Surprise!

Shawn's 30th birthday is this year. It's next Sunday actually. He was excited and kept telling me he hopes he has a surprise party at church this year since his birthday is on Sunday. Hee!! So I planned a surprise party for him and actually surprised him. Of course I had to do it earlier than on his birthday in order for it to be a surprise. His parents came in to town and spent the night with us and he really enjoyed that. We don't see his parents often so when they do visit, he loves it.


I had the party at Shoguns Japanese Steakhouse in Owensboro. They have a party room that seats about 21 people and I had it packed with family and friends....Shawn's parents, his brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, one of Shawn's coworkers, our friends and their parents. Shawn's coworkers birthday was the day before the party, so Shawn and Richard got to stand up and do the chicken dance to the birthday song. It was hilarious. Our chefs prepared some yummy food, along with an enjoyable show. I got a cake from Piece of Cake and we enjoyed that after dinner.

The planning of the party was the best part. I was hoping that no one would slip up and tell Shawn about it and I'm proud to say that he had NO CLUE about the party. The ride from our house to the restaurant was the longest car ride ever. Shawn kept saying things to make me think that he might of known what was going on. People kept calling asking where we were at. If you know my husband, he makes us late to everything, so I had to keep having fake conversations with people on the phone. It was making me a nervous wreck.

2008 Rockport Christmas Parade

This year's Rockport Christmas parade was on Saturday, December 6 (my birthday :)). I remember going every year as a kid. Standing out in the cold watching the floats go by and trying to get as much candy as possible. You were out there with bags to get your loot, standing on the sidewalks and inching out into the road as much as you could without getting in trouble for not being on the sidewalks. I even remember being in the parade a few times. Once I rode on the Girl Scout/Brownie troop float. Once in the marching band in 7th grade. I'm sure there were other times. Once I got older, I stopped going. But about 3 years ago, I started going again and it's been so much fun. Standing on the streets with my family and friends, all bundled up from the freezing cold weather, watching the floats go by and trying to see if I know anyone.

2008 HSC Christmas Party

Friday night was the annual HSC Christmas party at the Evansville Country Club. Shawn and I go every year, even though I don't really want to, and we always end up having an enjoyable time. Our table partners this year were Pam and Don, Randy and Ann, and a new lady and her husband. They are from Bombay and she will be working for us during our 1040 tax season. The company was good and the meal was delicious. Here are a few pics that were taken.

Shawn and I (and my way too short new haircut!)

Me, Shirley and Pam

Pam and Don

Laura and Jason

 

Black Friday Shopping = One More Month on the Dave Ramsey Program

I am NOT a black friday shopper, however Shawn is. So at 4:20 a.m. he comes in and kisses me goodbye and out the door he went. He is supposed to get two things that are going to be Christmas gifts - a computer monitor for his parents and a PS2 game for his brother. However as we both looked through the ads, there was lots of great deals thrown out there. Deals we don't need, but who knows what he comes home with ... hopefully it's that new set of red luggage, the little vaccum I want for downstairs and that new camera lens. Hee!! I'll post pics of all the "great deals" once he gets home.



Is anyone else out there doing any shopping?

Edited to add...

Well he's back. No camera lens :*(

I did get a new set of red luggage which we used this weekend. And that new vaccum cleaner for the downstairs. I hated lugging that huge vaccum up and down the stairs everytime I vaccum and it was a killer when vaccuming the staircase. He got the computer monitor for his parents for Christmas and a PS2 game for his brother for Christmas and then he got himself a generic version of a Wii. Shawn left at 4:20 a.m. and went to Penny's, Macy's, back to Penny's, Best Buy, Sams, Walmart and to Hardee's and made it back home by 7:30 a.m. Pretty good timing, but not enough for me to go next year. Sorry honey!

He did encounter one altercation at Macy's that involved a lady running to a jewelry case to get a watch and then hurting herself. People are crazy!

