HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

For crimany sakes....where have you been? I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off ever since we got home Sunday night. We decided on the drive home that we'd seriously start shopping for C. a different car. His was on it's last leg, err wheel and we wanted to get it before the end of the year. So that's what I've been doing since 8:00 Monday morning. We got home about 8:00 last night with him a new one. Today I've been faxing, emailing, phoning, etc. to get everything finished. Then D. decided we should cook dinner for the guys and their girls. Nothing fancy, just burgers but that meant I had to go to the store today. It was an absolute ZOO!!! Way worse than hurricane shopping, Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping. And don't even get me started on the folks in their own little worlds today. Geez, thought I was gonna hurt some people!

I've mentioned before I play fantasy football with friends from OKC. Not the serious, pick your players game, just the simple pick the winners of the college games and rank them in order of the confidence you have in them winning the game. For instance, there are 33 bowl games and last night I had chosen the Cowboys to win with a confidence of 22. Since they lost, (thanks alot Pokes) I didn't get my 22 points. However, not many in my group chose them to lose either and I'm still in 8th place out of 20 people. I've chosen the Sooners to win but only with a confidence of 1. If they lose, we won't be coming out of our house for several days.

I guess I'd better get into the kitchen and make sure I have everything for supper. I kinda lost my concentration after the 3rd lap around the parking lot.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's. Be safe and have fun!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOGGY FRIENDS!

We are headed to God's Country aka Oklahoma in just a couple of hours. We had Christmas at our house last night. Both of my sons were surprised for the first time in years at their gifts. Chalk one up for Mom. Hubby went to the Brighton store and bought me a beautiful ring and bangle bracelet. He can never go wrong there with all the ladies there to help him (plus the fact I filled out a wish list).

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. It means a lot to me that you stop by to read about our antics often. I'm thankful for you and pray God will bless you and keep you safe as you travel, even if it's only to Grandma's down the street like it was for me as a kid.

See ya next week!

~~Laura

IT'S FINALLY FALL HERE

Was it just last week I posted the video of the snow? It's in the 70s today and is supposed to be 80 on Saturday but only 40 on Sunday. We're a little confused. I looked out my window and noticed my neighbor's trees are a lovely shade of fall. I know, I know, it's a week until Christmas but the season's are just weird down here.

I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Jordan. Isn't he cute? His shoulder/back is continuing to get better. We give praise to the Father for healing him. He's still quite a ways from 100% but at least he DID put his shirt on by himself this morning.

Christmas break began for him today. He doesn't have to go to school tomorrow. He's still taking Vicadin at night to help him sleep and needs a nap after school.

Do any of you know what Ikea is? I had never heard of it until I moved down here. It's an enormous furniture store from Sweden. Remember a couple of season's ago when the Amazing Race people had to put together a piece of furniture from Ikea? Well, we've bought a couple of things from there and today I bought the last things for Jordan's room. We'll get them put together this weekend (a one-armed person won't be of much help or we'd work on it now) and I will get pics up to show you his room.

Now I'm off to the mall to finish the shopping.

Happy Birthday, Beverly!

JORDAN'S INJURY UPDATE

Jordan and I went to the Dr. yesterday. This is the same Dr. that J. spent two weeks with for his HOSA class (he hopes to be a physical therapist). I'm so glad we were able to get into him because I think he gave J. some extra special attention since he knew him. Diagnosis: bruised thoracic nerve. This nerve controls the muscles in the shoulder blade area which controls the arm movements or in his case, the lack of arm movements. The Dr. said he would have been better off if he'd broken his collarbone! He'll go back for another visit next Monday and then they'll determine what to do, if anything, for him. The pain is intense and his fingers are numb. And it's his RIGHT arm and finals are this week.

He's not stranger to weird injuries. In 7th grade he had a knee injury called Osteochondritis Desicans. In 8th grade he fell during a cross country meet and tore a ligament in his hip. In 10th grade, he had a heel fracture (and ingrown toenail worked on but that seems so trivial now). He takes excellent care of himself, works out, doesn't eat much junk food or drink soda and yet he has a little skateboard crash and suddenly everything is in chaos! He wasn't even doing tricks...just riding over to his friend's house in our neighborhood.

Please pray specifically for the nerve to "wake up", that his muscles will stay strong and that he won't become discouraged.

Thank you for praying for him.

