a few favorites for a fabulous friday

Take one of these.

McAlister's Deli Veggie Spud

(Pretend there are no olives because ICK.)



Add a large unsweetened tea - with lemon of course - and lots of ice.  And by lots, I mean a lot.





Watch a little of this...

And inhale a side order of these...

Throw in a drive to your local grocery with the windows down, a song on the radio about how fortunate we are to even draw breath on such a day as this, and you are well on your way to fabulous.



...To really take things to the next level, top the day off with a quick cat-nap, a couple of Extra-Strength Tylenol, and a Pepsi poured over - you guessed it - a lot of ice, and declare life WEEKEND.



Happy Friday!

wordy followup

So y'all had some good guesses, but no one actually picked my veryfavorite word. 

Renee's veryfavorite word:

Thwart

Thwart:  To oppose successfully; prevent from  accomplishing a purpose; to frustrate or baffle

Katie was close when she said "svelte, followed closely by thwart."  Unfortunately she flipped the order of my wordy love.

Side Note:  I was shocked and amazed that when conducting an impromptu poll I discovered several of my friends were not familiar with the aforementioned thwart, and maybe not svelte, and good heavens they asked me to spell drivel.

sigh.

Nor did they have a favorite word.

They do, however, play words with friends.


I'm confused and befuddled.


(another great one!)




(I'll stop now.)

 Source

I have to run now.  My friends have traveled far and wide to be with me.  

(And to watch their children graduate college.)

(But mostly to be with me.)


We have a lot of hilariousness to see to.




Happy Friday!

wordy

I love words.  

I love words more than the average Joe.

I love the lyrical way they can flow and how the mere sound of a word evokes feeling, even when I don't know what it means.  I like how they can take me far from the boring,  the misery, the aggravating...and drop me in a lovely place full of color and drama and happy.  

I love how reading someone else's words allows me a peep inside and helps me to know them just a little bit.

Interesting Fact:  I have never played Words With Friends and am not particularly fond of Scrabble.  I do, however, love me some Wheel of Fortune.  

I am a rebel wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

(And weird.)

Anyhoo, here are a couple of my favorite words.  

Yeah, I know.  Probably lame.

But there you go.

drivel

thwart

lollygag

svelte

hullabaloo

Go ahead.  Try them out for yourself.  Let 'em roll over your tongue.  Aren't they fun?

Can you guess my favorite?

Any words that particularly tickle your fancy or make you snicker?  

Wanna share with the class?

 Have a great day :)

Nine Favorites...For Right Now

You wouldn't believe me if I told you how hard I tried to come up with a tenth.  
I just couldn't do it.  Nine is what is meant to be.


1.  I love iced tea.  I especially love sweet iced tea.  
Recently I've taken it up a notch and played with a variety of fruit teas.  

For a while my M.O. has been to prepare peach tea and pour it over ice, a lemon wedge, and a couple of slices of frozen peaches.  and then proceed to drink on it all day long.  

Oh-but-now, over the last couple of weeks, I have completely lost all beverage-related inhibitions.  I fill up a mason jar with the prepared fruit tea and then add a bit of fresh or frozen fruit...and let it sit around for an hour or seven and get all married or happy.


(I guess married and happy would be better.)


(Either way, suffice it to say I'm hooked and also in love with my fruit tea.)


Sometimes I even prefer it over my Pepsi.  


I don't even know myself anymore.


2.  Travis Cottrell's "When the Stars Burn Down."  When it comes to playing this CD on Spotify I can. not. stop.  His We will Dance feels my heart with such hope and anticipation it makes even the rainiest day seem all full of good.


3. Law & Order, Criminal Intent.  What can I say?  I'm an enigma.


4. Oatmeal with blackberries.  I still can't get enough of this healthy morning delight.  However, I am sorry to report that replacing the strawberries in my cereal with said blackberries was somewhat of a miss for me.  I dunno why...it just didn't work.


5.  My beloved fleece blanket.  All these years later I still love it.  Thanks Kate!!


6.  While perusing approximately a million different sites looking for schooling ideas I came across 280Daily...and I love it!  It's a way for me to journal in bite-sized pieces, which in my case makes it borderline realistic.  Basically it reminds me of Twitter (except it's completely private) in that there are a set number (280) of characters to use to sum up the day.  This feels much more doable for me, and even after just a couple of weeks it's fun to go back and read what in the world I've been doing with my time.


