Speaking of crafting...

Did I ever show y'all these? I've been cleaning, saving, and backing up files on my computer. As you can tell by the decor in the house, I took these pictures way back in December, and just never got around to sharing them.

I made this blanket as a baby gift for one of our old youth interns. Ashley is pretty special to us because she was our first girl intern, and she worked with us the summer I was pregnant with the twins. (The girls were born in September, so I was VERY pregnant...) Ashley pretty much got stuck with being me that summer because I was restricted from traveling after the first week in July. Bless her heart, she was a better me than . . . me.

Jen lives down the street from us, and among other things, she quilts. I found her tutorial for this blanket, and ever since I've been waiting for an excuse to make one. Honey thought I was crazy trying to do this just days before Christmas, but...that's just the way we roll.

The fabric I used was all scraps except for the back and the border, so it was a very budget friendly project.

Looking at this one makes me think that it would be fun to make one a little bit bigger to use as a lap blanket on a chilly evening. Yes, it's June, and it's 99 degrees outside, but as fast as summer is flying by, chilly evenings will be here before we know it.

Girly-ness

I found this tutorial a couple of weeks ago. It's the perfect project for this ADD crafter. . . easy, quick, and immediate results.

So . . . I made two or three of these yesterday.


And . . . my sense of accomplishment knows no bounds.

Everybody's doin' it

I'm doin' it. You should, too.

And . . .

SJ is giving away a book over at her new book review site. Check out That Book Addiction and enter to win.

Hurry, she'll pick the winner on Tuesday. Or don't. Then I'll have a better chance of winning.

More Blessings

As I was preparing to leave for my weekend in San Antonio, I was sharing with Honey that I was excited for 2 reasons. The first was that I was going to get to spend a whole entire weekend with my BFF from high school, Shelly. We never get to do that. The last time we were together for an extended amount of time was when the girls were like 6 mo old. Shelly, we must not wait another 5 years before we do this again. The time I spent with you was so refreshing and I look forward to seeing you again, soon.

I was so excited, in fact, that I left my camera at home. I was not able to take one stinkin' picture while in San Antonio. I was so bummed. But Shelly took some for me and shared her copies. So all of the pictures with actual people in them are from her. She always has been the responsible one. That's what BFFs are for, right?

Me, Shelly, and Janet (Shelly's mom) at the Siesta Fiesta.

Here we are with Beth, Melissa, and Amanda. Shelly is 2nd from the right on the front row. Janet and I are on our knees 1st and 2nd from the right. Melissa and Amanda are standing right behind Janet and I. Beth is on the floor right in the middle of the front row.

When we arrived in San Antonio, Shelly gave each of us in our little group of 12 a gift. She and her kids made us some note cards. Handmade with love from my BFF and her kids. How precious! And one of the cards had a verse from Psalm 16 on it. That was the text for the weekend. Coincidence? I think not.

Janet gave Shelly and I this book. It's a Bible study, but when you're finished, you will have the journaling done for a scrapbook legacy of faith. All you have to do is put it together. You can buy a scrapbook kit that goes along with the study, but you could also make your own. I love this idea! I will definitely make time to do this by this time next year.





The second thing I was excited about was meeting Cindy and Gayle. In case you haven't heard, Beth Moore and her girls, Melissa and Amanda, keep a blog. Through that blog came the idea for a little "meet and greet" in San Antonio. It was a place for bloggers to meet other bloggers face to face. In most cases, we've "known" each other for months or years via e-mail and blogging, but have never met face to face.


When I expressed my excitement to Honey about the Siesta Fiesta, he was less than thrilled. He's seen too many episodes of Dateline NBC and Law and Order. He was concerned that maybe these people were ax murderers in disguise and had less than honorable intentions. And what if the pictures they posted of themselves on the blog were fake? But I assured him that the Siesta Fiesta would be in a public place. And it would take place after three sessions of hearing Beth Moore preach the Word, and so even if they were shady, Beth would totally convert them by the end of the weekend.

