Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Memorial Day Memories
Do you ever have one of those weeks where life just gets in the way? Well, that is my week here. I know I haven't posted anything here in the past week, and that's not because I don't have anything good going on... because I do... real good stuff.
But I've been living it instead of writing it right now... and leaving my camera down.
Sometimes I just need to step away, and this was one of those weeks.
I could write about a little league baseball-free weekend beginning with a Friday night that started off with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant (Salty Iguana to-go), followed by a couple of glasses of margaritas outside with our neighbors while the kids played.
I could write about how we spent a beautiful Saturday at one of my favorite new shopping landmarks. And how I didn't find anything for me, but we found plenty for Phil, Perry and his teacher Mrs. Kennedy.
I also could write about how Perry and his good friends Ethan and Grant spending a fun-filled afternoon on Sunday at the movies while their dads played golf together. Shrek the Third was the movie, and popcorn, m&m's and colas were all devoured.
I also don't want to forget about Sunday evening when my family got together for my dad's 70th birthday and my sister-in-law Cindy's 26th birthday. We grilled burgers, caught up on family travels, held the most adorable little six week old baby girl Ainsley, and then ended the evening with the best Oreo Ice Cream Dessert that has ever been made.... thanks to Karen for the recipe. I will have to post it here soon because it would be a great Father's Day dessert.
And how could I forget to write about Memorial Day. The day Perry woke up at his grandparent's house and told them that "this was going to be an awesome day because I'm going to go and visit the cemetary's where my great-grandparents (The Perry's) are buried and my dad's grandparents (The Worden's) are buried." Yes, he said that... he's a sentimental type like that. And I could write about how that brought tears to my mom's eyes, and mine as well when she told me.
And I wish I could find some great pictures from the weekend, but this weekend was all about living it and not documenting it.
And it was a great weekend.
But I've been living it instead of writing it right now... and leaving my camera down.
Sometimes I just need to step away, and this was one of those weeks.
I could write about a little league baseball-free weekend beginning with a Friday night that started off with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant (Salty Iguana to-go), followed by a couple of glasses of margaritas outside with our neighbors while the kids played.
I could write about how we spent a beautiful Saturday at one of my favorite new shopping landmarks. And how I didn't find anything for me, but we found plenty for Phil, Perry and his teacher Mrs. Kennedy.
I also could write about how Perry and his good friends Ethan and Grant spending a fun-filled afternoon on Sunday at the movies while their dads played golf together. Shrek the Third was the movie, and popcorn, m&m's and colas were all devoured.
I also don't want to forget about Sunday evening when my family got together for my dad's 70th birthday and my sister-in-law Cindy's 26th birthday. We grilled burgers, caught up on family travels, held the most adorable little six week old baby girl Ainsley, and then ended the evening with the best Oreo Ice Cream Dessert that has ever been made.... thanks to Karen for the recipe. I will have to post it here soon because it would be a great Father's Day dessert.
And how could I forget to write about Memorial Day. The day Perry woke up at his grandparent's house and told them that "this was going to be an awesome day because I'm going to go and visit the cemetary's where my great-grandparents (The Perry's) are buried and my dad's grandparents (The Worden's) are buried." Yes, he said that... he's a sentimental type like that. And I could write about how that brought tears to my mom's eyes, and mine as well when she told me.
And I wish I could find some great pictures from the weekend, but this weekend was all about living it and not documenting it.
And it was a great weekend.
Labels: family memories
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Betcha' Can't Guess Where We Were All Weekend?
Yep, that's right - another baseball tournament!The Comets advanced to the Championship game on Sunday afternoon!!
And.... they lost.
But the boys learned a great life lesson... losing. It will happen.
They got a great 2nd place trophy that all the boys will take turns sharing.
They have another tournament in three weeks so we get try it all over again.
For the parents of a Little Leaguer, a baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown into innings. Earl Wilson
Labels: baseball
Thursday, May 17, 2007
7 Random Facts About My High School Years (circa 1981)
Floating around bloggy land right now is a meme - 7 weird things, 7 random things, 7 Any Things... you get the picture. And on my birthday, I gave you 43 Things about Me. Again - probably more than you would ever want to know.