7.  The Big Boo Cast!  Y'all, this was so fun.  I owe Melanie and Sophie many thanks as they gave me more than a couple of giggles while I did random things like scrubbing toilets or washing dishes.  This is mildly embarrassing but I might as well tell ya that I listened to them all.  It took me a while but I persevered and got 'er done.  Now I am again stuck with my own thoughts as I conquer the mundane.


8.  When Peyton was born I was introduced to takethemameal.com.  This just might be seriously the best idea I've come upon in a while.  

It's downright shocking how many bright ideas there are floating around.  
and disheartening that I didn't think of a one of 'em.




9.  Speaking of Peyton...

 
Some yummy goodness is what he is :)

Not to Be Melodramatic or Anything, But Blackberries in January Make My Heart Sing

Shannan has been bragging for what feels like forever about her "fiddies."  This is what she affectionately calls blackberries.  She gave them this moniker because for some unfathomable reason she's been nabbing them for about fifty cents a pint and has been eating them as if they cost mere pennies and not dollars apiece, and I've gotta tell ya, I've harbored envy in my heart.  I love me some blackberries, but I don't recall the last time I bought them, mainly because I need to keep a roof over my head.  


But that all changed this week, my friends.  It was payday and I was tired of harboring a covetous spirit, so I marched myself and the boys to Kroger and purchased my very own half-pint.  It happens to be January so I don't quite understand how it's possible, but they were GORGEOUS and plump and beautiful.  
And also tasty.


Earlier this week I tried this, and it was a complete success.  One morning I added a little vanilla, sugar, and few frozen peaches.  The next day I shook things up and added a few strawberries.  But today was by far the tastiest steel cut oats ever in the history of steel cut oats in my house.  Just a little sugar with a few "fiddies" on top.  We have a winner, y'all.  And I have a new favorite.


Totally worth that loan I took out.

Peek-A-Boo!

Well I haven't gotten the pix together yet so I suppose I'll be talking about Christmas well into the month of January.  I'm actually not sure that's such a terrible thing.  I imagine the world won't stop spinning on its axis or anything so I'll try to grant myself a bit of grace today :)  Frankly I'd much rather watch the Passion live stream than edit pictures!  


That being said, there was something else Christmas-y that I had wanted to share with y'all, and I bet the timing is perfect with all the after-Christmas sales.  I'm buying a new Christmas book each year, choosing something age-appropriate for the babies as they grow.  It's turning out the new choices will be mostly Audrey-age-appropriate because, well, she's growing first, ha!


I didn't purchase anything that first Christmas, the reason being I hadn't thought of it yet, but on Audrey's second Christmas I bought this simple little book.

Kari and I wandered around the Children's section at Barnes & Noble FOREVER as I tried to make a decision, and Kari saw this one on the display table in the front.
Figures.


It was a little hard for me because it cost more than $4.99 and therefore made me twitch a little bit...but as it turns out, we made an excellent choice.

It's a touch-and-feel with flaps, and we read it over, and over, and OVER again that first year.  And then we read it over, and over, and OVER again the next year.  And this year?  Owen and I read it over, and over, and OVER again.  Seriously, y'all, this was the best not-quite-twenty-dollars I have probably ever spent for the littles.  I'm not quite sure what it is that is so delightful to them, but I'm thinking after two babies I can call it an unqualified success.  Also, it doesn't hurt a bit that it's about eight bucks on amazon right now :)

Do me a favor, wouldya, & pretend Owen and I are reading in this photo.  sigh.  I was sure I had a picture of us reading it but can't find it right now...
Figures.


Happy Tuesday :)

Like Maria von Trapp, Only Not

In other words.... A Few of My Favorite Things:  Edition Edibles.

To my great delight it has been The Summer of the Snack-Food Items around these parts.  I don't know if it's because of all The Hot or what, but I've been eating differently these last few months...not so much full of meat and potatoes but rather a lot of things I can (usually) grab by the handful.  

Below are a few of the goodies that I can't seem to get enough of, and I now heartily recommend them to any of you who might be foraging for a snack, perhaps even at this very moment.  

