Revenge is MINE, sayeth the Soccer Mom!

The boys had a high school soccer game this evening. Not only were the opposing team and their supporters rude & obnoxious, they were slobs! Instead of throwing their hot chocolate cups in the trash, they threw them on the ground behind the bleachers. NO excuse for that!
So, I went behind the bleachers and started picking up their trash. The bleachers aren't high, so it was obvious to all what I was doing. One guy walked up to me and handed me his cup and said, "Here" (like I'm some maid or something! ) So I said, "Thanks! We pick these up, rinse 'em out and re-use 'em after each game!" Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heel and went straight to the concession stand, where I handed them over to a very confused woman working the stand.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a great one!

$10,195.00

Depending on what it means, it could make ya really happy or just plain sick to your stomach. In this case, it makes me just plain sick to my stomach! That's the amount of money we spent on gasoline in the last 12 months. So when Mabry comes to us for her tuition next Fall, we'll just have to look at her sadly and say, "I'm sorry, honey, we drove it all away!"

Too Little? Or too much?

I can't decide if we've had so much going on that I can't find time to post, or too little going on that there's nothing to post about. But post I will, for anyone interested.
Let's see....Thanksgiving at my sister Laine's was wonderful! They were terrific hosts to about 36 people, I think. With so many people it was really hard to get to visit with everyone, but we had a great time.
We went to Granny's (Patrick's Mom) afterwards and took her shopping for her much-needed chair. Why it was much-needed I still have no idea. It's an "occasional" chair for the very-occasional visitor she has! But it's really pretty, and if they'd had 2 more, I would've bought them for MY house! Had a good visit with her, but we sure were glad to get home Sunday night!
On Monday night we had the Christmas parade, in which the boys marched with the high school band. Holy smokes, it was FREEZING! I believe it was about 29 degrees, and oh so painful! Patrick and I stayed in the car 'til we heard the parade coming, then we got out and braved the cold, each with 3 layers on and still we froze! I was SO happy to see that parade end!
Tuesday night I had to skip class and have an MRI on my back. Hated to miss that class as it was the last one before finals, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Still no word on my MRI. I'm assuming it's nothing serious or else I would've heard something by now.
Wednesday was my Pilates class, which ended at 6:15. I got to come home and do nothing after that, and it was WONDERFUL! In fact, I didn't do anything else 'til Sunday (I skipped the boys soccer game as it was 28 degrees out and I just couldn't bring myself to do that! Sorry boys!). Sunday at 5 we went to pick out our Christmas tree....at a tree farm....unlit....at 5pm it's dark. The most we could see was silouhettes of trees, so we did the best we could. There are bare spots all over the thing, but at least it's live and looks ok with the decorations on it.
After my final last night (for Human Growth & Development), we decorated the tree. Pete's girlfriend Cat came to help, and informed us that we are decoration-poor. Did she mean decoration-challenged? According to her, we don't have enough tree ornaments. Once the tree was decorated, I had to agree. Where have all our ornaments gone?! I suppose years of breakage and never replacing can take a toll on an ornament collection. Anyway, while we were decorating the tree, Pete and Cat were discussing how they will handle holidays after they're married. (HUH?) Pete has declared that they will spend EVERY Thanksgiving at my sister Leslie's house, and that they will always have a live tree (Cat's only ever had a fake tree). He graciously let Cat have Easter! Based on Cat's response, I have a feeling there will be many more discussions about this in the future!

God is so accomodating...

in a funny, infuriating kind of way! This morning I was awake before my alarm went off. Hearing the rain slam against the windows, I grinned to myself and snuggled down deeper in bed. No way was I gonna go to the gym in that mess!
A few minutes later the alarm went off. I shut it off and laid back down.....
listened....the rain had stopped! UGH! So I got out of bed, went to the gym, no rain the entire time. Until.....I pulled back into my driveway. Boy, did God let it loose then! I had to run inside in the pouring down rain, but what did HE care?! He got what He wanted, which was my butt to the gym! Don't ever let anyone tell you that God doesn't have a sense of humor! :)*

Well....at least Pete wasn't involved this time!

Mabry came by the house today to clean our bathroom. No, not because she's altruistic, but because I bought her a $20 lunch last weekend when she went out with her friends! Anyway, so she came over to clean (and did a pretty great job!), then she called me. I could barely understand her because she was laughing so hard. Or was she crying? I couldn't exactly tell. The conversation went something like this:
"Mom, Ryan's bleeding all over the place. His nose is bleeding and making a huge mess. Ryan, I hope you know you're cleaning up that mess! That's just gross!"
"Mabry, what happened?" I asked calmly.
"Well, ya see, I wanted a piggy back ride but Ryan's too tall and I couldn't jump that high so I stood on top of the fireplace only I forgot to ask him if he was ready and when I jumped he wasn't ready so he fell forward with me on top of him and landed face first on the floor. Eeewww, Ryan, that's just gross! Go bleed somewhere else!"
(sigh)
So I got Pete on the phone, the only one who seemed to be able to communicate calmly. Of course, most everything Pete does is calm, minus the time he caught his car on fire. "Pete, what's it look like?"
"Uhhh...." (Oh Lord, give me patience!) "Well, uhhh, it's pretty swollen and it's already starting to bruise. It's still bleeeding bad. I think it's broke."
Yep, this is my life. Kinda funny thinking about it, but I have a feeling tomorrow's gonna have Ryan waking up with at least 1 black eye! The picture doesn't really do it justice; it's really swollen and bruised! We don't think it's broken, but even if it is there's nothing that can be done. He sounds a little funny, though...kinda like Rudolph when he had that mud on his nose! :)

Don't ask if ya don't wanna know!

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate both boys making the Symphonic band. Their band is large enough that they need to split it up into two groups; Symphonic and Concert. Symphonic is harder with more challenging music, and both boys were hoping to get in. They did...YAY!!!!
Shortly after sitting down at the table, one of the boys asked me, "So, Mom, how was your day?"
"Great," I said. "I got naked in front of a man and he took pictures of me!"
"EEEEEWWWWWWWWW" they said, and Ryan got up and walked out the door of the restaurant!
What?! He did ask, didn't he? Hehehehe!
Pete just had a typical deer-in-the-headlights look on his face, so I said, "Oh it's perfectly ok...your dad was there the whole time!" (Insert evil grin here)
Ok, so maybe I didn't have to tell the boys exactly that, but it sure was fun! Once Ryan came back to the table I explained to them what I did this morning. I actually had a consult with a plastic surgeon this morning, hence the getting nekkid part. I thought he'd draw on me with magic marker; that's what they do on TV. He didn't draw on me, but he did take pictures! I wasn't prepared for that! Funny how in that situation there was absolutely no shame, though. He wasn't seeing ME, he was seeing...well...this shell that I live in. He was looking to help me do some home-improvements for my soul. :)
The truly amazing part, at least to me, was what he said as he was pulling, tugging, lifting, etc. He said, "There's really not much fat on your body at all. It's all skin." WOOOHOO!!!! It took quite awhile for that to sink in. All this...this huge gut, is skin?! That's amazing! And disgusting! And pretty exciting!LOL
We're a long way from making a decision. There's an insurance issue to consider, and then there's the fact that he'll only do one procedure at a time. This chick only wants to go under the knife ONCE, thanks very much. But this doc's the only one that takes our insurance. So....more research, maybe more consults. Do I let insurance pay and go under twice? Or do I self-pay and go under once (meaning I find another doc)? (sigh) Decisions, decisions!

