Your Face

WARNING: Total Girly Post...and it's a long one, too!


Let's talk about our faces for a minute, shall we? How many of you older gals had you some acne growing up? I was one of the lucky ones and only suffered from the occasional breakout when I enjoyed too much chocolate or was dealing with that time of the month. I had peaches and cream complexion that I miss and wish I could see on my personal being one more time. Now? I found at around age 35, my facial skin started hating me in a bad way.

My Paige hasn't been so lucky. When she hit that puberty era wide open, acne attacked her skin and showed no mercy. I was so terrified and scared because there were times I was sure she was going to have bad scars that would haunt her the rest of her life. I bought every single thing I could think of that might would help her. When I say everything? I mean everything. That cost mucho money. I hit up the department stores that boast those swanky makeup counters and started buying. I hit up those ladies who sell makeup and such from their home and tried whatever they had going on. Many times I stared at her face wondering what could we try that would bring out the beautiful skin I knew was there.

Carla Girl had some skin issues going on and had to go to the dermatologist. He flat out told her to get rid of all that expensive stuff and bring it back to basics. Noxema. No kidding. He told her that's all she needed and his own teenage daughters used it. When she told me this, I paused and thought maybe he was onto something.

For those of you who were teenagers 15 plus years ago, do you remember those big blue tubs of Noxema we had to dig into? That thick heavy cream that could clear your sinuses? That's what I envisioned and looked for. Lo and behold! It comes in a pump bottle now! I bought two bottles. One for me and one for the teenager. When I used it the first time, I was taken back to the 80's where it took ALOT of that stuff to get that blue eyeshadow off my eyes. Well, guess what I found out? I love it. It has done wonders for my skin and I don't know why on earth I gave it up. No more swanky expensive stuff for this girl. No sir. I'm keeping it simple and clean.

(I am not being paid to endorse Noxema. I don't have some giveaway from them for you to grab. I love the product and just want to share with you what is working for us.)

I have a wonderful friend who has been extolling the virtues of vitamins for many years. I admit that it went in one ear and out the other. (You know..the eyeroll and "whatever" attitude that adults can do as well as any teenager?) My Makenna decided to hit a growth spurt and grow 6 inches in less than 6 months. I'm telling you, a garden grows slower than she does. I started thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to get a multi-vitamin for the girls. When you're young, you don't really care about taking care of your insides (i.e. the female reproductive organs and bones!). Well, I care! I don't want to ever give birth again with this tired old body, but I surely want some sweet beautiful grandchildren one day! I bought a bottle of teen multi-vitamins and decided to grab one of the generic kind geared for women for myself.

And so it began.

How many of you get fever blisters? DON'T YOU JUST HATE THEM?!?! Oh. My. Lawd. I loathe the fever blister and if I run any teeny tiny fever or get super stressed, I wake up with this huge hocking sore up on my top lip. I had this suspicion that I got this dormant virus (yes, I know it's a form of herpes) back in high school. See, there was this boy that I just adored with every fiber of my being. If I had a chance to smooch him? You know I took it. I know he got them occasionally and I feel pretty sure I threw caution to the wind and smooched him when he had one. Shoot, I probably would have kissed him if he had a mouth full of mud. It was worth it then, not so worth it now. My Makenna has been cursed because of this, I believe. She has the dormant virus but when it flares? It comes out in her eye. IN the eye. To where it can destroy her cornea if left untreated. Maybe I had a flare up on my lip when she was little and I kissed her near her eye and she got it. I don't know and will probably never know. All I know is that she has this and I live in fear of her having flare ups in her eye. She has had a total of four flare ups since she was first diagnosed at age 5 and each one sends me into a massive tizzy getting her to an eye doctor to get treated. We're talking drops in her eyes up to ten times a day for a long time. Four to six weeks worth. No kidding. When she gets sick? I panic and watch her eyes like a hawk. When she had her two surgeries, I frantically told the doctors we had to be prepared for this to happen since her immune system would be compromised. I saw the picture the doctors took of the inside of her eye from the first flare up. It was scary as all get out. I never want to see that again on my child.

That's why we take L-lysine. I've had many people swear by this and I keep this huge bottle in the cabinet because when I would get a fever blister? I'd start taking them like crazy. Popping them like a pregnant woman pops Tums. It would help, but that sucker would still sit on my lip like leprosy.

L-lysine (great link to read about it-just click here!) is something I decided might would be great to take on a daily basis along with the multi-vitamin. Makenna and I now take one a day to keep the flare ups away. I believe it may be beneficial in other areas, too. Take a look see at the link I provided and see what you think. Makenna hates taking it with a passion as it's big and chalky and nasty. I'm not too happy with it, but when we were on vacation, we were on the way home and I was worn out. I had a blister pop up on my lip but it was barely there. BARELY THERE! It was gone way sooner than usual and I fully believe it was because I take this every day. Paige did her own research on L-lysine (thank goodness she doesn't get fever blisters!) and decided she wanted to take it, too.

B-12 was another vitamin I wanted to check out. (another great link to look at!) Paige and I seemed to struggle for energy and I wanted to see what I could do to amp it up naturally. B-12 seemed to be a good option. This has been another vitamin we've added to our daily intake and walk to being more healthy individuals.

Vitamin E is a vitamin I like, too. (See what you think by clicking here!) This article I'm sharing doesn't fully endorse using Vitamin E for scars, but I, personally, have had good experience with using it for this purpose. I bought a bottle of gel caps and when I have a place that looks like it will be a scar? I open one up and rub it into the place in question and put a band-aid over it. In fact, I have one now on the back of my hand that is MUCH better because of doing this. You can judge for yourself. Needless to say, a gel cap of vitamin E is one we take.

You're probably thinking by now "Dang, Miss Hope, that's ALOT of things to be taking at one time!" And I agree. Paige's medication holder looks like it belongs to an old lady because she takes allergy medication, too. Yet, every single morning, she takes her allergy meds, vitamins, and nerve pill (poor soul has very high anxiety). Let me tell you this.....HER FACE IS CLEAR. Beautifully clear. Amazingly clear. My baby wouldn't even leave the house without foundation because her acne was so bad. Now? It's an OPTION. She doesn't have to wear it! Now, she only battles a small monthly breakout and it is nowhere near as bad as it was before. I marvel at her clear skin and am so glad she didn't have to take acne medication to clear it up. That stuff scared me silly. I was so afraid that if I put her on acne medication that it could harm her in some future way...like having babies. Call me paranoid, but it's my job to take care of my kids and I'm doing the absolute best I can.

Makenna is still a work in progress. I would LOVE for her to willingly take the teen multi-vitamin, L-lysine, and Vitamin E daily. I keep the bottles on the table and make her take them at supper. I hope she'll finally snap out of her sassy stage and realize they will help her more than she realizes. She's starting to get that forehead and nose breakout areas because puberty is visiting her with fanfare and meanness.

I finally broke down and purchased my own medication holder for the days of the week. It has helped me so much to make sure I take these much needed vitamins and medications (singulair and nexium and half of a nerve pill). I really urge and encourage all you women out there to check these vitamins out and if you have teenage girls? PLEASE, consider yet again the benefits of giving those fast developing bodies a little extra help.

I'm not leaving the guys out now. My husband now takes a multi-vitamin for men daily, but I have yet to find one that my son will take without being put in a choke hold. Teenage boys need vitamins just as much as teenage girls. Have you seen one lately? They're thin as broom sticks and eat like crazy people!

Let's just say this a subject near and dear to me and I wanted to share how we cleared up one teenager's face that was full of bad acne. In searching for a solution for her, I discovered that this body of mine has given birth three times and might need a little extra help, too. I admit I feel better and my skin looks better than it has in years. YaY Vitamins!

You go on and have yourselves a wonderful weekend. The air a tiny bit cooler here and I need to start Christmas shopping!

