A little Thursday randomness

Quick update: Those of you who "know" me know I do home health. I take care of a sweet little boy named Jophie. Jophie has been feeling bad the last few days and is really having a rough time. I got a call a bit ago to pray for Jophie and to please find others to do the same....please do.


I thought I would share a few more pictures from DD's dance Saturday night. They had such a fun time. This is part of their little group that stayed on one side of the gym and had fun. There were about 8 people in their group. The rest of the kids stayed on the other side of the gym and sat at tables. They danced a few slow dances but nothing else. I would have been one of those kids on the other side of the gym but these kids just won't bother to go if they aren't going to dance the night away. They never played the YMCA song, yet they were doing it in this picture.

They must have never sat down the entire evening. They also love pictures.

Last year at this time I was playing mommy to these cute little fellows. My dog had gotten pregnant when I accidentally left her outside a few extra minutes.(she was fixed after giving birth) She was NOT meant to have puppies. She gave birth to the first one here at home, grabbed it by the head and tried to shake it to death and then tried to bury it under some clothes. She refused to have any more after SH and I rescued the first one and brought it back to life so after about 5 hours of trying we took her to the vet who forced her to give birth. The vet wanted us to let her have them and make her take care of them herself. The vet was wrong and even she was shocked when my dog tried to kill each puppy as it was born. Needless to say these puppies were bottle fed and washed by hand every few hours. I did, after a few days, get my dog to calm down enough to let me hold the puppies up to her to feed a few minutes at a time. She shook and cried the entire time until they got to be about 3 weeks old and then I think she realized it felt better to let them get that milk out of her. She never actually liked them until they were much older.


My poor dog was very confused during this time. She knew she was supposed to be taking care of something but she was NOT going to let these squirmy little whimpering things near her, so when I would leave she would round up all of the old dirty shoes she could find and made a nest on the loveseat with them. She also rounded up cordless phones. Whenever I came home I had to dig the phones out of her nest. This was her feeding pillow and the ONLY place she would allow me to hold puppies up to her to get a drink.
Finally when the puppies were about 6 weeks old the vet said she was ready to be fixed and I needed to make sure the puppies were all weaned. Then my dog decided these were her babies and there was NO WAY she was weaning them until she was ready. I put them in the kitchen with a board across the entrance so she couldn't get to them and she would jump it just to feed them....these same puppies she tried to kill. Eventually we had her fixed anyway and now she just lays around gaining weight and begging for scraps....kinda like me.

I stayed home from work today. It was snowy and slick this morning and this is my short day at work. By the time the snow started melting I didn't feel it was worth the 35 minutes to and from work to work a couple of hours. I also think I may be getting sick. Not sure why I think that but I just want to sleep. I hope I'm just super tired of this weather and not getting sick. I'm sure I should know by tomorrow. Have a good day everyone...see ya soon.

WWOW

If you like to rhyme then hop on over to Hallies site and join in on the limerick contest. I'm not much of a poet but it's fun to try!

brain dump

This post may make no sense to anyone other than me, but that is ok. I sometimes find that I need to write out stuff and go back and reread it to have it make sense to me. I'm hoping someone that reads this may have some insight, or at least an opinion to help me out.
My DD is considering the post secondary options program our state offers. Students are given the opportunity to attend college during their Senior year of high school (actually all through high school if they choose) and use those grades as both college credit and high school credit. The classes are free to students, other than transportation and books, which make this very enticing. Students can get their entire freshman year of college out of the way before they graduate college. Some students can actually start earlier if they care to and have an associates degree at the same time they earn their high school diploma.
Good things I can think of about the program....1. the chance to have a year of college under your belt when you get out of high school. That gives you only 3 more years to HAVE to go before you are finished..which is great if other things come along in your life and you want to hurry. 2. One year of college free, which takes a great financial burden off of you and your parents. 3. ..can't think of a third one yet.
Bad things...1. DD is all set up to be the Valedictorian for her class. She is tied with at least one other girl but unless something drastic comes up they will be Valedictorians. Sometimes transitioning to college can take a bit and if she gets a less than perfect grade in a college class it will count toward her high school and will knock her down in rank. 2. Getting knocked down in class rank will equal less scholarship money. 3. Saving the money from her freshman year will not equal what she could lose if her grades aren't perfect in college. 4. Will she miss out on all that fun stuff from her senior year? 5. Is it worth the worry to graduate from college one year earlier and then start your life as a working person one year earlier?....
I think you can probably tell from this post which way I am leaning. If she is dead set on going I think I would let her go because she is smart enough to do this....but is it worth it in the long run?

