Friend Makin' Monday : BFFs

Good morning, Poodles! Even though I'm not quite among the living after a long holiday weekend I'm still going to attempt some Friend Makin'.

The Friend Makin' this week is being hosted by Kelli at Outside My Kitchen Window. Head on over to her place to get the instructions and to link up if you feel like joining the fun. Kelli's task for this FMM is this:

Tell us about your BFF. How did you meet? Was it BFFs at first sight? How long have you been friends? What makes him/her your BFF? What is it about this person that makes him/her so special to you?

Now then, just because I'm a rule-breaker free spirit I'm going to bend this a little bit. I don't know that I can choose just one "BFF" in my life. God has blessed me with many amazing friends, and they all mean something a little different to me. So I'm going to spin this my own direction and introduce y'all to some of the most fantastic folks ever!

• • • • •

My best long-term-been-there-through-thick-and-thin-knows-all-about-me-but-still-somehow-loves-me friend:

Jodi

Jo and I are BFFs that also just happen to be cousins. She is my partner in crime, but always manages to keep me out of trouble. Obviously, we go way back and our relationship shows it. She's incredibly intelligent, driven, motivated, and funny. Plus, she'll own your face in a game of basketball. Her drive and determination have always inspired me, and that determination (paired with God's grace) has gotten her into vet school working towards her dream career. I couldn't make a BFF list w/o Mugget.

• • • • •

My best 12-year-long-give-it-to-me-straight-you're-going-to-hear-this-whether-you-like-it-or-not friend:

Jason

Jay and I have been friends since my sophomore year of high school and somehow our BFF-dom has just stuck through the years. He is one of those few people that are honest with me even when it's probably not very fun. He knows how I'll react to situations, he knows what I'm thinking, he knows what I'm about to say, and because he knows all of this he helps keep me in check. He's an amazing man of God and his self-discipline is part of what inspired me to train for my up-coming 5K. God has brought him a long way and I'm honored to have been part of that journey with him!

• • • • •

My best compassionate-thoughtful-selfless-hilarious-sisters-separated-at-birth-cut-from-the-same-cloth-running-buddy friend:

Rachel

Although we haven't been friends quite as long as some of my other BFFs, Rach and I just "get" each other. We have similar pasts, we want similar futures, we find the same things funny, and we share about 1,478 inside jokes. I'm sure people that know us think we're attached at the hip sometimes. She is one of the sweetest and most thoughtful people I know. She loves her family immensely, and is truly a beautiful creation in Christ. She is truly a treasure that some man is going to be lucky to find someday. Our late-night tailgating sessions have done a lot for our relationship! :)

• • • • •

My best motivational-straightforward-bubbly-direct-blunt-inspirational-smokin'-hot-bride-to-be friend:

Becky

We share a birthday and always joke that we're twins...born 2 years apart. We share the same bossy strong personality, and we would rather be dancing than doing almost anything else. Becky is such a motivator for me through all the 5K fun. It's been an honor and a privileged to be Becky's Maid of Honor and to help her plan her wedding. I'm so happy for her future with Nathan...even if it means him taking her 8+ hours away from The Foursome. I know God has big plans for her and I can't wait to see her grow and blend into her new role as Nathan's wife!

• • • • •

My best world-traveling-globe-trotting-fabulously-cultured-intelligent-Godly-hilarious-words-of-wisdom-giving-domestic-diva friend:

Jenn

Jenn and I have grown closer over the past 6 months or so, and it's truly been a pleasure. She and I share the same love for cooking and all things domestic. She is one of the best cooks I know! She is intelligent, successful, motivated, self-sufficient, and beautiful! She puts her relationship with God first and always inspires me to do the same! I feel like I'm a more well-rounded person for knowing Jenn. I look forward to her emails every morning!

• • • • •

Finally...

My best known-them-since-birth-put-them-through-hell-yet-they-love-me-the-same-always-in-my-corner-always-my-prayer-warriors-sound-advice-giving friends:

Tim, my Dad; Julie, my Mom; and Adam, my brother.

Being able to say that I count my family as some of my best friends has been a long time coming. We're a lot alike, and although that works to our advantage now, it hasn't always been that way. They have loved me fiercely since the day that I was born...even when it probably wasn't easy to feel that way. The fact that God has given us a second chance at a close relationship is a huge blessing in my life. I trust them completely, and I can't think of better advice-givers. I know that no matter what life brings me or where it takes me they will support me and pray for me.

• • • • •

Thanks so much for stopping by! I would love to hear about who you hold near and dear! If you're not taking part in the Friend Makin' Monday fun then tell me, who is your BFF(s)? What makes them special? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy FMM,

God Bless America!

