I love a good wedding.

This weekend, I was a guest at three - count them, THREE - very distinct weddings. Two were held at my church and the third in the tiny chapel at a Baptist church here in town.

Thursday night, our church bookkeeper tied the knot. She and her intended had both done this before, and both have grown children and grandchildren. It was a sweet, simple ceremony with a sweet ending - a dessert and coffee reception! A table full of pies and cakes, and divinity shaped like hearts. How cool is that?

One of the best parts of the wedding was the new (to me, but I'm seeing it more often) tradition of having the couple pour grains of sand of different colors from separate containers into one larger vessel, symbolizing their new blended life. Since the bride and groom were also blending a larger family unit, each grandchild (five of them in all, ranging in age from about 3-10 years old) came, one by one, and dumped a bottle of sand into their respective grandparent's vase, and then gave the couple a hug before sitting back down. I don't know what it was about that moment, but I was truly touched!

Friday night, a young couple (and fellow LOST fanatics) were the bride and groom. Their love for each other and God was so sweet, and so pure, and everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) spent the whole service crying. The groom started boo-hooing as soon as he saw his lovely bride come in the door, and basically didn't stop for the rest of the evening. Both he and the bride had a hard time getting through their vows for their emotions, and even the pastor had to take a handkerchief break.

The bride comes from a large family, and they all played a part - from sisters as bridesmaids, to a brother and brother-in-law as ushers, to her VERY talented twin brothers serenading us with a couple of duets.

Their reception was off site at a community center, but we didn't stay long. We got caught in traffic coming up and had to drop Jason off at the church (to help with the video feed) so he didn't get dinner, and it was HOT and CROWDED up in there. Apparently, our pastor and his lovely wife cut quite a rug, so I'm a bit disappointed we missed that!

Oh, and before the ceremony, this happened:



That's the pastor's daughter, Anna Grace, with my own Anna Marie. Two Annas, two DSs, two church weddings in two days' time!

Saturday night, we attended the wedding of a girl I've known since she was in her mother's womb. Seriously. My mother's family has had a strong connection to a certain neighborhood in Memphis for years, where both the bride and her father grew up. My grandfather planted a church there in the early 1970's, and our family lived there at different time for several years. We were living there when Char was born.

She has ALWAYS loved horses, which I suppose she got from her mother (who had a horse in her backyard in that neighborhood. No joke.) She just graduated from vet school at Mississippi State University, and I'm extremely proud of her for getting through all that.

She had a very small wedding, where she wore cowboy boots under her dress and had wanted posters with a bride and groom silhouette on the ends of the pews.

(Good thing it was small, because the minister was slightly senile and messed the ceremony all up. He tried to pronounce them man and wife three times while she still had other things on the program.)



The reception was barbeque, prepared by her uncle, at the couple's new house. Anna Marie was super stoked, because their horses came up to the fence and she got to see them up close and personal.

(The bride's mother encouraged me to buy Anna Marie a horse. Easy for her to say!)

It was a very relaxed, laid back affair, just like the couple themselves. Thankfully, they also had the foresight to bring in a fan to conjure a breeze and keep the insects away!

Yes, I love a good wedding - but right now, I'm glad to have a break from nuptials for a few weeks!

It's all a lot to process

Greetings, fellow bloggers.

That's a picture of a very tired and cranky (and slightly sunburned) Anna Marie, who exited the bus from camp on Thursday night wearing a coonskin cap she'd bought in the camp store.

(There was also an Indian feathered headdress in her bag, and she'd bought a water bottle that never made it home.)

The two redheads flew the coop again about 5:30 a.m. on Friday, and I've been on my own ever since.

Well, as "on my own" as I can be, with two prone-to-run-off dogs in my backyard.

Friday night, after I drug both of them back home by their collars following one of their "exploring" sessions (we'd been playing fetch in the backyard, and Lucky got distracted) I watched Taken.

Let me just say, without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it - Liam Neeson has no reservations in this movie. None. You already know from the trailers that his daughter is kidnapped in Paris, and this guy stops at nothing - and I mean NOTHING - to get her back.

