October 4th- 7th Flooding

Before I start in on the heavy details, I just want to share this image that was going around Facebook and that almost every one of my friends was sharing.

(Source: I don't remember the source, so if the creator sees this, contact me, so I can give you proper credit for a beautiful image that was truly hopeful during those awful days.)

The start of the month for us started off rainy. It rained and it was so depressing. The storm started to get worse and the warnings started coming in on Saturday afternoon. Cayce was at work and was planning on staying overnight near work because he had to go back in at 5am. He said that the weather was so bad that the wind was shaking the car and he decided to risk it and come home. He called me and stayed on the phone with me the entire time and closer to home, the roads were just so awful. He had to detour several times. My brothers road was completely washed out. He got into the yard and went to back up and started spinning out.

Sunday morning when we woke up, which was a couple hours after he got home, we became glued to our Facebook feed. There was so much devastation coming in. My brother warning us that one of the roads leading to our house was shut down. My mom texting me telling me the same thing. We spent the whole day just relaxing and watching our Facebook feed. Cayce went out to take pictures. I am not going to be posting all of them, but the ones where I can tell where or what it is.

On Monday, while I was doing school with the girls, trying to keep some normalcy for them, Cayce went into our yard and took some videos of our property line and it was flooding and going towards the road that was closed. On Tuesday, The sun was coming out every now and then and it was so refreshing. Cayce was out of work for 2 days and went back on Wednesday. Our road was still closed off and there were many back roads just washed away and gone. Before he left for work, he went down to what caused our road shut down. It's scary, but the sun shining that day was so welcome.

On Sunday, a couple that lives on the other side of this gaping hole took a video and it showed water rushing through. It was disturbing. 

This road just got fixed last week by the National Guard and other roads around us are just now being repaired.

The state of South Carolina has never had something this catastrophic on record since records started being kept in the 1920's. Our governor called it the thousand year storm.

I hope nothing like this ever happens again. Now we are seeing the same thing happen again in Mexico! Please pray for those people and keep them in your thoughts.

1 Year Since Cayce's Accident

It has been exactly one year today since Cayce got hurt at work. It has been a long, stressful, worrisome, trying year. There were times when I thought we would lose everything, but we got through it. We are still having to deal with lawyers and Cayce has one more eye appointment in October. That appointment will put things in motion and what needs to be done.

We are back to living paycheck to paycheck and wondering how we are going to make it two weeks. When we get back on our feet, we will be paying off these debts and start building our emergency fund back up. It sucks that both jobs Cayce had when he got work, just abandoned him and didn't care what so ever, and said see you later... Goodbye!

There have been times during the past year when there have been people from those jobs that said he was faking the whole thing, just to get out of working. That is a bunch of bull. We no longer have any contact with those people, and we only go to the store in town is if we really need something.

There have been times when this whole thing was too much and I wanted to give up and quit and not deal with it anymore. But I have stuck by Cayce's side and we will get through this. It was especially hard that it had to happen during our first year of homeschooling, but it was a great year and everything is going to be OK.

Now, going into the second year, we are just taking things one day at a time. Enjoying our time with each other and enjoying this new school year with the kids and watch them learn and grow.

1 Week Til The New School Year

It is less than a week till the new school year and to be honest, I am freaking TERRIFIED! I have been excited all summer, but now that it's getting close, I am getting scared. I still have to figure out how I am going to deal with Samantha and Ariana at the same time and still have time for Adalyn.

The way Cayce's schedule is at work right now, I have no idea how he is going to be able to help out. I have already figured the book hauls and library trips out. I admit that losing our DirecTV service is a blow that I was not expecting, but we will have to work around that.

The website I want to use this year, has been acting up and I haven't been able to get on it to schedule and plan and print like I need to, so I am having to find something else last minute along with the curriculum I used last year, which was Easy Peasy Homeschool. I loved it, and I can't wait to see how Sammy likes the First Grade portion.

