My Latest Project(s)

I'm really excited about these little things. I've made the cutest little beanie with flowers for my sister to stay warm on her and mama's upcoming trip to New York.



Ignore the little loop there on the bottom of the flower. It's not attached yet. It was just sitting on top at the time... because, what I decided to do to make it more versatile (yes, a versatile beanie) is to add little snaps to it and make different color flowers to match your coat or outfit!! Yay!! Here's the ones I did for Brooke to go on her black beanie...



Aren't they cute? And the ones for babies are really super cute too! Just having problems getting the pattern to work for me... I'm working on some adjustments.

Oh, Glee!

Seriously, I laughed so hard at this... love it! If you aren't watching Glee, you should be!

Why I love Montgomery

I just wanted to show you all why I love my home town of Montgomery, Alabama.

Trapped

I'm sitting here, having had a 21 hour day for work yesterday and worked until 6:30 tonight, thinking, "I'm trapped. I'm a creative wanna be stay-at-homer (no I don't have any kids, so what?) trapped in a corporate world."

I like my job - I do. The industry is great, I get to work for home, what more could I ask? But when I turn my head ever so slightly to the left while sitting at my desk, I see that amazing craft closet I have created.... ok, ok, hubs helped me a bit with the putting together of the shelves and whatnot (details, details)... I just want to go pull out all those beautiful colored and patterned papers and put down all the memories we've ever had in a perfectly detailed book, make birthday cards months in advance for friends, create adorable little tags for Christmas presents, crochet the cutest little bonnets you've ever seen in your life for every little girl I know (and don't know yet) aaaand finally actually figure out how in the world to do more than just the basic stitch in knitting.

Yes, that's what I want to do. Why don't I? I'm exhausted. Yeah, yeah, I hear you... "but you're too young to be tired", "just wait until you have kids - then you'll know tired", etc. etc. etc. yada yada yada. No, I don't know that stuff yet, but you know what, I'm still tired! And looking at the "project plan" for the rest of the year for work... lawd, that makes me even more tired just thinking about it. Not to mention the mess that is my apartment that I should probably be cleaning as we speak rather than sitting here drinking this glass of wine and blogging. But I digress...

So, folks, I guess all I'm really trying to say is that I feel trapped. I have this creative, homey, side of me that is just bursting to come out and say hello to the world alot more often... yet, instead, it is stuck sitting at the computer, having to do corporatey professional things that just suck the life out of any creativity. I mean, it's not all bad, I suppose... it pays the bills, right?

And I do like my job...

...just wish it involved more colors, glitter, and yarn...

It's the little things, folks...

Wanna know what really makes me happy on this late nights in hotel rooms when I'm so tired I could just die but can't sleep cause I miss my husband?



I can have every one of my lifelines open at once but not taking up 800 tabs at the bottom of the screen. I appreciate this, Internet Explorer.

Thank you.

When in Savannah...

...do as the Savannahans do....

Yeah, I just realized I don't know what they're called. But, that's not important. Do you know what is? In Savannah?

Yes, Paula Deen... but do you know what's important to Paula Deen?



Buttah.

Don't worry, I didn't eat all of the 4 tbsp they gave me to put on my baked potato.... even though I WAS tempted. I mean, Paula would have...

How do I know that?

Cause she has little kid shirts in her store that say this:

The Sooound of the Sooouth!

Pretty cool to see the ol Sound of the South represented in a video game!



UPDATE:
Ok, if it's not showing up on your screen for some reason (I know nothing about technology!) you can go to the link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1tSv-lkA0w

Crafty Creativity Update

So y'all may remember a previous post where I discussed my new flair for craftiness. Well, someone (yes, you know who you are) has been asking to see some of the latest cards I've made. Well, I've made three cards lately - exciting huh? But you should probably know that I've been so busy and my brain has been hurting so much that they were all the same card. I just used different colors. What can I say, when the brain is full, there are limits to the things I can do.

So here's some pics of the cards I made.





By the way I do have a slight addiction to my Sizzix products.... but never fear - I ALWAYS buy when they're on sale... for the most part. It's funny though cause as I purchase the cute die cuts I can totally see how I will use them in the future on a scrapbook page or card. I've been working on more scrapbook pages, but the problem is they take just a little longer and require more focus than making a card. So, yes, I am STILL in the process of scrapping our trip to Vegas... from last October... as we plan our trip to Vegas for this year. Aye yae yae, I've got to get moving on that. But anyway, that's just a side note.

