Buying Butter is No Laughing Matter

Unless you're shopping at Kroger.

I'm not sure my if feelings should be hurt or not...

*snort*

 

A Song, Some Tears, and Toast

The first time I heard Chris Tomlin's World Edition of "How Great is Our God," I cried. Anyone that knows me is not shocked. The thing is, every time I've heard it since, I've cried. Again, this would not come as a shock to anyone who knows me. 

To say I was toast after watching the video would be a grand understatement. Just something about the different languages and cultures coming together in worship of our Great God...it just does something to my soul. 

Enjoy.

I'm a Bad Blogger

I'm a bad blogger. There. I said it. It's what I've been feeling for a looooong time. See how long it's been since I posted? February? I thought it was January but what's a few days? I've allowed some things to creep into my life that have sidelined my blogging. Since one of them is caring too much what people think about me, I'm going to list them here, not caring who wants to read it. If you find yourself here, I hope to give you some encouragement. If you don't, go have a Sonic Rt. 44 Diet Coke in my honor.

Here we go:

1. Caring too much what people think - (Am I hearing an echo?) When I first started blogging in 2008, I loved it. I mean, I luuuuhuuuved it. It was fresh, it was funny, it made me laugh, and it made other people laugh. No, I don't think I'm a comedian and I would flop at stand-up, but I have some pretty funny stories just because I'm a klutz. But somewhere along the way, I stopped writing for the enjoyment. I started editing my posts to say what I thought people wanted to hear. I wasn't transparent, and I HATE the way I feel when I'm not transparent. I can't stand it when people I'm around hide behind masks, and I can't stand it even more in myself. I stepped back and realized I didn't even know who I was as a writer anymore.

2.  Wanting recognition -  I wanted to be a part of group blogs like (in)courage (among others) and. I felt like a writing failure because I wasn't invited to join any writing group. I wanted to be acknowledged for what I wrote on my own blog as well. When I didn't reach X amount of comments, I felt like I was a failure.  If I had so many comments on a post, then that post was successful. If I had none, then it was a failure. I would tweet my posts, facebook them, you know...just like everyone does. But I started doing it not because I had a message I wanted to get out there, I did it because I wanted someone to recognize me.

3. Not being as "spiritual" as I wanted to be - There are so many great bloggers out there who know the Word of God. They are called as writers to help us understand it and make it come alive. I knew the messages in my heart, but every time I tried to write them down, they all sounded so flat and boring and nothing even I wanted to read, much less expect anyone else to read. I think I was writing what sounded like what other people were writing, not what I was supposed to be writing of myself.

4. Not having a "vision" of where I wanted my blog to go - Why do I need a "vision"? When I started writing in 2008, my vision was, admittedly, a little unrealistic. I wanted to be the next Pioneer Woman. Heh. So...that didn't work out. Just like the billion other PW wannabes didn't work out. But my realistic vision was just to write about what I enjoyed. Birds, my family, silly stuff, crafty stuff. And then, my vision got so lost in trying to be a million things to a million people. Trying to please all of the people all of the time...we all know how that works out.

This pretty much sums up where I've been. See yourself here? Well, I can't tell you how to get out of it, but I can tell you to listen to the Lord and He will give you direction. If there is one thing I've learned over the past few months is that He is trustworthy and He WILL give you direction if you listen, read the Word, and seek wise counsel.

Hopefully I will be able to post about the things going on in my life and the life of my family soon. But honestly, I don't know if I will. I may lose my followers, I may never get another comment. But it's not about that to me anymore. It's about writing what I want, when I want.


That's not saying I WANT y'all to leave me. I love y'all muchly. So, if you want to hear my rants and silly stories, I hope you'll stay tuned.

Just don't hold your breath.

Didja See It?

I loved seeing this commercial Saturday night while Sound Man and I watched the Broncos/Patriots game:



Focus on the Family is offering resources for men and women interested in developing a deeper relationship with God. They are also offering a free Adventures in Odyssey Episode, a Radio Theatre episode and more.

Click here to download these and read more.

You can also enter to win an NFL jersey of your favorite player by entering a Facebook contest! Who would you pick if you won? I'd either get DeAngelo Williams' or Tim Tebow's. DeAngelo played for the University of Memphis and Tim Tebow is...well, Tim Tebow! I can't help it!

And now that NONE of the teams I was rooting for will be in the Superbowl (Broncos, Saints, Packers), this seems like it's the only football thing I might have to look forward to!

