Changes Abound

Well- guess I should update everything that is going on. Dirk is feeling much better which is a relief for me because I was getting worried there for a while. But more things have happened.

We are moving. Yep, moving. To California. Can you believe that? I’m nervous, excited, and scared to death. While I hate to leave the family that I have here, I know that I have to. It’s going to be a great change for us. Something we’ve needed. And I know Dirk misses “Home”.
So November 2nd we’re going to be on our way. It was going to be the first but we’ve got the Halloween Party at Lance’s that night and we’ve got to go to that. So come Sunday morning, we’ll be on the road traveling to Cali!!

Oh the same happy note, I’m going to be an Aunt again. Well, I think everyone knew that today we found out that it’s going to be a girl! No word yet on names..I can’t wait though. I wanted Tanya to have a boy, but when you think about it, a girl will be so much fun. Woohoo!

I guess I’m going to have to change a few things around in my list again…(maybe this is the last time.) I think we can cross off the patio furniture since well, they already have it.

We’re going to be living with Dirk’s family for a while, as a way to get on our feet. The house is beautiful and HUGE. I’m excited about the area that they live in too. I told a friend the other day that I was having to trade hurricane’s, tornadoes and SEC Football for earthquakes, forest fires and PAC-10 (that is NOT football). But I’m going to remain the Bama fan that I am. They’re just now getting good so I can’t give them up!

So we’ve got a little over a month and we’ll be on our way. Hard to believe huh?

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I finished this book last night. It was very heart warming and sad at the same time. I cried I don’t know how many times reading this book. I haven’t read the lecture itself, but I want to. I would encourage anyone to read this. I could go on and on about it but I’m just going to share two passages from the book. How telling they are about this man.

Page 79-“Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

Page 193-“I’m aware that Chloe may have no memory of me at all. She’s too young. But I want her to grow up knowing that I was the first man ever to fall in love with her. I’d always thought the father/daughter thing was overstated. But I can tell you, it’s real. Sometimes she looks at me and I just become a puddle.”

There are so many more that I’d love to share. The times he spent with his nephew and niece when they were young, before he married and had children of his own. How he hopes that his niece and nephew will do the same with his kids that he did with them. How he hopes that his lecture and this book will be a legacy for his children. You get a real sense how just how much that this man loved his life, his family, friends and his job.

Pick up a copy and read it. Better yet, buy one. If you ever only buy one book in your life…This is the one you need to get!

Bunco

So with Dirk being sick as a dog and all it’s been hard to really concentrate on things and try to figure out what I wanted to blog about. I was taking pictures for the office today and realized that I really want to get back into my project 365 and I’m bummed that I have to start over but at the same time, I can use some of the ones from my previous attempt for my 101 beautiful/meaningful thing to do. But I guess I am radomizing right now.

Last Friday was our monthly Bunco night. The pictures are from the dinner I fixed (Sheppards Pie) and the prizes that I picked out. Everything went well. Well, sort of. I missed mom not being there but she was sick. So we ended up playing with a ghost. I think that was the first time that I went the whole game and didn’t play with the ghost once. I was suprised. My best table for rolling was the head table too, which suprised me. One of these days I guess we need to take a group picture. But anyways.

Hope you are having a great week!!!

Movie #3

The Messengers-

I wanted to see this in the movie theater. Dirk thought it looked cheesy, I thought it looked good. Once it came out on video we kept forgetting to rent it. Then it came on Showtime Saturday.

Ok, so Dirk was right. It was sort of cheesy. First the baby sees the ghosts, then the daughter and finally the parents at the end when the murderer comes to light. I don’t want to elaborate too much in case you haven’t see it. It was better than The Condemed but wow, I need to see a really good movie.

Anybody know of 1 or 2 or 98? LOL

The Condemed (Movie #2)

Ugh-

Talk about bad! Let me summarize this as quickly as possible.
10 convicts (including our hero Steve Austin) are put on an island to fight to the death. The winner is set free. Oh and it’s only shown over the internet. Okay that’s as much as I can summarize without just feeling bad. This was a bloody, bad movie.

Ok- so I blogged about it, enough said. Save your money, don’t rent it and wait for it to come out on Cable. I saw it on Showtime. I’d say wait till it comes to TNT or TBS..that way it might be edited- for the better too LOL

#52 Don’t Eat Fast Food for 30 Days

Did I really do this!?? YES!!! I’m so excited about it too! Today is day 30/30!!! I’m excited about it. Dirk and I both went 30 days without fast food. I’m proud of both of us! So how does one celebrate that? Well, tonight I’m cooking dinner and tomorrow we are treating our selves to Cane’s. After that we’re going to stay away from Fast Food as much as possible.

