I've been to Dallas!

I've been to Dallas and got to sit on a real live long horned steer!  

I'll be back soon.  Gotta get caught up with some

things here at home.

College for everyone???

My son...the one that said he was NOT going to college has a 3.6 GPA and is on the Honor Roll!  I am so proud of him and just beside myself!!  Girls this is amazing!  

I just want to share with you that this was a child that struggled from 3rd grade.  I home schooled him in 6th grade.  He went back to school for 7th and 8th grade and my husband home schooled him through high school.  You see...he is a smart kid!  It's just that all children DO NOT learn alike.  After having three grown children and observing how they learned and studied, I firmly believe our education system is doing it ALL wrong.  We need schools for those that learn by doing hands on projects can learn that way, those that need a little bit more help or can't do it ALL but have mastered the basics need to be encouraged that that's okay and as they grow they will learn more on this same subject.  After going through this with Dustin, I am a huge fan of two high schools curriculums.  One for the academic child or one who strives to be more academic and one for those that want to learn a trade or learn more by doing so that when they leave high school they can go get a job right away.  We need our carpenters, electricians, chefs, designers, home decorators, painters, etc for our world to function and they all DO NOT need a college education right out of high school.  

As for Dustin, we always listened to his "I am not going to college".  We would say "one day you may change your mind" but otherwise there are many jobs where you can make enough money to support a family without it.  We encouraged him to look into the construction trades because many of the men in that industry make very good money to support themselves and their families.  After high school he went to work and tried to pay for a nice truck, gas, insurance, cell phone, going out, clothes etc. and found out that it costs more to live on your own than he thought and that he could not afford all that he wanted working at a basic job getting a little more than minimum wage.  

It's truly a "GOD thing" to have him where he is today.  He decided he wanted to study graphic design so that he could design t-shirts and clothing.  He is chose the Art Institute and is studying graphic design and he is GOOD!!!  His projects are amazing and he works hard at his school work and doesn't complain.  He is learning to please the teachers he doesn't agree with or jell with and do what he needs to pass the class.   Most of his classes he has enjoyed but you know there are always the teachers who are....well you know.  

Thanks for listening to my rant.  Just remember to encourage your children in everything they do and that our role as parents is bring them up to be responsible adults who can function in the world we live in.  We have the privilege to raise them in our faith, with our values and sometimes it's easier than others.  So most of all, young moms and dads, enjoy your children, have fun with your children and help them to succeed in life at whatever they want to pursue and just maybe it will be with a college degree but if not...then encourage them to be the best that they can be and to care about others and to love their family.  That's what we've done and boy am I a proud mama!!  Congrats Dustin!  Keep up the good work and I love you so much!  So does your dad!

***A couple projects he had to do at school are shown above with a photo of him with sweet Bella.

It's Done for Now!

It's as done as I am going to get it for now and I'm loving it!  This is my computer/craft room that I started cleaning up last week.  It's a small room ( 8' x 12') off of the family room by the extra bedroom and downstairs bathroom.  Whoever designed this room is so in touch with a woman's need for her photos, scrap booking supplies, a computer and desk, and so much more. My husband put in the cabinets and shelves like we had seen in the models.  I was an avid scrapbooker when we first moved into the house and was in heaven leaving my stuff out ready for the next day when I would come back and finish my pages.  As you see in the before photos, the extra stuff around the house had taken over the counters and this had bugged me since after the first of the year.  How did I go so long with such a mess???  It feels so good to have a clean room.  When we painted in September, we said we'd paint this room that next week and didn't do it....so it still needs painting sometime soon.  I store some of my seasonal wreaths and larger decor on the top of the cabinets.

So here's the same view of the room(which is hard to get a shot of, by the way!) all cleaned up!

This is the before...what a mess!  I am embarrassed!

This is another after.  I need to find a new lamp.  That one is an old one I need to get rid of the painting on the wall is one my son, Dallas painted in art class.  It's really pretty and looks so great now that I framed it.  This room has little touches of my children all over it.
This is another before..the handpainted calendar is from my tole painting days.  I can't get rid of it.  The photo boxes on the shelves are full of photos by year.  I am going to go through them this summer and really weed out the bad ones.  I have so many I've kept and for what???

My hubby wanted an area to put some of his things so they are not on the counter in the kitchen.  This is his little space with some of his books, etc.

