My week in review.....

I am so proud of myself. I caught a cricket yesterday and turned him loose. Now for some that is no biggy, but for someone who freaks out if a fly gets in the house, catching a cricket all by myself is big news. I am not a bug lover by far and I know they serve their purpose, but give me a break. A cricket. In my house. Yikes! Hubby grilled out the night before and had left the door open so I'm guessing that's how Mr. Cricket got in. Just glad the ordeal is over. My daughter probably is too since I was on the phone with her discussing the best way to catch a cricket and every time he jumped/hopped (whatever crickets do), I would scream in her ear. But it had a happy ending. I scooped him up in a mason jar and took him out back (waaay out back) and let him lose. Now, keep in mind, I never actually touched the cricket but after it was all over, I know I washed my hands about 4 times with Lemon Anti-Bacterial Kitchen soap AND I threw the mason jar away. (Note: No crickets were harmed in the making of this message)

 School started back Wednesday for all the kids in our county. My 8 year old grandson informed me, he liked his teacher. Then he said "Really, I do like her, but...." The "but" was since it was the first day back she let them go outside for an hour or more in the afternoon when it was hot. He then told me that he got so hot, he wished he could take his shirt off. Then, laughingly, he said "Who am I kidding, I was so hot I was even thinking of taking my underwear and pants off, too." Oh, that poor teacher. She has a LONG year ahead of her.

 

Donna Sharp Handbags are trying to get to 2000 "Likes" on Facebook. You can click here to like them. I am a huge Donna Sharp fan and have been "liking" their page for several months. Now here is one of those "that doesn't make sense" things to me. They have 1966 fans. They want 2000. They put on their page "tell your friends to like us and the 2000th person that likes us will get a free purse from the new fall pattern and the person that recommended they like us will get a free one as well." Let's think this through. You tell everybody you want 2000 fans. You tell everybody the 2000th fan and the one who recommended them will receive a free purse. Not that I'm a genius or anything, but wouldn't everybody just set and wait until they get to 1999 before clicking "like" so they could win? And if that's the case, how are you going to get to 1999 if everybody waits so they can have a shot at being the 2000th. Just sayin....

 

Okay, this has to win funniest story of the week in my life this week. Went to the grocery store yesterday and stopped by a friend's house. She is my son-in-law's mom and keeps two of my grandchildren. My 3 year old granddaughter wanted to ride to the store with me (it's less than a half a block away) so I let her. I had to get toilet tissue. As I'm standing there reaching for my brand, she spots the Cottonelle brand which features a puppy playing with the toilet paper. Without missing a beat, she picks up the package and says "Look, they got doggie toilet paper. I'm getting some for Spikey Boy." Yeah, kind of had to explain why doggies don't need toilet paper. She was not a happy camper that I made her put it back. She is now stressing about what Spikey Boy will do when he has to, well, you know, being 3, she just blurted it out....poop. (please excuse me for that, but the story loses some of it's humor if you don't tell it the right way.)

 

It's been a fantastic week in my neck of the woods. I had a situation from several months ago on my mind that has been weighing me down for a while now. It was so upsetting because an incident happened and both parties just walked away from it. There was no closure. But due to God's divine plan, we both made an approach to resolving the issue. After a few emails back and forth, things are right and hearts are mended. It feels so good to get closure and to realize that the mountains that we think are insurmountable are just little sand hills when you let God do the walking. Thanks to my friend for reaching out half way and thanks to God for helping me to reach the other half.

 

Very excited because our church WMU is going to be participating in organizing the church for the Operation Christmas Child, the Shoebox ministry program with Samaritan's Purse. Our stuff came in yesterday and I picked up the materials so I could get them ready to be handed out. I love when we get new projects that have such an impact.

 Happy to say that my Thirty-One orders are almost all in from my party Saturday. I was blessed to have a good turn-out. I had a wish list of what I wanted and am happy to say that I was able to get every single thing on my list ($90.00 worth of new stuff) for FREE so far. Still a few orders to arrive. When everything comes in, I'll show you what all I got. I'm so excited. You know I love my Thirty-One stuff.

