it sounded like a good idea at the time

Every year for Christmas, Boo gets some cash. And now that she's old enough to decide for herself what she would like, she gets to make some of these bigger spending decisions for herself. With a little guidance, of course. Anyway... she's been talking about wanting lime green walls for a while now. I kept hoping thinking it would pass, but it never did. And with Christmas, she had money burning a hole in her wallet.

I am quite shocked she even wanted her walls to be lime green, since she LOVES pink. When she was 5 we painted her walls pink and she never looked back. She loved it. We loved it. It was perfect. And since pink is STILL her favorite color, I didn't think the lime thing would last.

But alas, it has.

So we made a deal with her. We told her that if she would buy herself some bedding, we would paint the walls. She said that sounded great. And we started hunting for bedding. We found some in two places. One is in hand. Cost a little more than I wanted to pay. Very similar one is on order. Much cheaper and from online reviews, seems to be of pretty decent quality even though it's not very expensive. (IMO, for a kids room, cheaper is always better since they aren't careful and 'live in' their space more than grown ups do)

So anyway.. we headed to Home Depot to look for paint chips. I just knew there would be loads of choices and I'd have to find the 'right' lime looking color. Nope! As it turns out, there were two paint chips that were specifically lime green only. What luck... she says with sarcasm! So we picked the lime-ier one and had some paint mixed. We started painting yesterday afternoon, and anticipated putting one more coat on this morning and being done. Weeeell... I neglected to read the back of the paint chip. Might take multiple coats to cover. Hmmm. Sorry I skipped that part! So here we are. Two coats down. And one more to go. Hopefully, just one!

I'm skeert. It's a pretty blinding color! But I think when all her pink stuff comes back in and her bedding arrives (and works and I can take the more expensive stuff back!), it will be really cute.

I hope! (she types with lime green paint under her nails!)

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas
to all!
I hope you're able to see beyond
the hustle and bustle of the
season and delight in the wonder
of our risen Savior!

Hugs to all of you and see you soon!

better late than never, I guess...

Everywhere I've turned lately in bloggyland, somebody's been showing off their Christmas tree. I have pics I took of it the other day... but they're still in the camera. I haven't mastered the lesson on getting it from the camera to the computer and then to the bloggy.. so... this is a pic from 2006. Not much has changed, except the couch, which you can see a corner of in the photo.

Anyway, we used to have a fat tree. And yes, we're all about the artificial tree, since I've got nasty allergies and asthma. Anyhoo.. I think we had a real one once early on, and it only took once to realize it was a pain in the neck. But the old timey fake trees aren't much easier.. I'm talking before pre-lits came along, that is.

Anyway, we always had artificial trees and they were always pretty big around. But we live in a very small house and we'd have to rearrange our whole little world for the tree every year and that drove me nuts. It's hard to get into the 'spirit of things' when everywhere I turned, was a misplaced piece of furniture that stuck out like a sore thumb. I'd had my 'eye' on those skinny trees for a long time. And of course, pre-lits were making their entrance too. So we decided to go for it and get one with both. I knew if my tree was gonna be skinny, then it had to be tall to make up for it. And it is. It's 7 and a half feet tall. And every year, including this one, my dear hubby, Mr Daddyman himself, has hoisted the Boo up to put the topper on. This might be the last year for that though. Ahem.

But we love the skinny tree. I can't say enough wonderful things about it. When we had a bigger tree, it always looked sparse, no matter how many things we put on it. And now with this skinny one, it looks full of ornaments even if we only put half of them on. And it's tucked into a corner and I don't have to rearrange a single thing to have it. I love that!

One row of lights near the bottom is on the fritz, so we may have to work something out next year to avoid that striped look we've got going on right now. But other than that, I heart my skinny tree!

blah day

Today has been such a ho-hum, blah sort of day. The hubby has a nasty cold and isn't feeling up to doing much. So we've vegged all day. Of course, being the mom, vegging for me included 4 or 5 loads of laundry. Where does it come from??? And working on a Christmas calendar and wrapping some things. I finished and wrapped a calendar and a photo of the Boo that we had made over the summer.

I also wrapped a white elephant gift for Boo's church party tomorrow night. Last year she took some of those controllers that you plug into the tv directly and then play video games. Since she's got a DS and we've got a Wii, those old games were collecting dust. It was one of those gifts that everybody fought over. It was her first white elephant exchange and she got a kick out of it. So how do you top that?? That's been the dilemma. So we scrounged around the house for something 'fun' yet pretty useless at the same time and decided on this little pop gun thing she's got that shoots out foam 'bullets' with little plastic nubs on the end of 'em. Since it's multiple pieces and it's bound to get passed around, I wrapped everything in a large, clear baggie and tied it together with curly ribbon and a tag...and placed that in a box and wrapped it. I printed out a little tag that says "Don't shoot your eye out!" which we all think is funny since we watch A Christmas Story evvvvvery year, multiple times since there is an annual marathon on one of the cable channels. It's sort of an icon, so I hope the phrase doesn't draw stares. WE think it's funny. We'll see.

While I did all my work today, the Travel Channel was running several shows on going to Disney World/Land over Christmas. It was fun to see things on TV that we just saw 'in real life'...the very photos I was scrapping on calendars while I was watching. It made us smile on a blah day that didn't have very much going for it.

the big debate

My daughter has a debate today. Can you believe it?! I don't think she even knew what a debate was before this assignment rolled around. And it's not just for the sake of debating. It's her semester final! Um.. yeah. She's confident in the info she knows, but a little freaked out at the thought of standing up in front of 'evvvverybody' and talking about her stuff.

I don't blame her. I would have thrown up if I had to get in front of people and talk at her age. Shoot, I would probably be sick to my stomach NOW if I had to do that. I've reminded her that she's prepared. She knows that. She's confident in what she's wearing today as they had to 'dress up'. Her primped and flattened hair is very pretty. She cracks me up. She wears her hair in a ponytail every single day. So today she decided to wear it 'down' and was just marveling at how pretty her hair looks. I was telling her she could see her hair more often if she'd leave it down every once in a while. (the hairdresser raves about her hair and tells her ladies pay big bucks to have the perfectly colored hair she was gifted with... blonde with auburn and brown highlights) But having said that, I'm thankful she doesn't care that much....that she's not one of those girls that spends forever in front of the mirror worrying about every little detail. Just slappin' it into a ponytail is much healthier, in my opinion.

I also reminded her that her team's debate only lasts nine minutes and it will be over. And then she can watch everybody else instead. Just today and tomorrow and then she's out for the break. We can't wait!

She wore a ponytail thing on her wrist though, just in case.

it's getting close!

This is the time of the Christmas season where I realize it's getting close and begin to make mental note of what's left to do and tie up any loose ends. And along the way, it brings to mind things that I do regularly that make the season a little easier.

Sometimes I have to send presents in the mail. And what happens when things get sent in the mail... the bows get squashed. (and yes, as I sit here, I realized I forgot to wrap a gift I put in the mail yesterday. DUH) Anyhoo... how do you send a pretty gift in the mail without a bow??? A friend of mine taught me this one and I think it's pretty cool. She (and I) use plain colored wrapping paper. It can be found, but sometimes it's harder. I stock up when I see it. And I buy cute Christmas stickers (I can get cheap ones from Current) and decorate my wrapped gifts with stickers instead of bows. It also looks very elegant under the tree. (hint hint.. I've used this same technique for other things like birthdays as well. Saves me from having to buy a little bit of 'birthday' paper) Love. IT.

Another thing I did this year is use some old Christmas cards as gift tags. I had some gift bags and since I try to be frugal with them and reuse them, I hate to put a sticker on them. So I cut out the pretty part of the card, punch a hole in it and tie it on with twine or ribbon and presto... a fancy gift tag. And it's cheap.. and it's kinda like recycling.. one more use before it hits the dumpster.

