It's all Greek to me

Up until this weekend just about everything I knew about the Greek Orthodox religion and Culture I learned from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. ~ Love that movie.



But this weekend I asked Buster to take us to the Greek Festival in Houston. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Houston, Texas hosted it's 43 Greek Festival. This is a four day event and thousands come. They claim it is the original Greek Festival in the United States.

This Houston Greek Orthodox community began with a handful of Greek immigrants back in 1917.
We had a great time watching the Folk Dancers, eating Greek food, touring the Cathedral and shopping in the Greek market.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon enjoying all things Greek.



Inside the Cathedral...


A member of the church gave us a brief history of the Greek Orthodox Faith. It was so interesting. She was so knowledgeable of early Church history. I would love to talk with her more.

Beautiful stained glass:

Looking up you see this:

The Greek Folk Dancers:

The non-Greek food eaters having pizza:

Mine and Buster's Gyro's: Yum Yum!

My purchase from the Greek market... This apron was only .99. I love aprons anyway and when I saw this one for 99 cents I couldn't pass it up. It has some olive brand advertisement on it. It's all written in Greek, but I thought it was fun.

We heard lots of OPA's!!! and had lots Fun!

Buster even missed an afternoon of College Football on TV to go. He wasn't real happy about that. But we went to Pappa's Burger on our way home after the festival and the Houston Texan's cheerleaders were there. So that made up for it I guess haha.

Trust me he wouldn't have been shouting "Opa" if he stayed home and watched his team play. Let's just say the Georgia Bulldogs were........the ηττημένος. *

* loser

Good-bye Godet

You know when God gives you daughters He also gives you live-in fashion consultants. Mine can be brutally honest about my choice in clothing sometimes. A few post back I showed you a picture of a skirt I attempted to sew this summer. All I wanted was a simple cotton skirt to wear during this hot, humid summer we're having. I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. It was way too long, it was way too full and I felt "frumpy" wearing it. Plus my youngest fashion consultant said I looked "Duggerish". If you watch TLC you know what that means. That's all I needed to hear; I decided to re-work my skirt. I took out 3 of the godets. I shortened it by 4 inches. Now I'm more comfortable wearing it and my fashion consultant doesn't think I look like Ma Dugger anymore. Whew....





Also want to give some Happy Birthday love to Buster whose birthday is today and to my sweet dad who is celebrating on Saturday. Then on Sunday every person in our house will be double digits. Yes, my Leah will be 10. She is so excited.

♥

Hey Hey We're the Monkeys

My family: They make me smile.

Twenty - One Years Ago....

It's June 4th. Buster and I were forever linked in holy matrimony on that day in 1988.




I decided to take a look around our house to find things that we actually started out with when we married 21 years ago. We've moved to six different states and have had a total of 10 moves. So you start to cull things as you move and add new pieces to fit the latest house.

Somethings were sold in garage sales or passed along to others to use. One poor kitchen table/chair set was so feeble Keith threw it over the balcony of our 2nd story apartment to keep from carrying it down the stairs during one move. It went to the dumpster.

But here are a few things I found that have been with us since day ONE!


Confession: I am the world's worst at letting go of dishtowels. I got this dishtowel at a kitchen wedding shower before I got married. I still have it. Still use it. It's very thin and fading. I've often wondered if I would give a dancing bear dishtowel gift to someone getting married. So far I haven't. But I guess 1988 was a good year for dishtowels with dancing bears with top hats and canes. These little bears have done their job. So who am I to judge. :)





I also received this crazy quilt at a wedding shower. At first I didn't care for the "craziness" of this quilt. But over the years it has grown on me and I've come to enjoy it. My girls sometimes wrap up in it while they are watching TV. It's definitely a keeper.




Next, is the bedroom suite that we inherited when we got married. This bed, nightstand and chest of drawers were purchased by Keith's parents in 1972. We used it until 2001 when we finally purchased a new bedroom set. I took the pillows off the bed so you could see the Mediterranean style of this classic furniture. It is now in our guest bedroom. So if you come and visit me. This is where you will sleep.


