From Inmates to Playdates

Posts Tagged ‘Church’

This great guy…..

Loves to go Off-Roading with the guys in the WV Jeep Club.

  Is an awesome dad to our boys.

   Joined the WV Air National Guard in 1991 (he was still in High School).

  Is the web-master of our church web-site.

  Was commissioned as an Officer (2^ndLieutenant) the same year he was commissioned as a husband.

  Is a Principle Service Specialist for Honeywell. That’s code for “Control Systems Genius.”

 Just completed a 6-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 Works at home a few days each month.

 Travels for work more than he would like.

Likes to ski.

  Loves, loves, loves chocolate chip cookies.

  May not be able to tell you when or where something happened, but could definitely tell you what we were driving when it happened.

  Runs the sound-board at our church.

 Makes sure I have the cleanest minivan in the carpool lane.

 Comments on all blog posts involving his heap (ahem! I mean JEEP!)

 Had LASIK surgery 6 six years ago.

 Does it right the first time.

 Plays the drums at our church.

 Has a lot more patience than his wife.

Loves to ride his motorcycle even though he doesn’t get to ride it as often as he’d like.

 Would do anything for anybody.

 Watches Ice-Road Truckers, Grey’s Anatomy, Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Extreme 4X4 and Criminal Minds.

 Currently holds the rank of Major.

 Is the oldest of 5 kids.

 Would rather me write about someone other than him.

 Is adored by his wife.

Has a birthday today!!!

Happy Birthday McDaddy! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for sharing your life with me!!!

I Love You!

I am unemployed, however, I am busier than a raccoon in a trashpile most days.

I feel like I should be on somebodies payroll by now because I don’t feel like I EVER have a day to do nothing.

Between the PTA, church stuff, domestic duties, my fellas, the PTA, the blog, the e-mail and the facebook, I! NEVER! STOP!

And speaking of The Facebook, do y’all find yourselves spending ridiculous amounts of time on there catching up with the stinkin’ status updates? Seriously, it is enough to keep me coming back for more.

And I check in often.

Because I was born with a nosey gene.

And because some of them are just great.

For instance, my current status update on facebook says, JMC is watching Grey’s Anatomy with McDaddy and writing tomorrow’s blog post which oddly enough is about status updates…

Intriguing? Yes, I think so. It would be enough to make me click over and see what the blog was all about if I were them.

Some of my prior status updates say,

Love Dare: Day 14 – purposefully neglect an activity you would normally do so you can spend quality time with your spouse. Do something he or she would love to do or a project they’d really like to work on. Just be together.

Is headed to Revival after a fun-filled hour with the Cub Scouts!!! The boys had a great time scrapbooking!!!!

has given away the sippy cups, the high chair and the potty seat… just about every trace of baby has been removed from our house…. *sigh*

4 years ago today at 11:29am I gave birth to a 10 pound,5 ounce baby boy. The nurses Nick-named him King because he was the biggest boy in the nursery! Happy Birthday Alex Ryan!!!!

Some of the other updates (and my mind) say….

A is back from California. The week went by too fast! (What did you go to California for?)

D is wishing I had an episode of House DVRd that I haven’t seen at least 3 times already.

S – How could you cheat on Fergie? Josh Duhamel is an idiot!!!

G - Eating fresh figs. What could be better?

J – is watching Gilligan’s Island. (Rock on! Party at your place, huh?)

J is counting down the minutes until parent- teacher conferences are over. There’s never a mad rush to talk to the music teacher. I did get some things caught up in the meanwhile.

J – is hoping Scooter feels better soon. (Me too!)

A – just received rave reviews and praise during C’s parent/teacher conference. Atta girl! (I think all of us went to parent teacher conferences tonight! The world over!)

B – happy day…such a happy happy day. (and why is that?)

M Squared – Getting ready to drive to AB; weirdly excited to talk about orthopaedic injuries.

