As we were decorating, Cookie decided she needed to investigate the situation. We decided as we were cleaning up that we had missed one of the "cookies." So we decided to decorate her too-she thought she was mighty tasty or at least that green frosting was. :o) 
Something really weird happened before I could finish my last post and edit it. So yes there is a typo/mispelled word and the post is incomplete. But I couldn't get the crazy thing to let me fix it. So anyway, here are a couple more pics of our adventure that night.
Creative aren't they? They are trying to put a pair of chipmunks on the top of the tree. My sister gave them to us on our 1st anniversary. Needless to say, I was hiding where it was safe-behind the camera and across the room.
You got to give them credit. They are creative about a solution.
As you can see, we went as a family to pick out a real life Christmas tree. Megan and I had been hopes and aspirations. We all never realized that we would have the two foot root ball that we would have to accomodate for since we want to plant it in our yard afterwards. I guess you could say the little 2' tree Charlie brought home back in 1992 had some serious Miracle Gro issues. My tree now touches our ceiling and the girth is about 5'. I can't wait to see how pretty it will be in the front yard considering I have planted twelve CO blue spruces twice in our yard and they ain't gonna grow here. Maybe subconciously the reason why this one wound up so big. They also gave us a $15 discount. We wondered why, because it was so prettier and bigger than the others. After wrestling to get it in the house, cutting off a few branches at the top, working to get the root ball in a big enough container, we aren't wondering why the discount anymore. Who else would buy such a huge tree???
Can you believe it?? We got our first snow of the season. I love living at our new home. It's at a higher elevation than the parsonage is. This makes about 5 times that it has snowed here in about 1 1/2 years. Quit laughing Amy Dyer. For it to snow in AL, that's a big thing no matter how little it may be. At least we aren't having to deal with it day in and day out. It comes; it's pretty; fun to play in; and thankfully melts soon.
Temperatures have finally fallen to where it feels more like fall than summer. We even pulled out our jackets for a day or so. The cooler temps have also brought out the deer more. We are seeing them more frequent now. Matter of fact, the other day while I was doing my routine walk down our road, a deer had been watching us and spooked the dogs a little when it decided that we weren't very interesting to it and ran off into the woods beside me. Megan has also gotten into the fall spirit and has carved leaves into a little pumpkin. I must say she did quite well. But I still wish she had decide to only carve the surface before I gutted the insides out. Now we have a swiveling pumpkin with pretty leaves. (I was planning on posting pics of it, but Megan's digital camera died and we haven't bought a memory card for the one her friend gave her Sat.)
With that said about the death of the camera, we had to resort to the old way of taking pics with film. Needless to say, Phillip and Megan have big plans on doing an autopsy on the deceased. Anyone interested on what those little things are made of?? So with the camera dead, we now have no pics of the wonderful camping trip we took for Phil's b-day. Oh, and then the big bummer... I missed a four generation picture of my family Sunday! FOUR GENERATIONS! Not everyone can say that. My grandmother is visiting from AZ and wouldn't you figure of all times for the camera to die, it chose now. UUggh!
Anyway, we recently had pastor appreciation at the church for Phillip. Sis. Bishop got to roast him (he's so little that it was more like a wienie roast). Sis. Mary Shelton and her group came and sang the house down. I'm not a bluegrass person, but the anointing she has makes you overlook the twangy sounds. I'm a minority when it comes to bluegrass at our church. She also preached that Sunday night. She's as fiery preachin' as she is singin'.
I guess with the change of seasons, Megan also decide to change her wardrobe. I had to go shopping because she hit a growth spurt. At 13, how much longer should she still be growing. Anyway we were blessed to find some great deals, we are still negotiating about her wearing them though. Anyone who is or already has raised a teenager knows all too well what I'm talking about. Another UUUUUGGGHH! But in the midst of all this shopping, I decided to walk around The Salvation Army. Sis. Marcia guess what I found. RUMMIKUB for only 2 bucks. I had Megan to count and make sure all the pieces were there. So now I can practice and maybe Sis. Marcia and Sis. Kaufman won't beat the stew out of me next time.
