Crazy corn face

Sound asleep

Asleep, surrounded by all her friends

A month and a half?

Boy, this was a long dry spell, even for me!  No excuses, other than that I just am too tired to blog. 

At the end of May, Rebecca and I went on a  trip to Tennessee.  We had a wonderful time with Grammy and got to see so many friends.

Rebecca enjoyed a lot of time playing outside.

The hydrangeas were in full, glorious, showy bloom!

One of Rebecca's favorite things was playing in the sprinkler in Grammy's front yard.  The only thing that could make a summer day in the water better is for the ice cream man to come by!

 

My mom has a friend named Marta who lives in Albuquerque.  Mom and Marta have been friends since they were young 20-somethings.  When I was growing up, most every summer Marta and her family would come to visit Tennessee.  I always looked forward to seeing good friends Sjaak and Bram.  Thank goodness for Facebook or we might have lost touch. Fast forward more years that I care to count and it just so happened that Sjaak's family was road-tripping across the country and came to Lincoln County when we were here. It was so nice to catch up with Sjaak and Ginny and see their children.



Rebecca with her new friends Ariana, Karina, and Alex.

 

We also got to hang out with Aunt Molly and Jack.  We met up with them for dinner at Cahoots, and then the kids somehow convinced us that we should take them to the park.  They were climbing on the monkey bars, swinging on swings, and sliding down all manner of slides, having a ball.  Molly and I got to catch up a little, but not nearly enough!  All of a sudden, the sky turned black and it began to thunder, so we quickly hugged them goodbye and ran for the cars. By the time we were pulling out, the sky was falling!

Just in time for our visit, Aunt Margaret was adopted by two cats who were with kittens.  Some were about 2-3 weeks old and some were just starting to open their eyes.  Though I am terribly allergic to cats, I just couldn't help but love on them a little.  Rebecca was delighted to get to hold the kittens, which were the first ones she'd ever seen.  I tried to play a little trick on Ramy by texting him a picture of Rebecca with one of the kittens and just said, "Guess what???"  I thought he would think I was bringing one home, but he knows me (and my allergies) too well for that.  Good thing, or he might have had divorce papers drawn up!

Aunt Charlotte also happened to be visiting Fayetteville while we were there.  In true small town style, we happened to be browsing at an antique store on the square when we ran into her and her sister.  The next night, we met up with them for dinner at Cahoots.

I had two nights out with my girlfriends while I was there.  We had a Memorial Day cookout at Lucy and Ricky's house.  It was the first time I had visited their house, which is gorgeous!  They've lived in their house about the same amount of time we've lived in our "new" house, and they have it all completely painted and decorated.  Meanwhile, all our walls are still white!  I need to get on the ball.  Anyway, we enjoyed a long night of laughing and gossipping.  Then before we left, we met up again with those who could make it for some Mexican food.  I miss my Girl Posse!

I also got to have lunch with my good friend Brian.  Unfortunately, Stephanie was working, but since I hadn't seen him the last couple of times I was home, it was really nice to hang out with him. There's something awfully comforting about being with friends who've known you most of your life and have seen you at your absolute worst! 

Rebecca spent a lot of time in the back yard picking flowers.  And dandelions.

 

 But of course, the best thing about being in Tennessee is getting to spend time with Grammy!

Ten on (the day after) Tuesday

1.  Still on jury duty!  So glad I will be compensated for my time by the $15 per day the county gives me for my service, along with the 30 cents per mile that I drive.  Too bad they only pay it for one way.

2.  Rebecca shared with us tonight that it had been the "Special Day of Prayer."  She told us that everyone stopped to pray today (I think that she envisions that every single person in the world stopped to pray at the same exact time they did - what a nice thought). Her school celebrated it by joining hands and praying and then releasing balloons into the sky as a symbol of their prayers going up to heaven.  Awww!  So very sweet.

3.  Last week, I got paid from my first big private practice case.  Hopefully that was just priming the pump for more to come!

4.  For the last few weekends, we have been working in our yard, taking out ugly bushes, digging holes for new ones, picking out plants and flowers, and planting.  Ramy even created a replica of the posts with hooks for hanging baskets and sunk those in the ground in concrete for me this weekend.  Rebecca and I created four hanging baskets to go on them, and we'll have more to do for the others this weekend. Our back yard is really shaping up!

5. I am apparently the last person on earth who has neither read nor seen The Hunger Games and has no intention to do so.

6.  I have been trying to get Rebecca into swimming lessons for the summer.  I intended to do so last summer, but with the new house and move, somehow it just didn't happen.  It sounds like a simple thing.  But no.  The most convenient place is at the Y, which is just down from us.  Convenient times and dates.  The kicker is that the classes are impacted, so they have a morning a month or two in advance where you have to get in line a few hours before the registration starts.  That wasn't cool with me, so I decided to check out other options.  They are all either three times a week, in the middle of the day, or places that only do private lessons.  What the?  Who knew it would be so hard to enroll in swimming lessons!?!? 

7.  I read a few blogs, and several of them had recommended youtube makeup tutorials by the one gal.  So when I was killing time, I checked them out.  Those things are addictive!  I ended up watching about a hundred one night (when it was already past midnight and had to get up for work before 6 am).  If you like makeup and have some time to kill, check out kandeejohnson on youtube.

8.  This week while on jury duty, I have had some quality time with my iPad. I downloaded and read Stephanie Nielson's book about her recovery from her major burn injuries after her plane crash a few years ago.  I've read NieNie's blog for years, and she reminds me of the amazing power of healing that can come to the body and the spirit.  Highly recommend!

9.  Lately, we have been watching Little House on the Prairie almost every night.  Rebecca loves Laura and Mary.  I even passed up one of my Bravo shows the other night to catch an episode where Laura and Manly get married.  What has happened to me?

10. The hunt is on for my summer purse.  I keep turning to various straw bags, like these.  But I have some kind of inner objection to straw bags, though I haven't fully explored why.  It's truly a dilemma, akin to the way that I feel about Toms shoes. I may need psychotherapy.

Grandma's Surprise Party

On Saturday, March 17, we hosted a surprise birthday party for Grandma (Ramy's mom) at our house.  Ramy's sister Myrna originally suggested the idea in January, and we had been planning it since then. The funniest part of it was that we actually had all the family over for dinner a week beforehand to finalize all the details, and Grandma was there.  Rebecca kept her distracted, and she is hard of hearing anyway, so she was none the wiser.  We invited relatives of Grandma's and served mostly Filipino food (no fear - there was macaroni and cheese for those of us who aren't fans of Filipino delicacies.  By the way, if there is ever a room full of a Filipinos and a dish of fish, don't get in their way).  The only downside was that it was pouring down rain on the day of the party, so everyone got a bit wet coming in and we weren't able to mingle in the yard at all.  Otherwise though, everything went off beautifully! Grandma was surprised and seemed to enjoy the day with people she loves.  Everyone enjoyed the food. A good time was had by all.