Award Winner Speech

Yea!!! I've been nominated for a fabulous blog award! Sue over at Sue's Family news nominated me for this! Sue is the sister to Shirley, my second mom. Before Shirley passed I spent most of my time as a member of her family and that included her extended family! I would spend each Sunday after church having lunch at Sue and Shirley's mom's house and I remember many times Melissa and I diving Odon/Cannelburg road to go to Sue's house. I've known Sue for as long as I can remember but haven't been able to see her or talk to her in a long time. Thanks to blogging we've been able to reconnect and catch up with each other! I've missed that!

Here are the rules to receiving this award:
1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.
Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

I know I will have duplicates because so many people in my blog-o-sphere have been nominated and I question the boy's blogs doing it!


1. Scott and Brooklyn at Scott and Brooklyn. These are my two favorite people in the world and I love being able to go see the new shows they make together. It so nice to see the relationship between them, the laughter they share and it's a blessing to be able to preserve that with technology. My favorite blog ever!

2. Melissa at Trinity Hope Gingerich. I know Melissa has been nominated but I am doing it again because I truly love reading her blog. Melissa is absolutely my sister in every sense of the word. Melissa and I grew up together. She taught me so much of those sister things from how to use a diffuser on my hair dryer to talks about boys, those lessons about strength and how to ride a four wheeler. We both have little girls now and it's just so nice to be able to keep up with her and her and the rest of the "siblings"!

3. April at The Stilwell Family. April was one of my best friends from about 1st grade till my freshman year of high school when I moved to Bedford. We had lost touch but because of the blog have gotten back up to date with each other and our families! We even got together twice over Thanksgiving this year. It was so neat to see our children playing together when it seems like yesterday we were those children!

4. Abbie at Rise to find the sun. Abbie and I went to North Daviess together. Her blog has been a new find for me but it's been so nice to read. Abbie seems to be going through my exact life from 4 years ago. Even though I too made a choice to end my marriage it was so difficult and I can relate to all her feelings. I am reminded of how far I have come since I made that decision although it did take a lot of therapy :) I should send Abbie some encouraging messages because through reading her blog I can tell she is making choices with the best of intentions for her little boy and I know she has the strength to overcome this!

5. CJ at Idiotblog. CJ is the manager of the recording studio that Scott works at most of the time. While CJ is a great friend to Scott, I find that he, his wife Julie and their son George have become family friends of ours as well! I love reading CJ's blog and he is the reason I even wanted to start a blog. His blog always makes me laugh and helps me not take life so seriously.

So, Here are my 5 addictions.

1. Scott and Brooklyn- I can't get enough of them. No matter what we are doing, my favorite time is just being with them.

2. I am absolutely a Young and the Restless junkie like Sue. I record it everyday and can't wait to watch it when I get home. I have watched this show since I was a little girl. I LOVE it.

3. Magazines. Cosmo, food and cooking, shameful celebrity gossip magazines. ..... whatever, I love them.

4. Lists. I make them for everything, goals, to-do lists, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, wish lists. I probably make an average of 3 lists a day.

5. Cooking. I love everything about it. Making the grocery list, preparing the food, the stress relief I get from starting and finishing a task, the delight of eating it, sharing it. It's a favorite hobby.

ICE!

I just have to say that ICE was awesome and you should all come take part. Sadly, this is the last year they are doing The Grinch but they will still have a huge exhibit next year. For those of you who don't know what it is, ICE is a grand display of ice carving from chinese artisans brought in by Gaylord Opryland. It is at Opryland, right next to the Opry. When you go in, the building is 9 degrees on the inside and they provide you parka's to stay somewhat warm. Inside they also have a child and adult slide carved from ice. It's truly magnificent!
The rest of the pics are from our walk through the hotel and then our lunch out on a patio on a beautiful day in late December!