I actually lost count of how many laws he broke during his search for her.

Saturday, Amanda asked that mom and I come to her job and help her return the car the insurance company had rented after their client had totaled her car a few weeks ago.

(Yes, she's been in another wreck, with another totaled car. Both times, it's been the other driver's fault. Both times, she's gotten more from the insurance company than she had paid for the car in the first place, and more than it was probably worth at that point. SHHH - don't tell anyone!)

She'd finally gotten herself a vehicle, so mom and I headed to her place of business to return the rental while she worked. We only had a short window of opportunity, because the location she was supposed to return at closed at noon, and it was 11:15 when we were about to leave.

It would've been perfect, since the rental place was only 10 miles from her job, except for the part where I locked the keys in the car.

In the ignition, with the radio on because she'd asked me to retrieve a CD out of the player.

Mom and I tried to fix it without interrupting Amanda's work, but 45 minutes later she discovered that we were still there and hadn't fixed the problem yet.

(Note to self: Hertz Rent-A-Car's roadside assistance will charge you out the wazoo to unlock a car, and not every small town police department will do it for you.)

(Also: if your sister has locked her keys in her car every other week for about a month, go ahead an tell her so she can call her "people.")

And that's exactly what happened - Amanda was on her lunch break, so she called "her" locksmith and mom stayed with the car while she and I ate lunch. (Don't worry - she was inside Amanda's air conditioned job, and mom got something to eat when we got back.)

I was so befuddled by everything that was going on - and a touch of ADD, to boot - that Amanda had to write a memo on my phone with the directions home, because I couldn't concentrate enough to process them.

The guy at Hertz who we'd talked to when the whole thing began told us we could take the car back to the Airport location, so we did - except the folks at the airport didn't want to take it! We had to explain to them, twice, why we were returning it to them and not to the original rental place.

After that harrowing experience, and since it was my anniversary to boot, mom and I stopped at Baskin Robbins where I treated myself to a kiddie cone of no-sugar-added, low-fat caramel turtle ice cream.

MMMMM!

After dinner last night, I watched Doubt. I haven't had my head spin so much after a movie since my dad took me to see JFK when I was 15. It was an excellent film, but the ending really made me question what I thought I knew - which I guess is kind of the point.

And now - I'm getting ready for church, and then I have to do some auction shopping for Jason, and we have small groups tonight. And at some point, I really need to walk the dogs, since it was raining this morning and I couldn't.

It's going to be a long day, I'm afraid.

It's 2 p.m. on a Sunday, and I'm still in my nightclothes.

No, no one is sick.

No, Hell didn't freeze over.

Yes, we did have a massive storm on Friday night, which knocked the power out to lots of places - including my church. We drove past yesterday, and a huge tree had fallen over onto the lines about a block up, snapping the power pole in half.

Like a huge toothpick.

So, while we could've gone all old-school and had church outside (a logistical nightmare, with 1,500 average attendees) I suppose, it was canceled. And, for a high-tech church like mine, that means a series of text messages and Facebook posts about 8 p.m. last night.

(It's a good thing we didn't try to have church outside, because it was storming AGAIN this morning.)

What did we do while said storm was wreaking havoc on the Mid-South?

We were driving. Or, more specifically, I was driving. To downtown Memphis, where there was a tornado watch.

And it was all for Jason - so we could see Jaws at The Orpheum, on the big screen, as part of their Summer Movie Series.

No, we didn't take Little AM - my mom came and spent the night so we could have a date!

I hadn't seen the movie all the way through, and there was one scene - underwater, Richard Dreyfuss in a wet suit, next to an abandoned boat, I won't say more for fear of spoiling it for the 3 folks who still haven't seen it - that I just about ended up in Jason's lap.

Hyperventilating. He, of course, thought it was hilarious. I, of course, did not.

So, here we are, actually spending a Sunday at home, and Anna Marie and I have yet to get dressed. I spent about an hour on her room this morning (how do I always end up with at least one bag full of trash, no matter how often I go in there?) and she and Jason have been carrying on for the past two hours or so.

