Photo Friday

This weeks challenge is 'Spontaneous'.


This was taken a few years ago. Nana was going to take the 2 older girls to a county fair. That morning Jaime had had surgery to remove her Port-a-cath. At the last minute I had decided to take her to the fair too. We made her sit in the stroller. But then she decided she wanted to go on the Merry Go Round. I'm glad we decided to go because this is one of my most favorite photos. In the full picture everything else is so colorful and out of focus except she and I.

Thursday Thunks

Thursday Thunks v9.25

Welcome to the Thursday Thunks! Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!

This week we will answer:

A simple question. What makes you feel old? That is on my mind today because what makes me feel old is the fact that 14 years ago today I was giving birth for the first time. I was 21 years old.... 14 years ago I was 21. My baby girl that was just 7lbs is now a 14 year old moody teenager. I don't feel old enough to have a 14 year old. Not even close.

.... and tell your friends!

I feel old every morning when I get out of bed. My legs are stiff and I walk around like an old hunched back lady for the first 15 minutes.

I feel old when I am trying to read something and I have to try to find the right spot in my glasses with which to view whatever it is I am looking at. I recently wore my contacts and discovered I can barely read anything without reading glasses I have so far refused to buy.

I feel old when I look in the mirror and see my undyeable gray hairs shining for all the world to see.

I feel old when I am babysitting my 5 year old niece and after she leaves I feel like I could sleep for a week. Never mind the fact that she is only 2 years younger then my own baby.

I feel old when I look at my oldest daughter and realize she is almost 15 (I feel old that it took Kitty pointing out that I put the wrong age for my own daughter!) and has only 4 years of high school left!

I feel old when I go to work and I look at/listen to the new hosts. And then I realize I am actually old enough to be their mother! Sure I would have had to be 16 or 17 myself but that is possible.

I'm not ready to be "middle aged". It's only taken me almost 4 years to come to terms with 30! I keep tell myself "I am NOT old!".

Thanks for asking Kitty. Now I have to go find some pills....my arthritis is acting up.

Manic Monday

Sunday, September 21, 2008
Manic Monday #135

Pick out the most important item you have in your purse/wallet and tell me why it's important to you.

The key to my grandmother's house. It's one of those old skeleton keys. When we were kids we always begged gramma to let us unlock the door whenever we went anywhere. My sister and I each had one when we were cleaning out the house after my gramma passed away. I still have mine on my key ring and I think my sister does too. It's been almost 10 years and I can't bring myself to take it off. The house isn't even standing anymore. It is a brand new chain hotel now. All my girls teethed on it and now my niece does too. It's something I will probably always have on my keyring.

What would you take from your house if you knew it would be flooded tomorrow?

Assuming all my family members and pets are safe, I would grab my laptop. I have way too many pictures on it that aren't anywhere else. I keep meaning to back them all up. I even went and got a flash drive specifically for pictures. But like most everything I have to find where I packed it.

If you were stuck in a room for an hour with a chalk board, what would you draw on it?

I am doodler. I would drawl swirlies and flowers and faces and other strange things. Or i would write with my left hand. I am right handed and if I write on paper with my left it looks horrible. but I can write very neatly on a chalkboard with my left. And it amazes me how completely different it appears from my right handed writing.

Wordless Wednesday

Jiji

Randomness

randomness...feed your mind and your blog
week of Sept 14: Couch Potato

1. what are your favorite TV programs? how long have you been watching them?
2. what's your favorite snack while watching tv?
3. who's your tv crush?
4. where's your favorite place to watch tv?
5. name a tv show you wish would go off the air.
6. name a tv show that is no longer on the air,
but you really wish they would bring back.
7. have you ever purchased any tv program collectibles?
ie...posters, figurines...etc....
till next time...




1. Ghost Hunters I have watched from probably the second season. I have no idea what season they are on now. 4th or 5th I think.

Bones I have been watching religiously since just before the writers strike last year. But I now own Seasons 1 & 2 on dvd so have seen every single episode.

Ice Road Truckers is only on over the summer. The 2nd season just ended last week :(

House I've watched since last year too.

2. My favorite snack is just about anything. Finger food is best though.

3. TV crushes....hmmmm I think I am a little in love with Jay on Ghost Hunters. And maybe Jay on Season 1 of Ice Road Truckers. Wait I see a theme here...my husbands name is John...Jay and Jay LOL. I'm such a weirdo!

4. My favorite place to watch tv in curled up on my couch wrapped in my red furry blanket.

5. A tv show I wish would go off the air...Blind Date. I hate that show. I don't even know if they are making new ones or just keep running the old ones but it's a stupid stupid show!

6. A tv show no longer on the air that I wish would come back is easy. There are 2. Dresden Files (Awesome series of books by the way!) and Firefly.

7. I have never purchased any tv or movie memorabilia. At least that I can remember. I don't remember what posters my sister and I used to have on our bedroom walls so can't say for sure LOL. At least nothing lately. I do remember one of my contributions to the bedroom wall was Lee Horsley from the show "Matt Houston". He rocked my little prepubescent world.

