Rick and Bubba

My husband listens to the Rick and Bubba show on the radio. I was sad to hear that Rick's 2-yr-old son, Bronner drowned Saturday. I listened on the radio this morning as they played Rick's speech from his son's Memorial Service this past Tuesday. I was amazed to hear what he had to say about this precious little boy and his death. I don't think I'd be able to speak at my own child's funeral service much less with the passion and strength Rick spoke with! This is worth sharing with all those you love. (It is a 3-part video)

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
1 Thessalonians 5:10

Dumb & Dumber (follow-up)

If you missed my previous post about Dumb & Dumber you might want to catch up on that before reading this follow-up story. I was referring to a friend of ours, Bob who has two brothers who fight like crazy.

Last time I posted, Dumb was sitting in jail and Dumber was furious at Bob for trying to help Dumb out so Dumber was trying various legal tactics to seek revenge on Bob. Craziness I tell ya!

So today the whole circus group arrives at the court house for their day in court. I went along as a character witness for my friends - turns out though Dumber made enough of an a$$ of himself on his own that my friends didn't need any character witnesses for themselves. All charges were dropped against Dumb and he was given permission to live at Bob's house. The judge threw out everything and told Dumber & wife that they needed to stop the foolishness. The funny thing was, the more Dumber spoke, the people in the courtroom started getting ticked off at him and telling him to Grow Up, Get A Job, Quit Being Stupid and various other comments. I kept waiting for the judge to call order in the court!

As I stood in the hallway talking to Bob & Sue afterwards several people passed by (who had been in the courtroom) and told Bob & Sue how sorry they felt for them with all the craziness going on between Dumb and Dumber...and they sincerely hoped things would get better for all involved.

Tattoos

I can remember growing up as a child and thinking that tattoos were only for men who were in the military. Those were the only people I knew that had them. When I was in my 20's (and going to nightclubs) some of my women friends I hung around with started getting them. I was always shocked and couldn't believe they were doing that to their bodies! In my 30's (I was now in church full-time) - a few of the women I knew at church went out and got tattoos. WHAT!? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Women just don't do that...especially NOT church women!

Two years ago, my twin daughters upon turning 18 yrs old, went and got identical tattoos on their hips. The meaning behind their tattoos was really sweet. Hmmm, that's kind of neat. I like that. Could I be changing my mind about these artistic works of art? Nah, I wouldn't go that far!!

(I did tell Greg next time I go see both my daughters together I want to get a henna tattoo painted across my lower back and not tell the girls and see how long it takes them to recognize it! Now THEY would just die if I showed up with a tattoo!! LOL)

For all you tattoo lovers out there, here is a Tattoo Design place where you have access to unlimited designs and can print out what you like to take it to the tattoo parlor.

The Carlton Dance

I love watching Nick at Night! This is what I watch before I go to bed everynight. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and George Lopez are my two favorite shows!!
Carlton cracks me up...

Letting Go

Today I spent some time on the phone with my very best friend, CJ, listening to her and crying with her as she talked about the last 3 days since I've seen her. I haven't seen her since Saturday night at 11:00 pm when we were both at the hospital with her boss of 20 years - an elderly gentleman named Gordon who was 77 years old. Gordon & CJ have a very special relationship. Up until the last couple of weeks Gordon was not saved and CJ, being the strong Christian woman she has always been, has spent the last 20 years praying for Gordon and loving him and being there for him through all of his trials and tribulations when he had nobody else to turn to. Gordon, in turn was like a father to CJ...and a year ago when she and her husband decided to adopt a baby boy, Gordon's heart began softening and his crusty bitter exterior began to melt the more he hung around with his "adopted" grandchild.

I had the privilege this last year of working with Gordon on several occasions and he loved to talk and tell me stories from his past. He was such an interesting man. He began having some health problems about six months ago and he has been in and out of the hospital constantly. CJ has been there for him and had taken over the role of his caregiver.

When we left Saturday night they had just given him a sleeping pill for the night so he could get some rest. The hospital called CJ early Sunday morning and told her he wasn't going to be around much longer and she needed to come back up there. He kept hanging on until she finally gave him permission to "leave" around 5:00 pm Sunday afternoon...for the last year she has called him every morning as soon as she wakes up and he answers with "Yes, I'm still alive." She said the last two mornings have hit her hard when she goes to get the phone to call him and she realizes he is gone. She has a peace about one thing though....my sweet friend prayed her cranky old boss into heaven - he DID accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior a few weeks ago so she knows she'll be seeing him again one day.

