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!

Farewell 2010

A long December
And there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last.
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself
To hold on
To these moments as they pass
(Counting Crows)

My theme for 2010.

My dad's loss was the most painful for me, but he was not the only one. Holiway's sister Margaret and her husband Bud, Scott's aunt Robin and uncle Donald, Richard Boone's wife Priscilla, Scott's friend Brian. We're both a little tired of saying goodbye at funerals.

So much to be thankful for, however. Our family is well, we are getting better all the time, we have all that we need and a little extra besides, and I am a happy, happy person. I hope that in the coming year I will discover more of what my Heavenly Father has in his plans for me and that those I love will uncover more joy in their lives. It's our time and I want to make the most of it!

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. (Charles Schultz)

The Sheep Herd by Sister Mariella

I am a shepherd-I have hated
The smell of damp sheep in the rain,
The pain
Of clouted shoes on weary feet,
The silly barking of watchdogs in the night,
The blinding light
Of summer suns on hillsides without shade.
Nor anything I did not wish was not
From hoar-frost on the meadow grass
To dizzy stars that blinked on stupidly and bright.

Last night
I went with other men who tended sheep
Over to Bethlehem to see-
We did not know just what we'd come to see
Who'd followed up a cloud of singing wings.
Until we came to where a young girl held
A little baby on her lap and smiled.

She made me think of flowers,
White flowers on long stems and blue night skies.
Nothing happened -
But today
I have been shaken with the joy
Of seeing hoar-frost wings
Atilt upon tall grasses; the sun
Upon the sheep, making their gray backs white
And silvery
Has hurt me with its beauty, and I heard
The sound of barking watchdogs break
The tolling bells against the quiet hills.