I got tagged by my friend Sarah and now it’s my turn to answer five questions, then tag others. Sounds like fun. Here goes!!

1. Where Were You Ten Years Ago?
That was the summer of 1998. I was still living back home in Southwest Georgia, but hoping to move to Atlanta. I was submitting resumes and I drove up twice for interviews. The first interview was with a downtown law firm and I bombed it. For some reason, I just froze on the typing test. So, I was a bit discouraged. I then I got a call from a Catholic hospital in Atlanta to interview for a position there. I went for it and it the first interview was a home run! I even blew the typing test out of the water. (Yay) In August of 1998, I packed my car full of stuff and moved to Atlanta with a whole lot of dreams and not a whole lot of cash. I went to work at the hospital and gave myself until Christmas of that year to get comfortable in Atlanta or move back home. Well, I’m still here. Sure, we moved to Southeast Alabama for two years, but we’re back and this is our home. And, hey…I met Mickey at that hospital. Good thing I blew that first typing test and aced the hospital one, right?

2. Five Items on Your To-Do List Today

• Let Mickey sleep in as much as possible for Father’s Day
• Go to church
• Go to the pool
• Make dinner
• Have some relaxation time with Mickey

3. Snacks I Enjoy

• Dove dark chocolate (especially with almonds)
• Cereal
• Fiber One bars
• Raw almonds
• Ice cream

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

• Donate to our church and various missions
• Buy all of our immediate family their homes and vehicles
• TRAVEL all over the world
• Put in a huge new pool in our community that has “zero access” for the kids (We have a nice pool now, but I would love a “zero access” one just for fun)
• Invest

5. Places I would Live
We actually are happy right here where we are and this is definitely our home. Ideally, we would have family closer to us because that’s the only missing piece of living here. So, that would be the only thing I would change if I could make it absolutely perfect.

Last…Six Bloggers I’m passing the challenge onto…
Ali
Emily
Jawan
Merri
Renee
Shannon

And, thanks to Sarah for tagging me!

I am a faithful reader of my friend Jawan’s blog. I can always count on there to be great posts there. Some are uplifting, some are great bargain tips, some are great craft ideas, etc. Her blog never fails to provide me with great reading. Well, on Friday, she posted about some cool new shoes she had gotten at WalMart. I loved them in the picture she posted. I happened to be at WalMart today and, to my surprise, I happened to remember the shoes Jawan talked about. So, I meandered over to the shoe aisle and they actually had them in stock. And, in my size! WOO HOO! Since Jawan and I live at least 100 miles apart, I doubt we’ll incur any fashion wrath if we happen to wear the same shoes on the same day anyway. HA! So, now I am the proud owner of these really cool new shoes:

I love ‘em! They are great for summer. They go with so many of my clothes. And, I can just slip them on and go. What’s not to love?! The best thing is that they aren’t just like all of my other shoes. Around here that goes a long way because Mickey swears that all my shoes look alike.

I also got these beauties while I was in a shoe buying mood today:

Also really cute, huh?! They are white and have an eyelet look to them. They are really comfy and I just think they are so fun!! I can’t believe I found these at Walmart. I have to give all the credit to Jawan for posting about the first pair because I would never have looked otherwise.

And, please excuse the low quality of my photos. I had to take them with my phone since my camera is in for repairs.

Now, if anyone else has any great shoes to share, do let me know. I’m all about fun summer shoes, especially at great prices. I live in flip-flops most of the time, but a girl can never have too many options, right?

To the moms in my life…

Happy Mother’s Day!

To my mom - aka Nana - I owe you eternal gratitude. You have given me roots to grow and wings to fly. You have taught me what it is to be a mom - how to love with my whole heart and still let go with both hands when the time comes knowing that it’s okay. You’ve been the voice of reason, the arms of comfort and the source of strength for me more times than I can count. You’ve been my rock through all my years and I love you so!

To my step-mom- aka Dorothy…aka MiMi - you came into my life almost twenty years ago and I have been so blessed to know you, love you and be loved by you. I cherish all the times we’ve laughed and cried or laughed until we cried. You always bring a ray of sunshine with you. We have so many little jokes that we share and we’ll always have Mitford! THANK YOU for being you! I love you!!

To my mother-in-law Linda - aka Grammie - I know I’ll never have any of those “horror stories” about my mother-in-law because you have taken me in as one of your own since day one. You have a kindness and compassion about you that radiates in everything you do. Because you loved your son and taught him to love, he can share that love with our own family. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done and all you do. You’re a blessing and I love you!

To my Gran - aka GranGran - What would I do without you, Gran? My Pearl! There’s never been a facet of my life that you weren’t there to share. Some of my favorite childhood memories were made right there with you and Pop. You tell me like it is when I need to hear the truth. You also let me “just talk” when I’m in a chatty mood. You inspire me to deeper faith and good works and service to others. And, I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiis much!

