1.21 Gigawatts.....

OK first how does one spell Gigawatt? Am I close? As I am leaving the beach today I stopped at the faucet up at the beach house to rinse all the sand off of my feet and my beach chair. When I turned on the water the smell hit me like it does every time I am there. I swear it transports me back in time. I was thinking if I were building a time machine I would not need a Delorean or 1.21 Gigawatts... Nope, just my sense of smell or hearing a certain song or sound... and I am there. The smell of the beach water (a good smell) kind of has a pool/chlorine kind of smell to it. I whisks me right back in time to the days when my family would come to Mamaw's house for our summer vacation. We usually could NOT wait to get over to the beach. We'd wait till we could hear the music from the beach blaring and we knew it was time to go! We'd get there and the sand would be so stinkin hot you like had to wind up at the top of the sand by the beach house and shoot down to the water fast as you could. The beach would usually be full of people and we'd find a spot for our blanket and spend the day playing in the water. We used to hate those little breaks the lifeguards made us take where everyone had to get out of the water for like 15 minutes. They used to have a concession stand too and I remember they had these suckers that I liked that were like a giant sweet tart. When the beach day was over we would head back to Mamaw's. Everyone would get cleaned up and Mamaw would have dinner ready. Usually something that she had whipped up in the pressure cooker like chicken or a roast. It would be HOT in the house because they didn't have a/c (you better believe we have it here now... ) and sometimes we'd sit around the living room and dinning room with our TV trays. Always in the front of the living room was the old metal oscillating fan. I'd lay on the floor on the orange rugs that my brother thought made good roads for his matchbox cars. To this day when I hear an oscillating fan I am also whisked back in time to that living room.. my living room where I am sitting and typing to you now. Good memories... good summers... all making me smile and all starting with the smell of the beach water....

So for the date night report... I think my husband could tell from last night's post that I am going a little batty... Ha! I mean going? I think I went there and set up residence. So I had an e-mail from him this morning that told me my tasks for today were to 1. go walking and 2. go to the beach. He asked if I could handle that? Um YES I could handle that. Then he says, since we had talked about getting a pizza, how about if he heads to the big city from work and picks up one of our favorite pizza's (Turonis) from there and exchanges my bracelet too! Is he the best ever or what? The bracelet part of my bracelet was about 1/2" too small. Because you are continually adding the beads which take up room around your wrist you are supposed to measure your wrist and get 1" bigger. Well OK can I be really happy here for a minute? I used to need an 8" bracelet minimum for any bracelet to fit. My wrist now measures 6-3/4! woo hoo!!! How cool is that... Ok... done being happy.. He says if he heads to town to do this I can stay at the beach a little longer, come home and clean up and he will be getting back to the house shortly after that. OK - loving this idea and I did have a very peaceful afternoon. I LOVE sitting at the edge of the water listening to my ipod, reading my book, enjoying the sun... sooooo relaxing. His plan worked out perfectly. He got home with the pizza which was YUMMY and my bracelet fits great now. We then decided we needed some movies so we headed to movie gallery. They had called us recently and said we could have a free rental because we hadn't been in for a bit! Cool!! We decided to rent Eagle Eye, New In Town and Marley and Me. We even got a movie box of M&M's to enjoy with our movie and Darrel said we needed movie lighting which meant he turned all the lights off, but put the bedroom light on because that was the lighting in case you like needed to find the bathroom at the theatre... Ha ha ha... He also put our chairs together again. He is so cute. We watched all but New In Town this evening. We liked both of the other 2! Eagle Eye was a good action movie and Marley & Me was a good funny/happy/sad family kind of movie. Makes me want to read the book. Think I will see if the library has it.

All of this made me remember the first time Darrel and I rented a movie which was back in ancient times while dinosaurs roamed the earth and when VCR's and the whole VCR rental thing was *gasp* brand new! Our friends were out of town and told us we could use their house if we wanted to rent/watch a video. So we trudged to the mall and picked out a movie... (it might have been An Officer & A Gentleman?? Not positive) put down a $50 DEPOSIT, signed our names in blood, promised our first born and they graciously let us take a movie home with us. I swear it was like you had to be checked out by the FBI before you were trustworthy enough to rent a movie... I am pretty sure we also had to pick between Beta & VHS... remember Beta? Guess times have changed when we can go plunk down our $4 and take home a DVD movie for what 5 whole days?

I started a new book at the beach today... The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. I loved, loved The Notebook and this is a sort of sequel. I enjoyed The Notebook so much and liked Noah & Allie so much because they reminded me of Darrel and I. For that reason when I finished the book I asked Darrel to read it so we could enjoy it together and talk about it. Reading is not his favorite thing like it is for me and seriously I can see how its not a guy kind of a book. Know what he did though? He sat right down the next few days and read the book. I have a memory of him sitting on our couch, book in hand. It touched my heart that he would do that for me. One of the favorite quotes I read today was this "In the warm light of the kitchen I could just make out the soft creases around the corners of her eyes, the feathery markings of our life together." OK I know that is a nice way to say someone has wrinkles... but I often say to Darrel that I love his gray hairs.. I do.. each and every one. Why? Because I have been with him long enough too see them and to grow old and more in love together. That sentence in the book seemed like such a nice way to put that very thought.

Time for bed. Have an awesome, awesome weekend!

Where The Scrapping Isn't Happening

Looks peaceful and quiet doesn't it? It should be... no one goes in there... Ha! This is my lonely scrapping area. I think we are beginning to have a serious problem people. I am starting to wonder if I gave up scrapbooking and no one told me... Did I forget to tell myself? I have not made a layout since NSD on May 2nd. I can not figure out what is up with that. I got out a few things almost 2 weeks ago now... and they are just sitting there. Each evening I think I'll go work on it for a bit and each evening between getting home from work, going to walk for an hour, cleaning up, & having dinner it is then late for one thing and I am worn out for another thing. Add to that getting house work done(not that you could tell here lately) , the work we are trying to do on the yard and porch, taking care of 5 cats/kittens and a dog, any extra church activities or meetings.. and um beach days (and NO I am NOT giving those up). I worked today (normally I am home on Thursday) so I am off tomorrow. I was thinking I'd get in there this evening since I didn't have to be in bed. Nope... sat here and re-did my blog. Had fun.. but still no scrapping happening. I need to get with it soon or have a seriously large scrapbooking yard sale cause I have tons of supplies sitting here getting dusty. (must have missed them when I did the cleaning - Ha! ) Now.. someone talk me down from the ledge here... remind me that I like to scrapbook... and that I know how.. because at this point I am wondering if I do remember how... I am just stinkin' tired I think... maybe I need a big ol nap or better yet a big ol vacation!

