New Design Is Up!

So excited to finally have my new design finished; it'll take a day or two to get all the tabs working and the sidebars organized but things are comin' right along.

Someone just mentioned that the font seems a bit small and I agree; we'll get that fixed shortly. With my turning 49 recently, these are the kinds of things that are especially important!

Enjoy!

Forty-Nine Aftermath.

Well, it’s the day after and so far, forty-nine is not treating me too badly. In fact, I don’t feel a day over forty-eight! (By the way,thanks for all the birthday wishes, both here and on Facebook. I have felt loved and appreciated which is certainly the most lovely way to feel.)

Since we had so much fun at my birthday party and since we took so many pictures, I just had to include a few more in today’s post. These are all photos that feature funny faces of one sort or another. In a serious, confused, and sometimes scary world, I believe that posting a few smile-inducing photos is always a good thing.

In the top two pictures of the first collage, I had asked Nathan to come over and sit by me so that we could get a picture of just the two us. Instead, in his usual, teasing way, he happily transposed “by me” into “on me.” As you can probably tell by my face, I was being very dramatic in my moaning and groaning about it.

Nathan, on the other hand, was having a most wonderful time. I especially like his grin in the second photo; I have seen a glimmer of that very grin since he was just a toddler.

Even though it looks like it in the bottom picture, Steve is not, in fact, picking nits out of his Dad’s hair. Steve’s mom had mentioned that Ken’s hair was a little mussed so Steve was trying to fix it. May I just say that Steve (regardless of how talented he is) probably does not have a future in hairstyling?

And lastly, trying to get a serious photo with two crazy fellas is an exercise in futility. (And sadly, exercises in futility don’t seem to burn up any calories. If they did, I would most certainly be skinny.)

COMMENTS

Jodi asked, Will the WI Clan be coming out to Florida? I hope so.

Jodi, I’m sure hoping a few of my family can find a way to come to the wedding, especially my sister Debbie, and her husband since they were Nathan’s second parents for the first two years of his life.

CJ said, “How exciting about the wedding! Will you be able to take pictures at the wedding, too?”

CJ, I’m quite certain I will have my camera near me at all times during the wedding and will be completely unable to stop myself from taking a thousand (or two) pictures.

New Blog Design

Just so that nobody is too terribly startled when you drop by here in the next day or so, my all new blog design will be going live very soon. I'm so excited about sharing it with you!

I had a great birthday; am headed to bed for some post-birthday, pre-slumber reading.

Good night!

49-ers.

Yup. Today I turned into a 49-er. I’ve never been a 49-er before so it might take me a little practice. A little getting used to. A little 49-ish adaptation.

But I’m good with it. Since the alternative is to be, well, dead, forty-nine sounds downright lovely!

And of course, I had some fabulous family members in town to celebrate. What I especially love is that Nathan’s spring break just happened to fall on my birthday week. It was so nice of his university to arrange their calendar that way. Just for me. (Yea, right.)

It was great that he was here to cook burgers on the grill, which is the menu I requested.

Of course, he spent the weekend surrounded by four adoring women. Which he didn’t mind so much.

Here is just one of his adoring women . . .

. . . who always (fortunately) appreciates all his goofy faces. (And no we didn’t plan to dress the same; he just happened to have packed a purple shirt.)

Of course, his coming home was even more exciting this time since he brought with him a certain young lady who seems to be fitting into the Smith Family Craziness just fine. In fact, may I just say that Meagan not only fits into our craziness, she is also showing herself to be a Practiced Originator and Instigator Of Craziness.

Yes, I think, she’ll make a great Smith.

We’re always happy when Steve’s parents, Ken and Vernie, can make the trek over to Manteo from Charlotte. Vernie labored long and hard in the kitchen yesterday (with Meagan’s help) to get my birthday dinner organized and on the table. I hope I can be as good of a mother-in-law to Meagan as Vernie has been to me.

She made one of my favorite desserts—Boston Cream Pie.

She makes ‘em. I eat ‘em. What a team!

Sarah made this poster at school--it took her several weeks to design, draw and fill in all the puzzle pieces. And then she wrote on it, “Mom, you make life less puzzling. I love you.”

Was that sweet, or what?

Steve presented me a gift in a faucet box. Which I guess his way of saying I wasn’t fired as his Plumber’s Helper after all.

The box contained a pair of the loveliest pajamas I have ever seen. Or worn. (I’m not quite sure why the fellas are laughing so heartily. I must have tossed out one of my infrequent witticisms.)

And just because I’m a fairly oldish 49-er, I feel the need to close out with a picture of some younger folk, just for a refreshing change of pace.

There now. Don’t you feel refreshed?

And now I must sign off, because my future daughter-in-law is taking me out for a birthday lunch. Hurray!

Plumber’s Helper No More. The Whole Story.

On Steve’s day off last Friday he decided to do replace the faucet in Sarah’s bathroom. (Which also doubles as the guest bathroom.)

I had moved all the stuff out from under the bathroom sink to give him room to work and I had also piled some clean laundry outside the bedroom that needed to be put away. Doesn’t all the chaos made for such a poignant pictorial presentation?

