Weekend Happenings, Pinterest Stuff (Shamrock Smoothies), Unique and Wacky Holidays in March

Good Friday morning!

ONE MORE REMINDER! ONE MORE REMINDER! ONE MORE REMINDER!

A Simple Life is becoming a Tuesday/Friday blog beginning... NOW!

For some reason, Tuesday is never, ever as busy as Monday, and I think I will do a better job of regularly posting twice a week if I skip Monday altogether.

I should be able to get A Simple Life up and running on a regular basis...

With no excuses...

Or apologies.

Amen!

RANDOMNESS #1 - I forgot to show you Austin's Golden Birthday Gift.

Since he turned 23 on the 23rd of February, of course I wanted to give him something special.

Fun fact for you... All of our guys, Austin, Brad, Josh and Zac, LOVE going to the Knifeworks in Pigeon Forge when we go to the mountains.

My Daddy instilled the love of "all things sharp" in his grandsons and in 17 years, the male faction of our family has never missed going to the Knifeworks.

Needless to say, all of our guys collect knives... just like their Granddaddy.

I've told you all of the above so you will know how much The Boy loves knives.




This knife was perfect because it came with five GOLD state quarters...

And one of the state quarters in this set was the official Alabama State Quarter from 2003...

And Austin loved it!

It isn't the perfect "golden" gift for everyone, but it was the perfect "golden" gift for Austin!

RANDOMNESS #2 - If you recall, last year when we visited the Mountains, our "new" activity was snow tubing...








And a good time was had by all!

This year, we decided to try Wonderworks.


You know.


The upside down building...


In Pigeon Forge.


Brad and Josh. I have no idea what they were looking at.


Josh.


Roxie.


Roxie and Austin. Rock climbing may seem a little tame, but when you make it a race against a cousin or a sibling it becomes a completely different event.


Brad and Zac. This game was called Speed of Light.


Roxie was very good at playing Speed of Light.


Some would say obnoxiously good!


Katie and Josh. I don't know what this thing was called, but the harder you pedaled the sooner you would go upside down... Again and again and again!


Austin and Brad.



Just Josh.

Wonderworks was a lot of fun, but I think kids (12 to 18 years of age) would enjoy it the most. It isn't very crowded when it first opens and late in the afternoon. The place is huge, and there is something for everyone, so you'll need to spend at least 2 to 3 hours... minimum.

Think McWane Center... and MORE!

The tickets are $22.99 each.

There is also a 90-minute Magic Show which is supposed to be great ($14.99), but it was scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and we already had evening plans.

On a rainy day in the mountains, Wonderworks would help your kiddos get rid of a lot of pent-up energy!

RANDOMNESS #3 - I saw this on the way back to the cabin from Wonderworks, and I didn't know exactly what it was, but I liked it.


It intrigued me.

I'm thinking this could be our "new" thing next year.

I just have to do a little research and figure out what the heck it is.

Actually, it is between the King Kong "thingy," the Goats on a Roof "thingy" and the Lumberjack Dinner Show "thingy."

Lots to choose from in the Mountains, Folks.

Unique and Wacky Holidays in March

Believe it or not, this is just a few of the "things" you can celebrate during the month of March.

It's a very interesting month.

March 1 - National Pig Day (I'm going to eat a lot of bacon!)

March 3 - If Pets Had Thumbs Day (I have no clue what to do to celebrate this day... And because I have no clue, I'm going to skip it altogether.)

March 4 - Hug a GI Day (We should celebrate this EVERY day!)

March 6 - National Frozen Food Day (I'm cleaning out the freezer for dinner.)

March 8 - Be Nasty Day (I've come in contact with some celebrants of this day before.)

March 10 - Middle Name Pride Day (GAIL!)

March 12 - Plant a Flower Day

March 14 - National Potato Chip Day

March 17 - Saint Patrick's Day

March 19 - Poultry Day (Chick-Fil-A for dinner?)

March 23 - National Chip and Dip Day (I cannot celebrate March 14 and skip March 23, can I?)

March 24 - National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day (This just happens to be my movie snack of choice, so I will gladly buy a box to celebrate!)

March 25 - Pecan Day (Bake a pecan pie with your kiddo. Easiest pie to bake EVER.)

March 30 - Take a Walk in the Park Day

March 31 - National Clam on the Half Shell Day

Pinterest Stuff

Shamrock Smoothies

1. Grab a clear glass and fill it with scoops of lime sherbet. If you don’t have clear glasses, you can use any cup or glass you might have, but having clear is nice so you can actually see all the green. I used pint sized canning jars for ours, which I think looked really great.

2. Pour lemon-lime soda over the sherbet you just placed in your glass. Be careful. It will foam up and rise!

3. If you wish, add GREEN straws to your glass. You will probably want GREEN spoons, too.

4. And that’s it! Easy, breezy St. Patrick's Day Snack!

Weekend Happenings

1. Mike and I have a date tonight. We're going to see a movie. Of course, we'll be eating a hamburger at Mugshots before we walk over to the theater. Cannot wait.