Anyway, those are a few easy things I do at Christmas to make things a little easier. For other tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer.

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

Christmas is upon us.. and so is the food that goes along with it. I'm not the baker/candy maker that my Mamaw was. That kinda gives me the grins to say her name, as she's been gone from us since I was in high school. I was talking to somebody today about Christmas candy and I remembered Mamaw making fudge and divinity every year. She kept a metal tin that would appear in one of the spare bedrooms every year.. and I'd dig in and snatch myself some goodies. I'm sorry but I don't have a fudge or a divinity recipe. I couldn't make either one of those if my life depended on it. I *am* thinking about trying out a divinity recipe possibly though. I've just got to find one first. And order a new whisk for my stand mixer. Anyhoo...

..in the meantime, I can always make some yummy quick bread. And my favorite is:

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce 16 ounce
1 can solid pack pumpkin 15 ounce
3/4 cup chopped pecans.. at our house, nuts are always optional. I leave them out myself.
2/3 cups oil
4 eggs (I've used Egg Beaters and it turns out fine)

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate - not diluted
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, combine the cranberry sauce, pumpkin, pecans, oil and eggs. Stir into dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Pour into two greased 9 inch by 5 inch by 3 inch loaf pans.

5. Bake for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Cool for ten minutes; remove from pans to a wire racak to cool completely.

7. Combine glaze ingredients (conf. sugar, orange juice concentrate, and allspice); drizzle over cooled loaves.

This bread is delicious! It's super moist. It even freezes well. I slice it when it cools and put it in a big zip top freezer bag and just pop off a piece when I want one. It reheats well in the microwave. Soo good! For other yummy Christmas treats, hop on over to visit Donna at Way More Homemade!

some thoughts on WDW

I know I've gone on and on about our trip... and well, yes it was very wonderful. But there were other aspects of it too. I noticed that everybody was in a hurry.. including ourselves. And yes, there were a lot of people there, even when it wasn't 'crowded'. And that we tended to look past the faces of those people in those crowds as just a nuisance that we must get around. A faceless, soul-less mass of humanity that was only in our way. In so many ways, that was constantly with me during our stay. I enjoyed the few moments we actually talked to people while we were there. I talked to a family in line with us. Their daughter has the same name as ours and we discussed spellings of their names and just generally chit chatted with them. You know.. treated them like they were people.. not just something to look past and get through. There was the family at the bus stop too. They were late for a character breakfast and were really anxious for their bus. Which was also our bus. Which we had been waiting for as long as they had. But when it arrived, I gestured for them to get on the bus first.. because they had to be somewhere and at that point, we were just goofing off. I felt sorry for them. And as things go, we were able to squeeze on the bus right after them. I think we even got to sit down. Score! There were the Wish families I saw. I didn't talk to any of them, but I definitely noticed them. They broke my heart a little bit. And there was the family we saw on a bus one day who's (almost?) adult son has some sort of handicap. His parents were completely patient with him as he passed them notes and they wrote notes back to him. He had a teenaged sister too. The son was the only one that smiled during our whole bus ride. I wonder what kind of life they have taking care of a child in an adult's body.

I could go on and on, as we were constantly with people for all those days. And we aren't exactly people people, if you get my drift. My husband declared it a people free weekend when we got home! (if my husband had a blog, it would be called Notes from the Behind the Wall.. oh yeah.. much more quiet/introverted than me!) Anyhoo... it was sad in so many ways. I would wonder how many of these people know Jesus. Statistically probably not very many. That huge mass of people that we'd sometimes get annoyed with are still loved by God and He longs for them, even when they don't care or even know who He is. When I think of humanity and His love for them, it's overwhelming. And that was the saddest and most beautiful part of all.

the fifth and final day

The fifth day was our last day in the parks. It was Wednesday.. the day before Thanksgiving and the traffic inside the parks was picking up. And we were tired. We decided to go back to the Hollywood Studios place. But we could barely walk. So we took in a live Beauty and the Beast show. Boo had never seen a live show with costumes etc so this was quite a treat for her. It was very sweet. After the show, we just couldn't take the crowds any more and left.

We ate lunch at the counter service place at our resort. They made really good (fancy-er) sandwiches and they were HUGE. We were basically just 'killing time' for most of the day. Which was fine. It was nice to not be in a big fat rush to get somewhere. We just piddled. After lunch, we went to a place to ride a boat to Wilderness Lodge. A friend stayed there when they went and urged us to take a peak at it, if we had the time. So we did that. It was an indoor HOtel... nicer than where we stayed. But we've 'done' the lodge look resort at Big Cedar Lodge before, so this was nothing new to us. But yes, I did have to say 'wow' at the vastness of space in the open common area of the hotel and of course, the Mickey Mouse totem pole.

After that, we went to Downtown Disney, which is a small-ER area with shops and places to eat. We had fun look in all toy and gift shops. There is a Lego store there and we all had a blast looking at the Legos. Yes, we are all little kids at heart. They had little bins where you could built your own people, so Boo built some people. That was fun. Mixing and matching heads, bodies and accessories. And the hubs bought a Lego Star Wars Darth Vader. Boo was jealous because he HAS A CAPE. Evidently this is big stuff. She has an old set and HER Vader is minus the cape. Oh well. I bought a Mrs. Puff (from Sponge Bob) key chain. She cracks me up.

We had reservations at Planet Hollywood for dinner. We were seated quickly and our food came quickly. It was an 'interesting' environment, but we were glad to leave. Too loud. Dang, I sound like 'old people'. Oh well.. maybe I am! LOL The girl that waited on us is from our area, so we chatted with her for a bit. And then we walked around some more and camped out on a bench for a while. It was fun to people watch. And we were tired of walking.

Then it was time for our final 'fun'. We were able to get tickets to see Cirque du Soleil. And it was amazing! If you are a fan of Jon and Kate plus 8, and you've seen the 'cutting room floor' episode, it features when they got to see Cirque. There just aren't words for how incredible it was. We loved it! It was a nice way to end our stay at Disney. It was chilly after the show was over. That was our latest night out. We couldn't wait to get on the bus and head back to our little oasis for one more 'sleep'.

We woke up bright and early and got ourselves together. The Disney people came for our luggage and us around 8:30 am. We checked out of our room and checked our luggage IN at the counter at our resort. Yes, we checked our luggage at Disney. Crazy, isn't it?! It made getting through the airport much quicker. Except for the dumping of everything but your undies into a bin security thing at the airport, that is. That waddle away from the xray scanner barely holding onto all your belongings and your ticket and your driver's license is just a blast.

We made our flight without a problem and were home by early afternoon. I had just about all the unpacking and laundry done before nightfall. We were tired and happy and so glad to be home. And we didn't want to be in a crowd again for a long time.

day four, WDW

On day four of our trip to Disney, we went to Disney Hollywood Studios. It was a fun day.. some of the things were quite memorable and others.. not so much. We arrived over a half an hour before it opened. As with the other parks, there is the early 'let in' and then everybody walks on ahead to a roped off area. But the fun part was, we were near the front of the line and they put on a little 'show' for ya before they let you in. There was a guy standing in the back of the truck like thing with an old time movie camera and another guy in another vehicle acting like a director. The director guy also had a 'family of the day' with him and he put them through their paces of doing things for 'his movie' and it was all very cute. And then he included 'us' in his 'movie' and told us we had to walk when the ropes went down. We thought it was a clever way to keep order. And yes, he even hollered into a bullhorn at people that did not walk. Cute.

The first thing we did was ride a Toy Story ride thing. It was one of the coolest things we did all day. It was an interactive arcade kinda thing and Boo and I competed shooting things from our ride. Pretty fun stuff. When we got off, the line just to get a fast pass was crazy long. We weren't able to ride that one again. But it was a lot of fun.

