Did You Know 2.0

My hubby forwarded this YouTube to me after it went around his workplace staff on Friday, compliments of someone's someone that works for NASA in HSV.

My hubby has mentioned some of the same stats to me over the past couple of years b/c educators HAVE to know these things;actually seeing it really made it stick though.

It's frightening, exciting and mind-boggling! Wow!

I hope I live long enough to just see a part of what my children's generation will accomplish.

Falling for Winter

Since I've become a Mom and now have the responsibility to DRIVE my little people around on snowy roads where there are STUPID people driving; furthermore, because I rarely have the luxury of enjoying the playtime that snow often yields (especially in the south where they close all schools when one snowflake penetrates the atmosphere), I am no longer much of one for cold weather. I much prefer heat and humidity. For the most part, neither of the latter-mentioned bother me much at all. I think somewhere in my lineage, we must have "Suthun" blood.

I must admit, however, that I do miss snow--fresh fallen snow to be exact. The ghostly quiet it always brings outside is the closest to heavenly peace that I think we experience here on earth. The color--indescribable white and for some reason, I always want to grab a handful and eat it--it tastes so...clean.

If anyone were to ask me what clean tastes like, I'd say, "Snow--it tastes like freshly-fallen snow."

I remember the first time I took particular notice of snow: My mother called me to our back door one night when I was maybe around seven--I don't know exactly how old I was but I do remember the quietness outside as she stuck a piece of black construction paper out the door. My curiosity was piqued of course. She pulled it back inside and revealed to me the beautiful snowflakes that landed on the dark background and told me that not one snowflake is ever the same as another. Ever since then, I find myself catching snowflakes and trying to memorize their uniqueness before they melt in my warm hand, the prism-ique beauty forever lost.

*Thank you, Mom; I know inside you is an artist disguised as my Mother. I never appreciated your creativity like I should have. Love you!*

Not surprisingly, I was so stoked to be offered this website and I've been hooked on it, much to the chagrin of my hubby who thought we were BOTH gonna' tag-team the house today...and my children who for some reason always ask ME, "Mom, when are we gonna eat?!?" :0)

More, More, More...

Did you know that there is a historical figure called, "The Snowflake Man"? Tammi may know of him--photographer of snowflakes--officially, a snowcrystal photomicrographer.

Say that three times, fast.

My kids like the websites, especially the snowflake movies; what kid, young or old, would not? It's mesmerizing and now I cannot wait until it gets cold enough here to frost my kitchen window.

Now, I need a new camera with one of those "fancy" lenses. Tammi, selling???

Think You've Seen It All?

WATCH THIS.

Click on an UPPERCASE LETTER to start a song; then rollover the individual keys to make the "Pipeman" dance.

I personally enjoy, "Footloose," although "Staying Alive" ranks a really, really close second.

Rolling over "a" when Footloose gets to, "I'm Cuttin' It Loose!" is hilarious.

It's kinda' addictive, seeing how fast you can make him dance.

Ha, ha.

Lazy Saturday

Thank goodness, the humidity is starting to wane and fall is peeking around the corner. We've had just enough rain to bring the grass back to green, to help the trees make beautiful rainbows of color in the weeks to come and to knock off the Crepe Myrtles' blooms with every droplet. After the rain stops, the yards, driveways, roofs and streets are dotted in all colors of Myrtle confetti. It's beautiful. My Japanese Maple is starting to turn from deep, purplely-red to burnt orangey-red and the tomato plants are looking exhausted from tirelessly birthing Romas for us, weeks on end. I think I'll put them out of their misery tomorrow.

