Lost

It is back tonight and I can't wait! Even the enhanced rerun last night was good.

Hope this season is the best yet!

You have to let me know what you think.

The Grossest Dinner EVER

Oh my goodness, I just cooked the nastiest meal ever. It was a casserole recommended by someone I know and man, it was gross.

Here is the story, last night we had growth group. All the families take turns cooking for the group. Last night there were about 40 there. It was my turn to cook. Keep in mind, this is not a time to show off your culinary skills. Half of the eaters are kids so you want something everyone will eat. I cooked hot dogs. They were good, you know, you can't really mess up hot dogs. We ended up with about 20 left over. I was laughing that we were going to have hot dogs for a week. One of the ladies there said she had picked up a recipe at Market Street that used hot dogs and I should try it. The recipe was for "County Fair Hot Dog Casserole". I know, it sounds HORRIBLE!!! But, the ingredients were some of my favorite things like Jiffy Cornbread mix, Velveeta, sour cream, and stuff like that. The kicker was it also had hot dog wieners in it. I know, I know, I should have known better. The recipe had a high rating from Market Street, and normally I LOVE their concoctions. I went to work today and was talking about it. One of the teachers said she made it for her boys all the time growing up and they loved it. Another said she always made it for 4th of July. So, I tried it.

Let me tell you, it looked and smelled SO GOOD! Cody came home and we couldn't wait to try it. The first couple of bites were good. Then the aftertaste started to catch up with us. Here it is, 2 hours, later, and we are both glued to the bathroom. Oh man! What was I thinking??

Here was the recipe:

1 pkg Ball Park franks
1 package cornbread mix
16 oz Velveeta cubed
2 eggs
1 cups sour cream
1/3 cup oil

1. Boil franks for 4-5 minutes. Cut into 1 inch pieces
2. In a bowl mix cornbread mix, eggs, sour cream, and oil.
3. all cubes of Velveeta and cut up hot dog bites
4. Pour in 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.



Anyone brave enough to try it?

Still

We sang this song at church this morning and the words really struck me today.

It seems everyone I talk to has a lot going on right now. Some are burdened with loss of a loved one, with big decisions in their families, with financial woes, with sick kids, with infertility, with indecision, with job changes, and just with busy lives.

Take the time to listen, read, and reflect on this beautiful Psalm that was made into a song and say a prayer for eachother and for friends who need it.

Still
Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know His power
In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Praying a Smile Can Make a Difference

This past weekend a friend of Cody's from EMS committed suicide. He was 39. He and his wife had been having a few marital problems and they were separating for the time being. He had 3 kids. Last week he changed the song on his My Space to "Amazing Grace" and his phrase to "Things are hard right now. Don't give up. I'll keep praying". Matt shot himself on Saturday afternoon. Cody is honor guard at his funeral on Thursday.

Last night on NBC Nightly News Brian Williams said that the last week in January has the highest rate of suicide. He said that the holidays are over, bills are in, the weather is grim, and that people are the least motivated at all. Brian said they best thing we can do to combat depression is to smile at every one we meet.

Of course, I know that knowing you are loved by Jesus is the only way to combat depression. I know that knowing your time on Earth is temporary and that one day soon we will all be called home is what gets me through the hard days. That being said, January has been a crappy month for us and sometimes my countenance reflects that too much. I get caught up in the things of this world, the things I want and don't have, the things I think I need to be happy, and I mope around all day thinking about myself.

I am going to make a true effort for the last 7 days of January to smile. I am going to try and be patient in the check out line of Walmart. I am going to give grace to the teachers running late to school. I am going to try and radiate the true joy that is in my heart and try to smile at those I meet. Let's smile our ways through a hard week for many people.

Tom Cruise on Scientology

I found this weird, interesting, and scary. What about you?

Watch this video.

http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress

Two Year Pictures

Movies over the break

Cody and I watched several movies over the break. Here are my movie reviews and thoughts. Let me know what you thought of these as well.

