We Are Alive and Well

We did not fall off of the face of the Earth.  We were not abducted by aliens.  We did not spontaneously move to Siberia.  I did not give up my blog for Lent or anything.  But we did have a major computer issue.  Our hard drive went out of our six-month old Toshiba laptop.  This is our fourth (I think, maybe fifth) laptop in six years.  It is God's way of telling me not to buy a lottery ticket.  We have zero luck with computers.  I could better understand this if we were really rough with them or carried them back and forth to our jobs or if our kids used them.  But none of this is true.  Our computer sits next to the recliner or on our laps.  It doesn't leave the living room.  We are gentle.  We do not play catch with it or anything.  It is not our fault!  (Okay, the day the Dell died, that one was my fault.  I stepped on the screen.  We hated that computer anyway so it turned out to be a joyous moment.  I actually wrote a song about it.  It goes:  "Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was full, that bad ole' computer was super uncool, so I was singing, this will be the day that you die, this will be the day that you die...")  I really don't have too much time on my hands.  I promise.

If you are computer shopping here is my advice:  Do not buy a Dell.  Do not buy a Toshiba.  Our best computers have been Gateways.  Before I bought the Toshiba I did a lot research.  I read a lot of reviews and finally picked the Toshiba brand.  And what happens?  Six months and it dies!  Perhaps we are cursed.  I don't know.  The hard drive went out of it but it was still under warranty so they fixed it for free.  We now have it back and here I am!  But I have a ton of things to write about.  A ton, I tell ya!  So this will probably turn into more than one post.  I hope I don't forget anything.  Oh, and by the way, I lost all of the stuff that was on the old computer.  I hadn't backed anything up (my fault, I know) but the computer was only six months old and I wasn't worried at all about it dying.  I lost all of my pictures, my children's book that I wrote, part of a novel I'm writing, all of my newspaper columns, and who knows what else.  It's sad, isn't it?  The bright side is that you don't have to scroll through five hundred pictures of my kids doing incredibly cute things from the past month.

Okay, so the first major thing that happened after the birthday blitz was my Nashville Trip.  I went with my friends Deb and Kate.  Our other two friends, Leslie and Holly, couldn't make it on this trip but they were with us on the last one.  That was the trip where we met Cowboy Troy and Gretchen Wilson on the sidewalk downtown.  We totally topped that trip this time.  It was the best trip ever!  Deb has a friend from school that now works at the Grand Ole Opry and he offered to get us tickets and backstage passes for Friday night's show.  It was amazing!  The backstage area was awesome.  There were big framed portraits up and down the hallways of past performers.  It had all been completely remodeled since the flood last year and was gorgeous.  Deb's friend gave us a complete tour of the Opry house and introduced us to some famous people and his coworkers.  I met Jimmy Wayne.  He sings "Do You Believe Me Now?", "Stay Gone", and several other hits.  He was very nice and so was his girlfriend.  I talked to them both for several minutes.  Jimmy recently finished a walk across the U.S. to raise awareness for foster kids and for kids living on the streets.  He lived in lots of foster homes as a child and on the streets as a teen.  He was just really nice and laid-back and didn't mind talking to a chatty fan backstage at all. 

We also met Kellie Pickler!  Yay!  Here is what I noticed first about her:  her heels were probably six inches tall, she was short, and she weighed about 90 pounds.  She was tiny!  She was very friendly too.  Here we are: 

We also met several other lesser-known celebrities backstage.  We watched the Gatlin Brothers perform and they were great.  After the show the final curtain went down and Larry Gatlin started singing "Amazing Grace" with his brothers and some other people.  Everyone crowded around and we all sang along.  Now I can say that I sang Amazing Grace onstage at the Grand Ole Opry with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers.  How cool is that??

After the show we all went to a nearby steakhouse with Deb's friend for an extremely late supper.  We saw several of the performers from the Opry eating there as well and they sat us down at the table right next to Jimmy Wayne and his girlfriend!  He recognized me and waved, smiled, and said "Hi again" or something close to that.  The other girls teased me that he was my new best friend.  He also spoke again when he left.  I'm tellin' ya.  He's a nice guy. 

It was a late night for us.  Let me put it that way.  We three girls stayed out very very late.  The next morning we got up and went to a cool little bakery/coffeehouse and had breakfast.  It was deee-lish.  Then we went shopping!  It was beautiful weather in Nashville and the shopping was fabulous.  We did the same thing on Sunday and drove home that evening.  Highlights of the trip:  famous people, meeting a lot of Australians everywhere we went (They were having a convention.  Seriously.), TJ Maxx (I'm a Maxx-inista), fresh made-at-our-table guacomole, and good times with good friends.  I can't wait to do it again next year!

