My Very Own Lighthouse

Look at what my sweet husband made

for me for my birthday! I absolutely

love lighthouses (and anything beach-related except for maybe sand you-know-where) and Larry made this for me. It took him six months and he did such an incredible job!!! I couldn't wait to share it!!

I love it so much!!!! I put it in the foyer so it's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.

We've always said we'd love to buy an old lighthouse and fix it up and live in it. I want to find one JUST LIKE THIS ONE!!!

I just cannot get over the detail!! Look at that little walkway. And there's a swing and a picnic table, too. And flowers!

Notice the house number?624.

My birthday.

He's so dang sweet!!! :)

And he even made my own little rowboat tied to the dock with a piece of rope. He called it the S. S. Ginger. Awwwww.

Inside the lighthouse is a spiral staircase and he even put a light in the top. He sure went to an awful lot of trouble for me.

I think he might even like me a little bit.

I sure like him, too. ;)

Raspberry Strudels And 2x4s Upside The Head

Well, maybe not upside the HEAD. More like upside the front of my car. I was coming back from seeing Larry today and from out of nowhere, this board flew up and hit my car! I don't know where it came from, don't know where it had been or where it went afterwards. I never even saw it in my rear view mirror. And the most wonderful thing?? It didn't leave a scratch on my car anywhere. I'm beginning to think I imagined the whole thing.

Jessi came and spent the weekend with me and we did 'bout eight loads of her laundry and we went and got her and Justin some groceries and then I took her home this afternoon. I always, always enjoy her company and I love having her with me. Things are a little strained family-wise where she's concerned but I don't much care. I'm on her side. Always will be.

When I got home, two little neighbor boys across the street were selling raspberry strudels. They said they were "50 cents or 2 for a dollar" when I asked how much. That was so dang cute to me. I gave the little one four quarters for two and he couldn't understand what I was doing. He kept wanting to give me 50 cents back. All they'd done this afternoon was take dollar bills and give 50 cents back so the quarters threw him WAY off. It was just so cute. And the strudels were awesome. Back in my day, we sold Kool-Aid and lemonade in the summertime. Kids are selling strudels now. How cool.

What was NOT cool was the pavement. And of course, I walked over there barefoot and burned the hide clean off the bottoms of my feet. Ow. You'd think by the time a girl is 42 years old, she'd know to at least wear flip flops on hot asphalt in JUNE.

Apparently, not this girl. :)

And Now The Guy Who Talked Me Into OxiClean Is Dead?

What is going ON?? Now Billy Mays has died??

Billy Mays was annoying as all get out but he sure talked me into trying OxiClean and I gotta give him credit for that. That stuff works!!

(Yeah, OxiClean is my un-eco-friendly guilty pleasure.)

Wow. I sure hope he's the last one for a while.

Bad Bad Day

Oh my God, Farrah Fawcett AND Michael Jackson on the same day???

I'm just stunned.

I have such great memories of both of them, having been a child of the 70's and 80's. I remember watching "Charlie's Angels" when I was a little girl. I loved Jill, Kelly and Sabrina so much and I wanted to be just like them when I grew up. I didn't realize until today that Farrah was only on the show the first season. It seemed like she was always an Angel. I got the Charlie's Angels dolls for Christmas in 1977 when I was 10 and Ricky had that famous red swimsuit poster of her hanging on the wall in his bedroom for years.









This would be the one.








There was a made-for-TV movie that Farrah did in the late 80's called "Small Sacrifices" in which she played a woman who was so obsessed with this guy (in the movie played by the love of her life, Ryan O'Neal) that she tried to kill her children because he didn't want to play Daddy. The night she shot her children, that old Duran Duran song, "Hungry Like The Wolf" was playing on her car stereo and I swear TO THIS DAY, I cannot hear that song without thinking about her shooting those kids on that desolate road!

Farrah was such a pretty lady, inside and out, a great actress and a good mama. She was brave, courageous, she fought her cancer for three long years, never giving up, never accepting her fate until the very end. I admire her so much for that. She was an "Angel" here on earth and now she can rest in peace with God's angels.

