My favorite quote of the day.....

"That's when you know you're a REAL grown-up. When you have your own frequent flyer miles." Kari Leigh, 19

Two tired chicks......

Me and Kim after our "Twelve Against Nature" show at 3rd & Lindsley
last night. Thanks to all our amazing fans for coming out and
PACKING the place .. Again!!! You guys ROCK!

"Django! What did you do???"

Django, our yorkie has the funniest way of "scolding" me when i'm scolding him about something. This is what he does everytime I get onto him...... it cracks me up!! Does anyone else know a yorkie that does this?!?!?

He's 86 today!!

....I told him I'd take him to lunch anywhere he wanted to go. He
picked "Steak and Shake"!! That's a step up from McDonalds!! :-)

Goldie's last days.....

My awesome in-laws!

Jan and Ron left this morning headed to Florida for a CRUiSE!! I
wanted to steal away in their luggage. I just LOVE cruises!!! <sigh>

I know it's JUST a refridgerator......

......but I'm so happy to get one that matches the other appliances in
my kitchen!! Yay!!

The men relaxing on Derek and Amy's deck waiting on some dinner!

Feeling cramped.

I have five sleeping teenage boys laying all over my living room right now. Two on the couch, two in the floor and one on the lazy-boy. I went to bed @11pm and my last words to them were, “Don’t stay up all night!”… I woke up at 4:55am and heard some quiet whispering coming from the living room, so I went in and saw my son Sam, standing there doing what looked like a stand-up comedy routine while the other boys were scattered around watching him. He froze when he realized I was standing there watching. “IT’S ALMOST FIVE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!” I said. He smiled his sweetest smile and said, “Woops!”. “Go to bed NOW!” I said in a very threatening voice. I looked at the other boys and said, “Your mother’s are going to kill me.”. They all laughed and said, “No they don’t care!”…… Seriously? Am I the only "square" mother?

As I walked back down the hall, I saw a light on in my daughter’s room and looked in. Nope, she wasn’t there. She had not come home. I go back to the LR, and check my cell phone. She’s usually very good at sending me a text if her plans had changed, and sure enough there was her text saying she was crashing at her friend’s house for the night. As I go back to turn off the light in her room, I realize that she had never picked up her room yesterday and our house cleaner was coming today. If we don’t have the house picked-up before he arrives to clean, well then we are ALL in trouble!! He will yell at us… LOL…. And she knows it! So I text her now (remember it’s 5am) and say, “You didn’t clean your room! Michael is coming today!”…. she immediately texts back and says, “Im almost home. There was drama at my friend’s apartment so I left”… sure enough, in about 5 minutes she walked in the house. The first thing she says is “Why are the boys still up?”….. and I’m thinking to myself “Why are ANY of us up right now?!?!”

Of course by now I’m WIDE AWAKE and as I crawl back in bed I toss and turn thinking about what I need to do all weekend. I thought about just getting up, putting on the coffee and starting my day, but then I realized there was no where to go in my house where I wouldn’t disturb someone sleeping. So I was stuck there in my bed. I couldn’t even turn on the tv in the bedroom, because Mike was sleeping soundly beside me and he had to get up and go to work in just a couple of hours. I think I had just finally drifted off to sleep when the alarm went off. I love my little house. But it IS exactly that… little. So, I’m up this morning, enjoying the peace and quiet, but since I have sleeping boys scattered all over my living room, I have no where to go but my bedroom. Or my bathroom. I’m realizing that I desperately need a “den” or “Family room” . Or a new house. Hmmmmmmmm……… Maybe???? It wouldn't HURT to just LOOK at a couple of houses now would it? :-)

What are we getting ready to do boys?

Right before show #2 at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, IL....

Clay, our "beverage" tech

He's actually our guitar tech, but getting us some adult beverages is
something he takes on as part of his job. And he takes it VERY
seriously!!

Getting ready for soundcheck....

It ain't easy squeezing our seven piece band on this small stage!!!

At our little diner in Chicago.....

..... She was singing, "They paved Paradise, and put up a parking
lot....ooh, la la la la"

It's the little things people....

Mike the Leprechaun

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My favorite Leprechauns

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Acid Mosh debut

Well, I'm having issues getting my video to upload... so for now, here is a shot of the band "warming up" for the talent show..as well as the adorable card Kari made for her little brother as a sign of support! She couldn't come to the show, because she had a final in one of her classes at the same time.... but being the sweetheart that she is, she didn't want Sammy to think she wasn't rooting for him!!

I love our kids..... of course they DO have their times when they want to kill each other, but MOST of the time they are very loving toward one another and that makes us really proud of them. I think learning to show others respect and support starts in the home, and Mike and I really strive to make that a priority in our family. If you can't be nice to the people who you love the most, then how are you ever going to learn to be nice to people that get on your nerves, right??? And we've ALL had those people in our lives who just made it hard to be nice to them, haven't we?? I got tickled at Sean Penn's acceptance speech when he won the Oscar this year for his performance in "Milk".... I think he said something like, "Thank you so much. And don't think I don't realize how hard I make it for you to support me sometimes!".. LOL I guess we all make it hard for people to love and support us sometimes... but that's when you know someone truly loves you.... when at those times that you are being the most "unloveable" they hug you a little tighter!! :-) I'm so blessed to have people like that in my life. People who love me unconditionally. I hope I love them back the same way!!