(Oh, the sounds of "teamwork." I can hear them even as I type. Better him than me.)

We will be having our small group meeting tonight, which is good, because Peasnap Catering is providing the hamburgers for our cookout. Jason and I make about four dozen "Snappy Burgers" (my name for his proprietary blend of secret herbs and spices, available on Tuesdays at the kiosk in the auction bay) and they're now in my freezer.

Mmm, mmm, good.

I'm trying really, really hard to get Anna Marie's room into shape, because it's really, really stressful for me to go in there when it isn't - and she's about to leave for two weeks, to Oklahoma and South Carolina, and I'm not going to spend my precious break time cleaning in there!

Maybe, just maybe, we'll get some "after" photos in a bit - because I sure as heck didn't take any before.

I don't want to be reminded of that mess!

Call Noah.

I think we may be in need of a loaner.

After threatening to rain for several days now, the proverbial bottom has dropped out.

(Ever wonder exactly which bottom has dropped out? Me too.)

And, while I'm glad I don't have as much stuff to do as I did last Saturday, still, I shall have to exit my domicile at some point. Yesterday, through some strange chain of events, I was DONE with my deadline work by lunch.

I know, weird, right?

So, while I thought that Anna Marie was going to have to skip her dance pictures - half an hour away, at 4 p.m., requiring lots of costume changes, hair, and makeup that precluded Jason taking her - I was able to leave work at 3 p.m. and participate in the "festivities."

Two and a half hours later (or, a bit after 6 p.m.) we were done.

"We're running a little behind," the dance teacher says. And by "a little" she meant "about an hour."

Funny thing is, since they're charging $50 for five small photos, I probably won't even be buying them. The main reasons I even went were to get her costumes, and because they take a couple of group photos.

Anna Marie did treat me to a private tap performance once she got into that costume, though, so I guess that was something.

Anyway, Anna Marie had requested a dinner at Red Lobster. I was trying to get mom and Amanda to come down, but they convinced me to drive to their neighborhood - and dine at Pei Wei. And somehow, when I left that restaurant, I was minus one red-headed kid.

Hmph. Funny how that happens!

Jason, by the way, had weaseled out of the whole shebang by promising to "clean the office" which is code for "pile everything on Melissa's scrapbook table." I walked in alone, and he said, "Did you leave her at Red Lobster?"

"No, I left her at Pei Wei. With Gramma."

I've just received a breaking news alert, that Gramma and Anna Marie are in the area where I'll likely be having to pick her up, so I suppose I'll have to get Jason up (yes, it IS after 10 a.m.) and get a move on.

That is, if Noah has a spare ark on hand.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

And yet here I sit, typing away on the computer.

Don't worry, I've already been outside in the sunny, 74 degree weather - doing yardwork.

Now, I'm resting.

Yesterday didn't start out so beautiful, but it was great by the end. And I'm not just talking about the weather!

Since Anna Marie has made it into the 80 point Accelerated Reader club at school (a feat which I don't think many of her classmates have accomplished) and since most of the books which got her there were part of the Magic Treehouse series, I thought it only fitting to reward her with a trip to a book signing by their author, Mary Pope Osborne.

I've never been to a book signing before, so I didn't quite know what to expect.

It was really, really cold and dreary. We left the house a little early so I could take my time getting up there (and so we could each lunch, naturally) and I'm really glad I did. We were going to eat at Panera bread, but I never could find it, so we went across the road to the mall and ate at the food court.

(And also bought her a hoodie on clearance at Macy's, because I didn't realize the cold would hang around as long as it did and we left the house without proper outerwear for her.)

We got to the bookstore a bit after noon. The event was to start at 1:00 p.m.

The place was already getting crowded!

We picked up a copy of her latest book, bought it, and found a place to sit for the next half hour until she arrived.

Since the bookstore was in a swanky part of town, most of the families there were pretty swanky too. Many of them knew each other, because their kids attended the same (very expensive) private school.

Mrs. Osborne had fallen and broken her wrist - slipping and falling on the ice outside the hospital, when she was going in to have her broken knuckle repaired - so she couldn't sign the books. She had a stamp of her signature, and they used that to put in the autograph.

