breaking dawn

I've been in my own little world lately.  Christmas orders have been pouring in...yay!  It's a good thing, but when that happens other things take a back seat.  The house suffers a bit.  We eat breakfast for dinner A LOT!  I get frazzled.  Deadlines make me crazy.  I have no idea how people work full time and still do it all.

My Honey's a fixer.  I love that about him.  If he sees I'm frustrated he rushes in and tries to take care of me.  For instance my phone has been bugging me again.  I drop calls.  It bounces back and forth between 3G and 4G and won't allow me to connect.  Cell phones and I have a sordid history.  I swear they should hire me and pay me big bucks to find all the kinks.  If a cell phone can last a month with me it's golden!  Anyway we spent part of the weekend in Best Buy...again.  Honey going to bat to get me hooked up.  Didn't work, but he tried.  Then he worked on a computer issue I was having etc...  I love feeling takin' care of.  He's really good at that.

To top it all off he was my chick flick stand in.  Usually when a new Twilight flick comes out, the girls and I hit the movies for a night out.  We go out to dinner and then hit the teenie bopper movie...lusting over Jacob's ripped abs and gushing over Bella and Edward's deep love for each other.



My Honey of course thinks it's weird...and it is;)  He really doesn't get the Twilight movie thing, but last night we sat at sweet candlelit restaurant and he feigned interest in the movie just for me.  Major brownie points girls!  Gotta say out of all those movies I like Breaking Dawn the best.  It was pretty slow in some parts, but it was really good.  I had no idea how they were going film this particular book, but they pulled it off.

Inside I'm really a 15 year old girl.  I swear the thing I got most excited about at the movie was the PREVIEW for the Hunger Games!  Have you read that series??  It's written for teenagers, just like the Twilight books.  How I got all caught up in these books is beyond me, but they are really interesting. 

This is off topic, but do you ever buy cards for yourself?  If I see a card I love I buy it...even if I don't really have someone in mind at the time.  This one just makes me laugh.  The inside says, That's why we're friends.  Hello?  I personally think it's a good thing being a weirdo.  How about you?

Have a blessed day.

247.  cafe caturra...pork panini

248.  uninterrupted conversation with my best friend

249.  saving money when honey figures things out

250.  getting spruced up for my man

251.  the excitement of my favorite holiday fast approaching

   

weekend so far

Friday night was spent rewatching The Secretariat.  The girls and I saw it at the theater awhile back and I just knew honey would LOVE it and he did.  We are suckers for a feel good, underdog wins movie.  By the time it was over we were cheering hysterically pushing for that horse to cross the finish line. 


It's funny how you look at things different a second time.  The first time I was more focused on Penny Tweedy and her desire to keep the family farm.  Her drive to fulfill her dreams.  This time my focus was purely on the horse.  That scene when she whispered to him to "run his race" and then he blew it away by 31 lengths...it was magic!!  This may sound ridiculous speculating on what a horse is thinking, but he didn't have anything to prove.  He was already in the lead...gone!  There was no doubt he was going to win, but something internal pushed him to run his hardest, to finish with everything he had.  He wasn't looking around seeing what any of the other horses were doing;)  He had the finish line in sight and it was spectacular.  Awww so good. 

Saturday we picked up and headed off to do some errands.  The day started off pretty and then it turned.  By the time we were in Michael's there was a tornado warning in effect and then we more or less got stranded in Noodles waiting for the sheets of rain to subside.  The sky was a weird greenish color.  Sirens were blaring.  People were nervously looking out the windows. 

I grew up accustomed to tornado warnings living in Central Illinois.  In the Spring and Summer we had them all the time.  When honey and I were first married tornado's ripped through our town on two consecutive nights.  We've driven through those scenes that you see on t.v. and it's just unbelievable.  But this year the devastation is like nothing before...every day it seems like a new town is wiped away.  So many have lost loved one's and all their earthly possessions.  Every comfort we know in this human life gone.   So as we hunkered in at that Noodles I have to say I felt real fear.  I felt for a split second what those people had to feel in those moments right before the storm hit.  Mine was fleeting however and theirs was a reality.   My heart is broken for them.   I pray that the Lord would meet their every need, comfort them in their loss and restore back to them what was taken.

