Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The Gallery Pics are of Sparkle. If all else fails, I can always get a picture of at least one of The Pups. It may not be a good picture, but it is a picture nonetheless.

RANDOMNESS #1 - A friend from church sent Mikie the following "Ponderisms" via e-mail yesterday. I thought some of them were pretty good, so I wanted to share!

1. I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

2. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

3. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

4. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire? (This is SO true, it isn't even funny!)

5. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?" (I wonder things like this ALL the time. I mean, who was the first person to dig up a rutabaga, cook it and actually think it tasted good enough to serve to family and friends. WHO?)

6. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

7. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? (Oh... my... goodness! This one will be bothering me ALL day long!)

RANDOMNESS #2 - Okay. Here's the last question for the week.

Chipiwa from Zimbabwe asks, "If you don't mind me saying, your blog seems very 'Pollyanna-ish.' Everyone gets along. No one fights. You have no teenage or husband problems to speak of and you never burn dinner. How can that be?"

Well, Chipiwa, I realize I don't post a lot of the negatives that happen in and around Faulkner Farms (circa 1842). I have spent time recording my son's illness in detail (see Josh's Journey on my sidebar), the effect on our home life when Austin left us to attend college 86 minutes away (see Austin - 1/3 of an Empty Nest on my sidebar) and I talk about my battle (and it IS a battle) with panic attacks (see Panic Attacks on my sidebar).

I want A Simple Life to be a place to visit that lifts you up a little... not a place that consistently brings you down.

That being said, there are tons of things which I do not share on this little blog of mine. Everyone has their share of heartache, illness and sadness in their lifetime. Many of them much, much more than I have ever experienced.

The things I have shared about Josh and myself were done so to open a dialogue about illnesses people have trouble talking about... and in this very small venue, it has done just that.

Chipiwa, I'll leave you with this. Life is WAY too short to dwell on the bad stuff for long periods of time. And since I'm an expert "Dweller on the Bad Stuff," this blog helps me focus on the good, the funny, the bizarre and the joy that can be found somewhere almost every day if we look hard enough. (And believe me... some days I have to look REALLY, REALLY hard!)

"A joyful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22. (In 2011, I'm going to try to take this medicine EVERY SINGLE DAY!)

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! - I've been having a little fun with you this past week. I'm assuming you all know I don't have readers in the Congo, Zimbabwe, the Ukraine and New Delhi... yet. However, I do have new readers in the United States, and I thought it would be fun/funny to answer some questions to get them familiar with A Simple Life from some imaginary readers. (All of the names are authentic, by the way! I Googled them... so Chipiwa is really a popular girl name in Zimbabwe.)

We all learned something this week!

Weekend Happenings

Basketball claims another Friday night at the our household. We're looking forward to a home game, and perhaps another win! The Boy went back to JSU yesterday, but he'll be back this evening.

Saturday, the Faulkner Five will be Oxford-bound. We're celebrating my great-nephew's THIRD birthday. This year, Matthew is completely and totally enamored with Thomas the Train, so I'll be buying the Thomas the Train birthday card and Thomas the Train wrapping paper for his gift.

Saturday afternoon and evening are free as can be for Mikie and me... and I have no idea what all of the kids have planned at this time. Well, except for Josh. He slipped me a copy of his typed weekend itinerary last night. He's my favorite at the moment.

I have made no plans for Sunday because James Spann seems to have done that little chore on my behalf. It looks like a lazy, movie, puzzle, Nerf War, Phase 10 card game kind of day... and that's if we have power.

If we don't have power, we'll probably just move my fire pit into the kitchen, burn the dining room set and eat as many roasted marshmallows as humanly possible. (I always buy extra marshmallows when I purchase the obligatory "winter weather event" milk and bread at Wal-Mart. You can eat them raw and they don't have to be refrigerated. And I have found that marshmallows generally keep your spirits up in a less-than-ideal situation... like a "winter weather event" with no power.)

That's it in a nutshell. You can imagine what Mindless Monday is going to look like. Basketball and snow... and marshmallow-eating Faulkners.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. If you get a chance, let me know what you and your family like to do on the rare occasions Alabama gets a GOOD snowfall. Are you snowman people, snow angel people, snow cream people, snow ball fight people, sledding people, etc., etc.? What do you and yours do when the white stuff sticks. I want to know.

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

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

P.S. Fun fact for you... Belinda is Spanish for "beautiful snake." See. A Simple Life is an educational blog, too!