But - since she couldn't personalize the books, they made it up to the kids by posing for pictures! While the Osbornes posed, the bookstore staff stamped the books.





She was really great! She and her husband, Will, bounced ideas for stories off the kids. They've also written a musical based on one of their books, and I'm crossing my fingers and my toes that we win one of the sets of tickets for when it comes to Memphis next week.



When it was over with, we walked to Dinsthuls candy - made in Memphis, with a store in the same shopping center as the bookstore. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining - and Anna Mare was completely overwhelmed by her first encounter with so much chocolate!

It was such a great day. Not everything went as I'd planned - Subway for lunch instead of Panera - but that's OK. Anna Marie got to meet one of her favorite authors. I was so proud of her - she spoke when Mrs. Osborne spoke to her! And she even said Anna Marie was gorgeous!

Now, Anna Marie wants to know when Barbara Parks, author of the Junie B. Jones books, is coming. Guess I'd better keep my eyes peeled!

Yawn

Yes, I just made you yawn just by typing that. You're welcome!

Why is it that the "spring forward" part of Daylight Savings Time seems to take a week to get over? Is losing an hour really that much of a shock to our systems?

I'm gonna go out on a limb, and, from my totally unscientific research (a.k.a. talking to people I know) I'm gonna say "yes."

I should have had no trouble at all sleeping Saturday night, too, because I'd spent the day helping Amanda move into her new SECOND FLOOR WALKUP apartment.

Did I mention that it was on the second floor? That it's part of an old house that was converted into apartments, and the only access we had was a three-foot-wide back staircase because the downstairs peeps weren't home?

I don't think it was the actual moving that did me in, though - it was the painting. Amanda found a can of sky blue paint in the attic, and decided that her room need not be bright lime green any longer. Anna Marie and I did a big bunch of the work - she had an itty bitty little edging roller - and my arms and back are still recovering.

But despite the intense manual labor, I still tossed and turned.

(Oh, did you wonder about my weigh-in on Thursday? Yes, I weighed in at the gym, but I think I'm going to invest in a scale all of my own because I don't know if that one is being calibrated on a regular basis. As you can tell from my distrust, it did not give me good news, but Jason and Amanda have both assured me that NO WAY did I gain five pounds in one week. They assure me that it's all the muscle I'm building.)

(Because they're experts, of course, and I trust them implicitly.)

I'm on my second week of Couch to 5K, and so far, so good. I almost skipped this morning because my muscles are still sore, but then I realized that 1. I won't get to go for the next two days because Jason will be at work, and 2. My legs weren't hurting, just my arms, and I don't need my arms to walk on a treadmill.

I realized this morning that, while I don't enjoy getting up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym, I do enjoy going, and I enjoy getting it over with for the day, so I guess 5 a.m. it is - at least until summer, when I can sleep in until 6.

My iPod is loaded with all 10 weeks of the PodRunner Intervals, so I should be good to go. What am I going to do once that 10 weeks is up? I don't know, but I should be in MUCH better shape by then so we'll see what happens.

I really do need to take some measurements, because that scale completely freaked me out Thursday morning. I've got to have some other criteria to measure my progress by than those numbers.

I know for a fact that I wouldn't have been able to do the manual labor I did on Saturday back when I was 90 lbs. heavier. Good gracious, that back staircase was a better workout than I've probably ever had at the gym!

So here's to keepin' on keepin' on, and measuring our progress without being tied to the scale!

Where to begin?

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it's like 70 degrees outside.

Yes, that's February in Dixie, y'all. In a few days, it'll be subzero again. Enjoy it while it lasts!

We took full advantage of the weather this weekend, and Jason forced Anna Marie to finally learn to ride her bike sans training wheels.

Here's his clever, five-step process:

Step 1: Make your wife almost have a coronary, simply by suggesting that the family take a walk together - because in the last 13 years, the only time he's suggested walking with her was the night he asked her out for the first time.

Step 2: Get the kid on the bike. Not hard at all.

Step 3: After a couple of blocks of frustration at the kid's penchant for leaning to one side, take the training wheel off that side so she has no choice.

