Georgia II

[leigh1975]

Well, there has been a lot going on in my little neck of the woods. My sister in law, who had twins back in March, is causing trouble in the family, which is nothing unusual, I just seem to be a little bit closer to the fire this time, because I am closer to my mother in law. (Her mother, my hubbys step-mom.) Anyway, my sis in law, well ........ she is troubled to say the least. We think she is bi-polar. One minute she is nothing but sweet and loving to her mother, then before you turn around, she's calling her every ugly cuss word there is. She has four children now. The guy she is married to (the twins daddy) just got out of prison last May (2004) How lovely, I know .............. He is in and out. One of the twins, is quite fussy and requires lots of attention. Nothing is wrong with her, she is just one of those high maintance babies. She called her mother at 2 am one night last week and told her to come and get the baby. My mother on law had her for about two weeks. Then her daughter came to get her because the daddy was coming home. Now, here comes the part where I know I may sound selfish. It bothers me to see my mother in law get all wrapped up in this. I mean, my sis in law is a grown woman, and I think that she needs to grow up and own up to her responsibilites. We are not children anymore, we all know what causes pregnancy and how to stop it, ya know? This is just a complicated situation, I hate to unload it on you guys, but I guess it helps me to type out my feelings. There are so many things about this situation and my sis in law I could go on and on about. I just dont know why this bothers me so much, really I dont.

Anyway, I registered for school today, I am finally going back. I am going for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. One of my core curriculum(sp) classes in college algebra, yuck!!!! I am dreading that, and from what the admissions people said, the actual program is hard to get into, I am afraid of that Algebra holding me back.

Take Care and Good Night All!!!!

[martiehawk]

Dianne, I just make an egg wash of a couple of eggs and a little milk and then a flour mixture with a cup or so of flour and lots of salt and pepper and maybe a touch of garlic powder. I heat my cast iron skillet and put just maybe a 1/2 inch of oil in it on med high heat. I dip the cubed steaks in the egg wash and then in the flour and make sure it's coated well. Place in the hot oil and if it browns too quickly (this is usually the case) I turn it down to med. heat and let them cook until done. To keep them warm I put them on an oven proof plate in the oven on 325 until I'm finished cooking for my family of 6 or 7 depending on who all makes it to dinner. Give it another try sometime!

Now, like I said, I can't make gravy but here is what I was told to do and it turned out really good. In a small sauce pan melt 2 tablespoons butter and whisk in 2 tablespoons flour. Cook until bubbly. Pour in some beef or chicken broth (like I said, I used french onion soup) and it thickened right up and was really tasty. Oh, I used 4 Tbsp. each of butter and flour for my can of soup.

Patti, good for you socking away each little bit of money. It all adds up!

Leigh, good for you going back to school. That is something I really haven't had a desire to do. LOL! Algebra isn't too difficult. Just don't be afraid to ask for help from someone who can sit with you and help you understand it. I enjoyed Algebra in school. What I couldn't stand was Geometry. My oldest is working through Saxon Algebra and they incorporate Geometry into it so she doesn't have to take it as a separate class. LOL!

I don't know what to tell you about the family stuff. I know a lot of people just have to help and enable others until they finally figure it out on their own that it isn't the best thing for anyone involved. I just hope those little ones don't feel rejected by their parents. That is tough on kids.

Well, I need to get some chores done before piano and swimming. Curves was cancelled for today but we'll meet tomorrow and probably Saturday morning since they will be open this week.

Ya'll have a wonderful day!!

[Pag36]

Yes Martie every little bit helps just hope the little bits keep popping up lol so will have enough before Sept. I will have to make my reservation early too.

I want to lose at least 5-10 pounds before then if I can but don't know if possible. Am going to be rigid NO candy or cookies other than Animal Crackers I already am careful with salt and no fried foods except for my trusty fried egg sandwich. Plan to try to get a bit more exercise, hanging out my clothes, pulling weeds, riding the bike if my legs will let me. But Adam has to fix my peddle first darn thing keeps coming off. All I need is to fall off the bike yikes. May never get to the reunion if that happens, money or no money. More later friends,

[mousebyte]

martie the Italian Oven use to have a peanut butter and jelly pizza or at least the one in Austell did, have ya'll ever tried that? My kids liked it when they were younger. They don't even like the peanut butter desert pizza that we get at our pizza shop now, I love it (they don't put jelly on it). Funny how kids taste changes over the years. I make my country fried steak exactly like you except sometimes I will add a touch of red pepper to the flour after I do the kids. I make my gravy like you do also. Did you know if you like mushroom gravy that you can drop the mushrooms in the skillet after you put the butter and flour in and let them cook a few minutes, then put the soup in. Also you can add water and a beef bouion or two if you don't have broth. I've never tried it with the french onion soup, that sounds really good. You can also do a cheese sauce for vegetables by acting like your making milk gravy and then just add chunks of velveeta in it and let it melt.

navy it was really good hearing from you and about how well the girls are doing. They have adjusted really great to the move. I think all kids sports while it is great for the kid runs a parent crazy with all the games and practices. Then when the kids are old enough to drive themselves many of them aren't doing the sport anymore. Are they still doing karate? I will keep you in my prayers about buying the house. I was always afraid of buying a house cause I though it jink us. It seemed everytime we bought a new house AT&T moved us to a new state or way to far to drive to work about 3 years after we bought. That is why we rented for 10 years after we moved to GA. I am over that fear for the most part now and feel pretty comfortable with the fact we bought.
But it has only been 3 years so IBM can still move us but I don't think they will since Jerry works from home it doesn't seem to matter where we live.