I am going to be using the Little House Kindergarten Curriculum with Ariana and then the grades portion with Samantha. The only thing iffy with that is that the units for the grades aren't completed and I don't trust easily when people say they have things set to a schedule but are still working on them, because things can and will happen.

But here is my little rant. The girls are doing a countdown. I am getting extra time in with Adalyn because I know my time with her during the day will be drastically cut short. The next thing I will be working on is a schedule for us to try to go by the first week. I already have our start and end time figured, I know I will be starting by this time every morning. That is my goal.

Fingers Crossed

Today, Cayce had his eye specialist appointment in Charleston. He had to be there at 7:15 this morning, so he had to leave around 4:30. I couldn't go back to sleep after he left because he would be 2 and half hours away from me and the kids and all sorts of crap was running through my head.

This week has not been good what so ever and the news he brings home will determine what will happen to our family.

My stress level is through the roof and I am usually excited about my birthday and Christmas and New Years, but I am just ready for these holidays to be OVER!!

October BE GONE!

This is the second October in a row where nothing has gone right for our family. Last year, it was Cayce's car accident and no new car for weeks. Now, It's Cayce is out of work, going on week 5 tomorrow, no money coming in, and bills stacking up. I am fed up with the stress and it is definitely trickling over to the kids because they are getting moody and cranky and misbehaving more than usual.

Today, I started Ariana's letter curriculum. I don't have everything I need for her, so I am going to have to make the best of what I can. I'm hoping that this letter curriculum will also help with her speech, because when she went in for her checkup on Friday, the doctor said she couldn't understand 75% of what Ariana was saying. I really don't want to have to put her into speech therapy, so this 1 year deadline the doctor gave us, I am going use it well.

Samantha has completed 49 days of school. She is having so much fun and everyday I am coming up with things to do units on in the future, like gardening in the spring or Halloween candy science experiments the first week of November.

I know I want October to be done with already, but I am also not ready for November to be here because the first 2 weeks will be grieving time for my entire family. My grandmother and great grandmothers deaths. The end of the years are becoming like a black hole for me. The holidays that officially mark another year in my book, making my babies older. it should be a happy time, and I am dreading the next few months overall.

Staycation @ Mom's!

Thursday night, we loaded up the car with everything we had in the master that we were using at the time, and headed to my parents. When we got there, we got the kids and blankets in the house and then I got the food in the refrigerator and freezer.

When we finally settles down, it was almost and an hour and a half later. I played candy crush for my mom, while the girls ate supper. I was already stressed to the max and didn't want to do anything else. We got the kids to sleep, and I didn't fall asleep until 3am, because my mind was going stir crazy and wondering if my power was back on yet.

Friday morning, Cayce went to the bank and did some running around before he had to go to work at 1pm. That morning, I was bored out of my mind and wanted to go home. I did watch some Ghost Adventures with the kids and got some laughs out of my mom and grandma. When Cayce got off work, we headed to the house to get some clean clothes because we were looking at Wednesday till the power got turned back on. Right when we walked into the door, I broke down crying. It was dark and cold, and I hated being there without the kids. The girls got much needed baths that night and they slept GREAT! After, Cayce and I took ours, Addy started crying and my dad was going to go ballistic if we left with her still crying, so she took a trip to Walmart with us. We did a little grocery shopping and we got 3 more candles.

Saturday morning, my dad told us about the earthquake that happened at 10:23. Cayce and I didn't feel it in Orangeburg, but it shook my parent's house and woke the girls up. Thank goodness it wasn't serious and didn't cause damage. Cayce had to do some work for his boss around his house and work, picking up fallen tree limbs and branches. He had to work at bi-rite. At 10am, my grandma called my mom and we HAD OUR POWER BACK ON! I was excited. My parents had to do some errands and while they were gone, I got all of our stuff ready to take home.

My parents helped get everything home and when I walked into the house, and flipped the living room switch and the light came on, I was giddy and jumping up and down. It was a great feeling to be back home. I got the girls situated and Addy was a good baby because she was starting to get sick.

