Scrap Happy Week 3

Week 3: As I said previously, our new godson, Seth Henry was born on Tuesday. I took his first pictures that Katie sent me via e-mail and used ArcSoft collage creator to make this page just for y'all. He's a cutie, and I hope you enjoy. I wish I was as fancy as the rest of you! Go to So Much to Say, So Little Time to check out other pages or to join the fun.

Weekend Wrap-Up

On the last Sunday night of each month, the High School kids get together for a Bible Study. We had them all over to the house afterwards and cooked out hamburgers/hot dogs/sausage dogs. We had sausages just for Elizabeth, because she'd never had a sausage on a bun before. She has informed her mother - no more hot dogs - only sausages. This is a great group of young people. It's always hard to get everyone together at once though. Besides these seven, one couldn't stay to eat, one was home asleep, one at a choir contest ... the list goes on and on and on... We had baked beans and chips to go with the burgers, and Blue Bell Ice Cream for floats afterwards.

Now, I may have mislead you with my tales of Spring Cleaning. I never said annual Spring Cleaning:) This was the first time the windows have been cleaned since we've lived here (1998!) Two years ago when I quit my job, we began trying to do some things that there wasn't time for with me working. We did some painting in the parsonage (entry, hall, a bedroom) that first summer. When our daughter got married that October, we cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned - ICK) and painted her room after she moved her stuff out. We kinda pooped out after that. I do always try to go through my clothes once a year. My beloved is always so generous, and buys me LOTS of clothes, yet I don't seem to get rid of anything (I might be able to fit into that some day). I'm now trying the method of 'if one new one comes in - an old one goes out. Basically, I'm not so great of a housekeeper. I try really hard, because it doesn't come naturally. I even have a daily schedule so things don't get skipped. My husband, on the other hand, is extremely neat. Clutter drives him nuts, so I really try to keep the house nice. He is very patient with me. So anyway, don't be too impressed.

Basketball - Mavericks lost game 3 :( They're looking pretty good tonight - don't know if I can stay awake 'til the end.

Heading into the Weekend

We have had another productive Friday. Spring cleaning is still a work in progress. Mammy says I'm a whirling dervish - *if only*. Love that term, and it is certainly something to strive toward. Today I cleaned out the last of my clothes (3 trash bags full ready to go to Good Will) and my beloved husband helped me wash the outside of the windows. We are sparkling clean now. I really wanted to get the pots and pan cabinet cleaned out as well, but sorta lost interest.

We made an appointment for the 5th for our Australian Shepherd to be groomed. It became a quest for my husband and he clipped him himself yesterday - with hilarious results I might add - use your imagination. Luckily he is not a show dog. He did some touching up tonight and he does look better. He definitely FEELS better, and maybe we can control the fleas a little better. The fleas are terrible this year - they've never been this bad.

The biggest news is that we are once again Godparents - Seth Henry was born Tuesday in California - 7 lbs. 6 oz; 20 in. ! Mother and son are great, and the godparents can't WAIT until June when we get to see the little fella in person. (Double the pleasure, since our granddaughter will be born in June as well!) Check back on Monday's Scrap Happy Week 3 for baby's first pictures!

Basketball doesn't start until 9:30, so I'll have to update that tomorrow.

Mid-Week Update

Wednesday - one of my favorite days - not sure why. I had a nice Wednesday though. After getting my kitchen cleaned up this morning, I continued my Spring Cleaning by washing curtains from the kitchen, den, bathrooms, and guest room. What a feeling of accomplishment! Still have 2 bedrooms and the living room to go. Plus -- my husband actually called me - yes - efficient - *gasp*. I never thought it would happen. He's already claiming he was smoking the wacky tobacky, and will wish he could take it back by tomorrow! lol :0) It was library day today (OK - yesterday was library day, but we didn't make it - .15 fine) Found three more books that I've been wanting to read. Have already started the first one. We chilled out in the sun to catch some 'rays' after that for a bit. Once Jacob got home at 6, we went to one of our favorite fish places for dinner. Yipee.

We have been going around and around with Jacob's school. Got his report card Saturday (5th six weeks) and just happened to notice that his 4th 6-weeks grade in Latin II showed a 78 (!) Went and got that report card, and he had a 97. It took until today to get it fixed, and of course no one knows why it was changed. They assure us that when they figure class ranks they will use the corrected grade (He's a top 10 student). Can you even imagine - what if I hadn't looked at the old grades!!!

Was thrilled last night that Heather was voted off Dancing With the Stars. My votes were split between Apollo, Laila, and Joey. Still don't know who I most want to win. This was the first week I've voted. Probably won't vote again until the last few weeks.

Watching NBA Playoffs tonight. Spurs won :( even though I knew they would. At halftime the Mavericks are barely up :) These guys are giving me more gray hair. Just beat those chumps already!
UPDATE: Mavericks win!! 112-99 Whew

Judge and Jury

Judge & Jury by James Patterson. James Patterson is one of my favorite authors. Probably because his chapters are so short - usually only 2 pages! But I never have to put down the book in the middle of a chapter :) This was an excellent read. An FBI agent is struggling to get a mafia boss convicted of murder. This first trial ends in a disaster, and the second trial doesn't come out much better. He and a member of the first trial jury team up both romantically and revengefully. Certainly worth your time.

