These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

And yep. Now I'm singing the song.

Tuesday's 10 is going up late, people. I took Dan/Daddy for dental surgery today and typed 2 hours worth of PTO minutes. Jealous?


1. Growing up, what was one favorite item that you had to have with you at all times?
I don't think I took it with me everywhere... but I had a stuffed dog named Bingo. He was homemade. By my mom. You can't beat that.

2. Being an adult, what is one favorite item that you have to have with you at all times, and what happens if you do not have it with you? Do you lose your sanity or just go back home to get it?
After living through two deployments, I would have to say my phone. I hate feeling "chained" to it, but it becomes a habit you can't break. Now I get panicky if I can't find it. Even with Dan/Daddy home, I worry that the boy may need me at school and my phone is sitting on the counter. Plus I have a texting addiction.

3. Where is your favorite place to be to just hide away from everything and breathe for a moment?
Alone in my house. I said alone. It doesn't work if there are other people home with me.

4. What is your favorite thing about your partner? (If you don’t have a partner, then someone who is very close and will always be in your life)
He makes no excuses for what he believes. His faith is the most important thing to him. He's also very strong-willed. At times, this makes me want to choke the life out of him. But, as a whole, it makes him pretty driven and motivated.

5. What is your favorite thing about your job? (If you don’t have a job, then what is your favorite thing that you do during your day?)
My baby giraffe. He LOVES his Momma.



6. What is your favorite lesson that your parents taught you growing up? Looking back, is it something that you want to use to teach your children when they reach that age?
To respect everyone. Others may not look like you, they may not act like you, and you may not agree with them, but you MUST treat them kindly.
I hope and pray this is something we are teaching the boy.

7. What is your favorite song, that will always bring a smile to your face and make you think of something happy?
I can't choose. This is too hard.
If I have to pick... "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor. (I think Carole King wrote it, but I like to hear James Taylor sing it.)

8. What is your favorite thing about being an American? (If you're not American, what are you proud of in regards to your country)
Saying "freedom" used to feel fake. It doesn't anymore. Sadly, I've seen exactly what the cost of it really is.

9. What is your favorite meal that reminds you of being a child?
Baked pork chops with rice or chicken and dumplings. It's a tie.

10. Name 3 things that other people would say are their favorite thing about you.
I am a goofball.
I am fairly transparent.
I am a good secret keeper.

I Am Sorry... (a little)

Well.
I owe Fall an apology.
He finally decided to show up.
A tiny bit.
And WAY later than I had planned.

But it is raining today, and the temp is hovering around 75.
Thank You, Lord.

Even our little weatherman was downright giddy this morning. Poor guy... He was probably worried about a riot of angry hot people.

We had a weekend full of soccer and football and church. With a heat index of about 175 degrees. (The weekend was PRE-nice weather.)

I sat at the boy's soccer game under an umbrella. Like a granny.

The boy has some mad soccer moves.



He even scored a goal for the other team out of the goodness of his heart.
Well, not really.
The other team kicked the ball, it hit the boy in the chest, and it ricocheted right into the goal.
Let's just say the boy was not happy and leave it at that. This being a Christian league and all, he didn't feel right using the words his momma taught him.

When the game was over, his face was the color of a tomato. It was crazy hot.

We spent the afternoon recovering in the AC and watching Alabama barely beat Arkansas. I can't take the stress of games like that. My nerves were shot by the 3rd quarter.
Mostly I am thankful Alabama won so I didn't have to listen to the boy's complaining. He doesn't take kindly to losing. Or scoring goals for other people.

On Sunday morning, I taught Sunday School for my pal, Jeanna. Normally, I am her able-bodied assistant, but she was out of town.
The lesson was Adam and Eve.
We teach a children's class.
Guess who had to say the word "naked" to people under the age of 9?
I said it 3 times for effect.
Good times.

I am off to a PTO meeting and a dentist appointment.
In the rain.
But I am NOT complaining.

Happy Birthday April!!

Today is my sis-in-law's birthday!!
Woo hoo!!

I love this girl!



I always knew my brother was smart, but he proved it when he married April.
She's funny and sweet and creative and a great cook.
She occasionally gets called Martha Stewart (by me).

She is a great mommy and works full time, too.
And... she blogs.

She's my own personal Internet guru. When I need info from the web... I ask April.
She finds great blogs, cute crafts, and yummy recipes. And she actually makes them! Unlike myself. I just admire hers.
At the moment, I am holding her personally responsible for my current obsession...
A tiny stuffed owl. That you make. The pattern is online. Oh. My. Word. It is cute.

