Peachy Keen

Scooteroo

2011-11-18T06:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I've mentioned more than once on here that I have a big brother. In most of the obvious ways, we are night and day. He's always been a daredevil; I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. He's a boundry-tester; I'm a strict adherer to the rules. He's hard rock; I'm bluegrass and jazz.

Needless today, a very large portion of our lives was spent at least a little at odds. We are 2.5 years apart (and only 2 grades in school), so we were close enough to clash over friends and coolness frequently. And then during our college and post-college years, we had moments of really connecting and moments of "forced friendship".

A month or so ago, I was chatting with one of Drew's graduated students and he was saying he needed to go spend some time with his brother. Then he said, "I don't know why I bother. We have NOTHING in common and he doesn't make ANY effort."

I was so glad to be able to say that I knew EXACTLY what that kind of brotherly-relation ship felt like. I told him that my brother and I went through years of that, but that I am SO GLAD that one or the other always MADE the interaction happen occassionally because now, when our lives have become much more similar than dissonant, we very easily slipped into being close friends.

NOW, we're both parents of 3 year olds (born exactly 4 months apart, to the day). We're both married. We both have had struggled through unhappy work situations (and now we both have found better jobs). We struggle through many of the same things in life, we find the same things funny, we cheer on the same football team (ROLL TIDE!), and we both LOVE our lives and try to stay focused on the joys our families bring us.

We still listen to different music and he's still WAY more *ahem* BALSY than I am, BUT he's one of my best friends. We talk regularly, whether it's about what to do when X happens with one of the girls or just to check in and say, "I was thinking about you and wanted to tell you that I love you!"

I'm so glad that we always made the effort to keep a little in touch and I'm even MORE glad that we have grown so close. (And I am VERY glad that I will be seeing him for a whole WEEK very, very soon!)

Love you, Scooteroo!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Lest we think she's not paying attention...

2011-11-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

Tucker LOVES to "read" her books to us. For a long time her stories all began, "Cinderella (or whichever character) was a kind and beautiful." Now she's started picking up other parts of stories she's been read and throwing them in. My favorite parts? "Who's been benning in my house?!?" and the fact that she is SO PLEASED with herself for putting monsters in the story. So funny!

Happy Friday! One more week for me at this job! Woot!!!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

If you don't ask...

2011-11-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

I realized something about myself recently. I have been putting limits on the things I pray for.

Don't get me wrong. I would never put limits on what God is capable of. I'm not crazy. I've read about and even seen some of his miracles and I know if it's his desire, he can make it happen.

It's just that I've always put limits on what I'm willing to ask for. I guess I've sort of developed the sense of, "There are so many other people in the world who have diseases and missing children and horrible tragedies that need his help, and I'm doing ok." I mean, my life's been far from perfect, but I figure I've got a home and food and family and friends and in the greater scheme of things, I'm doing alright. So I guess it felt sort of selfish to ask God for GREAT things in my life when there are people who really NEED great things, so I limited myself to asking for just enough to survive. I mean, WHO AM I to ask for miracles when God could spend his miracles on someone who needs them more?!?

But here's the thing. God's not like a jug of lemonade, so when it's used up, it's used up. It's not like to give one person a miracle, he has to deprive someone else of one. He is LIMITLESS not only in his power, but in his ability to give and love. It's like being a parent. Having a second child doesn't take love away from your first child. There's a whole other chunk of love that develops and multiplies to cover the second child.

So I decided I wasn't going to put limits on my prayers anymore. I've been praying about a new job for a very long time now, and I wanted to find a GREAT job not just another job to get by on. (Heck, I've been doing that for 8+ years now!) I've been praying that God would just help me find something where I wasn't unhappy more often than not. It didn't have to be amazing, just better than the current. But I finally decided to ask God for the stars. I began praying for a GREAT job, one that would make me HAPPY and where I would succeed and feel WONDERFUL about the job I was doing. I asked for a job where I would feel I had a purpose and was making a difference. And then I asked for a budgetary miracle because, let's face it, the job I'm currently miserable doing pays WAY better than the jobs I know I'd be happy doing. It's the reason I've been doing it so long.

And you know what? He did it. He has guided me through multiple interviews and multiple churches (and 4 interviews at the final church). He kept me calm and helped me show myself, not some fake interview-version of me. And then? He gave us a budgetary miracle. We didn't win the lottery or anything, but he tweaked enough stuff here and there that it's all going to work out.

And? I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!! Starting the first Sunday in Advent, I will be the Director of Children's Ministries at a local Methodist church. It's the dream job I never knew I wanted and I'm SO excited about it.

And God and myself? We have a new policy. I'm going to continue asking for the stars and for my dreams
knowing that sometimes the answer will be "Not that", "Not now", or just plain "No". But I figure it can't hurt to ask because he loves me more than I deserve and he wants me to be happy and he wants me to contribute, and he wants me to do it WITH HIS HELP!!!

Love & Shipoopies
Leslie

The Hidden Meaning

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

I'm always curious when I hear commercials if others listen to them as critically as I do. I mean, I don't intend to be critical, but sometimes the "hidden meaning" behind what they are saying is too obvious to not mock it just a little. You know, like when a store advertises "Everything up to 50% off!" You know technically, that could mean that nothing in the store is on sale AT ALL, right?!? Because 0% off falls into the "up to 50% off" category. Tricky, tricky... Here are some other commercials I've heard or seen lately that have prompted my ScoobyDoo ears to say, "Uuuurrrrrrghhhhh?"

*One particular chicken chain has recently been advertising their "popcorn chicken" saying something to the effect of, "Those other guys have chicken NUGGETS. What part of the chicken IS a nugget anyway? Here at KFC, we serve succulent, juicy POPCORN chicken."

Umm, dude, what part of a chicken is the popcorn, anyway?!?

*A local car dealership advertisement I heard on the radio the other day claimed, "Open until 10:30... even later if we know you're coming!"

Who the HECK buys a car at 11pm at night?!? I mean, yes staying open until 9 is probably VERY helpful to some people who have full time jobs and kids to feed and bathe and can't get to the dealership until like 7:30 or 8 and still need some time to look. But past 10:30 at night?!? REALLY?!? Remind me to never apply to be a salesman at THAT place!!!

*And then there's Moe's. And trust me when I say, the Bowers fam consumes its fair share of Moe's. My husband could eat it every single meal of every single day and never get sick of it. But I heard an advertisement the other day discussing their amazing meat options as "grass-fed cows, cage-fed chicken, and pulled pork!"

Does that translate to anyone else as "super healthy cows, amazingly cared-for chickens, and... ah heck, pigs'll eat ANYTHING so who cares?!?!!!" hahahaha!

Do you guys ever do this? What are some of YOUR favorite commercials with hidden meanings?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

We didn't have a pumpkin, but it was GREAT!!!

2011-11-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Get it? The Great Pumpkin? tee-hee

Ok, here's a little dose of our Halloween. We always hand out candy at Will & Ashie's house because no one makes it up our street far enough to get to us. And can I say, our 3 year old liked handing OUT candy more than getting it herself. So cute!

I LOOOOVE this face!

As we were taking our family picture, one of Tucker's best friends from daycare walked up. Daya and Tucker were in the same room from the time they were 3 months old until Daya moved to a nearby city at the start of this school year. We have only been able to have one playdate since she moved, so they were SO EXCITED to see each other. :) Monkey Joe's, you should expect 2 VERY giggly girls soon. :)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

My Soundtrack

2011-10-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

*Sorry her back is turned for the first half, but if I alert her to the camera's presence, she freezes up.*

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Do I need an excuse from my mom or something?

2011-10-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

I think this may be the longest I've EVER BEEN without blogging. But I am determined to get back on the blogging train. I probably won't be blogging everyday, but I'm going to try to blog at least 3 times every week. Promise. (PLEASE, hold me to it!)

Now on to Wordless Wednesdays!!! Last week was Halloween dress-up days at T's daycare. They do the same dress-up days each year and I take pictures of each day every year. Serious cuteness.

2008

2009

*We were out of town the first 2 days of the week this year.*

2010

2011

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

A list...

2011-09-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

A list of things I'd rather not EVER do...

1.) kill a roach, or really even SEE a roach
2.) clean out the drain in the kitchen sink when it's full of gross, soggy food
3.) go to sleep without a kiss and "I love you" from both loves of my life
4.) listen to any kind of sport on the radio
5.) try to argue a point I'm passionate about when I'm angry to the point of tears about it.. makes me look weak when really I'm just THAT mad
6.) walk barefooted on a smooth surface (like concerete) that is dirty with a gritty feeling; rough, dirty surfaces aren't as bad. Barefooted on pavement is somehow less offensive than barefooted on cement.
7.) dust the house
8.) hurt someone's feelings or bruise someone's self confidence - intentionally or accidentally
9.) eat any bean or pea that is mushy - green beans and edamame are about as far as I go into bean/pea territory
10.) go a single day without something interesting to read

What's on YOUR list of "I wish I never had to..."?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Silly in the mornings

2011-09-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Love & Shipoopies

Leslie

Dance Class

2011-09-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

I snuck up to T's dance class recently and hid while taping a snippet of it (hence the video being taken using the mirror instead of straight-on). The music you hear is from the hallway at daycare, not dance class. The little girl next to T kept seeing me in the mirror and she knows who I am, so she'd try and tell T and I kept having to put my finger to my mouth and go "shhhh" and shake my head so she wouldn't tell her. It was quite comical. :)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Oh, how I wish I had these SWEET MOVES!!!

2011-09-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

I... I'm a Dancer! It's who I am... what I do!!!

2011-08-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

*Yes, Rick and Sheri, that blog title is totally for your amusement.*

So my little one starts beginner dance classes today. There's a local studio that comes TO HER DAYCARE during the day and teaches lessons. She is ECSTATIC!!!

(And I must confess, I'm pretty excited myself. I mean, look how gorgeous she looks in her "ballet dress" - as she calls it.)

*Twirling*

*"Doing a Ballerina"*

*With her bag full of ballet and tap shoes and a change of clothes for after dance class. She was SO PROUD of her bag and insisted on carrying it around the whole morning.*

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Yes is not an appropriate answer!!!

2011-08-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

I was watching the Today Show this morning and they were doing a story on senior citizens getting plastic surgery. They interviewed this one 75-year-old lady who was having a breast lift and implants so she could look on the outside how she felt on the inside.

Weird. I know.

But that's actually NOT what this blog is about. After the video montage, they went to the interview in-studio where some reporter I've never laid eyes on *** asked a plastic surgeon something to the effect of, "Do you think it's because of A or more an effect of B?" (He used real reasons that I blocked from my memory, apparently.)

Do you want to know what the surgeon answered? (If you don't already know, then you didn't read the blog title well.)

He said, "Yeah, it is."

Ummmm..... Dude, "Yes" is NOT an appropriate question to an either/or question!!! And I can't tell you how many times a week I have to tell someone that.

Do you want chicken or pork chops for dinner?...... Yes.

Would you rather watch Olivia or Mickey?..... Yes.

I know sometimes I answer an either/or question with "yes" as a joke because I want BOTH things or because I have no idea which is the right answer. But when someone genuinely feels they've answered your question appropriately, I can't help but wonder if *please don't die of shock here* as a society, we're so used to multitasking (and so inept at doing it) that we only half hear most of what is said to us... that those people only heard one half of the either/or question and their real answer was, "Sure, whatever" or as I fear most of the time when I get "yes" to an either/or, "Yes, whatever I can say that will make you stop talking and interrupting the other thing I'm doing." *tee-hee*

*le sigh*

Do YOU ever get the feeling that someone's not REALLY listening to you OR do you feel totally heard all of the time in your life?

Yes.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

***Anyone else noticed that since Meredith left the Today Show, there's been so much shuffling around of anchors (and Matt's been kind of in and out), that some days, I can't name a single person on set? And almost everyday there's someone that I've never laid eyes on? And I don't mean Al, Natalie, or Ann - I know them. There's all these OTHER people on everyday doing almost everything!! It's very troubling to me. Just sayin'.

Bad Days are Relative

2011-08-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

Monday:

I went to the neurologist (for worsening Carpal Tunnel) where they tapped, electrocuted, and stabbed... I mean "poked" (the origin of the bruises) me into misery. I also discovered I had a low-grade fever (which stayed until Wednesday afternoon). All of that equals someone who wants to take some meds, crawl in the bed, and sleep the rest of the day away from pure puniness instead of going back to work, which is what I had to do.

