shenanigans

I have no doubt whatsoever that all of you have been dreadfully missing my feet photos and wondering when I will grace my blog with more colorful creations of toes, tattoos, and tie dye :)

 Remember how my cousin Shell came to visit me? We love to take feet pics together too! I think Shell is probably the only person that would put up with my insane ideas and actually like them too :) I've posted a few of our feet pics *here* before. Do you notice anything NEW about one of Shell's feet? That's right - she finally got the tattoo she always wanted :) So the first thing we did was get a pedicure with similar polish and rhinestones, and then we started going through all the albums that would work best. That's kind of our thing :)

 Ah, George.....

 I think everyone on da Earff probably has this album...

 ... and this one too!

 This is a personal favorite because I turned it kinda creepy...

my Led Zeppelin IV... see how we're climbing the Stairway to Heaven?

 Okay, so no album, but I loved this one in the late afternoon sun :)

Here is another personal favorite - are all these colors amazing or what! It will also prove if Davy really reads my blog or not, because the second he sees that we were standing on his Tool "Lateralus" album he's going to have a royal come-apart, hehe :D Yes, of course we always take the records out! So here is your color/tattoo/album/art/toe/creative shenanigan inspiration for today! Zaaaaaaaaa!

P.S. Made ya look!!! Hehe :D 

Take a look at the awesome blog ToeMail 

to see our world famous feet!!!

25 on the 25th

~ HaPPy 25th BiRThDaY DaNieL!!! ~

25 years ago today, my sweet, precious angel boy made me a mother, and my life would never be the same. I knew Daniel had a special spirit from the second he entered our lives. I will forever be filled with gratitude for his talents and intelligence and beautiful heart. I know he will continue to make the world a better place for having been here. I'm sad he had to leave to go back to school just days after returning from Uganda, so we can't celebrate this special birthday with him..... But I want to wish him a *HAPPY BIRTHDAY* with all my heart, and remind him yet again: Daniel, I am so PROUD of you, and I love you SO MUCH!!! I hope your 25 on the 25th birthday is every bit as wonderful as you are!!!

~

Here are some of my favorite photos of you and I... what awesome memories! :)

 With his ridiculous brothers right before he drove back to school...

See? They really ARE capable of making normal faces :)

xoxoxoxoxo

things are not always as they seem

 I love spring and I love Easter. The world coming back to life again after seeming cold and dead for so many months, reminds me every year of God's infinite wisdom and blessings. What appears dead on the outside or in the flesh, still has a living spirit.  

 Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ chose to carry out God's plan and suffer the Atonement so that we may all live again. I will be forever grateful for his sacrifice and love. I am thankful and humbled that my body may die, but my spirit will live on, and someday my body and my spirit will be reunited. Christ made this possible. Do I truly believe this? Yes. Especially in the spring when reminders of this beautiful miracle are everywhere.

 Things are not always as they seem. Life is eternal, and hope is always, always just under the surface. What would our lives be without hope? I can't imagine living a life without hope. In every bit of life - or death - in every bud and bloom and petal..... there is hope.

~ Happy Easter Everyone! ~

dog humor

~ Hyperbole and a Half ~

I can't help it you guys... I just can't help it. I just have to fit this in tonight in between my upcoming Shell posts and before Easter tomorrow. Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half just KILLS me! Completely does me in. SLAYS me. Okay... sometimes she's a big time potty mouth so I don't highlight *all* her posts... but she is a serious comic genius. And the posts that get me the most are always her dog posts. Oh. My. Gosh. If you can get me to laugh out loud at something, then it's got to be uber funny. Because when I laugh out loud you can hear me all the way down the street, much to my family's dismay. Her humor and illustrations just nail me. BUT... you will think I'm a big dork and you'll kind of just politely go "heh heh" IF:

(1) you don't have dogs

(2) you don't worship sarcasm

(3) you don't know every single word of "Bohemian Rhapsody"

~ I'm just sayin' ~

a little sunshine

~ Kerrie's Daffodils ~

 Happy Wednesday everyone :) And although I love the cool, breezy weather, today is one of those days most of you would think is very dreary. So I am posting a few springy, sunshiny photos of flowers to bring some sun into your day and brighten it up! I haven't enhanced them yet, but I don't think flowers need too much enhancing anyway - they are already so beautiful. My dear friend Kerrie brought me the yellow daffodils above. Kerrie has what I call a "sunshine smile" - when she smiles her whole face lights up and so does everything around her :)

 ~ John's Tulips ~

 Tulips are one of my favorite flowers - how could they not be?! In fact, I don't know anyone who doesn't adore tulips! John brought me these sweet tulips and I just love them. They are always dressed and ready for their photo op! And right now tulip festivals are going on all around the globe! If you get the chance to go to one - GO! And how cool is this: we just got a post card from a dear friend of ours who is a missionary in the Netherlands! She says it's absolutely gorgeous there right now - can you even imagine!?!?!