 

Heading home the sun made an appearance and all seemed right with the world again.  The rain made everything sparkle...looking even greener than before.  My car was finally clean:)

Hope your long weekend is full of good things.  We are having company today.  One of my favorite blogging friends is heading over for lunch with her family.  YAY!!  Then tonight we are going to a gathering at my friend's farm.  One of the most beautiful spots in my world. 


How will you spend your holiday?

Have a blessed day.

WINNERS for the Katie Evans Ebook are:  Mama Monki & Lori @ Wildflowers

Congrats girls!!!


If you didn't win make sure to check out Katie's book here.  If you put FARMGIRL in the code you'll receive $2.00 off!  Get your copy today:)

soul surfer

It's not a secret I love all things Hawaii. I've always been mesmerized by surfing. Loved movies like Blue Crush and Point Break. I could watch surfers all day long. I would never want to surf...heaven's no! But I have such a respect for anyone who can.  It's a beautiful thing. I'd heard about this movie Soul Surfer a while ago, it was on my radar. And then on my last post a few of you suggested it. It was the perfect weekend to "visit" paradise with the girls and see what it was all about.

Based on a true story it was about the tragic shark attack to surfer Bethany Hamilton. Remember her? She was 13 at the time.  She lost her arm and then went on to surf again, eventually going pro. It was very inspirational.


She didn't bat an eye at getting back in the water. She could hardly wait to recover before jumping back on that surfboard and hitting those waves. I don't know about you, but I would have been MAJOR afraid of setting a toe in that water. But she wasn't...her only fear was that she might not be able. Isn't that interesting? It's because she was born to surf.  I seriously was sitting there in the dark thinking what was I born to do? I mean reeeaally born to do. Have you ever thought about that?

It starred Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood and Annasophia Robb (as Bethany).  Who doesn't love a feel good Dennis Quaid movie?  And Carrie (playing a youth pastor) did pretty good for her first acting role.  She definitely picked the right movie.

At the end they showed footage of Bethany.  I always love it when they do that. 

I guess you know it's a good movie when you do a fist pump up in the air (and afterwards kind of slink down in your chair from embarrassment).  Ha!  If the emotion moves you just go with it right?  So if you're looking for a clean family movie grab your kiddos, Kleenex and go surfin'.

Have a great day.

 

All images found here.

OZ revelations

My Chicks are upstairs right now watching The Wizard of Oz.  I have to admit I really don't like that movie.  I mean I reeeaaally don't like it!  I remember as a kid every Easter it came on.  I would try to muster up the courage to watch the whole thing.  My stomach in knots the whole time.  Can't put my finger on what disturbed me the most...the flying monkeys, munchkin people, cackle of the witch's laugh or the tornado scene...which really scares the crap out of me.  I still have tornado nightmares!  As I type this I can actually hear her cackling laughter coming down the basement steps...eeekkkk;)

It's not the only childhood thing that gave me the heeby jeebies.  Alice and Wonderland and anything with Dr. Seuss (little chick loves him) had the same affect.  This is the first time they've seen it.  It's not that I wouldn't let them, I just never went out of my way to provide it for them.  But when Big Chick begged to see it (for frame of reference she said) I had to put my own feelings aside and let her make up her own mind. 


I guess that's part of parenting too.  Letting your kids do some things that you don't necessarily like and having them make up their own minds.  They may want to ride that ride that makes you sick or eat a food you think is disgusting, OR heaven forbid have a friend or boyfriend that you don't understand.  Somewhere along the line the realization hits that it's their life and they are their own person and it's like oh yeah...I'm NOT you.  You are free to make some of your own decisions.  We can pray for wisdom and kind of talk them through the maze and then it's all them.   At least for now it's just the Wizard of Oz.  Pray for me when the boyfriend thing happens!!

Have a blessed day.

cuddling in

On the weekends we like to cozy in.  Is there anything better than cuddling with...

sweet ones...spooning and tickling and just squeezing the life out of one another?

hogging the bed...getting the perfect spot next to me.  Calling dibs...ha!:) 

 


This past weekend it was Knight and Day...starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.  It's action packed, but kind of funny...there were a couple of swear words, so use your own judgement.  We really liked it. 

What I liked more was having all my special peeps so close to me I could hardly move.  Perfection:)  What will you do this weekend??

