GooseBumps ( not the books)

Going over this last week with the anniversary of 9 11 I have had many goosebump moments.
                                                    My story of that fateful day......
It started out as a normal day at the Manapat house. Waking up, getting the kids ready for school , making lunches ect. I dropped off a few of the kids to school and then headed home to clean and do the daily routine with the rest of the kids. My friend Michelle called me and asked if I saw what happened. I told her no and she said turn the tv on now. I did and what I saw changed my whole day. The first plane had hit the one tower and they were showing it over again. I hung up the phone and was glued to the tv. All of a sudden the next plane hit I was in awe. They were talking terrorist and what is going to happen next. As I watched the events unfold before my eyes Tim called to let me know he was ok. Then the next plane hit. As I watched I had goosebumps of sadness and held my children close. I didn't know what was going to happen next so I went to school to go pick up my kids that I had dropped off earlier. I'm so glad I did. Living in New Jersey and being so close to all the action who knew where they were gonna hit next. I wanted my family near. My children were scared because noone at the school was telling them what had happened, because they didn't want to scare the kids. Personally I think keeping them in the dark is more scarier but what do I know. We got home safe and I turned on the tv and showed my kids what had happened. We watched the towers get hit, fall and saw people jump out of windows. We saw confusion everywhere around us, New York, Penn, and Washington DC. Goosebumps of sadness was all I felt . I had to explain what was going on and why someone would do this. My kids understood and were sad but they were happy that I explained and showed them what was going on. The next few days and weeks were so strange. It was weird that the streets and skies were so quiet. I keep my kids home the next day and all they wanted to do is go and help. This gave me goosebumps that my kids could feel the Spirit of compassion and service in the midst of disaster and confusion. Every year since then I kept my kids home from school on 9 11. We would remember and spend the day as a family being thankful that our family and friends were safe and praying for those who had lost. It has been 10 years now and I still get goosebumps of sadness when I hear the stories of survivors and watching the unfoldings of that day all over again. I also remember how I got goosebumps of joy as America pulled together and helped in any way they could. On Saturday September 10, 2011 my husband and I and my brother and sister-in-law did a motor cycle run in Penn to The Garden of Reflection. It was an amazing site as over 300 motor cycles showed our support by riding through this beautiful state to the Garden. The Reflecting Garden was Beautiful. I felt goosebumps again as we stood there and signed the wall and read some of the names. The next day we spent the day as a family remembering and just being happy that we were together. The Manapat Family will never forget that day 10 years ago, buy reflecting every September 11th,and by supporting our military in any and every way possible. I have goosebumps as I am writing this.

Freedom, Food, Friend, Family

The letter F has so many good words I could use, but I chose these few because they are the most important to me.
FOOD-  Well quite frankly we NEED food. We can't live a healthy life without it. I love food, all kinds. I love the change of the food with the change of the seasons. Right now we are enjoying the summer bounty of tomatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon, cucumbers, cantalope and peaches. I love peaches. In fact I was feeling nostalgic last week and put on the apron my grandmother made for me years ago, used the bowl she used to make her pie crust in, I used the same recipe as Grandmom did and I even went to the same place we used to buy the peaches. Lots of good memories.

FREEDOM- I love my country. I love that we can do what we want  and go where we want. I love the fact that I can ride on the motorcycle with my husband and go where ever the road takes us. We can be free to speak our minds to move about our great big country to explore and meet many new people. My children don't have to live in fear because we have a great military that sacrifice so much to keep us free and safe. 

FRIENDS- These are people we love and have many many memories with. Some are close and some far.  We have shared so much and love each and everyone of our friends. So many memories I can't just share one because they all are special.

FAMILY- This one is the most important word to me EVER. I love my family each and every one of them. From aunts to cousins to nephews and so on and so on. So  many many memories from baking pies and goodies with my Grandmom to making pies and goodies with my children, family vacations, holiday traditions and just the everyday normal stuff. Everything I do is for my Family.

