Uncle Frank

Just before Christmas, we had a surprise visit from my Grandma's "baby" brother from southern California. I absolutely LOVE this man! He is calm and soft-spoken, sweet and gentle and wise. We are always having him tell us the stories he told us when we were little and we still get as excited as we used to. Oh my gosh, I wish you could see how amazing he is! His house in California is straight out of a fairy tale. He grows oranges bigger than softballs in his front yard and there are avocados (yum!) and a tree just dripping with fresh lemons. My grandma's house was just like that...I wish more places were like that "nowadays". Do you ever wonder what the world will be like when WE are the old people and all of the old people we looked up to are gone? It's a weird thought.

Anyway, this visit was a bit bittersweet with Uncle Frank, as it might be our last chance to see him, :o( so I tried to blind him with the flash of my camera! The poor man couldn't keep his eyes open for many (it is a shockingly bright flash), but he was a good sport. I'll try to post whichever ones didn't make him look asleep. :o) Look at my dad's face while he's with his uncle. I didn't capture it well because I was trying to soak up every minute with my great-uncle, but he was just like a little boy again!

The Kind of Nurse I Might Have Been

Last night my mom was involved in a car accident. Don't worry--She wound up being okay, but she did have to go in an ambulance to the hospital to get checked out. When my brother and I got to the scene of the accident (after the ominous call that my mom had been in a wreck, but couldn't talk to us), we were met with the sight of a three car pile up and a crazy amount of flashing lights from emergency vehicles. My poor little heart was pumping away! The first thing I heard about the accident was that my mom's car was hit so hard that my grandma's wig flew off her head. Go ahead and laugh--She's the one who told me the story! She was just upset that she didn't notice it was gone and had been walking around talking to people. That woman is a hoot!

Anyways, I, being the hospital guru that I am at this point, decided to ride with my mom in the ambulance. We went through all of the paper work and x-rays and fun tests for vitals, etc. It was a very serious atmosphere. The nurse (a guy named Will) came in right after the doctor had left the room and said, "Before you go home, there is one more thing the doctor wants to have done just as a precaution." Mom said, "Okay, what do I need to do?" (Still very serious atmosphere in the room) Will nonchalantly replied, "We need to give you a quick enema." Just as my mom's pulse jumped to 110 (I swear her eyes just about bugged out of her head!), Will said, "I'm just kidding!" Mom got punk'd! It was totally priceless!

Mom's a little sore today, but otherwise, she is great. If she wasn't, I promise I wouldn't have laughed so hard at the enema joke. (*snicker, snicker*)

Since I Got Called Out on International Radio this Week For Being a Boring Blogger...

I will now begin to post a crazy amount of posts (at least, that's my intention...). I will begin my crazy blogging with the topic that started it all: Leaf Blowing! (For the full story, I guess you'll just have to visit the NextWave Live archives--hee hee--Like my shameless plug, Craig? ;o) ANYWAYS, my husband absolutely despises yard work, but I can't stand being the only crappy yard on the block, so every fall, our compromise is one, huge leaf clean-up. This year, we bagged a record 12 bags of leaves (from our front yard alone!!) It was no easy task with Landon "helping"--He kept shooting through the giant pile of leaves with his tractor--Ha ha ha! I loved watching Andy getting more and more frustrated as the day went on. Maybe next year he'll take my advice and do yard work more often! Here are some pictures from this year's fall clean up. :o)

My Son

Landon and I were outside earlier this week when he started getting a little rambunctious. I can't remember exactly what he was doing (hitting me with a stick or something...*sigh*), but I reprimanded him and marched off angrily toward the front porch. What did I hear my precious child mutter from his rope swing as I walked away?..."Mommy, you are a REDNECK."

Pause...Hmm. Now that's a new one.

7 Quick Takes Friday (err...Saturday)

1. It's annoying to be poor on your anniversary. Every year, Andy and I say we're going to put off buying each other engagement gifts until we have more money. Then pretty soon Christmas comes along and we say the same thing at Christmas so we can spend more on other people. I'm learning that there's ALWAYS something else to spend money on and wishing I had thought up something clever for tomorrow...

2. I can hardly type because these dang heart monitor electrodes have given me an annoying rash and I CAN'T STOP SCRATCHING!!! ACK! Misery!

