Mama's Mumblings

Happy Thursday friends!

I hope your week has been going well, and praying that these recent storms have passed you by!

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Last week, Jameson found a caterpillar and decided to keep it as a pet. He named it "Squirmy".   He's done a fantastic job keeping it fed and cleaning out the poop.  He even carried Squirmy to my mom's house on my work days so it wouldn't be alone.

Well, yesterday when Jameson got home from school, he rushed to check on Squirmy and this is what he found:

Squirmy is making a cocoon!  How neat is that?  Jameson was so excited!

Here is how Squirmy looked this morning:

I think this is going to be so cool to watch!

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Speaking of Jameson, yesterday after school, I decided to run by our local health clinic and have them check Jameson's lymph nodes in his neck.

His teacher noticed them on Monday and Jameson called me to tell me about it while I was at work.  He normally has "shoddy nodes" all over his neck this time of year, so I wasn't really concerned.  But once I got home, his lymph nodes were HUGE compared to his normal seasonal inflammations.  

Yesterday, I noticed Jameson also had a little rash on his face, so I got more concerned and brought him in to have him tested for strep.  His strep test was negative, and she felt the rash was just his eczema.  The swollen lymph nodes did concern her though.  So, they decided to do blood work, and until we know something for sure, we are treating him like he has mono.  If the blood work comes back negative, then he has to go for a head/neck ultrasound.

Jameson almost died when they asked him if he had been kissing on any little girls!

We were really scared how he would handle the blood work, especially since it took about 5 minutes to get a strep swab, but he handled it like a champ and barely even flinched!  Of course, I had to bribe him with a video game.  HAHA!

So, if you don't mind, we would appreciate any good thoughts and prayers you could send his way.

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It seems this has been a week of sickness and doctor's appointment.  Chelsea had an evaluation doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I got to miss work and she got a day out of school.

So after the appointment, we ate lunch at our favorite Mexican place!  It was really nice to be able to spend time with her, just the two of us.  We had a great day!

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Even though I gifted Marty with a stomach virus on his birthday, by Tuesday afternoon, he was feeling much better and decided to start working on the deck!

He pulled the lines and found the corner and made sure everything was nice and square.  Then he dug FIFTEEN holes for the piers using a pick and shovel.

Look how deep those holes are!

He came straight home from work yesterday, and started pouring concrete.  Unfortunately, a storm popped up...with lightning...so he had to cover-up and pack-up after pouring 3 holes. 

His plan is to try to finish the concrete tonight and be ready to start framing this weekend!  We may actually get this deck finished yet!

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**warning**

 Extremely crude junior high school humor below.

Oh, can I tell you that I have the most incredible, hysterical blog/twitter friends ever?  Tuesday night....LATE....my friends Rachel and Katherine started talking about a story that Katherine wrote about her horrible experience with hemorrhoids while she was pregnant. (Rachel nominated Kat's story for BlogHer's Voices of the Year).  Well, this unusual conversation led to many, many hemorrhoid jokes and eventually led to Kat making a Twitter account for her hemorrhoids... HemmiesFTW!

Well let me just say, for the next two hours, me, Marty, Rachel, Rachel's husband Chris, and Katherine came up with every hemorrhoid cliche' possible and moved on to hemorrhoid movie titles.

The bottom comment from Rachel (by Chris) was my absolute favorite of the night!

Honestly, this had to be one of my top ten Best.Nights.Ever.  (I know, I don't get out much.)  Marty and I laughed so hard, we had tears running down our face!  We ended staying up until after 12:30 playing around!

It was rough getting up the next morning, but it was totally worth it!

And speaking of Kat, she went to Ree Drummond's (The Pioneer Woman) book signing in Birmingham last night.  I wanted to go (again), but they started giving out line tickets the night before.  I just couldn't make the trip into Birmingham two times in a row (y'all, gas is EXPENSIVE!) plus I didn't want to leave Jameson here without me.  Well, my precious Kat stood in line for several hours and then surprised me with this:

Seriously?  I literally started crying when I saw what she did for me!  That was SO sweet of her!!  My plan is to pick this up in person so I can give her a big ol' hug!

