Tina, Does This Look Better?...Ha!

Just Can't Get Enough...

I seriously cannot get enough of this little boy. Everything he says and does is just so adorable...except when he's making messes or throwing temper tantrums. Ha!

Being a parent is a wonderful gift. The hugs and kisses and cuddles are beyond amazing. There is another side to it though. Feeling frustrated when they don't clean up their rooms as asked. Feeling like there aren't enough hours in the day to get to kung fu, riding lessons, piano, violin, laundry, supper, schoolwork, housework. It's an overwhelming job. It's the best job though. All the hours of cleaning, washing, and driving are worth it for the sweet, sweet snuggles of a child.

Stewing over This....

No, I am not stewing. I am literally making stew in this from time to time. The last pot I made rocked! Everyone should have a giant cast iron pot. :)

Sushi...Su-She...Sushi Good...

Sushi is yummy. At least I think so. Our friend Amanda is a professional chef. We're talking seriously yummy, good, food comes from this woman's kitchen.

A short time back Amanda and her fiance Sam invited us over for dinner. What was on the menu? Sushi of course!!

Even though it made me seem like a creeper, I had to take pictures. It's not everyday a professional chef makes sushi for us to eat! HA!

Avocado, rice, cucumber, cream cheese, shrimp....mmmmmm....deliciousness wrapped in seaweed...

Even the wasabi was presented beautifully.

Yikes, it was good!

I think I ate my weight in cuisine.

Party Animal...

Ella went to a friend's birthday party recently. It was at the Pinkalicious Party Palace. The name could also easily be described as Pink, Glitter, Loud, Disney, Princess, Pop Star, No Boys Allowed, Fun.

Each girl got to dress up and sing karaoke style on a catwalk. No, I'm not kidding.

Don't Ask, I Have No Idea....

You Want My Money?...Then Don't Call Me...

Quite frankly, I cannot stand getting a phone call from a telemarketer. Even though we're on the Do Not Call list, there are lots of companies and organizations that still call our house. There are loop holes you see. The most recent one that nearly made me disconnect my phone....

Sirius XM


Jay's subscription was about to expire, so I logged into the website and renewed it.

The phone calls started to come. Every. Single. Day. Each time, I would tell whoever was on the other end of the phone that I already renewed it. The next day, they called again. Finally, after about two weeks of this, I just about exploded on some poor old soul. "I have my freaking confirmation. I already renewed it. Why will you not stop calling wanting to take my credit card number over the phone?" Only, I sort of yelled it in a super annoyed voice.

That's when he tells me that the calls are automated. A computer kept dialing my number every day. They will literally call you for months until you agree to renew over the phone. He had to have me speak to someone higher up than him (with the call being recorded) and request not to be called.

That's the thing though. We are customers of Sirius XM, so calling me all day every day doesn't violate the Do Not Call list. That kind of pisses me off. I really, really don't want them calling my house. The reminders in the mail every other day were enough. Yeah, we got a gazillion reminders in the mail to renew too. I can't help but wonder how much paper and postage they waste trying to get people to buy their product. It must pay off because they keep doing it.

The other thing that really bothers me. Charities calling me. I know that makes me sound heartless, but honestly, if the Alabama Sheriff's Association calls my house one more time this year, I am likely to throw my phone out the front door. Quite frankly, I am more likely to flip through a pamphlet sent to me in the mail than I am to listen to the rehearsed speech of a telemarketer. Fact of the matter is that these marketing calls come during times when I am busy with other things. "I'm trying to eat dinner, hoss. You aren't getting one dime out of me if my potatoes get cold." I don't even know if some of the charities that call asking for donations are even legit. I've never heard of half of them.

Just to be clear, I do donate to charity. BUT. I send my money to organizations I feel comfortable with, and I send it when it is convenient for me.

Moral of the story...if you want my business or donation, don't call my house. I'm likely to unload on you.

I Miss These Curls...

The Other Point...

School. It's the only thing I've ever been really good at. Studying for tests, completing homework, and making study cards....Yes, I could do that. My grades weren't always as good as they should have been though. I tend to procrastinate and not get anything done until the last minute.

My favorite class in high school was chemistry. No doubt. I loved chemistry.

At the end of the first semester the year that I took chemistry, I was painfully proud of myself for having a semester average of 99 in my favorite class. You know what they say about pride.

My father flipped through the sheets of my report card that evening and took a long time to look at the one for chemistry. I'll never forget it. He looked at the grade, looked at me over the top of his reading glasses, and looked back at the report card. Then he asked me. "What happened to the other point?"

Now, if you knew my dad before he passed, you would know that he probably meant this to be funny. He was quite the jokester. To me though, at 15 years old, it was not funny; it was right painful that he pointed out that I had fallen short.

This was a defining moment in my life. I've been trying to earn the other point ever since that moment.

I work hard. I give it my all. All the time. All in an effort to metaphorically earn the other point.

