Cybercrime. . . and the Holidays

As our Christmas season is fast approaching please do not forget your good sense when shopping.  If it looks and sounds to good to be true it probably is.  Don't click on that banner to win a new ipad mini or car or whatever they are touting you can win.  It is probably a virus, malware or spyware, either way you will be in for trouble.  If you get an email about a hot deal from somewhere you have shopped before don't click on that link in the email it very well could be a phishing attempt.  If you really want to check out the deal re-type the address for the website given in the email in your address bar and see what happens.  These are a few of the things I have been reading about for my cybercrime classes I am taking this session.  I want everyone to be safe this wonderful Christmas season.  Another trick is smishing, this is text messaging you might receive saying their is a problem with your bank account.  Do not respond to this, call your bank with the number you have and know is your bank.  Never text bank information to anyone.  Your bank is probably not going to text you if they have a problem with your account.   Think before you act and like I said before if it sounds too good to be true it probably is, even on Black Friday.  Be safe online shopping.

New day. . . .

Ok I am over my pity party today and moving on.  New day new attitude.  I have decided that I will live for me and my family and no one else.   My number one priority is going to be my health and well being and then my families health and well being.   I plan on teaching my kids what they are not getting in school at home.  We already read the Bible most every night before bed and do devotions.  I love our devotions, they bring out topics that we may not talk about routinely.  They also make it easy to talk about difficult subjects.   History is another topic I will be teaching my kids.   Thank goodness my dear hubby  is a history buff, I will leave the history to him. 
One of my dear friends gave me some good web sites to look into for home schooling and I will be using these to help my boys through this year.  I am not in favor of the common core stuff.  Everyone says it is supposed to make everyone across the US teach the same information at the same time.  I don't agree.  Our school system still cannot figure out what is a good score for the test my oldest son took last year in 7th grade.  Why are we stressing our kids out over a test that the administration cannot figure out how to grade?  
I will no longer let anyone else dictate how I feel about myself.  I will try and teach my kids the same.  I want them to feel and be strong in themselves.  If you are strong in yourself you cannot be bullied by anyone.   Stand up and be strong. 
I use Keys for Kids for our devotions, google that and you will find the website.  

Feeling a little under appreciated. . . .

Have you ever just thought you could not win no matter what you did?  Have you ever just felt like giving up completely?  Who would notice if you didn't do all the little things that you do?   This has been a terrible week and I am in need of a good vent, just to get some things off of my chest.  Why is it we try so hard to do and please so many people that really do not care about you or anything that you do?  All they care about is if they get what they need out of us.  We really should just  care what our family thinks of us and how our family appreciates us.  I think it is in grained in us at an early age to care what others think of us.   I see this as a fault not an attribute in human nature. 
People will bleed you dry if you let them.  They will take and take and never give back.  Those are the people you should stay away from.  They are everywhere and sometimes they are not individuals they are entities like our school system.  They want you to give and give and give and what do you get back?  Kids that are being bullied and your school systems' answer to the problem is don't ride the bus, or if your kids lunch is being taken everyday by the same kid and the school tells you why don't you let your child buy their lunch.  Ha!!!  Why can't the school stop the bully??????  They know who it is, what is the hold up?   Here is another gem from our school system.  One kid trying to keep the bully form falling on top of him and crushing him and they both get sent to in school suspension.  Where is the justice in that?  I will tell you there is no justice.   I will be so glad when my kids are out of the public school system.  I cannot afford private school for two and I could not handle home school but I may have to buck up and do it.  Several of my friends have taken their kids out of our school system and are either home schooling them or sending them to private school.  You would think this would send a signal to the school system.  They are completely clueless!!!!!

Have people just lost their minds??????

A friend and church member posted on facebook yesterday an incident that happened to her while picking up kids at school.  A man impatient to say the least  was trying to get around her and was demanding that she mover her car.  The child she was picking up was not in the car just yet and he proceeded to try and come through her window.  He broke her window, she got out of the car to try and get him away from the child in her car and he then went to his car and tried to ram her car.  All of this in the school pick up line.  I will say again, have people just completely lost their blooming minds?  This man has been charged with everything the Kernersville Police can charge him with.  I hope and pray that the school forbids him from ever being on that campus again.  My friend is ok, she said she was shaken up but she did not cry.  I had to laugh I would have been in tears all over the place.  She is a very strong woman and for that I am so glad, for her and the children she was picking up.  She set a tremendous example for them and anyone else that was there watching.
I think as a society we need to stop and take a breath and think before we act.  Yes, I get put out sometimes with people but I don't think I would get out of my car and confront them is such a manner.  We need to take a step back and start respecting each other a little more and teaching that to our kids.  If we don't we will be seeing and hear a lot more of this on the news.

Sprats' Birthday. . .

Sprats' birthday is fast approaching.  He went to his first concert last weekend to celebrate.  They went to see Carnival of Madness.  It rained, stormed and they had a delay, they got wet but they all had fun.  He got a new pair of tennis shoes, a size 12, heavens to Betsy he has BIG feet for a soon to be 14 year old.
Thinking about his birthday made me want to pull out his baby book and my pregnancy journal and revisit those days before his birth.
I had forgotten about the nick name dear hubby had given him before he was born.  Hubby went with me to one of my visits to hear the baby's heartbeat and he said it sounded like a diesel engine humming, so he called him "little diesel."  I had forgotten all about that one.  All of the boy names I had picked out and we did not use any of them for either son.  It is funny all the things you write down with the first child that get forgotten as time goes by.  I am so glad I wrote those things down.  I was telling Sprat about some of the crazy things that happened when I was pregnant with him.  
Hubby and I like to watch wrestling, yes I am a closet wrestling fan.  There was a particular duo that we liked that do not wrestle together anymore.  They were the Road Dog and BA Billy Gun.  Whenever their music came on Sprat would start bouncing around inside my tummy.  You could see my stomach ripple as he bounced and danced, he loved their music.  
Poor hubby could not eat any meat in the house in my first months of pregnancy.  The mere smell of meat would send me over the edge.  There were days I could be in the bed room down the hall and he would open the refrigerator and I knew it by smell.  I also craved watermelon while I was Great with child.  I remember going to the little fresh market down the road from our old house and buying them almost weekly. I got so big that the little man had to help me get them in the car later on in my pregnancy.  My belly was as big as the watermelons.

Facebook drama. . .

So I posted a thing about the Pledge of Allegiance on my facebook page and how we used to recite it at school.  I think it is a good thing, it teaches children respect for our country.  One of my "friends" on facebook came back at me about it and how it is brain washing to teach our kids this and how our country was not founded by Christians.  I did not post anything back to her because I think it is silly to argue on facebook and I believe it would have been futile to argue with her.  Our country was founded by people looking for religious freedoms.  I cannot attest that they had indeed taken the Lord Jesus as their Savior but I do believe there were some Christians in the mix of our leaders.  I think her whole hang up about the Pledge is that it says, "One Nation under God. . ."
I am a Christian and I do not say this to say I am perfect, I am far from it.  I am a Christian because I have asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart and to forgive me of my sins.  I am a sinner, I will never be completely free from sin, but God loves me just the same.
What do you say to someone that does not believe in God?  I cannot imagine not believing in God.  All I have to do is look at my beautiful children, my life, or walk outside and look at the sky and know that there is a God that loves us all.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion and again I will not argue with people on facebook, it is silly.    I was just blown away by her comments, I would never post anything like that on someones' facebook page.
This may be God at work in my life telling me I need to minister more to those that don't believe.   I will be praying about this.   If you have ministered to someone that did not believe in God I would love to hear from you, just click comment and tell me how you did it.  You can do it anonymously, I don't mind.  If you have a different opinion that is fine too, I will not argue though.  I just want to hear what everyone has to say.