And what can I say about Mike? Man, the world is just not going be the same without Michael Jackson. What a phenomenal entertainer he was. In my opinion, he was at his best in the 80's. My high school days. The boy could do no wrong. Everything he touched, everything he sang, turned to gold. I wore my "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" albums slap out.

He had such a horrible childhood, from the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father to the fact that he never got to actually BE a child. He overcame what he could and was tormented by what he couldn't. So what if he was a little different? We are ALL different, in one way or another. That's what keeps life exciting. Whether or not he did what they said he did, to me, he was a kind, gentle soul and he did not deserve the misery the media of this country caused him.

Rest in peace, our King of Pop. You are finally free.

It's My Birthday!

42. I'z 42 now.

You should feel free to go ahead and tell me I don't LOOK 42.

I'll wait.

Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala....

Thanks! You are too kind. No, really. Stop.

I had an awesome day!! I had to work on my birthday which was no big deal 'cause I got stuff! The girls in the office all pitched in and gave me cards and a bunch of money and then they took me to a Japanese steakhouse for lunch. Oooooo, calamari. Yum.

Then for supper, Mama and Daddy and Ami and Brian came to my house and brought a bucket of KFC Grilled Chicken, veggies, mashed potatoes, biscuits, lemon squares and brownies. I had had my birthday cake Sunday at our birthday party/Father's Day dinner at my folks' house. I got a pair of capris and $$$$$ from Mama and Daddy and a gift card to Bath and Body Works from Ami and Brian. Tonight, I got to open Larry's gift to me. He got me eleven DVDs, an assortment of movies from comedy to romance to drama. I've only seen one of them so I'm really looking forward to sitting down and watching them.

So, happy birthday to me!! I'm going to spend the rest of it in a bubble bath.

Maggie's Soap Nuts

I am always looking for eco-friendly ways to clean my house and do laundry. I really like Dr. Bronner's soap.  I use that for everything from cleaning the floor to cleaning ME.  Larry saw an ad for these soap nuts in Ode Magazine and suggested that we buy some.  I ordered them last week and they came today.  I was SO excited when I saw them in the mailbox.  I could not wait to wash a load of towels.  :)

I always wash my laundry in cold water so I followed the cold-water instructions on the box. You're supposed to pre-soak two of them in the cotton sack provided in hot water for a few minutes, then toss the soap nuts and the "tea" into your wash load.

These soap nuts are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree and inside them is saponin, a natural soap.  You use just these.  No detergent, no fabric softener.  I've been using dryer balls instead of fabric softener for four years now and I love them.  I used to be a dryer sheet girl but not anymore.  I used to love the way the detergent aisle smelled at the store.  It smelled clean to me.  Not anymore.  I can't stand to walk down that aisle now.  All I can smell now are chemicals and they make me sneeze.

Once my load of towels was done, I took them out of the washer and I was amazed at how clean they looked and felt.  Once they were dry, they were soft, the colors even seemed brighter and they smelled clean and fresh, not perfumed.  I think I'm IN LOVE.

You can use these soap nuts for any soap need you have.  You can even shampoo your hair with them (which I will do and I'll let y'all know how it works!).  They look a little weird, kinda like a date, and they have a mushy, almost gummy texture.  You can reuse the same soap nuts for several loads so they're cost-effective, too.  The box I got does 16-20 loads of laundry and it was $8.  And the best thing??  They are completely biodegradable and you can just toss them in your compost when you're done with them.

Well, maybe the BEST thing is they're good for the earth and you don't have to worry about what's going in your laundry or what came out of it.

***********Update***********

They work great as shampoo!!  I soaked one in some warm water for about thirty minutes first and used the soapy tea that it made as shampoo.  It made my hair super soft and shiny.  But y'all, whatever you do, though, don't get that mess in your eyes!!!  Good Lord.  I'll be blind 'til Thursday.

I made this 'nana puddin' for my daddy for his Father's Day dinner tomorrow. And yes, I realize the cookies are on there all willy-nilly, shut up.

