And the Oscar goes to....

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held their annual Oscars Awards show last night.
Let me begin by saying I am not a fan of these types of shows. I think 90% of Hollywood lives on another planet the majority of the time and are not in touch with "the real world."

I was working on my blog and catching up on email last night while my husband was watching TV and flipping through channels. He would stop on the Awards show once in awhile when they were about to announce the winner for Best Actor or Best Actress or something like that.

They would bring out 5 actors or actresses to announce the nominees before announcing the winner. What struck me as hilarious was listening to what was being read (off the teleprompter) and watching the nominee's face while he/she was being praised for her awesome, amazing, wonderful, glowing, outstanding performance in a movie! Are ya kidding me here?? It's a movie for crying out loud! LOL
The way they all carry on you would think these people had just discovered the cure for cancer or something!

Actors nominating actors for an award....like I said - they live in another planet!

Addicted to my DVR

Image via Wikipedia

Image via WikipediaSince we signed up with Direct TV back in September and got a DVR I have gotten completely addicted to this thing! I think that is a bad thing though because I now am watching more TV than I used to. After Greg goes to sleep I will watch TV from about 10-midnight every night.

I justify this by saying "oh I can skip right through the commercials" which shaves off about 15 minutes of every hour's worth of TV programming.

Some of my favorites that I have set to record weekly are:
Brothers & Sisters
Burn Notice
CSI Miami (I am probably one of the few people that really like Horatio Caine...my husband can't stand him! LOL)
CSI Vegas
CSI New York
American Idol My favorite so far is Danny Gokey
Wife Swap
** Edited to add-- The Beast - forgot about this one until I laid down to watch TV last night and saw it on my playlist. I am amazed at how much Patrick Swayze does in this show as sick as he is!
I love the fact that I can watch these shows online if I (or my DVR) happen to miss an episode!

Anniversaries

My twin daughters both celebrate their wedding anniversaries in February. This was not planned. Felicia and Will had a big wedding on Valentine's Day 5 years ago. Tina and Bryant eloped three years ago before he left for Iraq...they didn't even pay attention to what the date was.

It was only afterwards when Felicia pointed it out to Tina that their anniversaries were 3 days apart did Tina realize what she had done. We jokingly refer to that as "the twin thing."

Happy Anniversary Will and Felicia - congratulations on 5 years together! I love you both!

This is their family a couple years ago before they moved to Hawaii.

Allan and Nathan in Hawaii (now) - they are 5 and 3 yrs old

Will and Felicia in Fall 2008 before baby #3 was born

My 3rd grandson - Shawn William born in December 2008

Happy Anniversary Bryant and Tina - congratulations on three years together!! I love you both!!
Even though Bryant and Tina eloped, once he returned from Iraq, they had a small wedding on the beach for friends and family (because WE all wanted it!) - they did it to make us happy.

Now they have their Bailee-boo (Daddy's little girl)...

The many faces of Bailee...

Tina, Bryant and Bailee came in town this past weekend. Since I was out of town in Gatlinburg until Saturday I only got to see them real quick when we met for lunch - as they were on their way out of town.

Bailee is turning into such a "drama queen" - she cracks me up! I love all the faces she makes!

King and Queen of Spain paying a visit

Image via Wikipedia

According to CelebratePensacola.com -

In 1559, Spanish explorer, Don Tristan de Luna de Arellano landed on the shores of what is now Pensacola, Florida. De Luna’s expedition left from Mexico and found its way to the naturally protected waters of what is now Pensacola Bay. What happened shortly thereafter played a vital role in American history; thus, the Pensacola Bay Area is celebrating 450 years of history in 2009.

Many do not know, however, Pensacola predates St. Augustine (1565) and Jamestown, VA (1607). Several months after the settlement was established in 1559, a hurricane destroyed the supplies, and the group struggled to survive. De Luna returned to his native Spain and the Spanish did not return to the area until the seventeenth century.

