A day to remember in my family history

Well, tonight as I sit here typing to you folks I'm about to do something I've never ever done in my entire life. I'm going to church tonight, to my home church, where my daddy isn't the pastor any more. Yep, Sunday was his last day there as senior pastor. Ugh. I hate typing it. I hate saying it. But he's gotta go do his thang. He's been pastoring since 1975 but as of Sunday, a pastor he ain't.

Dad's feeling the calling of God to evangelize full time. That's always been his passion. And he's great at it. There were many many nights me and my two bros did our homework in the back seat of the car on the way to revival and dinner was the golden arches drive thru or Krystals. Both were a treat. Dad used to get so mad at me for asking for my cheeseburger plaaain. Dad, I was just ahead of the game - too bad I didn't coin the phrase "have it your way" because if I had, I might be sitting pretty right now. But I digress.

Way back in 1987, this here is how my daddy looked on his birthday. It was right after we started going to New Hope. Guess ya could say one of his first pastoral pics at this church.

This is now...  

The last time I reckon he'll stand on that stage as pastor. He preached his head off Sunday, too. :-)

The family trio sung one Sunday... when Jonathan was little bitty he always loved singing (and still does). Trevor? Not so much. Me? Yep, I love it, too. But they'd only call me up for one song - Oh I Want To See Him. I'd either go barefoot or find my shoes real quick and run up on stage. See, Lyndy didn't like to wear her shoes in church. I wear em now, simmer down!

Daddy's an awesome preacher. I've lived with him and he's for real - what he preaches is how he lives, ya hear me?! No, he ain't perfect. Are any of us? God doesn't expect perfection though, does He? We just gotta try our best to live for Him every day and lean on Him. And I'm leaning on Him now cuz I ain't real happy about trottin' off to church tonight and my little momma and daddy not being there. Nope. But it's gonna be ok. It is. They have God's work to do and that's that.

My lovely family adores when Lyndy demands asks for a family pic.

And here we are, all of us, even my 89 year old little grandmother. 

Sunday was sad in a way, but everyone's excited for Mom and Dad as they start this new adventure, too. I think they call it bittersweet. It's gonna be weird to not see em at church and to see another man up in my daddy's pulpit, but life is change, right? Gotta go with the flow. Be strong, have faith. All that. Pray for me when you think of me. This is hard. Pray for my daddy too and my mom - they're stepping out in faith and into new territory. Oh I know God's gonna bless em big for it!

It was a birthday surprise for Mom

    A few weeks ago I decided since my little momma's birthday fell on a Sairdee that maybe I oughta do her a little sumpinsumpin for her special day... So I started emailing and texting (cuz if ya know me, that's my fave way of communicating) and I checked with my aunts and cousin and sisters-in-law and niecey-poo to see if they could land at my pad that day for a surprise breakfast, brunch or lunch. The calendars were clear for breakfast so it was on like Donkey Kong!

    I emailed Daddy to get him in the loop and I waited til the last minute to call Mom. I said whatcha doin, she said we're going out for my birthday in a little while, I said but TOMORROW's your birthday, etc. etc. and then segued into why don't you let me take you to Cracker Barrel for breakfast for your birthday in the morning... she said she'd have to check with Dad to see if he had any plans. I really thought I was super smooth and she had not a clue bout my little scheme. A little while later she called me back and said she was cool with it. She said how bout I get to your house at 8:30? I stammered cuz see, I had told seven people 9 AM...so I was like uh welllll okaaaaay and she said or I can come at 8 and I said momma, ya know I ain't tryin to get up that early on a Saturday. So 8:30 it was. Immediately hung up from her and started calling the aunts and texting the sisters-in-law and niece. Whew. It's hard planning surprises and being the best daughter in the world.

    Of course when she rolled up in the driveway she saw strange cars and figured it out I reckon. As she walked up the sidewalk I opened the front door and said I TRICKED YA!!! She laughed and said I knew something was up because you called me last night before it was time for you to be off work. Oops, called from the HOUSE phone and not the cell. Mental note: don't do that next time! Oh well, she actually thought we were all meeting up at the Barrel so she had that part wrong.

