What if Parker had hair?

Let's all say it together ... P-R-E-C-I-O-U S !! Little did she know it, big sister Rhegan gave little bro Parker some whispy bangs in this picture! Girl power baby ... it's all about the hair! What did you say Parker ... "Bald is beautiful"? Yeah, that too.

Atonement

Can you believe it? We have now seen TWO movies in TWO days?! That's more than we usually see all year! It started when good neighbors/friends Brent & Eleanor invited us to join them for a movie. They were going to see JUNO. So off we went to the theater, TWO by TWO (that's 4 of us all together - get it?!). While standing in line for tickets and as fate would have it, we changed our baby boomer minds and decided to see ATONEMENT. This was a good idea .... and a bad idea.

ATONEMENT is a complex story told from several points of view. Orignally a British romance novel, the movie is set in the mid 1930s during war time. I loved it! Kevin hated it. Eleanor loved it! Brent tolerated it. Let's just say this: We are living out our Bucket List! I mean - come on - TWO movies in TWO days!

One last thing --- we renamed the cat. His name is now BUCKWHEAT.

The Bucket List

Kevin & I had "date night" last night ... dinner and a movie. Get thee to the movies and see "The Bucket List"! It reminds us to live life to the fullest and come up with a Bucket List -- a list of things to do before one kicks the bucket (and John Mayer does the soundtrack - gotta love that). I confess to not exactly seizing each day as if it was my last, but then again I do seize each day (after 9am - that is). Two questions are asked of the characters in the move which are worth pondering. Consider this as you seize this day:

(1) Have you found JOY in your life?
(2) Have you brought JOY to other people's lives?

JUST STUFF:

Joke: How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

Scrapstuff: Our stamp club orders have arrived - woo hoo! New cherry bliss paper pack - need I say more?

Cold vs. Colder: Single digit temps and sunshine paint the picture these days, but watch out for the heat wave this weekend in the high 30s!

Cupcakes: Have you noticed how "in" cupcakes are?

Work: I miss Mandy. How did I ever do the monthly bills without her?

To Do List for Today: Call my kids, make Red Bean Gumbo, we are going to the eye doctor, laundry, pick up spiffy new stamp club order, seize the day!

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.

She's Here!

Guess what?! Mandy had her baby girl last night almost 3 weeks early (ya think they mis-calculated or what?!). Mother and baby are doing fine. Mandy and Doug went to the hospital around noon and Dani Rene was delivered at 8:30 p.m. Pretty good for a first baby! I don't know the baby's weight, but she has dark eyes and LOTS of dark hair. I guess Mandy's four months off work starts earlier than expected!

I am making the most of my 3-day weekend. On Saturday, I installed a new printer at home. Our old stand-alone fax machine had died, so we bought a new all-in-one model. I stood on my head upside down to get all the cords in place, but we can now fax, copy, scan, and print. Mission accomplished! I hope somebody faxes me some chocolate chip cookies!

I made my airline reservations to visit Florida Boy in February. I could not bring myself to pay for direct flights, so I compromised and have short layover's in Atlanta and Memphis. Getting there is half the fun right?!

Yummy vegetable soup is going down good, along with Herbed-Oatmeal Pan Bread (for me) and cornbread (for Kevin). My friend Sophia shared the new bread recipe with me and, being the bread-girl that I am, I love ya Sophia! They are a FIVE on a yum-scale! Leave me a comment if you want the recipe. Yummm (x FIVE) ... hot bread with parmesan cheese & herb topping, spread with butter.

ZERO degrees this morning - up to 8 degrees now. A little wap-wap on the door and who is it? The precious sweetheart neighbor girl selling Girl Scout Cookies! OMG - I had to buy extras just because she's out on a blustery day just doing her job! Now THAT'S 2008 MoJo right there!

A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.

