And the Winner is..........

Shannon at Bless Our Nest. CONGRATULATIONS! (Shannon, you can thank Little Ann, she drew your name!)

First of all, girls, I just want to say a special thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the sweet, sweet comments you made about my mother and her clothes. That meant so much to me. I am so glad I did this. I really hope that she and I can work together to try to get her going on etsy or something. She is really busy right now working on her fall items for the stores, so it may take us awhile, but it is in the works! By the way, if anybody is ever interested in purchasing you can always email me from my profile and I will hook you right up! I also want to say thank you to all of you who commented and left Happy Birthday wishes. You guys are the greatest!

Ya'll, (yeah, I'm from Arkansas), this was just the best birthday (even despite the fact that I am waaaaay to close to 40). I just have to share my day with you.

First thing, of course, we went to church. When I first got up I noticed a card Pete had left out for me. The words he had written to me were awesome. I was so touched. He had already bought me a laptop which was supposed to be my anniversary/birthday present, but also inside the card was a $50 bill that he told me I had to use "exclusively" for scrapbooking paraphernalia. Wowzers!! That PLUS what my secret sister had already gotten me. I can't wait to go shopping!

When Big Dan got up, he couldn't wait to give me what he had gotten me. It was this black patten purse. SO CUTE!! I'm sure the girlfriend had something to do with this one!

I know you will think I'm crazy when you hear this...but Pizza Hut was my choice for lunch. (I know, I should've milked it, huh?) Little Ann thought so too and she was rather bent out of shape..she mouthed all the way to town.."but I wanted Red Lobster, wah, wah, wah". I told her when it was her birthday, she could choose the place. I think everyone else was disappointed with my choice, too, but they were smart enough to keep quiet. For some strange reason I had a hankering for cheese sticks from Pizza Hut. (I know, I'm weird). Most of the time, we eat at Mazzios when we dine in, or Little Ceasars if we take out, but today I wanted Pizza Hut, and it was my birthday for crying out loud.

The girlfriend met up with us for lunch and she had gotten me the sweetest gift. I couldn't believe it. It was this scrapbooking basket filled (mind you) with albums, paper, scissors, fibers, buttons, stickers, sequins, pens, etc....way more than she should've ever gotten me. But then she pointed out the real gift was in a purple envelope in the front pocket of the basket. This girl spent her hard working summer life guarding money on another $50 gift certificate to our local scrapbook store........ for me. It just made me want to cry. (You did expect that, I'm sure). She definitely scored some BIG TIME brownie points with me today! And look how cute she had it put together.
I couldn't resist having a family photo taken in Pizza Hut! Big Dan was like....."hurry, hurry, people are looking at us"...and "why are you taking pictures of your cheese sticks?"

The next part of my day was just the icing on the cake (ha) no pun intended....well, maybe just a little one. We went back for evening church services, and my husband rededicated his life to the Lord. It was a wonderful feeling. I know some of you have been praying for me, as I have indicated over the past couple of weeks that I was going through a difficult time. My husband has always been an insomniac and been on some type of sleep medication our whole marriage. His doctor has had him on a combination of powerful sleep aids, antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds that has just about taken a toll on him. When he is awake, he is normal. When he is on the meds, he is capable of some pretty bizarre stuff. Anyway, to make a long story short, he had admitted to me that he was feeling like he may have developed an addiction to the meds, absolutely hated the way they made him act or the things they made him do when under their influence, and wanted desperately to get off of them. He knew he couldn't do it without my help and God. I just want everyone to know that he is a wonderful man. (There was no physical abuse, other woman or anything like that.) So girls, I just ask that you continue to pray for our family, because we are going through a rocky time. We WILL get through this I know because with God.....all things are possible.

Ok, next up....after our evening church service, we went to buy groceries, and when we got home, I discovered that while I was taking my Sunday afternoon nap, Little Ann was busy in the kitchen making this: (it says Happy Birthday, Mom)

and this: (notice the trick sparkler candles) yeah, she's a tricker.

This child is 10 years old. I couldn't believe she did this. Pete said he helped her a little with the baking part, but she totally did all the decorating herself. I was sooooo impressed. And bless her little heart for wanting to do this for me. I just wanted to cry (again).

And now I'm at the end of a long day in the spotlight. I sure did enjoy it and it 's a good thing because it's over and now everything is back to normal....whatever that is.

Have a great week!