Today is a SPECIAL DAY

It's my birthday today. For about another hour I'm entitled to celebrate. So don't try to stop me. 


I got up this morning and took a shower, like every day. And Tinsley curled up on the bath mat whilest I donned my makeup and floofed my hair. She's been doin that a lot lately.

We had Christmas breakfast with some of Anthony's fam. I'll post pics later. 

Anthony gave me the newest Kelly Clarkson CD and Taylor Swift's latest. And some M&Ms. After all, what's a birthday without some sweets? And speakin of sweets, he gave me a sweet card. I'd type the text here but it might embarrass him. 


We try to keep the birthdays pretty low key (his is Thanksgiving and mine's so close to Christmas) and just do a small gift or two and dinner out. I'm easy to please.


We went to the local parade this afternoon. A certain sweetie pie (ahem Riley) was in it. I'll obviously post pics of that later, too.  


When we got back I ran 2 miles in 20 minutes. It was brrr cold! ! !

We had dinner with friends to round out the birthday celebration.

When ya have a birthday the week before Christmas there's bound to be some blending.

On the way home we drove through some neighborhoods with lotsa Christmas lights. One place even had a train - Riley loved that! Shoot, so did we! 

Anyhooooo....Blessed to have another year here.

what a HANDSOME birthday boy

Somebody's havin' a birthday today .... 
what a cutie pie he is!  

He's getting so grown up looking now... so tall he's grown this year

We went to his game last night and he did great! They won in overtime. Cullen hit at least one three-pointer. He had his toe on the line a couple times or he'd have had more threes. I think he had about 18 points and several good assists. It was a great game to watch. I might be a smidge hoarse from hollering...

Happy 14th birthday Cu Cu ~

let the birthday celebrations begin

My birthday is comin' up this weekend and today my work peeps took me to a local BBQ joint for lunch.

These two gals are the funniest NUTs you ever been around. Love em, love em!

The taller NUT above is an awesome cook. She's 'specially great at 
D-E-S-S-E-R-T !

Strawberry Semifreddo Shortcake

If the internet had taste buds, they'd be watering somethin' fierce. Southern Living wasn't joshin' when they said "parlor perfect ice cream cake." I'm in their corner on this one. 


If you wanna try to make it for me here's how - click & make me.


It has ice cream in it, sorbet, pureed strawberries, lady fingers & some other sweet ingredients. Mmm d to the lish, ya hear me?!


Glad to have these sweet ladies as coworkers and friends. Also glad the birthday celebratin' has begun tee hee

News on the technology front

Indeed we did.

In the comfort of my pjs Thanksgiving night, circa 12:05 Lyndy went to a little place called the world wide web and purchased our household a lovely little high tech fancy dancy laptop. 

This was one of my teasers from the previous blog post. Wasn't it worth the wait?!

Yeah, we're doin big thangs.

We think we're pretty much the last people on the planet to get a laptop. And just to keep it real so you folks don't get the notion we are high fallutin the ole desktop computer was on its last leg, it had been saved once by our good friend B dubs and acted crazy more often than not of late. 

And I'm here to tell ya, you can just bury me 6 feet under if I ever lose all my pics. No bed of roses or satin needed...

And I did the nasty task this weekend - burned pics to DVDs and put em in the fire proof safe. Took sorta forever, but it had to be done.

So anyway... now, when ya read this here blog you can picture me somethin like this - - 

a little somethin-somethin and teasers

First and foremost, I sit here at this computer SO EARLY cuz I forgot we have our church services at 11 now steda 10. Shoot! Could-be-sleeping-now.

Oh well, my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal makes up for it a little and I was able to catch up on my blogging buddies whilest sittin here.

Friday night we had a Christmas dinner to go to for Anthony's work. The food was delish. I ate a big ole steak. Somebody told me it takes three days to digest red meat. Ew, guess that'll be hangin out in my bod til Tuesday or so, huh? I know...gross.

Yesterday my mom and I went Christmas shopping. Gorgeous unseasonably warm day and we got a lot done! We're both very close to being finished. Yay! Have I mentioned I LOVE MY MOMMA and going shopping with her is pretty dang cool? Well now I have. So now you know.

