Just when you think miracles are something that only happened back in Bible times... Stinkerbell got her ears pierced today. And she did NOT cry or scream or whimper or whine or complain or make a sad face or ANYTHING!!!
Yesterday, Lucky had his 4 month checkup. 18 lbs 2 oz. 25 1/2 inches.
Today, he ate green beans for the first time today.
My babies!!! Where did they go?!?!?
Here's what happened over the weekend. Cause I know your life will not be complete until I tell you about our non-excitement...
um. yeah.
Friday - packed way too much and left 2 hours later than planned. It's 6 hours from our house to Dauphin Island. That's a LONG way with a VERY! EXCITED! 6 year-old and a 4 month-old brea$tfed baby. We made it. Mommy needed a wheel barrel to carry her bo0bies upstairs, but it was ok. 3 am before we got to bed. But only because we ate with brother-in-law and wife and then spent $200! at W-M before leaving the "mainland."
How do you like the way I throw words around like "mainland?"
Saturday - slept a little late, but not too much. Because there was much sand to be rubbed into our cracks and jellyfish to sting Stinkerbell's hand and big waves to ruin the SeaDoo riding.
Sunday - we observed the Lord's day of rest by sleeping very late and then taking a 2 hour nap. We didn't load the tent, folding chairs, beach chairs, cooler, car seat carrier, diaper bag, sunblocks, hats, swimshoes, towels, sunglasses, ball caps, diapers, wipes, drinks, snacks, flippers, sand toys, etc. into the back of the Pimped Out Mamamobile. Instead, we stayed at the pool at the condo and swam. Stinkerbell graduated from wearing her ski vest constantly to swimming without it and playing in her flippers, which kept her afloat and gave her confidence to swim the length of the pool. Yes, even in the deep end.
Monday - we washed the sheets and towels and cleaned up after our nasty selves and rushed to make it to the ferry at 2:00. The ferry takes you across Mobile Bay to Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area. Just North of Gulf Shores is Foley and the outlet malls. We didn't shop. The HORROR OF IT ALL. But we did eat here. We were home by 11pm. Which allowed me to pack clothes for The Mighty Hunter's one-night trip to Tampa and get in bed by 12:30.
Now you can sleep peacefully tonight.
You're quite welcome.
I'm going to be all bossy now, so just sit yourself down and pay attention.
This summer, you should do something for yourself. Don't be satisfied with getting tanned or sunburned. Don't be satisfied with swimming lessons for the kiddos. Don't be satisfied with the summer reading program at the local library. Don't be satisfied with a visit to the beach or mountains or wherever. Don't be satisfied with your regular summer plans.
Do something that will make a difference in your life. Even if it is just a little difference. Even if it is something you haven't done in a long time. Even if it is something you're already doing.
Learn more about yourself. Learn more about God's Word. Learnn more about His love for you. Learn more about what He wants for you.
Join us in a Bible study.
We're going to start it in the next few days. Leave me a comment, email me, just let me know and I'll invite you to the Google Group and you can participate as much as you want. You can lurk or lead. Whatever you're comfortable doing, just join in.
This one is new to me.
Bee at WillBlogForShoes made me curious about the songs that were #1 on important dates in my life.
On the day I was born,
"My Sweet Lord/ Isn't It a Pity" by George Harrison
On the day Stinkerbell was born,
"Independent Women Part I" by Destiny's Child
On the day Lucky was born,
"Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé
On the day The Mighty Hunter was born,
"Wedding Bell Blues" by The 5th Dimension
On the day we were married,
"End of the Road" by Boyz II Men
If you want to look up yours, click. Leave a comment with a link to your list.
Yesterday - took Stinkerbell to school, fetched my 86 y-o grandmother. Made it to kindergarten graduation. 5 kids fainted from the heat and those polyester caps and gowns.
Yes. 5 KINDERGARTENERS FAINTED AT THEIR GRADUATION. At 9:00 AM! (Have I ever told you how much I HATE summer in the South? No? Well, a LOT!)
My girl was not one of them, but 2 of her good friends were. They were re-hydrated and cooled off in the comfort of modern air conditioning and recovered quickly, even played their teeball games that evening. Took Stinkerbell, Aunt Margaret, Grandma, Beverly, Carl to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Ate too much. Returned Margaret and Grandma to their homes. Fell asleep nursing Lucky - twice. Teeball game. Much cooler than earlier in the day. Ate supper at a new steakhouse. Yummmm Taco Salad. Came home and noticed that I was engorged with enough milk to feed Mexico City.
Actually, I had already noticed that. Lawdy Lawdy! I hurt.
Today (Wednesday) - slept late with Lucky and Stinkerbell. Will complete an impossibly long list of chores - or not. But will attempt it anyway. If I can get off my butt and turn off my puter.
Tomorrow (Thursday) - will do some puter work at The Mighty Hunter's showroom in Gadsden. Then return for Stinkerbell's last voice lesson before summer break.
Friday - will pack up a lot more than necessary into the back of the Pimped Out Mamamobile and go to Dauphin Island for the weekend. Cause we're islandy like that.
Saturday - sunburn-o-rama. Cause I'm pasty white.
Sunday - walking like the Living Dead because sunburned limbs don't like to bend or touch each other or anything else. Might consider making the Island a nudist colony for the sunburnt Living Dead.
Monday - forcing crispy limbs to bend and hearing skin crackle like potato chips. Packing up sandy and dirty crap and making the return drive from the Island. Cause there are windows and doors to be sold and teeball games to be played.
All of this is to tell you that I don't plan on posting over the weekend. If I knew how, I might could schedule something to post while I'm gone. But I don't. So...
