Rockin' my world!

Guess who is now 4 months old?

"Haylee Kate"

Ready for a "Girl's Day Out" with her Mom.

Good Morning world!

 Going to church.

Cruisin'.

Sweet Feet!

~Sweet Tea, aka "YaYa"

Right here. Right now.

I've been told I "shoot from the hip" and I'm a "straight talker".

Thank you very much.

I talk about all sorts of things on this blog, but I seldom talk about my faith.  No, I'm not gonna start preaching or throwing out judgement like it's candy on Halloween, but I am gonna start posting, once a week, what I'm thinking about as it relates to my faith.  I hope you find it interesting, and maybe even helpful or inspirational, just as I do.

Here's what's speaking to me
"Right Here.  Right Now".

I'm just a girl who can't say NO!

"I'm just a girl who cain't say no,
I'm in a terrible fix -
I always say "come on, let's go",
just when I oughta say NIX"!

Do you recognize this song from the musical, "Oklahoma"?  I'm originally from Oklahoma and boy does this song ring true to me these days.

"I just can't say no to . . ."

I've gotta find a way to "step away from the sweets", but that's not happened in a very long while.

Can I get an "Amen"?

Just wondering, "Are you a healthy eater?"

Do you eat your greens and lots of colorful antioxidant rich foods on a regular basis?  Do you seldom eat sweets?  Are you aware of your fiber intake, etc. etc. etc.  I would love to be a "Health Nut", and I mean that in the most respectful way.  I wonder how one begins that process?  BTW, I accept "anonymous" comments, just sayin. . .

Crystal Ball Gazing

"What are you doing the rest of your life? 

North and south and east and west of your life? 

I have only one request of your life

That you spend it all with me."

    ~Legrand/Bergman/Bergman

Does anyone remember this old Streisand song?
I've always loved Streisand music, still do.

Mister and I have been having this very conversation more often as of late.  When we moved to Louisiana 9 years ago it was our plan to live here until he retired, then to move back to Oklahoma, where we are from.  It never occurred to us that we would fall in love with Louisiana and want to stay here.  Then it happened - we love it here!  So we began to think that perhaps we would simply stay here in our new "comfort zone".  Now, considering our issues with Mom, we see the importance of living near at least part of one's family, if at all possible.  Sooooooo, we have the "where should we plan our future" conversation with more frequency.  We still have several years before we need to make this BIG decision. 

When you look through your crystal ball where do you think you'll be living in 10 years?  Are you firmly planted where you are, or do you foresee a possible change of location for you?

Picture Perfect

July 4, 2013

Very few days in life are "picture perfect"

but this one was.

I'm very thankful for good friends to "do life with".

I'm also thankful to have spent the holiday with my Mom.

July 3 1/2

I made a Lemon Drop cake to take to a 4th of July potluck at our friend's home tomorrow.  I've never made this exact recipe before but I figured with all the yummy ingredients it was bound to be good.  I'll let ya' know.  It's not fancy but I'm hoping taste trumps "beauty".

I also made a BIG pasta salad - no photo as it's still in the making.

I've got "Loreal', light brown" marinating on my hair at the moment as I blog and sip me some rum punch.  Yes Ma'am it is a good day!

That said, the house is a little too quiet for my taste.  Lil' Mama, Haylee Kate, and Lil' Daddy left here this morning bound for the lake to visit with his grandparents for the holiday.  I hated to see them "head out" but the grandparents love HK, as well as Lil' Mama, so I'm glad they get to spend some time with them.  It wouldn't be nice for me to be stingy, now would it?


Enough about me - what are you doing for the 4th of July?
I know many people work on the holiday and if you are one of them please know you are appreciated by me, and many others.  Some of you will travel and I pray that angels ride your bumpers (or your wings), whichever may be the case.  If you are enjoying the water please be safe - and remember the sunscreen.  I think of those wonderful people who are serving our great country at this moment.  May God bless you for your service and your sacrifice.  Really.  I pray BIG blessings for them and their families!!

All for little ol' me!

I've been home from our trip long enough to get the laundry done and get back into a regular rhythm around the house.  While doing this it dawned on me that I forgotten to tell you just how FRIENDLY the people of Washington, DC were.  All over town I saw people wearing this shirt.

"I Love Debbie Cabbott".

It really wasn't necessary,
but I appreciated the gesture.

Do you want a GOLD STAR?

What a treat it was to take two of our Granddolls on a vacation to Washington, DC.  Don't know who was the most excited, me and Mister, or the two girls. (?)  Here are some highlights of our trip.  (I can hear you sighing. LOL)

In the Tulsa International airport waiting  to "board".  This was the first flight for the girls.

Seat belts were buckled and they were ready for "take-off".  The youngest granddoll had not been able to sleep for the two previous nights because she was soooooo excited about the trip.

This is what she did on the flight.

Not bad digs, huh?

Who knew that Abe was alive and wandering the streets of DC?

