Sorry Dad...

I just had to...

Ok, so my dad works from a home office, which is a dream come true for him.  You see the phone there next to the puzzle? Well, that's a work conference call with his boss and about a dozen of his co-workers.  Because he works from home, he spent his time on the conference call working on a puzzle while all the other guys were in their cubicles attentively listening. 

Hahahaha!!!  My dad is seriously the funniest guy in the world.  He never ceases to make my sides split.  

I was talking to my mom on the phone when he was doing this and when she told me what was going on I told her to take his picture so I could post it here.  Oh my goodness!  We laughed so hard!!!  I have lots of funny work-at-home stories of my dad.  They usually involve him working in his Umbros after mowing the lawn or writing reports while watching tv, but this one tops them all.  

When my mom was taking the picture my dad asked her if she was going to blackmail him with it.  Dad, this isn't blackmail at all, but I just had to share your funny antics with all my friends and if I told them the story without the proof of a picture they probably wouldn't have believed me. I promise I won't send it to Dante!

We're Off!

We will be leaving shortly for a quick trip to Ohio.  My husband's grandfather hasn't been doing well, health-wise, so we decided to go see him.  This is the first time in all our years together that we won't be traveling to our parents' homes for any part of the holiday season.  So while not planned, this trip will help to make the transition to a no-grandparent-holiday a little easier, and hopefully we can have some fun in spite of the reason we're going.  

I have much to blog about.  I want to FINALLY finish the why-I've-neglected-my-blog saga.  There are many events and adventures to fill you in on.  Hopefully I'll have some time on this trip to write some of it out.  I'll likely have very limited internet access, but I'll do my best to type my little heart out.  

The Music Man is waiting...

Until then...  

Pin Pricks

I just had to share this hilarious story with you.  Last night The Music Man and I were going to bed.  We have yet to turn on the heat in our house because it's been so gorgeous, but last night it got down right cold.  So we were both shivering as we climbed into bed.  My man likes to watch tv before going to sleep (don't even get me started on that debate!), so he had his back to me and I was curled up behind him.  I was still too cold so I pulled my legs up to my belly to reserve my body heat.   A few minutes later he reached back and started scratching at his back where my knees were.  Then he started rubbing my knee.  I asked him if he like my sexy hairy knees.  And he said, "I felt something poking me and it hurt.  I thought there were pins in our bed."  

Nope!  Just my two-day old stubble on my knees.  For some reason I laughed hysterically for about 5 minutes.  I was remembering the days when I wouldn't dare let him touch my legs unless they were freshly shaven and glorious lotioned.  Yeah...I've really let myself go.  

My French Life...

I want my life to be lived here...

Ode to the Music Man

My Music Man.

I call him that for a variety of reasons.  The most logical being he's a professional musician.  Music is his life.  Always has been.  Always will be.  The most sentimental reason is that he is the music of my life.  

You see, I have always loved music, but I'm certainly not a connoisseur.  I'm the music lover that likes a song or band because it sounds cool on the radio. I grew up listening to The Gaithers, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Rick Cua, Stryper, and DC Talk, Carmen.  (Yes, I did say Carmen!)  For me, To Hell With the Devil was as good as it gets.  

The Music Man, on the other hand, grew up listening to ACDC, Guns N' Roses, Allman Bros, Widespread Panic, Black Crowes, Stryper (Ha! Just kidding!), Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, DMB, Freddy Jones Band, Ben Harper, and of course Pink Floyd.

His tastes in music are varied and ecclectic.  In addition to those friends above, he also loves Leftover Salmon, Ravi Shenkar, U2, Al Dimiola, and Matisyahu.  

His influence in my musical life has introduced me to all these bands.  Alot of whom I'd never heard of.  Some I still don't care for.  Sorry Honey, but I just can't like Matisyahu or Allman Bros.  And Lord knows, my conservative upbringing can't allow me to enjoy ACDC, Pink Floyd, and the Black Crowes.  There is no way I'd want to be left alone in a room with Dark Side of The Moon.  I just can't like it.  My dad wouldn't like it.   

But more recently I have fallen in love with Sara Bareilles, Johnny Lang, Colbie Caillat, and Jamiroquai all thanks to The Music Man's inspiration.  He often brings home a cd of a new artist he thinks I'll like.  He doesn't necessarily like it himself, but he's always thinking of me.  He's good that way.  He puts music in my life... literally.