We rode a thing called The Great Movie Ride. The funniest part of it was before the ride. They put a group of 'us' in a queueing area that looked like a movie theater with a screen and it showed clips of different movies of different eras. One of them was an old movie where the ladies all swim in sequence with each other. I have no idea what the name of it is. Anyway.. what does this bring to mind to Boo and I.. but that birth control commercial.. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Everydaaaaaaay. Yep, Boo and I sang that song to ourselves QUIETLY while we waited in line. LOL The ride itself was a snooze. A bit of a disappointment.

After that we did a back lot tour. That was pretty cool. They showed how they do explosions, gunshots and fire in water environments. They also took us through a storage area for props for different movies. We saw some old muppets stuff and some of the stone creatures from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. That was pretty cool. (and gobs of other stuff too) We rode a tram for the rest of it. It sprinkled a little, but by the time we got off, it stopped. That was our only wet weather for the whole trip. We saw a Herbie VW and Walt Disney's private plane. There were lots of interesting little tidbits on this ride.

Then we went to a car stunt show. That was pretty neat as they 'filmed' it live while it was going on and we could see parts of it on a big screen. They talked about how cars 'go fast' and spin out and all kinds of crazy stunt-y stuff. There were also motorcycles and some jet skis too as there was a moat kinda thing in front.

After that we went to a Muppet 3D show. That one was a lot better than the other 3D show we saw at another park. Very clever and funny. Not scary at all for little kids and it made everyone laugh. Then we grabbed a fast pass for a Star Wars ride thing and ate lunch. Lunch was awful and I was hungry a lot that day. lol Then we did the Star Wars thing, which was ok, not great. There was also a little 'show' they did live outdoors on a stage with little kids from the audience and Darth Vader and some good guy in a brown outfit.. can't remember who-LOL- and that was cute with the little kids and their light sabers and all. Funny. We watched that for a little bit.

Then we saw an Indiana Jones stunt show. It was fun watching them perform stunts 'live' like that. And there were a couple of unexpected little elements in that one too, which made it fun. There was a Prince Caspian character greeting and a small attraction with that.. we skipped the character thing and did the movie clip thing.. not much to it.. lots of movie clips strung together creatively and no place to sit down.

There was a big exhibit on Walt Disney himself. We found that nostalgic and interesting. We spent a lot of time looking at that stuff and really this was an education for our daughter. She didn't grow up seeing Walt Disney every Sunday night when The Wonderful World of Disney came on. See.. didn't I just make a bunch of you nostalgic just by saying that?! There was a movie about his life there too, so we watched that too. Fun and interesting.

There was a live show about animation which we did. It was ok. And there was a 'show' about sound work/foley art. All we did was listen to some stuff on headphones in TOTAL DARKNESS.. a great move for the kiddies.. and then it was over. Not a favorite. Then we ate supper at a buffet called Hollywood and Vine. I wasn't expecting much, but it was quite delicious.

And then we did the evening show called Fantasmic. It was interesting in some ways. They figured out how to make a movie screen on a sheet of water sprayed into the air. That being said, they showed movie clips on that thing for waaay too long.. and villains too.. they dragged out every spooky character they could think of.. scared the little kids to death. There wasn't much pyrotechnics to speak of. There were more characters at times.. floating by on a boat or something..but mostly it was just very dark. When we left, I wasn't feeling very fantasmic about it, lemme tell ya. (I was feeling more bummed that we missed the REAL fireworks show at Epcot! LOL)

The funny part was waiting to go into this show... they had a previous show of it, and the lady that kept coming over the loud speaker saying things about where the strollers had been moved to etc for those exiting.. but with a northern accent (no offense if you are from the north!) and for some reason, it just made us laugh. So sadly that was our cheap entertainment while we waited in line.

That ended Tuesday, which was day four.

day three, WDW

We planned a 'catch up' day or two, just in case we couldn't get everything done in a park the day before, we could go back and get it done. Well, crowds were light (they didn't feeeeel light, but they were.. it was a mixed bag), so we had a day we hadn't planned out and didn't know what to do with. We had not planned on going to Animal Kingdom, but we decided to do that, since we had the free time and all. Well..

.. we sort of liked it. And sort of didn't. It FELT crowded because all the walkways are narrow and overgrown with plants.. thus creating an exotic vibe, but also making a person feel claustrophobic and pressed in and stressed out. That's just my/our take on it. We rode a thing that I can't remember the name of that was basically a jungle safari kinda thing in a huge jeep. It was kinda neat. There were live animals walking around very close by. It was hard to snap pics because of the vehicle rocking as we rode on rutted out pathways they called 'roads'. haha. Just adding to the ambiance of 'safari' I guess. Whatever. There were also some animatronic animals added in that helped create a little back story about poachers. Could have done without that part. The real animals were the stars of the show.

There were these even skinnier pathways that led us down to areas that were like zoo exhibits with animals etc. We enjoyed that because it felt like we were off the beaten path and the crowds were lighter. I took several pictures of the signature tree inside the park called 'The Tree of Life'. I wasn't really crazy about the name of the tree. But anyhoo... we ate lunch and left. We had had enough of the crowdedynes. LOL

We rode the monorail around.. just for fun. Enjoyed the things we could see from it. We went back to Epcot and rode Test Track AGAIN. Yay! Then we went to dinner. Dinner was at our resort, as we were hoping for an early night and thought we'd skip out of the parks and enjoy a NICE meal outside the park. Well... this meal was a big disappointment. Everything on the menu sounded wonderful, but it did not deliver. My dinner had the potential of being great, but not a single item on my plate had an ounce of flavor. boring. And every dessert had milk, so that was a no go too. It was pretty sad.

The building the restaurant was in housed many things. It had a counter service place in it. That's Disney speak for fast food. And then the place we ate dinner in... table service... Disney speak for slow food. And also a gift shop. So we shopped. They had much cuter tshirts there than I'd seen inside the park. And I was bummed. So I asked the man working there if we could exchange our shirts even though we had purchased them inside the park. And he said 'sure!'. So we walked back to our room and grabbed the shirts I'd bought for Boo and I and went back and exchanged them. I was so glad they let us do that. Boo and I ended up with really cute shirts. Now it just needs to get warm enough to wear them! LOL

our 'hotel'

Our 'hotel' left a little bit to be desired. At least it did right after we made the reservation. I was kinda bummed when I figured out it wasn't a hotel at all. But a fayn-cee-fied MOtel. But it turned out ok. And yes, it looked a little better than the pic from Jungle Cruise directly below.


We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and actually, the view and the aesthetics were kinda pretty. We enjoyed the views right outside our door. See... isn't it pretty?!



Inside the room, it was the standard cookie cutter hotel room. It had a Nemo wall border and bedspread. Cute. But it kinda felt like they'd tried to go 'tropical' in a time past, and then added the Nemo stuff. There were different shades of green in some places and that kinda bothered me. But it wasn't 'bad' at all. It had the standard motel issue 'tiny bathroom' that you've gotta step out of to change your mind, much less your clothes! Thankfully there was a curtain that could be drawn to enclose the sink area, so there was a little room to spread out and change without being in full view of everyone in the room. So that was a nice little extra. They also seemed to take into account that guests would indeed be carrying luggage and need a place to put it down upon entering. You may wonder why I say that, since it sounds kinda like a 'duh'. Well, lemme tell ya...

We usually stay at Hampton Inns. It's nice for our needs as a family and it usually works out for us. But in 2007, we went to Colorado for vacation and stayed at Hampton Inns along the way and in Colorado Springs. Weeell... I've never walked into a hotel room and just stood there holding my luggage looking around and being shocked and surprised that there wasn't a single place to put it down and get it out of the way.. until our most recent Hampton Inn stays. And they've changed the beds in those too and they're very bouncy and not very supportive. So...