At some point in the last few years though, I began to realize that earning the phantom point wouldn't make me happy. I was trying to please someone else. I have been punishing myself for decades for falling short of the expectations that others had for me. What about my expectations for myself? What about doing what I want to do with my life? What about making myself happy? These were things that I had ignored all in an effort to live up to the potential that someone else thought they saw in me.

I am chronically ten minutes late. I am 20 pounds overweight. I rarely have a clean house. My car looks like "scary homeless guy" lives in it. I think there is a hole in my shirt I am wearing at this moment. I sometimes yell at persistent telemarketers when they won't take a polite "no" for an answer. I work a part time job that pays a third of what my husband makes. My children are wild and bounce off the walls. I let them stay up late at night. I've been known to drink far too much wine and be ridiculously hungover. BUT. I am happy. I am learning to give up on a point that doesn't really matter. I am learning to focus on the utter perfection of my life. Because, It IS mine. It IS what I want. And if you don't like it, don't say anything to me about it. I'll probably give you the finger.

Showgirl?...

Rock of Ages....

Yeah, It's That Creepy Child Again...

Ella is sort of creepy. She's an old soul. It can be alarming to hear a child say some of the things she says. For example, when a child at school dropped the F-bomb in the hallway, she was very concerned and asked if he could come live with us until he quit using the F-bomb. She asked me, "What kind of parents let their kid say the F-word?" She also said, "I'm very concerned about Chris's homelife." Yes, I changed his name for some reason. But seriously, what seven year old is concerned about a homelife?

It's nice when she plays with dolls and acts more like a little child. :)

Ain't Nothing Like 'Em Nowhere...

I'm just saying....

Oooopsss....

Guys, I am quickly running out of posts that are going to publish. Clearly, I need to get writing and take some more pictures of my children!! I only have enough posts to cover the next three weeks. After that......


...the nothing. I will try not to let my readers/viewers down. I will get some serious blogging done this weekend!

This Is a Game?...Which One?...

This is Layton's newest game. What on earth could it be?...

Can You Believe?...

This two little cuties are only two months apart in age. BUT, with Fall birthdays, Cohen is a year ahead of Layton in school.

I'm so thrilled that my children love to play with their cousins. Even the ones they only get to see a few times a year....

Down Here...

Vanisha...

This is Vanisha.

It's a picture of a picture, so I apologize for the quality. Vanisha became my sponsored child through Compassion over a year ago. I look forward to receiving letters from her and sending letters to her. This is the most recent picture I have of sweet Vanisha.

I would encourage everyone to sponsor a child. It doesn't have to be through Compassion. It's just very comforting to know that in addition to helping children here, I can also help a child across the globe for less than the cost of going out to eat once.

How Did I Find Myself Here Again?...

One of the things from my life that I can honestly say I both loved and hated was twirling. I spent more time in gyms filled with hair spray and sequins than I should really admit in public. I pull out the batons and swing them around every now and then to entertain the children. I've never used "Mississippi State University Feature Twirler" on my resume though. Ha!

It does come in handy from time to time though. When Hadley's friend Sydnee decided to tryout for dance twirl team, I was the obvious choice to help her out with some of her flag moves. :)

She made the team!! I was so proud of her!!!

The next week another little girl called me to see if I would give her lessons. That Friday another young woman asked me why Hadley didn't try out and said that she can see me twirling in my driveway from time to time.

Even though I had fun working and practicing my old  twirling skills, I couldn't help but wonder...How did I wind up here again? In a driveway with batons?

Look Through Here...

Where's Waldo Layton?

Random BlackBerry Awesome Sauce...

While flipping through the pictures on my phone, I thought there were a couple worth bringing up.

First, Layton and his "I'm so ghetto" pose.

Give it up little boy. Everyone knows you are just a cutie pie. No one with a blond Afro has any street cred. Word.

Second, Michael Jackson impersonators are the best. No seriously, the best. This particular one has a stage tied to the roof of his car. He-He, Whoo! I just grabbed my crotch a little.

Third, the scary, panel van with an A/C unit in the back window. C'mon Man. Could you be any more of a creeper? I've got ice cream. And lollipops. And I lost my dog.

Any time I see a creeper van, I can't help but wonder...and then I make sure my pistol is loaded.

So, What Was Going On?....

What was going on in this picture? Let me tell you....

See that thing that Nephew Nathan is slinging? It's a dead snake that the little ones took down to the burn pit to throw away. Oh yes, Nephew Nathan slung it and twirled it the whole way to the pit. It was so gross and funny all at once because he was unfazed by the fact that he was playing with a DEAD SNAKE. It was as if he was dragging a piece of rope. He just went about his business....dead snake in hand.

Poor Lori. I think this nearly did her in. I seem to recall a lot of hand washing and germ-x later this day.....


:) :) :)

Love you all!!

Get Away with Murder...

Well, I don't really let her get away with murder, but I do let her get away with a LOT more than I should!