The Name Game!

If you have seen The Dawg Howse recently, then you know about the quest for "What's in a name". In other words, why did you name your blog what you did. Here is my "why."

My name is not really Libby. It is a nickname my mother gave me ... I guess almost since birth! She had a little neighbor girl that had blonde hair and blue eyes whose family nicknamed Libby. She thought the girl and her name were really cute so tagged me with it. That's ok with me. My name is unique enough that I rarely meet someone else named Libby. If I'm in public, and someone yells Libby I can be pretty sure that I'M the Libby who should turn around and look.

The... err... side effect to my name, however, is that all through school I had the Libby's canned goods jingle sung every time I was introduced to someone. (If you're not old enough to remember, it went like this: Libby's Libby's Libby's on the label label label. You will like it, like it, like it on your table, table, table.) People were always sure they were the first to think of it. I just let them believe that.

Instead of getting ticked off about it, I decided to use it to my advantage. When introduced to someone who seems to be having difficulty with my name I will say, "You know. Like Libby's fruit cocktail?" They seem to never forget then.

Fruit cocktail seems to be a food that describes me anyway. I love bright colors and each scoop is different from the last so you're never quite sure what's coming next!

Kinda Puts Things Into Perspective

Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.

Makes you realize how insignificant we are compared to this universe God created yet he knows the number of hairs on our heads.

What If......

You could see your own funeral? How would you want it to turn out? What would you want people to say? How do you want to be remembered?

I attended the funeral....no... the celebration of the life of a wonderful woman today. Although I cried many tears, it was still a joyous occassion. The lives she touched. The smile she always wore. The love she always shared. She truly exemplified Christ in the life she lived. Every story, every song, every remembrance pointed to the joy she had and how she shared it with others. Even if one knew her for but a short time (as I did), you would immediately see Christ in the joy of her heart.

This funeral was very much like what I would want for my own. Celebrate for I have gone to a better place. Sing joyous songs unto the Lord for He is worthy. Dance for God's glory. Worship the Lord for who He is. But most of all, preach a message of salvation for those who may never darken the doors of a church. This could be the only time you have them as a captive audience.

Thank you, Margaret Loraine Karns (sp?), for the life you lived. It was and is an inspiration to all who knew you.

"So you've had a bad day. ..."

There is a joke in my family that you never want to go out to eat with me because something ALWAYS goes wrong. Tonight supported that theory.

I was going to grill ribs but needed charcoal so I went to the store to purchase it. When I got home I asked my son to start the fire. He got the grill ready and poured the charcoal in. Upon inquiring as to why it was taking so long I discovered he couldn't find the lighter fluid. Someone has put it away but no one seems to remember doing so. By this time we decided it was getting too late to cook so we went out to eat.

At the restaurant we ordered 2 pizzas and a calzone. When the pizzas came, the large was a medium and the medium was a large. Not a major issue but my daughter's calzone was non existent. We waited patiently. Finally the server comes over and tells us that another server mistakenly gave the calzone to someone else. It was the wrong kind so they had to start another one. We waited and we waited AND we waited some more. When the calzone finally arrived, the rest of us had finished eating AND it was chicken instead of steak!

Earlier I had gone to Lowe's regarding the door I had painted for my daughter's room. I waited about two weeks for that door. I painted it as described in the post "Yesterday". I had to sand and repaint some places where the cheap paint ran. I then carried the door to her room to be hung. My suspicions were correct. The door had been delivered slab length instead of finished length. In other words, they didn't take into account the length that the mounts for the top and bottom of the door would take up so it was too long. When they tried to reorder the door properly there were MORE difficulties. The system tried to charge me extra for a special order door!

The title of this blog actually comes from a song. I love the song that has this line. It was the theme song for youth camp this year. It talks about taking the bad and turning it around for the good. I could have just as easily titled this post "Blessings or Cursings".

My son remarked jokingly that "The curse of Mom has returned" when our order got so fouled up. I in turn replied, "But how many times have we gotten free meals as a result?" The family had to concede. Tonight was no different. They gave us our daughter's meal PLUS two free deserts!

Because of the mistake at Lowe's and because of my trouble they gave me the special order door at the standard door price AND gave me a 10% discount to boot!

So my question to you is this. Would you choose to avoid eating with me because chances are good your meal will be messed up or would you want to eat with me because you might get a bargain? :) In other words, do you see the blessings or the cursings in your circumstances?

Yesterday!

Yesterday was a very hectic day. I had picked up the door for my daughter's bedroom a couple of days ago so it was in our family room where I could lay it flat to paint it. Now the downstairs family room is between the living room and dining room, open to view from both. On Wed. I painted one side of the door and was letting it dry before turning it over. After church a couple came and told Darrell that they were intending to elope, but decided they wanted him to marry them just before they took off. When asked when they wanted to do this the response was, "Tommorrow!"

There are several activities that generally take place on Thursday nights at the church. The couple wanted to keep the wedding a secret until after they at least left town so this presented a situation (I've been told to use this word instead of problem. It softens the blow if you will.) Now my son is in band camp right now which wasn't to get out until six and was to be at church for Yuitsido by 7:15. It was decided we should do the wedding at our house at 6:30 in order to maintain secrecy. WOW! OK, we can do this.