...the fact that they had places for me to put my stuff down was a plus, right off the bat. And the bed was supportive and non-bouncy so I wasn't sore when I woke up in the morning. The room we were able to get had two double sized beds in it. I was supposed to sleep with Boo since the hubster is very tall and has to kinda curl up to fit in a double. So that was the plan. Until I slept with her that first night and got elbowed, knee'ed and slapped around all night long. We called for a roll away bed for the rest of the nights. I was able to get a little better sleep after that..except for the funny noises the sheets made. We've never had this one before..every time we moved or rolled over, the sheets made loud crumpledy racket. Woke me up every time any of us.. including myself moved. And the real 'kicker'...there was a brochure in the room that showed how we could order these wonderful linens for OUR HOME! Talk about 'LOL'. We did 'laugh out loud'. We thought we could skip out of the rackety, weird feeling sheets. Thankfully, we weren't there for the sheets! : )

day two, part two

So I left you all with us eating lunch on day two. We had a monster huge 'fancy' deli sandwich in the land pavilion. Some of the produce sold in meals in that building is grown on the property we saw during our 'The Land' tour. I thought that was kinda cool.

After lunch, we went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. It was bad. Just thinking of a way to use 3D...and scare kids half to death with scary things shooting out at their faces. Way ta go Disney! And then we rode Test Track again. Yay! And then an oldie but a goodie, Spaceship Earth. That's the ride inside the big Epcot 'ball'. It surprised me that these rides that could be called 'boring' were some of Boo's favorite since they were interesting and there were things to look at and notice. And then on the way back down after the ride, there was a small touch screen and by answering a few questions, they made up a little mock up community based on your likes and put your/our heads on the tops of the people. So we got a good laugh at the pic they took of us on the ride and watched our little person doing things on the screen. Good for a silly laugh. We rode this again at some point later in the day.. it was an entertaining way to get off our feet!

Then we toured the world showcase... that's what it's called, isn't it?! I forget. We just called it 'the countries'. We saw a little street show of a couple of 'french bakery fellows' and they did an acrobatic thing with balancing chairs and standing on top. Pretty incredible and a little dangerous with no wires etc. But it was comical and fun to watch. The one fellow on the ground made all his wishes known by blowing a whistle.. gently..loudly..with feeling etc. Interesting all he could invoke with just gesturing and a whistle. We walked around and browsed and took plenty of pics of the buildings etc. At one point we rode a boat around in the waters in the middle of the showcase area.. just for fun. It was nice to see things from the water.

We watched part of the America video thing in the USA area. It was kinda boring and we were hungry. So we bugged out and went to dinner. We had a reservation at a hibachi place in the Asian section. We were seated right away. The meal was wonderful. Probably the best meal we had while we were there. And of course, the table entertainment was fun too. Our cooker guy chef was interesting and since he talks to people everyday, he could talk to any guest about wherever they happened to live. He was an interesting person. This meal was late.

Some side notes... one thing we were all looking forward to was the Hall of Presidents. It's closed... until JULY of 2009! Is that crazy, or what?! We were bummed as it's one of those things people go to Disney wanting to see. And we didn't get to. : ( Another thing, we purchased tshirts in the world area. We thought they were cute and we'd been seeing a lot of the same stuff, so we just went on and bought one for Boo and I that day.

Well, by the time our late hibachi dinner was over, so were the fireworks! I was totally bummed. I knew we would be cutting it very close... but it's a very short show and it was over by the time we stepped out after dinner. It was a disappointment at the time, and as the week wore on, I became more upset that we missed it.. just to eat. (oh well, there's a 'better' show coming at Disney Hollywood Studios, right?!)

Disney day two

Day two had us lined up in front of Epcot waiting to get in. They let folks through the turnstiles to walk up to a roped off line further inside the park. When the people, including the characters, come out, they take down the ropes and everyone is off like a shot. Although this sounds exciting, it bugged me. Everyone was pushing and crowding and in a big mass. When going through the turnstiles, it naturally spaces people out, so there is no huge mass of people pressing in at any given moment. It was craziness. But it was still fun! We got a close up of Minnie Mouse. Donald walked by but my camera hesitated, so all I got was his little hat. Oh well!
I made a list of everything we did on the second day and it blew my mind. We hustled and got a lot done! I have to also recommend the Unofficial Disney travel guide. It was excellent and we got many of our time saving tips from reading the book and following it's strategies.

First we stopped at Soarin' and got ourselves a Fast Pass. This is where you wait in a line to meet up with a kiosk and put in your ticket card and it spits out a paper card with a later time on it and you go do something else and come back during the specified time and your place is 'saved' in line and you can pretty much just hop right on the ride.. or have a much shorter wait than the 'regular line'. I have to say it's a sweet little innovation.. and isn't that what Epcot is all about?! Getting our 'FP' for Soarin' did not go smoothly though. The machine broke down with the lady in front of us so the employee 'cast member' just handed her FP's out of her pocket. We were right behind her and she told us we had to start over in another long line. GRRRR. There are a few things at Disney that are pretty uncool in the way they handle them.. that is one example! But we finally scored our tickets and bugged out to....

TEST TRACK! With no wait, I might add. Thanks to the wonderful research done by the book writers, we walked right on the ride. And it was our favorite, hands down.

We also rode a little Nemo ride.. think little kid thing. And then another animated interactive thing called Turtle Talk with Crush and yes it was very funny.. even for the grown up set! And then we went back to ride Soarin' with a shortened wait. (this was our longest FP line. This ride is insane popular) In the same building is a little boat ride called The Land... it was more informational than anything, but it was a nice place to rest the feet, which at this point were SCREAMING. And then we had lunch.

One note here about Epcot. It's original intent by Walt Disney himself seems to be lost here. Remember how it stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow? I had to remember that myself to really 'understand' the purpose of some of the rides..like The Land. Walt's vision is fading for that park and it's sad they aren't keeping his vision for it more alive or at the front of people's thoughts.

I think I will split day two into two posts, as there is a lot more info to go. And I don't want to bore you to tears! Oops.. too late.. already did! LOL

The sights! The sounds! The smells??

Our trip to Disney was, of course wonderful! There was so much to see and do. It truly kept the senses busy. But one thing that I didn't expect was just how complete the sensory experience was going to be.

Some things were expected like the smell of popcorn..or more unpleasantly, the stench smell of cigarette smoke every time we walked toward an outdoor 'smoking area'. But there were some smells that took us by surprise. One of them was when we rode the ride Soarin' at Epcot. It makes the rider feel as though they are flying... or soarin'.. get it, get it?!... above several different environments. I could feel the wind on my face, which was pretty neat.. but then something unexpected happened. I could smell things. Like evergreens and oranges and oceans and whatever else we were flying above at that time. It really completed the experience.

But then there were some even more unexpected smells. We stayed at resort on property called Caribbean Beach Resort. When we went into the gift shop area for our resort, it smelled like.. you guessed it.. the tropics and a little bit like coconut. And while waiting in line for several rides, we'd smell cinnamon rolls, of all things! And there weren't any nearby, so that smell had to be 'piped in'. It was strange, and yet it played it's part in enveloping us in 'the experience'.

