Christmas Present

Christmas Past

Found this photo of me when I was like 4 yrs old. I was gazing at a gingerbread house that a close friend had made me. She gave me this sugary wonderland and I immediatly began drooling, Now, my mother wanted me to pose for a picture with my gift, but I wouldn't stop picking the red hot candies off of the tree. Notice the few missing from the image.

Nothings change much - I'm still a sucker for sugar.

This brought such happy memories.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Who's ready for some Christmas?

We're getting to be old softies

We have a firm, no basset on the furniture policy that we wavered last weekend. He got points for being so sly about it. He propped up on the ottoman, then leaned on to it. Then slowly crept a back paw, then before I looked down, he was perched. I was so smittened, we didn't repremand.

We're going to be terrible parents one day.

My cup runneth over!

So we have some family birthdays that fall with in the days around Thanksgiving. We went to the movies with Jimbolina to see 007 - Quantum of Solace, eat pizza and played the new Guitar Hero. And for Mom, we went to the OK-Cafe and had some great food.

On turkey day we celebrated with both sides of the families and had a great time.
We are beyond blessed.

So as you can read my cup runneth over!

2nd place! Victory was within our grasp.

The annual BHRG picnic was last weekend and we came so close to winning the costume contest. Satchel went as Snoopy, Flying Ace and was walked on stage by Charlie Brown himself.







The nieces went with us and I had the best time! It was a good day.

Pumpkin 2008 - Scary Bear

We started this last Sunday night, finished it last night. I only broke one pumpkin saw carving tool.
It is finished!

By request here are some of my quirks. I know that I am crazy - most people already know - so keep the gasping to a minimum please.

1) The Green blanket
Family and former college roommates know that I have a tattered green blanket that I've had for years. I'm not quite sure how old it actually is, but I did have it as a child. It originally was an electric blanket and over the years of use I have removed the wiring from it. Yes, I do realize that I am an adult with a blanket, yes it is on my bed and it does bring me comfort. It is really soft. No, I do not take it to work or take it with me everywhere like Linus. Over the years, my sisters threaten me to throw it out and mocked me for keeping it around. My husband takes it from me and continues the mocking tradition.

2) I stage everything.
Personal environments have a huge impact on me. I will move items around until I reach a peaceful satisfaction. (This is where I ask for gasping restraint from the audience)
I prop environments. This means, my house, my desk - basically any environment that I spent time in. So there must be a balance of furniture and accessories and negative space. There's no formula. Its just based on my spatial gauge.

3) I am hyper-sensitive
There are, on occasion, times that I am hyper- sensitive to people's words and emotions. This probably fits into anxiety more-so than a quirk, but, it's defiantly not so normal. I like being around people and I love to socialize, but I go through cycles of needing to be alone quite often after a social event. I'll usually "hibernate" if I have been over exposed or over saturated myself with people pleasing tasks. And on occasion, I become quite emotional if I don't get my "alone time".

4) I drug myself if I have to fly
Yep - Tylenol PM is my friend on any trip in the air. That's it, it's my plane crack.

5)I don't take the first " no" as an answer, ever
I have developed quite a skill in being "persistent". In every manor I am not disrespectful, but I want to make sure that all considerations and facts are known about the situation before a decision is made. (In elementary school, an aptitude test did predict that I might want to pursue a career as a Judge) I know that this was very annoying to my parents as a teenager as I try to "debate" their decisions.
Please, Lord don't let my children have this personality type.
Not a good spiritual trait either, it's very disrespectful to assume that God doesn't know all the "considerations".
This is a bad quirk.

6) Pre-Mustard/ Pre-Ketchup liquid
The liquid that comes out if you forget to shake first. If it gets on my bread or bun I start over. Can't take the juice.

Witness to the mayhem

My bear started flying again. He had mentioned several times that he'd like to get his piolot's license renewed.
Several weeks ago, he joined a local flight club and got up in the sky again. When he came home he was glowing. I thought the man was going to literally jump up and down.

So last weekend he had another flight scheduled and asked be to go with him (I committed to the airport, not the plane silly). We packed a lunch, took the top down off the jeep and headed to the airport. He walked me through the preflight check, took some photos then kissed me good and took off.

Here are the highlights =>
















Man I love him!!!

Where does the time go?

Below is a picture of my oldest niece. She's 14 and now a young woman. She was born when I was a senior in high school. Now she's in high school.

