Great Hair Day!!!!

It's so AMAZING to have a hairdresser in the family!!! I went to school today and Amanda waxed my eyebrows and cut and styled my hair. I just wish I had been going and getting this caterpillars above my eyes done all along! LOL I had not been waxed since I was in cosmo. I just pluck and pluck! It's yuck and it hurts way more!!!!! Then she did the most amazing haircut so far and if i don't say so myself i look pretty darn cute :) :) :) I love that girl and I'm so proud of her. She has 4 hours left and she will be done with hours and ready to go to state board. WOW time has flown, this weekend she is going to SKILLS it's like UIL for technical school kids. I hope our girls do great. Go ELKS!!!! Oh, it's been such a great day. I'm so happy I love my new job!

Salon Day

Today was such a fun day. My mom has been here all week, for the first time since I started working last year I have actually got to see her. We went shopping on Wednesday for just a bit. She loves the half price book store so we went there. I got this adorable little book called big hair! It is so cute. I has all these hairstyles from the 70's and 80's LOL!!!! Can you say OMGosh, there is some CRAZY hair in it. That's a story for another day. We just ran around for a bit and talked. Then today not"1-2-2004" but 2- 19-2009 she brought my granny in for me to give her a hair cut and style. Then I did mama's hair too. I asked her to take pictures of me since no one up here is scraps like "me". So she did, then one of the girls took one of the three of us. It's not very good, I have a dumb smile on my face, but it's precious to me because my mom and granny are in it. My granny asked me 6 times about this cross picture I have on my station. Can you take that cross off there and wear it for a necklace? No granny it's an antique that is mounted in the frame. Aunt Karisa bought it for me. Oh, sometimes I wonder if I'm going to be just like her? Probably! Chris already calls me Tommie half the time. Because I ask him things more than once. I keep telling him it's because I have so much racing through my brain! It was a wonderful day. I have been so blessed, God has given me the most wonderful gifts in my parents and grandparents. Thank you Lord for them.

February Challenge

I just finished my February challenge page. This was such a cute sketch! I love it Angie. I'm going to do some of my Valentine pictures with this same sketch. These are pictures taken at the Ft. Worth Zoo back in December. Josh took Amanda to the Zoo one Sunday afternoon for a date. She says it was the best date they've ever had. She's always loved the zoo. It was one of her favorite places to go when she was little. Precious Memories. I wish I had an awesome computer so I could edit these pictures so you could see them better. Oh well to many more important things.

Great Great Granny's Banana Cake

This is one of the kids favorite things I make. Now it is also Josh's. It was my granny's, mother's, mom's banana cake recipe. My mom makes it the best, but I'm getting better: It was our Valentine Dessert. I thought I'd share it because it's really good and a favorite.

Ingredients

2-3 very ripe bananas mashed

3/4 Cup Crisco

1 3/4 cup Sugar

2 Cups Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 Cup of sour milk

2 tsp Vanilla

1cup of chopped pecans *optional*

***If you don't have sour milk add 1tsp of vinegar to your 1/3 cup of milk before you start and it'll be ready by the time you need to add it in.

Directions:

Cream Crisco and Sugar together, add eggs mix in good, add bananas, vanilla, and milk mix well, then sift in dry ingredients. In a 9 x 13 cake pan sprayed with Pam, bake at 350 degrees until it tests wet done.

The cupcakes I made took 25 minutes, the extra I put in a small cake pan took about 35 minutes. I start testing at 25 minutes and test every 3 to 5 minutes until it test done in the center.

Cool Ice with home made Butter Cream Icing

This is how I do it, it's how my mom taught me.