Cindy and me

It was a little bit surreal, meeting the girls. Because until you hug their necks, it still feels a little like they are just the grown-up version of your imaginary friends. And if you've never tried to locate 2 complete strangers, and you have no idea what to look for or how to recognize them accept by the pictures you seen on their blogs, and all you have to work with are their voices over the cell phone and what color their hair may or may not be depending on if the mood struck them to color it the day before leaving on an all girls weekend, well, you haven' t lived.


I'm happy to testify that Cindy and Gayle are as sweet and genuine in person as they come across on their blogs. They even look like the pictures they post of themselves. Well, Gayle's hair is shorter now, but other than that, just the same. We got to eat lunch together Saturday afternoon and visit for a couple of hours. I hate not knowing when we will meet again, but I've been eternally blessed by seeing their beautiful faces and hugging their real life necks.




On Saturday afternoon, Cindy gave me a wonderful gift. It's my new goal skirt! I love it. When I showed it to Shelly, she said, "It looks just like you!" I can't wait to wear it. And, boy did I need some fresh motivation. After a weekend of Mexican food, guacamole, Starbucks, and ice cream to celebrate the first day of 3rd grade . . . well, let's just say, it wasn' t a very WW friendly weekend. It just looks so small . . . it will be amazing if I make it into this one.


As a little side note, I'm not sure why, but we didn't take a picture of Gayle with Shelly's camera. So I don't have one, but you can visit her blog or Cindy's to see one of the three of us. As it turns out, Shelly is a much better photographer than the maid at the hotel. Although, bless the little maid's heart, she tried. And I'm not sure what's up with the dates on the pictures. But I promise, these are in no way faked or counterfeited. We really did take them in AUGUST of 2008.


This weekend I was reminded of a song I learned during my short stint in Girl Scouts. "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." My little troop even got to where we could sing it in rounds and harmonize and stuff. But, it's what I was feeling all weekend. I loved spending time with my life long friend, there aren't words to describe what she means to me. But it was also such a treasure to meet these new friends, to put faces and voices and hugs with the written words that have blessed me so.

Linky Love

It's time for another installment of Bloggy Book Games 2008. Jill at The O'Bryant Family is hosting a giveaway for Skizzer. Go there and enter if you want to play with us. You have until Tuesday to enter this drawing.



Grace Violet: Kristin is a stay-at-home-mom who crafts, sews, decorates, and bakes. And probably some other things too. She's got some very cute ideas and some wonderful tutorials. If you're the crafty sort, hop over there and see her stuff.



The Forgiveness Chair: The post written by Amy Beth over at Ministry So Fabulous cut right to my heart.



Remembering To Tie A Boat To The Porch was written by Amanda at Scarlet in the Bell Jar. It's a reminder to be prepared, because the storms of life can't be avoided.



Sheyenne + Stefani: Laci continues to build her photography business, Zoetic Images. These engagement pictures are so very romantic.

Brain Stem Book: Some day I will have one of these. (Keep clicking "older posts" - there are 5 parts.)

I'll just hit the highlights

A bloggy service announcement:

SJ over at Life in the Estrogen Ocean is doing a book review on Skizzer by Kiesling. Hop over there and read her review. She's also doing a giveaway of the book, so if you're in the market for some summer fiction, head over there and join the party.

And...

(cue dramatic soap opera music...)

THIS WEEK ON TALKING HAIRDRYER...

• Helping me pack
• Kicking off my summer reading
• Weighing In
• Some more gifts and stuff
• A story about me and Uncle Bubba during the growing up years
• Boys will always be boys

I know you're on the edge of your seat! Stay tuned!

Bid ' ness

Some stuff that I need to take care of.

You Are Flip Flops

You are laid back and very friendly. Cheery and sunny in disposition, you usually have something to smile about. Style is important to you, as long as you can stay casual. It takes a lot to get you to dress up! You are a loyal and true person, though you can be a bit of a flake. You tend to "play hooky" and blow off responsibilities a lot more than most people. You should live: By the beach You should work: At a casual up and coming company

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Also, Larissa tagged me for this. I am thinking and working and I'll let you know when I come up with it. It's a challenge, using exactly 6 words, I'm not usually so succinct.

