Sir...have you been drinking?

This is J's great nephew D...he is not just a state trooper. He is the "Golden Trooper".
Has anyone seen the commercial where the officer asks "Sir...have you been drinking?" The car is filled up to the window with beer...well every time I see D in this costume it reminds me of that commercial!!! So, here is every one's reminder to "Be safe this Halloween and DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

TINY DANCER…

Today is J’s Halloween Party at her school. My dad is having surgery today, so I get to dress up J and take her to school. I would not have it any other way. I have been costume headquarters this past week getting everyone’s costume ready. I grew up dancing and so I could not wait to dress J up as a BALLERINA. J is not your dainty little girl, she is more the ruff and tumble type. It is fun to watch her actions as she tries to remove the ponytail that I have just put in her hair. She really does not like her hair up. She does love to play in my make-up and say that she is PRETTY! I do not think her tights will survive the day at school, so we got an extra pair for Halloween night. I tried to get her to do a few ballet steps but instead she spun around and around until she fell down. Maybe when it is time for dance we will try tap or jazz instead of ballet. Enjoy our TINY DANCER!

J

“Winner – Not a Winner”

For those of you who have been following along since we started the blog, the trash or treasure question has been answered. I pulled off the Halloween decorations by spending less than $2.00 on the spider webs. My nephew D wanted to add a few more decorations so we dug up a few lights and he enjoyed making a pattern of white, orange, etc. He loves to ride on T’s golf cart and look at decorations. Our neighborhood has lots of people who go all out. One house has 15 – 20 blow-ups in their yard. Try to compete with that! Anyway D likes to rate the houses as we ride he will say “Winner” or “Not a Winner”. He wanted to be sure my house made it to “Winner”. That is why we added the extra lighting and silhouettes in the windows. We are riding on T’s golf cart he announces to her that she is “Not a Winner”. T has a huge crate with a gorilla inside (with a spot-light) and a pumpkin blow-up. We tell him he may need to find another ride if T is “Not a Winner”. He will not budge in his decision. He tells T that you have to at least have three things to be a winner and that she needs more blow-ups. D changes his mind the following day when he stepped inside T’s house and saw that it was full of decorations that made her a “WINNER”. Enjoy the photos and whatever game you are playing today….. I hope you are a “WINNER”! J

Zoo Field Trip

Yesterday I went to the zoo with D my great nephew. He is in 1st Grade. That should be enough said right there. D’s teacher assigned me 5 children, not so bad except that they were all boys. Boys like to run and run and run. I spent the majority of my day telling them not to run, which was a waste of my breath. They really had no interest in the animals. At one point we were the only people in the snake house and they were having a blast running and sliding on their knees. Too bad for me some young couple with their baby in a stroller had to come in and spoil our fun there. I acted like it was the first time they had done it, and of course made them stop. You know that baby could not see those snakes anyway. The zoo this time of year is decorated for the annual BOO at the ZOO fundraiser. There were lots of Halloween decorations which are used at night that were roped off. My boys took it upon themselves to ask me every time they saw a new set up if they could go in the roped off area. It did look appealing, Little Red Riding Hood at her Grandma’s house, The Three Little Pigs, etc. I found myself thinking all day ….. I WILL SURVIVE!!! I did survive, but I must have clenched my teeth a little too much with the stress of the day. At 5:00 this evening my temporary crown that I had put on Monday, fell off in my mouth. What time does your dentist close? I did not catch mine in the office and he does not work on Friday. Oh joy! I guess I WILL SURVIVE!

J

P.S. I did have to pay $14.00 to go on this Field Trip.

Be Frank...

