White Boy DJ - Baby Got Book

I'm so glad I found this on GodTube. I had the opportunity to see this on the R&B Talk Show a few years ago. Doug and I thought it was funny. Hopefully, you will too if you haven't seen it already.

Don't forget! In order to hear the video, you'll have to stop my Christmas Playlist. Sorry!

Update On Emily

I wanted to give ya'll an update on Emily's condition. She sent an email out today from the hospital. Yeah, she's still there. She said she has to wait until the test cultures come back to see what kind of infection she might have. The sooner the doctors find out what kind of infection she has, she can start on the proper meds and hopefully get back home. She said her sister, Faith, has been good enough to bring her little girl to the hospital on a daily basis. She is trying to stay positive, but I'm sure it can be difficult. I wanted to share the scripture she noted at the bottom of her message. They go as follows:

We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed." 2 Cor. 4:8-9

"So do not lose the courage you had in the past, which has a great reward. You must hold on, so you can do what God wants and receive what he has promised." Heb. 10:35-36

I have to say, Emily is a living testimony to the strength of her faith. Please continue to pray for her recovery and the hope of a new lung.

I spoke to Mom and she didn't go to the hospital Tuesday, like I thought she did. She said that her doctor's nurse called the pain clinic to make sure she would be able to get anesthetic before receiving a shot to her back. The nurse called Mom back with approval of the anesthetic. I know Mom was relieved to hear this news. Now, she is waiting for the pain clinic to set up a time and date for her to come in for the shot.

Peggy was so sweet to come by this afternoon and watch/play with Katie, while I did a few errands. Katie is still a little croupy and I'm concerned if I should let her go to her little friend's, Scarlett, birthday party this weekend. She still isn't running a fever, she just sounds bad. She doesn't act like she feels bad. It seems as if she coughs more when she gets hot from playing or sleeping with a thick blanket. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Don't let her sleep with a thick blanket then. Right? Well, she's getting a little tall for her baby blankets and the ones that are big enough are made of fleece. You also have to understand, Katie has to have her head covered up when she goes to sleep. I don't know where she got this idea, but her entire body has to be completely covered and tucked in. I just tuck her in from her shoulders down.

I had to stop by the Post Office and mail a package for Liz. Liz, I sent the package by Standard Shipping. Please let me know when and if you get it. I dropped off some clothes at the cleaners and this poor boy that waited on me. God Bless Him! Ya know when you just want to be nice to people by asking them how they are doing. Sometimes, I wish I never say anything like that because you never know what you might get in response. Poor thing, it sounded as if he just needed someone to talk to about his love life between him and his girlfriend. Mind you, I just met this person. All I could do was stand there and listen. While I was out, I was able to get a few Christmas gifts. Yes! Two more people down and five more to go, I think. :) The dollhouse came in that we got Katie for Christmas, from Santa. I have to say the box isn't as big as I thought, but I figure there is going to be a lot of assembling for Daddy to do on Christmas Eve. Tehe! I don't know if you've tried the "Site To Store" option that Wal-Mart offers, but I'm loving it. I didn't know it until today, but Wal-Mart doesn't offer lay-a-way anymore. I've never used lay-a-way in the past, but I know a lot of people do use it. I think it helps when you either don't have the money right away or you can't take it home right then because of snoppy children. When I ordered the dollhouse, it took 7 days to get to my local store and I didn't have to pay for shipping. Since I paid for it online, all I had to do was go pick it up at the old lay-a-way office. Today, I went ahead and purchased the last big item for Katie from Santa. I wanted her to have the "Little People Preschool." I've mentioned this before in my blogs, but I had one similar when I was 4 years old. Can you believe, I still have it packed away? This "FP Little People Preschool" comes with 10 people and all kinds of accessories (slide, swing, sounds, clock, etc.). I have to say Katie's Christmas is officially done. Laura, do you remember me telling you that we were not going to spend as much this year on Katie as we did last year? Well, I'm eating my words. I broke even compared to last year. Ugh! I just can't slap my hands when I see some things. What really broke the camel's back was Katie wanting a Mermaid dress from Santa and she had to have this Kitty Cat pillow with fleece blanket. You might have seen these blankets. It's your basic fleece blanket rolled up, the Cat pillow wraps around the blanket and has Velcro to keep it all together. They are sold at Wal-Mart. Katie just had a fit over the cat and pink poodle, she thinks it's a sheep. She carried on so, I thought may be Alise would like one for Christmas. Didn't you say, she is into pink poodles now?

Millard stopped by the house after work to see Katie. We all ended up ordering a pizza for Doug, Millard & Katie, while Peggy and I got a half lasagna with a chef salad. Yummy! I was stuffed when I finished, but it was so good. What a good end to a perfect day?!?

Liz & Nolan's Family Christmas Portraits 2007

I had to delete the other blog with Liz's photos because somehow music got attached to the slide. We don't want Jordan Sparks singing over our Christmas music. I guess it's a good thing I deleted it because Liz sent me some new pictures. Liz, I have to say these pictures look a lot better than the ones I saw the other day. What happened? Did you give Sears a piece of your mind?

URGENT NEWS!

Doug passed along some urgent news to me that I must report to you.

POLICE REPORT: Nick Saban's Home 'egged'

Tuscaloosa Police reported that an individual attempted to "egg" Coach Nick Saban's home last night.The report stated:An empty egg carton was recovered at the scene. Two eggs hit Coach Saban's house, 3 eggs went over his house and hit his neighbor's back door, 2 eggs hit the houses of each of his next door neighbors, and the remaining 3 eggs were found broken on the ground near the carton from where the individual threw them. Looking at what was hit, police officials say they are considering John Parker Wilson as the primary suspect.

If you have any information, please report it to the proper authorities.
(tehe!)

Special Prayer Request

Prayer Request
I'm sure you remember me asking for pray for Emily, Lung disease, from time to time. Emily is back in the hospital undergoing IV meds to fight off infection once again. She is very low and weary because she can't be home with her husband and little girl enjoying the holiday. It's amazing how God reveals the blessings in my life, things I've taken advantage of from time to time. Of course, that is until you hear of someone so sick, they couldn't spend their holiday weekend with their family because they were in the hospital. Please lift her up in your prayers.

Katie is still croupy. She woke up last night around 3:30 crouping and I think the drainage got to her because she threw up a little. We got her all cleaned up and striped the bed. We moved her humidifier into our bedroom and had her sleep with us. She still doesn't have a temp, but I did give her some Tylenol so she could rest. She was a little distracted with Doug getting ready for work, she didn't want to go back to bed. I put in "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and it seemed to help her relax. I guess she went back to bed around 5-5:30 and Doug woke her up at 10:30. Thanks Dad! tehe! Just kidding. I think she rested good and didn't cough the first time. I think the humidifier helped, so I've got it going in Living Room. She is still drinking her juice, even when she wants milk. I might give her a little milk at noon because I think her appetite has curved.

Mom was suppose to have a shot yesterday. After we got back and settled, it was too late for me to call and check on her. I tried calling her this morning, but she doesn't answer the phone. I'll try to find out something this afternoon and let you know her progress. Thank for all the prayers. I know she is so frustrated. If she had the shot done, this will be her third shot since she was diagnosed. Right now, healing and being back to normal seems pretty hopeless for her. Please remember her in your prayers for God's strength and courage.

