Happy Anniversary!!!!

Today is my parents 36th anniversary. Their story is a story of true love. It started a little something like this:

Sometime in the mid 70's my Uncle Tim (Dad's older brother) turned 18 So Greg and Nancy (Nanny and Pawt) moved to N.C. I am guessing sort of like 'ok kid, you're 18 welcome to the real world'. Tim stayed in VA and Dad went to N.C. with his parents. I can only imagine how devastating it must have been to move in the peak of your teenage life leaving everything you know behind but Dad was no stranger to moving (I want to say he had moved 13 times but that could be wrong). So they settle in Conover N.C.. Little did Dad know what would happen. He would meet a gorgeous, flip flop wearing woman (apparently her flip flops made a clacking sound and he knew she was coming down the hall in school, at least that is what I remember of the story). Grandaddy called Dad bozo apparently he didn't appreciate Dad's coif *I wish I had a picture to insert here but I think Dad may have burned them all.* and I don't think Mamaw liked him very much but in her defense he was dating her baby (as in youngest) girl.


Dad Graduated (and I am almost positive Nanny and Pawt moved back to VA 'Good luck kid, happy 18th birthday' It may sound harsh to you but it's how we roll and honestly if we parented like that generation we would likely have a lot less problems in this world ) and Mom Graduated a year later. May 6th 1978 they were married. (I'm positive Dad picked the date because who could ever forget 5678!?)

Awwwww

I am sure that the photographer chose this pose but you can't help but wonder is he thinking of jumping? Is he watching over the car to scare away anyone with shaving cream? Is he just simply praying for it all to be over!? (of course he really is thinking this is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!)

The look on my Mother's face in this picture makes me smile.

They went on their honeymoon in Myrtle Beach and mom got horrible sunburn on the back of her knees.

Let's fast forward to the best part. Just over one year later the most amazing little girl was born.... ME (duh!) I was so awesome that they wanted another one so three years later my sister.

How cute are we!?

I don't ever remember my parents fighting. Like seriously never. I am sure they did argue but it was never in front of us and you could never ever tell there was turmoil. We had a great life, we really did. In my 4th grade year something happened in the house and Dad said 'That is it, we are moving to VA'. Mom may have been sad and upset but if she was she never once disputed in front of us. She would follow Daddy wherever he went. Dad went ahead of us to VA I don't recall how long it was but it seemed like an eternity. He would land a job as the VP of Vector Industries in Waynesboro.

Handsome, huh!? That is the picture that ran in the paper (and that was like the one year my Dad forced his reluctant eyeballs to wear contacts.)

We (mom and us girls) packed up and moved to a 2 bedroom apartment in Waynesboro. We stayed there a short while and Dad bought a house in Staunton. Dad was excited but he obviously knew Mom was going to be less than thrilled because when he took us to see what he had bought he drove us by a 'mansion' first and all the nice houses on the street before parallel parking in front of a dingy yellowish tan falling down stucco house. I am positive Mom cried. She was happy just being his though so I don't recall any arguments over it. We entered the house to find that all the fireplaces were covered with drywall and the drywall was falling down. There was wall paper with presidents on it in one room and the kitchen was orange and by orange I mean BLAZE orange. My Dad worked all summer in that house so that we could move in and be comfortable. The house now is amazing, it was in a published book too!
In the early 90's Mom found out she was pregnant I was going to be 14 years OLDER than my youngest sibling. Along comes Ashton. I still call him Ashton but the rest of the world calls him Greg (and they have since like his 2nd grade year). The first boy born in the Humphries family in over 30 years. (talk about being born with a weight on your shoulders!)

Anyway.

I look at my parents, I see how they care for each other, how they truly love each other and think that everyone should have love like that. I am not saying it was all easy, I am sure it wasn't. I realize that love is a choice that you make every single day. I am sure there were times it would have been easy to throw in the towel, but they never did. I felt weird going through school because the majority of the kids in my school were of divorced families (not all but a lot).
My parents have been through so much together, they have laughed together and cried together. They have shared literally everything in their life. They make it look so easy. The combo of Mom being a God fearing, loving, caring (like literally 'give you whatever I have if you need it' type of caring), loyal woman and Dad being God fearing, compassionate, strong, loving man makes their marriage work.

