pictures

well i have had a couple ideas for blogs but no pictures to go with them, we have not been able to get our act together and get something set up to transfer new pics onto this computer. i think that will be today's project.
just read a friend's blog that was talking a bit about how narcissistic fb is and often blogs are like christmas letters, (she was not saying that is her view point, just that it was topic of conversation) which got ME thinking as well, but here is MY conclusion, and since your reading MY blog you must care what I think! lol if you don't then i recommend stopping at any point in this sentence and finding something different to do with your time! lol i think that is the point of facebook and blogging, it's to write down what is going on in your life so your friends and family can stay up on it, when they want to and if they want to. how stupid would it be for me to write what my friend is doing when you may not know my friend! and i would rather read what my friends are doing on their blogs when i have time and that way i am more likely to keep my opinions on what they are doing to myself, where if i was talking to them i may A) interrupt when i shouldn't B) give what my opinion is too quickly C) roll my eyes unconsciencely (is that a word?) so i mean really it is a way of saving friendships and hurt feelings if you think about it. lol and on facebook, if they are really annoying or too vulgur, i can delete or hide them and no big deal (except for the ones that don't get the hint and keep friend requesting you). so if you are a half empty kind of person, you could see all the faults in this new way of communication, or if you are a half full kind of person you can see all the benefits and put up with the negatives. i see it as a way to rekindle old friendships and not have to tell the same story 20 million times! i also see it as a journal of sorts. and you know what, really when we look back years from now, do we really want to reread and remember the bad stuff, or the christmas letters? i prefer christmas letters, that's what we should be concentrating on. the media offers us plenty of the negative, that's another reason why we did away with tv! and yes i do go on and on, you get only a fraction of what my mind puts me through, so be thankful! lol
and one more thing, if you read my blog, make a comment or two so i know your reading it, i thought only 2-3 people were reading it but found out last week two others were! lol it's nice to get feedback, don't be a blog stalker, let me know your there! lol be a "follower!" lol and one last thing, i think blogs and fb feed the nosy neighbor in us all, let's be honest.

Frankie......

so this weekend frankie had a couple of funnies! one, when in the car to visit his gran (who was running late so we didnt' get to see her then) he informed me of the difference between "young girls and old girls" evidently young girls are more frisky and old girls are more laid back and take it easy and enjoy life! now you are probably thinking the same thing i was at that time, so i asked him what he meant by frisky! he said, you know, they like to go out to parties and are into all that relationshiop stuff , blah blah blah, yuck! (hee hee) oh, ok i said, so what age is frisky and what age is not, he said, well the old ladies start to settle down when they are about in their early 40's no 50's and they start to wind down, but gran doesn't really follow that rule, she is more like the younger ones, but mom you are more like the older ones! thanks frank! lol i think part of that came about from when he was on the phone with his gran and she told him she was going to a football game, and he couldn't believe she was into football, so after a minute or two he said to her, ok well i'll let you go so you can get to figuring out what football souviner (sp?) you want, the bobble head or the stadium. lololol!

then this morning, he was watching the movie annie with gracie, it was twords the end as they had watched the majority yesterday before bed, and annie was starting to sing again and he goes, gosh she sings like every 5 minutes! can't she act a little more and sing a little less! i said frankie, that's why it's called a musical, he goes, geesh!

ALSO on the Frankie front, he started taking these writing classes through a program at the highschool for the elementary kids. he completed his first assignment on the first day from the first day, and i must say, even if i am biased, i think it's pretty good!

