Let me tell you how great my little brother is...

My little brother may be the cutest kid alive....Scratch that. My little brother IS the cutest kid alive. Don't argue, I'm right about this. Although I've probably mentioned him before, I'll pretend that you have no idea who I'm talking about and introduce him. His name is Derek and he's a handsome, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 10 year old. Seriously, I think my mom saved up all the cute genes and gave them to him. How did I end up a hazel-eyed redhead covered in freckles and he gets a tan just by thinking about going outside. It's not fair I tell you!

Enough of being jealous of a 10 year old. On to this weekend. Just like his namesakes (Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez....and yes, I did name my brother when I was 14) he loves to play baseball. In fact, he even plays shortstop...gets me all verklempt I'm so proud! And he had a game this past Thursday. He's been a little scared of the ball when he goes up to bat ever since a boy on his team got his nose broken by a pitch. Hey, it would scare me too if I were him. But he did really well and paid attention to the pitches as they came across the plate. Here's a photo that I got of him up at bat. (Note to self: I really have to get in the habit of carrying around a camera instead of using the one on my iphone.)

Did I mention that I LOVE the fact that he's a lefty?! I think he got walked here, but a walk is as good as a hit, right? After the game, I told him that since he did so well playing that I would pick him up from school the next day. No greater words could be uttered to a kid his age.

Sidebar: I love my new job (so far.) I can't complain too much about it especially since they just spent $2,200 on a new computer for me. But let's face it, there will probably be a run-in with the sales guy I work with. Mainly because I get the feeling that he's entitled and thinks he shouldn't do certain aspects of his job that he should have been doing all along. But that's another post entirely. I'm getting off track. The reason I brought up that I love my job is because I can work extra hours M-Th and get to leave early on Friday. Great, right? So I left at 12:00 on Friday and went to pick Derek up EARLY!!

The smile on his face when he walked into the office to meet me was priceless. (I also ran into my 6th grade english teacher and surprisingly she remembered my name. It's surprising because that was back in 1995—I think—and I came in during the middle of the year. Good to see her though and she really hasn't aged at all.)

Let me also say that Derek is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. I told him it was his day, we could do anything he wanted (right after I had lunch of course.) So, I asked him, "what do you want to do?"......Derek: "Well, what do YOU want to do?"....Me: "No, no, no...this is your decision. We can go to a museum, go see a movie...whatever.".....Derek: "Let's go see Grandma first."

So precious, I swear. Since I was starving and he's always hungry, we went to Pizza Villa to grab a bite to eat. When I went to take a picture of him, he looked angry, so I told him to smile. This is the expression I got:

Good enough I suppose. After taking in the greatness that is pizza crackers and a pizza, we went to visit Grandma at work. That's right, my grandma is 72 and still working. Ca-razy lady.

After visiting her, Derek decided that we should go to a museum. The Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh to be precise. Ok, fine by me. He picked this particular one because he had just learned about dinosaurs and wanted to see if they had any. This was right after he told me that a T-Rex has 6 inch teeth. (Random, but cute) We set our course and were Raleigh bound. As I drove, we played bowling on my phone. I say "we" played because Derek played for both of us and would tell me what I scored. I still think that it was suspicious that he always beat me.

Not sure what hit him in Goldsboro, but he wanted to see if they had any 3-D movies at the movie theater. Ummm....ok. Shrek in 3-D just happened to have a show in 30 minutes. After careful consideration, he chose the movie instead of the museum. After all, he said, the museum is gonna be there later. The movie might be gone.

Sidebar: Holy 3-D movie prices! Ridiculous. And we got popcorn and a drink because: 1. Derek is always hungry...2. He had a bad taste in his mouth? Mmmmk...sidebar over.

The movie was really cute and the 3-d effects were very well done, actually. I could tell because during one part Derek leaned over and said, "Woah...that was cool."

Anyway, to sum this whole thing up (it really wasn't supposed to be this long), I'm thinking of making this a Friday tradition. Can't really think of a better way of spending a Friday afternoon than with the world's cutest kid. Well, I'm off to work in my garden. Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

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It's picture time!...

Every once and awhile I convince my family to take group photos. So difficult to do because they are all impatient and usually several leave before we even get started. This was again the case this past weekend for Mother's Day. I did manage to get a few of them together. A couple of my cousins were missing, my little brother was gone, and my uncle left about an hour earlier. Oh well, I'll have to photoshop them in later or something. But without further ado, here's the latest Eubanks family photos...

The Eubanks (minus Kevin)

Grandma & Uncle Mike

Grandma and her daughters, Karen and Cheryl

Cody & Aunt Karen

Jason, Mom, and Me (Derek had already left by the time we got to these)

Mom, Grandma, and Me

By the way, my mom is wearing the necklace and earrings I gave her for Mother's Day. Every girl needs some pearls. I gave Grandma and Aunt Karen a grape tomato plant each, along with some other plants. Nothing like the gift of food!

