Sunday, September 30

catfish & khaki's

Fun, food, friends,
all in perfect weather!

Last night was the annual Catfish & Khaki's fundraiser for Junior Auxiliary of Desoto County. It was a wonderful event.

Held outside on the grounds of an old home with thousands of twinkle lights and paper lanterns. (I'm really sorry I don't have a wonderful picture so you can see how beautiful it was. You will have to use your imagination)

Perfect weather, yummy food, beautiful decorations, happening silent auction, large crowd, and fun band all added up to a great evening. Everyone loves the casual atmosphere and were having a wonderful time being outside enjoying a perfect night - eating, visiting and dancing.

{these were the centerpieces for the tables, gorgeous, I was able to bring one home because I was on the cleanup committee}

Thanks Kacey & Doodlebugs for your silent auction donation. I missed what the final bid was ,but there was lots of bidding on it.

Saturday, September 29

friday night lights

Cool and clear - the first signs of Fall
(at least for what passes as Fall around here).
A perfect night for football -
it was our first high school football game at Carly's school.
Oh yeah...our team won 49 - 6! Go Team!

gymnastics

{Determined to simplify our after school activities,
Carly changed from taking dancing to taking gymnastics
which is really close to our house.
I am thankful that Carly loves that decision!}

growing up too fast

Everytime I turn around she lets me know
that she is growing up and way too fast.
Her latest after school activity is rollerblading
with my Ipod around our cove.

Friday, September 28

friday brunch

Okay, I have to admit that when I hear my friends, who are stay-at-home moms, talking about meeting up during the middle of the day for this or that - I feel a little jealous
(well only briefly before I think about being with Carly all day, everyday, 24/7 with NO time to breath)
But today, I got the best of both worlds. My friend, Elizabeth, invited a few moms from Carly's school to come over after we dropped the munchkins off and have brunch. It was such a treat. It felt like we were getting away with something -
hanging out, visiting, without an agenda, without kids.....just because! Watch out sweetie, I could get use to this :)
.....
Thank you Elizabeth for all your hard work to have us over.
I had a great time!
.....
{editors note - I'm still learning about my new camera and a couple of the pictures I took were bad blurry, so I missed some folks as well as the yummy food table which was beautiful}

Saturday, September 22

cowboy day

{Yesterday was Cowboy Day at school. They were all SO cute.}

{It was gorgeous outside for the cowboy games}

{A few weeks into school, I think they were ready for a "fun" day}

Friday, September 21

Mental Health Day

I woke yesterday morning with a blinding headache but I was determined to get into the morning routine and move on. There was just too much on the day's plate to slow down for a pesky headache. (You know what I mean.) I also figured Advil, water to hydrate, breakfast and a chaser of Sonic Diet Coke and I would be a new woman. I did all the morning routines lunches, snacks, backpacks, breakfasts, review spelling words, get darling child dressed, get me dressed, etc. I packed her in the truck with her dad so that I can go to my doctor's appointment (head still screaming at me). ... I make way to the doctor (which takes a crazy 45 minutes) to find out they don't stock my shot in the office anymore that the new policy is to write me a prescription and I bring it with me to the appointment. An okay policy if you know this BEFORE you show up for said appointment. Add to that the fact that Thursday is the doctor's day off (the very reason they schedule my shot appointment on Thursday) and I leave without a shot or the prescription. The nurse wanted me to "run back by" on Friday and pick up the prescription and then make another appointment. Mind you that the doctor's office is not a place I can just run by - remember the 45 minutes. She finally said she would call it in to my local pharmacy and then I could make another appointment. Does she have any concept of how crazy life is? My head is hurting and I feel achy (all I can think is "I think I am getting the flu"). If this lady knew this she would probably be running for her life. BUT I remained calm and left. 30 minutes across Memphis to work, 2 more Advil, Sonic Diet Coke, and good music...I still fell crappy. ... My 9:30 appointment arrives with his dad. Dad looks like I feel. He is having a really bad time and in the middle of the grieving process after his son was recently diagnosed with autism. This I sympathize with BUT there was really no reason to yell at me. I guess, I looked like a good target. And honestly he was not yelling AT me, he was yelling and I happened to be the listener. Again I remained calm, but that was the last straw for today. I had rearranged the rest of my day because I was suppose to go to a fun ladies luncheon benefiting Palmer Home for Children, but I just couldn't handle it. At this point I felt so bad that I felt nauseous. ... I called my husband, almost in tears, and told him that I had as much as I could handle for today and was going home. He was supportive and said all the right things (I'm sure he was thinking on his feet so this crazy woman would get off the phone before she starts crying hysterically). He basically told me to go home and be a bum, to let all the "stuff" go, that there was nothing that was life or death, it would all be okay for another afternoon. This is tough for me to do even when feeling so crappy (walk past the dirty clothes basket, ignore the dishes in the sink, forget about the unmade beds I left this morning) but I did! ... What do you do when you have an afternoon to yourself that you have given over to resting/relaxing in hopes that you will feel better? This is what I did: Got a magazine, book, Ipod and climbed in the hammock. Read a little and napped. Woke, read a little more and went in side. Climbed in the comfy chair with soft blanket and chose a show from DiVo and napped. Woke, read some more, wrote in my journal, wrote a thank you note and was getting ready to go pick up Carly from school. Kenny called and said he would go pick her up and for me to rest some more (who would say no to that?). I took another magazine, book, and Ipod back out to the hammock and napped some more. Woke to Carly leaning over the hammock to give me a kiss. I hung out on the hammock some more, did Suduku and then took a long hot bath. ... I felt 110% better - diagnosis exhaustion, prescription rest.

