Sunday, July 29, 2007

Disco Fever

Did you miss me? Wow! This has been another hectic but fun week. I spent two evenings at a local county fair aiding my SILs in a couple of things. First, my friend Robin and I judged a couple of the little boy/little girl pageants going on. And although they were all so darling and cute, only 4 (out of 40 for the girls) could place. Now that was challenging. I'm not so sure how I feel about pageants anymore given that myself and two others held the responsibility of choosing the best. No one wants to think they aren't as good as anyone else. And of course you're going to have some upset parents, but thankfully no one approached us after the pageant carrying baseball bats.

Robin and I again participated in the Vintage Fashion Show hosted by Studio Six (my SILs). This is one rockin' show in which the models dress up in fashions from all different decades dating back to the 1920s to present day. We chose the seventies. Think Farrah Fawcett hair cuz that was my look. We literally danced our way across the stage disco-style to the song "Play That Funky Music." Robin choreographed the whole thing after we travelled back in time watching "Saturday Night Fever" with John Travolta. Now that's a man than can get his groove on. We included that famous "strut" of his during our dance. Robin just happened to find a 70s-style body suit. I'll be sharing that funky photo this coming Saturday with Photo Hunters. But, here's a photo of my hot look:) The shirt is borrowed, but those are my pants.


Robin also modeled another outfit for the 1920s era. This just happened to be someone's prom dress.

Robin's hubby videoed our segment of the fashion show. If there's anyway I can share that on my blog I will. We had such a good time!

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Friday, July 27, 2007

I WON!!!

I haven't been blogging all week because I've been spending my limited time signing up for prize drawings at the hundreds of other bloggy giveaways.

And I won a personalized signature from Annie at My Life as Annie. Annie you are such a sweet and giving person!! Thank you so much!! And check my sig out below!


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Bloggy Winner Update!!

Congrats to Erin for winning the scrapbook goodies, but girl, I can't find your blog or email address. So, you're going to have to contact me.

Also, I drew out the winner for the Night Light book, Scratchin' the Surface, but it looks like you were just interested in the scrappin' stuff. So, I'm going to send you some scrappin' goodies, too.

I videoed another drawing for the Night Light devotion, but due to technical difficulties I couldn't upload it to my blog. Sooooo, the winner is Homeschool Mommy!!!

Congrats to all the winners!!

Bloggy Giveaway Winners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL02IYjF7Nc
Watch the video announcement by clicking on the link.

Ok, what was going on with my hair?! Anyway, Scamp and I are going to announce the winners!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Monday, July 23, 2007

The Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway



THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED (so I actually have enough time to do the drawing)

THE WINNER WILL BE DRAWN AROUND 12 PM CST. THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!



Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting a huge bloggy giveaway carnival! To participate sign the Mr. Linky at her blog by this Wednesday 9am and link back to her with a giveaway of your own. Listen, everyone is signing up, and it's so much fun. You can enter as many contests as you'd like. It's free, but a few hosts may have some specific instructions for entering their contests.

I am giving away two different prizes, and you can enter the drawing for both or just one. All you have to do is leave me a comment, tell me which (or both) prize you're interested in, and how to get in touch with you especially if you don't have a blog.

#1. Night Light: A Devotional Journal for Couples by Dr. James and Shirley Dobson. It was my personal copy, so it's not new but is in very good condition.

#2. An assortment of scrapbook goodies. If you sign up for this one, please let me know what types of things you scrapbook. That way I can try to send things that you can use. (ie. Boy or girl-type stuff or both.)

I'll draw the winner after 12 noon Friday, July 27.

Show Me Sassy!


Scamp and I had a photo session earlier today after she decided on one very sassy outfit. The above is her response to me saying, "Show me sassy!."

Friday, July 20, 2007

Photo Hunters: Tiny




That's Scamp riding "Tiny." He was really good about it. She continued to sit and hug and kiss him for several minutes after this photo. She just loves animals.

