Monday Meanderings

Why call this post Monday Meanderings? Because it's Monday and I'm wandering all over the place with this post. So....

I'll be hanging out with my mom tonight at her house. Eating supper and whatever else. I'm looking forward to it. Love my mom!! She's the best. A few other ladies will be there too, so we'll be sure to have a great time, I know.

Remember when I blogged about Harrison's iPod Touch he was saving up for and bought? Then a few weeks ago (sometime before Christmas) it stopped working. So we finally got around to calling Apple today and they are sending us to their Apple store in Charlotte. They'll run a few tests on it and if they can't get it to run, they'll replace it for him. That's good to know. I'm glad I bought that warranty! Harry will be happy to get his iPod back and start playing the games he had on there.

I bought Bruce the Kindle Fire for Christmas. I'm beginning to think I should have asked him for one, myself. I really like his. I haven't messed with it much, but I love all the features he's been showing me. Maybe if I'm good between now and my birthday, he'll get me one. That's a long time for me to be good, though. So we'll have to wait and see. LOL

Justin is off on Mondays, so when Bruce and I got back home from the gym, I started cooking lunch. Since Bruce works second shift, I try to cook a hot lunch so we have a sit down meal together as a family. Monday is about the only day we get to do this, unless you count Sunday, which I really don't, because my two older ones don't always come home with us after the morning service. I enjoyed having my whole family at the table, laughing and talking together. I live for those moments! :)

I took some videos of our youth choir singing last night. Lord willing I'll be able to get those uploaded to Youtube soon. When I do, I'll post them here. They were asked to sing at a service next weekend for Brother Chris Emory. We're looking forward to it. We love Brother Emory and his family, and the people there at his church.

This weekend we have our all nighter with the youth. It's been a while since I've pulled an all nighter and I'm not sure I'll make it. But we'll see. I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. Lunar golf, bowling, and then games and snacks at our church's gym. Should be a good time.

And that's it for today. Trying to get back into this whole blogging thing is a killer sometimes. But I have to admit that I am finding it easier to write about things the more I do blog. Hope y'all have a great evening. I know I'm going to!

Lovely Lunch at Lucille's

My mother's middle name is Lucille, in case you were wondering.
:o)
She invited the kids and I over for lunch today so we happily said yes! My mom is a great cook and today she fixed chicken the way I like it, southern green beans, baked potatoes, corn, and biscuits. It was delish!
How she does her boneless skinless chicken is, she'll season it, then batter it in egg and buttermilk, roll it in flour and fry it. Once it is fried, she'll put it in a baking dish and cover it with cream of chicken soup she mixes with some milk and then she bakes it. The chicken becomes tender and mmm, mmm good!


Harrison shoveled in the taters and corn like they'll never be grown again.


Hannah enjoyed hers too. But at this moment she was just stopping to cheese a little for the camera. Very little, obviously. haha


My sweet mama.

For dessert we had some Blue Bunny ice cream. Can you give a shout for Blue Bunny? The White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie was so good! I'll be on the look out for that.

After lunch we made our way to the tv room and watched Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farm with Shirley Temple. My mother has always loved Shirley Temple. It was cute. We all enjoyed it and most of all we enjoyed time with mom.

Hannah and I will be leaving in a little bit for a pantry shower we're giving for a lady and man in our church that are getting married in the next couple of weeks. I'm very happy for them and look forward to the shower tonight. I'll have pics of that, hopefully, tomorrow.

Thank you, mama, for a superb lunch and the flick. I love you!

Valentine's Date

Bruce has been working six days so it was nice to have him on his normal schedule this week. We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a few days early. We went to the Outback for supper and to exchange gifts, hung out in Gastonia for a little bit, stopped at Wal Mart to pick Harrison up a few things he needed, and ended our night at Krispy Kream. If we make an effort to go to Gastonia, we're stopping at KK's! And the kids always love to see us come home with a box of doughnuts for them. By the way, he bought me a bottle of some of my favorite perfume, Happy Heart, by Clinique, which also came with a new makeup bag and lots of makeup. YAY! He also threw in some other things. ;0) Thanks, babe! I loved my gifts!!

ME
and my Valentine!

We had a very good time, even though he was so tired. You can still see how sleepy his eyes were. I love my Valentine. I am truly thankful for him. He is a blessing in every way. He keeps me laughing and can always make me smile. I had been so excited all day, knowing that we were going out. I've missed my Friday night dates! I love you, Bruce!

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We took my mom a few things she needed on Saturday. She has been very sick with bronchitis. She really hasn't gotten over it from last year. She's had some serious dizzy spells and I've tried to tell her to stay down and take it easy, but she doesn't cooperate very well. LOL She's doing ok, although she does need a lot of prayer to get better.