Family Christmas Portraits 2007

Well, we did it and I think we did pretty good. I was beginning to worry early this morning, if picture day was going to happen. Why? Katie got up crouping. Yuck! She didn't have a fever, but she acted like she didn't feel good. I went ahead and gave her a little Tylenol, so she could get some rest. We went ahead and put her in bed with us for the rest of the morning. Poor baby, she didn't get up until 10:30. I called the doctor's office and they told me to just make sure she drinks plenty fluids, use the humidifier & take cough syrup if needed. Once she woke up and dressed, she was ready to go. After taking a few pictures, she got a little hyper. We got a few silly pictures, but I didn't put them on the slideshow. I'll try to put all the photos on our photosite. I tried downloading photos earlier, but the photosite must be having problems. For some reason it won't connect. I'll try again tomorrow.

Laura, I went to Disney and they didn't have anymore of the cups, you wanted. Sorry! They've sold a lot of the "Enchanted" merchandise, but I'll continue to keep my eyes open. I needed to get a roll of special paper from Santa Claus to wrap Katie's gifts. I found some Princess wrapping paper at Disney, but I didn't see paying $6.50 a roll. Doug didn't seem to understand my Santa wrapping method, but that's okay. I haven't seen the Princess wrapping paper at Wal-Mart, so I ask Doug to take me to Target. By the time we got there, Katie fell asleep. Perfect! I found the Princess paper, but I actually liked the Tinkerbell paper the best. I also picked up a couple of stocking stuffers.

Tonight, Katie still sounds pretty croupy. I gave her some cough medicine, turned on her humidifier and sent her to bed. Hopefully, she feel much better in the morning.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Okay, so what if the rain spoiled our plans to set the Christmas decorations outside, we caught up on our naps and football. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the well needed rain and don't wish for it to stop. We have a whole month to get our yard decorations out, so I'm not too worried. If next week's nice, maybe we'll be able to set everything out at that time.

I'm a little nervous about tomorrow, picture day. I've got every one's outfits set out, which includes socks & shoes. I about freaked out when Doug told me, he didn't own a pair of black dress pants. WHAT? We have to have black dress pants because I'm wearing black dress pants. I just knew he owned a pair at one time. What's happened to them? He tells me that he's lost the button on the only pair of black pants he owns & doesn't have another button to replace. A missing button is fixable, but not owning a pair isn't fixable. After spending a few minutes convincing Doug that it's important to help me find a button that will work with his pants, he found a spare sown inside of them. Shoo! Alright, we're back in business. While sewing a button on his pants, I announced to him that I have to take him clothes shopping. Because his taste in clothes is so different from mine, I refuse to just go ahead and buy him clothes. Laura, we've packed up the Cinderella Christmas Snow Globe. We'll see if Katie will cooperate with the picture. I've been bribing her all night because she wants to see Tinkerbell, Belle & Cinderella. I told her if she is good tomorrow and smile real big for the camera, we'll go to the Disney Store & see all the princesses and Tinkerbell.

Speaking of Tinkerbell, did ya'll know the new "Fairies" movie will be coming out Fall 2008. I'm sure we'll have to take Katie because she is on fire for the fairies. She is all the time requesting to see Tinkerbell on the computer. On Disney's website you can see several different trailer scenes from the new "Fairies" movie. She'll laugh and laugh and want to see them again and again. She likes the "Bee Movie" commercials on TV as well . Doug has told her, he would take her to the movies to see it. I heard an older man, at my hair appointment, yesterday telling how he took his grandchildren and what a good movie it turned out to be. Doug needs to take her when he possibly can.

We had the opportunity to rent two good movies: "We Are Marshall" starring Matthew McConaughey and "License To Wed" starring Robin Williams and Mandy Moore. "We Are Marshall" is a true story showing how a college football team is rebuilt physically, emotionally and spiritually after experiencing a shocking blow when their entire football team, including staff, boosters, and others, die in a fatal plane crash. This story is so touching and inspirational that it will keep you glued to the TV to see how it all turned out. I cried almost through the whole movie and I saw Doug tear up a few times. "License To Wed" is so funny and not all that vulgar with Robin Williams in it. The experiences Rev. Frank (Williams) puts this poor couple through just to get married and they had to pass the course in order for him to marry them. I'm glad Doug and I didn't have to go through what they went through when we got married. I'm talking about brutal! We laughed and laughed through the movie. If you haven't seen these movies, I highly recommend them both.

How about the Tide yesterday at the Iron Bowl? I have to say, they did a lot better than what I expected to see. Yeah, we've got the same problems that we've had all year, but I'm hoping for these bugs (Wilson & Offensive Team) to be tweaked by next year. Auburn's win against Bama makes the sixth consecutive win. Let's hope there won't be a seventh next year! ROLL TIDE!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, Santa Claus has thrown up all over our house. We've got the tree up and decorated, the Nativity is in all of it's glory accented with angel hair & clear mini lights, the Nutcracker will try to survive the clutches of Katie, the twinkle star lights are graciously displayed on the front porch, the little red Cardinal is perched upon the icy pine tree by the door and "Frosty The Snowman" is playing in the background. Katie helped me decorate the tree, while Doug hung the star lights on the porch. I have to say Katie helping me decorate was an experience. If the tree along with the other decorations survive by Christmas Day, I'll be completely amazed. She has to touch every ornament on the tree, she's already pulled down her stocking & holder and has tempted to get a hold of the candles. Ugh! Doug and I have threatened her with the switch, if she disobeys us when it comes to the Christmas stuff. Doug and his Dad were so busy changing out the phone jack & mulching blades that Doug didn't have a lot of time to decorate the yard for Christmas before it began to rain. Hopefully tomorrow after church, we'll be able to put up Frosty, Christmas Tree, Rudolph, Santa's Sleigh, wreaths on the windows and spot lights. Sounds like fun huh!

Last night, I began wrapping some gifts when I realized I'm out of Christmas supplies (boxes, ribbon, gift bags & wrapping paper). So this afternoon, I snuck away to Wal-Mart and picked up a few supplies. It's frustrating standing in the middle of the Christmas aisle wondering what size bags and boxes I need. I guess I'll find out quickly if I got the right thing.

You will be so proud of me. I was able to get away long enough to get a hair cut for the pictures Monday. Hooray! Now, if my hair will just cooperate when I try to fix it Monday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent our Thanksgiving day with both of our families. To start off the morning, Doug found Katie sleeping out in the hallway. All I remember, when the storm came through it woke me up and I heard Katie cry out once. She didn't cry anymore, so I didn't go check on her. I don't know if she was sleep walking or why she ended up in the hallway. She wanted to wear a dress, so I let her wear one of her favorite outfits. It's like a dress, but it comes with leggings. She doesn't like stockings, but she'll wear the leggings. Go figure! We got to watch a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and so far Katie loves it. I knew we wouldn't be able to watch all of it, so I TiVoed the parade for us to watch later. We stopped by Pat & June's for lunch and later went to Millard & Peggy's for supper. This morning, I feel like the turkey . . . STUFFED! Natalie brought her pictures of the moose, she shot the other day and my goodness what a monster. She said she was having a hard time holding up the deer's head, just to take pictures. I made a picture of her picture. If it turns out decent, I'll post it as soon as I can. She was still smiling so big, which I don't blame her because it's something to talk about for ages. I got to meet Whitney's new boyfriend, Zane. As soon as he walked in the doorway, he looked real familiar. It ends up that we go to church with him and his parents. On top of that Doug and I know his aunt and uncle, so I know he comes from a good family. I didn't get to talk to them much with the crowd of people around them and plus I had to make sure Katie was under some control. The time I did get to talk to him, he seemed very nice and polite. Whitney, I have to say you snagged yourself a cute fish. My gosh, his eyes are beautiful & that curly hair. Mmmm . . . you go girl! It was so windy and cold, which is fine with me. I think the temperature stayed around 45-50 degrees. I love this kind of weather. It puts me right into the Christmas mood.

