MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROW

There that pesky cat is again?! what ever shall we do with it? Good, you're awake... now find something constructive to do...

The Derby is ON man

The Pinewood Derby for our Pack was today. Josh was so excited. I had to be there a little early to get him registered since I didn't have time the night before... it was quite an exciting race. The Tigers went first and then my den went. Race after race after race... Luke was seriously kicking some bootie! Josh was third though... he did a GREAT job and this was his FIRST race and his car was done completely by him! :) I was quite proud. :) Here are some pics..

Josh and Luke (one of his best friends)


One of the heats


Josh's car getting 2nd and rearing up


Another of Josh's car takign 2nd


Taking 3rd place


The race for place


Top 4 winners in my Den

The Night Out

with my best friend Sarah... great company... great people... good food... no kids... Jagerbombs... any questions?

MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROW

Sometimes I feel the need to throw a superfluous sound in there just to make sure you're awake. :)

Party On Drew!

Today is going to be a busy day for the boys... I wake up and get a shower. I get two presents wrapped and ready to roll. I wake up Josh and Drew, hearing the noise, gets up and immediately we go into breakfast mode. Cereal followed shortly therafter by "I firsty" so he gets a glass of chocolate milk". Then we will clean off the table, get Josh ready and we are literally out the door. Thank God Andy would take Josh to the bithday party for one of his friends because a) I had no clue where it was and b) I'd have had to sit and entertain Drew while Josh was ice skating. Thank GOD he did that ... thank you Andy!!!!! Drew went to a birthday party for his best friend Austin at Pump It Up Grapevine. They had the most WONDERFUL time running and jumping and bouncing and such. I think Mr. Drew had a little TOO much time because when we went to the party room for pizza and drinks and such... he didn't want to eat... he didn't want to sit... he didn't want to stay. He told Austin happy birthday and gave him a hug and he said he wanted to go home and dtake a nap! My poor kid was TIRED!

So, home we went. Jonas Brothers tickets were on sale dudring this time but DAG NABBIT if the show didn'dt sell out in like SECONDS! Thankfully they added another date but we still just got nose bleed for those! Oh well...At least we got 'em! Lisa/Austin and Kary/Luke are going.

Then at 3, Josh and Drew and I went to Kary's house for Griffin's 5th birthday party -- what a fun treat that was. This woman just oozes creativity... just makes me sick I just like her so much! I just want to rub on her and hope some of that karma comes off on me too! Drew went through Jedi training and got a light saber... it was truly a hoot. Darth Vader made an appearance too. Kary was dressed up like Princess Leia... lea.... lia.. whatever her freakin name is, you get the drift! :) It was one of the best parties!

After we got home, Josh was treated to a Maverick's game with the Grahams for Austin's birthday (the party he was at earlier in the day). With Blue spikey hair and all (they were trying to make it on the big monitor but didn't) :( We need to buy him a wig I suppose. :) Paint him up like the blue man group or buy him one of those blue skin tight running suits! Ha ha ha ....that'd be a hoot.

Why did they do this to parents?

Christmas vacation JUST ended January 3rd and because some nutcase behind a job needed to make his mark on something, they screwed up a whole other set of holidays in our school calendar. Today Josh gets out at 12:15 p.m. and we go pick up Drew together. The boys are out of school tomorrow too (what do I DO with them?) Thank goodness Amy called and Jackson wanted Josh to come spend the night (woo hoo) so I'm saved.

We are now Derby Bound!

Today is the Pinewood Derby race workshop... we will be there designing and cutting a great car! Wish us luck!

The Spot Checker

I am a fair skinned woman who actually used to thought that I could get a tan. Whoever planted that seed in my brain really needs to have their head examined. I am not the tan goddess on the beach, I'm the WHITE one with FLAMES shooting off her shoulders, legs and abdomen. Yee gads!

But recently when a dear friend was diagnosed with skin cancer (and she's got beautiful skin, though tan -- but not burned -- beautiful skin... did I say beautiful skin?) When I was like... CANCER??? I swear the word echoed aloud inside the confines of my skull for what felt like eternity. I called that day trying to find a dermatologist to go get a full body exam just to make sure.

