A BLOG AWARD!!!

Suzanne Barker ~one of my favorite people in the whole world, who was also one of the greatest "sitter's" of all time~ has given me my FIRST (I say first in hopes of day receiving more, not only here but also @ Not Quite Over the Rainbow.) Blogging award. I'm so HAPPY to get one... seriously ECSTATIC!!!

So here's what I am supposed to do:

Name 7 things about myself that people might night know... this seems to be pretty difficult for me due to the fact that most of my life is an open book so this is going to take serious consideration.

1. I have been a senior in college for the last 5 years.
2. While growing up I didn't know what I wanted to be I grew up. . . I still don't.
3. I hate melon, all melon excluding watermelon and will do everything to avoid eating it.
4. Sometimes late at night when I can't sleep, I will take Grace out of her crib and just hold her and gently rock her till I fall asleep.
5. I am an emotional baker and most of the time I don't eat what I make, not because its not good, most of the time its great but I just bake to kill time.
6. Taking a cue out of Suzanne's confessions/interesting bit of information I am going to confess my first kiss. It was the summer I before I turned 12 down at the lake. It was awkward and sweet all at the same time.
7. I have a ghost that visits me periodically, don't worry he's friendly!

Now I get to "tag" seven other blogs but I'm not quite sure how to do it. Congratulations All, I think your blogs are FABULOUS and KREATIVE!!!

1. April- A City Girl in the Country
2. Dana @ The White Silk Purse
3. Cami @ Love Cami
4. Charlie @ Operation Shrink Charlie's Big Butt!
5. Chelsea @ Kernicals
6. Travis @ I Like To Fish
7. Danielle @ Hellowl

Like a Weed

Well Grace is 19 months and 12 days old today... Yes, we went to the doctor today so their fancy computer told me how old she is... because we all know I do not keep track of such things. They asked me when her birthday was and I had to pause for a moment to think, I instantly could rattle off my own but I actually had to stop and think about when her's was.

When welcomed Grace into the world she was 5 pounds 12 ounces and 18 inches long. She was in the 2% for weight and 3% for height. She was so tiny her skin looked like it was 10 sizes too big! Her fingers were so long and slender and she was just so petite with perfect features. I remember watching all the relatives with her, being especially careful because she was so tiny.

Well, a mere 19 months later Grace is 30 pounds and 35.5 inches tall! That's nearly 3 FEET!!! She is in the 96% for weight and 99% for height. Her well baby/child check was today and Dr. Firth told us that she is as big as most 28 month olds! ("No need to worry she is very nicely proportioned," he added quickly.) She passed her check up with flying colors and she even survived getting 6 SHOTS 5 vaccines and the dreaded flu shot ~Anna and I got them too!~ She had big tears but as soon as they pulled out the suckers she was fine again.

Looks like my tiny girl isn't so tiny anymore is she?

Boots On

Grace opted to choose her own outfit today. (This little horse has been in the family since Jared was a baby {The horse is known as John Wayne's horse}... I felt that getting a picture of Grace on it was a MUST funny thing was... she pulled it out, dragged it outside and as soon as we got down to the sidewalk she started saying, "Mommy, cheese!")
She already has her own little opinion and she throws a HUGE fit if she doesn't get what she wants... I have no idea where she gets THAT from... he he he. She always makes me laugh. And she's a pretty good sport to let me snap photos of her. Whenever she sees me pull out my camera she says, "Cheese" well she says it until I turn it on and then she goes back to ignoring me.

Peaches!

Peaches! These are awesome! We worked for several hours washing, peeling, cutting and freezing the peaches. They are divine! I haven't had peaches this awesome for a LONG time... Grace and I will be enjoying ourselves for a long while. We'll just have to keep stealing them out of mom's freezer!

Say Goodbye To All These BLUES

It had been way too long... just two days shy of two years. A lot has changed. Last time life was completely different for both of us. He had just gotten out of rehab, I had just lost my job and had to get a pick line. This time it was like the stars had finally lined up for us. The butterflies took over as he came out the back light casting his shadow on the black curtain a few strains of the electric guitar and BAM the curtain dropped and we Hit The Ground Running there he was in all his magnificent glory. The years between didn't matter anymore because Days Go By and all though we can't stop them from flying by we can take it in our own stride. Nothing mattered anymore the Stupid Boy that had recently broken my heart disappeared and Keith was there to meet me Where The Blacktop Ends to remind me that my Better Half is still out there and when I find him it will be that Once In A Lifetime Love that will be worth Making Memories of Us. And Keith reminded me that it will be lovely and thanked me for being such a lovely fan because he knew that "Only You Could Love Me This Way." The Sweet Thing about this concert was that it reminded me that When Summer Comes Around I can pray that its Raining On Sunday.

