I really need to make a picture slide show. I have tons of pictures. I might do that later on.

I didn't get to post pics

I didn't get to post the pictures last night, so I'm posting them this morning.

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've blogged. I have had something to do everyday it seems since Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful one. We had lunch with Sherry and Roger, and Family at their home. Then we had supper with my Mom and brother Kevin at our home. I have countless things to be thankful for, but I am really blessed to have such a wonderful family. I don't know how many times our family has been their to help us. A few years ago my husband suffered a brain injury, and if it hadn't been for our family, I don't know what we would have done. They not only helped us financially, they also helped Rhianna. They also helped with taking Steven to the doctor, and just checking if I needed any help with him. It was a trying, and stressful time. It was a long recovery.

Also my mother in law had a battle of her on. She was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. I thank the lord that she is now cancer free, and I pray that it stays that way. I know she's fearful every time she goes to the doctor, because she doesn't know what they will say. I don't know how she went through all of her treatments. It took a lot of courage and strength to go through everything she went through, and I look up to her for her courage.


So this year I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful we got to spend Thanksgiving together. My Mom had to work Thanksgiving night, but she still cooked. I don't know where my Mom find her energy.
I'm also thankful that Kevin also cooked turkey, or we wouldn't of had any meat to eat with our supper. My turkey didn't get finished until after 10 o'clock. So if it was left up to me, we would of had an vegetarian Thanksgiving.

O.K., I'm finished with Thanksgiving. I just wanted to blog about the things I have to be thankful for.

It won't be long, and it will be Christmas. Rhianna and I have had a tradition that we have done the last couple of years. Each year we make Christmas ornaments. I love making them. We give them as gifts, and also decorate the tree with them. I'm going to post some pictures of Rhianna painting some of them. We used a different recipe this year, they came out to be more of a rubber consistency. The ones we made last year were more porcelain. This was our first batch, we will be making more to make as gifts.

I also had to make a ton of bows for the Christmas tree. We couldn't find all of our ornaments, so this is how we were able to add more to the tree.

So after making all the bows and the ornaments, we need to hold off for a few days before we make anything else. I don't want to loose focus and get too caught up in things. We all have to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

This year is going to be one of the most joyful Christmas' I've had. It's because Rhianna and I were baptised this year! I think this is the most excited I've been about Christmas in a long time. I know it may sound silly, but it's the truth, and I'm going to praise the Lord.

My Birthday etc. etc....

I wanted to post a little about the past few days. So Saturday was my B-day, I turned 27. Friday was my brother Kevin's B-day, and he turned 30. So on Friday Rhianna, Mom, and me went by Kevin's new apartment in spartanburg. Rhianna had never visited an apartment complex before. She was absolutely fascinated by the view of the parking lot from the second floor. Lol, I love children they find joy in everything they do. Well, let me get back to my visit with Kevin. We have had a question we have asked each for the last couple of years. It started when I turned 25. My brother asked how it felt to be a quarter of a century old. I told him I felt the same as I did the year before. So I asked him how it felt to be 28, and he was depressed about getting older. So now every year we ask each other how it feels to be whatever age we are that year. I have always answered the same way. Kevin has answered each year differently. This year he says he feels good about being 30. lol He said he heard that 30 was a good year.lol

So on to Sat. Saturday was my B-day. I had a pretty good day considering I had a horrible headache all day long. Steven and I went to the flea market Saturday morning. I love to go to the flea market, you never know what you will find. All I found Saturday was some books for Rhianna, but I still love going. We also went to the Prime Outlet store in Gaffney. I didn't find anything there for me either, but found some adorable clothes at Gymboree for Rhianna.
That afternoon Steven, Rhianna, and I went to Fuji an ate. I love Fuji, it's my favorite restaurant! Rhianna wanted all of us to sit in the same booth since it was my Birthday. She wanted Steven to sit on one side, and her on the other side. I explained to her that we wouldn't be able to eat our food if we all sat on the same side of the booth. I love her sooo much, and I am so thankful that I'm her mother! The best gift I received on my B-day was three simple words. They were "Happy Birthday Mom". I couldn't have asked for anything more. She got me a card and cake that she picked out herself. So, needless to say I had a great B-day!