God's Gift to Women!

The tag reads "To: Women From: God"

Mee in a Tree

Yeah, I cheated and cropped the pic. Folks said I looked good, but I ain't buying it! Not after seeing the other half of that pic! :O
Anyway, we had a family reunion at my grandmother, Mama Pearl's, old house. Oh boy! The memories just flooded back, so fast and overwhelming I found myself in tears several times. But they're all good memories, unless you count the one time I felt really guilty 'cause I got mad when PapPap (my grandfather)had me bagging leaves and I didn't want to. I don't even think he knew I was mad about it, or if he did, he didn't let on. But I sure did feel guilty about being mad!
The magnolias are still flanking the front walk, a bit bigger than they were when I was growing up. We climbed those trees day and night, rain or shine...Mama Pearl would get upset if I climbed up there when it was thundering. Oh, she hated thunderstorms! She never called them thunderstorms...they were electrical storms. And everytime one came along she'd have us going around the house unplugging electrical thing except the fride and freezer! She wasn't gonna have that electricity coming through and taking out HER stuff. She really appreciated everything she had and knew how to take care of it. I thought she went overboard on unplugging everything, but I did it anyway, figuring it was just one of those things.
Uncle James lives in the old house now, and he's kept it much the same as it was. It felt like coming home, pulling up the long driveway and walking through the front door. Oh, and the store we used to walk to? We thought we were so big,walking so far down the road to go to the store. Turns out that store wasn't so far down the road after all. It MIGHT have been 50 yards, but because we coudln't see her house from there (for all the trees), it sure felt like a loooonnnngggg way from the house!Mama Pearl would send us with a few dollars to get some milk or bread, things she probably didn't really need but she knew we thought we were hot-stuff walking to the store! She'd always include a few extra pennies for us to buy ourselves some candy.
OH, and I've GOT to tell this little vignette. We were standing around saying our goodbyes to Aunt Myrt, Kay, Margie & Anna. They were telling me how pretty I looked, and one of them mentioned that I looked like Laine. Oh, be still my heart! In my opinion, Laine's always been the beautiful one with the perfect body(and I know I'm so far from that but it sure felt good to hear that I looked like her!). Well, those that know Aunt Myrt know her heart, and you know that she usually sticks her foot in her mouth. So when whoever said I looked like Laine, dear Aunt Myrt said, "No she don't; I think she looks good!" :)

Mwwwaaaaahhhhhaaaahhhhhaaaahhhhaaaaa!!!!

Tonight Pete and his girlfriend Cat were in the hot tub. I looked outside and saw them kissing. I flashed the porch light on & off and on and off and on and off....to no avail. They were good and stuck together! Evidently this was going to take something a little more drastic.
I opened the back door and that was enough to get them seperated. Wanting to make sure they stayed that way, I looked them straight in the eyes and said loud enough to be heard over the jets, "There will be NO sex in this hot tub! That's reserved for me and Daddy ONLY!" The looks on their faces were priceless!!!! Hehehehehehehe!!!!!

A Study of Contradictions

In this corner.... He's sweet and well-mannered; very respectful, funny, and seems to genuinely love his friends (kinda evident in the 2.5 hour drive he makes to see them!). Even though he's not Army Strong, he IS a member of our armed forces (a Marine)so we respect that about him. He's grounded and has a solid plan for his education and career goals. Who couldn't love a guy that wants to work with severely disabled children and be a family counselor to families of severely disabled children?
And in this corner.... he hates the Crimson Tide and makes no bones about believing "his" MS State Bulldogs are the best (really, HOW many games have they won this season?). He knows football, and knows what every member of his team should be doing every second of every game. He makes sure they know what they're supposed to do by screaming at them through the television. I'm not talking about screaming in just a casual yelling kind of way. I'm talking about window-rattling, wall-vibrating screaming. The kind of screaming that drowns out every other noise in the house. The kind of screaming that leaves your ears ringing. And Heaven help the player that doesn't follow his instructions! He makes sure Coach Crooms can hear him no matter what area of the country his Bulldogs are playing in! And the stuff he's got on Crooms! Oh,boy, this guy knows ALL of Crooms's personal faults AND those of his mama!
The contrast is amazingly funny! This gentle giant, who will one day be entrusted with the hearts of families of severely disabled children, turns into the Incredible Hulk when he watches his Bulldogs. Oh wait,that's not quite true...the Incredible Hulk was silent! At any rate, he's no longer Joseph at my house; he will instead forever be lovingly referred to as Coach!
And yeah, I know....I'm letting this Houndstooth Hater sleep in my house. But it gives me an opportunity to win him away from the Dark Side! ;)

Army of TWO!

I just keep thinking back to our days in college 23 years ago....sitting on the couch in the Student Union, watching tv, Patrick so handsome in his military school uniform. Talking, joking, not really thinking about what the future held. I was there to pin the bars on him when he got his commission, and by that time there was talk of a possible future between us. Still, I never would've guessed then that 23 years later, I'd be watching him swear our 17 year old son into the Army. Wow.

Parenting is so tough!

This isn't gonna be a funny post. I swear sometimes I think parenting is the hardest thing in the world! Well, parenting itself may not be hard...parenting WITH PURPOSE is! My purpose as a parent is to put myself out of a job. It's to make sure my kids can take care of themselves so they don't have to come back home to live (not that they'd be allowed to come back home to live!). This is so hard! They can wash clothes, fix themselves something to eat, even clean if they're really pressured. They can wake themselves up for work/school, dress themselves, and get where they need to be on time. In all those respects I won't worry about them being out on their own.
What worries the crap out of me is the money. It's so hard to sit back and watch them fail with something so crucial! I remember when we were in high school and college; there were no money worries. Mom and Dad took care of everything. Need clothes? Here's some money. Gas? Here's the Gulf card. There was never anything to worry about because we knew all we had to do was run to our parents. Though I took it for granted at the time, it sure was WONDERFUL to be able to do that!
We're not giving our kids that luxury, and that makes me feel guilty sometimes. The kids have to buy their own clothes, shoes, haircuts, school supplies, etc. We give them $125/month to do it all. I know that's not much, but the thought is that if they learn how to handle little, they'll know how to handle much. So it's hard to watch one kid spend $100 on fast food in ONE WEEK, and only have $25 for the rest of the month. A month in which he still has to drive to/from school! It's hard to sit back and watch a kid put $200 in her bank account and see it get eaten up in fees because she started spending her money before it was credited to her account. When you see your kids working so hard between work and school, then just blow the money on NOTHING.....it physically hurts to watch your kids do stupid!
I feel guilty because I didn't have to stress over all that when I was in school. Other kids have their parents doing like ours did, providing everything for them. Yet we don't do that for our kids. We have friends who spoil their kids rotten, and they swear WE are doing the right thing. So if it's right, why is it SO HARD!?

