But I think mine is hilarious!
I been thinking about her so much lately. Remembering all the times we (my siblings) spent at her house...
* making world famous mud pies dried only by the solar heat.
* playing in the "play house". Which was basically a pit in the back yard that we would swing down into.
* sewing little patches together with her. That's my only sewing experience.
* her chasing us for spankings & the older kids climbed trees and the younger hid.
* rolling her own cigarettes. Prince Albert in a can, baby!!
* sleeping with her & having to be rubbed down in Vicks Menthol Salve, regardless if you were sick or not. Nose, throat, chest & back.
* ironing leaves between sheets of wax paper. I'm gonna do this with my kids for old times sake.
* the black rotary phone. I used to sneak in her bedroom to play with it.
* crackers & mustard. Still a great snack today.
Granny was one that whenever you visited her she would talk, talk, & talk. Then when it was time to go, she walked you to your car and talked some more. But now that she's older she doesn't walk you out anymore, but boy can she still talk. The difference now when you call her is she talks then announces, "well, I've said all I know to say, Good-bye". And that's that. So funny.
And though she might be getting up there in the years, don't let that fool you. She can spout out dates of years past like it was yesterday. I've always wondered how she does that. I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, much less the events of 1967.
Just to give you a picture of what my Granny is like... She reminds me SO SO much of The Fruitcake Lady. If you've never heard any of her stuff just google it. You'll be in for a treat.
Granny don't beat around the bush and she don't pull no punches, she just tells it like it is. I love her.
I always enjoy our talks and think that one day, I'm gonna be just like her.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The one thing I NEVER wanted to happen...
Yeah, I'm a pastor's wife, church planter, mom, blah, blah, blah...BUT I can also fight. And boy did I want to knock somebodies lights out!
You gotta understand that some mom's pray very specific prayers over their babies while they are in the womb. Like for health & proper development, which I did. For this baby to grow up and be a world changer, which I did. For them to always have a close relationship with their siblings, which I did. And who could forget to pray for good teeth? Not me! I prayed for that, seriously. Stop laughing, I did.
I was the only one in my family to not have braces. Had good teeth till I had children. But I also knew all about having to get teeth FIXED. And I didn't want that for my kids. I also knew how much dental procedures cost and insurance was never even close to covering it so I thought, "why not just pray for perfect teeth now?".
So, now you know a little bit about why I obsess over teeth, (it's the first thing I notice about people)...
It's my birthday & I'm headed to watch the boys play baseball with my mom & sister. They have to be there a hour early & since my mom & sister didn't know where to go, I sent Stacy & the boys on & told him we would be following shortly.
We are about 4 minutes away and my phone rings. It was Stacy, but all I could hear was crying and him saying something like "hold this on there". He finally says those dreaded words that I never ever ever wanted to hear..."Honey, Graham just got his front 2 teeth knocked out!".
My stomach has just sunk into my feet, I have a huge knot in my throat immediately and all I can say is, "are you serious?". Of course my mom & sister are now asking, "what, what???".
I can hear Graham crying over the phone. My heart just breaks. He's worried about how he looks. He's bleeding from his mouth being busted up. His lip and gum's are bleeding and Stacy is loading him up to take him to the emergency room. He instructs me to hurry and find Miles when I get there to calm him down.
I met Stacy & Graham in the parking lot and gave Graham a big hug and tried to comfort him the best I could and offer my words to him that,"it's not really that bad son", all the while the last mile I have beaten my steering wheel till I bruised my hand.
I park and find Miles who immediately breaks down when I get to him. Brothers can beat EACH other up, but when somebody ELSE does something to one of them...you are in trouble. He was ready to fight. He is just like me. When he gets really mad & upset he cries. Once I got him calmed down, all he wanted to do was "be with Graham". It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
So what happened?
Graham & another boy was warming up before the game. The coach had announced for them to gather their things because they were moving to a different field. Graham reached down to get his stuff and when he raised back up, the kid had thrown the ball and it hit him square in the mouth.
Stacy said he came running to him crying, blood gushing out of his mouth, holding his 2 front teeth in his hand.