So I think I covered the letter F as you can see. All four of these words all go together because they all have to do with my family and all of these words bring back many memories.

I am looking forward to many more memories of freedom, food, friends and families.

I Am Back

I have been so busy with life and work that I haven't had time to do much of anything else. But I AM BACK!!!!!
I am gonna finish doing my ABC postings and add some others as well.
FYI -------- I got my Etsy shop up and running. So far I only have two things up but it's at least started.  My shop is called BoozBoutique and I am getting excited and wanting to get more up soon. 
My family has also been working on a website to keep up on all the cool projects we are working on.  Check us out at www.TyBoo89.webs.com          You can see our published books, other crafts we have made, and links we enjoy. We are also on Facebook Check us out. Please share us with your friends and family.
                                                     LOOK WHAT I'VE BEEN MAKING..........

                                                     COMPACT BABY CHANGING PAD

   CHANGING PAD OPEN VIEW (ACTUALLY HAVE THIS ON TO SELL)

         FABRIC RAG LIGHTS

             HALLOWEEN FABRIC RAG LIGHTS

    RETRO HAIR BARRETTES (HAVE DIFFERENT COLORS OF THESE TOO)

EGGS, EGGS and more EGGS

It's that time of year... Egg season (and wabbit season). How many ways can you eat eggs? I think one day I'm going to sit down and count. I love eggs, all kinds. Everywhere you look there are eggs, chocolate, hard boiled, colored, hand painted, paper, plastic, ect. When I see all the colored eggs it makes me smile. I think of all the Easter eggs I have dyed for my kids over the years. The look on their faces when they could go and find them, priceless. I think we need to have a giant egg hunt for adults. I always enjoyed hunting for the eggs and I know the kid in me now would be so happy to go on an Easter egg hunt. I keep telling my husband and kids, wouldn't it be cool to have chickens and a chicken coop out back, then we could have eggs anytime we want. Unfortunately they aren't buying it. I don't think my development would allow it anyway :(  As many eggs as we go through in a week, and how high the prices are getting in the stores having our own chickens would be so worth it. Back to eggs because today is the letter E and chicken does not start with E,(but it does have an E in it). Sunday is Easter and even though my kids are a little older I still dye eggs for them and they go out and find them and some help the younger ones to find the hard to find ones. I love Easter and what it means to my family. Not just the Easter bunny, eggs and candy, but the traditions that remind us of why we celebrate it. I am grateful for The Atonement and The Resurrection and the importance of it in my life.   I am so happy that I am sealed to my family for all time and Eternity (oh look another E word). I love you guys. Happy Easter!

Disney

I am a big fan of everything Disney. I am not as obsessed as some but I do love it. There have been alot of happy memories for me through Disney. From the time Walt Disney World opened when I was a kid I  have gone tons of times. I have been there with many family members and friends over the years. There have been many changes since I was kid but the feeling was always the same. It was the one place on earth I felt safe, happy and inspired. I wanted to draw and paint cells for them when I was a teenager. When I got married we would go as a family to Disney and my kids and myself knew every song and every word to every Disney movie that was out. When driving to Florida we would listen to Disney movie music and all would sing along. My kids would even act out the movie as they watched it. Many special times my husband, my kids and I have had there. As they have gotten older a few of my kids do not like Disney (hard to believe I know). And with money tight we can't go to often. But the memories are there of fun, happy times before they started to grow up. We still sing the songs and say the lines from the movies from time to time and make new memories that way. No matter what I know when we are at the Magic Kingdom we are together as a family with no outside distractions. It is just us and a plan to be together and enjoy that moment at that time because at anytime it could be gone. So thank you Walter A. Disney for making a place my family can be together, eat, have fun, dream and make lasting memories.