But since I'm all about the following and doing what everyone else is doing, I thought I would try this meme - with a twist.
Here I give you 7 Things About Me - The High School Edition.
But since I'm all about the following and doing what everyone else is doing, I thought I would try this meme - with a twist.
Here I give you 7 Things About Me - The High School Edition.
- I was in a car wreck just a couple weeks after I graduated from high school. I was in the passenger seat and the drunk driver drove his car into my side. I was taken to the emergency room in an ambulance, spent 3 days in ICU and the following 4 days in a hospital room. I suffered a concussion and skull fracture and had several stitches sewn in where my head hit the windshield. I don't remember the wreck, the ambulance ride, my foul language in the emergency room (as I was told by my parents!), as well as the week that I spent in the hospital. All I can honestly remember is coming home. From the entire week, that is all I can remember. I do believe that was a gift from God.
- I have 3 best friends from high school that I still get together with at least a couple times a year, sometimes even more. We talk and talk and talk - just as if we were back in high school.
Our Graduation Party - Laurie, Melissa, Me and Teresa
- The four of us girls tried out for our senior musical - Bye Bye Birdie - and we all were in it together. It was an incredible ending to our senior year.
- My first date EVER was when I was a senior in high school. I didn't turn 16 until the end of my junior year, and my parents said I couldn't date until I was 16. My first date came early in my senior year of high school, just a few months after I turned 16. It was with a guy named Brad who drove a very nice Camaro. Unfortunately, that's about all that was memorable about Brad. He had a very nice car. He took me to the Homecoming dance. And he also took me to Ponderosa for our homecoming dinner. And he didn't buy me a corsage. I seriously think I was his first date ever also. Did I mention that he drove a very nice car for a senior in high school?
- I was not asked to my senior prom. I don't know why. Neither were some of my best friends. So we just spent the evening together talking about how glad we were not to have to go to the prom. I'm sure at the time we really weren't, and would have given anything to go to the prom. But we didn't. And I am none the worse for it. I really don't feel like I missed anything. Especially seeing all the girls who go to the prom now and invest ginormous amounts of money on their dress, hair, nails, tan, and a limo for the perfect evening. I never feel bad about not going to the prom. My perfect evening was our wedding - and that's what it's really all about.
- My best friend Laurie and I would go cruising every. single. Friday night. Without fail. And we would drive by our pretend boyfriends' houses every. single. Friday night. And what chance was it that our "boyfriends" only lived 2 streets away from each other. We would cruise down one, and then 2 streets down, cruise down the other. Then we would head out to the main drag which was just 2 streets down from there. On a tank of gas back then, we could literally get in a lot of cruising on a Friday night.
- When we had some good friends over after one of our kid's baseball games last weekend, we got to talking about playing sports as children. I never played any sports as a child or teenager in high school. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. And they also talked about how if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, it means that you are athletic. My ring finger is much longer than my index finger. Do you think I am athletic and missed out? Would I have been able to letter in tennis in high school, and didn't even know it? Or is that a myth? Could I have been the next Maria Sharapova. (Ummm probably not.)
Hope to see you do some cruisin' down the ole' memory lane. And if you do, don't forget to stop at the light and wave to me (or leave me a comment).
Labels: meme; fun
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Mother's Day Wrap-Up
(Brunch on Mother's Day at Lakewood)We started off our weekend with Perry's baseball game on Friday night - with the lights turned on. The boys were so excited to play with the lights on. "Just like playing in the major leagues!" And they won 27 - 3! Way to go, Comets!
Look at that batting stance!On Saturday, we got up early to enjoy breakfast at our favorite local eatery - First Watch. After some yummy scrambled eggs and hot coffee, we ventured out to our local nursery to pick out flowers for our pots. We have 7 pots in the front and 2 pots out on the back deck that Phil lovingly plants for me every Mother's Day weekend.
It's a yearly tradition that makes me feel so special.
Even though I have to water them every. single. day. from now until eternity (or September really, but feels like eternity!)
Then Perry and Phil took me shopping at a cute little home interior store in our city's downtown area. They bought me a gift card so that I could re-do our entry table in our home. I bought 2 new lamps and a a beautiful votive display that sits on the table, and am hoping to add 2 new picture frames to the display. The decorators at the store gave me some other suggestions for the table so as soon as I have it the way I hope for it to look, I will post a pic.
