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*

 

R.I.P. Gertrude

No, it's not another one of my pets. It's my glue gun. Poor thing. She was just worn out.I was getting more and more mad every time I used her. Which has been a lot of late. Sigh...I will miss you Gertru....



Wait a minute....



Well, hello there....I think I'll call her Glenda. ; )

(My husband picked her up at Wal-mart last night. Doesn't he rock?)

Sending My Baby Off...

I'm not talking about my Kiddo. He's safe and sound in the office/playroom/all-purpose room semi-practicing piano.

No, I'm talking about these.My Gingher shears. As I mentioned in one of my craft room posts, I've had these scissors for 23 years, ever since my freshman year of college. They are my craft, sewing, tassel, decorating, everything scissors. I lurve them. I even still have the beat-up box they came in. Not that when they came it was beat-up, but you know what I'm sayin'.

When I found out several weeks ago that Gingher will repair their scissors and shears AND return them to you for $7.50, I was ecstatic. See, in 23 years of having these wonderful scissors...they've never been sharpened. They really haven't needed to be until now. I guess, just like the demise of my glue gun, Gertrude (that's another post), I've just worked them to death and now they aren't any sharper than my plain ol' Walmart scissors in the junk drawer.

But...and here's the catch...I would have to send them away from me AND be without them for 3 to 4 weeks. Could I do that? I debated...and debated...and debated. I knew that a guy came to Hancock's each Tuesday to sharpen scissors, but did I trust him with my Ginghers? Plus I also found out that he took them off site to do the work. It was cheaper, but would I just be delaying sending them to Gingher next year?

So...with much fear and trepidation, I put them in the mail.And now I'm wondering if I made the right decision. Is it silly for me to worry about a pair of scissors?

Well, considering they are by my side any time I'm in the craft room, working on tassels, or just crafting for the fun of it,
they are like my crafting baby.

Please come home to me, scissors of mine!

Falling Down Revisited

I have sooooo much going on right now - edjumakating my Kiddo, carting Momma back and forth for radiation, working on Worship Team stuff (we're recording ANOTHER CD on September 12th! WOOT WOOT!), etc, etc, that I have had no time to get a battery for my camera. That's my excuse for not getting a post up with pics and I'm sticking to it. So, in light of that, I will do what everyone does in blogland and repost an earlier post. This one makes me laugh every time I read it. And since today while I was in rehearsal with some of my favorite peeps in the world, we started talking about our Atlanta trips and I was reminded once again about...well, I'll let you read about it....

May 8, 2008

I have mentioned many times about my trip to Atlanta (or, as Scarlett O'Hara says, "AtLANta") where I fell in the parking lot of North Point Community Church. I've put off explaining it for long enough. You deserve the story. Maybe. Anyway, here goes...

A year ago, we (meaning a bunch of friends from my church and I) were on our way out of one of the sessions of the Thirsty '07 conference being held at North Point. It was the absolute best conference I've ever been to. Such a place for soul rest. Time to drink in the beauty of Jesus. Worship led by the likes of David Crowder, Matt Redman, and my fav-o-rite of all favorites, Chris Tomlin. So as we were leaving that place of worship, rest, and healing, I noticed that part of the parking lot had been cordoned off by little orange traffic cones. They looked a lot like these:

Heading for the vans, we stepped off the sidewalk very close to the traffic cones. I, obviously, a little too close. After seeing the traffic cones and subconsciously telling myself, "Stay away from those things...they are there to let us know not to go near them," I suddenly feel something wrapping itself around my foot. At first, I thought it was my purse, which tends to get in my way (that is another post in and of itself). Then, when I realized it wasn't my bag, I thought, "What in the world? I need to get away from this thing." Then, it was as if time stopped. I realized I had tripped on one of the neon orange traffic cones that were there to keep people off of them. And I began to fall.

I fell forever. I tried to right myself, but just couldn't get my feet right. I kept falling. I noticed the blue of the sky and the green of the trees. I fell some more. I recited the Gettysburg Address. Twice. Ten minutes later (okay, it was really just seven) when I finally landed on the asphalt of the parking lot, I was laughing so hard at myself that all my friends were standing over me wondering if I was okay (and laughing their heads off once they realized I was okay). I was fine, my foot was just a little scraped. And my pride was more than a little bruised.

So there you go. Full disclosure. I feel cleansed.

I have no idea what happened to the little orange traffic cone. It was probably helped back to its post by its little neon buddies. After they finished laughing at it.

