Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

This has been an incredibly fast week for some reason. A little too fast, if you know what I mean. If they keep going by at this speed, I'll be celebrating my 80th birthday before you know it!

As you can see in the Picture Gallery, the deck is finished. The men did an awesome job. (If you need a deck, call me and I will be glad to recommend them by name and number.)

Also, Austin won an award from the Magnolia Festival given each year to students from local high schools. He is pictured with Mayor Phillips. Mikie had to miss the occasion because he was out-of-town, but the Mayor was a nice substitute, I thought. (NOTE: You never know when a Mayor might become a Governor one day, and that would qualify them as a "famous person." See, I've already got a picture. I'm always thinking!)

Not too much going on this weekend. Mikie's coming home. We're eating on the deck. The boys are cutting yards. We're eating on the deck. I'm teaching the Senior Boys Cooking Class again Sunday night. (It's chicken night, baby. I'm sure I'll have stories to tell!) And we're eating on the deck. That's our weekend in a nutshell. That's not a bad first weekend for May!

WEEKEND FAMILY FUN ADDITIONS

My friend, Jennifer, left a comment yesterday recommending a weekend activity for the family. The Outdoor Alabama Expo is this Saturday at Oak Mountain from 9:00 to 5:00. They have free admission and a lot of different activities for the entire family. You can go to www.outdooralabama.com for more details. I just went to the website, and it looks like a lot of fun. Thanks, Jennifer.

Also, Homestead Hollow Springfest in Springville will be held May 1, 2 and 3. If you love arts and crafts, this is your kind of place. I have been several times in the past. Usually, it is very crowded, but I know people who make it a family event year after year. For more information regarding Homestead Hollow, go to their website at www.homesteadhollow.com and click Springfest. It will give you the directions, activities, and any other information you may need. The cost is $7 for adults, $3 for kids 3 to 12, with FREE parking. (Also, my sister mentioned if you like yard sales and flea markets, they are all over the place when you go to Homestead Hollow for an event like this.)

I knew there had to be more out there than just a bunch of old movies. Thanks for sharing!

I had an odd thing happen yesterday at a red light. A white truck pulled up beside me in the turn lane and kept inching, inching, inching up until I noticed. I looked over expecting to see someone I knew, but was surprised to see a young man in a company truck... that I didn't know. He smiled big and waved. I smiled a little and kind of waved. I had never seen the man before in my life.

Then it hit me. My gas tank lid must be open. I checked my mirror. My gas tank lid was definitely closed. I looked straight ahead. This was indeed odd. Don't get me wrong... I am not scarecrow material, but in my denim short sleeved blouse and driving the big gold van, I'm not exactly "inch up and get her attention" material either. I mean, the big gold van just screams, "Mother of many large children!"

I was clean and coiffed, but that was pretty much it! (And as discussed in an earlier post, I look my very best clean, coiffed AND sitting in candlelight. Needless to say, I did not have good lighting.) Hmmm. Maybe he was waving at the person in the car on the other side of me. Nope. Because of the enormity of the big gold van, he couldn't even see the car on the other side of me.

After thinking of all the possible reasons an unknown male was waving at me, I came upon the only reason that made any sense at all. He was a stalker... wanted in three or four states! So, when the light turned green, he went ahead and turned left and I got his license plate number, and called our local law enforcement office to have him checked out. If I get an reward from America's Most Wanted, I'll let you know. If it turns out I taught him in preschool choir a billion years ago, I probably won't mention it again. (I hate when people I don't know -- or I don't think I know -- wave at me. It drives me nuts... and then I have to turn them into the police. It's a lot of extra paperwork in an already busy day. Hidden Pet Peeve #5,006.)

TV Reviews

Amazing Race - We missed Amazing Race AGAIN! That's two weeks in a row. But Saturday, Mikie and I have a date at the computer to "catch up." We have to because I think there are only two shows left. A little pressure, but we ARE going to do it... even if we have to stay up until 3:00 a.m. It only took us six days to get over staying up that late for Prom Night. We can do it!

Celebrity Apprentice - WOW! Joan and Melissa Rivers have got some bad language problems! Melissa was fired (even though Obnoxious Annie deserved it more), and Joan Rivers left the show, too. I don't really like when two people leave the show because it makes the season shorter, but the way both of them were talking (just one solid BLEEP) I say, "Good riddance." (By the way, Celebrity Apprentice isn't a Faulkner Five TV event... just me and Mikie. I didn't want you to think we let the kids watch a show with solid BLEEPS!)

