I Married a Good Man....

It is all about paint once again..... This will be the end of this tale but it does have a final chapter to report. It is finished...my kitchen, that is. It is repainted and I do like the color. I do feel so much better. It is good to want to cook dinner once again. It is nice to like the room. It has been a journey. You would not think that paint would be such an issue but it has been. As for my husband....he saved me. He came home from the lake early, picked up a roller, and went to work. He did not whistle while he painted. He was not a happy man, but he is a good man. He covered the beige that had an especially disgusting green cast with a nice soft beige that I can live with. I dare say that I will have to die with that color paint on the walls. If I even mention a change I am afraid that will be the end of our 40 year committment to each other but that is fine. I am not sure that I always say nice things about the man I married but today I am thankful for him because I was really in over my head!

Settling In.....

Possessions have arrived. Well, they actually arrived three months ago but the search for a home to put them in proved to be a more difficult task than anticipated. But now, contracts are signed, PODS delivered, and the new address is permanent! Tim and the family are REALLY home! They have a Texas phone number, a Texas address and now they are where they belong! For Tim it has been 14 years, for Mandy not quite as long, for Brooklynn, a VAGABOND since birth .......real roots. They are Texans once again. Father and son took on the grueling task of unloading all of their possessions. Jimmy, not quite a young man anymore, proved that age does not deminish strength! Two huge PODS in an afternoon and he was still able to get to work in the morning and then head off to the lake! There is indeed something to be said for the "older" citizen! Now their settling part begins. It is like Christmas. There are boxes that have been packed away for over a year. Items that are being rediscovered, things forgotten in their cross country trek. For Brooklynn it is a real home. It is not a life of rolling her suitcase from one home to another anymore. It is not a different bed on a weekly basis. She has a place she belongs...her bed, her toys, her books, her mom and dad....all together once again. And for Jimmy and I it means we are all here...our family. Separated as we have been for so long, we are not now and hopefully won't be anymore. A ten minute drive any direction and we can see our kids. As the "senior" years stare us in the face, they look pretty darn good!

The Problem With Paint.....

I have a serious problem with paint. There are hundreds of paint stores and even more colors of paint. There are beige tones that range from near white to almost brown...with green undertones, pink undertones, yellow undertones and so on. Is the light natural light, fluorescent, or incandescent? A two inch square paint sample does not give you any idea of what will be on the walls when you finish...it is a scam. It is a way to sell someone four different colors before they land on what they like. Paint makes me think of Forrest Gump and his famous quotation...."Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get." And so it goes with the color of paint.
I am on my fourth kitchen paint color in just as many years. When we bought our new house I thought I liked yellow...well I didn't, but I had freshly painted yellow walls and a very tired husband so I lived with it for a year. Then I thought the fix was to faux paint over the yellow with a tan finish...SUCH A BAD IDEA! That was worse. So I grabbed a paint roller and covered the faux paint and was back to yellow (yellow semi-gloss which is about as bad as it gets).
Okay so now I have a few extra dollars and a kitchen that I have never liked so I actually hired a painter and had the kitchen done. It was BAD. Really BAD. I knew when I got home from work that I could not live with this awful kitchen. After all the kitchen is my favorite room...it is a gathering place and no one was going to want to gather here...especially me.
So what to do??? I tried for three days to learn to like it. It just was not going to happen. Jimmy...oh, he was not going to be happy. He was not happy when I painted over the yellow the first time and this would be time number four (or five). You just have to be bold and grab a roller. So this morning I did. It is started. It may take a week or two to finish but the damage is done. It is a good color now.
I guess my poor husband will notice the change when he walks in the door from work tonight (about midnight). In the morning I will promise him that this will be the last time we paint the kitchen..until I decide I am tired of tan!

Back to Reality.....

It is over...that glorious week sandwiched in to the school year called "SPRING BREAK". It just happens to fall during the best time of the year...spring! In my 24 years with the school district I cannot recall a bad vacation week. Maybe the weather was not what we had planned or I was busier than I wanted to be but it has always been a "break".
This year was no different...actually it was better than most. Tomorrow I go back to work but the events that have been sandwiched into this short period of time are amazing. We began by watching Tim, Mandy, and Brooklynn move into their new home (another post), did some major clean up on the Shubzda house (really had been suffering for awhile), dined at Drew's house (great meal), headed off for a little surgery, recuperated, and ended the week at the lake!
The weather was better than perfect! It was that "wow, God's gift to the world has to be the beginning of spring" type of day. We sat, played with the dogs, read a few books and just enjoyed the best of what there is...time.
I really think one of our greatest gifts to ourselves has been our little house at the lake. We are different there...less hurried, more connected, and always reflective. This was a crazy emotional time for me for some reason. So many changes...Tim is home for good..fourteen years of a long distance relationship and he and his family are here...my whole family is here finally. I am looking at the end of the school year...so little time left and so much to accomplish with these kids that are so important to me. Just general thoughts on on all of the gifts that have been handed to me in the way of my health, my friends, my family, and my career.....blessings that no amount of money can buy.

