The library

My kids love the 'liberry'. Tonight we went and once again signed up for summer reading. Last summer they absolutely loved getting to pick out prizes for reading. Well, for being read to, but you knew what I meant. I can't wait to take them in to report their reading and pick thier prizes!!

Fish and chips?

Our good friend Casey is in jolly ol' England for business. I am jealous, though he wasn't that excited since he is not actually in London.

Somehow, he just HAS to find a way to visit Diana's grave!!!!!! We all saw the dramz surrounding her death unfold together via live tv back in college.

Can I get a WOOT WOOT for Throneberry Properties/Rosewood/Oak Park?

New look...

Do you like it? I do!!

Stephanie's wisdom

I am cracking myself up because I feel just like my friend, Stephanie, who always blogs about bad experiences before letting the company know about her blog. Maybe I'll point O' Charley's in this direction.

O' Charleys disappoints us

We went to O' Charley's tonight on Old fort Parkway in Murfreesboro. The bread was hot and wonderful. The salad was great. The fries were delicious. The chicken tenders...not so much.

First, let me say that for a long time, we would get bread that seemed old, in contrast to last night when we got hot, soft rolls. Also, for a while, it seemed like the fries were always soggy and soaked in the juices from the steak or grilled chicken I'd usually order. None of that deterred us from returning. However...last night was it.

The kids got Chicken O' Tenders. They each got one small normal tender and two tiny oddly-shaped pieces that looked like scraps. I got the pretzel coated tenders. They tasted good...but they were all different shapes and sizes, with some nugget sized pieces, two normal strips and one flat piece. It was just a random mix. Then I ate some. Grissel. Ahhhhhh! Mine were so grissely that I only ate part of two and got too grossed out to continue. The last bite had to be discreetly spit into a bev nap. There was no way I could keep chewing something that was popping between my teeth but never breaking down. GROSS.

Perhaps I am wrong, but it seemed clear that they are trying to save money by getting their chicken from somewhere else. That really stinks for them, though, because the chicken tenders are what they are famous for. It seems like a huge mistake to go changing the chicken tenders. I mean, they bore no resemblance to the Chicken O' Tenders everyone has come to expect. Usually you get an entree of chicken strips. Not last night.

We will not be back to O' Charley's for a lonnnnng time. Strange, considering that this has been one of our very regular choices for eating out for the past eight years that Phillip and I have been together.

Chicken gravy and such

My mother makes a dish that everyone covets. Everyone except me. You see, I hate onions more than anything. I specifically hate the smell of cooking onions. Anyway, tonight she made chicken gravy for dinner since my sister Ginger and her kids are in town. Chicken gravy is made by cooking some chicken breast cut into chunks and fresh onion in a skillet and adding seasonings, flour and water to create a gravy.

Tonight's dish had cooked quite a while, as you never know when Gin and her fam will roll in. They stop and shop along the way from Louisiana to here everytime! It is so funny! Anyway, to an extent, the chicken had 'cooked to pieces' and was left in several big chunks but also shredded throughout the gravy.

Lola's dinner plate held some of this chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots and a roll. She immediately tore into the chicken and announced proudly that she was ready for some more barbeque. "More bah-ba-que, Momma! Some more bah-ba-que!!! Bah-ba-que!!!!!!!!!!" She thought it was like shredded bbq meat from Slick Pig!

My baby

My baby didn't score high enough to be considered officially gifted, but I am not disappointed in her. I am disappointed in "the system".

This is actually so nuts. You must score in the 90th percentile or better to be gifted. The principal of our school has adamantly expressed that unless she scored high enough to be officially gifted, she would not admit her.

Miles scored in the 89th percentile. How's that for irony?!?! Anyway, no tears, my friends.

Just to clarify, that means that 89% of students taking this test aimed at 1st to 3rd graders scored lower than her on this test. She was 'smarter' than 89% of students taking a test for students including those three years older than her. She is 4 and a half.

There is still a chance she can start school. Please be praying, because I do believe this is something our entire family really needs.

Tragedy

Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman lost his five-year-old daughter yesterday when his son accidentally ran over her in the family's driveway.

In January, radio personality Rick Burgess lost his two-year-old son, Bronner, when he drowned in the family pool.

Sometimes you wonder why these things happen to us as humans. I know that both tragedies are part of a greater plan to bring more people to God.

You can't get to Heaven in a Washing Machine

Our washing machine started making a weird noise last night. Think the sound a person might make if their head were being shrunk while still conscious. Think the sound of a bat shreiking through the spin cycle.

Then it did laundry fine all day...but I just went in to the kitchen and noticed it seemed awful quite considering and that I just started a load of towels on hot. I opened the utility room door, smelled a burning odor and found the washer to be dead!!!!!! KAPUT.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I didn't plan on buying a new washer for years. Please pray that I don't have to.

An update

The surgery went fine!!

