CAUTION: Woman In Progress

So. Long weekend. We'll start with Thursday, aka, T-Day. Or Turkey Day. Depending on my mood. This Thanksgiving was even weirder than last year's. For one thing, Sis1 and Emmy didn't come home at all. Not even Friday. No. They were at Gulf Shores. The above photos were taken by BIL and posted on FB. I'm jealous. Both of his photography skills and the mini-vacation at the beach. Anyway, while they were off living it up at the beach and Sis1 and her family were stuck at Goofus's aunt's house, Mama, Libby and I were the only guests for dinner at her parents' house. Mama did all the cooking except for the deviled eggs and apple pie I contributed. The food was great but the day was nothing like the Thanksgivings of my childhood/early adulthood. No raucous bunch of uncles, aunts and cousins. No fighting for the best parts of the turkey. No nothing. Just me and Libs and the old folks. I love my grandparents and am glad I went. It was just...odd. Didn...

Got caught by the train on my way home from grocery shopping. Fortunately, the train is a short one.

If I had a larger keyboard, I'd totally do a whole "count-your-blessings" post. But since I'm limited to this tiny iPhone keyboard, I'll simply say, I am so incredibly blessed beyond what I deserve. Our God is an awesome God and I am so thankful to Him, not just for all the blessings, but for the struggles, as well. The blessings make my life richer but the struggles make them all the more sweeter. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Love and hugs to all!

Spent the day with these clowns. Had a terrible time, obviously. ;-)

So this weekend was weird. Not terribly restful, for sure. Started out Friday afternoon. I took off work early to accommodate the fact that I had to work a few hours Saturday. Since I wasn't in my own car, I was still stuck in town until Mama got off work. I spent those three hours mostly grocery shopping. I did manage to make it Hallmark for a Christmas present for BFF and Cato to quick see if I could find some new jeans. My current ones (I only had one pair that still fit) were getting worn out to the point that at someday soon I'd be showing the backside of my underwear. And nobody wants to see that. Trust me. No luck at Catos. All toooooo long. Tell me, America. Why is that petite  pants are extra long on an average height woman (5'5")? Sooooooo annoying. I did end up finding some jeans at Wal-Mart (Faded Glory for curves) that were only an inch or so too long. An inch I can handle. Best part, they were only a little over $13. Winner winner, chicken dinner. h...

My oldest baby girl turned 14 last weekend. Unfortunately, she didn't get to come home to Mississippi for us to help her celebrate. Instead, she had a sleepover with her friends.  She's growing up to become such a lovely young person. She's kind. She's thoughtful. She's silly. Basically, she's gorgeous inside and out.  I couldn't be more proud of her. She has, after all, always been Aunt Jana's girl.

I added a clock. Swanky. And I also added a little "graphic" to the frame on the top shelf. It used to just be a couple of layers of patterned card stock. But a few months ago when I ordered a couple of photo books from Snapfish, the interior flap had a little circle with blue print that read, "Happiness Within." Um, yes please. haha So I carefully cut out that little circle and stared at it for a few days before it dawned on me where I could use it. You can't tell much about it in this shot, though, so maybe I'll remember to get a close-up of it sometime. Ignore the junk on the left. I can't figure out where to store the old twin sized down comforter. It's too puffy to fold successfully. :-/ I made a starburst mirror out of dowel rods, skewers, and chopsticks. Oh, and an auto mirror and cardboard. It was terribly complicated. ;-) The tutorial . You know. In case you want it.  I posted a photo of the mirror on FB and so...

That is my life these days. Full on crazy. Work stuff. Family stuff. No rest for the Jana. Bleh. Work is okay. Just a busy adjustment period with the new boss. The idea was that once the new boss started he'd help alleviate some of the load I've been carrying. But he's so into the job that he's finding new things to do and piling them on me. So that's super awesome. Not complaining, just saying. Well, maybe complaining a little. haha I actually really like him. He's really nice. Really easy to work with. Perhaps once this settling in period passes he will settle DOWN some and focus on one project at a time instead of fifty. haha Family stuff...*groan* Mama has thrown herself and by virtue, ME, into planning a 50th Wedding Anniversary for her parents. That's All. She. Talks. About. Seriously. I'll be in the middle of telling her something and in the part where normally the other person would comment about the topic--you know, participate in the co...

Poor pups. Hiding from the kids. And yes, that is a shoe. Daddy doesn't every put his shoes away. haha    In Bobo's chair, taunting him that he couldn't get them up. Poor delusional kids. haha Libs steals Aunt Sis2 hugs. The kids doing what they do best--EATING and taunting the pups with their food scented hands. And no, those snowmen do not signify that Mama has started decorating early. She just never fully undecorated last year. Hahaha The football was not my idea of fun. That was all Goofus. Bleh. These two were in Bama but texting me snotty Roll Tide photos and videos. So gross. And yes, Bama did beat the Dawgs later that night but from what I hear from people who actually watched the game, the Dawgs put up a good fight. 20-7 was the score and with Bama being the #1 team in the SEC that ain't bad. Also, when our archenemies played Bama they didn't score at all and Bama wiped the field with their despicable b...

  Yes. I was the dork at BK taking a photo of her ridiculously tiny food and tweeting about it. Because I am a loser dork with an iPhone and I'm not above Twitter shaming fast food restaurants. And also, that's just how I roll. Oh, and also also? On the off chance that anyone was planning on kissing me today, I'd advise against it. That was one big breath stinkin' onion on that there tiny burger.

Been a while since y'all have seen her but she's on FB, Instagram and Twitter all the time. Hahaha As I'm sure you can imagine, that sweet little face takes up most of my camera roll. ;-)

  So the flip side of the time falling backwards an hour is that I get to see the sunSETs instead of the sunRISES. This one yesterday was just softly pretty with it's purple haze. I missed the truly stunning part of the sunset, though, because Sis2 called and I was on the phone with her when we rounded a curve and got hit square in the face with a breathtaking view. But the purple haze is still quietly pretty so I'll take it. ;-)

I actually took this a couple of weeks ago while Mama and I were on our way home. We followed this horse trailer all the way from town and something about the sway of those horses' butts just tickled us. So of course  I had to immortalized it. :-D

So I totally flexed Ms. Visa this weekend. Oy. I got off work early Friday afternoon since I had to work a few hours Saturday. Instead of doing what I normally do and taking off early enough to spend some time with Sis2 and Ethan, I took off at 12:30 and went shopping. I rarely ever do any shopping other than grocery or on-line shopping so I figured it would be a good time to indulge. I started off at Payless. I need to stock up on a few more pairs of flats since flip-flop season is phasing out quickly. (Yes. I've still been wearing them most days.haha) I did find a couple of really cute flats that were super comfy but they were also nearly $30 each. And even though they had a BOGO sale going on, I still couldn't see spending $45 on shoes. I did end up buying some "no show" socks to wear with the flats I already have. And I also found a couple of cute necklaces that I bought. One of them is for Emmy's upcoming birthday. Figured I'd give her the cheap but c...

You can find part one, here . This past Friday on my afternoon walk around campus I happened upon even MORE pumpkins. This time they were scattered around behind the union and the buildings up and down a couple of streets behind the drill field and library. Once I spotted one that day, I was a woman on a mission. I ended up walking 1.48 miles, up stares, across streets and up to the doorways of buildings. Fortunately, the "kids" were still all gone on Fall Break so there weren't that many peeps around to witness my crazy. ;-) The first one I spotted was up the stairs on the porch of the English and Administration building. Just a plain run-of-the-mill Jack O' Lantern. Then when I got behind the union there was...BATMAN!! Across the sidewalk from Batman was this statehood pumpkin. Once I rounded the corner onto the street beside the union I spotted this guy. He's kinda badass. This was the tag on top of his head. Thought it might be good to...

Because Trix asked for it... The Cake!

Ethan is 4! His actual birthday was yesterday but we had his party Saturday. It was Monster Truck themed because he is into all things rough, big and automobile.     I actually started the night before in prepping. Somehow I ended up doing most of the food. Well, all of the food except for the cake and a bowl of goldfish. I was up late making truffles (chocolate chip cookie dough and cake batter) Friday night. Then got up early Saturday morning and baked chocolate chip cookies. After lunch Saturday, I got in Sis2's kitchen and made jalapeno popper pigs in a blanket. Mama did the cake per Ethan's instructions. And I do mean instructions. He told her exactly how he wanted it to look and he was THRILLED with the outcome.Mostly because it had two big monster trucks  a "ramp" and "dirt" that he enjoyed driving the trucks through. An interactive cake! lol    He had a pretty good turn out with about 7 kids/friends and several a...

I'll have pics and stories from Efan's birthday party tomorrow. But for tonight, I wanted to share one of my favorite scenes from yesterday. The part of the drive home that meant I was almost to my house and Libs. Love to love on my babies but I love going  home, too.

If you're reading me from my actual blog you may notice a little something different. I've changed templates! Just felt like the place needed a little bit of a face lift. I wish I could afford to have a header designed specifically for me like the professional bloggers do, but since this here blog is not exactly making any money to pay for itself, that ain't gonna happen. ;-)