Pensacola is where I live. There has been a celebration in the works for the last year. This week King Juan Carlos 1 and Queen Sofia of Spain are paying a visit to our area as part of Celebrate Pensacola. As I've listened to the news media and read all the reports of this upcoming visit I've been amazed at how much hoopla is made over this couple. To be fair though I feel that way anytime there is a huge fuss made over anybody from actors and performers to race car drivers and football or basketball players - personally I think it is ridiculous - these people are human beings just like the homeless man sleeping in the woods and they deserve no more or no less respect from one another.

I have a favorite columnist in my local newspaper - he is pretty much always right in tune with "my" way of thinking. His article today was no exception - I am including his article here because when I read it this morning it was EXACTLY the way I was feeling about this whole visit from the King and Queen!

His name is Reginald T. Dogan and here is his article:

Royal Way May Not Be Our Way

I've met my share of powerful and prominent people during my lifetime.

I've broken bread with U.S. senators and college presidents.

Over the years, I've interviewed a number of top professional athletes and entertainers. I've been in the company of a Saudi prince, then-Vice President Al Gore and the GOAT (greatest of all time), Muhammad Ali.

I even spent the day with Kimberly Aiken, Miss America 1994. I would have enjoyed it more if it were 10 years earlier and I had met with Vanessa Williams, Miss America 1984.


Royal rules

Even though I admired most of them, I idolized none of them. However, I never failed to give them the respect they duly deserved. If I get to meet face to face with King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain when they arrive in Pensacola this week, I'll mind my manners and give them their due respect, too. But that's as far as I'll go.


You won't catch me bowing or kneeling in their presence. Homey don't play dat.
The only King J.C. I'm bowing to is King Jesus the Christ. This king's not our sovereign; we're not his subjects. When those brave patriots kicked butt and took names in the American Revolution, we did away with all that king and queen foolishness. I am not all that impressed with a king and queen anyway. Ace-king is so much better. If the king and queen really want to impress me, let's hear her rap like Queen Latifah and watch him slam dunk like King (Lebron) James.


In case you missed it, there are rules of etiquette to remember when in the presence of royalty. Protocol says that you don't extend your hand to shake unless the king or queen extends a hand to you. Does that mean I can't slap five or bump fists with them? It's also a cardinal sin to turn your back to the king. So, what's a man supposed to do when he departs from Your Highness? Moonwalk?


Our way


I got some news for members of Celebrate Pensacola and for the king and queen: My momma told me a long time ago that "Ain't nobody better than nobody else. People are people, no matter how big or tall, rich or small they might be.''


I don't mean to be a royal pain in the behind for the royal Spaniards, but the last time I checked, Their Majesties woke up with the sun in the east. I'm guessing that King Carlos puts on his royal britches much like I do: one leg at a time. We've all heard that when you're in Rome, you do as the Romans. Their Majesties are coming to Pensacola. We're not going to Spain. In this neck of the backwoods, we extend warm handshakes, say what we mean, do what we say, and turn our backs and walk away.


That might not be the royal way, but it's our way.

Marriage Retreat 2009

We returned from Gatlinburg on Saturday (Valentine's Day.) Greg and I went there last week for our annual Marriage Retreat. I didn't plan it this year - we were able to just go and enjoy being there without all the responsibilities that come with coordinating an event like that. It was great getting away for the week! We went up a day early and spent much of our time alone (not with the rest of the group) except for in the evenings when we stayed up late playing games with the rest of our roommates. The 6 bedroom/6bath cabins we stayed in were perfect for this retreat!

Our roommates for the week...


My best buddy (CJ) and her hubby (Sammy)...they went up a day early too and we went bowling along with 4 other couples.


Breakfast on Thursday morning before we ventured off for the day...


Greg and I drove up to Newfound Gap in the Smokies (it was FREEZING up there because of the winds which were about 60 mph that day!)






This lady was making these out of trees using a chainsaw and a Dremel! They were adorable!!




We went snowtubing at Ober Gatlinburg on Friday - this had only been open for about a month - still working out the kinks but we had a blast!!


