An Observation

First let me say that I am sorry if this offends anyone. I have been trying to figure out for months now who Barack Obama reminds me of, everytime I see him I start wracking my brain because I know I have seen that face somewhere else before. Well, during the debate the other night it finally came to me...he looks like Weird Harold from the old Fat Albert cartoons!!

I have a friend who is a diehard Obama supporter and she couldn't believe how "sassy" my comments were about him the other night. Several of us were going back and forth about his hair and makeup just waiting for her to show up and egg our houses during the night...she took it in good form, no eggs were harmed this weekend except for her omlet:)

Just an observation!

If you like suspense then read...

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Tidbits

I got this email the other day and decided to make it a blog. If you have any questions you are dying to have answered just send them to me.



35 ODD THINGS ABOUT ME

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? nope

2. Do you own a gun? no

3. What's a favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee house? Venti Cafe Mocha no whip

4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning ? COFFEE

5. Do you do push-ups? Used to in gym class

6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? depends on what I am wearing

7. Favorite hobby? photography, crafts

8. Do you have A.D.D? I think I do a little bit

9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? easily distracted (hmmm...ADD)

10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: I am tired, the dog is nuts and Grace better get her room clean!

11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. Diet Coke, coffee, water w/ special k pink lemonade packet, sweet tea

12. Current worry right now? too many

13. Current hate right now? Grace not cleaning her room!!

14. Favorite place to be? the lake

15. Do you like to travel? yes...I will go to Italy at somepoint even if it is by myself!!

16. What color shirt are you wearing? grey with paint stains from all my craft projects

17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? nope.

18. Can you whistle? not like the guy from Andy Griffith

19. Favorite color? I bleed orange and blue

20. If you could would you be a pirate? only if I got to spend the treasure and not bury it

21. What song do you sing in the shower? nothing...I am usually still trying to wake up

22. Favorite girl's name? Grace...Georgia Grace and Grace Sadler, I love Harper but it did not sound good with Partin

23. Favorite boy's name? Camden...

24. What's in your pocket right now? lint

25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? Holly Hobbie

26. Worst injury? hematoma from a car accident that stayed on my leg for several years

27. Do you love where you live? yes but would love to be in Florida

28. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4 (5 if you count the broken one in the attic)

29. Who is your loudest friend? Holly (she is from Texas) and Whitney W. though I really don't characterize them as loud just a lot of fun to be around!!

30. How many pets do you have? one dog, Tebow

31. Does someone have a crush on you? not that I know of, at one time I guess Chris did

32. What is your Favorite Book? anything by Jennifer Weiner, Debbie Macomber, Nicholas Sparks, Wendy Corsi Staub, Jodi Picoulet and the list goes on

33. What's your favorite candy? Hot Tamales and Caramel Creams

34. Favorite Sports Team? Florida Gator Football (refer to fav color question)

35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Is it still raining?

Addy pics

Baby Addy got to come home today!! Here are a few pics...I think she looks like my dad, I can't stop looking at her. I told Kathrine I was going to bring her home with me :)

Announcing...

the arrival of Addyson Olivia Gay (Addy) She arrived after 36 hrs of labor and a slight scare weighing in at 6lbs 4.7oz and 19in long. Kathrine is doing good and ready to get home! Enjoy the pics of my new niece:) How come Addy comes 16days early and is 6lb 4oz and Grace comes 16 days early and was 8lbs 7 oz...not fair!!! Her next baby better be a big one!

I am experiencing technical difficulties so pics will come later or you can check out my facebook page.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Pictures say it all...

I have been going through some old photos lately and discovered these and thought I would share since everyone says The Diva is so much like me. What is your opinion?

Community Service

After being heavily involved in the PTO the last few years at Youngsville Elementary I have enjoyed a little break in the action since the kids entered their new school. This week things are back to being busy, busy, busy. Thankfully the kids will track out tomorrow for a few weeks so we will have a little rest.

I have had my orientation this week into the committees at Thales Academy. Since we are a private school, our founder stated from the very beginning that there would be no fundraising which is wonderful...who needs 15 rolls of wrapping paper!? Anyways, I am on the Donation Committee and the Community Service Committee this year and have been designated a co-chair of the Donation Committee, apparently my reputation followed me from YES to Thales. This week has been filled with 2 meetings and another tonight, everyone at a different coffee shop in the area and I think I have had my fill of Cafe Mochas for the week...never:) One thing that I figured I could do was the soup labels, box tops, water bottle labels, etc...that generate money for the school, well, that is something that our founder is against. Imagine my shock when I was told that!! That is literally thousands of dollars in free money sitting there for the school to use and we can't! Instead we will go to area businesses and generate donations of goods and services for various activities.

