Five Things...

Five Things You May Not Know About Me...

1. My hair fell out when I was a baby and it didn't grow back until I was almost two years old.  My parents and grandmother got really tired of people calling me a boy... Apparently they did so even when I was wearing a dress!  

It was starting to come back in here.  I now have a head full of very thick hair though my dad, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction... 

2. I have Thalassemia Minor that I did not find out I had until I was pregnant with my second baby.  I was always told I was iron deficient when that was not the case.  I'm basically a carrier of Thalassemia, a blood disorder that is life threatening if you actually have the Major version.  Turns out my dad has it too and so do both my boys.  About half of our red blood cells are normal and the other half are abnormal. Physical endurance can be challenging.  

3. I didn't go to kindergarten because I was so shy and it was optional back then. 

4. Anytime I have to have more than a vial or two of blood drawn, I get very lightheaded, begin to hear ringing in my ears and come within an inch of passing out though I have never actually gone through with it...the passing out, I mean.  

5. I have two creases where my arm bends.  Well, there's the one where it bends like everyone else has but then there is an extra one below it.  I had never met anyone else who has this extra crease until Dracen came along.  He has it too though his is not as defined. 

Five Things I'm Knowledgeable About...

1. Dachshunds.  Surprise!  There's not much I don't know about those beloved little long dogs.  

2. Arranging flowers.  I was, after all, a florist for four years and it's just one of those things that came easy and has stuck with me. 

3. Movies from the late 80s/early 90s.  There are very few of them I have not seen and I have been known to quote lines from many of them at random.  

 4. Online dating.  I had it down to a science when I met Charlie.  

5. The stages of grief.  

Five Things I Know Nothing About...

1. Operating heavy machinery.  I mean, you know, other than a car.  

2. How it feels to get all pumped up about watching a football game on t.v.... or a basketball game, or a hockey game or any other kind of game, aside from baseball.  I did go through an obsessive stage about the Atlanta Braves one summer when I was a kid but it mainly had to do with a major crush on one of the players.

3. Why all boys and men too (though they don't all admit it) love to pee outside so much.  I just don't get it and am quite sure I never will.

4. Faking it. I've never been good at hiding my feelings or pretending everything is perfectly fine when it's perfectly not.  

5. Rocket science.

Five Things I Believe...

1. That words can be powerful but actions speak volumes.

2. Life is comprised of a little bit of luck and a whole lot of what you choose to do with it.  

3. Gaining knowledge of something is the best way to conquer a fear of it.

4. Worrying will get you nowhere but it is pretty near impossible to stop, especially after you become a mother.  

5. All dogs go to heaven.  :)     

Got this idea from the Writer's Workshop at  Mama' Losin It!
Also linking to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday!

Heroes Don't Always Wear Capes

Most of us learn the word "hero" at a very young age.  When I was a little girl I thought of a hero as someone who wore a cape and saved the day with the help of such things as magical swords and golden lassos.  Yes, I was a huge Wonder Woman fan and I had the Underoos to prove it.  


Later on I began to think of a hero as someone who put his or her life at risk for a living and for the sake of making the world a safer place.  A hero was the fireman rescuing a complete stranger from a burning building, the police officer fighting to keep crime off the streets, the soldier serving his/her country and the surgeon saving a life with highly skilled and capable hands.   


And while yes, I still agree (and who doesn't?) that all those people are heroes, I also know now that heroes come in many forms and I have been blessed with many in my life...


A Hero Is...


The mother who sacrifices her own needs over and over again so that her children will have a better, easier life than she had.


The father who vows to always tell his children he loves them and to never forget to call and send cards every single year on their birthdays.  


The woman who welcomes her new husband's young daughter into her heart, home and arms and loves her as her own.  


The woman who has to bury her youngest son, as no mother should ever have to do, yet still manages to get out of bed every day, put one foot in front of the other just as she always has and to make helping her son's widow and young children her number one priority.


The man who starts over in life not only by marrying a widow with two young sons but by also forming strong bonds with the parents and extended family members of her late husband.   


The small town man who has to bury his youngest son, as no father should ever have to do, yet goes on to open his mind and his home to the stranger his daughter-in-law eventually meets and grows so fond of.   


