Hooptie

Happy New Year to all!! So my WB is here and so is my Boof! The great thing is that WB has his car in the shop and he borrowed his Dad's car......sorry Dad Page.....he borrowed the Hooptie!!!

Will-Bill

So my Will-Bill is the reason I met the original Boof. He is my oldest and dearest friend. We met at Slime Village (originally known as Rime Village and now known as The Village at Riverchase or something like that). For those that were there - family - it is where we had Mom's surprise 50th b'day party.

WB and I were neighbors. I had a party one night and I remember being on the balcony and he was hobbling to his apt on crutches. I invited him to join us. He didn't that night. But it was a few weeks later that the weather was super bad and I don't remember how we were in touch with each other but I invited him up to watch the weather and if we needed to leave then we could run to Mom's house. He came up with his laundry that I helped him fold (one time out of a million). That day the weather did get bad and we ended up at Mom's. It was WB, Mom, me, Tali and another friend, Andi (girl) huddling up in Mom's half bath downstairs at her townhome. We survived, but the tornado went over us and hit Pelham. I had friends that lived there and their parents. WB and I didn't know each other that well but he went with me to check on my friend's parents. We had to park and walk a couple of miles to get to the Staffords. I was so grateful that they were okay and Dad Stafford drove us back down to the big road to hike it back to our car. WB and I became fast friends after that and we still have great love for each other as well as respect and brutal honesty! I love him to infinity and I am so lucky to have him. On this particular blog...there are stories to be told and adventures to share, but based on audience....they will all be held tight as treasures of my youth and the great fun I have had with my bud! Much older now and there will be NO more road trips WB! HA!

He will always be my BEST DUMB BOY as I am his BEST DUMB GIRL! Love You WB!

Gotcha Mandi!!! Ha Ha!

So my cousin David and his sweet wonderful wife, Mandi, were with us for Christmas. The twins are all about Daddy - not that they don't love their Mama, but he carried them up. I was out there shooting (that is a professional term - HA!) pics of them coming up the driveway. Mandi was trying so hard to hide BUT Mandi - gotcha! You are too pretty not to have a pic taken and I was so happy that I got you! Mandi and I are the only ones in the family with green eyes and hers are so beautiful so I feel lucky to share green eyes with her! Now the twins......David is carrying them and you have sweet Cooper on the left and sweet Claire on the right. They are nothing but the most awesome and I am so grateful that Mandi was so strong to get them out in this world! Much props to her and what she went through. No details necessary but so much respect and love for her, the kids and David!

I can't wait to all get together so I can get pics of Will and Porter. They are the sweetest babies and so cute! I might try and steal a pic off Christina's blog so I can put a pic of Will out there. MARY! Get on it....you need a blog too....I want to see more of Porter. And Sara.....you too...I want to see your life and how you guys are doing.

I do want to say thanks to Mandi and to Christina for their blogs. I check them every day and I love you all so much and I know we don't see each other enough, but you are in my thoughts and prayers and you both got me to do this.

Love my Rouse family! Happy New Year!!!

And now for my artistic shot

Jen has some Pampas grass in the corner of her yard. While I was there taking pics I noticed how beautiful it looked with the extreme wind and sun and blue sky we had that day. Being as artistic as I am - HA!!! - I took a couple of pics. I think it turned out awesome if I do say so!

Here is Chloe

Here is the beautiful pup that Gracie protects her mom from. Beautiful chocolate lab with green eyes. She is gorgeous, but Gracie will always be #1 and alpha. Chloe has to learn that she is beta and Gracie wins every time. She still is very cute but I am team Gracie until Chloe learns her place! GO GRACIE!

Our Gracie

So the original Boof has 2 dogs now. The original angel of hers is our Gracie. I love this angel! She is a big girl who unfortch has some really bad arthritis. It would take thousands and thousands to fix her but she has a wonderful family that loves her more than life. It is so funny how similar Gracie and their new puppy Chloe are to our Daisy and LulaBelle. Gracie is very protective of her Mom (the Boof) and will lay outside the bedroom door and will not let Chloe in or out depending on which side of the room she got stuck in. LulaBelle will trap Daisy in the kitchen or in Mom's room or if Daisy is in the chair with me - she will sometimes have none of it. Irregardless....Lu is a little like Gracie....she is the alpha until Daisy rebels.

I got to go to Jen's house this weekend and take some pics. This one is my fave. Jen and Gracie are each other's #1 and you can see it here.

