RANDOMNESS #1 - My niece, Katie, had her Bridal Tea this past Saturday, and it was fun.
Bev, my sister AND Mother of the Bride, is really doing a good job of acting like she's not going crazy with two of her kids getting married so close together (September and January). However, as Mother of the Groom to one child, I know she is hanging on by just a teeny, tiny thread.
As her sister, it will be my job to make sure the thread doesn't snap before the big day in January.
This could quite possibly be the biggest and most important job of all during the upcoming wedding festivities, and I am not taking it lightly.
No, sir.
Not at all.
The Bride-to-be.
The "Recipe for a Good Marriage" and "Recipe for a Date" table.
Katie and my sister, Bev.
Monica and Katie.
Katie and T. J.
Nothing says happy like a big ol' cart of gifts!
T. J. and Tommy loading up the trunk.
Good, good day!
RANDOMNESS #2 - Roxie, Mike and I went to Auburn this past Sunday night so we could be well-rested and refreshed and ready to participate in War Eagle Days.
It was quite the day.
Everything was very well-organized and flowed very smoothly.
The Campus Tour included a walk-through of two separate dorm rooms. (I don't know who the chicks were who opened their home-away-from-home up to us, but I applaud their courage. The idea of 200 or so strangers walking through my house while I am not at home would totally undo me. But then again, I am not a 20-something college co-ed who probably doesn't care what 200 or so strangers think about her home.)
Big, big difference.
I will also say the four girls who let us traipse through their cozy digs were all very, very neat and clean chicks.
And before you ask...
I did NOT take pictures of their rooms.
Even I knew better than to try that one.
Plus, Mikie took my camera away from me during the tour.
Heavy, heavy sigh.
Mikie and his maps.
The new Fitness Center on campus.
By the way, I could absolutely live in this facility.
Look at that "play" pool!
Look at it, I say.
Then you have the Olympic-size swimming pool AND the Tiger Paw-shaped hot tub...
Which seats 44!
That was not a typo.
It really seats 44!
The rock climbing wall.
And a little Toomer's Lemonade to finish off the day.
Is Roxie going to Auburn?
That is the Million Dollar Question around our house.
We simply do not know yet, and we are all still praying and trying to figure out what to do...
What to do...
Feel free to join in and pray with us at any time!
Chicken Salad
There is no doubt in my mind that almost all of you have your very own Chicken Salad Recipe.
I, however, did not have one until this past weekend.
Like it or not, I am going to share.
You will need the following:
1/2 cup light or regular mayonnaise
1/2 cup light or regular sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds skinned and boned chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
3 cups red and white seedless grapes, halved
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1. Stir together 1/2 cup mayonnaise and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add chopped chicken and grapes, tossing gently to coat.
3. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
4. Stir in pecans just before serving.
Good stuff.
Way Back When...
The following tidbits were first posted in November of 2009.
Grateful Notes and Letters
I read on a blog today where a woman was writing 50 letters in 50 days to people who meant something special to her. She wasn't waiting until next month or even next week. She was doing it TODAY. She had already received responses from some of her letters. Isn't that amazing? The written word can be so powerful.
Now, I know what you are thinking. "I am NOT going to have time to write 50 letters in 50 days during the holiday season." I totally understand. But what if you made this idea your own? What if you took this basic concept and made it fit your lifestyle at this particular season in your life?
For example, the number 50 is mind boggling unless you are TOTALLY committed to the idea. I will readily admit that. However, could you write FIVE letters in the month of November telling five different people the impact they have had on your life, or why you are grateful for them?
Okay. If we have a workable number, we can decide how we want to write the letter. Do you panic at the thought of sitting down and handwriting a letter, addressing it, buying a stamp and mailing it? If so, could you type it and e-mail it to the people? Would that make it more workable for you?
Now that you have decided how you're going to physically write the letter, does it have to be two or three pages in length?
No. If you are a "to the point" kind of person, it is fine for your letter to be "to the point," too.
This has now become a very doable November tradition. In fact, you could start today. You will never know what your words of encouragement or love or gratitude or thankfulness may mean to another person... unless you actually write the letter!
That's your challenge for this month. (Mine, too!) Let's make a difference in some people's lives this month. Let's make this November 2009 count!
A Christmas Card Story
Today, we're talking about Christmas Cards. The single most stress-inducing Christmas activity known to man. The clothes, the hair, the perfect smiles, the setting... it's enough to give you a migraine!