Homeschooling is Very Educational

My son is taking piano lessons. This week his first song to work on was the children's song, Alouette. You know, the one sung in French. As he was playing this morning, I was singing away...

"Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Je te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête, et la tête
O-o-o-o-oh!"

And so on. Just a pretty little French song, right? Well, I don't speak French, so when my inquisitive 9 year old son asked me what it meant, of course I had to look it up. Here's what Wikipedia had to say...

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette, je te plumerai

Skylark, I shall pluck you

Je te plumerai la tête

I shall pluck your head

(Je te plumerai la tête)

(I shall pluck your head)

Et la tête

And your head

(Et la tête)

(And your head)

O-o-o-oh

WHAT? It goes on to say that it was sung as a French Canadian song that trappers would sing as they paddled down rivers to pass the time. Skylarks were eaten as game birds during that time, so evidently they were hungry as they traveled downriver. Although after finishing this song, I can't imagine anyone being hungry. Here are the other additions to the verses, added one on top of the other, like we do with "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Et le cou
And your neck
Et le dos
And your back
Et les ailes
And your wings
Et les pattes
And your feet
Et la queue
And your tail
Et le coeur
And your heart
Et les poumons
And your lungs
Et le cerveau
And your brain
O-o-o-o-oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette,

Skylark,

'Tu es un torse saignant

I left the translation for that last line out. You can look it up if you want to. But since I have peeps from Australia, and possibly even Great Britain, that sometimes read my blog, I will refrain so they don't think I'm cussing (or I guess they'd say "cursing", but hey, I'm from the South) on my blog. And only the Lord knows what kind of freaks I'd get on here if they happened to Google that phrase.

You're going to look it up, aren't you? So now that I have now ruined this precious little song for you I'll say that I figured if I had to learn about it, so did you. That's homeschoolin' for you. You're welcome.

I was going to go eat lunch now, but...um...(turning green)...I think I've lost my appetite.

You Know You've Had a Bad Day...

When your Mother has to have 10 more rounds of radiation because she's broken two more ribs due to the cancer.

When your husband finds out he has to have a root canal.

When you wake up feeling like you're having an asthma attack, but you don't have asthma.

I so needed to read this joke today...sorry if it offends...but it made me laugh my tail off.

I was in the pub yesterday when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so I timed my poots with the beat.

After a couple of songs I started to feel better. I finished my drink and noticed everyone was staring at me.

Then I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my iPod.

Gnocchi and Games Night

Now, tell me. Honestly. How many of you know how to pronounce the word "gnocchi"? Well, according to my friend, Lisa, whose family is as Italian as it gets, it's nyo-kee. No matter how the servers at Olive Garden pronounce it (Guhnohchee, Guhnockee, etc, etc). Anyway, Lisa and her husband Jeff invited us and several other families over for some homemade gnocchi. She invited us to bring whatever games we had to play, as well.

Lisa had to cook the gnocchi in batches so they would turn out just right. Oooh, and just right they turned out. Paired with her homemade meat sauce, MMM-mmm-MMMM!

Everyone else brought the fixins for salad, bread, or dessert. Jamy brought homemade bread. I mean melt-in-your-mouth homemade bread. I made Chocolate Chess Tartlets. I will have to make them again because they were gone before I could take any pictures. Mostly before we got them to the party. And Amber brought Sopapilla Cheesecake. Oh. My. OH. MY.

The grownups ate in the kitchen and we sat the kids in the dining room (don't you love these high ceilings and that wall color? I want this for my kitchen. The wall color that is...there's no hope for my ceilings), and after we had eaten our fill, sent the kids upstairs to watch a movie or destroy bedrooms, whatever.

Then the fun really started. Okay, so this picture doesn't show how much fun we had, but trust me. I won't give details to protect the innocent (and since four of the people in this picture are on our church staff), but we laughed until we cried. Peed our pants was more like it. I have not laughed that hard in a long, long. loooooong time.

Have you ever had a game night with friends? If you haven't, you absolutely should. Everyone I've talked to or facebooked since then has said how much fun we had. You get to know people you didn't know that well, and you make new memories with the ones you do know well. I am so thankful Jeff and Lisa opened their home to us.

"A good time was had by all!"

Wanna hear me sing?

You've heard (or read, I guess) me go on and on and on about being an alto and singing in the worship team at church. Well, Sarah Mae at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee convinced me to start her blogaversary (or blogiversary, or blgoghenosywy, whatever) party off with a "Happy" song.

