Alabama Slacker Mama

Water, water Everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

2013-05-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

When we went to bed Friday night, we had no clue what we would wake up to Saturday morning. We knew rain with a chance of storms were predicted overnight, we just didn't realize HOW MUCH rain we would eventually get.

Before bed, we had lightning like I've never seen before, other than the night of the April 27th, 2011 tornadoes. Flashes going off every few seconds, lasting for hours. It was truly an incredible sight! It looked like things had calmed down, but within an hour of going to bed, strong (and LOUD) thunderstorms came through our area. We also noticed how heavy the rain seemed to be. Don't get me wrong, I love our deck, but I had NO IDEA how loud the rain hitting that deck would be in our bedroom. HAHA! (The head of our bed is against the outside wall where the deck is.) It rained, and rained, and RAINED all night long!

When an exceptionally loud thunderstorm woke us up early this morning, I checked Facebook to see if there was anything going on. I saw that my mom had posted that they had already received at least 7 1/2" and her boat house was half-way under water. I immediately called to make sure they were OK. She assured me they were fine and the house was fine, but they probably wouldn't be able to leave the house until things calmed down and the water receded. I then saw where people were saying many roads in our town were flooded.

Then, the pictures started rolling in:

Hwy 21 Munford. The owner of the car told police he thought he could make it if he tried to
drive through the water fast enough. Photo by Marty.

Jenifer Road in Munford. Photo by Marty

Cheaha Road in Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. There was supposed to be a rodeo here today! Photo by Beth Collett

Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Driveway off Hwy 21 in Munford. Photo by Justin/Jodie Lackey

Driveway to Hwy 21. Photo by Stacy Sirmon

Cheaha Road in Munford. Photo by Beth Collett

Side of Hwy 21. The "brush" is dried corn stalks that floated across
the hwy and got lodged in the fence. Photo by Marty

Curry Station Road, Munford. Photo by @cila10860


Hwy 21 Munford. Photo by Justin/Jodie Lackey

The scariest thing I saw this morning was this video taken by Jessica Watts of Munford. This is on Cheaha Road in Munford, at the foot of Cheaha Mountain. My mother has to drive this road every day to get to her house.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Thankfully, so far everyone we know is safe, but there are a lot of people who have a lot of damage to clean up! We definitely need to remember this during the summer when we are complaining because we have no rain!

I hope you all have a calm, uneventful weekend!

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Thanks to those of you who let me use your photos. And for those I don't personally know, I will remove the photo/video if you want me to!

Happy Mother's Day!

2013-05-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to my very best friend in the whole world....

My Mama.

My mother has been right by my side through thick and thin, good times and bad, joy and sadness. I can't imagine not talking to her every single day. She makes bad days good, and good days even better! She's not only my best friend, but my daughter's best friend, too. We are so incredibly blessed!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAMA! We love you more than anything!!

I would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, soon-to-be moms, hope to be moms, moms who have lost their children, single dads who also serve as moms, friends and relatives who are raising children whose moms couldn't, step-moms, foster moms, adoptive moms, stand-in moms, and fur-baby moms out there!

Happy Nurse's Week!

2013-05-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

When I went in to work Monday, I was seriously thinking about changing careers. Within 1 hour of being at work, this is what my desk looked like:

Each chart represents a patient that has called with a question or concern. To make matters worse, 90% of these charts had questions or concerns that needed to be answered by the doctor, so that means at least 2 phone calls and discussion with the doctor per chart. By lunch time, I was ready to throw in the towel and live in a cardboard box.

Then, like she could sense my frustration, my administrator comes in and gives me this:

I mean seriously, who would ever want to leave this place????

So, I sucked it up, and plowed on through my the rest of the day.

Happy Nurse's Week to all of those who plow through each day and make a difference in someone's life!

Happy Forever Home Day Sweets!

2013-05-05T12:33:00.002-05:00

One year ago today, our lives changed....a lot. No, we didn't have a baby, lose a loved one, or experience any tragedy. BUT, we did do something that I didn't think we would ever do...

We adopted a cat!

I never thought I would own another cat, much less own an indoor cat, but Sweets has made herself right at home! She is so much a part of our life now, we can't imagine things without her! Sure, we all had some growing pains (RIP printer, lamp, dryer vents 1, 2, & 3, etc...), but now we completely go into panic mode if we don't see or hear her for an extended period of time. I can't tell you how many times we have been late because we wouldn't walk out of the house until we knew exactly where she was. Normally, all it takes is a shake of her treat jar and she comes running. Girlfriend LOVES her treats! If she doesn't come running, that means she's closed inside the laundry room, closet, bathroom, etc....

We celebrated today by giving Sweets a plate of shredded roasted chicken, her favorite food. She kept looking at us like "Really? This is all for ME?" We tried to put a hat on her, but she wasn't having ANY of that! LOL

Happy 1st Forever Home Day Sweets!