Have a blesssed day.

Groundhog day

Every single time I go home I meet up with my girls.  These women get me...I mean really get me.  We laugh and then laugh some more.  We eat and then eat some more and it's just a fun day.  There isn't any weird competition or fake going on.  We know it ALL and still choose to love one another.  Isn't that the best thing evah??


It dawned on me though that we always do the same thing when see each other.  Lori picks me up, we drive to Mary Lynn's house, pile in her car and drive 40 minutes to Springfield where we shop at the exact same stores, eat Chinese buffet for lunch (talking about completely raunchy inappropriate things;)), shop some more and take pictures on a mall bench, eat Mexican and head home. 

Yep that's us last year.  Same bench probably:)  It's like Groundhog Day!  Do you remember that movie with Bill Murray?  He keeps replaying the same day over and over and over...until he finally gets it right.  Well I would say we've mastered our day:)  It can't get much better than what we've come up with, but I'm wondering...

What if next time we shake it up a bit and go crazy?!  What if we went skydiving, rode a hot air balloon, ate sushi, or got a bikini wax...ha!  What about paint ball?  OH that sounds like fun.  Any other ideas??  Seriously we need to break out of our Groundhog day repeat cycle.  Did I mention I love these girls?  And I'm a dork.  I already know that...thank you very much:)

Have a blessed day.

The Secretariat

The chicks are off school for a few days, so a friend and I took our girls to see the new Disney movie The Secretariat.  It's not too often that a movie speaks to me like this one did.  I needed a pad and paper to write down my thoughts, and felt like jumping up and down in my seat cheering. 


It was inspirational to the point that I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.   Yes it was that good!  Unfortunately in doing research for this post I saw a few reviews that didn't agree with me.  Sometimes you just can't listen to the movie men, they don't know what a good movie is...HA!  And I do;)

The main character, Penny Tweedy...played by Diane Lane, was a suburban housewife in the 70's when her family's horse farm needed her attention.  She played the owner of the greatest racehorse of all time, and for me it was also Diane Lane's role of a lifetime.  She was strong, intelligent and fearless.  She took risks and ran her race. 




Isn't that what life is about?  Giving it your best...going for it...not being plagued by regret.  Well in this true story she did just that and the horse she was in charge of didn't disappoint.  I hope you go see this movie.  It's 100% family friendly.  I promise you won't leave without a great big smile on your face and a possible tear or two on your cheeks.  Gotta love that:)

Have a blessed day.

Photo courtesy csmonitor.com

Hunkering in

Honey was gone for most of the week.  He doesn't travel much thank heavens.  I'm kind of out of sorts when he does.  I lose all sense of time and stay up way too late.  I can't even begin to put a meal together.  It's just off.  Does that make sense? 

Fergie has a routine at bedtime.  She goes limp and acts dead...hoping with all that's in her that we won't make her go sleep in her crate.  Isn't that mean?  She's crated!  We've just always done it that way.  Well this week while Honey was gone I decided to try and have her sleep with me.  I mean look at that face...how can you say no:)  I should have though.  It didn't go well.  She woke me up in the middle of the night and I had to put her up anyway.  But we gave it a shot.

Friday night we all hunkered in.  I had the girls help me whip up some waffles and scrambled eggs for dinner and then we cuddled on the couch and watched a movie.

We popped in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.  Remember that movie??  Oh my goodness.  It's so dumb.  But I found myself laughing out loud.  This grown man, weird grown man...acting like an immature kid.  It's just too funny.  Remember..."I know you are, but what am I?" and his creepy laugh.  I had to kind of explain it to the girls.  They were like mom...he's so weird. 

I'm like ummm...I know, but it's really funny. 

(painting I got done this week for Alicia)

I'm going to continue the hunkering in theme for this week.  I have a lot of stuff I'm working on.  Trying to restock my Etsy store for Christmas...praying for some wonderful creativity to flow all over me.   It should be fun, but challenging.  I have a way of getting distracted.  I think I have adult ADHD;)

Have a blessed day.



Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

Have you seen Karate Kid yet?  This weekend we took the girls to see the new version with Will Smith's son Jaden playing the lead.  I wasn't expecting much. I was a HUGE Karate Kid lover as a youngin'. 

