One more trip down memory lane...

How cute is THAT little guy? As you can tell by the clothes and hairstyles, this is an OLD picture..Circa 1973 to be exact.. Im the little girl with plaidish looking dress(actually looks pretty good for that time, to be honest) and thats my dad with the 70s hair. He looks like an ex football player to me.. lol Actually, to be exact, he looks like the slimmed down version of Roger Schulz from THE BIGGEST LOSER.. lol And the little guy is my brother, Jimbo.. He was born on December 30,1971..5 days after Christmas, so that explains the candy canes on his chocolate cake.. lol.. I am sure I was allowed to help put them on.. There is a good possibility if I wasnt allowed to, I would have taken liberty, anyway.. haha

This was right around the time my parents found out that Jimbo was autistic..He was beginning to show symptoms at that time..He said alot of words and spoke in small 2 or 3 word sentences until he had his DPT shot at 18 mos.. That was when he stopped talking and started to withdraw into his own world.. Looking at this picture you would have NEVER, in a million years, have guessed this cutie would have been autistic..He was a little precious thing, wasnt he? I am going to find more pictures of him as a little guy and post them.. He was so cute! Kinda looks like Tyler when he was that age..::Sniff Sniff::

What a CUTIE!!!

I found a few more pics at my moms today of Whit when he was just a little guy.. It is hard for me to fathom that this little guy is about to graduate from high school.. Time flies.. It really does!

WOW did I have some friggin HAIR!

I was at my moms briefly today and I found these H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S hair pictures of me.. I HAD to put them on my blog just to crack you up! Wow.. What was I thinking? I think it was "The Poofier, The Better!" hehe

I keep forgetting that it was at this time in my life that hairspray was bought on a weekly basis..No joke! The picture of me with the red dress is my senior prom.. Looks like they decorated because they knew *I* was coming.. haha WEIRD

Questionairre.. Is this the correct spelling? LOL

Where is your cell phone? on my retail counter

Your significant other? My husband, Steve

Your hair? uugghhh It is fairly easy...I would love to have long flowing hair like Jane Seymour.. lol

Your mother? Im just like her at times, I hear.. lol She used to be a singer in the 1960's..She had a song played on American Bandstand.. Pretty cool..

Your father? I hear I am also alot like him at times.. My dad played football all his life basically..He graduated from Shades Valley High School and went to Samford on a football scholarship and his coach was the one and only BOBBY BOWDEN!

Your favorite thing? Watching reality shows with my husband..I dont know why.. We have actually had some really interesting conversations related to the shows.. lol

Your dream last night? Who knows.. I slept like a rock..I know for sure it wasnt about John Carroll High School and Mrs. Sykes, though.. lol

Your favorite drink? Personally when I am not dieting, nothing tastes better than an ice cold coca cola..

Your dream/goal? To be back working in the school system with special needs kids and Steve running the store, so he doesnt have to wake up at 3:30-4:30 anymore and not have to put 800-1000 miles a week on the car.. All he would have to do is wake up and open the store at 10 am..

The room you’re in? My store.. shhh.. dont tell the owner..Ill be in BIG TROUBLE playing on the internet.. haha Wait..NEVERMIND..I am the owner.. :D

Your ex? I wish I could say it was Brett Favre.. hehe.. Im sorry but I cannot even begin to explain that one..

Your fear? Being trapped in a car while it is being submersed into water..I watched DE JA VU this weekend and there was a scene in it where Denzel Washington was in a SUV that was underwater.. YUCK.. Im serious.. I got nauseous..I sometimes wonder if in another life I drowned..I am SO SCARED of this.. I loved the movie Titanic, until they started showing the boat submersing.. I just get the heebie jeebies when I see that..

Where do you want to be in 6 years? I would like to be debt free..Aside from my house payment.. Maybe in South Carolina.. Who knows.. I am pretty easy when it comes to things like that..

Where were you last night? At Todd's baseball game..

