Up and down, down, down (part one)

Do you ever get so tired of life that you just want to sleep and never wake up? I feel like that right now. I'm so disgusted with life. I don't know how I can go from being up one week to down the next. Shit just keeps happening that I just can't understand. This should have been one of the happiest weekends for me but it just wasn't to be.

About two months ago I had made plans for Bob and I to travel to Mt. Airy, NC for the Mayberry days festival. I made reservations in Winston-Salem for a 4 day get away. I made all the necessary arrangements for 24 hour nursing care for Nickie. I asked Mom to watch Brandon and Jackie so that Bob and I could have a much needed break. If I haven't mentioned this before having a child that requires nursing care makes it difficult for us to get away for dinner much less 4 days. I made sure to ask the nurses I most trusted to be here for Nickie while we would be away. I was able to get everyone committed to the hours needed and I felt comfortable with the arrangements. To be cont'd

We invited his mom and dad and his sister and her husband to go back in time to the Andy Griffith show. I know it sounds corny but we were looking forward to the trip. I expected to spend one day in Mt. Airy seeing the sights and enjoying the quaint country town. I also wanted to spend a day in Old Salem. Learn about the Moravian culture and take tons of pictures.

We left Thursday stopping along the way for breakfast and snacks and arrived in Winston-Salem around 1 pm. I don't usually see beauty in the city but I really liked what I saw there. We got our selves all settled into our room and decided to take a walk downtown for lunch. It was a sweltering heat and the walk was all up hill yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. We found a nice cafe, Cat's Corner Cafe, and had a wonderful lunch. Bob ordered the Macho Nachos and I had a huge salad. We filled our bellies and decided to walk back to the room. I fell in love with this city.


I've never really cared much about architecture before but so many of the shapes just called to me.

This city just looked so much more beautiful than the one I see everyday.















I really considered moving there. Not such a good idea for Bob as it would mean starting all over with his business. My in-laws all arrived shortly after our walk back to the room.


We all got together at the Alive after Five concert where I was carded at the entry. I was on cloud nine that night after that. I thanked the woman for making my night. I only wish I'd thought to have my picture taken with her. I told her she was my new best friend. The music at the concert didn't really suit our tastes so we decided to walk to 4th street to see what was going on. We found a cabaret singer in a bar that we later decided must have been a gay bar. We laughed and sang along and had a few drinks. The walk back was all down hill and in the coolness of the night much easier than the walk up hill.
(Bob and my brother in-law Ronnie playing the "couple" so as not to be picked up by the others.)
It had been a long day and I was exhausted. It didn't take more than my head hitting the pillow before I was sound asleep.....to be cont'd.

blog surfing

I wanted to make note of an interesting blog I found my way to this week. Post Secret
I don't know how many of you may have heard about it before but I think it is a fantastic idea. What a great way to be artistic and tell the world your secret anonymously.

While house hunting

Today we saw yet another house that had false advertisement in the MLS listing. This one claimed to have an extra room unfinished to be used as a 4th bedroom or a den. What we found was a ranch style house with a hole in the ceiling for the attic crawl through.... that was the unfinished room, the attic. There was no way to install a stairway to get to it the best you could do was install pull down attic stairs. Now I wouldn't have bothered to drive the 50 minutes to look at this knowing it had only 3 bedrooms and no possibility of a 4th. I'm beginning to hate agents. Even though I am going through the classes now I've decided it isn't the job for me. I can't lie like these people lie and I am not interested in working 24/7 either. Anyhoo, I found this free loader on the property and wanted to share this picture.

Happy Birthday Nickie! I can't believe my baby girl is 15 today. Every birthday is a blessing and Nickie's birthdays are even more so. None of her doctors expected her to live beyond the age of 6. She has more than doubled that expectancy and I have no reason to believe she won't out live us all. That in and of itself brings concerns of who will care for her when I no longer can't. So I take each day as it comes and try not to think about what problems may come in the future. I'm so thankful that Nickie is here and that she was able yesterday to celebrate her Quinceniera. That is her 15th birthday celebration. It is like the sweet 16 that is celebrated here. So Nickie will receive that celebration as well next year. I love you Nickie!

Challenge

OK! I want to challenge all of you out there. Its been almost 2 weeks since Katrina devastated the gulf coast. I wanted to do this sooner but I had to wait for our paycheck to come in before we could do this ourselves. I mailed out a check to the American Red cross yesterday for $200. It took a chunk of our paycheck taking from our household funds but it is something that we needed to do. We can cut back here for a couple weeks to give to those that lost everything. Now I know to some of you $200 is nothing and to others it is a fortune. Its not about the amount. Its about doing for others in desperate need. So my people, please give to help those in need. Choose the charity that you feel the most comfortable with but please give what you can. Oh, and don't forget prayers they can use everyone of them.

From the mouths of babes.

Second grade humor. I picked Brandon up today from the start of his second week back to school. HeÂ’s so excited about all the things they will be learning this year.

Brandon: Mom how do you say wait in cursive.

