Southern Living

The Golden Girls…

….we look as unlike a famous Rock Band since The Chipmunks.
But hey, if they can do it, so can we.
We absolutely cannot resist the chance to play a little Rock Band when we see it set up at Sams.
It does not matter how much shopping we have on our list or how close it is to bedtime.
We just know that those Sam’s Club employees set that equipment up for us.
We would not want to disappoint.

If only we could afford to bring one home.

But, of course, if we bought the game Rock Band,

we would then have to add a Nintendo 360,
and then we would need the big screen TV,

and then after we got it set up,

but before we could play,
we we would have to go back down to Sams
and get some onlookers to come home with us.
You just can’t be a Rock Band without some groupies.
(this is starting to sound like the book: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie)

And, everyone would come from far far away to see the Gold’s play.
They would not be able to resist our talent or our charm.

And, I don’t care if the game thinks that we are failures.
We all know that these electronic games come with programming glitches.

A letter to my man
Dear LeGrand,

There is no one on this earth that is happier for you than me.

I am smiling HUGE thinking about you over at your new office,
being your own boss.

You are sitting at that big nice desk,
knowing that you are living the dream.

You must feel so fulfilled and so blessed.

I think that they were all right when
they told us it would be worth it.

God has been good to us and has sustained us.
I know he will continue to bless us.

I know that you are happy to live your dream.

Look at that smile.

I am happy because you are happy.

Even though our lives have been crazy for two weeks straight,
I got used to working by your side.

I want you to know that I am missing you very much.

I think that you are right when you said it’s finally all coming together.

Now that you are working at your own office, I am just wondering one thing.

When will you take me out to lunch?

We could try the quaint BBQ place across the street.

But only if you want to lose weight.

( I thought that this was a sign with a misspelling until I realized their creative play on words.)

I think that this will be a perfect place for us to eat.
We can call ahead and lose wait time.
And since you are such a totally busy lawyer, I know that you need to save time.
And I will patiently wait for you to finish out your work week,
so that I can have some of your coveted free time.
And, then all your girls will go to church and look at you sitting up on the stand.
And we will improve our family, so that we can all love and miss you even more.

And, we will wish that you were sitting by us.
Just like I do right now.
Love,
Alice

Cars speak volumes.
All my friends had personalized plates growing up.
I had a plan for what mine would be one day.
IBMEUBU


What does your car tell people about you?
Here is mine.
I am too cheap for personalized plates.
I don’ think I will ever get the cute plate I pondered about for so long.

Because my life is in my minivan,
I thought that the back of my van should start
sporting all the magnets that I could get my hands on.

I want everyone to know what I love when they look at my car.
Don’t you think that Sam’s Club pizza magnet is a nice addition?
The kids are excited to start placing magnets all over our car.
They were bummed when the pizza magnet went missing after two days.
Do you think somebody really needed that take out pizza reference number that bad?
I don’t want to believe that regular size magnets aren’t hefty enough
to withstand the travails of my minivan.
I have plans.

Prom Night

Look at what I spotted downtown on Saturday night.

A baseball playing kid who thinks he belonged at prom back in 1979.

Wow! I wonder if his date approved of his “statement”.

Maybe she should have called in Taylor Swift to pick her boyfriend as her publicity stunt.
It is so nice to be 32 and comfortable in plain old clothes that are comfortable. (oh and I just re-read this and I am 34, not 32 – wishful thinking, I guess)

Tears of Joy
I now have a very intimate connection to this scripture:

John 16:20
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Here is the name of my husband on the list of those who passed the TN Bar.
G
SHAHERYAR SHER GILL
JENNIFER LAUREN GILLIS
AUTUMN LYNNE GILLMORE
REBECCA BISSON GOBER
LEGRAND GOLD
ANTHONY BRADLEY GRAY
ANTHONY NICHOLAS GRECO
DOUGLAS SCOTT GRISWOLD
SAMANTHA KAY GROSLAND
JORDAN MITCHELL GWIAZDON

Here is the picture of me in the car, driving with my knee, talking on my cell phone, crying tears of relief and joy, while simulatenously capturing the moment for my blog.

P.S. I am seriously considering re-naming my blog to “My Life in My Minivan”

A Southern Sky
Here was my view on the way home last Saturday evening.
This pic was taken through my windshield, so sorry for the quality.
I tried to stick my head out the window, but because we were going down the
interstate it didn’t quite work. (Don’t worry Faye, for once, I wasn’t driving.)

When I see the sun descending through the clouds like this,
I can’t help but feel the love of my Father in Heaven.
It is as if the clouds parted just so that I would take notice.

I love the lyrics from the song “Anyone Up There Who Love Me?” by an LDS artist named Michael McClean. Listen if you must.
A mother declares, while climbing the stairs, “Anyone up there who loves me?”
Her kids are outside, so no one replies, unexpectedly tears well up inside.

The last time he called, he said to them all, “Anyone up there who loves me?”
“I hate it down here, this time of the year, but I promise I’ll be home soon.”

That was a lovers promise, Heaven could not allow,
but he’s found a way to be with her somehow.

She sits on the stair, and whispers a prayer, “Anyone up there who loves me?”

Then soft like the wind, His love rushes in, gently answering I love you.

Rear View Mirror

While on the road to pick up Sophia from school today, I noticed that Bella has picked up my love for rock and roll. It is hard to tell from the video, but she is a head boppin’ fool. (I have to apologize to my mother in law here who hates it when I drive and operate anything other than the car at the same time) Bella’s rock out session was much better before she realized that I was trying to catch her in the act. I resorted to videoing her through the rear view window so she would act naturally. I think that she still kind of knew what I was doing because she isn’t half as zealous as before in this video. When I got done and put my camera in my purse Bella said, “Mommy are you going to put me on your blog?” She didn’t want me to, but I hope she’ll forgive me someday. She is kind of blog shy.

I am always happy when I can catch something entertaining while driving in my car. Have you noticed my new K-town label. K-town is label for the things I see around Knoxville; it’s amazing the things you notice from your car when looking for blog photos. (usually while driving in the car – because you all know that I am in my car a good two hours every day) So, I was trying to figure out how I was going to come up with an excuse to post this cute blurb of Bella. I don’t want this to my “kid” blog. I don’t like reading other people’s blog when all they blog about is their children. (I do like to read about their children, just not ALL the time)

Sheila, my new blogging friend, just gave me the best excuse ever, to post my rear view mirror catch. WOW! I only had to wait three hourse to find a good reason to justify posting about my children again. Anyway, read Sheila’s post with a rear view mirror analogy. I loved it. It is good advice for all of us who need to learn to let go of our mistakes.