I had to make another trip to Wal-Mart to get a third bag of the Chessmen cookies. Two bags are not enough. I tried to make them work, hence the willy-nilliness.

I don't think this banana pudding was on the dessert menu at The Lady and Sons Restaurant in Savannah when Mama and I went on our little beach trip last month. If it was, we totally overlooked it. I mean, after that fried chicken buffet with all the trimmings which included fried collard greens, we were 'bout to pop by the time dessert rolled around anyway. I heard about this recipe through one of the doctors I work with and I just had to make it.

I cannot wait to try it tomorrow. Jessi and I 'bout hurt ourselves just licking the spoons.

Here's the recipe! Y'all let me know if you try it or have tried it in the past. This was my first time.

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies (you better go on and get you 3 bags!)
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Best Things In Life Are Chocolate

Just wanted to share my chocolate mint coleus.  It was just a spindly little thing when I bought it in March.  It was on a table at Lowe's and they'd given it up for dead.  I brought it home and loved it and petted it and called it George and look how pretty it is now!!

I'm gonna put it in a bigger pot this weekend.

I'm so proud of it!!  :)

Hallelu-yer!

A/C fixed at home.

A/C fixed at work.

Life is good.

Finally.

It's hot.  I know.  I KNOW.  It's Georgia in June.  The way I go on, you'd never know that this is my 42nd summer living here.  Wow.  42 summers.  Summer of '42.  Great movie.

I came home Sunday to a puddle of water in my kitchen.  It didn't take long to realize where the dripping was coming from.  The light fixture.  

See, the air conditioning unit is in the attic, directly over the kitchen.  I did not want it put there three years ago when I bought it because I did not want a stained ceiling, which I knew at some point I would have because I cannot have nice things.  They did it anyway.  They also didn't run a new drain and I've had trouble with the old one stopping up, oh, 'bout three years now.  Grrrrrr.

After spending a very uncomfortable night Sunday (God, I am so spoiled!) and having to wear my hair up in a clip Monday because it was, literally, a hot mess, the A/C guy came over and unclogged the drain and kissed it and made it all better.

Now at work??  I work at a pediatrician's office and for the past month and a half, it's been hot as blue blazes in there in the afternoons. Makes for some crrrrranky li'l young'uns, it does. 'Specially when they have to have shots.  Such good times.

They've replaced the compressor (that didn't fix it), they replaced the coil (that didn't fix it), they've cleaned the thing (that didn't fix it) and still, we were hot.  A different guy came out today and finally LOOKED at something and discovered that a duct was loose up in the attic.

And then he kissed it and made it all better.

I honestly do not understand how people get by in Georgia without air conditioning.  I know they do, though, and they'd probably think I'm just a big old whiney-butt.  So I'm not going to whine anymore.  

I'm going to sit here and watch the lightnin' bugs light up my backyard.

Welcome, my summer of 42!

 

It's Back!

Stress can do terrible, awful things to a girl so I'm not even taking responsibility for the 960 calorie, 45 grams of fat, so-bad-for-your-ass, so-good-it's-ridiculous concoction from Dairy Queen that I scarfed down today.  

I feel fatter just working out the math on this thing.

But man, it was GOOOOOOOD!!!!

Tomorrow Is A New Day

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why Didn't I Think Of This???

This boy is after my heart.

It's basically a milk carton for water.  I don't know why it's taken THIS LONG for somebody to come up with it.

Jordan Steeves hopes to revolutionize the bottled water industry.

The 18-year-old got inspiration for his senior project from his dad, after a trip to Miami.

"He said the beach was amazing and nice," said Steeves, "but he kept stepping on water bottles."

With news of the dangers accumulating plastic is having on the ocean and aquatic life, Steeves began researching an idea he had. He wondered if you could make a water bottle out of cardboard.

After three failed prototypes, he came up with, "Cykle." It's a hybrid cardboard/plastic water bottle.

