I haven't had much to post about so that is why it has been quiet. We are all done painting Alex's bedroom and it looks very "aquarium" for him. LOL! I am almost done with Morgan's room. I'm taking a bit of a break while my mom uses the paints and then will finish up. She has a nice bit of white picket fence around the base of the walls with grass & flower stems poking up (will paint flowers soon) and a rabbit has been drawn...but not painted yet. So I need to do the flowers, paint the rabbit and then do a deer in a meadow in the dormer window part.

During my little break from her room, Corey and I have removed the wallpaper from our bathroom. The master bathroom is broken up into 2 rooms...a powder room section with toilet & sink and then a bigger part with another sink & the tub/shower unit. The powder room had this very busy & dark floral wallpaper & then a border with a big floral print. The rest of the bathroom was in a different floral print on white with the same big floral print border as the powder room. So 3 different prints in the bathroom. Ugh! We got a nice little suggestion from Lowe's on how to remove the wallpaper so while it has been messy it does smell nice. LOL! The suggestion was to use a solution of half liquid fabric softener and half water. It worked nicely and smells much better than what I've used in the past (vinegar).

We are going to paint the bathroom a nice shade of yellow (not too light, not too bright).

This past weekend my mom, Morgan and I went to lunch at a tea house. It was fabulous fun and we all got to feel all girlie...very southern belle'ish. LOL! The tea house is Lillie Belle's of Franklin . The atmosphere, food and service was wonderful. We can't wait to go back. They had a corner shelf full of hats that you could pick from and where while having lunch or tea. Morgan picked out a hat for each of us. Here are a couple of pictures from the tea house.

Morgan looking so pretty.

Morgan and GC

And of course with all the nice times going on we have to have a little turmoil or it just wouldn't be life, right? Our van suddenly started overheating and seemed to blow a "something". Liquid coming out the exhaust & getting condesation on the rear window, temp rising quickly and then steam pouring out from under the hood in every direction. When we looked under there it was all wet with some almost clear, slightly oily liquid...we think coolant. We tried filling it all back up to get it home and NO GO. We got a short distance and bam it was doing it again. So we just got it to the repair shop (had to FIND one we could take it to) and we should know tomorrow exactly how bad it is. Think good thoughts that it isn't major. We really don't need that right now. Thank Goddess that we have 2 vehicles and family close by. The night this happened my mom was able to come rescue us. We had all just been out for a nice dinner and then spent some time (and money) in Barnes & Noble.

We've sent in our forms to be homeschoolers here in TN. The notice of intent is a form that you fill out. It has "optional" parts that aren't required by law so we will see how that goes. You either have to register with a church-related school, CRS, (not going to happen) or be an independent homeschooler and register with your local school district. We've done that. You have to do so by Aug 1st or pay a late fee and the superintendent can prevent anyone from registering beyond the deadline if s/he chooses. If the family doesn't have "good reason". This would then force you to register with a CRS or go into the public/private school system. As long as this part goes smoothly then I feel fine with the rest of it. We file attendence for each child at the end of the year and must have 180 school days, supposed to "school" 4 hours a day also. There is testing at 5th and 7th grade levels. There is also testing at 9th grade but TN has changed the tests used and they are standardized and don't meet the requirements in the homeschooling law so we don't have to do those. Corey and I have also been looking into various pieces of curriculum to use for this year. We don't have the access to all the resources and wonderful classes (yet?) that we had in Tampa. We want to make sure that we are organized and ready to handle homeschooling both kids. We are looking at a couple of science programs and a math program. Hopefully we will decide soon so we can get started.

We hope that everyone had a Happy 4th! We spent our day with family just enjoying good company and the gorgeous day we had. We had yummy food, played some games, played outside with the kids and 2 of my brother's dogs (Stoli and Remy). We made homemade ice cream (yum!) and set off some small fireworks. Alex crashed out on the couch before the fireworks so Corey, Morgan and I sat out on the deck watching several neighbors setting off bigger fireworks and then sat out on the front steps to watch the fireworks set off at the park (just a few blocks away). It was so nice to not have to go somewhere to see the fireworks.

Did anyone else watch the Discovery launch? We watched it, Morgan has been following it for days. It was great to see a successful launch and we hope for the best upon return in about 2 weeks. We will be watching.

Take care all!

Good morning everyone. I just had to post a little to say how wonderful my husband is. Not that he isn't sweet and wonderful all of the time. LOL! Just last week we were looking at various laptops to see what was available and what all I wanted in one. If you remember my iBook got crushed and the screen was shattered. It was going to cost over $900 to replace the screen so it was a bust. I've been sharing with the kids until we got settled after the move,etc. I had decided that when the time came I was going back to PC as well. Mac does a good job but I just couldn't make the transition well and find programs that did what I wanted and needed them to do,etc. Anyway, after looking around for laptops, Corey surprised me by ordering one. I thought we were still looking and he ordered it without me knowing it. :-) So I'm posting this update from my new Dell. I love it! Then a few days later we get another delivery and he tells me to go ahead and receive it and open the box. Well, it happens to be a case of the ONE wine in the world that I really like. If you know much about me, you know that I don't care for wine. The few that I drink are the inexpensive, fruity & sweet screw cap type of wines. LOL! More like Kool-Aid or wine coolers than real wine. ;-) LOL! Well, a few years ago some NY friends got married and had their reception at Wagner Vineyards and one of the wines that they served us was delicious and I just loved it! It was the Niagara (white wine). We've been wanting some since we left NY and Corey ordered it for me. We had a bottle the first night and it was as lovely as I remember. I'm sure it is too sweet for most of my wine drinking friends but I love it. :-)

My brother is coming over today to finish the patio doors. And I'll be working on finishing up the bedrooms before Morgan, my mom and I head out for our pedicures. I can't wait. At some point I'll be looking through some hs'ing curriculum that a neighbor sent down for me to look through. Morgan's friend is hs'd and her mom sent me some things they've used so I can check them out.


One last thing....here is a picture of Morgan with her new hair cut. She donated another 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. She is enjoying the shorter hair and how easy it is to take care of and so are we. She can wash, rinse and brush her hair all on her own. And this is saying a lot because her hair is sooo thick that when it is long there is just no way she can get it all clean, rinsed out or brushed (especially underneath). So not only did this cut provide a donation opportunity for her but also has increased her independence.

I have to give a holler out to my friend (Indigo) who is moving today. Have a good day and good luck with the move!! I know you can't wait to be in your new house and I can't wait to hear more about it.