The Queen B

You Just Never Know

We spent the holiday with The King's family.  

JJ was in attendance.

About halfway through the crazy pyromaniacal fireworks, JJ ran over to me and said, "Aunt B?  Could I wear your flip flops for a while?  Mine are all sweaty."

A Really Great Guy Is Turning A Year Older

I haven't really posted much about my dad.

Mostly because he only reads my blog once a quarter. 

He and I are a lot alike.

We are both highly emotional and dramatic creatures with a propensity for perfectionism.

Or we're both moody and difficult.  Whichever you prefer.

Today is my dad's birthday.

And I am really proud of him.

Dad's life has undergone some serious changes in the last few years.

He has handled them with grace and dignity.

(Except for those few dramatic moments where he proved moody and difficult.)

One of the changes has been his career.

My dad was a high school football coach until I was in the 9th grade.  Sports is his passion and he had a lot of success as a coach.  

It is not uncommon to be somewhere with Dad and he'll be approached by a middle aged man who recognizes him as Coach.  The greeting will be followed by stories of what a tremendous influence Dad had on that person's life.  

After coaching, Dad began working in a family business. 

This might be a good place to point out that I am not an advocate of family business.  The end.

He remained at that business for about 18 years.

Recently, he began looking for a new career.

The job market is not a welcoming place for 50-something men.

My dad is incredibly talented.  He is THE BEST people person that I know.

But nobody wants to hire a 50-something man.

He was too experienced.  (What the heck is that?)

A really smart investment firm saw the potential in him.  Dad didn't have any experience in the financial world, but they saw a hard worker with phenomenal people skills who was willing to learn.

And they hired him.

Now when I say that Dad had no experience in the financial world, I am so not exaggerating.

He began a VERY rigorous study program that has often involved 16 hour days at a computer.

Learning and testing, learning and testing.  

All of this was in preparation for The Big Test.

The Big Test is a one shot deal on which you must make a 70.  

No second chance.

On Tuesday he took The Big Test.

Six grueling hours.

AND HE DID GREAT!

 

I know how hard it must be to learn something new as you get older.

He has sacrificed so much time in preparation for this test and this job.

I am so very proud of him.

Happy Birthday, Dad.  I love you so much.

Especially your dramatic flair and tendencies toward emotion and perfectionism.

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!

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!

We're Festive

Not that it matters to anyone, but I had just written my entire post and something nutty happened and the whole thing deleted.  So I am writing the stupid thing again.  I needed to share that.

Ok.  

I think I have previously mentioned The King's aversion to all things related to Christmas decorating.  Suffice it to say it makes him really grumpy.

Really grumpy.

My mom and our friend, PeepOne felt sorry for me and offered to come help me decorate this year.

Actually, they don't think I decorate enough.  They might have said something like "pitiful" or "sparse".

Whatever.

So yesterday they made the trip to The Palace because I needed a little Christmas.

Right this very minute.

(Remember that song?)

Anyway.  

PeepOne did all the work.  She is an interior designer and does a fantastic job. She used all of my old stuff and made it look brand new.

If you live in my area you should totally call her.

Here she is mid-tree...

And yes.  My tree has a significant lean to the north.  We blame The King.

One of my favorite things is how she adds a little Christmas to my everyday items.

Removing any of my regular stuff to put out Christmas stuff makes me twitch.  I am unable to do that.  I can only add to what is already there.  Because I have issues.

And lots of Christmas villages in the attic.

PeepOne gets that.  Or she feels sorry for me and acts like she gets that.  Bless her heart.

See?  She just stuck some branch things and an ornament in my regular potpourri bowl in the bathroom.  How cute is that?

She added some red ornaments to an arrangement in my den.  

And stuck an ornament and Santa in a dish.

This vase usually holds some green apples.  She took out half of the apples and replaced them with some red balls.  She topped those off with some of the apples. Love that!

Sadly, this will probably be the last year that PeepOne decorates my house at Christmas.  

Because I am going to post this picture of her.

If you had that picture you would have posted it, too.

What is with the third one?

Back to the Christmas.

Leaning Tree of The Palace

I am thrilled with every single thing that she did.  More than anything, it was wonderful to spend the afternoon with PeepOne and Mom.  

It is starting to feel like Christmas...

Post Holiday Post

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with yummy food and non-cranky family members.

Ours was spent at The King's parents' home.  We had great food.  

And the family members?

Relatively non-cranky.

 

I spent much of last week baking and cooking things.

I really didn't have that much that I was supposed to cook for The Meal... just the dressing and sweet potatoes.  But some kind of Holiday Cooking Fairy sprinkled her fairy stuff on me and I cooked.  More than necessary.

Heidi was all about it.

Like I'm gonna tell her no.  She's had 32 near-death experiences this year.  She can have all the marshmallow cream she wants.

The King enjoyed my baking, too.