I go to the office, fill out my forms, sit and wait... see all the teens in their puberty with their acne coming in - so glad I never had to go through that.

i get called back to a room and a nurse comes in - and let me tell you - the man must have some kind of a sense of humor becuase it's an antique doctor's chair that you're supposed to sit on -- like an antique examining table... was beyond creepy... she just asks general questions... I answer..she says, remove everything to your bra and underwear and put this on open in the front. I'm like.. ok? Don't you even want to tell me your name since you're about to see me naked? Ugh...

I do as requested and then in walks Dr. Honadel. HE makes eye contact, asked what I was there for and without further adieu he was just speakin in words too long for my wee little brain to comprehend without a warm up session... raise here... lower there... and then ok... any concerns? No? No. OK... you look fine see you in a year, bye bye and he was out the door. I swear the entire thing took maybe 30 seconds. I have NEVER been to an office and felt so absolutely... almost victimized by my visit there... it was really weird... just really weird...I know I'll need to go back EVENTUALLY... maybe I'll make up a bunch of stuff or have Josh and drew draw colored spots just to have something to talk about to make hi actually breathe, stop and act like he gave a shit whether or not I was there paying his salary. No bedside manner whatsoever...and when you're seeing people naked... you need to have SOME...I felt exposed...

Crazy links

Check out this guy... he's amazing! It's hilarious!

http://www.thefunnystuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=667

First Day Back

Today was Drew's first day back at school since mid-December. Boy was he one tired cranky boy. I'm glad knowing that he'll sleep good tonight.

After I dropped him off at school, I headed to Recollections, my favorite scrapbook store that is going out of business. Well, they're not "going out of business" but their parent company (Michaels) is pulling the chain and focusing on the Aaron Brothers and Michael's stores. :( I spent more than I thought I would ($200) but I got a great cropper hopper ink storage unit, 2 expandable divided 12x12 paper storage books, a 6x6 paper holder and an 8x8 paper holder. Their printed paper (God knows I don't NEED anymore...) was on sale 40% off... I had to get some... and I got some Hambly transparencies... and some Bohemia cutouts... and I'm on page TWENTY FIVE to have the opportunity to buy one the fixtures... EVERYONE needs paper storage at a reasonable price. Why doesn't SOMEONE just invent something that isn't an eyesore and that doesn't cost a mortgage on your house to obtain? I don't see how it can be so impossible...

I came home and started organizing my new toys -- that was fun. By the time I realized it, it was time to go get Drew.... then Josh... then home... the house smelled delicious.

I made an amazing dinner tonight -- in the crock pot. Pork roast, bottle of Shiner Bock (beer) and a bottle of thick n chunky Pack picaunte sauce. MMMM mmmm mmmm.. pork fajitas! :) YUM-O

Off to watch Ghost Hunters, ciao!

Do you believe in ghosts?

I have a new favorite show -- and for those of you that know me, yes, it's a big deal. I actually WATCH a TELEVISION SHOW?! Can you believe it? I LOVE the show called Ghost Hunters. I'm into the whole "paranormal" thing. I like that they take a scientific approach to a lot of it with thermal cameras and such. I also like a show called Paranormal State. The use of the voiceover thing gets old rather quickly where it sounds like the host is talking through an old timey radio or something with a lot of audio noise.

Do I personally believe in ghosts? Yes. Have I ever encountered anything paranormal? I'm not sure.

When Josh was born it was after my grandmother had already died. I remember being so sad that she never got to meet him. My grandmother and I were EXTREMELY close. I loved her more than life itself... the day she died, I felt like a part of me went with her. I remember laying in bed at night sometimes praying for a sign, praying for a visit from her or for some way of her coming to me to tell me she was okay, that she knew Josh and that she would be his guardian angel... I even wanted to go see John Edwards (from Crossing Over -- he's a medium) to see if she would come through with a message for me... I still feel that deep longing to hear from her. Anyhow, I'd begged for a sign. I remember this one particular night laying in my bed for what seemed like hours just thinking about her and all the great memories. I remember some of the conversations we had... I remember asking her what these scar looking calouses were on each of her thighs. She said they were from wearing garters. Back in her day, all the women wore garters with their hose because they didn't have panty hose. The garters were made of metal and they'd rub your legs and eventually you'd develop a calous there. I thought that was the weirdest thing... that next day.. when I awoke. I had a callous on my right mid thigh. And no, it wasn't from wearing a garter belt. It was actually a raised spot like a callous... I had a dermatologist check it out even... I believe that was the sign I had been waiting for.

My mom's mom, "Me Me" as we called her and yes, I realize it should be spelled "Mi Mi" but hey, I just went by what my sister told me. :) Anyhow, MeMe told me stories as a child that her aunt read tea leaves... foretold of a rabid dog in a field the men were working in... and rang a bell... kind of like a triangle for the "come and get it" but it was an emergency signal for them to seek shelter... and there was a rabid dog that had come into the field and one of the workers shot it.

MeMe also said she saw John F. Kennedy shot in her crystal ball (yes, she had a collection of them) about 3 years before he was shot. She was into numerology and went on lots of radio talk shows to do numerology. To this day, I still have no idea what numerology is, nor do I really care.

A lot of acquaintences that I've come across in my life have perceived that as the devil's work... that and astrology. I never really paid that much mind either because it was my grandmother. She was no more the devil than I am. I honestly believe she thought she was really helping people. Her insight into MOST people was dead on accurate... Amazing how that worked. I wish I had her knack for all things mathematical. She was a wiz!

Anyways, MeMe apparently had a ghost in her house. I had never seen it before but the story goes that ... well, let me explain her house real quick. She had a "basement" that you had to step down 2 stairs to get into that was right off the kitchen/dining room area (it was a very VERY small house). I don't know if it was a converted garage or whatever -- it's been so long since I was at that house... 9414 Rustown Drive in Mesquite... wow I get off on a lot of tangents don't I? So anyway the story goes, she was watching my aunt Robyn/Roberta's son (her name was Roberta but she legally changed it to Robyn so she could tell everyone my sister was named after her -- she had some issues)... so my aunt Rob's son, Raymond, (he passed away from SIDS when he was an infant). MeMe's youngest son, my uncle Richard, who used to sleep in my grandpa's t-shirts, knew he wasn't supposed to be in the basement. MeMe said she saw a little boy in what she thought was a white t-shirt come from the basement and go past her and down the hall and into either the bathroom or the back bedroom. She wasn't happy about him being down there so when she followed him back and looked in the bathroom and saw nothing and then went to the back bedroom and saw nothing... it had disappeared.

OOOOOOOOOOOH... and the last story about a ghostly encounter was when my best friend Christie and I went with my sister in law Robyn and her best friend to Jefferson, TX for a girl's weekend away. We went on this ghost tour. They had historians that had studied the town's buildings and all the haunting reports and condensed them into an informative nighttime walking tour. It was actually really neat to hear the stories... but we got to this one house that really just gave me the creeps. It was the last house on the tour. It was being renovated by the new owners. We were standing -- as a group of like 15 people -- all out by the street on the sidewalk listening to the "history" of the house... and I heard footsteps walk across the wooden porch. There wasn't anyone there. Everyone wanted to walk around and look at the back of the house but I was beyond freaked out and I turned and told Christie... there's something about this house that I don't like and I don't feel comfortable going back there. She heard the footsteps too and totally agreed with me. When the group had come around, I asked the leader of the tour... I said, you know, when you were telling us the initial information about this house, I'd heard footsteps across the porch... she looked very startled... and said we needed to move on...

Yes, that creeped me out...and thinking about it gives me the heebie jeebies.

But I'm calming them with some warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk before bed. :) Oh life is good

Prayers.... for a miracle

http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/

Read this amazing journey of hope and faith... and please keep this family in your prayers... CF... pregnant... lung transplant...

prayers people...prayers!

Favorite Movies

Do you get those questionnaires in your e-mail box? You know the ones that ask you to list a varity of things in fours. For instance, name four jobs I have had that you may not have known about. Name four places you've visited. Name four places you've lived. Name four favorite foods.

I filled out and replied to one of these today and one of the questions got me thinking. It asked for your four favorite movies. I have more than four. Being so far behind in my movie watching, I'm still hung up on old favorites if they're on when I'm channel surfing at night.