    We gave her a few gifties and cards. She smiled a lot. Cuz we said nice, sweet, special things to her. My card went something like this: Mom, I think we both know I caused you a lot of grief growing up... but I think we can both look back on that and laugh now. Mom, are you laughing? Mom...Mom???? 
          I know - clever card cuz I'm a clever girl...

Here's what we grubbed on

Country ham & homemade biscuits (courtesy of my WONDERFUL mother-in-law)

Egg/sausage/hashbrown cheesy casserole

Sausage rotel cream cheese crescent roll thingy

Pigs in a blanket

Fruit (to help with the guilt factor from all pig & carb loading)

Apple dumplins

And I actually brewed coffee (courtesy of Jen, a sis-in-law on Anthony's side of the fam who loaned me the coffee pot...and the coffee... oh and the creamers too)

  This is our lovely group pic. Calendar worthy? Yes...

Leslie - take note cuz this one has GOT 2 B IN MOM'S CALENDAR, K?!

Other noteworthy mentionings -

• I'm so OCD about things being hot and fresh that the night before I actually wrote a schedule for when each item should be put in the oven. And I stuck to it!
• Earlier in the week I had written out a to do list of all the house cleaning items I wanted to get done. A couple didn't get done, but I hope my sweet fam didn't notice.
• My dear husband pointed out how this day couldn't have been made possible without contributions from others. Not only did Janice cook the ham & bickets, I also borrowed her square table and folding chairs so we could all grub in the kitchen together. I don't mind people eating throughout the house, but we were tryin to fellowship! And I own coffee cups, but none of the rest of it. Ha! So Jen came through like a trooper. I love family that has stuff I need and can borrow. Oh and my friend from work loaned me those cutesy serving pieces.
• I burned my arm on the oven gettin the pigs out. Didn't squat enough. What's funny is the mark is almost identical to one on my other forearm (almost exact same spot) from that time I was ironing the curtains and bumped my arm with the iron. I'm so dumb sometimes!
• I NEVER say the blessing, but today I wanted to. I wanted the chance to tell God how special my mom is to us all and thank Him for her. And I meant all of it and more. She's awesome. And I love her a whole lot. And I'm glad we got to celebrate her birthday today.

Historic GLENDALE

As promised.... let's call this a mini tour of our girls day out last Saturday (our meaning the gals at church)... and might I say the weather was PERRRRFECT!

Glendale, Kentucky has a lot of great little shops with lotsa stuff and
this little eatin' place called the Whistle Stop
(known for its fried green tomatoes) right by the tracks.
You can even take yourself a horse drawn carriage ride if you're so inclined.

I have a thing for hats... but I didn't buy one. When I showed Sasha the
sailor style hat pic, she said she had tried it on, too.
Good taste obviously runs in the fam. 

Three ladies had to skate on back home 'fore we got this pic.
Just pretend they're here, k?

Melanna and I are so cool we didn't take off our shades...celebs we are...

It was a tough decision, but I went with the pulled pork and mac n cheese. It was quite tasty. The cornbread was like the size of a humongo pancake.

My table got tickled and plum giddy when Heather said her roll looked like a booty... I think there was snorting and guffawing...
ya know how it is when somethin just hits ya funny

Let's call this my blackmail pic. Mom kept saying to delete this one, even told
Shan when she snapped a pic of us but noooo, no
little momma, this one's here to stay...

 Ain't it the truth?!

 Old barn wood nailed togethuh with a slappa paint on it and an old shirt - creative!

 Looks edible, but it ain't! This here's made o' wood yall !

 Snowmen are snow so special :-P

IF I were crafty, I'd make me some of these. Maybe give em to my friends, coworkers. Super cute. But I ain't that crafty.

Wish I coulda thought of a place in my abode to place this pic. It was soo lovely.

My only purchase of the day was a vintage necklace and earring set.
It was so cute I donned the necklace within 5 minutos of purchase.
Yep, right there on the street I put her on.
I already had on two necklaces, but they say the more the merrier, right?

This pic will likely end up in Mom's photo calendar.

Too bad Michelle couldn't come.

Maybe we can Photoshop her in.

It was a super fun day and we made memories. I hope we make it

an annual thing. There's just somethin special about a girls only trip

and all the girls being Christians.

