I'll take "It's Been A Long Day" for $1000 Alex

Question: What was today...


For anyone that may be on the fence on whether or not there is a God this post is proof that there is!

I am always late, a character flaw to some, but late just defines me. Like I said yesterday my Dad was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery this morning, my plans were to be at the hospital around 9- 9:30 to sit with my Mom. Peanut likes to sleep, no really like sleep, sleep, it's nothing for her to sleep until noon and she did not want to go to the hospital so I had made plans for her to go to the neighbors once she woke up and spend the day with them. Well as usual I was running late and was getting ready to kiss her goodbye at 9:50. Honey and her friend were already in the car waiting, Honey hates being late! I stopped to answer the phone when I heard the loudest noise ever shoot through the phone and saw a blaze of light in my family room, about 20' away from where I was standing. Instantly the house alarm went off and I knew that lightning had hit the house. I went to turn the alarm off, it would not turn off. The dogs are now going crazy and Peanut is standing in the hallway crying, not the best way to wake up! I start looking out back by the pool thinking it must have hit the screen enclosure that's when I smelled smoke! I started looking around when my eye was drawn up to the ceiling. The lightning had traveled through the chimney and came out the ceiling leaving behind a 3" hole.

I surprisingly remained very calm telling the girls to go to the neighbors and wait for me {of which they didn't} then I dialed 911. Three fire trucks and one police later eight men in all the get-up were scouring my house looking for any trace of fire. With their thermal sensors in hand they found heat but no fire. The Captain came down from the attic to tell me they smelled gas and had to turn it off at the curb.

GREAT!

I have to say I have often wondered what I would do when faced with an at home emergency.

Get the kids out!

Get the dogs out!

Grab the pictures!

Run.

Scream.

Cry.

I did only the first two.

Suddenly nothing mattered by my girls! NOTHING!

The only thing on my mind during those 15 minutes of not knowing what may or may not happen was my family and their safety.

Thank you God for making me late!

Had I been on time my baby would have been asleep in her bed when all of this happened. She would have been terrified all alone without a clue as to what to do!

Thank you Lord for intercepting on my behalf again and keeping me exactly where I needed to be.

I have the only things that matter tonight.

One husband watching TV.

One teen-ager waiting for her Mother to get off her laptop and leave her room and one 9 year old sleeping safely in her bed.

Oh, and three dogs at my feet glad the ear piercing alarm is off and the men in strange clothing are out if their house!

There is some damage that needs to be repaired including a gas pipe that was severed by the lightning bolt. Yes, severed! The gas company told me how lucky we were that there was no spark. OH, how close I came today to my house exploding! The thought give me the chills!

Again I can only see the hand of God all over this situation.

The TV, computer, alarm system, Internet, gas lines, AC, hole in the ceiling can all be repaired.

I find myself not only thrilled that I was home but thrilled that my house was struck by lightning this morning. This unfortunate {and expensive} experience has opened my eyes, that I sometimes squint through, to the awesomeness of our God!

Luck....God

Fate...God

Coincidence...God

I have lots of pictures and once my computer is up and running again I will be posting them.

I finally made it to the hospital around 3 and was able to see my Daddy around 4:30. He is doing fine and his eye that was scratched somehow during surgery is hurting more than his hip. Thanks for all of your emails and prayers. I appreciate it!

Enjoy your family!

Happy Tuesday...Wednesday...until I return Y'all!

Take a Tour Tuesday

To my KITCHEN!!!!!

Warning...LOTS OF PICTURES!

Like I promised here's my kitchen! This is by far my favorite room in my house! If I could I would post one picture a day for the next month to keep the anticipation up but I understand how boring that would be so I'll give 'em all to you now.

Like I said last week we did a complete remodel of the kitchen almost 2 years ago. We also tore up all the tile in the lower level of the house, redid the pool and powder baths, laid hardwood floors, took down two walls and had a built in entertainment center made. It was a ton of work, so much that we actually moved out for 3 months{the thought of living in a house with 2 kids and 3 dogs under those circumstances was not my idea of fun}, but it beat building a new home out of the neighborhood we love.

I don't have many before pictures of the kitchen these are the best I have and they were taken moments before demolition began.

I really did not like the kitchen from the start, it was always in the plan to redo it. We had the cabinets faux painted about a year before the remodel, it bought me some time but was still just a bandaid.

