This is what my current event looks like... for this week...

Letter to the Editor:
According to the Georgia Organics newsletter for February 2010, there will be another wave of support for the Farmers markets in Georgia this year.

The USDA’s grant for outreach, education and equipment made it possible for the food stamp program to try a pilot program allowing food stamps to be used at Georgia’s farmers markets. Initially three farmers markets were taking the food stamps. One of which was located in Savannah.

Georgia Organics has teamed up with the Wholesome Wave Project allowing the food stamps value to double at the farmers markets. This project is aimed at trying to lower the obesity levels of our state, especially the children of Georgia.

I understand that the food stamp program is exists to help the needy families get back on their feet and to make sure that no one goes hungry. I love the fact that they are now going to be able to have access to wholesome, healthy and locally grown foods for their families. I do however wonder how well this will catch on.

Last year being the first year of the pilot program with the farmers markets, only $2801 was reimbursed as part of this program. That accounted for $5600 worth of fresh foods. That dollar amount was from three major farmers markets from around the state. That makes me weary of this programs success. I can only hope that this program catches on quickly.

It makes me wonder where the minds of the parents are at these days with healthy eating habits for their families. Georgia ranks third in the nation for obesity. That is a scary place to be. I have 4 children and worry about every little thing that they are eating at school and while they are away from home. I try very hard to only purchase healthy foods to have around the house, especially for snacks. I just looked in my pantry, and wow do I have some rethinking to do. I found all sorts of unhealthy snacks in there. Some, I have to admit I buy just to see the smile on their faces and to get the “Thanks Mom”. I shouldn’t let that be a driving force behind what I purchase though. My main motivation should be the health of my children. It is hard to implement new dietary items into your children’s menu.

I would hope that more families, including my own would take a hearty look at what they are putting into their bodies as fuel. If every family in Georgia would give a farmers market a try, then that would not only help the locally grown markets but also give the people a little sense of what eating fresh is all about.

So, I challenge each and every one of you to eat locally once a week for a month. That sounds easy enough. right? That equates to the mighty four times in a month of supporting your local farmers and also makes you eat fresh once a week. Can you do it?
I am doing this for my family for the month of February and I will see how it goes. I don’t think it should be too hard, but we shall see.



So, as you can see we have to write it as if we were writing our local newspaper. I hope I get a good grade on this one. I will post my one from last week in a few minutes.

Jamie

I stink at blogging...and other stuff.

I just want to apologize for my lack of concern to my blog. I love reading everyone Else's blogs, but find it hard to write my own. The constant thought of having to be funny or write about something that everyone else will want to read. UGH! It's painful.

I don't have a glamorous life, so I don't have too much to write about other than kids and husband junk. Who really cares about that kind of stuff though? Oh well, they say to go with what you got, so kids and husband junk it is!

The kids are fine and the husband works all the time.

There, you have been updated.

No, really. I started school yesterday. I am going to an area technical college to get an Agri-Business degree. It should take about 18 months to finish, but with me taking a full load, I am hoping to finish in about 15 months. I think this fits me to a T. Well, that and the fact that I had been researching farming loans and if I have this 2 year degree and complete 1 growing cycle of whatever crop or livestock that I choose, I could qualify for a million plus in government farm loans at a very low interest rate. So, that nailed it for me. When I told my husband this, he all but filled out the paperwork for me. I lucked up and qualified for the Hope grant and also a Pell grant. That means, I don't have to pay for school. That is such a huge blessing for us.

I was worried about going back to school at my age. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not too terribly old, but in my mind going to school with "kids" that just got out of high school worried me. I mean, I have been married longer than they have had their drivers licenses. And I have had kids longer! But, to my surprise, I was not the only older person in the classes... and not the only female either. I was relieved. The professor was very nice and helpful and also just around my age. It was really a nice time. We didn't stay the whole time, because it was the first day. We just pretty much went over what all we will be learning in these classes this quarter and what supplies we will need... then he gave homework. Yeah, on the first day. But it was okay, I got the majority of it done last night and need to go work on some now.

The kids are okay, grades are struggling but they will pull it together before too long. We are constantly working on the reading and math. Money and making change seems to be what Hannah struggles with the most. Lilly doesn't struggle with too much other than herself. If she thinks she can't do it, then it is hard to get her to try. Dale is just in pre-K so they don't tend to do much other than play learning.

Alright, I have to get the rest of my homework done and get ready for the PTO meeting this afternoon. And wash clothes and load the dishwasher. Whew, I hope I get used to all this excitement in my life. And, I hope I get better at blogging. I don't even truly understand how to load pictures on this thing. I need someone to teach a class on blogging. Any takers?