Wow! All this.....?

Just for signing Pete up in the Army, they gave Patrick and I each 2 pens, a lanyard, and a lapel pin! Holy cow, if I'd known we could get all that, we'd have signed him up months ago! :)*
Actually, I kinda wanted to cry as I signed my name on the dotted line. I know in my heart it's what Pete wants. He wanted to sign on his 17th birthday, then postponed it to think it over. He needed to know it's what HE wanted, not what he thought his dad or I wanted. He's comfortable with his decision, and even seems excited about it. He'll get picked up after school on Monday and driven to somewhere in Millington, TN, where he'll spend the night and undergo a physical (lol...wonder if Patrick's talked to him about turning his head and coughing!), do more testing and paperwork, then get sworn in on Tuesday afternoon. We'll be there, and will post more afterwards. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it! (sigh) I suppose if I start to get really sad I can just read the post below this one! :)

Sorta (sort of--in informal pronunciation)

I've come to hate that word. It means...what exactly? I find it's terribly overused in my house, and especially over this past weekend. Patrick and I left the kids home while we spent one night at the beach, then headed to Biloxi for a conference for 3 more nights. We left Saturday. By Sunday, we'd heard "sorta" in 2 conversations I hope never to have again.
"I sorta wrecked your Miata." Ok, you're obviously fine because you're calling me and you're calm. What happened, and how bad is it? Then come those 5 other words that are too frequently used in my house, "See, what had happened was...." Those words are NEVER followed by anything good! Pete was on his way to Wendy's in the hopes of talking the manager into hiring him back (he quit several months ago but has since realized his fast-food addiction is one that he must fund on his own). When he came to one of the 5 traffic lights in town, he thought at first to run it as it was yellow. Then he changed his mind and decided to stop. The car behind him, though, wasn't able to stop so suddenly. "Did you call the cops, son?" "Uh..." (and there's yet another word I've come to hate!) Once he stopped stuttering and stammering, his answer was 2-fold. No, because a) there really wasn't much damage that you could see and b) he didn't have his license! ARGH! (sigh) But technology is wonderful; we were able to see pics almost immediately and it really wasn't anything you could tell (thank God!). OK, crisis averted. Do NOT drive anywhere 'til you find your license!
"I sorta broke the computer monitor." I just can't help it; I find myself automatically bracing myself for the worst, usually saying a little prayer before I answer Pete's calls. (sigh) "See what had happened was....Ryan and I were playing around and I threw a coke bottle at him and it sorta hit the monitor and now the monitor's sorta broke." Now in this case, sorta can mean numerous things. It's sorta broke as in glass is scattered everywhere, or it's sorta broke in that it won't turn on, or sorta broke because it still turns on and you can sorta see stuff on the screen. It was the latter, which doesn't make it any better but it made ME feel better knowing there weren't 10 million tiny glass shards scattered around the media room! At least now I know that's a phone call I won't have to worry about: "I had to drive Ryan to the hospital in the Miata without my license because he stepped on glass from the computer monitor and sorta cut his foot open." Oh boy....Luckily for the boys the rest of our time away was uneventful. I'm not sure we'll be leaving them again any time soon, though!

Forklifts and Phosphorescent Waves

Those were the 2 most unusual sights on the beach this past weekend, and both on Saturday night.
Have you ever seen phosphorescent waves? I've been going to the beach all my life, and I'd never seen them before Saturday night. As the waves gently broke on the shore, they glowed in the dark with an electric-like green glow. When we walked through the surf, we left short-lived, bright green trails like the tails of shooting stars. With each step on the wet sand, the ground lit up underneath our feet, reminiscent of the light-up shoes our kids used to wear. It was absolutely awe-inspiring!
The forklifts were there, along with trucks and trailers, removing all the beach chairs, umbrellas, and even the little white storage units that hold the cushions. They were working at break-neck speed to try to get them off the beach before Gustav hit. They worked through the night, and were still at it at 1am. Sunday morning the beach looked....empty. But in a beautiful,expectant way. All the people on the beach kept looking out towards the gulf, as if expecting to see Gustav pulling up any minute! Yet the sun was shining, the breeze felt normal, the only sign that something was amiss was what was NOT on the beach (those chairs).
The change in the water from Friday to Sunday was impressive. Friday evening the water was smooth as glass. Like a solid sheet of glass placed over the entire gulf. It was so quiet, that if you closed your eyes and listened, you wouldn't know you were at the beach. Saturday morning was similar, but you could at least hear the waves some. In fact, Patrick was expecting to take Bob's boat out but the marina wouldn't allow any boats out of the dock as they were in "Hurrican Mode". Saturday night, the "electric" night, the waves picked up some, but they still broke gently along the shore.
Sunday was a bit different. It wasn't that the waves were huge. They weren't. but they were fast and furious, almost mean! There weren't many people in the water, because as soon as they stepped one foot in, they would be knocked down on their butts! It was as if to say, "Hey, leave me alone. Can't you see I've gotta storm brewing?!" Thinking about it, it was like it went through the stages of labor....calm, cool, collected, it gradually built in intensity, then in transition it turned into a royal bitch! (Not that I know what being a royal bitch is like!)
We had a terrific weekend, though it was cut short by the mandatory evacuation at noon on Sunday. So off we went, choosing to go through Birmingham since we'd been told I-55 was crammed with traffic. We think we made the right decision, even though it took us 7 hours to get to B'ham! I would've LOVED to have stayed and watch the storm, and if we didn't have a family to consider, I probably would have tried. I just love the beach, and the power of the waves when they're all stirred up!

What do YOU see?

Pete's taking an English Comp class at Northwest this semester. His first writing assignment was to describe a piece of art he found off the Internet. I just saw a girl.....

This is what Pete saw:
"There is a girl; strong, beautiful, determined. She sees everthing; she can see through you, read your soul, your thoughts. She sees the trees blowing like paper in the wind, the dog barking down the street at a local mailman, the sands of time falling through the hourglass. She can tell what you are going to say and what you are going to do. She knows everything about you.
She looks at you with intense passion, a longing to be with you. Some would make the mistake that she is mad. She has beautiful, strong eyes longing to catch a glimpse of your face. You feel a longing to be with her. An urge to hold her, to push back her hair and look straight into her eyes; eyes that trap you, hold you in a trance.
Her hair is blowing in the wind, only adding to her sense of strength. She stares undeterred at you, her hair in her face. Her lips are soft and delicate. Her teeth, pearly white, and when she smiles, your world becomes warmer.
She reminds me of my girlfriend. How she looks at me with caring, loving eyes. How she stays strong when the wind is trying to push her over the edge. How she can read my thoughts, and how she can see my soul. How you can't help but fall in love with her beauty, her deep eyes, her sense of strength and determination."

Happy Birthday Emily!

