my world

I've drove over 1000 miles this week. Today, I drove through a flat-out downpour of rain. Last week, I drove through the night to make it home for Friday morning assembly at my kid's school. Baby Girl's class led the assembly and she really wanted me there. With all this driving, I have plenty of time to think, too much really. I've always been scared to talk much about dying. I guess because the whole "guard your tongue" message and if you give an inch mentality. But last week on the way home I thought, people die every day. They don't plan it. They don't wake up one day and say, "I think I'll have a stroke or fatal car wreck today, but it happens. So, what if I don't make it home one day? Will my kids be okay, will they know how I felt, do they know what I want for them? Little Man doesn't want me to leave him to go to Walmart much less out of town on business. He always drills me . . . do you have to leave, why? When will you be bac...

I met up with Janice and friends at Hooter's in Little Rock last week. I had a blast catching up and listening to their stories of old Pentecostal days. I've got to make this post quick so I'll share my favorite story told that night. Jodie says an evangelist came to our little church on the west side fired up over the women in the congregations hairdo's. Obviously, Pentecostal women are forbidden to cut their hair. I remember Mom having REALLY long hair. She used balls of hair she called fillers to make her hair look fuller and stand higher on her head, the higher the better. Anyway, the evangelist must have thought the hair fillers as worldly because standing at the pulpit he preached, "I'll Tell You . . . Most of You Women Have More Hair in Your Drawers Than You Do On Your Head!" I about coughed up a lung laughing so hard over that one. Mom says she remembers being in that service, I wish I did. On a more serious note, another favorite was told by a fri...

I'm cold, turned on the heater in my hotel room and set the fire alarm off. No worries, the fire department is just across the road. Mom and I stayed here a couple of years ago and heard sirens all night long. I came prepared this time with ear plugs but hubby let me know I forgot my toothbrush. That ain't nothing, I forgot underwear and a bra.

I watched Great Grandma today so Grandma and Paw Paw could go to the fair. She was actually pretty good all things considered. Grandma says you have to treat her like a kid. Let her know who the boss is so I gave it my best shot. Last night, they came to the house to eat chili. It was so good. . . not sure if it was the taste, the cold weather or the fact that I didn't have to cook it. Regardless, hubby made a great chili. Anyway just before dinner, Great Grandma sneaked out of her wheelchair and fell on the tile in our entry way. She wasn't hurt, thank goodness but she won't, can't listen. She's always trying to get up on her own and therefore falls quite often. I'm not sure if that justifies my actions but today after taking her to the bathroom, I sat her on the couch, turned on the TV, and tied her to the couch. Yes, I said, Tied her to the couch. I'm not sure if she realized she was tied at first but after a short nap, she discovered our homemade seat be...

My husband is gone on a motorcycle run. Baby Girl is at Grandma's, Again. I took Little Man and his best friend to get burgers for dinner tonight. While eating, his bf asked how many car wrecks have I had. I probably should have shaded the truth some, but I didn't. I honestly can't remember the number of wrecks I've had. Dad G gave me a brand new, black Dodge Daytona for my 16th birthday. I guess my first wreck was not long after that. I was on a road, it turned and I didn't. I raced straight through a barbwire fence barely missing sleeping cows. You can only imagine what my car looked like afterwards. Wanting to spread the love, I wrecked Dad's (G) car too during my first semester in college. It was a beautiful day. I remember, I had the windows down, good music blaring and then BAM, I ate the back end of a vintage Volkswagen Bug. Did I mention, it was my college professor's car, I had just left his class. His whole bumper came off, it wasn't pretty nor...

After reading writtenwordlover's post about a survey she took on facebook, I decided to try it. It was the one, What book of the bible are you? It said she was the book Numbers. She wasn't thrilled with her result, not exciting enough. It said I'm Ecclesiastes. Here's its reasons why; You're a hardheaded realist burned once too often by the flaws of others and the emptiness of what society calls "success." Your wisdom comes from the school of hard knocks, which makes you a great advisor. You can't stand fake sunniness and social climbing; you're true, even if you're a little blue. Your eyes are clear, so without denying the reality of evil, make sure you also look at the goodness that's taking place around you. Sounds like I'm depressed, maybe so.

