Missin' Captain Phil

You might not know that Ive always been a HUGE fan of the show Deadliest Catch. And you probably didnt know that Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie was my most favorite salty ole sea captain. Ive followed him for years, seen him catch tons of crabs, watched him smoke about a billion cigarettes and cringed with every F-bomb he dropped. There was something about him though, that captivated me! Maybe it was his passion for his job - albeit a real job that was very unglamourous! Maybe it was his devotion to his sons, or even those piercing blue eyes. Maybe it was all of the above? Im not quite sure why he became my favorite Captain really, or why I could barely wait week to week to see the next show and what he was doing or saying. Or yelling. I have to admit that we decided months ago to turn our satellite off, so Ive missed alot of recent shows, and Ill probably miss the new season coming up. I did follow up with what was going on the best I could online though. I always wanted to know what Captain Phil and the boys were up to!

Then one day - late January - Id read that Captain Phil had suffered a stroke. While I was very unhappy to hear the news, I wasnt all that shocked. The guys on these boats are pushed to the very extreme limits of what their bodies can handle. Captain Phil smoked heavily, drank tons of caffiene and had recently had some other very serious health issues to deal with. I WAS, however, extremely horrified to hear that he'd passed away at such a young age - just 53 - as a result of a massive stroke. In fact, my heart has been very heavy since then.

Isnt it funny the way a person can affect you, that youve never even met? I never knew him personally, never thought I would - I was just a fan that enjoyed watching him and his crew on TV. And I feel a loss. If I feel a loss for someone I only knew through snipets on a television, I just cant imagine the pain and grief his father and two sons must feel. Ive been keeping them in my prayers and Im sure a good many other people have as well.

Rest in Peace, Captain Phil - sail the high seas of Heaven.


1956 - 2010

In the Meadow we can build a Snowman!

In less than two weeks, we've had two snow storms! We've had more snow here than we've had in 20 years! During the first storm, my camera battery was dead and I didnt get any pictures, and too bad too.. we had about 10 inches (I DID get to make some yummy snow cream though!)! This picture is from the second round of snow. Savannah wanted desperately to make a Snow "Bunny" so she and I did. The snow wouldnt roll, but it was grrrreat packing snow!

On the morning of the day we built the snow bunny, B and the kids took the truck out at 7:30 am to do donuts in the wide open snow. They ALL loved it! We live in Hicksville and are PROUD of it! Afterwards they all came in for a LOUD, but fun round of guitar hero on the Wii.. I stayed in the kitchen and made sausage and biscuits! See, told ya... hicksville! ♥

Random January Musings

A while back it was freeeezing cold, much like it is today, and the fountain in front of Chesapeake Properties in town was frozen! I thought it looked neat and snapped a pic. No biggie.

The month has been jam-packed of various happenings, but seems like its gone by so fast. I cant beleive its almost over already. Caleb had a urology appointment at CHKD and could be facing some serious issues that require major surgery to fix. He has to have two tests - a mag 3 lasix scan and a VCUG - to determine the problem. Sigh. Ethan has been through both of these test numerous times and they arent fun or easy. At least the poor little love will be sedated for them and we'll get them done on the same day instead of different days, hopefully that will save a small amount of stress.

Ella had to go to CHKD as well, to visit Cardiology. Thankfully, her EKG was perfectly normal and there is now issue there. The "case" is closed and there is no need to return. YAY.

I had my normal once a month Oncology visit and had great bloodwork numbers. Possibly, the best Ive ever had. I also had my pet/ct scan and was blessed with GREAT results!! Nothing new, all nodes are stable or smaller! Fantastic news! Also, my nodes didnt "glow" as brightly as they did in the last scan, and thats also great news - it means even less activity in them.

Caleb also had a well baby check, which was also fine.

The rest of my time is spent getting the kids to and from school, Hannah to and from all of her chuch activities, maintaining our home, keeping up with laundry, cooking from scratch, trying to keep everyone healthy, making time for my classes at school AND at home, being attentive to my husband, saving us money, making the best life possible for us, praying, praying, praying, AND trying to keep from losing my sanity - shwoo... thats hard sometimes!

Also, today we've gotten a TON of snow!! We probably have 9 or 10 inches. We made some snow cream today, but my camera battery crapped out so I have no pictures of the snow OR the snow cream! Perhaps I can figure out my new phone and take some with that :)

Until next time... ♥

Out with the Old, in with the NEW!