OMG I just clicked spell check and it worked...well it said I had no words spelled wrong so it may not completely be working, but it tried.

Part 2

Why is it that when she tried that dress on at the store it didn't quite look like this? I remember it being much more...ummm...covering/



I think these two are going to have a great time tonight and dance the night away.

Tonight, I celebrate....

Tonight is winter homecoming at my daughters school. She is really excited and can not wait to put on her red dress and go dance the evening away. She is going to the dance with a boy she really enjoys spending time with so this dance should be the best so far. Hair and makeup will be done by DD and myself so look out for pictures later or tomorrow.
The prom is coming up in 7 weeks. Hair and makeup for that will be done by someone who will charge me the equivalent of a new car payment (maybe not quite) but it needs to be done by someone outside of this house or we may end up in a crying match. It is amazing to me the amount of nerves and excitement these young girls have over something so simple as a dance. I have to clean house now because after the dance some kids are coming here to hang out.....and we couldn't stand to have any mess at all. Wish me luck!

Shameless

This week I am doing something I hate more than just about anything....begging. I just need a sign that says "will work for food" and I would be at my lowest point ever. Actually, every year the parents of the Junior class sponsor a drug and alcohol free after prom party. Our job, as parents, is to go around to area businesses and beg ask for donations. We use the donated items as drawings all night to keep the kids at the party and safe. I love the idea, but was raised by a father that hated any form of begging, which is what he called every fundraiser we ever had. He and my mother would buy stuff but I was not allowed to ask others. My mother went to college when I was young and dad would not let her try for scholarships or grants because to him, if you wanted something bad enough you earned it yourself. It took my mom 10 years to get her teaching degree because she went to school as they had the extra money. Anyway, I have been handing out letters and calling businesses and I have been laughed at, sneered at and I think scoffed at.....but I'm not sure what a scoff looks like. We do live in an area where jobs are hard to come by and most small businesses are holding on by a thread. I understand that they are probably hounded to death by people asking for donations ...but don't take it out on me....I AM NOT IN THE MOOD! Excuse me, did I just yell that? Well I'm off for another trip to town.....scoffers watch out.

One of "those" days

Just something to brighten up this post.....aren't they pretty?

I'm having one of those days.....the days where there is so much to do and no urge to get it done. DD went with a friend and her friends family to our schools playoff game in Athens. SH is working for his little old women. I kind of wanted to go to the game, but wasn't comfortable driving two hours away alone. I don't mind the trip up but the trip back after dark when the weather says snow was just more than I wanted to get into alone today. SH thought about going with me for about 2 minutes and then the pile of stuff he needed to get done came to mind and he decided not to.

While sitting at home today I have been thinking about my Grandma W. a lot. She was the perfect Grandma. She would have been 91 this month. She was very healthy and her doctor always told her she would live to 100 because her heart and body were so healthy, but like many others, cancer got her before her body was ready to go. She was 85 when she died and she lived a long, happy life. My grandparents were both readers. They loved to read and work crossword puzzles at the kitchen table early in the morning before the rest of the world was up. When my grandma died there were thousands of books in her home and a building that my grandpa used as a recording studio when he sang with a quartet. When my grandma read a book she really read a book. When it was one of her favorite authors, such as Emerson, she read and reread the book and put her thoughts in the book.

The books she really enjoyed all looked like this. She would write parts she enjoyed, things that she thought about as she read it and notes about parts of other books or articles she had read about the book. With thousands of books we had to get rid of many of them but we all kept some that she had really enjoyed and it is a blessing to be able to go back and see her writing and read the thoughts she had as she was reading.