Yesterday, Doug talked about doing a little shopping on Black Friday. Okay, I thought, I guess Katie and I will go with him. I wanted to get Katie a Mermaid nightgown for Christmas. Yes, there's a story there. Doug changed my mind last night as we were driving back home at close to 10:00. He was saying that we wouldn't want to get Katie out of bed around 4:00 in the morning. Instead, we could sleep in while he snuck out of the house, got a couple items and get back home in time to get Christmas out. Well, Doug didn't leave at 4:00, but around 6:00. He later called me and he was headed to the Disney Store. Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe, he dared going there today. He just called again, he got Katie the Mermaid nightgown & he was wondering if we wanted to get some PJs for $8 each in a 3T. He said he was waiting in line outside of the store. I still can't believe he is doing it. What Daddys will do for their little girls?!? Katie is a very lucky little princess to have a Daddy like Doug.

Katie has never really told me what she would like to have for Christmas. Everytime I asked her what Santa Claus was going to give her for Christmas, she would respond with "toys." If you asked her what kind of toys, she would say: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Witch, Lion, etc. All of these characters are off the movie "The Wizard of Oz." Well the other night, while I'm giving Katie her tubby, we were talking about Christmas. Out of the blue, she told me that she wanted a dress. I asked her what kind of dress? She responded, "I wanna Ermaid (Mermaid) dress." I reminded her that she didn't have a Mermaid dress. I added that she needed to tell Santa Claus and maybe he'll give her a Mermaid dress for Christmas. "Okay," she said smiling. After I finished drying her hair, she ran out of the bathroom saying "come on Mommy." I asked her where she was going? She said, "I go tell Santa Claus, I wanna Ermaid dress." She was so disappointed that we couldn't see Santa right then. I explained that it was dark and we would talk to Santa the next time we saw him. Since this is the only thing Katie has requested for Christmas, Doug and I are making sure she gets a Mermaid dress. Believe it or not, there are not that many Mermaid dresses on the market. Thankfully, Katie considers a nightgown a dress. Shoo! I found where someone makes and sells custom Mermaid pillowcase outfits off of eBay. I told Doug, if we can't get the nightgown then we might have to order a pillowcase outfit for her. While we were at both families for Thanksgiving, I tried to get her to tell the others about the dress. I had to remind her both times and her eyes would light up and say "oh, yeah." Then, she would tell them about the dress.

Today, we are planning to eat light and put up Christmas. I told Doug, if he could just help me get the boxes out of the attic and from underneath the house, I could do a little bit of decorating every day this next week. I'm having a terrible time getting the gifts for WY ready to ship. Sorry guys! Hopefully, I'll get it together. I either don't have the right size boxes or I ran out of wrapping paper. Ugh! I'll get it to ya'll. I think Millard is suppose to come over tomorrow and help Doug with some wiring. The phone jack behind the TV is dead and we need to get a new one installed. I think Doug wanted to mulch some leaves. Wow the leaves! After the storm went through here yesterday, the leaves have really carpeted the ground. If the leaves weren't so wet, I'd let Katie play in them for a little while.

CPSC Recalls

I received this recall list from CPSC today, please check out.

1. Metal Jewelry Sold by Family Dollar Stores Recalled Due to Risk of Lead Exposure to Children
2. Pure Allure Recalls Metal Jewelry Sold at Michaels Stores Due to Risk of Lead Exposure to Children
3. La Femme NY Inc. Recalls Children’s Necklace and Earring Sets Due to Risk of Lead Exposure
4. Children’s Metal Jewelry Recalled by Colossal Jewelry & Accessories Due to Risk of Lead Exposure
5. Cherrydale Fundraising Recalls Bracelets Due to Risk of Lead Exposure
6. Children's Metal Jewelry Recalled by Buy-Rite Due to Risk of Lead Exposure
7. Children’s Pencil Pouches Recalled by Raymond Geddes & Co. Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
8. Slipcovers Used With Boppy Pillows Recalled Due to Choking Hazard and Risk of Lead Exposure
9. Flashing Pacifiers Recalled By Sailing (U.S.) International Corp. Due to Choking Hazard

If you feel you may have one or all of these products and would like further information, please check out the CPSC's website below.

http://www.cpsc.gov/

You Go Girl!

I would like to congratulate, my niece, Natalie for killing her first deer. CONGRATULATIONS! I would like to add the following impressive information: She shot a 12 point buck weighing over 200 lbs, according to Kevin with one shot straight to the heart. WOW! Ryan told me earlier today that he was feeling bad for Natalie because when he took other young hunters out, they always saw at least one deer. Poor Natalie. When he would take her out hunting, she would be lucky to see a rabbit. I told Maryann, I guess this 12 point will make up for all the deer she didn't see all the other times.

Ryan was home for a few days to do a little deer hunting. He was so sweet as to come by and spend a few hours with Katie and myself. Of course, we were interrupted by the phone company repair man coming by. The phone guy checked all the lines for us and he called our phone twice to see if it was working. While I was on the phone with him, there was still a low roar and he could hear it as well. He seemed to think it was because of the work the phone company was doing in the neighborhood. They've added a DSL box up the road and still doing some work with it. I'm hoping this is the problem and the loud roar is gone for good. I could barely hear Doug on the phone yesterday for the loud roar. After the phone guy left, Ryan, Katie and myself headed out for lunch. Ryan had to stop by Pat's work and say hello to everyone and I thought we would tag along too. It's been a while since we've seen Tim and Vicki. They've got their offices looking so nice. In fact, Vicki was talking about getting a screen to knock out some of the "guys" noise. tehe! Ryan wouldn't settle on a place to eat because he said he would eat anything. Lately, I've been hungry for hot wings, so we ended up going to Zaxby's for lunch and oooh it was good. Katie was about to drive us crazy worrying about the stupid flies. We happen to sit by the windows of the restaurant and there were a couple of flies buzzing around the windows. Katie kept calling them spiders. They were bugging her and every few seconds, she had to tell us the spiders were on the windows. "Uh, oh Mommy. Look spiders!" she said it with her lips pursed and her eyes wide open. We, Ryan and myself, tried to calm her down and we were afraid she would touch them. Luckily, she didn't touch any that we're aware. Ryan updated me on his life and it sounds wonderful. I'm so happy for him because he seems to be where he needs and wants to be. He is loving his job at Duke. He just wishes he could work more in the OR, instead of ER. He is still going to wait a little while before he goes back to school for his Graduates. He didn't say it, but he seemed to be looking forward to going back to school.

Prayer Request

Mom still isn't doing well with her back. The second shot has worn off and the doctor suggested getting a third one done. She refused because her insurance won't pay for the anesthetic. She was in terrible pain the last time she had the shot. She swore she wouldn't go through that again. I told her that she has to ask herself, if she could live the rest of her life in this pain. I know she's got to be scared and I'm hoping after a few days of thinking about all of this, she'll come to her senses and get the shot. I've heard cases where the third shot did the trick and they no longer were in pain. The doctor would not talk to her about surgery or answer any of her questions, so I don't know what's the deal.

Ryan heard some bad news tonight. His good friend, Kelly, from college passed away. I don't know all the details and Ryan decided to leave for home tonight. Of course, Mom said he was pretty upset after hearing the news.

Have you heard of "Elf Yourself" by OfficeMax? You've got to try this at home because it is so cute. I made one of Wayne, Laura, Doug and myself. I think you'll get a chuckle out of it. Here's the link:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9561589418

In The Holiday Spirit!