Happy 4th of July, Poodle dears!

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays ever! My Great Grandpa served in World War I, Grandpa Mo served in World War II, and my Grandma is one of the most patriotic people I know. I take after Mana...we both tear up when "The National Anthem" is played, or when Lee Greenwood sings "Proud to be an American." We truly live in an amazing country and have been given so many amazing freedoms!

Now then, before I burst out into an off-key version of "America the Beautiful" I will say that...

I hope this finds you enjoying this...


...while having a nice, big glass of this...



...waiting for this to finish...


...and for these to start!


And it wouldn't be The 4th if I didn't remember to say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the men and women serving our country in the Armed Forces. Because of your sacrifices we are able to continue calling our great nation The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave! Thank you for all that you do to keep us safe!


See you back here on Monday for more Friend Makin', and hopefully a plethora of cowboy pictures! *sigh*

God Bless America,

Pastor L

Some of the men from my childhood were larger than life. They were my Grandpa's friends. They talked loudly. They seemed to stand taller than other men. Their hands were huge, rough, and strong when they shook my hand in church. They always had a pocket full of candy to share with me after lunch on Sundays. I was sure that these men were the closest thing to superheros I had ever met.

One of the men that I remember most was the same man that performed my parents' wedding, He was the man my brother is named after. The same man that baptized most of my family. He pastored the church I grew up in. He was the man that led both of my parents to the Lord.

Pastor L had a giant, booming voice that scared me just a little bit when he would speak from the pulpit. He would visit my grandparents every Tuesday, without fail, to catch them up on his grandkids, and to hear about what theirs were up to. Pastor L would deliver communion to their house just before Easter...not because they asked him to, but because he knew they couldn't get out of the house to be in church that Sunday.

He was at every high school football game, without fail, whether he knew a player or not. He was never without a pair of suspenders, or a smile. He loved the Lord more than almost anyone I know.

Fifteen minutes ago I got the phone call from Mom telling me that Pastor L passed away last night in his sleep.

Learning of Pastor L's passing really impacted me. Since Mom's phone call I can't do much more than cry, smile at the memories he left us, and cry some more. Perhaps it's the sting of losing such a big part of my childhood. Perhaps it's sympathy tears for the holes I know Pastor L left in my parents' hearts, my grandparents' lives, and the lives of his family. Maybe it's just the reality that we all get older and the men that once seemed like superheros are now older, grayer, and not quite as strong as they used to be. Regardless, I know that our time without Pastor L and the other amazing people that have gone before him is short...we'll all be together again in Eternity.

The earth lost a mountain of a man yesterday night, but Heaven gained one of the best angels they've seen so far. Pastor L will be dearly missed each day until we can be with him again forever.

Every Sunday Pastor L ended our church service the same way. He would stand on the center of the steps leading up to the altar. He would stretch his arms as wide as they would go, and in the giant voice that only Pastor L could create he would speak the same blessing, taken from Numbers 6:24-26, over the congregation. It's the same blessing that my brother uses to end his sermons each time he preaches. I thought it was only fitting I end with it too...

"May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you now and forever more."

Congratulations, Pastor L, on being reunited with your beautiful wife. Congratulations on your renewed body and the beginning of an eternity praising the God that you loved and served during your time on Earth. Until we see you again, we'll miss you!

Happy Mother's Day, Poodles!

Happy Mother's Day, Poodles! For those of you that are mamas, thank you for the shining example you are to your children. To those of you that have mamas, I hope you let them know just how much you love them today!

Things around our house have been 90 miles an hour this Mother's Day. We started out with breakfast bright and early. The guys made Mom and uh-maze-ing breakfast...fit for a queen. We had Strawberry Marscapone Crepes, Farmhouse Fritata, and Lemon Poppy Seed Scones with homemade Lemon Curd. Yum, right? :)

After breakfast we outfitted Mom in her corsage and headed off to church. We spent our afternoon planting flowers and showering Mom with gifts. We're finally finished planting the deck, and now we're ready to make a pancake and sausage dinner.

All in all a pretty great Mother's Day...and I'm not even a mama!

How have you spent your day? What sort of spoiling has your family done for you?

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

MM?! Is That You!?

I am finally done with my Mother's Day shopping! (Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?)

After watching 90% of my friends run in this morning's River Run I split off from the group to carry on my tradition of finding Mom's Mother's Day gift in amongst the craft booths at the festival. This year, I set a shopping record and made a beeline to a booth I knew wouldn't disappoint.

Standing outside a normal looking craft booth was a not so normal man. He was wearing well worn cowboy boots, spurs, a hat that had seen better days, and a wild rag. He reminded me a lot of P-Dubb's hubby, Marlboro Man. Delightful!!