In case you're wondering when is she gonna quit talking about that trip? Well.. I don't know. It's nice to document things here since this is a diary of sorts. And.... it's more interesting than saying 'bah humbug' for a while longer. Although, I have to say, this trip has lightened my mood and I'm not feeling as down as I usually do during this month, so that's a plus right now! : )

the people

One of the interesting things we saw that wasn't on any ride or attraction was the people. I'm talking people watching. This can be done on quite a grand scale at Disney! I lost count of how many languages I overheard. And the different cultures and their clothing choices. Oh my! The young Asian ladies have quite a thing going.. that's all I'm gonna say! LOL One day we decided to ride the monorail around the park. How can you go to Disney and NOT ride the monorail? Anyway... a family got on.. obviously not um from around here since their shirts had foreign words on them and they either had a thick accent or didn't speak English at all.. couldn't tell. But their little group was interesting. A set of parents, two children and their opposite sex 'friends'. Nice. One girl looked like she'd been attacked on the neck by a vacuum cleaner (a-hem) and another 'set' sitting next to me needed to seriously get a room. I was glad when they got off! LOL

But of course, the kids were the most interesting. After all.. aren't they the ones that place is all about?! We had opportunity to see little kids faces light up when they saw something wonderful. But there were also the tired, gripey kids that had been dragged around all day that were just done. with. it. (on a side note.. one of our little sayings toward the end of our stay was 'this is no place for little kids!' LOL) And there were the enthusiastic kids dragging their parents around even after a long day at the park. And there were lots of crying kids too. But the ones that stick out to me were the ones that made me smile or laugh or brought up another memory. Like the little kid at the fireworks over the castle the first night... every time there was a lull in the action, he was ask rather loudly "is it over?". Cracked us up! We laughed our heads off every time and in turn, his parents laughed with us. They were funny little moments. And so much like our little Bub. He would have asked the same thing at that age...at every single lull..just like that little boy did!

And then there was the family we met at the bus stop one morning. Every time a bus came and went and he couldn't get on, he cried. Not angry.. just sad. It cracked us up! At one point, I had to turn away and blink back tears. He reminded me a little bit of Bub too with his cute little pug nose and funny ways. And then of course, there were the wish families. We spotted three that we know of... they all had Make-a-Wish tshirts on. And of course, that has a tender spot in my heart too. Those families have been through so much.

And there was the little boy walking in front of us on a pathway at our resort. The sidewalks were made of bricks. Bricks are small. So there are lots of cracks. hint hint! I couldn't figure out why he was walking funny until his dad grabbed him by the arm and said "sorry buddy, but there are just too many cracks. You're gonna have to step on them!". LOL

People.. and kids are something else!

our first day

The first day of our trip was crazy yet so memorable. We had to get up at 5 something to be ready to go by 6 something and be at the airport by 7. Our plane left at 9am. Everything went very well with catching the shuttle and getting to the airport and finally arriving at the Orlando airport and getting on the Magical Express to Disney. Everything went flawlessly...our luggage even arrived at our room the way it was supposed to!

Anyway.. by 2 something we were checked into our room and we had ditched our carry-ons and applied sunblock and gathered all the necessary items for a half day in the park and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. By 3pm we were standing in our first line... to ride The Haunted Mansion, which we loved. We did everything on our list that day.. including Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, The Laugh Floor (interactive animated show featuring the characters from Monsters Inc), The Carousel of Progress (an old time attraction), It's a Small World (of course!), and a couple of other things. We ate dinner at a little place called The Plaza and it was directly in front of The Castle. It was dark outside by this time and Boo watched the castle through the window as she ate her dinner. It was lit up and changed colors throughout our meal. Every time she gushed about the colors, we turned and looked and commented appropriately. It really was pretty!

Not long after that, it was time for the evening fireworks to begin. We walked right up to the very last spot on the sidewalk and snuggled close together (just like the other zillion people in attendance) to watch the show. The music of course, was delightful and sweet. It was a magical time. I wrapped my arms around my little girl and held her close as we watched and oooh'ed and aaaaah'ed at the beautiful show. Before long, I found myself in tears. I can't tell you why.. other than life is so stressful and so much of the simplicity that used to be our lives, is gone forever. This just took me to a place I needed to go..even if just for a little bit. Every time I think about that, I begin to cry again. I feel so silly even saying that... but it did feel like a weight had been temporarily lifted and it was just wonderful. It was so nice just to be swept up in it all for a little bit. It set the stage for a great trip!

our Thanksgiving

This wasn't the normal Thanksgiving for our family since we were traveling this year ON Thanksgiving. We've always traveled before and after, but not ON turkey day. Anyway... our lunch was from a fast food joint at the airport in Orlando. It was actually hot and good. I like me a fast food burger once every blue moon. So there ya go.

When we got back to our neck of the woods, the shuttle driver took us to our car and we made our way home on deserted streets. It was a little bit weird. We started unpacking and had things fairly under control by dinnertime. I made something boring with noodles and canned chicken. Fayn-CEE if I do say so myself. My two turkey day meals.. a burger and noodle somethin' or other.

But it was ok. Friday morning, I woke up early and went and got our kitty cat.. pictured above in my header. : ) And started putting together a mini-feast for the three of us. I bought one of those oven ready turkey breast jobber-do's and plopped that puppy in the oven. Easy-peezy! And got out my crumbled cornbread I pre-made for this occasion to make a small batch of homemade dressing. We had a nice little feast of turkey breast, dressing, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Hmm... something is missing isn't it?!

Dessert! Well.. lemme tell ya.. when we were at Disney, we had what they call 'The Disney Dining Plan' and it's a little card that has all your meals including dessert pre-paid. It was very convenient. But it also meant we ate dessert with every meal. So we weren't all that sad that I hadn't pre-bought the stuff for pies or something like that. We're kinda tired of dessert. I know! Crazy, huh?!

So there ya have it. Probably the most unusual Turkey Day ever!

I'm back!

I had a wonderful bloggy break! I enjoyed not being at the computer and just hanging out over the holiday. But I didn't just hang out at home... we went on an adventure! I'll give you some hints... hope you can guess where we went!
Nope.. it wasn't France! Although it looks a little like it....

And it wasn't New York...although it looks a little like it...

And it wasn't a jungle safari... although it looks a little like it...


It was all of those and more! We went to Disneyworld over the break. We got back yesterday afternoon! It was truly a magical vacation!

chillin'

Well girls, I'm taking a little break from blogging. As you could tell from my recent posts, I am in a bit of a slump. So I'm taking the opportunity of the holiday to just chill for a bit. See ya soon!

ps..don't forget the holiday post below. Thanks! : )

Way More Homemade Holidays

Donna at WayMoreHomemade is hosting a carnival today about the holidays. I've been thinking about what I would want to write. But the face of the holiday has changed so much for us. For my husband and me individually as our grandparents aged and died. For me in the loss of a parent and us in the loss of a child. Sometimes this is a hard time of year.. and one I don't particularly get excited about. Like I said, sometimes it's just hard.

But I tried to think of something that's always been a constant. And that would be ornaments. The year we married, we were living on a shoestring, so I made all our ornaments. I was seriously into the whole 'country' thing so I made mauve and blue stuffed hearts to hang all over the tree. I have since made a full recovery from my attachment to mauve and country blue. Ahem. I liked it but of course, it wasn't the classic gold or red. Now I feel like I was ahead of the curve when I see all the wild colors on trees now. We bought an ornament that year to remember our first year. And after that, we decided to buy an ornament every year to commemorate something or other. One year it was a key ornament when we bought our house, there were 2 pregnant ornaments and all the various baby and child ornaments.

Early on in our marriage, a friend and I used to make a treasure hunt out of finding cute ornaments for me. We found loads of mouse ornaments! I used to collect mice and I think she used to get a kick out of me making a big fuss over the sweet little things. Every year when I unwrap them, it's like I'm getting them for the first time again. So stinkin' cute!

One thing that comes to mind every year, is the last ornament our son picked out. At Christmas, we knew he wouldn't be with us much longer, and yet we just continued on with a quiet knowing that this was going to be 'it'. It was very surreal. We went on and let the kids pick out their ornaments as usual. Bub picked out a Veggie Tales one. I have a pic of him proudly holding up his ornament when we decorated the tree. And we continue to purchase ornaments in his memory when we see something that is particularly 'him'. And of course, BooBoo gets an ornament too.