Charlie Wilson's War - I thought this was a very well written, informative, and entertaining movie. It is definitely eye opening to the positives and negatives of power and politics. The language is filthy. I found the movie fascinating and fast paced. I would definitely recommend it.

National Treasure 2 - It is good, not amazing, but good. Nicolas Cage's hair bothered and distracted me through the movie, but other than that it was another neat story. It makes me hope for buried treasure and that one day I will uncover a mystery to solve. Go in with lowered expectations and you will enjoy it.

Mr. Brooks - Cody and I rented this and loved it. It is VERY good. I must say it is a little naughty though. It is about a normal man who is a serial killer on the side. It is a captivating movie and you won't be able to blink until it is over. It is a great rental!

Shrek 3 - It was cute and clever. We rented it. I didn't the music was as great as the first and I thought Justin Timberlake was weak. It was worth a rental though.

Bourne Ultimatum - Another rental. It was SO fast paced. I should have rewatched the second one before I saw this one. It was a good story. I would have rather seen it in the theaters instead of on the TV and I think we would have liked it more.

Angel Falls, Big Montana Sky, Carolina Moon - These are all Nora Roberts books made into Lifetime movies. I thought they were all good. Check out old Lifetime television and see when any of these three are airing again. They are worth a lazy Saturday afternoon on the couch for sure. Please tell me some of you have seen these movies! *Note: Cody Nelson did not watch any of these movies with me nor does he think they are worth blogging about at all. I disagree and therefore they are posted.

Finally I want to think ABC Family, the Hallmark Channel, and FaLaLaLifetime for the pure enjoyment of the made for TV Christmas movies that aired all December. A special thanks to "Single Santa Seeking Mrs. Clause", "The Christmas Card", "A Boyfriend for Christmas", and "The Christmas Shoes" for your excellent Christmas fun. An extra special thanks to "The Christmas Gift" from 1986 for allowing me to see John Denver in a fine acting role.

So what have you been watching?

Carley's Elmo Party

Since Carley's bday and party were on 12/28 I had to wait until I had posted the Christmas pictures to post her party pictures. We had a great family party. It was so nice to do a small party instead of a huge one. I may never go back. Carley, of course, had an Elmo party with Sesame Street cupcakes. It was so wonderful. We are so blessed by our families. My parents were able come and so was Alyssa's family who hung around an extra day to celebrate with us. My sweet brother-in-law (and brother-in-love) Clint flew back in for the party. Also Cody's honorary family, the Spanns were here. I have blogged about them before and need to again, but they are just an amazing part of our family.

I read a neat idea in a magazine and was very thankful to copy it. Here is our birthday tree. It was a perfect way to decorate our Christmas decorations for Carley's birthday. We wrapped the tree in bright yellow streamers and also in Elmo bday streamers. We told Carley it was her special birthday tree and she loved it. We put bday presents around the tree and she thought is was so cool. Any of you with birthdays close to Christmas are welcome to steal this fun idea too if you want.

I loved her cupcakes. The character's faces came out so cute!

Here are our nieces Lauren and Camryn and our honorary niece (from Cody's bonus family) Faith sitting at the table Nana and Papa gave Carley for her birthday! Our honorary nephew Alex is precious and he sat in the high chair.

Our birthday girl had such a good time! Doesn't she look so old in this picture?

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent lots of time with my family and with each other. Cody was at the station Christmas Eve and Christmas day so we went up there with the other families and had lunch. I love the picture of us sitting on Cody's fire truck because it was so neat to be there on the holiday. Santa brought Carley a kitchen, a baby, and a stroller and pack & play for her baby. Cody got more Yankees stuff than you can imagine. Cody gave me a beautiful jewelry box and my family gave me some new bracelets, necklaces, and ear rings to put in it. We had a great time all being together with the Alyssa's family at my parents home. Family makes the holidays so special.

