Weekend Recap

I'm borrowing from Tracy and listing a few random things about my weekend.

1. I cleaned out the closet in the back bedroom and reorganized everything in it. (I like to organize.)

2. I did not not clean out and organize the front closet in our bedroom because it just seemed like too big of a project. I know my weekend limits.

3. I went to Target Saturday morning for a few groceries and was there for an hour and a half. I got sidetracked looking at all the girl's clearance stuff for my niece, Abbie. And then I strolled through the bedding section and before I knew it, it was time to get home for...

4. I watched the Yankees spank the Chicago White Sox 10-0.

5. I cooked hamburgers for supper Saturday night and hung out with Jay-Baby before I retreated to my room while Jay, Mickey and Bryan did the whole UFC thing.

6. I went to Church Sunday morning, heard a terrific sermon, and kept 3 precious babies in the nursery.

7. I took 2 naps.

8. I washed clothes.

9. I painted my finger and toe nails.

10. I was thankful for all God's blessings.

Hmmm

I don't know if it was her




or her


but somebody pooted.

***Edited to add: Kerrie, I'm positive it wasn't Jay because he wasn't home yet and I'm pretty sure I would have known if it was me.

Our Government at Work

Jill: This is another guest post from Hubby.

Hubby: It seems my lovely bride has "typer's block" once again so I volunteered my efforts. For those of you who aren't from these parts, the county of Jefferson in which we live is cash-strapped, defunk, and whose problems I feel began when it was once run by a commision headed by the now criminally indicted mayor of the great city of Birmingham...Larry Langford.

All that being said, I found myself in need of a tag for the aforemetioned motorcycle I typed about in my previous guest post. The photo below is a shot of roughly 15, no joke, of the probably 800+- people who were at the courthouse today to get their auto tag issued, transferred, or renewed.



The county had at work to handle this mass influx of tag-seekers, 2 well trained, highly motivated employees who moved like a bowl of Mrs. Butterworth's finest on a cold winter day.

I arrived at 650am at the BACKDOOR of the courthouse where already a line of 37 had gathered (I was #38). I felt good about my placement, however I knew there was an equally lengthy line building at the front door of the courthouse...probably actually longer. At 8am the doors opened and the fun began. By 820am I'm through the metal detector and on my way to the revenue office to join the line of (I shortly found out) 65 others who beat me to the merging line indoors (I was #66). I stood at this location for 1hr and 10 min when I was allowed in the doors of the revenue office. This is where the "people organizers" (like at rides at amusement parks) were set to take people about 15 yards (45ft) to the left and then return roughly 20 yards (60ft) to the location I referred to as the "batter's box". The 105ft journey took 4 hours!

It is truly an embarrassment to know I live in a county that allows it's residents to be treated this way! What bothers me more, however, is the fact I believe the county is allowing this due to the 1.5% occupational tax being voted down and that has cut into their budget. This tax brought in millions of dollars for the county and, as I understand, was to be used for schools, roads, etc...but was actually being used to pay the salaries of many county employees. The courthouse is so crowded each day due to the satellite offices being closed. This means everyone in the most populated county in the state visit this location for all tag, license, permit, etc...functions.

Anyways, since I'm sure I've bored all who might be reading this to sleep, I left 6.5 hours later (130pm) without a tag, without the title transfer being input, and $4 poorer due to the 4 trips I had to make to the parking meter. How ironic would it have been if while standing in line to get a tag for my motorcycle, I get a ticket for meter expiration AND not having a tag?

I arrived home around 155pm, enjoyed the remainder of the Fritos' (I love them), and later went on a late afternoon/early evening ride on my bike. Pretty good day overall...many people would feel it was a wasted day but to have several hours where I wasn't overwhelmed by work calls on my cell phone, it was almost all worth it.

The good news is I will return to the courthouse for my tag as soon as I receive some necessary paperwork from my bike's previous owner.

I'll get there this time at 6am...or maybe earlier. Wish me luck!

Jill: Oh my word - can you believe he has a good attitude about that! I would have wanted to put my fist through a wall and would complain about it for days (maybe years)!

Birthday Recap

I have to say, my birthday weekend turned out pretty good. It actually started on Friday at work. JG made me a DELICIOUS blackberry cobbler which I ate for breakfast with some vanilla ice cream and MC took me to lunch at my favorite chinese restaurant. Jay and I spent a relaxing night together.