Tuesday:

Tuesday night, my husband entered the house after a late-night meeting and said, "Want to see something creepy?!?"

My instant reaction? "Ummmm..... NO. I mean, is it that huge Harry Potter-worthy spider we saw last month? 'Cause definitely NO!"

"No, it's not the spider.... and I don't THINK it's a cockroach." (This is my one real phobia.)

"Then definitely NOOOOOO."

"I said I DON'T THINK it's a roach."

"If you have to question that it's a roach, I am not interested... especially barefooted in the dark."

But he drug me along and we walked to the driveway where he showed me this little whole with a pile of dirt beside it. (It got re-covered before I took the pic.) He insisted I continue watching it as he stomped the ground all around it. *awesome*

Then suddenly, the dirt started moving with dirt from inside the hole coming out of the hole on the head of... you guessed it.... a cockroach. Or if it wasn't a cockroach, it was cockroach-tangential.

YUCK!!!!! He killed them, then sprayed the hole with bug spray, then recovered it. It's remained covered... so far.

Friday:

I came downstairs. I fixed the coffee exactly the same as every other morning. I walked the 3-year-old to the potty like every other day. I continued getting the little one dressed like every other morning. Then I heard the hubs say, "OOOOOOH, NOOOOOOOO." And immediately, I knew.

But then, I found THIS:

And I died laughing!!!

Love, Shipoopies, and a little perspective,

Leslie

Breakfast, anyone?

2011-08-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've always had problems with breakfast. "Why?" you ask. Well, I'm not really an egg eater. I sometimes tolerate an egg over-easy (and occassionally sort of enjoy one), but I pretty much don't like eggs done any other way. I don't even like the breakfast casseroles that are mostly egg. And then you try to eat HEALTHY (aka go on Weight Watchers, which I am trying to get myself in the habit of again), and you lose the only redeemable part of an egg - the yolk. I mean, without the yellow, you've taken what was only slightly pallatable and turned it into metallic-tasting rubber. BLECH!

Now, I DO love breakfast meats. Bacon and Sausage? Seriously, YUMMO!!! But, if I eat those first thing in the morning, well, let's just say I'd better not have anything important planned before lunch. My stomach does NOT find them to be a pleasant way to start the day.

But to succeed on a diet (and to survive my workdays), I have to eat breakfast. It's not an option. And protein bars are high in points, high in carbs, and I'm starving again in an hour.

Then I found THIS idea in a Parenting magazine. It is my personal breakfast heaven.. It's yummy, has enough cheese to cover the taste of egg whites, is full of my favorite veggies, keeps me full for hours on end, AND can be made ahead of time and heated up in mere seconds in the morning. This, my friends, is a WIN!

So you start with finely chopped veggies of your choice. I use zucchini, onion, celery, red bell pepper and tomatoes. (For the hubs, I use turkey bacon and green bell pepper. Really anything you like works here. If you use meat, make sure it's fully-cooked before step 2.) Sautee them until they are tender. (I use a tiny smidge of EVOO.)

Spray a 12-muffin pan with non-stick spray and divide your sauteed veggies evenly amongst the muffin cups. Then take a 12 oz. container of egg whites or egg alternative OR about 11 real eggs, beat them, salt and pepper them, and divide them evenly amongst the muffin cups (on top of your veggies).

Put a little cheese (I use 2% colby jack) on top of each. The recipe calls for shredded. I was out, so I just broke cheese slices into 4 parts and put them on top. It was PERFECTION.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min. You can eat them immediately OR refrigerate them (or even individually wrap in Saran Wrap and freeze them). If you make them ahead, it takes about 15 seconds in the microwave OR put them on foil in the oven at around 450 degrees for 5 or 10 minutes.

You've got yourself a healthy, low calorie, high protein (and low WWpoints - 1 point per muffin) breakfast that's quick, easy, and DELICIOUS - even for your non-egg eaters. :)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Sleeping Beauty

2011-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded all the pics from my phone to my computer, so I was sort of flipping through them when I noticed a pattern. :)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Makes So Much More Sense

2011-08-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

As most of you probably know, I'm pretty fond of music. I love to sing. I love to dance. I like classical, choral, oldies, jazz, bluegrass, country, pop, and occassionally even hip-hop. If there's no music playing for long enough, I'll start singing something without even realizing it. (Just ask my scrapbooking lady. I think I pretty well drive her NUTS at crops singing without realizing it. haha)

You know that show, "Don't Forget the Lyrics"? Well, I didn't forget them. I'm a lyrics girl. I can't tell you the chords being used (like the Hubs), who sang it, what year it debuted, or its "B side" (like my Diddy), but if you want to know what they're saying, I can tell you... at least I can tell you what I've always thought they were saying. Generally, I'm right on with lyrics, but occassionally I find a song where I was way off. (Remember this post?)

This all brings me to my new car (I'll really have to do an "I haven't blogged in ages" catch-up soon) and its 3 months of satellite radio. I'm officially addicted to satellite radio. I love the station options, but more importantly, I love being able to hit the "info" button and find out the name of the song and who is singing it. You'd be amazed how many songs you know with titles you'd NEVER recognize.

For instance, do YOU know the name of this song?

It's called "De-Do-Do-Do, De-Da-Da-Da". I mean, it's probably what I'd call it if I were trying to get someone to know what song I was referencing ("You know, that song that goes, "De-do-do-do, de-da-da-da."), but I figured it had some ACTUAL title. Nope.

But I discovered last week that I had the words (and meaning) of a song completely wrong. I saw the name of the song and went, "Oh, well that makes MUCH more sense!!!" Do you know this song?

It's title is "Dawn (Go Away)". I ALWAYS, my whole life, thought it was saying, "Don't Go Away" which always bothered me because in the chorus, to me, it went, "Don't go away! Please go away!" (Dude, make up your mind!) And I always thought it was about some guy who couldn't make up his mind if he wanted this girl or not. (And at the beginning when it says, "They call her Dawn," I always thought it was saying, "They call her doll." I just thought it was affectionate and one of the reasons he was wrestling with his decision - stay or go away.)

I think most people get addicted to satellite radio because of the very specific stations, but for me, it's that "info" button. Now when I'm listening to the plain old radio, I'm constantly pressing "info" and getting irritated that it won't work. ;)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

I've Failed Her Already

2011-07-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

Did you ever have one of those moments where you see something that makes you question if you've already ruined your kid for life? Killed her future? Ensured her place in therapy?

I had mine today.

I passed a sign for Twaddler Soccer - 18 months - 6 years old.

Epic Fail, Mom.

There goes her career as a professional soccer player.

*Seriously, who the heck would try to teach an 18 month old soccer in a formal setting? Helping her kick a ball without tripping on it and busting her face open? Sure. Soccer in a team setting? Pass.*

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

*I hope none of you passed out from my posting twice in one week. tee-hee

I never knew...

2011-07-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I had a day. It was long. It was umm... let's say irritating. Work was less than ideal and the last 3.5 hours of it were spent double-duty-ing as Mom as well because Drew went to play golf. T, of course, could NOT leave me alone. I was pausing every 5 minutes to answer some question, do some redirecting, or help with something. By the time my work day was over, I was DONE.

There was to be no cooking. Steak-N-Shake, here we come!

We hopped into the car and then the backseat began, "Mommy, can I... Mommy, why... Mommy, where's my umbrella? Mommy, I need my umbrella? Mommy, it's going to rain. I need my umbrella now. Mommy, where's my umbrella? Mommy, can I have my umbrella right now? Mommy, I really need my umbrella right now. It's going to rain."

Now, this on a good day is irritating. On a day where my brain is already one millisecond from explosion...

*sigh*

And here's the thing. I HATE to be ignored. DESPISE it. LOATHE it. I don't ever mind a, "Can you wait just a minute/day/while?" but flat ignoring chaps my hide!!! So I've never been one of those parents who can just turn up the radio and pretend the questions aren't coming in machine-gun-style. It's not within me. I feel the need to continue with "It's right below your feet. I'll give it to you when we get there. Please stop asking. I can't hand it to you while I'm driving. You can't open it in the car. I'll give it to you when we get there. When we get there. WHEN WE GET THERE!!!!!"

But then...

The rain finally started. And it wasn't your basic afternoon shower. It was SERIOUS rain. It was "slow down to 10 miles an hour because you can't technically see the lane markings or sides of the road or other cars" kind of rain. It was "half the cars on the road turned on their flashers" kind of rain.

It was rain SO LOUD that it drowned-out the questions...

and I didn't have to feel an ounce of guilt about not answering them. I wasn't ignoring them. I just couldn't hear them.

Can't control the rain.

There's something to be said for a good, hard rain at the end of an exhausting day.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Be careful what you name them...

2011-07-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, Granna pooped in her panties!"

Yep. This is the moment when I spit out my drink, fell out of my chair, and began crying I was laughing so hard.

To be fair, it was a DOLL in her dollhouse, not the REAL Granna (my MIL).

It's the grandmother doll, which Granna bought and named Granna.

I told her pooping in her panties is what you get for naming a babydoll after yourself.

Happy Friday! (And Happy 4th!)

Love & Shipoopies,

Lesle

A Little Hard to Focus

2011-06-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while I was trying to delve hard into my work day, a show was put on. It made focusing on anything other than the show quite difficult. :)

The kicks in THIS video were later taught in detail to Daddy. ;)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

A Rose is a Rose...

2011-05-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

"You say 'poe-tAA-toe.' I say 'poe-tAH-toe.'"

Much has been said (and sung) about what we call things.

There are differences created by geography, family, culture, etc.

Geography - soda, pop, Cokes

Family - I've been mocked endlessly for calling handing out Christmas presents "opening the tree"

Culture - think of your mom's sister. Is she "ant", "aaaahnt" or "aahntie"?

And then there are those that are just WRONG. :)

I heard a lady on the news the other day talk about being "FUSS-trated."

I'll be honest. I died a little inside.

Does she not SEE the R?!?

I once knew someone by the last name Wilkes.

People REGULARLY would read it "Wilkison".

YOU ADDED AN ENTIRE SYLLABLE TO THE END.

Just created it from thin air!!!

Then there's my husband. He's a middle-namer. But his first name is Joel.

Good, strong, relatively common American name.

Want to know who telemarketers and spam mail look for?

Juan.

Yep. That's close.

And don't get me started on people in the south adding S's to store names.

WalMartS, TargetS, KMarts, Krogers

Makes my skin crawl!!!

You've got your "X-specially" and "Let me AX you a question."

But the world's most ironic mispronunciation?

My Spanish teacher, Senor Tic-Tac (bad breath), used to instruct us daily on our need to work on our

"Pro-NOUN-ciation"

Yep.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Love, Shipoopies, and a Happy Weekend to you All!!!

Leslie

Lyrics

2011-05-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

It's probably no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm a lyrics girl. I'm sure it's the English degree in me, or maybe it's that part of my soul/mind/heart that lead me to the English degree. (So many things in life follow the chicken/egg arguement.)

I'm sure my mom gets sick (and tired - Hello, Bill Cosby!) of hearing me say, "This song has the GREATEST lyrics. Listen to it.....Now be sure to listen closely to this part. Aren't those awesome?!? Let's listen again!" Poor thing, I do it to her all the time!!

Why am I telling you this? Well, The Hubs had his Spring concert at school Tuesday night and one of the choirs did a little Les Miserables. I've always loved the music, but suddenly, this particular lyric is standing out to me. Maybe I just never understood the lyrics before now? Maybe I just never caught the beauty of the words before, but I've been singing it non-stop since Tuesday night.

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame

Love.The.Imagery!!!

Anyway, my new attachment to this lyric got me to thinking of other favorite lyrics.

Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath!

Still possibly the most romantic lyric every written.

It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy, 'cause every now and then I kick the living sh** out of me.

Never was a truer word spoken.

You find this situation just a bit uncomfortable;

You'd rather stay far away from reality.

For you to understand would be clearly impossible;

So you shut your eyes and swear you can see.

Claiming there is a God, but does that mean anything?

So condescending to those that you don't understand;

Just too easy to make them your enemies.

Like an ostrich, you bury your head in the sand,

And then shout about all the things you believe.

But if there is a God, don't you think He can see

What you really mean? What you're doing?

You can't find the answers

Till you learn to question;

You won't appear stupid

Just ask for direction.

You're insecure and it clouds your perception

So stop and listen

And learn a lesson in love without condition.