Today was a busy day for Momma and Katiebug. We got in Katie's room and cleaned it from top to bottom, put away toys, strip the bed, dusted, washed windows & vaccumed. She is still crabby from being sicky this past week, so I thought I could brighten her day by putting up her little tree. I didn't tell her, I just started pulling out the store bags full of Christmas decoration that we bought for her room. She began getting excited when she saw the ornaments, we bought a long time ago. I did have a bad time keeping her from taking the ornaments off the tree. Fortunately, the Christmas ornaments are not glass, so I won't have to worry too much if she gets a hold of them. I also brought out the Cinderella Snow Globe, she pick out a long time ago. I think she forgot about it because when she saw it, she got so excited. She wouldn't hardly give me time to take it out of the box. I would still like to get her the Little People Nativity Set, but I would have to buy it online. I check Wal-Mart everytime I go inside and they don't have it displayed. Fisher Price is selling the whole set for $30, but I don't know how much shipping and handling cost. Wal-Mart is selling the set for $32 and I might be able to get the "Site to Store" offer. I'll have to think about it.

When I finished with Katie's room, I took down all the Fall/Thanksgiving decorations. Yeah, I know Thanksgiving isn't here yet. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to go ahead and clean the house real good before we set out all the Christmas decorations this weekend. I got a lot accomplished, but still have much more to do tomorrow. Doug has Friday off, so I think I'm going to take advantage. I always need help getting all the Christmas decorations out of the attic & underneath the house. We have so much, but it always looks nice when we are finished.

We are still having problems with our phone, a real loud buzzing sound. Doug called the phone company again. They are suppose to be here sometime tomorrow. I hate waiting on a repair man because you can't make plans. They tell you that they'll be here any time between 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Last time we had to have the phone company out here, they got here pretty early that morning. I'm hoping they'll do the same tomorrow because I've got so much to do. I need to pick up Jonathan's gift, a few items from the grocery store and I'd like to stop by a couple more stores before going home.

Wednesday, I plan on preparing a couple of my Thanksgiving plates for Thursday. I offered to help June straighten up her house since we are having Thanksgiving there.

I don't know if we told you or not. I don't know if we did the right thing, I want to think we did. Anyway, Doug took Dexter to the Vet's to be laid down. We've been watching him now for the past couple of months and I've seen a severe decline in his health. He is just skin & bones and I'm talking about you can see his skull. There is absolutely no reason for him to be this skinny because we have an automatic dog feed that is kept full. Plus we feed them lots of table scrapes. He looked so pitiful. Last week or so, Doug brought to my attention that his right eye was bleeding. More than likely this was a result of him and Montana fighting. He did have blood down his cheek bone and mussel. The eye cleared up by the weekend, but he still looked so pitiful. I think he lived a good life of nearly 12 1/2 years and I mean he always was a happy go lucky dog. When he was younger, he loved to play fetch, chase, chewing on his toys and go for walks around the neighborhood. The arthritis in his back legs prevented him from doing all the things he loved to do. At first, Montana was a little upset about Dexter being gone. We've tried to keep the back door open, so he can see us and Katie likes to talk to him.

I have to tell you this story. As Katie and I was cleaning her room, she was helping me strip her sheets when she decided that it would be much more fun if she watched Bambi. Okay. I put her Bambi DVD on and went back to work. I could hear her in the hallway talking and at first I couldn't make out what she was saying. Then it dawned on she was calling for me. She was calling, "Mother, Mother where are you?" Yes, she called my Mother! I asked her where did she hear that word. She began laughing and said it even more. The more I got on to her about calling me Mother instead of Mommy, the more she did it. Then I remembered, Bambi calls his Mom, "Mother." I couldn't help but laugh at her laughing at me calling me "Mother." The little turkey! You know I've been telling you how she wants to help me all the time. Well, now she has to help me carry the clothes basket to the hamper, get the clothes put into the basket and then help me carry it to the washer. Believe it or not, she does a good job picking up the basket. Of course, she picks up one end and I pick up the other end.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Okay, I'm glad Katie loves to wear dresses and act a little prissy. This is a good thing. What I'm having a problem with is her determination to keep the socks, stockings & shoes off of her. We got into an awful fuss because she refused putting on stockings and shoes. Instead, she wanted her hot pink & white polk-a-dot shoes, no socks or stockings, with her pastel pink & black velvet dress. Ugh! Before we headed out the door for church this morning, I finally got her all fixed up with pink stockings & black patent leather shoes. When we were ready to go home, I went to Katie's class room to pick her up. What should I find? She was running around with no stockings or shoes. Her teachers told me, they couldn't get her to keep them on. What am I going to do with her? At home, I was going through her draws to change her clothes. She was insisting to wear a dress, but she wanted a different one. I explained to her that we most keep our stockings on at all times while wearing a dress. "Okay," she said. I thought I would try it again, but I figured it wouldn't last long. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she began pulling and crying at her stockings. She begged me to take them off. I went back in her room, grabbed the outfit I wanted her to wear to June & Pats (pants set). She had a complete meltdown. She didn't want to wear pants, but a dress. I explained to her again what the consequence was (wearing pants) because she wouldn't leave her stockings on. Oh, her world came to an end. Poor baby. I'll guess she'll learn one day.

This afternoon was our Thanksgiving Dinner services at church. Last year, we had two different services. We had so many families interested in coming this year that we decided to have three services, 3:00, 5:00 and 6:30. We were blessed enough to have our parents join us for the 6:30 service. We were going to bring Katie, but June offered to keep her for us. I'm so grateful, she called and volunteered to keep her. I knew I would be a nervous wreck with her running about every where, knocking things over and recking havoc. The Thanksgiving Dinner was really nice. The Deacons took such good care of us, taking our beverage order & serving us our food so quickly. We ate our meal, which included the following: Turkey, Dressing, Corn Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Beans, Roll, Cranberry Sauce, and Dessert. The desserts, you could choose between Pecan Pie and Carrot Cake by candle light with Live Entertainment. A little later, Bro. Steve approached the podium, said a few words and blessed the Lord's Supper. I got back to June & Pat's around 8:00-8:30 to pick up Katiebug. Their poor house looked like a crowd with kids just attacked. Some of June's Holiday decorations were in the floor and I saw Katie tossing around a small gourd pumpkin. She seemed to really have a good time with Auntie June, Auntie Kim Ann & Uncle Pat. They were all sitting on the couch, watching "Beauty and The Beast", for the second time I might add. Kim Ann and June were telling me what a clown Katie was around them tonight, acting silly. I asked them if Katie had to help them tonight. They both chimed in and told me what happened. June said luckily, her and Kim Ann just finished washing dishes when here came Katie saying "I helpa you!". She went on to say that Katie was trying her best to push the bar stool over to the sink. I had to laugh, I just thought it was funny because Katie has to wash dishes with me from now on. Kim Ann told me about asking June, if Katie was like this with me all the time. She couldn't believe how active she can be. June was saying that Nicholas was real active when he was little, but she doesn't think he was this active. I've heard this comments about Katie before, I just hope it's not a bad thing in the future. Other Moms have reassured me that Katie will calm down in the next few years. I'm afraid she'll be targeted by some Kindergarten Teacher, encouraging us to get her checked out for ADHD. I tried to clean up all of Katie's messes before we left. I hope I didn't miss anything. Thanks June for allowing me to relax and enjoy the evening with our parents. We appreciate it!

Did You Know? Thanksgiving Trivia

Did you know?

How the Turkey Got Its Name

There are a number of explanations for the origin of the name of Thanksgiving's favorite dinner guest. Some believe Christopher Columbus thought that the land he discovered was connected to India, and believed the bird he discovered (the turkey) was a type of peacock. He therefore called it 'tuka,' which is 'peacock' in Tamil, an Indian language.

Though the turkey is actually a type of pheasant, one can't blame the explorer for trying.

