Party, Party, Party, PARTY!!!

Yep, we partied all weekend long!

We started off with a belated birthday celebration for my niece, Lori! It was also a kinda last-minute, impromptu "Cheetah Girls" movie party. A few pictures from that . . .

(these were my sad attempt at Cheetah cupcakes! They just made me laugh, because they really just looked like cupcake blobs! But they tasted good!) (Lori blowing out her candles!)

Then, on Saturday we had a birthday party down at Mom and Dad's for my birthday (which is actually not until this next Thursday) and my mom (whose bday was actually back on the 12th). In my family, we love to celebrate birthdays BIG--and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Why shouldn't you celebrate big?

Why shouldn't you have three different family parties?

Why shouldn't you be pampered by your husband and kids?

Why shouldn't you act like you're still a kid and blow out your candles and make a big ole, impossible wish?

Why shouldn't you rip open your presents with abandon and just get super-excited about what you got?

Why shouldn't you wait all day long (or all week long) for a taste of the party cake?

Life can just get too serious sometimes--so you should have as much FUN as possible!

(My mom is one who truly loves opening presents. Watching her open presents is really more fun than getting any yourself. I mean, who else could get so excited about getting some potpourri? But that's her--it can be a pair of socks or a BIG present and she has the same joy for it!)

(This was the funniest thing! My mom always tells the grandsons, "Never, Never, Never Give Up!" She also says it in the funniest Winston Churchill voice--he said it during World War 2! Danielle found this frame with the quote on it, so it was the perfect gift for her! And, of course, all afternoon we did Churchill impersonations! LOL) (Sydney had to interrupt the festivities at regular intervals to make funny faces!) BTW--from here on out, these great pictures (except for the last two) were taken by McKenna. She really captured the FUN going on, and did a great job on them!

I also got some AWESOME birthday gifts! Let's just say that my family knows what I like and they always get me very special things. This year was no different. I got some very personal, "Cheryl" gifts--bubble bath (I LOVE bubble baths and take them almost everyday!), an Alabama jersey (to get ready for this football season!), a framed picture of the President's Mansion on the Alabama campus (which will go perfectly with the one I have on my wall of the Gorgas House, the house on campus where Gary and I got married), the CUTEST purse (McKenna was coveting it, but she's NOT getting it! LOL), a book called "The Missing Ring" that sounds great (I can always count on a book from Christopher and Danielle, which I LOVE!), a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" on DVD (which is one of our family's absolute favorite movies!) and some money (which I already spent at Cato yesterday on a pair of capris, two shirts, and some really cute jewelry! Yay!).

(Like Mother, like Daughter, huh? I get excited about presents too!)

(Delaney and I shouting, "Woo Hoo!" when I got the "To Kill a Mockingbird" DVD. We love that movie and had lost our copy!!)

(We interrupt the festivities for another Sydney silly pose!)

(Mom is such a sweetie! It was great fun celebrating my birthday with her. She always makes everyone around her feel very special!)

After we finished eating our cake, Gary wandered around my parents' gardens with his camera and took some great pictures. Go to his blog this morning and he has an awesome slide show that you can view of all the pictures he took. Here's one that I love, though; it really captures the wildness that is in their garden right now. It looks like an English wildflower garden to me, and I just love it!

(My parents have an unbelievable green thumb! They can grow ANYTHING. Just throw some seeds out and, voila, there's a garden!)

This upcoming week is just one I'm excited about! Don't you love weeks like that? When you can look to the next few days with anticipation, and not dread? With excitement, and not boredom? That is definitely how I feel this Monday morning, looking to the week in front of me!

I will have a first high school football game of the season, and the first Alabama football game to go to. I will have more birthday celebrations ahead of me--most notably our annual Wray Bowling Birthday Outing with just Gary and the girls. Fun, fun, fun. . .

As you start your week today, let me just tell you--in case no one ever told you so--that life is meant to be celebrated! And if you knew that and have just forgotten, let me remind you--life is meant to be celebrated!

Find something today--the joy of a cappucino, a talk on the phone with a friend, an Eskimo kiss with your child, a less rushed rush hour drive, a good slice of pizza--and just celebrate it! Celebrate it because you CAN and you WILL!!

An Impromptu, Quickie Photo Shoot!

Tomorrow we are going down to Tuscaloosa to have a joint birthday celebration for my mother and I. (Mom's birthday was actually back on the 12th and mine's not until the 31st, but we have had a hard time finding a time to meet, so we're just gonna have a big ole joint party!) I've collected Mom a couple of birthday presents, but decided yesterday that I wanted to give her a framed picture of the girls as one of her gifts. She's complained to me several times lately that she doesn't have any good, current ones of the girls together; she has some snapshots, but I'd really like her to have more of a portrait shot.

