Loving This Blogging Stuff

So, I really have to give a shout out to this new website I found yesterday.  It is:





Go there!  It is really a cool place!  I fell in love with it!
 
Lacey

All That Hard Work Paid Off.

So, we have had an interesting past couple of weeks. We have been extremely busy! I found that at the end of all of those HARD days of work I was very tired, yet more so, I was filled with a great since of accomplishment for the tasks that we had done throughout these two weeks.

Last Sunday, the 12th, we went over and helped my mom and dad with some chores they had in their yard.  They had a peach tree that had a few broken limbs on it from the mass production of peaches they had last year.  They also had a massive rosebush that was about 10 feet in diameter that had almost took over their driveway that we cut down.  We cut the limbs off the peach tree, and piled that brush in a pile.  Next Mike, my dad and I cut away at this massive rosebush.  I failed to take before and after pictures, but I if you have ever been to my parents house you know that these tasks were no small feat.  After the peach tree, trimming the rosebush back and cutting back a few more of their trees we have several piles of limbs and brush that we need to burn (and with a burn ban on this isn't possible) or have mulched.  Next I plan to help them tackle their pool area.

I love my parents to the ends of the earth and back.  I felt so good being able to go over there, put in a hard days work and come home tired, sore and ready for bed.  My parents have done so much for me, especally here the past year or so, it was rewarding to be able to give something back to them.  My dad drives a frac sand truck and when he does have time off he is usually really tired and doesn't want to take the time to do things in the yard.  Understandable.  I am just so glad that I can help them out when I can.

I also started crafting.  Mike's sister and brother-in-law just built a new house (about 5 feet from their old house) and so I wanted to make his niece's something for their new rooms.  I asked Mike for a Cricut Scrapbooking Machine for Valentine's Day.  I used that for this project.



I had Rachel's in mind first.  She is all about the pink, black and zebra prints.





Sara's was next.  Her room decor uses a black, gray and ivory color scheme.



Emily is the youngest and used the brightest color scheme.



 Each of the girls were just extremely thrilled to have gotten the plaques and letters for their new rooms.  I was really excited that they liked them so much.  I might actually keep making things.  I am such a perfectionist that I didn't want to give them to the girls because they weren't perfect.  However, I learned a lot about this crafting stuff and I think I can do it again!

It is really rewarding to do work or make things and see the results of the hard work.  I like that feeling and I LOVE doing things for people and making gifts for people.  It makes me feel really good.

Tap class is going well and I am catching on pretty quickly.  I may be able to do the next recital!  Wind Symphony is going well...especally since I got a new mouthpiece for my clarinet and got it repadded!  Our first concert is May 1st!  I am really excited about that.

I have taken on the personal goal of getting my Series 7 License for my job.  It is a very tough and tedious test.  It is a 7 hour long test with 250 questions.  Possibly the most difficult test I have ever taken in my life.  This will open many doors for me in the finance industry and I am looking foward to starting the study process all over again.  I love my job and I love this industry.  I come to work everyday and it is always something new.

Lacey



Thankful

• I am thankful for my beautiful daughter. She was born healthy, happy and full of life. I couldn't imagine having to live without her. She is my reason for living. I do everything I do because of her and the decisions I make I make because of her. I have recently started following this blog: http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/ and it helps me to remember just how blessed I am. I hug Amanda tighter and kiss her a little more. Because you never know and I sincerely take that for granted.
• I am thankful for my family. My parents, siblings and Mammie (plus all my extended family). How many people out there don't have a family? How many people miss out on holidays and celebrations just because they don't have someone to celebrate it with? Many.
• I am thankful for Michael. I have a love I have never known before. I am thankful that he has been there for me when I was at my lowest point in my life. He has kept the sunshine in the sky and the tears from falling (as much as he could). Words can't describe just how much I feel for him, I know, because I have tried to tell him myself.
• I am thankful for the many people that I can call my friend. The ones I lean on when times are tough, the ones that offer advice and the ones that I can offer advice to. They have all made me who I am and some have helped me learn who I want to be.
• I am thankful for my ability to see, hear, and touch. I am glad I can hear the music as I play it, read the music that I am playing, be able to grasp the Clarinet and play the right notes, most of the time. I take for granted these even simple tasks.
• I am thankful that I live in a country where I can have my own set of beliefs, about anything, and not be made to enter into a centeralized think tank.
• I am overly thankful that there are men and women that fight and some that have died for the freedoms that we have.

I am thankful. I have to keep this in the forefront of my mind and not let the days go by without remembering that we all have troubles, ups and downs, yet we have happy times as well and that no matter what life throws at us we need to never take that for granted.