Just read my archives. Or visit some of the links in my sidebar. Just be sure you don't forget me. Cause I'm all addicted to your clicks.
Bye!
Bye!
Bye!
Y'all come back now, ya hear?!
Wednesday - Church Roller Skating Party. I didn't fall once. There was, however, much arm flailing and general body convulsing.
Thursday - Field Day at Stinkerbell's school. Picnic lunch on damp grass with scores of kindergarteners. Shared my hamburger and opened many packs of ketchup. "Stinkerbell's Mom, can you...?"
Friday - Dashed out for Lucky's first portraits. CUTE! Heard of Beverly's mother's death. Went to Stinkerbell's school for end-of-year water party given by the kindergarten teachers. Teeball game. She got the game ball. Cooked for Beverly, husband, brother and sister-in-law.
Saturday - Ironed shirts. Went to funeral home. Bathed babies.
Sunday - SET MY ALARM ON A SUNDAY MORNING. That should tell you something people. Ironed shirts. Gathered towels, etc for baptism. Practiced my song, because I don't "ad lib" regardless of what the lyric sheet says. Practiced my ad lib 3 dozen times-ish. Applied pantyhose. Gathered change of clothes for later that afternoon. Sent The Mighty Hunter out to get his grandmother and aunt for the day's events. Baptism. Cried. Sang. Sweated and shook. Preaching, shaking of hands, greetings, exits, herding of spiders to Pimped Out Mamamobile. Lunch at new Chinese restaurant (yummmm). Funeral home. Nursed Lucky in empty parlor. Barely made it to pee and into the chapel before beginning of service. Diamond Rolex in front of me. Graveside service. 4 y-o Godson very curious about the grave beneath the casket. Placed bet with his mom about how long before he fell in. (still snickering about that.) Early dinner at Beverly's house with many strangers. In bed late.
Monday - Stinkerbell RODE! THE! BUS! to the high school football field to practice for graduation. I, however, was lazy and read blogs. Did much laundry, but apparently all the wrong things, because the things I need for tomorrow? Dirty still. Took Beverly, Carl (husband and The Mighty Hunter's uncle), Stinkerbell and Lucky golfing. According to The Mighty Hunter, I have a "beautiful swing." Yeah, right. I think he just wants to see me stick my butt out and get behind me to "help me with my grip." When The Mighty Hunter returned from a trip to Florida recently, (was VIP guest at The Players Championship - its sponsored by Jeld-wen, a window/door company that he sells through his business) he gave Stinkerbell her first set of kid-sized golf clubs. She wanted to play with her new "real golf clubs." Ate sandwiches (sand wedges! haha! a golf joke!) with Carl and Bev and got home after bedtime, still needing to wash the golf course filth off Stinkerbell's feet.
Tomorrow? will take Stinkerbell to school, then drive to fetch my grandmother, The Mighty Hunter's grandmother and aunt for graduation. Have NO! IDEA! how I'll manage 2 grandmothers (1 mildly feeble, 1 wobbly feeble), a child-like aunt and a very HEAVY! 4 month old baby at the football stadium without some kind of "medication." Should get in bed now. It's 11:34.
Enough already!
Tomorrow, Stinkerbell will be baptized into the Christian family. Praise our Lord with us over this wonderful event.
She has asked me, her terribly nervous mother, to sing for her. Pray for a steady voice, calm nerves and no Randy-Jackson-pitchiness, please.
And, after church tomorrow morning, we will be with our dear friend, Beverly, as she buries her mother. Pray for her and her brother as they go through this most difficult time.
Thank you all!
My dear friend, and aunt-by-marriage, lost her mother today. She is terribly upset. She was a devoted daughter and care-giver to this beautiful woman.
She will simply take one step at a time through this most difficult time in life. The Mighty Hunter, Stinkerbell, Lucky and I will hold her hand and go through this with her.
Pray for her. Her heart is shattered.
Crazy Hip Blog Mamas carnival topic this week is "crazy parent hacks" and "things we've done that we said we'd never do."
Crazy Parent Hacks
I wrote about chapstick and wash-cloths previously. But I'll add to this theme with dryer sheets. When your child has static electricity in their hair, keep a dryer sheet around. Simply rub their little, electric head with the dryer sheet and tah-dah! no more electrocuting, fly-away hair.
Ziplock bags have a gablillion uses. For those of us with long-haired girls (boys too, I guess), I sort the rubber bandy things and barrettes and clips into separate clear ziplock bags.
Diaper rash soother. When my babies have had a diaper rash that caused them discomfort, I combine .5% hydrocortisone and Desitin-type diaper rash cream in my hand (equal parts) and apply it to their bum. The hydrocortisone cream relieves the pain and sting while the Desitin stuff does its job.
Cardstock paper. I use this for all kinds of crafts and art projects for Stinkerbell. It is the best for fingerpainting, as it is very thick and stiff and holds up to the moisture in the paint.
Laundry baskets.? It is an incredible challenge to get Stinkerbell to put her shoes in her closet. FORGET getting her to arrange them in a neat, orderly manner. (Not that I set a good example there anyway, Mrs. Kick-your-shoes-into-a-pile!) A small plastic laundry basket is where her shoes are tossed.
Sippy cups. We've used this kind of sippy cup for years with Stinkerbell. Remove the valve and it provides for a great grease-fire-flare-up killer when grilling. When I'm in a big rush to go somewhere and just dying for some orange juice, I use one of her sippies. She told me the other day, however, that I'm sucking from them wrong.
Famous Last Words (or things I said I'd never do, but do all the time...)