To my Grandma - aka Grandma Teapot - You have taught me more than you know. You helped instill a work ethic in me which I value to this day. You gave me my first “job” when I was just a little girl. I would go to the cleaning shop with you on Saturdays and use a magnet to pick up straight pins from the floor. That dollar or two you gave me was all the money in the world back then. Later on, you got me a job at the candy store and that was another blessing. You’ve made me feel so special and have given me many happy memories. I thank you! Love you!

To my Grandmother-in-Law…aka Grandma Charlotte - I knew you were a gem the first time I met you. The first thing you said about me was “I don’t like her”, but I knew you did. You were testing me and I like to think I passed with flying colors. I just love your spunk and determination. I love how fiercely loyal you are to those you love. I love how you remind Mickey about what a brat he was a child, but how you do that in a way that shows you really do love him to pieces. We were honored to give Macey your name as a middle name and we know that some of that Matriarch spirit will always live in her. We hope to see you this summer because we all miss you. Love you!

To all the moms in my family and all my mom friends - I learn so much from you. Thank you for sharing your lives, your hearts and even your kiddos with me and my family. May we all grow and learn together as we go along.

Hope today is a blessing all around!

I had my first Red Box movie rental experience today. I was at Walmart with the girls and remembered they had a Red Box there in the front of the store. So, I pulled up Inside Redbox on my phone and got the promo code list. The first code that was listed for today didn’t work for me, but the second did. So, I rented Enchanted since I’ve wanted to see it for awhile. Renting with the code was super easy and FREE. All I had to do was enter the code, select the movie, swipe my debit card, enter zip code and my email address. Then I got the movie. Couldn’t be easier and you can’t beat free. So, I have an at-home movie date with Mickey after the girls go to bed. Yay!

We were away over the weekend, so I didn’t get to post. So, I’m here now waking up my sleepy blog. :p

I hope it was a great weekend all around. We were in South Georgia over the weekend. It was a really nice family weekend. We got lots of Nana time in which is always nice. Mickey and I even got to have a dinner date on Saturday which was great for us. The weather was incredible all weekend too and we just had a really great family weekend.

The reason we went down for the weekend was for our nephew Jackson’s baptism which was on Sunday. Jackson did great for the whole ceremony. He fell asleep in his mommy’s arms (is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby?!) and stayed asleep through most everything. He almost woke up when Liz leaned his head down to get his water and oil, but he went right back out. We had the honor and privilege of being included in the ceremony as Jackson’s Godparents and we take that vow very seriously and right to heart. We love that little boy so much and we feel so blessed that he has come into our family.

I will post more later. I need to catch up with a book review and deals. I’m also reading an incredibly powerful book that I can’t wait to post more about. It’s called The Shack and as soon as I’m done reading it, I’m going to post more.

Happy Monday!

This post is sure to show everyone what I nerd I really can be or really AM…either way you look at it. But, hey, I just have to share because this never happens. I beat Mickey in Wii Golf this morning! WOO HOO! Check this out:

That’s my “Mii” on the left  with the -1 score and Mickey’s on the right with the very uncharacteristic +5 score. Lately I have been addicted to Wii Golf and Mickey indulges me by playing 9 holes with me on it. He usually wins. Sometimes he only beats me by a stroke or two, but he’s been known to take me to the cleaners. Well…NOT THIS MORNING! Ha! I finally won. Granted, he gave up on the 9th green when he knew he wasn’t going to win and his putting added a couple of strokes due to that. But, still…victory was mine. And, I’m just nerdy enough to post about it too.

In cleaning up our backyard this weekend we found some pretty interesting creatures. We raked, piled and moved our leaves to the very back of our property. (About half an acre) In the raking process, we discovered lots of earth worms, grubs, sow bugs (aka - rollie polies), crickets, spiders and lots of little crawlies. Our most interesting discoveries were a baby snake that I uncovered yesterday and a salamander that we uncovered today.

We’ve been in our house for almost a year and a half now and we have had nothing but the best of intentions of cleaning up the backyard properly for ages now. The terrain back there has a ton of potential, but has some rough areas and the leaves haven’t been properly raked in ages. So, we took on the task this weekend. That’s how we discovered our little animal “friends” (I had to use the quotes because I simply cannot refer to even a non-poisonous snake as a friend) in our backyard. I wish I had gotten a photo of the snake so that I could identify him. I feel pretty confident in assuming he was non-poisonous, so that’s good. He was maybe 6-8″ long, tan in color on top and a grayish looking color underneath. And, he was fast. I didn’t take a picture of the salamander either, but I was able to identify it via National Geographic’s website. It appears that we have spotted salamander living in our yard. Here’s a stock photo that looks pretty similar to the one we saw:

That’s a pretty cool looking critter, huh? All I saw at first was the tail as it skittered beneath our pile of leaves we were moving onto the tarp. I wanted to be sure it wasn’t another snake, so I moved the leaf pile and discovered it was a salamander. He was a pretty nice size and plump too! We got him to move away from where we were working and he burrowed into some brush near the fence.

