Happy Birthday to Gigi!!!

Jeremy, Jackson, Anderson and I want to wish Jeremy's mom, Janet (aka Gigi) a very Happy Birthday today. We hope she has an amazing day! We love her so very much, and can't wait to see her again in a few weeks!

Happy Birthday to you Janet!!! 

Working Out...Beach Style

So we joined the YMCA the other day. Jeremy and I have been talking for a long time about getting a gym membership, especially in light of our upcoming St. Thomas trip, but the biggest issues were cost and child care. The cheaper gyms don't offer childcare, which is definitely a big need for us if we are both going to be able to work out.

So after we weighed our options awhile, we settled on the YMCA. They have child watch hours and a really cool indoor playground for the boys to play on. We pay a little more per month, but hopefully it will pay off this summer with the pools because then I can add lap swimming to my regimen.

So only a few days into this new workout experience for me, I found myself heading down to the beautiful Alabama gulf coast for work, which of course means that I'm not able to go to the YMCA. Add that to the amazing food down here, and it could add up to a recipe for disaster.

However, so far I've managed to fight temptation. I got a grilled chicken salad for dinner last night (with dressing on the side and only used a little bit), and I got up and went to the hotel gym this morning for some weights, elliptical and a mile on the treadmill. After that, I headed down to the beach and walked for another 30 minutes.

I'm still going to eat far more calories down here with this yummy food, but at least I can say I worked out, right?!? Y'all have a great day!

Beach Bound

 

I'm packing up my bags and bright and early tomorrow morning I'm heading down to beautiful Gulf Shores, AL for a work conference. I'll be down there until Friday. It's supposed to rain all day today, and I'm expecting 60ish degrees, sun and no chance of rain down at the beach. It's a tough part of my job, but someone has to do it! Wish Jeremy luck as he holds down the fort at home with work, two kids, school, daycare, laundry, meals and whatever else crops up while I'm gone!

 

I may be in and out the next few days, but I'll check in as much as I can! Y'all have a great week!

 

 

St. Thomas, Here We Come!!!

We've been waiting on pins and needles since December to find out, but late yesterday afternoon it was confirmed; Jeremy was one of the lucky people in his company to qualify for an all-inclusive vacation to Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort on the island of St. Thomas in April for the two of us! Jeremy worked so hard last year to get qualified for the trip to Las Vegas, and he worked even harder this year to make the cut. Jeremy will also get a new diamond in his Century Club ring. I'm so proud of him, and can't wait to be able to have an amazing vacation with my amazing husband. Way to go, Jeremy!!

 

 

 

This trip is going to be amazing, and I can't wait to sink my toes into the gorgeous beaches in St. Thomas! April needs to hurry up and get here!



Happy Birthday, Jeremy!!!

Jackson, Anderson and I want to wish Jeremy a very Happy 34th Birthday today. Jeremy is such a good husband and father, and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. We love him so very much, and hope that he has an amazing day!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!!!!

It's A Girl!!!

 

 

 

Welcome to the world my sweet little niece, Julia Tilton Gibson, born on Valentine's Day at 7:07 am. She weighs 6lbs. and 6oz. and is 19 1/2 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, and I'm already in love!

 

My sister Kellyn is doing great, and we thank you for your prayers for this sweet little blessing to our family! Much love to you on this most sweet Valentines Day!

Tomorrow Is The Big Day!

 

Tomorrow my sweet sister Kellyn will have her second baby, and my very first nephew, Luke, will become a big brother! Kellyn and Jason did not find out the gender of the new baby, but my Mom and Jason's mom know what the baby is going to be. Somehow they have managed to keep it a secret from everyone, so tomorrow we will find out if Jackson and Anderson will have their 4th boy cousin, or their 1st little girl cousin. I'm so excited! If the baby is a boy his name will be Jonah Lee and if it's a girl, her name will be Julia Tilton (after grandmothers on both sides).

