Webstat

Okay, does anyone else use webstat to see how many people look at their blog/website? Well, I check mine every so often and I am sometimes surprised at the addresses of the people who look at my blog. A while back, I had someone at NASA.gov look at my blog. Perhaps this is because I have a recipe for Flying Saucers on my blog. Today, I had someone at USCourts.gov checking out my blog. Of course, I also have the usual bellsouth-ers and comcast-ers and the occasional charter.net-ers and then some of you who check at work, I either get a plain old IP address or the name of your server which makes it clear who has been reading my blog. (wink,wink). I won't tell. I look at blogs at work, I admit it. But, not a lot. Just when I need a break for a second. So, anyway, I wondered if you ever look at your "hit tracker" software such as webstat and have some crazy names in there? I'd like to hear who.

The Dark Knight

Two Saturdays ago, Scott and I went to see the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, with our neighbors Nan and John and their friend John and his daughter Nichelle. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and then the movie was awesome (in my opinion, and I Scott seemed to agree). I learned from John (the friend, not Nan's boyfriend) that this movie and Batman Begins are actually a new Batman series by DC Comics. The old movies with Michael Keaton, George Clooney, and Val Kilmer (did I miss someone?) were done by Hollywood and apparently they made all the comic books people mad because they strayed too far from the real thing. Okay. I can appreciate that as someone who never thinks they stay close enough to the books in most movies I see that are out of books.

This movie has a lot of suspense, a love story, violence (like fighting and stuff, which it wouldn't be Batman if there weren't, right?), and all kinds of characters. I am almost certain that I jumped so hard one time that I shook our entire row of seats and at one point in time, I know that at the end of a particular scene, I realized that I had been sitting with my mouth wide open for several seconds (possibly minutes) with a shocked expression on my face. I may have even screamed out loud a couple of times! Whew! I was worn out when that movie was over! (And don't you all now feel sorry for Scott to have to go to all these movies with me when I behave this way?)

I would definitely recommend this movie. It was great! There was not even superfluous amount of cursing in it. Maybe a couple of words, but not like a lot of movies these days. The movie is rated PG-13 and I think that is about right.

Have you seen it? What did you think? Most people I have talked to really liked it, but my boss said it was "okay" because a few scenes seemed to drag out to him. But, I can't think of any scenes I thought were drug out (is that proper grammar? That always gets me). It does make me sad that Heath Ledger died after filming this for several reasons: 1)obviously it is sad that he died and especially at such a young age and for the reasons that he died, 2) he was a really good actor, and 3) he made a great Joker and they are going to have a tough job of replacing him!

I hope you all have feedback and leave it in a comment!

Weight Watchers Key Lime Pie

I love this recipe because it does not taste like it is a fat free recipe! Everyone always loves it. The picture below shows the ingredients for two pies. So easy. So good.

Weight Watchers Key Lime Pie

1 Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Crust

1 can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 pkg (unsweetened) Lemonade Kool-aid
12 oz. Fat Free Cool Whip

Mix together sweetened condensed milk and Kool-aid mix then add cool whip. Mix well and pour into crust. Refrigerate before serving so that the pie can set. I usually try to make this the night before so that it can set up.

Icebergs

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by
layers of snow that react to different conditions.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet
fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can
freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a
green stripe.

Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up
when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.





















Antarctica Frozen Wave Pixs - Nature is amazing! The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Antarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades. Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing. Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air

Scott sent this to me in an email forward the other day and I thought it was very interesting. I think these are very pretty pictures as well!

How Sweet Is This?!

I am sure that you all already think that Scott and I are "those crazy cat people." But, our cats really are the sweetest! Maxwell has always loved to walk and jump through my hair. He was very unhappy with me when I cut my hair really short. He usually does this right before I give him water in the bathroom. Tonight, I was sitting here working playing on my computer and Scott said, "look behind you". Maxwell was looking up at me and I knew exactly what he wanted by the way his little head was kind of stretched towards me and his eyes were all big...anyway...I know you think I am crazy. So, I leaned over and let my hair hang down and was petting him and he just walked through my hair and did this cute little thing where he takes his front paws off the floor. Most of the time, he starts purring and will purr with his mouth open and it is REALLY loud! Oh, it's just too cute! Anyway, Scott got a video of it so you know what I am talking about. Don't you all wish you had cats and they were this sweet? (I really hope this works)




By the way, Happy 150th Post to Me!