I have emotions. I'm pretty ticked off. I'm trying to think in my mind, "ok Amy, you gotta hold it together for the sake of the children" and then I'm asking Miles, "which kid hit him?", "where's his parents?", "what happened?". I think I probably would have been better if somebody in the guilty party would have offered their apologies or asked how Graham was, but no, they were too busy eating their big fat hot dog. All I can see is this processed mystery meat being shoved up their nose till parts of it are oozing out of their eyeballs. Then I'm brought back to reality by thinking as bad as this seems...I guess it could have been worse. 'sigh'
Thankfully, God placed the nicest family in our church, who the man happens to be in the dental profession. When Stacy was on the way to the hospital he called him and told him what had happened. He met Graham & Stacy at the ER and said that he thought that he could fix G's lip & gum's and he would go ahead and seal the pulp that was exposed on the teeth. He also worked on him Saturday morning to glue his old teeth back on to get him through Easter weekend & protect the pulp.
Now we are waiting to see if the roots are going to make it from the trauma, so far so good.
I guess Graham & I will have more things in common now. We'll get our teeth bonded together.
As the days have passed it has gotten easier, but I still think about what is to come with a young boy & 2 front teeth that are bonded. How many times will we end up having to fix them? Will he ever be able to bite into an apple or eat corn on the cob? Things that most people take for granted that I can't do.
I just keep telling myself, "their just TEETH".
I'm learning that I don't understand & can't control everything that happens...and when it does I have to say - Tis gar plen - "so what".
Miles says the kid owes us 2 teeth.
You gotta understand that some mom's pray very specific prayers over their babies while they are in the womb. Like for health & proper development, which I did. For this baby to grow up and be a world changer, which I did. For them to always have a close relationship with their siblings, which I did. And who could forget to pray for good teeth? Not me! I prayed for that, seriously. Stop laughing, I did.
I was the only one in my family to not have braces. Had good teeth till I had children. But I also knew all about having to get teeth FIXED. And I didn't want that for my kids. I also knew how much dental procedures cost and insurance was never even close to covering it so I thought, "why not just pray for perfect teeth now?".
So, now you know a little bit about why I obsess over teeth, (it's the first thing I notice about people)...
It's my birthday & I'm headed to watch the boys play baseball with my mom & sister. They have to be there a hour early & since my mom & sister didn't know where to go, I sent Stacy & the boys on & told him we would be following shortly.
We are about 4 minutes away and my phone rings. It was Stacy, but all I could hear was crying and him saying something like "hold this on there". He finally says those dreaded words that I never ever ever wanted to hear..."Honey, Graham just got his front 2 teeth knocked out!".
My stomach has just sunk into my feet, I have a huge knot in my throat immediately and all I can say is, "are you serious?". Of course my mom & sister are now asking, "what, what???".
I can hear Graham crying over the phone. My heart just breaks. He's worried about how he looks. He's bleeding from his mouth being busted up. His lip and gum's are bleeding and Stacy is loading him up to take him to the emergency room. He instructs me to hurry and find Miles when I get there to calm him down.
I met Stacy & Graham in the parking lot and gave Graham a big hug and tried to comfort him the best I could and offer my words to him that,"it's not really that bad son", all the while the last mile I have beaten my steering wheel till I bruised my hand.
I park and find Miles who immediately breaks down when I get to him. Brothers can beat EACH other up, but when somebody ELSE does something to one of them...you are in trouble. He was ready to fight. He is just like me. When he gets really mad & upset he cries. Once I got him calmed down, all he wanted to do was "be with Graham". It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
So what happened?
Graham & another boy was warming up before the game. The coach had announced for them to gather their things because they were moving to a different field. Graham reached down to get his stuff and when he raised back up, the kid had thrown the ball and it hit him square in the mouth.
Stacy said he came running to him crying, blood gushing out of his mouth, holding his 2 front teeth in his hand.
I have emotions. I'm pretty ticked off. I'm trying to think in my mind, "ok Amy, you gotta hold it together for the sake of the children" and then I'm asking Miles, "which kid hit him?", "where's his parents?", "what happened?". I think I probably would have been better if somebody in the guilty party would have offered their apologies or asked how Graham was, but no, they were too busy eating their big fat hot dog. All I can see is this processed mystery meat being shoved up their nose till parts of it are oozing out of their eyeballs. Then I'm brought back to reality by thinking as bad as this seems...I guess it could have been worse. 'sigh'
Thankfully, God placed the nicest family in our church, who the man happens to be in the dental profession. When Stacy was on the way to the hospital he called him and told him what had happened. He met Graham & Stacy at the ER and said that he thought that he could fix G's lip & gum's and he would go ahead and seal the pulp that was exposed on the teeth. He also worked on him Saturday morning to glue his old teeth back on to get him through Easter weekend & protect the pulp.
Now we are waiting to see if the roots are going to make it from the trauma, so far so good.
I guess Graham & I will have more things in common now. We'll get our teeth bonded together.