Thank you for bringing such joy to our home!

Mother's Day crafts, with a few Graduation things thrown in!

2013-05-04T17:37:00.000-05:00

Hey my friends!

Yes, I realize this is about the 4th (or 10th) week in a row I've only posted once or twice. I could promise you that it will eventually get better, but I would probably be lying. How about if I just promise to post at least once or twice a week?

At least I have a good excuse this week. I've been working on crafts for a March of Dimes benefit that was held today. We had a great time, even though the massive rainfall we've had kept most people away. Since my crafting has been getting in the way of blogging, I thought I would share a few of the things I've been working on.

Since it is almost Mother's Day and graduation is right around the corner, I tried to make things that people could give for those occasions.

These are full of sequins. They are fun to pick up and shake around.

Munford is the name of our local schools

These are customized money holders. Perfect for that graduate in your life!

Inside of Money holders.

I found this file HERE

I found this graphic online. I love this verse!

So that, my friends, is what I've been doing instead of blogging. Do y'all still like me? LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll try to talk to you again before next weekend.

A rainy Saturday night with Alan Jackson

2013-04-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Saturday night we took the kids to the Alan Jackson concert in Birmingham. Jameson is crazy about Alan Jackson (as is the rest of the family), and was thrilled to finally get to see him in concert.

There was a lot of speculation whether the concert would go on as planned. The death of George Jones, a close friend of Alan's, led several of Alan's fans wondering if he would be able to perform. There was also the issue of rain and storms. The venue is outdoors, with zero shelter (except for the stage! LOL). The forecast remained iffy all week and into Saturday, but we decided to go for it and see what happened.

We were super excited that I finally figured out how to link my iTunes on my phone, through my car radio. We were asking the kids what they wanted to hear, and then turned around to find this:


Don't you just love Chelsea's baby?

Everyone had their earplugs in, listening to their own music. HAHA!

We were really early, so we decided to stop at one of our favorite places to eat:

We ate until we couldn't eat any more, and then headed out to the concert.

I will say, preferred parking is A#1! We were literally 50 yards from the gate! Well worth the money we spent (which was cheaper than a lot of the "event parking" places we saw!) They were holding the state fair at the same time, so 75% of the event parking was taken up with that! Who in their right mind thought that would be a good idea?

Jameson is excited about seeing "his favorite country music singer ever!"

We only had to wait about 30 minutes to get in, but once inside, we had to pull out these:

It's never good when you have to pull out the ponchos!

The rain was very light, but we were worried about what was headed our way:

The blue circle is our location.

Well, we made the mistake of saying something about the weather and looking at the radar. So Jameson, who is TERRIFIED of bad weather, started getting upset. We attempted to keep him calm by playing around.

We kept watching the radar, and were very happy to see that it looked like the storms that were headed our way were weakening.

And we even started to see a little sunshine peeking through the clouds:

By the time the concert got into full swing, we were thrilled to see the storms had missed us completely!

Tate Stevens, the winner of X-Factor last year, opened for Alan:

He was really good and sang a mixture of great songs!

Well, about this time, Jameson was still freaked out about the weather, and suddenly started feeling like he was going to throw-up. Marty got up and went out with him (per Jameson's request), while Chelsea and I stayed put.

I know you probably think I am a horrible mother for not getting up and running out with him, but this is pretty common for Jameson (he gets anxious and then feels like he's going to be sick). So I waited with Chelsea until we knew if this was sick-sick, or anxiety sick.

After several minutes, Jameson felt better and they came back in. Just in time to see Alan come out on stage.

Things were very quiet and somber when he came out on stage. There was no big introduction, no big fanfare. Just Mr. Jackson walking onto the stage, guitar in hand, walking over to a stool. Immediately, you hear the music, and he starts singing George Jones' "He stopped loving her today" as a slideshow of photos of George and Alan played in the background.

HERE is the video of that heartfelt performance.

The link is the "official" video, the YouTube video is fan footage. The "link" is much better and you can see the photos better. (For some reason, Blogger won't let me find the official video)

Very touching and there were very few dry eyes in the audience! The rest of the concert was great, but Jameson and Marty kept leaving because he felt sick. Finally, Chelsea and I got up to leave, and when we got to Jameson, he was singing and dancing around and asking if we could go to the FAIR! I'm pretty sure that he wasn't sick-sick....just anxious! We walked back to watch the concert, and by then, he was singing his first, "last song", so we decided to leave.

Again, the premier parking was FANTASTIC and we were able to get out and on the road with very minimal traffic! We hit the interstate, and headed back home...but of course, we had to stop at our traditional after-concert place to eat:

Nothing like a bacon and egg sandwich and waffle at 11:30 at night!

We made it home around midnight and went straight to bed, where more storms woke 3 out of the 4 of us up in the middle of the night! (Jameson slept right through it....figures).

