School Binder Decorating Party

Good Monday morning!

The Showcase Pic today is of Roxie participating in our newest sport... Cliff Diving! Just kidding. She and Josh were jumping off the pier while we were bringing the boat in from our REAL new sport... Thunder Tubing! Don't worry. No lightning was involved, but it thundered all afternoon at Inland Lake. We didn't have any lightning until we hit Gardendale around 7:30 p.m.

The Gallery Pics are, of course, the rest of our Thunder Tubing pics along with some more Washington pictures from Austin and Mike's trip. We'll be finishing those up in the next couple of days or so.

Word of Warning - Melia loaned me P.S. I Love You (starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler), and while Mike and the guys were watching a male bonding movie in the other room Friday night, I watched the above while I finished my ironing. (Roxie was swimming at a friend's house.) Finally, I could not iron any longer through my tears, so I sat on the bed and sobbed. Before the movie was over, I was in the fetal position crying harder than when I gave birth to Josh and the epidural wore off. (He was 9' 12", so that was really something to cry about.) But that is another story for another time (October 4). I can't even think about it as I write this paragraph because I'll start blubbering again. (The movie... not Josh's birth.)

I'm used to people saying, "If you want a good cry, rent The Notebook." And I never rent it because I never want a good cry. (I have three kids. I can cry at the drop of the hat on any given day from any number of subjects regarding said three kids.) No one has ever said, "If you want a good cry, rent P.S. I Love you." If they had, I would have remembered. Needless to say, before Mike and I went on our "night" date Saturday, I checked with several people to see if The Proposal had anything upsetting in the subject matter. "Funny" was the word I heard time and time again.

And they were right. The Proposal is light and funny, the way a ROMANTIC COMEDY should be. If you enjoy "a good cry" (whatever that means), by all means rent P.S. I Love You, but if you want to see a movie that was really intended as a ROMANTIC COMEDY, The Proposal is the way to go. NOTE: I'm NOT recommending The Proposal as a family movie. Just wanted to be sure. I didn't want everyone loading up the kids and heading to the drive-in because "Belinda said." It's a good hubby/wife movie or chick flick.

200th Post Contest - Okay. I've given it great consideration, and here are the rules for the 200th Post Contest coming up Tuesday, July 28.

1. For every person you share my blog address with (www.belindafaulkner.blogspot.com), your name will be put in a bowl one time. (If you tell ten people about A Simple Life, your name will be put in the drawing bowl TEN times.) It's that easy.

2. If you have a blog of your own, and you mention A Simple Life in your blog, your name automatically goes in the drawing bowl TEN times.

3. You need to let me know how many people you have told by midnight, Monday, July 27. The drawing will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 28.

4. I hope it goes without saying you need to share the website with people who actually use a computer. (Two year-olds and great-grandmothers who have never heard the term "blog" do not count!)

What do I win? What do I win? Okay, hold your horses! Once again, it's your pick. You can have a Chick-Fil-A gift card, a Wal-Mart gift card or a gift card to a scrapbook store near your hometown... in the amount of $15. I know it's not the biggest prize in the world, but it is FREE! I'm saving my big prize for my One Year Anniversary Contest October 16!

Well, get busy. I know everyone out there is trustworthy, and whatever number you say will be the number I put in the drawing bowl... no questions asked! You can leave it in the comment section OR e-mail me. The bowl is beside my computer ready to be filled.

The Topic of the Week beginning tomorrow will be... Gotcha! I'll let you know tomorrow morning! Another little blog teaser... one of my favorite things.

School Binder Decorating Party

I don't know if this is something the whole country participates in, but the middle school girls in our little section of the world love to decorate their three-ring binders with pictures, scrapbook paper, artwork, etc. This year, I'm inviting a few of Roxie's friends over for an evening of School Binder Decorating. It will be a party because there will be food AND music.

First, every girl will be responsibile for bringing their own binders and personal pictures. I'll supply, markers, cardstock, stickers, sticker letters, etc., etc. for their use. While they decorate, they can munch on finger sandwiches, chips and salsa and choose from a cooler of assorted beverages. They can take as much uninterrupted time as they like.

When they are finished with the decorations, I will give each of them a small piece of paper to add to the front or back of each of their binders. The papers will have Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times," written on them. This will serve as a little reminder of what a real friend is "supposed" to do during these tough middle school years.

When the binders are completely finished, we will have a "Make Your Own Sundae" bar with ice cream, bananas, cherries, chocolate syrup, caramel, crushed nuts, crushed candies, etc., etc. for them to feast upon.

The party will end with a prayer for each and every girl asking for God's protection and blessing this coming 7th grade year.

I'm planning the party in July because it will take a while to get everyone's schedule coordinated so the majority of the girls will be able to attend. I'll let you know how this one turns out!

Have a great Monday. Pastor Kevin said something very good yesterday morning... "If you wake up expecting it to be a bad day, guess what? You're probably going to meet that expectation." That's not verbatim, but it's close. At least I think it's close. Everyone knows what a miniscule attention span I have... Or if you don't, I'll go ahead and tell you... Ummm. What was I going to say?

Oh, well. Check in tomorrow for TWO or THREE recipes for slumber parties. Plus, I already have my recipe picked out for next week, too. (New magazine!)

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.