The Queen B

My Top Ten

Jules at The Roost had the fantastic idea of posting our top ten favorite photos of 2008.  

How great is that?

It was fun looking back through my photos.  Some of the pictures that I've chosen may be familiar and some (hallelujah) you've not seen before.

And let me say that it is certainly not the quality of the photos that earned them a spot on my top ten...

I mean, really.  Does this need any explanation?  The King looks strangely delighted to have that porcupine thing on his head.  He is weird.  This is proof.

This was a really fun day at the farm riding four wheelers. The Princess was SO proud to drive her (mildly terrified) mom around the woods.

Foreshadowing of things to come.

Poor Heidi had a rough 2008.  She is surviving a really tough illness and spent a lot of time in and out of the vet's office.  Her look in this photo kind of tells the tale.

Rarely is The Princess surprised.  

(She is smarter than me.  It is hard to pull one over on an 11 year old who is smarter than me.)  

However, we completely shocked her this Christmas with a new computer and I love the look on her face.  We're used to her "fake surprise" face.  I'm glad to have documented a "real surprise" face.

How cute is little Chester?  

This picture was taken soon after we brought him home.  He was totally a replacement kitty for Chloe, who died unexpectedly.  He is such a sweet cat and has brought lots of joy to our home.

This was the one day trip that we had planned for Spring Break.  It was to the tallest mountain in Arkansas to enjoy the beautiful view.

You can see that worked out well.

Now you knew this picture would be included.  How could I leave out the gratuitous shaved cat photo?

While on vacation this summer, we planned to trade in our SUV for a more fuel efficient car.  We left my mom in charge of The Princess.  We were going to be test driving a few cars and I left mom with strict instructions to keep a close eye on The Princess.  

This is what I found when we returned:  Mom was asleep and The Princess was on her own.

Does it get any better than my people at a NASCAR race?  

Um. No.  It does not get any better than that.  

Except for maybe a photo of my people at a NASCAR race with a bonus shot of that man's hair in the background.  

Now THAT is the best.

Thanks to Jules for encouraging us to review our year in pictures.  The amount of ridiculous pet photos that I have taken has lead me to my New Year's Resolution:  In 2009, I need to get a life.

For more top tens, check out The Roost...or better yet, add your own!!

A Few Post-Holiday Observations

I hope that each of you had a lovely Christmas!  Ours was delightful.  

I need to share a few things.

1.  The Monday after Christmas at Wal-Mart is deserving of its own name.  Something like "Stay The Heck Out Of Wal-Mart Monday" comes to mind.

2.  The Great Playroom Clean Out 2008 sounds much more fun than it actually is. 

3.  Day 4 of Christmas leftovers is one day too many.

5.  Taking down the Christmas bling made me happy.

6.  Unfortunately, it also made me clean out every drawer and cabinet in the house.

7.  A person should begin a serious workout program prior to a 12 hour Wii marathon.

Perhaps the most important observation...

8.  The Discovery Pink Slide & Text Messengers are the biggest pieces of junk ever made.  If you have to make the text messengers touch each other while telling your texting counterpart to "hit receive now" it sort of takes out all of the fun.

Especially when Mama is the counterpart.  And when her child insists on playing with them.  When they are sitting face to face.  

Let that serve as a warning to you.

9.  It is not the most glowing example of hospitality to have an overnight guest and forget to put towels in their bathroom.  Which wasn't discovered by the guest until he was showering and a towel was necessary.  And wasn't thought of by yours truly until the following  morning.  

(Yeah.  Sorry about that, Nick.)

10.  There is no better day than one spent with my people in my pjs.

I'm afraid that might have come across as if my people were in my pjs.  

They were not.

(It appears as if I've left out #4.  Pretend that I did not do that.)

Feel free to share your own observations.  I know you have made them.

Enjoy your day.

I've Made My List And Checked It Twice...

...and I think everything is just about ready to celebrate Christmas.

(Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that if it isn't ready, it is not going to be ready.)

