10 People

I saw this idea on a blog I sometimes read, and I thought, just to make ya'll go hmmmmmm....I'd do a post on the 10 people I'd most want to have over for dinner!


So, here goes!!

Celine Dion is my favorite singer.  She'd be gracious enough to sing with me!!

I would want to have their WHOLE family over! Of course I'd pick their brains. They inspire me.

Colin and Mrs. Gunn are filmmakers.  He's Scottish.  My husband would adore just getting to have a good chinwag with him!

Ree Drummond is hilarious and I have her first cookbook.  I'd want her to come over early and cook with me.

Doug Phillips is the president of Vision Forum Ministries and
stands for all of the same principals and philosophies that we do.

Beall Phillips is the wife of Doug Phillips and she and I have a similar vision, and I'd love to just sit and listen to her and glean from her wisdom.

Alton Brown, zany and smart and funny and a great cook.  He'd be cooking with me and Ree and we'd have a blast!

Julie Andrews is elegant and poised and I'd love to hear all about her many years as a film and musical icon.  Of course, there'd be a trio with her and me and Celine! 

Jan Karon is my favorite author and I have almost every book she's written, in hardback.  She'd be another elegant guest and I'd ask her if she would sign all of her books for me!

Scott Brown and his wife are the founders of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches.  We have many sermons by him and we'd love to soak up his wisdom.


I know my choices aren't "popular" or "hip", but those two words are just not the words that anyone would use to describe me, thank God.  And I don't think one dinner would be enough for me with these iconic people....I think we'd have to do a weekend-long retreat!

Who would you choose?

Yes!!!

The REAL Rosie the Riveter!!

The Pennie Post

Look at this girl!!!


She's 16 month old now.  Can you believe that??!!


I've never done a monthly post-type thing, but I want to for Pennie, just because she's so doggone cute, and I want to share her with you!


So, here's her "specs":


She's wearing size 18 month clothes, but she still fits into 12 month clothes too.I just put her into the bigger size to give her "wiggle room".


She's wearing size 4 Huggies Little Movers diapers.


She doesn't have tons of hair, at least not yet!


She sleeps in our room, in her crib.


She regularly sleeps from 10 PM to 4 or 5 AM. She takes two naps a day, at around noon and around 6 PM.


She eats all kinds of foods and drinks out of a regular cup really well, but she likes to spill the cup! She does drink out of her sippy cup, but she prefers a regular cup like her Big Sisters!


She LOVES cucumbers and ranch dip!! 


She isn't really nursing much anymore.  She always wants to nurse when she's tired.  So, I'd say she nurses about twice a day.

She got her very first pair of shoes the other day!! I know, I know...I always say that, with my newborn babies I'm going to put shoes and headbands on them from the get-go, but they always end up tearing them off, so I guess I never keep that promise! She got shoes the other day....sad to say, they're BOY shoes! We needed some shoes for her really quickly because we were going to the park out by the river and we didn't want her walking around barefoot, so we stopped at Goodwill and just picked whatever fit.  This DEEPLY offended my snooty sensibilities, but.....we needed them so we got them! She's so cute walking in them! But I don't like them....I have my eye on a pair at Target, but....we'll see!


This girl is so so so active! I mean it, I've never had a baby as active as this! She's all over the house every minute she's awake! We really have to keep an eye on her.  Her favorite thing to do is go in the bathroom and unload the garbage into the toilet!! We'll be getting one of those small garbage cans with the lids soon! YUCK!!  She also loves to unload our purses.  Sounds like FUN!

First swimming suit!

She got her first swimming suit too! This was one we had saved that was Lucie's.  When I put it on her, everyone just about fell apart! She was so cute!


At our house, we think that pretty much every single solitary little thing she does is just to die for! She's the cat's meow, the bee's knees! We could just eat her with a spoon! 

Look how far she's come!!

I added the last picture to show just what a Big Girl she is now.  She was so small when she was born that we had to go and get Preemie outfits for her, and for the first month or 6 weeks of her life she lived in a diaper! Oh, how my heart aches when I see her newborn pics! So sweet, so warm, so snuggly.....


She's in a Big Girl carseat now too! She still fits into her infant carseat, but we like to put her in the Big Girl seat just because she feels like a Big Sister!! Ha!