W – Finishing up the yard work tomorrow…. One last time until spring. I like the snow, not just “cold” weather! The holidays are great because of the joy it brings to my loving wife A…   (Oh, me too! I love the holidays too!)

See, it’s all so very intriguing!!! My noseyness just loves it!!!

What about you? What would your status update say right now? I’d love to hear from you!

C’mon, speak up!

Well, if that title doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what will.

I’ll let y’all know how many visitors stop by Inmates via Google for searching for something to do with a wet t-shirt. I suspect there will be plenty. More on the wet t-shirt contest in a bit.

Last week, I mentioned I was attending a ladies retreat. Fifteen women from my church (and one visitor) enjoyed a weekend of food, fun, and fellowship. Oh, and did I mention food?

It is interesting to note that the retreat started at 5:00 pm on Friday and ended at 5:00 pm on Saturday.

Did I mention there was fun, fellowship and FOOD?

Oh internets.

We ate and laughed and ate some more. We talked into the wee hours of the night about fashion, shoes, our kids, the new cherry Dr. Pepper, and Deb’s yummy no-bake cookies.

The theme was “Garden of Friends” and everything was centered around flowers. Our retreat was based on this book by Penny Pierce Rose. Basically, each presenter was assigned a flower and we presented the flower based on its characteristics and related them to friends in our “garden of friends.”

I was assigned the sunflower. I love sunflowers. I have them all over my kitchen. I love sunflowers both for their size and their color. There are three characteristics of a sunflower. They stand strong, they seek the sun (Son), and they sow seed. In my garden of friends, I have several sunflowers. McDaddy is a sunflower.

As each flower was presented, we were to think about the qualities of the flower and write the names of friends in our “garden” that had the same qualities of the flower being presented. After each presentation we placed the post-it notes bearing the names of our friends on the flower that they represented.

As you can see, we have lots of Violet friends. Characteristics of the violet are humble, unselfish, go out of their way for others and often work behind the scenes. McDaddy is also a violet. (He is a great friend to have!) 

We also made these cute candle holders / coaster / whatever you want to use them for things.

We also made a picture frame, but for some reason I didn’t get a picture of those.

Anytime we have a shin-dig, I am in charge of games and entertainment.

I could just sit and read my blog to them, but I’m guessin’ that would get old. So, I try to real hard to come up with some great games and some great prizes.

The first ice-breaker we played involved those a snack pack of M&Ms. Each lady opened their snack pack and had to answer a number of questions based on the color of M&Ms that were in their pack.

Red = tell 1 fact about your childhood per red candy

Green = tell 1 fact about one of your hobbies

Blue = tell 1 fact about one of your job

Yellow = tell 1 fact about your dreams and aspirations

Brown = tell 1 fact about your last vacation

Orange = tell about something you like to do

It was a fun way to learn about each girl and as you can see from my snack pack, there were 18 M&Ms in the pack. It took a sweet forever for fifteen girls to get through 18 or so M&Ms.

After we went back to the “lodge” for the evening, we played a couple more games and then I made a grand announcement.

We were having a wet t-shirt contest.

Instructions – fold a t-shirt and place it in a ziplock bag. Fill the ziplock bag full of water smoothing the air out as you go. Repeat with a different t-shirt in a different ziplock bag. Freeze both ziplock bags. Remove the ziplock bags and announce that you are having a wet t-shirt contest. The first team to thaw their shirt and wear it wins.

First, you can try running warm water over it. 

 Just for fun, you might try cracking the ice on the side-walk.

Next, pull like crazy! 

Finally, wear it!

It was loads of cold fun!

Like I said, there was food, fellowship and lots of fun!

I could have titled this post, Thursday Three Hundred and Twelve.

Because that’s approximately how many things are on my to-do list this week. And, with all that I have to do, you can imagine the mess that is swirling around in my brain.

My brain is certainly a busy place.

Sheesh.

I keep thinking maybe next week I’ll get a break. But, it’s been weeks and there’s not a break within a thousand miles of this place. I seriously need to introduce my lips to the word, ”NO!”