The divorced man with no children of his own who steps in and becomes like a favorite uncle to the young sons of the best friend he just lost.

A hero is the person who, no matter what harsh realities life has dealt him/her continues to press on...to carry out each day in an ever-changing world that is so full of unpredictable, terrifying possibilities...  


A hero is the friend who is always there just when you need her most,  the father who tries his best to never miss a game or awards ceremony, the single mother raising her kids on her own, the man who works his hardest every single day at a job he doesn't even like in order to support his family, the teacher who truly cares and is passionate about teaching and making a difference in the life of each and every child in her classroom, the woman living with a chronic illness/disability who still manages to smile and spread optimism and encouragement everywhere she goes, the man who volunteers his time at the soup kitchen, the woman who rescues dogs...


Unsung heroes are everywhere and I'm guessing chances are pretty good that you are most likely somebody's hero yourself.  So thank you. 


Thank you for being you.  

This, That and The Other...

On the news last night they showed a nearby Best Buy parking lot where several insane people had been lined up down the sidewalk since yesterday morning (and some apparently since Tuesday!) awaiting the store to open last night at midnight.  A few had even pitched their tents.  Is that even legal? They were all after that t.v. advertised for $199.  All I can say is, I'd hate to have been there when they ran out.  


I would not go out into that mob of blood thirsty bargain hunters if I was guaranteed a free t.v..  I prefer to do the majority of my Christmas shopping with the click of a tiny mouse while enjoying my amaretto flavored Folgers in my pajamas, complete with bare feet, bedhead, and a couple of lazy Dachshunds by my side.  


And speaking of the lazy Dachshunds, at least one of them...ahem...Brisco Darling!...was a very bad little wiener while we were away for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.  Turns out he somehow got the memo about Thanksgiving being a day for getting your gluttony on because he managed to get into the cabinet and drag the trash can out from under the kitchen sink and proceed to feast on a buttload of old leftover chicken breasts and boneless pork chops that Charlie threw away yesterday morning. 


I told him he was a very bad little wiener so he rolled over onto his back and gave me his best "I'm so sorry" look with his belly bulging on both sides and resembling a prized cantaloupe.  And then he politely put himself to bed at 9pm.  


I, on the other hand, have succeeded at making it through two Thanksgiving get-togethers while only eating one piece of dessert, key lime pie.  If I ever turn down a piece of key lime pie, call 911 because I'm either deathly ill or my body has been taken over by an alien life form.  It just doesn't happen.  


I'm quite sure, however, that I more than made up for the calories I didn't consume in pie by inhaling countless spoonfuls of  Nutella that I've been sneaking out of the kitchen cabinet for the past week.  I had somehow managed, in my forty years of life, to escape the highly addictive, mouth watering, magical deliciousness that is Nutella.  


I blame Pinterest.  For all those seductive Nutella-containing recipes.


And the grocery store. For putting it right there beside the peanut butter. 


Because I am now in need of a good Nutella Rehab.  So if you know of one, please send me their contact information asap.  


In other Thanksgiving news, the boys left out last night for a two day hunting trip with their popaw, uncle, and cousin.  They had asked yesterday morning if they could take their BB guns with them to which we reluctantly said yes to.  But we promptly changed that to a no after I was popped in the mouth by a Nerf dart while minding my own business in Charlie's dad's living room yesterday afternoon.  


I shouted out, "I WILL KILL YOU!" before I even realized what or whom had shot me.  Not my proudest mom moment but what can I say?  It just came out. 

The guilty party aka the Dracenator/Idea Man began apologizing profusely and nearly had a complete meltdown once we informed him that he would not be taking his BB gun along on his hunting trip.  He insisted that he really only meant to shoot Charlie in the shoulder and instead accidentally hit me in the mouth.  And I explained to hit what would happen if he were to "accidentally" pop someone in the eye with his BB gun.  At the threat of not going on the trip at all, he reluctantly sucked it up and piped down.  


And before I go, I must share this story told by my mother-in-law Wednesday night about a customer complaint she received back when she worked in the Sears and Roebuck customer service department back in the 70s...