I hate to end this post on a sad note, but when I look at these pictures I can't help but see a shadow of Olivia, especially in the newborn pic.  We call Olivia our Livie Birdie, and on Pennie's bedding there are birdies around the bumper pad and on the sheet, as well as on a couple of her blankies.  Her diapers even have tiny birdies on the back, and when I'm changing her I hold the diaper up and point to the birdies and say "bird", and she tries to say it! I'm looking for a silver birdie charm to put on my necklace from The Vintage Pearl, which I wear every single day. My arms and heart ache for Olivia but she lives always for me in Pennie's eyes.


I hope you've enjoyed seeing a bit of our Pennie!!

Pennie Post

Well, I wanted to do a post on Pennie, as it's been quite a while since I've even talked about her, but I want to post pictures of her and I just can't find the file they're on.


So, I'll save the Pennie Post for another day....


But she's the cutest, most amazing, most energetic, most incredible thing that's ever happened to us!!!


Stay tuned!

La la la, Part 2!

I thought I'd post some pictures of the concert that Husband and I were in.  I hope you enjoy them!

Cutie Bean.

Sara.

The Gang. Waiting patiently in the lobby.

                             

Daddy and Pennie

Waiting....and waiting.

Singing.



It was a great evening and the auditorium was totally packed.  I'll share more pics later!

Beautiful

So has anyone out there ever experienced a situation like the one I will shortly relate to you.....if you haven't, I hope you never do, and if you have, my sympathy and understanding are with you!


The day: Sunday.  The place: Church.  Here's the scene:
I was sitting in a pew in the back, watching the kids get ready for their bell choir number that they were scheduled to do that morning.  As I sat there, a gal came up to me in a VERY excited and pleased manner.  I know this gal, but not well, and she was positively bursting with gladness! I initially thought she was just wanting to be friendly and was just going to talk for a moment......But she grabbed me around the shoulders, and here's what she said:


"Oh my goodness!!! I heard a rumor that you're pregnant and I just want to be the first to congratulate you!!!!!"
Ahem.
Pardon?
I had about two seconds to figure out how I was going to respond to this situation......
Ummm.....
So I said:
"Wow, um, no, I'm sure not, but I do look pregnant!"
And she said:
"Oh....you're not?"
And I said:
"Not the last time I checked....ha ha ha....you're jumping the gun a bit!"
And she said:
"Okay, well, never mind then!!"
And she walked away.
Let me just say that I used the nicest tone of voice possible under the circumstances and I tried to go out of my way to make it a joke.  I felt SO bad for her!! I mean, she wasn't the first one to make a comment like that in the past month, or even the first person to ask me that.  I always try to respond very graciously......I bet she was so embarrassed.
But the truth is, I was upset.  Let me try to explain, in some concise fashion, what was going through my mind.
You see, I am overweight.  I know that! Also, if you were to look into my closet, you would probably wonder where all of my clothes went! Truth is, I don't really have any clothes.  
The reason I hardly have any clothes is because of lack of finances.
Yes, I am overweight, but truthfully, you probably wouldn't stare at me on the street and whisper wowwww, look how fat she is!!!! My tummy IS large, I mean, I've been pregnant 12 times!!
So lately it's been really easy to choose an outfit every day because.....I only have two to choose from!
I threw one of my dresses away recently, because someone at church asked me when I was due, and someone else asked me if I was expecting again.  It was a kelly green maxi dress.....a maternity dress.  I was only wearing it because it was one of the only things I had to wear.  So it was really full and too big.....and it went in the garbage when I got home.
So, being overweight, and not having many clothes, I guess feeling beautiful is important to me.
If I was being really honest, I would tell you that feeling beautiful and looking elegant and pretty and well put-together is VERY important to me.
And looking pregnant when I'm not is on my mind too.
I deeply desire to feel pretty.  
But my self esteem has always been very, very low, due to the way I was brought up and exacerbated by the past two years of living in a very difficult situation with others who neither respected me nor liked me at all.  Trying to conquer that on my own has been a life-long process and honestly.....
I haven't begun to win.
Because I know that I can't find my value in how I feel or how I look or how others view me.  I know that!! And I still struggle!
Friday I went shopping to try to get an outfit to wear to our concert that evening.  I picked out one that I thought was beautiful.  It made me feel elegant.  I felt so confident.  I looked nice!
And then I saw the pictures that were taken after the concert.....and I almost cried because I looked AWFUL!!!! 
Sigh.
So you see the conundrum that circles around and around in my mind??
I came across a really fantastic post this morning written by a gal I read regularly and respect greatly.  She nails these issues.  She understands! She gets it.  And......she struggles a teeny bit with this too, even though she's super beautiful!
Go read the article. It's on Erin Kern's blog, Superfluities.  It says everything I want to say.  It's everything I want to be.  And I'm thinking about getting the book that she quotes from at the end of her post.


