THANK YOU, SISTER SMITH!!!

I saw your invitation to come spend the night at your house and would have loved to have taken you up on the offer, (I told Anthony that you would've played games with me--you know, I love playing games, but he doesn't so much) but our plans changed a bit and I didn't have computer access to let you know. Let me back up and explain.

Anthony called me just before he left work on Monday and asked if I'd be opposed to leaving that night and spending the night somewhere in Ohio. Well, who can turn down extra vacation time? So I agreed and we jumped online and found an employee rate for that night at a beautiful Comfort Inn in Bluffton, OH, cancelled our room in Knoxville, and hit the road. Had I known at the time that we could've spent the night at the Smith Family Inn, I wouldn't have been so gung ho on leaving early. Alas, I guess it wasn't meant to be.

So thank you very much for the offer. We really would have enjoyed it. *sigh* Oh! By the way, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you and Brother Smith. Congratulations on 35 years!!! :D

One of the perks of Anthony being in the hotel business is the employee rate. Sometimes, if Anthony knows the manager, he can do a trade-out and get our room for free. But, oftentimes, we do pay the employee rate, and it's normally only $35 a night, which is pretty cool. Right now we're staying in a beautiful, brand new Comfort Suites in Kodak, TN, which is near Sevierville, for that rate. This hotel is just gorgeous. It just opened in March, so it's new and contemporary. The room and all the public areas are immaculate. Looks, smells, feels clean. AHHHHH!!!! The decor is beautiful. The mattress and pillows are AWESOMELY comfortable. The bathroom is way, way cool. Granite countertops AND shower walls. Now, how many hotels have granite shower walls? Just so cool. LCD HDTV in the room. Even the closet is nice and big. For $35/night .... just can't beat it.

Anyway, I took a ton of pictures. I'll have to go through them and get them up here soon. We had a really nice time and did some really neat things. Will post soon. Right now, I'm going to jump in the shower and finish getting our stuff together. We're leaving to go back home today, which is good, I guess, but really I think I need one more day of vacation. Maybe we'll spot something to do on our way home. We go through Knoxville, Lexington, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Surely we'll find something.

Everybody have a great day. And Happy New Year!!!! (in a couple of days ;-)

Even More Excited than I Was

So I was printing off directions for our trip tomorrow and started looking at what towns we'd pass through. I noticed Lexington was one of them. Richmond, KY, is just on the outskirts of Lexington. Now Richmond, I remembered, is where some dear friends of ours live. Called 'em up and voila! Lunch tomorrow with the Esteps. Can't wait to see you two, Donnie and Marsha. :D We very rarely get to fellowship with church people our age, so this is such a blessing to us. We love ya'll.

So What Exactly Are Ya'll Trying NOT to Say????

Not many comments on my glasses pictures. Hmmmm.... Makes ya wonder just how terrible you think I look. ;-) just teasing My husband likes the way I look, and that's what matters. ;-)

Jackson got a Christmas present last night. I know, I know, but we kind of had no choice. See, the box is HUGE and no way was it fitting in our car with all our luggage, unless maybe we put Jackson on the roof. But since that's illegal, we had to choose between giving it to him now or him having to wait until after Christmas. Well, it stinks to have to wait until after Christmas when you're a kid, soooooo.... last night it was. Besides, I was in the mood for using some power tools, anyway, so Mom got in on the fun, too. :D

He got a new Lifestyles Partytime Kitchen. Now before you go making judgments and comments and crying outrage about a boy getting a play kitchen, I want you all to think about all the swell male chefs out there that I know you enjoy watching on TV. Come on .... Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, Emeril Lagasse, etc., etc. I know you watch 'em. So there's nothing sissy about it!!!! (That's what won the debate with Anthony on this one.)

Anyway, he loves it!!! He's made me pancakes for breakfast and spaghetti for supper. Steak and chicken and mashed potatoes and macaroni, and even a salad have also been on the menu. And the set is really super-cool. It's got a built-in microwave that has sounds and a working light on the stove hood, a real clock, "stainless" appliances, and a "granite" countertop. Even a cordless phone. The kid's got a better kitchen than I do. HA! Anyway, it's very neutral in decor so there's nothing feminine or sissy so no worries there. It's just fun.