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but suffice it to say they may or may not be good for ya, I can't rightly say.  

I feel it's best that you decide such things for yourself.

...and in the I-don't-know-what-has-gotten-into-me-but-I-can't-seem-to-get-enough-of-it category,

the Pièce de résistance...

Happy Snacking!

p.s.  It would make me multiple shades of happy if you wanted to share your tasty summer favorites.  I am not opposed to trying new and different things.  I'm spontaneous that way.

A linky suggestion

I meant to share this link with you a while ago but it slipped my mind.  This afternoon as I was catching up on how this sweet Katie is doing I came upon it again.  A lovely Sunday afternoon seems like the perfect time to suggest you take a peek :) 

This young woman is doing hard things with joy and seeming abandon.  She's nearly half my age but is teaching me a thing or twelve about how to love Jesus and bring honor to His name. 

I, too, want to see Jesus!  ...and I very much want my family and others in my day to see Him in me.

Love,
Renee

p.s.  For future reference, her blog is The Journey listed on the right under People I Would Like to Meet.  Just so ya know ;)

Is it sad that my new favorite thing is cereal??

I am so not up with the times.  I've been known to "discover" things time and again...about a year or three after they came upon the scene.  I have no real explanation.  I can only speculate that I'm just not a bandwagon kind of gal.  I don't like to do things just because other people are, and I don't like to like things just because everyone else does.

Therefore, I've been known to not even try something just because it seems to be the popular choice. 

Weird, I know, since I really, really like to consider myself as quite the hip and happening.

All of that being said, I have discovered the yummiest thing I've had in a while (except for all things cake at Katie's, you understand).  Seriously.  I picked this up at The Fresh Market last week because word on the street is that it is crazy-healthy and well CHUBBY, you know. 

...and y'all it was good.  GOOD is what I'm sayin'.  I have eaten it at least once a day since the purchase - and don't tell but one day I had it for breakfast and dinner.  The thing that makes me happiest is the way it makes me feel completely full and stuffed and satisfied...and 100% disinterested in all things sugar.  I just dump three or four or seven of those strawberries on top and YUM. 

I've always loved my Raisin Bran but color me surprised when I found out it is one of the sugary-est cereals ever invented, and frankly cereal for breakfast has always made me feel yucky anyway.  (I suspect I have an issue with the dairy portion of the cereal experience.)  But, the almond milk solved that little issue and all I feel after indulging in this little repast is happy - and did I mention the good?

So I just wanted to exhort you all, my friends, to be brave and adventuresome and a teensy bit open-minded.  Do not be afraid to jump into 2008.  Go forth and purchase some cereal!


Happy Tuesday :)
Renee

p.s.  I do not wish to be educated about the sugar in the milk.  I prefer to consider it hidden sugar and therefore nonexistent.  Don't judge.

Nine Things

I just love the owner of this face!

She's funny and wonderful and just all-around swell.  Wanna know why?


Four or nine reasons why I love Mary and think she is all-around swell

1.  She thinks I am funny and tells me a lot.

2.  She is a glass-half-full kinda gal.  I am not a fan of the whining and complaining, so I appreciate someone who doesn't, you know, whine and complain.

3.  She always makes me laugh.  Every time.  I am physically unable to spend more than two-and-a-half minutes with her without laughing. 

4.  I like to laugh.

5.  Mary is nicer than I am.  Seriously.  She's nice.  I find that in cases where I would prefer to just smack aggravating,irritating people around and tell them to just get it together already, she is kind, and patient, and ...nice.

6.  She has really cute kids who I like to pretend belong to me.  Along the same lines, she's a terrific mother.

7.  She loves Jesus and acts like it.

8.  She appreciates, dare I say even respects, my love of all things Monk and Pepsi.

9.  She thinks I am funny and tells me a lot.


Thankya, DF-o-mine, for making my whole entire life a good bit happier.

The end.


Renee

Eleven in 2010

I made some fun and encouraging discoveries this year.  As I have mentioned once or thrice, I do not live exactly on the cutting edge of what is cool & wonderful, so do not mock my pattern of coming late to the party.  That being said, the following miscellany have brought me much happy-happy in the last twelve months.   