So, in no particular order – except for the order that they throw themselves from the brain to my fingertips, I present to you at least 13 things I need to get done this weekend.

1. Plan games for a bus trip I will be taking with my church to the Amish Country on Saturday - I love games and I enjoy doing them, however, I would love to have some fresh ideas. Got any?

2. Put the finishing touches on Pastor Appreciation gifts for our two, wonderfully different pastors. Seriously, we are so blessed!

3. Picking up chips or 2-liters for the pumpkin hunt on Sunday at our church. Our sweet boys always have such a wonderful time picking and painting pumpkins with their friends.

4. Laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Oh, and don’t forget the laundry. Because the laundry is never done!

5. Visit and catch up with my aunt who is visiting from California before she heads back home on Sunday.

6. Pack for Amish Country trip. We will travel up and back in the same day, however, I never leave home on a trip without ample underwear, a change of clothes, snacks and anything else I think I might need before returning home.

7.  Wrap ‘door prizes’ for bus trip. Are they called ‘door prizes’ if there isn’t a door involved?

8. Read a big, honkin’ 200 page Closure Hearing Document dealing with the stupid school consolidation.

9. Flood our local Board Of Education and WV State Representatives with letters regarding the school consolidation.

10. Work on the basement. – McDaddy and I are currently in the midst of extensive renovations to our basement here at the McResidence. It could take us months to finish it.

11. Download (or is it upload?) pictures to the Wal-Mart web-site that will be used to design a scrapbook for a special friend.

12. Go to bed as early as possible. Seriously, I need some good sleep. And, I should start right now.

13. Copy our church bulletin. I’ve been doing our church bulletin for years. I typically copy it on Saturday. Since I’ll be going to the Amish Country, I’ll need to copy it early.

Like I said, Busy Weekend….

What’s on your agenda this weekend?

Whatever you’re doing, I hope you enjoy it!

Typically, I have a tough time coming up with something different that works for me each week because I feel quite sure that y’all don’t want to read about Dr. Pepper and Little Debbie cakes each week. Although if I’m being honest, I can’t say those things actually work for me. It’s just that I consume more than my fair share of both of those.

Anyway.

I did hear harps this week when my hair dresser introduced me to a super, new product, but I’ll save that for next week, you know, because Works For Me Wednesday will come around again before we know it.

Instead, I thought I’d show you something neat that came in the mail today.

I received 200 of these.

This happens to be a post-card announcing Revival at our lovely, little church.

One of my blog sponsors, Uprinting.com, offered 200 free post-cards to one of my readers. In addition to that, they offered me 200 free post cards, also.

They were simple to design and the end product is a high-quality, glossy post card.

Uprinting.com works for me!

Not only does UPrinting.com print business cards and a bunch of other things, they also do sticker printing and custom labels. That’s all kinds of fun in one place! You can view their sticker printing page for some great ideas or you can design your own from scratch. Did I mention the easy design process?

And now, they are offering one of my readers (and me, too!) 250 custom stickers/labels.

Giveaway Prize Details
250 Stickers/Labels for One (1) lucky winner

Sizes: 2” x 3.5”, 2” x 4”, or 3” x 3”
Paper: 70 lb Label Matte
Specifications: Full color front, blank back; 4 Business Day printing

FREE UPS Ground Shipping in the USA (Canadian residents need to pay shipping and taxes). This offer is not available to residents outside the US and Canada.

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment telling me what you would use the stickers for. For an additional entry you can blog about the giveaway at your place and link back to this post and to UPrinting.  A winner will be chosen by the accounting firm or Random.Org on Sunday, October 25, 2009 by 11:00 pm EST.

———

In adherence to the FTC ruling on Blogger Reviews and Sponsored Postings – I WILL BE RECEIVING 250 stickers/labels from UPrinting.com for hosting this give-away.

