This is the day that the Lord has made...

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!!!!!! This is one of my favorite hymns that I feel like I have known my whole life. It is based on Ps. 118:24. And no, I didn't just happen to know that, but google did LOL.

I woke up this morning in a winter funk. It's cold, my foot is killing me, David is whining and I miss my mom. I started a fire, took a pain pill, Dan took "whiny" to school and... I still miss my mom :). So then the hymn above popped into my head - thanks God for the kick in the tush.

So I decided I would have a happy and rejoicing day about my mom and share with you a little about her.

• she had a green thumb, heck a whole green hand
• she made cookies or cupcakes for every school event from preschool through graduation
• she loved to shop
• we talked on the phone everyday once I moved out
• she loved coffee
• our Boxer's (dogs) were family too
• she was a huge Elvis fan and owned every album
• music played at our house all the time (thankfully she more albums than Elvis LOL)
• she loved to watch musicals and old Doris Day movies
• she loved me unconditionally
• after Christmas we would put a discarded Christmas tree in the back yard and decorate it with handmade/edible (for birds) ornaments
• she and my favorite aunt talked on the phone Early every Saturday morning
• the two of them also loved to go birding (bird watching)
• she loved to entertain friends and family
• she had a whole gift room and she would make baskets as gifts made up of things her friends (or mine) loved
• clearance watch out - we were there!
• she could bake anything and would often do it at the same time - we might have a jelly roll, pralines, divinity and chocolate chip cookies going all at once
• she always helped out at church with our Youth group - driving us places, setting up Bible Bowl, etc.
• we all loved seafood and would often have it instead of traditional ham or turkey for the holidays
• she made the best oyster stew and west indies salad

I feel like I could go on for hours. And what I've written seems great, but inadequate - how do you share everything about one of the most important people in your life? So I decided you can't. You just share a few smiles with friends and Praise God for having blessed you with such a wonderful mother and leaving you with a heart full of memories.

A New Kitchen and a New Boot

I love our house, the size, neighborhood, corner lot, monthly payment and especially the fact that it will be paid off in 12-years!!!!!!!! But, I hate the 1970's/1980's way it has been decorated. If yall recall I had a post a little similar to this about my house woes back in August. At that time the living room, hall bath and foyer were re-done and the kitchen was repainted. Major improvement, but truly just scratching the surface of all that needs to be done.

The tough part is Dan, even though he is handy and can do just about anything I want done - he doesn't like change. But guess what - I think we are finally past that (it only took 9 years, LOL). He is currently changing stuff and brainstorming with me on changing more!! Can you believe it? I am so thrilled.

Here are a few of the things we've done so far:
added a small built-in pantry to the kitchen
built and installed drawer slides in all the cabinets
touched up paint on all cabinets and trim
installed the flip-down kitchen tv
replaced the knobs and drawer pulls
started on the hinges

Here's what else we want to do:
repaint the kitchen ceiling
put in granite counter tops and new sink
install tile back splash
replace the linoleum with tile
replace light over table
replace fluorescent light in kitchen
add recessed light under cabinets

I just cannot stop being excited. We are working on it bit by bit and hope to be done in the next month or two. After that we are doing other rooms in the house - I have huge lists on them also, but I'll save those for when we get closer to that particular room.

Did I tell you guys about my foot? I can't remember so I'll give you the back-story real quick. I have had a heel spur in my right foot off and on for years. A few weeks ago, actually the day I left for the girls trip to the beach, I stepped on a marble with that heel leading (all the weight on it first). It HURT, REALLY REALLY bad. I was focused on getting out of town though and just figured i had irritated that heel spur. I just dealt with it over the next few weeks, limping along, icing it, putting heat on it, using a cane, etc. Finally I decided it wasn't the crazy heel spur, but a bone. So I called the doc and he saw me right away. Said he hoped irritated heel spur too and gave me a cortisone shot in my heel, new inserts and meds. Told me if it wasn't significantly better on Monday (this past one) to come back in. So I called and told them not better. They work fast and I had a Bone Scan scheduled for Tuesday morning. By lunch Tuesday I found it is was a bad stress fracture and had a walking cast/boot thing. I will wear it for 4-weeks and then go back to doc and see how it's doing. I will tell you though that a bad back and a boot are NOT friends!!