The Case of the Exploding Potato

Remember this pic?
I was baking sweet potatoes for dinner one night and had an extra regular potato, so I thought I'd just throw that one in, too. Well, sweet potatoes normally take longer to bake than regular ones (for me, anyway), and I didn't take that into consideration.

As I was checking them, I had just barely touched my oven-mitt clad hand to this one when suddenly, "KA-BLOOM!" the crazy thing EXPLODED. Got potato all over the inside of the front of the oven and around the door.

I was so shocked I just stood there for a minute. Sound Man heard the noise, came in and saw the mess and immediately went into clean mode. I knew I had a choice to make. Cry about it (it had been an AWFUL day), or laugh. I decided I had had enough to cry about that day so I laughed. I mean I LAUGHED. One of those loud, make you cry and nearly pee your pants laughs. I was bent over laughing while Sound Man was grumbling and cleaning up the mess. I told him to lighten up. It was quite funny. For me, anyway. Hee hee.

I'll be checking the potatoes a little earlier from now on. *snicker*

I'm BAA-AAACK!

It's been a month. A MONTH since I posted last. Truly, I needed the break. December was crazy busy, and I needed time to rest and regroup. And browse Pinterest. Most of these I'll post about later, but I did want to give you a glimpse of what's been going on around our place.

Some of this:And working on some of this (you know I had to get on the bandwagon at some point, right?):
And learning about this company (review coming soon!):And working on these pretties:And listening to this:Get. This. CD. Especially if you are a Bible in 90 Days graduate. The stories come so much more alive. Post forthcoming.

And I'm still reading this:Are you a good girl? You need this book! (As a disclosure, if you click the picture above and make a purchase I will get a small percentage of the sale. This does not influence my opinion of this book. I'd love it even if I didn't make a dime off of it.)

I've enjoyed spending time with these guys (pictured here serving at the Women's Christmas Party I was singing at in the top pic):Who, by the way, have been quite busy themselves: Yes, yes that would be an antler sticking out from the bottom of the freezer shelf. It's attached to more (I'll leave out the gory details), but when your husband kills an 11-point deer, you have to reserve some room in the freezer for it until he can get it mounted. I mean, I don't. Sound man and Kiddo did all this by themselves. All I do is cook it. All those white packages? Money in the bank, as far as I'm concerned. What's in here is what I'm NOT having to buy at the store. Ground meat, sausage, roasts, steaks, tenderloin...we're not a bunch of rednecks that kill animals for sport. My guys hunt to provide food for their family.

Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to get on a soapbox there.

I've also started keeping a little boy on Thursdays. He is 19 months old, and is so precious. Kiddo loves playing with him, too. Jonathan...well, he tolerates him. I'm sure his thoughts go along the lines of, "Who are you and why are you hanging on to MY Momma?" But I caught a rare moment of quiet for the both of them:Each of them looking out the window, waiting for their Daddies. I love this picture!

And I wouldn't be Heathahlee without some pandemonium around here. You know, the moments when you have two choices...cry or laugh...I chose to laugh at this one:Yes, that is an exploded potato.

Then there's this:This would be my dryer. Oh, me.

And finally, I have to share this pic. I took it just the other day and it cracked me up. I love this dog!

It's good to be back!

P.S. Oh! I also had my first International Etsy sale! And it was to my beloved Australia! I squealed!

Get a Free Glow Glove (with purchase)

I will be reviewing the Glow Crazy Glow Glove soon, but until then, here's a great promotion for you to get it free!

The Details from Glow Crazy:

Buy a Glow Crazy Distance Doodler from Walmart, Toys R Us or any local retailer on Saturday Oct 22nd or Sunday Oct 23rd ONLY, and send in your receipt, UPC from the box and the shipping form (Print your shipping form here) to:

Glow Crazy, 150 Elm Street, East Aurora, NY 14052.

Entries must be received by 11/22/2011.

Once we have received these items we will send you the incredible Glow Glove absolutely free!

For more information:

http://blog.glowcrazy.com/2011/10/get-glow-glove-absolutely-free.html

My Heart Test Recap

So many of you have asked about the tests I’ve had lately on my heart, so I thought this was the best way to fill everyone in...

For those of you who don’t know, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago to get checked out. I was feeling yucky and had been having some chest pains. I finally had enough and decided it was time to go. The doctor ran some tests and determined I was anemic and my thyroid was still out of whack. He still wanted me to go to the cardiologist to have him look more closely at my heart to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on.

