Lipstick and Legos

The Lincoln Hypothesis By: Timothy Ballard This book is a nonfiction read, and I have to be honest... I had to put it down for a few days because I was getting to be emotionally scarred at the beginning.  Timothy Ballard works to help rescue kids from sex traffic rings, and in the beginning he tells a bit about his line of work, so as to help the reader understand why he loves Abraham Lincoln.  Some of the descriptions are graphic--all of it true--and although it is all good outcomes, the thought of children being in any kind of unsafe environment breaks my heart.  However, once I got through that portion and into all his information about Abe Lincoln, I fell in love.  This book has some religious aspects to it along with historical information, and all of the evidence he presents is mind blowing--well kind of.  I believe whole-heartedly that our forefathers were led by the Lord to settle and implement all that they did, so to me the ideas Ballard presents ma...

When I was growing up, us kids did NOT look forward to spring break.  While all our friends were off on wild adventures, we were at home.  Elbow deep in spring cleaning.  And we hated every second of it.  Before you go calling DCFS, let it be known that we had plenty of adventures, and were very fortunate children.  However, true to kid fashion, spring break put our blinders on and we were pretty sure we were the most unfortunate of souls and our lives were over.  Mom had a very specific system, and I blame this exact time every year for turning me in to the clean freak I am now.  We did a room a day, mostly because us kids figured out that if we worked faster she would make us clean more, but that meant that it took all freaking week to finish.  On day one, we would wake up and while eating breakfast, mom would write our lists.  I also blame her for my list obsession.  Whoever owned the room we cleaned each day was required to go in, st...

It was a Sunday--the day I found out I was going to be a mom--and I was terrified.  I came down the stairs to where Dewy was watching television with what must have been a look of total shock, and he jumped off the couch and bear hugged the crap out of me.  He was ready to be a dad the month after we were married.  I made him wait a year before we tried, and even though this had been planned, I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.  We spoke in sacrament meeting that Sunday, and I cried my eyes out from beginning to end.  Then we went to my parents for dinner. Sitting at dinner my youngest brother, Austin, made a comment about someone being old.  I asked what made someone old, and he responded that being a grandparent made someone old.  I said how old do you think you should be before you were a grandparent? Or better yet, a parent? He said he didn't know.  I said I thought 23 and 27 were probably a good age.  My dad was the only one wh...

Last weekend was life changing.  Well... not really, but it WAS super fun.  Friday morning I got Rhett to school, Baylor to the doctor, my chores all done, and I left the premises.  I had the car to myself--which meant no listening to the movie Trolls--and finished up an audio book while I drove to the cabin.  Aside from it being freezing upon arrival, I spent the later morning and early afternoon in utter bliss.  Do you ever just want to be alone? Like no other human interactions whatsoever? I love people, but sometimes I just want to lock myself in a closet and not talk to, look at, or touch another person for a minute.  No three year olds playing with my hair.  No babies sitting on my feet.  No seven year olds--and their sweaty grossness--yanking on my arm.  Mama is in time out, people.  I started dinner, went on a trail-ish-run, and after a couple hours welcomed one of my besties to the cabin.  It was the perfect amount of alo...

Let's play a game called "how many sub cultures and fan clubs can Amber offend today"?  I've realized over my 30 years of life that there are quite a few things that are considered "cool" that I find revolting or unimpressive.  The jury is still out on whether or not this is a good or bad thing, but I'm feeling super snarky at the moment and we'll see how much damage that causes. Today I'm going to explain why the top 10 things you hold dear are actually disastrous. 1. Star Wars.  I have seen one Star Wars movie, and that was one too many.  My only Star Wars references will come from the Friends episode when Rachel agrees to wear the gold bikini.  I can name the characters, but I literally don't understand why Yoda has to speak backwards, the light sabers are different colors, or why everyone says Darth Vader's famous line "Luke, I am your father." When he literally never says that.  Not once.  The story line is terrible, a...

I'm back.  Did you miss me? Ten days ago I was sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair surrounded by lovely ladies I'm growing to love.  As I sat there giving myself a much needed pep talk about powering through for another hour of being in a bra, the prophet dropped a bombshell challenge that made the entire room murmur and gasp.  Ten days of no social media.  Ten days.  There were three other parts of his challenge, but this point had all kinds of gals squirming in their seats.  The youth challenge was for a week! Apparently us women have more responsibilities we are shirking so an additional three days was necessary.  Don't be deceived here, I was never against this challenge.  In fact, I like a good challenge, and I was determined to pass with flying colors.  My main fear was that Dewy was leaving all week for another round of hiking with guns--aka hunting if you're new here--and I couldn't fathom how my evenings were going to be...

Let's keep the party going over here, shall we? I'm sure you've all been hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for the tour to continue.  If you haven't, well... shame on you. Our entry way was a big focus of mine when we designed our house.  Our previous home had a split entry, and after six years of trying to haul in infant carriers, children, groceries--all at the same time--I was adamant about having a spacious entry way.  The front door was always going to be a color, and the options I was throwing out caused Dewy major stress.  Don't tell him, but the bright colors I mentioned were just to watch him squirm.  I was always going to pick blue.  Plus the name of the color is Salty Dog, so it was appropriate when it came time to paint our dog house that I should pick that color to match. I wanted windows in the door, but not to forfeit any privacy, so the high window in the side panel and the three across the door nailed the goal.  As for the lig...

You've all been begging for it--and by all I mean like 3 of you--so here it is.  We love our home, and one post wouldn't do it justice, so here is part one.  Say hello to the heart of the Hodges' home--the kitchen, dining, and pantry spaces.                           When we were designing the kitchen, the original plan was quite a bit different than the end result.  For example, I originally wanted a copper apron sink, but since I didn't have $4,000 to throw in that direction, we had to adapt.   The other day, Dewy and I were talking and he said, "Amber, face it.  You get whatever you want.  Just admit it." Although I knew he wasn't wrong, I didn't want to admit that I knew he spoke gospel truth here.  If I want it, I get it.  Sometimes it's because Dewy wants it too.  Sometimes it's because Dewy doesn't care, and sometimes it's because I knew he would hate it so ...