So yeah, I definitely have the BEST Blog/Internet/Twitter friends EVER!

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I hope you all stay safe from the storms and have a wonderful Easter weekend!!

Mama's Mumblings

Well, today hasn't turned out anything like I thought it would this morning!

We all got up and moving around like normal.  Marty went to work, and I showered and dressed to take Jameson to school and then go grocery shopping. When I talked to Chelsea, she was her usual bubbly, happy self, raring to get to school.  Jameson was supposed to start a school-sponsored guitar class, so that meant no waiting for an hour in car rider line for me today.

Typical Thursday for our family.

Then, the dreaded stomach bug that we had been blessed to stay clear of hit...

me.

At first, I thought it must be something I had eaten the night before.  But, as the day progressed, it was pretty evident some-sort of viral process was making it's way through my body.

UGH!  Wasn't I punished enough when I had the FLU during Christmas?

So, I spent the majority of the day in bed...which I never, ever, ever do.  Marty said he would take off a little early today and go get Jameson from guitar practice, and as normal, my mom would be getting Chelsea.

THEN, unexpectedly, the weather drastically changed.  It went from a day of only cold, wet rain, to freezing rain and sleet, shutting down roads all over the state.

Marty had planned his day around picking Jameson up at 3:30, well around 2:20, Jameson called me from school to let me know that guitar practice had been canceled.  On a normal day, I would have been already waiting in car rider line for at least 20 minutes. Now, Marty wasn't even off work yet and had to drive at least 20 minutes once he got off work.  I made sure Jameson knew that somebody would be there, he would just be at the end of the line, not at the front.

So, then the whole "Will you be able to pick him up on time?" game started.  It was a really stressful hour, but they finally made it home all safe and sound.

**whew**  Thank goodness!

Now we are all just wondering how long this weather will last and will the kids have school tomorrow?  According to Mr. Spann, the weather should get warmer throughout the night, melting all the ice.....but they missed all of this craziness today so....

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I did just get something good in the mail to occupy my time in bed:

I pre-ordered this MONTHS ago and was thrilled to death to finally get it today!  I've read every single entry of Black Heels on Ree's blog, so I can't wait to read more!

I'm not sure if I am going to attempt to get this copy signed, like I did her cookbook.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Ree, but I'm not sure my heart/nerves could take another rush hour drive through Atlanta traffic!

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Even though I haven't posted anything, I have been working on a few things around the house over the past couple of weeks.  I just haven't managed to finish anything....

The story of my life!

I did manage to clear out 4 large garbage bags of clothes out of my closet.

I was going to post "before and after" pictures, but I think I will wait until we actually have more accomplished in there.  We hope to completely redo our entire closest this year.  Currently, we only have one long rod with a shelf on top.  Not a great use of space, but it works until we can afford to do something else.

Here is part of the huge stack I am giving away:

Anybody need a hanger?  (It was also laundry day, so the sheets weren't back on the bed yet.)

4 bags filled to capacity:

 

And this is all the hanging clothes I have to my name!

It feels good to purge sometimes!

(Except when you have a stomach virus....UGH!)

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Remember the ugliest picture ever?

Hubby and I have been working on it, and it's not ugly any more!  I have one more thing I need to finish and I will show you all about it!  For now, here is a little sneaky peek:

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I hope you are all having a most wonderful, flu-free week!

The Adventures of Robin in Blogland

Last night, I went WAY out of my comfort zone.....

WAAAAAAY OUT!

I decided that I was going to drive into the heart of downtown Atlanta, all by myself, only armed with a Coke Zero and my Mapquest directions.....

Oh, and a couple of copies of The Pioneer Woman's cookbook!

