A new knee 4 my daddy

Well my daddy has himself a NEW KNEE. Yeah, this is his second new knee... He got the other one done in '01 I think. Shew, ain't no tellin' what he'll try to do with TWO good knees...he ain't had that since he was in his 20s. ha! He already thinks he's Superman.

Oh and this is my first time to be online with my iPod touch & posting via a Wifi connection. Hehe Technology rocks!

Merry Christmas to all...

It's Christmas...for a little while longer... it has snowed all day (it started last night). This is the view from our back porch (sorry folks, that's as far out as I was willing to go in my pjs) -

We actually started celebrating Christmas last Saturday night with Anthony's bunch. . . we had yummy food, as usual, and we enjoyed talking and laughing together.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had breakfast at Anthony's mom's house with all her brothers and their families. (Sorry, no pics)

And then on Christmas Eve night we always celebrate with my family. As you can see, my clan is a buncha nuts! We always play games and act silly. If I had to pick the craziest one, it would be tough... it just depends on the night... but I sure do love 'em!

And as y'all know, Anthony and I don't have any kiddos yet... so our cat is kinda like our kid. Well, last year, she was still a kitten so she got "a pass" on her bad behavior with our Christmas tree. . . she almost knocked it over the FIRST NIGHT and later that week chewed a strand of lights in two. Thankfully, the lights were turned off for the night. (She used to get really wild late at night when we were sleeping.) And then there was the laying on packages thing...no, Tinsley, a shirt box is NOT a cat recliner.

Well, this year, her "thing" has been to chew on the corners of the wrapped boxes. Oddly enough, she didn't bother the gift bags and tissue paper. I had to rewrap a couple packages and just apologized for some that didn't get rewrapped... And she knocked off an ornament one day and used it like a soccer ball, batting it around the floor with her paws. Oh, and then there was the spare light she found somewhere; she was tossing it around last night. So anyway, I thought all of that warranted a photo collage for this here blog. he he She's a mess!

Anthony's work Christmas party was a few Saturdays ago and they had a pretty good lookin' Santa that they let us get a pic with.

Well, I must confess I've been pretty lazy today, but I'm giving myself a break because it feels like I've been in a dead sprint the last two weeks trying to get ready for Christmas. I'd like to proudly proclaim that today I had two, yes TWO naps. Some of you are jealous right now. ;-) The only productive things I did today were: putting away Christmas wrap, tissue, ribbons, etc. and most of our gifts (I can now see our kitchen table), making Oreo balls and I did manage to bathe. ha

Merry Christmas and THANK YOU JESUS for giving us a reason to celebrate!

Happy 45th Anniversary Mom & Dad

On Wednesday, December 22, 1965, my mom and dad got themselves hitched...

That was then...

This is now...

Well, my daddy, he's a man who knows what he wants. Ya see, in high school he spied Mom in the hallway and he took a likin' to her... he walked up to her, put his hands on her shoulders and said: "Me Tarzan, you Jane." And the rest, as they say, is history folks...  

Happy anniversary you two!

I sure am glad y'all decided to get married cuz I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you two fallin' in love.



My birthday dinner

Last night we celebrated my birthday at Cheddar's. Alan, Lisa & Riley and Charles & Annette joined us, which was a last minute blessing. I've known Lisa since we moved here in '87, so she's seen me grow up pretty much. I've only known Annette the last several years from attending church together, and through that we've become friends. But I'm a-tellin' ya, both these gals are great friends and wonderful ladies I respect a whole lot. And their hubbies are all right, too. ;-) But I can't ever get the guys to pose up for a pic. ha

Riley sat with me part of the meal, and eating with a kid in your lap is an adventure when you're not used to it. But I reckon he's worth it. It was definitely more entertaining than usual. . . we played and hugged and counted the bricks on the wall and giggled. He's a sweetie pie! If I were a dishonest gal, I'd probably hafta steal him for myself.  

Anyway, I guess technically the celebrating is over... Anthony wants to go see that new Reese Witherspoon movie, but I'm not sure if it's really for my birthday or if it's just an excuse to go see (what promises to be) a good movie. Either way, I'm good.

Another day, another year older...

Well, as promised, yesterday I started out my BIRTHDAY by opening my gift from Renee. It was THE CUTEST Precious Moments piece. It's called "Happiness is Best Shared Together" (ain't it the truth?!) I love that the little boy is eating one of those ice creams shaped like Mickey's head. Awww

Anyway, I had to work on my birthday, but that's okay. Cuz at work, I got a few birthday presents from friends and me and my friend Angela went ahead and exchanged Christmas presents. Or as Ang says, Chrima. LOL She's crazy! She says so many funny/cute things we call 'em Angela-isms. So the point is, I came home with some loot. Ha Oh, and I had several "happy birthday" texts and emails from friends and fam-uh-lee. I think it's awful nice when folks remember my birthday. (Havin' a birthday at Christmas can have its down side..)

Last night we went to a wedding at church of a little young sweet couple. It was really pretty and they seemed so happy. Reminds me of when I married my sweetie....11 years ago. (sigh) Where does the time go?!

When we left the wedding we had to do our Walmart trip...then when we got home I was trying to gather up the pics I want to put in my mom's pic calendar. Each year one of us makes her one and she and Dad just love 'em. This year it's my turn again and I'm of course doing it last minute. When will I learn? I finally got to bed about 12:30. . .

I had my photog class this morning and wow, my head was spinning because of some of our assignments. After that I had to run to Wolf Camera to do Mom's calendar. See, when it's this late in December you're kinda hosed on doing them online because it won't get here before Christmas. Soooo I had to go to Wolf to create it and have it printed. Well, I didn't really wanna wait on 'em to print it so my sweet friend Kelly is going to swing by and get it for me. I love friends!