Just Stuff

It's Friday -- the end of a productive week and the start of a 3-day weekend! The 2008 MoJo Thing is working well. We had a good meeting today with Mandy to review plans for when she will be on maternity leave. {Note to Self: Make good on the 2008 MoJo Thing when Mandy is not there to help me.} I'm excited about Lindsey stepping in to help out. I told Mandy she could have her baby now. "No no no -- I need another weekend to get it together!" I guess she needs some of that 2008 MoJo Thing too! Did I mention a 3-day weekend? I'm so excited that I don't know where to start! Here's my lofty wish list:

• Install new all-in-one printer.
• Make vegetable soup.
• See a movie.
• Laundry (new fancy schmancy washer/dryer combo).
• Work on some scrapbooking projects.
• Wash my hair.
• Watch football (GO Giants, since the Colts lost already).
• Take a nap.
• Lose 10 pounds (just seeing if you are paying attention).
• Try a new herb-bread recipe.
• Finalize trip plans to visit Florida Boy.
• Wish Shawn a happy birthday.
• Use my JoAnn 50% off coupon.
• Stay warm (single-digit temps).
  
  
  ENJOY LIFE!!!! There's plenty of time to be dead.
  

Drive By Surgery

Nice-neice-hairdresser-Connie had an emergency appendectomy yesterday! She didn't feel just "right" on Sunday evening. On Monday, she arrived at the hospital at 2pm, had surgery and left at 5pm. Now THAT's just crazy! I think it went something like this:

HOSPITAL REP: Welcome to Hospital Express! May I take your order?

CONNIE: Uh, yeah. I'll have the #7 and my husband will have .... an order of chiseled abs.

HOSPITAL REP: Okay, that will be $9,436. Drive up to the next window for your anesthesia.

I hope you have a speedy recovery nice-neice-hairdresser-Connie! And I hope they give you more than 3 hours to pay for it!

What City Do I Belong In?

Two airline tickets to Rome, please. Kevin & I need to move, according to the results of this little Q&A. I wonder if they have a Wal-Mart? I could NOT live without that!

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city soul with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian people - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Some Photos that make me HAPPY

Thumbs up for my new hairstyle! I was getting tired of long hair and headbands - not that I minded not having to fuss with my hair in the mornings. But it was time for a new do. So I got 4 inches cut off, and layered the bejeebers out of it. Thank you to my super taleted fun hairstylist niece Connie for getting scissor happy on me! Love it! Now then, next week when I have to fuss with my hair in the mornings we will see if I am still in love with it! But I've already learned a few good things about this style:

• I can still wear headbands.
• Hair still sticks out from a winter hat.
• I can still pull it back into a pony tail (it's about 1 inch - but it counts!)
• Curling iron OR hot rollers are still an option.
• Bangs cover wrinkles.

Did you notice the Blue Colts Shirt (how could you not notice!)? Today was "Blue Friday" in the city. Everyone ditched their city street clothes in favor of blue jerseys and blue sweatshirts. Downtown was a sea of blue! Andrea & company are coming over Sunday afternoon to watch the game. Oh, if only Peyton Manning could see my New Do - he'd bring us a win!

Lots of THINGS

A Crazy Thing: For the last two days in a row, we have broken the record high temps with almost 70 degree weather --- in JANUARY! Did anyone say "global warming"? It was actually warmer here in Indiana than it was in Phoenix today! Florida boy still had higher temps than us, however. But for goodness golly sakes, give me some beautiful winter snow!

A Crazy Result: Almost everyone I know (myself included) is sniffling and coughing their way through the day. I'm not crabby though, which is a real plus. I think I caught it while talking to my fabulous fun friend Fran on the phone the other day - she coughed.

A Funny Thing: While blogging, there was a loud c-r-a-s-h in the other room. My husband and I simultaneously responded "What was that?!" (Kay) and "Are you okay?!" (Kevin). I was afraid to go check it out and I told him so (i.e. please be my protector and stop the silly sun-of-a-gun from stealing any of my scrapbook stuff or my apple cake!) It turns out that one of my scrapbook drawers jumped right off the shelf and left me with a MEGA MESS on the floor! {Note to self: need to close drawer before walking away}

A Funny Result: Boy howdy, if I need any chipboard or buttons, they are now organized by size, color, and filed alphabetically!