Have you ever been to shabbyblogs.com? OK first... its shabby! I love Shabby! Lisa, we love shabby right? So loving Shabby Blogs. They have lots of great FREE backgrounds, headers, posts dividers, etc. PLUS on their blog - which is also fabulous - she gives lots of great instructions for how to add post dividers, footers, etc. She also has some great digi downloads for sidebar frames and even a photo collage frame. This may be one of my new favorite sites.

Ok - heading to bed... going to lay down, finish my book and get a good nights sleep. Then tomorrow if the weather cooperates I am going to the beach. I will relax and start a new book and come home and enjoy date night. We either are going to the big city because my bracelet needs resizing... or we may stay home and do pizza in and get a movie or something.. Plan B is sounding better to me at the moment. Hope you have a fab Friday!

Happy Sweetest Day... no wait.. that's in October...

I'm right aren't I? Sweetest Day is mid October sometimes.. and yes.. we are 2 sappy people who do celebrate Sweetest Day... just usually not this nicely. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a girl who liked these charm bracelets. She looked at them often at the mall and thought about getting one after she had purchased a "look alike/wanna be" type of bracelet at a town Christmas walk last year. Mom & Jen... you were there. :) Well she always talked herself out of said bracelet because each little bead is stinkin' expensive when you start adding up the bracelet and then bead by bead... I'll be a little old Deanna by the time I can afford to fill it. Well the young princess (notice how the girl um me.... in the story became a "young" princess? Hey it's my story I decided I can embellish....) recently celebrated the fabulous birthday week. The prince wanted to get the young pink princess (yep... now she's the young PINK princess...) a beautiful birthday gift and decided to buy her a beautiful silver bracelet with a lovely pink hydrangea bead on it knowing how often she looked at and longed for said bracelet.. and they lived happily ever after... um wait... NOPE... not quite yet. The young handsome prince then changed his mind and decided he wanted the lovely young pink princess to have a beautiful pink sparkly watch for her birthday and figured he would take advantage of ye olde return policy on the bracelet. Enter the big bad wolf in the story... the dreaded "no cash returns" which the young handsome prince did not see stamped on the BACK of his receipt till after purchasing the watch. So being the young handsome generous awesome thoughtful amazing prince that he is, he bestowed the beautiful bracelet to the lovely young pink princess and said "Happy Sweetest Day my love." The princess protested, offering to pay for the beautiful bracelet with her birthday money... however the strong handsome prince could not be thwarted and so the beautiful lovely young pink princess now has a lovely sparkling treasure for each wrist and they lived happily ever after....

You followed all that right? I know... I am completely goofy and its pretty sad to sit her laughing while I entertain my own self! Ha!! So have you seen these bracelets before? They are so cool. So many cool beads and things you can get to create your own "one of a kind" (or so they say) bracelet. Thing is now I am totally confused as to what I want my bracelet to end up looking like.. I am feeling the need for a plan and perhaps a list... I know you are shocked aren't you? I mean do I go all pink? Pink, silver and a little yellow gold? Or I am thinking just get everything I love and then of course I'll love the result. I have already added the cross bead on my own. Thanks Mom! Used my birthday money for that. :) While buying the cross bead I saw a beautiful pink swirl murano glass bead as well as a teal blue green one. Well I was thinking both those colors would look good with the hydrangea bead the handsome prince picked out. So I may do those and then add gold and silver other stuff to go with it and of course...lots more pink. I will of course keep you posted.













Remember me mentioning my friend Julia is selling AVON now.. .this may not be a good thing for me. Here is my recent second order. Yes second. This is the Mark Most Loved Lips Kit. I love it! Look at the cute little pouch it comes in!










It's not even pink and I love it. Aren't you impressed? The lip colors are great, it smells and tastes like Wrigley spearmint gum and it stays on. Plus the cute little bottles will go on a clip or key chain! They sell a key chain separately and its only $3.99... I am thinking I need that to complete my set don't you think? NOW before you are shaking your head at my delusion for not knowing that the whole "mark" line is geared towards the whole JR/Teen age... I confess... I know... but hey, I am a young pink princess remember so I say enjoy them and be happy! Who cares who they were intended for. Us mature women just have a bigger purse to hold the cute little pouch so we will be prepared in any lip gloss emergency.. bwa ha ha ha

OK I was just spell checking my blog entry thus far and I had bracelet spelled wrong.. when I tried to correct it I ended up with bracket... which made me laugh out loud... Then I announced to the room um which would be my husband "these words are not interchangeable..." which of course made him laugh out loud because evidently I have competely lost it this evening... It must be lack of scrapbooking.. It is finally affecting my brain. Affecting? Effecting? I always get those 2 words confused... Perhaps they are interchangeable... bwa ha ha ha... Now the young prince is just sitting and shaking his head at the pink princess while he types away on his laptop.. You would think he was the one who had it all together right? Well how come then when I just asked him who he was writing to, his response was "I don't know..." Now which one of us are losing it? Evidently he is on farm town and talking to Cat who is one of his friends.. he just hasn't figured out which one! HA!!

I got the nicest card in the mail today from a friend. Part of the note was thanking me and telling me that several times a talk with me had been comforting and helpful... This blesses me. It also amazes me.. So serious here .... People come and talk to me and ask me things at work too and then later I say to my husband... "don't they know I am just weak and struggling too? I sure don't know anything. I just am doing my best to keep doing the best I can, doing the next right thing, and keep moving forward." It amazes me and humbles me when God used me to help anyone... cause um like I said.. I sure don't have it all figured out and am confused and struggling much of the time. Just plain old (young, pink, princess... ) Deanna here. :)

Hope you are having an awesome week. I am working tomorrow. Normally I would be off and work on Friday. This week I was asked to switch. Sounds great to me to be off on Friday! yay! Maybe it will rain tomorrow and then Friday will be a good beach day? Hoping so! Blessings!!

