My Last Hoorah!

Well, this is my first attempt at using photobucket for my pictures. Click on that picture above and you can go to all of my pictures. I will warn you, though, they are not in order. I don't know why. I will go back and put more descriptions in them so you can know when they took place and what they are... I can't do slide shows since I don't have the newest flash on my computer at work, and I also don't have administrative rights to be able to install it...

Okay, so here we go!

Friday, March 14, 2008
Worked from 7 until 11:30. Paid the electric bill. Went to Friday Forum, and then got on the road by 2:00. The drive was uneventful (which is a good thing). And Dothan traffic is AWFUL! I swung into the Southside Wal-Mart to pick up the last few ingredients for Julie's baby shower. Then I headed over to Julie's mom's house where Julie had a pork chop, baked potato, and other yummy stuff waiting for me. Then we took some pictures of Julie and me. Look at her pregnant tummy!! So cute!! (Okay, not posting the pictures in here is totally going to stink, but I will run out of room if I do...). Anyway, then we got down to the business of making the food. We started out with the oreo truffles. Thank goodness for Alysha and Meemaw and all the help they provided! We had a lovely little assembly line going. We decided to color the oreo truffles green and yellow to match the colors of the baby shower. We also made half of the baby carriage chocolate lollipops (these were the shower favors). They turned out cute, but man that was time-consuming. Also, I took my red pajamas. So, don't be surprised when you see the ever-present red heart pajamas in one of the pictures :).

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Baby shower day!!! Yipee! We all woke up and I started cooking immediately. I had lots of stuff to make! I had to make the other half of the chocolate pops. I had to make the caramel dip for the apples (this didn't turn out right), and I had to make the bacon cheese mini appetizers. Plus we had to get to Kristy's mom's house by 1:00 so we could set up. We made it! Yay! And none too soon, because right after we got there, one of the guests arrived, and she is deaf, so without Julie and her mom there, no one would have been able to communicate with her very easily! Kristy, Meemaw, and I got all the stuff on the table (please refer to the pictures of the spread). Soon guests were arriving and things were getting underway! You know, I am so not one to be the center of attention. I was glad Kristy took that helm and was in charge of the baby shower. I am much more of a "behind the scenes" kind of gal. Here's some more Nilla trivia for you: I do not flourish when in the company of lots of people I don't really know. I tend to get very quiet. The shower went well, Julie got tons of really neat stuff. Everyone was talking about the food. I was told by 2 or 3 people that I could go into catering as a side business. Hmmm... Something to consider when I am (hopefully) a stay-at-home-mom one of these days... Anyway, it made me feel good. After the baby shower, I went to my dad's. He had forgotten I was coming down this weekend, so it was a nice surprise for him. We sat around watching TV that night, but I don't remember what we watched.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
I got up and went to church. Church starts at 9:00 this year in Dothan (they trade off with Dothan 2nd Ward for the time each year). I sat with Brian and Becky during Sacrament Meeting and got to hold Little B pretty much the whole time. Now he is a sweet baby. He is so calm and even-keeled. Just kind of goes with the flow. He fell asleep on me. So cute! Oh, and I totally (accidentally) squeaked his toy while Sacrament was being passed. Haha! Afterwards, Brian said (jokingly), "If you can't play with it quietly, we'll have to take it away." We laughed. After church, I headed out to Meemaw's again. I spent the rest of the afternoon out there visiting and laughing. Julie, Meemaw, Alysha, and I played quite a few games of Catch Phrase. Now that was hilarious. Did you know Meemaw used to wear bonnets when she was younger :)? That was Alysha's clue for trying to get Julie to guess "bonnet." She said, "they wore these back when Meemaw was growing up." Oh my gosh we laughed so hard. There were other hilarious moments, but for the life of me, I can't remember them now. I wonder if Julie remembers any. I hung out there until about 10, visiting with everyone. Then I headed back to my dad's where he was watching an infomercial for "My Generation 1960s." Amazing how the music pulls you in and makes you watch.