And the week ended with the brightest moon in decades...just confirmation that all is well with the world.

I am grateful! What a fantastic week!

A Little Vacation.....

No, this is not the dining room at the Hyatt Regency, or room service at the Ritz....and to be perfectly honest with you it is not even good hospital food, but that is what it is.

Spring break and I thought I would use some of the time off to have a non cancerous mole removed and have another minor procedure done. Given the chance to stay overnight, I jumped on it! Who would not take advantage of someone waiting on you for 24 hours??

Really bad idea. The hospital staff does not wait on you. They consider you a total nuisance!

They made me feel really guilty when I buzzed the nurse and asked for help going to the bathroom.

Nurses question...."Are you dizzy?"
Patient (me)..."no."
Nurse...."Then let me show you how to unplug your IV, take off your circulation socks, and your oxygen mask and you can just go by yourself."
Patient (me)...."well sure, that will be fine :("


This was not a cheap visit. The hospital charges big bucks for that really great room....with a view of the Care Flight landing pad...which they used several time during my stay. Noise...YES...terrible.
Visitors...YES...all night long but not to help you go to the bathroom, just too see if you were still wearing your oxygen. Nothing you can sneak by these women! They have tabs on everything unnecessary.

Good Bye Hospital!

I am home. My husband makes a much better nurse. It is breakfast in bed for me and it taste much better than what you serve!

Spring Break.......

I have been obviously absent lately. Lots going on and lots coming up. So much to say, so little time to say it. I will hold all of these thoughts while I take a break this week. It is spring break and a much needed time to reflect.

Enjoy this beautiful spring time gift.

The Color Of The Day......

Is BLUE!!!! In an attempt to stay in teacher mode while taking some time off I decided to pick a color of the day so it was a BLUE themed afternoon for Brooklynn and I.
We looked for BLUE in "B"'s wardrobe but she is a pretty pink young lady...so clothing could not be part of our color of the day. There's no shortage of blocks to play with so our first task was to pick out all of thew BLUE ones. She did it...SCORE!!!
No BLUE crackers on hand so Brooklynn tried the BLUE blocks at snack time...not too great.
We dressed the basket full of Barbies and then tried to pick out the ones with the BLUE outfits.
A bit confusing at first...too many different shades of BLUE.
And lunch was served in a BLUE bowl with a BLUE spoon. I thought we might try coloring the milk BLUE too, but I was afraid of loosing my Gramma privledges!!!!!

It was a fun BLUE day at our house...including lots of sunshine and plenty of BLUE skies!
What a great way to spend a day off!

It's A Fact Folks.....

And this would be why I carry a camera everywhere I go!

It is also the mindset I have that anything at all can be a blog post...ANYTHING! As I pulled out of Kroger this afternoon I noticed a horse tied to a crepe myrtle. I really thought it was an illusion or maybe a type of blow up decoration...so, I stopped. It was real! He/she was eating the branches off of the tree. In a mere second I had my camera out...none too soon as the owner of the animal came around the corner radiator hose in hand and jumped bare back onto his horse. No boots, no ten gallon hat, not even a great belt buckle. Just a muscle shirt and tennis shoes and he was off.

So, I really have lived here for over 33 years. I was here when you actually had to drive 10 miles into town to buy your groceries. Civilization has moved out our way. All the basic necessities and beyond are right here within reach. We really have one of the areas newest and most modern malls. Within a 5 mile radius is everything you could possibly want, including a movie theater with multiple screens.

It is refreshing to know that if your car breaks down it is still okay to jump on the back of the horse you have in your backyard and head on up to Auto Zone. You never know when you might need to replace your radiator hose!

The View From Here....

It is 11:45 AM on Sunday morning and I am still in bed! Armed with a cup of tea and a bottle of FUZE I have been in this spot for quite some time (since I woke up to be exact)! I declared it a holiday. I am catching up. It is not a snow day, not even raining outside, but everyone in the family is gone this morning (including the dogs) and I am not moving.
I have been on a treadmill lately, of sorts. I have been going non stop and have not sat down to catch my breathe. So...today is the day!!! I am reading every blog that I have not read for weeks.
I am reading the camera guide and the notes from my class that I have not read yet. It is now time to go back and absorb all of the info that is wrtitten in the columns and along the borders of my notepad. I will learn all of this...at my own pace!

I am reading the Sunday paper. I am going to cut out coupons. I am going to make a list...but I am not going to shop until tomorrow because today is my day off!

I am going to read a cookbook and catch up on the 12 or so magazines that have piled up since January (or before). I might play "Words with Friends" if my cell phone is close by but I am not getting up to go find it.