There was black granite which was not friendly with 3 dogs! The island was on the small side and was placed "short-ways" in the kitchen.

Peanut and Honey helped with the demolition!

The entire kitchen was taken down to the studs and then re-dry-walled, and re...everythinged { I just made that word up}.

Once everything was out this is what we had left. This is looking from the kitchen to the family room.

The process was long and tedious and well, lets just say the kitchen company is not invited to our July 4th celebration nor are they on the Christmas card list! When it was all over I was thrilled but the process of getting from point A to point B was NO FREAKING FUN!

Do you think it was worth it?

The stove/hood is the focal point of the room and I love it!

The two columns on either side are hidden spice racks, how cool is that?!!? I also love the pot filler.

I had a local iron sculpture sculpturer sculpturist guy make the iron designs that are on the hood. Didn't he do a great job? I just love the way it lights up at night.

Honey had the idea to have one made for above the wall that leads from the kitchen to the living room.

This is the view from the family room, clearly I need to get the stainless cleaner out and take care of the refrigerator! But since we're friends I'm leaving this picture up.

The pantry is the pivotal point of the kitchen, living room and dining room. The faux painting looks different on each wall but it's just the lighting.

I always hang good school papers, love notes and my most recent favorite picture on the pantry door. The large picture of the girls and I was a Mothers Day gift from Honey.

The kitchen table is set in a little niche that looks out to the pool. We bought the house the year before new hurricane codes stopped allowing these windows.

I try to always have a seasonal themed centerpiece on the table and since it's summer in Florida the beach is always my choice.

The details are amazing but next to impossible to keep clean with these dogs of mine, please ignore the dirt, dog hair and slobber! The island is set on legs to make it look like a piece of furniture, is several shades darker than the rest of the cabinets, almost twice as big and set "length-wise" in the kitchen.

I love the corbels that hold up the granite. It was harder than I thought to find the right one, so many had fruit or nuts carved in them...not my style!

And finally the granite. It has a lot of quartz and specks of silver in it, which I love. Going to the granite yard to pick out the exact pieces I wanted was a tough job! I was so afraid of messing it up since that is the one thing that really cannot be altered once installed. I love it, it hides the dirt and dog hair very well which is not necessarily a good thing, especially when cooking. But like Peanut says, "a meal is never complete without a dog hair". Dinner anyone?

Well I hope you enjoyed this weeks Take A Tour Tuesday. Now please link up so I can see yours!

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Prayer Request!

Tomorrow morning my Daddy is going in for hip replacement surgery. Now surgery to this man is really no big deal being that this will be surgery #15 and all. But he is getting older, face the truth Dad, and recovery is not as easy for a 71 year old as it is for a 41 year old. Honey and I will be at the hospital for the better part of the day while Peanut stays behind with the neighbor, Papa is her favorite, sorry Nana, and she doesn't want to see him hurt, poor baby has been so upset about this surgery! Anyway if you could please just take a minute tomorrow and say a prayer for my Dad, Mom, the doctors that will be operating on him and the nurses that will be giving him excellent care or be forced to deal with me! Also please remember me since I will be in a small waiting room for about 4 hours supporting my Mom and dealing with Honey {I love you sweetie!}. I would appreciate it!

Here's a picture of me and my Daddy dancing at my parents 50th wedding anniversary last May.

And my parents during their anniversary celebration. This is my favorite picture of them! How sweet are they?!!?

Take a Tour Tuesday will be up in the morning!

Mr. Linky ARGGGG!!!!!

Are you freaking kidding me!??!

I have no clue what happened but my layout and background are now missing! Please continue to play along with FMM just leave me a comment and link up through this post.

I'm off to resolve the issue...I hope!

~Shawn


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Friend Makin' Monday

If you're joining me today via Kasey's Friend Makin' Monday welcome! No SERIOUSLY I'm glad you're here! So many of us have come together through Kasey's weekly carnival and I know each of you would love to join me in sending her a great big thank you! I know she's either on vacation or getting ready to go so Kasey, have a great time with your family, take lots of pictures and don't forget us while you're gone!

If you're new to Friend Makin' Monday please go here for all of the details.

I have thought a lot about what I was going to do when Kasey asked me to guest host host FMM. With the 4th of July just 5 days away I thought this would be a great time to share some July 4th traditions and recipes with one another.

