Today, I helped my friend Yvette throw a baby shower for our friend Ronda.  One of my very important duties was to bring the balloons.  Let me just tell you, driving in the car with a dozen balloons is much harder than I imagined.  I felt like they were following me around just waiting to pop in my ear.... There was only one casualty....RIP little lavender balloon. 

Here's a picture of me, Ronda and Yvette.

And here's another picture of our guest of honor smiling.  Ronda is always smiling...except for when she isn't.

I have to admit that most of my pictures didn't turn out that great (too dark).  You will be glad to hear that my photography class starts next week and hopefully the quality of the pictures on this blog will improve.  :-)  

Here's someone we see on here frequently...my friend Christy:

And here she is with our friend Katie who came all the way from Tennessee to attend Ronda's shower.  Well, and to spend the Memorial Day weekend with her. 

Now for some random shots.  I'm so disappointed that some of the pictures are too dark to post. 

(Insert frowny face here!!!)

Here's a picture of Donnie taking of picture of me taking a picture.

Ronda and her husband, Scott, have 2 daughters.  They don't yet know the gender of this baby-to-be so we made sure to cover all of the bases:

Yvette designed this cake for the bakery.  Not only did it look fantastic, it tasted AWESOME!  Half of the cake was chocolate and the other half was white cake.

Best wishes to Scott, Ronda and the girls!  We all can't wait to meet this new little one. 

At the Movies

Room by room Scott is finishing our basement.  Until now, the only finished room in the basement has been the exercise room (which I really need to frequent more often... especially, since I now have 2 months to lower my cholesterol and triglycerides before my annual physical).  Anyhow, this weekend, Scott has almost finished his home theater room.  Here are some before and after photos.  Here he is painting and priming the walls:

He also put in hardwood floors

In case you are wondering, the color is Theater Red.  :-)  

And here is his almost finished man cave.  Last night he invited his friend Eric, and my brother, to his premiere showing.  I didn't even have to ask what they were going to watch; The Empire Strikes Back. 

Here's a picture of Scott watching Avatar 

I want to make sure and give proper credit to Scott's Uncle Ken for all of his help.  He spent many-a-weekend with Scott working hard on that room.  Thank you Ken!!!! And an extra special thanks for the excellent sound-proofing job you guys did.  I can't really hear it upstairs and trust me...it is LOUD!

Now maybe I will have the upstairs to myself more often!

Wounded Wednesday

My friend Lorraine asked me what I was going to post for Wordless Wednesday and when I told her about my day she said I should call it "Wounded Wednesday" so, here it is.

My day started out with a trip to the dentist for 2 fillings.  Three weeks ago, I left my 6 month cleaning appointment baffled at how I could have 2 cavities.  That night I fell asleep on the couch and was so sleepy when I woke up that I went straight to bed.  I then realized what I had done and got right back up and brushed my teeth.  I have a feeling I've been doing that more than I care to admit.  I learned my lesson; I haven't gone to bed without brushing my teeth ever since! 

Going to the dentist is hard enough for a "normal" person but for someone who has struggled with panic disorder for most of her life, being trapped in "the chair" is no walk in the park.  I survived though.  I didn't enjoy the taste of the numbing cream or the sound and smell of the drill but, it is over and I vow to be the best teeth brusher in the whole world!

This is my brother's dog Sophie.

She's the reason that I have poison ivy all over my body.  Sophie is the world's most hyper dog but she's also the world's most fun dog so I have to pet her.  Every summer she gives me poison ivy.  Her invisible fencing spans about 2-3 acres and part of that is wooded so there's really no way to fight it.  Oh well, I guess she is worth it.  Ask me again at the end of the summer.

Scott told me that this is poison oak.  Does anyone know if he is right?  

They are "leaves of three". 

And finally, I have some sad news to report.  I was excited to tell you that some of momma bird's eggs had hatched.  She was so proud of her babies because she yelled at me last night when I tried to take a picture.  I had decided that I wasn't going to bother them anymore.  Tonight, when I walked out my front door, I was heartbroken to see that something had gotten to her nest.  It was laying across my front porch with eggs strewn all about.  The babies were missing.  I was so sad that I sat down and started to tear up. Next year I will not plant anything until after baby season is over; if there is a baby season.

Well, the good news is that Greta can now sit on the front porch again.  

MS Walk

Yesterday was our community's annual walk for MS.  MS has touched the lives of two of my good friends; Christy & Trey.  I, along with a group of friends, walked in honor of Christy and Trey AND to help find a cure.  Here I am in full walking attire:  

Don't worry Mom.  That milky white skin is covered with a very high SPF.  Here's a picture of Christy & Sandra (Trey's wife).  Trey couldn't make it this year; he had to work. 

