some bad parking

I saw a post several days ago that reminded me of this story.. so of course, I had to run and take pictures so I could tell it. : )

We bought a van when Bub was a tiny baby. Well.... he was a baby. That boy was never tiny! : ) But anyhoo, we bought a van and it served us well through all the years of Bub's life and beyond. One of the fun things we did during what the doctors called our 'good time'... meaning we knew he wasn't going to make it, but he still felt great and acted like a regular ole kid... was go to an aquarium in a big city near us. And we came away from that day with more than memories.

We ran into a post in the parking lot while trying to park the van. And it left a nice little dent over one of the front tires. We never got it fixed. For one thing, during that time, a small cosmetic dent wasn't high on our list of priorities. And then later on, we just decided we didn't care, I guess. I say that, and yet I hate dents, dings and scratches. There's nothing like a brand new car that doesn't have any 'stories' to tell yet.

So I loved it when we bought our new van. It was the first time we had a car (it's a van, but I call it a car anyway) that had fenders the same color as the exterior. (in other words it wasn't silver or black) So I fell in serious like with my new fenders... so pretty.

One day about two weeks into my new van's life, we came home from a little errand and Boo was going to hop out and do something and hubby and I were going to wait for her in the van. In the garage. Well.. for some unknown reason, I decided in my sheer brilliance that we should put the garage door down. Well... the one little thing I didn't know was that he had not pulled the van into the garage quite enough for the door to close. But since the car was new, that fact didn't click with either one of us.

Until we heard the horrible SCRAPING sound. We both looked at each other wide eyed and then hopped out of the van to discover this...



...a big ole scratch down the back fender. We still had paper tags and look what had already happened. We used to pull up to this klassy little hole in the drywall of the garage.. and I think that's what happened that day. So I set out to make sure nothing like that happened again.

Now we know to pull up to the smiley face. At least we could still smile after a frustrating day. But ya know, I think that's one of the things we've taken away from some of our experiences... don't sweat the small stuff. Because just about everything is small stuff in light of some of the trials we've faced... and in light of eternity.

Hope you have a nice weekend. School is out and I think I'm going to take a little bloggy R&R for a few days. Hugs to ya!

my newest little obsession

Lookie... we have bunnies!!! I couldn't help myself... the other day I just had to go outside and try to take a picture of the bunnies in the yard. I was able to catch this one. He was skeert, though. See its little ears all flat like that. I stood really still and continued to watch him and he began to relax a little bit.

Before long, his ears perked up and he looked like he was getting more ok with me watching him... and taking his picture.
Sometimes I only see one bunny in the yard. But one day I counted three hopping around and looking adorable. We eat dinner facing the backyard and it's pretty common for one or more of us to jump up from the table and run to the window if 'the bunnies show up'. Look, a bunny!

Dang, we need to get a life, don't we?!

living at 211*

There are some things in life right now that are stressful. They aren't easy. They aren't simple to figure out or work through. And sometimes those things have me so upset I'm barely worth a lick to anybody.

I love it how God can say what He wants to say to me, even when the words themselves don't exactly match up. Sunday's sermon was one of those times! He was talking about anger. Most of the time my feelings are just limited to frustration. But every now and then something happens though, and I do get angry.

It was interesting. The pastor talked about being angry a lot growing up and one particular conversation his dad had with him and all he said was son, if you don't get a handle on this anger, it's going to destroy your life. In my opinion, those are some of the wisest words anyone could say to someone who struggles with anger.

I must be in control of how I respond to the things going on around me, or it is going to make my life very difficult. I realize this and yet set it aside when the heat isn't turned up at that moment. He talked about how the boiling point of water is 212* F. And how many people live at 211*. I realized that in many ways, I had been internalizing the issues going on around me, keeping my heart and mind at a steady 211, so that if there was the tiniest blip of struggle or confrontation on the radar, it sent me into boiling mode and it just made life difficult.

So God used those words to smack me 'tween the eyes on Sunday. Again.

And yet I know *I* can't do this. At all. Obviously. But He can! I am so glad He wants to recreate us and is continually make us into new creatures... something that doesn't resemble the old at all!

guilty as charged

I've been charged with eating at my desk! The nerve of my husband some people!

Said accuser also states that my keyboard sounds like maracas when shaken. I just don't know where he could get such a crazy idea!

Do you?

sh-sh-sh

This is our favorite commercial right now!



So... when you really want somebody to zip their lip, just say "sh, sh, sh... shut it!"

At least that's what it sounds like to us. : )

How many of us wives and moms have given that look at one time or another? And you can't forget the cute little quirky smile at the end either!

the sporty look doesn't work for me

Today was day two of my Sports Active 'thing'. And no, this blog isn't going to turn into a play by play of every little thing about this.

