Trick Or Treat!

     Hannah and Ty had a great time carving their pumpkins as they got ready for Halloween. Ty (5 years old) had to be reminded over and over how many more "sleeps" it was until they got to go Trick or Treating. 
     Ty loves, loves, loves Sponge Bob Square Pants and remembers details from every episode. I've never been a big "Sponge Bob" fan but my daughter Angie LOVES him. I will admit, sometimes when Ty or Hannah is watching - there's some pretty funny stuff on that cartoon that makes me laugh out loud! LOL. Of course, Ty was THE cutest Sponge Bob on the streets of Sherman,Texas and Hannah was rockin' the Dorothy costume with a REAL, LIVE Toto! Big hit. Big hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah - she couldn't find her white tights. LOL. 

     Of course, I LOVED that Pam and Frank got into the Halloween spirit as well. Right up my alley! We had lots of fun as we drove to a couple of neighborhoods to do some trick-or-treating since the Sanza fam lives on a private court (aka Critter County) and the houses nearby seem miles apart! 

     Pam & Frank said that there were quite a few "less" houses participating in the Halloween festivities this year. We all agreed that lots of Texans were probably watching Game 4 of the World Series and had turned off their porch light to focus on the game! After all, it *is* the first time that the Rangers have EVER been to the World Series!! 

     The kids were dumping their candy loot out on the coffee table as I headed home. They were gonna chat via FaceTime with their Nana Cole (Pam's mom) and then play the "you pick a candy, now I pick a candy, now Daddy picks a candy, now Mommy..." game. Such sweet kids to share their candy!!!

     Until next time, Purple Spider Girl is OUTTA HERE. Wait a doggone second. What did YOU do for Halloween? Did you dress up? Did you go trick-or-treating? Did you have a work party or go to a Halloween event? Did you wear a costume? Yup. Go ahead. Answer *any or all* of the questions simply because you know you wanna. LOL.

God's Good Morning!

     I woke up to this view yesterday morning. Isn't it glorious? I can't help but wonder how people don't believe in God when there are sunrises such as this one. I love knowing that the Creator of the Universe gives me special treats. I wonder if He might be saying, "Good Morning Lynda! Check this one out! Uh huh. Yeahhhhh!"

     The weather was uhhhhhmazing on Sunday afternoon so I decided to go for a wog. For those of you who might not know what a wog is, let me enlighten you. It is a mix between a jog and a walk! I HATE running but I don't mind jogging, I just don't have tons of stamina. So, I jog until I can't jog no mo' and then I walk for a minute or two ... and so it goes. This was the delightful road I was on, as I turned the corner I ran into Ms. Moo. 

     Ms. Moo was checkin' me out and wondered if I was friend or foe. I assured her I was a friend and used an old trick that my Uncle Cleo taught me when we used to visit his farm in Oregon. I shouted, "Come Boss, Come Bossy!" That's what he would shout when it was time to "call the cows". Ms. Moo recognized right away that I was a city girl but had spent some time on a farm. After realizing I was no threat at all, she kept on grazing. 
     I wogged for almost 4 miles as I enjoyed the lovely sounds of the country. I zig zagged down the street trying to avoid the HUGE grasshoppers, crickets, spiders and beetles that wanted to share the street with me. After all, this is THEIR home and I was a guest! Occasionally, I would let out a mini-scream as the grasshoppers would surprise me and jump really high as I wogged near them. It was humorous. 
     When I got home, I made myself dinner (I call it Veggies & Pasta) and then went to dance rehearsal for A Christmas Tale. The 12 storytellers are picking up the dance moves rather quickly and Frank (Mr. Director Extraordinaire) is quite impressed. Yippeeeee!

     I found some wheat free/gluten free chocolate covered pretzels at the Green Market recently so I had a few of them for dessert! Boy, are they go-o-o-o-o-o-d! Go ahead, salivate ... then comment on my blog .... and make my day! Love you all soooo much. xo xo xo 

Peanuts! Get Your Peanuts Here!

     Although the heyday of peanut harvesting in the town of Whitesboro has passed, folks still gather for an annual salute to the goober! The Peanut Festival started in 1965 and their peanut pride has grown quite a bit over the years. I heard on the news that there were about 20,000 who came to enjoy the free day-long festival. Yes, we were part of that 20,000!