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY "CHEERLEADER"

Bloggy friends, please pray for Jordan today. He took a nasty fall off his longboard Saturday. I took him to the emergency clinic (which is at the entrance to our neighborhood, how convenient is that?). They X-rayed his shoulder and it showed no fractures but probably a torn muscle and probably a pinched nerve which is causing him great pain! We're going to his Ortho Dr. today for follow-up. He didn't sleep much Sat or Sun night.

Then to make matters much worse, he backed into Clint's truck this morning! He was in such a hurry because he was already late since it took him so long to get ready (right shoulder). Clint's usually not home either when J. goes to school. J. LOVES his truck and is devastated he hurt it and feels pretty lousy about crunching his brothers truck too.

I'm pretty sure the sky is falling today.....





Just after I hit "publish post" the smoke alarms went off. I then remembered I had started Jordan's ramen noodles. Then he called and said he was going to stay in Tomball (pronounced Tom-Ball) and he'd meet me at the Dr.'s office. I had forgotten to turn the burner off and the noodles cooked to the pot. I had to take each smoke alarm off the ceiling to get them to stop. What is it with us and smoke alarms?http://sooneraggiemom.blogspot.com/2008/09/and-then-fire-truck-came.html

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THREE AMUSING POSTS FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT TODAY

I'm sure there's a very simple way to get three videos from photobucket into one post, but I've tried for over an hour to figure it out and can't. So, you'll have to watch them all three seperately.

As a fundraiser for the senior prom, the senior guys and gals participate in The Annual Powder Puff game. The gals play ball and the guys dress up as ugly girls and attempt to cheer. Jordan is the lovely blond with pigtails. He learned to do back handsprings in the 4th grade from Jimmy Womack.

ENJOY

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FLIP FLOPS TODAY?

It took me about 30 min. to download this small clip. Surely there's a trick I don't know to make it go faster?

I have lots of video of Jordan's Powder Puff Cheerleading but it would take days to download. I'll try some more tomorrow.

O CHRISTMAS TREE...ONE DAY LATE

I guess this means I don't win the caramels? Oh boo hoo.

Here's the tree. It's brand new this year. The previous fake one was from 1997. It met it's maker in 2006 and last year we bought a live one. This one is pre-lit and had better last at least 20 years!

Before Bailey, there was Rocky the beautiful Sheltie. When Bailey is naughty, I say "Rocky would NEVER have done that"

My mom didn't keep a lot of stuff but she kept this stocking ornament. When I was in Kindergarten, it held the treats from the class party....1969. The ornament next to it was my Grandma's. I don't have many things of hers but this is a cherished possesion. It's from the '50s. To the left you can see a crayon ornament. I started collecting this set from Hallmark in 1988 for Clint's first Christmas. They stopped the series in 2006 and I have them all. Jordan's ornaments are still an ongoing series started in 1991. They are puppy dogs. I forgot to take a pic of them.

The homemade ornament on the left is Jordan's from 4th grade I think. It's made from a Christmas card. He took one my aunt sent and you can see her signature on it. The one on the right is one of my mom's. Again, I don't have many things from her, but I remember when we got these ornaments when I was a little girl. They were F-A-N-C-Y!

Here's a sneak peak at tomorrow's post......

Maybe even a video if I can figure out how to download it. I'll also post a couple of bedroom pics but I'm so far behind this week.

Okay, I just realized I downloaded the pics centered instead of to the left and now everything is goofed up....my week has been like that. Just use your imagination and pretend everything is in the right place.

eek I can't even think that far ahead.

TOMORROW WILL BE THE END OF THE LONG JOURNEY

Tomorrow, Wed. the paint crew is coming back to touch up, install the brand spankin new ceiling fan and also the smoke detector. I'd like to invite you all to my house to witness the unveiling of Jordan's new room! You've been with me from the beginning and it only seems fitting you'd be there now. So, you'll all come right?

No gifts required. Just your presence please.

FRIDAY RANT

Where are all my readers? Good thing my feelings don't get hurt easily.

They finished the flooring yesterday and the plumber is here now to reset the toilets. We went from vinyl to tile so the bolts that hold the toilet down are too short. When they built the house, they must have found a bargain on "off-set" something or anothers because they used them on both of them. So today, the guy tells me he'll have to replace them with something else and it will cost an additional $95 EACH!!! So now, it's costing appr. $400 to reset the toilets.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Have I mentioned lately I DON'T LIKE IKE!!!!!!!!

