It ain't Perty

Imagine my excitement when our realtor

called Thursday morning to let us know

that the sale of our home was done!!!!

We would be closing in 10 days!!!

We have been waiting over a year

for this to happen!

(short sale MY BUTT!)

ahem....

scuze me...

just sayin'.

The only way i can explain my delight

is to say..

" a   $375,000 burden had been lifted!"

NOW then...

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN

THE REALTOR CALLED BACK

3 HOURS LATER...

to announce that  ....

someone had stopped by and called to let him know that..

water was leaking in the kitchen.

wahhhhhhhhhh!!!

"ok.  i can handle this.  i'll just grab

some towels...3...no...5!

yup.  that will be good."

Hubby had just left for a 4 month

stint to work in California.

I don't handle "tragic" very

well on my own....

i had to pick my kids up from school

right then.

I am not a typically "patient" soul.

I was freaking out inside.

"i gotta get there...i gotta get there!!!"

i couldnt get there fast enough.

I am a panicky lil thing.

i reallized at that point that i needed

to say a prayer and ask for some

calm feelings and perhaps some comfort too.

I felt lifted up as i finsihed the prayer.

little did i know that i was really gonna

need that COMFORT and CALM!

an estimated 6-8 days of a waterfall

exploding from a burst pipe in the kitchen ceiling....

the outcome:

2 entire floors of our home destroyed.

flooring, cabinets, walls, ceilings, 2 kitchens

all DESTROYED!

the house has to be gutted ...stripped to it's bones...

and restored.

ohhhh...

i am sooo glad there was not a

camera on me when we entered

the house to find the waterfall...

IT PROBABLY WASN'T PERTY!

i lost it.

thank my Lord above for family

and friends and the power of prayer.

By the grace of God i may get through this

life still.

:)

xoxo  shell

Onward and Upward Friends

                                                                                  

Forgive me this my friends....

i need but a moment to log my reallity check....

It is 11:33 pm ....

My heart is so full and my mind running rampant...

during our routine bedtime couple's prayer...

My hubby mentioned his gratitude for

our Father in Heaven watching over us for the past 2 and a half years through all our trials...

THIS FREAKED ME OUT!

i couldnt breath... and my eyes filled up...

Two and a half years ago it became evident that

our comfy, cooshy, life was about to take some

twists and turns...

(AND LET ME JUST SAY:

IT HAS BEEN A WILD RIDE)

We went from a dream house with large beautiful

yard to hotel rooms in unfamiliar parts of the country....

presently, we reside in a bbbbbb

(sorry, it's hard for me to spit it out sometimes..)

bbb-basement.

bitter  tasting words on my tongue

We sold our  successful company, our nice cars,

our fancy home, our fun toys ( 4 wheelers)....

we made sacrifices of huge proportions.

There were a lot of "boo hoo's"

and "oh woe is me's"

but we are

STRONG.

We are not your average "give up and go home" Joe's...

No siree bob!

We have trudged our way through

uncertainty and change and sacrifice

and HUMBLE PIE ....

Lot's of unfavorable HUMBLE PIE.

and we have done it TOGTHER!

AS A FAMILY.

AS A TEAM....

 Along with our SAVIOR of course.

every step of the way.

WITH OUR HEADS HELD HIGH.

(mostly)

and without tears.

SIKE!!!!

THERE WERE A LOT OF TEARS.

SERIOUSLY.

LIKE....

A LOT.

(HEY , LET A GIRL MOURN HER OLD

COZY LIFE...WOULD YA!)

but in all honesty...

my heart is more full of thanks and

gratitude then ever before.

i recognize each and every simple blessing...

however small and sweet.

I have learned so much about life...about money...

about .....  ME.

I am one tough cookie.

I  have been part way to hell and back....

(well... almost back...)

( give me til May ok!)

It's true...I cannot take all the credit for my

toughness...

I am nothing without my Savior Jesus Christ.

We are nothing without Him.

I  knew we had been through a very rough year....

I just didnt reallize that it had been 2 and a half!

HOLY COW!

No wonder i am soooo tired.

I went from 29 to 65 in two years flat.

I just had to bear my little testimony...

that there is

HOPE.

In all things there is hope.

The sun will come out tomorrow.

The best is yet to come.

Let us never give up hope.

We are strong.

through Him weak things are made strong.

I know this is true.

Onward and Upward my friends!

On our knees looking upward.

I say these things...in the name

of Jesus Christ...

Amen!



xoxo  the Hawkers!

Me and My Peeps

We  apparently had a rough time getting situated for this

photoshoot.

We just kept switcherooing...

we couldnt all look in the same direction

at the same time either....

It was a rough afternoon...

not sure we got any "blower uppers"

if ya know what i mean...

well...that is except for the one above!  lol

Me and my big sis....

We married  boys that were brothers...

and our daughters were born 5 months apart.

We all have lots of fun!!!

My girl is Lou lou(left)

becca's daughter is Boo ( right)

awwww...young love

lol

young my butt ..

it's our 10 year anniversary this month.

weve been together for almost 13 years.

all the girlsin the Hawker/Coon family.

how precious are they!

**take special note how my cutie sister

put pearls on my niece's boot!  YUM YUM

xoxo  shell

Chaos...just part of my day.

so....

i am  like most of you...

busy.busy.busy.

I cannot find a slow day to catch my breath!

and.....

as i'm sure you well know....

when life gets put on high speed....

an angry lil' , unpleasent, monster shows his face...