Ralph Macchio was soooo dreamy.  I was in his fan club, and even had an autographed head shot:)  The movie also holds special memories because my brother Jim took me.  I was eleven at the time and spending time with my older brother...was just COOL!

{I was so jealous of Elizabeth Shue...lucky girl:)}

I was really surprised at how good the remake was.  I can't believe I'm going to say this...but I think it was actually better than the original!  We were all on the edge of our seats.  The action moves were inventive and the plot was done well.  They incorporated a lot of similarities with the first one, but made it new and fresh.  The movie was filmed in China, so it gave us an interesting peek into the daily life in Beijing. 

I love any movie that plays to adults as well as children and this one fit the bill perfectly.  I would definitely watch it again even without my girls.  And then there's that wonderful feeling of leaving a movie theater on cloud nine...all because the underdog won.  Love that!  Just curious...did you have any movie crushes when you were little??

Have a blessed day.

Canopy of Dreams GIVEAWAY!!

Last night we were invited to a gala to raise money for a wonderful Christian based organization called TreeHouse in the Minneapolis area. They provide support for troubled teens.

The function was held at the Depot in downtown Minneapolis. It's a beautiful old building full of character. Whoever decorated this year must have known I was coming;) It was just beautiful... a sea of color with large trees and hanging paper hearts. The walls were saturated with fuchsia and teal lights and shapes of leaves. It was gorgeous.

Each table was set up with a color theme...we were at the lime green table. My favorite color:) They had candles set up throughout that were just tall hurricanes wrapped in velum paper. So simple and easy. I'm so going to remember that!

Remember the award winning movie The Blind Side?? We got to see the real life family IN PERSON. How cool is that?? They were the perfect people to have because they walked the walk. They took a trouble teen in and the results were so amazing that Hollywood came a knockin' and a movie was made about their lives. Their adopted son Michael is now starting for the Baltimore Ravens.

Leigh Anne Tuohy was played by Sandra Bullock in the movie and I have to say Sandra nailed her part. This lady was tough AS nails. She deserved that Academy award!

Everyone in the audience could write down questions that the family would answer and I guess a few were really pretty silly. Like someone asked if having the movie made has changed her life at all. She more or less said they must have come off the short bus because, Yes having Sandra Bullock play you, then win an academy award about you, Sandra's husband falling off the deep end and then she adopts her own black baby boy...yes that's pretty life changing.

Amy Grant was the special music. When I heard she was going to perform I was beyond excited! I grew up listening to her, and even saw her in concert as a teen. She was the pioneer for all of Christian music today. I love her soulful husky voice. I was always able to sing along to her songs. She sang some of my very favorites...Baby Baby, El Shadai, her new Hallelujah song etc... She was really amazing.

She is 49 years old. Can you believe that? She was so beautiful and I loved her soft sweet presence. She talked a lot between songs and she shared a story of her mother in law that really touched my heart. It was about someone taking the time to take her to church with them and she gave her heart to the Lord.

That was the theme of the night. Looking around...opening your eyes to someone who needs a helping hand. I left inspired and anxious to touch lives. What if we all went looking for someone to bless...someone to be kind to??? I know I want my life to matter. I want my life to have eternal results. To be a blessing and to show His love...what a great calling.

The most important part of the evening by far were the teens that walked through the aisles and shared their story. This young man, I think his name was Trey, was only eighteen. He lived his life going from state to state. By the time he was 7 he had lived in 32 states! His parents and family members operated one of the largest prostitution rings. His dad was a pimp and his mom helped him. He was separated from his siblings when his parents ended up in jail.

He was angry and full of hate and actually tried to kill one of his classmates. He was thrown out of school and then he found TreeHouse. His life was transformed because they took the time to support him and guide his life. He is a different person because they CARED. He's been accepted to college and in the Fall he will start a new path. It was sooooo inspirational!

****If you want more information about this wonderful organization here's the link.

So that leads me to the giveaway. We got gift bags in our seats...YAY! So guess what? You get to benefit from that:) I have an extra copy of Amy Grant's new CD Somewhere Down the Road and the DVD The Blind Side.

To enter just leave me a comment about someone giving you a helping hand during a hard time in your life. Was there a special teacher who took interest in you, a pastor...a friend?? I will pick a winner on Wednesday.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Have a blessed day.