ALREADY GONE AND SEVEN BRIDGES ROAD

Were the only two songs we can think of The Eagles didn't sing Monday night, which was sad because "Already Gone" is my all time favorite Eagles song. No pictures because it was supposed to be "no cameras allowed" but I saw lots of flashes going off. I should've smuggled mine in. However, we were sitting in the nosebleed section, so pics probably wouldn't have worked. I guess D could've taken a pic of me singing with the 20,000 other fans. I haven't really paid much attention to The Eagles in probably 20 years, but have to say this was a concert I didn't want to end. Everytime they'd start a song, I'd be surprised because I had forgotten about it but I knew all the words. Well, except for the Joe Walsh songs and I still couldn't understand them with him singing live. Do you remember "Life's been good to me so far?" They showed vintage clips of them in various stages of their lives. I'm guessing they must all be close to 60 years old and seeing their wild hair from 1975 really made us laugh. My brother is 55 and I can still hear the music coming from his bedroom! I mean when I was growing up, not now. However, he IS a retired DJ and I bet he still listens to it. Anyway, I really didn't realize until listening to them sing for over 3 hours how good of vocalists they really are. Tight harmonies, lots of oohs and ahs and the guitar music....oh my word....amazing!

The concert was originally scheduled for Sept. 10th which we all know was three days before Hurricane Ike turned things upside down at my house. It was worth the wait. Now if I could just get the flooring guys to work a little faster, I'd be pretty happy! They've worked two solid days on the tile in the bathroom and I don't see how they'll be finished today unless they really get a move on. The carpet people are starting tomorrow....can you imagine what the upstairs will look like? Speaking of which, I'd better get a move on myself. Someone has to move all the breakables and clean out from under the bed.

Any volunteers?????

HOW DID IT GET TO BE DECEMBER 1ST SO SOON?

I am so busy today. I don't have time to blog but feel guilty for not blogging lately. We had a wonderful time in Oklahoma. Hubby's parents moved from Lindsay to Collinsville a few years ago so now our drive home is increased by about 3 hours! My family doesn't gather at Thanksgiving (it's a long, complicated story, don't ask) so I don't get to see them until Christmas. The highlight of our trip, no it wasn't the big Sooner win, but that was very good too, was the lunch I had with an old friend! We re-connected on Facebook and have been chatting for a few weeks. We met Friday at noon and at 4:15 I decided I'd better get back up to the in-laws house. We cried and laughed and cried and laughed. We hadn't seen each other since 2001 and had not been real faithful to email very well. This gal was one of my closest Owasso friends back in the '90s.

Hubby and I are going to see The Eagles in concert tonight! It was postponed from Sept. due to hurricane Ike. I can't wait! Pictures tomorrow, I promise (well, maybe Wed)

They started working on our flooring today! I think I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Poor Bailey. She just wants to help them and the guy came out and told me she was going to have to stay away unless we wanted doggie footprints in the grout.

A scary thing happened to us Wed. and I'm almost too ashamed to print it. We left the house for our trip not knowing where Minnie, the cat, was. About an hour before we got ready to leave, I started looking for her. I thought I remembered letting her out early in the morning. She goes out the backdoor, sits and watches the birds, jumps over the fence and goes to the front yard to bird watch there. She's ready to come back inside in about an hour. I was so busy getting ready Wed that I totally forgot about her. Then I couldn't find her. I yelled, looked under bushes, went to the neighbor's house. Came back inside and looked in all her hiding places and could not find her anywhere. To make a long story short, my neighbor called me Thursday morning to say she was in the coat closet and when she came in to feed her, she was HOWLING to get out!!! I literally prayed all night for God to protect my kitty because I just knew she was outside. That was my Thanksgiving gift....no reason to panic!

I gotta go....too many things on my list aren't done yet and it's 3:21 pm! yikes!!

CHURCH UNDER THE BRIDGE, PART 2

Our church helps at Church Under The Bridge once a quarter. A different ministry within the church participates with the missions ministry. In August, our choir helped. Yesterday, it was the youth's turn. Church is held every Sunday afternoon in downtown Houston beneath an interstate bridge. It's noisy, it smells bad and it's depressing. The people who go there go for a free meal and a comfy chair to relax in for a few hours. I can't imagine what they do the other 20 hours of the day. Here's some pics

This is one half of the crowd

J and his friends found the best seats

J doing his part of the cleanup (he doesn't empty trash at home very often)


The bus is about to leave and these girls can't quit singingWe fed about 150 homeless people a full Thanksgiving meal. I could learn a thing or two from them about being thankful. I was serving turkey and didn't get a picture of the tables where they were eating (next time I will) nor did I get a pic of the food.

