I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I wanted to note my pick to leave tonight. While I still think Sanjaya should go home, I think there are enough preteen girls with texting cell phones out there to keep him in a little longer. Sad on so many levels.

I'm afraid tonight will be Phil's last night. He actually did better last night, and I would hope that would be enough to keep him around a while longer. I'm just not sure, though.

I think Gina may round out the bottom three this week. Her performances haven't been that great lately, and last night's was really bad.

I'm not wild about Haley, either, but I think her appearance is keeping her in longer than necessary. I'm referring again to last night...

Final call: Phil Stacey will go home, but Sanjaya and Gina will be in the bottom three with him.

Incidentally, I'm going to miss the results show tonight since I'll be at a director's training meeting. No, I'm not a director yet. I don't even have any recruits. But I'm hoping that will change. I had to put down a target date to recruit to director and I put August 31, with November 30 as a backup date. Now I just need 5 active qualified recruits.

It's time for the Thursday Thirteen. Since I've got two timely topics, I think I'll post on both...

13 Christmas Presents - Here are some things I got for Christmas this year...

1. Monk Season 1 on DVD. Billy and I watched the first episode last night and it was really funny.

2. CSI: NY Season 1 on DVD. I've really gotten into watching this show lately, and getting this set was a nice surprise! I'm looking forward to watching this.

3. Daughtry CD, by American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry. Wow! This entire CD is great!

4. Imaginiff game. This is so much fun! I can't wait to get together with several friends so we can all play this.

5. Two gift cards to Hobby Lobby. One thing I've really been wanting to get is a craft/hobby table so I can work on scrapbooking, cards, jewelry, drawing, etc., without having to put everything away before I'm finished. I'm going to use this, some birthday money, and a 40% off coupon to get just what I've been looking for!

6. New bedding! I've been wanting to change up my bedroom color scheme for a while now. I've been looking for something with reds and golds, but wasn't able to find what I was looking for. Finally I found what I wanted at JCPenney online. I got a call Saturday morning, 10 minutes before we were going to leave for Christmas with our families, that it was ready to be picked up; I picked it up today. I can't wait to put it on my bed - along with my new sateen sheets that match perfectly and my new off-white micromink blanket. All I have left to do is find a coordinating bed skirt and curtains.
Update: I found a bed skirt that matches great - and I found a great deal on window panels, too! I didn't buy anything for the windows because I need to measure them, but I might do that tomorrow. After I get my bedroom set up, I may start redecorating my bathroom...

7. Three pairs of cozy socks. I can't wait to get these washed so I can wear them. They feel so great!

8. A fancy sequined nutcracker. I love nutcrackers and have started a small collection of them. I never realized until recently just how many different nutcracker variations there are!

9. A "Heart of Gold" Willow Tree figure. It's my third figure in this collection. I also got a Willow Tree plaque of a lady snuggling with a gray cat.

10. Steel Magnolias DVD. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I have it on VHS, but CDs are so much better quality. I'll probably watch this one lazy Saturday afternoon.

11. Halo perfume from Victoria's Secret. This is my favorite perfume, and I don't know how many years I've used it. My last bottle was getting low, so I rationed it. I finished the last few drops on Christmas Day, so I was glad to get a new bottle!

12. A decorative pewter cookbook stand. It's large enough to hold almost any size cookbook, and the front has a crossed fork and spoon. I want to find a special place to display it when I'm not using it.

13. Drawing for Dummies. Billy and I both like to draw, but it's been a long time since I did much of it. I like using my own artwork in my scrapbooking, and this book, along with the art pencils I bought last year, will help me immensely. This was a together gift from Caleb and Jacob (even though I picked it out).

13 Goals for 2007 - I don't like to make resolutions because that sounds so definite. I like to have some flexibility here, because 12 months is a long time to work on some of these things. Plus, I don't feel like I've failed if I don't stick with them...

Personal:
1. Blog more regularly. I do pretty good with this one most of the time. It's just when things get hectic that I slow down a lot. Still, I'd like to have more than one or two posts per month.