Jeremy stayed home and did some yard work (looks fantastic!) Later that night we went out to eat with his parents at the Village Steakhouse. Love that place even though it is on the pricey side. Jeremy's gift to his mom was a James Taylor songbook to help her learn to play some of his tunes on guitar. A thoughtful gift I think. He's learning so well :)

And since I'm a mommy to my cats (don't judge), I went out on Saturday and got a replacement cell phone cover (for FREE, thank you AT&T) and a new video game (again, don't judge) as gifts for myself. All in all, a great weekend!

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I've got sunshiiiiiinnnnneeee...

Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!

Yesterday, I posted about starting an etsy store, so here's a preview:

Can't wait to do have more stuff to add to it. I've even got Jeremy in on it. I told him I was going to teach him one of the following: photography, sewing, crocheting, graphic design, or painting. Then I just decided that teaching him to crochet would be easier than anything involving the computer or artistic skill. And he went for it! I know, I was shocked too. His first crochet lesson is Sunday when he's finished with his online classes. One of which he finished last night :)

Yesterday I went in to discuss benefits and sign my life over to my new employers. They said they were excited for me to join them, but it can't compare to my excitement! I'm gonna have a huge office, my own department, a ton of creative freedom, and they're even willing to buy a new Mac for me to use! (For the record, I'm NOT a PC) The increased pay isn't too shabby either!

Another part of the process was doing a drug test. I know, luckily I kicked my cocaine habit months ago ;) Anyway, I just want to point out that there is nothing more uncomfortable than handing a complete stranger a cup of warm urine. AWKWARD!

As I was typing this, I also got some FANTASTIC news! When I put in my two weeks notice, I proposed to my supervisor that I could do what I do now from home. That way they won't be in a bind to find someone else quickly and it keeps my grandma happy (it was pretty obvious she didn't want me to quit...she also says that she's gonna pray that I don't sell my house so that I don't move further away, but that's a whole different post.) What else does this mean? Extra moolah! Never complain about that.

Speaking of extra jobs, I have another photo session this afternoon with Levi. Seriously, this kid is cute as hades. He's the little boy featured on the right side of my header. Flippin' adorable. He just turned a year old and it's time for more photos! I'll post some when they're complete...or done at all. Hopefully the weather will hold out and we'll find a good spot in Greenville.

So, if you can't tell. Life is grand right now :) I'm a happy girl!

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Just another boring Monday...

Another busy weekend that flew by WAY too fast. Spent most of Saturday driving around. Went to Jeremy's old church to get some barbeque and tomato plants they were selling (but I got them for free...let's not kid ourselves.) Then I went to get more compost for my garden from Jennifer and John's house (also delivered some barbeque.) From there, it was on to the Plum Tree Market Place to get more plants. The Barnes sell plants there and it's really interesting if you've never been. I highly recommend it. Got lots of plants for my grandmother, and a headband and grape hull conserve for myself. Finally....headed back to the house.

Forgot to take a photo of it, but I spread some of the plants around in my little flower bed. They're getting big, people! I might be a gardener after all! I'll set my self a remind to snap a pic when I get home.

After working in the yard and getting burnt (doesn't take much for me), I was on the road again, this time to deliver the plants to my grandmother. Tomatoes, cantaloupe, marigolds, and spaghetti squash <----can't wait til my own start producing :) Anyway, after helping her with some stuff around the house, I forced her to order my fav, Greg's Pizza. Seriously, I pity all of you who haven't tried ANY of the food from there. SOOOOOooooooo gooooooooddddd. While I was there, she wanted me to take a picture of the flowers in bloom. This one is her favorite. All I had was my phone, but it's not too bad.

I'm going to steal a vine of it to put at my house, she just doesn't know it yet. Well, after getting treated for my sunburn with aloe and my mammy's secret "talking the fire out," I was back in the car. This time the destination was hell Walmart. I was inspired by the headband I bought at the market to finally open up my sewing machine a year after I bought it. I have all these beautiful fabrics that I purchased that have been sitting on the shelf. So, I went to Walmart and bought elastic since I was determined to make one that night.

It's so hard to believe that I used to be able to make purses a couple of years ago, because I can't make anything now. Seriously, I had to watch the dvd that came with my sewing machine to figure out how to thread it. It was pitiful. My hard work was not in vain, however! Here's what I've made so far. Not too shabby, I think. In fact, I'm wearing the green one right now :)

Maybe the skills are coming back. I'm going to make an attempt for a camera strap tonight. Of course this will have to be right after I finish my crocheted elephant (I'm so close!) Maybe I'll have a photo to post of it tomorrow. You never know.

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