We did have a good time, despite the weather and Jameson being sick. We have decided that Jameson's concert-attending career is on hold for a while. He's gotten sick 2 out of the 3 concerts he's been to. I think he's going to have to wait until he's old enough to buy tickets on his own! LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful and fantastic week!

We will always remember!

2013-04-27T13:55:00.001-05:00

Two years ago today, multiple tornadoes ripped through our state of Alabama (along with many other Southern states) and caused death and destruction that none of us could have ever imagined. There were few counties that were left unscathed.

Here is a wonderful article about that day, written by our own fabulous meteorologist, James Spann.

ALABAMA WEATHER BLOG

I dare you to read the article and watch the video and not get a tear in your eye.

Even though it's been two years, we will never forget!

Kitty arm hugs are the best!

2013-04-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

For the past few months, every night when Sweets finds her way into bed between us, she has started hugging my arm. She walks over, finds her perfect spot near my arm, flops down, rolls over, and grabs my arm with her paws.

Sometimes she just grabs my arm and falls right to sleep, but most of the time, after she grabs my arm, she licks my arm or hand, then playfully bites me and/or stretches her claws out on me. She never leaves a mark or a scratch, so I know she's just playing.

Kitty arm hugs are the best....except when they are at 2:00 am! HAHA!

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I hope you all have a wonderful, stress-free week!

Mother's Day is Coming Soon!

2013-04-19T13:34:00.000-05:00

Hey friends!

Hasn't this week been horrific? I just can't believe all of the tragedy and sadness that's been going on! Many thoughts and prayers to all of those that have been touched in some way by all of these horrible events! May God bless these families and this country!

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I was looking at my calendar today, seeing everything that I have planned for the next month, when I realized that Mother's Day is LESS than a month away, on May 12th! How is it possible that it's almost May?

Currently, I am taking orders for the vinyl split-letter monograms. I still have time to make them and get them to you before Mother's Day!

Goudy with first names.

Goudy with no first names

Goudy with first names

Regal with no first names

Goudy with first names

Goudy with first names and wedding date.

Regal with first names

Goudy with first names

Regal with no first names

Goudy with first names

Goudy with wedding date.

The monograms measure 12" x 12" and are around 16" x 16" when in the frame.

If you are local to me, I can make them either with or without the frame.

With the frame, they are $40, and without the frame, they are $20.

If you are not local to me, I can make them on cardstock and mail them to you to put in your own frame.

These are $20 with a one-order shipping charge of $10.
This shipping price is the same if you order one monogram, or ten. (ex: If you ordered 5 monograms, the price would be $110. $100 for the monograms and $10 for shipping for all).

Also, if you live local to me, I can make these smaller frames:

These are available in brown/gold (as shown) or in black/silver.

These frames measure around 12" x 12".

These frames are $25.

I'll only be taking Mother's Day orders for these through April 27th!

If you order later and need them for Mother's Day, there will be an added $10 rush fee per each frame/monogram.

If you are interested, you can either leave me a comment below with your e-mail address, or if Disqus is being weird, you can e-mail me directly at robinandmarty1@yahoo.com or alabamaslackermama@yahoo.com

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I pray the rest of this week/weekend is calm and uneventful for EVERYONE! Much love to all of you!

April 15, 2013

2013-04-16T06:30:00.000-05:00

Introducing my son....Hank Williams!

2013-04-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! It's the start of yet another week! I hope your weekend was wonderful!

Like I said Friday, Jameson had a project in his Social Science class about famous Alabamians. Jameson chose Hank Williams, and for the past month he's done a lot of research. They did a "living museum" where each child recited their report as visitors walked by and listened. It was really cute and informative!

The students could either dress as their favorite character, or provide some other visual/audio form of presentation. Jameson chose to dress as Hank Williams. We stressed about being able to find a suit that met with Jameson's approval (he's a very picky kid), but I just happened to find a PERFECT cream-colored, polyester, 3-piece suit, in Jameson's size, at a consignment sale a few weeks ago.WHAT LUCK! He was thrilled to death with the suit and could not wait to wear it. Friday, he finally got to put on his suit! I think he was a little excited:

Jameson presenting to his principal, Dr. Robinson.

Jameson presenting to some of his classmates.

He had his iPod in his pocket playing "Your Cheatin' Heart."

My little Hank!

Jameson's great friend, Victoria, dressed as Kathryn Tucker Windham. She was my favorite author when I was their age! She did a wonderful job (as did her mom, who pieced together, and sewed an identical skirt to Mrs. Windham's story-telling skirt!)

Jameson's friend-girl, Gracie, dressed as the great coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. I'm loving the pose!

We all had a great time and learned a lot, but are so glad it's finally over. I know more about Hank Williams than I ever wanted to! LOL I told Jameson that I guess I would put the suit back into the consignment sale next year, and he said "NO WAY! I'M WEARING MY SUIT! I'm saving it for SPECIAL OCCASIONS!" So, if you show up at a "special occasion" and see a kid wearing a cream-colored, polyester, 3-piece suit, you will know it's my son...Hank Williams.

