Is anyone out there????

Happy Fall, ya'll! I once got lovingly chastised for not posting for a month or something like that. Well, friends, I've been posting more frequently, but nobody's been commenting lately! I'm beginning to get a complex (not really, but it makes one wonder . . .)

So, since we crossed over into my favorite season of the year and it's almost October (yikes!) . . . let's be a little more conversational.

My turn first.

My favorite things about Fall are:

• The cooler temps and less humidity
• Changing colors of the leaves
• Potted mums
• Apple cider (OK, apples in general)
• Hearing fallen leaves crunch under my feet
• Hayrides

Now it's your turn. What do you like about the season of Fall?

A very funny sight

Oh, I wish I'd had my camera this morning, but I'll just have to try to give you a picture in words. Christina and I were headed to walk at Radnor Lake and were cutting through the Ellington Agricultural Center. We turned in just behind a guy on a motorcycle, WITH A DOG ON HIS LAP, both wearing a helmet! At least the guy was responsible and law-abiding! I've heard of doggie life-jackets for when they go out on a boat, so I guess a doggie motorcycle helmet is not so far-fetched.

I pointed them out to Christina and we both got a good laugh out of it. You never know what you'll see when you get out early on a Saturday morning! Too bad I didn't have my camera, because I could have had a great "Friday Foto" for my friend, Jay!

Happy One Month Birthday, Erica!

After one month of "life on the outside", Erica just keeps getting sweeter and cuter (and yes, I'm biased). She and her parents are continuing to bond together as a family and Erica has brought all of us in the family a lot of joy! Erica's main activities are still sleeping, eating, pooping, crying, sleeping again (as it should be at one month old).

Here are a couple of pics I took on Friday when we babysat. She's a good mixture of both of her parents, but in one pic, she looks like her mommy and in the other, she looks like her daddy (hahaha!)

Give me a break, are we back in the 70s??!!

This weekend, I was one of the many unfortunate Nashvillians who had to sit in lines to try to get some gas for my car! (These photos were taken on Sunday morning, when the lines were mild compared to what I saw at the same locaion on Saturday.) Notice I didn't say that I was one of the selfish clods who felt the need to "top off" their tank or fill up every glass jar and 5-gallon can from their shed or fill their boat gas tank. Give me a break!!!!!

Now, I admit, I was thinking about my own needs on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Sunday morning when I noticed that my gas tank was close to empty and I needed to get some gas or not use my car to go to the places we needed/wanted to go this weekend. I do not usually pay much attention to local news. If it's not in the one-minute blurb at the top of the hour on the music radio station I'm listening to, then I probably don't know about it.

So, I was taken by surprise by the lines I saw at the gas stations on the way to work on Friday. But, since I actually had to WORK on Friday and had a very busy day at the office, there was no way I could have waited for an hour or more during the day to fill up. Then on Saturday morning, after getting my "fuel report" from my wonderful parents who were out and about, I set out to get in line and wait my turn. I had waited about an hour at one station (with only 4 pumps) when they ran out of gas (I was about 6 or 8 cars away from the pump). I then tried to get into the madhouse at Kroger, but when they came around with signs saying that they estimated only having 30 more minutes of gas left, I decided to not waste what I had and went back home.

Thankfully, my parents are also very generous and offered the use of their car (with plenty of gas in the tank) for us to go to Daniel's baseball tryouts and the 5K at Belmont. Then this morning, I got up early and went back to Kroger to wait in line an hour to finally get a turn to fill my tank.

I definitely saw the irony in the fact that the place I tried to go twice during the weekend to buy gas ended up being where I finally got it. I also realized the futility of my worrying over it at various times during the weekend, and had to come to the point of confession and thankfulness when I realized that I didn't really miss out on any activities due to the gas shortage and never totally ran out of gas. Hopefully, we're out of the woods with the shortage now, but I think I'll start watching my gas gauge a little closer and might even listen to the news now and again (better still call me if something big is headed my way!).

Through the years

A fun time was had by all at the 90th birthday party for Mr. Lee Anderton! He was totally surprised to see 14 friends gathered for what he thought was going to be a small dinner with two families. We represented Lee's decades well, from Charlie Chaplin (Lee's birth year, 1918) to a Lee look-alike (2008)! After the delicious dinner, we realaxed in the den and shared facts and stories from the decades. As promised, here's a picture of me in my poodle skirt and also a group shot for your viewing pleasure.




Two of my favorite quotes of the evening were from Scott Patty (our pastor) and from Lee himself:

"I just hope that you all respect me in the morning when I get up to preach!" --Scott Patty, while wearing 80's attire which involved big shoulder pads.

