A Little Bit of This and A Whole Lot of That AKA The Blog That Never Ends

Today is Saturday, three days after the storms that tore through the southeast. It was a beautiful day, brilliant blue skies, warm sunshine, and not a cloud to be found. We are still getting news of the historical weather event that spawned a record number of tornadoes and an astounding number of deaths and injuries. tornado outbreak The photos that come out of the ravaged areas are heartbreaking and I can't help but feel guilty that while I am enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon others are reeling in the aftermath, struggling to make sense of it all as they attempt to dig themselves out of the destruction. I thank God for my family, my home, and my safety, and ask for His mercy and grace upon all that are suffering physically and mentally.

You'd think that all that has happened in the last 72 hours would have spurred me on to doing something worthwhile. Unfortunately I'm still my usual half-baked self. For me it was just another Saturday.

My loving husband taunted me with just-baked cinnamon rolls first thing this morning. I'm not really one for sweets, I'd much prefer chips and salsa. However, I have a soft spot for these babies and he's not beyond using them to get me out of bed at a decent hour. So, we'll score one for Dale.

From there we went to "what's on the agenda for the day?"  Hmmmm. Let me think.

Well, I've got a birthday coming up next week and we know what that means. Yep, gotta get the van inspected so the new car tag can be purchased. I'm embarrassed to tell you that this simple act literally sends me into a panic attack every. single. year.

I know it sounds silly but believe me I've got good reason. What starts out as a $25 little inspection sometimes turns into a $300 nightmare. I know this because I've gotten the great big F for fail too many times to count. Unfortunately when one drives cars that are older than dirt they are frequent victims of the ol' catalytic converter belly-up.

I just can't handle the agonizing fifteen minutes or so that it takes for them to deliver the verdict - my heart beats like it's ready to jump out of my chest, my palms get clammy, and I find myself blabbering to anyone within listening distance. For me it's sheer (irrational though it may be) torture so I usually put it off until the very last minute. Sometimes I trick my husband or son into going for the inspection but this year I decided to put my big girl pants on and do it myself. Well, sorta ..... I drug my husband along for moral support, and hand holding. And guess what ...... we passed! Hallelujah, no new "cat" for the Jelly Bean this year.

After surviving the traumatic car inspection we decided to treat ourselves to some comfort food. Good ol' Krystal hamburgers for lunch. Yummy goodness. Some people don't like Krystals and for the life of me I can't figure out why. I grew up eating them.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of going to spend the night at my grandmother's house. After a terrifying night of half-sleeping on her couch, watching the ominous shadows dance on the living room wall, she'd feed me Coke  (yes, Coke! Ice cold in the bottle, nothing like it) and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Her cinnamon rolls weren't like the ones Dale baked this morning, hers were store bought and had thick white icing covering them, I'm getting all giddy just thinking about them. Later in the afternoon we'd head on down to Krystal for lunch...burgers, fries, and yes, another coke. And then she'd take me home and let my parents deal with the aftermath of all that sugar, caffeine, and sliders.  Ahhhhh, sweet memories.

I guess you could say that today I was just reliving my childhood.

After lunch we headed over to Hobby Lobby  I am officially two steps closer to getting back to scrapbooking. Thursday I picked up 75 prints of Ian's trip to Japan which will be my first project. Today I bought an album and some cardstock. It's official now. I've spent money so I have to scrapbook.

I figured that since I had been victorious in getting my inspection I should go ahead and get the tag today too. I dropped Dale off at home and headed over to the Tag Office. I'm not real sure why I thought it would be a good idea. It is, after all the last day of April. It was evident as soon as I pulled into the parking lot that there were a lot of April-birthday boys and girls who'd waited until the last minute to get their tag. The line of people spilled out of the building and there wasn't an available spot in the parking lot. I pulled a quick U-turn (oops, is that a police precinct right next to the tag office?) and high tailed it out of there. I can come back another day.

On the way home I discovered a new Tuesday Morning store  had opened near the mall. I decided to go in for a browse. An hour and two purchases later I really was on my way home. And for the record ... those purchases were NOT for me. Someone has a graduation coming up and she better not be reading this now!! Just in case she is reading, I won't post what I bought, just trust me when I say it's cute and useful.

Upon arriving home I discovered a bicycle parked in the garage . Apparently my husband is really trying to work at getting more fit. First he started lifting weights and now he's going for bike rides. I am NOT going to be happy when he starts losing weight and I'm still sitting here like a puff-a-lump. Remember those? They were really cute little stuffed animals. Andrew had one. It was a bunny, and next to his plug it was his favorite possession. Isn't this adorable?  So....maybe being a puff-a-lump isn't so bad, a long as one is loved and cherished.

Regardless, the hubs is beginning to make me look bad so maybe I need to check into something to do to make me more fit. I have a feeling that cinnamon rolls and Krystals aren't going to get the job done.

Sigh.

I cheered myself up by whipping up this little bag. Now isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen? I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it on one of the 674 blogs that I read daily.  I actually bought the fabric and ribbon months ago but haven't been motivated to do the work until now. I'm hoping some loving mommy will see it and snap it up.

Knock, knock, .... any buyer out there? This bag's dying to go home to a with an aspiring ballerina. Give me a call and it's yours!

Speaking of reading blogs - it leads me to the internet and a confession of yet another one of my vices. I spent well over an hour today "Stumbling" and "Pinning". Some of you won't have a clue what that is. It's a computer/internet thing and involves this site stumbleupon and this site pinterest. Just because I've given you the links doesn't mean you have to click on them, but if you do, let me warn you - both are highly addictive. Some may call them time-suckers. I call them INSPIRATION!

This evening as I was stumbling and pinning from the kitchen table I looked out the window to see this . She's trying to look nonchalant  but really she is in stalking mode. And yes these photos are blurry and I don't know why other than user error, so don't bother adjusting your monitor, it won't make a difference. Despite the bad photography you get the picture right? (hee, hee pun intended)

Anywho, I won't tell you who or what she is stalking but I will tell you that I've told my husband he needs to move the birdhouse becaue I'm tired of fretting over those silly birds.

Well, that's it for my exciting Saturday. I hope your's was equally so. Later.

ps. it's getting late and I'm too lazy to do any editing, so if you find any errors .... shhhh, keep it to yourself :)