Hot Dog Pizza, Anyone?

When I was home last weekend, we were eating dinner with my grandparents and my mom brought up the fact that when she and my dad were first married, they were really poor. They never got to eat meat because it was too expensive. 

She said that they would buy those really cheap frozen pizzas (I think the ones like Totino's, $.99, but they were probably cheaper 25 years ago). Anyways, they would cut up a hot dog and put it on top of the pizza, but that was only when they could afford hot dogs. They said they didn't think it was bad and they were happy to have meat (if you can call hot dogs meat).

We laughed about it for a really long time. We were eating some yummy chicken and broccoli casserole, so that's the only reason it was funny. I don't have anything against hot dogs, but I wouldn't be too excited about eating hot dog pizza. I was thinking I'd rather just have the pizza without hot dogs on it or a hot dog without a pizza. Or maybe I'd just stick with the basic rice and beans. I guess that's what they ate the rest of the time so they were tired of it. 

Anyways, I just want to take today to be thankful for the variety of food and meat that I get to eat. I take it for granted and get stressed when I don't know what I'm going to eat for the next meal. I'm not sure what my reasoning for being stressed about that really is.

Some day in the near future (as in, when I graduate without a job), hot dog pizza might sound pretty good. I really hope not. 

God Knew What He Was Doing

(That's me with my small group leader, Paulette.)

Seeing this picture tonight made me really happy. 

Not because my hair looks all that good, but because my hair doesn't look like this:

It's been 22 months since this haircut.

Praise the Lord!

I am truly thankful that hair grows.

God knew what he was doing when he did that.

He knew that people like me would

be really bad at telling the hair dresser what they wanted.

I know I probably need a trim now, but I'm just so excited about long hair.

And I'm also too afraid of getting my hair cut now.

My Favorite Day of the Year

Thanksgiving day: My favorite day of the year.

And that's pretty big, because I absolutely adore summer days and I love Christmas.

But, I like Thanksgiving because a.) it's not too hyped up b.) my entire family is here including the Nashville cousins c.) foooood d.) our annual Thanksgiving walk to the brow, and lastly e.) the weather always seems to be perfect November weather.

We also always have step-by-step photographs of what we do for this holiday.

Mother Dear cooked in the morning...

Bry and LA came down while Aunt Ang was getting ready to have everyone to her house for lunch. They juiced some oranges that Padre brought back from Florida.

Bry is adorable.

LA is a cutie.

Thanksgiving is usually at my grandmother's but this year it was at Aunt Ang's lovely new house.

Trey and Jack got into it on the kitchen floor. But they looked happy for the picture.

Mars and Lars.

The kids table...

Mal and Lars

We loved having Laurel and Caroline with us this year.

The adults table. We're allowed to go in there after we've eaten.

We can talk... A lot.

Elle got ENGAGED on Thanksgiving Eve so it was our first time to see her. We were so excited!

Elle and me with her ring. She's my "same-age" cousin (we all have a pair in my family)... It's so crazy she's getting MARRIED.

LeeLee and Bry on our "walk" to the brow.

It's Aunt Lori, Bry and Leelee.

Cutie.

Well, we actually failed at the walk this year. Time got away from us and it would have gotten dark by the time we got to the brow. Our solution?

We drove on our "walk."

We still got pictures... Even though we broke the walk tradition.

My cousins except the two oldest and one youngest. And Jack, who was taking the picture for us.

Look at that adorable couple!

Sweet Mego and Bry. She's holding him so he wouldn't run off the side of the mountain.

Loving my cousins.

We left Jack there accidently but we came back to pick him up. He was our photographer for the walk. Nice effect, right?

Anyways, it was a good day as we shared memories, broke a few traditions, and didn't even burn any of the calories that we consumed with a walk.

I am so thankful for this family that I have. We might be a little odd at times, as we pointed out yesterday, but that's okay. They make me laugh. And I have fun with them every single time we're together.

Hope your Thanksgiving was as good as mine!

Thankful in a Different Way

This is what I'm so thankful for today:

This is my family.

And I absolutely love them.

I wish we had a closer picture so you could see their faces, but you get the picture.

I will be seeing each of them this week except for my grandmother who passed away in March. This will be a sad holiday for that reason, yet happy because my family is still together and getting along. She did a good job at raising her 5 kids to be respectful and get along with one another.

I have been so blessed with a wonderful immediate family and a wonderful big family too--cousins who I have so much fun with, an amazing grandmother, an incredibly sweet grandfather-- just lots of Godly people.

So, this Thanksgiving I want to be thankful for what I still have here on earth, my family, as we celebrate the fact that Nanny is having the best Thanksgiving she's ever had in Heaven.

She gave me the best Thanksgiving that I have ever had last year when she miraculously got up from her bed after being there for 40 days, and she walked alone and then joined us at the table for lunch. I am thankful for those happy holiday memories with her that I wouldn't give up for anything. I am thankful that our family can remember her together with tears and with laughter.

It's a day to be thankful--thankful for the things that you wouldn't always think you could be thankful for, like the death of a dearly loved grandmother and friend. If I can't yet bring myself to be completely thankful for her death, I can be thankful that she is with Jesus, that I got to have her for 20 years in my life, and that she was the foundation for this close family that I have been blessed with.

So there we go, it's a start. I'm thankful in a different way this year. It's harder to be thankful, so it's different, but I'm thankful all the more.

"Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

Guess What I'm Thankful For

It's Thankful Day Five!

See if you can guess what I'm thankful for on this 5th day of November...

The simple things in life make me happy, really. This item is quite a small thing, I would say no bigger than a foot tall but really skinny, it's soft and colorful, and it is flimsy.

When I go home and find that my mom has a new one, I have to spend time with it until I have thoroughly examined it, and this can take about an hour or more. Even after this, I have been known to go back through and look at them over and over because I think they are just so interesting. I have hung out with this while on my sofa, at the kitchen table, by the pool, in the car, and at Wal-Mart. I have even shared it with Merd or Mars as we sit on the sofa staring at it side-by-side.

When I am finished squandering my time with this item, I come away with tons of new ideas. I am a more creative cook, a resourceful decorator, a , and pretty much a better person all around, that is, until I forget my newfound knowledge a few hours later.

Just the site of this makes me happy.

What do you think it is?

The Real Simple Magazine

Yes, it's my favorite! Like I said, it's the things in life that are simple, really. And, I'm thankful for those little things.

Christmas Music

Thankful Day Four:

Christmas music.

Lately I've started listening to Christmas music on a regular basis. Yes, I realize that it is November 4th (and I've even enjoyed it in the summer), but I have to weight my love for the music with the fact that it is only "acceptable" to listen to it for so short a time. There are only 29 days of the year this year (from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas) to listen to it, and that is only 7.9% of the year for an entire genre of music.

Plus, it's not just any genre of music, it's a joyful one, a meaningful one, and a comforting one. When I turn it on, memories come back to me of wearing bright red sweaters with dresses and thick black tights, staring at the huge lit up star hanging off the side of the mountain, as a child in my grandmother's house playing with cousins, and sitting in church during the Christmas hymns, comparing the choir to angels. How amazing is it that we have so many songs, all to celebrate Jesus' birth?

So, that's what I'm thankful for- music that celebrates our Savior, brings childhood memories back, and never fails to bring joy and put me in a good mood.

If you're like me, go ahead and turn on the carols. Be excited for the upcoming season! (If you're not like me, I'll call you Scrooge.)

Some people have told me these past few days what they are thankful for, so I thought I'd include the ones that I can remember:

-The ability to smell, specifically Glade Cinnamon Spice plug-ins

-10 fingers and 10 toes

-Deodorant

-Mel (me) having eyebrows and a phone that can text

-Contacts

-Mountains in Tennessee

Thankful Day Two: Cute Little Kids

Being away from home during the school year presents one small problem: I never see little kids. That means I'm missing out on a lot!

Kids are care-free, funny, and just so little that I want to squeeze then!

So when I miss home, need a little cheering up, or am trying to find ways to procrastinate some more, I look through pictures from the summer.

And good thing I get links to blogs and e-mails with pictures like this so that I don't have to look at the same pictures over and over:

P.S. I think it helps that I have about twenty adorable little cousins who I get to be around all summer.

What are you thankful for?

November: The Thankful Month, For Real

It's November!

I love this month because it's the month when the bright red, orange, and yellow leaves contrast with these perfectly blue, cloudless skies that are lingering from October. The air is so crisp that I forget what humidity feels like. And it's just the perfect temperature to drink green tea while doing homework on the deck, meaning that it's cold enough to drink warm tea outside, yet warm enough to enjoy the outdoors without numb fingers and toes.

I'm telling you this because truly, I am dreading the winter, which makes me usually dread November because November means that the winter is on its way.

But I have decided, in light of Thanksgiving, that I am going to be thankful for at least one thing every day.

I'll keep you posted and I hope you'll join in and be thankful.

So, to start off, today I am thankful that my hair does not look like this any longer:

Enough said, you understand why, right? I'm kind of embarrassed that I even showed you this picture. Hopefully the man of my dreams doesn't type in on google: how to put gas in a boat, then find that my blog pops up first (yes, it's true!) and then he clicks on A Piece of Pie and just finds this picture. Boy, would I have no hope at all.

Long story short, the woman butchered my hair.

So to sum it all up, I am thankful that I can look at myself in the mirror without laughing.

70 things to thank God for

70 things to Thank God for [this is not a complete list, just the first things that I thought of]:

the Bible
ice cream
my hope in Him
blogs
suduko
tennis shoes
laptops in class
the state of Tennessee
long-sleeved tshirts
finger nail clippers
football games
grandparents
funny professors
mountains
hummus with carrots
daily planners
L'Oreal Kids shampoo
cousins
schedules
an all-knowing God
loving people
polarized, prescription sunglasses
football games
the forecast
unity with Christ
Forever 21
rain boots
cell phones
bobby pins
miraculous healing
bulldozers
electricity
hand-written letters
clouds
G-mail
band-aids
eyesight
churches
braces
mentors
tape measures
the bus
kleenex
awkward moments
loved ones going to be with Jesus
running water
nicknames
chivalry
the grocery store
mercy and grace
oncologists
chapstick
pumpkin spice lattes
windex
homework
talented people
Intervention on A&E
vegetable gardens
finding money in a pocket
christian books
natural peanut butter with honey
real friendships
country music
flowers
apple cider
childhood memories
my bed at home
gum
cute kids
YouTube
creeks
Christmas time
fresh fruit
the simplicity of the Truth


I like to think about these things--the things that I take for granted, but that when it gets down to it, I would have a hard time giving up. And, when I'm feeling sorry for myself, I can think about these types of things and remember how great I really have it.

"Thank God in everything..." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Any more things you can think of? Please share!