I am my Fathers' daughter. . .

My dad has always been an early riser.  I guess he threw that on me too or it might be the kids.  Ever since I had my kids I cannot sleep very long.  At first I thought it was because I was worrying about stuff and then I thought it was because I had too much caffeine to drink too close to bedtime.  I figured it out this morning at 5 am, I am my fathers' daughter.
My dad, for as long as I can remember, has always gotten up early and either gone to the gym or gone for a run on the street.  Before there were gyms on every corner my dad would jog out our street for at least a couple of miles.  Now he goes to the gym and walks on the treadmill and lifts weights.  I always thought he got up early because he wanted to do his run and then he had to go to the barn and feed the horses and then come home to take me to school.  I think he gets up early because he can't sleep any longer than what he does.  I admire my dad because he does do all these things in the morning before he goes to work.  Now he is at home and in his easy chair by 9 ish and usually asleep.  I do give him a break on that one because he starts his day at 4 in the morning that and he is 83.  As I said he has been doing this since I can remember.
I cannot sleep past 6 and I am lucky if I sleep past 5 these days.  I decided today, when I woke up at 5, that I would do what dad did.  I went for a brisk walk.  I usually walk my sweet B after I take Sprat to school but this walk was just for me.  It was still dark, nice, and quiet.  I prayed and I took in the fresh morning air and enjoyed my walk this morning.  This walk was just for me, I think I may try it tomorrow too.          Thank you dad.

Today. . .

I had to go for my annual mammogram today, and I encourage all ladies to have those done as soon as you turn 40 or earlier if you insurance will pay for it.  Early detection is the key to saving your life.  I have a history of breast cancer in our family so I do mine just like I have my physicals every year.  I hate having them done but I know it could save my life.  It went pretty quick today, of course you have to wait a week to get your results.
On my way to the grocery store after the mashing of the boobs, the best song came on the radio.  I must apologize to all of those that were around me.  I was jamming to Markie Mark and the Funky Bunch with Good Vibrations.  There is nothing like a good song from the 80's to turn up loud and sing and dance along with  it.  That is a great song!!

A little frustrated today. . .

School seems to be going ok.  Big T has a substitute, his teacher is still employed by another county so she cannot come to her position here until that is filled.  I think that is a load of garbage.  Let them get the sub till they find a teacher.  We have had to deal with long term subs before and he does not do well with them.  He is a little boy that needs routine, when he does not get that routine he does not do well.  I am very concerned since this is his 5th grade year and this is a very important year for him.  He will go to middle school next year.  We have been assured that his teacher will be in place no later than a few weeks.  Well, that is a nice vague  answer.  I am working with him at home with his multiplication tables because I know those are going to be a big deal this year.  Please keep us in your prayers as we battle this change and lack of consideration from our school system.

We survived the first day. . .

We each survived the first day of school, now it's all down hill from here.  Big T came home happy and said he may need to brush up on his multiplication tables.  He did his reading and then we worked on math.  Went to pick Sprat up at football tryouts, he did make the Middle School team.  Yipeeeee!!!!!  He was a little nervous and I was a lot nervous for him.  He and two of his best buds made it also.   I am looking forward to football season, both my guys playing and dear hubby coaching.
Dear hubby and I went out this morning for our traditional back to school date.  He takes the first day of school off every year and we spend the day to together.  We don't do anything fancy just spend the day together.  We usually go somewhere for breakfast and go do some shopping.    We had to do it today because he had his boss working with him yesterday.    It is nice just to spend the day without the kids constantly interrupting with some complaint of the other not doing something or do something too long.  Ahhhh!!  the sound of silence. . . .   But, I cannot wait to hear about the kids day at school and football practice.

Family. . . .Kids growing up. . . .

So my nieces are now both in college, one in graduate school and one in undergrad.  I am very proud of them both, I know they are going to do great things.  My sister is now an empty nester.  I know the girls will come home some on the weekends, holidays, and maybe summer, but for the most part they have flown the coop.   I tell you all of this to unload my fears of my children leaving the nest.  I know I complain and poke fun about not getting any privacy or time to myself but, the truth is I love being a mom and I love having my kids around.  They do drive me nuts on most days but I wouldn't want it any other way.   I guess I am afraid of when they will no longer need me.  What then?   I am sure this is what all mothers go through, I may be going through it a little early since my kiddos are still in middle school.   I am never late to worry over things.  Dear hubby and I started our family later than most these days.  We were married six years before we had our first little one and we were not young when we married.   Some days I worry if we will have anything in common once our kids have flown the coop.  We do almost everything together right now with the kids and we both like sports.  I could be just worrying over nothing.  Maybe I am worrying about not knowing what to do with myself when my kids don't need me anymore.  I am so proud of them both though, they are strong boys and I think they are growing in their relationship with Christ.  We talk about that a lot so I hope it is becoming more a part of them.  Today was their first day of school and they both asked me to pray with them before they left, and that made me very happy.   I have spent these moments of quiet at home praying for all of those going back to school, young and old. Here is my picture they let me take grudgingly so.

What makes a man, a Father? ? ? ?

I don't usually write gushy stuff about my husband but, sometimes he just brings that out in me.  The other night I was trying to get the kids up for devotions and Bible reading and that is a HUGE task.  Some nights they just don't want to go to bed, go figure, they're boys.  I had a pretty tiresome day and was sitting on the couch and dear hubby had his Ipad out and I asked him to pull up Keys for Kids.  That is the online site we get our devotions from.  I was feeling too lazy to get up and get the hamster running in my computer and pull it up.  I have told you about my husband praying over our garden in other posts.  You know he is a spiritual man.  I expected him to pull up the site and hand me the ipad to read it for the kids.  Instead, he read the devotion that night.  I was a little shocked, since he normally lets me do all the reading unless I have a sore throat or something.  I was so excited, some days I feel like what I do does not matter and then he does something like this and it makes me realize he does appreciate what I am trying to do and it does matter.  When both Mom and Dad work together to build that spiritual bond in their relationship it bleeds over into the family relationship too.   I feel so blessed.   It is a real man and Father that will read devotions and the Bible to his kids.  I know that God is working in our lives and I am so thankful for all of his blessings.

New Bible Study. . . .

I have joined a new Bible study based on a book, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God."  We read and do work in the book and post online our thoughts and such.  As you know we do nightly devotions as a family.  We read a devotion "Keys for Kids" it is an online site that does great devotions for kids and we read the Bible.  We have read all of Proverbs and are almost through with Psalms.  I was not in a good mood last night and feeling kinda blah and I was only going to read out of the Bible and not do the online devotion.  Big T came up first and sat beside me on the couch and while we were waiting for hubby and Sprat, Big T said can we please do the online devotion.  I reluctantly agreed, I was just really tired.  I pulled my computer out, got my hamsters running and finally got to the website.  The devotion was about how Satan can goad you into doing things that go against God's commandments.  The little boy was getting bullied on the bus from school.  His mom told him he needed to try and find a way to deal with his frustration with this bully without fighting.  The next day he came home and was very happy.  He had sat at the front of the bus and avoided the bully all together.  His mom got to thinking about how her son had changed his circumstances and avoided the bully by moving closer to someone in authority.  His mom said maybe she should move closer to Jesus and try to have a closer relationship with him to keep Satan away from her.
I felt like this mom in the devotion.  Big T made me read this devotion and it just reinforces my need to be in my new Bible study.  I always laugh when God just comes right out and says this is where you are supposed to be.  Last night I thanked my sweet Big T for getting me to read the devotion, it was Gods' plan all along.  I said yes, and got  a lesson for myself.   So thankful!!!!!