4th of July Weekend

The 4th of July weekend was a very busy weekend for us! We attended a surprise 30th birthday party for our friend and small group leader, Zach. The party was at his in-laws' house, which is always a fun place to be! There were lots of Zach's friends and family there and we really enjoyed ourselves. Scott and I brought fireworks and stayed until it got dark and did fireworks with Karen, Bob, Zach, Lauren, Andy, and Caitlin. I think everyone had a good time!

Then, on Saturday, we went to visit with Meme for a little while and then to Daddy and Stephanie's house for a 4th of July celebration. We had barbecue (they ordered some special for me without that sauce), pasta salad, deviled eggs, and all kinds of other good stuff. We had a lot of fun. We were too tired to stay for fireworks in addition to the fact that we didn't want to be out that late and be too tired for church the next day. I took some pictures with my camera, but not very many. However, I am sure that Stephanie wondered who took so many pictures with her camera when she downloaded them! Heehee. I saw her camera sitting out while she was upstairs, so I took it upon myself to take pictures with it. I hope some of them turned out good! (I think I even took at least one picture of myself!)

Meme seems to be doing about the same. She seems less like her old self and more like someone that isn't all together. She didn't complain as much about us not coming to see her very often, but she did say that she eats the same thing all the time and does the same ole' thing every day. So, it seems like she has less than her usual spark. My great-great aunt Annie Lou is also there and it seems like she doesn't even recognize us any more, which is sad. I also found out that I have some other further-removed relative there at the nursing home that I had never met.

So, over all the weekend was a lot of fun and we were still pretty tired on Sunday. But, I was still able to pay attention to the preaching, so that's good. Right, Chris?!

Keep Checking Back...More to Come

Just to let you all know...the post below is not EVERYTHING I was referring to in my previous post. I have several things to post about. But, I am kind of going out of order. It's my blog, so I can do that. Anyway, we are going to see the new Batman movie tonight with our neighbors Nan and John. I am looking forward to it. I have liked all the other Batman movies. We had completely missed the last Batman movie (Batman Begins), so we rented it and watched it last night so we would be up-to-date on all the others. Did anyone else think it was strange that the story of how Bruce Wayne's parents died was similar but not the same as the story told in the first Batman movie? I found that very strange! Anywho, I'll let you know what we think of the newest one!

Josh and Callie's Wedding

Last Saturday, my good friend Callie got married to her fiance Josh. I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in the wedding along with Callie's cousins and my good friends Lauren and Caitlin. Our friend Alison was a junior bridesmaid and Hadassah and Deborah were flower girls. Josh's side of the party were his dad, who was his best man, Callie's brother Dan, our friend Tyler from church who also goes to Pharmacy School at Mercer with Josh, and Josh's friend Tommy from school. It was such a fun time! All day Friday and Saturday were spent preparing for the wedding. We had a bridal breakfast for the ladies at Mittie's Tea Room in Alpharetta on Friday morning. I rode in the car with Lauren and Caitlin and their mom Karen and their grandmother Mimi. That was really fun. After that, we headed over to the church, Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church, to help decorate the fellowship hall for the reception, directly followed by the rehearsal. Karen made these beautiful runners for all the tables. The regular tables had brown runners with a pink L (for Leab) and Josh and Callie's table and the cake tables had pink runners with an L surrounded by a J and a C. After we all knew what we were supposed to do, we headed down the road to On The Border for a yummy lunch. Then, we all went down to the nail place where we got our nails done. Lauren and I just got manicures but I believe everyone else got manicures and pedicures. There were 8 of us there in total. Scott was a huge help as he helped Dan (Callie's brother) and Phil (Callie's dad) move tables from our church to this church, set them up, and then put chairs out around them! Whew! He worked hard! Lauren, Caitlin, and I all stayed at Zach and Lauren's on Friday night (Zach stayed at Andy's so we'd all have a place to sleep). My friend Maggie gave Callie and I spray tans on Friday night so we'd be tan for the big day! Thanks Maggie! It was fun to hang out with Maggie for a little while. While Cathy and I waited for Callie to get her spray tan, she and I got to chat with Andrew, which is always fun and interesting!