As the days have passed it has gotten easier, but I still think about what is to come with a young boy & 2 front teeth that are bonded. How many times will we end up having to fix them? Will he ever be able to bite into an apple or eat corn on the cob? Things that most people take for granted that I can't do.
I just keep telling myself, "their just TEETH".
I'm learning that I don't understand & can't control everything that happens...and when it does I have to say - Tis gar plen - "so what".
Miles says the kid owes us 2 teeth.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Gym Update - week 4 (evaluation)
I talked my trainer into evaluating me a couple of days early. My evaluation was scheduled for Sunday but who goes to the gym on Sundays? And today is my birthday and the kids are out of school for Good Friday so we did it on Thursday. Although he made me promise to still come to the gym on my birthday and do cardio. Yeah, I'm really starting to not like him! :)
I've lost a total of 8 pounds.
1-1/2 inches in my waist.
1 inch every where else (legs, arms)
And I've lost 4% of my body fat. So it's official now... I'm not obese anymore :)
So all in all it was a good month. I felt like I worked my tail off. I've eaten only what was on my list. I've been faithful to the gym. I haven't killed anyone in my cravings. I've given up my sleep for torture.
Killer Mike gave me an "A-" on my evaluation. I won't tell you what I gave him.
I've lost a total of 8 pounds.
1-1/2 inches in my waist.
1 inch every where else (legs, arms)
And I've lost 4% of my body fat. So it's official now... I'm not obese anymore :)
So all in all it was a good month. I felt like I worked my tail off. I've eaten only what was on my list. I've been faithful to the gym. I haven't killed anyone in my cravings. I've given up my sleep for torture.
Killer Mike gave me an "A-" on my evaluation. I won't tell you what I gave him.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Birthdays & Loss
Birthdays - you either love 'em or hate 'em. Age seems to be the deciding factor. I always say, "your only as old as you act", which explains a lot in my case. I still act like I'm in my twenties. Now, I didn't say I FELT like I was in my twenties, but I still act like a crazy kid sometimes.
But these last couple of birthdays have been extremely hard for me. Up until now, I didn't really talk about it. But my birthday reminds me of a great loss. It's funny because usually you don't remember the loss of a loved one on your own birthday, you usually remember them on theirs. But this one is different.
My Uncle Curtis was special. Not because he had down syndrome. Not because he insisted on kissing you EVERY time he saw you. Not because he never met a stranger (and yes, kissed them too).
He always loved unconditionally. We said he was "the glue that held the family together".
Birthdays were HIS thing. It was the funniest thing. He didn't have any kind of "smarts", like books, reading or writing BUT if he came over to your house and you had a calendar...He would mark every single 19th of each month on the calendar with a big "X". His birthday was the 19th of May but he marked every month anyway.
If it was ever anybody else birthday in the family and we got together he was furious. No one was allowed a birthday but him. Oh, and try singing the birthday song to someone other than him, and you were definitely not getting anymore kisses from him for awhile.
Once I rented the entire Skate Castle for Miles' birthday. I had decorated the entire snack area with dinosaurs and such on every table, had the place looking great. While we were all off skating Curtis came and threw every single decoration in the trash because we were celebrating someone else birthday.
He came to stay with us for awhile several years ago and we were having a big Youth Party. It was in December & we had planned a bonfire, hayride, "the works". He told all the youth it was his birthday and they believed him. So we turned the entire night into his birthday party. The same for 4th of July, Memorial Day, etc. You couldn't have a get together without Curtis thinking it was "my birthday".
He probably knew the whole time exactly when "his birthday" was, but he just loved all the attention and just thought, "if these crazy people are going to get together might as well be for me". :)
So, now I find myself having a hard time celebrating "my birthday". I love the days leading up to it, but just the day itself seems so hard. I told myself I was going to do better this year. I guess it just takes time. I really do miss him. My family talks about him all the time. We talk about the funny things he used to do and say.
This year the kids are out of school so maybe we'll have a day filled with things that Curtis loved...changing the trash, wrestling, one dollar bills, the beach, eating, singing, church, and kissing everyone we meet while we tell them, "it's been a looong time."
But these last couple of birthdays have been extremely hard for me. Up until now, I didn't really talk about it. But my birthday reminds me of a great loss. It's funny because usually you don't remember the loss of a loved one on your own birthday, you usually remember them on theirs. But this one is different.
My Uncle Curtis was special. Not because he had down syndrome. Not because he insisted on kissing you EVERY time he saw you. Not because he never met a stranger (and yes, kissed them too).
He always loved unconditionally. We said he was "the glue that held the family together".
