Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this Scavenger Hunt meme at Ramblings and Photos by Ashley Sisk.  And although I don't normally blog much on the weekends, this one just looked like too much fun to pass up!





Strike a Pose

This photo of Miss Charlene taken in the sunroom back in November was the only one I did not take within the last week. 

Footwear

These brightly donned feet on the edge of the creek bank belong to Dracen.  I took this last Sunday at his Momaw and Popaw's.

Hobby

I spent my rainy Saturday breathing life back into two old nightstands with my very favorite, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  That stuff is a miracle worker.

 Shiny

This is a silver bangle bracelet Charlie gave me for Christmas in a milk glass dish I recently bought at an antique store. 

Color Me Green

This is just simply a close up of a piece of something in a potpourri mixture in the sunroom.  It appears to be some sort of  dyed nutshell... I just thought it was cool and also green! 

Happy Sunday!

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh to Keep From Cryin'...

Yesterday was just one of those days.  You know the kind I'm talking about... Nothing tragic or life threatening...just one of those parenting days where you feel mentally exhausted and drained to the point of locking yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes in order to have yourself a good old fashioned pity party in God's honor.


You ever have a day like that?  


Well, I have them from time to time and yesterday was one of them.  But instead of going on and on about it here today, I've decided to talk about some of the little things that made me smile or laugh this week...


1. Yesterday when Dracen and I were pulling into the garage after I picked him up at school, he announced to me that he has decided for sure what he wants to do for his ninth birthday this July. And I had to ask him to clarify three times because I could have sworn he was saying he wanted to go to the Y (as in the YMCA) and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why.  


But no, that was not at all what he said.  He said, after I asked him the third time, "I want to go to Ha-Wa-ii!"  And y'all?  He was dead serious.  I laughed (which he did not appreciate) and told him that yes, I would like that too, very much, but that he would have to aim a little bit lower this year.  


2. We are living in the small town that Darin grew up in and lived in all of his life.  A town where pretty much everybody knows your business...even the people you don't personally know because well, most of them, and their parents, and their parents' parents have lived here for forever and ever, amen.  


Anyway, I thought I had heard all of Darin's stories (and he had quite a few) but Charlie heard one from one of Darin's friends that he grew up with, whom we also go to church with, when he went over to help him with his heat pump the other day and he was still laughing so hard just thinking about it that he had a hard time getting the words out.  


I knew that Darin had lost his license (as in had them suspended) once for a little while when he was in high school and I remember him telling me about how he had to paint the fire station that year as part of his punishment/community service but somehow, I never heard this part of the story...


Apparently a few of them (Darin's friends/fellow students) were standing around outside the school on this particular chilly morning when they heard this really loud sound coming up the street and turned to see Darin pulling in the school parking lot on a riding lawn mower while wearing an aviator hat, complete with the loose flaps flying in the wind.  And he pulled up right into a parking spot with no shame whatsoever in his game.  


All I could think to say was, "I told you Dracen gets it honest!"  


3. When these pillows that I ordered from Joss & Main arrived, I was so excited that I actually produced an eeee! as I tore open the box.  To know me is to know that I do not typically say eeee or anything remotely like it but it's not every day that you find yourself such a grand treasure as not one, but two wiener dog pillows!

4. Things that made me laugh on Pinterest...

Ain't that the truth!

I'll never do it wrong again!

Amen, sister!

I can relate!

 5. And ones that made me smile...

Thank God, It is Friday...

Captured: When A Photo Gets It Right...

As one of Mama Kat's writing prompts this week, she asked us to share a photo of ourselves that we think really captures who we are. I thought long and hard about it and went back and forth between the other prompts, flipped through my photos from the last few years, went back to the other prompts again and finally decided on this photo taken by my good friend Michele on my and Charlie's wedding day in 2008...

I had already changed out of my wedding dress and we were getting ready to leave the church for our honeymoon and would be gone for eight nights.  


Dracen was four, almost five, at the time and while I can't remember exactly what we were talking about here, I'm sure it had to do with how long I'd be gone, what day I'd be back and what I was going to bring him upon my return.  


I'm pretty sure I did not know this photo was being taken and I suppose this is the reason I believe it captures my soul so well.  Aside from the fancy jewelry and the curls and birdseed in my hair, this look on my face and subtle concern in my eyes as I reassure my child is, well...it's me.  In a nutshell.

I know I was excited...about finally getting the chance to relax with my new husband in the tropics for a full week, about this new beginning...this second leap of faith and reopening of my mended heart that had been shattered by grief less than five years earlier...


But I was also a little concerned and worried (as always)about leaving my babies behind for over a week although I knew they'd be in the excellent care and hands of grandparents who loved them fiercely.  


I can see clearly on my face (that probably appears calm and collected to most) that my thinking wheels inside my head were spinning out of control with thoughts and concerns that most likely never made it to my lips, much less past them. 


But I also know that my heart was smiling, happy, grateful and filled with love and anticipation for the beautiful, yet to be lived life that lay ahead... 


And unlike my first time as a bride, I now possessed the insight and wisdom to know that while life will not always be easy and that the road will get bumpy, and sometimes even downright treacherous at times, that it must always go on and be cherished as the imperfectly beautiful gift that it is...