Laura's Last Dance...

So late one night we took Laura out for one of her last nights and Kelly for one of her first nights of California dancing. Woo-hoo!

It was a fun crew...
Brooke, Laura, Me, Tess, & Kelly

No, Rachy didn't go...too young, so we let her take our picture (a lot of them) before we left.



I think this was the night that we got serenaded by 4 young men outside of the Library. They were so fun to dance with, because it was a group of them and a group of us. Also, they were dressed up in like suit & tie or tie and vest sort of outfits. They were respectful and great dancers. After a fun time dancing all together they caught us outside and sang us a little accapella song. It was so sweet.
Another funny thing that happened was that Brooke at one point had to dance a slightly inebriated guy away from her sister-in-law, Kelly, and tell him to leave her alone because she was married to her brother. I just about died laughing.
It was fun! But seeing the pictures makes me miss Laura!

A party for a girl...

... a party for a new mom, a growing community, a party for the stability that family can bring... all in celebration of what God has done.
A crowd of us gathered last night at the home of Brooke and her new baby girl, Rachel Evangeline Lily Larkin Cone, to celebrate the adoption of said long named one and the start of this family.

Our time together was festive, loud, and crowded as we ate, mingled, danced and took a ton of pictures. My favorite time might have been either the dancing, or the time where we nestled into the front room, making a huge circle of friends & family.

During that time we gave blessings, toasted, and praised God for what He has done in and through Brooke & Rachel. Adoption is so cool! I love that in celebrating a child being taken in fully by a family I am reminded that I too was once an orphan. Her story is my story, as a believer in Jesus. I too was lost and in need, and now I belong. It is such a blessing to be reminded of God's love and care for me in the story of this tall Cone family. Hooray for belonging!

The dancing, as I mentioned was another favorite time, mostly because I love dancing and more importantly I love dancing with the Cone girls. They are wild and creative and I am consistently shocked, awed, and challenged to improve my dancing skills when I am around them. My only regret is that David Cone (the DJ by default because of his healing knee) couldn't dance and also didn't play Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies". (sigh) I am obsessed.


Tess, me, Autumn, & Rebekah (aka All The Single Ladies)


UB, the girl of honor, & AJ

I love that the guests dressed up! It made it such a celebratory and pretty place to be!


Lady D & Stace


me & Mumsy

and Asia...queen of felines. She decided to stay home because she knew that as a queen she might put everyone to shame. So beautiful and yet so humble.

Christmas Carols & Brotherly Boxing

Here are some photos from Christmas Day.

Angie, me, Stace, Rudy, Yukie & Trisket

UB & Grandpa gettin' the carols going...

Stacy & UB trying out the pretend gift of blow-up boxing gloves I gave UB & AJ for Christmas.

Darren & Stacy continuing the Christmas pounding.

Did you catch Lady D. in the background covering her face in Christmas fear...(tee-hee)

Stacy, Rudy & Jake. I think we had just started playing Apples to Apples.

Uncle Mike showing off his first Green Card won. He was the only one (out of 13 people) who hadn't won a round.

Grandpa played Christmas carols for a bit, it was great to hear him and he seemed to really enjoy it.

O holey socks...

Well burn my bum & call me bacon...

So, I have told a few of you my most recent embarrassing events and have decided to post some pictures...to prove it. Yes, I burned my bum!
Please remember that I had been feeling a little out of sorts and frazzled what with my car dying, and every attempt at progress in selling and finding a new one resulting in frustration.
On the night of December 22nd, all the conditions seemed right. I finally made it out to Tim & Jill's to do some research on their computer. Everything was working well, the cat was purring nearby, the Presto HeatDish was perfectly placed and warming my little space nicely. I felt hopeful at the progress I might make as I sat down and went to work.
And work I did, for a couple of hours.
A few times I remember thinking "hmmm, my backside feels kinda itchy". So, I scratched, and kept working.(sigh)
I ended my research, emailing, and printing and started to close up shop. I turned off the computer, turned off the Presto HeatDish, unplugged it, ushered my feline companion out the door, and headed home.
I listened to 3 and a half Broadway songs, enjoying the drive, arrived home, dressed in my pj's, and got into bed.
I lay there for a moment waiting for the covers to warm me, and slowly realized there was something wrong. My backside was starting to hurt. I thought back to earlier in the evening and remembered the ocassional "itching" I had experienced.
I crawled out of bed and dragged myself to the mirror to inspect more closely my painful left "cheek". When I lowered my pj bottoms I groaned.
One perfectly puffy blister saluted me amongst a background of red skin. Over the next day a second blister appeared and the larger redder area faded away.

I now must confess I burned my bum.
The saddest thing to me is that I didn't even realize that the heat from the Presto HeatDish was too high, or that I might be sitting too close.
The best I can figure is that a part of my jeans that weren't covered by the back of the chair got really hot and proceeded to transfer that heat to my poor bum.
You can see the redder area to the right of the blister is where the second less painful blister appeared.

I had to take a picture because I couldn't believe it and wondered if you might have a hard time believing too.
Um, as a side note, please don't make fun of me when you see me, if I lean to the right when I sit, k?

the company I keep...

Luna & Kona have been my sometimes companions these past 2 months.
Here they are walking me, which frankly, I needed.

They, however, need to learn to heel.
Here are my sometimes companions running away from me...

Here sits my mostly companion of late, Asia.

I go out to Tim & Jill's every other day or so to check on her. She has always been a sweet cat, but is so desperate for affection now that her house is lonely. She meows at me persistently until I sit somewhere where she can climb into my lap, curl up, and radiate heat. Seriously, she is the best little portable warmer.