In spite of that, he still thinks I have horrible taste in music.  He hates that I love Mika and Kelly Clarkson.  I'm so sorry, but Mika makes me laugh and Kelly Clarkson just has a voice and spunk that I connect with.  I still like the Gaithers, thanks to repeated Sunday mornings being woken up with it blasted through the family stereo system by my dad.  The Gaithers remind me of home and all that is right with this world.  

We both desire that our children grow up loving all kinds of music.  It was the hippy-jam-rock bands of my husband's youth that made him into the musician that he is today.  The Christian bands of my youth is what has given me such a precious foundation of faith.  We differ in our versions of good music and what our kids should grow up listening to, but we do agree that Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and The Itsy-Bitsy Spider are not the pinnacle of good music.  

So from time to time we have our semi-heated discussions on what we want the kiddos to listen to.  It's usually after I come home to find that he's been watching VH1 Classics with Natalie.  (I am sorry, but a Guns N' Roses video complete with scantily clad women is not the kind of tv I want my husband, much less my little girl to watch!)  Or it'll happen while we're watching the latest episode of Live From Abbey Road or some special VH1 has put together.  We're lazyparents so I'm sure that in the end we'll get it figured out.  

(On a side note: Natalie is currently singing Jesus Loves the Little Children and I'm a Little Tea Pot.)

Check Me Out!!! I'm Blogging!!!

Seriously, I am.

I just had to.  I found some incredibly precious pictures on my phone and camera and just had to share them with the world.  I'm just really sorry that it took me this long to get them up on my blog.  Oh well, life has a way of getting in the way sometimes.  You forgive me, though, right?  Of course you do.  You're good that way!

Ok, so here they are from September 13.... They're of Natalie's first DANCE CLASS!!!  Oh. My. Goodness.  Can she be any cuter?!

She laid out her dance clothes and begged me every 10 minutes all morning long to put them on.

All dressed...
....And ready to go!  "Mo-om!  Let's go!  Stop taking so many pictures!"
Natalie's on the far left watching Miss Tina.  Notice her stance--arms folded, pink tiara in place, look of pure concentration on her face...
Right in front with her arms spread wide, just waiting her turn.  So cute!
Double high five to Natalie for job well done!
Far left... Always watching everything and everyone.
Butterfly dance, complete with pink wings and antennae...
"Quick! Run to the Butterfly house!"

Oh for crying out loud.  It DOES NOT get any cuter than 5 blond 3-year-old girls in head-to-toe pink ballet attire!  

I was so incredibly thankful that The Music Man was able to break away and join me.  It was so much fun to watch her very first dance class together.  We stood there at the window, laughing and crying (well, really I was the only one crying).  Our little girl... she's just so stinkin' cute.  I do believe that she was created to dance.  She is always bouncing, dancing, bouncing, running, bouncing, jumping.  Did I mention she is always bouncing?  So this was most definitely one of those priceless moments in life!

I will post more pictures of her dancing and at dance class in the future.  Stay tuned...

Why I've Neglected My Blog: Part II

So where was I?

Oh yeah.... We came home from our trip to the middle of the country totally relaxed and ready to take on life. Um, wait, I'm sorry--did I just say relaxed and ready to take on the life? Can you really be relaxed when returning from visiting relatives? Let me clarify: we still needed a vacation upon our return from a two-week vacation. There. That's much more accurate.

I had five days to unpack, get back into the swing of things and clean my house before my parents came for an extended visit. We were all pretty excited about this, seeing as we had just enjoyed as much time with my in-laws. Natalie was the most spoiled having 3 and a half weeks out of August with her grandparents.

It took me two days to unpack. Two more days to put it all away. You didn't honestly think I meant that when I unpacked, I put everything away, did you? Are you kidding me? I coined the term lazymom. I am the lazymom, no matter what Stacey says. (Shout out to all the lazymoms out there!) It only took me one day to clean the house and clean it I did! Wowzah! I even wiped down my baseboards, thank you very much!

Then my parents came. And I thought the first 3 weeks went by fast! Holy stinkin' cow! Why is it that the more fun you have the faster time goes by? And fun we had!