What you’re not? Fake or quiet.. LOl sadly, I have gotten in trouble for speaking my mind one too many times.. Hey, atleast you know where you stand with me..I would NEVER survive on Big Brother.. For sure!

Muffins? With chocolate chips? YUM

One of your wish list items? Umm. Extreme Home Makeover showing up and redoing my ENTIRE house.. hehe All the bells and whistles.. Hardwoods, granite countertops..

Where you grew up? Ironadale until I was 15 and then we moved to Forest Park..

The last thing you did? Burned a CD for a friend of mine for her sons birthday party..

What are you wearing? jeans and tshirt..

Your TV? Friggin 50 inch plasma.. Funny how you buy a huge thing like that and then money is short.. lol the kids are like "Mom, I want to go out to eat" I say " Go eat your 50 inch plasma tv, because thats where all the money is" hehe.. We actually needed a new tv because the one we had was having some MAJOR issues with convergence.. Looked like we were watching something in 3-D most the time.. My eyes are worth the extra we paid.. lol

Your pets? 2 cats..Girl cat named Sissy.. We call her Girl Cat.. Shes fat..and bitchy sometimes.. hehe She has freaked out one of Whit's friends so badly that he climbed up on a bed in the corner of the room.. Boy cat is named Max.. We call him Boy Cat.. I dont know why.. We just do..

Your computer? Compaq

Your life? BUSY!!

Your mood? Okay for now.. Im a ticking time bomb..Tick Tock Tick Tock.. hehe

Missing someone? I MISS MY FRIEND.. I know.. I already used this.. I cant help it.. When I see that, this is EXACTLY what comes to mind.. Sorry.. :D

Your car? Ford Expedition with a huge crack in the windshield that is growing as I type this!

Something you’re not wearing? ROFL!!!!

Favorite store? Why its Consignment Classics, OF COURSE!!

Your summer? Ill be at the store.. lol

Like someone? I like Steve.. haha

Your favorite color? Burgundy Red or Gamecock Garnet (South Carolina, that is!)

When is the last time you laughed? When Tyler tried to sing.. Seriously..It was HILARIOUS..

Last time you cried? After I watched a movie called "Autism: The Musical" I cried through the whole movie..My hubby thinks Im crazy..I just miss working with those kids SO MUCH!

Who will repost this? Dullbert.. haha NOT

My Favorite Blogs! (Bloggy BFF)

I wanted to take a minute and list a few of my Favorite Blogs that I read on an almost daily basis..Some are informative but all are downright entertaining! I already knew a few of these people outside of the "blogging world"..I chose to start a blog because of my friend Leigh..She was one of my very first consigners at my store.. She told me that she had mentioned my store on her blog so of course we had to check it out.. It was the cutest thing! I really enjoyed reading it and I would check out other blogs on hers as well..Finally, about a month later,I decided I needed to blog..Most of Steve's family lives in South Carolina and in Tennessee, so I thought this would be a great way to keep them all updated with the goings on of the kids and all..This is why you will find past videos of the boys playing their guitars as well as prom pictures and the such! So anyway, here are my Bloggy BFF's!

1.Leigh http://www.lbratina.blogspot.com/ This is one of the cutest and most informative blogs ever! Leigh and I share alot of the same interests and we have kids the same age..We are also children of the 80s and we share a love of music..I swear, one day, we are going to start a band and call it "PreMenopausal Mamas" If we wait long enough, we can call ourselves "Menopausal Mama's" hehe Leigh's inspirational messages mean alot to me as well..Her photography is really awesome too..She is a great friend and a great bloggy bff too!

2.Deedra http://www.familyofgeorge.blogspot.com/ I have known Deedra for YEARS! Our sons were on the same baseball team in Helena back 4 years ago..Her daughter is also my youngest son's age..So we have always been in contact since we met 4 years ago..I actually found her blog by reading Leighs..She was listed on Leighs so I had to read! Deedra also works out at the YMCA and I love doing Spin Class with her! Another coinkidink: My store is located in the exact spot her Alterations By George business was located, before she started doing it at home..BTW, she is an AMAZING seamstress! She was also one of my very first consigners! Great friend as well as bloggy bff!!