Works For Me Wednesday is sponsored by Kristen over at  WE ARE THAT FAMILY.

——–

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

Timestamp: 2009-10-23 00:11:28 UTC

The Winner is Commentor #2.

Tara at Minnesota Mama. Congratuations, Tara! UPrinting.com will be contacting you with information about how to claim your prize!!!!

Can you believe that it’s already Monday again?

The weeks?

They seem to fly by now that I’m (cough) 35 (cough) years old.

It seems like just yesterday I was writing last week’s Not Me! Monday post where I talked about NOT getting into a great, big crazy argument with the copier guy. Here it is a week later and I’m happy to report that the copier in question has been removed from the church premises and a brand spankin’ new copier with all kinds of bells and whistles has been ordered.

It’s pretty bad when a new copier excites me.

I guess I’m showing my age.

We had a great church service this evening. There was some great singing, some great preaching and some all-out praise.

It was not me, however, who came real close to tripping over the electric guitar cord at church and tumbling down the stairs on the stage. That is the last thing I need seeing as how I just recently shattered my knee cap.

I am such a klutz!

It did not act like a ‘kid in a candy store’ at the new Walgreens store in our area, and it also wasn’t me who made the bad decision to purchase two boxes of trail mix for the low, low price of $7.00, because now, it also wasn’t me who subsequently ate 1/2 of one of the boxes already.

Seriously.

I did not stand at the Saturn lot this week slobbering all over myself while I looked at the very. last. Saturn Sky available in the greater Charleston area.

And finally, It wasn’t me who didn’t get started on this post until after 11:00 pm because I was plotting and planning with McDaddy (and Stevie, too!) about some renovations we are just getting started on.

Hopefully there will be pictures of the McResidence very soon!

Have a great Monday, y’all!

—–

This post is linked to MckMama and her fabulously popular Not Me! Monday bloggy carnival.

I’m sitting in my big, blue, bloggy chair watching Dancing With The Stars as I compose this post.

I love Dancing With The Stars, but I think Len Goodman has lost his mind. He’s being a putz tonight.

Len, what’s up with the 5? I don’t get it.

Anyway, its been another fun-filled, learning experience kind of week for me and I’d be remiss if I didn’t share some of that knowledge with y’all. I always have a hard time with segways on Tuesdays, so a list usually works best for me, not to mention I love me a nice, neat list.

Holy crap, Maksim can shake his um, well, you know.

Okay, where was I?

• The whole term, WEBELOS in the cub-scout community actually stands for *WE *Be *LOyal *Scouts. I thought that was very interesting. I’ve always wondered what the whole Webelos thing was about and alas, I found out today. Okay, so I haven’t actually ALWAYS wondered about it, but its been a pressing thought ever since Stevie started Scouts two weeks ago.
• I just learned that I have no idea how to make WordPress skip a line in between bullets. It’s either two lines or no lines. And if you know me, you know that my OCD doesn’t like that one bit.
• The Swine Flu is much more serious in October than it was when my sweet Alex had it in August.
• Sometimes when I leave a comment on a BLOGGER blog, the first attempt will be rejected. The second attempt will give me the CAPTCHA thing and the third attempt will allow it to go through. What I really want to do when this happens is CLICKOFFOFTHEBLOGANDNEVERRETURNEVERAGAIN. Seriously, can BLOGGER folks not do something about those and the ones that don’t permit the NAME/URL option. It shouldn’t be that difficult to leave a comment.
• The bugs are pretty bad in October, even when the temperature is under 70 degrees.
• Empty dishwashing detergent bottles with a squirt top makes a great bath toy.
• When a baby snake is found in your church gym, you will scan the floor each and every time you go in there for at least three weeks.
• If you have a black Labrador retriever who happens to love popsicles, you should hold tightly to the stick as he licks the ice cream off.
• If by some weird chance, your black lab is eating the last bite of a popsicle and swallows the stick, you should be prepared to pay $180. for a shot that will cause the dog to vomit (stick and all) within thirty minutes.
• You should probably refrain from feeding your dog a popsicle.
• 1,000 units of Vitamin D each day will help fend off the swine flu.
• Edyta Slawinska is married to Alec Mazo (Who knew?)
• When it takes the sorry saps at IHOP a sweet forever to bring your food, you will learn all kinds of things about your girlfriends.
• A commercial is on at this very minute playing Christmas music. In October? Seriously?
• When your son brings a box of 30 candy bars home for a fund-raiser, you should SELL. THEM. AS. QUICKLY. AS. POSSIBLE. or else you will end up eating buying every one of them.
• For some reason, eight little boxes of cereal cost more than one big box.
• Just because I don’t mention the beloved Saturn Sky on the blawg for more than a week, that in no way implies that I no longer want one because I. REALLY. DO.

