Methinks I need some Minions

Last night was the first night of my annual "Week-of-no-redheads" observance - that time of year when Jason and Little AM get a "vacation" and I do not, because I am so "vital" to the "operations" at my "job" that no one can fill in for me for a week.

In honor of WONR, Amanda (pictured above) and I typically try to have a girls' night out. One year, it was Vietnamese food and Napoleon Dynamite. Another, it was Vietnamese food (from a different place) and Batman Begins. This year, it was Pei Wei (are you sensing an Asian-centric vibe to our food choices?) and Despicable Me.

Since she works at the most-awesome Muddy's Bake Shop, which is across the street from the equally-awesome Paradiso Theater, someone came by last week and offered free passes to a sneak peak of the movie.

(Yeah. Anna Marie still doesn't know I went to see it without her!)

She is off this week because Muddy's closed for a "break," and the two of us painted the town yellow. Or as yellow as you can paint it on a budget and a weeknight.

(We lived dangerously, though - snuck in snacks in my purse! Power to the people!)

Thankfully, the theater showed it on a HUGE screen in a HUGE room, so there was plenty good room for all the freeloaders.

I didn't know much about this movie before last night, which I guess was a good thing. I watched a trailer this morning, and many of the jokes were included there (but were surprises to me.) But don't worry - this isn't one of those movies where all the best jokes are in the trailer!

Gru is a villain (voiced by Steve Carell) who needs to step up his bad-guy game due to competition from up-and-coming baddies. He adopts three girls from a local orphanage to help in one of his schemes, but does not expect to be won over by their love.

It was a really, really sweet movie. And funny. Did I mention funny? Laugh-out-loud funny. Not just 10-year-old toilet humor, either. I felt it was a really family-friendly-flick.

As it was a promotional event, meant to build buzz, they did have folks stationed at the exits writing down comments. We, however, were not approached personally.

We were blessed to see it in 3D, and my Android phone had a Best Buy movie app that kicked in magically as the credits rolled, translating the Minions' language. Amanda and I thought it really added to the film, and I figure other smart phones have the app as well.

I'm planning on sending Anna Marie and my mom to see this when she gets back, and downloading the app onto my mom's Hero so they can join in too.

Disclaimer: I got a free ticket to this movie, but they didn't ask me to do anything promotional in return. I'm just doing this in the name of good, family-friendly fun.

Best.Valentine's.Ever.

Sweet lawd, I've had an awesome Valentine's Day. Or days, since my celebrations started Friday night.

(I know there are some anti-Valentine's people out there. I am very sorry for you, because even if you either don't have a sweetheart, or think a day of forced affection is dumb, you can still celebrate love in general. You do love SOMEONE, right? RIGHT?)

Friday, Jason had to work unexpectedly, due to Tuesday's "weather situation" here in the Midsouth. He came home from work and, in a surprise move, said that my mom had offered her babysitting services if we wanted to go out for an early Valentine's date.

(Mom offering her services wasn't the surprise here. It was Jason wanting to go out after he'd been at work since 3 a.m.)

Somehow, we gathered our collective strength and went out to dinner at Logan's. Man, I love a good steak and a sweet potato!

When we got out to the parking lot to go home, he pulled out a huge red bag. Guess what was inside - can you guess? Well, can you?

Here's a hint: I'm typing on it right now!

That's right - he got me a netbook! A cute little 10" emachines, and I love it so much I'd probably marry it if I wasn't already spoken for.

(KIDDING, dear!)

But seriously? Having my own computer rocks. So many times I have to wait for Jason or Anna Marie to get off the desktop or the laptop before I can do something I need to do. No more! This baby is all mine!

(He gave it to me Friday night, because he knows me pretty well after all these years, and he correctly guessed that I'd be too distracted by the thought of a new toy during this morning's service to get anything out of it. He hit the nail on the head, as usual.)

Anna Marie had a look I can only describe as "crestfallen" when she saw it and realized it wasn't for her. I've never actually seen her so openly envious, and it made me very sad. I explained that it would keep her from having to wait for me to get done with one of the other computers, and that if I took good care of it, it might be passed down to her one day.

She was down with that.

Today, we had church, and Amanda met us at Cici's afterwards for lunch. We had some really good coupons (naturally) and I figured it was Anna Marie's turn to get a Valentine's treat, so we went to one of her favorite places. Amanda brought the dozen toffee bars I'd ordered Jason from her job, and surprised me with a dozen of their famous "pucker up" lemon mini cupcakes and Anna Marie with a little apron and a box filled with "love potion" cookies and a "baby pie."