Play along at Photo Hunters.

Four Things Meme

I stole this from Sonya:

Four jobs I've held: (besides being a mom):

Childcare Worker for Afterschool program
Goody's sales clerk
Diet aide: patient menus, taking orders, delivering meals in hospital cafeteria
Health coach: consultations over the phone for diet, exercise, overall health

Four movies I could watch over and over again:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun
13 Going on 30
Pride and Prejudice
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Four places I have lived: (I've only lived in 2 cities)

My parent's home in TN
Apartment/townhouse with cousin in college
Apartment with hubby
My home now

Four tv shows I watch:

Smallville
Heros
The Office
X-Files on DVD

Four places I've been on vacation:

Gatlinburg
Gulf Shores
Disney World
Grand Canyon

Four favorite foods:

Chicken (almost any way you fix it)
Breakfast food
Waffle fries from Chick-a-Filet
Cookies and cream anything

Four websites I visit:

www.amazon.com
www.dictionary.com
www.studiosixlimited.com
www.snopes.com

No tagging but play along if you'd like!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Jill's Book Bag Book Giveaway


Jill@Who Could Ask for Anything More is hosting another book giveaway. This time the book is "I Know This Much Is True" by Wally Lamb, which will be sent to you along with a monogrammed tote. The winner will be drawn Saturday July 21st so head on over to sign up!

My Beloved


Even though Scamp's swim lessons have been a killer, Beef has been my rock. He's had to work late (from home) almost every evening, but he has still managed to cook supper several nights over the last two weeks. He has worked his tail off cleaning the kitchen. He's even allowed me to rest by watching Scamp even though he's dead tired himself. I am so thankful we're together. Sometimes I take him for granted but not today. He has been so sweet and understanding with my emotional haywired-self and still wants to spend quality time together. He has picked up kitty poo and even let the cat still sleep in the house because kitty's my baby. I love you, Honey. I really don't know what I would do without you!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Peace Like a River


"Peace Like a River" is the bestselling first novel of Leif Enger. God has gifted Mr. Enger with the wonderful talent wriitng as I feel this is one of the great literary pieces I've read.

Synopsis: Reuben Land tells the story of the ordeal he and his family endured during his childhood, eleventh year to be exact, as his older brother Davy takes revenge into his own hands and kills two other teenage boys for attacking his family. Davy goes on the lam prior to his sentencing, and Reuben and his family, including little sister Swede and dad Jeremiah, take to the road to find him.

Jeremiah Land is a man of God and capable of performing miracles that seem only his son Reuben has witnessed. Little sis Swede is a talented writer of prose at the age of nine years old writing poems to help her comprehend the task at hand of finding Davy. Reuben suffers greatly from asthma, which in this 1960's setting he is barely able to endure. Upon God's leading, they go in search of Davy and meet several remarkable characters along the way who impact their lives and not always for the better.


The real story takes place between the main characters while the hunt for Davy takes a backseat on several occasions. Enger does a beautiful job of detailing each character, my favorite being Swede, the real literary genius in the story. I was quite impressed with Enger's talent for prose as well as overall good storytelling. The tale is serious yet humerous as I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions.

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy poetry and words. Overall, the book signifies the trials we face as Christians, seeing that sin is not always black and white, and that God is the One who really knows all the answers.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Weekend Reflection



With God's help and the encouragment of some really precious blogging friends, I have managed to survive one long and tiring week. I was having a lot of stress with trying to be a good mom and with our cat going pee-pee all over the carpet, but I am feeling pretty refreshed today.

Karen over at Surviving Motherhood has been a great encourgement to me this week with her really sweet and helpful comments and emails. She is even giving me her book, "Confessions of an Irritable Mother," a memoir of how God has and is transforming her into the godly person He wants her to be through the struggles of motherhood. Thank you, Karen, for being such a sweet help.

The vet has Scratchy on special food that hopefully will help dissolve the stone he has in his bladder. If not, Scratchy may have to have the stone surgically removed. He seems to be doing much better though.

