Craftermath

Welcome to the world of random; I have been going 100 mph for the past several weeks. This should come as no surprise.

During a recent trip to the wonderland known as Michael's craft store Jamie and I were wandering about and discovered yet another hobby...necklace making! They literally have a MILLION beads and accessory options. I had two people to get presents for, and with so many choices it was difficult to pick a theme and make it come to life. After much deliberation (and staying until they almost dimmed the lights) here is what I picked out:

For Mama I chose a "crazy, whimsical, fun" theme. I loved the blues, greens, and especially the colored beads. Jamie even showed me how to use some of the beads to make earrings. Mama just loved it! And you can save and use the "craft"ermath (extra pieces) to mix, match, and make future jewelry!

Next up was a present for Dorothy. As soon as I saw this cameo piece, I knew I wanted to incorporate it. I especially loved the clasp on her necklace. I think it turned out really well!

Dorothy and I also went to see Columbia's Town Theatre production of Grease. It was awesome and so well done!!! The cast and singing were incredible.

Of course I had a stash of candy in my pocketbook, and every time I opened a piece the characters stopped talking and made it obvious...or at least I thought so....

Mental note: invent silent wrappers that don't scream, "HEY, OVER HERE, I'M EATING CANDY!!!" This would be the perfect solution for church, school, plays, business meetings, or any other occasion where being quiet is a requirement. I think I may be onto something here.

So...we've all heard the saying "when it rains, it pours." That couldn't be more true recently...

Last week while going out for lunch with Jamie I started hearing a metal sound when braking. Thank the LORD for my sweet Papa, who was kind enough to follow me to the repair shop and wait with me for the verdict. Problem? Damaged brake pads. Cost? You betcha! Ouch. It's probably a result of all the mornings when I'm flying to work and am forced to slam on brakes suddenly for a multitude of reasons.

As if that didn't hurt my wallet enough, our downstairs toilet has been running for at least two months and drives Ryan CRAZY. I sort of decided that it wasn't all that bad. After all, Brookstone sells items that make beach and crashing wave sounds. I began to think of it as a free gift.

Ryan, however, was so fed up with it that he decided to call a plumber. Upon inspection of our little issue the guy discovered that a couple pieces of plastic, etc. needed to be repaired...to the tune of $250!!!! Now THAT is what you call crap. Why am I not a plumber again???

That small fortune to fix a TOILET. Are they made of gold???

Oh, but that wasn't all my friends. You see, it's been pretty hot outside lately, and all the little bugs from the woods have decided that our house is (literally) a cool place to hang out. I ended up calling ghostbusters the exterminator to save the day. The ants in the kitchen were one thing, but a roach or two made for a VERY unhappy Katharine. I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I have developed an ABNORMAL fear of those things.

Let's face it. They're UGLY. I won't question our Creator, but holy moly. Everything about a roach scares me. They have like, EIGHT legs for Heaven's sake! EIGHT. And their bodies look like, dark, flat, spaceships of doom. And the antennae! UGH! Plus they crawl at the speed of light (I guess so with that many legs). And the flying ones? They'll give me a heart attack.

Dear God, can the only insects in Heaven please be lady bugs and butterflies?

A couple of weekends ago Ryan's Mom & Aunt Jane were kind enough to come to Columbia for the weekend for some heavy duty yard work. You may remember when Ryan brought home a back hoe recently to extract some of our bushes. Well, we worked LONG and HARD for two days straight to re-do that yard. While our chances of winning yard of the month are about as likely as winning the lottery, we are certainly pleased with how far we've come.

We first had to do some shopping around to figure out what plants we wanted. Here are a few of the ones we picked out:

Gardenias- they smell so sweet!

Lorapetalums

Yellow daylillies

Flowers that look like rock candy...not sure what you call these...

Golden Euonymous shrubs

When Ryan told me we were going shrubbery shopping, I cleaned out my trunk and laid the seats down. I emphasized that we needed plenty of room in my SUV and his truck. It was as if he didn't understand me. I told him that I didn't want to make two trips. What was I missing?? Upon our arrival at Lowe's he placed something green in the cart, and our conversation went a little something like this...