1/2 bag of powdered sugar

1 stick of butter softened

1 cap of vanilla

1-3 caps of milk to make it a nice workable texture

~Valentine Tradtions~

I love precious moments that seem like they get caught in time and you can hold onto them as long as your mind will let you. One of the things we've always done is on Valentine's Day I made a fancy dinner and we gave the kids a card that reminded them how much we loved them. Chris and I have just never done presents for each other much. So this was our way of having a nice date without having to have a baby sitter and spending a bunch. I get out the most beautiful china ever it was my mom's my beautiful crystal that was my granny's sat on the table this year for the first time. We use to drink out of fancy glasses but I only have 5 and now our family has grown. I decorate with candles and hearts. It's just one of those precious moments full of memories. Well with everyone being gone yesterday doing their own thing I decided to wait and have our fancy dinner tonight when Josh could be there. Then it turned out Mari and Ryan were here. Of course there's always plenty at this house. As we sat and I listened to Chris pray for them and watched them laugh it was so truly amazing. I don't know why God has chose to bless us like he has but there are just those awe moments that are almost indescribable. Tonight was one and in church this morning was one too. The music was perfect, the speaker fantastic. This has been such a great day. As the kids grow and things change sometimes it's hard for me to let go, but tonight I realized I don't have to let go, I just have to be flexible. The kids that were extras said my mom hasn't ever done anything like this. We couldn't have gone out and had this nice of dinner or so much fun. That is what I want more than anything for every person that comes to this house to know that love lives here, and they will always have a place to go if they need something. This isn't ours anyway it's Gods. He's just blessed us with it for a time such as this.

Happy Valentine's Day

~Well here it is the first day of the dream~

I had a great first day in the Salon. I went to Armstrong McCall at 8:30 because I forgot to go get hair product! LOL A hairdresser without Mousse' the horror!!! Hmm that could be the title of a scary movie! Anyway back on earth. Austin Pyles was my first client and he arrived right on time at 10am. I started cutting hair and worked until 2:40 "not just on him" I did 8 haircuts and styles. They were all my clients so I didn't have time to do any walk ins, there were 5 walk ins the receptionist said. It was the most amazing day! God's approval was definitely on this day. I came home a little tired but so excited. It was perfect! I seriously could not have asked for more.

Happy Valentine's Day

I must say sometimes I look at Chris and wonder how long have you known me, like 22 years and yet do you know me? And then other times it's as if he reads my mind. He is my best friend and I love him more today than I did on our first Valentines 21 years ago. This year I walked into our room and on my night stand sat a vase full of one dozen purple roses. My favorite color! They were beautiful. He told me he was looking at red roses and just happened to see those. He said I thought to myself, in 20 years I've bought flowers but never purple roses and that's her favorite color and flower so that's what I'm getting today. He does get it most of the time!

Last Day ~ New Day

February 13, 2009
Well today was my last day at State Farm, it was bitter sweet. It's sweet because I'm getting to try my dream. It's a "little" bitter because I've made a bond with the girls I work with. They are sweet and we spent a lot of time together so we know each other. They are so funny, Alison sent Jeannie to On the Border to pick up lunch for us. Well, Jeannie told me she was going to Mexican Inn to take a pen holder and some pens for advertising and then she was going home for lunch. So then about 11:30 she walks in and I said I thought you were going to lunch when you got done, and she looked at me with this blank look and said oh yeah I was. I just thought she was being dingy! "sounded like something I'd do" Oh no she had gone and got the lunch and forgot what she told me. She was lieing!!!! We had a great lunch, we laughed and talked. Keri made me a cake. It was so sweet and they all chipped in and gave me a $30 gift card to Sally's. I do the whole office's hair so I will get to still see them. We had a nice day. Art was gone. LOL
Then after work I went and got Vee and we went to Keller to scrap with our girls in our meet up group. It was another fun Friday night. I was taking my stuff to the car and Chris says so where are you off to? I said my once a month scrap night at Angie's house. He said so last Friday was your once a month scrap night at Tammy's, and next week will be your once a month scrap night at Vicki's? I laughed and said well maybe they will come to our house, I'm sorry you have no friends to scrap with. He looked at me and with the most serious face says well how am I suppose to feed all these kids? "his car is a two seat er" I said well I guess you ask them what they want and go get and bring it home, eat a sandwich, or order pizza. He said oh, yeah ok well have fun. I smiled and said I will. Bye. It was so funny. If I die ya'll better come take care of him!!!!! I'm not sure he could function.