I got some lunch made and the girls down for naps and I had a ghost adventures marathon to get too. Cayce worked till 10pm and he went to sonic and got us some food. After I ate and the new episode of ghost adventures, I went out like a light. I never want another day like Saturday.

3 and 1/2 days with no power, sleeping on parents couch, moving things back and forth between houses and Adalyn getting sick wore me out and big stress load.

Power Outage 2/12- 2/15

On Wednesday night at 7pm, our power went out. It was very stressful because we were about to start cooking supper for the kids, and get them ready for bed. The power outage was the worst experience the girls have had in their lives besides Addy's premature birth. Cayce ended up going outside in the freezing cold to grill hotdogs. We called our electric power outage service number several times and hoped that the power would come back on during the night. We were prepared with water and food, but the cold was unbearable. That night, Addy had the warmest room in the house and Sammy and Ariana were in the coldest room. We went in there multiple times throughout the night to fix blankets and cover them back up.

On Thursday morning, branches and ice began to fall. It was scary. The power was still out, and it was 52 degrees in the house. Cayce and I took the girls blankets and pillows, and threw them into our room. We gathered plates, spoons, cups, food and beverages, and paper towels and every candle we owned, and closed ourselves up into the master bedroom. We ate so much junk food. All we did was take naps and be closed up. We had to put all our refrigerated and freezer food outside to keep it good.

we made them a palate on the floor, and that's where they stayed.

My ice cream didn't make it outside, so we poured the melted cream into cups and called it power outage milkshakes

Tired from all the stress and boredom.

Around 5pm, our candles that we had lit, were starting to melt fast. Cayce decided to trek to the store to by some more and to get us a good hot meal. The lady who adopted us for Christmas brought us some chili and crackers for supper. Then I got a phone call from my dad telling me that they got their power back on and to bring the girls over and that we would stay there until our lights came back on.
When Cayce got back, we threw so much stuff into the car and left for warmth and running water.

I'll post more later about the stay at my parents and when our power finally came back on.

Cold as HELL!!!!!!

Yesterday, it was windy and all the news reports were airing and forecasting that the low for last night would get down to 16. The teens. It got down to 13 degrees. I started doing everything to get the house warmed up and to keep the girls warm. I tripled blanketed their beds, put them in footy pajamas, and had the heat on to 70 degrees. We tried to get Missy into the house, but she was already in her warm spot I guess and would not come to her name being called. We left all 3 sinks run with a steady stream of water, and thought that we would be fine.

This morning, we got up, and Cayce had to get ready to leave early. I wasn't feeling that great and I had some sort of stomach bug that lasted all day. When I was about to leave the bathroom, I realized that there wasn't any water coming from the faucet. I tried to turn it on all the way, and our water had froze up over night. I was angry. Cayce couldn't do anything and left for work and left the girls and I without water. It wasn't that bad because I had water stored and cold water in the fridge. the only thing that sucked was that my stomach was torn up and I couldn't go to the bathroom till Cayce got the water fixed at 4:00pm.

Tonight will be a repeat of last night with the temperatures going back into the teens. We have Missy inside tonight. We have had her inside pretty much all day to get her comfortable and she lets us know when she has to go potty. She runs straight to the door and when she is done, she comes right back meowing like she's dying. I got supper in the oven for the second night to get the house warm and it feels good. I'm just ready for this hot meal and a long hot shower to relax.

Road Block

Well, I was going to write a post all about our weekend. That has changed. Cayce is at the doctor, because he has been feeling sick since Saturday, and coughing really bad. Turns out that he has the Flu. He is out of work until Saturday. I will try to post during the week, but I'm going to have a lot on my plate this week. Usually when Cayce gets sick, he works through it, or takes one day off work and he is usually at the doctor most of that day. But four day of doing everything myself and not making any money is total stress.

With all this on my mind, I don't remember what we did over the weekend. Well, I have to come up with a game plan for the week, so I stay sane and keep the kids happy and help Cayce recover.