Um....ok, so it's really not her birthday. If it was, it'd be Elizabeth's birthday too, right? But well.....see.....tonight was the first time Emily's had a chance to eat out with us, so we wanted her to feel a part of the family. So Patrick and I took Mabry, Pete, Ryan, Cat (Pete's girlfriend), Emily and Elizabeth out to eat at the Mexican restaurant. Knowing exactly what would happen, I whispered to the waiter that it was Emily's birthday. Imagine Em's surprise when suddenly a sombrero was placed on her head and all these Mexican dudes were singing the Mexican birthday song! They placed a sopopilla in front of her, and she was so excited and of course a bit confused! She was especially surprised when they then took a small pie plate full of whipped cream and smashed it in her face! Welcome to the family, Emily!!!

Mom to the rescue!

Tonight Patrick and I were in the bedroom when we heard Mabry yell, "Get vertical!" Remembering that Pete's girlfriend Cat was here, we knew she was yelling to them, so I came out to see what was up. When Liz saw me, she said, "Mom, go in there and tell Pete and Cat to get vertical!" Liz absolutely LOVES to see the brothers get into trouble, so she was a little disappointed when I turned in the opposite direction and walked out of the room. But her eyes lit up when I returned to the kitchen, carrying a Super Soaker.
After filling it up, I walked into the media room where Pete and Cat were, with Mabry and her entourage following closely on my heels. The lights were off, and though Pete and Cat weren't doing anything, they WERE laying down on the couch watching tv. So I started spraying and yelling at once, "You heathen hussey, are you attacking my son AGAIN?! Get off him! Get off my baby!" There was a scramble of arms and legs tangling all around each other as each tried to hide behind the other to get away from the water! I'm proud to say I saved Pete, but for some reason he wasn't very thankful! :)

El Stupido!

(Pronounced Ale-Stupid-O)
Mabry has started using the term "El Stupido" in the most hick accent possible. She says it anytime she thinks someone has done something...well...stupid. She most recently used it on ME this week, when she was giving me my overall GPA from college over the phone (ok, she had me on that one!).
This weekend we have Mabry Emily, Elizabeth, Joseph and Joel staying with us. Emily and Elizabeth are my "adopted" daughters who moved in with us over the summer. The boys got here around 10 last night, and shortly after their arrival Emily showed up with about 18 other folks (Ok, maybe not 18, but surely it was somewhere in the vicinity). They celebrated Joseph's birthday with a Walmart pizza (for those of you who don't know, Walmart makes a KILLER pizza!) and cake. Um, yeah...the pizza was great but the cake might not have been the best idea.
You get a bunch of folks aged 19-26 together, and they get ideas. The food-fight scene from "Animal House" comes to mind when I think of what went on in my kitchen last night! I walked up behind Mabry and noticed she had a little icing on her cheek, so I scraped it off and tasted it. Liz thought that was really funny, so she took a little more icing off the cake and tried to smear it on Mabry's face. Mabry saw it coming and headed her off at the pass, by dipping her hand INTO the cake and smearing it on Liz's face. Liz then grabbed a bit of cake and smeared it into Mabry's face and hair. Mayhem ensued. I made the mistake of laughing at them, and Mabry decided to thank me by trying to hug me...really close, wiping her face all over my face & hair! What she didn't realize was that I was in the kitchen for a reason; I'd just gone in to refill my ice water. :) Not one to just idly stand by and let her smear icing all me, I took advantage of her proximity and dumped my entire cup of ice water over her head! It was then that I was able to look at her and say, "Ale Stupid-O!"

The 15th Annual...

Back to School Ice Cream Party!!!! I can't believe we've done this for 15 years! Holy cow, that means Mabry's in the 14th grade (we started in Kindergarten)! As usual, the 3 course meal includes an appetizer (ice cream cone), the entree (banana split) and dessert (hot fudge sundae). We had around 40 people come, which is par for the course. It's really an open house type deal, with people coming and going as they please. Usually we hold it on a school night, but because I was caught totally by surprise when school started (When my friend called Wednesday night to ask if we were having it Thursday, I said, "Why would we? It's not til the first day of school", to which she replied, "Well, the first day of school is tomorrow!" (insert shocked and confused face here)) we held it this past Friday night instead. As a result, the last of the partiers left around 11:30 pm! I guess that's why we hold it on a school night, so folks HAVE to go home at a decent hour! :)*

Finally! Someone who agrees with me!

I've always said talking to Ryan is like talking to a wall, and finally someone must agree with me. Last week was the opening of the play A Mid Summer Night's Dream, in which Ryan played Snout. In the play there was a play, and in the play within the play Snout played a wall. Yes, you heard right...a wall! And oh, was he ever a great wall! Unfortunately I don't have really good pics, but I do have one of him showing his chink in the wall, through which the 2 lovers spoke and kissed. Oh, now THERE was a picture for ya! For some reason the wall was ok with them speaking through his "chink", but he kind of grossed out when they kissed! LOL All in all it was a great play, and he sure played his part well!

Wait...How many kids do I have?

Earlier tonight my cell phone rang. It was one of Pete's friends, and she's riding in the car with him going to see her boyfriend.

Me: "Hello?"
Her: "What's the name of your GPS?"
Me: "Huh?"
Her: "Well, Pete says her name starts with L but I think it starts with E. Which is it?"
Me: "Um....it's Evelyn. You win."
Her: "HA! I TOLD him it was an E! Pete, you loser, it's Evelyn!"
Hang up.

It both baffles and tickles me that their friends treat me like their Mama!

My kind of fun!

Went rafting for the first time ever in Gatlinburg last weekend. It WON'T be the last time! I'm trying to figure out when we can go back with the family. It'll probably be next year, but it's definitely gonna happen! What fun!!!

I know it was HERE!

Thursday several of us decided to check out the Tanger Outlet in Pigeon Forge. Holy smokes, that place is HUGE! It's probably 10 times the size of the outlet in Foley, AL! In fact, we were smart and packed a lunch in a cooler, and we actaully tail-gaited at the Tanger!
Towards the end of our loooonnnngggg day, Valerie (Kentucky), Jamie (Arkansas) and I decided to wait for Tricia (Indiana) and Karen (Connecticut) in the car. (Let me tell you, I've seen shopping and I've done shopping, but NEVER have I seen the likes of Tricia!) I started the car and we waited a bit, then I called Karen to see where they were and tell them we were waiting. They wanted to hit just one more store, which happened to be very close to where we'd parked the car at the beginning of our excursion.
I decided to take that opportunity to run into another store close by. Keep in mind this was just Thursday, so I hadn't even known these ladies for a full 24 hours yet, which is why I had no idea Valerie is the prankster she is! So I kept the car running and darted over to the store while Karen and Tricia finished their shopping.
When I came out, I started walking towards the van. Well, where the van was supposed to be, anyway! It didn't take me long to spot it; it IS my van, after all, and they hadn't moved it too far away. Tricia and Karen, on the other hand, were at a disadvantage. They did go to the right spot, only to find it empty. The looks of confusion on their faces was priceless!
I have in mind a little prank to pull on Valerie next year, but I'm gonna keep it close to my chest! But watch out, Valerie....your turn's coming! :)

You Have Arrived!