Xanadu Revisited

Today we celebrated our niece Lauryn's 14th birthday. 14... who can believe the girl is 14? NOT me. She is an awesome young lady though and a good example in so many things but especially in her Christian walk/faith. She convicts me! I love that. This (below) is the Lauryn that I used to get to babysit, the Lauryn I would sing to, the Lauryn who always made me smile and who has always been so sweet and kind.


















She reminds me of myself. She is the oldest child and is very responsible. She is a good student. She is in band. She likes to do crafty and artistic things. She is very honest and wants to do what is right. Those things would have totally described me at her age.














Yet another thing we have in common... her requested birthday cake was Eclair Cake. Her sister Lindsay made it for her as her gift to her. I thought that was sweet. Lauryn likes things with the peace symbol on them. Her Uncle Darrel remembered this and so our gift to her was a sterling necklace from Dillard's that had 3 different types/shapes of peace symbols on it. Very cute!













OK did you know a new trend is toeless socks... yes.. I said socks without toes. I would like to know if you can still call it a sock if it doesn't cover your foot. Although I guess when you get a big honkin' hole in your sock it still remains yes, a sock. But these were made this way on purpose. Are you asking yourself why? Self... why would someone want socks to wear that have no toes.... well to wear with your flip flops of course... duh...













After hearing about this I told her OK she simply had to model this for us and I definitely needed a picture of her feet. Now we won't even talk about her lovely long thin legs and feet... moving on... but yes, she even manages to pull off this look and make it cute! My sister and I decided that they were not socks.. they are leg warmers. Remember leg warmers? First time I saw those Olivia Newton John was wearing them in the movie Xanadu... yes.. I know I am showing my age. She wore them in that whole movie and the whole time I was asking myself what the heck does she have on her legs? Who knew that all these years later my young niece there would be standing there modeling her toeless socks for me... the new evolution of leg warmers. Maybe I should have kept my leg warmers? Oh wait... I don't think I ever owned any... Jen do you still have yours?

This is my husband at church this morning and what he has there are 2 full boxes of school supplies donated by our church members. My friend Anna from TSS had posted on Facebook (did you follow all that?) that her husband who is serving in Iraq had sent a note from his Chaplain who was asking for help in collecting school supplies to help the Iraqi children. I was sure our church people would want to help out and of course I was not disappointed. Isn't that cool? Just makes me smile to think of some little girl with the pretty pink notebook and pencils. So thankful too for my dear husband who volunteered to pack them up and help get them shipped!

So in weight loss news... still plugging along trying to get the scale to move again as usual but feeling encouraged. It is slow going but at least its going you know? Today could have been a diet disaster. Guess what though.... it wasn't. We went out for lunch after church as usual to our favorite LaCarretta. We had missed a week so we were having 2 week withdrawal! Ha!! It was YUM. I usually get the steak soft tacos, I don't like the beans and tons of cheese. HATE sour cream so the calories aren't so bad for me. So that was yummy, but knew we had Darrel's company picnic later in the day, plus birthday cake in the afternoon. Well yay me... I declined Eclair cake. Yes. you read that right. I figured I'd be eating more later plus I still have some Eclair cake here at home so I could have it later. Now at the picnic, I figured OK, going to be stuck with hamburgers or hot dogs and those are more points. See at home we have gotten to really like turkey burgers and the Hebrew National 97% Fat Free beef hot dogs. WAY less points. Turkey burger is like 3. Regular burger is like 7. The Hebrew Natl hot dog is 1 pt... regular hot dog like 6-7... so it makes me nuts to go to one of these things and feel like I am wasting points to eat a 7 pt burger. Well it was time to eat and they announced they had some chicken coming but it wasn't done yet. Know what I did? I waited. Me... the impatient... hungry... hates to wait person.. The girl who totally would have taken a burger and a hot dog before I started this journey. I waited.. and waited.. it took forever.. Finally they got them done and by that point most people were about done eating. I got myself a chicken breast, they had fresh garden tomatoes, and someone had made a huge pot of garden green beans... YUM... Um that whole meal is like 3 points.. Then for dessert they had angel food cake and fruit! It was good and again very few points. So I feel proud of myself for waiting and trying. It was worth the wait too.. The reason the chicken was late was because the cooks thought the bags were potato salad. See the chicken had been marinated in something and was in these zip lock bags in the marinade. It did look like some kind of potato salad so I can understand why they thought that. So the chicken didn't even start cooking till way later.

Have you ever watched Ruby on the Style network? She is a lady who is working on losing weight. At one time she was over 700 lbs. When the show started she was 477 I think and is now down to 349! Yay for her. It is very interesting for me to watch because I can identify with so many things she says and behaviors she has and I know if I hadn't stopped where I did I totally had the potential to end up where she is/was... So serious about that. It has stunned me to realize that about myself but I am glad I have been able to see it. On tonight's show they showed her getting under that 350 mark. I could have cried for her and with her. I know how it feels getting past those milestones. I've shed some tears myself as I've passed certain places I thought I'd never get below again. I totally identify with her "dream list" of things she wanted/wants to be able to do again as she loses weight because I have one of those too. It has amazed me how many things I had given up or could not do that I have now reclaimed. It feels stinkin' awesome!!! I noticed on the preview for next week's show they are talking about getting rid of clothes that are too big now. I faced that hurdle too and sooooo glad I went ahead and jumped it. It's hard letting go of the safety nets... the what will I wear if I go back thoughts... I realized though I do not need that net anymore because I am NOT, am NOT going back. However long it takes... I will move forward. All things are possible with God. All things.

Speaking of things I identify with Kayla Aimee totally had me cracking up and nodding my head with her blog post here... Infertility Vent #56813. Ok first totally amazing that it is now something I can laugh about... but her whole might as well take the cash out of my wallet and pee on it rather then spending money on yet another stinkin' pregnancy test that just comes out negative anyways and costs so stinkin' much - well she hit the nail on the head.. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt...