I am looking forward to relaxing with my family.

I am looking forward to giving the gifts that I chose for each special person.

I am especially looking forward to spending time honoring the greatest gift given to us: Jesus Christ.

I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a week filled with unbelievable joy!

Breaking News

Prepare yourself.

This is going to come as a shock.

I just read that the Wal-Mart clinics are closing.  

Really?

I never could have seen that coming.

The company statement said that "the clinics were underperforming".

Surely not.

My experience with The Health Educator was clearly an example of the best medical care that can be found at a discount retailer.

A Gift

There are two things in life that terrify me.

Well.  That's not true.  

Really there are more than two.  (Anybody watch Monk?)

It would be more accurate to say that there are two really huge things that (currently) scare me more than the other less huge (though not insignificant) things.

They are:

1.  Flying

2.  Leaving the country

(Not necessarily in that order.  It depends upon the day.)

Though I have vowed to never leave the country.

Not ever.

For any reason.

So that might trump the flying.

Well. Guess what God has orchestrated...

I'm flying to Guatemala.

I almost threw up when I typed that.

I've been wanting to tell you about it, but I kind of kept hoping it would go away.

But today is the deadline and I'm officially signed up.

Oh.  The King and The Princess are signed up, too.

But this is about me.

Some friends of ours have been called to move their family of six to Guatemala to live at an orphanage.

Did I mention that there are six of them?

Four kids, all boys--ages 10, 7, 6 and 2.

They are laying aside their regular, normal lives to move to a third world country and run a dorm for orphaned babies.

Is there a higher calling?

The King is on their board. Our family is 100% behind their ministry.

I just kind of hoped to be 100% behind their ministry from the comfort of my own home.

We will be traveling to Guatemala in March.  For eight days.

I can't recall... Have I mentioned that I'm a little bit afraid of flying and leaving the country?

I do not exaggerate when I tell you that I covet your prayers.

COVET THEM.

I hope that I don't overwhelm you with posts about it (think about the cats, y'all) but I do want to share this with you as I prepare.

I want you to feel as if you are going with me.

Because I am pretending that you are.

I'd like to give you some information on this family and their ministry so that you can begin lifting this sweet family in prayer.

Only Grace is the ministry of the Carney family.  

This would have been a really great place to put their photo, don't you think? But that would have required planning ahead.  And lately I've been spending most of my time trying to figure out how to get out of flying to a third-world country.

The Only Grace website should be completed in the next few days.  I hope to have a button for my blog, too.  I'm also hoping to have them do a guest post...I'd like for you to hear of their journey directly from them.  The Carney's will be living in and overseeing the baby dorm.  "Babies" are children from birth to age 5.  There are anywhere from 60 to 100 children in this dorm and they have three Guatemalan assistants.  

The orphanage is Casa Para Niños Aleluya.  Its website tells the story better than I could.  Go read it.

The Carney's are so excited to be used as the living hands of God.  I am amazed at their willingness.  They must raise 100% of their funding...a task that seems overwhelming, but they know that God will provide every penny.  I am learning from the example of their faith.

I plan on blogging in preparation for the trip and during the trip.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll take a group of you down there on another trip...

Did I just say that?

I will say that I am very excited about the opportunity to be involved with this ministry.  

I will share how God forced moved me to be a part of this trip in another post.  For now, I just ask for your prayers for my family, their family and (most importantly) these precious children in Guatemala.

What an amazing gift.

Guess Who's NOT On The Naughty List...

You will not believe what The Princess did for her mom and dad.

Yesterday was The King and my 14th anniversary. 

(Love you, King!) 

The Princess sent us this beautiful Edible Arrangement.  

Who knew that chocolate-dipped pineapple was the best taste combo on the entire planet?

She picked it out all by herself and called Mimi to help her get it ordered because "I'm only 11.  I can't order things".

How sweet is that?

Now.  That is all the blogging I can do, because I'm eating the pineapple.  

And hanging with The King.

