Um...

I guess I got all excited about nothin'... they never called me this weekend for an interview on Tuesday. I called them, and they said they weren't doing it. So, I don't know, maybe it could still happen, but for now, I'm trying to just "bloom where planted". We'll see how that works.
Merry Christmas to everyone. If you're in Montgomery, tune in to 101.5 or 97.5 the River, a new christian radio station. They play lots of good music. Check it out!
God Bless Y'all!

God is so good

You know, he really works in ways you don't expect. I've been praying about a new job for the past 2 or 3 weeks, ever since I saw a listing for Store Manager position at Pier 1. Years ago, I worked there. I took the Sales Manager position, which was basically a manager-in-training then 2 months later, I got pregnant with Jonathan, so I worked there until the week before he was born. I thought that part of my work history was closed, until I saw that listing. So I applied for the Store Manager position, and talked to the asst manager about it. The Montgomery store does not have a manager at all right now. The Auburn manager is interviewing and hiring. A few days went by, so I called to talk with the Auburn manager since I hadn't heard from her yet. I've been so concentrated on the store manager position, but praying for it to happen 'if it's God's will for me'. One reason I've been sort of hesitant about the whole thing is because I know it would be more than 40 hours a week of work. I'm willing to do that right now because my husband still has not been able to get anything going, and my Chappy's money is not even close to enough to make it by on. I'm extremely blessed to have a Mom, Grandma & mother-in-law that have helped us get by. Anyway, when I talked to the Auburn manager, she told me that they would only consider someone with previous retail management experience, but that they have a part-time asst manager position open that I should be able to interview for next Tuesday. I've been thinking all night about how much better that would work out for me. I wouldn't have to leave Chappy's totally, and when I get back in the groove of things at Pier 1 and something else opens up, I'll be more ready. I just love it how when you stare at one door for a while, God opens up a window that'll get you to the same place in a better way. He's awesome!

Alabama History

Here's a video (mostly of the back of his head) of Anthony square dancing at the PTA meeting tonight... so cute! And yet possibly could be used for blackmailing or embarassing purposes later!

Happy Birthday, Buddy Mo!

Today, October 1st, our dog Buddy is 1 year old! We sang Happy Birthday to him after dinner. He didn't care. But he liked his doggie biscuit afterwards.

Who, me?

Did I get tagged by Stacy? If so, what does that mean?
Does it just mean I have to mention 6 things about me you may not know? Then pick some more? Ok, here goes:

1~My firstborn son weighed 10 lbs 1 oz at birth, and yes, I had him without the help of a c-section. (He did break his collar-bone coming out, though.)

2~I've been to Equador before on a mission trip. Summer of '98, and I'm scheduled to go to Costa Rica on a mission trip in January. (Oh yeah, I've GOT to renew my passport!!)

3~I actually wasn't ALWAYS an Alabama fan. My parents moved here from California, so when I got around other kids in kindergarten, they would always ask me, "Do you go for Auburn or Alabama?" and I didn't know what the HECK they were talking about. So, I asked my Mom, and she said Auburn. I asked my Dad, and he said Alabama. So, for a few years I claimed Auburn, but then when I got older, 9th or 10th grade, I decided for myself and I chose Alabama. Hm, is it coincidence that was the year of their last national championship?

4~I was at a Benny Hinn crusade when I made my decision to follow Christ. It was actually a few months after I went on my mission trip. Kinda backwards, I guess, but you know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I always went to church as a kid, but I didn't know anything about a RELATIONSHIP with Christ, just a bunch of religious activities. So after talking to Tony a lot about it for several months, I was ready (and by preparing and prompting of the Holy Spirit) when I was asked that question, "If you died tonight, are you certain you'd be in heaven with God?" I thought my answer was no, so I went down to pray and accept Christ into my heart right then. My life has never been the same since.

5~My husband and I went to the same Elementary school and High school, and he was only a grade ahead of me AND I cheerleaded? for the football team he played for at the Y, and we never met until the year after I graduated. We've grown up around so many of the same people, but we never knew eachother. Cool, huh?

6~I'm not as nice to my kids as everybody thinks I am. It really bothers me when people tell me I'm such a great mom, because I don't think it's true. I know deep down I should handle some situations differently, with more patience and understanding, speaking to my kids in a way that teaches them to think, instead of down-grading their ideas, or crushing their imaginations. I wish I treated them the same at home as I do when other people are around...I don't know why that's hard for me to do. Sorry to turn this into confessional time, but that's definitely something you didn't know about me, that maybe if you did, I would change it!!

I tag Crystal and Stephanie!

HOORAY!!!

My computer is clean!!
It works again! I'm catching up on a months' worth of emails, setting all my passwords in again...whew!
Alabama football is lookin so good, so far! Even though it's been just one game, tonights is PPV only, they look like a whole new team!! It's so exciting to see them seize their potential, and play as good as you know they can!
I lurve Sarah Palin. She is exactly what he needed. He's like, the most left you can be and still be a republican, so he really needed a great conservative like her, but the fact that she's a woman is just enough to be news, exciting, fresh & different. The thing I worry about the most is that Obama has the charisma to bring a whole lot of people to the polls, who, for the most part, have always thought, "Hm, I can vote for this crusty old white guy, or this crusty old white guy..." Now that those kind of voters see a different option, I'm afraid they won't care about the fact that he's FOR partial-birth abortions, stem cell research, and supporting civil unions. They just want CHANGE, that's all they care about. I'm so glad I'm cushioned in the South by the bible belt, I still believe McCain has a shot.

More to come later... I'm just glad to be back.

PC problems

I'm ready to blow up my computer!
My husbands identity works fine. Mine, however, only pulls up the internet half the time and I haven't been able to check my email in over a week! I'm dyin here! UGH!
So, do I get a new email, close my facebook acct, and start all over? Do we spend a bunch of money for spyware? This sucks! Makes me realize how much I depend on technology...my hubby's xbox360 is broke, too, so we're both miserable. (I'm personally sick of FIFA 08, so I'm kinda glad the 360s down, but I don't like seeing him irritable, you know?)
Anyway, use is sporadic, I feel like I'm missing out!
Maybe things will be better soon...

All Done!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's some pictures of my finished scrapbook. Much better in person, though. We had a dedication service the other day. Hopefully, it will make a difference in someone's life....one day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Scrapbooking

Is great! It's been so long since I've done it, I forgot how much fun it is. I'm in a new summertime bible study at my church, in a 6 wk course done by Lisa Whelchel, where a side profit is a nice scrapbook about my own life and walk with Christ that I can pass on to my kids. So, it's not like I've been blogging SO much lately, but it'll probably be doing it even less now that I'm already getting obsessed for perfection with my new project. But it's fun and productive, and I'll still get all my politics commentary from Steph.

Aawww....

He found an extensive list of tongue twisters on the internet, this is one of his favorites. Mom, you like the new haircut?

Open Mouth, Insert Foot....

Oh well, guess I guessed wrong.
I'd still like to see DA duet with Jordin Sparks.
Man, ZZ Top is lookin archeaic!!!
Ok, on to more serious stuff next time!

David vs. David

Last night's finale was pretty good. Not outstanding or anything. I really wanted David Cook to come out and WOW me, because David Archuleta has so much momentum. He (DC) was kinda blah last night. I thought he did ok, but Archie really brought it. His (DA) 2nd song gave me chills and his 3rd brought a tear to my eye. I know it sounds silly, I'm 30 years old, blogging about American Idol, like there's not more important things going on in the world, but hey, let's keep it light. I think this was the most talented top 3 we've ever had. Especially compared to 2 seasons ago, when the finale was Kat McPhee and Taylor Hicks. That was a pretty sorry year in my opinion. ANYWAY...I'm gonna say an early congrats to David Archuleta, and look forward to hearing him and David Cook and Syesha on the radio next year after the tour. I'd really love to see Jordin & David do a duet.

Buh-bye, Jason!

Yes, I'm gonna blog about American Idol. I know I should've posted it on here already, but by week 2 of the top 12, I've been hoping and somewhat expecting the top three to be the David's and Syesha. As long as one of those 3 wins it, I'll be happy. I think all three of them will have successful recording careers after the tour. As long as Jason goes home tonight, I'll be proud to know I called the top 3 from the get-go. You can ask my Mom & several co-workers at Chappy's. I would've like to have seen Jason go home before Carly & John, but oh well. He must have a huge teenage-texting-generation of girls devoted to him, cause he can't sing that well (sorry, Stacy). They criticized him for singing Bob Marley, but I think he just sang the wrong BM song. He would've sounded so much better singing One Love, or the Redemption Song, or Stir it Up, or even Buffalo Soldier...anything but I Shot the Sheriff! DA, DC and Sy really showed him up last night.
I predict 3rd- David Cook, 2nd- Syesha, and winner David Archuleta. You tube has a video of David A singing last Christmas at church the song Mary Did You Know. Check it out, he's so awesome!

God is GOOD!

All the time! He is my provider....waiting tables is kinda like casting lots. You know, in the bible all the time how it talks about casting lots? You can choose your section, you can even choose your customers sometimes, you can choose to work hard and even go that extra mile, but you really never know how much money you're going to make until it's all said and done. The other day I picked up an extra shift for breakfast, which I used to work 5 days a week, but almost never since I've been back. It's amazing to me how many breakfast regulars remember me. I was gone for 2 years! Anyway, I had a table of 6 guys, their bill was $42, they gave me $60 and told me to keep the change. Then I had one guy, whose bill was $7.50, when I picked up his money, I swear he got out a $10 bill, so I said, "I'll be right back with your change.", took it over to the counter to make change, saw that it was actually a $20, went to give him his change, and he was gone! To me, that was an angel in disguise. Stuff like that happens to other servers all the time, but not me. I noticed I've been blogging a lot about money lately, I guess that's cuz we don't have much of it right now. But that's ok...we'll make it through...I think. Hubby started a new job this week, but it turned out to be total BS, not what was advertised at all. But at least when that didn't work, he was motivated to go a few other places looking for some work. I'm sure he'll get something good going next week. Until then, just remember, God is good, all the time! (All the time, God is good. :) Stick around for the upbeat part - that's how it sounds in my head.

Now this is frightening!

I recieve a daily devotional email from a member of my church, and this morning, he relayed this link that he got after his devotional was sent out today.
I am glad now that I can say I really don't watch Oprah that much. I had no idea she had gone this far. I thought she was just sort of self-serving, doing nice things, great things, even, to help those without, using her massive millions for good, and I always kinda thought she was closer to an atheist-state than anything else. To know that she is reaching a whole lot of people with wackiness like this is frightening.
Kudos to the woman in her audience who stood up and defended her faith by reminding Oprah that there IS only ONE way. And when O said that when she heard our God is a jealous God, that something seemed wrong with that.....hello? She was just way off base with that line of thinking. Well, like I said in my dream, "Keep your eyes on the skies!"

I had a dream....

about the return of Jesus. I love those dreams! I've had 2 or 3 that I can kinda remember. This one last night (actually this morning) was kinda "technicolor-Willy-Wonka-type". But it was still really neat, and the thing I love most is that my emotions are just full force. I kinda feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride cuz I'm so excited.
I was in a college campus type place, walking around, and I remember thinking about how bad things are, how corrupt our young people are, and someone else walked by me and said, "Keep your eyes on the skies! He's coming back soon!" So I got somewhere that had like, a big sky-light-courtyard kinda place. The clouds started turning all kind of colors then it got dark as night for a few seconds and it was lightning, and it was so dark I had to hold on to the rail on the wall. Then there was a bright light and a rainbow started way up high and came down to us and there was really loud music and I saw Him coming down the rainbow closer and closer. He kinda had his back to us, then as he got closer he turned around and looked down at us. Instead of the cliche white robe, he was in a purple coat and his hair was dark and he was wearing a top hat, and I thought, 'why does he look like that?' (Hence the Willy Wonka type thoughts- I haven't seen that movie lately or anything) Then I realized it was just a dream, but I was still excited about it all. So any of you dream-analyzers out there can comment. There was just so much excitement and anticipation when the rainbow was coming down, cuz I knew what was going on and people around me didn't. It's just so weird when you dream and everything is so real.
Ok, I guess that's all there is for now.
I've been workin, workin, workin.... hoping my husband gets a job SOON!

I feel better.

So... obviously yesterday was rough, and I just had to get some things off my chest. That's the stress of waiting tables for a living. A lot of people who eat out have no clue that servers make $2.13 an hour, and are completely oblivious to the fact that tips are our only real income.
Anyways, I had a yard sale today, and I reached my goal on money and got rid of a lot of stuff so I am feeling lots better. I can't enjoy this beautiful weather because Kaylee's allergies are SO bad so I'll stay inside and CLEAN!

Time to vent!

No links, no politics, no newsworthy-news. I'm just gonna complain. Since I've been working a lot more lately, it's hard not to have to let it go.
First of all, if you can't AFFORD to tip, go to McDonald's. Do not go somewhere that you will receive sit-down service in a quick and timely manner if you won't be able to tip your server 15-20%. No matter what you may think, pretty much everything that goes on during a meal, everything your server does and says is in anticipation of getting a good tip. If your server doesn't smile, refill, hustle and hurry, they're not that stressed for money. If your server always smiles, says 'yes, maam, no maam, thank you very much', refills before you ask, offers dessert, promptly brings you everything you need, etc, that means they do need the money, they do put all of their energy into giving good service, they do pride themselves on their work. When you get a server like that, 20% (or more) is completely appropriate. It says, "Hey, I noticed you did a good job, thanks for taking such good care of us!"
Today was a little slow, so when I saw 3 women and 10 girls come in, I didn't mind taking them in my section. Now, I AM NOT a racist person at all, but I am not the only person of the opinion that black women are not good tippers. I've even heard other black servers make that comment before. I do not want to stereotype, either, so when I saw this group, I said to myself, "I'm not going to judge them before I serve them, I'm sure they'll tip fine." Well, sadly, the stereotype was right. Not only that, but it's just a group thing, too. Any group more than 6 requires quite a bit more work than normal. I gave them outstanding service. I can say that for sure. They were my only table at the time, they did not need anything that I hadn't already gotten them. $75 worth of food netted me a whopping $5 tip. That's not even 10%!! Now, money is money, and right now we need it real bad at my house but more than that, for me, personally, I think I somehow take that as an insult to my service. Sometimes if I get a poor tip, I think, "what did I do wrong?" I consider my spiritual gift to be service. I consider myself to be a really good server. So I guess it kinda hurts sometimes when I think I did a really good job and then didn't get rewarded for it, you know?
Second of all, if you put a whole lot of effort into making excuses, that doesn't excuse you from tipping. If you're aware that you feel you should apologize for something, tip like it. Don't sit there and say, "I'm sorry I'm so needy, but can I have..... or I'm sorry we're coming in at 8:55.... or I'm sorry, I've changed my mind again..." if you notice you've sent me back and forth, and back and forth, pay me for it. I don't think that's too much to ask. (Of course I don't, I'm a server.) You may think, well, Shannon, that's your job. You're right, it is, but c'mon, you already know if you're gonna want Ranch with your fries, or extra crackers for your soup, tell me ahead of time so I can get it all at once.
I think it should be mandate law that everyone upon completion of HS or college should serve at least 1 year in a customer-service type job. People who have never waited on anyone else, whether in a restarant, mall store, gas station, or anywhere, do not have a full appreciation for those that wait on them.
Ok, I feel better.... I think I'm done for now.
Have a great weekend!

Sermon in the Shower

This morning, as I was getting myself ready for church, the "most fashionable Sunday of the year", I thought to myself in the shower...."What's it all about?" I found myself wishing I was getting ready to go to a singing, shouting, praising, dancing celebration. You could say my church is pretty reserved. But what a morning to sing, shout, praise and dance to the Lord! He is RISEN! He conquered the grave and sin and death. The tomb was empty! If that's not enough reason to get out of your seat and sing and shout and praise Him, then nothing is. It's so wonderful to know that God sees us through the eyes of Jesus. It all just makes me so eager for His return. Let's just be done with this life, this world, all the sin and troubles in it, and just spend all eternity in His presence, by His side, living and learning all there is to about this life and the next in perfect peace and harmony. But there is a point to this life. There is a reason we're all here. If we can just try our best (with His help, of course) to bring a few more people around us to the awesome saving power of Christ's love and what he did for us all as we celebrate this weekend, we'd be serving His purpose.
Whoever's reading out there, I love you, and I hope you are having a very blessed Easter.

WIPED OUT!

I feel utterly and completely wiped out! Mentally, physically, emotionally, almost spiritually. I'm just gonna lay it out on the line right now. I'm not turning my blog into "confessional", but there's just a lot goin on.
Yesterday I attended a funeral for a 2 month old baby boy. He died from SIDS last Thursday. His mom & 3 siblings go to my church. I hadn't met him yet cuz they hadn't been back since he's been born. He was wrapped up in a blanket, with a beanie, laid in a woven basket. He was so cute, just like his older sisters & brother. His name was Harrison Scott. What can you say to a greiving mother? I asked her if I could come visit her Thursday to pray with her. That's all I know how to do in a situation like this. I'm not a very good cook, and I'm not very eloquant with words, but I can pray. No parent should ever have to experience that. Thank God she does have a strong faith in the Father, because that's the only thing (I think) that's getting her through this tough time. I'm sitting here crying just thinking about it... a young, innocent life, with so much potential, so much hope... gone, so quickly. The only comfort is that we know he's in heaven, and as Robin, our Pastor said so kind and lovingly, we know he's resting in the loving arms of Jesus. I just can't stop thinking about it. I've certainly been holding, hugging, touching, and kissing my own kids more often.

My husband has (technically) been unemployed since August. We were alright until Christmas, then our tax return bailed us out, and now, we're in the red, rackin' up debt, getting further and further behind. It is so frustrating to see him suffer from depression for 3 months, and then come out of it, and be doing ok, but not go back to work. Excuses, distractions, fear, more excuses, on and on. I've offered to find a full-time job and let him stay home and run the house, but that's no good.

Do you know how fast 3 kids can make a mess? I set out with a specific mission of cleaning up my house really well, I guess a "spring-cleaning" mission, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't win.

So, I'm having a hard time, feeling very frustrated, low, tired, worn out, unappreciated, like I'm just floating along, trying to make it through the end of the day, just so I can go to bed. Bedtime is the highlight of my day. That's pitiful.

Then I think about a gift I've been given. A gift that I first openly recieved one night in October, 1998. No matter how bad I think things are, for me, or the people around me, Jesus had it much, much worse. and he knew how bad it was gonna be, before he did it, but he did it anyway because he had a purpose. He loves me, and he loves you, and he loves Wilma & Harrison & Tony, and he was beaten and bruised and hung on a cross and died for me and you because he loves us all that much. He did it for us because he wants to be with us for all of eternity. This life is so quick, so minor, so insignificant in so many ways, but the gift of life with Jesus is eternal. That's all that matters.

So, chin up, keep on goin, it'll get better. Love your loved ones (and even the unlovely ones) and don't ever be scared to tell someone that God is getting me through this day.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.

It's SCARY!

To think of what things will be like IF Obama gets elected. To cut to the chase, let me send you to Stephanie's blog (see sidebar) please read "Take the time to read". She has all the important links to have a better background on the subject. She's a good researcher. My thing is that BO was interviewed by Hannity & Colmes on FNC, and his only (quite pitiful) defense was that "he never heard sermons like that on any of the Sundays he was there." Well, gee, Barack, you must not have very good attendance over the past 20 years! I'm sorry, but someone who preaches that much hate is not filled with the Holy Spirit that I know. The highlights I've been seeing on the news are probably just the tip of an iceberg of lots more things that are highly disagreeable to the average American, no matter what color you are. A good friend of mine asked me just the other day what I thought of him, and we were definetely on the same page of fear and disgust in our feelings towards him. Today the news has been reporting that this will all blow over because "Reverend Wright" is retired and no longer on BO's campaign committee, but here's my big problem with that: at another point in the H&C interview, Barack said that he's known RW for so long, and is so close to him, that he thinks of him more like an Uncle than a counselor. Um, isn't that worse news?

On a side note, I guess I got down on blogging because my site meter has been reporting that NO ONE visits. But when someone told me in person about something they read on my blog, that was very encouraging! So when I read Steph's page, instead of leaving a comment on her blog, and sort of leaving it there, I wanted to continue the train of thought on my blog.
So who's out there, who's reading, and what do YOU think?!

Mom...

Here's a question posed by my 7yo that made me laugh.
"Mom?" "Yeah?" "When I get married, if my wife dies, can I get another one?"

I had to contain my laughter before I told him I guess it would be ok.

The other day he told me he wanted to trade Kaylee for Emily. (A girl in his 1st grade class.) Then he said, "wait, no, cuz then I can't marry her."
He cracks me up!

Good Grief!

It's been a while. I can't believe Kanye was my last post. We've been passing around the flu, then thinking we were over it, but not really, etc.
The Oscars was nice, I'm glad the writer's strike is over, looking forward to new episodes of 30 Rock. Last weeks SNL was pretty good. I liked the spoof of Rock of Love 2. I can't believe that is a real (actual) show. CRAZY! On American Idol, I'm lovin the David's; David Archuleta, David Cook & David Hernandez. For the girls, Syesha, Asia'h (what's up with that spelling?) and Carly. I don't think Asia'h did so great this past week with "All by myself", but she's good. I would have much rather seen Amanda Overmeyer go home instead of Alexandrea, but oh well. I don't like Danny, I think he's this years Sanjaya.
We just started indoor soccer season, so we're running around a lot with the boys on 2 different teams, different practice times, different game times, back & forth to AUM, it sucks, but they like it.
Our puppy's still cool, except for when he decides to BOLT out the door when we're trying to go somewhere, and takes off down the street. Lastnight, he came across the room in half a second when I opened the door to go get something out of the car, took off, me & Ant had to chase him down, and he literally ran circles around us in the neighbors front yard til I decided I was tired of chasing him, and I wanted to go home. Me & Ant headed for the house and Buddy came right up behind us and went straight in. (That never worked the other 4 times he ran out.)
Enjoying the warmer temperatures, looking forward to spring!
That's an update on us, in case anybody out there is reading besides Stephanie.
My site meter is not working, because according to that, no one has ever visited my site, and obviously that's not right because I've had comments since then.
Have a good week!

Kanye West

gets on my nerves! His tribute to his mom last night on the Grammy's was touching, but he is still an egotistical, proud, boastful sum. Since we have the flu at my house, I was holding the bed down last night cruisin' through the channels, going back and forth, by commercial prompt, of course, between the Grammy's, EMHE, Nat Geo & Animal Planet. I caught several really good performances on the music awards show that I quit watching several years ago because the music sucked so bad. But with the 50th anniversary and all, they did it up pretty good last night. The best performance, in my opinion, was an orchestra featuring Jazz great Herbie Hancock & some Asain kid named Lang Lang playing Rhapsody in Blue. ANYWAY, kudos to Vince Gill, who kinda called Kanye out. He was just smiling enough to pull it off in a kind-hearted appearing way. OK, so of course, I can't find a clip to embed here, so I gotta tell you, Ringo Starr & another Brit I forget presented Vince with the Country Music album of the year or something, and when he got up there he said, "Wow, I just got an award from a Beatle." (pause) "You done that yet, Kanye?" So you go, Vince! Put them young, foolish, arrogant rappers in there place!
And just wondering, isn't Amy Winehouse stuck in London cuz she's in rehab? How the heck did she win the most awards last night? Whatever...

Super Tuesday!

Wow, what a media frenzy! Even BBC America is devoting 5 hours airtime tonight to cover everything. You guys know who I support, but the most important thing is to go out and VOTE! This is probably the closest race of our lifetimes, so far. So no matter who you support, go VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Vicariously you shall live!

Our new puupy is great....but....couldn't he have come potty-trained? and WHY can't my 3 yo understand that if you squeeze his neck or pull his tail or put your fingers in front of his mouth, that he WILL BITE?!?! What is his obsession with tearing up, ripping or shredding paper products? He doesn't dig outside in the dirt, but he tries to dig a hole in the bed before he lays down. What's up with that?







Our new puppy is great! We love him already, and like I said previously, he's spoiled rotten. He loves to sleep in my lap when I'm in the lazy boy watching football (or anything on TV, I guess) and he prefers to be under the covers in the bed at night. First time he did that it freaked me out. He finds a fold in the comforter, sticks his long nose in it, and heads down the bed, to around knee-level. When he runs through the living room, it sounds like he weighs 50 pounds, hence the name suggestion from my 'other-mother' of Thumper. Then when he runs through the kitchen, we hear his little claw-taps. He is great. The first paragraph is just new-puppy-frustrations that I'm sure everyone faces. Truth is, we all are very grateful to finally have a dog.
My hubby grew up with lots of dogs throughout his adolescent years, I think about a dozen, several of which were named Blackie. I got a kitty on the first day of kindergarten, Samantha, who passed my senior year, and I got a cocker-spaniel, Charlie, in 2nd grade who passed when I was, like 22.
After our oldest was born, we found out when he was about 10 months old, that he is allergic to peanut butter (scary story for another time). Then when he was about 18 months old, we thought we found out he was allergic to cats & dogs. Later on, by process of elimination, we now know he's very allergic to cats, but not dogs. So, for about 3 years now, we've been talking about getting a dog, but then we had Kaylee, so after she turned 2 we kept saying that after she was potty-trained we'd get a puppy (to potty train).
I thought I'd found the perfect puppy back in June when my BF told me about a friend of hers at church that got a mini-pin mix from the pound, got her home, and found out she was pregnant from a pug. I thought that would make a pretty cute mix. I anxiously told my husband about them, but he wasn't interested. When the puppies were ready to go home, I thought if the one I liked came over for a spend-the-night-trial, Tony would fall in love with it, and let us keep it. Now, I don't usually use the word 'wise' to describe my husband, but in hindsight, it is very appropriate for this situation. We had the puppy over at our house for about 2 hours, it was very sweet, pooped outside, slept in it's box, played a little bit, presented itself as a good little puppy. But my husband kept telling me it wasn't the right puppy for us, we weren't ready yet, we would find something better when we took our time to look, etc. And, yes, I'm gonna say it, he was...right (write that one down, honey!). I made a puppy-mention again before Christmas, and I was very surprised to hear, "Yeah, I was thinking about it too, I think we're ready now."
~Sidenote here~ Thank you, thank you, thank you for autosave!! I was this far when my computer fraze & had to be restarted! You'd be getting a much shorter version of the story if this draft hadn't been saved!~
Anyway, we looked in the bulletin board, found a breeder in Troy, and it happened to be the day of our anniversary when we went to get him. We're joking about filling out his CKC registration papers with the proper name of Melchizedek Methuselah Oswald, puppy name Buddy. Nah...
I hear heavy rain outside! Praise the Lord! Lake Martin's only 4 feet away from normal now, so bring it on!

Our Little Buddy

We got our first family dog on our 9th anniversary, a week before Christmas. We have finally given up trying to pick a name all 5 of us agree on, so we're calling him "Buddy" because that's what we called him while we were trying to decide on a name. He is a 4 month old black & tan dachshund. My 8 yo wanted to name him Slim, Winston, or Chester. My 7 yo wanted to name him Biscuit, Smokey or Stretch. My 3 yo would go with whatever the new idea was for the day. I wanted to name him Oscar. My husband wanted to name him Blackie. So, he's our little Buddy. He's already spoiled rotten.

Firstborn

When I was pregnant with my first child, I thought I could eat everything I wanted to. So I did. And it showed. He was born in July, amist sweltering heat, so ice cream everyday was a must. My pre-pregnancy weight was 135. When I was admitted into the hospital, I weighed 218! YIKES! is right.
Everything went well during the pregnancy, except my dr did repeatedly tell me to slow down the weight-gain. I was due on Friday, July 9th. That afternoon, I went walking up & down the street at my "other-mother's" house, and that didn't work. Needless to say, I was miserably fat & SWOL. Went to bed that night, disappointed that nothing had happened, woke up at 4am, yes, of course, to pee, and realized that my water had broke. I whispered to my husband, "honey, I think my water broke...should we go to the hospital?" He said, "well, are you in labor?" I said, "no, I don't think so, but, aren't we supposed to go to the hospital?" All I could remember hearing in parenting class was, "Don't come to the hospital before your contractions are 5 minutes apart!" and "If your water breaks, don't take a bath!" So I walked back to my 'rents room (very long story about a crazy landlord) and whispered to my Mom, "Mom?" she answered in a low voice, "Yeah?" I said, "I think my water just broke" she answered in a loud voice, "Let's go!" She was up and dressed in the blink of an eye. I got dressed, got my hubby up, headed to the hospital, and was admitted right away.
It was slow goings from there. They gave me 12 hours to go into labor on my own, and when that didn't happen, they started me on pitocin. When that kicked in, around midnight, I got my epidural, then around 6am I was ready to push. I didn't go through the cliche pushing scene of yelling and screaming and blaming my husband and stuff, I just breathed & pushed. It was going fine until the dr said, "He's stuck at the shoulders, I can't get him out." Um, what? He's stuck? Get him out! Get him out! So they laid me down flat and just pulled as hard as they could, I guess. Pretty traumatic for the little fella. Dr Korey said, "We've got a line-backer! Where's he gonna play?" My husband & I answered in unison, "Bama!" then he was cleaned off & laid on my chest.
A few minutes later, we found out that he weighed 10 pounds, 1 ounce. Then a little while after that, we found out that he broke his collar bone during delivery. He recovered quickly from that and was a great baby. The nurses put his portable crib next to a little 5-pounder, and let me tell you, that was a funny sight.
He was a good baby and grew up to be a good kid. I was in for a real shock when I thought my second son would be just like him. Maybe another post, though.

Where you at?

How sweet! A faithful checker has posed the question 'cuz it's been a whole week since my last post. Truth is, Monday morning I was all poised and ready to boo-hoo and complain about the Packers losing on Sunday, but I checked Steph's blog first, and learned the sad, tragic news about Bronner Burgess. Needless to say, that sort of thing changes your perspective real quick.
So, this week I've just been floating around, listening to news about Rick & Bubba, Heath, Britney, (the whole "British-accent-possible-split-personalities-thing" fascinates me) and not really knowing where to focus.
I'm wondering if having a blog that could potentially reach lots of people brings a certain responsiblity for me to spread the gospel. The fact that I love my husband very much, but have to watch him suffer from depression from time to time is not something that I talk about a whole lot, but I know I'm not the only one out there who has to deal with that kind of situation. So maybe I should write (type) about that. I have 3 wonderful children and I often don't feel like the best parent in the world (or even house, sometimes) and I know that's something I'm not alone in dealing with. Every mother (well, most every mother) likes to share their stories of childbearing. Those of you who know me would probably never have guessed my first child weighed in at 10 pounds, 1 ounce.... yeah, that's a cool story. We just got a new puppy for Christmas, I think we're gonna call him "Buddy" because we can't decide on a real name.
See, total lack of focus!!
Someone let me know what they would like my next topic to be, and I'll hit the ground running with the first recommendation.
Ready, set, reply!!

We got

SNOW!
I know it doesn't look like much to some, but down in Bama, to 3 young kids, it equates to "the best day of my life... ever!"

Sky Angel Cowboy

If you've never seen (heard) this, get the kleenex ready!
This was a call-in radio conversation from a 13 year-old boy named Logan who lives on a farm in Nebraska.
Talk about wisdom beyond your years...

Just another reason why....

I like Mike Huckabee.

TO's Tears

Who is he trying to convince? Is he going for an Oscar for best supporting player in an athletic role? He's shown himself to be a talented smack-talker, but c'mon, tears? During his years as an eagle I often criticized him for not being able to back up all that talk, but he has proven himself quite well this year. I do commend him on his note-writing skills, showing that he is capable of holding his tongue on occasion, but this is just too much drama queen!
The guys at Sports Center have done a nice job all week long of standing up for Romo's weekend getaway with Jessica, frequently stating that if they were to in fact, lose, it would not be because he chose to bask in the sun in Cabo. So I think we didn't need all the waterworks.
I'm pickin' the Packers all the way! I'd love to see them take down the Pats! (Sorry, Jeff! :)

We all need

A good laugh!

My Grandma

Lillian, or Ms Lil, is in need of prayer. Here she is on our trip to Gulf Shores this past August. She just turned 85 in October, and uses a walker due to a break in her leg 2 years ago, but as you can see, she's still very active.
She has osteoporosis and has recently been in a lot of pain, and the dr has found a compression fracture in her spine. She has decided to have a surgery that will inject a sort of cement into her vertabrae to solve the problem and releive the pain. Please lift her up for comfort & healing. Thanks!

Dr. Phil

visited Britney in the hospital last week, and then had the GALL to tell ET that she needs serious physcological intervention. This is news? The rest of the Spears family is upset because Mom Lynn asked him to visit her with the idea that he would not bring the media into it. Is Dr. Phil the only person on earth who thinks Britney needs to get some help? The spokesperson for Jaime, Lynn & Jamie-Lynn Spears was on the today show and she made an excellent point (which most of us already realize) that our society unfortunately, for the most part, is facsinated with watching a family deteriorate, rather than rally around them. So she basically came on the today show and asked for prayers for Britney and the family. Now, I don't know about you, but I've heard it before and honestly, been a little heartless about it. The truth is, she's a mother of two who's losing a mental battle in her own mind, and in the meantime, losing her chances of raising her boys. She does need prayer, and we're not here to judge. So, I know it may sound silly to ask for prayers for a celebrity-paparazzi-darling, who has been very open and deliberate about a lifestyle of flagrant sin, but it is what we're here for. I think our initial reaction (or at least mine) should be one of intsant intercession instead of a shrug, an eye roll, and a quick dismissal as being the norm.

"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Ph 2:12

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Ja 5:16

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." Is 45:22

I thought this was funny.

Premiere Post

Following the advice & encouragement of a fellow blogger, I have decided to start my own. I think I'd kind of like to try little devotionals and antecdotes about my kids. Plus I love crazy, creative & strange stuff on the internet like this. I hope you will enjoy!