Last week, our church hosted the Integrity Music Conference. Worship leaders from all over the US came to learn more about leading worship. I served as a greeter a couple of days showing people around. Thursday night was a free concert featuring Joel Auge, Paul Baloche and Lincoln Brewster (LR, you can stop reading here). I was greeting so had to depend on D & a couple of other friends to get us our seats because I couldn't go in early (as I had planned) to get our seats. Imagine my surprise when I got in and they were on the 2nd row! Wow! D. described it the next day as "I thought my buttons were going to pop off my shirt" it was so loud. Joel is an up and coming artist who sings most of his songs in falsetto. It was amazing!!! Jordan said he was his favorite. He only sang four songs and I wish it would've been more. Next up was Paul Baloche. I'm pretty sure he writes most of the songs we sing in church. He lives in a small town in Texas, speaks fluent French and is one of the happiest guys I've ever watched sing. Pure joy in every song singing praises to our Father. He entertained us between songs with stories about his church and how he writes songs. Here he is at the beginning of his set untangling his guitar cords. He used a wonderful example of how God untangles us before we can do our best for him.


Next up was Lincoln Brewster. I had seen him earlier in the day looking somewhat "normal" with unspiked hair, singing in the hallway with his band in perfect harmony. So cool. He has a new CD called "Today is the Day". Highly recommended. I've 'bout worn it out already. I lost count of how many songs he sang and was totally blown away with his guitar playing. The dude is a rock star!!! I took this pic from the big screen because my camera was doing weird stuff with the lighting.

To complelety change the subject, the flooring people won't be able to start our flooring until after Thanksgiving so it will be close to Christmas before everything is finished. I'm not complaining though, there's still peeps with tarps on their roofs in our neighborhood. Every day I hear the sound of progress being made. Lots of roofs are being repaired, fences being put up and trash hauled away.

Are you still reading? Bev, our Rockette is not in the traveling group. She will only perform in NYC. Her parents and sister are there this week for her opening. Her sister is "Arise and be all you can dream" blog on my list.

Have a great week. Probably won't blog until after Thanksgiving.

LOOK AT THE ROCKETTE!

I've bragged about the Rockette before. Go to http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/ and click on Nov. 26th. She's standing there over Rachel's right shoulder holding a gift. She'll be on the show Nov. 26th. How cool is that?

In a couple of days (not today, I'm getting ready to hang Christmas lights) I'll tell you about the fun concert at our church we had Thursday night. It was Paul Baloche and Lincoln Brewster.

I've been trying to think of something interesting all day to chat about. I'll do the factoid Linda mentioned later. We had a pretty quiet weekend....that happens when there are no kids around. Our church hosted a ladies holiday banquet Friday night. I helped decorate our "alto" table Friday. The gal I was helping is a decorator and we had one of the coolest tables there. Btw, this is no small banquet. There were over 700 ladies there! Our table had a '50s theme that you can't really see in this pic

That's a record player in the center. You remember those? You put a record on the turntable, put the arm thingie with the needle on it on the record and music comes out a tiny speaker. We also had pick-up-sticks, jacks, rock candy and all sorts of other '50s things scattered on our table. It was fun. Have I stopped lately to say how thankful I am for my girlfriends here? Very thankful.

Saturday was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. Hubby has had major carp at work lately and he sat in his robe drinking coffee until 11:00 just being quiet and resting. We went to wally world to pick up his rx sunglasses, ate a quick lunch at sweet tomatoes, went to the harley store (it never ends) then tried to watch a little football on tv. There weren't any good games on til late. I'm in a "College Pick'em" game on espn with a couple of friends. I started off the year terrible (the week of the hurricane, I didn't even look at what I chose) but have been doing better the past 6 weeks until Sat. and I missed 5 of the 10 games! At least there's no money involved....only pride.

Sunday was a wonderful day of worship at church. They split our choir into halves and I now stand next to the drum cage (poor guys have to sit in a box). I just reread that sentence and realize it doesn't make any sense. The musicians are between the choir. Does that make sense? Singers on the ends? Music in the middle? Anyhoo, Sunday afternoon D & I drove over to College Station to take C and his new gf out to lunch. Remember all those blogs from the springtime when he and the other girl broke up? He's been dating a new girl (her name is Hillary, his name is Clinton, how funny is that?) that we like pretty well. J. got home around 10:00 pm. He went to Baton Rouge with his gf's family and went to the LSU game. They even bought him a t-shirt. I told him that shirt would probably get lost in the laundry like the socks do.