Yes, last night was the night I took the plunge and set out to meet Pioneer Woman....

and was I very successful!

I left work a little early (Thanks Daphne), and headed out into rush hour traffic.

I was terrified!

But other than an unfortunate little trip down the HOV lane (the directions said to stay in the FAR left-hand lane....well, DUH, the FAR left-hand lane just happens to be the HOV lane), I almost made it straight there!

I only missed one turn, but that was the Mapquest's fault too.....

Yeah, Mapquest.

Well, I made it to Borders right around 6:00 P.M.

GREAT......a full hour-and-a-half early!

I was going to be right at the first of the line!

WRONG!

Little did I know, Borders started handing out wrist bands when they opened early that morning....

AND, they had moved the signing UP to 6:00.....NOT 7:30.

EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!

Thank goodness that I did NOT know this before I got there.....I would have FREAKED OUT!

So, I quickly got my wristband, and stood in line forever to buy another book to be signed (Mari, get in touch with me please), and just about passed out when she told me how much the book would be. It was over DOUBLE the Amazon.com price. But I needed it, so I reluctantly bought it and ran upstairs.

When I first got upstairs, I didn't think there were many people there.....


BOY WAS I WRONG!

The closer I got to the back of the store, the MORE crazed, scarf-wearing, cookbook toting women I saw!



By the time I got "in line", I saw at least 500 people (could have easily been double that number), waiting to get a glimpse of Ree.

We didn't have to wait long....within minutes, Ree makes her way through the crowd, bringing along two surprises.....her sister, Betsy and her best friend, Hyacinth.

Normally, when you actually meet someone in person that you have seen on television (or online), they never really "look" like you thought they would....

this time, they looked even better!

I couldn't believe how absolutely GORGEOUS all three of these women were!

I was instantly star-struck!

Ree immediately gets to work, cheerfully greeting, talking, signing, and smiling for photographs.

Her energy was just contagious!

The line didn't seem to move as we stood there....then we figured out what the wrist bands were for.

Each band was a particular color, and then each band had a letter written on it. My band was florescent green, with the letter "B".


There was NO line. They determined your "order" by the color and number on your band.

So I thought "Oh, OK, I've got a "B" on my band, so I shouldn't have to wait too long....."

BOY was I WRONG!

They started out with ORANGE wrist-bands....

Orange "A"

Orange "B"

Orange "C".......

All the way to Orange "I"

Which just happened to be a mere 3 hours later!

The "Orange" wrist band people had picked up their bands EARLY that day....

Oh how I wished I was an Orange wrist band person.....

**sigh**

One GREAT thing about my long wait was one little surprise that walked in around the same time Ree came in....

BAKERELLA!



Bakerella holding an "Alice" cut out. This lady made this for a friend that wasn't able to make it to the signing.

I {heart} Bakerella and her absolutely adorable creations. I don't see how in the world she can make all of her perfect miniature creations.

For Pioneer Woman, she made some delicious-looking cake balls with a teeny-tiny replica of Ree's cookbook on top.

People, the book had actual pages in it.


How precious is this?

Bakerella got a wrist band just like everyone else, and stood in line, just like everyone else. She refused offers to move to the front of the line, even though hundreds of women would have been MORE than willing to let her do that.

I am kinda glad, though. It was so great listening to her stories, including her story about meeting Ree for the first time, and spending time at the lodge.

She was just a SWEETHEART!

Around 9:00 pm, they called for the first "Green" wrist bands.

HOORAY!!

When they finally called "Green B", I ran to get in line.....which weaved through the stacks of books......

AAAKKKK!

I did find some really interesting books while waiting in the line....


I could have used this book when I worked as a CNC machine operator 25 years ago....for real!



Where was this book when I was in college?


HUH?





It's WINNIE COOPER!


I also met several wonderful people while standing in line!


This is Ben and his twin sister, Emaline. They are 10 months old, and were just the most precious babies ever. They were SO good even though they had to wait 4 hours to see PW, too!