So now I'm officially FINISHED with my CHRISTMAS SHOPPING...

Twas the week before Christmas (week)

Tuesday night I made some yummy chicken noodle soup (Karen's recipe), and this makes the third time I've made it. It's so yummy we always eat it two nights in a row. Campbell's, you can keep your "mmm mmm good" slogan cuz you proly tasted Karen's soup when you coined the phrase.

Wednesday we wuz all skeert (translation: we were all concerned) about the weather forecast cuz here in middle Tennessee the weathermen (not worthy of bein' called meteorologists) LOVE to predict bad weather. So all week we've been hearing ice, ice, ice is a-comin' on Wednesday. So THEY WERE WRONG. Big shock. (insert sarcastic snarl here) But because they were sooo confident it was a-comin' we didn't have church. I'd like to say me and Anth had church here at home, but we didn't. We watched Survivor after eating on our yummy chicken noodle soup. Remember, it was night #2 of it. Yum. Let me pause while I reminisce about its tastiness. 

Tonight me and my daddy went shoppin' for my little momma. We got some cool stuff and I hope Mom loves it all. Sometimes Dad and I will head out ON CHRISTMAS EVE so I appreciated his earlyness (is that a word?). . .

But on to bigger and better and more important things.
I got me a birthday comin' up.
Yep. Tomorreo. But I've already been celebratin' just cuz people apparently wanna bless me... my boss took me to lunch yesterday, and today the sweet gals I work with blessed me with breakfast. What's funny is, we usually do cake at 3:00 for everyone's birthday...but my friend Brandi musta been inside o' my brain cuz she came up with the breakfast idea. See, I had been thinkin' I'd rather have breakfast than the usual cake. But I didn't want to seem like a diva or appear "high maintenance" so I kept my pie hole shut. But low and behold... the lovely menu (from the little place in town we love) didst appear in fronta me... I had me a bagel sandwich with egg, ham & cheese and, wait for it, wait for it.... a blueberry scone. Mmmm it was delish! (Needless to say lunch was a moot point cuz my tum-tum was full)

Tomorrow morning I plan to start my day opening a cute box that was shipped to me all the way from Orlando, Florida from my sweet friend Renee. I can't open it until my birthday. She'll scold me. And I don't wanna have to lie to her. So I have it laid out on the kitchen island so I can tear into it quickly and easily in the early morn. Y'all know I barely function in the mornings, so I hope I can fully appreciate its giftyness. hehe

A Christmas program...and some snow

As they say "the show must go on." And go on it did...despite the bazillions of snowflakes rapidly falling in our fair city (er, town). Our program was called "Christmas: Where, When & Why." A boy and his dad were heading out to get their Christmas tree and the boy had a school assignment to write a paper about favorite Christmas memories. So along the way, he interviewed several folks and got their stories, including a couple colorful characters who ran the tree farm they visited.

Ms. Grace was wheelchair bound and told about the car accident that paralyzed her. The physical therapist she worked with invited her to a candlelight Christmas service and for the first time, Grace went to church, and that night she accepted Christ as her personal Savior.

Our teenagers did a great job with the acting. And our little ones sang their little hearts out. We were so proud! Dad said he'd give this program an A+ with no criticism. :-)

 

And like I said, it REALLLLY snowed Sunday. So here's how our house on the hill looks in the snow. Awww, almost postcard worthy...

An eventful Saturday

Our Saturday dress rehearsal for the church Christmas program was bumped from morning to afternoon so that opened up my schedule to be able to go to my first photography class. (Remember, the one I told ya about recently, that's F-R-E-E!!!) The good news: I think I'm gonna learn a lot and it's only 'til 9:30 or 10:00, not noon like I had in my head for some reason... The bad news: there are two tests. Ugh, I didn't realize that! Oh well. I'm sure I can handle it.

The afternoon dress rehearsal went pretty well. I think everything's gonna go fine. I hope the little ones sing out really good and the big kids remember all their lines. :-P And I may as well throw in a wish for me - hopin' my voice doesn't crack on the song I have to sing.

I was so pooped after rehearsal I didn't join Anthony at the basketball game. I ran by to see how my little buddy/sis was doing. Bridgett had her tonsils taken out Thurs. Poor thing. She's becoming quite friendly with a couple friends called discomfort and nausea. But Mr. Pain Medicine is paving the path to healing and recovery.

P.S. It's snowin' here really good. . . it's pretty, but I hope it doesn't keep the crowd away (for our program)... we've been in the Christmas spirit since September <sigh>

Sickly

I hate clogged up sinuses, icky smellin' doctor's offices, expensive antibiotics and stinging shots in the "hip."
:-(

Maybe I'm gettin' it over with before MY BIRTHDAY and Christmas...

Christmas portrait 2010 1st edition

Well, about a month ago a gal that knows Anthony's cousin Ashley called me about doing some pics of her little girl in front of a Christmas tree for their Christmas cards. She had seen the shots I took of Ashley's two little cutie pie girls and loved 'em. So we did the pics of the little squirt Monday night at a nursing home. No worries - there's no blue haired folk in the pics. hehe Just a cute 2 year old.

Well, I feel like these are the best of the bunch (I took 70something shots in about an hour)... this little precious treasure had two, count 'em TWO (what I would classify as) FULL BLOWN meltdowns in that hour. I'm talkin' screamin, red-faced, bowing her back and fallin' out in the floor fits. I sure earned my $ on this session. haha She's an energetic little thing.