Also, an embarrassingly long time ago, Kim at The Bitter Ball, gave me an award. I love awards! They rank right up there with comments. As crazy as it sounds, there are other people out there that appreciate the mess that I post here on a pretty regular basis.

This award began with Melinda Zook. It is to be given to “other people who deserve a little pink smooch for their awesome blogging”. Sounds good to me.

So, even though I'm ashamed it's taken me this long to pass on this little bit of bloggy happiness, here are my picks for zooktastic blogs:

Cindy at Still His Girl. She's at the top of my "wish I could meet this blogger in real life" list.

Larissa at One Day at a Time. She's keepin' it real. Clearly she's walking with the Father and I'm inspired to do the same.

DeeDee at It Coulda' Been Worse. Her blog is one that I've found recently, and I love it! I laugh as I read and remember that I'm not in the mom boat all by myself.

More bid'ness: Today is T minus 11 days until the Spring Program/Graduation at The Preschool. The program itself is not so time consuming, even though there are a few things I have left to finish up for it. It's mainly the symbol of the ending of school. And the getting ready for the end of school is what makes my days go so fast. So, if I'm scarce around here for a bit it's not because I don't love you. . .

Quote of the Day

"it's important for me to remember, THAT HE IS IN CONTROL. All the things I worry about...TAKEN CARE OF...the tears I have shed...HEARD...the things that make me angry...LISTENED TO...the heart of mine that still breaks...MENDED...my faith that wavers...RESTORED AND REDEEMED."

by Larissa referring to this

Bloggy Blankness

Several of my favorite real life people have finally come over to the dark side and started blogging. It seems, though, that the honeymoon is over for most of them and they are out of blogging ideas. They're drawing a bloggy blank, so to speak.

I totally understand this quandary. I myself have hit this same bloggy wall many a time. We're all at risk. It happens to the best of us. So, I thought I'd throw out a few ideas, suggestions if you will, of how to find your bloggy groove again.

Post about what you're doing
Lots of times we're at a loss for words because we don't feel like life is exciting at the moment. Nothing blog-worthy is happening. Tell me a story. That's really what blogging is all about right? I love the stories. Tell me about the little things that happen every day. Some of the funniest, snarkiest, most poignant posts are born out of everyday happenings. Here, here, and here are a few that I've read just recently.

Multi-task
Post about stuff you should be doing instead of blogging. Like spring cleaning, cooking, closet cleaning, office remodeling, cabinet cleaning, yard work, dishes. Oh who am I kidding, the list could go on and on couldn't it? Decide to tackle one of those projects and then tell the whole world wide web about it. We're women. We love seeing other people's houses and hearing about their latest organizing technique. (If you post something along those lines could you let me know so I can come check it out? I need some inspiration. My bathrooms are filthy.) Here and here are a couple of examples.

You could also post about something you're preparing to share at another forum. If you're studying for ladies class, spring retreat, or a MOPs presentation, try it out on us!

Start a series
You don't have to be remodeling your office to get 3 or 4 posts out of one subject. If you're planning your kid's birthday party, show us the invitations, the cake, and the party favors. If you've been studying the fruit of the Spirit, tell us about how each one has impacted you. If you're knee deep in to a sewing project, share it with us step by step.

Participate in a blog carnival
There are many, many blog carnivals out there. If you're unsure what a blog carnival is read this. If you're pretty clear on the definition and just haven't jumped in, here are a few that will get you started.

These are all the most current versions of the particular carnival. If you want to participate, wait until the respective day, go to the homepage of the host site, find their carnival post and link up.

Menu Plan Monday
Tackle it Tuesday
Ten Things Tuesday
Works for Me Wednesday
BooMama's American Idol Wrap-up
Show and Tell Fridays

Spread the linky love
When you're stuck on something to say about yourself, say something nice about someone else. Write a post featuring some of your favorite bloggers and link to their blogs. Tell the whole world wide web how much you love them and never want them to stop writing. Admit how many times a day you click on their site until you see a new post. Come to terms with your stalker tendencies. Maybe a good cleansing is all you need to get the creative juices flowing again.