Well . . . no time for a big portrait shoot! But I did decide that I could do a quickie backyard photo session. And boy was it a quick one!! I picked up the girls from school and got home by about 3:20, then had to leave the house again by 4:15 to get McKenna back to the school to leave for a football scrimmage down in Sylacauca and to then meet Gary with Delaney for her to get to softball practice. So, we had like a 10 minute window to take a few pics--and still have time to cool off, change clothes, have something cold to drink, get our stuff together, etc. (Does that sound at all like any of your days?? LOL Sounds like mine MOST of the time!)

The girls were great--after complaining at first how hot it was and about how they had no time to fix their hair. But I really like how casual these look. I'm no professional photographer, but I still love to take pics. And even though they're not perfect, I love them anyway!

I messed around some with enhancing them afterwards, and changed a few to sepia. The ones I love here are the ones that just show Sydney's personality, and just the enjoyment on the faces of the other girls. (My dad, who was a photographer and college photography professor, took tons of Sunday afternoon photo shoots of my brother and I and we quickly learned how to make a posed shot look un-posed--so I guess that's why I love the natural, unstaged photos the best.)

I know which one (or maybe 2) I'm gonna give to Mom, but I'm not saying it here because she might get on here and read this! LOL (She's been known to do so!)

Gotta big day ahead of me here. Need to get enlargements done of the photo/s that I'm gonna give to Mom. Then tonight we are having a last minute Cheetah-licious party to help celebrate my niece Lori's birthday (we missed it when we were on vacation). Any of you with pre-teen girls in the house must know that "The Cheetah Girls 2" is premiering on The Disney Channe!!Delaney also invited her friend, Scotti, to come over so it should be fun. I'm gonna attempt to make cheetah cupcakes (which will even turn out really creative, or very messy! We'll see!)

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!! Do some celebrating--I know I will!

One Hundred Things

I got this idea from an article by Ali Edwards in the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes and thought it was just a wonderful idea for a scrapbook page--but also for anyone else (even those who could care less abut scrapbooking).

The idea is to write down 100 things that you love. It sounds hard at first, but get to writing and you'll realize that you can't even stop at 100---your pen might just keep flying and you may be at 121 before you know it (which is what happened to me).

I asked the girls (well, McKenna and Delaney) to make me a list and Delaney was right on it (McK's still working on hers). I loved her list because it just so captures what she's like at 10 right now. And how cool will it be to look at this years from now and see what she was loving in 2006?

I got her list and did this 2-page layout--

It's hard to read this image, but the things she put down were great! Things like . . .

playing softball, Disney Channel, ice cream, chicken fingers, vacations, the pool, Harry Potter books, Christmas plays, Zac Effron, Reese's cups, Walk Two Moons, American Idol, riding on airplanes, writing, Hannah Montana

Even some kinda funny ones . . . the smell of gas (okay, kinda weird!!), vending machines, snow leoopards (obviously her favorite animal now!)

But my two favorites were . . . #4 "Me" and #100 (which you can see) "Having a great day." She's definitely my girl--I feel the same way. Nothing like a day that is just good from start-to-finish! And how great to know that she loves herself!!

I challenge you to go home and ask your children to do the same thing. You'll know your children better when you finish reading what they wrote!

But, more importantly, I challenge you to make your own list. Why? Because it's just another one of those things that can help you put things in perspective.

Yesterday some things were kinda bringing me down, getting me a little bit depressed. But--Glass-Half-Full person that I am--I began to try and remember the things that I should be grateful for. I have a roof over my head, food for meals, and a wonderful family. AND I have all of those little things that bring me joy . . .

Which brings me to my One Hundred Things.