Well, that's my week in review. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Just a bunch of stuff....

Several years ago, Mom made me some stuffed faceless kitties and cats in various materials. The children love to get them out of their basket and play with them when they visit. And I don't mind at all. Saturday, after the 31 Party, I noticed Green Kitty was missing. Couldn't find her anywhere. Yesterday, I went to look in my "treasure chest" as the kids call it for a piece of material and look what I found.....Miss Green Kitty. Pretty sure who the guilty party was. :)

I was listening to Jason Aldean My Kinda Party with my 12 year old grandson the other day. He had never heard the song and he heard a line in it and had to rewind about 3 times to listen to it. It says: "You can be my tan-legged Juliet, I’ll be your Redneck Romeo." He thought that was "a cool line." Heaven help me, surely he's not starting to gather "pick up lines" already.

 

Saw this on a website the other day and it just cracked me up: There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

Our precious youngest grandson has received a much needed hair cut. He was adorable with his curls and I miss them, but....

...I love how cute he is with his little boy hair cut. Talk about a change. They grow up so fast. It's hard to believe he'll be one in October.

Mom brought me all this material when she came to visit last month. I don't have a clue what to make...especially since I am without a sewing machine now. It was going to cost more to fix mine than it would to buy a new one. Now I just have to break down and buy one.

Have a great Thursday!

What a difference a day makes...

Well, that was a short break that wasn't even a break since I did technically post yesterday. But it was what my brain needed. I spent time yesterday catching up on some work projects, designing a new marketing program for my image consultant clients, cleaning up some old files, reorganizing my desk, scheduling appointments with clients, sending email blasts to my prospect list, getting closure on a personal situation that was trying to steal my joy and organizing Sunday's coupons.

Had a wonderful evening with hubby. He fixed us cheeseburger sliders on the grill and we had them with french fries. Lemon pudding pound cake was the dessert. Delicious. Spent some time setting out on the swing as the sun went down and the temperature dropped. It was very "fallish". The Canadian Geese are arriving in flocks. A sure sign fall is just around the bend. We came back in the house and watched Hawaii 5-0 on demand (I'm usually asleep when it comes on the normal time so we just watch it On Demand when we are ready). Then we spend about an hour on Topix going through some advertisements from our hometown from the 1950's and 60's. It stirred many moments of "Oh, remember when...."

All in all a productive day and a wonderful evening. I slept until 7:00 this morning. Unheard of for me. So I'm refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to tackle the world today.

Thinking about things....

This is one of those morning when I'm lost in thought. Sometimes I think that I over think things. I have a busy week this week with lots going on. I am worn out just thinking about everything. I had many thoughts for my blog this morning, but nothing seems fresh and exciting. Could be I'm on a temporary blog burnout.

I am thinking about taking a few days to regroup and rejuvenate my thinking process. I feel like one of those wind-up toys that just goes around in circles and doesn't accomplish anything.

I'm not going to say "I'm taking x amount of days off from blogging." Because I may have an inspiration later today and decide I need to blog about it.

But for now, I will say that unless something comes about, I am not going to blog the rest of the week so I can catch up on some of the projects I'm behind on but will be back on Saturday.

I try to always stay upbeat and positive and I still am in that mindset, but I'm just swamped with a lot of different things going on in my life.

In the meantime, remember me in your prayers. I have a lot on my mind right now and just need to clear some of the cobwebs. So I may be back tomorrow or it may not be until Saturday. But I appreciate your prayers

Urgent Prayer Request

I have a very dear friend and a relative of my son-in-law who is in dire need of our prayers this morning. She was diagnosed with B cell Lymphoma a little over a week ago. The doctors were very upbeat with an aggressive plan of attack. But over the last few days, she is deteriorating rapidly. She desperately needs the combined prayers of God's people. She is a fine Christian lady and one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. Please lift her up in your prayers today. I really appreciate it.

