What I'm Loving Right Now

*** pale lavender flat nail polish....I don't usually paint my fingernails (toes only) but I will with this. LOVE it.



***Adele. I know, I'm late to the game. But I play her CD's CONSTANTLY.

*** baby snuggles....can't get enough.



*** Draw Something. Enough said.

*** Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. This is not a new love for me, but I can't eat any other chips any more. LOVE them.

*** Three day weekends. WOOHOO!!

*** My life. It's good. That is all. :o)

Friday Fragments - Finding My New Normal

You know you look rough when a random guy looks at you and offers to buy you a coffee "or three or four"....lol. It's been an exhausting week! But now I get to take a load off of my mind with Friday Fragments.

* Today is day one of a three day weekend for me. YAYY!!!

* I was thinking about something the other day. I got married the first time when I was 18 years old. We were married for over 12 years, separated for the last year of that time. I met John just after the divorce was final, married him a year later, and we were married for seven years.
My point here is that I've only been single for about a year of my life, and I dated during that time. But single and living on my own, only for that one year.

I am not a fan of it. Just being honest here. I'm not scared to be alone, it's just freaking weird. And now I get why - I've hardly ever done it before! Out of my almost 39 years of life, I've only been single for one year.

I'm not complaining - life is good, and I'm very happy. But now I understand why, on the weekends that the kids are with their dad, I often find myself staying over at a friend's house. Being in a completely empty house is so foreign to me.

* Wanna know something else I'm NOT accustomed to? NOT cooking for a crowd. I'm used to cooking for at least six people, often more. That number has been cut in half. Only....I still cook a pile of food! Tonight I made Shepherd's Pie, then texted Tim and told him to come eat with us. (which he gladly did!) I also frequently load him up with leftovers. He and his friends do not mind this at all!

P.S. Want to come over for dinner?

Have a great weekend!!

Southern Daddies

"Honey, you know a lot about a lot, but you don't know shit about Southern daddies and their Southern daughters." - Straw Dogs

I watched that movie last week, and that one line really struck a chord in me. I've been thinking about it a lot ever since.

My Southern daddy taught me a lot of things.

He taught me some things hands-on.

My daddy taught me how to fish.

He taught me how to shoot a gun.

He taught me how to plant a garden.

He taught me some things by telling me.

He told me that I could be anything I wanted to be.

He told me that it's just as easy to love a rich man as a poor man. (I never did listen.....)

He told me to stand up for myself and not to let people walk all over me.

He taught me some things by his actions.

He taught me to never let a man treat me the way he treated my mama.

He taught me never to work a job that I hate and make my family miserable.

He taught me to not let my depression go undiagnosed & untreated....and make my family miserable.

He taught me to tell people that I love them - and show them - before it's too late and you are brought to your knees by grief and regret.

My Daddy is NOT a redneck. I've never really known how to describe my dad. He was raised on a farm in the country in the South. But he does not fit the redneck stereotype at all. He is always well-dressed and well-groomed. He doesn't drive a big truck or chew tobacco or fly a rebel flag.

Recently, my niece's husband was teasing my dad and calling him a redneck. My dad was not amused.

"I am not a redneck."

"Well what are you then?"

"I am a Southern Gentleman."

Good answer, Daddy.

And your daughter is a Hot Southern Mess.

{This was supposed to have been a scheduled post on Wednesday for PYHO, but obviously, I screwed up. I'm still linking up with Shell - go visit her for wonderful Pour Your Heart Out posts!}

Now She Blogs

Pretty much, yeah.

Happy List Time!!!

* First of all, I'm Happy that I have enough Happy to create a Happy List.

* I'm Happy that Tim Tebow and Taylor Swift are a couple. I heart both of them SO HARD, always have. We have met Tim Tebow, even have pics & his autograph, which basically makes us all BFF's now. I'm sure Taylor's going to be calling me any day so we can all get together. *hairflip*

* I'm Happy that Elayna is playing softball again! It's so good for her; the physical activity, the team bonding, everything about it. I am SO not athletic. At.All. But I love that she gets out there and does her best.

* I'm Happy that Facebook exists. There are so many things that have happened in my life that would never have happened without it. Most recently, a middle school friend of my son's found us on Facebook. They were extremely close and stayed in contact for years, but they changed phone numbers eventually and lost touch. I LOVE this kid; he's another one of my adopted children. I had searched for him on FB many times, with no success, but finally he found us and I am so happy! I can't wait to see him.

* I am Happy that the girls & I are doing great on our own. Shelbie put together a shelf for the bathroom and we just figure out how to do most everything we need to do, on our own. Tim helps a lot, but we do a lot ourselves. And we try to make it fun; last night after taking the trash to the dumpster, we had a trash can race back to our house, which doesn't sound interesting but somehow ended up HILARIOUS.

* I'm Happy that I have some AMAZING people in my life. A-MAZ-ING.

* Oh yeah, one more thing....I'm Happy that you're reading this post because apparently Google Friend Connect went away which is something I'm sure I should have paid attention to, but I kind of didn't, so if you're still reading here....thanks!

And go see Mamarazzi for more Happy Lists!