Sunset, Fire and wood

You can see where the fire department ripped the siding off, and you can see that the roof is caved in...I feel awful for these people. I know how it feels to have your house catch on fire, so I can imagine how these people feel. I was 10 when our house caught on fire...we all know it was Angie's fault. LOL!

This is the picture of the house that burned last night. I tried to get some decent pictures of it, but it was getting dark and I couldnt get out of my car to take the pictures, so they are blurry. UGH! I HATE blurry pictures!

I took this picture last night when the house was burning. It is also blurry, but it was my view from across a field and through some trees at nighttime, so it is as good as it gets!

Earlier in the evening, this is the sunset... I am facing the house that burned too, so its a bit eerie.
See, Angie! This is what Mark was up to on Saturday, allllll day long!
Last weekend, I told my sister that Mark had left without telling anyone where he was going and had been gone all day...well, as it turns out, he was out chopping wood. We now have so much wood that we can barely see the woodburner from the house!

Never a dull moment!

This here is Angie again... Gosh, my cellphone is fun! HA!

So, yesterday I was depressed because my daughter is screwing up in her new school, and it saddens me to no end. I wish I could see inside her mind and figure out what the hangup is, and fix it for her...In my mind's eye, I see all of these prayers going up to God, and he finally pays attention, and gives her a gentle nudge in the hiney, and she suddenly snaps out of her funk, and realizes that she needs to get her life on track...and then she is forever changed. *sigh* to dream...
I talked to her stepmom today though and she said that Jessie did really good on her paper, and that she even took it upon herself to talk to her teachers and find out what she needs to do to get caught up. That is a step in the right direction, at least.

Last night, I was laying in my bed playing "brain age" on Hunter's DS when I heard a firetruck go past the house...it was loud and close, but I ignored it because in the country, you really cant see anything anyways...but then I heard another...and another...and ANOTHER...and then I heard the hose being reeled out, and shouting...etc...
I looked out side, and the house across the street was on fire! I mean ON FIRE! The roof and the whole upstairs was completely engulfed and flames were shooting 50 feet high!
Then, Mark told me that he thinks it's Arson because he saw a truck parked in front of that house just a little bit ago and a guy running out of the house, getting in the truck and driving off ...so he got his boots on and went down to tell the cops what he saw. I guess we will find out soon enough what happened.
I am going to take pictures of the house tonight when I get home from work and I will post them tomorrow.

Pray for her...

I am so worried about this child. She seems so lost. It is as if she has given up on her life and refuses to care as long as she can do as she pleases.

My prayer for her is that she finds her way, and realizes that she can't skirt her way through life, and has to take responsibility for her own actions. My prayer is that she starts to see herself as the beautiful, intelligent, kind hearted angel that I know she is, and lives her life as such.

She is not turning in her homework assignments again. She is back to her same old ways. I ask her why, she says she doesn't know. She says its too hard. She never asks for help.

She might get held back again. She is 14 and in the 7th grade, doomed to repeat the grade. She will be the only 16 year old in 8th grade if she keeps going down this path.

What do I do? How do I help her move forward? How do I show her the mess she is creating?

What do I do?

Above are pictures from my sister's baby shower. I don't even know who this kid is, but he loved me, and latched on to me immediately. He was either sitting on me in some fashion, or driving his toy trucks into my elbows as I laid on the floor. What I notice the most about these pictures is the chunky monkey face of mine. UGH! AWFUL! My nose looks HUGE and my jowls look robust. Yep, time to lay off the goodies and kick that work out in to high gear!

Since my back is now getting back into place nicely, I feel liberated! I feel like I owe it to myself to start restrengthening my core muscles, and also start getting ready for bikini season. I am SURELY not ready right now.

I also notice that my hairs are very dark. Yup, need some highlights...and a tan. When I see pictures of my self right now, I look like I just got released from the flu ward at the hospital. Pale, pasty and a little shiny looking...like sweaty or something. Nasty! Gotta do something about that. I don't feel like myself when I look this bad.

Anyways, Taylor finally came home Friday evening and I have never seen a kid so happy to see us in my life! She came and got in bed with me, and immediately, before she even hit the bed, I could smell cigarette smoke on her. ICK! She told me that both her mom, her grandpa (who is gravely ill with lung cancer-go figure, right?) and her grandpa's girlfriend smoke like chimneys, and you could cut the smoke with a knife because it was so thick! She had no escape from it in that tiny apartment, and was grossed out. She said that all day long at school, people were telling her that she smelled like cigarettes. GAG!
Well, she laid in bed with me for a while, then when Mark got out of the tub, she hugged on him and kissed him and showered him with affection for a good long time. She told us both that she missed us a bunch and was glad to be home. WOW! Amazing! I could say alot about that, but I will just keep it to myself on here, because, alas, nothing on the internet is private, right? I will just say that FINALLY, she sees the light. LOL!