Daddy

My dad has knee replacement surgery tomorrow. He's been cleared for surgery by his cardiologist, but just knowing you have to be cleared makes you nervous. I just have a nervous feeling in general. I cried really bad when we drove away from their house yesterday. Just knowing that if I don’t make it back out there today and something happens, that might be my last hug. He will be taken back at 7:30 in the morning for them to monitor his heart before the surgery, so I probably won’t see him since I doubt I will get up there that early. I know, though, that unless it is his day, already written in stone, he will be fine, and if it is his day, it is right and I have to focus on that.


Around 1942, school picture 1952 in the Air Force in Denver

2008 playing with Lola

babies

I saw a precious baby today that had an insane amount of hair. The hair was sooo soft. Ahhhh. Babies. They are so precious and uplifting. Her momma has tremendous class and faith, so she's gonna turn out alright! I hope Lola hangs out with her in high school.

Just when you think you can't be amazed...

Just when you think someone can't possibly be so shameless, they will amaze you with their ability to be just exactly what you knew they were, and you are once again 100% validated. It is actually pretty crazy.

Shea

So Lola has walked around the house today talking about /Shay-bee/. I love it.

Two!!

Lola before her guests arrived...digging into the chips after she bored of the Chex mix.

Loving her first gift she opened...

Big sissy Miles smiling sweetly for the camera on Lola's actual birthday, Sunday.

Little Lola turned two today.

I still can't believe how time passes when you are a parent. The actual passing of time affects you differently because you are less there emotionally for random things. Because your attention is placed on your child or children, you don't notice individual days the same way you used to. Pictures will be posted later.

Disney show goes down the toilet

We don't normally watch Finneas and Ferb, or however they spell it, but today we did. I heard one character threaten to "smother you in pigeon poo" and I am appalled.

Can't the writers think of something more intelligent to say? Not all children talk about bodily functions or use general bathroom humor all the time. For example, we were never allowed to behave like that. No talking about farts, etc. My family is one based in humor, so we would get tickled and laugh if someone accidentally tooted, of course, but there was no intentional bathroom humor and I am so glad I was raised that way.

I am not saying that you can't ever say anything. I am just saying that if you are always cracking jokes about crap and if you grew up with your father walking around farting and burping like Al Bundy, you would never have made it in my house.

Who took a picture of Little Richard's shoes?!?!?!?!

A little Little Richard goes a long way. Like in this case, to Tullahoma and back.

I still can't believe it. I was driving down Church Street in Murfreesboro. A black Cadillac Escalade was trying to pull out of Taco Bell.

Dang it if Little Richard wasn't behind the wheel. I couldn't believe my eyes. I tried to get another look, though the first look had been plenty to know it was him. His hair was in perfect rolls. His mustache was perfectly thin.

I pulled off at Indian Hills, deciding not to go on home but to bust a U-turn and try to follow him. When he got near, I got another good look. And another. And another. I followed/stalked him all the way to Shelbyville. I got several opportunities to take a picture but each time my heart started pounding and I felt like a total moron actually taking it. I just knew that no one would ever believe me.

It was confirmed again that it as in fact him when I saw him eating his Taco Bell food. He had rings on his hand and a fabulous glitzy watch on. He also had on metallic gold, over sized sunglasses.

Once we got to Shelbyville, I saw a man on a bike holler, "Hey! Little Richard!!" He threw his hand out the window and gave a less-than-manly yet enthusiastic wave of of four fingers, holding his thumb still.

I decided that it might not be the best idea to follow him on towards Tullahoma. You think?

I busted another U, this time rolling down my window and asking the man on the bike if it was really him. He said, "Yeah, man! That was Little Richard!!!!!!!!"

I came home totally knowing that people would never believe me. I was in awe.

I got online, and found out pretty quickly that Little Richard moved to Tennessee in January. Hmmmm. Then guess what else? Being the sleuth that I am, I looked up the Moore County property data, since the tags on the Escalade had been from Moore County. Just FYI, Little Richard lives in Lynchburg in a house bought under his real name.

I stalked Little Richard today!!!

So, a big round of golf claps, please...

Casey and Hal have almost settled into their new house in Sylvan Park (as oppossed to their old house in Sylvan Park)!!!! I can't wait to see it.

We are so happy for them. They debated a long time before buying something new. They talked about a loft downtown, since they are quite the social pair, but always loved Sylvan Park.

Casey has been one of my closest friends since the spring of 1996 when we randomly met at a party at the MTSU SAE house, and Hal fit right in around '98. They are one of the few couples that Phillip and I actually get a chance to hang out with occassionally. We always have such a good time, though sometimes I do feel a little bad for Hal and Phil, as Casey and I tend to branch off and get into trouble!! LOL! But alas, Hal and Phillip are good friends, too, so I think they always enjoy themselves.

Cheers to one of my favorite couples on this house.

An update on white Jeep Liberty Lady

My neighbor told me that she lives behind us and that she's a nurse who is in trouble for some missing narcotics at the hospital. That explains a lot. I am pretty sure I can tell you what happened to the missing drugs. She ate them before crashing her car on a beer run. The irony!!