Back to the Mountains!!!!

I got up really early this morning and had the car packed by 5:30am. I didn't want to be rushed trying to pack the car and leave for work. I have to be at work at 7:30am this morning, so I think I will have plenty of time to get the rest of my things done here. I will leave from work this afternoon when I get off and drive up to my sister's house. It just takes around 2 hours, so it is an easy drive.

I don't especially like to drive in the rain, but I guess I don't have any choice. It has been raining here since yesterday and I believe the rain is here to stay for awhile, according to the weather man. It looks like I will be driving up in the rain and coming home in the rain. There is rain in the forecast for the next week. I know we need it really bad, but I hate rainy weekends. Don't you?

Tomorrow, my Mom, sister and I are going to a Quilt Show. For those of you who don't know me very well, I LOVE to make quilts. I have sewn ever since I was a little girl. My Grandmothers both loved to sew and my Dad's Mother made quilts. It is her old house that my parents live in as their summer home in the mountains. That house holds many wonderful memories for me as a child visiting my Grandparents. It now holds many memories for my children as the summer vacation home they visit my parents in.
I am looking forward to seeing all the beautiful quilts at the Quilt Show. It is always fun to see what other people have done and to be inspired!

I always love spending time with my family. My sweet sister and I love talking and visiting with each other. I am so glad that we live close to each other and can spend a lot of time together.

I am slowly learning how to use my new camera, but have not had time to upload any pictures yet onto the computer. I have worked a lot of overtime this week on my Nanny job and have not had much time in the evenings to work with the camera. Are there ever enough hours in the day? I promise I will get some pictures uploaded and posted soon. I did take some pictures at the beach that I want to share. Plus, I will try to take some this weekend if the weather permits. It doesn't sound very promising for outside activities.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet blogger friend, Joyce. (Tales from This Side of the Pond) Her birthday is this weekend. Joyce has just recently moved back to the states from England after living there for 6 years. I loved reading about her adventures while she was there and now I am still enjoying reading about her travels in the US and how she is adjusting to life back in the states. She is precious and if you have never visited her blog, please do so! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Joyce!!!

To all of my other blogger friends, I hope this finds you well and that you have an amazing weekend too. My life is wild and crazy as always, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It keeps me going trying to keep up with my girls and share in the joy of their lives!!!

Love & blessings to you all!

Hello!!!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am OK. I have been so BUSY lately with my new job, getting my daughter moved and settled at college, my camera being broken, etc. that I am sorry to say that I have not been posting on my blog. I have been reading and keeping up with your blogs as much as possible, but just not posting on my own.

Guess what? I just got myself a new camera. YEA!!! So now I am going to spend the weekend trying to learn how to use it. For those of you who know me well, this is no surprise; (LOL) but I am very technologically challenged. I would rather take a beating than have to learn how to use my new camera. I hate stuff like that. I will persevere though and get back into posting pictures for my blog!!! I got a Sony camera and it is so tiny and cute!!!

I am off to the beach today (near Myrtle Beach, SC) to have a fun "girl weekend" with one of my dear friends. She invited me down to share her beautiful beach house for the weekend. Our little dog Holly is going with me. We will have a wonderful time. I can't wait!!! I hope you all have an amazing weekend yourselves.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Another Great Giveaway!!

Hey ladies, I have been stretched a little thin recently, but hey, all is well and I wanted to take the time to let you all know about a wonderful giveaway that my friend Belle is having at Life of a Southern Belle for her 300th post.

Look at this cute candelabra that you put in a wine bottle. Wouldn't that be adorable for your favorite tailgate party this fall? The next item is this beautiful shawl/wrap. That color is definitely my favorite!!! Isn't it gorgeous?

There will be 2 copies of Belle's favorite author, Pat Conroy's newest book to be given away. My oldest daughter just bought that book last week and it really sounded great!!! It takes place in one of my favorite places, Charleston!!!

You also have a chance to win a $20 gift card to Starbucks!

There are 5 chances to be included in the drawing, which will take place this Friday, so hop on over to her blog and take a look. You will love her blog!!! I am in for 5 chances at winning one of these fabulous prizes and I hope you win something too!

This past weekend I moved my daughter to college and I will be going back this Thursday to take one more load and spend the weekend.

