tgif and a look to the weekend

it's friday.
what does that do for your heart?
for mine… hmmm… it really doesn't get me jacked up like it used to.
friday means a day of work, maybe some fun or dinner or whatever later, and then saturday comes and it's the day that i get everything else that didn't get touched (saddle up them dust bunnies and riiiiiide 'em into the dustbin!) gets tackled. saturday is a salad bar kinda day… a little something from everything. what makes saturday cool is that it's not monday - friday! but it's certainly not my slacker day or relaxing.
lately the hubs and i have been biking on saturday.

the hubs. and yes, that's a fanny pack. i just try to ride a safe distance behind him…

and if we don't get our rears in gear early enough, it's biking in an oven. not a fan. dislike. ugh.

we bike right alongside the UT gardens. beautiful. (the fact that i took all of these pictures while riding my bike is noteworthy in that i didn't kill myself.)

i could stand to lose a few (okay, a lot) and my activity level has been less than stellar for awhile now. so biking 15-18 miles is a challenge for me. i certainly don't need to add 99.9% humidity and temperatures in the mid-90s to the mix. sure, it's mostly shady, but it's also kinda hilly… so it's no bikeride on the beach!

the ride takes us along fort loudon lake which feeds into the tennessee river. 

henley street bridge heading over to the south side of town. may as well be pluto over there. 

it's weird how we stick to downtown and the west side. 

there are fun water attractions along the river walk. on a hot summer day, it's all i can do not to park my bike directly on top of the fountains! 

only in knoxville would you find groomsmen in orange. or maybe clemson. but still…

to the left is one of our favorite restaurants. to the right would be a massive yacht. 

can't even imagine what that's like on the inside! 

but after sweating and huffing, it sure feels good.

there's a great trail not too far from our house (riding on the streets in this town'll get you kilt for sure) that goes about 8 miles down towards UT right along the river. at the end of the trail (for us… it does continue on and maybe someday i'll be brave enough to check that out) is a great restaurant where we often stop for a lemonade (or in my case a giant diet coke) and a salad. (the challenge is to stiff-arm the cornbread and biscuits!!) it makes hopping back on the bike a lot more fun!
how the wind can be at your face and the way uphill in both directions is beyond me… must be a factor of fatigue.
it's a nice diversion from yardwork, housework or just plain work (the worst part of both of us having home offices).
and knowing i've erased maybe a millimeter of lard off the old caboose isn't bad, either!

crazy crazy

it's crazy busy around here… meaning nothing is new. but MET did take it upon herself to sew a couple of pillows on her own. whoot whoot!
she'll be moving back to tuscaloosa this weekend. how much she moves depends on her apartment, which is currently under construction. thankfully, the construction is finished, the furniture {yay, it's furnished!} is in and everything is ready… except the permits. they're still saying august 8th for move in. we're praying they'll be ready this weekend.
if not, she'll move most of her clothes and some small things with her this weekend, and then practice her nomad skills until the following weekend. she's got rush workshops all week, and will be covered up with rush activities all next weekend (read: mom and dad get all the move in day fun)… so she's really wanting it to be available this weekend (and so are we… we'd at least have another body to help us move in with 100+ degree temperatures).
bamagirl is my plan-ahead-likes-things-tied-in-a-pretty-bow child. and when she can't, she stresses. which is where MET comes in. MET has been a little stressy lately. but MET's just gonna have to get over it. because MET's assistant is way covered up with work and just has to squeeze in MET's projects when she can.

MET's assistant needs a margarita (or several).
boy wonder heads back next weekend too (another reason why moving bamagirl this weekend would be sooooo preferable). but he's only 90 minutes away and he can wait until monday or something. it's just us finding the time to get away from work to do it. he's a strapping young lad (with an able bodied girlfriend) so if worst comes to worst, he can fly solo, but i'd hate for that to happen. it's his first house… and he needs a little MET assistant action. (why should MET get all the fun!?)
i like to move it-move it… i like to move it-move it… i like to… NOT!
praying that i live through the next week or so.