Birthdays were HIS thing. It was the funniest thing. He didn't have any kind of "smarts", like books, reading or writing BUT if he came over to your house and you had a calendar...He would mark every single 19th of each month on the calendar with a big "X". His birthday was the 19th of May but he marked every month anyway.
If it was ever anybody else birthday in the family and we got together he was furious. No one was allowed a birthday but him. Oh, and try singing the birthday song to someone other than him, and you were definitely not getting anymore kisses from him for awhile.
Once I rented the entire Skate Castle for Miles' birthday. I had decorated the entire snack area with dinosaurs and such on every table, had the place looking great. While we were all off skating Curtis came and threw every single decoration in the trash because we were celebrating someone else birthday.
He came to stay with us for awhile several years ago and we were having a big Youth Party. It was in December & we had planned a bonfire, hayride, "the works". He told all the youth it was his birthday and they believed him. So we turned the entire night into his birthday party. The same for 4th of July, Memorial Day, etc. You couldn't have a get together without Curtis thinking it was "my birthday".
He probably knew the whole time exactly when "his birthday" was, but he just loved all the attention and just thought, "if these crazy people are going to get together might as well be for me". :)
So, now I find myself having a hard time celebrating "my birthday". I love the days leading up to it, but just the day itself seems so hard. I told myself I was going to do better this year. I guess it just takes time. I really do miss him. My family talks about him all the time. We talk about the funny things he used to do and say.
This year the kids are out of school so maybe we'll have a day filled with things that Curtis loved...changing the trash, wrestling, one dollar bills, the beach, eating, singing, church, and kissing everyone we meet while we tell them, "it's been a looong time."
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Gym Update - week 3
I think this week should really be week 2 since I took last week off to go to the beach. And I gained 2 pounds.
This week was probably the hardest so far.
I've really had to step up my cardio workout & that's been huge for me. I think that I officially could qualify for a handicap sticker in my car now.
Thursday we worked legs. Afterward, I tried to do my cardi on the treadmill. NOT good. My legs were like spaghetti. I thought maybe if I ran instead of walked really fast my legs wouldn't be so wobbly. WRONG! I could have won $10,000 if someone had a video camera. I looked like a drunk woman running DOWN Mt. Rushmore. Someone actually asked me if I was o.k.
I quit. Called it a day. Ran extra on Friday to make up for it. WRONG again. Can't walk, sit, squat, climb, basically anything that deals with my legs bending. I never realized how short our toilets were until now! Good Lord!!
I have lost the 2 pounds from last weeks vacation, plus 1 :) But I've also peed in the floor twice!!! JK!!!
This week was probably the hardest so far.
I've really had to step up my cardio workout & that's been huge for me. I think that I officially could qualify for a handicap sticker in my car now.
Thursday we worked legs. Afterward, I tried to do my cardi on the treadmill. NOT good. My legs were like spaghetti. I thought maybe if I ran instead of walked really fast my legs wouldn't be so wobbly. WRONG! I could have won $10,000 if someone had a video camera. I looked like a drunk woman running DOWN Mt. Rushmore. Someone actually asked me if I was o.k.
I quit. Called it a day. Ran extra on Friday to make up for it. WRONG again. Can't walk, sit, squat, climb, basically anything that deals with my legs bending. I never realized how short our toilets were until now! Good Lord!!
I have lost the 2 pounds from last weeks vacation, plus 1 :) But I've also peed in the floor twice!!! JK!!!
Gym update - week 2 (not good)
Vacation and workout's, relaxing and dieting. Nope, they don't go together. I weighed after coming back from vacation. A vacation that I turned DOWN Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream!! and the results were... +2 pounds.
I promise I stayed true to the diet/detox. I even went to the gym that ONE day. :)
But oh, well. I guess it could have been worse.
Honestly, I think what it really was...I can't go to the bathroom when I'm away from home. There's just something about not being in my own bathroom that causes my small & large intestine to shut down. I know some of you are laughing, but you know it's true! Add to the fact that we were camping and I had to walk to the bath house to go to the potty...oh yeah for sure shutting the whole system down.
I promise I stayed true to the diet/detox. I even went to the gym that ONE day. :)
But oh, well. I guess it could have been worse.
Honestly, I think what it really was...I can't go to the bathroom when I'm away from home. There's just something about not being in my own bathroom that causes my small & large intestine to shut down. I know some of you are laughing, but you know it's true! Add to the fact that we were camping and I had to walk to the bath house to go to the potty...oh yeah for sure shutting the whole system down.
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