Fun Stuff

Okay, so I know that Mommy Fest is almost over, but I thought I'd do a fun little blog all about me just for new visitors passing through, or the nice folks who already stopped by and left me comments about my previous blogs.
I thought I'd just start spouting off random facts about myself....
1. I am the oldest of thirteen grandchildren on my mother's side of the family. Out of those thirteen grandchildren, only two of them are boys. Except for my mother, all my aunts and uncles have three children. (My mom has four). All of my cousins also have three children, or at least two. I am still sticking with only one.
2. I don't know my father very well, and haven't for most of my life. In some ways that has hurt me and in some ways, it has made me stronger. I do, however, have a Father in my life now. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior in April of 2006.
3. Having my daughter taught me what God's love is like, and I totally get that now.
4. I am a germaphobe. Ask anyone who works with me, they will tell you. I had to switch from liquid hand sanitizer to foam because using it so much was making my hands break out.
5. I love men with accents. There was a man from Bright House (our cable company) at my house today with a Puerto Rican accent.
6. I am a fan of boy bands and don't care who knows it! I traveled all over the place to see the Backstreet Boys, and met a few of them in the process. In fact, when I met Nick Carter I was five months pregnant with my daughter.
7. I remember when Neil Patrick Harris (from How I Met Your Mother) was known as Doogie Howser.
8. I remember when layering your socks was cool (like ice cream cones?)
9. I like to sing, but usually when I sing, I prefer slow or ballad style songs to upbeat songs.
10. My daughter = the true joy in my life
11. I am almost four years older than my husband. That means I was a senior when he started ninth grade.
12. My bestfriend of twelve years recently moved to New York with her fiancee to be closer to their families, and I am going through withdrawals.
13. I love popcorn.
14. I love to have get togethers at my house.
15. My husband and I will be losing our house shortly when it is foreclosed on because we had to file bankruptcy (yes, we are one of "those" people who were suckered into an adjustable rate mortgage).
16. I am not upset (anymore) about losing our house. Where God closes a door, he opens a window.
17. My daughter will start preschool in August, and I'm already getting nervous.
18. I am habitually late to work.
19. I have become obsessed with getting pedicures.
20. I am out of random thoughts on myself, so I'm stopping at twenty!

Five Things About this Mom

Okay, so I'm making my third blog for this Tuesday! And it's all related to Mommy Community's Mommyfest blog party. This next contest has to do with five things about me so here goes. (And I'm trying to think of five interesting things that most people don't know.

1. I can sleep - all night long - with my glasses on.
Yes, my husband thinks I'm crazy. That has yet to bother me.
2. I have this weird habit of when I drink any kind of soft drink from a can, I will swish it in my mouth before I swallow it.
My husband (again) noticed this right after we started dating.
3. I secretly enjoying cooking, but I especially love cooking for others. And I like to experiment with recipes. Alot.
My husband doesn't usually like my "experiments".
4. I am ashamed to admit this, but I planned on getting pregnant before the end of the year (Gracie was born in November 2005) so we could write her off on our taxes. Is that not terrible?? She was planned that way!
I bet you thought I was going to mention my husband again...wrong!
5. I am addicted to popcorn. They should have a group for addicts like me
Popcorn Lovers Anonymous, anyone?

Mommyfest Potluck

So if you notice in the upper right hand corner of my blog, MommyFest is having their annual blog party. One of the contests involve posting one of your favorite recipes on your own blog, and posting a link back to the potluck site. So here is my favorite recipe that is (and still can be) family friendly. I call it Italian Chicken Salad, and here it is:

1 bag rainbow rotini pasta
small bottle italian salad dressing
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 small vidalia onion
1 small yellow squash (optional)
1 small zuchinni squash (optional)
Parmesan cheese

Marinate the chicken in some of the italian dressing for about 30 minutes. Chop up onion and squash into small pieces (not really small, maybe make thick slices and then cut in half. Mix onions and squash, and put in foil packets with italian dressing to go on the grill.When chicken is ready to be cooked, toss it on the grill until done. While that is on the grill, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta and add about 1/4 cup of the italian dressing (more or less, depends on what you like) also add parmesan cheese. To finish it off, toss the squash and onion mixture in the same bowl with the pasta. Top with parmesan cheese. You can either cut up the chicken and eat with the pasta, or have the pasta be a side dish.

My family is huge on pasta, but we like to try it different ways and this recipe is AWESOME. This is a quick standby for me because my husband can grill the chicken while I do everything else - and Gracie LOVES it! (Okay, not so much the squash part though.)

Tuesday Toot

Okay, so last week I mentioned the fact that I had a BA in Sociology, and a double minor in Juvenile Justice and Psychology.

While I can't physically post my other accomplishment here, I would like to tell you about a paper that I wrote while I was in college. The paper was actually submitted where I received recognition for it at the AMSA conference in Tuscaloosa. And now that I think about it, I totally freaked myself out because my professor bought us drinks at the hotel bar that night and I found out about a week later that I was pregnant with Gracie. Not that she has suffered any life-long damage from my strawberry daquiri or anything.

I should probably start out introducing my paper by telling you that as a young teenager, I found myself addicted to true crime novels. One of those books was called "Small Sacrifices" and it was written by Ann Rule. The book basically spins the story of this woman, Diane Downs, whose three children are shot by a bearded stranger out in the middle of nowhere. As the story unfolds, you discover that this woman shot her own children because her boyfriend did not want children.
You've probably heard other names. Susan Smith. Andrea Yates. You might not know there is also a man who was in the service who back in the 1970s shot his two young daughters and his pregnant wife, claiming a band of hippies broke into their home and did it.

There might also be other names you've heard. Remember Melissa Drexler AKA "Prom Mom"? Being a mother now, back then I was absolutely fascinated and at the same time simply stunned that women could give birth to these children and then kill them so maliciously.

