No pictures please

But this is about what I look like: at least on the right side. The doctor said the swelling should be gone by Monday. Let's hope!

Random

I didn't know what to title this post. It will be very random.

Yesterday I had my surgery. MK let me borrow her earbuds, and they were a big help. The procedure was pretty much painless, but I could tell it was rough. And last night, I felt rough. However, I had a wonderful prescription, and I had a good night's sleep. The throbbing pain is gone today, but I'm sore and swollen. The Big Man is calling me "Squirrel." It's accurate, because it really does look like I'm storing something in my right cheek. The doctor said the swelling will peak tomorrow. I'm just hoping it's better by Monday, because I go back to work then, and I have a lot to do.

MK is at the memorial service for her friend right now. I really wanted to go, but it wasn't possible. I'm praying that there is comfort for them all being together. Sadly, there are some hard feelings between some of the friends and family, so I'm especially praying that it will be peaceful.

And today's picture is of MK and her new hair. It looks so good on her!

Ugh

I've put off a dental procedure for a while, and today I'm going through with it. The dentist is running a bit behind, but T. Willy doesn't seem to care.

Go, Dawgs!

Here is T. Willy and the shirt he picked out for today.

View from the road

I went to Mississippi today to meet the Big Man's parents to pick up T. Willy. It's great to have him back. He had a great time, but things definitely weren't complete without him.

MK had good band practices last night and today. Their minds and hearts are still heavy, but they're channeling their grief into getting a lot of work done. They're amazing kids and really making us proud.

Families aren't always related

Band Camp started for MK today. She has been at guard practice for a couple of weeks, but the full band was going to practice today. I tried to sleep in, but I was up early anyway. I was sitting at the computer when my cell phone started to ring. My cell phone almost never rings. We are texters. I answered it and could barely hear MK. All I heard was her crying, a name and "killed." It was announced at band that one of their members had killed himself last night. The band is very close and often referred to as "family." It really is how we all feel about it. While she didn't know the young man well, she knew him. We all knew who he was. We just saw him at the movies Saturday night. We are still waiting to hear facts. Facebook has had a lot of information, but it's hard to separate fact from fiction. We've already heard things that we know aren't true. They're meeting again tonight. I'll go with MK. If she needs me, I'll be there. If she doesn't, I'll be there to work on my classroom.

Today's picture is of the whole band on the cruise. We love our band!!!!

Fun day

After church, we went to lunch with our friends, DJ and CJ. It was really nice getting girl time. When we came home, MK took some pictures. So here are pics of our lunch and MK's artistic shots.

Girls' Day

Since T. Willy is away, MK and I have been enjoying some time together.

T. Willy and the puppies

T. Willy left today. The Big Man's mom has been sending me pictures. Here are a couple.

Ni hao

I just got off the phone with my mom. She and my dad are leaving for China tomorrow. Yes, China!!! My dad plays on a volleyball league, and they were invited to go to China to play. The trip will last 16 days. I cannot wait to hear about it when they get back.

MK is spending the night with friends, and T. Willy is going on his own adventure tomorrow. He is going to spend the weekend with the Big Man's parents. I know he'll have a ball and get spoiled to death. We'll miss him, but he'll be having too much fun to miss us much.

Today was his last day of swimming lessons. He was the youngest one in his class, but he's made great improvements. He loves to show off the strokes that he learned, and we can relax just a bit more around pools with him. Here is a picture MK took of him riding in the car yesterday. Can you see how he has his iPod propped against the window?

Almost finished!

I bought some accessories for the laundry room. If I can just keep it this clean and uncluttered, I'll be a happy girl. I got the idea for the laundry detergent canister from another blog, and I love it! It looks so much better than a box sitting there. I wouldn't spend this much effort on a room that no one would see. But if you come to my house with me, you enter the house through this room via the garage, so it does get seen.

Now I'm waiting for the Big Man to get home from work. We're going to look at cabinets then have a little date.

The winner!

T. Willy won a "Croissanwich" from Burger King last week. This morning he was up and ready to get it. So here he is enjoying it.

Airing my dirty laundry!

We've lived in our house since November 2001. Every room in the house has been painted at least once...except for the laundry room...until today! I found an adorable blog and got an idea from it. I instantly dragged T. Willy to the store and got to work.

Our laundry room was cluttered and boring. I was inspired to de-clutter and paint. The last project will be to take the wire shelf down and replace it with a cabinet. We're in negotiations. The Big Man is for it: it will just become his job.