ALL ABOUT ME by Frankie Toth age 11

I am Frankie Toth

I am creative and imaginary

I wonder about my future, and what God has in store for me
I hear the sound of the rainforest from the radio

I see my future unfold with every passing second

I want to save endangered species before they all disappear into death's grasp

I am creative and imaginary

I pretend I have eternal power and control of time and space continuum

I feel the mountain air on my face and the rocks under my feet

I touch the luxurious fur of the snow leopard with it's golden eyes and beautiful fur

I worry about my future and my family's fate in life

I cry at the sight of pain and despair and the misfortune of others

I am creative and imaginary

I understand that if we don't' change our ways, we will suffer a slow and painful death

I say that Jesus is the way the truth and the light and he is the only way to get to Heaven

I dream of what the future holds for us, as it slowly reveals itself as the days go by

I try to control myself when my sister gets on my nerves

I hope that I'll live long enough to see Jesus come to Earth and sweep us to Heaven

I am Frankie Toth

just a quick update on the toth household

i was writing an email to a friend to update her on a few things around here and decided it would be good to post on here, as sorta a journal entry for years later to see what was going on. it's really not interesting so if you are not family you might want to skip this entry, but for our records i am posting/blogging it! lol

the kids and chris dug up some of the potatoes a couple of weekends ago now that alot of the garden is dead. we still have some pumpkins, watermelons and tomatoes still hanging in there, but i think once the pumpkins are all ripe i will till up the whole garden to prepare for next year, i would rather do that kind of work when the weather is cool than hot! lol the berry plants all seem to have started off really good this year, i am anxious to see how they produce next year as well as being able to harvest some of those huge rhubarb stalks that grew this year! checked on the new trees today as well and they seem to have taken off height wise. the grapes plants are not very big except the front corner one, it has really taken off. i dont know if the others aren't getting enough sun or not, will see what happens next year. i am ready to get out there and clean up this yard now that the weather is cooler and plan for next year.
frankie is getting over a bad case of bronchitis, has had alot of problems breathing. he just had pnemonia a few weeks ago! so i don't know what's going on with him.
gracie has not been doing too bad, knock on wood. her dry patches are starting to come back, but it happened after we reintroduced nailpolish on her nails again, so it may be she just will not ever be able to wear that. she is NOT happy about that, but I didn't design her skin! lol she has to take it up with God! lol
chris is in scottland til next friday. then he goes to kansas the following tues and then maybe to london for a few weeks in november, so i will be holding down the fort by myself for most of the next few months! lol i might actually get alot done! glad i precooked alot of those meals in the deep freeze.
went to the apple orchard today, got a 10lb bag to cut up and freeze and make some applesauce, and a 5lb bag for eating and maybe making a few carmel apples with. also bought a gallon of cider and some chicken rub! lol didn't expect to leave the APPLE orchard with chicken rub!!! lol
well got to get to work now if i plan to get anything done. but that is the story from la casa toth!

Never Enough

I was recently thinking, well, ok i was thinking TODAY, how much i say to my kids "it's never ENOUGH with you". Funny thing, God very often enlightens us to OUR behavior through children, doesn't He! I remember back through the years how i would think, if only we had this, if only we had that! and when i get this or that, sure enough, it's not how appreciative i am, (well i am for a short period of time) but "oooo, now if i only had this or if i only had that". i remember sitting in my sunday school class years ago as a teenager, and the teacher teaching on this very thing, and it has stuck with me and alot of times i try to refocus. but more often than not, it's back to this and that.

(btw this picture has nothing to do with this blog but i thought it was funny to look at )

for a long time now i have been facinated with old black and white movies. and i watch them (now i know it's still tv/movie land and not totally the same as real life back them) and think how simple things were back then, yet people seemed so much more happy and satisfied.