Just Another Date

This past Saturday was a tough anniversary for our country. September 11 has so much power over those of us who love this country.

Usually, when Saturday rolls around, we're doing work around the house. This past Saturday was no different. We're not constantly going and going on a normal basis. We tend to sit down and play a game or two on the computer before moving on to the next chore on the list. The Man and The Boy were out doing a little Build and Grow at our local Lowe's with a hair cut to follow. I knew they were going to be gone for a while, so the girls and I weren't running ninety miles an hour to get things done. I decided to put the channel on the television to shows dedicated to remembering that fateful day.

I listened to the stories of survival while I play a few games of Bejeweled Blitz until I had to stop and just watch. The tears kept leaking out of my eyes as I watched grown men talk of the horror and devastation they witnessed that day with their own tears rolling down their cheeks. I found myself getting a tad bit irritated at Makenna because she was reading one of her stories online and was totally ignoring what was being said on the television.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I initiated conversation with her about September 11. She was two years old when this occurred so I knew she was unable to recall any emotion from that particular time period. I told her how I watched the twin towers fall right before my very eyes on the television. I told her how I saw people running for their lives, not knowing what was going on...just knowing they had to flee. I needed her to ...I don't know...UNDERSTAND just how awful it was. I needed her to know how I cried that whole day because I was scared.

Things happen in our lives that we have no control over. I wasn't here for that fateful day in December when Pearl Harbor was viciously attacked. I can't even begin to imagine the fear our country felt in the face of that particular uncertainty. I know I sat in my living room that day with the children I kept playing on the floor and I couldn't take my eyes off of that television. I had recently met The Man and all I knew was he was active duty military and I just knew he was going to be heading that way immediately. Thankfully, he was on a shore duty rotation and not up to be sent over. (I was right ignorant of how the military works then.) All I could think of were the old movies I had watched my whole life with my Daddy. The war movies. Where cities were destroyed by enemy fire. Was this going to happen to us? Were we going to become one of those war movies where nowhere is safe? Were our borders going to become our prison bars? Was there anywhere safe in this world anymore??? It was a hard day as I looked at my child and wondered if I needed to go to the school to get my oldest and bring her home with me so if we had to do something, we were together. Looking back now, it might have seemed crazy. Crazy, huh? All I knew was that if they could do this to buildings in New York....there was no telling what could happen to the rest of the country. (That was before learning the fate of the other planes involved.)

I was blown away by the high security that I encountered the next time I visited The Man on the base where he was stationed. I appreciated it even though the long lines for car passes moved slowly. I still appreciate the security the I encounter when I approach any military base/post.

I can only hope and pray that I never have to experience another tragedy like this in my lifetime. I am scared that I probably will.

All I know is that I don't want September 11 to be just another date in history. For me. I want to cry every single year as I remember that day. I want to cry for those who lost their lives. I want to cry for those who lost a family member and had to carry on after that day. I want to cry for the military members who continue to fight the good fight to defend this country from another senseless tragedy because they're making supreme sacrifices day in and day out for the citizens of the United States of America.

As long as I am alive, this will never be just another date in a history book. It was real. It was hard. It was life changing. God Bless America......please.

Judgement

I am obviously aging at an alarming rate, Internets. Time is starting to fly by me rather quickly and I fear it won't be long before it hits warp speed and I wake up one morning dead. I'd like to think that if a person has a good life, then it will fly by. Think about it, would you? People who are depressed and such moan and groan about how slow life is. Like they can't get through it fast enough to be done with the whole deal. I feel like it's flying by and I'm not catching every single detail like I would like to.



That being said, I'm going to change the subject some what. Let's chat about personality flaws, shall we? I am 100% human, so I am full to the brim with character and physical flaws. I know this and pretty much embrace it because...ha ha...I don't have a choice, now do I?



Are you judgemental? I am. I have tried and tried so hard not to be. All my life I have heard that sweet little passage stating "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I know it's wrong and I will end up repenting for my transgressions, but it's like an addiction at times. You've done it before you realize and you sigh, slump your shoulders, and realize you've gone and done it again.

I'll give you a few examples of what I'm talking about:

• I judge ladies who wear white shoes after Labor Day and before Easter (at the earliest). I watch you walk by with this superior Southern Bell attitude and believe you to be a natural born Yankee. If you are Southern and making this major fashion faux paus, then I assume you are rebelling against your Mama and your Grandmama will have the vapors if she sees such a thing from HER flesh and blood.

• I judge ladies who wear extremely tight clothing out in public. Dear Girl, wearing tight clothing does not make you sexy. It makes you look like you gained weight and are trying very desperately to make everyone think you truly meant to look like a sausage with a busted casing. We, the public , would applaud you for just giving up and buying decent clothes that fit.

• I judge older ladies who wear mini skirts. I don't care if you're single again and in a cougar state of mind. Be a LADY first and foremost, please. Show the younger generations that it's okay to have a hem flirt with your knees instead of your crotch. Have you seen your legs crossed in a mini skirt? I have and I would state matter of factly that 4.9 out of 5 of you have veins and loose skin that I could have gone to my grave not ever seeing and be happy about it.

• I judge young men and older men who wear hats in a building. Just don't. It's improper and on the redneck side. I don't care if you're going bald. I really and truly don't. I don't care if your hair is all messed up. My husband has had some wild hair going on, but that hat comes off upon entering a building. Yes, I know this has been ingrained in him because of the military, but come one! Use manners!

• I judge parents if their children don't use manners. We all know Miss Hope is 100% Southern and is all about some manners. We are supporters of the "yes ma'am" and "no sir" protocol. I don't expect this from everyone because, obviously, our society is diverse and not all regions require such strict requirements. I do NOT, however, tolerate a lazy "yeah" from a young person. If you are meaning to say "yes"? Then say YES. Be precise and polite in your answer or I will call you on it. Yes, I surely will. Just ask my teenager's friends. Miss Hope is all fun and cool (ish), but if you don't act respectfully? She will immediately correct you. It's the price you pay to visit her daughter. Thing is? All the kids who visit now use manners. How about that?

• I judge people who have massive amounts of brake dust on their front tires. I know this sounds crazy, but if your vehicle has an inch of brake dust on the wheels? You can't drive. You drive too fast and ride the brakes. That's not good for anyone on the road. I tend to avoid you on the interstate because I just don't care to mess with a foolish driver. If the brake dust isn't an indicator of your driving? Then you have something wrong with your vehicle and might need to get it fixed. That Man of Mine tends to hit the brakes with more force than I prefer at times. At that point, I will throw myself forward and grab for handles like we're getting ready to flip at least 10 times. He rolls his eyes and ignores me. I have informed him that brake dust accumulates on my wheels? I will have issues.

There you have it. A few examples of what Miss Hope is thinking about at times. I know. I know. It's shameful and wrong of me to be this way, but what can I say? I need to work on being nicer, if only in my mind. And I will. Because life is too short to worry about things or raise my eyebrow as you walk or drive by me.

Okay...I just went and re-read what I've written. I just don't think there's going to be much help for me in these areas. This list of grievances are my addiction, I do believe.

~sigh~

Just dress decently, don't wear white shoes at the wrong time, clean your tires, and speak nicely and I promise, from the bottom of my heart, we'll be the best of friends!

Eleven Year Old Logic

I believe it was last week when my middle kid came up to me and The Man with her simple request.

M: Hey, Mama and Man? Can you put me in some kind of medically induced coma or sleep for the five years that I'm going to be a teenager?

Me: What?

M: repeats request

Me: Why on earth would you want to do that, Sweetheart?? The teenage years can be some of the best years of your life!

M: Because if it's anything like Sissy makes it out to be? I don't want no part of it.

Me: Look here. You can't set any standards by your sister. She's is a one of kind original.