I am loving my new job so much and it has been a Godsend for me!! No more stress to put up with at the preschool. I think I have decided on my new camera. I just need to settle down long enough to purchase it. Then hopefully after this weekend, I can settle back in here at home and get back to my "Empty Nest" routine. I have not been as good about posting on my blog lately. Sorry ladies. Life has just been too busy, but that is a good thing. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Love & blessings from NC!

Julie and Julia!

On Saturday, Lauren and I had a girl's day out. We went to eat breakfast with my sweet parents to start off the day. From there, Lauren, my Mom and I went to the nail salon to get pampered. Lauren and I got pedicures and my Mom got a manicure. I didn't opt for a manicure, because with packing and moving Adelaide this week to college, I knew I would ruin my nails in the process.
After our pedicures, Lauren and I went to our local Lilly store and had fun trying on summer clothes that they had on sale for 75% off. We both got some great stuff!
After shopping we dashed by Chick-fil-A for a really quick lunch before catching the movie, Julie and Julia.
If you gals have not seen this movie yet, by all means, run to the nearest theater and see it. You will LOVE it!!!!! I grew up watching Julia Child on TV, so it was so much fun for me to see the movie and relive those "Julia" moments!!
Meryl Streep did an incredible job as Julia and I loved Amy Adams too. She did a great job portraying Julie, and she is so cute!
The reviews tell you not to go see this movie on an empty stomach and I would agree. The food looked amazing and it made you want to go home and cook up something really special!!


Speaking of which, Lauren and I went right over to Barnes and Noble and she got Julia's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

We had so much fun looking at it. Lauren and I want to try some of the recipes, although I won't be making all of them, like Julie did in the movie. That was quite an adventure, to say the least!

Lauren and I both really loved this movie and I think lots of other people did too. The movie theater was packed the day we went. I can't wait to buy this movie when it comes out in the stores. I have always loved to cook, so I guess this was just a given for me that I would love the movie so much.

My New Job!!!!

Just call me Mary Poppins!!! I am so thrilled to say that God closed one door for me, but opened another door that was even better than I could have imagined. For those of you who are new to my blog, I have been a 3 year old pre-school teacher for the past 16 years and I lost my job at the end of the school year. It was so devastating to me, because I loved the children and the special friends I had made at our school.

We had a new director at my pre-school and the past year had been very stressful, so it really ended up being a blessing that my job was abolished and I was able to get a much better job with a wonderful family!


I am going to be a NANNY for 2 sweet young boys!! They both have birthdays this fall and one will be 3 and the other will be 7 years old. The oldest child will be in private school, so I will mostly have the younger little boy. They are both precious! The parents are both doctors. I will work a full day Monday through Wednesday and on Thursday I will get off at 3pm. I will not work on Fridays. That will be great for me to have a long weekend. If I want to leave after work on Thursday, I can drive to be with either of my girls for a long weekend!


It is amazing to me how God works things out in our lives. The oldest child in this family had attended our pre-school in the past, but was not in my class. Instead, I had him in an after school cooking class that I taught. The mother heard that I had lost my job and she contacted me to see if I would be interested in being their nanny.


I remembered the family as being so nice!!! When I went and met with them and was introduced to the younger little boy, I knew that this was the perfect job for me. We worked out all the details and things just fell into place.


My biggest reservation about working full-time was that I had been in a Bible Study with a group of amazing ladies on Monday mornings. I hated to give that up. As it turns out, I am not going to have to do that. The family wanted me so bad, that they said they would work things out so that I could still be in my Bible study. The little boy will stay with the housekeeper while I am gone on Monday mornings to Bible study. Isn't that great? These ladies have been such a wonderful support to me during some hard times in my life and I hated to give that up.

Another "God thing" is that my Bible study leader's house is about a minutes drive from the home where I will be working. How about that? In a city as big as mine, that is pretty amazing!


I started my job on August 3rd and the first week went very well. It was so refreshing to drive to work and not be stressed out about the day. My 4 day work week went by real fast, the housekeeper was so sweet to me, and the children could not have been better. The parents told me at the end of the week how much the children loved me and how happy they were with me!! I was so thrilled. It will be so refreshing to be in a position where I am appreciated for a change!