Wow.

That’s a lot of stuff.

Enjoy!

Visit Musings Of A Housewife for more things that folks have learned this week!

Welcome to another week here at “From Inmates To Playdates!”

I had a great weekend filled with friends, family and fellowship.

While at the airport waiting for my aunt to arrive from California, I did notfind myself wiping tears from my eyes as I watched four soldiers from the US Army reunite with their families. It reminded me of my own reunion with McDaddy when he returned from deployment in August. But, you know me, I’m never emotional….

I did not fight tears as I watched the movie Fireproof for the second time on Saturday with a room full of couples from our church, especially when the song ‘While I’m Waiting’ by John Waller played because I. am. not. a. crybaby.

It was not me who had a disturbing conversation with the “copier guy” on Friday night. And, I definitely did not HANG UP on him because I would never conduct myself in that manner.

It also wasn’t mewho wiped tears as me and McDaddy watched the DVD of our wedding on Sunday afternoon because I never cryat weddings. And watching that video definitely didn’t make me wish I could get married again! (to McDaddy again, of course!)

Oh, and you should know that I would NEVER arrive at a birthday party 30 minutes late, because anyone who knows me KNOWS that I have no patience for people being late. Seriously. It is one of my biggest peeves.

And finally it’s not mewho is dreading this week because McDaddy is going out of town, again. Because seriously, me and my craziness get along just fine without him.

Nope. Not me. None of it.

Regardless of what you do or don’t do, I hope you have a great week! My awesome brother-in-law, Dave won a 1/2 marathon over the weekend. You can read his interview over here. Congrats, Dave! We are so proud of you!

For more ‘Not Me! Mond’ posts, visit MckMama’s place.

It’s been a fun, relaxing weekend.

We spent Labor Day weekend camping with 12 families from our church. We had a great time with great friends.

Of course with that many people, you know there is lots for me to learn.

What did I learn? Oh, I thought you’d never ask.

Horses are measured in hands. A hand equals four inches.

A new blog design is so! very! exciting! (wink, wink)

Liberty University received $325,000. for playing West Virginia University in football on Saturday. I was shocked to hear that because our economy is faltering and people are struggling, yet, college teams receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to play another team? Professional players receive millions of dollars to handle a ball. It’s absurd!

If your kids are due for shots, there is a really good chance they will spend more time dreading the shot, than they will crying about the actual shot.

When  you order a shirt that says “Go Topless” from All Things Jeep Dot com, you should be ready to explain it 329 times the day you wear it with your church camping group.

The Croc flip-flop is quite possibly the most comfortable shoe on the planet. (I didn’t really learn this fact this week, but it’s worth sharing because it is so true!)

When your six-year-old insists he can pour his own chocolate milk, you should by all means follow him to the camper to ‘help’ or else you will be spending the next fifteen minutes wondering why you didn’t.

A new blog design is very exciting.

What?

I’ve already said that?

Well, I said it again because it’s worth repeating.

Very! Exciting!

So, stay tuned! I’ll be hosting a Big Reveal real soon!

And I’ll just tell you that it’s going to be very exciting!