Scrap Happy - Week 2

OK - I know I missed week 1. I have worked on 2 scrapbooks. The first one I made last year. I wanted to do something special for my daughters 21st birthday, so I made a scrapbook for her with a page with pictures of each birthday. Cakes, gifts, guests...things like that. I thought it came out good for a first try. She cried, so I think she liked it.

This year, I made a Boy Scout scrapbook for my son as a gift for his Eagle Scout ceremony. I really like it, and I'm including one of my favorite pages, just because I love the pictures. The first picture is him and 2 friends at a July 4th turkey leg sale. The first boy is his best friend who lives in CA now. The second picture is later that day at his friends house as they were getting ready to swim. Not sure who took this picture, but I love it. The paper and stickers were purchased at the Boy Scout Shop. Go to So Much to Say, So Little Time to see all the other Scrap Happy pages!

Super Sunday

Today was a terrific Sunday. Our service this morning was excellent, as usual. The sermon was on the conversion of Saul. In light of the horrible events at Virginia Tech this week, and the hateful, anti-Christian ramblings of the lost soul who committed these horrible acts, we were reminded of the similar actions of Saul, before his conversion. A reminder that we are not doomed to remain apart from Christ. Christ can pull us out of the pit of our sinful lives, no matter how wretched they were. All this sandwiched between the joyful Easter hymns!


I stayed home this afternoon, not traveling along to church #2, because I was hosting (along with 5 other ladies) a baby shower for a young woman from church. She's a new Christian, coming into our church with no church background at all. She and her husband have been members several years, and are expecting their first child (she was due yesterday!) She was thrilled that we had a shower for her, and everything turned out great - wonderful attendance - nice gifts. Here is the photo of the centerpiece that I was in charge of. Our theme was Blue Jeans, Boots and Little Boys - Welcome to Heather's New Texan. Many thanks to Jacob for lending his King Ranch boots, lasso (where'd THAT come from?) and his remaining spur from when he was OUR little Texan. We did some outlet mall shopping on the trip home from Austin and found all the other goodies there:)

Have been busy tonight watching the NBA PLAYOFFS!! Hopefully we'll be busy with basketball until June. Spurs were first on our viewing list - they LOST :0) hoooo-ha. Then our Dallas Mavericks next. What chokers - they've got to do better than that if they're going to be the champs. Dirk needs to get busy and play like an MVP :-(

I'm feeling much better today - we'll see if I can make it overnight without coughing. I could use a good nights sleep.

Computers, Computers, Computers

We have been pulling our hair out all day with our computer. Even went to Wally world and almost bought a new one. Apparently while we were in Austin, our beloved son opened some site that infected our computer with a killer Adware. We have tried all week to delete this thing. Our computer is protected like a fortress: firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-adware. You name it - we've got it on there. This thing just wouldn't go away. Finally, we managed to remove it. Scans came back clean... for now. This poor computer has been started and restarted way too many times today. I did make a point to back up all my pictures and our word documents.

On top of all this, I've got a doozy of a cold that came on in the car traveling home from Austin. Headache, runny/stuffed up nose, just enough fever to make your eyes burn. I'm taking my handy Mexican antibiotic, extra vitamin C, green tea, lots of juice and water. What a drag waiting for it to go away.

The First Handcrafted Granddaughter Item!

I have finished the first handcrafted item for my new granddaughter. I bought a precious book with Noah's Ark cross-stitch patterns, and have completed the first onesy. I'll be starting on the next one tomorrow. I am super pleased with how it came out.

Two Days in Austin

We just returned this afternoon from 2 1/2 days in Austin. My husband had a Theological Conference to attend and I arranged someone to cover my Monday Lab and Tuesday Class. It was nice to get away...we did leave our 16 yo home by himself for the first time. I was a bit nervous, but he appears to have gotten to school on time every day, and fed all the animals, and left the house neat and tidy. We stayed in an Omni Hotel. It was really nice, and we had complementary beverage service in the morning (coffee and juice). It rained all day Tuesday which was a drag. We didn't venture outside at all. We had planned on going on a tour of the new Concordia University campus, but decided to eat at the hotel and retire early. Allan sent me for a massage Tuesday afternoon, which was a wonderful treat. I felt very pampered. We slept late both days (he might have missed some of the conference - lol) We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and picked up a few things. It was a very relaxing couple of days. It's always nice to get home though.

Plum Lovin'

I read "Plum Lovin'" by Janet Evanovich while we were in Austin Monday and Tuesday. Janet Evanovich is one of my favorite authors. I love the Stephanie Plum character, and all the 'Number' books. This is a 'between the numbers' book...not long enough for a novel. She did another one back at Christmas, and this is a Valentine's Day book. The mysterious Diesel shows up once again needing Stephanie's help. He has someone she needs to find, and he will give her up once Stephanie helps him complete all these match-ups in time for Valentine's Day. It is a quick read, fairly amusing, but not as funny as her full length books. As always, Stephanie's Grandma is hilarious - top form!

