All No Work and No Play

All work and no play could make A Girl Named Kelly Kelly a dull girl. If she had time to be dull, which she doesn't. I know so many people who are on vacation this week. It's spring break for most counties around here. It's making it very difficult to stay focused and work while lots of folks are at beaches and lakes having fun! But work I must. And I must so that we can have ourselves a beach trip in May and our family beach vacation in June. I'm not usually a jealous girl, but honestly, when it comes to the beach, I'm always jealous of others who are there when I'm not. Oh, well. This weekend I really didn't have too much time to think about being jealous. We worked our booties off at home. We had our house pressure washed on Friday. The guy did an awesome job and the house sparkled. Everything, that is, except for the windows. It seems that all the gunk that washed off the house washed onto the windows. They looked bad. I bought one of the Windex window cleaning kits. It worked quite well on the outside windows. Then I had to clean the ones inside. Some of them I couldn't reach, so Jeff cleaned those for me. Window washing is a job! But I have to say cleaning the windows made the biggest difference. Having clean windows makes the whole house clean. Ahhh, you know I love that. Yesterday was such a beautiful day. It wasn't as windy as it was on Saturday. I decided to go to the little lake in our neighborhood and fish for a while. I actually caught three. Then I got my line tangled up in a tree and had to break the line to get it loose. I forgot my tackle box at home, so I left. It was great fun while it lasted. While I was washing windows on Saturday, Jeff finished filling the hole where the tree I hated was. You can see what's left of the tree in the background of this picture. My sweet husband does such a great job at every project he works on. He is a perfectionist and I am so lucky, because perfection is what I like. Now we'll get a birdbath and a bird feeder and it'll be a bird's heaven. I've been working on Cam's graduation announcements a little each day. I don't want to be down to the last minute and stressed over getting them out, so I do a little at the time and it's not so bad. They sure are pretty and I get emotional every time I look at them. It's such a milestone for him and well, for me too, really. Speaking of the sweet lil' devil. He's painting the garage for me today. He's actually leaving for Tybee with Ross and some friends on Thursday for the weekend. I know he doesn't like to paint and I sure am glad he's doing it for me because I don't like to paint either. He had my debit card all weekend, so I had a little leverage when asking him to do it for me.

The worst part is that now that the walls are going to be nice and fresh, the baseboards look positively awful. That means they'll need painting, too. Something is telling me that Cam will not have time to get to those before his trip and we all know that I won't be able to wait for him to get back to get them done. I'll likely be painting baseboards this weekend.

So like my title says, all work and no play makes me a dull, but very busy girl! Busy is good, especially if you're accomplishing things that make you happy.

Till next time, peeps. Live, love, laugh!

Up Too Late

Last night I stayed up way past my bedtime. About 9 o'clock I discovered that the Betty Broderick story was on Lifetime Movie Network.

It is one of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it dozens of times. It's a long movie, too. So I watched the entire movie again. Then guess what? It came back on again. And guess what? I stayed up and watched it again. This morning I could hardly pry my eyes open.

It's a fascinating movie to me. She was one mean lady.

There are several other movies that I've watched over and over. I'll even watch them back to back if they're played back to back.

Of course, if you know me at all, you know this one is my most favorite. I've seen this one more times than I care to admit. Even seeing this movie poster makes me want to pull it out of its case and watch it right now.

Driving Miss Daisy is one I'll watch anytime it's on, too. I love Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. It's definitely one of my favorites. Such sweet southern charm. I love it.

Kathy Bates is one of my favorite actresses. I love everything she's been in. Misery is a great movie to me. If Jeff comes in the room and I'm watching it, he promptly turns around and walks back out. He hates it. In fact, I do believe he hates all of these movies that I love.

Ahh, Dolores Claiborne. Another great one with Kathy Bates. Dark and very disturbing. I love it.

I can kill two birds with one stone by watching Fried Green Tomatoes. I get a Kathy Bates fix and a Jessica Tandy fix all at the same time. Won't flip the channel if I come across this one either.

Not sure why I like this one so much, but I do. I'll watch it over and over too.

I'm not all morbid. Who doesn't love Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde? My favorite part is after she and her boyfriend break up and she's in the bed eating the chocolates. Love it when she comes across one she doesn't like and just throws it across the room. My kinda gal.

