It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I am through shopping! (Well I say that until I go out and see something that I'm sure SOMEBODY I know needs).....and most everything is wrapped. I have a few things that are still in transit, but I have every confidence they will arrive in time for our Christmas celebration! So last night I had an evening with some of my favorite people in the world. These are the women I study the word of God with every Monday night. We got together at Carino's and had a lovely meal and exchanged beautiful Christmas Ornaments. We have been meeting for several years and have done Beth Moore Studies. It has been so wonderful to have this closeness and inspiration. We began with a group of us from our Bunko group, which we like to call the Majestic Legends. (See earlier log about bonding over sewing). When our daughters graduated and went their separate ways, we wanted to stay in touch. So we started meeting every month for Bunko (very little game playing was done, mostly laughing and talking and a little imbibing) We were mothers who bonded over our daughters being in drill team together, and continue to bond now that we are becoming grandmothers. We even wrangled in our beloved drill team director and her mother into the group! An offshoot of that became our weekly Bible Studies. We have cried and laughed and learned and grown together in these Bible Studies, and have increased our numbers to include wonderful ladies who wouldn't know a Majestic if one fell on her head! Each lady, in both groups has a very special place in my heart. Besides my friends at work, and my kids, they are my social life. So the first picture will be a picture of the "Majestic Legends" (Legends in our own mind, not sure there is a person at the high school or on the drill team who would know who we were now and would think we were crazy ladies if we ever publicly declared ourselves Legends), and our God's Gals Bible Study group (sadly not all could attend due to sickness or other commitments), and then just for good measure I'm throwing in the holiday lighting of my house! Let the Season Begin!......

Favorite Things

One of my favorite things is when my kids call me and ask me to babysit. Of course, when it is over I wonder how I raised 2 children on my own! I don't have the energy or stamina I once did. I also do not get to watch the Adair children nearly as often as I get to watch the Best children, so I was extra excited to get to watch the Adair children while I am watching the Best Dogs (that is not the BEST DOGS, only the Best's Dogs). We watched Toy Story 3, Toy Story and Robot Rampage from the Backyardigans while Mom & Dad went to see Harry Potter. We had lots of fun and I have to say I have the best behaved and best looking grandkids in all the world!

My Thing

Something that is kinda "my thing" is sewing dance costumes. This I have been doing since Sarah was a sophomore in high school. I have been designing and sewing costumes for dances since then, not sure how many years that is, but a long time. I love doing it, and I believe that costumes can make or break a dance. If a dance is costumed wrong, no matter how beautifully choreographed and well danced, it will not seem finished, at least to me. I do not like group costumes that do not have a theme to them, like similar colors, or if different colors the same style. I also believe if there is a color in the title, or in the words to a song, that color should be used in the costume. I saw a dance to "Black and Gold" that had no black or gold in the costume and it was really disconcerting. I could hardly watch the dance. I can not tell you how many costumes I have designed or sewed, but it is ALOT. I can say it has gotten easier. When the girls were in high school I would design and sew for 60 high school girls. I now design and sew for Sarah's studio, Dance eMotions, and the girls are first grade to middle school, and there are not as many girls on the teams, so there are fewer costumes and the girls are littler. I don't have any pictures of the costumes I designed when the girls were in high school, bummer. It was a wonderful time. It was always a team effort, and there was always a group of parents that helped, and we had a wonderful bonding experience over sewing costumes. Some of these parents are still wonderful friends of mine today. The reason I am blogging about this today is I just finished my latest project, a duet costume, dancing to "Sadie Hawkins Dance". I am also posting photos of the first costume I did for Sarah's girls, which was done to a song I also recommended from the original Dixie Chicks "Lil Ole Cowgirl". I guess I need to start taking photos of all my costumes for posterity sake!

What's good for one is good for all!

Well, not to be outdone by my children, I have decided to bite the bullet and start to blog.....what is the world coming to? Now I understand that only my children will follow me, but be that as it may here it goes. I would like at some point for this blog to maybe inspire me to do something creative or inspiring, like cook an entire cookbook and blog about it. But don't hold your breath. I expect it will be rather bland and boring. I don't have the humor my kids can impart so brilliantly in their blogs, nor such a fascinating life. I would like to be able to impart words of wisdom from a long well lived life, but don't expect that either. I will give you a taste of how I spent part of this day:

1. Cleaning up poop from my bedroom from one of my guest dogs.

2. Cleaning up poop from my bedroom from the other one of my guest dogs.

3. Getting my mothers Christmas cards ready to be sent.

4. Making one of the duet costumes for one of my daughters team dances.

5. Watching a very depressing documentary on Darfur.

6. Creating this blog while watching said documentary.

7. Hopefully finish George Bush's memoirs tonight.