Cotton is just starting to peek from its hard shell and I cannot wait 'til the day it all pops open like so much popcorn! It looks like fields of pure, white, fluffy snow that never turns into nasty, brown, melted mush. Last year, when the cotton popped open, I about made hubby wreck the car as we were driving down the main thoroughfare here in HSV. I'd never seen cotton blooming before and it caught me by surprise. I was lost in la-la land, gazing out the window, when I realized that the fields were white and it caught me off-guard being from the Midwest--my mind instantly went to "snow," except it was probably still 80 degrees outside. It took a minute but my brain overcame my midwestern-ess and went south--"Cotton! I suddenly and loudly blurted out, look, it's cotton!" Well, needless to say, I about scared hubby to death--he jumped and almost lost control of the car; he then looked at me like I had lost my mind.

As of late, the weather has turned off slightly crisp and misty, especially in the mornings. This morning was no exception. Usually, we sleep in on Saturday but today we had the school's Booster Club Pancake Breakfast to attend at one of the local Applebees, which interestingly enough, is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, which is right next to Kansas City, Missouri. I know exactly where the building sits. Small world. So, we were up at 7:30a.m.--slightly earlier than usual, except for Number Four; he goes to be early and wakes early. Must be a mutant gene.

We go eat the yummo pancakes that were cooked by someone else, served by someone else and cleaned up by someone else. Worth every bit of the $5 per plate not to have to scrub syrup off every little thing Numbers Four and Five could possibly touch on their way to the bathtub.

We hop into the car, avoiding getting run over by all the nutty, obsessed, Alabama fans hurriedly heading off to Tuscaloosa and Number One mentions that since it's becoming cooler outside, she needs to go shopping for long sleeve shirts, as she's just recently gone through a growth spurt--at least her arms and feet have; now if those legs would just grow. Ooh, shopping, I say, we haven't really done that in a while--you ask your Dad, he'll tell me "no".

Hubby agrees to take us shopping as he needs to look for some new "basketball attire" since he'll be coaching soon; furthermore, today was a great day to go to the mall, since probably 75% of the town was either at the Alabama/Arkansas game in Tuscaloosa or watching it on ESPN. Still haven't figured out the madness about college football here--I think they are slightly nutty!

So, off we go to "the upscale mall," where we can usually only afford to shop off the clearance rack. We always go into Dillards first b/c if you hit them on just the right day, you get an extra 50% off the lowest clearance price. But today wasn't one of those days; however, Number One did find a cute top "on sale" but not on clearance, then managed to sweet-talk Daddy into contributing 100% of the total price, even though she's supposed to buy all her own clothes, outside of required school gear (she gets $20/wk and is learning how to budget her money--no we're not meanies). Girls are born, sooo-knowing how to work their Daddies, aren't they?

I suggested we hit the one of the local Salvation Army stores, the one that's our favorite b/c it always has many a great deal. Today, we hit it extra big and were able to find two to three outfits for four of the five kids, an awesome stereo for our pool, a kid's Mickey Mouse, 16-piece picnic set w/backpack and a never used, yoga/fitness mat--all for only $60! WOOHOO! Nobody even had time to whine, not even Number Five. Number One bought herself four fall/winter shirts and two pair of designer jeans, barely worn, for $17! She was tickled pink. Ha, ha.

One of these days, I'll blog about our ultimate place to shop: Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, AL. Only 20 minutes shy of Huntsville. The things people never go back to claim amaze me!

Later in the afternoon, Number Four went to a birthday party at Pump It Up and now wants to have his party there, as I'm sure do ALL the first grade boys. After reading this article, I think I might be heading there myself, real soon!

The rest of the day, we just hung out: hubby washed cars, kids played in the hammock, on their bikes, dressed up like Hannah Montana (she's soooo IT), played Bball--just acted like kids. I was *supposed* to vacuum the pool but I just enjoyed the day. There's probably a tomorrow, so tomorrow, I'll clean the pool.

We had Idaho instant mashed potatoes and chicken salad sandwiches for dinner and nobody complained. I'd never made instant potatoes before; quite tasty and E-A-S-Y. I may never peel & boil another potato again. How DO those little granules that smell funny, suddenly *poof* into edible, white mush that tastes like potatoes?

Lazy Saturdays...is there anything better?

