BEHIND AGAIN!

Well, it seems I have fallen behind again. This time of year just seems to be crazy for us, so much going on! I have been checking on blogs, but haven't had much time to comment or post.

I would throw out some updates on the happenings around here, but I'm not sure I remember where I left off. So, here are just a few of things that have been keeping us busy:

Boy Scout hike/campout/meetings

Girl Scout meetings

Deer hunting

Parent/teacher conferences

Homework

re-injured hand (better now, I think)

sick hubby (some kind of flu/stomach bug)

of course laundry, cooking, etc....

work, work, work....

I'm sure there are lots of things I am forgetting, but you get the idea. My kids may be older & not as "needy" when it comes to the everyday things, but now there are other needs which requires me to be the taxi driver - some days I think I meet myself coming and going! I barely get home from work, just to turn around to take someone somewhere. But, enough of the whining & complaining, that's just the way it is around here, busy all the time.

I do like blogging and love reading and keeping up with all of you through your blogs. The rest of this week and next week appears to be a little less packed with activity, so my goal is to get back to the blog world.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Another Award

April has left me the sweetest award. She actually left it for me a few days ago, but I have fallen behind again, and am just now getting to it. First, I want to say thank you so much to April for this award; I am truly surprised & excited to have received it. I am not very creative, so this is very special to me to. Now it is my turn to pass it on.

Here are the rules...You need to list six things that make you happy, and pass this award on to six creative bloggers.

Six Things That Make Me Happy:

1. My family - I know this is a given, but it's true.

2. Lemon Heads - I love everything about them from the fun blue & yellow box to the tart yet sweet taste - love, love, love them & if I am down they will make me smile!

3. Being at my parent's house - there's just nothing like being at mom & dad's. (my kid's love it there too, & of course that is icing on the cake)

4. Home made ice cream - memories of my grandparents:)

5. Sweet Tea (with real sugar) - does it get any more southern.

6. A beautiful, crisp fall day with nothing to do, but be lazy!

Now, to pass it on. I know have passed awards on to most of you who follow me & as I still have many followers, or know very many bloggers yet, I am limited on who to pass it on to. All of the blogs I read are very creative & I love them all. But here goes....(and forgive me if you have already received this award, it must mean you are super creative!)

1. Heidi at The Zawisza Tribune - I so love everything about your blog, you have made me laugh so much and spread so much go with your wonderful stories - and not to mention the fact that your kids are gorgeous & you take the best photos of them to share!

2. Michelle at Love you a Google - I love getting to know your family through your blog; I love the fact that we seem to be in so many of the same places & feel certain we will meet someday. Thank you for sharing with us.

3. Angie at Life from the "zoo' - Love, love, love your blog. I may not know you in person, but it is evident you are a wonderful mom & great person.

4. Lindsay-ann at The Cross-Stitch House - From your lovely crafts to the beautiful walks you share with us, your blog makes me feel as if I have a friend in a far away place to visit each day!

5. Chickadee at A Familiar Path - We've been friends in real life since childhood & probably know too many secrets about each other (that is if we can still remember them). You're the reason I started blogging - even though I held out for a while - I love it & thank you for pulling me in.

6. ScrapperMom at My Yesterdays, Todays, and Tomorrows - Another real life friend since childhood, and another reason I started blogging. Love seeing your scrap booking & I do want that lesson some day!

Thanks to all of you for sharing with me each day - don't forget to pass the award on, if you haven't already!

AWARD TIME

I'm back! (LOL, couldn't resist) So, I need to start this post with a few disclaimers:

1. I have hurt one of my hands and although it is usable, I do have a brace on it & that makes typing a little difficult - so the disclaimer is to any spelling errors/typos. I will blame them this time on my injury. (no it's not serious, just a strained flexor tendon in my middle finger down into my hand, a little painful, but I will live - did it doing laundry.)

2. The awards. This disclaimer is in case I give one to someone who just received one. As I am behind in the blog world it has been hard to keep up with who has received one recently, and also I still do not know many bloggers so my list to send to is limited.

Now here we go.

AWARD # 1:

The first award I received was from my friend Lindsay-ann. It is/was my first every bloggy award, and I appreciate it so much. It has been so much fun meeting new people and reconnecting with some I already knew.

Now, before passing this award along, I have to give one word answers to these questions with no explanation. Then I get to tag five other bloggers with the award. So, here goes:

1.Where is your cell phone? table
2.Where is your significant other? outside
3.Your hair color? brown
4.Your mother? friendly
5.Your father? hardworker
6.Your favorite thing? family
7.Your dream last night? crazy
8.Your dream/goal? happiness
9.The room you're in? family
10.Your hobby? writing
11.Your fear? spiders
12.Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13.Where were you last night? bed
14.What you're not? complacent
15.One of your wish-list items? house
16.Where you grew up? Arkansas
17.The last thing you did? laundry
18.What are you wearing? jammies
19.Your TV? on
20.Your pet? none
21.Your Computer? laptop
22.Your mood? busy
23.Missing Someone? no
24.Your car? durango
25.Something you're not wearing? shoes
26.Favorite Store? Kohl's
27.Your summer? fun
28.Love someone? yes
29.Your favorite color? green
30.When is the last time you laughed? Today
31.Last time you cried? yesterday

Like Lindsay-Ann, it was hard for me to decide who to pass this on too, and I would love to pass it back to her because I do love her blog as well as many ohers. But here are my 5 picks (and please forgive me if you've already been tagged, but I do love your blogs).....

