The Story of My Life

Guess Who????? Friday night I had the pleasure of meeting with a bunch of Helena Bloggers. We had a blast, shared stories and talked like old friends. It is nice to go out with people you feel comfortable and have things in common with. We laughed and laughed...and laughed some more. Meeting someone in real life that you communicate with daily through the blog world is a unique experience. I have been so blessed this past year to make these new friends. Can't wait until next time, Society of Helena Bloggers- unless it is craft night. I will bring my flute, my camera, of course.... and my perm rods, extra small. We can meet at my house for Rock Band and pizza. I won't be cooking it, of course. Take your charter member badge and post on your site PROUDLY if you want. UPDATE!!!!!!!! Here is one for ALL Helena Bloggers who attended the morning event, minus the night pics..... or if you didn't attend and wish you had. Sorry, didn't mean to leave anyone out!

I made a real life friend that I feel like was my friend for a long time now anyways. Dust Bunny Hostage and I were able to meet and chat as our paths finally crossed over the Thanksgiving holiday. She is such a fun friend in the virtual world, and in real life as well. We could have chatted for HOURS AND HOURS. It was such fun to chat, confide and yes, sadly, leave with a hug. I know we will meet again. Soon. I even called Leigh to brag and we all decided to plan a spring Alabama blogging convention so we can all mix and mingle! Leigh called me a name for forgetting my camera.... CAN YOU BELIEVE I left it at my mother's on the counter while going to meet a celebrity like Dustbunny????? Bunny had hers, thank goodness, so we could record our meeting. Bunny said she had Farrah Fawcett hair in these, but I love them and I love my now real life friend as well Baby girl also took some of us with my Blackberry they were cute too.... A perfect Thanksgiving treat.... I really am Thankful...

I have a blogger friend, Leigh, who I have been doing some graphic work for her blog in the last several months. She is a shining Christian blogger that has a gift for communicating. I have always been happy to contribute to her blog and ministry. She has sent me really cool purses in the mail in return for my services. She recently wanted a few more things done to her blog. I agreed to help her. Let me step back and say..... As my blog readers know, we started on a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace plan for our family recently. We have budgeted every dollar the rest of the year and I do not find it impossible. just constraining and different and really NO FUN in the short run. Believe me, the first months on this plan are anything but peaceful. We have COMPLETELY changed our spending, giving and budgeting lifestyle- for the better, I may add- from the past 19 years of our marriage. We are not starving and have more than everything we need. So I do not mean to say that we are- just that chan...

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. * Aristotle Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you. * Elbert Hubbard The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right. * Mark Twain Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend. ~Aristotle In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~Albert Schweitzer Friends are God's way of apologizing to us for our families. A good friend is cheaper than therapy. One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer ...

We had a block party on Sunday afternoon and had a huge turnout. We have so many kids on our street and it was great to get all the parents out and talking. I would love to say I took lots of pictures, but I sat my butt in a lawn chair and ate all the delicious food and enjoyed adult conversation with my awesome neighbors. We must try to plan more neighborhood stuff! On Monday night, our Wildcats chartered a bus and rode to Vestavia . Thanks Devan's parents for the awesome experience! Little Man's favorite Aunt (sorry GL , just kidding of course!!!) and cousin came from north of here about 90 miles to watch the game. So a charter bus ride with your teammates and your family there to cheer you on....who cares what the score was! And last but not least, I had laryngitis, totally losing my voice on Tuesday. I took a sick day to rest on Wednesday. Due to the sewer fiasco at my son's school, he was home too. And of course if we were both home, Baby girl had to stay too. ...

We are enjoying the football. Making lots of new great friends- kids and parents alike. While I still do not know all the positions and struggle with my limited knowledge of the rules, we are having a good time! And of course, our rules are kinda weird.....I just figured out last night that they were not really punting. I thought I was just not paying attention. And our team does not have a quarterback.....and we have a bearcrawler . Go figure. I am NO sports genius, but No wonder I am confused. I did team pictures last night, in my spare time. Here are a few for you took check out! GO WILDCATS!!!!

This weekend we had a Parent's night out and went to eat and listen to some good music with a few football parents. Tracey Tucker and his pal Alan Renfroe were playing at Wine'd Down in Patton Creek and they were fabulous!!! The Jones' and the hometown pals of mine know the musicians and told us how great they were- and boy were they right. One of the coaches and his fun wife came along as well. I did not take my camera and was reduced to cell phone shots, which as you know, I hate. I found them on my space: http://www.myspace.com/traceyandalan Check out these talented guys if you get a chance. Tracey Tucker lives in Helena. There is also a calendar on the Wine'd Down site. The place is not loud, not smoky- just right for some grown up relaxation. The music was fun and a great mix of acoustic tunes- lots of kinds.....including of course, my favorite, a Bon Jovi. There playlist was extensive and their talent was immense. We must do it again. I saw where they were there a...