For our Fall Community Service project we are joining with the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) to raise awareness and join in the walk on November 1st in RTP. We have a kindergarten student that was diagnosed 2 years ago so we are calling ourselves Team Ryan/Thales Academy. We will be holding a silent auction starting Oct 16th thru Oct 31st, right now we are asking for donations that can be auctioned off, if you would like to help please let me know. We will also be holding a Spirit Week the last week of Oct and a coin drive. I invite you to learn about Ryan at http://tinyurl.com/ryanstory and to join Team Ryan/Thales or to donate to Team Ryan by going to http://tinyurl.com/teamryan. We should have people beginning to sign up today so if you want to donate to a particular walker keep checking in to see when they sign up. Our silent auction will be listed online once we start getting items donated and I will post a link once that is ready. Anyone anywhere can bid on the items, not just Thales Academy parents. Please join us as we support JDRF!

Wordless Wednesday ( a little early and a very old pic)

Old Friends

I may have mentioned before that over a year ago I discovered a little thing that has become an addiction for me...facebook! When I first signed up there were a few people from high school (the one in NC) and college that were on there but not many. Now in the last 2 months the number of old friends on there has jumped increasingly!!

It has been especially great to see the old friends from Florida that I grew up with. It has been great to catch up with everyone and see pics of their families, the last time I saw a lot of them I was 15, now I am 34 and the majority of us have kids. I have kept in touch with and seen a few of these people over the years and rest I have heard updates on through family over the years. This surge of old friends appearing on facebook has only made my addicition to it worse!! I have so many fond memories of my childhood in Florida and being able to reconnect has only made my desire to move back worse.

I have told several people that I really feel like Florida is where we need to be. Chris and I have talked about it and we have both looked ( I look and forward to him) at jobs for him down there. Don't get me wrong, I love NC and the Wake Forest/Youngsville area and we have family and lots of friends here but there is a strong pull right now to Florida. I told a couple of old friends that I feel like I need to "get back to my roots" if that makes sense.

When we spent 2 weeks in Fl last Oct the kids fell in love with it and they are up to moving if we find something and the Lord works it out. On previous trips they had been to young to really care but last year changed that for them. Grace would have stayed if we would have let her.
Pray for us and that if Florida is where we are to be then the Lord will open job opportunities and close the loose ends that need to be closed here to allow that to happen. It would be great to be back in GATOR COUNTRY!!

I am so proud:)

Jenna and Jen both made their blogs so pretty today! (not that they were bad before) Yeah!!!

This weekend was busy for the Partin's. First we had Camden's baseball game at 9am Sat morning, he had to be there between 8-8:30...I feel that there should be no games before 10am!! The team looked good and even though they lost by 2 runs they had a lot of fun!
The rest of the day was spent doing yard work, still trying to get rid of those ants (my feet look like I have measles from all th bites), picking up the house and Chris finishing the painting in the kitchen.

Sunday was homecoming a Oak Grove Baptist here in Youngsville. My dad was the Pastor there for several years while I was in college. Our dear friends, Dan and Beth Southern and their children Hannah and Nathan came so Dan could deliver the message. They were the youth ministers while my dad was here and then they went on the mission field and served in China, Thailand and India. They have moved back to Mt Airy, NC to take care of Dan's parents who are ill. It was so good to see them. Beth's daddy was a pastor and she lost him several years ago so she knows just what we are going through and continue to go through daily.

While I was at church with the kids Chris was home finishing the painting since I was having a Stampin Up workshop at the house at 2pm. He got everything done just as Jessie pulled in the driveway! Now that the painting is done it is time to sell the house...just kidding:) I got some great ideas for teacher gifts from the workshop yesterday that Iwill share in a later post. Jessie is going to do some at her house so once I make some I will take some pics...I am so excited! Another project I am working on is scanning in all our old pics and I will post some on here as well as Facebook (another addiction) once I get going good.

Kathrine is ready to pop...she is hoping to get through this week of work so she can finish training her temp and then she is ready. I am rethinking Addy's weight. I told Kathrine I was guessing 8lbs 3oz but now I am lowering it to 7lbs and some change. The nursery is ready for Addy and looks really good, I will take pics the next time I am over there.

