Look at those gorgeous red curls!
She's looking like a teenager, but I'm OK with it!
Mama's greys are gone!
I love it on crackersValentines Day is coming. I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday. (Does it actually count as a holiday?). Wayne forgot Valentines Day the first year we were married. First of all, how in the heck do you "forget" Valentines, when there is an explosion of red hearts in every Walmart in America for the 4 weeks prior to 2/14? Anyways, as I laid sobbing on our bed sure that we were headed for divorce court, he begged my forgiveness and even bribed me by offering to buy me anything I wanted at the mall if I would stop crying. (My how times have changed..that's all I'm gonna say) A trip to Milledgeville mall scored me one expensive leather purse, and a repentant husband. I even worked a dinner out of the deal by continuing to sniffle all afternoon. Wayne has matured into a fine husband in the last 17 years, and has never forgotten Valentines again. I guess I have to, because now I really don't care about Valentines much. He's such a great husband/friend to me every day. He never forgets though, sometimes it has been a candy bar and a peck on the cheek, but he still recognizes this momentous day of love.
The best thing about my sweetheart, is he always does something special for the girls. He has little treats for all his sweethearts and I'm so glad that he shows his love to all of us everyday.
This year, for some reason I have thought I'd like to do a little something fun and I've even found these cute ideas online:
This pillow
or
These candy bar wrappers
or
These Valentines day brownies
Maybe this is the year that we pull out the stops for Valentines Day. Maybe so, after all, Wayne is taking me to go see Romeo and Juliet. Ya'll he's not as red neck as you think!
He was working on icing these babies:
Migas are on the menu for supper tonight. Never made them, but past experience tells me anything off of Pioneer Woman cooking site is mighty fine. Yeah, I guess you can tell that the stomach bug is gone!
It began at 3am this morning. By 5, I just laid on the bathroom floor. Much easier than trying to run back and forth. Finally I realized about 6:30, that the best solution was a phenergan. I have just now emerged from my bed. My stomach is calm, and apparently Wayne and the girls got off without my help because the house is quiet. Still foggy from my phenergan hangover, I tried and piece of toast and water. So far, so good.
I'm going to take a bath and watch a Lifetime movie.
As part of my month long quest to be fiscally responsible, I am thinking about some of my most favorite things to wear. Here is a list of the top 5 favorite things in my closet:
1) My go-to brown dress. This dress is so comfortable and I bought it wear to my sister's wedding in Nov. I bought it following some of the rules for women on "What Not To Wear" and pick a dress that is close fitting above the waist, and maybe it's my imagination, but I feel great when I wear it.
2) My dark washed jeans with flared legs and mid rise waist. Yeah, low rise doesn't work to well if you have left over tummy.
3) Black wool poncho- This was my splurge this season. I ordered it form Land End and it goes with everything. I wear it with jeans or a dress.
4)My red cardigan. I bought this on clearance last year. Wear it at least twice a week.
5) Black turtleneck. What woman in her right mind would not own multiple black items including a favorite... black turtleneck?
So my goal is to buy more basics and lest fad. My quest next month will be a pair of khaki's and a black dress.
What is your favorite thing in your closet?
Yesterday I laughed when I read Hollie's blog. None of us are immune to bad days, and today was one of them for me! Actually the entire weekend stunk for a variety of reasons. Today was the pinnacle of miserable for me. I won't bore you with the details but we could just say I was fussy. Remember when your two year old was miserable and basically just "fussy"? Well, that was me today.
I have to admit, when Wayne told me all about his bad day, I was secretly happy I was not the only one. Then when my baby told me all about her bad night, I realized that the old adage is true "misery loves company" I'm sad they had a bad day, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one. Tomorrow will be a better day, we're all going to bed!
Is she considered the first grandmother or the first mother-in-law? Either way, she seems to be the only one who has any sense so far.....
Yeah, I know that people like my sister in Michigan are breaking record temps in the sub zero category, but I think those of us from Georgia have it much harder. As temperatures dipped in the teens this week, I realized that we have no winter clothes to speak of. I have a wool poncho seriously that acts as my winter coat. Thursday night, after I had run from my car to the house for the 20th time trying to avoid frostbite, I broke down and bought a red ski jacket( aka sleeping bag with arm holes) at Walmart. It was on clearance for $10. That gives you an idea of the exceptional value I got. My daughters have walked around shivering with pitiful fleece jackets and socks for mittens. It's really quite pathetic to watch us try to endure cold weather.
My game plan for today is to stay inside at all costs. It involves:
cooking a pot of taco soup
finish recovering my dining room chairs (I'll post a pic tonight)
Lay on the couch and read "the Lucky One" while Virginia fries her brain cells on Nickelodeon
Try to stay in my pajamas
Paint my toenails
Hope it's warmer wherever you are than it is here!
I remember as a little girl, waking up and smelling the delicious aroma of coffee brewing. My dad is an avid coffee drinker, drinking it all day, every day including the summer. I tried to drink his coffee many times, and could not stand the stuff! I decided that despite my love of the fresh roast, I'd never make it as a coffee drinker.
The first inclination that I may be able to enjoy the stuff, was when my friend, Michelle, who also loves coffee introduced me to Starbucks mocha latte. Pure heaven! It was my two favorite aromas, chocolate and coffee. I was hooked! In retrospect, the mocha latte was little more than spiked hot chocolate, but anyways it got me started.
The second revelation was when I pulled some night shifts at the hospital. I would force a cup of black coffee to give me enough buzz to keep from laying beside my patients and snooze. Incidentally, that is when I discovered that I do not like sugar in my coffee.
