Friday Fill-lns

1. My favorite food seasoning is salt.

2. My children playing and singing is music to my ears.

3. Lucky is having my life run smooth and everything falling into place.

4. Shopping is something I take very seriously!

5. Many people have become extremely narcissistic.

6. Queso dip and Christmas ribbon was the last thing I bought at the store.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to weenie roast with neighbors and trick or treating, tomorrow my plans include haircuts for the boys, a soccer game and a trip to Franklin to visit family and Sunday, I want to do nothing but drink coffee and read!

It's Almost The Weekend!!

Hooray, it is almost Friday. Tomorrow is going to be such a big day! I love all aspects of Halloween..dressing up, candy, trick or treating, and parties. It is going to be a play day from beginning to end. Even though I do have to work, we practically play all day ( I LOVE MY JOB) and get paid great money to do so. I organized a pot luck at work for the therapy staff. We are going to have chili, potato soup, yummy rotel dip (has bunches of extras, not the generic kind), chicken casserole and various other hors devours. If you know me even remotely, you know how much I love to eat.....very hearty appetite. Then it is pumpkin carving time with the Occupational Therapists. At 1:3o, I will be at Michael's school for his Halloween party. I love getting goody bags together for all the kids. I will be putting them together tonight.
At 6 o'clock, we are heading next door for fellowship with other families and a hot dog roast for the kids. Then all the families are going trick or treating together. My neighborhood does not have a lot of houses in it, 14 in all, so we usually migrate to adjacent neighborhoods with lots and lots of houses. One of us will have to stay home because people come into our neighborhood by the truckload, literally. No candy may equal angry children.
Tomorrow will be fun from sun up to after sun down. My excitement can hardly be contained. To top it all off, my mom will be here to help with the festivities. Life is so much easier with her here. She brings a level of patience to the house like one has never seen.
Anyway, more updates later. I may even treat you all with a pic of the front porch and all of it's decorated glory!! Try to contain your excitement!!!! The pumpkin topiaries are a sight to behold!

The Bacchanal

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my first Bacchanal event. Now, if you Googled the definition of this word you may be raising your eyebrows! "A drunken or righteous celebration". It was a celebration and yes some people were drinking heavily. This event is held in town at Spankies. It is an auction to support the Appalachian Craft Center which is an extension of TTU. The students of the center auction their wares for big...big bucks and the money goes directly back into the art portion of the school. Although I did not buy anything (too rich for my blood) it was very entertaining to watch some of the wealthiest people in this town bid against each other. A local artist who lives in Cookeville donated one if his carved and sand blasted (very interesting) wooden bowls. Brad has already been 'discovered' if you will. He even has a piece in the Smithsonian! This particular bowl went for $3100!
They had free food and drink. I did imbibe too much Cabernet but not so much to bid on a necklace I loved that went for $275.
If you do appreciate talent and art please visit Brad's website. You will definitely be impressed with what he does with wood. His wife is also a good friend of mine and is preggers with baby #3. If you visit the site, please let me know what you think of his work. www.bradsells.com

The End of Another Weekend

Yes, another weekend has come to a close. How quick does time go? Friday night was uneventful, Saturday night we went to the Nashville Zoo for a hay ride and trick or treat. We had a wonderful time. Marshall did not go, it was just Michael and I with another friend of mine and her kids. I must admit, although there were a boatload of kids there, it was very organized. You could tell the zoo had done this a few times before. The hayride was a little scary but appropriate..we had the Ice Queen from Narnia as our chaperon. The carousel was great and I rode the tiger which seems fairly apropos since I was dressed as a tiger! All and all, it was a wonderful evening. Michael's soccer game was cancelled so no cold weather for us, therefore, we tortured ourselves with the cold at the zoo! I decided to dress up! Granted, this was an impromptu costume borrowed from a friend of mine,Michael enoyed it. I have included a pic of us. I think we look rather fetching at grandma's house!

Friday Fill-lns

1. Right now, I'm feeling happy my busy week is over and excited about the weekend.

2. Going somewhere fun with my family is where I want to be.

3. How does one juggle so many things and remain calm and sane?

4. Being headstrong keeps me on track.

5. Please don't act like you like me if you don't.

6. My children and my beautiful world fill me with joy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to listening to the rain and staying home, tomorrow my plans include going to the Nashville Zoo for Boo Night and Sunday, I want to piddle around the house.

I Will Survive

I made it. I survived my stomach plague and off to the next stage of my crazy, ridiculous, too much on my plate, life. At this point, I am on two separate committees at my son's school. One...I am in charge of the Cougar Run Photography which will help with part of the 60 thousand dollars we raise annually at our 'private' public school running event. This fundraiser is astounding in what is does for the school. We have so many dedicated and involved parents. It would blow your mind to know the true capacity of this. Only 5% of the children at our school ride the bus, the rest are car riders. These are the parents that are the heartbeat of our school, always there, always willing to lend a hand. We have over 500 students, so this is a really big deal. Working and non-working mom...always there!
I am also on the family involvement committee. (should that be capitalized?? who cares!!) We are holding an Olympic style theme in February. The kids will participate in 5 "Olympic Type" activities and then get to design their own medal. This is where yours truly gets involved. I am in charge of the medals...which by the way is going to eat almost all of the budget for this entire event. We are going to order almost 1000 'make your own' medals. The kids participate in 5 events and then make their own medals. I get to call hundreds of moms, coordinate 2 shifts of 4 within 5 separate grades.....whoooopeeee!!! The meeting on that was today at 8:15a.m. Off to work at 8:45 a.m., my children's pics for Christmas at 3:45 p.m. with a local photography ( Amy Callahan) who is awesome and I love.
After that, off to Crawdaddy's to celebrate my eldest son's good grades. 4 A's and 2 B's. I'll take it. Crawdaddy's is a wonderful Cajun restaurant in this town...hard to believe....if you are ever here, this is a must. Michael loves this place. He gets Gator Bites for an appetizer, shrimp n fries for entree, and today he ordered a cheesecake with raspberry drizzle for dessert. I personally got 2 glasses of house Cabernet because I felt like I deserved it!!! CHEERS!!!!

Perfect Timing, My Personal Trifecta

You have all heard someone say the perfect trifecta. Usually it is in reference to something good like a horse race. My personal one is not so good. I woke up this morning around 1a.m. feeling 'weird'. You know, the weird...oh, crap...I am getting sick weird!! My stomach felt horrible but when the alarm went off I drudged into the bathroom to start getting ready. That is the first of the perfect three, me feeling like death on a stick!
I had to go to work today...HAD TO. No I am not so narcissistic to believe it can't run without me but Tuesdays are different. This is the day we evaluate all aspects of every patient to give report to the doctor on Wednesday. Oh, and we were also going live with our computer documentation. This is the second of my 'perfect storm'.
Mike informs me half way through my day that he has the same sickness. It hard enough to run a household with one sick parent.....try two sick parents! This is my third.
I have been home in bed since 1:00 pm and starting to feel better. I am starving, which is always a good sign but my head is killing me. The kids are in the tub which is virtually free entertainment and off to an early bed time they go. I am ready to start tomorrow anew!