Although I will miss teaching pre-school, it will be nice to just have these children, instead of a whole classroom full of children. I can love on them and enjoy my time with just them. When school starts, I will mostly just have the younger little boy. I won't have to do lesson plans, I won't have to cut out craft projects at night, I won't have to spend hours on the phone with parents, etc.

Since my own children are away from home, I will love spending time with my "new children" during the week. This family enjoys traveling and takes a lot of time off during the year, so that will be nice. I will get at least 2 weeks off during the summer, a week off at Christmas, time off at Thanksgiving, time off for fall and spring break, etc. Plus, they told me if I needed to take additional time off to do things myself, to just let them know.


I had interviewed at another pre-school, but the director there called me and said that she just did not have enough children enrolled to hire any new teachers. With the economy, there are just not any extra teaching jobs in our area. I was thrilled to get this opportunity to be a nanny for this family and to have a job!!! I still like to help with things for my girls and not be totally dependent on my husband for everything.


I am not an expert on children, but I have taught for 16 years and I have raised 2 pretty amazing young ladies (if I do say so myself). I am very proud of them!!!! God has blessed me with a great family and I hope I can be a blessing to the family that I will be working for.


I worked the week of August 3rd, but then have been off the week of August 10th, since they had already planned a beach vacation. That was fine with me, because it has given me a chance to spend the week with my sister and my parents in the mountains of North Carolina. My husband and my married daughter and her husband were up over the weekend, but now I am just here visiting by myself. My youngest daughter is at the beach with the family that she babysits for in the summer.

Next week I have to help get Adelaide packed up and bring her back to college for the fall. It has been a great summer, but the time has gone so fast. I have loved every minute of my time with her. I am already dreading the time when she has to leave. My nest will be empty again, but I will have my 2 sweet, little boys to love on!!!

Needing a New Camera

Hey gals, I am lost without my digital camera!!! On the last day of my trip to the mountains my camera just died!!! I was so upset, because I take my camera with me EVERYWHERE!!! I went to get a picture of my sister and me as we were leaving and the camera was totally dead. I tried new batteries and that did not work.

We came home that Saturday and went right to a wedding. I hate that I did not have my camera for the wedding. On Sunday I was busy getting ready to leave for a girl's getaway trip to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia and did not have a chance to get another camera. I really would not have wanted to make such a rushed decision anyway. So, needless to say, I went to the lake without a camera. I was sick about that.

The gal's cabin that we stay in there is so awesome and the scenery so beautiful, that I wanted to take pictures to share with you all. That was not the case, since I don't have a camera now. Some of the other ladies had their cameras, so maybe I can get some of their pictures.

We had the best time riding the jet ski. It held 4 people!! We also went canoeing on the lake and the most fun was just lounging in the float-type chairs in the water. We played games at night out on the deck overlooking the water, we ate lots of good food, laughed until it hurt, TALKED,TALKED & TALKED and just had a wonderful time being together as girlfriends.


I have been with this group of ladies for a long time and we have shared lots of joy and sorrow with each other. There are 6 of us. We have been wonderful prayer warriors for each other!!! It was a great time away and we hated to come home last night. Now it is back to reality!! Laundry, housework, etc.


I am going to be looking around now for a simple, but good, digital camera. I am not real technologically minded, so I have to have something that is not too difficult to use. My daughter has a little Canon camera that she loves.

Do any of you have suggestions for a camera that you have purchased that you especially love or one that you have gotten that you don't like? I would be interested to hear some suggestions.

My other camera I had was an HP, but the screen was too small. I will be glad to have a camera with a much larger screen that will be easier to see. My old camera used batteries and I am thinking that I might like a camera that has a charging station (or whatever you call it) instead of using batteries. Any suggestions there too?


In the meantime I am without a camera. I will look forward to hearing from you all. I don't want to spend a fortune for a camera. I just want to have a good basic camera to use for my picture taking and blogging. Thanks and have a great day ladies!

My Daughter's Giveaway!!!

I almost forgot to let you all know that my sweet daughter is having a giveaway and is giving away a beautiful set of picture frames from CSN. Check it out. They have some great products. My daughter (Sweet, Sassy and Always Classy) is linked on my sidebar.

Good Luck!!!