When asked if he'd ever had long hair like some of the styles of the decades, Lee said, "No, my hair's been like this my whole life!"

Huge thanks and kudos to Leslie and Rebecca for coming up with the idea and for going above and beyond to make it a very special night for Mr. Lee! I've known Lee since before his 80th birthday, probably since 1996 ot 1997 and I will always be thankful for his quiet, strong, giving nature and for his loyal friendship.

What was lost has been found!

You probably remember the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son and how much rejoicing there was when the lost item/animal/person was found. Well, I was SOOOOOOOOO happy this morning when I learned that my skirt was no longer lost! I promised to not reveal the identity of the person who found it, but I will say that it wasn't found under my roof. Also, I am so thankful that I hadn't given it to Goodwill!

Now I can be a 50s girl on Saturday night! I'll post pics and tell all about it, I promise!

Missing: One green poodle skirt

Where, oh where, has that little dog gone? I have owned a poodle skirt ever since the summer of 1989, when I worked on a Centrifuge staff and the theme was the 50s. I make a pretty good 50s girl, if I do say so myself (sorry, no pictures readily available to post right now, but maybe someday I'll dig them out).

Anyway, I have an occasion to wear my poodle skirt this weekend (I'll have to post about that later, because it's a surprise party) but I CAN'T FIND IT!!!! I thought I knew exactly where it was, but when I went to look, it wasn't there! AAACCCKKK!!! I looked in some other places where it could have been and still have a couple more possibilities, but I'm getting a little nervous.

You see, I have been known to go through a cleaning out frenzy and sell stuff I didn't think I'd need (ask Daniel about his mom selling his Fisher Price Farm). However, I can't imagine that I could have done that with this skirt because I love being a 50s girl so much. Also, I have a very vague recollection of lending it to someone, but can't recall who that was or when or if I just dreamed it!

If anyone reading this knows the whereabouts of my skirt, go ahead and tell me. I won't be mad if you've borrowed it and had it this long. I'd also be very grateful if you didn't borrow it, but just had some kind of revelation about where it could be! :-)

Hopefully I'll be able to post a happy ending to this story soon!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here are some pictures from Jeanette's birthday celebration this week (her actual bday was Saturday, we had the family party on Tuesday while Doug and Leanne were here). My favorite quote of the party was when Jeanette started to blow out her candles and stopped and said, "Oh, I don't know what to wish for because all of my wishes have come true!"

Why I need to be transformed by the Gospel

A couple of weeks ago, I started the Gospel Transformation Bible study class at my church. I had done this eight-month study a few years ago in a Sunday School class at Grace, but when the opportunity came up to do it with a group of women, I thought it would be good for me to go through the class again (I'm in a different place in my life than I was back then). This course is a great study of what the Gospel means and how it can change our lives. In the process, our own sins are brought to the forefront of our minds and we see how much we are need of God's saving grace every day. It's tough, but worth it.

So, as I'm going through my daily life, I have realized that yes, I do need to be transformed and no, I can't do it on my own. Here are just a few examples of situations that I'm in daily that show me my deep need for the Gospel:

• Each weekday when I drive to work, I have to get on I-65 at Harding Place, where people are going fast and trying to get over to the right lanes to exit at Armory Drive (why?) and I-440. They are looking out for #1 and it's not me! These people make me so mad!
• At my workplace, there are people who think their mother works there. They leave dishes in the sink (the dishwasher is right next to the sink, but they must also think that the dishes have legs and can walk themselves into the dishwasher), they leave opened creamer and sugar packets on the counter (again, these things must be able to walk themselves over to the trash can), and they leave crumbs on the tables after eating lunch. Since cleaning up after people is apparantly in the job description for Director of Administration, under "other duties as assigned", I usually get to take care of these messes. And I get mad inside!
• When 100+ people work under one roof, five days a week, 8 hours a day, personalities interact and sometimes clash. Gossiping also happens. I'm not immune to any of that and it shows me my sinful nature all the time!
• Relating to a certain person in my life who I used to be married to brings challenges and continues to show me my need for the Gospel (as it did when I was married, but I think more so now).
• Being a mom, a sister, an aunt, a friend, all these relationships are wonderful, but sometimes I mess up and say something I shouldn't or act in a controlling way. I am blessed with people in my life who show grace to me and forgive me when I fall. I am grateful.

I am excited about the next few months of doing this GT study. I only pray that I will not just read it and do the exercises, but that God will truly do a transforming work in my heart and I will be changed.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24