That Takes the Cake

Thursday, we finally got a load of dirt for the yard to help level out a couple of low spots. The downside was that it was delivered the same day as the temperatures dropped back down in the low 40's. Stroker and Brookelynn decided to get out in the cold and work and getting it spread out.
I stayed inside and took this picture of the two of them hard at work.

After the dirt was spread, Stroker and Devin went to Tech to check out the brand new Strength and Conditioning  Center. I didn't do much of anything Thursday evening except whine around about my upset stomach.

By Friday morning, I was officially sick, and spent the entire day with nausea and everything that goes along with it. Friday evening, I managed to eat a salad at Dairy Queen. We took Brooke there so she could get her free meal for straight A's on her report card. Later, Brooke's friend Treasure came over to our house for a sleep over.

Today and spent the entire day making a cake for my sister's church auction that takes place tomorrow. When I say "entire day", I mean that literally. Here is a breakdown:
6:45 am: Stroker got up and took my car to have the brakes worked on.
8:30 am: Stroker returned from the brake shop
9:30 am: We all loaded up and went to IHOP for breakfast
11:00 am: I went to the grocery store for cake baking supplies
11:30 am: Began baking the cake
12:00 pm: Got the cakes out of the oven. Let them cool for an hour.
1:00 pm: Tried to get the cakes out of the pans, but they fell apart because they were sticking to the pan.
1:15 pm: Got frustrated and threw the cakes to the birds.
1:30 pm: Returned from the store with my 2nd batch of cake baking supplies. (Greased the pans WELL) and mixed the batter.
2:15 pm: Removed the cakes from the oven (Again). Let the cakes cool.
2:20 pm: Began dragging out my ribbon and cricut machine to make a cute bow and tag for the cake.
4:00 pm: Finally finished the bow and the tag.
4:20 pm: Got all the cricut mess cleaned up and put away.
4:25 pm. Iced the cake
4:55 pm: Realized that I needed cellophane wrap for the cake, so Brooke and I went to Hobby Lobby.
6:15 pm: Returned from Hobby Lobby with cellophane wrap, Peeps for garnish, two crafty projects for Brooke and a Kit Kat bar.
7:00 pm: Got the cake wrapped, bow placed and tagged the cake.

It's not the most attractive display for a cake, but in the words of Michael Jackson "This Is It".  My first and final cake auction.

I told my sister that this cake should bring a minimum of $500 (LOL) at the auction tomorrow.

Just in case you are wondering how Stroker spent his Saturday...



Spring Storms

I spent the entire day with my mom today. I took her to her doctor appointment where she left with a good report, we at lunch together, she sat in the school traffic lines with me to pick up the kids this afternoon and she joined me in running a couple of quick errands. I didn't get her back home till after 4pm this evening. 
Around 7pm, the weather turned quite ugly for Smithville and Sparta. Tornado activity was headed straight down the Smithville Highway (Highway 70) through Sparta. That happens to be right where my brother's house is, my moms house, my other brother lives in a mobile home and where my dad's house is. Oh yeah and my uncle lives in a mobile home in the same neighborhood. I was a little nervous.

According to the news, the worst of the storm hit in Cassville, about four miles west of their neighborhood. We kept a close eye on the news for about 2 hours straight tonight.

In brighter news, Brookelynn brought home her proofs from her spring school photo's. Just beautiful, if I do say so myself.

I asked Devin about his, but he said his didnt turn out good, so he just threw the proof away instead of bringing it home for us to see.

Boys...Uuuuggghhhh...a mind of their own.

In with the New

Spring officially began on Sunday and it sure felt like it. Brookelynn and I went to Sparta to visit my dad and Phyllis for a while. When we got back to Cookeville, we were getting a little hungry so the family loaded up and went to El Tapatio. Afterwords we went to Algood to visit Byrd, April, Amari and baby. The guys stayed outside and shot basketball. Everything was fine till Jamie blocked Devin's shot and the ball landed on Jennifer's (April's sister) new puppy's head. It went unconscious at first so they thought it killed it. When it woke up, it was disoriented so they took it to the vet and found that it had fluid on the brain. After treatment and 24 hours of keeping a close eye on him, they feel that he will be OK.
I spent the most part of Monday in Nashville and the later part of the day we spent shopping around on a new washer since mine died last Thursday night. Here is the one I finally decided on. It has the digital timer just like my old one to let me know how much longer till the load is finished.

