I'd Rather Be In (And Eat From) The Garden . . .

Saturday, January 24, 2009

2008 - October - Halloween Party Pictures

Our Fine Host

The Cowboy and the Indian

Lee and Lisa

The King and the Sugar Daddy

Justin and Don

Ed Neely and Leigh Carol

Teresa Shouse and Edward Knight

The Cowboy and Boudreaux the Pirate

"Give me a bone, Matey (and get this silly costume off me)."

Kevin Barnes (Kebo), Edward,

Teresa, Lee and Christi

Caroline Adams, Lee and Jennifer Shaw

Melonie Counce (Mrs. Roper) and Joey Cadle (The Irreverent Priest)

Valarie and Chad

Lee, Teresa and Edward

Dwayne (on the ground), Christi (on Dwayne)

Farish, Lee, Becky, Danny, Sallie, Lisa

Kebo (in back)

Becky and Danny

Beth and Rusty

Neo and Trinity aka

Kirk and Christie White

Halloween Bathroom Graffiti

Chase (Pirate) and Beau (Sugar Daddy)

and Joey Cadle, the Priest

Heeeerrrrrssss Elvis!
(In his later years)

Elvis was pretty good.

He sang for thirty minutes.

Valarie, Christi and Chad

The Rambos and Mark and Becki Huelse

The Head Table and her chef aka "Rambozo"
(Vish and Teresa)

The Sex Police and the Head Table minus her table

The Head and Rambozo

Lily and Jo Ellen

Dr. Andrew Wayne

Cindi and Cary

Lisa, Lee and Sallie

The Squaw and her baby, the Sugar Daddy
(Lisa and Beau)

Cary and Bailey

Farish and Cary

Chase

Valarie, Eddie and Mary Ann Rambo

Breakfast aka

Sallie and Don

Robert as Eli Manning

Christy and Kirk

Dwayne

(Mr. DEA)

AND

Christi
(The Queen of the Courtroom)

2008-MORE OCTOBER-HALLOWEEN

WHEW! What a month,and it's still not over.

On Halloween night, Abby hosted a party with several of her friends at Christina's, Nicky trick-or-treated and hung out with his friend, Steven, and I attended Lee's now annual party at his house. The pictures will speak for themselves.

Here as some of the house and yard. In October, Lee was awarded Yard of the Month.

The party pics will be in the next post.

2008-OCTOBER-CONTINUED

The rest of the month was a whirlwind of activity. We had a Court-wide training on Friday, October 24th, that was very educational lots of fun. That night we had a dinner at the Big Truck Theatre in Taylor. We had fried catfish and all the trimmings. We also had some great entertainment. We got to see Danny play his harmonica, Judge Pepper sing and Luke Fisher perform. Luke is one of the quietest attorneys that practices in our Court, and wewere all in a bit of shock to see what he could do. We were able to use our "Good Time Girls" routine once again, except this time there were several more of us. For some reason I ended up with only one photo and it's one that Sherryln gave me. I am going to try and locate more to add later.

I know Eden and I had a great time and it appeared that everyone else did too.

Afterward, several of us went to Rooster's Blue House and listened to more music. We got to see Danny blow his horn some more. He is awesome!

It was a good night

Friday, January 23, 2009

2008-OCTOBER-NEW MEXICO-FJSA CONFERENCE

We pulled into the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque in the early afternoon on Thursday. We were there for our annual Federal Judicial Assistants and Secretaries Association Conference. As the 5th Judicial Circuit Representative, I needed to attend a Board Meeting at 3:00, then we had an opening banquet to attend at 6:00. However, our first order of business was to get together with the rest of our "Good Time Girls". There was a dance contest that night at our banquet and for the last month or so, our 6 "Good Time Girls" had been practicing separately, Judy and me in separate towns in Mississippi and the others in separate cities in Texas. This would be our first time to meet, much less practice together. The hotel concierge had offered to let us use one of the small bar areas for as long as we needed, or until they opened for business that night. We set up our music, which was Alan Jackson's "Good Times" and we danced and danced. We had a blast and we were ready. Dancing with Judy and me were Linda Mizell - Austin, TX, Odie Gonzalez - Amarillo, TX, Susan Penney - Alpine, TX, Penny Stautberg - Houston, TX . It was the sweetest group of women.

Back Row from Left: Susan Penney, Judy Jones, Linda Mizell, Me (Lisa Martin),
Front Row: Odie Gonzales, Penney Stautberg

And, of course, we won a trophy (Don't know what for, but we didn't care) .