Independence Day, July 4th, is a day that we as Americans celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and our independence from Great Britain, for real I looked it up! And I thought it was a day to, wear red, white and blue, stuff myself on yummy BBQ and play with fire! Let's be honest playing with fire is exciting for all of you too, right? How many of us have not had a nasty ol' burn from the ever so enticing sparkler? What would the 4th be without lighting the sparkler with the citronella candle that is burning next to the bucket of water that will be used more to ease the burn from a run-away spark than to extinguish the sparkler itself? And who doesn't love those little snap thingies that you throw at the feet of screaming children!??!

Enough already...moving onto why we all participate in FMM. Here are this weeks "get to know your friends a little better questions".

What are you doing this July 4th?

...We're once again hosting a friends and family cookout. Lots of food and drinks, lots of craziness, lots of medication for my 85 pound scary-cat of a canine and lots of fun celebrating this wonderful country and the many brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for us and our freedom every day! I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of our military men and woman stationed across the globe and to their families who are waiting for their safe return.

What is your favorite dish to pass when attending a 4th of July party or summer barbecue?

...I always bring an ice cold pitcher of Mango Margaritas, a big ol' pan of homemade baked beans and a no-bake cherry cheesecake.

Do you have any July 4th traditions?

...Every year I say "dang, I wanted to go to the parade this year". I live in a somewhat small town and I have never been to the parade and we've lived here since 1993, so sad right!

Share your favorite July 4th picture.

...I love to take pictures, I'm a scrapbooker that has no time to work on my albums anymore because I'm always blogging. I take pictures of everything. The camera is always sitting on the counter ready to go and there's always one in my purse. Since I suffer from a severe case of "some-timers" I rely on my pictures to spark a memory and hopefully they will be used as a reminder to my children that they did do more than wait on Mom to get off the computer! I have two pictures to share with you.

Honey and Peanut July 4, 2005

Peanut and her best friend "N" July 4, 2006

Finally I will leave you with a little Are You Smarter Than A Fourth Grader? trivia. I asked Peanut and "N" these questions and they answered all but one (#7) correctly...how did you do?

1. How many stars are on the American Flag?

2. What do they stand for?

3. How many stripes are on the flag?

4. What do they stand for?

5. How many stripes are red?

6. The first stripe is which color?

7. Who sewed the American flag?

I'll be honest I took a guess at #5 and did not know #6 ~ a brainiac I have never claimed to be!

I look forward to seeing your answers and I would love a few new recipes for Saturday!

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Happy Friend Makin' Monday Y'all!

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Go here for the Mango margarita, baked beans and cheese cake recipes and if you're an American History loser like me the answers to the trivia questions are there too.

Six Words Saturday

So I noticed the other day that I had a new follower. I always go check out my new followers because then I can say their my friends not some deranged cyber stalker. I had a stalker once for over a year. Very.Freaking.Scary. Don't want to do that again. EVER! Anyway, Janine at Positively Neurotic Me is so freaking funny, I'm in love with her blog! So I saw she had a new post so of course instead of doing what I was supposed to do I headed on over to see what she had to say. She's participating in Six Words Saturday and I thought "hey what a simple post for the weekends". She here we go...my 6 words.

Summer break is a long time!

If I was given 9 words it would be...

SERIOUSLY Y'all, summer break is a long FREAKING time!

Happy Saturday Y'all!

Date Night

Babe took me on a date tonight. He was running very late due to traffic so our nice dinner became a quick drink with an appetizer. Stonewood has the BEST blue cheese chips and razztinis evah! We were in and out in about 30 minutes and then went to see Trace Adkins & Toby Keith.

It rained all day today stopping shortly before we left. The temperature was still in the low 90's and the humidity was 500%, I swear you could drink the air. As a result I opted to wear a hat, one that I bought at Wal-Mart for $2.50 and ironed a rhinestone cross to this afternoon! Good thing because as soon as we pulled in it started raining and not just raining, raining I'm talking it was freaking RAINING! We were given free tickets and a meet and greet passes but not the VIP parking pass we are accustomed to {yes I am spoiled}. Imagine a football field with only one entrance. Imagine that you had to park on the east side of the end zone and the entrance was on the west side of the same end zone leaving you pretty much screwed because they do not freaking connect! That was our situation tonight, we had to walk completely around the complex to get in. So I'm wearing jeans, a tank top with a vest and of course 3" heels because no outfit is complete without heels, I am one of those woman that sacrifices comfort for fashion. Maybe half way to the entrance of the outdoor venue, yes outdoor in the rain, the strap on my shoe snaps. GREAT! Babe is holding the one very small umbrella I had over us, I'm hobbling along and the rain is coming in sideways. Finally I took the shoes off and just went full fledged Red Neck. We were soaked through to our underwear and I had wrinkly fingers, laughing was the only option.