I had to give up my Scarlet Lime Sub... boo hoo... OK no one held a gun to my head and I could keep using my spending money on it but it takes up a big chunk of my spending money and I am getting no scrapping done so things are just sitting unused. So I figured time for a break. I love their kits though and would totally love to keep getting them. Hoping I can just pick up the kits I love on a one time basis. That will probably be hard though because they usually sell out quickly!

Have an awesome, awesome week! I hope to get lots of cleaning done and things checked off my to do list (yes, of course there is an actual list.. there is likely a list for the list...) lots of walking in, maybe add a bike ride or two, and hopefully sneak in a little scrapping and beach time in there somewheres... sounds good huh? Blessings!

Birthday Week Continues & The Date Night Report

OK am I the last one to know that there are PINK Pepsi bottles out there? How cool is that? My friend Twila brought this to Pastor Mark. Now you are asking yourself... self..why did she not bring a pink bottle to Deanna? Well that would be because they do not make Diet Pepsi in the cool can bottle things. I mean its shaped like a bottle but its aluminum like a can but it has a top like the old bottles used to when I was a kid. Twila said she saw these at the Pepsi warehouse (her husband works there) and immediately thought of me. Then she found out the bad news, no diet and Pastor Mark was her second thought. Why you ask? Because he hates PINK.. We sort of have a little pink vs. non pink war going and Twila has joined me in the battle. She even purchased some pink duct tape (did you know there is pink duct tape?!) and we sort of up taped up his pen cup with pink tape.... See and you thought I was innocent. Actually she did it. I was just the look out. Ha!!! He asked me if I did it and I told him I was innocent but that I might have stood at the door to watch and see if he was coming.... Ha!! So now... my question to Pepsi... how come there are no pink botans (my new word for bottle/can) with diet? I hear the regular also comes in blue, green and I think yellow? Has anyone actually seen these in a store?



















Would you believe I have received 2 more birthday gifts?! I think we need to now call it birthday week and 1/2! This very cool gift was on my desk yesterday from my friend Julia. Oh my gosh how cool is that? It has this cool ceramic bowl, a dip/cheese knife that is pink with white polka dots and a dip mix inside. Plus I am LOVING the pink and green bows. SO cute!! Then last night... date night and we ran into another friend, Kim! Look what she gave me!


















A very awesome pink sparkly card and a PINK Prima pearl swirl. I love it. Where have I been? I didn't even know these came in pink!! Maybe that will light the scrapping fire under me again. I mean seriously I am wondering if the scrapping police are going to come and take my supplies away soon due to lack of use! Ha!! OK the cool thing about this gift? It was hand delivered. While we were out for date night we ended the evening at a usual place... Baskin Robbins. They were about to close and we had just headed to the car when another car pulls up. I look over and I'm like... is that Kim? And it was! So cool to run into each other. I met Kim thru my friend Lisa and SISF (Southern Indiana Scrapbook Friends) which is a scrapbooking group of friends that gets together and crops once a month. The also have some great retreats and I have been to the fall ones with Lisa for Shabby Pink. Great group of ladies and Kim and I have gotten to know each other even better thru my blog! How cool is that? I was so touched that she got me a gift and even made sure it was all pink! You are awesome Kim and you totally made me smile. I didn't even realize the swirl was pink till I got home and saw it in the light. THANK YOU. I can't wait to put it to good use! Maybe on a um birthday week layout huh? I am thinking I have a pink photo or two for that... You think?












For Date Night we didn't have firm plans till kind of the last minute. It basically turned into an errand kind of night but we still had fun. First thing we did was dinner and of course we ended up at the Crazy Buffet for Chinese food. I just love their make your own stir fry. Problem is I need to get better at not taking too much other stuff. I still have such a hard time judging the smaller portions my body now needs and end up with too much food. Restaurant wise I am getting bored though... for any of you Evansville natives out there what are some good restaurants in town? Seems like we always end up at the same few places and usually they are the national chain kind of places. We wonder what are all the little local places we are missing out on? Any recommendations for me? We had favorites like that in IL and haven't found too many here in Indiana. La Carretta is currently at the top of our list. Next we picked up our stuff at Fired Up. Look how cool it turned out! There are a few imperfections on my tray but I think I love it anyway. Now to decide if it goes on my work desk or my scrap desk. I am thinking work. Look how good Darrel's bowl came out! Now who besides my husband could hand paint lines on a bowl that straight? I would have loved to see where he was going with it if we hadn't run out of time.














After that we headed to the mall. About a month ago we had purchased a new pair of Fossil sunglasses for me at the Sunglass Hut. They weren't as expensive as the Ray Ban's etc. out there, but they weren't cheap. I have really liked them and tried very hard to take care of them. They came with a microfiber bag case... I thought they were protected in the bag case... Did you know your keys can still scratch your glasses through the microfiber case? Um YEP. Well the sunglasses came with a 6 mos. warranty (I think the more expensive glasses got 1 year). They said if you broke them, scratched them, dog ate them, drove your car over them, just bring them in and they'd fix/replace. So I was expecting it NOT to be that simple. Figured they'd try to wiggle out of it or something. Guess what? I walked in, showed her my glasses, told her they were scratched, showed her my receipt. She walked over, picked up a new pair off the display, cleaned them, fitted them, took the tags off and handed them to me with a new receipt. SO I am now a HUGE fan of the sunglass hut people. Very impressed with the service. They will not replace them a second time free during the 6 mos, but will replace at 1/2 price. Still not too bad!

We also had 2 birthday gifts to shop for and a baby gift to get. Our Youth Pastor and his wife just had a baby girl last Wednesday and we wanted to give little Lauren Marie a gift. Now how cute is that little shirt and leggings (above) that we found at Gap Kids. OK never been in gap kids... I'm not a mom remember? I mean walking in the door I felt weird like someone was going to shout "you don't belong in here!" Very glad we went in though because I am in love with this little outfit. Reminds me of something our niece Amber would have worn when she was that size. Love, love, love it. I had to get pink you know. They had a baby girl and I figured Erica would be shocked if my gift was *gasp* not pink....