I went to the cardiologist Monday a week ago. I had no idea I wouldn’t leave there before I had done the treadmill stress test (which was definitely STRESSFUL! My heart rate went up to 170 and I almost passed out!), had an echocardiogram, and walked out with a monitor hooked to me for 24 hours.

The echo test results were normal (praise Jesus!), and I haven’t heard back from the monitor test, but my treadmill test resulsts were “abnormal.” Of course, I’ve always known I’m abnormal! *snicker*

So, the doctor wanted me to have a CTA of the coronary, which is a CAT scan of my ateries, to see if I have a blockage anywhere.

The biggest problem I had with it...I would have to go have the test done at the cancer clinic where Momma was treated. The heart clinic and the cancer clinic are owned by the same group…I looked at the woman as she was telling me this and just said, “I DON’T WANT TO GO THERE.” But I knew I’d have to put on my big girl shoes (as my precious friend Dawn says) and just do it.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know how that went…I decided I wanted it to be therapeutic instead of dreading it.

We got there at 6:40 in the morning. I had had to take a pill to get my heart rate under 70 bpm. When they took my blood pressure and lab stuff, it was still 81. When I got back to the radiology department, they gave me more medicine through my i.v. and it still didn’t go down. I waited an hour and it still didn’t get down consistently below 70.

The doctor had told me if we couldn’t get it below 70 we would have to cancel the test. Well, THAT didn’t help my heart rate! But I knew if the Lord wanted me to have the test done, I’d have the test done. If not, then I wouldn’t. I tried to keep thinking about that instead of how upset I’d be if I didn’t get it done.

After a while, he finally decided to try it, hoping that once I lay down it would go down further. So, we went ahead and tried. After waiting a few minutes, they went ahead with the test…and it went fine! I don’t know the results yet, but will keep you posted.

I know so many people were praying for me…for the test, for having to go back to the cancer clinic…saying thank you just doesn’t sound like enough…but that’s all I can say. If you’ve prayed for me…thank you.

And keep praying! Until I know I’m out of the woods, keep praying! : )

Facebook Finally!

I resisted. I failed. I now have a Facebook page for my blog. Woo hooo! When you're on Facebook, put Butterfly Genes in the search box and you should see my tassel page (I'd love it if you liked it, too!) and then the blog page.

I would give you a direct URL but I don't have one just yet. Something about having to have 25 likes or something. So go like me! : )

I will give you an incentive to like my page later this week, but why wait till then? Be one of the first!

And here's a random picture because I hate posting without a picture:Yep. That's random all right.

My New 'Do

I have waited to post about this. See, for forever I've wanted shorter hair. My long hair just got to be too long. My last hair cut was in September, and in case you forgot what it looked like, here it is in all its cuteness:I loved it. I mean I luh-huh-huuuuved it. But I thought it was time for shorter. So, I asked the girl who cut it last time to cut it shorter this time. Well, she did exactly what I told her. But it was short. WAY short. Shorter in the back than I've had my hair since high school. But it's grown on me (no pun intended), so I finally took some pics of it straight. I might do some with it curly, but it's not as cute as it was before I went back and had her put some layers in the sides. I kind of wish I hadn't now. But it will grow. And EVERYONE has said it's cute, so either they're all lying or it looks halfway decent. : )

So, without further ado...

Front
Left side
Right side

So, what do you think? I mean, it's not all flat-ironed and fixed and stuff, but it's how I'll wear it every day. Are they all lying? You can tell me. Really. But lie if you have to.

Flood of the Century

Yesterday was bittersweet. But mostly sweet. I had my moments of tears about not having Momma this Mother's Day, but my guys helped me through the whole day. I had decided I wanted to go to downtown Memphis to see the flooding (high entertainment, no?), so that's what we did.

Traffic was INSANE. Seems we weren't the only ones who wanted to see the historic flooding. Coupled with the fact that some of the streets had already been closed for Memphis in May (which, of course, was moved to another location in the city because of the flood), it was CRAZY. But we found a parking place (for free, even! Unheard of downtown!) and headed down to the river.

First, Kiddo took off his socks and shoes and waded in the water, just to say he had been in the Mississippi. I have to admit that even though I was a little nervous about this, I did the same thing. After we got back to the car we couldn't get home fast enough for us to wash our feet and legs!