Natures' Fury

So, I bet you can't guess what the picture is about. Those of you out of state are thinking this is a photo of a beautiful December morning and that it seems to be about 50 degrees outside. You would be right! What you don't know is that this is also a picture taken at 7:00am on Friday.....Brooklyn's snow day. Yep, that's right...a snow day. Where is the snow, you ask? I am still wondering that. What happened to a 2 hour delay? Hmmmm.... I would like to know that too. I have realized that TN snow days are actually days when the forecast says "snow is possible". It is simply mind boggling to those of us that slid around on icy roads and still got in trouble for getting to school late or road the bus with chains on the tires to make it up the hills. Well, now you see a TN snow day.
Well, due to the raging winter here in the south, I couldn't finish my Christmas shopping Friday. Instead Brooklyn and I finished up all the gifts we had to get for Scott, my mom, her teacher, etc. We got to the stores when they opened and then went to lunch at O'Charley's. I haven't been there in years! Before we had lunch we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond which was playing a demo tape on their TV. Brooklyn started touching the buttons while we were standing next to the TV and I explained why she should leave it alone. Well, when we walked back by the TV the temptation must have been too much because I see a hand go up and then hear "KSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH". I immediately told Brooklyn she had to tell one of the workers she turned the TV off. To which she was quite nervous about. It was my lesson for the day and I expected the worker to say something along the lines of "Oh, which tv? Thank you so much for telling me" .... however, she was very nice about it and couldn't have cared less. I know this because she said "Oh gosh, who cares! It's no big deal". Oh, well. I tried.
Saturday Scott stayed home with Brooklyn and let me go out to finish my shopping. It was WONDERFUL! I not only got my Christmas shopping done but I also had lunch out while having my oil changed, got my weekly grocery shopping done and just enjoyed some me time! I spent three hours out and when I returned home, I had a spotless house!!! What a great guy I have!!! I got to relax with Scott and Brooklyn without having to stress over housework. Instead we made buckeyes! We actually made a ton so both Scott and I took them to work so we could effect other people's waist lines!
Speaking of which, I have been eating horribly! I can not wait to get back to eating healthy! That isn't going to start this week though. Tomorrow I have a work lunch party and then my mom will be here. Yea! I am taking mom and B to ICE at Opryland so I am super excited about that. Who doesn't want to see a giant Grinch carved out of ice or go down a giant ice slide?!
Hopefully I will get a lot of fun pics!

Oh, Goodness Gracious!

I am sitting here with a glass of wine, a cake fresh out of the oven and typing this blog with Plant in Peril on. I am so glad to be relaxing. I am not kidding when I say I may actually eat the entire cake by myself......I feel it could go either way. This week hasn't at all been bad. This week has been EXHAUSTING, however. Work is the real source of my exhaustion.....that and nature. :) This is the second year for me to deal with "End of year" stuff at work but I feel like this year is more stressful and it doesn't help that I am quite hormonal this week. :) Aside from cooking dinner, I have spent most of this week on the couch once I have gotten home.....sounds nice, right? Nope, because I feel I have wasted the week. I am not going to let it ruin the rest of my week though. I need to give a special thanks to Scott. He is always so helpful to me during times like these. Twice this week we have called on each other for support and we have been there for each other. That always makes me feel loved, needed and helpful. Times like this though, the times I could suck it up and quit being lazy, these are the times where I want to say, THANK YOU! Thank you for letting me be lazy. Thank you for letting me have my days. You improve the quality of my life and I love you!