the question i find myself asking now is, why is it so hard to go back to that simpicity today, even when we want to. my answer.....the busy stuff addiction! it is stronger than any drug! yet we often find ourselves thinking, the latest and greatest invention to make life "easier" so wonderful! i mean i bought a stupid thing to pick up pet hair off the furniture, hello! what is wrong with the vaccum or some masking tape! or how about the carwash thing you hook your hose up to, umm when i was a kid WE were the thing you attached your hose to, to wash your car! how many different "wands" are out there to clean your toilet, what happened to using your yellow gloved covered hand....(ok i DO own a wand, BUT i can clean the inside of my toilet if i run out of the little sponges that attatch to it, if i had to! )

seriously, i realized how bad it was, when one day i ran out of crockpot liners, and thought oh no, now i can't fix that meal i wanted to.....hellllloooo! oh no, now i have to WASH the crockpot! lol if you have a bother, they have an answer, you don't need to try to come up with a solution out of what you have on hand, you can go to the store (hopefully atleast with a coupon) an buy the latest and greatest to solve all your cares! what we forget is how dependent we become or how it moves us farther and farther away from the relationships with other people. what happened to work frolics, what happened to, when 2 or more women would get together to visit, they would bring something they were working on from home to keep up on their work but yet be able to visit. what happened to teaching our kids some very simple yet practical things like sewing, or even burning trash!

i was lighting a candle the other day, and was using matches, and frankie was asking me how to light a match! picture my shocked face! here my 11 yr old (well it was a few weeks ago so he was 10 then, lol) sits and has no idea how to light a match, boy he would definetly not survive in the wilderness forget winning mama some money on survivor! lol but we always hear to teach kids not to play with matches and so i guess i never got around to teaching him how TO USE matches! lol it was funny, he was very hesitant, afraid he was going to burn his finger! and was so excited when he got it down! ofcourse he got the standard lecture on the safety of it all, but wow, what a wake up call. i have been so negligent in teaching my kids some of the very basic skills in life! so with that, i decided gracie was old enough to learn to sew, the basics for now anway. and frankie, well he gets to learn how to take out the trash and that generic trash bags are not very good, there are just some things that are worth the extra money, however, now that he knows how to light a match, maybe he can BURN some of that trash! lol ya, not really but it's an option! lol

as many of you know, we took the regular tv/cable out of our house, without all that crazy stuff they get engrossed in, they were able to discover, the beverly hillbillies, the three stooges, stuff they never would have taken the time to watch before. i hear frankie making noises from the three stooges and when corrected by his teacher for saying ain't he blammed it on too much beverly hillbilies! tonite he was enthralled with johnny carson! gracie is reading more now, and well, ok to be honest, other than that it hasn't changed her that much, lol, but she was not one to watch alot of tv anyway! lol

they learned how much fun doing a jigsaw puzzle is! when we went to conner prairie they discovered simple toys like a stick and wooden ring, and could have spent the afternoon playing with that! i believe we put too much on what we think we would have wanted as a kid on our kids and miss the simple things they would totally enjoy! we have never really taken a vacation, but the kids don't really ask either (other than holiday world) , they enjoy doing things around here, they get excited to go camping for the weekend, or fishing, or even bowling! miniture golf was too slow however, BUT just swimming in the backyard is pure joy! how many people joke how their kids play more with the box a toy comes in than the toy itself! we have cut down every year on the gifts they get for christmas and birthdays and guess what, they don't even miss all the stuff, in fact they get more excited than the year they came downstairs to find a room full of gifts, i will never forget how unexcited they were, that was the year we decided...ENOUGH!

i forget how capable kids are, until i read books on home life from the pioneer days or watch those old movies, just how much kids are able to do and want to do! what a diservice we do them in letting them take the easy way out with all the current technology. they need to know how to do things the old way and be self sufficient, we need to teach them about not using credit, how to save and budget, how to do basic home maintenance, and sewing (do you know how many people do not know how to sew a simple button on their clothes) and cooking and cleaning! no wonder the generation of now doesn't want to work, they have not been taught to!

i am not saying i will succeed at what i want to do, but i am sure gonna try. i want to teach my kids to have self help skills so they aren't one of the millions buying books and trying to figure it out. maybe they can be the ones writing the books! lol i think we need to get back to spending time to shape them into the people we want to have running this country when we are old. to be the ones to get this country out of debt and turn it around. some may say it's too late, it can never happen, but i say...."i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"...ok that may not be a perfect quote, but i am too lazy to get up and look it up, cuz i was not taught a good work ethic!!! especially this late at night!

