Just a few more!

My partner in crime for the yearbook had to school camera the day we were taking the group pictures. Look what she got:)

This is where I stood to get the pictures.
And why this picture?
Because that's me on top of the ladder! That's the highest point where I could see my Magnolia tree!
Good thing I'm not afraid of heights! I just look as it as a yearly adventure.

Yes, I don't get out much!

Out of the mouthes of babes

This afternoon I was shopping for some classy clothes for a Philharmonic concert that I'm hosting tonight. Reagan had been sent home from school with the slightest fever so she was with me. I found a shirt I quite liked but could only find larges. I needed a medium. As I was looking through every single one of them I said out loud, "I can't find my size!"

To which Reagan answered, "Just suck in and don't talk."

Don't you just love her??

I could have explained to her that I needed a smaller size, not a larger one but instead I just shared a laugh with a friend of mine who happened to be one rack over:C)

Why I Love My Neighborhood

I live across the street from the house I grew up in.

Next door to the house my mom lived in when she was a little girl.

I've now lived in three houses on the same street.

My elementary, middle, and high school are five blocks away, my college is four blocks away, and the church I've attended my entire life is six blocks away.

I really don't need to leave my square mile that often. If they could just put a Wal-Mart somewhere in here I'd be so happy!

I was pondering this today while standing of the roof of the administration building of my former, and the girls current, school. Why, you might ask. To take pictures like this for the yearbook.
As I waited for my partner in crime to line each class up for me I was zooming in around the wide view I had. Oh, and trying not to blow off!

From my perch I could see...

-my church and the gym I work out in...
-the Sonic I don't go to every day...
(Without my laptop working I don't have my beloved Photoshop to add arrows to my pictures. Trust me, you can see the color on the sign about in the middle of this picture.)

-The college my mom, aunts, uncles, grandmother, husband, and self attended. And where I met my wonderful husband...
-And when I looked close enough...the Magnolia tree in my backyard!!!
How cool is that?!

I love my small town:) Oh, and my square mile!

Want a smile?

My computer crashed...again. My amazingly techie husband is stunned. It's something he's never seen and can't quite understand.

I like to do that from time to time, throw curve balls at him:)

So here I sit...on his laptop...without my pictures. Please pause a moment to sigh with me.

So I did the only thing I could do. I went somewhere else and stole this funny cartoon.

Shhhh, don't tell.

Can you just think about someone you know, love, or loathe that can fit into each of these? I certainly wouldn't dare to name names here...but I'm laughing to myself. I find myself fitting into several of these. Just depends on what day you catch me!

So have some fun, think of someone for each one. Take your lunch hour, or lunch 5 minutes. And say a prayer for my laptop. I can honestly say that I will go crazy without it!

That would make me 'The Drama Queen'!

Update on my stalkers:)

Well, if you write it, they will come...or something prolific like that.

Or...if you just add the linky thing in the left column for people to click on, they will click!

I didn't write that post begging for new followers, or because I was worried about no one reading my blog. I really just wrote it because I thought it was interesting. I enjoy that people read my blog but even if it was just a hand full of people I'd still write. This is such a release for me. All the sarcasm and humor that rolls around in my head has to come out somewhere. Why not here??

Okay, okay...but it is exciting to know that there are people who read every day. And I would be lying like a dog if I said I didn't care about comments. I just love to hear what people have to say! Even if it is mean:)

I watched my following go from 6 to 19 in the days following my post about this. I am excited mostly because now I have new friends. And I can stalk them!

I know, I know, I need to stop calling it that.

So to all my new followers, "Hello! And welcome:)"

To those of you who don't have a blogger or google or yahoo or whatever account it takes to comment, "Hello and welcome!"

And to those of you who stopped reading after the first few words...for shame!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go stalk some people!

More Tornado Damage

As we were driving to lunch yesterday we got to see more tornado damage. In the diagonal NE direction of the tornado we noticed that Target had some roof damage, the shopping center sign had some,
but across the street the Starbucks and Chic-fil-a didn't. But just a few feet away a Fantastic Sams and a Cricket store were heavily damaged.
As we followed the path of the storm we saw where it hit Chuck E Cheese
and then started through a neighborhood. A few houses had roof damage but we were fascinated to see some that had a wall of bricks that had been pulled off. Not much other damage, just a wall of bricks, gone. One house was fine but had this in the front yard.
Wonder what that looked like before the limbs were sawed off??

As we pulled into an apartment complex we saw this.
That would be two bedroom windows, now separated from the bedrooms!

Just behind the apartments is a housing addition where we found this tree. It shows the direction of the tornado. The SW side of the tree has limb damage but the NW side doesn't. AMAZING!!
I feel so sorry for everyone who has suffered from this but I must admit it fascinates me! Makes me want to go back to my childhood dream of being a Storm Tracker!

Birthday Breakfast and Linner, Dunch, Supper??

I am always shocked and pleased that my girls ask me to cook for them on their birthdays. I have many times offered to take them somewhere, their choose. Year after year they choose me instead. I let them choose anything. And we've had some interesting choices! I do usually have to add a salad to dinner to make it a little healthy though!

McKinley's choice for this year?


Breakfast:

Sheepherder's Breakfast



Lunch/Dinner


Pasta a la Vodka
Soft Breadsticks
Gogo's Green Beans
Cheesecake Pie with Cherry Sauce
Key Lime Pie

Oh, and salad


We're saving the big birthday cake for her friend party in a few weeks. Since our family, both sides, are ultra Nazarenes we are calling the pasta, Pioneer Pasta since it's from The Pioneer Woman. Of course, the majority of them read this blog....oh well, it will be over and digested by now! And just so you know, the alcohol cooks out! It just leaves a slight kick to the overall dish.


