Road trips for weddings

This is my latest art project and my favorite so far.

This past weekend Wes and I took a road trip to Atlanta to visit his family and to attend Kyle's wedding. We were glad to get the chance to visit with everyone and to check on Wes's dad. He seemed to be doing very well, I am happy to report. The wedding was very nice and the reception was fun. The ceremony and reception were held at a nice winery about an hour from Wes's parent's house. I had never been there, but think Wes and I might pay it a closer visit the next time we go to Atlanta.

This weekend, we are hitting the road again to attend Dawn's wedding in Branson, MO. It is going to be a long drive, but we are looking forward to the excuse to get away. I will miss Mother's Day with my Mom, but I am sending her an awesome gift. Can't wait to surprise her again! Speaking of getting away. . . .

The termite inspection started today and will finish tomorrow due to rain. So far things are looking good. This is the last hurdle in selling our house, and I am just praying that it goes smooth. We are 13 days away from closing, please pray that things continue to progress in this endeavor.

I am going to start packing up our house this week. Does anyone know were I can get some boxes for free?

I want to leave you all with this picture of Lillie in my suitcase. She loves sleeping in tiny places and hates it when we leave for trips so she tries to always get in the suitcase. It is so cute to me.

Not marketable, but FUN!

Here are a few pictures of a new hobbie I am starting, PAINTING! It kinda of comes out of nowhere, and I am not pretending to be an artist. It is fun to create things, and actually, I am pretty happy about how my first 2 pieces turned out.

Yesterday, I had a great time with my dear friend, Josie, visiting the Anniston Elem library and its current librarian, Mrs. Collins. I learned a lot of things, and now I have a mountain full of ideas in my mind of fun, exciting, and new things that I will bring to Anniston. I am looking forward to working there.

As I type this, Ivey is pressuring me to cuddle with her. She keeps putting her paws on the keyboard and meowing. How sweet.

I know most of us are heading into SATP testing next, so good luck to you all. Have a great week.

Until next time. . . .

XOOXOXO

Celebrate Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to you all! Little things make the biggest differences, and we all can do small things to help save energy and in return save our planet and its inhabitants. Most of us already do things that save energy without even knowing it because it also saves MONEY! 

Please read the following article for a few small things that are easy to do. 

Pick your green battles

By Lori Bongiorno

The sheer number of "green" choices we can make is astounding. And, since it's totally overwhelming (not to mention impossible) to try to do everything, it makes sense to stop worrying about the stuff that ultimately doesn't matter.

Instead focus on the areas where your actions will make the most difference. Making changes in what you eat, the way you get around, and how you use energy at home (and work) will have the biggest impact on the planet.

That's not to say that small things don't add up. They do, but some count more than others.

Don't stress!

Instead, focus your time and energy on these more important actions which will benefit the planet and save you money:

Eat less meat. Raising livestock is one of the most significant contributors to a long list of environmental problems from climate change to deforestation to water pollution. No one is suggesting you go vegan, but anything you can do to cut back on meat will make a big difference. Start by trimming down your portion size to about three ounces (the size of a deck of playing cards), suggests Aaron Huertas at The Union of Concerned Scientists.

 Take good care of your car. Tuning up your engine, replacing your air filters and motor oil regularly, and keeping your tires properly in flated will improve your car's fuel economy by 8% to 20%, according to Jenny Powers at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

 Make changes in how you do your laundry. Wash your clothes in cold water. Up to 90 percent of the energy used for washing clothing goes to heating water, according to the Department of Energy. Rack up even more savings by air-drying some of your clothing.

 Want to do more (or something different)?

Anything you can do to drive less or more efficiently will make a difference. Bundle errands, shop online, walk, bike, and take public transportation whenever you can. Try carpooling or telecommuting once a week. When it's time to buy a new car, purchase the most fuel-efficient vehicle in the class of car you need.

 There are countless ways you can save energy (and money) at home. Here's a short list of free and low-cost ways to make a difference  (in order from least to most impact): Turn out unneeded lights, unplug an extra fridge, use the energy-saving mode on appliances, install a programmable thermostat, seal large air leaks, or add insulation to your attic.

 

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

Flew the Coop

The baby birds flew out their nest safely. I believe they left Friday afternoon or night. To my knowledge they survived the kittie cats. They left behind an empty nest with one lonely egg that did not hatch. It was so wonderful having them so close and being able to watch them grow. The process went so much faster than I was expecting. Here are a few photos of the 4 baby birds 2 days before they left the nest.

