Things that make you say hmmm...

I love my family. They make me laugh, cry, and feel an entire range of emotions. I definately feel loved and I'm so grateful for them. I have so much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and every other day of the year. Don't get me wrong, we are far from having the perfect life, perfect relationships, etc., but they are close enough to perfect for me. I love how my cousins record things that their children say so they'll never forget. I need to start doing that and wish I had been doing it all along. I'm getting old and I forget so much these days. The only things I seem to remember with great clarity are the things I'd rather forget. lol At any rate, here are a few things that they have said that I do remember.

Lee when he is not impressed with someone: "They are about as useless as a screen door on a submarine."

Erik on his feelings about his curfew: "I really don't understand why I should have a curfew anyway - none of my friends do. What's the big deal?"

Lauren, everytime I nag her as she's going out the door lately: "Mom, you really can't keep me locked up in the house forever, you gotta let go." (so hard to do)

Erik when he was 4 years old on one of our many beach trips. He comes running up to me with a bucket full of water, so excited and pleased with himself. "Mommy, I caught a wave for you!" (precious)

I remember someone posting on their blog that their husband felt funny about using the word "panties" - well, you can use Lee's word for them. Step-ins. Has anyone ever heard that before?

Now I really have to go do my laundry!

So I should be cleaning...

I know what I need to be doing. Cleaning the house and doing laundry. So what else is new? Sometimes it's just more fun to sit in front of this thing with a cup of java. I did figure out how to add music to my blogger page. Too cool. If anyone is interested in adding music to their page scroll to the end of my page and you'll see the link. It's so easy even I could do it. Have a great weekend everyone!

These are a few of my favorite things...(well, one anyway)

When I was stationed in Germany one of my favorite things to get from the bakery was fresh apple strudel. Yum! Well, every year about this time my Father-in-law goes to the mountains and brings back a bushel of apples for me. So, let the apple recipe experiments begin! Monday night I attempted to make an apple crumble pie. Not so good, although my family said it was great and ate it anyway. Here is my attempt to make apple strudel this morning before work. Anyone who is able to roll and stretch that dough to 48" is my hero. Does any one's food ever look like the pretty picture in the cookbook when you are finished? As you can tell, mine wasn't too pretty. I wish I could tell you that it tasted better than it looked. Lee told me it did, but he tells stories. Good thing I made something else to go with it or we would have gone hungry this morning. Try, try again. If anyone has a good, relatively simple recipe that calls for apples, please share!

More photos per request..

I'm Not Who I Was

Someone I love very much shared this song with me. You have to listen.

123

Remember when no one really had cell phones yet but everyone had pagers? Back when Lee & I first got together we both had one. He being the businessman and me being the single working Mom of two, both depended on them a great deal. Texting wasn't possible back in the pager days so Lee and I devised our own "code" to say I love you. So - 123 became our "I love you" code. Even though we have come a little way with texting, etc. we still use 123. In the previous post you may have picked up on the fact that I'm a little obsessive about housework, so when I stepped out of the shower yesterday morning and saw a bunch of Q-tips all over the bathroom counter, I was a little annoyed. At least until I took a closer look. I have the best husband. Really.

Credit...Where Credit is due...

I know how I see things. I don't know how other people see things. I'm very observant, or so I thought. Being prior military and being raised in a military family, I learned early on to "pay attention to detail." Of course most of this energy was spent on details like cleaning or cooking. I've tried to convince my children to pay attention to these details but they have no interest in domestic engineering, unless it benefits them. As in, "You can't go to the movies until you clean your room." Even if the room does get cleaned, it is in no way up to my standards. I've learned to pick my battles over the years. I settle for "straightened", not necessarily my version of clean. So, I figure my kids don't "see things" the way I do. Perhaps the closest you can get to really seeing through someone else's eyes is photography. I have to say that I have never been more photographed since we gave Lauren a camera for Christmas one year. I have more pictures of family vacations, relatives, birthdays, and random objects than I could ever possibly fit into my scrapbooks. It's the random objects that really amaze me. She does notice the details in life, more so than I ever have. It's cool when you learn from your kids. I aspire to be more like my daughter. Slow down, really look at things, nature, animals, people. I'll post some of her amazing photos from our beach vacation this summer (North Myrtle Beach) and a few random pictures. Last but not least is the photo where Lauren got her first actual Credit! She attended the Carolina Journalism Institute at USC this past summer and took some beautiful photos, one of which has become the main photo they now use for their advertising for the institute. I was so excited and proud to see my babygirl's name beneath that photo. Her first credit! The photo is of her friend Elizabeth, who attended the conference with her.