Fancy Dice... or Die

another pair o dice, originally uploaded by McGillicutty1.

I have had a lot of comments on the Halloween costume created by Syd the Kid for her and bff Madi.
Well....look at this... with a little fancy stuff from Flickr/Picnic I can make them even more amazing!!!
I love this kinda stuff, I can play all day!!!! Syd loves it too... she's on a sleepover with the Madster so I'll surprise her by putting this pic on her computer as a background... she'll freak... I know.. I'm the best Mid Life Mama she's ever had!!!!!

Sugar Doll Awards.... cute!

If you don't already follow Little Ms Blogger then I insist, yes insist, that you go over there now and officially follow that woman... go on.. do it now, you can come back and read my post later.... we no... on second thoughts you may never come back to me so finish reading this first and then go see her.

LMS recently... ahem.. like a month ago... gosh time flies... presented me with this award, the rules of which are as follows... (beastly stings attached!!)... I have to tell you ten things about myself which you may not already know and then tag ten other bloggers to do the same.

Here goes........

1) After leaving school I worked for the Gov in England, I was a Civil Servant!

Do they still call them that? Or are they now just Gov contractors in India? I was

what you might call a Welfare Officer, I would interview and assess claimants who

needed benefits on top of Unemployment or Disability.. yes folks it was a charming

little starter job. Although I gotta tell you I was good at it!!!

2) I once sent an email to the wrong person inviting him to a Birthday Bash, it

blossomed into a little online friendship of sorts and we even met in a pub

in London for drinks. Which is when I discovered he was a red head.

3) I am addicted to HGTV's Househunters...I know... it's awesome!

4) I have this freakish germ phobia, not your average afraid to shake hands thing,

but a fear of airborne germs, like breath and farts in particular! When I eat

at my desk I cover my food with a napkin in case someone accidentally

spills their air on it!!!

5) OK those of you who know me or keep up with my blog may already

know that I will marry John Travolta one day....but what you don't

know is that I will also date Nick Cage and John Cuzack before

marrying John just to make sure.

6) Scratch the above, I am truly, madly, deeply in love with my

wonderful hubby who is also tall dark and handsome ..

.. who needs John, Nick or John??? not me.

7) I am a really good driver, yes I said it, I know it.

I rock the road people!!!!

8) Music has always been a big part of my life and when I

was in High School I played the oboe... funny now I think of it.

What the heck do you do with that later in life?

9) Before getting married I had a bunch of hen nights, English for

bachelorette parties. It was a constant celebration for months because

I was moving to the other side of the world and would miss my girlfriends.

What you might not guess is that I also had a Stag Party, yes a bachelor

party, myself and a bunch of my good male friends. We took a bus to the

Racetrack and bet on horses all afternoon, then went on a pub crawl in the

evening.... still a memorable day!!!

10) Travelling is my first love, there's nothing like the feeling of a journey

to the unknown, checking out historic sites, sampling local traditions

and cuisine. Meeting people of other cultures and lifestyles is a

huge rush for me. If I could just one day pack up a change of

clothes, some fab accessories and my camera and take hubby

around the world I think I would. He's a good traveler too.

Well that's it folks, hope you enjoyed my ten things you didn't know.... it's quite

therapeutic to dig up these hidden loves, hates and experiences.

Now to pass the baton.....

 Fragrant Liar 

Blognut

The Bumbles 

Optimistic Pessimist

Ohfortheloveofblog

State of Bliss 

Tales from Twisty Lane

Good for the Goose

Brown's Zoo Tales

You've got to be Kidding me

The absolute joys of parenting girls... part II

A few weeks ago now you may remember I blogged about taking the girls and having

their ears pierced... you can check that out HERE

Well it's gradually getting near the time for them to change out their

earrings... all has gone well... a little bit of the yukky stuff you get sometimes

when you poke holes in your body... but otherwise all is well.

So I was thinking the other day how it's funny that when you're young

and you have your ears pierced, you sometimes have all these problems

with the kind of earrings you can or cannot wear, and other earrings

make your ears red and itchy... seemed to me like that

hadn't happened in years and I guessed when you're as old

as me you just grow out of it.

And now here it is... my freakin' ears are irritated as all get out!!!!

And I'm the kinda chick who does NOT go without my earrings, no ma'am...

will not be seen in public sans attachments.

So what's the deal? Why is this happening now? I can't remember wearing

any that are particularly nasty, I don't rush out and buy just gold

or allergy free or whatever, I have always been able to wear

any old junk that's the current high fashion!!!