So place all the souls that you know

in their own little box;

Quite convenient to handle them that way;

You're the only one you know who carries a cross

You don't care what they care about anyway.

And You talk to your God,

Prayin' for those who sin,

For their eyes to be opened.

You can't find the answers

Till you learn to question;

You won't appear stupid

Just ask for direction.

You're insecure and it clouds your perception

So stop and listen

And learn a lesson in love without condition.

I tried to find a clip of lyrics from this song by Ginny Owens, but really the whole song is amazing. I love the lyrics. Powerful, life changing lyrics.

And then there's my latest ringtone - from back in the day.

We'll keep on spending sunny days this way

We're gonna talk and laugh our time away

I feel it comin' closer day by day

Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie...

*Ok, MAYBE it's really "you and me endlessly", but as a kid, my parents TOTALLY told me it was Leslie and I LOVED it. Still do.*

Do YOU pay attention to the lyrics? Do they move you and change you? Or do you just bop along, never knowing the meaning of those great beats?

What are YOUR favorite lyrics?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays -- Someone has a birthday coming up...

2011-05-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Monday, Monday... Can't Trust That Day

2011-05-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

People always say Mondays get a bad rap. I always say if they didn't bring a long, hectic week at a job that I.... umm... less than love, I wouldn't mind it at all. It's not the fact that it comes after Sunday or something about its name that makes peole dread it. It's that it signifies the end of family fun and relaxation and the beginning of very little time for family and lots of busy and stress. That being said, I try not to actually dread Mondays (though I do always wish my weekends had a little more time in them). I don't always succeed, but I try to always enter things with a positive attitude. It helps.

This morning, however, began with my sleeping right through my alarm that was to wake me up in time to get some exercise before the rest of the fam gets up and going. I don't mean I turned my alarm off or snoozed a little. I mean I woke up almost an hour after it was set with no recollection of it ever going off. The hubs swears it did.

Then I burned my toast. And when I say burned, I mean it was completely black - except for the orange, glowing part. Yep, actually set it kind of on fire. I had to throw it into the sink and run water on it.

That can't be the start my Monday needed. :)

OR, maybe I'm just getting all the bad for the week out of the way from the get go, thus prepping myself for an amazing day. :)

Here's hoping.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Carrying your load

2011-05-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

An Unloading.

That’s what I gave my poor friend Ashie as we “played tennis” the other night.

In fact, she gets a good bit of my unloading. To be fair, she’s unloaded her fair share on me as well. That’s what besties are for, right?

And to fess up, I have kind of unloaded the same load on her more times than I care to count lately. I mean, I’m not like sinking into a hole of depression and my life’s not falling apart or anything. I just have this overwhelming – Uuuuugh and Waaaaah mixture boiling right under the surface for longer than I’d care to imagine. I’m certainly not living my day to day life in misery. I am a blessed person and I recognize that most of the time, but that boiling mixture is ever present and comes to the surface more than I’d like it to these days.

It’s why my blogging has been…err…. struggling lately. Anytime I get deep enough in my head to write anything of interest, all my thoughts go to my load. *insert potty humor at will* And, to be completely honest, I can’t unload my load on my blog ‘cause people around whom my load revolves read my blog.

So there. I won’t.

But to the point of my blog today…

I unloaded… all sweaty in the car while the air conditioner dried our sweat in what maybe only Southerners recognize as the most amazing cool that ever is – your sweat evaporating in the car’s air conditioner, that is.
I don’t think I’ve expressed a new thought about my load in ages to her. It’s generally the same old frustrations and fears and worries and stresses. And she listens and agrees and chimes in in all the right places.

She’s a really good bestie.
But then she said, “I’m worried about you.”
I don’t think it was a conversation stopper. We didn’t break down and cry or drive off a cliff all Thelma and Louise or anything. It was just a comment in the middle of the conversation.

But here’s the thing. The next day, I woke up and put that load on my back, but it didn’t seem so heavy. And the boiling either cooled to a simmer or moved further away from the surface.

We didn’t really come up with solutions or any specific plan.

But knowing someone other than my Mama (big shout out there to the ones who worry about us always) didn’t just listen, but listened closely enough to know that it wasn’t just complaining, but a real load I’m carrying with no end in sight… it helped.

So here’s to besties and to really HEARING people and letting them know we hear them.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Judge Me Not, Lest You Be Judged

2011-05-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Family Night at CFA

Yes, she refused to wear the goggles as anything other than a headband.

Yes, I let her use the hammer anyway.

Don't judge.

Cute pic thought, right?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Uuuuuuuuuugh!

2011-05-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last night, Ashie (aka my bestie whose real name is Ashley) and I decided we're gonna start playin tennis post T's bedtime as many nights a week as we can. We both want to lose weight, and though she'll be doubling up with structured exercise in a gym during the day, for me, fitting in one any kind of exercise a day with a partner who will always go with me and make it fun is monumental.

Now, to backstep for a moment, I feel it's only fair to tell you that it's really not fair to anyone who has ever actually played tennis to use that phrase to describe what we were doing. I use the phrase for lack of better-suited terminology. There were raquets and balls and a great deal of running and that ever-present Tennis grunt (Uuuuuuuuugh!). But tennis it was not.

Our rules are basically "If it's still bouncing, it's in play," and "If there's another ball closer than the one you're chasing, it's ok to switch balls." We've also decided we need to make sure that the adjacent courts are empty when we play, lest we injure some unexpecting tennis player.

It wasn't pretty. It wasn't regulation. It wasn't something I'd do in front of anyone who didn't already love me in spite of my flaws, but it was FUN!!! And MAN did we get some aerobic exercise (and my abs are even a wee bit sore this morning).

We reserved a court for two more nights this week. If exercise could always involve that much laughter, I'd do it way more often. :)

I hope you are all doing well (and still visiting my page even through my long absence).

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Big News!!! (Nope, not THAT news.)

2011-05-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Who has two thumbs and has been wearing big girl panties with NO ACCIDENTS for two days?!?

THIS GAL!!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Easter Pics

2011-04-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

Sooooo.......

I've been busy.

Like crazy, can't see straight, haven't slept more than 5 hours in more than a week now busy.

BUT.....

I've been busy living my life and loving my family, so it's been nice busy (well, most of it).

Soooooo......

Until I can get enough free minutes to formulate actual thoughts and few more free minutes to type them into Blogger, you get some pictures!!! (Howluckyareyou?!?)

Learning to fly like an airplane (and look at Mommy at the same time)

T and her big cousin, Eli

Please note the eaten carrots after the Easter Bunny left. (You'll see why in a second.)

"Mommy, the carrots are BROKEN!!!"

"A Chocolate!!!!"

Napping between church and lunch

"Look! An airplane!!!"

Classy!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

2011-04-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

*I decided, while ordering pictures from our Disney trip (Our last day of the trip I got the email that Snapfish had 111 prints for $1.11 to celebrate their birthday. Yes, please!) I decided I was going to start making a little flip book of pictures for Tucker to have of our vacations so she can look at them when she wants and, hopefully, remember the trip and her favorite things. The book came in yesterday, so last night before bed, I was looking at it with her. I kept asking, "Who is that?", "Where were we? Do you remember?", "Who are you with there? Do you remember?" I was just trying to spark her memory.

Flash forward about 10 minutes when T is flipping through the book a second (and third and fourth and fifth) time by herself, still sitting in my lap. She flipped to a page (with a picture of herself) and said, "Mommy, who is that? Do you 'member?!?". Hahaha!

*Last night, on the way home from dinner, I asked Drew if he minded if I ran into WalMart for a minute (which quickly became 20) to get a handful of things we needed so I didn't have to come back out post T's bedtime. I was getting Fruit Loops and marshmallows ("marshallows - pink ones!") to fill eggs for hunting at our house next weekend - a little better than all candy; a doorknob, as our garage doorknob came off in Drew's hand the other day and, although you can poke it back in temporarily, it falls off again each time you open it; and double stick tape to finish some birthday party invites for one of my cousin's girls (and can I TELL YOU, they are CA-UTE!!!). Of course, I left with those things PLUS light bulbs, erasers, double stuff Oreos (the hubs' favorite), mini bubbles and rubber lizards for egg-filling, a fresh supply of jelly beans for the hubs, and mini Cadbury eggs for myself.

I tell you this because this morning, as I was leaving T's daycare, I had this strong urge to go home and eat Cadbury eggs with a Fruit Loop chaser for breakfast. I didn't, but... In case you ever wondered why I struggle so with my weight. :) I might have a small sugar-love. teensie. insignificant.

*So as I was pulling out of McD's (buying a skim milk caramel mocha Cadbury egg substitute), this sweet, younger-looking guy sitting at the red light (in the line of traffic I was trying to enter) backed his car up to REALLY signal that he was going to let me in when the light changed. He kept making eye contact while we waited and smiling and pointing. Very sweet.

And then he turned into my neighborhood behind me (heartbeat raises). Now, it's totally possible that he is coming from that direction and lives in the same neighborhood. It's a grand total of 1 redlight and two blocks between the two. I understand this logically, but man, all I could think was, "What if all that eye contact was a Ted Bundy thing deciding I was his next prey?!?" Yes, I'm crazy paranoid like that. So when I pulled up to the stop sign, at which I turn to go to my house, I didn't turn on my blinker until the last second, and then quickly glanced up to see if his came on immediately. (It didn't.) So I slowly turned onto my street, all the while watching my rearview mirror to make sure he wasn't turning behind me. He didn't, of course, but welcome to my brand of crazy! Paranoia abounds!!! I'm a nutter.

*And in the strangest of all weekend plans, I'm funeral-hopping. I've been asked to sing at, not one, but TWO funerals for people I don't know. I'll literally drive from one to the other. The good news is that one of the funerals is for a lady who was in her 90s and lived a long, full life. The other one is for the mother of a friend of a lady who goes to my church (Whew!) and in everything I've heard about the funeral, they are truly viewing it as a celebration of her life. They're having her friends speak, her favorite song sung ("Ave Maria"), and serving her favorite German foods after. Losing a loved one is never easy, but it's always so nice to see people celebrate the amazing memories they have rather than wallowing in what could have been.

*Want to know what I'm doing tonight. It's not my usual slammed with too many things weekend night or it's cousin the "fly by the seat of your pants and end up watching TV" who visits everytime Slammed is away. We have a PLAN. That plan is to go buy body wash while it's on sale (you know you're old WHEN) and then go buy a special copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 that has extra footage and interviews and watch every last second of it! Woohoo!!!!

Hope your Friday night is as cool as mine's gonna be!!!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Super Mommy Has Left the Building.

2011-04-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

*Blogger, why do you hate me so?!? It's still deleting all paragraph breaks and I can't make it stop. I apologize, once again, for the giant paragraph.* My husband has called me SuperMom three times in the past three days. *I know, "awwwww", right?* There's been little sleep, many middle-of-the-night wake-ups, way too much puke, three days of the little one out of school - two of which I was working full-time while watching her, a coffee pot malfunction, and a few crafts thrown in for T and a friend. Needless to say, I'm a bit frazzled and running on adrenaline at this point. But I've been holding it together - getting stuff done, keeping her as happy as a 3 year old with a high fever and strep throat can be, and helping him out here and there. But at the end of day three, after working a full day at work while keeping a whiney toddler safe and pacified, when I was rushing to get myself showered and both of us dressed for church (I assure you, she'd been on antibiotics for more than 24 hours before I took her to church, which is when the doctor said she was safe), and I got the 400th "evil smirk" before she did the opposite of what I was asking her, SUPERMOMMY LEFT THE BUILDING!!!!! Gone was the Mommy who rarely yells, and instead gets on her child's level and secures her child's attention before presenting her with acceptable options, thus gaining the desired behaviors/actions without a battle of wills. Gone was the Mommy who patiently lets her child do it herself, thus developing both her independence and intelligence. Gone was the Mommy who laughs at all the silliness that, even though entirely precious, usually doubles getting ready time. Do you want to know who showed up in her place? The Mommy who yells, "If you don't stop that RIGHT NOW!!!!" 10 times in 30 minutes; the Mommy who counts to three adding sidebars such as, "If I get to three and you don't have your shoes on..."; the Mommy who yells middle names. I went from SuperMommy to SuperLOUDMommy!!! *sigh* I'm quite ashamed of my alter-ego. I really work hard at keeping her hidden deep within. She's WAY less effective at getting things done. And she makes my head hurt (and usually my knees, shoulders, and elbows as well, since when she's around, I'm in a huff and tend to bump into things more frequently). She is NOT my favorite person. Who knew the super hero and her nemesis could reside in the same body?!? Hopefully today, when I get to do my two full-time jobs consecutively, rather than concurrently, SuperLOUDMommy will go back to her cave. Love & Shipoopies, Leslie

Back to His Mommy and Daddy

2011-04-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

*Blogger refuses to save my paragraph breaks today, so I apologize for the jumble.* We have had one sick little puppy in our house this week. The fever started creeping up around dinner Sunday. At 1am, she woke up crying inconsolably. At 5am, she woke up throwing up. At 8, we went to the doctor, came home, and the throwing up began again. Then she napped a bit. Then her fever spiked up to 104.7 (heart attack!!!). It was a rough day. And this morning, it looks like she either is getting pinkeye OR she busted a blood vessel in her eye while throwing up yesterday. The poor thing is just falling apart. Also the overnight strep test came back positive this morning. Yikes! Now the poor baby worries everytime I give her medicine for her fever, afraid it will make her "get sick" again (throw up). Last night, as I laid her in her bed we had this conversation: "Mommy, I don't want the sick to come again tonight." "No, honey, hopefully the sick is all gone bye bye." "Did he go back to his Mommy and Daddy?" "Ummm, yeah, he went back to his Mommy and Daddy." "Did he go to Will and Ashie's?" (our best friends) "No, I hope not. They don't want the sick either." We said our goodnights and I came down stairs and then I heard, "Mommy! Mommy?" "What, baby?" "Did he go to Nana and Poppa's house?" The way their little brains see it all is just too funny! Love & Shipoopies, Leslie

Per my absence...

