The mid air catch

My new look

Well my makeover is complete!

What do you think?

I absolutely love it!!

I used Jo-Lynne of Musings of a Housewife and DCR Design.

She had so many great ideas and was so easy to work with. Go check out her design blog, it speaks for itself! And leave her a sweet comment.

I would recommend her to anyone.

So, Jo-Lynne, thank you again. I love the finished look!

God bless you!!

Rain out

It's only the third game of the season and we had a rain out.

Normally I'm not to fond of this early on but yesterday I was thrilled!

Yesterday would have been the most hectic day.

Hubs had a track meet, R4 had practice, and R8 had a game.

Being the super mom that I am I could have done it all.

Who am I kidding. I'm not super mom.

I had called R4's coach and told him that we wouldn't be at practice and told him all of the circumstances leading up to my decision. He was OK with it.

So my plan was to go pick R8 up from Hubs, go get R4 and go home feed the kids and the dog.

Then get ready for practice and a game.

About 3 o'clock blessings from above started to flow abundantly along with a cool light show and some noise.

Hubs calls around 4....SCORE.....track meet canceled, baseball canceled.

I was thrilled! A night home to do laundry and clean the bathroom.

But you know what I did instead....I spent time with my family hanging out watching TV and just enjoying the evening.

But on Saturday...it's PLAY BALL!

So many decisions

I'm in the middle of a blog makeover.

I have finally found a designer I like and we have been working out some details.

I will tell you more about her when the makeover is complete.

But who in the world knew there was so much stuff out there to choose from.

Decisions decisions decisions

I've got it narrowed down to two choices but I just can't pick one.

Oh I hate being on the fence!

Opening Day

Take me out to the ball game, take me out to crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks.....

It's baseball season! America's favorite past time.

Saturday was opening day.

R4 played his first game ever. I have to say he was stinkin' cute! At his age they don't really keep score.

Each child gets to hit and run the bases and cross home plate.

And when in the field, it looks more like what my dad calls tackle t-ball. R4 ran after ever ball hit no matter what position he played. And even better it looked like a dog pile when some one finally got the ball and all of the kids fell to the ground on top of one another.

R8's games are a little more competitive that than. It's down right serious.

And while I am all for some competitiveness I keep in mind that these are just 7 and 8 year olds. Kids, little boys.

It's not the major leagues and it's not the world series.

Who am I kidding, knock it out of the park R8!!! Look alive behind the plate!!!

We ended up spending all day Saturday at the ball park. R4 had a game at 10:30 and then R8's first game was at 2pm. I think we came home for about 2 hours only to go right back. We didn't get home until almost 8pm.

The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

Oh yes I had my stash of pickle flavor sunflower seeds. I was so classy sitting in my chair with a mouth full of seeds. Which are all gone and need to be replaced soon.

Here are a few pictures from opening day...Now PLAY BALL!

R4

First pitch


Coming Home


The Dog Pile


R8
Down and Ready

Getting Ready For The Play At Home

Making Sure EveryThing's Fine


Batter Up!

She Speaks

Last year not to long after I had started my blog I heard about a conference for women called She Speaks.

It's a Christian conference for woman who would like a future in speaking, writing, ministry, and now blogging.

I did not get to attended last year and was completely in awe of the women that did. I read all of their stories and viewed all of their pictures.

And promised my self that I would attended some day.

Lysa at Proverbs 31 Ministries is giving away a scholarship for a chance to attend this conference.

I have been blogging almost a year and it would be a wonderful experience to listen to Christian women talk about something they are passionate about.

What an opportunity it would be meet women who have a common interest along with the same Godly views an beliefs as me.

Not to mention it would also be the best 40th birthday present!

Jo-Lynne at Musings of a House Wife is currently redoing my blog, is speaking at the conference and I would love the chance to get to meet her and hug her neck!

Also Big Mama grew up in the town where I currently live. And who wouldn't love to meet her!

As far as Boo Mama, Chatting at the Sky, Barefoot Blogs, and The Nester can you say BONUS!

I would love to just sit in the same room as them and soak it all in. Listen and learn from their years of experience.

Each one of these talented women are daily reads for me and to just be in their presence along with Lysa TerKeurst well I'm just speechless dreaming about it!