Which brings me back to Monday afternoon. We had another flooring guy come give us an estimate for our floor. The last guy was supposed to give us a great deal and if that's a great deal, we're not gonna put anything up there. It was outrageous!

Happy Monday everyone.

CHOOSING PICTURES....AGAIN

How I wish I lived in OKC where I know two gals who take awesome photographs. I had J's pics done a couple of weeks ago. I used the same British photograher as I used with C. She's great and back in 2006, was extremely affordable. She posted online so you could take a peek before going to choose the pics. I take this very seriously! It's an investment and a once in a lifetime thing. This time around I decided to have the pics done in the fall (was actually thinking J would still have his lifeguard tan, but she was gone a month then booked until the end of October) so I wouldn't have to deal with it in the spring around graduation time. So we went and had a fun time; I thought it was fun anyway. She took over 100 pictures, with changes of clothes, inside, outside around her country house, by the horses, the pool, etc. Then as we're getting ready to leave, her assistant tells me I need to schedule the viewing appointment. I said "Oh it makes it so easy to look at them online first" to which she replied in her proper English, "Sorreh luv, em not doing that unymore".

I almost choked.

Her.

Seems it was taking too long for folks to chose the pics even with them being available to look at. Aarrrrhhhhh!!! Okay, I'm a responsible, maybe a little flaky mom and can do this. After all, I'm only going to spend hundreds of dollars on these pics, right? So I go back the next week and watch the slide show. I cried. It's the music that does it. I struggled with this like crazy. J didn't go with me 'cause he was sitting home with the construction workers. I finally made my choices; spent way, way too much money; got home with my thumbnail pics only to hear from hubby "this one is a weird color" and from J. "this one looks like a regular pic". I had it with 'em both! Swallowed my tears and decided I'd make ANOTHER appointment to try again. So that's where I'm off to this afternoon.

I'll letcha know how THAT goes. J is going with me this time.

PARKING THE BUS

I have a friend hurting today. She's confused about a situation that seemed pretty clear a couple of days ago but obviously God has other plans for her family. Clint was fortunate to go on a mission trip years ago and his youth pastor posted the following blog while they were away. In my opinion, it's one of the clearest examples of God's vision being perfect while ours is not. Sorry for the repost. Hopefully Rob won't mind I've used his words....

"While driving around the parking lot looking for a place to park the bus, we had to turn down, between two rows of cars. Maneuvering the 57 passenger bus is no easy feat, especially when it's a tight spot. Through the mirror I was watching the side of the bus getting closer and closer to the car on the end of the row. I could tell the bus driver was getting a little nervous about hitting the car. In that moment my father, who was driving the van behind us with a clear look at the car and the bus, came over the radio and said, "you've got plenty of room". He then began to call out how far away we were. "You've got five feet..four feet...three feet...keep going,...you got it". Now from my vantage point I was willing to bet money (well not really bet money) that we were already on top of the car. From the limited vision I had in the mirror I was wincing just waiting for the impact. But my father had a clear, unhampered view. It was tough to go against what my eyes saw and not shout out, "STOP!!" After we got parked and got off the bus I thought about how our Heavenly Father always has the better vantage point. He always has a clear picture of our lives and every obstacle around them. And our vision is always limited. We don't see things the way He sees them. So what we must do is simply trust His voice and respond in obedience, even when we think we see something different with our own eyes. We must overcome our limited vision and learn to hear, trust and obey that voice of the One who sees everything.

We're praying for you, sweet friend.

MIND IF I RANT?

This is what I looked like after grocery shopping Saturday morning. I NEVER shop on Saturday because I'm convinced that's when people shop who have no brains. With the workers here all week, it was the only time I could go. Why do people park their buggies (btw, we call them buggies down here, not carts) on one side of the aisle then go study the salad dressing on the other side of the aisle? Now they're blocking the path of the already crazy store! And why give me a dirty look when I so very sweetly say "excuse me" when I try to get past? Don't the same rules follow as driving? Drive on the right side. And don't even get me started on folks that take their entire family shopping. I'm talking about mom, dad, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and 14 kids! Holy moly, I felt like I'd been to Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving! And how 'bout the parking lot? My store has an over abundance of cart corrals where you're supposed to take the buggie back after unloading it. There are two on each side...in other words, there's no reason to leave it in the middle of the lot. I saw several able bodied MEN leave them! Whoa, it was all I could do not to whistle at them and tell them to put them where they belong. My store also has an area where they cook for you and hand out samples with the recipes. A lady almost elbowed me in the nose while I was waiting my turn for the sample of "Vera Cruz tamales".

