New Do!

Today I walked into the salon and said give me something fun. This is what I ended up with! Take into consideration that this photo was taken at the end of the day and the make-up is about gone!!! I am excited for the new style. I still have to get used to it. I am sure I will use too much shampoo in the shower and I will go through a transition period wondering why I did what I did. It is only hair. Right? It will grow back. Soon???

Kathy, if you happen to stumble on my blog, I think I only missed you at the salon by a few days. One of these times we will run into each there!!!

Did I say that I love this Mac. I used my Photo Booth and snapped a few shots posting this one - just like that!

Christmas Concert

Peanut had his Christmas choir concert this evening. They sounded pretty good. The way his class is structured each voice section has choir at a different period. The teacher claims that helps them learn the parts as they don't have down time while the other sections learn there parts. They had a rehearsal last night and then sang for us tonight. It was fun to watch and listen to. It brought back memories of singing in high school. I remember singing in middle school, but not performing.

Here is the seventh grade chorus getting ready to perform. Holiday music is always invigorating energizing or re-energizing for the fast approaching holidays!



Peanut is about center with a green shirt on. We decided he needs a trim before we head to Cincinnati!

An Earthquake on the Madris Fault

Tonight we finally got around to building our gingerbread house. The kids were so excited. Years ago we bought a kit and built one. This year I bought another kit. It was well worth it. Who knew how much entertainment it would provide.


Here is our production. Pumpkin made the man on the left. I made the gingerbread woman in the middle. It is supposed to be a blue skirt she is sporting. Peanut made the man on the right. Can you see the jersey number one? It all comes back to sports with him.

Here is the front of the house. Peanut decorated the snowman in LSU colors noting the purple and gold. The dad who did not want to participate decorated the man on the right. There is some creativity deep down inside him!

Here is the close up of the one made by the big guy. It took some persuasion to get him to put the Outside magazine down. Can you imagine?

Here is the LSU snowman. The icing is a bit thick!!

Then, the most surprising thing happened. We do live on the Madris fault line. We actually carry earthquake insurance on our residence - just in case. Our real house was not affected, but the Gingerbread house seemed to experience some sort of disaster. The boys tried to save it. All their efforts just made it worse. Don't worry! They weren't too sad. They had a ball with all the icing and candy. It was great entertainment.

I was going to use the house for a centerpiece for my lunch on Monday. I am going to have to come up with something else as the house is now out in the big green thing with wheels!

I do think it is nights like these where the memories will be priceless. We are off to bed. Here's to sugar plum fairies dancing in our dreams!

Clematis Blooms Again

It is very drab here. It rained for a few days. The grass is brown - as Bermuda grass does not stay green all year.

When Buddy and I turned the corner and came down the driveway, I was greeted by the beautiful Clematis. I am shocked is looks so pretty. It looked gorgeous this summer. In September, it was dead and dry. I trimmed it all the way back to the ground. I had no idea it would give an encore performance. It is not nearly as big as it was earlier in the year. But, the flowers brighten the landscape. There are more blooms on the plant. Who knew? One of nature's surprises!

House Slippers - Almost!

I am so excited! I just finished one slipper and am more than half way finished knitting the mate. These are the coolest things. I can't wait to felt them and see how they really turn out. I hope to finish the mate tomorrow.

I already have ideas for the next pair. I want to figure out the sizing before I go too crazy. I will be sure to post a picture of the finished pair when I get them done!

Decorations in the House

This weekend was very productive! On Friday afternoon, I got the lights up outside. We had to modify the plan this year as our two baby white-lighted deer did not survive the time in the attic. Both deer lost a string or more of lights. There was no way to easily re-string the lights. After 7 years, they lived a good life when they came out under our two maple trees. I hope to take a picture of the outside soon:)

On Saturday, we got all the stuff down from the attic. It was great. We all took a job and forged ahead. Adam did not help too much. He went to a sleepover on Friday night and was still awake at 4:15am. Why do parents do that? That is the topic for another post!!!! The end decoration is beautiful. I love putting the ornaments with the boys' pictures on them up on the tree. It brings back wonderful memories. It is a great way to see how much they have grown over the years. I also got my dishes all switched around. When you have Christmas plates, you just have to make sure you use them! The boys love having the holiday placemats with the "snow" in the middle. It routinely snows after dinner right in the middle of the kitchen.