Love you, mom! :)

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The newest update on Becca is that she was fine at 4:00 this morning. She had been opening her eyes on command and even followed her mom with her eyes as her mom was leaving the hospital room. But this morning, around 7:00, one of her lungs collapsed and they had to put a tube in. She takes a couple of steps forward and then one back. But thankfully, she is making some progress. Thank you for the prayers that have gone up on her behalf and please continue to pray for her when you think about it. She's not out of the woods just yet.

Of Eggs and Whoopin's

Harrison had a Science experiment yesterday involving an egg, a jug, and a match. We did not receive the results we had anticipated and so we plan on doing it again soon. But after the experiment I gave the egg to him and told him that he could have an egg toss with Hannah. She wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but she participated anyway, as to be expected from a big sister.


On the final throw it was from Hannah to Harrison. The egg busted in Harrison's hand and he threw it back at Hannah anyway. You can see by the look on her face that she was none too pleased with her younger sibling. LOL Harrison on the other hand got a good laugh out of it, as to be expected from a little brother.



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Mom came by last night toting Krispy Kream doughnuts. We sat around the table munching on our sweet snack and playing a few games of Uno. Mom won the first two games and Bruce told her if she won the third one he was whipping her with a belt. Needless to say, she won the third game. So he gave her the option of which belt he would use for the whoopin. lol


She protested at first, but what could she do against her much stronger son-in-law (the bitter loser), her grandchildren (the youngest losers) cheering on the whoopin' and her daughter (the eager loser) ready to snap pictures of the whoopin'.

Eventually she gave in to her sorry plight. It was so funny. She was a good sport.

DISCLAIMER: No grandmothers were injured during the photographic journaling of this incident.

Mom's New Ride

Mom picked up her new car today. This was a difficult decision for her to make. The Ford she and daddy had was really running on its last legs...or wheels. They had hoped to make their next car purchase together, but she was on her own this time.
Thankfully, the Lord sent Brother Jr along to help her find a car. He did a great job.

She loves her 2010 Mercury Milan. I know she feels more comfortable driving a dependable car. I feel more comfortable with her driving a dependable car!!!

It's gorgeous mom! Just like you. I love you.

A Christmas Play, A Sick Mother, and A Pretty Painting

I turned in the Christmas play I wrote for this year and now I'm just waiting on Pastor's approval. I'm sure it'll be fine. I talked to Mrs. Carolyn and we're working on the songs to go along with it.

I'm really excited about this one. I think this is my favorite one I've written so far. It's called Tell Me A New Story and it's about a little foster boy. We have several foster families in our church and the little children that have come in and out of their homes were in mind when I wrote this play. I'm praying the Lord will use it to touch many hearts.

I visited with my mom this afternoon. She has been very sick. When she saw the doctor Friday he gave her a shot, put her on a breathing machine to open her bronchials, prescribed four medications, and put her in bed for a few days. She has received soups from three different people that I know of. Thank you, to those of you that made those for her. That was so sweet of you!! Soup is very comforting to the body when you're sick. I know she appreciates those.

The picture above is of a painting a young man did and gave to mom when daddy died. The painting is a very calming visual and I love to just sit and look at it and imagine myself walking down that quiet path. I just had to show it to you.

Pastor had some good quotes yesterday and I'll share them with you here. Something to chew on, if you will:

*You can put a cat and a dog in a sack, tie it up tight, and have a union. But you still won't have unity." ~Dr. Bob Jones

*The church is not an organization. It is a living organism, birthed from the Lord Jesus Christ.

*We have dilema in the world, and delight in the WORD!

*The devil thrives where good men sit silently, and do nothing.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom celebrated her - - birthday today. If she wants to tell her age, she can fill in the blank.

Hannah and I went to pick mom up around 11:00 this morning. We were taking her to the Cup and Saucer Tea Room for lunch.

She had already shed some tears over daddy. Daddy was always big on birthdays. He believed everyone should have a good celebration on their special day. I have a story to tell you about something he did for me once, but I'll tell it another day. This is mom's day!

Anyway, we got to her house and decided to go ahead and give her her presents. We would have waited until we got to the Tea Room, but knew it would make her cry so we gave it to her at home.

The first gift was a picture of her and my children taken a couple of weeks ago. She was thrilled with it.

The other gift was a collage I made of five pictures of her and daddy.


At the top of the collage it says, Precious Memories...how they linger. She really loved it.

When we got to the Tea Room she was very surprised when we walked in and saw that I had invited several friends from church. She was thrilled! Mrs. Rebecca brought her a tiara to wear so she would be queen for a day. And Princess A came too, with beautiful peach flowers.

