Home Makeover - Bedroom edition 5-2008

It was a wonderful trip, thanks to my Family!! I had a blast and can't wait to find a reason for us all to get together again!! Thought you might want to see some of the pix I took. I'm only including the pictures that don't have human faces in them, but if ya'll don't mind, I'd love to post some of the People Pix too, so let me know and I'll do it later. For now, here's what we actually accomplished besides eating too much...

Spiders and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

Spider Man would move in in a skinny spidey minute!! All we needed was some spider webs hanging from the corners, but hey, it's the boy's room, so I say give it time and it'll have plenty of webs and probably a few cooties if we're real lucky!!

Sugar and Spice and Flowers, sooo nice...

All this room needs is a couple of Susie's Unicorns and some live Fairies!! Hopefully no one has a bad case of allergies to estrogen, because this room is simply bursting with GIRL POWER and FLOWERS and BUTTERFLIES!!

******

And then here's the cake that Sarah bought,
Mom paid for (at first),
Susie, Jacqu, Elena & Earl shopped for,
and Daddy and Paul (AKA: Texas Red or simply TR) helped eat,
to celebrate little Brother's Commisioning.
Two Words: YUM MEEEE!!!!!

God Bless our Amazing Family!!!!

(p.s. let me know about posting the people pix!!)

(p.p.s. Mom, you gotta get Jacqu to post the vidoed "talent" portion of the evening)

Prop me Up, I'm LISTING...

Wish List #2,345,876

Hey guys, just wanna be sure that NO ONE will be disapointed with whatever they get me for Christmas this year. No, seriously, that's just the kind of sister I am, always looking out for my Sibs. After all, Peace, Goodwill, and the joy of giving the perfect gift, Those ARE the reason for the season aren't they? And so, without further bull, I mean, ADO:

A. Gift Cards
Books*A*Million, Belk Hudson, Pet-co/smart/depot (any pet store is great), Target (we've finally got one close) or Goody's. Pedi/Mani-cure, I'd call Papeete's in Cullman and ask for Cindy Patton, or I've heard that Wal*mart does a good job too.

B. Household Stuff
Seriously, I'm totally in Love with the Willow Tree Angels, by Demdaco. I love them all, but I especially like the nativity scenes. (there are two different ones, and I love them both) (look at giftsandcollectibles.com) The face-less characters seem to just speak to me. Other than that,
I'd love to have a nice centerpiece for my table. Burke's florist here in Cullman knows exactly what I want, so a GC for them would be great.

C. Music
I would love to bring Chris Daughtry "home" for the holidays. I like a lot of the modern adult alternative stuff, (see Susie's list). I've found that I'm really liking Pink's stuff. Of course Vince Gill is always welcome in my house, and he has a new 4cd boxed set called "These Days" that is sure to be awesome. Allison Kraus, and Amy Grant are some of my faves and I'm a complete fan of the old stuff and would love to have some Don Williams, Jim Reeves, etc.

D. Hobbies
Ain't got none right now, the Movie has sucked all the "hobby" out of me.

E. ETC.
I absolutely loved the movie, Ratatouille. If whomever has my name has any connections, a San Fransisco Hoodie would be great. Any of the Danielle Steele books that I don't have. (Be sure to check with Mom, she's been trying to keep an eye out at the White Elephant and has done an amazing job. (I'll have an updated list to her tonight). And I think I'm finally ready to take on the responsibility for Chuck V (a beta fish for my office) since it's been a respectable 5 months since
Chuck IV went to... well... um, sleep with the fishes. (see GC for Pet???)

Other than that, I can't imagine what else I might possible wish for except a wonderful end to this seemingly interminable movie madness.... Yikes.

As for Roger, An elf told me that his has been taken care of. I guess Coal isn't too hard to come by these days... Ba-Da-ding!!

And that's all for now!! Hope all is well for each of you and I can't wait to see who actually looks at my list!!!

LOVE YA, EE

I'm LONELY....

I'm Oh SO LOWN-LEEEEE

All of my Fam-leeee,

has gone aaawaaaay...

(AAAHHH-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)

Seriously, I can't believe it's over!! We had such a wonderful time, and once again I am reminded of how extrememly BLESSED we are to have such a family. I hope that we will continue to work and plan so that we can look forward to many many more amazing memories being added.

Love and Kisses to you all!! EE

All-right already!!!

5 X 7

works for me too!!!

that's "webdings" for:

5 X 7

works for me too!!

:-)

Just a little string on the finger...

I SHUTTER to bring this up again, but...

PUH-LEEEZE

DON'T FORGET THE PHOTOS!!!

FINE!!

FINE BY ME, SARAH STEWART!!

oh, and good luck with those carrots :-) !!!

(wal*mart makes REALLY cute little frosting carrots to put on THEIR cakes, but whatever you want to do...)

I realized that I need to let you all know about the meals for our day, WEDNESDAY!! Don't know why everyone needs to know in advance, Beeeee-cause... (big breath)

"If I have to sweat over a hot stove all day long to prepare meals for your lazy butts, then you're just going to have to like it or lump it. what was that?... don't make me come over there!! No, you can't have desert before you finish your veggies... I DON'T care if you don't like veggies, they're good for you. ESPECIALLY the carrots!! No not the frosting carrots that go on carrot cake, the real carrots. Have you EVER seen a rabbit with glasses?...."

Oh wow, that was scary! Anyway, here's the plan for now:

Breakfast

Whatever anyone actually feels like eating before the BIG run, or (little walk as the case may be) I'm going to see what Susie suggests as far as what's good to keep the maximum energy levels up.

Lunch

Since we'll be out and about anyway, I'm thinking that there will be vendors for the 4th of July festivities, or we'll do something like Subway!!

Supper/Dinner

We're going to buy PIZZA!!!!

Forget the homemade betty crocker stuff. Sarah "stewart" can make up for it with her gourmet meal on thursday!! (sounds delish by the way)

Yep, you heard me, pizza, cokes (any flavor you want) popcorn and movies, and I think I'll make a ooey gooey choclatey little debbie cake!!

In other words, we're going the JUNK FOOD route!!

Yay Me!!!

I WIN!!!

BTW, Great idea about the mixed fridge-leftover-clean 'em up day on Friday, Suze!!!

Where DO you come up with these ideas?

:-)

Well,... Now, if THAT doesn't just take the CAKE...

It appears that she wants to have her CAKE and to eat it too!! But it's OK with me, 'cause it'll be a CAKE-walk no matter which flavor of CAKE we have!! I say just CAKE it on there and we'll all enjoy it!!

... HEY, it really does work... I have NO IDEA what CAKE means now, either!!!

COOOL!!!

(P.S. the recipe in the picture makes the most awesomeist cake EVER!!!)

WHOOP WHOOP!! ALERT!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

SHIELDS UP AND TO YOUR STATIONS!!

THERE HAS BEEN A SEVERE SECURITY BREACH ABOARD THE BLOGSHIP PROXSEMADENI!! ******

And here's how I know... After having not visited the blog for some time now, so as not to torture myself wtith the inevitable guilt of seeing those awesome weekly training schedules, and knowing that they were falling on deaf eyes with me, I finally decided that I could avoid it no more. So I read Sis' most recent blog and noticed that as usual she has done a marvelous job of organizing and planning for our upcoming trip. (I'm so totally excited, by the way!!) And as I read and imagined how much fun we're going to have, I noticed a small error on her part. No big deal, really, she had just mentioned that I had asked to do the meals for Thursday, when in reality, I clearly remember having dibs on Wednesday. I thought that was odd and certainly didn't want the rest of you to be mis-lead, so I decided to clarify the situation by responding to the blog in question. BUT FIRST, I did the responsible thing and went back to the former blog in which the meal dates had been listed, just so that I could quote the date of the blog as proof of the error.

AND THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED THAT SOME ONE, OR SOME THING, HAD HACKED INTO THE SYSTEM AND CHANGED MY DATE TO THURSDAY!!

HORROR, HORROR, HORROR!!!

RUNN, GRAB YOUR CHILDREN AND GO FAR FAR....

Ok, so she was right. I had originally called Thursday, but if it won't cause any problems for anyone else, I'd really like to change my day to Wednesday. I'm bringing some frozen stuff and really don't want to have to re-freeze and then thaw it back out on Thursday!! If it IS a problem, then I invoke the rights of the BIGGEST SISTER to override any sibling objections. If Mom has a problem..., well then..., I GIVE, she scares me!!!



A couple more things that I wanted to mention to one and all:



1. First, Susan once again, the check is in the mail!!! (well, it will be tomorrow anyway)

2. Jaq, I'm going to go ahead and pay the pet deposit. I know that you're most likely NOT bringing Ms. Diesel, and there's a more than likely a good chance that we're not bringing the big black disaster aka Jiro, but just in case we wind up changing our minds, it'll be taken care of. Susan already checked and we can get a refund if we show up canine challenged.

3. ON 3 NOW, everyone say CHEEEEEZE!!!! DO NOT FORGET THE FAMILY FOTO'S!!! That means individual photo's of Jaq & Joe too!! I'm not saying they have to be professionally done, but DO try to get a good quality picture that shows us, YOU!! It really is time for some updates!!

4. Mom, I think someone mentioned you doing the breakfasts, and even though it would be extremely hard to actually get to visit with you without having some hot, fresh from the oven, famous Halene Semadeni, cinnamon rolls with our coffee on a balmy North Carolina morning... I'd really like to put my vote in for just doing the sweet roll & coffee, or cold cereal, milk and coffee, or leftovers AND COFFEE!! It seems to me that no one needs to have to get up early enough in the morning to MAKE breakfast. And that way everyone can kinda just wake up and wander in at their own leisure!!! Of course, if you just WANT TOOO....

5. Here's the biggee!! I've saved it for last because I'm afraid that it'll get me voted off the island, and I'm sooo looking forward to this get-together!! Here goes...

MOOOOMMM, SUSIE's TALKING SMACK!!!!

Here in the south, they say "IF YUR SKEERED, SAY YUR SKEERED!!" well, I'M SKEERED!! After all that smack about the 5k, I realized that I'm probably not going to make it. I think I could, but I really don't want to have to hear the stories for years to come about all the colors my face would go through while I tried to keep oxygen flowing to my lungs, and the sounds of joints cracking and moaning... so I've decided that I'm going to register for the 1 mile fun walk. Actually, I probably would have tried to stay the course, except that Roger actually volunteered that he'd probably enjoy walking the mile with the group. He wouldn't even consider jogging the 5k, so ONCE AGAIN, I picked him over you all!! He's just THAT good!!!

ANYWAY, that's all the input I can think of for tonight. I do want to say in all seriousness... I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS TRIP AND I'M COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL WE GET TO HUG NECKS AND JUST SOAK UP THE PROXSEMADENI!! LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!

SAY CHEEEEEZE!!!

Hey guys,

Don't forget to have the family photo's taken sometime before JULY!! We want to be able to pass them out when we all get together.

Luv you all!!

EE

Lenka says:

Sis' BEARS are...

wait for it....

wait...

wait...

BARE!!!!!

WAAAAHAAAHAAAA, TEEE HEEE HEEE, HAHAHAHAAH!!!!!

OH, OH, LET ME!! PUH-LEEEEZE LET ME!!!...

'rah,

Here's how to put pix up:

Whilst (I love that word) creating a new post, be sure you're in the "compose" mode. Then look up at the top of the post window where you have the option to choose your fonts, sizes of letters, colors, etc. You'll see a little icon that looks like a picture of a landscape. Blue and gray, kinda like a mountain sceen. Click on that! Then it'll open a window that says "Add an image". click on the button that says: "Browse". This puts you back into your computer and you can find your pix wherever they are and then choose the one you want and double click it. It'll take you back to the "add an image" window. go to the bottom and click on the button that says "upload image". then just wait until you have the option to click the button that says "done".

Click it, and VOILA!!!! There you go!!

NOW I EXPECT TO SEE PIX OF THE MUNCHKINS BY MONDAY!!!!!

Oh, and thanks for giving me an excuse to share another picture of Jiro!!

Also, Momma, I'll give you permission to use these instructions also!! We'd love to see the new front yard too!!

One last thing; Sis and Jacq, please feel free to override and correct these instructions if need be. I will be the first to claim blogger illiteracy!!

Love to you all, EE

Lenka says:

DIBS!!!!

I call DIBS on Thursday's Lunch. We're having SALAD!! NO MUSHROOMS!!!

I thought Mom was going to do the BREAKFASTS?!!!

... But if not, I'll bring the Capn' Crunch, Lucky Charms and Froot Loops!! (that would be Roger, Jacq, & Heather!!! HA HA HA) And SUPPER will be POP CORN, POP TARTS, & POP, (er, wait, let's see, where will we be? N.C. yep, then I mean COKE!!) ...and left overs from whatever Susie does on Tuesday!!

Is this getting exciting or WHAT?!! I can hardly wait!! In fact, I'm quite simply GIDDY!!!!

OH yea, and Sis...

THE CHECK'S IN THE MAIL!!!! (TEE HEEE HA HAA HA!!) No, seriously, maybe not today, but it'll be on the way THIS WEEK!!

Love to you all!! EE

Lenka says...

I would say I'm Jealous, but then I'm afraid Mom would come back with something like...

"you could put forth more effort and come see us and then we could spend some quality time with you too"!!

... and then I'd have to come up with an explanation for not doing what I'd like to do and it would probably have something to do with hemorhoids and working, and that would just sound lame, so...

I just want to say that it makes my HEART HAPPY to know that my family still LOVES in spite of the lack of proxsemadeni!! And I'm SOOO glad you guys had such a good time!!!

Yes Ma'am Ms. Semadeni, Ma'am!!

OK, so now that Baby sister's a REAL teacher and all, she thinks she can run the world!!! I can't believe how quickly she's turned. Oh well, just so long as she never forgets that....

I'M STILL THE BIG SISTER AND THE BOSS OF ALL OF YOU!!!!

And with that in mind, I'm going to add my two cents!!

ah-hem...

Here goes...

YEAH!!! WHAT SHE SAID!!!!!

to break it down into my vote:

1. sleeping arrangments - I think that's perfectly done. And I think it's a GREAT idea to know where we're going before we get there so we don't stand around replaying the scene from the jungle book ("whatchoo wanna do? I dunno, whatchoo wanna do? I dunno...")

2. Food- again, perfect!! I especially like the idea of the big meal being lunch. Then we can snack and leftover for supper. That means popcorn for Daddy!!

3. Animals- I'm totally EXPECT to take care of my own. Ok, and Jacq's if she's really nice to me.

4. Entertainment - whatever I bring will most likely be a "BORED GAME", but I'll try to play along. And we LOVE the thoughts of hiking and being outdoors. Just remember it'll be HOT and HUMID!!!

Bottom line, I'M SOOO EXCITED!! Hope everyone else is too!!! So until next time...

"...and that's all I got to say 'bout that!!!" (Forest Gump)

WAAAAIT FOR ME!!!!!!!

Here, (GASP), I (cough cough, biiiig breath) AM!!!!

Whew, I finally made it!! And I feel soooo much better after the doctor (thanks for your help Heather) took me off the BETA BLOGGERS!!!!!

...AND I vote for the Oakland Cottage, ...AND I LOVE what Sis is doing with all this, ...AND I'm hoping that Joe gets to be there,... AND I'm so excited about all this that I could just pee my pants, BUT I won't!!!

Anyway, just wanted to make my presence known.

Love to you ALL!!!

Lenka

GIFTS, GAB and GUILT!!

What more could a girl ask for on her Birthday?

The Gifts - The day started out with me finding my annual Birthday Bear, from the counselor, sitting on my pillow. I also got a purse by Vera Bradley as well as a Red one by Tommy Hilfiger. And then the Ultimate gift was the Hardbound, Boxed set of the complete works of Gary Larson’s FAR SIDE COMICS. Unbelievable!!

The Gab - And then it was off to work, where my day was broken up several times with phone calls from friends and family, including “alphabet” the soldier boy, and Jac. Some of them usually only correspond by e-mail, so it was such a pleasure to not only have them remember the day, but it was wonderful to just get to chat with friends and do a little catching up!! Then on the evening of my birthday, while having a coffee with the counselor, I got a sweet, sweet call from my niece and one of my nephews. It was “Happy Birthday to you…” complete with “Deeear Aunt Lenkaaaaa”. It was spectacular. I made the sister, who also put her good wishes in, call back and have them do it again on my voicemail so I could keep it.

And then…, AND THEN…

The Guilt – the other sister, (and I totally believe her) thought about calling earlier in the day, but it was too early to call me, so she wound up forgetting until the next day. So when she called me I could tell that she was riddled with guilt and remorse, and even though I assured her that it was the thought that counts, she must have wallowed all day long until she came up with the PERFECT restitution: A PUBLIC APOLOGY, complete with an irresistible picture of the nephew!! And it worked. She’s forgiven forever!!

Yep, I’m one lucky gal to be so loved. And I want to just say Thanks to you all and I LOVE YOU back!! Ya’ll don’t forget next year now, ya hear?!!!

Nah- nahnah - nah - nah

Just thought I'd let you all know that I've got

SIS's and M's Christmas DONE!!!

AND I'm pretty much done with all the rest of my Christmas shopping!!

AND it's only November 1st thank-you very much!!

AND I really just wanted a reason to post something!!

Luv ya'll, EE

Picture This!!!

'rah (BTW it's about time you posted your list ), brought up something I've been thinking about too. The PIX!! When Sis had the idea last year, I thought it was awesome, and fully intended to participate. "intented" being the operative word. Obviously, Christmas time was a bit hectic last year, in fact, one of us (Andrew) didn't even bother to show up until AFTER Christmas. This year promises to be no less hectic for us, so here's my suggestion...

Let's see if we can't all have Professional/semi-professional/semi-deni-professional photos of each of the families to exchange at the 4th of July 5K (stupid runners!) get together. And then I'd love to get a good GROUP picture of all of us while we're there.

Any suggestions on picture size? 4X6, 5X7, or whatever we want? I don't know. Ya'll help decided that one and let me know!!

EE :-)

Hey!!! WAIT FOR ME!!!!

Ok, so it's been a while since I looked at THE site.

Momma's blogging? OMG!!! I had heard that hell had a bit of a cold snap...

Susan, I thought YOU were the coordinator of this event?!! My illusions have been shattered.

I'm trying to figure out when Jacq's going to figure out that the folks have figured her out. And I can't wait to find out what the catch to this "support" thing is. 'cause there's ALWAYS a catch!!! WAAAHAAAAHA.

Susan, you've just GOTTA "oh Carl, Please Carl" daddy on this one!! Not that it'll do any good, but it'll be funny!!

... and SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS.... I want to add to my list (I'll go back and edit the original too, but...) The "special collection" Far Side 2007 desk calendar from Books.A.Million. HEY Jacq, did you hear that? I can't remember whose got your name, but maybe this will give them an idea for you too!! Who's the BIG SISTA?!!!

OK, the phone just WON'T quit ringing, no matter how hard I ignore it, so I'm going to go. Love to you ALL!!! EE

Lenka's List

OK, so I said I'd do this yesterday, but I couldn't get blogger to work at my work, so... here I am with a list, Minus the Linky links, because I have no idea how to do that. Don't worry, I've got a call in to Sis, so maybe we'll come back and do it later!!

Also, just because Sis has my name, please don't let that stop anyone else from choosing something from my list to send to... Jacq. You know she wants it!!!

Anyway, Here's my list:

Gift Certificates:
Joe Muggs/Books.a.million, Pet Depot, Goody's Family Clothing, Pedi/Manicures, Wal*mart, or surpise me.

House Stuff:
Big Fluffy Bath Towel set, centerpiece for my dining table, GC to Michael's, Wal*mart, I like suprises

Music:
Vince Gill's new 4 disc set (due to come out this fall I think), Old stuff like Jim Reeves, Don Williams, Amy Grant has one that's called "Grace" I think, and then I really like a lot of the new adult alternative stuff like Sis mentioned, I just don't know names and titles. I really like the soundtracks they use on the shows like Grey's anatomy etc. And I like surprises.

Hobbies:
Dog stuff, scrapbooking , Danielle Steel books (mom's got a list of what I've got) Surprises are good

ETC.:
Christmas ornaments, I love the nativity set from "Willow Tree by Demdaco", coffee stuff, hair and nail stuff, pictures of my nieces and nephews.

Oh and I like surpises!!


As for the Counselor, He's easy. When I asked him to put a list together, he said:

"12oz mocha, skim, decaf, and really, really hot"

So that's our list for now. I'll add to it as things come to me!!