Thankful Thursday

I'm late. My apologies. Just got back into town.

Today (and every day!) I am thankful for my friends. Wow, I have some great friends. This has been a particularly trying week for me and of course my girlfriends have all been there to pull me through. A little phone call here, chicken poop there....all of them cheered me up, some without even realizing it. Old friends, new friends, I just love them all.

Fun Monday---Nightstands

The Lurchers is in charge of this week's fun Monday and has left the following instructions:

For today's Fun Monday, continuing in the spirit of "being interested in people", I would like to know, or see, what's on, in or under your bedside table! So open those draws and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don't know where else to put? Let's see!

It's really rather simple, I suppose. My computer desk is my catch-all. My nightstand has a lamp, a picture of dh and I, my alarm clock, and my Bible. That's it, folks!

Six Unimportant Things

Rules: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their site.

Kim at http://momunscripted.wordpress.com/ tagged me. :)

1) I take a bubble bath EVERY single night, followed by a shower to shampoo my hair and wash my body. That bath ALWAYS involves reading.

2) I can't watch any of my shows at night without the ironing board in front of me. That means that sometimes, even old tshirts get ironed. :/

3) I have a certain dollar amount in my checking account that I will NOT allow my balance to fall under. No, it's not zero. LOL It's a nice round amount, and I refuse (and I mean REFUSE) to go below that amount. I have before and it sends me into a frenzy, so I just avoid that at all costs now.

4) I have to sleep with my hand or hands between my legs. Get yer heads outta the gutter. Not like that. I just need it there like some people need their arm under their pillow. Gosh, I'm getting more strange by the minute.

5) The clothes hangers in my closet must color coordinate with the articles of clothing that are hanging on them. Black shirts don't need black hangers or anything, but they certainly won't be found hanging on a navy hanger. *cringe*

6) I'm SO stingy with my paper towels. I mean, seriously. Who else tears a paper towel in half when a child needs to blow their nose except for me? :( No need in wasting a whole paper towel for such a little bitty nose, in my opinion. :D

I'll tag:
Sweet little Sandy over at Myanderings
Her nice husband Shorty at I Couldn't Help Myself
The daughter (might as well keep it in the fam!) at http://oohashinypen.blogspot.com/
My good friend Katie at http://ktluvs.blogspot.com/
My new helpful friend http://rainydaydiamonds.blogspot.com/
and one of my favorite commenters http://rdhmom.blogspot.com/

Have fun, y'all!

Ah, the New Me.

So, what do you think? Does the rose color suit me? Someone mentioned that my page was a bit hard to read, and I hadn't considered that, but with having only a few faithful readers I certainly don't need to be running any off. So voila. The new me.

Still alive and kickin'

Wow, it's been awhile. See why I amended my New Year's resolutions?

It has been a hectic week. My daughter has decided to try out for her school's speech meet which meant memorizing a very long poem, in addition to all of her other homework. She's definitely overworked this year, and the homework she is given on a daily basis is certainly a sore spot with me. As an educator, I know this is an absurd amount of work for a 9 year old after having been in class all day, but what can ya do? So we march on..

My precious Grandpa celebrated his 80th birthday party this past weekend, so we were with him for those festivities. He's in hospice care, so we made sure to make this birthday a HUGE party! I have pictures to post of him, bless his sweet heart, but I'm working today and the pics are at home.

What else...I promise I could come up with at least a dozen excuses as to why I've been MIA for 8 days. Um....

Well, anyway, I'll try to be more creative and think of more things to blog about. I typically do okay as long as I have a picture to jumpstart myself..so be prepared for more pics to give you a glimpse into my personal life. In the meantime, if you have any advice on the insane amounts of homework please don't hesitate to speak up.

So Thankful.

Julie at Another Chance Ranch is starting something new which I think would benefit us all. Please join me in Another Chance Ranch: The Beginning of Thankful Thursday.

I'm so blessed. I am looking forward to sharing all of my blessings with you all but I will start with that which is most important to me. My faith. I'm SO blessed that I get to serve such an amazing God! I'm thankful for the right to worship, and for the WONDERFUL church family that I have. I'm thankful that my children are being raised in a Christian home and that my nine year old is able to attend a private Christian school at our church. No, we're not perfect, but I'm thankful that Jesus loves us anyway.