I was lazy getting up Saturday and then decided out of the blue to go get my hair done. Thankfully, there was an appointment open and two hours later, I walked out with warm chocolate brown hair with caramel highlights. (It sure beats my dark brown hair with white highlights!)

I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. When Jay got home from work we headed over to Jill & Mickey's for a mini birthday party. Their girls had decorated the front door and a cookie cake. Too cute. We had a great time.

Church was great on Sunday. We only had one baby in our nursery class so I left early and headed over to my Mom & Dad's for my birthday lunch with the family. It was great. My mom made me cabbage & sausage (my fave!) and cooked me an apple cake!

Several people have asked what Jay got me for my birthday. We usually don't do birthday gifts but for some reason Jay felt compelled to get me a book. In particular, this book.

NOW! I need to give you a little background information. I think it may have been our first Valentine's Day as a married couple that Jay gave me this:

You might think this was an innocent little gift IF you didn't know that we had been fighting like cats and dogs (maybe more like vampires and werewolves!) for months. We definately didn't adjust well to married life. It's funny when I hear people refer to the first year of marriage as the honeymoon stage. HA! This book did nothing but to infuriate me. I basically felt like he was giving me a book about learning how to be nicer to him. Needless to say, the gift didn't go over well AT ALL!

Now, 10 and a half years later.... I've matured - somewhat :) I didn't immediately assume that the book was his way of telling me I needed to lose weight. He saw it after I got The 30 Day Shred workout DVD and knew I loved The Biggest Loser. I really thought it was sweet.

Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes!

They say it's your birthday...

Today is my 35th birthday. I know, I know... I'll let you know how it turns out!

Alicia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICIA!!!!

You will forever be my "favorite friend". I hope you have the most wonderful day and I miss you soooo much!

I need your help

I can barely type this post because my arms feel like they weight 549 pounds a piece and slight tremors are running up and down them. I curse her name and blame

All I can say is this better live up to the hype because it would be a cryin' shame to go through all this and not see some results.

Also, I have a gripe. What is it with some men? I was driving home from work today and as usual, I got stuck at the longest light in the history of the world. You know how you sometimes get that feeling that someone is staring at you? I looked over to my right and this man was staring at me, shaking his head up and down and mouthing "oh yeah". Seriously. How can it be possible that someone's son, brother, daddy can act like this?

Obviously, I did nothing but be thankful I had my sunglasses on and stare straight ahead until the light mercifully changed. I wish I had been brave enough to pick my nose or quick enough to mouth something really witty back.

My question to you is - what do you do in those situations? I want to be good and ready next time.

Rain, Rain

This is how my morning started at work. Seriously, I'm not making this up. DG came in and said, "WOW, you look different. It's like you have a niceness about you today." First of all, I'm not sure niceness is a word and secondly, what??? Do I not have a "niceness" about me everyday? I think that might have been some sort of backhanded compliment. He tried to do all the backtracking saying that's not what he meant but lets face it - sometimes I have PMS and I'm like the devil, so it was probably legit.

On another note, it appears we will be getting some rain. Between Ana, Bill, Claudette and whoever else, the rain - the glorious rain - should be coming any minute! I am in deep love with rain. I wish I had a tin roof...

My grandparents were always afraid of storms. Whenever one came and we happened to be at their house, they would wake us all up and make us go to the storm pit. Please note, the storm pit was not big. There was a twin bed, a couple of chairs a small table. I think it had a hurricane lamp with the oil. All the men would stand outside and watch the storm while we all huddled in that tiny space.

I wish I had been older so I could remember what all the women talked about. Were they excited because they got a chance to talk for a while or were they mad because they were probably going to be up all night and still have to take care of kids and chores the next day?

It's funny how memories like that flood my mind sometimes. I hope I never forget it.

Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Weekend Update

Jay went to the lake with some guys from church so I was a single woman all weekend. I pretty much did a whole lot of nothing and it felt great! It's amazing that I can be as lazy as I am.