Being Bold, Stepping Up, Speaking Out, Getting Uncomfortable

I was turned onto this story at the conference I attended in Nashville last weekend.

Hear Charlene Cothrane's story on YouTube, as well.

Priscilla Shirer, phenomenal speaker(especially for young women), told the "short version" story of this lady; a story she had just heard days before.


READ IT BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER...


How many of us would really be willing to give up everything? And when we were yet "babes in Christ"?

I say I would and I have in a much bigger capacity than I would have even three years ago, but would I be this bold? I only pray that I could be...and only through His strength do I think I could; however, I KNOW beyond a shadow of doubt that I would never regret it. In some ways, I have to say that I envy this bold woman of the faith. Even though her life is tough right now, there is no doubt that "her cup overfloweth" and I SO LOVE being overflowing in Christ. There is no way to even describe the spirit dancing inside and, not feeling, but BEING completely at peace, content, alive and enboldened.

I believe strongly that God uses every moment of my life to prepare me for his purpose--no matter my "sin factor". I believe it because I've experienced it--the more I open myself to be used, the more aware I become of the past and day after day, it's clearly visible to me that every step of my life was preparation for "such a time as this". No matter what "as this" is. My whole life--the good, the bad and the ugly-- is relevant to Him every day.

So, it becomes of me, through freewill, the choice--to let myself be used by my Creator. From my birth to my death, through walking with the Lord step for step, and the times I've put a huge chasm between him and I, I am being called, "being prepped," to serve a purpose. There are high times and there are low, low times walking with other believers, but, there are absolutely no accidents; there is only perfection.

Everyone has a story--a history. Someone out there relates to my story--my sin, my struggle, my guilt, my tragedy, my loss, my depravity. Relational discipleship. The cycle of salvation, of "bringing into the fold". That's why the Bible is all about stories.

He conquered sin through death, so much so, that my sins--present, past and future--could not cause me to be useless for Him. That's awesome to me. Christ took the fact that I'm a sinful creature and uses it for His glory, through his power over death. Christ uses forgiven sin for His glory! That must really piss Satan off!

I always wondered why Christ does not also allow us to forget our sin when we ask forgiveness, as He forgets our sin; well, I think I might have a clue--if we forget our sin, how can we possibly relate to "the unredeemed sinners among us"? Does that even make sense? I'm thinking "on the blog".

This woman, Charlene, is not letting her sinful nature be the guilt that keeps her from being used by Christ. Thank heaven for what believers she has around her that were not so appalled by her sin, or overcome by hate, to render her unworthy to Christ's Kingdom. I love the fact that her Pastor is a woman, given her bad histories with men. Again, perfection in His plan--no accident, no coincidence.

She's bold; we need more believers like her. Believers not afraid to say, "Yes, I'm a Christian, take me for who I am, be offended but I will not be ashamed, I will not be silenced. And, personally, neither will I allow legalists to hijack Christ's name, as I have in the past because NOW I know better. I know the real Christ; I experience a relationship as real as you and me, everyday I wake and by God's grace, I'll never go back.

Yes, I Amy, am A Believer and I walk, talk and live as much a "Christian" as I can.

As Promised

This is the first halfway decent picture that we've taken together in probably....fifteen years.

(Excluding Tammi's professional photographs, of course.)

You know how in EVERY family, there is always the "weird one"?

This is ours.

Number Five--always doing something strange to get a laugh.

That's all, folks!

Odd Observances

I've been EXTREMELY busy lately, volunteering at school, selling all kinds of our junk on eBay (hi, Ness!--loved those glasses) and going to a Beth Moore Convention in Nashville this past weekend. Yay! I LOVE Beth Moore Conventions--Kay Arthur also spoke and Priscilla Shirer, daughter of Pastor Tony Evans. They were all tremendous speakers and FUNNY! Mandisa gave her testimony and a micro-concert, as well. Awesome testimony, awesome concert--that girl can sing for Jesus! And she's beautiful.