Hoping for a Better Weekend

The past two weeks have been hard for me. This month is going by so slow and I'm on the edge of my seat every minute of every day waiting for a phone call that I don't want to get. I have been feeling sick all week and wanting to sleep every minute.

Tomorrow I am hoping to have a better day. We are going to a birthday party. I'm praying that I don't get a phone call on our way to Aiken. I will post more on the party next week.

On Sunday, Cayce has to work all day at the store, so I am going to be cleaning all day and being bored.

Wreck Photos

I am still in shock after Cayce's wreck yesterday, that I can't put words together to talk about it without crying. So all I am going to do today is post photos of the car that I took, and leave it at that. I'm not strong enough right now to talk about it and what we all went through yesterday.

End of the Month

I have never been more excited to see the month of September end. This is supposed to be a month that I love, and cherish, and I couldn't be happier to see it go away this year. This month was just not my cup of tea at all. I knew it would be stressful when it we lost power on the first day of the month.

I was so upset on Friday during our water situation, that I sat down, and wrote down every unexpected thing that happened this month. Yes, it is so negative, but I had to get it down on paper, rather than think about it all weekend. I was thinking about posting it, but I don't want that negativity on my blog for me to read and remember in the future.

The good thing about today was that my 3 hole puncher that I ordered yesterday shipped today and Cayce started his 2nd job today. Not that happy about Cayce having to work 2 jobs, but he wants to do it. It's going to take a lot of time away from the girls and I, but it will all work out in the end.

This weekend, we are going to spend every minute we have together when Cayce isn't working. We are going to go grocery shopping on Saturday after Cayce gets off work and we may do some geocaching before or after.

I don't know how the weekend is going to go, but I am determined to make the month of October better than September.

HELLO August

Can this year just SLOW down a bit? Last month flew by and the things on my to do list grew. I'm getting ready to start Ariana's homeschooling in October. I don't have any concrete plans yet, but I need to jump on it.

Cayce and I were discussing our holiday plans and that is more that has jumped on the band wagon.

And to start the month off, Adalyn has two doctor's appointments next week. One is an eye appointment and one is her 18 month checkup. Today, I got a phone call from the eye doctor saying that her Medicaid is inactive. I haven't had a anxiety attack in MONTHS, but today changed that. I had to give her member and state id and was told that if it was still inactive, I would get a call back. That was around 12:15. They close in an hour and they are not open tomorrow. I'm praying that I don't get a call back because then I'll know that it is still active.

I'm ready for this month because there are some new TV shows coming on and new seasons starting. One show I can't wait to see is the new season of Ghost Adventures. I'm also ready for the new season of The Real Housewives of Miami.

I'm ready to go to some of the festivals that we plan on attending and I'm ready for the new workshops this month for the kids.

A Ruined Day

Today is just not going the way as planned. Cayce has to go to the will reading soon, and our date night has been cancelled because we don't have anyone to watch the girls. I'm stressed to the max and i'm sick and tired of plans always going down the drain.

I'm just hoping tomorrow isn't a total bust. I'm planning a family day tomorrow and we are gonna grill some hotdogs and make some onion rings and go to a park near the riverwalk and have a picnic and then head to the riverwalk. Then shopping tomorrow night for Sammy's birthday party.

All I can do is get over it and move on. Well, I guess its chore day now. Blah!

I Had A Panic Attack Today

I have been stressed out all day. Cayce got the car late this morning, and went and got the car realigned and hour before our salvation army appointment time. I was nervous the entire time he was gone. Just thinking about it, gets me worked up. We got so many toys for christmas, and very little food. We will definately being doing stuff a bus again next year.

Cayce came home around 3, already 2 hours late for work and I was going crazy. He just kept wasting time and eventually left 30 minutes later. I keep wishing that he will work all day on Monday. Yes, he has to work on christmas eve to get paid, which is total bs, but we need the money for our high mortgage payment, and light bill.