I remember a time when Josh had just turned two, Austin was almost five and Roxie hadn't even arrived yet. I was just working with two little guys. I had used at least 20 rolls of film (NO exaggeration) and the Wal-Mart Christmas Card deadline was coming up at midnight. (There is no deadline now. You can pick up your cards one hour after you pick them out on the "machine." But 13 years ago, believe me... there was a deadline.)
We had just finished eating spaghetti, and the boys were in a good mood. Spaghetti will do that for little fellows. They were giggly and huggy. Josh had a Christmas turtleneck on with red pants, but he had a big spaghetti stain on the front. Austin was wearing a red turtleneck with black jeans. This was my chance.
I whispered to Mike, "Run get Austin's Christmas vest out of his closet. Don't let him see you. Don't make any sudden movements. Go. Go. Go!"
I lured the boys into the living room to play in front of the Christmas tree. Mike came quietly down the stairs and was standing behind the door. I motioned for him to move in. Before Austin knew it, he was wearing a vest, his hair was combed and Mike had expertly positioned him in front of the tree. In the three seconds it took to accomplish this feat, I had whipped Josh's turtleneck off and put it back on backwards to hide the stain... and set his little bottom in a wooden rocking chair sitting nearby.
For a moment, both boys looked stunned, and then they started laughing. I had my camera hidden under my shirt (where it lived most days) and started clicking away. I had four exposures left on the roll. There wasn't time to change the film. The moment had passed. I weakly handed the film to Mikie and asked him to run it to Wal-Mart for one-hour developing. We had four hours until the deadline. I put the boys in the tub.
When Mike came home, I heard him running up the stairs. Either he was being chased, or he had something good he wanted to show me. It was the latter. A really good Christmas Card picture... with Josh's shirt on backwards. Laughing boys, eyes open, fingers not in their noses, hair combed... beautiful Christmas Card pictures. What a relief!
Because of digital cameras, those days are long gone. Yes, it can still be difficult to take the perfect Christmas Card picture depending on the age of the kids, but you can see immediately if you have something to work with or not.
Last year, as a gift to my family, we did a collage picture Christmas Card. We used four pictures we took at our Thanksgiving dinner and put them on one card... digitally. It turned out great. A week or so before Christmas, one of the kids asked when we were going to take the dreaded Christmas Card picture, and I was able to pull it out and show it to them. It was my little gift to them.
If you have trouble in this department, I highly recommend the collage card to get the best shots of everyone in your family.
As far as other tips go to make Christmas Cards an easier task, I address five or six a day.
Just like wrapping gifts, I very seldom have several hours to sit down and address all of them at once, but I always have 10 or 15 minutes a day to address a few. Within a week to ten days, you are finished and you can mail them.
I also have a friend who loved sending picture Christmas Cards, but it was just too much for her to do during the Christmas season. Sometimes she even had the perfect picture, but no time to address and mail them. She solved her problem by sending the cards the week after Christmas and calling them New Year's Day cards. They were still festive. They were still seasonal. They were still well-received.
I also know people who were in the habit of sending a Christmas letter with their cards. If they had a year where it was hard to not only take a Christmas Card picture, address and mail all the cards, BUT also write a letter, they just put it off until it was too late.
If you want to do the letter thing, write a brief, but descriptive note which will fit on the back of the Christmas Card. Having the size of the note diminished will make it much more easier to write than a one- or two-page letter.
Have a terrific Tuesday. I'll be back Friday with some more pictures (of something), Thanksgiving stuff, Blog Linkage, etc.
Take care, and I'll talk to you the end of the week.
Sincerely,
The Enchanting Belinda
P.S. Here is another wedding pic. My hope is to just keep adding them as I get them over the next month or so.
This is a pic of me in all of my Mother of the Groom GLORY... and some of my friends who helped me celebrate the wedding of Austin and Melia.
Paula, Dawn, Tonya, ME, LeAnna, Dee and Jenny.
EB (Mother of the groom)... thanks for your lone 'mother' picture...however, I went to the website for the wedding photos, and while they are simply BEAUTIFUL I needed to see more pics of the wedding party - to include the mother-of-the-groom. AND you promised us a detailed story of the 'dress' hunt and how that all came down. Did I miss that post? Your fans await.
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