Where's George Status

I joined Where's George July 14, 2009, by entering a one dollar bill I received in change. I blogged about the first bill here.

I blogged again about Where's George here. Over the past several months, I've gotten out of the habit of stamping my cash. I'm going to start doing better.

As of today, these are my statistics:

Do you ever receive bills stamped with "Where's George?" If you do, please take the time to enter the bill on the website. Receiving a notification that the bill has been found will thrill the person who started the bill on it's George journey!

Standing Up For Yourself

I stood up for myself last Friday morning. It was difficult, but necessary. I know I made the right decision, simply based on how I felt this weekend.

I didn't even quote Cartman. Not even close.

When is the last time you had to stand up for yourself? Did you feel better or worse afterwards?

I'll be in this space more frequently now. You've been warned!

"This is what they dug my baby out of..."

The title of this post and the photo above were texted to me by my niece a day after the Moore, OK tornado.

This is my sweet grand niece Ella with her babysitter, Ms. Dena, in front of what was Ms. Dena's house.

There were 6 adults and 5 children in the house when it was destroyed in the tornado. Everyone survived. One person had a cut on their foot, but other than that there were no injuries.

Ella told her daddy, "Ms Dena's house is broke", when he arrived after the tornado.

As I said in my previous post, my family in Moore, OK was very fortunate no one was hurt and their properties were not damaged. We so very grateful to Ms Dena for keeping our sweet grand niece safe during the storm. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I Was Either Going To Have A Heart Attack or Throw Up

Moore, Oklahoma was hit by a devastating tornado today.

As of this moment, at least 51 are dead. 
Correction: The death toll was revised to 24. 

Again. 

The Husband and I have one adult nephew, wife and child + two adult nieces, husbands and children who live in Moore. In addition to all of their extended family and friends. As well as The Husband's cousin's son and family.

In Moore.

Where the tornado hit.

At the highway exit we take when we visit.

At almost the exact same time I heard about the tornado at work, my Mother turned on the TV and called The Husband. I was trying to phone him, as he was speaking to Mom.

I immediately started texting and calling relatives.

"Are you okay?"

"Have you heard from XXXX?"

"Call me!!!!"

My chest got so tight and I was in such a panic.

Fortunately, we began to receive reports that our family was okay.

There was a scary situation at a home day care center (which was destroyed) where our precious grand nieces stay. THEY are okay. All the children there are OKAY.

They are okay.

Other precious children, at a local school, are not okay.

Once The Husband and I knew that our immediate family was safe, we were relieved. Later, we found out their houses were intact.

And then we began to truly realize how the situation could have turned out so different.

At this point, we both thought we were going to throw up.

Hug your family. Tell them you love them. Kiss and cuddle the babies in your life. Hell, kiss and cuddle the adults in your life.

You never know what is going to happen tomorrow. Or, today.

************************************************************************

Please consider donating to the American Red Cross for Moore, OK relief.  Thank you.
People who wish to make a donation to support the Red Cross response can visitredcross.org, dial 1-800-REDCROSS, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Word Verification Is On Because of Spammers

I turned word verification on today due to the high volume of anonymous spam comments I've been receiving.  Most are recognized as spam and don't get posted, but a few slip through and I have to manually delete them.

Apologies in advance to the few folks who comment on my blog. I know word verification is a pain in the patootie!

2013 Spring Break - Destin, FL

We took a family vacation during the nieces' spring break.

We loaded Mom into the car and took off.

Friday, March 15th

Beginning mileage: 51,538

Departure time: 8:25am

Arrival time in Jackson, MS: 7:15pm 

Ending mileage: 52,142

Total Miles: 604

Saturday, March 16th

Beginning mileage: 52,142

Departure time: 8:58am

Arrival time in Destin, FL: 4:15pm

Ending mileage: 52,471

Total Miles: 329

This was our view from our place at the Sea Oats Motel.

Not shabby.

The Sister and I found the Sea Oats years ago.

Years and years. Probably 25.

Wow, how time flies.

This was the first trip ever for Mom to a beach
and to get her feet wet with "big water."

Mom with The Sister and family.

Three generations of women.

Mom, The Husband and me.

On this trip, the nieces discovered they loved crab legs!

The 7 year old does an excellent job of picking crab meat out of the legs.

She never gives up and gets every last morsel.

Good girl!

We took Mom to Osaka Steak House. 

First time she had ever been to a Japanese steak house.

First time I had ever been to a Japanese steak house!

Mom holding a gator.
The 10 year old niece told me she let Grandma
hold the gator's head "just in case" the duct tape on it's mouth ripped!

We have lots of pictures of this wonderful vacation,

maybe I'll share more here one day!

Saturday, March 23rd

Beginning mileage: 52,566

Departure time: 8:20am

Arrival time in Shreveport, LA: 7:00pm

Ending mileage: 53,143

Total Miles: 577

Sunday, March 24th

Beginning mileage: 53,143

Departure time: 7:30am

Arrival time in Tulsa, OK: 2:30pm

Ending mileage: 53,498

Total Miles: 355

What did you do on spring break?

A Birthday Weekend

We spent time with family this weekend at a 2nd birthday party for one of our sweet grand nieces, Lucye.

The party was on Saturday, but we arrived Friday evening so we could watch her twin 6 year old brothers compete in their T-ball tournament. Unfortunately one of the boys was sick and couldn't play. However, his brother had a great game!

It was cold in the stands! This is our nephew, his wife and their sweet daughter. They were there to cheer on the kids.

After the game, we went out for a big family dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Then, home to continue preperations for the party the next day. Momma Tracy made cupcakes and the twins and Daddy blew up balloons. Then, off to bed so we could get up early Saturday and finish the party prep.

Our niece had a schedule* to follow. Everyone was very excited when we got to highlight items that were complete!

Great Uncle Steve was in charge of streamers.

Great Aunt Cindy was in charge of carrots, celery and ranch dressing.

Mid-morning break time included reading a book.

The Husband and Tracy putting finishing touches on the adult buffet, which was chicken salad sandwiches, mom's macaroni salad and chips.

The kid's table featured PB&J sandwiches, carrots & celery and applesauce.

And cupcakes, of course!

The birthday girl enjoyed her lunch and cupcake.

As well as opening her gifts!

Aww...money!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl!

* Tracy keeps a spiral bound notebook with all her notes for parties and holiday celebrations. It contains information on the guest list, the menu, table diagrams, etc. 

I'm proud of her for being so organized.
She entertains a lot and this is one of her tricks that makes entertaining appear to be so easy!

I keep Thanksgiving and Christmas books,

but nothing for other holidays or parties. 

How about you? Do you have a party book?