You're A Grand Ole Flag

I would say that my family is a musical bunch. I mean, maybe not in the traditional way that some families are. No one had actual lessons for any instruments, aside from band or chorus in school. But our love for music runs deeper than that. Now, I've mentioned that my dad was never around growing up, but he did play the bass, guitar, and piano. He was a natural at it. I'm sure that influenced Sam to pick up a guitar, which he is very good at. But that's not it. I think our love for music came from my mom. She always played classic rock in the car, and I can't speak for the older three, but I know that Michael, Rebekah, and I always sang along with our Mom to the radio. We would even sing parts. Remember that part in Wayne's World? The Queen sing-a-long? That was us, and in fact, we laughed so hard at that movie, because we knew somehow they got that from us. Music has always been a part of my soul, even when I couldn't play the guitar. I even ride around with my kids now, singing songs from the radio, church, or some I just make up to pass the car ride. Sometimes the kids would rather listen to the radio, but most of the time they give the substance for the songs. Today we were on our way to Erick's swim lessons and we passed several American flags and I remembered that growing up, whenever we saw an American flag, we would sing the song You're A Grand Ole Flag. My mom said that she and my dad and the older three would sing that a lot, but since it was kind of pre-me, I just remember it with Mom and us younger 3. It's a great song that instills patriotism and a love for freedom. I told Erick that whenever we saw a flag, we would sing the song. We happened to see quite a lot, which made me proud of my fellow Georgians, and it was really cool to see Erick so excited to see our country's flag. We happen to have one flying in our front yard, and I'm glad that I was brought up with a way to help me learn to love this country and what it really stands for. It made me a little sad to see so many houses without that wonderful symbol of freedom, and I hope that this Fourth of July will bring a sense of urgency to some people that freedom is a privilege and WE have to fight for it, not just a few people who hold positions. My family also sang the Pledge of Allegiance after some of us sang in a Fourth of July choir presentation to veterans several years back. I'm going to teach that song to my kids as well, so that they will also know it and be able to remember what America really stands for.

Water Fun

We're going to the water park today. Can't wait. No, I'm sure it will be fun, and I'm going to sit as close to the water without getting soaked. I think I'm going to bring a fold out chair instead of sharing the benches. That way I can sit in the shade and face any direction I choose. I remember before we had Newnan Utilities park, we had Water Works park. It was awesome! It had a little merry-go-round, and monkey bars, and water to play in. I remember feeling really upset when they closed it down, and by the time they had built Newnan Utilities, I no longer had the same desire to play in the water at a park that was any smaller then Six Flags or White Water. Bummer.

Working on it...

Okay, so you know those projects that you really want to work on, but something is keeping you from doing them. No you don't, you prolly get them all done. Yeah, I'm talking to you.

Did you think I meant you? Well, I didn't. It's just that I had to blow off a little steam. I'm sure I'll get all things done on my project wish list that I would like to do... someday. I have some portraits to do of my kids- FUN! But first I have to figure out what pictures and then where is space... it's a project just preparing for a project. Some of my projects are hindered by the fact that our dining room is a temporary storage room. Adam took everything our of the sunroom and turned it into our home gym. It's pretty awesome and I'm actually getting good use out of it too, but he put everything into the dining room and I have been ignoring it. I'm noticing more and more everyday that I could be practicing my piano skills, art, etc. if all these boxes weren't in here. I guess if I haven't used all this stuff in a few months, then I really don't need it? Maybe, but I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go through it all... again. Maybe I should just trash it, and then when I need something that I might have gotten rid of, I'll just buy it or rethink if I really need it. I could even borrow the something that I might need. Yeah, that's actually sounding good. We'll see.

Eve, Eve... how does your garden grow?

With tomato plants, and yellow squash, and carrots all in a row.

Actually, I picked most of the carrots on Sunday and sauteed them with olive oil and a little butter and brown sugar- they were awesome! They were also really neat looking. Erick said that the three-pronged carrot was a "Fire Nation" carrot because it looked like the Fire Nation symbol on Avatar:The Last Airbender. Yeah, my 4 year old is cool.


This is what my garden looked like two weeks ago:

And this is what it looks like today:

I have a zucchini, finally, and more squash is coming. I have lots of tomatoes that I am trying to be patient with waiting for them to turn red. And the cucumbers are getting big!
Ahhh... gardening makes me happy.

Tennis and Teeth

Yesterday I played tennis for the first time in a few years. I used to play a lot, even though it was just a side hobby. My brother-in-law Allen, is really good and we would play. I also played with other friends of mine: Mike McAdams, Matt and Allison, and a couple others. Right after my mission, I moved to Douglasville with my sister Rachel. I enrolled into the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, and I soon moved there to be closer to the school and also the guy I was dating at the time. I moved in with my best friend Rebeccah Ewell and then later moved into a little house with my friends Wendi Camp and April Davis. Those years will hold some of the best memories for me. I had great friends, some who aren't together anymore :( , and some I don't get to see but maybe once every two years, and some I get to see at least once a month at Game Night. It was in the house on Brown Street that I started dating Adam. We had gone on a couple of dates while I was living at Beccah's, but hadn't hit it off yet. We were getting close, and he asked me to marry him and he got to know my room mates and the guys that they had started dating. It's funny. We three moved in single and wound up breaking our lease right before a year was up, because we were all engaged to be married. It was two weeks before the wedding, and we were hanging out with Matt and Allison playing tennis- or maybe it was just us, anyway... he sent a great return over the net and as I went to swing at it, I smacked myself in the mouth. Yep, right in the kisser! And I remember reaching up and feeling my mouth and thinking, "Man, the racket broke in my mouth... OH NO! That's my tooth!!" I had broken my front tooth and I was a basket case and crying... well, this was mostly after Adam had gone home. I was crying on the phone to my mom and the next day we called to make an appointment with the dentist. Talk about hysterical, I was really upset. It turns out that when Adam was little, he broke the same front tooth off in another boy's head- yes, head. They were playing some really dumb game of crossing your arms over your chest and running at each other. The boy had turned around and Adam ran at him, but some how it went wrong and Adam lost part of his tooth. He also remembers that the boy got money from the tooth fairy for his tooth and I don't think he got anything, lol. So, Adam and I have more than just matching personalities... and names for that matter. We have matching fake teeth.

Prince of Persia

Went and saw Prince of Persia last night with Adam and a group of friends. It was a really good movie; I was impressed. Not too cheesy and they didn't have to find the nearest girl and force a crazy love romance scene into it. Okay, well they did find the nearest girl and make her a love interest, but it still was very tasteful. I suppose Jake Gyllenhaal made up for Brokeback Mountain, which nobody could ever pay me to go see, so well done, Jake. Then we made our way over to Stake and Shake where we talked till the wee wee hours. Thanks to my mom, who made date night possible, because she even watched Chrissy for us.

props for the poster

The Art of Projecting

Last week I bought an overhead projector off of ebay. I'm hoping that it will make painting murals a lot less time consuming and more accurate dimensionally- I mean, most of my time goes to painstakingly getting the proportions correct and what can I say? I'm a realist. If it doesn't look exactly like the photo, I'm not satisfied. But that doesn't mean I'm not an admirer of impressionism and abstract art, although I really can't stand contemporary all that much. I remember thinking that Monet was just an old guy that didn't have enough energy to paint all the details, so he scribbled here and there and from far away, you could see what he painted. UNTIL! I went to a Monet exhibit at the High Museum, and I was totally educated in the life and works of Claude Monet. And upon learning that he painted rather well in detail, he was a hottie in his younger years. Most of his works are some of my favorite paintings and I have dabbled a little in impressionism myself, but I prefer watercolor over other medium, which makes it easier to manipulate a picture.

I went out to water my garden today, not that it really needed it with all the rain we've been having this week, but it was time for some Miracle Grow. I got two yellow squash out of the garden last week, and they were very tasty- Tripp even ate some. I'm just waiting for the zucchini to produce so that I can make some zucchini bread or use them in stir fry, oooh yummm! I found some weird growth in the garden soil by some tomato plants, and upon urgent research found that it was something called Wolf's Milk slime mold, or slangily called bubble-gum mold. It eats decaying matter, but isn't fungus, yet still harmless to plants. They are a pinkish orange color and when they dry out and turn brown, they puff spores out into the air if you squish them, or water them too vigorously.


Erick has a humongous fever blister on his lip and it ran up onto the roof of his mouth. He has gotten them before, but never this aggressive and the poor little guy is so pitiful with a swollen lip. He makes it worse every time by feeling it with his tongue, thus making it bigger. The doctor gave him an anti-viral medication as well as some cream for his lip and already it is looking much better. This cream is some pretty potent stuff too, so I'll be using it when one of those suckers tries to pop up on my lip.