She politely answered the phone when she was blasted by a man shouting that he had a new baby who would NOT, for the love of God, STOP crying, that he had been up ALL night long, had missed his ever-lovin' plane and that THAT G.D. PILSBURY DOUGHBOY HAD EXPLODED AND COOKED ALL OVER THE INSIDE OF THEIR NEW REFRIGERATOR THAT WAS AS HOT AS AN OVEN AND THAT HE WANTED SOMEBODY OUT THERE ASAP!!!!  


Turns out the compressor on the refrigerator had been installed backwards and it was cooking their food. I did not even know that was possible.  She and two other employees ended up going out to the house where she was put in charge of watching the baby that wouldn't stop crying while the mess was cleaned up, the refrigerator was fixed and the wife went grocery shopping.    


Now THAT is what I call customer service!  Too bad it doesn't exist in the world still today.... 


Now if y'all will excuse me, I probably should think about getting dressed since it is now noon and I'm still sitting here in my pajamas beside the bad little dumpster diving wiener dog who is now producing some extremely foul smelling gas!  


But at least I'm not at Wal-mart...

Thanksgiving Funnies...

Why do Pilgrims have trouble keeping their pants up?

'Cause they wear their belts on their hats!

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.  I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?  ~Erma Bombeck

The Turkey Popped Out of the Oven
The Turkey popped out of the oven
and rocketed in to the air;
It knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.
It ricocheted into a corner
and burst with a deafening boom,
Then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.
It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
There was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there had never been turkey before..
It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl;
There wasn't a way I could stop it;
that turkey was out of control.
I scraped and I scraped with displeasure
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
That I would never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

written by Jack Prelutsky

Thanksgiving, man.  Not a good day to be my pants!  ~Kevin James

Thanksgiving is America’s national chow-down feast, the one occasion each year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty.~Michael Dresser

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy answered, "No ma'am, they're dead."

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

Rant Ahead...Proceed with Caution!

Yesterday was one of those days that made me want to whup up on somebody...  


I got a call last week from the company who was supposed to deliver our new entertainment center.  She first gave me a time frame for Monday morning between eight and twelve, which was fine by me.  Then she called me back the next day and said it looked as if it was going to be more like three to five.  I told her that would probably be fine but that I had to pick up four kids at two different schools from two to three twenty-ish.  She then told me it would most likely be closer to five since we were last on the list.  


Charlie also arranged to be home before three so that we could move things out of the way first and just because I typically do not deal well with the incompetence I have found that most of these home delivery/service people tend to possess. Not all, mind you, but most that I have personally come in contact with. I almost lost my mind on the guy who came out to set up our Direct TV after we moved into this house and it's just really safer for all involved if someone else is here, if at all possible.  


Well, I was enjoying my first thirty minute break at home yesterday, the one after my class at the gym but before my first school pickup when the phone rang.  It was a guy from the delivery company, who by the way did not speak very good English, telling me he'd be there in about fifteen to twenty minutes, which would be two o'clock and five minutes before I had to leave for the school!  And, which I pointed out to him,  was a whole hour earlier than the start of the two hour time frame I was given.  


He, the best I could tell through his limited English, really did not give a flying flip and was not going to work with me at all.  And this was where I had to dig down deep in my soul and muster up every bit of strength I had to bite my tongue and swallow my words.  


'Cause I was straight up pissed.


I called Charlie up and informed him of the situation.  He told me he was already on his way home and wanted the number of the man with little English to see what he could do.  Which was pretty much nothing because Mr. "I don't give a flip" said he was only a helper and eluded that he pretty much just wanted to be done for the day and that they were headed back to the shop.  And nobody ever returned the message he left at the office. Until this morning when I got a call asking if tomorrow morning was good.  And there was really no apology.  


What.tha.****?!  


And to top all that off, it was time for two week progress reports at the middle school, which really did not go well.  Also, I knew it should be about time for his school pictures to be in.  I blogged last month how he didn't bring his form home but I knew it was picture day thanks to the school page on facebook.  So I gave him a check that morning for the same amount Dracen's package was at the elementary school because it was the same company, told him to fill out the form for that package, put the check in there, hand it to the photographer and to smile. 


