yesterday in excruciatingly detailed, detail

Hi Peyton!  (He isn't here.  His mama texted me this picture this morning to remind me of where I belong.)

You'll be glad to know that yesterday was full of several kinds of great.

Tana works at home in the mornings & I suspect that has aggravated her a bit, but I'm fine and completely content just lying around sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper (ugh) and generally just being a slug in the mornings.


I was fine anyway because it took me a good while to wander around her house in the bright, sunshiny light of day, just...looking. Y'all, it's so wonderfully pretty.  It's all southwesty and colorful and warm and mostly just her. I told her the night I arrived that it feels like where she should have been all along. Their home just feels like their home. Isn't that interesting?  (Frankly I would enjoy that insight much more if Houston wasn't A ZILLION MILES away from me.)  (NO BUENO.)


Anyhoo, we went for a quick walk around the neighborhood.  Note the quick because THE WIND.  In spite of our brisk trot I still got a good look around, and I know it's an awful thing for a transplanted Virginian to say but I'm really digging all the flat. I suppose it would get old after a while but I LIKE seeing miles of sky all the time.


After lunch we went to Tana's dental appointment and that was some BIG FUN going on right there. The man sitting next to me lied to my face and told me he had the flu just to watch me squirm, and frankly that kinda made him a friend for life even though I never got his name. Seriously y'all, how fun is it to look at random strangers in close spaces and tell them you're contagious?  That right there is some good funny.

As soon as Tana's teeth were all sparkly we did the only thing we could do. We hit Sonic for Happy Hour and enjoyed our large soft drinks with much sugar. Oh how I love my Tana and our shared appreciation for the sugary beverages.


Drinks in hand, we ventured forth to The Hobby Lobby. Y'all, that place is not overrated. It was my first visit but I loved everything about it.    I might have found many things I would have loved to sneak on the plane but I think they would have noticed, so I settled for some super cool decorative knobs I will hang on my bedroom wall just because I can.


(Have I lost you yet? I apologize for all the rambling but unfortunately I have no intention of stopping any time soon. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves...)


As soon as we sprinted out of Hobby Lobby we made our way to her church for a meeting of their benevolence committee. I'm so glad she brought be along because I enjoyed every single minute of it. I loved meeting some of her friends from church, and I really loved peeking into their process and hearing them discuss the different ways they are trying to love the people in their community. All I can say is they are doing a good amount of loving on people here in Texas, and frankly that just makes me love them.

After grabbing some yummo fast food chicken from a place of which I forgot the name (they had great fried okra! and rolls to die for!) we came home and watched 2016, an appropriately disturbing episode of Wife Swap, and then scored with the season premier of Project Runway.


And then I went to bed.

The end.

p.s. Today we were planning to go to The Galleria, which by some accounts is the fourth largest mall in the United States but Tana may need to work and you know how much I enjoy staying home, so it's fine by me if it doesn't work out.   Especially since neither Prada nor Gucci is in my budget this particular week. Although, I do have it on good authority CHEESECAKE FACTORY, so there is that.

p.s.s. Willie comes home tonight and I can't wait to hug his neck and then chatter on incessantly until his eyes roll back in his head. It's going to be GREAT!

y'all. there's a palm tree in her backyard

Here's the thing...

 

 

 

I may never leave.

so do I go with the window or aisle?

Okay.  So here's the deal.  I know I'm not supposed to tell you that I'm traveling because of all the BREAKING AND ENTERING and what-have-you, but no one knows where I live and even before I moved the only people who knew where I lived were you guys and you would never break or enter.  So y'all, I'm traveling today!


I have embarked on my first official vacation.  And by vacation I mean I am NOT WORKING EVEN AT ALL and not only that but I'm leaving on a jet plane.

Can you even believe it?  It's been a million years since I flew the friendly skies and I just now realized I might should be mildly nervous.  Whatever.  I'm just relieved that my senior-citizen-vehicle made the drive to Raleigh and also that I made it through security with no beeps or alarms and only suffered the mildest of indignities during said security check.  I'm calling it a win.

Of course in my desire not to be stressed out by all the busy and unfamiliar I wanted to get here nice and early, and I'm thinking we can call that mission accomplished because HERE I SIT, completely through security a solid two hours before my flight.  I suppose I overshot things a bit but better safe than sorry is my motto. 

(I don't really have a motto but I'm thinking if I did that could be it.)

Whatever. 
I made it, and barring any kind of me-like unforeseen catastrophe I should be good to go.