Being busy, however, has not kept me from being the observant person that I am.

Being an observant person, combined with staying up until 2a.m. this morning while cooking Taco Soup, seven Rotisserie hens and three humongous steaks for dinners the next three nights, started me thinking about all the odd things I observed in the past week. For lack of a better blog, here is my tally that started on Saturday:

1. At Beth Moore Convention, I spot two of my second (or third) cousins from Kansas City. This is odd b/c I live in Alabama, one of them lives in Missouri and the other in Atlanta, Georgia; we haven't seen each other in years and we just happen to bump into each other in a convention hall full of 23,000+ women, in Tennessee! What are the odds?!?

2. Saw ANOTHER neighbor's toilet by the road today for garbage pickup. This is odd b/c it was directly across the street from neighbor who tossed his toilet by the road a few weeks ago. I started to wonder if maybe the two toilets were friendly and the other just couldn't bear to live anymore without her friend (yes, toilets are female; urinals are male--common sense, people. Bidets, well, they're European). In case you don't know about my "obsession," (some would call it) with abandoned toilets, read this.

3. While tying up seven cornish hens this evening, in preparation for the rotisserie, I had the tremendously frightening thought that if I was ever asked to tie up a human being, I wouldn't be able to. The seven small hens gave me a fit, especially their little, fat legs, and they were all dead, dead, dead! This may be crazy to you but it's not to me. My hubby once had to tie up a guy that was breaking into some apartments we owned and were renovating, in downtown Kansas City. My hubby backed him into a corner w/a piece of lead pipe he'd just cut from the plumbing; he proceeded to tie the guy up so he couldn't run--then they sat, and watched each other suspiciously and waited until the police arrived; I won't say how long that took--it was downtown of a big city and I'm sure there were more heinous crimes being commited than breaking and entering. So see, it's feasible that I MAY be asked at some point in my life to tie somebody up. Maybe I should take a knot-tying class.

4. While tying up the hens, I sort of felt like a big bully. They were just little things--no more than 18 ounces each, each one naked with goose-pimpled, pale skin and a huge hole where their head once was. I gently crossed their legs, wrapped kitchen twine tightly around them and proceeded to criss-cross the twine up their whole body, strapping in their wings. I sort of felt like I should say a prayer over them while stabbing their little bodies onto sharp rods for insertion into the rotisserie. I couldn't watch as they cooked. But I did inhale when they started to smell good AND I did take a little sample of a leg before I wrapped them in a blanket of foil and placed them lovingly into the fridge to be served tomorrow night, to my five ravenous children, who will tear into them like voracious beasts. If they didn't taste so dang good, the experience may have left me a vegetarian.

5. Piwi
The word alone cracked me up. It reminds me of the word little kids often use when they have to potty. I won't say it here...okay, "weewee". PeeWee Herman also came to mind, in his white suit, dancing on the bar. His stupid, red bike with the annoying bell. Piwi is actually an organic baby food I saw at Target tonight. It's a new product of theirs--I know when something is new b/c I'm in there like...everyday. Piwi is a cross between peas and kiwi, if I remember right. I looked up the company tonight. The food looked yummy--I almost bought a little container called, "Baby Tex Mex-a little chunky," just to see what it tasted like. It also reminded me of this girl I used to know in high school that brought baby food to school everyday for lunch. And ate it! She was really skinny...and strange. Stranger even, my hubby dated her once..and only once.

6. There was this little first grade girl that I saw in the hallway at my kids' school today. She and another little girl were making their way to the restroom and they rounded the corner about the same time as I and we all three almost ran smack-dab into two sixth graders. The sixth grade boys were each carefully carrying foil pans full of oil--cooking oil, I think. So this little, piggy-tailed, button-eyed, rosy-cheeked little cutie asked the boys what they had. They said, "oil". She said, "oil?!?, what for?" "We're burning it." They kept walking and she turned to me and said in a sixth graders are so dumb-voice, "You can't burn oil!" "Actually," I said, in my soft, motherly voice that I hardly ever use with my own kids, "You CAN burn oil; it burns real easy". Her button eyes got really big and curious-looking, like I imagine every pyromaniac looked in first grade; she said "Oh!" and seemed oddly excited about her newfound knowledge. It's always the cute & quiet ones!