Part of the WWII Memorial

The girls and I posing with Eleanor Roosevelt.  This was actually one of my very favorite memorials - very well done.  Eleanor is the only first lady to have a public statue of herself.  (Yep, learned that on the tour.)  The memorial was small, but very moving.

The Capitol.

Notice the iron fence that blocks the steps.  Very sad it has come to this.  When I say we had to walk a mile, uphill to enter from a back entrance, I am not exaggerating.  Then we went  through a security check which is the same type you go through at the airport.

This is the view from the back porch at Mount Vernon.  Awesome to know that George Washington and Martha sat here and enjoyed the same view of the Potomac River.

I don't like to name drop, BUT, I actually met George and his step-daughter Lizzy.

We had great fun at The Kennedy Center.

The play we saw was an upbeat, interactive, comedy, "who-dun-it" type.  We all loved it!

The Pentagon Mall.

Four stories tall - need I say more?!

We had some time for silliness along the way.

And we also had some time for 4 small cups of ice cream (1 1/2 scoop ea.) to the tune of $25!

It was a memory-maker type of trip and I'm so very thankful it all worked out where we could go.  Lil' Mama and Haylee Kate stayed home alone for the entire week.  Lil' Mama is taking a summer college class and she managed to care for HK, go to class, maintain the house, and even arranged for a babysitter while she was in class.  She was very proud of herself for this accomplishment, and we are proud of her also.  I KNEW she could do it, and now she knows she can too - a great confidence builder.  Mom is back with us now after spending a month with my Sister, so we are getting back into the routine.  The fact that it's Summer    makes me think I can deal with anything that comes my way!

*If you read this entire post you get a GOLD STAR!

Very Special Day

Saturday was the Graduation Luncheon for Lil' Mama, and to my thinking it was PERFECT; perfect because we got to share our joy with some very special friends.  We invited 6 very special women who have loved, supported, encouraged, prayed, and "stood in the gap" for Lil' Mama during her high school years.  Every one we invited was able to attend - "YAY"!  We were excited to share this happy occasion with them since they have "so-been-there-for-us", and God only knows how much we love and appreciate each one of them.  I could actually go around the table and tell you how each of them has "spoken" into our life, but your eyes would blur from all I'd need to write, so just suffice it to say that these gals are all very special indeed.

Here's a few photos from our Luncheon at the Glenwood Tea Room.

Congratulations, Baby Girl!
You did it!!
Happy Graduation!!

a "Quickie"

We are having a small graduation luncheon for Lil' Mama.  Looking forward to sharing the moment with a few close friends who have encouraged and helped us reach this happy day.  You can be sure I'll share some photos with you after the occasion, but today we did a crafty little project preparing take-home favors.  It was a "quickie" project and we had fun putting it together.

Here's the idea we took straight from Pinterest.
(a BIG cookie placed inside a CD envelope)

We expanded on the idea just a little
to glam it up just a bit.

Here's our finished project.
Cranberry shortbread cookie & tea

they can snack on later.

Damage Control

Things are not always as hopeless as they seem.

Wah! Lah!

I baked a cake, topped it with marshmallows

and promptly forgot it was under the broiler.

Smoke billowed from the oven.

RUINED!!

Lil' MaMa came along.

Scrapped the burned marshmallows off,

replaced them with new ones

and placed it all back into the oven

for a few minutes.

Damage control complete -

The.Cake.Was.Mah-ve-lous!

"Thank You, Lil' Mama!"

"Implosion" averted.

I am smelling a lot like self-tanner these days.  Do you think it's because I'm wearing self-tanner?

The "List" (for Mister) is still  in effect.
This List has 6 points on it.  Mister is now through 3 1/2..  I have high hopes that Mister is gonna' ace this list.  WOO!  HOO!  What a good Mister I have!!

I have given up on ever having a clean house again.  When there is so much going on under one roof it is an impossibility.

Lil' Mama attended her first college class Thursday.  So proud of her "moving forward" with her education.  I am working on a few details for her high school graduation luncheon. We are having the luncheon at a local Tea Room which means there is not much I need to do to prep.  I am the "Queen of Short-cuts" these days.  BTW. this is an unsolicited endorsement for the online company, "Zazzle".  We ordered Lil' MaMa's graduation announcements and her luncheon invites from them - adorable and they ship quickly.  I've used them before and am always beyond pleased with them.  Just thought you'd want to know in case you're ever needing such things.

I miss my adult kids - sure wish we all lived together in a commune closer so I could see them as often as I'd like.  *whine*  I wish it was a law that families couldn't live beyond a mile from each other.

Thanks for reading - I had the need to "ramble" or I was gonna implode.  *wink*

10 Things I Love About June

10 Things I LOVE about June!

1. Vacation
2. Warm weather
3. Flip Flops
4. The smell of mown grass
5. Porch flowers
6. Ice Cream Floats
7. Bare feet
8. Honeysuckle
9. School's Out
10. Summer has arrived!!