We went shopping at Natalie's favorite store, where she begged everyone for a $40 Belle dress-up dress.
Are you kidding me? You think that $40 is bad, the Cinderella dress was $80!
But Papa distracted her with a couple of Snow White figurines.
And of course, Nana spoiled her with a wedding dress.

Oh, she is just gorgeous!

We went to church where Papa had Natalie pose under the little pergola left over from the Honor Stars Ceremony. Oooo...she's so beautiful!!!!

Then of course there was the excursion to the park. We packed a picnic lunch and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Later that day, while The Music Man and I went to a movie, Nana and Papa took Natalie back to the park and to Rita's for ice cream.

To be continued...

::: I originally began this post on 9/14/07 and life got in the way of finishing it.  I got tired of never posting but I just don't have it in me these days to blog.  I've lost that blogging feeling!  Anyway, here is part one of part two.  Look for part two of part two sometime in January.  :::

Winning Streak

The Music Man won an iPod.

I won a book.

Maybe I'll win this...

So Sorry...

I just want you all to know that I haven't died yet.  Now I know I have been saying that for two months.  I keep putting you off and for that I apologize.  I have been working on the second installment of where I've been for a week and a half now and it's still not done.  Whenever I do finish it, you'll understand why I haven't been able to post regularly.   But for now, the excuse I'm going to use is that I'm sick.  I seem to have caught some sort of bug and it's really working me over.  Sooo... until the day I'm feeling better, I'm off.  

So sorry for the flimsy excuse.  You love me anyway, right?

Cloggers II

Have I ever mention how much I hate unclogging other people's "stuff" from the toilet?

Just curious.

Coffee Table du Jour

I was just reading one of my daily blog reads, decor8, and fell in love with this quirky piece that they had posted about.

Isn't it the coolest idea you've ever seen?  I love how it looks like the coffeetable is coming out of the wall!  It remind me of something, but I can't quite figure out what.  

I have got to do this.  Now, I can't possibly afford $525, but I can do it myself.  I'm on a mission now to find a couple of old coffee tables to slice in half and stack one on top of the other.  What a great place to stack my books!

Speaking of coffee tables....I found these fun coffee tables on this great blog yesterday. 

I'm not really one for anything too modern or clean.  I like a more rustic, eclectic hodge-podge of stuff, but there is something so incredibly wonderful about these little tables.  My heart flipped when I saw them, but at $10,500 and $7,300 respectively there is no way that I will ever own one of them, unless of course God deems it necessary to sell a few cattle on one of His thousand hills for me.  

Can you even image spending that kind of $$$ on coffee tables!?  But they are just so cool!!!  Not very baby-proof, but I don't think you buy something like that if you have children.  Those scream uppity 40-something society couple who are far more concerned with appearances than with populating the world with sticky, smelly children.  Sounds just like me, huh?

I'm Scared

I checked my email this morning and there was NOTHING in my inbox!  That hasn't happen in years!  I usually have anywhere from 10-20 emails every morning.  

Has everyone been raptured?  Where are you?  More importantly, where's Stacey?  I always have at least 17 emails from her alone.  Girlfriend!!!  Are you ok????

Why I've Been Neglecting My Blog: Part I

First, can I just say how sorry I am for pushing this blog and you, my faithful 3 readers, to the back burner?  I truly am... sorry that is.  I have been oh-so crazy busy and I'm afraid that there is no real end in sight.  It appears as though my life of leisure has turned into a life on the run.  Let me explain a bit...

It all started in August when we left for a two-week vacation.  We spent the first week in Indianapolis, child-free--thank you Jesus!  You can read all about that here in my Diary of GC: Day One, Two, Three, Four, Five: Part One, & Part Two, and Six.  We then returned to my in-laws and spent the following week there with family and friends.

The Music Man received a huge rc plane as a gift while in OH.  He fell in love instantly.  I never saw him again that whole week.

Natalie was already into her second week of undivided attention from her mamaw, so I really never saw her either.  

You may remember my little mis-hap with my beautiful friend Amazon and the horrible temptress that is the 1-Click button from earlier this summer.  The day before we left for vacation, The Music Man told me that all those glorious books had turned my mind to mush.  He dared me to go the whole vacation reading only books that would enrich my mind.  His suggestion... 