"Ryan, what's that? We didn't come to buy house plants."
"It's a shrub."
"A shrub?! That tiny thing? What a rip off!"
"Katharine, they're not fully grown when you buy them..."

Mystery solved. Call me crazy, but I thought we were going to ride home that afternoon with massive bushes in the car. Whoops.

Here are some of the weekend's esteemed yard workers. You'll note that the cameraman is taking a break.

Before...

After! (In preliminary growth stages, of course.)

While the yard is not quite finished, we've come a long way.

It's amazing what a little work can do!

While Ryan hosted a guy's weekend, I enjoyed a wonderful and (much needed) relaxing Memorial Day weekend in Dillon. I always enjoy watching a good movie or two with my parents while at home. After all, the entertainment always far exceeds what's going on during the movie...

Case in point: The movie starts and an informational tidbit flashes on the screen.
"19th Century England..."
"Katharine, you do know that's the 1800s, right?"
(Disgusted) "Yes, Mama, yes. I know."

Every two seconds one of us wants the television louder.
"Are you two deaf, or can you just not hear?!?" - Daddy

Every single movie we watch turns into question and answer hour. Mama does her best Diane Sawyer impression at the most inopportune moments.

No sooner after the trumpet intro and "20th Century Fox presents..." she asks, "What's this movie about? Can I see the case? In what city does it take place?"

Five minutes in she declares, "I'm confused. I don't understand this character, plot, etc."
"Just watch, Mama, and you'll find out. We don't know any more than you do at this point."

After waking up from a 20 minute snooze she will no doubt ask, "Huh? What happened? I thought these two were together?"
"They got in an argument, Mama, remember? And then such and such happened."
"Oh, oh, okay. I must've been asleep."

And inevitably, during the most critical part of the movie- "The murderer is..."
"Is anyone else cold? It's cold in here."
"Mama, we just missed what they said!!!" Thank the Lord for DVD rewind....sheesh!

Among several fun outings during the weekend, one was a lunch date with Brandy, Casey, and little miss Lacey the Rockstar. Isn't she precious???

I also got to see Meagan!!! I was so thrilled to spend time with her : ) After our delicious lunch on Sunday (at King's for the second day in a row) I attended a drop-in at the Hayes's to honor newlyweds, Jordan & Anna Berry!

And then....JAY CAME HOME for the summer!!! I hadn't seen him since CHRISTMAS, because he has been in graduate school. I am SO glad to have him back until August!!! : D

We squeezed in as much fun as possible this weekend. On Sunday night we watched Mission Impossible III at the Lewis's.

And Memorial Day was spent playing games of all kinds:

Our family game playing is absolutely hilarious. We need to be videoed. A few memorable things from this game session are as follows:

We all had to write down the parts of an apple. Jay was my partner, and we got one point for each matching answer. He had the typical list: core, stem, skin, etc. I put "sides" for one of my answers, to which he said, "Sides?!? Apples don't have sides! They're ROUND!" I suppose in Katharine land apples look like this:

Another one of our games contained a plastic brain that you have to grab at certain points. My natural tendency to dominate the conversation began with, "Listen up everyone, I'm going to explain all about the brain" to which my Dad responded, "Oh, I HAVE GOT to hear this!!!" You just had to be there.

It's also hilarious when my Dad inevitably misunderstands the questions for a particular round and then gets all disgruntled when he realizes that his answers don't apply and he won't get any points. Hahahaha.

We also died laughing while reading our lists of "places to have a children's party." Most of us put places like Chuck E Cheese, Monkey Joe's, McDonalds, or the skating rink, and my dear father put "the garage." Oh, whoopee! Can you imagine the excitement on a child's face when they get that invitation in the mail? "Oh, wow, Mom, the Carlson's are having a Birthday party in their garage!! It says here that we get to wash cars, sweep, and select various items for a Goodwill trip." Too funny.