The Little Car that Could

Until March of last year, Greg and I only had one vehicle. I have been a stay-at-home mom for a long time and this wasn't something we needed. If I ever needed the car, I would take him to work so I could use the car for the day...other than that I'm home all the time. Dakota and I are pretty much homebodies so this worked for us.

My daughter, Tina had a car given to her by her grandparents when she started driving. It was a '91 Toyota Corolla. The exterior didn't look all that great but it served its purpose for her while she was living here. Last March when she moved to San Diego with her husband she decided it wasn't worth it to take the car out there - she really didn't think the car would make it all the way anyway - so she gave me the car. I've been driving it now since April 2007 - when I got the title transferred over.

Today I think my little car has seen its last trip. Greg & I drove separately to church today because he wanted to leave straight from church to go watch the Playoff games at a guy's house. I had a mission trip meeting after church so it was almost 1:00 by the time Dakota and I got out of there and we were starving! We were headed to Wendy's to grab some lunch before going home when I realized I didn't think I had my money/credit cards, etc on me....I had put them in my pocket last night when I was out and when I got home I set them in my ring box and I didn't remember picking them up this morning.

I told Dakota we were going to have to go home and try to find something to eat there (which, by the way, there is NOTHING to eat here - I desperately need to go grocery shopping next payday!) All of a sudden I remembered I had a gift card in my purse that our family had received for Christmas. It was to Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, or Red Lobster - all of which are clear across town, about 30-45 mins from our house. I asked Dakota if he wanted to go to one of those restaurants and he chose Red Lobster - he LOVES fried shrimp. We had a wonderful lunch and great conversation over lunch!

We get in the car to leave and upon starting the engine, it starts shaking and sounds terrible!! Oh great! It was a longggggggg drive home. I had to drive 40-45 mph the whole way and I tried to take as many back roads as I could so as not to have to stop at red light after red light because it seemed when I stopped, the whole car shook, rattled and rolled so hard I was just waiting for it to BLOW UP! Dakota kept saying "Let's just call daddy and get out of this car!" I knew Greg was at the game and probably wouldn't answer his phone so that option was out. I called my mom to see if she could come meet us but she had an appt she was headed to. She told me to call my dad - but he has a little 2 seater truck and the 3 of us REALLY can't fit in there so I told her I would use him as a last resort. I just started praying fervently for God to get me home (please!!) and I would park the car and kiss it goodbye. LOL
I told Dakota to sit back and be quiet because I was already stressed to the max and didn't need his worry and carrying on to add to my stress, um - concentrated effort to get home safely. :-)
The closer we got to the house the more that poor car shook and the slower it drove...but most lights were green allowing me to breeze right on through...and we made it safely home.
Praise God and Thank you Jesus!

Never Doubt The Boy

Dakota, my 11-yr-old has this saying he likes to throw at us alot! - "Never doubt the boy!" This got started several years ago because he has the most amazing sense of direction and has been able to find his (our) way around new towns and cities after being there just a day or two. Ever since he was 3-4 yrs old he's been able to point out the directions home...which way to turn, which road to take now, etc. Needless to say as WONDERFUL as this has been it also comes with a downfall - his big head!! LOL

Anytime we are bantering back and forth over which way we should go he will be right 8 out of 10 times - and he loves to "beat" me, or Greg, or my parents....whatever adult he has just given the correct directions to. So now when he is right about ANYTHING, not just directions, he'll say "C'mon, let me hear it..." and we say "yeah, yeah, we know Never Doubt the Boy!"

Thursday night my mom, Dakota and I had just left Wal-Mart and we were stopping at Home Depot to pick up one last thing before heading home. We were in my mom's caravan. She pulled up and parked and she & I both jumped out of the front seats and shut the doors. We walked to the front of the van and turned around to wait for Dakota....who was lingering at his side door while closing it. I said "c'mon Dakota, let's go!" - we had been gone all day and I was ready to get what we needed and go home. He said "um, Mimi, your van is making a weird noise...like shhhhhhhhhhhhh...sounds like air is coming out of your tire."

Again I repeated, "well, c'mon, let's go! It's probably just the car sitting next to you that you hear - they have their engine running.

He says, "mom, I KNOW what that sounds like...this is like air coming out of your tire really fast." Mom and I just started laughing and she said "Dakota, if air was coming out really fast my tire would have blown - it doesn't happen like that"

We go in the store, get what we need and head back outside. At this point I notice a young couple parking next to us and the young guy gets out of his SUV and starts looking at my mom's van...down at the tire. We get closer to the van and he says "Is this your vehicle?"

Uh-oh! Gulp! "Yes, it is, why?"

His response "Well, you have a major flat tire over here and it's still losing air - you can hear it coming out."