His smile was worth it

I have to say, I had one of the best weekends!

Opening day for baseball was Saturday and it was the best. But that is for another post.

On Sunday I took R4 to Sesame Street Live.

Anyone that has small kids or had small kids knows about Sesame Street Live shows. They are so much fun.

I used to take R8 when he was little. He loved it.

I found out the best place to sit is on the first 3-5 rows and on the end.

Bert, Ernie, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, The Count, Zoe, Abby, Telly, and the rest of the gang all come down off of the stage at some point and shake hands with the kids and give hi-fives.

So I did the same thing with R4. I bought tickets weeks ago and got third row on the end.

That boy was in heaven when Grover and The Count came over and hugged him and patted his head. He wanted to get up go on stage with them and dance.

The funny thing is he really doesn't watch Sesame Street at home but yet he knew all of the characters.

Sesame Street does a great job of keeping the kids interested in what's going on.

We all know when we get there you are bombarded with the souvenir stations.

Yes being the sucker that I am I bought in to it. And yes the prices have increased over the past five years.

A light up spinner thing with Elmo on top used to be $11.00 not any more. And the cute Elmo mylar balloons used to be $7.00 not any more.

Lets just say that I brought $50.00 cash with me to spend and I ended up using that and my debit card.

I hope he doesn't mind when he gets older and I hand him a box of toys left over from the trips to see Elmo and the gang and tell him this is where his college fund went.

But you know, to see R4 face light up and watching him watching the show made it all worth it.

Struggling

Lately I have been struggling with something.

Usually I go back and forth between I'm done, finished to OK maybe I'm not.

I also have to remind my self to go seek out the answer in my bible.

I can always find what I am looking for there. And it seems God puts just what I need to read right to where I open my bible.

Right now I'm in done, I'm in finished mode. I have removed my self and would like it to stay that way.

But what if I find when I open that book God is telling me the opposite?

Dig in my heels and be stubborn or listen to Him and obey his word.

I'm praying the answers I find will make it easy for me to submit to his will. I'm praying the words just jump out and answer my questions.

I'm praying and praying and praying.

Leaving on a jet plane

But I know when she will be back again.

Please be in prayer for Queen B and her family.

They are leaving the country and going to Guatemala next week on a mission trip.

She has been very apprehensive about this trip to say the least.

She knows God is in control and He is guiding them but it's still scary taking your family of their comfort zone and doing His will.

I know she would appreciate all of your prayers so please visit her and leave her a sweet note of encouragement.

And the birthday gifts keep flowing

Who doesn't happy birthday themselves?

I have decided to give my self a blog make over.

It's been almost a year and it's time for a change.

And who better to ask than my fellow bloggers.

Who give the best make over for the money?

Does anyone have a favorite person who designed their blog and would recommend them?

I have checked around and found the prices to all be about the in the same range.

But there are so many people to chose from.

Please tell me about your experience with your blog design and if you liked your designer and were they easy to work with.

Did they give ideas or did you know what you wanted.

Once I find something I like it stays around for say an eternity.

I would appreciate all and any advise.

Thanks!

Murder on the Prairie

I have the most awesome Hubs and family!

This past weekend Hubs and his sister and my mother in law threw me a 40th birthday party.

A mystery dinner theater party.

It was so much fun!

Everyone came dressed up in prairie period wear and the place was decorated with a western theme. And the best part...Hubs cooked!

He cooked brisket and sausage, which had been marinating in my fridge for a week. He also made baked beans, potato salad, and all of the trimmings.

We even had old barrel tins that held bottle drinks and of course we had pitchers of tea.

The mystery part was set in the old west. And my husband was the hated man in town.

He was found murdered. And we had to figure out who murdered him.

There were suspects, clues, and hints given through out the dinner. The only two people at the entire party who knew who did it was Hubs and his sister.

I guess they had to know since they planed the party. But figuring out was fun. I have some pretty competitive friends and family!

And what is a birthday party with out pictures! So get ready this is going to be a picture laden post.

Oh...Hubs...YOU ROCK! Thanks again for throwing me the best 40th birthday party a wife could ever ask for. I love you, and can't wait to spend the next 40 years with you!!