Yes, we're all going to have horrible sugar hangovers in the morning. Did I mention that I'd already gotten Anna Marie a little box of chocolates this morning, or that she had a whole bag left over from school Friday? Or that Jason asked me to bake him a caramel cake last night?

We're all going to need a detox tomorrow. This might possibly be worse than Christmas.

Anna Marie also had her dance class's annual performance at a nursing home, and a handbell/choir concert tonight. Amanda came down to do laundry and spend time with The Kid, and they had a couple of rousing games of Battleship between them.

We have been busy, busy folks today.

It's raining/snowing again outside, and I'm not even sure if we'll have school tomorrow. The temperatures are supposed to drop into the mid-20's, and I'm a little worried about all that precipitation on the roads freezing.

At least if we get snowed in, we'll have plenty of sugar calories to sustain us.

Editor's note: Don't worry about Jason only getting toffee bars while I got a netbook. He's got a surprise winging its way from Amazon.com, if the weather will allow it to come through!

That which shall not be named

Well, if you must know, this is what is going on today, but we shan't talk about it.



Instead, we shall talk about yesterday, which, being my birthday, I took off from work.

And, since Jason had to work, Little AM and I had a little mom-daughter time.

We went to the auction for lunch, and, wouldn't you know it, I got pressed in to service - first as a cashier, and then on the serving line.

Such is the pitfall of a family-owned business.

I had promised Anna Marie we'd do something special, since it was my birthday, and it was the last day of summer break, so we went to the movies to see Space Chimps. Cute movie, lots of pop culture references, yada, yada, yada.

And then the main event - the obligatory dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.

Where Anna Marie's preferred method of eating spaghetti was this:



Which resulted in this:




And Anna Marie pretending to return the favor:



Of course, there was the other birthday girl, coyly sipping her Diet Coke with no ice:



And the obligatory Anna Marie posing on the giant dragon carvings in the entry way.



So, we won't talk about this morning - because some of us are still recovering, and have lots and lots of paperwork to fill out between now and tomorrow morning.

Nope, we won't talk about it at all.

Dear little sister

You should know by now that, on this your birthday, I'm going to raid your Flickr account and find the rare picture of you, and use it to illustrate your obligatory Happy Birthday post.

(You should also know that I spent a good time over at that Flickr account yesterday, scouting for a picture, and saw lots of Anna Marie photos that I didn't know existed. Good on ya.)

And, you should know that our relationship makes me kind of sad that Anna Marie doesn't have a kid sister for when she grows up. Notice I said "for when she grows up," because I don't think anyone would want her to have a kid sister now whom she could potentially treat like I treated you when we were kids.

You should know that I'm really proud of you, for all the "big things" you've done in your life - going to England alone, seeking out a VW when that was the car you really wanted (and who knew it would later save your life?), moving in with that frat house full of boys, and now, taking on a ministry position.

Some people might say that you haven't accomplished much in your 28 years. Those people would be wrong. Those people (and I think we both know of whom I speak) need to learn to look past their own limited view of what life is, and what it can be.

I'm proud that you recently told me that you were "super content" right now. That means more to me, I guess, because I know that "right now" is a transitional time for you, and that things are a wee bit difficult, but you're content anyway.

That's awesome. And it makes me a little jealous.

You should know that you're the best Aunt Manda ever (and I should know, because my kid currently has three of them. If we could convince Becky to change her name before she marries Jonathan, we'd be four for four.)

(And yes, Jason has four brothers, but they're all currently married to women not named Amanda, and have been for a while. So I guess Jonathan is our last hope.)

You should know that any "hipness" I lay claim to probably came at your hand - Catherine Tate, David Tennant, Ricky Gervais - all were introduced to me by you.

(Well, not literally, but how awesome would it be to meet them? All of them in the same room, even? I can barely stand the thought of it.)

Happy Birthday, Amanda. You are teh awsim.

* You should probably also know that I expect full payment for all the nice stuff I said in this post, preferably in the form of baked goods.

I am a lazy lima bean.

Well, no, actually, I'm a busy lima bean.

I have a few pictures (and a video!) from Saturday's recital, 'tis true. Except, I can't find my camera right at the moment. I think it may be in Jason's Jeep, but we've been like two ships passing in the night for most of this week and I keep forgetting to go out there and look.

So, for now, you'll have to visit Amanda's blog. You can see her take on the recital (and a few pics from afterward) here and see a day in the life of Anna Marie's summer job at the auction here.