Seriously???  But I rose to the challenge and left with my brain food books and all my homeschool stuff.  

;

By mid-week of the second week, with The Music Man's eyes to the sky and Natalie completely ignoring me, I thought I was going to go crazy with boredom.  I so did not want to read the serious books I had brought with me--HELLO?!?!  I'm on vacation!  I shouldn't have to enrich my mind at all.  If anything, being on vacation gives me the right to turn my mind to total mush!

So I made The Music Man take me to the most glorious book store I've been to in a long, long, long time.  He gave me a small, but still impressive wad of cash as we walked in and let me loose.  Oh my, oh my, oh my!!!  With my arms filled I headed to the bench where he sat waiting patiently for me.  The look on his face was priceless as I let the books fall beside me.  I had about $200 worth of books laying there.  I sat there and weeded them out.  Some I just made him take pictures of so I could later order them from Amazon or Paperback Swap.

DISCLAIMER:  This is not my sneaky way of announcing an upcoming ball-of-fun despite the books regarding pregnancy.  I am NOT pregnant.  It may happen someday and so, whenever that time comes--IF it ever comes, these are some of the books I would like to read.  Again, let me crystal clear... I am NOT pregnant.  Don't go shopping yet... Mom.

I did walk out with these little treasures...

So with all that (and a few others I can't seem to remember just now) in my bag, I was a very happy girl again. 

To be continued...

I know.  I know.  I haven't even begun to explain to you why I haven't been blogging here regularly, but I'm really tired and The Music Man is beginning to stress me out.  He's watching Monday Night Football.  The Bengals are beginning to screw up and he's taking it personally.  I have to get away from him and from my computer.  My skin is starting to grow around my laptop.  That's not good.  

Anyone Else Excited...

....for the return of The Office?

I know I am...

To tide you over, catch up on what everyone did on their summer vacations....

Oh and click here for more information about the company.

Diary of General Council

You may remember that I promised you a recap of our time at General Council  Well, I had every intention of doing just that.  In fact I went as far as writing it all out and posting it to our church's women's blog.  All I have to do now is copy and paste it into a new post here... 

That's too tedious.  So instead I'll give you the link to the website.  You can scroll down to Diary of General Council: Day One and work your way back up.  

In another BallRoom news, day two of preschool was a bit rougher than the first, but we did manage to make it through without comments from "baby."  I'm just happy that I only have one child to deal with.  I think a whole classroom of preschoolers would certainly be the end of me.

After school we met The Music Man for lunch.  The WHOLE way there Natalie talked, and I mean TALKED!!!  I wondered as I tried to tune it out if she was even taking the time to breathe.  As we pulled into the parking lot she sounded like this...

"Arewegoingtoparknow?Arewegoingtoparkintheparkinglot?Areweparkingintheparkingspot?Dad,doyouthinkmomwillparkintheparkingspot?Momareweparkingintheparkinglot?Mom?Mom?Mom?Dad?Dad?Dad?......"

Finally I said "No! We're going to park in the grass."  This is what followed that genius remark.

"ButMom,wecan'tparkinthegrass.Let'sparkontheparkinglot.Mom?Mom?Mom?"

I had parked (on the parking lot) by this time and we were getting out.  She was still carrying on her monologue, s Daddy set her down on the ground she leaned way down and peered under the van.  She stood up and oh-so matter of factly said...

"Nope.  We parking on the parking lot."

We lost it.  All of the frustration of endless chatter busted out in laughter (better that than anything else!).  I was laughing so hard I couldn't even walk.  

That single comment ranks right up there with another one that happened last week at dinner.  My parents were here and we were all sitting around the table.  Natalie decided that she was done and asked to be excused.  Her dad said no and told her that she hadn't even touched her food yet.

She looked at him for a split second before patting her food twice.  

"Now can I be excused Daddy?"

How can you not laugh at that?

One Day Down, Fifteen Years to Go

I am still alive and what's better is that my little preschooler is to.  We survived our first day of homeschool with only one timeout (for Mommy) and 1 slight change in curriculum.  I do believe it was a success despite a few hiccups along the way.  