C is for Cookie..... NOT

In my house C is not for cookie. It is totally for CHOCOLATE. I love chocolate, every kind. Hot chocolate, chocolate covered potato chips, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate cake, chocolate fudge pops, chocolate pretzels, well you get the picture. I could go on forever about chocolate things I love forever. I'm just realizing I have a lot of addictions. Chocolate is yet another. But one of my all time favorites is Hershey Kisses. For Christmas a few years ago my kids gave me the best present EVER. It is a Hershey Kiss shaped cookie jar that I always store Hershey Kisses in. My obsession runs deep. My husband one year for my birthday took me on a bus trip to NYC to see Phantom of the Opera. We walked around the city before the show started. What did my wandering eyes see but the Hershey store. Well you know I had to go in and take pictures. I have been to Hershey Pennsylvania many times but had no clue there was a store in NYC. We took pictures and of course bought Hershey kisses and my husband even bought me a charm bracelet with a Hershey kiss on it to remind me of our day together. My youngest son Nash who is Autistic realized one day that Hershey kisses stop hiccups. So whenever we have hiccups at our house we eat one, ok maybe two. He also shares my deep love of chocolate. The smell of chocolate and hyacinths together always remind me of Easter. It's not Easter at my house until I smell that. It just bring back happy memories to me. So in looking back over the years I can honestly say that Chocolate was usually present when I was happy. Chocolate just make me happy. I think everyone should eat chocolate, then maybe we would have a happier world.

Birds.......... Angry Birds of course

Ok so yesterday I started the A to Z blog. Yesterday was A today is B. The kids told me I should do Angry Birds so I told them I would do it today as Birds for B. Well what can I say. My name is Lori and I am an Angry Bird addict. It's been about 1 day since I last played Angry Birds. My daughter bought me a shirt for Christmas that says "I Am A Nerd For Angry Birds". I have played both levels of RIO and am waiting for May to come for the next level to play and beat it. I have played all the season ones and just keep playing them over and over again. We do not have MAC s or Iphones but I do play it on my phone. I would love to have an Ipad to play it on cause as I get older it is harder to see those tiny birds. I am not the only person out there that is an addict to this game. There are many of us and well maybe we all really do need a support group for our habit. I mean come on they even made a movie about it. How cool is that? If you check out the internet Angry Birds are everywhere. Stuffed animals, clothing, hair bows, cakes, movies, accessories you name it. My niece even took her brothers stuffed Angry Bird toys and legos, lincoln logs and tinker toys to build her brothers a 3-D version for them to play. It looks so cool. Go and check it out at htttp://homevestures.blogspot.com. Look for the Angry Birds post. She has pictures of what she made. It's so  cool. Just for fun type in Angry Birds in your search engine and see all of the creative things you will find. It is amazing at all the cool ideas people come up with. Check it out and join our vast group of addicts.  So yes ....... My name is Lori and I am an Angry Birds addict.

American Dream Then and Now

Once upon a time the American Dream was simple and valuable. Young men and women would graduate from school, get a steady job, get married, buy a house, raise a family and enjoy life. Life was not easy for everyone, but there were values and self worth. They survived wars, sicknesses, the Great Depression, and many other trials. That dream wasn't easy to achieve but people worked hard and tried. When did the American Dream change so drastically? Today everyone thinks they are entitled to everything without hard work. They sue people for things like spilling hot coffee on their lap that is clearly their own fault. Today's American Dream is to just slide by school, party if you go to college, have sex and not raise your family and lastly to be handed money without working for it. There are no values. People have tv shows and make speaking appearances for large amounts of money. Kids idolize these people who have not done anything great but to get on a reality show. This is what the young men and women of today want. What has happened to us? Now there are still young men and women who want to work hard and strive to make their dreams come true. I for one would like to say thank you for not wanting the world to hand you your dream. Life is not easy but it will be worth it but you will always have to work for it. I know because I AM LIVING MY DREAM.

