Miss Photogenic?

 

 I need some photos of Alex for the miss photogenic at school. They asked for candid shots. Problem is ...

Pull out the camera and she stiffens up and does this fake smile and come hither look all mixed together. What the heck is that?

  

 She looked like an angel about to take a nap. I made no noise. She sensed the camera and that was it.

  

This would be her giving her best attempt not to stiffen up like she has osteoarthritis.

 I love her sleeping face. Check out the flaming hearts tattoo. I think I'll keep this one so when she gets older she will believe me when I say flaming hearts and fancy gowns don't mix.

  

 Boy, would I love to have eyes like those. They are killer aren't they?

 

Maybe we should skip this part of the pageant.

Join MamaHen's Valentine's Day Meme

Celebrate your shnuckums, hunnybun, sweet cheeks......
with Long Days, Short Years in this fun Meme. 
Just go here to join. Be sure to read her sweet sentiments. Then copy and paste to your post and describe your Valentine!

MamaHen's Valentine's Day Meme
 
1. Describe your Valentine in five words or less.
Genuine, Handsome, Strong, Smart, Hard-working

2. Best Valentine present you ever received?
The typical flower, candy, card thing. But he had been working late and couldn't get me and the girls anything, so he got up at I think 3am and went to town because he had to be at work early, picked up our(mine and our two daughters) gifts and had them on the table when we woke up that morning. I cried.

3. Worst Valentine present you ever received?
A boyfriend got me a perfume that was totally not me.


4. Your favorite Valentine candy?
Dark chocolate, the darker the better.


5. Would you rather receive chocolate or flowers?
Flowers. Just because I get them less often.

6. A dress-up candlelight dinner out or a movie snuggling at home?
Stay in!

7. Your favorite romantic movie(s)?
I'm with MamaHen on Sweet Home Alabama, I also like French Kiss, You've Got Mail, The Notebook

8. Your favorite romantic song(s)?
Your Man by Josh Turner, I just call you mine by Martina McBride, Making Memories of Us by Keith Urban, Only You Can Love Me This Way by Keith Urban, You Save Me by Kenney Chesney. Guess I'm stuck in Country mode today....

The reason OCD is on the rise

I got this email  this morning. I'm pretty sure this is why we've all become a little OCD over the years.

I just want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past
year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery.



I no longer open a public bathroom door without using a paper towel or have
them put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on
the lemon peel.

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last
person was doing while flipping through the adult movie channels.

I can't sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has
happened on it since it was last washed.

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the
number one pastime while driving alone is picking ones nose (although cell
phone usage may be taking the number one spot).

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine
how many gallons of Trans fats I have consumed over the years.


I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a
public bathroom.


I MUST SEND MY SPECIAL THANKS to whoever sent me the one about poop in the
glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope
that needs sealing.

ALSO, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason..


I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown)
who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the
$15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating
in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out
for me, and St. Theresa's Novena has granted my every wish.


I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant
freaks with no eyes or feathers..

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water
buffalo on a hot day.

THANKS TO YOU I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward
an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

BECAUSE OF YOUR CONCERN, I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove
toilet stains.


I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car
so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.



I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these
products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God' on their cans.

I no longer use Saran Wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

AND THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave
anymore because it will blow up in my face.. Disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked
with a needle infected with AIDS..

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume
sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al
Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our
American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number
for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica , Uganda , Singapore
, and Uzbekistan ...

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their
recipe.

THANKS TO YOU I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown
African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it
bites my butt.


AND THANKS TO YOUR GREAT ADVICE I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the
parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting
underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas
companies!

I can't do any gardening because I'm afraid I'll get bitten by the brown
recluse and my hand will fall off.


And I now keep my toothbrush in the living room, because water splashes over
6 ft. out of the commode. 
 
If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70
minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 p.m.
Tomorrow afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back,
causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually
happened to a friend of my next door neighbors' ex-mother-in-law's second
husband's cousin's beautician .. .. .


Oh, by the way.....