Forgive me, it's been over a month since my last post. Seriously, I've always wanted to go to confession. I'm not Catholic but I did go to mass a few weeks ago. It was cool, just not my thing. This past month has been crazy. Summer left without warning. I really thought we had more time, until we didn't. Although I couldn't be there because of work, the kids started school a couple of weeks ago. So far so good. Baby Girl loves the 1st grade but is not at all happy about homework. Suggested by her mother, Babygirl joined a soccer team. They are the Strikers. I know nothing about the sport but she's having a blast. It's pretty time consuming with practice every Tuesday and Thursday and games on Saturdays. Their first game is this week. I also gave permission and even encouraged her to join the Girl Scouts. She is extremely excited about camping out next month. Hubby and I are excited that the meetings take place at the school (after school) so we ...

I've never had acne, just the occasional zit or two nothing more than that. This summer I not only had acne breakout all over my face but also on my neck, chest and back. It's crazy! I've tried to figure out if it's oily skin, stress related, hormonal, some food I'm eating or just what? Little Man told me the other day, "Mom, you need to go to the doctor, I think you have chickenpox." I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

What a week! I bought school supplies. It was expensive this year. Okay, so I couldn't help buying some things not on the list of which hubby took most back. But this year, Baby Girl's teacher asked for not 1 but 4 boxes of 24 count Crayola Crayons and again not 1 but 4 boxes of Crayola Markers. So, I can read on the box that Crayola is preferred by teachers but their price versus the generic is not preferred by me. And besides, does Baby Girl really need 4 boxes of crayons? I still have her supply box from last year which has perfectly good markers and crayons in it. Hubby thinks we are supplying for others who can't or won't buy their kid's school supplies. Maybe so? My Aunt Emily is in town. We went to the mall to do some shopping. Our first and only stop was Macy's. We spent over 3 hours in that store and never made it to any of the others. Macy's has the best clearance. I found really cute costume jewelry; a ring for $6.00 and a necklace and bracelet fo...

I know it dangerous getting online 7 minutes before midnight. I've promised myself that I will quickly post this blog, faithfully turn off the computer without so much as checking my email or new facebook page. We'll see. Hubby went to a motorcycle show and poker run on Friday. He gets back late tonight. Baby Girl spent the past 2 nights at Grandma's. After making bacon and eggs for Little Man and his best friend this morning, I started cleaning house. They joined in and together we cleaned every room top to bottom. They vacuumed, dusted, wiped baseboards, window blinds and window sills. They cleaned the bathroom including toilet, tub, mirror, sink and counter, baseboards, door and scrubbed the tile floor. In the kitchen, they wiped the counter tops and again scrubbed the tile floor. They washed the wood floors throughout the house and cleaned the baseboards down the hallway and in the dining room. They gave the dog a bath and then swept the garage and the front porch. Duri...

It's Working - The lazy days of summer is definitely working for me. I love having no place to go and all day to get there. At the start of the summer, I browsed online trying to find activities (golf, bowling, tennis, art, whatever) for the kids. I looked around the house and saw projects I needed to complete. When met with the challenge of free time, my first instinct is to fill it. But after second thoughts, I've got the rest of the year to be busy, so for now a whole lotta nothing is working out just fine. Not Working - There's only 4 weeks left until the kids have to go back to school and I return to work. I just realized it this morning, my how time flies. It's Working - I weighed in this morning at 112, it's definitely working for me. Others have noticed. I'm loving it! Although the other day my son, his best friend and I were swimming when they started talking about weight, muscles (which both want, neither have) and such. His friend said that he thinks ...

Baby Girl told me that she was going to try real hard to be good so she can get to heaven. She wants to go there with Great Paw Paw, who is close to flying away, and the rest of us when it's our turn to make the trip up yonder. Until a few weeks ago, my reply would have been something like “That’s right, if you’re really good, you will go to heaven too.” After all, the road to heaven is narrow and less traveled while the other way is wide with bumper to bumper traffic. But instead, my answer was "Like Daddy and I, Jesus loves you, no matter what!" Stealing lines from a video recently emailed to me, I said, "Jesus won’t love you more if you’re real good and won’t love you less if you’re real bad. He loves you no matter what and so do I."  At church, I learned His love, grace, blessings, and salvation are not based on works, well that and John 3:16. I remember making fun of the Jehovah Witnesses because they'd work so hard for what they can't bu...

