How to Use Boxes and Packing Paper

Spring has not sprung, thankfully. It's not like it hasn't been spring-like all winter so, when winter finally showed up this week, I welcomed it with open arms. We didn't get any of that wonderful snow that others got and we didn't get any of the snowstorms that caused damage to people and/or their homes. While I would love to have the snow, I'm grateful not to have had the blizzards.

When you have horrid allergies that only leave you alone during the winter months, you look forward to those few months. We haven't had winter in two years. However, this week, I'm waking up without the daily sinus headache and it's WONDERFUL. Winter is also kind to me in the energy department. It's the one season here in Charleston that does not zap me of all energy.

But what do you do with your adorable granddaughter when it's 32 degrees outside? The same thing you do when it's way too hot to go outside. You become grateful when the FedEx guy shows up with your Jet order.

Yep. We played with the box and the packing paper. Baby M went inside the box and around the box and on the box. She stood at the box and played with the packing paper.

She took the paper and waved it up and down and round and round. And she did this for nearly an hour.

 When her daddy arrived to pick her up. the packing paper went with them since they're packing up to move to their brand new house! Win-win! And that friends, is the proper way to use boxes and packing paper.

And now, the winner of the comfort jar giveaway is:

Cathy from Tales of the TCKK Family!

Congrats, Cathy!

All I need to know is which jar you want. 
Just hop over to CoasterDoodles and you can let me know on Instagram or here on the blog. 

Wind, Water, and the Winner!

On Wednesday, Lovely1 and I decided taking Baby M and Tucker to the old Pitt Street bridge for a walk would be a fabulous idea. It wasn't.

I should have known when I heard the fog horns on the big cargo ships heading in or out of the Charleston harbor walking in the morning would not be the best idea. But the weather dude said it was going to be 83 that day and I, knowing full well weather dudes NEVER get it right, listened to him and we went.

I took pictures. The haze hid the sun and made the pictures look very bluey, greeny but here you go:

It's kind of hard to tell but there were whitecaps in the water. That's how strong the wind was.

You can't even see downtown Charleston further to the left of the bridge. 

Baby M didn't seem to mind the wind at all. Don't worry, it wasn't cold, just windy. But we do need to get her a hat for walking around here. I cut the walk short because it bothered me that she didn't have a hat.

Windswept hair, anyone?

Two hours after our walk, the sun came out and the haze was gone. The wind, however, may have gotten even stronger. No matter. We enjoyed ourselves anyway and it was so much better than the text I received from Nashville daughter very first thing in the morning: Tornado sirens are going off.
Terrific. She's 8 hours away and tornado sirens are going off. Anyway, I didn't hear anything else for quite some time. I might have yelled at her about that. You can't text a mom with something like, tornado sirens going off and then not tell her everything's fine. Sheesh.

The thing touched down in Franklin and, while I'm sorry for the residents of Franklin, I'm glad my kid was not hit.

Ok, the winner of the set of notecards is my friend, Susan (Sush) from NC! I'm so excited! Sush has a blog but not a lot of time because she has a bunch (9, is that right?) of the cutest grandchildren you've ever seen! If you used to read First Do No Harm, you know Sush. And, she picked these:

Ok, y'all! I have ANOTHER GIVEAWAY coming soon! 

Stay tuned! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

On the Boardwalk

Today's the day I announce the winner of the coaster set! I'll do that at the end so, if you can't wait, scroll on down and see who it is!

It's nice to have a walk after a meal, don't y'all agree? I find it especially nice when I am lucky enough to share the walk with a good friend.

After our lunch on Wednesday, friend Stro and I headed to the boardwalk at Shem Creek Park for a nice walk. I brought along my camera in hopes of spotting some nice, photogenic wildlife. I was not disappointed. Well, except that it was 76 degrees and HOT. Thankfully, there was a lovely breeze. Ok, wind, but it was nice.

We were greeted by Pete the Pelican who was created by a student out of the plastic trash and debris found in the marshes in an effort to raise awareness about the amount of marsh debris and the dangers of littering. I think that's at least partially correct. I took a picture of the sign but I can't read it so...

If you look in the center and to the right in the picture, you can see the two diamonds of the Ravenel Bridge.

This the beginning of the boardwalk. It looks really LONG, but it isn't. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk. Unless you're looking for wildlife. That's Stro trying to get out of the picture. She didn't make it. :)

Can y'all see that monstrosity in the background of this picture? I can't begin to tell you the controversy over that parking garage. It's as hideous as we thought it would be and shame on town council for the sneaky way they pushed it through. That's all I'm saying.

