that would be me!

Please do a happy dance with me when I announce that I have cooked 6 nights straight, and I mean cooked… nothing in the microwave… I’ve planned the meals… most all were new recipes and with fresh ingredients…

let me take that one step further… i’ve not burned anything…

another step further… they have liked what i cooked…

and another step? I’ve managed to keep up with the upkeep that goes along with cooking!!!!!!

Even Sam is helping with the cooking and we’re having fun!

Woo hoo!!

While I may go bankrupt eating healthy while on this Daniel Fast, it’s already doing something in my life… the wisdom to get in that kitchen and cook… and experiment with things… and I’m hoping, praying, that this will continue… because I’m loving it!

Until next time…

Heather

“…the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” — William Arthur Ward

It’s been windy here… while I was gone we had wind gusts of up to 70mph. It’s never been this windy.

I was pretty pessimistic about it…

and then, I expected it to change…

and then, after fixing my storm door that’s been blown open one too many times, I’m readjusting the sails…

Actually, the wind adjusted my sails… er my door… for me…

Until next time…

Heather

Today, I traveled from Columbia, Missouri (where it was 8 degrees when I woke up) to Jackson, Mississippi, where it was 34 when I arrived. I’ll take it. I feel slightly thawed already. To drive from point A to point B would’ve taken me 8.5 hours… I know this because many in our Columbia office often drive to Jackson and now I know why…

I left the office at 1pm and I arrived to my hotel here at 10:00pm. I could’ve driven and not had to deal with security, etc. But I prefer to fly because I am by myself and female and my dad would have a cow if I made that trip alone. Plus the company pays for it and I can’t pass up a travel adventure.

Now, when I fly, on my trip home, I’m always excited to see who is on the plane back to the ‘Noke wondering if I know anyone on the plane. Roanoke isn’t small by any stretch of the means, but it’s not large either… and there’s no 6 degrees of separation, there’s 2… on a bad day.

When I’m in other airports, I don’t wonder… I don’t know anyone in Jackson, so I’m not necessarily looking for someone I know.

While standing at the map in the Memphis airport on my layover, attempting to find a restaurant that I never did find… (either their map system sucks, or I’m retarded when it comes to reading a map… and to be honest, it’s a toss up between the two at this point in time…) I looked up and saw a man who could be the twin of a friend of mine back home.

I looked at him. I looked back to the map. I looked again and in my mind, I’m processing. I knew that he was traveling to Colorado, so there was a distinct possibility that it was him. I also knew that there were no flights back to the ‘Noke from Memphis, so I thought that no, it couldn’t be him. But then I reasoned that perhaps he flew out of Raleigh or Greensboro, where there were flights too, because when we’re paying our own airfare, we typically will drive as it’s cheaper than to fly out of Roanoke.

By the time I determined that it was a slight chance that it was Chris, he was gone. I’m sure I could’ve hollered his name to see if he turned around, but I would’ve felt dumb, so I didn’t.

When I arrived at the hotel tonight, I dropped him a note on myspace, explaining that I saw his twin in Memphis… here’s how that played out…

Ok, so today I’m killing time in the Memphis Airport on my way to Mississippi and I see someone who could be your twin. I had to look several times to make sure and to be completely honest, knowing that you were out in CO and that you could be potentially in an airport, didn’t help matters…

hope you’re well! haven’t seen you in a while!
h

holy freakin crap, I was sitting in Memphis tonite thinking if there would be one person in that whole thing that I would know….i wish you would have said something, i would have freaked out!! yes it was me!!!!

are you serious?

now i’m mad i didn’t say something.. it was around 6:45ish… i was on my way from B terminal to C terminal…

yeah and I was on my way to a flight to Greensboro where I got my car and just came home…wow it really is a small world. I would have loved to have seen you!!! darnit!!!

um… in case you hadn’t realized this, i live in the same city as you… so for us to get together in memphis would be cool, because that’s a story… however, it would be a whole lot easier (and cheaper) to just hang in the noke… let me know when and i’m there…

Let me point out that until a few months ago, he lived around the corner from me and we never saw one another…

But it was really cool… and then I started to wonder how many people do I really know in the airports… it’s possible that at some point in time, I’ve passed by one of you and not even known it…

and I also realized that I should keep every phone number I have in my cell phone, because if I would’ve just had his number on me, I could’ve called him and confirmed that it was him and then I wouldn’t of had to wait by myself since my plane was delayed….

hindsight is 20/20…

Until next time…

Heather

It’s 4:30am.

My BFF is soundly sleeping…as is her son.

My kids are gone for the weekend.

And I am getting ready to head out the door.

And you know what?  I’m getting on that plane and everything has worked out the way it’s supposed to, just like everyone said it would.

Insert huge sigh of relief here…

And, not only that but I had an awesome time with my BFF Friday and Saturday (we’ve ot seen each other since May…)

Two prayer requests from me and then I’m outta here..

1. Please pray that the weather does not impede my flying/driving

2.  Please pray that the Lord tells my BFF and her hubby should move here… you know, if it’s in His will and all.

Alright, gotta plane to catch!
Until next time…

Heather

The party went off without a hitch…

Seriously… I wish that I had some funny story for you about how I forgot something or screwed something up but I don’t… the only thing remotely funny is that while running around Saturday to get the last of the items I ran into six people I knew.. which would’ve been fine and dandy had I time to actually talk to them, but I didn’t…

Now if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn’t have run into anyone…

We ended up with 27 people… between adults and kids and seriously… with all the work and money that went into it, I’ve decided that next year, I’m offering a $100 shopping spree in lieu of a party…

But he had a great time and even told me that it was one of the best nights of his life…

for that? I don’t care how much it cost… it was worth it.

Ok, so maybe I do a little.