Enjoy your Tuesday, y’all!

I typically do a Not Me! Monday post on Mondays, but I don’t think MckMama is doing a ‘Not Me! Monday’ post this week, so I thought I’d just do my own thing today because its always fun to shake things up a bit.

It is too late in the evening to worry with complete sentences and cohesive thoughts, so I’ll bring my friends, the bullets, along.

• As I sit in my Big, Blue, Bloggy chair trying to decide what to post, McDaddy is watching something on the Speed channel. The two jokers guys are putting a grill guard on a JEEP. They are rambling on about lifts, tire carriers, torque, roll cages and axles. I on the other hand, would rather be watching Big Brother.
• During our AM service at church, I sang in a Ladies Octet. We sang a song called ‘All Because He Didn’t Throw The Clay Away.’ It is a beautiful song that I had never heard before we practiced it three weeks ago. It is a song about forgiveness and second chances. I am thankful for both.
• We ate at a Mexican restaurant after church.
• After that, I went to the Grocery store.
• My brother-in-law let us borrow The Price Is Right for the Wii. Stevie won a Ford Mustang last night. I triple love that game. I will certainly be placing it on my Christmas list this year.
• Christmas is less than four months away.
• I still love and want the Saturn Sky.
• We attended a birthday party for our 3 year old neice, Madeline on Saturday. Another sister-in-law announced she was pregnant. Do you remember this post where I mentioned that at any given minute, another sister-in-law could announce. Well, she announced the news on Saturday. If my math is correct (and it probably isn’t) that means there will be 15 grandbabies under the age of seven on McDaddy’s side of the family. I tease these gals that they really should invest in a game of Monopoly. You know, to pass the time.Seriously though, we are so excited for all of them. Three of my four sisters-in-law are currently pregnant. The other sister-in-law just delivered a baby girl on July 4th.
• As one might imagine, Christmas is a fun time at grandma and grandpa’s house. We finally drew names this year. Instead of  buying Christmas gifts for ten kids we will be buying two. We drew Madeline and Kirklen.
• I just realized I’ve mentioned Christmas three four times in this post.
• The Pottery Barn catalog makes me want to remodel Stevie and Alex’s bedrooms. Unfortunately, I would need a loan from the bank to pull it off.
• My dishwasher needs to be emptied.
• My dryer needs to be emptied.
• McDaddy is now watching a TiVoed edition of Extreme 4X4. Big Brother is far more interesting than the guy on this show demonstrating a drill bit.
• I currently have eight blog posts in my drafts folder.
• My highest traffic day on the blog last week was Tuesday. I had 280 visitors.
• The McFamily is going camping on Friday with 12 other families from our church. I am very excited.
• McDaddy just went to bed.
• I am now watching tonight’s episode of Big Brother.
• I need to use the bathroom.
• My iPhone is sitting right here beside me. It is the coolest gadget evah!
• The time is 11:25 PM
• I seriously need to get back in the gym.
• Survivor starts on September 17th. I haven’t watched the last two Survivor events, but I might watch this one.
• We are having new siding put on our house. The color is Sierra. I like it a lot.
• This is McDaddy’s last week off before going back to his civilian job since being on Military orders since January.
• I do not like strawberries.
• Not sure where the strawberry thing came from, but its true.
• I seriously need to dust.
• The last thing I ate was a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats
• My last blog visitor was from Melbourne, Florida.
• McDaddy has a great aunt and great uncle in Melbourne. They are in their 70′s and they have this car.

• Which to the untrained eye looks A LOT like my beloved Saturn Sky. Only it is a Pontiac. A Pontiac Solstice.
• Fall is my favorite season. I always decorate my porch with a bail of straw and scarecrows.
• My cousin Bo got engaged last week. He is getting married in June. On the beach. In Florida.
• I just yawned for the fourth time since starting this post. That means it is my bedtime.
• The current time is 11:46pm.

And that, as they say, is that.

Enjoy your week y’all!