I find that I always second guess paint. It's so hard to tell from a little chip. I selected a shade lighter than I thought I'd want and then regretted it. However, I'm so glad that I went lighter, because it's quite bold. It's in the Tiffany blue family, and I'm pairing it with dark brown accents. Here it is tonight. I'll try to post a picture of it again if we do the cabinet.

And now...before, during and after pictures.

Swim!

T. Willy is starting his second week of swimming lessons today. He's doing really well and has shown a lot of improvement. Here is a picture of him that the Big Man took last week while I was in class.

While we were waiting...

We went to lunch after church today and had some time to wait. Here is how we occupied ourselves.

Date night!

MK and the Big Man are off to the theater at our local college. I hope they enjoy the play. T. Willy and I are going to pick up some dinner and have a date night here. Woo!!

Greece is the word

I have been taking a class for two weeks working toward my ELL (English language learner's) certification. It ends tomorrow. I've really enjoyed it; I just wish it could have been done when our summer wasn't so short. We've had a lot of fun projects to do, so they didn't really seem like work. My final project was a PowerPoint presentation about another culture.

We lived in Australia when I was very young. I'm pretty sure that, when given a choice, I did every geography project in my life about Australia. Of course...it really has a special meaning for our family. This project was no different...at first. I even did a few slides about it. But I didn't save them correctly, so I was going to have to start over. It was then that I decided to try something else.

We studied Homer's "Odyssey" in my classes last year, and I really fell in love with Greece. So that's what I chose. I learned a lot about it, and it's now on my list of places to go one day...not a bucket list, because I don't want something to do and then die...I just want to find more to do!!! So, Greece is on the list.

And now for something different...

I always put pictures of the kids on here, so I thought tonight I'd do something different and put a picture of the Big Man on here. Here's a picture of him at work.

This is a test. It is only a test.

Bon appetit!

MK made a special dinner for T. Willy and me tonight. (The Big Man was
at work.) We knew she was cooking dinner, but we weren't expecting the
style in which we were served. She even had swing music playing!
Thank you, MK, for a very special memory!!!!

MK and Daniel

MK's boyfriend has his tonsils out earlier this week, and today was
his first day over in quite some time. They were taking pictures, and
here is one of them.

Brrrrr

We took a trip to Ponce de Leon today to revisit the coldwater
springs. We took two of MK's friends, and we had a really fun day.

Whata Night!

(I meant to spell it like that.)

MK and I went to see her friend at work tonight. Doesn't she look
thrilled to see us? We had a fun time watching her at work. Thanks,
TMB!

Time for a change.

Today's picture is pretty much the way I wear my hair and have for
quite awhile. It's that time again. I need a change. Colorwise, I'd
like to go blonder. The curls, however, are my issue. I really like
them, and they do grow like this out of my head. The biggest plus for
them is that they are ridiculously low maintenance. But maybe it's
time to add a little maintenance. Maybe I should go a little
shorter...layers? Help! So I'm opening it up to you, my few but
faithful readers, and to any strangers who have some good ideas. So
there you go! Please leave a comment or email me!

Annette

P.S. I wasn't entirely honest. I wear it like this, but I usually
have the sunglasses on my head in lieu of a headband.

Excuse me.

T. Willy has been well trained at school to sneeze. At least, he's
been trained to automatically sneeze into his arm and not his hands to
prevent the spread of germs. I've tried to adapt that habit as well,
but I slip occasionally. He caught me in the act the other day. He
asked, "Did you sneeze into your hands?" He had obviously witnessed
it, so I apologized. Then he asked in what I would call an accusing
tone, "Do you leave the water on while you brush your teeth too?"

We're home

Thanks, Mom and Dad for everything!!! We had the most wonderful trip,
and we miss you already!!!

T. Willy watching fireworks in the backyard.

Pray for Haydon!

Haydon T. is the daughter of a guy I went to school with. She has SMA
(http://www.fsma.org) and my dad participated in a fundraiser for her
yesterday. He rode his motorcycle to Washington, D.C. and back. Here
is a picture of him in his event shirt.

More pictures!

Fun...fun...fun.

We had the most fun today! We went to Milburn Orchards in Elkton,
MD. We picked blueberries and fed animals and shopped at their farm
store. My mom was wanting to do some things around the house, so I
was looking for something to do with the kids. We found the perfect
thing. It was a great day, and here are pictures.