just a thought.

season of life friends

first of all, i can't believe how much i have been blogging! blame it on my not wanting to post on FB anymore! lol so all my random thoughts end up on here! lol ok this morning my thoughts were on my BFF's through out the different season's of my life. they are as listed:

my little cousin Ashley = she is my BFF connection to my past, family and forever will be future. she is very wry, witty and funny! she is also the totally responsible adult i don't think anyone else in our family ever became! lol i love and adore her and she will forever be my little miss kitty!

next in line is my friend Debbie = she is my BFF/confidant/advice giver since high school. she has you look at all sides of the coin, she probably coined the term "save the drama for your mama" calm, collected, always ready to laugh at a situation rather than cry over it. plus she is my ideal for raising kids, she turned out 2 of the best ones i ever knew! she will always be the second mom (the one who i couldn't get in trouble with) who always had an answer for me.


then came along Lynette! = she is my, if i were in a pickle, she was probably right there in the same pickle BFF! we do tend to get ourselves into some messes! we want the same things in life, and we both have a tendency to put our foots in our mouths. she is the one you can look at and you both just burst out laughing cuz we've done the same thing! think susan meyer on desperate housewives! lol lynette is my "i've fallen and can't get up" friend, and if anyone can ever empathize it's her! lol i know if anyone would ever understand me and my predicaments, it's her! lol


a little after lynette came along, Christi better known as "Tee" came along! = she is my hallmark BFF. she is the one who lives up to what most think is not really attainable. if she wants to do something, she does it. no obstacle too large. you know when you read a card and think well no one can be that perfect in life, she is! she also is my, no matter how many miles, or how much time or how different our paths are, she will always be there friend, and our friendship never goes grey, meaning it never fades. we dont' have to talk daily to know what we mean to each other, we don't have to have everything in common to care for each other. she is the one who will never leave my heart no matter what! plus she has too much of my past in her head to allow me to let her stray too far! lol


after christi, i had a dry spell on BFF's, i had a couple that mascaraded as ones but didn't quite fit the bill, it takes alot to be able to put up with me, but my old friends got me through, until finally when frankie was in kindergarten/first grade! along came my Jenifer! = jenifer is my martha stuart BFF, she is my how to homemaker friend! lol we lead parallel lives, similar but not the exactly the same. she is the ethel to my lucy, the dianna to my anne, she is the one who i first had a major fight with, but yet continued to be there, i had never experienced that before! lol luckily we have not had that again, but it amazed me that it was possible! she is the one that helped me grow up a bit when it came to friends. she also is the one who when you want to complain will listen and agree even if your wrong, cuz that is what you needed at the time! she is the one who after my mom, i call. who we can laugh til' our stomachs hurt and then agree that was workout enough for the day! lol if i need to know how to do something, she knows how and she will do it well! really well! lol


then a few years after jenifer and my latest friend to come along is Barb = she is my get r done BFF! lol if you need the motivation to do something, you call barb! she not only gets r done, but in the most quick way you ever thought possible! she is another "achiever" in my list of friends. i am not sure if there is any task she can't undertake other than sitting idle. she has more energy than a toddler! she also is the most unconditional friend/person i have ever known. every time i think something will ruin our friendship, she just waves her hand like i just tooted or something and says, eh girl! that ain't gonna effect our friendship! i have never met anyone like her. the way she lets things roll off her back! she is the most forgiving person i know. she also reaches out to people in the most genuine way i have ever seen. and i mean everyone! it does not matter, who, or what you are. i feel so blessed that out of all the people she reaches out to, she held on to me so close! we may differ in views on things alot! lol but somehow she does not allow that to penetrate our friendship! i have never met anyone like her, oh wait, i already put that, but it is so true! and what i find most facinating about her, is she appears to be one thing but is actually not! and i mean that in a good way. she appears to be this strong, hard core cop, she seems like she would be woman's lib all the way! she is actually one of the most sensitive, soft, cry cuz YOUR crying, submits to her husband, christian women i have ever met! she is also the most complex friend i have ever had! lol she is the friend that when we are in our 80's she will be yelling, girl you don't need that walker! c'mon, it's slowing us down! and i say that cuz i know, she will still be there motivating me even then!