7. Zac, my baby, was getting a haircut today. I sat watching him for a little while and, for some reason, he kept making faces at himself in the mirror while Henry (our stylist) was cutting away. He's never done that before. It was cracking me up. Next time I'm taking my camera! There is nothing odd about this, I just had to tell the cute story about my baby--you know how that is.

Well, all hens are done and put away; uniforms are washed and ready to go for Picture Day tomorrow (I HATE picture day); and being in charge of Picture Day tomorrow, I'd better get in bed so that I'll at least LOOK like I know what I'm doing.

I'm finally going to post a picture of myself tomorrow. During our kids' school's Grandparent's Day Luncheon on Friday, someone took my camera from me while I was clickin' away and took a quick pic of my hubby and I. It turned out pretty decent. Since Tammi and Kat have been on my case since the first time I talked about getting a new "do," I'm sure they are jumping up and down in absolute delight right now...or muttering under their breath, "It's about time!"

Moral of this Blog: "Don't do anything weird b/c someone, somewhere, is watching" and "never give a cute first grader information about fire".

Mornings

This morning, as opposed to yesterday, is falling just a little shy of "Princess".

And, NO, I was not able to secure a pedicure last evening.

The morning is not awful, like "Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"; it's just that two things happened this morning to dim the glow of yesterday's "posh" activities.

1) Every t.p. dispenser had only one square, well, more like 1/2 a square of t.p. hanging from it and apparently only *I* know how to reconcile that problem.

2) As I was brushing Zac's teeth, preparing him for the school day, a BIG, green booger suddenly appeared at the entrance (or exit in this case) of his left nostril. Before I could grab for some t.p. that would most certainly NOT have been there for me, the booger tumbled out of his nostril and onto my lap. All in very S*L*O*W motion.

Reality.

It smacks. It stings. It burns. It sucks.

Good Morning!

Miss Volleyball 2007

Our oldest made the school Varsity volleyball team this year and seems to have finally gained some control over her gangly adolescent parts.

She's like a totally different person on the court this year. Could have something to do with her confidence level increasing combined with her feeling more comfortable with her teammates, having known them for an entire year now.

More likely, it has to do with her wearing contacts instead of glasses this year; I cannot imagine how hard it was to see with glasses that were no doubt getting in the way, slipping down her nose and obstructing some of her peripheral and vertical vision. The former are important in volleyball more so than any other sport, for no other reason than the hard, white object being spiked right at your nose, as if marked by imaginary bullseye.

BTW, what would be the correct plural form of "bullseye"? Bullsseye or bullsseyes or bullseyeses.

Back on subject...

Her school just this year went to tenth grade, pushing us into the Varsity leagues, in Alabama that is the AHSAA(?). Still small compared to heavily populated public schools, we were of course put into the 1A division which means we travel quite a distance to play most teams. Small country teams, way out in "Deliverance Country". Most games are an hour to an hour and a half away which means that this week alone, the girls have traveled an hour and a half, two different days to play in their division.

Tonight, because of conflicting schedules, Anna rode the bus home. She called when they got close to school and I was home from cooking class so I proceeded to collect my oldest child.

I pulled up, she said goodbye to friends and Coach Jones and she hopped into the back seat. We got home, Anna got out and came around the back of the car to collect her backpack at about the same time as I was walking behind the car to the garage. I took one look at her outfit, raised my eyebrows, snorted a little and made a comment about her "cute outfit".


Here she is...Miss Volleyball 2007

Her unique sense of style runs on hubby's side of the fam.