Mama's Mumblings

2013-04-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

He friends! I just realized that it's Thursday, and I've only posted once this week. Just when I didn't think life could get any busier, it did. In less than one week, I've gone from having about 4 orders left to complete, to about 35 orders. It's insanity, y'all!

I'm extremely thankful for all the work, but I won't lie....I am extremely overwhelmed right now. When I'm busy with orders, the housework waits. Well, housework can only wait for so long before things get waaaay out of hand. Right now, it's getting to that point, and it's stressing me out. I had someone call yesterday, wanting to come over and look at some things. I immediately started freaking out and finally made an excuse for her not to come. I can't do that forever, though. After this rush of orders are finished, I'm going to have to take a break for a week or so. I've got to get this house back into shape!

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I just realized that I never followed-up about Chelsea's glasses! We picked them up two weeks ago and they look really cute on her.

I think she did a great job picking them out. Of course, I think she's worn them a total of about 2 hours since she's had them. LOL

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Jameson has a huge project for Social Studies on Friday, that he's been working on for over a month. They are studying famous Alabamians and Jameson is going to be Hank Williams.

His report and facts are awesome, but the best part....I found a cream-colored, polyester, 3 piece suit, just for him to wear during his presentation. I actually found it at a consignment sale I went to a few weeks ago. It was literally the first thing I saw. Never in a million years could I have planned it any better! I am a little bummed that he wouldn't let me bedazzle it, though. I hope to have some great photos to share later!

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Speaking of Jameson's school, the book fair started again this week. Guess who decided to volunteer for not one, but TWO whole days this week?

Yup, that would be ME!

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I've become obsessed with these lately:

It's called a Green River Roll, and my niece, Shelby told me I had to try it. Boy was she right! I've had this THREE times in the past week and would have had it again tonight, if we had been near the restaurant. Technically, there isn't really anything "sushi" about it other than the rice. It has tempura shrimp, crab meat, rice, and is covered with a spicy mayo. But it is SO stinkin' good!

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We are supposed to have some really bad weather today, so everyone watch out and stay near a television or radio! If they say to go to a safe place, THEN GO TO A SAFE PLACE! I want to see you ALL here again tomorrow! OK?

Out with the old, in with the new!

2013-04-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends!

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend! The weather here was BEAUTIFUL! Blue skies, warm sunshine and cool breezes. I'm generally not a Spring fan, but this weekend's weather was PERFECT! Unfortunately, it looks like we are jumping right into Summer this week, so the perfect weather was short-lived.

As I mentioned last week, Marty had a birthday. He generally HATES to celebrate his birthday, but we always try to do something a little special. We went out to eat to his favorite restaurant the Saturday before.

And we went to his second favorite restaurant (and my favorite) the night of his actual birthday.

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" than some delicious food, right? LOL

I wanted to get him something he wanted, but he never tells me anything. So, I drug him to our local home improvement store and refused to leave until he picked something out. We came home with this:

Yes, that's a grill....in our living room. We bought it unassembled, so Marty put it together in the comfort of the living room. LOL Even though it looked great, using a propane grill is prohibited indoors, so he finally took the plunge and dragged it outside.

Doesn't it look like a monster compared to the old grill?

He's chosen to leave it under the porch, with a cover, to protect it better.

I asked Marty if he wanted me to see if any of our friends wanted his old grill, but then he told me that he didn't think that would be a good idea. He then proceeds to tell me all the Maguyver-ing he's had to do to the grill to keep it functioning over the years. It's about 15 years old, so it's had a good, long life...full of many hot dogs, hamburgers, and fabulous rib-eyes. Whenever I've had a hankering for something grilled, I've told Marty and he's made it happen. I had NO idea what he had to do to make the old grill work!

First of all, the ignition switch stopped working long ago. Even after multiple repairs, it's never really worked right. He always has to use a lighter to start it up. Then he has to scrape, scrape, scrape the grates where they are almost rusted through. Next, the covers that are over the flames that helps to defuse them, have been gone a long time. So Marty manufactured new ones out of aluminum foil and wire coat hangers. But the final straw was the bottom of the grill...or the actual LACK of a bottom. He said the bottom has been completely rusted out for years, so he made a "new" one out of aluminum foil.

Who knew you could make edible (and quite delicious) food using a propane tank, rusted grates, coat hangers, and a ton of aluminum foil?

So I say good riddance to the old grill! Out with the old, and in with the new!

The Peeps just thought they were safe!

2013-04-04T09:34:00.000-05:00

It's no secret around here that Peeps don't fare very well in this house. Those poor Peeps come through the door, thinking their purpose is to bring smiles to children and adults alike.