Now my big decision is whether to purchase that Dramamine Tana keeps NOT SO SUBTLY encouraging me to purchase.  Apparently Texas is a stormy destination this afternoon and she is concerned about my gastrointestinal comfort.  I'll let you know later if I commence with some upchucking.

p.s.  I'm so weird.  I hadn't been sitting here five minutes and I was thinking about how it was a shame I hadn't brought my foot pedal so I could work a bit because HEAVEN FORBID I just be still.

six word saturday

Today is sweet Peyton's first birthday!

Happy Birthday Peanut :)

ice is dumb

Well.


I was sooo close to a steak fajita quesadilla with a side of chips & salsa.

But then the ice started falling. 
And it just keeps falling and falling.


(and falling)


On the bright side, that little tinkling sound it makes as it hits the ground is delightful.



Happy winter-storming day!

random weighing heavy

So I'm not even going to comment on my lackadaisical blogging performance lately.  Let's blame it on the NyQuil, shall we?  And since I'm not sure how long it'll be before I face an overwhelming need to nap, let's go straight to the list...


1.  Y'all I haven't been on the treadmill in, like a week.  Now I know the two of you who care find this hard to believe but yeah, a week.  I really don't want to go overboard in the excuse department, but for a motivation-free kind of gal it's really really hard to care when all woozy on the aforementioned nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, so-you-can-rest medicine. 

Why not opt for the always-popular DayQuil during the day, you might ask?

Because it would require a kempt me to schlep to the nearest pharmacy and really, who wants to get kempt when you can just sleep your days away unkempt?


2.  My hair is a mess.  There, I said it.  I desperately need a cut or a trim or perhaps just a good whacking.  My bangs have grown to that hideous stage that we all know and loathe, and they're now seriously affecting my self-esteem, but I don't know where to go!  It's both a dilemma and a quandary. 

Kate says there are "Cost Cutters" everywhere but I have my standards.  If I'm going to go a discount-type hair place - which I have been known to do - I need to select one a bit more carefully than Hey! There's one over there!" 

Sigh. 

I wouldn't care so much except we have Peyton's big huge birthday shindig this weekend and Mayberry will be filled straight up with witnesses to my sad, sad hair and accompanying sick-girl face.  (Y'all know the face...winter pale with encircled eyes?  STUNNING!)

Girls, let this be a lesson to you.  Even when you are at the advanced age of more than 40 you just might suffer from I-don't-have-a-thing-to-wear-itis, so you'd best come to terms with it now while you still have the metabolism of your youth.

Whatever.  I'll likely be far to busy slinging queso, washing dishes, and picking up and sitting down and picking up and sitting down small children to even care.


3.  I'm going to Texas next week!  On a jet plane!  I'm more than a little excited and I might as well say it, a bit nervous.  I haven't flown in a very long time, and I'm going to have to act like a grownup for hours and hours, and a kempt one at that.

Here's my question.  I want to take a real, live work of fiction with me.  Any suggestions? 

Which reminds me, I need to find my local library.  How have I not done this yet?


4.  My apartment smells like my neighbor and I'm not a fan.  I'm remembering this might be why I've never longed for apartment living.  I'm a smell snob and want any smells I detect to be my own.  It's kinda like how our own dusty furniture isn't nearly as gross as other people's dusty furniture.  I want to only smell my stuff. 

My girls don't notice it but that only helps a little because I DO.  Do you think an air purifier would help?  Would it be tacky to stick an air purifier on my kitchen counter (where I smell my neighbor)?    Note:  Candle burning is only moderately helpful.  They mask but do not eliminate said (mildly smoky) odor.  Ick!


5.  I can't find the little rubber topper thing that goes on the bolt in the toilet at the floor.  You know the one...the one babies everywhere instinctively find and then carry around in order to completely horrify their grandmothers.  GROSS!  YUCK!  GROSS!!  I know it's somewhere, but that's hardly helpful, now is it?


6.  Katie & Jeremy have their ultrasound on Monday and I'll know whether to call this sweet baby George or Georgie...or maybe they will decide on something even more fabulous to call him/her.  Only time will tell, I suppose.


7.  I've lived here for TWO MONTHS and I've only been to Chili's once.  No bueno.

six word saturday

abundant sunshine...sans our seaside visit!*

(*no worries...simply a schedule shuffle!)

fortunately 50 weeks or so is, like, a lot

So I'm just going to give it to y'all straight.  We're two weeks into the year and I'm not revived yet.  Truth be told?  Not even close...

I know picking an annual word isn't about setting goals per se.  It's more about shifting my attitude & my thinking & what-have-you, and in that way I suppose I'm progressing a little, but I'm still waking up tired & back-achy and limping around like a 60-year-old (which is fine and dandy if you're, you know, 60 years old...).