(Do those pictures seem kind of similar to you?)

I'm not gonna tell him no, either.  I need to keep him bigger than me.

My senior prom date had thighs smaller than mine and I've never quite gotten over it.  

Eat, King, Eat.

My mom visited The Palace for Turkey Day.  She went to The King's parents' house with us.  Mom, my mother-in-law and I were a little distracted for the vast majority of the day, though...

We were all in various stages of the Twilight series.  Who needs football when you have ridiculous-yet-engrossing fictional drama?

The weekend was relaxing.  The blog was neglected.  I have a zillion blogs on my bloglines thing.  

I'd really like to just delete them all.  

But my type A-ness won't hear of it.  Must.  scroll. through. each. one.  

It is a sickness I must endure.

Also, we have our first Arkansas snow.  That means a quarter of an inch of snow on the rooftops and 370 fender benders.

And, while The King is trying to watch his most recent television obsession The Unit, the local weather dude just broke in to tell us that the road conditions have gone from (his words)"...ok to worse. The bridges and overpasses may be slick".  

The King is currently looking in the phonebook for a number to call the television station and complain.  

Fun times.

Mimi has arrived.

The cooking has begun.

The Princess is running laps around the house.  (Long story...don't ask.)

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.  

Bring On The Turkey

Yesterday, I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I am so excited that it is less than a week away.  I truly love it. 

I love the food preparation. 

I love the parade.

I love the snacking. 

I love the family sitting around the table. 

I love the sale papers. 

I love the football. 

I love the thankfulness. 

Especially the thankfulness. 

And if your family is anything like mine, this will be very familiar...

She's Making A List And Checking It Twice Or Thirty-two Times

Here's the deal.  I am blogging about Christmas and toys and gifts and all of the worldly things that Christmas has become.

That is not the center of our Christmas. We totally love Jesus and love celebrating His birth.  It is our priority.  

I'm just mentioning the gifts today.

I'm wondering about those of you that buy for kids.  Especially parents.  

My daughter is a marketer's dream.  She is sucked into each and every "Toy of 2009".  She even added a "Toy of 2009" that was for preschoolers to her list.

She's 11.

What in the world do you do about the 4 bazillion commercials and catalogs and store displays?  Especially in times of financial strain?

Do you have your kiddos make a list?  Do you decide what they receive without their input?  

What in the world do you do with a list that is 57 toys long?  

And has a weekly update.

I love the thought of 3 gifts (like Jesus received).  I've heard of the twist of a need, want and surprise for those 3 gifts.  One gift?  10 gifts?  

Do you try to get them their entire list?

What about when you know their BIG, MOST AMAZING WANT is something that you know that they'll play with for only 2 days?

You might have noticed that I'm struggling with the gifts this year.  

As my daughter gets older, her list is smaller but more expensive.  She MUST have a Flip Camera and I'm not sure that she's ever even seen one...

Are you cutting back this year? Are you explaining this to your kids?  

Is Santa suffering from the recession?

We are certainly cutting back this year.  We needed to anyway.  With grandparents and great-grandparents it all gets to be too much.  The gifts begin to make me nervous.

Which is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

We Love Our Dads & Our Cheese Fries

Father's Day has kind of slipped up on me.

Woops.

And I just discovered that The King is going to be out of town in a golf tournament the entire weekend.

Emphasis on the word JUST.

Which totally makes the gift requirement null and void, if you ask me.

But I've got a great option for you.

If you take your husband/dad/random male person to Outback Steakhouse on Father's Day, they will receive a $10 certificate to be used on their next visit.

Here is the deal:

Dads will need to need to activate the certificate online at http://outback.com/dadsday. (The link will launch sometime during Father's Day weekend.) They will also be entered in an online sweepstakes to win a $100 gift card when they enter the promotional code found on the bottom of the $10 certificate.

The certificate can be used at any Outback location from June 18th– July 20th with a minimum purchase of $25.

You can learn more about this promotion and some of Outback’s new menu items by visiting here.

And because we all know that behind every dad is a rockin' mom, I'm going to give one of you a $25 gift certificate to Outback.

You could take your dad.

Or you could give it to your dad since he has a minimum purchase of $25.

Or you could take your girlfriends.

Which is what I might do.

And we would each order Sidney's Sinful Sundae.

And some Aussie Cheese Fries.

And though I would want to, I would not be able to order a Bloomin' Onion. Because when The King was in college, he worked in the kitchen at Outback. He made salads and Bloomin' Onions. When he came to my apartment after work...he stunk. Bad. Like onions. And batter. And lots of fried. Lots. His boots smelled. His clothes smelled. He reeked of the Bloomin' Onion.

And that was very unfortunate. Because prior to the stench, I loved me some Bloomin' Onion.

He took it from me and I may never get it back.

Hallelujah that he never made dessert.

So leave a comment. I'll randomly pick a winner on Father's Day.