Tomorrow is our anniversary. Twelve years ago we were married on a warm October Day. Just like the forecast is for tomorrow here in the middle of the states - a warm, harvest day.

Eight years ago tonight we had take-out italian in our bedroom. We set up a table and chairs in our bedroom, placed our 5 day old little boy in his bassinet - and spent our E.N.T.I.R.E. anniversary dinner talking about our new little baby boy.

Tonight we go out to eat for our anniversary at one of our fave local restaurants. We sit at the table, toasting to our 12 years, spending the E.N.T.I.R.E. dinner talking about our new puppy, Shane.

Now just how many therapy sessions do you think we might need?!

2. Something I'd like to improve on
"What does improve mean? Oh, taking care of Shane - I want to learn more about him."

3. My favorite food
"Mexican"

4. Three words that best describe me
"Tall; smart; athletic"

5. My happiest moment
"When Shane came home to me."

6. The most important thing in my life now
"Taking care of Shane"

7. Then to the moms: Were you surprised by any of the answers?

I think that I am surprised that he answered #1 the way he did - I expected it to be about sports - like saying he

plays golf well. But it was about school - which makes me very proud.

And now a word from Phil - the father to this wonderful 8 year old...

It is awesome being Perry's Dad. There are times I simply can't wait to get home to see him, find out what happened in his day and hug him tight - we call it a "neckhug" because he grabs me around the neck and holds on tight. Most of the time I feel like we are more like best friends, golf buddies, or football geeks rather than father and son. I am so proud of the boy he has grown to be and I am sure he is going to do great things in his life. And I'll be there every step of the way.

This is my new look and I absolutely love it. Kudos to Susie at Bluebird Blogs. She has a talent that I could only dream about.

We first talked about colors that I had hoped to see in my blog - blues and browns. I would like to use those colors in a room somewhere in my home, but have yet to figure out where.

Then I showed her a picture of my home - my comfort zone - and she went with it - and I am so pleased.

What do you think?!

Phil travels just about every other week for his career; sometimes more... but more often than not it's less. I thank God for that over and over.

Not because I miss my husband.

I do.

But I miss his time spent in conversations with Perry. "Daddy, who do you think will win tonight?" When Phil is gone, I get those questions asked to me. I answer him - but I don't care who wins the game nearly as much as Perry does - or his daddy.

It's alll sports in my house.

All the time.

I looked over at Perry when I came downstairs from folding laundry and what do I see... Perry writing to his daddy's Blackberry on my laptop.

Hi Dad, I miss you.I am watching the cardinals game the score is 1-1 tie.I hope your having fun in St.Louis. I can't wait to see you.E-mail me back.see you later. Love, Perry

His devotion to sports and his devotion to his dad.

I would have it no other way.

"No, I do not want fries with my sandwich. I would just like the O' Fish sandwich and my large diet coke - that's all"
But that's not what I ended up getting today.

I got fries with my order.

And I just can't stand the temptation.

The minute I took my sack from the window, I knew they were there. It was a larger sack, and the smell was unbelievable. A smell that I literally had not smelled for at least 6 months... seriously.

I'm on WW - counting points - but I still eat fast food. It's not that I need it fast - I just really do like fast food. I know people who have not darkened the doors of a fast food restaurant in years. That amazes and terrifies me at the same time. And you can count points with fast food. A fish sandwich from the arches is only 7 points if you order it without the tartar sauce. And I do love me some arches fast food.

So my dilemma at lunch today? What was I going to do with those fries they gave me?

Of course, even before I was wondering what to do with the fries, I started eating them. I started popping them two at a time. And oh - they were to die for. Hot. Crisp. The best fries ever. (You do realize that I had not ordered fries for six months!)

Should I circle back around to the parking lot and look for the trash can. No, I was already out of the parking lot. Should I stop and find a trash can? No, there was no place to stop. By this time, I had sampled at least 10 of the hot fries. I was in trouble now.

So what did I do next??

I fed the birds.

Yep, that's right... I threw the fries out my window. Just opened the window and dumped them. Right there on Westport Road. I kept the box - don't worry - I did not litter. But seriously, there was no way those fries could stay in my car any longer. My mouth was watering just smelling the fries, much less all the sampling I did in that 6 seconds of torment about what to do with the fries.

