Last night, in an act of total bloggy spontanaiety, I found some illustrations I liked on istockphoto, downloaded them, and asked my hubby to work his Photoshop / Illustrator magic. He created my new banner while he was EATING A BOWL OF CHILI, so it’s a tender memory, the revamping of the blawg.

I also changed the color on the sides, and to do this I used the widely respected design method of looking at the previous color number on my template (it was 692), and then trying 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. and just seeing what I ended up with. I went through several variations of brown, then decided I’d try the number 450 (I’m telling you, it was a terribly methodical process), and what do you know? 450 was a nice forest green and exactly what I wanted.

Also, you may have stopped by last night when the sides of the blog were orange, and if so, I apologize. I hope you didn’t awaken your family with your cries of “MY EYES! MY EYES!”

The orange was a little, um, loud.

So if you’ll excuse me, I have to leave for an appointment with an insurance adjustor regarding The Unfortunate Deer Incident. It promises to be loads of fun with all the talk of bumpers and frames and grills…I’ll be sure to fill you in on all the Exciting Details when I return.

Happy Fall, everyone!

Today I’ve read a couple of thought-provoking posts on the topic of bravery.

Head over to Toddled Dredge and Antique Mommy – two of my very favorite blogs – to see what they have to say.

1. The “Project Runway” season finale is (not) tonight (I stand corrected – it’s next week), and my excitement knows no bounds. I guess that’s not saying a whole lot, because I’m a person who gets excited about, say, a new brand of salad dressing, so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that I regard tonight as a Television Event (even if it’s not the finale, it’s still an Event), and as such I made a celebratory pot of chili because if there’s one thing fashion designers love, it’s chili.

Okay. Maybe not.

But still.

2. Today’s “Oprah” segment about life in North Korea was shocking to me. Shocking. Good grief I live in a bubble.

3. I’m really behind on email again. If you’ve sent me a note in the last week or so and I haven’t answered you, please forgive me…but the house stuff and the work stuff and the all-Alex-all-the-time stuff have left me precious little time for the email stuff. I’m in the process of trying to catch up.

4. Last night? On “Dancing With The Stars”? How adorable was Emmitt Smith?

So adorable. BEYOND adorable, in fact.

I love him.

5. This afternoon when I picked up Alex from Mother’s Day Out (his very favorite place in the whole wide world with the exception of The Coke And Donut Palace, also known as my parents’ house), I got him all settled in the back seat and cranked the car.

We had just started out of the parking lot when he said, “Mama? I missed you!”

I’ll pause for a moment so that you can wipe away the tears. And then say, “Awwww.”

Seriously, I double dog dare you to try to be in a bad mood one little teensy bit when a three year old says those words to you.

It’s just not possible.

I have tons to talk about – “The Bachelor” (I’m with Big Mama – the ABC folks hauled in a whole new level of crazy for this season), the realtor caravan, the fancy new Lifeway store where Alex and I hung out this morning while the realtors were here, and the unsurpassed customer service I received from our insurance company when dealing with the claim for the unfortunate deer incident (seriously – it was like I was checking into a fancy hotel or something).

But our internet has been down since about 10:30 this morning (no email! I know! and I didn’t even get the shakes!), and now my husband is home, and I really just want to hang out and watch “Dancing With The Stars” and make D watch a portion of “The Bachelor” where the girl who consumed too many adult beverages on the beach group date wakes up from her “nap” and tries to talk.

I never claimed to be highbrow, people.

Also, I want to start a new Bible study…I can’t jump in with anything at my church because of my schedule, so does anyone have a suggestion? I haven’t been in an intensive study since I did Living Beyond Yourself last spring, and I can feel it. Big time. I seem to be more consistent with Bible study when I’m doing something with daily “homework” – so let me know if you have any ideas.

Fascinating post, huh?

Please forgive. Family beckons.

Back tomorrow.

D went out of town Thursday.

It is now Monday night.

OH SWEET GOODNESS WHEN ARE THE REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVING?

I should mention that The Child has been delightful. He has been sweet and affectionate and cooperative, and aside from his occasional tendency to want to bounce some form of action figure off of my face or my behind, we’ve done really well considering we have been together non-stop and by that I mean All The Time including sleeping because I am all about making up as few beds as possible right now.

I did have a bit of a stressed out Mama moment yesterday when Alex and I were riding around during our open house because he was talking all the time with nary a moment of silence because why, why would anyone want silence when there’s so much talking to be done about the trees and the Arby’s and the “Sunday Morning Songs” and how red means stop and yellow means slow down and green means go but what does orange mean, Mama? And what does white mean? And can we go left now? What about straight? Where’s that way go? Does that way go to Jason’s?

But all things considered, we’ve weathered our Time Without Daddy pretty well.

But this house stuff? The open house yesterday and now a caravan of agents who are coming tomorrow?

Wearing. me. out.

I know that it’s just all part of selling a house. I get that. And I’m beyond grateful to even have the possibility of moving to a place that’ll be more convenient for our family.

But I’m just a little tired. Just a wee bit tired.

Also, I think that if my rugs and carpet could talk, they would say something along the lines of, “PLEASE, OH PLEASE – FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, QUIT VACUUMING!”

So I’m about to go outside and sweep the porch and the deck one more time so that the neighborhood children can look out of their bedroom windows and say, “Mama! Daddy! The crazy lady is moving plants in the dark again!” Then I’m going to sprawl out on the couch, cover up with a comfy blanket, and watch “The Bachelor.”

Oh! And I haven’t even told y’all about how I took the TV out of the kitchen so the countertops would be totally uncluttered, and now every single time I walk in there all I can think is that THE SILENCE, IT IS DEAFENING because why, why is there no Food Network playing in the kitchen, why?

Which makes me fairly certain that the reason why Alex talks all the time is because I have in fact encouraged it. That I am some sort of Anti-Silence Stealth Bomb that stops quiet dead in its tracks.

Anyway.

My OCD and I will be back to visit you tomorrow!

I can’t imagine how lucky you must feel.

And now, an announcement:

Consumers can write into Reynolds Fun Shapes and explain why their bake sale needs “shaping up” for a chance to win a FunShapes “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kit. Reynolds will be giving away sixty of these kits each week for six weeks starting September 22, 2006. Each kit includes a variety of FunShapes samples, a CD-rom with tips, recipes and signage for hosting a successful bake sale, a FunShapes tablecloth and a FunShapes calculator for quick tallies of customers’ bills. In addition, the “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kits will include a disposable camera and entry information for an exclusive photo contest, with a chance to win a $500 donation to their organization from Reynolds FunShapes Baking Cups.

I believe y’all are what marketing people would call the “target demographic” for Reynolds products, and since they’ve very nicely offered to send me a FunShapes kit free of charge, I thought I’d share this info with you.

:-)

Happy Baking!