Growth Spurts

I think David is in the midst of a big growth spurt! He's been having growing pains in his legs and is eating us out of house and home. I know most of you are aware of our ordeal with David and food. Basically he didn't eat any. He would go 2 days with no food, just milk. Then he started 1 meal a day and 1 snack. I think I mentioned though - since the start of school he has actually begun to eat 3 meals a day. However, these were small meals and I was counting his morning snack at school as "breakfast" and I had to "push" him to eat dinner.

Well now he is eating and do I mean eating! He wakes up asking for breakfast and has cereal or pop tart or pancakes. He takes crackers (like the 8 pack of PB) for morning snack. He eats his whole lunch at school, a variety of things, mid-afternoon snack, late afternoon snack, dinner and before bedtime snack. And he is asking for these meals - he is always saying he is starving. And if he eats chicken - instead of 4 nuggets he now eats 10. Instead of 1 peanut butter sandwich folded in half he now eats 2 regular sized ones. And the amount of goldfish, cereal and crackers and string cheese we are going through is alarming! Oh and pizza - he would only eat cheese sticks (doesn't like sauce) and would have 2 or 3 of those. Now he wants regular "big-kid" cheese pizza. He eats at least 2 pieces and sometimes asks for a third.

I've stressed about his eating habits (well as much as I stress), but I always said I'm not forcing him, he's growing, he's healthy, etc. and he will eat one day. Well that "one day" is finally here. Praise God for answering a prayer!

What are you giving up for Lent?

Well as I've mentioned before, I grew up a typical southern Protestant, mostly Methodist, on occasion Baptist. I didn't know any Catholics. I had many misconceptions and a big basket of ignorance regarding Catholics. Thankfully I grew up and expanded my brain through college, work, life, etc. During that time my environment has also changed and now I am blessed to have 4 really special people in my life who are Catholic and a large handful of acquaintances as well.


Throughout my life I have been asked the "what are you giving up for Lent" question numerous times. The answers I have given and heard have all been silly, fluffy, little answers. Obviously because my friends and I had no clue about the real and true meaning of Lent. And the answers between me and my friends have been all over the map: chocolate, drinking, smoking, shopping, Starbucks, TV, etc. I've never taken it that seriously - just knew it was something "Catholic" and it came after Ash Wednesday and I had an old boss that had to eat fish on Friday's during this time.

Well this year I decided to find out a little bit more about it. I am so glad I took the few minutes to do so. And you know some of this may be in the Methodist or Baptist "handbook" (for lack of a better word), and even though I've been at church through multiple Palm Sunday's and during the Lenton season... I didn't know this information.

So here's what I learned at http://www.catholic.org/ I have copied the section on "Giving Something Up During Lent" and pasted it here.

For most older Catholics, the first thought that Lent brings to mind is giving something up. In my childhood, the standard was to give up candy, a discipline that found suitable reward in the baskets of sugary treats we received on Easter. Some of us even added to the Easter surplus by saving candy all through Lent, stockpiling what we would have eaten had we not promised to give it up.


Some years ago a friend of mine told me that he had urged his children to move beyond giving up candy to giving up some habit of sin that marked their lives. About halfway through Lent he asked the children how they were doing with their Lenten promise. One of his young sons had promised to give up fighting with his brothers and sisters during Lent. When his father asked him how it was going, the boy replied, "I'm doing pretty good, Dad—but boy, I can't wait until Easter!"

