Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Has Anyone Seen My Snow Shovel???

So far this season, the shovel has been irrelevant at my house. An unknown saint has been plowing my driveway after every storm and it's never really snowed enough to worry about shoveling the back deck. Until last night... Poor Tucker had to go to the bathroom and there was too much snow for him to plow through on his own. I went to get the shovel, but it seems to be playing an elaborate game of hide-and-seek. I'm afraid it might be buried underneath the snow in the backyard somewhere... Alas, poor Tuck had to tromp through the snow all by himself. Say it with me now... "Aww, Poor Tucker!!!" (yes I know this is bordering on animal cruelty, but I really can't find the shovel!)















On a serious note, I have no idea who the wonderful person is who keeps shoveling my driveway, but all I can say is THANK YOU!!! There hasn't been a snow storm yet this season when I haven't come home to find my driveway already cleared. I don't know who you are, but thanks for taking such a huge load off my shoulders! I live in the best neighborhood!!!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Oops...

A month or so ago, I posted a Tag I had received from my friend Noelle. In it I was asked to list four friends I had as a child that I still keep in touch with. To my dismay, I could only think of two. That's apparently where I went wrong. I neglected to mention my best friend's husband Brent. I knew Brent when he was friends with my older sister in high school. Brent brought to my attention that he used to babysit me. It's true. So, my dear friend Brent, without further adieu, I now promote you from a friend I can't remember, past merely fourth place, and slide you comfortably into position as the third friend I knew as a child and still keep in touch with! Thanks so much for claiming as your friend and for taking good care of friend #2. Love you! :)

P.S. Am I forgiven now?? :)


P.S.S. You can check out Brent & Lori's blog at countdowntohomecoming.blogspot.com (there's also a link on my blog); it's a sweet blog about their journey to bring home their three beautiful babies from Haiti.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Crossing The Pond

It occurred to me that I've posted a few pictures of Paris, but none of London, which was my favorite place. Let's rectify that now shall we?










T



This bad boy is the London Eye. It's basically a REALLY big ferris wheel that you stand in and shows you London from heights way too high for me to be comfortable with. An interesting thing about the Eye, unless someone is getting on that is disabled, it NEVER STOPS. I was only a little disconcerted about that, until I realize that the Eye is built coming out of the Thames River. That's when full panic set in. I'm an okay swimmer, but judging by the looks of the river, I don't think I would have stood a chance if I'd gone for a swim. :) Luckily, there were no mishaps as I took a deep breath and jumped, literally, for my life. Although, I'm pretty sure I heard a chuckle from one of the "guards" that was there to "ensure my safety". Apparently I looked as scared as I felt...
















Claustrophobic
and afraid of heights. Good Tia, really good....

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire...

Okay, really it's a fake fire, so I'm not roasting anything, but I'm still super excited about it! I've been saving for this fireplace for a year and last weekend, I finally got it!!














My kitchen tiles feel warmer already!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Pope Strikes Again...

We still hadn't figured out what all the fuss was about, we didn't actually find out about the Pope until we watched CNN that night. (It was the only english speaking station we could find.) I took these pictures of a beautiful avenue in Paris known as the Champs Elysees. I had plenty of opportunity to snap the "right shot" since we were sitting on the top of an open aired double decker bus that was stopped in the middle of the road for 30 minutes while we waited for the Pope's motorcade to come through on it's way to the Presidential Palace.


















Here are the very overdressed police officers and very overarmed members of the French army sent to make sure all went well.














And could this him? It's not the Pope-mobile, but it sure was moving fast...















Now I'm not complaining, sitting on a tour bus in Paris, is still Paris, but it did get a little chilly. And loud. There was a helicopter flying not too high overhead filming all the action. Now if you were the Pope and were expected to arrive amidst all this pomp and circumstance, wouldn't you be tempted to show up at the back door in a Volkswagon Beatle or something? No? Oh, well, maybe it's just me...

Monday, November 10, 2008

I'd Like An Audience With The Pope...

I'd like to tell him he owes me a visit to Notre Dame. When we got to this beautiful church, we noticed a stage being set up next door and a whole lot of French policemen and women strolling about. This would have been a handy time for one of us to suddenly be granted the gift of tongues. There were pictures of the Pope everywhere, but the writing was all in French (go figure...). Had either Carol or I read or spoken French, we would have learned that the Pope was due to visit Notre Dame that evening and therefore the church was closed to tourists. :) As it was, we only got pictures of the outside of the building.








































Pretty cool huh? Don't feel too bad for me though. To drown my sorrows, we walked next door to a cafe and ordered this!! Yummy!!!!