Princess Diary

I haven't done anything by my lonesome for years. It's been my choice, of course, barricading myself into a world of diapers, dishes, do-lists and doctor's appointments.

I was sooo excited when we moved here, after having lived in a small town in FL where the local mall had only two anchor stores...and they were JCPenney and Sears. It all went downhill from there.

We have two or three big malls here--yes, we do, in Alabama, in a town of which most have never heard. It's definitely a small "big city".

The mall closest in proximity to our house is seriously upscale from what I was used to in our former FL town, and as such, it has a Williams Sonoma. I'm a "gadget-girl" and I LOVE to browse the clearance at the back of the store, even though I rarely find anything I can afford--it's definitely pricey.

I regularly go into Williams Sonoma on Sunday to see what new recipes they have printed for the taking and to nibble on the samples they are cookin' up - Mmmm. It's not uncommon to find a meat and a sweet, which is just enough dessert after Sunday supper to satisfy my sweet tooth.

A few weeks back, while perusing the merchandise (and waiting on a little batch of heavenly vanilla angel bundt cakes to finish cooking in their paper ketchup containers), I decided that I was going to sign up for an in-store cooking class. They offer them once a month, sometimes more frequent, and I had been consistently putting off signing up b/c I never knew what my schedule would hold a month out.

I walked around the store, reading the pamphlet of upcoming cooking classes and contemplating what all I might be roped into doing a whole month into the future, when I finally decided, "Scrap it all, I'm just gonna' do it!"

I signed up, paid my $40, which I found a little high but most probably worth the night out ALL BY MYSELF, went home and proceeded to email my hubby and let him know that he'd be in charge on Sept. 4, 2007, come heck or high water. "Be home by 4:30...or else...please and thank ya'! "

I woke up this morning in a great mood. I am still stoked.

Actually, I went to bed last night giddy; yes, giddy.

Bonus: This morning I was a *MODEL* for my stylist who is seeking new employment at a chic salon in town. I received a complimentary color and cut for my "help". He gave me a rockin', cutting-edge cut and color, WooHoo! Bonus-Bonus: The salon he's seeking employment from has this small, German, shampoo lady who MADE MY DAY. I've never, EVER, had a shampoo like that, not even from my own Momma and if I could afford it, I'd go there every-single-day to let her shampoo my hair. I think I should have tipped her but I don't know the protocol for all that foo-foo stuff.

I'm definitely struttin' my stuff into Williams Sonoma tonight!

Now if only I could somehow finagle my hubby into giving me a pedicure tonight, I'd surely turn into *A Princess* before sunrise.

I'll let you know tomorrow if you should start adding a title to my name or curtsy-ing(?) when approaching me.

Ha, ha.

Bug Watchin'

Gerald and I were sitting, eating a Chimichanga for dinner tonight in our family room, while watching a new telefav of ours, "Ice Road Truckers".

The three boys were in the kitchen eating their meal, chatting about video games and how a bug with no wings made his way onto the dining room ceiling.

The two girls were having a sleepover with two sisters from school who happen to be the same ages as our girls. Cool, huh?

The anticipation of yet another round of video games made for a rather quick supper for the boys, and soon all was silent as they retreated into Jake's room.

Ahhh...the peace and quiet only video equipment can bring.

Suddenly, Zac zoomed toward the back bathroom and yelled something about "havin' to pee". Then, as quick as he had run into the bathroom, we heard "the flush" and then saw Zac zooming back towards the bedroom with video games (no, he did not wash his hands). We heard one of the kitchen chairs thump and we just assumed he had purposefully smacked it with his hand, as usual, when he was running except, all of a sudden, he let out a terrible wail and came quickly run-walking back into the family room holding his eye.

After I checked out his eye, his eyesight and the kitchen table, he finally quieted down enough to tell me how this all had happened:

"I was watchin' the bug!"

"What bug?"

"The one on the CEILING, Mom!"

He was running full speed while watching the bug on the ceiling.

Definitely, his father's child.