I came home and announced I would NEVER go to the store again on Saturday morning. No one heard me except for the animals though. D. went on a bike ride and J. was still in bed!

Well, I feel better now. I feel a little ashamed for ranting as Alicia's blog about looking for powdered sugar and rice comes to mind.

Happy Monday everyone (and stay away from the crazy lady at the grocery store)

WHAT A WEEK!

Work progresses on the upstairs repair. The floor guy came yesterday and we chose a hardwood laminate. Looks like hardwood but is laminate. I couldn't tell the difference so we went with the cheaper. We ARE dealing with insurance money ya know. BTW, I'm going to write a letter to my insurance company and compliment them on the outstanding customer service we've received. I have NO complaints at all. They paid us quickly and were extremely professional. Then I'm going to write a letter to the mortgage company and compliment them too. They processed the paperwork I sent them a few weeks ago and released the entire amount of the check back to us!

Here's where we stand today


OUTSIDE

NO MORE DROOPY CEILING FAN

THE TRICKY CORNER

HE'S SHOWING ME HOW THE TEXTURE WILL GO ON

I gotta tell ya. These workers are a blessing! Only one of them came on Wed. and he remarked it was going to be pretty quiet upstairs. I told him he could turn on the radio in the bathroom if he wanted. I went up later and heard my Christian station playing and thought how considerate it was that he only turned it on and didn't change the station. Yesterday they had their own radio outside and again, I heard my station. I remarked to J. that they must've liked our music 'cause now they're listening to it. I told him about them using his radio but not changing the station. He said "mom, I had it on country". They DID change it...to MY station!! How cool is that?

We're going to J's girlfriend's football game tonight and are going to sit with her parents (she's on drill team, not football team). We've never met them before! Yikes! I'll let ya know how it goes. Those football games last a long time. And while we're talking about football. Oh my, isn't college football exciting this year? I was so hoping to score A & M/OU tickets for tomorrow's game but none of the Aggies would part with them. They are such passionate fans! Last week we cheered for the Red Raiders. This week we'll cheer for the Cowboys. Bev are you making the drive?

What Friday post would be complete without a picture of you know who? We go walking everyday and she fetches my shoes for me.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

FOLLOW THIS LINK

As usual, she put it in much better words than I ever could....
http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/

DID YOU VOTE???

I started thinking about the first election I voted in. It was 1984 and I proudly cast my ballot for Ronald Reagan and George Bush. I lived in Ada, Oklahoma and I voted at Wintersmith Park. Do you remember where you first voted? I can also remember going with my mom to vote at the girl scout hut in Lindsay. I can still see her use the rubber X to stamp her votes. Then I started thinking about all the other places I've voted....my church in Owasso, my kid's elementary school in Moore, some other kid's school in Bakersfield lol. I took Clint with me in 1988. We had just moved there. He was 8 months old and I didn't know anyone to leave him with, so he went too. We have video of him playing in the floor with the presidential debate going on between Bush and Dukakis. Wonder whatever happened to him? I see Bush at Astros baseball games (on tv, he sits behind home plate...I sit no where near home plate) and even saw Barbara Bush sitting at a stop light one day!! I wanted to knock on her window and wave but thought that might scare her and the security detail would arrest me. Anyway, I also remember voting in Midland at a school. I had BOTH boys in tow that time and J. was awful!!! Now I vote in Tomball at the public works building.

Where ever I live, I'm grateful for the chance to vote.

THE BIRFDAY POST

I had a wonderful day Saturday. Thank you for the greetings btw. My sister and in-laws sent me cash so that was a great way to begin the day. I got my nails done. They were a mess. I stopped at the garden center on the way home to buy some pansies. It's still too warm to plant them here, but I planted them anyway. Will have to water them daily for a couple more weeks. Hubby took J and me for a quick supper. C had to work after the Aggie game so he wasn't going to be home until late. I got some really cool gifts. J gave me this solar powered garden globe

It glows at night. He said they had an orange one but went with the green since orange is a no-no color down here. Not the bright OSU orange, the OTHER orange.