De-decorated

YEAH!!! We are completely de-decorated! Our house is back to normal. It took as many hours to put it back as it took to put it up. Surprisingly the Civic holds a lot of boxes. We have so many breakables that they each have their own boxes. So I load up the car in the garage and drive around to the front door and then reload and drive back. There is no way I am going back up and down the stairs 70-80 times. Fuggetaboutit! The kids were such a help! No matter where you are walking with a box they are right in front of you and then will just stop for no reason. Needless to say there was a lot of "Daisy - MOVE IT!" and "LulaBelle - MOVE!" Bless their hearts - they did not get their naps and they are just worthless now. I wish they had hands. Maybe we should trade them in for monkeys!

Movie Reviews

The Visitor: A little indie movie that deals with illegal immigrants. It is actually a very sweet movie and I enjoyed it.

Tropic Thunder: I kinda put Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller in the same buckets of silly humor. I prefer Will Ferrell, but Ben has come out with some gems like "Dodgeball". Hello - "If you can dodge a wrench, then you can dodge a ball!" Hilarious! But then you have classic Will stuff like (even though from another character) - "I love lamp!" and "I want to invite you to my pants party" and him playing the jazz flute. Come on - good stuff! But this movie was - I don't know - kinda boring. Maybe I was in the wrong mood to watch it and it may be one of those is funnier when you watch it with someone or a group, but I will give it a thumbs down.

I have more in my Netflix queue so I will let you know!

Facebook

So my cousins and my cousin's wife are all about getting into Facebook. I know listening to Rick and Bubba that Bubba started a Facebook page so he could see pics of a tennis player's family that he was hosting. And let me clarify.......a tennis player from like Russia stayed at their house during a pro/am tennis (Bubba is all about tennis now) tournament. The only way she could show him pics of her family was for him to sign up. Now apparently he is into it. I made the foray by signing up based on all these recommendations. I made it about 2 steps in and then freaked out. They wanted so much info - first name, last name, bday, high school, city, state and there was no lock of security. I am completely freaked out that my cousins and relatives are just all out there with their info that can be hacked. I am enough of a black helicopter worrier that if I give my full name and birthday and the high school I graduated from and city.....that hackers will get me! So to sum up...... no Facebook for me. I am out!!!

Fireman Santa

So Mom and I have had a long, long day. We had to take back our new TV's because for some reason they would not work with the Charter HD boxes. Can I tell you how much fun it is to carry a 42 inch TV up and down the stairs. Woo-Hoo! We exchanged them so I got to carry another one back up plus setting up the one downstairs. Needless to say, it is done and we have working HD TV's! Whoot! Go Vizio!

I then replaced the filter in the attic, then wrapped presents for Auburn and then helped Mom finish up the vat of squash casserole we are taking for the Christmas lunch tomorrow.

We had finally sat down to relax (with the dang windows open because it is so nice and warm here) and we started hearing all these sirens. We were completely freaked out b/c they just kept going and going for like 30 minutes. We were just praying that there was nothing serious, but for all that noise we were so worried something bad was happening. Then we remembered! Thank you Fireman Santa for coming to see us again!!! He comes every year but usually later so it was a pleasant surprise to round out a long busy day! Merry Christmas!

Unkie Don

Here is a picture of me taking a picture of my Unkie Don taking a picture of the same sunset I am also taking a picture of! WOW! Why hasn't a publishing company contacted me yet to publish a photograpy book of my wonderful eye and creativity???? You all know that I am known for a little sarcasm, right?

The Birds

Sooooo.....I do so love feeding my birds. I think it is something I definitely inherited from my Uncle Don. He is sooo cool with the feeder he has outside his house. Next time I go down there I am taking pics of his open feeder. Ring neck doves, cardinals, finches, titmice, chipmunks and SQUIRRELS and a possum! I wish I could do the same thing here but Mom hates the "rodents" aka squirrels. AND they did chew a giant hole in our soffit and built a big nest that cost us a couple of hundred to fix.....but they are still cute to me! AND probably our neighbors would not appreciate tons of squirrels hanging out lest the same thing happen to them.

Anyway....I am a terrible pourer (is that a word?). Inevitably I will spill seed when I fill the feeders. I spilled a ton this last time. Bag was cut wrong...all my fault. But this morning all our little birds were helping clean up the spill. Please notice the feeder to the left......YES it is decorated with silver garland because we are that tacky! Thank You!

