Tender Mercies

My weekend did NOT go as planned. But I'm happy to have stronger testimony of the Lord's concern for my family (and all the things I worry about) as a result! 

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for showing me your love in simple but profound ways. 

I'm excited about Lindsey's new friend coming to visit, going with my family and my mother to the Atlanta Temple open house on Saturday, and celebrating the miracle of Easter on Sunday. 

What a great week this promises to be.

His Sacred Name - An Easter Declaration

I liked to a-died!

So the other day I said to my kids, "You young'uns get in here and fix y'uns a plate!" Just trying it out, you know, as it's been a long time since words like that got to roll around on my tongue. Riley had absolutely no idea that I was telling him dinner was ready. I repeated it twice; still, no clue.

How I miss hearing those little expressions! They wrapped me up in the warmth and security of family during my childhood. Maybe I understood that they were old-fashioned, but I never knew until recently that there would be a time in my life when I would ache to hear them again.

Just a few things I want to remember from my eastern TN / north GA roots:

"a'body" - someone (Can't a'body stand it.)
"liked to" - almost (I liked to a'died!)
"least 'un" - youngest sibling (That least 'un needs a bath.)
"of a'day" - every day (I make beans of' a'day and eat them for supper.)
"sweet milk" - not buttermilk (Put some sweet milk on your cereal.)
"thow" - throw (He thowed a rock and it hit the house.)
"whoopin'" - whipping
"Cut me a hickory (or a switch)" - You're about to get a whoopin'!
"a'hold" - take in hand (Get a'hold of that tooth and pull.)
"come up" - grew up (I come up with 2 sisters.)
"about to bust" - ate too much
"ill" - bad-tempered (He's always ill when he loses sleep.)
"hen apples" - eggs
"okra" pronounced "okree"
"wasn't" pronounced "wutton"
"wash" pronounced "worsh"
"wire" and "fire" pronounced "war" and "far"
"Coke" for any carbonated drink, but "Co-cola" for "Coke"
"like" for "lack" - (I liked 2 dollars, or I would have had enough.)
"Hush!" - a command to be quiet
"Law!" as an expression, instead of using the Lord's name
"directly" - soon (I'll be there directly or "dreckly.")
"mash" - apply pressure to (Mash the button.)
"waspers" - flying stinging insects

I'm reading a great book (Bloodroot by Amy Greene) and it has put my in a nostalgic mood. Makes me feel like I'm sitting on my Granny's lap, listening to her talk to one of her sisters.

Valentine's mushiness

All I need is the air that I breathe and to love you.

Well, that, and the trash taken out.

I would really love to have the trash taken out.

Kidding! I adore my Valentine sweetheart. Just when I think "This is it, we have officially settled in to boring old married life," (to which we are entitled, after all!) we spend an evening in bed watching the Grammies. Nobody can make me laugh like Scott. And to see how much it pleases him to entertain me, how he works at it, well. That's just plain sexy. I can't believe I get to have this man around forever.

Below is the song I can't stop listening to.
Reminds me of our courtship.

The Avett Brothers - Laundry Room

http://listen.grooveshark.com/s/Laundry+Room/3F5MNS?src=5

Krafty Kids (made kuter by the letter k!)

Avery and her friend, possibly inspired by the nonstop Cake Boss marathon we usually have running on Netflix, came up with this wonderful little garden-themed beauty using the friend's cake mix, fondant and gum paste.

Budding domestic divas, I think!

Riley spent two days at home this week (strep, lucky kid) and took advantage of the time by making his Valentine mailbox for school. He covered it with leftover Christmas wrapping paper. Of course I didn't tell him that's what it was. Better to let him think he has resourceful mom who had the foresight weeks ago to help him make his precious little box.

Now for the cards. Wouldn't it be sweet to do some homemade valentines together, his little hands carefully crafting each one?

Well, we're not doing that.

Instead, we're going to Walmart to look for the Lick'em Sticks mini-packs with a "to" and "from" box on the front, which qualifies them as a valentine suitable for a classmate. Sigh. Maybe I can get Avery to do something charming and lovely.

Man, I used to love Valentine's Day in elementary school. So many nice little notes to look over at the end of it all, my name on every single one. Not a single Tootsie Pop among them, and they were still special.

Off topic: Admire Cate Blanchett all you want in that picture on my last post, but here is the reality of forty and female in my world. Ha!

Happy Birthday, Tammy!

Dear Forty, why are you so scary?

Ahhhhhhhh!

My bff turned forty over the weekend, and I am NOT far behind.

Just putting it out there.

I always thought by forty I would be SO together, so wise, so unaffected. I promised myself to not worry about wrinkles (interesting!), gray hair (chic!), lagging energy (yoga!), etc. Turns out I'm a lot more superficial than I had imagined.

I started looking up pictures of celebrities over forty to try and give myself a role model (in the looks department, anyway), someone I could emulate in some way. Of course I found a bunch of a) red carpet, or b) paparazzi-in-the-bushes bikini shots, neither of which left me with the illusion that natural beauty exists if you're a movie star. Then I came across Cate Blanchett, looking semi-normal and maybe even untouched by plastic surgery.

I like her.

You know, I'm banking on this being one one of those "the anticipation is worse than the event" sort of deals, this turning forty thing.

Yep, I'll bet once April 26th has come and gone, I will be the satisfied, confident, joyful woman-of-a-certain-age I was meant to be. Sounds good. Yeah, I think I'm gonna bet on her.

On the news, y'all!

Lindsey and I were schlepping around UGA one day before classes started, walking her class schedule so she would know where everything was. Out of nowhere comes a CNN reporter, who starts asking us questions about the Hope Scholarship and how changes might affect us. So now we're famous...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/studentnews/01/17/transcript.tue/index.html

The funny thing was, I heard about it from Chattanooga friends, but I don't think anyone here saw it. Why they aired the clip in Tennessee, I have no idea.

It's funny that our answers were selected, because after we walked away from the reporter, I said "There's no way they're going to use what we said!"

Snowpocalypse

Okay, so with the blogging thing, I'm realizing that there are posts that are somewhat inspired, and then there are things that I just feel like I should document. This is the latter. I am sick, sick, sick of talking about the snowstorm we had last week, but for posterity's sake...

Our snowlady, Vivian. She may be named after our elf's mom (Elf-on-the-Shelf "Taylor" left a note one night about his parents, Vivian and Sherm), or she may be named after Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman.

The hysteria started to creep in at this point.

How did I cope? I cooked for three days. I kept worrying that we would lose power, so I boiled eggs, baked cookies and bread, and made 3 different kinds of soup.

The Athens area got hit with 7-9 inches of snow, with freezing rain making a nice crusty layer on top just to keep things fun. We were pretty much house-bound for 3 days, not a snow plow in sight, and the kids now have 5 days of school to make up.

Oh, see our pretty room at Christmas? Lindsey decorated for a dinner party and I think we might leave the lights up for a while.
My dining room, a cantina!