We had a Christmas party for my younger son's soccer team this afternoon. I am the social chair and got to plan all the games. A team member hosted the party at their house. They have the perfect set up for group of boys. We played a few relay games and then the boys had a present exchange. I was a bit nervous - not knowing how the boys or parents would judge my efforts. I got a few compliments and it seemed like the boys had a blast. I am going to re-use some of the ideas for our last PRE class next weekend. It is such a relief to have the party behind me.

After the party, the boys went on to Peanut's indoor soccer game. I got to go to my yarn store's open house. I am a relatively new knitter, but absolutely love it. I get a kick out of seeing what the yarn can to. It amazes me that one piece of yarn can be transformed into so many things. I bought some yarn - all on sale, of course. And, I bought two books. One is a unique way of knitting and another is for socks. They are both something I hope to accomplish in the New Year. It was such a treat to wander around the store and rack my brain creatively. I was able to make it home in time to heat up some left overs for dinner.

I feel at ease going into this week because I have NOT looked at the calendar yet! I just want to finish up the shopping, start the wrapping and keep on knitting...

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

This is a great version of the Twelve Days of Christmas! The group sounds great, the song is entertaining and the eye candy is calorie-free!!!

New Yorker Page-a-Day Calendar

Each year we buy each member of our family a daily calendar. This year we hit the jackpot with the New Yorker cartoon calendar. There are some great cartoons. Sometimes they have become the topic of conversation at dinner trying to interpret the picture. It is interesting how four people look at the same drawing and get four different meanings from it.

I saw this cartoon today and just started laughing. I don't have my scanner set. I apologize for the blurry picture. I just took a picture of it and it is hard to get the camera to focus clearly on the cartoon. Why does metabolism do that? My husband got a chuckle out of it too. With the holidays approaching, I will just stay away from the scales!

Rhodes Singers

Last night, I got to attend the Rhodes Singers Christmas concert at an old Episcopal church here in town. It was such a treat. I went with two other friends from the Wolf River Singers. It was a girls' night out! We grabbed a quick dinner beforehand.

The concert was just magical. The college "kids" did a great job. It brought back memories from my time in the Vanderbilt concert choir. The voices were so pure and angelic. The selection of songs was wonderful. They ranged in style and in languages. My favorite was Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre. He is a phenom composer - young and amazing. We sang one of his songs last spring and I hope we get the chance to sing more. The concert ended with Where Riches are Everlastingly by Bob Chilcott. I loved the catchy refrain, "I pray you be merry and sing with me, In worship of Christ's nativity." I am going to search for that one to see if I can find it on itunes. I think it says so much in this time of advent.

Madrigal 2007

This weekend the Wolf River Singers held their annual Madrigal on Friday and Saturday nights. I am so glad to be a part of the group. This is my second year and my confidence level was much higher this year. Are the voice lessons paying off? I got to wear the costume my sister made me last year. It was one of the prettiest there. On Saturday, I found a necklace adding the perfect touch to entire costume. Unfortunately, there are not any close up pictures to show off the outfit.


My husband took some pictures on Saturday night. Need I say more? I love him dearly, but photography is not one of his strengths. Did we want to look at the back of heads? I am thankful some others took photos too.

The Madrigal is a wonderful way to start off the holiday season. We started the night off with Psallite, unigenito (Singt and klingt). The song was in latin and German. It was a wonderful way to kick off the night. I wanted to share the words and translation as we did not sing in English. We tackled the Latin and German well.

Latin text
German text

Psallite Psallite unigenito
Christo Dei Filio, Christo Dei Filio,
Redemptori Domino, puerulo, iacenti in praesepio.
Ein kleines Kindelein liegt in dem Krippelein;
Alle liebe Engelein dienen dem Kindelein, und singen ihm fein,
Psallite Psallite unigenito
Christo Dei Filio, Christo Dei Filio,
Redemptori Domino, puerulo, iacenti in praesepio.


English translation

Sing your psalms to Christ,
the begotten Son of God,
sing your psalms to the Redeemer.
To the Lord, the little Child
lying in a manger bed.
A small Child lies in the manger.
All the blessed angels fall before Him
and sing.
Sing your psalms to Christ,
the begotten Son of God,
sing your psalms to the Redeemer.

My favorite song was Ava Maria by Franz Beibl. I not sure it can get much prettier. The piece is arranged with a trio and the choir. It was gorgeous. We had some sleeping tunes and some fun tunes too. My husband's favorite was Ding-a-Ding-a-Ding by Greg Gilpin. The choir resembles hand bells - sort of. It is fast and fun.

As stated at the end of the concert, "..let music journey through your soul, To others hearts and make them whole. So may our love and songs this eve, Bless thy soul as we take our leave. You can't ask for much more!