Fill in the blank Friday!

My bathtub is one of my favorite hiding places.  Not that I need to hide but I just like hangin' out in there.  Bubbles, candles, fluffy towels, warm water.  It's good for the soul!

My greatest strength is my patience. If I'm nothing else, I am a patient girl!  I believe in that saying, "good things come to those who wait" and boy, I got some good things coming!! 

My greatest weakness is that I'm really tough on myself.  My job, my grades, even my marriage. Everything has to be perfect.  I'm SO blessed to have coworkers, teachers and a husband who love me anyway!

My car is a silver 2008 Nissan Altima.  I bought it brand new when I traded my 10-year-old Altima that had 180,000 miles on it and a new transmission.  :)  I LOVE Nissans.  Prolly won't ever have anything else.

In high school, I was painfully shy and extremely self-conscious.  Larry helped me so much with that.  He probably regrets it now 'cause I never shut up.  :) People who didn't know me back then cannot believe that I was ever SHY.  Ha!

Simple things make me happy.  I don't like jewelry (unless it's my wedding ring set or Larry's old dog tag), I'd rather have a plant or seeds than cut flowers and I don't like a lot of stuff around me.

As for this weekend, I'm looking forward to opening up my windows and letting that cool newborn fall air in, being with Larry 'cause I ain't seen him in two weeks and I'm pretty much gonna eat him up and just chillin' at home.  Literally!  It's supposed to be in the 40's at night here!!  I got a new pair of Old Navy yoga pants just burnin' a hole in my dresser drawer!

Happy Weekend!!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

Yeah, I know.  It's Thursday.

Long day.  :(

I'm loving The Brave Girls Club!

Ami introduced me to these daily inspirational emails several months ago and I just love them.  Sometimes, they say exactly what I need to hear on the exact day I need to hear it.  Like today.

I'm also loving that this week is just about over and that we have this to look forward to!

A little cozy fallness!

Groovy fall decorations!

Even though it was still 90 degrees today, I got up in the attic and got my fall stuff down and put it out.  Maybe if I get my house ready for fall, it'll come on.  Whatcha think??

 Here's my mantel, pretty much like last year.

'Cept where did that bear come from?

 Closeup of my centerpiece that I'm STILL proud of!

I just LOVE these pumpkins I got at Hobby Lobby last year!

And there's that bear again...

 

My foyer table

Cute little punkin' I got for my dining room table today at Hobby Lobby and that same yummy pumpkin caramelly candle I had last year.

AND the Peace Bear...

 Another cutie punkin' I got today at HL

to go in my beachy bathroom.

And Peace, trying to hide.

We SEE you.

When this little thingy goes on the door,

it's fall, y'all!!

Happy Fall from me and Peace!

First weekend of fall

Well, it certainly doesn't feel much like fall this weekend but the calendar says it's official so I'm going with that.  The high today is 91 degrees.  I'm going to enjoy the last warm days of summer/early fall in Georgia because I hate, hate, hate being cold.  

Larry and I celebrate a milestone this weekend and we didn't even get to be together!  Everybody say, "Awwwwww!"  He's working this weekend.  He's the agape leader for Kairos and they're doing a walk at Central this weekend.  I am so proud of him and his commitment to Kairos and his role in telling others about Jesus that I don't whine much when a weekend like this comes up.  I just worry that it's too much, that he's not appreciated like he should be.  Heck, if they paid him $100,000 to do it, it wouldn't be enough for me.

Our milestone is 23 years since we met!  September 25, 1988.  A Sunday.  This is what we looked like back then!  I just barely remember being that young.  I think I look better NOW at 44 than I did at 21.  He looks the same.  Fine as muscadine wine in the summertime.  ;)

So I've been hangin' at home this weekend, resting my foot.  It feels a lot better today!  Wanna see?  Okay, well, maybe it doesn't LOOK any better but it does feel better.  I think that stuff I got reduced the swelling some.  Plus, I've had it propped up most of the weekend, too, and I'm sure that has helped. 