The Native American name for turkey is 'firkee'; some say this is how turkeys got their name. Simple facts, however, sometimes produce the best answers—when a turkey is scared, it makes a "turk, turk, turk" noise.

Turkey Facts

Turkeys can have heart attacks: turkeys in fields near the Air Force test areas over which the sound barrier was broken were known to drop dead from the shock of passing jets. Personally, I did not know this!

Tonight, I let Katie watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Day Special from the blog and she loved it. She laughed and laughed at Snoopy and Woodstock getting the dinner table ready for the big feast. You can watch Parts 2 and 3, supplied by YouTube. All you have to do is click on the next clip, after the Part 1 video clip ends. I told Doug, we will have to get this movie for her. Surely, Wal-Mart or Target sells this DVD. I'll have to check it out. My walking Thanksgiving Turkey in the top right corner of this blog page, Katie thinks it's a movie and requests to watch it.

I finely made an appointment with Portrait Innovations for next week and I'm so not prepared. As I was fixing my hair today, I noticed how shaggy it's getting. I have to cut my hair once a month or it can be so unbearable. Well, I'm going to have to go ahead and apologize for the way my hair will look on the Christmas pictures. I believe we are all going to wear red in the pictures. I bought a pretty red top with velvet trim around the neck and sleeves. I'll wear it with black dress pants. Doug will wear a red checked shirt with black dress pants and Katie has her special red & green corduoroy outfit. I don't know if I want to take additional outfits for Katiebug. I guess if I do, I'll take her Snowman Smocked dress, if it still fits. I have a few other casual Christmas/Holiday outfits, I could take. I'll have to think about it.

TO ALL DEER HUNTERS
You will never believe what happened to me today. While all you committed Deer Hunters are all camoflauged, being as still as possible in the woods and not seeing a thing to kill for Supper, I had two beautiful young bucks in my front yard. Yes, I'm not lying! I had just woke up from a nap and Katie was still asleep on the couch. It was pretty gloomy outside and the sun wasn't shining anymore, so I decided to open up the front room blinds. Something made me look outside and a few cars, with their lights on, caught my attention. I opened up the front door and had a better look. I couldn't understand why the cars were stopped at the intersection of our street and the other street. What's going on? I decided to go outside and see if I could find out more. In the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I turned to look and there they were, right in front of me. I don't think they saw me, but they were two beautiful young bucks. If I had to guess the bigger buck may have had 6 points on it. He had a nice rack on him, but like I said they were young. I watched them walk across the street and feeding in the clearing on the other side, I guess on acorns. I knew Doug would have loved to see them. So I tried to carefully close the door to go get him. Well the storm door did that loud click and shut too hard. It had to have scared them off. I told Doug and we raced to the windows in the bedroom, but we couldn't see them. I went back out the front door and I saw them walking three houses down the street, still on the other side of the street. Our neighbors were outside watching the deer. The lady told me that earlier the deer were in our yard. Her husband just left yesterday for Indiana to deer hunt. She was giggling and saying that he was going to be so upset that he didn't get to see them.

Saban's New Look

Doug's buddy, from work, sent him this picture. Doug told him that he was going to be an LSU fan now because Alabama is stinking again this year. How's about another lose for Alabama? Everyone is so disgusted. Doug announced again tonight that he was an LSU fan.

Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Day Part 1 of 3

Remember in the day, when you were little and during the holidays, We couldn't wait for 7:00 o'clock to come around after Supper. I would get all my chores done just so I could watch all the Thanksgiving Day specials on all 3 network channels. One of my favorites were the Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Day Special that would show every year. Now in order for our children to be exposed to the same Holiday Specials that we once watched in the day, we have to purchase them on DVD. It's amazing! Out of all 150+ channels on either Cable or Satellite television, your considered lucky to find the old specials on TV.

Please remember Liz's two children in your prayers. I think today is the second day Maddie has been sick and Sandy just sent me a message saying Jake is sick as well. I hate that they got sick so close to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I know they will appreciate you lifting them up in prayer, in hopes their children will get well soon. Thanks!

CPSC Product Recalls

I just got this notice from CPSC:

• Children’s Wooden Storage Rack Recalled By Jetmax International Following Child’s Death. Here's the link in order to see a picture: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08085.html
• Hobby Lobby Stores Recalls Halloween-Themed Baskets Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard. Here's the link in order to see a picture: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08084.html

TGIF

Katie is feeling much better. Thank you for all the nice phone calls and messages concerned about Katie's health, we appreciate it. She began feeling better yesterday afternoon and hopefully her somewhat of an appetite has returned today.

Early this morning, I got a call from Henry. He needed to speak with Doug, but I told him unfortunately Doug was at work. I asked him if I could help and poor thing was stranded. His car had broke down, I believe a dead battery. I asked him if I could come, pick him up and take him where he would need to be. He thanked me and asked what I was doing. Beings it was close to 8:00 in the morning, I was still in my PJs and house coat. I assured him it would be no trouble to change clothes, grab Katie and head out the door. I couldn't just let him be stranded. I could hear the wheels in his head turning - a woman getting ready to come pick me up, when I needed to be some where fast. He may have not thought it, but I think most men believe women take a long time to get ready to go out the door. He said he had another buddy, he could call and see if he was coming that way. I told him to call the buddy and if he could not come to his rescue then he needed to call me back. As soon as I hung up, I went ahead and got ready. I was ready to go if I needed to when Henry called again. He let me know that his friend was willing to pick him up. I knew God had a mission for me today, but what could it be. I called Mom because I had not talked to her in the past couple of days. She sounded so pitiful on the phone. She said today was a bad day and she was going through some pretty bad pain. Katie and I was suppose to pick her up later this afternoon and go to Natalie's school. I don't remember exactly what special recognition the school was honoring Natalie, but Maryann wanted Mom to be there. I offered to pick Mom up and take her to the school. Mom said she just didn't feel very well, not well enough to go to the school. I told her it would be good if she just take it easy today. She went on about needing to do a few things around the house, like dusting and washing clothes. I tried my best to convince her to let me come over and help her with her housekeeping. In the past, I've had to just go over there and force my services to her. This approach can be very exhausting, especially when you have a 70+ year old Mother over your shoulder telling you not to do the work. I had to give Mom the speech. Basically, she's going to have to put her pride aside and let her daughters take care of her. Sure Dad has done a lot for Mom. Let's face it ladies, he's a MAN. Needless to say, Mom refused my offer to come over and clean for her. As soon as I got off the phone with her, Peggy called. Finally, someone needs my help! Peggy was trying to go to her hair appointment and her garage door wouldn't go up because the electricity had been out. She needed us to take her to her hair appointment. I offered to pick her up after her appointment and take her to get some groceries, if she needed them. She thanked me and said she had already made arrangements with someone else to take her home.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? After sitting down in the Dining Room and going over some recipes, I believe I have decided what we'll be taking to the family get to-gethers. Doug requested a Green Bean Casserole. I wanted to make some Velveeta Salsa Dip with chips and Indoor S'mores Bars for dessert. I can't hardly believe Thanksgiving Day is in less than a week away. I believe Katie and I will go this afternoon and pick up a few groceries for next week.

I still have quite a bit of Christmas Shopping to do and I haven't decided yet if I want to go out on Black Friday. If I do decide to adventure out on Black Friday, it will have to be a casual, stress free mind set. I've learned in the past that no matter how good the sales are, you have to ask yourself, is it worth loosing your self control over and I'm not just talking about myself. I have seen the devil come out of some people that normally isn't there until "BLACK FRIDAY." It's amazing what people will do to save $5 dollars. Doug forwarded me a link that shows a lot of the great "Black Friday" deals from several different stores. Here is the link, if your interested: http://www.theblackfriday.com/

I got a message from the Disney Store and they've got a promotion going on right now. It's an online offer until this Sunday, which is a sitewide exclusive 25% off your entire purchase, including sale items for online purchases only. All you have to do upon check out time, you must type in the Promotion Code: OURGIFT and it will automatically take 25% off your entire purchase. If your interested, here's Disney Stores website:http://disneyshopping.go.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10007&storeId=10601&categoryId=21001&langId=-1&CMP=ILL-DisneyStoreDSIcom . Don't forget to check out Disney's Outlet for more great deals.