That response indicates that this boy had only partly understood the purpose of Lenten "giving up." Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. That always involves giving up sin in some form. The goal is not just to abstain from sin for the duration of Lent but to root sin out of our lives forever. Conversion means leaving behind an old way of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Christ. For catechumens, Lent is a period intended to bring their initial conversion to completion.

Taking seriously this dynamic of scrutiny and conversion gives us a richer perspective on Lenten "giving up." What we are to give up more than anything else is sin, which is to say we are to give up whatever keeps us from living out our baptismal promises fully. Along with the elect we all need to approach the season of Lent asking ourselves what needs to change in our lives if we are to live the gospel values that Jesus taught us. Our journey through these forty days should be a movement ever closer to Christ and to the way of life he has exemplified for us.

So after much thought and prayer, I am giving up an hour of time each day to be spent with God. Rather that be meditation, prayer, more time with my Bible or an act of service. I have a few free hours spread throughout the day/night and I typically spend them reading on my Kindle. So I will cut back on that to work towards being closer to God and living a more Godly life.

Care to share what you are giving up?

No, I'm too Busy!

This is David's response in regards to a birthday party we are supposed to go to today. Dan and I are like, what? So we said again are you ready to go to Logan's birthday party - "NO, I'm too busy playing with my toys!!" Dan said well what are you going to do, stay here by yourself? Because me and mommy are going to the party. "Yes, I will stay here and Teddy will take care of me!!" (that is our dog!) After much cajoling and tickling he finally gave in and said he would go to the party with us.

I have snow pictures, snow video, school party pictures, school play pictures and videos and Valentine's pictures. I am uploading some now and will post when I get done.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

So are you thinking I'm bi-polar, LOL. I can't decide between Mardi Gras and Valentine's for my page decorations. They are both big holidays for me!!

Wow - this has been a truly cold winter for us here in the deep south. I am so ready for spring - the brisk breezes, the sunshine, the flowers, Easter, the kids birthdays, etc.

I am sitting here totally ignoring my responsibilities this morning. I need to be in the kitchen making a gazillion heart shaped PB&J sandwiches for the Valentine's Party at David's school this morning. But it is so much nicer to sit here, drink coffee, read blogs and listen to Fox News.

David experienced his first King Cake (Mardi Gras) yesterday. He is fascinated by it. Not sure he believes me about the toy baby; won't he be surprised when we cut into that part. If you aren't familiar with this tradition you can read about it here. It's so sad for me that David doesn't get to experience real Mardi Gras. Having grown up in Mobile and my mother and grandparents being from there we were inundated into it at a young age. I remember the parades, my parents going to balls and my grandmothers organization having a float. My cousin and I used to play Mardi Gras all the time. And my grandmother was evidently the "goodie" coordinator because the guest room at her house was always filled with huge Hefty bags of beads, dubloons, string confetti, etc. etc. David and Emily did go to a parade in Millbrook this past weekend and said it was really fun. I went to a small one myself in PC Beach on my girls weekend.

Bible study was great this week. We are Acts Chapter 5 and my friend Lauren (who I jokingly call teacher) did an excellent job leading us. One of the things we discussed made a big impact on me. It refers to Matthew 5:37, the whole chapter is great, but that one verse really hit me. I am going to pray really hard for the strength to live that way. I like the NIV version of the verse, because of the use of the word simply. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Let's leave out the buts and the justifications, etc. We need to say yes to God in all that we do.

Well I suppose it's time to go make sandwiches ;-) I'll post pics of the Val Party later.


Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! & Happy Valentines Day!!

A weekend to be just me...

Not often, but a couple of times a year I think, where did Michelle go? As we become parents our identity is usually mommy. And to be honest I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being mommy and praise God for the opportunity each time I pray. But sometimes I need to just be me. Well it was quite fortuitous for me that a girlfriend has a friend with a beach condo connection. So we spent this last weekend in Panama City. The company was GREAT, the condo very nice, the views beautiful, the food excellent, the shopping wonderful, the adult beverages fabulous... need I go on?