Fun Day in Atlanta

What a fun day I had in Atlanta Saturday with my sister, Robin! I went up to Atlanta on Friday to attend the anual 5th grade play/musical that my sister's students performed. I must say it was quite entertaining. The name of the play was No Strings Attached and was a "rewrite" of Pinnochio. There is some real talent in that group!

The real fun for me, however, started the next morning when we took off to go yard saling! (How in the world DO you spell that word?) We saled in a loop hitting as many yard sales as we could!! I got some really special treasures like a pod coffee machine that I'd been wanting (for only$1). Actually I got 2 of them! One was even free! I know you're wondering why 2? One of Doug's cousins expressed a desire to have one, so I got one for her! Also among my treasures were some baby clothes for the new grandbaby and for our pastor's new baby who's on the way, a black pendant, 3 audio books (only $2 for all 3!!), a wooden quilt rack!! and various other little trinkets. It was amazing fun!!

In the middle of our yard saling we took a break and stopped of at the needleworks shop. Oh my! The massive array of beautiful yarns sent me into paroxyms of ..... I don't know, joy or something! Robin took the opportunity to have the knitting pro give her some pointers on how to go the next level on her hat. That was a really fun time, too.

Around 3 we finally exited the yard sale loop and headed over to one of my favorite places for lunch. The Blue Ribbon Grill is an absolutely wonderful cafe! The food was scrumptious!! I tried something new - a blue cheese burger with onion rings! Robin took the plunge and ordered the chicken pot pie. You would NOT believe how huge that thing was! She could finish only about 1/3 of it! Well, we did split a couple of starters, so it's no wonder we couldn't finish our entrees. We tried their blue cheese homade chips and some chili. Oh - my - word! They were so yummy. I'm glad we took the second half of our main dish home in a box!

After lunch we stopped off in another of my favorite places, the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I need a few spices and veggies and there's no better place to get them than there! It was the first time I had gone on a Saturday afternoon, and it'll be the last, too. The place was absolutely packed with people!!! It took us a bit longer than usual but we finally got done and headed home to Robin's.

As soon as we got home, I loaded the van and took off for my home. Praise the Lord for a safe trip home to my honey who was patiently waiting for me.

It was one of the most fun days I've had in a long time!

Music Box

You have got to go to the following link and listen to this song! It is my all-time favorite!! I've listened to it about 10 times and laugh every time!! Check it out and let me know what you think!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvVchnxOyWE

In case you have trouble understanding the words, they are:


Artist: Regina SpektorAlbum: Other Song LyricsTitle: Music Box

Life inside the music box ain't easy
The malots hit the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanismIs yearning
To get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that i have found me
But then i feel mortality sorround
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one i always sing
But when i do the dishes
I run the water very very very hot
And then i fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then i set all the bottle caps i own afloatAnd it's the greatest voyage in the history of plastic
And then i slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then i dip my tongue in a take a taste
It tastes like soap but it doesn't realy taste like soap
And then i lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp...and start to feel mortality sorround me
I close my eyes and think that i have found me
But life inside the music box ain't easy
The malots hit the gears are always turning
And every one inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get outIs yearning to get out...

A couple of grandbaby pics

It occurred to me that we very seldom see pictures of Ben and Mia, so here's what they looked like this summer in July! My! How she's growing!










On our last trip over to NC, Doug's mom gave us a little rocker to take back home to Brady. He loves it! He especially enjoyed sharing his space with one of his favorite friends, Pippa.




I wish I could capture on the camera their play times. It is hilarious watcching Brady and Pippa playing chase together. Maybe I'll be able to get it one of these days.

Second Week in a Row!

Holy cow! Don't pass out from amazement! Two weeks in a row! Maybe I really can keep this commitment to post regularly!

A few weeks ago we went over to NC to celebrate Doug's daddy's 80th birthday with the rest of the family. Some of you saw the utube video of Bill's hula dance. Following are a few more pics of the festive day.

Before that, however, is a picture of Doug when he was 9 months old. Some of you have expressed a desire to see what he was like when he was a baby, so here you go!

This is actually the day before the party on his actual birthday.


Now! to the party!

Delinquent Blogger Returns!

Ok! I know it's been FOREVER since I posted. I'm sorry. I just thought that I didn't have any really interesting things happen that anyone would want read about or see. But then some of the fam have harrassed me for not blogging. All right already! Here goes!

I decided that it would be impossible to catch up EVERYTHING from the last blog, so the best thing would be to just post random happenings and pictures of some of the fun things we did this summer. So, here you are!

One of the really special things Doug got to do this summer was spend a little bit of time on the Appalachain Trail two different times. Ever since he hiked a few miles of the Trail when he was a young man in the boy scouts, the Appalachian Trail has been a special place to him. First, in April he hiked for 5 days with a buddy from church. Then this summer we met up with our youth group from Duncan Park who were spending a few days in Virginia working on an Appalachain Trail hostel called Bear's Den. Doug was able to join the group for a day hike and had a pretty amazing time. Following are just a few of the amazing pictures he took on the hike.


Isn't this the most beautiful moth! It's called a Luna moth.





These is just some random shots of the Trail including part of church teens with a leader or two.


I don't know what this moth is called, but it sure was pretty! And SO huge!

Here are a couple of shots of the Shenandoah River. You can see why they wrote a song about this river! It is breathtakingly beautiful.





Finally, a picture of Bear's Den Hostel and Lori, the hostess of the hostel with you know who!



Well, I hope I have redeemed myself a bit with you faithful bloggers! I'll really try to not wait so long for the next one.