And then we had an early dinner at The Bristol. What more can a mother ask for?!
Also celebrating her very first Mother's Day was my sister-in-law Cindy. She and my brother ventured out to the Lenexa festival this weekend, and guess who they saw? Our good friend KC Wolf.
I love that Ainsley made her first appearance with the Chiefs mascot at just 4 weeks old.We also made a visit to Phil's "mom" Dodie. We give her a beautiful hanging flower basket for her front deck every year, and this one was the best ever. I'm so blessed to have her in our life.
My mom and dad are in Hilton Head enjoying the sun and beach so I didn't get to spend Mother's Day with my mother. I know they are having a great time with my aunt and uncle eating out, walking on the beach and relaxing in the sun... and that sounds like the best Mother's Day weekend to me.
Labels: family
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Happy Mother's Day!
Labels: family
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Thoughts on a Tuesday
This weekend I went to a scrapbook mega-crop on a whim. A friend of mine told me her husband was sending her away to the crop and was there any way that I could come also. The crop was sold out, but at the last minute, I was told that they could fit me in, place me next to my friend, and crop to my heart's desire. And that is exactly what I did. We cropped together on Friday night from 4pm to midnight, and then again from noon to 5pm on Sunday. On Saturday, I cropped in the morning, while she cropped in the afternoon and evening, but I felt like it was such a productive and therapeutic weekend. It turns out that we have so very much in common, as well as the 8 year old boys who are the lights (and scrapbook pages) of our life.
This weekend's crop had the best free gift evah!
This is what we all happily toted home. You too, my friends, can order one here.
This is what Phil and Perry did while I was away on Saturday morning... talking football strategy with Coach Herm.
Notice the sharpie in Perry's hand? Like father, like son...
I got to hold the cutest little baby born in the past month this weekend. Isn't my niece Ainsley just beautiful?
My Starbucks was not serving coffee this morning. There was a boil order in the city where they are located and they could not run water through the coffee machine. Can you imagine how many sleepy-eyed, caffeine withdrawn people were completely bummed as they were walking out their door this morning. Believe me, I can. I was one of them. It was not good.
Sitting at Sonic today, my co-worker and good friend Janna exclaimed that I was SO resistant to change. Only because I did not order vanilla flavoring in my diet coke. "You have ordered diet coke plain every day for lunch for the past six years I've worked with you. Put some vanilla in your diet coke for goodness sake, and live a little why don't you." Well, my gosh golly Janna. How do you really feel?
One other thought from today... I read a book review in my fave pop-culture magazine that is delivered to my mailbox every Friday and it just really hit home with me, especially as I return to Weight Watchers tomorrow night after a 3-month hiatus. From the book Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata, the author makes a thought-provoking statement that...
And then one scientist told Kolata... Lean people think they are
morally superior... but they're really just winners of the genetic
lottery.
Oh, how I wish I could be the winner of that lottery.
Which lottery would you rather win? The money lottery or the genetic lottery?
Do you feel as if thin people think they are morally superior.... hmmm....?
Thoughts for a Tuesday...
This weekend's crop had the best free gift evah!
This is what we all happily toted home. You too, my friends, can order one here.
This is what Phil and Perry did while I was away on Saturday morning... talking football strategy with Coach Herm.Notice the sharpie in Perry's hand? Like father, like son...
I got to hold the cutest little baby born in the past month this weekend. Isn't my niece Ainsley just beautiful?
My Starbucks was not serving coffee this morning. There was a boil order in the city where they are located and they could not run water through the coffee machine. Can you imagine how many sleepy-eyed, caffeine withdrawn people were completely bummed as they were walking out their door this morning. Believe me, I can. I was one of them. It was not good.
Sitting at Sonic today, my co-worker and good friend Janna exclaimed that I was SO resistant to change. Only because I did not order vanilla flavoring in my diet coke. "You have ordered diet coke plain every day for lunch for the past six years I've worked with you. Put some vanilla in your diet coke for goodness sake, and live a little why don't you." Well, my gosh golly Janna. How do you really feel?