These are reasons why I might stay up too late. And believe me, there aren't many, but one of these movies will do it every time. How about you? What movie will you stay up late to watch, even if it's the one hundredth time you've seen it?

Till next time. Happy Friday!!!

Why Didn't I Think of That

I was reading through my daily blogs and came across the cutest thing I have seen in a while. I always read Laurie's blog. She has two pretty little girls and is such a witty gal. I'm blogging tonight from the ipad and cant get it to link up with her blog. She's Laurie's Life on my sidebar list.

She was showing about a gift she had received and I thought it was so cute. And a great way to use old buttons.

My mom used to have this old, old sewing machine that was on a wooden desk-type thing that belonged to my great grandmother It had these little tiny button and notions drawers. It was FULL of old buttons. When we were kids, we would play like we were cashiers and the buttons were change. It didn't take much to entertain little girls in the '70s.

Anyway, I did a Google search and found lots of good info on making your own button bracelet like the one she received. Maybe they've been around a while and I'm a day late, but I fell in love with them.

I can't figure out how to get my pics smaller. I hope they don't hurt your eyes. They are so big. Neither can I figure out how to get past the pics and finish my post. So I will just leave you with these pretty images.

I can't wait to get to my mom's and get in those button drawers.

Till next time...

The Grocery Store

Grocery shopping is one of my wifely/motherly duties that I absolutely 100 percent despise. I walk into the grocery store and have a panic attack. All those ingredients and food feel like they've got hands reaching out to me. Buy me. Buy me. Buy me. I started couponing a little while back. Crystal introduced me to her new "hobby." She was saving lots and lots of money every week. I thought, hey, why not. I bought two Sunday papers, because that's what she told me to do to get the most benefit, clipped my coupons, checked the ads and went to the store. If I thought I was having panic attacks just doing my regular grocery shopping, the fear and anxiety I added with my new "hobby" was off the chart. Trying to find what I needed to buy, making sure I had the coupon, that it was the right size and quantity had me a blubbering idiot by the time I made it to the checkout register. I have kindly asked Crystal to please introduce me to a new "hobby." On the way home from my deposition this morning, I decided to stop in Kroger (without my coupons). We needed groceries. We go through seriously about 20 bananas a week. I have to go fruit shopping about every other day. But we also needed food-food. Like for suppers and such. Dang it if the same thing didn't happen. Anxiety. Pressure. I couldn't think of a thing to buy. And I even had a recipe and had made a list. I spent $90 at the grocery store today. And this is what we're having for supper tonight. How sad is that? I also bought 30 of these. Ross and Cam will eat boiled eggs for supper. Well, that and a banana. And Tyson already grilled chicken. I think this little lady has the right idea of what a weekly menu should be.

What do y'all think?

Till next time...

Pizza and Baby Chicks

Sunday night supper was at Mellow Mushroom last night. None of us felt like cooking and decided we'd let the pizza chefs at the Shroom cook for us. Eli was starving when we got there. We all got situated and I talked him into sitting beside me by telling him I'd get him some crackers ASAP. He told me he was so hungry he could eat a raw fish. HA! I don't know about that, but the boy can put away some pizza. After dinner, we went over to my mom and dad's house to visit with them for a while. Daddy had some baby chicks to hatch. Out of 30 eggs, I think 6 chicks hatched.

Eli was in love with the chicks. So much so that he wanted to take one home with him for his pet, claiming that they had zero pets. He is so into animals right now. He rode with Jeff and me to my mom and dad's. We were talking to him about what he wanted to be when he grew up. At first he said that he wanted to be a court reporter like his mom. The reason being that he wouldn't have to work every day! HA! Then he went on to say that he would like to work at an aquarium or zoo.

Everything Eli says cracks me up and charms me at the same time. He asked my dad if he just bought a carton of eggs for the chickens to come out of. His favorite chick was the light golden one. That's what he called it. Light golden. There was a little runt whose eyes were just barely open. He was kinda left out of the group and we all felt sorry for he/she/it. Eli gently picked he/she/it up and took he/she/it to the water jar. We felt like the runt was feeling better by the time we left from all the TLC

Eli gave him.

Can you tell these two are the apples of my eye?

What would I do without them?

Till next time...

Back in the Day

Friday nights have always been date night for Jeff and me. Way back in the day, when the boys were little, we would take them over to my parents' house every Friday night. We'd drop them off and then go out to eat or do whatever, but usually it was to go eat. And almost always it was to eat Mexican food at our-then-favorite-place, On the Border. They're not even open anymore.

