Game on...& Birthday wishes

Well, here we are at the end of March and I have yet to hold up my end of the Blogging bargain. Problem is, there's only one of me...contrary to popular belief.

Along with all the other stuff I've gotten myself involved in, it is now soccer season. And I must say, this season is TOTALLY different than the last. You may remember, Jayla's team, Brazil was the newby to the U10 "circuit". And it showed by them losing all but ONE game. Ok, that's not totally accurate...their first game was a tie :-).

This season, however, has been MUCH better. They've only played 4 games thus far (due to a couple of rain outs). And of those 4, they have won 3.  All of which were come backs from being behind by 1 - 3 goals.  I am SO loving this season. Considering the girls haven't had much practice, again due to the rain, they are doing awesome so far.

I've been saying for quite some time that I wish you all could see my Jayla play. Well, I attempted (and I use that term loosely) to video some of a game from this weekend. Check them out...

WAIT...before you look at these videos, PLEASE NOTE #1 I am using a small camera with video "capabilities".  #2  I've never used this feature on the camera before (guess this one should've been #1, huh?) #3 The sun was very bright :-) and #4 I've never used this feature on the camera before, LOL.

------------Ok, here's the thing...I can't figure out how to add a video to Blogger. Wasn't there a little button for that once upon a time? HUH!!!

Anyway, I'll go ahead and post what I've written so far and attempt to find the video adding link and I'll get back with you :-D.

Oh, and before I go, PLEASE join me in wishing my FAVORITE nephew a HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY today!  I just don't have any other words to say about that...other thank I can't believe he's FIFTEEN!!!

Markell's first Easter in 1995

And most recently (I think this was from last year) Don't have any recent pix of him. But as soon as I get one, I'll post it.

YAY...I made it to Friday (again)

Ok, can a person have WAY TOO MANY irons in the fire?

I say, YES!!!

I am seriously thinking about going to a printing place and see if they can make a few duplicates of me. Let's see, I'll need the "School volunteer Dawn", "Errand running Dawn",  "Soccer mom/Coaches wife Dawn", "Chauffeur Dawn", "Crafty/wedding planner Dawn", "Maid Dawn", "Chef Dawn" "Mom Dawn", "Blogging/Facebooking Dawn" :-).

I'm SURE there are more, but money is kinda tight these days, so this is all I can afford to make dups of for now :-). SHEESH!!!

Anyway, I can't/shouldn't complain. I'm blessed to have the health, energy and willingness to do all of these things simultaneously. So with that in mind, my life STILL rocks!!

Alrighty, speaking of all the things I have going on these days, I'd better get out of here and get my day started (again). But before I go, I want to share a sweet picture of my girls with you.

They look like a pretty slice of watermelon, don't they? :-) This was taken at Jayla's school on Special Family and Friends Day. This year, her sister, Briyanna came as Jayla's "special" guest.  They're so cute (even if Briyanna does look a little tired, lol)

OH...and my goodness, I can't let this Friday get by without the Friday Flower Fix. So here's that for ya too.

Have a GREAT weekend and I'll holla atcha soon.

Toodles!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today, I would like to wish a HAPPY, HAPPY Birthday to...

My bestess friend & buddy!
My companion!
My partner! (sometimes in crime, lol)
My soul mate!
My compadre!
My gift from God!
My LOVER!
My MAN!
My HUSBAND!

Happy birthday, Marque! I love you SO much!!!

WOW! The weatherman was right...this time :-)

Hey ya'll!

Guess what? The weather"people" of Georgia said it was gonna snow here...AND IT DID!!!

Yesterday, we got a call from the school system saying that the schools would be closing an hour early due to "impending inclement weather".  So I get to the school as I was told and I'll be darn if the flurries didn't start falling JUST as the kids were coming out of the building.

I grab my young un and we head to the grocery store along with the rest of the county. The parking lot was PACKED! And to think all I needed was apple juice and bananas :-). $50 later (yes, I picked up more than the aforementioned items), we're heading home. And when I say that we could hardly see 3 feet in front of us due to the, now heavy flurries, I mean it! It was amazing! And BEAUTIFUL!! Honestly, I was shocked at how quickly it started to stick. Jayla was BEEside herself!  Yesterday was (one of) the coolest days ever in her 8 years of life :-).