The shrimp boats are always a nice feature on Shem Creek. These are facing Charleston Harbor to the right and the Atlantic Ocean to the left. The sunshine was sparkling on the water surface.

Most people think everyone in Mount Pleasant is rich and live in houses like these. We are not. We do not. There are 2 or 3 of us that the rich people have yet to run off. The same dang thing happened on Sullivan's Island years ago.

I always enjoy seeing the pelicans. Look at the patterns in his feathers!

Not the best picture ever taken but I think it's good enough for y'all to see him heading straight for us. Or so it seemed. He cut just to the left.

Egrets were the bird of the day. This one was standing on the boardwalk rail hoping a fisherman would share his bait. He did.

 This white snowy egret decided to work for his meal.

Aren't they pretty? I have a few others that y'all will probably see on some coasters in the near future.

It was a lovely day on the boardwalk at Shem Creek Park.


OK, now for the most exciting part of this post! The winner of the coaster set is: 

APRIL who is the blogger at STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART. If you've never visited April before, hop over and share some blogger love with her. She's one of the sweetest people y'all will ever 'meet'. 

Congrats, April! I just need your mailing address and I'll get the coastal birds coasters in the mail to you! I hope you will enjoy them!

Stay tuned, y'all! I'll be hosting a few more giveaways soon. Next, it's a set of note cards from CoasterDoodles! After that a couple of products from Lovely2's business, Twigs and Roots ! Last, but not least, we may have a giveaway from NuNaturals! Though the last one requires me to get off my lazy bum so, we'll see. LOL 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Fragments All Around

I have NEVER been so happy to see Friday arrive in my life like I am today! And I've been really happy in the past about Fridays. So you can just imagine how this week has gone. The good news is that there's always the wonderful Friday Fragments waiting for us at Mrs. 4444's place! Just click the button below and come join in the venting fun!

 

This week has really been a strange one. Or crazy. Or crazy busy. Or I'm just really glad it's over. 

I got thrown off by election day. Since people vote at our school, we didn't have school on election day. Which was nice. BUT, it messed me up in being able to know what day it was. Maybe that was more of an age thing. Who knows? AND it seems as though a short week lasts twice as long as a full week. WTH?!

I'm quite glad the election is OVER. I was getting tired of turning the channel every time a political ad came on the television. I though there were fewer of them this year but I think it's just that I watch way less television than I used to. 

Speaking of the election, I am so totally disgusted with political commentary on facebook (and other online places) that I'm seriously still considering 'unfriending' (and stopping following) some of them. The very fact that they think they can influence my vote based on their opinion makes me wonder if maybe they suffer from delusions of grandeur. I appreciate and support the fact that everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. But I don't particularly care to have those opinions shoved down my throat. I've lost complete and total respect for many people NOT because of their political preference but because of their negativity. I had no idea they were as arrogant and judgmental as they proved to be. Come to think of it, maybe this was a good thing to discover. A true blessing in disguise. There's a lot of hate out there. I don't like that. 

The job is great! I'm busy every single day and home before I know what happened! I do enjoy being around the kids. They really do say the darnest things and have me laughing all through the day. 

The motherboard on my computer is dead. The hard drives are fine. But not the motherboard. So, I'm in the market for a new computer. Right here when I should be focused on Christmas shopping. I guess the lovelies are getting a new lappy for Christmas. Only I get to keep it and use it. And it'll be mine. Being without a computer SUCKS. Thanks to Birdie and Evwardo, I do have a loaner. But I have to give it back at some point. What laptop do y'all recommend?

It's been in the upper 30s and lower 40s in the mornings around here. I'm loving it! We're going to warm back up this weekend but will go right back down in two or three days. 

Did anyone catch this week's episode of Modern Family? I was laughing so hard I nearly wet myself! 

Have a great weekend y'all!!!!

OH- and the winner of the downloadable gift bag (the e-book of Sonia's Song and the iTunes download of her CD "Chansons de Love from Around the World) is:  

Judy at Cranberry Morning (comment #3)

Congrats Judy!!!

 

A little competition, a new (to me) HOP, and the Winner!

Blustery winds outside this morning...which would have been way more helpful during my walk had they been blowing from behind instead of in front. And no, I never did think of turning around and walking in the opposite direction. I was too busy.

There is a woman who walks out there who is a little bit older than I and has a quick pace. I can't stand for her to beat me. So, I turn around and walk in the opposite direction and walk faster to ensure I get to the halfway point way before her. AND, I take the inner circle PLUS the paths that lead to the outer circle so I walk FURTHER than her.