Here is Hubs pre-party. His sister and I had to comb his hair back. He was the barber and Hubs has very little hair. When R4 found out he was the barber, he told him he couldn't be the barber because he had no hair.


What is party with out cake?



Upon arrival to the party everyone was escorted to the viewing of my "dead" husband by R4. He loved that there was a "dead body" in the middle of the party. And since everyone was around naturally pictures were taken.



Here is the family...me, Hubs, R8 and R4. Yes that is a Buzz Lightyear costume R4 is wearing. He was having nothing to do with is bankers assistants costume. And since was a costume party I thought better not to fight it and have him happy for the next few hours.


This is my sister in law and niece and her sister in law. Sister in law was Lu Lu Peachy the can-can girl. My brother in law was supposed to play the Sheriff but my nephew had a baseball tournament out of town and the game started at 7:45 and was 4 hours away. So B filled in as the Sheriff. She was terrific! She also did my make up for the party. I love her and was glad she came!


These are my parents or should I say Charlie Hashbrowns, the cook and Norma Pickett, the teacher. And kudos to Norma, she made her costume and embroidered Charlie's name on his apron.


These are my in-laws. My father in law was the town doctor and he even wrote his own medical report to go along with the death of my husband. It was hilarious! He did a great job.


And here he is giving his report


And here are a few friends taking notes from his report.

Here are a few pictures of some of my friends that came to the party.

C and his daughter S.


T and her husband C and their boys R and J.


S and her husband J and their girls M and K.



And Hubs and the boys gave me this...


It was a birthday I will never forget.

What I collect

Yvette is hosting a blog party of things that people collect.

I am excited about this. I love seeing what others collect.

I have a love of old tins and canisters.

But you never know when I might be inspired to start a new collection.

Here a few pieces of my canister collection. I have been collecting them for a few years. Each piece has a story that I love.

These canisters were some Hubs had when we got married. The one in the middle believe it or not holds the boutonniere that Hubs wore at our wedding.


These tins I collected at a flea market in Houston and the chatter tile was the first one I received from Yvette.


This cross I just got for my birthday and I love it. And this chatter tile has my favorite bible verse on it. The canisters...the short one was part of a set and the tall one my dad gave me.


These canisters used to hold flour, sugar, and coffee.


OK this one really has alot of sentimental value. The tea cup and saucer were from my great grandmothers china collection. The old glass canister used to hold tea and it still smells so good when you open it. The glass jar in the middle is from R8. He made it two years ago at school and gave it to me on Mother's Day with flowers in it. And the candle, I have had since I was a teenager. I loved it so much I could never burn it. It came from this candle shop near New Braunfels, TX. I got to pick the style, shape, and size of it. Then I got to watch them make it. AMAZING!

This red canister is the only one left of a collection I have been eyeballing for a long time. I wish I could find the other two canisters that go with it. The top is pewter and so heavy. It has beautiful detailing.

And then my Willow Tree Angels. I love them. And if I had to pick a favorite, I would never be able to. They each have a special meaning to me.

And now it's your turn.

Go to The Charm House and link up and play along.

I have religion

I find this alarming.

What do you think?

And just so you know where I stand...

I am a God fearing, Jesus loving woman.

I consider myself saved by the grace of God.

I am a child of the King most high!

Amen

Friendship Award

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Yvette from The Charm House gave me this award yesterday but because Hubs hijacked my blog the other day I couldn't acknowledge it.

Yvette has become one of my best bloggy friends. She is also so very talented. If you haven't visited her blog, you should, she has some great ideas and some beautiful items.

There are so many deserving woman, I can never choose who to send it to.

I am supposed to pass this on to eight people but y'all know I am a rebel when it comes to this. I can never pick.

But thank you Yvette, it made my day!

A letter to myself

This was originally supposed to be my post yesterday but SOMEONE hijacked my blog.

Since today is my birthday I thought I would write a letter to my much younger self.

Here it goes.

A letter to my 20 something self:

I thought you might want a little insight to how your life turns out. And I thought you could use a little well OK a whole lot of advice.

First thing…you are not fat. Quit telling your self that. Just keep riding that bike and don’t quit after the wreck. You can do get through it. You look great!