I finally passed the point of no return when a new girl came to work with me and made a pot every morning. After much experimentation, I decided that I loved coffee with 2 creams no sugar, or even a shot of whole milk in a pinch.
Yes, coffee taste is developed over time, and now 5 years later, I realize that I head straight for the coffee pot every morning, and start to feel a little panicky if we spend the night anywhere I can't access a cup in the morning. I actually am very high energy, and believe it or not, I can't live without the caffeine buzz every morning. I'm luckier than most people, because I can actually drink a cup of straight coffee then head straight to bed.
My childhood dream has come true, I wake up, smell the brew coming from my automatic pot my sweety got me for Christmas, then sit in his big chair while my eyes slowly open. The most relaxing times usually involve coffee. Dessert, coffee and conversation with my girlfriends, Coffee and pancakes on a winter morning, coffee rings on the pages of some of my favorite books.
If you were sitting beside me right now, I'd offer you a cup and we'd sit and talk about how your day went.
It's probably not a good idea to try your new high fiber (7 grams per slice)bread and 15 bean soup all in one day!
I discovered this really cool blog from another blog I read. I am decorating challenged, so my best ideas come from something I copied from someone else. If anything, I just like to look at the pictures.
Every January I get that feeling that I need to clean and purge. I always clean my house and start throwing stuff away. Wayne hates it because I invariably throw away something important like a tax form or drivers license. I even threw away one of his paychecks once.
Maybe its all the mayhem from Christmas, I don't know, but it also inspires Wayne to get "frugal". I even hate the way the word "frugal' sounds. It makes me think of a little old man and woman eating cat food instead of tuna fish. He is much more frugal than me although I don't think he has ever eaten cat food. Anyways, he decided we should curb spending this month. Not a bad idea, because even if you do have extra money, why do you automatically think of ways to spend it?
He decided that we would not eat out for this month. Hmmmm that's a really neat idea when you are not the primary cook. :) In all fairness to him, he did offer to help out in the kitchen a little more.
In the name of self discipline and fiscal responsibility, I have decided for the next 30 days not to buy anything that is not considered grocery items. Ok so that means, no clothing items including accessories, nothing for the house, I even included the girls and let them know it's fine to tell ourselves "no' or "wait". When I start thinking about all the ways I waste money I can think of alot of excuses why, but all of them seem pretty shallow.
This will either be a really long month, or we will find that we really need alot less than what we think we do. Either way, I'll let you know how we do!
Have you ever noticed that it's the little things that are really so significant. I've been thinking alot about that lately. Tonight at the clinic where I work, I noticed that little things can make or break you,
...it's a little thing to call a homeless person "maam" or "sir" but it means alot to them.
...it's the little inside joke with my secretary that made us laugh and made me awful glad I was there tonight.
....it's the college kid who said "sure whatever you want me to do" who made my night so much easier.
...it's the guy that does all out paperwork who volunteers EVERY Thursday night that makes me think I better show up too.
...it's my pharmacist who tells me all about her mission trip with eyes sparkling that makes me glad I love missions too.
...it's the little hypochondriac patient who is inventing symptoms as she goes along, that makes me think maybe I have 5 extra minutes to spend with her tonight, just to chat.
...it's my two volunteer secretaries (and good pals) who were busy troubleshooting for me so I could get home at a decent time.
...it's the volunteer that prays with a patient who never realizes they are the only one who ever speaks love in that persons life.
What we say and do in passing is sometimes done without much thought on our end, but when it is received, it can make all the difference in the world!
Here are the top 5 must reads on my list this year. Please leave your additions for me in comments:
1) Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
2)One Month to Live by Kerry Shook
3)Spectacular Sins by John Piper
4)Religion Saves: and Nine Other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll
5)The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
What are you reading right now?
Yeah, now that's a tough decision. Thank God for the media to really bring us the important presidential facts. What with the poor economy, Middle East unrest, and housing crisis, I'm glad I can count on them to really bring us up to speed on what matters most.Yeah, this Christmas vacation was right up there in the top 5 vacations I have ever spent. My daily agenda went something like this: wake up, make coffee, watch TV, putter around, pluck stray eyebrows, take a nap, wake up and paint my toenails, eat chocolate, look at my ellipitcal, think about getting on it, decide to eat more chocolate, read, you get the idea.
Tomorrow, it's back to the salt mines, yeah, what could possibly be wrong with college kids coming off Christmas break is beyond me. I am sure however that there will be sore throats, infected nail cuticles and other life threatening maladies that demand my finely honed nursing skills. However, in my New Years Resolution quest to decrease my negativity and increase my greatfulness, and having just logged off CNN, I am really happy to have a job right now.
Farewell, Christmas break 2008. You were really good to me.
Lynn is one of my most favorite people in the world. I never really call her my sister-in-law, because she really is my sister. I loved her maybe before I actually fell in love with Wayne. She makes you laugh, nothing is too serious for a well timed wise crack from her. She has always encouraged my mothering skills and always sided with me instead of her brother. We have vacationed countless times, celebrated many Christmases and poked fun at weird relatives together.
She joins me in blog world and you will love to read what she has to say. Did I ever tell you about her "Jeffery" stories she told my girls? They were ongoing tales of a little boy and his adventures that she created for my girls. Every camping trip would include a Jeffery story and truth is, Wayne and I looked forward to the newest installment as much as them. Enjoy Lynnie's Lines!