We had great seats, center section, 13th row under the only covered section of the pavilion. As soon as we found our seats it stopped raining. As soon as it was time to get in line for the meet and greet which was more of a cattle call with a 10 second photo opt it started raining. We waited in the uncovered line for about 30 minutes with NO umbrella. I think this was all part of Toby's mischievous plan to see a bunch of soaking wet woman! So we were given the "rules" for the very over rated meet and greet and were sent off to have our picture taken with Toby. He said something about me having no shoes on and I think I said something about him needing to work on his tan. Seriously you would think that with the kind if money he makes he could have at least hired someone to come spray-tan his cracker ass. Take a look at the white chest he's baring!

He seemed nice enough in the few seconds we stood by him but I really don't understand all if the people that pay extra money to meet these "stars". There really is no artist that I am dying to meet, I'm not a very star struck kind if gal I guess. Now I would love to meet Mylie Cyrus, Taylor Swift or the Jonas Brother with my girls, seeing them excited would be such a thrill for me!

I keep small pillows and blankets in the back of my car so I dropped my pants as soon as we got back to the car and wrapped up in a warm dry blanket! It was a great night but my feet are toast! I think I will be getting a pedicure tomorrow!

Happy Friday/Saturday Y'all!

Give Away Sneaky Peeky

My item from Bedroomfurniture.com has arrived!

Being fair I want to try the product out before I give my review and put it up for you to win. However, I'm not mean enough to leave you completely hanging so here's a little sneaky peeky.

The girls were going crazy at the door, my canine girls that is, so I knew my most anticipated delivery must have come. Yep, here it is.

Here's a little look inside...

and just a glimpse of the product itself.

I'm off to see if the "girls" like it. I will be back in a few days with all the details on the product and the many ways for you to win one of your very own!

Happy Thursday Y'all!

Wordless Wednesday

I know it says "Wordless" Wednesday but it's me and I have to have my say!

This is the first time I've participated in WW, it was more difficult than I thought to find the perfect picture!

I've had kind of a crotchety week so I think this picture of Babe's Great-Aunt about sums it up!

Here's hoping I can turn my mood into this soon!

Take a Tour Tuesday

I'm a little late getting this up...sorry!

OK so last week I skipped over the Dining Room, you would think that a nearly 39 year old would know the alphabet by now but I still find myself singing the ABC song. Whatevah!

Now I debated back and forth on cleaning the dining room before I took the pictures. I came to decision that only my best friends get to see my dining room in its current condition so I did not clean it. We're all friends here right?

This is the view of my dining room from my kitchen. As you can see it is where I fold all of the laundry. The idea behind that is everyone must walk past the dining room table going from the living room/kitchen to their bedrooms so they will all see the piles of laundry that need to be taken to its proper place. You can see how well that works! The girls are pretty good at taking it without being asked, Peanut is better, and Babe does it if I tell him. We had friends over Sunday so there are about 3 loads of beach towels waiting for me to put away and yesterday was sheet day so it does look

worse than normal. My Mom and I made the drapes and had the chairs covered to match, it's the same fabric that is in the family room. I love the fabric and don't see it being changed anytime soon {big relief huh Babe!}

This is to the right of the table. The room is a little small for a buffet table so I bought sconces, mounted them low and had a piece of glass cut to fit. Sitting on top are two of my favorite pictures of the girls. Honey is blowing a bubble gum bubble and Peanut is belly laughing, so precious!

Here's another angle

This is to the left of the table, this half round hutch holds a bunch of miscellaneous junk. The stone top matches the two pedestal stands of the table. When Babe and I got married I wasn't into china, I never thought I would use it, boy was I wrong! Now I wish I had picked something out although I'm sure it would have been something very tacky, my taste has evolved just a bit over the past 17 years!

This is the beautiful centerpiece that was made for me when we first moved in, 8 years ago. I still love it but do think it's time for a change. It usually sits in the center of the table, where the towels are stacked sky high!

