Thankful Turkeys

HaPpY TuRkEy DaY!!!

Yay! A season of eating and counting blessings has begun. Here's some things that I'm thankful for this season:

I'm thankful for silky soft blonde hair that Payton lets me endlessly run my fingers through. He's a trooper when it comes to letting his mom love him - he is my baby after all even though he's 10! He is so fun to have around: to tease, to play with, to give kisses to, and to be in awe of his incredible talent of catching quarters on his ELBOW!!! heehee

Love ya, Patey.

I'm thankful for a 12 year old daughter who still likes to hang out with her mom and have meaningful and fun conversations. I love the way she listens to me and wants my opinion on stuff! Yay! (One out of four kids ain't bad!!!) Let's hope it continues - check in next year at this time!

Love ya, Linds!

I'm thankful for a daughter who exhibits such devotion to friends and family. She's a friend to so many and loves to laugh and have fun - especially at 11:00 at night when she's toilet papering her friend's houses. This kid is always looking for something fun to do and if she can't find something, she's texting someone to find something.

Love ya, Kourt!

I'm thankful for a daughter who is independent, motivated, funny, and smart. She knows a lot about a lot and, at such a young age, I am impressed with her depth. Next year at this time it will be a sweet reunion as she visits from college - I can't believe I just said that. She was just born, you know!

Love ya, Lyss!

I'm thankful for the guy that listens to me, eats what I put in front of him, laughs at my silly remarks, pays our bills, makes money to pay our bills, supports me, lets me vent, buys feminine products for the women in this family without batting an eye, and loves me for ME!

Love ya, Alfred!

OK, we took the picture right after he unbuttoned his shirt to get out of his church clothes.


Just a few more things to be thankful for:
$1.77 gallon of gas
2 days of no paper correcting
shopping at 5 in the morning with my girls
sleeping in past 4:45 am
seeing how the light fills the house at times of day when I'm usually at school
a new sports braaaaaahhh
cleaning things I usually don't have time to clean - yay!

It's the little things, isn't it?


I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving dinner, and post-Thanksgiving shopping trips!

No Twilight for me, thanks...

OK, so I'm NOT a fan of Twilight books. Just look at my profile, peeps!

I didn't like the first one - thought it was a total TIME SUCK, but, I thought I'd give the second one a shot -

another TIME SUCK, and don't ask me why I even bothered with the third one.

I'm ashamed to admit I actually read the third after not even liking the first two.

But mark my words:
I will not read the fourth one. I will not read the fourth one. I will not read the fourth one.

Up to this point in time, I thought that Alyssa, Kourtni's friend's mom Shawna, and I were the only three people who actually thought these books were brainless and empty with a leading character who lacked any depth or charisma.

That is until now! After stalking Bill's cousin's blog and some of her friends' blogs as well (I know, it's an addiction, people!!!), I came across the most intellectually stimulating review of the Twilight "books" that I have ever read.

You can read it here.

Trust me - it's a very thoughtful analysis of what I've been feeling all along! (I just couldn't put it into words like an English major could!!!)

Thank you, thank you, "brilliant leslie"!

My thoughts and feelings about these pitiful books have been totally justified!!

I can now finish the rest of my day on a happy note!
And by the way, if you want to read a really good piece of vampire literature, read:

The Historian
by
Elizabeth Kostova

Now that's a vampire book!

Shine On

Mom: "My, that looks like it hurts. Did you cry when it happened?" Him: "A little."
Mom: "Did you go to the nurse?" Him: "Yep."
Mom: "Did she give you some ice?" Him: "Yep."
Mom: "Did you keep playing football?" Him: "Yep."

We had FuN watching the colorful changes of the bruising of Payton's eye take place during the course of a week, then, overnight, he was back to his normal, white skin tone. Mother Nature is really something!

It's fun having a boy hanging around.

Free stuff from Oprah

I like Oprah. Or. Maybe it's just that I would like to be Oprah, on occasion, which, I guess, is not the same as liking her.

• I'd like to have a great wardrobe.
  
• I'd like to have someone do my hair each day without EVER having a bad hair day.
  
• I'd like someone to do my make up so that I look fresh and fancy each day.
  
• I'd like to have a magazine with my picture on the cover making me look about 10 years younger and quite a bit slimmer.
  

Did I mention I'd like to have a great wardrobe? Do you like Oprah like I like Oprah? Well, even if you don't, do you like her favorite things?

Well, even if you don't, do you like free things?

A friend from school told me that if you click here
you can upload your photos and make your own free hard bound book from Snapfish. It's a about a $30.00 book and all you have to pay is the shipping and handling of about $7.00! Another friend of mine has made several of these cute, fun, cool, personalized books with pictures of her family and they are adorable! Go now! Hurry, before it's too late because...

The only catch with this offer is that you have to redeem your coupon by midnight tonight - Friday, the 14th- and use it by November 22 at 11:59 PM!

I like Oprah. And I like free things, so I'm there!

Lipitor girl

Cheerios or oatmeal, anyone???

For most of my teen and adult life, I have been oh, so fascinated, with exercise and good nutrition. I have chosen to eat wheat infused Chips Ahoy cookies, sneak wheat flour into the banana bread, eat brown rice with a happy expression on my face - gotta love that nutty texture, family - and make my sandwiches from 100% whole wheat Classic Harvest bread with no high fructose corn syrup in it. I have frequently passed on soda at restaurants instead going for the water option, and I hardly ever buy pop at the store unless there is a big BSU game, Super Bowl game, or another special televised event on. I opt for dark chocolate - preferrably 70% or more cacao...hehehe that's a funny word, cacao. To be careful with calories and portion sizes I've counted out many wheat thins and Triscuits to carry to school for part of my lunch. I've mentally kept track of the various fruits and vegetables I've consumed during the day so as to make sure that I get my 5-a day the colorful way! I've eaten tomatoes from the garden ad-naseum, and have stunk up the whole house in the cooking of broccoli and cauliflower.

I work out at least 6 days of the week - as well as Sunday if you count Bill and me going for a nice, long walk after dinner is over. I strength train at 2 to 3 times a week as well, and I'm not saying any of this to toot my own horn, because right now my horn is not in the tooting mood.

My horn is not in the tooting mood because I received my "health profile" on Friday in the mail. I participated in this at school and had my blood drawn, bloop pressure taken, hips and waist measured, received a free pedometer, AND a Starbuck's $5 gift card. In return I got the rating of 44 out of 100 as my score... Yes, folks, my health is "in need of improvement".

For.Pete's.Sake.

My cholesterol is borderline high with a total score of 221. My blood pressure is "high" with a reading of 122/64. I don't handle stress well - WHAT'S NEW? I get too little sleep - uh, that's because I have to get up early to go exercise, duh... And I haven't had a mammogram yet. Truth be told I'm afraid to have my little assets squeezed between some huge robotic frigid plates...I don't want pancakes on my front. But I know I need to get it done...

So, as a result of this unwelcome news:

I've tried not to be too depressed. I've tried to picture myself as an actress on those Lipitor commercials. I've checked each label of food I've eaten to make sure there isn't too much cholesterol, fat, sodium, or high fructose corn syrup in it. I've tried to figure out how I can get more exercise into my day. I've written down the telephone number for the mammogram sadists. I've sworn to drink only skim milk from now on. I've tried to think about going to a happy place when my class of 5th graders goes a bit nuts this week. And the list will continue to go on and I will continue to worry and wonder about what I can or, quite possibly, cannot do to thwart any unforeseen health conditions that may arise as a result of this "health report". Deep breaths, happy thoughts, prayer, and run. A lot.

At least I got something right, however, I always wear my seatbelt!

Go to my blog!

Ok so this is Lindsay talking and, guess what, I made a blog! Hooray for me. Anyways, to get to MY blog type in: lindsaylou2.blogspot.com.Go there now ok? Alright, see you there. Bye!

No gypsies this year...

Where have all the gypsies gone? There were plenty of Hannah Montanas, Spidermen, witches, princesses, Darth Vaders, and such, but not one gypsy came trick or treating to the Ball house on Halloween. When I was a kid, I was a gypsy for about 6 years out of the 8 or so years I got to go trick or treating. As a matter of fact, the 5th graders in my class really didn't even know what a gypsy was when I gave them that word as part of their Halloween spelling list. I had to try my best to be politically correct while describing what the word meant. Lots of confused looks surfaced as I rambled on and on about roaming bands of nomadic people in modern times... I mean, come on, people, where have all the gypsies gone?

Maybe it was so easy to be a gypsy because of all the 100s of canning rings that were floating around the kitchen during my childhood, due to the fact that my mother was the number one "Home Canning Extraordinaire"! I didn't have pierced ears, but We.Had.Canning.Rings! Simply slip a string around the ring, make a loop, and hang it around your ear for gypsy glamour! That, plus a lot of mismatched clothing, a long skirt, and a lovely head scarf of some type...usually a hand towel or a clean cloth baby diaper...and you were a gypsy! No one during the 70s had to ask what you were when you appeared on their doorstep. It was crystal clear: "What a cute gypsy you are! I love your beautiful earrings!"

Little did I know when I was younger that my children would never dress as gypsies, except for Alyssa when she dressed as Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Do kids nowadays even know that Disney made that show???)

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have children portraying their father's occupation...



Or, dressing as I did during high school...



Or, wanting to be a crazy B S U fan???




Who would have thought? Not me, but then again, none of my kids would be very good gypsies anyway, because we have no cloth diapers or canning rings floating around the kitchen.