Odds and Ends

I have a lot of random thoughts that I forgot to include in my last few posts, so here they are all together in one giant random blurb.

While the boys were in Las Vegas, some of the Burton women got together to have dinner with Grandma and June. Brett's grandma and her sister are the most spry 80 to 90 year old women I have ever met. The things they say and do just make me laugh. It was good to catch up with everyone for a bit. I hope I am as funny as they are when I am old, but not as crazy...

 I cut my hair, and tried to make it look different.  I feel like when I had it done it looked a lot different but from these pictures it really doesn't look like it. 

I changed my part and got longer side swept bangs. I swear they are there, just hard to see in this picture. They drove me nuts the first week at work, but now I am used to it.

I deleted my post about this...but Lucy had a bad week. She got attacked by a dog in our neighborhood and here is a picture I took right after. 

She milked it though....

She is not allowed on the couch but we felt so bad after she was hurt we let her up for a bit.

Also the Pillsbury Bakeoff has been on my mind a lot lately. Next week I will be in Orlando to cheer on my mom in this competition. It still doesn't seem like it is really happening. My mom is in the Pillsbury Bakeoff, it's just so crazy!

My mom's is on the top-left corner.

The fact that my mom is a finalist is seriously such a blessing and miracle. I was watching Martha Stewart today, who will be announcing the winner on her show live next week.  She is doing a series up until the competition and she interviewed a contestant who is in the Bakeoff. They said over 10,000 recipes were entered and many of the people entering, this is their life! The woman she interviewed enters contests all the time and she does this almost as a means for income. She said she had to enter 34 recipes to get into the competition this year and this is her second time attending.

When I hear these stories and how intense some of these contestants are, I can't help but think how inspired my mother must have been to have entered and come up with this recipe. She is not a serious cook, she works full time as a teacher, and she is a mother. She has never entered a recipe contest, done a state fair for baking or anything! To be accepted into a contest with such prestige, and she only entered one recipe, it blows my mind. Sorry if I am bragging, but I am just so proud of my mom. This is just such a miracle for our family and a well needed positive in a year where we have had so many negative things happen.

I am just praying that this contest is a good experience for her and that my mom enjoys herself. She is already a winner in our eyes!