I also won a book, "The Midwife of St. Petersburg" by Linda Lee Chaikin from Jennifer at So Many Books... So Little Time. Thank you so much, Jennifer. And be sure to stop by her blog because she's giving away another book.

Sonya sent me "Even Now" by Karen Kingsbury. Her friendship over the last few months has been such a blessing. Thank you, Sonya!!

I can't leave out the fact that Beef's birthday was Saturday. First, his co-worker Kyle and his wife Renee along with their newly adopted son, Daniel, came for a visit. Daniel and Scamp are the same age. It was such a nice visit. You can read about their adoption journey here. Then we went to the lake with my husband's family. We had a great time!

As you can tell by my reflection being so late, we are busy even this week. But I am so thankful for everyone who left sweet and encouraging comments this past week.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Photo Hunters: Shadow



There are lots of shadows: shadows in the background, shadows on Scamp's face. This photo reminds me of her innocence. She is such a precious blessing (even when she's fussy). I am so thankful for God's wonderful gift!

Join in the fun at Photo Hunters.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

KitKat Goes to the Vet


We finally managed to bring our kitkit into the vet's office. He's been peeing all over the house and even on me while I slept! Once you've woken up in cat pee, you'll never forget it! We laid soft towels in the bathroom floor next to his litter box last night and shut him in for the night. He normally roams free but due to his recent urinating escapades, we were afraid he would leave even more of a mess for us to clean up. Did I mention he even pooped on the carpet in our movie room last night while we were cleaning up pee in another room?!

This morning, I took the cat carrier into the bathroom where Scratchy was housed and slowly lowered him in. It was an easy process compared to the time Beef had with getting the orange beast of a cat into that thing! Scratchy meowed frantically all the way there, but Scamp enjoyed it. I'm sure she would have been upset, too, if she knew he was distressed. She doesn't like animals being hurt. She thought he was just talking as usual and even replied back to him.

He settled down once we got inside. The worst part for him was the car ride. It scares him something awful, and he has been known to go downright mad, meowing and flipping inside his carrier, or scratching and clawing legs when he's out riding in the car. The wait was terrible in the vet's office. All three of us were getting fussy and tired and ready to go home. But, the vet finally came in and told us Scratchy had an obstruction blocking his urine flow, something like a kidney stone in the way. He says it was typical of male cats but could lead to death if the reoccurring problem isn't corrected. Therefore, Scratchy will be spending the night there. The vet will sedate him, then work on freeing the stone an/or grit blocking his bladder.

The vet will give me instructions for Scratchy's diet to help prevent this from happening again. Well, this gives us insight as to why he was peeing on the carpet while we were watching him do it, but not why he peed in Scamps bed or on me!! We may have to work on behavioral problems as well when he gets home.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Daily Stresses of Motherhood

Have you ever been so stressed that you can barely take it anymore? We got back from vacation, a fun but exhausting one at that, and we are currently trying to get back into a normal daily routine at home. I am so behind right now, and Scamp has been exceptionally needy and fussy these past few days. I am literally exhausted emotionally and physically. The house is a wreck, and I can't seem to get anything done. Clothes are strewn all over the house, and the aroma of cat pee, yes that's what I said, is permeating from several rooms.

Not only has Scamp been irritable, Scratchy, our cat, has been having a major breakdown and is urinating everywhere he's not supposed to. We came back from vacation with poo littered all over one of our shag carpets. I am this close to giving him away even though it would break my heart. I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow (if he doesn't escape like he did before). I don't know what I'm going to do if the vet can't give me any sound advice to stop his bad behavior.

My brain is wracked with negativity because I am so frustrated with all of these issues. This morning, I thought today would be a new day, and I would at least pick up the mess surrounding our downstairs rooms. But, once I started clean-up, I kept running into more and more obstacles, ie. cat pee and new Scamp messes. I would clean one area just to find more newly strewn toys to pick up.

She's in her bed right now calling, "Maaama, Maaama." It's her nap time, and I haven't even eaten lunch yet. I think I will be about one-fourth less cranky once I have a good meal in my belly. And she's sound asleep:)

Hopefully, with some rest, and a few minor areas clean I will be able to de-stress. Then, it's off to Mommy and Me swim lessons. It's fun but with it being a 40-minute drive, I hope we survive the trip down and back. And I hope I come out of this day feeling like I'm still a good Mommy.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Sesame Street - Law and Order: Special Letters Unit

For Stacy:)
Scamp and I saw this on Sesame Street yesterday. I couldn't believe how much of a resemblance there was between the real Munch and his Sesame Street character!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Where Mercy Flows



As part of the Christy Challenge hosted by Shauna at Shaunarumbling, I read the book "Where Mercy Flows" by Karen Harter. This was her first novel, and she won The Christy Award for this category. I'll have to say I was very impressed with this being her first.

Synopsis: Twenty-four year old Samantha Dodd has been estranged from her family for the past seven years after running away to marry her high school boyfriend. Her life has been turned upsidedown after her husband leaves her due to the birth of an illegimate son. Then, she is forced to return home after becoming ill and unable to care for her son alone.

Sam is constantly burdened with the idea that her overly rigid father has never loved or accepted her. She must learn to face the demons of her past while dealing with some new family secrets. She must also choose between the man she still loves (her estranged husband) and her high school best friend Donnie, who wants more than just friendship.


Harter does a very good job of reinventing the story of the prodigal son. The book was fast paced and well rewritten with just enough suspense and romance to make a good tale. The book had Christian undertones without being so directly in-your-face religious, which I don't mind that type of directness. But, it would be a very good recommendation for nonbelieving newcomers to Christian fiction.

Shauna also read this book and wrote a review, so check hers out as well. I'm in the process of reading "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger and am really enjoying it so far. I will write that review soon. For more of my book reviews click here.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Weekend Reflection


The best part of the week was our vacation to Gulf Shores. God really blessed us with a great family. We all went down with my parents, niece and nephew and had a wonderful time. Even the rain was a blessing. It cooled us off and helped with the droughtlike conditions in the area. God kept us safe and blessed our week.

Scamp came down with an ear infection as a result of all the swimming we did, but luckily we were able to see the doctor at a last minute appointment before the weekend. She's feeling much better. She was so pitiful last night since she was in a lot of pain. Her swim lessons start next week, so if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for quick healing for her and that she doesn't get another infection from the lessons.

Today, Scamp and I went to watch my niece Alex play in another softball tournament. Scamp had so much fun at the playground and seeing our family. Beef is at his parent's right now working on our car with his dad. Thank you so much Richard for helping us out. He even let us borrow a vehicle until ours is fixed.

God has really blessed us with great family and friends not to mention always providing for our every need.

And I forgot to mention last week that Stacy over at Vader's Mom nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award! I always wanted to be a Rock Star!! You're the best Stacy! I've been nominated for some other things as well but along with this time haven't been able to nominate anyone else because they have already been nominated by some other cool chics! But I think all my blogging friends rock: Stacy, Sonya, Stacy, Lauren, Judi, Carrie, Laura, Belinda, and Brenda (not a blogger but she still rocks, too)!


Join in the fun at Judi's.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Gulf Shores



We made it back safely from our Gulf Shores vacation late last night. We survived the trip even though Scamp was fussy on the 8 hour trip back. Thank goodness for car DVD players. I normally don't like her to watch a lot of TV, but for this occasion she watched Barney and Blue's Clues the whole way.

We arrived in Gulf Shores, specifically Orange Beach on Monday evening around 5:00 pm in two vehicles, my dad's monster pick up stuffed to the rims with beach luggage and our rented Chevy Malibu with it's 37 miles-to-the-gallon tank--with the air conditioning maxed.