Her friends brought her some nice gifts. Mrs. Kim brought her perfume, Mrs. Barbara brought her some tea, Mrs. Janet a gift card to her favorite store, and there were several cards with money in them.

Ain't she purdy in her tiara?

I sat across from Mrs. Kim and Hannah. Gotta love 'em, you know?

Our pastor's wife (Mrs. Ava) was able to join us and so was Mrs. Janet.

Mrs. Barbara, my mother in law, and Rebecca....I'm so glad all of these ladies were able to join us. It just wouldn't have been the same without them!

I always have to sneak a shot of Mrs. Rebecca.

:D

My sweet mother in law. It was nice having her there.

Mrs. Janet brought mom's gift from her Secret Sister. It was the awesome hat...

A beautiful black cape with fur collar....

And a fashion scarf. Mom can't wait for the weather to snap cold! LOL

We had a lovely lunch. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I know I did. I had the Rhett Chicken wrap with the soup of the day, which was loaded baked potato soup.

Mom had the spinach and bacon quiche with the soup of the day.

See...I was there too. :)

Princess A was so good! She would come to our end of the table and just giggle. It was so cute. Her mother told her Aunt that if she dressed her like a princess she would be good and she was! Too cute!!

The Tea Room gave mom her choice of a free dessert for her birthday. She chose the strawberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Her day was just getting started. My dad always made sure she would have her hair done on her birthday. My brother, John, made sure she was able to do that today. So after lunch, she and Hannah went to Missy's and then they went to spend her gift cards and birthday money. She was a happy little lady when she dropped Hannah off here this evening. She showed me the beautiful outifts and shoes she got. Can't wait to see her in them!

I prayed the Lord would bless her day and He did. Good friends, good food, good fellowship. Those are good blessings!

Mom, you are MY blessing today and I love you. I hope you had a beautiful and wonderful birthday!

A Visit With the Folks

Hannah did not find the book she was wanting at the Library. But she did find two others, which I'm sure she'll have read before the week is up.

Mom and dad came over today. Daddy had taken mom out for an early Valentine's Day dinner. On their way home, they stopped to give the children and Bruce and me and Valentine's Day gift and card. The children had their boxes of candy eaten in about a minute.

While they were here, they played a game of UNO Flash with the kids. This game was given to us by my brother and has become the favorite game in the house. You've never heard so much laughing, fighting, and carrying on than when this game is played. It was funny watching daddy try to keep up and, I have to admit, I was really impressed with mom! She was becoming fast on her button!

Before they left, I snagged some pictures of them. Daddy was being a goof, as always. So some of them were of them laughing or being crazy.

A Visit With The Folks

I put some ribs in the crock pot for supper, had school with the kids, and then took off to mom and dad's. I took some cleaning supplies with me but got very little accomplished. I did get her kitchen cleaned and mopped and the sheets on her bed changed. But I spent most of my time talking with them. We had more than a few giggles and laughs today. It was nice.

When I got home I took the ribs from the crock pot and made BBQ with them. I fixed some cole slaw, rolls, deviled eggs, raw veggies, and cantaloupe to go with it. The kids took their supper and a plate over to my mother in law's house to eat with her tonight. She's been having problems with her knee. We're hoping she doesn't have to have surgery. Poor thing, she's scared to death of that.

Bruce left for work early tonight and so I'm home alone....in the quiet. I really need to clean the kitchen. So I'll leave you with this video.

Of all the ways my daddy could think of to save money, he is fixated on watering down the dish detergent. This drives my mother nuts and she has threatened him more than once not to do it again. But he just keeps doing it. Knowing this, I was surprised to go in and find that a very large bottle of Dawn had been, almost, completely used and had NOT been watered down.

A Good Day Indeed

I had a great day with my mom today. We dropped Justin off at school at the college and then Hannah, Harrison, and I went to clean mom and dad's house. It looked great when we left, and it was a good day all around. We had some good talk and some good laughs. I enjoyed it!

As most of you know, my mom collects tea pots. She has quite a collection of them. I was able to deliver this tea pot lamp to her from her Secret Pal at church. She just LOVED it! So to Mom's Secret Pal, you did good! It looked great sitting on her end table.


Mrs. Janet, our church secretary, dropped by to deliver some jewelry she made mom for her birthday. Again...because she collects tea pots, she LOVED this jewelry with it's little tea pots dangling. This was the bracelet.


And this is the necklace. Great job, Janet.


Daddy's doctors could not find anything in any of his tests. They're talking one more test before they send him home. When I spoke to him today he sounded like he was feeling a little better. Please continue to pray for him. We appreciate it!

Here is a video of the Henson Family singing at our church. They were here a couple of weeks ago for our church's anniversary. Enjoy!