We had some stiff competition from the Red Hot Chili Peppers from New Orleans. I'm not sure who won over all, but it didn't really matter . We had a great time, and except for the DJ and a couple of husbands, there was not a man in the place.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers from the Big Easy

The next two days were spent listening, learning and connecting with other Judicial Assistants from all over the country. I feel very fortunate to be a part of such an extraordinary group of women. Next to our Judges, we have the best jobs on the planet.

On Friday night, we were scheduled to go to the Balloon Glowdeo, but Judy and I decided that we didn't really want to go. The weather was yucky and we wanted to chill. A couple from New Jersey offered to buy our tickets, so we stayed at the hotel, had a great meal and relaxed. Unfortunately for the others, the weather got really yucky and none of the balloons could take off . They cancelled the Glowdeo.

Saturday night we had our closing dinner. Our circuit (5th) had the most attendees of any and I felt very proud.

The Ladies of the 5th Circuit

Lisa and Judy

On Sunday, we headed back to Mississippi. We stopped outside of Little Rock and met Mama and Daddy to pick up a bookbag Nicky had left there last time we visited. We made it as far as Forrest City and we stopped to spend the night.

There are very few people that I could spend 7 , 24 hour days with (part of those non-stop in the car) and say that every minute was delightful, but I can truly say it about the days I spent on that trip with Judy. I wouldn't take anything for the experience, or for the memories.

Monday, January 19, 2009

2009 - LESLIE'S 30TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Tuesday, January 20th is Leslie's real birthday, but I wanted to have a family dinner (Leslie not so much) so we did it on Sunday since Monday is MLK Holiday and we didn't have to go to work or school. Everything went very well and everyone seemed to like the food. I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn in butter, broccoli & cauliflower salad and rolls. For dessert, homemade chocolate cake (the Pillsbury kind) and Emileigh's petit fours with 3 kinds of ice cream. Mary, Ferrell, Peter and Jan Lee came, but John and Thomas weren't able to be here. We missed them. Baker and Holley came up and Beau was here as well.

Most of us were interested in the NFL play-offs and we watched those two games. I got to watch more of the Steelers -Ravens game and it was a nail-biter. I thought I would cry when the two guys hit helmets. I'm amazed that Magahee was able to leave the hospital today. I thought sure he had broken his neck. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt badly. I'm glad the Steelers won, but they will never be as good as they were when Terry, Franco, Lynn and Mean Joe played for them in the 70s.

Back to the birthday. Leslie got some nice presents, but didn't get to stay too long. Her daddy had shown up unannounced on Saturday to "surprise" her for her birthday, so she had to get back to her company. I can't believe she'll be 30 on Tuesday. She has truly been a joy from day one and I can't say that about all my children.

It was a good day. A few pictures:

It was tough blowing out all those candles.

The sweet couple.

Beau - Good times.

I look a little spazzed out. It's the end of a long, busy day.

Friday, January 16, 2009

2009 - COLDEST SUNSET

Driving home from work this evening the sky was as pretty as I've seen it. I happened to have my camera so I stopped and took a couple of pictures. I was almost too late. The first one shows the sun still reflecting off the clouds. A few seconds later the clouds were totally dark.

2009-A COLD DAY IN OXFORD

I stepped outside this morning to snap a few pictures of what I hope is our coldest day of the year. At the time, weather.com said it was sunny, 12 degrees, but feels like 4 degrees. Now I can't feel my hands. I've shocked the dog, the cat and everything else I've touched since I came back in. Somehow I think today may not be a good hair day.

I know this is the day that the Lord hath made and we should rejoice and be glad in it, and I do and I am, but I really, really can't wait for Spring.

There's ice on the pool, which, I think, is a
first in the 7 1/2 years we've been here.

I see green in my Colonel Reb bulb bed.
I'm thinking that may be daffodils.
It won't hurt me to lose
them as much as it would my tulips.

I don't think we'll need to worry about staying warm.
Thanks to Jeremy Foster, our wood supply is quite adequate.

This shot of the moon has nothing to
do with the temperature.
I just thought it was pretty.

D'Lyla says, "Enough already, let's go in!"

Thursday, January 15, 2009

2009 - BRRRRR . . .

It is so cold, and I have green tops showing in my tulip beds! I posted on the forum on GardenWeb to see what suggestions, if any, I would get, and the general consensus is to just leave them alone. They can handle it. I still may have to cover them with something. I don't want to lose my tulips!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

2009 - PLANTS AND SEEDS

Some of my vegetable and flower seeds came in!! (Doesn't take much to excite me, especially if it's something to do with gardening.) I ordered them a couple of weeks ago when the Gurney online catalog came, but I wasn't expecting them so soon. Now I really can't wait for Spring. Here are the items I've ordered so far:

FLOWERS