Well, lemmetellya. I've done plenty that I said I'd never do. Both as a parent and as a plain ol' person. But the one thing I'm going to claim today is I let Lucky suck his thumb. Now I'm sure some of you encourage your baby to suck his/her thumb. Yet, I would prefer he take his pacifier. Stinkerbell was a very serious pacifier sucker and gave it up pretty easily too. But Lucky will spit out his "pappy" so that he can get his thumb or finger or WHOLE HAND in his mouth instead. I realize that the act of getting his hand to his mouth is a developmental step, so I don't discourage the accomplishment. But gosh, I wish he'd practice putting his pappy in his mouth instead!
TV babysitter? yup.
Wipe a nose with my sleeve? yup.
Wash a face with my own spit? duh.
Feed cookies for breakfast? yes, but rarely.
Say "shut up"? ashamedly, yes.
That's enough. I'm already an insane redbird. I won't keep berating myself.
After giggling over Slacker Mom's fart stories in her meme, I decided to finally break down and do my own 7 Things meme.
So, today, I'm sharing with you 7 Things Never Knew About Me before today. (lucky you)
1. I have Adrian Monk-ish sensitive feet. I can feel the tiniest little pebble in my shoes. I can feel a single hair on my toes - which drives me nuts until I can get rid of it!
2. I have earned the nickname "walking phone book." I can remember numbers with very little effort. Like Monk, "it's a blessing and a curse."
3. I sat on a chocolate bar in the backseat of my parent's car on vacation and walked around with poop-looking chocolate on my shorts before anyone noticed.
4. As a child, I wanted a cute nickname very much. So much, I let my older brother pick one. He still calls me "possum" from time to time. But I get my revenge with calling him "chicken man."
5. I can raise my left eyebrow independently of my right. All the women in my mom's family can, but not the men.
6. I raise my left eyebrow when angry or stressed. I often am unaware of it being raised.
7. I rarely wear makeup. Not because I don't need it, but because I'm lazy and would rather blog instead of sit in front of the mirror.
Now, if you've read all 7, you are hereby "tagged." Go on, now.
Stinkerbell and 2 of her terribly blonde friends at her 5th birthday party (2006).
My dear friend, Ryan, with his Festus hat, at Stinkerbell's 5th birthday party (2006). Every Tuesday at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas I get to prowl through the cookbooks and recipe files of the rest of the blogworld and get ideas for new foods and different recipes on familiar dishes.
This week's theme is Bread. AND, golly gee, but I love bread. Bread is good. Bread is my friend.
Buttermilk "Mexican" Cornbread
2 c self-rising cornmeal
1 lg onion, chopped
1 (8.5 oz) can cream style corn or 1 c frozen kernel corn or 1 can kernel corn, drained
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 c buttermilk
1 can Rotel, drained
1 sm can diced chiles
Preheat oven and 8"x8" baking dish to 400. Combine cornmeal, onion, corn, cheese, Rotel and chiles in bowl. Add eggs, oil and enough buttermilk to make batter desired consistency. Remove HOT baking dish from oven and spray with Pam cooking spray. Pour batter into HOT dish. Bake at 400 for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick, inserted into center, is dry and clean.
Mother-in-Law's Hush Puppies
1 c self-rising cornmeal
1/3 c self-rising flour
1 T sugar
1 med onion, minced
1 egg, well beaten
buttermilk
Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, onion, egg and enough buttermilk to moisten. Push heavy dough off spoon into deep hot fat in iron skillet. Cover and cook 5-8 minutes.
(Hush Puppies are a traditional appetizer/side dish to Southern meals like catfish or chicken. They are very good dipped in ketchup, tartar sauce, etc.)
Granny Auburn's Monkey Bread
1 c milk
1/2 margarine
4 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 pkg dry yeast
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c additional margarine, melted
Combine mlik, 1/2 c margarine, sugar and salt in saucepan, heat until margarine is melted. Cool and stir in yeast until dissolved. Place flour in a large bowl, make well in flour and pour in liquid mixture; stir until well blended. Cover and let rise until double in bluk, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn dough out on a floured surface. Roll 1/4" thick and cut into 3" squares. Dip each into 1/2 c melted margarine and layer in tube pan. Let rise until double in bulk, about 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.
Mother-in-Law's Zucchini Bread
2 eggs
1 c cooking oil
2 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 c grated zucchini
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c fresh black walnuts, chopped*
1/2 c raisins
Mix in order: eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and zucchini. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture. Mix well. Add walnuts and raisins. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans (2 large or 6 small pans). Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, testing with toothpick.
*I prefer pecans over walnuts.
Garlic Breadsticks (from Kraftfoods.com)
1/2 c cream cheese, softened (fat free works great)
1 ts garlic powder
1 can (11 oz) refrigerated soft breadsticks
Mix cream cheese and garlic powder. Unroll breadstick dough into 8 pieces. Spread each piece with 1 T of cream cheese mixture. Fold each piece of dough in half and twist slightly. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
(The Mighty Hunter's Favorite)
Friendship Bread
NOTE: DO NOT USE METAL BOWLS OR SPOONS AND DO NOT REFRIGERATE.
This recipe creates a "starter" that you will be able to divide and share or freeze for later use. If you create your own starter, then that is your Day 1.
Starter
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 c milk
1 c flour
1 c sugar
Dissolve yeast in small amount of warm water. Mix all ingredients together in ample size bowl or jar or gallon ziplock bag (it will GROW). This is Day 1 of the recipe.
****************
Day 1 - receive fermented starter in ziplock bag. Do nothing! Put bag on counter. Do not refrigerate.
Day 2 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 3 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 4 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 5 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 6 - Add 1 cu flour, 1 c sugar and 1 c milk. Squeeze bag several times.
