Sand Box Transformation

This weekend we transformed the sand box (a.k.a. giant litter box) left by the previous owners into our vegetable/herb/flower garden. I had a tomato/herb garden at the old house for the past two summers. I loved being able to walk out my back door and pick a handful of fresh herbs or a tomato off the vine to use in my meals. So far, we planted 2 tomato plants (cherry and better boy) and tons of herbs (rosemary, chives, basil, parsley, Italian parsley, oregano, thyme, lemon thyme, sage, cilantro and mint). I am still looking for a Roma tomato plant, Lemon Balm and Pineapple Sage. Does anyone else have any other herb suggestions?

Since we had more room this year, we expanded our garden to include some flowers… I let the kids pick out a pack of flower seeds at Lowe’s. Banks picked out sunflowers, Mary Reese picked out marigolds and I picked out 3 different kinds of zinnias. We planted those in the right hand side of the bed. I can’t wait to see if those actually come up! I have ordered some colored, spiral tomato cages and some copper plant markers. I will have to post more pictures as things start growing and taking shape! Here are some before, during and after pictures of the “garden” so far:

Tagged - Twice!!!!

I have been tagged by Jennie-Marie and my sister-in-law (Sue) with 2 different list…so I am combining them into one. Here goes:

What was I doing 10 years ago? I was finishing up teaching my first 2 Year Old Class at Central Weekday School (it is hard to believe that those kids are in Middle School now) and helping Kathy Gray out with Mary Margaret, Galvin and Kitty. 5 Things on My To-Do List -Cook Dinner -Finish the laundry -Pick up the house because Kathy Hunt is coming tomorrow -Finish the Mother’s Day present my siblings and I are putting together -Find a Roma tomato plant and any other herbs I want to add to my garden (any suggestions?)

5 Snacks I Enjoy (could survive on snacks and skip meals) -Big Sky Granola -Pretzels (any kind) -Mayfield Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches (Jody and I ate 2 each last night after the kids went to bed!) -Sonic Cherry Limeade (had one Saturday, Sunday and today) -Chai Latte

5 Things I Would do if I were a Billionaire -Invest – put my money to work for me -Give – make sure everyone in our family is taken care of -Become Debt Free – pay off our house, the 1 car we own on (buy Jody a new one only if he promises to take care of it) and everything else we owe -Travel – first I would take the kids to Disney and spare no expense then pick a new place every month or so to discover -Hire someone to finish painting all the room in our house – 3 rooms down…many more to go!

5 Bad Habits -Not making enough time for just myself! -Drinking too much coffee and not enough water -Not saying no to desserts! LOVE them and can’t turn them down! -Watching too much reality TV -Chomping on ice especially the pellet ice like Sonic has (sorry dad!)

5 Places I Have Lived -Decatur, Alabama -Hilton Head, South Carolina -Tuscaloosa, Alabama -Huntsville, Alabama -San Francisco, California (only for a summer when I was 3 while my dad was in dental school…I had no bedroom there…I slept in a closet!)

5 Jobs I’ve Had or Have -Lifeguard at Decatur Country Club -Camp Counselor at Sea Pines Fun For Kids Camp -Central Weekday School 2 Year-Old Teacher -Senior SDA Trainer for ExecuTrain of Huntsville -Training Coordinator at Wolverine Tube

5 Random Facts: -My senior year in college, my friend Bethany and I decided after graduation we wanted to be Airline Stewardess…we applied to every airline but no one ever hired us! I could have been so fun!

-I don’t eat beans with the exception of green beans. I just don’t like that mushy texture!

-When I was a counselor at Sea Pines (Hilton Head) for the summer, we had 2 of the Busch heirs from Anheuser-Busch at our camp all summer. They were looking for a nanny to come work for them in the DC area because their nanny was leaving at the end of the summer. None of us took them up on that offer…I wonder were those kids are now?

-I have never been to Europe or Canada but I have been to Mexico and the Bahamas.

-I love to cook…I wish I could make it my job! Food Network, are you hiring? Maybe if I was a billionaire I could just do it for fun!

I am tagging all my friends who do not have blogs…maybe they will start one now they have been tagged!!!! I feel like the “grandma of the blogging world!”

Guest Reader and Mystery Solved

Banks came home from school last Tuesday claiming that he had volunteered me to read to his class the next day. He then handed me the two books he picked out for me to read…Pizza Pat and Fred and Ted Go Camping. I wasn’t convinced he got the story straight because Jody (who took him that morning) nor Nancy (who picked him up) knew anything about it. The next morning, Ms. Davis asked Jody if he knew what time I was coming to read. We arranged it so I could come during my lunch break…right before their nap time. Banks was SOOO excited when I showed up with the books he picked out especially for his class. After I finished reading the second book they asked me to read them again, so I re-read Pizza Pat. Ms. Byrd said they had never asked anyone to read to them again! I was honored even though I think they were just trying to get out of nap time! I gave Banks a hug and kiss as I was heading out the door. I looked up and Bascillio was heading towards me with open arms…then all of a sudden I was in a group hug with 18 Pre-K students. Ms. Davis and Ms. Bryd were amazed…”They never do this!” It was hilarious!