Belk is having a 2 Day Doorbusters Sale starting today & tomorrow. According to the sale paper, they will open early both days. Tomorrow, they will open at 7:00 a.m. I think I might have to check this sale out. Maybe Doug can watch Katie for a little bit.

Yesterday, I went ahead and bought one of Katie's gifts from Santa. I haven't been able to find it inside the stores, but we got her "My First Dollhouse" by Fisher Price. I purchased it online from Wal-Mart. I love this "Site to Store" deal they have available. Apparently, they will send my purchase to our local Wal-Mart store and then they'll notify me when it's ready to pick up. Purchasing items this way, I won't have to pay the outrageous shipping and handling fees. Well that's all my great shopping deals to share with everyone for today.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend!

Sky Angel Cowboy

Before you play this video, you might want to have some tissues next to you. It is very touching and such a testimony. God's witnesses come in all shapes and sizes. My niece sent this video to me, but I nearly didn't get blessed by it. This is because when I opened up the attachment, it asked me to save the file. Knowing that this was a good way to get a virus, I deleted the attachment. Well, Sandy called me this morning and she told me about it and recommended that check it out on GodTube. I hope this will bless your heart today as much as it has mine. God Loves You and so do I!

Sorry but you'll have to pause the Christmas music that I've got automatically playing, in order to hear the video. You can find my playlist on the right side of the screen towards the bottom.

Katie Woke Up Sick

Well, it's 5 til 4 o'clock in the morning. Katie wasn't feeling too good last night. In fact, she would lay around yesterday afternoon and I decided to take her temperature around 8:00 p.m. She had a temperature of 100.5 degrees. We gave her some Tylenol and sent her to bed to rest. It took a while, but she finally fell asleep around 9:00. This morning, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. with the dreaded cough from Katie's room. As soon as I made it to her room, she threw up a little and of course was crying because she was scared. "Yucky Mommy!" she told me. Doug came in to help me out. After we got her and her bed all cleaned up, she didn't want to go back to bed. I took her in the Living Room to rock, while Doug washed the linens. Poor baby had a slight fever of 100.8 degrees. Before Doug went back to bed, he was nice enough to get baby girl some Motrin for her fever. We've tried to get her to lay down in Daddy's bed, but she refuses. So, her and I have been watching Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse videos this morning. Last Tuesday, she had the flu mist instead of the shot and we suspect (hope) her sickness is a result from the mist. Doug told me that he spoke to a few people at work. They told him that the flu mist has live flu bugs instead of the flu shot, which has dead flu bugs. I just think it's funny because she started feeling bad yesterday afternoon, instead of Tuesday night or yesterday morning. Who knows! I've been keeping my fingers crossed because she seems to be feeling a little better, laughing at Goofy on TV. I finally persuaded her to lay down on the love seat because she seemed uncomfortable laying in my lap rocking.

I'm sure you've seen the news last night. It was decided that Ben Stanford's death was a result of teen suicide. The family can't understand and are in doubt, according to Carrie. Of course, they are all having a hard time coping with all of this information.

Ben Stanford

I absolutely hate to hear such horrible news. Especially news that involves a young innocent person, such as Ben Stanford. It makes me sick to my stomach because there is so much evil in the world. I'm sure you've seen on the news that Ben Stanford's body has been found behind a Home Depot in Villa Rica. My friend, Carrie, told me that the family may never know what happened. I'm sure there is still an on going investigation of this case and I know the family would be more at peace if they knew what happened. Please continue to pray for this family during their grieving period.

Potty Training Update

Happy Veterans Day!

I would like to personally thank all the military for ensuring mine and my family's freedom. You know, you really don't know what our military go through on a daily basis with training and frontline combat. In fear of possibly not seeing their family again. The places, people and things they have seen just so I can sleep peacefully at night. It makes you stop and think. Thank You again.

Well, I don't know if the cloth training pants are very successful at this point. I washed up Katie's training panties and made a very big deal about it to her. She didn't seem too thrilled to wear them, but I put them on her anyway. I continued to ask her, while she had them on, if she had to go potty. She refused to go potty. Oh well, I thought she'll want to go potty as soon as she pee-pees or pooh-poohs in her panties. Sure enough, we were talking and all of the sudden she stopped, looked at me with these big eyes and announced she poopied in her panties. Thinking she just pee-peed, I rushed her to the potty and making it a big deal because she told me. Little did I know, I was in for a surprise. I took off her panties, ready to put them in the dirty clothes hamper. Oops! She did poopy. Poopy was every where! Yuck! What am I to do now? I carefully laid the loaded panties in the floor by the toilet. Of course, leaving evidence on her legs, feet and potty. Ugh!!!! The whole time I was thinking of a plan, Katie wanted me aware there was poopy on her, in her panties and the potty. She even added how yucky the whole experience was for her, "ooh, yucky Mommy!" I grabbed a wash cloth and began washing her down. When I was finished with her, I carefully picked up the loaded panties and flop some of the poopy fell out onto the floor. Uh!!! What's going on? Then I remembered how much I hate yucky messes. Katie let me know right then that the poop was on the floor and then she said that she wanted to help me. "Mommy, I help you" she said. "No!" I tried my level best to keep her from helping me without discouraging her because she has really gotten into the "help Mommy" stage in her little life. It took me close to 30 minutes, but I got everything cleaned up and sanitized. Can you believe I dared putting another pair of panties on her? Yes, I thought I needed to continue as least the rest of the day or until I run out of the panties. The second time it took a little while longer before she messed them up. She wanted to help me wash dishes, so I put her step stool by the sink and we washed dishes. When we finished, I helped her down the stool and she slipped on some water. At first, I thought it was water from the sink. Nope, she pee-peed all over herself and wasn't even aware of it because she didn't say a word about it. Here we go again! As soon as she realized that she peed in her panties, she couldn't get them off fast enough. She had striped those boogers off before I grabbed a towel to sop up the pee on the floor. Then, she couldn't understand why I was washing the Kitchen floor. I normally wash floors while she's taking a nap. Well, not this time! I had the hardest time keeping her off the floor. Sure enough, she slipped and fell on the the wet floor. She didn't cry, but she was shocked. She just has to learn on her own.

Mom visited us this afternoon, while Dad went fishing. After dropping him off, she had a few errands to run and spent the rest of her day with Katie and myself, until Dad was ready to be picked up. We had such a nice visit, laughing and catching up with the latest news. When I spoke to Dad, he caught 7 fish and according to him, enough for Supper tonight. I asked him if he was going to clean and fry up the bad boys. He laughed and assured me, he would do all the work.

I tried calling for an appointment with Portrait Innovations. Doug, Katie and myself are planning to have our first family portrait made for the Holidays. I hope we'll be able get a date set after Thanksgiving. I didn't realize that they are closed on Mondays. Darn it! I'll make an effort to make the appointment tomorrow. Laura forwarded me a cute picture as an idea for our pictures. It was a close up of a little girl in her Christmas dress, holding a snow globe close to her face with a black background. It was really cute. Personally, I don't think Katie would cooperate too much, holding a snow globe close to her face and smile for the pictures. Sorry, but I don't see it!