I wish you both a very very happy anniversary and pray for many, many, many more. I hope you both know what an amazing inspiration you are to all 3 of your children. I hope you realize that you did the most amazing job of teaching us what a marriage is, what love looks like and how it can work as long as you work together and trust in God first and foremost.

Love you both so very, very much.

A tale of the Kamikaze mocking bird...

Birds, I love birds. I have memories of watching birds as a child with my Grandaddy. We would watch and listen and find out what kind of birds they were. It has stuck with me through the years, I enjoy it. The kids and I feed the birds too.

an innocent bird just flying about, little did I know what was to come.

The birds have been feeding all year off of our feeders. The mocking birds are mean to the other birds and I often shoo them off.
Last year a mocking bird landed on the roof every.single.morning. and mimicked a car alarm as if he was casting to be a minion in 'Despicable Me 2'



Anyway, this year they are mimicking Jake's "please let me back in whine", it's annoying, amazing but extremely annoying!
Mocking birds apparently were a hot item back in the day, before technology ruined them with its sound. They were captured and sold because of their beautiful song repertoire.
In 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Miss Maudie says 'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
She forgets to tell you that they try to eat your eyeballs when protecting their young/nest.
So these birds that I have been feeding and caring for have made a nest in my holly bush by the garage. This weekend I innocently went to throw a limb by the garage and out of no where a bird ninja comes flying after my head screeching like I had just killed one of his babies wings spread feet stuck out for perfect clawing of the skull beak ready to eat my eyeballs out. I screamed and walked away still unsure of what on earth had just transpired, later, the oldest and the youngest were outside and apparently Gavin got a little close and the bird started to attack him and pull his hair out! I have since been attacked 7 times, Jason 4 and poor Jake! I can barely leave Jake out by his dog house because the bird is pecking him in the head and butt for fear he is after their babies. So Day in and Day out these birds are staking out the yard they perch on the roof of the garage, the roof of the house and on the swing set just waiting for someone (or another bird) to enter THEIR territory.

I broke down the anatomy of the mocking bird for you (yes I spelled Kamikaze wrong, yes I am sorry, no I am not changing it)you may have to click it so you can read it.

in short, Mockingbirds are Jerks. They are like the bully of the bird world. If you see a mockingbird making a nest in one of your bushes you may want to consider knocking it down before she can lay her eggs (calm down the male bird makes several nests and the female chooses which is the best for their little family). Unless of course you like to have bald spots and corneal abrasions.

Pinterest: succeed or fail. Keeping bathroom mirrors from fogging 1 simple step. Success!

The pin:

So the claim is, if you put soap on your mirror and buff it out with a cloth the mirror won't fog when you shower.

So I put soap on the mirror. I thought I was going to regret this because of the amount of elbow grease I assumed it would take to buff the soap off. I was plesantly surprised! 

I didn't use a lot. We use the cranberry dial, if it matters. ( yes my iPad cover is covered in stickers, I live with an itty bitty army that like to embellish things)

It only took me 3 minutes to buff the mirror clean (if that) 

I turned the shower on just hot water, shut the door and walked away for 20 minutes. 

When I came back I was plesantly surprised! The picture is hazy because the bathroom was foggy but the mirror was crystal clear and ready for hair, makeup or shaving to commence without having to wipe it a million times with a towel. 

So SUCCESS! 

The link: 

http://www.creeklinehouse.com/2013/12/how-to-keep-your-bathroom-mirror-fog.html

Pinterest: succeed or fail. Nail polish flowers.

So I've been watching this pin. It looks so simple and the finished product is amazingly adorable. I wanted to try because how cute would it be as a photo-prop head piece on a baby girl!? 

The pin:

So it looks simple enough and I used some scrap wire I had left over because I didn't want to waste money if it didn't work. I had my doubts, I felt like the nail polish wouldn't cover the whole petal and I'd be left with painted wire skeletons of flowers. 

Was I ever wrong!

It's as simple as it shows, make your flower. 

My wire is a tad thicker than what I wanted to use so when I go to make the head piece I'll go with a thinner wire. 

Pick your polish and paint each petal, the first swipe didn't work on 2 petals but the second it went right on. No problem! 

Then I thought, there's no way the polish won't be extremely fragile....but guess what!? When it dried it's much tougher than I had expected! 