Hubby gave me this giant pop-out card. We started giving each other pop-out cards many years ago. The bigger, the better. I don't think he even reads them but buys them as long as they pop-out. This one popped out AND unfolded! Woo Hoo!!

We aren't serious-mushy card givers in our house.

Hubby also gave me my first Harley clothing item.

Now I'll look cool next time we go riding. He gave me a ride to meet my friends a couple of weeks ago when we went to the scarecrow festival. One of the gals commented on my yellow t-shirt and said it didn't look very tough. I also had on keds which probably wasn't very tough either.

MY SWEETIES!!!

Bailey wasn't ready

We went to lunch after church yesterday to finish off the birthday celebration. Oh and I almost forgot, Hubby & J bought me an enormous cake from a fancy schmancy bakery. It was delicous!

C brought me a new coffee mug and a bag of Starbuck's breakfast blend. He's so funny. He's developed into a coffee mug freak. He buys them all the time. I bet he has 20 that he's picked up at odd places.

Here's a pic of J and his girlfriend. Aren't they cute? She went to lunch with us on Sunday.

The workers are back again today bright and early. I'll spare you a construction pic today.

Happy Monday....one more day of the Beatles Birthday song for ya.

PROGRESS

They started working on the house yesterday! Two guys worked all day to get the old sheet rock down from the drive-thru.

This is under J's room. I like these guys. Not only are they putting the house back together, but I can actually understand them. There's usually a language barrier between me and whatever person is working on the house. My Spanish is not a lot better than their English.

OUT WITH THE OLD!!

IN WITH THE NEW!!

THE TRASH SO FAR

MINNIE'S HIDING FROM THEM

We bought a new ceiling fan last night. It's black and sorta contemporary looking. I think J will like it. He wanted to paint his room red. Our kitchen is red, but D. said no to the complete red bedroom. I don't know what color to choose now...maybe a dark gray?? He'll probably veto that too. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow is my birfday. I'll be 44. Lately I've been feeling every day of it too.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

MY SISTER CALLED ME "GRACE" AS A CHILD

Not Grace as in "she's so graceful, like a swan" but "she's so clutzy, how does she walk daily". Friday I got a wild hair I would use my hand held portable vacuum to clean up around the computer. It's gross around here...crumbs, bits of paper, dust, etc. So I put the vacuum on the desk and bent down to plug it in. Instead, I pulled the thing down onto the top of my foot! Did you hear a scream Friday morning? It was me! I immediately hopped to the kitchen to get the ice/alcohol bag we keep in the freezer (not a good sign). I hopped back in here and THEN took a peek at my foot. All I can say is UGGH! The bruise was already about two inches tall and a good three inches wide. It looked like an egg under my skin. The thought crossed my mind about possible fracture but I removed it quickly. I kept the ice on it 15 min, propped it up, took advil. Did RICE without the C. Today, it's better and a lovely shade of purple. I actually took a picture of it, but couldn't bring myself to gross you all out. So I deleted it. You'll just have to take my work for it...it's ugly. And it hurts.

Then on Sunday, I reached down to pat Bailey on the head. She zigged when I zagged and her tooth hit the top of my hand. Now there's an ugly bruise on the top of my knuckle.

Why am I so clumsy? This happens to me all the time. Jordan and I were shopping last week and he dropped a hanger on the floor. I immediately stepped on it and it slid. I almost did the splits! If there's a hole to step in, I do it. A wrinkle in the carpet? yep, I find it. I fell off my shoe in the parking lot at church last Dec. the day of our Christmas program. I stood an hour praying just to get through it. We sang the song last week practicing for this year's program and it was the first thing that popped into my head...I was singing this song with a hurt foot last year.

Geez. Think I should just stay in bed.

PAPERWORK...I HATE PAPERWORK!

Back when I had a job, the most frustrating part of it was the paperwork. Well, actually it was dealing with psycho women (none of whom read this blog). Want me to build a display? Watch me throw away the directions and build it without it. I mentioned earlier that we received one of the insurance checks for the house repairs and that it's made out to us and the mortgage company. Something about them having to do it that way so peeps won't cash the check and fly off to the Caribbean. I would never do that but I guess some folks would. Sooooo, anyway, I have to send my paperwork to the mortgage company with the endorsed check and they will send us 1/3 of the $$$ back to start paying the contractors. Never mind the fact that I already paid the roofer before receiving the insurance money. 28 pages. That's how many pages is going into the Fed Ex envelope. What are the odds that it's all correct? Will they send it back and make me redo it? It's been 6 weeks tomorrow that Ike messed up my house. I wonder how long it will take to get it back to normal?