1. Girl, 2. Heidi, 3. Angie, 4. Terri, 5. Melissa

AWARD # 2:

The next award was from my friend Angie, and I have also recieved it from Heidi! Again, I am so appreciative of this award - it is so nice. I feel so honored to have met some wonderful new friends here in the blog world.

The rules of this award are to pass it along to five other bloggers. Four of the recipients should be dedicated followers of your blog and one should be a "newbie" if at all possible. So, here goes.....

1. Leigh Ann - I consider her my friend in "real" life too. I love her and her family so much and am so happy I can now follow them (and that she follows me) here in the blog world!

2. Naomi - I think she may have already recieved this award, but I need her to have it again. I so love reading her blog, but as much as I love that, I also love the comments she so graciously leaves for me.

3. Lindsay-Ann - Again, I think she may have already received this, but I have to pass it to her. Thank you so much for following me, and I so love the strolls through your beautiful land!

4. Aubs - one of my first readers. I am so happy to have met her and get know her through her blog, and love the sweet, friendly comments she leaves for me.

5. Michelle - she is from my neck of the woods. Another new friend I am happy to have found.

So, there you go, both awards passed on to those who deserve them. But please understand, I love all the blogs I read, and I consider you all my friend.

Now, I am off to try to figure out putting these lovely awards on my side bar - wish me luck (as I don't seem to have much this week)

Have a great night!

GLITCH!

Throw in a huge glitch in my catching up plans!!! Computer problems tonight - UGH!!! Finally, got it resolved, but now I am afraid I am just too tired to stay up late catching up on the bloggy business, I need to .

Hopefully, without any further glitches, I will be able to catch up tomorrow night. Please be patient with me as I am trying, but this seems to be the week of nothing going right (and it's only Monday). So, I am trying to take it all in stride and not stress out, but to do that I must have sleep. Please stay tuned, I will get back to it on a regular basis soon and get to those awards, I have several in mind to pass them on to.

Nighty, night for now!

CATCHING UP

It was a very busy week, and I have "blog stalked" but didn't have much time to post myself.

Two of my bloggy friends have given me awards, and I can't wait to accept them and pass them on to others. I hope to get to them either tonight (depends on how fast time gets away from me) or tomorrow night.

Basically, I just wanted to a second while I have one to check in and say that I will be catching up on my blogging in the next few days!!!

Thanks again for all of the wonderful birthday wishes, and also thanks to Lindsay-ann & Angie for the awards, I am truly honored!

GREAT DAY!

First let me say thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, I appreciate them all!

I had a great day! The family - my kids & husband - gave me gifts last night. We decided it best to scale back this year, but I did get a few things I wanted & love. They gave me a Razorback cover for the trailer hitch on my vehicle - I love it. Okay, now this may sound crazy to you, but it was perfect for me - they gave me a jar of Calamata olives. I know, it seems absurd, but I love olives, especially Calamata olives; however, I would never pay the price for these so it was a perfect gift for me. Of course we also went out to eat on Saturday. They gave me cards and were extremely nice to me - the kids did not fight today, a perfect gift! I have felt pampered in many ways from them over the weekend and especially today.

A co-worker friend gave me a cake (german chocolate) and wonderful candle & room spray - cinnamon cider scent, they are awesome! Also, I went to lunch with several co-workers and they bought my lunch. They helped make my day wonderful.

Of course, I recieved many cards in the mail from family and friends. Also, many phone calls - my mom, sister & nephew called. My mom & dad gave me cash (also from my grandma); my sister has my gift and I will see her this weekend.

Tonight we went to dinner at my in-laws. Wonderful! We had pulled pork sandwiches (smoked by father-in-law) and then I had my Kahlua cake - it was awesome (basically it is a chocolate cake flavored with Kahlua liquer - yummy) My present from them each year is a trip to Branson. I go each year w/my mother-in-law, her sisters and neice, and several other ladies, and my in-laws pay for my trip. We have a great weekend of shopping and having fun with no kids and no husbands - I look forward to this present each year; we will go in November.

So, thanks to my family and many friends (including all of you) I had a great day!

ME :0)

So, today is my birthday! I will confess my age - 39. I really don't mind sharing my age because I can truly say it does not matter to me, it is simply a number and not who I am. Today, I choose to be selfish & post only about me! I know, it may be insane for a grown woman to just talk about herself, but it's my birthday, my blog and that is what I choose to do today.

If you go here, you will find I confessed my real name is Tonda. Yes, I am aware it is a little unusual and some of you may wonder where did such a name come from. Well, today, I will tell you.