My grandma was very smart and a religious woman. She could get a map and show you the travels of Jesus during his life and tell you everything you would ever want to know about his life. She was my Sunday school teacher for quite a few years and she is one of the few people who made me listen and understand.

After my Grandma died, my aunt shared a story that grandma had told her years before. Grandma had not shared this story other than with one aunt because she said it meant so much to her that she could not stand it if someone "made light" of it.

This happened after the birth of one of her daughters. She had 9 children and I think this happened after the 5th child was born.

Right after the birth of this daughter she was having a very rough time emotionally. The doctor told her she had a nervous breakdown (but now we think probably post partum depression.) She was lying in her bedroom wondering how she would go on and raise her family, feeling desperate and scared. She was lying in the room awake and it was completely black. Suddenly the bedroom door opened ( and she said she couldn't have been sleeping because she could hear the noises in the rest of the house from the family) A figure appeared in the doorway. He had on a robe and was on a small donkey. She could see the folds of his clothes, but there was just light where his facial features would have been. She could clearly see the muscles in the donkeys chest and flanks move as it labored to carry the figure through the door and to the foot of her bed. It stopped and just stood silently. She remembered how vibrantly alive the donkey was- even as it stood still she had no doubt it was there. She said then a feeling of calm and peace flooded her and she looked away for a second and the figure was gone. She got better after that day and she used that throughout the rest of her life when she was having trouble or her faith waivered.

That story was one of the best things she could have left us, her family who misses her every day. It gives us great hope for our future and the promise that one day we will see her again.

Sunday stuff

A few days ago we had snow, hungry birds and bitterly cold temperatures. This Presidents day marks the 5th (I think) anniversary of the biggest ice storm I have ever seen. Eight days with no electricity and a house full of teenagers. This year February has been cold with a few small snows that have never amounted to much. The birds act like any little snow is going to be the death of their entire species and they start looking in the windows if I don't keep their feeder full. I like to feed them and watch them so I don't mind.

The weather the last few days has been much more to my liking. If the sun would shine for more than 2 minutes between rain showers I would be much happier but you can't have it all.

The last time I listened to our weather the weatherman was predicting snow for tomorrow again. I guess I need to go fill up the birdfeeder and get my camera back out.

DD is looking forward to her homecoming dance next weekend. She never gets too excited about them but this time she is.......very excited. It could have something to do with the smile she gets on her face when the phone rings or when her date for next weekend pops up on the internet. I've tried to get a picture of that smile but I'm never in the right place at the right time. I'm sure next weekend I will get quite a few pictures.....and I will share, of course.

Happy Valentines day

It is Valentines day. The day to show those you love exactly how you feel. SH came through this year by bringing home flowers and candy Wednesday night instead of waiting until Valentines day after midnight when he finally got home from work. I bought him some candy and today I am making his favorite dessert, luscious layers. He will be so happy when he gets home tonight, if I can keep from eating it before he gets home.

These are the flowers SH bought me. He knows I love plants and to have flowers outside during the summer so he bought me this mini rose bush so I could plant it outside this spring.

DD is currently between valentines but an ex boyfriend asked her out yesterday just for dinner. When she got in his truck he had rose petals in her seat, he took her to dinner, bought her a stuffed animal, candy, some romantic movies AND these...

Beautiful flowers but it was too little too late. I hope he goes on and finds himself a girl that he can love.

Tonight is parent-teacher conferences at DD's school. I always go and half of her teachers ask me why I bother when I know she is a straight A student. I bother because I want her to know I am proud she takes the time to be a straight A student and I will take the time to talk to her teachers and keep up with what is going on. Now I am off to jump in the shower and start SH's dessert....yum!

Is anyone else having trouble with the spell check on blogger? Mine hasn't worked for a couple of weeks.....