Me: What?

Brandon: How do you say wait in cursive.....

Me: Trying not to laugh out loud. Brandon cursive is the way you write the word not the way you say it. Wait is said the same in cursive and in print.

Brandon: Oh! Mom are you laughing at me?

Me: No baby I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing with you.

Brandon: Mom?

Me: Yes son?

Brandon: I'm not laughing.

Me: Well son I am... You are just too cute!

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Last week I overheard my nephew Matt talking to his mother ....

Matt.... Mom, I'm never brushing my teeth again.

JoAnn...Why, Matt?

Matt...Cause I want to loose my teeth just like Brandon!

Now how cute is that! Matt started his first day of kindergarten this week! Woo Hoo Matt!

Lillie means...

I snagged this from my friend Patti.

LILLIE
L	is for	Lively
I	is for	Innocent
L	is for	Luscious
L	is for	Lively
I	is for	Ideal
E	is for	Earnest

What Does Your Name Mean?

OK I don't have a clue why it is posting this way I know there is a huge space above for some reason in preview mode it looks the way I intended it to look and once it is posted it gets all weird.

My minds been too full....

I've had too many distractions to post here of late. I don't have much to say today but I did want to share some pictures from my morning trip to Maymont Park. The weather was beautiful with a nice breeze and lots of shade along the way to cool us down when we needed it. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing the sights today........
The Italian gardens are still teaming with color and butterflies. This is the location of many local weddings in our area. It is so easy to see why.



The butterflies and the dragonflies danced from place to place. I was mesmerized by them. I only wish they would have sat still long enough that I may have snapped pictures of all the varieties that I had seen.

I was surprised to see the roses flourishing at this late summer date. The final weekend of summer but you certainly can't tell it by the beautiful flowers in bloom here.



The ponds were full of muck yet the flowers on the lily pads didn't seem to mind it much.









The waterfall looked lovely today and this last pond looked surprisingly pristine. I could have taken a nap at that spot.


Can you find the rainbow from one of the pictures of the falls?

Time to say goodbye...

It's time to say goodbye to our kittens. I have placed an ad in the paper for the kittens to find good homes. Today is day 2 of the ad and not a single call yet. If I don't receive any calls from Sundays ad I will place fliers up on Monday. I have successfully convinced Bob to let us keep the Runt. Jackie and I are arguing on the name. She has named her, Wobbly headed BaBa and I'm sorry to say I've slipped and called her BaBa a few times now. She hates Runtie, the name I gave her. I know it is anything but imaginative but it suits her. She is still a bit smaller than the others but has taken on the role of instigator. She starts most of the rough play. I'm so glad to see she is fine I really did have some concerns that she may not make it. She is so rambunctious that I was unable to get her to sit still long enough for me to take a decent picture of her. So below with the aid of my hand to attempt to stop her movement for a millisecond is BaBa/Runtie.

I would like to try and get a picture of her next to at least one of the others to show the difference in size but I just wasn't able to catch a single one that wasn't out of focus so for now this will have to do. So if any of you want some beautiful loving kittens to take home contact me and we can arrange it. Well I'm off to make a flyer in case I get little or no response to the ad in the paper.


Update: Two of the precious babies have left the nest. JC is missing them a bit but I think somewhat relieved. Today a single man called wanting to see them. I told him I thought it was odd a man looking for a cat... we both laughed and in hind sight I hope he didn't take that out of context. I hope he will come by to give a good home to one of the boys.

Bitter sweet

After stopping in to one of my regular reads, Does This Mean I'm a Grown UP?, Cativa has a wonderful sense of humor and a great blogging style. If you are a parent you can certainly relate to what she blogs about. The current post pictures what I feared my summer would be like. Fortunately it turned out to be very different. Brandon begins classes on Monday, Aug. 28, the day I thought I would be looking forward to before summer vacation began, has turned out to be the day I wish were further away. I had dreaded the long summer days with kids screaming and constantly yelling Mom, mommy or some derivation of... It was not the kaos I remember from previous summers. We have fallen into a very lazy summer routine. Though I have remained with my early rising and they have slept in late... Jackie especially who even now at this late hour of 1pm has still not emerged from her room. Some of you may seem shocked! I'm not concerned. I would however be concerned for my life if I woke her before she woke herself. The transition to school will be tougher on her than on anyone else in this house.
We had our moments of kaos but thankfully they were brief. We had moments of craziness like the one pictured below with Brandon and his cousin Matt, he lives next door, put on their last years Halloween costumes and jumped on the swings. As if the summer were not hot enough.


So, with some bitterness I approach the return of school. Soon I know I will be rejoicing in my return to some quiet days alone. Time to study without interruptions from the kids. Time to get my house in order... or not. I'm shocked that my baby is entering the 2nd grade and how one moment he says things with wisdom well surpassing his 7 years and a few moments later see him as my baby doing something that reminds me he is still a little boy. I cherish these moments and look forward to coming back to this post and others like it to bring back this feeling I have right now.