The nightstand (oh my goodness....is that dust???I'm so embarrassed) I promise, I'll dust before you come.


This is the chest of drawers that goes with the set. We sold the triple dresser years ago. It was too much to keep moving around. I decided to paint this piece of furniture and place different hardware on it to update it. I love it. I never did the nightstand and headboard. Maybe one of these days. I love how it turned out. It's a heavy piece of furniture. I literally painted it right in the bedroom where it stood. I just put a drop cloth under it.




I know there are other random things around here that have been with us since day one. Like the knife set that never needs sharpening and some crystal pieces, a cake plate and a nice stainless steel colander.

I guess the most important thing that has made it thru the last 21 years is us. It's been an adventure and lots of fun. We're so blessed with two beautiful girls and a loving home. It's all I ever wanted. Happy Anniversary Buster, Love You!

Vintage Babes

My Mother-in-Law Ann plays on a Women's Softball team in FL. Her team "The Vintage Babes" was featured last week on The Today Show.
Ann is the batter near the beginning of the segment getting a hit and running down the first base line. It was fun seeing her and her team on TV.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sisters

This picture was taken this summer while we were in FL. It is a picture of my two daughters and their Great Grandmother (aka Momma Bernice) and their Great, Great Aunt Melba (on left). Momma Bernice and Aunt Melba are sisters who are well into their eighties now.
In our Sunday School class at church yesterday we began a discussion on the book Siblings without Rivalry. I'm going to look for it at the library today. I'd like to read it.
Have any of you read this book? What is your advice for keeping harmony in your home among your children or with your sibling growing up. I'd love for my girls to still be friends when they are in their 80's. You know since Cain and Abel, the very first notorious siblings on earth, parents have been trying to keep their children from killing each other.

Any ideas?

Storybook Park

Today our country celebrated President's Day so there was no school and my husband even had the day off. So we went to lunch at Panera Bread then we hopped on the free trolley that rides thru the shopping and business district of our community. The driver mentioned Storybook Park. My girls and I did not know this park existed. Buster didn't really care. We got off at the next stop and walked around Market Street, got some ice cream at Coldstone, then we decided to go check out Storybook Park. It's a sweet little area in Town Green park that has this maze-like path that meanders down one side of the park. It has these huge storybooks to stop and read. Each one has a short story with a picture and a moral of the story at the end of each. They are very colorful and fun to read. I also saw this pretty flower blooming and snapped a quick picture. The weather was beautiful. I forgot my camera so I had to use my cell phone camera. There is also a Marine Corp. Memorial and a statue of the founder of our community George Mitchell at this particular park. I took a lot more pictures, but forgot to press "save" after each one and most didn't download to my phone. We had a great day together. Buster read about as many storybooks as he could stand and then took off for the driving range. I'm going to take some more pictures of our community and post some of the art work and parks. I feel I need to redeem it's reputation after the "Orange You Cute" post.

P.S. I'll be changing out the scripture verse soon. The next one will be 4th of 24. I'm suppose to do it on the 1st and 15th of the month. The scripture memorization challenge is great. If you want to join the fun go check out Be Still Beth.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to Me

YES, today JANUARY 4TH is my MY BIRTHDAY. I am forty thr thr thr three. There I said it.

I always thought that having a birthday ten days after Christmas was just not fair. I always had good birthdays though. My mom and dad were wonderful about planning something fun for my birthday when I was growing up. So no complaints there. But it is still so close to Christmas.

Now that I'm getting a little older, I'm OK with a January birthday. [It's not like I can change it.]

Not only do I get to buy a new unfilled, blank calendar each January, but I also have the opportunity to begin a new year of me each January.

This is the way I chose to celebrated my birthday today. First we went to the 11:00 service at church then...

This is the new house Keith and the girls got me for my Birthday:

JUST KIDDING!

This is the place I requested {forced} my family to take me for my birthday ~ A garden tour of Miss Ima Hogg's 14 acre estate at Bayou Bend in Houston.