A few times she has been in such a deep sleep that she hasn't realized that she is precariously perched on her roost (my lap) and has startled us both by sliding off.
It certainly has kept me entertained during my computer times.

Kona also loves to gather round the heater and me at the computer. Here she was on one of the weekends I got to dog-sit her.

Another lately companion has been my newish rental car. I don't love it, but I am grateful for a comfortable and reliable form of transportation for the time being.
Here it is enjoying the rain...

What I do love is the XM Satellite radio I get with the rental. I found an all Broadway station. Love it!
Also, am loving the rainy weather that this season brings. I can't ever get enough of it. Here was a particularly moody threatening day that treated me to some of my favorite things, rain drops...

30.

Yes. I said "30.".
No exclamation point.
Not one.
The big 3-0 did seem to sort of sneak up and then quickly pass me quietly and sweetly by, as any birthday of mine is prone to do.
I enjoyed my trip to Nashville, but what I found upon my return was a broken car, Thanksgiving leftovers, and little before-shocks of stress, (you know like an earthquake, but before, and as a warning, instead of after and as a "oh crap is this a big one?" kinda way).
It seems I have forgotten to add some photos and a few stories of my birthdays. Yes, I did say "birthdays" plural, because it seemed like I was treated to a long line of fun celebrations.
Mumsy and the Hawks made my actual day a pretty sweet day for me. First Mumsy, AJ & I went for a little hike.


Mom told me about the day I was born.
It was special, not one of those "see these stretch marks..yep, you kiddo", it was in fact one of those "I like you and you are still my baby" kinda stories. AJ asked mom good questions and also shared some sweet things that I have just treasured in my now 30 year old little heart.
We had chicken enchildadas and Uncle Earl & Aunt Alyce and Lady D. for dinner.


(We at the food, not the people).
The scrumptious dinner was followed by a word game where we were given questions to answer quietly by ourselves. Then I got to read my questions and answer them. Anyone who had a similar question was allowed to share their answer if they wanted. The questions were of course all about me and the sort that read like this..."If Linda was an author what author would she be". Animals, body of water, and more were addressed. When we finished Mumsy gathered up the papers and made them into a little booklet for me to keep. I loved it!
See how special it was already?
Well, friends, it didn't stop there.
My friends started arriving after that.




Everything was decorated golden and glittering, because it was my Golden Birthday after all. We played a pictionary-type game that was all about me even though everyone got to participate. My favorite phrase was "Linda is a blubbering whale". I am not joking, I have a picture to prove it, but choose not to post it to save the artist any unnecessary embarrassment.



We had cake, presents and a surprise skit that made me laugh so hard I was crying.
UB, AJ & Mumsy invited all of the party-goers to the dinning room area and presented the scene as any old afternoon when I come home and pop in for a visit.
Mumsy played me, UB played UB, and AJ played AJ.
Mumsy opened the door wearing a paper plate as a mask with a blown up photo of my face on it.



UB & AJ welcomed "me" and asked "me" to check the messages.
"I" proceeded to do as they asked.
What followed was one message after another of people in my life asking me to fill in, do something, participate, or follow up on different things. That was hysterical and sadly true, but what cracked me up was the fact that UB was every single voice on the message machine. He played Pastor Dan, the youth pastor, one of the doctors I work for, Brookie...just everyone.
During the messages "I" became increasingly anxious and by the end UB and AJ were showing concern about how "I" would do everything I had been asked to do. They offered to let "me" try this new thing they had gotten off the internet, saying they hadn't tested it yet but thought it might help.
So they sat "me" down, put a cooking pot on "my" head, and pulled out a hand held back vibrator. UB ran the back vibrator on the cooking pot(and poor mumsy's head)...


and then ta-da,
a knock was heard at the door.
To my surprise in walked almost all my party guests wearing paper plates as masks with the same photo of me that Mumsy wore. I laughed so hard I almost peed my 3o year old pants.



I felt so loved and celebrated and was glad it was on my actual Golden Birthday!

Avoiding the Unavoidable

So my car died on Thanksgiving Day. The consequences of which I only now beginning to face. When the car first passed from this life, I was able to borrow Tim & Jill's truck for a bit. Unfortunately, I am finding more and more evidence that hints at the possibility of my touch causing chaos to ensue. It seems that everything I touch wants to "leave this world".
The same day their truck started acting sickly I found a to-do list they had written. It is a list of things to do upon their return from the South Pacific,the third line of which contains these words... "Truck - serpentine belt & transmission fluid". I took their truck in to have the belt changed and transmission fluid filled and proceeded to park it for good at their house.
Next, I rented a car, which has run well, but turns out it won't be covered by my insurance. I found this out after I realized the car was working great so there would obviously have to be something else awry. I called my insurance (for the third time), and pressed them to make a call to confirm or deny the rental coverage. It will not be covered.
Finally, I have been trying seriously for about 2 weeks to do some "craig's list" research in hopes of selling the dead car and finding a new vehicle. But, every time I have come out to Tim & Jill's to use their computer the internet connection has mysteriously been down, the batteries for the keyboard (wireless, no less) have been dead, I attempted to charge the batteries but didn't charge them for the full 14 hours, then the batteries for the wireless mouse died, charged those batteries, and that pretty much brings us to today. It is quite comical but over time has become more discouraging. I am choosing to move forward and rest in the fact that God loves me. Easier said than done as I have been avoiding God for a good while. Or I guess you could say a "bad while". So here's to baby steps & The Hound of Heaven...Hip Hip Hooray!