Step 4: Fuss a bit more, really lose patience, and take the other training wheel off.

Suddenly, she's working without a net.

Step 5: Take the kid to the empty bank parking lot next to your house, and don't let her go back home until she's learned to balance.

See? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

So she's learned to balance but she's now working on the turning part. The weather is still nice, so hopefully Jason will take her back out this afternoon so she can practice a bit more. We weren't home for long enough yesterday afternoon to bother.

(And let me just interject - I think that's part of the problem with kids getting into the out-of-doors these days. Gear! Head-to-toe armor is now required to step out your own front door! Back in my day, there was no gear. There was just getting on the bike, and if you fell off, you fell off. A few scrapes and concussions never hurt anyone, right?)

I've also had a minor phone crisis this weekend. I felt like that Verizon guy, except instead of saying "can you hear me now?" I was saying "Hello? Hello?" The folks on the other end could hear me, but I couldn't hear them!

(Speakerphone was fine, but really, I'm not trafficking in international secrets, but I can't very whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifell go around on speakerphone all the time, can I?)

I called customer service today, since the phone is still under warranty. They led me through a series of tests, and had me jump through a few hoops. Finally, I was instructed to do a "hard reset" and well, that fixed it. Except, now I have to replace all my data, and I don't even have a new phone to show for it!

And, I've come to a decision. It also involved a step-by-step process.

Step 1: Hear a friend brag that she's paying half what you pay for your data plan, on the same carrier, and with a comparable smartphone.

Step 2: Attempt to get ATT to lower your data rate, using a combination of logic, pleading, and slightly veiled threats.

Step 3: FAIL

Step 4: Decide that since you're paying for a data plan, and you've found a website that does basically what Weight Watchers online would except for free that you're going to justify the cost of said data plan by quitting Weight Watchers.

I said it, yes I did.

I had already been considering dropping the meetings and joining online, because I wanted to make better use of the technology stuff they offer. I've also tired of tying up every Thursday night, and have realized that I've put a lot of my life on hold for the past three and a half years because of those meetings. Now that Anna Marie is in school, there are lots of functions on Thursday nights that preclude me from even going and weighing in, much less staying for the meetings. Add that to the nights I already have to work, and you see where I'm going with this?

I'm going to buy a scale, and weigh myself first thing in the morning on Thursdays - that way, I can't make excuses for myself about the amount of sodium I've eaten that day affecting my weight, or wonder if I drank some water too close to weigh-in time.

I've also tracked everything I've eaten so far today on Sparkpeople using their mobile site, something I haven't done on a paper tracker in an embarrassing long time. That mobile site offers tons of information, like nutritional info (including popular restaurant foods) and it's FREE.

So yes, I've made my decision. I do intend to call my WW leader this week, to let her know what's happened. I had a bad weigh-in last time I went, and I don't want her to think I've quit because I'm discouraged.

I have to go it on my own some time, and after three and a half years, I think that "sometime" is probably "now."

I've got to keep myself honest, because really, I'll only have myself, and not super-salty lunches, to blame if I fail.

Success!

Well then. I've been having a scary amount of success in the past few days getting things accomplished.

I almost hesitate to report on my recent successes, for fear of the dreaded "jinx."

Saturday, for instance, went well. I did drop Anna Marie off (after successfully getting her hair into a bun!) and drive to Starbucks. I did pay for a cup of coffee what I'd normally spend on an entire meal, and I did spend an hour in there reading my book.

And then, my attention span did wane just a bit, so I went to Sam's to pick up our prints.

I was going to drive home after the show and cook dinner (read: OPEN A CAN OF SOUP) for the two of us since Jason was working, but I thought better of it and took her to Red Lobster instead. She's been asking to go (she hasn't been in nearly two years) and I figured it would be cheaper to buy one adult and one kid meal than for all three of us to go.

(I was right, but it was still more than I was comfortable spending for two people to eat.)

Sunday went well, too, despite the fact that I realized shortly before service started that I'd forgotten our towels. Luckily, I ran into the pastor's wife with a panicked look on my face in the hallway, and luckily, her daughter was being baptized too, and luckily, the pastor's study has a shower so they keep a few towels around.