$10 says she makes it before I even download the pattern.

Have a great birthday, Martha!
We love you!!

Tuesday 10... And I Really Am Trying Not to Complain

Here's this week's 10 questions from the girl with the cute new baby!

I realize that Tuesday is almost over, and I'm posting late. Sorry. It's been a nutty day.
Then again, a lot of my days are nutty. Hmmmmm.....


1. What’s the one thing you always do when you’re stressed?
Express my stress. I say, "I am stressed!" I don't know if it helps to exclaim it.
I do pray, but usually AFTER the exclamation.

2. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done for a friend?
I wish I had a cool answer like "bust her out of jail." But nope. All my efforts for friends are kinda normal. I think I did help a friend who was sick get to the bathroom once. Not so weird among good friends.

3. What cleaning supply could you not live without?
Windex or Clorox. It's a tie. I use them both for just about everything.

4. How long do you plan on living where you currently reside?
Well that's not always up to me. It's the ARMY that tells us where we'll be calling home. At the moment, it looks like one more year here.

5. Do you usually vote straight party, a mixture, or not at all?
I am more interested in the person's stance on pressing issues. It usually happens to fall along party lines, but I would not vote for (or against) someone based on party alone.

6. What’s something that you love to do, but seem to never make time for?
Scrapbooking. Old school style.

7. What’s your favorite store to buy things for other people?
I don't have one particular favorite. I like little unique gift shops. And I really never buy a lot in the same place. I like to make the gift match the person.

8. What’s the weather like around you today?
Oh. My. Word.
I am trying so hard to be positive. The temptation to complain is all around me!! Even in little ol' Ten on Tuesday!
It's hot. Too darn hot for September.

9. What’s the worst book you’ve ever bought and read?
Some horrid novel about girls and trucks. It was depressing and morbid... drugs and sex and yucky stuff. The cover was cute, and the title was cute. But, cute covers are not a good indication of the quality of the story. Hey! You can't really judge a book by its cover!

10. What’s the closest thing to you that is yellow?
The big fat Fall leaf on my table runner.

Hope your Tuesday was less nutty than mine!

I Sit Un-amazed

If you've ever been a churchgoer, you may have heard the song,
"I Stand Amazed in the Presence."
Is that a "southern" hymn? Is that one we only sing down here where it's still 93 degrees?

(I promised myself I would not complain about the weather this week. Oops.)

Anywho...

I always got the giggles when singing that song, because I always wanted to sing it sitting down. Get it? "I Stand Amazed" while sitting?
I'm such a rebel.

Well the weekend came and went in a big ol' blur.
And I sit here un-amazed.

I am un-amazed that Lindsay Lohan failed a drug test.

I am un-amazed that it's still hot. (Oops again. I've given up on you, Fall.)

I am un-amazed that I had 5 new kiddos in my Bible Club group last night. They multiply every week.
PS... I may not be surprised, but I AM grateful.)

I am un-amazed that Sunday nights at Bible Club make me psychotic.

I am un-amazed that when I went to make a Burger King run for me, the boy, my friend, and my friend's kids... Burger King was closed. You may recall my run-in with this Burger King before. Remember? No burger meat. Well, last night... No food at all.

I am un-amazed that the McDonalds which I consumed at 8:45 last night came back to haunt me at around 2:00 am. In the form of some blessed heartburn. Old people are smart to eat at 4:00 in the afternoon.

I am un-amazed that the open box of powdered laundry detergent I reached for this morning (on the shelf over my head) slipped out of my hand and dumped all over me. And the washer. And the floor.

It is Monday after all.

Weather Channel, Here I Come

I should have considered a degree in Meteorology.
But they probably wouldn't have let me graduate from weather-person school.
Weather people are like news people... They have to appear unbiased. They have to act like whatever weather they are reporting is the best weather.
Not me, friends.

"Here in our area today, we are having our 84th day of 90+ degree heat.

And that STINKS. It's hot, and I am tired of being hot.
Back to you, Bob."

And that's why I would be a weather-school flunkie.

And in family news...
The appointment with the new Allergist last week was very exciting.

Warning: The following photographs are of a medical nature and may be disturbing to some viewers. There's also a little back nudity.

The doc divided the boy's back into 6 areas, labeled A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Each section was injected with 10 known allergens... 60 total.
By the time they injected Section F, Section A already had hives. Good times.







In summary, he reacted to 52 of the 60 injections... Most of them pretty severely.
He's allergic to every grass, every tree, every weed, every mold, and feathers. But no foods.
I knew he had some allergies that had changed, but this momma was not prepared for that news.
So the doc wants us to think about the future... Do we continue with his regular medications? Or do we take the path of shots? Every week. For who knows how long?