The snow continued through the night and the following are the gorgeous results...

Yes, in the picture above, our dog is eating the snow! :-)

Everytime I see this picture it makes me laugh.  Look at the smile on Trae's face! :-D

From what I understand, Georgia wasn't the only state hit with the cold white stuff!  In fact, I read somewhere that 49 of the 50 states had snow yesterday and today. That's just cool to me! I hear more is headed here tomorrow too.

Ok, so my nephew is getting married in May. This is really exciting to me because I actually introduced him to the lady he's marrying.  How cool is that? And...the news just gets "funner"...I will be doing 90% of the ceremony/reception decorating. I'm VERY excited about this too. So as I get things done, I'll share the pix with ya'll.

And speaking of sharing pix, how bout a flower fix? I haven't done one in a while.  Hope you enjoy them!

Well, that's it for today.  Hope to chat with ya'll in a couple days. Enjoy your weekend...enjoy the snow and be safe if you have to get out. Toodles!!

....Oh, I'm sorry about that...

...sorry about what, you may ask? Well, here's the thing...I am a self-proclaimed peace keeper!  However, I'm not convinced that that's necessarily a good thing.

Just recently, I had an exchange of messages with someone I consider to be a friend of mine (she knows who she is). And in those messages, I mentioned how I'd been trying to reach her and hadn't heard back from her. Long story short, I came to the conclusion that she was upset with me about something (I didn't even know what it could've been), so I "apologized" to her in the hopes of "rekindling" the friendship. She replied by saying, that I had absolutely not upset her. It was simply that she hadn't checked her messages in a while and/or she'd been busy.  That's understandable and makes since to me.

Of course I was glad to hear that.  However, I then started to question myself. "Now why do I do that?" "Why do I assume that situations (most of which are out of my control) are MY fault?"

I consider myself to be a pretty sympathetic and empathetic person.  I am also aware that I am a VERY emotional person.  It takes VERY little to make me cry or get "into" the emotion of a situation. I mean, I can be watching TV and a touching commercial comes on...and I will cry! Or at a minimum, I feel myself start to "well up".

Mister M. use to get on me about being this way. He'd often question why I was sorry or apologizing for something I had no control over. I mean, it could be something as ridiculous as me apologizing because it rained during a birthday party or something, lol. That's not MY fault!! But I FEEL sorry that it happened, know what I mean?  Other natural disasters...those are not my fault either. But I'm sorry about it. I am also an emotional person on the other side of the spectrum. I cry at weddings...I cry when a baby is born...I cry when I get flowers...and I cry when other people cry (sometimes).

There was a time, early in my marriage that if Mister M ever got upset with me about something, I'd apologize for it...whether it was my fault or not. I guess that was my way of trying to keep the peace. I do NOT like people to be upset with me. I do NOT like to make people angry. And I can NOT fight, LOL!  Maybe this is where it all stems from. I CAN'T fight! So I feel it's better to keep the peace, so to speak, so that I won't have to defend myself in a fist fight, LOL.

I dunno, this is just something I've often wondered about myself. What's really crazy is, I'm pretty sure that even though I have gotten my thoughts about this OUT in writing, I probably won't change. It's a part of my character. I wear my emotions/feelings right out there on my sleeve. I'm a very REAL person and I don't mind showing how I feel about things. As long as it doesn't upset anyone else, of course :-). What's funny is, I find that most people are caught off guard by my apologies or my emotional display. Simply because, like I said, it was out of my control. I guess I don't LOOK like I'd be an emotional person.

Yep, I'm one of those people who wants peace and equality around the world :-).  I don't think that's too much to ask!

Ok, now ya'll have read about one of my "issues". Do YOU have a little "oddity" about yourself that you'd like to share? Is there something about your "character" that you question? Do you ever wonder, "Why do I do that?" Or "Why am I that way?"  

Lie down on my "virtual" leather couch and let's discuss it...I'm listening :-).  But beware, I may cry and apologize for it....