What could be sidetracking me from getting this done other than the work trips and just plain brain tiredness, you ask? Well... in the midst of this, I have also decided I need to add another deminsion to my craftiness... or domesticness, if you will. When Paula - Matt's mother - was in town a few weeks ago, I got her to show me the basics of knitting. Yeah, it seemed pretty ok easy, but I did a little research online and it just seemed like most people thought crocheting was a little easier. And that's what I'm looking for - easy domesticness!

So now, when my brain starts to shut down and I just want to sit in front of the tv, I do this:


I know, I'm totally a Grandma - before I'm a Ma.

And yes, my loving handsome husband is AMAZED at my talent of being able to crochet and still watch the tv well enough to know EVERYTHING that is happening on the latest episode of Tori & Dean.

But I enjoy it. It's the first one, and I'm learning from a how to book. I started to follow a pattern and then realized I didn't want to focus enough to really understand what that crazy pattern was "saying" with all of it's *s and sc and dc language. So, I just made my own pattern! Therefore, I've decided afghan #1 will belong to Dixie. She won't care if it looks a little crooked or ghetto. She just wants to lay on it!

Anywho... so there's my update on craftiness. More updates on other genre's to come...

I'm Alive!

I know, it's been a while. And I just KNOW you were all wondering where I've been. Well let me tell ya - everywhere! Well, all over the Southeast anyway. Working, traveling, vacationing, yada. So, needless to say, there's really alot I could catch y'all up on...

So I'm about to start working on that.

Stay tuned.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Well, in case you're wondering, Dixie's please below worked! Mama and Brooke AND Grandmama all came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend. And in typical Mama form, we were on the go the entire time! Anywhere from J.Jill to Lynn's Paradise Cafe. By the way if you're ever up in Louisville, it's a must see. Just a fun, random place with really, really good food! As a matter of fact, Grandmama's plan is to win the lottery (don't tell her church friends) and then buy an old warehouse down by the river in Bama and open up Vera's Paradise Cafe. I knew she'd love it... it's just as random as she is!

Anywho... we (and when I saw we, I mostly mean Mama) also planted a little mini garden at the apartment to help make it a little more homey. I've been taking special care of it to make sure these gorgeous petunias and whatever the other smaller purple flowers are called make it! So far, so good! Whew, I'm a little relieved. Honestly, I was afraid they may not make it two days with mama gone, but it's day FIVE and I think they're lookin' better than ever:

And yes, we have installed gates so that Dixie can go sit outside. She LOVES it. Mama kept calling it the trellis... um, Mom, it's a baby gate, not a trellis.

Here's a few more I took with my cute little point and shoot camera. I'm so proud of that thing.

Fourth Meal Love

You know you have serious love of the fourth meal when....
http://www.wave3.com/global/story.asp?s=10353214

Dixie's Request

Cute, huh? Yeah...

What was even more cute - and kinda sad - is that I replayed the video a couple times while uploading it and she kept running to the window and crying wondering where they were!

So I gave her a treat and all was right with the world again.

... but she still wants Mama and Brooke to come visit.

One Day....

...my dreams will come true.

And I will get this camera that I have been drooling over for months.



Seriously... I pay for things in cash more often now so I can get change. And then save it... for this!

Poor Dixie Belle

Ok, so today I got that feeling that I'm sure all mothers who travel get... yes, I am aware I do not technically have a child. But seriously, let's face it, we all know she's not a dog, she IS our child.

So anyway, I'm traveling this week - ALL week. And Matt has games this week. This makes for a very long day between the outside potty breaks for Miss Dixie. So, last summer we invested in a dog walker - The Pet Pro www.the-petpro.com. Cherie is awesome. She loves Dixie and Dixie loves her. Well, Cherie had a baby - like everyone else I know in my life - (he is adorable by the way, I saw pictures) and is unable to work with Dixie now. .... sigh ....

So, no worries, though, right? She's got a back up and he came to meet us last week. Yes, I said "he". Dixie's never really had issues with men before, as I long as Matt or I were around - she loved him! She even did her little hug things she does when she curls up around your leg. Everything was great! We were good to go for my travel and Matt's games - Dixie's taken care of.

