Wednesday, March 11, 2015

To Blog or not to Blog

Just sitting here studying, as always, and trying to decide if I want to keep blogging. Do I have too much information on the internet? I seem to post more on Facebook than I seem to blog. There are times I even forget where my blog is at. So then I decide I am going to delete my blog, I open up my blog and I can't. Memories of remodeling our first beautiful home, The duck and chicken farm I use to have, some of my crafts, and I get sucked back in. Well, I guess this year I will have to try harder to post on my blog and not on Facebook. Time to start showing off my skills on the new house. See you soon.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Time for a Change

I am starting all over with my blog. If I have followers that's fine, if I don't that's fine too. This is a way to unload my thoughts and stuff I am going through. Oh, don't worry I will be posting all my creations too. Who doesn't enjoy Pinterest, right? Well, I have been addicted to this myself and have found a few ways to decorate my new home. Thanks for hanging out with me, and letting me share.

Friday, March 15, 2013

It sure has been a while and I have probably lost all my followers. I have even been thinking about deleting my blog. However, every time I come back here and look at all my pictures, I just can't do it. So, my blog might get a new name and a new look here soon. We have been living in Illinois for two years now and have started a water fowl and poultry farm. I am still going to school but not for physical therapy. I am now in school to be a physical education teacher. The more I learn about physical fitness and nutrition, the more I want to teach the next generation. Hopefully, I will be done in a year. I will be sharing my new farm pictures and hopefully some crafts in the near future. So here is to a new blog, and a new start.

Monday, October 24, 2011

My Crazy Life


My life is so crazy lately. God has blessed us with a roof over our heads. Its not like the home we had in Missouri but at least we are not staying with family any more. There are people out there that don't even have a roof, so we are blessed.
I will ask you to keep us in your prayers so that we can sell the house in Missouri and we can get a house with a little more room.
But in the mean time I am trying to go to school, be involved with my kid's school, and unpack.
I am looking for healthy, slow cooker recipes to make my life a little easier, and still have dinner as a family. If any of you know of a good recipes please let me know. Here is one of my favorites:


Chicken Taco Soup
By Anne Coleman (familydisney.com)

Hands-On Time: 5 minutes
Ready In: 20-25 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cooked and shredded

2 cups cooked kidney beans 
(I use chili beans)
2 cups prepared salsa

6 cups chicken stock

1 packet taco seasoning

2 cups tortilla chips, crushed



Directions
Combine chicken, beans, salsa, stock and seasoning in a 2-quart soup pot.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat until soup is simmering.
Let cook for 15 to 20 minutes so flavors blend well.
Top each bowl of soup with crushed tortilla chips.

Note
Switch the beans to pinto if you like and add sour cream and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese to each bowl for a change of pace.

Monday, September 12, 2011

My thoughts for my English paper

“Dear Mrs. Carlson,
I received your letter and I’m very sorry about the death of your son Richard. I often
wonder if it was worth the sorrow and the pain which so many of us fret over now each
day. I guess this is a (situation) nobody can explain.
Richard and I were very good friends, as (we) were the two medics attached to Delta Company. During the month of May our company was on search and destroy mission in the South Vietnam National Forest. We had been searching the area from the beginning of May up until the 20th without making any contact with the enemy. On the 21st day of May we met enemy resistance consisting of heavy automatic weapons fire, which caused our company to pull back and call in artillery and air strikes. Our commanding officer received reports that we were up against a regimental size force, so for three days we called in artillery and air strikes before moving back into the area of contact.
We advanced without any contact whatsoever when our lead element spotted two enemy soldiers and killed them both. As we continued on farther, Charlie had concealed himself and set up an ambush, which he let us walk right into before he sprung the trap. The enemy opened up hitting one of our men in both legs. At this time we pulled back, but in the excitement we didn’t know that we had a man lying back there wounded until we heard his shouts.
At this time we couldn’t get to him because the firing was so heavy, so i crawled forward and aided the man but I couldn’t pull him back because they had me pinned down. A five man team was sent forward to provide a base of fire for me while I carried my wounded buddy back. But those five men never mad it to my position. They were all shot down and wounded. So I left the other man and began applying aid to the other wounded members of my company. Richard crawled up to my side and began patching up the nearest man to him when he was shot in the leg. He was bleeding badly and in great pain. I applied morphine to his wound to ease the pain.
He finally told me the pain had subsided a great deal. So I told him to lay there until I could drag him back. But he saw that an officer had been hit in the head and was losing a lot of blood. Richard rolled over several times until he was by the officers side. He then began to treat the man as best he could. In the process he was hit several more times, twice in the chest and once in the arm. He called me, and I went to his side and began treating his wounds. As I applied bandages to his wounds, he looked up at me and said, “Doc, I’m a mess.” He then said: “Oh, God, I don’t want to die. Mother, I don’t want to die. Oh, God, don’t let me die.” We called a helicopter to take him and the rest of the wounded to the hospital. Richard died before the ship arrived. I did everything in my power to save Richard. Every skill know to me was applied. I often wonder if what we’re fighting for is worth a human life. If there is anything that I can do, please, call on me.
Sincerely,
Charles Dawson”