Last night while I was in there with the power drill and screwdrivers and batteries and stuff (I love doing that kind of stuff), Anthony was working in the living room on something for work and had a Christmas program of some sort on. Well, the program started playing the Peanuts theme music and Jackson recognized it immediately, Anthony said, as the "Charlie Brown" music. Wow! I thought that was great! I remember when I was pregnant, I'd pray he'd be musically talented and I keep seeing signs that lead me to believe the Lord answered that prayer. We are seriously considering getting him started on piano lessons soon. I know he's only four, but many people start their children out this early. Maybe this summer we can look into it--that and t-ball. I just pray he shown an interest in learning as well as the aptitude.

Does anyone else's kid do this? I just went in there to put him down for a nap, and he'd gotten all prepared for nap time ... 15+ toys stashed under his covers ready for his "naptime enjoyment". What's up with that? *rolling eyes* What a goof.

Alright, I need to go start packing for our trip. Leaving in the morning. :D Yippeeee!!!!

Merry Christmas, everybody.

11 below, Ice, and No Church

We are homebound today. Our pastor said the roads are big sheets of ice and the temp is 11 below. Brrrr...... He said if anyone slid off the road, they'd freeze to death, so he wasn't taking any chances. Looks like an extended devotion's on the agenda for today at the Dyer house.

Jackson ended up in our bed again last night. Grrr.... I thought we'd gotten past this, and it hadn't been happening for quite a while, but he woke up crying really hard and wouldn't tell us why. Whaddaya do? I was sooooo sleepy last night, so I just gave in. I know, I know. Uhhhh.... we'll try again tonight.

I found out I'm getting more classes next semester at Ivy Tech. I'm pretty excited about that. Jackson will go to daycare 2-3 days a week and I'll get to stay home with him the other days, which I love. Where I work is very close to the hotel, and we found a great daycare kind of between the two of us, so that's perfect. Jackson really needs the interaction with other kids and we don't have kids at church, so this fills that need and still allows me to stay home with him part of the week. God is so good.

We leave Tuesday. We're spending the night in Knoxville on the way down and then we'll spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Anthony's parents and take in Rock City Christmas lights one of those nights, then we'll go to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for Friday, Sat., and Sunday, heading back on Monday. I am really excited about our getaway. We're trying to decide what all we'll do while we're there, but it's usually a spur-of-the-moment decision in that area. And the bummer is miniature golf is out because of the weather. We used to always play miniature golf any time we went to Pigeon Forge (we LOVE to play miniature golf), but that won't be happening this time. Unless, of course, we find an indoor one. Hmmm.....

Alright, time to get some more things done.

The Four Eyes Pictures Post

Yeah, messy hair. I know. ;-) But that's what the glasses look like. And here is the other pair. This pair's basically the same, but they're purple and they have the bottom rim.

We're getting ready for Christmas travels. We leave next week for Georgia and we've decided to spend a couple of days in the Smokies/Pigeon Forge. We haven't had a get-away in a very long time, and we're just going to do it. Can't wait. :D We should have internet access once we get, so maybe I'll get some pictures of our trip up while we're there. I'll try, but I'm not making any promises. Really, I'm imaging there won't be too many people on the blogs next week, but ya never know.

Merry Christmas to all ...

"Four Eyes"

Well, I have joined the ranks ... the ranks of those who need assistance with their vision. I had been noticing lately that my vision far away has been getting somewhat blurry and after much nagging from my dear sweet hubby, I finally made an appointment to get it checked out. Yep. Need glasses. I've never needed anything before ... always had great vision. But I guess that blessing can't always last for everybody.

My mom told me she can't believe I haven't needed them before now. My two brothers and my sister AND my mom are all pretty near blind without theirs, so I guess the family genes finally caught up with me. My dad just uses them for reading, but that's a recent thing, so I just assumed I had his genes in the optical department. Now I guess not. I just wish they weren't so expensive. I went to one of those places that's buy one pair get one free with free eye exam, but the one pair was expensive enough. I was looking at the price they had written on the frames ... about $150, so I was thinking not too bad, right? Au contrare. Didn't know there's a whole other charge for the lenses. With scratch protection, I ended up paying $270 total. Yikes! I've talked with some people who have glasses and they've assured me that's about normal so I feel a little better, but I'm kind of a tightwad, so that just seemed like a lot to me.