I wish you all could be watching Planet in Peril right now. It is amazing. I am amazed at Shell gasoline, the lead poisoning in Peru, the virus exchange that will birth our new pandemic. I am amazed. Once I am finished with school I think it would be wonderful to work on the virus exchange! We can all do something to make our world a better place! An idea I have for the "green" people reading or even those who aren't: Christmas wrapping can be such a time of waste. Paper, ribbons, cards, plastic. I'm trying to do my part with recycling but here is an idea for Christmas presents I am going to try. Instead of wrapping in paper, go to the store and pick up some fabrics and wrap your gifts in those, tie ribbons you can reuse in your daughters hair or on another gift. Once the presents are unwrapped, take those fabrics and sew them together to make a Christmas quilt!! What a memory for those mom's out there! What a gift to give your little ones one day. If you don't feel like keeping them, donate them to charity or sell them! I hope you all think about it!
Well, Brooklyn got a hair cut! This is her first big cut! I'm glad she likes it. She would prefer it long but I remember when I cut my long hair in grade school and just cried and cried! She is at least okay with it until it grows out. I think she looks wonderful.
I have joined a website called Momslikeme.com. It's a site to connect, share stories, recipes, thoughts, anything with other moms in your area. Look it up as it might be in your neighborhood. We have mommy meet ups and play groups too. I just wanted to mention it!
I also wanted to mention Wild Aid. Sharks are my favorite and this is an organization that is out to help them. Did you know that every species of shark has declined by more than 50% in the last 15 years!?! It saddens me that so few know the seriousness of this. I say this just to encourage you all to find an organization doing something you care about and get involved.
Tomorrow I am headed to volunteer at B's school and then I am going to finish my Christmas shopping. I can't wait. I doubt I will actually finish but I am being optimistic :) I hope to get close though. I also want to head to a coffee shop and just sit for awhile. I need some time outside of my office and my home!
Here is a pic from our popcorn stringing this past weekend.....and my favorite pic of the Christmas tree celebration!

Happy Anniversary!

Aren't they cute?? That was from El Dia De La Muertos in October at the Botanical Gardens. I love that picture.
I just wanted to wish Scott a very HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I love you!!! I'm very thankful for my life and the people I'm traveling through it with.
Also, our new coffee pot, the Hamilton Beach Brewstation, is WONDERFUL! Scott's mom has one just like it and it really is great. No carafe, 12 cups, and quick brewed, delicious coffee! Ah, life is about enjoying the little things, right?

Another one bites the dust.

Well, they say the come in threes right? Let's try 4. What am I talking about you ask? Home appliances and other "housewares". Today I will bidding farewell to my old coffee pot. I can't say I will miss it although I did love the insulated carafe! It's kind of given me fits since the beginning however. The very first time I used the thing I ended up having to move my stove to clean behind and underneath it. Let's just say a lot of coffee has been wasted by that thing. It's been around for almost 7 years but in coffee years, that's old and now it's done. So pre-christmas expenses I don't want to have-1, Amber - 0. Not too bad right? Well, let's go back a bit. A few weeks back I noticed my cooking pan was starting to get a "hot" spot. Sadly, I have been dealing with it for too long and have grown exhausted by the number of "mishaps" my little pan is giving me. I could go buy a cheapy but I love to cook and I need a good pan. Boo for old pans and the expense of a good new one! Score: Expenses-2 and Amber-0. What is number 3? Knives....or should I say shredding sticks? I was trying to cut up some juicy and delicious chicken breast last night but I realized you can't do that with a shredder. How did I not notice this before?? Ugh......Score: 3-0. Now to #4. The ever important, much needed sweeper! After losing a bit of suction and a bad odor, I realized my 10 year old sweeper needed to go. I was annoyed but actually excited. I really do like sweeping. It's instant clean gratification. So, I imagined that I would eventually make the purchase but could get by until after the holidays. Well, while in Indiana, my brother got a new job and will be traveling all the time. This means, he doesn't need his sweeper! So.......... ta da! New sweeper!!! SADLY though, my wonderful guy bought me a FANTASTIC new sweeper as a surprise!!!! I say sadly in the fact that we decided to take it back and use the hand me down until it dies! It was bittersweet. He knows me so well!!! I am hoping this stays at 4. I am ignoring the smell coming from the dryer until further notice. :)
On a high note, I'm so happy to be home. I love my family so much!!! We've been enjoying being back and really having a nice time doing nothing!!! Saturday when we arrived home, we all made our Christmas lists and then read them out loud. It's become a fun tradition. Brooklyn decided we should then all get up a second time while we clapped for each other. It was very funny and Brooklyn even took a bow!
Well, here are a few pics from the trip again and then the ones from our list reading! Scott's picture is him actually recreating his list reading after B went to bed. It turns out that Brooklyn got a close up of his face.....a real close up. So I retook it!! I'm trying to catch up with the pictures.....now let's see if it works!