Memorial Day ~

I would like to thank everyone who has or is serving in the Armed forces. I considered the military, but didn't choose it. But my family has a long line of military service.

I'm thankful for my Dad, Stephen Martin Skvarenina and brother Julius; Dad-in-law, Hal Funk; Extended family Glen Maycroft and his brothers, they all served in WW II.

My Brother Tim Skvarenina and brother-in-law Gary Maycroft who served in Viet Nam, and Tim taught the soldiers how to use the Patriot Missle the first Gulf War.

Kevin's brother Stan was in the Coast Guard and sailed on the Eagle. Our nephew Brent Welch is in the Marines. Kevin's Uncle Don was in the Marines.

More exteded family has/is served/serving, Julie Maycroft.

MANY friends are currently serving ~ Terry Winnett, Erica Comer, Mackenizie Oliver. I'm sure that there are more and I'm forgetting someone, SORRY! I'm just trying to make a point that everyone has a connection with our military and we better not forget this.

It is because of these people that we are allowed to go out and have a picnic today, a day off, go to an amusement park, be with family. We are remembering those who lost their lives, but also those who continue to serve and fight for our freedoms.

God Bless this Country


Cozyflier

Graduation!

Ashley Ann graduated yesterday! I'm so proud of her, she has worked very hard. You see, Ashley is our 'adopted' daughter. Everyone has one of those, right? She is our neighbor but I claim her as mine. She is the sister Amelia has never had, she tutors Amelia and is always ready to give me a helping hand. Here are some graduation pics. We haven't done official cap & gown pics yet, but here are the high lights from last night!

Earlier, we had given Ashley her graduation gift. What is more logical coming from me than a camera? And, I got the camera in her favorite color! How good am I?!? Well, in this picture, you can only see the green case, but just know, her camera is green like the case!

So congratulations to Ashley, and to several others in the class that I knew.

Congratulations to all who graduated this year. Many years of hard work were rewarded. Your life is ahead of your, your dreams, challenges, choices, anything you aspire can come true! It is your time to SOAR!

Cozyflier

Oh What a Day

Wed was going to be a busy day, the carpet cleaners were scheduled to come, but when they finished in only 1 hour that left the day wide open!

Kevin was home for 8 hours between shifts in the ER and wanted to get errands run so we did several of those. I will have more on those later, spoilers!

Then, when Chris, our oldest got off work, he came over and we went to the grocery store. Wow, I can't tell you how many years it has been since I've been grocery shopping with Kevin, Chris, and Tyler all together! Amelia and AJ were still in school! This just doesn't happen! Chris bought what he needed for his house and I loaded up for the upcoming holiday weekend and family coming :-)

Upon arriving home, groceries were put away faster than I can blink. No, I don't know where they all are! Then we set to the task of cooking ~ homemade cinnamon rolls and chicken spaghetti! Also marinating chicken for chicken tacos. Let me just say I had the best smelling house in the world!

We used Pioneer Womans recipe for cinnamon rolls, 6 pans full! YUM-O First time to ever make 'em from scratch! Then a double batch of her chicken spaghetti, 3 pans of it! Oh my we will have good eating this weekend :-)

When Amelia got home she got put on dish duty!

Ashley, neighbor, adopted daughter, helper, and this time photographer!

I threatened to pat Chris on the face with my flour hands!

My chili pot is no longer just a chili pot!

We also made chicken fettuccine alfredo for dinner it was great!
So it was a full day for me. I even managed to get a few loads of laundry in!

I've probably made you hungry!  Oh well, other blogs that I read do that to me.  Have a great weekend, we are celebrating Ashley's graduation and family being in town.  It might be a few days before I post, don't know!

Cozyflier

Recycling!

I care about our planet. I've always tried to recycle and teach my children to do so. When we moved here 19+ years, the city garbage trucks would come by once a week and pick up your recycling, if you put it in a blue plastic trash sack and put it on the ground next to the dumpster! That worked just fine and dandy :-)

Well, I guess it wasn't cost effective for the city because that only lasted a few years. Then, we had to drive about 25 miles to a recycling plant. That was a chore!


Now....

We load up the van to the brim and drive 2 miles to a grocery store parking lot!

And we find these lovely dumpsters!

Another view of how full the van was!

They are quite picky about how they want the items. I realize they are going to an automated place to be recycled. But sometimes it makes you ask, is it worth it?!?

So, this was one item crossed off my to do list! Do you recycle? Is it easy for you? Or is it just too much work where you are?

Happy Day

Cozyflier

Spring Cleaning/Re-Arranging

Well, I haven't been blogging, haven't been face-booking much either! I've been Spring Deep Cleaning my house! Why? Several reasons, it needed it, it IS Spring, and we have
family coming into town. Cleaning the house for family is always a good idea right?

I've also been re-arranging the house! I'm moving furniture all over the place. I will post pics later, I'm so sore I can hardly move! I may never get to try our 'new' treadmill that we found on Craigslist for a bargain! I'm getting a real workout cleaning and moving!