Day 7 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 8 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 9 - squeeze bag several times.
Day 10 - In a large non-metallic bowl, combine batter with 1 c milk, 1 c flour and 1 c sugar. Mix with non-metallic spoon. Take four one gallon ziplock bags and pour 1 c of starter in each. Give away these 4 starters with a copy of the instructions to friends or family. You may freeze the starter also. When you are ready to thaw and use the starter again, simply pick up on the day you froze it (ie: froze starter on Day 2, thaw and proceed as if it were Day 3.)
To the remaining batter in bowl, add:
1 c veg oil
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 lg eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 c flour
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 boxes vanilla pudding
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
In a separate bowl, mix 1 tsp cinnamon and 3 T sugar, sprinkle into well-greased pans before adding batter. Pour batter into pan, bake at 325 for 1 hour or until done.
Remember: Do NOT refrigerate starter! As air builds in the bag, let air out. It is normal for the batter to thicken, bubble and ferment.
***********************
Instructions within the "*****" should be provided with the starter you give away.
Red Lobster Restaurant Garlic Rolls
2 c Bisquick
milk
1/2 T garlic salt
1 c (?) cheddar cheese
*I've made this for years and no longer measure the ingredients. I'm that kind of cook, sorry!
Combine Bisquick and milk until a sticky dough is created. Stir in cheese (the quantity of cheese is flexible, add more if you like a cheesy biscuit, less if you want it less yummy.) Stir in garlic salt. Spoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
To: SPCA
cc: Sarah McLachlan, Animal Planet
Re: above embedded commercial
It's just not fair. I trust you to babysit entertain and educate my child. She informed us that polar bears eatmore than just squeezably-cute baby seals; they also eat seaweed. She is developing her first guilty pleasure with your soap opera. She gets her sugary-sweet overdose of cute puppies and kittens with this. Then there's this show, which defies all explanation and must be your attempt at train-wreck reality tv.
Still, I haven't had much problem with your content. I shield her tender eyes and heart from the things here, here and here. I shelter her because of her tender heart and sensitive soul and the questions that are brought on by the cruelty of people to animals. Oh, yeah, this one too.
And, yes, she is tender-hearted and sensitive. More than the other little girls her age? Yes. I mean she refuses to even say the d-word or s-word!* She already is planning her summer volunteer project of cleaning poop up at the local SPCA.
(Need I remind you? She just turned 6 in January.)
(And if cleaning poop up isn't true love, then we mommies have a big gripe to air.)
But if I have to explain ONE MORE TIME that our 2 dogs and 1 cat are ENOUGH for our little family, and, NO, we can't adopt that kitten or that dog or that little-bitty-tiny-pretty-kitty-that-could-sleep-in-your-room-and-never-make-a-mess-or-won't-shed-its-asthma-triggering-hair-because-its-BALD! We have enough. $20 a week on ANIMAL FOOD is enough. Enough.
I lost myself in my own sentence - surprise! If you've stayed with me this long, I probably lost you too. But here it comes without the hyphenated rambling...
But if I have to explain ONE MORE TIME that our 2 dogs and 1 cat are ENOUGH for our little family because she has watched this commercial and heard this haunting musical plea at her heartstrings, then I may just block your wonderful little channel.
Because we have ENOUGH.
*d=dumb; s=stupid. She also won't say "ugly", even when describing this.
So, you see, it's just not fair.
Sincerely,
Auburn Gal Always
p.s. The Mighty Hunter would totally give an "amen!" on this if he ever read my blog. But he doesn't read it. And that's another gripe against another channel.
taken directly from a "letter" written about me by Stinkerbell for Mother's Day.
My Mom is special because she does every thing that I like.
I like it when my Mom cooks for me and lets me cook with her.
My Mom can do many things! I think she's best at doing stuff that I do. except a cartwheel... I can do one much more better than her.
My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by smiling back and doing what she likes me to!
My Mom is as pretty as a rose on the rainbow and a butterfly on the rainbow and a dove flying over the rainbow.
My Mom is so smart! She even knows what the world has in the middle of it and she knows about an ostrich.
I intend to clean house today. Yuk. That's all I have to say about that.
Tomorrow, I don't expect to fire up my 'puter even once. So, I want to leave a post here for someone very special.
My Friend Rachel. This year will bring to you some very wonderful events and experiences. Your sweet little baby is very nearly ready to arrive, and oh! the excitement you feel. I'm thrilled for you, knowing that your precious little one will fill your heart with love you've imagined for years.
What a blessed little boy he will be!
Tomorrow, feel his kicks and wiggles and rub your belly with the quiet joy of an Expectant Mother. In only a matter of weeks, your life will change forever. And those changes will be greater than you have read, heard or imagined.
Your life will never be the same.
It will be filled with the love a tiny baby.
Happy Mother's Day, Rachel
And to all the other mothers out there, I wish you all a wonderful, home-made-card kind of Mother's Day.
Hobos? aka Boy Scout Dinners, Camp Fire Dinners, Pouch Meals
Cut chicken into bite size pieces, season to taste. Cut vegetables of choice. Fold large heavy-duty foil double and make a "bowl." Place chicken on bottom, then put veggies on top.
Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 cup sauce of choice on top. Seal foil at top very securely. Bake in oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until chicken is done.
Ground beef/turkey is also yummy. Tender roast meat works. I like corn, onion, potato, okra, tomato, squash/zucchini, diced chiles. The Mighty Hunter likes jalapenos too!
Sauce? I do my rotelly chicken sauce. 1 can Rotel. 1 equal sized can tomato sauce. 2 T brown sugar. The Mighty Hunter wants Worcestershire in his - lots of it. Stinkerbell likes Worcestershire and brown sugar.