The Bluebird

We had a great time at The Bluebird last night!! Thanks to Kim Copeland for asking me to be a part of a wonderful round of writers. She's a great writer whom I've had the pleasure of writing with and it was a treat to hear more of her music!


Tim Buppert was amazing and SO funny!! I've known him for years, and knew he was an awesome singer/songwriter, but I had NO idea he was such a rascal!!

We had the pleasure of Rachel Williams "sitting in" on a few songs too... that girl is SOOOO talented. Be sure and catch one of her shows if you can!


And we were treated to some real Muscle Shoals SOUL from the incredible Mark Narmore!! I've heard great things about him, but man, I was blown away with his songs and soulful voice.....

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the show and especially to those who graciously bought one of my cd's!! :-) That always means alot to know that one of your songs touched someone enough to make them want to take a little bit of your music home with them!!

Love ya'll.... M

What I learned at Disneyworld....

Pastor Pete recently did a series called “Paralyzed” at our church. It was all about the fears that hold us back in life. Of course we all have fears that get in our way. They stop us from doing or experiencing things that might be wonderful. On a VERY basic level, I experienced that this past week on our trip to Disneyworld.

I have always been terrified of heights, scared of the dark, and extremely claustraphobic. And rollercoasters…?? Forget about it!! NOT doing them!! Whenever our family would go to any amusement parks, I would always “volunteer” to stay behind with the little kids, who were too scared to ride the big rides. “You guys go ahead to Space Mountain, and I’ll take the young ones to the Dumbo ride.” Wasn’t I sweet??? Letting the other grown-ups have all the “fun” while I took on the “responsibility” of taking care of the kids. The truth was, I didn’t want to go on the big rides. I was scared. It was my “out” to hang with the little kids. Someone had to do it, right? What a sacrifice I made!!

This time, just Mike and I went to Disney. Uh-Oh. How am I going to get out of riding the “Tower of Terror” without looking like a complete wimp?!?! And those ROLLERCOASTERS??? … or Splash Mountain?? I couldn’t let my poor husband ride all alone. What’s the fun in that?!?! But I truly was terrified. “Paralyzed” if you will. SO….

I started with “Splash Mountain”. When I found out it was my 5 yr. old niece’s favorite ride, I thought “Geez.. if a FIVE YR. OLD loves it, it can’t be THAT bad, right?!?” So, I gathered all the nerve I could gather and I went for it. And you know what?? Although I spent much of the ride nervous about the big drop that I knew was coming, when it was over I thought, “Wow, that WAS kinda fun.” So, Mike said… “Ok, are you ready for “Space Mountain???" Ummmmmm… ok, but now I have to face my fear of the dark too… hmmmmm.

As we stood in line, I started feeling the nervousness creeping up in my stomach. As I boarded the coaster, I was telling myself things like, “Well, if God’s plan is for you to die on a rollercoaster, then you can’t stop it anyway, so….” And “How bad can it be? Just close your eyes and hold on as tight as possible and it will be over in 3 minutes.”

Suddenly, it was over… and as Mike and I are getting off the ride he says again… "You alright?”… and I could honestly say, “Yes! I am! That was fun!!” He laughed and said, “Fun? Really?” and I said, “Yeah, it kinda was!” I was amazed. I was starting to “get it”… Now I was beginning to see why everyone else loved getting on those rides so much. They were exhilarating! They made you feel extra ALIVE for those few brief minutes you were on them!! Now there was NO turning back for me. I was NOT leaving Disneyworld until I had ridden every single ride that I had avoided my whole life.

Next up… “Mission Space”. Even though there were repeated warnings (Ride may not be suitable for people with fear of dark, enclosed spaces or sudden drops) I pushed down the panic that kept trying to rise up in my gut and got on. “AGAIN!! I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!!!”, I said. Mike was amazed. “Really?”, he said. “YES! I’m hooked now! I think your cautious little wife has just been turned into an adrenaline junkie!!” So we rode it again.. then “Expedition Everest”, “Tower of Terror” and “Aerosmith’s Rock n’ Rollercoaster”. All those rides that I said I would NEVER do, I did!! And I LOVED them…. LOVED THEM ALL!!

At one point, I suddenly felt sad, then a little mad. All those fears had kept me from doing something that I really loved to do! My fears had CHEATED me!! Darn it!! And I realized that I have other fears that are holding me back from even more important things in life that I’m afraid to try. I’m not living like that anymore. I’m going to stop letting my fears make decisions for me and I’m going to pray a little harder that God guides me as I run through this crazy world…..

So I learned a big lesson from my trip to Disneyworld. I learned the benefits of facing my fears. And I started reading, “The Shack” which is also life changing…..but that’s a topic for another day. :-)

What are you guys afraid of??? C'mon.. spill it!!!!

Are you ready for dino-land?

Me & my last fruity little vacay drink!

Our last night at Disney......

It's 50 degrees here!! That's why we are in flannel at Wolfgang
Pucks restaurant in Downtown Disney. Thank goodness Wally had packed
plenty of flannel!!!!! LOL