Little C had a great birthday yesterday. Thanks to the energizer bunny named J that lives next door he had a Frankenstein cookie cake (not a Hulk one N) and his favorite requested meal...chicken and dumplings. When I was asking him what he wanted for his birthday to eat it took him 2 seconds to request chicken and dumplings from Mrs. J!!! A few months ago I thought I would try to imitate those famous chicken and dumplings. I thought how hard is it...I am a pretty good cook...well they were a flop!!! I had talked it up to the kids and they were so excited that they were going to get something for supper that they like. I followed the directions exactly I cut my dumplings in 1 inch squares just like it said, little did I know that J cuts hers in 4 inch squares. I also stirred it just a little too much. You are not supposed to stir at all. It turned out like chicken and dumpling soup with no dumplings. The kids were furious! So now they specifically request J cook it and told me to never try it again. What they don't know is that I am fine with that...:)

Little C is 10 today......

Today I don't have a child in single digits anymore. That makes me sad but at the same time happy. I love little kids and mine aren't little anymore. Yes they are still young but not "little" . When I was growing up I loved kids and babysat kids lots, all I wanted to do when I grew up was be a mom. I thank God everyday for letting that dream come true...even when some days I don't know if I am going to make it through the day with these kids.

OK...sappy story over... let's give the focus to little C...

He is our wild and crazy kid. We knew God was sending us something special when he sent him just 13 months after his brother. Often times I have told N that if we had just had our first 2 kids that our life would have been boring. I fully believe Little C came into this world to give us all... JOY! He is funny, smart, quick witted and loves to talk. He loves to repeat funny stories. One day he might work a side job as a stand up comedian. One of his favorite things to do is watch movies. Sometimes late at night when we think he is asleep he is upstairs sneaking watching movies on A and E channel. He gives himself away later because he has to tell us all of the details of the movies he watches. Little C's favorite foods right now are chips, Chee-zits, chocolate milk and chicken and dumplings. He hates to get his haircut. He loves to smoke candy cigarettes. I could go on and on....He is growing up so fast but at least he is making it a fun ride!

One of those days...

I know everybody has one of those days...
T

They change so fast…..

Tonight I transformed the face of C into “THE HULK”. He changed drastically tonight almost as much as he has changed in the last few years. He is no longer the little boy I still want him to be yelling “ BANG” while shooting his toy gun. C grew up on the street behind me. Our families enjoyed many fun days, weeks and years together. The old saying - IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD – comes to mind. C’s mom and I spent many hours being what we called “YARD DOGS”. We would sit outside our homes and watch our children play. We all had something different to contribute. One of my contributions was painting the faces at Halloween. C’s family moved a few years ago. Although we are not as close as we once were our families would run into each other every now and then. Tonight C called and wanted me to paint his face for the Senior Class Halloween Party. It seems unreal that he will be graduating this year. I was more than happy to paint his face. Never under estimate that what you are doing is important, it might be just what someone needs.

J

Winner... Not A Winner

Coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

RIP ...Barbie Jeep

Today I was trying to have a pity party. Some days you know you just feel like you can't win for losing and you get all sad and sometimes cry because you think that no one else ever feels like you do. Well, that was me today until I got a call from my friend C. She asked me if my trash man had come yet. I asked "Why"? She proceeded to tell me that as she was leaving this morning she noticed her trash had already been picked up and she had a strange feeling that they had picked up something extra today. She said that she remembered telling L, her youngest of 3 kids, to put up her jeep. L has been told this before and has not followed directions. The other day I was over there and I noticed that it looked like it was in the get-away position. In case she needed to get out fast. If you know L, you know this to be true. Later C chased down the garbage man to be sure it was gone. It was gone. Today L grew up a little in this big world. L learned a lesson. And she learned it the hard way...or did she.

DON’T DRINK & FLY –

Bunco was at my house on Tuesday. There was food and friends but I did not feel like it was a ton of fun. I like to have fun! Silly, crazy, laugh till you cry fun. My husband tells me that I need to grow up. Maybe that is what has happened to our Bunco Group, we have grown up. Maybe we need to be required to bring a dirty joke to tell, I don’t know. Maybe it was not as much fun because it was at my house. I tried to be creative. I went with the “WITCH” theme. There was a hat for everyone. T and I had a blast painting BROOMS for the prizes. I thought it was something everyone could use. Anyway it is over; I will move on and do my part to make the next one fun. I will research jokes and be ready. My youngest son wrote in his 6th grade journal that I was having Drunko at my house – I guess if we would all drink enough it would indeed make for a more exciting night.