Apparently it takes more than two weeks to feel the results of behaving like a grownup.

...and speaking of behaving responsibly, today seems like a good time to share a little in the way of an update.  It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that I am an easily distracted, Meant-Well-Molly so it would behoove me to find some accountability.  and fast.

Sorry folks (shout-out to Donita!!), but you're it. 


I've been eating better, aka dieting, for the last couple of weeks and I'm just gonna say it.  I'm not svelte yet.  I still haven't bought new bathroom scales because WHO REALLY WANTS TO KNOW, and besides, did you know there are now about a hundred different choices?  What happened to plain old scales with the little needle that swings and gives you temporary hope?  Also the treadmill in our tiny little, oh let's just call it a "gym" because it sounds really impressive,  weighs me everytime I log in so I have a general idea.   

And it says I am not yet svelte.

(I'm certain it has nothing to do with the poppyseed chicken with rosemary rolls I made for the girls last weekend or the Papa John's I ate yesterday.)

I suppose svelte-ness wasn't built in a day, but I surely wish things would hurry along.  I really miss my Pepsi.  And foods that you chew.  

Who am I kidding?  I mostly miss doing whatever I want.  


My word! I'm rambly today!  

For those of you who haven't already fallen asleep...regarding the rest of my life that isn't focused on my nonexistent bathroom scales I shall summarize my quest for revival below.


1.  I have been enjoying the aforementioned treadmill  but I do find it OH SO HARD to walk all the way up the hill to our "gym."  I blame it on the rain.  And having to look acceptable to the general  public on a rainy day even though I have yet to run into another human person in said gym.  Whatever.

2.  Still little progress in settling into a new church, but I have been "attending" a few services online.  This newfangled world is both helpful and confusing.  I had decided where I was going to attend last Sunday and had Kate pack suitable adorable-ness for Audrey, who was spending the night with me.  I was excited to "check things out" in person because I really liked the pastor online.  When the time came to load her car seat I realized my car is packed floor to ceiling with Christmas that needs to go to storage.  No space for a four-year-old anywhere in said vehicle, so back to the computer I went.  sigh.  Next week I'll be at The Sea, and two weeks after that I'll be in Houston (Texas!) (Yaay!), so obviously this is going to be a slow process.

3.  All I'm going to say about sleep is that I was awake at 3:30 last night.  And that's all I'm going to say about sleep.


4.  I'm memorizing Scripture with approximately 11,000 other optimistic human people and am staying on top of it so far (two weeks!) (yaay!).  I learned my first verse and have begun my second.  Of course as I was writing out the second one I realized I completely forgot to learn the reference of the first.  

(She's already behind, Sally!)

Whatever.  
I like to think I give hope to dozens of try-hards all over this great land of ours.   


I suppose revival, not unlike svelte-ness, isn't built in a day. 



Happy Wednesday-ing :)

weekend wrap-up

Well now I'm feeling all compelled to get caught up on my movie watching.  I was working tonight but had the Golden Globes on just for the company, of course.  Those award shows always aggravate me while simultaneously stirring up my movie-love.  

I usually don't watch them but have recently started tuning in again for the sole purpose of "getting" all the Twitter jokes and commentaries and also jokes.  Twitter on awards nights - and pageant nights - makes the rest of the Twitter-year worth it all.  Nothing like giggling with random stranger-friends from all over the good old US of A.


Anyhoo, now I'm filled with a renewed commitment to catch Lincoln and maybe Argo (because that Ben Affleck is such a cutie-patootie and he worked SO HARD on it) and I am now officially SUPER ANXIOUS to get to Les Mis with my Kari.


I have no comment on the absurd wardrobe of most of the apparently starving starlets but I would be delighted to make 'em a sandwich given the opportunity, or better yet a casserole.  With cream of whatever soups.  And sour cream.  And cheese.


And now I can't believe I've rambled on for several paragraphs about Hollywood when I had much more interesting things going on this weekend.

Starr came to town!!  I was SO GLAD!  And if I was SO GLAD it's safe to say my Kari was positively giddy.  She drove down to spend the weekend with Kari & Peyton (& I suppose Drew, but whatever) and they came over last night for dinner, along with Katie & Audrey.

It was so nice to have some girls to feed and look at and I'm just gonna say it, to delight in.  

Girls.  I just love 'em.


