anything, within reason, that you or someone close to you could really use.

Good for them for pointing this out because here have been some of the recent wanted posts...

working toilet ...um, if it's working, why are you getting rid of it?

piano ...wouldn't we all like one?

stereo equipment

living room furniture...how 'bout just a couch?

computer...geez at least specify a brand if you're going to ask!

surfboard ...yeah, good luck with that one!