So, there you go. That's all I've got. I'm tapped out. What are some of the tricks you use to thaw your bloggy brain freeze?

Oh, yes she did!

I guess you noticed the new look. It's squeal-and-jump-around-clapping-gleefully cute isn't it? I wish I could launch a whole new series named Way-out-there Remodels: Blog Edition. But I can't. Because I have no earthly idea how to even begin something like this. Well. . .OK. . .yes, I do. Here's how you begin:

Visit a site called Everyday Mommy and read about Jules and her blog design business Everyday Design. Check out her info and pricing. When you're convinced that Jules is the best blog designer out there, e-mail her and let her know you'd like a makeover at your place.

That's it.

That's all I've got.

I'm lost after that.

But, Jules? She's a genius. She'll walk you right through the process and not even laugh at the millions of questions you ask down to the very last little detail. (Well, at least she doesn't laugh loud enough for you to hear her across the vast world wide web. And that's all anyone can really expect, right?)

Anyways, thanks Jules for the bloggy makeover. I haven't stopped clicking on my own site, pretty much ruining my site meter stats, just to see it over and over again.

So . . . OK . . . enough about the office

Thanks for all your sweet comments about the office makeover, but I understand that most of ya'll are SO OVER the whole project. I am still loving it and LOVE spending time in here. Probably too much. But life goes on...

Around here it's been Spring Break. Our whole family was out of town for most of the week which is part of the reason it's been so quiet here at Talking Hairdryer Inc. The other reason is that little thing that happened LAST week over at 5 Minutes for Mom . . . The Ultimate Blog Party. There were over 1500 sites to visit, and quite frankly, I spent most of my computer time visiting new-to-me sites and responding to those that stopped by my place. I also made it a point to visit all my old haunts and at least stay current even though I might not have taken the time to comment.

As great as the Blog Party was, I still think that the best way to meet new friends is to visit the favorite reads of the people you already love to read. So, I'm dedicating a post to some of my favorite reads. I would love it if you would take the time to visit these amazing women and even leave a comment. If you'd like to share your favorite sites with me, just post away and leave me a comment so I can drop by and follow your links. If you are confused about how to link in your post, leave me a comment (or e-mail me if you're embarrassed) and I'll do my best to explain.

So here goes, some of Jenni's favorite sites to visit: (sorry girls, I think I'm limiting this to people that I don't know in real life. . . just so no one gets their feelers hurt)

Some Old favorites:

Do They Have Salsa In China? wins my longest loved site award. It was probably the first blog I read regularly. . . well, stalked . . . and I still love it. M3 and Rod adopted twins from China and their lives will never be the same. I love reading about their precious girls.

Still His Girl wins my uplift award. I love reading about Cindy's life and times. She writes an amazing perspective and always points me to my Father. Cindy was the first to reach out to me beyond the comments section and is teaching me to be a cyber-friend.

Rainy Day In May wins my keepin' it real award. I love reading about Misty's life, the good and the bad. Her blog really seems like a journal in the purest form, no content editing just to make everyone happy or to make herself look better. I love that Misty is a great about commenting and giving feedback. I don't read her site because she reads mine, but it's nice to know that the love is returned.

Embrace the Moment is all about the life and times of Javamama. I felt an instant connection with her because she's a minister's wife, and I have totally been there. She has some deep insight into Scripture, some of it just flys right over my head, but she challenges me to keep an open mind.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman wins my stalker site award. I read this blog just about every day, but she has no clue who I am. I just admire from afar. She talks about everything from cooking, to remodeling, to photography, to life on a ranch. But my favorite subject is her very own personal romance named Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story. Go over there and read every single installment and just try not to get hooked.

Some New Favorites:

Purple Valley is where you'll meet Val. She's a mom, wife, photographer that just got back from seeing the Oprah show for her birthday. I connected with her because we're so close to the same age and I have a soft spot for photographers.