M: But, she makes it seem so hard and dramatic. I figure if I could just sleep through all of that? Then I wouldn't have to deal with it.

Poor kid. She's serious as she can be. This is where you have to dig deep and try not to fall on the floor laughing and very seriously explain that everyone is different and handle things in unique ways. That, and her sister is plain crazy.

I have a feeling she intends to get lost in her golf game. She has big plans.

And I'm perfectly okay with that.

Unintended

Hi. It's me again. I think I've been avoiding this page for a while now. Nothing against any of you out there. I'm still having my moment.

I like for my blog to be fun and funny. I like to share humor because, God knows, there's enough crap out in the world like it is that's depressing if you listen long enough. I haven't felt so fun and funny lately.

I don't think I'm depressed. Not really. I think I'm still adjusting to this new chapter in my life I got going on. I haven't quite snapped out of my "Dangit, I had to move AGAIN funk". Intellectually, I know this wasn't a bad thing for our family. We live in a great neighborhood, in a great little town, with decent schools, in a beautiful home. I told The Man that I was just having a hard time adjusting to the weather and just finding my way around in a new place. Now, I am Southern born and raised, to set the record straight. I've never been more than 35-ish miles from the ocean. I didn't go to the beach all the time, but I had comfort in knowing it was less than an hour away should I need to go see some big water. Now? I live in a hilly area that's inland where I almost wreck on a constant basis because of looking at the hills and the neighborhoods on the side of hills. It is so miserably hot here. I know it's just as hot at the coast but it's almost like you could excuse it because you knew that's the coast rolls. I know, it probably doesn't make sense to anyone else but me.

Now, don't go getting worried that I've holed up in the house and lay on the couch watching soap operas in a couch potato haze. 1. I don't watch soap operas. Haven't seen the first one in almost ten years. 2. I got a new chair that is all mine and that's my seat cushion of choice. I've been up and out quite a bit. We went on vacation this summer to Nebraska to see my most favorite Mom and Pop-in-law. We had a wonderful visit that went by too fast with lots of laughs and games of Boggle. My FIL cooked every night and I thoroughly enjoyed the break from cooking. Paige kept me busy all summer because of her doing summer school and driving school. We've had quite a few visitors that I've loved having here and hated to see leave.

I've just got to find my niche is all. I want to wake up and say out loud, "I'm going to finish a project in this house today and make it more our home!" I'm tired of mostly bare walls and no curtains. I want some color and pizazz (am SO tired and over the word "pop" in relation to decorating...someone needs to teach the designers on HGTV new words when they paint a wall a bright color or put a snappy pillow on a couch.). I've been window shopping online and came across a test that said something like "See what your design style is!!" Did you know you can fail one of those? Honest to goodness, I failed the stupid thing. I like so many different things that the final test result was, "unable to determine a design style." ~sigh~ I'm undetermined and design-less. Woe is me. That zapped my decorating confidence straight down the toilet right there.

I know I missed the whole month of July and I still haven't finished that flower bed post. Speaking of the flower bed. It is my nemesis. All that fabric we put down before the mulch and I STILL have to go weed the stupid thing. It has been so hot here that almost all the plants we planted with high hopes and sparkles in our eyes......they died. I told The Man to just not worry about it. We'll maintain the integrity of the overall bed itself and figure something out come Fall or next Spring. (Yeah, I basically said "Screw it.")

My children started back to school yesterday and I think I'm a little bit lonely today. Oh, I know that feeling won't last but a day or two. I enjoy time alone. Wait, there's Prissy, who is my partner in crime. She keeps me company and stays under my feet. She's on point to guard when I go to the bathroom and to do laundry. If I'm working anywhere else in the house, she lays right there within a 5 foot radius and watches my every move. She's always on standby to lick whoever comes in the house within an inch of their lives.

It's just a Hope Thang, I suppose. I never claimed to be normal or perfect. I'm not a fast mover (unless a kid is in danger) and I will eventually find the right pace and path that works best for me. If you are so inclined? Find a little patience and bear with me until I do. Thanks.

Time Just Slips Away

Well, sir, I just blew the whole month of June off with the blogging deal. It definitely wasn't on purpose, people.



Summers are good. I truly like spending time with my kids. I love sleeping in a later and not having to rush to get people dressed, papers signed, and out to the bus on time. I am not a morning person. At all. I rush around sipping a cup of coffee and my anxiety goes out the roof because Paige is so SLOW moving and she can't miss the bus because the other two take a different bus and I start hollering up the stairs for her to hurry up and then I get louder and louder until we end up hollering at each other as she runs out the door to catch her bus. Most mornings end up with us texting "I love you." to each other so we know all is cool for the rest of the day. See? Summers can be a lot less stress in The Edge household.



Then, we moved.



You'd think if you move your children from one school to another in the same state, the school would be on the same education page. Nope. Not in Georgia. Paige is in summer school this summer because one county rolls differently than the other. She is a credit or two ahead of her class, but behind a half credit in math. Oh, math, how we hate thee. Her guidance counselor was nonchalant about it and said she would just take two maths in her Senior year. Uh....no. Paige is a gifted child but math is her nemesis. She can do it and do it well, but she has a block about it. I wasn't going to take the chance of stressing her out her Senior year with TWO maths. Senior year is supposed to be fun! I told her to go ahead and get it taken care of since she really wants to work next summer and I surely don't want to stop her.



Now, I'm getting up in the mornings so I can take her to the bus stop. There are something like six high schools in this county and they take turns hosting summer school. This summer's host is about 30 minutes (traffic-wise) away. They run buses that pick up kids at certain points. It could be worse, though. I have to have her at the bus stop by 9 a.m. and pick her up at around 1-ish. Her first day, she came home and was all "Woe are we! Our teacher just graduated college...we'll never make it!" Yeah, about that. She has the highest grade ever in math because she GETS this teacher completely. Her teaching style clicks with Paige and she is breezing through math like never before. To the tune of a high A, my friends. She has come home with amazing papers that go immediately on the fridge to be proudly displayed. I kid you not. I'm all about displaying the good stuff. I have begged her to get this teacher's name, number, email, and address so if she has future problems, I can bribe this teaching genius to maybe tutor a little bit. I want to stalk this woman who has given the love of math back to my child.



We now see a light at the end of the tunnel as summer school ends next week. She has full confidence about her grade and almost looks forward to going each day because she's going to be able to do her work without stress. Man, I love that.



Did I mention she went to driving school this summer, too? She sure did. Thirty hours of driving school goodness. For six days straight (starting on a Sunday), she went to driving class from 1-6 p.m. That meant rushing to pick her up from summer school at 12:35 to have her clear across a lunch traffic infested town by 1:00 p.m. Those were some busy stressful days. She hasn't quite finished her class yet as she has to do her six hours of driving with them to receive her certification. We have to get her new glasses first. That appointment is Wednesday.

Does it ever end???

I hate my TomTom, too. That son of gun has let me down more than it has helped. I live in a new place, Sir TomTom. I NEED you to know where we are specifically because I DON'T. I can't tell you how many times I've called my husband at work rantin' and ravin' and carryin' on about that blasted TomTom. If we had a nickel for every time I have threatened to throw that blasted thing in the trash can?

*Deep breath because I get really upset over that little piece of technology.*

If there is one thing that'll send me over the edge? It's being lost. I get so angry because I don't know my way around and I just lose my cool because I really didn't want to have to learn a new town at this stage in my life. I want familiarity, okay? I want to know the streets and landmarks in my life.

Poor Makenna. She has been such a trooper. All she's asked for is to go to the library. No joke. That baby of mine loves to read more than her next breath. She has done nothing but read books online all summer long. She begged and begged to go to the library because, as she puts it, "There's nothing like holding a real book in your hands." After I dropped Paige off at driving school one day, I decided to try and find the library. Stupid TomTom. While on the phone with my husband and trying to figure out where the heck the TomTom was taking me....we found it.