Party? What party? Well, Sarah decided to do her blogaversary up right. And how. She has so many prizes she's giving away I stopped reading them...there are seriously that many. I just know I'm going to comment and comment and comment and...well, you get my drift.

If you'd like to win, just head on over to her place and get in on the fun! Just click the button above and head on over!

Birdie Giveaway!

It's not too late to enter to win this pretty birdie tassel! But you must go to the giveaway post to enter. Hurry! Go now! As in, NOW!

Remember, you have to go to this post to enter. If you leave a comment on this post, you won't be entered. But, if you leave one on THIS post, you will be entered. This one, not this one. Got it? 'Cause if you don't got it, you won't get it. Get it?

"My cup overflows with blessings..."

Psalm 23:5...That is the verse printed on the back of my newest, coolest t-shirt. I got it at the coolest place, too! This past weekend was our church's Women's Retreat. This was our third year to do one, but the first year to have it at the church. That kept the cost down, which was good for everyone. And for those who forgot to grab pillows off her bed as well as something to sleep in, it was easy to slip back home and grab stuff. Or so I've heard. Ahem.

When I walked in before our sound check, I was overwhelmed at how beautiful everything was. Look at that pink poof!

You really can't tell how pretty it all was. Pink zebra print and polka dot tablecloths, green and pink and orange flowers, and green shirts with brown on the front and hot pink on the back made everything so springy and girlie. I loved it.

Friday night started off with our main speaker, Karin, who is a pastor's wife from a church that is very close to the heart of our church. She spoke truth to my heart, and her words were like soothing oil to my dry heart. What a wonderful way to start out the weekend!

Throughout the weekend we had small group time, breakout sessions, giveaways, and worship. I can't decide what my favorite part of the retreat was! I was privileged to be a part of the worship team, so that's high on my list of faves. Any time I get to listen to 200 or so women lifting their voices loving on their Father makes my heart glad.

Lauren, who just happens to be one of my altos, was on our worship team. Here we are trying not to laugh hysterically...it was hard.

Because this is what we had just taken a picture of...

That's what happens at 11:00 p.m. when the delirium sets in.

When I get to serve in any capacity leading worship, I count it as an awesome privilege. I volunteered to help in whatever way our Director, Kam, wanted me to with worship, and the two girls who led with me sort of delegated me as the leader. I tried to convince them we would all three co-lead, but they would have none of it. As it turned out, that's exactly what happened. We each had our part, and I don't think that the ladies at the retreat saw me as the "Worship Leader." I think they saw us as the "Worship Team."

Guess which verse I'm reading here? It's 2 Corinthians 3:18, the verse I have at the top of the blog. Karin mentioned the fact that when we become Christ followers, we become holy. We can't work up to it or earn it. The same thing I've said here on the blog before. Just like the caterpillar has the same DNA of the butterfly, we are holy and righteous at the moment we are saved. What happens is we start listening to the lies the enemy tells us so that we will live defeated lives. When we start trusting what God says is true about us, we will start living life to the fullest!

Okay, didn't mean to go off on that tangent. But I'm glad I did. : )

Our Worship Team for the weekend. I love these girls! Lauren, Jennifer Begrin, and me.

I'm sort of getting ahead of myself, because I haven't talked about Friday night's Pit tables. Have you heard of Pit? It's only the coolest game around for loudmouths like me. You're dealt 9 cards with a "commodity" like corn, coffee, sugar, barley, etc. on each card. You want to "corner the market" on one commodity, so you have to trade cards to try to get all one commodity. As soon as the cards are dealt, someone rings the bell to start trading and it becomes sheer madness!

The calm before the storm at this table...

While the bedlam was going on at our table!

You have to yell how many cards you want to trade, so the whole lot of us are yelling different numbers all the while trying to figure out what cards to trade, sprawling over the table to grab traded cards. It finally ends when someone has all one set of cards and rings the final bell. I won the last hand I played. I like to go out on top.

We had the option of staying at the church on air mattresses (we have showers in our bathrooms in our Go Center, where retreat was), or staying at someone's home, or getting a hotel room, or just going home. Well, it wouldn't be retreat if I had gone home, so my sweet friend Vivian opened up her home to me and my friends Lisa and Stacey. We stayed up talking until 1:30, having to get up at 5:3o or so the next day. But the laughs we shared were worth it.