1.  All my life I have loved poetry.  The lyrical flow of words never fails to make my heart sing.  This year I discovered someone who is seemingly unable to write without poetic beauty, and her words always, always turn my heart toward our Creator and Father.  Visiting Ann Voskamp's website is a nearly daily sojourn I take to encourage me in my spiritual journey...& I'm so grateful to have discovered her 2010!  Two of my favorite posts so far are this one, and and this one. 

I highly recommend you take a peek sometime when you don't mind shedding a tear or six.

2.  The musical stylings of Tenth Avenue North and Need to Breathe.  I admit to varied taste when it comes to music, but Need to Breathe's Let us Love makes me feel perky and ready to face my dirty dishes.  Just sayin.

3.  Pandora.  I will let all of my on-and-on Pandora ramblings from December speak for themselves.  But seriously, y'all, from Hillsong to Casting Crowns...Josh Groban to Shania...Pandora can take care of any musical needs you might face.

4.  Twitter!  It is way more fun that I would have expected to chat with both my children and semi-famous people that I will never meet...at the same time.  Good times, folks.

5.  Swagbucks.  This is a Katie discovery.  All I had to do was download the toolbar and I started earning "swagbucks" which could be redeemed for various items.  I went with Amazon gift cards and actually purchased one or five Christmas gifts with my earnings.  Free money?  Count me in!

6-7.  Netflix and Roku.  Cox Communications-who?  I haven't missed my cable at all since discovering Netflix and then buying a Roku box.  With the Roku I can stream Netflix, Pandora & a myriad of other various media-related channels.  I could watch Murder, She Wrote, and Monk 24/7 if I wanted to.  Fortunately I recognize my need for sleep.

8.  And ohmygoodness, Melanie, aka Big Mama, makes me amused and tickled, with the occasional LOL, every Monday through Friday.  She lives in Texas, loves Jesus, and has a young daughter who gives her much amusing fodder.  She is very lighthearted 99% of the time and makes me happy 100% of the time.  She also occasionally gives me great music discoveries.  It was on her blog that I discovered my SNTR-Holiday on the Pandora.  I will never be able to thank her enough for that one.

9.  Sophie, aka BooMama, is another blogger I discovered this year who makes me laugh! kind've a lot!  I may have picked up my exclamation point! habit from her...I really can't say.  She has a young son and lives in Birmingham.  She also loves Jesus and makes me laugh.  A great combination in my book.

10.  Same Kind of Different as Me.  No top ten list could be complete without a book selection.  This one was really, really good.  Kind've makes me want to go love on somebody who is all alone in the world.

11.  Homemade granola. 

Not a glamorous finale, but seriously people... homemade granola thrown on top of some Dannon's vanilla yogurt is some Heaven on earth, and I'm not even kidding a little bit.

That's it.  My first top-ten list that turned into eleven.  Feel free to check out any or none of my suggestions, but I'm tellin' ya - you will have a more fun if you do :)

* * * * *

Just kidding! 
I can't talk about favorites of the year
without a picture of my favorite new somethin' in 2010

I love you like crazy, sweet Owen.

Hope ya have a simply swell Thursday!
Renee

He's just the BEST!

Here's some scripture that makes my heart sing. every. single. time.

Enjoy!  :)


...But even so, you love me!  You are holding my right hand.  You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of Heaven!  Whom have I in Heaven but you?  And I desire no one on earth as much as you.  My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains!  He is the strength of my heart: He is mine forever!  Psalm 73:23-26

But if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

Now we can come fearlessly right into God's presence, assured of His glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in Him.  Ephesians 3:12


Happy Thursday!
Renee

still stretching...

The Treasury

We beg and plead and moan and cry

To make sense of this place.

We sweat and strive to fix it all

Then seek You just in case.

When will we learn to listen

To the Master clearly say,

"Seek treasures tucked into My Word...

It's there you'll see My face!"

Oh, hasten that sweet moment

When we'll know as we've been known.

Such secrets of Your glory

Cannot be grasped, they're shown!

This fleeting puzzle makes no sense

Except in You alone

And missing pieces swell our faith

And stretch us 'til we've grown.

                                                                                           

                                                                               (Things Pondered - Beth Moore)

Happy Thursday!

Renee