People have given me homemade ornaments and I love those. And I've made a few more recently myself. Last year I gave out dough ornaments as simple small gifts for teachers etc. Boo Boo and I had fun making and painting them together. I have a cross cookie cutter and I'd like to use that this year and make some more. (hint hint: would love ideas on colors to paint them and/or something to write on them etc)

For more traditions, go visit Donna at Way More Homemade Holidays!

an update and the silver tree

First, for an update on the kitty and the 'situation' with MY throw. She will tolerate being covered with the new throw, but still will not lay down on it. I guess you could call that progress. She slept in our bed last night. I've wondered if this cooler weather has sent her looking for other warm bodies. But thankfully, she didn't sleep on my leg. Yay! She makes me laugh. Her little mind is so funny!

And now, the silver tree. When I was a little girl, we always went to visit my grandparents on Christmas Day. Every year. And the tree was always up and the house smelled like dressing and pie. And fudge. And divinity. She could make anything. But when you're a kid, the first thing you see is the tree. And it was silver. It didn't have the lights and it didn't spin either. It just sat there. But we didn't know any better, so that was ok. They had ornaments that looked old to me at that time. But they all matched. It was a very pretty tree. But it was only up one day. Yes... one day. They put it up early on Christmas Day before everyone arrived and it was taken down later that day by the grandkids 'after it was over'.

It was all so simple back then. The meal was simple. The tree was simple. Our gifts were simple. But we enjoyed ourselves and had a great day. It was sad when my grandparents died 9 months apart while I was in high school. It changed the whole dynamic of Christmas. I don't think it's ever been the same since the silver tree. None of us cared that we didn't have much. Or that my grandparents house was very sparse (by today's standard) and plain. Or that her only kitchen counter was a hoosier. And the only thing hanging on the wall in the entire house was an electric clock in the kitchen. Nobody cared a lick. But everybody cared about each other. You could see it when all of us "young'uns" sat around the kiddie table eating our dressing and cranberry sauce. And you could see it in our smiles.

I know it's almost Thanksgiving and this post is pretty much about Christmas. Just imagine the same scene minus the tree, and you've got a typical Thanksgiving. I miss that. Life has changed a lot since I was a little kid. It's sad. I don't like this time of year. I think that's why I haven't blogged much. I don't think a bunch of posts that say 'I hate this time of year' are very appealing, do you? Anyway... I am thankful for having that when I was a kid. But now that I'm grown, I know that it wasn't perfect. (how many situations are perfect, honestly?) But the grownups still made it special for the kids. I hope to be able to make both holidays special for our daughter as well.

but it's MINE

Cats are funny.. and picky. I guess I didn't understand just how picky they could be until we got one. She likes being on things.. and in things, as you can see by the pic of her in a cat bed I got for her at Ikea. It is just so stinkin' cute, isn't it?

Anyway... she used to sleep in the bathroom. But then she started making all sorts of racket so we decided to try to see if she could get happy sleeping outside the bathroom. Yeah.. she eventually got cozy sleeping outside the bathroom, on my leg. I wasn't overly thrilled. But then she decided she liked the throw on the couch... my not so cheap Lands End fleecy something or other throw. At first I was happy that she was just off my legs at night, but then one day I wanted to curl up on the couch with MY blanket and it was all cat-hairy and that bugged me.

So I got an idea. I decided yesterday to get her a new blanket all her own. So I went off to Big Lots in search of an alternative that costs less than my Lands End throw. I found one. It's really soft and a similar color. I washed mine and hers together in hot to get the cat off MY throw and to clean hers and get it ready for the couch. Weeeeell....

...crazy cat won't even go near the new throw. And if you put her on it, she scrambled off like she's been shot out of a cannon. So out of desperation, I 'fixed' the new throw on her 'spot' on the couch and put the old throw next to it, in the middle of the couch, which is not her favorite spot. Guess where she ended up? Yep.... on the old throw in the middle of the couch. Drives me nuts. I like MY throw but I don't have any ideas on how to get it back. Do you think reverse phsychology would work.. you know... I'll take her throw as mine and see if she gets jealous? That just makes me giggle.. having to play mind games with a cat to to get her to sleep with an $8 blanket!

Monday madness

This has been a typical Monday.. with a little extra thrown in. One of the first things on my 'to do' list when I get started on my Monday is to make out a grocery list. To do that, I have to do my menu planning. I look through cookbooks and ask if there are any requests over the weekend so that on Monday, I can write down all our meals for the week. Then I'll know what goes on the list. I've gone to the dark side started buying my groceries at Walmart instead of Kroger, since they always have the fresh meats I need on a consistent basis. Anyhoo... I make out my list of grocery and non-grocery items on the computer. I put a * next to the produce items and 'first things' on the grocery side. And I put the non food things at the top of the list, so I'll remember them before I head over to grocery.

Then I get started and try and focus to "git'r done". I am always smiling when I see the lady at checkout because the end is in sight. It means I'm almost done with the most unfun chore of my week! And we know what we're having every night of the week because I post the meals on the microwave so I don't have to answer one very nosy, very forgetful little girl over and over and over. A-hem!

My only bummer today was that they were out of cranberry sauce. Bummer. The holidays are a'coming and I could feel it in the stress and struggle of everyone at the store today.

Friday Five

Otherwise known as... I don't have much to say about anything.

1. Texas weather is nuts. It was supposed to turn off cooler today. I wore jeans and a flannel shirt expecting the drop. Well, nope.. it's still not cooler. So now I'm in shorts and a tee shirt. But by tomorrow I might want the flannel again.

2. My cat is so cute she just makes me want to smoosh her. I guess that's why she hates me so much. I guess my snugglin' and smoochin' just drives her batty.

3. I think my whole family is burned out on school right now. She is tired of it. We are tired of it. It just feels like it never ends sometimes. Looking forward to Thanksgiving break!

4. I dislike school projects. There is always some element that a parent cannot turn a child loose on... like gathering photos and getting copies made so you can glue them to some board. Just sayin'. : )

5. I bought some floral pick things that are Christmas-y to try and redo my wreath. I croak at spending a big ole wad of money on a brand new wreath I put out for 3 or 4 weeks a year. I haven't decorated the mantle in years. Thought I would do it this year.. but needed to redo the wreath. I hope it turns out good. It if does, I might post a pic. If not, I won't.. ok.. maybe I will so you all can laugh at it. LOL

I'm in a writing rut. Can anybody tell?

irrational fear

I was eating lunch with a friend yesterday. We were actually talking about the 'thing' that happened the other day with the lady on the phone. (and we hit on pretty much that whole post. Nobody I know in my real life knows I blog, so I guess it's 'used' material when we discuss it, but whatever.) We were also talking about giving in general. And I was going on and on about how I want to sponsor a Compassion child. But then I said I didn't know when it would happen...

...because of irrational fear. Do you want to know what it is???! It's the fear that something 'bad' will happen to the child while we sponsor it. Crazy isn't it? So many good things will happen to this child IF we sponsor it, but I can't get over the possibility of something terrible like an incurable illness coming to this child and having a front seat watching something happening half way around the world. I think sometimes I just can't go there anymore. I try so hard sometimes to protect my heart. But from what? I know in my heart that sponsoring would bring so much hope and happiness and just a chance for life to be different for them.. which is so wonderful and amazing.

And yet there is that stupid, irrational fear. My friend and I were talking about it and I was afraid it wouldn't make any sense to her. But she said it did on an emotional level. And I guess that's good.. I'm not totally whacko. Just a little bit.

This whole thought process runs it complete opposition to a discussion a friend at church and I were having the other day. She was telling me how she was so glad I could show to the world that there is life after what we went through with Bub. That there can be happiness and joy. And I teared up. Because on the one hand, I know that is true, but not because of *anything* I have done or can do for myself. I know there are many ways in which God has healed my heart. And I know that it is only because of Him that I have any measure of peace and joy regarding Bub. He is the only reason I've been able to continue. And I can see it in myself when I've begun to stray from God and I begin to 'see' my thoughts in different ways and realize I'm not really 'with' God at that time, if that makes sense. And of course, those thoughts remind me of where He wants me to be. Abiding in Him. (there's that word again!)

