Miracle Pre-Game Speech

I know this video has been floating around YouTube for a while now, but a friend of mine had never seen it, so I wanted to post it here. I love this video!! This little 4 year old boy is reciting the speech given by Team USA coach Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell in the movie Miracle) before the game against the Soviet Union in 1980 (the "do you believe in miracles" game). He had seen the movie so many times that he memorized it. If you have never seen this movie, I highly recommend it (yes, it's a "feel good" true life story from Disney). :)

The First Day of Spring...

You would think on the first day of spring I would be posting pictures of wildflowers (like our beautiful state flower the bluebonnet).

Or scenic pictures from a motorcycle ride (which, by the way, I took last weekend with a friend of mine). FYI, I was not driving. And yes mom, I wore a helmet! :)

But here I am posting pictures of the view outside my door at this very moment.

                        

Oh yes, that is snow. I think this is the fifth or sixth snow that we've had this season. Again, for anyone not from Texas reading this, bear with me. We just aren't used to this kind of cold and snowy winter. Well, technically it's spring now. But still, the fact that it's almost April and I'm fighting the urge to turn on my heater, that is just crazy. I'm very grateful my parents got me a Snuggie for Christmas. I've been wrapped up in it all evening watching a movie (yes, the movie that came out today. Yes, I went and bought it. Don't judge! :)

A quick note...

I know a lot of my friends out there have had a rough week. TGIF!! The weekend is here!! I meant to post something earlier today, but I got lazy and just logged on a few minutes ago. It's late and my lack of sleep is catching up with me, so I'm going to be brief.

I had a friend send me this Scripture today. She KNEW I needed to read it. Well, God knew I needed to read it. Thank you Lord for the reminder!! I leave you tonight with a few verses out of Psalm. Be blessed!!

Almost Friday!!

I'm on a mission to put up at least some kind of post every day this week (so far so good)!As I've mentioned before, this month my "half" day at work falls on Friday, so all day I've kept repeating, "I only work 3 1/2 hours tomorrow, I only work 3 1/2 hours tomorrow." Of course, that has made today go by SO SLOW!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes time just seems to CRAWL by?? I mean, an hour ALWAYS takes 60 minutes, but when you are wanting that hour to be up, it seems to take forever! Have you noticed if you wake up an hour before your alarm goes off, the next hour seems to go by so fast??

Anyways, for once, I don't have HUGE plans this weekend. I have a party on Sunday afternoon after church, but besides that, nothing. And honestly, I'm looking forward to kicking back and relaxing tomorrow and Saturday. Well, I might possibly go out and buy a movie that is coming out on DVD this weekend, but only if I can find it on sale. I'm really in no rush to get it. I had a friend email me today asking if we could meet for lunch on Saturday and for once, I didn't have to look at my calendar. I told him just to let me know when he wanted to go (I'm sure he was shocked as well!)

Anyways, I was looking forward to a beautiful weekend. It has been beautiful the past few weeks (minus a rain shower or two), but the temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s. Well, tomorrow is going to be sunny with a high in the 70s (perfect for sitting on my balcony and finishing the Kay Hooper book I'm reading), but Saturday and Sunday is a different story. Winter has decided to make a final encore before letting Spring take center stage. See below for our five day forecast:

I know we need the rain (so the bluebonnets can grow), but could it at least stay in the 60s or 70s? The news this morning said that parts of north Texas might even see snow flurries. It's not the first time that Spring has been booted off stage in the middle of a performance. A few years ago we had snow storms the first week in April. I had never had a White Christmas, but I had a White Easter that year! The funniest part about that weekend is that they were holding a huge Global Warming rally in downtown Dallas. It got snowed out. Come on, you have to admit that is funny!! :)

Anyways, besides complaining that the temperature is going to drop 23 degrees tomorrow night, that is really all I have for now. Until next time....

Wednesday Ramblings...

So many things I could write about today, so little time to organize them. So, I give you a "smorgasbord" post. I hope you can keep up!

First of all, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For those wanting a little history on the holiday, go here. It's interesting to note that the first St. Patrick's Day parade didn't take place in Ireland, but in the United States. And also, the original color associated with Saint Patrick was blue. I'm part Irish (on my mother's side), so I wanted to post this Irish Blessing I found online (I don't know if it's a real Irish Blessing, but it sounded good, so I'm posting it):

On another note: For all my fellow NCAA basketball fans, you know that tomorrow kicks off...

If you are clueless at what that is, please go here (thank you Wikipedia!)

If you are interested in filling out a March Madness bracket, you still have time (the first games start tomorrow, the 18th). For a printable bracket, go here.