2. Show more hospitality. Now that we're in a house and we have room to entertain, I'd like to have people over for dinner more often. There are several couples from church that we'd like to get to know better, but we always felt we were too cramped in our apartment to have many people over, especially if they have children. Fittingly, our first thing for 2007 will be on New Year's Day. We've invited 11 couples/families over to visit that day and share gumbo and games with us. So far, 2 families with children have accepted our invitation!

3. Exercise regularly. Once again, I'm including this on my list of goals for the new year. I always start the year off good, but by mid-summer or early fall, I've quit for whatever reason. Mostly because it's not fun! I have a few ideas for making it more fun this time around; now I just need to get started...

4. Get organized. I've gotten a lot done toward this, especially after reading Simplify Your Life, but I still have some areas to work on.

5. Spend more time on my hobbies. I mentioned earlier that I love drawing and scrapbooking. I'll be able to do more once I get a craft table. It takes more time right now to drag out and put away than to work on anything. Once I can leave things out that I'm working on, I'll have more time to work on them. I also have a few new ideas for jewelry and beaded accessories that I'd like to try out.

6. Read more. If you look at my reading list on the left, you'll see that I read quite a bit this year. I'd like to continue with that, putting a lot of focus on reading books from my self-study list for the program I'm participating in for seminary wives. I've really put that on the back burner.

7. Watch less television. This one will probably be my biggest challenge! There are so many shows I like to watch - and I've recently found a few more I like. Earlier I had planned to spend the 9:00 hour reading instead of watching TV, but CSI:NY and ER come on then, so there go two nights. Psyche starts back up in January - it comes on right after Monk - so there goes another night. I think I just need to make a schedule and stick to it so I won't get hooked on anything else.

8. Play my guitar more. I "learned" to play the guitar a few years ago with a DVD set Mama and Daddy gave me. It really taught me a lot, but I still have a long way to go. It would help if I made time to play again. I know I've forgotten a lot. I also want to get back into playing the piano. We have a keyboard, and I'm hoping to teach Caleb to play soon. Maybe that will inspire me...

My Pampered Chef Business:
9. Improve my customer care. I need to do more follow up with my customers after they've received their products: make sure they're happy with them, pass along a few recipes, follow up after sending updates on product information or special sales, etc.

10. Revise my host packet information. I have what came in my start-up kit, but based on personal experience and recommendations from other consultants, I'd like to personalize things more.

11. Create new menu plans for my shows. I want to come up with things that are seasonal, affordable, and possibly themed for my hosts to choose from. I've come up with several good recipes to show, but I want to hone them and see how I can make them better.

12. Increase my bookings. I'd like to work on increasing bookings from shows so I won't have to worry about my potential host list getting low or running out. Not that I'm having to worry about that right now anyway, but it'd be nice to have a good list to work with.

13. Build my own team. I'd really like to have a few recruits this year. At first, I wasn't interested in anything except being a consultant, but I think I'd make a good director. I've learned a lot going to my monthly sales meetings and I think it'd be fun to have a sales team to work with, to encourage.

"I won the red apron!
I won the red apron!"

Yes, I finally won the coveted red Pampered Chef apron last night for having the highest October sales in the Dallas High Five Cluster! I submitted over $1600 in sales, and I still have some October orders that I'm waiting to submit. Those will go toward my November total sales.

Speaking of November... I have only one show booked - a catalog show in Louisiana. I know things get busy with the holidays, but I want to wear the red apron! Several ladies I've called have said they'd like to host in January after things have slowed down some. I've got a few more to call today, and if I get nothing, I'll just have a show of my own. I'm thinking I may do either a holiday-themed show or a cookie show, which was demoed (sp?) at last night's meeting (where I got the red apron!).

I have two shows in December that are early enough I can wear the apron before having to give it back for November's Top Achiever. I need to double-check when the apron has to be back, but I think it's not until Dec. 12.