But I do have some observations.

My legs are in terrible shape. And since doing day two a couple of hours ago, it's getting harder and harder to move around the house. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!

And another thing.. ahem.. I wouldn't mind the running parts so much, if I were an A instead of a C, if you get my drift. I noticed while doing some of the movements yesterday, that at times 'the girls' seemed to have their own ideas, and at my age, that's not too comfortable.

So I went out in search of a sports bra some sporty under things. It did not go very well. And I hope places like Walmart and Target (yes, I wanted to try the cheap places first) don't have hidden cameras to watch folks change, to make sure they're not gonna put on ten things and try to walk out of the store, or something.

Because if they did, whoever watched me yesterday got an eye full. I hope I certainly hope it's a she isn't scarred for life by what she saw. Because here's the deal, there should be one rule for sports bras SB's... they should buckle in the back. The two I tried on did not. I repeat... did NOT buckle in the back. So I had to put it on over my head. That part wasn't so bad. Not great and certainly not a pretty sight, but not bad.

Taking it off. Well, that's another story. I got it up and 'over' part of the way. But then I ran into problems. It's like the thing shrank. It seemed a little small and I struggled and wondered if I was going to be able to get the thing over my head. Let me just say.. not a pretty picture!!! I had images of myself either wearing it out around my neck and casually telling the lady at check out that I'd just like to wear it out and leaning over to scan the tag for her... or calling in the jaws of life from fitting room three to come and cut me out of it!

But finally.. and I do mean finally, I was able to free myself from the crazy thing. And in case you're wondering... no, I did not buy either one of them!

I told my husband about my little adventure and I think he wishes he could have been there to see it. So he could laugh. But he did offer up an alternative. Why don't you just use an Ace Bandage?

The funny thing is... I had the same thought while driving out of the Walmart parking lot.

getting active

I'm not an overly active kinda girl. In the past, I went through a period of getting in shape. Really in shape. I was very lean and very strong... for a girl, that is.

And then life happened. Or something like that. Actually Bub got sick. And everything else in life came to a screeching halt. I did a little bit for myself during that time, but not much. There were times when he was sick that I could go for walks. So my legs stayed toned part of the time. And I also used to run the stairs to the fourth floor to his hospital room, rather than take the elevator. (I still can't believe I used to do that!)

I can't even hustle up one flight of stairs now!

I did Wii Fit for a while. I liked it. But there were things about it that bothered me. For one, I almost never got my heart rate up enough to be of any cardio benefit. And secondly, it was heavy on balance... and one of my legs is stronger than the other, and I was having a hard time overcoming that. And then there's the boredom factor... and the 'this thing takes forever to move from one movement to the other' factor. And the lack of resistance!

Enter the EA Sports Active for Wii! It came out yesterday and I was one of those crazy people standing outside Best Buy waiting for it to open. I only got the setup part done yesterday.... telling it my age and weight and making my little person and all that.

Today I got to start it! There are endless options for creating your own workout...including resistance! I was pretty impressed! And no unlocking (like the Wii Fit)! But there was also the option for a 30 day challenge thing. Everything is programmed in for 30 days of workouts and I got to pick the intensity from easy to medium to hard.

I picked easy. And I'm glad I did. Dern. Kicked my hiney.

And I actually got winded and sweaty! Both of which are good things if you're trying to workout. Also... I could do this in the privacy of my own home and didn't have to subject myself to young, fit bods at some workout place. And that kept me from feeling like a doofus doing weird things I don't normally do, too! Hello.. squats!

Well, today is/was the first day. 29 more to go in this little challenge! Hopefully I can stick with it. I have a terrible habit of coming out of the gate strong, and then getting really sloppy with this sort of commitment.

So, I'm hoping I can stay active and challenged for the 30 days and have a little something to show for it!

patheti-kitty

This pic was taken after an exasperating effort on my part to catch her begging for food. She'd come and sit there with this certain look to her. Every. single. time. I grabbed the camera, she'd do something weird. She'd either go to her bowl, or walk away or like in this photo, stretch out. I guess I'm supposed to think she's staaaaarving.

It's not like I see can your ribs there, kitty cat. Sorry cat, I ain't buyin' it! She did her thing in the most pathetic fashion that day. I think she even ended up eating the old food off the floor. But yeah.. she was just a leetle bit pathetic!

But still cute, doncha think?

photo meme

Karen tagged me for a photo meme! What you're supposed to do is open your fourth folder and post the fourth photo. Depending on how you count different folders and what not, I guess one could come up with different photos. So I played around with this a little bit to try and find something fun.

