Family Update

I have not been online for a while. We had to let the internet go last July due to financial difficulties but now it is back on. Our family has gone through some major changes. Michael is now 22 and out on his own. David is 21 and living in Texas, he is engaged to a real sweetie named Josey.  Anthony is 18, finished with highschool, staying with his dad and working at Chick-Fil-A for the time being. He is suppose to go into the Air Force in July but he might be ditching the AF for the Army. Lil Keith is 2 now. He has grown so much and has such a wonderful personality. The twins were born on October 19th 2011. Elijah Rain & Adam Sky are now 5 months old. I now have enough boys for a basketball team. I am so proud of them all. Pictures above are of Adam & Elijah right after coming home. The next picture was taken at Lil Keith's second birthday party. All of my boys together. Michael is on the left holding Lil Keith, Anthony is in the middle and David is on the right. The bottom picture is from Lil Keith's birthday party as well. He is blowing out the candle on his Cars cake and his Daddy is making sure he gets it done. I love my family!

Update on the Twins!

As many of you may know, I am pregnant with twins. Right now I am 23 weeks along and we went for an ultrasound yesterday at UNC hospital Rex campus. I am considered high risk because of my age so they are being very particular about my care. (Thank goodness for decent insurance!) Well the boys are doing well. In fact one weighs 1 lb 7 oz and the other one weighs 1 lb 6 oz.. They are head to head and it looks as if they are headbutting each other. I thought they were kicking me this whole time, as it turns out they are hitting each other. I wonder if they are going to butt heads and scrap like this when they are born? We were very happy to see that they are within the 60th percentile and growing fine. Everything looks great! We are truly Blessed!

Fond Childhood Memories-Pickled Beets

The other night I made pickled beets to go along with supper. Now, these days when I make pickled beets its just a matter of getting a store bought can of beets off of the shelf in the pantry and adding them to a bit of vinegar and sugar til I get the exact taste I want. Out of all of this came fond memories of my childhood.

My Mama & my Aunt use to have a huge garden together every year. One of the main things they would grow is beets. Now, I don't care for plain beets but when they are pickled and canned I love them. I remember us gathering the beets out of the garden, cleaning them and the grown up's canning them. That wonderful Ping, Ping, Ping sound of the can's sealing would sound through out the kitchen the rest of the day. Normally on hot days like canning days we would settle for sandwiches for supper. The beets were usually forgotten about until later in the season but I did so love those pickled beets. My Aunt had a large barn/root cellar that she kept all of her canned goods stored in and I fondly remember going "grocery shopping" off of the shelves of that old barn. There would be shelves of green beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pears, apples, pickled squash, apple butter, strawberry jam and of course my favorite pickled beets. The colors of the jars reminded me of jewels on the shelves. Going "grocery shopping" in that barn always gave me a special feeling inside and I always felt as if I was being rewarded when I was able to bring out a jar of pickled beets with me.

What are some of your fond childhood memories?

Helping Daddy Mow the Lawn!

The grass is growing by leaps and bounds here and Keith decided that Lil Keith needed to experience mowing the lawn early to prepare him for when he was older. I, as a cautious parent did not like it. He is too young to be pushing a mower. His Daddy kept a good eye on him though. Now he loves the lawnmower, thank goodness he cannot get it started!

Online Shopping for the Twins

I cashed out recently at MyView.com, which is a survey site. They offered a virtual Visa payment along with several gift cards. I decided to go with the virtual Visa. My cashout was for $25 and I used it right away to purchase an outfit a piece for the twins and a tshirt for Lil Keith. I shopped at www.walmart.com through the MyPoints site (so that I could rack up 5 points per dollar spent) and got 3 cute items for less than $20.

Pregnant with Twins!