The kids have their first track out for this school year starting Friday. While they are out we will be busy with dance and baseball as well as Open House for the new building for the school and baby Addy's arrival. I guess I need to go take a nap and rest up for all the busyness ahead of me!

Ants!!!!

I really should not complain too much because in other homes we have had cats/kittens dropped off and take up residence in the crawl space (in 2 houses) and we have had mice in a couple of houses we lived in the past. So far in the 3 years we have been here there have been no stray animals (Chris would beg to differ on Tebow) and no furry little creatures scampering in and out of walls. Instead we have ants, many ants.

Our problem started last summer while I spent 3 weeks at the lake and Chris was gone to World Changers. I happened to come back to Raleigh one day and decided to stop in and check on the house before heading back to Lake Gaston. Upon entering the house I saw a thin black line on the living room carpet. Upon further inspection we realized it was ants coming from the back door across the living room, into the master bedroom and under the dresser and up to the window sill. I stayed for 2 hours spraying and vaccumming up ants. We continued to have little infestations throughout the past year either at the side entrance by the kitchen or at the back door again. We would spray, suck em up, spray some more, etc...

We have also tried grits (found that on the internet) and that seemed to work until last weekend.
Chris went out to do yardwork and when he opened the storage room there were ant hills all around the inside of the room and when he ran the weedeater they had gotten into some mulch in the back yard and made homes in there. Now we have several huge mounds in the yard.

No matter what we use on them they keep coming back and just won't DIE!!! If anyone has any suggestions of how to rid our lives of these little pests please let us know. My feet got eaten up tonight while I was trying to sprinkle yet another ant killer on them and Idon't think my feet can take it anymore...please help!

Remebering...

all those that lost their lives in the Attacks on 9/11/01. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since that day changed all of our lives.

I remember that I was working at a Dr office and we immediately turned on the TV and the internet and watched all day what was happening in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania as well as all over the country. I was pregnant with Grace and Camden had just turned 2 two weeks earlier. Isaved all the newspapers from that day so the kids will be able read about it when they start studying it in school but I have not been able to look at them since that day/week.

Many things have changed and occurred over the last 7 years but one thing remains...we will never forget the lives lost and sacrifices made on September 11, 2001

Horses

This morning Chris took the kids to school so I was able to sit here and watch the news with my hot coffee. While sitting here I noticed something go running past the window in our backyard. It doesn't usually bother me to see something run by quickly because we have a lot of deer that come through from either side and if you remember my wordless wednesday post a couple of weeks ago, we have had some turkeys strut through the yard.

What really grabbed my attention this morning though was the fact that whatever ran by was MUCH larger than a deer and darker. As I got up to investigate I heard the kids out at the bus stop carrying on loudly and noticed that what was in the backyard was coming back...a HORSE!!

Yes, I said a horse was in the backyard this morning. Don't know where he came from because the closest people I know with horses are several miles away in the opposite direction. So unless he had been loose all night, who knows where he belonged. Before I could do anything else he took off toward the middle school that is about 1/2 mile from the house and I never saw him again. This was all during a busy traffic time near the school too so I hope he was found and returned safely home.

If he comes back maybe I can start offering horse rides in the backyard!

Wordless Wednesday

I am running behind today so here is my post, better late than never:) Leave a caption!

Thought...

So Jen Jordan asked today on her blog "What would you do if you were not afraid?" I commented to her that there were so many things that I would do, so rather than fill up her comment section I felt a blog coming on. She will probably come up with some AWESOME response to this question when she posts again but I am just going to list what I would do, so here goes...

1. I would take a dance class...I danced MANY years ago and love it and would love to do it again. Where Grace takes lessons they have an adult class that meets once a week but I am just not ready to sign myself up.

2. Finish school (I am not afraid to finish) and then go to Law School . What I am afraid of is spending so much time away from the family to take the classes and study. I don't want to miss anything and I know that by going back I would have to miss a lot

3. Become a realtor...I love house hunting!! I am on the real estate websites all the time. With the over abundance of realtors out there right now I am afraid that I would not make any money.

4. genetic testing for cancer...since both my parents have had cancer it something that I have wanted to do but I am also afraid to do it because, eventhough I resigned myself to the fact that I will more than likely get the BIG C someday the thought of actually seeing it on paper before it happens scares me.