On to my Tuesday Toot, which is my paper. It was entitled "When the Bough Breaks: Studying the Differences in Maternal Filicide". It basically took a look at the differences in mothers who kill their children. I looked at older mothers like Susan Smith, but focused mainly on Andrea Yates as the older mother group. Then I looked at younger mothers like Melissa Drexler, mothers who hid the pregnancy and didn't bond with the baby.
I also explored countries like China, where mothers who kill/abandon their children there is basically part of the cultural norm (China has/had a "one child per family" law where if they didn't have a boy, it was somewhat socially acceptable to get rid of the girl, abandon her, etc.).

While I won't send a copy of my paper to every single person who asks, I would be glad to share it with those of you who know me fairly well. It may not be the best paper in the world, but before I had my child it was my little baby. I enjoyed working on it and uncovering the information I did. Being a mother now and knowing what I know from my research, this act of crime is still just as upsetting and maliciously, sometimes even more so than it was.

Anyway, I was proud of myself for submitting it for the conference and at least getting recognition for it. And I think I did a good job writing it too!

A Week's worth of fun!

Wow! I can't believe that it's been almost an entire week since my last post! Well, a lot has been going on in "Life with Gracelynn", so I'm going to pack most of it all in this one post. For starters, we found out right before my last post that Bryan's dad, Ron, was given the green light to come down for a visit. Ron works as a civilian for the Air Force, and he comes down randomly throughout the year to teach seminars to new students/Air Force enlistees at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery.

On Thursday of last week, we received a package from Mawmaw that was all for Miss Gracie. In it was a Barnyard Wii game (Kayla has a Wii) and some sour Trolli candy, and the neatest little outfit. I don't know how much you might know about Qatar, but it kind of follows the same religious practices as Afghanistan, etc. I believe my mom told me the women there have to be covered head to toe, and some of the women have to cover all but their eyes. Outfits for the children, however, are slightly different and if I'm not mistaken the outfit she sent Gracie is Qatari children's pajamas.

Gracie wasn't too wild about it because the fabric was kind of "itchy" and I imagine the summer months it will be too hot.

I really love the pink top (not so much the pants) but the stitch work on the top is really beautiful.

Cute photo.

The next round of photos are from dinner with Pawpaw last Monday night. He arrived late Sunday evening and unlike his other visits, we only got to have dinner with him Monday night and visit for a little while Thursday evening. He had to go home a day earlier than usual because Bryan's step-sisters Tiffany and Brittney were having their prom.

Gracie and Pawpaw Ron having dinner at O'Charley's (I don't like many of our local establishments because kids don't eat free, but O'Charley's is awesome because kids eat free EVERY night!)

Gracie wearing Pawpaw's glasses. Too cute!

And on to Mother's Day! Gracie and I got up and got ready for church, and Nana Kay and Bryan met us for the regular church service. Our original plans were to have lunch at Olive Garden in Prattville. However, when we realized that the line was wrapped clear around the building we went to Applebee's instead. Some Mother's Day photos:

Nana Kay and Gracie coloring on the Applebee's kid's menu

Gracie with Mommy

Gracie, outside Applebee's in the dress Aunt Jessica gave her

This is the cutest picture. Ever!

I also had one nice suprise when I got home, and that was flowers and a balloon from my wonderful husband! Here is a quick photo of one of the flowers in the bunch:


Well now that I'm all caught up on the last week, I'll have to post about my Pampered Chef party tomorrow night or Mission Friends recognition on Wednesday!

I have signed up for Blog Momma, who in turn is also part of the Mommy Community. "Tuesday Toot" is all about mother's posting their OWN accomplishments(in other words-tooting our OWN horn), since we are more than willing to always post about our children and what they have accomplished.

I am very proud of the fact that while I have not put it to use job-wise, in August of 2005 I graduated from Auburn University Montgomery with a BA in Sociology. I also have a double-minor in Juvenile Justice and Psychology. My ultimate goal was to get a job working with and/or counseling juvenile delinquents, but someone who worked at one of the youth facilities assured me that "counseling" at a detention center basically involved the kids telling me what I wanted to hear, they get released, and cycle back in six months later.

I still want to work with troubled kids, I'm just not sure in what aspect. But I am proud of the fact that I set out to go to college, knew exactly what areas I wanted to pursue, and graduated even when I was six months pregnant with Gracie. I had contemplated at one time going back to get a Master's in Criminal Justice, but financially and realistically that's just not an option right now.

But it feels good to have been successful in completing something I set out to do.

Prayer

Okay, faithful bloggers, please remember to keep the Wades in your prayers this weekend. Remember Jackson, who is still working on getting over strep throat. (Gracie asked about him last night when we went to Zaxby's-too cute! "Is Jackson comin', Mama?" I said no and she thought about it for a second and said "Aw, man!").
Also remember to pray for Amy and Jeremy, who will be traveling for a conference for CWE that Amy has mentioned on her blog a few times. Pray for peace for her especially, because I know she's been really stressed out about getting all this conference stuff together and just getting things done. (She mentioned something to me about destroying every one inch 3-ring binder she ever saw....he he).

Also, keep the Easterling family in your prayers. I can't remember if I have mentioned them on Life with Gracelynn or not, but Jason and I have sang a few times together at church and in March he and his wife, Wendy, found out that she has lymphoma. They have been given good news recently that it is stage 1-E (whatever that means), and that they don't see other cancer cells. However, the doctors are going to do chemotherapy anyway to rule out any microscopic cancer cells floating around. Wendy's first day of treatment was yesterday and minus a few mishaps, it seems to have gone pretty well.

Anyway, I hope you all have a good weekend! Gracie will be with Nana Kay so we probably won't post much until Sunday.