I'm getting on my second flight of the day today and my phone rings. I normally don't answer as I'm walking on a plane but it was a KY area code and not my husband. Oh my gosh - what if it's the dog walker and something's wrong with Dixie?!

Hello
Hey Hope, it's Cherie
(hold breath) Hey Cherie how are you?
Good... so Kurt tried to take Dixie out today and she was scared to death of him.
WHAT?
Yeah, she was shaking (I think I remember her saying that)and she ran and hid under something and wouldn't let him take her out.

My heart was broken. My mind went back to when I was leaving this morning. She knew. She wouldn't even pick up her head off of the couch, she just looked at me all pitiful and lifted her eyes as if to say, "Why are you leaving me again? You were just gone last week." And now this....

I feel so horrible for her knowing she's still there all along thinking we'll never come see her again. Ok, yeah, so she's probably sleeping, but still. It's sad!

I have a feeling Matt will get quite the welcome when he gets home tonight... and have a dog sleeping right on top of him all night long!

FYI...

Hampton Inns are nice and all... but I'm sick of staying in them.

I hate the word swine

So I thought this was kinda funny. As y'all know, I travel alot with my job and EVERYWHERE you go, all you hear is swine flu this, wash your hands that, I can't believe the Obama folks actually had Air Force One fly over NY like that, wait... that's another subject...

But I just got the email below from my HR director.

Hey Hope. I hope you are having a good week.

I know that you probably have heard about the recent Swine Flu cases in the country and right now no one knows exactly how severe of a public health emergency that this may evolve into. In the meantime, I wanted to send you a few ways to protect yourself from getting sick:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue into the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also effective.
• Avoid touching your hands, nose or mouth – germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

You can also visit the Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/swineflu/ to view the latest information regarding this public health emergency. Take care of yourself! (I know… I am acting like your mom but that is part of my job!)

We will have an announcement to the company this week, but I wanted to go ahead and send you an email since I know you are not in the office and you may be traveling in an area near some of the reported cases.


B***** K*****
Human Resources Manager

Kinda funny to me... but kinda nice. Or maybe it's just the company's way of saying, don't sue us if you travel and get the swine flu.... cause we're not about to let you stop traveling.

Gettin' Crafty

So, one of my favorite things to do lately to help me de-stress is to get crafty. I've got an awesome setup to get scrapbookin', but what I've enjoyed doing a lot of lately is making cards. Here's a couple of the ones I made lately...

For our niece's bday:


For a friend that's having a baby who hasn't gotten this card yet so I hope she doesn't see this:

Derby Excitement!

So, the whole town of Louisville is getting pumped up and ready for the Derby. To make sure everyone's excited about it, the city puts on the Kentucky Derby Festival full of about two weeks of festivities. It's a pretty fun time, and in my attempt to get us more involved, I've been dragging Matt out to several events!

Today we went to Opening Day at Churchill Downs. It was so much fun! You could feel the excitement in the air in anticipation for The Derby next Saturday! Women were already wearing hats & drinking Mint Juleps and men were.... drinkin', smokin' and bettin' away! But I just walked around with a smile on my face all day.... and sunburn on my shoulders!

I would post pictures for you, however............ I wanted to take some "GOOD" pictures, so I took my real camera with me. "Real" meaning the use of actual film and lenses. I busted out the old Canon that I probably haven't really put into good use since my photography classes back in college. The anticipation of what they will look like it killing me! (I think I'm about to go drop off the film in a few minutes.)

But last night, we went to the Balloon Glow... and I took the digital camera to that. It was pretty neat. We waited around a lot not knowing if it was even going to happen because the wind was so strong, but it did - and it was worth the wait! I think Matt and I may have been the only "family" out there without any children - there were LOTS of kids - but it was ok, because like I said, the goal is to participate in more that the city has to offer!

So, enjoy some pics from the Balloon Glow!





You know I had to get a picture of the Coca-Cola one:


Thought this one was pretty cool too. The airport was close by and planes were going by all evening. I can only imagine the surprise when people flying overhead looked out the window. I actually caught one of the planes going over in this one:

Back in March....