Desperately Avoiding Housework will introduce you to PamperingBeki. She's a mommy, wife, and jewelry maker, among other things. Right now she and The Man are working on flipping a house. You can find her jewelry site here.

Oh My Seven is Brooke's blog. She loves purses just like me. She also makes stuff.

I just love Mommy Cracked because, truly, I can relate.

So there you go. A list of some of my favorite reads. Let's trade sites - who do you like to read?

Don't judge me by my music knowledge

We've already discussed how music savy I am. In short, I'm not. I'm not usually on the cutting edge of music. I'm a slow music learner. I just don't listen to all that much music . . . at least "grown up" music. So I was browsing in blogland today and happened upon this song by Rodney Atkins. It made me giggle and brought back some memories.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, when I heard about BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes, I just couldn't resist. That kind of thing is right up my alley. I LUV LOOKING AT CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! And if you LUV it too, hop over there to find many, many more lovely homes to tour.

The first thing I do, when I deem it time to decorate for Christmas, is get out my Christmas dishes. I picked them up at Target a few years ago. They are by Debbie Mum and they are my most favorite holiday ornament. Nothing gets me ready to decorate faster than drinking my morning coffee out of a snowflake mug. Seeing the dishes in the cabinet also serves as a gentle way of letting Honey know that soon, very soon, he will be climbing in the attic and hauling down boxes. And boxes. And boxes.

From here on out, it's kinda' like the children's book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Pulling out one decoration makes me think of something else that makes me smile during the holidays.
The snowy dishes set the mood for getting the kitchen finished. It only makes sense to decorate the room where I spend all of my time.

It appears that I have little spirits floating around my house in the shape of round tree ornaments. You will see the reflection of one near the right edge of the picture above.

This is a pic of the first two things to go out every year. I set them out where I think I will love them and end up moving them at least 16 times. This year they landed on the top of my fridge. Seeing that mini tree will remind me that it's time to whisper sweet nothings in Honey's ear with promises of all kinds of baked Christmas goods to warm his belly if he will pretty please get the tree down from the attic. And the decorations for the tree.

Oh, and the garland.

And the kids' tree. And all of their ornaments.

Getting the living room in the spirit of the season will remind me that I haven't decided what to add to the decorating extravaganza for this year. I try to add at least one thing a year and this year it was the stuff for the kids bathroom.

Oh, come on! A shower curtain, a couple of rugs, a bath towel, and some hand towels do count as one thing.

The snowmen on the shower curtain will remind me that I need to find a place for my Christmas linens that I added a couple of years ago, and those cutie pie stacking boxes snowman I picked up last year. This is a cabinet that belonged to my great grandmother. My Popa refinished it and I really love it.

From the dinning room I can see into our bedroom. That reminds me to make sure that when we got the tree from the attic, we also got the garlands and wreaths for our room.

You'll notice that the Christmas ornament spirits really like this room in particular.

Don't let that empty curio cabinet to the right bother you. It was a wedding gift and I just haven't found a place for it in our new house. So, it's safe here in our room, that is usually a kid-free zone, until I find the perfect place for it.

Taking a deep breath will remind me that I have bored you with every square inch of my house and there are still more homes to see. And it will inspire me to STOP POSTING PICTURES ALREADY! and let you go tour someone else's house.

Happy touring and Merry Christmas!

Some Housekeeping

**edited to add question #6, just for Cindy**

It has come to my attention that there are some of you out there that are not familiar with a bloggy carnival. Which is great. All of us have been through the "I don't want to participate because I'm afraid I won't do it right" feeling. So, I'd like to clear up a few things for you in case you wanted to participate in Holiday Happenings in a few days.

(For those of you that thought that I was going to talk about actual things I do to keep my house...Girl, you're reading the wrong blog. I just cleaned last week! Is that something you're supposed to do on a regular basis?)

Back to blogging:

1. All questions that are bloggy in nature have probably been addressed in some sort or fashion at this great site called Blogging Basics 101. Most of the links I will provide today will point you in this direction.