Grace adored the concert and when Kiss a Girl came on she jumped up to dance. I laughed and laughed and wanted to tell all the people that thought I was crazy for taking a 18 month old to a concert I Told You So because SHE LOVED IT!!! I was so excited when I heard the first strummings of You Look Good In My Shirt I screamed because you know I would look very good in his shirt. He he He. I knew that Keith was singing Somebody Like You to me! The concert was beginning to wrap up and although I knew our time together was soon to come to an end I felt like Tonight I Wanna Cry! The concert did in fact come to an end but I felt like I had finally found the Better Life I had been looking for and funny thing, it had never left!

Thank you for indulging me with my silly way of getting all the song titles (in order of performance)

Now seriously folks. The concert was Amazing!!! Keith was at the top of his game and he did a wonderful job of making EVERYONE feel as if he was singing just to them. His guitar skills were insanely sharp and the guitars themselves were BEAUTIFUL, the usual Fender he plays but there was a Green Gibson and the Shattered Mirror Gibson he plays was gorgeous! He also had one that LIT UP!!! He is up for CMA Entertainer of the Year and this Fan thinks he definitely deserves it he is a GREAT showman!

Being Domestic

I love this time of year... Back to school (okay I don't love that part so much but office supplies for super cheap is always awesome) and the bounty of the gardens that friend and family have planted has began to really come forth. Mom has been a canning fool, canning tomatillo salsa, red salsa, jams and pie fillings and well last night I was able to help can tomatoes, I have helped with a few of the other cannings but this one I actually helped start to almost finish.
We picked tomatoes and I wish I could give you some perspective here some of these were the size of SOFTBALLS!


We (being my mother and myself) picked tomatoes, then we peeled the tomatoes, and if you have never peeled tomatoes before its kind of fun.
{You boil a big pot of water an dunk the tomatoes in the boiling water till the skins crack, you then quickly pull them up out of the water and dunk them in ICE cold water (there are literally ice cubes floating in the water) you then grab the tomato and the slide the peel off... its like pulling blisters off a sunburn. Very satisfying. }

After that we diced up the tomatoes and scooped them into quart jars put the lids on them and mom processed them. 21 quarts of tomatoes in one evening! I am so grateful that I got to do this with my mom. It was really fun to get to go through the whole process and even though we were exhausted it was fun.

Aren't they beautiful?

Flowers!

I have been cleaning ALL DAY!
I rented a carpet cleaner, cleaned the carpet in my front room.
Completely rearranged my front room. AND Cleaned my couches!
Its been long hard workin' kind of a day...
Just as I was in the middle of the fung shuiing of my apartment
I saw the Fred's Flower delivery car pull up.
They were bringing ME flowers!

Beautiful Almost Birthday Daisies for Me!

Its Been A LONG Day

I started the day thinking that it wasn't going to be bad. All of my classes had been canceled due to the American Political Science Conference being today. (Its being held in Toronto... does anyone else find this ironic?) I had to run up to campus to check on a few things and ended up getting my computer's RAM updated I went from 512K to 2 gigs! Its like having a new computer!

Grace and I had lunch with dad at McDonalds. Grace had a chicken nuggets Happy Meal while dad and I had a delicious salad. After lunch Grace and I headed out to Quality Auto sales to get Ricky's oil changed. (Ricky is my 99 silver VW Passat -my best friend's car's name is Lucy-) That took an HOUR and a HALF!! I was NOT a happy camper it should have taken 20 minutes but apparently since I was not a friend of the owner and did not know every that worked there my car was not a priority, it was also NAP time but Grace was NOT interested in sitting still on the couch she was ALL over the place. When my oil was finally changed the mechanic advised me to get new tired immediately, well he actually wanted to put my spare on to make him feel better but I told him not to bother because our next stop was the tire store. We did in fact visit the tire store, got two new tires and I can't tell you what a huge difference that has made! Grace wandered the tire store while I got quotes on windshields... I have decided that I loathe taking care of my car.

We finally got home just after 4:30 Grace zonked and I did too. We were up and around by six and then were off for more errands. We didn't get home till quarter to ten. We showered had a fight about going to bed ( I won this battle but the war is on going) I changed the laundry over picked up the front room and annihilated the duplicates in my iPhoto library. Now I am heading to bed.