Cloud gazing. . . .

I have become more aware of the clouds in the last several months.  I am always looking at them and finding they look like different things.  Today as Big T and I were out running around I happened to look up and thought this particular group of clouds looked like either sharks or dolphins frolicking in the ocean.  I pointed this out to Big T and he saw some interesting things too.  He saw a humming bird and he saw the dolphin and shark too.  We had a wonderful morning doing errands and looking at the clouds.  He is growing up so fast and I know it won't be long and he will not want to have anything to do with me.  I treasure these little bits of time I get with him and am so thankful to the good Lord for sharing his beautiful cloud creations.  I guess I have become a little obsessed with the clouds, I have taken some pictures of some that I thought were neat.

Mom concerns. . . .

I have posted lots of different things on my blog.  I post mommy things, general aggravations, stuff that frustrates me, things I have picked up in my classes and sharing my family fun.  I hope that people reading are enjoying what they read and getting something out of it.   Today I am going to share a concern I have for my youngest, Big T.  He has been obsessed about having water.  He always carries a bottle with him everywhere we go.  He has been having, what I call panic attacks, whenever we go somewhere different or unfamiliar.   He had three episodes while we were at the beach.  They come on kinda quick and are centered around a stomach ache, feeling of something in his throat, and not being able to swallow.    If I could get him distracted he would be fine and would not mention any of the discomforts again.  That is why I think they are panic attacks.  He has not really had one since we came home from the beach.  The water thing is still hanging around though.  He has to have a bottle of water with him every where we go.  So far there has not been a problem but, I don't know how school is going to go with all of this.   I am thankful he is not changing schools this year.
We have been to the doctor for the stomach pain and it is so erratic that I just think it is his nerves and nothing else.  I was worried about the water thing because that is a sign of diabetes, we do have a family history there.  They checked all of that and he is not diabetic and for that I am thankful too.  I truly believe it is his nerves.  He has trouble going to sleep sometimes and we have been praying about that.  He told me last night as we were finishing up our devotions that our prayers for his sleep were helping.  He has memorized a verse to give him comfort and help him fall asleep.  I am so thankful he prays and has comfort from his prayers.  I hope we can find a prayer to help him deal with his panic.  He does not know they are panic attacks and I guess I don't know for sure but that is what it sounds like.  I don't call them panic attacks in front of him either.   I just try to get his focus on something else to distract him.  

Praying Parent. . .

I have read and re-read The Power of a Praying Parent, by Stormie OMartin, as a parent it is our job to pray for our kids.  We must pray for them and teach them to pray, it is important for them to know that adults need someone to lean on too.  If we teach them to lean on God at an early age imagine what they will be like as adults.  Imagine what our world could be like if more people would lean on God instead of damning him.  My dear hubby's niece recently had a baby, she is a beautiful baby girl.  I gave her this book, it is never too early to pray for your children and their well being.   Stormie gives you specific prayers to pray for certain things and I am so thankful for that.  Sometimes it is hard to find the right words to pray for your kids.  One night I was praying and my husband came upstairs, when I was through he came into the room and asked me who I was talking too.  I told him, God, he said oh and went back downstairs.  It is so funny, because he knows I pray but he did not realize I prayed out loud.  I also have a book by Stormie called, The Power of a Praying Wife, I use it also and I have seen some interesting things in my husband and it has opened doors for us to talk.  I did not realize just how spiritual my husband was until one day we were talking about our garden.  I was asking him about the things he planted and he was telling me that after he had planted our potatoes that he prayed over our garden.  How many men do you know pray openly and pray over their garden?  That intrigued me and I later found out that he prayed as he worked in our garden.  That explains a lot.  It explains the huge harvests we have had of zucchini, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.   It makes me smile every time I think of him praying over our little garden.
We celebrated our twenty year wedding anniversary this year and I love him more and more each day.  

It's Monday. . .

It is Monday and my kids are driving me nuts!!!  It's Monday!!!!!!  I am in count down mode for school to start, although, I am a little apprehensive this year.  This is going to be a pivotal year for both of my boys, this is Sprats' last year of middle school and Big Ts' last year of elementary school.  I hope and pray they both have a good year and that they get teachers that will be a good fit for each of them.  I am sure I will be on my knees during most of this year in prayer for my boys and their teachers.  I worry a lot about this "core curriculum" stuff.  The state does not know all they need to know about this and yet they are quick like a bunny to institute it.  I think a little more research should have been done before they dove head first into the shallow end of the pool.  Sprat took the social studies test last year and the whole test was on government and finance, they only spent a max of three days on this in school.  Now, my question is, how can you test a kids knowledge on the subject of social studies on only three days of work?  Our school systems have gone completely away from teaching our kids to using our kids as means to judge the teachers.  Our teachers are so concerned with how the kids are going to test they have forgotten about teaching for the sake of education.   Big T learned more last year about North Carolina history from his teaching assistant during her time with the kids.  I am amazed every day with the information he has retained about North Carolina history and our North Carolina lighthouses.  He was never tested on this information.
I will be praying for all of the kids this year, and their teachers.  At some point, I hope before it is too late, people will realize that it is the teachers and the teacher assistants that we need.   We do not need more suits and do nothing executives cutting the budgets of our school systems.

Book Club this weekend. . .

I am hosting book club this weekend.  I have been cleaning all week to get my house half way presentable for my lovely book club ladies.  I can now see my floor in the living room.  Why can I not keep my house clean once it is clean?  I know there are people out there that keep their houses clean and do so on a regular basis.  My excuse has always been my kids but, let's be honest, it's me too.  It is just so frustrating to clean and then have your kids or husband come behind you and leave things laying around.   I have enough laundry that I could wash every day and still not get caught up.  My dishes are the same, with everyone eating at home during the summer my sink can pile up in an afternoon.  It is amazing how big my living room is when it is not covered in shoes, book bags, sweatshirts, books, dog toys, and anything else that doesn't seem to have a home.
I have read some books and seem some things on social networking boards about organization and cleaning. I have tried to use those tips but I always get behind and end up trying to do a months worth of cleaning in a day or two.  I am beginning to think there is no hope for me and organization.  
I have a couple things left to do tomorrow and I should be ready for my book club party.  I may have to have the family over since my house is already clean.  I give it a week and it will be cluttered with new stuff, especially since we are getting geared up for school.

Update on Shark Week. . . .

So I posted about how much our family loved Shark Week, hosted by Discovery Channel.  We always tune in to learn more about sharks and to see all the video footage they have.  They always show such beautiful video.  I told you about how disappointed I was in Tuesday nights episode and how it was just not good.   Hubby and I have still been talking about the Megalodon episode.  He has been listening to the different radio talk shows hashing it out.  Hubby looked up the oceanographer that was the lead person on this hunt and he could not be found on google except associated to this episode.  I told him to look it up on Snopes, so he pulled it up and snopes is calling it a farce.  www.snopes.com  check it out for yourself.
I am a little disappointed in Discovery Channel ethics.  Some channels you depend on to be honest and report the truth, this just goes to show you, you cannot believe everything you see or hear on TV.   They should really know better in this day and age of google.  According to Snopes several people have asked about this and have looked it up.  One thing Snopes pointed out was that the South African press did not report the boat being capsized and the three people dead.  That does raise a few questions.
Shame on Discovery Channel for stooping to such a level of deception.

