Right Place at the Right Time

Thanksgiving Thursday

I haven't done a Thanksgiving Thursday in a while,

and this week's edition pretty much wrote itself.

My oldest son Tim, who lives primarily with his dad, came over on Sunday for Andrew's birthday dinner. While he was there, he told me about his close friend getting into a car accident. The boy was driving his Jeep Cherokee and said someone was trying to pass him. He ran off the road and into a tree. The Cherokee caught on fire!! But he was very fortunate to be able to get out, and he escaped with only a broken arm and nose.
So, obviously, I'm very thankful that he wasn't hurt more, or even worse.

But what keeps running through my head is...what if Tim had been in the passenger seat? As he has been so many times. Would he have been hurt worse than his friend? Would he have been able to get out of the burning truck?

How different may my life be right now if my son had been riding in that truck with his friend?
It gives me chills; I can hardly stand to think of it.

I am so incredibly thankful that Tim's friend is OK, and that Tim wasn't in that truck that night.

~*~*~*~*~

I'm also thankful that my husband is now working and likes his job. I'm thankful for our fantastic new home. I'm thankful that my friend, who thought she had a blood clot, only has a pinched or bulging disc. I'm thankful for four healthy kids.
I'm thankful for all of the many blessings we have received recently.

Today & every day, I am thankful.

The Sun & the sand & a Diet Pepsi in my hand

We had the best weekend we've had in a long time. Partly because we had a ton of fun, partly because our stress level has finally lessened and that feels really good.

Saturday: I was utterly lazy most of the day. Like, lounging on the sofa, dozing off and on...that kind of lazy. Then around 3pm, we went to my parents' house. We had family visiting from Panama City FL that we don't get to see nearly enough. We visited with them and watched the Gator Game (which we won! WOOHOO!). Good times.
Also...Shelbie got highlights in her hair this weekend for the first time.

Sunday: We haven't been attending church regularly lately because we hadn't found the right 'fit' for us. But we visited a new church on Sunday, and I think we have found our fit. A very small, low-key church with an awesome pastor and congregation.
After church, we set about organizing the house. We are now completely done moving in, and John even got all of my stuff hung on the walls! It feels so good to have everything done.

Monday: was the best day of all. We celebrated Labor Day at St. Augustine beach! The little kids (Andrew & Elayna) didn't know we planned to go. We wanted to surprise all of them, but the bigger kids caught on. The little kids didn't know until we drove into St. Augustine! We all had a blast. Salt water & air is so good for the soul. First we went to Anastasia State Park. We played in the waves for hours, collected shells, ran around, and had a blast. (Andrew said "Living with y'all is better than living at Disney World!" of course I'm sure he was thinking otherwise when I was yelling at him to go to bed later last night. heh) Then we went a few miles down to Vilano Beach and let the kids play in the Splash Park and climb on the rocks in the water. When we left, we took the littles to a big carousel in a park and let them ride the horses, another surprise.
Even though we're on a TIGHT budget after school starting, moving, and John being out of work for over a month, we scraped pennies and made it work. I made 15 sandwiches Sunday night, and packed snacks & drinks. Then we ate dinner when we got back home. I'm so glad we did it. And there's nothing like a hot shower after a day at the beach, cleaning sand out of places that sand has no business going. Ahhhh.

Hope y'all had a great long weekend!

Monday Mish-Mash (I just made that up. heh)

It's the Weekend Wrap-Up, Meat-Free/Meatless Monday, Back to School post!
Wheeeee!



