Observation

I just got home from the tanning bed. It's soooo spring-y outside. The air is damp, a little warm, and smells sweet. Beautiful night!

Sorry

Okay, no, my blisters from last weekend weren't so bad that I couldn't blog all week. It was just a pretty average week. This weekend isn't so average, though...it's a little weird.

I'm here by myself this weekend. That's highly unusual. I mean, not for me to be here by myself a little, but all weekend. I don't mind at all. It's just very rare. I gallivant all the time without David, and he's totally supportive. However, he just doesn't possess that gallivanting gene. He usually doesn't have much of a desire to go and run around at all, much less without me. However, he's away this weekend in Maryville, TN with a buddy from work. Totally good guy, and I'm totally supportive of him going. I hope he's having fun.

Mackenzie and Taylor spent the night with me last night, and we had a blast. We ate pizza, made red velvet cupcakes and watched Clueless (something from my generation) and Harry Potter #4 to ogle something from their generation (Robert Pattinson who plays Edward Cullen in Twilight). Today was errands (Martin's Nursery and the dry cleaner), book club, and then the girls and I went to see 17 Again (great movie by the way...LOL'ed a lot and cried a little).

Now, it's just home sweet home and me and Lucy-cat here by ourselves. Interesting!

So Unbelievably Tired

My generous parents declared this year that there would be 2 work days at the lake...one in the spring and one in the fall. Today was the spring work day. I can't believe the work we did. All 8 of us plus AbiLyn and Lex were there. We started around 9:30, and we've been going non-stop. I took on the task of pulling weeds in the flowerbeds and clearing out a lot of stuff. I found some stepping stones, and a barrel flowerpot hiding in all the underbrush. My mom and sisters and I made a trip to Lowe's (muddy kneees and all...I can't believe I went out looking like I did.) to get mulch, geraniums, potting mix, and Liz and Carla talked my mom into some gorgeous pink calla lilies for the flower box out front. Liz scrubbed and cleaned all the decks. The guys mowed and weed-eated (weed-eated? weed-ate?) and spread mulch and washed/cleaned the boat. The house looks great! It was so nice to spend almost an entire day outside. My hands are covered with blisters, and I can even feel them as I type. I'm sure I'll be sore tonight, but I feel so good for some reason!

Liz and I were talking about how much more we will appreciate coming here this summer after all the work we did. We are able to know the lake house more intimately now and love it all the more!

Oh, and we have all been coveting one of those inflatable trampolines that float out in the water ever since we started coming here. Well, the next-door neighbors had a yard sale this morning and they had one for sale that they had only used like once. It was only $25. Liz and Carla went in together to buy it! Yay! Memorial Day weekend here we come!!!!

Easter 2009

Let me just preface all the pics and stuff by saying how much I enjoy Easter! It's a truly happy holiday. There's the joy of what we're celebrating, it sort of marks the beginning of a new season, and you get to spend time with family...it's all so great!

Here are some pics of us at church with my in-laws in Smyrna...and Mackenzie and Taylor (Aren't our nieces total knockouts?!). Pardon David's scowl...he wasn't mad, just blinded by the sun. We should have gotten his sunglasses out of the car.



After we went to church with the Johnsons, we headed up to M'boro for dinner with my family. We had to pass some of the tornado damage on the way there. Sunday morning was my first time to be more than just a couple of miles away from our house since the tornado, and wow...the damage is so much more astounding in person. I still can't wrap my mind around all of it. Anyway, on to Easter dinner. I made a Rachael Ray potato salad that was a hit. Click here for the recipe, and keep in mind that I didn't do the three-bean salad part, just the potato part. It was pretty good. Unfortunately, Liz was suffering from a terrible case of strep throat this weekend, but we made her and Eric get in the pictures anyway!






Liz made the most adorable Easter version of one of our favorite family desserts, and Lex just couldn't get enough. He was running around from person to person getting bites.


So, that was our Easter in a nutshell. I hope everyone else had a good one!

Keeping Room

I posted about the work we did in our Keeping Room, well here are finally some pictures. There's a new couch with slipcover, a new lamp, new pillows (my mom made the two that match my valance...so awesome!), and an adorable new piece of wall art.

