Thursday, July 22, 2010

Interruption

We interrupt this blog for a special presentation....


#100


In honor of my 100th post, I'm going to attempt to do the "100 things about you" list. We'll see how far I make it before I get interrupted by children or run out of stuff to say!


1. My first name is really Sarah.
2. Melissa is my middle name.
3. My mother's first name is Sarah.
4. My grandmother's first name was Sarah.
5. None of us go by Sarah.
6. Melissa was my great-grandmother's middle name.
7. Her first name was Ludie. That's what they called her.
8. I am an only child.
9. My husband is an only child too.
10. So is my mother.
11. The rest of our families (extended) are quite large.
12. So we get the best of both worlds.
13. Family is extremely important to me.
14. My daddy's name was Jake.
15. He died when I was 10.
16. Matthew's middle name is Jake.
17. Since Matthew was named after my daddy, we named Luke after Tracy's daddy.
18. Luke's middle name is Howell.
19. Can you tell we're big on family names?
20. I accepted Jesus when I was 10 years old, just a few months before my daddy died.
21. It is the best decision I ever made.
22. I have never questioned my salvation. I knew it was real because of how "different" I felt.
23. I am thankful that I was raised in church, and have been to church all my life.
24. So was Tracy.
24. We want to raise our boys the same way.
25. I started taking piano lessons when I was in 1st grade.
26. After many years of not having the opportunity to play, I'm now the full-time pianist for our church.
27. It's a big responsibility, but I'm loving it!
28. I've also sung my entire life.
29. I love to sing, too!
30. Other hobbies are...reading.
31. Blogging (kind of goes along with reading!)
32. Scrapbooking, although I never have time to anymore.
33. Photography.
34. Shopping!
35. My mom and I LOVE to shop.
36. We also love to find bargains!
37. It's not fun if it's not on sale!
38. In fact, I pretty much won't buy anything (not counting groceries, etc.) unless it's on sale.
39. However, I really don't care for stores like TJ Maxx, Ross, etc. I am not good at digging through stuff and putting together outfits.
40. I prefer to find my bargains through sales, extra percentage off coupons, etc.
41. I also love home decor.
42. My favorite home decor store is Hobby Lobby.
43. I've learned a lot about decorating from an aunt.
43. My mother-in-law is a florist. Unfortunately, I've not been too successful in learning that!
44. My real love is desktop publishing-type projects. I LOVE to design Christmas cards, invitations, etc.
45. I teach business technology classes at a small, rural high school.
46. It's the school I attended all 13 years of school.
47. My mama also taught there until she retired.
48. I teach typing (keyboarding), a business software class (Microsoft Office applications), and desktop publishing.
49. Desktop publishing is the most fun, but hardest to teach.
50. I am very detail-oriented person.
51. I think that's what makes me a good business teacher.
52. Some people would call me picky.
53. One of my greatest strengths, and also biggest weakness at times, is that I'm a perfectionist.
54. I'm slowly learning how and when to let go of some of that. It makes my life much less stressful!
55. I'm also a grammar/spelling snob. I hate to see misspelled words and poor grammar.
56. Are you noticing how all these things go together? Was your business teacher that way?
57. Most of the business teachers I know are!
58. I also sponsor Future Business Leaders of America.
59. I strongly believe in these type organizations and how they can prepare students for the future, because I am a product of them.
60. I learned so much from being in FBLA and FHA.
61. I was a state officer in FHA, and made friends that I still stay in touch with even now.
62. I also did pageants in high school/college.
63. I was not, however, the typical "pageant girl".
64. I got interrupted. It's now several days later.
65. So I have no idea what to talk about.
66. Food...let's go there.
67. My favorite...probably fried chicken...or chocolate.
68. Favorite candy--Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
69. And would you believe my child is allergic to peanuts!
70. I love Southern cooking.
71. I'm not real adventurous when it comes to new foods.
72. I really don't like to cook that much, either.
73. Baking, however, is a different story. I love to bake.
74. When Matthew was a year old, I took the Wilton cake decorating classes so that I could start making his birthday cakes.
75. I wouldn't say I'm that great at it, but it passes.
76. My favorite type of music is Southern gospel.
77. Contemporary/praise and worship just doesn't do it for me.
78. There's nothing wrong with it; it just doesn't stir my spirit the way a good gospel song does.
79. Country music ranks second on my list.
80. I wish I had more time for movies, but I don't.
81. I'm not one to remember movie lines, etc., but song lyrics, yes.
82. So I couldn't begin to tell you what is my favorite movie.
83. I love to read all types of books--mysteries, biographies, chick lit, etc.
84. The best book I've read lately is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
85. Besides the Bible, of course!
86. I'm so close to finishing this list, yet so far away!
87. I love Vera Bradley.
88. I love all things monogrammed.
89. Not that I have a ton of things that are monogrammed, but I'm working on it!
90. I also love china, dishes, etc.
91. I would have to have multiple sets of everyday dishes, but I really don't have anywhere to put them.
92. My formal china (that is in the china cabinet and is never used) is Mi Amor by Noritake.
93. My informal china that we use every single day is White Satin by Nikko.
94. I have Christmas salad plates (Happy Holidays) that go with this pattern.
95. I also have enough Lenox Holiday to set my dining room table during the Christmas season.
96. I also love fabrics.
97. I can't sew a lick, but I can put together various combinations of fabrics that would look godo together.
98. My favorite fabrics are Waverly.
99. To sum all this up, I'm just a person who loves God, my family, and my life in general. Is it perfect? Of course not, but I realize that I am blessed beyond measure.
100. The end!

So, what do we have in common? I'd love to "meet" you!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I'm Back!

