Happy 80th!

Happy 80th Birthday, Nana! We are so blessed to have you in our family. You have made my life better and there are few memories I have without you being there. I love you, and this weekend was so much fun! Enjoy your day! (party pics and details to come soon!)

For All My Teacher Friends

Found this on a site called Cake Wrecks. See caption below the photo!

"A certain school was celebrating great scores on the TAKS, which I believe is some kind of state-mandated testing like the FCAT, which we all know teachers everywhere adore and wish they had more of. Anyway, the cake was supposed to say "Congratulations for doing an exemplary job on TAKS", and the woman ordering asked that "TAKS" be in all capital letters."

Finley Funnies

I had to write these down for myself so I wouldn't forget what Finley said today. She was on a roll!

1. While driving by a hotel that has metal palm trees out in front, Finley says, "Mom, those trees should be at the beach!"

2. I was really needing to get her to bed quickly because we were running past her bedtime. She wanted to read a Dora book, but I was trying to persuade her wait till morning. "Mom, I think that Dora Beach Book would be the perfect book to read tonight." How could I turn her down?

3. I was carrying her to put her into bed and she looks at me and says, "Mom, you can have birthday hats at your party."

Man, I love that girl.

Happy Monday!

Dear John

Oh, my! I have no words. It's just simply fantastic. I borrowed it from my dear friend, Tracy, on Friday. Read it on Saturday-all of it! It may be as wonderful as the Notebook. Actually, it's one of the best books I've read. And the movie comes out in two weeks! Cannot wait! You. must. read. this. book. period. (sorry the pic is so small-it's all I could find)

Haiti

We have no problems. We have no idea.

If you put your child to bed tonight and covered her with a blanket, you are blessed.

If you talked to someone you love today, you are lucky.

If you are sitting in a house with running water and you ate tonight, you are fortunate.

We know nothing of hard times. We are blessed. Say a prayer for them tonight.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:8

The Castaways

So I decided to venture out and check out a book by an author I've never read before. You see, I rarely go out on a limb and find different authors. My heart belongs to mystery books, mostly. I also adore Mary Higgins Clark and the Stephanie Plum Novels by Janet Evanovich(in which I highly recommend if you want to sit by yourself and laugh aloud). And of course, I heart Danielle Steele even though my precious English teacher called them "fluff". Yes, Mrs. V-P, you said that, but I still love them. The problem is that I have run out of books from my preferred authors. I've read them all and I must broaden my horizons. And that very leap of faith lead me to, ahhh yes, the beloved Twilight series. And I must say, to me, the ending of the Twilight series was a bit like my wedding. It was so exciting and fun and wonderful and then it was over. The white dress was put in storage. Cake was gone. Flowers gone. File folder of cloth swatches stored upon a shelf. And I was so sad it was over. Don't get me wrong, I took home a really great guy that I wouldn't trade for the world, but dancing with all your friends and family and being the center of attention in a beautiful dress for a day was fantastic. I could have my wedding at least three times a year and thoroughly enjoy myself, of course still marrying the same handsome man each time. My wedding was so much fun! That's how I felt when I closed the last page of Breaking Dawn. It was over. No more words to read. No more Edward quotes or Bella debacles or wolves morphing. Or aliens from outer space-just kidding-just vampires, no aliens. I don't do science fiction unless it revolves around a Cullen vampire or well, that's about it. So, anywho, I gathered myself up after coming to the realization that I really wasn't going to live in Forks with Edward and I had run out of books from my other favorite authors. I went to my friend's house, a girl who actually buys new books (I love this-everyone must have a friend who purchases brand new hardbacks!) and rummaged through her bookshelf. I picked a Jennifer Weiner novel and really enjoyed it. That gave me the encouragement I needed to read some different books. All would still be right with the world, even if Edward Cullen was not driving his silver Volvo or Stephanie Plum never once kissed Joe Morelli. I could actually read other books and LIKE them!!! Who knew!?!