Shark Week. . . .

We all love shark week on the Discovery channel.  Dear Hubby and I watched the first episode and it was about the once thought extinct Megalodon.  Hubby and I both have degrees in biology so we are always intrigued by animals that show up after everyone has thought they were extinct.  We always are geared toward the biological significance. We stayed up and watched the two hour episode and I must say they have some pretty good evidence and new evidence that the Megalodon still exists.  The one diver still thinks it is just a big great white but, I don't know.  They talked about government cameras they have under water at different places that you can access online.  One showed a large shadow and a kid just happened to be watching it when the shadow appeared.   They looked at the shadow and it was a really big shadow.  It is amazing what they can glean from a shadow.  I tried to watch last nights episode but I could not.  It was a little ridiculous.  I will try to watch tonight's episode and I hope it will be more grounded.   I am not too keen on the little talk show that comes on after the main show.  They are a little to campy for me.  I guess I am getting old.
One of my aquarium pictures to the right is of a small Megalodon mouth open, my boys and my hubby are standing behind it.  I think this was considered a baby Megalodon.
These are some pictures I took at the aquarium of the shark tank.  I do love to watch them, they are fascinating animals.

Football season is about to begin. . . . .

Football season begins and I become a football widow or, more to the point a single parent trying to keep two kids and husband fed, in clean clothes, and at practice and games on time.  I love watching my boys play but it is hard to keep up with everything during this time.  Oh, and let's not forget school work too, mine and theirs.   I guess that is the nature of being a mom, taxi driver, coach, cheerleader, chef, student, teacher, wife and maid.
Dear hubby is going to help coach on Big T's team again this year.  He only has two more years to coach him so he is going to take full advantage of it.  Hubby loves the game and loves coaching.  He worked in a lab third shift and was an assistant coach at a local High School when we met.  We actually took a kid on a recruiting trip because his parents both worked on Saturdays and could not take him themselves.  That is how dedicated to coaching and helping kids my dear hubby is.   He does not want to coach anything else but, he has helped coach basketball in the past.
I like football, not professional really, but college and high school.  We usually go to the games on Friday nights and we do go to some college games.  Hubby and Sprat both like Miami and Sprat hopes to attend the U of M after graduation.

Fort Macon. . .

We were so busy between going to Cape Lookout and the Ghost tour we did not get to go to the Maritime museum or Fort Macon.  We did do a quick trip to Fort Macon on our way home.  We did not get to go in the museum but we did go around the Fort and Big T took some fabulous pictures.  He has really gotten good at snapping shots with his camera.  He let me use it during the Pirate tour and on the beach but he took all the pictures at the Fort except those of him.  I snapped those.  We had been to Fort Fisher before when the boys were much younger but this Fort was very impressive.  I was amazed at the cannon placement all around the top portion of the Fort.  They had the cannons fixed so that they could easily rotate them almost 180 degrees.  They only had a couple out there for you to see but you could see where all the others had been.  The ones they had left were facing out to the harbor.  We walked all around the top of the Fort and then went down on the inside portion.  We saw their kitchen area and storage area they had samples of china pieces that they had found laying around the Fort.

My dear hubby is a history buff and especially war history.  I am glad too, I don't think they teach a lot of that in school anymore.  My kids will have to learn their history from their dad.  Hubby went into teaching mode while we were out there  spouting off all the things he knew about the Fort and the part it played in the war.  Here is a brief synopsis.

The Union forces actually built the Fort, the Confederates came and over took it at the start of  the war.  The Fort was later attacked and over taken by the Union in 1862.  402 North Carolina Confederates refused to surrender even though they were surrounded.  April 25, 1862 Union forces began a heavy siege for 11 hours.   It was a federal prison from 1867-1876 during the Spanish-American War.  On May 1, 1936 Fort Macon opened as North Carolinas' first functioning state park.

Ferry ride to Cape Lookout. . .

Dear hubby and I decided we would make this vacation fun and educational.   We planned a trip to Cape Lookout.  We drove out to Harkers Island and caught the Calico Jack ferry.  They took us by Shackleford Island, where the wild horses live.  We got a little glimpse of them, our guide said they had done DNA studies on these horses and they are not related to any horse in North America.  It is believed that they were on some of the ships from Spain that Black Beard sank.  The ships sank and the horses swam ashore.  They do send the vet out to check on them and make sure they are healthy, they don't get much more human contact.
They docked at Cape Lookout and let us out, we stayed for about two hours, we packed water and lunch for a picnic on the beach.  We looked for shells and sharks teeth, dear hubby found many sharks teeth but only one conch.  The weather was great, it was a little overcast with a good breeze.   The ocean side of the Island was quite rough, we did not get out more than ankle deep.  The inlet side was much more calm we could walk out forever with the water only coming up to our waist and only a ripple in the water.

Sandy shores here we come. . .

We went to Atlantic Beach, we have never been there before.  We usually go to Oak Island or somewhere close to that.  We chose Atlantic because it is near Beaufort.  Our trip centered around a ghost tour we wanted to do with Big T.  He has been studying NC history and ghosts and lighthouses. The tour we wanted to take was a walking tour through historic Beaufort that would take us right by Black Beards' house.  We ended up not taking that tour because they took Black Beards' house off the tour.  It has been purchased as a private residence.  That was a big let down for us all, we were all looking forward to that.  The tour we did was great though, it was centered around the Webb Public Library building.  It is one of the most haunted buildings in eastern North Carolina.  There have been many paranormal investigations done by professionals, some have been on the Discovery channel.  This building is the only one with an intact basement in the county.  I don't think I got any paranormal pictures but I will have to check once I get them loaded on the computer.  We learned to sword fight, how to load and fire a cannon, and what medical treatments the pirates received on board ship.  This was quite fun and educational too.  We learned about Agnes, the original owner of the property this building was on.  She is one of the spirits that haunts this building.  She is an angry spirit too, she has left marks on several people, including the lady that was our guide. We went into one room "highly" active according to our guide, there she told us the stories of those that had died there and those that had seen Agnes.  Right when we got to a very intense part of the story our guide yelled for emphasis and a very pretty young girl grabbed Sprat.  We all jumped but Sprat was the only one with a close encounter.  I wanted to get a picture of them together but, you know that did not happen.  It was a great tour, we all had fun.

Knitting mysteries. . . .

I went to a used book store today with the family.  This is not a local store so I was excited to see what they had.  I really should have gone by myself.  I could not find what I was looking for but I found something I didn't realize I wanted.  Big T got a book on strange tells of the Civil War, it tells of strange phenemenon during the war.   Big T also got a book on Black Beard, he and hubby are going to share that one.   Sprat got a Mad magazine, I guess he figures he can waste his time till school starts.
I picked up one of my knitting mystery books, "Skein of the Crime" by Maggie Sefton.  I know they have the cookiest names for the books but, I really like the characters.  I have already read, "Knit One Kill Two"  and "Fleece Navidad" and "The Killer Stitch."  These we're really good.
I was looking for the new James Patterson book.  I only found it in hard back.  I guess I will have to wait or check it out at the library.  I have to finish my Jack Reacher first though.