2. Roxie will be attending our church's BLAST Weekend. She will stay with all the other chicks her age at a host home Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning. It is a weekend full of worship, fellowship and fun.

3. Josh is working all weekend. He'll come home for church Sunday morning, and I hope to see him a little before he heads back late Sunday afternoon.

4. Austin is working most of the weekend. I should be able to see him and Melia sometime during the day on Sunday.

Are those the most boring weekend plans ever? I may have to come up with something else to make myself sound more exciting and with-it when I post next Tuesday!

Have a lovely weekend. I'll be back TUESDAY, MARCH 4, with Weekend Wrap-Up, maybe a new recipe, maybe an article AND definitely pics from BLAST Weekend.

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

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

Weekend Wrap-Up, Blog Linkage

Good Tuesday morning!

REMINDER! REMINDER! REMINDER!

A Simple Life is becoming a Tuesday/Friday blog beginning... NOW!

For some reason, Tuesday is never, ever as busy as Monday, and I think I will do a better job of regularly posting twice a week if I skip Monday altogether.

I should be able to get A Simple Life up and running on a regular basis...

With no excuses...

Or apologies.

Amen!

RANDOMNESS #1 - We went on our 17th Annual Mountain trip this past weekend with my side of the family, and as has become our tradition, we did a few things old and something new.


This was our "little cabin in the woods." It was called Turkey Hill Lodge... and we enjoyed every inch of it.


We did a little re-connecting. Roxie and Austin.




We had a lovely breakfast at Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg.


We went to Wonderworks for the FIRST TIME EVER! I'm going to talk a lot about Wonderworks on Friday.


We celebrated Zac's 16th birthday.


We caught up on some relaxing.


Bev hugged a bear.


We found some horses to pet on our journey.


Katie and Roxie cooked Sunday night dinner.


We celebrated Austin's 23rd birthday.


Can you believe 23 years ago, this guy weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and was ONLY 21 inches long?

I cannot wrap my head around it.


We watched a Tim Hawkins' DVD as a family (16 to 71 years of age)... and we all enjoyed it.


We took a Grandmother/Grandkids photo.


I remembered to take a picture of Tommy and Bev just as we were pulling out to leave.


We stopped to pet the horses... again.


Aunt Bev photo bombed... again.

All in all, it was a very nice trip. It was warm and sunny. The last few years we have gone, we've had to keep an eye on the weather (ice and snow), so it was great to NOT worry about being able to come DOWN the mountain or go UP the mountain because of weather conditions.

Kind of like living in Alabama this Winter!

I'll share more pics and stories in the next two or three posts...

And I'll have a lot more pictures of Brad and Zac and Josh...

I noticed I was a little "Brad and Zac and Josh" poor in the picture department today!

RANDOMNESS #2 - As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a little article for our February Sunday School newsletter. Since the class has already received it, I can now share it on the blog.

JUST PICK A WORD… ANY WORD!

Several weeks ago, after some of my favorite blog writers announced they were going to “pick a word“ for 2014, I followed suit. I am not a fan of the New Year’s Resolution, but a word… Well, as a lover of words, that sounded very good to me.

I began making the list: SVELTE, ECLECTIC, GREGARIOUS, ANIMATED, FETCHING and ACQUIESCENT. Pretty good list, right?

A few weeks ago, Pastor Kevin preached an entire sermon about picking a word for 2014. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the sermon immensely because it meant Pastor Kevin and I were on the same page. However, he told us to not only pick a word, but “pick a verse or verses to go with the word.”

Believe it or not, SVELTE, ECLECTIC, GREGARIOUS, ANIMATED, FETCHING and ACQUIESCENT are not mentioned ANYWHERE in the Bible.

This new development left me in a bit of a quandary. I then became stressed, and in case you haven’t heard, STRESSED has been my word for the past two decades.

Determined to do the right thing and find the word God wanted me to use, I turned to a list Pastor Kevin gave us, and was immediately struck by the word STILL.

Years ago, in the midst of raising two little boys, a little girl and a Mikie, STILL sounded good, but it was not a reality. Looking back, I now know STILL is something you strive for every single day. It doesn’t just happen. In 2014, STILL can almost be impossible to find because the world puts so much value on having a busy life.

Being STILL is sometimes seen as a waste of precious time.

While there were no verses for my previous list of words, STILL has several really good verses, and I picked my favorite.

“Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him.” Psalm 37:7

Do not hate me because I have chosen the very best Biblical word for 2014.

Rumor has it GREGARIOUS is still up for grabs!

Blog Linkage - Go to Confessions of a Pioneer Woman under My Blog list and read today's post entitled, "Radioactive."

Letting kids have more "room to grow" is so hard.

I've often heard it said, "What would we have done without cell phones to help keep up with the kids?"

In fact, I've said it myself a few thousand times.

This little post just makes you want to ask the question ONE MORE TIME!

Have a fantastic week. I'll be back Friday with more mountain tales, pics and perhaps a new recipe if time allows.

Take care, and I'll talk to you the end of the week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

Weekend Happenings, Blog Linkage, Wedding News

Good Friday morning!

