Sunday the church youth group went to another church and had "messy games" day with their youth group.  I wasn't quite sure what exactly "messy games" entailed, but sent the kids in old jeans and sweatshirts...just in case.  It's a good thing, because apparently "messy games" are FOOD FIGHTS!  Oh my goodness - the kids were just gross when I picked them up!!  Paige had peanut butter all over her face and hair, and Clay had marshmallow fluff all over his face.  One of the games involved them (volunteering) to have the peanut butter and marshmallow fluff smeared all over their faces and then the other kids threw pieces of popcorn or m & m's to try to get them to stick to their faces.  Then of  course there was the food fight.  Paige told me that she always used to think a food fight looked like so much fun when she saw it happen in the movies.  She said it WAS fun, but she never wants to be in one again.  She also said she NEVER wants to eat peanut butter again.  Matt, their youth group leader took a couple of photos with his cell phone - so hopefully he will send them to me and I will be able to post them soon.  Quite funny!!

This coming Saturday is another fun excursion with the youth group (hopefully not quite as messy though!!).  They will leave Saturday for an overnight to the Chapel House at the University of Florida.  They are really looking forward to it.  They have also heard that Mrs. Whitelaw is going to be a chaperone for the trip and they love spending time with her.  (She is the one whose children were killed in November)  She is such an inspiration to all of us.  We love her and pray for her every evening at dinner.  She visits with the youth group almost every week and often brings them dinner.

Yesterday was another cold day. It was the 10th day in a row with below freezing temperatures.  It is not forecast to get above freezing until Friday morning!!!!!  Ugh.  Paige and I decided to make meatloaf, and we experimented with what we added....we put in grated carrots, chopped brocolli, and red wine - along with a bit of the curry ketchup which Dad/Tim brought home from Munich.  It was delicious!  Yay us!  (photo soon)

Today we have ATT coming out to see if it will be possible to install the Uverse after all.  Apparently, the technician is not sure if it will work because we have such a long driveway and are set so far back from the road.  Keep your fingers crossed that it will work - I REALLY want to be done with Comcast!!  Paige has a tutoring lesson with the (new) Math tutor, then Clay has Taekwondo and Paige has dance....

Thanks, Aunt Cookie

Thank you to my sister-in-law Beth (aka the fun and fabulous Aunt Cookie) for this family photo from Michigan....

No snow, but a cold, miserable day...

It is 1:39 pm and it is 36 bleeping degrees outside!!  Isn't that just ridiculous?  Even more ridiculous?  My precious children are outside sitting by the firepit.  They keep coming in and asking us if we are SURE we don't want to come outside with them.  Um, yeah - it's 36 bleeping degrees out there....I'm sure!!!  Huh.  Tim got home late last night and (HOORAY!!) the training center "bought" his next trip (a miserable 6 day trip to South America) so he is home for TWO WEEKS!!  So...the kids are outside getting all smoky and messing up my patio, and Tim and I are sitting in our nice warm house marinating steaks and just relaxing.  Later we will have a Star Trek (original series, season one) marathon.  Good times!

An update on the kid's cell phone situation:  Here's proof of what a bad, evil mother I am!!  They did clean, and I said, "sure, kids - I'll give your phones back" and then?  I didn't.  hee hee hee.  Oh, I am SO bad.  See, I have a pet peeve.  I will ask the kids to do something - empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, feed the cats, etc....and I will have to ask again and again and again before it will actually get done.  They will say, "yes ma'am" and then wait for me to ask them to do it again 137 times.  Before.  They.  Will. Actually. Do.  It.  It makes me crazy!!!!  Soooooo.......I decided I would give them a taste of their own medicine.  They keep asking me, "Mom, can we have our phones back?"  and I cheerfully say, "Sure"...and then ignore them.  I think they have figured out what is going on.  Eventually, (after they have asked me 137 times) I will say, "oh, oops - I DID say I'd give them back, didn't I?  Here ya go!"

Do you think this will change their attitude?

Me either.

Are you SURE this is Florida??

I made another big batch of homemade hummus yesterday - this time I added more lemon juice and a bit of lemon zest.  It's yummy!  We all love Greek and middle eastern food, so I love this blog that I recently dicovered.  It is full of fun recipes which I can't wait to try out!

It is downright BALMY here today - at least it started out that way.  When I took Clay to school this morning it was 44 degrees.  Woo Hoo - that's the warmest it has been here for about 6 days.  Unfortunately, that was probably the high for the day as another cold front is moving through and temperatures are expected to drop throughout the day today.  It is raining and yucky - Paige and I are all bundled up in sweats trying to stay warm.  Tomorrow is supposed to drop back into the low twenties and....there is a 15% chance of snow!  15%.  It's all anyone can talk about down here.  Whereever you go - Target, Publix, the bookstore - everyone is saying, "Did you hear?  It's gonna snow tomorrow!"  15% chance.  Mmmm Hmmmm.   I promise, dear readers, if the miraculous event actually occurs I will take lots of pictures!  

Why, yes, I CAN be bribed......

These are the kid's cell phones.  No, wait, correction:  these are OUR cell phones, which we pay for and allow Clay and Paige to use.  For emergencies.  And which we recently took back from our dear, sweet, children because...
A.  they are not toys, and they are NOT something which they are just entitled to.
B.  We didn't like their attitudes!!
and
C.  Their cousin was texting while going down stairs recently, and fell and broke his leg.  He had to have surgery and has two pins in his leg.
D.  They have been (progressively) textiing TOO MUCH.  

So....technology lockdown for a while (to coin Holly's phrase, which I love!!)

Paige asked me this afternoon if she cleaned the entire house for me, would I let her have "her" cell phone back.  I said.....YES!  Are you kidding me?  This house is a mess.  I can definitely be bribed.  After all, I can always take it away again - right?

Clay then asks me if he cleans his room, if he could have "his" cell phone back.  Now, you might be thinking, "well, that's not really fair - Paige is cleaning the whole house and Clay only has to clean one room?"  My answer to that is that you haven't seen his room.  Trust me, it's fair.

I can only assume that my darling boy isn't really interested in having his our cell phone returned because I found him just staring out his window.  Not cleaning.  And, by the way, I think that even from the very small corner of his room which is visible in this photo you get an idea of what his room looks like.  I have been asking him to clean it all week, month, year.  That's OK....I'll go "clean" it myself tomorrow - with a Hefty bag and a box for Goodwill.  My philosophy is that if it is sooooo messy that the poor child cannot manage to clean it, he obviously has too many belongings, and it is time to PURGE!!!

A mother's work is never done.