Hey y'all! Did you miss miss? You didn't? You didn't even know I was gone, did you? I just returned home (literally, as in a couple of hours ago) from five busy, but fun days here....




You don't recognize it? Maybe this will help...







Yes, I've been in Nashville for FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) National Leadership Conference. I am so excited to report that my student won 7th place in the entire nation in his competition!!!! Someone from my little tiny school, out in the country, that lots of people would just write off, won 7th place in the entire nation!!!!! Can you tell I'm just a little bit proud? :-)
Will be back soon with photos and details of our trip.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Playin' Catch-Up

In the midst of all the craziness of the end of school, along with the deaths in my family, I somehow missed blogging about Matthew's birthday.

On Thursday before his birthday on Saturday, I took cupcakes to school, and we had a small party in the room. I took pictures as I made the cupcake picks, and I may try to post a little tutorial on here. They are so easy to make, and you can really do some cute things with them. Here he is with his teacher as the class sang "Happy Birthday" to him.


IMG_3215




IMG_3218




IMG_3221



On Friday, his class took a field trip to see the "Oceans" movie. They did a unit on oceans, and all had matching shirts that they wore. You can see he wasn't thrilled about me taking his picture!


IMG_3229



Since his actual birthday fell on Saturday, we just kind of celebrated all day long. We let him choose a "special' activity that he wanted to do, and he chose to go bowling. He invited a couple of his cousins to go with us. We bowled, then picked up pizza for supper, came home and ate and had cake and presents. They had such a good time! We left here around 2:00, and didn't take the cousins home until about 9:30 that night! Matthew got a basketball goal and a scooter for his birthday, so they played outside until...well, about 9:30!


IMG_3246




IMG_3260




IMG_3284




IMG_3285



Let's see....what else kept us busy in May and June....Water Day, graduation, graduation parties, the two deaths in our family, VBS, swimming lessons, helping our new pastor's family move, and playing chauffeur. Tracy's dad had cataract surgery a few weeks ago, and I was in charge of taking him for that, helping him with all the eyedrops that day, etc. He's also been having some problems with his foot and currently has a compression thing on his leg--his right leg, so he can't drive. So I've been taking him to some doctors' appointments and other places he needs to go.

I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly! We've been busy, but at least it's a different kind of busy than school! I've also been working on a few projects around the house, and hopefully I'll be able to show you those soon! Just a couple of finishing touches left to do!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Weekend Recap--Part 2 (Pickin' and Grinnin')

Can ANYBODY help me with these videos? I can't get them to load in this post. I'm going to try just putting a link to them. I hope you'll still take a minute to go watch them!

I wanted to share a couple of videos from our family reunion this past weekend. As I said in my last post, this is what I grew up on. The sound has changed a little in the last year or so, as some of our singers and musicians have passed away, but it's still my favorite music to listen to. Of course, I'm a little biased!

Over in the Gloryland: This song is now considered our "family song", because my cousin, Eddie, included it on the CD he recorded. When he recorded it, he had both sides of his family go to the studio and record the choir vocals on it. He's the one singing lead, and is probably the most talented vocalist of the bunch! I would put his vocal abilities up against anybody!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissab1274/4766781628/in/photostream/






He'll Roll You Over the Tide: Another oldie, but goodie. Aunt Lucy, Uncle Amos (who passed away in September), Pam, and Eddie have been singing this as long as I can remember. It was this song that I clung to last summer, when Tracy was laid off from his job.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissab1274/4766913750/in/photostream/


Monday, July 5, 2010

Weekend Recap

This past Saturday, my daddy's side of the family gathered for our annual reunion. The Jones reunion started in 1973 when my grandparents, Big Mama and Big Daddy, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Since then, we've always gathered the first Saturday in July, since that was closest to their anniversary on July 1. This year was bittersweet, as we've lost three precious loved ones since last year. However, it is important that our family gather for happy occasions, as well, and we did our best to smile!

There's always a table full of food, and lots of relatives to visit with, but the best part to me is the singing. Every time we get together, no matter the occasion, we sing. I was raised on gospel music, with a country and bluegrass flavor. While I enjoy all types of music, especially southern gospel and country, my family's singing is without a doubt, my favorite. Some people might consider it redneck or hillbilly singing, but to me, it's our heritage...something I want to pass down to my children. In fact, before Matthew was born, I prayed that he would have the same love of music that I do. Not necessarily that he would have talent, but that he would have a love for music. My Aunt Lucy sums it up well when she says, "There may be somebody else who loves to sing as much as I do, but nobody who loves it more." My sentiments, exactly!

We also have a tremendous amount of talent in our family. We've had lots of guitar and mandolin pickers and piano players, and all the brothers and sisters, and many of the grandchildren (that's my generation) can sing harmony by ear. There is no harmony like family harmony! I remember sitting at a funeral a few years ago, and just weeping, not so much out of sadness, but out of sheer amazement at the amount of talent that was on the stage, and that they were all MY family! I am so blessed to part of them.

Here are some photos from the day, and I'm working on a couple of videos, if Flickr and/or Blogger will ever cooperate with me!


This is what happens when cousins get a hold of the camera!

IMG_9646



My cousin, "sister", and BFF, Tricia

IMG_9525



My little branch of the family tree

IMG_3696

Grandmommy & her boys

IMG_3698

Matthew and Bethany

IMG_3720

A new generation of singers (The one seated is Tricia's daughter)

IMG_3729

And the original ones...

IMG_3723

Sunday, July 4, 2010

4th of July

Happy 4th of July everybody!

Hope you've had as much fun as we've had!


IMG_3789