This is My Life

Today was Christmas. It was a bit crazy. Lane decided to wake up early, play hard and open presents for two hours, take a nap (for only thirty minutes), and then scream for an hour. After we finally calmed him down, he decided to refuse sleep for the remainder of the day. Yes. The WHOLE day. He finally went to sleep at 8:30 tonight. Needless to say, I'm quite tired. But...this Christmas was really nice. My side of the family decided to not swap gifts this year. We gave gifts for the kids, but that was all. Maybe it was the lack of stress in having to figure out what to get each person, maybe it was the emotional-ness of it being my first Christmas as a mother, or maybe it was the fact that my pants actually fit this year (thank you, Dillard's), but this year I've experienced Christmas in a very different way. This year I have wondered about a lot of things...things that probably don't matter, but I wonder about them anyway. Things like...when Mary rode that donkey,...

Tonight it's Christmas Eve. While this year is very special, I still find myself doing something that I've always done. I remember my Christmases past. I seriously doubt it's something rare...probably everyone does it to some extent. It's human nature, right? I love to remember the ones that were really great...like the one where I got my pink Huffy bicycle with the white seat...or the one when I got my Baby Alive doll. I wasn't the gift that made it special, though. The pink bike only stands out because I remember seeing it in the living room with a bow on the seat. We took it out in the front yard, and with a little help, I was able to start riding it right away. I felt like such a grown up! And the Baby Alive doll? That was the first year that my family decided to draw names, and my cousin drew my name. I really wanted that doll, and she knew it. She hunted that doll all the way to Dothan. Seriously, she drove all the way to Dothan to get me that doll. Whe...

I’m planning on sending out a Christmas letter this year. No, I’m not particularly excited about it. If you know me well, you might know that I have always stood firm in the idea that I would never send out a Christmas letter. Why? It’s not that I have anything against people that do send them out; on the contrary, I really enjoy them. My phobia of sending one out stems from a lady my aunt used to receive letters from each year. Although I never knew her, my aunt would get the “brag letter” as we called it, and she and my mom would read it with rolled eyes and point out each “brag” item. And thus my phobia formed…I never thought I’d be able to send out a Christmas letter that didn’t sound like bragging. Instead, I’ve always tried to write some sort of personal message to the card’s receiver as well as include a Christmas-themed scripture. However…enter my sweet, precious, TIME EATING little boy, Lane. This year, I just don’t have time. It’s not that the desire isn’t there…I long to tak...

I awoke this morning and remembered that I haven't blogged in a quite a while. I have definitely put the crafts on hold for the months of October and November. Oct and Nov have not been nice. They've thrown ugly things our way, pushed us to the limits, and laughed in our faces about it. We're still hanging in there (possibly holding out for Black Friday?), and with God's help, we're making it. Not that I'm complaining (or bitter), but here's a short list of what we've had thrown at us: I got some weird rash that looked like ringworm...only it was everywhere . Went to the doc and got some cream, steroids, and reassurance that I wasn't contagious, fungal, or nasty. Ryan had some serious fatigue. Turned out to be a somewhat easy fix, but it totally threw us for a loop. Lane decided to have a cup of Joe. He managed to pour my cup of coffee on him and burn his legs. Thankfully, they weren't bad and cleared up after a week. Lane decided to be a s...

Official Disclaimer: If you are involved in beauty pageants (or scholarship pageants), I am in no way making fun of or condemning them or you. I am, however, making a push for a real pageant...one that celebrates a woman not for how she looks, talks, walks, or twirls, but for who she is and how she looks on a Saturday morning with with her comfy pants on and no makeup, standing in front of her waffle iron while making a "hungry man's" breakfast. I believe that any beauty queen would agree with me that how those women look on the stage is much different from how they look any other given day. (I do believe that's the most official thing I've ever put on this blog.) So...Netflix has recently added quite a few new TV shows to its instant streaming selection. Since we don't have cable and don't partake in the whole reality TV trend, I started watching a few different shows to see what all the fuss is about. So far I've really enjoyed "Hoarders"...

Wow...it's been a while since my last post...and craft project. I've been dying to post (and plan to hit on several various topics but want to gather my thoughts better so I don't sound like a bumbling idiot...even though most times I do anyway), but haven't been able to make it happen. And that's mainly for two reasons...1) the "Clothespin Project" didn't turn out quite as I'd hoped so I kind of lost heart and 2) we had a yard sale so I was trying to prepare for that. Thankfully, we rid the house and garage of LOTS of stuff and almost made enough to cover the cost of our new dishwasher. Woot! (For some reason I've never been of the mindset to have a yard sale to only clean out or to only make money. My mom and I would clean out and say, "Okay, whatever money we make, it's going toward ____." That's also how I got my first (real) bicycle (that didn't have training wheels or a stupid saddlebag basket on the back or a dork...

Well, you're probably wondering if the "Rose Afghan" is done. Nope. I did finish another rose and today I started another, but it isn't complete. I'm not giving up, though. I'm actually thinking about having it featured on the next season of The Bachelor. I can see it now, "Suzie, will you accept my rose? Lisa, will you accept my rose? Girl-That-Has-No-Clue-About-What-Makes-A-Real-Relationship-But-Expects-To-Find-Love-On-A-TV-Show, will you take a nap under my rose afghan?" Sigh....anyway... I do have something that IS complete.I actually have TWO somethings that are complete. Here's the story: Hobby Lobby has these tubs of rhinestones. They're all different sizes and colors, and I don't know why, but I've been wanting them for some time now...probably a few months. Why didn't I just buy them? I don't know...I couldn't figure out what to do with them and I am a little on the cheap side so I didn't want to spend $...