Telling Santa "Night Night"

I don't know where she learned to talk on the phone while cooking

My new Jewelry Box

One of Cody's new Yankee jackets

Nana and the girls listening to the Night Before Christmas

Nana and Papa gave Carley a Dora car which she loves! And lastly, I love my parent's home over the holidays. Not all people have a reindeer named Chet in their living room.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Carley

How can my baby be two today? Carley is growing up before our eyes. It is just unbelievable. Carley is the light of our lives. She is just a precious girl. She still loves to cuddle and rock at times but it loving being independent and busy, busy. Here are some things I do not want to forget about Carley at this age:

She loves to pretend. She loves her baby dolls, Elmo, her books, her kitchen, and her friends. she loves to pray and name everyone she can think of. She likes to pick out her bows every day and gets upset if I don't do the one she wants. She loves to eat and is a good eater. Her favorite foods are eggs, pancakes, string cheese, apples, green beans, lunch meat, and bananas. She likes to talk on her cell phone and type emails. She knows her shapes, letters, colors, and numbers. When she is doing something bad, she closes the door so you can't see her. She decided not to make potty training easy and also decided giving up her paci was not her thing.

I am so blessed to be her momma and to share these special days with her.

We love you big girl!

Meet the Newest Nelson

This is Elmo Nelson. Elmo was a present to Carley from Granny and Papa (the people who keep her) Since Elmo came home on Wednesday, he is Carley's new friend and truly, Carley thinks he is real. This morning Carley wanted me to brush Elmo's teeth when I brushed hers. Elmo needs a paci when Carley does, a sippy cup when Carley does, etc. It is cute, but getting old for me and Cody. :)

Here are the two young Nelsons....

Watching TV



Eating Dinner


Elmo and Ellie taking a nap.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

It 's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner. I really can't. We have one more week of school and then the big two week break.
Thursday we attempted one of my favorite Christmas traditions. We went to Santaland. Growing up this was always a neat thing for Alyssa and me and my parents. Now it is so special to take Carley. My parents always come along which makes it really special too. This year Carley did not like Santa. It sounds horrible, but it was so cute. She was so dramatic about the whole thing. I loved it.
Santaland is such a neat little place with lots of fun things to see. Carley really enjoyed the experience (except for the Santa part). Her favorite part was the reindeer. Here she is waving to them.

Last night was our class Christmas party. Cody and I had so much fun. We love our sweet friends and are so thankful for them. The food was great and we loved the games and hanging out with our pals. Special thanks to the Bowmans for being such wonderful hosts and for all the hard work that goes into stuff like that.

Monday is a special day as well. My dad has his birthday. I love my dad so much. He is such an encouragement to me in so many ways. He is a wonderful father and grandfather and we are so thankful to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday, Pops.

How many ladies did I want to go off on in the SPM play area?

What a blog title, right? By the way SPM means South Plains Mall, the Lubbock mall.

Friday after school, my good friend Jenn K and I decided to try and have a play date at the mall where we could catch up. We figured it would be a fun, safe place for the Elise and Carley to play and I was excited about holding sweet baby Zane. (who is so precious, by the way) Well, Jenn and I had quite a hilarious hour. First of all, it was packed. All these big kids were left there to play while their moms went shopping. Nice. Do these moms not watch the news? Hello, Amber Alerts? Well anyway, there is a small slide made out of a safari truck that is super easy for Carley and Elise to go down. There were these little kids all over it blocking the steps and laying on the slide and stuff. They would jump in front of our little one year olds and then lay down where the girls couldn't get by. Elise and Carley were getting confused and Carley kept yelling, "Take turns, Carley turn, Take turn". I thought these kids moms would do something, but they didn't so Jenn and I got up and started lining the kids up and getting them to take turns. (yes, I am bossy at play areas too) Jenn and I keep wondering what the mom of the kids is doing. Well, Jenn found her. As you can see in the picture, here she is taking a NAP in the mall in the middle of the day for the whole world to see. Really, is that the best place to nap. Luckily, her friend was diligently watching the kids as she breastfed and dosed off herself. Once again, is this the best place to do this at 3:30 in the afternoon?

