For Today

Outside my window: It's dark and a tad bit cooler than it's been. Starting to believe that fall may really just be around the corner.

I Am Thinking: About family, and how sometimes I really wish we lived closer. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Louisville - but I do miss my family. Thankful to have so many friends who treat us as family though.

I Am Thankful For: Rebecca's 5th birthday, she SO enjoyed her special day and was so thankful for her new toys. She's kept all of her new things very close at hand.

From The Kitchen: Oh my my ... I made "Butter Chicken" over the weekend and it was delicious. I'm sure not one bit healthy - but it twas yum-acious. I also made some crispy potatoes the other night while Brian grilled out steaks. Those weren't too bad either. You basically boil the potato until soft, put it on a baking sheet - smash it down to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness. Pour on some olive oil and spices then bake until they are crispy. The kids loved them!

I Am Wearing: Blue shorts, white t-shirt. Barefoot! I love going barefoot! It won't be long until it's time to find my sweats :-)

On the 'Go Organize' Front: The basement we tackled, well - yes, we made progress, got things out of there, things thrown away - shelving moved around to make a better play area. Rebecca thanked us many times for 'making it neat down there'. But is it still neat? Should I put an expletive in front of that 'nope'?. Not even close. It's been Rebecca-fied. Sometimes I feel like I'm fighting a battle that I have no hopes of winning. Bless her little bones, I can't stand the thought of discouraging her from playing though. She's the only child we have who really plays with toys.

I Am Going: To bed soon.

I Am Reading: Just finished 'The Help'. It's a thick book and I finished it in about 3 days!!! Great read!!! Now if I could only find another one as equally interesting.

I Am Hoping: That Rebecca enjoys preschool, it starts up on Thursday. She has a brand new backpack that she got for her birthday that she is so proud of - already has her things packed in it and is ready to go!

I Am Praying For: A friend of mine in a painful situation. Hoping she will come to Louisville and spend some time with me.

I Am Hearing: Total, complete quietness. The girls are in bed and Ryan must be tired - haven't heard much out of him tonight.

Around The House: House fairly picked up, thankful that I had a long weekend to work on it. Still have a lot more to do to the basement - on top of Bex-mess that needs picking up. Laundry baskets filled with clean clothes and taken to the appropriate rooms, but still needs to be put away.

One Of My Favorite Things: Watching Rebecca enjoying her birthday. She was SO happy with all the attention, friends, presents, swimming and her horse cake. She's told us thank you several times already for her birthday. She's so sweet about giving thanks!

A Few Plans For The Rest of The Week: Emma is changing to a different gymnastics class on Wednesday nights that is more focused than the one she is currently in - that starts tomorrow night. I'm going to take Rebecca out of gymnastics for now and try her in a dance class. She loves music and dancing and I think this will give her an opportunity to do something different from Emma. Things like that are important to me since I was the youngest of 5 and it always felt like I had to do what my siblings wanted to do. That may not have been the reality, but that's how I remember it anyway! She'll start that on Thursday.

Choir practice for Brian on Wednesday & youth group for Ryan. Baseball games for Ryan on Thursday. Hopefully nothing but some time at home on Friday. Then the Simpsonville Fall Festival on Saturday. Whew ... glad I was able to enjoy some down time back in July!

Have a great week everyone!