The World According to Leslie

On January 1, 2018, I made a list of things I want to do this year. They aren't resolutions... they are goals I have for things I want/plan to do. You can check out my goal post here.  I am hoping to do a monthly update about my goals.  Goals Update---January Ice skating, roller skating, horseback riding---haven't done those yet.  When I do them, I hope someone will get lots of pictures for me to share.  There is a bowling tournament coming up in February...on my bday weekend. I'm hoping to get Tony to enter it with me. It's a mixed doubles tournament. I'm still building my blog, so I haven't looked at affiliates yet. I need to get my mile time better/more consistent, and I don't want to freeze at the 5K. So I haven't done it yet. 20 book goal.... I have read 1 ( The Book Thief ) and loved it.  I'm currently reading Life of Pi . I want to see both movies as well. We are planning to go to Pigeon Forge in March. We are hoping to go M...

According to Blogger, I am currently at 901 views for the month of January! Thank you all! That's my highest ever! That really tall line of the RIGHT edge of the graphic is 901 for January 2018!

Since it's still January (for one more day)--where did this month go already--I can still talk about Christmas...right? Every year, I have HUGE plans for Christmas. I plan to get the inside and the outside decorated before December 1st! This was the plan this year: Tree--Black Friday Shoppimg--Done my mid-December Cleaning--Done so Christmas pictures look tidy Decor--Inside and Outside by December 1st What ACTUALLY happened: Tree--December 22nd--lights, Angel, and tree skirt only (none of my awesome ornaments or garland) Shopping--Finished on Christmas Eve (as is the normal around here) Cleaning--most of the laundry was done and moved stuff so it wouldn't be in the pictures Decor--Tree (partly), wreath on the door, no lights, no nativity, nothing shiny and bright This bad because it was a little depressing. I felt rushed to get the tree/wreath up and down. It was NOT very festive at all. It was also bad because I didn't feel the need to take many pictures ...

Today's post  is short and sweet! I have had Facebook forever. I have had Pinterest forever, and I love it!!  I have had Instagram for a while, but hadn't used it until recently. I have had Twitter for a while also, but hardly ever used it either. FINALLY.... when the snow was falling outside my window last Wednesday, I downloaded SnapChat. You can follow me at all of these, if you wish. If you want me to follow you, leave your information in the comments. Facebook: Leslie Parker Jackson Pinterest: Leslie Parker Jackson Twitter: @TLCHome818 Instagram: TLCSpiders SnapChat: lesliejackson01 I can't wait to "see you there"!! 

Now that it's 2018, I thought I'd look back on 2017 and see the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. January: It was mostly boring. The "after Christmas" blahs hit. Since today, is a SNOW DAY in NC, I thought it appropriate to include my post about the first snow in 2017 here .  In January 2017, I also decided it was time to move on from things I had been waiting for.  I cleared out some space in my office (and my mind) by Making Room For God's Plan . Being the awesome Girl Scout mom that I am, I had to figure out how to fix the mess my made by melting CRAYON onto The Princess's brand new Cadette vest (which is light khaki)!!!  Read about that here . February: I got older... just like I do in February every year. :) I was also singing on the Praise Team at church, working in Children's Church, and helping with some big projects (still doing all those too)!! I was working out consistently and getting my mile time down so I could try to do a 5...

Today, I have no pictures to share. I have no funny stories. I have frustration. I have anger. I have a desire that the world my daughter, my brother's kids/grandkids, and my sister's kids are growing up in was different. Earlier this week, in less than 30 minutes, the lives of my sister and her kids changed forever. My sister works in the office at a child care facility. She has the privilege of having her kids in classes there while she is at work (mainly before and after school for the middle one!)!! A couple of days ago, she had to run an errand for work.  When she got back to work, it was time to go home.  In the 20 minutes or so that it took for her to gather her things from her office and get her two youngest daughters from their classes, someone busted out the back passenger window of her car and stole her purse. Yes, we are thankful that she and the girls weren't in the car. No one is hurt..... physically. Luckily, she keeps her ID and stuff with ...

Over the past few days, the temperatures here have been colder than normal. They have been in the single digits in the mornings and barely above freezing (if at all) during the day. The schools have been delayed twice this week because of the cold temperatures. They knew they would probably have bus issues; plus it was just too cold, especially with the wind some days, to have the kids standing outside in the dark waiting for the bus. In downtown Kannapolis, we have a park--Veteran's Park. There is a fountain there. It has been frozen this week.  The water that is moving isn't frozen, but the water that is not moving is.  We stopped by today, after bowling this morning and I got some pictures of it.  I think they are really neat!  One of the spouts looks like an "ice volcano" when the water shoots out. This is the view of the fountain from the park, toward the street. This is the view from the street.  Both sides of the fountain are frozen....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I'm simply amazed that 2017 has ended and today begins 2018! My motto for this year is "It's going to be great in 2-0-1-8!" (You have to say the numbers separately for it to sound right!) Anyways, I made a list of goals for this year. Some of them are things I have done before, but I want to do again. Some of them are things I've never done, but I want to challenge myself. I didn't make any RESOLUTIONS this year. I guess if I were to make one, it would be to do things that make me a better person, a happier person.  I read somewhere, and shared with my Sunday School teens, that only 12% of people actually succeed in completing their New Year's Resolutions. It also said that about 1/3 of people never actually get started with them at all. That sounds bad, but the reason given for it is that if people say "I'm going to lose weight," but they don't put in the meal planning, correct grocery shopping, and daily wo...