Pic A Day 2/5/12 Azaleas are blooming

This winter we have had the absolute craziest weather! I live in FL and we are used to mild winters, but this year has been unseasonably mild all winter! It's only the 5th of February and look at the azaleas...they are starting to bloom!! Oh my, if we have a cold snap in the next month or so, there is no telling what these poor plants around town are going to do.

Empty Nest

I record all my favorite shows on my DVR and watch them when I get a chance. One of my favorites is Dog Whisperer.  Since I have 2 Labrador Retrievers I watch this show in order to get helpful tints for controlling my dogs.  Today I caught up on about 5 episodes, one of which had Cesar helping a middle-age couple with their spoiled Pomeranian. As he consulted with them he realized their spoiling of this little monster was due to the fact that their children had flown the coop...they were now empty nesters and having to adjust to this new life event.

I found myself tearing up while watching this episode.  I too have experienced the loss of my children flying the coop - it was terribly depressing and rewarding all at the same time.  My sweet 15-yr-old is still at home so I am not completely child free, but when you consider I went from six kids pretty much full-time to one in a very short time period of 2-3 yrs...it was extremely difficult.  Going from band practices, cheerleading practice, football games Thursday and Friday nights, concerts, competitions, church youth events, parties, sleepovers to nothing was something I wasn't prepared to deal with at the time.

When I see my friends whose lives revolve around their children's schedules and who throw themselves into all their children's activities I can't help but feel sorry for the loss they are going to feel soon.  I try to remind friends to keep up with their own friends and their own activities as well as their children's so perhaps the sense of loss won't be quite so hard.  I speak from personal experience - because my life revolved completely around my kids.

Would I change anything? No of course not! I thank God for that time I was able to share in their lives and nurture and guide them.  I am thankful for the relationship I have with my children now. In fact, I would like for YOU to meet my children...

This is my oldest son, Jon and his girlfriend of many years Heather. They live a few miles from me. He will be 26 this year.

This is my step-son, Justin and his lovely bride Heather. They are building a home in the Orlando area and will be celebrating their 1-yr anniversary in May. He will be 25 in March.

This is one of my twins, Felicia with her husband Will and my 3 grandsons - Allan, Nathan and Shawn.  Will is in the Navy, they are currently living in GA and they will be celebrating 8 yrs of marriage on Valentine's Day. Felicia will be 25 in November.

 I looked and looked and can not find a picture of my other twin, Tina with her entire family! I can't believe that! Well I had to put two pics for her.  The picture above is her children, Bailee and Brayden.

This is Tina and her husband Bryant. He is in the Marines and they too live in GA. They will be celebrating 6 yrs of marriage on Feb. 11th.

This is my step-daughter Brianna with my granddaughter, Bailee. Brianna lives locally and will be 21 in September.

Last but not least this is my 6'4" baby...Dakota. He will be 16 this year and has been homeschooled his entire life.  Dakota is an intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful, considerate young man.  I am so excited to see what his future holds!

Pic A Day 2/4/12 Contraband movie

Family Night - we saw this movie today. It was a pretty good movie...but the language was awful, awful, awful! Would I recommend it to anyone - ummm, no, because nobody should have to sit through a movie filled with expletives in every sentence. If I were by myself I would have walked out.

Pic A Day 2/3/12 Helpmate

I just have to post another picture of my husband because today I woke up anxious and tired...not knowing how I was going to fit all my work in for the day. I was thinking there was no way I could do it all and I was going to have to work all weekend too.  Then without me having to say a word (or ask) my dear husband offered to help me...so we divided the jobs up and we both finished around 1:00! Thank you Jesus for my helpmate!

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...Ephesians 5:25

Pic A Day 2/2/12 Cosmetics

I began my semi-annual job as a cosmetic merchandiser today.  During the Spring and Fall I reset the cosmetic sections in Publix, Winn Dixie, Kmart and sometimes help out in Walmart.  Today I worked in Publix doing the Maybelline section.  There are lots of merchandisers who won't touch cosmetics because it is very tedious work. I happen to enjoy it immensely! It satisfies my "organization" gene. :-)

Especially when I go from this....

to this (which only happens when I work in a new store/remodel)....

Pic A Day 32 Stormy Weather

I am praising God right now! I put another 150 miles on my car today while working. We had terrible storms all day in our area. I chose to begin my day going east since the weather forecast showed the storms coming out of the west.  Praising God because I managed to get through my entire work day with only a few sprinkles. It wasn't until 3:30 when I turned around to begin my 1.5 hour drive home that I ran into THIS storm pictured.  I was driving across the water into this lovely storm...but it was quite alright since this was the first storm I had dealt with all day.