Then Sings My Soul ... Cartoons!!!

So, it's Saturday - which means it's time for my favorite Meme (nope, still don't know what the word means!)...

This week I decided to have a little fun.

Five years ago today I was one week away from getting married. SEVEN DAYS!!! I was freaking out - excited and nervous, impatient, anxious, scared and sure, all at the same time. My bestie Paula was my saving grace at that time. I was waiting for my mom and dad to come into town to help with all of the final details and Paula distracted me. We used to laugh and sing along with this song at the top of our lungs. This album (A Night In Rocket Town) got us through MANY things, her cancer battle and my wedding impatience just to name a couple. A few weeks later I came home from the honeymoon to learn that her cancer had returned. We turned to the more serious songs then. But this was a happy, fun time.

And this is one of the funnest songs I know.

Try not to take it too seriously, it's just for fun. BUT, it can still make ya think...



Nope, cartoons weren't made for praise, that's OUR job!!!

So, let's do it ... 'cause if we don't, the rocks will.

Stop by Signs, Miracles & Wonders for more songs that speak to the soul.

And The Winner is ...

So, in the big hair poll, the darker colors clearly won out (so sorry to the two of you that voted for the blond). SO, some changes have been made.

Here is a glimpse of the old:


And, now, the new. Which is based on the old.

'Cause it was this color before.

And ya chose it from old pictures.

You OVERWHELMINGLY chose it from old pictures.

And, ya know, I aim to please.

Is it bad that I am such a people pleaser?

Should I be worried about that?

OH, OK!!! Here ya go:
(see all of the fun colors - a little blonde, a little red, a little brown ... I mean, c'mon, for total amateurs, I think we done good!)


Yeah, I like it!

Please, pay no attention to the pile of laundry visible through the bedroom door or the open toilet seat. I took these with my phone and did not see them in the tiny little screen .... There I go , tryin to please you again!

So,like it, or don't. I don't care.

Wait, I'm just kidding. I do want you to like it.

Don't go away mad.

I hope you like it.

Do ya?

Are ya still there?

Gettin' Fit ... or Fittin' In To The Jeans

Is it weird that my last couple of posts have more than one title? Am I over thinking just a tad bit? 'Cause, ya know, I have been known to over think a time or two. Of course, not as much as my man who has to analyze every episode of Wonder Pets and figure the quotient of possibilities that said rescue could actually happen. Like, for instance, the episode with the dinosaur. He insists that they would have had to borrow Marty McFly's DeLorean time machine - or at the very least have had Doc Brown install a flux capacitor into the flyboat - in order to get to the dinosaur. He has no concept of reality, because, clearly, they did not go back in time. Duh, they entered the story book to save him!!! Now that, my friends, is some over thinking!

But that is NOT what I want to tell ya about today. So, onto the real item of (I hope and pray) interest for the day.

I have been reading the Friday Fitness posts at Bye Bye Fat Mom for a while now and am finally gonna participate. Better late than never, I always say. But it is time. And I am ready to get (back) into shape. For real this time. For GOOD this time. So, here we go:

I have been doing the "lifestyle" thing for over a week now. I refuse to call it a diet, cause that is what always gets me into trouble. Once I reach a good weight, DIET OVER! Pass the fries! No more. I am soooooo not saying no more fries. I am saying no more to the lifestyle that has me eating EVERY FRY in the box and those left by my daughter. I am saying no more to deciding - on a whim - that making dinner is just too much and it is about time to use the Dairy Queen bucks in the car and have a healthy dinner of fried foods and milkshakes. I have had about enough of that.

So, in the week and a half I have lost 7 pounds. I did gain a tiny bit back when, in my sicky-ness, I decided that I needed Chinese food. And had not prepared for it. I had already had my carb allotment for the day. And I did not order the dish with the veggies and stuff. Nope, The fried chicken in the sauce with the noodles. Oh yeah, that was smart. BUT, I bounced back and have already lost back most of what I had gained.