These are good on the grill, campfire (hence Boy Scout Dinners), you name it. Eat right out of the foil or spoon servings on to plates. Make this recipe your own with your own sauce and adding your favorite veggies.
I'm too delicate a flower to gnaw on a bone. It's just too primitive for me. But golly, gee, do I love me some BBQ. After hearing The Mighty Hunter rave on and on for years about his lo-o-o-ove for ribs, I asked a friend of mine who is just as delicate and prissy as I how she ate her ribs.
So, here you go.
Crockpot BBQ Ribs
Ribs
BBQ sauce
1 cup Water
Spices
Choose whatever spice rub you like and apply lightly to the ribs (or skip this step if you want.) Place ribs in crockpot and cover with your favorite BBQ sauce. Add water to the sauce. Cover and allow to cook at least 4 hours. The meat will fall off the bones and be oh-so-tender.
This week's carnival theme is an easy one for me. I feel like I should always talk equally about both my children, much like I try to give them equal amounts of attention. But today, here, I will talk about my older child. My daughter.
Stinkerbell is my beauty. She is such a sensitive, caring, affectionate girl. Precocious, mature and witty, she surprises me every day. Her perceptive and inquisitive nature causes trouble sometimes, but her complete trust in her father and me allows her to accept the answers we give and the postponed answers we promise. In many ways, she is a lot like me. Good ways and bad.
Seeing one's self in your child guarantees a mixed bag of emotional reactions. For me, it gives me hope that maybe I can find greater love for myself in my heart.
But pride? In my daughter? duh.
If you've read my posts before, you know that brevity is not a strength of mine. So, naturally, I can't give you one moment that made me prouder than the rest. But I will keep it down to two.
First. My number one proudest moment happened Friday, April 27, 2007. My dear, special daughter prayed to Jesus to become Lord of her life. Her heart was filled with His love, and mine swelled with love and faith and pride and all-things-great-and-glorious-and-lovely. She has made the most important decision of her life.
Second. The only thing that comes even close to the above, is her fearless performance this past Saturday, singing in front of several hundred people. Fearless, I tell you. I encouraged her and bragged on her past the obnoxious point, and she ate it all up. The crowd thrilled her. Not a hint of nerves. She nailed it. Every note. Every syllable. Every bit of it.
I want to be my daughter.
When Lucky starts holding his own head up and says "mama", I'll write about him
After reading a post by my bloggy neighbor, Bee, and feeling the urge and desire to improve my prayer life and knowledge and understanding of the Bible and my relationship with my Lord, I decided to dig out a short study that I had been unable to participate in at my own church.
Read on, please.
....
So, here's what I have in mind, and I hope you will join in and play along and contribute and help and have some fun with me. I want to do a Bible study. I have this really cute little book that promises to understand me and help me to grow to know my Lord more and be a better Christian, all while having pretty colors and cute shoes on the cover.
Running Nowhere in Every Direction (2 links.)
so, how 'bout this...
First - Leave a comment (with your email address) here about your interest in doing this study with me. I'll create a Google group or something that will let our study and discussion be more "conversational" and then post the link to it (or invite you to join, whichever works best.) (I'll have to figure that out first, since I've never done that kind of thing before. It shouldn't be hard though.)
Two - Go find the book or order it from an online store.
C - Do all this by May 31.
Finally - When we've got the group created and all the members joined, we'll start reading and discussing a chapter/lesson per week. They're pretty short, so that should be manageable. And then try to share our study with the BlogWorld, I'll choose (or take recommendations from the group) a member's discussion about each week's lesson and post it here at the study's blog.
This post was inspired by Wonder Mom, who wrote so beautifully about her first Mother's Day. Please share your own story about your first Mother's Day using the Mr. Linky below.
Mother's Day 2000 was my first. The Mighty Hunter and I had been trying for a couple of months to get pregnant. He had been teasing me for a few days that he "knew" I was pregnant.
Yeah, right.
I had even had my annual physical and gotten the Big Fat Negative. But, as most of you know, you can get a false negative when Aunt Flo is not actually late... yet.
Because I couldn't let him go around thinking he knew so dang much and to prove him wrong, because I just knew, I bought a pregnancy test.
Sunday morning, I woke up early and peed on the stick.
2 lines.
I sat on my toilet in stunned silence on that early Mother's Day morning. Stunned. silence.
I didn't know what I had gotten myself into and was scared. Not to mention I was mad that I was about to have to admit that The Mighty Hunter had been right and I was wrong.
I went back to bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling, wanting to wake him, wanting to let him sleep and find the double-striped stick himself, wanting to pull on jeans and run away, wanting to call everyone I knew, wanting to go back about 2 weeks and undo it all, wanting to see my baby right now, wanting to call the whole thing off.
Frozen fear won and I waited for him to wake up and find the stick himself. Except he didn't.
me:didn't you see that?
him:what?
m:the stick.
h:what stick?
m:the stick I peed on. the pregnancy test.
h:no, but I told you yesterday, you're pregnant.
m:well, daddy, serve me up a plate of crow, cuz you were right and I was wrong.
We talked about whether we should tell anyone immediately or wait. And we wanted to wait. But we told everyone that day but not because we were "4 year-old at Disney World" excited.
We told everyone because we wanted his mother to know that she would have a grandchild. We wanted her to know that eventhough she wouldn't live long enough to meet the baby in person, we wanted her to know.
His mom died 6 weeks later, with the knowledge that her older son would soon be a daddy.