2. What is a blog carnival? It's a post on any person's blog that suggests a specific topic for blogging that day. This host provides a central location for collecting links to the topic posts from all over the blogsphere. For a more in depth explanation read: What is a carnival? on BB101

3. What is a Mr. Linky? On the day of the carnival, at the end of the host's post, there will be a numeric list of names of people that are participating. This list is generated by a program called "Mr. Linky" and if your are participating, your name needs to be on that list. To add your name to the list, you must find the Mr. Linky box at the end of the post and enter your name and URL of your post. Mr. Linky does the rest. For more information read: How do I use Mr. Linky? on BB101
To see Mr. Linky in action: it's Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer today. This is a huge carnival, but so much fun to read!

4. Why do I have to link to my carnival post and not the home page of my blog? Linking directly to your carnival post and not your home page is called using the permalink. It's the permanent place we will always be able to find that particular post on a page all by itself. Basically, it's just good manners. Because most people don't read every post entered in a carnival all in one day. Because that might take hours.

And you might get so involved in all of the carnival posts that your children might be forced to fend for themselves. They might have to eat cereal right out of the box and hold their mouths under the water spout while their twin sister works the knob. And, your husband might come home from work and find you wearing the same pjs that you took your son to school in that morning. That's never happened at my house, but I'm just throwing it out there as something that might happen if you were to try to read all of the carnival entries in one day.

But, since all of you are good parents, you would pace yourself and read the carnival posts a few at a time sprinkled in throughout the week. If you have the permalink, it's no problem. If you have the link to the home page, the author could have written more posts and it could be hard to find the carnival post you're looking for.

So use the permalink, girls! Read this for more information: What is a permalink and why do I need it? on BB101

5. Do I have to have a blog to participate in carnivals? This may vary by topic and host preference. For this host? When it comes to Holiday Happenings? I would love to hear from you! Even if you don't have a blog. Just leave your memory or tradition in a comment on my post.

6. Hey... is there ANY chance I could bribe you into enlarging your font on your posts? I'm getting so old, you see. I'll pay big bucks. ;) Well, I can understand that your eyes may be tired, especially if you are trying to read all of the WFMW posts in one day. Here is my solution: The toolbar at the top of the screen has a choice called "view", click on that. Then go down to "Text size" and click on that. Choose a size that would be easy on your eyes and click on it.

Now, my personal moral beliefs hinder me from accepting a money bribe, but . . . I love me some Starbucks.

So there you have it, everything I know about participating in blog carnivals. It's pretty easy, and so much fun! See you Monday!

Something to be thankful for

Well, we're headed home to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Greats and Uncle Bubba tomorrow. Uncle Bubba works at a restaurant and has to be there all day. So, instead of cooking for hours and hours, we're loading up the family and heading to the restaurant for our holiday dinner. We'll get to eat with Uncle Bubba AND skip the crazy prep and loooong clean up. When they pitched this idea to me, I immediately replied, "I'm totally in."

So, as to not totally abandon the feeling of a homemade holiday dinner, Mom and I decided to make a brunch for the relatives to eat while we wait for our 2:00 reservation.

I've been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's recipe for cinnamon rolls, but needed an excuse to bake something completely from scratch. Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I finally tried it. And they are heavenly! Ree's really outdone herself on this recipe. Oh, and if you're curious, these would probably be really good, too, since they are made from the same dough.

If you find yourself snowed in this holiday season, making these cinnamon rolls would definitely be a fabulous way to pass the time indoors.

In other cooking news, I also made a pecan pie. This is newsworthy because pecan pie is Honey's favorite, and until about a week ago, I'd never in almost 10 years of marriage made him one. I always thought they were too hard. But when I saw Big Mama's tutorial and recipe for pecan pie, I decided it didn't look so hard after all. Honey was so excited when I presented him with his very own pecan pie. He loved it and said it was the best one he'd ever eaten. His happiness was only slightly dulled when he saw on Biggest Loser that pecan pie has the most calories per slice, beating out pumpkin, cherry, and banana cream.

So, there you go, my Thanksgiving meal contributions. We'll have a wonderful time. I hope yours is great, too!

How I've been spending my blog time lately

Stalking this site.