Brooke and I went to a cattle show! Woohoo!
Here's pictures of our step cousins doin' their thing:


Joseph came in top 5!

You want a treat?

Dixie wants a treat....
You see that head tilt?

Hello Blog....

Hello Blog,
Remember me?

I haven't talked to you in a while.

I'll get better.

Sincerely,
Long lost owner

Classic Update

I feel like it's been forever since I posted on this thing!! And I should have been - there's a lot going on!! So considering I can't sleep (I'll get to that in a minute), I figured now's just as good a time as any to catch up!

As I mentioned before, Matt was asked to work the World Baseball Classic. Well, it's in full swing right now! He left on February 27th to head to Arizona to work with the South African team as they did their workouts to prepare for the Classic.

While he was there, a couple cool things happened.
1 - He got to meet/ hang out with the Oakland A's major league clubhouse guys. I'm all about making those connections! (for him at least!)

2 - So, Matt is walking into the A's clubhouse... Jason Giambi is walking out. For those of you that don't know him, this is what he looks like...

For the ladies...


Aaaanywho... back to the story.
So Giambi is walking out and says to Matt, "Hi, I'm Jason Giambi"
Matt: "Matt G******"
Giambi: "Hey, did you used to work with Guy Gallagher down in Tampa?"
Matt: "Yeah, and the end of the season in '05 and '06."
Giambi: "Yeah, I thought you looked familiar."

I'm sorry.... what?!?! My husband, Jason Giambi remembered you! That's kinda cool in my book! One day... one day all this hard work will be worth it and you'll be in the Bigs!

On Friday, Matt headed down to Mexico City, Mexico...... and I've been stressed to the MAX since. Word to the wise - don't watch news story after news story about the ever growing drug war in Mexico. Did you know it's not just on the border? Yeah, Mexico City is the number 1 city in the world for kidnapping... soo... needless to say, God's been hearing from me about 24 hours a day lately.

I haven't really been able to talk to him much while he's been down there, but I know that day one consisted of course of unloading everything until about 2am! Oh, the life of a clubby...

We got to talk briefly yesterday in between him going from one place to the other... but we haven't been able to talk since then. We may be apart alot between my travel and his working in baseball, but my goodness, to not even have the OPTION to talk to each other makes it just a little more tough.

So, please pray for us, friends. Pray that Matt will have an amazing time and this will be a great opportunity for his career!! And pray that I just make it without completely stressing out until he gets home on Friday!

So, I will continue to update on what I know...

All I've got so far is the not so good news about South African losing Game 1!

Go South Africa!

Found another Flea!!

So, I heart a flea market...

Last weekend, yes, on Valentine's Day, I wanted to go to a flea market.. and the best one we'd seen yet was over the bridge in to Indiana. Yes, I said Indiana.

Anywho... this is how awesome that place is...


Looks great, huh?

Flea markets are wonderful places! I mean my mind just goes crazy thinking of what you could do with stuff or what miracle you could work to turn that junk into some awesome piece of work! Unfortunately, all we came away with that day was an awesome pack of multicolored Sharpies. I can't wait to use them for something scrapbooky!

So back to today...

We were driving around, looking for the church we had visited a while back... and out of the corner of my eye... what?

So I said to Matt, "What did that say? Is that another Peddler's something?? Isn't that what they call the flea markets up here?"

He stares straight ahead....
"What do you want me to do?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll just come back some other time by myself...."

So we turn into the parking lot.

It was huge. I love these places!!

Just look at this!



Mama - I was thinking of using this above our tv but Matt said no. But THEN I got to thinking that you need it in "my" room back home. Imagine this with some sepia color photos in each window in the room with the antique dresser! Perfect! And it' only $8... EIGHT DOLLARS! So, let me know if you want it... I think you do.

Then, I saw this...


And it took my back to my days of youth back at good ol Pinedale Baptist Church. These are the exact chairs we used to talk about being old and out of date when I was there. I GUARANTEE they're still there too! And just think - they're at a flea market for $25 each or 4 for $85!

But, what brought a smile to my face was this... oh memories of sweet home Alabama...



In case you can't read the description on the thing, it says "1975 'Bear' Bryant book ad & 1989 Rare Coke Card $3.50"

Ha! I think if this was in any flea market in the state of Alabama that price tag may be just a little bit higher....

