I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but my dearest friend and I have known each other for a long time.  About 13 years I guess.  We went through all of those obnoxious teenage years together.

And believe me, she was obnoxious!   For more reasons than one, but the one that came up at our girls night was her constant taunting at my infatuation with country music.

She was relentless in her ridicule.  It didn’t matter that I liked other kinds of music as well.  My reputation was apparently blackened by my hillbilly roots.

Oh well, right? Life goes on. We were teenagers. Brats.  Get over it.  Right?

Oh, but the sweet irony of it all!

Now that I’ve grown in my musical tastes and left all those twangy roots in memory lane, guess who’s been sucked in.  That girl…you know the dearest friend who mocked me…yeah, she listens to country now.  Pretty much 24/7. 

It’s so ridiculous all I can do is laugh.

And since I completely failed in posting anything fabulous for her birthday last week, here is my offering.  A list of of my top ten favorite country songs.  Honestly, I haven’t been able to leave them all behind. Here’s something for us to have in common.:)

10. I like it, I love it by Tim McGraw  (my mom HATED this one) He was and always will be my one and only country crush.

9. Shut up and Kiss Me by Mary Chapin Carpenter (I guess my taste was just a little tacky)

8. Indian Outlaw by Tim McGraw (I didn’t develop the crush til after the mullet disappeared)

7. Ain’t nothin about You by Brooks & Dunn …this one always makes me smile.

6. Sold by John Michael Montgomery (this is not the real video, but whoever made this one was CRAZY) I can still sing every word to this song.

5. Live Like You were Dying by Tim McGraw …did I mention I saw him in concert…and Faith!

4. The Devil went down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels …saw this one live too. Unbelievable! (you’ve really gotta try Country Thunder at least once in your life.)

3. ANYTHING by George Straight (I’ll NEVER forget my cousins singing Amarillo by Morning) but especially It Just Comes Natural.  Miss E calls it “Sun Shine” and we have to hear it every time we get in the car. Oh yeah, and Carrying Your love with Me.  Anyone for some “Pure Country“?

2. Okay, I’m gonna get real honest here so don’t judge me.  I love this song.  I’m not putting the title because it’s too embarassing…you’ll have to look for yourself.  I need help!

1. Oh no! I’m out of room! …Thank God I’m a Country Boy by John Denver (reminds me of Hombre), Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood (it’s so fun to sing, and I’m tough like this!), Baby’s Got her Blue Jeans on, Louisiana Saturday Night (ode to the clogging days), The Dance, Get Rhythm, and…..
the most wonderful country song of all time…

Forever and Ever Amen by Randy Travis.  I was just talking to a friend the other day about how this was her wedding song; I was a little jealous. 

The best love song. Ever.

The sad thing is my dearest friend probably knows NONE of these songs since she’s so new to country.  But since she got a fabulous new laptop for her b-day, now’s her chance to get educated on good country music.

All you country fans be sure to tell me your fave;)

I keep telling myself, and all of you, that it was just a really busy week.  Next week we’ll get it together and things will go smoothly.  But I think I’m being naive.  It’s not just a busy week.  Somehow it’s just busy. 

I’m working on adjusting to that, but in the meantime my creativity is definitely suffering.

The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was “insect”.

So here is ours.

I found it outside in the gravel while I was hanging laundry to dry, and somehow, managed to catch it without touching it or screaming. (Although I did jump a few times)

So I brought it in and decided this was just going to have to be our project for the week because I did not have the time or energy for anything else.  Sorry all of you who were looking for some artistic inspiration.

The girls brought out their nature journals and did their best drawings of our new friend.

They had fun drawing, and then we pulled out our Nature Study Guide to see what we could find.

I really hope we didn’t mis-identify this thing because that would just be depressing, but here is what we learned:

Miss A was very impressed with the fact that we had a Woolly Bear Caterpillar, but as soon as we got to the part about it turning into a moth and not a butterfly she was DONE. 

She said “But Mom, I’m afraid of moths!”

I quickly assured her that we would not keep it long enough to see it turn into a moth and then she was okay.

 **In case you’re wondering, her fear of moths is ALL my fault. 

A couple of summers ago, the girls and I came home after dark without Daddy, and while unlocking the front door, a moth flew into my ear! I’m not making this up.  It was stuck in there for like ten minutes, pounding it’s wings a hundred miles an hour right against my eardrum. 

I COMPLETELY. FREAKED. OUT.  

And of course Miss A witnessed the whole thing.  For future reference, if you get a moth in your ear, you should immediately drown it with a glass of water.  There’s your insect lesson for the week.

ANYWAY, although I don’t know if this counts as a PROJECT, we had fun, the girls learned something, and it was a very relaxed, peaceful time.

For some more inspiring insect projects, check this out.

I guess I’m a little behind this week.  Every time my schedule looks empty I get the idea that I’ll catch up on things, but it never works out that way.  Lately I feel like I’m permantly behind.  So I’m just trying really hard not to care.

I had lots of things to be thankful for this week, starting with why I wasn’t here to post on Thursday.

Two friends and I all have birthdays within a week of each other, so we had our second annual birthday girls night.

It was lots of fun and very relaxing.  Just dinner and coffee (well, hot chocolate for me), and lots of gabbing about nothing of importance.  A perfect night.

Completed by the perfect homecoming…

…sleeping girls who had a fabulous night of macaroni and Cinderella with Daddy.  Even Miss I is starting to get excited when I leave, now that she’s figuring out Dad is a lot more fun.

The rest of my thankfulness revolves around pretty things. 

Fancy napkins from my newly crafty sister-in-law.

Glamorous new flowers to dress up my house and give me something to play with in photoshop.

And my favorite thing this week that keeps making me smile…

Miss E’s budding artistic abilities and the sweet birthday card she made me.  I love that she made my eyelashes so much more fabulous than they really are!

To: all of you (you know who you are)
that felt it was SO necessary for me to see P.S. I love you

From: me (the sobbing mess)

Thanks SO MUCH for turning my relaxing evening at home into an emotional breakdown.  You know how I love being completely depressed.