A New Twist to Being Out of The Loop

 I don't know why, but I've always been a tie nerd.  I grew up in a era where men wore ties and cuff links to church. Even though he rarely wears them, I love shopping for ties for my husband.  I love the colors and patterns of ties and how the manliest man can rock a paisley pattern without denting his manhood.  Yes sirree, I love ties. I was putting away groceries this weekend when I heard the screen door slam and squealed with surprise and then delight to see my

youngest little robin dropping back in the nest all dressed up for the wedding of a friend. What a wonderful surprise. He looked so adorable in his spiffy dress shirt, slacks and tie.  He's just such a cutie!!! At first glance, I thought his knot had been bungled and immediately started to straighten it up, but upon closer inspection, the

bungled tie was purposefully woven into what I'm told is a trendy new knot. . . Well, new to me.  Although cute as a bug as he is, I just couldn't take my eyes off his knot and of course had to google images of my fascination as soon as he left.  These pretty little knots puts a whole new twist to me being totally out of the loop on ties (and possibly (POSSIBLY) other things). Who knew?

Wanna learn how??
http://www.blacklapel.com/thecompass/ask-a-black-lapel-stylist-how-do-you-tie-a-trinity-knot/

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/02/25/Three-Exotic-Necktie-Knots-to-Try-The-Eldredge-Knot-The-Trinity-Knot-and-The-Cape-Knot/#!kul1m

When Did Conversation Become a Competitive Sport?

While listening to the news the other night, there was a segment on civility in America. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time because I was busy multitasking by seeing how quickly I could use up five lives on Candy Crush. I've spent most of this week television free. I've watched little news and only a couple of shows. Mainly I've read and enjoyed the silence of just being. Having had a few days of silence, I've began to think back on the snippets of the news segment. I'm not sure, since I wasn't paying attention, but some of the issue ensued due to comments made on social media about the new Miss America who is of Indian decent. As soon as she was crowned, people took to social media to say both positive and negative things about her. Unfortunately, the negative comments made it more of a news story than it really was. Social media has changed the way we communicate with others. People are completely at ease with saying any disparaging thing they please from their twitter account. Civility doesn't seem to be a consideration as they tweet their opinions. Not only has social media changed the way we converse, I think the "newsbate" forum of cable news has also changed our communication style. . .  And not for the better. I've had to turn the television off from pure irritation of pundits talking over each other. When 4 or 5 people are debating their point of views, at the same time, each talking a little louder than the other, it's hard to glean anything from the information they are trying to expand upon. This type of conversing has leached into our everyday conversation. Sometime I feel like conversation is now a competitive sport, and sister you better be on your game or you won't get a word in edgewise. I'm not a competitive person, but sometimes I do have an opinion (Right! imagine that), and astonishingly I'd like to be able to express my opinion without being talked over, under and around. I've come to the realization that I'll need to be a gold medal conversational Olympian in order to have a conversation in the latest trending style.  Or. . .  or, I can just have a conversation with me, myself and I, on my blog where I'm always right. Yes, that is the answer to the question I have posed to myself. Blogging is less exhausting than attempting to get a word in edgewise and I can have the exclusive opinion that I am always right, just like Nancy Grace does. Ohhh, that's just ugly on so many levels I can't count them right now. I'm kind of feeling like I want to talk over myself, which I'm totally allowed to do. . . On my blog.

Over the Moon for Under the Sea Whale of a Baby Shower

I had the pleasure of being a hostess for a baby shower of "One of my kids" this weekend. One of my friends boys, is all grown up, married and expecting their first baby. When one of "The Girlfriends" have a grand baby, I get as excited as I expect I will when I have a grand baby. The thing I enjoy most, is showering the people I love when they have a life changing event take place.
Along with 8 other women we put together "A Whale of a Baby Shower" for the sweet little couple. Mommy and Daddy are using a whale theme for the nursery so that's what we went with for the shower. Mommy's sister (soon to be a new aunt) made some adorable banners and wall hangings for the nursery which we used to decorate with. Back in the day, I

used to watch the Christopher Lowell decorating show, where he
preached the importance of lifts and levels in decorating. The Everything is a Dollar Store proved to be my new best friend when looking for a way to spice up the under the sea table. Using clear glass vases and clear plastic platters I made tiers for cupcakes, cookies, fruit and veggies. I filled the vases half way with blue play sand and a handful of seashells,
hot glued the platters to the vases and Wall Laa, we had pedestals and tiers for $2.00 each. When I want to do another themed party, I can just heat the hot glue, remove the sand and shells and refill the vases with something to go with the new theme. I pilfered a friends house for sea shells big
and small and a light house table for nothing but pure pleasure. I sprinkled broken sea glass around the table like confetti and that's all she wrote on decorating the under the sea table. Other hostesses brought whale shaped cookies and whale decorated cupcakes, both of which were too pretty to eat (well almost). The shower of gifts included a belly cast (courtesy of the hostesses), a daddy diaper bag so dad can preserve his manhood while still styling and profiling his chic self and a box o'bow ties because apparently someone expects this baby boy (who is already too big for his britches) to be an engineer ( God help us)!!!!  Seriously someone should of clued me into that little tidbit, I would have made a box o' pocket protectors to match the bow ties. In lieu of cards, we asked everyone to use a story book and write a sweet sentiment on inside cover. A basket of diapers were provided for each guest to write a little note on to make late night diaper changes a little more interesting. While the cute couple unwrapped their gifts, guest marked items off of their Baby Bingo cards. the one who had the most stickers won a gift from Bath and Body Works. We also played "The Price is Right" to see who had the most "How Much Does it Cost" knowledge. We had a Whale of a time whale of a good time showering this couple with love and good wishes. My theory on life is this.... If you want your life to be wonder filled, fill your life with wonderful people. The Smith family has filled my life with so many wonderful memories, a Whale of a baby shower was a way to give back just a smidge of the joy they have brought into my life.

Houston, We've Reached a New Low

We don't look bored in this picture because all the kids are behind the photographer making us look more interesting.

When I was pregnant with my youngest, my husband and I worked as counselors for our church youth camp. We had one camper who whined THE ENTIRE camp because he "was bored." At the end of the camp, they always gave out little awards (The messy award, the friendly award). The little bored camper got the "I'm Bored Award." When they announced his award he fell from his chair, crying and rolling on the floor. It had been a fun week, but that was a priceless moment that topped the week off as the funniest moment of all. Today marks a month since we became empty-nesters. Now I remember why we had children. . .  We're just dang boring without em. Sadly, we're like Homer and Marge Simpson, sittin on the couch watchin our stories. Well, maybe not quite as bad as Homer and Marge, but pretty dang close. The good thing about empty nesting is, the grocery bill has plummeted. I've been on a cooking strike. Luckily, I'm married to a man who is perfectly content with frozen dinners. Well, I guess there is the slight chance my cooking is so bad that it's not missed, but for narcissistic purposes, let's go with the content thing. It's so boring at our house that I walked into the kitchen the other day and He said. . . "I'm bored. We should go on a hike or go bowling or something."  I just paused for a minute then said. . . "Yeah, we should." Then we just continued on with all the things we weren't doing. Yes, Houston we've reached a new low.