The World According to Leslie

Most days, there are just not enough hours to finish the "to do list" I have. There just isn't enough time to do all the things I want to do. I really don't even know where to start with my "to do list" most days. However, I'm learning quickly that there simply isn't enough time to do all I need to do with the Princess. In just a couple weeks (34 days), she is going to be finished with 8th grade. We've already enrolled her in high school for next year. But, what scares me the most (in a good way) is that tomorrow morning, we are going to do our FIRST (of many, I'm sure) college tour!  We are going to be touring Appalachian State University. (I went to school there my first year of college, so I wouldn't be opposed to her being there!! Plus... we could get season passes to Tweetsie so when we go visit!!)  It's crazy to think that there are only 4 short years before she is graduating from high school and going to college. ...

This weekend was pretty good. Actually, I was so exhausted from the weekend that I took a TWO HOUR nap on Sunday!  (I haven't done that in a long time!) Friday, I went to watch my nephew play in a high school baseball game. He is a sophomore, but he's pitching for the Varsity team this year!  YEP!  He's that good!  He even made the local paper for his work at the end of the game on Friday. You can check out the article here . On Saturday, I taught the Sign Language badge at the Girl Scout Badge Bonanza. It's an event where the girls choose what badges they want to earn, and they can earn up to 4 in the day! It was fun!  I haven't done that in a couple of years! Sunday, we had the VBS meeting at church. It went well. We had a good turn out for the first meeting. I'm still going to need more volunteers, but I think I will be able to get them. After church, we met up with an old friend. She gave us some scrapbooking supplies for The Princess's Silve...

Today, there are a lot of FIRSTS happening in our household. Just a few minutes ago, I dropped the Princess off for Transition Day at the high school. She is going to shadow a student around for a couple of classes. How is it possible that she's going to high school next year? (I guess I'm going to be asking THAT question all summer too, and in a couple years, I'll be asking how she's getting ready to graduate and go to college.)  This is ALL happening too fast. But, today, she gets to spend time, for the first time, in an actual high school class. They are supposed to have a Pep Rally too.  That means she's going to get her first experience of a high school pep rally today!  That's a big deal! If they do the pep rally the way we did them in high school (same school!), it will be AWESOME!! For me, my first today is that I'm going to be speaking at the Weight Loss Surgery Support Group tonight!  Yes!  That's tonight!  I can't believe it got here...

If I want to write over the summer, I need to find clients now.  Why is it that I am having such a hard time bringing myself to apply for these positions?    I see jobs that I can do.  I know that I can do it. I put the jobs on my “watch list”.  Then I watch them until they have been taken by other people. I just need to work up the courage to apply for the jobs I know I can do.  I may see if I can work for the people I wrote for last summer.  If so, I could totally make some serious money this summer.   I found out yesterday that my oldest nephew made the JV baseball team at his school.  I also found out that he plays his first game today against the school where I work.    So….what’s any good aunt to do?  I’m going to go back to watch him play after I pick up the Princess at school and drop off the other girls from carpool.  Then, at 5:30, I’m going to work the ticket gate.  It only makes sense to get pa...

Yesterday, on Black Friday, instead of Christmas shopping, Tony, the Princess, and I went to WalMart and Sam’s Club to get all the things we needed to get for the party today. We still had plates, forks, spoons, and all that to get. We also had to get all the food.  We knew we wouldn’t have room before yesterday to make a place in the refrigerator for it, so we had to wait until yesterday to get it.   We didn’t leave the house until about 4pm. So….all the crazy Black Friday shoppers were already at home, asleep!      We got into Sam’s Club, got all the stuff we needed, and checked out in less than 2 hours.  I was suspecting about 4.  Then we got in and out of WalMart in about an hour.  That’s a new record for us.    Today, all I have to go get are the balloons for décor. We aren’t doing much, but I would like to have some balloons to make the room more festive. So, I have to get those.    Today, we also have to...

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been 5 days since I’ve written anything.  So, I’m going to try to catch up all the things I am thankful for.  I posted them on Facebook, so if you are my friend there, you already know these things, but I guess I just didn’t take the time to do it here.   Day 22: Thankful for Fridays. For some reason, this has been an EXTREMELY long week. Tonight we are going to the tree lighting and hanging out with family.   Day 23: I'm thankful for family time. Today, I got to sleep in....all the way to 8am! We may be heading to a Craft Bazaar at Hickory Ridge High School. We will be going to the Christmas parade in Concord....family tradition! We will be having fun knowing that the HOME team (CONCORD SPIDERS) are still undefeated for this season and moving on in the playoffs!   Day 24: I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews. I really do have a LOT of them. Mariah Rayne will be graduating this year! (How did I get so old?) Dorion P...

WARNING: This post is LONG and personal! It's probably more real than I have been in a while! "If going through life and you find yourself lost, go back to the last place you knew who you were and what you were doing, and start there."--Carol Stack I really wish I could find a website to link you to her, but there are a few Carol Stacks. I don't know for sure which one she is. She came to Appalachian State University in 1996/97 and gave a lecture. If I could find my notes, I could probably tell you the name of the lecture. I could almost tell you exactly where I was sitting in the lecture. Anyways... I digress. This was the first thing she said in the lecture. I wrote it down, but I never had to look at it. I memorized it just from hearing it the first time. It has been my favorite quote for 15 years! I said that to tell you this: Have you ever had a time that you just felt that everything was going wrong? You take a drive and come home more confu...

I don't know how many of you were in band in high school. For me, band was my sanctuary. I was in the band room more than the directors were. My dad was the director of transportation for the band. He also helped to fix instruments and keep the bandroom in order. So back when I was in high school, my dad had a key to the bandroom. (The directors got tired of having to come to the school all the time! lol) Anyways, I learned a lot from band. I also learned to play many instruments that I wish I still played today. Unfortunately I have forgotten most of them. I do remember one thing.... lots of things, but this time of year reminds me of one thing.... Every year, the band would practice and learn "Pomp and Circumstance" to play for graduation. I had played it for 4 years. (My 8th grade year, they let me come up and play it for my brother's graduation!) All of a sudden it was my Senior year. I helped hand out the music to the underclassmen. I sat there watchi...