Riding the conveyer belt up to the top to ride the tube back down

Locks of Love

I decided 2 years ago to grow my hair out and donate it to Locks of Love. This organization takes donated hair and makes wigs for children who suffer from hair loss. Hair has to be at least 10" long to be donated. My hair was finally long enough! I decided to get it cut after I returned home from the Marriage Retreat in Gatlinburg.

My "before" picture


My friend, Mardi, took me and captured the moment in pictures...lol.
Even though I was growing my hair out FOR this purpose and I was totally ready to get rid of my long THICK hair, it was still hard to feel my "security blanket" being cut away like that.


All gone now...


Hopefully this ponytail can be used for a sweet child....


Much lighter and freer now - and I am going to start over again. :-)

Off to Gatlinburg for a week

I am headed to my favorite place in the world for a much needed respite...I hope you all have a great week!

Toon-ful Tuesday

Girls Weekend to GA

My friend Mardi is a single mom of two children. She has been renting a house that was just sold recently so she found out right before Christmas that she was going to have to move. At the same time, her car broke down. Instead of getting down and letting things get to her she decided to just give it to God and she continued to remain upbeat about everything.

God, as always, provided for her needs. For the first time in many, many years things had worked out for her and she was able to purchase a brand new vehicle. This is such a blessing for her because as a single mom she has dealt with one run-down vehicle after another and she never knows who to call when her car breaks down. Now she doesn't have to worry about that anymore.

She was also able to find a very affordable, much larger home in the area she needed. The house had not been taken care of by the previous renters and they were heavy smokers so the walls and ceilings desperately needed paint. Mardi asked the rental agency if they would reimburse her for all the paint if she did all the labor and they agreed...and she could paint whatever colors she wanted. We spent the week before she moved in painting her whole house...beginning with a bottom coat of an oil-based paint that was sprayed on every wall and ceiling in the house to cover up the smoke-stains (this was generously done by a wonderful man from a sister church who works construction during the daytime and then did this two nights so we didn't have to!)

The Friday before Mardi was to begin painting and preparing to move in to her new house she called me...in a panic and crying on the phone. She had just been laid off from her job (due to the economy) effective immediately. She would be getting two weeks pay. I suggested she look at the positives - she is now going to be getting paid to paint her house and move for the next two weeks. Before she got laid off she was trying to figure out how she was going to fit it all in! She has money in savings so she has a little cushion and she can file for unemployment while she is looking for another job...she had her well-deserved pity party for about a day and then she realized how much work she had to do and for the next two weeks there was no time to think about any of that anymore.

Now we have her all moved in and somewhat unpacked. We needed to get away! We were both exhausted! We decided a Girl's Road Trip was in order. I called my daughter Tina and asked her if her husband Bryant was going to be out of town this past weekend (with his job) and when she said yes, I told her we were coming to see her.
Tina is preparing our cakes - we made petit fours. They were so yummy! We pigged out the whole weekend - I probably gained 20 lbs!!
Mardi is practically drooling over the small cakes....have to beat her off of them! LOLBailee was so excited to see us. When I made up our bed she jumped up in it; she loves my pillows and always takes them off the bed.
Her hair had been in ponytails all day - that's why it looks like that on the sides. Saturday morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was cold that morning.Say "cheese" - silly girl! Making funny faces!
Mardi and Tina at breakfast
We had a great weekend away...Mardi needed it, I needed it...now my sweet friend comes back to reality and the hunt for a job.

Revelation Song

I love this song! We have been singing this in church lately - I just can't get enough of this one!

Toonful Tuesday

Combo #5

I am always amazed at what you can find on YouTube!

Dakota and I were driving to a friend's house on Saturday and he was telling me that he and his dad had gone to lunch at a Chinese buffet that day before I picked him up. Everytime I think about "Chinese buffets" I remember years ago when this email was circulating with Combo #5 - which was actually a parody of Mambo Number 5 (a popular song a long time ago.) I started humming the tune but I couldn't remember the words. I told Dakota I bet we could find it on YouTube...I was right! Here it is -