This boy has a way of testing my faith. And my sanity.
But I sure do love him. And his red, itchy, hive-covered back.
They gave him meds at the office so he could make it home, and then we stopped for a Blizzard.

Thank the Good Lord no one is allergic to ice cream in this family.
Now a hot weather allergy? That's a whole different story.

A Better Place And Other Labor Day Lessons

It seems as if I have so much to say that I can't keep one clear thought going. Well that's pretty normal.
I've started 4 or 5 blog posts. And then started over.

So I will thrill you now with tales of our family adventures and the things I have learned in the last week.

It's riveting information.


1. "Labor Day" does not really signify the end of summer. It is supposed to, but somebody forgot to inform the sun.

Dear Mr. Sun,
I love you. I really do. But it's just too darn hot to be September. I need you to back it off a little buddy. Just a little, please. Like you did over the weekend.
Love,
Me

2. Never leave your camera with a group of men to take pictures of their hunting day fun. Always remember that the men you left your camera with HATE taking and being in pictures anyway, and they will find a way to punish you.
We spent a nice lazy Labor Day weekend at my parents with my brother and sis-in-law and most adorable nephew.
And the only pictures I have involve firearms.
Oh. There's also some pictures of an old stuffed and mounted deer head which has missing parts... soft tissues that have been eaten away by some sort of unseen creature.
We are classy.

3. If men are the "hunters," then women are definitely the "gatherers." If "gathering" involves a purse. And several trips to Bed Bath and Beyond. And Hobby Lobby. And the mall. I have gathered scented hand soap for my family to survive the winter. And a purse.

4. We have an appointment this week for the boy to see a new Allergist. It's been over 6 years since he was tested, and it's time to figure out (maybe?) what is causing the hives. This appointment will not involve the skin pricks. The next one probably will. Yippee.

5. I think a new family rule should be: When we return home from a vacation or trip, and momma has 793 loads of laundry to do, you may not add anything to the pile until she has done all 793 loads.
This was a good idea until I realized that it would cause nudity. And my own. Yikes. Guess I'll just keep on washing.

6. There was no Ten on Tuesday this week because a baby was born!! My blogging friend Chelsea had her baby, and he is a cutie pie! If you get a chance, go peek at him.

7. The weather over the weekend was SO nice. I even put on a sweatshirt over my pjs as I sat on my mom and dad's porch. Ahhhhh.... It made me want to decorate for Halloween and go to the fair and watch College Football and eat soup.

8. Even if I disagree with the shooting of birds, this is still cute.




9. I lied. I did have more than hunting pictures. I have red-neckish pictures. Here's the boy and his cousin on their wheels. (Don't' worry. The boy has a helmet... it was off for the picture.)







10. My house and the life I provide is obviously boring. Before we left to come home from my parents, I had a conversation with the boy. It went something like this...

The boy: "I like it here. I want to stay here. I want to hunt and fish forever. If I stay here (at his grandparents), will you tell my teacher that I died?

Me: "No. That's horrible and a lie. You would lie to sweet Mrs. G. like that?"

The boy: "Well, just tell her I've gone to a better place."

When Benadryl Ain't Enough

I would like to blame the cotton in my brain on the barometric pressure from Hurricane Earl.
He's speeding towards NC as I type.

I'm usually like one of those little old men sitting on a bench in front of the gas station in a small town. When bad weather is coming, my body begins to creak and moan. I get a headache and my bursitis acts up. (Don't really know what the heck that means, but it always sounds good.)

Although my head pain is a good indicator of whether or not it's going to rain,
I can't blame this crud on Earl.
I am blaming this one on Dan/Daddy.

He took me away for our anniversary, gave me the new watch I've been needing and wanting...
and a cold.
A doozy of a cold.

All week long, Dan/Daddy has proclaiming the cure-all wonders of "Airborne." He's been chugging it since Monday. (And he's still sick.) He should be the annoying spokesperson in the commercial.
He tells me to take it as soon as I start feeling bad. Which I did. And I immediately felt worse.
Nasty stuff. And it didn't stop the cold from coming.

Last night, I took 2 Benadryl tablets, thinking it would at least knock me out.
Nope.
I tossed and turned and mouth-breathed.
I hate mouth-breathers... especially when I am one of them.

This morning, the boy sneezed about 7 times into his breakfast.

The family that stays congested...
Stays together.

And congested.

Be safe East Coast!