I will shape my flowers better for the head piece.  I thought I took a picture of the polish brand, if it matters, it's Sally Hensen. 

Here's the original link:

http://justbeccaz.tumblr.com/post/75654680180/clarainamillionpieces-lions-teeth

Pinterest: succeed or fail. Bird feeders.

So I was thinking as I was pinning away on Pinterest about how many pins I have and how little I've tried. For the most part I don't try them because I'm scared they are big fat fails and I'll sulk in the corner for hours because my craft didn't look like the Pinterest pic. So now, for you, every Sunday or Monday I will post a 'Pinterest: succeed or Fail' post. 

This weekends was bird feeders. All 3 kids got involved. 

Here's the pin:

*See link at bottom of post for original pin/blog link*

So it seems simple enough, 1/4 cup water for each envelope of gelatin you want to use, 3/4 cup birdseed, wax paper and cookie cutters. What can go wrong!? 

We buy suet a lot and the birds love love peanut butter so I broke the rules before I even started. (Not that it should be a huge shock for you or anything) 

Batch one: 

I used 1/4 cup water, 1 envelope gelatin dissolved it as the blog suggested, added birdseed. The blog states that if there's still liquid in the pan to add more bird seed, I had to. In actuality I ended up using somewhere around 1 - 1 1/2 cups bird seed, but I suggest starting with the 3/4 cup and adding as you see fit. Then I added a HEAPING tablespoon (not a measuring spoon, a normal eating tablespoon) while it was still hot, mixed it up, let it cool. The two youngest did theirs first with the peanut butter mix. The oldest ended up with half peanut butter mix and half per the instructions mix. 

The second batch I did per instructions above. 

Here they are cooling in their cookie cutters: the star (white) and big red heart are first batch. 

The ones I used peanut butter in set up faster and tighter, they did exactly how I expected the original to do. 

The second batch- per the instructions, ended up taking longer to set, and were much looser, we had some rain today and it knocked a lot of the seeds off of those. 

This one is G's it is the peanut butter mix

This one below is W's, it was made with half of each, I tried to take a picture of the 'bad' side

So after all is said and done this isn't exactly a fail. The peanut butter mix was much better so I'll be re-pinning with my peanut butter suggestion. 

What you need:

1/4 cup water

3/4-1 1/2 cup birdseed

1 heaping tablespoon of peanut butter

Cookie cutters

Wax paper

Yarn

What you do:

Mix gelatin in 1/4 water and simmer stirring constantly until gelatin is dissolved, this doesn't take long. 

Add 3/4 cup birdseed mix well, if liquid is left in pan still add 1/4 cup more at a time until there's no more liquid in pan.

While still warm add peanut butter, mix.

Let cool a minute or so

Place cookie cutters on wax paper

Cut pieces of yarn and knot

Fill cookie cutters half way, add yarn where you want to hang it. Fill the rest of the way. Pack it in firmly. 

Let cool a few hours rotating often (when you remember, walk through, whatever) hang from try and enjoy your new friends. 

Here's the link 

http://www.designdazzle.com/2011/07/summer-camp-bird-feeders/

Homemade French fries, the right way

These fries are time consuming if you are like me and don't own a deep fryer. If you have a large capacity deep fryer then you can do this much faster. 

Potatoes, I try to use big potatoes but we were at the bottom of a 10lb bag and I used what I had left which was about 7 medium. 

Get a bowl (a big bowl)  and fill half with ice, half with water. 

Slice your taters! What ever size you like, they don't have to be uniform! As you slice them place them in the ice water bowl

Let them soak for around 20-30 minutes this gets most of the starch out, you'll see it in the water and bottom of bowl. 

Rinse them off

Now lay a tea-towel, kitchen towel, something out that will absorb water and place the fries on top to dry (grease plus water = look out) (now is when you want to heat your oil, I use 3-4 on my stove, you want a lower heat) 

I put another towel on top and pat dry. 

When they are dry and your oil is hot (low heat hot, but it still needs to sizzle) drop them in a handful or two at a time, or if you're lucky enough to have a large deep fryer, all of them. 

When you buy frozen fries, that step ^^ has already been done! then they flash freeze them and package them. So you want these fries to look like the frozen ones you buy. A good way to judge is they start to float. They will be limp and appear raw. 