But, no seriously.. it went well. I’m proud of me… for several reasons…

But really, for the cake….

But for all of it… and so I’ll share some pictures… (and so you know, I didn’t doctor any of these… I have some of that planned for later… )

Let me explain the pie… because yes, he really had a pie wrapped up and given to him… he walks around and randomly says, “I love pie.” I don’t know why… he always has… and so one of my friends wrapped up a pie for him. He was so excited. He hugged it.

The kid made out like a fat cat…

And after the party, three of the BEST boys, some from church, some from school came to spend the night. I holed myself up in my room so as to not cramp any styles. (And I even pawned off my youngest for the night.)

And I even cleaned out my office and made room for the Fast Action Football that he got last year for his birthday… and they had a blast…

So, all in all… it was GREAT…

But I’m seriously considering bribing him next year…

Until next time…

Heather

For no other reason that to SEE what I did…

You know how I mentioned that I baked two loaves of bread AND a football cake yesterday?

Look!!!

You can click on it to make it bigger…

The party was a HUGE success… Matthew is tickled pink about the turnout and the day in general and so am I…

I’ll have more details and pictures to follow…

And on a side note? I just realized that this is my 396th post.. that means that I’ll have 400 soon and my blog isn’t quite a year old… and won’t be until February…

Do you know that this means?

Yes, I talk entirely too much!

Until next time…

Heather

Never mind that this is the worst picture of me known to man… well, ok, not the worst, but it ranks up there.

I share it simply so that I can share with you the fantabulous gift I received from my BFF’s husband for Christmas…

Yes, it really does say “the kids know I’m cooking when I grab the fire extinguisher!”

If you’re new to my blog, I invite you to see where this derived from. It’s very comical. Seriously.

Anywho, it’s true. I’m just not a good cook. I have other qualities that make up for it… like…

well, I just do and I’m sure if I thought about it long enough, I could come up with a long list of them.

I’m on a mission to disprove the age old addage that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach… obviously, I’ve not disproved it yet.

But I’m persistant!

Back to what you’re never going to believe…

10 days ago my ex-husband gave me a starter for Amish Friendship bread… it’s like a chain letter through the kitchen, complete with the threat that only the Amish can make the starter so if I give all my starter away, I’ll have to wait to get some back.

My ex-husband is a phenominal cook. When he gave it to me, he explained the variations that he tried and told me which ones worked and which ones didn’t. I was not happy that I was the new recipient of the starter for two reasons… (a) i had to follow the directions for 10 days and then make it and pray that I didn’t ruin it and (b) I have to pass it on to 4 more people.

Ugh.

Today was day 10.

With all these kids running around, snowed in, I was going a little batty but I had to make this bread. So Samara and I donned our aprons (hers says “Bam!” — it’s an Emeril apron… and it’s really Matt’s, but she borrows it…)

We mixed it all up and we poured it in the pans and guess what?

Not only did I not burn it, but it’s AMAZING… as in I’m seriously considering keeping one of the starters for myself so that I can make it again in 10 days.

Then (oh it gets better)…

Because of the snow and my ADHD, I forgot to order a Redskins cake for Matt’s party tomorrow night. So, I decided at 5 that I would go to AC Moore to see if they had a football cake pan. (The beauty of having a football party shortly before the Super Bowl.. football stuff is everywhere!)

So after dinner, we headed over there and there was one left…and it was 40% off… SCORE!!!!

I even read the directions on the pan so that I would make sure that it didn’t stick to the pan… and I made it… and guess what?

Not only did I not burn it, but it’s AMAZING…

Now, I haven’t iced it yet… I’ll do that after it cools, but I don’t think it will be that hard… I mean goodness, some chocolate icicng and some white stripes, I mean laces and we should be good to go!

So there you have it… 2 loaves of bread and one football cake survived my oven today…

Even i can’t believe it!

Until next time…

Heather

I gave birth to a healthy, beautiful little boy….

He was perfect in every way… so perfect in fact, that I thought there was something wrong with him…

But there he was… late… which is the only time that he’s ever been late voluntarily in his life.

He’s early. He hates to be late. He prides himself on time.

So there he was… 9 days late. (He was due on my birthday…)

And over time he’s grown into such the awesome young man that he is today…

I came across these pictures on an old blog that I had and thought I would take you through a brief timeline…

Age 6

Age 7

Age 8

Age 9

Age 10

And then there’s the Matthew of today….

(which was actually taken a week ago, but still…)

Age 11…

My how he’s grown…

He’s changed so much but in some ways, not at all.

I thought this was a great idea when I started, but now?

Now I’m just in shock…

He’s growing up right before my very eyes…

Happy Birthday Matt Man… I love ya!

Until next time…

Heather

Apparently Kelli Pickler wasn’t included in the “No Child Left Behind” Act…. ROFL

Click here for your entertainment during the writer’s strike…

And, for the record, I didn’t know the answer, but I did know that Europe is a CONTINENT and not a COUNTRY!

Until next time…

Heather

…dedicated their lives to Christ tonight at Winter Jam.

Among them?

My son.

Please pray for him.  For him to stand in a room full of almost 10,000 people was no small feat for him.  To admit the Jesus is his Lord and Savior had to be even harder.  But he did it.  He didn’t think twice.  But when we left the confines of an all Christian environment, I saw the fear creep in.

He received a pencil with a webiste address on it so that he could register and receive more information on being a Christian, and a devotional.  He talked the entire night about how he was going to register when he got back to his dad’s.  But when we pulled up in front of his father’s house, he tucked that pencil away in my purse and told me he’d do it when he came home.

He’s growing up, you know.  He’s able to make his own decisions.  He’s able to think for himself.  He’s changing right in front of my eyes.  But for once, this change is one that I can swallow.

Until next time…

Heather