In no particular order, this is my list I wrote this morning . . .

blogging, scrapbooking, old photos, communion, Diet Dr. Pepper, paper, old friends (Angela, Cheryl, Carol), childhood friends (Michelle, Margie), new friends (Allison, Chris, Adrienne), mystery novels, Sunday School, "I love you"s, the beach, a finished article, stemware, Moolates from DQ, chile rellenos and cheese dip, the mountains, a new scrapbook magazine, anniverary weekend trips, weddings cakes, Emmaus candlelight services, email, To Kill a Mockingbird, Icees, laughing with Angela, birthday dinners, traveling to a new city, Lindt chocolate, new home accessories, bookstores, memories of college, snow, new panties, "Seinfield", movie popcorn, making love, Scrap Etc., snowmen, 1992 Sugar Bowl, Advent, swimming, dressing up for Halloween, Van Morrison, parties, San Antonio, gameday in Tuscaloosa, Girls Night Out, love notes, Superchick, Scrabble, talking with McKenna, snuggling with Sydney, watching Delaney play softball, "deep" talks with Gary, fireplaces, new photos, Zaxby's chicken fingers, a new restaurant, NCAA basketball tournament, the Internet, Mom's meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Chicago, a card from Michelle, rain on the roof, pan pizza, John Cusack, Star Wars, The Bible, a clean house, date night, Harrison Ford, new writing assignments, talking with Grandma, a perfect ribeye steak, 80s music, Maeve Binchy books, Gary's gifts, the World Series, my brother, my parents, hearing old family stories, Thanksgiving, calla lillies, the color yellow, a good hair day, an outfit that just feels good, art museums, convertibles, Remington Steele, an 80-degree day, $40 a Day, praise music, cash in my purse, Chocolate Lasagna from Olive Garden, bare feet, falling in love, staying in love, Monty Python, laughing until you cry, God's grace

Now I just feel good all over thinking about these 100 things--some little, some BIG--and realizing that I have a 100 more I could write down!!

What would be on your list? What makes you smile this morning?

We're a Croc Family

As you can see from the little picture above, our family has become a "Croc" family. McKenna and I wear them (the green ones, and another pair not pictured), Delaney wears them (purple ones, plus she has another pair), and Gary wears them (the big black ones! he just discovered the joy of them and said that he's gonna wear them, even if others don't think they're very masculine!), and then Sydney wears them.

In the picture, you can tell that she refused to take them off of her feet. I asked her to take them off so I could take a photo (yep, my kids are used to my requests for all sorts of random pics!), but she refused. So, the picture has her feet still in them!

Sydney had wanted a pair of Crocs for ages and when Gary took her shoe shopping before our summer vacation, he found these adorable little pink Skecher ones. I wasn't there with him (wish I had been!), but he said that she jumped up and down and kept yelling, "my Crocs!!!"

And now, she has a Croc song and dance! She's always making up little ditties and this one came out Sunday night. She told me she had a Croc song and proceeded to sing it--

"I gaaah-aaat. I got crocs!!!

I gaaah-aaat. I got crocs!!"

Over and over again, with the cutest little wiggly dance to go along with it. So I guess you could say she's proud to "got" crocs. I love it!!!

Let’s Go Back in Time . . .



For my Random Tuesday post today, I thought I’d step inside my DeLorean, switch on the flux capacitor, and punch in some dates from the past. (I hope I didn’t alienate a whole bunch of youngsters with my Back to the Future references, although I’m sure I did. Which is really scary that I’m getting that old! LOL)

I saw this on another blog and thought it was a great idea. So—of course!!—I stole it!! (All things are fair in love and Random Tuesdays, right?)

So, let’s think back to the past and reflect on where I was . ..

30 years ago—the year was 1976 and I was in the third grade. I was just getting settled into a new school in Austin, Texas; our “home” was Fayetteville, Arkansas, but Dad had to spend a year in Austin working on his PhD at UT. From this year, I’ll always remember the big, city, two-story, brick school I went to (still can’t remember the name of it for the life of me!) that was so different from the one-level, much cozier elementary school I was used to. And there was a presidential election that year--Jimmy Carter against Gerald Ford (I still have my Jimmy Carter bumper sticker! LOL) Also remember seeing Star Wars for the first time—at a big-screen Austin theatre! (It's still one of my favorite movies of all time!)
(Me in 1976!)

20 years ago—the year was 1986 and I was starting my freshman year at the University of Alabama. What a fun, fun year!! Lived in Rose Towers dorms with my friend, Tanya B., and hung out with my other best friends Angela and Cheryl almost daily! Great friends, crazy parties, first college boyfriends, football games in the Student Section, exercising with Cheryl at the Student Rec Center and then coming back to the dorm and eating dougnuts and popcorn (no willpower!), midnight movies, stuffing too many of us in the back of Tanya’s Chevette, and (oh yes!) going to classes. Great memories!

10 years ago—the year was 1996, and I was staying at home with my just over two-month old Delaney (wow, does time every fly by!). I was enthralled with this new sweet baby and so was Gary; we’d been married the May before and tried right away to have a little one. We were living in Centerpoint in a little rental house; and I was staying at home with 4-year-old McKenna and Delaney and doing a little bit of writing. Also dealing with my Dad's cancer, so it was also a tough year!