Just as a funny note, before the rehearsal started, we had fun taking some goofy pictures. I heard "Marcy, please don't put this picture on your blog" more than once. Hee hee. It's funny that we live in a world where you say things like that. We did get some really cute pictures!

On Saturday, we had to be at the hair place in Roswell by 8! Oh, it was so much fun hanging out together at the hair place. On the way, we stopped by Starbucks and guess who was there: Cathy and Callie! Yeah, we were all a little too excited and I am sure the folks at the Starbucks were glad that we weren't there long! Oh well. After that, we grabbed a quick lunch at Fuddruckers and went back to Lauren's to wait for time to be at the church.

Once we got to the church, it was kind of crazy until time for pictures, but we got everything done and we all looked beautiful! The wedding ceremony was beautiful. The food at the reception was great, as was the cake! We all had so much fun talking and dancing!

Here's the backs of our dresses. They were really pretty! We had them bustled so they wouldn't get stepped all over at the reception and so that we could dance. We also attached our straps for the reception.

Here is a picture of all of us ladies together. Scott came early to get some good pictures.

Here is the entire bridal party.

I enjoyed getting to spend time with Alison and her mom Dena, which I don't get to go very much. Callie has been so busy with wedding and moving plans that we haven't seen her as much as we are used to, so it was fun to have two days of Callie-time. I also think that Lauren, Caitlin, and I all really enjoyed our time together.

Coming Soon...

I have a lot of updating to do. Things have been crazy lately, but I have so many pictures and stories...

I just wanted to keep you all in suspense so you keep checking back!

Time Flies!

Can you believe that today is July 2...2008?!??!!!

I can't!

They say that time seems to pass more quickly as you get older. I think I have hit "old" because time seems to fly by.

We had a wedding shower for my sister, Wendy and her fiance, Paul this past Saturday. We had some friends and some family come. We ended up with 19 people, including Scott and I, at our house. I thought that was a good number. Wendy and Paul got lots of gifts, so that was really great!

After the party, Wendy and Paul and Emily and Kristyn (Paul's two girls) stayed and hung out and played Wii. The girls LOVED the Wii. They wanted to stay for the rest of the weekend to play! We would have let them, but they didn't have any extra clothes or toothbrushes!


Well, Friday is the 4th of July and we are off work. July 4th is a very important holiday for our country and I think that sometimes people get so caught up in fireworks, BBQs, and, for certain people, drinking, that they forget WHY we celebrate. We should always be mindful and thankful of our freedom.


Just as a side note, it sounds like someone that lives close to me is celebrating a little early. I think I'll open the blinds and check it out...I can hear it but I can't see it.

Speaking of the sky (well, I kind of was since I mentioned the blinds and fireworks...right?), on Sunday we had a really powerful thunderstorm (that really didn't bring that much rain, even though it seemed like it did). The storm happened right before dusk-ish. So, the sun had not started going down, but it was blocked by clouds. Well, the clouds started moving out of the way just as sunset started and everything was really still and...well, pink, outside. I was a little concerned that we may have a tornado, but there were no warnings. Scott went out side and got these pictures. I think they are beautiful!

This is a question for all you cat people out there: do your cats seem to get sweeter as they get older? Ours do. Maxwell won't drink water from the tub now until we pet him first. Sometimes, it isn't enough for just one of us to pet him, we both have to if we are here. Also, most days when I get home, Sampson talks to me really sweetly until I pet him for a few minutes. They didn't used to "ask" for attention like that. Sunday night, the reason I didn't take the pictures of the sky is because Sampson was curled up in my lap. That was probably because I was covered up in his favorite blanket, but I'll take it how I can get it. We just have the cutest, sweetest boys ever. I'd like to hear your cat stories!