He told me he did.  


So yesterday I asked him once again if his pictures were in since Dracen's were in a week ago and he said to me, "They gave me this paper with a proof on it where you can order them but everybody else got pictures so I don't know."  


It was a "LAST CHANCE to order pictures" form with a mug shot of a scowling boy who resembled my oldest son with the word "PROOF" stamped across his face. 


"What happened, Devin? Did you not fill out the form and give them the check!?"  I barked.  He assured me he did so I went online to check my bank statement and while Dracen's had cleared, his had not.  Somehow I felt that I'd been hoo-dooed  and I was not seeing the humor in it.  At all! I have the sneaking suspicion that my check ended up in the trash can or crinkled up on the bottom of a middle school locker.  


So much for having a school pic to document each year of K thru 12!


I am sure that someday, in the very distant future, we will look back on these days and laugh.


But right now I'm still feeling a little like this...

Good thing I have yoga today!


    

Weekend Highlights...

Friday night we watched the new Arthur.  I didn't expect it to be as good as the first one with Dudley Moore and in my opinion it was not, but it was entertaining enough.  I was just confused about Hobson being a female nanny because seems I recall he was a male butler in the original.  And as I was typing that I suddenly recalled some sort of dream I had last night about the Batmobile that Arthur kept drunk driving around town in.  I'm just thankful Russell Brand was not in the dream because that would disturb me greatly.  


Saturday afternoon I met my longtime best friend, Michelle, for lunch and shopping and we both agreed that we need to get our act together and plan to do that sort of thing more often since we only live an hour's drive from each other.  Because at the rate we've been going, you'd think there was an ocean between us.   


Don't you just love the comfort of being in the presence of an old friend though?  We've been friends for twenty five years now and although we've been a couple of slackers about getting together for the past couple of years, it's always as if no time has passed at all when we do. There are never any awkward getting reacquainted moments or uncomfortable silences.   


One minute we are talking about our kids and the next minute we are somehow on the subject of the double date we went on with the likes of Beavis and Butt-head back when we were fifteen, which was way before those characters ever showed up on our t.v. screens. And since I try to keep this blog here PG, I won't go into any details but let's just say that it could not have gone any worse had we gone on a double date with the actual Beavis and Butt-head. The memory never ceases to make me laugh all these years later so it wasn't a total waste of our fifteen year old time and energy.  

Which reminds me of the leaf-blowing Charlie said he allowed Dracen to do Saturday.  He proclaimed it Leaf Getting-Up Day for the three of them and although they weren't exactly thrilled about the idea, their ears perked up when they found out they could get paid for the sincerity of their efforts.  


Dracen weighs all of 60 pounds soaking wet yet he insisted he be allowed to work the leaf blower too and according to Charlie he stuck his lip out, turned his palm over and up in his but...but.. life is so unfair! pose, proclaimed that he was just as capable as his big brother, then crossed his arms over his chest and plopped his butt down until he was allowed to prove himself worthy.  


I just wish Charlie had gotten a picture because the description he gave of him blowing the same ten leaves around the driveway for twenty minutes with that big leaf blower strapped on his back and hanging down past his knees is a sight I truly hate I missed.  Being the little brother does have its advantages because if there's one thing that boy is, it's determined. He believes there is nothing in this world his big brother can do that he can't.  


Yesterday morning at church he finally got the opportunity to take over a duty that his brother recently let go of by being an acolyte for the very first time.  I think Charlie said it best when he said, "He actually got the chance to play with fire without someone telling him  No."  

And I guess when you think about it, life just doesn't get much better than that.  

Where the Green Grass Grows...

Since his cell phone and iPad privileges have been temporarily suspended for the past couple of days for his behavior in Language Arts, we've been seeing a lot more of Devin.  It's like I have my other son back!  I watched from the sunroom windows yesterday afternoon as he and and his little brother wrestled on the trampoline, fully expecting a fight to break out any minute when someone was accidentally hurt. 


But it never happened. 


