My Girl

Wed. afternoon I went to a friend's house to help her strip wallpaper in her bathroom. I didn't leave my friend's house until after 10:30pm. As I got in the car, I noticed I had a missed call and a text from Maddie asking when I would be home. I arrived home at about 11pm and was shocked to find her still awake (she very much like her mama- early to bed, early to rise). She met me as I walked in the door and said..........

Hi Mom, I got bored while you were gone. Come see what I did.

I was a little apprehensive because often times in Maddie's life boredom= making a huge mess (think art projects using glue and glitter or tents that take up every single blanket and pillow in the house).

But boy was I WRONG! Big time wrong!

She took me first to show me her room. Her VERY CLEAN room and closet.

Then she took me to her VERY CLEAN bathroom.

At this point I felt her head and asked if she was feeling sick. She laughed and said she was fine, just bored.

Then she took me to the living room where she showed me that she had straightened up and lined up all of the pillows on the couch and love seat just like I like them (because I am a freak and for some bizarre reason I can't go to sleep without the pillows in their places).

Then she took me into the kitchen. She had cleaned off the counters, ran and unloaded the dishwasher.

At this point I was almost speechless.

Then she took me to the pantry to show me that she had straighted it up and organized it.

Then she opened the refrigerator to show me that she had cleaned it out and then taken the trash out.

I was shocked.
I was amazed.
I was THRILLED!

She is my child after all and has some of my cleaning passion in her somewhere!
That's my girl!


To reward her for all of her hard work I told her that we would go to the movies and see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on Thursday and that she could invite a friend.

We saw the first movie after reading the book and it was cute and had very little inappropriate content or language. Because of this, I did something I almost never do. I did not check this second movie on http://www.pluggedinonline.com/

If you don't know about Plugged In Online it's a fabulous place to check out movies and find out any inappropriate language or content before you go to the theater. I check it religiously before allowing Maddie to see a movie. Well, religiously except for yesterday. And boy was I sad.

The second movie definitely had some adult content that I would have preferred she not see. As we sat in the movie and one of the young college girls became intimate with her boyfriend for the first time- Maddie's head snapped over and she looked at me, quickly reassuring me that it was okay by saying..........It's okay, I know that you should NOT have sex when you are not married. Don't worry mom. Really.

So I tried to continue watching the movie but then the boyfriend comes out of the bathroom and says "It broke". Maddie immediately looks over and VERY LOUDLY whispers.........What broke?

You could hear laughing around us and I shushed her saying.......I'll explain it but not right now honey. She persisted, saying over and over and over again..........What broke? I don't understand. I sat there alternately trying not to laugh and kicking myself for not checking this movie before we came to the theater.

She finally stopped asking and just watched the movie but as we left the theater she immediately brought the subject up again. She said............

When he came out of the bathroom and said "It broke" I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought he meant his you-know-what broke. I didn't know you could break that. But then I figured that if that happened he would be crying really hard because I am sure that would hurt. But then he said "My uncle gave it to me 2 years ago" so then I was really confused because his uncle couldn't give him a you-know-what. So what the heck broke?

Oh my....................... I am so NOT ready to have a teenager. Really NOT ready.

All Sorts of Random

There is all sorts of random stuff rambling around my brain this morning. (Imagine that!) So here I go in an effort to clean some of it out.........................


I found some super cute t-shirts to order and wear at hip hop class this fall but Maddie was mortified when I showed them to her. What is wrong with that girl? I told her I was just trying to be fly. :)



The picture I posted yesterday was of Maddie being fitted for her very first pair of pointe shoes in Houston. It was a day she has been waiting for for what seems like a sweet forever and she was so stinkin excited she could barely stand it! It is truly a milestone in dancing to begin pointe classes and she smiled the whole way to and from Houston. This year she will be taking 10 dance classes each week and I think pointe is the one she is most looking forward to. (And don't even bother to tell me that 10 classes is a ton.......I know, I know.......and I'm thinking of looking for a part time job to pay for both the classes and all the shoes!)