I have to admit that it was pretty interesting and exciting making these discoveries right in our own backyard. And, yea, it was a little scary too. I have a phobia of snakes and finding that little fella as I was raking DID unnerve me, if I’m being honest, but I didn’t want to harm him at all. It’s really great living in an area that has remained pretty well wooded so that we get to see these kinds of wildlife. Our neighborhood has a great variety of wild animals including hawks, squirrels, rabbits and all sorts of birds. So, it’s great to see all of those plus make discoveries here at home!

I do the majority of my grocery shopping at our local Publix. I have always enjoyed shopping there because the store is nice, it’s clean and they have good prices, especially on their sale items. Since I’ve been shopping there quite awhile, I know that they have a policy called “The Publix Promise” in which they give you an item free if it rings up at the wrong price. I have never had that happen (that I know of) before today. But, today I got a pack of Huggies Supreme diapers and the shelf price said $15.99. I wasn’t paying attention when the cashier rang them and I discovered when I got out to the car that they had come up as $18.99! I went ahead home, unloaded the groceries, left the girls with Mickey and went back to Publix. I double checked the price and the shelf and, sure enough, the sign said $15.99. So, I went to Customer Service. I saw an assistant manager, Terri, that I have met there before and she got an associate to come over and help me. The associate went to the aisle to check the price and I went with her. She said that price tag was not supposed to be there, but they would have to honor it since that’s what it said when I got the diapers. We got back up front and the package of diapers she picked up somehow rang up as $15.99. They were the same size and style of the ones I had gotten which was detailed on my receipt. The associate got Terri the assistant manager to come over. Terri said they had probably changed the packaging and mine probably had a different bar code causing it to ring up wrong. Initially they were going to give me the $3 difference, but I asked if they still had the policy to give an item free if it rang up the wrong price and they do have that policy still - The Publix Promise. I wound up getting the package of diapers free. And, I am VERY pleased with Publix and their costumer service for taking care of that. So, I say KUDOS to the Publix Promise!!

It’s a GORGEOUS spring morning here! Both girls are at preschool this morning, so I decided that the house-cleaning could wait and I went out for a great walk this morning. I took my sweet little hot pink iPod shuffle and set out on a walk. I wound up going longer and farther than I had intended to do when I first set out, but it felt GREAT! I walked just over 2.5 miles in 40 minutes. Certainly not the quickest pace ever, but still pretty decent considering the hilly terrain around here. I’m home now and I’m pumped. What a great way to start the day!

Last week I posted about the One Month Weight Loss Challenge I am participating in online. Well, it began this past Monday. So far, so good!

I’m following Weight Watchers again because I love the program and I know it works! What inspires me the most about Weight Watchers is that it is NOT a diet, it’s a lifestyle change. I know that sounds sort of cliched to say, but it’s true. It’s not a diet because on the Flex Plan, I can eat anything I want to as long as I account for the Points. This means that breads, sweets, etc. aren’t off-limits. YAY! It’s been an adjustment reducing my daily caloric intake, but I know that the first several days are the most difficult for me and I’m hanging in there.

I’m also increasing my water in-take and that has been another challenge for me, but it’s a challenge I’m happy to say that I’m meeting head-on. I am not a water drinker by nature, but I am getting better about it. Yesterday I bought two things that are helping with my water consumption. They are:

Brita Water Pitcher

I love this pitcher because now I can have fresh, cold water any time I want it! I had been buying cases of bottled water, but I felt pretty guilty about that because I know the plastic winds up in the landfill and takes up space there forever. So, I decided yesterday to get the Brita and reuse the plastic bottles we have around the house. It’s a great solution! This pitcher is definitely a worthy investment. For only $20, I have months of fresh water! The filters aren’t costly to replace either. Can’t beat that!

Kellogg’s All-Bran Fiber Drink Mix in Pink Lemonade

My best friend Terri told me about this drink mix and I couldn’t wait to try it. It only has 20 calories per serving and has 10 grams of dietary fiber! That means it has no Weight Watcher Points! Awesome! The best thing is that it tastes great. So, I can get my fiber and my water in one sweet package. This is one of the best new products out there if you ask me. I have been recommending it all over the place! YUM!

My first weigh-in is this coming Monday. I hope to have lost at least two pounds by then. Maybe a little more. I’m excited about this and I know the results will come as long as I exercise and stick to Weight Watchers. Again…wish me luck.