Melissa's Page

Revision to 4th Entry

2008-07-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I spoke to my parents today and come to find out, there is some incorrect information on my previous entry about the Moody's 4th of July party. What was written was that a little under two hundred people came to the party. This, come to find out, is wrong. The official count of the people they know of is 205. However, we are aware that people brought people we don't know and did not tell us (no complaints, glad they all came!) so the count is even higher. We have no idea what that number would be however. So, to brag on my parents I wanted to make sure that the correct information was written. Thanks again Mom and Dad for a fabulous party. Can't wait till next year!!

Independence Day

2008-07-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, and even for those that do not, the 4th of July is a BIG, HUGE deal for my side of the family, especially my dad. For the past 20 years, the Moody family has put on a monstrous party. I mean HUGE. It takes my parents three to four weeks to get ready for this enormous gathering. And that is with help. What is awesome about this Moody tradition is that it all started when I was 7 and we had 9 people, including the four Moody's, at my parents land (we did not even have a house built at that time). We popped fireworks and ate food from a cooler. In fact, I bet there are still char marks on the concrete under the house from that year. Well, from there it certainly has grown. As of last year, the most attendance we have ever had was 125 people, which is nothing to be upset about and we were even impressed with that number at the time. Well, I do not know if it was because of the 4th being on Friday or due to gas prices and people not traveling but I am proud and a little impressed to say that attendance this year was just a bit under 200 people. Here are some pictures of the line and please remember, it is not the entire line!
In fact, the running joke of the day was that my parents were feeding Abilene that night. My mother kept saying that Dad was not in charge of the invitation list next year. He just kept grinning and loved every minute. Mom also, while calm and not worrying too much, said she kept thinking about the story of Jesus feeding all the people with just a little fish and bread and how she was praying that all their food would just stretch and stretch. (And I am happy to say it did!) Here is one happy girl that attended the party with a smile and hungry stomach. Love you Tay-Tay!! Another awesome thing was that my dad was interviewed by the Abilene Reporter News to find out his tips on how to put on a great fireworks show. The whole article was great but I must admit my favorite part was when Dad was quoted saying that he suggests not using these things to light the firecrackers called "punks" because they are hard to keep lit. Instead, he recommends using . . . a blow torch. You would have to know my Dad but that is the perfect example of Clark Moody. Just go for the blow torch. That is great advise. You can't make this stuff up! Here is Pop with the torch and some other pictures of him in his prime blowing things up and playing with fire. (He probably wouldn't want me to be typing this but during the fireworks show, he actually blew up that torch. I am pretty sure that he lost some arm hairs over that blow up. However, you would never know it because the show must go on! He just kept rocking on like nothing. That's Dad!!!)
Another thing that was new and handy this year was the road blockers, wagon wheel benches (that Dad designed and built himself) and putting green. My father has projects going on all the time and this is the latest addition to the property. My brother-in-law is a jailer here in town and he borrowed the road blockers and cones for traffic control. When Abilene comes to your house, you must have parking accommodations. Otherwise, someone could get hurt (Hello Scott! :-) )
So I decided to help by making a list (that I observed from the pros) for if you want to throw a party for 200 people or Abilene: **Warning: this is not a complete list but I got tired of writing stuff down as there was just WAY too much stuff but this will at least get you started.***

13 briskets

20 tomatoes

8 green peppers

11 onions

8 gallons of ice cream

84 hot dogs and buns

8 sausages

16 cornbread packages

10 pounds red potatoes

12 cucumbers

1 gallon mayo

20 cans of corn

30 ounces of Fritos

8 boxes of pasta salad

18 dozen rolls

30 gallons of tea/lemonade

12 peach cobblers (pictured are eight of the twelve that were cooked)

And the last and most important thing is a WHOLE LOT OF FIREWORKS!!! Before the party, many members of my family gather around and untie the fireworks so they are ready to light when needed. Here is one of the many many boxes that we untied. And the other picture is the finished product of when everything was untied. And no, this is so not all of them. These are just the smaller ones.
The next picture is the trailer of big fireworks that Dad lays out in the field. My dad means business!!!
And these are all of those fireworks placed out strategically in the field. After 20 years, my father has it down. Sprinklers in the field in case of fires, buckets of water in case of fires and extra blow torches to make fires. What more do you need? The show lasts more than an hour and even though I know I am biased, I think it is the best in Abilene and competes (okay stomps/kills/tramples) with the competition around town. Love you Mom and Dad and thanks for putting on a great show and party every year!!!And, if you were the 12 people that did not come this year, make sure to put it in your calendar now and come next year because, of course, you missed out on a great time. But not to worry, you can guarantee another one come July 4th. Let's try and beat 200 next year!!! (Somewhere across town my father just busted out in a big grin and my mother is looking for that invitation list and a match . . . ).

