One Navy Wife's Scrappy Point of View

So life has definitely been interesting for the last few months and continues to be so, even now. Some days feel like I am at a complete standstill and others make me feel as though life is passing me by. I was supposed to start school this semester, but will be starting in the Fall instead.

The kids are slowly adjusting to life without Daddy around, but it has not been easy or fun. T-man is playing basketball through a church league and will start soccer next month. He is looking forward to that. K is a bundle of energy and into everything she can get her hands on. I can't believe she just turned 2 this past week! T is doing very well in school, although he says he doesn't like it. Actually, he says he doesn't like the work part of school, but he does like lunch and recess. Lol

Here is pic of them from a couple of months ago:
I haven't been taking a lot of pics lately or scrapping, but am starting to get an itch for it so hopefully, I will get back to it soon. We are moving into our own place at the end of March so we should be getting into a better routine after that. I hope that is the case anyway. J

I know its been a while since I posted. I really don't feel like posting now, but I wanted to let those few who do read my blog know that the reason I haven't been around is because the last 2 months have been a total nightmare for me. C totally pulled the rug out from under me, so to speak, by announcing one day that he wanted a divorce. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I was and still am in shock. So, the kids and I are now in SC at my mom's awaiting a temporary settlement hearing to get some money for us to get our own place. I am looking for a job, but as you can imagine, it is not easy. Apparently, noone wants to hire a stay at home mom of 7 years, especially in this economy. So, that's where I am at right now. I hope to be back blogging one day, but right now I am just trying to make it day by day. T is very sad about it, and K doesn't really know what is going on. They are, at least, enjoying the time that they now get to spend with the grandparents.

Life as Mom has a recipe swap going on every Thursday and today is all about yummy summer desserts! One of my favorites has always been banana pudding. I remember my Grannie making it often when I was little. This recipe is very similar to the one she used to make, but just a tad fluffier.

Creamy Banana Pudding
(makes 15 servings)

1/4 cup lemon juice
6-7 medium banana, sliced
3 cups 2% milk
2 (4oz) packages vanilla instant pudding
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
16 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1 (16oz) package Vanilla Wafers

Drizzle lemon juice over banana slices. Whisk milk and pudding in large bowl for 3-4 minutes or until blended and slightly thickened. Add condensed milk and mix well. Chill 5 minutes. Fold in whipped topping. Layer Vanilla Wafers, bananas, and pudding mix alternately in large serving bowl until all ingredients are used, ending with pudding mix. Store, covered, in fridge until serving.


If I am taking this to a potluck or serving to friends, then I add some decorative touches to the top with extra Cool Whip.

I've been very unmotivated to blog lately. I guess that's because there just isn't that much going on here these days. T is in school until next Thursday (why on earth do they need to be in school that long!?!) and then we are headed to SC for a couple of weeks. Once there, we have a bunch planned-C has a reunion to go to with his fraternity and we are going camping with my mom and sister for several days. I am hoping to meet up with a couple of friends while we are there also. And of course, we have to see family so it will be never ending. Oh, the joys of going home.
I found this cool blog that is listing some things to do with your kids throughout the summer. Life as Mom has done all the research stuff and is listing it all on her site for others to use. It looks like it will be fun, as well as fairly educational for the kiddos. She will have a different theme posted each Monday through Labor Day. Go here to see what she has already posted. At the very bottom, she has posted the theme for each week. Next week will be great since we are going camping right after that.
Well, that's about all I have for now.

I have been away for a couple of weeks so I didn't get to finish my spring cleaning project. With Simple Mom. Once I get caught up on laundry and other stuff, I am going to continue the process.

I posted this on FB, but wanted to post it here too. The reason I have been away from home. He had a massive heart attack while getting ready to go camping with my mom and sister on Mother's Day, which was also my sister's birthday.

Kenneth Allen Winham

5/12/2009 12:47 AM

Mr. Kenneth Allen Winham, 60, died Sunday, May 10, 2009, at Aiken Regional Medical Centers.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Harvest Baptist Church with Rev. Glen Davis officiating. Interment will follow in Aiken Memorial Gardens.

Pallbearers will be Ricky Woodward, Dewey Toole, Bobby Timmerman, Joshua Barron, Cameron Baynham and Joseph Baynham. Honorary pallbearers will be S.C. Highway Department maintenance employees in Aiken.

Mr. Winham was born in Louisiana, a son of Lila Mae Reese Palmer of Shreveport, La., and the late Morris Allen Winham. He moved to Aiken in 1969 and was a supervisor with the S.C. Highway Department. He was also a member of Bethel Baptist Church.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by his beloved wife, Phyllis Funderburg Winham; two daughters, Becky (Caleb) Risinger of Middletown, R.I., and Bonnie Winham of Aiken; a son, Michael (Terri) Winham of Louisiana; two grandchildren, Teddy and Kelsie Risinger; three sisters, Dorothy (Richard) Rouse of Ft. Worth, Texas, Marsha Miller of Owensboro, Ky., and Joyce Welch of Ft. Worth, Texas; and a brother, James (Thelma) Winham of Johnston.

Memorials may be directed to the Aiken Heart Association, 1003 Hammond Road, Aiken, SC 29803.

Mr. Winham's online guest book may be signed at www.shellhousefuneralhome.com.

Pasted from <http://www.aikenstandard.com/obits/winham>

I never would have thought that it would take me 2 days to clean the living room, especially considering that the only thing that really needed decluttering/cleaning was the bookshelves and movie cabinet. I do need to switch out some toys for K, but those are in boxes in the garage so they will have to wait until we can get them out. But, the bookshelves are now decluttered and the movie cabinet is looking better. I put all of our DVD's into a case and tossed all of the individual plastic cases. I am hoping that we can get C's dad to put most, if not all, of our VHS movies onto DVD for us since he has one of those nifty little machines that does that. And then, the movie cabinet will look awesome!!
Here is a before pic of the bookshelves:

And here are the after pics:

I left the bottom 2 shelves on each one open because K likes to pull anything on those shelves off. I am going to get some baskets to put some toys in for her so they are not out in the open and it looks nicer.
And I have a nice little box of stuff for the thrift store. I hate doing yard sales so I am not even going to bother with trying to do that. I suppose I could try to sell some of the books on ebay or another used book site, but I don't know that I want to do that either. I don't have the patience to list each one, much less that much uninterupted time.
Today and tomorrow (and maybe the day after!) I am working in the kitchen. I did unclutter some of that before we moved, but I think I can overhaul it some more. We'll see. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any before shots yet. But I still have a ways to go so maybe I will get one or two at least!

I decided to do some spring cleaning with Simple Mom. She has a pretty good way of doing things and it just might make life a little easier along the way too.
Here are some photos of what I have gotten done so far today.

before
after

before
after

before
after

I am pretty much done with the downstairs. It isn't anywhere near done, but it looks better. Not a lot in my giveaway box, but that is only because I have mostly paper clutter downstairs. I should have more later this afternoon after I have gone through the upstairs bedrooms. I'll post more on that this evening.