We found a great birthday gift for our niece... which I can't discuss till after we give it to her tomorrow. I picked up a necklace I had seen in Tennessee last week but hadn't bought. Dillard's had a buy 1 get 1 at 1/2 price on all jewelry and watches so that worked with one of the other gifts I needed and gave me a break on the necklace that I now had birthday money for. It's a brown metal pendant with a brown leather adjustable cord made by Fossil. I forgot to take a picture but this is pretty close. I guess I am becoming a fossil fan without realizing it. Fossil sunglasses, birthday watch and now the necklace. It was funny too, we took a look at the Fossil watches at Macy's just to see what they had. I was hoping I would NOT see one I liked better than my new one. I spotted one in the case and I'm like "oh I like that one!" I look again and um.. it was the exact same one Darrel got me that I was wearing. DUH... guess I got the right one huh?

So time for bed. Busy day tomorrow. Hope you are having an awesome weekend. I will leave you tonight with this quote... Blessings!

God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to. - Elisabeth Elliot

I May Need a Vera Intervention....

I get in the car after work and look over in the seat where I have set all my stuff... and this is what I see. Vera purse (I just started using the one Darrel got me for our anniversary), Vera lunch bag, Vera patchwork tote (was using this for a purse before I switched. I still love it so it graduated to work tote bag), Vera umbrella and um yes... there is even a Vera key chain sitting there (got that off etsy... someone made it using a Vera napkin for fabric). We won't even talk about how many Vera things are inside the purse... (wallet... pill box thing.... eye glasses case....) So again I ask... do I need a Vera intervention? Or I know, we will just call it a collection. Collecting isn't a bad thing right unless you are like collecting cats and hoarding magazines and food from 1957 and they have to come take you away... I am not to that point yet. Just surrounding myself with the things I love. The things that make me smile. Not a bad thing right?

Funny thing is... I just asked Darrel yesterday what was wrong with liking your things to be your favorite color? I was wondering if I had crossed over to the dark pink side after being at a church meeting. They had pointed out my pink laptop, mouse and jump drive that I was using while wearing a pink shirt, necklace, earrings, watch, bracelet and um yes, pink fingernails. I was also carrying the pink purse. Now is that a bad thing? When I asked Darrel about this my question was had I crossed over to obsession and was now in need of a pink intervention? So now maybe we can get a 2 for 1 special on interventions and address both the pink thing and the Vera thing. Problem is I am liking it right where I am at and am not ready to admit my problem... You have to start there right?

So back to the Big Excellent Adventure. I was realizing looking over yesterday's post I never mentioned the guitar picture... That was from the Gibson store in the Opry Mills Mall. Very cool place. They make guitars and sell them there and have this whole workshop area where you can see them making the guitars. It was also cool that there was a bunch of people that knew how to play sitting and trying out the different instruments. Very cool hearing everyone play. We loved it there! Darrel wishes he could play. He does own a guitar. Just in need of some lessons. Anyone?














After the mall and dinner we headed over by the Grand Ole Opry House. It's right next to the mall and they kind of left a little of the old Opryland intact around it. It was a beautiful night out and this was where there was a whole row of pretty pink roses and where Darrel and I were taking some pictures when the people said "first date?" to us.












This is one of my favorite shots from those photos. I don't think I shared it the other day. We goofed around for a bit with the camera and then decided to go in the Grand Ole Opry Museum. It was fun to look around. It was sort of close to closing so we didn't take our time and read every single thing but it was good and really interesting. I bought a T-shirt there. It's really cute and has a sparkly music staff, notes and butterfly. Love it! I like sparkly stuff.. did you know? I mean I admit it... I am kind of girly. I know... you are shocked.

The first thing we had to do the next day was head back to the Opry Mills Mall. Remember I mentioned buying a phone charm? It was a buttefly with pink and white beads for wings and I really liked it. Well that night we discovered one of the beads was already missing. I love it when stuff falls apart 5 minutes after you buy it. PLUS we had bought it from one of those mall Kisok places. Why do I not learn and stay away from those? Of course not knowing the mall that well, we couldn't remember where exactly this one had been. We ended up having to walk more than 1/2 the mall to find it. We find the guy and tell him we bought this yesterday and it has already fallen apart... He says OK, where is the bead... Um does he think I don't own glue? I mean I could have fixed it if that were the only problem. We told him um that is the problem, we have no idea when/where it fell off and it shouldn't fall apart in less than 24 hours. He is VERY reluctant but agrees to give us a replacement. They don't have the same one I like so I picked something else so we could get on with our day. As we are now re-walking 1/2 the mall every other stinking kiosk place is approaching us as we walk by. I HATE that. "Excuse me can I ask you a question?" "Would you like to try our product?" NO I would like to shop in peace. There ought to be a law against these people. I try to answer politely and say no thank you. On this day... they still kept talking... this was REALLY annoying me.. Not feeling real patient. Girl number 15 starts in with me as we are walking by and I said VERY firmly NO thank you. Yes.. there may have been some venom in my voice but my goal was to use my tone of voice to say STOP talking to me. DO NOT continue with your sales pitch. I have had enough of the Kiosk people... Well evidently she got my point because she started saying "wow" about 10 times with this tone to her voice like evidently I was just SO rude to her with my tone. At that moment I very much wanted to go back and let her know my opinon of the Kiosk people and their tactics not to mention the junk they sell... I controlled myself and let it go and kept moving. I was then convicted and concerned maybe I had been rude and owed an apology (and there have been times I've gone back and apologized to people). I asked my husband about it and he didn't think I had done anything wrong. Actually he was upset with the "wow" lady... I mean you cannot win. If you answer politely they continue to try to shove their sales pitch down your throat. If you ignore them or answer like I did then you are rude. So is the only answer to stop and listen and buy their junk? I am going to have to stick on the no thank you and ignoring when necessary rude or not. I have 1/2 a notion to write letters to the mall management asking why they allow these people to rent space and harass their customers. Is it just me?