You see? Ree? At Confessions of a Pioneer Woman? She is writing the story of how she and her husband met. Her love story. And girls, it's as good as any romance novel I've read.

I was a late-comer to Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story so I was able to sit down and read every installment all at once. Every. Single. One. Number 1 all the way to number 18. Much like I would a good romance novel. Except I would have the whole entire thing in my hands when I started, and I wouldn't have to eat way too much of my kids Halloween chocolate to ward off the anxiety I'm feeling waiting for the next installment. I could just ingnore the children, making them eat dry cereal out of the box to sustain them until I read every last page.

We've already discussed my OCD self when it comes to reading. The whole entire book. Start to finish. Because I need closure.

So if you're in the mood to read a good, juicy, romantic novel, stop by Ree's place and catch up. I'm expecting the next installment in a couple of hours (or days, or, you know, whenever Ree feels the need to rescue us from the cliff she left us dangling off of).

Yeah, I'm famous!

Well . . . I know some famous people. Ok . . . I remember them, and they may or may not remember me.

If you'll take a look at my sidebar, you'll notice a couple of cool buttons. The first one is for Monk & Neagle. Now, to tell you the truth, I didn't know they existed until I read about BooMama's obsession with them. And truly, I'm not what you would consider a music connoisseur. I spend most of my time listening to Veggie Tales, soundtracks to the various High School Musical movies, Corbin Bleu, and Hannah Montana.

When I get some adult music time, I love listening to Christian music. My favorites are Cademon's Call, Barlow Girl, and Casting Crowns. So when I finally took the time to listen to the links BooMama so graciously provided, I fell in love with the music of Monk & Neagle. Just the kind of stuff I like. I was convinced to pay attention the next time she mentioned them. And as not to disappoint, a couple of days ago she published a write up of the interview she had with M& N.

Trent Monk and Michael Neagle . . . hmmm . . . Michael Neagle . . . that name sounds familiar. Oh. My. Goodness! I went to high school with a guy named Michael Neagle! Could this be the same person? I looked at the picture a little more closely and was convinced that it was! So, I immediately e-mailed my BFF, and asked her if I was right. She has a way better memory than I do. (Probably because she is way more organized than I am and can walk right to the spot where she keeps her high school yearbooks. As opposed to me who can't remember at who's house my high school yearbooks are stored right now.)

Anyway, she confirmed that, yes, we did go to school with a Michael Neagle, and after looking at the picture online, she agreed that he was the same person. So, I went to high school with Michael Neagle. Of the group Monk & Neagle. Excuse me while I have a stalker/groupie moment.

OK, I'm back to normal now. So, it's been, like, forever since I was in high school, and me and Neagle weren't BFFs or anything, so he may or may not remember me, but I know him! And it's great that he has been blessed with such an awesome opportunity! So, I'm just spreadin' some love around for the fabulous duo Monk & Neagle. If you are in the mood for some new Christian music, follow the link above or click on the button in the sidebar. And if you want to buy a CD, the newest one is in stores now!




Well, the button underneath that one is my friend Aaron Watson. He's a country singer, and girls, that boy can sang. We grew up together. His parents and my parents are good friends and still see each other on occasion. Aaron and I also went to high school together, but he is a little younger than me. So, I grew up watching him play little league baseball. Because that is what you do in the summers when your younger brother plays baseball.

I haven't seen Aaron in ages, but Mom and Dad tell me that he has a sweet wife, and a beautiful family. Again, we weren't BFFs, but if I re-introduced myself, explained who my parents and brother are, and showed him the picture of him and I dressed up like pilgrims at pre-school he would probably remember me.

So, there you go, my claim to fame. Friends from my past that are living their wildest dreams. And I wanted to show my support, because, if your friends don't brag on you, who will?

I hope we didn't break your really cool and expensive camera!

Probably all of my readers already know that we had a portrait session last week. Laci Adkins used to be in our youth group, but now she is all grown up with a college degree to prove it. She has started her own photography business and we're just doing our part to get her started. Well...and getting some great pics of our family in the process. If you want to see more click on the picture above to see her blog entry about our family.