The Teacher Gifts Are Wearing Me Down

I love teachers. Love them.  Admire them.  Appreciate them.

Would never want to be one of them.

For that reason alone, I am all about getting them thoughtful Christmas gifts.

But here's the wearing me down part...there are so many of them.

Now that The Princess is in 5th grade, she has 4 main teachers and 3 elective teachers. 

In my quest for a simpler Christmas, I suggested that several of the moms go in together to get each of the 4 main teachers a gift card to their favorite store.

Now I've no idea what to do about the elective teachers.

And the school secretary.  

And the principal.

MY LIST IS GROWING BY THE SECOND.

The Princess came home yesterday telling me that she thinks all of the kids in her class are bringing a little something for the other students.

That would be the other 16 students.

I was so happy to be giving money toward the 4 teachers' gift cards. 

But now it feels as if it is getting way out of hand.

Rephrase:  It IS getting way out of hand.

WHERE IS MY SIMPLE CHRISTMAS?

I don't want The Princess to be the only kid who shows up without something for the other students.

I thought about sending a Hershey bar for each one, but even that will be almost $20.

The elective teachers need to be acknowledged.

And then there's the gift bags...

Feel free to suggest.

But for now...

I'm grumpy.

I'm tired.

The King colored my hair last night and stained my face.

I'm just ready to enjoy the season without all of this seasonal stuff.

I want my simple Christmas back.

Now go about your business and pretend I didn't whine.

Guess Who's On The Naughty List...

Remember a few weeks ago, when Oliver had a little issue with Santa?

Well.

It is getting worse.

Let me show you the destruction.

These are just the occasions when I happened to find my camera.  

There have been more.

Santa is hanging on by a thread.

I'm beginning to think there may be an accomplice, though.

Somebody else was caught in the middle of a little Holiday Vandalism this weekend.

Care to take a guess?

I know he looks sweet and innocent, but he isn't.

Pure evil.

Look what he destroyed.

Wondering what that was?

Well.  Here's the rest of it.

That is a bad picture.  Let me try again.

Maybe I better just show you what it looked like before.

Now that was cute, wasn't it?

So.  In the interest of letting Santa know that the disrespecting is NOT the fault of the entire family, we are leaving him a little message.

With a reminder about the fate of Gordon.  Just, you know, in case there is any question about who deserves the lumps of coal.

It has got to be these two...

Christmas Time Is Here

Now you know it is almost Christmas when BooMama's Christmas Tour Of Homes rolls around.

Bring it on.

I have a serious aversion to removing permanent home decor to add temporary, seasonal decor.

I love it when you do it.

I just don't like it when I do it.   I happen to have an itsy, bitsy issue with liking things JUST HOW THEY ARE.  

I do love the holidays, though, so I try to incorporate our Christmas decorations in with the things that we enjoy everyday.

A couple of Christmas plates sit in front of my kitchen sink.  I also enjoy a sweet tree that my daughter made in its place of honor on an iron pedestal.

(The cat is real.  And guilty of knocking over the plate 27 times.)

My cookbook holder is the perfect spot for a holiday recipe.

I think that seasonal cookbooks look beautiful when incorporated into the kitchen.

This may be my favorite Christmas display in my home this year.  I normally keep green apples in this vase.  Adding a few Christmas balls makes it so festive!

This side table is just one of the many places Santa makes a stop...

 

Is this not the strangest Santa you've ever seen?

The bathroom is a great place to decorate for the holidays.

A simple glass jar looks lovely with colored Christmas balls.

Those Build-a-Bear Reindeer can even be great accessories!

I can't wrap up the tour without a picture of our tree...

Thank you all for visiting my home.  

For more decked halls, check out BooMama's Christmas Tour Of Homes.

Have a blessed and joyous Christmas season!

Who Won The Stuffed Stocking?

Thanks again to Tide for the wonderful stocking giveaway!

The winner is...

Diane!!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

40

Timestamp: 2008-12-14 17:51:57 UTC

Thanks to all who entered!!