Sundays in my City

I had a very good weekend.

After the horrendous month I've had, that is saying A LOT.  And I'm incredibly grateful to have had such a great weekend.

Shelbie went out of town this weekend with my best friend Danielle's daughter Ashlee (who is Shelbie's best friend).  So I got a lot of one-on-one time with Elayna this weekend.

On Saturday, Elayna and I started out by going to Pioneer Days, a festival in a nearby town.  We met my son Tim there, and my niece, her husband, and their new baby.

There was yummy festival food, crafts, events, and a farmer's market.  I couldn't resist the polish sausage and homemade fudge.  Elayna may or may not have had ice cream for lunch.

Tim LOVES Hayleigh.  He's also kind of terrified of her.  

But we somehow sort of tricked him into holding and feeding her!

Elayna gave Hayleigh her first taste of ice cream.

Hayleigh LOVES ice cream!!

I can't even describe how much I love this picture!

(Me, Hayleigh, & Elayna)

After the festival, we went to my best friend's son Dustin's birthday party.  Tim came along as well.  Her family is my second family, so it was really nice to spend time with all of them. 

Saturday night and Sunday was mostly spent just hanging out.  It was very relaxed but enjoyable.  

Just exactly what I needed!  

Hope y'all had a great weekend.

Visit Unknown Mami for more Sundays in my City posts!

You know it's been a rough month when....

This month has sucked with suckiest of suckiness.

 You know it's been a rough month when....

 ...the sound of the phone ringing makes you nauseous, thinking "Ugh, NOW what??".

 ...your ultimate fantasy is curling up in the fetal position and having someone pat your hair and feed you chocolate.

 ...you tell someone that your friend has had an even worse month than you and he says, "How on earth is that even possible??"

 ...you have a nightmare about snakes in the grass and don't even need a dream interpretor to figure out exactly what it means.

 ...you wish TS Eliot were around so you could give him a High Five.

Bring on May....PLEASE!!!

It's Closing Time....

A girl walks into a bar.

She's there with her best friend and another friend.  When she goes to the bar, a very friendly drunken shitshow girl starts talking to her.  Drunk Chick decides the girl is her new BFF.  Alrighty then!  They do a Fireball shot together.  Yum!

Then the girl sees a Cute Guy.  They smile and say Hi, then the girl goes back to her table.  Of course, her new BFF, Drunk Chick, follows.  So the girl tells the Drunk Chick to tell the Cute Guy to come sit at their table.

And he does!

So the girl is trying to talk to the Cute Guy but the Drunk Chick is also hitting on the Cute Guy.  Finally, frustrated with the distraction, Cute Guy informs Drunk Chick that the Girl is actually his girlfriend.  They're getting married June 24th.  But they go to bars and pretend to be strangers occasionally, to keep the spice in their relationship.

The girl jumps right in and plays along, telling Drunk Chick that their wedding color is purple and the flowers are lillies.  And that she and Cute Guy have been together for two years.

"But how do you not get mad when girls like me hit on your man?" Drunk Chick inquires.

"I know he's always coming home with me," replies the girl.
"Of course I am...look at her, she's beautiful!" adds Cute Guy.

Drunk Chick totally believes every word of it. She said she KNEW Cute Guy & the girl had something special!  She put the wedding date on her phone calendar.  She plans to attend.

When the bar closed, the Cute Guy asked the Girl for her phone number.  "Of course!"  she said.  "How else can we finalize our wedding plans?"

Yep - it's a true story!

Rest in Peace, Lilly

Lilly was hit by a car last week & died instantly.

We miss her so much.

Curveballs....

Life just keeps throwing them our way!

My niece went to the hospital on Thursday night with severe abdominal & back pain. She's the one who just gave birth to my great-niece, Hayleigh, in February. Turns out she has gall stones. She had surgery today to remove a gall stone that was lodged in her bile duct (and is doing well). She will be having a second surgery within the next few days (doctors keep changing the time frame) to remove her gall bladder. She is having such a hard time with being in the hospital and taking care of an infant! She has a lot of help but still....there's no place like home.

My best friend Danielle, who I've mentioned here before, is going through an extremely difficult time. Her marriage is ending in a most horrific way. I can't even talk about it here. But I'm trying to be there for her as much as possible.

Elayna is right in the middle of softball season, speaking of curveballs...she skipped a few seasons to try other sports and I'm really proud of her for having the courage to get back in the game, even though most of her teammates have not only continued playing but even played for special teams. Everyone is great and so supportive, and she's definitely improving.

Shelbie is sick right now and they're doing standardized testing in our county so she's having to tough it out.

And me, I'm exhausted all the time, no matter how much or how little I sleep.

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining personally....life is good and things like this just make me so thankful and realize that although we may struggle in ways, things could be SO much worse.

Easter Giggles

It's Easter, so you know what that means around here.....

It just makes me smile every time I see it. *giggle*

My kids are with their Dad this Easter, so I am working. My mom wants me to come to their house when I get off, but I am just so darned tired, I think I'm going to go home and crawl into bed. Also? My little dog misses me and is always SO happy to see me when I get home.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL Easter!

Friday Fragments on Saturday

I typed this on Thursday but forgot to post it on Friday. So you get it on Saturday. Yay!

~~ It has been so weird having the girls gone all week! I don't think I've ever been alone for this long. When I was single before I met John, the kids didn't usually go to their dad's for this length of time. Anyway....it's been strange! The best part is my house has stayed SO clean. LOL

~~ Those of you long-timers know I had weight loss surgery. It's been just over four years now (can you believe it???). I went to the doctor last week and she called today to tell me that all of my lab results are great. I'm not deficient in any vitamins which means I'm not having any malabsorption problems. (I also take supplements but some WLS patients still struggle with this.) My weight is still great, I feel great, and I am so glad I made the decision to have WLS. A good friend of mine is having WLS on April 30th; I'm so excited for her!

~~ It is incredibly, unseasonably HOT here in Florida. We don't really have "seasons", but temps in the 90's are high for April, even in Florida. I'm not complaining; I'll take hot over cold any day. But DAYUM. It is hot!!!

*ETA* Update: it's freaking cold now. OK, just chilly and windy but still....WTH, Mother Nature? Mood swings much?

~~ My great-niece, Hayleigh, is at the cutest stage. She is smiling a lot and it's ADORABLE. She just turned 2 months old yesterday. I got to see her twice last week, and the second time she smiled at me THREE TIMES in the short period of time I was there. LOVE IT! She also makes the most adorable cooing noises, even when she sleeps. LOVE! <3

Linking up with Friday Fragments, better late than never!

ROXanne.....

(Please tell me you sang that, Police-style. Please.)

When the girls and I moved into our new home, we had to make a sacrifice. We were not allowed to have a big dog here. That meant I had to find a new home for our boxer mix, Sofia.

Long-time readers will know how hard that was for me. You all know about my involvement in animal rescue & fostering. I do not consider animals disposable. It was tough.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I have very much missed having a canine companion, especially on the nights that the girls are at their dad's house and I am home alone. So I decided that once we got settled in, I'd find a small dog to keep me company.

We've been in our home for two months so lately, I've been keeping an eye out, but hadn't found the perfect dog until this weekend. I checked Craigslist and found an ad for a terrier-poo. When I opened the ad, I saw a picture of a dog that reminded me SO MUCH of the dog I had growing up, a terrier/poodle mix. I called the number right away and talked to the owner for half an hour. She runs an informal, non-profit rescue group and just wanted to find this little girl a good home.

And she did.

Roxanne, a.k.a. Roxy, a.k.a. Foxy Roxy, is my ride or die chick.




She is wonderfully well-behaved, and she is my little shadow.

She couldn't have come at a better time; it's Spring Break for the girls and they're both gone for a solid week.

Roxy and I are bonding.

By the Grace of God.....

I mentioned earlier this week that my son recently turned 19.

What I didn't mention is how my son was woken up that morning at 6:00 a.m.

He was awoken by his friend, saying "Tim, Tim, wake up. Your Mom was in an accident and we have to pick her up from the hospital."*

Rewind.....

On Thursday afternoon, my friend Jana called me to tell me that a popular local singer was performing in town and she really wanted to go see him.

I told her sorry, no, I had to work at 8:00 the next morning.

She called again later.

"No, Jana, sorry. It's the day before payday, I'm broke, I'm tired, I have to work tomorrow."

She called again later.

"Please please please! I'll drive, I'll pay your cover charge, we won't drink....."

Long story short, she talked me into going. She's a single mom with an uninvolved father; she doesn't get out much. I finally gave in on the condition that we would not stay out late.

We stayed out a little later than we should have, but not that late.

On the way home, I drifted off to sleep.

I was awoken by the sound of Jana screaming my name. When I opened my eyes, I couldn't focus on anything. The car was spinning. And then flipping.

We landed upside-down. The passenger window was shattered. I instinctively crawled out.

I was able to walk, but I couldn't find my phone. Jana couldn't get out of the car.

I waved down a passing car. "Are y'all ok?" he asked. Ummm, no.....

We were both taken to the hospital by ambulance. They did a CT of my head & neck. I have cuts on my head, hands, legs, and feet, and bruises everywhere.

That's all.

Jana is fine as well. We are counting our blessings. Her car is totalled, of course, and her insurance won't cover another one. I missed a day of work.

But what keeps going through my mind is...what if, on my son's 19th birthday, he had been woken up by a very different phone call? One saying that his mother was killed in a car accident?

Needless to say, next time my gut tells me not to go out, you will find me safely at home.

Y'all....I walked (ok, crawled) away from this.

Rest assured I am NOT taking that for granted.

Pouring My Heart Out with Shell today!

* In case you wondered, my son's phone was dead so I had to call his friend, who I knew had stayed with him that night.

My Little Man

Last week was eventful at the Land of Dysfunction, and I'm going to be blogging all about it this week. So stay tuned.

Today I'm going to talk about my son's birthday.
My son turned 19 on Friday.
I was 19 when I gave birth to him.
So, it's kind of a big one.
March 30th, 1993 changed my life forever. I became a mother. There's really nothing bigger in life than that, at least for me.
For 2 years and 9 months, Tim was my one and only. He will always be my only boy, my little man. Right now he is the main man in my life. He's the one I call when I need something. Sure I still have my dad, and friends. But he's my Main Man.
When he was a baby & toddler, his dad worked a lot and drove a race car on the weekends. So much of the time, it was just the two of us. He was my whole world, my life revolved around him. It created a bond that will never be broken.
I'm very glad that he is not becoming a father at 19 (thus far, crossing fingers, lol). He may not be exactly where he wants to be in life right now, but he'll get there.
He drives me crazy, but I love him deeply.
He used to say "Mommy, I love you all your heart", which he derived from me saying "I love you with all my heart". How cute is that? 19 or not, he will always be my baby.

Can someone please tell me how I have a 19 year old child????