If they only knew how many smiles they will bring to the occupants of the house!

Here is my original Peep post that show some of my earlier spectacular Peep adventures.

Aren't they pretty?

Unfortunately, after that post, and after breaking a plate AND blowing up my microwave (and maybe blowing a fuse in the process), my husband decided that I could no longer blow up Peeps wearing bling in our new microwave.

And after the DRAMA that it took to install that stupid microwave, I completely agree with his decision. Our current microwave has to survive at least 20 years...at least!

So, for the past couple of years, we've kept our Peep torture to a minimum.

This year, the week before Easter and Easter weekend was extremely crazy and busy. This didn't leave us time for any Peep adventures. Jameson realized this Easter night and proceeded to remind me multiple times a day that I was a parent failure because I hadn't taken the time to torture any Peeps. Yesterday we managed to finish homework pretty quickly, so Peep talk began again.

Since it was early in the evening, I decided to go for it. Here are photos of the following torture:

**disclaimer: MANY Peeps WERE injured in this process**

We found the Hello Kitty Peeps during a recent shopping trip and the kids grabbed them up for the sole purpose of blowing them up. The purple and blue Peeps were leftovers from last Easter....so they were nice and stale!

Jameson arranged them so neatly.

Into the microwave you go!

Awwwwwe, so sorry!

Round 2

Awwwwe, the Peeps are holding up Hello Kitty! (There is also another Hello Kitty underneath)

YUK! What a mess!

Look at that Hello Kitty eye just staring at me....

Round 3

Look how fat they are getting!

Oooooh, that's gross!

Poor Hello Kitty.

Round 4

We saved the remaining blue Peeps for last. They just didn't swell and melt like the others, so we wanted to see what they would do alone.

After two minutes, this is all the blue Peeps would do.

Which led to two boys (Jameson and Spencer) chanting "BLUE PEEPS STINK" over and over again as they marched through the house.

Even though we didn't have any sparks, flames, or broken microwaves, we still had a pretty good time. The wheels are already spinning with ideas for next year.....

Even though you are in denial...

2013-04-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

it IS your birthday today!

Happy Birthday to the main man in my life!

Everything I said last year, still applies....and even more so today!

I hope you have a wonderful day! We all love you very much!

Easter 2013

2013-04-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! I hope your week and Easter weekend was wonderful!

Last week was spent either being in pain, or rushing to finish pending orders and getting ready for Easter during the moments I actually felt decent. I don't know what's causing the pain I'm having in my face/mouth (Doctor says sinuses), but I do know it needs to stop NOW because it has interfered with my life long enough! I've missed work, church, time with family/friends, and sleep for the past 6 weeks. Fortunately, I think I've finally figured out how to control the pain, so I'm hoping things will level out soon. I'm beyond ready to have my life back!

ANYWAY, so sorry for the complaining! I know that MILLIONS of others out there, including many in my own back door, endure WAAAAY more horrible things in this life than mouth/face pain!

Now on to Easter fun!

We were excited that we were all relatively healthy this Easter, especially after last year's mono outbreak. Jameson was on Spring Break the week prior to Easter, so we had a lot of time to relax and not have to rush around like crazy. I will have to say, it was really nice!

Saturday night, we decided to try a recipe I found on Pinterest that used iced circus cookies to make cake pops. After listening/reading several stories about how hard it could be, I was sure my attempt would be a complete and total failure. I have ZERO patience for anything cooking/baking related. Surprisingly, it was really easy and the pops came out great!

Except for that one lone cake pop on the lower right that decided to fall over...causing the big puddle of chocolate underneath. LOL

Yes, I know they are upside down....but I didn't have anything to use to do them the "correct" way. HAHA!

I also overestimated the amount of chocolate I needed, so I ended up dipping a few other things:

Peanut butter crackers

Donuts

I still ended up pouring out about 1/2 cup of the chocolate. Next time I'll start with just 1/2 package instead of a whole!

I also made a few buckets for my great nieces and nephews.

That night,the kids were really hyped up, and it was almost impossible to get them to go to sleep! The poor, overworked Easter Bunny wasn't able to make his delivery until after midnight! We finally had to tell Jameson that if he didn't go to sleep, the Easter Bunny would completely skip our house. That seemed to do the trick. It's too bad we didn't thin of that several hours earlier. LOL

Finally, the Easter Bunny came. We chatted for a few minutes, and he went on his hoppity way.

Sweets even got her own basket!

Chelsea's new obsession is The Great and Powerful Oz.

Minecraft pick axe, anyone?

50 years of General Hospital

Jameson finding out he got Alan Jackson tickets!

Sweets checking out her loot!

We all had a great day and were definitely sad to see the day come to an end. Well, Jameson and I were sad. He goes back to school after having the week off and I head back to work. Marty and Chelsea get to enjoy Monday off, too!

But right now, I'm just happy that I'm able to return to work!