*Cue heavenly angels singing, please*

My girl was in heaven. She would have stayed there all day if I had let her. I could probably drop her off at opening and pick her up at closing and she would be perfectly content. The Boy and I picked out some books for him while she got her limit of 12. They were all read by end of weekend. I kid you not.

She's really stepped up this summer helping me out around the house. With Paige being gone most of the time, she's helping me clean and not complaining a bit. Should I wonder what she's building up to ask for? My bet is it will be a kindle. Being eleven really is a growing year. She has a quirky sense of humor and loves to tell you in full and complete detail about the book she's reading. To the point where your eyes glaze over. I've learned to nod alot and say, "Seriously??" It's a good working situation for us.

My boy. My sweet little boy. This has been the Summer of Meltdowns. I like to be a cool Mom, you know? Sleep in a little later...stay up a little later. It's worked wonderfully for the girls for many years. Then, we have The Boy. Evening meltdowns were becoming a norm. Bad meltdowns. To the point where I was sure the neighbors were going to call the law because of the screams coming from our house. I got to the point where I'd rehearse my speech if the law showed up. I'd offer to let them take my son for an hour with the smug knowledge that they would bring him back home QUICK. It has been that bad. I started fretting over his medications. Were they not working anymore? His appointment with the new psychiatrist isn't until August and that was the first available we snatched up. Hello, rising stress level!

Finally, I told The Man that maybe we needed to just put him back on a schedule. Here we go to bed again at 8 p.m. (ish) with a book read in his bed. It hasn't fully solved all the problems, but it has helped tremendously. Bless his little OCD heart. He just has to have routine and order in his small world. He plays so well by himself during the day that he is a pure pleasure to watch. I keep the t.v. on educational channels and he flits from the DS to board games to his action figures. He really hasn't even bothered with the Wii, which has shocked me. I noticed the other day that when he plays his DS and gets to a screen that has words (like directions on what to do), he is reading it out loud. Score for reading! My fire place has a stone front and it's the perfect mountain for his action figures to climb and play rescue to those stuck up on the mantle.

I wish he could go outside more but it is HOT in Jaw-ja (Georgia) this one summer. It's like when your body hits the front door...it says "Sweat Glands: ACTIVATE". I can't believe how miserably hot it has been. To the point where you go to the pool and the water is hot. Therefore, we hang out inside and try to do yard work in the evenings. Before the magnificent thunderstorms hit.

We are now counting down to our first real vacation since The Boy was 3 months old. Hey, vacations cost money and we didn't have much of it the past few years. When Paige finishes her summer school, we are heading to God's Country. That would be Nebraska. The Man's parents live there and we haven't had a chance to visit them since they moved there. I'm excited over a road trip and seeing a couple of new states. Even Miss Prissy is going with us!

That dog of ours. ~sigh~ I love her. She loves me. She has personality and spunk and loves to go for a ride. I can't get over what a good traveller she is. She rides with me to take Paige to the bus stop and pick her up. If I have to run another errand and leave her at the house? She is just heartbroken and will literally cry and mope around. Even The Man has a soft spot for her. He's off on Fridays and will give me a break taking and picking up and what do I hear as he walks to the door? "Come on, Prissy! Let's go!" Yep, we have all been suckered in by that sweet little face. She snorts and does her best to talk. She's not a barker at all unless she's playing. She'll lick you to death if you walk in our house. If you take a nap? Make room because she's coming, too, and will snore worse than any old man in a nursing home.

I told you aaaallllllll of that just to show that I truly haven't been neglecting my blogging duties. It's hard to sit down and write a cohesive blog post when you have a six year old lurking around waiting for you to get up and go do something so he can play a game on the computer. Drives me crazy to no end when I get up to do laundry or another chore and that boy will jump in the seat right behind me and pull up his game sites to play. It wouldn't be so bad if he wouldn't close my windows to do this! Therefore, I can't move once I start writing because sure as I'm sitting here, the auto-save feature won't work that one time.

I know I still owe you the second part to the YardWork post. I got the pictures downloaded and promise to do that soon. I just had to let you know how busy Summer 2010 has been around The Edge and how I'm looking forward to school starting back so I can get back on MY schedule!

You go on now, and keep it cool. I know I have and have the electric bill to prove it!

Tasty Good

We interrupt our regularly schedule programming to bring to you a cute pet moment.

We are in a new world here at The Edge. The world of raising a puppy. How educated we have become since Prissy has joined our family. She's cost us money we didn't know we'd have to spend and has brought great entertainment value to our evenings.

A week or so ago, we were all settling in to watch some television. Most probably, it was a season finale we were looking forward to and excited to see. All of a sudden, Paige hollered and jumped up off of the couch.

There was a huge green spot on my light colored carpet. Apparently, Prissy had found Makenna's watercolor paints and chose the green one as her new thing to gnaw on. Oh, what a fun marvelous time she was having with that little square of green goodness. When Paige finally got it away from her (it was half way gone), there were more than one green spot for her to scrub up immediately so as to keep it from settling in and staining the carpet further.

Our focus was on getting the carpet clean...then we saw Prissy.

We were laughing so hard then, it was hard to breathe.

We started asking her if she enjoyed eating the leprechaun as she had a green beard around her mouth. Her tail would wag like crazy and she literally grinned. This was caught on camera.

Therefore, I find it necessary to share with you what your pet would look like if they, too, were able to enjoy a leprechaun snack.

Why, thank you! That leprechaun snack was tasty good! She may have been yawning when Paige took the picture. I choose to believe she's grinning.

The Flower Bed Saga- Part 1

We did our house hunting in October and November. Which is great if some houses you view don't have electricity. It's easier to take a coat off than to try and get cool. Curb appeal is very important because we gravitate towards things that look nice. When we bought The Edge III, the yards were freshly done with sod, shrubs, and straw. There's not a lot you can do for color in November/December and it all looked fine so we didn't think twice about it.

Wish we had.

When it started warming up, weeds started popping up. I'd constantly walk in the flower beds pulling one here and there trying to stay ahead of the game. Finally, I realized something. Our flower beds sucked. It was the work of cheap labor. Our grass had weeds that were ridiculous and my husband fought them to the bitter end with all kinds of weed killer.

I got sick and was pretty much stuck inside for over a week. The flower beds took full advantage of this and sprouted over night, much to my dismay. When I finally walked outside and looked, I just about deflated right there on the spot because the front of my house had turned into a hot mess. I then decreed that we would start work as soon as possible on what was becoming (in my eyes) a neighborhood eyesore.

Then it rained for two weekends straight.

When we were finally ready for action, we discovered that Spider Town resided in the flower beds and around our foundation. A trip from the exterminator and it was suggested we wait another week for the poison to work since we had an abundance of black widows. I don't know about you, but I was inclined to listen to the fellow.

While we waited on Spider Town to be evacuated, I fretted over how I just knew we had become "that house" in the neighborhood where people would drive by and purse their lips in distaste over the condition of our flower beds. It was a right stressful time, Internets.

We took that time to get a few things done around the house and plan what we were going to do with our Hot Mess Flower Beds.

First chance the weather cleared and worked with us, we were on top of yard work. I deemed it necessary that we would clear out all the nasty straw on Friday and prep for planting on Saturday. I believe some home improvement shows would call this the "demolition phase". Trust me, it was demolition. We were just beyond mad when we finally got the straw up and saw the condition of the shrubs they had put down. The landscapers (and I use the term very loosely) had just dug a small hole, pulled the plant out the pot, and plopped it down. I kid you not. You could just pick the plants and shrubs straight up with no problem. Sorry shoddy cheap work. How these shrubs were able to grow is beyond us.

During the day on Saturday, Makenna wiped her brow and said, "Why don't we just get a landscaper??" I told her that we were going to do the work so we could look at it when it was done and know we worked hard and take pride in our hard work. Shoot, I'm not hiring yard work out until all kids are grown and gone. Until then, there are lessons to be learned!

