Or maybe to you it's "Mrs. Lame?"

I know I said I'd post pictures yesterday.

I'm going to sum it up with 'it was not a wonderful day.' And then blogger was being a butt last night and not letting me UPLOAD pictures.

I'm working on a thingy because a lot of my family hasn't been told *by me* yet. I will share it when I get it done, I promise. And because I'm lazy nice, I may even leave The Man's real name in the one I post. May...we'll see.

My SIL called this my "First Engagement Picture." At Two Harbors on Sunday (the day I wasn't wearing a dress and didn't have my hair done and had really badly chipped nails - not to be confused with the day we missed our train ride so I could curl my hair and looked beautiful, which was Saturday...the day there were no pictures taken of me), I got all gooney and set up the timer on my camera and after positioning The Man just so, I'd run and try to look 'normal' in the picture. It took lots of pictures. And I hated the way I looked in all of them.


But I share anyway. Because I'm a sharing kind of person.

That's "MRS. H" to you.

Or, it will be in the next couple years.

I'm shooting for fall of '08, but I've only had a couple days to officially think about it.

I have lots of pictures and stories to share, but a severe time deficiancy.

Tomorrow - pictures for sure.

Because Crazy Hats Rawk

**Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for my fellow Minnesotans. It really does mean a lot to have so many people around the world sending their prayers.**

I’m off from my full-time job today, which means I will be working at my other job as maid/referee all day. If I survive the incessant bickering and fighting, The Man and I will be heading out of town for a *romantic* little getaway. And by *romantic* I mean watching Iron Chef in our king sized hotel bed. Ahhh, sweet cable.

My mom uploaded this picture recently and I really wanted to share it. This represents everything great about my childhood. The beach, the houseboat, the Mississppi. My brothers. Crazy hats. Lord, do I miss the crazy hats. Stuff like that just makes life more fun, doesn’t it?

There is the basket of flowers hanging in the background. Every time I see flowers like that, my mind drifts and I see my grandma carefully selecting *this year’s* flower basket to hang on the boat. I see her running out to grab them off the hook when storms came. I can almost smell them in my memory.

The binoculars in our hands suggest we were off an adventure.

That bathing suit had side cut-outs. My grandpa insisted they were cut out so as to make tickling that much easier.

So many beautiful *Eternal Summer* memories. From just one picture.

(Also: Tell me the brother on the right isn't this kid’s dad, I dare you! )

On another note: It's Friday!!! Here are this week’s *Stars*:

*‘Twas Brillig amazes us once again with tales from her extraordinary life. This one is a short, chilling look into her life at twelve years old.

*Goldy told a great story about the crossroads of life.

*Sugar Kane came out of reclusion and showed us all that hearts can be both warmed and broken in 500 words or less. (Also check out Part 2 of this story, which was great as well!)

*Judy from Parents’ GoodyBlog shared an absolutely profound way to get people to stop speeding through your neighborhood.

Have a great weekend. Monday will surely bring numerous photos of lighthouses. If we leave the hotel.

A Tragedy.

When I see bad things that happen in other states, I worry.

Something happens in Seattle, I call my mom to see if she’s heard from her brother.

Storms in Tennessee, I call my mom to make sure my grandma and aunt have checked in.

I might check out my friends’ blogs if something happens in their area, just to make sure they’re okay.

I only have to check in once, because I just don’t know that many people in those places.

But today…today I sit and wait. I pray nobody I know was affected by the bridge collapse. I pray for those families who are.

Immediate phone calls to family assured me that they are okay. I’m okay. I’ll take The Man’s advice and be thankful for that. But I will continue to pray for the victims and their families. And I will continue to ache every time I see the wreckage, knowing how many lives have been disturbed, though they don’t accurately show how this tragedy has shaken our beautiful city.

Source

I Am Contestant # 756

I've come close to giving up on entering online contests. A lot of times, I don't want to give out my address if I DO win, so that keeps me from entering. On the (still many) contests that I do enter, I just don't win. But when these impossibly easy contests come up, sometimes they just so happen to be giving away something that is apparently *needed* in my house - I can't help myself - even if the odds are getting close to those of the Powerball (which, I never win, either). The Man has been bugging me for a new TV for some time and doesn't seem to understand that they cost money. Money we don't have. Enter the ladies from 5 Minutes for Mom.

5 Minutes for Mom is having a contest sponsored by Best Buy and are giving away an Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV.



Entering is really easy. Just leave them a comment and tell your blog friends about it.

5 Minutes for Mom is a great site, for they are the girls who started the Ultimate Blog Party – which is how I met Kelly, Sugar Kane, Chesca and Mrs. Lady (and maybe other people, my memory sucks).

So if your guy won’t shut the hell up about buying a new flat-panel regardless of your financial status…or you just want to win something, head on over there and comment. But hurry! The contest ends August 17th.

Stars of the Butrfly Garden

Could I have thought of a lamer title? I think not.

I took the advice of many a while back and switched to Google Reader from bloglines. Google won’t pick up some of the feeds that Bloglines does, so I still use it, just not as much. I’m really loving the Google dashboard. My mail, my blogs, my wikipedia search. My favorite feature so far is the Google Docs. I can write a post at home, upload it to google docs, and post it from work. It lessons the hassle of emailing the document, anyway. And also lets me transfer work docs (like my Paid Time Off spread) so I can see them at home.

I also really like the Google reader. I wish there were a way to save the posts as “new” because sometimes I don’t get the chance to finish them and I end up forgetting to find them and read the rest. (Like this great one from Brillig that I just found!) That bums me out because I usually don’t realize it for a week or so (or two). Google is easier to use than Bloglines for me because it presents it every time I open explorer. I don’t even have to LEAVE igoogle to get my stuff done! That looks a lot better in IT’s eyes. The other thing that makes it superior is the “Star” system they have. Because when a post really grabs me, or I want to share it, I just click the star. Then, on days when I have to get A LOT of work done in a very little time, I can tell my friends:

“Yo, check this:” (Just like that, too!)

Kelly blew me away with two posts this month. The first was an almost enigmatic thought on memories and the second was a little gift for her friends who like to judge.

Worker Mommy said what all us BlogHer-Less girls were really thinking.

Europulp found one of the greatest Craigslist ads I’ve seen in a while. Since the Engineer Robson thing, anyway! (Thanks for that link, Kristina!)

Beth made giggle insanely during a very quiet moment at work with this post.

And Casey has taken to beating old ladies. (Don’t worry, she’s still cool with me.)

I also failed to mention the new extension blog I created! I named it Meme Land. It’s like a retirement home for memes. But we’ll call it “Senior Housing” so they don’t get all crabby about it. To tell you the truth, I just really wanted to make a new design but didn’t want to mess with this one. So go read it. Casey tagged with a meme like ten years ago and that’s on there. Mona tagged me as well and I will get that one on as soon as I can!

Watching Church

One lazy Sunday afternoon, The Man yelled down to Sunshine, “What are you doing?”

“Just watching church, daddy!” She yelled back.

How great is that? Taking her own precious childhood time to watch church and learn about God on her little Dora TV!

But when he actually went downstairs a short time later, he found her watching Cristina’s Court. “What’s this?” he asked, “I thought you were watching church.”

“I am.” She said.


Lord, I am sorry.

I will take her to a REAL church soon…I will!


**Blog post inspired by Cherann’s Princess-isms**