(Delaney in 96. Gosh!)

5 years ago—the year was 2001, and we were living in our current home in Hueytown. I had just returned from my Emmaus Walk about six months before and was very involved in activities related to that. The girls were 9 and 5! (And I’ll always remember Sept. 11, of course--although it was not a reality yet as of August 22).

A year ago—the year was 2005 and life was very similar to what it is now. We were still adjusting to the fact that we had a one-year-old “surprise” in the house; playing a lot of softball; living with a new teenager (13!) who now had a cell phone and a boyfriend; and just trying to make it through both the wonderful and the challenging days!

I’d love to hear what you were doing . . .

30 years ago

20 years ago

10 years ago

5 years ago

A year ago

Post some brief memories (or long memories if you’d like . . . I love reading good stories!) about each of those years for the rest of us to enjoy parading down Memory Lane with you. Post them here (or email back to me and I’ll post them, as always!).

Can’t wait to reminisce with you all!

*And, yeah, I do know that there are a couple of my regular blog friends and post-ers who are under 30 years of age. So, go ahead and skip over the “30 years Ago” memory and the rest of us will try not to hate you too much!

(A few other notes for this Tuesday morning, if you'll indulge me just real quick:
-- Please remember cousin Nickie, who lost her tiny baby Destiny yesterday morning. Destiny had arrived at just under 1-pounds, but there was still hope that she'd make it. This is Nickie's second baby to lose. Very sad and prayers are needed!
-- Congrats to McKenna, who was chosen to be on the Heritage Panel at the high school. It's a leadership group that only invited 25 students to join from the entire school. Very proud of her!
-- I cooked another dinner last night, instead of resorting to take-out or fast food. And what's so funny--I could have cooked a five-course, gourmet meal and the entire family would have been disappointed that we didn't eat those frozen salisbury steaks that I prepared. Easy to please with that choice!
--Sydney's line of the day: "Let's go back to the beach right now!" (I couldn't convince her that the beach was HOURS away and we couldn't get there and back before we had to pick up her sisters from school, but she was adamant about it and kept saying it over and over.)

Talk to all of you again soon!

Monday Morning Update

On this Monday morning, I'm thinking back to the really NICE weekend we had. And I'm reminded that there are a lot of things I'm loving right now.

Some of those things are--

(1) Days that involve several unlimited hours of "nothing" time. You know those days? When you aren't running from here to there to here again. I actually had some of that time this past weekend. (And boy do I really feel much more rested today!)

(2) Mother/Daughter Time. On Saturday, McKenna and I went to ScrapEtc. to enjoy some of their big party. They had make it-take it tables where you got to work on different projects. We had so much fun--oohing and aahing over the store's new stuff, sharing a glass of limeade from Zoe's next door, working on a few projects together, then just getting to talk one-on-one with each other as we drove around (nothing "deep," just good talk!).

(3) Listening to a good halftime show! On Saturday night, we enjoyed going to a preview performance of the Hueytown High School band's halftime show. This is the first year McKenna has tried marching and I was SO impressed with how they looked and sounded.


Before the show, McKenna told me that she hadn't quite figured out how to play music and move her feet at the same time, (LOL) but then afterwards said that she'd actually done both of them for at least part of the show. She plays the melophone (the marching version of the french horn) and it looked SO hard to carry. Plus, McKenna is clearly the shortest person on the field so we "lost" her among taller boys around her. But, it was really FUN to watch (the show is a "Queen" show, btw, with songs like "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bohemian Rhapsody").

(I love this picture, because boy can you see the happy look of relief on her face!)

(4) A laundry room that is uncluttered. How nice is it that I can walk unencumbered into my laundry room? Wonderful!

(5) Silly moments with Sydney. (Like this moment, when she decided to try out some of my lipstick!)

(6) Mother/Daughter Time Part 2. Delaney has always been such an affectionate daughter and I just LOVE this about her. She was so sweet this weekend and last night when she told me "I love you" at least three times before she headed off to bed, I thanked my lucky stars for her!

(7) Watching Delaney play softball again! We had our first official practice with the Birmingham Thunderbolts, Delaney's new travel softball team. Boy was it ever stinkin' hot!!, but it sure was fun to see D out there stopping the ball, throwing the bill, pitching the ball. Tourneys will be here before we know it.

(8) Icees! (Enough said!)