After Steve had been working for a while he hollered out to me, “Honey, will you please come here and help me with something?”

I forthwith appeared obediently in the bathroom, curious as to what sort of Important Plumbing Task I might possibly be entrusted with.

As it turned out, Steve had disconnected the sink trap, which is the “elbow” looking thing that can be found under a sink.

From my (limited) understanding, a sink trap somehow keeps sewer gases from leaking back up into the house and also collects yucky water consisting of tooth brushing spit and other assorted, um, stuff. (Technical explanation there.) That basically means that the water in a sink trap would not normally be described as pristine. By any stretch of the imagination.

Also, as it turns out, when a sink trap is removed, it has to be held carefully upright because a good bit of the aforementioned icky water will remain in the trap.

And so. When Steve called so plaintively for my help, it was because he was lying under the sink on his back like this . . .

. . . and was carefully holding the plastic elbow thingie upright so that none of yucky water would spill out.

As I bent down to take the sink trap from him, he proceeded to instruct me in his most knowledgeable, sonorous, and manly tones, “Becky, just take this trap over to the toilet, dump the water out and bring it back to me.”

I carefully retrieved it from his outstretched hands while all the while saying to myself, “Hmmm. It appears as though Steve isn’t thinking very clearly right now. Otherwise, why would he tell me to walk all the way across the bathroom to dump nasty water when there is a perfectly good sink right here in front me?”

And so, feeling especially pleased with myself for being so efficient and proactive in my Plumber’s Assistant Career, I leaned forward and happily dumped that ol’ slimy water right down the drain. As I did so I blithely inquired, “Steve, why would you want me to walk over and dump this is in the toilet when there is a sink right here in front of . . . .“

Then I trailed off miserably and said, “Oh. Right.”

There was silence in the bathroom for about five seconds. (Well, I should say that there was silence except for the squelchy sounds of Steve’s head squishing around in the cascading water he’d been so recently baptized in.)

And then? After the silence?

There were five minutes of hysterical laughter. Which were followed by me asking my (very patient) husband, “Does that mean that I’m fired as your helper?”

And I’m sad to report that I really was fired. Sort of.

It appears to me, though, that firing no longer means what it used to mean back in the day. Because somehow, even in my Officially Fired State, I was still summoned throughout the day by my Prince Charming Plumber Husband to hand him things or hold things while he worked on various projects.

So what’s a girl gotta do around here to get herself fired for real? I mean, look at my working conditions! I have to work with a man who spends his time pretending that the old faucet paraphernalia is growing out of his. . . . nose?

Sigh.

Oh well. I think I’ll keep him. He doesn’t eat much and he’s really good help around the house.

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I did manage to get a few pictures of The Couple yesterday as they were doing dishes after lunch. When they are together they are truly too cute for words.

Today, my gathered extended family is working together to plan my birthday meal. (My birthday is actually tomorrow but since Steve’s parents have to leave in the morning we’re celebrating tonight.)

I’m looking forward to good food, good fun . . . and lots of good opportunities to take pictures!

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COMMENT AREA

Mary H. asked about the date of the wedding.

It will be in Florida on July 23rd .

Katie said, “Post who's recipes u use!!”

Katie, I actually already used three of the recipes this weekend; however, I’d prefer not specify which ones so that no one feels left out of the Recipe Round Up. :-) I WILL say that I have plans to try all the recipes that came in over the next couple of weeks because the ones we’ve had so far have been great.

Lynn asked, Did you think this (proposal) would happen so soon? Do they plan a long engagement?'”

Nathan and Meagan have been talking about marriage for quite a while now so the proposal really wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Although the engagement seems short (4 1/2 months), the wedding has actually been on the horizon for much longer.

Kim asked, Did you redo the shower door trim? as I thought before it had gold trim and now it appears to be a more modern silver?

Actually, the shower door trim has always been silver; it probably just looks different in different lighting and depending on whether or not I use the flash.

Steve has plans to somehow dress up the shower stall without having to replace it; I think one of those plans is to paint the trim a color which will match our new faucets. (Which is brushed bronze.)

Jodi asked, “Does Nathan want to find a job first? What is his major? Where will the wedding be? I am guessing Megan's Dad and Steve will officiate?”

Nathan will continue to work at Chick-Fil-A for the forseeable future but will always be keeping his eyes open for other opportunities. His major is in Human Services.

As for who will officiate, Steve and Meagan’s dad won’t be doing it. That’s sort of a nice thing because it lets them relax and enjoy the day and also allows them to sit with their wives during the ceremony.

And speaking of who will be participating, Meagan has asked Sarah to be a bridesmaid! Sarah is so excited about that; she has wanted to be in someone’s wedding her whole life. I’m sure I’ll cry over her walking up the aisle in all her finery as much as I will over Nathan and Meagan.

Looks like it might be time to buy stock in the Kleenex corporation.

The Arrived Twosome

Just wanted to let everyone know that our Terrific Twosome arrived safely a little before 9 pm last night. The trip took a total of fourteen hours which translates into thirteen hours for travel and one (teeny little itsy bitsy) hour for food and bathroom stops. That's pretty amazing, if you ask me. (And my 48-year old bladder.)