A German scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered
that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their
hand on the mouse...
Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late. 

Sugar Cookies and Sticky Fingers

Sugar Cookies recipe from HERE because my I had a brain fart and couldn't remember exactly just what and how much of every thing I needed to make the most basic cookie ever.

Recipe Photos

Posted:

Photographer:

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Cooking Level: Intermediate

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Easy Sugar Cookies

Prep Time:
15 Min

Cook Time:
10 Min

Ready In:
25 Min

  Original Recipe Yield 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 86 | Total Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 15mg

Add Sugar to softened butter.

And beat until creamy.

 

 

Wisk egg and vanilla together and blend.

Add dry ingredients slllloooowly.

Clean up the floury mess.

Roll and cut.

 

Really, really enjoy putting your sister's lipstick on all skin and counter surfaces while your mother turns her back to put cookies in oven.

Make some pink frosting with 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, 2 TBS softened butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 

1 TBS milk, 5 drops red food coloring and about 1/2 tsp veggie oil.

Don't forget to eat a spoonful while your mother is moving the cookies from the pan to a cooling rack.

Finally frost the unshapely cookies (or not). BTW my brain still hadn't recovered so I forgot to check for a recipe suited more for rolling and cutting. But hey, they are good dipped in milk or coffee and smothered with this wonderful stuff.

 

Watch Homeward Bound and cry when Shadow finally comes limping over the hill to 'his boy' and fall into a deep and blissful sleep. After all you've worked hard and deserve it.

Found It.

My sweet hubby spent his Saturday....

wait for it.....

Dress shopping with his wife, two year old and six year old, for the school pageant.  Because he is a great guy. And because it was that or stay home with the two year old by himself that refuses to potty for Daddy.

He then came home and chopped wood for our new heater in case we get snowed in up here in The Great Icy Mountains of Alabama. If not for this man-  I'm telling you I feel like I can't do enough to keep up. You know, if we were keeping score, but we're not.

Thank goodness.

Anyway, the dress. We found it. Luckily, for my pocket book, her school doesn't do the WAY OVERDONE dresses. They are more like flower girl dresses so finding the right one wasn't as bad as I thought.

You really can't tell much from the picture but the bodice is a woven satin ribbon with pink pearls. She looks beautiful in it. Her idea of the perfect dress was slightly different at first. It looked more like this.

What can I say. The girls has a sassy side.

We also looked at this one.

And this one.

Among many, many others.


I wish we would have seen this one.

To be honest, I'm a little afraid to do anything shorter than ankle length. She is quite the tomboy other than dress up and her little legs always have bruises.

All the pictures I saw of past winners wore the long dresses. I still feel like taking hers back and getting something more her...

This pageant stuff is kinda fun after all.

Now, what to do with all of this...

Pageants

Every time I hear the word pageant I think of the poor little JonBenet. Ah, it's awful. And then I think of the pageant Alex was in when she was 3 months old. The little two year old babies were tanned and had fake hair, fake eyelashes, and more make up than any street walker! It was disgusting and heart breaking. I vowed not to let her be a part of that world.

People stop us every where we go to talk to her about her hair or ask if I put her in pageants or modeling. I don't feel like giving them all my reasons for not doing it so I just say thank you and smile when they insist that I should.

Maybe I'm a terrible mom for keeping her all to myself. I just don't want her to starve herself to keep a certain image for modeling and I don't want her to feel like all that fake stuff is beautiful. I want her to always know she is wonderfully beautiful just the way her Creator made her. And that all the trophies in the world mean nothing if you have to change yourself to get them.

Now with that being said... Her teacher wanted me to put her in the school pageant. A big breath of air immediately rushed from my lungs. I didn't want to explain myself and I didn't want to say no. I thought about it. Asked her if she wanted to do it. She does of course. I then called the school with a lot of questions and after meeting with the director and looking through the last few yearbooks winners, I felt much better. The little winners looked like flower girls. That I can do.