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT!

As you all know, A Simple Life has been a bi-weekly (Monday/Friday) blog for quite a while now. However, for one reason or another, it has become more and more difficult to post on Monday mornings

(This coming Monday, February 24, will be no exception. I already know the Monday morning post will NOT be happening.)

I had a sweet suggestion from a reader a few posts back asking why I didn't just make A Simple Life a Tuesday/Friday blog and skip the Monday post altogether.

I would still be writing twice a week, but for whatever reason, Tuesday is never, ever as busy as Monday...

So theoretically, I should be able to get A Simple Life up and running on a regular basis...

With no excuses...

Or apologies.

Also, with two weddings coming up in September and October (Brad/Stephanie, Austin/Melia), Monday morning posts may become even more sporadic.

So if it is okay with y'all, A Simple Life is now going to become a TUESDAY/FRIDAY blog.

I'm tweaking again.

Bear with me!

RANDOMNESS #1 - We've been living in this particular house on this particular street for the past 12 years.

At the end of this particular street in our particular neighborhood is a very nice, level grassy lot.

Perfect for playing football.

Perfect, I tell you.

For the past 12 or so years we've been living in this particular house... on this particular street... in this particular neighborhood, we have thoroughly enjoyed Sunday afternoon football games on this lot.

And lest you think we're just a bunch of trespassers, I will tell you we talked with the owner of the lot, and he had no problem with us playing, as long as we cleaned up after ourselves.

Get this! It appears someone is building a house on our football field.

And while The Brothers are in college and no longer play football on the lot at the end of our street, it still makes me a little sad.

Here are some pictures of happier times (this past November) on The Lot:










I just hope the new homeowners don't call the police when they look out their window one brisk, Fall Sunday afternoon and notice eight to ten young men tossing a pigskin around in their front yard...

Or Mikie pushing me in a wheelbarrow at breakneck speed!

(We would play in their backyard, but from what I can tell, they didn't leave us much room. Plus, we don't want to have to worry about fences and gates and such.)

Things are changing around here, and we all know how I feel about change, don't we?

RANDOMNESS #2 - Wedding News - I'm going to go ahead and start a new Section on the blog entitled "Wedding News." The closer we get to September 27 (Brad and Stephanie's date) and October 25 (Austin and Melia's date), I'm pretty sure I will be completely consumed with pictures and parties and dresses and stories to share...

So why wait?

As of this minute, Melia has taken care of at least 1,000,000 of the details. She has done an amazing job, and I think I'm going to go ahead and put her in charge of my 50th Wedding Anniversary Reception.

I know from past experience, the first 26 years just flew by, and I've heard it doesn't slow down.

Blog Linkage

1. Go to www.kellehampton.com and read yesterday's post entitled, "Big/Little Photo Project: Things That Are Rainbow." This is a great project to do with your child, and I especially love Kelle's "gallery" of the pictures she and Lainey took together.

2. Go to www.littlefamilyfun.com and read today's post entitled, "Dr. Seuss Craft - Gertrude McFuzz." You read the book... and then you complete a craft. It has step-by-step instructions (plus pictures).

I tell you, I am loving this little blog, and I wish I had known about it many, many years ago!

Weekend Happenings

We do have some weekend plans, but I think I'm just going to tell you about Austin's Birthday Celebration.

He is going to be 23 years-old on the 23rd of February.

It will be his Golden Birthday.

That's right... Golden.

On a Golden Birthday, the Golden Birthday Boy/Girl receives a symbolic gift.

Something memorable.

Something special.

I already have Austin's "Golden" gift and he is going to be SO surprised and pleased.

Roxie's Golden Birthday will occur in about eight years when she turns 25 on the 25th of September... and I'm pretty sure she will expect a big ol' chunk of "Golden" jewelry for her special gift.

Poor Josh. We celebrated his Golden Birthday when he turned four on October 4, which was about a million years ago.

While I wanted it to be a memorable and special gift, I knew giving anything too memorable or too special to a four year-old boy would not be truly appreciated.

So Josh received the Whole Armor of God kit purchased from the local Christian bookstore.

It cost a total of $19.99, but it contained a helmet (helmet of salvation), a shield (shield of faith), a breastplate (breastplate of righteousness) and a sword (the sword of the Spirit), not to mention the belt (belt of truth).

All in all, it was a pretty cool gift for a four year-old boy who spent the majority of his days wearing his underwear on top of his jeans and a towel pinned to each shoulder of his t-shirt as a cape.

Dress-up was our life for several years.

And while the armor didn't stand the test of time (because it was plastic, you see), I like to think for a four year-old's Golden Birthday, it was just the right gift.

At least that's what I plan on telling Josh Sunday when Austin opens his really cool Golden Birthday Gift!

Have a lovely snow-free weekend. I'll be back TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 with details from The Boy's Golden Birthday Celebration, pics and more. Oh... And I'm working on a little blog post entitled "Life Experiences." Hopefully, it will be ready on Tuesday, too.

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

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda