a beanie story

When Boo was a toddler, she got her first Beanie Baby. And then she got a few more. Before long we had a whole bundle of them. But of course, a few favorites floated to the top of the heap. And they were the 'go to' buddies when she needed a cuddle. She also carried at least one Beanie under her armpit while at home for about three years. Anyhoo...

She got these two beanies. Kitties, of course. One's name was Amber. And the other one was Pounce. These were their given names on the tags, and she decided those were their names. So things went merrily along with Amber and Pounce. Until one day...

Pounce came up missing! We tore the house up. But she was gone. Boo was coping pretty well with it, even though it was a fave. I thought we had skated by on the whole Pounce thing. And then one day I went in her room and she had Amber and she was pointing Amber's little kitty paw at it's chest and telling me that Amber misses Pounce in her heart.

Well that did it. I just couldn't take it anymore. She was crushed that her buddy was gone. And I felt a little sorry for her. So I called an antique store around the corner from me and asked them if they had a Pounce. They did! I told the hubby to pick it up on the way home. So we replaced Pounce and I don't think she ever realized it was a new Pounce. Until one day...

We were in her room playing and I was sitting on the floor and I was sort of leaning back and had my hands stretched out behind me and I felt something. My fingers couldn't believe it. I had found Pounce! The first one! The real one! So then I had a problem. What to do with one of these Beanies.

I talked to her about it, and she offered to give the new Pounce to Bub. At the time he didn't have very many Beanies since he struggled with asthma some earlier in his life. He couldn't have a lot of fuzzies. So it was decided. We gave Pounce to Bub. He was thrilled. And quickly named him/her Kitty. (clever, I know!) Not long after that, he got another Beanie and he named that one Meow Meow (clever, I know!).

Even though he had many many Beanies in his life, Kitty and Meow Meow were his constant buddies through everything. Every nap, his third birthday. The church nursery. And then he got sick. And they were there for every test, every poke, surgeries, radiation, clinic visits...you name it and I've got a picture of him with them tucked under his arm pit or sitting loyally beside him.

And they were his buddies to the end. After we lost him, we went into his room and gathered up his Beanies. Kitty and Meow Meow were on his chest. Now they reside in the china cabinet.

Meow Meow on the left.

and Kitty on the right.

Notice the bandaid on Meow Meow's little wrist. That was put on by a sweet clinic nurse.

seven

A lot of things have been going on this week.

And along side that has been the knowing that an anniversary is coming up. On Sunday. An unhappy one. One that says our boy has been gone for seven years. Not six years like last year. Seven.

Last year when I had just started to blog and didn't have a single reader, I recorded my thoughts as these days ticked by.

You can read what I had to say here and here and here. (I might have gotten the last two out of order. Ooops!)

I decided to repost links from last year simply because they fill in some details that you might not have hunted to find. : )

And to me they're beautiful. I know that sounds weird, but God's hand was so evident in Bub's last days and I knew last year I wanted to get some of that down 'on paper'.

Hugs and peace to you, my friends!

inspired by...

Today's post is inspired by... a post I just read over at

Day by Day...My Life as a Busy Bee.

Thanks Suz for the idea!

The well has been running dry lately and

I guess I've stooped to stealin' ideas now. oh well.
Anyhoo...

A few years ago we went to Colorado Springs for our vacation. We had a

wonderful time. One of the things I was most excited about was the

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's a gorgeous zoo and we had a blast.

One of Miss Boo's favorite things were the giraffes.

And feeding them.

With her bare hands.

Pretty cool, huh?!

I'll bet you're wondering what in the world this has to do with Suz. Well...

I'm getting to that part. She did a post or two about

taking Flat Caroline out and getting some pics with her.

I'd heard of Flat Stanley before and knew this chick

had to be related. We've never been given a

Flat Whoever assignment, so we decided to make up our own

not-so-flat photo op. Boo loved the giraffes at the zoo so she bought a

cute little stuffed giraffe at the zoo's gift shop and appropriately

named him Crackers, after the crackers she fed the giraffes

at the zoo.

First we tried it like this.