(9) A good, long phone call with Mom. Although we'd emailed a bunch, I hadn't talked with Mom in almost a week (which is very rare for us!). On Saturday, I talked with her for at least an hour. It was good to get caught up on stuff, and just nice to hear her voice!

(10) My family! I was talking with a friend at church last night who lost his wife almost exactly a year ago. Her death was totally unexpected and you can tell that he still grieves deeply. He told me about the night she died and how they went to sleep so comfortably after they'd both whispered "I love you" to each other. He said to me, "Don't ever take for granted what you have." I am so IN love with my entire family. I am blessed beyond measure!

Now another week begins . . . let's hope it's a good one!!

Questions & Scrapbook Layouts

A few questions to get you pondering this morning . ..

* Where in the world is Cheryl? Any clue as to where I snapped this picture?

Guess and comment, and let's see who can get it right! (It should be pretty easy for anyone in Alabama!) Sorry, I don't really have a prize for this! Just answer for the joy of answering. LOL! (Here's a hint--I broke down on one of my goals from yesterday. I did cook dinner again for the family--yay!--but I ate out for lunch! And let me just say . . . yummy yum yum!!!)

* Is it wrong for me to feed my 2-year-old cake for breakfast? I am definitely NOT a breakfast person. If I'm gonna eat omelets or toast or even pancakes, I'd really rather do so at about 10 in the morning (so I guess you could say I'm a brunch person!). At 7 or 8 a.m, my body just isn't ready to eat much of anything! And sometimes when I do eat earlier, I kinda break with tradition and eat something a bit bizarre. I've been known to eat leftover spaghetti, or a sandwich, or (more than likely) something sweet! So, yesterday I asked Sydney what she wanted for breakfast and she couldn't commit to anything. When I asked her if she wanted cake, her immediate answer (what else would it be??) was an emphatic, "YES!!!" That's my girl!

The "breakfast" cake in this situation was one of those lovely Pepperidge Farm frozen cakes. For some reason, they have always been one of my favorite inexpensive sweet treats. Growing up, in fact, my dad had one in the house most of the time. And when I need something sweet and
just can't figure out what I want, I grab for one of those more times than not. (The bad thing is that usually Sydney and I eat the entire cake ourselves!)

And now for some scrapbook layouts . . .

I have seriously been wanting to scrapbook for AGES , but just haven't had the time or the inspiration or whatever. (Plus, my printer is screwy and I can't do any of my layouts that need computer-printed journaling--like the four or five I have planned out, based on the Simple Scrapbooks quizzes book.) But, late yesterday afternoon and evening I worked on some layouts while the kids worked on homework. I was really pleased with what I got done!

This first one was great to do because it began to get me caught up (All Stars was in June, so I'm getting work done on summer memories!). I like this one, too, because of the fun foam stars I dug out to use on it.

This next one is a bit funky for me, but I like it. It's of a picture I love that I took during the summer when my friend Angela came to visit with us for a day. We did all that fun girl stuff--went out to eat at Johnny Carino's and got some sweets at Edgar's Bakery (with me and Angela, it's all about the food!) and then did some shopping (okay, it's also all about the bookstore shopping too!). Don't you love that paper?

And then I'd been wanting to do something for a while on McKenna's room renovation. This was WAY back in April, but better late than never right? She came up with a teal-chocolate brown combo for her room colors, so I had to find a cool paper with those colors in it. I like what I found! I also like how my journaling looks on this one. (Lovin that white pen, can't you tell?)

Well, the quality of the image on this next one is really pretty sucky, but I had to share it just because of the pictures on it. I LOVE these pics of Sydney and I had to capture this memory on a layout--Sydney with a bat in her hand and running the bases!)

This last one is my absolute FAVORITE layout that I have done in quite a while. I was reading an online article by Elsie Flannigan (who is such a fun scrapbook artist, for those who may not know her!) about her process. She said she just lays out photos, places them on paper, then just kinda randomly starts putting on embellishments, then keeps adding more and more until she's finished. Just more of a haphazard, creative process than I'm used to. But I tried it with this layout and I love it. It's of my favorite pictures from Chris and Charles' wedding back in June. Love the black background, the doodling, the hearts with the buttons in them. Just fun to do!

Now to get ready for the weekend. What do you have planned? We have a pretty nice one planned--not too hectic, but enough to keep us energetic and having fun!