Dakota looks at us and says "Ah-ha!! What do you say?? Let me hear it?? Altogether now??"

We know!! NEVER DOUBT THE BOY!

Choosing Sides

The hubby and I have a couple of friends (a married couple - we'll just call them Bob & Sue) - they are really getting smacked around by life right now...they are getting it from every which way. A couple of their problems deals with their extended family. I've been spending time with Sue, comforting her, listening to her and offering advice when solicited. When the guys get together my husband just listens to Bob, never offering advice or anything. His "advice" is always to just stay out of it whereas I believe there is a time when one should step in and "help"
Here's two of the most recent situations our friends are dealing with...

1. Sue's parents have been married almost 60 years! (Wow!!) Sadly, she has suspected her father of having affairs or even another family somewhere but her mother has never said or done anything about it until recently. The last couple of months her mother has started putting some things together and is now suspecting it and is very distraught over this and calls Sue all the time, crying, asking for her help in catching him so she can confront him. Sue is not sure what to do. She loves both her parents and even though she is angry with her dad, she is fearful for her mom because her mom has no life outside of her dad....she is "old school" and he is her life. Yet right now she is miserable and unhappy and doesn't want this to continue. I've encouraged Sue to help her mom hire a private detective if she doesn't feel comfortable herself catching her dad in the act. Sue is a Christian, whereas her father isn't and she's not really sure about her mom....but Sue knows this lifestyle is wrong. My husband & I actually argued about this last night because he thinks Sue should stay out of it. It's not her problem. It's her parents problem and they need to work it out. I told him I felt like Sue's mom was reaching out to Sue because she has no friends, no church family, no husband (because he is cheating on her!) no other family...who else is she going to get help from?? Why shouldn't Sue help her?!
2. Bob has two brothers (Dumb & Dumber) who are at each other's throats...constantly! They literally want to kill each other. They have hated each other for years and years and years. The youngest brother and his wife (Dumber) have constantly used whatever legal means/lies/manipulations they could use to keep the middle brother (Dumb) in jail or tied up in court for the last 10 years! It is insane! Dumb is homeless because he has lost everything having to pay for court and probation fees so many times, etc. Well - get this--he was just arrested again last week because Dumber & wife have a restraining order against him and they actually staged a time where Dumb was working outside Bob's house and Dumber's wife got within the 500 feet distance of Dumb (prohibited by the restraining order) and then they snapped a photo!! They called the police the next night and the police arrested Dumb!!!! He is STILL sitting in jail. No amount of talking on Bob's part could convince the police that this was staged...Dumb wasn't doing anything wrong. The police said "let the judge decide." Bob tried to explain to the police "but don't you understand? Dumb is already homeless! If you arrest him, that is just racking up more court costs and attorney fees for something he didn't do!!! AND he is going to keep looking like a repeat offender." I was suggesting to Bob how he could help by going down to the courthouse and pulling the records and looking at what all has been said against Dumb that keeps getting him thrown in jail and then speaking on his behalf...yada yada yada....and my husband said "why should he do anything...it's not his problem, he needs to stay out of it"

GRRRRRRR, so tell me readers, out of curiosity.....what's your advice?

7 Weird Things About Me

My blog friend, Miss Sniz, tagged me for this WEIRD meme.

The rules are as follows: Simply link to the person who tagged you. SHARE SEVEN WEIRD things about yourself. Tag SEVEN bloggers to do the same AND include a link to their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged and finally post the rules on your blog.

1. I love it when Dakota brushes my hair and pulls my (few) gray hairs out for me. It's so relaxing to me and I'm sure he gets a thrill at yanking, umm, I mean gently pulling my hair out.
   
2. My favorite "sinful" sandwich is white chocolate peanut butter and marshmallow creme on wheat. Add a banana to the mix and I'm in Heaven!!
   
3. I detest the smell of raw meat and I don't want to look at it in the grocery store. If the family wants it for dinner they have to buy it. I'll cook it IF they buy it.
4. I have no problem standing on a stage and speaking in front of large groups of people and being the center of attention IF I'm in charge of an event or organizing something...but if I am just supposed to show up and make idle small talk with a large crowd of people it is extremely hard to do and 9 times out of 10 I'll talk myself out of going (or I'll make myself physically ill! LOL)
5. I have slept with a "little pillow" since I was a little girl...when my little pillow starts looking too bad I replace it with a new one because I HAVE to hug a little pillow to my chest while I sleep. I carried 2 of them with me to Brazil this last year! :-)
6. For some people this may seem weird - and I am having a problem thinking of 2 more "weird" items so here's #6 - I LOVE being at church anytime the doors are open - no matter what's going on. Dakota and I are always there!
7. I rarely drink anything but water, occasionally a glass of unsweet tea or orange juice, but mostly just water all day.