They say it only takes 30 days to break a habit or form a new one. It’s so much easier to stay home and cook-not all meals have to be fully involved. This is a great prospect! I’m excited. So that’s yet another thing I can cross off my list. And I’m confident about it. Besides, I’ve already got dinner thawing out! LOL

Woohoo!!!!

Talents

So on our way to visit Lori, Corban, Eric and Pennydog in Austin or was it on the way home, Mom asked, if we could pick one talent what would it be? I really didn’t have to think about mine much. But as I thought about it longer, I had to really dig down and look at why I said it with no hesitation. First off I guess I should mention what I said.

My talent to pick was playing the guitar.

Now why? I can remember thinking this way too “boyish” when my dad said he wanted me to learn to do it. Once again, another instance of not listening to my father. WOW. Here we go again. Another instance of me being stubborn and pighead with a suggestion my father gave me.

But when I think about it, here is what I give as my reason for learning. It wasn’t because it was something that my father wanted me to do when I was younger. It was because of what he left me.

He left me a beautiful mint condition guitar that was his prized possession. I won’t say who old the guitar is but let’s just say that it is old enough to be my father. I can’t play it. And this makes me sad. I have a beautiful link to my father that is sitting in a case in a closet at Mom and Pappy’s house. Usually only taken out if Pappy takes it out and plays it.

Did my father want that of his beloved guitar? No he did not. I know he didn’t because he would take it out and play it as often as he felt like it. Granted he didn’t feel like doing it much before he died but he still did play it some.

And it has been a source of conflict. A huge one. You see my oldest half brother feels like it’s his because when he was 3 daddy told him he could have it when he grew up. But as we grow up things change. Daddy left it to me because he knew I was the only child who would take care of it. And it’s been a source of anger for me since Daddy passed away 5 years ago. Because of my brother feeling like he has a 1 track mind. I think I blogged about it on my live journal when I was keeping it up and got out a lot of frustrations with it. I wrote my brother a letter no holds barred and told him how I felt.

Yes I still have some anger and I do at times wish that it would go away. I wish that I could get over it. I even try to dig down and get over it. I struggle with that so much it’s not funny.

But now there is a new struggle that is slowly taking place of the anger. I can see that as I’m thinking and typing this entry. It’s a struggle with myself because I haven’t done something I know my father would have wanted me to. So maybe it’s time to look into lessons or figure out how to do it on my own.

I wish that Pappy would do it.

I wish my father was around to do it. I miss him in times like these.

Movie #1 of 101

I think that’s what I have it at. I really haven’t sat down to watch many movies unless you count catching some on the tail end or watching them part of the way through. The first one that I’ve sat down and watched since I started this list is a horrible movie called Soul Survivors. It had Casey Affleck and Wes Bentley in it. Now I’m not a huge fan of Casey’s and this is only the second movie I’ve ever seen with Wes Bentley. The first one was Ghost Rider. I do have to say that he’s perfect for those other worldly bad guys. But anyways. I’m going to condense this because I don’t feel it’s worth a long drawn out post.

Four friends go to a party, on the way back, they have a wreck. Two die, One survives and the other is caught in another world. She struggles to make sense of it and sees/hears the boyfriend that survived. It takes her to the end and some pretty weird happenings but she finally figures out she’s not dead she’s stuck in that middle world and her boyfriend is on the living side. So she struggles to wake up and when she does, he’s there with her parents.

Nuff said. This movie was just bad. I give it a 1 out of 5 Donna stars.

Reading List

So I was looking at the Wal Mart site the othr day to see if the book that I have been looking for by Brenda Joyce is out yet. I cam across the cover for Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Now I’ve seen these books every time I’ve been book shopping and for some reason never really gave them a glance. So this time I did. I Googled her name and came up with her website which is http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ so I looked at the site and started reading a little bit about this book series and I was hooked.

Now why, I’m not exactly sure. You’ll notice that on my virtual bookshelf, I have them added. (I need to do more work on this). So Friday night we had to go to Wally World and I got the first book. It never harms you to get something to read, who knows how good it will be. Can I say I’m hooked? Yeah, I’m hooked.

Who would have ever thought that I’d be hooked on a Teenage Vampire series? I sure didn’t. Now I’m not going to give anything away but I really want to see the movie site to see who all is playing the characters. I saw Edward and Bella on the website and they are not how I had them pictured so I’m anxious to see what the others look like.

So I find my reading tastes are more varied than just Roberts, Palmer, Patterson, Joyce, and Howard. And here I am–Open to suggestions on books–

What about you?

#84 Find the Perfect Purse

I have to thank Lori for this. She was going to put it in the garage sale but I snagged it from her. It’s the perfect shade of pink. This picture honestly does not do it justice. And it’s huge!! Trust me on this. It may not look it but anything that can hold a book, my lunch, my usual stuff for work and the kitchen sink is perfect! And this purse certainly is! So thanks to Lori, another 1 and 1/3 things bite the dust on my list!!!