So I just finished this new Elin Hilderbrand novel and it was lovely. It was a "seven day" from the Lubbock County Library. I was a bit stressed to have a time limit, I must admit. I kept telling Kyle that I had to finish it-it was due on Tuesday. After about three nights of my library anxiety, Kyle calmly told me they would not send the cops to the house if my book was a few days late. Ok, so I was being ridiculous, but I sure wanted to keep my word to the Lubbock County Library! So this was a fun read and it takes place on the East Coast which I love because Mary Higgins Clark books take place on the East Coast. I do recommend it. I turned it in today and can I please tell you I checked out another one of her books and already read some of it today! I think I really like this author. I feel so free and liberated that I ventured outside my realm of book comfort zone!


I'm walking on the wild side and it's so much fun! Next thing you know, I'll be buying red underware and skipping my vitamins.............................

Second Verse, Same as the First!

And Happy Birthday to you too, Sassy Britches!!!

7 Years Ago.........

Seven years ago today, I landed the best job in the whole world. It wouldn't be easy or the most fun every day, but it was the most wonderful thing that would ever happen to me! It changed my life and I never knew how happy it could make me. I wouldn't trade this job for any money or thing in the whole wide world!



Happy Birthday, My Favorite Seven Year Old Boy!!! He had a winter swim party and this picture was on his invitation. I have a 7 year old. Wow! It still amazes me daily.

Seeing Colors.......

Ramma was always special to me. I took a liking to her immediately the first time I showed up at her 80th birthday party and Kyle's family made me put on a green shirt that read, "Ramma-80 Years of Excellence". She was jolly and friendly and had a little sparkle in her eye. That was in 1997 when we were young, carefree. Life was as it should be. When we lost Kyle's parents the following year, Ramma would be my closest tie to Kyle's mother and for the next 12 years, I asked her lots of things about his family. And she remembered everything. I do mean everything. Things I might need to remember for my kids. Things I would never get the chance to ask his mom. And a little part of me fell in love with her because she reminded me of my great-grandmother, Laura Owens. Something about her face and hair looked like Granny. And she had sass like her. This was my great granny that took me fishing and let me eat her twinkies and drink her caffeine free Diet Dr.Pepper.

So when Ramma passed away this past fall, I told Kyle's aunt that I loved Ramma's Fiestaware and to please tell me first if they were going to sell it. You see, I have a love affair with Fiestaware. My mother got me started on it when I was in jr.high. Why as a kid, I was interested in old dishes, I'll never know. Maybe it was all the colors. I just loved it. I had so much of it when I got married, I didn't even register for dishes, just my china pattern. I have so much of the "new" Fiestaware that Kyle told me we have no more room in the kitchen for anymore! So the day that Kyle brought home a sack of dishes from Morton that Aunt Mimi had labeled just for me, I cried. They saved it for me. I really did cry! They were Ramma's dishes and they gave them to me, no questions asked.

So this is Ramma's Fiestaware. It is now in Kyle's mother's china hutch, snuggled right in the middle. And I love to look at it! Ramma told me that she got the pieces in the 1930's from the grocery store coupons. Remember when you could get coupons for dishes when you purchased groceries? I vaguely remember seeing some sort of Corning Ware dishes in the grocery store when I was growing up-I assume this was along those lines of the coupon thing. Anyways, they are old-antiques.

The reddish colors of Fiestaware were made with uranium and I think maybe you're not supposed to eat off those because they are radioactive? Evidently only ten years or so around the 1930's used natural uranium in the paint because the government confiscated the stockpiles of uranium after finding out it could be used to make atomic bombs around WWII. Uranium or not, it didn't hurt Ramma, though, because she kept an old Fiestaware pitcher in her refrigerator filled with water for a long, long time, and she live to be 92!

The colors are fantastic! This is my favorite blue.

Demitasse cups-so dainty.