Sound Man was quite content to stay dry and take pics. See that rectangle to the left in the pic? That's a sidewalk light. As in, there's a sidewalk under the water there. In fact, there is a sidewalk, then about 20 feet (if my memory serves me right) of grass before sloping down another (normally) 50 feet or so to the river. You can see how far it's come up better in these next pictures.

This is Riverside Drive at Beale Street. Normally there is a cobblestone landing where the riverboats dock down beyond where that fence is. FAR down beyond where that fence is.

Another view of Riverside and Beale. This is the route we ALWAYS take to get downtown. It's so easy because Interstate 55 actually becomes Riverside, so we just hop on the interstate in our town, drive about 25 minutes, and we're downtown. Seeing it like this is unreal.

There were so many people just walking around taking pictures. The bridge was full of people, so we decided not to go down there. Actually, because of my breathing issues, I just decided I had had enough and needed to get in the car. But you can see in the picture above exactly how deep the water is on the street.

Family pic at the flood! Someone had rolled a log in the middle of the street for photo ops. Ha! So we did what everyone else was doing and had a friend we happened to see down there snap one for us.

I mean, we've NEVER seen the Mississippi River up this high before, and I'm praying we never see it like this again. So a picture is in order, I think.

As interesting as it was to be down there and see it like this, where no one is threatened, just a few miles away hundreds of people are being evacuated because this same river is not just coming up their street...it's coming into their homes. For so many of them, they have no insurance. They have lost or will lose everything. Please join me in praying for them. For their safety, for their provision...for the river to go down quickly!

Tornadoes and Tests, Not Necessarily in That Order

I. Am. So. Tired. I haven't even checked email since Tuesday. I'm sure there are people on Facebook and in Blogland who think I've dropped off the face of the earth. Well, not quite. I've felt like I wanted to this week, though.

First, let me say that for the past week and a half, I've been sick with something akin to bronchitis. I NEVER get bronchitis. I always end up with a sinus infection, but nothing ever goes to my lungs. Right now I sound like I've been smoking a pack a day for twenty years. Not fun. I have been coughing so much my stomach and back are sore. I can't laugh because it will throw me into a fit of tuberculosis-sounding coughing. And heaven help my bladder. Just sayin'.

In the middle of all this hacking, we have been in the eye of the storm...literally. In case you don't live in the South, you may not know we have been S.L.A.M.M.E.D. with storms this week. Day after day after day. Today is the first day in at least four that has seen non-tornado weather. You know it's gonna be bad when The Weather Channel sends people to your city. Now, we haven't gotten ANYTHING like Arkansas, central Mississippi, and Alabama got. Sound Man called me this morning and told me about the devastation there. We were worried about Brandi and her family and then I remembered that Myra from The Casabella Project also lived close to where the storms in Alabama had torn through. I checked on Brandi on Facebook and found out that she is not only okay, but helping her church collect items for the tornado victims, so many of whom have lost everything. And I just saw on Facebook where Myra is okay, but will be without power for a week. As much as I'm thankful they're okay, it breaks my heart to know so many aren't.

In the middle of all these storms, our homeschool group has been taking achievement tests. I'm the administrator for the tests, so it was up to me to decide if we postpone our second day because of the threat of severe weather. We had been able to slip our first one in between rounds of tornado sirens. Out of 20 or so families, NO ONE complained about postponing for a day. Not only did we have the threat of MORE bad weather, but many roads in our county were flooded. While it did sort of break our momentum, we were still able to get back at it today, none the worse for wear. The kids are troopers.

I, however, am at my limit. With all this emotional, physical, and mental strain this week, I'm ready to rest for a day or two. Or twenty. I really wish the beach wasn't 8 hours away. Where's Calgon when you need it? ; )

Milk on Tap

No, this isn't a post about nursing. This weekend we sent our son away to my sister's for the weekend, seeing as how it was our anniversary Friday and Sound Man's birthday today (Sunday). All three of us had a great weekend, in our respective places.

My sister told me about a conversation she had with Kiddo and my Nephew. It went something like this:

Kiddo: Can I have something to drink?

Carlyn: Yes, you can have some ice water.

Kiddo: Can't I have some milk? (He thinks the milk at my sister's house is SOOOOO much better because they drink whole milk instead of the "nasty" 2% we have.)

Carlyn: No, just ice water.

(It gets a little fuzzy here, since I wasn't there and didn't hear it first hand, but Kiddo asked if it was tap water or something like that.)

