by jcastles | Jul 19, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
So today was a very odd day! First off it was the 6 year anniversary of my mom’s passing so this morning started off with tears. After I took the little one to school the middle kiddo and I headed to the cemetery. I explained to him that we needed to go put flowers on my Mom’s grave and the first thing he asked was what her favorite flowers were. She loved yellow roses so I knew we had to find some! Luckily the Kroger that I go to near the cemetery had a rainbow assortment of roses and the package just so happened to have 3 yellow roses in it.
We arrived and visited all the family that we knew the location of….so much sadness.
After we put a rose on all the family plots we went to the actual funeral home to visit my Aunt Mary…..she works there. It was such a nice quick visit…..I can’t wait to spend more time with her. We’re just all so busy….that’s the downside to growing up I guess.
Now to the strange part of my day. On March 19th I heard there was a food park coming to the city I live in. Which I thought was AWESOME and couldn’t wait! I followed the Keller Food Park on twitter constantly awaiting the date. It was finally announced that we’d see it in July 2012. I couldn’t wait! So as soon as July hit I started asking when when when! Then last night I heard the city council voted against the food park 4-3!! I was devastated. I know that sounds stupid but I really was devastated. So I did the only thing I knew I could do….I spread the word to everyone I know about a food truck that just so happened to be coming to Keller the next day. I literally spent most of my day reading, tweeting, retweeting, and researching…..then the time came. It was 5pm and So-Cal Tacos was in Keller!! I loaded up the kids and met my husband there for dinner. He grabbed the kids a pizza from CiCi’s and we ate THE BEST Taco’s EVER!!!! We like to travel for our family time, lol.
I got to meet one of the Keller City Councilman John Hoffmann tonight along with the Keller Food Park owner Trey, and Scott the So-Cal Tacos owner. I felt like a mini celebrity….John and Trey knew exactly who I was just because of Facebook and Twitter.
Here’s the owner of So-Cal Tacos (Scott), his truck (Woody), and a glimpse of his wonderful food (Delmar Tacos (chicken) and Sopapilla Fries (honey and chocolate)!
So after a super busy day I get home and I have boxes on my doorstep!! Some towels and rugs for the boys bathroom and the best thing to end my day. My Keurig!!! So now I’m off to clean it up and wash some towels.
It was a strangely good day! Miss my momma but glad I kinda kept my mind away from the sadness a little..
by jcastles | Jul 17, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
My mother Carolyn Sue Pitts (aka-Sookie) was born on September 6, 1955 and passed away at the age of 50 on July 19, 2006.
A few days from now it will be the 6th anniversary of my mom’s passing. She was 50 years young and the best mom/friend anyone could ask for. Six years ago I was 26 yrs old, married, had a 13 yr old stepson and a 2 yr old son. The day before my mom passed (July 18th) I remember getting a call from my uncle telling me I needed to get to the hospital right away that they’d been there for a while and wondered where I was (the hospital did NOT call me like they were suppose to so I had no idea it was “time”). I left work immediately and made sure my husband could get off work early and get the little one from daycare along with all the other things that needed to be taken care of that night.
I get to the hospital and the entire family is there…..except for my brother and those that lived far (not many). So obviously the time was coming. My brother arrived that evening and he and I sat there for hours. About midnight I decided to go home and get some rest. I’d been up at the hospital just about every day so I was exhausted. Since we didn’t know how soon she’d pass I wouldn’t go up there until around 8 so I could put the little on in bed.
The next morning (July 19th) I get up early and send the little one off to daycare with his daddy and I call the hospital to check on my mom. My brother answered so we chatted for a minute and I told him I’d get some work done, shower, and be there within 2-3 hours. I hung the phone up and as soon as I went to put it on my desk it rang….it was my brother. He was screaming where are you!?!?!?! Where are you!?!?!?! I said I just told you….then it hit me…she was gone!!! My mom was no longer with us. I literally flew to the hospital….my younger brother was there all alone!! I called the family friend and told her to get there asap since she lived and worked so close.
I arrived at the hospital in like 15 min…usually a 30-40 min drive. I don’t speed but that day I did….alot. And for some reason there was no traffic…it was like I said earlier…like I literally flew! I parked the car and ran so fast to my brother and we just hugged. I was finally able to go in and see her…that was so hard!
She passed away from lung cancer. We all knew the day was coming so it wasn’t a surprise but it still hurts just as much. That was her second time to have lung cancer too. The first time I was 16/17 yrs old and she had surgery to have the lower left lobe of her left lung removed….she recovered wonderfully but kept smoking. So we weren’t surprised it came back but not much you can do about that.
My Mom was definitely the BEST Mom you could ask for. She never got to meet Jayson….but I know she’s there with him…he was born 1 day before her birthday….so they’ll always share their birthday!