I go pick them up tomorrow. Maybe I'll have Anthony take a pic and post it so y'all can see what they look like. I got the Sarah Palin rectangles. With my round face, it was the only thing that was working for me.

Well, good night, all.

Beginner's "Luck"

No, I don't believe in luck, but I didn't know what else to call it. Anyway, I'm referring to my cards that I sold on ebay. I put the new ones on there and I only have 17 hours left on it with no watchers and no bids. ;-(

Ah, well, if they don't sell, I'll just use them for my own Christmas cards. Need to get 'em sent out anyway, so nah!!! ;0) tee hee

We took Jackson out for a big birthday bash yesterday. We went to the mall and let him look around in the Disney store. He loves that place and, you know, they've got toys out, so it's fun. We also took him to JC Penney's to get his pictures made. It'd been quite a while since his last pics and I just decided we'd better not wait any more. Kids get too big too fast. HE DID SOOOO GOOD. I cannot wait until Friday when the order comes in. He was way too cute. We did Christmas and birthday pictures.

Then we took him to Chuck E. Cheese. Big tip for parents out there: Go to chuckecheese.com and register for their coupons. There's a GREAT deal you can get. It's a large pizza, four drinks, and 40 tokens for 18.99. Can't hardly beat that! You also get another coupon with that email where you can buy 100 tokens for $10!!!!! But, warning. Wait until you're ready to go because the coupon they send is only good for like a month. I was majorly surprised to see that all the games in there are only one token, so that was great!!!

Anyway, I'm gonna skedaddle. Talk to ya'll later. Happy day.

A Few More

Haven't been spending too much more time on cards, but I did make a few more. Thought I'd share.
Had a nice Thanksgiving. We went to my sister's house and spent a few days with them. On Saturday night she and her husband offered to watch Jackson for us and let Anthony and I go out for a few hours. That was soooo nice. It'd been a very long time since we'd had any alone time. Living where we do and not knowing anyone, we don't have a babysitter we'd trust, so the little man's always in tote. ;-) So the offer from my sister was such a blessing. We just went and shopped for a little while. Anthony found a new Bible that he wants. We'll see about that for Christmas. Shhhhh..... And I found a pair of boots and a coat. OK, OK, I know how that sounds, he finding a Bible and me shoes, but living up here, I really do need a pair of boots and my coat is WAY not warm enough to handle these winters. Anthony and Jackson both have really warm coats, but I didn't get one yet, so it's justified. tee hee.

I'm a little disturbed about the recent happening in Washington state. The governor has allowed a sign to be placed next to the nativity scene in the state capitol. The sign is extremely offensive and there's just no reason for it. I believe in freedom of speech and I think if atheists feel a need to put up a sign in the state capitol, that's fine. But I believe this sign is inflammatory and has the potential to incite violence from people ignorant enough to allow themselves to get upset enough over it. Then, guess what. It'll be something else atheists will be able to point to when justifying the very contents of that sign. Anyway, the sign says this: "“At this season of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” You see what I mean? They put something infuriating up like this, the wrong people see it and get upset and do something stupid, they have another reason to point the finger at "Christians" and say they were right all along. "Just another bunch of hard-hearted religious ignoramuses."

The group who put up this plaque is the Freedom From Religion Foundation and uses the Establishment Clause, which basically says government isn't allowed to establish a religion for our nation, as their justification. And neither would we want the government to do so. But what bothers me is it seems their goal is to eliminate religion from our nation. The problem with that is the very Clause they use to validify their cause also states that government shall not prohibit its citizens from the free exercise of religion. Seems clear cut to me. Practice what you will, but leave us be to do the same.

Prayer. A close relationship with God. We'd all better have that at this tumultuous time of society because it's all coming to a close and the ones who have the audacity to flaunt such a plaque against God's chosen will wish they'd listened just a little closer to the inner Voice that called for them to repent and to the voices of all His followers who reached out and tried to persuade them to change their ways.

Alright. 'Nuff 'bout that.
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Well, folks, I'll blog again in, oh, another week and a half or so. Just teasing. I'm going to try to blog more often.

I can finally say it . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I love this time of year. :D