T! I! G! E! R! S!

My friend Britt emailed me this link this morning, she said the article brought a tear to her eye.  A woman crying about football...that's the effect SEC and LSU football has on the people who live and breathe it for a whole lifetime.  This article is great, I don't think I've read anything that captures a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium better.  I hope you enjoy it and you feel the same what this outsider did:

"It left me in awe, yeah, and it made me a little bit jealous, too. But mostly, it just made me want to come back to Baton Rouge for every fall Saturday for the rest of my life."

An LSU football game should definitlely be on everyone's bucket list!

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2010/11/9/1801841/lsu-football-baton-rouge-nick-saban-les-miles

I am so blessed...

I was sound asleep by 8:30pm last night so I didn't get a chance to write my "Thankful for" blog for yesterday so here it is now...

I am so thankful for:

• My coworkers.  Our department celebrates 17 years without a recordable safety incident this month.  A chemical plant's safety record is very important and effects our reputation as a company.  We deal with dangerous chemicals every day and we strive to never become complacent about the hazards and dangers in our workplace environment.  We watch out for each other, our #1 goal is to leave work in the same condition we arrived.
• My husband, the chef.  He can do so many things and he does them all well.  Today I'm thankful for his cooking abilities.  He made homemade pizzas on the grill, with homemade crust I might add:  BBQ Chicken and Italian.  Man were they yummy!  We are foodies through and through and my man can cook some delicious food. 
• My SIL, Erin.  She is one talented and crafty lady!  She is making the mini-desserts for our party this weekend and I can't wait to see and try all of her delicious goodies!  Thanks E!
• My marriage and its perfect timing.  Without Drew's brief first marriage I don't think we would be together now.  We appreciate each other more now than we ever have.  I think part of that comes with age and growing up, the other part comes from the broken marriages/relationships we’ve been in.  Life is a learning experience.  But it's the people who truly learn from not only their mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others that actually experience life.  Drew and I have made our fair share of mistakes and we'll make plenty more, but we learn from them and we're better people because of them.  Drew jokes around that "he's only been wrong once."  But the truth is we wouldn't change a thing.  God brought us this far and he'll see us through whatever we face in the future and what's most important is that we'll face it together.  

Thanks Again

Today I am most thankful for:

• My best friend Brittany Hughes.  Happy happy birthday B!
• Maintenance shop breakfasts.  Thanks for the daily invites fellas, I don't know what I would do without my morning eggs fried in bacon grease. :)
• The iPad.  My favorite new toy that I don't own yet.  My Christmas list is growing at an alarming rate!  Thanks Matt.
• I'm pretty sure I'll be thankful for my Mom this whole week.  I came home to freshly planted pansies, snapdragons, and freshly mulched flowerbeds.  I think it's safe to say my Mom is the best!
• Community dark roast coffee brewed in a drip pot.  Growing up I didn't even know they made electric coffee pots.  My mom would boil water and then poor it into an old-timey drip pot, then either my Mom or Dad would wake me up with coffee milk in bed EVERY morning from the time I was able to drink coffee until I graduated college!  Spoiled much?  Nah!  Two Christmases ago Drew found and gave me a drip pot just like my parents'.  Still spoiled?  Yeah! It is definitely one of my most prized possessions!  I don't think Drew believe how much better the coffee taste until I he had a cup...now we don't own an electric coffee maker.  But we do boil our water in the microwave. Ha!
• Milk.  Drew isn't much of a milk drinker.  I know right, how can you not like milk?!  I can remember my Dad taking me to Mr. Clinton's dairy and scooping milk, with a layer of cream on top, right out of the chiller tank and drinking it.  (Drew is giving me a disgusted look as he's reading over my shoulder.) I would make myself sick on fresh milk.  Our local fruit stand sells Smith's Creamery milk.  Which is named after the original Smith family dairy in Mount Hermon, LA...which also happens to be my grandma's family.  My great great grandpa Jenkins owned the general store in Washington parish and he sold my great great grandpa Smith's dairy products.  Anyway Smith's milk is so fresh, you have to shake the carton to mix the layer of cream that has formed on top...or do like I do and lick it off your finger!  

Thank you!

Muchas Gracias

Today I am thankful for:

• My know it all, and do it all husband.  He stained and hung my library cabinet doors today, as well as trimmed out the outdoor kitchen's hood vent.  Yeah I know, he's pretty amazing.  I'll never have to worry about unfinished projects that's for sure!
• Cheap-o booties from XXI
• Greek food
• My mom.  She'll be here all week helping us get ready for our party Saturday.  It's like having Mrs. Claus come to our house, she always brings goodies with her. God gave me a very special woman to be my Mama.

 That's my man :)

 Before...

After!  He's painting it a red color to match our old red cabinets.

 My Mom made this quilt herself!  

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers and they were also my wedding flower.  :) 

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

  I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
 My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

  He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
 indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

 The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;  

the LORD will watch over your coming and going

   both now and forevermore. 

 

 And she gave me my first "Ds" :)

Many thanks to the heavens above.

Thanks Giving

As I've gotten older Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays.  One, because it's the least commercialized holiday...compared to Christmas, Fourth of July, Halloween etc.  Two, because Andrew will be with us for EVERY Thanksgiving from now on. :)  Three, because this holiday allows us time to truly be thankful for God's blessings.  And finally it focuses on my two favorite "F" words...Family and Food!

I've decided for the rest of the month of November I'm going to list a few things that I'm thankful for every day in honor of Thanksgiving.

Today, I'm thankful for:

• Clear, crisp, cool November mornings
• Starbucks Gingerbread Lattes
• Our beautiful home, built by my love
• Our student of the month little boy
• School pride...Go Tigers!
• SEC edge of your season ticket seats games
• My make me laugh at inappropriate moments husband :)

 Our fabulous house!

 L! S! U!

 LSU 24  Bama 21

Days to Never Forget...

But there are some I wish I could.

I wish I could forget that phone call, my Dad's helpless sobs.
I wish I could forget the pile of twisted metal.
I wish I could forget my sister's crys.
I wish I could forget the anger in my oldest nephew's eyes.
I wish I could forget the black tarp covering 4 young boys once so full of life.
But mostly I wish he was still alive.

B, your Brooknie misses you.

  

"This was a life that had hardly begun

No time to find your place in the sun

No time to do all you could have done

But we loved you enough for a lifetime.

No time to enjoy the world and its wealth

No time to take life down from the shelf

No time to sing the song of yourself

Though you had enough love for a lifetime."



Go Vote!

Love your country enough to get out and vote tomorrow!