please come over. Shower, if you want.

Tomorrow is the big day! I AM GETTING A NEW BATHROOM!

You do not know how much this thrills me. Let me elaborate, as I always choose to do:

Trey and I live in a sweet little 1955 home. Original hard wood floors in the living room, dining room and bedrooms. Big picture windows. 3 bedrooms/ 1 bath. Which is fine - there are only 2 of us. Bad thing is this: the bathroom. I tried to paint it to cover it up with little to no improvements made. So we are gutting it and starting over! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

I will show before and after pictures soon!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that goes along with my remodeling plans! He could care less about a nice bathroom. Me? I like a nice vanity!

anyway...had to share my joy.

Oh, you may be asking "One bathroom...where will you shower for work?" no fear, friends. I work in housing. I got a key to an empty private dorm room. :) Trey is going to love this....

not a dancer, an artist.

Friday night Trey and I were in attendance at a 4-6th grade Valentine's Ball. Yep. That's right. Chaperones. I have the pictures to prove it.

Our church adopted a local school here in the burg. We offer tutoring, assistance to the teachers, and good behavior prizes - like a Valentine's ball. My only regret is that I was unable to attend the K-3rd grade party. They decorated Valentine cookies. I am sure there was little to no double dipping and finger licking in that icing. It was at noon on Friday. We were at work.

Lucky for us, the 4-6th grade dance was at 5 on Friday. Perfect. Count us in. Please don't be mistaken (as I was) that just because these kids were young that they did not know how to get down. They do. And they did. I especially enjoyed the company of this one young man. I noticed that while the other kids knew the latest moves, he did not. He stayed in the back... alone. So I told him he looked sharp, asked his name, and asked if he was having fun dancing. His response?
"No. I don't dance. I am an artist."
Classic. He is pictured on the right.

Below are a couple more pictures from the night, including mine and Trey's "7th grade dance pose" picture. Perhaps a Christmas card for next year? We shall see.

Proof that age has nothing to do with getting down abilities:

Hawkins Dance from Heather on Vimeo.

fevruary tha fifth

Ok, ok....so I started my birthday post on today's date. I TOTALLY didn't forget about you, Sam! I did wish you a happy day on the trusty facebook.

My highschool BFF guy - friend, SAM, had a birthday Tuesday! Happy belated!

When he was little, he is on video saying "my birfday. yeah! fevruary tha fifth! yeah!" in all his curly haired cuteness.

Check out Sam and his cute wife's blog here.

Anyway, Sam, thanks for commenting implying that I left you out! SO SORRY! I hope Tuesday was fabulous!!

Sam, basking in his birthday glory.

They say it's your birthday.

I hate to be so impersonal, but I am going to have to use one blog post for all my beloved February birthdays. I am a little (ok, a lot) busy right now, so important things (like blogging) are taking a backseat. My apologies.

FEBRUARY 7 - TODAY! - TIFFANY
Today is my cousin's SWEET 16! I can not believe she is 16! Tiffany is my cousin's oldest daughter. I remember the day she was born. She was the first great-grandchild on my mom's side of the family so I thought that immediately made my family old. I was 9, people, give me a break. Anyway, I remember running to my neighbor's house to tell them my cousin had a little girl. NOW YOU ARE 16! that is just crazy. I love you, Tiffany, and I hope today is the best day ever....you deserve it!

FEBRUARY 8 - KATE
My sweet Dallas friend has a birthday tomorrow! OH HAPPY DAY! I miss this girl so much. We lived together in the Cotton District the summer after our sophomore year. She is so much fun. Kate was the fashion icon of our friends. We lived next door to each other our sophomore and junior years, so I was convinced my senior year I would never look ok without Kate's constant advice. She is a great friend - i just wish Dallas wasn't so far! I LOVE YOU, KATE! Happy quarter-life birthday!




FEBRUARY 12 - MIMS
Oh, Mims. The stories I could tell. This friend hails from Minter City, MS, readers. Are you familar with that town? Didn't think so. Oh I love Mims. She is in OT school now getting all smart and stuff. I never lived with her in college, but lived in close enough vicinity to her in the KD house to tell enough stories. I am so glad we were able to hang out over MLK weekend. I miss my friends. Anyway, I LOVE YOU, LAURA MIMS! Happy quarter-life birthday to you too!

FEBRUARY 16 - CANDACE
Tiffany's younger sister, Candace, turns 11 on the 16th! This really makes me feel old. (enter quater-life crisis here) Sweet Candace is so precious. Although Tiffany might disagree, I have never seen sweet Candace be anything but precious. I hope you have the best birthday in a couple of weeks. Make Tiffany drive you places now that she is 16. I love you, sweet Candace!