I am redoing the wall above this area and haven't totally decided what to do...the framed article is one of when we were featured in the local newspaper in an article about how parents support their children in alternative sports these days however, our son Dallas got his story told of how we never supported him in his dream to be a pro skate boarder(he didn't really have talent on the skate board and was a very good student so we fully supported his education--sending him to a private high school instead) but fully supported his brother, Dustin in his motocross career.  Dustin raced for 2 years and had hopes of turning pro but soon realized it was a long hard road that he really didn't want to take.  We all had fun while it lasted and had many fun family times riding our motorcycles and quads in the desert.

Another messy before photo.

After~so peaceful!

Another after~see the wreaths and stuff on the top of the cabinets

 and a nice clean organized counter!

Some of the books I've started this year and need to sit down and finish.  My stack of CD's I don't know what to do with.  The candles are from my bathroom and I'm thinking about spraying them black.

I bought these three baskets at Pier One to hide some of my electronic things beside the plug in and to store cards I have for any occasion.  A friend gave me a set of cards from Hallmark with dividers for each type.  I forgot I had them so I thought if I get them in plain sight, I would use them.

Here's a close up of a card and the dividers.

Another before...more shelves with photos, craft supplies, photo albums, etc.

Here's the after...I still need to weed through some of this but it's better than it was.

This is the before looking into the room at the computer desk.  A country bench still sits along the Wall of Fame!

The cleaned up computer desk with the new iMac.  The child's painting

 on the wall is a self portrait of my son Dustin when he was in elementary

 school that I had saved and framed.  I love it!

This is Dustin's Wall of Fame!  This wall is a photo from all of his races and a few of his plaques and awards he received along the way.  I bought the photos in the beginning.  I began taking photos at the races and I started to get some good shots that I liked better than the ones the professional photographer took.  This wall has lots of good memories!  This room should actually be renamed my memory room.

These treasures are items my children have made me over the years in their art classes.  The snowman cup, Ariel, the little bowl and the handprint were all made by Danielle over the years. She always made such neat items.  The brown tea pot was made by Dallas his Senior year in ceramics class and is so special. 

I completed one part of my spring cleaning and it feels so good.  Hope you get some of your cleaning done and enjoy the memories along the way like I did!  Enjoy your day!  SMILE!!! 

Volleyball~~What fun!

The girls can jump and spike!!!

Blocking at the net!  Why is it that someone always walks 

in front of you when it's a great photo opportunity???

Our gold medalist winners~Phil and Todd

Valerie and her friend hung out with us courtside.  Valerie works with Dwight.

The Professional Volleyball AVP tour came to Riverside, CA.  That was a first and real treat due to the fact that we are 45 miles from the beach so how did this happen?  One of our city council members, Rusty Bailey went to West Point with his friend who happens to be the President of the AVP and one thing led to another and why not a volleyball tournament in Riverside???  For two or three days, they trucked in sand, closed down a city street and a large parking lot near the convention center and whalaa....we have sand courts for a volleyball tournament and what a fun time Riverside had.  It was a hot one....in the high 90's...we all wished we were at the beach!

Dwight and I got to attend as his company supported the tournament and we happened to get to sit courtside....right on the sand.  That made it even more fun.  We got to see the top players in the US and world.  Todd Rogers and Phil Dahlhausser were gold medalists at the last Olympics and put on a great show.  They sat just 6 feet away from me!!!  AND the gold medalist women's team are expecting babies so they weren't competing but the silver medal winners, Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh were awesome!  Although their swim suits were a bit too small for my comfort...especially their bottoms but ya know they seem to stay on pretty good.  Although one girl had a tag sticking out the back of her suit and her crack was showing...her bottoms were definitely too small and it bugged all of us.  

What a fun time and we hope that we get to go again next  year here in Riverside.

It's getting there!

A little sneak peak at what my computer room looked like two days ago.  It's getting there...I'll be working on it again today and will show you my cleaned up room soon!  Hope you're all having a great day while I am trying my best to organize the last few items I don't know what to do with.  Do I really need them?  Or should I throw them?  That's always the hard question because I might....just might need these items sometime???  Won't I???

Amazing!

This is amazing!  

Click here to be 

blown away 

like I was!

Have a beautiful

day!

Tuesday Tulips

I bought yellow tulips for my MIL and then we bought purple tulips for my daughter's MIL who hosted all of us for Easter.  So, I bought these for myself.  Aren't they gorgeous???

I'm off for a walk this morning again and then to tackle my messy computer room.  I'll let ya know how I do.  I took pictures of the before so when I get it done...you will see what a job it was!

Have a great tulip Tuesday!