Favorite Things Pt. 2

I have long loved Bath and Body Work's Wallflowers. But I have a tendency to stick to the same few scents. Cinnamon Stick, Cinnamon and Clove Buds, Fresh Balsam at the holidays....but recently the store released some new scents for spring. I bought a few and my favorite thing today is....the Green Grass Scent.

Someone yesterday asked me if it smelled like those Grass Candles that Gap used to sell way back in the day (My sister knows exactly what I'm talking about.) Um...no, they don't smell like actual grass. It's less grassy and more just an overall springtime smell. I really like it!

My Favorite Things

Each week on the show I produce, we do a segment called "Favorite Things." It's a time to share fun products or places that we've discovered that we really love. So I thought I'd share a few on my blog over the next few days.

Today....my favorite thing is my new beverage obsession.

It's Starbucks Green Tea. I love it hot, I love it iced. Anyway you pour it....it's goodness in a glass. Yummy! But it's not cheap so it needs to be a once-in-a-while splurge...not an everyday treat.

Coyote Calamity

When push comes to shove, I will always chose to run outside. But this week, I will admit I chickened out....and not because of the weather. Nope, even last weekend's storm that dropped lots of stinging hailstones on me stopped my training run. It certainly wasn't the weather.

I love running on our greenway system.

It's just perfect....except when it's not. I had just started my run earlier this week when I heard dogs barking. But it was a weird kind of bark. Then the bark was followed by howling. The kind that will raise the hair on the back of your neck. I came around the corner and saw two coyotes running across the field (it's the one in the left of the picture above) and howling. I'm really not sure who was moving faster...the two coyotes....or me high-tailing it back to the house. This is why God invented treadmills. Because I have no intention of being a coyote's lunch!

Photo Credit: Wes Hope of Hope Photography

Wordless Wednesday

Remembering My Granny

It's been a really long couple of days. We had receiving of friends for my grandmother last night from 4-8. Folks started arriving around 3:30 p.m. though so the place was packed for hours. It was a truly wonderful gathering. Family, friends, my grandmother's co-workers, her old school pals and so many more were there. I got to hear stories about her that I had never heard before (Did you know her first date with my grandfather was to see "Creature from the Black Lagoon??? I certainly didn't.) A woman who had been the sponsor of the high school newspaper where my parents met their junior year stopped by and told stories as well. People drove hundreds of miles to be with us and we were all so grateful for their presence.

I finally loaded the girls up and we headed to my grandparents' house for the night. I noticed that we were close to sunset so we rushed down to Signal Point to catch the show. We made it just before the sun sank below the horizon. It was balm for the wounded soul, to be sure.

Not to mention the company I shared it with.

Today was the service. My father and uncle did a wonderful job remembering Granny with anecdotes that had us laughing and crying all at once. My brother-in-law and cousin sang two beautiful hymns. It was exactly as she would have wanted. Then we drove across town to the Chattanooga National Cemetery. My grandfather was a captain in the Air Force and was buried there more than three decades ago and today, she joined him there in their final resting place.

It was a spectacular spring morning. A breeze extended the flag at half-staff. Military rules dictate that you don't do the graveside service at the actual graveside, but it was meaningful nonetheless.

We all returned to my aunt and uncle's house for lunch. Their dear church friends prepared an unbelievable feast and were on hand to serve it to us the moment we walked in the door. Their friendship and compassion meant so much this afternoon. We all visited for a few hours before we had to go our separate ways. It was so strange being there without Granny. Someone asked where my uncle was and my immediate thought was, "Oh, I'm sure he's out on the deck smoking with Granny." It's those little moments that will continue to assault us in the years to come. The Easter card that I ordered for her will now go unsent. We're all still struggling to work through these last three weeks that robbed us of our beloved Granny. But one thing we don't not struggle with is the assurance that we will see her again.

PSALM 139

You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Celebration of Life

Over the next few days my family will gather to remember and celebrate the life of my grandmother. As part of the service, my cousin is putting together a slideshow. My sister and I spent last evening going through our photos. You always think there are a ton of pictures, but then you realize there are never enough. I've decided I won't be bullied by those around me who say I take too many pictures. I've learned there's no such thing....

Here are some of the fun ones we found and pulled for the slideshow.

In Memory of My Grandmother

My grandmother passed away last night after an incredibly brief, but incredibly intense battle with cancer. I'm working on a longer post about her, but for now, part of a poem by Henry Van Dyke will do.