Best Witches,
J

The ticket story...

The concert started at 7:30. We were on the way and it was 8:20. We were discussing if there was going to be any tickets outside still for sale or if we might be lucky and just be able to walk in. I have these certain friends who somehow seem to just walk in late and no one notices. I could tell J was a little nervous about the discussion about just walking in...say the VIP gate...you see she wants to be a rebel but at heart she is a rule follower. I told her that we would just see how the cards fall. We get to the parking lot and the man at the VIP gate is about to close it. We pull up and ask if we can park in there. He lets us because he says that the other lot is full. He asks if we have tickets and we say no. He lets us in anyways and says good luck. We park about 8 spaces from the VIP entrance. I look to J and say lets do it and she says nothing but has an I'm scared look. We decide not to go in as VIP's and start on a trek to the ticket gate. We encounter a few people on the way. They all just keep pointing us farther. We have to walk around a fence and then we finally got there. While we were walking I could here Jewel finishing up singing and I was getting excited. We got to the ticket window and I asked if there were any tickets still for sale and the man said yes. He said did we want best available and I said maybe. I asked how much? He said $61 for best available in section 202 or I have $13.95 tickets up top. I turn to Jackie and say let's just pay $61. She looks at me like I was crazy. She didn't know I had a plan. She wasn't on board yet. I try to persuade her...she's not budging. Then I asked the ticket guy exactly where the tickets were. I asked him could he show me the seating chart. J was catching on...after he had finally told me that the tickets were in section 202 row K seats 10 and 11. I thought for a moment and talked with J and we decided to buy the $13.95 tickets. We were in...for $13.95 and on our way to section 202 Row K and seats 10 and 11. J caught on with the plan and she has a great memory. It turned out when we got there that the whole row was open. We got lucky. They were good seats. The concert was great. Towards the end of the show J decided that we had been lucky so far that night and we went down to the front, "Groupies section". It was pretty dang neat being 3 feet from Brad Paisley as he sang his last 2 or 3 songs. After the concert we were just still standing there in awe and people were cleaning up the stage and they gave us each a guitar pick. For a moment I felt 16 again.

T

Brad Paisley ticket $13.95

2 Jumbo beers $8.00 each

Being 3 feet away

Getting a guitar pick

Having a fun night with a great friend..... PRICELESS!!!

Brad Paisley

A couple weeks ago I called T to tell her that Brad was coming to the Verizon Wireless Music Center. This is one place I enjoy going to concerts because it is outside. Well as things turned out I was going to go to Atlanta to see my son who moved there the later part of July. Long story short, I did not get to go to Atlanta. My father who has not been in the best health the last year or so had some test run and then my husband decided to trump my dad and get sick too. My husband has been home since Tuesday with severe pain in this stomach. They did an ultra-sound to check his appendix and his gallbladder. The way I knew he was really sick is he has not eaten anything since Monday night. He usually eats something every eleven minutes. I have timed him. Anyway, I felt as though I might be in the emergency room at any moment and cancelled my trip to Atlanta. So today, my husband is feeling much better, I remind T one more time that Brad is in concert tonight. Later in the day I visit her and she tells me there are no tickets. I tell her lets just go, there are always tickets, and she does not bite! I am having a little bit of a pity party. My trip is cancelled, I do not know what is wrong with my husband, and my dad is going to have to have surgery next week and so on. I come home and begin to cook for my youngest child who is home from college for a few hours. I miss him – he is so funny – it is good to laugh! As I am cooking I just can’t hold it in any longer and I have a good cry ------ and T will not even go with me to see Brad Paisley. Later while eating dinner I tell T that I have cried but I am over it. She can not believe I really was serious about going. She said, well LET’S GO! We are ready in five minutes or less and head out to see Brad. It was a great night. He is a wonderful country boy and I relate to all of his songs. I am so thankful GOD gave me a spontaneous friend; my stress level went way down if only for a few hours. What a fun night!!! (I will leave the ticket story for T)
Luv,
J