I now know just how out of shape I really am. I have dug. I have raked. I have hauled mulch. I have drank gallons of gatorade and powerade and water. I have laid on my front lawn like a redneck because I was so flippin' tired.


We aren't quite finished yet. We ordered 6 cubic yards of mulch to be delivered and methinks it might have been a tiny tad bit too much. I have a few ideas left to complete before all the mulch will be gone. We've had some rain that has shown us where we'll have to make the mulch deeper in the flower beds so that's good we have some extra left.

This home ownership deal is wearing me out. I hate yard work. Despise it. But, I've been doing it my whole life. I know my husband appreciates the fact that I'll put on the yard shoes and head right on outside to help even though I hate getting dirty. *Side note: Mama said when I was a young child, if I got my hands dirty, I'd come to her with them upraised exclaiming they were dirty and wanting her to clean them. Smart Little Me.* The only thing I truly can't do is the weed eater. I just don't have the upper body strength for it. I can work a lawn mower (push or riding), a blower, a water hose, and assorted hand tools like nobody's bizness.

So, in keeping with the spirit of being a two part post, here are the before pictures of The Hot Mess Flower Bed.

This is the biggest part in front of the dining room window. The tall shrub was taken out (Lu will be happy as she hates these particular shrubs!) and relocated over to the side of the house near the heating and air units. There was still straw to be raked out after taking this picture. I believe we got around eleven lawn bags full out of the deal. I'm sure the garbage people just loved us that week.

Oh, how this picture makes me cringe. By the time we came in Friday evening, all weeds were gone and we had a plan on where the new plants were going to go. Did I mention we have some hard butt clay kind of dirt? Yeah, that was back breaking work for The Man to try and even it up to a decent level since CLB (Cheap Labor Boys) covered up the holes and such with straw.

I thought the hardest on this corner here. I wanted something pretty but not huge as I didn't want to cover my window. I've driven by many houses where they have a tree or shrub that covers up a window and that makes no sense to me.

Finally got some control over the weeds on this end. Wait til you see what I put here!

The mulch was delivered a week later. This is one dirty kid here, Internets. I discovered that if there is a hill, little boys will climb it. He has thoroughly enjoyed this hill of mulch. He has dug and dug with his little shovel. I told the rest that I have never seen a little guy work so hard and get nothing done with all the digging he has done. We literally have to hose him off when we go in after he finishes playing king of the hill.

So, now you see why I called the front of my house The Hot Mess Flower Beds in all capital letters. I think it fully earned that title. Next post? Working, the flowers, and finished product!

What do You Think?

Since moving to our new town, it's been a high priority to find The Boy a doctor so we can keep the medication train going. We found one out in town that I think may just work out. *By "out in town", it just means he won't be seen on a military base.* She is a Mom herself with six year old twins so that helps the Mom in me feel better. She took a long time to listen to The Boy's history, asking questions along the way. Instead of the quick allotted 15 minutes, she was very generous with her time and wanted to know all she could about this boy and his medical history. That scored some brownie points in my mind.

As the conversation progressed, she furrowed her brows and asked The Question.

"Are you going to medicate him during the summer while out of school?"

Blink.

Blink.

My reply? "If he were an asthmatic or diabetic, I wouldn't quit medicating him since he's out of school. He will definitely be medicated during the summer as it helps him maintain control of his hyperactivity and impulsivity."

I was honest with her...we can't live with him if he's not medicated. You might think badly of us, but I'll tell you like I tell everyone else. You don't know him. You don't know how fast he can get out of control. He doesn't like losing control. He likes being able to focus. With medication, he can sit on the floor and play with his cars and action figures without having to get up and run around.

I don't know if she was going to suggest taking him off of medication or not...but she kept her thoughts to herself, nodded and wrote a prescription.

We now have a referral for a child psychiatrist that he will see in August after school starts back. Some times I wonder if it will always be this way. Will my child need a psychiatrist his entire life? Will he ever be able to get off this medication? I don't mind him going to the psychiatrist at all. I don't mind the medication now that I know how much it helps him. I just hope and pray and pray and pray that one day he won't have to have these things to function. I guess time will tell.

Oh, did I also mention we're waiting on a speech therapy referral, too? This kid talks so fast because his brain goes ninety miles an hour. He's so intelligent, but you can't understand a word he says when he gets wound up. Therefore, here we go with speech therapy again to help him slow down and communicate.

The Boy is such a light in our lives. He and Paige call each other "Best Friend" when they call one another around the house. Makenna has this magic way about her with him when it comes to taking his medication in the mornings. I don't know what kind of voodoo she uses, but she can always get him to take those two magic pills without fuss...when minutes before he's fighting us to the ground. I have a path worn in my carpet from times where he and Prissy chase each other around the entire house. Prissy always loses traction when she hits the hardwood in the hallway and she skids a foot or two before catching her feet to keep chasing. This usually tickles The Boy to where he can't run so she catches him in the end.

So what if he has to take a few pills the rest of his life? So what if he has to see a psychiatrist once in a while to make sure all is well in his world? It is what it is and I'll do my best to make sure I do my part to make it happen.

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of my handsome boy from 5K. Moving an ADHD kid who is a tad OCD in the middle of the school year is a bad ordeal for a Mama. God had His hands all over the situation when he put my baby in Mrs. P's class. That teacher was a Godsend and she worked and communicated with us religiously with helping him adjust to his new class, teacher, and school. He never complained about going to school (I think because Mrs. P. is a looker and he appreciates a pretty gal!) and we were amazed at how fast he was learning. Now, my baby reads and to keep him entertained in church, I give him math problems to do. I kid you not. He loves doing addition and subtraction..maybe I'll introduce multiplication this summer? I made sure to tell Mrs. P (and Mrs. S., the aide) how much we appreciated all they've done. In fact, they might have gotten tired of my continued thanks by the end.

Now, we head to first grade and a whole new level. I am sitting here now with hands paused over the keyboard as I look up at him playing with his trucks, cars, and action figures...in his own little world of make believe. Two weeks from now I'll be writing about his graduation from high school (at least it'll feel like that!), and sad at how fast time flew by.

Isn't it just crazy how much love you can feel for a child? Each of my three and a few adopted ones I've gathered along the way just keep my heart full to bursting and I am just a better person because of that.

*I do have some really cute group pictures of his class, but I can't share. I don't have permission to put someone else's baby on the Internet. I'm sure you understand!*

The Man took a day off from work to go with The Boy on the field trip to the zoo. I don't do field trips if I can help it. I mean, I will, but it's not my favorite thing to do. We felt one of us needed to go since we didn't know if all that stimulation would make him go in to froot loop mode. He did wonderfully and had an awesome time spending the day with his Dad. I'm so glad my husband can do stuff like this and make some great memories!

My little town boy doing country stuff! He really liked this and had to tell me all about it.

Two very awesome teachers. I do have their permission to put their picture up on the blog. Mrs. S. is to the left and Mrs. P. is to the right. She received the Teacher of the Year award this year (well earned!) and one of the parents gave her a tiara to wear the day of the 5K program. (You all know I just adore a tiara so I thought it perfectly fitting.) I am in prayer now that my son will be blessed to have another teacher in his learning pathway like these two.

Day for a Memorial

We went home for the Memorial Day weekend since The Man had the day off and it was my parent's birthdays (same day- year apart (I always feel like I have to explain that so people won't think it's a typo!)) and my beautiful niece had her dance recital and first solo. It was a busy weekend like always. I was happy to see a few people at the recital I haven't seen in a while...almost like a mini reunion. Add in going to our home church on Sunday and we were the last ones to leave the parking lot as we were talking to every person we could as we miss them so much.