Date night was definitely a highlight of the week and really set the stage for Friday becoming my favorite day of the week. It was always a relief to get rid of the kids and go somewhere with only Jeff.

The kids didn't suffer it out either. They loved staying over at my mom and dad's. Some very good times were had by all on Friday nights. My mom would usually cook them something neat. My dad would play some of his favorite DVDs, like Mr. Bean or Sanford and Son. And he had a junk box that the boys loved to get in.

We never rushed to get back and pick them up. At On the Border, there was no rushing anyway. It was always sooo crowded. They had the best margaritas. In the summertime, we'd sit out on the deck and I remember times when it would be so hot. Between the salt in the margarita and the Georgia heat, my feet would be swollen like Rosie the Elephant by the time we left. And by the time we'd get back to mom and dad's, they would be asleep. Jeff carried Ross out to the car until he was way too heavy to carry. Good times. Good times.

Of course, now, we don't take Ross and Cam to my parents' house on Fridays anymore. We don't take them anywhere. They rarely go out to eat with us. They have their own things going on. Last night was no exception. They had plans and, since it was Friday night date night, Jeff and I had plans, too.

What's the difference between now and back in the day? Friday night dinner date was here.

We went through the drive-through, got our food, pulled over in a parking place facing the gas station and watched people. People watching has been a longtime favorite entertainment for us anyway. And let me tell ya, a gas station off Interstate 75 is an excellent place to people watch. We watched a shadetree mechanic underneath a very, very old brokedown truck. Before we were finished eating, though, he had the truck sorta running. Apparently that was the least of his troubles, because Jeff pointed out that one of the tires was also off. I think he was gonna be there awhile.

Finished with our food, we left. Came home and tried to find something on tv. Wow. There was nothing except basketball, which Jeff would've been happy to watch. Me, I'd rather walk barefoot on thumbtacks. So we watched a couple of old sitcoms on Netflicks and got in bed before 11.

Sounds like an old-fogie date night, huh? That's what happens, I guess, when the kids get older and they're gone more. Date night kinda loses some of its lustre, some of its magic. Even with a banana pudding milkshake, the night just didn't have the same oomph of the date nights back in the day.

Tonight I plan on having another date night. Tonight we will not be staying in Stockbridge having an old-fogie date. I refuse to be old already.

Till next time. Enjoy your Saturday night.

So What's Up

I'm back to my blog. Influenced by my blog buddy over in Iowa, I decided that these next few months are going to be so memorable that I need a sort of diary to document them in. What's better than an online one? My sweet little baby Cameron is graduating high school in May. Sniff. Sniff. I'm going to have lots and lots to talk about in the next couple of months.

Spring has sprung at my house. We're up to about an inch of pollen over every single outside surface. We're having our house pressure washed, but I think we should wait until all of the pine pollen has fallen.

I got a new iPhone. I held off until Verizon offered it and even then, I waited. Last Friday, I gave in and got it. I love it. It makes such good pictures. I'll be able to put lots of good pictures on my blog. I'm such a techno dumbo, though, so I haven't learned even a fourth about this phone. I probably never will.

Since my last post, I've changed jobs. I still do the same thing, but just with a different firm. It was a very hard thing to do, but I know it was a good decision and I'm happy with my choice. It's kind of weird, though, because Suz still works where I used to work.

I hope you'll notice over in my sidebar the new pictures of my boys. They're sillying it up for me in the pictures, but they've both been working out so hard and I'm so proud of them. I think they're the most handsome things. They bring me so much laughter every day. I can almost say I enjoy them as much now as I did when they were little boys.

Jeff and I have a project list a mile long. You know, the things that we want to do around the house. We had this really ugly tree in the backyard. The top of it was dead and the rest of it was horrible. I asked him to take it down. Well, he started on it last week. As of today, it is gone. I wish I had half of his energy. He cut it down with a chainsaw, then dug around the roots to loosen them. Ross pulled it out of the earth with his truck. I'm going to make a bird sanctuary in its place. I'm looking forward to sharing with y'all our projects. We're gonna be playing in the dirt for sure.

So life has been very good since January 28th and I'm excited to be back in blogland.

Till next time. Stay happy!