      I didn't see very many Peanut highlights but I did hear there were peanut shelling and peanut spitting contests. Ewwww. I will say there were some very interesting FRIED treats available! Fried cheesecake? Fried butter? Barf. I tried the Fried Apples! They were scrumptious!! They came with a thin caramel sauce and it tasted very much like an apple pie! My tummy paid for it later (hello? the apples were dipped in batter before being fried. batter = flour = wheat/gluten). Ugh. But I'm gonna say it was well worth it. :) 

    Ty tried the Fried Chicken on a Stick and of course, I had to steal a bite or two. This was not your little chicken nugget from McDonald's, people! It was cooked to perfection. I do NOT want to know the calories contained in that piece of yummyness! 

     Pam and I enjoyed looking at all the crafty craft booths (we bought some fun earrings) and the kids enjoyed the rides and bounce houses! 

    Of course, Hannah and I were first in line to get our faces painted. Does that surprise you? LOL. Frank and Pam came across a fun pair of sunglasses later in the day and thought I needed them to "finish" my look. How could I say no? Can you guess what the name of my face paint was? 

My face paint creation was called: Butterfly Kitty (Rawwrrrrr)

     The grown-ups ended the day with tired feet but the kids still had enough energy to scarf down some dippin' dots. I was searching for a tall lemonade (Ty calls it lem-o-lade) but we were no longer in the Fried Food Court and there was no lemolade to be found. So sad.

     Well, that's the latest and greatest on the Peanut Festival. We had a blast and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. What's the most outrageous fried food item you have tried? Did you find yourself thinking about Fried Apples throughout the day? LOL. Until next time. TTFN.

A $5 Disposable Camera...

     Who would have imagined that a $5 disposable camera would mean so much to a 5 year old little boy? A couple weeks ago, Pam and I took Hannah and Ty to the zoo because it was a "no school" day. (Frank had to work. Work? What is THAT?) LOL. 

     We stopped at the zoo gift shop to grab a water before we started on our adventure through the zoo. Hannah wanted to buy a $5 disposable camera to take pics. Our first animal was the flamingos. Every photo that Hannah would take, Ty would ask if he could take one too. Next we saw the bears, then the really hungry goats that you could feed (the big ones were so aggressive and they always push the little ones out of the way ... that infuriates me). Well, it quickly became obvious that we should have bought Ty a camera as well; however, we were now farther away from the zoo gift shop than we wanted to be! So, we decided to play "Deal or No Deal" with Hannah! Pam asked Hannah if we could "buy" the camera from her so Ty could go crazy with his photo taking. Pam and I whipped out all the cash we had in our pockets and made Hannah an offer. She said "Deal" and she even made a profit! Such a good BIG sister with a wonderfully tender heart. She was thrilled and so were we. I'm not sure if Pam will get those photos developed that Ty took, but it would be HILARIOUS to see the pics. He had the BEST time with that $5 camera!! 

     There was also a park outside the zoo that Hannah claims is the "best park in the world". The kids had fun running around playing "hide-n-go-seek" and it wasn't very crowded ... they almost had the entire park to themselves. Fun. Fun. Fun. 

     There is a small little train that goes around the park that the kids can ride but unfortunately, it was broken the day we were there. Ty was bummed (for about a second) but as you can see, he pretended to ride the train instead! 

     When was the last time you were on a tire swing? LOL. Pam got a little nauseated after about two spins. :-) We ended our zoo/park day with an ice cream on the way home (gotta love Braum's drive-thru). I am continually thankful for the gift of TIME God has blessed me with so I can enjoy days like this.
     Big love from the Big state of Texas! TTFN. 

Down to $35 buck-a-roos!

Hello My Friends!
     I was down to my last 35 bucks and boy was I was nervous as I walked to the mailbox. "Please, please Lord!" I whispered. The EDD Office had confirmed my unemployment checks had been mailed on 10/2 and every day I would anxiously await their arrival, but nothing. If they did not come soon, the next step was to stop payment and have them reissued. But lo and behold - all 3 checks arrived in yesterday's mail! Yesssssssss!!! Rejoice! Rejoice! And again I say Rejoice! I gleefully drove to the bank and with tremendous gratitude and a huge sigh of relief, I deposited the checks. 
     I unfortunately racked up a bit of credit card debt (ugh) while waiting for funds to arrive and just as I was starting to freak out about that, God nudged a friend who graciously provided me with a GENEROUS amount of cash. I spent it ever-so-carefully, right down to the last $35. God *always* provides!  