Granted, I do not know Hal Woodman in real life, but if you ask me, I will tell you many noteworthy things about him and still tell you he is a close friend of mine.....that I communicate with daily. He is sincere in his love for Helena and his desire to see only the best things happen to our amazing little home. He is intelligent, creative, logical and open to new ideas and changes. He is an outside-the-box thinker who makes things happen. I mean, come on, who else can get me out in below freezing weather to hunt a plastic gnome . He has a great sense of humor and that is VERY important in life. He is a dedicated, family-oriented man who can iron clothes, make cool photoshop and video things and still find time to Hang out at Incahoots and write important news. He sleeps way too little. I can go on about the things I have learned about Hal in the past year, but will stop there. Please remember, Helena is a wonderful place to call home and we need to make sure we change and grow as n...

We celebrated our friend's birthday this weekend at the Plaza III Steakhouse in Brookwood Village. The Doc turned 41 and we had a great meal and great time celebrating with them. It is a treat to get dressed up and go somewhere fancy....and I do mean fancy. There was a minimum to hold the private dining room for the 9 of us and BELIEVE me it was not $50. The Plaza has choice cuts of steak and lobster as it's specialty. And an AMAZING menu of Martinis- especially the PlazaIIItini, their specialty, with some added peach schnapps, a Hawaiian-tinni, with Malibu rum and banana liquor for an amazing taste and an amazing concoction known as the Blue topaz. Here are our lovely taste-testers in action. We had shellfish samplers for appetizer, shared side dishes cheddar potatoes, brocolli and grilled vegetables and each ordered our own meat. I, of course, had the fabulous grilled chicken. The service was great, atmosphere was so comfortable and food was delicious. The lobster was HUGE...

We went over to our best friends' house to eat and hang out this weekend. Princess and the Doc invited us to sample some of the southern Mississippi boy's Gumbo! The kids all had a great time and the GUMBO was SOOOO good. He used the recipe from the link below- worked on it for hours- chicken, sausage, fresh crab and shrimp, made his own stock and roux.... and it was worth every second. http:/ /www.gumbopages.com/food/gumbo .ht ml Good Food and Good Friends! What weekends are made for! And a good time was had by all.......

I have been out and about more lately and met lots of new friends. No, I do not mean new bloggers - I do have a real life. I met THE COOLEST guy at a meeting yesterday- a friend of a friend who actually knew me from my blog. Turns out he is a FAMOUS writer and actor. Oh, man,- I thought I was the famous blogger in the house! So hello out there to my new friend! Let's meet up again in real life soon. I googled you and saw your book info- MAN- you are really smarter than I thought! And, it was such a pleasure to meet you, I may add. You made me laugh and made that rather uneventful meeting lots more fun. And I am here, in your "office" waiting to hook up the projector. Where are you????? And I finally got all that COOKIE OUT. Hope to see you soon, my new friend. Over BonJovi and a DP......diet for you.

I have had a few things happen in the last week that have made me stop and think. You know as you get older you are supposed to learn lessons. And obviously some of us are slow learners and developmentally delayed when it comes to life. Lesson #1: When you have a child and are the female parent, you can never, ever take your eyes off of said child for any amount of time when father is out of town. Because if you do, even if your comfy lawn chair is sitting in the middle of your said 2 children, performing two different activities and you are strategically placed, dead center, as to watch both children simultaneously , ONE CHILD will get hurt. And that dear child will be all too happy to throw you under the bus while describing the accident to returning father. "It was because Mom was not keeping an eye on me." And really, do you know HOW people, including the father, look at you, when a precious little princess has a shiner, that looks worse, in many colors of black, blue, g...

We had a great time at our annual July 4th celebration, now in its 50th year of existence. 50 friends and family gathered to celebrate our freedom to gather, worship and celebrate as we please. We had great food, games and fun....and of course a gnome hunt....which I did not win. From 5 months to 95 years of age....a great time was had by all. Grilling, eating homemade ice cream, competitions of all kinds..... We should all Thank God today to be living in the USA. And remember the events in the past that took place, the sacrifices made so that we could celebrate INDEPENDENCE DAY!