Since I don't really follow college basketball until March Madness, I'm terrible at filling these out (although one year I somehow managed to pick the teams in the final four round). I use the old reliable "eeny, meeny, miny, mo" method of picking my teams! : )

As faithful as I am to my home state (Texas, our Texas, all hail the mighty state), I don't see our teams going far this year (of course, I could be wrong-I would love to be wrong about that). I haven't been too impressed with the Longhorns towards the end of this season, and I don't see the Aggies getting past the second round (I do predict they will beat Utah State on Friday, but I have them bowing out in the next round). I think our best chance of making it out of the second round comes from Baylor (now that is scary!) You never know with college basketball. I personally love the Cinderella stories (the ones where the "underdog" comes back and wins it all). Those make for great Disney movies based on a true life story! Okay, I really need to stop confessing that I watch Disney movies. : )

On yet another note: With the regular hockey season winding down (and baseball season just 19 days away), I wanted to post this comic that a friend sent me. It's from the comic strip Pearls Before Swine by Stephen Pastis. It ALWAYS makes me laugh!! Check out Stephen's blog here.

 

 Pearls Before Swine by Stephen Pastis

That concludes my ramblings for today. As always, thanks for reading!! :)

Favorite scriptures...

I felt the need to post some of my favorite scriptures today. It has been a long week (and it's only Tuesday). Also, I know I have friends facing challenges right now. If they are reading this, hopefully these verses will help them!

God bless!
  

 

 

  

 

Yes, another new layout...

So, I decided to change up my blog a bit and redid the design once again. I hope you enjoy it!

I leave you today with a clip I found on YouTube. Dick Van Dyke made a guest appearane in the stage performance of Mary Poppins a few months ago in Los Angeles (oh, how I wish I could have been in that crowd). Here is Entertainment Tonight's review of it...

Cutest kid ever!!

A friend sent me this video!! This little boy is so stinkin' adorable!!!

The songs are Boots On and Anything Goes by Randy Houser! Rockin' it country style, I love it!!!

A post for Marta...

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just don't want to be at work (I know, you are shocked, I'm sure I'm the only one who ever feels like that!) Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job. I work for a great company and have made some wonderful friends here. But there are some days I just would rather not be here. Like today. One: I'm not feeling all that great. I've had a cough for the past few days (it's more annoying than anything) and I am just exhausted (although that is probably because I went to a sneak preview of a new movie last night and didn't get home until late. Shout out to Monica for the free passes and Antonio for buying our refreshments at Studio Movie Grill.) :) Second: it is absolutely GORGEOUS outside today. The sun is shining, there are no clouds and it's almost 80 degrees. **sigh** Can adults have a skip day? Remember those in school? When you didn't want to be in class so you just left? Wait-not that I EVER did that. I just heard about them!

I do have a point. Bear with me. So while I was having my little "pity party" today about not wanting to be at work, I passed by one of our housekeeping staff in the hallway. I smiled and said hello and continued walking. On the way back to my desk, something stopped me. I realized, I've said hi to this person for the past two years and I don't know her name. So I asked her. Her name is Marta.

Now I'm not telling this story so you will go, "oh, what a great person you are. You asked her name." That is not my point at all. But it got me thinking. How many "Martas" do you pass by every day? Someone who might be "taken for granted" but in reality has a very important contribution to your company/school or just your every day life. I don't know about you, but I personally would not want to clean for a living. Especially public bathrooms. I don't like cleaning my bathroom. But you know what, every day that I see Marta she is cheerful and smiling. EVERY DAY. I'm sure she is on her feet most of the day. I work in a big building. I know there is constant cleaning going on. I'm sure there are days she's not feeling 100% and would rather be home (or she would rather be outside enjoying the sunshine), but she is here, smiling and working hard.

Most of my work day I'm in my corner office (okay, so it's a corner cubicle, but it's a big cubicle and I'm right by a bunch of windows), sitting at a desk (unless I'm on the warpath tracking down someone who is late on a project and is ignoring my emails/voicemails) listening to music on Pandora. During my lunch break, I can play games on my iPhone, check up on my favorite sports teams on ESPN, update my blog, or laugh at pictures uploaded to People of Wal-mart dot com (if you need a laugh and want to check it out, click here).

Looking at it like that, it definitely made me rethink my pity party today.

I would like to say thanks to all the "Martas" out there for all they do. We appreciate all your hard work!! Now, I'm not saying you need to go out and ask every stranger their name, but a simple, "hello", "thank you" or even a smile can go a long way. Just something to think about as you go out today.

Be blessed!

If I Had My Life To Live Over...

After receiving this in an email today, I wanted to share it with you. It was written by Erma Bombeck (February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996). **I have found this posted on numerous other websites so I'm sure I can legally post this (seeing that I'm giving full credit to Mrs. Bombeck).** This can be found in her book, Eat Less Cottage Cheese And More Ice Cream. I LOVE the title of that book!! And in honor of Mrs. Bombeck, I shall eat some Blue Bell ice cream later today!