Next we headed to the Green Hills Mall. Well after we found it we did.... right honey? HA! He didn't get too lost and he did find it eventually. He still gets bonus points. This was the actual day of my birthday and we wanted to go to this mall because the Cheesecake Factory was here. Before eating though we looked around the mall. I took this photo at the Apple Store. Have you ever been to the Apple Store? I swear it always looks like this. The last time we went to the one in Indy there was a waiting line OUTSIDE the store just to get in it was so full of people. Darrel wanted to get a case/armband deal for his new ipod and they have all the cool stuff here and a good selection. He found one he likes but man.. you like have to find a person who isn't busy (good luck with that) to check you out. They have a little register computer thingy in their hands. There are like no registers and check out lines. Cool place.. but crowds are not my favorite thing.














We checked out a book store called Davis-Kidd and I picked up a Vera eyeglasses case in the cupcakes pink for a pair of new sunglasses I have before I mangle them... Ha! We also looked around Fossil, Dillards, Macy's and a few other places.... not too many other places there though because lots of them were like um Tiffany & Co.... very high end... Beautiful mall though. Then we headed back to Cheesecake Factory. This was my dinner. First time I ordered the Spicy Cashew Chicken but NOT the last. Oh my gosh.. it was SO good. I could only eat 1/2 so I had room for cake.



















Darrel told the waitress it was my birthday so they wrote on my plate like they did on our anniversary. Plus there was a candle! OK - lets talk about my hair for a moment shall we? The hotel probably has a water softener right? So my hair was wow so clean and soft and silky... Are you aware this is not always a good thing? We don't have a water softener at home. We have lots of lime and stuff in our well water... leaves some crap in your hair... Did you know this is a good thing? Too silky and soft and um your hair wants to lay flat.... I like my hair to stand up and do what I tell it too.. It needs some of the crap in it to stand up! Ha! So in this picture... was not liking my hair... seemed too flat and um like just laying there! Ha! BUT it is the official birthday picture so we shall embrace it!















Wasn't the plate pretty? It wasn't too pretty to eat though. Had no problem digging right in. SO GOOD. You must have some Chocolate Tower Truffle cake at some point in your life. Trust me.













After we finished at the mall it was about time to head home. We made a stop in downtown Nashville on the way home and walked the main street. This was a view from down by the Cumberland River. I liked the look of the old buildings.



















Nice picture of Darrel by the river. We just took our time and walked and visited a couple of the souvenir shops. I bought a magnet for work so I can look at it and smile and a pink patch that says Nashville in rhinestones. It will either get put on something or added to a Nashville LO. Should I ever actually scrap again....












Thought this was a cool view of the skyline. We had an awesome time. I wished we would have been able to stay a week. Maybe when economy and work hours get better we can go back. I'd love to spend more time and see the hall of fame, and walk of fame, and tons more opry stuff.













OK - I haven't shown you my main gift from Darrel. LOOK. PINK FACE watch. IT has lots of SPARKLY stuff on it. I LOVE IT! I have worn it like every day since he gave it to me. It has a big face and is shiny and pretty and its perfect. I love it! Love it!! He is good. When he had first asked me what I wanted for my birthday I had said I didn't know. After I saw these watches and got to looking at them, I REALLY wanted this watch. I love wearing it with my pink bracelet with all the pearl beads on it that he got me at Easter. The 2 look so cool together!! I missed work on Monday, but when I got back on Tuesday I had more presents waiting on my desk.












My sweet friends left me more pink goodies. Kay found this cool Bible case for me and my friend Lori gave me a Vera (there is that name again...) Frill bag! I LOVE IT! That gift also had the little mini notebook there and a bottle of pink nail polish! PERFECT and love love love it. Then today Lisa came to see me and brought me a scrapbook mystery book. It is signed by the author! How cool is that? I love books and was curious about this one when I saw it on The Scrapbook Tree blog. Now I have my very own. Can't wait to read it.

So... that my friends was birthday week and the big adventure. It was awesome and so much fun. My husband is the best. He not only made it a fabulous and fun week, he celebrated and did stuff with me. Love you so much honey. Thank you for everything. You made every moment special.

Blessings!

The Excellent Adventure Continues

Yes, I know, I went from the big adventure to the excellent adventure. See I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use, so I get to use both this way. I know.. I'm weird... So once we got settled at the hotel we headed for Opry Mills Mall. We decided to enter by the Bass Pro Store that I showed you a picture of yesterday. That store was enormous! If you wanted to hunt it, catch it, track it or eat it... they had something to help you do that. They also had clothes! Girl stuff even. They had a whole line of PINK fishing rods and reels... Plus a big water fall thing and fish in aquarium things. They even had a big screen TV arcade type thing where you could be all manly like and shoot at stuff. Darrel is definitely all manly like and he does like to shoot stuff.. but he declined. I am thinking the $2 price tag for a few minutes might have had something to do with it. I found a great top and tank but decided to walk the mall and wait and get it on the way out if I still wanted it.














Have you ever had a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Caramel Pecan Apple? OH my goodness... if you have not you need to soon. These are one of my absolute favorite things. There are no stores near us and I have literally ordered them via e-mail/fax and had them shipped to us. They are that good. Perfect apples, perfect creamy homemade caramel and fabulous pecans. YUM... They are expensive... I don't care. Yes, that good.














We bought 2. One for later and one to have sliced and share while we walked the mall. I might have eaten slightly more than my 1/2... of course Darrel is too much of a gentleman to point this out and wouldn't tell me now if I asked him.












We did some shopping at the Nike Outlet, Nine West Outlet, and the Naturalizer outlet. Oh and I bought a phone charm for my cell phone from one of those Kiosk people. NOT buying any Kiosk stuff ever again.... that rant will come later. The 2 Nike shirts were 2/$25 and are sleeveless and are the dry wick stuff for exercise. The brown shirt and tank came from the Bass Pro store! They are both a new smaller size for me and I think will fit well by fall. If I am wearing those shirts and a pair of jeans I have set aside that are smaller come September - Well then you will hear the shouting from here as I am celebrating. Trust me. The brown heeled shoes I showed you the other day. Those are the Naturalizer ones. LOVE them. I think my former love for shoes has been reawakened by my newly smaller sized feet! HA! The mules/clogs were at Nine West and were $19.99!! LOVE them. They are very me. I almost bought almost that exact pair at the Bass outlet, but had decided to wait... they were $10 more at Bass!! Yay for waiting! By the end of the day we were at the end of the mall too and we decided to eat at Ramano's Macaroni Grill. It was GOOD. Haven't been there for like 2-3 years. I had Pasta Rustica.