3.Hewy http://www.helena-alabama.blogspot.com/ Now, this man just alludes me because he lives in my neighborhood and has been in my store and I still dont know who he is PERSONALLY.. I know he isnt Ralphie from A Christmas Story, like his picture on Facebook and his blog shows..Im sure he looks NOTHING like that..haha..His blog is so informative! It is also hilarious at times..It seems that we have a very similar attitude about things.. As well as kids close to the same age! I hope one day he will tell me who he is so I can see him out in public and yell LOUDLY : HEEEYYY HEWYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! I am sure he will TOTALLY appreciate that! Awesome Bloggy BFF!

4.Abbey http://abbeys-road.blogspot.com/ I have never met her in person but we have a mutual "friend" in common..Her daughter is married to a guy who's sister was a good friend of mine in high school.. Follow that? hehe Its the truth! I hope to meet her in person soon..She is a very funny lady and a very talented writer! I really enjoy reading her stories of her younger days! She is such a beautiful woman! Another Bloggy BFF!!

5. Charnita http://charnitasexpressions.blogspot.com/ I met Charnita before I saw she had a blog..She is one of my early consigners too..She has the CUTEST kids.. She brought me some really adorable little girl clothes and gave me a shout out on her blog.. I found her blog on Leigh's list as well..I do believe most of these bloggers were found on Leigh's, just about! Charnita is another gifted writer and photographer! We share a love of BON JOVI..She is a great friend and bloggy bff too!

6.MissBossyPantshttp://bossypantsreview.blogspot.com/ I met her one day when she came into my store..I had been sick as a dog for about 5 days and I had no make up whatsoever on..She came in with a friend and when she came up to the register to check out I said " OMG! You are MissBossyPants!" haha I had read her blog numerous times at that point and found her quite hilarious! She has a very dry wit that I absolutely love..She is also very honest..I like that.. I found her blog from Leigh too.. Great bloggy bff!!

7.Dullbert http://dullbert.blogspot.com/ This is the ONLY blogger I have found that wasnt on Leighs blog..He was actually on Hewy's..The first time I read his blog I swear I about fell in floor laughing! He is hilarious and shares my love of STUPID HUMOR!! Great bloggy bff!!

I have been feeling a little VERKLEMPT lately..

Seeing the word Verklempt reminds me of Michael Myers on SNL back in the day doing his "Linda Richman" impression for "Coffee Talk".. That makes me smile.. I have needed it lately.. You see, YESTERDAY, April 22, I realized that I have a month until my oldest son graduates from HIGH SCHOOL! It really hit home this morning while I was exercising at the YMCA..

You see, I was sitting there minding my own business, working up a sweat on the machine that resembles the "Gazelle"..A great workout, BTW! But anyway, I was minding my own business and then out of the blue, friggin Trace Adkins video "You're Gonna Miss This" comes on..I was watching it and before the first verse was over, my eyes welled up with tears! I had to turn it off and listen to Rick And Bubba..

I was sitting there thinking about how fast time flies..It seemed like yesterday Whit was a little guy! He was at the beach with me and my parents telling my sister "Hey Nana, I got JUICE BOXES"(saying it that cute little 3 year old sing song voice while he held juice boxes in his hands and dancing.. lol) .. I cannot believe graduation is so close!! I guess it will be mandatory to NOT wear eye make up at graduation! LOL

Congratulations to RMS Baseball!!

I want to take a moment and congratulate the baseball team at Riverchase Middle School..My middle son is on this team, so this means alot to us! They won the Middle School Championship Thursday night by beating Thompson twice! Thompson was the only team that hadnt lost a game in the tournament and we had only lost one! Congratulations guys and a job WELL DONE!!!! I have a feeling that you are looking at the FUTURE state champs one day at Pelham High School in about 3-4 years!

Dane Cook - Catholic

This is one of my favorite Dane Cook montages.. Some foul language in it but it fits into it because he is such a guys guy.. lol

Poor Jimbo!