The thoughts of touring 14 acres of gardens just thrills them. (not) But it's my birthday and it's the only day out of the year that I get to expose them to things that I enjoy. Mother's Day also works to my advantage :)

As you can see Buster enjoyed the tour of the garden immensely: There's just nothing like flora and fauna to get Buster "RELAXED".

WAKE UP THERE'S MORE GARDENS TO SEE - WE'RE ONLY ON ACRE ONE! Let's go:

I'll give you a quick background on Miss Ima Hogg (1882-1975) if you aren't familiar with her. Her home was built in 1927. She was the only daughter of James Hogg. He was governor of the State of Texas in 1881. She never married, but was known as a collector and philanthropist during her life and she was just flat out stinkin rich!

Here are some pictures of Miss Ima Hogg's beautiful gardens. Keep in mind it is January and in just a couple of months these pictures would be exploding with color, but it is a beautiful place to see no matter what time of year.

[why did I forget to suck in my stomach???] dadgummit

The camellias were blooming and some azaleas:

Paige and Leah finally got Buster up. I'll only post a couple of more pictures....Hang in there with me. Remember it's MY birthday!

One of the corners of Miss Ima's house:

Our tour had come to an end - time to cross that bridge, get back to the car and have lunch:




So we headed off to California Pizza Kitchen where I enjoyed a scrumptious pizza covered in Goat Cheese/Roasted Red Pepper/Grilled Eggplant and caramelized onions. Needless to say I didn't have to share with anyone. hehehe.

THEN, on the way home (No we don't live next door to Miss Ima) we're pretty close to our house when we stop at a red light; then start to go when it turned green and something did not sound right or feel right. WE HAD A FLAT TIRE.


Thankfully we were off the busy interstate and on a street in our community close to a grocery store parking lot. We limped in. While Buster took care of our tire problem, the girls and I went into the grocery store. Paige and Leah snuck into the bakery and bought me the cake that you see at the top of this post. I was off looking at goat cheese or something.

Then we came home and I opened my gift. It is a tortilla press. I've been wanting one for a long time. Now I have to figure out how to use it.

I know this is a long post, but I only turn 43 once. [unless I decide to turn it again a few more times. That is a woman's prerogative] So thanks for hangin in there with me as I chronicled my special day.

2008 Christmas Highlights

Here are some highlights of our Christmas Season this year.

We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at our Church.

Leah was busy with Christmas Crafts, making cookies for Santa and helping bake the cookies for the tins we gave to our neighbors. She also made a Gingerbread House at a friend's birthday party.

We spent time just relaxing and reading...

Plenty of Love and Hugs for everyone (including Libby).





Paige got a Sock Monkey for Christmas...Buster got socks for Christmas. This is his imitation of Sock Monkey using his new black socks.





We feel so blessed to have a loving family and so happy that both sets of grandparents came to spend Christmas with us. We had a great time together.

Let the Games Begin

This Christmas there seemed to be a theme in the gift-giving. GAMES. This year I want to spend more time playing board games with my girls. They did get some games to add to their Nintendo DS and WEii collections, but they also got some new board games for us to play together.

Paige was excited to get Risk. Mind you she is the only one who knows how to play it. I'm sure she'll be the winner for quite awhile.

Leah got a couple of fun games that I know we'll enjoy as a family.

The You Gotta Be Kidding game a.k.a Would You Rather...? has some funny questions like..

Would you Rather eat 10 pounds of cheese OR

Would you Rather eat a bucket of peanut butter with nothing to drink?

There are gross questions too...

Would you Rather eat fried monkey brains OR

Would you Rather eat the raw guts from a huge snake?

There are some insightful questions such as...

Would you Rather go back in time one million years OR

Would you Rather go into the future one million years?

I'll be curious to hear how we answer these questions.

So do you have any recommendations for good family games?

I'd love to hear about them.

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Blame it on the Turkey

We had a great Christmas with the grandparents in town this year. Buster enjoyed capturing some pretty candid shots of our parents as they were visiting us. They may not come back after this post. I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Who among us hasn't succumbed to this behavior after a big turkey dinner?? I know they will get me back some how ~ some way.

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