So Mr. Drive-Up Window Guy - next time I say sandwich only - please help me out and don't stuff those fries in there just to be nice. I really don't want them!

Friday evening, a puppy foster mother paid us a vist with this sweet little boy. His foster mother gave him the name Shane and he is soon to be a new member of our family.

He is a schnoodle - half miniature poodle, half schnauzer... and we are adopting him from a local pet refuge organization. We met this little puppy last Saturday outside a pet shop located next to our local discount store. When we were just walking by, there he was - along with his brother - and we had to pick him up. He was so very cute.

But honestly, I'm writing this with nervous trepidation.

Perry is so very excited about this little guy joining our home. And I'm very excited for him. But would it have been easier to bring a baby into this home? I know what to do with a baby - I did have one of those.

But I've never had a puppy before. Well, we had a couple when I was a little girl, but I don't remember them very well. They never seemed to stayed for long... I really don't know what to do with a puppy.

Can a non-dog family become a dog family?

I've sent out emails to our family - showing off pictures of our new soon-to-be puppy. And I've asked for prayers - lots of them.

We will need them.

I hate to cut this short, but I must end this post now. The Puppies for Dummies book is waiting for me to pick it up again. I'm only on p. 30 and I've got 312 more pages to go before Friday afternoon.

Well, actually my baby brother's wife is having a baby!!

And he has a blog about it...

And they kept it from the entire family for over 6 weeks! I can't believe that intuitive me, one who wants and seems to know everything, didn't even catch on. I'm usually all over these things.

For example, my co-worker Janna and I traveled to San Diego for business in August. At the Kansas City airport, we go to buy soft drinks and she orders a sprite, while I order my usual diet coke. As soon as she ordered that sprite, I just knew. I knew immediately. She is a diet coke or pepsi drinker just like me, and we were getting ready to be sitting for 3 hours on a flight, travel on a bus to get a rental car company, and then try and and find our hotel all before midnight. Why in the world was she drinking a sprite? And as soon as the opportunity arose, I called her on it. And she couldn't believe I figured it out just from her ordering a sprite.

My brother's wife Cindy tailgates with our family at every Chiefs game. One of our traditions is to pop the champaigne corks while setting up the tent and mix the champagne with cran-apple juice... Lamar's Libations we like to call them. And I seriously remembered that she asked for straight cran-apple juice. Why did that not make an impression on me? Where did my intuition wander off to?

I'm so happy for Brad and Cindy! It's such wonderful news for such wonderful people.

I'm calling dibs right now on babysitting.


WW Update -1.4lbs this week for a total of 39.4 lbs.

Grandparent's Day at VSE - 2nd Grade...

Friday at Perry's school was the day my mother looks forward to every year now that he is in school. And she has actually looked forward to this day for over 30 years. As a public school teacher in the same district that Perry attends, she endured many Grandparent's Days. She likes to tell the story of the grandparents in her classroom who would ride the bus to school with their grandchildren, and then get right back onto the bus to ride it back home. All the while, spending their time in her classroom with their grandchildren, the entire day.

Well, times have changed a lot since those days. Grandparents Days ... now a tad more organized and in control now. You come in at a designated time period - depending on the grade. You join in the classroom for 45 minutes while the teacher either has the students do a fun activity to share with the grandparents, or maybe just have the grandparents and students sit together and show off their desk, schoolbooks, etc.

After the time in the classroom, the grandparents then go to the cafeteria to eat lunch with their grandchild. They don't really make it a special lunch for the grandparents - it was some type of twirly pasta with meat sauce, breadstick, peach cup and cookie at our school - but it was free to all the grandparents that day... our tax dollars at work, folks. After lunch, they headed out to recess with their grandparents for 15 minutes, then it was over - off the grandparents go.

One of the highlights of Grandparent's Day in Perry's room were the questions that Mrs. Kennedy had her second grade students ask their grandparents. First question... "How did you get to school?" And wouldn't you know... at least half of the grandparents there in the class had to walk a mile to school. In the snow. Uphill both ways.

Give your kid's bus driver a hug tomorrow. We must show thankfulness that our children do not have to endure the trials and tribulations of that uphill mile everyday that our parents suffered. And bless those grandparents who are still alive, and well, and able to enjoy their grandchildren in their school, passing on the stories of "the good ol' days."

