Happy Veterans Day

Fun fact: Did you know that Birmingham is home to one of the country's oldest and largest Veterans Day parades? This was the 63rd annual parade, and I decided to celebrate my day off work by attending. The weather was stunningly perfect, and I (unknowingly) chose a spot right by the viewing stand...I got to see everything. It was fabulous and very moving; I'm so glad I decided to go. I'm thankful that there are people selfless enough to serve our military and our country. And (let's be honest), it was also a good excuse to play with my new camera :) I love, love, LOVE having a camera where I can adjust the shutter speed and take pictures of objects in motion. That alone was worth paying for! Here's what I came away with:

I think these ladies were my favorite. I would love to sit down and chat with them. What an interesting perspective on WWII they must have!

Marion Military Institute---I wish I could've captured just how many of them there were. It was truly impressive.

This gentleman is nearly 101 years old. He looked AMAZING; his secret is probably sunscreen.

I felt like a creeper taking this without permission, but it was so worth it. I think this is my favorite shot of the day.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my darling family and friends
• my health
• my job, and a glorious day off today
• the men and women who have served in the military and fought for our country so that I can have the freedom to do what I want to do
• those veterans being much, much more selfless than I am
• the opportunity to go out to the Bham Veterans Day parade today...fabulous
• my new camera...still getting to know each other, but I'm learning more every day
• my sweet students and the things they're teaching me this year
• a few more weeks until I'm done with my last grad class of the semester
• being able to afford grad school and the time to do my classwork
• finally finding skinny jeans made for non-skinny people :)
• stellar weather this week...it'll spoil ya!
• getting to see Mr. Bush on TV several times this week...didn't realize it, but I've missed him and the class with which he conducts himself
• the holidays approaching
• fun plans this weekend...bring 'em on!

Feelin' a little crafty

I've been in a crafty mood lately. I found a wreath tutorial here and decided to make one of my own yesterday. It was very easy, just time-consuming. Like, I watched "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in the time it took me to make this bad boy, time-consuming. (Side note: I adore those movies, don't you?) It was fun, though. I may make one for myself someday with non-Christmas ribbon. My super cool parents are the lucky recipients of this little guy.

(I took all of these pictures with Nikki. We're still getting to know each other. Excuse the occasional blurriness.)

Let's get to it! (Click the link above for specific directions.)

Step 1: Cut a million bajillion pieces of ribbon. (You could use whatever you wanted, but I think the finished product has more visual interest if you mix different textures and widths of ribbon.)
Step 2: Make loops with your ribbon pieces, stick a pin through them, and jab them on your wreath one color at a time. Don't quit and throw it away when your wreath looks as hideous as in the picture below. It does indeed shape up by the end!

Step 3: Keep jabbing.

Step 4: Jab some more.

Step 5: Ignore the fact that you're developing calluses from pushing all those pins. Continue to jab.

Step 6: Jab in ribbon loops until your wreath is sufficiently full. Attach a ribbon for hanging (didn't get there with mine yet) and hang 'er up!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my family and friends
• my health
• my job
• beautiful, cool fall weather
• a fun day off today spent at Christmas Village with Mimi and Mrs. Linda...it was like an NYC '06 flashback...I loved it
• a day off next Thursday, and the men and women who have served, fought, and even died in order for me to have that day off
• the holidays coming up...so much to celebrate and be thankful for
• my new camera, even though I have yet to take a picture I really like...lots to learn!
• baby #2 news from a darling college friend
• the last few days of daylight past 4:00 pm...love this time of year but really miss the sunshine after the time changes
• the right to vote on Tuesday, and the way it all turned out...here's hoping it's a change for the better
• getting to break out my Dutch oven to make chili this week...didn't use it all summer and forgot how much I love it...next up: this recipe on top of this
• fun plans for the next two weekends
• getting this in an email yesterday...one of my very favorite moments from "The Office"...it's a whole lot funnier when you see the whole episode, but I'll take what I can get :)