NFL Players the Sequel

2008-06-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well, day two was not as exciting as the bowling night but still was fun. Definitely came home with more adrenalin on Monday but it was still fun.

On Tuesday, we went to Cooper for the charity basketball game that consisted of Cooper coaches playing Dominique Rhodes (number 34) and some other people he knew (like his brother who is standing to the right of Rhodes in the picture of the guys in white Cooper jerseys).

The even was a lot less formal than I anticipated. Jason spoke with the gentlemen that seemed to run the event from the night before and he told my husband to come after the game and get the jersey (pictured). We did so, and got Rhodes to sign it after the game. Even though the event was not what I expected, it was still very fun. Rhodes and Daniel Manning had run a football and cheerleader camp during the day. Every time the basketball players fouled (and even sometimes when they did not but the referees made things up to call a foul), instead of the players shooting from the free throw line, some children that signed up would come and make the shots. It was so cute to see these little kiddos getting so excited, even if they did not make their shots. They players would even pick up some of the smaller girls and hold them near the basket for a better chance.
Overall, the event was fun and I think Rhodes made some good money for his charity. He even auctioned off other Colt player's jerseys (thus the line of jerseys). Peyton Manning's jersey went for $300!

Another thing that was funny is that the two teams tied 66 all!

This is the jersey that Jason won on Monday night. Doesn't he look like a football player! And to prove it is authentic, here is a picture of the Rhodes' autograph. All-in-all, we had a great two days. Who would have known buying two little tickets to go bowling would have caused such an eventful two days. I'm going bowling more often!

(Please forgive the picture setup. I still do not know how to do this so if anyone has instructions on how to make the pictures look right with the words, please help!)

Fantastic Bowling Night June 23, 2008

2008-06-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well holy smokes, did the Favia's have a terrific day today! Jason and I went to an event this evening that was given by Dominique Rhodes, the Colts NFL player that went to Cooper High School here a few years ago, to raise money for Abilene. The event was held at PrimeTime and about 100 people showed up to the event. Well, not only was Rhodes there, a Chicago Bears player, Daniel Manning, also came to the event. Well, for the two people on the planet who don't know this, Jason is a HUGE, MONSTROUS Bears fan. I mean, ENORMOUS.

Well, to tell this tale, I will start at the very beginning. We pull up to the parking lot and Jason says, "Oh my gosh. That's Dominique Rhodes." I had no idea what he looked like (I did know his name though so I think that counts for something). Well then, my husband about fell out of the SUV when he squeals, "OH MY GOSH. That's Daniel Manning!" So we park close to where the players are standing. Jason gets out of the SUV and walks around to where I was standing and Mr. Manning says, "Sup" to Jason, who returned the same greeting. Well, I thought I was going to have to take my husband to the hospital due to a heart attack, he was so excited, and he grinned from ear to ear.

So we get some food and were totally star-struck, watching the NFL players give autographs and take pictures with fans. So we begin to bowl, which was the whole point of the fund raising event. The rules were that every time someone bowled a strike or a spare, we had to go up to Mr. Rhodes and get a card (from a deck of cards). After two games, the person with the best poker hand would win a prize (top three adults and top three kids win a prize).

So let me pause there and say that during the games, I observed both football players just having fun and enjoying their fans. The kids had a ball, jumping all over the players and talking to them. The players also made their rounds, talking with adults that came to the event as well. Well, Jason wore his Urlacher's jersey, a Bears middle line backer (and yes, I did have to ask Jason what his position was). So during one of the games, Daniel Manning came over to Jason and says "Hey Urlacher". The two struck up a conversation and Jason was eating it up and loving every minute. Well, being the dork I am, I gush over my husband's obsession for the Bears and how he is from Chicago. I then asked if I could be a nerdy wife and get a picture with the two of them. And Mr. Manning obliged. Here is the photo. Isn't Jason cute! Wait, he would not be happy I wrote that . . . isn't he manly? The other one is a time that both Daniel Manning and Jason were bowling at the same time. (Jason is on the far right and Manning is on the far left). He was really really nice and down-to-earth.

So anyways, back to the story of bowling. At the end of the two games (I bowled one of the best games I have ever had, a 123, which I was way excited about), I ended up with a full house, fives over jacks. Jason also had a full house, kings over aces. So we turn our cards in and waited for the results. Well, they announced the kid's winners first and it was too funny watching all of the little kids get so jealous of the first place winner who gets a signed autographed football tomorrow night at the fund raising basketball game that is being held at Cooper High School.