I'm such a jerk! Last Wednesday night while hanging out around the pool with Mom, Dad and Janice, hubby calls to tell me that we have to leave in the morning for Colorado. His grandpa is in the hospital and the doctors are only giving him 24 to 48 hours left to live. We had already planned to go for a visit later in the week but under the circumstances needed to get there ASAP. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to the trip and although I had nothing planned, I was not at all excited about leaving early. The thought of his parents, Great Grandma, the kids, hubby and I packed like sardines in my van for 12 hours straight just didn't appeal to me. In fact, I was convinced it would be nothing short of pure torture. And how we were going to get every one's luggage plus Great Grandma's wheelchair in the back would be a feat in itself. Knowing that most of the family would be flying or driving in, I was also worried about the sleeping arrangements. I asked hubby's...

I'm in Colorado listening to Baby Girl run through the house yelling the alarm, "Great Great Grandma, Great Great Grandma is getting up!" I'm in the next room and feel responsible for checking on her but just plain don't want to. More times than not, I try to help Grandma with Great Grandma. Like tonight after dinner, everyone was sitting around the table talking. Great Grandma can't get up on her own but does anyway and thus falls alot. She started trying to get up from the table wanting to go to the living room. Maybe she wanted to watch TV, have a change of scenery, or like me, had enough of the table talk. Just before she made her move out of the chair, everyone started talking politics. Lord help us. One asked if we'd heard the North Koreans are going to test their nuclear weapons on us 4th of July. Tribulation is next week and I haven't even got a fallout shelter or rapture beans, beer and Band-Aids ready. Another said that scientists say the yea...

There's a fine line between protective and paranoid when it comes to your kids. Baby Girl wanted to play with a little girl from school this summer. This girl's mom does not come to school functions so I haven't had the opportunity to get to know her like some other moms. However, her daughter seems nice enough so before the school year ended, I got their phone number. I called last week and invited the little girl over to swim. I hoped her mom would hang out too so I could get to know her, but no such luck. She dropped her daughter off and left. When I took the little girl home, her and her husband invited Baby Girl to spend the night. I made up some lame excuse and said maybe next time. Baby Girl was furious! The mom said to give her a call and next time the girls could play at her house. Yesterday, after listening to my daughter beg for hours, I called the mom and set up a play date. I should have stayed and took the opportunity to get to know her but I was suppose to me...

I have NOT spoken much to the other two couples who went to Mexico with us. I have NOT done much of anything this week. Honestly, I feel like crap. Serves me right for such immoral, irresponsible, immature behavior. I complained some to my husband of stomach issues but would NOT whine to my friends who had to put up with my drunk, stupid ass in Mexico. We met my husband's parents and one of the above couples for dinner tonight. She brought up that they both had not felt well this week. She went on to describe the same symptoms I had. I called the other couple after dinner to find that both she and her husband have also had the same symptoms all week long. On the way home, I did NOT go to the minor emergency. The nurse did NOT ask if I might be pregnant, God Forbid. I told her, "NO chance, my husband is fixed." She did NOT proceed to tell me that a former patient had it done, his grew back and his wife ended up pregnant. Wondering why the hell she's telling me all this...

A friend in the blogging world will sometimes write posts simply titled, "I did NOT . . ." I love reading these posts and think it's the best way to blog about certain events that did NOT take place on my trip to Mexico. I'm not sure I really even went to Mexico but if I did I most certainly did NOT spend 8 days and nights in a beautiful villa in Puerta Vallarta living the lifestyles of the rich and famous where the likes of Mel Gibson, Vin Diesl and Wynnona Ryder stayed. I'm sure it's just all an incredible dream. I did NOT sleep in the same bed as the gorgeous Vin Diesl and speaking of dreams (no worries honey), I definitely did NOT even once have a dream about that Fast and Furious Heart-throb. I did NOT have breakfast with fresh fruit, eggs, toast, bacon and fresh squeezed orange juice served to me each morning and a beautiful dinner cooked for me each night. I did NOT have a personal waiter whose sole purpose was to continually bring me Mango Margaritas, ...