Tomorrow, we are going to have a big day. Shoo! Besides having to do the bank books, I have to take Katie to her doctor's office for her flu vaccination. They are out of the shot version, but they offer the mist. I don't know how Katie is going to react with the mist, but shoot it will be a lot better than the shot. I asked the nurse if they think it will be as successful as the shot. She said it will be better because the mist affects will last 6 months longer than the shot. Wow! I'm impressed. Next Sunday is our Thanksgiving Dinner at church, so I need to stop by there and pick up a few tickets. Millard, Peggy, Dad and Mom have decided to join us for the dinner. We need to pick up a few groceries before heading home. Of course, this all depends on how Katie feels and how my patience will hold out. Plus, I can't forget to call Portrait Innovations again and get an appointment for our pictures.

Has Thanksgiving snuck up on you as much as it has for me? It seems like Halloween was just the other day. I know Christmas is just around the corner and I am so not ready for it. I have a few names scratched off my list as being finished, but I still have several more to knock off. I have to make time to finish my shopping. I was so relieved this evening because Doug finally gave me some good ideas for him. You have to understand, he never does this. In fact, he is so bad about just buying what ever he wants when ever he wants it. He doesn't stop to think, I may want to get him something for specific Holidays or Birthdays. Christmas shopping is so much easier on someone, if they had a few good ideas to go with. I would be happy if I could get my storage building and our front room blinds are broke, so we need some blinds. It's always something!

When Doug got home tonight, he announced that it's time we put Dexter down. I've been telling Doug, Dexter's sick and needed to be laid down before he gets worse. My word, the poor dog will be 12 1/2 years old in less than a month. He isn't eating like he should, resulting in severe weight loss. We don't know what happened, but tonight his eye is blooding. Doug said it may have been caused by a dog fight, but I didn't see any real evidence to support it. His right eye is all dark red and there is dried blood along the bridge of his nose and down his cheek. I've also been telling Doug, he is loosing excessive amounts of hair on his hind quarters. He is in over all bad health and needs to be put to sleep.

We've enjoyed the nice weather with the temperature in the lower 70s, but we still haven't received any rain. According to the forecast, we are to expect another cool front coming in by Wednesday with a few showers. It would be nice if we could just get a nice shower every day for the next several days.

PRAYER REQUEST
A dear sweet friend, June, of my parents and family is in need of our prayers. June and her husband, Ralph, have been close friends of my parents for many years. I've pretty much considered them my aunt and uncle. Anyway, June was diagnosed with Fiber Myallga (?) several years ago and have really been imprisoned her for all this time. Both of her kidneys are shutting down a little at a time. She said, she is currently in Phase 3 (Phase 4 being at kidney failure stage). Her doctors and she are expecting to be in Phase 4 very soon; therefore, being put on dialysis. June takes lots of medicine including blood thinners for her disease. Mom doesn't know if the kidney failure was a result to taking so much medication.

Christmas Open House

Like most small towns, we had our annual Christmas Open House today and it will continue tomorrow. I've been talking to Katie about Santa Claus all week and got her all excited about meeting Santa Claus. Now, if I ask her what she wants Santa to bring her, she'll say toys. If I ask her what kind of toys, she'll say Dorothy, Scarecrow and Witch, which happens to be characters from the movie "The Wizard of Oz." I have no idea how this popped into her head because she hasn't watched "The Wizard of Oz" in months. This morning, I told her today was the day she would get to see Santa Claus and tell him what she would want for Christmas. I had an idea she wouldn't touch him much less talk to him, so I didn't bother taking the camera. She was so excited! She wanted to go see Santa right then. She told me, "Come on Mommy, I wanna see Santa Claus." Well, we got to where Santa was located and Katie would only look at him. He tried talking with her to get warmed up and she would give him nothing. He even tried to give her a sucker, which is a good warm up step with her. Nope, not this time! I didn't force Santa on her, so I put her back in the stroller and away we went. Katie got her first cup of cool Apple Cider. Normally, I get the hot Apple Cider and I never really get to taste it because it always burns my taste buds. In one shop, "You're Invited" had cool Apple Cider. All they did was put an ice cube in the cup to cool it off. I have to say, I like Apple Cider a lot better cool. I don't know if Katie was just really thirsty because I forgot to bring her milk sippy cup or she likes Apple Cider as well. She nearly drank a whole cup. I was so glad she got to see the horse drawn carriages. We were headed back to the car when I saw the horses coming from a distance. One of the carriages happen to have been the Cinderella type carriage. I pushed the stroller over to the side of the sidewalk and waited for them to get closer. As soon as I knew Katie could see them, I pointed out Cinderella's carriage and horses. Her little eyes lit up, she pointed and nearly came out of the stroller with excitement about Cinderella's horses. I tried to get her to say carriage, but I can't remember what word she came up with. After being in a few of the shops, I have to say I'm beginning to fall in love with Middleton dolls. I'm tempted to get one for Katie for Christmas. I love the "Reagan" doll with dark hair, brown eyes & her hair is up in pig tails. She is so cute! Katie likes the smaller Middleton dolls. I guess because she can handle them better. I think they are precious! Luckily, I did get some more Christmas shopping done.

I have to tell this cute Katie story. The other day while we were at Wal-Mart, we were looking through the Christmas stuff. She saw up on a shelf, Santa, Snowman & a Reindeer yard decorations. I asked her what she saw and she answered everyone correctly. The shelf beneath the Santa was a Nativity Scene Airblown yard decoration. I asked her what else she saw. She looked confused and pointed to the Nativity. She asked me, "Whose that Mommy?" I told her it was Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Well, she knows about Baby Jesus so her eyes lit up and said "baby Jesus." That's all it took and then she began pointing out baby Jesus in all the Nativity scenes in the Christmas section of the store. Later that night after Supper, she saw our Pilgrim figurines and announced to Doug and myself that it was Mary and Joseph. I had forgotten about what happened earlier that day, so she shocked me. I began giggling and laughing while Doug was very confused and asked me what was going on. I tried to explain it to him when she saw the Indians as well and said they were Mary and Joseph. I asked her where Baby Jesus was? She just looked at me confused. She decided to skip the question and confirm that the Pilgrims and Indians were Mary and Joseph. It's amazing the little things she remembers.

Alright, we're not doing all that great with the potty training and I know she is still young. In fact, I think Katie is a little confused about the whole thing. She does tell me every once in a while, she needs to go to the potty. This is a step in the right direction and a lot better then what she's done in the past. The problem area is she does her job in her pull up/diaper and then tells me she has to go to the potty. When I set her up on the potty, nothing happens. I still praise her for telling me and sitting up on the potty like a big girl. I've told my sisters what's going on and how Katie would wear a dirty diaper as long as I'll let her. She hates having her diaper changed. In fact, it's a battle every time. June suggested I put real cloth training pants on her. June didn't know if they still made cloth training pants and I certainly didn't know. I've checked out Wal-Mart and didn't notice anything similar. Yesterday, I found them at Target! Whoo Hoo! They had both the vinyl and cloth sets. We're going to try the cloth for right now and see if we might make some headway on the potty training.

A while back, June and Peggy made it clear to me, Katie needed to learn how to drink from a cup. Of course, this suggestion was made because they didn't have a sippy cup at that particular moment. June and Peggy, I want you to know that we are making progress. She still wants to put her tongue inside the cup to drink at times, but in most cases she is doing great. Hopefully by the Christmas, she'll be a little pro at drinking out of a cup. Tehe!