We took Patrick's GPS with us to Gatlinburg. The GPS's name is Evelyn, and while she can be pretty annoying when you know where you're going, she's a complete gem when you don't have a clue. Such was the case while driving from the Knoxville Airport to Gatlinburg!. I programmed the address to the rental office, and waited while Evelyn calculated our route. I had assumed we'd take I-40 in, but Evelyn had a quicker, more direct route.
I had Toni (from Colorado), Jamie (from Arkansas), and Patti (from Texas) with me, and the drive was so much fun! The route Evelyn took us was beautiful, winding through the mountains on tree-lined, 2-laned roads. After about an hour, we had seen a sign for Gatlingurg so we knew we were getting close. We were in the Smokey Mountain National Forest, winding our way toward Gatlinburg, enjoying the scenery: densely populated forest on our right, steep sloping hills to our left...absolutely beautiful, with not a man-made object to be seen anywhere. Ahhh, this had to be close to Heaven! What it wasn't, though, was the address to the cabin rental. For it was in the middle of that densely populated forest, with trees on our right and steep sloping hills on our left, that Evelyn pronounced, "You have arrived!"
Silence in the car as I find a spot to pull over. We look around. "Ummmm....." A quick scuffle looking around the car for the map we printed from the rental office website. Jamie grabbed the map and was studying it, when she asked quietly, "Did you put in "East" Parkway?"
(shrug)"Parkway's Parkway, right?" (insert embarrassed grin here)
(sigh) RE-program Evelyn with the correct address and we were back on our way again. A little late (as we also had trouble finding the actual cabin, but that was due to our inability to actually read printed directions instead of just trying to look at a picture!)but we eventually got there!
I'll post bits and pieces of the trip here throughout the week; suffice it to say for now that we had an absolute blast, and are planning next year's get together already!

Gatlinburg, Here I Come!!!!

Many of you know I belong to a group of Dave Ramsey followers on The Total Money Makeover site. I've been a member for several years, and throughout those years have come to consider several of those people friends. I've only ever met 3 in real life. It took some getting used to, meeting people for the first time. It actually felt kind of dirty the first time we did it....seedy, you might say. Previously the only time I'd ever heard of folks meeting other folks over the Internet, it was to "hook up" for some naughty fun, so I had to get over that perception. I'm happy to say I'm over it, and next week I'm meeting a group of about 14 women for a LONG weekend in Gatlinburg. Actually, 2 of the women will come in Tuesday night (one from Colorado and one from Arkansas) and spend the night with me before we make the drive together into Tennessee. We'll make a stop in Knoxville to pick up another woman flying in from Texas. Another hour more should see us in the mountains at the cabin that sleeps 22.
I can't tell you how excited I am to finally meet these women. We've known each other for years in some cases, and we're finally meeting next week. Oh, what fun it'll be! I'm not even apprehensive in the least, which is a bit surprising! I'll be sure to post pics and stories as soon as we get back.

The Longest Left

We spent the 4th with Patrick's mom in Augusta, GA. Those of you in the know know that this was a difficult weekend for me, as are ALL weekends we spend in Augusta. So, needing a breath of fresh air Friday night, I decided to go for a walk. Now, I wasn't in my walking clothes, much less my walking shoes, but I really needed to go for a walk. I wasn't going to be gone long....just around her apartment complex.
I had just started walking when I heard Pete behind me, yelling for me to wait up. A bit perturbed at having to stop my walk, I was quickly mollified by the fact that he wanted to walk with me (Now's the time to stop and say, "Wow, it must've really been bad if Pete wanted to walk with you!").
So off we go, walking to one end of the complex, turn around and walk to the other end and around to the other side. In a wooded area at the end of the parking lot, I heard rushing water. Imagining a pretty stream running through there, I said, "Pete, wait...come look!" and I started making my way towards the sound. Pete, on the other hand, decided to walk further on and said, "Mom, look at this!" Walking over to where he was, I saw that he had happened upon a trail marked, "Stop. Maintenance Personnel Only Beyond This Point." Needing no further invitation, we promptly followed the trail to see where it would lead. It was nothing exciting, just another complex much like the one we had just left. So we walked around that complex and came to a road. Left? Right? By this time, we were both pretty turned around. Stopping to assess the situation, I asked Pete what he wanted to do. The choices running through my head were either turn around and try to find our way back, or take a right. In my mind, taking a right should've put us on the main road we're familiar with and back to Granny's in good time. Pete had other, more convincing, plans.
Now let me stop here and say that I have no idea what possessed me to trust Pete on this one. In my experience it has never been a good ending when we follow his ideas. But I suppose it's possible that I was so distracted by the stress back at Granny's that I was deranged enough to think this time would be different.
So Pete's plan was to go left. Left? Are you sure? "Trust me, Mom. I know where we are. We'll take a left here, then another left, another left, then we'll be back at Granny's." So left we go....then another left, another left, a right, another left, another left, another left, a right, and two more lefts.
It was wet out because it'd been raining, and many of the roads we travelled had no shoulder, which meant we were walking in muddy grass, and sometimes just plain mud. In fact, one such 6 lane road was undergoing road construction, and we ended up walking in single file, literally one foot in front of the other, hugging the barriers and praying we didn't fall backwards into traffic! Horns blaring as if to say, "You idiots, you're gonna get yourself killed out here!" Um yeah....I think I'd already figured that out, thanks. But walking it that way was better than Pete's idea of using the barriers as as a balance beam and trying to walk ON them! By this time I had at least regained SOME of my sanity back enough to know that THAT was not a great idea!
We finally made it back to Granny's an hour and 10 minutes, and 4 miles later. Our shoes were soaked and muddy, we had blisters on our feet, but we were laughing when we walked through the door! What a great walk that was!!!

Movie Night!

For the past several years, Pete and Ryan have been getting together with a group of friends for Movie Night. Usually it's at one of 3 houses because no one else has a house big enough for 20-25 teens to gather around a t.v. (that, or no one else is brave enough!).
This past Friday night, for some reason, we hosted it at our house. Um....our house is NOT big enough for 20-25 teens! So Patrick picked up a projector from the library, hung a sheet outside, and voila! Instant drive-in! But wait! You can't have a drive-in theatre without cars! Or speakers! So Pete's best friend Cameron drove his car around to the back, hooked the projector up to his stereo speakers, and life was sweet!
Two movies, 10 pizzas, a gazillion drinks and about 20 kids, and everyone was happy! I could see us doing that again!

The Perfect Gift!

I got a surprise package in the mail from my sister, Laura, this week. I remembered that she said she'd picked something up for me at 6 Flags and that she was mailing it to me, but I just kind of forgot about it. After all, Laura is a Harris girl, which means I might get it around Thanksgiving!

Inside the package was this terrific cape! Included with the cape was a cute card that said she considered me Wonder Woman for my efforts towards a healthier lifestyle. How sweet was that?!

But what was even more significant, and Laura has NO idea, is what the cape truly represents to me. Since October of last year, I've been calling myself Super Turtle. Slow and steady truly does win the race. I'm making changes, some big & some small, but I'm doing it slowly and over time. My avatar on Sparkpeople and the Dave Ramsey board is a turtle,and I've even got him as my screen saver. He reminds me that even when I slip and a whole sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints lands in my mouth, I'm still ok. I don't FAIL just because I FELL!



