Happy Birthday Mia Bella

Today is Mia Bella's first birthday. She is my brother's granddaughter; Tonya's daughter. I pray that she had a very happy first birthday.

Vance woke me up early. I was sleeping so good and I really didn't want to get up. But, I did want to vote today, so I got up and stumbled around getting ready. I left the house around 7:45 - way too early on a Saturday morning. I got there, walked right in, voted, went to Hardee's and was back at the house within 30 minutes. I worked on the pictures I took at church last night. Google just would not upload them, so I switched to Internet Explorer and zipped right through it. Been having trouble with Google a lot lately. It just runs so slow.

Around 1:00, I went to ToysRUs and bought a gift card for Swayde. Penny bought him a NintendoDS, so I got a gift card so he can buy a game. I didn't have any idea what game he would want. Love those gift cards! When I was growing up, you were considered very uncaring and unimaginative if you gave money instead of buying a present.Not anymore, thank goodness. I always loved it when Vance gave me money for Christmas. The sales in January just can't be beat and I could get so much more for my money.

I decided to ride downtown with the intention of taking pictures, but there was way too many people milling around. I remembered a conversation a couple of us had the other day about something very historical that happened right here in Panama City. I knew there was a book about it because I had seen a movie. You may not know this fact, but a man named Gideon (Clarence Gideon I think), was charged with breaking into the Bay Harbor Bar and stealing the money out of the cash box. He was a poor man and could not afford a lawyer, so he was sent to jail. While in jail, he fought to get a law passed so that a poor person would have representation by an attorney when they were charged with a crime. Attorney Fred Turner took his case and got him off. There never was any hard evidence against him in the first place. Because of this case, a person now has a right to an attorney if they can't afford one. Isn't that cool? The name of the book and movie - Gideon's Trumpet. Look it up for yourself on the internet. Fred Turner went on to be a judge here in Bay County. I decided if anybody had the book, it would be Books by the Sea Bookstore. So, I went in there and started looking around. I was looking at a book about Millville - where I went to elementary school - when I felt something touch my leg. I looked down and there was a beautiful golden retriever sniffing my jeans. She could tell I've got dogs. I bent down and petted her. Such a sweet dog. She finally got tired of me and followed somebody else that came into the store. I walked around for awhile and ran into a man who was petting the dog. We struck up a conversation about dogs and then started talking about God. This man, he later introduced himself as Jimmy, lives at the Rescue Mission and he goes to a class that Alan (from our church) teaches. I guess we must have shared about the Lord for a good 20 minutes. Then, two other guys from the Rescue Mission finished buying their books and they all left together. I talked to the lady who runs the store and tried to describe the book to her. She knew what I was talking about, but we looked all over the store and couldn't find the book. She said she could order it for me, so I left my name and phone number. I know I could get it cheaper from Amazon.com, but I'd rather support a local mom/pop bookstore that a big franchise.

Left there and went to Chad's to hang out until it was time to take the kids to Swayde's birthday party at the bowling alley. We got there and Swayde wasn't even there yet. Neil had him, so they were late. There were four kids, including Swayde, so four adults decided to play, too. Not me. I took pictures, really bad pictures. I used my Sony camera and it has a delay, so any movement causes blur. You set it on the action setting and it's too dark. So, I got a lot of blurry pictures and a few good ones. This camera is great for stationary objects, but not kids. My Canon needed to be recharged, so I couldn't use it. Hope beat the three boys. She was so excited. She would run back to me and want to know her score as soon as she bowled. Tiffaney was helping her line up the little ramp. The boys bowled without the ramp, but she can't pick up the ball. Of course, Tiffaney was beating all of us adults when she was five and she didn't use a ramp or gutter bumpers. She beat the adults today, too. They all had a lot of fun; that's what counts. Chip and Angie came after Mia's party. They said she was so cute. Wish I could have gone to her party, too; but I can't be everywhere. Wish I could - I'd be in Tallahassee, too, checking on Fox.

Michelle called while we were at the bowling alley. They are back from their visit in Orlando. She said they wrapped Fox in toilet paper and he went out as a mummy for Halloween. I bet he was the cutest mummy out there! Can't wait to see the pictures.

It was after 6:00 when we got through at the bowling alley. I took the kids home and was talking to Chad when my hubby called. He wanted me to go to Captain D's and get supper, so back across town I went.