Come on in and sit for a spell

(...as we say down South when we went you to spend a little bit of time visiting with us. Yep, this might be a long, really rambling post, so you can get your day started with a cup of coffee--or, in my case, a glass of sweet tea--while you sit here and catch up with me. Not that any of you have anything better to do! lol But if you don't have anything better to occupy your time this Monday morning, come on in and "sit for a spell" with me.)

So, how about about some random activities and thoughts from this past weekend?

~ Scout still talks ALL the time and, in fact, put it in proper perspective for me last night when I told her it was almost time to go to sleep. I told her it was time to head to her bedroom, turn out the lights, and get ready to go to sleep. She promptly said (wide awake, I might add!), "But I want to talk when the lights are out." Yep, I'm sure you do! And then, a few minutes later, she said, "Look what I can do, Momma." She closed her eyes, scrunched up her face, and said, "I can talk with my eyes closed."And yep she can! With her little eyes closed and scrunched, she showed me by saying, "See...la la la la la la la."

~ I think I have a huge crush on Anthony Bourdain, who is a chef and the host of "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel. I watched FOUR of his shows Sunday afternoon while...McKenna was at the movies with some friends...Gary and Delaney were at softball practice....and Sydney was taking a nap (ahhh, heaven!)...and I've decided that he is really quite perfect. Well, not really perfect because he drinks too much and swears a bit much and kinda causes a ruckus wherever he goes (in one show he was in Mexico, trying really yummy street-corner food with way too much fat and cholestoral; and then showing how you can buy cheap prescription drugs on the border!), but he looks totally FUN to hang out with! (He travels all around the world, getting to know the culture and trying all the indigenous foods...and since I love to eat and travel, I really can't imagine a better type of traveling companion. Well, except for you Gary...and, you know, you can act sort of Anthony Bourdain-like while on trips, so I'll definitely take you with me the next time we decide to venture somewhere! lol)

My favorite line of the shows I watched yesterday was, "This food is so good that I think I need to take a picture of it and put it in my wallet." Oh yeah, I can totally relate. There have been foods I've eaten over the years---that creme brulee this last anniversary; that totally amazing smokehouse sausage pizza concoction that Pizza Hut did like back in 1990 but which has never reappeared; the fresh pineapple in Aruba; those moan-worthy garlic rolls up in Gatlinburg --that I wish I had taken a picture of, so I could relive it all over again!! I know, I know...I'm weird!

~ I really want to be a Scrabble Nerd! Well, I'm actually kinda ALREADY a Scrabble nerd because I love to play the game and I'm usually pretty good at it! But...after watching Anthony Bourdain on Sunday afternoon...I got hooked into the National Scholastic Scrabble Championship on ESPN2 (apparently, it's the next big "Spelling Bee" type activity!). These middle school kids ROCKED the Scrabble board and I'm thinking that I need to find a competitive club to join! (One of the pairs got a 72-point word and I think the highest I've ever got is maybe around 40; and they knew really funky words like "kol" and "dinaste"; and they each had only 25 minutes for the total game, which would totally ruin my kind of play since it sometimes takes me 25 minutes to come up with ONE word, but still...)

~ Grilled chicken fettucini alfredo and wine makes me really happy!

~ Chocolate cupcakes also make me really happy!

~ I watch WAY too much Disney Channel, but for some reason I'm really not ashamed of it! Adrienne and I gathered with our kiddoes on Friday night to do some scrapbooking and watch High School Musical 2. The two of us watched the opening song and then went back to the scrap room to play and create; I had already imagined that it would be way too loud for me to enjoy it that night and I was right (lots of squealing and jumping up and down was taking place!). So, I watched it Saturday night and got to enjoy every bit of it. And I loved it! And then, on Sunday night, I watched the Sing-a-Long version. I loved it again!! (Gary loves it too...he's like the Perfect Anti-Man...Sydney loves it too and when Troy and Gabriella finally kissed, she said, "That's a good kiss"....and apparently Phats likes it too, but won't admit to it! lol)

~ I am so bummed out because one of our best Alabama football players got arrested Saturday night for disorderly conduct. He's supposed to be a really good guy, and the article at al.com this morning said there was no alcohol or fighting involved, so it really kinda makes you wonder? (At least he's not setting up dog fights, huh?)

~ I AM totally ready for football! McKenna's high school has their "jamboree" this Friday night (kinda like a scrimmage game with a team from across town), then the following week it all starts. So I'm just warning you...if you don't like football, you might get tired of some of my posts during September, and October, and November! LOL

~ I did take a few pictures, which I'm going to share with you now!

I said I made some High School Musical Cupcakes. Oh yes I did... (and they tasted yummy too!)...

Delaney said this was her "Sharpay" outfit. And, yes, this is pretty much how Delaney dresses all the time...

I did get some scrapbook creating done.This is a page I did from Delaney's birthday party this past June (better late than never, right?)...

I showed this whole layout on my last post, but I wanted to share this up-close version of the fun little paper flowers I made. I loved this technique...

I page I did titled "You go girls" about how I want my girls to go for their dreams...

And I started McKenna's album of her Europe pictures from her Student Leadership University trip. So excited to get started on this! It's an 8 x 8 album and I'm using these Europy-looking (is that a word?) papers and those cool Hambly overlays on each page...



Thanks for sticking with me on that really LONG post!

Now I'm off to Delaney's school (just got a call that she left her I.D. here at the house), then back home to work on some writing stuff. Looking forward to a good week!!!