     I had the pleasure of "babysitting" Hannah (front seat) and her friend Megan -- and of course Ty -- the other night while Pam & Frank went out to the movies. The kids love driving in my VW with the top down and since the weather has been gorgeous lately, I can't say no. LOL. As you can see, we drove to Sonic for dinner and enjoyed some deeeeeeelish fast food. 
     You may remember my recent blog post about Alf the SuperKid visiting the Kindergarten munchkins at Texoma Christian School? Well, Alf was invited back today because the kids were going on an Adventure around the campus. They were searching for ant hills, ant-eaters, acorns and anything else that started with the letter A. We had such fun! Right after Alf's Adventure, I headed to Frisco to have lunch with some wonderful girlfriends I used to work with at Intuit (years ago). No time to change back into "Lynda" - thank goodness Eva (aka Effa) and Joely are good sports and didn't mind the strange looks people were throwing my way as we chowed down on Mexican grub at La Hacienda. Gotta love friends who accept you for who you are, 100%!!

     Rehearsals for "A Christmas Tale" have started and we are busy learning the music. I'm one of the 12 storytellers and completely grateful to be able to use my "gift" to share the true story of Christmas with the folks who will come to see it. 
     Thanks to everyone who has taken the time leave a comment on my blog (it really does tickle my heart) and a *huge* thanks to those who were praying with me about the checks!
     Big LOVE from the Big State of Texas! TTFN. 

Enjoying Every Minute!

Hello Peeps!
     I'm feeling the "responsibility" of being a blogger today. I woke up with a cloud of guilt lingering above my bed for not updating my blog earlier this week. Listen, the reality is - if you don't update your blog consistently - people will stop checking!
     Typical scenario (in my mind): Random Follower says: "I think I'll check Lynda's blog. Sigh. Nothing new." A few days later, Random Follower checks again and says this: "Yawn. Nothin'. Is her life THAT busy she can't take a few minutes to blog? Ugh." Random Follower begins to lose interest but checks one last time and disgustingly says: "Zippety-doo-dah! Nada. Zilch on the updates. I'm out!" Random Follower is gone forever!!  Now do you understand the responsibility of a blogger? LOL. Such pressure.
     Well, I've been a busy little bee -- and that's the bottom line. Last weekend I spent time with Gail, her mom (aka Gladiola Thunderleaf) and one of their favorite "little characters", Sophia Grace in Plano (where they live). Before Gail and I picked up Sophia Grace from pre-school, we met Gladiola at Jason's Deli. The BEST part about Jason's Deli was that they serve Wheat Free/Gluten Free bread! I could order any sandwich on the menu! Woo Hoo! I ordered half a sandwich and a cup of chili that was deeeeelish. Oh, my heart was so thankful! Unless you do your best to eat a wf/gf diet, you cannot fully comprehend just how happy that made me. Yummmmmmm.

The one and only: Sophia Grace

     We spent time at Sophia's favorite park after lunch. She is quite a character! I could go on and on with the things she said and did but that would take up the entire blog post! ;-) Instead, I will say she is absolutely darling and well beyond her 3 years in so many ways (thought process, maturity, vocabulary, etc). It was a special treat to meet her after hearing Gail & Gramma Gladiola speak so endearingly about her. 

     Gail and I also went to see "The Social Network" movie. We both thought it was a good flick but maybe not for everyone, especially if you don't understand the whole Facebook thing. I also got to see Gail's place and although it's not "done" yet - she's made great progress! The drapery "peacock" panels she bought look uhhhhmazing in her living room with her "butter" furniture! 

     The next day, Gail and I set out on an adventure. I offered to be a SuperKid at the school where Pam is the Kindergarten Teacher's Aid and "Alf" needed a costume! The kids learn a different letter of the alphabet each week (not in order) and Alfalfa the SuperKid was going to teach them about the letter A. Alfalfa likes Adventure, he likes to eat Apples, he carries an Axe, he has Ants on his backpack and those darn Antsy Ants are always after him! Of course, he sings a fun song as he tries to smoosh the ants that are crawling all over him! Gail and I traversed Plano as we visited the Goodwill, the Dollar Store, the Army Surplus and even tried a Halloween store to find all the pieces of his outfit. Needless to say, Alf was a big hit with the Kinder Kids. I hope they ask me back to be another SuperKid because I had SUCH a great time.

This was the chorus to Alf's song: Alfalfa is my name. Alfalfa is my name.

Ants on my backpack ants on my knee, antsy ants are always after me!
Oh Drat!

     I truly am enjoying every minute! I have time to think about how I can bless others. I have more time to pray. I have time to read the Bible consistently. I have the GIFT of time and my heart is overflowing with gratitude. Thank you, Lord!
     Well, I'm off to run a few errands and contemplate my next blog post! I gotta bust a move if I want to keep "Random Follower" coming back for more. Until next time. TTFN.