So, there it is ladies and gents... our fun times at the flea market... today. Well, let me correct that.. MY fun time at the flea market and Matt putting up with yet another quirk of his wife's.

Oh yeah... no, I didn't buy anything.

Happy Birthday, Hayden!

So my friend Hope always swore she would never do two things in life
1) get married
2) have a baby

And much to our surprise she has done both!! Kinda funny how sometimes, God has plans for you no matter what you think, huh?

And today and little Hayden's First Birthday. I can't believe how fast time flies!

Anyway, here are a couple cute pics I took when Lance, Hope and Hayden came to visit us at Mama's house in Prattville one day. He had fun playing with Dixie and Coco. Ain't he cute?

Valentine's Dinner

Ok, so I wasn't going to post about another meal I made... cause let's face it, I'm no Paula Deen... Sandra Lee, maybe a little... BUT KraftFoods.com has provided me with some super simple meals that have been so YUMMY lately, I just had to share!

Last night I made a meal that I'd been planning on making for a while, but was always just too tired to go through all the steps after my brain was dead from work. So I said I would do it on a Saturday for the first time to make sure I had plenty of time to do it all - so why not Valentine's Day?!

It was SO worth it! It did take a little longer than I normally would like to spend on a weeknight, but Matt and I both agree that it's definitely worth the wait! Just look at this Chicken Parmesan Bundle!



No, I didn't take this pic, it's from the website, but I COULD HAVE! Because believe it or not, it actually did come out looking this good!

Side Note - I did use a little less than the whole box of spinach, and would suggest that for you too. AND I did a little more than what it says for the "crust" of the chicken. I wanted to make sure I had plenty to cover the outsides!

Anyway, try if you like... I would recommend it!

Now we're going to get ready for our "real" Valentine's dinner tonight at the Melting Pot! Oh, I love that place!!

A Dozen Baseball Roses...

Our version of Valentine's Day!

So my wonderful husband let me sleep in yesterday (Valentine's Day) since I've been a little under the weather lately. And then Dixie just couldn't take it anymore and had to come wake me up!

When I walked into the living room, I saw this:


SHUT UP!

I LOVE my creative husband!

That's right... it's a dozen roses made out of baseballs. Here's a closer to look show you how he just cut the baseball, took out the insides and then folded it in to make it look like flower petals!


I mean really... I love this about my husband! I pray his creativeness never ends, but seriously, he does it so often, I'm worried he's going to run out of ideas!!

You know you have sinus issues when...

... your husband calls your niece to wish her a Happy Valentine's Day and the following coversation occurs:

Elisa: Is Auntie Hope there?

Matt: Yeah, but she's still sleeping. She doesn't feel very good.

Elisa: What? Is it her nose again??

Matt: Yes, it is...

Or maybe it's a lesson to not show a 5 year old what a Neti Pot can do... cause she'll never forget it!

Ha! Hope you enjoyed our Valentine's humor!

Valentine's Make-Over

Dixie got groomed on Friday... and they put Valentine's bows in her hair... hmm...

Zest!

Made a delish meal tonight that I got from one of my favorite websites, Kraft Foods.

What You Need
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 cup KRAFT Finely Shredded Italian* Five Cheese Blend
3 cups hot cooked rotini pasta

Make It
HEAT large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cover. Cook 5 to 7 min. on each side or until done (165ºF). Remove chicken from skillet.

ADD tomatoes, olives and lemon zest to skillet. Cook 4 min. or until hot, stirring frequently.

RETURN chicken to skillet; cook 1 min. or until hot. Top with cheese. Serve over pasta.

**I hate just having cooked chicken without any flavoring, so I did throw some salt, pepper and a little garlic powder to top of the chicken while it was cooking. I also chopped up a garlic clove and threw it in with the tomato sauce mixture... YUM!


But really, here's why I'm so excited about it...


I made lemon zest for the first time! At first, I'm just gonna go ahead and admit it, I found myself standing in the spice isle at the local Kroger. I couldn't find the lemon zest anywhere! And then, I thought, "you... idiot..." It dawned on me I've watched enough Food Network to know what to do. So I got that lemon and my little grater (although not an official "zester") and zested!

I was pretty proud of myself! Ha!

Happiness

"Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour."