Meagan hadn't been here in almost a year so we gave her the tour of some of the fix ups we've done since then. Walking around seemed to be a highly appreciated activity for them; for some odd reason, neither one felt much like sitting down. (Don't know why.)

One of the spots on the tour was Sarah’s room, which looked like this last time Meagan saw it.

Now it looks like this!

And since Sarah’s room is so cheerful and welcoming, it seemed the perfect place for all of us to plop down for a while and talk.

I had told Meagan I wanted to hear the whole proposal story again complete with every single tiniest detail so it was fun to get to re-experience that story with them. Mostly Meagan did the telling and Nathan did the (very pleased) grinning.

Sarah, Steve and I were all propped up on Sarah's bed and Nathan and Meagan were sitting on the floor opposite us. About 3,345 times in the course of an hour I thought, "Oh, what a cute picture that would be," and "Oh, I love that expression," and "Oh, they are so darling together," and "Oh, that would be such a funny photo."

You'd be so proud of me and the way I restrained myself. Even though my shutter finger was trembling uncontrollably, I just didn't want to take the chance of sending my future daughter-in-law fleeing in horror back to Florida because of a maniacal future mother-in-law sticking a camera in her face at every single moment of every single day. My own family is used to having the perpetual presence of the mamarazzi in their lives but I did have to work with them a bit, and break them in sorta gradually.

However. Nathan and Meagan have actually asked me to take their "Save the Date" photos while they're here! Can you imagine? I'm actually being invited to point a camera at them? I don't have to beg? or wheedle? or whine?

(be still my heart)

I told Meagan that although I am not a professional photographer, I do have a no-fail method for taking important photos. Would all of you photographers like to know what that method is?

Ahem. My Patented No Fail Photography Method of Taking Pictures is this: Take at least three hundred shots of every single pose and trust in the law of averages that at least one of those shots will achieve a high level of mediocrity. Or even be sort of good. Possibly . . .

I just know Nathan and Meagan are going to read this blog entry and be so very reassured by their choice of photographers.

(I'm helpful like that.)

Today’s Smith Family Schedule will consist of three or four hours working at the church and then welcoming Steve’s parents who will be arriving from Charlotte later this afternoon. Since we live so far from all our family (my closest family member is 1200 miles away) having family come to our house is an extra special privilege and blessing.

Plus, it provides me with extra victims subjects for my photography.

COMMENTS

A few questions/comments have come in that I’ll answer in the next day or two. However, I did want to just say (since several asked) that Meagan’s name is pronounced May-gan, not Mee-gan.

And by the way, I meant to tell the story today about being fired as the Plumber’s Helper but I got sidetracked. However, the story will be told soon. Soon the whole world will know about the teensy little mistake I made that caused me to be summarily dismissed by the summarily dismissive man pictured in this picture. Also, the story will be made known about how I’m still desperately trying to recover. Emotionally. Mentally. Psychologically. (And other –allys.)

Stay tuned.

No More "Plumber's Helper" For Me.

Today was not a good day.

Today I was officially fired from my job as Plumber's Helper to my husband.

I feel very sad about that. The pay was good. The benefits were good. But alas, I can no longer put that job position after my name. (Details to come.)

In other news, Nathan and Meagan (and a friend who is traveling part way with them) left Florida around 7 am. Since it's a 13-hour trip (not including all the stops that ladies seem to need) they won't be in till fairly late. I told them that I might try to stay awake past 9 pm, just this once and that I would do my utmost to be fairly, sort of, a little bit alert when I hug her. And him. And do my patented, 48-year old, not-so-fun-to-witness Happy Dance.

I mean, how often does one get to welcome one's son's fiancee' for the very first time? Only once! (And Emily Post has said that it's usually considered good manners to be awake for that occasion.)

In the meantime, I feel just like a small boat adrift in a lonely sea since I've been let go from the aforementioned job. (Sorry. It's far too painful for me to keep spelling out the job title over and over.)

Fired. Can you believe it? Donald Trump wasn't even here to do it. I had to be fired by my very own personal husband! How can I possibly keep my chin up in order to welcome my child and future child-in-law home when I have this sort of disgrace hanging over my head? (Sniff.)

In happier news, I have been so grateful to continue to see fabulous, tasty and quick recipes showing up in the comments area. They will go straight into my Official Fabulous, Tasty, and Quick Recipe File. I am getting ready to make a grocery run and a whole bunch of those recipe ingredients are going to be showing up in my cart.

Speaking of which, I guess it's time I get back to my long and ever growing To Do List.

Um. Did I mention I was fired?

Best Blog Readers Ever

Without even having to ask for easy, fast, delicious recipes, several of you have left some in the comments sections of the previous post--just out of the goodness of your hearts.

You've taken pity on my poor, befuddled self and have come to my rescue and I am so grateful. I am feeling hope once again, hope that I will indeed rise to the occasion and serve my honored (and highly anticipated) guests something other than peanut butter.

Thank you to all my Smithellaneous cooking buddies. I appreciate you!