The other day my mother-in-law gave us a treat. More on that later.

We got ourselves a little treat on Black Friday (online). More on that later, too. Cuz I know inquiring minds gotta know.

Now I'm off to decide what to wear for church. Is it a pants day cuz it's supposed to rain? Or is it a skirt or dress day since I took the time to shave my legs? Decisions, decisions...

Tinsley and the Christmas trees

I already toldja about our Thanksgiving. And our hall decking.

I got the two Christmas trees up this weekend (one in the living room and the other in the office) and I was so proud and pooped. I didn't even take a nap this weekend cuz I was sooo bizzy deckin the halls. No boughs of holly here. Do people still use that stuff?

Well dontcha know I already got a smidge of a section of lights out on one of my trees...grrrr Not sure if it's just bad lights or a certain fat cat that won't keep her furry self outta the trees, out from under the skirts and away from the ornaments. She apparently has an inclination toward the jingly and glittery ornaments. In the wee hours of the mornin earlier this week I heard a jingle jingle and lemme tell ya it was not ole Saint Nick. Nope. It was Tinsley the tree terrorizer. Ugh.

Last night mega late I heard a clatter and I got outta the recliner to see what was the matter. No sleighs or reindeer. Tinsley the terrible strikes again. She had managed to pull off a sparkly ornament. Did I mention she's declawed? All four. Yeah, but that doesn't stop her not-one-bit. Anyway, as I picked her up and gave her a good stern talkin' to I told her her face wouldn't be all sparkly if she would just leave the tree and its adornments alone. She didn't seem to understand me. It was almost like she was mocking me.

If When she continues to totally disobey me and tears up the tree and its pretties, I'm sure I'll eventually get a pic of the furry little brat.

Stay tuned.

SO MUCH 2b THANKFUL FOR

Thanksgiving has come and gone once again. Um, can someone please slow the clock down?!

*WARNING* lotsa pics ahead... proceed with patience

We went to do the meal with Anthony's fam last Sunday.. and you will recall that COUNTRY HAM is always on the menu there. MMM! There's turkey and lotsa other great stuff, too.
Ate.too.much.

Pretty early on, there was some kinda incident... Dawson said Kyle hit him. His nose bled a little. Boys will be boys.

The grandparents gave each of the grandkids a set of the state quarters. It was cool to see em all together like that.  

The process of the kiddos giving us grown ups their Christmas lists was entertaining. It took FOREVER for Kyle to decide what he wanted. McKenzie was ready to strangle him before it was said & done. (She was the scribe.) 

Bryson is learning to tie his shoes so that led to a "well how do YOU do it" thing that was kinda funny... I always make fun of how Anthony ties his shoes. We agreed he had the weirdest method... 

On Thanksgiving day, we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Janice & Terry and Christy. It was yummy. We went early enough so we'd be hungry for lunch because we went to my friend Brandi's house for what I'll call Thanksgiving FEAST. We had never had turkey that had been cooked in peanut oil in one of those fryer thingys ... I don't know what they're called but that was some awesome turkey. It was so tender and juicy. They had injected it with some kind of Cajun seasoning. Money as Guy Fieri would say. Everything was super good because Brandi is an awesome cook. I wished for a second stomach. So glad friends will adopt us and allow us to horn in on their family time. Plus I had fun playing with Lauren, their 3 year old doll of a girl.

My family got together Friday night. Brandi had shared a sweet potato casserole recipe with me and I gave her a whirl....  

It was pretty tasty, even if I say so myself. I also took Oreo balls. And we had ham and all the bestest fixins to go with.
Ate.too.much.again.

Yeah, my nephew is a NUT and so is my beloved. They like to do the Barry Gibbs skit from SNL (Jimmy Fallon style) every time they're together...