"The bottle is made up of 70 percent renewable material paper and the rest is 30 percent plastic which is on the outside and inside to keep the water in," Steeves explained.

Steeves formed a company and just won a science contest at WSU for "Cykle." He and his school were each awarded $5,000. He'll use the money for college.

"I'm attending Western Washington University and I'm gonna major in environmental science," Steeves said.

If you know any investors, Steeves says he's still looking.

www.krem.com

Show Us Where You Live Friday!

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner has been hosting Show Us Where You Live Fridays and today it's bathrooms!

I was blessed to have two bathrooms in my little condo.
This is the guest bathroom. My beachy bathroom!

Larry bought me this beautiful Making A Difference ocean picture.
I absolutely love it!!
It reads: A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and spent much of his time exploring the seashore. One day he learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand. The day of the tide he went down to the beach and began picking up stranded starfish and tossing them back into the sea. An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what he was doing. "I'm saving the starfish," the boy proudly declared. When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish, he shook his head and said "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach one way, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look down the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference." The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up a starfish, tossed it out into the ocean and said, "I sure made a difference for that one."

Larry contributed a lot to my beachy bathroom! Ha! He also got me this gorgeous lighthouse shower curtain.

This is the bottom of the shower curtain.

And this is the other bathroom, the one next to the master bedroom.
I got that cabinet at IKEA four years ago and it is still like new. It wasn't meant to be a bathroom cabinet, I kinda forced it, but it's holding up great. I LOVE me some IKEA!!!

Hope you enjoyed peeking into my bathrooms!!

Check Out My Header!

Ain't it so purty??!! Ami made it for me. I LOVE IT!!!!

Thanks, sissy!!

Little Fake April Rose

I'm writing my very first blog about how creepy people on the internet can be.

I read a lot of blogs and will eventually post them here. I was reading one a couple of months ago and saw a link to another one about a young, unmarried woman who was carrying a baby girl who had been diagnosed with Trisomy 13 and was not expected to live long enough to be born. She was expected to die in the womb.

The doctor suggested terminating the pregnancy and mom, "B", refused, choosing instead to cherish what time she had with her daughter and pray that she'd be born alive and be with them (she and baby daddy, "D") for a few minutes before she passed away.

And she started a blog about her. The baby girl that she named April Rose. April because she was sure the baby would be born in April. Her due date was in May but no one expected her to go to term.

I never really connected with "B". I didn't really like her writing style and I thought she was waaaaaaaay too dramatic and upbeat for someone who was losing her daughter. I really got suspicious a week or so ago when she posted ads for little baby girl stuff like ruffled diaper covers and hair bows.

Why on earth would someone whose baby is dying want to look at sweet little girl stuff??

I know now. There was no baby! And the ads were just a way for her to make money. She started this prayer circle called His Will Wednesdays a month ago and would take prayer requests and while that was admirable and very Christian of her, it was also making her rich because every hit to her site brought her more money from the sponsors. And she was taking donations from us poor people who believed her. Although I didn't send her any money, thank God.

Well, Sunday, June 7th, April Rose was born. "B" and "D" had a friend, Raechel, post minute-by-minute updates as to the baby's vitals and kept us informed through the birth and the hours afterward.

I prayed for this baby. I prayed for her parents and I asked God to give them the strength to endure losing her.

And then they posted a picture of the baby.

A small, dark picture in the sidebar. A picture of a baby who was asleep and had weird looking rough blonde hair. That combined with my gut feeling, I Googled "April Rose hoax" and guess what I found out??

It IS a hoax!! Some people recognized the picture of "April" as being one of those reborn dolls named Avery! This chick couldn't find a picture of a REAL baby?? She had to use a DOLL?

So she's busted now and I'm heartsick that I, along with thousands of other people, was tricked into believing her story. Her blog is completely down and so is her Twitter.

How could someone DO THAT??

Just Google April Rose hoax or April Rose scam and read all about it.

I have invested three months of my life in this baby, this story, and I'm so mad, I could spit nails.

"B" is a sad, sad person and while she needs prayer, she won't get mine anymore.