Liz - I think we have another "Nutcracker" lover in the family. I've been introducing to Katie all the character of the holiday. She loves the Nutcracker. Books-A-Million had a sale these past few weeks on most of their Christmas books, including "The Nutcracker." I purchased the one from the author, Jeffers. I chose it because it was beautifully illustrated and it wasn't the full version of the tale. I am confused and need your expertise in the story. The book that Kaitlyn has shows "Marie" is the little girl that eventually falls in love with the nutcracker. I found another Nutcracker book by a different author and it was "Clara" as the little girl. Which is it, Marie or Clara? Katie loves her Nutcracker book. We have to read it over and over. While I'm reading the story, she has to point out whom everyone is in the pictures. She has been begging for a nutcracker of her own. The other day at Target, she about drove me crazy. "Please Mommy, please. I wanna Nutcracker." Honestly, I would love for her to have a Nutcracker of her own, but there are none available that seem durable for her. Target did have to full miniature set for $12 (Mouse King, Marie/Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy, Herr Drosselmeir, & Nutcracker). I did cave and let her have a Nutcracker Christmas Ornament to put on her tree. She held it all the way back home that night. I was able to slip it away from her before she went to bed and I've got it stashed away for Christmas. Today, I found the full "Nutcracker" version musical CD. I played a few of the songs while I was driving around town. I didn't get to my favorite, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy before getting home. I think Katie will like it because she has grown to like Classical music from watching Little Einsteins every day. She'll even go around the house, while they are on, and hum pieces of the music. When I turn on Classical music, she'll pipe in and say that it's the Little Einsteins. In fact, she recognizes pieces of music with specific scenes from the Little Einsteins. It's amazing!

Prayer Warriors Needed!

A family is in need of our prayers! If you haven't seen it on the news lately, a 17 year old boy has gone missing. Ben Stanford went missing from Anniston last Monday. His vehicle was found near Atlanta, GA with all the door open, but he is no where to be found. Ben is a cousin to a church friend. http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=C08CA1552FB573A6DD95652DFB949082?contentId=4869069&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
The above link is the news report from Fox News. Carrie, friend, said all the prayers for this boy and his family will be much appreciated.

Toy & Baby Product Recalls from CPSC

I've got a few recalls reported from CPSC this week. I'm not going to supply pictures because there are too many. If you suspect you or you know someone who might have these, please look on CPSC's website.

1. Laugh & Learn(tm) Kitchen Toys Recalled by Fisher-Price Due To Choking Hazard
2. Hunter Fan Recalls Humidifiers for Fire Hazard
3. Swimways Corp. Recalls "Skippy" Pool Toys Due to Laceration Hazard
4. Northern Tool & Equipment Recalls "Big Red" Wagons Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
5. International Sourcing Ltd. Recalls Toy Dragster and Funny Car Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
6. Toy Cars Recalled by Dollar General Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
7. Schylling Associates Recalls Duck Family Collectable Toy Due To Violation of Lead Paint Standard
8. Additional Spinning Top Recalled by Schylling Associates Due To Violation of Lead Paint Standard
9. Schylling Associates Recalls Dizzy Ducks Music Box Due To Violation of Lead Paint Standard
10. Schylling Associates Recalls Collectable Toy Robot Due To Violation of Lead Paint Standard
11. Spin Master Recalls Aqua Dots - Children Became Unconscious After Swallowing Beads
12.Cribs Sold By Bassettbaby Recalled Due to Entrapment and Strangulation Hazard: Sold Exclusively at Babies R Us
13. Curious George Plush Dolls Recalled By Marvel Toys Due to Risk of Lead Exposure
14. Children's Sunglasses Recalled by Dollar General Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard

Cute Kids!

Liz sent me these pictures of her children, Maddie(23 months) & Jake(2 1/2 months). I spoke to her today and she said Jake is beginning to Coo. I think babies are so precious at the cooing stage. I received the picture of Emma, dressed up as a She-devil, from Sandy. It looks like she had a lot of fun for Halloween.

Poor Oprah

I saw this clip from GodTube. I'm sorry if you're an Oprah fan and I'm shocked she would say something like this being from B'ham, AL. Like many celebrities that have been blessed with what they consider success, have forgotten many things including but not limited to Jesus Christ. Is it for ratings? Are ratings more important than eternal salvation? It's so sad because I use to be a die hard Oprah fan for years, when she first started out and then she began to loose focus. Oh sure, she helped many people in other countries and it's wonderful. Just because you do a few or several good deeds in your life doesn't mean your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. You know celebrities need our prayers just as bad as our next door neighbor. Please keep her in your prayers. Only Jesus can call her back home, but she has to want to come back. Let's hope she will have an opportunity.

Bama Game Weekend!

Doug and I met Wayne and Laura Friday night for a little Christmas Shopping and Supper at "Joe's Crab Shack." I received coupons in the mail this past week, so I was ready. I really like JJill's clothes, but they can be pricey. Their Sale Rack has really good buys and they do have good specials and discounts online. Their having a deal right now where you can get 2 shirts and the 3rd one is free. I also got an additional 25% off my entire purchase. I got a pretty red shirt with velvet trim around the neck & sleeves. I thought it would be nice with black dress pants for Christmas pictures. I had a Gymboree 20% off coupon, so I got Katie a cute snowman t-shirt and snowflake socks.

Wayne and Laura had extra tickets to the ball game for Saturday and asked us to go with them. Before we went to the game, we had to have lunch at "Mellow Mushroom." Doug and Wayne made friends with a couple from LA. He didn't know much about the area, so he asked where he should park for the game. We pretty much put him under our wing and made sure him and his girlfriend got to the game. He said that he is part of the "BullRun Team," which we found out later is a reality show on Spike TV. We didn't get a name, but he drove a beautiful BMW. The only bad thing is two tickets were in one area and the other two were in a different spot. The guys decided it would be best if Laura and I team up together and let them go together. The guys were in the mainly LSU fan section while Laura and I were much closer to the field in the end zone. We had great seats, especially if the players were on our side of the field. You will have to check out all my photography work on our photosite. I would have to say, Laura and I had some interesting characters surrounded around us. You've got the newly dating "Make Out Couple" that really needed a room instead of attending a football game. "Every one's Friend" person that is so drunk he can't decide if he is pulling for LSU or Alabama. He was so chummy with everyone around him, we thought he was with another couple. When we asked the couple about him, they had no idea who he was. Two small boys, approximately 7-9 years old, were sitting by Laura that didn't know where their parents were. In fact, the one boy told Laura that his parents left him there. I did see him answering his cell phone often and telling someone that he didn't know where they were. Sitting behind Laura was the happy couple. When I say "happy," I mean possible drug and alcohol use happy. I know every time I looked back at this couple, the man would be grinning, showing all 5-6 gold front teeth. According to Wayne and Doug, they had interesting characters as well. For instance, one LSU fan threw a bottled beverage onto another LSU fan. The police had to step in and calm a few LSU fans down and remind them how to behave in a public place. Yeah, it's sad that Alabama did not win the game, but I think they did a pretty good job. Of course, J.P. has to make connect with his receivers and we have to stop giving the ball over to the other team. Hopefully, next year we will stomp LSU Tigers the way we should have this year. After the game was over, we met up with the guys in front of the Paul "Bear" Bryant statues. While we were walking that way, we ran into Santa Claus. I had to have his picture. Well, Santa Claus wanted his pictures made with me instead of him by himself.

I got an update on Emily. She wrote and said her good lung has collasped again 20%. The doctors are hoping it will inflat by itself. If it doesn't inflat by itself, they will have to put the chest tube back in. I've never had that done to me, but it must really hurt because Emily is hoping she won't have to go through all of it again.

The little boy, Sam, I asked for prayer last week has passed away. Doctors put him on life support and his little body just couldn't make it. His parents agreed with the doctors Thursday to go ahead and have his life support turned off. Of course, his parents and family are having a very tough time right now. Please remember this family. Thank you!