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Meet Nikki

Ain't she purty? I've been saving since August for Nikki, and now she's finally mine. I am most excited about her. She has a strap, a pop-up flash, and, get this...a lens cap. A lens cap! I have officially made it to the big time. She makes cute noises and does lots of cool and fancy things. In fact, she's far, far too cool and fancy for me, but I'm trying to catch up as fast as I can. I see lots of adventures in the future for Nikki and me.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my stellar family and friends
• the many blessings in my life, and being able to recognize them (big and small)
• the fact that things always work out God's way, not my way...this is way good because I don't have a clue what I'm doing most of the time :)
• my health
• my job
• Auburn's very first ever BCS #1 ranking...cautiously excited (very, very, very, very excited :) )
• the beautiful, gloriously cool fall weather that arrived here today (to stay? could it be???)
• a successful first Honors Club meeting after school today
• the chance to go on a walk this afternoon
• no ill effects (so far) from my flu shot
• getting to catch up on my "Jersey Shore" this week...I should be embarrassed about how happy that show makes me (but I'm not)
• my new nail polish...never thought I'd get on board with gray nail polish, but I love it
• wrapping up my second grad school class...one more to go for this semester!
• Christmas Village plans with my Mimi next week
• the silent, dramatic interpretation of the Jamestown experience my kiddos did in Social Studies today...it was hilarious and they LOVED it
• a (hopefully!) relaxing weekend coming up, and the start of a new family tradition on Sunday
• no more dreams about Michael Myers since that awful Tuesday morning...let's hope it stays that way!
• payday tomorrow!
• "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV tonight...the holidays are officially here!!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

I had a dream...

My alarm went off this morning at 5:30, as usual. I clearly remember turning it off, making grand plans to reset it for 5:45, and being excited to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Only by the grace of the good Lord did my eyes open at...wait for it...wait for it...6:16. Ick. I try to leave every morning by 6:30ish, so I was panic-stricken. I think I set a new land-speed record getting ready and, thankfully, made it to school right on time. With wet hair, zero jewelry, and considerably less makeup than usual, but I made it.

Oh, and what was it that woke me up from my extra long slumber? A dream I was having. A scary dream. A dream I didn't want to have. A dream about this weirdo:

That's Michael Myers in the original Halloween movie. He's just finished killing a guy, throws a sheet over himself, puts on the dead guy's glasses, and (slowly, silently...so yikes) walks up to the girlfriend. She apparently has 11 brain cells and takes a stupidly long time to figure out that this. is. NOT. her. boyfriend. It doesn't end well for her. If you've never seen this, I'm jealous of you.

I was dreaming about this. I woke up right before he grabbed me. Rise and shine, indeed!Michael Myers dream + oversleeping = the opposite of how I like to kick off my Tuesday mornings.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my awesome family and precious friends
• the grace of God, which gets us through the bad times
• the power of prayer
• opportunities to reflect on how blessed I truly am
• my job, and how sweet everyone has been to me this week
• the thoughtful cards my kiddos and my "math babies" made for me while I was gone...so cute, and so (unintentionally) funny
• the fact that one of my kiddos calls the Tums he has in the nurse's office "TumTums"...and has all week long...I don't have the heart to correct him because it's so stinkin' cute...so cute that sometimes I pretend like I didn't hear him the first time so he'll have to say "TumTums" again
• pretty fall weather
• my mulled cider and pumpkin spice candles (who are getting a whole lot of burn time these days)
• getting to celebrate 2 way cool friends this week...happy birthday LA and Sara K!
• TumTums
• chugging through my first semester of grad school...not tons of fun yet, but definitely manageable
• a chance to catch up a bit on sleep and life this weekend...much needed
• rediscovering this today...heard about it on Rick and Bubba this summer and it made me giggle again today
• TumTums

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Sometimes

Sometimes, something happens that takes your breath away and changes the track your "life train" was traveling on. Sometimes, you're left wondering why. Sometimes, you're reminded in a not-so-subtle way how short life is and how thankful you should be for each moment.

Uncle Mack was too young to go and we didn't expect this at all. If anyone reads this, please pray for Uncle Mack's wife Tammy and his kids Jerry, Sarah, Abby, Spencer, Leannan, and Maggie. Please pray for Mimi and Grandad. Please pray for DennyJ and Aunt Dianne. Please pray that all the rest of us know how to help in the best ways possible. I don't even know what to do or think right now. Please pray.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends
• my health
• my job
• fun plans this weekend :)
• fall weather finally (finally???) here to stay
• the safe rescue of all of the miners/rescuers in Chile...I watched so much of it on TV that I'm fairly positive I could rescue any of you if you got stuck in a collapsed mine
• getting to climb Yogurt Mountain tonight with a sweet friend
• the birth of sweet baby Luke Conerly today...so excited for Suzy and Ian!
• the fact that I got to be friends with this cool kid for 14 years...
  (This was from Psychedelic '03, my very first sorority date party. I was new in Auburn, with 1.5 new friends and -4 date possibilities. I was planning to just wallow around in my dorm room instead of going by myself. Mikee very kindly offered to take me so I didn't have to skip out, and even willingly wore women's clothes from the thrift store. And yep, he even volunteered to go shopping with me. His $2 pants were too tight to button so we had to rig them up with a rubber band...after he laid down on my bed trying to suck it in. He even treated me to a fancy dinner of frozen burritos...heated up in the MICROWAVE, no less. Mikee made that such a fun night, and made me feel a whole lot less like a loser freshman. Easily one of the highlights of my college days.)