One other thought from today... I read a book review in my fave pop-culture magazine that is delivered to my mailbox every Friday and it just really hit home with me, especially as I return to Weight Watchers tomorrow night after a 3-month hiatus. From the book Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata, the author makes a thought-provoking statement that...
Sometimes diets never work. For 2,000 years people have been told, "Eat less, exercise more. If that were enough we wouldn't have a single fat person in the world. But studies have shown there is a range of weights people can have, and as you get too low beyond what your body wants to be, your metabolism slows and the weight comes back. After initial weight loss, they hit a plateau and start backsliding - results that wouldn't surprise the many obesity researchers who believe body weight is inherited, much like height.
And then one scientist told Kolata... Lean people think they are
morally superior... but they're really just winners of the genetic
lottery.
Oh, how I wish I could be the winner of that lottery.
Which lottery would you rather win? The money lottery or the genetic lottery?
Do you feel as if thin people think they are morally superior.... hmmm....?
Thoughts for a Tuesday...
Labels: thoughts
Monday, May 07, 2007
Just One More Day
On our family vacation to Florida this past March, I thought many times of the trips we took as a family that also included my grandparents. They are no longer with us, but we think about them and talk about them all the time. They were a constant in our family. And I don't want to ever lose that sense of family that they gave me.And then in our book club this past month, we read For One More Day by Mitch Albom. In the beginning section of the book, Albom asks the question...
Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go through your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back. What if you got it back?My grandmother and I were very close. I spent almost every Saturday night with my grandparents. We lived very close to them so it was almost a given that I would go to their house and spend time with them, followed by going to church with them on Sunday where my parents would meet me since we all were active in the same church.
Most Saturday nights were spent watching Hee Haw, followed by Lawrence Welk, and then we'd go to the kitchen to have our usual round of root beer or cola, with a couple scoops of ice cream, followed by a straw in the glass. My grandparents were the coolest because they actually bought straws. Then she would usually fry up some canned biscuit donuts dripping with sugar. What I wouldn't give to have a Fry Daddy for one night to make some canned biscuit donuts with my son... he would love them! Can you even buy a Fry Daddy anywhere?
But one Saturday night a month we usually went to their friend's home. The Grabau's were great friends of my grandparents and they always enjoyed a great game of pinochle, good coffee and wonderful bundt cakes or a made from scratch dessert that Ruth would always make. I didn't play cards with them. I just sat and watched Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw there at Carl and Ruth's house, but it sure didn't bother them to take me along. That's just what I did. I just joined them in whatever they were doing.
My grandmother was the church secretary at the church we attended and on many days off of school, or during the summer, I would join her in the office at church. I would help her crank the ditto machine (yes, I'm aging myself there) helping her "run the bulletin" for Sundays. I would alphabetize the offering envelopes for her, and I would also record the Sunday school records for her. It was an important job, and one that I loved doing with her. I've always wanted to be a church secretary, even though I know they don't alphabetize the offering envelopes anymore. But my grandmother was a woman that I looked up to, and I always wanted to be like her.
So as my book club was discussing who they would spend one more day with, some of the women had not lost anyone very close to them. And I was so envious of them. To not have to think about having one more day with someone yet - that is truly amazing.
Losing someone so very dear and close to me has taught me to live life each day just a little bit better. Not as if it's your last, but as if you want to make all those moments count.
I found this quote from an article that I was reading and it fit well with my feelings and what I am trying to write about, but didn't quite say it as well as this:
"We often fantasize about a perfect day - something exotic and far away. But when it comes to those people we miss, we desperately want one more familiar meal, even one more argument. What does this teach us? That the ordinary is precious. That the normal day is a treasure."Have a wonderful Monday!
Labels: family memories
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Which Coffee Cup Would You Choose?
This was a forward to me in my email one day, and I loved it so much because it included coffee (my favorite addiction) and a good story to boot. Enjoy...
Coffee Cups, which one are you?
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some expensive, some exquisite, and some plain-looking paper cups - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said...
"If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, THAT is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds NO QUALITY to the coffee. In most cases, it's just more expensive and in some cases, even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and then began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this:
Life is the coffee...and the jobs, houses, cars, things, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us. We brew the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee."
Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
Labels: good stuff