I know I have talked about my brother, Jimbo before..To refresh, he is 36 years old and autistic..He lives in a house with a few other autistic adults..Well, yesterday, my mom got a call from the caregiver at the house and it seems that Jimbo had developed a rash on his stomach..They were taking him to the doctor to find out what it was..Turns out Jimbo has CHICKENPOX! WOW.. He is 36, autistic , with chickenpox! Look, it is bad enough to not be autistic and have it.. But when you are in a nonverbal world, I am sure it is absolutely miserable..And to have it at 36.. HOW AWFUL!! I had chickenpox at 25 and I fully remember how awful it was.. I was in agony over wanting to scratch and pain from the fever! I am saying prayers for my brother as well as my mother and father who have to take care of him during this time..

My sister had chickenpox when I was 14, that would have made Jimbo 12..Jimbo and I didnt catch it..Even though my mom tried to get us to.. Remember in South Park when one of the kids caught it and the parents made the kids sleep in the same bed with the kid so they could get it? Thats basically what my mom did to us.. It didnt work.. I caught them when I was 25 , when my oldest got them..Sadly, a vaccine was available about a month after I got them.. I guess since my brother is an adult, no one ever thought about getting him the vaccine.. Oh well.. I pray that he doesnt go insane or drive my parents insane during all of this!!!

Big Mountain Idol

Ok. My mommy has told me that I needed to talk about Big Mountain Idol on my blog, even though I REALLY dont want to.. lol I dont want anyone to take ANYTHING I say out of context or misconstrue anything said..So.. This is ALL I will say about it: THANK YOU TO ALL THAT HAVE COME OUT AND CHEERED ME ON.. YOUR SUPPORT AND LOVE HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO ME, MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!

I am not sure how long I will last in the contest but while I am there, I wanted to make sure EVERYONE who has supported me so far KNOWS how much they are appreciated!

::STEPPING up on Soapbox::

Even the "younger crowd" that came to my performance last week, even though they had ALREADY planned a birthday party..This mom and dad worked their son's birthday party AROUND my singing schedule..They toted a group of boys from one end of the county to the other, just to watch me! So I apologize if them leaving AFTER my perfomance ticked a few off.. But sometimes circumstances allow for certain exceptions.. This was one.. But I realize that we cant make everyone happy.. DOWNER!


Secondly, I would like to have it made a rule in this contest that if you are LARGER than a size 10, that the photographers MUST picture you ABOVE the waist..GOOD LAWD! I swear in the pictures I saw on one site I look like ANN WILSON of Heart! geeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Im sorry but I cannot drop 25 pounds in a week, although it would be nice.. If I did, that would mean I was DEAD.. So anyway, if you are a photog and reading this.. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD, PLEEEAAASSSSEEEE : FROM THE WAIST UP!!! I am not the ONLY one that is feeling this, I assure you! Thank you!

::STEPPING off of Soapbox::

One more thing: EVERYONE in this contest has a different sound.. They are all good, in their own right.. Just because you may not listen to a certain kind of music that some of the artists do, doesnt mean they arent good.. IMO, EVERYONE sounded AWESOME! It takes alot of guts to get up there and perform in front of a crowd.. I applaud anyone that even tries to do it! This was in no way a slam to the judges.. they know what they are talking about.. This is a word to the fans.. The judges are well versed in music and performance.. If they didnt like a performance, I assure you that is was because the performance was lacking something.. Not because they dont like you.. Period.. We all have our own favorites, lets not slam everyone elses favs!! Once again, JMO..

Ok.. Im done.. I am speaking from experience here.. I got ripped the first week and I totally understand why.. I wasnt comfortable with my song choice and I was trying to be bold.. It didnt work.. I will stick with what I know.. Ok.. NOW Im done.. lol

My Middle Son Doesnt Know Who Mork From Ork Is!