Tomorrow is a big party at my favorite scrapbook store and they're doing all sorts of FREE make and take projects--mini albums, pages, altered stuff, etc. So I really want to pop over there for a bit. I know it will be fun! Then on Saturday night, the high school band is having a halftime show preview and picnic. This is something totally new for us, with McKenna marching for the first time, but I think it will be a lot of fun! And then on Sunday afternoon, Delaney has her first practice with her new travel softball team. Excited to see how they look!

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend as well!

A Funny Story and Other Assorted Stuff

So the other night when I was a chaperone at a youth weekend, I played "What's your most embarrasing moment?" with my group of 13-year-olds. I had some lame stories about falling down in my high school hall . . . but now I think I have an even better one!

Let me tell you a story . . .

Yesterday, I decided to pop by the ATM machine to get a few dollars of cash out. I drove up, put my card in, punched the password, then received a rude little note coughed out of the machine that informed me, "Card retained. Too many incorrect passwords attempted." What?? I angrily grabbed the receipt and said to myself, "Now, I can't even use my card at a store," and "I get the lovely hassle of waiting for another card to arrive in the mail," and "What do you think this thing is doing, taking my card?"

I decided to go into the adjoining bank and ask if there was any way they could get my card back out for me. The Bank Guy (looked like the head of some important operation) immediately took my case, looking a bit perplexed. "It took your card? We've never had that happen before." "Well, it happened to me. It took my card." He shook his head and said, "You know, I don't even see HOW this could happen. Our machine doesn't even take your card. You just swipe it and keep it."

Okay, now THAT was a little interesting. How could it take my card if it was a little swipey machine? Then, dawn began to quickly break in my mind. Oh no . . . did I just swipe my card? is there some way that it didn't take my card? I fished around in my purse, trying to reach my billfold without Bank Guy noticing what I was doing. In the meantime, he said, "Let's go out to the machine and see what's going on."

We did just that . . . all while I rummaged in my purse, found my self-proclaimed "missing" card and stuffed it into the bottom of my purse (just in case he demanded to see my billfold or something!). I knew now what had happened. I had swiped the card, put it back in my billfold automatically, then received the mean little "card retained" note and just got mad that it said such a thing to me--just believing what my mean little note had told me had happened.

Okay, so inside right now I'm laughing and cringing at the same time. And am stuck with a quandary: Do I tell nice Bank Guy (who is now standing at the machine, trying to figure out how in the world it sucked my card up; saying things like, "In three years, this has never happened. There's even a little bar here that protects it, so there's no way it can go through") that I just realized that I'm an idiot? Or do I just go along with my story? Yep, you guessed it--"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." I sit there and just shake my head along with him, saying I have no clue how it happened but it did. I left him standing there dazed and confused, and rushed as quickly to my car as possible without looking desperate to burn rubber.

I sat down in my car, laughed hysterically and inwardly (in case Bank Guy was looking at me), then called Gary and shared my idiocy. I figure that Bank Guy quickly realized what happened and went back into the bank, where all the employees had a big ole laugh on my expense!

-------------

And some other stuff . . .

* I'm so proud because I have cooked dinner for us three--count them, three!-nights in a row at the house. I have not ordered pizza, picked up hamburgers, or copped out some other way. On Monday, I made spaghetti and garlic bread; on Tuesday, I made Hamburger Helper (okay, maybe that's a cop-out but all of my kids love it) and fruit salad; and last night I made beef tips, rice, and assorted veggies. AND, I haven't bought a fast food lunch in more than five or six days. It's been salad and pastas and just something here from the house for Sydney and I. I'm consciously trying to be better about not spending so much money on take-out food! (although I'm seriously jonesing for some Taco Casa this morning!) So, yay me!

* I've added a blog to showcase some of my scrapbook layouts. It's just a place for me to store some of them and it's at www.scrapcreations.blogspot.com. If you want to see any of them . . .

* It's only 16 days until college football kicks off! I'm back to listening to my sports radio shows, checking out football websites everyday, and just on pins-and-needles ready to go walk into Bryant Denny for the opening game!

* My printer is on the outs and I'm seriously upset about that! I have several scrapbook layouts I'm wanting to do, but they all involve computer journaling. (Insert crying here.)

Have a great Thursday, and I hope you enjoyed some laughing at my expense!

Performing for One Night Only . . . To a Sold-Out House . . . In Her Pajamas . . . Our Headliner Tonight is (drum roll please) . . . Sydney "Scout"Wray!!!!!!!

Gary was hanging out with Sydney in the living room last night when he called out to me, "Come see this." And there was our little Scout--our shy, inhibited Scout (LOL)--performing the latest song from "High School Musical" for us.