As I am doing this I realize that I am not afraid to do these things or the other things floating around in my brain. What I am is apprehensive and lack the self confidence I feel I need to do the things that I want to do. Because here are a few things I would love to do and I am not afraid to try them if given a chance..

1. Bungee jumping...I should be afraid but I would give anything to do it just once.

2.Kite surfing...saw it on the Today show and it looked awesome and I immediately told Chris I had to do that. I would parasail too if given the chance.

3.moving to a new state (or an old one)...I would love to move back to Florida or to the Atlanta area or to the Spartanburg area. I have family and friends in all those places and my first choice is Florida. Chris knows this and we have looked into jobs in the areas of Florida that we like but so far nothing has come up. We'll see what happens...

4. plastic surgery...there are several things I want done and if given chance (with the right doctor) I would hop up on that table and get things done:)

5. Go to Ecuador in Feb with the group from church. I would love to go see what Michael and Cindy are doing in their mission work down there and to help in any way possible and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know if my dad was here he would be the first name on the sign up sheet! If I had the money available to go I would be right there with the group.

6 Ok, since I have to have even numbers (yes, I am a freak!) I needed one last thing that if given the chance I would do. We have a small airport near us and every weekend they have skydivers that camp out and dive all day Sat and Sun. I would love to skydive! Grace even wants to skydive! When she gets older, if she still wants to do it, then we will go together!

So, we learned what I would do, not if I was not afraid, but if I had more self confidence in myself and was less apprehensive. Yet we also learned the things I would do no matter what if I was given the chance and I must say that I like that list MUCH better because there is some great stuff on that second list!

Christmas...

is just around the corner! Can you believe it?! Now that I am done with the crafts for Baby Addy it is time to turn my attention to Christmas.

I went to Michaels last week and they had the wooden ornaments out and a plethora of other things. I came back with a couple of ornaments to get the kids started, I am thinking teacher gifts, and a cut out snowman. Grace started on her star ornament yesterday and I started on the snowman. Hopefully I will have him done within the week and will post a picture when he is complete. I am going to Michaels later this week to get some more things to do and will let you know as I progress through my Christmas crafts.

I am having a Stampin Up workshop on Sunday. If anyone is interested in placing an order let me know and I will let my Rep know. You can checkout the fall catalog at www.stampinup.com I have started doing stamp projects and cards, have tried scrapbooking but just can't get in to it. They have some great stuff for Christmas and other holidays. Let me know if you are interested in anything!

Baby shower

Sunday morning Grace and I traveled up to Lake Gaston and went to church at Enterprise (where my dad was pastor) and then after church we decorated for Kathrine's baby shower. Stacy (Jared's sister), myself and several ladies from the church threw a baby shower for Kiki and it was very nice. Quite a few ladies from the church came as well as friends from outside the church. The theme was a bed and bath shower since baby Addy has A LOT of clothes already thanks to myself and my mom. We also asked that people bring Addy a book to get her library started and I must say she got some good ones and ironically there were no repeats!

She got what every girl needs, bubble bath:) Along with lots of diapers, lotions, gowns, washcloths, burpcloths, several handmade blankets, an heirloom Bible, and lots of other neat stuff.

Kiki has all the crib bedding and Stacy and I gave her the pack n play so now the only big things she needs are the car seat and stroller and with the money she got at the shower she can go get those this week. She is currently 36 weeks and had an appt today and hopefully we will have a baby by the end of the month unless she is stubborn and holds out to her due date or later.

Kiki is hoping for sometime between the 28th and 30th of Sept and some lady at the shower guessed that she would not have the baby until the 24th of Oct! That will not be the case even we have to help her birth the baby at home ourselves.

Camden and Grace track out of school Sept 19th and don't go back until Oct 13th so hopefully they will get to be at the hospital to see baby Addy the day she arrives. I will keep you posted on the impendig arrival. In the meantime enjoy the pics of Kiki from her shower, don't tell her I put them up or she will shoot me:) I will try and post some more shower pics later.

arts and crafts

Today I have been finishing up the stuff I am making for Baby Addy, my niece that is due at the end of the month. I took a couple of pics, one is of the door hanger that is going on the outside of her bedroom door and the other is a picture frame I made that will match the decor of the pink and brown nursery.

Ok I admit it...