A few weeks ago I provided music for the funeral (better yet, life celebration) of Mrs. Hettie Lou Lee. She and her husband, Bull, left a legacy in their home, at First Baptist Church, on the football field, in our community, and numerous other places. Through opening their hearts, home, and lives to hundreds if not thousands of people, they were living proof of Christ's grace and love. It got me thinking that I want to leave a legacy when I leave this earth, whether that's in a week or 60+ years. I want to know that I held strongly to my faith even when tested.

One time I heard a question that will always stick with me. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? If you ask yourself this question every day I think it will help you stay on the straight and narrow path.

During a recent sermon a verse was referenced that really hit home: "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." Galations 1:10

We cannot serve two masters. What a world it would be if we could all remember this verse in every situation. Don't be silent with your faith.

And that's all, folks. What I would do to have a real summer again! At least I have a very exciting week ahead, and I can't wait to tell you about it next time!!!


God bless you,

Social calendar status: FULL

What an eventful couple of weeks this has been!

My Mom & Dad came to town one night recently for another one of his Doctor’s appointments. It went well! Here we are at Nanny & Papa’s, with me being my usual self.

We had a delicious dinner (Ziti for the "adults" and chicken tenders for me) followed by watching over an hour of "Just for laughs" pranks on YouTube. They are absolutely HILARIOUS!!! And totally addicting.

Last week Ryan & I partook in a cleaning frenzy. To help us whistle while we worked was the little cricket in our attic. We don’t know where in the world it came from or how it got there, but it is seriously as loud as a bird. I have affectionately named him Jimmy and have considered taking a plate of food up there.

What do crickets eat anyway?

Speaking of insects...a few nights ago I went downstairs in the dark to get a glass of water. I was getting some ice when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Satan in the form of a cockroach about a yard away. I. FREAKED. OUT!!!! It's a toss up between who was more scared of who at that moment. That disgusting specimen starting flailing around and perched as if he was going to pounce on me at any minute. I looked around for anything I could find to defeat this creature and found some spray starch. He didn't like that; it stiffened his legs, but he still managed to start flying for a moment, after which I screamed bloody murder. Poor Ryan was upstairs asleep with a headache. No doubt...

Anyway, I spent the next fifteen minutes of my life perched on top of a chair holding a swiffer mop like a baseball bat for protection.

The little heathen fled off somewhere, and I never found him...but that didn't stop me from leaving Ryan a proper warning for when he woke up:

Spiders, scorpions, and roaches are some of my absolute biggest fears. If I see one of these I get panic stricken.

Better not get too comfortable, buddy. You're not welcome here...

A couple of Saturdays ago I heard some ruckus outside. I opened the front door to see what all the commotion was about and found Randolph "Paul Bunyan" Carlson hacking away at the shrubbery. Absolutely hilarious.

Queen/Mama Ann was clearly taking out some of her frustrations on the landscape as well...

That afternoon Meagan, Dawson, Noah, and I headed to Dillon’s Main Street Celebration.

I think Dawson has a career in traffic directing.

He had a blast playing the games!

This is the infamous shirt that I was wearing inside out and didn’t realize until I got home… Noah, why didn't you tell me?

Maybe that's why he looked confused...

Later, little Dawson ordered a snow cone, and it took the cashier at least 10 minutes to crush and prepare the ice correctly after fussing with a machine whose instructions evidently required an engineering degree. Now I know why that snow cone cost $2; the entertainment fee was included.

At least the sugar in Dawson's treat provided enough energy to do these things:

We had a great time!

That evening, many of the Moody family members and friends celebrated Granny Earl’s 80th Birthday!!!

Here are some highlights of the event:

We cooked out and had a lot of fun. When I “worked” at Kiwanis I would always look forward to Aunt Robin’s famous chili. It is so good that I really only eat a hot dog when I can have her chili to go along with it. She needs to sell it!

Nice photobomb, Ryan!

Anyone who spilled something had to spend the night in the giant port-a-potty.

I challenge anyone to have a conversation with Uncle Danny and not laugh within 10 seconds...

Kevin must've been wearing some special cologne!

Happy Birthday to a special lady!

