Flag-Draped Coffin & A 21-Gun Goodbye

Last month was a hard time for Ben, and for the whole 2nd Radio Batallion family. Ben lost a much-loved friend and a Marine brother in Afghanistan. Lucas Pyeatt was only 24 years old. Vibrant, fun, caring, genuine. While Ben and many many other Marines who were close with Luke weren't able to attend the services, I was able to go.....I went to try and be of some help & comfort to the Pyeatt family. To show love and support. But it turned out that THEY were the ones who helped me. They're pillars. Pillars of Faith, Love, Kindness, Generosity, Strength. I am honored to know them. We were all blessed to have known Luke. Its now for us to try and live up to the gift that he gave.

"We sleep safely in our beds at night because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on the ones that would do us harm"

Secretariat Movie Night

Yikes! Its been a while. But, some weeks ago, I went all gung-ho crafty and hosted a movie night for my nieces and some friends. It was a lot of fun, and a cute way to have a "welcome to your new house" kind of party. They just moved into an AWESOME house, with tons of room. Which is a good thing, with two of them coming into the teen years (GASP!) and three littles who like to do a lot of running! Bless your heart, Bethany. I dunno how you do it.

Anyways, on to the movie night. I did Secretariat, mostly because that's what came out....and the girls hadn't seen yet. I did a few little decorations to "set the mood" - a fun foamie pennant banner from dollar tree materials, and then some horse silhouettes arranged in a "race" along the wall.

The treats were:

Burlap "FEED" bags - filled with popcorn

"Haystacks" - yummy no-bake goodies featuring PB, butterscotch chips, peanuts, and ChowMein noodles

IBC rootbeer - in a galvanized bucket

horseshoe chocolates

The girls were really excited, and when I asked Natalee what her favortie part of the new house was, she told me "When you did the movie for us." So sweet, and makes it worth every minute!!

Missing him...

I don't know that anyone reads this, but I just have to write. Writing brings me comfort. Its been how I've been able to just have some sort of outlet since I was young. So please don't think that I'm on the edge and need saving. I just need to get it all out......Let it all out, so that tomorrow can be a little brighter. Here goes....

Feeling sad tonight. Lonely. Alone. The one bright spot in my day is my little man. He's such a trooper and always has a smile for his mommy. I rode him around on my leg tonight for 40 minutes straight just so I could hear him laugh while I felt like crying. I had to switch up legs a few times, but I feel like I burned some calories nonetheless :)

We've been without Ben for longer.....he's only been gone a week. But this time the seperation is so prolonged, it feels interminable. Its only been a week.....and we have so many more to weather. The days ahead seem so overwhelming from this side of the mountain.

We miss him.

Tomorrow is Ben's birthday. Where he is, I doubt he'll even notice that it has gone by. Its not the first birthday we've missed together, but I didn't make him his special "birthday dessert" this year. I've made it for him every year since we've been married. Blondie brownie with white chocolate chunks and warm maple butter sauce. Its his favorite. I wish I were making it for him now. We'd be snuggling together and watching Harry Potter... or Oceans Eleven...

I miss him.

Not that he'd complain....he's excited and proud to be doing what he signed up for. He's helping keep others safe. He's serving his country. I AM proud of him. He is so brave and dedicated to doing his job and doing it well. Better than well... he does his best, and strives to push and pull others along with him. He is a great leader.

I miss him.

Each time I talk to someone on the phone, little man is excited thinking that its daddy. He walks into the house looking for him. He asks me, "eeee daddy?" everynight. We watch "the daddy show" each night before bed so Little man can see him. He blows him kisses, and kisses the computer screen. He pushes the button on "daddy bear" a few times before going down for his nap and before going down for bed....kissing the bears nose each time.

We miss him. We love him. Be safe.

Okay. I'm done. Just had to get that out.....out of my system. Continuing on....making plans for next week. Gym on Monday or Tuesday (or BOTH!).....Appointment on Wednesday.....Chinese New Year Thursday......Orlando Friday......Medieval Faire Saturday...... we're going to be Ok.

Making the Most of 2 weeks.

I wish I could have persuaded the calendar to take a "time out" over the past two weeks. Ben, Jayson, and I got to spend two weeks in Florida for the holiday, and it was just wonderful. I didn't want our time with family and friends to end. Some of my favorite things?

Caroling
Family Dinners
Junk Food
Waking up Christmas morning and the ENORMOUS pile of presents....and all the excitement which that entails for the little ones
Date Nights (we had 3!!!)
Wingstop's Lemon Pepper wings
Watching Jayson play with his Choo Choo, his "tar"(guitar) and his "Talkning" (phone)
Playing board games til 2am on New Years Eve
Seeing friends
Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Mildred's Cakes

We've been living life in 2 week increments for the last few months....it seems like there's always something going on. And now we're down to it....This is going to be our last 2 weeks together for a little while, so we're going to try and make the most of it. Just enjoy each others company, stress a little less....put worrying aside. Read stories, play games, cuddle and fill up on hugs. Makes me wish that I'd just take a step back all the time and relish our blessings a little more.

Making Christmas Presents!!

