Random Dozen

1. So I was thinking about how Jon Bon Jovi never seems to age much. His hair is smaller nowadays, but he still manages to look like a boy somehow. And then that made me think of the story of Dorian Gray. Question: If you physically lock in one age for yourself, which would you choose and why?  My hair is sort of 80’s/90’s and I’ve been trying to grow it out, but I have a hair appointment on  Thursday. I think I might have given up on it.  I don’t like flat hair on me…. so what decade is that?

2. What is the best dish that you cook or bake (your piece de resistance?  I dunno.  I used to make this chicken casserole thingy. It’s super easy and I got the recipe from my MIL.  I’ve made it for just about everybody we know.. either when they came over or when they had a baby or something.  I don’t make it much anymore. It has cream soup in it and we don’t do that very much these days.  But I knew of a friend who’s husband asked me to bring it to them again just for funzies.

3. When you feel blue, what is one strategy you use to help yourself back to normal?  Get out. Change my surroundings, if I can. Read my Bible. Pray.

4. When was the last time you danced in public? Ummm… oh yeah.. never.

5. Do you consider yourself a realist or dreamer? I think I used to dream more, but now I am more of a realist.  And sometimes that makes me sad. I guess I just had to adjust the dreams a bit as time has gone on.

6. As a parent, what is one thing that you have done well? I dunno. Ask me in ten years. LOL

7. Which is your favorite character on the Andy Griffith show? Gosh.. how to pick!  Probably Andy. He was a patient and wise parent.

8. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?  Probably not enough.

9. Have you never been mellow? Have you never tried … to find a comfort from in side you? (Sorry, Jorge was singing that song just now, and it just seemed to be perfect timing as I was creating this week’s questions.) REAL question: What is your #1 driving pet peeve?  Texters, cell phone talkers, makeup put-er on-ers, tailgaters, speeders. A petty one is the back into the parking space person.  That drives me nuts. They take up the whole parking lot while they maneuver their car around to back in. : p

  
10. Which color best represents your mood today? Care to elaborate? Yesterday… dark gray.  Is that the color of PMS? I feel better now, so PINK!  : )

11. If your spouse were an animal, which would he/she be?  I dunno.  That’s a weird one, Lid!

12. What activity takes up the bulk of your time on an average day?  Cleaning. Laundry, Kitchen stuff.  Computer stuff blogging.

Check out more answers at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

delayed laundry day

I don’t really have anything to say… other than life has been crazy.  Within the realm of normal crazy, but crazy none the less.

My washer went out the other day. And after spending a good amount of time trying to figure out just how old it is, we finally figured it out. Real old.  So we decided to get a new set. I hate the mismatched thing and since I don’t have a door on my laundry room and it’s a pass through room, hubs humored me. The dryer hasn’t been doing all that hot (get it, get it?) for a while anyway.  Every so often I go in and it’s gone through the cycle and the clothes are wet and cold. Grrrr.  So yeah.. it’s just time.

I’m waiting now on Lowe’s to come and deliver my set. Hoping it will be soon.  It’s funny how every time we get something new, I remember all the things that happened during the life of that machine or item.  We bought these machines when Bub was a toddler.  And used them to pieces when he was sick.  And now use them like crazy keeping the girl in uniforms for school.  How can three people dirty up so much laundry?

Well, they just arrived and I’ve got lots of laundry to do. See y’all later! : )

out with the old…

…. and in with the new.

When hubs moved to Texas way back in 1986 or 1987, he bought this.

Or maybe it was a hand-me-down from the git go. He can’t remember, but either way it was beyond old. And all it did was laugh and make funny noises if you put ice in it. It served us well, but lately it hasn't been cutting the mustard. Or the ice. Or the frozen fruit.

It was cracked in some places. And it leaked.

Not exactly current technology either.

So after years of making countless milkshakes for the hubs, and smoothies for Miss Boo and I, its time had come. Bye bye old, icky blender.

Hello there, you beautiful thing you! (By the way, we bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond with an expired coupon and got $20 off! I read somewhere that they’ll do that and I guess they really do! Major score!)

Look at what it can do! This thing makes light work of ice and frozen fruit too. Lickety split!

We pink smoothie heart you, new blender! We’re all in love!

Even the cat.

BSF and some sneaky grief

A friend of mine invited me to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship).  I’ve heard wonderful things about it. And I’ve even been to an intro meeting before, but I’ve never joined. 

I know several women IRL that go to BSF there.  I also know Donna, who goes there as well. Donna found me and sat with me through the lecture part.  *clang* (that sound you hear is my worlds colliding!)

After the lecture, I went to find my friend that invited me. She works in the children’s area, so to say hi to her meant going to the childrens’ wing of the building.  We used to belong to the church where the meeting is held when our kids were very small.  As a matter of fact, hubs and I met and married there as well.  So we have a leeetle bit of history with those walls.

So I chatted with Donna as we headed to the childrens area. I told her that Bub went to mother’s day out in that  childrens area.  As a matter of fact, when I picked him up from what would turn out to be his last day of MDO, I noticed something odd about him. That started the wheel rolling to get his diagnosis. His last classroom there was ‘the last room on the left’.

My friend was working in… the last room on the left.

The walls have been painted in some new funky colors so it doesn’t exactly look like it used to.  But it still felt very odd.  I talked to my friend outside her room for a minute and then she had to go.  It was hard for me to talk to her without choking up. I was standing in the exact spot where our lives began to cave in.  How do you just stand there thinking about that? 