Okay, guess that's it! Now, let's hear from some other people out there. I'm only tagging 6 instead of 7 though....Binx, Monica, Erin, Sandy, Becky, and last but certainly not least (and because I can't wait to see what INTERESTINGLY WEIRD things HE'LL come up with!) I am tagging Miss Sniz's hubby Big Doofus.

Resolutions?

Here it is January 9th, 2008 and I've yet to put down any "resolutions" on paper. Traditionally I don't make resolutions. I like to call them Goals for the New Year or an "action plan" so to speak. But the last few weeks I've been in a funk I can't quite shake. I'm actually having a hard time concentrating on anything for very long and I've been very moody and angry lately.

I started writing in a personal journal this morning and it felt good to get some feelings out on paper where I could go back and read them later. I don't think I've been spending enough time alone with God lately and my attitude is beginning to reflect that.

With that said though I will go ahead and post some of my goals for this year:

1. continue working towards getting out of debt
2. raise all my money for my mission trip to Brazil in June (without my husband's help)
3. get to Hawaii to see my daughter and her family
4. continue growing an online business
5. GIVE more for all I have belongs to the Lord!

Peace...

I Am Legend

Greg had plans to go bowling with his co-workers late Saturday afternoon for a belated Christmas party. Right after he left the house a friend of mine called to see what I was doing and to see if I wanted to catch a movie. I just happened to be free since Greg & Dakota were both gone so we decided (my choice) to go see "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. I like Will Smith as an actor and have enjoyed his movies in the past.

We were racing the clock trying to get to this movie by 5:15 so I didn't have time to look it up online to see what it was about or anything. She beat me to the theater and purchased my ticket before I got there. We got about 1/3 of the way into the movie and realized we had made a HUGE mistake! This was definitely not our type of movie!! It was a very scary, suspenseful movie that kept us jumping through most of it. Neither one of us like these types of films. I was extremely disappointed in this movie!

After the movie we walked next door to a Mexican restaurant and ate dinner....and calmed our fluttering hearts! Lol

Dakota's Ski Trip

My youngest made it home in one piece last night! He had a great time on his first ski trip AND his first time staying away from home like that without us. He did say though that he didn't like skiing - it was too hard. He loved tubing and ice skating, but he can live without the skiing. LOL I'm proud of him for trying it and getting through the ski school at least!

Pcola Moms Night Out

Had another great night out with my pcolamom friends last night! There were almost 40 ladies who showed up! We met at McGuire's Irish Pub/Restaurant for dinner first then a group of them continued on to a club for dancing. I continued on to the Krispy Kreme drive-thru for doughnuts and then home. LOL Greg was asleep by the time I got home around 11:00 so he didn't get to hear all my stories. I was forced to lay there quietly and watch tv for an hour or so until the excitement wore off and I could fall asleep.

Me and one of the other ladies - Marybeth

I invited one of my best friends, Mardi and my mom, Glenda, to join me for dinner.

This was the first table that filled up with 20 women. Behind that wall was my table, with another 20 women. We had a back room to ourselves - with this small wall dividing our tables.

I'm All Alone for a few days

As of 7:00 a.m. today my sweet Dakota has gone off on his first trip with the youth group from church - they are going skiing in NC for 3 days. This is new territory for him AND for me! I've always chaperoned everything my children have done...but it was different with my older children because they were all in public school and not homeschooled like Dakota is. He practically begged to go on this trip without me. I gave in and let him go. So what I have done with my first day without a child around?
Took the Christmas tree down CLEANED house with MY music blaring!! Tomorrow I'm tackling Dakota's room...mwhahaha

From the Mountains to the Beach

We arrived home from our mountain vacation in Gatlinburg, TN on Christmas Eve, spent Christmas day with family, repacked our truck and headed to the beach for a week. My dad owns a beach house (as a 2nd home) and since he spent Christmas in Branson, Missouri this year I asked him if we could stay in his beach house for the week.

My step-daughter came with us so it was Greg and I and the two kids. It was awesome!
We had rain a couple of days but the weather was basically nice and sunny. The kids were even able to go out in the canoe one day!


One thing they got the most enjoyment out of was feeding the birds! Greg went by the day-old bread store and bought a huge garbage bag of "day-old bird bread" - they sell it for $1.99 and it comes with about 20 loafs of bread in there. The kids went through all that bread in 3 days - feeding the seagulls, herons, pelicans, and Canadian geese that came up. I have video of the geese swimming up to the pier and eating out of their hands.

Slideshow of our time in Gatlinburg

Greg & I (along with our black lab) arrived in Gatlinburg, Monday 12/17 around 5:00 pm. We invited my mom and step-dad to join us for the week so Dakota rode with them in their van - they have the DVD player that he can hook up his xbox to and play games the whole trip up so makes for a great trip for him! They didn't arrive until about 1:00 a.m. Tuesday! Greg & I had an evening to ourselves - very nice!!

Most of the day Tuesday everyone rested from the 8-10 hour car rides the day before. I played games on my computer, got in the hot tub, took a nap, read a book and was just plain lazy all day long.

On Wednesday we went to the Arts & Crafts Loop which is an 8-mile drive through this community of arts & crafts stores/vendors. We saw about 1/8th of what there was to see!! We are going back in February for a Marriage Retreat with our church and I am scheduling this activity for one of the days! LOL

On Thursday we decided to go into the Smokey Mountain National Park and drive up to Newfound Gap and on over to Cherokee, NC where we ate lunch and did some shopping.

One of our favorite places to visit everytime we go to Gatlinburg is The Donut Friar.
It is a tiny little shop that has the absolute best donuts anywhere!! (Even better than Krispy Kreme!) My sweetheart got up around 6:00 am the first morning after we arrived and drove down the mountain into town and got some fresh donuts from this store....awwwww, these are just heavenly. After this, my mom and dad were hooked! We showed them where the store was and they went back themselves 2-3 times! LOL

We did a lot of walking around and shopping in the little stores around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge the week before Christmas. We were not really exchanging gifts with anybody this year except my dad/step-mom and my in-laws so we had to find gifts for them while we were out of town.

We attended one dinner show - Black Bear Jamboree. It was a fantastic show and the dinner was outstanding but I wasn't happy at all with the seating arrangments. I won't go back to that show again because of that!

The day before we had to leave - Greg, Dakota, Jet and I drove back into the Smokey's and over to Cades Cove for the day. Dakota wanted to go hiking but it was really too cold to hike to any of the waterfalls or anything so we figured he could get a look at all the old cabins and churches and be satisfied with what little bit of hiking we had to do to get to those places. He was pleased - he fell asleep on the way home! LOL

We drove home Christmas Eve...had an uneventful drive home, Praise God! I couldn't believe it was Christmas Eve and we were not out shopping (as was normally our custom!) It felt so odd to both Greg and I...like it wasn't really Christmas time, but we both agreed this was the best way to spend Christmas and we are definitely doing it again next year!!!

We are in Gatlinburg and it is so beautiful!

We arrived yesterday in Gatlinburg! It was 26 degrees last night! Wow, big difference from our home in FL - LOL. I researched cabins/chalets for 3 days before finally finding one that accepted large pets AND was within our price range. We had never rented a chalet before up here - we've always stayed in hotels - we weren't sure what to expect. When we got here we were THRILLED with the home!! Oh my goodness the view is AWESOME! There's a little bit of snow around the house but lots of snow on the mountains that we can see (our view). We are here for a week. Feels so good to just get away and relax.....

Blog Friends Award

I received an award! My first in this blog world and it came from my friend, Sniz, who never fails to crack me up with her witty blog! I've posted this award in my sidebar. Thanks Sniz!

Walmart Troubles

My daughter, Felicia, lives in Hawaii. She knows how much I love my black labrador retriever. For my birthday she wanted to give me a statue similar to this one with our last name engraved on the plaque instead of "Welcome". She ordered it from Walmart.com and had it sent to my local Walmart through the site to store shipping program they offer.

I received an email yesterday letting me know my order was ready to be picked up. In the email I see that I am getting a Labrador statue...14" tall but that's all I know at this point.

I go to the store to pick up my birthday gift and the salesclerk brings out this small box and proceeds to open it up and pulls out an engraved nameplate and looks at me and smiles. "Okay, that's nice...where's the rest of it?" I ask her

She says "This is the only box." So I said "Well, is there more in that box? Because on my paper right here it says there is supposed to be a 14" Labrador statue and I don't believe that will fit in that small box." She says "No this is all there is. You'll have to call Walmart's customer service to find out what happened to the rest of it."

WHAT?! EXCUSE ME?! Aren't YOU Wal-mart customer service??~~~I leave there with an 800 number to call. So on my way home I call this 800 number and it literally takes me 20 minutes to get through to a real live person!! By this time my temper is starting to simmer just below angry. I explain the situation to the customer service representative on the phone and after waiting a few minutes for her to access the order she tells me "Hmmm, it's showing online that this item is no longer available. I'm sorry, we are out of those."