The New Adventure Begins!

Well tonight I went and put some of my stuff in up in my station. I am so excited. These aren't the greatest pictures but I had to have something to mark the day. I feel like I'm in a dream that started 20 years ago. It's truly amazing! Manda and Robert went with me, before we left I said would ya'll come over here and pray with me. I didn't expect them to pray I just wanted them to be with me. I finished my prayer and Amanda started praying, it was so beautiful, she prayed God would help me confident that I knew what I needed to know to do my job, it was so beautiful, and then Robert prayed and he prayed God would send me the exact people he wanted and that they would be blessed and happy when they left. I cried because it was such an amazing thing to have your children pray over you. Amanda told me yesterday she was so proud of me. It was a strange feeling to hear your child say they are proud of you. It's really indescribable. I am blessed!

I'm not waiting on a phone call

Saturday February 7, 2009.

This is what two beautiful girls look like mad at their boyfriends. ~LOL~

Manda and Mari were mad cause the boys weren't doing what they thought they should. So instead of sitting around crying about it they went to a party. Their first college party! It was at my cousins so i "pretty much" trusted them. They made great choices so I was very proud of them. What made me even more proud was that they didn't hang around and let some dumb boys ruin their evening. If I'd been 18 and it was Chris i'd probably hung around waiting on a stupid phone call. They are smart girls, and they are beautiful inside and out. I love them.

Good Times

OMGosh! Last night Vee came and got me and we went to our friend Tammy's house. Tammy needed some cheering up and we all three talked, laughed, and scrapbooked. It was so much fun! I got 11 pages done and I never get that much done. But, I was on a roll. We got to her house about 6:15pm, I don't think Vee really got going until about 10 "that's her good hours", and the closer it got to midnight the more hair~larious things got. Paper was a fly~in. Then we realized it was 2! Vee and I started loading our stuff up. We left headed back to my house and then she went on home. It was so much fun, we had laughed until we nearly cried. It was AMAZING!!! I got in bed about 3:30 and then up about 8:30. I had hair to do this morning. Now I'm hungry and sleepy and my next appointment should be here any minute. Ahhhh life is good. I am so blessed that God has given me a wonderful husband that lets me go play with my friends, and great girlfriends that love their husbands and love God. We have so much fun and we don't even DRINK. Imagine that?

Laugh Out Loud!!!

Just an observation, I was going back and reading my blogs and cracked myself up. I guess I never realized how much I say amazing and excited. It's no wonder ya'll love me so. If i'm always this excited and amazing ya'll should want to be with me every minute of the day. Just watch out for the days when I'm not excited and amazing because i'm probably b#@$%&*! and cussing!
Love ya'll,
~dee~

After All These Years

This is a new song by Journey. Chris and I have always loved Journey, and this is an amazing song. I told him when we heard it the other night this needs to be our song. It's been 20 years soon! That's a long time. A lot of love, laughter, and tears. And, God definitely knows we've had our share of saving grace. I am so thankful for the man Chris is. I love him more today than yesterday. He is my best friend, even on the days when I look at him and wonder what planet he really is from. HMMM I love him with all my heart. I am so thankful to God that he has been with us and changed us from the inside out. Chris, thank you for all the years of hard work. I am proud of you.

Your Dee
A faded wedding photograph

You and me in our first dance

Our eyes are closed

We're lost in one sweet embrace

Since those days the world has changed

Our love remains the same

God knows we've had our share of saving grace

And I'm proud of all the blessings

You have given me

The mountains we have climbed to get this far

You learn to take the laughter with the tears

After all these years

You make it feel brand new

After the fires that we walked thru

Against the odds we never lost our faith

In a house we've made our own

Where our children all have grown

Precious moments time can not erase

Make a livin' up and down the gypsy highway

Seasons that we've beared to share apart

Somehow in my heart I always keep you near

After all these years

After all these years

You stood by me

The days and nights that I was gone

After all these years

You sacrificed, believed in me

And you stood strong

Cause with our love there's nothing left to fear

After all these years

After all these years

You stood by me

The days and nights that I was gone

After all these years

You sacrificed, believed in me

And you stood strong

Cause with our love there's nothing left to fear

After all these years

My Cute Business Cards

ok here's my cute business cards! I love them. And isn't Hair with Flair great! That was the name I wanted for my own salon, when that was my dream 20 years ago. I am so excited and just can't wait to get all my new hair stuff. It's going to be so much fun!!!! I want Amanda to get well so she can make me cute! Hope your all having a good day (playing nertz) do you two do anything? I am also excited to hear my friend Krissi's news. You go girl.
See ya'll later~Dee~