While you meet two guys and have a long term relationship with both, they are not the ones. Follow your instincts when those feelings start to crop up…RUN and don’t look back!

Take that college class you wanted to because you thought it would be fun. Don’t worry you won’t regret it.

When this guy with dreamy blue eyes asks you lunch, GO. Don’t put it off.

He turns out to be the one! You love him even if you don’t want to admit it to your self.

Try to stay in touch with Sherry from high school. You both will be so happy you reconnected and comment often to each how you wished it had happened sooner. The great thing is you picked up your friendship right where it left off.

Cherish the time with your grandparents, your visits will become precious memories.

Go to your high school reunion. Don’t worry that you thought of your self as a big goof, turns out several other girls thought the same thing about themselves. Who would have guessed.

You end up having a terrific life!

You have a great husband and kids that love you. A wonderful family that supports you.

So relax a little things might not have turned out as you thought but everything turns out great!

Love,
Your 40 something self.

And remember…life is like a roller coast you just have to hang on for the ride.

Hijacked!!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post (It will be up tomorrow) for the following special presentation.

So today is RRMama's birthday! I decided to hijack the blog since she will be busy crying over being old and mourning the loss of her 30's. In honor of her birthday I have made a list of 40 or so things about her, all of them are true even if she will claim some are not. Also keep an eye out next week for pictures and info on her big party we are throwing on Friday. Without further adieu here is the list:




1. She is older than me!!
2. She loves the Lord.
3. She recognizes that I am always right.
4. She likes baseball.
5. She is a great Mom
6. She is good at doing laundry!
7. She likes to drive (and that is good because I hate to drive)
8. She is left handed.
9. She isn’t afraid to try weird foods like alligator, squid and chicken gizzards.
10. She is older than the Methuselah
11. She can peel paint off the walls with her burps.
12. She can play the guitar in Rock Band well enough not to get R8 and I booed off the stage.
13. She and R4 like to dance to High School Musical.
14. Although she professes that she will watch the weather every night, she rarely makes it to the commercial before the weather.
15. Even though she tries to cheat at UNO she still can’t win.
16. She puts up with 3 boys and their smells.
17. She likes to “Mope it, Mope it”
18. In her spare time she is an amateur Razor Scooter rider.
19. She likes hockey.
20. Oh yeah, she is older than the wheel.
21. She was really born in New York, but she tells everyone she was born in Houston.
22. She uses cool phrases like Interpeeps
23. Even though it annoys me she is overly meticulous when cleaning the house.
24. She drools in her sleep, all the time.
25. She can dance the Macarena
26. She is a Bon Jovi fan even though I cannot figure out why.
27. She has an awesome husband (yeah you knew I was gonna be #27).
28. She has kept up with her blog for almost a year, which is 11.5 months longer than I thought she would.
29. She and R8 are Bingo playing fools.
30. Did I mention she is older than rocks?
31. She eats sushi.
32. She can cook some mean Microwave Popcorn (and a few other dishes)
33. She now knows what it means to have “Internet Friends” that she has never met, even thought she made fun of me for this for years.
34. She has no clue about computer games but pretends to actually listen when I talk about them sometimes.
35. She is usually a pretty good snuggler, even though she only leaves me 6.2 inches of bed space.
36. She takes the dog out for a walk all the time “She loves that dog”.
37. She lets me and R4 have “5 more minutes” of sleep every morning.
38. This list is hard it took me a month to come up with 40 things.
39. She uses cool phrases like “I’m just sayin”
40. And finally as of today she is also older than dirt too.

The last day

Today is my last day in my 30's.

Oh yes it is the BIG 4 "0"

Lordy Lordy look who is going to be 40!

Everyone says 40 is the new 30.

Age to me is just a number. It's all in how you feel. Some days I feel like I'm in my twenties other days I feel like I'm in my eighties.

Right now I'm OK with moving into another age bracket.

Tomorrow might be another story.

Women Judging Women

Lysa had this post up the other day.

I have been thinking about it since then and thought I would share it.

It's so dead on.

Have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Contentment

One of my favorite things to do is snuggle with my boys.

Last night I was watching TV and R8 comes in and asks if he can sit with me.

I tell him sure and he climbs his 90lb self into my lap.