I am the second born of three children - I have an older sister and younger brother. Of course all those years ago my parents had no idea until I arrived if I was a boy or a girl. Apparently my parents could not agree on a name for me - they had several picked out, but did not agree on any of the girl names. So, I had to have a name and they were getting no where. My maternal grandmother, who I talked about here, wanted to name one of her grandchildren and had mentioned that several times. So, with no name in agreement, they allowed my grandmother to name me. My name is Tonda Yvette (pronounced e-vette, no y sound). Where did she get such names for a little country girl like me?

Tonda - she chose this name because it was one she had liked for many years. Grandma was a nurses aid and had come into contact with many people over the years. At one point, she worked with, in her words, "a beautiful Indian lady" (meaning Native American) who was named Tonda. My grandmother thought a lot of this lady and loved the name; so it became my name. I am told (though have a hard time finding this) that Tonda means "little princess". I do love my name and would not change it, but try finding a key chain, or anything already made up with that name - not gonna happen! On vacations, I love to dare/bet my kids to try and find something with my name on it and tell them I will give them 20 bucks if they do, even used to do this when I was a kid when we went on vacations - hasn't happened yet, I still have that money in my pocket! I do know I am not the only Tonda in the world, I have heard of others on occasion, and I have met one (however, she uses her middle name & not the name Tonda). Also, on myspace there is a page I was asked to join - "For Tonda's Only". It was started by someone who shares my name looking for other Tonda's in the world, there are actually over 500 registered on the page and 5 in Arkansas - unbelievable. My name is mispronounced often - I am called Tonya, Tonka, Tonto, and I could go on & on, but I will only answer to Tonda - I mean how hard is it to see there is a "d" there! :).

Yvette - Grandma chose this name because there was popular actress from her time with that name. It is french in origin. I have discovered that my grandmother's grandparents were immigrants to the United States from France! So, I have a name to reflect my family heritage. And, yes this name also gets mispronounced often.

Yes, I have strange not so normal names, but I love them - they are me!

I am actually writing this post on Monday night the day before my birthday, but because I can choose the date & time to post you will see it on my birthday. That being said, I can not share with you yet how my day has gone, but I will give you an update and share later.

On Saturday, we went out to eat for an early celebration dinner at one of my favorite restaurants - Texas Roadhouse, the speciality is steak - my favorite!!!! It was yummy and we had a good night. I have also received several cards in the mail from friends already. Monday, 2 friends that I used to work with took me to lunch - it was great to see them. Tonight we will go to my in-laws house for a birthday dinner and cake. My mother-in-law cooks a special dinner for each of us on our birthday and lets us choose what kind of cake we want, I have chosen Kahlua cake - I can't wait.

So far, I have had a great birthday! Thank you for letting me talk about me today & being selfish on my birthday.

OCTOBER!

I know we are now a few days into October, and several of my blogger friends - here and here - have already blogged about October, but I figured it's still not too late for me.

I love October for so many reasons, so I want to share some of them with you.

1. The weather starts turning cooler & the leaves begin to change. Let me tell you, we have some beautiful colors here in Arkansas in the fall!

2. It's STATE FAIR time! I love the state fair! I have loved going since I was young and have so many good memories of going. I went with friends in high school and college and we had some good times. My first official date with Lynn was to the state fair on my 22nd bday 17 years ago - we will celebrate our 15th anniversary later this year! We now have so many memories of taking our kids each year, it's great. So, I feel the need to say it again - I LOVE THE STATE FAIR!!!

3. Football - it is the greatest! Love, love, love football - mostly the Razorbacks (even when they aren't doing well, like this year), but just love it!

4. Pumpkins, scarecrows, etc... love fall decorations!

5. Hunting season opens - I know this may not appeal to most, but my dad hunts so I grew up with it and I married a man who loves it and now my son loves. So, this makes them happy and in turn makes me happy. And as a little "gravy" it means they are gone quite a bit on weekends so I either have the house to myself, or it's just me & Sarah so we get girl time!!!

6. It's my birthday month! More on my birthday to come later.

So, these are some of the things I love about October! I know I didn't mention Halloween, but I have to confess, it's not my favorite holiday. I do tolerate Halloween and have always participated and let my children trick or treat or go to parties, but I could do with out it. Don't get me wrong, I love to see all the cute little ones all decked out in costumes, but there are way too many other things about October that I love more!

So, let me say to you all: HAPPY FALL, YA'LL!!! (can you tell I am a country girl)

CUSTOM MADE GIVE AWAY!!

HERE IS SOME INFO. ON A GREAT GIVE AWAY! This one is custom so you can get it to match your needs!!!!

Please visit my friend Heidi at The Zawisza Tribune to see her great give away. Also stick around and visit her for awhile if you haven't already; I promise you will love her blog. She is very entertaining, and let me tell you - she has some beautiful children!!!!

She is going to draw for a custom made cork board - she has one posted here that she has made for her son & it is too cute!

So, jump over to say hi to Heidi and enter her give away! And Heidi - thanks for letting us participate - hope I win!