Then the adults were announced. The third place was announced who received an 5X7 autographed picture of Dominique Rhodes. Then the second place winner, who received an 8X10 autographed picture of Dominique Rhodes and an 8X10 autographed picture of Daniel Manning was announced. And the winner was Melissa Favia! I could not believe it! What a great feeling. By the way, Rhodes picture says "To: Melissa" on it and Manning's picture says "Good Job Bowling".

Well, after winning second place, I knew then what that meant. Jason had a better hand than I did! So first place was announced and sure enough, Jason Favia won! He about had to be picked up off of the ground due to amazement and excitement! He won an autographed jersey from Dominique Rhodes! Well, the next fifteen minutes or so were spent schmoozing with NFL players, like it was nothing. Manning actually shook our hands and gave us both a congratulatory hug! They kept saying how they couldn't believe a husband and wife team won first and second. Mr. Manning also told Jason he expected him to be at the Texans game this fall from the conversation they had earlier in the evening (Greg and Bobbie, we are going to need a place to stay . . . hint hint!) Jason got to talk with them for several minutes, which was exciting for him and fun to watch for me because of how excited Jason was. So anyways, we left on cloud nine and can't wait until tomorrow night when we will attend the charity basketball game. Jason will be presented his jersey during half-time. You better believe that I will be taking the "proud wife" pictures and posting more about the events tomorrow night so stay tuned!

My Tay-Tay

2008-06-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

I was looking through the pictures on my computer today and got to looking at my cousin's daughter, Tayler. As you may (or may not) know, my family has helped to raise Tayler since she was about three months old. Jason and I, as well as my sister and her husband, my parents and my dad's sister, Judy, have all had a hand at raising this fantastic child. I have joked many times that she will either be the best behaved little girl, or need so much therapy, it is not even funny. Well anyways, Tayler is now, as she would tell you, 5.8 years old (her birthday is in October) and while she stays with her mother most of the time in the Dallas area, we still get to care for her every now and then. Jason and I will keep her some as she LOVES to spend the night, and at her last visit to the Favia's house, we took some pictures. Looking at these makes me happy, but also a little sad because of how fast she has grown. It seems like it was just yesterday she was still crawling around the house. Here are some pictures of Tayler when she was little.

Is she not adorable! Man I love that little girl!!

She was SO little. And SO cute!

She loves her Jason!

And then there is Tayler now . . . so big and grown up.

We still like to have fun though!

And she still loves her Jason!

And Tayler, we LOVE you too.

The Zoo

2008-06-13T19:26:00.001-07:00

It is summer time and for me, that means two words: Summer camp. While I look forward to this time every year, I am certainly ready for school to start come August. I love summer camp, everyone knows it, but it is very stressful at times because there is always a risk of not seeing all of the clients for the month which means the possibility of fines for the company, which adds stress. Therefore, one has to be extremely organized and sometimes pushy to get everyone scheduled. Getting ahold of parents can be a pain and I have become very good at calling every day to reach some of them. I have found that becoming a pain in the backside will get phone calls returned. However, there are a lot of ups as well. I only see one kiddo in the morning and one in the afternoon which is much different than seeing six kids (on average) for an hour every day. It is weird sometimes to think that I see my clients the same number of times all summer that I do in one month of school. They just are seen more at one time of course during the summer. Anyways, this setup does make it harder because there is no down time during the summer. I will often crave Fridays because it is the "office day" but usually I don't even get a full 8 hours of alone time because I will have worked a lot more during the week and overtime is not good to turn in too often. However, it sounds like I am complaining, which I am not at all. I really do enjoy the summer. It is a nice change of pace and the kids really like it. Jason has a hard time feeling sorry for me during the summer when I complaining about being tired from the day which will often include things like bowling, going to the park, Mr. Gattis, Fantasy World, Prime Time and going to my boss's ranch, just to name a few. He will ask me why I am tired and I don't get the sympathy I am looking for when I saw, "went bowling and drew pictures all afternoon". I just don't understand it! :-) Anyways, another place I will take the kids is the zoo. I took a little one earlier this week and had a blast! Abilene has a new snake exhibit and since my kiddo was a little boy, I don't know, call me sexist but boy . . . snakes . . . it seemed to be a good idea. Well, I tell you what, I don't know who had more fun, him or me. We went in the morning, which meant that the animals were actually awake and looking alive instead of laying there wishing that death would come instead of having to lay in the heat. I have been to the zoo, I don't know how many times, and I have never seen the bears actually awake and the peacock was amazing. The best part for me (who knows what the child liked, I was too busy looking at the animals to ask) was in the snake exhibit. No, it was not the 120 pound python named Alice that was my favorite. It was the cobra, who is new to the zoo and was not a happy camper that day. He was in his snake trance/fighting snake position, looking at all of the visitors, ready to strike. It was very neat to watch. I could not help but sing the song one thinks of when cartoons show cobras. You know what I am talking about: Da da daa da da da da da daa da da daa. The snake even swayed a little back and forth. Well, I overheard the zoo keeper tell someone that if he did not settle down soon they would have to close his exhibit for the snake to calm down because they were afraid he would hurt himself trying to strike the people (but really striking the glass and either killing himself or getting one major headache). When we checked back later (okay really when I made my kid follow me back to the snakes), they had paper over the glass. I guess the snake did not calm down. Anyways, I had a lot of fun. I attached some pictures of the animals. On a side note, this is obviously the first time I have added pictures so please forgive the format as I am trying to figure this all out! Oh, and you know I could not add pictures of animals without adding my little lioness. She was playing at Granna and Pappy's house in the picture. Too funny, that Fluffie of mine!