What is everyone reading??????

What has everyone been reading this summer?  I am looking for some new books to read.  I have a little break till school starts and I have to start reading text books.   I am still in my book club but I read this months book so fast I am looking again.  I have one of the "Jack Reacher" books  and I am reading it now, should be finished with it soon.  I enjoyed the distopian books Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  I was not sure I would like them, but they were very interesting.  I read some Maggie Seftin books, they are mysteries that are set around a small town in Colorado.  They are centered around a group of women that knit and crochet.  Each book has a recipe and a knitting pattern.  I loved these.  I may have to pick me up some more of them.  Happy reading to all.

Summer School is done . . .

Took my last test yesterday and class is done.  I did want to share something I found interesting with this class in security.  The last chapter dealt strictly with risk.  It even had one section for social networking, Facebook.  Here are some of the things you need to be aware of, as far as security goes, while using Facebook.  This next part is out of my book, Security + Guide to Network Security Fundamentals, by Mark Ciampa.

"Social Networking sites like Facebook, are popular with attackers for several reasons:"
They provide a treasure trove of personal data.  Your profiles contain employment history, where you have lived, birthdays, spouse and child information.
Users are generally trusting.  Someone joins the network and after several weeks you are sharing most everything with them, including when you are going out of town.  How many times have you seen people post things like, "On our way to the beach for a week, loving life."  I have to say that one I could figure out with out the book.  You think that only your friends can see what you post but, who ever your friends have friended can also see what you post.  I have had people comment on something I posted that I did not even know.
"Consider carefully who is accepted as a friend."  I do not accept people as friends if I do not know them face to face.  Sometimes this is bad because I have a terrible memory and people I went to high school with have tried to friend me and I have not done it because I don't recognize the name or their face.  Attackers pray on this in the hopes that you will think you know them and accept their friend request.  I have had this happen and I know I did not know this person.  I pulled up their profile and they had 3 friends that made me very suspicious so I did not accept the friend request and blocked that person from asking again.
"Disable options and then reopen them only as necessary.  Users should disable options until it becomes apparent that option is needed, instead of making everything accessible and restricting access after it is too late.  Many attackers engage in Facebook scraping by gathering personal information from a user's Facebook site that may appear to be harmless yet may be very valuable."  Here is a good example, if an attacker is trying to steal a password they could very easily find out your challenge password answer to the question, What high school did you attend?"   This course gave a lot to think about.
Per the book, you should limit who knows when you are online, who sees your profile, and pictures.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that we went over for this class but, I thought this needed to be shared.  I want everyone to be safe on the net.

Tax Free Weekend Ending. . . . Really?????

Is tax free weekend really ending?   Did anyone really get that great of a deal during tax free weekend?   I got rather ill last year when I went shopping for school stuff on tax free weekend.  I went to Staples to try and find some notebooks and pencils.   There were a lot of people in there just throwing stuff in their cart and basket.   I was looking at the mechanical pencils and they were like 3 for $5 on a big sign in front of the display.  What made me ill, was the fact that under that big sale sign was a regular price sticker for those same pencils 3 for $2.  I started looking around and checking their other "Sale" signs and their regular price stickers and 6 of 10 were like that.  I put back everything I had picked up and left.  I hate having to go to Walmart but that is where I ended up getting the majority of their school stuff.  I will never go to Staples, that is low down and a crime as far as I am concerned.  I do not agree with ripping off people in the name of tax free weekend.  I will be doing school shopping just like we do everything else, the Dave Ramsey way, with cash.  We did this last year and paid cash for the kids shoes, clothes, and school supplies.   If you have not heard of Dave Ramsey you need to check him out.  You can get his books at the library, The Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace University.  Even if you don't follow everything he says you might get a tip or two from him that will start you on your way to financial peace.  We are paying cash for vacation this year, it is the first for us.  It is quite exciting to think about.

Getting ready for the Beach. . .

We are trying to get ready for the beach.  We have not been on a true vacation in probably two years.  The kids were busy with sports and camps and we didn't really have the money to go.  We decided last year we were going to the beach and we were going Dave Ramsey style.  That's right, our vacation was not going to follow us home.  We started saving last year, a little here and there.  We are also going to make this an educational trip.  We are going to visit a few light houses and see some other historic sights.  Just for Big T we are going to do a ghost tour or two.
It really takes a lot to get a family of four ready for a beach trip.  I guess I had forgotten all the stuff you have to take, all of the just in case stuff.   I remember going to Florida every year when I was little.  My mom packed everything.   Most of the time we drove that 13 1/2 hours, some trips dad would fly us out.  We never flew commercial, dad had his pilots license and he and his business partner shared a plane.   When we drove we left at 4 am.  I never understood that until we drove to Orlando for our trip to Disney several years ago.  I always thought we left that early so we would get in before dark to get the house ready.  I realized on our trip that dad left that early in the hopes that us kids would sleep a good portion of the way.  I have an older brother and an older sister so you can imagine the arguments that would go on when we were cramped in a car for 13 1/2 hours.  Our trip this year will not be near 13 hours but I would still like to leave early.  The new technology makes things a lot easier for parents now.  We have the portable DVD player for the car so our kids are completely entertained for most of the trip.
On our road trips to the beach, once we were awake, we played the alphabet game.  You had to find the letters of the alphabet in order on license plates, billboards, and buildings.  Q was always a problem and Z was not that easy either.  I have taught my kids that game and we play it when ever we are going to be on the road more than 30 minutes.  We also played punch bug.  Our kids play punch bug and cruiser bruiser for the PT Cruisers.   When I was little we played the true "punch" bug, we did not teach our kids to hit each other when they saw one, we just yelled out.  Ahhh the memories. . . .
I hope my kids will remember our vacations and the times we have done things as a family as fondly as I remember my own.  I hope they will pass on some of these little traditions to their kids.  

I found some old camera cards . . .

I found some old camera cards and decided to see what they had on them.  They are from a couple years ago and they have brought back some fond memories.  They covered  spring, summer, and fall for three years ago.  I found Halloween pictures and football pictures, lake pictures and baby pictures of precious Basil.

Mission Camp. . .

Mission camp began yesterday with ground breaking and pot luck and we left Sprat at Church.  They are sleeping at Church and will be working on their project all day for the next week.  Sprat will be running back and forth though because he has football camp in the evenings this week too.  He is really going to be working hard.  Our youth have planned a project for a Labyrinth or a prayer garden type thing in our side yard at the Church.  It is supposed to be a surprise for our Church so shhhhhhh mums the word.   We got to see kind of what it is going to look like last night at the pot luck.   Please keep these kids and the adults in your prayers this week.  A lot of work has already gone into this project and a lot more will go into it this week with the grunt work.

Summer School is winding down. . .

I only have two weeks left of summer school.  I am already trying to figure out which classes I am going to take.  I think I will be taking a criminal justice course in the fall.  It looks like both classes will be online rather than on campus.  I guess that will be good I can do a few things around the house I have been neglecting.   I hope I will be able to handle two online classes.  This summer course has really been kinda crazy.  We have been tackling two chapters a week to get through the text book.  I am not sure I am getting what I need from just looking at power point presentations and reading the chapters though.  I kinda miss that student - teacher interaction and the interaction between students.  I think I have done well according to my grades but I am not sure how much I have retained.  Sometimes hands on is the way to learn.
This next session is going to be more challenging with the criminal justice courses.   I look forward to the challenge though, it keeps me on my toes.  I will be posting more about this in the future.  I hope with my classes I will be able to share some good information to help protect others from the cyber criminals out there.