Mother of the Year Award 9-30-08

Where do I start...I have been out of commission for about a week. Lots has been going on in our house. My youngest son C was sick last week with pneumonia but he is finally getting better. My man was out of town last week for the 2nd time in a month...he never travels and I am not used to him traveling. Friday night I went to eat with friends so hopefully I could have some relax time and my middle son C comes running in and and his pinkie finger was hugely swollen. We have had lots of finger injuries with 3 boys so I was not running off to get an x-ray. Sometimes it is just a jam. You see I have already been to the orthopedic 4 or 5 times in the past few weeks for my oldest son. He hurt his knee in a 7th grade football game. He had to miss a game and some practice and that does not make him happy. He came out of the womb playing ball and that is his passion! Well the pinkie continued to be swollen and bruised all weekend. So we decided to go and get it checked out after much pushing by middle C. He feels a little left out in our familybecause both other brothers have broken things before. In his 11 years of life he has never broken a bone, so here was a chance that he might actually have broken something. N(dad) takes him to the doctor who says, "Yes it is broken and there may be some ligament damage and we might want to get an orthopedic consult". Middle C is elated. He has finally broken a bone and he gets a splint. He calls and texts on the way home. N and I discuss it later and we decide we will just wait and see on the ortho consult. We think...it's just a pinkie. Well, the trainer called yesterday afternoon from football practice and said big C had hurt his knee again and I needed to come pick him up and take him to the doctor who was waiting for us. By the way pick him up meant drive on the field and load him in the car because she didn't want to move his knee. Little C had football practice himself but middle C wanted to go with me to get big C. We get to the doctor and he finished examining big C and looks to middle C who has a splint on his pinkie and says " What happened to you?". Middle C answers "I was playing football at a friend's house on Friday night. My friend kicked the ball and it hit my finger and broke it. I told my mom and she said it was probably jammed or maybe broken and that if it got worse that we would get an x-ray later. You see my mom is real tired my dad has been out of town with his job and my brother has had pneumonia and...we you know big C's knee has been hurt for a few weeks. Well my dad took me to the doctor on Monday and they said it was broken and I probably needed and orthopedic consult but my mom and dad don't really know if I need one...but that is what happened". For those of you who know middle C know he enjoyed telling the doctor every word of that. I wanted to shrivel up and disappear but I couldn't. I silently prayed for "THE RAPTURE" to happen immediately but lately that has been a frequent prayer. The doctor said "Well while you are here let's just look at it". He did and he decided that yes it was broken and there was a torn ligament. He wanted to splint it better and leave it splinted for 4 weeks. He said "don't take the splint off except for bath time and it did not need to bend". At this point I was thinking that maybe this was more serious than we thought...and then I thought I heard him say "surgery". Yes he did say it! He said " that sometimes even after splinting for 4 weeks we have to do surgery". Middle C didn't know whether to be happy or sad at this point. I was speechless...until we got in the car on the way home. That is when I lost it...all of my frustration from the previous weeks came out. I said some things that I should not have said. I was just mad at the world. I wanted so bad for everything to be perfect. I wanted big C's knee to be well and for him to get to finish playing 7th grade football. I wanted middle C not to have to have surgery. I wanted little C to stop coughing and be feel better. Before I got home I had calmed down and apologized to both of them for the things I had said. I do think that there is one thing that my kids will grow up knowing about me and that is I am a "real" person. I tell them the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. That is just reality. They also know that parents make mistakes too and also have to ask for forgiveness. I was feeling better by the time we got home until later when Dad C got home and middle C ran to him to say "Mom really lost it on the way home and he might want to ask me all of the bad things I had said!" N just looked at me with disgust. All I could say to him was...

"On any given day all I can do is the best I can can do".

And that my friends is how I won "Mother of the Year Award for September 30, 2008".