Super Turtle needed a cape so badly, and now he has one! I even threatened to put it on and walk around the neighborhood, but the boys wouldn't let me out of the house and I HAD to go for my walk! Laura, thanks so much for giving my turtle a cape!!!

Tough Love

Last night I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business, when I suddenly hear my name called. "Leigh!" I still myself to listen, because the sound was so faint. "Leigh!" Louder this time. I get up, thinking the sound was coming from the kitchen. When I got to the kitchen, I didn't hear anything, so I looked around and suddenly it hit me: the Oreos were missing and they were calling my name so I could find them and put them back where they belong!
About that time, Mabry came in. "Have you seen the Oreos?" I ask innocently.
"No ma'am, but you don't need them anyway," she replied in a snitty little voice.
I gently and calmly explained to her that I didn't want to eat them, that I just wanted to find them to put them where they belong. After all, THEY were calling ME, not the other way around!
So I walked into the media room to ask Ryan and his GF if they'd seen them. "No ma'am," came the reply. I looked around the media room, Mabry standing guard next to me, and thought, "No wonder you haven't seen them. You couldn't find an elephant in this room!" About that time, though, I spied them. THe world seemed to come to a stop as I looked at them across the room. They were on the window seat, and they were by now jumping up and down and waving their arms saying "Here we are! Come save us!" Unbeknownst to me, Mabry had followed my gaze and she saw them, too. In tandem we made a mad dash to the other side of the room. I dove first, desperate to save the Oreos from her crushing grasp! I missed, and when Mabry dove she landed on top of me. Now we were struggling to reach the Oreos, tugging on arms, pushing, shoving, while Ryan and his GF looked on in confusion and disbelief. It wasn't until Mabry started screaming "INTERVENTION! INTERVENTION!" that Ryan caught on to what she was doing and joined in the fight!
An overweight 43 year old is no match for 2 determined teens. Alas, I lost the fight and have yet to find the Oreos!

Happy Birthday, Mabry!!!

Oh, my goodness, my little girl is 19 years old today! Acutally, right now she's 19 years and 35 minutes old! I remember calling Mom right after I had her; I was holding Mabry and she was screaming so loudly Mom finally said, "What's wrong with her!? Make it stop!" In her short time at the hospital, she became known as The Screamer. The nurse who helped deliver her was looking for our room the day after she was born, and she said she literally just followed the sound of the screams to our room!
Today, Mabry still has that same blood-curdling scream. Only now it's usually aimed at her brothers!
Smart, funny, beautiful, joyful, spirit-filled. That's my Mabes!!!

On another curious note: on this joyous occasion of her 19th birthday, I realize I've finally lost all my baby weight! That's not to say I'm thin by any means. I was fat when I got pregnant with her. But now I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which is way better than post! And it only took 19 years!!!

Spiderman! Spiderman!

We spent the afternoon at Mabry's dance recital and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. She was in 3 performances; beginning, middle and end. I think her group was the only one aware of what they were doing; the rest of them kept looking off stage to see what move they were supposed to make next! It was cute, though, especially those 2 year olds!!!

I'm truly so inspired by Mabry! The fact that she's almost 19 and plus-sized didn't stop her from doing what she loves. She decided last year that she wanted to dance for exercise, so she signed up (her signature, my money!). She's loved every minute of it, never once seeming to question what she was doing. She got up there today and made us so proud! In fact, it was amazing how many people went up to her afterwards to say what a great dancer she is, and what a wonderful inspiration she is for plus-sized people! One woman even said she kept time better and had more rhythm than anyone else on the stage, and she was dancing with some girls who'd been dancing for 6 and 8 years!! Of course, we agree with their assessment!

Anyway, here's a video of her favorite performance...I hope it works!


And because I really like the Batman dance, I'm putting it on here, too. Unfortunately my SD card ran out of memory and cut the end of the dance off!

Sparkpeople

Anybody heard of it? I'm crediting http://www.sparkpeople.com with my latest weight-loss success. Yeah, I'm working on it, too. I try to get to the gym around 4:20 a.m. Monday through Friday. But Sparkpeople is what keeps me on track. I tell it my current weight and my weight-loss goal, and it tells me how many calories I need to consume each day to meet my goal. If I eat too few calories, my body tends to hang onto what I've eaten. If I eat to many, my body tends to hang on to what I've eaten!!! But I've found that if I stay within the range that Sparkpeople gives me, I lose weight. How cool is that?! All I have to do is enter everything I've eaten each day, and it calculates the calories/fat/carbs/protien for me. My favorite part of the day is to put in my dinner information; that tells me if I can have dessert!!! :)
I haven't told my mom yet, but I'm almost the same size I was when I got married! (It's safe to say that here 'cause she doesn't read my blog!). I put on my wedding dress today and I lack about 2" of getting it zipped up my back. LOL. Yeah, 2" is quite a bit, but I at least got it zipped up a little past my waist!!! For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling hopeful!
If anyone reading this belongs to Sparkpeople, look me up. I'm Leighboe (SURPRISE!!!!!). I also keep a blog on there to track my progress. :)

Prayers for our friend, Sixmaybemore (Tamri)!

A little over a year ago one of our TMMO friends, Sixmaybemore, was burned out of her home. She, her husband, and their 6 children lost everything in the fire, except their lives. She's gone through a year of pure Hell, and she's done it with such humor and grace!
Last night, her family was burned out of their home AGAIN (see her blog linked from mine). If they didn't lose everythng this time, they came close. It's still too new and too raw for us to know. What I do know is that they were home this time, and that thankfully everyone got out of the house. That's the good news, and Tamri's one to find the good news in most everything. They haven't finished settling with State Farm from the first fire, and now this. The first fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring in their (rental) kitchen. This fire was caused by a hole in the fireplace and faulty venting in their (rental) attic. This is a family who follows all the rules, has tried so hard to follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps, and have been slapped down yet again.

My heart is so heavy for this family right now. Please say a prayer for them, MANY prayers for them, as they know now the long road ahead of them.

Take THAT, Mr. Oil Man!!

So this is our answer to the horrible gas prices we're facing. True, it's not much of an answer and it won't make a HUGE difference in our gas budget, but any little bit helps! We bought Mabry a scooter to ride around town, to/from school, etc. It gets around 80 mpg or so, and will go up to around 55-60 mph. It's perfect for puttering around our small town!

We took it to the colliseum parking lot today to play around on it, practice driving it, and in general staying upright and within the lines! While going straight, it's a blast! It's those danged ol' curves we've gotta watch out for! I got ambitious (and probably overly confident) and actually took it on the road....once! I soon figured out that you shouldn't try waving on it (funny thing happens when you take your hand off the accelerator!), you should go slower around sharp curves because staying on your side of the line is a LOT harder in a turn, and that when turning around, you should give yourself plenty of turning room (that ditch got to me a lot sooner than I expected!).

We're going to take it out often and let Mabry practice many, many times before setting her free on it. We'll also teach Pete to ride it, and hopefully we'll be able to sell Sparky so we can buy a scooter for Pete. He's already picked his out, and it's a whole lot different from Mabry's!