As a crafter, I am lucky enough to be blessed with a husband who also likes to make things (more manly things, of course). Since he does enjoy things like this, gifts for him end up feeding my crafting hobby as well :) You say you want a table saw, honey? Sounds good to me. Could you use a power drill? Yes? Ok. (yay for me too!!!)

We've been making our Christmas presents for a few years now. Sometimes things are 100% crafted by us, other times I design something that we have printed for friends and family. I can get inspired by some random things. Sometimes I swipe ideas for presents directly from my friends houses. Sometimes I think of a way to solve a need. And other times, I am completely at a loss. I have 2 brothers in law and one brother that it is pretty much impossible to shop for on a budget. Video games and high tech gadgets aren't really going to fit into our present budget this year. There's no way I'm spending $50 on a video game for 3 brothers. I love ya bros, but we just can't afford it (none of these brothers read this blog by the way). So I came up with a way to incorporate their love for video games with something I could make. A friend's hubby made her a clock last year, and said it was super easy.....so here I go!!

The materials:

NES games - super cheap. Check craigslist, used game stores, ebay, or yard sales/flea markets.
Clock Kit - I used my amazon gift cards from swagbucks to get these for FREE. The video games are 3/4" thick, so you'll need a clock kit that will fit that size clock face.

Drill/Bits - The drillbit I used was 5/16" - it was the perfect size for my clock kit.

Glue - (Don't use the Amazing Goop I have pictured here) it didn't work for me at all....except to make an amazing goopy mess! Instead, use a super adhesive for nonporous surfaces at pretty much any store.

Spray Paint - .99 I took offense to the metal colored clock hands and plumbing pieces. If you don't, you can skip this!

<------Plumbing pieces - $1.19 for 4. I used something called a 1.25" one hole EMT strap (you'll need 2 per clock). I found it in the plumbing/electrical aisle at Lowe's. They just screamed clock backs to me. I like the "modernist" look to them. As you can see, these 2 plumbing pieces have been cured and are no longer offending me by being silver colored.

First, measure where you want your clock pieces to go and mark the center so you know where to drill your hole. Like I said, 5/16" was perfect for the size clock movement that I had, but yours might be different.

When Drilling, try for 90 degrees. And DON'T press too hard - it will crack the plastic (not that I speak from experience or anything).

I used duct tape to keep my game steady. And I drilled on a cardboard box so that I'd know when I went through the game.

Make sure the hole is the right size, then proceed..

Attatch the plumbing pieces to the back of your clock/game with a super duper adhesive. I ONLY used duct tape to keep them in place while the glue dries TEMPORARILY (though my dad and RedGreen would be a proponent of designing entirely out of the "handy man's secret weapon"). One on the left side, one on the right. Make it so the bottom of the piece is a little above the bottom of the game (so that the clock will sit at an angle and not tip over). Let it dry at least 24 hours (or the recommended time on your glue)

Thread your clock pieces through according to the directions, and you are set. I'm excited to find a fun little box for these and watch the boys open their gifts!

FREE fun day.

You know I love a bargain.....right? Well, I do. I LOVE that me n little man got to spend the day doing fun stuff for FREE.

I was a little nervous taking him to the Lowe's building clinic - its supposed to be for 2nd graders - but we had a great time. He was a little wary when he was walking into a room of big kids with hammers.

Jman quickly overcame his fears once he realized HE got a hammer too. Not a lot of his banging was productive, but he started getting really excited once he realized exactly what was coming.

He really loves trains, and points them out whenever he sees one (usually in the store or in a book...not too many trains here in Jacksonville). So when he saw the other kids were putting together a train, he started hollering "CHOO! CHOO!"

The only thing that upset him was when we had to leave. He thought we weren't taking the train with us.... Don't worry little man, we'll be going back next week. (They're having clinics for the next 2 weeks where you can build a passenger car and an Engine...they'll all hook together in the end!)

If you want to sign up with your kiddos, go here:
https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/Home.aspx

Apparently they have things all the time. It was our first trip, So Jayson got a little Lowes apron. They also get a badge for every clinic they do. So cute!

We had such a good time doing the Lowes clinic, that we went ahead and did the one at Home Depot too. It was a picture frame, and we're going to paint it tomorrow (Jayson wasn't in the mood for pictures at Home Depot, but he sure remembered what to do with that hammer!)

Afterward, we picked up free lunch at Zaxby's -our local store had a deal where if you bought a meal on November 12th, you could get the same thing free in December. Definitely had to take advantage of that!

Next, we headed over to the Hallmark store. Now, that place is SO out of my price range that its not funny. BUT, they recently released some coupons (one $5 one and one $10 one) on facebook.

So we went to look around. BOY! Is that place expensive! We got some wrapping paper for free with the $5 coupon. Its the good stuff too.

Jayson picked up the cutest and softest little Snoopy stuffed animal. He was hugging it so close and giving it kisses. He was saying "want please?" How could I resist?

We got it for free ($10 coupon). We had to pay tax on Snoopy and a chocolate for me, but it was a fun little treat for both of us for about $1.

Christmas 2010 Card

Love Peace Cheer Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.