More News

It's always weird when your local town makes national news. Wish it weren't for something so tragic...click here.

Map

Here's a map of the tornado's path. Pardon my very rudimentary editing skills...haha! The dot to the right, on Lascassas, is our neighborhood. The other dot is where I work. We were safe!

Tornado Sadness

My sisters and I grew up in the Blackman community, and the road we took to get almost anywhere was Manson Pike. Over the past couple of years it has morphed and different parts have gotten different names, but there was a house on one particular stretch of that road that we loved...it looked just like a dollhouse. Here it is after the storms today (photos courtesy of dnj.com). I don't know why this is bothering me so much.

"Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace"

Good afternoon, all. Well, M'boro experienced some pretty severe weather today. David was off for the holiday, so I had been calling him all day to stay updated since at work we don't have a radio or tv or anything. Here's my personal experience.

All of a sudden we hear that M'boro is under a warning, the sirens are going off at MTSU, and there are multiple rotations over Rutherford Co. Have to get away from all the windows and in an interior part of the building. Grab cell phone and sweater. Try to call family and loved ones..."Network busy." Send texts.

Power goes out.

Hail, loud rain, can't look out the windows to see what's going on.

Phones go out.

Quiet, quiet, quiet. "God let everyone be safe, please."

Peek out.

Call families...everyone safe.

Go home due to no power for the rest of the day...traffic, emergency vehicles, sirens, more traffic. Finally get home in one piece.

Hug...one giant hug.

My prayers this Good Friday are with everyone who's experienced a loss. Also with the emergency responders...that they have wisdom and strength.

Funny Commercial during March Madness

In case you're confused...the guys in the boxers are famous college basketball coaches. The guys in black are Metallica!

I love that they even have that little "plink" sound. That's what Guitar Hero does when you don't hit a note right.

What kind of room?

When my family moved into the house where my parents currently reside, there was a room in the house that was called the "keeping room" by the builder, agent, etc. We had never heard this term, but it was explained as a casual gathering place off the kitchen. When David and I bought our house in 2004 it also had a room on the plan called a keeping room. My parents' keeping room has a fireplace and comfy chairs, and it's where my Dad hangs out reading the paper, books, etc. Our keeping room is our family room. Our TV is there, and so is the comfy furniture. It's where we spend the majority of our leisure time, and since it's right off the kitchen it works perfectly! It's also a nice unimposing place to hang out when you have small groups of people over. I found a very good explanation and history of keeping rooms here.

I felt the need to bone up on my keeping room knowledge because today in Bell Buckle I found the cutest distressed-looking sign that simply says "Keeping Room." I can't wait for David to get it hung. It's so cute, and I don't know why I've always liked that name for a room. It does sound so colonial! I'll try to post a picture of our keeping room soon. We've done some work in there, and it's really looking good.

Bell Buckle

I had a bustle-y day today, part of which was a trip to Bell Buckle, TN. Click here for a little story from Southern Living about Bell Buckle. I've been trying to track down the recipe for the oatmeal cake at the cafe. Apparently I'm out of luck. I mean, I'm sure there are oatmeal cake recipes out there, but I want THIS one.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

"Morning's Here, the Morning's Here"

Sorry, if you are not a total Friends junkie like me you won't get the title of this post.

Just updating everyone on what I've been up to lately. Last Saturday Mom and I went to Chattanooga to see my great aunt who's in the hospital. We also got to visit with my Granny June and Papa Leslie because they are home from Florida for the summer!!!!! It was so nice to see them. I didn't want to leave, but we had to to try to beat the storms home. We were not successful, by the way.

This week was pretty stressful at work, so I haven't really felt much like blogging.

Last night I watched a wonderful movie I had never seen...Funny Face starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. It was great!

Today I'm going to the Bell Buckle Cafe, Lilla's birthday party, and then Chassidy and I are going to play with her KitchenAid mixer. She wants to learn how to make a cake from scratch and is a little overwhelmed by her new toy. It's going to be a fabulous day, a fabulous, beautiful day!