They just kept wrestling, laughing, and being boys until they finally came inside where Dracen tried to convince me he had frost bite.  And I tried to convince him that while I didn't doubt his feet were really cold, he did not have frost bite because it was 48 degrees outside. Which by the way, is entirely too cold for these parts this time of year.  And it is in the 20s this morning! Brr.


After supper last night we all played a game of Yahtzee.  That I won.  Woot! But just for the record, I would never actually say "Woot" out loud. And later, when Charlie and I were watching t.v. in the living room, we were ambushed by a couple of ninjas who both could benefit from a lesson in stealthiness, especially the little one. 


It reminded us of the good ol' days, back when it was a pretty common thing to see two boys whiz by you in full costume.


Then Devin "hid" under the bed as I read to Dracen at bedtime.  As if I didn't know he was under there. Will they ever learn to stop underestimating my super intuitive mom powers? After the battle of getting the Idea Man (Charlie's new nickname for Dracen) tucked cozily into his bed for the night, Devin actually sat with us in the living room until his bedtime.  I swear I may never give his stuff back!


Because it is really nice to have him back.  


I've been feeling lately like it's all just happening too fast...like time is getting by me and there's nothing I can do to stop it.  I catch myself thinking about how Devin will have his driver's license in just four years and how Dracen (my baby!) will be in middle school when that happens and I just want to shout to the heavens, "Slow Down! Pleeease! Just Slow Down!"  


But that is the one thing none of us have ever figured out how to do, isn't it? To slow down time. 


When we're younger we just can't seem to get it to go by fast enough as we continually anticipate and count down the days until we can get our license, graduate high school, finish college, land our dream job, get married, have kids, struggle as we try to figure out how to get through the cruelties and storms that life deals us and to just.be.happy.  


I used to be one of those people who always saw the grass as being so much greener on the other side of that fence but I know now that I wouldn't want any other grass than that which God has so graciously given me. 


Because it's my grass. 


And while I sometimes wish I could keep it just the way it is right now, before the changing seasons alter it once again, I know that I can't do that. Not even with my super intuitive mom powers. So instead I'm going to keep nurturing it, appreciating it and loving it for what it is right now because I know that it will change again tomorrow.  


But I also know that no matter what, it will always be the greenest grass I know.  

My Biggest Parenting Challenge

I was always the shy, quiet girl who went out of my way to avoid drawing attention to myself in school.  I was bewildered by the class clown type, even when I secretly found their antics hysterical,  because that personality was so very different from my own. I just could not fathom possessing that kind of carefree gumption.   


And really, I am still that way.  I go out of my way to avoid uncomfortable situations and confrontations.  I recently read an article in which someone referred to herself as "conversationally challenged" and the words leapt off the page at me. Because that?  Is so me.  


Conversationally challenged is exactly what I am.  I stumble over my words, if I can find them at all, and end up walking away or hanging up the phone shaking my head and feeling completely frustrated because I know I did not say what I felt, thought and intended to say.  

And I had one of those moments this afternoon when I got a call from a teacher (the third time I have heard from this teacher this year) informing me, yet again, that my son is still being unruly and  disruptive in her class. That she finds it disrespectful. And that she wants it to stop.


It felt like an attack on me and my parenting skills and I wanted to shout, "You and me both, girlfriend!  You and me, both!"  But of course I didn't.  Instead I asked her what exactly he was doing to which she replied "just constantly giggling, cutting up and talking amongst his friends." I apologized three times and told her we had talked and talked to him about this and thought we had the problem solved and that we will deal with it.  


Then I hung up the phone, threw a few four letter words around and sent Charlie a message pretty much stating that I was at my wit's end and did not know what else to do aside from going to the darn (only this wasn't the exact adjective I used) school and sitting right beside him in that class every day. And we agreed to crack down harder.   Take away ALL the privileges this time!  


I have to say that above all the challenges parenting has brought me thus far (even the constant bickering between them and the endless lobbying to wear shorts in the dead of winter) THIS is the hardest.  


The direct reflection I feel that my children are of myself.


Although they are each their own persons with their own wills and personalities, I feel personally responsible for each and every move they make and action they take even when I am not with them.  Especially when I am not with them.