Angel

I just saw this on one of my news websites. It seems very fitting and miraculous. We all need a little bit of Christmas cheer. I am bummed out by the evil in Washington (all politicians) and the evil in the world. I wish we had a news channel that just showed us all good news 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There is so much here that is great and wonderful and giving and kind, but the liberal media makes everything so gloom and doom. This blog will have a goal of bringing fun stuff for you to look at and smile and have faith in this world! No negativity here! The link for the article is below. I hope it stays up long enough for you to read it.

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/629997.html

I think you will have to copy and past this one.....I don't think I can hyperlink from the blog......still learning!!

The Original Boof

So a few years ago I met my best friend. We had a mutual friend, Will-Bill (name is another story and will be be explained later or not). I kinda thought she was a bee with an itch, but we continued to run into each other. We both laid claims to Will-Bill even though I knew him much longer than she did. HA! We had one night that we totally bonded over our friendship with the WB. WB had decided to buy a camper and travel the US and Canada with his pup, Alli. We planned a going away party for him and his mom came from Savannah too. The party was great until some of his work buddies showed up and wanted to take him away to a bar. Needless to say......the Boof and I totally bowed up and had none of it. With his mom's support, he ended up hanging with us. WE WON!!! After that we exchanged phone numbers and started chatting every so often. The more I got to know her, the better I liked her and she was no longer a bee with an itch. I DID make the mistake of complimenting her a couple of times and later found out she thought I was gay. Thanks Boof! For the record.....so NOT gay! I just believe that women should support each other and be complimentary and be truthful. It has turned out to be the most wonderful friendship! I had friends in college and after that I thought were my best friends but time takes it toll and age wisens you. I think once you reach a certain age you know what is important and you also realize the ones that are worth keeping in your life and that will have your back no matter what. Jen and WB are my #1's. Would give my life for them and I believe they would do the same for me. For the rest, names must be named and in no particular order:
Kathy, Scott, Sharon, Todd, Jason, Mark, Jerry, Shane, Timmy (even though we never see enough of him because he lives in the ATL and everything is better there-HA!). I am so sure I am leaving someone out, but the crew I have in my life are the absolute most wonderful people. I finally have that friend family that I craved so much in college and after. It is so great to be 40 and know what matters and WHO matters! Sooooooo......the pic is of the Boof and me and there will be a pick of the WB coming later! Great picture of the Boof but I look like a deer in headlights and I am SOOOOO loving the double red chin! So to end up this post - I am a lucky girl to have a best friend! Love you Boof!

Too cute!

http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org/

Seriously......need I even explain how absolutely precious this website is?????

Movie Reviews

Stepbrothers: Will Ferrell
Even though my aunt and her family never "got" Anchorman and still tease me about recommending it.....I personally love Will Ferrell and his sense of humor is right up my alley. Thought Stepbrothers was super funny and definitely worth watching UNLESS you are not a Will Ferrell fan. For the fans out there: "I love lamp!"

Kung Fu Panda: Jack Black
Super cute! Laughed out loud several times. The special features were good. If you have kids, then obvs they will love it!

What the......?

I think I am blind......I just saw the sun peak out for the first time in about 6 days!

Sunset

One more post and I am off to bed! This was taken in Destin at Thanksgiving. No more description necessary!

Fall Field

Thanks to my Mom, I have a wonderful new camera. She gave it to me as an early Christmas present. On our way to the beach at Thanksgiving, I stopped and took a picture of this field that is on the way to my office. I just thought it was so beautiful and the camera took a great picture! I am totally loading pictures from the camera onto my computer tonight so you may see a couple more posts!

The Kids

So the kids heard that I started a blog. Needless to say they were all "Why haven't you put us in the blog?" and I was all like "I haven't had a chance". Then Daisy turned up the cute factor forcing me to the computer to add this picture. LulaBelle (on the left) had a little cute factor but she was more intensely trying to control my mind. Daisy (on the right) knows good and darn well the head tilt works every time!

Amy's House

So my friend Amy lives in Suquamish, WA where her Navy husband, Conan is stationed. She sent me this picture today of the snow she is getting there. It looks beautiful! I wish we could get some of that down here, but all we have is gray, foggy, rainy days lately!

Blogging about what?

I have to get in the groove of this blogging thing. There are things I want to throw out there, but as Rick and Bubba would say....I have a responsibility to the audience to bring something good to the table. I don't want anyone to be bored! Heck - I don't want to bore myself. I can't wait to get the pictures off my camera and start adding them here!

First blog entry

WOW!!! I don't know why and I still can't believe it but I have created a blog. I am not sure what it will be about or what I even have to say. Heck, I don't know if my life is that interesting, but it will be fun! For all the people that already have blogs.....this is no big deal to you, but I find it to be kind of cool!