Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

I have a little of this and that in the Gallery this morning. I will go ahead and tell you... Roxie has her first basketball game tonight, so expect 1,000,000 or so basketball pics the next few months. Just saying.

RANDOMNESS - Cousins

Becky

When I was a little girl, my family would go down the street to my MamMa Smith's house for part of our Thanksgiving celebration. My grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins would come together in her little house to eat and visit. Some of them would play football in the front yard. Some of them would watch television. But I... Well, I would follow my cousin, Becky, around the house and do whatever she did.

I adored Becky.

Becky was a few years older than me, but we got along very well. (Did I mention Becky had three brothers? I think she put up with me because she had a little estrogen deficiency in her house. And I, a fellow female, fulfilled a need she had from time to time for "girl" time. That is my theory, at least.)

She was one of my first friends.

Do I still see Becky regularly? What is our relationship like now?

I do see Becky from time to time, but not on a regular or annual basis. She has two grown children and a bunch of little grandchildren (I am SO jealous), so we are at very different stages in life right now.

However, when I do see Becky, our conversation is natural and easy. Becky is a forever friend.

Amy

My cousin, Amy, was born when I was ten years old. Because of my love for all things "baby," I adored Amy from the beginning. She was a beautiful baby, a sweet toddler and just a pleasant child. When I was 20 and Amy was 10, I loved her, of course, but we weren't exactly "hanging out buddies." Ten years can be a big age gap, and we were off doing 20 year-old things and ten year-old things.

However, over the course of time we have developed an adult friendship. Amy is all the things she was as a child... pleasant, easy-going and fun to be around.

AND she gave birth to Monica 16 days after I gave birth to Roxie. Just 16 days! That's a ready-to-go "forever friend!"

Add a slightly older and wiser Cousin Katie to the mix, and you have the makings for some really good times.

This Thanksgiving season, I am so very thankful for Roxie, Katie and Monica's "cousin" relationship. It is natural and easy. I think they will always be friends, and that is such a good thing to have... a forever friend.

Weekend Happenings

As I type this, Sparkle, Beagle Extraordinaire, is have a little surgical procedure performed. Everything should be fine, but the pup IS almost 70 years old, so I am waiting anxiously to get the vet report.

Copper, Sweetest Beagle in the World, but also known as Beagle of Little Brain, is beside himself that Sparkle left with Mikie on a leash and left him ALL alone in the big backyard.

Copper thinks Mike took Sparkle camping. Even though the rest of us are still around, Mike is wearing a suit and tents, chairs, wood, etc., etc. aren't piled into the back of a truck. (Thus, the name Beagle of Little Brain.)

As I mentioned above, Roxie is playing in her first ever high school JV basketball game. We are a little excited, to say the least.

Mikie, Josh and I will in the stands chanting her name tonight, as we are prone to do.

Tomorrow, our Christmas lumberjack will be doing Christmas lumberjack-type things at the tree farm. He cannot wait. (My laundry room is beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!)

Mikie and Roxie may be going to the Auburn/Samford game. It's a little up in the air, but I hope it works out. It will be a great day for football on the Plains.

Austin will be playing with the Southerners at an out-of-town JSU football game, but he'll be heading home Sunday morning for Thanksgiving dinner at Grandmother's.

The plans for my Saturday involve cooking, Christmas shopping and some cleaning. I'm going to have a good movie on hand to watch Saturday night when everyone wanders in from their travels. But not a Christmas movie! Not yet!

Sunday, of course, we'll be having my family's Thanksgiving dinner with Grandmother... including my sister and her family. Can you say "photo op?" I LOVE Thanksgiving pictures. They are my favorite.

And I guess that means the holidays will have officially begun! Let the mayhem and madness begin. Actually, my job is to keep the mayhem and madness at a minimum for the family. I take my job very seriously.

While I cannot promise a stress-free holiday, I CAN try to not be the cause of the stress.

Yeah, right!

Have a glorious weekend. (I know. "Glorious" is kind of a Christmas word, and I should use a Thanksgiving word.)

Have a blessed weekend. ("Blessed" is definitely a Thanksgiving word, isn't it?) I'll be back Monday morning with Mindless Monday.

Take care, and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting and Ever-So-Grateful Belinda

"Grateful" is a Thanksgiving word, too!