Scary new thing kids are doing . . .

Dear hubby came home last night and as we all came together for dinner he talked with us about a disturbing new trend he heard on the radio.  This is something that high school and college age kids are doing for fun.  They are taking alcohol (liquor) and pouring it over dry ice then inhaling the vapors.  This sends the alcohol in its' purest form straight to the lungs.  This causes alcohol poisoning and death, sometimes with one attempt.  We talk to our kids about all the dangers of drugs, smoking, drinking and driving but sometimes you really need to talk with your kids about common sense.  I pray every day for my kids safety and that they will make good decisions when we are not around.  If you don't talk with your kids about these sort of things now it might be too late when you think they are ready.  My kids are 13 and 10 and we talk about most things that go on in the news.  We talked about teen suicide when it happened to a doctor friend of my husbands.  I hope that by talking with our kids about everything, that they will feel they can talk with us about anything.
I have said numerous times that I want my kids to be weird, this is what I am talking about.  I want my kids to be the weird ones that walk away from this situation.  I know there are a lot of kids out there that would just follow what ever the crowd is doing.  It is my hope that if I encourage my kids to be weird that they will have the courage to walk away and be weird.  Please talk with your kids about drugs, everyday there is something new the kids are doing to get high.  Our kids need to know so they are able to just walk away.

Approximately five weeks till school starts. . .

School starts in about five weeks.  How are you keeping your kids brains working this summer?  I have been a bit slack this year about encouraging them to read and making them do educational stuff.  They have been busy with camps and going to the pool so they have not been completely lazy.  I am afraid their brains may be turning to mush though.   We have been having good dinner conversation about world events and we are going to use our vacation as a learning experience.  We hope to check out a few lighthouses while we are at the beach and visit a few other historical spots along the way.  What are you doing to keep your kids brains from going to mush this summer?  I would love to hear your ideas.

Dr. Pepper Cake. . .

I saw this post on Facebook about  a Dr. Pepper cake.  I decided I would make it for Big T to celebrate him making it the whole week at camp this year.  His favorite soda is Dr. Pepper.  Here are the ingredients:  yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup oil, 1 box vanilla pudding, and 10 oz. Dr Pepper.  Combine all ingredients and pour in a bunt pan and bake 350 for 1 hour.  Prepare a glaze with 1 cup of powdered sugar a teaspoon of vanilla and enough Dr. Pepper to make a thin glaze.  The cake looks good and came out fine.  The glaze I am not sure about.  I poured it over the cake and usually a glaze you can see after you pour it over but this one disappeared.  Now the picture that was with this post was of a Dr. Pepper can sitting beside a piece of this supposed cake.  The cake in the picture was chocolate and covered in chocolate icing.  The cake I made looks quite simple compared to the one in the picture.  I think the recipe may have called for nuts but, since my kids do not like nuts I did not use them.  I guess you should be careful about getting recipes off of Facebook because they may be a lot different looking when you fix them than their pictures appear.   I knew it would not be a chocolate cake and I knew the glaze would not be chocolate because there was no chocolate in the recipe what I cannot figure out is why post a picture of a chocolate cake?  Here is a picture of what the Dr. Pepper cake really looks like.

I have no doubt it will be good but I am afraid my kids may not like it  Until we eat again. . .

Life is back to normal. . . . ha ha ha ha ha. . . .

What is normal, exactly?  I don't think my house has ever been normal and I am ok with that.  My house is clean it is not neat or orderly.  I have two wild and crazy boys so I have at any time during the day at least 3 pairs of shoes in my living room floor (none of which are mine).   I have at least 4 sweatshirts hanging by the front door.   I always have laundry just waiting to be washed and also waiting to be folded and put away.   I have magazines stacked in the floor that I want to read and don't have time.  I have bags of yarn laying around to knit and crochet prayer shawls, scarves, and dish cloths.  I have books stacked on my stairs going up to the boys bedrooms.  These are books we read and look at during the day and before bed.  I have at least 3 Bibles and 3 different devotional books on my coffee table in my living room.  I have 3 computer security text books in the floor by my end tables in the living room.  We are book loving family.  We all have our own taste in books and of course have a plethora to choose from around the house.
I guess what I am saying is my house is no neat and is no show place.  We live here.  I do not want to live in a museum and I don't want my kids to grow up that way.  Yes, I wish my house were more neat and orderly but, I would rather spend time with my kiddos than clean my house.  I guess when they go back to school I will have to get to cleaning.   Some say, hire a cleaning lady.  I would have to clean my house before I let anyone in to clean.  That kinda defeats the purpose of a cleaning lady.  
For now both boys are back home and the craziness resumes.    We will have a week of down time and then the following week starts football camp and mission camp.  Sprat will get to participate in mission camp this year and he is really excited about it.  Check back for updates on mission camp.

Big T comes home. . .

Big T came home from camp.  I was so excited that he was able to stay the whole week.   We had two phone calls at the beginning of the week but none after that.  I was so relieved, I told my hubby that it was either they got tired of calling or he was walking home.  I have to make jokes or I would just spend all of my time crying.   Big T is the baby and this is the first time he has been this far away from home and for this long. I think he had a good time and I think the phone calls were just over reactive on the part of the nurse.  Big T is a very sensitive child.  He cries at sad movies, commercials, and Amazing Grace.  He is just like me when it comes to these things.    Dear hubby says he will be 38 and still living in our basement.  I don't think it will be that bad, but in his defense I did not want to leave home either.   I see a lot of myself in Big T and his blooming personality.
He did have a bit of a tummy problem while he was there.  Funny, how the nurse never mentioned he had tummy trouble.  That is something I would have liked to have known.  They gave him some medicine and now he has the other end of the spectrum.  My kids do not react well to medicine, again they get that from me.
I asked Big T if he was ever really miserable at camp?  He said, only one day and then he got over it.  I think he was sad when they had down time.   He also said they sang Amazing Grace at camp fire and that was enough to do him in.   I am so glad he is home.  Now both boys are downstairs fighting over the X box.  ahhh things are back to normal.

Neat things you can do for your kids. . .

I saw this on Facebook, so it is not mine.  Each year write a letter to your child and put it in an envelope also add a little money to your envelope.  When they graduate high school give them the letters.   A great gift of what you were thinking about when they were growing up and some cash to boot.  Even though my kids are older I still think I may do this.
I don't remember where I saw this one.  On February 29th get your kids to write down what they think they will be like in four years.  They should also write what they think they will be doing in four years too.  Put these in an envelope and they open them on the next Leap Year.    I did this one last year cannot wait to give it back to them.
If your kids are young do a time capsule for them.  Put in things that are relevant today and write down popular songs, popular movies, things they have done, pictures of them and you, money from this year, a note to them on your hopes and dreams for them, make a note of what things cost.  I did this for Sprat when he was a baby we sealed it on his first birthday and I am going to let him open it when he turns 20.  I am ashamed to say I did not do this for Big T.  I know, bad mommy, Big T has second child syndrome.
I saw where someone posted to buy a book, a kids book like a Dr. Seuss and have each one of your child's teachers write a note in it to them.  Then give them the book  when they graduate high school.  I did not do this one, quite frankly I am not sure Sprat would want to know what his teachers would write about him.
Have a water balloon fight with your kids to commemorate the last day of school.  I did this several years ago with my kids.  We had a blast, they loved soaking me with the water balloons and chasing each other all over the yard.   Sometimes it's good for you to be a kid too.
AC Moore and Michael's stores sell, make your own stepping stone kits.  Those are fun to do and great to put in your garden or flower beds.  We made some a couple of years ago for each child and put their hand prints in it and their initials.  They had a blast and I have some pretty decorations in my flower bed.