Jacob's Song and Dance

Have you seen the Geico commercial with little person Verne Troyer? "It's my birthday. Got my car fixed. New headlights, new bumper..." Jacob loves that commercial and goes around singing that rap all the time. He's so funny, so I taught him to do the dance, too. Billy was able to get him on video, so if you're ever here and he won't perform for you, we can show you the video instead. Jacob is such a ham at times!

Childcare is provided at our Pampered Chef training meetings. Since they're currently being held at my director's house, the boys go upstairs and hang out with whichever teenager is available for the night. Last night I heard Jacob doing his song and dance for the babysitter, who was laughing hysterically and saying, "Do it again! Do it again!" He performed a few times, then decided he'd had enough. I tried to get him to do it later for my director (who had heard him earlier), but he said, "Not right now." Maybe another time... I'm sure! Watch him break into it at the library today for his friends Ben, Mason, and Matthew!

We've had a very busy two weeks, and it doesn't look like things are going to slow down again until Saturday. Here's what we've been up to:

Thursday, May 25: Finish chores, run errands, pack, head out for Billy's parents' house. I got away from here about an hour and a half after I had planned, and in all the madness, I forgot to carry our garbage out to the dumpster. Nearly an hour into our trip, I remembered I had left it sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. Ugh!

Friday, May 26: We stayed around the house all day. The boys played outside some in the morning, and after resting in the early afternoon, went out again to play in the pool. We blew bubbles for the boys and they were able to catch them since their hands were wet. Caleb had a lot of fun stretching them, dividing them in two, and putting them back together again. I never knew you could do that!

Saturday, May 27: Billy's mom and I went into Bossier City to the Louisiana Boardwalk to shop. It's a really neat place, very clean and safe, and it has lots of neat shops. One of my favorites was Old Farmer's Almanac General Store.

Sunday, May 28: We all went to church "back home" at Open Door Bible Church and got to see so many of our old friends. They couldn't believe how big the boys have gotten. Afterward, we went out for Mexican food at one of my favorite restaurants, Trejo's. Later that afternoon, we loaded up and headed to my parents' house. From there we went to see Melissa and Lindsay's new house - well, it's actually Melissa's house and Lindsay rents from her. Then we picked up Memaw and went to eat at La Bella Vita. When we took Memaw back home, she had strawberry shortcake waiting for us. Mmmmm. I ate entirely too much today! After we got back to Mama and Daddy's house, Jennifer and Seth came over for a visit.

Monday, May 29: We went to Melissa and Lindsay's place for a cookout that afternoon. We ate and played games and I ruled at foosball. The boys got overly tired and were really cranky later on. After the boys went to bed, we watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman. What a great movie! I'm going to have to rent it so Billy can see it. I can't wait to see Madea's Family Reunion now, either. Or the five other "Madea" films that are supposed to follow.

Tuesday, May 30: We met Jennifer and Seth at the park for a Chick-Fil-A picnic lunch, then we walked one of the trails, let the boys play on one of the playgrounds, and fed our lunch leftovers to the turtles, fish, and lone goose at the pond. Turtles aren't crazy about apples, but they love strawberries. On our way home we stopped at the farmers' market and bought lots of fresh veggies for supper. Seth loaned the boys an "I Spy" computer game, which Caleb was instantly addicted to. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to have to see if I can find another one for him to play.

Wednesday, May 31: We hung around the house until after lunch, then we went to Michael's and on to The Jungle Gym, an indoor playground for kids. The boys had fun, but Jacob was too scared to do much. He started crying whenever Caleb would leave him in the ball pit. A sudden thunderstorm popped up and it rained dropped buckets for several minutes. The power also flicked off briefly. It let up enough later for us to run out to the van to head home. It stopped raining enough for Daddy to grill some delicious steaks for supper. I can't remember the last time I had a steak! It was great! After the boys went to bed, Mama, Jennifer and I stayed up and watched The Skeleton Key. What a great thriller! I thought I had things figured out, but the ending totally threw me. I definitely want to watch it again so I can pay closer attention to the details. Jennifer slept over since Robert and the kids were gone to Natchez.