Rational thoughts

2008-05-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know if it was any interesting reading but I will admit, I like the blogging thing. I am ADD and my mind always is running 90 to nothing. Here is a place to let some of the thoughts out. For instances, I read today the top 10 smartest animals are:
1. Human (well I hope so!)
2. Chimp (98% like the human)
3. Dolphins
4. Elephants
5. Cephalopods (Octopi, Squids, Cuttlefish)
6. Crows
7. Squirrels
8. Dogs
9. Cats
10. Pigs (who do not have sweat glands which is why they roll in the mud)
Betcha did not pick some of those animals as smartest! I know I sure did not.

As I wrote about yesterday, I observe all kinds of things, I am very very visual. Well today's latest odd observation: I was at a school visiting one of my kiddos and in the restroom was a trashcan made of a cat liter tub. Very inventive I would say!

So some movies I am really looking forward to seeing . . . if not some that I am becoming totally obsessed about:
Made of Honor (definitely one that Jason will not be going to!)
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (loved the first one)
The Dark Knight (the movie I am obsessed with seeing! I LOVE psychological movies and Ledger's performance looks FANTASTIC. I am so sad that he is not here to hear all of the praise about his performance. Definitely am planning on seeing this the day it comes out.)

So I finished school a week ago but something that I learned towards the end of the semester that really stuck with me was in my Assessment class. It was based on Ellis' theory of irrational and rational thoughts. How it began was my professor asked for a female volunteer so stupidly, I raised my hand. He walked over and asked for my hand. Again, stupidly I gave it to him. He then preceded to squeeze the muscle in between the thumb and first finger. You know which one i am talking about that hurts really bad when it hits the correct tendon. Anyways, sure enough he hit it just right and it hurt like crap. I pulled my hand back. Well actually, I pushed his hand away from mind (forget the professor title, it hurt!), screamed out "ouch that hurt!" and probably had a horrible expression on my face. Well, he then precedes to ask me why I was upset. Well duh, that hurt. He goes on to explain that people learn from negative experiences. It got me to thinking, why is that? Why can't human beings choose the right things to do, eat, and live by? Why do we have to do it wrong? So anyways, professor goes on to explain that Ellis' irrational thoughts includes words as "should, ought, must, have to" and when we use these words, we are setting ourselves up to fail. And with his example of squeezing my hand he asked me why I got so upset with him. (I am thinking because my hand is throbbing moron!) Then he says to me, why should believe that professors should not inflict pain on students? Why is that my irrational belief? If we use what Ellis calls "rational thoughts", which include words as "prefer, wish, want", such as we "prefer" something to happen, and it doesn't, well we are not disappointed. Back to the example, if I had just "preferred" that professors not inflict pain, I would not have gotten so upset when it happened. It got me thinking about my kids from work. I get so upset, disappointed really, with them when they do something that in my opinion is bad. It is because I believe they should or should not do something or they ought out to do things a certain way and when they do not do it, I get upset. Setting myself up to fail really. Where if I changed my thoughts to where I preferred they did things certain ways, if it does not happen, I am not let down because it is just a preference. Anyways, it just really clicked with me (like I went home from class that night charged and comprehending the class's discussion, not totally bored and ready for bed like usual) and since then, there have been several occasions where I remembered this lesson due to a situation. Anyways, just food for thought. Well, food for rational and irrational thought I guess.