Laci was so professional and creative with our awkward and not so super-model like family. Come to think of it, Mary TuTu, being three and all, did in fact allow her spoiled, moody, I-can't-believe-we-aren't-finished-yet, super-model side come out a bit. And it just made for more cute pictures, because we all know that only super-models can pull off "pouty". Click on the image above and it will take you to Laci's web-site.

Laci even made our too-cool-for-this seven year old look sweet and endearing. That's talent, y'all. Brooke seemed to love the attention and would smile and laugh perfectly on cue. Of course the cue had to be something like, "Brooke, Mommy tooted!" or "Brooke, Daddy stinks!". Yes, that is the mark of true parenting sacrifice...being willing to be the butt of a joke for the sake of the family heritage. If you want to see all of our pictures, click on the picture above, but you will need to e-mail me for the password.

It all started with...

I didn't know what a blog was. I'd never even heard the term before, and I never imagined that such an alternate universe existed until my good friend Amy was preparing to receive the referral for their baby girl from China. Amy had been spending time reading blogs from the Chinese adoption community and at our annual Prayer Group Retreat, she shared some of the sites with me.


I came home and immediately became addicted to Do They Have Salsa in China? (A little side note here: I learned everything I know about blogging by reading and viewing the Salsa blog. I learned what a post, sidebar, link, and comment was. I learned that reading a complete stranger's writing wasn't considered stalking, but lurking, and that it was socially acceptable, not to mention perfectly legal.) It wasn't long before I started noticing that M3 kept a blogroll of sites that she visited regularly, and so I began clicking at will. I figured if she liked reading them and I liked reading her, then I would probably like reading the same ones she read. It was during this time that I discovered the really cool technology of clicking on the names of people in the comments section. This would take me to their blog and I was introduced to a new person. Some of the sites I visited often and some only once or twice. If I found a blog that I liked, I would try a few of the sites on their blogroll or in their comments section, and the process would continue.


I went on like this for a while and I discovered that the Chinese adoption community isn't the only group that is thriving in the blogsphere. There are homeschoolers, moms, Christians, organic food lovers, book clubs, crafters, scrapbookers, organizers, photographers, and the list could go on.


After a few weeks of reading a variety of different blogs, I realized that I could write one too. I didn't have to be waiting for an adoption to go through or inventing new ways to cook chicken to write. I just needed to have something to say. So in September 2005, I began blogging. At first I only told my closest friends and family about it. Laci was probably my first loyal reader and commenter.


I started finding people that I actually know through Amy's blog. She and I are friends from college, but we have many mutual friends that she knew in her area that have since moved to my area. I would read the comments on her blog and connect to people that I know. This is how I found Lisa who in turn linked me to Jennifer, Amy, April, Erica B, and Larissa.The internet really makes it a smaller world than we realize.


My biggest discovery came when Sunny Jo suggested that I read Beth Moore's Living Proof Ministries blog. It was just in the beginning stages and I really enjoyed reading the comments as much as the posts. This is where I discovered BooMama. One of her comments made me spew my drink and I have been reading her blog faithfully every day.


BooMama has buttons in her sidebar for 5 Minutes for Mom and eventually (one day when I was stalking...er...lurking her blog) I clicked on it. 5 Minutes is a great site for all things mom and they host a couple of blog carnivals, one of which is Tackle it Tuesdays.


There are a few other ways that I have heard of to find new sites but I have not tried them. You could join a blogring. From what I know of them they are lots of fun, I've just never tried one. I believe Larissa is a member of the Christian Women Online blogring, so you might ask her more about it. You could also try a site called StumbleUpon. Again, I haven't tried it, so use it at your own risk. The best site I've found to answer questions, or just learn more about this monster called blogging is Blogging Basics 101. They write a new article pretty much every day. They use normal, everyday, common mom language to explain things, and if you have a question they have probably already answered it and neatly filed it away in one of their categories.


So, long answer short, when you find a blog you like, click on the buttons and links in the sidebar and in the comments. You never know what or who you will find!