Today, at 5pm, our new washer was delivered. So far, I like it. It doesn't have an agitator. It was news to me that washers are no longer made with agitators. Anywho, it has been load after load of laundry tonight at the Hayes House. Just in the nick of time too. Clean underwear was getting scarce for everybody around here. LOL.
I took a couple of photos of the trees today, while they are in bloom. The pink cherry tree is my favorite. It smells sooo good. The Bradford Pear is my least favorite. Those blooms smell like poop. Thank goodness they are almost gone.

Reach for the Moon

• Tonight's full moon will be a super "perigee moon" -- the biggest in almost 20 years. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years. The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993.  I wouldn't have even known to look for it, if Heather hadn't mentioned it last night. (Hope she remembered to look.)

• I tried to walk around the lake a few times this week. Four miles a day is my goal.
• Brookelynn pretty much deserted us for the most part this week. We met my sister Tuesday night to pick Brookelynn up, only to have her leave us again on Thursday to spend the night with her friend Kelsey. They were all excited about Spaghetti Taco's and playing "Hedbandz", where you stick a card to your forehead and have to guess what it says based on hints from other people.

• Friday, I took my mom to her doctor appointment and ran lots of errands.
• I got another four mile walk in on Friday, and Stroker even joined me.
• Brookelynn called to ask if she could spend one more night at Kelsey's. She threw the "pretty pleases" in and we gave into it.
• We haven't told her that she missed dinner with ten of us and sitting around outside with the family enjoying the warm weather till 11:30 last night.
• Today was gorgeous...I went to Chuck Johnson's Nursery and Lowe's and couldn't fight the urge to go ahead and get spring plants. We spent the afternoon placing everything in pots and the window boxes. (Cletus walked over and sat behind the plants when he seen that I had the camera...LOL)
• 
  I also got the underside of the cornhole boards painted that I started in October. That was one of those "start now...finish later" projects. We might even get to play our first game on them tomorrow.
• Stroker fired up the grill again this evening. We enjoyed our second round of grilled burgers and hot dogs this spring.
• I also checked Erin's blog and she has snuck in 2 updates. I was excited to see that she hadn't went on o blog hiatus.

Springing Forward

We got a lot of "to do" list items checked off this past weekend since the weather was so nice. We got the shed cleaned up (again). It seems to be our "catch all", so every chance we get, we have to get out there and straighten it up. We got the leaves cleaned out from around the house and shrubs. Brookelynn even volunteered to vaccuum my car, so she was treated to frozen yogurt. Actually, the whole family was treated to frozen yogurt. Yesterday, Brookelynn and I took a four mile walk at the park to kick off daylight savings time.
Today the weather became gloomy and the forcast called for rain. So, instead of visiting the zoo like I had sort of been planning, we opted for an adventure with a roof over our heads. Cumberland Caverns was our destination. The kids really enjoyed experiance. I guess we will have to take a "rain check" on the zoo trip.

The mouth of Cumberland Caverns

We explored down inside this creepy structure

Devin & Brooke in front of the never ending water fountain

Headed back to the car

History is Made

Two events today will be marked in history. The first was the news I read when I woke up this morning. An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan while we all slept. I called Erin to see if Brandon had left for his month long Japan experience, but luckily he doesn't leave out until next week. To add to the disaster, the earthquake caused massive Tsunami's. This event goes down in history as the most costly natural disaster of all time.

This whirlpool is an amazing and unbelievable scene.

Today also marks history on a good note.

I became a great aunt for the sixth time.

 John Casen was born at 3:21pm this evening.

Doctor Doctor

Both kids had dentist appointments today and both of them came out with good reports. 0 cavities...yay! They even tried a new technique to clean D's teeth since he has braces. They covered his entire face with towels to protect it from the excess powder and then used some type of sand blasting instrument to clean them. It was kinda weird looking and I almost took a blog photo, but I decided not to. I don't really know what changed my mind. This is his last dental cleaning with his braces. He is sooo glad for that. Just a few more Dr. Wheeler visits left.

