CAUTION: Woman In Progress

Because I'm not normal.haha   Unauthorized selfie with family. haha We cleaned that business OUT. #FullBellehs Not sure what the look on Mama's face is for but I loved how chill Libs was among all the noise of the kids. I think the kids were more excited about the presents than Bobo was. lol And of course Libs eventually put Nana to work. #BellehRubs The boy and his helicopter This shameless begging, tho. I got him a camo steering wheel cover to trick out his new-to-him truck...and also match the floor mats he bought. I think I was more excited about it than he was. Do you know how hard it is to shop for an almost 61-year-old man who pretty much has all the little stuff he wants and nobody can afford all the big things he likes? lol So Fadda's Dae (I can't help it.) was good. The food all turned out just as yummy as I hoped it would. So yummy, in fact, that we all pretty much ate ourselves under the tab...

There's this meme that goes around on Facebook routinely that says something along the lines of "I need to just put an 'out of order' sticker on my forehead." That definitely describes me today. I thought I was being helpful by putting away some materials that a patron had used and gotten scans produced from. It was only AFTER I'd removed all the scan flags, replaced the folders and put away the boxes that I realized DD needed to have checked the materials to add metadat to the database before everything got put away. So I had to retrieve the boxes, pull the folders and go back and RE-FLAG the items that had been scanned. And of course, I wouldn't be me if I'd pulled all the correct folders the first time. Nooooo, instead, I pulled the folder numbers for box 10 from box 11 instead and vice versa. So I had to start over. Again. I am tired. And I feel really stupid. Then I went to the bagel shop for a frozen coffee (white mocha--yum!) becaus...

Mama's 62nd birthday was Saturday. Instead of a "party" she decided she wanted a family trip to the big flea market and then a nice lunch out. We started the weekend out just us sisters on Friday night. We went to the newest little Mexican place in town and ate giant nachos and talked for nearly 3 hours. Of course you knew this had to happen. Because I am mature like that! The day started off in a happy place. We loaded up and headed north, stopping for breakfast at Hardee's on the way. Breakfast was fun, we all were jovial and it was a good time. Then Saturday we headed up north to the flea market.  We've even finally gotten Daddy in on the selfie shenanigans! But then... As soon as we got into the building, this happened. And I ditched them. I went off by myself and toured two buildings worth of stuff in an hour. At that point, I was ready to go home. Actually, I was ready to go home right around the time I took the above photo (just inside...

Summer kinda bites. Or blows. Or sucks. Or whatever. For one, it's HOT. Sticky hot. Hot hot. Sweaty hot. Yucky hot. Walking outside into humidity so thick it coats your skin, hair, teeth and eyeballs with a gross, stinky film of moisture and your clothes stick to you and your hair goes limp with frizz and the air is too thick to breathe...hot. But also, summer is  BUSY. Birthdays. Father's Day. Family visits. Yard work. Sucking in any A/C anytime it's easily available and sweating your face off when it's not. Sidebar: I sometimes crank my a/c really low, like 62 to 68 degrees, so that it gets really really cold in the house and I can snuggle under a blanket. BRING BACK COLD SNUGGLY WINTER. Yes, I am odd. Tomorrow is Mama's 62nd birthday. It's also the Genealogy Fair at work but guess who's wrath I'd rather avoid...DING, DING, DING! If you guessed my mother's you've won yourself a nice big toothy grin! So yes. I'm actually saying no to...

These beauties were hidden away at the back of the conference room at this morning's meeting. Such a shame to keep 'em hidden.  This girl likes to investigate mole hills. She'd be flopping around on 'em if I let her.  The only way to get through an eight hour conference? Chocolate. And daydreaming about cheesecake. ;-) Also, coffee, but I couldn't discreetly fit that in the photo. One day (Some day, God, PLEASE?) I will be in a healthy enough mental state to actually put words to screen and say something meaningful or maybe even interesting. Until then, you get nuggets. ;-)

Finally enjoying her new bed.  A Saturday afternoon nap.  Growly playtime. 

Efan completed his pre-K homeschool curriculum! He's a little bit thrilled about it. Emmy completed 8th grad. Next year she'll be a high schooler! Kill me now. I would have a pic of Alyssa here, finishing 2nd grade but Sis2 didn't take one. :-(   I was laid up a couple Fridays ago with some serious plantar fasciitis pain. Mama was awesome and brought me some supper.  Before Alyssa's recital she was showing off some of her skills. As was Efan. Efan road with us to the recital. Neither of us enjoyed that at all. ha! I think Alyssa is the blurriest one. Oops! But she did awesome. Daddy treated me to a peanut butter fudge shake last Sunday. I think two things are clear now. 1) I am spoiled rotten. 2) We all love Sonic. A wee bit of rain run off in the ditch in front of the parking lot at work. I've been Netflixing discs of the CW's Arrow for the past several weeks.  I'm only on season 1 and I...

So I came across this dog age calculator and calculated Libby's age. You know, she does have a birthday coming up in June. According to this, she will be 52!! Note that it further says that she is considered a senior dog .     Whatever you do, don't tell Libs that she's a senior dog. She still thinks she's a puppy!       PS: Sorry I've been absent again. Some unpleasant things happened  recently that lead me to not only not have TIME to blog but also to just not have the heart for it. It's work related so I can't/won't go into detail but I'm slowly getting over it and hope to overload y'all with all the PLEASANT things I've been up to. Hint: There were fishing poles and ballet slippers involved. ;-)

As a child I was terribly shy. I barely spoke, even to people I saw often or when spoken to. People like church friends, aunts and uncles I didn't see more than a few times a year, and sometimes even my dad. When spoken to, I had a terrible habit of hiding my face behind whatever or whoever was handy--usually my mom. The thought of gaining attention from anyone scared me to death even when I desperately craved attention. I still am not one who finds conversation entirely necessary all the time. Being stuck alone with someone I don't know well is torture because, you know... Small talk . I hate idle conversation and even when with my friends I don't always know how to carry on a conversation. Oddly enough, my education and career decisions were the exact opposite of what I have ever been comfortable with. I mean, come on! I majored in broadcast communication. I had the intent of becoming a radio personality. What was I smoking? lol But the classes associated with broadc...

circa 1988   When I was a young girl--around eight or nine--he came to be the pastor at our church. At just twenty-four, ours was the first church he'd ever pastored at a time when he wasn't even sure he wanted to BE a pastor. He gave it a shot, though, and unbeknown to him, became a driving force in my young life.   Truth be told, my younger self had a bit of a crush on him. He was fun and funny and handsome in a way I hadn't yet discovered men could be handsome. Unlike the boys in the youth group, he didn't take himself too seriously. He didn't try to be cool. He was just a fun guy who was navigating his life in the direction he felt the Lord moving him in. That was unbelievably cool.   He was, of course, married, as most handsome and fun men in their early-to-mid twenties were back then. His wife was a shy, sweet woman who played the piano and sang. I was rather fond of her, as well. I wasn't a terribly popular young girl, even among church fol...

So today was Staff Appreciation Day. During SAD each year, there is a handful of staff who are nominated for a prestigious service award that comes with a nice little paycheck and a plaque. Mama has been nominated three times previously and never one. But guess what...Fourth time was the charm! I actually found out that she'd won last week. Her boss emailed and told me in case my sisters or dad wanted to be there. None of them could make it and I STILL had to keep that secret from her all that time. But keep it, I did. She was caught completely by surprise. lol Now. Wonder where she's taking me for supper? hahaha

You can't tell it from these pics but I've lost another four pounds.  Oh, and I hosted Mother's Day at my house again this year. Lot of work but lot of fun.