Bless ya'll,
Jamie

used vs loved

This is an e-mail that my mother in law sent to me a few days ago. It spoke volumes to me, and I hope it strikes a cord in you too. Let me know what you think.

USED Vs. LOVED

While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up stone and scratched lines on the
side of the car. In anger, the man took the child's hand and hit it many times; not realizing he was using a wrench.


At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father.....with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'

The man was so hurt and speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions.......sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches;
the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.

The next day that man committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits; choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely life.....

Things are to be used and people are to be loved, But the problem in today's world is that,
People are used and things are loved...


During this year, let's be careful to keep this thought in mind: Things are to be used, but People are to be loved ...

Be yourself....This is the only day we HAVE. Have a nice day and Best regards

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

I'm glad a friend forwarded this to me as a reminder..

God bless you;
I hope you are having a wonderful day!

If you don't pass this on to anybody,
nothing bad will happen; if you do, you will have ministered to someone.


The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you...

Stay FAITHFUL and Be GRATEFUL.

“The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights. For the director of music. On my
stringed instruments.”
Habakkuk 3:19
Bless ya'll,
Jamie

My never ending TO-DO list

I have so much to do, and of course not enough time to do it in. We have a lot going on here so this list just keeps growing daily. Here are some examples of things that are needing to get checked off soon... With a sick child and a sick husband today, it doesn't like any of this will get done today.

1. BUILD A COOP- this has been on my list for almost 2 months now.
2. clean the children's rooms and declutter as I go.
3. clean master bedroom and declutter as I go.
4. clean kitchen and pantry.
5. clean laundry room and make room for additional food storage. (shelf units)
6. weed the garden and get rid of the nasty squash bugs that are threatening my plants.
7. prepare for the fall garden (we want to expand the growing area)
8. get a pressure canner and canning jars.
9. research buying a cow and chickens for the freezer.
10. prepare for the children's new school year ( clothes, supplies)

This is of course just a partial list. I have so much more that needs to be written down on here, but my mind won't slow down enough for me to get them straight. I hope I am not the only one that this happens to.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great summer so far, and I pray for each of you daily. I pray that God give you peace in the decisions that you are making, and I pray that you are seeking him in making those choices. I pray for your gardens, children, health, finances, animals, and much much more.

Bless ya'll,
Jamie

Things that make me smile....and laugh

So, these days I am under some added stress and really try to find things that make me smile. Here is a short list of some of those things.... hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

thepioneerwoman.com- First of all, she has an awsome web page. Secondly, she has started an online book entitled "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". If you find that you have about an hour to sit and read, start here first. It will have you laughing and remembering your dating years. And another must on her site is the to read the embarrasing moments section. It nearly brought me to tears.

I love reading about peoples lives, allbeit blogs, facebook pages, or anything else. I find it interesting that we truly do go through the same things as other people, just not nessesarily in the same exact way. If you were to google the phrase "blogs about _____" ( fill in the blanks yourself) you would be amazed at what comes up. Spend the couple of minutes and find some new areas of the web that you may not have seen before. I find more blogs to read and enjoy by seeng all of the blogs that my friends read. Some of the ones that I now follow, this is how I found them.

Of course, I find joy in my children. (MOST DAYS) I find myself at times laughing at the things that they say. For instance, and this will probably come back to haunt me later on in life but here goes.... The other day my husband came home from work smelly and wet with sweat, nothing unusual about that right? Anyway, all of my children run to him with open arms when he comes home, this is an everyday occurance and one that I love to see, but I digress.. my son takes one whiff of my honey and says " Daddy, you smell like tootie" I DIED!! Now if that doesn't make you laugh I don't know what would. (FYI tootie is what we call the va-jay-jay) My husband laughed too, but he still gave me the quizzical look. He took a shower immediatly. Out of the mouth of babes.

We are country, by every stretch of the word, so we find it funny when someone toots (farts as some people call it, my grandmother calls it bunny-ing) So my children, for some unknown reason have the need to announce when they toot and so goes the laughing. Until somone does it in the grocery store like they did the other night and then it's not so funny for me anymore. But, I guess you reap what you sew and this is what my husband has sewn for me.... no, I am not taking any credit for this one.

Another thing that makes me laugh is seeing my girls sing along to the radio. They will jam out to a song when they think no one is looking, but the moment they see that you are watching them, they immediatly stop and run away to hide. The same thing happens when my daughter Hannah sees me watching her dance in the living room.