Anyway, more later!


Cozyflier

It's Done!!!!!

I told you about my project the other day! I'm proud to say I'm done!!! 3 1/2 days and I'm finished! Here is the final product, well, I don't have things back on the wall, but the painting is done!

This is looking into the dining room from the den/kitchen. Wow, it seems bigger! I used a paint that has silica in it so it gives the wall texture as you paint :-) I love this paint.

My accent wall! This paint is a metallic paint and is done in a 2 step process. Base coat A then coat B. Base coat A is dark bold blue. Top coat B is pale. I love the metallic paint. I guess I'm daring! Have you ever tried a really cool paint?

Base coat

The old curtains went into the dumpster! Sorry, they were not worth trying to recycle. They matched the wallpaper! They were floor to ceiling and made the room even more dark! I'm going to order vertical blinds ~ I think!

I'm so happy with the result. The room is so much brighter, seems bigger, and is more inviting. Wish I had done this years ago like I wanted to! Oh well, it is done now.

Oh, and I just want to say, that painting is hard work! I even consider this a good workout! Anyone want to argue? I can feel every muscle in my body. My Fibromyalgia is not a happy camper, but I'm still alive! I'm glad I did this.

It is rare that Kevin gets 2 days in a row off! But, I made use of them! And then, Tyler had 3 days off. So he got to help me clean up and move furniture back into place! See, the key to getting a project done is having your help lined up :-) I'm no dummy!

So, the question is, what is the next project?!?

Cozyflier

The Vintage Pearl: calligraphy. (a giveaway!)

The Vintage Pearl: calligraphy. (a giveaway!)

Blogger is back up and Erin has another great giveaway! check this out!

Cozyflier

Tolerance No More!

I lived in my home almost 19 years. When we moved in it was huge and there were things like wall paper that we didn't like, but figured we would tolerate until we decided to change it! Well, our family grew from 2 kids to 4 kids, and life always seemed to get in the way of changing the Dining Room. Have you ever had a project like that, just kept getting put on the back burner?

Well, no more! Kevin got 2 days in a row off, wow! 2 yrs ago I had bought paint for the dining room! Again, life got in the way. But, today, we plunged in and the dining room is finally getting painted, hip hip hooray!

Bye Bye ugly wallpaper:

Kevin puts up tape!

Kevin cuts in and I roll on the primer!

So, we finished the first coat of primer and we are letting it dry. We will do another coat of primer then start the paint. I'm so excited! After almost 20 yrs I won't have to tolerate the ugly dining room wallpaper! I'll keep you posted on our progress :-)

Wish us luck!

Cozyflier

UIL Competition

Sat. May 8th was a LONG day. Amelia, AJ, and myself had to be at another middle school at 7:30am. 7:30 in the A of M on a Saturday mind you!!! Remember, I'm NOT a morning person :-)

Why pratel you ask? Well, the kids had been working really hard for UIL A+ and Saturday was the competition. For those of you not familiar with UIL here is a link.

Amelia competed in: Ready Writing. She took 1st place!


AJ competed in 3 things:

Calculator Applications

Chess Puzzle

Maps, Graph, & Chatrts.

AJ took 2nd in Calculator applications, next to last in Chess, and we don't know about Maps.... We find out tomorrow. We didn't want to stay around for another 1.5 hours to find out! We were all exhausted and really wanted to go home. Call me a rotten Mom!

This has been a great experience for the kids. They have put in MANY hours staying after school school 2 days a week most of the school year. Our teacher, sponsor, Mrs. Quap works very diligently with the kids. In December we had a mock competition at our school so the kids could see what it would be like. Kevin and I helped with that.

I'm pretty sure other states do this competition, not just Texas. Do your kids participate in something like this?

I want to thank Mrs. Quap for all her long hours and dedication to the kids for this. Irons Middle School placed very well in the events that they competed in.

Kids were coming and going all day long. I took a couple of different pictures of some of the kids, and our wonderful principal and our assistant principal were there too.

David, Katie, AJ, Natalie, Amelia

Far Back, Mr. Casarez, Principal, Zane, AJ, Amelia, Natalie, Mariah, Hanah, Mason

Never got a picture with our asst. principal. Never got any formal structured pictures either! Oh well, the kids were scattered and hyper! It was a long, 'fun' day.

If you do UIL A+, how did you do?

Have a great week!


Cozyflier

Happy Mother's Day!

Moms, they bring us into the world, they nurture us, teach us, care for us, love us. Mom's do so much and usually for little recognition. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there! Hope you all have a great day.

All 4 of my kiddos!


Cozyflier

May The Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day!  Everyone in my family is all a 'twitter' because it is May 4th! Today is Star Wars day.  Also, it has been announced that in September the complete movie set will be released on blu-ray  http://www.starwars.com/movies/saga/bluraymay4/index.html with bonus material!  Everyone in the Star Wars Community is thrilled.

Happy Day everyone, and....

May the Fourth Be With You!!

Cozyflier