Today's topic on a popular afternoon talk show was on aging gracefully. One of the guests on this show proclaimed that the coloring of your hair is the key ingredient in keeping your look much younger.

I agree.

I too color my hair - have been for years. Even before I really needed to. I can remember that many of my Saturday dateless nights in my 20's were spent begging my roommate at the time - Laurie - to please pull strands of my hair through a plastic slotted cap with a crochet hook. I wanted a good look for all the dates that I might have sooner or later.

Later on I learned that the fashionable way to color was to have it "foiled." And it made such a difference in my hair that I've never looked back since.

But here's the question - do you know anybody now who is NOT coloring their hair if they are going gray? I had to think long and hard about that one. It is the thing to do... and like I said I'm all for it. But, all of a sudden I did think of one mother right here in my own neighborhood full of young(er) than me moms. She has a thick head of hair - in a cute blunt cut - but it's full of gray. Tons of it.

I truly wonder why?

Especially since coloring can be bought inexpensively in a bottle at your local discount store... or even your supermarket, no less. And since so many people are fighting aging, why look older than you really are?

Considering that botox and lipodissolve are all the rage right now, I'm thinking that I'm making a good choice with coloring my hair. Coincidentally I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon at 2pm for a color and cut. I've been thinking about adding a bit of red with the highlights.

Now that sounds like aging with a twist.

This fun little meme was created by Everyday Mommy and I have now been tagged by my good friend of almost 8 years - Jennifer. This is my first tag!

1. Favorite Memory of Your Mother:
For a few summers when I was young, my mother would pack our bags and we would get on a train to go to Michigan to visit her sister's family. That's right - my mom - all by herself - traveling with my brother and I - on an Amtrak train. My dad would stay home since he had to work, but my mother was a teacher and was off during the summers so our summers were meant for fun. As a mom now, I wouldn't even get on a train with one child, much less two. But we had such fun. We were adventurers. We would read books, play cards, travel between the cars and go to the dining car. My brother was deathly afraid of moving between the cars I seem to remember, but it was great fun to be in the dining car. I'm so blessed to have so many memories with my mother, and we are still making more and more memories all the time.

2. Favorite Memory of Your Father:
The night that Phil asked me to marry him, he decided that he would ask me in front of my parents. He asked my father for my hand in marriage first, and then he proceeded to ask me to marry him right there in the living room with my parents (and I) in complete surprise. But the best part of this story is that when he asked my father if he could have my hand in marriage, my father says "well, don't ask me - ask her - I don't care what you do." Yes - that is exactly what he said. He's not a man of many words, but I guess he figured that his 30 year old daughter would either say yes or no - and it didn't really matter what he said being that I was his 30 year old daughter.

3. Favorite Memory of Your Siblings:
I have 2 younger brothers - one (Craig) is just 21 months younger than me and the other one is 13 years younger. I had to grow up with Craig right behind me in school, in church youth group, even employed during the summer together at a baptist conference center. To me, he was a geek... a nerd... we had nothing in common as we grew up. I was a social butterfly, he was socially inept. He never dated in high school, and I really never knew if he dated in college. But after college, he moved to Atlanta, joined a church, got involved in a singles group, met Diana - one of the sweetest southern belles - and had one of the best weddings I've ever been a part of (next to mine, of course). It was such fun because we were able to meet all of his southern friends, his beautiful southern wife, her wonderful southern family... it was just good ole' Southern wedding fun. And I just couldn't believe my socially inept brother got married - even before me!

My favorite memory of my younger brother Brad was when my parents told me they were expecting him. I was 13 years old - and completely amazed and somewhat in shock that my parents were going to do this all over again. I mean, come on - wasn't 2 kids enough? But having a toddler around the house while being a teenager was great fun. I loved how young he kept my parents. And how much fun it is to have him in our lives. He is now 29 - but still is such a kid at heart.

4. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you'd never learned it)?
I would like to be able to wake up and be knowledgeable and have my own opinion about all issues going on in the world today. I would completely understand every single thing that is going on with current issues without even having to read each sentence three or more times, which then makes me not want to continue reading, which then makes me not understand any current issues at all.

5. Which one of your dreams has come true?
As I mentioned in this meme, I was 30 when I married. I truly always believed that I would meet Mr. Right, get married and have a family. I never doubted it at 21, 25, 26... Ever. And my dream has come true.