I figured it out! :) Here are a few random scanned pictures... more to come next week. :)
Me and Jenny sometime during our Freshman year (I know that it was near Homecoming bc of the balloons). No clue why we're sitting so proper. I do know that I bought that sheer yellow overshirt and the vest inspired by Cher on Clueless. lol
Lynda Woolard, Mom, and Nita Methvin watching the game at Tri-State! And Mom's Dooney Burke purse and bottled water. :) Love this.
Me and Clint in the back, Ty and Rach in the middle, on our way to San Antonio in our "Candy Apple Red" Dodge Caravan! :) Oakleys were in that year. lol
Me in my sweet USA hat and patriotic color Nike gear! lol I actually like this one. :)
Rach sitting for the caricaturist... this is still hanging in our guest room today. =)
Mom and Debbie outside the mall
The 3 of us were ready to take a cute pic, then Clint threw a hackey sack toward us at the last minute... I so love this picture, that Rach and I are still smiling but scared, and Ty is immediately ready to catch it!! (And the fact that I'm wearing my Aasic cheerleader shoes - that was the year that cheerleading was my greatest dream!)
And finally, one of Rach and Josh and the boys in their plaid on Thanksgiving yesterday! (They're standing in front of their Christmas tree, decorated by me, but you can't really see it well.)
Soooo, yesterday was Josh's birthday (23)! Yay, Happy Birthday to my favorite brother-in-law. :)
But this post is not about him... it's a tribute to the Great American Cookie Company! (You can find them in the mall, typically across from Lane Bryant or some other plus-size clothing store. lol It's funny because it's true.) Josh's birthday was just a good reminder of how much I love cookiecake! ;) The one he got had the awesome balloons with mini-M&Ms, like the one below. And it was the perfect texture... sometimes they're too doughy or too crunchy, but when they're cooked the right way, they're the best dessert ever! =) Colorful is good, but I would love one that was completely chocolate icing!
Another favorite of mine is their "Double Doozie." Sometimes I get it with chocolate icing, but always the M&M cookies. Yum!!
This one for my surprise party in OKC was awesome! =D
We had fun having "cookie time in the park" after Sam n' Ellas in Talequah! lol
This was a congrats to Chet on his college graduation... they're always a fun way to celebrate big events! :)
Chet loves them too... this one is his 23rd birthday!
And this one was for Jeff's 31st birthday recently! YAAAY, cookiecake! lol
Something I'm absolutely going to master soon: scanning in pictures!! When I do, you can expect a lot more gems like these. ;)
Rach was all about her pacifiers back in the day, or "Oh-ho's" as she called them. I was apparently content to sit and read in our awesome purple canopy bed! lol
Rach in our famous pink sponge rollers... me in glasses that would probably still look big on my face today! lol
Rach, Dad, and I celebrating his birthday... all in our new Oakley sunglasses... and me sporting my sunflower shirt, so I'm doubly cool. lol
Back in our TP-ing days ...I didn't make it in this pic, but this is Allie, Kara, Casey, and Rach - some of her best friends in those days. We TP'd one of the guys about every other weekend... yay, Mom for driving us out there (and secretly okaying it with the boys' parents first)!
The day the guys got us back!! :)
More recently - (like 2003) - in San Francisco on one of our many road trips with the Wallace family! (You could see the Full House house from this hill - definitely a highlight! lol)
Christmas Eve with Mom's Fam - no clue what year it was, but clearly still at the old house.
Rachael scanned these in for her wedding video a while back... but now has forgotten how she did it. :( I am determined to figure it out. We have several scrapbooks Mom and I made (hours and hours of work) ...all full of pictures that need to be stored online somewhere... and I have a feeling that's gonna be my new project soon. :)
Too many random thoughts floating around... this post will be a bit disjointed, and full of pictures and quotes...
This one is of Bill and Jill outside the wedding chapel. Cute! They are climbing the list of my favorite people after all this - their wedding and reception were awesome, and they were amazingly helpful with my parents!!
Dad and Mom at the reception in Vegas... the last pre-forehead scar pic of Mom... a really good picture - (the quality here is not great, as I took a pic of the pic with my cell phone.)
Next up, Mom's knee =( ...it actually looks worse now, but is getting better. We showed Triston and Carter, and after looking at it for a second, Triston said (quietly and sweetly), "Maaan, cover that up! I don't wanna see that." lol Precious. Carter asked Rach if she was going to get a Bandaid for Mom's leg. Then he thought about it for a minute and said, "Get a whole box!" Hahaha, kids are funny. =)
Rach came in today, wearing her sparkly Ugg boots with her PJs... and Dad (talking to the dogs, kinda quietly) said, "It's Rachael, in her spaceship boots!" Sooo hilarious!!! I can see his point.