Husbands and relationships. . .

I have seen previews for the Bridezilla marriage bootcamp program, I have not ever watched it and don't plan on watching it.  This weeks previews prompted a good question.  Their dilemma according to the previews is each couple must decide if there is only one seat in a life raft which one of them will get it?  I thought that was an intriguing question for a married couple.  I decided I would have a little fun with my hubby.  I sent him a text asking; "there is only room in a life raft for one of us what would you do?"    He replied back saying, "hang on the outside and tread water."   I asked him which one of us would do that?   He said, "me in the raft."   I thought that was so sweet.   I told him I was thinking the same thing only him in the raft and me treading water.  I am much better at treading water than he is.  I do it all summer long with the kids at the pool.   He sent back another text and said we could alternate in and out of the raft.   We have been married 20 years now and I love him more and more every day.  I keep him on his toes.
From what I have seen of the previews for the show these couples do not see things this way.   They just don't get it.  You have to sacrifice when you love someone and you have to compromise when you love someone.  Marriage is always a work in progress, it is a living organism and it requires constant love, nurturing, and attention.   These shows you see on TV, the so called "reality" shows are anything but reality.   Most people know this but there are some that follow these as the truth.
Ladies throw some crazy in on your men every now and then to keep them guessing.   Ask them this question and see how they respond.   Make up your own question and see how he responds.  I would love to hear your questions or comments about how things turn out.  Good Luck!!

Great afternoon with Sprat. . .

Spent the day with my oldest yesterday.  I had a dentist appointment and that got us started.  After the dentist, it is off to the MALL, yes I said it MALL.  The mall and a teenage boy don't usually go together well.  We were looking for a bathing suit for our beach trip.  They were having a pretty good sale so we picked up some shorts and shirts too.  Did not find a bathing suit.  All of the suits had a velcro fly and Sprat just did not like that.   We looked at shoes but the sale was not that good.   After the mall it was off to grab a quick bite to eat and then to the barber.  Sprat got his hair all fixed up for the rest of the Summer.  Then it was home, boy was I beat.  It is exhausting picking out clothes for a teenage boy.  It was a good day.  It was so nice to spend it with my son, he is growing in to such a handsome young man inside and out.  You really don't know your kids until you see them interact with other adults in everyday activities.   I am thankful to the good Lord above for these little glimpses in to the person he is molding my son to be.  Blessed.

Am I too strict or is everyone else too lenient???

I know I am pretty strict when it comes to my kids and their behavior but, lately I feel like I have to be.  During the school year my kids come home and get straight to their school work after a good snack though.  They don't go to the TV, video games, or phone until all of their work is done.  That has always been a hard rule in our house.  From the time Sprat started 1st grade there has been these kids in the neighborhood that insist on ringing the door bell to get him to go play as soon as they get home from school.    I told Sprat to tell them he could not play until his school work was done and he had finished his reading.  Everyday the same thing so finally I just set a time limit, that the boys could not come out and play until 4pm. that way these boys would know.  That did not do any good, they still were ringing the door bell as soon as they got off the bus.  Sprat was a straight A student and I was going to keep it this way.   One day Sprat had been grounded and could not go out and play and one of the boys came over and I told Sprat he could go out and tell the boy he could not play.  They went out on the porch and I was taking the trash out.  I was in the driveway and could hear their conversation when, the little boy (3rd grader) told Sprat, "when you are 18 you can tell your parents that you aren't going to take any more of their sh$#."  I just about stroked out right there.  I resisted the urge to go and snatch my child up.  I listened patiently, this is when you find out if you have done any thing right raising your kids.  The moment of truth.. .   Sprat responded by saying, "no, no, no,  I would never talk to my parents that way."  That is all I had to hear and I knew in my heart I had done something right.  I went to the porch and I said, " you are right you would not speak to us that way."   I told the little boy he needed to go home right then.  A few other things happened that year, my driveway was egged and  Sprat was mooned by this little boy while the other neighbor boys watched and laughed.  That was the year I told that little boy he was not allowed at our house again.
I am now the scourge of the neighborhood because not one of the other neighbor boys parents or that boys parents asked why he was not allowed at my house.  Isn't that funny?  If my son had been told that he could not play at someones' house I would call to find out what he had done.  Not one person has asked me what happened.  I am sure there are many rumors going around as to why but nobody has asked me.
Of course Sprat is now a rising 8th grader and we still live around these people and they are still just as ugly and nasty as ever.  The little boy that egged my drive way and mooned my child now is being left by himself at all hours of the night.  I know what my kids are capable of  and I know that I cannot leave them alone for more than thirty minutes at the most and certainly not in the middle of the night.  I realize people work and their kids have to be left alone but, being left alone during the day is a whole other thing.   I am very fortunate that my dear hubby has a good job and I am able to be here for my kids but, we do not live like this without sacrifice.  We don't do lavish vacations and we are on a tight budget.  We have not been on vacation in two years but, we are going this year.  My Dave Ramsey plan has kicked in and we have been saving to pay for this trip since last year.   This trip will not follow us home.  That is for a later post.
I would love to hear your opinions on this subject.  I know my friend Beth will post and I thank you Beth for keeping my comments alive.  Even if you have a different opinion than my own I am open to hear what you have to say.  Am I too strict?

Big T and camp. . .

Dropped my baby off at camp yesterday.  I cried on the way home.  I am going to miss him so much this week.  I hope he will be able to stay a week.  He only stayed two days last time and that was two years ago.  My hope is that he has grown and will be able to stay the week.  I am going to miss those bright, happy, big eyes, and that beautiful smile.  He always makes me laugh, even when I am fit to be tied with him.  I hope the weather will hold out.  Cabins, storms and my poor baby do not go together.  A friend from the baseball team is in his cabin and I am so relieved for that.  He will at least know someone there.  They have big plans for them each day and he signed up for wood working, sports, and music for his extra activities.  They have a big slide into the lake and a bouncy thing in the lake to jump off of .  If they can keep him busy I think he will make it.   I did not sleep last night listening to the thunder and seeing the light flash before my eyes.  I know you might think I am being silly but, he has never been away from us this long before.  Please remember him in your prayers.

Book Club. . . Insurgent. . .

New book for the club is Insurgent, the second in the trilogy by Veronica Roth.  I liked the first one, Divergent and I really like Insurgent.  I read it in record time.   It is really one that you cannot put down.  These are all based on Dystopian society.  They are very violent books so if you are the least bit iffy on violence I would not recommend them.  Certain parts of the first one did bother me just a bit but I was able to move on.  I am not sure when the third book is due out, but I cannot wait.  I like these characters they seem like real people.  They battle with their own emotions and their own demons just like anyone has to in life today.  Their demons may be a little more far fetched than what we face but I could relate.  
I don't like the Vampire books or movies, have never been able to get in to those.  I don't like mushy romance novels.  I guess I like the mystery, murder, and gun blazing novels.  I do like a little romance in my gun blazing novels though, just a little.  I don't know if book club will pick the third one to read or not, but I am hooked and will have to read it when it comes out.  I heard that they are making a movie about this series too.  I might have to check that out.

Family Day. . .