And one last way to know it's fall around here is the smell of Sis. Smith's Corn Chowder in the air. I love her recipe and decided to make some today. I can't wait till supper.
to quit doing that so that I can stay a VLB for the rest of my life.) Phillip turned 42 on Wednesday. Wow! Amy D. you may be right. I am married to an "old" man with a big kids heart. Anyway, that gave Megan the opportunity to make/decorate another cake. Phil wanted carrot cake because he tries to convince us that it's healthy (since the carrots are in it). Yeah right. So, here is Megan's decorated cake. It was really yummy even though some of the frosting became a little runny during her decorating in her hot little hands. I couldn't get the date to change on the picture, but you guys can at least see Megan's "handy work." It's about her 5th cake to decorate and she's improving.
u still want to see. Megan's is cute, but my is nothing 
glamorous. I like my hair cut, just not crazy about the picture. I normally wear it different than in this pic though.God is so awesome! It was so good for our family last week to be able to "step out" of our normal field of labor of pastoring at Mt. Carmel and be able to minister in a revival at Red Bay, AL. It has been several years since we actually held a revival. It was so refreshing! The anointing was so powerful and overwhelming on Phillip. I must say it was a different anointing and much more powerful than Phillip says he has experience in a long time. The "wild man" jumped in his chariot and never looked back until the revival was over. For those who know him well, you would have been amazed at the speed that he was going. He moved like lightning across the stage and leaped off it a few times as well. God also moved mightily during the altar services! It was definitely a reviving and refreshing time for the members there as well as for our family. Amazing how God blesses you while you are obeying and ministering for Him. Praise the Lord! Many youth were in the altar for quite awhile on Saturday, with many leaving with victory in their souls.
I finally figured out how to compress my pics to be able to upload them. Thanks for the tip Sis. Smith!
The tomato to the left is one straight from my dad's garden. He had to save it for me. No one can convince me that God doesn't specialize in the small details to bring a smile to one of His own. This mouseketter was so excited to receive this "mickey" tomato. No, I didn't eat it. I kept it and admired it so much that it spoiled on me. I probably couldn't have brought myself to eat it anyway. Needless to say, I also got a pic on my cellphone of it to show others. Pics was the only way I knew to "preserve" it.
For those who know who "Susie" is, I thought you'd get a kick out of this picture. "Susie" has grown legs and is up walking around. This "Susie" was noticed wandering around in Cleveland, TN during the assembly. (Sis. Smith I knew you would want to help "Susie" find her way back home.)
How many of you have those wonderful little "sword fighters" flying around your house?? You know, those little green guys that have beaks that look like 1" needles. Well, they must love the mixture I put in my 16 oz feeder because they are guzzling it here lately in about two days. Or they are multiplying like bunnies. The past couple of times Megan and I have been swimming, we have been dive bombed by these little guys as they go zooming by us. Here we are playing in the pool, minding our own business (occasionally looking over at them), and the little "attackers" start invading our space. I guess 10-15' away from their feeder is not enough for them or is it the real problem is they are totally ticked off at me for having only one feeder. There is commonly about 10 of these little guys trying to get to only 5 feeding holes with about three others that are flying (standing) in line to get to it as well. Talk about some "people" needing a sermon on unity, sharing, and preferring your fellow hummingbird. Sis. Marcia do you have one of those sermons handy?? So I guess I'll go buy another feeder to promote sharing.
By the way, how in the world do you post pics. I have snail dial up. Three times I have try to upload pics, but each time it claims that it cannot do it. Does it have to do with dial up or am I doing something wrong?? Okay, you blogger pros, HELP! I have pics of the hair cuts and a real interesting blog that is centered around one pic in particular. But without the pics, this is getting a little boring.