It's nothing personal. I'm just competitive. Although, this may be approaching the line of stupidity craziness taking it a step too far. It's not like she knows I'm doing this. I just want to make sure I'm there before her. I just want to win.

And in my new ASICS, she can't win anyway!

OK, this is a new (to me) Tuesday HOP from Jen at What Would Jen Do? called Learn Something New Tuesday

Just click on the button above and grab the questions. Answer them on your blog and link the post to the link thingy over at Jen's blog! Simple AND fun!

This Weeks Questions

1. What do you like on your pizza? Well, I don't eat pizza anymore because pizza is one of the main delicious food items responsible for all this excess weight I'm trying to lose. However, when I did enjoy every morsel of a delicious pizza, I liked it basic: pepperoni and extra cheese!

2. Is there any show that you absolutely can’t watch, because it drives you too crazy? Just about any reality television show. Those things drive me NUTS!

3. Did you do anything for Labor Day? No. We don't do much of anything on any 'holiday' unless the lovelies are home. I think we're still resting from all those times we did have big plans while the lovelies were growing up! Seriously though, when they're home, we go all out. Regardless of the holiday!

4. What was the last cookie you ate? I'm not sure what the last one was but I sure remember the one that caused me to start gaining back all those (and then some) 83 pounds I had lost in 2009. That one was a homemade oatmeal raisin cookie. Little saboteur.

5. Do you think a lot of people think bad things about you? No. Not a lot of people. But seriously, I really don't think about this nor do I really care what they think. Is that bad? LOL

6. How long does it take for you to get out of bed after your alarm goes off? My alarm is Tucker so I get up right away, jump into my workout clothes and head for the ponds to walk him. Then I bring him home and go back out for my serious 5 mile walk. Then I come home and pass out. Not really- walking is terrific since I got my new Asics! I'm so in love with those shoes. (Have I mentioned that before?).

And now, I have an announcement to make:

The winner of Mari McCarthy's ebook IS-----

Kara at Scattered Joy!

I have emailed Kara and have heard back from her already! Congrats Kara!

The Week in the Proverbial Nutshell

This week was a whole lot less CRAZY than last week.  Which means BORING.  And QUIET.

Here's my week in a 

First, I'd like to announce and congratulate the winner of Mari McCarthy's Peace of Mind & Body 27 Days of Journaling to Health and Happiness....

1

Random numbers generated May 15 2011 at 7:32:24 by www.psychicscience.org  

CINDY--IT'S YOU!

Yep, Cindy at For One Another won Mari's book!  I have sent you an email and just need to know whether you want yours in print form (in which case I'll need your mailing address) or e-book form!

Other than making some discoveries about myself, this week has definitely paled in comparison to last week.  My week was Tucker, me, Hubs, Walmart, the grocery store.  Yep, real exciting.  NOT.  Well, Tucker did get a bath but that only took 5 minutes.  Why is it that funfilledfamily weekends make us hungry for more instead of glad they're over? 



Birdie, DoodleBug and I did go to Santee this week to visit Mimi (my mother).  She made Birdie several dresses and a suit in case she wanted them for her Texas interviews.  That was probably the highlight of the week.

Or maybe the highlight was when Blogger had a big shut-down.  That kind of freaked me out not only because of withdrawals, but also because I had written a post for Friday that was also for a contest.  And it was GONE.  Friday was supposed to be the day I spent editing the post and then have it up before midnight PDT.  I was panic-stricken!  They got it back to me late Friday afternoon.  HEY!  If I don't win the contest, maybe I can just blame it on Blogger for taking away my editing time!  Yep, that's what I'm going with...right or wrong.

I am sort of digging this whole therapeutic exercise in self-awareness but some days are a little too revealing.  I'm not really sure what I was expecting but I am getting some good self-discovery because of it.  Some things I already knew but had not really dealt with them--just sort of let them go as (and I HATE this saying) 'it is what it is" and leaving it at that.  There have been some things that I had no idea were bothering me and it's been good to get them down in my journal and deal with them so that they will no longer be negatives that drag my mind through the pits.  All in all, I would say it's a good experience.  But then, I'm only on Day 7.

Hubs and I picked Birdie up this morning at 5:30....Yes, that's 5:30 in the A.M.- and took her to the airport.  She's on her way to Texas to interview for the grad program.  We should know something definite on Friday.  I am excited for her but, TEXAS?!  I may have mentioned before that it's 20 HOURS AWAY FROM HERE.  (Just in case you missed it...).

 

And that's it for this week.  I'm going to sit here and wait for Birdie to get back from TEXAS.  (20 hours away from home).  Have a fantabulous week everyone!