Sharing My Jennarocity

  (source: IMDd )   Bernie tells the story of an assistant funeral home director in the small town of Carthage, Texas. This film is based on the true story of Bernie Tiede (played by Jack Black), a mortician who befriended a very wealthy, elderly widow (Shirley MacLaine) after the death of her husband, then later, shot her to death. According to the movie, she was a very nasty woman and he was the most liked man in his town. So liked, in fact, the district attorney (played by Matthew McConaughey) had to have his trial moved to a different county so as not to have any of his peers on the jury, as they'd all admitted that if they were on the jury, Bernie would not be convicted of anything.   I'd heard this movie was very good by several people and I read it received 91% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I hadn't taken the time to find out anything specific about the movie beforehand and I am very glad I didn't. This movie surprised me. I ...

Our family had a great day today.   And it's all because of his hard work...     And I am very glad I get to spend the good times with him by my side.   For one year...     Two years...     And coming up on three years..     It's a good ride, good times and bad. I am glad God is in control and not me. I never would have imagined how things would have turned out otherwise.   Feeling blessed!

I have not been a fan of Marissa Mayer from the beginning. I have no idea what she is doing to Yahoo and I don't care much about her business choices as a CEO. But as a woman, I think she is a traitor and to some, a hypocrite.   When she was five months pregnant, she took the job as the CEO of the powerful company . Some would say that is a step in the right direction for women's rights. Others would say, what were you thinking? Then, she decided to take only two weeks off maternity leave, which was completely ridiculous to me. It is also very indicative of where her loyalties and interests lie, and it's not with the working mommy. This week, I read an article that she has decided that all telecommuters working from home at Yahoo will begin working from the office , which has been met with criticism and anger, and she is even been referred to by NetworkWorld.com as " CEO of the year 1955 ."   Mayer was picked for this position carefully and on purpose. N...

You will find them at my daughter's daycare!   For the first time ever, my daughter's babysitter says she has no boys, they all grew up and now, it's just all girls, all the time!   When I drop her off, I usually see them all getting on their pretty dresses to play. Jenn said yesterday they were just all at each other's throats and weren't getting along at all, which sure, all girls=drama, drama, drama. But I love that she gets to do this all day long. Every time I think about moving her to a daycare which has more structure and learning curriculum, I think, she's two! There will be plenty of time for that. She knows how to count to 15, she knows her ABCs, she knows some colors and shapes, she knows how to color, she's potty trained and speaks really well. I think for only being 27 months, she is doing really well. She needs to just play as long as she can in her young years!   Speaking of Avery, we are working on now the names of people in ...

I was thinking today about money. And I was thinking about kids and money. When Jason and I were first married, we were broke. I mean, poor, broke. He had lost his job and I was making nothing, so we were struggling to pay the essentials, and even that was hard. I am talking grocery budget of $50 a week broke, including toiletries and dog food. I am talking, no cable no internet broke. Not discretionary income broke - what, what's discretionary income mean broke?   When you have no money, all you think about is having no money. We thought about having no money constantly. Every time a friend invites you out, you have to decline. Every time someone's kid at work wants you to buy cookies for a fund raiser, you have to decline. At the time, we were spending money on gas and driving sometimes 4 times roundtrip 40 miles to get the kids, take them to soccer games, back home. I remember once driving home, almost on "E" before we'd had Avery, praying that we would ma...

There are some really amazing things happening in our lives, mainly Jason's life, that we will find out about in the next couple weeks. We've known about these things for a while now, so it's been a true test in patience to relax about them and just "wait and see" how they pan out.   There have been lots of things in my life that have been a "wait and see" type of thing. We always want to speed up the process, but God is like, "Hold your horses there, missy. Just wait and see what I have for you..."   In fact, every major thing to happen in my life, in the last 4 years especially, has been something I've had to wait for. I waited for Jason for a long time, I waited to have a family, I waited to find the right job, I waited to find a great house, and all of those things worked out exactly as they were meant to. So, when it comes to God's timing on things, I never question it anymore. If there is something not happening fast enou...

I, for one, greatly enjoyed this year's Academy Awards! When I heard Seth Macfarlane was the host I said, this could go really well or really badly, and it will be totally up to how Seth wants to take this that decides how it will be. Well, I have to say that I thought he did a really great job. He really didn't just skewer the audience, and when he did, the actors seemed to be in on the joke, as was evidenced in the "Boob Song." Which was, quite hilarious. I also knew that Seth was a tremendous musician and even came out with a jazz CD, but I didn't know he could sing so well. The numbers that included Channing Tatum, Charlize Theron, Jordan Gordan Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe were such a wonderful surprise. And how about the music this year! Tremendous.   And I am sorry, be he is absolutely adorable.     But we realized that he does share a striking resemblence to a certain Brady son...     They could seriously be father and son.   ...

A few weeks ago, I had a few of my friends over to my house and spend the night, kid and husband free. It was so much fun and last night, Kate continued the fun with Slumber Part, Part Deux. I think we just started a tradition, folks!   I didn't take any pictures. We didn't want any of the night to "escape." But, we did take this one and I love it...   The picture on the bottom is 3 single girls, pre-wedding, pre-baby. 10 years ago, on a night out in Downtown Fort Worth. The one on the top is last night. I gotta tell you, not much has changed and I think we still look fantastic!     I love my girls!  