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the week!

A week of field trips!

2013-03-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends!

It's the start of yet another week! How is that even possible?

Last week was a week that I was looking forward to, and dreading, all at the same time. Jameson had TWO field trips last week, lasting a total of three days! Talk about an unusual school week!

Tuesday, he had his Gifted class field trip. They went to the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham.

We weren't really sure what to expect, but by the time we left, we were huge fans of the museum! The instructors, Brian and Brian, were fantastic with the kids! They all learned SO much (as well as the parents!).

We first took a tour through the history of flight.

An authentic German fighter plane.

One of Delta's very first planes. It only carried one passenger and was a crop duster!

An authentic fighter plane from the Vietnam era.


A replica of the second known generation of plane.

The kids getting to build their own glider.

My ham-of-a-son getting to sit in a real plane

Once we learned about this history of flight, the kids got to use a flight simulator and learned how to take off, fly, and land a plane!

There were a few successful landings and several landings on Interstates and through buildings. LOL The kids had a blast!

Once we left the museum, we headed over to the McWayne Center to watch an Imax movie about the Monarch butterfly. The movie was SO good and very interesting!

Posing in front of the McWayne Center.

Everyone wanted to get in on the act!

We all had a great time and learned a TON!

Then, on Thursday, the 4th grade had their yearly 4-H overnight (and 100% unplugged) field trip at the 4-H center near Wilsonville, AL. Jameson was hesitant to go at first, but decided at the last minute that he wanted to go.

ALL the kids that went! (Photo by Renee Stone)

Jameson and one of his best friends, Victoria. ( Photo by Renee Stone)

Jameson petting a SNAKE! (Photo by Renee Stone)

They got to learn a TON about nature. They waded through streams to try and catch different things in the water. They learned about reptiles and also learned about using a GPS and how to tell directions without a GPS. They learned a lot of very fun and USEFUL material!

Even though he had a great time, he was very glad to get back home!

Jameson and his buddy, Hudson

Once he got home and told me all his stories, he didn't leave the couch for the rest of the night.

I don't know if Sweets (the cat) was happier to have Jameson home, or if Jameson was happier to be back home with Sweets! LOL

We all had a blast last week, but I'm glad to say that it's behind us. Now on to this week, and SPRING BREAK!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Attempt at a Friday Freebie! PEEPS!

2013-03-22T10:10:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! It's FRIDAY!

I hope all of you fared well through the storms earlier in the week. We had tons of trees down in our neighborhood and in our town, but fortunately nobody was hurt. Things can be replaced, people cannot!

Anyway, with Easter right around the corner, I've had several requests for my Peeps file that I did for Jameson's class last year.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think I could share anything that I created using my Silhouette software. I've been playing around with some different programs and I think I may have figured it out! I was able to share it via e-mail with one of my fabulous bloggie friends, and she said it worked! YIPEE!

So, here is my first attempt to share a file. You should be able to click on the photos, download them to your computer, and then print! IF IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU, I honestly have NO IDEA how to change it or fix it. SO SORRY! I am a total computer idiot, so converting things is way above my head and thought process.

"You're one of my favorite Peeps" circle file:

Peeps S'mores label.

I attempted to share the PDF file, but Blogger doesn't recognize it as a file.

I hope this works for everyone!

A new set of glasses around these parts

2013-03-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like a horrible mother.

A few months ago, Chelsea had to go for a health physical. While there, they asked to do a random eye test, where you read the letters that are on the wall. Imagine my surprise and horror to learn that she couldn't even read the big "E" on the chart! I could not believe Chelsea was having that much trouble seeing!

So, since that time, I've been trying to find an eye doctor that accepts her insurance. Finally, Marty said he didn't care about insurance. He wanted her to go to his eye doctor because they are always so nice to him. They also have the machine that can pretty much tell you what your prescription needs to be, without strictly relying on the "Tell me which one is better....this one, or this one" type of test. We felt this would be a better option for Chelsea because we aren't sure if she would be able to accurately convey what she needed to the doctor.

The exam went well and Chelsea did great! She definitely needs glasses, but the doctor said "Don't worry mom, her vision isn't as bad as you think." We think the initial problem was Chelsea not really being able to read the vision chart because of the letters. Once this eye doctor changed to a picture chart, she did much better.

Chelsea picked out some really cute frames that she should have in a few days. I think she's actually excited about getting glasses like Mommy and Daddy. She's definitely come a LONG way from that 1 1/2 pound baby that had retinopathy of prematurity, which almost made her blind.

And the really crazy thing about all this, is that unbeknownst to us, the office did accept Chelsea's insurance!

I'll make sure to let you all see her fabulous glasses once she gets them!

I haven't been slacking, I've been working!

2013-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! Long time, no talk too!

Yeah, so I only manged to get in one itty-bitty blog post last week. So much for the whole "trying to better thing", right? Oh well, hopefully y'all are still here, supporting all my laziness. Thank you to all of you who have stood by me through my random postings!