Wes and I had a great relaxing and much needed weekend. We started off by going to a concert in the park Friday night. Saturday we went to Rock N' Roux festival and had fun at the gumbo tasting. All the gumbo's were wonderful. We then went to a art exhibit titled Storybook Look. It featured southern illustrators, but left somethings to be desired. We stopped by Walgreens afterwards to buy some Easter candy on sale. We got lots and lots of candy for only 4 bucks! :) Our friend Sarah and her new baby, Charlotte, were in town visiting from Prattville, AL, and they stopped by for a few hours of fun. Charlotte was so precious and it was great to catch up with Sarah. Then, we headed to the Black and Gold spring game to watch USM play USM. It got kinda of boring, but then our friend, Lacey, joined us and we headed over to her house to watch some WGI drumline finals. It was great day, but boy were we tired by the end. Sunday, we went to church and then headed to Gulfport to share Wes's marching band show idea with the head director. They loved it, and everybody is so excited about what is to come. The title of the show is going to be "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and thoughts. Our home inspection went well. The buyers only asked for a few minor things to be taken care of. We were so relieved; especially, after the first inspection was a bust. We are all set to close the deal May 15 @ 4pm. We still have two hurdles to overcome, but I feel good about them. They are the termite inspection and the appraisal. Continue to pray that things go smoothly.

Yesterday, our paster and his wife went before a judge in Ukraine to determine if they were going to get to adopt the 4 children they are quickly falling in love with. The verdict was YES! They are super excited, and so am I. I saw pictures of the kids for the first time, today, on their blog. I cannot imagine going from having no children to 4 who are school age. Their journey is just beginning so pray that they will all make the adjustments with as few bumps and bruises as possible.

Thank you for the being the best!

Until next time . . . .

XOXOXOXO

New News

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the things that developed yesterday. We got a very good offer on our house that was accepted by both us and the buyer. We are hoping to close on May 15. The home inspection will happen within the next 7 days so please pray that this goes well and that we can move forward with the sale. 

We finalized the offer on the house in Gulfport, finally. We hope to close on it a few days after our hattiesburg house closes. 

Thank you all for your prayers. They worked! 

On another note, Wes's dad had a heart stint put in yesterday. He is doing well and is expected to come home today. He had a 99% blockage. This came as a surprise. Donna and Gene, we are thinking of you.

And finally a fun thing, I discovered TWITTER yesterday. I am so excited about the possibilities in may offer for my new library position. Twitter allows users to post messages or announcements to the twitter site either by web or text message. Then the user can feed those announcements to their webpage for everyone to see. The people who want to can subscribe to the feed and have the announcements sent straight to their mobile phones. What a great tool for schools. Parents can get updates about school closings, upcoming events, anything sent right to their phone. Another very cool thing is that you can feed your blog to twitter. I think it would be so exciting to have a book review blog. The students can write their reviews and then they will be automatically sent to the school's webpage through twitter. AWESOME! If you want to follow my personal twitter page go to www.twitter.com/abrooke8, sign up, and click follow on my page. I don't see much use for twitter personally, but definitely for businesses and schools. Enjoy it.

This is a test post!

I am testing to see if blog updates post to my twitter account. Please disregard this post. I hope you all are having a great day. 

Feathers, Family, Fishing, and Food Coloring

What an exciting weekend. You may remember the bird's nest I mentioned in an earlier blog. I, of course, have been checking the nest on a daily basis. Good Friday, I tip-toed out to the nest, peeped in, and to my surprise saw 4 tiny birds opening and closing their mouths. They barely had any feathers. I so wanted to take them out and hold them, but I know that is against the rules of nature. I checked on the baby birds again this morning, and they were sleeping soundly. 

Saturday, we spent a nice day fishing at Central Hills Baptist Retreat. Wes caught 6 fish, and he and I had a great time in the boat for hours and hours. I so wanted out of that boat. LOL:) 

That night we all went to the annual passion play in Kosciusko at the United Methodist Church. Then, the ladies dyed eggs for the annual Ramage family egg hunt. It was so much fun, but I was really tired when I laid my head down on the pillow that night. I had a great time hanging with Angela and Jessica. I miss them. 

Notice how red my face is. This is sunburn from fishing! 

Our paster and wife, Tony and Kimberly, decided to adopt 4 children. The process is moving along quickly and smoothly so far. I am so excited for them. Please continue to pray for them as they go to court on April 21. 

And now your weekly house update:

Our house in Hattiesburg is still not sold. Please continue to pray that God is preparing someone for our house and that they will find it soon! The appraisal for the house in Gulfport came in under the agreed upon selling price. So, we made a new offer and are awaiting a response from the seller. He has not responded at all up to this point. 

Thank you all for your prayers, support, and encouragement. 

Until next time..... XOXOXO