Whine, whine, whine....

IT'S A SLOW NEWS DAY

Not much going on around here this week. Hubby is out of town; C. is having tests this week; J. is busy with his girl; Bailey is chasing the squirrels and Minnie is sleeping (like usual).


I stumbled upon a blog that you might find interesting. On my bloglist it's Rockette 388. This is a blog from a beautiful young lady I've known since she was 5 years old. They were our neighbors in Owasso then they moved to Albuquerque. Actually they moved up to the mountains in Sandia. It's with them we used to go snow skiing. They moved back to Owasso last year. Rockette's dream has always been to be a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. She auditioned as soon as she turned 18 and almost made it. She auditioned again last summer and DID make it!! Her parents took her to New York in Sept. and she's busy learning the dance numbers for the Christmas show. Can you imagine being 19 and living your dream? She lives a few blocks away from RCMH and rehearses there everyday for hours at a time. To say I'm proud of her is an understatement.

Just thought I'd share.

Still waiting for the contractor to call me to let me know when they can start work. Here's what the room looks like today

I like how the fan is holding up the ceiling. Everyday I go in and more insulation has fallen down. I've stopped sweeping it. What's the point?




We received the insurance check Saturday. Yep, that's good news except it was written to us and the mortgage company. Now we have to send it in to them with about a zillion papers for them to process before they will release it back to us 1/3 at a time. I don't get paid enough for the work
I'm doing with this claim!

Happy Tuesday!

I GUESS I SHOULD'VE KNOWN IT WAS COMING

Look what J. brought home from school today


GULP!

I wasn't ready for that.


Wasn't it just yesterday I ordered annoucements for son #1? Geez, time is really flying by me.



And I don't like it one bit.

LOOK AT MY LOVELY NEW ROOF!

When I last left you, the roofers were working away. I'm so amazed how fast they fixed it. They had the old shingles torn off in about 15 minutes. Of course, they were obviously not on the roof very firmly or they wouldn't have blown off.


OFF WITH THE OLD!!


HE'S THANKFUL HE DOESN'T HAVE TO GET UP THERE!




THEY ARE DISTURBING HER NAP

AND MAKING BAILEY HOWL!!



They were finished about 6:30. We went to dinner with friends and when we got home they were gone, their mess was cleaned up and the roof was fixed! Thank you, Jesus!


Saturday I went to the Scarecrow Festival in Chappell Hill, Texas. Think "Affair of the Heart" outside in the heat with a bazillion people. I bought a new fall thing for the door then came home and properly decorated the entry.


D's mom & dad and sister & bil are coming Thursday. Tomorrow is Senior picnic day (didn't I just do that with Clint?). I probably won't be blogging much but I'll still be reading yours. That's so much easier. I can't wait for my family to come. They were supposed to have came B.I. Oh, and that reminds me....I found J's favorite jacket today! I was afraid it was a hurricane casualty.


Ta-Ta

THE BEST I CAN DO FOR NOW

This post is in response to Bev's beautiful autumn salute. Here is my decor.....

Do you like it?

Just a little Friday humor (very little). They are fixing my roof now. The red thing is the air compressor and the blue cord is connected to it. The green wheel barrel and trash all over the place are their's also. I'm not complainin....no sir...I'm very thankful. It rained Tuesday and I was in Jordan's room in the dark at 6:30 AM setting the buckets in the right spot to catch the water dripping in. Kinda makes me want to get my money back from that kid that put the tarp on!

Happy Friday Everyone!!

MY NEW BFF

Is the man shown here delivering my new shingles!!




Aren't they pretty? Pray they don't get stolen before they are put on my roof! Seriously, the roofer told Dewayne to have them unloaded near the garage door because people will steal them from construction sights. When my new bff came this morning I pointed to the back of the drive-way but his lifter wouldn't under the house. (I would insert a link to the picture of the damage, but can't figure out how to do it....Linda????) So now when hubby gets home, looks like he and J will be moving those packages one at a time. I imagine they weigh 75 pounds a piece.