So Jenn and I are cracking up and naptime girl and her wild kids. We sit back down and this lady comes up to us with really heavy make up on and says, "Do I know you?". Jenn says, "no". I start laughing and the lady sits down next to us telling us that we are the cutest moms in the mall and she wants to show us her makeup. She then begins a Mary Kay demo. I can't handle it and stand up and go check on the line at the slide that I had beautifully orchestrated. Jenn is stuck there while this lady keeps pulling out sample upon sample. I sat back down and she makes the comment again that we are the cutest moms in the mall.

Let me just say that I am a lot of things, but I never have, nor never will be, the cutest mom in the mall. Ever. After a long day of work my make up was almost 12 hours old and my hair was coming out of its pony tail. My adult acne was shining and the dark circles under my eyes did not contribute to my cuteness in any way. Jenn is a cute mom, but she is also a new mom of two kids two and under who do not sleep at the same time. She looks great, but we were both exhausted.


So, I look at the lady and said, "We are not the cutest moms in the mall." She looked at me, gave us a lipstick sample, and went to prey on another "cute mom" with the same line of, "Do I know you?"

So why do you take your kids to the play area of the mall? To leave them there while you shop? To have them occupied while you sell Mary Kay? To have them busy while you take a little nap?

I literally wanted to yell at all three moms, but instead, my devilish heart knew I would receive some satisfaction in blogging about them behind their back! :) I love the Internet.

My Attitude is Crapitude

This is a random saying I have had for several years. I used to ask my students if their attitude was crapitude when they were grumpy in class. I ask Cody when he is quiet or looks annoyed at me for something. But truly, today my attitude is crapitude. Tis the season to be jolly. Tis the season to focus on others. Tis the season to focus on the blessings we have. Tis the season, right? Then why am I in such a crummy mood.

Here is what I think:

1. I am having trouble being organized. I keep misplacing stuff or forgetting what I have going on. This makes me feel overwhelmed.

2. Work is crazy. This is the end of the semester and it is major stress in my position. I coordinate all the checkpointing and benchmarking of our students. In a world of standardized testing, these things are really important. (whether they should be or not) Try to get all the data in, score it, and analyze it is really mind blowing for me at work right now.

3. My daughter turns two this month! TWO! How did this happen? She is so big. By the way, after weeks of successful potty training, we are at week three of NONE. She doesn't want to potty at all and refuses to do it. Has anyone else had their child regress?

4. The Writers Strike!!!! Why are all of my favorite shows ending for a while?

5. carbs, carbs, sweet carbs, warm carbs. I am totally struggling with will power right now. The weather has been cool and our days and nights have been busy. It is so easy to throw in a frozen pizza or make chili or something like that. Hot Chocolate is the drink of the season and sweet people from work keep bringing up holiday goodies to share. UGH! I feel bigger than the Christmas tree.

Enough griping! Goodness, I am whiney.

There are so many blessings out there and I keep focusing on the negative. Sweet Emma Kate Foster was born today, which is such an answer to prayer. Every day I receive Christmas cards from sweet friends and family from far away.

When we bought our home in May, we asked the sellers to throw in their Christmas lights because they have them fit for the roof. So this weekend Cody put up the lights and they are BEAUTIFUL. Our house has been decorated for the holidays for a week or so now, but this really put on the final touches.

We have been blessed with some really sweet and sincere friends who have really supported us lately during some difficult times. It is hard to feel bummed for long when I am surrounded by some wonderful people like you.

How is your world this week?

Some pictures

Here are two of the family pictures we took in our matching clothes. Are my nieces not the cutest?

And a bunch of people have asked me to do the Look Alike Meter. I did it 4 times. On the first three Carley came out exactly as 50% of each of us. WHAT???? This one I won by 4%? REALLY? Have you seen her father?