Mama's Mumblings

Hey friends!

I hope you are all enjoying  this warmer weather! It seems to have gone from Winter to Summer here. No Spring for us, but that's not unusual for Alabama. I hope everyone is recovering from the floods and tornadoes that have seemed to plague so many of you!

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School is finally officially out for the summer! Jameson had a really great year. He made all A's for the year, and got several awards at Awards day.  We are so proud of how hard he works!

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Speaking of Jameson, he has easily fallen back into the summer sleep schedule. He slept until 11:20 this morning! He never, ever sleeps that late!  Of course, I am LOVING not having to set an alarm 3 days a week! That changes next week, though, when Jameson starts two weeks of Science Camp.

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It's strawberry picking time! We picked strawberries at Watts Farm for the first time last year and had a blast, so we knew we had to go again this year. We only picked 2 gallons last year and they didn't last a full week, so we picked 4 gallons this year!

Soaking in a vinegar and water bath!

4 Gallons of berries ready for the freezer with a bowl macerating with sugar for cake!

If you live in the Northeast Alabama area and want the best strawberries you've ever eaten, Watts Farm is the place to go!

 

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Marty got the Redneck Rivera swimming pool cleaned and ready for swimming this weekend. My two great-nieces came over for some fantastic pool-time fun!

Jessie flying through the air!

He's not too sure about swimming around with 4 girls.  LOL

Kacie and Chelsea decided they enjoyed watching more than swimming.

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The "Business" continues to be active, especially with Mother's Day and the end of school. My dining/craft room is worse than it's ever been, but I am hoping I'll have a chance to sort/clean/organize some now that school is done. Here are a few recent orders.

Frames are still my favorite thing to do!

Have you ever seen a pink Iron Man?

I'm working on something that will hopefully make looking/ordering things easier for everyone.

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Thank you

On this Memorial Day (and every other day), I am so thankful to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedom.

 

 

 Thank you for all those who have served, and God Bless all those family members and friends who were left behind.

Teacher's gift idea.

Hey friends!

So much has happened since the last time I posted.  Many thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the Oklahoma storms!  We have a niece that lives in Moore. Thankfully, she is OK, as well as her home. She said she lives 0.8 miles from the hospital that was hit. Unfortunately, many Alabamians know exactly what they are going through.

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Yesterday was Jameson's awards day, so it was unofficially his last day of school. He didn't know it was his last day of school until this morning, when he woke up at 8:00 and thought we were running really late. HAHA!  I love surprises!

Anyway, since yesterday was his last day, we wanted to give his fabulous teacher a gift to show her how much we appreciated her this year.  It was her first year of teaching, and we think she did fantastic! All the kids love her, as did the parents. I wanted to make he something really special, that had a lot of meaning, and wasn't the typical figurine or lotion set. After weeks of thought, this is what I came up with.

 

These are the names of all the children that had been in her class at one point during the year.

On the front, I wanted to make it funny, so I put "I survived my 1st year of teaching!"  She has a wonderful sense of humor, so I know she will appreciate that.  HAHA!

Jameson and Ms. Upton

Hugging after she read his (hysterical) card and got her gift card (I did the shirt plus a gift card). I LOVE the fact that our school still believe in HUGS!

Ms. Upton after opening her shirt.

I think it was a hit (at least with some of the other teachers I know), so I'm glad I was able to figure out how to design it and make it work.

Even though it was a great school year, I am SO glad to have my baby boy home with me for the summer! Lazy days are here again!

Water, water Everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

When  we went to bed Friday night, we had no clue what we would wake up to Saturday morning. We knew rain with a chance of storms were predicted overnight, we just didn't realize HOW MUCH rain we would eventually get.  

Before bed, we had lightning like I've never seen before, other than the night of the April 27th, 2011 tornadoes. Flashes going off every few seconds, lasting for hours. It was truly an incredible sight!  It looked like things had calmed down, but within an hour of going to bed, strong (and LOUD) thunderstorms came through our area. We also noticed how heavy the rain seemed to be. Don't get me wrong, I love our deck, but I had NO IDEA how loud the rain hitting that deck would be in our bedroom. HAHA! (The head of our bed is against the outside wall where the deck is.)  It rained, and rained, and RAINED all night long!

When an exceptionally loud thunderstorm woke us up early this morning, I checked Facebook to see if there was anything going on. I saw that my mom had posted that they had already received at least 7 1/2" and her boat house was half-way under water.  I immediately called to make sure they were OK. She assured me they were fine and the house was fine, but they probably wouldn't be able to leave the house until things calmed down and the water receded. I then saw where people were saying many roads in our town were flooded.

Then, the pictures started rolling in:

Hwy 21 Munford. The owner of the car told police he thought he could make it if he tried to
 drive through the water fast enough.  Photo by Marty.

Jenifer Road in Munford. Photo by Marty

Cheaha Road in Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. There was supposed to be a rodeo here today! Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Driveway off Hwy 21 in Munford. Photo by Justin/Jodie Lackey

Driveway to Hwy 21. Photo by Stacy Sirmon

Cheaha Road in Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Side of Hwy 21. The "brush" is dried corn stalks that floated across
the hwy and got lodged in the fence.  Photo by Marty

Curry Station Road, Munford. Photo by @cila10860

Hwy 21 Munford. Photo by Justin/Jodie Lackey

The scariest thing I saw this morning was this video taken by Jessica Watts of Munford.  This is on Cheaha Road in Munford, at the foot of Cheaha Mountain. My mother has to drive this road every day to get to her house.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Thankfully, so far everyone we know is safe, but there are a lot of people who have a lot of damage to clean up! We definitely need to remember this during the summer when we are complaining because we have no rain!

I hope you all have a calm, uneventful weekend!

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Thanks to those of you who let me use your photos. And for those I don't personally know, I will remove the photo/video if you want me to!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my very best friend in the whole world....

My Mama.

My mother has been right by my side through thick and thin, good times and bad, joy and sadness. I can't imagine not talking to her every single day. She makes bad days good, and good days even better! She's not only my best friend, but my daughter's best friend, too. We are so incredibly blessed!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAMA! We love you more than anything!!

I would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, soon-to-be moms, hope to be moms, moms who have lost their children, single dads who also serve as moms, friends and relatives who are raising children whose moms couldn't, step-moms, foster moms, adoptive moms, stand-in moms, and fur-baby moms out there!