Here's the whole bunch - -

And the silly shot... always gotta do a silly shot

Anthony's birthday was on Thanksgiving day this year... we didn't really celebrate it per se, but I gave him a couple gifts and a sweet birthday card. He's older than me for the next 3 weeks-ish. He he he

Over the weekend I was a busy bee decking the halls... put up both trees this year and have the garland and wreaths on the porch railing. Gotta put lights on that though. Had to BUY lights first - this was the year that most of my strands were dead. Ugh! Once she's fully decked, I'll post pics. That is if my cat doesn't UNdeck em before I get the chance to get pics...

Anyway, I'm thankful for our family and all the blessings we sure don't deserve. God is a gracious and loving God; I continue to be in awe of how much He does for me and blesses me with.

Riley plays, Riley eats, Riley sleeps

Friday night Riley came over with a BIG bag of toys and a smile. He was dressed in Cars pjs and was ready to P-L-A-Y!

Lately he's really into books. I read him a book about Limu (a sea turtle) and as I attempted my best sea turtle voice Riley scrunched up his sweet little innocent precious face and said: "That's not how the voices sound."

Next book went to Anth -

It went somethin like this...

Anth: Lyndy's the main reader.

Me: Good grief honey, it's a short book.

Anth (as he flips through a few pages): That's a lot of words.

Riley: You can do it!

Anthony and Riley have the ball throwin' thing down pat... whether it's a football or a basketball... he thinks he's so BIG when he goes up to the first landing of the stairs. That's my limit for him. He likes to stand there while we throw him the ball. He's careful and I'm close by so don't go thinkin' we're irresponsible.

No kids = not many toys.
Thus, the BIG bag mom & dad must pack every time Riley comes.
But I was proud of us this visit - I thought the round laundry basket could double as a basketball goal. SCORE! Cuz the kid loved it! He and Anthony took turns shooting.

And it doubles as a bird cage apparently - he literally said LOOK, it's like a bird cage!

Thankfully nothing has been broken so far with our little game of living room basketball, but.... Anthony got all fancy and threw it WAY TOO HIGH and it went up on the balcony at the top of the staircase. I'll give ya one guess who was quick to volunteer to go get it...

About halfway up the little dude got feathers on him (chicken) and started kinda crawling so Anthony went behind him for backup. Ha!

He was so proud to be up there, but he kinda crept/crawled backwards the whole way back down. Still a little iffy.

The fancy no look backwards shot - Anthony taught him that.

Once he figured out if he got closer to the "goal" he could "score" more, he was all about some hoops.

We took a break at one point because Riley suggested that we go REST. So we went to the bedroom and laid down for a few minutes. Riley quickly realized he needed his CUDDLY. So he went and got the puppy beanie and stuffed shark he had brought. As we curled up, he said I only have two cuddlies. So he gave Anthony one and kept one for himself. He said I don't have a cuddly for you. Then he said I'll be your cuddly and pulled my arm around him. AWWW
Then he started telling me about sharks and how they eat small fish and that they're predators. I guess a science lesson was in order.

Round out the night with some Nicktoons. A little Wonder Pets here, Yo Gabba Gabba there, topped off with some Spongebob & Patrick. Recipe for bedtime. He fell asleep on the couch with me and Anthony carried him to bed. Slept like a rock til about 7 am. Woke up and his first question was Where's Anthony?

I see the handwriting on the wall. Happened with my nephews, too. As these sweet boys get bigger, they get closer to Anthony and I become the cook and cleanup crew. That's okay. It's a job I think I'll keep.

What I've been up to...

Not a lot.

Friday night we broke tradition.
NoWalmart4us.
We ran and gobbled up some mexican food and stayed close to the homestead. There was a certain first game of the season on. UNC Tarheels hoops is heeee-uhhhhh (that's here, in ballgame speak). A certain fella THOUGHT he DVR'd the game. Nu uh, nope. Musta not clicked it right. (tee hee) He only got to see the last minute or two. What a shame. I almost cried.

Saturday we did a bit of shopping and went to see Jack & Jill on my FREE movie passes from winning the Halloween costume contest. It's the Adam Sandler movie where he plays himself and his twin sister. It was funny. For a Sandler movie.
*Side note: I snuck in some sweets from the Target to snack on during the flick. Dropped a Pretzel M&M in my purse. Found it tonight. And ate it. Is that gross?