Last but not least, Deanna and Craig.  (Just teasing Deanna)  

Thousands of people spent their Saturday morning fighting the heat and walking for a cure.  Here we are standing around waiting for the walk to begin:

Doggy Village

You were given a choice of whether you wanted to take a 2 or 4 mile route.  Naturally, we chose the 2 mile route!  Thankfully our route was shaded almost the entire way. 

And we're off!  Check out that cute little Bullfrog in front of me (Deanna).  I spent most of the walk looking at the back of her head.  She and Craig led us the whole way. 

You can't really tell from the size of this picture but the line of walkers starts WAY ahead of where we are

And looking behind us, there are hundreds more... (If you really want to see you can click on the picture to enlarge.)

We are walking...

After we completed the walk, Craig took a picture of of the hot and tired girls!  

Time to go home and take a nap!  See you next year at the 2011 MS Walk. 

The New Car Post

Monday night I bought a new car.

It was a little dark outside when I took the picture so if you are wondering...it's a black (not blue) Honda CR-V.  We drove the Explorer to the dealership Monday night; praying that we would make it without breaking down.  SLOWLY but surely we made it and this is what I bought.  I love it!  It is so strange having such a smooth ride.  Here's the best part of the story.  Look what I still have:

They only offered us $300 for it so we brought it home.  Slowly.  I think that we are going to try to find a cheap transmission for it and see if Scott can use it on his weekly trips to Lowe's to haul "stuff".

Several weeks ago, I bought several plants and planted them in my planter pot.  That's a tongue twister!  Anyway, I did a great job and they looked so pretty.  Actually, I did a pretty good job and they looked pretty good.  About 2 weeks ago, I went to water my flowers and noticed that they were looking pretty sad.  Then I realized that a bird had rearranged my plants, threw some of them out, and built a nest.  Here's the "pot" looking rather sad:

Here's the nest

I wish you could see what an awesome job "momma" did on this nest.  It is move-in ready.  A couple of days later I went to water my plant and this is what I found:

An egg!  The next day I looked and there were 2 eggs.  The next day 3.  The next day 4.  This went on until I found 7 eggs in the nest!  There was also a broken egg on the ground.  It had been in the nest previously but then I guess momma threw it out.  Today, there are 6 eggs in the nest and one right outside of it.  Let me show you a few of the pictures I took.

And here is the lone casualty (that I know about)

I haven't been able to get a picture of momma bird because every time I look in and see her there she flies out and scares the bejezus out of me.  This is what momma looks like:

Let me give credit to National Geographic for this picture.  I could not possibly take as good of a picture as National Geographic.  National Geographic rocks.  Please don't sue me National Geographic for using your picture.  I just wanted to show my friends a picture of the Carolina Wren living in my planter pot.  :-)  

According to what I have read online, the eggs should hatch in 14 days.  That means that I should be having bird babies some time this weekend.  I just pray that no creatures mess with these little babies.  I can't wait to see them.  However, when they are born, Greta will not be allowed to take anymore trips on the front porch!  

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  

Wait.  The back of that picture said 1988.  That was Mother's Day 1988 or before (depending on when I got my film developed).  I totally remember that mug.  I went through a phase where I got mom a coffee cup from Hallmark every year.  She still uses all of the ones that haven't broken yet. Let me try again and see if I can find a more recent Mother's Day picture.  OK - we're good.  After church today, everyone came to my house for lunch.  At one point, we had a baby and a cat under the table...

This picture of Rana makes me laugh.  She didn't know I was taking a picture until the last millisecond.

 Laura and Daniel helped Mom open her presents

Daniel wants a closer look at that one...

So here's to my Mom.  Mom, you are the best mom I have ever had.  I love you. 

My gosh, that fat baby has a giant head. 

OK...Speaking of Mother's Day, this has nothing to do with Mother's Day.  My friend, Michael, of  Michael and Jill fame, offered to blur out the license tag in the picture of Sadie in the back of my truck so that I could show the picture of Sadie in the back of my truck.  Try saying that sentence 3 x fast.  I'd like to shout out props and a giant "Word" to Michael.

Seems like yesterday...

And I promise that this week I will show pictures of the bird that has built a nest in my flower pot.  There are 7 eggs. I have pictures of all of the eggs but every time I try to take a picture of momma, she flies away with a really mad look on her face. 

Update:   If any of you read this post earlier...this photo is new.  Michael sent me a new photo of Sadie in her truck.  Can you spot the difference?  Thanks again, Michael.