I did keep Jill's girls for a little while yesterday and that was fun. They absolutely love to shop so we went on a whirlwind spree of Old Navy (did you know tanks were $2 yesterday?), Bath & Body, Target, Justice and JC Pennys. I think all 3 of us were worn out by the time we got home. It's definately different shopping with kids. Everything takes about 3 times longer than it normally does. And man! the car seat. How do you guys do it??? It's blazing hot outside and it takes a sweet FOREVER to get them in a car seat and situated. I have a DEEP respect for all ya'll Mamas, I really do.

I watched the Benjamin Button movie last night and I wouldn't say I totally hated it but good grief - it felt like it lasted a million forevers! I kept thinking, "When is this ever going to be over?"

I got to thinking about what makes me think a movie is great. The movies I came up with are so different that I couldn't pinpoint a specific thing. I narrowed it down to the ones that I stop and watch every single time I'm flipping channels and one is on. So, here's a list of 10 of my all time favorite movies (in no particular order):

1. Diary of a Mad Black Woman
2. Frequency
3. Gone With the Wind
4. Steel Magnolias
5. Dirty Dancing
6. Sweet Home Alabama
7. Terms of Endearment
8. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
9. Goodfellas
10. All the Bourne movies

So what are your favorite movies? I'm tagging 5 people (but I would love to hear from all of you):

Mama Hen

Tracy

Peeper's Page

Lianne

Mrs. Jennifer

If you do this meme, please leave me a comment so I can come check out your lists!

Sissy

Please meet Sissy. She is my second "child" and if she looks somewhat psycho, it's because she is. She shows absolutely no affection and she hates every human in the world except Jay and me. And in our case, I think she just tolerates us.


We didn't have Callie long before we started feeling bad because she was at home by herself all day while we were at work. We ended up getting one of her sisters from the same litter and because I'm super original, I named her Sissy.


She absolutely refuses to tee tee in the litter box. We have to put puppy pee pads NEXT TO the litter box where she does her #1 business. We have 2 litter boxes so we use about 4 pee pads a day. (Tip: buy some stock in whoever makes pee pads. They will be in business forever.)


About a year ago, she decided that she would just start pooping anywhere she felt like she wanted to put her big princess butt down. It has caused me to have many come-aparts. One of my best friend's husband is a vet and when he heard about her, he immediately said he thought she had "anxiety" and we should put her on Prozac. I mean seriously, is this my life?


We board the cats when we go on vacation because it just seems cruel to ask anyone in my family or a friend to come by my house twice a day to put out pee pads. The vet and the techs don't even want to mess with her. When we go to pick her up they don't even get her out of her the cage because she's so mean.


Occasionally she'll do something cute like wrap herself up in some covers, but it's rare. For the most part, she just sleeps and poops. (Notice her eyes are always psycho even when she's doing something cute.) She is my lot in life - a lot that I will complain about until the day one of us dies. Amen.

Disgusted

I was going to write a post about my other cat, Sissy, but I'm too mad at her right now. She is horrible.

Callie

I would like you to meet someone. This is my firstborn. Not born out of me, of course. (Actually, she's not my firstborn. I had a Peek-A-Poo puppy named Ellie Mae for a total of 6 days, but that's a story for another day.)

Callie came into my life at a time when Jay was working nights and I felt like I just needed another breathing soul in the house with me. Like all middle children, I need attention and I just wasn't getting it from the TV and the walls.

I had been scared of cats my entire life, but I convinced myself that if I got a cat when it was a kitten, I wouldn't be scared. It turned out that a coworker's cat had kittens at the same time that Ellie Mae made her departure from our household. I begged and pleaded with Jay until he got so tired of hearing it that he finally agreed to let me have one.

I absolutely fell in love. How could I not? (You'll have to excuse the quality of these pics. I was too lazy to go scan them so Jay took pictures of the pics for me.)
>
Isn't she just precious??? She has always loved climbing into the smallest places she can find. One day I found her in this paper bag. Still today, I occasionally find her in my pillowcase when I go to bed.


That was 9 years ago and she's still kickin'.

Here are some facts about Callie.

• She loves absolutely everybody - as long as you reside in the same house as her and your name is Jay or Jill. Anyone else - you better watch out.
• She craves attention from Jay and me. She lives for the slightest bit of our affection.
• She throws up at least twice a week.
• She was the runt of the litter.
• She knows my moods. There's been times that I've been really sad and she just comes and lays by me and gives me a look like she would take it all away if she could.
• She's obsessed with blush brushes. If she ever gets a hold of one, she turns into another being and God help the hands of a person who tries to take it from her.
• She can detect you pouring cereal in a bowl like a heat-seeking missile. She will come running like a bat out of hades and stare at you until you're done and put the leftover milk down on the floor for her.
• We've had to start referring to her as "C" when we talk about her because if we say her name, she thinks we're calling her.

