I think these sound like a little piece of heaven on earth.

Thanks, Diane!

I know I’m probably a day behind the rest of y’all, but I have to chime in about “The Bachelor” from last night.

As far as I can tell, Dr. Cutie McDreamy has no hope of a future with any of these girls.

The most likeable of the bunch – Sarah from Nashville – has zero chemistry with him. She is an adorable girl – cute as a bug – but they have about as much spark as a pack of matches left out in the rain. Not gonna work.

Sarah from Canada is cute enough, and they seem to have an attraction, but the look on his face when he realized that she still lived at home…pure horror. Bottom line: she’s just too young (and I just saw the end of the episode, so I know she didn’t get a rose. I’m telling you – it freaked him out that she lives with her mama).

Susan – fake fake fake fake fake fake fake. The whole “one person can’t fill another person up / cup of water” analogy? Somebody’s trying too hard, and it’s Susan.

Moana – Aside from the dreadful name, she’s a beautiful girl. But oooooh, is she troubled. Methinks someone struggles with insecurity issues…plus, if no one in the house liked her, there must be a reason. Where there’s smoke and all that….

He’s going to pick Moana because they have chemistry and because guys never see / heed the BIG FLASHING warning signs when a girl can’t get along with other girls. He’s going to give Moana the benefit of the doubt and decide that the other girls were just jealous. There is a term that Sister’s friend Shirley uses for situations where men fall for women like Moana, and while it is not necessarily appropriate for this type of forum, I do believe it would apply.

In the end, I fear, Dr. McDreamy is going to be decidedly unlucky in love. And I’m so tempted to do a medical pun right here (“He’s going to need some blind dates, STAT”), but I won’t because that would be really cheesy, wouldn’t it?

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by old family diaries that Mama had placed around the house. My favorite was a little red one. The binding was torn, and the lock strap didn’t work, but I spent many an afternoon carefully turning through the pages and reading the daily activities of my great-aunt and great-uncle. Their names were Choxie and Herman, and Aunt Choxie liked to write down all the pertinent details of the day: what the temperature was, whether the rain came, what she picked from the garden, who came by to visit, and what she cooked for supper. Since I was born too late to know them, that little red diary created a connection, a frame of reference, so that I wasn’t completely out of the loop when Mama and her family started telling stories. And there were lots of Aunt Choxie stories.

That little red diary is still in Mama’s house, and the last time we were there, Alex discovered it. I know he can’t read it, but it was an oddly sweet, full-circle moment to see him thumbing through those pages, to know that one day those pages that I used to read will also give him a connection to relatives he’s never met. I guess on some level I hope this “interweb blog feed” will do the same thing.

So last night when Sister called, I certainly didn’t anticipate that our conversation would make me think about Aunt Choxie’s red diary and the butterbeans she put in the freezer back in 1952. But it did. Because Sister, in the midst of some random blog surfing, happened across a little gem.

Allow me to introduce you to Lena Diane Jennings. I think y’all will enjoy her down-home style just as much as we did. There’s something very sweet and charming about the way she describes her daily activities. From the details she shares, you can see that she has a grateful heart, a deep love for her family, and a real appreciation for “hearth and home.”

If you get a chance, click on the link above and head over to Diane’s blog. Leave her a sweet comment…and if she shares her recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls, I’ll pass it along to y’all.

In a world where we obsess over what an Olsen twin is wearing, Diane’s perspective is a breath of fresh air.

OH but we have been The Lackadaisicals at our house this afternoon. Everyone took naps, except for Ally, who sat at David’s feet for the entire afternoon and stared at him. Nothing would distract her. Not Alex, not food, not promises of outdoor adventure. Nothing. As a result, David has been very uncomfortable, as if someone has perhaps put some sort of tracking device into Ally’s little doggy brain in an effort to monitor all of his actions and activities for a Strategic Government Operation in which he is an unwilling participant.

For what it’s worth, I have never cared less about any sporting event than I do about this year’s Super Bowl. I can’t even pretend to be interested. The Bulldogs put a whipping on Auburn yesterday, though – and THAT I enjoyed.

This morning before church I had a couple of EXCELLENT parenting moments that Alex will no doubt carry in his heart for a lifetime and share with his own children as he extends our family’s parenting legacy into the next generation:

1) “Alex, you have a choice: you can come downstairs, or you can stay upstairs.”
2) “If you don’t wear a sweater, you’re going to be cold, because you won’t be warm.”

Brings a tear to the eye, doesn’t it?

Last thing: you all need to be watching Project Runway on Bravo. And just as enjoyable as the show is Tim Gunn’s blog and podcast after each episode.

Carry on.

Last Sunday we were driving home from church, and when Alex realized that he had left something there – now I can’t even remember what – we had the following conversation:

Alex: “Where is it?”
David: “You left it at church, buddy.”
Alex: “WAAAAAAAAAAA.”
Me: “Alex, you have to keep up with your things, or you will lose them.”
David: “That’s right, Alex. If you lose your things, you won’t have them anymore.”

Parental wisdom at its finest, ladies and gentlemen. I imagine that if a member of an Excellence in Parenting committee happens across this post, we will surely win some sort of award.

As always, it’s a terribly lively Saturday evening in our household, which means that David is reading, I am writing, and Alex is talking and playing with trains. It’s a glamorous existence, y’all. A few notes from the fast lane:

1. I am happy to tell you that once the weather finally made up its mind to GET COLD, ALREADY, satan’s sinus pressure of doom let up a little bit and I am now able to open my left eye completely again. As a result, I have quit fantasizing about medieval pain remedies, and the phrase “What you need is a good bleeding” has ceased running on a constant loop in my mind.

2. Alex enjoyed his Cheetos snack this afternoon, as you can see. Don’t let Mama see this picture, or she’ll hop in the car and drive the 2 1/2 hours over here for no other reason than to wipe his mouth. Me? Not so much.

3. Alex and Maggie, our lab, have had a bit of a contentious relationship in the past. Something about Alex wanting to pull Maggie’s tail and Maggie wanting Alex to disappear forever. But they’ve turned a corner in the last month or so, and last Sunday I posted some pictures of Alex filling Maggie’s bowl with food (which, by the way, is now his favorite activity in the whole wide world aside from talking non-stop and then screaming when he’s not talking). Long story long, this morning Alex and I were leaving to go to the grocery store, and as Alex was walking out of the kitchen he looked back and said, “I love you, Maggie! See you later!” So I think those two are going to be just fine.

4. The Blogger site has been cuckoo this weekend. I shan’t enumerate the problems for fear of skyrocketing blood pressure, so suffice it to say that I have been frustrated. I know that if I were a more patient person I would see the outages as “a challenge” or “an opportunity for growth,” but, you know, I’m not. And I don’t.

5. Today was the 1,000th page view at BooMama, which means the tens of you have been some pretty active readers over the last month. I believe, though I am not certain, that the 1,000th click was perpetrated by someone in Nashville – which means fabulous prizes for my sister and BIL. Rotissierie chicken and cottage cheese for all! As Eddie in National Lampoon’s Vacation would say, “Nothin’ but the best….”

6. David told me today that he feels this blogging thing is the perfect hobby for me because it enables my OCD to thrive. I have “thriving” OCD? I do believe I’ve been insulted.