2011-04-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

In case you wondered why I haven't been blogging, here's a few hints as to where we've been.

Stories to follow!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Things That Make Ya Go Hmmm...

2011-03-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Any ideas on what this mannequin is supposed to be doing?

I mean, seriously, WHAT was the mannequin designer thinking when he created this pose?

Hmmmm.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

These are a few of my favorite things...

2011-03-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Some things I'm currently into:

1.) Skim milk, Caramel Mocha at McDonald's - seriously, I like it better than most Starbucks stuff and it's half the price

2.) This:

Love Glee. Love Gwyneth. LOOOOOOVE this song!

3.) The maid service I have coming to my house this afternoon. It's our Valentine's gift to each other - we're just REALLY late getting around to it. I'm pretty excited about someone else scrubbing my tubs and showers and getting rid of all that dust!!!

4.) The idea of my next week consisting of 2.5 work days and then a trip to "Mickey Mouse's House". :) Yipee!!!

5.)This:

Love Chris (the soloist). Have loved Blackbird for AGES. Love the simplicity of it all.

6.) The the thought of some quality time with my Mama this next week. (She's going to see the mouse with us. The hubs is taking his choir, so she's coming to be second parent for me.)

7.) Bubble Town - it's a ridiculous mindless game that I sometimes play online while doing my job. I know it seems counterintuitive, but for my job, having a game to focus on while I voicewrite (I'm hands-free while working) helps me stay awake and allows my brain to do its thing better.

8.) Ralph Macchio on Dancing with the Stars -- Is he the cutest thing you ever saw?!? Love it!

What are YOU into right now?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Things I Don't Get...

2011-03-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

1.) How can you make and HOLD eye contact with someone, say at the grocery store or at your kid's daycare, and not smile. I mean, I get we're all in our own world sometimes and don't notice people, but if you make and hold eye contact, why the stern face? Lift those cheeks, people.

2.) When lanes are merging in traffic or construction or any other similar situation, why do some people REFUSE to just do the "one from my lane, one from your lane" routine? Why is there always one guy (or sometimes 10 of them in a row) who looks at you and then slams the gas to close the gap, refusing to let a car in, then slamming on their brakes so they don't hit the car in front of them?

3.) When exiting a parking lot (or subdivision) where there's a left turn lane and a right turn lane, why do people in the left turn lane INSIST on pulling up farther when they know they aren't going to be the first to go since they're waiting on two directions of traffic when the right lane is only waiting on one lane? And why is this habit more consistently practiced by people in GIANT vehicles - Hummers, FedEx trucks, School buses?

4.) Why do some waiters/waitresses not get the line between being friendly to get a good tip and driving me crazy by not leaving me alone? I want you to be friendly. A little banter is good. But when I can't have a conversation with the people at my table (you know, the ones I chose to come have a meal with?) because you continue to tell stupid stories and jokes and will NOT go away, it makes me want to tip you less, not more. And if you talk so long after finding out my requests/order that you forget anything special I asked for and, thus, get my order wrong, I am even more irritated with you. It's not that hard of a line to find, guys (and gals).

5.) How is a skim milk Caramel Mocha from McDonald's so amazing at some McDonald's and scorched swill at others? (Thankfully, I got a really good one on my lunch break today.)

What don't YOU get?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - My Fair Funny Face

2011-03-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

We had Tucker try on her Easter dress the other night to make sure it and the matching shoes fit. I got this snap and immediately thought of Audrey Hepburn. (I'll admit I'm a bit obsessed, so it's not a huge stretch for my mind to jump there.) The fluffy dress (Hello, Funny Face) and the toes pointed out (an almost constant Hepburn placement) - so sweet. Love it!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

A Rose is a Rose... but an Almond?

2011-03-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever really contemplated Almonds? Probably not, I guess. I never really did until this weekend when I opened a new pack of coffee called "Toasted Almond". I was expecting this smoky, toasty, yummy, nutty flavor in my coffee. Want to know what it tastes like?

Amaretto.

Now, I know that amaretto is "almond-flavored" which, I always assumed, means it's made from almond oil. Thankfully, I like amaretto flavoring, but have you ever really thought about almonds and amaretto being the same? They're completely different beasts. It's like learning that corriander and cilantro are the same thing at different stages. (True story, folks.)

And then there's toasted almonds which, to me, when you get them on a salad, don't taste really like almonds OR amaretto. It's like a third incarnation of this crazy little nut.

And don't even get me STARTED on how cherry Runts taste like amaretto, 'cause they do. Try them.

So I have cherry candy that tastes like almond oil, toasted nut coffee that tastes like almond oil, and two forms of nut that don't taste like either of them.

I guess to heck with it! Give me some sour mix and a glass of ice!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

The Neverending Story...

2011-03-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Be honest. How many of you are now singing that song and picturing that kid flying on the big dog-thing? You know you are.

*Editor's note: It drives me NUTS when Blogger doesn't save paragraph spacing so it's all just one big jumble!!!*

My story doesn't have a kid being bullied at school or a flying dog (which, to be honest, are the only things I remember about that movie other than the song), BUT it does have two silly two-year-olds and a purple unicorn. :)

To begin with, I will say, I have always wanted to have a cool aunt name. I've always wanted to have a name unique to just me that held all kinds of magic for my nieces and nephews. Actually, to say "always" isn't true. I didn't really think of the idea until after my first two nephews were born. But then one of my friends, named Amy, became "Aunt A". And then we got "Ashie" into our lives. Then my brother declared his uncle name to be "Unc". I knew I HAD to have a cool aunt name. Of course, I couldn't think of one until one day, my niece, Carly, in an attempt to say my name, said, "Sassy". I BEGAN SQUEALING, proclaiming it as my aunt name. Afterall, Sassy is AWESOME and it kind of fits me. LOVE IT!!!

So I told her parents and my parents, "Don't call me Aunt Leslie in front of Carly anymore. I'm Sassy!!!" They, of course, still all call me Aunt Leslie in front of her. So now my name is somewhere around "Srashrie". (And since I know at least a couple of the people responsible for this -- *ahem* Nana and Poppa, who are both called by their desired names because I never call them anything else *ahem* -- read this, I'll throw in a huge *hint, hint, nudge, nudge* here. Start calling me SASSY!!!

Flash forward to this past weekend when I was at the parents' house. The conversations would go something like this:

"Carly, can you call me Sassy?"

"Assy"

"No, Ssss assy"

"Assy"

"Saa"

"Sea"

"Saa"

"Sea"

"Sassy"

"Assy"

Yep, like a katrillion times. (It's accurate. I counted.)

(My two best friends, though maybe not for much longer, keep explaining to me that this name applies to me just as accurately as "Sassy". Hmph!)

Flash forward to earlier this week. I was at the grocery store after dinner with T. They had a bin of little, tiny Pillow Pals. They're like half the size of the original ones, maybe a bit smaller. They are ADORABLE!!! T has one of the original Pillow Pals and uses it as a pillow, but it's a little thick and I worry about her neck sleeping on it. Plus we're taking a trip soon and I decided a teensie one would be easier to keep up with and would fit in her lap in the car better. (Plus, did I mention they're really cute?!?)

So I let T pick one and she picked the purple unicorn. This was doubly exciting for me as I had a huge purple unicorn (aptly named Uni) when I was a little girl. It was bigger than I was until I was at least 5 or 6. I kept her until after I was married. I think Drew and I actually moved her a couple of times before I finally decided she was loosing too much stuffing and just plain sad. I have a theory that all children should own at least one stuffed animal that's bigger than they are. It's a magical thing. (Can I mention here that when my *ahem* "girls" came in in middle school, one grew a bit faster than the other and for a while my dad, smart tail that he is, called me "uniboob" and it wasn't until YEARS later that I realized it wasn't just because I loved unicorns and was getting boobs. Awesome.)

I digress. (Shocking, I know.)

So I asked T if it was a girl unicorn or a boy unicorn. She said it was a girl.

I asked her what the girl unicorn's name was. She said, "I don't know." (She hasn't really gotten into the concept of naming her dolls and animals yet.)

I said, "Well, what name do you want to call her? What name do you like?"

(Have you guessed yet what's coming?)

"Ummmmmmmmmmmm........... I call her SASSY!!!"

Yep.

There ya go.

B. T. dubs, in the picture at the top, she posed herself. I asked her to let me take a picture and got this:

"I can stand by my UNICORN!"

"Oooh, I put my foot on her."

"Oooh, Mommy, wait. I put my hands in my pockets."

My child is a hoot!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Only Because It's My Life

2011-03-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

All I have are random tidbits, but it's not because I'm lazy or don't want to develop a thought. It's just that well, my LIFE is random tidbits surrounding my same old job these days. :)

*Last week, I drove to my parents' house (since my husband was away on his third almost week-long trip since mid-February). It is 215 miles from my house to theirs. Around 6 of those miles were NOT under construction and not a single one of the 215 miles wasn't covered in rain while I drove them. And my iPod died about halfway there so my awesome "driving mix" I made myself was for naught. Misery, my friends. Misery.

*WHY do people have such a hard time understanding the "solid line = you can't change lanes/ dotted lines - you can change lanes" phenomenon on interstates? Seriously when did this become a rule that it was totally ok to ignore? And for that matter, since when is it ok to get into a turn lane approximately 6 turns before you actually TURN? When did it suddenly become ok to drive straight through turns because you're going to turn eventually? Do you REALIZE how many wrecks you almost cause when you do that? 'Cause, you know, the rest of us are trying to get in the turn lane at the appropriate time and assume that you're turning before then because you've been in the turn lane for 3 miles.

*My laptop screen shorted out this weekend. The computer was somewhere around 6 years old and had multiple other things wrong with it, and once they told me the time/cost continuum for having the screen re-wired I decided it was time to break down and buy another laptop. I, thankfully, had an external hard drive that is relatively current, so file transfer shouldn't be hard. But HERE'S the thing - none of my websites (aka bloggy friends addresses) are on this new computer. I have them all on my iPhone, but I'm going to have to find time to transfer them all over. And speaking of iPhone, my iTunes isn't on here. (Thankfully my music is backed up on that external hard drive as well.) As a matter of fact, NOTHING on this computer is where/how it should be. The keyboard's all different and nothing is where it should be (or easy to find since this computer runs on Windows 7 and so far I HATE IT!!!). I know eventually this computer will become second nature, but for now, it's a giant pain in my patootie!

*Speaking of my laptop, it came with 6 months of free Geek Squad support (from Best Buy) by phone or internet chat. So yesterday, when I became completely frustrated while trying to network my two home computers together for file sharing, I decided to give them a call. Afterall, on my non-Windows 7 computers, this task was so simple even I could do it without an assist. But here's the thing with Windows 7. They decided to make creating a home network SO SIMPLE on Windows 7. There are videos and people expressing jubilantly how easy it is to network your Windows 7 computers... to other Windows 7 computers. But if you want to network a Windows 7 to, say, an XP computer? You might as well be attempting to expose the truth about Area 51.

