How to get hurt at a 4 year old's birthday & keep on trucking!

Ok y'all, so this weekend has been a crazy one! My mom, oldest sister Abby, her 3 kids Kayla, Ethan & Becca along with my younger sister Megan came into town to celebrate our cousin Alec's 4th birthday party at Pump It Up. They arrived last night & I met them at my aunt & uncle's house because Ethan wanted to spend the night with Alec. After hanging out for a bit we were off to the Macaroni Grill for a late dinner, & then it was back to my house so the kids could go to sleep. I was not able to fall asleep, so it was after 1:30 for me, & I was wide awake at 5 a.m. this morning, so I uploaded some pictures for my sister & caught up on some TV that I had been putting off. Then everyone else got up & we got ready & headed over to the party. I was just planning on taking pictures & holding babies, but that soon changed to taking the babies down this massive inflatable slide! That was fun! Then my wonderful aunt said that we just had to go through this obstacle course. I was thinking that I shouldn't go because my 21 year old cousin Lacey had disappeared in there for more than 20 minutes & that didn't sit well with me. However, my sisters & I decided to go for it. It started off by going through a small hole & sliding down. Then you climb up this short wall to get to a...oh I don't know how to explain it, but it reminded me of an obstacle in the final challenge of this old show on N Nickelodeon called Double Dare where they had to squeeze through this thing & slide down. So I did that, & we stopped to take a picture & then we crawl through this tunnel where we come up to this steep wall that you have to climb & then you go down a big slide. I was like oh heck no, but my aunt was telling me it was easy & if she could do it, I could do it. So Megan & I start climbing, & I'm doing really well & I look down at Megan & she says - we should be on American Gladiators! I reached the top, went to put my leg over to the slide, & my legs were not long enough & I went tumbling back down. Of course I had to land on my ankle & I just laid there in this intense pain that I have never before experienced! The worst part was...I had to get out of this inflatable death trap! It took me about 20 minutes to get back through the maze, & then I had the task of getting back over this wall that I had slid down, & luckily my uncle came in to help me get over the wall because I was stuck since I was not able to use my foot at all. So I limp around, get some water, feel like I'm about to pass out, & then my mother gets the great idea that we should go to the chiropractor & have him put the bones back in place - since I could walk & wiggle my toes it was pretty evident that I had not broken anything, just injured it. So I get into the car with my maniac mother as she drives me across town to the chiropractor. It was probably the worst car ride I have experienced to date. So we finally get there, & the chiropractor (God love him) prepared me for what was about to happen. It was not fun, & it hurt, but it relieved a lot of pressure & I felt good. So after convincing my mother that I was ok to drive (left ankle), & a pit stop to Sonic, we headed back to Pump It Up to pick up the family & go to lunch. After a leisurely lunch my family wanted to go shopping at Legend's. I was somewhat against it, but agreed to take them there. So I walked around & shopped, at a very slow pace, but we went everywhere we wanted to go. Then we met my aunt & uncle for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, & as we were leaving my aunt told me my uncle told her she had to come clean with me....& I didn't know what she was talking about. Well, she precedes to tell me that although she had tried to go through the obstacle course that she had told me she did & how fun it was...she could not get up the wall & gave up & crawled out the opposite side so no one would see her! Boy was I not very happy! After dinner we came back to the house & my wonderful mom & sister went & got me some Icy Hot & some weird brace thing that they put over my swollen & bruised ankle. Then we watched The Game Plan & my niece really wanted to scrapbook, & as much as I was not up to it, when she started crying I had to give in. So then we worked on their notebooks, & currently it's 1:20 in the morning & they are all sleeping soundly upstairs as I lay on the couch hoping that I can fall asleep soon as I have my foot elevated & ice on it. Whew! What a story!

How to spend an evening with nothing to do...(ok ok, nothing you want to do)

The other night I found myself insanely bored & didn't really feel like doing anything. Then a thought popped into my head...my friend Steph had asked me to make some scrapbook pages for her daughter's scrapbook, & since my family is coming here this weekend I felt it would be better to send the pages back then to mail them (I don't trust them not getting bent). So this is what I worked on!

How to scrapbook with a man!

Ok, so last Saturday marked a first for me...my first experience scrapbooking with a man! I ran into my friend Clayton at the gas station on Friday morning, & he asked what I was doing over the weekend & decided that he was coming over. So Saturday morning I arose early to prepare for the day ahead of me. Clayton came over with Starbucks ( no coffee for me of course, but my favorite Carmel Apple Spice with no whipped cream), & we organized pictures & then headed to Archiver's, one of the scrapbook stores in town. After a quick trip to the Hobby Lobby we headed back to the house & started working on Clayton & Dave's 'Cruise' themed scrapbook. I gotta say, we got a lot accomplished (about 1/3 of the book), & it looks great! Clayton is definitely good at this...especially being a first timer. Here is a picture of Clayton scrapbooking, & a picture of how messy my living room can get!

How to....gain 10 lbs. in 20 days & not be upset!