PINT. oh no she dih-unt!!

not to disappoint {although i'm not sure you guys like this as much as i enjoy doing it…} but anyways, here goes. it may be brief this week. i'm buried in work.
you know the drill. if not, check out last week… the links are all there.

yeah. well. so much for being brief. i tried. but once i get started… well, you know. have an awesome tuesday!

martha stewart doesn't live here…

her evil twin does.
and her evil twin doesn't know HALF the stuff martha knows.
martha's evil twin (MET) knows what she wants and is creative… she just doesn't know how to sew very well and has these lofty goals on what her assistant (i.e. me) can do. i'm no seamstress, but know enough to get by. (which, by the way, so does MET, but is reluctant to try)
MET and her assistant did a pretty good job of procrastinating, too. we are now six (five?) days and counting… and the clock is ticking.
loudly.
and MET isn't one who embraces stress. MET gets kinda testy. which makes her assistant kinda crunchy and crumbly. and for some reason, we got on a cake boss kick over the weekend (made easier by the marathon they were having on TLC). watching buddy deal with stress isn't exactly the rule book we need to be modeling our coping mechanisms after.
we're making progress, though…
• her towels are detailed (white towels with yellow trim with brown appliqued flowers) and the bath towels are out to get monogrammed.
• the canvases are painted (MET did it. adorable. MET can paint.)
• bins are packed. accessories ready to move.

but there's still a lot to do.
• tv cabinet needs painting to be finished and distressing.
• large pillows need to be assembled and hand-stitched closed.
• piping for large pillows needs to be finished (ran short and have to make more)
• small pillows need to be assembled. (zippers in back —go me!— so no hand stitching to finish)
• shower curtain needs to have little yellow silk flowers attached and then the stems painted (MET is afraid of this task, so has asked her assistant to help/do)

did i mention that MET's assistant has a mountain of work {for which she actually gets paid} to do?? web site overview and images to get… marketing plans to devise… agendas for meetings to hammer out with people… new product packaging to design… signage packages for new 8 new stores opening {on the same ding-dang day} in less than 6 weeks???

oh, but wait. i think i'll blog about that since i have so much extra time.

whaaaaa whaaaaaa whine whine. get me some cheese to go with that, please.

secretly, i love doing stuff like this. and i wish i had more time to do it. i love working with my hands and assembling and then admiring the results. it's fun! and i love working with MET. she's a slave driver, but good company (when she's not stressing like the cake boss).
i wish i could extend this deadline and enjoy more time with MET. but alas. duty calls. her life has been on hold in tuscaloosa since may. the girl is ready to get back. there's all kinds of exciting stuff awaiting. new apartment. new roomies. new rushies. new sisters. new classes. new experiences. new issues with her her boyfriend who has now transferred to u.alabama birmingham to pursue his football career.
new beginnings…and she can't wait.
the assistant is merely the vehicle to get her there.
i'm okay with that. i've got a front seat view to life in the collegiate lane.
it's a good show.

fertilizer for your brain

carol channing, almost 90, was on foxnews this morning. she looks fantastic, and it's obvious that there is a passion burning deep in her soul—she's like an excited schoolgirl who can't wait to tell a secret… she was bubbling with enthusiasm. it made me smile just to watch her.
i'm even too young to really grasp the greatness that was carol channing… she was a wonderful entertainer of her time.
she's spearheading a national campaign to get the arts back into public school. she said kids are bored stiff in school these days… we need the arts… all of the arts back in the public schools. it's like fertilizer for your brain!
i remember poetry in high school. i remember grumbling over it because sometimes it was hard to understand. but i also remember thinking and seeing more of the author's heart in the prose… like a window into a soul. love letters just wouldn't the same without literary devices like similes! i can't imagine the song of solomon having as great an impact without the use of similes and metaphors.