Anyway, my husband was thanked many times for his service with it being Memorial Day and all. He was kind and gracious, yet felt compelled to tell people that Memorial Day is for the fallen military members. I would then be kind and gracious enough to touch his arm and remind him of how many times he fell down on those submarines where he served many years.

I am sad to say that I never really appreciated the military and all they do until I married my submariner. You really don't have to understand the sacrifices the families make. If you haven't walked in those particular shoes? You really can't fathom their day to day lives. And that's okay. It's not a bad thing. I met someone this weekend for the first time and we got to chatting (you always get to chatting when I'm around!) and I found out that her father was military and I stopped her and said "Thank You." She got it. She simply said, "You're welcome." and we kept talking. I need to tell my Grandma "Thank You." She was a military wife for a short time and then had to turn around and let her only son go to Vietnam. She prayed all day long every day for his safe return and didn't breathe good until he was back home. I get that. My Daddy lost one of his good friends to Vietnam. Forty years has lessened the loss, but he doesn't forget. Ever.

You want to hear one of my shameful secrets? When Paige got to high school and wanted to be in the NJROTC (Navy ROTC), I was dead set against it. I hated the thought of her doing anything military. Let me tell you, my family knew exactly how I felt, too. She went ahead and did it, but I did NOT support it in any shape or fashion. I remember at the open house the school had, another parent was in the ROTC room with their kid and they were all gung ho about their kid being in the program. The more they talked? The angrier I got. We were all walking out at the same time when my temper just flared. This guy made a comment (and I can't remember what it was), but it set me off. I turned and looked at him and said, "I do NOT support my child doing this program. Let someone ELSE'S child do the military thing...my family had done enough!" I turned and walked off and left the guy standing there in shock. I'm so sorry, Mr. Guy, for how I acted. That program was one of the best things my child could have done. She excelled at it, won awards, found a family of friends, and had an amazing teacher in her crusty ol' retired Master Chief. I am so ashamed of how I felt. Looking back, I think it was fear more than anything. Fear that my child would join the military and leave me and be in danger. Now? If one of my three decide the military is the way for them? I am going to suck it up best I can, smile, and support the mess out of them...busting with pride the entire way.

I want to also mention that while we were in South Carolina visiting this weekend, my "sister" Lu's intended, Chris, lost his father in a tragic motorcycle accident. The girls were out to supper while the men were watching the kids when he got the call. Chris called Lu while we were eating and she immediately took off to be with him. It was just a bad deal. I am grateful that the way the circumstances fell, we were in town at the time. We spent some time with them before heading back Monday evening. My heart goes out to Chris and the family as they bury his father today. Please, if you can, keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. It was just so unexpected and Mr. Randy will be missed by many people.

I have a few things stirring in my blog pot that I'm going to be sharing soon. School is out now so I have company during my day. Paige is doing a summer school gig to get her credits straight so she can enjoy her Junior and Senior years. She's being a good sport about it all, bless her heart. She's doing AP English next year so she has homework the whole summer for that subject. Craziest thing I've ever seen! She has homework assignments due for that class all summer before school even starts. My understanding is they have a big test the second day of school in August when they start back full time. She's already read her two assigned books (remember "Catcher in the Rye"?) and has started the drudge work. I have issues with bogging kids down during the summer months. Childhood only lasts so long, people! As it stands, though, I will take and pick her up for the next five weeks and make sure she has internet to turn in her English work.

You go on and try to enjoy this hot weather that's going on right now. It's time for me to see exactly what these new air conditioning units can do in this house of mine!

A Day of Mothers

Around the end of April, I realized that Mother's Day was looming up pretty quick. Normally, I take that day for my own. I mean, come on, I've given birth three times and I think I deserve that day. Add in the fact that every four years my birthday falls on Mother's Day, and you got the perfect time to claim a weekend. Some times I go all out and claim the whole week.

This year was different. I had my Mama and my Grandma on my mind a lot. My Grandma is bedridden and she is far from being a spring chicken. My Mama hasn't had the best of health as she's battled strokes, diabetes, and high blood pressure. I thought and thought about it and decided it just wasn't about me this year. It had to be about my Mama and Grandma. These two women are so very important in my life....they're the ones who have shaped who I am (for better or worse!). I told my husband that I wanted a quick day trip to South Carolina to see them for my Mother's Day gift. Without hesitation, he agreed. Lord, I love that Man of Mine.

I awoke to find on my chair a new pink fuzzy tiara and cape. That Paige. Of course, I put that tiara on for the ride to South Carolina and pretty much wore it the rest of the day. We hit the road so as to make it by lunch time. I knew there was going to be some steak and gravy going on at Mama's and I wanted to make sure I got some!

We had the bestest visit. Mama was happily surprised to see us drive up. I do believe she might have had an inkling we were coming as Daddy told her to cook some extra. She laughed and told me if we hadn't shown up? She was going to be upset! We spent the entire afternoon on the front porch while the kids played. My son and nephew played and got dirty as can be. My city kid discovered that stickers in the grass can hurt some bare feet something fierce. He ended up having to change clothes before leaving, but that just means he had a wonderful time. Makenna discovered the bunny rabbits my brother had in a pen and she spent quite a bit of time holding one and begging for one of her own. (Uh....no.) Time flew by and we hated to leave, but I needed to see my Grandma some before we made the drive back to Georgia.

My Grandma lives with my Aunt and their front door has a ramp going into the house. I was walking up the ramp and I could see my Grandma in her hospital bed craning her head to look out (like a turtle!) Both she and my Aunt were so happy to see us and we visited with them for an hour or so. It's not good to stay too long as it tires Grandma out. The kids raided the freezer and scored some ice cream and I got to just sit and talk with the two of them. Time flew too quickly again and it was time for us to head it on home.

We were exhausted from driving around 5 hours in one day, but it was so worth it to spend the day with my Mama, my Sister-in-Law, and Grandma. Grandma has always told me: "We're not promised tomorrow." I believe that fully now so I want to make sure I have some amazing yesterdays with the ones I love.

I took a few pictures while we were there because I am the Camera Queen and I'm so afraid I'm going to miss a memory if I don't take a bunch of pictures.

This may be late, but thank you to all the women out there who love. I am a firm believer in that you don't have to give birth to be a mother. Mama's are all types and kinds and all are needed to help raise and love the children of this world. I claim many other women's children as my own and love them dearly..along with my precious three children.

A girl and her Nana.

The Boy brought his Kindergarten binder so he could show his Nana and Aunt all his work. He explained each page to them so they were sure to understand!

You enjoy holding that rabbit, girl. I'm not getting one. Ain't happening. Nope.

My lovely Sister-in-Law. She is tops in my book. She loves my parents so good and really looks out for them and I am so grateful for all she does.

The Mamas. Why, yes, I am wearing a fuzzy pink tiara. What a cool group of gals to hang out with.

Good Neighbors

I got fussed at a little bit yesterday. I was on the phone with Neighbor Debbie, checking in, when Neighbor Greg expressed his disappointment in the fact that I didn't blog about their visit a few weeks ago. I promised right then and there to rectify that slip on my part.

Neighbors. They can be good or they can be bad. I've had both, that's for sure. Living in military housing will expose you to all kinds of neighbors. Little did I know when I moved into my own home on Eagle Court, that next door would be one of my goodest friends ever.

The phrase "partners in crime" come to mind when I think of Neighbor Debbie. She stepped up to help me run a spouse program at the base chapel when I really needed the help. That meant spending lots of time together planning activities months in advance, shopping for materials and such. While planning our weekly sessions, she took it upon herself to refresh my crocheting skills and sewing skills. Her ability and mad crafting skills really impressed me and I could only hope to do a fraction of what she was capable of doing.

Carla Girl, Neighbor Debbie, and the rest of our Chief's Wives Club really had a great year that year. We met up no matter what once a month and there was always someone to do something with. Shopping trips, lunches, vent sessions...you name it, we had a good time. Hold on a second whilst I get a little homesick.