Every Mother's Day, the cemetary where his mother is buried has its annual "decoration". (For those of you who missed out on the blessing of being Southern, Decoration Days are when families gather for special church services and place new flowers on the graves of friends and family. Some areas call it "homecoming", but the point of the day is the same.) And every Mother's Day, we visit with The Mighty Hunter's mom. Stinkerbell places a special flower on her grave and climbs on the beautiful rock wall her Grand-daddy had built for her. We listen to the singers and guest preacher/speaker share their memories and faith in the chapel up on that tall hill.
After lunch, I take my babies to spend the evening with my own mom, my best friend.
This year will be more of the same special day.
Minus the double-striped stick.
The phone rang one evening. The alarm monitoring service was calling to tell us that the alarms were triggered at the office and warehouse. This happens occasionally, and is usually a malfunction or a rat. Neither our home nor our business has ever been broken into yet. The police were already on their way to the office.
Since The Mighty Hunter had just had a drink and would be meeting the police, I drove the four of us. Stinkerbell, Lucky and I sat in the Pimped-Out Mamamobile while The Mighty Hunter and the cop walked the outside of the building, the open construction areas and the interior of the office and warehouse. Together, they found nothing that would have set off the alarm.
The cop mentioned that while he waited for us to arrive, he went ahead and walked inside the construction area. He was making sure no one was still around and only found "a bunch of cats."
When The Mighty Hunter returned to the van, he made his report to Stinkerbell and me, including telling about the cop running into the cats.
me: so, it was cats that set off the alarm. great.
him: seems like it.
Stinkerbell: cats? how many?
him: don't know, several, 4 or 5 or 300. he didn't say how many exactly.
Stinkerbell: what color were they?
Because when a herd of cats sets off the alarm at a local business, the responding police officer should know to count them and list the color of each and be prepared to make a report to the kindergartener on the scene.
Memos have been sent. Standard Operational Procedure has been properly modified.
And it wasn't cats. It was a squirrel building a nest behind insulation.
Stupid squirrel.
******************************************************
A bird - the extent of my bird identification skills is limited to eagle, hawk, vulture, hummingbird, robin, cardinal, bluebird, bluejay, mockingbird and all the other birds - decided to perch its pecking little self on my window this morning.
Flitter Flutter Peckpeckpeck
Then one of its friends sat next to it and they fluttered and flittered and peckpeckpecked together.
"Hello! Stupid little birds. Yeah, you. No, I'm not charmed by your magical appearance this morning. I'm sleeping. I know you wake up when the sun just begins to peak over the horizon. But the humans inside that brown brick house with the window that you discovered this morning, they like to sleep later than you. Especially the morning-loathing mom. If you show up again tomorrow morning, I may sneak out the back door and practice with Stinkerbell's bb gun. Consider yourself warned!"
******************************************************
I'm needing chocolate chip cookies and milk.
This is a serious NEED people.
Serious.
******************************************************
The Mighty Hunter has gone on a business trip to Florida for the week. Which means that my normal mornings of getting him and Stinkerbell out of the house for the day and then letting Lucky suck the very LIFE out of me until I can drag my lazy butt out of bed are gone for the week. GONE!
I set my alarm for my normal time. I planned to simply yank on a pair of jeans and a tshirt to drive Stinkerbell to school. If I had not hit snooze and then slept through my hitting snooze a few more times, we would have had a leisurely morning.
But I hit snooze and then slept through my hitting snooze a few more times.
And then the Good Lord awoke me at 7am. And we have to leave NO LATER than 7:25.
But, LO! The mighty mommy made it and with TIME TO SPARE!
But only because we ate breakfast in the Pimped-Out Mamamobile. And only because I had baked several extra biscuits and nuked a couple and filled sippy cups with juice.
So, thank you, Jesus, for making sure I was awake just in time. And thank you for letting me NOT follow some old fart who was on his way to Hardee's for coffee with old pals. 'Cause it wouldn't be very Christian of me to ride his bumper and tell him telepathically that he needs to get his junked up old truck OFF THE ROAD until all of who have SOMEWHERE TO GO and A SPECIFIC TIME TO BE THERE are where we need to be. Yeah, thanks! I love you. Amen.
******************************************************
Time to make cookies.
Cause I NEED THEM!
Updated to add (Tues 05-08-07 12pm): I spoke with Beverly about an hour ago. Her mother drifts in and out of sleep (consciousness?). She can no longer eat. A feeding tube is no longer practical or possible. She will return to the nursing home today to finish her time here. The doctors expect her to last 2 weeks at the most. Her vital signs are steadily declining and her kidneys seem to be failing. Continue to pray for Bev, her mom and the rest of the family. Thank you.
I have a dear friend, Beverly. Beverly is actually married to The Mighty Hunter's uncle, but we don't call her my aunt. Because that means she's supposed to be more mature and all. And, well, she's not. She's great. She and I have laughed and cried over the past 10 years since she married into the Hunter's family. (She's got a big ol' jewel in her heavenly crown for that act of love and sacrifice!) We're really good friends. If I had to rank her, she'd be after my mom and tied with My Friend Rachel.
Bev is on my mind today. She is one of those women who inspire me to be a better person. I really admire her and try to follow her example in many ways. Especially for the reason that she is on my mind.
Beverly's biological parents allowed her paternal aunt and uncle to adopt her and her older brother. The biologicals were crappy parents. And as selfish as it is, they did a wonderful thing by giving them to a loving family. I can't imagine how completely screwed up Bev would be if she had stayed with the biological parents. "There's no tellin'"
Well, Bev's Mom (the only REAL Mom she ever had) had a couple of mild strokes over the past few years and has Alzheimer's. She has been in a nursing home for several years, with her health and mental condition declining steadily each year. Over the past several months, she has had several things to occur that have weakened her health significantly and caused her to be admitted to the local hospital for infections, etc.
