Go see it !

Just back from watching the Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Torino with Janice and Maurine. Yes, the language is atrocious. The topic is racism and gangs. But there are plenty of laughs, and much to be learned. Highly recommended. I have heard many people say that this is their 'new favorite movie'.

Brrr !

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I snuck outside and took a picture just a few minutes ago. It is still sleeting/snowing. The ground is slick. Black ice makes the roadways treacherous! No work tomorrow too ! Yeah for 'snow days'.

Icy roads + nasty cold =grateful for a snow day from work!

Paperback Swap

I recently discovered the website www.paperbackswap.com. You can post books that you have that you no longer want, and after posting 10 books, you get credit to order books that you want. I have sent two books out and I have ordered one so far. The postage is much cheaper than the price of buying a new book. ($2.23) for the books that I sent out. And the neat thing is, you can print out the package label and postage from their site. I usually just put on stamps to equal the amount, but you can set up a postage bank and print out the label complete with postage. I am reading Whistling in the Dark now and it is one that I ordered from this site and I got it for free.

...and I just got a request to send a book to Rocklin, CA where my brother lives!

Brayden turns 1 year old!

My great nephew, Brayden turned one year old yesterday and his party was today. Special guest was Superman Parker. Brayden had a little trouble staying awake to enjoy his party at first, but he finally dug in and enjoyed his toys, books and cake.

I spy! You can spy too!

Whatever your political beliefs are, you may find this interesting. A photographer took a wide screen shot of the inaugural address. Check it out here. You can span in and out and see people's faces, etc.

From the email someone sent me about this site: If you have a few minutes, this is really kind of like playing "where's Waldo?"--some people have reported finding the govt. snipers, Supreme Court justices, celebs and Yo-Yo Ma snapping a photo from his cell...anyway, thought it was unique and wanted to share. Aretha Franklin's face--altered slightly by the snapping image, is priceless.

What is better than a sale?

Free stuff! Just back from Dillards, getting mine. I got a full size shower gel of Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker (a $28.00 value). Read this and find a store near you to get yours!

Optimism, pass it on!

Check out this commercial. I just saw it and thought it was great! Click on the one of the little boy that says "The Greatest". Actually, watch all the videos. They are all great and will bring out an array of emotions. These are produced by 'The Foundation for a Better Life".

The BIG 5 0 !

Kara and Joey

Ray and Ryan

Mike the birthday guy!

Our family celebrated Mike's birthday at the Wildcatter Ranch tonight. We were delayed by about 40 minutes in getting there as there was a bad wreck on the highway ahead and all traffic going south was stopped. The northbound traffic was not stopped and we couldn't understand why they didn't let the traffic take turns going, instead of having a pileup a mile long. We had good food and a nice time. Oops. the 0 candle fell over into the chocolate icing!

It's a small world!

Pilot Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III, the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Hudson River, (and miraculously all 155 survived) is a fellow Texan, family friend, and former classmate (at Dennison High) of a friend of mine!

"Just being neighborly"

Kara got locked out of her house the other night and Joey and his friend were going around the house checking the windows when the guy across the street came over with a gun to scare off the burglars. Kara had to jump out of the car to let him know she was just locked out! Now that's a good "neighborhood watch"!

Red blooms

My amaryllis has triple blooms on each stem. It is amazing to see how much they can change in a few days time. I wonder what color my other amaryllis will be? Nikki gave me a hyacinth too and it has just started to grow.

Fun Weekend

We went to Waco and watched the Baylor/Texas Tech basketball game. Baylor won! Caleb was a good little fan and when we got back to their house, he had to show us his basketball moves! So cute!

Five of us six siblings were there. Tim and Rhonda were in town visiting Jon, Kelly and Caleb. We missed Janice and Kenny! We talked about them all night! :)
We ate at Ninfa's Mexican food, very good. I do think that the awful tasting Waco water is a bad reflection on Dr. Pepper. Since Waco is where Dr. Pepper was invented, they should have the best Dr. Pepper anywhere. It is hard to get a Coke anywhere in the area. If you had never tasted Dr. Pepper and had one mixed with Waco water (which tasted like dirt) you would wonder why anyone can stand the taste it. It was terrible. I had to order bottled water! and I never drink bottled water. But investing in a bottled water distributor to service the Waco area would probably be a gold mine!

Angela, Andy, Austin and Addison were nice enough to host me at their house in Southlake.

Angela, Maurine, and I went shopping on Sunday and Maurine and I stopped at Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes in Decatur on the way home. Good, quality family time.

Those Who Save Us

This is one of the best historical fiction books I have ever read. By Jenna Blum, Those Who Save Us is a haunting story of what people will do to survive the horrors of war.

January Birthdays!

Lots of family birthdays this month! Happy birthday to:
Uncle Percy on the 7th, Valerie and Keeley on the 12th, Mike on the 22nd, Maurine and Robin on the 24th, Mason on the 27th and Nikolaos(celebrating his first birthday on the 29th), and on Mike's side of the family, Brayden celebrates his first birthday too on the 23rd! Lots of celbrating this month! Happy Birthday to all!

New Years Ski Trip

Kara and Joey just got back from skiing in Ruidoso with their friends, Steven and Erin. They stayed in Cloudcroft. They had a great time!

2008 in review. Click for the youtube video.

Simple for Humans

The kids have been after us to get a better paper towel holder because we had a cheap metal one that often flipped shut and the paper towels would go flying everywhere. Finally I found one that is sturdy and works great. It is made by Simple Human and you just press the button to release to replace the roll. Check it out by clicking on the link above. And what makes it even better is that I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond with a gift certificate.

~ ~ ~ 2009 ~ ~ ~

Just home from escorting in the New Year and before 3 a.m! A group of us 'old neighbors' get together and play games and catch up on everyones families. Bunco, Sequence and Skipbo, etc, but mostly visiting and feasting! A great way to greet the new year. And for the first time ever, I won the most games at Bunco!

Have a great '09!