So I called the Geek Squad. The first guy I got seemed relatively knowledgeable and put me on hold while he researched doing the task with Windows 7 because even he admitted it was trickier than your usual home networking. Then as he took me off hold (I heard him begin to speak), he accidentally disconnected the line. He hadn't taken a call-back number, so I called the hotline again and got another "agent" (Yes, they introduce themselves as "Agent Jonah" and "Agent Natalie".)

I could tell with the second this agent that answered the phone, that even if she knew the answer to my question, she didn't care enough about the job to use the energy it would take to explain the process to me. She was going to do as little as humanly possible. After first asking if by "having problems creating a home network, networking my two home computers" I meant "having internet connection problems" ????, she took about 2 minutes to "research" the problem, came back and told me I needed to buy an external wireless thingamabob in order to network these two computers, which is interesting since they are already physically connected to the same router with cords. When I pointed this out to her, she said, "Well, that's what it's telling me. If you need more help than that, I can arrange an appointment for a Geek Squad member to make a house call and help you (a service for which one must pay extra, of course). I told her I wasn't going to pay to have them come to my house when this should be a very simple technical question that any help desk should be able to help with. Without another word, she promptly hung up on me. (Now THAT'S what I call service, folks.)

I called a third time and could immediately tell I had Agent #2 again, so I hung up and tried a fourth time, ending with an Indian accented Agent. She, too, after I explained my dilema, said, "Ok, so you're having internet connection problems..." (WHAT?!?). When I re-explained that I was trying to network my two computers, which are sharing a router, so I could file share, she said, "Ooooh, WOW!!!" in a tone that implied I might as well have told her I was trying to get my husband pregnant or my 2-year-old into Med School. Apparently, she's never heard of anything so magical and complicated as a home network. She immediately explained that this amazing task was far beyond the "basic technical support" they are there to give and she would gladly arrange for an in-home visit by a Geek Squad member.

Can I just say how glad I am I didn't PAY for this amazing technical support?!?

More tomorrow...

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

A Prayer Request

2011-03-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, my brother-in-law, Matthew, and his family (Shawna, Eli, and Kensi) live in Japan. My father-in-law, Ricky, is currently there visiting. They had gone into Japan for a few days to go to the zoo and Disney and are, thus, away from their home phone (our way of contacting them). We haven't heard from them since the earthquake/tsunami. The hubs is certain from looking at the maps they were out of major harm's way, but we are worried because we haven't heard from them. I'm sure it's just that communications are down, but please pray that they will find a way to contact someone in the states soon and that they are fine.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

What's in a Name?

2011-03-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

I was having a discussion recently about someone I know who never really learned to find her value in anything other than her beauty (of which she has plenty). She's a wife, a mother, a student, an athlete, a friend, a Christian -- there are so many labels I could give her that, to me, define her, but to HER, she's beautiful. It's where she finds her validation, her esteem, in essence, it's who she thinks she is.

It made me think about my own definitions and labels, which, to be honest, I've been taking stock of quite a bit lately. But looking at them after this particular conversation made me see them in a different light.

Here's the thing. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me or reads my blog regularly that I don't adore my job. I mean, it has its perks (who wouldn't love working in sweat pants and slippers everyday?!?), but after a while, the downsides really start to outweigh the pajamas. Heck, I actually yearn to dress up and go places all the time now. I get sick of my pjs.

All that to say that I don't define myself by my work, as most people do. And if I WERE to define myself occupationally, I'd be more likely to say that I'm an ex-teacher than to use my current job to define me.

And the fact that occupationally, I'd define myself by something in the past made me realize that alot of my definitions and labels that I would give myself are based in the past. See, to ME, I'm not a fat lady. I'm a skinny, athletic girl who is desperately trying to lose weight. I remember being heartbroken when I realized that more of my friends now never knew me as skinny. They don't think of me as the girl who gained weight after college. They only picture me at this weight, whereas when I think of myself, I know that I'm REALLY a tiny gymnast, not this plump thing I look like now.

I don't think that it's a matter of not accepting who I am now in my job or my weight, but rather than I'm not really pleased with either of those things personally so I don't want to change my definition of myself to meet them, even if they've both been true for more than 6 years now. And realizing that for 6 years I've not been happy with the current "me" makes me kind of sad.

That's not to say that I don't love certain parts of my life. I'm a mom, and a pretty darn good one, I like to think. My kid is happy and intelligent and funny and charming and I like to think at least some of that is a result of something I've done. I certainly hope that I'm a good wife at least most of the time. Granted, a load of laundry almost never gets put all the way up before another one is out of the dryer and my desk stays a mess, but I also have worked 6+ years at a job I really don't like to help pay the bills and I make his coffee and lunch every morning while getting our 2 year old fed and dressed without being asked. I take care of T sometimes 5 days a week and regularly 2 or 3 days a week by myself until past her bedtime. I do the grocery shopping and the cooking (when it gets done). I have mental notes of things he likes and doesn't and try to remember them in all situations (whether that means never cooking with or ordering tomatoes, mushrooms, or olives OR just restraining myself when I want to tell a story I think is hysterical that I know he might think was embarassing).

I'm GOOD at those parts of my life. I'm not perfect, but I'm proud of those parts.

But most people don't really think of or talk about those being things to be proud of. Most people want to define you by your job and what you've accomplished in the business world, not by how awesome your 2-year old is or how mean of a lasagna you can make. And I guess if I were a stay-at-home mom, I would be more ok with that because at least I could say that at my "job" - aka being a mom, I was really successful (and I might also keep the laundry a little closer to done). But I'm not. I work full-time and don't really change the world in any dramatic way, yet I whittle-away hours and hours doing it. And in my own definitions that I set a long, long time ago, that makes me feel like a failure at least a little bit.

I didn't realize until very recently how much having this "random computer job" (which is what I tell most people I do when asked) had cut down my self-esteem, but it really has. Which is ridiculous to me because another definition I have of myself is that I am a confident, self-assured person. I always have been. I've always done things as well as I could and thus been proud of myself and known that if I really wanted something, I could do it, get it, or work towards it. But these days, I question myself and am constantly scared of making a fool of myself.

So I'm working on that now. I took a big step recently and, although the outcome wasn't at all my desired ending, I didn't fail either. I did ok. And it made me think that maybe girl who is really only qualified to do a "random computer job" isn't really just that. Maybe I'm still that skinny, ex-teacher who's an awesome mom and wife somewhere in there and I just need to give her a chance to try and prove herself.

Maybe...

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

The Reason I Haven't Blogged...

2011-03-02T04:59:00.000-08:00

...is that although I've had a ton of random thoughts, none of them are a full blog alone. You know what that means? You're about to be on the receiving end of a blog full of randomness. :) How lucky are YOU?!?

Things I'm loving right now:
*Oikos Greek Yogurt with caramel - Dude, seriously!
*Mr. Sunshine's theme song - "Mr. Sunshine, yeah." - Very Juno-esque.
*Mr. Sunshine (the actual show), Castle, Sex in the City reruns, How I Met Your Mother reruns
*Still using my Peanuts Christmas mugs for coffee as oft as I can.
*That most days for the past 2 weeks, it's been warm enough for flip flops, short sleeves, and my homemade iced coffees
*Amy Farrah-Fowler on "Big Bang Theory". I mean, what's not to like? The show is HILARIOUS! Her character gives me at least 3 spit-takes every episode, and HELLO?!? She's BLOSSOM!!!
*Jimmy Palmer on NCIS (the original) - he's a minor character, but they have developed him expertly. He's goofy and quite funny. Love him!

Things driving me nuts lately:
*Arrogance
*People so sure of their rightness in all situations that they never, ever consider anyone else's opinions or thoughts
*Being exhausted and overwhelmed, so much so that even when I have free-time, I'm so burned-out that I can't seem to get myself back on track. I find myself sitting and staring instead of digging myself out.

Other random thoughts:
*You know it's been a rough busy season at work when, on the first day we're allowed to take off (in 6 weeks), no fewer than 4 people (on a team of fewer than 20) called in sick. Granted, I actually had a kid with a 102+ fever, but I'm guessing at least a couple of the other 3 were taking "mental health" days. ;)
*Little Caesar's - Their whole "catch" is that they can be your emergency "I don't have time to even wait on fast food" dinner? Really? There's never a word about taste or quality; nothing mentioned about service or how much you'll want to return. Just "we can have crappy pizza ready for you in a moment's notice on any day when you've given dinner so little thought that you can't even wait 3 minutes for a burger at a drive-through." Awesome.
*T came home from daycare talking about her little sister who was at lunch. It went something like this: "My little sister's at lunch, so we can't see her, but she's crying, so we need to get her some juice." ???? I have no idea. She apparently talked about this mysterious little sister to her teachers yesterday as well. My kid is hysterically crazy. :)

And then there's this gem of a conversation T and I had the other morning while getting ready for school.

T: OOW! My head hurts!

Me: What's wrong with your head?

T: It's SOOO too big!

Me: Does it hurt 'cause it's too big?

T: Yeah. *She wraps her hands around her neck and pulls up on her head.* Ugh! It won't come off!

Yep, that's my life and I love it!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Things That Make Ya Go "Hmmmm"!

2011-02-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, as you walk around this great, big world, you see a real puzzler and feel the need to share.

Now, this isn't one of those signs where you change the stickers out to change the times. It's a laminated piece of printed paper. Tell me. Why doesn't it just say Mon-Sat 10:00-9:00?

It's a real thinker, I tell ya.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

I'm In a 12-Step Program For It...

2011-02-17T05:15:00.001-08:00

... well, it's really more of a 12-letter program. ;)

Here's the thing. We all have neurosis - little weird things about us that we know are a little (or a lot) crazy. We all have certain habits that we can't break or routines we do without knowing why. And in our society, we're taught to hide them... pretend they don't exist and be embarassed by them.

I, on the other hand, like to wear mine on my sleeve. I figure if I didn't have my quirks, I wouldn't be me. ('Cause if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm basically one big ol' pile of quirkiness.)

Last night, I fessed up to yet another crazy-town invitation - both to my husband and to myself. You see, he was playing "Words With Friends" on his iPhone. I'm guessing most of you either play it or have seen others play it, but in case you haven't, it's like Scrabble on your phone. You start a game with another person, a friend or a random computer-selected person. Then you make a move, send it, and wait for them to send their move. Yep, just fancy, delayed-gratification Scrabble.

Drew loves it. Since the first day he discovered the game, I would venture to say he's never had fewer than 5 games going at a time. He plays it so much that I've added words to the ditties it plays when you win or lose ("You-oo-oo-oo WIN!" and "You-oo-oo-oo SUCK!").

So last night, as we were climbing into bed, settling in (somehow I can't say "settling in" without thinking "for a long winter's nap" - another neurosis - Name that reference!), his phone binged with a "Words With Friends" move. He looked over at me and said, "You don't play this anymore, do you?"

The simple answer is "No." But here's the neurosis. I TRIED playing the game. I was an avid player two different times (meaning 5 or 6 games at once for months at a time in each effort). I quit both times. Here's why.

I'm not a seriously competitive person usually. I mean, we all have our moments, but for the most part, I don't mind losing a game or two here and there. In fact, when it comes to Monopoly, I always lose... usually because I got bored and moved on halfway through. Seriously. Dullest.Game.EVER!

But I digress...

You see, when playing "Words With Friends", I like to come up with a word that will BLOW THE MIND of my competition. I want a the highest point word possible with the hand I've been dealt. I can't just play the first word I see for whatever points I can get. Even after two days of looking for a high-point word, I won't play a teensie word for next-to-no points. It's not within me. But I don't have the time to spend 30 minutes regularly trying to come up with a high point word. So instead of just playing whatever word comes to mind for whatever points I get and having fun with it, I let my games sit for so long that they time out and I inadvertently forfeit.

Yep, for me, in word games, it's be awesome or go home. I'd rather lose because I stalled-out than lose by 2 points because I played a stupid word.

Ridiculous. I know.

What are YOUR crazy-town invitations? You KNOW you have them!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

All You Need Is Love

2011-02-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, I discovered my sweet, little baby is old enough to be swapping Valentine's at daycare. I'll be honest. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that... but I do know that if we're going to swap Valentine's, I want them to be C.U.T.E.!!! ;)

I'll be honest again. I didn't originate either of these ideas. I'm a big, fat copier. ;-p

These flowers are for the mailboxes of each of her classmates.