Baseball/T-ball season is in full swing around here and that means everyone wants t-shirts! So, I've been working on orders like crazy, trying to finish everything on my list so I can have a clean slate going into baseball shirt season. LOL Here are a few things I've been working on:

This is for a wedding gift:

These two shirts are for a dear old friend (not in age, but in years we've known each other...lol) and her daughter. I think they turned out really cute.

Split letter monogram on gold cardstock. The gold is SO pretty! I definitely want to use this again!

These next two monograms are for a precious lady from California who saw these here on the blog! Lacy has been awesome to work with and I am so happy with how these came together!

I just had to make something for myself. I think this is hysterical! Who doesn't love Grumpy Kitty?

And to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Jameson just HAD to design his own shirt. So, here we go. Si, a leprechaun hat, gold, and a Duck Dynasty logo. What more do you need?

Oh yeah, there had to be a Si saying on the back:

Jameson said the shirt was "exactly like he saw it in his mind." Well alrighty then. LOL

I also have another monogram that I absolutely love, but it's for a special couple who are having a wedding shower this weekend. The groom's mother asked me to make one for them as a surprise!

If anybody would like to order anything you've seen me make here on the blog, send me an e-mail at AlabamaSlackerMama@yahoo.com or robinandmarty1@yahoo.com and I'll try my best to get back to you as soon as I can. Right now, orders are taking about 2-3 weeks because of the baseball shirts. After I'm finished with those, I should be back to a quicker turn-around.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Our week consists of THREE DAYS of field trips! Pray for us. LOL

A few more finished orders!

2013-03-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends!

Thank you all for being so patient with me over the past few weeks! My computer issues continue from my last post. You know the new-ish computer I bought to replace my old faithful? Well that little beauty only lasted 24 HOURS before it completely died! I'm telling you, for those few days, every electronic device I touched flaked out on me! It has been really frustrating, especially since I have orders to finish and blog posts to write! Fortunately, I have a band-aid on my old faithful, and thankfully, it's made it through the weekend (except when I started trying to upload the final picture to this blog post....2 hours and multiple reboots later, the blog post is finally finished. So much for getting to bed at a decent time)

I have managed to finish a few orders and it's working well enough to actually upload and edit some pictures. I have a lot of cell phone pictures of the past several days I want to share with you, but am impatiently waiting for them to make it from my phone to my computer. Another blog post for another day, I guess. Since I can't get those photos to upload, I'll share a few projects I've finished over the past couple of days.

I love this super-cool reflective vinyl! I tested it out on this last-minute shirt and am in LOVE with how shiny it is!

These are quickly becoming my favorite thing to make. They are shadow boxes with sequins inside. I made these for the craft show I did back in November and have made several more since then. They are SO fun to play with!

These are monthly onesie stickers. I didn't have any way to package them, so I cut these cool holders to put them in.

T-ball mom shirt! This is the first shirt I've done on white and I really like the way it turned out!

Another one of my split-letter monograms. This is a different style than I usually do. It just has the last name with no other names/dates on it. I really liked the way it turned out.

These are shirts the 4th grade teachers asked me to make. The pictures don't do the pink color justice. The color is a super-bright neon pink.

When I saw this, I knew a certain young man would HAVE to have one.

We just love that Duck Dynasty family!

Well, since this blog post almost killed my computer (and my sanity), I think I will call it a night! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Still Slacking

2013-03-06T10:02:00.000-06:00

Hey friends!

Yeah, I know...I posted last week about how I had been slow to write posts over the past few weeks. As you all can tell, the slowness has continued.

SORRY!

I've been sick-as-a-dog since last week with some awful sinus-related stuff that has made me want to yank my eye out, cut my ear off, and pull every tooth in the right side of my face. I finally went to to the doctor on Monday and was given antibiotics, but it doesn't feel like they have kicked in at all. I'm hoping today is the day that things turn around...but it's not looking good, so far. I think absolute worst part of being sick has been calling in to work. Things are full-speed all the time at my office and I know it puts a huge burden on my co-workers to have to pick up my slack. Trust me, I would MUCH rather be at work, than sitting here praying for my face to stop hurting!

I really need to stop complaining because there are SO MANY others that are suffering from FAR WORSE things...so the complaining ends here. (maybe)

In the midst of feeling bad, I've had about 20 orders that I've been trying to complete for several customers. Right in the middle of the designing, my computer decides to start freaking out. I thought I had it fixed with a system restore, but have found that to just be a band-aid for the problem. I ended up having to get a new-ish computer, and have been frantically trying to get all my files transferred before my old computer bites the dust. I will lose my mind if I end up losing all of the things I've designed over the past year, including all of my current orders! (AND, while I was typing this, I somehow managed to accidentally delete my notes on my phone that had a list of ALL of my current orders on it. GRRRRR)

So, if you are waiting on something from me, I will get it done! It just may take a few extra days to get it to you!