Dianne my daughter is much smaller than yours, she is 13 and only weights 72 lbs and is about 4'8" but she eats like a horse. Not a lot at one time but constantly eats all day long. She even wakes up in the middle of the night and gets a bowl of ice cream, eats it and goes back to bed. Gee wish I could still do that, but I figure when she hits 40 it will catch up with her same way it did my mom and me. I bet your daughter is going to be tall, Lacy would love to be tall cause she wants to be a model but I think she is going to be to short to be one. You do have a month full of birthdays and I would really push for the steak and shrimp if I were you.

Well Pag I'm glad you haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I would miss your e-mails. Happy to hear that you and Gina both are doing better. You really ride a bike? That is cool. I gave mine up when we moved up here cause you just can't ride on the roads and hills up here. More than one kid has lost control going down the mountain and cut themselves all up so I won't even try it or let my kids try it. We use the 4-wheelers to get around.


I understand how you feel leigh. My s-i-l whom I do like a lot always had one or both of her kids staying or living with her mom so Jerry and I hardly ever felt like we could ask Margie to babysit our kids. Now both her boys (my s-i-l), neither one married have a kid of their own and Margie keeps those two babies every day and some nights. It bothers me a lot sometimes cause I feel like my kids get the short end of the stick with all the attention being on s-i-l's kids and grandkids. Plus I feel Margie is getting to old to have to be raising her great-grandkids. That means she raised her kids, her grandkids, now her great-grandkids. I understand what martie is saying but I also believe in personal responsibility. I have told my kids I love them very much but if they have kids they will be raising them, not me. That I will be there to love the kids only. Then again my mom is raising her grand-daughter. Her mom died and my brother is a bum so my mom is having to raise my neice and it is really ageing my mom cause she is a teenager. My mom got her when she was about 14. My boys are easy but Lacy is a BIG HANDFUL, a high maintance child but I would never send her to one of our mom's to live. She is our responsibility.

Have a great day everyone.
mouse

[mousebyte]

Oh I forgot to tell ya'll, our mountain made the news yesterday. We are the Talking Rock properties where that crazy guy was threating people with a gun and about 30 rounds of clips. Then when they called the cops on him and the police took him to jail some of the neighbors were up by his house and found 3 bombs so the police came back up and set them off back in the woods and then searched the woods for more bombs. But they have a neighborhood watch up here with a bunch of older men on it and they call themselves the rock posse (it is more like a bunch of old men that want to be cowboys, they run around the mountain with guns acting tough) anyhow one of them got on the news saying "We are God-fearing, gun toting, red blooded Americans and we are going to protect this mountain and we have some more boys we are going to put off this mountain". He made us all sound like a country bumpkin. Most of us DON'T tote guns and are just normal families. But it was weird having the police and news crews out here for a couple of days. I mean nothing ever happens out here usually. Plus we had a 17 year old drown in the lake at the bottom of the mountain Sunday afternoon, that was terrible cause he was just so young.

mouse

[martiehawk]

Wow Mouse! I missed a lot by not watching the news this week!! It seems they always ask the most hick person they can find to be on those interviews around here. Oh, and I'll have to try those other sauces now that I know how well this works for gravy. The french onion soup made some really good "onion" gravy, but I LOVE mushroom gravy so that will be next on my list to try. LOL! Maybe even mixed in with the onion stuff.


I'm tired and heading to bed - of course, it IS after 10:00! I just realized. YIKES! The girls and I went swimming today and I'm really zonked. Fortunately, I think tomorrow is one of those stay at home and clean, rest and nap days. LOL!

[kellygirl64]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would stop by the porch and chat with you for a few minutes. Is it hot and humid or what? Been really busy around here as usual. Hubby is working a lot on some big projects at work so Alex and I have been doing some things together. Went to a big flea market on Sunday. Just walked around and looked at everything and didn't buy a thing! Great fun though. I am taking him and my nephew swimming in the morning at a friends pool before I go to work. Very hard to keep them occupied in the summer when you have to work. He went to Vacation Bible School every night last week and had a really good time.

I have been trying to make some changes in my life. I was very unhappy when I went to the DR. last time and saw how much weight I had gained! My blood pressure is also ridiculously high. I have been taking meds for it since I was a teenager but it has gotten worse with age and weight. So, I have started watching my food much more closely. I hate to say DIET but I guess you could say that is what I am doing. I have also joined local gym. It is really neat. They have a code lock on the door so you can anytime 24/7. That works for me! I only joined this week but I have gone each day and walked a mile on the tread machine. It is a start and I will work my way up to more in time.

Hope everyone is well. I miss you all. Post when you can.

Hugs,
Kelly

[Pag36]

Kelly good going on the watching what you eat and the gym too. Nice that you can go there anytime. Lots can't during the day when things are normally open. Good luck with the weight and your BP.

It is hot and humid here too. School is out as of tomorrow well guess I should say today since it is already the 16th now. I think Steven is a bit sad tho' as he likes school just hope he continues to like it.

Well, will talk again soon. Love and prayers to all

[kellygirl64]

Patti,
Thanks for the words of encouragment. They really do help! My Dr. is really on my case, as he should be. I don't go back for about 4 months so I am hoping I can see an improvement by then. It is not a vanity issue any more it is a health issue. I see so many people come into my pharmacy with type II diabeties and I just don't want to be one of them!

Hugs,
Kelly

[Pag36]

Kellygirl you are very welcome. My ministers son early 20's was diagnosed with type 2 and he is anything but heavy not a bean pole either. But he is doing well thank heaven. When they first diagnosed him he was living in Japan (he is a teacher) and that made it rough on eating things he should etc. But he has been back here in states (CA now) for little over a year so things are going okay for him. In fact he just got married to his beautiful Japanese lady.

Take care all