Carter after eating an ice cream sandwich! lol YUM.
Fun Fall flowers for Mom from the Myricks and the Lemieux's!
Bill and Jill brought this along with the flowers. :) (I love it!! My Mom uses more Carmex than anyone I know!)
Rach helping Triston and Carter write their names... it makes me laugh that their shirts all match... cute!
Italian dinner night at Jeff's for them to tell us about their Europe trip. Here, the "Three Men in Paris" are enjoying their lemonade, made with "fresh squeezed lemons from the orchard!" lol Looking forward to the "Pillow Talk" videos soon. Seeing Chet wearing a sleep mask was enough to pique my interest!
Okay, so Grandad and Babah got a dog last week... this was totally random and surprising to me!!
When I asked about what made them decide that, Grandad started with, "Well, I read somewhere that you live longer if you have a dog..."
The Babah (with her cynical sense of humor) interrupted with, "Good Lord, how long do you want to live!?"
He answered quickly (and so perfectly): "Till I die!"
Ohhh, I love that. ❤ I've thought about it a lot since then.
Because so many people don't really live and don't have much desire to prolong their lives. He's not one of them. I love that Grandad wasn't content to sit around and be bored in retirement! I love that they've been such a part of our lives all this time. I love that they are both active and doing things that make them happy. I love that, at age 82, he still reads more books in a month than I do all year. I love that through all the ups and downs of life, he has not lost heart or lost his spirit (you can tell when people do). The energy, the hope, the joy, the love of life -- I love it! And I'm sure I'll love the new dog too! =)
...so that is my new answer if anyone ever asks how long I want to live: "Till I die!" =)
In other news, Nanowrimo is so over for me! I'm home the next two days taking care of Mom and helping decorate Rach and Josh's house... then I'm working Wednesday only... then Thanksgiving, etc. I will still work on my book eventually, but this particular November is no longer an option, and I'm very okay with that!
*Quick update: Dad made it home safely around 8:00 last night, so both of them are happy to be home and recovering... and family and friends have already been bringing meals and desserts and such... awesome! :)
Okay, now for anyone who finds all this as fascinating as I do, here is a link to the Driver -- Amiable -- Expressive -- Analytical personality test:
That seems pretty accurate, and made me laugh. I was thinking about me, Malori, Chet, and Nathan... or me, Mom, Dad, and Rachael as I read the articles. Fitting! Thank God I don't work in sales! Strangely, I was talking to Malori just last week about Rach's ability to put together unique clothes, hair, jewelry, and makeup that I'd never dare to think that I could pull off, yet she looks great in them... an Expressive trait, apparently... interesting!
Also, this quote from the aritcle covering the Amiable type in a sales setting really cracked me up...
"Amiables form an easy relationship with each other and naturally treat them like they were family. The challenge is the other half of the world, (the other three personalities,) probably don’t want to be treated like family. The Driver wants to be treated like a player, the Analytical wants to be treated like an expert, and the Expressive wants to be treated like a celebrity. None of those come naturally to the Amiable personality." ~Bob Phipps
True story! :)
Okay, that's all for now on this subject. Happy Friday!
I wrote this verse to go in Rach's nursery room a couple weeks back, but I love how fitting it is for all that has just happened. GIGATT!
Today, I'm thankful for a God who rescues and protects us... not just in their wreck, obviously, but in a thousand little areas that we may never even realize!
I'm thankful that my parents are both alive and able to walk, talk, laugh, cry, and remember everything!
I'm thankful that all that is wrong and hurting can be healed, and that that process has already started.
I'm thankful that Mom is HOME!! (Her plane got in at 11:30 last night... Rach and I picked her up at the airport. It was great!)
I'm thankful for getting to have dinner with Rach and Charlene last night.
I'm thankful for the memory of Rach being hilariously angry about the airpot parking situation... so funny!
I'm thankful for all that Mom and Dad do for us, (which becomes evident quickly when they're suddenly unable to do those things for a while.)
Basically, I'm thankful for all the little things I tend to take for granted!
Yay, God!!
Okay, now for some interesting flight stories... no, not about me getting sick - that was so 5 years ago! ;) We flew Southwest on our Vegas trip, and I didn't realize I could print the boarding pass early, so Malori and I were stuck in the sucky last boarding group every time... meaning we sat between two strangers on each flight.
Flight #1... Stewardess offered us peanuts or pretzel with our drinks. Me and man on my right didn't take any. Man on my left said, "I'll take the peanuts."
About 20 minutes later, he held them up and asked me, "Do you want these?"
"Umm, no, thanks." I said.
"Okay, well, I'm really allergic to peanuts so I can't eat them."