Some of my friends might know that I am a fan of Mrs. Bombeck. She was a humorist who wrote a column for many decades, and also published numerous books. For my Speech Performance final in college (which had to be performed in front of an audience of 250 people), I did my monologue on Erma Bombeck (this was the first and last time I ever appeared on a public stage speaking. We'll discuss my stage fright issue another day).

If I need a good laugh, I'll read one of her books. But, she also knew how to make a person think about life. I'm posting this today as a reminder to look at what are really the most important things in life. I'm guilty of sometimes "sweating the small stuff", and not paying attention to what is more important. I hope you take time to read her words and think about them!

If I Had My Life To Live Over
by Erma Bombeck

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television-and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realised that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's." More "I'm sorry's" ...But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.

Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.

Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with. And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually.

Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it's gone. I hope you all have a blessed day.

Thanks for the reminder Erma! You are still missed even today!

For more info on Erma Bombeck, go here.

Spread the Word to End the Word...

My sweet niece Stephanie told me about this a few weeks ago. Today is "End the R-word Day". I agree 100% with this organization and I myself have signed the pledge (available online).

For more information about this, please go to the official website here.

Think Happy Thoughts...

The news has been filled with sad stories the past few weeks. I'm not going to go into them, because the focus of my post today is to list people, places and things that make me smile. Things that make me happy (and in some cases, downright giddy). Life might not be a bed of roses all the time, but there is ALWAYS a light at the end of the tunnel. ALWAYS. Life will never get so bad that the sun will refuse to come up the next morning.

First, I am happy that I have a Lord and Savior who loves me, ALL THE TIME. I'll be honest, I'm not loveable all the time, but HE is the one who, despite my mood or attitude, loves me. When the world is a dark place, HE is the light shining through. Second, I am happy that I have a big loving family. For those who know anything about my family, you know there are a lot of us (bonus points if you can match up my nieces and nephews to the correct sibling). And yes, it can be kind of intimidating when we are all together. But we love each other. We might not always get along, but we love each other. We love to talk, we love big meals and we love to hug (not always in that order!) I'm also happy and blessed that God has provided me with some of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. Why on earth ya'll put up with me, I'll never know. But thank you for doing so. XOXO!

Okay, enough being serious and all emotional, I'm wearing mascara, I don't want to get all teary eyed.

My list of some things that make me happy and make me smile (in no particular order):

1. Pugs. You can think they are ugly if you want, but I think they are adorable. I hope to one day have a pug, or two. I will name them Frank and Sammy (after Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr).

2. Baseball. Baseball season is now only 38 days away. Some friends and I got our tickets for the Rangers Opening Day this week. Shout out to my friend Stan for hooking us up with tickets before they went on sale to the general public. Wahoo!

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers

3. Laughing with friends. A friend and I went to the movies on Wednesday night. There were moments when we were both laughing so hard I thought we would be asked to leave the theater. Some of the laughing was at the movie, some of the laughing was at our commentary of the movie. "Hey look, it's Salty!!" Okay, only my friend Monica will get that one, but trust me, it was funny.

Jarrod "Salty" Saltalamacchia. Monica will get the joke.

And possibly Brandy if she has seen the movie Valentine's Day.

4. That I still smile when I see anything about Steve Avery. Before you say, who?, Steve Avery was a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves back in the 1990s. No relation to James Avery or Sean Avery (please don't ask). Yes, I even loved him during his mullet phase (thankfully it was very brief). Last night at the gym I was on the treadmill and Sportscenter was doing a segment on the Atlanta Braves. They showed footage of the 1995 World Series and Steve Avery was on the screen. I smiled.

Steve's rookie card. One of the 196 Steve Avery cards that I own.

5. That Rascal Flatts is going to be guest starring on CSI next week. My favorite band and favorite TV show, together in one. It's like this episode was made especially for me (okay, I know it wasn't, but let me think that).



6. The Dick Van Dyke Show. In case you are new to my blog, one of my favorite actors of ALL TIME is Mr. Dick Van Dyke. If I've had a bad day, or am just kinda feeling, "blah", I can put in a Dick Van Dyke Show DVD (yes, I own all five seasons) and it will turn my mood around. No matter what episode it is, or how many times I've seen it, it will make me laugh. How can you not laugh watching Rob Petrie trip over an ottoman? I'll just go ahead and admit now that I have the theme song of the show as one of my ringtones on my iPhone. There, I said it!!

7. That in some bizzare universe Tom Welling and Shemar Moore might possibly fight over me. Okay, before you think that I've gone delusional and need professional help, I haven't had a Dr Pepper today and I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night, so give me this one. But think about it ladies, wouldn't that be nice?? Go on admit it, you know you wouldn't mind them fighting over you either!!