And although I am a little ashamed to admit this, the bottom line is that when they act bad...I look bad.  Or at least it feels that way. And who likes to look bad?  Not me! 


I did not expect to feel this way before I became a parent.  Nobody wrote that down as advice at my baby shower, not a one of those "what to expect" parenting books devoted a chapter to it and my mother didn't warn me about it.  


I expected the sleepless nights, the messes, the occasional defiance, and even the worry. But the one challenge I never saw coming was this one...The unsuspecting way I could be right in the middle of an otherwise perfectly fine day and have someone jerk a knot in my tail, pee in my corn flakes, or eat my bowl of sunshine all up with one little phone call, note or email informing me that my kid...mine...was being anything less than perfect.   


And the fact that the quietest of quiet girls in the class grew up to be the mother of the class clown is just further proof that God?  Has a wicked sense of humor!  


**This post inspired by Mama Kat's writing prompt, "Your biggest parenting challenge and/or joy" and Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday's Letter C.

It's Okay!

Hey, It's Okay...

~To have gone nearly a week without writing a new post simply because you couldn't think of anything to say even though you have a million thoughts running through your mind pretty much every minute of every day.  


~To be annoyed when a Jehovah's witness shows up at your door but to also think, "Man this lady has some balls guts behind her passion!"  


~To have still not finished painting the bonus room you started on Saturday because you ran out of steam at five o'clock and haven't yet had the motivation to get back into it.  


~To be a little sad that the Betta fish (that was supposed to belong to your son but would have died two years ago had you not stepped in to take care of it) died last night and is currently awaiting burial in a cardboard jewelry box because you are such a sentimental sap that you always bury the fish, hermit crabs and whatever other kind of creature dies or is found dead in your presence.


~To still have sore calves from going up and down the stairs to the bonus room so many times on Saturday.  Apparently those muscles don't get much attention in Pilates and Zumba.  


~To be more than a little sick of the sound of your neighbor's leaf blower.


~To not be able to watch Sister Wives without wishing one of the wives would break bad and demand monogamy.


~To think it's nuts that the town's Christmas decorations were put up the week after Halloween.


~To like Adele even more after finding out she has a Dachshund named Louie.


~To think this is hilarious because you.can.relate!...

*If you need more okayness, go visit Amber at Airing My Dirty Laundry!

In My Own Backyard...

The weather has been so beautiful here this week with high temps around 70, bright blue skies and glorious colors all around.  Monday afternoon I stepped out into the backyard with Dracen, the Darlings, and the Canon and tried my best to digitally capture some of that beauty.

Close up of the leaves from a small Maple tree in the backyard...

View from the sunroom...

One of the many big, beautiful oaks that surround us on all sides...

The Darlings in action...

Weathervane atop the well house...

We threw some old squash out over the fence several weeks back and ended up with several gourds that made their way into my dining room to join the others I had already bought since I had no idea I was growing my own...

My knockout rose bush out front is still in full bloom.  If you look through the dining room window you can see it.  I love eating in there and admiring it.  This old dough bowl belonged to my great-great grandmother.  I filled it with a few of my...ahem...many wine corks and some leaves Dracen picked up a couple of weeks ago...

And speaking of Dracen, here he is making his best shot from the trampoline...

Have  you ever seen a bluer sky?  

Another shot of the maple tree...

This picture reminds me of the motto of the preschool both boys attended, "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow!"...

This holly bush grows just outside my bedroom window.  I love the look of the red berries against the orange and yellow leaves...

I'm not sure who's advising whom here but I think this is a frame worthy shot...

I love the speckles on this majestic canopy of leaves...

Kicking up some leaves with sock feet and little paws... 

This shot was taken from the front yard. It's not often I find myself with the camera in hand at the exact same moment heaven is shining its light down like this. I've always found that so magical.  It takes my breath away...

Thanks for joining me for this glimpse of how fall shows out for us here in my little neck of the woods.  I hope it puts on a good show in your neck of the woods too!   


**This post inspired by Mama Kat's writing prompt, "Fall in your neighborhood! Share some Fall pictures that capture the season in your neck of the woods." and Jenny Matlock's  Alphabe-Thursday's Letter B.