I miss him and that sweet smile and his crazy hair and his totally infectious laugh. A whole lot has changed in the 5 years since he left us, but he is still definitely loved and missed. Every day.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Just sew sew...

I think I was getting a little bored with the "same old, same old". And honestly, maybe I was getting a little cocky. I mean, I taught my own self how to sew. I can crank out burp cloths, bibs, and headbands like a machine. So I decided to branch out. Yesterday, on my day off, after crossing off everything on my to-do list, I decided to make myself a throw pillow. I found a great tutorial, bought the world's cutest fabric, and set to it. Two hours later, I was nearly in tears, with a much-too-long, impossible-to-sew-up "throw pillow".

My task: I needed to sew 3 buttonholes. My dilemma: I don't know how to sew buttonholes. I practiced and practiced and still couldn't get it. No problem...I just sewed on the buttons by hand, not realizing that the buttonholes are IMPERATIVE to making this work.

So now she's unfinished, and will remain that way until I gather up the motivation to finish what I started. Sometimes, we all need to be humbled a bit.

Oh well, at least the fabric and buttons are cute!

Thankful Thursday

Just realized I didn't participate in Thankful Thursday last week. Woops. I'm definitely thankful, but sometimes don't feel very bloggy. Back to normal this week!

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends...love 'em love 'em love 'em


• my job...it wears me out daily, but I'm glad to have it


• the lessons I'm learning this year


• my health


• the beautiful fall weather we're having...still a liiiittle warm, but I'll take it


• getting to sew last weekend, and getting to mail out some little bundles of baby goodness I adore these new fabrics, particularly the dotty/swirly one. I'm thinking of making myself a hot new outfit out of it. Thoughts? Yes? No?
  {It's a little ridiculous how happy sewing makes me.}

• Kira and Princess Sugarpieangelface coming to visit this weekend...I love visitors, particularly of the former-bathroomie-and-her-precious-babe variety
• a field trip tomorrow
• making an A in my first grad school class, and maybesortakinda deciding on what I want to ultimately do with all this extra schooling I've decided to put myself through
• the new devotional book I bought this week
• t-shirt tiiiiiiime tonight! I. love. this. show.
• a day off on Monday...yes, please!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

STOP the presses!

I just read something that totally altered the course of my fall. I am elated. Beyond elated...euphoric! This article states that...ready yourself...the pumpkin shortage is over!!! No more waiting list at Publix. No more hoarding cans in my pantry. I'm gonna eat pumpkin in EVERYTHING. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin salsa soup (so yum). Pumpkin to dip my fries in instead of ketchup. Pumpkin on a spoon, straight out of the can. Just kidding about the last two, but NOT kidding about my level of excitement. I plan to take on an orange hue by December. Bring on the pumpkin!

Here kitty kitty...

Where I live, there are a few homeless cats wandering around. I guess people just dump them outside when they move away and leave them to fend for themselves. Without climbing up on to my soapbox about such hideous thoughtlessness, the cats seem to be at least finding something to eat and have adjusted alright to their new life outdoors. All except for the new kid. I've seen him the last few days and he's pitiful, poor fella. He just sits looking around and meowing.

I was out walking this evening and every time I looked around, New Kid was behind me. Following me. Looking at me with those sad little eyes. It was more than this girl could stand. All I kept thinking was, "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me." I even called Mom to see if she thought that verse applied to animals. If this was a test of my faith and compassion, I didn't want to blow it. (Have I ever mentioned that I'm a weirdo who overthinks nearly everything? If I haven't, now's a good time.)

I couldn't take it. I cut my walk short, fired up ol' Mitzy, bought two cans of cat food at the gas station, and proceeded to climb through the woods calling for New Kid. I was about to give up because I was running out of daylight, but I finally heard him. New Kid was answering me. I couldn't convince him to come to me, so I left his food for him. I hope he found it. I hope that $0.89 can of Tuna Delight was the best meal he's ever eaten. I hope it made New Kid feel (at least momentarily) better about his new life.

Utter trash

The only people who knew this about me before today were family members. They have no choice but to love me, no matter what weird stuff I get tied up in. After admitting this to two friends at work today, I'm ready to come totally clean. I look forward to something every week that is best described as complete and utter garbage:

Jersey Shore. It's such a pointless show, and certainly does not contribute to my "betterment" as a human being. Doesn't matter though, because not only do I not change the channel, I seek it out! Since the trainwreck airs on Thursdays, tonight (unfortunately) is not the night. I think I may sew instead to fill up my time, you know, after I complete my GTL routine. You think the guidettes from Jersey Shore have spent much time with a sewing machine? I'm gonna go with a resounding NO.