The first Saturday we have not had a baseball game or practice in quite a while.  We slept in, well, everyone else did, I never sleep in.  Today we are going and doing things family style.  Dad fixed chocolate chip muffins and Sprat learned how to start his own biscuits in the oven.  We are going to see an early movie, "White House Down."   We are then running errands and later grilling out.  I made some fresh sourdough bread last night.   One of facebook friends gave me her recipe for cinnamon rolls, I may try this one out tonight since we will be home at a decent hour and not traipsing all over the county to play ball.   I will do anything to make my kids happy, with in reason.  I would go to the ends of the earth for my kids but I will not lie, it is exhausting and I do enjoy the down time.  Today we enjoy down time and maybe a good game of dominoes.

Happy Fourth of July. . .

Ok, so today is the 5th, yesterday was crazy.  We had an All Star game for Sprat that lasted for 6 hours, not a good night in baseball for our clan.  We lost in a crazy game.  Kinda glad it is over now we will move on to football.  Sprat has already been attending summer workouts for the middle school and is getting geared up for that.
As a child I used to love the Fourth of July.  We enjoyed cookouts and fireworks and celebrated the Independence of our Country.  Now that I am older I do not like the Fourth as much.  I think people have lost sight of what it means and why we celebrate.  Today it is just a reason for loud, obnoxious people to be more loud and obnoxious using dangerous fire works.  Oh, and let's not forget the alcohol consumption that goes along with the fireworks, because those two go so well together.  My dear hubby heard on the news this morning all the accidents that happened last night because of fireworks.  These were professional fireworks you can only imagine how bombarded the hospital ER was last night by all the "non-professionals" out there.  Hubby said, 28 spectators were injured when fireworks flew into the audience in California, and a 7 year old boy shot in the head walking through a parking lot in Virginia to go to the fireworks display.    The little boy in Virginia is still in the hospital they don't think the shot was intentional.  They think someone was "celebrating" by shooting a gun randomly near the parking lot.
So I am glad to see the Fourth go away.   Unfortunately the fireworks in my area will probably last well into the next two weeks.  They start at 10:30 am with random firecrackers and this will continue until dark when they can start with the bing, bam, boom.    Is it August yet?

Good talk with my oldest. . .

Sprat is 13 and will be in 8th grade next year.  Yikes!!!  Only one year left in middle school.  They do grow up so fast.  Night before last we had a great talk just sitting in the dark, because we were both to lazy to get up and turn on a light.  We talked about school starting and how he will be in high school in another year.  We talked about scary movies and I told him some funny stories about his dad and I when we were first married.  Sprat does not usually want to talk about stuff, he is pretty closed mouthed when it comes to his life.  I have to capitalize on the time I have with him because I feel like that quality convo time is slipping away.  Soon his dad and I will be an embarrassment to him and he won't want to have anything to do with us.
We sat in the dark on the couch and talked for a good hour or so.  My hope is, that should something serious come up, that he will feel comfortable coming to one of us to talk about it.   We talked about people and how some people are pretenders.  Like some people are pretending to be something they are not.  I told him I want him to be the best "him" he can be.   I am so afraid he will get mixed up with the wrong crowd.  There are so many wrong crowds out there these days for kids to fall into.  We talked about how you have to be careful who you hang around with because you could be lumped in to whatever they are doing.  I used the example of vandalism.  There are some kids in our neighborhood that like to be out at all hours of the day and night and do things that they know they are not supposed to do.  I told Sprat if he is seen with them he could be accused of doing some of those very things even though he was not out with them.  My mother always called this "birds of a feather flock together."   It took me 22 years to realize my parents were always right, I hope it does not take as long for my kids.  That does not mean I did not listen to them but, I just was more skeptical about what they said.  My parents saved me from many a heart ache by giving me good advice.

Password protection. . .

Did you know that the average person has 12-17 different passwords to remember?  Our chapter we are working on this week is dealing with account management.  I had to interview three people about their passwords and how they remember them.  Did you know that unless your password is at least 12 characters or longer it is considered weak?  Hackers have programs that use a dictionary to run words to find out passwords.  Here are couple of things to keep in mind when picking your passwords.  Don't use personal information like:  kids names, birthdays, and pet names.  It is not good to use words, even spelled backwards because the dictionary program will run all words forward and backward.   You should also use a password with numbers and characters like:  !, @, $, and upper and lower case letters mixed.  
There are programs that you can download to help you keep up with your passwords.  I was a little skeptical about these.  Part of our work in this chapter we had to download a program like this to try it out.   One of these programs can be found at  keepass.info.  This can be downloaded to a USB so that it is not left on your computer all the time.  I like that feature very much.  Check this site out, they have good information about all of this too.   I like the USB feature because you could keep work and personal passwords together.  The draw back is that if you lost your USB then you have lost ALL of your passwords.   Tip for the day; look at your passwords if they are less than 12 characters consider changing them.   As more and more information moves to the computer we are going to need better security to protect our selves.

Book Club. . . Divergent. . .

We had book club on Saturday night.  We always have a blast.  This group of ladies are the best.  We have a great mix of women younger with young children and older with older children.   To be a diverse group we all get along well and we are not afraid to voice our opinions on any subject.  No shock there I am sure.  This month we read Divergent by Veronica Roth, it was good we all enjoyed it.  We are going to read the second book in this series for next month, Insurgent.  These books are on the Dystopian world after everything falls apart.  At the rate we are going these are looking more and more like a fore shadowing of our fate.  Ahh, but that is for a month of posts.
I enjoyed this book, it is not one I would have picked for myself.  I am glad I read it and I am sure I will enjoy the second one as well.  I personally prefer murder mystery books.  I would recommend this one though, it does have suspense, twists, some romance and mystery.  I like being in a book club because this encourages me to read other things and spread my wings to venture in areas I would not normally go.   So far we have read:  Water for Elephants, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, Wicked, and Divergent.  All good books, I think my least favorite was, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, just because it made me cry so much.    I am also reading Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.   This is in the series that the movie Jack Reacher was based on.  It is good, I have not seen the movie but I think I would like it.
I like to read the books before I see movies.  When I was younger I always heard people say; "oh, the book was so much better than the movie."   Back then, I could not imagine a book being better than a movie, but now I see what they are talking about.   Your books give you more insight into characters that movies just do not have time for.   Sprat seems to be like me on this subject.  He read all of the Hunger Game books and read the first one before he saw the movie.  He agreed the book was much better than the movie.  He is anxiously awaiting the second movie.
I did not like to read when I was growing up, I did not begin to enjoy it until I found my murder mystery books.  The first author I got hooked on was Robin Cook, I think I like him because he wrote medical mysteries.  I am so glad that my kids have found subjects and authors that they enjoy at such an early age.   Both boys love to read and read well above their age level.  The each have very different interests when it comes to reading too.

The family all back together. . .

We picked Sprat up at camp yesterday morning and then had to jet to an All Star baseball game.   They got beat but, it was a good game and a tough loss.  We are still in though, it is double elimination so we play again next week sometime.  We had great weather, it was overcast and breezy.  It was not supposed to be that way but I was so glad it was.  Dear hubby, Big T and I sat under the trees on a hill and watched the game.  I felt bad for the boys though because it was hot on them down on the field.  They played well out in the field but we could not buy a run to save our lives.  I think they can beat the team we play next, I hope so anyway.  You just hate to see these kids practice all this time and then not be able to pull one out.  Sprat is getting to play with one of his friends this time and they are having fun.