Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The weekend is, of course, going to be Easter, Easter, Easter the entire time. We had planned on doing the Amazing Race - Easter Style! on Friday night, but it was bumped to Saturday afternoon with dinner at my Mom's afterward (which will be much better... not as rushed). We alternate Easter Sunday with the families because they live over an hour apart, so this is the Faulkner's year. We'll be going to Mike's parents' home for Easter AND birthday celebrations (his Mom's). (And, of course, we'll see Matthew who is 15 months old now. How did that happen?)

If any of you have seen the March 20 issue of the All You magazine, there's a spring cake on the cover. Roxie's making that cake as an Easter/Grandma Birthday Cake, so you can see how our Friday night will now be spent. I'll take a picture of the finished product for Monday's Picture Gallery. (If it's really good, it may be the Showcase Picture.)

Also, I want everyone to know I'm dedicating a whole post (or two or three) to Barry Manilow next week. That's right. Just Barry. I recently found someone I've known for quite some time who was a back-up singer for Barry when he came to the Oak Mountain Ampitheater in 1993. I was at that concert... just like all the other Birmingham concerts he's given. So if you're a Barry fan (and I mean a REAL Fanilow), come back next week for a post dedicated solely to the guy who "writes the songs that make the whole world sing!"

TV Review

Celebrity Apprentice - My goodness! If you had told me I would not like Clint Black because of how he is behaving on Celebrity Apprentice, I would have said you were nuts. But that's how it's working out. He is arrogant and off-color. I'm very disappointed in Mr. Black. I'm also shocked at Donald Trump' firing choices. Clint Black did the worse job in the history of the world as Project Manager, but Donald Trump fired the Kardashian girl because he found out she had a DUI. It had nothing to do with the task. He didn't like her because she had a DUI, and he wanted her out of there. That's fine, but it's not really fair to keep Clint when he did such an AWFUL job. Then he proceeds to fire a girl from the other team because she offered to come back to the board room to support her Project Manager, Melissa Rivers. He fired her because he said it was a sign of weakness to come to the board room if you didn't have to. It's crazy talk, I tell you. I don't mind him firing two people (even though it makes the show end sooner), but at least fire the one who deserved it most (a/k/a CLINT BLACK!!!)

24 - Ahh. There is hope. I could barely hear the solution to Jack's dire problem (you know, dying because he was exposed to a chemical bio-weapon) because Austin kept saying, "I knew it! I knew it!" Yes. Jack has to make up with his estranged daughter to get an antidote for what ails him. But he doesn't want to "bother" her. I told Austin, "I don't care if we're estranged or not. If I need a kidney, blood, liver, lung (whatever), you better be ready to fork it over!" He came into the world at 9'5", and by the time he was eight months old, I was practically bent over double carrying him around. That, and his annoying habit of NEVER giving me any notice right before he threw up. The car, Wal-Mart, my lap, church, restaurants, my lap, play dates, grandparents' beds... oh, and did I mention my lap? But I digress. Good show. Jack has hope. Tony's doing pretty well. I'm starting to believe he's a good guy again. We'll just have to see, won't we?

LOST - Totally, completely, absolutely, miserably LOST. I'm there again. I've figured out a little something that helps me though. I understand things better when Ben is NOT on the show. If Sawyer AND Hurley are on the same show, I totally get what's going on. If only one of them (Sawyer OR Hurley) is on the show, I understand half of the show. Kate, Juliet, Jack or Sun have no bearing on my understanding whatsoever. (Oh. And John Locke is totally getting on my nerves. I can't even tell you why, but he is.) That's it. Quite possibly the worst TV Review I've ever had to give.

Survivor - SPOILER - I hate when a good player leaves because of an infection. That's what happened to Joe last night. Why can't the medical team give him some antibiotics on day two when he notices a slight infection? Why do they have to wait until his leg is about to explode before they look at it? The same thing happened to James one or two seasons ago. He had a scratch on his finger! His finger! The biggest, strongest player in Survivor history had to go home because they waited too long to give him medical attention. I'm writing Jeff Probst. There needs to be a new rule or something. (Oh... And J.T. is doing an excellent job in the merge. I'm telling you... it's that southern drawl. People are just drawn to us.)

California Trip - Part 4 - The Flight Home

Home. The only way to get there was to get on another airplane. I bought my own Dramamine at the airport gift shop, and started out with my two doses. I started smacking three pieces of gum as hard as I could to prepare my ears. I had a book and two magazines. I hadn't slept ANY the night before so hopefully, I would be able to sleep during some of the flight. I was as prepared as I could be.