We hadn't even been together for 10 minutes before I was crying out to God for patience.  After about 10 more minutes of silent pleadings, I made a lame excuse and ran to my room to hide from my eager preschooler.  She stayed downstairs "coloring her numbers."  I hid out in my room and called my girlfriend for a reality check.  (I transcribed the conversation with a tiny bit of embellishment here.  But shhh... don't give me away.)  She thought it was horribly humorous and to be honest, so did I, but it just felt good to laugh about it with a girlfriend rather than pull my hair out completely in front of My Little One.  

I would love to show you all that we did today, but I'm too tired to go downstairs and scan it in.  I was also too lazy to take a proper picture of our first day of school here at The Ballroom Academy.  Maybe we'll stage one later this evening and post it.  You won't care if it's a fraud.  I know in 20 years, I won't care.  

A New Job...

I'm starting a new job tomorrow.  Normally I would be a basket case the night before, complete with butterflies and anxiety, but strangely, I'm not.  I'm actually so excited about it that you might even call it being thrilled.  

Funny but I'm totally unqualified for the position.  I've had no real experience in the field, nor have I had any formal training.  Truth be told, the job pays absolute crap.  I'm not sure where this position will lead me.  All I know is that the responsibly I will be assuming tomorrow is great.  I will be solely responsible to the well being of all that I've been entrusted with.  

Wow!  Sounds daunting.  I should be scared spit-less!  But I'm not.  Not even a little bit.  I'm as prepared for tomorrow as I can be.  I'll have to leave the rest up to God and the innate ability He has given me to succeed at this new position.  I am pretty excited.  

It will most likely be the most laid back, relaxed job I've ever had; at least that's my approach.  I'll kill myself and all who are near me if I let myself get stressed out and anal about things that don't matter.  I need to keep what matters most always in the forefront of my mind.  

Tomorrow I begin homeschooling my 3 year old.  I must be crazy.  Pray for me.

We're Under Siege!

My daughter.
What can I say?
She loves anything little.
She likes to line things up.
She plays in my room (where she is not supposed to).

:::sigh:::

My daughter....


My bedroom window sill...

Her little army...

Standing to attention (please take note of how she has meticulously wrapped them around the corner)....

Bashful, Grumpy, Sleepy, and Doc flanked by Belle's wedding dress and whipped cream with a cherry on top. I think Grumpy is a bit ticked that Bashful won't stop looking at his bum. I know I would be!....

Here's The Handsome Prince introducing Tinkerbell and Mr. Thomas/Tumnus (from Narnia), while Snow White tries to keep Dopey from burning Mr. Thomas. Then there's Cinderella, who borrowed Belle's dress and is hoping Snow White won't say anything to Belle about it.

Nona and Petunia (from VeggieTales' Duke and the Great Pie War) are stuck in the corner with a inebriated-looking Happy and an allergic Sneezy. (Off the the left you'll find Belle's pink dress. Cindy, tried it on, but felt that the yellow one brought out the highlights in her hair better.)
And finally Prince (formerly The Beast) is casually conversing with Duke Duke and Bob about the nice piece of horse flesh to his left. (You'll also be sure to notice another of Belle's dresses discarded by Cindy. This one her wedding gown.)

It Does Not Get Any Better...

Ok, but this just ruins it all...

I Promise I'm Not Dead Yet!

What is it about a vacation that makes you want a vacation just to recover from your vacation?

That's how I have felt this week. I haven't yet had a chance to recover from being gone for two and catch up on life. Now my parents are here. I am thrilled to have them here, but I don't have any food in the house with which to feed them. That's how unprepared I was for their arrival. I just barely got the house cleaned before they pulled into the driveway. I did manage to put clean sheets on their bed and clear some space in my daughter's room for their luggage. It's so laid back when they're here that I'll go grocery shopping later. We had pancakes for breakfast--I had everything on hand for that--even the buttermilk, can you believe it?

I have been very bloggy these past few days since returning from vacay, but unfortunately for you not anything that you can see here just yet. I have a few new blogs coming soon. One is about my love affair with the written word and the other is a collaboration I am doing with a dear friend. That's all I'm going to say about either for now. My goal is to get the first new blog ready by the end of next week. (My parents will provide some much needed blog time for me.) I would imagine the collaboration will be operational very soon as well.

Soooo... I hope you will forgive me for being lax on my posts here. I do love you dearly and miss our posts together. Soon, my dear readers, soon....

Until then...

...go get something to eat!