Audrey Faith stayed after dinner and we had a sleepover!  With precious little sleep!  There might have been a bit of sheet changing and bed swapping but I'll never say.  I reported on Twitter that I kept taking my pillow to where she was not, but she just kept right on finding me.  Bed, couch, bed couch, bed...you get the idea.  Apparently she was oblivious to my escape efforts, and she certainly did not take them personally.


I love that sweet girl so much I can't even tell you.  


We conducted another interview that I'll share with you later in the week...and wow-oh-wow can that little girl talk!!!  My head was spinning trying to keep up, so I finally decided to type out her running dialogue for about five minutes straight, and if you really really want me to I'll throw that on here as well.  

You'll be relieved to know I drew the line at home movies.  

This time.



Y'all take care and enjoy your Monday :)

P.S.  T minus five-ish days & counting until I'm sniffing the air at THE SEA.

six word saturday

a mere week before shivering oceanfront!





(Yippee!!)

christmas day!

Well we didn't all sleep in the same house, but we did still gather (mostly) in our jammies and eat our breakfast pizza and cupcakes.  We were supposed to have a super-awesome hash brown dish but "someone" didn't get it cooked in time, and we were supposed to have some kind of fruit tray or salad but "someone" opted for clementines, which, well, I'll just say it, we were all kind've over by Christmas Day.  So it was pizza and cupcakes :)  
Pretty much like every year in the history of us.

(Side note:  The potato casserole was DELIGHTFUL when we had it for lunch/dinner/breakfast-the-next-day, and frankly I still can't get enough of those Little Cuties.)


For whatever reason I took a mere three or ten pictures this year with my very own camera but rest assured it was a great day despite what you are about to see. 

(and apparently I'm boycotting commas today.  no explanation do I have.)


Mid afternoon amid a flurry of fit-throwing, snack-eating, and nap-needing, the Littles got dressed all cute and then they all headed out the door to The Valley for further family celebrating.  And I went to work in a silent house, which wasn't all bad.

All in all, it was a pretty great Christmas in our brand-new town :)

three things & a cute camera-picture

So this is going to be brief because I want my bed so badly I can't really concentrate on word-forming.  No offense but I'd skip our little chat altogether were it up to me.  However, moving/moving/Thanksgiving/Christmas vacation is over and it's time for me to hop back on the try-hard wagon, so we're back to some semi-regular drivel.  

Enough of the disclaimers.  Just a couple of confessions tonight before I find the aforementioned bed with it's several delightful pillows....


I fell off the Pepsi wagon tonight.  If I had to quantify it I'd say I'm about 72% sorry, but only because I'm actually counting my calories right now.  I've discovered that when facing hard choices I'd generally prefer something to, you know, chew over even a most delightful beverage.  (Generally!)

My resolve is holding steady a whopping one week in, but if I'm not svelte by February I might find myself too discouraged to carry on.  The every two-or-three-day Pepsi regimen is a terrible plan and not a lot of fun.


Also I've been cooking beans all day long and now my little one-bedroom apartment smells like something no one ever wants to smell.  I'm thinking we should all take a moment and be glad we don't live below me!



Oh!  And the other interesting thing that happened today is my television is now hanging on my wall.  I wasn't sure about it but now that it's up there I'm really diggin it.  

(Big shout-out to Drew & Kari for a simply delightful Christmas gift I wouldn't have thought of for myself!)


That's it for tonight.  I'm off to bed - hope your dreams are sweet :) 

 

photo op

So right before Christmas Audrey spent the night with her Wiwi, and I joined them for church.  Audrey did great for a four-year-old who usually goes to Sunday School and children's programs, and I loved worshiping with my sweetie right in my lap :)

Apparently, at one point while we were singing she found my new phone to be far more interesting than what was going on around her.

I've opted not to share the 17 or 23 pictures she took from behind as Kari & I stood to sing.

You're welcome.



Happy Tuesday :)

 

msm: baby steps

Try as I might, it has become abundantly clear that one cannot thrive at 47(!) years old on Dr. Pepper & Pepsi alone.  It seems the prudent thing to do would be to watch my calories at least some of the time and perhaps exercise more than once a month.


I don't like it, but if one is to revive I suppose it's necessary.


Whatever.

christmas eve!

I'm way off schedule but whatever ;)

Katie and Jeremy were in Va with Audrey & Owen on Christmas Eve & I'm not gonna lie, I felt just a little sad that we weren't all together.  I know I'm completely spoiled, but this was the first Christmas Eve without all of my children sleeping under the same roof.


Anyway, with the bigger Littles out of town I spent the whole evening chasing our littlest Little around with the camera.  

It was, after all, his very first Christmas :)

 

 

 

I think it was a good one!