My son has started break dancing. He's 4 after all, isn't that what 4 year olds are doing nowadays? He feels the need to show everone his new tricks. Even the neighbors. He was accross the street Saturday break dancing in our neighbor's yard before I knew he was even gone... they didn't mind, thankfully.

The chickens are funny to watch as well. You should see 6 chickens fight over a bug. They look like they are playing a game of keepaway. They will chase each other all over the pen until one of them finally eats the thing. They also love to play "Eat the gnat off of the dogs butt when she isn't looking" game too. Poor Marley doesn't understand this game and keeps getting pecked in the behind. I have to admit it's funny.

I also find it funny that no matter how many loads of laundry I can do everyday, there is always more when I turn around. WHAT?? Does it multiply in the basket? The same thing goes for the dishes.

I find that my bills have a sense of humor too. I pay them and they keep coming back every month... They act like a stray dog that is looking for food. I wonder if I stop paying them if they would stop coming... hmm... better not try that one.

I find it amusing that I only have 2 followers on my blog, and I have been writing for over a year now. I know that my life is pretty boring, but so are yours people and I read your blogs.... Now lets see how many followers I end up with after saying that?? 0?

Okay, so now I get to go wash dishes, clothes, children and whatever else I can find to clean up. That shouldn't be hard to spot.

Bless ya'll,
Jamie

I only have a few minutes...

So, as time is getting more and more limited in my life, I only have a few minutes to update my blog. I know that you guys are just bursting with excitement, right? Okay, I'll just pretend you are.

It is getting hotter and hotter in the south and we are feeling it! The kids are getting cabin fever by not being able to spend a lot of time outdoors. We can be outside for only 10 minutes and we are dripping sweat. If you are not from the south (Lisa) then you don't realize that the south has a very humid heat, it takes your breath away. It is very dangerous to work in as well.

My husband is an air conditioning service technician and he is accustomed to working in the heat, but I don't think he was prepared for his day on Friday. He was changing out an old unit for a new one and was having to work in an attic. The temp in the attic was roughly 150 degrees. He got dehydrated and was really starting to get me worried. By the time he got home (at 10 pm) I made him strip his wet clothes (from sweat) and dry off. I pumped him full of fluids and made him go to bed. I hate days like that. I get scared that he could die of heat stroke. Ironically, his safety meeting at work this week was on heat stroke. He is fine, but seeing as how the summer just got started, I have another 3 months of worrying about him working in the heat.

The kids and I pushed the chicken pen back about 4 feet to give the girls some grass to munch on. They acted like they had won the grass lottery. It was so funny to watch them scratch like they had never laid eyes on grass before. We were only out in the yard about 30 minutes and had to come in because we were drenched in sweat. The gnats are getting bad here as well. Another not so favorite thing about Summertime in the south.

The garden is doing good. We have picked 25 cucumbers, 3 very small tomatoes(I don't know why they turned red when they were so small),8 zucchini, 2 bell peppers,2 squash, 2 colanders full of green beans and a couple of hand fulls of sugar snap peas.

I pulled up the sugar snap peas because they just weren't doing good. The Turnips got pulled up as well. They were eaten by bugs very badly and they were horrible looking. So, why waste the space in the garden when I can plant something else. I am trying not to get down about the fact that my squash isn't producing like I want them to. I am trying my hand at being patient for once in my life. We'll see how that goes for me... hehe.

Okay, so as of right now, my life seems pretty boring but trust me I have a lot more going on in my life but choose not to post about it. I just don't want to be the blogging downer. Don't worry, it is fine. I am fine.

A big ole' ANYWAY!!! I am so excited about the new blogs that I have found to read lately. You should really see the list of them, it's getting longer and longer everyday. I love taking a few minutes...alright, hours (when I can) reading all of them. I love the fact that like a book, I can get caught up in the story. And, it's almost like getting letters in the mail everyday from those far away friends.

So, I leave you today because I fed my children popcorn for dinner last night and I don't think I can get away with that 2 nights in a row. So I must go BBQ some pork chops, yummy. Until next time my friends...

Bless ya'll,
Jamie

Can anyone say... GIVEAWAY???

On one of the blogs that I read, Shmoopywood, she is doing a great giveaway. Just thought I would pass along the information to those of you (2) that would be interested in entering, or even reading her blog. She keeps me laughing and has lots of info on her blog too. So, rush on over there and read a while and then enter of course for her home made soaps. Also, check out her ETSY shop.

Bless ya'll,
Jamie


shmoopywood: Shmoopywood Give AWAY!!