In Reagan's 7 years of life she's had two Thanksgiving birthdays but she still picks the breakfasts and cake. Her choices have been diverse.

Now Kennedy? Every year it's Ham and Vegetable Linguine. Never fails. I don't even have to ask.

McKinley, like Reagan, changes it up every year. We've had Enchiladas, Lasagna, Poppy Seed Chicken, and now a simple pasta dish.

So here we sit, stuffed and satisfied. Sure wish someone would make my favorite dish on my birthday. I hate to have to go eat out!

She's a what??

Okay, I need to come to terms...my baby is 13 today. A t....A tee....A. Give me a minute...a teenager.

That hurt.

She's my first born but she'll always be my baby. So will the others, just for future reference.

So, to celebrate her 13th, in true crazed mom fashion...here are 13 things I love about her.

1. She was a sweet surprise. We had planned to wait for three years to have a baby but God stepped in.

2. Her Gran, my mom, died when she was 5 1/2 months old. We know she was a gift so that my mom could be a grandmother.
3. She is a sweet big sister. 4. She is using her God given talents to bring Him glory.

5. She is a wonderful best friend.
6. She is one smart chickie!
7. She has a great sense of humor!
8. She's quite entertaining during the summer.
9. She's not afraid to step out of her comfort zone and try something new.
10. She's a loyal fan.
11. She has looked like me at every age. But taller.
12. She's becoming quite the little photographer.
13. She's only getting better with age!!

I love you Sweet Pea!

Would You Let Her Quit?

Have you ever talked to someone who said, "I really regret all those years I took piano lessons."

I doubt it. I know I never have.

I always hear people saying, "I really regret that I stopped taking piano lessons."

McKinley started piano lessons at the age of 4. She had been sitting at the piano for a few months picking out songs. Nothing fancy, just Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had A Little Lamb. She has always done well. But I have threatened to glue her to the piano bench on more then one occasion. She HATES to practice! HATES it! For the last two years we have forced her to continue. Okay, maybe forced is a bad word. We've just told her that she'll be doing it. I don't have to drag her out of the car at the teachers house or anything. Well, not every time.

Even though she complains she's good.

I know, I know...I'm her mom. I have to say that.

But stay with me. A friend at school played a song for McKinley a few weeks ago that she really liked. She watched the friend and came home and played the song for me. Played it for me! She didn't have any music. Just her memory. It was beautiful. She told me she also liked it but felt like it needed a key change. A key change!! She has since taught herself another really difficult one. I just personally think that she should stop the lessons!

The first one is the song as she figured it out. The second one is the oh so necessary key change.

Listen to the videos and tell me what you honestly think. Should she be allowed to quit??

Oklahoma Wind??

Last Tuesday we had rain.

And hail.

Oh, and tornadoes.

Yep. Welcome to Oklahoma. Ya'll stay a while!

I won't bore you with my play-by-play of the day but will share two powerful pictures.

Okay, maybe three.

Wait! It's four.

Four.

That's it. I promise.

So here's the snow.

Wait...snow?

Forgive me...that would be hail. Oklahom hail. It can take out a windshield. Or a frontal lobe.
There were at least four separate tornadoes. One was about three miles from our house.

It did this.

And this.
What is that you might ask?

Well, that would be a completely ruined trampoline.
Like totally twisted!

Oklahoma...it's not just about the pretty scenery!

Come visit!

Followers/Stalkers

So I'm finally figuring out the whole 'follower' thing.

It's taken me a while.

Who isn't surprised by that at all??

When I first discovered I had two followers I was honestly freaked out. I mean, I know that I am not completely anonymous on here, but people I didn't know were following me?!?!

Then I made myself start breathing again and realized that I knew one of them. I had been reading her blog for a while. The other one? A somewhat creepy cartoony picture of a man.

With shaking hands I clicked on his picture.

Imagine my surprise when I realized it was my back up guy (you know, if we're both still single on this date we'll marry each other) I'd met in college. He had found me on Myspace a few years earlier and I'd been fascinated with reading his myspace blog devotions. I kept encouraging him to write a book because he always seemed to mention things that I knew people would be going through. Long before I blogged, he started one.

And there he was, stalking me.

Okay, not really.

By then I had figured out I wasn't being stalked by some mass murderer. My breathing was returning to normal and I went and read all his devotions. He is truly a talented writer. You can find a link to his blog in my sidebar.

Figuring Faith.

Now that following is becoming more commonplace I've noticed blogs that have quite a few. Of my mentors and friends, Kristie has 157, and Jen has 22 but has probably hundreds of subscribers! Cake Wrecks has 3,535!

Me, I have 9.

I couldn't figure out why I didn't have more:(

Not that I think I'm so amazing that I have people waiting on the edge of their computer chair to read my new posts...but because I have statcounter...I know a lot of people do stop by.

It hit me on Sunday...I might be slow, but eventually I'm brilliant!

If I had a place on the blog page to actually click on maybe that would make it easier! I know, brilliance.

So now it's there. Come follow me. Also, that means I can read a little bit about you and I'll feel like I have a new friend.

And if you have a blog, I can stalk you!! Wait, I mean follow you:)

And if you have some time to spare, go visit my followers. Some of them have amazing blogs that will put mine to shame.

But don't leave me!

I'd miss you:)

Presidents Day in pictures