And that's where she has been for the past week now. I'll try not to go into details, but her breathing is labored, her pulse is difficult to manage, her mental awareness is minimal and she can't eat or swallow the food that is fed to her. A feeding tube through her nose to her stomach was really the only source of nutrition, and she pulled it out during the night, last night. She mumbles things that can't be understood or don't make sense. She will only occasionally answer when someone talks to her.
She is dying.
And Beverly's heart is breaking.
breaking
Right here, days before Mother's Day, Beverly is mourning the impending loss of her Mother. The woman who raised her, not because she gave birth to her, but because Beverly needed her. The woman who carried her on her hip all. day. long. for a year, because no one had shown her any attention before. The woman who refused to let her be neglected and abused any longer and loved her and led her to Christ.
Here, at Mother's Day, I'm witnessing a daughter's devotion to her mother. Since moving into the nursing home, Beverly has visited her mother almost everyday. She insists on doing her Mom's laundry, eventhough it is included in the nursing home's care. She sits with her for hours after work. She will talk to her in her sleep when simply sitting in a recliner has exhausted her at 4pm. She paints her fingernails and brushes her hair. She buys pretty bed linens and clothes and pajamas. She keeps pictures of family and friends within sight. She feeds her vanilla milkshakes.
And her heart is breaking.
I have the unique privilege of seeing an example of caring for an ailing, elderly parent.
Now, at Mother's Day, my friend is preparing for the loss of her own mother. Pray, with me, that God will be with Beverly as she cares for her mother in her last days. Ahead of her are hard days and long nights and rivers of tears.
I hope I can follow her example.
Insomnia is an acquaintance of mine. He - yes, it's a HE - shows up occasionally, talk talk talking to me. Never stopping to consider that I need sleep. I need to be able to stay awake during the same hours as the rest of my family. I need to get through my day without a nap and won't have time for one tomorrow!
It's all about him and the stuff that's on his mind. He wants to talk about the baskets of clothes that I didn't get folded and put away. Talk about the clothes that are in the washer and need to go in the dryer but need to be hung up as soon as they're dry so I don't have to iron any a lot. Talk about what time I need to be ready to leave for the recital tomorrow so that we can get a decent seat. Talk about all the crap I'll have to take with me to the recital because we'll be there most of the dang day.
Always with the talking.
Shut up already, Insomnia.
Well, tonight Insomnia brought along another old acquaintance of mine that I haven't visited with since before Lucky was born.
Say hello to Heartburn. Heartburn is a woman. More accuratelly, she's a bi+ch. She likes to remind me that eventhough the boneless wings were yummy in their BBQ sauce, I should order the "wimpy" sauce next time. Cause I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to spices. The Mighty Hunter ate the "torch tongue" flavor, with no suffering at all.
Heartburn and Insomnia make a good team. Heartburn keeps me from being able to lie down, and Insomnia won't shut the heck up when I do lie down.
How many Tums are too many to eat within, say, two hours? 6? 8?
So, tonight, Insomnia and Heartburn have Excitement's help in keeping me awake. I'm so very excited about how well Stinkerbell did in her rehearsal this evening. She has mentioned in passing that she might be nervous at the recital. That she wondered how many people would be there. And that she might mess up. Well, for someone who has never sung for more than 100 people (and that scared me so bad I HURT!), I withheld the estimated attendance for tomorrow.
1200.
But I did encourage her to Nausea and back with my description of those attending being "a bunch of parents" there to see cute kids do "their thing." And that they'd clap and yell and smile over the great job she'd do with her song.
True.
But none of them will be any prouder of their babies than I will. Because not only does mine have the mad skillz I covet, but she has the courage to get up and SANG and stay on pitch (mostly) and not have the Nervous Vibrato that is my vocal style.
So, scoll down and play the video clips in the previous post.
Go on. Scoot.
This next clip is the full song with Stinkerbell and the other girl in her voice class. Stinkerbell is the one in the black teeball uniform, which makes for a cool effect against the black background. Stinkerbell head and arms singing and dancing.
recital rehearsal 1 from auburngalalways
Yeah, I'm a little proud.
A lot actually.
Today is Friday. A day that oozes anticipation for the coming sleeping late mornings of the weekend. Were I going to an office or "job" during the week now, I'd be soooo glad that today is today. But, I'm not. I have no use for what day of the week it is, except to get Stinkerbell off to school and The Mighty Hunter off to work on time.
When The Mighty Hunter's grandmother was still living - she passed Dec 2005 at 93 y-o - she taught me many things. Some of those things were not pleasant. That's a whole nother post. But one of the things I learned from her, as she aged and lost more and more of her independence and personality and awareness, is that if all you do is stay home (whether that actually be your home or a nursing facility or whatever) then you don't really need to keep up with whether it's Monday or Friday. The only difference between the days of the week is whether the wedding stories or baby stories were on tv or not.
I might as well be 93. Except I am the mutant, exception-t0-the-rule postpartum mom who is not obsessed with watching every birthing-related and baby-centric show on Discovery and TLC. I simply must watch my Y&R and even will occasionally enjoy a Days of Our Lives episode.
What is that nutty Sami going to do next?
As you should know as you've finished your required reading of my archives, Stinkerbell is in kindergarten. And our school year is about to end. And just to give us parents a little hint of what our summer will be like with our wild kids, our school district is taking advantage of the unused weather days by shortening the remaining 3 weeks. No more school on Fridays.