These wax paper hearts full of candy are for her teachers and I got the idea from Kelli @ Random Thoughts of a Supermom.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Gifts from Japan

2011-02-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

Granna just got back from Japan, where she went for the birth of our sweet niece, Kensi. She brought us back lots of cool presents, but I think this is my favorite. (If you look closely, you can see it even came with the cute wooden shoes. Adorable!)

"Tucker, look at Mommy and smile."

"No, look AT Mommy, not past her."

"There we go... sort of." ;)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Monday Morning Wrap-Up

2011-02-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

I know you're all DYING to know my responses to all that aired last night.

Football? I think I heard something about a football game being on maybe? I didn't watch a minute of it... all season. Pro anyway.

But the rest of it was fabulous!!!

Well, that's not true, but it was at least blog-worthy.

To begin with, the commercial load wasn't nearly as jam-packed with fabulousness as usual. I mean, there were some gems (and I'll get to that), but way too many "reruns" as my friend Will kept calling them. :)

Now, Christina, honey, I GET the pressure when it comes to remembering the words to the National Anthem. When you're singing in front of a crowd, your thoughts are more concerned with the HORROR of messing up the words than actually trying to remember the words. Seriously. Try it one day, folks. But Christina, you are worth somewhere around 5 katrillion dollars. You employ probably near-abouts 4,000 people. Get one of them to stand somewhere in your line of vision with giant posters containing the words OR get a friggin teleprompter. WAY better than flubbing the words to the National Anthem during the SUPER BOWL!!!

You'll be surprised to know, however, that her word flub is NOT my biggest bone to pick with her (and about 3/4 of the rest of National Anthem singers everywhere). WHY? Why, why, why, why, WHY do you feel it necessary to quadrouple the number of notes in the song? WHY do you think it makes you awesome to add so many flourishes and runs and weird additions to the tune that it becomes almost entirely unrecognizible? I think that's more of a faux pas than the flubbing of the words. At least the words thing was a mistake. You did the rest of the song-ruining intentionally. I have a rule when it comes to singing (and incidentally, her version of "Silent Night" is my PRIME example I use when sharing this rule... well, her and Mariah Carey ANYTHING). "Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD."

"Halftime Show?" you ask. I liked all the white catsuits. I liked all the lit-up people with power sources for belly buttons. I liked the cool things the catsuit-people did (except for all of the crooked lines and people half-dancing during close-ups). The staging was pretty awesome.

The Peas, however? BLECH! They sounded awful!! Everytime I hear them live, I think, "They should really lip-synch in live performances because they use too much post-production touch ups on their cds." Their live performances are always a disappointment to me. And "Good night"? "Boom Boom Pow"? REALLY?!? Pick a new song to perform. I've never bought an album, but you MUST have more than just those 2 songs. They were good the first 4 million times I heard them, but they play on the radio almost every third song, and you've sung them at every major event in America for the past 2 years or so. Geesh! Oh, and Fergie, WHO were you holding the mic out to? In an auditorium for a concert, there are fans a few feet from you and their voices MIGHT pick up on the mic. But in a football stadium where you have 2,000 dancers and half a football field plus some peanut vendors between you and the next fan singing along, what did you think that mic was going to pick up? Just wondering.

Now, onto my favorite commercials for the night. (in no particular order)

Chevy's "Best First Date Ever" got an extended "Awwwwww" from our living room - well, the female half, anyway.
Darth Vader starting the car with his mind? I think that was Chevy as well. Seriously?!? SO CUTE!!!
Audi's "Release the hounds!" with Kenny G - pretty fabulous. The "hounds" were my favorite part.
Motorola's _1984_ type commercial with the drones in white coats and the guy with the flowers? Very cute and unique
Bridgestone with the beaver? Almost (that's a big distinction) as good as my favorite Pep Boys commercial with the Moose ("You get them brakes at Pep Boys? Preciate it.")

And the award for the commercial you were MOST ashamed you did a spit-take for?

Timothy Hutton for Groupon. With the crisis in Tibet? And the Groupon for the Tibetan restaurant? Seriously - I almost spit my drink across the living room. Such a spot-on mockery of the American attitude towards serious issues in our world. (If you assume a Valley Girl accent and twirl your hair, maybe smack some pretend gum, it'll really clinch this one for you.) "The problems in Tibet? Absolutely horrible. I'm in total support of us helping them. That's why I eat their awesome chicken at this Tibetan place at least once a week. It HAS to help them, right?" LOVED IT! (Posted it as my FB status and then immediately saw one of my high school friends saying how offended he was by it. Oops!)

It WAS tacky, but isn't MOST of our culture's favorite humor at the moment mocking how insensitive and selfish and ridiculous we can all be? Anyone seen "The Office" or "Modern Family"?

Loved it!

And Glee, you ask? I'll sum up quickly. Love Puck. Love Blaine. Think I actually like the Warblers better than New Directions.

I hope you all had a great weekend! Oh, and hey, how'd that football-thingy turn out? ;)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

2011-02-04T05:43:00.000-08:00

Possibly the cutest thing you've ever seen, no?

Yep, she's precious... especially when she sleeps.

But we've been fighting off something on and off since around Thanksgiving. We have a fever and cough that we just can NOT shake. And on nights when that fever spikes up, it usually equals a wide-awake two-year-old at around 4:30am, which happened this morning.

Now, we're not usually kid-in-the-bed kind of people. But when the option is get UP at 4:30am on a work day with no nap in sight or put the kid in our bed, she comes into our bed. She'll usually go back to sleep in a relatively short period of time.

The drawback?

That's my pillow and the amount of room generally left for me. Actually, that's a generous portion of matress compared to the norm when she joins us. Yikes!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

The Drivey-Drive

2011-01-31T14:55:00.001-08:00

Tucker hasn't quite figured out how to steer her car. I mean, she can. She just doesn't seem to care at all. She just drives in circles until either you turn her steering wheel or she hits something. I can't help but laugh... hysterically... every.single.time. Enjoy!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless... Thursdays?

2011-01-27T05:14:00.000-08:00

*Riding the train at the mall for the first time*

"Choo Choo!!!"

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Too Much Fun

2011-01-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

*Do you love this "Flashdance" outfit she's rocking? It's of her own choosing - from the tutu to the extra headband. A fashionista in our midst, folks.*

I'm so sorry for my lack of blogging lately. I'll be honest. My life is nuts. There's work, the two-year-old, getting ready for Scrapbook camp, and about 5 million other things that I won't mention here. My brain is just otherwise-occupied, so that even when I find time to blog (which is rare), I can't come up with anything I can blog about. All my thoughts are either dull, topics I'm not ready to share (no, I'm not pregnant), or topics that are just not blog-worthy - ie NOT funny or inspiring.

While we wait on my real brain to return, I thought I'd share with you the conversations filling my days these days.

To the doctor at the end of a visit: "Thank you for seeing me today."

While I was going potty and right after she went potty: "Good job, Mommy! You get your M&Ms?"

After almost every single activity for weeks now: "Mommy, we had TOO MUCH FUN today!"

After another doctor visit today: "Mommy, I had TOO MUCH FUN at the doctor today!"

After putting on her new shoes and while modeling them for me: "Mommy, thank you for getting my new shoes!" (Man, I hope this politeness sticks around for a while!)

While already driving down the road on the way to church: "Daddy, can you crank the car? It's cold!"

And my favorite:

Yelled from upstairs where napping is supposed to be happening:

"Mommy? MOMMY?!? Mommy, what's tomorrow? It's Saturday?"

Me: "No, tomorrow is Wednesday."

"Oh, ok. Just making sure."

Hahaha!!! Seriously, we stay in giggles around our house.

I hope this finds you all well!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Genetics - Part Deux - A Translation

2011-01-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know the actual words to "Do Your Ears Hang Low"

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like a Continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

You're welcome. ;)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Genetics

2011-01-18T06:04:00.001-08:00

Do you remember a few months back (here) when I discussed my love of making up what song lyrics sound like when I can't figure out what they actually are?

Turns out, it's genetic.

And I don't want to build this up too much, but I'm pretty sure, this is the greatest re-write in the history of all lyric-making-up-dom. (I'm pretty sure that's the perfect amount of build-up.)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Snow M. G.!!!

2011-01-14T07:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, we got snow in the South - lots of it - and it stayed...

and stayed...

and stayed!

Tucker is very into rainbows (aka - anything with a semicircle anywhere in or on it).

"Mommy, it's a rainbow!!!"

The average depth in our yard.

Last time I saw snow this deep in the South was in '93.

This is the layer of ice on top of all that snow that developed when it sleeted the day after the snow and stayed cold enough to freeze it all.

Can you tell where the curb is? Our cul de sac was almost completely filled with snow!!!

This was possibly the craziest part to me. I took this picture at 11pm without a flash. It was snowing so hard that it looked like daylight outside. CRAZY!

Our besties - Ashie and Will

Hands down - Cutest Picture Ever!!!

It was HARD WORK for T to walk in all that snow!

That's some seriously deep snow!

Snow cream chilling outside while we ate dinner

Tucker thought Daddy shoveling was a RIOT! :)

Do you see the lump of snow under her hand? That's the snowwoman's heart that Tucker made and placed. (I <3 her.)

Love & Shipoopies (and a yard still full of snow a full week later),

Leslie

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-01-13T08:03:00.000-08:00

...how droopy are your branches!!!

Confession time.
See this picture of our house in the snow?

It snowed on the night of January 9th. And it caught me with my wreaths up.

And my tree...

and my other zillion Christmas decorations.

That's right, folks! I'm a complete procrastinator when it comes to taking down my Christmas decorations. It's party because I LOVE THEM!!!! And it's partly because I'm Methodist, so I actually like having the tree up until Epiphany (Jan 6th). But it's mostly for two reasons:

1.) I really enjoy my short break that I get and want to spend it doing other things and

2.) My house seems so empty without them.

I was raised in a house with conflicting views on when to remove the decorations. My father was raised Catholic (and also doesn't actually put up or take down Christmas decorations - Sorry, Dad, but the truth hurts sometimes - haha!), so he always thinks the tree should stay up until January 6th. My mom knows that taking the decorations down takes time and energy, so she wants to get them down quickly so she can have it done and still have a little time to rest before starting back to school. Usually there was a compromise that ended in the tree coming down on New Year's Day.

I talked to my Aunt Nan, and she was in a rush to get hers down as soon after Christmas as she could. Her reasoning? "My house seems so CLEAN once they're all boxed up!"

Isn't it funny how perspective can change anything? For her, it seems clean. For me, it makes everything else in my house seem small, boring, and insignificant.

We did, during one of our snow-trapped evenings, get everything down and boxed up but the tree and the outdoor wreaths. Nowhere to put the tree (garbage pick-up was snowed-out this week) and no WAY I'm letting the hubs climb on the roof or a ladder in the ice that is covering everything to get those wreaths down! But, to be honest, I will cherish any last days I can squeeze out of the decorations.

One last thought. In church the Sunday between Christmas and Epiphany, our preacher talked about taking down the decorations and how some people love to "put Christmas away". She warned us all that we can pack up the glitz and sparkle of Christmas, but to be sure we don't pack Christ away like he's seasonal. Nice. :)

What's your style on getting Christmas decorations up and taking them down?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Randomness: A Trilogy, in 4 Parts*

2011-01-07T04:18:00.000-08:00

1.) When picking out a blanket, be it for cuddling on the couch or to cover my bed while I sleep, I find the most important factor is weight. The thickest, warmest blanket out there will still leave me feeling cold unless it's heavy enough to really weigh on my body as it covers me.

*Seriously random, I know.

2.) Have you ever:
a. Had someone say something so rude, self-absorbed, and nasty that you
b. Laid-out a sharp-tongued, well-planned line of sarcasm beginning with the classic "Well, I'm just SOOOOO sorry for...."
c.) Gotten NO response
d.) And wondered, "Was my biting and amazingly brilliant sarcasm so cutting that they realized the error of their selfish, rude, horrid ways OR are they SOOO self-absorbed that they ACTUALLY thought I was apologizing?!?"

3.) I've sent something out there in the world and just the act of beginning the process has me all giddy inside and nervous. Those of you who are prayers, please pray that God fulfills his plan with it, even if it's not what MY plan for it is. :) (Vague enough for you?!?)