I am thinking it's a sign, it's my ears telling me that the little girls ears

are not ready to be introduced to the danglies they are dying to wear!!!

So I'm heeding this sign and watching their precious lobes closely over

the next couple of weeks before we venture out into the big world

of Peace signs and iCarly earrings that they've had their eye on!!!

If anyone out there has some tips on keeping their precious little ears glup free please

don't hesitate to add a comment... 'preciate it.

Happy Halloween...

Just a little late but worth the wait... one of my favorite pictures from Saturday night in the hood. Best friends!!!!!

Corner View...contrasts

This weeks corner view is Contrast.... 

I'm letting the pictures speak for themselves.....

Enjoy! 

For more Corner Views visit Spain Daily and click on the links in the 

side bar... remember to check out everyone of them... 

they're all very cool!!!!! 

Jules goes to Vegas.....

I was recently asked by Jules over at Just Jules to do a

guest post, I know!!! me...doing a guest post... like writing

something to be posted on

another blogger's Blog...

 I'm so flattered!!!

~~~~~

I feel all warm and fuzzy

I have seen these done on some of

the other blogs I consider to be much

better than mine.

~~~~~~

Uh oh the pressure is on

what if my post sucks, what

if she doesn't like it..

what if her readers don't like it...

~~~~~~

Go judge for yourself.. Jules is living it up

in Vegas this week so myself and some

other bloggers are holding the

fort while she's gone.

I love Jules, she's so down to earth

and real!! Hope I do her blog

justice!!!!

~~~~~~~

Thanks Jules for the opportunity, have a blast in Vegas

and worry not, I got it!!!!

A peek at what I was rambling about...

I thought seeing as I had rambled on and on about the dang ol' Cowboy Ball I had better do a post to let you have a peek at how it all turned out, you know, a little info about how we entertain ourselves here in the South while we're doing good for the children, the blessed little children.

~

The pumpkin was carved by Jill our fearless pumpkin carving President ~ cute!

When we do something big it usually means we need a lot of help, kids are the best helpers,

they actually think it's fun and don't whine about pay and conditions, most of the time!

Here's Jill the pumpkin queen showing my girls how to fill the buckets with

peanuts, very "cowboy" don't you think?

Now for one of the biggest things of the whole event, the auction and the decorations. We set up all these

tables on a kind of slant (my idea) (I know!!!) so that we could put out all the info and items for people to

bid on. Last year was a little dark so we did lanterns this time. I have to say I was

a tad bit afraid of lanterns, fire, flammables etc in the stables!!!! but it worked out well.

~

 On the tables where the guests would sit and eat we did little votive candles with the bucket of

peanuts and the horse shoes....all set on a runner of burlap, tres chic!!! in a country kinda way!

Again....tiny anxiety pangs at the whole fire and stables thing!

This lovely view below is what all the wonderful buckaroos and their gorgeous gals were

greeted with as they made their way into the Ball. Thanks to my good friend Becky who

was in charge of that kind of thing and has a great eye!!! People went over there

and used it as a back drop for pictures; it really set the tone and made them forget

that we were only after their "gold"!!!

Another important feature of the evening was the bar(s)... yes siree we had two well stocked

bars and the good times rolled!

Here's a picture of my lovely friend Jill (the Prez) and moi (the Chair)

why the heck do they call it the Chair... I'd rather be head dude, big cahuna, major cheese anything

but the Chair... it's such an inanimate object (unlike me!).

~

We look quite pleased with ourselves don't we? we were!

This is the raffle table, set up with the lovely prizes and the red balloons that the ladies selling

tickets would carry with them as they strolled around! Great idea! Note the

candy corn in the mason jars with the votive candles.... inspired!!!

And then there was the band.  How fantastic where they? OMG they did a

marvelous job of keeping everyone entertained, getting them up to dance, playing requests

and making the 2nd Annual Cowboy Ball the  fabulous success it was.

~

In case you're in the area and need a band, they are called Just Us and I can

hook you up with them if you contact me!

Note the large twinkling light ball, these are permanent fixtures dotted all

around the stables, simple but beautiful and create a certain j'nes se quio, n'est pas?

Not that the cowboys were looking for that, they were just there to have a great time, and that

my friend, is what they got.

~

Unfortunately, I took most of the pictures before the thing really started so I didn't get one

of the spread put on by our caterer. Sumptuous BBQ pork and chicken, sides of

potato salad, coleslaw and beans with bread rolls. Totally Delish!

I'll be using them again, without hesitation!!!

~

I like to think it went well, when all is said and done we raised a lot of

money for the kids in our community... now what's next?