Anna Marie was third out of a dozen folks getting dunked, and you could hear her before you could see her. Apparently, as I was running around like a crazy woman looking for towels, she was asking the children's pastor (who was giving everyone the run-down of the morning's goings-on) if the water would be warm.

"Yes, it will be warm," he said.

"Will it be hot?" she asked.

"No, but it'll be comfortable."

As she (and I) were stepping into the tank, she can be heard to say, "Oooh. It is warm!"

She started holding her nose and closing her eyes (I was holding the glasses) as soon as she got in, and she was so relaxed that her legs kept floating up to the top while the children's pastor was trying to talk to her!

We got a DVD, but I haven't gotten it ripped to a computer so I can show you guys yet.

Yesterday, I did come to work for a couple of hours (because I had a meeting to cover) and then I did go home, change into sweats, and curl up in bed to read some more.

And then Jason came home, and we ate lunch, and I finally finished my book - The Cat Who Robbed a Bank.

I'd been wanting to read this series for a while, and I think I'm going back for more. The main character in this book had the kind of life I'd like to have in a different life - he's independently wealthy because his mom's best friend left him a load of money. He lives in an old barn in a quaint little town "400 miles north of everywhere." He writes a column for the local paper a couple times a week. And he has two Siamese cats who help him solve crimes!

In my estimation, his life is just about perfect.

(Not that mine isn't, mind you, but sometimes I just get a little too caught up in the books I read!)

So, here's to celebrating success, and not jinxing it, and to getting all the important stuff done.

Making plans

Good Saturday morning to you all, Bloglanders!

I hope yours is peaceful and productive.

I'm catching up on my blog reading (on which I was WOEFULLY behind), and drinking coffee, and watching the second season of Picket Fences on Hulu.com (hooray that they finally loaded another season!). Multitasking!

Anna Marie has a Nutcracker performance today. This year, as a first grader, she gets to be a soldier - a good guy! I won't get to see today's show, though, because none of the rest of my family can come so we're going to her next performance on November 16.

(That is, IF we can ever get our rears in gear and buy our tickets! Ooops!)

After I drop her off, I'm going to pick up some pictures that Amanda took yesterday and put in at Sam's for developing, and look something like this:



And then, I'm going to go to Starbucks! And I'm taking a book to read! And I'm going to order some coffee and read my book and pass the time until it's time to pick Anna Marie back up from the theater.

And then, we'll be on our own tonight because Peansaps Catering has a job, and I have NOT volunteered to help - I figure that Anna Marie will be pretty exhausted by the time she finishes the ballet, and we'll just come home and watch movies and veg out.

And then, tomorrow (if nothing rips, breaks, or tears) Anna Marie will be getting baptized! As a parent, there is no greater joy than seeing your child progress in their relationship with God. She's been asking about getting baptized for a while, and tomorrow we're having a baptismal service, so tomorrow is the day.

And I get to go into the pool with her, which I think will help her nerves a great deal.


(That, by the way, is what I meant by "rips, breaks, or tears." I think she'll be fine, although a little nervous about getting up in front of the whole congregation.)

In a few minutes I'll have to get my shower done, so that I can get Anna Marie's shower done, so that I can finagle a way to put her hair in a bun. A bun! Aaaah!

Have a great day, everyone - and I hope that all your plans for today go well.

Scary stories to tell in the dark

Ok, so actually, this post is about a scary story that happened in the dark.

(By the way, do you remember those books? Scary Stories to Read in the Dark? My cousin had one, and maybe a sequel. But I digress.)

(Tangents! I has them!)

We took Anna Marie to the Haunted Hayride at Cedar Hill Farms on Saturday night. You remember that little debacle, don't you? How I paid $30 for 10 tickets to that place, hoping to use them on Anna Marie's birthday, only to be turned away at the door?

I called last week to find out exactly what it was that I could do with those tickets. Turns out, not much: one attraction for each ticket, either the Haunted Hayride, or the Trail of Terror, or the Corn Maize.