~ Shelly Came To Visit! ~

Here is one of my all time favorite rays of sunshine - my cousin Shell :) She flew out to visit me last week - to just hang out, to help me accomplish some things, to go to my doctor appt. with me, and to be my best buddy like she always is. Oh, I love my Shell. We had an amazing time. So this post is kind of to set up my next few posts of all our antics from the wonderful week she was here. Stay tuned! :) 

LAST catch-up post, episode 5: drama in the hood

~ it started out like any other relaxing Saturday evening ~

I know all of you on Facebook heard (and commented on!) this story a few weeks ago. But it was kind of a big deal, so I wanted to mention it. And my Mouse... well, he was the man of the hour!


Little did we know that our house was being cased by a potential intruder all day. Some neighbors were taking all the wood from our cut down tree - we even noticed and commented on the guy who kept walking by and looked out of place - and it was a cool afternoon of my kids having friends over, coming and going as usual. Windows and doors wide open as usual. Sheesh, I don't even have a key to my own house! Lock the door? Rarely. 


But in the 23 years we've lived here, things have changed a lot. 


That evening - only around 8:00pm - it would have been simple for anyone outside to see what our family was up to. Bright lights on in the kitchen as I made a salad. Bright lights on in the front room as all the kids were occupied watching a movie. John in his studio with the door closed, unseen. Anyone who had jumped our wall and was hiding in the shadows of our back yard could tell my bedroom was dark except for a small light, and my sliding door was open. Perfect.


I don't know how he heard it, but the Mouse heard my bedroom screen door open. He wasn't sure what noise it was - maybe Davy's kitty? - but something told him to investigate. None of us knew any of this, he just walked quietly down the hall to check. Suddenly I heard the Mouse yell in the voice of a lion - a voice so loud I had never heard the likes of:

"GET OUT!!! GET OUT!!!"

The intruder had just stepped into my bedroom when Mouse looked down my hall into my room, and spotted him. The intruder did indeed GET OUT and ran! Mouse's friends thought he was just goofing around. John thought it was probably Davy and his friends that had come home. I knew as a mom immediately that something was wrong, but it was over before I even got to Mouse. Poor Mouse was shaking and trying not to puke. But he was able to give a partial description to the police. And more than that, he totally saved us from being robbed! HE WAS SO AMAZING!


So suddenly the air was filled with helicopters, and our street filled with police cars, and neighbors came pouring out of their houses to see what had happened. Our new next door neighbors had literally moved in the day before and we hadn't even met them yet - I still feel awful about scaring the living daylight out of them! But the Mouse........ HE WAS SO BRAVE!!! HE SAVED THE DAY!!! MOUSE, YOU ARE TOTALLY OUR HERO!!!


I don't know if the intruder was ever caught. There has been more crime in the last year - in just our neighborhood alone - than in the entire 23 years we've lived here. Things are not the same. 


So now we have bars and locks on our windows and sliders, locked gate, locked front door. I'll have to get a house key made. It makes me really sad. But that's how it has to be. But I'll never forget how courageous my Mouse was - Matthew, I am so proud of you and so grateful :) 

Saturday Part 2: National Record Store Day

~ A Basement Rendezvous performing at Rock Candy Music ~

Did you know that Saturday was not only Arbor Day, but also National Record Store Day? That's right - a totally cool day to recognize independently owned record stores! The folks who's hearts are really into music and their passion to make that world better, and work hard to form a bond with their community. For our town that place is Rock Candy Music. They have vinyl. They have CD's and DVD's, new and used. They have art, clothes, textiles, toys, candy. A little bit of everything really. And they are wonderful to promote local talent. Our boys really enjoy performing there and have gained so much support from their performances. We are grateful to Rock Candy Music and the awesome owners, Bill and Melissa, who go out of their way to make it the place to be! ("Like" both A Basement Rendezvous AND Rock Candy Music on their Facebook pages!) 

And now without further ado, I will post the YouTube vids of the boys (the first vid got cut off just shy of the ending... grrr). And let me just say, I think this was perhaps my favorite performance of theirs to date. A great turnout. Amazing new songs. The night was electric. And people, THEY ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!

An exhausted mom and her exhausted son listening to their fave band :)

WHAT. AN. AWESOME. DAY. SHEESH.