 

Kellyn checks into the hospital tonight, and she will be induced early tomorrow morning. Please say a prayer for her for a safe and easy delivery, and that Baby Gibson is born happy and healthy! I can't wait to see if we'll be there will be lots more blue in our family, or if we will have a little princess to add to the mix. Stay tuned to find out!

Vehicular Frustrations

A few days ago I shared my Facebook frustrations. Today, I let you journey into the depths of my mind to share my vehicular frustrations. Here we go, in no particular order...

1. People that have their car stereo so loud that it rattles my car windows and makes my heart beat funny. I don't like worrying that I'm about to have a heart attack because you have your radio up so loud that it is interfering with my heart rate. I don't know how you can stand to have it up that loud and actually stay inside the vehicle. If I can hear every word (and it's usually some filthy rap) that is blaring through your speakers, and both you and I have our windows up, you need to turn that garbage down.

 

2. People that ride in the left lane for miles at a time. The left lane is for passing. With the amount of driving I do, I see this all the time. If you are driving slower than other traffic, you need to get out of the way and move into the right lane. I'm not a speeder; a $180 traffic ticket by a State Trooper helped me come to that conclusion, but if you are traveling 65 on the interstate and the speed limit is 70, I'm going to pass your tail. I've got places to go and people to see, and you need to get out of my way.

 

 

3. Bumper stickers that support Obama. I confess I get a little bit of road rage when I see these. I don't do anything about my rage, mind you, but I get the rage none-the-less. I hope you enjoy my Mitt Romney sticker as I'm passing you!

 

 

4. Women that apply makeup while they are driving. I'm not referring to a swipe of lipstick here, but serious makeup application. I've seen lots of women applying complex parts of makeup, like mascara and eye liner, while driving 80 mph down the interstate. It makes me want to honk my horn so you stab yourself in the eye with your mascara wand when I see that. I've refrained thus far, but the day is not far off. See number 3 describing my road rage.

 

5. And without a doubt, my most rage inducing vehicular frustration is the trashy, tacky people that put look-a-like male anatomy parts on the hitch of their trucks or SUVs. Without getting too graphic, I don't want to see a pair of balls hanging off the back of your truck. It's not manly. It's not funny. It's gross and I frankly don't want to have to explain to my 6 year old boy why someone has a pair of "hinky hoo's" hanging off their trailer hitch. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Like I said in my Facebook frustrations post, I would never actually say any of this to someones face, but it's what I think. If you are guilty of these offenses, especially trailer hitch hinky hoo's, you need to have a moment of reflection to take a good, long hard look at yourself and your vehicular faults, repent, and never hang a pair of hinky hoo's off your trailer hitch again.

20 Mule Team Borax Giveaway!

I'm ready to hook y'all up again thanks to Purex insiders! I received a box of 20 Mule Team Borax detergent booster to review, and I've got goodies to share! Here's the scoop on 20 Mule Team Borax: It's a 100% natural mineral, naturally occurring, and has no phosphates, chlorine or other additive chemicals. It's used to soften water, and as a detergent booster to boost your detergents natural cleaning power, and to help keep stains from being re-deposited back onto your clothes. I've been using my sample box of 20 Mule Team Borax with my regular detergent, adding 1/2 to my load, and I've seen that it has really done great with helping getting rid of stains, which we have plenty of with 2 boys in the house!

Some other uses of 20 Mule Team Borax:

• Add a half cup of 20 Mule Team Borax to reduce water spotting, remove grime, and put a shine on dishes, utensils, pots, and pans
• Increase the power of your dishwasher detergent by sprinkling a 1/4 cup of 20 Mule Team. Borax onto the bottom of the dishwasher to reduce spots and film on dishes and glasses.
• Spray pet beds, wipe down pet carriers, or soak pet cleaning tools in 1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax.
• Use a 1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax per gallon of water in carpet steam cleaning machines.
• Sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax on a damp sponge or cloth and wipe on shower stalls, tubs, walls, and tile to remove soap scum, hard water deposits, and dirt.

