The World According to Leslie

Earlier this year, my dad's dad--Papaw Paul--had to have surgery. They removed a tumor that covered 1/3 of his bladder. Just a couple weeks ago, he had to go back in for more surgery. This time, the tumor was there again but, it wasn't as bad. On Friday, he had to go in for a FULL DAY of tests. It was an ALL DAY CT Scan. They had to pump him full of fluids and then drain them. It sounded waaaaaayyy too complicated for me! He got through that wonderfully. Today, he had to go back for the follow-up to get results. My parents are his "power of attorney". So, any time they talk to Papaw at the doctor's office, Papaw has them call my mom to tell her. Dad drives a truck--home nightly--but you don't want to tell someone what the doc said while they are driving an 18-wheeler down the interstate! Right? Anyways, I just picked mom up to take her home from work. On the way, the doctor's office called. I heard mom asking questions. Then I figured out it wa...

How do you get people to forgive you? A couple of months ago, I obviously ticked someone off. This person and I exchanged words for a while. Then this person stopped all communication with me. I did receive an email from this person stating that this person was sorry. I have sent a couple of messages to this person stating that I am sorry about what happened. I have tried to reconnect with this person. However, this person refuses to reconnect with me. This hurts me because this person should be part of the family. It makes things weird when I am around other people in this person's family since this person won't accept my apology and move on. I just wish I knew how to put it all behind us and move on. Suggestions? Until next time........

Head over to Dandelion Wishes to enter to win some cool Hasbro games! You can even tell her "Leslie sent you"!! Until next time.......

WARNING: This post is LONG and personal! It's probably more real than I have been in a while! "If going through life and you find yourself lost, go back to the last place you knew who you were and what you were doing, and start there."--Carol Stack I really wish I could find a website to link you to her, but there are a few Carol Stacks. I don't know for sure which one she is. She came to Appalachian State University in 1996/97 and gave a lecture. If I could find my notes, I could probably tell you the name of the lecture. I could almost tell you exactly where I was sitting in the lecture. Anyways... I digress. This was the first thing she said in the lecture. I wrote it down, but I never had to look at it. I memorized it just from hearing it the first time. It has been my favorite quote for 15 years! I said that to tell you this: Have you ever had a time that you just felt that everything was going wrong? You take a drive and come home more confu...

As you know, Tony and I have been trying to find a house in a different school district. I like the school where Chasity is, but we can't afford $400 month for before-and-after school care for next year. (I know it might only be for first semester, but that's still a little more than 3 months....a little more than $1200!) So I have been looking on Craigslist for house listings. Sunday evening, I found a listing that was awesome! The right size! The right price! The right neighborhood! I emailed the guy about it. He responded on Monday and said that he and his wife had had to move quickly for his job, but that they wanted to rent the house just in case the job didn't work out next year. He had to re-bid for the job every year! OK! I'm still okay with that! I asked for the address. The man said that no one was living there and I could see in the windows. He even had some pictures of the house online. I loved the pics! I drove by the house....with my mommy, of c...

If you go here and become a fan of Chicken of the Sea on Facebook, you can print a $1.00 off coupon. (I hope that link works! I got mine from there!) Then, take that coupon to Walgreens with you. They have their Chicken of the Sea on sale this week for $0.89! Use the two together and you get a can of Chicken of the Sea for FREE! (Information from The Savings Corner !) Until next time........

I started something that I just don't think I'm going to have time to finish. I started the Creativity Boot Camp, but then everything went crazy. I found that I barely had time to finish the days I did complete. Then, I got behind. Now, I've completed 4 days and they are on DAY 9! I'm almost a week behind. I could try and catch up, but I think I'm OK with stopping where I am! :) It's OK to not finish some things! :) Yesterday, I watched "Julie and Julia"! Have you ever seen that? It's a great movie! I highly recommend it! It's about a lady who cooked her way through Julia Child's cookbook in a year and blogged about it. It also tells Julia Child's story as it goes! I loved it!! Anyways, the lady, Julie Powell, had started lots of things, but never finished them. Then she started the blog about what she was cooking and she actually finished it! I won't spoil then ending....just in case you want to watch it for yoursel...