Friday night, I talked to Jessie online for a couple of hours and we had the webcams on. It was so good to see her. She had been off school all week because there was a "chance" of snow. WTF? A CHANCE... of snow...jaysus! We have two feet of it on the ground up here, and they still havent closed school! Anyways, she looks healthy and pretty content. I get the feeling that she misses home though. She mentioned that she wants to come home for the summer too. YAY! I miss her so bad!

Well, I need to get back to work now. I have lots of plans to make and whatnot, so pretty soon, I will start posting before shots to my "Andrea makeover" LOL!

Is it Thursday Already?

Gosh, this week is hauling ass! That is what happens though when you miss a day of work!
My back was out, so I stayed home on the heating pad. I feel like an 80 year old! So, I am going to make a promise to myself that once my back gets back in line, I am going to start strength training on a daily basis. I have heard that strength training is more effective for weight loss and toning than running, so that sounds like my kinda workout!
I feel sluggish anyways, so it should do me some good, right?

I will write more later. Not much happening at the moment.

Why can't things just go smoothly?

That is Amber... my seester. Oh, the fun things you can do with a cellphone! LOL!

Anyways, Amber had it right when she said that she is going home tonight and will have a couple glasses of wine. I feel like I need to do the same.

My back is out, and I have been walking around like an 80 year old man with my buttcheeks clenched. I feel like someone punched me in my lower back. It is miserable.

I am all nerved up because Taylor's mom is coming to town, and it is inevitable that every time she comes to town, something happens. Last time she was here, she told us she would take Taylor to dance class, which we were paying $300 a month for with no help from her, and then she never took her. She had a lame ass excuse every time.
This time is turning out to be no different. She called me last week to tell me that her dad is dying and she is coming to town for a few days to visit him, and wants to get Taylor while she is here. I told her that Taylor has cheer practice every night and cannot miss it, so she said that she would make sure she takes her. Well, already, she is making her miss practice tonight because she wants Taylor there to get her from the airport. Ooookayyy...see...this was not mentioned to me, or Mark. Then, she wants Taylor to miss 2 days of school to spend time with her...isnt that quite selfish? I mean...the semester JUST started...and already mom is taking her out of school. Then I find out that mom has a court date and plans on taking Taylor to court with her for some reason...Mark is NOT HAPPY about that and made it clear that Taylor will not be at court. I will BET MONEY that she will take her anyways. The whole situation is pretty frustrating.

Anyways, another thing just happened at lunch. My sister called to tell me that my uncle Brian is in the hospital and is not breathing on his own, and might not make it. My grandma (mom) is on a plane right now to go see him in Colorado. 1. I am upset about Brian, obviously, 2. I am worried about my mom flying alone 3. I wish I could do something to help.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything works out for the best.

Weekend in a nutshell

Friday night, I was supposed to meet my friend Kristy to go out for her birthday, but by the time I got finished with my haircut, and then drove home through a snowstorm, it was already time to go, so I called her up and told her that I was afraid to go out because the roads were terrible out in my neck of the woods. Right after that, someone went off the road into the creek that runs along the road in front of my house! My husband had to go out and pull this car out of the creek! Scawwy!
So, we ended up getting some dinner, and hanging out at home for the night. Saturday, Taylor had a cheer competition and had to be to the bus by 7:30 am for a trip to Michigan Center, and then Hunter had a game at 2:00. His team lost, but I tell you what! Our boys put up a good fight! There was alot of falling down again. There was a ball to the face, an ear about got ripped off, and then someone took an elbow to the nose. They play rough out there!

Sunday, I got up and went to my mom's house. It was so nice to visit with her! My sisters showed up and the silliness began! The picture above is proof. HA! We ended up taking bandannas and cutting them into strips and then tied the strips around some small buckets. Those are going to be table centerpieces at the wedding. That is about all we accomplished. Oh, and we ate some donuts.

Last night was the super bowl, obviously, and we had a couple of friends come over. The guys watched the game while me & Amy did a little bit of scrap-booking in the kitchen. The kids ran amuck. That was pretty fun!

So, now here we are at another fine monday! I am kinda busy here, so I am keeping it short and sweet for now.