3. Just when I FINALLY cleared my schedule and started resting more, I came up with the brilliant idea to plan (are you sitting down?) a reunion for my elementary/middle school class (yes, I'm serious). We went to a private school and were kind of like brothers and sisters. Now everyone is curious about everyone else, so I thought I'd pull everyone back together. I mean, come on--there is soooo much less pressure when we're talking middle school...We were little kids then. It shouldn't be a big deal, but I am a perfectionist when it comes to these things and I'm already losing sleep over it. I haven't even set a date, yet! (Sharon?! HELP!) I am crazy. *sigh*

4. I haven't worn headbands in YEARS....but I put one of my sister's skinny little headbands on last time she was at my house and I haven't taken it off in days. I never even do my hair anymore...just shower and then WHOOP! toss in the headband. I look like a loser, but I love having my bangs out of my face!

5. I am going to be decorating or house for Christmas tree tonight and I am so excited...mostly because it means we have to clean first and I do love a clean house! (I don't usually have one, but I do love it!) We're going to make a fire and some hot chocolate with whipped cream and watch the Polar Express. I'll try to get some good pictures. :o)

6. I am starting to be addicted to Facebook and I have no idea how in the world that happened...I used to be a MySpace snob, but now I'm all about some Facebook. Somebody stop me!

7. As I'm writing this, I am sitting here thinking of all of the things I could have written about for my 7 Quick Takes...Like "Seven Things I'm Thankful For This Thanksgiving" or "Seven Reasons I'm Happy I Married Andy" for my anniversary...But since I'm already done (and seeing how long it took me to come up with these--It's not even Friday anymore!), I'll just post it and be done! :o) I'll try to make my next Quick Takes more interesting!

For more Quick Takes, check out Jennifer's Blog: Conversion Diary

Love, Ain't it Grand?

Since Andy's and my fifth anniversary is coming up next Saturday, I thought I'd spend the week loading you up with pictures from all of our wedding hooplah! (That is if I can get them scanned & uploaded--who knows how that will go! It will probably be way out of order!) This first set of pictures was from one of the best days of my life!! My dear, dear friend, Kelly pretty much threw me my dream bridal shower.
Knowing that I desperately wanted to have our wedding at this certain venue, but couldn't (because of the size of the guest list), Kelly threw a shower for me there!! We planned for it to be a mother-daughter theme together, but the rest was a surprise...even the location! When I found out where it was going to be, I just about fell over! I think I even cried!


Walking in the door, I saw that she had decorated everything with black and white toile (my favorite fabric pattern) with pink accents. The food was delicious and the company was even better. We all sat in a circle, eating and talking about how we were all connected to each other. Each guest told the group how they knew me and why they loved me and then I stood up and talked about how much each person meant to me. We were all in tears! From the rose petals sprinkled on the tabletops to the mimosa's and iced cappuccinos we had on the back patio, every detail was totally perfect and TOTALLY "me".


The cake really said it all, didn't it?: "Love...Ain't it Grand?" I was overwhelmed by the love around me that afternoon (and I don't just mean wedding love :o). I spent that day with the kids I babysat for and the moms I had grown so close to. I was there with some of my oldest friends and their mothers who I'd grown up with (we were just missing you, Sharon! You were there in spirit!).


My mom and sister were there with me, as were my step-mom and step-sister. My grandma was there, my co-workers were there. I will never, ever forget that shower!! Thank you Kelly for loving me so much!!! (I miss you!) And thanks to all of you who were a part of that day!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Hospital...

Okay, so I hate to post about politics and moral issues, leave without posting for a long time and then come back telling bad stories about the misadventures with my health....but maybe those of you who know me will appreciate this story. I'm sure you can totally picture this happening to me:

One upon a time, not so very long ago (4:00 this afternoon to be exact), my heart decided to march to the beat of it's own drum (yet again!) and I wound up having to call 911 (yet again). A firetruck arrived first, on my little cul-de-sac, with an ambulance close behind. All of my neighbors' noses were pressed eagerly to their front doors (the adults with worried looks, the kids with excited ones)....and I was carted away on a stretcher, surrounded by all of the pomp and circumstance of two ambulance attendants and three firemen. Hooray for me! We hurried into the ambulance and one guy plastered leads all over my chest and jabbed a giant IV into my arm as the other flew down the road. I felt about three shakes of a lamb's tail away from from a heart attack or cardiac arrest or I-don't-know-what, when "it" hit me:

I had to pee. BAD! Here's how it went from there:

Me: Oh crap...Phil, I have really, REALLY got to go to the bathroom...

