Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New Music...

Heard this song on country radio the other day. I rarely listen to the radio and when I do it's not typically country but sometimes I'm just in the mood or I'm sick of the CD's in my car. Either way, heard this song and it struck a cord. It's not uncommon to hear a love song and with a little tweaking in the lyrics it becomes a ballad for my Lord. I would love to hear somebody re-record this song in that context like they did with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". Lady Antebellum does a beautiful job too though. It also reminds me of my Steven.

I Run to You
Lady Antebellum

I run from hate
I run from prejudice
I run from pessimists
But I run too late

I run my life
Or is it running me?
Run from my past
I run too fast
Or too slow it seems

When lies become the truth
That's when I run to you

This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you I run to you
When it all starts coming undone
Baby, you're the only one I run to
I run to you

We run on fumes
Your life and mine
Like the sands of time
Slippin' right on through

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school. As the boys were headed out the door I felt the need to commemorate the moment. Here they are the last time Joshua will be a kindergartner, the last time Weslee will be a 4th grader and the last time Kolby will be a 2nd grader. I have a lot of mixed emotions about all this.

First of all and the most dominate emotion is excitement, I remember how excited I was on the last day of school when I was a kid, about the fact that a promotion and greater power lie in my near future and of course the coming summer months of sleeping in, watching cartoons and hangin' out with my friends. This is such a contagious emotion, despite the fact that we will be spending the next few months breaking up fights and anticipating the I'm bored's that we will be assaulted with, we found ourselves laughing and playing with our little men this morning as they packed their lunches.

Secondly, is a little bit of apprehension. I know full well what the coming 2009-2010 school year holds for me. Not only will my youngest, Bailee, be starting kindergarten, but even scarier my oldest, Weslee, will be starting his last year in elementary school. This time next year he'll be graduating from being a little kid to being a big kid or "tween". I remember how miserable middle school was for me, as do most of you, and I only have one year to prepare him for that. WOW! I just thought of something...next summer he'll be going off to summer camp with the Junior Highers!

God bless Station Camp Elementary they will be completely inundated with Burtnett's! It will be the first and last time all my kids are at the same school.

Despite all this I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with all my peeps this summer. We have some big plans to do a bit of traveling. (Although not as grand as we had originally planned thanks to some financial surprises. Call me if you want details.) We plan to connect with some friends and generally enjoy each other. Ultimately, I am striving to avoid boredom, fighting and losing my mind. I only have until August 3rd to accomplish this so I better get busy!

Have a great summer!

Good Morning


Here's a few things I need to start my morning: Packet of raspberry flavored Emergen C's, cup of Decaf House Blend Starbucks and some sweet tunes (usually some acoustic stuff from Matt Nathanson or Ray LaMontagne or some classical). What do you need to start your day?
On a side note, check out the steam coming off my coffee maker...SO cool!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Happy Birthday Kolby!

On Sunday, May 13, 2001 (Mother's Day) I was promoted from mother of one little boy to mother of two busy boys. Nothing could've prepared us for what Kolby would bring to the Burtnett home. He is almost completely the opposite of his older brother in every way. Pure energy and joy are the best words to describe him. He is rarely seen without his signature grin. He makes me laugh almost everyday and I can always count on him to greet me each morning with some kind of silly song and dance. He is my twin, not only do we look alike but we both laugh at EVERYTHING, which inevitably gets us into trouble. I love to watch him explore his creative side, music is a great love of his and he can spend hours coloring and drawing. He has a way with the ladies (old and young). It has been a joy and an adventure to parent him. We are all thankful for the color he has added to our lives.
Love you little man!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day







I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. Started out the day with breakfast in bed and some Starbuck's, then met up with some friends at the Stone's River Greenway only to discover that the trailhead had been swallowed by the swollen river thanks to the insane amount of rain we've been getting lately. Found another access point and enjoyed a beautiful walk and the incredible scent of honeysuckle and jasmine all along the way. Then onto Casa Vieja for some grub and home to open my presents. I got a super sweet waffle maker from my kiddies and an SB-900 speedlight (really cool flash for my camera) from my hubby.
It was an awesome day and I am so blessed to be a mommy to my four little rugrats.



Sunday, May 3, 2009

Yeah...I'm Southern

I moved to the south almost 8 years ago. Since arriving I've noticed a few of the quirky phrases they use down here have slowly been creeping into my vocabulary. In honor of my brother Vinnie moving to Texas (psshhh, whatever!) I thought I'd share a few with all of you to better prepare him for what he is about to encounter. In short these are some "translations" that may come in handy.

Y'all - "You guys"..."people"..."dudes"..."YO!"

This is by far the most used phrase and the one I adapted to rather quickly. People in the south, particularly women, do not respond well to dudes or you guys. They either ignore you completely or look at you like your nuts. Some of them will humor you but it is mildly offensive to your typical southern belle to be referred to as a dude or guy.

Fixin' to - (verb) "I'm going to..."

Abruptly after I arrived, my Aunt forbid me from using this one and for the most part I've successfully avoided it, my boys, Kolby in particular, will occasionally whip this one out. It makes me giggle every time.

Bless her heart - There really is no English translation for this one, it is pretty exclusively... southern. It is a phrase your typical southerner will whip out during a gossip session to make themselves not look quite so nasty. For example: "Did you see what she was wearin' in church last week? Bless her heart!"
Sometimes no explanation or gossip is even present at the time, they may just see someone in the distance who has had a found themselves in an unfortunate predicament and the "sweet" southern women will just let a "Bless their heart" fly.

Fussin' - "bugging me"..."whining"..."yelling or complaining" "Why are you fussin' at me?"

I'm guilty of this using this one a lot simply because I'm a Mom and that is part of the job description. My kids are always fussin' at me.

I'm gonna wear you out! - "I'm going to kick your butt!"..."Your about to get a spankin'"
Typically this one follows the previous statement. Again, as a mother this one flies around my house quite a bit.

I'll tell you what - "In my opinion"..."I think"
Steve uses this one more than me, it is usually used to add emphasis before a heavily opinionated statement is about to be made.

Whoop around - U-turn.
Simple enough, but still good to know. We don't make U-turns in the south we do a "whoop around". Also when getting directions from a southerner you need to know that they don't use street names or distances "You go up this here road for about 2 minutes and then yer gonna wanna make a left at the Waffle House", they use landmarks, not street names and distance is measured in minutes.

High - "expensive" "That restaurant is high."
Never heard that one until I moved here.

I've slept since then - "I forgot"..."You can't honestly expect me to remember"
This one makes me laugh because it exemplifies how transparent southerners can be.

Ink Pen - "pen"
The reason they put the 'ink' first is because they say pen like pin. They have to have a way to differentiate between the two.

Buggy - "shopping cart"
I have no idea where this came from but it is kinda cute.

I hate to pull the tick off yer dog - "I hate to disappoint you"
My good friend Deb whipped this one out. I laughed SO hard because she is the least likely person for that phrase to be heard from.

Dumber than a box of rocks - self-explanatory.
Usually followed by a "bless her heart".

Want in one hand…spit in the other…see which one fills up first - "Not likely"..."Keep wishing"
I've never used this one but I'm eager to give it a try.

Yankee Biscuit - That would be a bagel.

Wally-World - Wal-Mart
That's where you go on a Friday night when there is nothin' else ta do.

Coke - "carbonated soft drink"
Regardless of the flavor it's a coke. Southerners drink it at 8:00 in the morning!

Sweet Tea - Iced tea with a ridiculous amount of sugar added, seriously...A LOT of sugar!! It is the main beverage here in the south, it is appropriate any time of day and they start drinking it when they're about two years old.