Chaos  

is his name.

and

making me wanna run and cry ...

is his game.

Here's an example for ya:

Rushing Lou to school on thursday

after a very late night of homework on wednesday

thanks to 5 trips to the dance studio, 4 trips to my sisters,

volunteer reading at the oldest's school for 2 hours,

taking kade to afternoon preschool,

a 2 hour Dr.s appt for me, then picking up youngest

from my M.i.l.  (at a department store)

rushing  to get the oldest on time from school...

then 5 minutes to get kade from preschool before i owe the 

teacher for getting there late......!!!!!!

then here is where the 5 trips to dance comes in.

The last being at 9:20 pm...then home for homework.

(i'm not in a homework mood at this point.)

(neither is the 2nd grader that is suppose to be doing it)

**so in comes rushing lou to school thursday morning**

then i'm off to sisters for a part of kade's costume.

He is in a play today. It's his school Pow Wow.

Thanksgiving celebration.

Did i mention i have 2 hours to shower myself and bathe

2 children, get together face paints (im painting 35 kids faces at the party)  and blankies for the lawn and

 get said boy's costume together....

Oh yah! 

and ...

i forgot to order the cheese cube platters.

and i need apple cider ...lots of apple cider.

head to the store to see what i can pull

together...

CHEESE CURDS!

with cute tooth picks in them of course!

i buy about $30 bucks worth and

then $16 worth of apple cider.

Jump in the car and head straight to the party...

opening cheese curd bags in the car on the way over...

SLAM on the breaks (idiot driver at 12 oclock) :)

$20 of cheese curd  FLIES into the air.

and lands on the dirty floor.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

(i choose not to cry)

(cuz my eye makeup looks really great today)

but i can't hold back a couple of choice words....

NICE.

hope that 50 people don't mind sharing 12

tiny chunks of  cheese curd.

Upon arriving...

I step in a large pile of

DOG CRAP!

(dont mind that they dont even own a dog)

I'm just that lucky.

before reallizing i stepped in the poo...

i walked ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE CARPETED

PRESCHOOL!

It was not pretty.

It stunk bad too.

It could be smelled throughout the entire

Pow wow party.

Race off to pick up Lou.

Head home to BREATHE.

OOPS_ Parent teacher conferences!

back out the door!

*** so here is the question;****

How does one run a home and run errands without

running AMUCK????

HELP!

XOXO  SHELL

BOO belated

Happy

Belated

Trick or treat!

 

Mad hatter Me!

My neice madison

the Genie!

My Vampire daughter LOU lou on the right.

and madisons neighbor friend on the left..

(cant remember her name sorry cute girl)

Sally.  I mean my sister becca.

Dressed like Sally from

Nightmare before christmas

Spooky treats!

Spider webs!

...and candlelight

We had so much fun with the family at

our annual Halloween party.

My big sista has been such a "doll"

(no pun intended)

She knows how much i LOVE Halloween

And how important our annual party is to me.

This year we  dont have a home of our own.

Becca wasnt about to let my tradition die.

She worked her butt off to host this for us!

Love you long time becca!

xoxo  shell



Fashion Savvy Youngstas

Lou Lou had a sleep over

this weekend.

The girls decided they wanted to be fashion designers.



They wanted to make a real dress!

(so guess who got to make a dress.....hmmmm)

:)

We took an existing tank top and hand sewed it

to the pink and black polka dot fabric.

The girls each took turns puttin on the dress while

the other one added thier own touches to the design!

They loved learning how to sew by hand...

and i loved teachin em!

 

this is them at the end of their fashion show....

(....and this is how they normal look.....)

ha ha LOL...JK

It turned out pretty cute...

but then they started talking about who got to

wear it to church/school first......

HA HA HA

that was my Cue to leave the room.....

love those lil ladies!

xoxo  shell



Loves Polkadots.... Has Dumptruck

It's been a crazy ride....

this past year and a half.

It's funny to think that two years ago

i had my own online boutique.

Vintage frills and fabulous home decor...

that is what i sold.

I loved every second of it.

It felt good to contribute to the family finances...

(and i got to shop for inventory...guilt free)

good times.  good times.

In my plan...

(you know,  the plan we make for our life, the fabulous picture

we see in our minds)

i would just raise my lovely children, shop, and re~vamp old furniture...

It was a nice plan.

But it was not to be.

i closed up my shop....

packed away all the pretty stuff...

and now....

a year and a half later....

I am the crying .... proud owner of

Hawker Landscape Services...

yup.

thass right...

i run

A DUMP TRUCK COMPANY.

(you think i'm kidding dont you...)

No jokin ladies.

I take the calls and give quotes

for delivering topsoil, gravel, roadbase, boulders....etc

QUIT LAUGHING.

I'M SERIOUS.

I book out our dumptruck and B.S. with

Construction guys all day.

It's not what i pictured.

at  all.

ever...

never...

not

even

close!

but it is where i'm at right now.

I could get a part time job but....

let us just say....

i'm not so good with  customers in retail.

(history shows)

i may have mentioned the word "GUN".

loudly.

in a bank.

that i worked at.

and i may have got 5 customer complaints in ONE day

at the department store i worked at.

i am not big on..

"the customer is always right"

infact...

i believe the exact opposite is true most of the time....

SOOOO...

AS YOU CAN SEE:

i am not cut out for the retail world.

so i may fit in quite nicely among the

hard hat guys.

me and my polkadot boots!

just along for the ride,

xoxo  shell