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

The Right Bargaining Tool

Allie has been doing so well with the potty training lately. Long ago she refused to sit on the little plastic "training potty" we had and demanded to sit on the big potty that the rest of us use. We've been using a mix of real panties and Pull-Ups now that she's got the hang of it. She gets M&Ms when she pees in the potty and before you get all "childhood obesity" on me just know she only get 2-3 each time and sometimes, now that she goes so much in the potty, she forgets to even ask for her reward. Plus, let's be honest, a few M&Ms never hurt anyone.

And while the peeing in the potty was going well....pooping in it...was not. So this week I decided to step up my game. While we were at Target I bought Allie a pack of Cinderella Squinkies. If you don't know what Squinkies are...consider yourself lucky.


Allie knows what they are because of her sisters and she LOVES them. I knew that my sister-in-law used them as a potty prize for my niece (Thanks Ry!) so I decided to give it a shot. I knew I couldn't use them as her pee prize though, because she is now going potty up to 8 times a day so I'd be out of Squinkies before sundown.

We hadn't even been home from the store 15 minutes when she declared she needed to poop. I assumed this was just a vain attempt to get her hands on that first Squinkie. And then she proved me wrong by pooping (a lot....) in the potty. So apparently....all this time, I just needed the right bargaining tool.

Wordless Wednesday

My Latest TV Obsession

When you have kids and a job that forces you to go to bed before the sun goes down, you have a tendency to be a bit behind on all things pop culture, especially TV shows. So recently I had the opportunity to get in on a series that has been getting some attention for quite a few years now.

Thanks to Netflix, we were able to see all of Season 1 of Downton Abbey.

We watched all 7 episodes in a matter of a few days. That's the nice thing about coming into a show after it's already aired - you can watch the episodes back to back without waiting for weeks to pass. Season 2 had just been released on iTunes so we watched all of those episodes as well. However, Jamie informed me that we can't see season 3 for almost a year.

If you haven't seen the show, do yourself a favor and watch it. Plus, with all those British accents, you feel like you're actually getting some culture and a good bit of history while sitting on your couch for hours on end.

March Book Update #1

I read more than a dozen books in February and here it is three weeks into March and I've read ONE. One measly little novel. Of course my kids were home on spring break and I spent 15 and a half days being an activities director, so there was little time for lounging around with a book.

My one achievement thus far in March is called Three Junes.

I borrowed it from a co-worker after declaring I had exhausted all my books in the onslaught of reading in the new year.

The book opened in Greece and I was immediately sucked in. But then the book shifted, both in setting and in narration and I didn't find it as compelling. The final section changed narration and setting again and was much more enjoyable. After the first section I completely understood why the book won several accolades, including a National Book Award. But at the end, I was just glad it was over. I was hesitatn to re-shelve it though, because I felt felt honor-bound to finish it. Kind of like a bad movie that you felt like you should stick out because you paid full-price for the ticket. Overall, I'd say it is my least favorite book of 2012. Here's to hoping my next conquest is a little more enthralling.

A Letter of Explanation

Yesterday was the final day of spring break. It was well above 80* so the kids spent much of the afternoon outside, especially once the neighbor boys invited them over to play in a bounce house. It was a mini one, much smaller than those giant ones you see at carnivals or even a birthday party. Jamie, Allie, and I were inside when we heard screaming. To me, it sounded like "I'm having fun playing in the backyard on a nice day" screaming, but Jamie heard it differently and stepped on the porch to investigate. As he did, Ainsley and our neighbor were crossing the yard toward the house.

As it turns out, Ainsley sort of half-fell out of the bounce house and bumped her face on the little incline that leads away from the bouncing part. She apparently hit so hard it knocked one of her teeth out. The tooth in question was waaaaaaay loose anyway, but that didn't make the incident any less traumatic for Ainsley. I'm not sure Anastasia even noticed.

The big problem came, not from Ainsley bleeding or sobbing, but rather when we couldn't locate the missing tooth. Our neighbor gave her $1 as she left last night (I'm pretty sure he felt bad that we couldn't locate the tooth.) and the Tooth Fairy must have been feeling extra-generous as well because she left twice her usual deposit.

Below is the letter Ainsley wrote to the Tooth Fairy to explain why there was no tooth under her pillow.

Nobody's Perfect

Sometimes I wonder about the pictures that are being lost to the digital age. I don't mean forgetting to back up your files, but rather imperfect pictures. Back in the old days when I was learning to take pictures with my little 110 Kodak camera, half the fun was waiting to see what developed. Was my thumb obscuring my subjects? Did the light wash out the vacation vista? Were my friend's eyes closed in the camp group photo? None of that mattered because I printed all the pictures and affixed them to those sticky photo album pages anyway.

Now we have a tendency to crop, color-correct, and edit our way to photo perfection, while perhaps losing some of the most memorable shots. Here are three of mine from this week that fall in the less-than-perfect category.







And while they aren't perfect shots, they do each tell a story in their own way.

Just Another Spring Break Adventure

This week's weather has been amazing. And yesterday was downright hot! I mean...check out the poor black bear at the zoo. He looked completely miserable in all that warm sunshine.

We, on the other hand, didn't mind the warm temperatures at all. I slathered everyone with SPF 50 and had to rummage in the garage to find summer clothes, but we had a blast at the zoo yesterday!

We are so fortunate to have a great zoo in our town. I bought a membership so we plan to go a lot more in the next year.

We did all of our favorite things and ate a picnic, too.

We even got some hands-on time with some of the animals.

And of course....we made sand angels in the giant sand box.

It's a good thing spring break is over soon....I need a break to recover from our break!

Wordless Wednesday

Field Trip to the Foothills Parkway

Yesterday started out terribly dreary, but by mid-morning the sun had broken through the clouds and plunged us into a very warm and beautiful day. Not wanting to waste such a gift, the girls and I loaded up and headed for the Foothills Parkway.

We started with a picnic.

Then we did some exploring.

We had hoped to hike up to the Look Rock observatory but both the tower and the trail were closed. We decided to drive more of the parkway before turning around and heading for home.

I forget how quiet it is once you get away from the traffic. We only passed a handful of cars the whole time we were up there. Cyclists easily outnumbered the motor vehicles today and it was wonderful!

The girls had a great time and are eager to get back up there and go to Look Rock once it re-opens.

Interior Decorating...According to a 6 Year Old

Ainsley and Allie share a room, so it's important that they each have ownership of the space. Which is why the top of Ainsley's bunk looks like this.

As a side note, we are completely out of Scotch tape. I bought her a cute little memo board, but that is already filled.

So she has taped various things all along the walls. You know, important things like a photograph of former Vol Inky Johnson.

And an artist sketch of a muskrat.

She has also hung artwork from school and math homework. It looks so messy, but at least it's not a poster of Justin Beiber. She can hang muskrats all over the room if it keeps out of the realm of boy bands.

Ode to Dress Up Clothes

Ainsley: "I just went through mom's whole closet and I can't find ANY shoes that I like."

Creative Discovery Museum

When planning our adventures in Chattanooga, I gave the girls several options. We had just been to the Tennessee Aquarium last summer, so they opted to visit the Creative Discovery Museum instead. We met my cousin and her girls there and made a day of it.

We started off in the River Play area....where Allie managed to get soaked, despite wearing a plastic smock.

After making little paper monkeys at the craft table we moved into the dinosaur area.

Where we managed to make sand angels and be completely covered in sand!

We explored the China exhibit and then went out on the roof for a lesson in simple mechanics, including pulleys.

We also played a giant game of chess!

The museum has so much to do that we will certainly have to go back again soon. I ended up buying a membership so we can go as often as we want for the next year!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Up on Signal Mountain, in the town of Walden, there is an amazing playground. It's called the Pumpkin Patch and it's built into the woods there. Rather than clearing the land of all trees for its construction, the playground was simply built around them. It's a pretty enchanting place, even in the final days of winter.

The girls spent an hour climbing around and zipping down a huge slide.

Anastasia (being the older child and rule follower she is....) discovered that the slide was only for children over the age of 5.

But of course at that point, Allie had already been down the slide dozens of times.

It was such a fun afternoon and the perfect place to soak up all the early spring weather we've been afforded.

That's the Point

The girls and I were only in Chattanooga for about 24 hours, but we certainly packed in plenty of activities. On Thursday afternoon we drove up to Signal Mountain. I drove them past my grandparents' old house and then down to Signal Point. Like our first stop in Chattanooga, this spot also has Civil War significance.

I've been walking down to the point since I could walk so it was fun to take the girls there and share it with them.

We were even able to re-create a picture of my sister and I down at the point!