This is on the small wall looking out of the dining room. This wall is the back side of the pantry, it's so small that I had a hard time finding the perfect thing to hang there. I was browsing Kirkland's one afternoon and came a cross this mirror, I love mirrors and use them a lot to decorate with, they make any room larger. I thought for sure it would have been a fortune but it was only $99~score! I also thought it would be very heavy but it's not, it's just painted Styrofoam!

There you have it a glimpse of my very simple Dining Room.

Next week is my kitchen and I have to say I am in love with my kitchen! We had it remodeled last Spring, stripping it down to 2x4's, it was a mess and a complete headache but so worth it! I've had people come and take pictures of it so they could duplicate it and the kitchen company wanted to take pictures of it for a magazine but they made me mad so I said NO! Lesson, don't piss me off! Anyway, I would love to see your kitchen so snap those pictures and get them ready to share next Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

I'm pulling the covers over my head and going back to bed!

I'm having a day...One of my BFF"S called and I'm such a crotch today that I told her that I was no company and I would have to call her tomorrow. What kind of friend does that?

It's summer. I love summer. No schedule. Sleeping late. Staying up late. Making last minute plans. But today, today has been an icky day. I'm only out of jammies, at 6:47p., because I had to make a run to Radio Shack courtesy of a computer that's being an asshat. Hopefully I have it fixed and I can get started on the stack of work I have in front of me!

I'm hoping that reliving a wonderful weekend will cheer me up. My friend is running for honorary Mayor of our town. Here's the deal, 2 candidates raise as much money for their charity of choice during the month of June, whoever raises the most gets the title. Saturday she did a fashion show and I was on the committee for that along with my partner in crime Natalie. Of course our girls {and her boy} where in it! So here a few pictures of them walking the walk!

Honey was able to model for 3 different stores. Here she is in one of the Prom and Party dresses. I am so not ready for her to wear this kind of stuff, at least she did a bridesmaid dress and not one of the short little prom numbers!

She also helped put the local Vera Bradley retailer.

My favorite, Ice IT by Bebe Z. Seriously go check put her stuff on line. A-May-Zing! {she is a die hard Gator girl and was able to wear a Gator shirt and hat but

that picture is blurry:( }

Peanut worked her Vera Bradley messenger bag and lunch bag!

She also looked way cute in her Bebe Z apparel.

Here's Peanut with Natalie's daughter "Princess".

Natalie's "Wild Child" did a great job too wearing his "shirt and tie"!

One of my BFF's daughters were able to help ~seriously how cute are they!

Even my hubby {Nats too} got in on the action, they wanted to auction him off like the other SINGLE guy but y'all know how I feel about sharing!

It was a great time now I just hope she wins!

We had a great Fathers Day too. Bumming with the family. Last minute swimming with my girlfriends and their girls while our husbands mountain biked and then dinner and sangria. What a great weekend!

Happy Monday Y'all!

Things that make me go EWWWWW!

There are just so many things that completely gross me out that I feel compelled to share them with you. Aren't you so happy we're friends?!!?

The "diaper" that is at the bottom of the chicken carton. Ever tried pulling that off before the chicken was completely defrosted! GAG!

Seeing someone with ear wax just a hangin'. Q-tip anyone?

Gym equipment that I have to put my skin on when you can clearly see the sweat from the previous person. Towel or no towel that's just plain nasty! That's how people get funky skin diseases ya know.

Seeing someone wearing cute little summer sandals with feet that clearly haven't had a pedicure in eons! Got an electric sander handy?

Drying my hands with a real towel in a public place. Can you say germs?

Nose pickers. OK really? We are sitting at the same stop light, it's a beautiful sunny day and your windows are not tinted. I've 4 words for ya. I. Can. See. You.

Watching someone swim. Have you ever really payed attention to what they do when they come up from under the water? They first spit a mouth full of water out and then wipe their nose and you know there's always something there! Oh sure come on in the water's nice! No thank you! 

Kisses from dogs that aren't mine. Oh I am a huge dog lover and I will pet them and love on them and play with them but I do not want them to lick me! I really have to know the dog before I will let that big pink tongue lap the side of my face. Ya know I'd kind of like you to buy me dinner first! Mine, well we share ice cream comes. Whatevah!

Back hair...on women. No I'm just joking. But seriously girls please love your man enough to buy him a gift certificate for a back wax. Fathers Day is just around the corner and nothing says I love you like hot wax!

Well there you have it things that make me go ewwwww.

Happy Friday Y'all