Warning to the Wise

I got off work a little early today, so I thought I would put my time to good use. Last week my brother made baked potatoes and put a little too much oil on them. Some of the oil dripped into the bottom of the oven. The oven has been used a couple of times since then, and smoked a little, so I decided today would be a good day to clean the oven. My oven has one of those nifty self cleaning features, so I turned in on....I sat in the living room long enough to eat my dinner. As I rounded the corner back into the kitchen, I saw FLAMES in my oven. If you know anything about self cleaning ovens, you have to lock them, and you can't unlock them until the cleaning is done and the oven is cool. I'm sure that's a good thing because I can't imagine what an oxygen rush would have done to the fire! Luckily my instinct said to turn the dang thing off....I think I rounded the corner at just the right time or I may have had to have a visit from some of the local fireman. Now I have a mess to clean up and possibly a new oven to buy.....


Lesson for the day: NEVER turn on your self cleaning oven feature if there is ANY old or new grease/oil in the bottom of your oven!

Cupcakes, Children, and Carrie

I spent the weekend in Nashville, and as usual had a great time. I went up there to go to the Grand Ole Opry because Carrie was performing...of course huh! Before I get to the review, I must tell you about the WONDERFUL cupcakes I had while I was there. I visited a shop called IveyCakes in Franklin. I will tell you as a testimonial that those cupcakes were the best cupcakes I've ever tasted! I'm sure they have to be some of the best around! Her specialty is strawberry, but she was out that morning so I got a carrot cake one and a red velvet one...all I can say is OH MY GOSH!!

Here are my delicious cupcakes...have no fear...I shared them!


Celia getting ready to enjoy hers!


Daphne thinks it was amazingly delicious!


If you EVER get up that way, I would highly recommend trying these cupcakes out. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I attended another Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. I'll spare you the details because I'm sure you all already know what I think. Josh Turner was there...HOT, and Carrie was great as usual. I do however want to tell you about my experience. If the Opry is not recording a live show, they will let you get as close to the stage as possible. I had good seats, but I wanted to get some great pictures so I went up to the front and actually got front and center for Carrie's portion. I saw a couple of kids and their parents trying to get their kids close so I scooted and let 2 in particular get to the front. I'm glad I did. To my left was a four year old little guy who had been to the Opry to see Carrie again. He had a little stuffed dog to give her, and had tried to get it to her the first time he came to a show but was unsuccessful. His dad told me that the little guy had cried after the show when he wasn't able to get close to Carrie. However, last night, she actually took the little dog from him and waved and winked to him for a while...he lit up like it was Christmas! What a wonderful memory that he will have. Also, to my other side was a little girl who I imagine is about 10 years old. She was in a wheelchair and was also able to get to the front of the stage. She was so excited to be that close to Carrie that she stood for as long as she could. When Carrie came out, she screamed in delight. She sang loud the whole time, and held her arm up, which seemed tiring for her at times, in hopes Carrie would shake her hand. Carrie never did, but she did wave to her as she was walking off the stage....and boy did it make that little girls night!! I tell you all this to say that I realized last night that it's not about me. I'm almost 30 years old. I know I'm a huge Carrie fan, and I like to try to meet her when I can. However, I know it made a much bigger impact on these two little kids. I should step back more often and let it, not only be more about the children, but also more about others.

Josh Turner - Doesn't country music have some major hotties right now!


Of course, I must leave you with a couple of pictures of Carrie.

Snow day

The meteorologists predicted snow for today...but you never can believe them especially since we had some spring like days last week! Weather channel.com predicted it would start snowing about 2 AM. Since I live in Alabama and rarely see snow, I got up several times in the night to check, but saw nothing but a dusting. When I got up at 6 AM to check, it was snowing hard! I was like a kid at Christmas. I got my clothes on and went to get Daphne and Ben out of the bed so we could play. I didn't know how long the hard snow would last, and I wanted to see Ben experience his first snow! I must say, we had a blast.

Me with the first snowman of the day. I didn't know we would get 3 inches...this was the snowman in about 1 inch!


Auntie and Ben making a snow angel


Pulling Ben in the makeshift sled


Snowball fight


Ben with the second snowman of the day


Look how deep the snow is!


I enjoyed the snow day, but I also enjoy the fact that I live in Alabama, and by 3:00 PM today, most of the snow had melted. I'm glad I don't have to deal with 3 or more inches of snow daily, but it sure was fun for the day!