So there is it.. the jumble of irrationality and relationship that intermingle constantly in my heart. There is life and happiness and yet just under it, there is a story of 'other times' that are never that far away. A strange life sometimes.

Works for Me Wednesday-or I write on my clothes!

This morning I was reading Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer and realized I had two good tips just sitting there on my mental back burner. So here they are!

First of all... it totally made me laugh when she talked about getting jeans at the thrift store. I am so into that too. And yes, they're like $3 even if they still have the tags on them. I just bought a pair of capris that came from Dillards that still had the tags on them for $3. Score! But this tip has to do with some new jeans I bought. I have a hard time finding things that fit. I think most of us feel the same way. So when I find jeans I like, I'll buy two or three pairs. Well even though they all might technically fit, most of the time there are slight variations in the fit. And sometimes I'd rather wear one over the other... just depends on how many Oreos I've had lately. A-hem. Now.. here's what I do so I'll know which pair I'm grabbing. I write on the tags. I know! It kinda feels like running with scissors or something. I had to tell myself that, yes it IS ok to write on my clothes. So here's what I do.. I number them. I bought 3 pairs of the jeans in the below pic..and yes... all three fit differently.. but this pair fit the loosest. So I marked them with a 3. They are numbered by how they fit. So now I don't have to try on all three pairs to find the ones I want.

By the way.. in case you're wondering.. these jeans are Lee Stretch and I got them at Penneys and they are wonderful.

Similarly, when I buy new socks, I mark my old ones. Here's why. I still have old ones exactly like them. Yes I am brand loyal. But more than that, I buy what fits. And I have small feet. And if you have small feet, the athletic socks at Target with the brand of Champion on them run smaller and I don't have to tie a knot on the end of the toe to wear them. Just sayin'. Anyhoo.. I put little dots on my old socks so after a few washes I can tell them from my new ones. New socks feel different, but after a wash or two they don't look much different (thanks to walking around in my sock feet at home all the time). And my delicate ankles can tell if there are different amounts of pressure from the elastic and it bugs me. So now I can tell the new from the old just from checking for the dot when I mate and fold. For more fun tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer.

doctor handsome

We got a letter in the mail the other day from a family that benefited from the care they received at the hospital Bub was treated at. At the end of the letter, it said 'someone' would be contacting us soon to see if we wanted to give to the hospital.

Soon was today.

I talked to the lady and told her we had given to the hospital in the past. And that we also had received excellent care and were thrilled to be able to give back. But we had already given back.

Now we're considering sponsoring a Compassion child.

I felt like I had to defend the fact that I was not, at this time, interested in giving. She was sort of aggressive. She asked if I wasn't going to give this year, was I going to give next year. I got sort of tired of the conversation, frankly.

But it did take me back to realize we did receive excellent care. At every level. But one thing that happened went over and beyond. I called clinic one day and told the nurses that Bub had been waking up at night fussing about his knee. They immediately went into action and I got a call back from one of the doctors. We call him Doctor Handsome. Not because of how he looks, but because every time he came into our room, he referred to Bub as 'Handsome'.. hey, Handsome, gimme five.. that kinda deal. And Bub H-A-T-E-D it. He did not like being fussed with that way. I don't blame him. I never did either.

But anyway.. back to Doctor Handsome... when he called me back, he told me Bub needed a strong narcotic liquid and that is a controlled substance and he couldn't call it in. And I couldn't run into Kroger and grab it either. We needed to go to a specialized pharmacy. And it was getting late. Believe it or not.. Dr Handsome offered to drop the RX by my house on his way home. We figured out he lives in a neighboring suburb down the street from us. So that's what he did. He was at my door probably less than an hour later with scrip in hand. I was shocked he would do it and incredibly grateful. It was funny for Bub to see 'him' at our front door. It's a cute memory for me, believe it or not.

The kids had fun running around in the pharmacy playing together. You wouldn't know he was terminally ill by watching them cut up. They were disruptive, but I didn't give a rip. He was gone six days later.

I didn't have time to go into it with the lady on the phone. But the people that wrote the letter aren't the only ones with a story to tell. If she'd of stopped pushing me long enough, she could'a heard that.

silly observations

I don't have much going on today, which is nice. But it always causes me to notice things I otherwise wouldn't think about.

I was petting the kitty on the bed today. And the fur was flying. She wasn't mad at me. yet. But if I just touch her, her hair falls out. It's a cat thing. But then I noticed a hair stuck to her nose. I kept trying to get it off. That made her mad. I think about the time I got one off, another one got stuck on. I know when I get cat fur on my nose, it tickles and it bugs me. I wonder how she feels about it.

Also.. I've noticed that I have a new reader of my blog. It's somebody I know. It makes me feel funny. Kinda like somebody is snooping around in my business and I can't decide how I feel about it. She's commented to me in person regarding several posts. She sure is nosey. She's my daughter.

We ordered a pizza this weekend. We always order one with no cheese. This time we ordered it from another place because we had a coupon. It had cheese on it. Makes the coupon not seem very worth it when we had to wait forever since they had to remake it. I think we'll stick with Papa John's. They do it over the computer and it's right there in front of them. We've never had a problem with them. We like them best...sometimes coupons aren't worth it, ya know?

Well.. those are my 'deep thoughts' for the day. woo hooo.

expelled

The hubby and I had some time to ourselves yesterday, so we decided to watch a movie we bought a while back. It was called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (with Ben Stein). The whole movie is pretty much interviews with various scholars/scientists regarding intelligent design. Some were denying that God ever existed or that there could be any form of 'ID'. Many others have had their jobs taken etc for suggesting there is an author of the universe. That we didn't just become the way Darwin suggests.

Anyway.. there were so many observations. One of them was a man who described how ridiculous religion was and how he had determined God didn't exist. Another one was the discussion of how some religious people 'in the field' decide after studying Darwinism, that they no longer accept God and become atheists. This one stunned me more than the first fellow that never seemed to claim His name in the first place. All of it broke my heart.

But why... why would someone who felt like they 'had' God at some point, turn away and decide within themselves He doesn't exist. Because they didn't know Him in the first place?

Would I... could I turn away and decide He didn't exist? I know the answer to that is no. But why? Maybe it's because I am not just serving a religion. (I AM burned out on that part myself) But I have a relationship as sure as any of the earthly ones I have here. I talk to Him and He talks to me. I am as sure of the things He says to me as the things others have said to me. How could I turn away from that? I couldn't!

This is one of the things that made me so sad about watching the movie. Seeing these people with nothing to put their trust in but their own wisdom. Relying only on the seen.. only on what they could touch with their hands or see through a microscope. What a life..devoid of any hope. And yet that is how most people stumble through their lives.

I'm so thankful He's given me hope and life and shown me Himself beyond the seen.

mommy ears

Sleep changes forever when you have kids. It just does. For lots of reasons. But mainly, it's because you get 'mommy ears'. When Boo Boo was born, I heard every peep she made in the night. If she squeaked funny I was by her crib checking on her. And then when she got a little bigger, if her dolly fell out of bed, I heard it. Or even if she just moved around, I was aware.

The years have gone on and things have relaxed a little bit. My little one is thirteen and she can find the 'potty' in the night without me and I don't hear every move she makes at night like I did when she was younger.

That's what made last night all the stranger. I was startled awake by the whispered sound of "Mom!". My eyes flew open but I didn't see her. I knew by the sound of her whisper she should be right by the bed, but when I looked all around, there was no one. My heart slowed and I put my head back on the pillow trying to figure out what I'd heard. Was I dreaming? What's the deal?

Then it hit me.