It looks like we are totally split on the ROOT vs. ROWT issue. Thanks so much for voting! I had to laugh because my sister voted exactly opposite of how I would have voted. I say ROWT when ordering at Sonic and ROOT when talking about a road. Isn't that a hoot? So including my vote, we had 12 votes for ROWT and 10 for ROOT. Pretty close I would say. I guess either way is right. I wonder what they are taught to say at Sonic School? Maybe I'll start an experiment to find out. I'll alternate between the two when ordering, ROWT one day and ROOT the next and see what they say back to me when repeating my order. Could be interesting don't you think? Oh, and DeAnn? I am so SORRY your car drink holder won't hold a Rt. 44 drink. That is just so so so so sad. Can you believe that I actually know of people who tested out to make sure that a Rt. 44 drink would fit in the drink holder BEFORE buying a new car? Can you believe someone would do that (not anyone you know..........uh uh.......not anyone who has red hair and an addiction to Sonic drinks......nope...........someone TOTALLY different.)? Some people are crazy aren't they?


Look at this silly sign we saw in Houston. It cracked me UP! I definitely could NOT take a class there.

If you can't read it, it says..........Sexy Women in Sweats and Beginners Yoga.

I found some beautiful brown floral fabric while shopping with a friend this past weekend. Fabric that just happened to match my new living room rug fabulously. Fabric that just happened to be on sale 50% off so...........I just had to buy some.

I got home, grabbed a screw driver, a pair of scissors, and a staple gun. (Well to be totally honest, I actually had Honey use the staple gun for me because that thing- it scares me ALOT). And in less than 15 minutes...........voila!!!!



A newly covered piano bench that I love! I love a project that is easy, inexpensive, and super quick!

Happy Thursday sweet friends!

The Pointe is..........

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance...is a celebration of that miracle.

Martha Washington

ROOT or ROWT?

UPDATE: ROWT 11, ROOT 9 so far.............................boy is it close! Way closer than I expected! If you haven't commented, let us know your vote please! (And woohoo to KK and BW for commenting- you girls ROCK! :)


So I have a very important question that is driving me crazy and I really, really, really need your help. This question is so serious that it is causing me to lose sleep at night. Really.

I've found recently that several of my very dearest friends and I differ in one very big way.

It's a HUGE difference but one I pray that will not alter our friendships. You know, Satan can use all sorts of little things to cause division between believers. I pray this isn't one of his sneaky ways.

This huge difference is that..................

we differ in the way that we order our drinks at Sonic.

When ordering a drink at Sonic, some people say.........

I'd like a Route (pronounced ROOT) 44 Diet Coke please.

while others say..................

I'd like a Route (pronounced ROWT) 44 Diet Coke please.

So here's the big question..........which way is the correct way? (And by correct I don't mean, what does the dictionary say. I mean, what do most people say).

My friend Vicki and I had a big discussion about this the other day while out shopping for door prizes for our workshops. The discussion started because one of us says ROOT and the other says ROWT. We discussed which way was the correct way for several minutes as we sat waiting to place our order at Sonic. Since I was the one driving (and ordering) I decided to put the Sonic girl to the test and try to get an answer to this question that was driving me crazy.

So when it was my turn I said...................
I'd like a ROOT 44 Diet Coke and a ROWT 44 Diet Sprite please.

Y'all, there was DEAD silence after I said that.

She seriously said NOTHING for a minute or two.

During which time Vicki and I laughed hysterically (yet quietly) and waited.

We could just imagine that poor girl asking her co-workers......do you think that lady knows that those are the same size?

Finally, the poor girl said..............
So that will be an extra large Diet Coke and an extra large Diet Sprite. That will be $2.14.

Isn't that a hoot? Made me laugh so hard!!

So since I couldn't get the answer at Sonic, here is where I need your help.

If you are reading this- please, please, please leave a comment and tell me what you say when you order a drink at Sonic (or what you would say if you were going to order a drink at Sonic).

In order to find out the true answer I need EVERYONE to leave a comment. This means you sweet people who tell me you read this blog religiously but have NEVER left a comment. (People like KK and BW.) Or those of you who read daily but who only occasionally leave a comment. Or those sweet friends who leave a comment on every post. (I love you for that by the way!)

I promise that leaving a comment is easy-peasy.

If you have never done it before, here's how you do it............

All you have to do is click on the little SWEET WORDS at the bottom of this post. It will open up a new little window for you and all you have to do is type in your comment and if you don't have a blog or user ID, you just click on anonymous. (If you click anonymous, make sure you put your name at the end of your comment .) Click post and that is it! See how easy it is?

So please, please, please tell me, do you say ROOT or ROWT? My inquiring little mind needs to know.

A Bathroom Makeover

Well here it finally is. One of my two summer bathroom makeovers. I didn't take many pictures of the bathroom before taking the wallpaper down- but here are the few shots I did take. These shots show you the lovely 90's wallpaper that was put in this bathroom when our house was built. Basically every surface that could be wallpapered, was wallpapered. You can't see it from these pictures but every wall in the potty/shower section was also wallpapered. LOTS and LOTS of wallpaper.

And here are some after shots.

After means after spending a million or so hours stripping the paper, patching and sanding, patching and sanding, patching and sanding a little more, priming, painting and painting the walls once again. With a little help from TJ Maxx, EBay, Target, and Hobby Lobby- here is our new little bathroom!

This is my $1 lamp from the dollar store! (The shade is from TJ Maxx and was a tad more than a dollar, but still very reasonable!) The frame was also a dollar store find and so was the cute little stand it sits on.
I love the dollar store!

Although it is certainly not perfect, we love it!

P.S. The pictures make it hard to tell but the room is a tan/khaki color- NOT pink. Maddie would have loved pink though but I didn't think Honey would so we settled on this tan color instead.

Fun Links

Wordle-
This is the neatest site! I love, love, love it! Wordle is a site that automatically arranges words on a page. You paste in your own text or a url then pick the typeface and colors. This picture is of my blog url. How fun would this be to type in your own words or family names, and then print out and frame? Too fun!





Dollar Store Hack-
This is a site of a design professor who challenged his students to take items from the dollar store and "design by hacking cheaply made plastic junk, and hopefully, manipulating some irony and employing some critically in an otherwise humorless and often anonymous world of product." The results are so interesting, so creative, and sometimes so fun!






Museumr-
This site allows you to upload any picture and see it in a museum! So silly but so fun!







Bloglines-
Bloglines is a free site that allows you to easily and quickly keep track of all of the blogs that you enjoy reading. It's simple- you just register, enter in each blog address and it's collects them all. Instead of going to each individual blog each day to see if the writer has posted, you simply go to your bloglines page. It lists each of the blogs you entered on the left side and if they have posted, their name is in bold. If you click on the name of the blog, it shows you the post on the right side. So with one click- you can quickly and easily see who has posted. How cool is that?





By the lack of my posts this past week, you can tell I was a tad busy. I spent the week with my sweet friend Vicki training teachers- four days here in CS and then Friday in Victoria, Texas.

Vicki and I spent the week showing teachers ways to inspire, challenge, and motivate their gifted students. Presenting workshops is something I love doing and I am blessed to be able to work with Vicki. We both have a strong work ethic, are passionate about what we do, and have a fabulous time working together. She also shares my Sonic addiction-which is so important in someone who I travel with often!

We met some fabulous new teachers who will be starting their first year of teaching in only a few days. As I begin my (GULP) 17th year of teaching (holy cow- is it really 17 years?) it is so refreshing and exciting to see such intelligent, passionate, and loving young people fired up to join the difficult field of education. There are so many professions that they could have chosen- jobs that would have been so much more financially rewarding- and yet they are choosing to teach. And for that I am thankful. It truly is a joy to work with them and to get to know them. The week of training is always exhausting but always leaves me so excited for the new school year!

We finished our training here in CS on Thursday afternoon, packed up and drove the four hours to Victoria. Upon arriving in town, we did all the important things like shopping and figuring out the closest Sonic to our hotel. We stayed up late making sure we were ready for the next day and were at Sonic by 6:35am the next morning. We had a wonderful day with some Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers- and are excited about returning to Victoria to do some more training later this month.

I arrived home late Friday night, exhausted- and had to get ready for the garage sale I somehow agreed to participate in when asked by neighbors on our cul-de-sac. (Peer pressure is alive and well for this 38 year old!). The garage sale was HOT, sweaty, exhausting, HOT, funny (the things people will buy amaze me!), interesting, did I mention HOT?, and profitable. At the end of the day I had enough to buy a few more rugs for my new floors and got rid of quite a bit of stuff. The remainder was taken off to Goodwill and I took a nap.

I am thankful today is Sunday- I for one could use a day of rest.

I hope your day is blessed and restful!