(I tried to make a link, but we have a new Mac and I can't remember how to do it, so you'll have to google her blog!)

La la la!

Well folks, I can now say I have successfully completed a quarter at COLLEGE!!!

Wait! Before you get all like, woah, Leanne actually went to college??? let me elaborate.

My husband has been a member of our local community choir through our local college since early spring, and he's been begging me to join with him, and I've refused, for one lame reason after another, for months, and okay, I finally joined up in early April!

Was I nervous?? You bet! I had all these preconceived notions that there'd be all these super stellar singers there and I'd be the only raw, unused talent there......

And I was WRONG!

There was an ecclectic mixture of ability levels there, since admittance to the choir at our college is not by audition.  Anyone who wants to can join....with mixed results....

So we had our concert to cap off the quarter last night.  The concert was a combined effort, with the jazz choir, the concert choir, the community choir, and another small choir.  And you can join more than one choir, although it's a pretty grueling schedule if you do.

The community choir sang selections from Show Boat, Carousel, Frankie and Johnny, and Irving Berlin, as well as a couple of single pieces.  The ensemble from Irving Berlin was perfomed with all of the choirs combined.  We also did "Somebody To Love" from Glee as a combined experiment.

One of the fun things about the whole experience was that individuals could audition for solos, and Husband told me we were going to audition.  So, I dusted off my vocal pipes and gave it the old College try.....

We sang "Never Walk Alone" from Carousel, and I convinced the choir director that there ought to be a solo in there, just because I had been dying to do that piece for about 1000 years, so she agreed, and I tried out for it, but both she and Husband, as well as the piano player, told me that me singing that piece was like listening to a flute that was not being played to the best of its ability, which was a really great compliment!

Husband and I tried out for "Why Do I Love You?" from Show Boat, and we got it!!! So, Husband and I did a tiny duet last night.....to rave reviews! I think the novelty of seeing a husband/wife team doing something like that just impressed people! It was so so so much fun singing with him!

The concert turned out so much better than we thought it would! And, as a bonus for the whole audience, there was a suprise marriage proposal too!! It was so sweet and romantic!!! We were all freaking out and screaming and clapping....the young man who proposed told NOBODY he was going to do it, so even the director was totally surprised.  And the gal said yes!!!

It was a totally incredible experience for me, considering the fact that I myself have not done anything in a concert setting for about 20 years. I was a bit rusty....

A bit about my background: I've been singing in one choir or another since 1979 (am I that old??), and it's one of my few "claim to fames" so to speak.  My voice is a gift that God gave me, and it seems I've always been able to sing.  However, my voice has never been developed.  I do have the raw talent.  I'm a soprano and a first soprano. 

There's a gal who, though she's only 22, has met with success on the European circuit, with opera being her speciality, and I sat next to her through the whole quarter, and let me tell you, her voice was amazing.  She's a really sweet person too! I considered it a privilege and a joy to get to sit with her and learn from her, and she inspired me! Her example aspired me to reach as deep as I could and give it everything I had.....For the first time, I know what I want from my voice.  I know I can, and I'm going to do it! 

And Husband and I have decided that I will enroll at the college in the Voice course that our choir director offers.  It's a very small class.  I've never done anything like that to develop my voice.  I'm nervous and excited and ready!! I believe the class starts in July.  I will also be joining the concert choir in the fall.

YIKES!!! For the first time in my life, at the age of almost39, I'm allowing myself to dream.  I do have a good voice (is that bragging?) and I've been told that I have the ability to develop my voice to be super.  So.....I'm running with it!!

I'll let you know how it goes!