Thursday, November 6, 2008

I've Been Tagged...

Four songs I loved as a child and still adore:

1. Darcy The Dragon - Roger Whitaker - It's an old Christmas song that reminds me of waiting semi-patiently, with my siblings and cousins, for Santa to arrive at our family Christmas party.
2. Puff The Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul & Mary - Apparently I had a thing for dragons...
3. Ode To The Little Brown Shack Out Back - Billy Ed Wheeler - I don't really think that one needs an explanation...
4. How Firm A Foundation - Hymn #85 - Stop laughing, the 3rd verse of that song has given me warm fuzzies for decades!

Four friends I had as a child that I still keep in touch with:

1. Anne - We met in kindergarten and have been friends ever since. Lost touch for a few years but recently found her again thanks to Facebook.
2. Lori - My best friend for the past 15+ years.
3. Do imaginary friends count?
4. If not, I'm in trouble...

Four weaknesses I had as a child:

1. I was painfully shy.
2. I had horrible self-esteem.
3. I never wanted to be away from home or my parents.
4. I was horrified of spiders. Oh wait, I still am. I'm afraid to kill them, because I don't want their little spider family's to come after me...

Four strengths I had as a child:

1. I was nice to everyone.
2. I too was an awesome second mother (thanks for the idea Noelle!). My mom had/has an in-home daycare. I started practicing my mommy-ing skills at a very early age!
3. I was a family peacemaker. (Now I think I'm a troublemaker...)
4. Probably the greatest strength I had as a child was my family. They still are.

That's probably far more about me than anyone ever wanted to know!

Four people I want to answer these questions:

1. Kristin
2. Mandi W.
3. Mandi H.
4. Lori

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

How Did I Get So Lucky?

I want to take a moment, while you are a semi-captive audience, to send a shout out to the best family in the world!

Those of you who know me well, know my favorite thing to gripe about (okay my 2nd favorite thing) is the on-going battle I have been waging against the weeds/grass, but mostly weeds in my back yard. Throughout the course of this summer, I have fertilized, watered, mowed, fertilized again, over fertilized, burned and eventually killed the greater part of my back yard. I finally threw a fairly impressive temper tantrum, complete with stomping my feet (and yes, there were tears), gave up and started mentally planning the desert landscape and/or rock garden I would put in next year.

About a month ago, I got the opportunity to go to Europe with my friend Carol. I don't have any pictures of what the yard looked like when I left. Frankly, I wouldn't post them if I did because I'm too embarassed, but this is what I found when I came home.




























They had torn out the dead grass (no small feat, I might add), redone the sprinkling system, planted new grass, trees and shrubs and my personal favorite, built this beautiful waterfall/pond.














Thanks guys, for loving me enough to put up with my feeble attempts at landscaping and I promise from now on, all I'll do is mow and water. The rest I'll leave to the professionals. Yes, Jed, that means you. (Hey, what are baby brothers for?) I love you all! You're the best!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Does this make me a bad influence?

Last weekend was our annual family pumpkin party. Now, because I don't have any children, (or husband, or significant other, or prospects of a significant other, but I digress...) my role at this event is relatively simple. Help make the chicken wings and lend a hand, or spoon as the case may be, to any small child who may be in need. This time, Logan was in need. The following is a conversation we had while we were both up to our elbows in pumpkin guts.


Logan: T.T. (that's what he calls me) what's that?
Me: It's a pumpkin
Logan: Can I eat it?
Me: Are you sure you want to?
Logan: Yep, it looks yummy.
(I couldn't resist. I cut off a bit of pumpkin and handed it to him.)
Me: What do you think?
Logan: (Looking around frantically for a place to spit it out) It's yummy.
Me: Are you sure?
Logan: Yep, yummy.
Me & by now his mommy, both trying to talk while laughing hysterically: Do you want to spit it out?
Logan: Umm, yep...















Not to be outdone, his older brother Jaxson, put a little in his own mouth too. What have I done??














In the end, it was only fair that Aunt T.T. had a bit too... Yummy!!!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Peer Pressure...

I used to be good at withstanding peer pressure, but now... I JUST WANT TO BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!! Therefore, I created a blog. So to my good friend Kristin, and anyone else who has nothing better to do than follow my oh-so-exciting life, I dedicate this first post to you!