It was good to be home though.  I missed my family.  Here's the updates on my family:

Maleah - She has had strep throat and missed two days of school last week.  She had perfect attendance up to that point and was only about three weeks from the end of school.  I thought she was going to make it but oh well.  She is fine now.  It is going to be a long summer with that kid.  She was bored out of her mind the whole two days and was driving me crazy.  She needs to be on the go all of the time or so she thinks.  The best Maleah quote from the week is:  "The Easter Bunny is real, right?  I mean, surely it is.  Santa Claus is real, so why wouldn't there be an Easter Bunny?"

Carissa - or shall we call her Honey?  When asked her name, she sometimes replies "Honey" now but sometimes she still calls herself "Map".  What's really funny though is that she ends almost every sentence with "Honey".  She calls me Honey, Daddy Honey, Maleah, everybody is Honey.  The best Carissa quotes from the past few weeks are:  "Have a seat, Honey," "Oh-tay Honey," "Love you Honey!" and "Come on Honey."  She says Honey is a real slow sweet way with a slight southern drawl to it.  She is not related to Paula Deen I swear, although that would be nice.  She loves to play outside and get dirty.  She will spank herself and say "Bad, bad, bad!" when she does something wrong.  She tries to be funny so she won't get in real trouble.  She knows how to work the cuteness factor. 

Jason - He is working a different shift now and is adjusting to that.  He is fine and there is not much new with him.  He got a haircut.  There, that's all I can think of.

Me - I am going to be in the Depot Variety Show on May 13th and 14th.  I won't tell you my part, so you can wait and be surprised.  The show is a holiday show and will highlight different characters from all the holidays (witches, pilgrims, elves, Easter Bunny, Santa, etc).  It will be funny and I can't wait to do it.  I hope I don't mess up my lines!  It is my very first play and I am a little nervous.  Maleah is also going to have a small part in the play.  She won't have any lines but I do think she will be onstage.  She is super excited about that.  Both performances are at 7 p.m. and all money raised goes toward further renovation of the Flora Depot.   My favorite Beth quotes from the past week or so are:  "Do not poop in the litter box!  That is for the cat only!  Pull your pants up and stand up!  Go to the bathroom!", "Do not brush your hair with the cat brush!  That is for the cat only!", "Do not unwrap that.  That is not candy.  It is a tampon." (Don't worry.  It was clean.) and finally "Quit taking your pants off!" (directed toward Carissa, not Jason).

That's all I can think of for now.  I will write more later! 

Two Birthdays = Long Blog Entries

Wow!  What a week!  We've had a lot going on.  Both of my mini Coopers had a birthday this week.  Yay!  Maleah turned six and Carissa turned two.  Maleah was born on March 22 and Carissa was born on March 26.

Maleah had a skating party at the Fairfield Skating Rink again this year.  She invited all of her friends and had a really great time.  She was so happy that so many of her friends came to her party.  She truly appreciated that everyone took the time to come to her party.  She had fun skating and playing the games.  She was especially happy that she won the limbo game.  We had a beautiful black, white, and hot pink zebra striped cake that was made by Jason's cousin Lora.  It was beautiful and delicious.  I think it was one of the best cakes ever.  Maleah opened presents after we had cake and she then she got to put her handprint on the wall of the skating rink.  Each time someone has a birthday party there they get to put their handprint on the wall.  She did it last year too during her party and then a few weeks after that they put a display case against the wall and completely covered up her handprint.  I think she got a better spot this year and I don't think it will be covered up. 

We also sang Happy Birthday to Carissa at the party.  She blew out her two candles in a split second.  (She's fast.)  She also skated for the first time.  That lasted about five minutes.  Then she was over that.  She liked just walking around visiting with everyone.  Here are some pictures from that party:

Carissa roller skating for the first time!

Carissa and Grandma Sherrel

Getting ready to do her handprint.

Maleah's actual birthday was on Tuesday and she had a great day.  She opened presents at home in the morning, went to school, and then I took her to Effingham to get her nails done and to do some shopping.  She loved everything.  She is such a happy girl.  She was just having the best day.  We ate at Lonestar and she got to spend $20.00 at Claire's.  What more could a girl want?  Well, actually, she really wanted a sewing machine, a guitar, Squinkees (miniature animal thingies) and Heely's (shoes with wheels in the heel).  I think she was a little disappointed that she hadn't gotten those things because that is all she had asked for.  I gently reminded her that she still had two family parties to come - one with the Oestreichs and one with the Coopers.  She was okay with that.  She laughed hysterically during her pedicure.  She is so ticklish.  She had a hard time deciding between Lonestar and Kentucky Fried Chicken but decided to go with Lonestar for her supper.  I'm glad she did.  It was very good.