So tomorrow we will go out in search for the perfect dress. My six year old baby will enter the world of pageantry. Don't get me wrong. I think confidence and competition are not bad things. I just want her to be confident in who she is and know that outward beauty is her extra gift.

Lord, I will need a double-helping of peace now, thank you.


What do you think? How do you feel about pageants? Do you know anyone who competes in pageantry or modeling?

LET'S MARCH TOGETHER

We can march together in Washington ONLINE! 

March For Life.



GO HERE now to join. You can create your own avatar and see yourself online!


This is really cool. 


This may be the easiest way you've ever marched.


The casualties are far to great to ignore. Let them not happen in secret!

Why you shouldn't clean your bathroom

Playing catch up~

   I've been MIA. But I haven't forgotten about all of you. I come over and do a quick glance through every so often.   Lack of rest curbed my enjoyment of blogging. For some reason my two year old needs her mommy somewhere between 12:30 and 3:30am every single night. So my hubby has to wake me up at 5:30 to go to our room where I'll be near the alarm clock that tortures me at 6:30 (about the same time that I finally get my spot warmed back up and begin to rest).


And we finally got it~
  We purchased a box stove (cast iron, wood burning heater/stove) for supplementary heat and back up for power outages. Our main room is 996 sq ft and this stove heats 1000-1200 sq ft so if a repeat of '93 happens we should survive.Up here in The Great Icy Mountains I'm not leaving anything to chance.

Now for the two reasons I may never clean my bathroom again~


  The glass in my shower is too tall for me to reach all the way to the top so I balance on the rolled edge of the clawfoot to clean it.
LuLu was looking the the car section of the classifieds in the bathroom floor (she is two so I guess she was window shopping).
I climbed on the tub to clean the glass and she looked up and was horrified! She gave me a talking to!


"Mama fall! Mama down NOW! Luly get MEAN! Spank your hinney!"


Momma won't fall baby, I just need to clean this.


"Luly get mean!"


And she came over and spatted me on my behind. Apparently the I'm not trying to be mean, but you have to obey, talk isn't believable to her.



 You can't spank mommy but I'll get down. Ok? I was done by then anyway and trying not to laugh.




A few minutes later I was cleaning the toilet.....
she runs in....


"Hands sticky."


She was covered in a gross clear fluid with no smell....
What is this?


"Boogers"


No way! Surely her little nose couldn't do that???
Are you sure? Show mommy where you were when you got sticky.


We ran to the living room. It was everywhere. On the coffee table and in a slippery puddle in the floor...
What? 


Then I saw it. A small bottle of - um, *cough*- warming 'lotion', That was on my bedside table.

Are your hands warm? I couldn't help but ask..


"Hands hot"



I laughed harder than I have in a long time. But now I'm convinced that~

The dangers of bathroom cleaning are too great to continue the practice.

Sorry Babe you'll have to lift that lid for cleaning from now on.

Winter is warmer in my mind

I am freezing! Alabama is COLD right now. We are forecasting a whole inch of snow for tomorrow! School will be out.

If you are reading this from a northern state, DON'T laugh. 16 degrees is far beyond what southerners are capable of 'getting used to'. All this cold made me think...

If I put up drapes instead of curtains and put in a wood burning stove for back up heat and buy a few more pairs of socks and long underwear....

Maybe, just maybe, my family will survive.

Seriously, if you are somewhere north of us and are laughing, it isn't funny.

Here are a few pictures I found for inspiration. Warm thoughts and wishes.

Spring will come.

Lazy Summer days will return.

And the lucky ducks in the tropics make me sick right now:)

Early this fall we were faced with a floor decision. To paint or to stain? We went for acid stain for a few reasons. First of all it was quick, cheap(er) and the most durable finish for our concrete floors. Still somewhere in the back of my mind I kept thinking I should paint them a trendy color and forget the fact that it wasn't a common activity. I received my February issue of House Beautiful and look what they featured!

 

This color would have been perfect.

 

Ah, well. I guess when it's time to redecorate in a decade and I've changed my mind about painted floors, I could do it then?

Stay warm.