I am a bad bad bad bad mommy.. My family was watching the American Idol " Idol Gives Back" show Wednesday when Robin Williams came out and did his whole montage as the "Russian Idol"..It was classic Robin Williams! He is like a kid with ADHD on crack! FOR REAL! He cracks me up! While we were watching the act, my son Tyler was watching it and seemed to enjoy it but really didnt have a clue as to who he was..

What? Who doesnt remember one of the very first episodes when Mork was in Mindy's kitchen and he saw the eggs that resembled his "pod" and he took the eggs and released them in the air to allow them to "escape" saying "FLY BE FREE!" in the crazy Mork from Ork voice? Or what about the episode where Mindy gets Mork "pregnant" after they are married and "Mearth" is born! Watching Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams together was reason enough to watch that!Thats when I realized that MY KIDS were the ones who wouldnt really remember Mork and Mindy because the show hasnt been on Nick at Nite in a LOOONG time, like say, 6 or 7 years? My how time flies!

I tried to jog his memory by saying: "Tyler, thats Mork from "Mork and Mindy".. He looked at me like I had just hatched an egg! "Who's THAT?" I tried to convince him that he knew who he was.. I then had to resort to " Tyler, thats the genie from Aladdin" He still looked at me like I was an alien because Aladdin was out BEFORE he was BORN.. I finally broke through when I said "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Jumanji".. Sadly, Robin Williams was NOT at his peak in those days.. So I looked up some footage on YouTube from Mork and Mindy.. Not much there!

I had to use a current reference to explain Robin Williams.. I told him that he was the Jim Carrey of the 70s and early 80s.."Ahhhh" he says.. Boy, do *I* feel OLD! And to be honest, Jim Carrey really hasnt been "on" his game in years..Tyler was probably 4 or 5 when Jim Carrey was in his heyday..So I then said " Ok.. Hes kinda like DANE COOK" THAT actually meant something to him.. lol Now, I love me some Dane Cook.. He is EXTREMELY reminiscent of Robin Williams in many aspects..He DEFINATLY has the whole "ADHD kid on crack" thing going, as he exhausts my hubby to watch him.. I, being a person WITH ADD, totally gets him..

He is truly hilarious..

Anyway, I felt very disconnected at that moment with my son.. I had to reconnect and we did with Dane Cook... HAHA Could you imagine Dane Cook and Robin Williams in a movie together? Ok.. I think THAT might exhaust me watching it.. haha

Prom '08

I cannot beleive that it is ALREADY over and done with, Prom '08! It was just 20 years ago when *I* went to my very own Class of '88 prom..All I gotta say is we didnt look nearly as sharp as these guys do! WOW! Anyway, here are just a few pictures from the prom..I am going to put more on later..The kids had an amazing time! They had a PARTY BUS escorting them all over the place..Talk about FUN! Then they came over here after it was over and the guys spent the night at our house and the next morning, the girls came over and we had brunch for the kids! It was also Whit's 18th Birthday! Happy Birthday Whit! I am NOW officially OLD :(.. My kid is an adult ( well atleast age wise- haha)..

David Cook = EXCELLENT!!!

Ok.. Here is the video of him singing "Billie Jean".. All I can say is WOW.. :)

I didnt know Booty's could talk?

The other day at one of my many sons baseball games, this little girl that we have known since she was 5 or 6 said the FUNNIEST thing.. She is 11 now and I do beleive going on 25 or 30.. All full of adorable girl attitude that I love.. She is spunky and small and has freckles and long red hair..She is a cheerleader and, I am not joking here, could do a toe touch jump when she was 6 or 7...
You have to understand, this little girl and Hubby have a funny relationship.. He picks on her and she will pick back.. We always tell her that Todd is going to marry her when they grow up.. She always makes the YUCK face and says "WHATEVER" and walks away.. She and Hubby were doing their usual picking and he said to her " Talk to the hand cuz the face aint listenin" He is so hip! She looked at him and said (with body movement too) : " Talk to the BOOTY cuz the hands OFF DUTY!"

ROFL!!! I LOVE this little girl.. I wonder if we can arrange marriages when kids are 11.. hehe