Now, let them drain (and cool to about room temp) 

Crank up the grease to a higher heat (I use 5-6 on my stove top, if you're using a deep fryer just use whatever temp you'd use for frozen fries) 

Fry those bad boys up until they get that golden color, put on paper towel and sprinkle with salt. 

Enjoy! I used canola oil, any frying  oil will do, if you're looking for a five guys fry, use peanut oil ;) 

To the crabby Chesterfield County bus driver this morning:

* I wrote this letter this morning. It's personal, it's raw, it's pure guilt. I think that's good though. I think through my mistake I made this morning you can learn some valuable lessons. 

1: never ever assume your life is so much worse than that of a person giving you a hard time. Craptastic days happen to everyone, you're not alone. 

2: Christians aren't perfect, we're forgiven. We are human and we sin. 

3: Anger is a dangerous, dangerous thing, we have to learn to turn it into something positive. 

I don't know who she was, what bus number she drove but if you know a Chesterfield county bus driver, share this post, maybe she will read it and know, I'm sorry, I was wrong, it was hurtful and uncalled for. *

To the crabby Chesterfield County bus driver this morning: 

I drop my daughter off at school every morning the way the parking lot/ entry is laid out  there's a line of anxious parents to the left of the entry, ready and in a hurry to drop off their precious at school. To the right of the entry is for buses, teachers and parents to get through to the bus drop off and parking lots. If you're trying to reach the parking lots you must drive down the right side stop and look for oncoming traffic (because four lanes with a median turns into 2 lanes here) go on the wrong side of the road for about a car length and a half and dart into one of the 2 lots. 

This morning was different for me. This morning I was one of the parents going to the parking lot. Today has been hectic, this week has been hellish. 

On any normal morning I have a 2 bus rule. I will let 1-2 buses out on my way through (both ways). You have to be aggressive because if you aren't the buses will take advantage of your kindness and you'll be sitting there with a train of yellow boxes clogging both the entry and exit of the school. I try not to inconvenience anyone because I know some of the parents are headed to work or school or somewhere more important than I am, I'm just going home on most days. 

This morning as I darted around the line of cars and came to where the buses enter/exit I let 1 bus in and 1 bus out. You were next. But I went ahead (because you do have to stop there, ya know) I saw you edging out trying to take advantage of my seemingly kind gesture to the other buses. I moved up aggressively I was going around any way. When I looked for oncoming traffic there were 2 cars coming which caused my back bumper to impede your progress across the busy intersection for all of 20 seconds. I even said out loud oops, sorry lady I didn't see the cars coming, it's not like you had enough time to get out, but you're bigger and we have brakes, right? What happened next shocked me...you laid on your horn! I mean laid on it. At first I said out loud where you could read my lips 'I'm sorry' but as I made eye contact with you you're angry look and glare upset me and I mouthed the word 'b*tch' to you (so that my children didn't hear) . For that, I'm sorry. I'm not sure why it managed to come out. 

I got to thinking how you know nothing about me, about my life, my stresses. You've got no clue that Murphy and his law has made permanent residence in my home, that I am constantly anxious dealing with certain issues in my life, you don't know that buckled in the back seat is 2 of my 3 kids, one of which is my last that I will ever have. You have no idea that when I go home he has to do physical therapy exercises, wear braces on his legs and be catheterized every 4 hours because he can't even control his own bowel and bladder. I even muttered the words 'you've dropped your kids off, what is the hurry? You gotta get home to eat Bon bons?' 

Truth is, I don't know your stresses either. I know you aren't new to the bus driving game. You appear old enough to have been doing this for a few years. Maybe it is just a job to you, or perhaps you love those kids regardless of the disrespect you likely find yourself receiving from them. The snotty noses, 'down in back', crossing RR tracks, screaming, yelling, hitting, pushing. The same thing I deal with daily times 10. 

So maybe we both needed to get a little stress out this morning and unfortunately we were both victim of the others glare/words/horn/anger. 

So, I'm sorry. I don't know if you'll even read this, I hope you do (I don't even know your bus number) I'm not a bad person, I'm usually quite personable, kind, generous, forgiving, helpful person. This morning I didn't not display that nor did I display the kind of Christian lifestyle I try to live and, for that,  I owe you a huge apology.