Phil: (looking nervous and embarrassed, fiddling wit the EKG machine)) "Ummmmmmm...do you think you can hold it for 10 more minutes?" (now looking hopeful)

Me: "Yeah right! I don't think I can make it one more minute!" (Shooting down the street, strapped to a stretcher)

Phil: (still nervous) "Hang on...." (Goes to consult with driver in whispers, then returning to me, he says) "Okay, you have two options...You can either go in a bed pan in here.....(blush, blush) or we can sneak you into a gas station bathroom."

Me: "Whichever...Just hurry!" (I had downed a huge amount of ice water before calling 911 to try to stop the SVT and it hit me all at once--I would have peed into just about anything if they'd told me to at that point.)

Phil goes back to whisper with Dave for a while (my fingers--and legs!--crossed) before I see that we're pulling into a BP station. (Praise the Lord!) Phil unstrapped me, made me swear I'd never tell anyone he let me do this (snicker, snicker) and then let me run into the disgusting outdoor bathroom before I could embarrass myself further. My giant IV was firmly in place and I was BAREFOOT to boot (I kid you not--Andy forgot to bring my shoes when I asked him to!) I hovered oh-so-carefully over the toilet, gagging at the thought of what was probably on the bottoms of my feet by then (not yet thinking about what would soon be on my feet in the doubly nasty hospital bathroom...gag, retch), finished my bid-ness, and darted back out to the ambulance while twenty people stared at us blankly. The three of us were cracking up...but the party had to end sometime, so we hopped back in our phat ride and drove to the hospital. Like a true (crazy) blogger, I so wish I'd thought to bring a camera with me! ;o)

After hours and hours and HOURS of waiting in the hospital hallway, I finally got to see a doctor. Even though they missed the major episode of palpitations, he did see a little thing that was "off" on my EKG that might signify an electrical problem with my heart (super DUPER!), but my blood work looked better than it did on Sunday (when I was ALSO in the dang hospital!!) so that's something positive. I have been having the same problem since I've been home, so you guys remember to pray for me (pretty please, with a cherry on top?? :oD *batting eyelashes*).

Alright, that's enough for the evening. I am going to go Lysol my feet and burn my socks...Bleehhhhhhh!

UGH!

I don't know about you guys, but I am not enjoying this daylight savings business!! I don't know if it's because they waited until later in the year than usual to change clocks or what, but I am really messed up this year. It's six o'clock pm right now--pitch black dark outside--and I can barely keep my eyes open. A couple of days ago, I gave in and laid down for a nap around this time, but of course then I was up all night (when everyone else was sleeping peacefully), tossing and turning. I felt hung over when I woke up.

It should not be this dark at six o'clock! Hmph!

One Last Thing In Light of the Election

I read a very profound blog post tonight and since it really could have been written by me (someone always beats me to the punch!), I decided to post it here. I had a very hard time on election day because I really do try to see the good in everyone and everything...Not in a shiny-happy- people-holding hands kind of way...I just always have to dig beyond the surface of a story, a person, a claim to see if all the details match up before I form my opinion. I acknowledge that rumors are easy to spread and that anything we read or hear or see could be completely fabricated for one motive or another and, for that reason, I was (and still am)slow to criticize the presidential candidates. This made making a decision on who to vote for harder than it should have been.

As I wrote in the previous post, I really was touched on election night, moved by the tears and cheering. I had the same hope for America welling in my chest that everyone else had...Change seems so refreshing right now! HOWEVER, some of the changes that might take place are not ones I find to be good ones (to say the least). After the drama of election night was over, this thought washed over me again and again. I want to hop on the Obama train like everyone else seems to be, but nothing can shake the dread that has settled in the pit of my stomach, dread churned up by having a president elect who is as pro-abortion as Barack Obama is. Read this blog post by Jennifer Fuhlweiler and you might understand better where I'm coming from. Tell me what you think. It is an interesting perspective on a difficult subject.

I don't usually like to post on such controversial topics here, and I never mean to judge or offend anyone, but this one is so close to my heart that I wouldn't be representing my true self if I didn't at least mention it.

