1-9-9-7, We're the class of Ninety-Seven!

Okay, so I'm in total denial about my age apparently because my ten-year high school reunion is coming up this summer and I am in shock. No way has it been ten years since I graduated. I feel like I'm still 19, 20 at the most.

However, I started thinking about this time in my life over the past few days, and this jaunt down memory lane has me listening to Celine Dion's Falling Into You album and wanting to watch Clueless for some reason. Anyway, enjoy some pictures from one of the absolute funnest periods of my life. I scanned the pictures, so the quality's not that great.

Also, any fellow FRCS-ers dropping by from myspace, WELCOME!

Aaaaaah! (angels singing)

Don't you love when you figure something out? Or even when you figure out one thing and it turns out to be the solution to another problem, too!

I've had an annoying little thing going on with my wallet ever since I bought it. The place where i keep my debit card didn't seem to be the same size as the rest of the slots. My debit card wouldn't go all the way down into the slot. Now, this might not even have bothered a sane person, but for me it was very troubling.

Also lately, for some reason, I've been setting off security alarms everywhere I go. You know the theft-deterrent ones at department stores and electronics stores (and for some reason, the new Kroger by our house...seriously, why have those at a grocery store?).

Well, today I decided "enough is enough." I stuck my finger down in the debit card slot and what do you think I pulled out? That's right. A theft-deterrent magnet thingy from the store where I bought it. Yay. Now I can actually leave a store without looking back guiltily when the alarm goes off. And, my debit card goes neatly in its resting place!

"Come on, Dover, move yer bloomin' arse!"*

Today was Ladies' Day at the Royal Ascot horse races. Check out the hats! And, did you know that they actually lay odds and take bets on what color the queen's hat will be?

*Title for today's post taken from My Fair Lady.

Detox Day

Okay, so yesterday I was so stupid. I ate like I was nine years old, and when I finally got home last night I was in serious pain (and eating Tums like they were candy). I guess I'm getting to an age where I can't just eat whatever I want and not pay for it. So, today I'm trying to take it easy.

In case you were curious here's a food rundown of my day yesteday. Breakfast: sausage biscuit, hash rounds, and Diet Coke from Hardee's; Lunch: chicken quesadilla, taco, and Dr. Pepper from Taco Bell and then I drove over to Ben & Jerry's on 21st and got 2 (count 'em, two!) scoops of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream in a waffle cone; Supper: I stopped at Pei Wei on the way to book club at Mom Glenda's and got honey seared shrimp and rice.

On a less gross and more positive note...book club was great last night! It's always so fun to get together and gab, not just about the book but also about life!

Happy Father's Day!

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan." ~Garrison Keillor

Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again. ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

A great big huge Happy Father's Day! to my dad, Mike Dugan! I love you, dad. I'm thankful beyond words for the role you play and have played in my life! I'm also glad we all got to spend the afternoon together on Sunday!

Happy Father's Day mentions also go out to the following: Anthony, Grandaddy, Papa Leslie, Grandaddy Ferguson, Buddy, and Eric! I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day as you are definitely deserving of it!

The pooch is gone

In case any one was worried, the people who were living behind us came and got their dog.

My other family

In the great marathon of introducing and discussing family members I am aware that I have neglected my in-laws...my other family. This has not been on purpose, but I just didn't have any updated pictures of them. Well, this weekend was David's grandfather's 75th birthday! Everyone converged on the town of Smyrna for a weekend-long celebration. Everyone really enjoyed the visit and was already planning the next get-together!

Here are some pictures from the party. I won't go into too much detail explaining all the different connections and how everyone's related. What's important is we're family, and I truly consider this family a blessing!

The man of honor, Grandaddy (Debby's dad), and his wife Jeanne, aka Grandmother. They came up from Atlanta, and we had so much fun spending time with them!

Here's Grandaddy blowing out his candles. He had a very special knife to cut the cake. Just click on play in the middle of the image.


Here are my mother-in-law, her sister Billie, and her brother Denny. Billie flew in from Louisiana and Denny from Northern California.

Here are my wonderful mother- and father-in-law, Debby and Anthony Johnson.


Here is David's oldest sister Patty, her husband Buddy, and their girls Mackenzie and Taylor.


Here is David's second sister Becky with Mackenzie and Taylor. Becky just bought her first house. We're all so excited for her!

Patty, Becky, "Bub," and their Grandaddy.

Jeremy and Rachel, cousins from Atlanta. They need to put a brick on their heads. I can't believe how grown-up they're looking!

As if this group weren't silly and giggly enough, let's add another girl, our cousin Rachel. She and her family were visiting from Atlanta. Rachel, Mackenzie, and Taylor all came to my house on Friday night to go swimming and we actually managed to run off everyone in the pool.

The girls thought it would be funny to throw confetti in David's hair. I looked like a monkey trying to pick it all out, and when he got home and took a shower there was still some stuck in there.

Now, because I was told to blog it, a very unflattering picture of me that my sister-in-law sent.

I know I wasn't able to include pictures of everyone, and I'm sorry. There were just so many people there! It was so good to see everyone this weekend. I can't wait until the next time!

