You Don't See this on the Weather Channel

Enough said.

Herbie, Be My Lovebug!

Combining my two favorite things are Virginia Tech football and ESPN sportscaster Kirk Herbstreit (a.k.a. Herbie seen in Blacksburg in September 2005) both of which I'll be able to see every week starting in 31 days if not sooner. I'm hoping for a few pre-kick off specials about the Hokies with Kirk hosting.

I have had a serious crush on Kirk for more than a decade. Yes, Mr. Blue Eyes and I have shared many hours together watching football. (He didn't know it though but that's a minor point. ha!)

During the 2005 football season, I created a sign to get not only Kirk's attention but get it on Saturday morning GameDay. After the show, some hokie fan stopped me to take my picture and claimed to be a Herbie fan. (Ha!) I have my eyes closed but you can at least see my sign. That's Tim on the left sporting his "football season goatee."

Go Hokies!

Let's Play Ball!

Tim's company hosted a picnic at the local minor league stadium. It was Troy's first baseball game and he enjoyed the people watching. Of course a four hour nap after his water fight helped too.

When the blue mascot Riptide walked by he pointed and yelled "ELMO!" I was thinking he looked more like Grover but still thought it was funny.

Water Fight!

Toddlers like to explore new things and Troy is no exception.

Yesterday, Tim was filling up our "ghetto pool" with water and walked to check on the hot tub when he felt something cool hit his back. Troy, age 20 months, decided to grab the hose and spray his Daddy. The next thing I know I'm being summoned from the back bedroom and Tim and I are held captive inside by Troy. Here are some of the pictures. Enjoy.He backed up from the door a bit.

Tim made his move and the attack was over.

At Last....

I love weddings. We went through a spell about five years ago of eight or nine in one year but have had a dry spell recently.
Yesterday we went to one in Williamsburg on the campus of William and Mary. Erin and Michael had an extended courtship and engagement (8 years maybe?) so their first dance to At Last was a perfection song choice.
Here are a few photos from the reception.

Tim making a face with me.

My friend Kay with her husband, children and parents.

Pump up the Volume

Stealing is a sincere form of flattery.
Well, I just saw how a friend had a playlist on her blog so I looked into getting one here and then I stole a song I like from another friend's blog (well really her website). Both are linked at the bottom of this page. Thank you Maria and Julie.
I called this entry Pump up the Volume because I hope you like my (well Julie's) music selection at least for now. I loveeee so many songs that I will change it soon so it's not autoplay and have some other options.
By the way, we own the movie Pump up the Volume with Christian Slater and Tim has refused to watch it for the last ten years because I joked him once that it was about breakdancing. Haha...

Deb and Her Sidekick....?

A friend posted this picture of my friend Kim and I on facebook and referred to us as Batman and Robin. It got me thinking about how many famous people there are with their sidekicks.
Here are a few that come to mind:

• The Lone Ranger and Tonto
• Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble
• Calvin & Hobbs
• Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon
• Laverne and Shirley
• David Letterman and Paul Shafer
• Shrek and Donkey
• Laurel and Hardy
• Abbott and Costello
• Crockett and Tubbs
• Burger and Fries
• Lindsey Lohan and Jack Daniels

Who else am I missing?

Two Things Money Can't Buy

I learned a song in 4-H camp many, many years ago that went like this, "There are two things that money can't buy, that's true love and homegrown tomatoes!"

The harvest is starting to come in from our veggie garden. I brought in these two feet long cucumbers to work to share and they were gone in minutes. I hope the tomatoes are as productive. We'll see how well the jalepenos and green peppers do this year as well.

Tim and I have a compost bin which I think really helps the garden soil year after year since we only have but so much space to "rotate crops."

Time with the Neighbors

Enjoyed our bbq with The Neighbors at Christine's house.
Here are a few pictures.

Girly dress up time.
Double trouble.

Betty: My BFF

I feel like I need to introduce an old friend of mine. Her name is Betty and she was born about 8 years ago but received a transformation to a new home five years ago. For those of you haven't met her yet, Betty is our beloved kegerator.

I got chastised the other day for not recycling the plastic bags from the grocery store. (We actually do save them to carry things and pick up dog poop but when we have our bag saver contraption full, they go into the garbage.) So in the spirit of saving the environment, Betty is a front-runner!
Betty holds in a full keg (1/4 barrel) and a pony keg which means we avoid drinking beer from bottles and cans. She is now in an energy efficient refrigerator. (Tim's claim to fame was cutting two holes in the side of a brand new fridge five years ago.) Plus, it's just cool to have her around!

She's also conveniently located in our pool room which is close to the big tv and the outside deck and hot tub. Win-Win!

Don't Call it a Comeback!

As promised, here is a picture of Duran Duran. Yes, that's ME standing on the left hand side with Simon LeBon with his arm around me. These were taken only about three years ago.

Christine and I plus a bunch of her work friends dressed up like the 80s last summer for the Def Leopard, Foreigner and Styx concert. The scary part was that we bought every piece of clothing we're wearing the same day. Whoa!

This was a picture of the larger group with some other random idiots who were dressed up too. I think Bryan Adams is playing tomorrow in Va. Beach by the way.

80s Hair is Back - Psych?

I have seen in several places that 80's hair is coming back into style.
Apparantly SJP (that's Sarah Jessica Parker) was sporting it in the SATC movie (Sex and The City), baby mama Angelina Jolie has it on the cover of Vanity Fair and it's starting to spread to other celebrities.
I grew up in the 80's and didn't sport the big bangs/big hair mainly because I was a little young and a little lazy with naturally curly hair. However, I did a google search, found a picture and tried on the style to see how I looked. It's not good.
If you want to learn more about creating the hair of today influenced by what came two decades ago, read this article.

Thinking about the 80's there are some things I wouldn't mind seeing again...pop rocks, pound puppies, MTV playing videos, You Can't Do that on Television, smurfs.
What I would miss if we went back to that time...the internet, my cell phone, tv remote control, ATM machines, pirating music, GPS, DVDs, CDs.

If I can find it, I'll publish the pictures of when I met Duran Duran.

Got Wrinkles?

I learned something new this weekend. People will become fanatical about anything if you add "sport" to the description.

There has been a craze going on in the world since 1997 called Extreme Ironing. I had never heard of it until yesterday.
Apparantly, people go to "extreme" locations with an iron and ironing board and press a shirt.

According to their website's description, "...extreme ironing is the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt."

I want to know how I can make my house an extreme location. We have plenty of things that need ironed around here.

Here is a super cute picture of Troy yesterday at the Neighbors' house.

Horn Broken, Look for Finger

Bumper Stickers

What causes some people to be so inspired by a message that they have to put it on their car for the world to see? I have seen some cars covered in so many that I can hardly read their personalized Virginia license plate that says, "GO2HELL."

I saw one recently that said, "Satan is Santa to Dyslexics" which made me laugh.

A friend shared with me a website that called Stuff White People Like and wouldn't you know it, #100 is Bumper Stickers. Since then, whenever I'm driving around town and see a car spackled with messages, there is a white person driving it.

My friend told me he saw one once that said, "Fat Girls Are Harder to Kidnap." On that note, I'm going to get a reese cup to enjoy with my coffee.

Office Etiquette

Over the years I have witnessed some weird things in the office. It seems that besides poor planning and tardiness the next biggest catalyst for anger is the etiquette of the shared kitchen area.
I have worked with many people who shove their lunches on top of others in the fridge, taken almost all but the last bit of coffee to avoid making a new pot and most recently, the microwave nazi who takes someone's food out before it's heated so they can get their stuff in next. (This happened to me today.)
I must admit, I have done all of these things at some point in the last 15 years but I had a good reason...so I think.

If you want to waste some time, look at this website called Overheard in the Office.

To Sunbathe or Not Sunbathe?

I love the sun. I like it to be up before me in the a.m. and I like to watch it go down in the evening. I love to be outside when it's warm and soak up the sun's rays. As I learned on Spring Break '98 in Key West, "fat looks better tan; so take your clothes off!"
Although I have gotten better at wearing sunscreen, my body has responded to this sun exposure by giving me more and more freckles. What used to be so prominent on my face as a child has slowly worked their way down my body. I embrace them and guess what, I'm preventing Cancer!

What? But sun exposure gives you skin cancer! Not exactly!

I had a physical yesterday and after going over the family health history and how cancer runs rampant, I was told by Dr. Holt, Vitamin D doses daily can help prevent cancer.
For those of you who are a little behind, our bodies create Vitamin D with exposure to the sun Without sunscreen.
Yankees living in northern states and across the border into Canada don't get as much sun exposure as those in the South and are thus more prone to cancer.
So, I will be swinging by the old drugstore this weekend and purchasing my Vitamin D pills before putting on sunscreen and expanding my freckle count.
Someone requested a picture of the new 'do. Here it is and notice all those freckles?



A friend gave me a sign recently that said, "A face without freckles is like a sky without stars."

Independence Day

What a Fantastic long weekend that started with a great haircut, shooting pool with the Thaxton boys and then a cookout at Christine's house before heading to Bumpass.
I took this fun picture of Sandy riding in the back of the truck on the way to Lake Anna.

Here is Troy with Tim getting a sense for my favorite phrase, "Drive Fast, Take Chances!"

Troy was seen a little bit later on the same ride with cousin Dylan.

Monkey see, monkey do....

Who am I calling a monkey?

Stay tuned to learn more about Bumpass!

SBF Looking for SWM

SBF (single brown female) seeks male companionship. Loves long walks on the beach, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, fishing and camping trips, cozy winter nights spent lying by the fire. Rub me the right way and I will respond with tender caresses. I am a svelte, good looking female who loves to have fun. Call now. 555-FIDO.

Happy 12th Birthday Sydney!