 

Tom Welling (l) and Shemar Moore (r).

8. Blue Bell Ice Cream. I don't care what you think, it's the best ice cream EVER. In fact just the other night a pint of Dutch Chocolate Blue Bell was calling my name from my freezer. :) I didn't want to be rude, so I got up to see what it wanted. Remember when you were little and your mom made you put the ice cream in a bowl instead of eating it out of the carton? When you are 31 and single, you don't need a bowl. The pint will do just fine!

  


9. Jim Parsons. He stars on the comedy The Big Bang Theory (Monday nights on CBS). He's so adorkable! I **heart** you Jim (even though you are from Texas and mispronounced Jim Bowie's name in that one episode- I have forgiven you and moved on)!



10. Chick Fil A. I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's like manna from heaven!!

11. That Ricky Schroder is still as adorable today as he was back in 1983 when he became my official first crush. And yes, he is going by Ricky again. He was ALWAYS Ricky to me! :)

12. That I get off work at 11:30 today. I have a new schedule at work. I work 8a-5p four days a week, and then either Thursday or Friday (depending on what month, my friend Kelly and I rotate), I only work 8a-11:30a. Thank goodness for flex days!! And today I get to have lunch with my wonderful friend who always finds a way to make me smile! Muah!! XOXO!

The Great Snow of OH-TEN

For those of you who live up north, humor me with this post. I live in Texas. We aren't used to seeing snow. Especially more than an inch or two. In case you haven't heard, some of the Dallas area received over 12 inches of snow last Thursday. It was the most snowfall recorded in a 24 hour period in the Metroplex.

Last Thursday I woke up to find it snowing (and not your typical "Texas snow" where it was maybe one snowflake every few minutes). It had only been snowing for about an hour or so, and the ground and streets were already well covered, so it was snowing pretty hard.

    

    

Outside my apartment Thursday morning, around 7am.

I love our local weathermen, I really do (epecially WFAA's Greg Fields, he's the greatest weatherman ever- but that's a story for another day), so it makes me laugh that Wednesday and even Thursday morning, they were saying, "Well, we might get 1-3 inches on grassy areas, but the snow should stop by late morning. Don't expect it to stick around."

I got to work a little before 9 (in the big pink building as I call it), and it seemed the snow was falling even faster. I saw some of the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen. By late morning we noticed the snow was not stopping, and really showed no signs of stopping. A friend and I attempted to go out at lunch and on our way back, noticed that ice was starting to hit the windshield.

   View from my office window

A little before 2pm my director walked around and told us we could leave. The roads were going to start getting bad and she would rather us all be safe at home (and I agreed). We were told to call the bad weather hotline the next morning to see if we had a delayed start or if we were closed.

  

  

  

 Snow on the drive home from work (I took these while I was stopped, I didn't drive and take pictures at the same time!) : )

Of course when I got home I turned into a giddy kid who had to go out and play in the snow (again, not used to seeing snow, especially this much). Not counting Spring Break of 1996 when I went skiing in New Mexico, the last time I had seen that much snow was in January of 1985 (and I was 6!)

  

Tree outside my apartment

Steps up to my apartmnt

  

My sad attempt at a snowman (again, I don't have practice, and after about 5 minutes I was ready to go inside. I prefer to call him a snow-midget!

About 3pm I had almost 6 inches of snow in my front yard

  

Looking cute in the snow

Outside my bedroom window

Watching the 6pm news, the weathermen kept repeating they were shocked we were getting so much snow and that they expected the roads to be icy in the morning (all the water and "slush" were going to freeze over night). We were about an inch or two away from breaking a record of 7.4 inches of snow in one day. The school closings were pouring in. By 7pm, pretty much every school district in the Dallas/Fort Worth and surrounding areas were going to be closed that Friday. I honestly felt like a kid waiting to hear if I had to go to school or not.  When they got to company closings, mine wasn't listed. About 8:30 I got a text from a co-worker that we were closed the next day. I doubled checked and called the bad weather hotline. Sure enough, we got a "snow day". Wahoo! Most of my friends on Facebook were updating their statuses that their offices were closed the next day (I did have a few friends that had to go in, but they got a late start).  

As late as 10:30pm I looked outside and it was still snowing. The next morning I woke up and was amazed at how much snow was on the ground.

This poor tree is never going to be the same after all this snow.

 

 Outside my balcony

Outside my window. The tree to the right lost a lot of limbs due to the snow.

The field across the street.

 In my front yard, almost 13 inches of snow!

 A view of the street

  A neighbor kid convinced me to make a snow angel..that was cold! Jeans and snow are NOT a warm combo, just FYI!!

My snow angel..my first one since 1985!

 Our poor, poor trees!!

Steps back up to my apartment. It took a while to get down them!