Laughing during the Pedi

Free birthday dessert at Lonestar

In my last blog entry I talked about how Jason and I had traveled to Fairview Heights, had an amazing day, and bought the girls an addition to their swingset as their birthday gifts. That was their "big" gift. Well, it turns out, it didn't work out that well. The addition didn't fit their swingset. The addition we bought was for a swingset that looks exactly like ours, is made by the same company, but the roofline faces the opposite direction as ours. The dimensions, therefore, were off. I called the company and they said that lots of people have made the same mistake and confused the two sets. Errrr. They don't make an addition for our set. Sooo, turns out we didn't have a birthday gift for our kids at all. I had already given the sewing machine idea, the guitar idea, Heely's idea, and Squinkees idea to others who had asked me for ideas. So, I had nothin'. Maleah was still happy. It didn't really matter but it was a little aggravating to me. Here is a picture of the two swingsets. Hard to tell them apart, isn't it?



Maleah got a pair of camo pants from Jason and me.  She loves camo!  I don't know why but she does.  So when I saw these pants when I was in Children's Place I grabbed them.  It was a coincidence that our friend Julie bought Maleah a camo hat that matched the pants.  So here is Maleah on her way to school on the day after her birthday.  Notice the flip flops - the weather on her birthday and after her birthday was beautiful!  It was so warm and sunny! 

Okay, so then Saturday rolled around and it was Carissa's birthday!  Yay Carissa!  I can't believe she is two years old already!  Here are some cute pictures of her from the past week or so. 

Carissa in her birthday outfit.  I made the shirts for her and Maleah.

The house was quiet and I found her under her sister's loft bed playing babies.

Wherever Carissa is, Eloise is usually very close by.

She got new sunglasses for her birthday!

Trying on her sister's fake glasses.  So cute!

She had fun opening her presents and we had a family party at my Mom and Dad's that evening. We went with the whole zebra and hot pink theme again. The cake was beautiful again and tasted great. The girls had a great time and Maleah got her sewing machine (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!), guitar (thanks Uncle Randy and Aunt Janet!), and Heely's (thanks Aunt Angie, Aunt Patty, Andrea, and Abby!). Carissa got some fun stuff too. It was a really fun party!

Cake #2

Me and my girls in our party attire. 

Maleah in her shirt that I made her.

Maleah opening her sewing machine.

Maleah getting her first guitar lesson from Aunt Janet.

And finally here is a picture of Carissa on her birthday.  It snowed on her birthday this year.  We got about two inches or so.  It was a big change from the weather on Maleah's birthday.  I couldn't get her to look at the camera for anything.  She only wanted to look at the snow.  It was a beautiful snow!  But now we are ready for spring.  Bring it on...

On Sunday we had the third and final party for the girls at the Coopers.  Maleah got her Squinkees (thank you Craig and LuAnn) and Carissa got some fun things too.  We had a great meal with Jason's parents.  I forgot my camera that day (just forgotten though, not lost) and I didn't get any pictures.  Grandma Sherrel made the girls a yummy chocolate sheet cake that day though.  All of this cake is not helping me get ready for swimsuit season!

And.... here is my big news for the week.  I have been planning on going on a girl's shopping weekend in Nashville for this upcoming weekend for months now.  I have been looking forward to shopping and hanging out with my friends from our old playgroup, Deb and Kate.  I found out today that Deb has a friend who works at the Grand Ole Opry and he is getting us BACKSTAGE PASSES for Friday night's show!  I am so psyched!  Kellie Pickler is going to be there and I think I'll get to meet her!  Yay!  The last time the playgroup moms went to Nashville we met Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy on the sidewalk.  I am so so so excited!  I can't wait for the weekend!

We Are Trained Professionals

We have had a fun day around here!  It was busy and fast-paced but fun.  Hang on to your seats because it's gonna be a fast ride...

Jason and I have been needing to go to Fairview Heights to buy the girls' birthday presents.  We needed to go to Toys R Us for sure and a few other stores.  We settled on today being the day for the big trip.  The only problem was that he had to be back at home by 2 p.m. to leave for work.  The other snag was that Maleah got out of school early today (1:30).  I asked my Mom to pick her up for me and we left Carissa with my Aunt Patty for the day.  Isn't that neat that I left her with Aunt Patty on St. Patrick's Day?  Haha.  Anyway, Jason and I left Flora at 8:40. 