Walt Whitman

Army Strong

So why did we go to Missouri?

Matt's cousin, Ben, has been at Army Basic Training in Fort Leonard Wood since October. And yesterday was graduation day!


It was a pretty eye opening experience to me. You should have seen all these young men. One was even 17 years old! His mom gave permission for him to join the Army. Just looking at these guys, knowing they could be one of the ones about to go overseas and put their lives on the line for us... and they're so young!

Thankfully, Ben is not going overseas right away. He is heading back to school and will be in the reserves. But we were all so proud of him. Just look at Nan's face!

Personally, I thought it was pretty cool that he was one of the top marksmen in his "class" (forgive me, I'm not up to speed on my military terms) hitting 38 out of 40 targets!

I asked him if he would teach me how to shoot. I guess he doesn't know me very well yet, so he looked at Matt like... uhhh?

Matt just smiled, shook his head, and said, "It's ok."

Yeah it is... I want to learn!



Congratulations, Ben! Matt and I are very proud of you and thank you for serving our country!

No, it's not a really big McDonald's

Yesterday and today Matt and I took at quick get away to Missouri.

(Random? Sorta...)

Now, let me tell you, there's not much besides trees and snow between Louisville, Kentucky and Missouri... which made for a very tiring 6 hour drive. Ok, ride for me...

Oh, wait... except for this!




So that was pretty cool to see the arch in St. Louis... and what's even cooler is that we were able to get so close becuase we accidentally took a wrong turn! Of course, as with many things, all my knowledge about the arch is from watching baseball. I knew it had to be somewhere close because I had always seen it on tv when the Cardinals were playing... so I'm looking all around while Matt's stressing trying to make sure we get to the right place... and then... I saw it... or the lights anyway... Busch Stadium.

So that was it... Cardinals, you're next on our list!

Stimulate?

I mean... I don't know...
I'm just gonna post this...
You can read for yourself.

I love Jesus but I drink a little

This video made me laugh out loud by myself. You HAVE to watch it. It's about 7 minutes, but believe me it is well worth your time!

Enjoy!

Football's OVER!

10 days, 10 hours, 56 minutes until pitchers report to Spring Training!!!

Thanks for the info, MLB.com

NY? AZ? MEXICO!?

So, many of you may already know this, but I am so proud of my husband, I just have to share!!

About a month ago, probably around 8pm, Matt and I were getting home from the grocery store and Matt checked his cell phone messages. He came back into the kitchen and his eyes were wide and he said, "Major League Baseball just called... they want to talk with me about the World Baseball Classic."

And you know me.... "What? The World Baseball Classic? That's awesome! Where is it? When is it? What all would you have to do?" etc. etc...

To which, Matt says, "I don't know..."

"Call him back... now!"

"It's too late."

"He called you at night!!"

Needless to say, I lost that battle...

So Matt called him back the next morning. And this is what he said...

"Well, it looks like I'm going to New York in a few days. They're going to fly me up there for a meeting about being a clubby for the Classic. He said nothing is definite, I would find out at the meeting... ... ... he asked if I had a passport."

"A passport?! So does that mean you're gonna be a going to one of the other countries? Oh my gosh, what if you go to China or something... I want to go too! Or what about Puerto Rico? I definitely want to go! I won't want to go to Canada though..."

"Hun, nothing's definite. He said I'll find out at the meeting."

"So this means I can't blog about it?"

"No, you can't."

"Ugh!!"

So to get to the point, Matt went to New York while I fought the temptation to call everyone I know and blog about how excited I was! (Ok, so maybe I did call a few people...) I of course was traveling the same day that Matt made his trip to MLB headquarters in NY. I hated that so much! I wanted to be home to see him off and support him, but I couldn't... it was no fun. So he made the trip - Louisville, KY to NYC and back - in one day and I was dying to hear ALL the details.

My amazing husband will be a Clubhouse Manager (Clubby) for the World Baseball Classic! He will be going to Arizona about a week before it all starts for team workouts and then he will go with the team to Mexico City, Mexico!

How cool is that?!

I'm so proud! And happy! And excited!

Super Bowl Sunday!!

And I'm about to get on a plane to travel for work... I'm really not happy about this.

Gotta do what's best for the client, right? Anywho...