The ways to use 20 Mule Team Borax are endless, and thanks to Purex Insiders and Borax, I'm giving away coupons for a free box to 3 lucky readers! Here's how to enter:

 

1. Leave me a comment through Rafflecopter telling me your toughest stain.

2. (For an additional entry) Tweet about this contest and then post a link to your tweet through Rafflecopter.

3. (For another additional entry) Share this blog contest on Facebook and post a link to your post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

That's it! The regular comment section will be closed for this giveaway, and all entries should be through the Rafflecopter. If you have any issues, email me at auflag@yahoo.com and I'll see what I can do. The contest will run today, February 8th through February 15th at midnight. I'll do a random drawing for the 3 winners and then mail the coupons out. Good luck!

FCC Disclosure: Borax provided me with a sample of 20 Mule Team Borax in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own.

Facebook Frustrations

Sometimes my blog can be a place for me to come vent, because there are some things that I would never say in real life to someones face, yet they cross my mind all the time. I'm on Facebook more than I would like to admit, and I'm just overcome with sadness, frustration and at times, I've even come close to deleting or hiding chronic offenders for their crimes against my news feed. Here's what gets me...

 

 

1. Incessant self portraits. This includes constant web cam or cell phone pics. I'm not opposed to an occasional picture, but I have offenders on my "list" that are constantly updating their profile pic with yet another self portrait, usually made with some ridiculous face pose, or even better, made in a public bathroom. If it's a teenager taking the pic, 9 times out of 10 they try to throw in a sexy pose with their non-existent cleavage. Are you seriously so taken with yourself that you can't stop yourself from pulling your cell phone out in a public bathroom and snapping another picture? Can you not stop yourself from taking another web cam picture, just because you are online? Really?!? I can assure you that your "look" hasn't changed that much in the last 12 hours. You don't need another narcissistic picture of yourself.  I'm a chronic picture taker of my kids, but I will never develop a case of chronic-self-pic-itis. Ever.

 

2. Duckface, which takes chronic-self-pic-itis to another level. I seriously want to smack in the face ever single person that takes a picture like this. I almost need anger management over it. What would possess you to think any picture taken like that looks good. You look like Derek Zoolander.

 

 

3. Using hashtags on Facebook. I'm going to majorly step on toes with this one, but this kills me. Hashtags are for twitter, not facebook. If you are on twitter, and use a #hashtag, it allows other people searching for a particular theme (like the Super Bowl for example) to search, "#Superbowl" and then they can see what everyone is saying. Putting "#Superbowl" on Facebook will do nothing. Ever. The only time I have ever personally been guilty of this offense was when I was required by the FCC to do a #ad on a sponsored ad I was getting paid for posting, and even then, it hurt my soul to commit such an atrocious offense. Even worse than just putting a hashtag on facebook is when people run things together into a run-on hashtag like, #sotiredwhenwillitbefriday? and then I have to beat my head against my desk from the sheer frustration.

 

If we are Facebook friends and I have stepped on your toes with these issues, I apologize, I just needed to get it out in a very passive aggressive way, cause that's how I work. I would never actually say any of this to an offenders face. Perhaps if you think you are guilty of these, you need to take a moment to reflect on these crimes against Facebook news feeds everywhere and then make a commitment to never be "that" person again. Just a snarky thought.

 

And now I will step off of my Facebook soap box and go check out more chronic self pics, duck faces and hashtags in my news feed....

 

 

Trapped In Quicksand

I've been consumed with the recent news of the Midland City, AL hostage situation where 5 year old Ethan was abducted at gunpoint from his school bus by 65 year old Jimmy Lee Dykes. Dykes had boarded a school bus and demanded that the driver, Charles Poland, Jr, give him two children. When Poland refused, Dykes killed him. Ethan fainted and was carried off the bus by Dykes into an underground bunker where he was held captive for 6 days until law enforcement stormed the bunker, rescued Ethan, and killed Dykes.