imagine a world without color. without creative expression.
dull… gray… lifeless.
the beauty of teaching the arts in school is the thrill of experimenting in areas that you wouldn't normally find yourself. areas that you may not be brave enough to test on your own.

plaster of paris.
grande jetes
haikus.

broadway showtunes

conte crayons.

iambic pentameter.
chiaroscuro.
aperture.

the list goes on.

it was a delight to see carol in all her eccentricities… she's a woman with passion. a woman with a zeal to bring the kaleidoscope of creativity to school children. it's the perfect age for discovery and experimentation. for stretching brains beyond mario cart, spongebob and IMing.
rock on with your bad-self carol. i hope your movement catches on like a wildfire fueled by the santa ana winds…

off duty

my part time career as a blog-stalker is having to take time off for work.
lame.

i may continue to write, but i've got to buckle down. work has completely hit the fan. we're going into 8-9 stadiums this fall and 7 of them have opening days on september 4th.

we're pretty excited to be serving up Petro's at arkansas (two locations), university of texas, auburn, vanderbilt, middle tennessee state, tennessee (already there, but a new stand is opening up). we're meeting with alabama tomorrow and ohio state and university of florida both called this week.

it's crazy and a million things need to be done yesterday, but i'm not complaining (okay, just a little) since in todays economic climate… any growth is a cause for a huge celebration.

in the midst of all this… both kids are heading back to school the next two weekends. before bama girl leaves, i have a TON of sewing i need to finish for her. it'll get done.
sleep is highly overrated, right?
so until i come back up for air… go team(s)!

electronic parenting

it began with whispers of his future while being rocked and nursed.
it continued on with encouragement to use your words and we don't use legos for throwing.
do you have any nice asking words?
when someone gives you something, say thank you.
please make your bed at your friend's house. don't leave your towels for someone else to pick up.
leave someone's house looking nicer than when you arrived.
coaching, encouraging happened during breakfast, around the dinner table and oftentimes in the car, where we spent an inordinate amount of time traveling to a from numerous sports practices and back and forth to school.
my favorite part about our time spent in the car were the times i had to speak truth into my children's lives.
a captive audience.
little eye contact.
leaving a conversation too early might result in an e.r. visit. {it's hard to storm out of a moving vehicle. heh heh.}
now that our children are, for the most part, grown and gone, our roles as parents have not ceased. they've simply evolved… must as our parenting had evolved as they grew from toddlers to school age and then to teens.
our parenting has gone from face-to-face to electronic.
i now get picture texts to see if i approve of a new purchase. a post to my wall on facebook. but mostly, it's my phone that gets a work out.
believe it or not, texting is a great way to offer up encouraging messages. a tiny devotion. a simple thinking of you and i love you.
since it's summer, we get some face-time, but they're still out of the house more than they're in it {not including sleeping}. and when they're in it, there's usually an entourage present. so it's harder to have those moments where it's appropriate to encourage and challenge.
so i text. or call.
just this morning, i texted boy wonder to handle a sticky situation at work with honesty and integrity, even though doing so might result in disappointment. doing the right thing isn't always the easy thing… living the life that Jesus has called us to is sometimes hard. but in the end, it is ALWAYS the right way. confronting someone is scary… but if i can positively encourage him to love well and live right, hopefully he can learn to deal with uncomfortable situations with confidence and integrity. {fear can be such a crippling thing.}
so yeah. parenting in the 21st century. i'm doing my best to speak their language the way they want to speak it. i'm evolving… or at least trying to.

hello, tuesday!! it's gonna be a great day!

you know the drill. it's tuesday, and you know what that means!
i get to work out all my frustrations on a post it. i think it only took me 22 of them today.
c'mon, you know me. i'm rarely short-winded.
so on we go. thanks to supah for hosting PINT.

there's an ongoing invitation to head over there. you may not want to see anyone else's, but supah is worth it. don't know where she comes up with stuff every week.
and make your own post its here:
on to the notes: