Kids say...and do...the darndest things!

I have never been shy about sharing how sweet my nieces are, how much I LOVE them and what a huge part of my life they have always been. They have done such sweet things through the years that it has taken my breath away and brought tears to my eyes more times than I can count. For instance, years ago, I was putting my oldest niece, Kate, to bed before I left my sister's house and I said, "You sweet girl...I just love you too much!" That precious thing said, "Aunt Dianne, don't you know it's impossible to love too much?" Then we had that argument about who loves who the most....you know the gig. There was also the time she gave me a little box for Easter with two Tootsie Rolls in it and one of her own dollars. BOO HOO!! I told her I couldn't take her money, but she was determined that I was going to keep it. Needless to say, I still have that box and that dollar....and it still makes me teary. She's about to be 13 now and still begs me to stay longer when I'm at their house, says the sweetest things and is just growing into a precious young woman. I could not be more proud.

As I was leaving my sister's house tonight, I found that my youngest niece, Grace (who will be 8 in two weeks), had adorned my car with flowers while I was inside talking to her mom. Well, BOO HOO! I had to march myself right back in and love on her a little bit. What a sweetie! I had been outside kicking a ball around with her before I went inside. Through a window, I did see her walking around the yard picking flowers, but I had no idea what she was going to do with them. What a sweet surprise! As emotional as I tend to be about children, it doesn't take much to make me just wipe out. Sometimes I think it gets worse the older I get, but I wonder if that isn't because I realize the value of actions and words more and more with time. Whatever it is, I am there!

There are the funny things too though and those are reasons that I adore children as well. When Kate was in first grade, she informed her teacher that the pilgrims came over on the cauliflower! haha! That was adorable then and it is adorable now. We still giggle about that. Then there is Grace who is just plain, flat out, funny...when she was younger (she's only 7 now, so this was about 2 years ago) they were discussing what they could give up for Lent, so it had to be about this time of year...well, Grace wanted to know if she could give up panties for Lent! My sister was like, "UH.....NO!!!" :-) Oh well, it was worth a try! Then there was the time that she wanted a certain ribbon to wear in her hair on picture day at school, but it didn't match, so my sister told her no. Well, Grace was determined, so she took that ribbon to school and got the teacher to put it in her hair! My sister had no idea about any of it until she got the proofs back! HAHA! They will have their hands full with that one, no doubt!

And I might add that Nspired by Faith (along the left side under my links) had a hilarious story today. I giggled out loud the whole time I was reading it. HA! Check her out...you won't be sorry! (In case she posts again before you get there, it's the one titled "Grandpa comes by for a visit....or so I thought!") Funny stuff.

I'm curious about any cute stories others may have. I just love this kind of stuff...it makes for great memories!

Biblical scholar?? I think not!

I wouldn't say this is totally accurate since some of the questions had silly choices for answers and there is so much that I DON'T know, but I was a little surprised and it was fun. Give it a try!

You know the Bible 95%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Great American Dream VOTE?

I just saw the commercial tonight for Donny's new show starting tomorrow night, "Great American Dream Vote." I sat right here on the couch with my laptop grinning from ear to ear and wanting to squeal...he just makes my heart happy! I have a tupperware party to go to, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be recording this jewel...I can't wait!


I think the show's name should be "Great American Dream BOAT!" He is STILL gorgeous!!!

The Jesus Painter

This explains it all...

No wonder I work as an accountant for a living...I really am all about detail, logic and reasoning...and I am amazed when these quizzes get it right!

You Are 75% Left Brained, 25% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Leave it to...Classic TV!

Please keep posting movie titles when/if you think of them because I LOVE the input, but I just had to post this....

Whenever I see pictures of people that were in shows when I was a kid, it always makes me feel old! How 'bout good ol' Wally, Eddie and the Beav? I got this in an e-mail today and just had to giggle. I do NOT know where time goes!



And why does it always seem that everyone else changes while we stay the same??? I mean, at 45 years of age, I am sure I still look the same as I did when I was 10! :-)

Got Nexflix?