Today the creative prompt for today is “Heavy Metal”. We were also asked to shoot some random shots of nature and things. When I was shooting a nature shot, I got my “Heavy Metal” shot too. What’s more summer-y and heavy metal than a lighthouse? I get to see this every day! It’s in my neighbor’s front yard! It’s one of the first pics I took for my random shots today. Until next time……..

Today’s (actually yesterday’s but I couldn’t get Blogger to let me post my pictures) creative prompt is “picnic”. When I think of picnics, I think of… …open grassy fields… …big huge ants… …and sunglasses. I also think of family, friends, sunburn, and good food! Until next time……..

Today’s creative prompt is “multilayered”. I thought about hair, but I wasn’t about to try to take a pic of my hair…. it’s in need of a cut! I thought about clothes. However, at 90 degrees, it’s a little warm to be layering clothes. :) Then I thought about all the layers of junk stuff I have around my house. I have stacks of stuff. Each stack is multilayered. So I have pics of movies, paperwork (some of it is actually finished!), and empty notebooks for school. For me school is VERY multilayered. This is the concept of “multilayered” to me. Until next time……..

Ok so I'm a day late in actually posting my picture! lol I did TAKE it yesterday! I have my letter, but I am not putting it on my blog. I thought about it, but I'm just going to keep it for myself. However, I have a picture that I took. The creativity prompt for Day 1 was "ivory". The first thing I thought of was my daughter's perfect skin. So I took this shot of her! :) Isn't she just adorable? Now...if I can just convince her that smooth ivory skin is a GOOD thing, she might be able to keep it this way for a while! Until next time........

I finally have the jacket for Chasity's dress and jacket laid out. All I have to do now is cut it, sew it, and she can wear it! The dress was really easy! I'm sure I'll do another of those. However, the pattern also had a shirt and pants. I'm going to do those next! Here is the jacket laid out and ready to cut out! Here is the dress. It is finished. The back and the front look alike--except the front has those buttons on the straps! Chasity picked out the buttons herself! :) Here is Chasity in the dress! She was posing for a picture after her Bridging Ceremony! :) I think she looks adorable! Until next time........

I have decided to try something! I am going to try the Creativity Bootcamp over at Creativity BootCamp ! It's a 14-day bootcamp about creativity! Everyday there will be a Journal Prompt and a Daily Creative Prompt. So the Journal for today is to write my future self a letter about all this BootCamp! I have to put it somewhere that I won't re-read it until the end of this course! I am going to hand write it first. Then, I might SERIOUSLY update this post to include it. I'll also have to update this post to include the Creative Prompt for the day! I'm using photography for my creativity medium. So I'll be posting pictures I have taken. For now, I am going to write my letter and take some pictures! :) Until next time........

Tony and I have always WANTED to save money. However, when we got married, we didn't start right away. Then two years later, Chasity was born. Then it was almost IMPOSSIBLE! Now, we've been married for 9 years, and we have VERY LITTLE actually saved. It seems like every time we get a little saved, something has to be fixed.... usually the car! lol It does need work now, but we're waiting.... but I don't think we can wait long. We know that when I actually get a teaching job, we'll be able to save about 1/3 (maybe more) of my paycheck every month....since we've been living for almost 4 years on just Tony's check anyways. However, I have decided that I want to start saving now! So.... here's my plan. It's really really hard....just kidding! The only thing I need to know is this.....Does Wal-Mart still match prices? If not, my plan is doomed! If so, I'm good to go! I have gone through all the sales papers for this week. I have circled thi...

I don't know how many of you were in band in high school. For me, band was my sanctuary. I was in the band room more than the directors were. My dad was the director of transportation for the band. He also helped to fix instruments and keep the bandroom in order. So back when I was in high school, my dad had a key to the bandroom. (The directors got tired of having to come to the school all the time! lol) Anyways, I learned a lot from band. I also learned to play many instruments that I wish I still played today. Unfortunately I have forgotten most of them. I do remember one thing.... lots of things, but this time of year reminds me of one thing.... Every year, the band would practice and learn "Pomp and Circumstance" to play for graduation. I had played it for 4 years. (My 8th grade year, they let me come up and play it for my brother's graduation!) All of a sudden it was my Senior year. I helped hand out the music to the underclassmen. I sat there watchi...