My mother-in-law got a new ride this weekend. A 2011 Nissan Altima. We had to go see it. Anthony drove it. It's niiiice. And dontcha love how new cars smell?!

Sunday is always church of course. But as I said, we're switchin it up this week. We went to Walmart Sunday night. What, what? Curveball in the ole routine. Watch us now.

Last night I went to dinner with the gals I used to work with. It was fun catchin up with them. Anthony and Caleb (my 20 year old nephew) went to see Cullen play basketball. Probably because he couldn't bear to stay home alone without me.

Tonight we went to watch Cullen play basketball. They WON!

Tomorrow at work we're havin a lil Thanksgiving lunch. I'm thankful for that!

Oh, and Riley's coming over Friday. Expect a post and pics - you know me. I must take pics of that sweet handsome boy.

randomness

My hair stylist

I whacked all my hair off 2 1/2 years ago, right? When I did that, I went to a new stylist. So you'd think since I'm in there every 4-5 weeks for the last 2 1/2 years my hair sylist knows my head pretty darn good by now, ok? Well, during my most recent haircut she for the first time noticed my blond streak. Yeah, I have a blond streak on the left side of my hair, I was born with it, but it is kinda underneath so you don't see it unless I pull my hair back a certain way. My stylist thought it was gray. I laughed and said no, that's blond. She said are you sure? I said yeah, I've had it from birth... weird, huh? I was almost black haired as a newborn so thankfully this streak isn't on the top layer and down the middle or they mighta called me skunk.

 

Weird phone call

I used to have a 2004 Honda Accord. How I loved that car. But we traded it in late summer 08 when gas was over $4 a gallon. Needed somethin more fuel efficient. Got a Civic. So anyway, last Saturday my cell phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize but I answered it anyway. The guy introduced himself and said he owns our Accord. Long story short, he got it for his daughter in college and the young guy who had it between us and him didn't put much mileage on it and if this guy decides to sell it, he's gonna call us. I would love to have my car back. Wouldn't that be crazy?! That may be like people who are married, get divorced, then get back together and remarry. It happens. Nutty!

 

Baby ducks

At work we have a beautiful campus of about 100 acres complete with lovely mature trees and ponds, etc. We also have Canadian geese, ducks, deer and turkeys that like to call our campus home. What about this - we have a set of new baby (itty bitty) ducks! I thought they were only born in spring. What's up with that?!

 

Cow out

On the way to work the other day there was a

big humongo ginormous

black cow out. He was having a time eating the grass on the other side of the fence. You know what they say... Well, I've seen this a few times on my morning commute through various plots of farm land. Who do you call about that? I've always wondered. It's not like I could stop, get outta my car and shoo him back into the fence.

 

Other random somewhat noteworthy stuff . . .

My nephew Cullen is now an 8th grader, about to turn 14, and playing basketball of course. I went to his 1st game the other night and my heart was warmed when he waved at me as we walked in, even though he was sitting with all his "cool friends." What a sweet boy.

 

The night of Cullen's game Anthony went to a concert with his uncle. That's a story I won't tell here. Let's just leave it at this - he says never again.

 

I love doing my running outside this time of year. Not only are the temps perfect, the scenery is right nice. 

 

The other night we wanted a pizza from Pizza Hut and when we got there they said it would be an hour before we got any food unless we ate the buffet. Bye bye Pizza Hut, you're not worth that kinda wait.

 

Cooler weather means CHILI TIME! I cooked a mean batch the other night when Anthony's sis came down to watch football. And some rotel, which I hadn't made in eons. Brownies for dessert with extree chocolate chips. Mmmm ... pausing while reminiscing <   >

 

Dad's in revival this week. They've had at least 1 person get saved and have had great services. Not sure when it's gonna end. Already gone longer than expected. PTL. Mom's home alone so we had her down for supper one night. Cuz I'm a good daughter like that. :-P I made poppy seed chicken. It was yummy even if I say so myself. We had corn on the cob, peas & mac 'n cheese (by mom), too.

 

Til next time...