So precious--singing in her pajamas, putting so much emotion in her performance that she'd close her eyes and "feel" the music, making a microphone out of the end of one of our fireplace tools, bowing for us at the end. This is what makes life with a 2-year-old so, so sweet!!

Random Tuesday Pop Quiz . . .

Got a good Tuesday morning going on, and so happy about that! Yesterday was a good day, primarily because I got several important things done! I finished up an article I had due to the News (one that I had procrastinated on for three or four days), got a go-ahead from a query I sent out, and actually stayed at the house without going shopping or running around (the goal here—to spend less money and to not have to buy so much gas!).

The other great news from yesterday was that Delaney finally got to complete her tryout for the travel softball team she’s been trying to make (meaning—the rain finally stopped falling and let us have a sunny tryout!). She did GREAT in the tryouts (you should have seen her snag some of those hard-to-reach fly balls and line drives!) and they told Gary last night that she made it! This is for a really strong program called the Birmingham Thunderbolts (www.birminghamthunderbolts.com) and I think she will really do well with this team. The only problem is that she doesn’t know any of the other girls on the team. I tried to tell her, though, that it won’t be long until she’s friends with all of them. They’ll get to be good friends quick!

I was so proud watching her in tryouts. She continues to amaze me with the way she plays—she dives for balls, runs so fast, and just gives it everything she’s got! I was never an athlete, but I LOVE sports—so I tell her all the time that I live vicariously through her!

So . . . yay, D!!!!

Now for the business at hand . . . Random Tuesday!

For my post this morning, I thought I’d get us all thinking about our schooldays—with school back in session here in Bama, it’s got me thinking about my school memories. So, with that in mind . . .

(1) How many schools did you attend growing up? Five—from Asbell Elementary in Fayetteville, Arkansas, through Tuscaloosa County High.
(2) Who was your first school crush? Oh boy, that would have to be Bobby Foster in the First Grade. Loved that boy! Tall and cute (and just happened to be the son of the Arkansas Razorbacks’ assistant basketball coach.) Where are you now, Bobby?!
(3) Who was your most unique (i.e., eccentric, weird) teacher? What’s bad is I can’t even remember her name, but she taught 8th grade math at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville. I just remember that she wore the same two outfits over and over! And then there was Mr. Foster, my Geography teacher in 11th grade. My friend, Angela, and I still laugh about him. He pronounced everything wrong and always thought we were sisters. And, oh gosh, Mrs. Coley in 11th grade Chemistry; she’d get carried away writing on the chalkboard, run out of room, and just keep on writing on the walls!
(4) Who was your best teacher? Lots of great teachers through the years, but I always remember Mrs. Thompson from 4th grade. I still remember the unit we did on Hawaii; we had a luau in our room and we all thought that was the coolest!
(5) When/where did you graduate from high school? 1986, Tuscaloosa County High (yep, just celebrated 20 years!!)
(6) What was your best and worst subject in high school? Best—History Worst—Any math or science (in Physical Science in 9th grade, I literally blew up an experiment and was basically blackballed from actually participating in any mixing of chemicals!)

Okay, this will be fun to find out where some of my new blog friends went to school and I always love to hear from all of my "old" friends. So give me--

How many schools you've attended--

First school crush--

Most unique/eccentric teacher--

Best teacher--

When/where went to high school--

Best/worst high school subject--

Hope all of you have a great day today!! I'm not sure where everyone was yesterday, but I had much fewer people drop by yesterday. Guess it was just one of those Monday things . . . so I hope to "see" more of you today in BlogLand. (Ronalyn, Nat, Jane--any of you wander in--check out my blog from yesterday. I think you'll really appreciate the awesome Sunday I had!!!)

See ya!!

A-MAZING Weekend!!

Had a great weekend all around (well, for one exception, which you'll read later on in my post). McKenna was involved with something called "Discovery" at our church--it's basically a youth weekend that just immerses the teen in God's love. They have all sorts of fun activities, but also some really "deep" spiritual stuff; the high schoolers give talks about different topics and the middle schoolers are the students it's targeted to. It was just awesome!!! (The picture above shows how absolutely gorgeous the altar looked on Sunday morning; on Saturday night we had a candlelight service in which we lit a candle for each teenager and they left the "decorations" up.)

From that experience, and some other stuff going on this weekend, I learned some important things (and have a few questions). . .

1-- Kids say the darnedest things--especially 2-year-olds. My favorite saying by our little Scout this weekend was (let me set the scene here by saying I was lying in the bathtub and Sydney was in the room running around and just kinda hanging out with me. LOL): "You want some ice cream, Momma?" Puzzled, I asked, "ice cream?" then realized that she meant SHAVING cream. She wondered if I needed it to shave my legs. TOO funny!!

2--Can appliances regenerate themselves? Amidst the hot water heater fiasco last week was the knowledge that our washing machine was also on the blink (it was--or so I thought--leaking whenever I did more than the smallest load possible). Well, now that we have a new hot water heater, our washing machine is acting like it's brand new. This is a VERY good thing, but I'm still puzzled by it all. Did the Cleaning Appliance Gods just decide that I needed a break?

3--Teenagers are the coolest!!! I tell people all the time that I absolutely love teenagers. Two-year-olds are a joy all to themselves, and ten-year-olds are pretty neat too, but teenagers are just too cool. I think that parents get way too scared of teenagers and truly don't appreciate them for the people they're becoming. And I love the group at our church. They are just absolutely amazing!!

4--Are all young teenage boys obsessed with sweat, nakedness, and being as crude as possible? On Saturday night, I served as a chaperone for a group of our middle school girls at the retreat. At one point, I went to check in on the boys and for some reason one of them shouted out, "Moon her!" And, lo and behold, one of the boys turned around and MOONED me!! I laughed and just fled from the room. Too much information!! (Did God know I needed daughters, or what?)

5-Young teenage girls, on the other hand, still love to play "Truth or Dare" and talk incessantly about boys. My four girls I stayed with overnight were a riot!!! We played "Truth or Dare" and my personal favorite--we had to list a cute celebrity, a cute boy at our school, and a cute boy in our youth group. Let's just that I learned all sorts of fun information!! (And how fun that they sat there and played this with me, an almost 40-year-old. I felt quite special!!!)

(my "adopted" girls this weekend!!)

6--My Mom is awesome. She celebrated her birthday on Saturday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I love you!!!!! (We haven't had a chance to get together for her birthday, but will have a big joint celebration for her and me near the end of the month. Something to really look forward to!)

7--(Ready for my rant? Here it comes . .) You should be required to get a Parenting License. I had a situation at the end of the weekend that did drain some of the joy out of it for me. I was reminded yet again that there needs to be some serious requirements to be a parent--you need to have to get a license or something!! It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that the things you say will actually affect the way your child behaves (like yelling at them, or calling them names) . . . and that belitting your child will go absolutely nowhere in raising a child who will actually respect you. I was SO angry at this situation and it just made me terribly SAD for the state that some children are in . .. that they live in environments where they are not uplifted and encouraged to be the wonderful individual God created them to be. (Hey, go hug your kid right now and tell her that you love her!!!!)

8--(Okay, I need to make this positive again. LOL) Church music can be fun!! We had an awesome youth-led service on Sunday morning and some music that ROCKED us all out! A group called Poor and Wretched (great name for a band huh?) played for us and it was TOO fun. They even took some traditional hymns (because there are plenty of older people in our church who like nothing but hymns) and made them brand new with the guitar, drums, and (my favorite) a violin. Amazing! My favorite was their rendition of "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing." These words just spoke to me in an unbelievable way (the hymn was written like a century ago, but when I sung them they felt brand new to me)--

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

(this is my very FAVORITE picture from this weekend--maybe my favorite for a very long time!! This is my niece, Lori, speaking in front of the whole church. Wow! I was so proud of her!!)

9--I found a new fragrance that I love!!! Okay, this is totally NOT spritual, as opposed to most of the rest of my experiences this weekend, but it's pretty darn exciting. I had ordered a perfume from Avon several weeks ago that Gary's sister had recommended, and I picked it up on Saturday. I love it!! (It's Be Kissable, and it's light and yummy!) I actually was hoping people would come up and sniff me just to see how good I smelled!

10--Little ones love their Poppies too. A pretty BIG deal happened on Saturday night, when I had to leave to the church by myself and Sydney had to stay with Gary for the evening and overnight. They went to his parents' house and she was excited about that, but I really felt like she'd cry when they said they were leaving without me. But, she didn't!! And then on Sunday after church, she was given the choice of leaving with either me or Gary and she chose her Poppy! I was really excited about this, beause she is a big Mommy's Girl and I really want her to bond with Gary too.

I hope all of you had a great weekend!! I'm going now to check out all the blogs that I am now LOVING to read everyday. I feel like I'm getting to know so many people out there in Blog World (heck, last week I got to emailing with someone from Australia; how cool is that?!) and I love Monday morning because it gives me a chance to catch up with everyone!

See ya!!