Monday, March 17, 2008
St. Patrick's Day! I will tell you what: it is a wonderful thing to let your body wake up when it's good and ready. For me, that is around 9:15. And I'm not sorry. Dad and I spent the morning running errands. We went by Wal-Mart, where we ran into Julie, Alysha, and Meemaw! We also checked the post office box and went to Home Depot. We ate eggs for a late lunch. Then I got ready to go and headed over to Becky's house at about 4:00 for our St. Patrick's girlie night! I had to make the oreo truffles. Which did not look as pretty as they did on Saturday for the baby shower... Note to self... Using the double boiler for the vanilla almond bark is not a good idea (oh, and I switched to vanilla almond bark instead of white chocolate for many reasons). We took lots of pictures (refer to the pictures). And I want you to know I was the only idiot not wearing green. And, I got pinched for it (thanks Kira!). I didn't bring any green with me to Dothan. Oh well. Anyway, those who attended the party: Becky (she hosted, provided the drinks, and she and I made chicken lasagna roll-ups -- okay, well, I helped buy the ingredients and Becky made them, since I was busy with the oreo truffles -- sorry Becky!), Stacy (she made brownies with chocolate and mint icing, and a delicious salad with chicken and other yummy stuff), Kira (she brought green grapes and yummy green beans with bacon -- I know! I don't seem to hate green beans anymore!), and Kristy -- not the Kristy from the baby shower, but the Kristy I added to my blog roll -- (she brought a delicious fruit tray with dip). Becky found an Irish words matching game. That was way hard. I got 5 correct. Kira won with 6 correct. Kira knew what a sheleleigh was (maybe I spelled that right...). Even though most everyone left by 9, I stayed until around 11 helping Becky with her blog (although I think I ran my mouth more than I helped). Oh yeah, and Little B fell asleep on me again. So sweet! Oh yeah, and if you have a daughter named Stacy and you told her you like reading my blog.... :). You should leave me comments. I met you more than once! And you score big points in my book for introducing me to key lime pie ice cream by Blue Bell. And I love getting comments :). (Sorry to call you out :)).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
On Tuesday, I helped my dad pull some wire. But it did not go smoothly, and the wire came undone in the wall somewhere and got lost. So, that was a lost cause, literally. At least for the time being. So I ended up having to leave to go to Stacy's for lunch. Stacy made these delicious chicken pillows (I will be stealing the recipe for these and many other things from her blog) and we ate more of the salad from the night before, but this one didn't have the chicken in it. I got to hold Ammon and entertain him while Stacy cooked. He eventually fell asleep on me for a little bit. So sweet. Stacy is incredibly talented and creative. She let me look through all her scrapbooks, and they are amazing. Makes me want to scrapbook. But I have tried before, and mine are pretty lame. Plus I have anxiety attacks (just about) over cutting up my pictures. I'm not sure why. My dad says it's because I'm a lot like him. I think it's because I feel like I get clues from the picture backgrounds.... You just never know what will spark a memory. Anyway, but Stacy is really awesome with her scrapbooking. After leaving Stacy's, I went by the library to visit for a little while. Then I went back to Dad's and we ate dinner and watched some TV. Oh yeah, no we didn't. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End. Thanks for letting us borrow it Becky!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I woke up this morning, helped my dad with something, and then got ready to go to lunch. I met Kristin and Carol at the library, and Julie ended up having to meet us up there too, since her mom's car's battery had died. So, we all trooped over to the Golden Corral (it was a rainy day in Dothan). Lunch was fun. Five of us went: me, Julie, Kristin, Carol, and Glenda. Sadly, I don't get my money's worth at buffets anymore. Which usually is a good thing. But at a buffet, it's a bad thing. By the time I was done, I didn't even want to think about food anymore. Julie and I went back to the library and visited with Miss Hilda. Miss Hilda calls me, Julie, and Kristin her daughters. We love Hilda. Then I drove Julie home and we sat around and visited for a few hours. Then I went back to my dad's. We went and bought a pizza and ate that for dinner. We watched the Caine Mutiny and also we watched Frasier. I found out that there are 2 hours of Frasier on during the week! I love Frasier! I'm going to have to buy those seasons on DVD.

