my grandma and me

My parents, sister, aunt, cousin, and I spent last weekend going through the things at my grandma's house. It brought up some sweet (and bittersweet) memories, which I'll have more to say about later. For now, I want to share this picture with you. It's from Christmas 1987, and seeing it makes me remember how much I adored my grandma.

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a new blog and a giveaway

You may have noticed (but more likely, you haven't) that I've recently begun following a new blog: Forsaken Kingdom. It's written by my college roomie Jodi's husband, Peter. Peter has written a couple Christian fantasy novels, one of which is available on Amazon. While I haven't read it yet, I did read the little free snippet Amazon provides, and it sounds intriguing.

Peter's blog is a mix of writing advice and thoughts on life--so even if you're not a writer or you're not into fantasy, you still will likely find something you enjoy. And if that isn't enough incentive for you to click on through, maybe this will be: he currently has a contest going on where you can win a copy of his book and a $15 Amazon gift card. (I don't know why I'm telling you this! Right now, I have a 1 in 7 chance of winning!) All you have to do is leave a comment telling him your favorite book ... and if I can publicly admit that Lori Wick's Sophie's Heart is still my favorite book, I'm sure you can find the courage to reveal yours, too!

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ain't no party like a speech party!

We officially, officially wrapped up the speech season last night with a party at my house. We started out with lots of food.

I think they were fighting about who could look fatter. All I know is Duy ended up looking pregnant!

Then we segued into The Paper Plate Awards. We did this at a speech party three years ago when none of these kids were in speech. Ruth and I remembered how much fun they were then, so we revived them!  We ended up with at least one award for each student. Some were more serious, like "Made Miss Becky Cry," but most were a bit silly.

Jane won the "Miss Becky doesn't know how to pronounce my last name" award because at one speech meet, she was going to get a medal, and the person who would be announcing asked me how to pronounce her last name. I blanked, said something stupid, and he butchered it from the podium!

Joey won the "Miss Becky can't watch me because she's going to laugh" award because by the end of the season, I couldn't listen to either of his speeches without cracking up. And neither speech was funny. So we decided I wouldn't go watch him at state, just in case I got the giggles!

After that, it was game time--some people played "Funglish," this word game where you have to get someone to guess a word by only using the adjectives provided (it's the one pictured below); others played "Swap," a very violent card game; some played Super Mario; and others played "Blurt!", one of my favorite word games.

Then it was time for more food--brownie sundaes--while Jessica "played" the keyboard for us.

We wrapped up with a sing-along and a massive game of "Swap." All in all, it was a great night!

They're all choir kids, and they burst into a rendition of "Rejoice," one of their favorite numbers. After that, we had a Les Miz sing-along.

I'd be remiss if I didn't post a picture of my partner-in-crime, Ruth. We coached together for seven years! (Too bad we weren't looking at the same camera!)

I'm so grateful my house hasn't sold yet and I could have this party. We had a blast!

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things that made me smile

I had a great weekend. Seriously, I can't remember when I last had so much fun in one weekend (probably because most of my recent weekends have been consumed by speech ... but we won't go there!). So here's what made me smile:

• Saw my words in print--in a place other than my blogs, the NC Advance, or Amazon! On Friday, I got author Denise Hunter's newest e-newsletter, and in it ... she quoted my review of A Cowboy's Touch! Granted, she didn't say it was me, so no one else knows, but oh, the thrill of seeing my words in her newsletter! I work hard on my reviews, so to have an author say she liked it, well, that pretty much made my day!
• Spent Saturday "babysitting" in the girls' dorm. I was there from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and while I will get paid for my time, it didn't even feel like work. (Isn't that the best kind of job?) While there, I ...

• Finished reading Heart of Ice. It's a good one--check out my review (which probably won't get quoted by the author ...)

•  Watched My Fake Fiance with some of the girls. I'm probably too old for it, but can you go wrong with Blossom's Joey and Sabrina the Teenage Witch? I don't think so!

• Went on an Easter Egg hunt! I'm pretty sure the last time I hunted eggs was eight (?) years ago when cousins Kate and Beth and sister Val came out to visit me at Grace. By the way, my team "won" by collecting the least amount of eggs, and we got all the leftover candy! I ate far too many Starburst jelly beans and then left the rest of my share at the dorm.

The winning (or losing, depending on how you look at it) team: Lindsey, Jessica, and me. We collected a whopping TEN eggs (out of 200)!

• Found a movie music station on the dorm parents' DirecTV. I love movie music, and it provided the perfect accompaniment to my reading!

• Played DDR ... and possibly became addicted! I bought the game from Amazon because I thought I would enjoy it (plus, it was over 50% off), but after playing it once decided it really wasn't for me. I'm not incredibly coordinated ... Then Janet (the girl who spent the last two Christmases with me) asked me to bring it Saturday. She played for hours, and she finally convinced me to try it. It's so fun! I've played four times in the last three days :-)

• Chatted on the phone with college roomie Jen. It had been far too long since we'd spoken, and it was great to catch up! (Note to self: Do a better job of keeping in touch with friends.)
• Took a nice ... windy ... walk with Blendy. We need to do that more often! (Dear Blendy--I'm linking to your blog, so you should probably update it!)
• Went to the dentist this morning. (I can see those questions now: Yes, Monday is still sort-of the weekend because we don't usually have school on Mondays. No, dentist appointments don't usually make me smile.) No new cavities is exactly what I wanted to hear! (Plus, I didn't get the flossing lecture. So either my mouth looks better than it should, or my dentist is giving up ... )
• Had lunch with Jo, a girl I've known basically since she was born nearly 18 years ago. We're going to be starting a Bible study if we can ever get our schedules to mesh ... but for now, it was nice just to spend a 30-minute lunch with her!

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