I have been absent from posting lately because my life has been super busy. In April my Daddy had a heart attack and Keith ended up having to have his Gall Bladder removed. April & May were very difficult months because of that. Needless to say blogging got thrown out of the window. I am back and I hope to keep up blogging better this time!
Now on to the news in our lives... we found out that we are expecting twins in November. It was a big shock to both of us. The boys are due on November 6th. I am going to have a C-section so it will be scheduled sometime in October. I am excited and scared all at the same time. We are still trying to figure out names for both of them. Wish us luck!

Cashed out with MyPoints!

I cashed out today with MyPoints! I was so happy to cash out for $25 to be sent to my PayPal account! I have 458 points left in my account and I am going to start working right away on earning more! If anyone is interested in joining MyPoints, let me know and I will email you a referral link!

Cash Out with SwagBucks

I cashed out with SwagBucks this week for $10 to be delivered to my PayPal account. I have already received the payout and transferred it to my bank account. I love using SwagBucks and right now they are offering 30 SwagBucks to people who sign up. If you would care to join SwagBucks I am including my referral link below!

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Shellyann36

Come on and join SwagBucks today! You will get rewarded for your searches!

What's for Supper Ya'll? 6/26

Well folks it is the weekend and things here at the house are pretty relaxed. We got the house cleaning done and the laundry is also complete. I am relaxing and working online at my sites right now. For supper this evening we are going to have Hamburgers with slaw and chili. I have been craving one of these. There is nothing like a burger or a hotdog with mustard, chili & slaw. Some folks add onions but I skip them. So along with the burgers we will also have baked beans and a small salad. So what are you folks having for Supper tonight?

What's For Supper Ya'll?

Well folks what is everyone having for supper? Tonight we will have a nice Pork Shoulder Roast that I got on sale at the local IGA. It is in the oven right now getting nice and done while the BBQ sauce that I am going put on it is simmering on top of the stove. Along with that we are having some boiled new red potatoes and some broccoli. Bread tonight will be some nice Italian bread slathered with butter. Not a calorie friendly meal by far. LOL I think it will be very good! What are Ya'll having tonight?

Father & Son Construction

Over the weekend the weather was so warm we all got out and worked in it. I got some candid shots of Big Keith & Lil Keith working hard out in the yard. I thought I would load up some of the pictures and share them with everyone.

What's for Supper Ya'll?

Tonight we are having fried chicken. I have some thighs and drumsticks thawing right now. Later on I will coat them and fry em up. Along with that will be some potato salad and probably green beans. I also have some Italian Carrots to warm back up as well. They taste great and are super easy to make. Recipe follows:

Italian Carrots
1 to 2 lbs of baby carrots
1 bottle of Italian dressing ( I used Kraft Italian)

Place carrots in glass baking dish and cover with Italian Dressing. Cook at 325 degrees until carrots are tender. I like mine to have just a hint of crispness left in them. These taste so good and are so easy to make!

It is Cold Outside!

I know that some folks are accustomed to the cold and even like it. Right now though, it is 27 degrees outside and I am cold! It might not be so bad if our heating unit had not frozen up. I have turned it off for a bit to see if it will thaw out and I have the kerosene heater going. (Thank goodness for back up heat!) I do hate that smell but I keep it in a well ventilated place and it keeps the house warm. The realty office will not be open for an hour or so. I hope they can get someone out here today to look at the unit! How cold is it where you are?

What's For Supper Ya'll? December 14th 2010

Well everyone tonight for supper we are having Meatloaf with some rice and gravy. Our veggies of choice will be broccoli & cheese with some fresh baby carrot sticks & some ranch dressing with them. I might even get busy and cook a Chocolate Cake for dessert. What is for supper for ya'll tonight?

Lil Keith will be 1!