I watched the new 90210 the other night. Chris looked at me and just walked out of the room and went and did a podcast. All I can say is that it definately is not your mothers 90210, wait a minute, I am the mother ! It had the same music only updated, of course Brenda and Kelly were there and then Kelly's little sister, Erin is there too. All I can say right now is "Hmmmm..." If I watch it again I will let you know my thoughts.

I was disappointed in the season premiere of Prison Break, anyone out in blog land watch it? It was very predictable throughout the entire episode. I am glad Sarah is back but I have a feeling this will be the last season of the show unless it gets REALLY good from here on out.

We are currently getting rain from TS Hanna and watching to see where Hurricane Ike decides to go later this week. I have been so busy this week that I have not had a chance to go to the grocery store so I went today. Actually I went to Wal-Mart, let me just say that I have not been to Wal Mart in months because I hate going there and dealing with the mass of people. I had to go today because I had a couple of things that I could not get anywhere else. You would have thought we were getting ready to have the STORM OF THE CENTURY there were so many people there, have I mentioned I hate WalMart? It took forever to get the groceries and then I stood in the check out line for an hour, yes, an HOUR!!! Only 1/2 the lanes were open, per the usual, with 20 people at least lined up in each one. Have I mentioned that I HATE WALMART!!
If Ike does decide to come this way we will just go on vacation so we can eat out because I will not be dealing with those crowds and then some.

Grace is supposed to tryout for the Nutcracker tomorrow afternoon but we have had some issues today that may prevent her from doing that. I will let you know if we release her to go audition, right now it is not looking good. Camden has his first game for Fall baseball next Sat morning and then next Sunday afternoon I have a Stampin Up workshop. If you are into stamping or scrapbooking check out their website www.stampinup.com and look at the online catalog. If you want anything let me know and I will let my consultant know.

I better go "batten down the hatches"!

Whew!

I made it through today!! Last night at 9:30pm the phone rang and it was the Headmistress of the kids school (Thales Academy). Anyways, they needed a substitute today for one of the 2nd grade classes and she wanted to know if I would be able to help out. I said "Sure!" and then went to bed and prayed all night.

Over all it was a good day. They teach by direct instruction so it was a bit different than what I am used to when the kids were in public school. I was no where near as fast as their usual teacher and I had one little boy, who hugged me everytime he walked past me, tell me he was so glad I was slower than the teacher because he could actually understand everything and grasp the concepts we were studying. The kids were well behaved but I did call down 2 boys toward the end of the day and then from somewhere in the room I heard a voice say "OOOH! She's getting serious now!"

Grace was excited to have her mom right next door all day, Camden was not as enthusiastic but they survived. The dog, who was home all day by himself, was beyond excited when we finally got home this evening. Not only did I "work" today but it was the first day of the new dance season so we went straight there after school, Grace danced her 1 1/2 hours and then we came home after 6pm.

It was a long day but a good day and I look forward to substituting more often at the school. Tomorrow it is back to all my craft stuff I started this weekend. I am back to doing my decorative painting and will post some pics when I get finished, hopefully tomorrow but maybe Friday.

We are also getting ready for TS Hanna (Ike is right behind her) so keep us in your prayers. Hopefully it will not be too bad and will not affect Grace's tryouts for Carolina Ballet The Nutcracker on Sat or Kathrines baby shower on Sunday up at the lake.

Whew! Glad I can finally prop my feet up and that this busy day is over!

Wordless Wednesday x 3

Tractor-trailer plows into restaurant; town loses power :: WRAL.com

Tractor-trailer plows into restaurant; town loses power :: WRAL.com

Excitement in Youngsville this morning!

I took the kids to school this morning and as I came through town all the lights were on as usual, less than 5 min later I come back through and everything is off. No traffic lights (we have 2), no lights on in Gigi's Coffee Shop and nothing happening at Griffins Restaurant.

When I got home I found out what had happened...a tractor trailer ran into one of our Sunday after church restarants just outside of town (they have fabulous fried chicken) and took out all the power for the whole town. Who knew that one little restaurant was the power source for the entire town!!

The kids are now home because no power means no school, we took a little detour on the way home to check out the restaurant (see news pic in previous post) and it is a mess down there. The truck is still inside, news crews EVERYWHERE and new helicopters too. No one inside was hurt except for the driver of the tractor trailer and they do not know what caused him to run off the road right now.

I know the family that runs the restaurant and I ask that you pray for them. They have had the place up for sale for several months and from the look of things I don't know if they will rebuild or not.