I worked a little while yesterday morning and then I went and saw the movie, Straw Dogs.  I loved it.  An hour into the movie, I was cheering for the bad guys because the two "victims" were just stupid.  The girl was a brazen hussy, plain and simple, and the guy, smart and sweet and peace-loving as he was, just got involved too much.  Yeah, I'll say it.  They pretty much asked for it.  The main bad guy was my Eric.  He can do no wrong in my eyes anyway.  :)  It's a great movie.  Had me on the edge of my seat the entire two hours and left me with my mouth hangin' open at the end.

I slept late this morning and then I got up and cooked!

 

Beef tips, rice and gravy

 Homemade mac and cheese

 Peach cobbler

 Here's some cobbler next to the peach ice cream 

that Daddy made for me earlier in the summer.  

Yummmmmm.

I guess it's not really goodbye, summer.  More like so long.  Farewell.  It'll be warm here until November and be hot again in March! 

I love Georgia. The Lord knew exactly where to put me.

Fill in the blank Friday!

The best thing I did all week was buy some of this for my poor foot.  What a difference it made!!  It's identical to Biofreeze and it's over-the-counter.  I got it at Walmart for $7!!

Freshly-washed sheets make me super happy.

The best thing about my life right now is that everything seems to be falling into place!

Pets are just like family.

With cooler weather, I'm looking forward to being able to walk outside and not get eaten alive by skeeters.

Something that's on my wish list right now is a MacBook Pro.  And some of these -- reusable produce bags.

This weekend, I'm going to work tomorrow morning, go see Straw Dogs tomorrow afternoon, rest my foot and study for a test Tuesday night!

Happy Weekend!!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

I'm loving that fall will officially be here Friday!!  It'll still be 90 degrees here but a girl can dream, can't she??

I'm loving the way 2.5 Men handled the Charlie fiasco!  They killed him.  Ha!  And Ashton was absolutely precious.  I can't wait to see this season play out.  

I'm loving that Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin is back at Bath and Body Works!  I'm planning a do-nothing weekend and I might just run over there and get me some.  I'm finally out from buying out three stores four years ago.  Ha!!

I'm loving how my stuffed peppers turned out today! Ground beef, rice, tomato sauce, a little A.1., some chopped onion, spices and cheese on top.  Yum!!

Monster take over!

We got a shipment of toys today for the office.  Halloween toys.  Monsters!! 

Here they are all lined up on my desk.  They told me they would be sweet and nobody would get scared if I put them on my blog.  I was happy to oblige!  LOOK at how cute they are.  They wouldn't scare anybody if they all yelled, "Boo!" at the same time.  Amateurs.

This little dude I swiped for myself.  He's gonna sit up there with me with Booty The Butt Paste Bobblehead and Sunny Smiley, Pinky's brother.  Pinky went home with a crying child one day and Sunny was happy to take her place.  Sunny is happy all the time, though.  Anyway, I thought this little vamp was THE cutest thing EVAH and I just love him.  His name is Vampire Bill.  :)  He has the Compton eyes, don't you think?

Fill in the blank Friday!

You should always take time to wash your face every night before going to sleep no matter how tired you are.  People comment on my complexion all the time.  They say I don't look as old as I am (I love that!) and that I have beautiful skin.  It's because I take care of it and always have. Ever since I was a kid using Noxzema!  Man, that stuff stunk.  I don't use any one thing.  I like to try different cleansers and moisturizers.  I'm using this right now to cleanse and this to moisturize.  Avalon Organics lavender. LOVE.  You can get both of them for fifteen bucks at Amazon.

Random acts of kindness make the world a happier place to be.

I can hardly wait for the leaves to change and to feel them crunching under my feet!  Now raking them all up is a whole 'nother story.

Saturday is my favorite day of the week.  I get to spend it with this really cute boy who still puts butterflies in my tummy.

Something totally dumb and ridiculous that I love is watching countless movies on Lifetime.  I swear, I'm addicted!  They are so hokey and sappy but I'll sit there and watch three in a row.

If I could, I would but I can't so I ain't.  :)

I rather like wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt all weekend!

Aldi run!

 Look at all this stuff I got at Aldi today for $40!!

Have I mentioned how much I loooooooove Aldi??  I love Aldi so much that if I wasn't already married, I would marry Aldi.

