I'm such a loser

So, in the last 2 weeks, I entered Amanda's Pay-it-forward contest, and when I LOST that one, I entered Amanda's friend, Jenn's, Pay-it-forward contest. I lost that one, too!!! MAN!! The good news is that my friend Cindy won Jenn's contest, so now SHE'LL have to have one. Maybe I'll win?!?! I might have to just continue following the chain of Pay-it-forward contests until I win!! (Because I hate to lose!)

On a completely unrelated note, Ande and I took Nans, Puckey, and The Jib to see a magic show at the Flint Public Library last night. It featured Doug Scheer, from "Scheer Genius" Productions. I have to say, I was very impressed. Mr. Scheer was very funny, had a great rapport with the kids, and was really good at what he does! If you are at all involved in scheduling assemblies for your children's school or fun activities for the children at your church, this is something you should at least check into! There are several different shows to choose from (we saw "Adventures in Reading", you know, since we were at the LIBRARY). All of the kids in the audience had a great time, as did their parents. Best part of the whole thing? Admission was FREE!

Moving on...in addition to not letting Ande push Puckey on the swings anymore, he is also no longer allowed to use the hair clippers unattended. Last week he gave himself a haircut (which he does every 2 weeks or so), and then decided to trim his eyebrows. Except he forgot the blade guard. So his eyebrows were nearly non-existent for a few days. I was reminded of the episode of "Friends" when Joey got his eyebrow waxed and then had to have Chandler fix the other one...

No, I seriously thought I was going to have to get him a set of these:
These babies are multi-purpose, too!!! Notice the packaging shows several different options. I'm digging the Tom Selleck-style moustache...LOL

There ARE actually eyebrow kits out there (I'm guessing for cancer or alopecia (sorry if I spelled it wrong) patients), which is a really cool product idea.

And for those of you who are wondering, YES, Ande's eyebrows are growing back in nicely...

New Updates...

So this weekend Ande and I went to my cousin's wedding. My baby cousin. Who really shouldn't be old enough to be getting married. But he IS, and he DID. You see, I forever think of him as this silly little boy who used to follow his older brother and sister (and me) around, begging to play with us. Of course, being kids, we pretty much ignored him, or would only let him play so we could torture him...LOL

Anyway, Stan and Lindsay were married this weekend, and it was a beautiful wedding. There was a little bit of awkwardness when we were seated at the same table as my mom (who's in denial) & my stepdad (who won't speak to me). I tried to make the best of it, but I was pretty relieved that Ande and I had to leave fairly early in the evening to pick up the kids.

One great update came from that night, though - my Aunt Kathy was there. I previously blogged about her here, here, and here. She is still pretty thin (she lost about 30lbs while she was sick), but she was smiling and said she feels pretty good. She told me she spent 46 days in the hospital, 21 of which she was in a coma. Her pulmonologist told her that he had not thought she would survive. At that point, I told her that there had been many, many people praying for her, and she made the remark, "It must have worked!" It would be great if you would continue to pray for her salvation, and for me to have more opportunities to talk to her about it.

Everybody seems to have recovered from the "funk" that took out Puckey, The Jib, and Ande last week. I am SO thankful that I got away with only a mild sore throat...

Ande's job has another change, starting today. His route (the car dealerships he regularly visits) has been changed. It's a little sad, because he had made a few new friends on his route, but it's also very good in that he will now be within about 5 minutes of home ALL DAY EVERY DAY! Each dealership he has now is located within about a 5 mile radius of our house. Closer location equals less miles to drive equals less gas to buy! It also means he can come home for lunch, so that will save on "lunch money".

The kids are getting ready for camp...Bubber leaves on Saturday, and Bug and Nans leave 2 weeks after that. I'm praying that they have a great time, and wonderful fellowship with Godly men and women who will help them build a better relationship with Christ.

Speaking of building a better relationship with Christ...a friend of mine from church, Susan, has asked me to do a Bible study with her. We decided on Tuesday evenings, as that's one of the few nights I don't have other obligations. If any of you local readers are interested in checking it out, we're going to meet at church (don't have a time ironed out yet, but I'm sure it will be reasonable). It's a Beth Moore study on Daniel. The book is $15, and I believe we will have a DVD series that will go along with the study. Anyway, if you are interested, leave me a comment or send me an email to let me know!! We haven't officially started yet, so there's still time to get involved!

Another cool thing relating to building a relationship with Christ - a guy who works for one of the dealerships that was on Ande's old route was in a triathlon this weekend. Ande has been sharing his faith with Trevor, and Trevor has been pretty receptive. So, as a way of showing how much Ande (and the rest of our family) support him, we went on Sunday morning to encourage Trevor and some of his co-workers and family who participated in the race. Trevor was absolutely bowled over that we would come down to support him, so I'm really glad that we went.

I was amazed at some of the people I saw who were in the race. There were some people who were pretty old (I heard the oldest participant was 73), and one kid JUST met the age requirement (13). Some people were extremely fit, while others looked quite out of shape. I have to give everyone who was involved credit. I got winded carrying The Jib back to the car when we were leaving, I can't imagine doing the swimming, biking, and running...

Also, thanks to all of you for the compliments on my hair!!! I'm thrilled with it, and your comments have only made me feel that much more happy about it! For Cindy, I go to CC & Co. in Fenton, and have Bridget Shea cut my hair. I've known her since I was 11 (wow, that's 22 years!), and she is definitely my stylist of choice. She's also a Christian, which is an added bonus...

Time to get pampered...

I decided that even though I never did get sick, I was going to pamper myself a bit and get my annual haircut. (Yeah, I only get my hair cut about once every 6-12 months because I generally spend any "extra" money (yeah, as if there is ever extra) on the kids or house. Yesterday I decided it was high time to stop looking like an old hag get my hair cut. Besides, my cousin is getting married on Saturday, and who doesn't want to look good for a wedding? So, here's a before and after picture....

The "Old" Me....

HA HA HA HA HA HA - actually, I don't really have a decent "before" picture to post...LOL

The "New and Improved" Me....

Me trying (unsuccessfully) to look "sassy". Oh well.

I thought the pictures turned out surprisingly well, since I took them myself.