I know nobody wanted to see a pic of my feet in Birkenstock sandals. I took a photo of myself wearing sandals shortly after I got out of my cast and boot after I broke my foot. Like I said.. nobody wants to see something like that. And since I don't really do a lot of posting of photos of my family 'cause I'm a paranoid privacy freak I didn't go exactly by the rules...but I came close. lol This is the fifth photo because I didn't want to post one of my hubby laying on the grass in the backyard cuddling the dog. So I picked one of just the dog. : )

Shortly after we bought our house.. the same house we live in now... we decided to get a little dog. I had had a poodle growing up and he was just about the best little dog in the world. And I knew I couldn't get a better one if we tried, so we went with a shi tzu. Her name was Missy and she was quite a mess. And our first 'baby'.

We'd had her for several years when our son was born. Not long afterwards, we realized that with all his health problems (he developed asthma at 4 months of age), we could no longer keep a dog. His allergist insisted we give her away. It broke our hearts. And we resisted. But finally we knew we couldn't keep her. Amazingly I was able to find her a wonderful home with a great family.

They called us about a month after they took her to let us know she was fitting in nicely with their family and children and sleeping on their beds and just generally doing great. And then not long after that, they moved away and we never heard from them again.

The other day we 'did the math' and realized that even if Missy lived a long, full life, she would most likely have passed on my now. I'm so thankful for the amazing family that took her when we couldn't keep her any longer.

There's our little Missy dog! She was so cuddly and affectionate.

nerd humor

When you're married to a computer person, you begin to find different things humorous. This is one of the latest funnies at our house. Enjoy!



Have a great weekend everybody! Hoping I'll come out of this blogging slump and think of something to say soon. :-D

taste of summer

This is an odd week. Perhaps I could call it a preview of the summer months to come. For one thing, it's warm. I'm not a cold weather fanatic at all. I like shorts and tshirts and tank tops and my Birkenstock sandals.

But the weather isn't the only thing summer like. I've got my girl home with me this week. Her class went to DC and NYC this week and she didn't go. We are new this school year and committing to something like that when we barely knew a single thing about anything there was hard. And also she has a finicky tummy and can't live on junk food for a whole week. She would be sick. as. a. dog! So between the two, we all thought it would be best for her to stay home.

So here we sit. Yesterday was a mix for her. She woke up late. Which thrilled her. The kids had to be at the airport at 6am. I'm kinda glad we missed out on that part too! Later she'd say they're in the air. (she loved flying when we went to Disney) And then she said they're at the Holocaust Museum (which she did NOT want to visit... just too emotional for her. She is very much like me. I don't want to see it either. I'm not in denial... I think it's because I'm NOT in denial that makes it harder for me to see those images.) And then as the day wore on, she began to wonder what they're doing 'now'.

She was a busy girl yesterday, as the kids that didn't go were assigned to do a power point on 'anything' and it had to be seven slides long. So she did it on the Lincoln Memorial...even though she could have done it on 'anything', she thought it would be interesting to learn. Who is this kid... oh wait... sometimes she does take after her dad. He's the 'history buff' in the family.

But there have been times she's been, shall we say...bored. And we've got three more days to go to get to the weekend. But she's kept a positive attitude even though she's disappointed about the trip and is seeing the positive in this situation. (we do have some fun things planned this week, lest you think I'm just letting her sit and twiddle her thumbs)

She's a sweet thing and I love her.

If only the city waterpark were open, we'd really be having a taste of summer!

just three

We had a good weekend. Saturday we went out to eat. Nothing shocking there. I have declared for just about forever that Saturday is my day off. So I don't cook on that day unless there is some sort of emergency or something.

We ate at a place we've eaten at dozens of times. Simple food and surroundings. There's a bonus reason the meal was great and it doesn't have anything to do with the food or the service. Sometimes greeters say something when we walk in the door and it puts a bad taste in my mouth before I even sit down and look at the menu. But she didn't say it Saturday even though I was bracing for it. I was glad.

The first time it happened, it didn't seem so odd. It was the first time we had eaten out after Bub died and it was a place we ate at A LOT. So the greeter knew our faces. So even though it broke our hearts a little bit for her to say just three, it didn't surprise us that much. But the strange thing is, that's not the only time it's happened to us. It happens frequently. Still. And these people don't even know us. I know!

Yep, just three.

Every time I hear a greeter say that, I want to take her by the arm and give her a little talking to about how you can say something and not know what you're really saying. But I don't. I know it's innocent to them. But still...why would they say it anyway... three is enough. We are still a unit. A family.

Just three.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is upon us once again.

Some years I've avoided it at church altogether.