I am hands-down the world's absolute worst about falling asleep during movies. I can love the storyline, but then, even at the theatre sometimes, I get so relaxed and next thing I know....'ZZZZzzzzzzzz'....waking up to find I have no idea what is going on! One of my best friends joined Nexflix months ago and has just raved about the service, the movie selection, the ease of trading movies, the length of time you can keep them without penalty, etc. I have thought about joining myself, but never did because I never thought I'd be able to stay awake enough to get my money's worth out of it. I was talking to a co-worker a couple of weeks ago who is also a member and she raved about it as well, so I decided to give it a try. Granted I am still in my two week trial period, but I've already watched two movies this month and sadly enough, that is a record for me! I got my second movie in the mail today and since I didn't have anything pressing to do tonight, I went ahead and watched it. I'll put it in the mail tomorrow and should have my third movie by the end of the week...just in time for the weekend. Since I am one that feels there is very little worth watching on TV these days...I mostly only watch news shows like Dateline, Primetime, Nancy Grace, etc, and my one vice, Days of Our Lives...this is a great option to me right now. I can't believe it took me so long to join the ranks.

So far, I've watched "Friends with Money" with Jennifer Aniston (LOVE her but didn't care for the movie) and "Click" with Adam Sandler (great message about life passing so quickly). Next up, I have "The Devil Wears Prada." Hopefully it will be good. If you aren't a member of Netflix, you should try it, if only for the two week trial period....you can't go wrong with that.

I am curious about favorite movies out there and if there are any you would recommend. Please share!

Deja-vu and boo-hoo....

Any takers on guessing who had $300 withdrawn from their account without their consent again this month?? Admittedly I do not check my balances daily and after that fiasco last month, a new debit card, etc, I assumed there would be no more unapproved debits. WELL.....last Thursday, $300 again, to the same company as before. I just discovered it today when I checked online to see if my deposit was showing yet. Needless to say, after realizing that, I piled myself right into my car and went to get that straightened out. We, the banker and I, decided they must have my account number and that the best option would be to close that account and open a new one, etc. I guess my mystery debiter will get the surprise next month when that debit isn't approved! I do wish I could see that.

Second on the front of big news, and really bigger news than above, it looks like my sweet nieces will be moving to Florida, or somewhere thereabouts, in a year or year and a half if things play out like my sister wants them to. I, of course, am SO SAD about the thought of those sweet girls moving 5-6 hours away, but it isn't up to me and it's simply something I am going to have to accept and get used to. My true wish is that this isn't God's plan for them, but I need to start thinking like it is then if it doesn't happen.....YEA!!! I know the real answer is to be happy anyway, but just I'm not there yet. I'm still in the 'mulling it around in my mind' stage. Being single has had its advantages with them because I have been able to have so much quality time with them and pour so much into those relationships, but it will break my heart to see them leave, there's just no other way to put it. I keep telling myself that I need to be glad that everyone is healthy and it's only a few hours away, but they are the closest family I have, so in my mind, it's yucky no matter how you look at it.

I guess deja-vu and boo-hoo was a good title, huh? That's exactly how I feel....

Music and Lyrics and Donny Osmond

If you have not seen Music and Lyrics, it is a great movie any female will definitely want to see. I chose that for my birthday movie with friends last month and invited my friend Gina to come along because she loves Hugh Grant and was dying to see it. I thought it would be cute because I love both Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. Little did I know how much my friend Gina and I would identify with and laugh at this movie. The story and pictures below are part of the reason why.

Back in 1989, Donny Osmond had his 'comeback single' titled 'Soldier of Love.' Star 94 had played it on the radio not saying who was singing it because Donny had been such a pop sensation back in the 70's and they didn't want to color anyone's opinion of this new work. Listeners called in and loved the song and next thing you know, Donny Osmond was going to be a guest at Star 94 on their morning program.

Well, my friends Gina, Judy and I decided we needed to GO to Star 94 and try to see him the morning he was going to be on the air. All I remember is that it was toward the end of tax season and sort of warm weather, so it had to be April. I know we had to have gotten up at the crack of dawn, but we had our little briefcases, tote bags, etc, (sort of as a prop of course) and headed downtown to whatever building Star 94 was in at the time. We got there, parked, marched right past the security guard at the door, found out what floor we needed to get to, then hid in a bathroom just a little down the hall from the door to Star 94, taking turns watching for Donny to make his appearance.