24 - Okay. It appears the "BIG" guys in charge of all the terrorist attacks are going to be unknowns. I don't know how long the "procedure" takes to give Jack Kim's good cells to fight the bad cells in his body, but we're running out of time, folks. If this were real life, they'd give him the next available appointment... two weeks from now. We've got to save the world NOW! I'm glad Chloe is back. It's amazing how much I didn't like her in the beginning, and how much I do like her now. I guess since Tony's evil, Bill's gone and Jack's not feeling too well right now, she's the only constant we have. Final review -- Good show!

LOST - My logical mind has totally let go of the fact there is no such thing as "time travel." I'm just going to go with the flow. If a T-Rex appears in the next episode and eats Jack, I'm all right with that. It makes just as much sense as Daniel Faraday blowing up the island with a hydrogen bomb. Much more sense. In fact, I think I'm going to rent Jurassic Park tonight. I totally "got" that movie. (Oh, sorry. I seem to have gotten off track. We were talking about LOST, weren't we?) I've decided I don't like it when the original characters don't stay together. I think if Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Hurley, Sun, Jin and yes, even Ben, were together there would be the tiniest chance of something making sense.

I AM glad Desmond is going to be okay. It WAS interesting that Charles Widmore is Daniel's dad. (Josh didn't even see that one coming.) And I DO NOT understand what it meant when Daniel's mother shot and killed him as a man... before he was born. (But I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Not me. Not mellow, go-with-the-flow, little ol' me.) Can't wait until next week, can you?

Survivor - SPOILER WARNING! I'm not sure why everyone hated Sierra so much. There are people there I dislike a lot more than little Sierra. And I would certainly have kept her around until the final three because everyone hated her so much. No one would have voted to give her the million dollars. Coach is a serious nut job. He needs to go very, very soon. He's not even entertaining anymore. J.T. is playing to win. He has to be smart though. No one is going to want to sit with him at the Final Three. He's too likeable, so they're going to try to get him off sooner than later, I'm afraid. Even as much as I like J.T., I would be trying to get him off. Every week is full of surprises, so there's no way to tell which way this show is going to end. Final review -- Great show last night!

Pet Peeves #11, #12 and #13

Pet Peeve #11 - I hate when you bake you're favorite chocolate dessert... and you get deathly ill at a basketball game and have to go to the hospital... and they tell you you're diabetic... and you were planning on having a piece of your favorite chocolate dessert AFTER the game because there wasn't time before... and now you can't have any... EVER! (To be honest, this one falls under the category of "Continual Gripe" rather than "Pet Peeve," but I'm not planning on having a week where I just gripe on the blog every day, so I'm including it in the "Pet Peeve" section. Even though it's not necessarily my nature, I do want to try to be more "uplifiting" than "depressing.")

Pet Peeve #12 - LOST. You knew it was going to make the list. That's all I'm going to say... LOST.

Pet Peeve #13 - I don't like it when people "fuss" at me. Crossing guards, store clerks, other parents, people in cars I happen to pull out in front of, etc., etc., etc. I think at 47 years of age, I'm too old to be scolded. Someone at a drive-through window was aggravated and said, "YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK UP!" in a very "mean" voice. What would have been wrong with, "I'm having a little trouble hearing you. Could you speak up, please?" Not one thing.

(And when someone scolds me, it makes me have un-lady-like thoughts... like once I do get my drink, I want to throw it back in the window at them... without the lid... and laugh. See. Because they're fussy, it makes me have sinful thoughts. And that's just not right.)

You'll be glad to know Pet Peeve week is over for now. However, since I have thousands more, I may do it again in a year or so. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Book

Today's book is The Watsons Go To Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. I read this book for the first time two years ago, and really enjoyed it. Mike, Austin and Josh love history. Roxie and I... not so much. This story is about a family from Flint, Michigan visiting their grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama. There are two brothers and a little sister, and the story is narrated by one of the brothers.

It absolutely brings the events of that day in 1963 when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed to life. It's not just another section in your history book. It really happened.

But the story up to the bombing is very much about the Watson family and their relationship with each other. What happened that day in 1963 changed the lives of the Watsons forever.

This book is definitely for the middle school crowd. There is some profanity, so you may want to read it before your child to make sure it meets your standards. (Or, you could read it aloud to your child and omit those words. It would be a great book to read together.)

When Roxie finishes the book, I've told her I will take her to see the 16th Street Baptist Church. It will make that piece of history even more real to her.

Have the best weekend ever. For the month of May, I will have a different "girl" end-of-the-year party/event every Monday (and I'll put some variations in there for the guys, too). There will be easy recipes, graduation traditions (as well as a couple more day trips to take during this hopefully "weather-pleasing" month), dates and books, books, books (as if we have time to read in the month of May).

I'll also share our City Adventure we have planned for Nashville, Tennessee in the middle of the month.

There's a lot coming up. Check back in if you get a chance. (Also, always feel free to share your ideas. I am always up for trying new things!)

Take care, and I'll talk to you on Monday!