And...I am going to finish this book. I am actually reading (and enjoying) something that is a classic and not just mindless matter.

Today is the day. I owe it to myself. It is something I should do more often. I tend to live in a mindset that if I am not productive then it is time wasted but not today. I think it is more productive to give ourselves the gift of solitude and recharging every now and then. It makes for a better attitude. Today I am not getting out of bed.....I am relaxing!

Another Addiction......

It has happened again...

I have been pulled in....

It is like falling into a black hole....

Like being drawn in without being able to resist...

Like a magnetic force that pulls my Yukon and I cannot control it...... It is a frozen yogurt addiction!
The faux ice cream stores are opening up on every street corner and they manipulate you into believing you can stuff your face with the all the pleasure of ice cream without the fat and you fill your cup and EAT!!!!

Personally I am a New York Cheesecake fan.

They offer topping of every kind. I could go with the fruit...strawberries, kiwi, cranberries, pineapple and so on....But I am a fan of the heath bar bites. After all the yogurt is fat free. Might as well treat myself a little.

So...if you find yourself pulling into Yogurtland, Yorgurtville, Here's to Yogurt, or one of the other strip mall stores be assured that my car is probably being drawn in to the same parking lot. It is a force that is irrisistable!!!!

For A Week....

This is what I have not done..... I have not seen anything on TV except "Barney"....I have not been near a sewing machine to work on a quilt.... I have not read any pages of "To Kill A Mockingbird"...

I have not worked on a single lesson plan......
BUT
This is what I have done...
I have spent hours in the yard playing....

I have colored page after page in a coloring book.....

I have watching Jimmy attempt to teach Brooklynn how to blow bubbles
and that is really a captured moment in time...

We have played with the dogs..

Ozzie and Brooklynn are buddies!

And what I have to say is that it has been a better week than any week that includes TV, school, books, and my sewing machine!!!!!

I will take this anytime!

Special Friends......

These are special friends. They were raised together on Hilltop Trail along with many other special friends. It was a great time. Tim and Jennifer played endlessly with all of the other kids that grew up on a street where you could ride your big wheels on the blacktop. You could run out of the house in the morning and play forever with legos and trucks and jump on trampolines. Moms and dads became best friends. It was easy then. You did not worry if your children did not get home for lunch. You knew your neighbor fed them! It was the best of times. We were friends then and we are even better friends now. Now our children have children of their own. These are Jennifer and Jessica's beautiful children. Let me introduce Nate, Hannah, Hailey, and J.J.
The moms had the opportunity to meet for lunch last week and the kids came along (kids and now grandkids). Chris and Sharon and I have been friends for what seems like a lifetime. I cannot imagine better buddies. We can go without talking for weeks and when we catch up nothing has changed. It is a comfort zone! Now our children have children and they can be playmates too. A reunion is in the works for this summer. Fun times with the old folks, our kids, and their kids. It makes me wonder where the time went. It also makes me grateful that we have remained friends and we can reunite and it will seem like it was just yesterday. I am so thankful for jobs that kept Jimmy and I stable and in the same area for all of our married years. The events of the last couple of weeks has made it even more important to know that the people in your life are a constant and the memories you have with them are irreplaceable.

All I Have To Say Is.....

No more PLEASE!!! We really do not want anymore of this! Five snow days in one school year is plenty! Let us thaw out and resume life as we know it.

Please go somewhere else...we have had

ENOUGH!

A Sad Day....

Jeffrey William Flowers It was a sad weekend. Another good friend lost her child. It was a freak unexpected event. Jeff died of pneumonia. No one dies of pneumonia anymore at such a young age but Jeff did. Bill and Linda lost their firstborn son. He was only 37 and he is gone, leaving a young wife and four children. How do you deal with that?
I have been there. I lost my firstborn son, unexpectedly, tragically. When I saw Linda at the service we hugged. "We are now sisters" she said. I don't want to be her sister. I do not ever want anyone to join this sisterhood. The one of lost children. The union of parents who have buried their kids...it is wrong.

I know first hand that these first days are a blur. The reality has not set in. Days, weeks from now Bill and Linda will understand the finality of all this. They will know that they are dealing with life as it will be from now on. I hurt for them. I want to tell them that the hole in their heart will not mend. I want to say that it sucks. I want them to know that the picture they saw of their lifetime has changed forever...but I won't tell them that. I will tell them what else I know...you will go on. With the help of friends and the hand of God they will make it. I want to tell them that it is okay to grieve for as many days as they need to. It is their right...but then you compartmentalize and move forward. You focus on the days ahead and know that you are given a cross to carry and you can do it because you have help...your friends and your faith.

I am sorry Bill and Linda....I don't want you to be part of my family if this is the family you have joined . I love you all and hope at some point I can be part of a picture that helps give you strength. So many were here for me.