Hmmm, is it Monday AGAIN?

Where did the weekend go?

We've had a guest fisherman all week. He must be new to the neighborhood as I've not seen him before. The road beside our yard is an old boat ramp so we occasionally see people down there fishing. I don't know if he caught anything but he spent most of his day there just enjoying the river.

I got up early Saturday to get ready for my Thirty-One party and decided to make some brownies. I used a Pillsbury mix this time instead of Duncan Hines. I also made a cake earlier this week using Pillsbury instead of my traditional Duncan Hines. End result? They were both okay, but I won't make that mistake again. Don't ever let anybody ever tell you that all box mixes are the same. They definitely are not. My Duncan Hines products always turn out super moist and taste home made. Both the Pillsbury mixes were a little on the dryer/denser side and tasted exactly like a store bought mix.



 But we did have a great party. We had lots of laughter and great food. We played some games and got some good bargains.

 Our consultant, Beth, is so wonderful to work with. She really knows her products.

 Check out another of my flower pots that I did NOT plant anything in this year. Not sure how I can kill house plants, but I can grow flowers without even planting anything. Go figure.

 Yesterday afternoon was so freaky. I was in the back yard. When I turned toward the sky in front of the house, I saw this.....

 But if I turned toward the sky in the back of the house, I saw this.... 

About 20 minutes later, the skies opened up and we got a downpour including hail and it quit within 10 minutes and we were back to blue skies all around.

I saw this cute little joke this morning that somebody posted on my Facebook and it is just too cute not to share. So, I'll leave you with a laugh...

A husband reads a book titled "You are the man of your house!" After finishing it, he swaggers up to his wife and announces, "From now on you need to know I'm the man of the house. My word is LAW. You WILL cook and clean for me.You WILL go upstairs and give me the kind of sex I want. Afterward, you WILL draw me a bath, wash my back and massage my feet. Oh, and guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair in the morning?" The wife replies, "A freaking funeral director would be my first guess!"

Have a great Monday!

Sentimental Sunday

 I am so sentimental. Little things can trigger the fondest memories. Here are some of the little things that mean a lot to me because of the memories they evoke.



Handkerchiefs - My Grandma Garretson always had one tucked up under her watch. She was never without a hankie.

African Violets - My Mamaw Eden always grew African Violets. They were gorgeous. She had a multitude of colors and a green thumb.

100 pennies - Grandma Garretson would come to visit and she would have 100 pennies rolled up in a handkerchief and we would all gather at the kitchen table while she counted out 25 to each of us kids. Then we would all walk up town and get 25 cents worth of penny candy.

Peppermint Sticks - The old fashioned ones - Grandma Garretson would always bring a box of those to us every time she came to visit.

Ice Tea - You never, ever went to Mamaw Eden's house that there wasn't a pitcher of ice tea in the fridge.

Playing Cards - Mamaw Eden always loved to play Rummy and Rook with us; but Grandma Garretson didn't believe in any card games so we had to hide the cards when she came to town. I remember Mamaw didn't like to play Rook with my baby brother Andy when he was first learning because he would always grin and say "I got the birdie" if he got the Rook card. Of course, this is the same small child that sat in the living room when Grandma was visiting and just as bold as could be asked, "Mommy, did we hide the rummy cards?" I thought Mom was going to die.

Spanish Peanuts - My daddy loved Spanish peanuts. He would go to town and get some at the peanut store fresh and hot. I remember one Christmas a few years before he passed away, he sent my brother and I each a can for Christmas. I put mine up, but my brother came to visit and said he had eaten his could he open my can. I said yes and noticed him digging through the peanuts. Daddy had hidden $10 in Jack's can and he was going to see if there was $10 in mine and have a little fun with me.

I could go on and on. I just love when little things can bring us such fond memories.