We headed to the beach first thing. The air was muggy but the cool breeze of the ocean made the temperature perfect. Scamp did not like the sand at first and insisted on being towled off, but once she discovered the blissful lapping waves, she was hooked. She wanted to try a little boogy boarding after that, so her Pa took her out for a test ride followed by a quick burying in the sand. My nephew, Bubby, splashed in the waves as well while my niece, Alex, filled her sand castle bucket with shells. Then, it was time for beach pictures before we headed to the recently renovated hotel pool to rinse the rest of the rough sand off that the beach showers could not remove.

The second day we went back to the beach for some more sandy, salty fun before the down pour started. To be in the midst of a drought we sure got a lot of rain while we were there. One of Beef's favorite parts of the beach is building gigantic sand castles. He worked diligently for three hours to create his masterpiece before he allowed a very anxious Bubby to destroy it. The rain started that afternoon, so we decided to go one of Gulf Shores famous restaurants, Lambert's -- Home of the Throwed Rolls, but because of the showers, apparently everyone had the same feat in mind. Therefore, we changed our course to eat at Fire Mountain. I haphazardly picked this place due to the few cars in the parking lot, but once inside we discovered it was a Ryan's buffet in disguise. And I LOVE Ryan's. I couldn't believe I had sniffed it out. I could eat Ryan's gargantuan buffet for all three meals. Did you know they serve breakfast on Saturday's now?!

The next morning, we lounged on the beach again. The weather was overcast, a welcomed forecast since I had been sunburned the day before. We labored away on more sand creations. Beef carved out a cat complete with shell ears, eyes, and a very fancy shell collar. Scamp couldn't wait to pet it, but after only a minute's worth of petting, the head fell off! Poor kitty! I dug out a couple of tunnels while Alex and Beef hollowed out Scamp a deep hole of a house.

That same night, we went to Adventure Island, a race car/mini golf park we thought the kiddies would enjoy. Alex and I putted around the course while Bubby and Scamp rode the motorized cars. Beef challenged my niece to a car race next, and he took first place of course. Then, I took Scamp on the water boats hoping I would not get soaked from Alex and Bubby's water-gunned boat. I was wrong! Alex hardly took pity on my cries of protest of being drenched! But, with one false turn of her boat, she was soaked under the elephant waterfall herself! Ha, Alex!!

Later that night, the kid's wanted to swim again in the pool, so Nana and Pa along with Beef too them all down for a dip. Beef let me get a few minutes to myself before I headed down to watch all the water fun. Once I reached the pool deck, I saw Beef and Scamp in the hot tub. I knew hot tubs were Beef's favorite but Scamp seemed to love it more. Every time he would try to take her out, she would cry out "Hot tub" and beg to be put back in. I guess she loved the warm water.

Departure day came, and we went souvenir shopping before caravanning back to out landlocked state. I left with a couple of shell bracelets while Scamp ended up with a pint-sized Gulf Shores t-shirt with an embroidered butterfly. She and Bubby also managed to swing some pretty neat galoshes from Super Target, all gifts from their beloved Nana. All in all, we had a good time even though I think we still have sand in all of our suitcases, a free but pesky souvenir. And on't miss out on more pictures to come! My mom is making me a CD of all her pictures, so I'm probably going to post a few of them, too.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Til Next Week


We are heading down to Gulf Shores for the week with my parents, niece, and nephew, so I probably won't be posting a lot for the week. The picture above if when Beef and I went in 2002 with my parents. We were DINKS, then. Ya know, Double Income, No Kids. Since then, we have added Scamp to our little family, and my hair is a little more natural (not so blonde). I think Beef plans to create a bigger and better sand castle this time with the help of all the little ones.

I will have plenty of pictures to share when we get back though. I will miss all of you, but not too much because the sunny beach will keep me occupied! I'll try to catch back up on reading your blogs when we get back. Have a wonderful week, and please send prayers for safety as we travel. Thanks!