All I Can Say Is Scrap House Party

I had the best time Friday night. It was so worth the hour and a half drive up to Miriam's house. First off the ride was beautiful and peaceful because I was by myself. I got to my destination later  because I had to work. I am soooooo totally happy that I got to spend a little time with friends I haven't seen in awhile and catch up on what's been happening. Ok so for those of you who don't know what Scrap House Party is I will explain. It starts at 10am on a Friday morning and ends on Saturday night around 6pm. It is a bunch of crazy insane woman who love to scrapbook and make cards. Everyone brings all of their supplies and we all share with each other. Some women come for just a little while while others stay overnight. Some women fly in for this once a year event. I drove an hour and a half, got there around 6pm and drove another hour and a half home and made it home around 1:30 in the morning. This is the first year I didn't sleep over (sad about that). We eat, scrapbook, eat, chat, eat, scrapbook,eat, eat,eat. There is a lot more eating and goofing around I think then scrapbooking getting done but we don't care. We help each other out with ideas,we learn how to use new techniques, share our supplies, and play games. We WIN prizes, prizes and prizes. Oh my goodness do we win prizes. There are door prizes, bingo prizes, prizes for each page you get done and so on. The prizes are totally awesome. Everyone brings food and treats we never run out of food. We eat all night long and then even have an awesome breakfast and eat for the rest of the day.  It's hosted by the Queens Of Awesomeness  Miriam and Jenifer. We get a goodie bag (and by the way Jen screen printed a tote bag this year) and lots of fun gifts. i will try to post some pictures of my goodies, if I can figure out how to do that :). I am very happy that I get to go this so totally cool house with some of best women ever. Did I mention this is at Miriam's house (who by the way has 8 kids) and they don't charge us. I am very thankful for all of the work these two women put into this wonderful gathering. They spend time out of their busy schedules all year long to might this all possible. Thank you Miriam and Jen. WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE THESE TWO QUEENS OF AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!! 
So all I have to say is SCRAP HOUSE PARTY ROCKS!!!!!

I Wanna POOF Button.

Hope everyone is having a great Mardi Gras. I wish I had of remembered that it was today so we could have done something fun. I'm sitting here with a list of what seems like twenty million things to do and not knowing where to start. I should have started my seeds for the garden like last week, but that never happened. I have coupons to go through, changing pads to make, homeschool work to get together, Monavie business to work on, the menu for the month to get done, some house cleaning to do, and the list goes on. All I wanna do is sit and wait for Spring to get here. I keep telling my kids I wanna POOF button. What is a POOF button you may ask, well I will tell you. A POOF button is  a button that you have and are only aloud to use a couple of times a year. Whatever you want done is magically done. You can use it to help someone have a better day or feel better, or get your list of  twenty million thing done. That way you could spend more time with your loved ones. The POOF button can not be used for bad things only good things. When my kids want me to do something or want me to make them feel better I just say POOF and they usually smile and say "That never works". It might not work in they way I would like it to but it does bring a small smile for at least a second or two. So maybe one day there will be a POOF button and will make my kids smile even more. I hope for a world where everyone can have a POOF button to make life a little easier and so we can spend more time with the ones we love.  Until then here is a POOF for everyone with love from me.

I Can't Believe I Started A Blog

My name is Lori Manapat. I am forty-something. I only say that because I can never remember how old I am, I have to ask my kids when I need to know my age. I have been married to the most wonderful man in the world for over twenty years. He is the love of my life. I love him even more today then when we first started dating. We have been blessed with 7 amazing (and on some days not so amazing) children. We have had so many adventures (just a trip to the dentist is an adventure when you take all 7 with you). I have been wanting to do a blog for awhile now but just never had the time or know how. So I'm starting off simple. Just things that go on in our daily life so our family can see how we are doing. We do a lot and yet it seems like we do nothing at all, if that makes sense. I have many interests such as I home school my kids, am involved in church, doing service projects, I love to paint, scrapbook, quilting, sewing, and general crafts as well. I love food storage, canning cooking, baking and the list goes on. I also love to ride on our motorcycle with my husband any chance I can. You name it we have probably done or are still doing it. Remember He never said it would be easy, Only worth it. My family is my life and the are totally worth it.
So I Can't Believe I Started A Blog...... Let the journey begin.