Thursday, June 1: I baked cookies for that night's Pampered Chef show while Mama did the grocery shopping. We cleaned house some after she got back, then got busy preparing for the show. Daddy took the boys to Melissa and Lindsay's so they'd be out of the way. I made 3 veggie pizzas and we put together 3 bowls of strawberry-spinach salad with raspberry viniagrette. Everything was eaten! Mama ended up with 16 guests at her show and got several outside orders, too. She closed out with more than $650 in guest sales! After the show I helped Lindsay tally everything from her catalog show and she ended up with $403 in guest sales. After seeing Lindsay's success and seeing the products in use, Melissa finally got excited about doing her catalog show, which she's wanting to do in July. Jennifer slept over again and we talked for a long time after "lights out." Daddy taught Caleb how to play checkers.

Friday, June 2: We got up early and went to several garage sales, the first time I've done that in I don't know how long. I bought an electronic Jeopardy game and two books for me and a few books for the boys. Oh, I got a "Twenty Questions" game for Caleb for 50 cents, and it's in great condition. He loves it! Mama gave the boys each $2 and I helped them pick out some things: a small truck/trailer, a Batman toy that lights up, some Spiderman books, a transformer-type toy, a bead toy, and a racecar book that makes sounds. We stopped for beignets on our way home. For lunch we made another veggie pizza with the leftover ingredients from Thursday. The boys and I went to my cousin Yvonne's house that afternoon while Mama and Daddy and Jennifer went to visitation for Mama's cousin who died. The boys played in the swimming pool with their cousins Grayson and Phillip and had a blast. Jacob had a scare - or rather I did - when he lost his grasp on the rail and went face first into the water. By the time he righted himself, he was off the steps and couldn't touch the bottom. Rusty was in the pool with the boys, but they were all on the other side and didn't see what happened. Yvonne was inside getting hamburgers and hot dogs ready for the grill. I rushed down the steps, grabbed Jacob, and pulled him out of the water. He wasn't crying or spitting and sputtering. In fact, the only thing he said was, "There's starfish in there." Stupidly I looked into the pool to see the starfish, knowing all along there weren't any. I wonder if that was God's way of keeping Jacob calm so he wouldn't panic and start fighting the water... I asked Jacob how many starfish were there and he answered 5. He sat in my lap for about 15 minutes, then went back to playing in the water again. I sat around in wet denim capris all evening; Yvonne's clothes are two sizes smaller than mine. Other than that, we had a really good visit. After Mama and Daddy got back, I helped Mama with ordering her selections from Pampered Chef. Jennifer slept over, but this time we didn't talk much. I think we were all exhausted after staying up so late every night.

Saturday, June 3: I slept in until nearly 9:00, which is extremely rare for me! I took my time getting our stuff together and even stopped a few times to play a few rounds of checkers and one game of "Twenty Questions" with Caleb and Daddy. We loaded up and headed back home shortly after 2:30. Jacob was asleep within 10 minutes and slept for an hour and a half. The garbage was gone from our kitchen when I got home. I'll be sure to thank Tamara, a wonderful lady from the apartment office who agreed to come by and check on our cat while we were gone. (I don't think the exterminator who came the Friday after we left would carry our garbage all the way to the dumpster!) I think I'll pick her up a little surprise for her trouble.

Sunday, June 4: Caleb promoted to the first grade class at church today. Jacob whined all morning because he was tired and didn't want to go to church. (Each week he tells us he doesn't need to go.) After lunch, he fought taking a nap, even to the point of throwing a horrible temper tantrum in his room. I told him that once he quieted down I would rock him. Five minutes later he decided to take me up on my offer, and after another five minutes he was asleep. He napped for 2 and a half hours!