We followed the same pattern. I sat in the same seat. We took off. My ears immediately stopped up. We started hitting air pockets. The flight attendant offered me yet another drink and, once again, I screamed I wanted a Pepsi when in actuality, I NEEDED something much, much stronger. Alesia and Celeste kindly asked me if I was better this time around. In my glass box where I could only read lips, I shook my head. "But thanks for asking," I yelled.

I started flipping through magazines, took my third dose of Dramamine and within five minutes had cotton mouth. Since I had taken the third dose earlier on the trip home, I was experiencing cotton mouth earlier, also. I asked the flight attendant to keep bringing me soft drinks. The only thing different from this trip and the trip seven days earlier was I didn't have to go to the airplane restroom during the first trip. I had intentionally avoided it. I didn't like the small space. I didn't like the uncertainty of being in the restroom and the Captain for some unknown reason telling everyone to fasten their seat belts (and I wouldn't have one in there). I didn't like walking to the front of the plane and everyone knowing where I was going. Nothing about the airplane restroom appealed to me. And yet, I had already had five soft drinks, and we were more than an hour out of Houston. (The situation gave whole new meaning to the famous sentence, "Houston, we have a problem." Except from where I was sitting it was more like, "Houston, we're not going to make it.")

"Have you ever been in an airplane restroom?" I yelled at Celeste.

Before answering, she and Alesia both gave me the universal finger over the lips. "Yes, but if you can wait until Houston I would advise it," she responded.

"I've had five soft drinks," I bellowed. Again with the fingers.

"It's not so bad. Just hurry up and get it over with," Alesia advised.

I unbuckled my seatbelt. (I'm a firm believer in wearing an airplane seatbelt the entire trip. No sense grabbing and fumbling for it at the last minute.) I stood up on two very unsteady legs and began the long walk to the front of the plane.

Ding. Ding. Ding. The seatbelt sign went on. The captain's voice came over the loudspeaker and said, "We're approaching some turbulence. Nothing serious, but everyone needs to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts."

Hmmm. I had come this far, and I knew I couldn't go back, so I continued. I was met by a flight attendant checking everyone's seatbelt. "You'll have to go back to your seat, Ma'am," she said sweetly.

"I've had five soft drinks. I can't possibly go back to my seat," I screamed at her.

I think the screaming must have worked, because she told me, "When I get to where you were sitting, you better be in your seat. You've got one minute."

"That's all I need," I yelled again. I looked back at Alesia and Celeste to give them the thumb's up sign, but they both had their faces buried behind my magazines... almost as if they were embarrassed.

Well, that little crises averted, I beat the flight attendant back to my seat (grinning like an idiot... Dramamine makes you drowsy, affectionate, dry mouthed and oddly pleasant), and buckled my seatbelt.

We made it to Houston where we had to wait out a thunderstorm. Finally, back on the plane, I somehow survived the last leg of our trip. I remember not minding the final descent at the Birmingham International Airport. It was the best part of flying. Coming home. I got off the plane and kissed Mike and my parents (and everyone else I knew... and a few others I hadn't met yet), retrieved my baggage off the circle thing and went home.

Is that not the sweetest word in all the world? Home. Well, home and pavement. I like that word a lot, too. Mainly because if you're standing on it... you're probably not in an airplane!

Books

I have three more Easter book suggestions for your little guys today.

The first one is another Lift-the-Flap book. Spot's First Easter by Eric Hill is a sweet little book for your toddler. Again, I'm a big fan of Lift-the-Flap books, and we owned all the Spot books!

The second book is my absolute favorite for the kindergarten crowd. The Parable of the Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs tells the story of Easter in a different way with scripture on almost every page. The illustrations are beautiful, also.

The third book is for children a little bit older. Peter's First Easter by Walter Wangerin is the story of Easter (beginning with the Lord's Supper) told from Peter's perspective. It would be a good book to read with or to your elementary age children.

All or some of these would make wonderful additions to your Easter book collection. Plus, there are just so many more books each year during this season. If you have any favorites, leave me an e-mail or a comment. I always like reading a really good childrens' book!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend. It's such a fun, exciting time, but it is also so much more. Luke 24:1-3. "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." Yes, it is truly much, much more.

I'll be back on Monday. Have a blessed weekend!