I guess this lesson will be all for the day. Although, while my kids were doing activities today, I was brain storming about all the oodles of things that I could make you read about . . . . more later!

First Time Blogger

2008-05-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Well, after having several friends who have blogs that I read regularly, I asked myself "why should they get to have all the fun?" So, here we go!

I guess the biggest news of the day is that I received my report card in the mail from my 6th semester of grad school. (I am getting my master's of education degree in Counseling). I am thrilled to report that I have continued my 6th semester of straight A's and am carrying a 4.0 GPA. This is a huge deal because my undergrad GPA. . . well not so much. A lot of science classes (before I decided what I wanted to do when I grew up and changed my major) really messed that up. This semester was probably the longest and definitely the hardest and busiest I have had so far. However, probably one of the more enjoyable, especially the Assessment class I took. I learned about administering different achievement and aptitude tests (thank you to all who agreed to be my guinea pigs during the semester!). I must admit, my favorite to give is the IQ tests. It is fun to administer and taking the test (I have done both) but I will confess, it is far less frustrating being the person giving the test than the one taking it. Anyways, all of this to say I am very proud of my 4.0 and even more thrilled that the semester is over and I have three beautiful months off of school. My job prevents me from taking summer classes and I am not complaining because I have discovered that I am a better person with time off.

I have been, for the last four weeks, taking a sign language class and before getting confused, let me explain that the class is through work, is only eight weeks long, and includes no homework. It is more like a training that is an hour a week for eight weeks. It has been surprisingly enjoyable and I have learned quite a bit.

A little bit about me:

Faith: I am a proud believe in God and attend Highland Church of Christ. I have gone there my entire life and enjoy going there. I am always interested in learning and growing as a Godly Christian woman.

Family: I can proudly say that next month I will celebrate six years of marriage with my husband, Jason. What an accomplishment! Where has the time gone? It just seems like yesterday that we were walking down the aisle, saying "I do." We have a four and a half year old white Persian cat, Fluffie Fiona, who is absolutely fantastic. She is a snot, has terrible social skills, thinks she rules the house and I would not have it any other way. She recently though, has had some health issues as she developed an allergy and was "stressed" when I rearranged her room. This caused her fur to fall out all over her body in big patches. In the movie "Steel Magnolias", the character Weezer has a Saint Bernard that is balding and spotted. Fluffie has looked like that the last several months but I am happy to report that the stress has eased, the vet helped with an allergy shot and fur is growing back so she is not looking so much like a connect the dots puzzle. As I type, she is laying on top of a pile of papers on my desk sleeping. I love my cat!! My other "child" Lille Mae is my year old basset hound. She is definitely a dad's girl and is too much fun. It is funny. Basset hounds are supposed to be fat lazy wrinkly dogs, many of the reasons I like them as they are low maintenance, but have either of the bassets that I have owned been that way? Heck no! Daisie Mae, my first basset, was small framed and very active. Just like Lillie. And boy does Lillie like to run! She is just a happy dog with a great personality and a lot of energy.

Jobs: Child and Adolescent Rehab Case Manager at the Betty Hardwick MHMR Center. I work with mentally ill children and adolescents, their families and schools with skills training and case management. I have been at the BHC for four years (where has the time gone?) and I love my job. It is so satisfying to work with children and see them learn and grow. I love that I am able to help and be a positive influence in their lives, when so much of the kiddos lives is negative. I have said lately that I should have made a list when I started of all of the funny things that the kids have said. The most recent was with a new child. I asked him if it was ok that I come see him during his lunch time and his responded with "well, it's a date!" I was rolling. You can't make this stuff up! No, Jason was not jealous, just in case you were wondering.

I also am an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay and I love it. Where I get to play with kids during the day, at night, I get to dress up and help women feel beautiful and empowered. I have been selling MK for a little over a year and it is fabulous.

Other things: I have always noticed odd things and love reading and learning new information. Weird things, miscellaneous information. Odd thing of yesterday: Saw a corvette on the road and the license read "Cool Vet". Really? Really? I mean . . .

I also saw the oddest looking car today driving to the office after sign language class. It was probably the smallest car I have ever seen. It was a box. A clown car. I wondered how many people would come out of it when the door was opened. I am not sure of the make and model but I am determined to find out what it was because it was too funny looking.

Ok, I definitely think that is enough for tonight but I believe this blogging thing is going to be fun. I do not guarantee anything fun or interesting, but hey read anyways and let me know what you think!