I don't do sick...

I hate being sick. Two weeks ago Monday I called off work because I was feeling terrible. I had missed church on Sunday also. I came out of it Monday night and started feeling better. That was the first time that I have called off sick since 2005.

Well today, I started feeling bad again. By about 10 a.m. I knew I had another fever. I had a t-shirt, sweater and my winter coat on and I still had goosebumps. Being my father's daughter, I stuck it out until 3:30 when I headed home. I went straight to bed. Jay came home with a digital thermometer and it read 101.1. So a call was made to the Nursing Hotline (my mom) and she thought I probably had strep throat. Jay drove me to an after hours clinic where they proved her right. I got my shot in the hip and now I am ready for a weekend of sleep.

Procrastinating?

Ask anyone with whom I attended highschool (or college) and they will tell you that I am NOT a procrastinator. I always tried to get my work done ahead of time. College was great because I had a schedule laid out and I was determined to arrive at each check point with all my work completed.

How is it then that I wait until the last minute for Christmas shopping? I don't enjoy shopping that much so I guess Christmas shopping is like an extra burden. Although I do enjoy seeing people's faces when they react to my gift, I don't like the "work" it takes to find what I have deemed the perfect gift for them. Alas, I started shopping officially today, but am woefully behind already. Unlike my two sisters who like Lyn were up at the crack of dawn, I slept in on Black Friday while they took their sleeping bags and blankets to Best Buy's hard cement sidewalk to await their fate. Somehow being surrounded by "would be" shoppers all night long in the freezing cold with a hard rock for your seat doesn't sound appealing at all. Not to mention the grand stampede to the door by befuddled sleepy bargain hunters, coffee in hand, who would rather shoot themselves in the foot before handing you the last laptop computer on sale.

Kudos to those of you who withstand Black Friday's wrath. Kudos to those of you who shop all year in anticipation of the Christmas holiday.

Scraps Etc

This coming Tuesday night will be our scrapbooking night if anyone is interested.

Thanksgiving Treat

I couldn't hate talk shows more than I already do. HOWEVER, I will watch and listen to Glenn Beck's shows. He is probably the most sarcastic talk show host I've ever listened to/watched and yet he also seems to make a lot of sense. Jay has been talking about getting his new book when it came out. So when Jay found out he was going to be in Indianapolis and that we were very close to the Barnes and Noble where he was signing books we had to stop by and see him. When I first saw him the first thing I thought was "Man, he is taller than I thought!" Of course, Jay had to tell him that I thought he was shorter and he looked right at me said "You thought I was just that little man on TV, huh?" A really nice guy and his book is rather funny. Definitely would make a good present for a Dad or brother etc. If you don't know his background, you might be surprised to know just a few years ago he was a serious drunk. He got his life turned around and he gives a lot of credit to his Christian faith. His book is a "response" to Al Gore's movie an "Inconvenient Truth."

"You just thought I was the little man on TV, huh?"

Thanksgiving 2007

Let the gorging begin.

The Mad Gab game was no match for the Hilligoss/Lavy bunch.

I got to be with my Grandpa today. How cute is he? I think Grandma will need a shotgun to ward off of all the ladies in the Home. Pretty good lookin' for an 87 year old huh? He is as sharp as a tack!

My mom and her sister, Connie.

Mom's front porch looks so cute I think.

Ping pong tournaments in the Lavy garage.

All the cousins at Thanksgiving this year. (We were short quite a few.)

Jay is quite goofy. I can't ever get a serious picture.

Me with Grandma and Grandpa Lavy.

The Baker clan with the new addition, Maverick Bryant Baker.

I got a picture of my first quilt. My mom had it for a long time. If you look at the top left block, the you can tell the blue is faded in a couple of the triangles.

Maverick in his Colt's sleeper.

Tyler and CJ with Kristen in the background.

Me holding the cutie pie.

Relaxing

While most of you are running around like turkeys with your heads cut off, I sit calm and relaxed. I simply have 4 pies to bake and 56 rolls to make. No problem....

Work was so hectic today that I didn't know that lunch time came and went except that my stomach kept growling. I am just now sitting down to eat my quesadilla lunch, which was actually pretty good. So compared to my work today, baking pies and rolls doesn't really matter too much.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I was hoping we would get to play our football game tomorrow but if it rains there is no way I am going out there. I was just sick for two days. Below are the Lavy linebackers. Wink!

Tagged by Lyn

I've been tagged again so here goes....

• Quilting has become my passion in the last year. It all started with a sewing machine my Mom graciously gave me for Christmas last year. All in all, I've completed 1 king size quilt, 3 queen/full size quilts, 2 lap quilts, working on a 4th queen size and have another twin size quilt cut out. These are handquilted so it may not seem like much but to me it was. I love them all, even though I gave two away. My Mom has the most famous one: the first one that I did in highschool under the instruction of La Senora. I believe it still hangs on her living room wall.
• I enjoy working at the Jail although it does have its weeks. I keep the website up and running although I've been told that a major glitch that occurs every once in a while will never be fixed so that annoys me to no end, but I am living with it. http://www.jail.campbellcounty.ky.gov/
• Thanksgiving is probably my favorite day of the year. We have a family football game if possible every year. Bundle up and freeze as we run around trying to catch the pigskin with our cold rubbery hands. I believe I caught the winning touchdown last year if I am not mistaken. Food is always a plus.
• I married a wonderful man who I love with all my heart. It sometimes still hits me that I got the best guy in the world. He does everything he can to make our life wonderful together.
• Last but not least (and so no one bugs me for a while) NO, we aren't having kids in the near future. Sorry!

Weekend

Nope, still haven't gotten my refund back. We called the next morning at 8:15 when the manager was to be there ("She will be in first thing in the morning") and of course, she was not there, neither was she there at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. Today I received a message from the corporate office and I gave them more specifics from my gas receipt. I couldn't believe how rude they were.

Actually (Lyn) we were in Virginia visiting some family of family. We were curious to see what was happening in Roanoke, VA. Some family of family had set out to accomplish an awesome goal. 1000 new believers, 100 full-time Christian workers and 10 church plants in 10 years. Their goal at Parkway House of Prayer is "Win, Build, Send." They have started 8 churches in the Phillipines and 4 churches in Virginia in 7 years. I am not sure where they are at on the 100 and the 1000 goals but it is awesome what God has been doing for them. The church below is sort of the "hub" church. They grew to around 500 people. They took approximately 50-75 people and started a new church. That church grew big enough that some of the original 50-75 went back to the original church. Two more churches have started and are still going strong. We visited one of the planted churches and they now have two services as they have outgrown their sanctuary.

Football and Boycott

Today we traveled to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Quite a neat place. We watched close to the first half of a college football game, my first live one. Below are some pictures. We also watched the Soard Dunk team which was pretty neat. They really got some air using those trampoline thingies.

Jay is quite proud that he caught me sleeping again. How rude.

Now...for the boycott. I am totally ticked right now. BP Gas station in Virginia. We stopped to get gas and a car wash. They had signs all over the place about their Supreme car wash blah blah blah. We get our gas and our little ticket with our car wash code on it. Pull up to the car wash and it says out of order. Jay goes inside with the receipt and the Visa card. The dude behind the counter refused to give him his money back saying that the manager was the only one who could do that and she wasn't there. Even after explaining that we were out of state and just wanted our $4 back, they wouldn't do anything. The guy had the nerve to tell Jason that he was wasting the folks time who were waiting in line behind him. GRRRR!!!! People! I called my bank and I am going to dispute the $4 car wash charge simply on principle. How rude! If you don't provide the service to the customer for which they have already paid for, legally you have to refund their money. They simply refused to do so and ended being rude to Jason. I called the number they gave us to call and talked to someone else who ended up hanging up on ME! I was just asking questions. So don't buy gas from BP!!! (Can you tell I am ticked?)