Some of them are:

-Breakfast at Tiffany's (this is CLASSIC Hollywood for me)
-Grease (LOVE this movie... I don't know a single girl that DIDN'T want to have a blonde fro, Candee's cork shoes, black tube top and satin pants after that
-Dirty Dancing (nobody puts Baby in a corner)
-I.Q. (I love Meg in this movie... it's just classic)
-While You Were Sleeping (the chemistry between Sandra and Jeff is just steamy)
-The Rock (I drive a Volvo. A beige one. And most of the time I work in a glass jar and lead a very uninteresting life, but what I'm dealing with now is one of the most dangerous substances the Earth has ever known, so why don't you cut me some friggin' slack!)
-Toombstone (I'm your Huckelberry)
-Bram Stoker's Dracula (beautiful love story - if you can get past the blood and gore)
-Adventures of Milo and Otis (fell in LOVE with pug dogs because of this movie)
-Open Range (I love western romances... not a big Kevin Costner or Robert Duvall fan but in this movie, I fell in love with them both)
-Dumb and Dumber (there are far too many memorable quotes from this to pick just one. :) It's just THE movie for me! :)
-Major Payne (You want sympathy? Look in the dictionary between shit and syphillis. That's where you'll find my sympathy")
-Turner and Hooch (love that big ole slobber dog)
-Saving Private Ryan (ask me sometime how it took me a week to see this movie AT THE THEATER)
-The Notebook (phenomenal love story
-Miracle on 34th Street (who couldn't believe in Santa after this one? Again, classic Hollywood -- love that men wore suits, women styled their hair)
-It's A Wonderful Life (Buffalo girls won't you come out tonight..."
-Reality Bites (this is another one with FAR too many witty quotes to single out just one)
-Pretty in Pink (did you not just love Ducky and Blain and his BMW?)
-16 Candles (I nevah been so hoppy my ho life)

Things To Do Before you Die

No, I'm not getting all morbid on ya -- there's all kinds of websites, books and lists devoted to trying to get people to get out of their rut and to actually LIVE their best life... to ENRICH their life... to EXPERIENCE their life and the GIFT of life that God gave you. :) So... why not check it out...

They actually have some neat books for kids too -- like 100 things to do before you turn 12 or something like that. I'm getting that for Josh for his birthday. He turns NINE this year? Man I feel old! :) I'm about to have a kid in the double digits! CRAZY!

Any-who... here is one such site:

http://brass612.tripod.com/cgi-bin/things.html I may as well go live in some pigmy tribe because ... I don't care if someone thinks you "HAVE" to skydive to experience a fulfilling life... my ass ain't jumpin outta no plane Willis! (pardon the Texan and the bad grammar)!

Another site I found that had a neat list -- she created for herself...
http://www.listsofbests.com/list/4587 and I like and appreicate several of her "things" such as:

-read all the books on Oprah's book club list
-learn to speak another language
-see the seven wonders
-restore a classic car (how cool would that be for ME since I don't OWN A TOOL) ha!

So, this all got me thinking to myself, "you know, self, I may just have to look through these lists and develop one of my own." What a neat mini book to scrap about... Things I WANT To Do Before I Die. "Want" being the key word there because I don't WANT to jump out of a plane... I don't care. I have no desire to do that and I don't feel that doing so will make me feel like my life is any less rich and rewarding that it already is. :) So, I'll leave that to you crazies out there.

One thing on my list is to read all the "classics" like The Illiad and the Odssey, Moby Dick, all of Mark Twain... etc. and I actually printed off a list somewhere in the endless abyss of paper I'm trying to slowly rid myself of.

So, for now, I'm adding the making my list of things to do... to my list of things to do. How ironic is that?

Let's say I break into your house...

My uncle sent me this e-mail and while I don't generally jump on too many political bandwagons, I certainly have to agree 100% with this one. So indulge me, read on..

----------------------------------------
Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration.

Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests. Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "No! I like it here. It's better than my house. I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've
done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).

According to the protesters:

You are Required to let me stay in your house
You are Required to feed me
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan
You are Required to Educate my kids
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me & to my family (my husband will do all of your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that
breaking in part).

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there.

It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just
trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well,
you know, I did break into your house

And what a deal it is for me!!!


I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.

Oh yeah, I DEMAND that you learn MY LANGUAGE!!! so you can communicate with me.

Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America.

If you agree, pass it on (in English ). Share it if you see the value of it.

If not blow it off......... along with your future Social Security funds, and a lot of other things.

----------------------------------------
Certainly puts things into a perspective EVERYONE can appreciate huh?