But I did.  With tears in my eyes.  And a bit of a quivering voice.

And then I walked out and came on home.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Cor 4:7.

Yes.. I *heart* this verse.  : )

that’s so random!

 

1. When was the last time you craved a food--what was it, and did you cave?  i have been craving cinnamon rolls for-evah.  Not yet.  : )

2. M & M's or Skittles?  I like M&M’s better, but since I can’t do milk, I have to settle for Skittles.

3. Have you ever read the Bible completely through?  Yes. It took me three years, but I was so pleased to have done it!

4. How long does it take you to really wake up in the morning?  Most days about 5 minutes.  Other days a bit longer. 

5. Have you ever been on a cruise? If not, would you like to? Nope.  I might like to, but hubs gets green just looking at a boat. My chances in that area are pretty slim, so I might as well not get my hopes up.

6. Who is your favorite actress?  Gosh, I have no idea.  Meryl Streep is very versatile. I watched the end of Steel Magnolias the other day.. (what was I thinking??? *sniff sniff*) and remembered how much I like Julia Roberts. I’ll read everybody else’s answers to this and go ‘oh yeah’ so I’m not even gonna try hard to think of anybody.  I’m just not that into that sort of thing.

7. ______ is something that I will just never understand.  Mean girls.  Computers.  Texting while driving.  Or just plain ole texting. I could go on and on with this one. I guess there’s a lot I don’t understand. LOL

8. How much of a technology junkie are you? See #7.  Um… I have to relearn how to text every time I have to do it. My husband has to teach me every little thing I do online, but I must have learned a little bit since I have a blog and I’m on Twitter..sometimes.

9. Do you enjoy selecting greeting cards for people, or is it more of a cultural "have to" for you?  Depends. We like picking cards for my husband’s family. It’s a big deal with all of them and the funnier the better!

10. When was the last time you got a new style/haircut?  I had long hair during the time Bub was sick and when we found out we were nearing the end I cut most of it off. I kept that short look since the spring of ‘02.  I’ve finally decided to grow it out a bit.  My bangs are out of style and I’ve been trying to want to change that up some.  Don’t know how well that’s gonna go though.  Been thinking about giving up and going short again because basically it boils down to me being lazy and I can dry short hair much faster than longer hair. I guess that just about screams “you’re old and you just don’t care anymore” when it’s all about getting it dry and moving on with my day, huh?!

11. What do you enjoy shopping for most?  Fun things. Not groceries or clothes or washing machines.  But I don’t even know how to describe fun things. Scrapbooking supplies are fun to shop for.  Books.. hooray for Half Price Books. CD’s are fun to buy too.  I heart Mardels.  I like buying things for other people. Example.. I bought a friend a nightlight that looks like a teapot at Kirklands recently.  She did a tea party for my baby shower for Miss Boo.

12. What's the last thing you think of before you leave the house?  Did you potty? Do you have your shoes on.  I’ve headed out to the garage in sock feet/barefooted before. Ooops!

To check out some more random, hop on over to Linda’s place at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

new header... again

I loved my old header, but it was ready made.

I saw it in a few other places and that bothered me a little bit.

I went looking for something else today and found this old header I made forever ago that never saw the light of day.

It looks really cute with the background I have.

And it's custom...'cuz I made it myself... with my very limited digital scrapbooking skilz.

Ta-da!

Happy weekend everybody. And stay warm, if you're like most of us right now and in a seriously cold 'cold spell' like we are. BRRRRRR.

bugs

I hate bugs.

I always have.  And I’m sure I always will.

I remember when I was very young we went on a vacation in a VW Beatle.  By the way, we were camping… and carrying everything we needed except the tent poles, in our VW.  Um, yeah. And it was summer. And there was no such thing as air conditioning at that time. Just the roll down kind.  And what does that invite.

Bugs!

My parents used to tell a story all. the. time. of how I had a fit because a bug got in the car and they had to pull over to the side of the road and get rid of it because I was in the backseat FREAKING out.  In my defense, the bug was a wasp.  Wouldn’t you freak out?!

I few years later, we were all outside on the patio at a relative’s house, and being a little kid, I was off in another world just goofing around and not paying much attention to what was going on. And the next thing I knew, I felt something crawling up my leg! I proceeded to FREAK out and totally come unglued.  Come to find out, my dad was tickling the back of my leg with a end of a weed long blade of grass.  This was highly amusing to the grown ups.

I was not amused.  At all. 

While hubs and I dated, we attended a Bible study at a friend’s house every Thursday. One night there was a june bug in the house.  I hate those things!  The way they bob and dive. I always think it’s going to bump into me or land in my hair or something.  So I FREAKED out.  I think I hid behind a chair until they got rid of it.

Also during the summer we dated, it seemed particularly buggy.  We had lots of crickets.  And those freak me out too.  They hop all over the place. Oh yeah.. and I hate killing bugs too!  It’s so gross.. and sometimes crunchy! *shudder*  So this one summer there were lots of crickets and since I wasn’t very good at killing them, I’d throw a phone book on top of them, and we had lots of phone books.

Hubs came over one day and just rolled because the floor was littered with phone books. 

All of this to say that at least my husband knew full well what he was getting into when he married me. 

And then we had a kid.  And this is what I came home to the other day after leaving her home alone to run an errand.

You’ll never guess what’s under it!