I had to send it back the first time because it was like lukewarm. He said they re-cooked it and it came back somewhat warmer but still not what I would consider hot. I want hot food HOT - you know.. smoking! I wanted to run back in the kitchen and nuke it myself. It was yummy though. I didn't send it back a second time because I wanted to eat dinner with my husband, not one at a time you know? Well Darrel went and told the waiter we were celebrating my birthday and the waiter asked if I liked chocolate cake.... Is that a serious question? Is there someone who doesn't like chocolate cake? Just look at it!














It was GOOD. We have had it before on birthdays and it is always good. PLUS it's free! Free chocolate cake! How can that not be a good thing... (there is one way... we will get to that in a minute too..) So then the waiter asked if I wanted him to sing. I'm like sure! I love that kind of stuff. Why do most people act like no way do I want these people to sing to me? I think its awesome. Well he asked me to wait just a minute and he'd get the other waitress to sing with him, however he was willing to solo. Can you believe it? We had heard another waitress sing to someone else and dang, that girl was ready for opera. We were thinking go get her to sing with you. Well he and another lady came back and sang to me Happy Birthday in Italian. They were GOOD... They even did harmony and everything. It was perfect! We were like wow do you have to pass a singing proficiency test to work here or something? Loved the happy birthday song. The waiter also took our picture for us.













Not too shabby huh? Well it was a perfect end to the day at the mall. I think after that we pretty much walked back to the car. We checked out the Grand Old Opry and stuff after but I will share that tomorrow. See you get daily installments that way... plus I am not loading 100 pictures for your computer to have to load all at once! See good thing!

Now how can free chocolate cake be bad? How about when its 40 yes forty points per piece. Can someone please explain to me how on earth they do that? This was chocolate cake, no icing with some chocolate sauce over the top. They must have used about a million eggs, heavy cream and lots of butter OK to get it to 40. When I make my homemade chocolate cake from scratch with the icing its 7 points per piece. This piece was at least twice as big so I could have seen 14 but 40? It was 1580 calories. Wow. I would just like to see how they make this stuff to turn it into a million points a piece! Dang!!

It was a good weekend and I wanted to have some treats and favorite things. However I still did not allow myself to go "just forget it & don't track your points till Monday." Nope... I've done that before and its the beginning of the end. I needed to track it even though I knew I'd be over because it keeps me accountable. It keeps me thinking about what I am eating and where I am at and where I want to get to. By tracking Saturday, even though it was way over my normal day, I didn't allow myself to then say on Sunday "well, I've already blown it so why bother worrying about it today." Nope, it helped me enjoy but still keep it under control. I was proud of myself. Plus I didn't get to do my regular walking. I missed it. Know what I did do? Darrel looked at me like who are you? We were standing at the hotel elevator looking at tourist pamphlets and I said "where are the stairs?" Our room was on the 4th floor. I went looking for the stairs and chose to walk up 4 flights! 16 months ago I wouldn't have made it up the first flight without huffing and puffing and needing to rest. I did the first 3 flights without too much trouble and had to slow down a bit on the last one. That felt so awesome. Plus twice we were parked way far away and I chose to walk it even though Darrel offered to come pick me up. I even took the opportunity to speed up and walk my normal walking route pace as best I could. I just wanted to do what I could especially when I knew I was eating more.

So today I am on my way home and I am hurrying a bit because we had to go back to the church for a meeting at 7 PM. Darrel was already home so I called his cell to ask him to put in something for dinner. He didn't answer and it went to voicemail. Would you like to know what my voicemail said? "Why are you not answering your phone? When you don't answer your phone, you are forcing me to have to listen to the stinking voice mail lady before I can leave a message.... plus I am currently following the slowest truck ever and he is making me nuts. I was calling you to ask you to start dinner. Now put the kittens down and pick up your phone....ha ha ha " I said this in a very teasing tone of voice. A few minutes later I get a call back and from the ringer I know its him... I hit answer and said "stop laughing!" and am greeted by you guessed it... lots of laughing. I knew my message would make him laugh because my lack of patience often entertains him. He knew I was messing with him... Now I have a question... who knows how to make the stinking voice mail lady be quiet? Is there like a button you can press to shut her up so you can just leave your message? You know the lady I mean... the little voice that tells you this person is not available. If you would like to leave a message please do a..b..c... or if you'd like to leave your call back number press #.. She talks for like 10 stinking minutes. I just want her to shut up so I can leave my message (because evidently I am an old person who leaves voice mails... remember the article) .. But is she even done then? NO... then she starts in with all the instructions for what I can do with my message when I am finished.... by that point I want to tell her what she can do with my message.... Grrrrr See... impatience rears its ugly head once again. Ha!

Well I need to go work and make a grocery list... It's Newsletter week and because of taking Monday off I am way behind... Let's hope I can get done so I can have a Thursday beach day! Blessings!

Birthday Week and a Day...

I know, birthday week is over... but this is what happened today. We spent the weekend in Nashville TN so we never got around to the whole cake and candles thing at home. So tonight after dinner Darrel put all 43 candles on my cake and even sang to me. I was noticing when he sang that he did like the high speed version of Happy Birthday and remembered that I had done the same thing on his birthday. When I asked him why we do that he said it was because there is so many candles for both of us now we were trying to sing quickly before the cake either like caught fire or melted. Ha! Did you notice he even wrote on my cake with pink icing? He did this today while I was in the shower. He is good.. even sneaky and does cool special things the day after the big day. I just love him.. The cake was pretty amazing too. Have I mentioned I love Eclair cake? YEP!














While Darrel was snapping pictures and I was telling him not to because I was in my PJs with no make up and wash and wear hair.... I managed to blow out all but one candle in the first try. Now does that mean I don't get my wish? Cause um it was weight loss related and I'd really like to get my wish... We won't talk about how much smoke there was in the kitchen and again um no smoke alarm! See, we aren't old.













Saturday morning we headed out to Nashville TN. We were thinking the trip would take us about 4 hours. Here we are as we were reaching Henderson. I love the look of the bridges there. I entertained myself in the car and managed for the most part not to sleep. Pretty good for me. I like to read or get on the Internet on my phone.