FEBRUARY 27 - JAKE

Sweet Jake. My only cousin on my dad's side of the family. We are more like brother and sister than cousins - and I love it that way. We grew up together...both went to good ole' Starkville Academy. I love this boy. He is not only beautiful outside (well he is, people!) but also on the inside. (is that cheesy) He is a sweetie. Jake is following my footsteps and working at the same camp in Maine next summer! I am so happy (and jealous) for him. Anyway, Jake, are you really going to be 21? Please tell me I have that wrong. So not right. I love you much, little boy, HAPPY 21st!

February 27th is also my sweet friend, KATHERINE's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! She is in Memphis being all smart and stuff. We were both KDs at state - and again, I have too many stories on her. My favorite being a little incident that occured in Mal-function-junction our sophomore year. Love it. Anyway, Katherine, if you are reading this...HAPPY BIRTHDAY later this month! I miss and love you!

whew...i think that is it.

Sad news.

If you are a faithful reader, you might have read about the fact that I volunteer on the weekends with a local hospice by visiting an alzheimer's patient who lives with her daughter and son-in-law. Precious lady.

After visiting with her and her caregivers Saturday, I left her house in tears - I knew it would probably be the last time I saw her. I could tell it was close to time for her to pass.

Well, I got word at about 8:30 this morning that she did, in fact, pass away early this morning. I cried at my desk.

I told myself when I decided to do this that I would not become too attached to the patient. They are hospice patients, and by the definition of hospice - they are all dying. Let me just say that it is much easier said than done. I was so attached to sweet ms. lucille, and her family.

I am going to miss her, but after seeing her on Saturday and seeing the pain and suffering that was going on, I know that it is all for the best. She is in a much better place now - free of all her pain and no more terrible alzheimer's disease. She is free now!

If you are a praying person, please keep her family in your prayers. It was not an unexpected death by any means...they have been preparing for this day for years...but it does not make it any easier. When I was visiting with the family on Saturday, they were all very anxious and felt comepletly helpless. I know they must be experiencing a sense of peace about it all, but death is never easy and they are heartbroken. Just pray for this griefing process. It is not easy, even when the death is so inevitable.

no soup for you. come back one year.

The following may sound like a Seinfeld episode, but it is real life, people.

ok, so I know I mentioned a few posts back about Mississippi being a little...well...plump, but this is taking it to the next level.

According to USA Today, there is currently a bill being proposed by the Mississippi legislature (and I quote)

"Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese..."

It goes on to say that every food establishment in Mississippi will be given the criteria by which a person is considered obese and if the customer falls into that category - tough luck! No food for you!

Can you imagine??? This will never pass, people. I am all about getting our little big problem under control, but is this the way to do it? Isn't it a constitutional right that one can eat?

The punishment for restaurants who continue to serve the chubby?

"The proposal would allow health inspectors to yank the permit from any restaurant that "repeatedly" feeds extremely overweight customers."

What?? Talk about pro-active.

I suggest a slightly different approach:

1)we need to educate the people about nutrition. Some people, i think, are honestly clueless

2) we need to get a handle on our poverty issues. I see a direct correlation between obesity and poverty. Bad food is cheaper, people. Have you seen the 99 cent menus?

3) Get in the schools and get healthy. Children spend the majority of their days during childhood at school and/or in day care. WHY are they serving pizza with cookies and chocolate milk and coke to 2nd graders for lunch? Nutrition is a lifestyle that needs to begin early in life.

Maybe I will call the legislature.

In the meantime, check out the article by clicking here.

I do give props to Mississippi for attempting to fix this problem.

SIDE NOTE: Sophie went to the vet yesterday. She had to get shots, get cut, etc...

Her hair is the shortest I have ever seen!! We have never used the vet for grooming purposes, but she was due for shots and it was just convienent. They left her tail and ears just as long, but everything else is SO short. I am going to have to take a picture.

She kinda looks like the dog to the right..but is still beautiful, of course! Picture to come...

I live with a diva.

And I am not talking about Trey.

Sophie is a complete diva. I have known this for a while now, but her diva-ish ways are becoming more and more apparent.

For example, she won't go outside if it is raining. Or too cold. Or too hot. She refuses to be uncomfortable. Another diva tendency is that she cries if Trey is giving me attention and not her. Really. It is quite pathetic.

Well, last night she was in full diva mode. Trey wasn't feeling too well, so he went to bed earlier than me. He took Sophie with him to the bedroom so I could get work done (she doesn't like it when I clean.) So when I finally am ready to go to bed, I opened the bedroom door to find Sophie sound asleep, curled up next to Trey, under the covers, with her head on a pillow.