I'm so proud of the woman she is. She is a very caring, smart and loving. And she has such talent.

Yet, when I think of her, I still think of the giggly toddler I toted around.

Where does the time go?

Awe, they brought us a present

One evening this week, (not sure exactly what day) I open our back door to let one very anxious basset hound in the house. I had noticed that his bark was more forceful than usual and he was standing back away from the door noticeably barking at something. As I opened the door, I witnessed a deceased chipmunk (not sure if it was Chip or Dale) laying gracefully before our door mat.

Then - I put the evidence together and I remembered my Bear mentioning that there was lots of burrowing right next to the porch in the back yard. 

Not sure if it was Bonnie, Clyde or our fierce hunting machine Satchel that took the munk down but apparently they decided to honor us with this humble present. 

Rest  in peace little fella.

Shock to my system

Oh man, I was so sick yesterday that I could barley walk around. It's been several years since I had felt that bad and I hope that is several more before I experience it again. I spent most of the day hugging a trash can and eating ice. 

So this morning when I awoke to a normal feeling (although a bit weak) - I was ecstatic. Thank the good Lord that what ever hit me had moved on.

Kayaking with Bobbie

On Saturday, I headed out to Bogart, GA to hang with my dear friend Bobbie. She had the awesome idea to go kayaking down he Broad river in east GA. There was only one part of the river open to run kayaks down because the water level was so low. So we hopped on an old school bus that was loaded down with college kids and we headed for a day on the river.

The river was low, but not our spirits. It took about 4 1/2 hours for the whole trip. We'll defiantly head back when the rivers up, cause the 2 small "rapids" that we went over, were really fun!

Legacy of Faith

My sister and I attended a funeral for my great uncle this Sunday afternoon. What a blessing it was to hear the family of Clyde Harmon speak of his life and his love for Christ. As we drove home, Paige and I discussed the reunion that was happening in Heaven. That of my Paw paw and his brother. 

I know and believe that all of the good and perfect things come from Christ. And when I get to Heaven, I want to meet the family member on my father/grandfather's side that brought the legacy of Christ to our family. And thank this  person who passed the love and living lessons on to our family. For it is a gift that I am most thankful for!!!

I hope to pass this gift/story to my children, so that their lives can be lived for Christ.

"Little Bo Peep" for Macy Kate

Meet Clyde

His formal name is Clyde Mutt.

Nervous Nelly -

Commuting in the ATL is nerve racking. And now it is even more so for my sweet husband. We've started carpooling and I've started to give him gray hairs. On the way to work in mornings, I gasp and screech and grab the door handle. I give him all sorts of driving tips and he asks me to stop giving him a complex.

This morning, we nearly witnessed a silver honda get side swiped by a black honda and and the cars had to dodge each other by overtaking a turning lane. While I tried to pull the oh crap bar off of the ceiling of our car.

Ahh - the relaxing time just before you go to work, it's like boot-camp for your soul.

I can't believe it's July already. Mid summer and I've just been swimming for the first time this season. Oh how things have changed. I was such a guppy when I was much younger. I lived at the pool, swam until my little head was aching from sun and water. I would sometimes cry myself to sleep at night from utter exhaustion. I miss the freedom of summer. I have a great job and we have huge landscape widows that run across the office - but it's just a tease. To sit for so long inside should be a crime. 

Most working adults would tell me to just suck it up and accept that those summer days are gone. I refuse to be beaten with out a fight. There has to be a way to work plus enjoying the summer, I'll need time to devise my plan.

We're back...

We had a blast! Vegas was fun but the Canyon was better. I'll post some pics and keep a few stories for a later post.

Go west young man (& woman)

So, we have a big adventure planned and I'm beyond excited. I haved so many long days at work to day dream about this trip.

First, we're headed to Vegas to hang and see the sights. Live it up in bright lights and tackiness.



Then, we drive to that big crevass just to the east and camp for a week! I've never been to the Canyon so this trip is a first for me. And on others firsts, this is our first camping and big trip since we been hitched.



I've checked the weather this past week and it had snowed in the Canyon, so we're going to be a little chilly at night but I think the warming trend has already kicked in.



So please pray for our saftey, our warmth and that we can be in awe of one of God's most breath taking examples of beauty.

1 Year Bliss

Spring Fever

I've been so very slack on adding any new posts. Spring fever prompts me to at least post an inspiring image. I'll write a bit soon...happy spring!

Christmas 2007 - Blessed