An hour later, we rounded the corner, and there she was.....


The Pioneer Woman!

FOUR hours after she first sat down, she was still just as cheerful, energetic, funny, and gorgeous!

HOW DOES SHE DO IT?

Ree, I want your secret....SHARE PLEASE!

She signed all my books, and she even cheerfully signed a copy of The Munford Weekly (my mom's newspaper) which was a supposed "No No" with the rules....

I'm a rebel like that, you know.




I also got a couple of pictures of my new friends with Ree:


The lady in the gray sweater, had NINE books for Ree to sign!



Here is Emaline, Ben and their Mother, Chloe. She was one brave woman!!

I also want to say "Hey!" to Scarlett who had already posted on my blog before I got home! (I was bad and didn't get a picture, though...sorry!)

I didn't want to leave, but there were still
about 500 people waiting to get their own moment with Ree....

**sigh** Bye Ree...

I guess I will share you with the rest of the people....

So I moved on to the table where Hyacinth and Betsy were sitting and had a conversation with them, too. They were also so sweet and funny! They signed my books, too!


I was also able to snag my FREE, absolutely adorable new Pioneer Woman t-shirt! There is NO WAY it will fit this big ol' body, but Chelsea will LOVE IT!


Front


Back

After exchanging a few e-mails with new friends, I said goodbye to my adventure and headed back to Alabama.

A mere 2 hours later, I was home sweet home.

Considering it was midnight, and I had been up since 5:00 am, I should have been exhausted, but I was just too excited to sleep.

I downloaded my pictures, sent some e-mails, Twittered and FaceBooked until I finally crashed about 1:00 am.

It was a LONG 20 hour day, but it was definitely worth it!

THANK YOU Ree, Betsy, Hyacinth, and Bakerella for making my adventure SO worth it!


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Oh, I guess some of you want to know who actually won the autographed copy of Ree's cookbook......

The winner is:


Beth Collett!

Beth is actually a real-life friend of mine who has been reading my blog almost from the very beginning. She wrote to me on Facebook in a panic because she couldn't get her comment to post. So I added her name, and I couldn't believe it when Jameson pulled her name out of the hat

Well, actually, he pulled MY picture out of the hat since I was the one who put her comment there....which confused my poor baby. He didn't understand why I was winning my own contest....lol!

Congratulations Beth and just let me know if you want your book TODAY, or if you can wait until Sunday!

Thank you all for entering and I hope to be having more giveaways soon!

Anybody want a Cookbook?

***COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED! I plan to announce the winner on Tuesday! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYBODY!!!***

Anybody?

How about a brand spankin' new PIONEER WOMAN cookbook?

Anybody?

How about a brand spankin' new autographed copy of Pioneer Woman's cookbook?

Anybody?

How about a brand spankin' new autographed copy of Pioneer Woman's cookbook FOR FREE?

Anybody?


I just so happen to have an extra copy of said cookbook, but it's not autographed....YET. I am hoping to get the autographed part taken care of Monday night!

So, if you are somebody who would like a free, autographed copy of Pioneer Woman's brand spankin' new cookbook, just leave me a comment telling me EXACTLY HOW you would like your very own copy to be signed.

This is important!

If you don't tell me how you want it signed, I'm going to tell her to sign it "To Charlie, love Ethel". (That will make sense to anyone who reads her blog regularly....lol)

I will be leaving the comments open until Sunday, December 6th, 2009, at 6:00 pm, CST. I think I will wait to announce the winner after I get the actual cookbook signed, so make sure if you change your mind about the autograph, let me know before Monday morning!

Your comment will be ONE entry.

If you blog, tweet, or FB about this contest, LET ME KNOW HERE, and that will be another entry for you.

I will allow a maximum of THREE entries per person.

Good luck and I can't wait to see who the winner will be!

(This copy of "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" was paid for out of my very own pocket. I was not given anything as payment for an endorsement of this product)