For the bunch going to King's Island...

Here's a little story for the Ephesus group at church to think about while they're riding all those roller coasters! Enjoy!

For shame!

Shame on the people who were renting the house catty-cornered behind ours. Shame, shame, and triple shame. They have an adorable, goofy dalmatian that was mostly an inside dog. Well, apparently they were evicted four or five days ago and they DIDN'T TAKE THE DOG WITH THEM! They just left him in the fenced-in backyard. However, they did go to the trouble to take their patio furniture with them (eyes rolling).

Now, I'm not usually very emotionally involved when it comes to animals, domesticated or otherwise, but that was cruel. At least take it to the shelter. Don't just leave it in a yard to starve. Luckily, a couple of our neighbors are feeding it in the meantime to see if they come back for it or if someone wants to keep it. Poor puppy. He just sits at his back door and cries and barks as if someone's going to let him in. I really do feel sorry for him, BUT the non-sappy side of me is getting tired of hearing him carry on. If no one claims him soon I can dial animal control quicker than you can say Cruella DeVille.

Video update

I finally got videos uploaded in this post and this post.

Obsessed with tracking

I am obsessed with tracking packages. Like right now, for example, my adorable red peep toe mary janes (and some clothes for David) are in Doraville, GA. I can see this using my handy-dandy tracking number on the UPS website. Whenever I have clothes coming from an online purchase I constantly go to ups.com throughout the day to watch the progress of my purchase and waiting for that glorious moment when it says "Murfreesboro, TN--OUT FOR DELIVERY." Then I know that when I get home from work that lovely little package will be sitting on my front porch! Yay!

Shoe update

I absolutely love in magazines when they will show you like a really awesome designer outfit, and then they will find affordable pieces and make the same look with stuff they got at Target. Anyway, for those that remember my shoe lover post, i found a pretty close copy of those Kate Spade shoes at Old Navy. Here's the linky. I ordered them in red. How cute!!!

Eew!

Entomophobia: abnormal fear of or aversion to insects and similar arthropods, and even other "bugs", such as worms

I really hate creepy, crawly things outside their normal habitat. I can handle them if I'm outside working on the yard or something, but I don't like when I'm inside my house, my car, etc. and see one crawling on me.

Last night I was working nursery at church, sitting in the rocker, holding a fussy little cherub when I looked down and on my sleeve was a little tiny bug. I tried to grab it and...bam...it hopped away. Yep, it was a flea. I never saw another one all night and didn't see any bites on me or any of the babies, but I was sufficiently freaked out.

Then, this morning I was dropping off the dry cleaning, and when I picked up my clothes there was a this creepy water centipede thing on one of my skirts. Well, I did this little shiver, freak out thing and scared the poor dry cleaning lady to death. Anyway, here's a picture of what was on my skirt.

We used to see these things in the bathrooms of our apartment, but we've only seen one or two in the house. This little critter was apparently living in the laundry room because that's where my dry cleaning was. The bad part is I didn't manage to get it out of the car. It scurried into my purse which I inspected when I got to work and didn't find anything, so it's probably still living somewhere in my car. Oh, well, maybe the insufferable heat will kill it while I'm working.

It's summer!

I love magnolias. They remind me of when David and I got married because they are in full bloom around that time of year. I also love the creamy color and texture. Well, when we bought a house I just had to plant a magnolia tree. Every year we get so excited when the first bloom opens up. We watch the bud every day waiting to see it open. Monday, when we got home...there it was. Our first magnolia bloom of the summer!

It's pronounced Loo-uh-vul

For our anniversary this past weekend we went to Louisville, KY for a long weekend. Fun, fun, fun!!

Here we are at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory on Saturday.


David sitting in an original Wrigley Field seat.


Here I am.


These bats looked really cool hung from the ceiling.


This was a really fun stop, even for a girl. They have lots of really cool baseball history artifacts. You could also see a 90 mph fastball coming right towards you, like a major league batter.

On Sunday we went to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. It wasn't too hot, and the lines weren't even very long. We had a great time. On Monday we impulsively decided to make one more stop we hadn't planned on...the Frazier International History Museum. This museum is apparently pretty new, and it was very interesting.

We got there just in time to see a talk and demonstration about swordfighting. I can't remember what these swords were called, but they were what gentlemen would have used in a duel. They weren't really used for battles or anything. Here's a video of the demonstration they did.


They were also having a special exhibit about dragons. It was really for kids, but that didn't stop me and David from enjoying it.



Here's David with a buffalo.

Now, for some pics and vids!

The night before the picnic I was working on my nails and hands and feet, and AbiLyn just HAD to be a part of that!





AbiLyn found a new friend to play with at the picnic, her cousin Savanah!




I think there are a few too many grown men on these tires!



I think our family is a little too concerned about grooming. I really don't know what to say about this video. It's a tad disturbing.


In this video, take note of David's sound effect for swinging.

Too much time on my hands...

Okay, how adorable are these measuring spoons and this teapot? The teapot looks like something from Alice in Wonderland. It even has a matching sugar bowl and creamer set.

"I's just reading!"

Aaaah, Memorial Day Weekend 2007!