Here are some of my favorite pics of my mom…I hope you enjoy.
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by jcastles | Jul 6, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
Some of you know that I’m a clean freak and very organized and if you didn’t you know now, hehe! If I’m not organized or do not have a plan I seriously can not function. That’s just how I was raised….I definitely followed my momma in that department.
So…there are a few rules I have about laundry. And I’d like to share them with you all.
1) I DO NOT EVER check pockets! If I find it I throw it away or I keep whatever it may be….ya know like money, I keep money!! (I found a $50 in a pocket once…that was awesome!)
2) If it’s inside out you get it back…on your floor. I don’t have time to fix the clothes.
The main reason I have these rules is because there are 5 people in the house. Most of the time I do laundry Wednesday’s and Sunday’s if I checked pockets it’d take me forever. Same thing with turning clothes right side out.
Not only does this benefit me it helps the kids gain responsibility. If they treasure what’s in their pockets they’ll check them.
Something else you should know….I’ve NEVER lost a sock. I may have freaked out not being able to find one a time or two….but I found it in the end.
There….that’s my laundry rant..
by jcastles | Jun 20, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
My nephew graduated high school the other day. I wanted to give him a cash gift but didn’t want to do a gift card or just a card with the money in it. So I got to thinking and this is what I came up with.
The small print says:
To get this free printable (8×10):
Happy Graduation.
by jcastles | Jun 19, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
Last year for Father’s Day I made one kick butt card for the hubbs and knew I had to out do it this year. So of course I hit up Pinterest! I found several great ideas but with the air conditioning being out I didn’t have much time to do anything.
First we gave Dad some money. My middle son had been wanting to get him tools so I thought this was the best way but didn’t want to put cash in a card….how lame is that! So I went to my local Dollar Tree to browse the isles for ideas and decided to go with a mason jar.
So I put my $20 bill in the jar, added some basket shred, put my top back on, and hot glued a flower (in daddish colors) I made to the seal of the mason jar. I also added some letters that spelled DAD on the jar. They came from regular ole alphabet scrapbook paper and I attached them with my tape runner.
Next I made a document in Photoshop (yah…i was impressed with myself, lol!). I put questions in that all 3 kids could answer no matter how silly or real it was. It was real funny seeing the difference in them all.
Want this doc?
Download here: All About Dad.
Next up was a shirt i’d seen on Pinterest. I had my very artistic 19 yr old stepson do all the work. He decided to draw it with sharpie markers and he incorporated the first letter of each kiddo in the track (D,K,J). I think he did a FANTASTIC job! And Dad really loves this shirt!!
My last project I wanted to make was a handprint gift. I got a document frame from the Dollar Tree and used scrapbook paper and cardstock I had on hand. Traced the kiddies hands on scrapbook paper in coordinating blue’s and taped them to my cardstock using my tape gun. Before I taped them to the cardstock I created a paper in photoshop that said “We ♡ Dad” at the top and at the bottom it had the boys names and the year. He liked it so much he took it to work with him!
I hope all the Father’s out there had a great Father’s Day…I’m pretty sure ours did!.
by jcastles | Jun 11, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
Well as most of you already know my air conditioning went out 1 week ago today. It’s crazy how something we take for granted can change your life tremendously. Even if it was just for 1 week.
The temperature here in Texas was heating up. Most of the time it was out it was in the 90’s. But for a couple days we hit close to 100 degree’s!! We had already bought 1 window unit but quickly knew we needed more. Luckily Aarons rents window units and stand alone units so we got one of each (the cost for them was the cost of buying just one and we only have them for 2 weeks). When your house isn’t built to use these units it sure can be a PITA! Furniture had to be moved, curtains had to be pinned, blinds moved, you can’t run the hair dryer/flat iron, iron clothes, or even run the dishwasher/stove/oven/washer/dryer w/out the house heating up even more. Even the dirty clothes hamper had to be moved so the insulation from the attic wouldn’t fall in it. The kids had to sleep with their doors open with fans blowing the air from the stand alone unit into their rooms. Lil note here, my kids do not sleep well with their door open! It meant late nights and early mornings…..which wasn’t good since I was already moody from no ac.
The company that came out really had their work cut out for them. They were here every single day but Saturday working on it. It’s not that they didn’t know what they were doing, they certainly did. The problem was there was a short in the low voltage thermostat wire (wire from the thermostat to the unit outside). But before they tracked that down the circuit board was replaced, thermostat was replaced and the transformer was replaced…not just because they were trial and erring…it’s because all that was bad too!
I am definitely thankful for all the electronics that I wasn’t able to run during this time and for the air conditioning that is now cooling the house correctly.
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