There. The elephant is out of the room! :o)

Check out the Freedom of Choice Act Here.

America Has Spoken

Barack Obama will be our next president.

Whether you supported him in this election or not, it was pretty hard to watch everything play out last night without feeling inspired on some level. I personally, had never witnessed anything like it in my life: the tears of happiness, the shouts of joy, people of every race and age and class joining together in one place to witness a change that they all worked for...It was pretty amazing from where I was sitting. In the end of things, I (ironically) think that John McCain's concession speech summed it up the best:

"My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama — to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans, who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president, is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.

I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Sen. Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to visit — to dine at the White House — was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day — though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her Creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought — we fought as hard as we could.

And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours...

I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I'm sure I made my share of them. But I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life. And my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Sen. Obama and my old friend, Sen. Joe Biden, should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.

I would not be an American worthy of the name, should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.

And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America."

Last night, we watched history being made in a way we may never witness again in our lifetime.

For the people who prayed with all of their might that Barack would win, last night was one of those blessed nights where your desires and God's will lined up perfectly. For those who were praying for a McCain victory, last night was a good reminder that sometimes God's will is not our own and that an answered prayer doesn't always yield a "yes". One thing is for sure for those of us who leaned heavily on our spirituality in this race: God doesn't make mistakes. We need to keep hoping and praying and working together for the greater good of the country and ultimately our world.

That's all that needs to be said today, in my humble opinion. :o)

Congratulations, Barack Obama. Bring us some good out of this giant mess.

VOTE!!!!!!!!

In a nutshell, by Stacey.

This Cracked Me Up!

I found it over at the Conversion Diary Blog:

"Speaking of Halloween and elections, I think I heard about the most clever costume ever: a friend's nephew dressed in a t-shirt that said POLLSTER, and then carried an Obama bag and a McCain bag, and people could choose which one they put candy in. He evidently got a really impressive haul of candy from people who expressed their emotions about this election by dumping handfuls of goodies into their candidate's bag.

(At the lunch where this story was recounted the floodgates were opened for wry comments about the Obama supporters taking candy from his bag to give to the kids who didn't want to trick-or-treat, or McCain supporters telling him to stop asking for handouts and go earn his own candy. As you can imagine, the witticisms abounded.)"

Tell me it wasn't a brilliant idea? I am so jealous!

You Know You Live in the South When....

...You See Signs Like These While Driving Down the Road:

More Weekend Excitement

We have been busy as bees this weekend!! Phew! Last night we had all of the trick-or-treating excitement and today we went to a barbecue at our next-door neighbors' house. We had the BEST time!!! These people have a smokehouse in their backyard so we had homemade barbecue & ribs. They also made fried turkey (something I had never tried before, can you believe that? The world sucks when you're allergic to peanuts!) and all of the neighbors in the cul-de-sac came and brought a side dish. We stuffed ourselves (to that uncomfortable point) on macaroni and cheese, onion rings, hush puppies, baked beans and corn souffle...YUM! It was the best food I have had in a long time! They lit a bonfire and put the Clemson and Carolina games on t.v. while all of the kids ran from yard to yard, playing as hard as they could. It was so much fun! When we got home tonight, Landon told us wistfully that it was the best party he had ever been to (even in the absence of cake and ice cream) (and even though he got whacked in the face with a flashlight during a game of "Hunter" (don't ask...)and went home with a bloody lip....) ;o) Now, here is another overload of random pictures for you guys--I'll slow down soon, but since I FINALLY have my camera back after months of not having it, I have a lot to get out of my system!

Happy Halloween

One of the displays at the end of the cul-de-sac















Hanging out with the neighbors






















Landon and me






















Speed Racer Trick-or-Treats (at our house) ;o)















Landon hanging out with his buddies






















And now....."Post-Candy Landon" (God help us...)






















Fake smile















Stopping for a quick sandwich...






















Checking out the loot!















The fire pit where the kids roasted marshmallows






















And more post-candy shots ;o)....















































































Click here for last year's Halloween post :o)

Nice Costume, Mom!

I'll only tell you the story if you promise not to laugh....My mom was running to her Bible study class at her church (literally running) when something caught her attention. She turned to look at whatever it was (still running) and smacked into a concrete post. She hit it so hard that she almost knocked herself out and now she has this gorgeous black eye just in time for Halloween--Hee hee hee!