This was taken from the book “Dear America, Letters Home From Vietnam.” I share this letter with you to give you a glimpse of what our solders go threw when in war, just to come home and not be given the respect they earned. We have lost Respect for our American Solders.
Never in American History has a funeral been protested, let alone a military funeral. Since the 1960’s we have lost Respect for our American Soldiers. When these men and women returned home from vietnam, they were NOT greeted with smiling faces, parades, a hand shake of thank you, not even shown a little respect or common courtesy. Instead they were called names, like “baby killer” and they were even spat on (the lowest form of disrespect).
Respect, on Dictionary.com is defined “deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment.”
Courtesy: “the showing of politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others.” (definition by google) I feel that Courtesy and respect mean the same thing.
People didn’t agree with the governments decision to go to war in vietnam thus they “flexed the muscle” freedom of speech and started to protest. The protesting went overboard when when they lost respect for the American solder.
At one point, with a little help from those vietnam vets and people who didn’t want to repeat history, we started showing respect again when our troops would come home. I had even thought we learned from our mistakes and was starting to show some respect again, until, July 2005 when the Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funeral of Carrie French, A solder who died in Iraq. The U.S. Supreme Court stated that they have every right to picket these funerals because it is a type of freedom of speech. With that I have to agree, we are blessed with the freedom of speech and you have the right to picket a funeral. However, where is our respect for those that are willing to lay down their lives so that we can keep that right, and so that other countries can experience what it feels like to have that right (freedom of speech). The Bible states this in John 15:13 “Greater Love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” These solders are laying down their lives for people they don’t know. No, we may not agree with everyones life style and we may not agree with the government, but there are other ways of using your freedom of speech, to try and get them to change their minds. Where would this country be without them (our solders)? What would the outcome have been on Dec. 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor)? What would the outcome have been on Sept.11, 2001, If no one was willing to go and fight back? People seem to take advantage they will always be there to fight, but who would want to if your family cannot greave in peace, or if your spat upon, called names for something that wasn’t true, when you came home after giving your all for these people who are not thankful or have the common courtesy to show some respect. These solders are just following orders and have nothing to do with the governments decisions.
Take your anger out somewhere else, these men and woman have earned their Respect!
I leave you with this a poem by Michael O’ Donnell, from Springfield, Illinois. It was written the 1st of January 1970. He was a helicopter pilot and “on 24th March 1970, attempting to rescue eight soldiers, his chopper was shot down. He and three crew members were declared missing in action. In 1977, he was promoted to major. A year later, he was officially declared killed in action.” (Dear America Letters Home From Vietnam)


“If you are able,
save for them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
An in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.”

"Dear America Letters Home from vietnam" Edited by Bernard Edelman
Foreword by William Broyles, Jr.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Great day out







My five year old son already loves history (thanks to Adventures in Odyssey), He loves Abraham Lincoln. He comes by this naturally, I love reenactments. Its a great weekend where adults get together and pretends we are back in time. Its also a time to think of all the men that gave their lives and the cost of being free. Some people will never know what that price feels like. I can never hug these men long enough or say Thank You enough. The words feel so small.




well, you know I would have to have a picture of the old water pump :o)




However while we were going threw Chester Illinois we decided to visit Popeye. They have been putting up new statues all over town. The kids loved it, it was like a scavenger hunt. Find the statue, jump out, take a picture, jump back in the car, find another statue and start all over. It was a great day.
P.S.
I received this e mail the other day about a scrap booking page that wanted to feature my blog. I am not sure about it but I thought I would let you all check it out. I don't want people to think I create my own pages, I usually get them from TCBOTB. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. I wish I had that talent of figuring out how to make my own page, maybe one day. Here is page that was sent to me for you all to check out. http://scrapbooklayoutsideas.com http://scrapbooklayoutsideas.com/blog_awards/index.php?id=24304

Monday, May 23, 2011

Starting over









Hello everyone, Here we are in Southern Illinois. No we are not settaled in yet, we don't even have a home of our own yet. Things didn't go as smooth as I would have liked them to go, But then again thats just life. Our beautiful home in Missouri still hasn't sold and we are still living with family. That can be tuff sometimes when you have two little ones running around. I didn't get into the program I wanted to at SIU but I still got in and I am still studying things that I am interested in. However don't look so glum, I am Blessed. If I wake up in the morning and can take a deep breath of fresh air, if my feet can touch the floor and carry me around for the day, If my children say I love you, and my husband still holds my hand, I AM BLESSED.
We do have a new hobby! I am starting a duck farm. I am thankful that my family let me have the old shed down the hill or It wouldn't be happening just yet. We are just getting started and have a few ducks we are still looking for and our farm will be compleat. But for now we have 3 rouens, 5 anconas, 8 indian runners and a few silkie chickens for the kids.
So for now we are going to a lot of poultry swaps instead of flea markets. There is a lot to learn like how to haggle for prices (which i am not good at), don't fall in love with every baby animal there and don't make decisions out feeling pressured.
Hopefully I will be able to write more often I have a few ideas for some more posts. See you all soon! :)