So right now I’m in Las Vegas, where according to my best (finely-honed) temperature estimation it’s a crisp and refreshing 102 degrees. This kind of heat just makes me want to head out for a nice, long run while wearing a coordinated (and lined!) windsuit-type ensemble.

It’s actually a beautiful day out here, made even better by the fact that my sweet friend Big Mama is with me. We’re here for a Lifeway women’s event (the last Deeper Still of the year) and ready to get us a FRESH WORD tonight, amen.

But the real reason I’m writing this post is to tell you that I just had a hair-related crisis-of-faith. Last night I was overcome by a need to freshen up my roots and cover up my gray, and in a moment of weakness I packed a little something extra in my suitcase:

Oh yes. Oh yes I did.

So just a minute ago I slipped it out from underneath the clothes in my suitcase, and Melanie raised her eyebrows at me like, “SISTER, YOU’D BETTER STEP BACK.” I tried to explain to her that in addition to the gray I have some ROOT ISHAHS, but she would have nothing to do with my excuses. She refused to enable me. She said, “But what if it goes wrong? What if your hair turns some strange color? I mean, I would no doubt appreciate the blog fodder if something went awry, but I just don’t think you should do it. I think you should leave well enough alone.”

And then she glared at my root touch-up kit and rebuked it. In the strong name of Jesus.

I’m telling y’all: in difficult times, it is a deeply comforting to have a hair accountability partner.

We’ll be blogging as much as we can this weekend over at allaccess, so come by and see us if you get a chance. We’re hoping to put up some video tonight when we get back to the hotel.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my roots and I need to put on some make-up. Because I’m sure that make-up is going to look beautiful once I walk out into the burning desert sun.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Now you may look at the picture below and think, “Wow. A cardboard mailing tube. And I should care because…?”

But if you’re a certain five year-old, you’d see that mailing tube, ask your daddy to cut the ends off of it, and then you’d christen ye olde mailing tube as “THE MOST! AWESOME! SUPER SLIDE! EVVVVVVVER!”

And see those Star Wars action figures off to the side of the picture? Super Slide casualties. Which is understandable, of course. The Super Slide is very tricky.

Now I certainly don’t wish bodily harm on the Stormtroopers. That would just be wrong. But I’m thinking that they’re gonna have to buck up, throw on an air cast, and brave the Super Slide again, because that sassy cardboard cylinder has provided HOURS of entertainment this week.

Hours.

In fact, I’m thinking of having it bronzed.

So. What’s the favorite non-toy toy in your house? Think it can go toe-to-toe with THE MOST AWESOME SUPER SLIDE EVVVVVVVER?

Holla back in the comments. I have a feeling I’m going to laugh my head off when I read them.

Shannon is live-blogging Senator John McCain’s acceptance speech tonight over at BlogHer - thought some of y’all might like to check it out!

So. Remember this?

Well, now it’s this:

I know. I KNOW. I’m two months late to my own dadgum party. But, you know, I’ve been very busy procrastinating.

And seriously - summer just turned out to be way crazier than I anticipated. Crazier in a good way, mind you, but not necessarily in a way that lent itself to tackling home improvement projects.

You should also know that my list-o-goals is now MUCH smaller. I’m shooting to have my bedroom painted, THE END.

If you’d like to grab a new button for your blog, you can do that right here:

<a href="http://boomama.net/2008/06/17/itll-be-just-like-hgtv/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h134/boomama205/BeforeAfter3.jpg" border="0" alt="beforeafter"></a>

Big fun in store.

And thanks for being so patient, y’all.

For real(s).

After spending several years on the fence in terms of joining some sort of wholesale shopping club, we finally decided to become Costco customers earlier this year. The “quick trips” to Target and Walmart to pick up toilet paper or peanut butter or laundry detergent were almost always more expensive than I planned, so we decided to see if buying stuff in bulk would make a difference, if changing how we shop would have a positive impact on our budget.

And in a word (or three): yes, it has.

In fact, it’s made a huge difference. Now granted, we’ve had to be smart about what we buy at Costco - which means we stay far away from the computers and fancy knives and fine jewelry and whathaveyou - but in terms of buying paper goods and canned goods, it’s been a mighty good thing. Costco has been our grocery budget’s friend.

Plus, you know, they have two of my favorite snack products in the entire world in convenient economy sizes.

There are no words for the deliciousness contained therein.

But if there’s any drawback to shopping at Costco, it’s that you come home with many items that require storage, all manner of rolls and bottles and jars and cans. And as a result, for the last seven or eight months our laundry room has sported an elaborate organizational system that consisted of stacking all Costco purchases on top of one another.

Aye, and precariously.

Because the stack? It defied the laws of physics, my friends. At one point we had a small flat of English peas as the foundation for a multi-level tower-o-product that included paper towels, bottled water, Ziploc bags, marinara sauce, granola bars and an assortment of pasta. I just figured that if the whole thing ever came toppling down I’d scream “JENGA!” and pretend like it was fun.

Pragmatic as always, I am.

Last Sunday I’d been home from San Antonio for all of five minutes when David asked me if I’d grab him a twelve-pack of diet Coke from the laundry room. I figured that was easy enough since the twelve-packs are typically located right inside the laundry room door so that we have the opportunity to break a toe or three every single time we need to get to the washing machine. But when I walked into the laundry room, there were no twelve-packs in the middle the floor. In fact, there was no anything in the middle of the floor. Not an ill-balanced stack in sight. And when I looked behind the door to try to figure out where all our stuff was, here is what I saw:

Y’all. I squealed. And then I clapped. And even now - over a week later - I still think that, aside from my newborn son, it may be the most beautiful sight that I ever did see.

I mean, forget all those notions of being wined and dined that I harbored in my twenties. Because now? In my thirties? Wining and dining is fine and all, but truth be told it doesn’t hold a candle to the fact that my husband bought shelves, assembled them, and then filled them with our Costco bounty.

I get a little weak in the knees just thinking about it.

Last Monday I met my sweet friend NK for lunch, and after we finished relaying tales from our respective weekends, I told her about Shelving Surprise ‘08. I told her about how all the paper goods are on the top shelf, and how I don’t have to break toes on the Coke products anymore, and how even the dog treats have a place of honor now.

And after I finally quit talking, NK pushed away her plate, looked straight in my eyes, and said, “Oh. Now that’s romance.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.