When I came back with my camera, she glared up at me as if to say "you are really disturbing my beauty sleep here, mama. If you don't mind, shut the door behind you." She was so mad that I woke her up to take a picture.

Just look at her eyes. she was SO comfy before I took the picture. (trey didn't budge as I was snapping pictures!)

THEN, when I got in bed and tried to pick her up to put her where she sleeps, she became limp and wouldn't move at all, just growling under her breath.

If this is a sign of how we raise children, Trey and I are going to be in trouble in years to come.

my I introduce to you...

THE FUTURE KNIGHTS! Amy has finally created a blog. We discuss blogs (of people we do not know) on a daily basis, so I have been bugging her from some time now to create her own. Check her out: You will LOVE this girl. She is just fabulous! I love Amy!

GO AMY, GO! I will stalk you!

On a different note, I have another food item to share. I know it seems I talk about food alot. What can I say, I love to eat.

I could eat cereal for every meal of every day. In fact, I have been known to do so. In college, I I once ate Fiber One (Amanda called it Rabbit Food) for 4 meals in a row. You could imagine the pain I was in that night...

Well, I found a great cereal - a version of Fiber One, no less. It is a must try. Fiber One Caramel Delight. If you add 2 packs of Splenda, and only splenda - other false sugar packets are crap - it taste like cinnamon toast crunch. Really, it does. Trey disagrees, but I only tell the truth. It is so good. So go out a get you box and enjoy your daily fill of fiber in a delicous carmel and cinnamon goodness.

no laughing matter

This past weekend I discussed a fabulous snack with a fabulous friend. I feel the need to tell of you this snack. Since the said friend is a slacker blogger, I will disclose the secret, which she informed me.

Have you tried the laughing cow cheese? I have had the small cubes of swiss (5 cubes for 60 calories!!!) in my office fridge for sometime now. What a great snack. Get a Wasa cracker in light rye and spread a little laughing cow on it. Yum-me.

Well, I had no idea what I was missing out on by only sticking to the swiss cubes. The light french onion wedges are fabulous. Really. And if you are familar with the WW points system - it is only 1 point!! So now I am adicted. Get yourself a 100 calorie pack of wheat thins and spread a wedge of light french onion laughing cow cheese and have yourself a 3 point delicous snack.

I enjoy it so much that I now close my office door when I eat it so I can kick my feet up and close my eyes. It is just so divine.

You all can thank me later for spreading the word. I think I will go have a snack now...

I have been tagged ...and videos

First things first, Henry is just precious. I had a conference in Jackson last week, so naturally I went by to kiss his cheeks. He is just so cute. I can't even stand it. He is so big and smart. Probably the smartest 13 month child ever. (it is okay for me to brag, people. It's not my kid)

Here are a few precious things he is doing now:

1) walking - EVERYWHERE. It took him a while to not want to crawl. It was faster for him to crawl than walk. Well, no more - he is wild.
2) If you ask him "how big is Henry?" he throws both arms up in the air like "SO BIG!"
3) He will point to his nose, mouth and eyes if you ask him to. Genious.
4) If you ask him how old he is, he holds up 1 finger
5) he points to pictures of himself and says "baby. baby. baby. baby" over and over.

I will stop at 5.

Here are a couple of videos of him. Pictures are hard to take now because he does not sit still. ENJOY!

***The one in the bathtub is him showing us his "funny face". Kristen gave him a lemon a few weeks ago for the first time and he made this face. She laughed, so now he thinks it is funny. If you ask him to "show me your funny face", this is what he does. presh. ***

Henry's Funny Face from Heather on Vimeo.


Untitled from Heather on Vimeo.

Now on to the tag from Laura. I am supposed to pick my favorite number and list that many random facts about myself. So, readers, here are 7 highly random things about me.
1. My feet are always cold. ALWAYS. This is new to me, and I hate it.

2. I have wanted to adopt a Chinese little girl since I was about 10. Trey does not. I pray God puts the desire in his heart and he is praying God will take it out of mine. I bet God wins.

3. I never changed my major in college, but from my freshman year (2001) to now, I have wanted to do 6 different, and very unrelated, things for a living. From freelancing websites, a counselor, opening a monograming store, to OT school.

4. I want a little girl. Not now, of course, but when I do have a baby, I want a girl. Why? So I can buy ruffled bloomers with her initials monnogramed on them. She (or he, for that matter) will wear plenty of smockings.

5. I always said I would never marry a hunter or a boy who drove a pickup truck. God has a sense of humor. I now plan weekends around hunting season.

6. I have a bald spot on my head. Shiny as can be. It's always been there. It is a dent in my skull. My hair covers it, no worries.

7. I have never been pulled over for a ticket. I am not, however, above crying to the cop if need be.