My husband's sleep apnea machine was whistling. If it gets slightly off kilter it can make soft, airy sounds. That's what I heard. Gee whiz! Once mommy ears, always mommy ears.

heartsick

There are many words floating around in my head this morning. But the one that says it all is heartsick. My sorrow for this country and its future generations is beyond what I can articulate. I'm just sickened by the agendas that will more than likely be pushed on us in the days to come.

We all know the list of hot button topics. And they all have vast moral and societal implications for us as a country. Makes me shudder and be sickened to the core. And calls me all the more to prayer for our country's people.

Like I said.. heartsick.

Ticks Me Off Tuesday

With everybody's minds on the election today and all the stress of wondering what is about to happen to the free world, I thought I would focus on something much more petty today. Something I know I have lots of... those little everyday things that bug me. This post was actually my husband's idea since I'm always saying this little thing or that little thing ticks me off.

So here we go... it's Ticks Me Off Tuesday!

There are the little things I can't find when other people use them and don't put them back where they belong... like the letter opener as seen here in it's proper location on the side of the frig.

Or hunting for the stapler or the scotch tape dispenser. See attached note on both!

Then there are things that I can't figure out. Like why is it I can take one quick look at the cup holder in my van and see it's not going to work. Most of the time this is what my water bottle looks like when I'm driving. Guess where it ends up if I have to stop quickly.

Take a look at the shallow little tray in between the seats. Yes it is the same depth as a pencil. Yep.. brilliance in action! That is my sunglass clipon case.. guess where it ends up if I have to stop fast.

On the floor... same place the water bottle ends up.

I get amazed at people so busy with their cell phones behind the wheel that they can't be bothered with.. ya know...DRIVING. And then they give me some awful glare if I have to honk at them to move their booty when the light turns green because they're too busy texting or something.

If you can think of some other things you'd like to add to this very special and maybe only edition of Ticks Me Off Tuesday, please feel free to leave me a comment!

the nerve

I read an article the other day about a family that kept having their McCain/Palin yard signs removed. They finally had had enough and since the husband was an electrical engineer, he decided to put a tiny shock on his sign... and a sign warning as such...and a hidden camera.

Guess what... 'little Johnny' came walking up and touched the sign and got a little zap. He walked away... with his Obama/Biden sign. Of course, he ran right to his mommy and daddy. And they got mad because their kid got zapped.

Huh?!

What ever happened to the parents being embarrassed that their child would do such a thing? Well... acccording to them, he just wanted to touch the sign. Yeah right. That's why he was holding an Obama sign. Uh-huh. How stupid do these parents take this couple for?! I get so sad at the mentality that's taking over parents these days. How dare you say my child did anything wrong. How dare you try to stop them. How dare you try to correct it. Just how dare you.

And then one day these children hit their teenage years and get in more trouble. And then wonder what went wrong. Well.... maybe if you 'parents' had of used discipline when little Johnny acted up rather than running around trying to bail them out and explain away his behavior, you/we wouldn't be in this pickle.

they still say the darndest things

Even at this age, Boo can still crack us up! The other day she had a doctor's appointment in a fayn-cee medical building. You know.. those kind with marble everywhere.. it felt more like an upscale hotel than an office building. Anyway.. the three of us got into the elevator and the doors closed. There were mirrors on all three sides and maybe the door. I can't remember. But anyway. We all stood there in silence looking over the situation. When out of the quiet, Boo says...

"So! You want me to start criticizing your clothes?!"

We were all rolling when the doors opened.

Maybe we've been watching a little too much TLC?!

voted

I did early voting today. I had to wait a while. But it was ok. Probably a drop in the bucket compared to election day.. especially as hot as this election has become. I had a weird thought today. I wish McCain had'a picked Condi Rice. I like Palin, but Rice has sooo much more experience behind her.. and an impeccable record.

Yeah.. I know.. who asked me?

I approve

I got a new camera the other day. I mentioned it in the post below. We had an old digital camera.. our first one. It was a Sony and it had a tiny viewing screen on the back. At that time, we still wanted to look through the little hole like in the olden days. Anyway, we liked the camera o-kay, but we tended to get some blurry shots no matter how hard we tried otherwise. And with such a small screen, we didn't always catch it until it was too late. Fast forward a few years and the batteries in the old Sony were ca-put and we knew we either needed to buy new (expensive) batteries or start all over.

We decided to start all over.

I know somebody that has a Panasonic Lumix camera and I liked it so that's what we got. I played with it once and was amazed that I couldn't figure out how TO take a blurry picture. It has an image stabilization that other brands don't. Love. It. And a big screen and no viewing window thing. And it takes a zillion pictures on one charge. It's got a lot of buttons on it and at first I was a little stressed out about it since I'm a point and shoot girl. But I read the book. *gasp* I know. And figured out a few simple things and presto... it's pretty cool.

Nope.. nobody paid me to ooo and aaaahhh about this camera. I'm not one of those bloggers that gets cool stuff for free to tell how great it is to the masses. I don't have masses. I have few. So my few peeps... I like it.. a lot. I'm Kay and I approve this message.

and another

Boo lost another tooth last night. I think getting the two pulled kind of opened the flood gates so to speak. Actually, I think it gave the others a little wiggle room so they could do their thing. We did the Oragel ritual and Daddyman gave it a yank and out it came. She's a ninny. She can't do it herself. I remember HATING doing it myself when I was a kid. So glad he's willing to help a girl out.

She has her four top front teeth and then two spaces on either side of those. Her biggest comment last night....

I can do a buck tooth grin with nothing in the way. Nice.

**************

On a side note, I feel like I have nothing of value going on/to say lately. We bought a new camera the other day. LOVE. IT. Ya never know when you might need one. The hubby has commented that he's created a monster, since I've taken more pics recently that he has to download for me to post. I don't know how to do that. My techy-ness only goes so far.

wheeeere oh where can she beeeeee

There she is! In Boo's cabinet... trying to catch a snooze! This is one of those pics I never expected to take when I brought home my first kitty. I had no idea the work she would put into hiding in snug corners to nap. Cracks me up!

fun mug and something yummy to put in it

When I was a kid, I collected many things with mice. And that continued on when I married. Thankfully I 'outgrew' that phase and now I just have a select few tucked away for my private viewing. When the movie Ratatouille came out, I thought they were the cutest things ever. Yeah.. I know.. they're RATS.. but they're still cute. I saw these mugs at a Disney store in Amarillo while we were on vacation. I thought about getting them, but they were a bit pricey. Not long after returning home, Miss Boo and I were in the Disney outlet near us, and I found the same set of mugs on clearance! Much better. So I snatched them up. Each mug has a different pic and saying on it. This one is my favorite.

But what's a cute mug without something yummy to put in it. These are my faves.

YUM!!! And nice to drink on cool days too!

nippy morning

It's brisk.

A little slice of cooler weather.

And long sleeves.

And a hoodie.

I am sooo not a fan.

hand made calendars

Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a carnival today about crafty gift ideas and even though I'm not super crafty, I found a fun one... so fun, I keep one for myself too!


A few years ago I was really having a hard time coming up with an original gift for my IL's. And I got a fun idea. Calendars. Homemade calendars. Homemade scrapbook/personalized calendars. I made them the first year and waited for the reactions. It's been made known to me that I must make these every year. They went over very big! Each year the themes differ, of course. The first year I just used a hodge podge of pictures from the past. Last Christmas season, I used pics from our summer vacation to Colorado. Last year I included a travel guide of sorts with descriptions of each month's photos written out. It was a lot of fun. And of course, since it's scrapbooked, there really aren't any rules. Just have fun!

I will give these tips. I buy my blank scrapbook calendars at Current Catalog for cheap. And I use 8 1/2 by 11 paper turned on it's side and punch a hole in the top centered over the hole in the calendar. I also use some red scrapbook tape that comes on a roll that is the stickiest stuff you've ever seen to adhere my completed pages to the blank calendar page. Easy as pie!

So hop on over to Kisses of Sunshine for more fun ideas!