I cannot talk enough about the quality of the stuff there.  And I don't know WHAT they do to their milk but it stays fresh a lonnnnnnnnnng time.  I left a little bit in the jug in my refrigerator as an experiment, just to see how long it would last and when I finally drank it, it was a MONTH past its expiration date and it still tasted fresh and delicious.

I noticed when I was getting my eggs that they have put a pad under the door so that little toesies won't get cut.  Now ALL is well in my little Aldi world.

Their produce is so fresh, too.

I thought these peppers were gorgeous!

THREE for $1.49!!!

I never carry cash, NEVER have a dang quarter for the buggy so I've started keeping an "Aldi quarter" in my car.  :)

What I'm loving Wednesday!

I'm loving this fall bucket list!  I think I can check off six or seven things on there.  What about you?

 I'm loving these fall yummies I found on Pinterest this week!

 Pumpkin pie french toast!

 

Blueberry breakfast cake!

 Doughnut holes + pretzel sticks + Nutella + 

chocolate sprinkles = cutie patootie acorns!

I'm loving this water bill I got today!

I just knew this month's bill was going to be astronomical because of that busted pipe in the yard last month but it's not!!  It's only $4 more than usual and a $1 LESS than last month's.  Wooo hoooo!!  I guess the leak wasn't going on as long as we thought after all.  My treehugger heart is very happy.  Yay!!

Today

What an emotional day.  

I chose not to watch any of the 9/11 10th Anniversary coverage this weekend.  Well, the actual footage of that day, anyway.  There is nothing they could show me that I haven't seen a hundred times already, that we all haven't seen a hundred times already.  For years following September 11, 2001, on each anniversary, the media drowned us in images from that horrific day, crying out, "REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER".  As though any of us could ever forget.  What's more important than us remembering is that we tell our children and our grandchildren about that day, why it happened, what happened and what we're going to do to keep it from happening again.

I did watch a little of NBC's coverage of the memorial services in New York this morning as I was getting ready for church.  I heard stories of heroes, heard names read by the children of those lost and listened to patriotic music and I cried.

I went to church and we had a beautiful memorial 9/11 service, heard about heroes like Pat Tillman, the football star turned soldier, Todd Beamer, the Flight 93 passenger whose brave "let's roll" became our battle cry and the firefighters who saved the lady in the stairwell, who incidentally passed away in January and those same firefighters attended her funeral saying it was the least they could do, after what she did for them.  They believed her to be their guardian angel because had they not stopped to rescue her in that stairwell, they would have been killed when the building collapsed.  There are the 343 firefighters who refused to back down, refused to get out even after they were ordered to, the paramedics who kept going back and back again, desperate to help save somebody, the police officers who even though they were terrified, stayed to try to control the chaos and try to bring some kind of order to what was unlike anything they'd ever experienced before.

We took of the Lord's Supper and had some beautiful music.  The Lord blessed us with a wonderful, spirit-filled service.  And I cried.

I went and spent a couple of hours with my love, sharing with him what I'd just experienced at church and how I couldn't wait to go tonight to see the movie Brother Andy had planned for us, The Cross and The Towers, a documentary about four steel crosses that were found in the WTC rubble.

I went tonight and saw the movie and I cried.  It was a great story of hope and promise and trust and I loved it.  It was our proof that even in our darkest day, God was with us.  Even as we all questioned, "where IS He??", He was there.  I know there are some groups that do not want it displayed at the World Trade Center site and that's their right.  We have religious freedom in this country.  But all I gotta say about that is they are missing out!  They are missing out on the greatest love story ever told.  The story of Jesus and His love for us, His constant presence in our lives. 

It even had metal wrapped around it, like His royal sash.

If that doesn't thrill your heart, it ain't beating.

Fill in the blank Friday!

Somewhere someone is doing what she loves.  I want to be like her.

Green-living bloggers are my muse. 

It would really suck if the internet was no more because I wouldn't know how to diagnose myself (and others!), find a phone number or fix a botched recipe.

The beautiful weather is my favorite thing about today!  I enjoyed a wonderful two-mile walk on the park trail with my friend, Lisa, today at lunch and it was awesome.