Anybody know anybody who needs a great work truck?

The Color Game

So Mabry has introduced our family to a new game called "The Color Game". In this game, whenever someone burps or passes gas everyone must call out a color. The last person to call out a color has to make an animal noise. So in the middle of the conversation at dinner the other night, Pete calls out, "Blue". Now, no one "heard" the reason, but we all know WHY he said it. So Ryan calls out "Orange", Mabry calls out "Yellow", I call out "Purple", and because Patrick was the last one, he says, "Mooooooo"! LOL. I'm not sure the people at the restaurant understood the game, but their looks sure were entertaining!
It works best in larger groups, of course, so we can't wait to start this game at Thanksgiving! :)

TAGGED!!! Now it's YOUR turn!

Thanks, Laine for tagging me and making me actually have to THINK! That's probably my least favorite activity!!!
Favorite person (outside family)? The Domino's Delivery Person
Favorite food? Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby Ice Cream
Quirks about you? No matter what's going on, I schedule my weekend activities around nap time!
How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? Well, Mabry said I'm forgiving, loving, and merciful, but she was being a smart aleck!
Any regrets in life? That we didn't find Dave Ramsey and his plan sooner...YEARS sooner!
Favorite Charity/ Cause? St. Jude and The American Cancer Society
Favorite Blog recently? Tamri cracks me up! Her life is one challenge after another and yet she just keeps on finding the humor in all of it!
Something you can’t get enough of? Peace and quiet! :)
Worst job you’ve ever had? Working as a property manager in Savannah, GA. The stress of that job put me in the hospital!
What job would you pay NOT to have? Sucking out sewer tanks
If you could be a fly on the wall, where? The men's locker room at the gym? :)*
Favorite Bible verse right now? "Love One Another" I don't know what verse that is, but it's the only one I know by heart and I say it to my kids all the time!
Guilty Pleasure? Soaking in the hot tub!
Got any confessions? Who, me?
If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? I would have this excess skin removed and a boob lift. Hey, you said spending it on ME, so I'm taking it literally! :)
Favorite thing about your house? The open floorplan
Least favorite thing about your house? The neighborhood!
One thing you are bad at? Finishing projects
One thing you’re good at? Starting projects
If you could change something about your circumstances, what? I'd have more saved for college, and a paid off house!
What makes you feel sexy? My t-shirt and boxers
Who is your real life hero? Probably my coworker, Von. She is the most spirit-filled person I know and she refuses to gossip no matter how I try to prod her!
What is the hardest part of your job? Staying on top of the tiny little details, both at work AND at home!
When are you most relaxed? Definitely at the beach
What stresses you out? Unexpected changes in schedules send me over the edge! I need at least 2-3 days notice if the kids want to do something or go somewhere, and God help them if it changes before they leave!
What can you not live without? Air conditioning
Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? I didn't read the article, but I don't really think there's anything narcissistic about people who blog. I think it's an excellent way to write down your thoughts, keep abreast of what's going on in other people's lives and lets others keep up with what's going on in yours.
Why do you blog? Because my sister Laine challenged me to!
Who are you tagging?
New/Newer bloggers : Meghan (and I'd love to tag Laura if she'd ever start a blog!!!)
Bloggy friends : Tamri and Peacebug (as soon as she gets her blog up!)
Bloggers you’d like to get to know better - I'm still too new to this to know many bloggers.
Bloggers who you don't think will respond, but you hope will --See above
Rules:
1. Answer the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category.New/ newer bloggers (since we want to share the love and send them traffic)Bloggy friendsBloggers you’d like to get to know betterBloggers you don’t think will respond, but you hope will

A Perfect Day!!!

Happy Birthday to ME! I had such a wonderful day today! I started the day off by sleeping late ('til 5 a.m!) and going to workout at the gym. I had a couple of quiet hours at home before going to get my hair done, then Patrick and Mabry took me to lunch for Mexican food. YUM!!! I really tried to behave, and even ordered a tossed salad to go with my grilled chicken quesadilla, but they never brought the salad. Oh darn!

After lunch, I went shopping for some new clothes. I had told myself I wouldn't buy any new clothes until late June or early July, but I caved. I found such cute outfits and they FIT and I just couldn't help myself! After a short little fashion show for Mabry at home, I went for a full hour-long massage, compliments of Patrick. Now, I've had high-dollar massages before, but none were as thorough as this $55 one! Holy smokes, we're re-working the budget in June to fit in a visit for Patrick and I each month!

From the massage I went straight to the chiropractor, and I'm happy to say she seems to finally be making progress on my back! She's a tiny little thing no bigger than a cricket, but she sure can adjust my big ol' self!

Upon arriving home, Ryan, Pete, and Pete's friends Cameron, Miranda, Caitlyn, Jack and Jack's little sister Sydney serenaded me with a beautiful birthday song. Jack played the "drums" on Pete's truck, Sparky. We all came inside and ate some of the beautiful cake Mabry made (pictured above; the side reads "Your Da Bomb"...did she really mis-spell "your"?!), and it was SO good. I have no problem having desert before dinner!

Oh my goodness, I mustn't forget to tell you about the TWO sweet olive bushes Patrick bought me! I love the smell of sweet olive; it always reminds me of home and Daddy. We've got to find the perfect spot in which to plant them. I can't wait for them to bloom!!!

All in all, it was the perfect day....yeah, it was all about me, but I figure once a year ain't gonna hurt! :)

Musicians Surround Us!

And I LOVE it!!! I love that my kids got their musical talents from my mom!
This past weekend was May Fair at the park, and the High School Jazz band played a concert. Pete plays bass in the jazz band, and baritone in the symphonic band and tuba in the marching band. I'm convinced that boy can play anything he puts his hands on!! There's no video linked to this because I couldn't get Youtube to play nice!
Mabry has the voice of an angel, and we love to hear her sing! She can also play a little piano, but doesn't play nearly as much as she sings. She's destined for greatness, that one! :)
Ryan plays trombone and he can really rock that thang! Recently they had the Jr. High Jazz Concert where he won Most Outstanding Jazz Band Member. They gave him a quick solo part, which you can see here:

New Parenting Technique

Well, when one thing doesn't work you just keep trying 'til you find something that does. We've been trying and trying and trying to get Ryan to understand about PDA (Public Displays of Affection). Seems when he and his GF get together they can't keep their hands off each other, and this is a small town where people talk! So since talking to the boy didn't work, we decided to show him. Last night was Awards Night at his school, with all his friends there...and his dad and I, showing him what PDA is! LOL...yeah, I think he gets it now.

Staking Tomatoes

"Have you ever grown tomtaoes? You have to keep the plants up with a cage or stake so the tomatoes don't sit on the ground. If they do, they rot. You spend all this time preparing the soil, planting, weeding, watering, working, and then you lose the fruit of your hard work 'cause the tomatoes rotted on the ground without a tomato stake. " These words are from one of my Dave Ramsey friends, making an analogy between tomatoes and parenting. She hit the nail on the head with this one. My kids need staking! They need us to be their stakes so they don't rot on the ground. This is not going to be an easy feat; it's going to be hard and very time consuming!