I ask "Okay, what do you plan on doing about this." She says "Was there anything else you wanted to order?" I explain once again..."I didn't order this to begin with, it was a gift FOR me so I have no idea what's on your website." She says "Well if you have access to a computer perhaps you could find something else we could replace this with and we'll ship it to your home for free." I told her I would look at the website when I got home and see what I thought - I got her name and information and hung up the phone.

Once I got home and looked at their website I decided it was too much trouble to try and find something online when I could just go in the store and pick up something I wanted (I can always find something in the store! LOL)

So today after Dakota and I meet with our homeschool group at the park, we go into Walmart for me to get a refund. I go to Walmart's Customer Service (not to be confused with Walmart.com's customer service, mind you!) and am quickly told that since I only brought in the emailed paper that was good enough yesterday to pick up my package....and not the little receipt they handed me yesterday....they are unable to help me. I said "WHAT?! You can't use this order number and look this information up on your computer....like you did yesterday!?"

"No, ma'am. But you can go back to the Site to store area where you picked it up and see if they can help you?" I march back there and the same lady who "helped" me yesterday is back there and she remembers me but guess what? She can't help me either...BECAUSE...once I leave the store I have to have a receipt to get a refund. If I had just requested a refund yesterday while I was standing there instead of leaving the store and making that telephone call I could have eliminated all this aggravation. I told her this is the most ridiculous thing I've heard of...why on earth they would even ship the stupid thing without the rest of it is beyond me and now I have to make another trip back home and back to the store with the receipt....she started talking and apologizing and I just grabbed my box and walked off before I went off on her. I know it's not her fault but I was beyond angry and I was just about to be as un-Christlike as ever so right in the middle of her profusely apologizing I walked away.....

I really hate it when stores do stuff like this!

Pcolamoms

I have a job moderating an online forum in my community. It is called Pcolamoms. What began back in May 2007 as a way to earn some extra money from home has turned into a wonderful network of new friends that I've begun meeting with regularly.

For the first time in about 10 years I have friends outside of church and family. It's a strange feeling because my husband doesn't know who these women are and they are such a part of my everyday life now. I have a group I meet with once a month (or every other month) for "Ladies Nights Out". We try to go to a nice restaurant for dinner and just spend time relaxing and getting away from the husbands and kids for an evening.


Then there is another group I meet with every Tuesday for lunch. We try different restaurants around town. I have really begun looking forward to these lunches. We laugh and joke around so much!



The last (and my most favorite friendships so far) to come from this group is my fellow homeschooling moms....we started meeting every Thursday with our kids back in August at a park for the kids to just get together and play. The kids look forward to this as much as the adults do. They all get along so well. Last Thursday we had a Christmas party for the kids at the park. Lots of sweets and a gift exchange. They had a blast!






Most of these women are not women I would ever have "hung out" with had it not been for Pcolamoms and stepping out of my comfort zone because many of them are not Christians and a lot of them like to party...BUT we do have being a mom/wife/women in common and I have found that's enough of a commonality to get a relationship started. On this forum there have been deaths, sicknesses, problems with children, frustrations with spouses & family members, and all kinds of other problems...I have witnessed the strong bond of "sisterhood" in every situation and it's remarkable to me how all these women can join together and rally around each other in times of need when the majority of them have only been "friends" in a virtual world - yet they still rise to the occasion as if their dearest childhood friend were the one in need.

Back in the springtime I began to pray to God for Him to expand my boundaries...God is faithful...all the time. (My Christian sisters know what I am talking about) Praise God!

Christmas in FL

December 9, 2007
Pensacola Beach, FL
Temp was in the high 70's
Sun kept going in and out of clouds and it was a windy day but I would rather be here than anywhere on a day like this in December! We took these pictures at the beach today.

I'm 40!!

My birthday was yesterday - I turned 40 yrs old! I had a wonderful birthday celebration WEEK! I was taken out to lunch or had a party or something every day this week except yesterday (my actual birthday)...but that was okay because I was tired and wanted to rest during the day in anticipation of going out last night.

The morning started out wonderful with DH giving me a new DVD palmcorder (something I was totally not expecting) and a tripod/camera bag set (which is what I had asked for). The last few days he and my best friend CJ had gone back and forth about what we were going to do Friday night for my birthday. First I heard we were going out as couples, then I heard it had turned into a ladies night with just 2-3 of us, then I was told it may not happen at all. By the time last night rolled around I was VERY upset because Greg came home late from work and I couldn't get a hold of CJ and I didn't know what was going on.