Friends.

People ya love.

Just special.

EXTREE special.

A little visitor

An adorable little boy called me Friday night.
It went somethin like this -
Are you ready for me?
Yes!
See you in a few minutes. Adios!

While I cooked dinner, the boys hung out on the porch for a spell. We had one of those new Velveeta cheeseburger mac meals (a glorified Hamburger Helper...Riley had two bowls!)

Riley brought lotsa toys and we played with em all.
    Then we attempted "Superman"

I think you can tell we both had fun...giggles all around

Mom informed us of his 8:30 bedtime. riiiight... I told her when the Carver brothers are over, we let them stay up really late. She said he should be in bed by 10:00 because they had a "big day" planned for the next day. So around 9 we started turning lights off and gettin cozy on the couch watching Spongebob. Riley yawned really big one time and I asked him if he was tired, to which he of course replied no (and buried his head in my shoulder to cuddle). I forgave him for that lie. ;-) We went to bed at 10:00 on the nose. He was asleep within 10 mins. Promise!

ANNNND the next morning at 6:36 am somebody popped up and smiled big as the cheshire cat. He started to wiggle out of the bed and I said Anthony's at work. He frowned a smidge and curled up next to me for a few seconds. Then he looked at me in his sweet 3 year old politeness and said Can I go play? I said yeah! And into the living room we went. Shortly thereafter, I served him the breakfast of all breakfasts - sugary cereal in a baseball cap shaped bowl. Wow, I'm a great role model. Don't you want to send your kids to me?

When Mom arrived for the dreaded pick up, Riley cried a bit. Riley's in pre-school now and she had told him Friday if he was good, he could come to our house. He asked her if he was good next week if he could come again. I like it that we're considered a reward, a prize even. I guess that means we're fun and cool, right? lol Anyway, he just keeps learning more and more at school and with his (teacher) mom. When Lisa picked him up, they read a book together and Riley was able to read several of the small words (e.g. fish, the, more, of).

Before ya turn around twice, this little guy will be half grown. I'm tellin ya time just goes by too fast. One of my nephews is turning 20 next week. TWENTY! That's two decades people. Ugh! I guess my point is, if ya have little ones, cherish these sweet little times cuz they're precious.

If I hadn't .....

If I hadn't gone running yesterday after I got home from work, I wouldn't have...

• logged 3 miles for the day
• had four near death experiences (ok, so I'm exaggerating...but cars need to give a girl some room)
• seen these pretty flowers growing wild along the creek...

 and these...

• witnessed two deer crossing the meadow (they stopped and stared at me like I was the one who was out of place HA)
• enjoyed a lovely, relaxing bubble bath (ahhhh)

And if I hadn't gone running, I might not have been so pooped that I fell asleep on the couch circa 8:30 for.the.night. Thus the 24 hr late post... I think part of it was allergy related though. Ugh that stinkin ragweed.

 

Gotta run - a cute little handsome sweet loving 3 yr old boy is headed my way.

Oh boyeeee!

A day in the life of me

Today was a work day for me. Whoopee, you're thinkin, right? Well I was cravin a pop tart so after bumming fiddy cent from Kel and then scrapin up a quarter outta my wallet and borr'in another twinny fi from Di, I walked down to the vending machine that usually has my fave - strawberry pop tarts with icing. See, I had a glass of milk waitin for a partner. I got to the machine and what did my beautiful brown eyes see? The last strawberry poppy tart just a-waitin fer me! And the bonus was that it only cost 75 cents, not a buck like I expected. So upstairs I went with my happy little tart and returned the 25 to Di. It was a yummy tart. Ok, I ate both of em. Geez. A girl's gotta live.

Lunchtime for me most days is a workout at the gym. Today was TRX and it is awful. No lie! I make myself go, but it's soooo hard! Today I obviously didn't have enough fuel cuz midway through it I started seeing stars and the room spun a bit. I sat down and thought I was over it, but when I started back doing the thang, I had to cop a squat again. Ugh! The trainer asked if I had had any protein. I said no and I'm not tellin ya what I had, but it clearly wasn't enough for this! She kept askin. .. fruit? oatmeal? please don't tell me a doughnut... what did you eat honey? I bet I told her 5 times I AM NOT TELLIN YOU. And I'm not. So don't YOU go tellin her after readin this, ya hear?