Happy Valentines day...to one and all

Today was another snowy day. We haven't had very many this year so it is a nice little change, but...I'm ready for spring.
My Grandma always said that birds mate on Valentines day. I'm not sure if that was an "old wives tale" or something she knew from years of being a bird lover. My grandma fed the birds all the time and loved to watch them. I inherited that from her so I took a few pictures this morning before I left for work. Keep in mind that I took these through a dirty window. I'm guessing that the male birds of the species were all taking the ladies out to the neighborhood feeder today for a little dinner before the big romantic event(-;

I hope everyone gets to enjoy tomorrow, whether it be with someone you love, or just with the memories you have of Valentines days past.

Spring has not yet sprung

The weather outside is frightful. We had a small snow yesterday but it was a slick one. Wrecks everywhere and even this afternoon when DD and I ventured to town there were cars parked along the sides of the road covered in snow. Tonight it is raining but it is supposed to turn to ice and snow in the morning. No school today and probably not tomorrow, or at least a delay, which makes DD happy!
I haven't worked for 5 days and it has felt pretty good but it makes me lazy. I almost look forward to a few days of routine again starting tomorrow.
Valentines day is rapidly approaching. I haven't bought the first card or piece of chocolate for SH. I am always the one thinking ahead and he is usually the one stopping at wal mart at midnight to find a card on Valentines day. This will be the first Valentines day I didn't have DS around to buy something for. I may still get him some chocolate and take it to him next weekend. He has decided, for some reason. to try not eating meat for a few weeks. I guess that means no Valentines steak for him and his dear girlfriend.
DD is going on a date tomorrow I would prefer her not to go on. Her ex-boyfriend A. has finally figured out he was a rotten boyfriend. Now he wants to make it up to her, but she is through with him. He bugs her, she cries, he leaves her alone a few days and it starts again. He somehow talked her into going out with him tomorrow night just so he could spend one last evening with her. She is trying everything in the world to get out of it but now he knows how to make her feel guilty. She is going to go but is driving herself and making it a short dinner and then she is coming home. He knows about the new guy she is "talking to" and he seems ok with it. I think he thinks if he can get her in a nice romantic restaurant she will forget the year she sat at home waiting on him when he was busy doing a million other things. The new guy I really like and the best part is that he is 3 hours away at college and only home about once a month for a weekend. How much more can a mother wish for than a boy her teenage daughter likes that is a couple of hundred miles away. I try to give her advice and surprise surprise, she doesn't always listen. I think her adopted aunt Kim gets through to her with her "gonna kick her bony ass up between her shoulders(-:
Now that I have rambled on about absolutely nothing I am going to go read my book and go to bed. Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Friday rambling....

The last few weeks DDR has taken over our home. About once every 3 or 4 months the teenage people around here set it up and start dance dancing their bottoms off. I love to watch them AND they dance, sweat and get a lot of exercise while doing it. Sometimes they dance dance until they can't dance anymore and fall into the floor panting like they just ran a marathon.

DD loves to dance dance...right now that is her prom dress fitting plan...as long as she dance dances every day(or every other day sometimes) she will not grow out of her size 2 prom dress by April. I don't think she has to worry too much about it.... She has this weird idea that her butt is big..

Here is the prom dress I mentioned above. She has never worn a "poofy" dress before. She says it makes her feel like a princess and I can not wait to see it with the hair and makeup done.

Here is last years prom dress. I loved it too but there is just something special about seeing your little girl in a princess dress.

I'm home from work today. It's one of those days where I could have went to work but I am feeling a little snotty/stopped up and I can't tell if I am getting sick and I can't risk taking it into my Friday little boys house. I do like a 4 day weekend once in a while....

Boys of all ages

I love boys....not in a weird way you guys , just because they are fun to have around. I even married one.

This weekend my niece had some things to do and asked if I would take care of her 3 month old son overnight.

Now if you have read my blog much you realize it has been a long, long time since I had a 3 month old around. My youngest is here, on the left with her favorite Cincinnati Reds player. She got to meet him at a local mall and was planning their future wedding was admiring his athletic ability while waiting in line to meet him.

SH was very helpful this weekend with the 3 month old. He actually fed him and helped put him to sleep at bedtime. He wouldn't touch a diaper, but you can't have everything. This picture makes me tingly all over....something about a grown man and a baby.