That's all I can think of now. I do love her even though I feel like I could literally ring her neck sometimes.

I'll leave you with a couple of shots of her loving on her Daddy.

A New Look

It's Clinique bonus time!! I don't know why I love it so much other than SAMPLES! I cannot lie, I LOVE samples. If I didn't have Jay, I would probably just marry them. It's not like am crazy over makeup, it's just the SAMPLES! My Mama is the same way so I get it honestly. And, I just love how they name stuff. The eyeshadow is called "Come Heather" and the lipgloss is called "Glamourfull". So clever. You know, it's the little things - obviously.

Soo.... what do you think about the new background?? I think it's a little sassy! I got a wild hair and thought I would change it up a little bit.

Prayer

Regardless of your party affiliation, I think we can all agree that our country is in turmoil. Whether you immediately think of morals, the economy, healthcare, etc., we have strayed from the original principles that made us a country to begin with.

Will you commit to praying for our country with me? God promises to hear our prayers and heal our land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

So True

I received this in an email today. I hope I can follow this practice.

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT. DURING SOME POINT OF THE JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE IN THE FACE.

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING, WROTE IN THE SAND, TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE .

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS, WHERE THEY DECIDED TO TAKE A BATH. THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING, BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROMTHE NEAR DROWNING, HE WROTE ON A STONE: 'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE'

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND ASKED HIM, 'AFTER I HURT YOU, YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW, YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?'

THE FRIEND REPLIED 'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY. BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US, WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE WHERE NO WIND CAN EVER ERASE IT'

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

Can I Handle 30 Days of This???

Jillian Michaels and The 30 Day Shred - friend or enemy? That remains to be seen. All I know is that I felt like I didn't have a "shred" of pride left when I finished. I was sweating like a stuck pig (on level 1, I might add) and I still wasn't doing it full out. Grief-a-mighty! It was a 20 minute sweat fest. 30 days......

Party Girl

Where did the weekend go? I'm pretty sure it was only about 5 minutes ago when I left work Friday night. It's funny how some weekends are lazy with just a few errands to run and then others are jam-packed. This weekend was jam-packed. Just call me a party girl (HA!)

Friday night I went to a Premier Jewelry Party at my friend Jo's. It was really fun. Unfortunately, there was lots of yummy food that I let myself partake of way too much. But I did order the cutest necklace and earrings. I mean, there was no way possible that I could pass up a necklace called Butterscotch. I'll show pictures whenever they come in.

Saturday morning we had a baby shower for Jay's cousin, Becky. It was a brunch from 10-12 at Olexa's in Mountain Brook. I had never been there before but it was super cute and the perfect place to have brunch.




Look at my delicious plate. It was spinach and tomato quiche and I wish I had a breakfast fairy who would make it for me every morning. And that little bootie in the top right-hand corner is solid white chocolate with little sugar chocolate things inside. Right now it's sitting on my kitchen counter despite the fact that I want to inhale it everytime I walk by.

I had not seen Becky since she got pregnant and she was adorable. All I can say is how super excited I am that there will be a baby on that side of the family for Christmas!!! (Oh, and just a little sidenote: I weigh 2 pounds more than Becky does right now and she's having a baby in 5 weeks. I'm not sure but I think that's a wake-up call.)


And in light of the wake-up call, I bought Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred". I'll let you know how that goes.


Saturday night Jay and I went to Kerrie and Tom's house to hang-out. All 3 of their girls had birthdays last week - I can't believe how big their getting. Caroline and Olivia are starting first grade in a couple of weeks and Katherine is walking. (Forget where is the weekend going!!! Where are the years going???) We had so much fun! We played Phase 10 with dice and Racko.


Sunday was full of church, a little work, a quick nap and a Yankees game. I should have made a trip to the grocery store, cleaned out my closet, exercised... but you know, it just didn't happen. But guess what - that's Jill's Real Life - hence the name of my blog.