Oh, and we could also do paintball, but the only ones in our group with insurance were the kids (thanks, CHIPS!) and I've seen what those balls of paint can do to a bloke.

We settled on the hayride. We knew it didn't start until after dark, and we knew that there were live actors, but we were totally unprepared for what we were about to experience.

Several trailers were loaded up, with bales of hay around the perimeter and a clearing in the middle. We (and by we, I mean my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my three-year-old step-niece, and the three of us) sat near the front of the trailer, close to the tractor that pulled it.

The man from the farm told us that if we felt the need to "go somewhere" it needed to be the floor of the trailer, not the side.

Duly noted.

We start into the woods, where it was pitch black dark. And then, it began.

Every few minutes our trailer would slow down, flash its lights, and stop. And someone would come out of the darkness and get all up in our grills, growling and roaring and generally making menaces of themselves.

Some of the actors actually came up into the trailer, and walked among us.

After what seemed like an eternity at each station, we'd start up again.

So, I'll just own up RIGHT NOW to the fact that I was scared. I'm not ashamed. I will admit to swatting at an actor in a werewolf costume, because he kept leaning into my face and growling.

I am not proud.

Anna Marie started out OK, but after a few minutes (and in my mom's lap, no less) she was getting pretty hysterical. I had already moved to the floor of the trailer, and when she didn't stop crying, I had her come down with me. Mom got down too, and the three of us huddled together and tried to calm her down.

There were mad scientists, and murderous rednecks, and the obligatory guy in the hockey mask with the chainsaw - but I didn't see much of it from the floor of the trailer, and I had to keep from screaming myself so I wouldn't startle Anna Marie more.

Finally, after the longest 20 minutes of my life, we were back at the beginning.

We went to Wendy's for some warm food and LOTS of light, and I had to hold Anna Marie's hand in the back seat the whole way there and then the whole way home.

She was so upset - she just kept crying, and saying she couldn't stop thinking about the hayride. I prayed with her, and quoted scripture to her about how if there's anything good, or lovely, or true, etc., that we should think about those things. And I gave her a list of "pretty" things (as we call them) to think about. And somehow, she got to sleep that night.

But I wasn't so lucky. All I could think about was how scared my child had been, and how I was the one who had put her in that situation. I felt just awful.

(By the way, the three-year-old was crying when we exited the trailer too, and there was a six-year-old near us who had spent the entire time with her head in her dad's lap and sat up at the end saying "What happened?")

She seems to have recovered (though she just told me that she was still thinking about it) and I have a new not-quite-New-Year's resolution: to THOROUGHLY investigate things before I get us into it!

I saw the light at the end of the tunnel

And it was connected with a speeding train.

(Oh, for the record, Heather won the iPod. Which is cool. I already have one, so I guess I was being a bit greedy in hoping for an iPod touch.)

(It couldn't have happened to a nicer person, though!)

(Unless, of course, that person was me.)

Anyway - I got home Friday night, and Jason informed me that we had a catering job on Saturday.

(Jason had also hung the chandelier that my brother had faux-finish spraypainted on Monday! Yay!)

And, those two facts together somehow meant that we had to make a trip to the next county, to look for tiny lampshades to put atop the lights in the chandelier.

(He had spied the tiny lampshades here in town, but there were only six of them and we needed eight. Just so you know.)

We went to no fewer than eight stores Friday night. No tiny lampshades, except those which were "out of my budget" (as I tell Anna Marie when something's just too dang expensive.)

(My budget = the cheapest I can possibly find something, by the way.)

Saturday, we went to another two stores, where we found a few to add to those we ended up buying down here. So now, tiny lampshades inhabit my dining area.

Pictures? You want pictures? Well, then, you're going to have to wait for another post, my friend!

So, Saturday was super-busy too, and Sunday - well, let's just say that we left home about 9:00 a.m. and returned about 8:30 p.m.

And just when I thought I might have a few minutes to catch my breath, I realize that I have another special section due in two days, and the magazine still isn't sent to the printer yet.

Good thing I had that second round of coffee at lunch today.