Happy New Year to one and all!

Ive been negligent in my blogging for the last 6 or so weeks because the Holidays are so extremely busy for me!

December was nice. We got our house repaired - FOR FREE! What a huge blessing. I had some money stuck aside to pay the person who was going to repair ir for us - a man who is actually homeless, and a friend of my Dad's and an ACE carpentar - BUT, the morning he was supposed to come, the boat he had been living on sank and he had to help get it up. The next morning he was coming over, and fell and broke his leg! Bless his heart. We needed it repaired immediately, so B's cousin came over, and they did it together. He wouldnt accept the money!

I also, somehow, got an *A* on my math final -bahaha! I have never, ever gotten an A on a math test in my life. I passed the class with a C and thats all I was hoping for! I honestly think my math teacher padded my grade a bit, but hey! I aint complainin'!

Savannah performed in her very first Nutcracker ballet this year. She was so stinkin' adorable!

Striking a pose



Her bouquet of beautiful yellow roses for a job well done!



A few days before Christmas, the whole bunch of us were in Walmart. A lady walked up to me and asked me if this was my family, so I said yes. She said "Merry CHristmas", shoved something into my hand a disappeared into the crowd. It was a card, and I opened it... inside was a $50 dollar bill! WHAT!? Another blessing! It read "from Santa". Knowing we were put in that location at that exact time for a reason, I immediately paid it forward and bought the homeless man I mentioned above, some warm weather gear.

Christmas was great! Not a big as years past, but somehow we managed to pull it off. There were some times when I wasnt so sure.



Savannah had a birthday on December 29th - her 6th! SHe wanted a yellow bunny cake and I tried.... haha, this was the best I could do!

She loved it!

The kids collected random gift cards and money for Christmas... Hannah had been a diligent little researcher and found the type of hamster she wanted, the equipment she wanted and where to get the best price! So, just days after Christmas, we headed out for the kids to do their thang, and Hannah bought "Rhino".


Cute little bugger! He's a "robo" dwarf hamster :)

I made my first ever lemon meringue pie... turned out AWESOME and got rave reviews! Looked purdy sweet too!


That was a few highlights of our December! We hope that 2010 is filled with lots of love, happiness, and good health for all of us! And of course, lots to blog about *wink*

November Nor'easter

Last week we had a storm system stall out over our area for a few days. Conditions were horrible, with tons of rain and 60+ mph winds. Our trampoline ended up across the street in the middle of the neighbors empty lot, alllll the way from the far back corner of our backyard.

This shot is from our front door. Our poor trampoline landed upside down!




This is actually whats supposed to be the "top" side.


This is what it looked like after we flipped it back over!




And finally back in our own yard.


Also damaged in the storm was our shed door, our grill, grill cover and siding from our house. These things were only slightly hurt and can be fixed easily.

We are VERY thankful that the trampoline didnt cause any damage while on its "adventure"! It used to sit directly out from our patio doors... they could have been smashed - only recently did we move it over to the far side of the yard. Also, our oldest son's room is on the end of the house that the trampoline went cartwheeling by - it couldve also struck his window. It totally missed the electic box on the side of the house and didnt tear down any large branches. Most importanly, it didnt strike our neighbors house or do any sort of damage over there. Thankfully it blew into their empty lot next to their house, insted of into their actual front yard. Whew!

We did lose our trampoline, which is upsetting to the kids, BUT, all in all, we are very fortunate.

Fabulous Fighter

So, Im technically in remission, but I will be fighting cancer for the rest of my life. Fighting to keep it away, figthing it if it comes back, figthing to find a cure. I came across this cute little retro picture last night and just thought Id share - I like it!

~♥~ Learn from Yesterday ~♥~ Live for Today ~♥~ Hope for Tommorrow ~♥~

Deal of the Week

These are Huggies Pure and Natural diapers made of Organic Cotton. They generally run around $11.99. Recently I stumbled onto some of these diapers on closeout for $6.89. I also had a $3.00 off coupon for these diapers! Lucky for me, there was ONE pack left that would fit Caleb, so I snatched them up! One bag of Huggies brand diapers for less than $4.00 is hard to pass up! They work wonderfully too!