I know those days are coming to an end sooner than I would like so any time he want to snuggle in my lap I let him.

We talked rather than watch the show that was on.

About ten minutes into our conversation, R4 comes in and asks if he to can climb in my lap.

I wish Hubs would have taken a picture. It was a quite a scene.

Me, R8, R4, and Cookie all in the recliner under the covers. All you could see of three of us were our heads and the only visible part of Cookie was her tail.

It didn't take long and I was warm and content and I started to drift off to sleep.

There something about having my boys close and knowing they are right there next to me.

The next thing I remember is Hubs telling them it's time for bed and for me to quit snoring!

So much for contentment.

A plague of illnesses

I feel as if sickness plague has settled itself right on top of my house.

It seems just as we get done with one thing something else comes again.

I surrender!!

Yesterday I left work around 2 and came home. My stomach was playing tricks on me and head felt as if someone had taken a sledge hammer to it.

I was sick, I won't go into details.

I pretty much slept from about 3pm to 5am.

Sleep, glorious sleep!

I have resolved my self to say I had a migraine. But usually they start of with a my head not my stomach.

I am feeling better today but still a little out of it.

So once again friends, I've got nothing. Hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow. If there is a normal. I'm hoping this sick thing is NOT my new normal.

So what's going on with all of you?

The best swim suit

A few years ago while in search of a swim suit that basically covered my entire middle section, I happened to get a catalog in the mail that changed my out look on swim suits.

I knew the swim suit fairies must have been working over time to make sure that a specific edition of the Lands End swim suit catalog just happened to end up in my mail box.

While I know it's freezing and snowing in some parts it's never to early to think about summer. Maybe just thinking about warmer weather will send some kind of subliminal message to Mother Nature telling her the Mr. Snow Miser can go back to the North Pole and hang out with Santa till around October.

Anyway

Lands End has the best shopping tool EVER...this.

Last year I think I must have tried every swim suit on my model at least four times before making my decision.

I purchased one and was so excited when it came it. I tried it on and it looked on me just like it did on the model. I couldn't believe it. It actually covered, tucked, and slimmed down everything it said it would.

I was so please with my suit that I decided to purchase another one this year. And I think I spent the better part of last week trying them all on my model again.

So many colors and styles, I couldn't make up my mind but I finally settled on one.

Now if only Mother Nature will cooperate.

Handy Manny

Well I really have Handy Hubs not Handy Manny.

This past weekend Hubs installed our new dishwasher.

Yes we finally broke down and bought a new one. I figured it was time because 1) I was tired of putting a towel down on the floor to catch all of the water that would leak out of the bottom and 2) The dishes were no longer coming out scalding hot. They were only hot from the hot water used to clean them.

I didn't even think the Maytag Repair Man could help us at this point. So yes it was time to purchase a new one.

On Friday I received an automated phone call from Home Depot telling me our scheduled delivery time was between 8:30 AM and 12 noon.

Saturday morning the phone rings at 7:20.

For the love of pete who calls at 7:20 in the morning beside my mother in law, oh yeah the Home Depot delivery guys telling me they were a little early. Like an hour early.

They were 10 minutes away and oh they were sorry if they woke us up. Sad thing is they didn't wake me. I had been up for about 20 minutes because R4 came in proceeded to tell me the sun was out and it was wake up time.

I then figured since the delivery guys would be here in a few moments I needed to wake up Hubs and tell him to pull the old dishwasher out.

He got up, got his tools, and then went to work on removing "THE BEAST".

You see everything in our house is always a "PROJECT". And it's never an easy one.

Hubs was still trying to get The Beast out when the Home Depot truck pulled up.

And thank goodness they did. They helped Hubs jerk the stupid thing out and then hauled it out of the house. With a water fall trailing behind it. The Beast leaked water all the way out to the road where the nice guys loaded it in their truck and hauled it off.

THANK YOU HOME DEPOT!

I find it so funny how excited I get of new house stuff.

New dishwasher, ceiling fans, light fixtures, faucets, you name it, I get almost giddy.

So for the next two hours Hubs was in the kitchen installing the new beautiful, non leaking, hot water heating, quite dishwasher.

Here are a few pictures....

The Beast














Hubs hard at work















Still working














The beautiful new Maytag dishwasher