PS I promise to post pictures of my pretty new floors and redecorated bathrooms soon! Pinky promise!

Carboard Testimonies

My precious friend Betty shared this video with me this morning and it left me crying at God's amazing love, forgiveness, and redemption and wondering.......what is my cardboard testimony?

What's yours?

Thou Shalt Not........................

Several years ago I purchased a cute little wooden sign that says "Thou Shalt Not Whine".

I had it out in our living room for a few years and eventually it somehow it was moved and ended up in a closet full of picture frames, candles, and such. While cleaning out that closet the other day I stumbled upon the wooden sign and decided it to put it out again as a much needed reminder (to Maddie and to myself as well).

I placed it on the entertainment center under the TV and thought nothing more of it.

As I was dusting the other day I noticed that the little sign had been turned backwards and looked like this:

I laughed knowing that Maddie must have moved it.

When I asked her about it she said "I have no idea what you are talking about Momma."

I didn't buy that for a second and I turned the sign to the correct side and again forgot about it.

Yesterday while dusting, here is what I found:

That girl, she cracks me up. Can you tell she's 12?

She's at her dad's house for the next week and I'm thinking of printing those words out on little cards and hiding them all over her room and bathroom for when she returns.

Wouldn't that be fun?

As cute as I found Maddie's actions, last night I started thinking about that sign. What rules does God have for me that I choose to ignore? What rules does He state in His word that I choose to turn over and pretend don't exist? What rules does He have that I would like to pretend He doesn't?

Sadly there are some and perhaps this was His way of reminding me of them. Maybe I need to have some signs of my own made.

PS I have no idea why half of this post is tiny. I tried to fix it at least 5 times and each time I post it, it shows up tiny. So sorry!

Behind Those Eyes

I've shared recently the blog of sweet Lisa Whittle- an precious, godly woman and an absolutely fantastic writer. The fact that she is so real, no honest, so authentic in her writing combined with the fact that she has such a heart for Jesus and a gift of being an amazing writer make her blog one of my absolute favorite places to visit. God speaks to me through each of her posts and I look forward to each and every one.

I am currently reading her latest book "Behind Those Eyes" which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. This book is truly amazing and so desperately something I needed to read.

Here's what it says on Lisa's website about the book:

An insightful look at the various roles women play as they cover for the inadequacies that they feel, why they do so, and who they really are in and through Jesus Christ. In Behind Those Eyes, Lisa uses truth from God’s Word on the value of being authentic to discuss the various facades of Ms. Perfection, Ms. Confidence, Ms. Happiness, and Ms. Spirituality. Behind Those Eyes encourages women to face the reality of who they are and who God created them to be. The result helps them to mend broken souls, repair relationships and strength connections with family and friends.

I'm only half way through (because it's one of those books I have to read a bit of and then reflect on before moving on) and see myself and my struggles on almost every page. God's been using her words to direct me to Him and His word and to deal with me on some things I've been hiding from. It's truly been a blessing to me.

Since I love her blog and am loving her book imagine my JOY when I found out that Lisa was coming to Houston next month to speak! I was thrilled and have already purchased tickets to attend with two sweet friends. We are planning to drive down to Houston together for a fun evening and the opportunity to get to hear Lisa speak in person.

If you live here in CS and would like to attend- we'd love to have you join us. She's speaking at Champion Forest Baptist Church and THIS is the link to the event. Buying ticket can be done online and is super easy. If you would like to go just order a ticket and let me know.

What Have I Done? answer

Nicole is so smart! She correctly guessed the crazy thing I have agreed to do!

(Go back to that post and read her comment if you really want to know).

I've definitely lost my mind.

And I'd love for you to join me.

It's so much more fun being crazy with friends.

And no doubt about it............ it WILL be fun.

I'm thinking we may have to wear Depends because we are going to be laughing so hard.

Maybe I can find a coupon. :)

Go.......Go Now

Please, please, please go now and read this amazing and beautiful post written by Angie.

It is touching and precious and touched my heart so.

Without a doubt, you WILL be blessed by her words.

..whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you...Philippians 4:8-9

A Big Old Time Waster

Good night nurse.
This is the biggest waste of time EVER.

If you are super busy and have lots to do today, do NOT go here.

Really.

Don't.

You'll be sorry.

Really.

And I'm not EVER going to tell you how long I spent on that site.

Nope.