Thursday Thunks 9.11

Welcome to the Thursday Thunks! Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!

This week we will think about:

Pick somebody and tell us about them.

Who? I don't care who... tell us about your grandma, your plumber, the guy down the street that never opens his shades, the broad at the grocery store who you want to shove the plastic bags up her nose, the idiot who cut you off on the freeway yesterday, the little kid who held the door open for you and you were so in shock at the kindness that you forgot to say thank you... you pick. You are the one thinking about this, not me.

So who are you going to talk about?

***********************************

I thought about who I could talk about all day. I finally decided on my Miss Amelia. Amelia Bedelia, Yaya, Mealie Worm, Pooky Bear, Dots, Fruit Loop. She has a lot of nicknames and every single one of them is fitting. My middle child. The one who looks the most like me. Paige is "The oldest. Jaime is "The baby/Drama Queen". Amelia is "The Artistic" one. My Bohemian Baby.

Amelia exudes innocence. I always say you can tell the other 2 have been around before. This isn't their first time on the block. Amelia is a first timer. She has the most amazing observations and questions. I love looking at the world through her eyes. She is usually quiet and likes to figure things out for herself. She is happy to spend time alone, doing nothing, amusing herself. Then she will turn around and talk your ear off for an hour about the strangest things.

For some reason I have her stuck at 6 in my head. She will always be 6 to me. Every time she stands next to me I am amazed at how much she's grown this summer. Out of all my girls I think I will have the hardest time when Amelia moves out. She is such a joy to have around and just be with, spend time with. I can still curl up on the couch and watch tv and she is the only one who will snuggle with me without trying to tickle me. She lets me just sit and hold her.

She has a laugh that has got to be one of the most infectious things ever. You can't not laugh when she does. She doesn't give full blown belly laughs all that often but when she does watch out! She starts off with a tinkly giggle that slowly progresses to full on eye twinkles, whole body shaking. Some of the best laughs I've had with her and some of them have just been because of her.

She's ok with making mistakes. And she's ok with letting other people see her be vulnerable. She does not like disappointing people. She is a people pleaser but not over the top.

When she cries it is as if Heaven has opened up and the angles themselves are weeping. I will do almost anything to make it stop. My heart aches when Amelia cries.

Now don't get me wrong. She can be a right pain in the butt at times as well. She's a sneaky one. She is one of those people that when she grows up people are going to joke that she will be late for her own funeral. But she'll be late and walk in and smile at someone and they will melt and all will be right with the world.

That is my daughter....Amelia Joyce. Who, when asked where she is from responds with "I'm from Planet Sushie!".

Thursday Thunks

Thursday Thunks 9.4

Welcome to the Thursday Thunks! Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!

This week we will answer:

Since this is the week that most kids go back to school... I know some of you are last week or last month, but this is my meme and my demons went back this week... so there! LOL
This week lets think back to our school days... way back in time. Pick a teacher and tell us about them. Were they your favorite? Your least favorite? Something spectacular happen to them while you were in school? Whatever the reason is that that particular teacher just popped into your head - tell us about it.

This one is easy for me. I had a couple but Mr Barrett was the best. I went to a different school for 5th grade, left behind all my friends that I had been going to school with since Kindergarten. So I was nervous. The first day of school we didn't know who our teachers were. The school was relatively small. Only had 4th through 6th grades. I remember sitting in a big room with all the other students and all the teachers were up front.

Mr Barrett was a chatty guy. Very animated. Engaging is a good word to describe him. He scared me. I saw him and instantly knew I was going to be in his class and knew he was going to not let me be my usual wall flower, quiet as a church mouse self. I was intimidated by his outgoingness.

But as the year went on I got used to him. And he did draw me out...at least as much as I would allow. His fiance would come into class sometimes and she would go on field trips with us. The whole class loved her. We were all sad when they got married that year and we had a substitute for a couple weeks. I remember soo much from that year because of him. And not just school stuff. That was the year the Challenger Shuttle exploded, I remember what I wore for school pictures, not because I have a picture because I don't. I remember waking up that morning and being excited it was picture day. I remember I went to Canada the summer before because Mr Barrett took the time to look at all my photos with me and listened as I explained each one.

That year was one of his first few teaching. Any student would be privileged to have him as a teacher. And as luck would have it my own daughter, Paige, is one of the privileged. Mr Barrett was her 6th grade teacher. I saw her come out of her shell a little more that year. I saw her grow more as a person and in confidence that year then any other year before and since.

Having 2 kids still attending that school I still see him frequently. He always has something good to say. Just last week at Meet The Teacher night at school we were in his class and he was greeting a couple new students that were new to the school. He was telling them and their parents what they could expect from him. He told them he was fair but firm and fun. Then he pointed to me and said I was one of his students and asked if I agreed. "Absolutely". Paige was the first student he had that was a child of a former student. He said I made him feel old. I always joke and say "well, you are old".