I hope you all are having a much better week!

Mama's Mumblings

2013-03-01T10:27:00.002-06:00

Ummmm, yeah, it's Friday and I've only blogged once this week. Sorry! Have you ever had so much running around in your head that you just completely forget to do normal, routine things? Yeah, that's where I've been this week. Well actually, that's where I've been for the past few weeks. I would say it will get better, but I'm not so sure it will! HAHA!

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I had a blast Monday night when we threw a surprise Grandmother shower for one of my fellow nurses. Daphne is expecting her first granddaughter in April, so we thought it would be nice to get some things together for her to keep at her house when the baby stays with her.

We had a wonderful time and the look on Daphne's face was priceless!

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Along with a few other parents and members of the PTA, I've been working on the BoxTops for Education for Jameson's school for the past couple of weeks. I swear, it's insane how time consuming processing itty-bitty pieces of cardboard/plastic can be.

In the end, we gathered up 12,270 BoxTops, and at $0.10 each, that brings in $1,227.00 for our school!
Save those BoxTops, folks!

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It's been 2 weeks today, and I still LOVE my car!

It drives like a dream and gets much better gas mileage! The only thing I don't like about it is I didn't realize how DIRTY the darker blue color gets! Looks like the money I'll be saving in gas will be going to pay for car washes! Marty tried to wash our car here, but our super-hard water left huge white spots all over it. EEEEK! Can't have that!

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I've been working on several projects over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I haven't actually finished many of them. It seems like I am always missing one little thing to finish everything off. Here are a few things I have managed to finish, however:

(Pardon the lack of editing of the pictures....my computer WON'T LET ME DO ANYTHING! GRRRR!)

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My computer has been acting super-weird for the past week. It's been locking up and driving me insane! This morning, it took 2 hours to actually be able to log in and type anything. I thought it was my actual computer, but it seems that most of my problems are with FireFox. Right now, I'm logged in through Internet Explorer and all seems to be working well. I sure hope we don't end up having to spend our (tiny) tax refund on a new computer!

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Chelsea and I are SUPER EXCITED that Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out on DVD TOMORROW!!!

I will be headed straight to the store first thing tomorrow to pick up our copies!

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Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I wanted to make Jameson a shirt to wear today, but the school also decided to have picture day today, so no Dr. Seuss for him! His eyes were closed (takes after his daddy and sister) in his Fall pictures, so I'm hoping we can get at least one decent school photo this year!

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Whew!

I think that's all I've got going on this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

A rare weekend of dates!

2013-02-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been definitely unusual for us. Marty and I rarely ever get to do anything without kids. We definitely don't mind it, but it is nice to be able to eat where we want to or go see a movie that doesn't involve animation or super heroes.

First, Marty and I enjoyed his last Friday off until July. (His work schedule rotates every 4 months) We decided to celebrate our last day of "freedom" by going to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Lunch was great, but soon it was time to get Jameson from school.

THEN, on Saturday, Jameson was invited to a birthday party/sleepover at one of his best friend's house. The last time Jameson went to a sleepover, it was the weekend before school started back...a little over six months ago. We took advantage of the alone time and went to see TWO movies!

The first movie we saw was Identity Theft:

From IMDB

Oh my goodness, (other than the language) this movie was HYSTERICAL! I haven't laughed this hard in a very long time! Melissa McCarthy is a comedic genius! I saw an interview about this movie, and they said in the original screenplay, Melissa McCarthy's character was supposed to be male, but they rewrote it just so she could play the part. In my opinion, EXTREMELY GREAT decision.

Identity Theft was over by 6:30, so we decided to stay and see another movie...Beautiful Creatures:

From IMDB

I hadn't really heard a lot about this movie, but was intrigued by the trailer and description. I also felt like it was a sort-of Twilight-ish type of movie, since it is an adaptation from a series of young-adult books. Even though it wasn't as great as Identity Theft, it was a really good movie. I'm sure it will never win an Oscar (unless the tornado scene wins for special effects....WOW), but it was a good mystery, supernatural, love story type of movie. It definitely made me want to read the whole series of books!

After the movies, we grabbed something to eat and headed home. It was nice to go to bed when we wanted too, instead of me staying up until Jameson decided he would finally go to sleep. LOL

Even though we had a great time, we were glad to see Chelsea at church and then pick-up Jameson from the party. He had a great time, but I bet he didn't have as much fun as we did!

Oh, the places you'll go!

2013-02-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'm crazy about Dr. Seuss and think his books and poems are fantastic for children of all ages (and adults, too!) So, when a friend asked me if I could make a frame similar to what she found online, I had to try.

It was a lot of work (vinyl does NOT stick to canvas very well. LOL), but I think it turned out really cute!

Oh, the places you'll go!