Tonight Abby prayed for me because I'm not feeling well. I was so touched by her sweet prayer until the part where she said, "and when she wakes up tomorrow may she be refreshed and nude".

I'm hoping God will spare the house and just allow me to feel renewed instead.

The facts: Mike and I have a two sink bathroom. Mike has no problem keeping his sink clean. I have a problem keeping my sink clean (you know, toothpaste remnants and all that). The master bathroom is the last frontier of our house, so I don't mind a messy sink....nobody EVER sees this room.

"Mom. Can you please not give me the white jelly beans? They taste like machines."

Hopefully you've gotten up off the floor after having fallen from the shock of seeing a new post from me. Are you ok? Hopefully it's just minor scratches and bruises. Now, don't get too cozy in your seat, this will be a short one. Starting off with an apology for my absence, and no promises about my activity going forward. I'm just in a bit of a busy season - what can you do.

But, my readers are important to me...and I'm trying my best to keep y'all updated. I do have some good material to post soon...one of them may be a picture of something I've knitted around a street pole in Middle TN. Stay tuned.

For now, here's a little nibble for you to whet your Adventures appetite.

BACKGROUND: Mike waking Abby up for school

THE CONVO:
Mike: "Abby, wake up honey, it's time to get up...what can I make you for breakfast?"

Abby: (Groggy and Tired) "Is sleep on the menu?"


BACKGROUND: Fast forward 10 minutes...in the kitchen for breakfast

THE CONVO:
Mike: "So what is it going to be?"
Abby: "Can I have a piece of toast?"
Mike: "Sure...do you want some cereal with that?"
Abby: "No, that's too many grains"

I don't know where she would have gotten something like that from...???!!!

Thanks to The Pioneerwoman for providing the material for today's post. Mike and I had some fun tonight over at Yearbook Yourself. It's a website where you upload a photo of yourself and....well, you'll see what happens down below. Folks, let me tell you. This is 35 minutes of my life I am never getting back. Not to mention I had to dig up a photo of myself (I managed to find one of the 3 in existence)...AND, I think I may need counseling after seeing these pictures of Mike (and vice versa).

Without further ado...let's take a trip back in time.

Here we are back in the 1960's...


I actually fancy this pairing...Mike looks more like a Math professor than a student.


I think here I was in that phase where I really wanted Mike to rock it like Andy Gibb...


Do you ever have that urge to hang a disco ball over your dining room table? Don't ever give in to that urge...trust me.



Remember those awkward years where some days you'd have to pick a shirt that just didn't quite go with your Member's Only jacket so you'd have to leave it at home for the day? Or you couldn't find the pair of shoulder pads that went in your Forenza sweater so you had to be at school all day without that extra padding?


This is too much photo brushed fun...I'll have to call it a day. If you end up "yearbooking" yourself, don't be shy - send me a picture!! C'mon, I shared with you...it's only fair.

love & drug-store perms,

k

SECRET MESSAGE: My chains are gone!

Thought I'd start off with a little TN humor:

You know you’re from Tennessee if:

• You measure distance in minutes.
  
• You’ve ever had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.
  
• You use “fix” as a verb. Example: “I’m fixing to go to the store
  
• All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
  
• You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
  
• You know what a “VOL” is.
  
• You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit “a little warm”.
  
• You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.
  
• You know whether another Tennessean is from east, west or middle Tennessee as soon as they open their mouth.
  
• Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as”goin’ Wal-martin” or off to “Wally World”.
  
• You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.
  catfish is the other white meat.
  
  
  Now, I can actually attest to a few of these...a few others I don't know what they mean....and, the rest just scare me. The bit about going from A/C to Heat in the same day is so true! The weather since we've been here is all over the place. We heard someone say, "If you don't like the weather in Tennessee, just wait two days - it will change". We've seen mostly beautiful 70 degree (no humidity) days mixed with a few warm (89 degree) days and some heavy rainin' days. Now when August rolls around, I may be gettin' my tail feathers all ruffled...just wait and see.
  
  So - I thought you might like to get a little update from the 'boro. As much as I want to go soak in the tub and go to sleep right now, I opted for blogging so that you wonderful people can be in the Club Amaro "know".
  
  The apartment is coming along...all the rooms are in what I call "anxiety producing functionality". What I mean by this is that the rooms are all operational, but in such a way that produces anxiety to those who need rooms to operate in a clean and tidy kind of way...you catch my meaning? For example - the office/guest/scrapbooking/storage room is working out great (it's a large room - more than we are accustom to)... With the exception of the laundry basket, plastic tote and wire organizer rack that sit right in the middle of the room piled or filled with highly important papers and such that have no organization whatsoever. Or - another example would be the 14 boxes that are stacked neat and high in the dining room...all of which are labeled "knick knacks"....WHAT? Why do I have 14 boxes of knick knacks? What is a knick knack? I'm so glad we spent thousands of dollars to transport 14 boxes of knick knacks thousands of miles so that I could ponder that. Also - we have no living room furniture yet....this gives me great anxiety....there are no surfaces whatsoever for my 14 boxes of knick knacks! Geesh! Anyway - you certainly don't need to be bothered with my weird idiosyncrasies so I will stop there...actually, the truth is that I'm starting to hyperventilate from this topic and it's interfering with my typing. Ok, just kidding...
  
  Kidding aside, the apartment is great - things are coming along even though we question why we have some of the stuff we do. People - hear me now.....TAKE INVENTORY of what you have and ask yourself....why do I have this. If you can't honestly answer then bless somebody by giving it to them....or, chuck it.
  
  We have been having a ton of fun with Bonni, Michael and the kids - especially Abby. I could be somewhat offended that Abby prefers the company of 4 kids to hanging out with me, but it does give me great pleasure to see her run around with them, getting dirty, acting crazy and making "leaf stew" in the field in front of their house. Abby is adjusting wonderfully to her new apartment as well as her buddies. In my attempt to help her "talk out" any hidden feelings, I took her out to lunch the other day - just me and her - and we talked about things and what we missed about home. As she listed off her friends from back home that she missed, her eyes were sad... But later on that day, she received a card from her friend Natalie back home that made her day! It was a precious drawing of friends and flowers...Abby loved it and made the comment, "Natalie is a great artist." (Thanks Shell - please let Natalie know what perfect timing that card had!).
  
  Mike has jumped right into working from home....we were able to hook our DSL up pretty quick so there was a smooth transition. BofA is very kind to their remote employees giving them a stipend for office equipment (furniture, supplies, phone, shredded, etc.) so that will help him feel more official :)
  
  Well, I think there is plenty more to write about, but the Epsom salts are calling to me...."soak....soak.....soak".
  
  I hope everyone is doing well - please don't give up on us....stay in touch - even if you don't get a response right away, know that we love hearing from home and family. We hope that you will even consider coming to visit - we promise to treat you to a meal at our favorite bbq place.
  
  blessings from the 'boro,
  k