After being in there peeking out for what seemed like an eternity (although I am sure it was only 20 minutes or so), we decided we needed to be on the other end of the hallway to see better, so we gathered our stuff and rounded the corner on the way to the other end and who stepped right off the elevator in front of us??? DONNY OSMOND!!!! I kid you not.....we still laugh that we just stood there gasping with our mouths open....three definitely audible gasps. HA! He was SO kind...."Well, well....what have we got here?" We just giggled, stammered around unable to speak and were finally like, "OH MY GOSH!!!" We told him we had been fans of his forever and that we loved his new song.....I don't remember everything about what anyone said, but he was so great about signing autographs, letting us take pictures, and just letting us revert back to giggly teenagers if only for a little while. Judy and Gina had taken albums for him to sign, and we all got his signature on a piece of paper. After all that, we headed back to the car to head for work. On the way back to the office, we listened to Star 94 of course and he mentioned "the three girls in the hallway." There we were again, screeching like teenagers...."THAT WAS US!!!"

That same night, he was going to be at Rupert's, so we took the pictures we'd taken to one hour developing and picked them up before we headed out again that night. He sang several songs, chatted with the audience, then settled in to sign autographs. All I remember is that there were LOTS of people there, but we waited...and waited...and waited. When it got to be our turn, Donny looked up, had the funniest look on his face and said, "Were you the girls that were at the radio station this morning?" Our reply...."YES!!!!!!!!" He just laughed. He talked to us for several minutes, signed our pictures from that morning, then posed for more pictures with us. Such a nice, nice guy! We stood around and watched him sign autographs for several others, then it was time for him to go. My fanatic friends, after he left the table, totally ransacked it, drank from his glass, took his straw, took napkins, etc...just silly stuff that is still so funny but I am not sure any of us would do anything different even to this day. I was looking through the pictures and found that I even have a napkin in my memorabilia from that day, so I can't make too much fun of Judy and Gina!

Anyway, this is why I LOVED 'Music and Lyrics' as much as I did and why Gina and I just hooted laughing at several places in that movie. It was just like that Donny story coming to life again, the way we acted, how he is older and still has the same fan base that he had years ago, everyone is just middle-aged now, etc. As good as Drew Barrymore was, the sister is the one that was really funny though....if you see it, watch her. She is great and she is who we really identified with more than anything. Just hilarious. Kate wanted to see it too, so I took her a couple of weeks ago and found myself laughing just as much, if not more, the second time than I did when I first saw it. This is one movie I am definitely going to buy!

Below are my Donny pictures. Enjoy!

Judy, Donny and Gina

Judy, Donny and me

Judy with her autographed album on the way

back to the office

Back at the office showing off our autographs

Donny and me at Rupert's

I think this will always stand out as one of the most fun days of my life!

One word...ADORABLE!

I got this link in an e-mail today and thought it was precious!

Celebrity look-alikes??

Y'all...this is so funny! I got the link from my friend Tracey's blog and thought I'd try it. Can you believe this tells me the first person I look like is Fred Savage? That makes me giggle, although I did LOVE The Wonder Years and thought he was an adorable boy. To be honest, I didn't even know who some of the others were, but the second one is 'heiress apparent to the Swedish throne'...never heard of her! Anyway, Tracey was right, this is fun and you should try it too!

Here's the link...Let me know if you do it and who you look like!

http://www.myheritage.com/

Do we believe in miracles today?

I was thrilled to find the video below on youtube tonight because I have been listening to this CD in my car for about a week. I heard this group, The Booth Brothers, as a Gaither event I went to last October. I had never heard of them before, but they were great and I bought their CD. After I got it home, I started listening to it and decided I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, so I put it up and haven't thought about it again until a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know why, but I truly think God is the reason this song came to mind again. It has pushed me this week to read more about Jesus' miracles and to really think about what it must have been like to be there and witness them firsthand. How wonderful would it be to see someone who had spent their entire lifetime crippled finally being able to walk, or a man born blind finally able to see? How would it have been to SEE that Jesus had restored a withered hand, healed a deaf mute, restored a servant's ear or indeed even raised Lazarus from the dead? I have spent this week studying and pondering those and other miracles and wondering what we, as a society and as a world, would do if we saw miracles like that today. I can't even imagine how transformed we would be! I know of definite instances that I have seen in the lives of others that I believe to be miracles because I believe God is able to heal and sustain life, but to actually SEE an ear or withered hand restored...I can't even imagine how awestruck I would be! I do know one thing though, this is the kind of expectancy with which I want to approach my life, my prayers and my God.

Listen to this song...it's the main reason I bought the CD, and if you want to read more about the miracles of Jesus, follow the link:
http://www.bcbsr.com/survey/jmrcls.html