His name is Jim Tunell, owner of Jim Tunell Photography. He takes all of his own photographs and even makes his frames by hand. No two are alike. Most of the wood used for his frames comes from dilapidated out buildings on his ranch.

Upon further inspection of what this man had to offer, I found this little gem...




Uhm...SOLD, Jim! You had me at looking like MM!

I picked out a frame I fell in love with, and managed to tear myself away from his booth before I spent even more money on a picture for me!

As he was wrapping up my purchase he gave me the history behind this shot. It was taking on the Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The horses you see on the hill are wild mustangs that have migrated to the reservation. Every morning the working cowboys on the ranch stand on a hill and whistle their horses in to be saddled for the day's ride. The tame horses come all the way up to the corrals, but the mustangs come no further than the hill and watch the cowboys saddling up for the day's work. Jim spent a week on the reservation photographing the scenes.

Nothing like a little Mother's Day present with some history to it!

How about you all? Found anything amazing for the mamas in your lives?

XOXO,

Jarett : 30 Words or Less

Good afternoon, Poodles! I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to one of the winners of "What The Heck."

Jarett will be sharing his insanity ramblings wisdom with you next week, but in the mean time here is a little more about the man, the myth, the legend: Jarett.

------------------------

He thoroughly enjoys all things eating related.

He can rock a cammo do-rag.

He's takes a great picture.

His hobbies include:

Football
Guitar


and Flexing.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait for this one.

-------------------------------

Oh, and ladies...he's single.

All interested applicants may contact me at: GoodbyeMartha@gmail.com.

Snorgs.










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Listening to: Bryan Adams - Please Forgive Me

What The Heck!? The Results.

Dearest Poodles:

It is now time for the results of last week's contest. I now give you the answer to the always mysterious, mind boggling challenge that is....

WHAT THE HECK!?

Granted, I've probably let enough time elapse since issuing the challenge that it's no longer interesting or mysterious, but that's just how I roll.

Some folks got close. Some folks were so far off I questioned their sanity (*coughJARETTcough*.) But nevertheless, I loved all the input.

-----------------------

If you'll recall, the original phrase in question was:

"Reginald had fan an zu ferd tip. Zu bazt prt waz zu sex."

And now...the correct translation of the phrase originally in Kindergartner-ese:






*drum roll please*








"Reginald had fun on the field trip. The best part was the swings."


Seriously. I'm not sure what "Reginald's" native tongue is, but his English could use some work.

-----------------------

Now then, since no one quite got it right, I've decided to expand the judging to two categories. That's right folks, I'm choosing two winners...which means TWO guest posters. I've made my decision based on accuracy and creativity.

Which means....


The winner's of GM's first ever What The Heck contest are:

Accuracy: Adriana of From KS to PA
Creativity: Jarett of My Very Own Family Tree (seriously, he's my cousin!)

Adriana & Jarett, email me at GoodbyeMartha@gmail.com to get those posts set up!

Congratulations and thanks for playing!

Snorgs,
L-Dubb








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Listening to: Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

I'm "Sick in the Head."

Conversation overheard at my house this morning, while trying to figure out if it was worth making a meatloaf for dinner tonight:

Mama W.: "Now, you won't be home tonight, right?"
L-Dubb: "I'll be home after the gym."
MW: (incredulously) "You're not going out tonight!?"
LD: "No. I'll be gone all day tomorrow so I'm staying home."
MW: "Wait. Is today Friday?"
LD: "Yeah."
MW: (this time, mockingly) "Today is Friday and you're not going out!?"
LD: "Nope. Staying home all night."
MW: "Hmmm. Are you sick in the head or something!?"

*Cue my brother laughing uncontrollably*

LD: "Nice, Mom. I'm totally blogging about this."

Major Dexter

Folks of the internets (and folks of real life), meet the oldest member of my family, Major Dexter MacGregor.

<----- Isn't he cute!?

Major came to live with us almost 15 years ago. He turns 105 (or 15 in people years) April 14th! He's cranky. He's smelly. He's lumpy. He's more than a little overweight. He's slightly blind. He can't hardly hear. And we love him immensely! Aside from Major's day-to-day ailments he just started his second go 'round with "Canine Geriatric Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome." I'll spare you the long, drawn out description (unless you like that sort of thing *coughJodicough* in which case you can read all about it here and here) and just tell you that it causes his little head to tilt all the way to the left, he walks in circles, he loses his balance, and he falls over at random moments. (think drunk Fainting Goats.) It's not painful and it's not permanent. Everything we've researched says that most dogs recover in 48 hours to 7 days. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else.