What on earth!?? Moron. That was it - our whole conversation. Strange, but kinda funny!
Flight #2 - didn't say a word to the lady beside me because she was totally engrossed in her book, reading through the entire flight. Finally, I glanced over to see what she was reading...
Wow! She either reeeeally didn't wanna talk to me, or she was heading to Vegas for some high stakes Srabble tournament! lol
Flight #3... I sat between a man and woman, and we were on the exit row. Man reminded me of Stanley from The Office, very busy with his Sudoku puzzles and not paying attention to anything else. Stewardess asks if we're willing to help in an emergency situation (bc we're on the exit row). Woman says yes, I say yes, man doesn't know anyone else is talking. Finally the stewardess gets his attention and he says, "Oh, yeah, sure." Woman looks at me and says suspiciously, "I really don't feel very comfortable with him by that window." Then she grabs the Flight Safety brochure out of her seat pocket, reaches across me and hands it to him, and says demandingly, "Read this!"
Wow... awkward.
He grunts and puts it under his Sudoku book, paying no attention to her request.
I quickly shut my eyes and pretend to fall asleep, until some turbulence forces me to look around.
Then the woman strikes up a conversation with me, and after talking for a while, throws in, "Yeah, we've been married 40 years, so we don't sit by each other anymore," pointing at this guy.
What in the world!?? Seriously, why am I sitting between a married couple!? lol That did make the whole story at the beginning make much more sense, though.
Now, for a tiny bit more random info... we have moved offices and Judge and Marlene have moved to the tiny courtroom... my office is on the second floor and pretty great, the best of the three of us - but their offices are way too small for all their stuff.
So to save space, they came up with this efficient little solution...
Yep, that's a fridge and microwave in the bathroom. That's how we roll in Creek County. Lunch, anyone?? Yuck!
(To be clear, I never use that bathroom, fridge,or microwave, so it doesn't really bother me much... but I couldn't help sneaking a photo of that. lol)
Finally, the men of the courthouse chose all the new decor (never a good thing!) ...and they chose this carpet because it was "supposed to look like a wood floor."
Epic Fail!
Last thing... get excited, because this preview is the real deal... coming in April 2012!!
Tonight, I'm feeling a bit down. It's hard work trying to stay positive and thankful and keep focusing on the good things, especially in the aftershock of news that really shakes you. There is so much to be thankful for, it's true. God is great, He protected them, we have awesome friends who have really pulled through when we need them! And for all of that, I am extremely grateful. But right now, my mom is in a hospital bed, hurting, and disappointed to still be there. And she's really far away and I can't be there to help her or at least stay with her through the night and hand her Carmex or whatever other random thing she might need. I did that in February, and even though it was miserable and I couldn't sleep well, there is nowhere else I'd have rather been, and nowhere else I'd rather be right now. I'm comforted by the fact that their hospital staff is far better than Midwest City Hospital, but it still sucks. Mom was supposed to be on a flight home tonight, but instead, she has to stay at least one more night as they check for internal bleeding, which is a little scary and sad in itself. She has 19 stitches in her forehead, and it looks really painful. Her knee looks even worse. There will be a permanent scar on her face, and she won't be able to move her right arm very well for a while as that shoulder heals. She won't be able to help with Christmas decorating (it's not at all about needing the help, but just being sad to miss the tradition of doing that together). Odds are good I'll invite her over as soon as she feels like it and just have her sit on the couch and hang out and eat brownies with me as I decorate. :) Anyway, I feel like I'm in limbo because I don't know how she's doing, I don't know if something more serious is wrong, and as far as that goes, there is nothing I can do but wait. I'm not in the mood to do much of anything besides browse around online and eat Milano cookies right now... because I was supposed to be in OKC hanging out with Rach and getting ready to go to the airport. I could write more of my book, I could read, I could watch TV, I could eat, I could clean or do laundry, I could call someone... blah. (Honestly, I will read the Bible later tonight, because I've gotten a couple days behind, and I'm sure that I need it now more than usual.) Okay, but the whole point of this post was simply to say that I've found something adorable and silly to cheer myself up... it's "Boo, the World's Cutest Dog!" He is PRECIOUS! I saw a book about him as we were in Vegas, and just found his Facebook page. :) He is (of course) a little Pomeranian with a hilarious haircut that makes me smile!!
Seriously cute!
I love that their face (eyes, nose, mouth) only takes up one-third of their fluffy head!
Purse-size, and ready to travel!
Boo n' Buddy enjoying the sun =)
Kinda reflective of how I feel right now... and Pom puppies and I hardly ever look sad.
The caption on this one: "This face usually gets me whatever I want... but it doesn't make Friday come any faster. WTF, Friday?" hahaha, that really made me laugh for some reason!!