Life is kinda like a hot bath.  The longer you stay in it, the more wrinkled you get.

If I could have anything I wanted, I would want Larry home with me and to get started building our dream house.  I'm really, really looking forward to that walk-in pantry!

A funny thing happened the other day...I couldn't find my cordless phone.  Anywhere.  I looked all over the house and could not find it.  I even called it from my cell and the base rang but I couldn't hear the phone ringing.  Several hours later, I went to get a glass of tea out of the 'fridge and there it was.  Right beside the milk.

Happy Weekend!!  :)

What I'm loving Wednesday!

 I'm loving the cool weather we've had the past two days!

Such a welcome break from the heat.

 It's got me thinking about this...

 Oh, and this...

I'm loving Pier 1's new fall line of woodland critters, too!

I got my new catalog today and 

I just fell in love with this baby porcupine.

You know I'm gon' have to go get him.

Labor Day

 

 

Take rest.  A field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.  ~Ovid

With our national unemployment rate still over 9%, I thought a lot today about what Labor Day must mean for those 14 million people.  If they were able to afford hamburger, I'm sure they grilled out just like we're supposed to.  More than likely, though, they probably spent hours on the internet looking for jobs, applying for jobs that they'll never hear anything from.  I know what it's like to lose a job, to be laid off from a job you've had for many years, a job that you thought you'd retire from one day.  I was fortunate enough to find something else pretty quick and since that bump in my life's journey led me to some pretty awesome people and an opportunity to go back to school, I'm not the least bit upset about it anymore.  Much.  :)  I still think the powers that be at Citigroup are greedy hogs.  Since they opened their $850 million Citi Field in New York the same year they laid me and 50,000 other employees off, it's clear where their priorities were.  Not with their employees, that's for sure.  And like Larry says, who on earth would attend a Mets game, see the Citi Field sign and say, "oh, I think I'll borrow money from them now!"??  Nobody.

So Labor Day for a lot of Americans this year was just another day of trying to survive.  I prayed for them today.  My brother is included in that 14 million figure.  He's been out of work over a year and I just pray that he'll find something.  Anything.

I spent today on the sofa again, trying to get over my cold.  I feel much better now.  Another day of rest was exactly what I needed. 

Rest so you can be bountiful.  I like that. 

Hope everybody had a safe and happy Labor Day!

This weekend

I framed and hung this awesome picture of Maw and her mama Emily, daddy Elijah and brothers, John, Harry and J. E. in my hallway.  How cool is Uncle J. E. sitting there holding a 'coon just like it was their pet dog or something??  Best. Picture. Ever.

 I enjoyed these beautiful pink daisies that I took from Maw's grave. 

She told me it was okay.

 I got to see my thirsty grass and flowers and 

'mater babies outside get a good drink of water.

And this is where I pretty much camped out all of today.

When two people love each other as much as Larry and I do, 

you kinda want to share everything.  

So he shared his bad cold with me.  :)

Fill in the blank Friday!

My most irrational fear is drinking sour milk.  I have to sniff the carton before I pour any into a glass or a bowl for cereal.  Even if I JUST bought it and it doesn't expire for two weeks.  Don't care. I got burned once and ever since...  And this comes from a girl who will still eat cornbread crumbled up in a glass of buttermilk.

Letting someone do something for me makes me feel awkward.

I can't imagine life without my family. We just experienced the heart wrenching loss of our matriarch, our mama, our Maw, and with the exception of one cousin who couldn't make it, we ALL huddled together at Mama and Daddy's and helped each other through it.  I would NEVER have gotten to the end of that day without them.

Cheese is my favorite snack.  Any kind, any how.

Lately, I've been runnin' on faith.  Larry and I have some stuff going on that's taking forevah and I just had to give it to the Lord 'fore I let it drive me crazier than I already am.  :)

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving is NOT for you.  :)

Fall is almost here!  It's crisp mornings, long-sleeved tees, comfort foods like chili and soup and hot chocolate, a yummy pumpkin candle, the fair and the smell of wood smoke outside from fireplaces that have just woken up from months of sleeping.  It's my favorite season!