LJL

In case you didn't notice, I added another link to my blog. This is for my dad's blog who I finally convinced to start writing. He can be quite hilarious and he writes well also. You might want to check it out. You just never know.........

My first pumpkin pie

Here it is. My first pumpkin pie. I bought the crust so I can't say that I made the whole thing, but close enough. Sadly I had the mixture all ready and was going to add the cinnamon when I realized I didn't have ANY! It was 8:30 already. Jay was ready to go to bed, but he graciously got dressed and went down to the store. I added the cinnamon and poured it into the crusts and away we went. About an hour and half later, Jay had his first Regi Pumpkin Pie with cool whip. He said it was better than he thought it would be so I am taking that as a compliment. Definitely doesn't taste as good as Mom's but if Jay likes it then I like it. He was one the that hinted he would like to have one. It definitely doesn't look pretty either since I poured it into the pie crusts when it wasn't sitting level. Oops!

In answer to your question, Anna.....

We are headed to Virginia this weekend so I must have a quilt to work on in the car or I will probably go mad from boredom so I am hurriedly putting this one together. Just simple 9x9 squares in browns, golds and oranges. My dilemma....What do I quilt on these 56 squares? I am not sure. I thought about an oak leaf but that would get so boring after the first dozen or so. I need to mix it up or something. Ideas anyone?

Weekend for Birthdays

Okay, so it might look a little "disturbing" in this picture, but this stuffed Rainbow Trout was very yummy and not too fishy tasting. It was stuffed with crabmeat. Jason and I took Brent and Holley out for Brent's birthday. We took them to Mike Fink's and surprised them. They had never been there.

Brent and Holley chose a chocolate spoon cake for their dessert.

Holley and Brent (Cute couple!)Yesterday evening was their 2 year anniversary of dating. Wow!

Today Jason, Dani and I met Dad, Mom and Ally at the Golden Corral in Dayton. Of all the places, Dad wanted to eat, he chose Golden Corral. What a goofy guy! But he does LOVE their banana pudding.

Happy Birthday, DAD!!!

You really are the best Dad in the whole world. I know that I can talk to you anytime. Hope you have a wonderful birthday. Some of my favorite memories:

• Halftime of the girl's basketball game - "Now, Reg, make sure you watch that girl on the outside, she's getting a step on you towards the basket. You need to back up a little and you will be ahead of her. Oh and that one girl is running really hot, so get yourself set up and take a charge. You might have to flop a little to make it stick." Yeah, my Dad told me all about how to take a charge and make it look worse than it actually was.
• We could feel your excitement on vacation morning. You always tried so hard to make sure that we had tons of fun on vacation even though with our large family we didn't do tons of expensive things. We would pile into our van and pop in the Odyssey tapes and away we would go. Odyssey would keep us occupied for 100% of the trip if you would let us. We hadn't even turned off our road on our vacation journey and we already wanted to pop in the first "tape" (no CD's yet) and listen away. I can't believe you tortured us and made us wait until we got to the highway!
• I love the fact that my friends say "Your Dad is so cooool!" I remember bringing home friends from school and we would do crazy things, like make movies and you were the producer or we would have "bb" gun shooting contests. Doesn't get much better than that!
• This really isn't a fond memory, but a memory nonetheless. When certain bloggers (!) decided it would be fun to toilet paper our apple orchard, you woke us up at 7 A.M. to go out and clean it up so that if they (whoever they was) happened to drive by to see their handiwork, it would already be cleaned up. What a Dad!
• This one came to me today so I added it. Those wonderful disciplinary times when we had to write the same sentence 500 times that went something like " I will not talk back to my Dad. He is the boss." Or something similar. (I only thought of this today because I saw a postcard from an inmate where he wrote the same line over and over to his loved one about he was sorry, and he still loved her blah blah like 50 times in small print)
• Thank you for loving us as we are.

Love you DAD!