My nerves are on end and will be till we get these bills paid. I'm going to try really hard not to think about it on my birthday. Cayce wants to take me to dinner on Saturday for a birthday dinner, but I don't want to go because we don't have any money to spend on eating out or shopping.

I say goodnight to anyone who is reading this.

I Hate My Data Plan

I have Straight Talk for my phone. I get the 30 dollar plan, because I can afford it, but I only get 30MB of data. I have so many Halloween pics on my phone that I cant get off because I have no more data. So, that's why I haven't posted in the last couple of days.

Anyways, today was good, then got stressful when Cayce checked the mail when he got off work this afternoon. Out mortgage payment has went up 70.00 because of our house taxes. It is so stressful that I dont think that we will be able to buy the kids christmas this year or have any money to get basic neccessities until tax time. Hopefully, Cayce will be able to get the county to come down on our taxes, and our mortgage company can put us back at our mortgage payment we have now or drop it a good bit. That would be amazing, but I'm not going to get my hopes up that it will drop.

Well, I'm off to bed. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and the kids will get to spend some time with their granny and papa (my parents).

Here is a quick exciting fact, yesterday morning, Adalyn started crawling. My baby is growing up before my eyes and it won't stop.

Good Night!

Stressed and Way Behind!

The weekend was so stressful and overbearing, it has definately taken a toll on my body. I woke up so sick this morning and every time I closed my eyes, I would fall asleep. Then, Cayce would wake me up and I would get so mad. I'm so behind on my weekly to do list.

On Saturday, we went shopping and I about had it with Cayce. He was rubbing me the wrong way and just not listening and plus, it was very hot outside. The girls were cranky and screaming on the way home, that right when we got home, Cayce went straight outside and didn't help me with anything. That night, he kept bugging me that we had to start getting the food ready and he kept me awake till midnight.

Yesterday, after about 6 hours of sleep, Cayce WOKE me back up to finish the food. He didn't help me, but kept rushing me to get things done. Everybody started arriving right at 1:00, and everything went smoothly after that. When everyone left, Cayce bugged me to go to walmart with him again. He told me I could take a nap, but he kept waking me AGAIN!!!!!

I just want some sleep. I have to get some before he gets off work tonight, because I cant stay awake another minute. Later, I'll get my weekly goals done for this week and post it later.

Bye!!!!!!

Thinking

I don't want to whine and complain about how miserable today has been. Cayce was gone most of the day, and it feels like there is another gap coming between us. We haven't been talking as much, he hasn't spent time with the kids at all in the last 3 days.

It's really getting to me and it's making me feel like he doesn't want us around anymore, and that he is going to do the same thing he has done in the past.

He is leaving early tomorrow morning to do some work and get money so he can get yard tools, so he can do yard work all this week while on vacation. he is missing so much of the girls' lives and he don't seem to care one bit.

But, enough about that, Samantha is going to start school work again on Monday. We will be learning about lighthouses.

Good Night folks.

Bump in the Road

My family and I have hit a bump in the road. That is our saying when we have a hardtime. Cayce got his paycheck tonight and we are a few dollars short paying 2 bills and our car insurance will be late. I'm down and I have no idea what we are going to do for the next two weeks. We won't have any gas to do errands and the kids wont have pull-ups. I know that it is going to be rough, but we will get through this.

Good night ya'll

Frustrating day

Today started of ok. But then, I took a look at the bills and it all went down hill. Cayce and I called our car ins company and we thought we had everything figured out, then we checked the mail and our light bill was in. I went into complete shock and almost shut down. Cayce is going to go sell metal on Saturday, and hopefully, whatever he gets from that will help some.

I have a wishlist on Swagbucks. I had three Barbie dolls wishlisted, and now, there is only one available. Ariana's birthday is slowly approaching and Swagbucks is the only way I can get her a present this year. I'm hoping that this last Barbie will be restocked and I can get it.

On a better note, Samantha is doing great with her schooling. She learned the number 2 today, and she loved tracing it.

Going to go take a shower now and pray that tomorrow will be a better day.