Fear not, bloggy friends - I have not abandoned you. I'll be back to my regular verbose self in a few days!

What does vanity get you?

A hair dryer that catches on fire when you turn it on, that's what.

I had to resort to the wee tiny travel dryer, and up next to my super-charged ionic model, it was hardly a match.

Guess I'll be stopping in at Target tonight after church to spy out new models.

In other, more interesting news, read about Anna Marie's latest adventures with her Aunt Manda here.

Everyone needs an Aunt Manda!

Guess what we finally got around to doing?

Taking our Christmas card picture!

We've been so busy these past few weeks - I was afraid we wouldn't get it done at all, just like 2004. Complicating the matter was the fact that Amanda no longer resides a stones-throw from me, but has moved an hour away.

Yesterday, I woke up with a plan. Well, actually I'd been planning it for a few days, ever since I woke up last Sunday in a panic about the whole process.

I knew Amanda would be in Downtown Memphis feeding homeless people, because that's whas she does most every Saturday. I also knew we has a first birthday party for my cousin Cheree's exceedingly cute daughter Amelia, just across the river from Memphis in Arkansas.

I asked Amanda to meet us downtown after her homeless feeding duities were over. And she did!

I likewise knew that it would be 4 p.m. or after before any of us could get down there, so outdoor pictures would be out of the question. We parked in our favorite free-parking spot, and walked a couple of blocks to the Peabody Place Mall and their ginormous Christmas tree.

Someone in our group was being less-than-cooperative, and kept asking for pizza. And after she was threatened within an inch of her life to never ride the choir bus again, we finally got a usable shot.

I stayed up pretty late last night working on these, and they should be waiting on me at Wal Mart when church gets out.

Now, comes the fun part - finding the addresses, because neither my ultra-organized husband nor I appear smart enough to save them from year to year.

Can you read what this cake says?

Click photo to enbiggen.

I guess when you bake your own birthday cake, you can write whatever the heck you feel like on it.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

She is totally going to kill me for dredging up this picture from last summer. Especially since she donated her hair to Locks of Love and got a cute haircut in return.

Problem is, she's always behind the camera. Never in front of it. So, not many pictures of her exist.

Like the Loch Ness Monster. Or Bigfoot. Only she's a better baker. And, of course, she isn't a monster.

Oh, what's this? Something I found in an old email? Tee hee!



She's one of the most giving, loving people I've ever met. She'll do anything for anyone.

And the sad part is, from what I can tell, there are those in her circle who don't appreciate her. Take advantage, in fact.

But she keeps on doing and loving anyway.

Because that's the kind of person she is.

She's filling in at the paper this month, not because she needs the money (which she probably does) or because she loved working here so much (which she definitely didn't.) She's here to help me and the GM, Shirley, because she knows what a strain it would be on us without the regular graphic artist here.

She loves to bake birthday cakes - in fact, she's made herself one this year. Strawberry. MMMM!

And she's making me a Boston creme pie for mine next week (did I mention, we're exacty three years and 51 weeks apart?), because she's got a new recipe she wants to try out. Even though I've never eaten BCP, I'm sure it'll be delicious. And vegan. And not-at-all points friendly.

For her birthday this year, I secured an official coach's notebook. From the coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. Autographed by the Grizzlies.

Yep. Those Grizzlies. I had to fight a little old lady for it. (No, really, I did. And seeing my obvious superiority, she gave up.) And if I see it on ebay, I'm gonna kill her.

Amanda's had a dream for years to go to England. So she saved her money, quit her job, and went.

Just like that. Like it was just that easy to go to the other side of the world, all by yourself.

She's the best Aunt Manda in the world. And Anna Marie should know - she's got two of them.

Everyone needs an Aunt Manda.

She's such a great Aunt Manda, that as soon as she found out I was pregnant with Anna Marie, (and we lived 500 miles apart) she started trying to figure out how to be with us when the kid was born. So she spent nearly a year with us, going to school at the University of South Carolina at Aiken. And all she ended up with from the experience was $6,000 in student debt.

And the first year of Anna Marie's life. Totally worth it in her book - being there in the room when her first (and so far only) neice was born. Being able to take the baby's very first photograph, in which the 15-minute-old looked straight into the camera lens. It was love at first sight for both of them.

It was Amanda, not me, who chronicled Anna Marie's first year of life in pictures. Without her, I wouldn't have a completed first-year scrapbook, but a bunch of empty pages. Because I was in no shape that whole year to do anything constructive.