I haven't really done a lot the past couple of days, except go by Publix. I had a pretty decent shopping trip. Spent $11.77 and saved $62.89 I guess I will probably go and pick up a few canned goods they have on sale this week. Hopefully I will find some things really cheap. They are having a canned food drive at Rhianna's school, and we are hoping to donate some items.

Earlier in the week on Weds. I went to a Foster Care Rally in Barnett Park. I will have to blog more about that later on. Hopefully I will be able to post up a picture taken of my group standing with their cut outs of Children. I held up two cutouts of children for an hour in Barnett Park. The cut outs of the Children represent the 104 children in SC that go into Foster Care each week. So the purpose of the Rally was to bring awareness. The cut out children were holding up signs. One said "8 foster homes", and another said "My GAL is always there for me". The cut outs were a really good visual representation of the amount of children that go into foster care in SC.

So that about wraps up the last few days.

Blur of the last few days...

I have no idea where to start.....
I guess I could start by saying how thankful I am for my Family. Steven was in a car accident on Monday morning on his way to work. He walked away with only minor injuries. He has possible broken nose, and hairline cracked/bruised rib. His car was completely totaled. It was an older model car, but it was the car he drives in competitions. So, the car was his baby. He worked over a year putting the car together the way he wanted. He was actually going to be doing some more work on the rear end on Monday. So, now we have to worry about the insurance company paying what he actually had in the car. The accident was the other drivers fault. It was also her second accident within a month. She pulled out in front of him when he was only about a car length away. He was going around 45 mph, so I am very thankful he only had minor injuries.

So now let me jump into what the Doctor said about Rhianna today. We Went this morning and they did more blood work. This is the second time she has had blood work done within 7 days. The knot is not much better. I had to take her back to the Doctor on Saturday, and they changed her antibiotic. She was taking 2000mg of Cephalixen, and that hadn't budged the knot at all. So now she has been on the new antibiotic for about 4-5 days. There has been a little improvement, but not enough. They are still really concerned about her. So they are going to give the antibiotic a little longer. If they do not see a lot of improvement in the knot they are going to have it biopsied. So I am praying it will improve.
My nerves are in pieces with all this going on. I have to have faith in God, and know that things are going to work out.

I am really thankful for my In-laws help with all this going. Without there support and financial help I don't know what we would do.

Shopping Trip at Publix

I wanted to post about my great shopping trip at Publix.

Spent $18.17

Saved $64.o4

Purchased most things with Rain Checks I had from when the items were on sale, and they were out of the product.

I bought:
10 Pillsbury Toaster Strudels
Had Buy One Get One Free Rain check

6 Bottles of Fantastic Cleaner
Had Buy One Get One Free Rain Check

4 Huggies Bath Products
Had Buy One Get One Free Rain Check

4 Yoplait Kids Yogurt
Had Buy One Get One Free Rain Check

That's all the rain check items
this is the rest of the items I purchased:

4 Bags of Ore-Ida Steam and Mash potatoes
on sale Buy one Get one Free

12 Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamer Vegetables
on sale 50% off

1 Jello Pudding mix Cookies and Cream
Regular price $2.00

1 Totino's Pizza Rolls 40 count
on sale $2.10

2 Chef Boyardee Forkables
on sale $1.00

Green Giant can Green Beans
on sale .79 cents


That's all the items I purchased. I had coupons on everything I purchased except the pudding and the green beans.

Break down of the savings:

Manufacture Coupons: saved $32.34
Store Coupons: saved $6.35
Advertised Special Savings: $25.35
Total Savings: $64.04

Update on Rhianna

Rhianna was able to go back to school today. I was kind of unsure whether to send her or not, because she has been very whiny and gets upset easy. We finally decided since she isn't running a fever anymore we would go ahead and send her.

She seems to be getting better, at least she isn't running a fever anymore. The infected lymph node doesn't seem to be a lot better. She still has a few more days of antibiotics, so I'm hoping it will clear it up.

I'm hoping she will feel great tomorrow for trick or treating.

I wanted to say how thankful I am to all my new friends at Ridge Pointe!
Thanks everyone for your prayers!