Sorry, for rambling and dumping on ya'll. See, I did it again.... ;-D

Castle Cakes & The Liar :-)

Ok, if memory serves me correctly, on my last post, which happened to be on Christmas. I said that I was going to start posting here at LEAST once a week. WELL, Christmas was THREE weeks ago! ARGH!!! I'm such a liar & a loser!

...I have nothing to say for myself :-).  I won't use the "I'm so busy lately" excuse (although it's true).  How bout this one?..."I forgot!" lol That just doesn't even sound right.

Anyway, I have been kinda busy.  Did I tell ya'll that I'm the Historian for Jayla's school this year? What is a school historian you ask? WELL...it's the historians job to do a scrapbook of all the PTA sponsored events that are held at the school for the current school year. Once the scrapbook is completed, it will be on display in the school lobby the following school year.  That's cool!...I like to scrapbook...in fact, I do it when I find the time. But what's so strange about me being in this position is, someone actually NOMINATED me to do it. Problem is, I can't figure out for the life of me who would do this to me! I've asked everyone that I thought would want to tick me off...but no one owns up to it. :-) SO, with that...I am the 2009-2010 school historian. Having said all that, the school scrapbook is one of the many things I've been doing lately.

Also, my doggie has had some...issues. He apparently got into something in the yard (we are assuming that's what happened anyway) and it has caused him to itch like nobody's business! Poor thing turned all red and couldn't walk 10 steps without dropping to the floor to scratch. I called the vet to find out what I should do for him. Get this, they told me to give him a Benadryl!  Well, ole boy doesn't like little pink pills!  So I waited until Mister M. took his 3 week vacation.  You may remember, Trae is a big ole doggie, and I just can't handle him at the vet by myself.  We get the boy to the vet and he about chokes himself to death trying to "visit" the staff. (almost) nothing worse than hearing a dog hacking...for NOTHING really.

The vet comes in and immediately sees the redness on Trae's underbelly and now in his ears. He gives Trae a "quick" Cortizone shot in the hip, and I tell you...the itching stopped almost immediately!  We are then told that Trae "simply" has a yeast infection.

Do WHAT?

He's a BOY! And those are his EARS!

How weird!  Yep, he's got a yeast infection and it's actually pretty common in dogs. I've NEVER heard of that before, have you?  Well, that explains why his whole head has been so funky lately :-).

Ok so now I'm thinking, "What does one (vet) give a MALE dog for a YEAST infection?" I hope it's nothing crazy cuz I'm not really looking forward to having to squirt some Monistat in my dogs ears! My MALE dog at that! I'm just sayin...

Anyway, we leave the vets office with 3 prescriptions, a bottle of ear wash, a reminder card to come back in 2 weeks and a BIG OLE FAT bill for...wait for it...$596!!!

...ya know, it sure takes the paramedics a long time to bring smelling salt to a vets office :-).

Ok, after I pick myself up from the floor and apply for a small loan, we're headed home. And I just loved it when the receptionist says to me, "Well Mrs. Bibbs, look at it this way...at least you don't have to buy him a car or pay his college tuition!" And that's supposed to make me look on the bright side? Anyway, we love our doggie. Four weeks later, the yeast infection is gone (no more smelly head), no more under belly redness and not as much scratching.

Fast forwarding to today, guess what I made today? A friend of mine whose daughter plays on Jayla's soccer team, is having her 9th birthday tomorrow. And she asked me to make the birthday cake. Check it out...

Cute, huh?

I'm a little nervous though. It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. So I hope that doesn't show too much in the finished product. But I'll let you know how Kennedy liked her princess castle cake. Her favorite color is purple. So when she cuts into the cake, there will be purple icing between the layers :-).

Well, that's about all I have for today. Oh, how bout a Friday Flower Fix? Hmmm, let's see if I remember how to post pictures of flowers, lol.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends. See ya soon...I hope! ;)

I wanna Cardboard Kitchen for Christmas!

Good morning everyone out there in Blogland!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you ALL!!!