I get tired of the overly sappy aspects of the holiday. And I also get tired of it being discussed like it's the punchline... with silly poems or jokes to go along with it. I don't usually find it very funny.

I can always catch the eye of a hurting woman that longs to be a mother but her body won't cooperate.

Or the mother with the disabled child that will never be able to really comprehend what his or her mother really does every day.

Or the mother that has buried her child or is living with a very very sick child.

Or the mother who doesn't know her child 'these days' due to rebellion. Truly a way to break a mother's heart.

Or for that matter, any person who is grieving the loss of their own mother.

To me, I would just rather the day go by without any outward fanfare. I'm sure I will get a hug and a card... and that is special enough for me.

But I'd just as soon no one else say anything to me about it. Some days it's just all too personal.

But since we're supposed to say it... Happy Mother's Day. Hug those closest to you ... whomever they may be. And if you can't hug them anymore, then remember them. I'll be remembering right along side you.

what up with that???

I opened the frig the other day and that is what I saw! Just exactly what is up with that? Can you not SEE that the 2 liter is um...empty? But hey, that's ok... I'll take care of it. Don't mind a bit, hubby dear! And later the same day, I was putting things back in the pantry. And noticed I had two open boxes of cereal sitting out. Upon further inspection, one of the boxes was empty! No really... don't mind at all, baby girl. No problem. I'll just take care of this after cleaning house and cooking your meals and folding your clothes. Don't give it a second thought! Really.. I insist! Sometimes I just don't 'get' things like that. It is empty! Throw it out. Or at least move it. Don't put it back. And then they wonder how come I don't know when they're out of something. Gee... I wonder! All kidding aside, I'm not upset. It just made me laugh and of course, roll my eyes!

And well... what can I say about this last shot. It made me laugh too! I was making a file box to put some papers in and she decided the file folder box was just the thing she needed. Cracked me up! She used to be able to get into a regular sized gift bag. Um.. not anymore. Supersize me!

math homework

My husband was looking over Boo's math homework last night... as usual. If she gets any wrong, they can discuss it and she can rework it and ya know... learn from the mistake and move on. Well, last night he was pointing out how she did really good on this one problem and gushing and everything over it. She thrives on that little boost when she does well.

Her response: Wow.. I'm glad I got that one right. I didn't really know what I was doing on that one.

Let the record show once again, this child takes after me! Not her daddy.

a few of my favorite things

This week has been quiet and somewhat mellow... compared to the past month or so. And I've pretty much just laid low. I haven't done much. One thing I've enjoyed is just being able to stay home and do things that need to be done. And along the way, I've gotten to enjoy a few of my favorite things.

One of them is my iPod. I love it. I'm not a huge ear bud fan, especially when I'm just at home alone. So I bought this little gadget to put my iPod in and I love it! It's a tiny set of speakers! No, it's not concert quality or anything like that, but for what it is, it's not bad. And I can carry it around the house and set it down near my when I cook or clean or fold clothes or whatever. Sometimes I just sit in my rocking chair and listen to music while I read a book or something. There it is on the end table by my rocking chair. And I just discovered these little buddies this week at the grocery store.

They are deeee-LISH! And not quite as awful for me as

'real' cookies. And just one is quite filling!

And this is another favorite thing. I've been singing the praises of stevia for quite a while. That little shaker thing is my own stevia. I buy it in bulk. It's incredibly sweet and it only takes a tiny

shake to sweeten a glass of tea. I used to mix it with a bit of sugar, because nothing tastes like real sugar! One teaspoon of sugar adds about 25 calories to whatever I'm drinking. And isn't quite as good as I wanted it to be. But now! They're coming out with some commercial stevia products! And I'm thrilled. But it's a trial and error process. I bought one before our Disney trip and it tasted bitter. (it also had additive and filler type things in it) Ick. If they process the stems and the leaves it can leave you with a bitter product. I just picked up Sun Crystals about a week ago and everybody's favorite store (um.. not) Walmart. And it's a mixture of sugar and stevia, but it only has 5 calories per packet! And if my memory serves me correctly, one packet is the equivalent to 2 teaspoons. Very very sweet!

To tell you just how yummy I think this product is.... I actually ordered an UNSWEET tea
at Chick-fil-a! Did you hear me??? UNSWEET tea!!! Me!!! The closest thing I
had ever gotten to that at CFA was ordering half and half...and then hitting it with a
shake of stevia. But with this product,
I was willing to go all the way! Does it taste exactly like sugar? Not exactly.
No substitute product does. But does it come close. Yes... pretty darn close!
Close enough for me to buy unsweet tea at CFA. I'd say that's close!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a great weekend and can enjoy a few
of your favorite things!