Let me start by wishing a happy birthday to three very wonderful women in my life. My sister in-law Dani celebrated her birthday yesterday. My mom and my mother in-law Deb both celebrate their birthdays today. We are so blessed to have all of them in our lives, and I hope they all have fabulous birthdays!

I meant to post earlier in the week, but as always, there are so many things to get done. Jackie and I had a lovely shopping weekend. We left a bit early on Friday, and checked into our hotel in Monticello in time to go for a late dinner. After the long drive in the car the hot tub worked wonders. The outlet mall in Albertville opened at 10:00 and we were there within a few minutes of opening time. The rain that they had been predicting for the day held off, and we had a beautiful day. Not that we would have let a little rain stop us!! The outlet mall had something like 102 stores. We didn't count, but I bet we stopped into at least 75. We shopped from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with a short break for lunch. It sounds like my husbands worst nightmare!!!

Jackie did better on clothes than I did this year, but I did well at the kitchen stores. We weren't even going to stop in the Pfaltzgraff store, but they had some neat Halloween decorations that Jackie wanted to look at. That was where I ended up spending the most money!! They had my dishes - the naturewood series that I registered for when we got married. I ended up getting plastic juice glasses, plastic plates and a rug. I love it all!!! The plastic plates will replace the set that mom bought for me when I was in college. They're more every day and still just as pretty as the heavy stonewear ones.

After all of that shopping and walking, you know that we made good use of the hot tub Saturday night too. And with no worries about going anywhere, there were a few adult beverages consumed. We had good girl talk, sharing our deepest darkest secrets. Okay - we don't have anything real deep, or real dark, but we still had fun and laughed like crazy.

On a sad note, Rogers - the city to the south of Albertville, that I had looked at when selecting a hotel, had an F-2 tornado devestate the town Saturday night. It was a freak storm that materialized very quickly. They didn't have enough warning to even sound the sirens before it hit. There was a lot of damage and a 10 year old girl died when a house collapsed on her. A very somber reminder of the power of nature.

Traffic moved slowly through Rogers on our way back to the Cedar Valley. Some of the slowness due to the scattered debris, but mostly, I believe it was in respect for the city and the enormity of what they had been through over night.

I was happy to see my girls and my husband when we got home on Sunday. Of course they had a perfectly wonderful time without me. Olivia even got to sleep over at Savannah's house. Elliott's rash/boil thing didn't seem to be getting any better or worse, but I ended up taking her to the doctor on Wednesday. He diagnosed ring worm. He must have seen the look of utter disgust/panic on my face, because he was quick to assure me that it was not a worm of any sort, but a fungal infection - like athletes foot, or jock itch, but in a different area. Her spots are on one leg and her chest. He prescribed an anitfungal cream to be applied twice a day. Of course she does not enjoy that in the least - and let me tell you, getting cream on small spots of a very wiggly two year old is not a very happy task. I hope that it gets a little less aggravating because we have to do it for at least two weeks. On the upside though, the spots are all looking considerably better.

My husband did his resarch and went out and got us new phones this week. He is so kind, he splurged and got me the camera phone that I wanted. I don't need it - but I did want it. It's just fun. I can assign pictures to my contacts, so that way when they call their picture will show on my screen. That's too much fun!! He also got me ring tone software and a cable to download the pictures to the computer. I'm beginning to suspect that he really loves me. Oh - and he kept me supplied with wine and popcorn for the Grey's Anatomy season premier - so, yes he must really love me :)

Chris's uncle Neil had his surgery earlier in the week. From the report I've received, he's doing well, although in some pain. I think he has a 3-4 week recovery period to look forward to - so please keep him in your thoughts. Great Grandma Floris had her surgery yesterday, and came through like a trooper. She spent the night at the hospital last night, but should be able to come home today. Perry came down yesterday for her surgery, so we were fortunate to be able to have dinner with him and spend some time visiting. The girls had to sit one on each side of him for dinner and I do believe that he was eating up all of the attention.

Now we're on to regular weekend duties - laundry, mowing, vaccuuming, etc. We also get to work on Olivia's poster board for student of the week. I'm anxious to have fun with this - but will have to really remind myself to let it be her project. I can easily see myself taking over without even meaning to.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the fabulous fall weather :)