So, that is my fit tip for the week: Plan ahead. For instance, I know I have a date with my man tonight. PLUS, Fridays are ice cream nights for me. (Paula and I had icecream on Fridays and as she was dying I promised her that I would have it every Friday and think of her. So I do. And I aint givin it up! I have the No Sugar Added variety and have learned to put it in a dish and NOT eat from the carton, so I can see how much I am eating!!!) So, today - in preparation for all of that - I will go very light. Green Veggies, light protein, no carbs, small portions and LOTS of water. That way, if I do slip tonight, it won't be as bad as it coulda been. And tomorrow morning, I will get right back up on that horse and get back in the game.

So, there ya have it. And here I go. I hereby give you all permission to keep me accountable. Ask me anything and keep me on track. PLEASE!!!

So Much For Mother's Intuition

(Could also be titled "And This Is Where My campaign For Mom Of The Year Comes To A Screeching Halt")

So, I said my baby was NOT sick - after all, she was running around the house like a banchi yesterday all day long (and by the way, what is a banchi? Oh, but I digress ...). Then, about 5 PM the running stopped. And it stopped abruptly, I might add! Sophie woke up from her nap and I was changing her diaper and taking care of her with all intentions of putting the girls in the tub afterward. H was behind the couch playing and all of a sudden it got real quiet. I went back there to check her and this is what I found:


And, of course, being the quality parent that I am I immediately (after verifying that she was, indeed, breathing and had a pulse) ran for the camera. Oh yeah, sign me up for that Mother Of The Year thing. I'm a shoe in!

Now, I believe I have mentioned - back in the days of the plague we endured in February - that Hattie ONLY naps when she is sick. Even with this nap, I can still count on one hand the times that she has napped in the last two years. She woke up with a fever. I had a meeting at church so Daddy took good care of her while I was gone. They watched the Tigger movie - TWICE and drank lots of juice and had lots of cuddle time. She would not eat dinner though, so when I got home around 9:30ish and she was still up I gave her some Tylenol with a cookie chaser, and put her to bed. Where she slept until 9:45 this morning. Still running a slight fever this morning, so more Tylenol - with a Skittle chaser - and more juice.

She refused to eat breakfast - maybe she's holding out for the cookie.

I don't know about you, but this mama don't like no sick babies. So, needless to say, I am not having fun and I am worried about my girl. And then there is Sophie. She was sick on Monday (well, started late Sunday), but is fine and dandy now. She is such a bouncer backer... OK, I might be stretchin' it a bit on that label, but ya know what I mean. She's a trooper that girl.

I have a few other things that I have been savin' up for a post, but now I need to cuddle a sick big girl and play with a well baby girl and love on em both and cherish every single moment. Even the "NOOOOOOOOO CARS! Want Tigger!" crying fit moments that come when a parent makes an apparantly WRONG choice of entertainment for a sick child.

Oh yeah, it was pretty.

Summer? Anyone?

We had a brief, beautiful glimpse of it on Monday. 80 some degrees, sunshine, kids playing in sprinklers, lemonade stands (no kidding, and we stopped!!), flip flops, shorts .... ahhhh, it was sweet.

Did you catch that - WAS! Tuesday we put Hattie on the bus in 40 degrees chilliness! Today Hubby had to scrape ice of the windshield. Is it just me or is that just plain WRONG!?!?!?!?!

It is so strange to think of summer vacation being days away when I am still bundling my baby up to catch the bus every morning. Seriously, sweatshirts and jackets and mittens - it's that cold. 37 degrees this morning!!!! What is up with that? I am not even going to go into my "stupid Al Gore" speech.... global warming - psh! ... oh wait, I said I was NOT going to go there. Sorry.

Anyhoo, yesterday I was sick. Sick as a DOG. Hattie had a cough and a fever this morning (well - 99ish), so I kept her home today. I am still not feeling 100%, so chasing after a very active and NOT SICK four year old is not.so.fun! But, I love her so very much and really AM looking forward to the summer. Even if it never gets warm I will have my girlies all day long and we have us some plans!!! PLUS, sweet Miss Belle is going to be joining us a once or twice a week maybe and that will be FUN!!! That girl is a cutie - and a talker, so I am hoping that she will egg Hattie on. So excited about that! Plus, I happen to LOVE Belle's mommy and daddy and will get to see them a little more often, so YAY!

