The Silver Lining of Hurricane Ike (for me anyway!)

I found out last Thursday that one of my blogging buddies, Jayme, from down near Houston was evacuating to get away from Hurricane Ike. And where, oh where, do you think she and her family evacuated to? My little town, that's where! We were able to meet Friday for lunch. Here we are at Applebee's, just finishing up. And if you read my previous post, you'll remember I mentioned a shirt that I will never, ever, ever wear again because I've now seen this picture and come to realize that my honkin' arms are ginormous and probably shouldn't see the light of day again!! I mean, hel-lo! I really must speak to Randey about letting me leave the house dressed like this. He should know better (ha!). Anywho, lunch was great fun - Jayme and I seemed to be able to talk like we'd known each other for ages! Then we did some shopping together. You all know how I hate shopping, right? But...I'm a good friend so I soldiered on along through store after store in order to show an out-of-towner a good time when they're visiting our fair little hamlet. Oh the sacrifices I make for others...(heavy sigh). Here's Jayme at Ross. We found these baskets and, for some reason, we both thought they were quite funny. They're "labeled". Wonder if the basket police will come take you away if they find you've put "books" in the "stuff" basket or vice-versa? And what's with that "laundry" basket? Laundry for who? Little, bitty, tiny smurf-like people? Here's Jayme and I at On the Border the next day. Yes. We enjoyed lunch a couple of times. So sue us. I have to say, I really enjoyed lunch this day. I luvs me some Mexican food, yessir I do. I love it so much, in fact, that I really, really need to just keep clear of it or I'll undo all the good I've done with Weight Watchers these past four months. lol Cheese and onion enchiladas..... ahhhhhhhhh. Here's a picture of Jayme's daughter, Saira, playing Randey's X-Box (and that's a whole other story we'll call The X-Box Debacle. I'll tell you about that at a later time). Jayme brought Saira over to our house when she came over to use the computer. Saira is a perfectly charming little child with the most wonderful accent and speech patterns. If you could hear her in person, you'd know what I mean. I really enjoyed talking with her. She's great. I also met Jayme's husband Chad and her son Ryan (who has perfect teeth, just let me say that. I know, it's a weird thing to mention, but his teeth were that good! lol). I know that Hurricane Ike was not a happy event by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm grateful that it allowed me to meet Jayme and her family in person. That's my little "silver lining" for this particular natural disaster. By the way, her house and property sustained very little damage by all accounts, although they are still without power and water, etc. Their little town did take a huge hit and I know it'll be a long road ahead of them before they are anywhere near normal again. Keep them all in your thoughts and prayers, if you would.
Here's what else I've been up to. Last year, my daughter-in-law Jodie, decided to do a fall themed tree to celebrate Autumn. This year, I decided to do one, too. What do you think of it?
Here's a full shot of the room. As you can see, it's a small tree. Just enough to make the room glow at night. I love it. Just looking at it puts me in a better frame of mind (geez...does that mean I'm easily influenced? Yeah. Probably. That's okay, though...I can deal with that knowledge. lol).
As some of you know (and thank you so much for your kind words about it!) Friday was my birthday. My son Kaleb, got me this:
House, Season Four! Yay! I love that show. My daughter got me a pair of sandals and a kitchen clock, both of which I need to take pictures of. I liked the clock so much, I hung it up right away and then forgot to snap a photo of it when I was preparing for this post! I'll fix that soon.
Then I got this in the mail yesterday from Annie. I was so touched by her kindness. I was sort of pouting about how I didn't hear from either of my parents on my birthday and was feeling kind of down about it when Randey walked in carrying the mail. Thank you, Annie. Talk about great timing. (I should clarify that I didn't really expect to hear from my parents on my birthday. My mom and I have issues and my dad's memory isn't what it used to be so not having either of them call was not a surprise. I was just being moody about it, that's all!) Anyway, I appreciate the gift and will get good use out of the book, I'm sure.
This is what I woke up to Friday morning:
Roses, a card and a gift. I was kind of surprised because the laptop was our birthday present to each other (Randey's birthday is 6 days after mine). But oh man, aren't these flowers pretty? I love them. And the card was just wonderful, too. By the way, the card says "Happy Birthday Sissy" because everyone in my whole entire family calls me Sissy, including my husband. That's because we were introduced to each other by my sister and his brother, who are married to each other. If Randey ever called me "Kari", I wouldn't know who he was talking to. lol Just goes to show you, people...you can get used to being called darn near anything. I've been called "Sissy" for so long, it doesn't even phase me anymore. :)
Want to know what was in the package from Randey? This thing:

A Jim Shore Halloween cat. I adore this cat. It's so perfect for this time of year and just makes me happy to look at it. I discovered Jim Shore stuff last year. I don't like everything out there that's made by him, but certain things just really appeal to me, for some reason. Like some of the cats. The ones with words like "freedom", "patience", "vigilance" and "curiosity". Love them! I also have a little chihuahua (in honor of Sydney the Wonder Dog, of course!) and a Jiminy Cricket with the words "Let your conscience be your guide!", a saying I've long been fond of, across the bottom of it and a Little Red Riding Hood "Granny" figure. I get a lot of pleasure from just looking at those figures. Don't know why, so don't ask. lol Anywho, my beloved daughter-in-law Jodie, knows of my love of some things Jim Shore. So...being the great gift-giver that she is, she found this to send me (and yeah, I just know she was the one responsible...Nick would have bought me a Star Wars thing instead! ha!) by the way, I'd have loved a Star Wars thing, too! Nick does know his mother pretty well. lol :
Isn't this witch and cat adorable? And doesn't it just put you in the mood for autumn and Halloween and cooler weather??? I love it. I don't think I'd actually seen this figure before. It's totally cool and I'm so glad she picked it out. (Check out the face on the broom. Cracks me up!) But the absolute most awesomely wonderful Jim Shore item ever made is this:
I had actually seen this in a Hallmark store here in town and came so close to buying it for myself. But I didn't. I've been spending way too much money on just "me" lately so I talked myself out of it. (See? I can exercise self control occasionally!) Then I received it from Jodie and Nick. Talk about being all smiles!!! I have spent more time just staring at this beautiful cornucopia. All the little details, the colors, the workmanship. I, quite simply, love love love this thing. Click on the picture to enlarge. You'll see what I mean. It's just darn cool to look at. Thank so much Jodie, Nick and Kara. I'm totally pleased with these two things. You spent too much, of course, but well heck...I'm thrilled with them anyway. Thank you guys! And thanks also to Susan, my BFF, for the gift card. I'll let you know what I end up getting with it. Decisions, decisions.

I guess that's about it for today. I have my weigh in tomorrow at my Weight Watchers meeting. I'm tired of agonizing over it, though. I've decided to take a totally radical approach this week. I'm gonna wear jeans and a heavier shirt and I might even leave my shoes on when I hop my butt up on that dreaded, evil weight measuring device those people call "scales". I know it'll make those scales say I've gained at least 3 pounds, but just think of how virtuous I'll feel next week when I wear my normal (and not nearly as heavy!) regular clothes. Yeah, so it's cheating. I don't care. I need to shake things up a bit and this seems like a perfectly harmless way to do that. I hope to get around to some blogs again soon. I've read a few, but need to go back and leave a comment now. But first I have to cook dinner for my dearly beloved. He's headed out of town Thursday so it's looking good for dinner out tomorrow night. But tonight, it's just me, slaving away in the kitchen (another heavy sigh). See you guys tomorrow!