I'm sorry about all the time I wasted, when we were younger, being awful to her. And the occasional awful moment we have now. I'm just glad that we've been able to have a relationship as adults.

Because my sister is one of the coolest people I know.

Amanda in London: The Internet Waits

Part Six.

(It reminds me of a Flight of the Conchords song, Albi, the Racist Dragon. Really, it isn't as bad as it sounds. Anyway, after opening up with a description of where Albi lives (marmalade forest, make-believe trees, cottage cheese cottage, and all that), the song says "Part six: and so. . ." and continues on with a story about a badly burnt Albanian boy from the day before. Like we're supposed to know about this already or something. Just makes the song all the funnier. But I digress.)

Amanda went to the House of Parliament. No, not George Clinton's place. The one where the SNL skit takes place, and people with bad teeth are trying to figure out how to keep Oasis from breaking up.

Oasis rules!

Anyway, she also went out to lunch with a Nigerian woman from the church she attended Sunday - and the lady paid! She said it was very posh.

She's also been without hot water since she's been there. The hostel finally got some yesterday, but she had stayed up late so she could talk to mom and missed getting up early enough to get a hot shower the next morning. However, she did get to wash her face with hot water. Sweet!

Her new roomates are more Americans, but this time, they're of the "obnoxious rich girl" variety, the type that goes out clubbing and comes back in the wee hours with men and much booze in their systems. On daddy's tab.

So, when she woke up early this morning and disturbed them, they were put out, but she was not.

She's supposed to go to Birmingham this weekend (pronounced without the "h" by the way) for a camera expo of some sort - the reason she went over there in the first place.

Amanda was also slated to go ice skating today with an internet friend, and I'm worried because she isn't exactly Nancy Kerrigan. I think she's been once before, maybe 7 or 8 years ago.

And me, well, I'm STILL doing laundry and haven't even begun to pack. It's nearly 9:00 p.m. and I still have to do that, and go out to the storage room to get the coolers so they can be packed. But the storage room has buggy wuggies, so I may wait until morning - they're nocturnal, you know.

Happy Thanksgiving! I don't know how much I'll be able to post, because my MIL doesn't have the internet (GASP!) but we'll take the laptop and use her phone line for dialup. (DOUBLE GASP!)

Amanda in London: The Internet Waits

Part five.

Today, she went to the Tower of London. It cost her about $30 to get in, and then another $7 for an audio tour.

(You may think with all this sight-seeing that she had great gobs of money. On the contrary, she's been eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches so she could save her money for other things.)

She said she'd never seen so many weapons in one place, or a suit of armor with a place for a man's, as she put it, *ahem* before. That last thing apparently belonged to King Henry VIII.

She also went to Picadilly Circus.

Poor thing though - her SLR isn't being very reliable. She has other cameras with her, but she was really counting on that main one.

Oh, and she read the blog and corrected me - her first roomates weren't from Autrailia, they were college students from Boston. I guess the Aussies must have been elsewhere in the dwelling.

Her new roomates are also Americans, girls who are backpacking across Europe.

Thanks to all of you out there in blogland who are putting up with my detailed retelling of my little sister's exploits across the pond!

In my non-Amanda news, I have to start packing mine and Anna Marie's stuff. And since we don't have a ton of clothes, that means I'll be doing laundry tonight and tomorrow so we'll have something to wear. And, since it's supposed to be around 70 degrees in Augusta this week, I'll have to further figure out what to pack, since neither of us have any warm-weather clothes that fit.

For those of you who are traveling tomorrow - stay safe!

Four days down

Eight to go.

Amanda really did go to the church in the picture above. It's St. Paul's. And it cost her nearly $20 to get in!

She said the main atraction was the dome, and that she sat in a chair for a while and just stared at it. She also lit a candle in memory of our friend LaJuan's daughter, Lauren, who was killed on her way to church on Mother's Day 2004 when she was just 18 years old.

(We aren't Catholic, but LaJaun is.)

Her Austrailian roomates left early this morning, and, thankfully, didn't wake her. She didn't know if she had other roommates when she emailed me.

She's going to spend a couple more days in London, and then she's supposed to meet a friend in Brum.

In other, non-Amanda news:

We had our Thanksgiving dinner today. I did really, really well! The only splurge I had was a smallish slice of caramel cake. Oh.my.gosh. The food was fabulous, as always. We have a place here called Penny's Pantry, run by a girl not much older than me named, you guessed it, Penny. She's also a recently-elected member of our Board of Aldermen. Anyway, she makes casseroles and desserts for busy (or lazy, or just plain hungry) folks to take home, or you can make special orders like for a party. She also has lunch during the week - but not this week, because she's so busy with Thanksgiving orders.

It's such a different feeling, to get up from a meal like that and not be stuffed. I had a little (like, 1/4 cup) of everything - hen and dressing, baked corn, green beans, and a fruit salad like I've never seen, with cheddar cheese shredded on top.

Oh, and THE CAKE!

Everything is made from scratch, by Penny and her little helpers, so everything is superb. Amanda, if you're reading this all the way over in London, you missed that cake! Nya nya!

We're on a short deadline this week, and every interview I tried to set up for my feature article fell through. I'm going to have to come up with something else, and quick-like.

By the time Thanksgiving gets here, I'll be good and ready for a break. Except I won't get one, because we're driving 500 miles to see the in-laws.

Amanda in London: The Internet Waits Day Three

Amanda went to church today. Not at this church, but with some missionaries from our denomination.

She didn't give me many details, but did say it was "excellent."

I'm proud of her for getting up and going, because she was up most of the night talking politics/culture/religion with someone who was born to Czech parents in Australia (and whom she said had an interesting accent.)

She thinks she knows what's wrong with her SLR, but didn't take it out today because she didn't want to lug it around at church.

However, her lack of sleep did keep her from doing much, other than walking around some and riding the Tube. She says she's being boring at night, because she can't find much to do that doesn't involve, as she put it, "booze."

So, she's had three days in England, and nine more to go. I don't know what she's doing tomorrow, and I don't think she has any definite plans. She did, however, say that the weather has been beautiful.

And in other, non-Amanda news, our service went nicely today. My Aunt Debi did a little skit about how we have such a poor attitude all the way to church, and then when we get there, it's often hard to find something to be thankful for. I can't tell you how many arguments I've sat through on the way to church, only to have to put on a "brave face" when we got out of the car. As children, of course - my husband doesn't really argue. Drives me up the wall!

And Anna Marie did very well with helping me in my "grocery basket" illustration.

Hope you all have a good week ahead. As for me, I'm preparing for my first holiday challenge - tomorrow is our annual catered Thanksgiving lunch at work!

Amanda in London: The Internet Waits

(Thanks for the title, Valerie!)

Day 2. And yes, I'm putting my own life on hold to live vicariously through my sister.

I got an email (!) today from Amanda. She said today was beautiful, chilly but without a cloud in the sky. She had been worried about her possible roomates (she's staying at a hostel)but they're three students from Boston and she said they're cool.

She also said that when she saw Trafalgar Square, she realized she really was in London!

Amanda walked to see the London Eye (that's the big ferris wheel above) but did not ride. She's having problems with her SLR, but didn't bring a spare because of a lack of space. Pray for her! She also walked across a bridge (the Jubliee bridge, she thinks) and got to see Big Ben!

And, she's even found a way to have peanut butter and banana sandwiches, one of her favorite things, all the way across the pond.

Tomorrow she's supposed to attend church with some missionaries from our denomination. They itenerated in the conference we were in before we moved from South Carolina.

Two days down, 10 to go.

(And I promise, I'll post some other non-Amanda stuff soon!)

Amanda in London: Day 1

Doesn't that sound like it should have some sort of urgent music behind it, and I'm Katie Couric, and it's some sort of urgent situation?

Anyway, I just talked to my mom, and she had talked to Amanda about two hours ago. Poor thing didn't get a bit of sleep as she crossed the Atlantic on her all-night flight.

And this girl does not do well on no sleep.

She took the train from Gatwick to her area of London, but she couldn't check in yet at the hostel (although I think it was about 3:00 p.m. at the time) She told the people at the hostel she was hungry, and they directed her to a place where she ate some pea soup and bread.

What a very London thing to eat! Her first meal in England - I'm so excited. And I'm sure she took plenty of pictures of the food.

She probably will not, however, be indulging in those other two most-London like things, namely fish and chips and Guiness. Being a vegetarian, the fish is out, and being a teetotaler, the beer is out.

(Some friends advised her that it was only proper to go to a pub and get a pint, but since she's never had a drop, and doesn't know what it would do to her, she figured it wouldn't be smart to start drinking in a strange country she was visiting alone.)

As I was starting to feel better about her being over there, Donna (at the Quiet Life) reminded me that her daughter had gone over there by herself last summer - and she's only 17! I started to freak out belatedly for her!

So, keep both Amanda and us in your prayers for the next 12 days. I'm sure we'll need all we can get.