This is possibly a Turf green or John Deere Green which was produced in the 1950's or 1960's. This is not part of the original collection, so I'm not sure where he came from. He's the little odd-man-out cup.

Sugar bowl with missing lid. Could one of Ramma's six children possibly have broken the top to this sugar bowl???

This is a treasure to me and I am so happy to have it. Never will I walk by it without thinking of sweet Ramma.

Oh, and by the way, I asked Aunt Mimi about the Fiestaware pitcher that Ramma kept in the refrigerator. It had been there since I met Kyle and no telling how long before that. Aunt Mimi said that they couldn't find it. It had disappeared. Now, my mind logically tells me that Ramma dropped it one night while getting her a drink or it cracked in the sink being washed. But my heart tells me differently.

I want to believe it just vanished into thin air. Maybe like magic. I think she took it with her. She always had a sparkle in her eye...........

Baby, It's Really Cold.........

You know that it's been a really cold past few weeks when you walk out of church and think to yourself, "Man, it feels really warm today". Then you get into your car and the outside temp reads 39 degrees.

This winter has made us tough! Scarves are a norm for my daily wardrobe and we've finally got our money's worth out of the kids heavy coats!!!

Another Craft

Upon request, I made this bow holder for Campbell's room to match with her new Pottery Barn big girl bedding. It was her Christmas gift and I had to admit, it turned out absolutely adorable. I love it and it matches so well with her new room duds! I was very happy with it.

The nice sized square frame was $4 from Goodwill and had some cheesy 1980's kitchen heart in it. I threw all that out and spray painted the frame with ballet pink - about 100 coats of ballet pink! It was hard to cover with such a light paint. I wasn't totally happy with the pink finish so I threw on the blue rickrack since she has some rickrack on her bedding. It looked great and really added to it. I love the ribbon and was pleased stumble upon the cupcake spool. The flowers were cardboard scrapbooking stickers that I hot glued on each corner. Super cute-I think Brandi really liked it.

This was the cute xmas dress I ordered off of Etsy with the vintage material that screams preciousness! The great part is, that next year, she can wear it as a shirt!

My other favorite xmas item that the girls wore. I came across this Christmas cupcake fabric and our friend (and fellow Twilight partner-in-crime), Natalie from Dallas, whipped this up for the girls. Yes, she should go into business!!! And no, Natalie, Edward is my boyfriend, not yours.

Slade, with our favorite Kindergarten teacher in the whole wide world! We love her and miss her!

Slade with his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Johnson. She is an absolute doll! She is the tiniest thing! We have been really blessed with our teachers at his school-they are wonderful!

This is my favorite table in the whole wide world. Mom got it for S & F for Christmas. I came across it in a Step2 magazine. The kicker for me was the two bins that hold crayons! Genius! And see the four clips at the top to clip artwork. And it comes with the cutest stools. Finley spends a good portion of her day at this table. I highly recommend this item. It solves the crayons all over the floor problem. Thanks, Cita!!!

See how cute the material is?!?!

I love girl stuff!!! Would someone teach me how to sew? The 4-H sewing class in third grade just didn't do it for me.

Christmas Goodies!

On Christmas morning, we woke up at 5:30am (thank you, Slade) to open our gifts.

Santa got cookies.

Finley got a Dora Scooter.

Slade got a DSi.

Kyle got Super Mario sleep pants (thank you, Slade)

And I got Edward. Well, his calendar anyways. Snap!

Kyle said I could put it in the laundry room or garage. Laundry now ranks #1 on my Chore List...............

Shiner

As in, black eye! This Christmas brought us many great presents, time with our family, remembering Jesus' birthday, and Slade's first black eye!!!

While catching a football with his grandad, Slade flinched as it flew towards him. Unfortunately, the television stand was right in his path and he flinched right into it!!! It took him down! I thought it was going to be busted open and require stitches, but we lucked out!

Must have been that two yolked egg.