Ok, it's almost noon and I'm sure all of you are done opening your gifts. If you have children under the age, of let's say 30, the floor space under the tree was probably cleared in record time, lol.  Well, having only one at home calls for some record setting too.

I know that you probably don't wanna spend a bunch of time reading blogs today...especially the blogs of those of us who hardly ever update anymore :-(. But I'm here today. 

NormallyI don't make New Years resolutions, but I'm gonna make an exception this time.

AHEM...in 2010 (that looks really weird)...AHEM...in 2010, I, (state your name)...lol...Dawn Bibbs, will make EVERY attempt to update my blog at LEAST once per week. AND...get back to the business of doing the Friday Flower Fix on said blog.  Ok, there, I said it...hope I can do it :-D.

Alrighty, GUESS what I did?  Tell ye what, how bout I just show you and narrate as I go....

Photo #1 I built Jayla her very own...Cardboard Box Kitchen!

Let's take a tour, shall we?

Photo #2 The sink with a working clock, REAL Stainless steel faucet and sprayer.

Photo #3 The refrigerator w/ bottom freezer. And of course, water & ice in the door.

Photo #4 (My favorite appliance) The stove/oven/range (Not really sure what it's called these days, but you get the idea)

Photo #5 Close up of the stove.

Photo #6 Yes! That is a real oven rack :-).

Photo #7 And finally, the stacked washer & dryer complete with a view thru window and Tide (Front Loading detergent, of course) :-)

Well, that's it!  I have been working on this kitchen for about 3 weeks and I'm proud to say that I only have 2 minor X-acto knife injuries, both on the same finger :-). 

Jayla has been asking for a kitchen now for about 3 years. And we REFUSED to pay the ridiculous prices they charge for them (even the used ones)...I saw prices ranging from $100 - $400.

I'm assuming most 8 year olds aren't really into play kitchens. Because, although these kitchens cost a small fortune, they're very small. So I decided to get creative and make my own.  Wanna know what I spent on Jayla's? Here's the breakdown.

Boxes - $8 (2 of them, we already had and I used Staples Rewards coupons and my $8 for the other)
2 frame mats - $3 (used for the front of the oven and the "water/ice" maker on fridge)
Tape - $6
Knobs - $0 (these were left over corner brackets for the Target wire cubes)
Pulls - $2 (dowel rods painted silver)
Silver & black paint - $0
Oven rack - $0
Faucet & sprayer - $10 (from salvage store)
Clock - $0 (made from old CD, transparency, number stickers & old clock parts)
Pink/White/Black "Tiles) - $0 (scrapbooking cardstock)
Bins - $3 (purchased from thrift store. used inside fridge/freezer)
Sink - $1.88 (Walmart)
Fabric - $4.00 (Hobby Lobby. Used for under sink & clock face.)

TOTAL spent - $33.88

Merry Christmas everyone! Talk to you soon.

Now serving #21...years of wedded BLISS

Ok...maybe not the ENTIRE 21 years :-) (20 TOPS!)

Today, Thursday, December 17th is my 21st wedding anniversary. You may remember last year for our 20th, Mister M. gave me an  AMAZING gift to showcase on my left ring finger for the next 20 years :-).  So this year for our 21st, I just shined up the little beauty and continue to admire it ;).

Anyway, as in years past, we spent the day together at Jayla's Holiday breakfast and Christmas shopping for her. We always have such fun together.  And we sure do love Toys R Us :-).  Afterwards, we had Mexican food for lunch.

We will do our real anniversary celebration tomorrow night. Yep...you guessed it, we'll be dining at our favorite anniversary restaurant.  Can't wait!!  Thanks Briyanna, for watching Jayla for us :-).


1988

2009

Well, here we go...hand in hand into our future. Love you honey!

Ain't 8 GREAT...continued a couple of days late.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Ok, ok...Imma couple days late doing the 2nd part of Jayla's birthday post. But in my own defense, we had Jayla's birthday party on Friday night and by the time we got home, I was BEAT! Then yesterday, we were at a soccer tournament all day and my daddy left to head back home. And again, I was tired.

SO...here I am today. Better late than never, I always say ;).

