Kettle Corn, Wisdom Teeth and Sleep.

Anita, the office manager, bought a new fangled gadget that makes kettle corn. And boy does it ever! She brought me in a big ol bag today and it is wonderful. It makes me teeth hurt but still is ti so good.

Speaking of teeth...I get two wisdom teeth pulled on Saturday. Then, a lower molar also. My face will be the size of Texas. But I have to recover quickly because Jenny is having a "Last Chemo" party at Red Lobster on Tuesday! Ty just confirmed my reservation. I am pretty sure I will feel like NOT going but dear girlfriend has been out and about with me two to three times a week in her baldness. So if I have to go to Red Lobster all fat-faced, I can handle that for one day. I will probably see every ex I have ever had but G.G., you are worth it.

Tonight is Trick-or-Treat at Grandma Debbies house. I wish someone would let me just take a nap before hand, I am sooooooooo zzzz.......zzz... see, I fell asleep typing again. This is proof positive that I am under nourished when it comes to sleep.

Bae is going to be a cowgirl. This all came about this summer when we were at Dollywood with the Mullins clan. She wanted this big pink cowboy hat that lights up in the front. I said, very clearly, "No." She said, "Well, it can be my halloween costume!" Oh, alright. I guess if it has more than one use, why not.

She is insisiting on freckles, pigtails, and one blacked out tooth.

Atta girl. Nothing like making a costume all your own.

Hopefully the batteries do not run out on the hat...

xoxo
N.

Barclay. Fred. Petey. Whoooo?? Whooo??

Last night, Jamie and Bae came home from church and Bae saw "something that looked like an eagle" flapping across the road. Of course, JP had to get the flashlight and I had to run and get the bird book and the binoculars!

It was a barred owl, aka screech owl. He was bEaUtIFuL!!! He was dark brown with white and grey lateral markings. He didn't make any noise, but his poor eyes turned red when shined the light in his eyes.

Back when we first moved in, I heard him, but never saw him. It was a haunting whoooo sound and I loved it! I named him Barclay. Then, last night, Baeleigh decided his name was Fred.

Fred? C'mon kid, you are more creative than that.

Okay. Petey.

Petey it is.

Why do I constantly give in to my 7 year old diva? Exactly right. Because she is 7 and she's a diva. (Granny, diva is a nice word for "spoiled brat." ha ha!)

xoxo
N.

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves–there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. -Joan Didion

I saw this quote the other day and it just really stuck with me.

I have a crazy horrible problem with people pleasing. I hate it when I do not meet the expectations of others. But come to think of it...when my expectations aren't met, I don't hear anyone beating down my door to apologize or to try harder or to try to make me happy. Sometimes I get "I'm human, I made a mistake" or "my family or my friends or my dog or insert whatever here... comes first". Which, incidentally means, I'm at the bottom of the list so take a number.

Self respect is a great thing ~ I have noticed that when there were times that I was too busy catering to other people that I let my self respect take a back seat to what they wanted/needed/expected.

I'm over that now.

At my class reunion, my very dear friend Amy said,
"I'm not dating anyone because i can't find anyone that treats me as well as I do."
Wow. She treats herself well and doesn't put up with anyone not treating her well. She is smart, confident and overly concerned when it comes to her family and friends. She and I had a talk about loving yourself enough to take care of yourself.

Since then, I have been making an effort to treat myself nicely. I have a list of things that I do to take care of me:

1. Put my clothes (socks and under wear included) in a warm dryer on high...this is awesome at 5:30 in the morning.
2. Read Psalm 139 even though I have it memorized.
3. Sing in the car regardless of my mood.
4. Wave and smile at the person flipping me off for reasons that I probably deserved.
5. Check this website: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html . It's seriously life changing.
6. Pray with the girls in the car ~ every morning I drop Bae and sometimes if we are on time, Haley and Alexis jump in and we chat for a few. I pray for them and their day and that no one will pull a clip that day...
7. Text Jamie. My favorite ones are about what he is cooking for dinner. Yum.
8. Rockin' out on Bae's stage. We have wayyyy tooo much fun at our house.
9. Call Grandma. It's the best form of unconditional love and I always feel so much better.
10. Remember where I was a year ago and be thankful to God for where He's put me today.