Since I would not be able to go to the Super Bowl party with Matt, I wanted to still make something for him to send... you CAN'T go empty handed.

Look what I came up with... They're not perfect, but they're fun!!

Thought for the Day

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 – 2005

Popsicle anyone?

So this is basically for Mama... She always seems to know what's going on here in Louisville before I do. So yeah, we're having an ice/snow "storm". And no, we're probably not fully prepared with food - or anything for that matter - if the power were to go out for a few days. That reminds me, I should look for that flashlight.

Anyway, once again, Matt thinks I'm crazy for going outside to take a picture of this, but I've never seen ice like this before!

And what's that in the background? That's two inches of snow covered with a thick layer of ice. Basically impossible to walk on... should be interesting to see what tomorrow looks like after the additional snow we're expecting tonight!

I'm just gonna take a long shot and say I'll be the only person working in Louisville again tomorrow...

The unfairness of life

So, it snowed last night. And right now, I just called Matt into my office to look out the window at the falling ice. I thought it looked neat. He's like, "Yeah, it's freezing rain, my wife."

We have lots of conversations like this considering my Southern upbringing and his.... Northern.

But here's what gets me about these days... I work for home. Awesome, right? Yeah, most of the time. Then there's days like today. I have tons of work to do (this is my lunch break that I'm taking today that I usually never take, for your information)... for real. And other folks, well, don't.

The tv screen this morning looked like .... CANCELED.... CLOSED.... .CANCELED.... CLOSED...... CLOSED..... CLOSED.

So what does that mean for me? Well, considering my "office" is 10 steps from my couch, it means that I still get to work today while the rest of Louisville is throwing snowballs or curled up on the couch reading a book and drinking a glass of wine.

Ok, so maybe that's not what they're doing, but it's what I would like to be doing.

And just to make it even worse, this is what I just walked out of my office to find:

Dixie - "Seriously, mom. I am warm and cozy on this winter day. Did you really have to wake me up for another picture?"



Matt - "I AM the world's best golfer." If only Tiger Woods wii golf gave actual money, we'd be LOADED!


Oh, such is life...

Meanwhile... I suppose I've pouted enough about the unfairness of life. I must get back to work...

It's organized chaos....

Oh yeah, and speaking of life not being fair, check out my girl's thoughts on that. Can I get an amen?

I love these nights...

Warm and cozy by the fire while the snow falls outside...
Sounds like Happy number 11.

Working Together?

So, if you know me at all, you know I have a tendency to be passionate about things. And recently, one of those is politics - more specifically our new president. Now, let me start by saying, I am not claiming, nor have I ever, that I know everything there is to know about politics. However, unlike many others who voted in this last election, I felt like I did my homework - my responsibility as a voter.

I have been criticized for not changing my mind to support our new president. That now all the sudden since he is the president, I must agree with everything he says. Since he says he's going to "change" everything, that I should put my "hope" in him. I'm sorry, I just don't see myself jumping on that bandwagon... I get my hope from a much more powerful Him. (Which, yes, I am trying to remind myself of that as we speak to keep me from getting too worked up!)

I had struggled with even putting something up on the blog about this... I mean, I know folks read it (I like watching the "views" number go up!) but I don't know exactly who... except for my mother, most of you don't leave comments! So I had decided I would just keep it simple, not truly knowing my audience... and then I read this article this morning.

Here's just an excerpt:

While discussing the stimulus package with top lawmakers in the White House's Roosevelt Room, President Obama shot down a critic with a simple message.

"I won," he said, according to aides who were briefed on the meeting. "I will trump you on that."

The response was to the objection by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to the president's proposal to increase benefits for low-income workers who don't owe federal income taxes.

Here's my problem. I feel like all Republicans - from the lawmakers to little ole me - are now just expected to be quiet. As though since Obama won, our views, thoughts and opinions on issues that effect this country no longer matter, no longer have value, and definitely do not want to be heard. He "preaches" work with me, we can do this together, etc... when it really appears to me he doesn't want Republicans to work WITH him, he simply wants us to follow.

I'm sorry sir, I'm just not there... and with the decisions that have been made the past couple days, it doesn't look like I'll be moving in the direction anytime soon.

Here's to hoping you prove me wrong!

You took the words right out of my mouth...

5 years and 9 months from now....