Well folks on September 17th my baby boy will be one! I cannot believe he has grown so fast! Next thing you know he will be driving a car! We plan on having him a BBQ Birthday Bash. The theme is going to be Disney Pixar CARS theme. I am so excited to be throwing my Lil Man his first Birthday Bash! We have also started thinking about decorating his bedroom. When he was first born we did the zoo animal theme with lions, tigers, zebras, elephants, monkies and such. He is really attracted to the colors red & blue and he has expressed a major interest in all things that have to do with CARS! It looks as if he will be getting the CARS toddler bed and all of the accessories to go with it. We are going to start out slow and buy the bed first and the comforter/sheet set. I am hoping I will be able to find some fabric to make him curtains with. We are so excited about this party and decorating his room. All of the giftcards I earn online

are going toward this new bedroom makeover! I hope that we will have it complete by December!

Readbud- An easy way to make some pocket change!

Readbud is a great site I was introduced to by a fellow WPLH member. You simply read and rate articles (picked from 50 different interests areas). Each article pay is based on how many words are in the article. A list of pay amounts will follow. Once you achieve the $50 goal you will be rewarded your pay via Paypal. So far I have earned $2.54 just reading articles while work was slow. Click on the banner and join. You will be paid to read and if you refer friends or post an affiliate link on your webpage, social website or public forum and people join the program you will be awarded $5.00 when that person reaches their first payout!

Payment Structure:

Article content word count and corresponding rewards:

• Under 100 : 1 cent
• Between 101 and 200 : 2 cents
• Between 201 and 300 : 3 cents
• Between 301 and 400 : 4 cents
• Between 401 and 500 : 5 cents
• Between 501 and 600 : 6 cents
• Between 601 and 700 : 7 cents
• Between 701 and 800 : 8 cents
• Between 801 and 900 : 9 cents
• Between 901 and 1500 : 10 cents
• Between 1501 and 2000 : 15 cents
• Over 2000 : 20 cents

It is important to note that in order to have the reward amount credited, a rating of the article must be submitted.

Pics from a trip to the Florida Panhandle back in 2004

I took myself a working/job hunting vacation back in 2004. I had decided that I wanted to move to Florida, so I got online and applied at various job postings there. I got a hit with Ft. Walton Beach Hospital. I took a road trip and went camping for a week and went to the interview. Well I was offered the job.... however, the pay left much to be desired and the cost of living down there was way more expensive than NC. I did enjoy my vacation though! Here are some pics! I just love those Emerald Waters & that White Sand!

Accomplishing Daily Goals

Last year after getting pregnant and then having all of the physical complications I got lazy and out of my normal habits and schedules. Since having Baby Keith and recovering quite a bit, I have decided that it is time to get back into the habit of preparing a schedule and sticking to it. I am one of those people that keeps a day planner in her purse as well as a huge calendar on my office wall and of course the Google Calendar online. I don't currently have a cell phone but rest assured, if I did have one, it would be one of the nice Blackberry's with all of the bells and whistles to remind me of what I need to do. I started today with work. I stuck to my schedule (even though I did not reach my goal) I still was able to stick to my self imposed schedule. I had planned for today's supper in advance and took out the needed meat from the freezer last night and made sure that I had all of the ingredients needed on hand. I did some much needed cleaning out of my email accounts as well as completed some of my survey's that I have been neglecting. On the household front, I did some laundry and changed the sheets on our bed as well as the babies. Tomorrow is another day and I am already creating my schedule.

New Edition to the Family

Well folks I have been away for several months now. As some of you know I was pregnant. With that pregnancy come high blood pressure and a few other problems that limited my activities. I just did not feel like doing much of anything really. Well, I had my little bundle of joy on September 17th. Keith weighed in at 10.5 pounds and he was 21.5 inches long. Quite a big bundle of joy, not so little. He is now 5 months old and growing like a weed. I have some pics of him that I am going to share. After his birth I had more complications with my high blood pressure and edema. I was actually put back into the hospital 3 days after he was born. It was not a fun time for certain. My blood pressure is finally under control and all of my edema is gone and I feel so much better. Here is our bundle of joy!

How to Take Control of Your Budget | eHow.com

How to Take Control of Your Budget | eHow.com

Shared via AddThis