4.) Yesterday, our sweet niece, Kensi Elisabeth made her debut to the world! She was born in Japan to the hubs's brother, Matthew and his wife, Shawna. She's quite adorable and looks much like her big brother, Eli, did upon his arrival. We are so happy for them and can't wait to meet her in person (months and months away :( boo).

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

*If you've never read a trilogy in 4 parts, I highly recommend you go find the book _In Our Humble Opinion_ written by Click and Clack (from NPR's "Car Talk"). It's a riot and totally from wence I stole my title and to what I am paying homage. :)

There's just no denying it, folks...

2011-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

She is DEFINITELY my child. :)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Hot Dog!!!

2011-01-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

If you don't watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse everyday, you may not recognize this song.

But you'll still recognize the goober dancing to it. :)

*I love how she's singing so boldly and then remembers I'm filming and stops, smiling shyly at me. That's why I started the video from behind. If she saw the camera from the start, she never would've danced for me.*

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Didn't we pass that tree an hour ago?

2011-01-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

This is my two-year-old. (2.5 to be precise.) She is a goober. As my cousin Paige says, "She comes by that naturally."

True story, my friends. True story.

Here's another thing you may or may not know about her. She has a BIG head. I don't just mean kind of big. I mean off the charts (literally off the charts the doctors use with "percentiles" and such), grew so much so fast at one point, they watched its growth for a month and threatened a scan to make sure she didn't have fluid around her brain kind of big. She comes by this naturally as well. We're a family full of big-noggins!

One consequence of her large head is that, well, sometimes her clothes don't really want to go over her head. Sometimes, even the ones WITH buttons or snaps at the neck won't go over her head. And you can just about FORGET trying a shirt without some sort of closure to make the opening get bigger while trying to cram a head through. It rarely happens. In fact, every Alabama cheerleading outfit she's had (read as BOTH, as she's only had two), we've had to kind of clip along the shoulder seams to make the head hole big enough, and even after doing that, I pretty much made her cry because it took me so long to pull her head through it. (No pain no gain, right?)

She used to get really upset anytime we had to REALLY pull to get a shirt on. To be honest, she still does sometimes. But I've tried to make a joke out of it. You know how when your kid falls down and you have that one moment where you can kind of laugh it off and they'll follow your lead instead of melting into a puddle of sadness? I have tried to do that with the whole cramming her head into too small head holes thing.

I'll say, "Shooo, you've got a BIG OL' NOGGIN, girl!!!" She thinks it's funny. It helps.

Even funnier? The time I crammed her head through a neck hole and she said, "Mommy, I got a big ol' noggin!"

Yep. Precious.

It's so cute, in fact, that last night, while at a visitation for a family funeral (where everyone knew/loved Tucker and welcomed the joyful, childish distraction she offered), I asked her, "Tucker, why is it so hard to put shirts on?"

"I got a BIG OL' NOGGIN!!!" *Said while patting her forehead*

Laughter. Preciousness. Mommy beaming at just how adorable her child is.

*Yes, I realize I'm ridiculous. I came to grips with it ages and ages ago.*

Then we get in the car to drive home.

"Mommy, why is it hard to put shirts on?"

"You tell me."

" 'Cause the shirts and I had a big ol' noggin' and 'cause girls not need shirts."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Mommy, why is it hard to put shirts on?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"'Cause I got a big ol' noggin and girls don't need shirts."

"Well, girls DO need shirts sometimes. They either wear shirts and pants or dresses."

*We had a discussion the day before about why Daddy didn't wear dresses like Tucker and Mommy, and instead wore shirt and pants. I'm sure that's where this part came from.*

"Oh. "

"Mommy, why is it hard to put shirts on?"

Didn't we pass this tree an hour ago? I SWEAR we're driving in circles here.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Snow Lost, Puddles Gained, and a Scot

2010-12-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I love the decorations. I love the trees (as you probably already discovered). I love the presents (most especially the finding of perfect presents to give people). I love the vacation time. I love the family time.

I'll be honest. I did NOT love loading my car and driving away during my first Christmas day snow at my home in my entire life to drive for 3 hours to central Alabama where it was merely cold and raining. Even my love for spending Christmas day with my parents, Munner, aunts, uncles, and multitude of cousins just BARELY overcame my desire to enjoy my first White Christmas (excluding our honeymoon in NYC which happened to be Christmas, as the hubs reminds me each time I make this statement). It didn't help that less than half of my large family made it to my grandmother's that night, so even though I left 4 inches in my yard and drove through a driving snow (or rather Drew did), I only got to see a small portion of my enormous, boisterous family. (Though I assure you I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with those that were there.)

Then there's the Scot... from Alabama. My cousin (second cousin, to be precise) Jake, who was born in Alabama, alumned at the University of Alabama, and Seminaried (yes, I know this isn't really a word) in Birmingham, is now officially a Scot - delightfully so. We were great friends as children and occassional friends as teenagers and through college. We decided the last time we saw each other was at his wedding (8 years ago). He's now been living in Scotland with his lovely wife, Chris, for almost 6 years. He was in town for the holidays, so we got together for a visit.

He's enjoying himself. He's become a doctor (PhD, that is... in Theology, none the less). But his most important accomplishment? He's developed a lovely Scoh-ish accent. I think we'd all agree his perceived intellect at least doubled with this development. Even I, an open grammar freak, found myself watching my sentence formation and Southern twang as we talked. :) (What is it about an accent from England, Ireland, or Scotland that makes one seem so much more intelligent than the rest of us?!?) I've decided I'm taking my 2 year old and we're moving in with them for a while so she and I can both develop a bit of that brilliance that comes with the accent.

It's an important goal of mine.

I kid... sort of.

(In brutal honesty, when I was pregnant, I told Drew that I wanted to take dialect classes to learn a British accent just so our child would speak with one because I think little ones who sound like Brits are delightful.)

All this to say Christmas is being enjoyed thoroughly by the Bowers family. We do it the whole week after Christmas (since we have so many cities to hit and don't get to start until Christmas day). I'll try to blog at least sporadically while we celebrate.

Oh, and Jake, I know you say you feel like an outsider on my blog and are, thus, disinclined to comment (see how much my vocabulary improves when speaking to the Scot?!?). You have now officially been introduced to my small audience. You've earned your membership card. Join the club. :)

Love, Shipoopies, & Merry Christmas,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Christmas Fun

2010-12-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

I Just Don't Know!!

2010-12-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me (or read me regularly) know I can sometimes get worked-up over the misuse of our language. That's not to say I speak (or type) perfectly or that I judge everything I read or hear.

BUT...

Some mistakes are just so blatant and inexplicable that they must be called-out. For instance:

I must admit, I've never actually set foot in a Bojangles. I think maybe once my in-laws brought me a biscuit from there, but that's the extent of my experience with the chain.

But I do sit at a red light right beside one every single time I come home from anywhere. Each time, as I sit there, I look at this sign and am FLABERGASTED... well, maybe flumoxed? Befuddled? Irritated... yes that's it. Irritated!!!

WHAT is with that apostrophe?!? It's not in the right place to make it an establishment owned by a guy named Bojangle (Bojangle's), NOR is it in the right place to make it a place owned by a group of people with the last name Bojangle (Bojangles'). The only other option for its purpose is as an accent (think fiance'), but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how the heck one stresses an "S" at the very end of a word.

Try it. It can't be done.

I am baffled. Is it for decor? Is it meant to be a hat for the letter s? Perhaps a feather, making the S either Native American or a Las Vegas showgirl?

I wish I knew Bojangle Smith OR a member of the family Bojangle.

This mystery is right up there with Amelia Earhardt (did anyone read that article this week?) and Area 51.

Puzzling.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

2010-12-20T05:31:00.000-08:00

This morning, I ran out the door, trying to rush the 2 year old into the car to take her to daycare and then back to work for myself. I shivered, locked the door, and then turned around to my car to discover that the hubs had scraped my windshield for me before leaving.

I have to say, girls (and guys), it almost doesn't get more romantic than that! I called him to tell him how great it was (and what a sweeping, romantic gesture it was)! I wanted to make sure he knew that those things aren't just NICE to me. They're gestures of love.

And I got to thinking how so many truly LOVING gestures - actions of TRUE romance - go unnoticed and unrecognized. We've been taught that the only things that matter in the romance department are flowers and jewelry. Which is sad to me because a dozen roses or generic necklace (though nice and beautiful) can be bought by any guy to give to any girl. That guy might have the same generic gift ten times over at his apartment to be given to any girl he goes on a couple of dates with. How has THAT become the symbol of love and romance.

Don't misunderstand me. Flowers are amazing! But to me, it's WAY more romantic to get my favorite flower (NOT roses) on a Tuesday just because he thought of me than it is to get a gazillion roses on Valentine's Day. And as for jewelry, what lady would ever turn down a new piece of jewelry?!? But I'd much rather it be the ring he knows I've been looking for for ages and ages for my right hand than just some random piece of jewelry he saw in a commercial. (Or, let's face it, on our budget, just a pair of fake pearl earrings because he knows I'm obsessed with pearls or a new long, silver necklace because he know mine broke.)

The thing I think all guys (and girls) need to be reminded of (or perhaps taught for the first time) is that romance isn't just about a gift. Romance is thoughtfulness. Romance is showing that you love her and KNOW her. (Or that you know HIM and love HIM, gals!)

Romance is knowing your partner has had a long, hard day and stopping to get her (not your) favorite fast food on the way home without being asked. Romance is grabbing her favorite candy, soda, or chips when you're at the gas station just because you know they're her favorite. Romance is grabbing the newest book by his favorite author because you know he's dying to read it. Romance is quietly giving an assuring hand squeeze and whispering "I love you" or "you're amazing" when you know she's in a hard situation and needing encouragement.

Romance is scraping her windshield before you leave the house because you know she'll have your daughter to tend to and because you know she doesn't have a scraper and is too short to reach the middle parts.

Romance isn't dead, folks. It's just too often going unnoticed for what it is.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

A Story Told

2010-12-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

I know that everyone's Christmas tree is unique. Some are perfectly decorated with everything matching - like it belongs in a magazine. Some are covered with hand-made ornaments weathered over the years. Some have white lights. Some have colored. They have tinsel, garland, ribbon, icicles, candy canes, and pine cones. Everyone has their own way of dressing up their tree.

Mine falls somewhere in the middle of the "everything matches" and homemade ornaments trees. But the best part of my tree is that it tells a story. Each year as we unwrap ornaments and place them on the tree, I am surrounded by memories of days gone by.

This ornament belonged to my Munner (until she gave it to me). She collected angels (and I have quite a few angels given to me from her that I will always cherish).

This Santa was always near the tree at my parents' house. (It's pretty heavy, so it wasn't always able to hang ON the tree.) He was one of my favorites and I would hide him pretty regularly so I could look at him without being bothered. (Tucker has taken to stroking his beard as well.)

This ornament was given to me during one of the years I played (and sang) with a handbell choir at the church where the hubs and I were married.

This Mrs. Claus (and her matching husband, who holds a teddy bear) always hung on my Mama's tree. They always spoke to me as a child - I suspect because they were very childlike - holding a kitten and a bear with rosy cheeks and gentle smiles.

This ornament was, in my mind, ME as a child. :)

My Munner gave me this ornament. I'm a BIT of a pearl freak. I could wear pearls everyday of the year and be perfectly fine with that.

This is my Alabama bear - representing my years spent at the University of Alabama.

This is a Shorter ornament - from Drew's year's in college.

And this year, we decided to help make the tree Tucker's story as well. We let her pick out an ornament that she loves to help make the tree hers. I look forward to adding her story (and likes and dislikes) to our tree over the years.

What kind of tree do YOU have?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays: Proof I Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

2010-12-15T09:21:00.001-08:00

Ok, I guess these are in reverse and somewhat random order. I hate the way blogger uploads pics. Takes too much forethought!!!

"Hi, water!"

Pure Sweetness

We were rushing to get this in with the timer, so the whole "two walls of windows" thing wasn't great for sunlight. Ah well. Still a good pic of everyone.

On the way to get Bruce, our Christmas tree

Beautiful girls

They ADORE holding hands with each other. :)

Can you say OCD waiting to happen? This is how she "plays" with her Legos - making flat layers of them so they fit together perfectly. :)

They are just SO sweet with each other.

"THERE'S the water!"

"Woah, Mommy! That's aLOT of water!!!"