It was so much fun! David and I picked up AbiLyn from daycare on Friday afternoon and headed to my mom and dad's house at the lake. Liz and Eric were going to come down later, and Carla and Brian were meeting us on Saturday. Grandaddy, Mom Glenda, and Mama came down Friday evening, too. We had supper at the always classy Dockside Market (it really is delish)!

Saturday my mom's family had a reunion on Signal Mountain right outside Chattanooga. We were at a great park called the Pumpkin Patch. It was so wonderful to see everyone, and we had such a great visit. I fell and skinned most of the skin off my left knee. David couldn't even ask if I was alright because he was laughing so hard, but he got his. Later, the guys were swinging (don't worry pics will follow), and I guess they thought they were still in elementary school. They decided to swing out and jump off. Well David did and nearly went end-over-end in the mulch. My cousin got a great picture of this. It's hilarious! Unfortunately, I wasn't there to witness it. Back at the lake Saturday afternoon we spent some time out on the water and saw the sunset from the boat...beautiful!!

Sunday morning it was back to Murfreesboro to see AbiLyn "graduate" from the nursery class at church then back to the lake for fun and frolic on the water! Mom and I kayaked around the little cove where their dock is. I love kayaking on the lake. It feels so effortless, but afterwards my arms always feel like they got a workout. Sunday night we had the most wonderful meal. Grilled salmon and chicken and shrimp, grilled veggies, baked potatoes...Yummy!

Oh, here's where I explain the title of this blog. My parents' house at the lake is not overly fancy. It's plenty nice, but it's not really big enough for all 8 of us plus AbiLyn to stay overnight, but we just pile in there anyway! My parents sleep in the master bedroom on the main floor, and there's another bedroom on the lower floor. There's also a great room and another bathroom and small kitchen down there. That's where we "kids" usually reside. The bedroom downstairs has two twin beds and a queen bed, so there are usually two couples sleeping in there. The third couple will usually inflate the air mattress and sleep in the great room. Well, Sunday night David and I were sleeping on the air mattress, but before he was going to go to sleep he needed to make one more trip to the bathroom. The light was on, though, and someone was in there. We kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the person to finish up and come out. There was no water running, and we couldn't figure out what was going on. I finally walked over and tapped on the door. Carla was sitting on the steps leading up to the tub. Her words to David: "Oh, I's just reading." (you have to imagine her saying this in her little voice...lol. If you need to know how it sounded...ask David...his impression of her is spot on.) She was wrapped up in a book, and that was the only place she could read and not disturb anyone. Bless her heart! Carla, you just crack me up!

Monday...more playing on the water. I got sunburned...like an idiot, but it was a fun day.

Highlights of the weekend:

• Hanging out with my sisters
  
• Hearing David and Brian scream like little girls because they almost flipped the jetski
  
• AbiLyn running full throttle across the platform at church in front of God and everybody to give the pastor a hug and get her certificate for graduation
  
• "I want my stuff back"
  
• Seeing Brian bounce across the lake on his bottom because he bounced right out of the tube he was riding
  
• Playing in the lake with AbiLyn and her "swimming" (in her life jacket) from one person to the other
  
• "Oh, I's just reading."
  
• Watching AbiLyn playing with her cousins and seeing them slide down the slide together
  
• Watching Liz fish and kayak and swim with this amazingly gorgeous pregnancy glow (Liz, when I grow up and get pregnant I want to be just like you!)
  
• Having the courage to jump off the dock and actually swim around without a life jacket
  

Lights Out!

So, Wednesday night (actually Thursday morning as it was 2:30 a.m.) I was just snoozing away. I had fallen asleep downstairs on the couch in front of the tv which is a recently aquired and horrible habit of mine. Suddenly, I woke to a pitch black house. Now, I still harbor an unnaturally childish fear of the dark, so I was a little skittish. The TV was off. The lamp on the nightstand was off. The light over the stove in the kitchen was off. Everything was eerily quiet. No air conditioner whirring, no faint television droning, no ice maker clicking in the freezer...NOTHING! I thought, "I know sometimes I sleepwalk, but I wouldn't have turned off all the lights and the tv." It finally hit me...the power's out, dummy! The whole neighborhood was black. Suddenly, I thought...David's CPAP!!!

David, my darling husband, sleeps with a mask that helps him breathe because he has sleep apnea...a CPAP. It's a machine that plugs into the wall. Once, when I was trying to get him out of bed, I turned it off while he was still dozing, and it nearly scared him to death because he was getting no air all of a sudden! He gasped like he'd been drowning, and I never did that again. Well, I got to the top of the stairs Wednesday night and heard him gasping and trying to catch his breath. We've always joked about what would happen if the power went out in the middle of the night. He'd be jolted awake when his CPAP cut off, and now we know. The power was out for about 30 minutes, and he snored in my ear almost the whole time. It was okay though. It was just starting to get on my nerves when the house sprang to life and he put his mask back on and we both went to sleep.

It just struck me as odd, though, at how loud and lit up our house actually is even in the middle of the night. While the power was out everything was truly silent and dark. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it was too quiet to sleep. Weird.