Stroker had a doctor appointment this evening too for his acid reflux.
After the kids teeth were nice and clean and Stroker had his Nexium refill, we went to El Tapatio for dinner. Brooke and I stopped by TJ Maxx and Belk to see what we could find; which ended up being a button up shirt and belt for Stroker, and new socks for Devin. Brooke was a little discouraged that she came home empty handed. I'm used to coming home empty handed, so it was no big loss for me LOL.

Tomorrow is Friday and the last day of school, then the kids are off for Spring Break (A whole week)...Yippee! I think we might do a family adventure Monday...I'm just not sure what it will be yet.

birthdays and babies

Thirteen of us met up at Logan's Roadhouse tonight to celebrate Brad's (my nephew) birthday. Why is that I always feel older every time I celebrate someone else's birthday?

In just a few days, Brad is going to be a daddy again too. I will be a "great aunt" for the sixth time. That doesn't help me feel any younger either.

Winning Weekend

Friday morning started with good news. Sunoco called to let Stroker know that he was this week's winner of $50 in free fuel.  I think I was more excited than Stroker because his reaction was "It's about time".
He registers to win every week. It has taken at least two years for them to draw his name. 

After $50 of gassing up the truck Friday evening (which didn't  give him a full tank...uuuggghh), we met up with Darlene, Gary, and Trent at El Tapatio for dinner. We had planned to go by the Home Show afterwords, but didn't make it in time.

Instead, we introduced Darlene and Gary to

.

We have been addicted to the place since it opened in January.

Saturday morning, Stroker and I got up and headed over to the home show. We signed up to win lots of stuff, but by Saturday our good luck had ran out because we didn't win anything.

Around lunchtime, Brooke and I headed to Sparta and took my mom to lunch. We also paid a visit to my niece and great-nephew for about an hour before coming back home.

It rained constantly all day, but I somehow managed to do quite a bit of running around. Brooke and I even went to see "Big Momma...Like Father, Like Son" Saturday night. It was literally a last minute decision. Stroker and Devin were watching Tech play their final OVC championship game which started at 7:00. By 7:05. Brooke and I were in the car and in route to the movie that was scheduled to start at 7:10.

We got our tickets in time and got in line for some popcorn and a drink. The "dad" in front of us was buying his 3 little girls some snacks, when the smallest of the girls started started crying. The "mom" asked her what was wrong and she said (while squalling) "My stomach hurts!". 

I am not psychic, but I knew exactly what was about to happen...Projectile vomit! Once it was over, the mom told her husband, who was too embarrassed to turn and view what had happened, "Lance, Get someone to clean this up". Instead of taking her daughter to the bathroom, they just stood there for a couple of minutes until round two began. After the fourth hurl, I couldn't take it anymore; Brooke and I decided to just watch the movie without the popcorn and drink. So, we left the dad, Lance, at the counter where he continued his snack order and had yet to get the nerve to turn around and take a glance of the damages.

I have to admit it was kinda funny as we walked toward the theatre where our movie was playing, I listened to all those teenage employees saying "who's cleaning that up?" and "I am not touching that!"

The movie was good by the way, even without the popcorn and coke.

Sunday morning, we all got up and went to breakfast at IHOP and we finished the day and the weekend with a visit and dinner at my mother-in-laws.

March..1..2..3

It's slipping away already. I hope to get back in the routine of posting daily, but the first three days of March have kept us busy.
Tuesday, March 1st: Just a few minutes after we got home from dinner, I got a call from Heather Rip. She asked if Stroker could help her move a washer and dryer. He agreed, so we all went to help out. An hour and a half later, we had cleared out an entire storage unit. She didn't actually ask us to help her move it all, but since we were there, we figured we might as well help her get it all done.  I am sooo excited for her. She has  finally purchased her first home.

I am also super excited about Stacia and Delano working on purchasing their first home. 

It was March 2002 that we found our home. Must be something about Spring time weather.

Wednesday, March 2nd: Stroker came home from work and fired up the grill for the first time in 2011. He grilled hamburgers and hot dogs; and we ate them with chips and macaroni salad. Yum-O as Rachel Ray would say.

Today after dinner, the mood finally hit Stroker to go buy him some new jeans (which he really needed). So, we loaded up and headed to the store. After he recovered from "sticker shock", he broke down and got himself four new pair of jeans. While I had him out of the house, I fitted him for a new suit. His old suit was too small when he needed it last week. So, he should be set for the next time he needs one.