Weekend Wrap-Up~~
We went camping this weekend at a Springs located in a State Park. We really enjoyed ourselves. We saw turtles, fish, and deer up close & personal.
The highlight: Elayna saw shooting stars for the first time ever. This place is way out in the woods and you can see so many stars, it's truly amazing. We laid on the dock and watched the sky on Saturday night after dinner. She saw four shooting stars. She was thrilled!
The low-light: I had about 10 years taken off of my life on Saturday afternoon. I won't say the name of the backwoods hillbilly redneck town, we'll just call it ScaryLand. We went to the Super Walmart at ScaryLand to pick up a few things for our cook-out. We've been there before and it never fails to shock and disgust. We've seen people who literally look like they just walked out of a freak show, people whose parents HAVE to be brother and sister, and a man in the women's bathroom. So needless to say, we're cautious about going there. Halfway there, I turn around and look at Elayna, and realize she's wearing nothing but her swimsuit. Fantastic! A cute young girl in a swimsuit at the Super WalMart of ScaryLand. It's too late to turn around. So, we're rushing around, grabbing the things we need, and I turn around and don't see Elayna ANYWHERE. I said, "Where's Layna?" and STILL she did not appear. I swear my heart jumped into my throat. I just knew that a ScaryMan from ScaryLand had stolen my bathing-suit-clad baby. Thank GOD, she was just behind John the entire time! My heart still hasn't quite returned to its normal rate.





Meatless/Meat-Free Monday:
Did you remember to try a day without meat? Tonight we're having bean & cheese burritos with sour cream and salsa, and corn on the side. And, it's day 17 Meat-Free for me!




Back to School:
Today, I had two 3rd graders, one 8th grader, and one 11th grader start school. Old lady say WHAT? I swear I just blinked and this just happened! Don't.Blink. Shockingly, Miss Queen of Organization didn't remember to get fresh batteries for the real camera. *eyeroll* So I present to you, crappy cell phone Back to School pics!

Shelbie...13 going on 21. *gulp*

Andrew, a little nervous!

Elayna, with crazy eyes...(excuse the vacuum cord)

I have the coolest, Rocker Chick 3rd grader in the whole school. I LOVE her style!

my 3rd graders =)

(Tim was back with his Dad so I have no 11th grader pictures! But I talked to him and he had a good first day.)

ONE MORE THING!
Please pray For Ezra tomorrow.

How was your weekend?
Have a great week!

Friday = Fragments, Freewrite, Family, Free, Fun, Friends...and maybe some other "F" Words!

It's that time of week again, the time in which we dump our brains! My poor brain is small and gets full quickly. I need to dump it often. So I love Friday Fragments & Friday's Freewrite!

* So, there is this awesome blog called Boob Emancipation. Which may or may not feature pictures of ta-tas. Some of whose may or may not be mine. I'm just saying.
And I may or may not have a girl-crush on Why Mom Drinks Rum, too. She's the beautifulness.

* My friend just told me that she and some friends were eating pizza together. Friend 1 says, "Ow, I bit myself!" Friend 2 says, "Where?"
Dum dum dum!

* Tonight's Free Friday Concert is the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock Tribute. I'm thinking it's going to be verrrry interesting! Contact high, anyone?

* And then, it's camping for the weekend at the Springs. One last weekend of fun before school starts on Monday!

* My oldest child, Tim, will officially be a Junior in High School on Monday. How did that happen? Shelbie will be in the 8th grade (her last year of middle school!), and Elayna & Andrew will both enter the 3rd grade. (Andrew should be going into the 4th grade, but was held back a year when he was living with his bio-"mother". Don't even get me started on that whole story. Grr!) It's kinda cool to have 2 kids in the same grade. But Senior Year is going to kick our asses!

* Today marks 2 weeks of vegetarianism for me!

There. My brain is officially dumped. Now I'm off to read blogs so that I can refill it!

Have a great weekend!

Be sure and enter the Piggy Paints Giveaway!

Friday Fragments/Freewrites 8.7.09

It's so nice to be back to the blogging routine! It's Friday and that means it's time for Friday Fragments/Freewrites.

~ We're going camping at the beach this weekend! We've been wanting to do this all summer and we're finally going. The only negative is that Tim has to work and can't go. I am SO bummed that he will miss out!

~ Last week we met with an in-home child care provider. We were looking for after-school care for Andrew & Elayna so that I can get more than 3-4 hours of sleep this coming school year. My friend Heather also came, she was looking for child care for her daughter Savanna. We were SO impressed with this provider! She has been in child care for over 15 years, has education in Special Needs children, and seems very committed to her work. She is also a vegetarian and serves only vegetarian food. The kids will be exposed to a different culture and I'm really excited about that. I think she'll be particularly good for Andrew. Elayna came with us to meet her and is very excited about going there after school.

~ Tonight we are going yet again to the Free Friday Concert, and the performer is Caitlin Eadie. She is a young country singer who grew up near our town, and she has opened for Tim McGraw and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others! I think it's going to be a great show.

~ This week I discovered that one of the bloggers I follow, lives in my town! It's Manic Mother, and her sweet son Ezra has cancer. Their buttons are in my sidebar.

I am so excited to find her. Hopefully we will get to meet up at some point. I still have NEVER met another blogger friend in person! Is there anyone else reading who lives in or near Gainesville, Florida? (I think it's pretty obvious that I live near there, by now.)

~ The foster mama and her kittens got spayed/neutered on Wednesday and will be at Petsmart all weekend. One of my nurse friends is probably going to adopt the black & white girl. The mama is a sweet, pretty calico and her two boy kittens are orange. Hopefully they will find good homes this weekend!

~ This just made me laugh, so I had to share it with y'all! It actually looks just like our orange foster kittens.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

TGIFriday Fragments

Here are the fragments running through my head this Friday.

~*~ My hubby was off yesterday, is off today, and is off all weekend. This makes me very, very happy!

~*~ My kids will be with me for the 4th of July. This also makes me very, very happy!
There is a huge celebration just around the corner from our house at our Rec Center. They are expecting around 20,000 attendees! It should be a ton of fun.


~*~ My oldest son, Tim, ya know that kid who got his driver's license two weeks ago?? Guess what he got yesterday? His first speeding ticket. I.was.livid.


~*~ Remember how he started his first job last week? His first two paychecks will go to pay the speeding ticket. :sigh:


~*~ Right now my kids are with their Dad, and we only have Andrew at home. We don't get a lot of one-on-one time with the kids, since we have four of them. But later today, we're taking Andrew to a movie (Night At The Museum 2), to get a his hair cut in a special style he's been wanting (pics to come!), and then we'll get pizza (his fave meal) and probably watch more movies at home. It's going to be fun!



~*~ If you missed my post yesterday, please go read it. This is not to pimp a post, it's really an important subject.



~*~ Remember my friend, who I hadn't seen in a few years until I ran into her a few weeks ago? She is going through some really rough times right now, and we have been helping her as much as possible. Watching her daughter and just being there for her. (we being myself and my husband because he is so supportive, concerned, and helpful. LOVE that guy.) Anyway, it just got me thinking how God puts us into each other's paths for a reason. I have no doubt that I saw her that day so that I could help her right now. She has held me and cried and thanked me for helping her. And I am just thankful that we are able to help her, and that I was put in her path that day.


~*~ Last weekend, John and I went out to lunch, and there was a Jeep Cherokee parked next to us. This thing had some of the best bumper stickers on it that I've ever seen. I wanted to take pictures of them, but I didn't want the owner to see me and freak out. Anyway, the best one, which really stuck in my head, said: Spiritual People Inspire Me. Religious People Scare Me. I love it.


~*~ With Independence Day almost here, my thoughts are with the men and women in the military who are fighting for our freedom. In particular, my cousin Stephen, who joined the Army last year, and my childrens' cousin, Josh, who just joined the Marines. Both of these guys are very young and I am so proud of them, and I worry about them, and love them so much.

Whew! I am all defragged now, I feel much better. Go visit Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragments!

~*~ Have a wonderful Independence Day Weekend!~*~

16 Years Ago Today.....

....I became a Mommy.

I was young and scared. I was not quite 20 years old. After laboring all day and all night, I was told I would need a c-section. I was so frightened; I'd been afraid of having a c-section during my whole pregnancy. But at 1:16 am, Timothy arrived, all 8 lbs. 12 oz. of him, and my life has never been the same.