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving has come and gone, too bad all the weight I gained yesterday won't do the same thing. We had Thanksgiving at my mom's house like we have had every year since Grandma Goebel passed away. There was LOTS of yummy food and LOTS of family there. My mom's house is entirely too small for all those people and I still have a headache from it all, but it was a good time. I am truly blessed.

Trenton coloring his letter to Santa. This kid is too cute!


Frass in her party dress.

There is my Hersey Bell and his Aunt Besses.

All the kids (minus Turtle).

Turtle following in his Aunt Stacey's footsteps. Sminle :)

Uncle Dave and "Cuz" Hope

Shawn and AJ. Shawn spent the entire day and night on the four wheelers. Maybe Santa will bring him one next year.

Thank you Lord for protecting me.

The Lord truly is a blessing in our lives. Sunday evening on our way to Church, Shawn and I experienced his protecting hand upon us. I had just gotten to the bottom of the ramp at Green River Road and I-164 to turn right onto Green River Road. There was a car coming, so I stopped instead of merging onto the road. The car was going a lot slower than I thought so I told Shawn I should of gunned it. Then just a few minutes later, as we get close to the road that our church sits on, two vehicles came tearing through the intersection without stopping and ran the stop sign. If I hadn’t of yielded for those few seconds earlier, those two vehicles would of hit us in the driver’s side of the car. Thank you Lord for keeping your protection upon as we traveled to your house to worship you.

There was one other time in my life that I can recall so vividly that this very thing happened. I was sitting at a stop light downtown and just as it turned green for me to go, a little old lady started across the crosswalk. I had to sit there and wait for her and I remember complaining because she was walking so slowly. I immediately felt conviction for this and said a prayer of apology to God. At the very next stop light, right as I got up to the light to turn left, a car came barreling through a red light and would of taken out the driver’s side of the car. But because of that little old lady, I was spared. What an amazing God we serve!

Is this gas pump working right?

That's what I asked out loud at the gas station tonight. I filled my car up for $23...and I had to squeeze that last 58¢ in there. Are you kidding me? Normally it's been costing me around $60 to fill out. I love it!!! Cheaper gas prices means I can spend extra on myself now ... :) Have a great night!

Trial run for Christmas card pics

Since I've got the good camera this year, and the tripod, I think I am going to make photo Christmas cards to send out to family and friends instead of regular cards. So Sunday when Shawn and I were dressed in our best....LOL....meaning Shawn wasn't in his WOW shirt, I set the tripod up upstairs and took some pics of us. These ones I'm posting are the better of all the shots. I'd like to get a picture with the cats too, but I know that there is no way that that will happen, so I found some layouts for cards with mutiple pictures, so I'll have to do that in order to get the cats on the cards too.

This first picture is my favorite and the one I believe I am going to use for our cards. Now I just have to figure out if I want it to be in color or black and white.

Zoe

Zoe. My bestest little buddy! That's what I call her. Saturday Bowen and the kids came over so he could take a look at our backyard fence area to see how he could fix it so that our puppy wouldn't get out if we left in the backyard for long periods of time. (That will be a whole different post.) Zoe stayed with me while Bowen and Brent left to go get some supplies and to pick up Heather before they all came back over for dinner. I love taking pictures and looking at pictures and someday want to go pro. We have that empty bonus room upstairs with nothing in it and I think it would make a great studio. So Heather, Zoe, and I went upstairs to to do a "shoot". LOL!! I know I'm going to need a lot more practice and figure out the lighting up there cause I got shadows on a bunch of these pics. (In the post of pictures of Shawn and I, I used a different wall for the pics and didn't get the shadow as much.)

My Loves

Just some pictures I took of Shawn and Hershey last night.

And my other loves...

Clifford

Molly

And then these were taken tonight when I was outside trying to retrieve the cat after he slipped out on me. Shawn would have a fit if he knew that both cats had actually gotten outside on me. I had the dog and two cats outside and I was trying to gather the cats without burning the house down while cooking supper. It was a card!

Fwd: Hair Removal

For those of you who wax, you will understand fully and those who don't will never make this mistake. Better go pee before you read this. This by far is one of the funniest things I have ever read. ~ This is why I shave!! Hope to put a smile on your face: Hair Removal..

