"Mama, Did You Hear Me??"

 I love this graphic. It it is so true. I have been fortunate enough to raise a child who is bright, curious, and full of imagination. She is confident in her opinions, and readily shares them, especially if she disagrees with a decision we have made about ~~~fill in the blank~~~. (Sometimes a little too much ...we call it being a sassy monkey in our house).

However, she speaks her mind, speaks up for others, speaks words of love and humor and sincerity. She is 16, and she is the smartest person I know.

Source: spirituallythinking.blogspot.com via Vicky on Pinterest

 Between the ages of about 5 or 6, she had an imaginary friend named Kavey:

Babies Make for Hilarious Exhaustion

Ever had that moment when it is really not a good idea to laugh, but you laugh anyway, and then it gets funnier and you can't stop laughing! That is what happens when me and my sister Betty get together...

Ok. So you know I have the new great-nephew, Noland. He is the prettiest, sweetest, happiest baby ever born anywhere in the United States or abroad. (excluding every other niece and nephew I have. and my daughter, of course).

New Blog Button...Almost Too Much Sugar for a Dime

I updated my blog button because I wanted it to match my blog, and I thought it would be easy to update.

I designed the new button last night on Picmonkey.  It was easy with this tutorial from Something Swanky:

(How fantastic is she to generously donate her time to figure all this out and share it FREE OF CHARGE!)

Yes, it now matches my blog better, but NO it was not easy at first to get the proper code. I looked on several sites for tutorials. I am fairly efficient at HTML...I mean, I can sort-of read code and follow along if I use my finger to follow the lines and prop my glasses up on my head out of the way. (It makes for a messy screen though. At night when I am lying in my unmade bed, I can see the smudges until the screen goes to sleep). The dog MUST be quiet, and there can be no disruptions. I turned Facebook off, swilled down my 2nd cup of coffee, and went off to the races.

Trash Your Wedding Dress? Surely Not!

I just couldn't do it.

Is it because of my age? Maybe. Because of my Southern good-girl background? That probably has something to do with it. Is it because my Mama would get permission from God Himself to come down from Heaven and give me a stern talking to? (If anybody would do it, she would). I'm sure that figures into my decision making.

Whatever the reason, I KNOW I could not trash my wedding dress.

Apparently this has become the latest thing in Wedding Photography. Right after your wedding, or sometime after, you and your groom run into the ocean together, or eat Popsicles and let them drip down the dress, or have a paintball fight. The pictures are cute juxtaposed against the “seriousness” of the other poses. But it doesn't seem right.

When I first read about this on Jennifer's blog, A Traveling Wife, I was quite taken aback. Now, she did not trash her dress. She decided to have a dear friend make a pillow from her dress, and I think that is perfectly acceptable. It holds a place of honor in her home. It provides a daily visual reminder of her commitment to her husband and harkens back to memories of that very special day spent with her family and friends who now live very far away.

But splash paint on it? Burn it? Go mud-riding in it?

I just couldn't do it. And when I read Jennifer's post, I immediately knew this topic would be a blog post.

Here I am on my wedding day...

I brought my dress out of storage and the memories flooded back. I took out my wedding album, too. There I am, smiling with a joy you can feel through the lens, so proud to be in that moment. A moment that would never come again.

In those pictures I am wearing a dress I worked two jobs to pay for, but for me it was priceless. My Mama is fixing my veil in one of the pictures, in another I am straightening my brother’s tie. My oldest sister is my matron of honor, and there in the picture of the attendants you can clearly see the lone bridesmaid's bouquet on the alter in memory of my sister who could not be at my side that day, because she was by God's side in heaven. In one of the most poignant pictures, I am holding onto my Daddy's arm...My Daddy who is now in Heaven...and he is looking down at me like I am sure he does now, in love with his baby girl.

Wearing the prettiest dress I will ever own, I walked down the aisle to my expectant groom while “Ode to Joy” played softly in the background. I will never forget the way he looked at me. As long as I live, I will never forget how I felt on that day.

Yes, a wedding dress is just that, a dress. A garment sewn on the same machines as common clothes. But there is nothing common about it. It is a representation of a moment, a day, an occasion that will never come again.

I tried my dress on, just to see. It fit, a little more snugly now, but it zipped, (with some encouragement!) I tried to get a good picture in it, but I thought I would spontaneously combust, so I took it off!

Next week, on May 7^th, we will have been married 18 years. I can say with certainty this: Enough mud gets slung at your marriage to last a lifetime. Let your dress always remind you of the moment all was fresh and bright and new.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get some comments on this post. I know there are probably strong opinions one way or another, and I will take all comers!

Would you ever “destroy your dress”? Let me hear how you feel!

~joy!

Vicky

Plastic Bags and Vaseline

Use this trick to get sandal ready feet just in time for summer!!

 Just make sure you use the proper technique.

Okay. The reason I know this tip is I read on Pinterest, where you can use vaseline on your heels, wrap them in plastic wrap, put on socks and go to bed. In the morning: soft feet.


So, I decided to try it. Only I decided to try it with plastic bags instead of plastic wrap because I am all for saving the environment, especially when it suits my purposes. Remember my rescued (stolen) white chairs?   


I rounded up all of my accouterment (yes, I know that REALLY means battle gear...just wait). Mercy, y'all like to jump ahead. Anyway. I head to the bathroom with all of my STUFF (is that better?): towels, socks, bags, vaseline and dog. He goes everywhere.