At church tonight my friend loaned me some sweet jeans. Maybe when I rock em I'll take a pic and show ya. They're super cool. And I'm gonna take goooood care of em. 

Peace out!

It's a recap

I hadn't mentioned it, but last weekend after Riley visited he and Anthony both ended up on the sickly side... thankfully I didn't get it. Anthony's still struggling with the recuperation piece so we've kept it low key this weekend. Friday night he had a fantasy football draft. My favorite definition of fantasy comes from our friend Webster: hallucination. Or there's creative imagination. Either way, all these fellas are pretending to run a football team. Must be a guy thing cuz I just don't get it. Anyhoo, he was hogging the computer all night and when the cupboards are bare, momma's gotta get somebody to ride to Walmart with her circa 10pm. Yep, and the winner was.... Christy !!! Thanks for that.

Saturday morning I did some baby pics for a friend with a presh 8 week old girl. Separate post to come on those. Then straight from that, I hustled to a baby shower. Anthony's step cousin (to keep things simple)... she's havin' a girl (their first child) and she got lotsa cute baby things. And during the shower, I got to play with Layton, Anthony's cousin's baby boy who loves me a whole lot. After that Lyndy needed a nap. Done. Now, what to do next... of course, EAT. Zaxby's has yummy chicken and that sauce -- I.could.drink.it. Swung through Belk to see if they had any cute beach wedding worthy dresses on clearance. BURMMP, nope. Anthony's friend is getting married on the beach in October and we is a-goin! Mm hmm yeah. Only bummer is that means we gotta miss another wedding that same night here in town. If I clone myself tween now & then, I'll let yall know. After that hop in Belk, we had to run in Walmart cuz OCD Anthony had to get a new toothbrush, a ritual he has after any illness.

Yesterday we of course went to church but other than that, we were pretty much lumps of nuthin. I did manage to finish a book a friend had loaned me. Today I started my morning with a nice shower and I did a bit of scrapbooking. Then I watched a Bio on Matthew McConnaughey I had DVR'd. Then I fiddled with pics on the puter, played my iPod and did a bent & wiggly puzzle or two. Are you jealous of my cushy life yet? I finally coaxed Anthony out of the house for dinner...Chili's as usual. (sigh) He never tires of that place. If we get to Heaven and there's a Chili's... oh never mind.

And then, I saved the best for last....
allow me to introduce you to my new friend LBD

You're gonna be seein her a lot, so deal with it.

We became friends in Ross and after a few minutes of negotiation,

she agreed to come home with me for...are you ready for it?

a mere $14.99

Just a thought or two

<-> Ya know it's time to clean out your purse when this....

has been in there for like a week and you just realized it.

<-> My boss has his two girls in a private girls only school (think nuns, k?) and the little one is kinda a mess anyway...she's 9 and yesterday he emailed me this:
           So (insert daughter's name) just texted me that her homework
           assignment is to ask me what my favorite Bible verse is. What's my
           favorite Bible verse?
My reply:
           One of my favorites is Phillipians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ
           which strengtheneth me.
My coworker's reply:
            That was the one I was going to say as soon as I got off the phone!
My boss's reply:
            Isn't that funny? We all three have the same favorite Bible verse.

<-> Do you ever forget, for like a nanosecond, where you are? I do. One day this week I was out walking a mile around campus at work all by myself and ...

I spit

Yep, just like a country boy on a tractor. I glanced around non-chalantly and breathed a sigh of relief. Not a soul. My ladylikeness was saved.

<-> A friend gave me one of those organic energy bars to try. Had soybeans and oats in it. I have to tell ya, when I unwrapped the thing, I was less than impressed. It was a brown conglomerate blockasumthin that was similar to what I've seen in poopy diapers. Seriously. My childhood mud pies formed in the back yard on hot summer days were better lookin than this thing. But I did the grown up thing and...I tried it. Ick! After the first bite, I felt like scraping my tongue and burning my taste buds plumb off. I immediately ran to find relief - my good friend Angela had some candy corn that did the trick. God bless friends (with snacks who are willing to share with a friend in need).