Me, Stacey, Lisa (poor girl's shirt was two sizes too big so she didn't get to wear hers! She got it fixed, though), and our gracious hostess, Vivian. Lisa and I are very close and get to hang out together all the time, but I don't get to spend enough time with Vivian or Stacey. These three made me smile a lot this weekend. Even though they kept me up too late. Hee hee.

I have to show this next picture just because it's too cute not to. JB and Mendi, another one of my beautiful altos (JB is one of my beautiful altos, too!), were posing and suddenly JB decided they should get all diva on me.

Can you say A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E? The funny thing is, neither one of these girls is like this AT ALL!

One of my favorite things to do as a Worship Leader is just stop singing and listen to the voices of those we're leading. There were so many beautiful ladies at this retreat, and I loved listening to each one. I can't wait till next year! (But I do want to rest now! )

I'll leave you with this profound picture. It sums up our weekend where no words are needed. Enjoy....

I smile BIG every time I see this!

Don't leave me!

So, have you noticed I've been out for over a week? Hello? Anyone? Bueller? Fry?

Life just seems to be getting busier and busier. Easter a couple weekends ago, our Women's retreat this weekend at which I am leading worship with a couple of the most talented songwriters/singers I know (of course that's not saying much...I don't know that many, but trust me when I say that they are amazing!), and Kiddo's baseball season has begun. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

But even though I have been absent from the blog world for a few days, y'all have not been absent from my heart. I still am so amazed that in the year I've been blogging I've gained so many friendships, some who live in my computer, and some I've been privileged to meet in real life.

Did you hear that little blip in the paragraph above? I said, "...in the year I've been blogging...." Do you know what that means? I missed my own blogiversary! It was April 14th, and I just didn't have time to write anything!!! I was so disappointed, but at the same time I thought, this IS my blog, after all, and I really don't need to stress over it! What I have started stressing over, however, is the worry that I might lose some of my friends from my inactivity. I try to nip it in the bud when those thoughts come around, because I know my true friends will be with me no matter how often I update my blog.

I have lots to share with you over the next few days, but it might take me longer to post those thoughts than a few days. I do want to give you a preview of something reeeeeeally special...something you might want to stay tuned for.....something really pretty and girlie....here's a glimpse:

Hmmm, wonder what it could be? Well, what do most people do for their blogiversary? I'll let you figure that one out while I show you why my arms are just now getting over Easter weekend.

Sorry for the blurry, too white picture...Sound Man was trying to do what he does on Sunday mornings as well as take video of the choir...kind of hard to do at the same time. This was after the first service on Sunday morning (we had already had two services...one on Saturday night and the one right before this vid was shot; then we had one more service after this; not to mention practice Saturday morning...my arms were killing me Sunday night. So much so I had to take a muscle relaxer and it didn't do anything for me!). Just goes to show you what a crazy bunch of people I get to work with. I am the one directing the choir, just behind the bald guy at the keyboard. That would be Darth Don, the piano player Kiddo aspires to be like one day. Anyway, here you go...prepare yourselves for the insanity...

Can I tell you how much I love doing what I get to do?

More details on my hint hints later...just don't give up on me!

Like Scarlett asks Rhett...

~

"How d'I look?"

~

My Thoughts for Friday

Normally I would post My Husband Rocks! on Friday, but today I have other sentiments that need to be set forth. Not that I don't think my husband rocks, because he does, but I'll save that for later.

Today, I am feeling better. My voice still sounds froggish, but physically I'm okay. I've had to deal with relationship issues. Not fun. I'm not in the best of moods right now, but I do have one thing to say...

GO TIGERS!!!

My Husband Rocks! Friday (just a teeny bit early)

This week My Husband Rocks! because, for one, he's taking over all household, doggy, Kiddo, and otherwise duties this weekend and letting me be totally irresponsible and go on a girls' weekend trip with my BFF Kat to Nashville, the scene for this year's Blissdom conference. And though we aren't going to the conference, we are going to meet some of our favorite bloggers. I. Can't. Wait.

But the biggest reason My Husband Rocks! (And if you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, check out Katy Lin's blog, and you'll see why we brag so much about our men) is because he...well, "Don't!"

How these guys were able to get any of that filmed without absolutely cracking up is beyond me. My favorite part is the "fold the laun-dray" and the line that comes after it. I know, I know. I'm so immature. But my husband laughs just as hard at it, so that makes just one more reason he ROCKS!