While Jason and dad went to play golf, us girls spent the morning shopping!   She loved this horse, she kept saying, "Ride em' cobwoy!"   We also had lunch at Mimi's Cafe and it was might tasty, if I do say so myself!     Gigi shared her ice cream with Avery and I think Avery was very appreciative!   Now, I am off to get ready for my adult girls' sleepover at Kate's, I am so excited!   

For those of you who don't know, Jason and I are involved at our church with kids. I am the teacher of our 1st and 2nd grade Sunday school class, and both Jason and I are leaders on our Wednesday night Trek group, which is the continued Awanas program for the middle schoolers. We love being leaders, but sometimes it's hard because we feel like we miss out on connections with other adults in Sunday school and that we miss out on more intellectual lessons for our age group. Last semester, the entire Trek unit was focused on Moses and the Israelites. Then, in Sunday school, we started on the same unit, so I feel like I've been learning and talking about wandering for 40 years in the desert for months now! (not that it's not an incredibly important lesson, but still!) So I was very excited with our new unit we started in Trek for this semester. All of the lessons are focused on philosophical questions and answers, like "Where did God come from?" It's hard f...

In a follow up post to this one about my $61,000 one night stay in the hospital for strep throat and a sinus infection, I thought I would let you know how it turned out...   Ok, so I posted about this originally on August 28 of last year, and I was in the hospital at the end of July. It wasn't until November 20 that I received this from my insurance provider.   Well, of course I was livid, but again, I knew that I would never have to pay $59,799. So, I waited another month and half before receiving my final hospital bill, at the end of December. It stated that my insurance provider had paid $58,000, and I was reponsible for the final $3,000. Now that I had all of my bills, I could do what I originally wanted to do and contact a hospital bill advocacy group. Namely, I contacted Medical Billing Advocates of America and spoke with Brett, who was totally and completely convinced that this was ridiculous and we could definitely get those costs down. See, these people ...

I have a secret. Are you ready? Most people can't handle it.   I highly dislike fruit.   There. I said it. I am not really sure why I don't like it, but I think it's the consistency. I love apples, and sometimes strawberries. I hate any other kinds. I want to love it! I really do. My husband and kids all love all kinds of fruit. It sits in my fridge, and I see them enjoying cantaloupe, pineapple, and oranges and I just think it looks so good, so refreshing, so healthy! But the second I pop it in my mouth, I get grossed out. I love the flavor, it's the consistency.   Fruit is nutritious, though, so I really needed to add it to my diet. A friend at work made fruit smoothies, so decided to give it a try. The secret, she said, was all the fruit needed to be frozen and don't use any ice. No wonder all of my fruit smoothies before had tasted watered down and gritty - the trick to making a really good fruit smoothie is to freeze the fruit and don't add any...

I LOVE that Avery is old enough and her hair is long enough to participate in things like Crazy Hair Night!   Now, trying to get her to smile on cue is not always the easiest thing. Never has been. Please keep in mind, and to her credit, she is actually saying "cheese" in all of these pictures. But she wouldn't be still.     And finally...     Ok, that will do.   We had six bows in her hair. With 6 ponytails. NO WAY is she old enough to have 6 ponytails!     Just for grins, here are her ponytails one year ago...       Growing so much!  

In a follow up post to my post about me loving being a hostess, I thought I would write down and share some of my tips that I use on how to be a better hostess. Now, mind you, I am no Martha Stewart, but her parties would probably seem a bit stuffy to me anyway, so it's probably a good thing!   1. Your house doesn't have to be perfect for people to like being there.   In every place I've ever lived, people have told me they've felt at home there. My decor wasn't perfect, at times the house or apartment was small, but I've always said that the atmosphere you create matters more than how your house looks.   I don't mean not to clean and not to care about how your house looks. But no one is going to notice if your living room isn't perfectly styled and decorated. No one cares if your kitchen table makeover hasn't happened yet. Don't wait for your house to be exactly how you want it to be to have people over! What's awesome is that peop...

This is Lily. I like her.     She is played by actress Alyson Hannigan, whom I also like.   I have been watching "How I Met Your Mother" for years and I think I have seen every episode. The reason I think I love it so much is because the group of people portrayed on that show represent my life and friendship circle during my 20's. They go out, alot, they have fun and crazy times. My life, before Jason and kids, was that way. We went out, all the time. We had crazy stories. We would be spontaneous, we would stay out late, we would do whatever we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it (you know, besides working.) So, I could really relate to that show.   Sometimes, when I watch that show, it makes me remember those times with friends and I get sad that my life isn't like that any more. I know, I know. The life I had before my kids, I am supposed to say , is nothing compared to the life I have now. I am supposed to say the life I had before was empty and...

Yesterday was my dad's real birthday, turning the big 3-0! Right Dad?   We met Gigi and Pops for breakfast at Outlaws and took this picture...     Such a great one. Just for kicks, I thought I would show some more pictures of Pops and Avery in the last couple of years!