Thurdsay, March 20, 2008
Today I helped my dad finish pulling the new wire in the foyer. Then I got ready for lunch and headed out to Troy Dothan to meet up with Donna. She and I had a wonderful visit. We went to Moe's for lunch. I treated, since Donna's birthday is coming up in April (there are a lot of April birthdays among my friends!). I had also brought an oreo truffle for each of us as dessert. But we didn't eat that until we got back to the university. I visited out there for a long while, and finally left a little after 3. I had hoped to see Drs. Belsches and Brown, but neither of them were there. Oh well. My dad was at work, so I ended up visiting with Kristin at the library (and posting that picture of me with a lot of hair... My hair issues are depressing me). Anne and I were able to get together for dinner, so we went to McAllister's Deli. I got a soup bowl. And Anne and I sat and talked for a good 3 hours. If you notice in the 2 pictures we took there (we ended up splitting cheesecake at the end), the first picture had daylight outside and the second one does not. But it was a lot of fun. I love catching up with friends. Then I got home and got a shower and settled in to watch more Frasier with Dad.

Friday, March 21, 2008
I had hoped to get to see Julie one more time before she left, but schedules did not coincide, so it didn't happen. But I did get to visit more with Kristin. I spent a lot of time at the library, just hanging out with Kristin and keeping her company in the Children's Room. I even took some Baskin Robins mint chocolate chip ice cream up there. Yeah, so call us heifers... We ate the whole quart. What?? That's only a pint a piece :). (Oh yeah, and trust me, my scale at home was not my friend after this week). Also, I ate more Chinese food today. And my fortune: "your magnetic personality will draw people to you this month." Yep, that Nilla personality is a great thing to have :). Haha... Of course, depending on the type of people my personality draws, that could be a bad thing ;). Back at Dad's..... Well, it turns out that Friday only has one hour of Frasier. I was bummed.

Saturday, March 22, 2008
I woke up and called Karen at about 10. She called me back at 10:45, and we decided we'd meet up at about 11:30. So I went by the library to print off a map for my dad, then headed over to Karen's. Karen and I had a lot of fun visiting on Saturday. We went and ate at Olive Garden, then we went to Wal-Mart, since Karen had to go there. And hey, I'm all about just hanging out and visiting. I don't care what we do (well, there are some limits). We also went by WinnDixie in Karen's fruitless attempt to find Starburst jelly beans. It seems they were all sold out. After leaving Karen's at 5:30, I went back to Dad's and got a shower. We watched TV, including watching The Wedding Date. We also found another hour of Frasier on. So yay! Oh, and I think my phone suffers from a severe case of PMS. Or something. Sometimes the battery drains and I have to charge it daily. Which was the case when I first got to Dothan. However, by Wednesday, it was keeping it's charge quite nicely. It's finicky.

Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter! I said good-bye to my dad when I left for church, since he had to go to work at 10. It's hard to leave my dad, because I know he's sad. Church was great. I sat with Karen and her family. How humbling it is to be reminded of the Savior's atonement for each of us. How grateful I am that He loved me enough to die for me. I cannot even come close to understanding how much He must love us. As deeply as I have loved, I know it does not even begin to compare with the love He feels for us. How blessed I feel to know of His love, His sacrifice, and especially His resurrection. I know He lives. And I know that, because He overcame death, we will too. And I know that, because of His sacrifice, we can also be forgiven and be given the opportunity to return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven.

Well, I have been blessed. I had a wonderful week full of wonderful visits. I saw all my wonderful friends in Dothan and laughed and smiled and laughed some more. It really is sad to think this was my last real hoorah in Dothan. As of today, I have, at most, 137 days to go. To all my friends in Dothan, you will never be forgotten. No matter where I live. And, since I will be living in a beautiful place near a cool city with cool things (like the Space Needle), you can consider yourselves invited :).

*And, Julie had guessed the movie quote correctly!* And now Tarylyn has guessed it correctly too!*