I now know that was the "plan" all along! Let's just say I ended up walking out of the house as soon as Greg got home...none too happy with him...and in tears on my way to CJ's house. I was under the impression that because I had wanted to go bowling and Greg didn't want to go he had pawned me off on CJ and another friend so now it was just going to be the 3 of us going out instead of couples + Dakota (my son.) By the time I got to CJ's house I was ranting and raving and she & her hubby were just listening to me...being all sympathetic and saying "awww, we don't have to go out, you can go spend time with Greg."

LOL, I was saying "NO! If he doesn't want to be with me on my birthday then that's his choice...I'll celebrate without him. Guess it's not important enough for him. I've never done that to him!"

Well anyway we arrive (the 3 of us) at the Mexican restaurant and CJ tells the hostess "table for 3 please" and as she leads us to a booth I start to sit down and CJ turns around and starts walking away...and over to another set of tables where a group of my friends are sitting!!!

I was so shocked and overwhelmed! I couldn't believe they had done this. I was immediately horrified at my reaction to Greg and I told everybody right away "Oh my heart! I've got to call my husband!! I was sooooo ugly to him!" Of course they all got a huge laugh out of that! CJ starts telling everyone how mad I was and how she felt terrible and almost told me about the party...she felt so bad for Greg! My poor husband!

As soon as she "crowned me" and all that I called my dear Greggie and told him I loved him and thanked him. He told me to have a good time with my girlfriends...he and Dakota were going to have a "boy's night out."

After we finished eating and I opened gifts we went bowling. I had another friend meet me there - she couldn't make it in time to eat with us but she was able to come join us for the bowling. It was so much fun! I finally got home around midnight last night. I had the best birthday party ever with my gal pals!!

Really nice waitress

Dakota & I went to Jerry's Drive-In Restaurant yesterday after our homeschool Christmas party. He had never been there and I had only been there one time myself so I thought it would be a nice treat for him since I've heard they have Pensacola's BEST hamburgers and Dakota absolutely LOVES hamburgers!

After ordering our drinks, we start looking at the menu and only then do I see the sign on the menu that they don't accept credit/debit cards....only cash and checks. OH NO! You've got to be kidding me!? I NEVER EVER carry cash and I don't write checks. I quickly pull out my wallet and thank GOD I have a $10.00 bill in there...don't know where THAT came from? I tell Dakota our dilemma and the fact that we have already ordered our tea and coke which is $3.00 of our $10.00 available....if I had realized this 5 secs earlier we could have ordered water (grrrrr!) and he is looking at the menu and decides he wants a cheeseburger and cheese fries.

It turns out that Jerry's is pretty cheap so with our drinks and what he wants plus tax & tip it only came up to about 7.85 so we decided to stay and I let him order his food. I had nibbled on stuff at the party and wasn't as hungry as he was plus I'm not a red meat eater so nothing really enticed me here anyway. But when the waitress came to take our order and I told her what Dakota wanted she said "You don't want anything?" I said "no thank you...I didn't realize you guys didn't take credit cards and I'm limited on my cash so I'll wait til later." She said "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

His food came out within 5 minutes and when she brought it out she asked me if I would like some fries or something...her treat! I thought that was so nice of her. I declined though - I really wasn't that hungry and after seeing the huge portion of fries on my son's plate I knew he wasn't going to eat them all and I would be sharing with him! LOL

My Son Found His Christmas Spirit

This holiday season has been difficult. It has been the first holiday without my daughters around and I've realized how much I've truly missed them. We liked baking and shopping together; making gifts for people; doing charitable things throughout the season (Angel Tree, collecting coats for the homeless or blankets for nursing home patients)...we were always doing stuff together and it was great while it lasted - I praise God for the good times!
This picture of the girls was taken last Thanksgiving...in 2006.


Now it's just Dakota and I and my sweet little man is just that...a young boy growing away from his momma and NOT interested in the same stuff I'm in to. He hasn't been very much into Christmas this year. I've practically dragged him to the few "festive" things we have attended. I had decided I wasn't even going to decorate - if he didn't care, I didn't care and I wasn't going to bother with decorating (yeah, I know...real mature of me wasn't it?! LOL) We are leaving on the 17th to go to Gatlinburg, TN for the holidays anyway so I figured why bother?

That was until yesterday...
I had told Dakota Wednesday night on the way to church that after our Christmas party Thursday (with his homeschool group) I wanted he & I to go by the mall and pick a name off the Angel Tree and shop for the child whose name we choose. We had a lengthy discussion in the car because Dakota told me he didn't want to do that...I could do it by myself. To make a long story short - he didn't have a choice - and after our party yesterday we DID go to the mall and once he saw all those names on the tree I think something must have tugged his heart strings because he realized the "need" and wanted to help out then. He chose a boy the same age as himself and he had a great time shopping for the little boy!