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Magic and Wonder

2010-12-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

My Big Grandad (as opposed to Little Grandad - yep, that's what we called them), was a Navy man. He was a teacher. He was an assistant principal. He was a disciplinarian. He was a tinkerer, a DO-er, and the kind of guy who didn't know how to sit still (except for the dozing on the couch in the middle of our huge family gatherings that he did so frequently).

He was all action, and so I think many people only saw the Navy/Principal/Disciplinarian side of him. He definitely had a gruff side to him.

But to ME, he was the guy who named me his "Sweet Tootie" (hence the name of my business), sat me in his lap to watch TV, shared his Vienna sausages (I know, yuck) with me, and let me watch M.A.S.H. with him when I spent the night at his house. He was the guy who, shortly before he passed, walked me out onto his property to show me an old, beat-up car, that he was going to fix-up for me to have.

And most importantly, he was the guy who one day decided growing Christmas trees and opening a "cut your own" tree farm was a good idea. He did it, I'm sure, because he enjoyed hard work and a project. But I think the softer side of him did it becuase he enjoyed being able to help families find that joy and take it into their houses.

The tree farm was a family affair. Thanksgiving weekend, all the families would walk out into the trees and tag our trees so no one else could get them. Then, all the cousins would decorate a "Charlie Brown tree" somewhere in the middle of the farm for folks to stumble upon in their search. Once we opened for business, we all helped out. We carried saws and measuring poles for people. We helped shake the trees (to get the loose needles out) and bag the trees. We even sold little bags of mistletoe shot out of other trees on the property a few years.

I learned from a very young age the magic of Christmas trees. There is a joy in finding THE tree (or, rather, as I like to think, letting the tree find YOU). There's something special in searching for and bagging up your family's biggest reminder to be joyful EVERY SINGLE DAY during Christmas. This big hunk of evergreen will hold the magical, twinkling lights under which your family will dream each evening. It is an ever present and hard to ignore reminder of the EVERLASTING gift God gave to us at Christmas.

Yes, Christmas trees are magic. My heart flits each time I look at our beautiful (yet undecorated) tree that we bought this weekend. (His name is Bruce, by the way, and he picked us as soon as we walked on the tree farm.)

And this weekend as I spent one day on a tree farm sharing the magic of a tree farm with MY Sweet Tootie, and the other day working our church's tree lot - helping other trees find their families, I thought of Big Grandad endlessly. There are a million things he gave me and taught me for which I will always be grateful, but for me, my heart's eternal connection to him will forever lie in the gruff, disciplinarian teaching me the MAGIC and WONDER a simple tree can bring.

I love you, Grandaddy and I miss you everyday, but more than I can describe each Christmas.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Ahhh, Fallon

2010-12-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a little happiness (in the form of ridiculousness - my favorite kind) for your Friday:

Watch the first clip... well, watch a BIT of the first clip - enough to get the IDEA. (If you wish to watch more than that, I may have to re-think our friendship. Just sayin'.) It'll help you get the humor of the second clip.

Now the wonder that is Jimmy Fallon:

Makes me wish I weren't an old fart that has to go to bed before Fallon because her two year old wakes up so early. :)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Some Random Ridiculousness

2010-12-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

*Yesterday, I was watching an episode of Cold Case and trying to work out who the killer was in my head as the show went along (which is my favorite murder-mystery activity - figuring it out before they tell you). I was alone in the room, so I was venturing my guess aloud to myself and then realized the flaw in my first guess and said, "Nevermind." Aloud. To myself.

That can't be good.

*While watching a clip on the news about how Elizabeth Smart stormed out during a doctor's testimony at her kidnapper/rapist's trial, one legal analyst said, "I think the jury might get the feeling that she was unhappy with his testimony."

YA THINK?!?

*We passed a Santa Claus (real beard, real hair, red valour suit, red car) on the way to church Sunday. Tucker (who is still very scared of Santa, but excited about the toys she might get) said, "Santa brings toys and on the phone and GO AWAY, SANTA!!!!!!"

This could be a VERY interesting Christmas if we scream at Santa everytime we see him.

tee-hee

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Swallowed Up

2010-11-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Ever feel like work just opened up and swallowed you whole?

Just curious.

I'll be back.

*Dreams of a week at the beach next week are all that are keeping me going.*

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

An Epic Fail and Some Total Cuteness

2010-11-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

Remember this? Well, I DID finish them, but I never got pictures of them in use. See, we went to Tuscaloosa (where I attended college at the University of Alabama) this weekend. My mother-in-law (Granna) made these awesome elephant costumes for T and her first cousin, Carly. (Big Al - an elephant - is the mascot of the U of A.)

Anyway, it was supposed to rain, and these costumes don't allow for shoes and are cloth on the bottom. I was scared of the girls getting soaking, freezing feet walking around, so through conversations with both my mother and mother-in-law, I decided to fashion some "rain boots" (or "sun boots" as T calls them) for the elephants.

It didn't rain. Which meant the boots never got put on. Which means no pictures of the boots. But we did have a BLAST! We got to walk the campus, do some tailgating, see some old friends, and even get some pictures made with Big Al. And Bama won the game! Roll Tide Roll!

Even Little Al gets Tuckered out. ;-)

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Crafty Critter - A Guessing Game

2010-11-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

My brain's a little tied-up on something un-bloggable today, so instead of bearing my soul (or my stupidity) to you guys, I thought I'd give you a hint at my project for the day. I'll put pictures up Monday to show you the finished project and tell you what these really are. :)

Any guesses?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

My Little Bookworm

2010-11-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

Imissed the beginning (and most thorough) of the reading, but...

I caught Tucker reading this book to herself. There's quite a bit of nonsense, but an amazing amount of it is pretty accurate. I'm putting the actual text below the video. Did I mention how adorable I think my child is?!?

A funny thing happened on Sesame Street one Easter, not long ago.
Bees were buzzing and birds were singing.
The flowers were starting to grow.

Elmo woke up and yawned and said, "It's a beautiful, sunny day!"
Then he went to put on his slippers -- and one of them hopped away.
As Ernie was reading the paper, something furry hopped over the funnies.
When Bert went to start the spring cleaning, the closet was chock-full of bunnies!

Grover was playing baseball. A rabbit was under his cap.
Henry was coloring Easter eggs. A bunny leaped into his lap!

While zoe was planting her garden, she found bunnies filling her shed.
As Cookie was looking for jellybeans, he found bunny rabbits instead.

Where had these bunnies come from? Nobody really knew.
Oscar found three in his trash can! What was a grouch to do?

Hoots was playing his saxophone when out of it popped a bunny.
As Prairie Dawn ate her cereal, a rabbit knocked over the honey!

"What's goign on?" people shouted. "It's becoming a funny habbit.
Everytime we turn around, we find a bunny rabbit!"
Big Bird rounded the corner. Here's what they heard him say --
"Has anyone seen my bunnies? They seem to have run away!"

He sat on the stoop and said sadly, "They were all in this basket I made!
They must've jumped out of this hole here. Who will hop in the Easter parade?"
Then he noticed his friends holding bunnies, so he handed each one a hat.
"Let's all go and march together!" he said
And everyone did just that!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Embarassment for the Lord

2010-11-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

Last year, right around Christmas, Crazy Aunt asked me to come sing at her church (where the Uncle married to Crazy Aunt is the Minister of Music) as a birthday present to her. We had it all set up and then the church had something else booked on that day and it had to get cancelled.

So a few weeks ago, she called and asked if I would sing for her Sunday (the one that just passed). She wanted me to sing "Breath of Heaven", a song from Mary's perspective on the journey to Bethlehem. It's a beautiful song, one of my standards, and holds so much more meaning to me now that I have carried a child and understand how powerful it is even WITHOUT knowing it's God's son.

The weekend was made even more special by my cousin Brian and his lovely wife, Maegan and my Munner and Mama being there (along with Crazy Aunt's family that LIVES at her house). We all were there overnight Saturday, so we talked, goofed off, played dominoes and just enjoyed each other (and then there was the post-church Thanksgiving meal Crazy Aunt that was AMAZING). It was a wonderful weekend.

But the hubs is the Minister of Music at our church, so he's not able to travel with me on Sundays, usually, and I don't like to take Tucker (for her comfort) to a nursery in a new church where she knows no one. That meant her sitting with me during service, which is usually not a big deal. She stays relatively quiet and is pretty easy to entertain.

It also meant her sitting with any one of a group of relatives that she adores while I sang - her Nana, Munner, Tooter Booter (my baby cousin who is now almost 13), Brian, or Maegan. No problem, right?

Nope. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Even when I rehearsed with the mic pre-service, she demanded she stand by me and hold onto my leg.

I decided, again, this really wasn't a problem. It's a song about a mother, and I am one, so no issue. And my child is SHY in front of groups of people. No way she'd do any of her "performing" or hamming it up in this situation. She'll probably just hide behind my legs with a death grip the entire song.

(Anyone catching the foreshadowing here? If not, you've never spent much time with a 2 year old.)

About 2 sentences into the song, she began walking in circles around my legs (and the mic stand). By the time I got to the second verse, she was running in circles around my legs. By the chorus, she was sprinting from one end of the pulpit area (stage) back to me, slamming into my legs.

(I keep on singing, figuring it's what I'm here to do and maybe people in the back who can't see her can still worship through the song. My biggest fear is that she will run off the steps at the front of the stage and hurt herself, but I'm counting on the myriad of family members sitting within a yard or two to prevent this from happening as I can only watch her from the corner of my eye.)

Somewhere during the second chorus, she slammed into my legs so hard during one of her sprints, she knocked the microphone off the stand and I barely caught it as it went flying to the ground.

At this point, she was close enough for me to grab something other than her hair, so I lunged for her hand and held it, thinking, "NOW I've got it under control. It'll be fine now."

Ha.

She took the opportunity to go limp, thus swinging from my hand around my body and falling below me. Which was funny. To her. Thus she tried to repeat it over and over.

Yep, folks, that's what you call embarassment for the Lord.

Apparently, there's video. Some guy with a camera from the church said, "I don't have the beginning because I don't usually video in church, but when she started acting up, I knew I had to get it."

Awesome. (I promise I'll share when I get it.)

The preacher, who, incidentally is the father of THESE guys, was sweet and said that although he was sure it wasn't my vision for the song, it was God's vision; that there was nothing more appropriate and special than having my "breath of Heaven" dancing around me while I sang that song.

I cried at this point. I'm not sure if it was of embarassment, hilarity, or the sweet words he said. It was probably some combination of all three.

Ain't being a parent grand?!?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Closeout Prices!!!

2010-11-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

*That MIGHT be a big tongue-in-cheek*

tee-hee

But seriously, I have inventory left from a fair I did. The following dresses are available and ready to ship. I only took a picture of one size, but the sizes I have ready are listed underneath.

All dresses have a $5 shipping charge (but that's flat-rate, so if you order 3, same shipping amount as 1).

Buy any 2 and you save $5

*Also, I can make you any of these styles in any color/size you'd like, even fabrics you don't see here.*

Please remember that the width of a pillowcase dress is the same in all sizes, so if your child is larger than the one you want, but you think she'd wear it as a shirt over jeans or leggings, a smaller size would be great! (They're REALLY cute worn this way, by the way.)

Holly Dress with Fabric Ribbon

$20

Sizes:

6-9 months

12 months

18 months

Green Floral Dress

*Comes with Red and White ribbons for versatility*

(Both for Christmas, just white for year-round)

$20

Sizes:

6-9 month

Christmas Ornaments Apron Ruffle Dress

$35

Sizes:

2T/3T

Autumn Flowers Dress with Ruffle Bottom

$25

Sizes:

7/8

Halloween Blocks with Ruffle Neck

$25

Sizes:

6-9 Months

Vintage Witch Dress

$20

Sizes:

5/6

Corduroy Dress with Ball Fringe

*Orange, Aqua, Lime Green, and Pink dots on Cream*

$25

Sizes:

18 months

2T/3T

"Double, Double Toil and Trouble" Halloween Dress with Ruffle Neck

$25

Sizes:

Corduroy Dress with Lace Trim

*Comes with both red and orange ribbons for versatility*

$20

Sizes:

5/6

Comment or email me if you're interested!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Headbands for Sale

2010-11-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

These cute headbands can be made in any color combination and size you wish. The ones shown below are ready to ship.

1 Flower - $5

2 Flowers - $6

Buy any (2) 1 flower for $9 and any (2) 2 flowers for $10!

(plus $2 shipping on any order)

Toddler Sizes

elastic headband

Older child/Adult sizes
elastic headband

Older child/adult sizes

Firm headband

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie