Happy Valentine's Day to ME!

My husband and I aren't mushy, smoochie, romantic Valentine's Day people...I think having three kids in four years sucked some of that out of us! (I kid, I kid...it really isn't the kids fault! Well, maybe just a little...) Anyhoo, instead of spending the day with my DH, I spent Valentine's day with my oldest and dearest friend, Shannon. We went to Columbus and had a very rushed, but yummy lunch together before heading to Mario Tricoci's to get our hair cut and colored. This is a treat, let me tell you. The staff there treat you very well, and it is worth every penny. Every. Penny.

Instead of my usual all over color to cover up those ever pesky gray hairs, I decided to get hilights...oh. my. goodness! I am so pleased with the results, and I had them cut about six inches off of my long locks...it was time to part with the long, long hair! I feel so much better. Now if I could just stick to a diet and lose about 60 pounds....

When I was finished getting my hair done, there was Shannon with a huge grin and a grande Cinnamon Dolce latte...oh that girl knows me well! I do love me some Starbucks! She also bought me a scrumptious cupcake from Cheryl & Co. If you have never had a cookie or cupcake from Cheryl & Co., you need to check out her website and order one or a dozen immediately. They are the BEST baked goods ever! Never mind your great-grandma's recipe (which I'm sure is good), Cheryl's will blow it away!! They are soooooo good!

We shopped and shopped, and then shopped some more. It was a great day. We just don't get to do this often enough! And then to top it off when I got home, DH had a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me and he and I gave the kids their valentines. It was a great day!

I hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's day too!

My girlfriend emailed the following to me, I do not know who the author is, but I love this poem/story. It reminds me of my Grandma Lou, well all of my great-grandma's really. They all wore aprons and it is nostalgic to remember such things and this story just captures my memories of them perfectly.

Grandma's Apron

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ' old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Isn't this apron just the cutest?!

This beautiful apron was made by Lana from the Sassy Apron shop on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5657968. It is also one the prizes being given away in Lucy and Shawnee's Flirty and Sassy Apron swap. This swap is going to be a lot of fun. Shawnee and Lucy have a lot of prizes that are being given away during the swap. If you get a chance please check out Lana's shop, she has a lot of beautiful aprons. My favorites are the aprons that have a towel loop to keep your towel handy - that is such a good idea and keeps you from wiping your hands on your pretty apron.

Apron Swap - Fun! Fun! Fun!

I am participating in another apron swap with a Valentines Day theme. I am looking forward to participating in another swap. The last one for the Holidays was fun. I loved the apron I received, and I hope my swap partner liked hers...I never heard from her.

If any of you ladies are interested in participating in an apron swap (it's lots of fun!) you should head on over to http://sassyflirtyapronswap.blogspot.com and join the fun. There is a $5 participation fee this time to help cover the cost of prize giveaways and to help those that may need a swap angel - but I think it is totally worth $5.

Happy New Year!!

It's been a long time...

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted anything, so I thought I should take some time today to update my blog. I must admit blogging is harder than I thought it was going to be. I love reading other people's blogs, but find it hard to write about my own life.



I have finally found a new job, and started on December 1st. I love it! I am Assistant to the Dean at a nearby University. It is a great place to work and the people are really nice. I hope it will be the last place I ever work (honey, if you are reading this - I mean I hope to retire from here in another 15- 20 years!) One of the really nice perks of the job, is that my entire family receives free tuition...that perk alone is worth staying on regardless of working conditions - which are good anyway! Needless to say, it has been a big adjustment for my family, but it is well worth it.



We celebrated another joyous holiday season with extended family and friends (this is to be read in a slightly sarcastic tone!) I love the holidays, and I love seeing my entire family - I just wish that it could be more spread out over the month of December and not cram five get togethers into one week's timeframe. It's just too much! My parents gave our family a Wii for Christmas, which has been a lot of fun! I think that is a really cool gaming system - I'm not usually a video game lover, but I do love the Wii. It's something the entire family can do together and be active at the same time. I love it!



I hope you all had a great holiday season and that New Year will be a year of good health and prosperity for you and your families.

Vote....

Remember to get to the polls to vote tomorrow if you haven't already! I will be out there early tomorrow morning.

Sunday, Sunday...

OOOOOOhhh! I had so much fun yesterday! My friend, Shannon and I started off the day by stopping at Sugar Daddy's Bakery. (You can check them out at www.sugardaddys.com) If you watch the Food Network, they were on Throwdown with Bobby Flay in a blondie brownie challenge - and they won!! I really like Bobby Flay, but I do secretly enjoy when he gets beat in these challenges...I think it must make the "unknown" feel so good to beat a celebrity chef. Anywho, we stopped there before heading on to lunch and the salon, and I have to say Food Network is right - they. are. the. best. blondies. ever.

My hair turned out pretty good, I can't complain the gray is now covered and I can breathe a sigh of relief that it didn't turn out orange! For whatever reason, my hair doesn't take color well and in the wrong hands turns an awful orangish, brownish, blondish mess - I kid you not. But it turned out a nice golden brown or dark blonde, which is my natural color, so no complaints here.

We had Chipotle for lunch - which I know for those of you that don't live in the sticks that really isn't that remarkable, but for those of us that live in the middle of nowhere ... it was really good. We only had about 20 minutes for lunch, so that was by far a better choice than MickeyD's. We had Molly Woo's for supper, and honestly it is just ok. I don't think I will feel the need to try that place again. But the cherry on top was having Starbuck's. Twice. I do love me some Starbucks!

And for those that follow college football...the Gators totally stomped the Georgia Dawgs!! And I do mean totally stomped them!! Go Gators!!! Tim Tebow rocks!

The boys had a combined birthday party today with family and friends. I just made cupcakes and tried to keep it simple. Everyone enjoyed themselves and had a good time. The weather has been gorgeous here all weekend. The kids ran around outside and had a good time together.

I will post pictures of everything later - I can't find my cable to connect the camera to my pc - so once that mystery is solved I will post pics.

P.S. I hate Daylight Savings time! I'm just sayin'.