I was out earlier today being the "Lawn Goddess" that I am, I was pulling weeds from around the corner of the house when I heard a growl. I stood up and looked around the corner to see Megan's crazy cat (no dog, just a crazy cat that growls). The cat was growling at a deer in my front yard! Yeah, too weird there. Not to see Bambi, because we live in the country with woods all around. But a growling cat?! Only at our house I guess. Anyway, I'm glad for once for Megan's cat. Without the strange thing, I would have missed Bambi.
Anyhow, after coming down from my red "throne" (provided by Craftsman), I decided to jump in the pool. Work clothes and all (what did you think I was going to do-"skinny dip"). Megan thought I was crazy and she is probably right. Because of the much needed rain all week, the pool is about to overflow with COLD rain water. So I jumped in anyway just like I was (no snitching to Phil who would die that I had a few grass clippings on me in his precious sparkling pool). For the first few moments, it sounded like campmeeting. But I have to admit there was no spirit in it, just my santity reminding me that I wasn't 10 anymore and that water was really COLD!
Now to pick back up the topic of Phil's sparkling pool. If it has to do with water, my plumber is going to make sure it is clean and efficient. That reminds me. A little "birdie" snitched and told me that there is someone out there in Blogland that was bashing plumbers on their blog. You know who you are. We will leave name calling alone and just say that if you don't want to go scuba diving then call a plumber to be the solution for the human pollution. That's rights, no mom is overjoyed to hear their son/daughter say that they want to grow up to be a plumber. But it pays the bills. We just smell money in these situations rather than the other. Just wondering, does being a CNA count as introduction to being a plumbing apprentice, Sara?? I believe Phil has an opening and you'd saved a lot on those college loans. :)
For those who commented about the 12 inches off my hair, you'll have to wait for a picture. Megan says she is not "styling" her hair for a picture if we are just staying at home for the next few days. So when we actually fix our hair on Sunday, we might get pictures and post them next week. That sounds so awful, doesn't it? But hey, I know I'm not the only one who just washes it and lets it do its own thing. By the way, Sis. Smith, they gladly accepted my donation, gray hair and all. I did ask about that because mine is getting a "little" bit of gray in it. :0) They said they process it and then dye it whatever color the child wants. I guess there's not a big demand from kids for brown curly hair with gray "highlights." Go figure.
Okay, today I'm suppose to be "Mrs. Homemaker" and do some alterations on several pairs of pants someone gave Phil. When we got married, he wore a size 34 waist (yeah, they were a little big on him then too). These pants are 33X32 so I have to take them in in the waist and up in the hem because now he wears a 30 in the waist (he still claims a 32-yeah right). Why is it that toothpicks like him keep dropping inches (no wise cracks about my cooking), but some of us fight to keep from finding those inches becoming attached to our own waists??
So Megan and I (not that Megan needs to lose anything-like her dad) decided to drop a few inches ourselves. We headed to the beauty shop to get our hair cut. Megan got a few inches cut off and about three long layers-really cute, but it really scared this mom seeing a young lady evolved before my eyes. What happen to cute little bangs and ponytails??? UUUUUUUUgh!! I decided to give Locks of Love 12 inches. Yeah, a drastic change that I do about every 2-3 years. But at least I can say I dropped 12 inches in one day. Now how many of you can say the same??? Maybe that means I also lost a few ounces from my weight as well. Hey, you never know.
The scary thing during all this at the beauty shop is that my mom looks at me (haircut was a birthday present from her) and says she is getting dizzy. She was already sitting down in one of those huge dryer chairs, so I asked her if she wanted a cool cloth or some candy. I no more and got that out of my mouth when down she went or should I say out she went. She tumbled face first out of that huge chair to the floor. I immediately caught the chair because she was in flight before I could get her. The paramedics and fire department were all gathered in the beauty shop attending to her. Well, thankfully everything turned out fine and she didn't have to go to the hospital! And thankfully the beautician was done cutting my hair and only had a flat iron in her hand. Imagine what I would look like with a Mohawk or crew cut. So things finally calmed down and the woman proceeded to finish my hair. Unfortunately, all the medical staff see my hair all over my head, kinda like a really bad beehive style. But oh well, I probably never see those guys again, I hope.