Do they not think they've tortured us enough by making us do homework already? COME ON!!! Homework in KINDERGARTEN???? And, really, isn't it enough that we'll spend the entire summer with our heathens darling children?
So, instead of only having Saturday and Sunday with Stinkerbell, she'll be home on Fridays also. Which is good, actually, cuz she really likes to sleep late and that makes for a happier, better-rested Mommy.
To inaugurate the insanity I promised you, Stinkerbell's friend Lauren came over this morning and will be here till lunch. Her mom is a home health care social worker and a wonderful friend. Stinkerbell and Lauren play together in a wonderful, invisible, don't-be-afraid-of-the-silence kind of way. Our house is situated a long way from our road and surrounded by barbed wire fence. (Yeah, we're that kind of redneck. The other side of the fence is a cattle pasture, sans cattle. anyhoo...) So, I feel "safe" allowing them to play outside unsupervised. Stinkerbell is a mature 6 and Lauren is 8. They are both smart girls and don't climb too high in the pear tree.
Lauren's mom was at the doctor with Lauren's older brother. He had a pin inserted into his hip joint because it had completely dislocated. (ouch!) She was talking about how she was thankful her kids didn't climb trees and risk the broken arms that usually come with that sort of thing.
um, yeah. except, um, no.
And she still lets Lauren come over and play. And, yes, I still let them climb the tree.
I think we're all insane now. I think our society has gone totally bonkers in over-protecting our children to the point of not allowing them to play tag! Not keeping score in teeball or soccer!
I played ball as a kid and we lost most of our games, but we still played and we had fun. It didn't kill my self-esteem. It didn't make me a meth-head. I finished high school with honors and graduated from a major university (Dean's list, thankyouverymuch.)
I played tag in recess. I played against boys. ::gasp:: And we played football. Tackle. And I got tackled. By boys. And one really chubby boy stepped on my head - which might explain a few things, actually. And I got right back up and knocked him on his butt.
And I climbed trees. But not very high. And I fell out. Without breaking my arm.
My brother broke my arm. Playing kickball. On the next-to-last-day of school. And I didn't get to go swimming for 6 weeks that summer break!
I'll go out on a limb here and say that my self-esteem issues are much more complex than simply playing on a crappy softball team. And that climbing trees and tackle football at recess made me adventurous and less fearful than I might have been otherwise.
Nevertheless, I hate to see Stinkerbell disappointed and injured. I do love her. I do want her to succeed and be happy. I just want her to learn the "painful" lessons early while the pain can be relieved by a hug from Mommy.
And since this is Friday, and will be a particularly busy one, I'm preparing her for a new adventure.
This afternoon, she and The Mighty Hunter will continue their attempts at domination of the Every Game's a Tie teeball league. (Gosh! That irks me. I will just have to keep score myself!)
And then immediately after the game, we will rush off to dress rehearsal for her recital tomorrow. The performing arts school where she takes voice lessons rents the local civic auditorium/basketball court for this annual event. I really hope the spotlight is bright enough to keep her from seeing the 1200ish people they expect to attend.
Cause if I had to sing for 1200 people, I'd crap my pants.
I will video her rehearsal and try to post it for y'all.
Cuz you REALLY need to witness the CUTENESS!!!
Have a great Friday, y'all.
Lemmetellya
Stinkerbell is just the bestest evuh teeball player you'll ever see. Besides being the biggest girl on her team, and the same size as the biggest boy (but her feet are bigger - smirk), she is just darn good.
Now, catching is not her strong point. So, they took her off first base. But she totally rocks at the pitcher's mound. She runs after every ground ball (and those are aplenty). She throws pretty well to first base or wherever the coaches tell her to. She was a major contribution to our victorious TIE yesterday.
Yeah, we have one of those leagues where the teeball teams don't "keep score." I can't stand it. I try to keep score in my head but usually get distracted with my girl's mad skillz.
She hits well. But we have a few really good hitters on the team. In the two innings they played, she hit 2 doubles and scored from second both times. SLIDING INTO HOMEPLATE.
Yeah, that's my gal.
Yeah, I yelled "sliiiiiiiide!"
And. AND! Only once did she stop the ground ball and throw it AT the runner and not to first base. All the other times, she threw it to first base.
So, this was our second game. Friday is the next game. But...
But, that is also the night of the recital for the performing arts school where takes voice lessons. And, DEAR LORD, she needs to practice with a real microphone and see the auditorium and PREPARE.
When I tell her coach she will miss Friday's game, he handles it well. For ME, he handles it well. But when The Mighty Hunter arrives to help coach, he totally pulls the Men Have To Band Together And Foil The Plans Of The Women.
jerks
coach: "so, Stinkerbell will miss Friday's game. Who do you suggest I put on the mound?"
The Mighty Hunter: "I'm not finished with this. Let me talk to Auburn Gal Always again and see what we can work out."
jerk
So, in his attempts to dominate the teeball league, The Mighty Hunter is requesting the rehearsal work around Stinkerbell's game.
Sure, there is only one other girl in her voice class. Sure, it should be possible to just let them run through their song out of performance order. Sure, it might work. But what makes The Mighty Hunter think it's ok for her to put less importance on all the hard work she has done in voice lessons for one of her many teeball games?
grrrr
****************************************************************************
On another note, I saw Mary and spoke to her. She was friendly. I was friendly. It wasn't awkward. Chris, nor his current wife, were present, so that worked out well. She commented on Lucky's obvious resemblance to The Mighty Hunter. Stinkerbell was running around wild, naturally. But she must have noticed Stinkerbell beating the crap out of her team.
See, my way works too!
Thanks for putting up with me and my ridiculous rebellion.