A mere 3-1/2 hours later we were arriving in Nashville. See the skyline in the distance there? We were staying in the Wingate Hotel by the airport. Check in was not till 3 PM but we had called ahead and they told us we could check in early because the room was not rented before us. We wanted to do that rather than leave laptops, luggage etc. in the car all day while we ran around town. So we get to the hotel and they inform us the room won't be ready for an hour. GRRR what happened to the room being ready early? Evidently they did rent it after they told us that I guess. So we had an hour to kill. We decided to see if we could find Opry Mills mall and drive around a bit and see what else we could find that we wanted to see/do.











We found Opry Mills Mall pretty easily and it wasn't far from where we were staying. This was one of the first things we saw - the Bass Pro store. Very cool on the outside and inside. On the same grounds as the mall, they have left a little of the old Opryland in tact with a Grand Old Opry museum and the Opry house itself. It kind of made me sad. We went to Opryland several times and really liked it. It made me miss it. I wonder why they tore it down? Anyone know? As much as I liked the mall, I would have rather gone to Opryland again.

We drove around town a bit more and then headed back to the hotel to check in. This was our room. OK couple of hotel issues. When we check in they tell us they are having water issues and that it is currently turned off. They said someone hit a sprinkler head and they were getting it worked out and it would be back on shortly. They had told Darrel this on the first stop and when we came back the desk lady said it was back on. Um WRONG. First we get to the room and the key card doesn't work. So we pile our stuff in the hallway and I stay there while Darrel heads back to the desk to get that fixed. He comes back, finally in the room and now the water is off... then on... then off again.... Um this does not make it easy to like go to the bathroom and stuff after 4 hours on the road you know? When we go back down stairs to leave for the day, we ask why is our water still off if they told us it was on? The desk lady then says well it was on over there and points to the breakfast area in the lobby. OK that is really helpful... we will just head down here from the 4th floor every time we need some water... Then this other guy says no, its off, but they are getting it worked out. I said "it will be on for good before tonight right because now would be the time to look for another room." He thinks I mean another room in their hotel like I am too dense to know it is obviously off in the whole hotel. DUH... I said no.. I mean another hotel... He assures me no it will be on... no worries. Not feeling so secure about that. Their fitness room was a shambles. The whole ceiling had like caved in or something. Evidently that was where someone hit the sprinkler. They had water everywhere. That night we did have water in the room, but of course had all this air in the lines and yucky stuff coming out from it being off.

I have a question... why is it you get a nice hotel room, and they brag about stuff like their high thread count sheets and how comfy and luxurious their room is right? Why then do they give you toilet paper and Kleenex that might as well be made out of cardboard. Is it just me? Would buying the Charmin not be in the budget? I am thinking with the price of the rooms they could afford a little Charmin and puffs. Is that asking too much?

What will happen next on Darrel and Deanna's Big Adventure. Will they make it back to the mall? Will they get out of the mall with no more than 2 pairs of new shoes? Where will they eat for dinner? Will they enjoy a special treat from Rocky Mt. Chocolate Factory? Will Deanna lose her patience and deck the mall kiosk girl who kept saying "wow... wow..." Tune in tomorrow for answers to these questions and more as Darrel and Deanna's Big Adventure continues....

Darrel & Deanna's Big Adventure

So day 2 of Darrel & Dee's big adventure and we are on our way home from Nashville TN. We can't afford a big vacation this year and haven't been away in 2 years so this was our chance for a quick get away just us. I have tons to share when I'm not typing on a cell screen....like about hotel water issues, ANNOYING mall kiosk people GRRRR and the JUNK they sell, good food, great shoe sales, and more birthday week stuff! Stuff like a fabulous pink face watch and an itunes card. Tons to share. Will try and post tomorrow. Blessings!

First Date?

So we are sitting and taking this picture and laughing and giggling and goofing around... and this other family walks past us and the Mom is grinning at us the whole time. The Dad looks at us and says "first date?" To which we busted out laughing and I said Yes! Ha! Obviously he knew it was not our first date... it was just too funny and actually a compliment because evidently we looked like we liked each other and were having fun! Ha!















This ladies and gentleman is what the last few hours of being 42 looks like. Darrel took this today at the end of our birthday adventure... It's late and I am tired but I thought I'd give you a few sneak peeks of the day until I can go into more detail hopefully tomorrow. I don't look 42 right? Girls? Anyone? 30 right? Ha! Don't answer that unless you are a good liar!












The day involved some shopping and this fabulous pair of way marked down shoes. They are naturalizer. Marked from $74 to $28! SOLD. And yes... I am sitting here in my PJ's on the bed... and um yep still wearing the shoes. Who says you can't look cute while blogging and wearing your pjs? And yes, if you are wondering they are pink (the pjs) ... well pink and grey. Still counts.. Everything you want to counts on your birthday haven't you heard?















The birthday adventure also involved this fabulous FREE piece of chocolate birthday cake shared with my husband. It was accompanied by a waiter and waitress singing happy birthday to me in ITALIAN complete with harmony. Their song was AWESOME. I think you have to prove you can sing before you get hired as a wait person at this restaurant. (the restaurant was Romano's Macaroni Grill)














While doing some shopping we spotted this hanging from the ceiling. A huge PINK sign proclaiming Happy Birthday! Now how did they know? Did they put that there just for me? I mean it was pink and everything... must be for me don't you think? HA!

There was also a birthday week gift today. I forgot to get a picture... It was a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate caramel squares. LOVE those. It was not pink... Darrel is now lamenting that he did not think to either put a pink bow on the bag or color it in pink with his magic markers... now wouldn't that have just been way tooo funny!

It is currently 12:15 AM on July 19th. I was born around 12:08 AM on July 19th so therefore I guess I am officially the big 43. I received an awesome E-card from a friend that said "This is the day to rejoice in what God has created,this is the day He created you." It went on to share the verse: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24. I never really thought about it quite that way, but what an awesome way that is to think about it don't you think? Rejoice today in what God created and today the thing He created was me. Wow. Thank you Lord for so many blessings and what a cool way to remember and think of my birthday!

Blessings to you my friends! Celebrate the YOU God created today too!