Morgue Mama: The Cross Kisses Back

Just finished this awesome book. This is the first of two books (hopefully more to come!) The main character is Dolly Madison Sprowls, who is the 67 year old librarian for a newspaper library. She is called by the newspaper employees "Morgue Mama," however, never to her face. She is curious about the death of a local TV evangelist, who was murdered on the air LIVE. The characters are great, and the mystery very well written. Check it out!

Saturday Night Ramblings

VOILA! I finished the second book I was making for my friend Katie and her new baby. I know that they were super easy to make, but I had a great time, and I think she'll really enjoy them.



On a lighter note, I got an e-mail from my mom in Fort Worth today that totally cracked me up. I quote:

Just read of an incident in the paper this morning.
The first sign of a hoarder is: Naming all the strays.

Headline I hope to not see: 
CAT LADY IN KINGSVILLE BUSTED!!

Love ya
Mom

Another funny thing I read on The Accidental Pastor's Wife's blog has had me smiling all week:
It is a great quote from another Pasor's Wife (I think)...and since I'm Lutheran, I love it even more!

"I like to blame Katherine Luther, who ran a hospital, brewed beer and cared for people with the plague. She did everything. And a lot of congregations expect that." -Lora Horn

She indeed left huge footsteps for us to follow. . .

Rear Window

We rented this last night to watch before seeing Disturbia. My 16 year old had never even heard of it! What a classic. I like in the old movies how they don't feel the need to rush through it, and take the time to build in some background. I don't remember this movie originally in color. Grace Kelly was STUNNING. Jacob really liked the movie - although he couldn't pick out any one thing that made it so good. Nice to see that good films stand up over generations.

Fabulous Friday

Remember how I said this week would be filled with post-Easter resting? How wrong I was. . . my poor husband had meetings and appointments every morning, noon and night of the week. Yesterday he said to me, "I have nothing for a sermon - not even a spark." Then he walked over to the office to work. An hour later he comes in the door saying - DONE. Thankfully, that meant he could take his regularly scheduled Friday off. He spent the day outside working in the yard. I piddled around the house, doing some sewing (another crafty item - hopefully pics tomorrow). I took our new little orphan dog, Millie, to the vet for her shots. He said she was a wonderful dog (we already knew that!) We are getting ready for our Friday mystery night. I rented Rear Window so we could watch it before seeing Disturbia (is that what the new movie is called?). Our son has never seen it.

Spring in South Texas

We had almost 3 inches of rain last Wednesday, and our spring flowers are blooming. Here's a sample of what South Texas has to offer:
From the backyard: Lantana,Plumbago, and

Esparanza

(In a few more days, this
one will be COVERED in
Yellow blooms!)

In the Frontyard: Honeysuckle and Oleander


The beauty of the colors really doesn't come through in the photos - the sun was so bright today.

Another Easter Comes and Goes

Another Lenten/Easter season draws to a close. My husband is exhausted after many weeks of additional sermons to write and services to prepare. One out of town funeral, one wedding, and many hospital visits. Tomorrow...rest...much needed rest.

For our Easter dinner I prepared:

Honey glazed spiral cut ham
Hash brown potato casserole
Texas Corn Pudding
Cornbread Dressing (Stuffing)
Deviled eggs
Cranberry sauce (jellied of course!)
Crescent rolls (from a tube of course!)

Our daughter and son-in-law came and visited and ate with us. She is looking so cute during her pregnancy. They are so happy and excited! After the last dish was washed, I called my mom in Fort Worth and talked to her for an hour. She was in good spirits and we shared some funny stories.

Our Easter weekend was COLD. Yesterday was a high of 54! The Sunday School kids had their coats on for their Easter Egg hunt. Last night 38 - unheard of this far south. My mom had snow in Fort Worth. How did my husband know a month ago when he picked out my Easter outfit (with a long sleeve linen jacket) that it would be so chilly?? (That is of course the question I'm never supposed to ask - How'd you know?)

Look At What I Did

OK, I'm like the least crafty person you'll ever meet. I really wanted to make something special for my friend Katie who lives in California. Her fourth child is due April 19th. We'll be godparents again (for the 3rd time!). So here it is...a quilted (sort of) book!It was so easy to make, that I'm going to make another one. I think she'll like it a lot, because she is very crafty and she'll appreciate my attempt. I'm also working on some more challenging crafting items for my new granddaughter, but those are still in progress.

NCAA Results

Defeat...my husband not only out scored me 135 to 96, but he picked the winner. Blast. UNC really let me down - perhaps if I had done some research I would have realized Florida won last year, and then might have picked them to win. There's always next year...Now to watch the NBA playoffs and put all wagers on the Mavericks! Go Mavs...