bye bye bye

Good Bye Sweet September!

September was such a busy month for Todd and me; I can't believe it is actually over. And to finish off the month Todd is going to a St Louis Cardinals game! Yeah! :) and Poor little me is doing inventory at work! Yep yeah for me! :(

But looking forward to October, I get excited. Jeremy Camp in Concert! Family Pig Roast! Halloween! Leaves changing colors! Football! Volleyball! Comfort Foods! Chili Cookoffs! Bon Fires and Weiner Roasts!

God Bless the great Autumn Days!

Garage Sales vs Auctions

I wish I could be telling you all that the auction was a success. But I cain't (yes, not can't, but cain't). It rained all night, not just rain but STORMED. And it rained until 10 or so. So the amount of people to buy at the auction was slim. The house and the business building didn't sell. That's right DID NOT sell. God must have a different plan for us, we just don't know yet. The only good thing about the auction is that all the stuff is gone. The house, barn, and store is cleared out.
So to my title. Garage Sales vs Auctions. Never have an auction (you don't have any control over the price, and if it sells for $1 you can't do anything about it. even if you bought it for $200. And you have to pay out 15% commission to the auctioneers and you have to pay for advertising). Have Garage Sales, yes it is a lot of work (not as much work as an auction), have a GS every other year. Have a GS with friends. Have a GS in a good location. OR just give it away!
The weiner roast was a lot of fun. Christina and Teresa shot a pistol. I shot a riffle and hit 2 out of 6 clay pigeons. Wyatt and Todd shot like crazy and hit just about all of 'em. Good 'ole boyz, I tell ya.
I too am excited about fall. It is time to snuggle with the one you love!! yeehaw

Pray for NO rain

As you all know my parents are having an auction this weekend. Did you also know that the forecast calls for rain. Oh yeah. Not good. Please pray for no rain in little town of Cabool. Not only for the auction but for the fun after the auction with Dana, Teresa, Wyatt and Christina. Our friends are coming to Cabool to check out the aucion and then to "play" in the wood at our cabin. It will be so much fun. Remember to bring shoe that can get dirty...last time Todd stepped out of the truck straight into a cow pie. Oh yes funny funny funny. My mom lost it and just laughed her little head off at him. My family thinks Todd is a, well, a city boy. Don't know what gave them that idea? But then he showed them that this little "city boy" can out shoot my dad at clay pigeon shooting. It was great. My family loves Todd. He is the only son-in-law that works his butt off for them. I am so proud of him.
So back to my prayer request. It would be great if the big thunderstorms stayed away for Saturday morning. Let it rain Thursday and Friday while we are setting up, but let the sun shine during the auction so people won't have to stand in the rain. God is good and we do all things for His glory. Praise God for His love. Praise God for answered prayers, even if it is not in our favor, but His. Praise God for rain.

Blogging?

Hello my blogging friends! Yes I am talking to all 5 of you who blog with the paigemon. I am writing to you from home. To some this might come as a shock, but I used to have a negative opinion about blogging. Partly b/c it's a scary world out there and I watch too many shows like CSI, Without a Trace, Law & Order SVU, Friends. You know the good shows that sometimes hit on "computer talk" with people you don't know. People lie about themselves if you don't know them. Even people you know still might lie, but at least we can ask them in person if it was true or not.

I'm not a big fan of the dating online, but then again I met Todd before that was really the thing to do. (thank God) But to me it just sounds a little odd. If you are one that met this way. kudos to you....as long as the guy/girl isn't crazy. And I'm not talking "Paige crazy" or even "Todd crazy" I'm talking wacko crazy, in the head crazy.

So back to my blogging talk. This is soo much better than email. You post stuff about you or life or whatever and people read it. It's not some funny joke that you have read over and over from your other email FWD friends. It's original. Very Original. That's what I love about blogs. You are part of someone's thinking for a bit. (I bet that is why Adam loves his job, he gets to see how crazy people think...Adam let me know if I'm right.) And that is super cool for me. I get to laugh for a couple of minutes and have happy thoughts while I read my 5 friends' blogs.

So to those that don't have to time to blog. Hey that is ok. We love you. If I didn't have time, I wouldn't do it either. I just hope you have a few minutes to read some of these blogs, they are funny at times, uplifting at times, and just stupid other times. So enjoy!

Heirlooms?

OK, So my parents are having an auction. Not because someone died but because they have lots and lots of stuff to sell. My mom ownes a florist, before the florist she owned a gift shop/wallpaper/paint etc shop, during that she owned a framing manufacturer plant. Needless to say she has plenty of "stuff" left over from those buisnesses. Plus my parents don't like to and don't have the time to set up Garage Sales. And they have lots and lots of storage places. For the past month or so we have been cleaning out storage areas that have never been touched for 20 years. WOW!So you ask...what brings on this idea to have an auction? Well my mom has terrible knees. She is having a knee replacement next June. In the mean time she is in pain every minute of every day. She has had her home (for 20 years) up for sale b/c it is full of stairs, and her 2 story business building up for sale. In a small town like Cabool, things like that don't sell fast. So why not have an auction. It will bring in people from all over the place (hopefully?!?!) that will be interested in buying a lovely home, a nice building, and lots and lots of stuff. She still has her florist, in a 1 story building. Praise God!

that was my background!