Carlyn: Yes, it's from the tap.

Kiddo: I wish whole milk came from the tap.

Nephew: (wait for it....)

It's called a cow.

BAHAHAHAHA!

In Honor of Sarah Mae's Birthday

Sarah Mae's birthday is today, and she fearlessly posted a Glamor Shots pic of her 16 year old self on Facebook, then invited us all to post our own big hair, boa wearin', glamor shot selves. Mine is not Glamor Shots, but part of my senior pictures...oh, yeah, baby! I am rockin' the red boa!

Happy Birthday, Sarah Mae! Thank you for making me eat my words! Ha!

In need of advice...

I've been wanting to spruce up the place (meaning my blog) for a few months, and I've just now had the energy (or some semblance thereof) to get to it. But, it's far from finished.

I asked my husband to make a new banner for me, and I love it. We're still tweaking it, so it's not completely finished. Hence the disclaimer right underneath it. I'm also trying to figure out how to widen my columns. I might even be inclined to go back to two columns if I can find the right template. There's so much stuff I need to get rid of at the moment. I want to go back to a simple look, and I've already taken off my Facebook thingie. I might put it back on later, but for now, it's out. I'm seriously considering taking the Twitter thing off, too, but I haven't quite made my mind up about that.

I'm just bit tired of the visual mess on my blog. Don't get me wrong, I love the blogs (and more importantly, the people behind them) that I have buttons for, but they might just be more clutter I need to get rid of.

Now, here's where I need your advice. Do you think taking buttons off will improve the look of the blog? What else could I take off that will clean it up? I would love your advice!

I will be posting more in the future, once I get settled in my new digs (or spruced up digs, anyway). I have one post that has been mulling in my head for quite a while. I hope to get to that next week. In the meantime, I'm having a blast reading the Bible in 90 days. More posts to come on that soon. A lot of posts, if my notes have anything to say about it.

Oh, and I got this book this week. Chapter one already has tear-stains on it. Sigh...she always makes me cry; in a good way...most of the time. : )

And because I can't stand to have a post without a picture on it, here's something I've been working on...

That's something else I've been doing. 'Cause my poor Etsy has seen better days. More tassels (and pics!) to come.

A Mother's Love

It might not be Mother's Day weekend, but this could quite possibly be the sweetest video ever. If you like dogs and cats, that is. If not, watch it anyway to be amazed at the leopard and baby baboon. It's amazing.

WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!

Sunday Funny

Must be Southern Baptist.

HA! Have a great day celebrating our Savior!

Dear Crimson Crustacean (a Rant),

*names of the not so innocent have been changed because I don't want some weirdo coming after me*

Dear *Crimson Crustacean,

I had many establishments from which to choose for my Mother's Day dining out experience. Because I suddenly had a craving for your cheddar-garlic biscuits, we chose your restaurant. Let me repeat...your cheddar-garlic biscuits were the ONLY reason I chose your restaurant out of the plethora of restaurants we have in our fair city.

After being seated and greeted somewhat haughtily by *Sheena, she took our drink order, repeatedly asking us to repeat ourselves because she would not literally stoop to our level to hear above the din of the packed restaurant. She then asked us if we wanted to start off with an appetizer. We decided no, we just wanted our cheddar-garlic biscuits (that I had been craving and were the only reason I came to your restaurant). She informed us they would come out with our salads.

When she brought our drinks out to us, I decided I really wanted the cheddar-garlic biscuits (that I had been craving and were the only reason I came to your restaurant) right then and didn't want to wait for my salad to get them. We had not had time to make our meal choices yet, but because those darn cheddar-garlic biscuits ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY COULD NOT be set on the table without those darn salads, she forced us to order our salads. My husband wanted to wait to order his, but no, SHE had to have the last word. To appease me, he ordered his salad with no dressing, since he would decide what dressing he wanted AFTER he decided on what meal he would be having.

Sheena brought out the darn salads with the cheddar-garlic biscuits (that I had been craving and were the only reason I came to your restaurant) and there the salads sat until we were ready to eat them (after devouring the cheddar-garlic biscuits that were the only...oh, you get my point).

After confronted with "why can't the customer decide when to get their food?" type questions, she blamed YOU. "Corporate," she said. "They have really been on us about putting the biscuits on the table before the salads."

Really? I mean, REALLY? My Mother's Day meal was all about those biscuits. I could have gone to Outback for better shrimp. But I didn't.

But I will next time.