It's been a learning experience for all of us. He has to be carried outside to potty. He has to be carried up and down any stairs. He has to be hand fed because his depth perception is all off. It's also been a little bit of an eye opener as well! We'll all get old someday. We'll all need help doing things that were once easy. Heck, I might even need help eating. Although I'm really hoping my family doesn't try to feed me dog food!

At any rate...it's reminded me to be a little kinder to my elders. Even the furry ones. I'm sure he'll be back to loping across the yard and biting Hank in the butt in no time!

On Sandbags & Dog Smiles

Yesterday's weather was UH-MAZE-ING!! Weather like we've been having gives me huge amounts of cabin fever. When I get hit with the fever I look for ANY excuse to get outside and get moving...even work!

Each winter I buy sandbags to weigh down Honey's back end.

This year we ended up with 4 sandbags over each wheel. That's a lot of weight. 480 pounds, to be exact.

It's great to have that extra weight in the back end when you're battling a Kansas winter (read: snow/ice/generally nasty slushy stuff,) but once you get past the winter months that extra weight (and crappy gas mileage!) gets old. Then, come springtime, you get the delightful task of unloading nearly 500 pounds of sandbags. Inevitably, the week you ditch the junk in the trunk, Kansas decides it's time for one last ice storm and you're sliding all over the place.

I digress...

Yesterday evening I had decided I would tempt fate and ditch the junk in the trunk. Hank decided he would give his Aunt Lannie a hand (or paw) and sat in the truck to supervise while I backed up to each pot hole in the driveway and flopped a sandbag into them.

We finally got all 8 bags dumped into the holes. Then it was time to walk (or frolic, if you're Hank) around from bag to bag, stabbing them with a steak knife (you're welcome, Mom) and dumping the sand out. Hank discovered his new purpose in life is to "help" (and I use that term loosely) me spread the sand out by digging like a maniac in each pile of sand...essentially flinging all sand away from where we put it and entirely defeating the purpose.

Once we managed to fling sand all over creation and dispose of the evidence, it was time for the best part. Driving around the section multiple times until all the rocks, sticks, dirt, and treasures fly out of the bed of my truck. Seriously folks, it's WAY easier than taking the time to sweep it out by hand.

Hank asked Lucy if she wanted to go. (Dumb question. Of course she did!) We loaded up, and after a small skirmish over who got shotgun, we were off.

Congratulations to Hanky on winning the Toofer War to claim the front seat.

The dogs and I spent the next half-hour cruising the beautiful Harvey County countryside. I am here to tell you that you haven't truly seen joy until you've looked at your dog's face while riding around with the windows down. The tongue is flopping. The drool is flying (generally towards me. Gross.) The ear hair is fluttering. That unmistakable doggy smile is firmly in place.

Naturally, because I am my Father's daughter, I got a little verklempt over the whole thing and took several moments to thank God for dirt roads, green grass, perfect weather, pickup trucks, an adoreably hairy "nephew," and a slightly hateful "daughter."

It really is the simple things that make life great...sometimes God just has to remind me of it!

Mugget's All Grown Up!

Happy Birthday, Mugget!

I can't believe you're 23.

Pretty soon you're going to catch up with me and we can be 25 together!

I love you bunches, and I'm really proud of you for being the smartest cousin in the family! Look out K-State Vet School...the smartest girl to cross your path has arrived! Those teachers better watch their backs or you'll have their jobs next semester!

You can prolapse/protest/poteet/poke & prod/whatever-it-is-you-did Hank any time you need to! *mwah*

Warblin' With Gloria

I am, quite possibly, the only 27-year old woman that listens to The Gaithers by choice. I love them! There isn't much better than a quartet singing some good old-fashioned gospel tunes. I get my love of all things Gaithers honestly.

My Grandma, Bonnie (who, I think, bears a striking resemblence to Vestal Goodman,) has listened to them since I can remember. I remember rolling my eyes at Adam when we would be over at their house in the evening and The Gaither Hour would come on TV. Grandma would spend the next hour with her eyes closed, her right foot tapping, and her hand patting her knee in time with the music (blaring at 60 bars of volume, of course.) If it was a lively tune ("Low Down Chariot," "I Saw The Light," "I'll Fly Away") she'd dust off her singing voice and warble right along with Gloria. It was torture then. Now, when I hear those hymns, I catch MY toe tapping and have to smile.

I think I'm going to head to Grandma & Grandpa's on Saturday afternoon for a knee-pattin' good time!

And now, I would like you to meet Bonnie Schroeder...the best Grandma in the world!

My Grandma wears bling-bling.