Okay.

Well, that Neighbor Greg thought he would be slick and move that Neighbor Debbie out of base housing. They found a really nice house out in the country in a good neighborhood and they packed it all up and away they went. How dare he. I was lost for about...um....a week? What Neighbor Greg didn't take into consideration was that I come from the country. Driving to get somewhere isn't a big deal for me. Neighbor Debbie comes from the country and driving to get somewhere isn't a big deal for her, either. It was sixteen miles one way to get to each other and we weren't afraid to drive the distance when the need arose. Bless Neighbor Greg's heart, he knew The Man's retirement was coming up and we were going to have to leave so he thought he put a little separation in there. Okay, man.

Time flew by at an alarming rate after their move. Next thing I knew? It was time for us to move away. It's the suckiest part of living a military lifestyle. I am so glad I only had to do it one time because I just don't know if my nerves could take a full 20 years plus of that mess. Carla Girl and I were/are thrilled to pieces that we won't be separated forever as her husband and The Man got a job with the same company. We are now making it our mission to get Neighbor Greg a job with the same company so he can bring Neighbor Debbie to us upon his retirement the first of 2011. We have more kids than Kate and her 8 between us and they all act like cousins of a sort which thrills us to no end.

Neighbor Debbie called a month or so ago and informed me she was coming for a visit to see the New Edge. It was to be a kid free weekend for them and we were ten kinds of excited. Oh, how happy I was to see that woman drive up in my yard. I'm not even sure their Suburban was fully stopped before she out running to hug me. It was a wonderful weekend of playing catch-up and laughing. Brother John (Carla Girl's husband) spent a majority of the weekend with us (Carla Girl was in Virginia with her parents so he was alone) as he and Neighbor Greg worked together a long while before Brother John's retirement. We took them around the area and showed them perfect places to buy a home (not far from mine!).

I also discovered that if I want to keep that Neighbor Greg happy? Just keep some Hot Fresh Now Krispy Kreme doughnuts available. Oh, and marshmallows. The man can't eat just one. I now promise that if he'll come visit and bring his lovely wife? I will keep him supplied with doughnuts. I think it's a fair trade, don't you? I might even buy a few bags of marshmallows as an extra treat!

I am so ready to get everyone here and settled in for the long haul. Mine and Carla Girl's husbands have a school in Pittsburgh they have to attend. Brother John is there now (The Man goes later) and hopefully after he's done, he'll bring Carla Girl and the kids to Georgia to settle in. She's taking this opportunity to have a long visit with her parents in Virginia and it's easy for her to do since she started homeschooling the kids. I don't blame her one bit for doing this, either.

My sister Lu and her better half are also talking about maybe moving to Georgia. Wouldn't that just make life perfect for me??? To have friends right here that I know I can do things with would just be heavenly for me. I want to get on my knees and beg Lu to hurry up and get here, but I know things take time and if she can? She'll be right down the road from me.

I am ever so grateful for the technology that helps me keep in constant contact with all the people I love. The computer has been a lifesaver as I adjust to this new town and life. As much as I love the communication? There's nothing better than sitting across the table from each other sharing a cup of coffee.

Neighbor Greg? Hurry up and retire and bring your wife here to live happily ever after!!!

Just some Thoughts

A few things have crossed my mind that I've considered sharing with my Internets. Don't go thinking I'm going to get all deep and philosophical on you. I have those kind of moments occasionally and can carry on a right decent conversation of that nature, but for now? It's just basic stuff.

Let's talk bathrooms, shall we? That half bath of mine is going to drive me crazy. I know you all have asked for pictures, but I have nothing to show as of yet! I just can't decide on the wall color and all the little sample containers on the vanity prove that. I have the ceiling color and we all just love it. I just can't find that perfect color to work with it. If someone comes to visit, I apologize for the state of my little half bath, and ask for understanding and sympathy. While surfing on the computer a week or so ago, I came across some monograms. Now, I'm Southern as they come and I just adore a monogram. I intend on having one up in my house somewhere (again with decisions) but I was right tickled over the monogram I found that day. I don't know about you, but I just don't think I want the first letter of my last name on my toilet. I kid you not. A monogram for a toilet. And ya know? That might be a cute idea...minus the letter part. I found myself seriously considering it for a moment.

The master bathroom is a delight. I have never had a master bathroom. I kid you not. I've had a bathroom off of my bedroom, but not CONNECTED to my room. That's high living for me, folks. It's big and nice and big and all double sinked up. It's got one of those cute little "water closets" where the toilet is hidden from sight. Thaaaat's right....high living, my friends. Whatever. My husband and I had to come to an understanding real quick over this bathroom. I know I have to share my bedroom and bathroom with him. I truly don't mind as he is my husband and I just flat out adore him. See, though, I'm Baptist. Well, maybe being Baptist doesn't have a whole lot to do with it, but I'm a tad on the modest side. When I close that bathroom door? I'm wanting some privacy with going about my business. This has never been an issue before as previous bathrooms haven't encouraged multiple occupancy with the size issue. I'm not saying I'm a prude and I don't always close the door, but if I do? Then keep it closed. Well, That Man of Mine would just bop right on up in that bathroom, closed door or not. By the second or third time? I realized he was seriously oblivious to The Look I was giving him. I gently told him that on occasion, I'd like to just hang out in the bathroom by myself. You know, be one with the universe and all that. Bless him, he just didn't realize my intentions and being a man, couldn't read my mind. We have to laugh at ourselves over the whole thing. We've been married for six years now and this is just becoming an issue? It's all good and now I get bathroom respect. Bathroom respect is very important, you know.

That sixteen year old child of mine ordered her class ring yesterday. ~sigh~ Last week when she brought home the brochure, we both sat and looked at it and admired some rings and laughed at others. What an exciting time it was for her! Boy, have times changed. I don't remember what it was like when my class ordered rings as I didn't get one, but I'm pretty sure we didn't get to go on the computer and "make" rings to our liking. She has had the best time making rings the past week. I've been sick the past few days and yesterday was the day for the parent's to go to the school and hand over the money. Of course The Man was glad to take her for such an important occasion. Before they left, she kept asking me to help her figure out what she wanted. I wouldn't do it. This is her ring. She's the one that has to wear it and love it. She had made a few online and I gave my honest opinion. Finally, a decision was made (and she picked my favorite! shhh) and off they went. I hated that I wasn't there for this really cool teenagery deal. The Man was, though. That'll definitely do if I can't be there.

Back to the house one more time. I really wish I had paid more attention to this blasted living room when we decided to buy this house. Maybe it appealed to me because we're both odd? The room is an odd size/shape and I'm just odd. I just can't find the zen with furniture placement as of yet. I know when I finally put each piece where it is supposed to be, I'll suddenly see rainbows and be able to take a deep breath, but I just ain't feeling it right now. I am that person who walks around the room to see it from every angle. I squint my eyes (and how does that help?), and purse my lips, tap my cheek with my fingertip, and just sigh. I walk up the stairs to look down and see if maybe I'm missing something. Nope. I just can't quite get it. But, I will. It will be good when I do. I just wish I was already there.

Right now, our focus has to be on the flower bed in front of the house. I am so ashamed to say we are "that house". The one with the overgrown flower bed that should embarrass us (and it does!). I do not have a green thumb. My parents can touch a plant and it flourishes right in front of your eyes. I did purchase gardening gloves to protect all the plants from my black thumb. The past couple of weekends we have seen rain...which puts a halt on yard work. We are determined to accomplish something this week. I am working hard to get over my sickness so I can supervise sufficiently when work commences by end of the week. The Man and I have already visited Lowe's (totally endorse Lowe's as they give military discount every day of the week for active and retired- GO LOWE'S!) and pretty much have an idea of what we want to purchase to make our flower bed look lovely and presentable. I'm not too thrilled or excited about having to work out there, but I just can't stand how it looks. My Daddy has always raised me to take care of what's yours and to make it look the best you possible can. ~sigh~ He would be so upset with me right now if he could see that flower bed. Yes sir, definitely going to work on that this week.