(I don't have a clue who wrote this, but WHAT A RIOT!)

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - the Epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax. Read on..

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, and play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: 'Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet.' So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those 'cold wax' kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off.

No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. It's two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees.

('Cold wax,' yeah.. Right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. IT WORKS!

Ok, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down the inside of my butt cheek (it *was* a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself.... RRRRRRIIIIIIPPPPPP!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!!.....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted. I think I may pass out..must stay conscious.. must stay conscious.

Do I hear crashing drums???? Breathe, breathe. OK, back to normal. I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip. There's no hair on it. Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX????

Slyly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip.. It's not!! I touch. I am touching wax.

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake... remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do next and think to myself 'Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!' What can I do to melt the wax?

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???? *WRONG!!!!!!!*

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub..in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter 'So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!'

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, 'are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?'

She's laughing out loud by now... I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!! RIGHT!!!! I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through the various solutions, I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better than having your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace..the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!

The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. Its sooo painful, but I really don't care. 'IT WORKS!!!! It works!!!!'

I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair..THE HAIR IS STILL THERE..ALL OF IT!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color!

The Church Family Retreat

Our church family retreat was this past weekend and what a great time it was. Garvin and Angie did a great job of putting it all together and making sure there was lots of fun, fellowship and food! It was held at a place called Temple Hills Retreat Center in Stendal, Indiana, which is just north east of Lynnville. Most everyone that went, went up Friday evening and stayed the night. Some just came up on Saturday. Shawn and I planned on spending the night too, but I talked us both right out of that. I didn't want to have to pack two suitcases, pillows, blankets, sheets, toiletries, etc. for just one night and I didn't want to have to bother someone to come and let our puppy out during the night or really early in the morning. I'm glad that we didn't spend the night. I'm not a camper, and even though we weren't camping, the sleeping arrangements in the bunk areas would have been roughing it for me. LOL!! The beds were smaller than twin-size, basically a cot, with a thin little mattress on a piece of plywood sitting on the frame. No thank you! I welcomed sleeping on my king-size pillow-top mattress. The retreat center was only about a 45 minute drive from our house, so we drove out there Friday evening for a few hours, left about 1:00 in the morning and drove home, and then got back up at 5:30 Saturday morning to be at the center by 8:00 for breakfast.

Friday evening we had a light snack of popcorn, chips and salsa, and chocolates/candies, played a game, had fellowship and then called it a night.

Saturday morning we had fruit and bagels/toast for breakfast. We had a husband and wife from the American Red Cross come out and talk to us about first aid and safety. We also learned some of the basic technqiues for victims that are choking or have stopped breathing. I also learned that I need to have a disaster relief kit ready because you never know when you may need it. After that we had lunch and then free time. For lunch we had lunch meat sandwiches (kind of like subway sandwiches) and chips. After lunch I went outside and took pictures of the kids playing on the playground and just being silly. A bunch of us then took a walk down to the lake on the property and a hike through the woods. Even though it was freezing outside, it was still lots of fun. Once we got back to the shelter house, the adults played a game and just hung out before dinner. For the game, each adult tied a balloon to a piece of string and then tied it around your ankle. The object of the game was to pop everyone else's balloon without getting yours popped. It was hilarious to see everyone running around popping balloons. Of course, I think I was one of the first to get my balloon popped so I had plenty of time to take pictures of everyone else. For dinner we had chili and potato soup, peanut butter sandwiches, and crackers and then played a game of Family Fued before packing everything up and heading back to our individual homes. Team Disney took the win in the Family Fued game. We rock!!

Shawn and I got home around 8:30 and I was completely exhausted and fell asleep on the couch. The retreat was lots of fun and I look forward to next years.

Shawn and I learning CPR and my pastor thinking that he's funny!

Some of the kids playing outside.

Shawn and our Pastor

Taking a walk to the lake. It was freezing outside.

Here we are getting ready to play the balloon popping game. You'll notice the cheater!

Yes, that's a knife concoction he's got on his one shoe. Cheater!