I never knew how much I could love someone until I gave birth to Tim. I loved him so much, it totally blew me away. It was terrifying and amazing and wonderful, all at the same time. Leaving him with a sitter for the first time was like ripping my heart out. I had to go back to work, but I refused to leave him with a sitter when he was sick, which unfortunately was frequent. He had chronic ear infections and asthma. Before long, I lost my job due to excessive absences. It was the best thing that could've happened, because that's when I became a SAHM. I loved spending every moment of every day with him. He was an amazingly intelligent child. He kept me entertained. His first sentence was when he was one year old: "I got a booger in my eye." He had his own special words for things, many of which we still use today. Once when he was about two years old, he was picking at his older cousin, and I called him an instigator. He immediately replied, "I'm not a instigator, I'm a FLORIDA Gator." He would just say things that would blow our minds! He was so loving as a small child. He would say "I love you." We'd say "I love you too." Then he'd say "I love you all your heart", which was his way of saying "I love you with all my heart". Once he said that in a store, and a lady said "What does HE want?" But he didn't want anything, he just liked to say that.

My song for him was "You are my Sunshine". I sang it to him all the time. And of course, our favorite book was "Love You Forever". One of his favorite things to do was to bring me paper and a pen and ask me to draw him something. He had utmost confidence in my artistic abilities; he thought I could draw absolutely anything. I did get pretty good at Barney and kitties!

So the years went by....he grew and he grew and he grew....and drove me crazy and made me want to run away. And the next second, he'd be sitting beside me with his head on my shoulder. He brings out the strongest emotions in me. He knows exactly how to push my buttons and can make me SO freaking mad! And in the next moment, he's telling me he loves me and I'm melting.

We have the same sense of humor and can really entertain each other. We took him to the Jeff Dunham show with us and we all had a blast. I love his sarcasm. It reminds me...of me!

Everyone tells you that kids grow up so fast, and you hear it so much that it just sort of goes in one ear and out the other. But it is so very true. He is sixteen years old today and I feel like he was two years old, I blinked, and now here we are. He's driving and in the 10th grade. He's talking about getting a job. Where did the time go? I can't answer that. But I know that I am very proud of him. He is smart, caring, compassionate, and fun to be around. He also makes me want to tear my hair out.

And I'm going to show him this post, and he'll roll his eyes, but he'll give me one of those half-grins, too. And he'll tell me he loves me like he always does. Who could ask for more?

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

as long as I'm living

my baby you'll be."

~*Happy Birthday, Tim!*~

Friday Fragments

~* We're going to see Jeff Dunham live next week. I can not wait!

We're taking Tim as one of his 16th birthday gifts. Yes, that's right, I said 16th birthday. I haven't quite accepted the fact that I'll be the mother of a 16 year old yet. Un-freaking-believable!

~* I've been crafty lately! I have been painting. I haven't painted in forever. Sunday, I'm going to paint our mailbox! I'll definitely post pictures, even though they'll just be craptastic cell phone pics. I am also making tie blankets. I don't know where this sudden burst of artistic-ness came from, but I'm enjoying it!

~* I am in serious need of some maintenance. I have put myself on the back burner lately and OMG, it's showing!
These are my roots.



And um, who stuck those giant caterpillars on my forehead?!



Yeah, this weekend I will be taking care of these problems! And that is honesty in blogging, folks. I wouldn't share my roots and brows with just anyone....oh wait, I just did, didn't I? Heh. I earned all of those gray hairs, and then some....

~* If you don't blog on the weekends and missed my post about Premarin, please take a moment to read it; it's really important information and I was surprised that so many commenters didn't know anything about the horrors of making this drug.

~*Have a great weekend!*~

For more Fragments, go here ~> Half Past Kissin' Time

Fx4 ~ Prized Possession

It's that time of the week....Phriday Foto Phinish Fiesta!

That's T-bone. He's almost 16 now.

Oh, the memories this brings back.
Favorite.Coffeemug.Ever.

Don't phorget to visit Candid Carrie phor more Fx4 posts.