so these are the ladies from the different season's of my life. i am sure there will be more to come in the future. but i hope these ladies know, how they have touched my life, and left huge footprints (now i'm not saying you have big feet girls!) there that have changed and molded me and will last till i die or atleast until if i get alzheimers (sp?) lol

***one last note on the friends in my life. my mom, is not on here because she is my mom, she is in a class all her own, as you all know, i can not categorize her, because it would be like categorizing myself or my kids. she is me, she is a huge part of me, and she deserves a blog all of her own. but she was my first BFF and will be my last BFF, she is everyone wrapped up in one. but again, i will blog about her another day.

Working mom

so i was a working mom this weekend. i filled in for my mom at the model home she sits at on the weekends. let me tell you, it was a crazy weekend! i can now really appreciate NOT working outside of my home especially on the weekends! it started off sounding easy, even enjoyable! 6 hrs of quiet time to myself! HA! saturday, i had to go in a half hour early cuz i needed to leave a half hour early, to make a friends' daughter's wedding. well, i had gone in last weekend with my mom so she could show me what all i needed to do (which is not much, so i figured, eh no big deal i can handle this) and she said, "and you can always call me if you have any questions" . so i knew i needed to take some stuff to do, there was no computer, no phone (except my cell) and 6 hrs to kill. so i loaded my bag up with sewing, and reading and a microwave meal, and the present and wrapping paper to wrap said present for the wedding, needless to say, my hands were quite full! so i unlock the door, and head in.... i hear this beeping noise, like when you have an alarm system.....hmmmm, mom didn't say anything about an alarm, maybe it's just cuz the front door is open, so i go in, lay all my stuff down, shut the door.......hmmmm still beeping....that's weird......whoooo whoooo whoooo....alarm is going off! so i try to call mom to figure out what to do....no answer!.....so i tried calling the guy at the other model.......no answer! ughhh! so i tried calling mom again......no answer! now the alarm is SCREAMING at this point!....so i tried my dad's cell phone.....thank the Lord for dads!!!....he answers and puts mom on (who had just happened at the time i was arriving to have been "indisposed" with out phone!) so she gives me the code, and is hollaring about who in the world turned the alarm on, she NEVER turns the alarm on (nor even told me about the alarm!). ......so i get the alarm off, call the "boss man" at the other model, he says, "oh you should'nt have any problems, there is no phone line there so it's not hooked into the police dept so you shouldn't be having them come out, your fine"......ok fine, so i get situated, start wrapping the present, ....in comes an older, and i mean older, man in what appears to be a police uniform, i say appears to be cuz i was not sure if it was or if it was a "security" officer uniform. so i tell him what happened, and he looks at me like i'm a ghost and he can see right through me (ie. he's not all there) and says well if you have a key to the front door i'll get out of your way. so i showed him and as he leaves, shuffling his feet out the dooor, cuz he evidently does not have the energy or strength to lift his feet, (which i must say some days i feel that way but i am like 50 yrs younger than him!) so it's a good thing i was not a theif he needed to chase! whew, ok, so i'm thinking i'm good to go now.
well i get some squares cut out of a shirt (for a quilt) and get some reading done, and i am ready to heat up that meal, ya, i forgot to pack anything to eat the meal with! so i call chris, just hoping for a fork to be brought up, no such luck, he wants to be NICE and bring me lunch along with the kids, who i am on edge about messing up anything in that house! so finally i get them gone, after we all eat lunch, then i read a bit more and realize i really need to bring more to do the next day. the kids call and ask when i am coming home about 10 times. then i talk to mom for awhile on the phone then at 4:30 a young family come in. now i mean young, she is 22 with 3 kids, 3 yrs, 21 months and a baby in a carrier! i ended up talking to them for the next hour, while the kids ran all around, banging on things, pulling down things, breaking a thing, grabbing things! ahhhh! (and i was worried about MY kids leaving crumbs from lunch!) finally i let them know i got to get out of there. so they leave, i run and pick up the family, now i know on the wedding invitation, it said 6pm. however i did not look at the directions which said "starts promptly at 6" so we get there a few minutes after 6 and the bride is walking down the isle! and we slide into the last table available and try to not look frazzled! leave there early so we can get home (where i desperately needed to use the little girls room cuz i didn't want to go at the model) and then leave to pick up my nephew who was staying the night! ok so that was day one of being a working mom! day 2 was much less eventful, but i have decided my place is in the home.....MY home! i will never complain about being busy and crazy at home, i may state the fact but i will not complain, i will love and enjoy the fact i am at home!