My friend Marjie asked me how I was going to make this a 'how to' blog post, but I think by the title I might have just done it! Ok - so I'll try to keep this short & sweet! A few weeks ago Zena (a co-worker of mine) & I were headed out to lunch, & we were going to go to Schlotzky's, but I was in the mood for some Espinaca dip, so I suggested that we head over to Cactus Grill to have some. We were seated in the bar, & that is where I met the BEST waiter EVER!!!!!! He made sure that our glasses were always full, & he even offered up some sarcastic banter - which I'm a fan of. So a few days later Marjie & I went to have lunch & luckily we were seated in the SAME booth & had the same waiter! Marjie made the comment that the waiter paid more attention to me (which became quite obvious over the next few weeks), but I was quite happy with that. Especially when the restaurant was unable to make my burrito correctly. All I wanted was a tortilla shell with some rice in it & topped with Espinaca dip, but apparently that is a really hard request to fulfill. So, on this particular day, it took 3 times to get my burrito right. I had given up after time 2, but Orlondo was not going to allow that. So after this experience & the way that it was handled, I was sold. I don't typically eat out a lot, but if anyone asked me to lunch I happily obliged, but with the stipulation that we had to go to Cactus Grill. Seriously - it was like 17 times in 3 1/2 weeks! I will say that the last 3 days that I went in a row (Monday thru Wednesday) were due to the fact that Orlondo had informed us that his last day was Wednesday, so we had to utilize our time to have the best waiter serve us. Unfortunately he was only our waiter on Monday, but I will say that Monday was the best day! He brought my drink without me asking, & as I waited for Zena I requested to hold off on the Espinaca dip, & as soon as she sat down it was at the table without the blink of an eye! I could totally go on & on & on, but I won't ;) I'll just say that I have not had a burrito in 10 days, mainly due to the fact that I am burritoed out, but it was well worth it, & Cactus Grill will never be the same...I don't know that I can ever step foot in there again!

When Rachael was here, we made these notebooks with my newest scrapbooking purchase - the Big Bite by Cropodile!

How to....get a TV stand put together, & then rearrange the room!

Ok, so I said before that I got a TV stand. Only problem....I am not good at putting furniture together! Lucky for me Ben (Ann's boyfriend) came over last Sunday night & was nice enough to finish the job that Jordan had started. It took him awhile, & when he was finished he had a great idea! Ben's idea was to rearrange the living room so that the TV was on the opposite wall so when we are watching it it's about 10 feet away, rather than the maybe 5 it was currently. This started a lot of furniture moving & Ann getting her fingers stuck in the couch (I wish I had the video of Ben's face AFTER he told Ann not to put her fingers in the seam & she did), & a trip to K-Mart for a cable cord that was long enough (too bad that I didn't buy 2 because we realized when I got back that we had to get the cable from one side of the house to the other). I will say that I'm very happy that Ben made the suggestion because I enjoy watching TV so much more now that it's not so overwhelming.

How to get little kids on your side.....

Last weekend I got a pleasant surprise!!! I knew my friends Jordan & Rachael & their boys Jalen & Ian were coming to visit, but I was off by a weekend, so I was excited to find out they were coming a week early by my calendar! They arrived on Friday evening, & we just hung out & watched Why Did I Get Married? - a must see for anyone that reads this (but beware as it is kind of sad, but it's worth it in the end!)...then on Saturday we headed to Legends to the T-Rex Cafe where Jalen & Ian were introduced to Build-A-Dino (like Build-A-Bear but with dinosaurs). Then it was nap time for the boys & Rachael & I went shopping!!! I got a new camera, & a TV stand. After that it was back to the house to meet up with Ann & Ben & have some pizza & we watched the Memphis vs. Tennessee game in High Def. It was great fun! It was quite hilarious because Jalen told Ann that his mom was preggers, & she is going to have the baby when he's in the 3rd grade - which makes Rachael's justation about the same as an elephant! When it was time for the boys to go to bed, Jalen gave Ben a hug, then Ann a hug, & I was sitting next to Ann & Jalen looked at me, waved & said "Good night Libby!" Everyone got a HUGE kick out of that. I think my favorite part was on Sunday when we were praying & Jalen's prayer went like this...."Dear God, thank you for my family & my friends. Please watch over them. And Dear God, thank you for creating Libby." That is probably the sweetest thing I have ever heard in my life! However, at this time I do believe that Jalen is upset with me because he forgot his Transformers movie here, & I have procrastinated sending it back....at least I bought an envelope today!

How to utilize the time when you're bored...

A few weeks ago (ok, ok I know that I have truly slacked) I was bored, so I sat down & decided to make some frames to go in my cube at work that was seriously lacking - there were absolutely NO pictures in there, & people were starting to question because they are used to frames & pictures & magnets everywhere, but I wanted to update pictures & things, & it took me forever! Here are the frames that I made. One is a picture of Alec, Zach & myself around Christmas time, & then there is a picture of my family from Thanksgiving. Finally there is a Making Memories Flip Album that I liked that I put some random pictures in with my motto of Live, Laugh & Love.