I believe our experiment will start with Ryan and his girlfriend, who seem to be moving way too fast! I don't know exactly how we'll work this, but the plan is to be with them as much as possible when they're together. Less time alone means...well....less time alone! So by being with them, we will act as their "stakes" and hold them up out of the dirt. :)* Think it'll work? I wonder if we can convince Ryan to pay for mine and Patrick's tickets when we go with them to the movies?

In other news I finally got my mini-garden planted last weekend. Patrick and the kids surprised me by building me a planter box since I can't do much on my knees anymore. I planted tomatoes (they're not staked yet but they will be when the time comes....just like my kids!), zuchini squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, and various herbs. Take a good look at the picture, y'all. This will likely be the last time you see them GREEN. This is my third attempt at starting a garden; the 2 previous attempts ended up in the trash in the form of 30 peat pods that had sprouted beautifully, only to have me kill them all overnight! Hmmm.....maybe there's a thought for my kids!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!!!

Wow! My baby is 14 years old today! How'd that happen?! I thought surely if we didn't kill him, Mabry or Pete would! :)* But this cute little guy, horribly spoiled by his Granny (Patrick's mom), has slowly grown out of (most) of his spoildness and is turning into a fine young man. Thank you, God!

Ryan is one who clearly understands about short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. Last night we wickedly told him that he could either have money for his birthday or take his girlfriend with us to dinner tonight, but he couldn't have both. The look on his face was priceless! You could see the wheels turning as he talked it out, "Ok, if I take the money, Shelby'll be really mad. But if I take Shelby, I won't have the money to take her out a few times later on. One date with Shelby? Or a few dates with Shelby? (sigh) I'm gonna take the money!" LOL! Of course, we then let him off the hook; there's no way we'd NOT let Shelby go out with us tonight!

4 years ago Patrick had the upper hand.....

Now the tables have clearly turned! Ryan is an even 6'2"!!!

So sad....

Last night we went out for a family dinner and had the BEST time! We all sat around talking, joking, teasing, laughing, and we stayed until they were ready to kick us out! We haven't been together like that in a long time; too long! We get so bogged down with extra jobs (Patrick), theatre (Mabry), work/band/soccer (Pete) and band (Ryan), that there's rarely a time when we can all get together anymore. Somedays I only see Pete in the early morning before school, and sometimes days go by without seeing Mabry. Our schedules just don't allow for much family time anymore. That's just sad.
So....I'm going to change that. I've decided that come whatever, we will eat out as a family at least twice a month. We will make it a priority! I consider this another step on the path to getting vertical.
I'm so glad I've decided to start paying attention...it's amazing how much fun you can have!

Challenges

That's what I've been faced with lately. No, "faced with" isn't exactly the term. "Shoved in my face" would be more appropriate! Each kid brings a different challenge.

The challenge with Mabry is supporting her dream without squashing it with reality. She wants to be on stage, loves it, craves it. But she needs money, too, and for some reason colleges and community theatre just don't pay her to be on stage! We've got to somehow find a balance between supporting her dream and supporting HER! As in, we don't want to be supporting her when she's 30 years old! This means sacrificing some of her time on stage to get a (gasp!)
J. O. B. Sometimes I wish we were the kind of enabling parents that would let our kids do whatever they want, indulge their every whim, to see them happy. I'm sure they'd LOVE that! But that's not adult life, and both Mabry and Pete are about to be adults so they need to know this stuff!

With Pete, the challenge is reining in his free spirit without breaking it. Good grief, I've never encountered such a spirit as his! He wants to fly free, be a kid, have no worries....and I'd love that for him. Unfortunately, he's almost not a kid anymore and must learn to take care of himself. This means money management, and quite frankly he's not interested, thanks very much! Pete's problem with money is not that it burns a hole in his pocket; it burns a hole in his heart! He MUST get rid of it as soon as he gets it or he will surely die! (sigh)

Our challenge with Ryan is fairly straight-forward right now, a simple yes or no. When he wakes up each morning with that surly attitude, we ask ourselves, "Do we let him live another day?" So far the answer has been "yes", but should this blog ever stop suddenly, you'll know we changed our minds! :)*

Get Vertical....the beginning

I decided to name this blog Get Vertical Now because well...."Get Vertical" was already taken! But seriously, get vertical means stand up and pay attention! Life is going by fast, and I'm not sure if I'm a particiapant or a bystander.

I'm an almost 43 year old mother to 3 children, and I'm not sure I caught any of their childhood. A couple weeks ago my 17 year old son Pete had prom. I looked at him all dressed in his tux and said, "What the hell happened?!" Last I remember he looked like this:

Now suddenly I'm taking his picture and he looks like this:

I think there are a few years I missed in between somewhere!!! That's when I realized I'd better get vertical...pay attention.....start participating!

Pete is our free spirit...."Damn the consequences, full speed ahead!" It makes him a fearless goalie in soccer, but it's also keeping my hairdresser busy trying to cover the grey in my hair!

"Get Vertical" also refers to my other son, Ryan, who's almost 14. Ryan has a 15 year old girlfriend that he stays on the phone with constantly! His girlfriend's mom called me the other night after Ryan had spent the evening at their house watching tv. She thought I should know that she watched the movie with them, though it was a really stupid movie. She made that decision after she walked into their living room to find Ryan and his girlfriend lying on the sofa under a blanket. She said they didn't jump when she walked in (which hopefully means they weren't doing anything), but she still walked over to the couch, looked down at them with hands on hips and said, "Oh HELL no! Get vertical right now!" I sure do appreciate that woman!

That's him on the left, all 6'2" of him, in a play where he got to salsa with the girl in the picture. Oh, boy, did he enjoy that!

Speaking of plays brings my 18 year old daughter, Mabry, into the picture. She's a freshman in college who aspires to be a "starving artist"(and looking at her bank account last night I think she's gonna be a good one!). She needs a job but would rather be on stage. She's a very talented actress with a Carol Burnett/Lucille Ball quality about her. She's currently one of the stars in a comedy-murder-mystery set in the 40s, and she plays it to the hilt! She's the one child I generally don't have to worry about, because despite the fact that she has me for a mom, she's turned out responsible, smart and driven! That just amazes and awes me! This pic was taken on the first day of Spring Break 08. That's not sand she's sitting on, it's snow! Yeah, she's a little crazy.

I have a husband, Patrick, to whom I've been married for 20 years. For the past 6 or 7 years (lost count) we've missed our anniversary together because he's in the military reserves and just happens to be gone about the same time every year. I kind of compare it to the "break up with your girlfriend right before Valentine's Day so you won't have to buy her a present" thing. This year will not be any different, but for a different reason. This year it will be ME missing from our anniversary, as I'm going away on a 5 day weekend to Gatlinburg to spend time with about 20 women whom I've never met but to whom I've become close through the Dave Ramsey website! Patrick is really fine with me being gone. As he said, after this many years every day's an anniversary. You wake up, look next to you in the bed and say, "You're still here?" It's an anniversary!