This is a picture board Aunt Missy made of Granny Earl through the years. I told her she should've cut a hole in the center so that Granny could poke her head through for the year 2012: here I am now!

Granny Earl & her children

Most of the grandkids. One of these is not like the others...

Yes, I let Carson DRIVE me around on the four wheeler. Honestly, it would have been just as dangerous with either of these drivers...

Life is about improvisation. Case in point: Autrey finding two majorly huge ant piles. How do you get rid of ants safely quickly and effectively? Well, a little gasoline and fire will do the trick. I can add this incident to my "Only Autrey" list.

On Sunday April 30th, two of my FAVORITE people-the incredible Ricky & Peggy Davis- catered lunch at my Dad's church. They are more than caterers; they make dreams come true!!!

It seems like just yesterday when we were planning my wedding reception!

***************************************************************

Every weekend that I travel, I leave something behind. It. never. fails. I figure however with the amount of things that I pack, I'm doing pretty well to LEAVE only one thing... Ryan doesn't necessarily agree.

Last week it was my Macbook, without which I am lost. One afternoon my sweet father and I met halfway between Florence and Columbia so that I could have my computer. Here he is saving the day!!! He earned major points for this.

Another recent fun outing was a dinner at TGI Friday's with Jamie, Chris, Dorothy, and her sweet coworker, Jennifer, followed by seeing this movie:

During the movie some girls a few rows behind us kept yelling. Disruptive? Yes, but at least legal. An hour into the movie we heard glass bottles crashing everywhere, after which the girls ran out of the theater. Ten minutes later a random man comes stumbling in with what looked like a police hat. At first glance I thought, "Man, those girls are busted," but then I realized that this gentleman had some issues of his own. We watched timidly as he criss-crossed his way through the isle and then fell into a seat. Soon after one of the theater employees came to escort him out. Talk about EVENTFUL!!! Our $10 movie tickets got us more than we bargained for... somehow I feel like bizarre things like this only happen to people around me... I am the common denominator among the chaos.


This past weekend was Ali and Austin's wedding!!! It was such a special time for everyone, and everything was so beautiful! Here we are on Friday before the rehearsal dinner...

Thank Heavens we left Columbia extra early, because this is what we came upon when approaching Latta...stand still traffic.

It was great to see Ashley!

You may remember my post about student teaching in Mrs. Paulette's class during my senior year. I love this family!!!

The beautiful Abingdon Manor!

********************************************************************************
On Saturday afternoon I attended a very heart felt funeral service for Kim Curry. Please keep my dear friends Jamie, Laura, and their families in your prayers in the loss of their sister. Please especially pray for Kim's two girls whom she loved dearly. I recently read that those who experience great loss while on earth will have an intimacy with the Lord that few will know. I pray that everyone in Kim's family will take this opportunity to lean on Him and realize that our eternal life is not here. No matter how tragic, pain and suffering are temporary if we are born again and live in His word.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39

********************************************************************************

At approximately 6:00 PM on Saturday evening the beautiful Ali Rogers married Austin Morrell.

It was a beautiful wedding, and I was honored and thrilled to be a part of it.

Some awesome FBC folks : )

Hey, Ellie!!!

Mrs. Paulette Rogers, the Queen of the day!

Funny how the oldest one in this picture looks like she belongs in the youth group...

Congratulations, Ali!!! I am SO thrilled for you. And Shelley is an AWESOME director.

My sweet husband of 11 months! : )

Elizabeth is next!!!

Sunday was Mama's Birthday! We had a lovely lunch at the Charcoal grill, preceded by (of course) photographic documentation.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Mama who always does for everyone else before herself!

One of her many famous quotes: "I wanna do something I wanna do...ME!" This is usually in response to one of our immediate family members calling and asking her to stop what she's doing because of a crisis.

Now meet Mr. Always Right Senior and Junior as they assemble a patio table and chair set. No instructions are needed; they were born with the intellect.

Can you tell that I haven't gotten much sleep lately??? At least I have some vacation time to look forward to in the near future, thank the LORD! I hope you have a wonderful week, and God bless you!


Until my next crisis or social event,