Meet Sandy Webb

This is the newest member of our family. Courtney got this cute guinea pig for her birthday. She has been asking for one off and on for over a year. We went through hamster torture with Jessica so I have said no to Courtney everytime the subject comes up. It seems the original idea was presented to her on the show "Little Bill", Bill has a pet guinea pig. Then someone brought one to show the class at school this year. For some reason I thought this would make a great birthday present. Yes, I went into this knowing that I would be the primary care giver. It really hasn't been that bad. I just wish she would stay this size. She is only about 7 weeks old now but she has the potential to be 11" long. She is very skidish and runs into her little house whenever someone walks into the room. I will be glad when she gets over that.
The guinea pig originates in South America where they are believed to have supernatural powers and they are a commonly eaten there. Evidently they taste like pork, hence the word "pig" in their name.
I'll keep you posted on her progress. Hopefully she'll learn some tricks and be more people friendly soon.

Our new favorite CD

It is "Here Come The ABC'S" by They Might Be Giants. This CD is so much fun. Courtney got a CD player for her room for her birthday. We had heard snipets of this CD on Nick Jr. and we are tired of all the usual CD's for kids. How many different versions of The Wheels on the Bus can one person take!?
Anyway, this CD's content is based on the alphabet but it is very hip. The girls are in their room listening to it right now. Kirsten even listened to it some the other day while Courtney was at school. She is starting to sing along. Of course it's like all the other songs she sings to, its usually just the first word and last word of a phrase that she mananges to get out. Any recommendations out there for some great kids CD's?
Here is a list of the song titles:
1. Here Come the ABCs
2. Alphabet of Nations
3. E Eats Everything
4. Flying V
5. Q U
6. Go for G!
7. Pictures of Pandas Painting
8. D & W
9. Fake-Believe
10. Can You Find It?
11. The Vowel Family
12. Letter/Not a Letter
13. Alphabet Lost and Found
14. I C U
15. Letter Shapes
16. Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?
17. Rolling O
18. L M N O
19. C Is for Conifers
20. Fake-Believe (Type B)
21. D Is for Drums
22. Z y X
23. Goodnight My Friends
Bonus Tracks
24. Clap Your Hands (this is one of my favorites)
25. Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney's Higglytown Heroes)

Thursday looks good!

Thursdays forcast has me excited! I love 70 degree weather. Cozy clothes, hot tea and open windows. Friday looks good too. We are going to the football game and it will feel perfect for a game! Hot chocolate here I come. Except the hot chocolate there is not the best but it will taste good that night.
Mark says we should live in San Diego so I could have this kind of weather all the time. I might get tired of it all the time. One of the reasons I love living in Tennessee is the change of seasons. This extremely hot summer will make me appreciate the fall and winter even more. I'm hoping for some snow this year. A deep freeze will make me long for those hot summer days again.
This entry gives a glimpse into my personality. I don't like getting into a rut. I couldn't have a job where I did the same thing, all day, everyday. One thing that pulled me into design was the fact that every client would be different, every project unique. I probably drive myself crazy trying to make each project unique! There all certain elements that are similiar and I do have a process that I follow for each job.
Scrapbooking has the same appeal. Each layout is a new opportunity. Each set of pictures has its own story to tell. Maybe this new weather pattern will give me the push to do something creative! I know I will enjoy wrapping up in a sweater and airing out the house.

Date Night

For Father's Day, we got Mark tickets to see Stomp! at TPAC and this past Sunday night was the night. I have to admit that I wasn't too crazy about the idea. I assumed it was going to be a lot of nonsense banging on trash cans. Thankfully, I was wrong! But before I describe the night I'll tell you what happened before we left. About 3:00 Sunday afternoon we got a phone call from TPAC. I thought the show was being cancelled or something. Well, one of the producers was in town and wanted to watch the show from the tier level which is where our seats were. They wanted to know if we would switch seats with him. His seats were orchestral level, row J, practically in the center. So we said "Okay!" After I hang up I'm thinking, "This is not a good idea, it is going to be too loud that close to the stage." So we get there and the seats are great.
I don't know why I thought the show wasn't going to be enjoyable but I was pleasently surprised. I had no idea that comedy was involved. There is no plot and no speaking parts so the performers are very animated with their facial and body language. In one segment I was laughing so hard that I was crying! And it was not too loud. It was very interesting to hear all the different sounds and arrangements they made with everyday objects. These performers were practically non-stop for almost 2 hours. It was amazing. I highly recommend this show to anyone. And it was great to do something so grown up for a change!

Refreshing weekend

I was able to go to a women's conference this weekend in Knoxville with 7 other ladies from my church. It is unbelievable what mountains have to be moved and orchestrated for us to get out of town for more than 24 hours. We left on Friday at 11:00 am and returned on Saturday at 5:00 pm. We rented a brand new Suburban which was very nice! We actually went to Knoxville and back on one tank of gas! Of course that tank cost $80.00 but still I thought that was really good!
The conference featured Beth Moore. I wish I could live with this woman for about a month and just soak in her knowledge and attitude. She is a great storyteller, very passionate and unquestionably anointed by God. She lives in Houston, so with Rita coming this past weekend, just her story of how she got out of there is proof God is working through her.
Her lesson this weekend was on Loving Well. Meaning loving others with the love of God. I personally have been praying for the ability to love this way so it was uplifting to hear her speak on this. I just wish she could have talked for at least another day!
If you have the opportunity, please pick up one of her books or better yet, attend one of her Bible studies. You have to see her in person (or on video) to get the full affect of her love of God.
If anyone wants more info, I'll be more than glad to share in person. I could go on for days!

She's 6!

I'm sorry I've neglected my blog for so long. It's been a crazy past two weeks. Among all the things we've been doing, most importantly is that Courtney turned 6. As always, I am amazed at the passage of time. This year we had a mostly week long celebration. Her actual birthday was on Sunday and we had a church picnic. She received gifts from us, Jessica and Grannie Gayle (who was visiting from Virginia). On Monday, we took cupcakes for her class. They sang "Happy Birthday". And she picked a boy to take her birthday spanking for her! On the following Saturday Mark's parents, his brother and family, my dad and sister came over for supper and cake. Yesterday was her party with her friends. We celebrated at the local mini golf place. It was beautiful weather and all the kids seemed to have a good time. Needless to say, I'm exhausted!

Now to explain the photograph. This is Courtney pretending to take a bite out of her cake. For some reason, we have the tradition that the kids take a bite out of their cake after blowing out the candles. My mother says she got the idea from her sister. Her sister doesn't know why we decided to do this. Well, last year Courtney wanted no part of biting her cake. Being the scrapbooker that I am, I was disappointed. Later I thought, she acted that way because there were so many people surrounding her. So this year I took her in the dining room by herself and she acted like she was taking a bite (she didn't want to actually bite it but then stuck her finger in the icing to taste it). Those who know Courtney are not surprised by any of this. All and all, I think she had a good 6th birthday!

I've been tagged...

There is this wonderful thread going through the blog world where people are being "tagged" to list 5 random facts about themselves. Tiffany has tagged me, so here goes.

1. I live in the same town I was born in but my family moved around a lot while I was growing up. My mother was actually in the military. While I lived with her, she was stationed in Utah. I lived there for 1st - 3rd grades. Maybe that's where the scrapbook bug bit me!

2. Most people have some weird thing that really gets under their skin. Mine is that I can't stand to hear someone eating. We have the bad habit of eating in front of the TV right now because I need the TV on to drown out the food noises. Someone eating cereal is probably the worst.

3. Most people know this, but I love to read. Like Tiffany, I will read several things at one time. Currently I am just reading the last book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. My love for reading started at an early age, in fact, I was given an award in 2nd grade for reading the most books that school year - 144!

4. I am actually an only child. My parents divorced when I was very young and they both remarried. My father and his second wife had 3 girls. My mother and her second husband had 1 boy. So I have 3 half sisters and a half brother.

5. Okay, I'm telling this because I can't think of anything else. We have a 60" big screen TV. This is not by choice! Mark and I went on a business trip to Chicago when I worked full time. It was Jacuzzi's 50 year anniversary so they had a big party at the aquarium in Chicago (fabulous!). As with events like this, they gave door prizes. Well, Mark won the TV. I still laugh whenever I think about it. Everyone at the table had their ticket in hand, waiting for each number to be called. Mark is pigging out (the food was unbelievable). So they keep calling out this number, several times to see who has it. Finally I turn to him and ask if he checked his number. Of course not! And he was the winner! We would never have this TV otherwise. It embarresses me whenever people see the thing! Whenever we move, it's going in a room that is not seen when you walk in the door.

So there are some not-so-interesting things about me. I'm afraid I don't know anyone else with a blog so I'm going to tag Karen - girl you have to set one up now!