Here Crackers is sitting on top of the Will Rogers

Shrine of the Sun that's on the zoo's property.

It's gorgeous up there!

It had better be since I about lost a lung climbing the

gumpteen zillion steps to the top of that silly thing!

This pic turned out cute.

But still it wasn't a favorite.

Leave it to the hubs to come up with this one!

This silly photo makes me smile every time I see it. It's just

so stinkin' cute! Don'tcha think?!

I can't see...put another quarter in!

nothing to fear

I have nothing to fear but fear itself....

....and spiders!

Spring has sprung, y'all.

Ick!

and the winner is....

I decided to go low tech and just deal with this with paper...

it's not like a had a hundred names or anything. So here's the deal.

I wrote everbody's names down and folded them up. Ta-da! Seee???

And then closed my eyes!

Yep... I didn't peek! Not even once!

I would'a had Boo come and draw a name for me,

but she's working on a research paper today,

so I took care of the honors myself.

And....Jill is the winner!

Yay, Jill! Email me with your address and I'll mail your goodies to ya! : )

a birthday and a giveaway

Happy bloggy birthday... to me! Wow! I've been blogging a year. Well, my first post wasn't really much to brag about, but it was a start. (you know..testing testing, one two three kinda stuff) I don't know all the reasons why I blog, just that I love it.

Whether I'm happy, sad, grieving, silly, afraid, or just weighed down...you guys come and read what I have to say. It's just crazy when I think about it, ya know?! Some posts stand out to me for various reasons. But these are the ones that mean the most to me because they pertain to the Life that I've received in having a relationship with God. Part one, two, three, four and five. I could keep linking all day to different posts that are important to me for this reason or that one. Or funny...to me anyway... I don't think I'm all that funny, although I try sometimes. lol But I think we'd all get bored! : ) Anyhoo...

And then there are all of you. I might as well just write everything down in a spiral notebook and shove it under the bed, if it weren't for you all. Like I've said before, I don't know all the reasons why I blog. Or why you all read the stuff I write for that matter. But I know I've gained so much from all of you. Thank you! Thanks for being much better bloggers than I ever will and making me laugh and cry and think in ways I never thought possible. And accepting me into your kind little sorority and being the best commenters a girl could ever ask for!

So! Now that I've gushed all over the place.... I have a little packet of goodies to give away to a chosen (I hate to use the word 'lucky') commenter. I wanted to give a little something back to the ones who've given so much to me through their kind words along this quirky little journey called blogging. So, I have a couple of fun prizes to give away today!

I couldn't decide what I wanted to give away. Like most people, my house is full. And everybody's house looks different so something to sit and look at might look great at one house and weird at another. So, something like that was out. And of course, whatever I chose needed to mail easily. And of course, be useful!

Every time I post a recipe for something fast and simple, I get great comments about how wonderful it sounds to get the job done quickly. So how's this?! I have a wonderful cookbook by Dawn Hall. I have several of her cookbooks and she's an amazing lady with an incredible story of the work God has done in her life. And her recipes are yummy too! I have to tell ya, I was tempted to keep this cookbook for myself... so that's real luuuuv, y'all! : )

And because I'm not just about feeding the body but the soul as well, I have this wonderful book by Andrew Murray. It has 365 devotions in it... so it will take a year to use it up. That's pretty cool. I love Andrew Murray! Another title of his that I love is in my sidebar. His writings are so concise and rich!

So these are my giveaways! Just leave me a comment anytime today through Saturday and I'll draw a name or do the random.org thing or something and pick a winner and post it sometime on Sunday!

How does that sound? Don't forget to leave a comment so your name can be entered to win!

tomorrow is the big day

Well, I can't believe I've been blogging for almost a year.

But I have. And tomorrow is the big day!

My little bloggy's first birthday!

I know some people thing of it as an anniversary, but I don't feel married to my blog. But I did give birth to it.

And try to nurture it and take good care of it.

Ok...it's not a plant, but you get the idea.

Come back and visit tomorrow for a bit of a stroll down memory lane and a little giveaway too.

See ya!