...To grandmother's house, we go

There is no place in the world that Laken would rather be than her MeMaw's house. The two of them have always had this incredibly close relationship. It used to make me insanely jealous. When Laken was 2, she'd cry when I'd pick her up from an overnight visit at my mom's house. To this day, she still lets out a very disappointed sigh when I show up to pick her up. It's not that she hates us, or hates her home, or hates her brother. She just LOVES that she is the center of the universe at her MeMaw and PoPo's house. There, she is a pampered princess.

She spent the night there recently, and the evening started out as Laken got to choose where they were to dine. Pei Wei, of course. Mom would have suggested we go home and make sandwiches. MeMaw tells Laken that it's her night, and her choice.

Pei Wei is within walking distance of Justice, and what 9 year old girl doesn't love Justice? Mom would have told Laken that Christmas had just passed, and that she needed nothing. MeMaw says "Let's head on over and see what we need!"

After the shopping spree, they went back to MeMaw's house where Laken requested a huge bubble bath. Mom uses bubble bath sparingly (Hey, what can I say? We're on a budget here!) and MeMaw lets her use the whole bottle, as well as a whole can of foam soap. Mom would make Laken wash her hair and rinse it well. MeMaw just lets her play in the bubbles till she's a wrinkled prune. Mom would knock on the door and tell her that was enough hot water and to turn it off...and to hurry because we need to get to reading her A.R. book. MeMaw takes her up a hot cup of tea to sip while soaking in the tub, and asks her if she wants an ice cube in it.

The next morning, Laken got to choose what she wanted for breakfast. It's always one of two things at MeMaw's house. Ramen noodles (one of her favorite foods, ugh) or an ice cream sundae. On this particular morning, she chose an ice cream sundae. Mom would have said "NO WAY! Cereal, pancakes, or nothing." MeMaw got out two flavors of ice cream, chocolate syrup, hot fudge, strawberry syrup, chocolate sprinkles, multicolored sprinkles, and whipped cream. Oh, and as many cherries as Laken wants. She chose 6.

I called right as Laken was digging into her sundae. I reprimanded my mom a little, as I always do about the sugary sweet breakfast choice, and her response? "When she's grown, what will she remember? Yes, she'll remember ice cream sundae breakfasts at MeMaw's."

And she's right.

Fads and Fashions

I just LOVE how all of the old fads are coming back into style. Perfect timing for me, too, as I have a daughter who is at the age where she actually CARES what she looks like and how she's dressing. We have arm warmers and leg warmers, oh yes we do. Several pair of each, in fact. For Christmas she got some of those fingerless gloves that Madonna sported back in the day...only now they are very practical and have a flap that you can flip over to cover the fingers. Voila, mittens. Handy, I know. Yoga pants are out, and regular sweats are back in. Rolled up at the bottom, of course. Tapered jeans, check. Skirts with leggings, of course. Such a cute look.

What's next? Spandex? Banana clips, blue eyeshadow, parachute pants? Jellies shoes (which left me with forever mishapen pinky toes, by the way), Swatch watches (both the regular size and the wall variety), or perhaps even...*gasp*...big bangs?

Ha, cool phone, Megs.

What do you miss from your youth?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Don't come after me when these suckers put 10 lbs on your thighs, but do try them. . . they're to die for.

Snowballs

8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 regular size package of oreos (plain or double stuff, your choice)
almond bark

Put oreos in a plastic bag and crush them~ I double bagged mine and used a hammer, lol, but you could do it a little quieter if you use a rolling pin, I guess. Make sure they're ground up really well. Add them to the softened cream cheese and form into balls (your choice as to the size of the balls). Freeze overnight. The next day, soften the almond bark and dip the balls into the bark. I insert a toothpick into each ball, dip it, and then let the bark harden before removing the toothpick. Keep them in the freezer until you're ready to eat them...or the fridge is fine, too. Mmmmmmmmm, delish!

Thank your lucky stars...

Just think. This could have been YOU 27 years ago.

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

I mentioned the contest being held by RDH Mom. I entered, but I found these precious pictures of our little Gavin and his buddy.

Ah, big sisters.

RDH Mom is having her FIRST EVAH CONTEST! She's very excited, and I am too because I love Jelly Belly Beans! The instructions are to post the cutest or funniest picture of your two-legged or four-legged protege. I have so many funny pictures, but I have chosen this one...and I hope it's not breaking the rules because it is BOTH of my little two-legged proteges. This wasn't long after we brought Laken's baby brother home. Didn't take long for her to show him what life with a big sister would be like!

.

Woot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm on a roll, friends! I played Monopoly till midnight last night, and played Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader today! I can take a board game hiatus for the next five days!!!!

Maybe I'll play some more. It was actually fun.