A Good Thing: I am reading a book Kevin gave me for Christmas entitled "Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far" written by Amy Grant. You can get it here. Her christian music was a big influence in my life. We're close in age and I was anxious to reconnect with her in this book. Mosaic is a collection of short stories and song lyrics and a recount of events that detail Amy's relationships with celebrities. Had the book been just this feel good celebrity stuff, I wouldn't recommend it. But as the book progresses Amy begins to dig deep. She talks about events and people that have shaped her through much pain and loss. Doesn't this describe you and me and he and she?

A Good Result: Fame doesn't save us. A good spouse, wonderful children, great friends, history, and money can't save us. If we could each grasp how much we are loved by God our Father, maybe we wouldn't be so quick to run any from Him to find our own way.

EACH DAY PROVIDES ITS OWN PRECIOUS GIFTS.

One Last Happy New Year from the Squires

2008 Work MoJo

Back to Work - Day One: Hey, this is fun being an adult again! Driving a car to/from the office. Baby its c-o-l-d outside! I listened to my sassy new Regina Spektor CD to/from work. Keaton says "Mom, she's weird." {and your point is?!} The law firm is still not in full swing --- I think everyone is trying to get their work MoJo on. I came home very hungry and very tired!

Back to Work - Day Two: Don't want to get out of bed. Made 7 stops on the way to work. Trunk is full. But I wore high-heels today so I am IN-CHARGE. Back off baby, I'm ready to rock! The same projects that were on my desk pre-holiday are still there post-holiday. And more on my chair. Should I laugh or cry? Just drive home and listen to more weird Regina music.

Back to Work - Day Three: Did someone say 2008 legislative session? Did someone say we better file lobby registrations or go to jail? I voted for option #1 ... and then I organized my life at work. Yay for Kay! I LOVE LOVE LOVE organizing! It's what I do best, and it's what makes me productive, and it's what makes me obsessive, and who cares? I say hall-le-lu- ja! {Work MoJo in full swing!}

Life never ceases to amaze me. One minute, you're celebrating the holidays and the next minute you're back to everyday life. How grateful I am for the blessings that are mine in life, for the challenges that bring opportunity to increase my own faith and for the privilege of being a good wife, mom, grandma, a good daughter, sister, and friend. Life may be full of ups and downs but those ups and downs are always filled with blessings if we're looking for them. Enough said.

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.

Wishful Thinking for a Happy 2008!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

2007 has been a great year! We're hoping for an even better 2008. I found this great quote that was a perfect way to end the year. I'm not one to list and share my resolutions. Too much accountability and I'm hard enough on myself! haha! So, these are not resolutions. They are more of a wish list. But, perhaps, some provoking and motivating thoughts.

One habit you'd like to break totally: The need for sweets after a meal. I need a replacement, but gum doesn't work well. I'd like to invent chocolate water. But I have re-discovered Nestles Quik and milk and you just can't drink it slow!
One person you'd like to get to know better: Robin. We've been neighbors for years but have reconnected this past year and I've loved every minute together! I want it to continue!
One random act of kindness that you'd like to make a habit this year: Writing notes. I would like to make a habit of writing notes or emails to others.
Something that you'd like to own by the end of 2008. A new photo printer!
Something that you'd like to get rid of by the end of 2008: Our spare bedroom furniture and about .....umpteen pounds.
One change you'd like to see in your life in 2008. Regular church attendance! I say it every year but seriously, I am praying that First Church will be our home!
Something that you'd like to improve on: Being more positive. I worry a lot and then find myself saying, "It will all work out, but what if...." I need to stop the What if part.
Something you'd like to learn in 2008: My Adobe software. I'm just not getting it! grrrr.
Something you're looking forward to this year: Keaton's college graduation and a family vacation.
One place you want to visit this year: Standard answer --- San Francisco. But, other than Florida and DC, there's really no other place that I plan on going to. I'm content to stay home. I like being a homebody these days.
One thing that you'll move from 2007's to do list to 2008's to do list: Work on family scrapbooks. Again. It's been moved from 2003 to now. You'd think that I'd learn. I want on-going books for the kids. What's the big deal just to add a page a month?! (one page times 3 kids and 3 grandkids and a book for us = 7 pages a month).