Now during all this cleaning and deciding what to auction and what to keep, we have found many neat things. It's amazing how many stories Mom and Dad have of things. Dad had a shoe box (Fila's Men size 10 box) full, I mean FULL, of...business cards. Why?? b/c my Dad is...well...weird...I guess. You never know when you might need to call someone. Then we found boxes of hotel soaps, pens, pens, match books. My dad is a collector. Bless his heart. He travels a lot for business, so he collects free things. My mom doesn't collect. She buys and doesn't throw away. She is a crafty person. We found craft supply after craft supply. Packages of craft stuff not opened, never used in every room of the house (well almost every room). Also since Mom had her own store we have lots of items from her store...yes will the price tag still in tacked. Why not take that back to the store and sell it. Afterall it was in "storage" for only 3 years. AHHH! Oh did I mention we are only talking about he house. Yes my home I grew up in for 20 years of my life. So sad it is going to be sold, but also so glad Mom can get a house with 1 level! Bittersweet. Enough of this now on to my heirloom side of the story.

Heirlooms! You know, the items sometimes small sometimes big that have a meaning that have been in the family for years. Well, when do you get rid of the heirloom item? This is something else we have been dealing with. If you don't want that "chair," and I don't want that "chair," and that "chair" is falling apart....but it was Great Great Aunt Ednas, what do you do? When do Heirlooms stop being in storage, and sold to someone that would love to have that "chair" in their house. Why not sell the "chair" and bless someone else's life with it. You are not selling the memory of that person just the brittle "chair." Please comment on your theory. If you would like more examples let me know, We have lots of cherished items "in the family." Although I must admit. While we were cleaning out the barn I found 4 coffee mugs that I remember Grandpa EA and Grandma Mac drinking coffee from. So yes I took them, for the memory. And b/c they look pretty cool, pretty unique! And you can't have too many coffee mugs, just ask my friend Carrie.

So for anyone who loves antiques, or stuff, or neat things, or me, please come to the auction. It is this weekend. Saturday 23rd at 9:30 in Cabool. Todd and I will be there. Plus an added bonus for all who attend and read this blog. You can come with us to the cabin and have a weiner roast, skeet shootin' afternoon. hope to see you there.

Please pray the the auction brings in buyers for the home and the business building. This will be a huge relief for my parents. God knows what is to come, and we just have to trust Him.

Andy!!!!

We Want YOU!!

Ok Andy It is now time for you to start your own blog. Since you have soooo much time at night, we need you to blog with us. You can report on how you are going to be a "big daddy" or how your Fish are doing or just what you have on your mind at 2:00 AM. I know you want to, you just need some encouragment.

Bye Bye Bye

Eating Right

Eating right, what a concept. Unfortunately too many people don't understand the right methods. That would include me!! I like to think I am eating right...or at least eating better. I know the foods that are good for me, and the foods to stay far far away from. However I think it is the willpower one possesses to actually do the right thing when it comes to not eating cheesecake even when it has strawberries on it. When I go for dessert (on my free day) I go all out. I'm talkin' chocolate brownies, chocolate pie, mud pie brownie ice cream, anything chocolate. Yes, if you were wondering I love chocolate. And yes, I get a free day during my dieting days to eat whatever I want. Trust me I won't go crazy...well maybe sometimes. Ok so what I do to help me eat the right things is keep a journal of the intake of foods (energy) and the outtake of calories called exercise. Keeping track really isn't as hard as I thought it might be. I am using a website called www.my-calorie-count.com and it makes it ten times easier. For all the foods I didn't know the nutrition facts on, this website has that info. So at the end of the day I can see how much fat I ate (yum) and my daily calories. So I have all my facts about me on this free website, I'm talkin' my weight, height, age, and yes measurements. I encourage you all to check out that website. It tells you how many calories you can lose playing tennis, walking, playing golf, etc. Pretty neat stuff.
Also, my husband is in this competition with Adam and since it started I have lost 3 pounds. So thank you boys for competing. You have encouraged me to do the same. Being Healthy is Awesome.

Competition

So one of the best things in life is competition. Some people are very competitive and some are well not so competitive. Which one are you?? I am very competitive. Todd and I played tennis with our friends Andy and Carlye this last weekend. And at first you just hit the ball back and forth and don't really care if you mess up or not. However once we started keeping score, I couldn't get a ball to hit over the net and inside the lines. Needless to say I was very upset at my terrible skill. I knew I could do better, but for some reason my feet wouldn't move and my eyes wouldn't read the ball fast enough to make a good play. I was very frustrated at myself.

(My competitive nature comes from my dad. We love to compete, to play, to win. And yes winning is sweeter when you have lost before.)

But as we kept playing I stopped being mad a myself. and Amazingly I started playing better. I don't remember who won in the end, but I know Team Ferguson was behind and we did catch up. But I don't remember the final game count. And yes, Carlye is pregnant so you would think it is unfair, but she is all over the place. We'll just have to see her move at 8 months. Game on!

Are you guilty of walking by someone at the mall or the grocery store and giving them a slight smile and a "silent" hi? Ok so why do we do that? We don't know the person, we really don't care about them. Why do we feel like we need to smile and say hi? Maybe it's b/c we feel like being nice, or maybe we think if we pay attention to people we don't know we are doing a good deed.

Ok so for my next question. Since we smile at people we don't know. Why don't we smile at people we DO know but just haven't seen them in a while? You have all done it. You've seen someone you went to school with or maybe even work with and you look the other way. I knew it you are smiling b/c you've done it and can only explain it with this statement. Well it's been a long time since we've seen eachother or have talked so why should I stand here by the produce and talk about life when we're not going to see eachother for another 2 years. So we dread the 5 minute conversation. Seriously how bad would it be to actually say "hi, how are you" and actually care to hear the answer.

My challenge for everyone is to care about other people. People you know and people you don't know. God says we should love our neighbors. Well I don't even know my neighbors...well maybe a couple. But I do try to smile and say hi to them. Maybe there wouldn't be so much violence in the world if everyone really cared for everyone else. Try putting your pride aside and be true to people. Stop being fake, and love people.