my boy is home!

well he had a great time! flat rock was a huge success except for the fact he didn't get to see the animals! lol he did have a hard time sleeping it sounds, which is why once we got home he fell asleep and stayed asleep all night! when we went to pick them up, i told my friend jenifer, i can't wait to hug him and hold him in my arms again! and she said i probably shouldn't do that in front of his friends, but i told her, for now, luckily he does not mind, and sure enough as soon as he saw me he ran into my arms! i will take what i can get for as long as i can get it! then as i look at him, i start to say "i told you that is an undershirt, you are only to wear it with your pajamas" but i only go to the undershirt part and look down and sure enough he is still wearing his pajamas at 2 o'clock in the afternoon!!! i said why are you wearing your pajamas? he shrugged and said, they never told us to change! (wide eyes here) are you kidding me! you are in the 5th grade and you have to be told to change out of your pajamas and into regular clothes for the day!!!! you have got to be kidding me! lol but the last laugh was on him! i took him to steak and shake to get a milkshake and let him tell me about the trip while killing time before we had to pick up gracie and he goes "we're going in?!!!" i said yup! guess your wishing now you had changed out of those pj's huh! lol so he zipped up his jacket and away we went, he was not going to let his attire stop him from getting a milkshake!
so i asked about the night hike, he said ms. mckenzie started yelling out like a crazy lady! she SAID she was making the sounds of owls and that if we ever hear what we think is a crazy guy in the woods it is probably an owl. but it freaked me out and i didn't want to go on until mrs. curtis promised she wouldn't be yelling out like that anymore!

so while frankie was gone, chris was gone AND my mom was gone, i decided to do something special with gracie. so yesterday after school i took her out to eat, she chose moe's which was good since kids eat free after 5 on wed! then we went to the christmas shoppe, cuz we hadn't been there yet. we picked up a few things there, including a dog calendar that have funny pics in black and white which we are going to frame some and use for decorations in her "doggy themed" room. then we went to Jo-Anne fabrics. we wanted to find a simple easy project for her to do so i can start teaching her to sew. the ladies there recommended a pillowcase, which i thought sounded great, so she picked out some material and ribbon. the lady cutting the fabric said her kids all learned to sew making pillow cases and that they ended up making one for every holiday and then for their friends! i thought that was an excellent idea! gracie is very excited about it. then we came home and she showered and we climbed in bed and watched cheaper by the dozen (the original) and went to sleep. we had a really good time, however she was not pleased when she got up this morning, her day of spoiling was over and her brother was coming back home. so she too had a hard day, but she did do better than i tought she would.

i am so thankful and grateful to God for blessing me with my kids. i have always wanted to be a stay at home mom and while i have many areas with that, that can stand improving, i am very pleased with my kids overall. they love their family, they even love each other, and especially they love their God. so though i may complain about things at time, and can easily focus on the bad instead of the good, if i lost everything and everyone in my life but my family and my God, i think i would still have life pretty good!