So, you see a little of what's been going around in my head. I told you it was basic stuff! I have been taking pictures to keep up with projects and you know I'm not stingy with my sharing them so I promise when I get to the finish line with a project, I'll be more than happy to share.

Now, I'm off to look at those toilet monograms again.

She's Sixteen

You won't believe how hard this post has been for me. I feel like a really bad Mom because I haven't written this before now, but it's just been too hard for me to find the words that would make for an amazing post and tribute to my daughter.

So many times I've sat down to write and just sat here with my hands on the keyboard. So many times I've had amazing thoughts that, of course, happen when I'm nowhere near my computer to write them down.

I've finally decided to just wing it.

My oldest child turned 16. Wow. She's sixteen. It's one of those milestone birthdays that mark great and wonderful things. Drivers licenses, single dates, and Independence.

That makes me start breathing hard with anxiety right there.

This is my baby girl. The baby that laid in an incubator for almost a month because of being premature. The baby that changed my entire world and taught me the meaning of unconditional love. My heart grew a thousand times larger than possible the first time I laid eyes on her.

I remember sitting by her incubator recovering from my c-section and promising that I would always love her and look out for her. The love part has been easy, but looking out for her? Well, sister is making that harder to do the older she gets. She has a mind of her own and sometimes Mama is old fashioned and stubborn.

I feel so guilty that we moved her in the middle of her high school life, in the middle of her tenth grade year, right before turning sixteen. She hasn't has time enough to make great friendships here in her new home so a party wasn't really the best idea. We had family and friends come visit around her birthday and they surely helped make up for the lack of a Sweet Sixteen party.

It was my goal to hopefully make Paige's birthday as special as I could. She wore a very cute outfit to school that day. I always get the morning birthday picture, but that girl runs late every single morning and I was lucky enough to get a "Bye, Mama! I love you!" before she headed out the door to run meet a waiting bus. Each person gets to pick out where we eat when it comes to the birthday. I have to admit to loving this new home area as the choices are many. Paige chose Carrabas for her supper and I applaud her good taste.

That afternoon, I had some presents wrapped for my girl and they graced our hearth beautifully. One present went with us out to eat and she was allowed to open the others before we left. Being the Mama I am, I had to snap a few pictures of her with the siblings and the parents because I wanted her to always remember this day that was all about her.

We had an amazing supper with the best server in the world. Our server was so awesome, she finagled two free desserts for Paige...one for each of the candles I had brought with me. It was the perfect meal that we enjoyed to the fullest. The Man and I are on the evil side, though. The one thing that girl has asked for, and has wanted for years is an Ipod touch. We've been hesitant because of the internet abilities it has. We finally decided to get her one that came with rules. When we went to purchase it, we noticed the Zune and had a great salesperson who knew their geeky junk explain the difference. We decided to go with the Zune with the option of bringing it back if she didn't like it. When supper was almost done, I solemnly told Paige that we finally decided NOT to get her an Ipod touch. Even though she tried not to, her face fell. I could tell her enthusiasm for that last gift (that she just KNEW was the Ipod) was gone. Finally, I gave her the go ahead to open her gift. When she finally realized what she opened, it was hilarious. Seriously, kid, we do stuff like that all the time! You know you should only halfway believe us when it comes time for gifts!

Paige, you are amazing. You are such a bright light in our lives. I feel so blessed that God has let you be in our lives and He gave me the gift of raising you. From your naturally curly hair to your feet that look like your Nana's...I love you. When you tell me your plans for the future, I almost burst inside because no matter what you decide to do, you're going to rule it and love it with a passion. While we know that right now I am your mother and not your friend (it's the way it has to be at this point and time), I look so forward to our future when we can be friends...because I know you will be one that I treasure. I am a little sad that it won't be too long before you spread those gorgeous wings of yours and fly from our nest. I do have to say I'm proud as heck, though, because you'll know how to wash your clothes and cook the best omelet in the world. You will go far and you will go the distance with your head held high looking the world right in the eye. One thing I ask? Never get tired of hugging me and telling me you love me.

Let that light of yours shine, Baby Girl. You're sixteen and beautiful.

LYMI!!!!!

*Now for the picture show that we all love!* I apologize in advance for dark pictures. I was able to lighten them up in a photo program I use, but for some reason, am unable to access that program to get the fixed ones to use on here. What can I say? I got a new camera and so far, it has gotten the best of me.

I love these bags! Found them at Walmart and had to get the matching set because it was just so cute!

Perfect bag for Miss Thang. I pray that she realizes that she truly is fabulous.

I was able to lighten this up and make it pretty in my picture program. My girls. My beautiful girls.


One of my favorite pictures. They are starting to become friends and this picture shows the love they have for each other. This is one I treasure.

When you have a wild child and a puppy to photograph? A good picture might be hard to come by.

This is what you usually end up with when everyone is in the picture.



Me and my girl. Can I just say I'm so glad I got my hair done and that yucky deal I had going on is gone! Whew.

Love love this picture! I did get a great one of the two of them, but you have to love this one the best. Yep, I got the perfect teenage look here.

Every lady should have a special birthday hat. Wait until you see mine. Heh heh. Yes, she wore this out and she put it on in the restaurant. We are cool like that.

Oh yes. Two fabulous desserts we all thoroughly enjoyed. Very proud of myself for remembering candles and for having an amazing server who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us make this a very special occasion for our girl.

Legitimate Reasons

My oldest had her 16th birthday last week. Wednesday, to be exact. She is now a tad bit upset with me because I haven't done her birthday post as of yet. I've been working on it, but this one is pretty special. Plus, I took lots of pictures that evening that I want to share with you.

The following reasons are why I didn't get her post out on time.

1. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she gave me a new nerve medication. That I took Tuesday night. Wednesday, I was in a stupid fog. Drove me crazy. I finally had to sleep a few hours Wednesday afternoon so I would hopefully have my wits about me to enjoy my daughter's birthday supper. I have not taken that medication since.

2. Wednesday, after we got home from the birthday supper, my husband sneezed as he was getting out of the truck. He then started complaining that his chest hurt. I chalked it up as he pulled a muscle when he sneezed.

3. Thursday, my husband calls me from work to tell me he is going to the hospital since his chest still hurt. I met him up there around noon. Approximately six hours later I came home and left him there as an overnight guest. Of course, they were running many many tests on his heart and it was going to be an overnight deal with a treadmill stress test first thing Friday morning.

(All tests came back fine on his heart. It was either a pulled muscle or acid reflux.)

4. Friday morning found me cleaning house like crazy as Neighbor Debbie and Neighbor Greg were coming for the weekend. Losing Wednesday and Thursday threw me way off in my cleaning. I spoke briefly with my husband who had not had anything to eat since the previous evening. I kept cleaning and calling periodically and he finally got that test around 11 a.m. I was getting very frustrated as I still needed to get groceries before our guests arrived.

5. I picked my grumpy caffeine deprived hubby up around 2-ish (with Diet Coke in hand) and we did a quick run through the commissary. We arrived home to guests waiting on us.

6. I did not get to see much of my laptop the whole weekend as I was enjoying time with my friends.


See? I have totally legitimate reasons for not having her post up yet! I want it to be special and fitting for her. Plus, I have a new laptop and haven't figured out how I want to upload pictures to it. (I know, bad grammar.) Last week was honestly a blur (with one hazy drugged day-won't do that again.) Please say that when I get her post up and available, we can all pretend it's still her birthday and you'll say great wonderful things? Thanks, Internet. You are the bestest.