He drove and I slept.  We got to Fairview Heights at 10:15.  We went straight to Toys R Us.  We picked up a few small items and the main item.  The main thing we were after was an addition to the outdoor playset that they already have.  It makes the bottom area between the swings and the slide into a clubhouse like the one on the top.  Anyway, I had a coupon for it and got it for half price.  It was worth the drive.  While we were in the store, we ended up in the checkout lane behind an employee of the store who was buying one Cadbury Egg.  She told us to go ahead of her.  We said no, no, we have a bunch of stuff, blah, blah, blah.  She insisted we go ahead.  After listening to one incoherent sentence I was sure that she was on drugs.  So we went ahead.  We stood next to her for probably 10 or 15 minutes because the people ahead of us took a few minutes, then they rang us up and had to go in the back to get a box, then I had two coupons but she didn't see one so I had to write a second check and tear up the first one.  This druggie lady was probably in her late thirties, early forties.  She had on way too much makeup and she spoke like she had an iv of morphine in her arm.  I gave her the benefit of the doubt for a minute and thought maybe she had a neurological disease that slurred her speech.  If she did the disease also impaired her ability to put two thoughts together.  She spoke to Jason more than me and we both were in disbelief.  Where was her manager?  Why does she keep talking to us??  Our cashier told her twice to go to a different line where there was no waiting but she insisted on waiting behind us.  Obviously she didn't want to go back to work.  The store had only been open for 30 minutes at that point.  I don't think she should have been on a break.  Wow.  That was all I could think.  That lady could barely hold her head up let alone assist customers or whatever her job was.  We finally left and Jason got in the truck, looked at me, and said "Heroin kills."  I said "Exactly."

Okay, so we left that store at 10:55.  Next we went to the mall because I had a few things to get there.  In order for Jason to get to work on time we had to leave town at 12:00.  So we had an hour and ten minutes to eat and shop.  We got to the mall at 11:00.  I told Jason I would need 20 to 30 minutes.  He left and went to Lowe's to buy some spindles to use as legs for the awesome new table that he is building me for my new sewing room.  First I went to Children's Place and bought Maleah a pair of pants, Carissa two new pairs of jeans, and two t-shirts.  I left there and went straight to J.C. Penney's.  They have a Sephora in there and that's where I buy my makeup.  I went in, got exactly what I needed, and went to pay.  I had a nice but rather-too-chatty-under-the-circumstances cashier.  Left there and went straight to Charlotte Russo.  I tried on three things and bought a cute zebra print cropped cardigan and two pink camis (buy one get one half off).  I called Jason on the cellie and he was pulling back into the mall parking lot as I was walking out.  It was perfect timing and the actual time was 11:27. 

Okay, so we left the mall and still needed to eat.  We decided to go to Red Lobster and hope for the best.  They're usually pretty quick if you get there early.  Plus we always order the same lunch special and I think it's pretty quick to make.  We had a great meal and left there at 12:05 (I think).  Anyway, we hit the interstate and were home by 1:50. 

I picked up Maleah and Carissa and Jason left for work.  Then, I started on my to-do list for the night.  I spray painted the aforementioned spindles.  That took several coats and quite a while.  Then I had to give Maleah a bath because she played in the yard and dug in the garden while I painted.  Then I went to Walmart to get stuff for the goody bags for Maleah's upcoming birthday party.  Then I took her to Girl Scouts.  Then I sat in the parking lot waiting for her leader to show up.  Then the husband of the leader came and said the leader wasn't coming (she's a repeat offender and that equals no Girl Scouts for us next year).  Then I went home and went on a short walk with my Mom and Maleah and Carissa.  And then I cooked supper and cleaned the old sewing room.

I soon discovered that my vacuum just wouldn't pick up the multitude of thread that was on the floor in that room.  So then I got my lint roller and rolled the whole room.  I picked up 12,687,994,345 threads.  I fed the kids.  I cleaned the kitchen.  Loaded and unloaded the dishwasher.  Then I cleaned the new sewing room and organized some boxes and made room for Jason to move my cutting table and my bookshelf in tomorrow, along with the new table.  Somewhere in there I took a break and checked my facebook.  Deep breath. 

Then I went and checked on the spindles and gave them one more coat.  Then I sat at the table and put together goody bags for the party.  Then I put Carissa to bed and had a 30 minute phone conversation.  And then I made (or tried to make) these pom-poms made out of tissue paper to use as party decorations.  They are supposed to look like this: 

Mine didn't turn out quite like that.  They are close but still need some work.  If I use them I'll post pictures later.  And then I finally sat down and started writing out my day because even I was amazed at all I had gotten accomplished.  I do a lot most days but not usually all of that.  I kept Maleah up until ten o'clock tonight and am keeping my fingers crossed that she will sleep until at least 9.  I don't have to worry about her sister as much.  As long as the house is quiet she will sleep in but if Maleah is awake and turns the tv on, Carissa will be awake shortly after. 

But please remember, Jason and I are professionals.  I am a professional shopper.  He is a professional driver.  This should not be tried if you do not have proper training.  I have trained for years and would not anyone to get hurt by trying to repeat my shopping excursion.