Today is my friend Laura's birthday - she lives under the heat lamp that we escaped from to come here to the land of 38 degrees AFTER Memorial Day!!! And, being the well organized and put together NON-procrastinator that I am (in my dreams!!!) I have not sent her card. it is sitting on the counter with the birthday cards for mom (Feb. 10), Savannah (Feb. 23) and Trinity (March 15). So, yeah ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! Jamba anyone ... tell Jon it's ok. I will drive! Invite Mari Girl - she's Jamba-ing for two - and we'll have a girl's day out!

Good Times

So, we had a GREAT weekend. Hubby was home and all ours for three whole days. And after hearing about the loss that the Chapman's are going through, we spent a good amount of time loving on two little girls and thanking God for the gift that they are to us. It is so humbling to think that He, in all of His love and provision, chose US to be their mommy and daddy. Lord, please let us cherish each moment - we have learned this week that it can all be gone in an instant. Let us live each day like it could be the last.

We had a whole lot of plans for the yard and we got a pretty good deal of it done too. Fulfillment of plans doesn't always happen around her, so we were soooooo thankful that this one did. The weather was amazing this weekend - actually broke a sweat while we were out working today - so the girls got to have a ball playing out in the yard. We even got in a trip to the park on Saturday!! Plus, and this made Hattie's whole weekend, we took a trip to Dairy Queen. That girl loves her a milkshake!!! Then we went to the store, picked out some flowers and stuff for the flower boxes, hanging baskets and such. By the time we got home it was too late to do anything with them though. Fortunately, we had two more days to fit that in.

Neither of us had church duty on Sunday, so we got to drive there together, sit together, worship together and drive home together. May not seem like much, but, I am telling ya, it was sweet!!! We stopped at Costco on the way home. Costco is Hattie's favorite restaurant (hey, they have pizza!!!), so we had some lunch, did some shopping and headed home to our yard. The girls had a field day out there. Sophie LOVES to swing and Hattie loves anything with dirt involved! I planted the flowers and Hubby cut up part of a tree that he had to cut off a few weeks ago, we pulled some weeds, cleaned some stuff up and got ready to spread some mulch.

Today, we headed back to the store 'cause we learned from the next door neighbor that mulch was on sale!! YAY!!! We picked up a few more flowers and 16 bags of mulch. When we headed out to work on the yard some more, I got to talking to the same neighbor and she had just returned from buying another 30 bags of mulch! And that made 62!!! When I told her and her daughter how many we bought, they laughed and said "you're cute". Somehow, I don't think that was a compliment.

After Hubby went BACK to the store and bought another 20 bags, we got the front yard done. So, I guess we were pretty "cute" thinking that 16 would fly. Funny thing is, that was our HIGH estimate. Ah well, the front of the house looks good!

And now, here we are. Girls are all tucked in and prayed over (until we go check on 'em and pray over 'em again) and we are ready to hit the sack ourselves. It was a good weekend all in all. I am reminded over and over again, and saddened again, to think of Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. Sophie's lullaby CD has two of his songs on there - including the one he wrote about adoption - and every time I hear it, my heart breaks. But I am also reminded to pray for them, so I take that opportunity. Please pray for them too, and remember their son in those prayers. He was driving and must face guilt amidst the pain. Pray that he knows he is forgiven and that God would heal all of their hearts.

Blog at ya soon!

PS - as you can tell, the darker colors won out in the hair survey. So my buddy Kathy and I decided that we would start slow and do some low lights. However, because we don't really know what we are doing it turned out to be MOSTLY dark. And that aint bad. Some reds, some browns and a LITTLE blondies in there. I will take some pics for ya soon. Just know that I LOVE IT!!!!!!

Picture Perfect Monday - Memorial Day

This one is for all of the soldiers ...



... thank you and may God bless you.

God Bless the USA!!!!