New Journey

OMGosh! This has been such a great day!!! I gave my two weeks notice, and they responded very well. I am going to work at Grand Salon, in Burleson. I can't wait. I start on Valentines Day. What's so cool about that is, 20 years ago on Valentine's Day not only did it snow, but my cosmetology license came in the mail. Cool fact! HUH? I sent out an email to my work address book, and I already have 7! appointments the first week I start. I am so every excited. I know God is going to do great things. I just can't wait to see what all he does! So that's today's exciting news. Grand Salon is in Burleson on 780 NE Alsbury Blvd. If you'd like to make an appointment you can call 817-426-4615

The Winner Is

I am so excited! My friend Vicki asked me if i looked at our meet up groups web site and I said yes. She said did you look at all of it? I said no, she said did you look at the sketch for February? and I said no. She said "well go look." So while I was looking I realized I won the prize for January's sketch! That's so crazy!! I hated this page when I first started working on it, but after I finished it i liked it. So I just had to add this to my blog. This was taken in November when we went to the Christmas Tree Farm to get our Perfect Christmas Tree. It's Robert and me, Amanda and Daniel, and just a pic of the farm. It was a wonderful day. Just the five of us. We played and had so much fun. I'll never forget this day. Good times, good times!!!!

Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend. It had started with some dread. This was our Disciple Now Weekend. We were a host home. At first we were going to have the boys group at our house, I really wanted them to be here. Daniel has been on restrictions and I wanted to keep him close, but Sam thought him and Robert weren't getting the DNow experience being at home. So I reluctantly agreed. On the flip side of the agreement was our 7th & 8th grade boys. OMGosh! There are a couple of them that I just thought I couldn't stand. Well it turned out they are all just precious. Chris and I had the opportunity to get close to a new group of boys that need a lot of love. It really was a refreshing time and I had so much fun with them. We had the same college boys that were here last year and I love them dearly. Our boys and Manda had a great time with their groups. God spoke to each of them and they came home renewed and excited. Amanda said it was the best DNow she's been to. I think she says that every year! LOL However, I am glad since this is her last one that it was great. I was really tired but even I feel refreshed and have seen the face of God this weekend. I am so thankful for all God has done for us and all He continues to do. We so don't deserve it!
With that said tomorrow starts a new adventure in my life! It's crazy because I'm at peace in my heart and I feel God's leading but in my head I hear all the reasoning why this decision is dumb. I know in my own life that is how satan works. He uses my emotions to get me off track. So, now that I've recognized that every time something pops in my head that's telling me don't do this I just tell God I trust you not me. I am turning in my two week notice and going to work in a Salon doing hair! I haven't been in the salon in a long time. I've always done hair just not in a salon. I've taken a couple of classes just to get some new ideas, and I am so excited. I am a little stressed about the notice thing. I really need to work for the next two weeks so I can buy some things I need for the salon, and pay a couple of bills. I know that God is leading this so I know he will provide for us. I also know I need to be able to make money to pay the lease, and make a paycheck. If all of you pray for me as I make this change it would mean the world to me. I just need patience and wisdom from God, encouragement, and help. This really is like a dream. I can not wait to see what God is going to do. It also allows me to be way more flexible, that way I can work with Sam on our summer mission trip "Down the Street Week", and work with David on VBS, and still be around for the boys this summer. We've just had so much happen I just need to be home more! They don't need a baby sitter, but they need mom to know what's going on and where they are. Well I think that's about it!