Midland City, AL is roughly 100 miles from my house. A sleepy, quiet community, much like the small city I live in. It's part of my marketing territory, and I drive by there once a month heading to Dothan, AL. Ethan is 6 months younger than my oldest son, Jackson.

This could have been us...

In light of the recent tragedies involving children, such as Newtown and now Midland City, my anxiety level of being a mother has reached sky high. It seems like every where I turn there is something else that strikes fear in my heart that something is going to happen to my kids, and that there is nothing I can do to stop it. It feels like I'm a mother, trying to get my kids through life, but I'm trapped in quicksand, just waiting for something bad to happen to me...to my children...to my family.

A long time ago I heard a saying, "Being a mother means forever having your heart walk around outside of your body." Those words are so true, and they have been bouncing around in my head as I prayed for the safety of a little boy, held underground with a crazed gunman. Every beat of my heart is echoed in the bodies of two precious little boys that have forever stolen my heart. I have a very strong faith that God is in control of our lives, but it kills me to know that although I would do anything humanly possible in the world for them, I can't stop the bad in life, no matter how hard I try.

I can't stop the bumps, bruises, broken bones, cuts and scraps.
I can't stop terrible medical problems.
I can't stop a tragic accident.
I can't stop the bullies and mean kids.
I can't stop the child molesters and abductors.
I can't stop drunk drivers.
I can't stop crazed gunmen.
I can't stop something bad happening to Jeremy or I.

I can't stop a single bad thing in life happening to me, my kids or my family, and that makes me feel like I'm sinking in quicksand. Like the mud is going to pull me under any second. However, there is a secret to quicksand; the more you struggle and panic, the faster you will sink. With quicksand the best thing to do is relax, and slowly wiggle yourself out of the mess; out of the mud that is sucking you down.

I guess I'm going to try to do just that with my boys. I'm going to relax and quit struggling.

I'm going to keep giving unlimited hugs, kisses and cuddles.

I'm going to make sure my boys know that I love them with all of my heart.

I'm going to live life to the fullest everyday.

I'm going to love life.

And I'm going to teach my boys to love life, even when we are surrounded by quicksand.

The Best Of The Super Bowl (IMHO)

Although I was completely underwhelmed by the Super Bowl commercials this year, I did have a few favorites.
 
The Jamaican accent Volkswagon commercial. Jackson and I play the punch-bug game, and I'm dying to test drive (just for fun) one of these with him.



The baby Clydesdale got me good. I admit, I was choked up with how sweet it was! I love those Clydesdales!



The Doritos "Goat 4 Sale" was genius!



The Oreo "Whisper Fight" had me cracking up on behalf of Essie Burns, who just happens to be a librarian. Loved it!



"God Made A Farmer" with Paul Harvey. Serious, but so poignant.



And because I dread this question with evey inch of my soul, Kia's "Space Babies."

What were your favorites?

Prayers For Ethan

 

On Tuesday of this week a gunman boarded a school bus in Midland City, AL and demanded that the school bus driver give him to children. The driver, Charles Poland, was shot and killed. One of the little boys in the bus, a five year old named Ethan, fainted and was carried away to an underground bunker by the gunman. Ethan suffers from autism, and will have his 6th birthday very soon. He has been with his captor for more than 60 hours now. Dale county is in my marketing territory, and I travel through this sleepy little town once a month. In fact, just yesterday I was 20 minutes from Midland City. This is not the kind of thing you would ever expect would happen in such a small community.

I can't imagine what the family of the heroic bus driver is going through, and my heart is broken for thinking about the terror those kids must have felt witnessing such an awful act. Please pray that Ethan is returned safe and sound to his Mom and Dad very soon, that this situation will resolve without further violence, and that he will be able to cope with the horror of this situation.