Dad forwarded this email to me. I've now watched it several times. It's awesome! It's Steve Harvey, the comedian, at the end of his comedy routine. The subject is: "How Would You Introduce Christ to a Room Full of People?" For a moment, you'll forget he's a comedian and not a preacher, and this is an audience and not a congregation. It's really powerful, check it out! It's at the very bottom of my blog. (You'll have to stop my music to hear him)

This is the life. I swear, I could get use to this. We've had breakfast made for us each morning. Maria, our cook, is awesome. She's made huevos rancheros , french toast and a huge bowl of bacon and fresh fruit. All of it is sooo good, but I pretty much concentrate on the Kiwi, Strawberries, Bananas and Pineapple. Oh, and the fresh squeezed orange juice will totally spoil you too. We've spent the days on the beach drinking margaritas and eating chips, guacamole and salsa. Friday afternoon, Sam saw the ocean for the first time and together we stuck our feet in officially kicking off the week of fun. Saturday and Sunday, we stayed on the beach in Mesmolya which is just down from our villa. Ramone was our beach bartender last time we were in Puerta Vallarta . He's not there anymore so we found a new bartender or I should say, she found us. Brenda took us to Margaritaville with Mango and Strawberry Margaritas and even a couple shots of Tequila . Sunday, yo estoy muey...

Hola , from beautiful Puerta Vallarta ! It's almost 1am, everyone is asleep and I'm stretched out on the sectional in the living room. The front side of this room is completely open with the infinity pool and ocean in perfect view, couldn't get away with this at home, we'd be attacked by June Bugs and Mosquitos . The waves are crashing into the rocks below like soft music playing as I type on my laptop. I can see the shadows from the alter of rocks emerging from the ocean with soft lights of the city way off in the distance. There's a dive boat that's been puttering around for the last hour. I watched the diver's flashlights cutting through the water from our room's balcony for the last hour. Year's ago, I scuba dived in Florida during the day and at night. We arrived here just after lunch today. I had major anxiety the first time I experienced the airport here. I wasn't expecting that reaction, but the realization of being in a foreign countr...

When pulling up my blog, Carlton Pearson started singing. I wish I could go back to those Higher Dimensions days if not but for 1 service. What an amazing church, probably won't ever be another like it. It's kinda sad, I think I attended the best church of my life as a teenager. I totally dug the praise and worship but unfortunately tuned out for most of his sermons and when I was listening, I was too young and dumb to get even half of his jokes. The memories I do have are great. Now those days, just like that song, is gone and Rod Stewart is singing "You're in my heart." Gotta love the irony. Tonight, Little Man watched the new James Bond movie with daddy while I painted Baby Girl's nails a glittery purple color that she picked out at Walmart . I stink at painting nails I guess due to lack of experience. I've bit my nails for the majority of my life. As I painted trying desperately to smooth out the clumps at the tips of her nails, she offered encourageme...

Growing up, I played ball. What I lacked in natural ability, I like to think I made up with in heart. Still all those basketball, softball, volleyball and even football games compares nothing to watching Baby Girl play, that tops it all. In talking with friends tonight as our kids roasted marshmallows for smores (Baby Girl kept calling them snores) around a campfire, he said that he never could imagine one of his kids not being athletic. He got a athletic scholarship in college and now is a coach. His wife also got a athletic scholarship and is still active today. How would either one of them enjoy or even relate to a non athletic child? Welp , they got the chance to answer that question after the birth of their first child. The second child is a natural athlete but not the first. Shocking him, he quickly learned that he would feel no difference between the two. He loves watching one excel in sports but feels the same pride and adrenaline rush when watching his first performing in ...

i love this book. I just finished reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Oh my gosh, it was awesome. I loved the movie but love the book even more. Books like that really make me want to write. I love my playlist. When working at my desk, I listen to the songs on my blog. My husband does not love my music so much but suffers through the songs anyway. I didn't realize the kids listened but the other day I was watching Baby Girl play on the swing set. She was singing Carlton Pearson's song , Catch on Fire . Her version was . . . "I wish somebody's pants (instead of soul) would Catch on Fire, Catch on Fire, Catch on Fire . . ." She had me cracking up. I love BlogPatrol that keeps track of the number of visitors to my site. It also gives cool info like most visited post, the time of day visited, search engines used to find blog and more. So far this week, I've had 19 people visit from the U.S., 1 person from Iceland and 1 from India. Can you belie...