While we were shopping, we were having such a good time and we came across these white Christmas trees - we both said "Oh, let's get one of these!!"

I let him pick out the decorations and much to my surprise - Dakota came home and pretty much put this tree up and decorated it by himself!! LOL I helped just a little - VERY little! After we were done, we ate pizza and watched two Christmas movies....what an awesome night we had!!

All time Favorite Christmas Movie

Thanks to a friend who found this video for me...I LOVE this movie!!

Weather Blues

Okay so I looked back over my blog because I thought I had posted about the "cold" weather setting in once already - well I was wrong! After that initial 1-3 day cold snap it warmed back up quite nicely and it has been in the 70's here.....BEE-U-TIFUL!
MY kind of weather
So yesterday I wake up with the AC on, wearing shorts and it's a gorgeous day until about 3:00 in the afternoon and the temperature starts to plummet!!
This morning I get up and Greg is turning off our fan (we keep on our dresser - mainly for "white noise")and cranking up the heater and I flip on the TV and it's like 22 degrees outside!!
I never understand how the temperature can drop so much in one 24 hour time span...it's no wonder our allergies go crazy here in FL!

Charlie Brown Christmas

I remembered to watch this tonight! Actually I forgot until one of my very good friends called me to tell me it was coming on TV. I have Snoopy as my background on my myspace page and I love the Peanuts gang! Since I very rarely watch TV, I never remember to look for when this is going to come on. This is so sweet....

40 years old this Friday

I'm going to be 40 years old this Friday. I've been okay with this. 40 isn't old! I look better now than I did at 30. I feel better about myself-- more confident, more secure.

So why the heck have I been so weepy the last week?? Oh my goodness it has been terrible! It finally donned on me though.....It's not that I'M turning 40...it's this time of the year and I no longer have little ones around to share the excitement of Christmas with.

Greg and I went to Cracker Barrel Saturday morning and there was a precious little boy and his momma eating breakfast together....he was probably 2 1/2-3 yrs old and as he walked by everyone's table he said "Bye" and waved. Just watching him made me start crying! THAT is what makes me sad about turning 40 this week - my children are grown and gone and I do so miss those days.

I love parties

At church, Greg and I attend a Sunday school class (called Group Life) which consists of people much older than ourselves. We like the spiritual maturity of this class and most of this class participates in mission trips - which is MY passion so I have a lot in common with many of the older people in my Group Life class. However, we also attend the Group Life fellowships of another class because these people are more our peers and the ladies I hang out with on a daily basis.

We went to this Class party Saturday night. It was so much fun!! We had a ton of food - everyone brought appetizers and desserts to eat - and we played the "Dirty Santa" game - we had male & female presents to pick from. This was the most fun of the entire evening. I just love going to parties!

Holiday Evening in Olde Seville Square - NOT!

Greg had to work late last night so Dakota and I attended the annual "Holiday Evening in Olde Seville Square" celebration in the downtown park. I haven't taken Dakota to this since he was a small child. He was in one of his "moods" last night - not wanting to stay home, but really not wanting to go to this event either. I was meeting a couple of my friends down there and he was mad because none of his friends were going to be there. I had tried to find one of his that could go with us but none were available.

We got there right as everything was starting. There were hundreds and hundreds of people there so it took us a few minutes to find my friends and set up our chairs. The local bagpipe band was playing Christmas music to begin with - they have such a neat sound to them!

Dakota sat between one of my friends and I, which was fine with me - I know he didn't want to be left out entirely of the conversations - but his behavior during the event continued to go south...along with my mood.

The whole evening consisted of different local bands performing Christmas music, the lighting of the huge park Christmas tree, the arrival of Santa Claus, and a local newscaster reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - but it's done in an audience-interactive way which is lots of fun! The evening ends with mass caroling by candlelight. This is all done downtown at the park so people bring tables and chairs and have picnics and dance and just have a really good time. Well, Dakota kept complaining about one thing after another and I finally had my fill of his attitude.

He knew when he had pushed me too far - I stood up and started packing up my chair and he asked me what I was doing. I told him to get his stuff, we were going home! He then begin to say "no, we don't have to leave, stop mom, don't pack up your stuff, we can stay. I don't want to leave...." as he tried to "help" me unpack my bag chair. I whispered ever so lovingly in his ear "you have embarrassed me for the last hour with your attitude and I am now ready to go...you have about 10 seconds to gather your belongings before I embarrass you in front of these hundreds of people like you've never been embarrassed before and I am angry enough to do it so don't try me!"

We rode home in complete silence...when he came in to kiss his daddy goodnight and tell him he loved him he looked at me and said "Good night MS. ELISA!"
Alas, today is a new day!