Monday, June 5: Day One of VBS - Arctic Edge. Today's enrollment, not including preschoolers and the nursery - 236! I'm working games like I did last year, but it's not as fun. I've got the little kids, the ones entering kindergarten next year and the preschoolers. That age group just doesn't seem to do well with organized games. I've modified them to make them easier, but they still have a hard time with following the directions. Their favorite game so far has been "Meltdown", where they pass a piece of ice around the circle to see how fast they can get it to melt. The kindergarten groups actually raced with it, but the preschoolers just passed it around one big circle. To kill time, we gave each one a piece of ice to play with. We had to go to Wal-Mart for groceries when we left VBS, and we didn't get home until nearly 3:00. We were all exhausted. Jacob went to sleep pretty quickly at naptime and was really hard to wake up afterward. He finally woke up good around 5:30!

Today, June 6: Today's count - 255! This is huge! Caleb is having a great time. Jacob stayed with me after his group's game time today. I tried to get him to go back to his class, but he wouldn't hear of it. I wonder if he'll even go in at all tomorrow. He napped again today, but was much easier to wake up. Tomorrow they're going to miss naptime because we're heading to the library to return some books right after VBS. I'm sure he'll fall asleep on the way to pick up Billy. Yea! Billy comes home tomorrow. It's been a long three weeks without him. At least we had lots to do to keep busy!

Realization
They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I found out only takes a few days to forget it. I was doing well with keeping the apartment clean and tidy, though still somewhat cluttered. I even made sure things were cleaned up before we left - except for the garbage! :o) But since we've been home, I still haven't unloaded the dishwasher. Dishes are piled in my sink. My Pampered Chef display products and binders are still in the crate. I haven't even unpacked our suitcases. Well, only what I've needed at the moment. I have washed a load of clothes, but that was only because I needed something to wear to VBS today. I just don't have it in me to do anything much when we get home each day. I think being out in the heat all morning, plus the prescription decongestant I'm taking, is zapping me of all my energy. I thought Saturday would be a slow, lazy day, good for getting rejuvenated, but I think I'm going to have to use that time to get a few things done around here. Maybe I'll rest Sunday afternoon. I really need to get back into my routine!

I'm off to bed now. I'll look at the dirty dishes in the morning and try to muster the energy to unload and reload the dishwasher before we leave for VBS. I know I won't feel like it when we get back. G'night!

Jacob woke up a few minutes ago. I heard him making some noises in his room. He just walked into the living room and asked, "Is it Mamaw and Papaw day?" I said, "No, that's tomorrow. You have one more day." His response: "Oh. I'm going back to my bed." (5 minutes later, he's back.)

Every day, Jacob says, "I want to see my daddy." I'll tell him, "He's on a trip right now." Then he always asks, "He's in the Greece?"

Big Show!
I did my first Pampered Chef show Saturday night. Only 4 guests showed up, but we had a lot of fun. The recipe turned out great, and everyone really liked getting to know more about the products. Some of the ladies even got to try out some of the products during the presentation. Stefanie was worried that she wouldn't make the $150 show, but she's at slightly over $400! She had a few outside orders from friends who weren't able to make it, as well as a couple from friends of friends. We're closing her show tonight, so I'll get to see what great things she's getting for free ($60), what 2 things she's getting for half-price, and what she'll use her 20% show discount on.

Lindsay is holding a catalog show for me right now. We'll close hers next Wednesday. She was really excited to have two orders placed on her first day, as well as several requests from other people in her office. Even a lady from the D.A.'s office wants to place an order with her. I hope she does really well so she can get lots of products, too!

Mama is hosting a cooking show for me next Thursday. I'm not sure yet what we're going to cook, but I have a few different recipes she can choose from.

I'm so excited about all this! I was nervous about doing my first show, especially since I don't really like getting up in front of people, but once I got started with it I felt really comfortable. Before I knew it, I was finished with my presentation. I got lots of positive feedback, and Stefanie has been telling everyone they need to host a show for me because I share really great tips on different ways to use the products. Thanks, Stef!