Alrighty, now back to the reason for this post. GUESS what I did? I made Jayla's birthday cake this year. I know, that's not that big a deal. But Jayla "requested" that I make it. Originally, she asked for a 2 or 3 TIERED cake. However, once I convinced her that she was turning 8 and not getting MARRIED, I was able to change her mind a bit. Anyway, her request wasn't simply that I make her cake. She wanted the layers to be 2 separate flavors (one devils food and the other white with confetti) and wanted me to cover those layers in...you ready for this? She wanted ME to cover the cake in fondant. Now this child can often be found in front of the TV watching the Food Network as well as other cooking channels. But her favorite shows are, the Food Network "Challenges", "Ace of Cakes, & "Cake Boss". So that's where she got the wild idea for *ME* to use fondant.

I'm up for a challenge! Let's do it!!  This year we didn't really have a "theme"...we had more of a "pattern". Jayla is on this polka dot kick, so that's what we went with. Here's the front of the invitation that I made. The details of the party are on a striped background...similar to the Thank You card, pictured below.

The Thank You card.

Ok, here's how things progressed with the cake. First, there's no picture to prove it, but the 10" layers came out PERFECTLY!!

#1 "Dirty iced".

#2 Big ball of Fondant.

#3 Fondant rolled out. (Note, for quite a few weeks, I priced all the items I'd need to make this special cake. And a fondant icing roller was one of those items. The cheapest I found this special roller was $20! So I decided against that purchase...especially since I don't plan on using Fondant again any time soon.  Then I read on line that a piece of PVC pipe would do the trick just as well. So after spending $2.13 at Home Depot, I had my own version of the "special fondant roller"! It worked PERFECTLY!)

#4 Fondant draped over the pre-iced cake.

#5 Smoothed fondant covered cake. (I was REALLY proud of this part) :-)

#6 Beginnings of the decorations.

#7 Taa-Daa...The finished cake!

#8 All lit up at the party.

#9 Inside :-).

Well, what do you think?

I have to say, I was really pleased with how this cake turned out. One, because it's been a LONG time since I've made a cake larger than 9" round. And two, because I've never used Fondant before. As I may have mentioned, I use to be a cake decorator at Kroger many, MANY moons ago. But we never used fondant. And another interesting thing came about with regards to this cake. As I was lighting the candles and we were singing happy birthday to Jayla, this lady, who was with another party came to our table and started taking pictures of the cake. Then she asked Mister M, where we got such a beautiful cake from. He told her that I made it. She then asked me if I made them for other people. I don't, but I gave her my contact card anyway. Who knows, I may get an order one day :-).

So this was an experience for me. Although my forearms are STILL sore from rolling out that hard mound of icing.

Oh, and one last picture....

Some of you may remember me telling you what a "funny man" my dad is? Well, as we were leaving the place where we had Jayla's party, I had my hands full with the left over cake and a couple other items. My dad walks up and asks if I need him to help me carry anything. As I'm about to answer, he takes the cake topper from me and sashays towards the door, LOL.  Of ALL the things he could've taken from me, he takes the lightest thing. And he holds it up in front of himself, as pictured, and walks out the door. You should've seen how  people were looking at him. He's a NUT!! :-)

ANYWAY, I think that's it for today. But before I go, tell me about something new YOU made or created, that you were really pleased with the turn out.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Ain't 8 GREAT?!?!?

In 2001, on this very day...actually, it was a Tuesday...but you get the idea :-) this sweet little baby girl was born into this world!!

 And today, in 2009. she's a BEAUTIFUL, funloving, vibrant, full of life 8 year old!

Happy, Happy, HAPPY birthday to my sweet little Jaylabear! I love you, baby!!

~~~

Stay tuned everyone...HOPEFULLY, another post will follow later on today. If all turns out well, I have something else birthday related that I need to share with you.

But before I go...guess what? THIS is my 500th post!  And what a day for it to be on...my baby's 8th birthday. How cool is that??? I'm thinking about doing some sort of fun drawing for you guys to celebrate my 500th post. Stay tuned for that!

Enjoy your day!