Be nice to you today. You deserve it.

xoxo
nrp

Last Weekend

Are these not the cutest rug rats you've ever seen?? Birthday girl, Maddie Mae is on the left, Baeleigh "I want to be a Mae" is on the right. Baeleigh feels like she has been short changed because Mackenzie and Maddie have the middle name "Mae" and she got stuck with "Quinn".

We had so much fun on Saturday at Maddie's Pumpkin Patch Birthday Party. This is the 6th year running and it is the only party I look forward to, because if you know me at all, you know I hate birthday parties. The only other exception is Allison's party because they had a huge sound system and Steph made me do the electric slide. It was fun once I forgot that I was 38 years old dancing with a bunch of 13 year olds. Poor kids.

Maddie was excited to see Mackenzie. Weren't we all??!! I must have hugged her 15 times! Her family went out to eat after the party at Logan's Steakhouse and we crashed their party! I didn't want to miss out on all the fun!

I do hope that Bae goes to Christian college...however...I'm not sure what I think about them locking up the television from the girls. I guess at least they HAVE television. Wendy Lou said that at Word of Life there was no music listening or t.v. watching whatsoever! I do like the idea that she has a Dorm Mom that lives just upstairs. That's nice to have an adult that can be around if they need them. Because really, 18 is still a kid in a lot of ways.

So until Thanksgiving, we have to go back to missing Mackenzie again!


Hugs.
N.

Missing Mackenzie

We have been missing Mackenzie a lot lately...she is in Pennsylvania away at College. She sent Baeleigh a birthday card and a scarf as you can see from the picture. It was so much fun getting mail from her but made us miss her more! I am excited that finally today she is making her journey home for the weekend!

It's funny because every morning when I pass the Lex-Springmill Exit, I see the Target sign and I always think of shopping which makes me think of Amber and Mackenzie. So then I pray for them.

I have just really been blessed to have these girls in my life. The first time I met Mik, she was 8 years old and we were on a group vacation in Myrtle Beach. She was so sweet and I remember hoping that if I ever had a daughter, that they would listen as well as she does! (That wish didn't come true, LOL, my daughter doesn't take orders very well...)

When I got pregnant with Baeleigh, Mackenzie made me a Congrats card that said "I will babysit for free". She was 11 but so mature for her age. Then to find out that Maddie was on the way too, that put that girl in hog heaven! A few years later, I talked Mackenzie into Teens-N-Talents and she has been a star ever since. One of my favorite skits that I wrote especially for her was called "Cool Crowd or Cool Christian?" and she was the lead role. Adam Bennette gave her a hard time about it, made her cry, so I kicked him out of there. My favorite part in teh skit is where Steven Gamble got down on one knee and sang "My Girl" to her. It was so cute but hilarously funny. All of her friends were in the skit (I did that on purpose too): Katy, Mark, Allie and Andre'.

Amber headed up the other group of teens. She and I would stay up for hours at night trying to write her drama so it would be ready for the first practice. She always memorized her lines immediately, so she could beat everyone else. Yes, my girl was just as competitive as I was...guess that's why we won the Drama Competition every year...for six years!

If nothing else ever came out of my ten year drama coach reign, I would hope that the kids learned that they were capable of doing something great. Even the kids that hated speaking in front of people and I let them off easy by giving them a wordless part, they were still part of the group and their contribution was important even though small.

Isn't that what life is all about? Regardless of how "big our part is", or how glamourous or non-glamourous our lives may be ~ as long as we are part of the team, we are important.

I try to explain to Baeleigh that it's okay to have a small part in Jan's plays at Crestview because all of the kids can't have big parts, and if you want to be a part of the team, you have to go where you are needed.

So any contribution, be it big or small, really doesn't matter. It's how well you contribute, and what condition your heart is in and what attitude you bear that makes a difference.

As I look forward to hugging Mackenzie to death on Saturday, I look at her and see big things in her future. She is always willing to take back stage to help someone else out or to sacrfice what she really wants to help someone else. Coaching Upward with her was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and as her shoes are getting filled by someone else this year my heart aches...but I know that she is spreading her wings and flying in God's direction...which is the only place to be.

Happy Birthday to Jack IV, Maddie, Payton & Jaydyn.

xoxo
N.