Monday, September 17

my playlist

my 1st playlist
on my new birthday present...
  • Picture - Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow
  • Escape(PinaColada Song) - Rupert Holmes
  • Dancing Queen - ABBA
  • Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band
  • Kiss - Prince
  • Stuck in the Middle With You - Gerry Rafferty
  • Little Willy - Sweet
  • Car Wash - Rose Royce
  • Brick House - Commodores
  • Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
  • Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
  • Pink - Aerosmith

Thank you.... Dad, Mom, Finn, Kacey & Robert

Sunday, September 16

first of the season

we couldn't stand it...
we had to light a fire in the backyard fire box.
And, if you have a fire,
you have to have marshmallows
(I think that's an idea for a children's book)
...

Thursday, September 13

...you say it's your birthday...

{a beautiful birthday morning with 2 of my most favorite people}

Sunday, September 9

Lion King

{A wonderful Sunday afternoon at the Orpheum.
We took Carly to see the Lion King in Birmingham last year and
she loved it (minus the "really sad" part).
When tickets went on sale in Memphis, we bought them early.
We didn't tell her where we were going and she was really surprised.
She sat on the edge of her seat - enthralled.
We even made it through with no tears.}

Thursday, September 6

My Reads

I love to read....the newspaper, magazines, blogs, especially books. It frequently amazes me that other people do not, like my husband, for instance. I have tried on numerous occasions to convert him - no luck. The last book he read (and finished) was bought for entertainment on a airplane. He only finished it because I made a comment about him searching SO hard for the right book in the airport bookstore. It just seemed like a whole lot of effort for a book that he would only finish the first couple chapters of. So, he finished it with a "I'll show you". I read it one weekend that he was out of town (yes, he went out of town without it - I don't leave the house without the book I'm reading. Who knows when you will have a few minutes?) just to make sure it wasn't that he picked a stinker of a book. Nope. It took so long to finish that I do not know how he remembered what he had read? I digress.
Last month, my friend Keetha challenged me to keep (and share) a list of books I read. She just posted her August list here. After you check out mine, you should check out hers. She is an amazingly fast reader, and our reading tastes are very different. My book choices lean heavily toward murder-mystery..defined by my sister as "someone dies on the first page and they spend the whole book trying to figure out who did it".
Memory Keepers Daughter - this falls outside my genre' but I liked it. I work with kids with special needs so the fact that the story revolves around a little girl with Down Syndrome probably made it more appealing to me.

The Overlook - I really like Michael Connelly, usually. Ten Dollar Bill and Lincoln Lawyer were both very good, but this one was not. It lacked a little something or maybe a lot of something. It felt like his publisher's deadline had passed and he had to publish a book? Skip this one.

In Cold Blood - I read this a long time ago, probably high school and again in college and really liked it. Recently I read Innocent Man by John Grisham and it reminded me of In Cold Blood so I read it again. I liked it again.

Here for You - I occasionally like to read a nonfiction book. It makes me feel like I am trying to better myself. I have read financial, political, religious, self improvement, but typically my choices are about parenting. This book is written by a pair of moms that work for Focus On The Family. It is a book about mother-daughter relationships with a christian base.

Nancy Drew #1 - This read was a preview because I thought Carly would be interested. She asked me about Nancy Drew after she saw a commercial for the movie. This was the updated version. But besides talk about cell phones and computers, it was what I remember about the older version.

Cross - by James Patterson If you have read others in the Alex Cross series, you will like it. It adds more to the ongoing story. I think these character series that I like probably snag me like soap operas do for other people. I like the ongoing attachment to characters.

Wednesday, September 5

Happy Birthday to Me!

I love my Nikon D70 camera and my zoom lens, but one of its drawbacks is its size. It does not fit in my purse much less my pocket. The D70 is easy to use and takes great pics, but I often do not have it with me when everyday little photo-ops present themselves.
...
So, I have been thinking about another camera. Kenny and Carly surprised me last week with an early birthday present. Look how tiny it is! I love it. I can carry it around in my purse all the time.
Just imagine how often I can annoy Carly now :)
Thank you Kenny and Carly - I probably would have never done it for myself. Love you!