It's becoming an ANNUAL thing...the fish fry

Anthony's uncle caught some catfish and fried em up for us all. (Stop with your bottom dweller talk cuz I don't care, they taste reallll good, ya hear me?!)  Said he used mini marshmellows for bait. They do say catfish'll eat anything.

The men folk all gathered 'round the truck and trees... no tellin' what world problems they were a-solvin' but I didn't ask. Figure I'm on a "need to know" basis ... apparently I don't need to know.

The women pretty much fought over this little guy (what time we wudn't eatin, talkin and laughin). This here was his first fish fry. Him's little and sweet. Nicole, his mommy, is the one in the blue grinnin (out of pride for makin such a cute kid I'm sure) and she's Anthony's cousin. Yall know Anthony's sis by now... and yes, I got me a squeeze of this little cutie. He tried to talk to me and grinned a whole bunch. Babies and kiddos always love me. It's a curse I must live with.

I don't know why these two posed for me to take their pic, but here it is... uncle and nephew in all their mighty splendor of manhood and coolness...

Even Belle got in on the corn hole action - she'd jump for the bags. It was hilarious. A still shot doesn't do it justice...

Denise and I played a game against Jennifer and Janice... we were pretty terrible. We only went to 10 (instead of 21) and Denise and I actually won. Somehow...

Let's just call this shot "caught red handed" how bout? That little delight is red like Kool Aid, but kiddy drink it's not... that right there is what Barney Fife might call "mulberry squeezin's" or you might just call it homemade wine. Yep. Mmm hmm... smile, you're on Lyndy's camera (or as Anthony's uncle says CAMREE)  

Mikayla is only 19 months old and has enough energy for a room fulla kids. Whew! Sweet as pie and cute as a button though! She was lovin' on Sugar and Sugar didn't mind, not one bit. Presh!

This is.. we'll just call him Anthony's CRAZY uncle... he told Anthony to take our picture (even told me to put my arm around him) and I'll be dogged if he didn't plant a kiss on my cheek about the time Anthony was takin' the pic. Thankfully Anthony has a slow trigger finger. This is actually after the kiss...it was like time froze... 

At the end of the day though..... we made us some memories and had a real good meal. And that's all I have to say about that.

Saturday with our little buddy

Riley came to play Saturday. Full throttle!

He brought a game of memory cards. He had 8 matches to my 4 in our first game. He didn't enjoy when I got a match though. He also brought his cars and the cool race track. Fun stuff. And the football, can't forget the Titans football. Anthony would "hold" for him to kick. We threw it some, too. We were outside of course. No real ball in the house people. We don't have kids, but we're not stupid.

Dawson had a football jamboree so we went to that. Warning: if you take someone else's 3 yr old to a game people will tell you how natural you look, ask if you're "practicing" and tell you how that's what you need. Anyway, after the game, we (us and Christy & Dawson) ate Mexican. Riley calls it the "hola place" and loves to order the cheese quesadilla. When his plate came and he didn't eat immediately eat, he told me it was "caliente" and I said ohhh, ok!

We played with the Playdoh. Always fun. My creativity wasn't at its best though. Riley didn't seem to care. ;-)

We played with his puzzle, too. One side is numbers and the other side is letters but when you put it together it forms a treble clef. Very cool ! Riley was able to do it all by himself. He could identify every letter and every number (1-26) without my help.

I mighta got two stuck together and Anthony mighta got em apart... but not before a piece mighta broke, but I mighta had some Super Glue... Riley asked what's Super Glue? I said it's glue that's very strong. And I'm thinking hopefully MAGIC glue so Mom doesn't figure out we broke a piece of the puzzle. Oopsy!

Riley once again wanted to hear the Hawaii Five-O theme song. Then they decided to sing along with and snap fingers to Mele Kalikimaka... whatev floats your boat guys...I'm pretty sure it's too hot to be Christmas time.  

In the bathroom at the house Riley got up on the scales. He said I weigh forty zero. I said you do? Wow. He said yeah, why don't you get on it and see how much you get? No thanks!

Rounded off the day with pb&j - can't beat it!

Fun day with a fun, sweet, energetic boy.