It was 9:30 pm by now on Wednesday. I wanted to make their day as special as possible so I decided to use a couple of the nice table cloths from church and whatever else I could find to decorate. I went to the storage drawer. No table cloths. Now, I figured someone had taken them to wash them and to be truthful there was only one person at our church who would have done such a thing so I picked up my husband's handy dandy cell phone to call her. I felt a little guilty about this because she had missed church due to illness AND it was past her little ones' bed time, but I was in a pinch so I made the call hoping her husband would answer. Rats! Foiled again! They had employed the use of their handy dandy answering machine! It would have to wait until morning.

I went home and turned the door over to paint the other side with the other color of paint chewing myself out all the while for buying cheap paint in this color. The first side covered in one coat. This side took THREE. The expensive paint was about a third more in cost but covered in one coat so I actually LOST money buying the cheap paint. Lesson learned; moving on.

I folded the clothes I had washed while letting the paint dry between coats. Finally, I got to go to bed.

The next morning, after taking my son to band camp (still no license because he still hasn't cleaned his room) stopped in a grocery store bakery to get a single layer cake decorated for the wedding. After getting all the information from the lady behind the counter, I began to place my order. She then explained that the decorator was off duty that day. Now what?! I went home and went to plan B.

I called Amber and asked if she had gotten my message about the table cloths. "Yes, ...this morning. Who's getting married?" "I can't tell you, but she likes black, white and pink. Do you have any ideas?" "Yeah, I have several things left over from a shower, all in pink and white." "Great!"

I told Darrell about the cake dilemma. He said I could tell Amber who was getting married since I needed to ask her if she could decorate a cake. "Amber, can you make a wedding cake for me today? I want it to say 'Congratulations __________ and ___________' but you don't know them. Remember, I can't tell you who is getting married." We thought it best to spill the beans under the circumstances.

Amber didn't have any icing ready, but she found someone to make the cake for me. (Thanks, Amber.) Back to the business at hand.

I checked the paint on the door. It didn't need another coat (Thank you, Lord!), so my daughter and I carried the door upstairs. I taped off the doorway and painted the other half of the inside. (2 to 3 coats again!) I cleaned up the paint, then went downstairs to get to work. I carried up the paint cans, folded the drop cloth and removed any other signs of painting. I had my husband carry the metal shelf that the door was on down to the basement. Then the cleaning began. I went to get my son at lunch time. Did the lunch thing at home and took him back.

I continued cleaning until three at which point I took my shower. (Ashley did all the floors while I was gone. Darrell also helped as he could, but remember, he's doing the ceremony. He had to put that together.) I picked the decorations up at 4 from Amber's house then went to Wal-Mart to get the other supplies: flowers, cake topper, tulle, candy kisses, nuts. I then picked up the cake and and dinner mints at the grocery store and was off to pick up Daniel with 15 minutes to spare. Luckily, the band director let him out 15 minutes earlier than my note requested (it was now 4:45). Back home we went.

Darrell took the kids to pick up McDonald's while I decorated. After eating, I finished decorating, then we all had to get ready for the wedding. WHEW! 6:15 and we are ready, waiting on the couple and the other witness. (Darrell is the officiate and the kids are too young so we needed one more witness besides me.) Finally they arrive.

The bride had lost weight since she purchased her dress so we had to do some quick pinning (wish I had that problem). When she felt comfortable, we began. My 13 year old did the filming and my 16 year old was the photographer.

The couple loved the decorations and the little reception we created for them. It was a simple but beautiful wedding. The names of the new Mr. and Mrs. will be announced Sunday at church while they are away on their honeymoon.

Now that that's over I get to go back to my remodeling job which was preempted. But first, I have to pick my son up from band camp.

See what I mean about "Now my life will return to the speed of light"?!

It ... Is ... Finished!!!!

At long last, we are finished remodeling Ashley's room. With all the setbacks it took nearly two years! If I can find the before pictures I will post them but for now here are the after pictures!

Time to Get Back to My Routine

This has been a very busy summer, but one of the best I can remember. It actually started early. Just before school let out, my daughter left for NYC where her choir sang at Cargnegie Hall. One week later we left for camp meeting, just over a week later our kids went to youth camp where both were awarded the Camper of the Year Awards. After church on July 2nd, we drove to the St. Louis area. We took our kids and one of our nieces to Six Flags on July 3rd then spent the Fourth with family there. On the fifth we left for Atlanta. We got stuck in a traffic jam and almost missed the Cardinal vs. Braves game at Turner Field we were headed for. As we sat in the heat, we changed seats so Daniel could get in hours for his permit as the other drivers watched. I explained what we were doing. 2 lanes over another driver told us if we could cross the lanes to the on ramp, go up it the wrong way then turn left we could get to a highway which would bypass the jam. Daniel was driving at the time. He did something neither his father nor I have done and that is cross 3 lanes of stopped interstate traffic and drive the wrong way up an entrance ramp. We made it to the game just after the first inning began.

The next morning we headed for Orlando for Daniel's 16th birthday. We didn't do any parks. We just went swimming, went to a couple of movies and spent some family time together. 10 days after returning home we went to Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas. If you have read Darrell's Blog then you know what a great time we had there. In the midst of all this, we finished remodeling Ashley's room. (Whewww! Deep breath!)

Now I start to get busy. School starts in three weeks and life will be at the speed of light once again. Pictures of my summer adventures will follow so stay tuned!