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Chiari Malformation (Alternate Title: The Worst Days of my Life)

I remember the day of the phone call most clearly.
"Yes ma'am, the test results are in and the doctor would like to speak to you in person."
Can that ever be a good sign? I'm thinking no.
It had started a few months earlier. T-bone, just eight years old, had a lot of headaches. In the beginning, we attributed it to his allergies. But they got worse, and more frequent.
Then, on Thanksgiving Day, he ate heartily. He's always loved good home-cooking. But later in the day, another headache came. This one was so bad, he threw up everything he'd eaten.
These headaches were getting unusual, and seemed to be on another level.
There were other symptoms too, but by themselves didn't seem terribly alarming; numb/tingling fingers, and visual oddities.
The doctor recommended a CT Scan, "just to rule out any problems". So he had the CT, but the doctor reassured me that it was probably indeed just his allergies and/or something viral.
Until that phone call.
I had just iced cupcakes for Ladybug's birthday. I was taking them to her class. I managed to call the kids' father (my now-ex husband) and told him to meet me at the doctor later. Then I managed to smile and fake it through Ladybug's classroom birthday party. Meanwhile, I felt like my whole world was falling apart, and any time I had a moment to think, I prayed, Please God don't let it be cancer. Please God, take me, not him. I was horrified. My first thought was inoperable brain tumor. Because that's how my brain works.
The news was not that bad, but still terrifying. They suspected Chiari Malformation. A term I'd never heard before, but would run through my mind constantly for the next several months. They wanted to do an MRI. If they were correct, he would most likely need neurosurgery.
Brain surgery.
My little boy, my firstborn child, still (always) my baby.
I didn't even have the internet back then, so I hit the library. I researched and printed pages and pages of information.
Then I went home and cried.
I knew in my heart that he had it. And I learned that it wasn't something that surgery would magically fix forever. It was something he could deal with, to some extent, for the rest of his life.
I cried out of fear, sadness, and guilt. What did I do wrong, to cause him not to develop properly in the womb? I thought I'd done everything right; I ate right, took my vitamins, everything. But I was sure I'd done something wrong, to cause this.

to be continued.......

Part II

Today, I had a chauffeur.

Today, I had a chauffeur driving me around town. And that makes me want to cry.
Why, you ask? That chauffeur was my 15 month year old son.
How in the hell did he turn 15 when I turned my back for just a moment?
T-bone is my only son. I have a stepson who I love dearly. But he has a mother who loves him. I consider him one of my own, but T-bone is my firstborn baby son. He made me a mother. He made me feel that love that you have for your child, that is like nothing else on this earth. I never knew I could love that intensely, that fiercely.
He and I have a bond that nothing will take away. He and I can yell at each other and get so mad at each other that we're ready to explode! But 5 minutes later we'll be cracking up.
When he was really little, he'd spontaneously say "I love you" quite often. One day in a store, a lady heard him and laughed and said, "Uh-oh, what does he want?" But he didn't want anything. He just liked to tell me he loved me a lot.
And he liked to sing to me. And rock the kitten to sleep singing "Amazing Grace". And a million other adorable things.
And then there were embarassing things. When his sister was only a few months old, and he was not quite three, we were at the grocery store and we saw a friend of mine. Of course, she was oooh-ing and aaah-ing over the baby.
I don't know if he was getting jealous of the attention or what.....but he leaned over and licked the baby.
On the head.
He licked his sister. I wanted to crawl under the cereal display. But now it's hilarious!
So, now my loving little licker is driving around. He takes turns a little too fast and makes me think he's not going to stop in time to avoid hitting the stopped car in front of us. But he's brand-new and learning, and doing a good job.
And I'm learning, too. I'm learning that I've done a great job with this boy, and I'm so proud of him. I'm learning to let go, even though I want to shrink him back into a 2 year old. I'm learning when to give him advice about life, and when to let him figure things out on his own. Because he's amazingly good at figuring things out on his own, when given the chance. He's very perceptive and knows more than people think he does. He's quite mature, as well.
And I'm totally babbling on here because I have so much on my mind, and so many mixed emotions running through me right now. In fact, I have more things on my mind that I'd LOVE to share here, but I can't, because certain people read my blog. And it really sucks that I can't share with you the way I'd like to because of that.
Hippos abound.