Now onto the mystery – Remember the pots of pansies that randomly appeared on my front porch back in January that no one ever claimed? I finally know who they came from…Ms. June Odom! Mr. Odom came into The Light House last week and mentioned it to mother. She told him that I had been wondering who left them and that the flowers even made the blog! So thank you, Mrs. Odom, for making those yucky winter days brighter!

Life Lesson Learned!

Banks learned a very valuable life lesson last night…how to lose like a good sport! Until last night, we have won every TBall game we have played by a huge margin! It has been really good for Banks because he has gotten to play the infield during the last innings when we have been up by so much! We went into last night’s game knowing it was going to be a battle against the also undefeated Kansas Jayhawks! Banks was super excited because he was playing against one of his good friends (Sam Smith) and two of the Orr children (who use to live in our house). The Jayhawks showed up with their game face on…literally…they all had “eyeblack” under their eyes! It was a nail biting, stomach in knots, neck-and-neck game until the very end! We were up by a few runs at the bottom of the last inning with the Jayhawks batting at the bottom of their batting order with two outs! I thought we might actually pull it off…but they ended up pulling out the win! Banks was the first one ready in line to congratulate their team after the game. Sweet little Lida Orr even came up to me after the game to tell me that “Banks played a great game!” Mary Reese kept asking all the Jayhawk parents for a stamp which (thank you) little Lida finally figured out was the “eyeblack”. So Coach David painted her and Banks up after the game! I was extremely proud that all the players, Coaches and parents conducted themselves with good sportsmanlike behavior! Seriously, it is just TBall not the World Series!

Beauty School Dropout...

Beauty school dropout No graduation day for you. Beauty school dropout Missed your midterms and flunked shampoo!

Mary Reese is officially a beauty school dropout! A few weeks ago when Mary Reese cut her hair for the first time, it looked bad but not HORRIBLE! In fact most people who saw her couldn't even tell that she did it herself because she did a pretty good job for a 3 year old. She had bangs (which I don't like on her) but at least they were a decent length. Last night after Banks' TBall game, I was trying to get a pizza made and in the oven so I let Mary Reese lay in our bed and watch TV. When Jody and Banks got home, Jody went to back to our room and discovered a pair of scissors. I am still not really sure where she found them...but she did. Upon further investigation, he discovered clumps of hair hidden under the pillows in our bed. Guess who decided to cut her hair again??? And this time it wasn't very "professional"!

I didn't realize how bad it was until today...she even has a bald spot on the top! Of course when I picked her up a school today, they had an order form for Spring Pictures. Last year the photographer had to touch up her scraped-up face because she had fallen out back door at Popsy and GiGi's house the day before pictures. I don't think there is anything she can do to cover this up! Does anyone have a wig I can borrow until it grows back out??? Maybe some Rogaine???

Grow Alabama

While my husband was busy eating pimento cheese sandwiches at the Masters in Augusta and my children were devouring McDonald’s Happy Meals, I was learning all about organically grown produce in Alabama! Mother, Pat Smithson and I went to an “organic supper club” at the Thomas’ house Saturday night. Karen has been getting boxes of organic fruits and vegetables delivered biweekly from an organization called Grow Alabama. Grow Alabama was started by a farmer out of Cullman county named Jerry Spencer, who started out selling his organically grown tomatoes to Frank Stitt at Highland’s Bar and Grill! He did a short talk about why we need to be buying Alabama organically grown produce for health reasons as well as economic. Alabama is losing billions of dollars to other states because we import (over 90%) so much of our produce. After the talk, they served a delicious and delightful meal made entirely out of organic products. Jerry brought a chef with him who prepared a wonderful salad with roasted beets and raspberry vinaigrette, chicken pot pie with carrots and snowpeas, greens cooked with caramelized onions, garlic and dried apricots and a fabulous fresh berry triffle with basil instead of mint. After the meal, they had acoustic music from a band called Blue Mother Tupelo. It was fun to get out of the house and do something “green”!

Give Blood

Tomorrow is Murph’s 1st Annual Memorial Blood Drive honoring Patrick in the ballroom of Decatur Country Club from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. Please come out and support this event! If you are not in the area, you can donate in his name at any LifeSouth Center. Since his accident, the response (both blood and monetary donations) has been so amazing that here is now the Patrick Murphree Bell in the Decatur donor center and they named their blood drive trailer “Murph”! They are really promoting the donation of platelets, which are the most-needed of all blood components and are essential for blood clotting routinely needed by trauma patients, burn victims and cancer patients.

Also, Jody is working hard to establish an Annual Memorial Golf Tournament, which will fund a scholarship set up through the University of Alabama for a Decatur High graduate. Please support him in this effort by playing or sending donations. The tournament is set for June 28th at Point Mallard Golf Course. We have set up another blog for tournament information.

Camping it up...

For some reason, my kids have decided that sleeping in their sleeping bags on the playroom floor is way more comfortable than sleeping in their beds. It reminds me of one of Aunt Stacey's favorite episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog called Camping It Up! I think we have all watched it 5 million times! Notice that Banks loves to sleep with all of his "friends" and every morning he hauls the entire armful down. He is laying on Ted (his favorite friend) who actually belonged to Jody as a child. Mary Reese, she is satisfied with just 1 baby doll and her silky blanket! Maybe one day they can actually experience a real camp out! Here is my idea of roughing it in the woods: