Cherry Limeade

Life is like a plate of Chinese food, sweet and sour. Today Roger and his siblings and mother had to make the difficult decision to put his Dad in a nursing facility. Grandpa is still pretty sharp and has a decent memory and grasp of the day to day but he just is unable to be as mobile as everyone would like. I know how difficult this decision is for everyone concerned. All I can do is try to help Roger see the positive side of it. His dad is now literally minutes away from us and we can drop in on him several times a day. This also brings him closer to many of his granchildren and they also can run in and out and check on him. Once the facility realizes that he has many people who care and are prone to pop in and out, the quality of his care will be much better.
However, nursing homes are such depressing places that you hate to see someone you love have to endure them. To make matters worse, he knows where he is and he knows he is alone there. He cannot have overnight company which means Grandma can't stay with him.
We can only hope that he is able to get some strength and confidence built up in his own abilities where he and Tura can once again live together in their home. Must run for now, it is my night to babysit the Edwards Littles. More to come................

Put a Cherry On It!

Yesterday was such a great day. Roger and I both spent the day doing pretty much what we wanted to. I made a big angel food cake which we both really enjoyed and later we took a large slice to Grandpa in the hospital. That little man sure never turns down a sweet treat. After a nice visit we went to Christ The King's Pasta and Paintings supper where we enjoyed a nice spaghetti dinner, good fellowship with family and then we returned home for cake and coffee. Angie, Patrick and Abby came by after the supper to watch a little football, drink coffee and have cake. We also got to see Genevieve, Audrey, Kaylee and Matt yesterday on kind of an in and out basis.
Genevieve and Audrey had both created works of art for the art sale and of course, I purchased both. Abby was absent on that day so she didn't have a picture :( What was really neat about the art is Genevieve's carried a predominately purple theme which will look lovely in my office. And Audrey painted a masterpiece evocative of the green grass all around so it will hang in the hall bathroom. I love them both and can't wait to have them framed.
Then to put a cherry on top of my sundae, I found out from Kim Singer that we have been awarded the contract for Greenwood Public Schools. Wow! Out of the frying pan and into the fire! I also had occasion to speak with Mr. Hattabaugh, the superintendent of schools at Mansfield last night and let him know that he will be receiving our proposal next week.
I have a wicked busy week coming up. I am helping Terry shoot Northside (my least favorite place to be) and so I will be whipped by weekend but maybe a little financially better off. Gotta run, this is my only day to clean my house before the craziness begins.
Peace and love! :)

Dancing Cherries

I want to take ballroom dancing lessons. At my age and weight, I figure I could be just as funny as Leachmann

I'm living in a fish bowl!

I'm having one of those swimming round and round and getting nowhere weeks. My little fins are getting a wee bit frazzled. I've also experience not just a little bit of frustration in my ability to completely make bad situations worse. I'll swear I can do more harm with good intentions than most people who deliberately set out to destroy.
Personally, I am scared to death on more streets than I can name. I worry about how the current economic situation is going to affect my husband's brand new business. I worry about the fact that I don't have a job (my own fault, I realize) but none the less.....I worry about both Roger's and my health and the lack of health insurance. I went to Wal-Greens today to refill my thyroid medication and it cost $44.00 and the young man said "Just so you know, this isn't covered by your insurance." Well that ticked me off so I replied, "Just so you know, I don't have any insurance." Then when I went to pick it up, the girl ringing me out said, "Don't you have insurance?" Okay, that particular scab needs to be left alone for awhile. It is really starting to hurt when you pick at it.
I worry about my mom who just had a birthday, lives in Texas long and far away and got a birthday card from my ex-sister-in-law who included a picture of my mom's "boyfriend" with some other woman that had been published in the paper. Now, maybe it's just me, but I thought that was a little mean spirited. Considering the fact the picture was 4 or 5 months old and she had just seen this "family" member about 2 weeks ago and she never mentioned it. I think to send something like that in someone's birthday card was nothing short of evil. My mom has always loved this girl and treated her like her own daughter, no, cancel that....better than her own daughter. It really hurt my mom and then she found out that the woman lives about a mile from her, so obviously "boyfriend" has been making his trips to town really count! Consider that we are talking about people in their late 80s and this is sortof funny but it hurt my mom to think that he wouldn't tell her about something like that and that her friend would do something so thoughtless as to send it in her card without even saying anything about it. SCREAM!!!!!!
I worry about my children, my grandchildren, my friends and heck sometimes even people I hardly know.
I found out today that the father of a girl I had as a boy's club cheerleader many years ago, died suddenly last week from a bleeding stroke. He was still a young man and had a child still in high school. I just think that is tragic. And it makes me realize that you can never assume that you always have tomorrow or next week or next year to make things right with people, tell them you love them and try to make sure that you have no reason for regrets.
I'm really tired today, physically, mentally and emotionally. Roger is spending the night at the hospital again tonight which he really doesn't need to do since he just returned from a very tiring trip so I guess I'll put it to bed early, take my Advil PM and shut out the problems for just a little while. I have a booger of a week next week so I will need all my reserves hitting on all cylinders.
In closing, I would advise eating no cherries today....I'm pretty sure they will be rotten to the pits! Smoochies from my poochies.

Cherries are good for the memory!

Yes, now I remember what it is I hate about school pictures. The early mornings, having to be up and dressed at the butt crack of dawn to go and lug heavy equipment and say, "Good morning...how are you today? Sit down and put both of your feet on the X. Now turn your head toward the camera, look right here and smile." "Click" a few hundred times a day. I am seriously rethinking my agreement to helping Terry next week at Northside.
How-some-ever...I need to be making all the money I can while the opportunities are still there so I guess I'll just suck it up and shut up. I went and bought dog food last night, holy cats! Everything in the world is getting so expensive I truly do not know where it is all going to lead us. Our fearless leaders in the great white house seem to be strangely ignorant of how truly bad things are. I just wish everyone could say "overs" and start again. And, the most important election of my life is about to happen and I don't feel confident enough in either candidate to put my heart and soul into my vote. Maybe the eenie meenie miney mo thing will be the best bet.
Gotta go and get ready so I don't scare little children this morning.
Have a splendiferous day! Don't eat too many cherries.....they have some pretty nasty side effects! Smoochies!
PS - I love this picture......Genevieve looks so happy - Pawpaw is asleep (hahahahaha)

Today is the first day of the rest.......................

of my life. Blah, blah, blah. The same person who wrote that must have been the jerk who says there are no such things as problems, only opportunities. Sweetie, a pig is still a pig no matter how you dress it!
This morning I am heading to Darling Daughter's to do some tidying for her. Tomorrow I go shoot school pictures with Terry, then back to tidy some more on Thursday. I'm really not lazy, but all in the world I want to not HAVE to do things.
Isn't it funny that we all have these things that we want in our heart of hearts. And we struggle and strive to obtain them only to find they are fingertips further away after the struggle. Maybe this is God's way of telling us we need to find our happiness now with what we do have as opposed to constantly trying to achieve something better. Wow, where did that philosophy come from?
It has taken me a long time, loads of mistakes, wasted opportunities and much hand wringing to understand that inner peace, contentment and dare I say it, yes Joy comes from inside not outside. Seeing your life and realizing all the wonderful things about it instead of looking at the negatives with a microscope helps to set your mind in a better place. I have literally made myself wake up everyday and try to find something positive to think about and it is helping. Oh, there are still those black cloud moments but not so many any more. I think one thing that has really helped me is seeing how happy Roger is with his situation right now. After life dealt him a crushing blow, he took the time to recover and then stepped out in faith in a whole new direction. I know there are times when he is afraid he has done the wrong thing, but by and large I believe he is truly happy with the choice he made.
So I am trying to walk the faith walk as well. I will do what I can to make sure there is dog food in 4 bowls, the lights still burn and we still can put a few gallons of gas in the car and past that I will have to trust that God will provide. And I will no longer operate my life from a position of weakness, need and fear. I have a wonderful partner, great kids, fantastic grandchildren, a few good friends and warm fuzzy dog companions to love me. Truly who could ask for more.
Here's hoping we all have the enthusiasm of Genevieve as shown in this picture!

This is the Pits!

I'm sending cherry stones to everyone who doesn't comment on my blog. Boo, hiss to you! I will eventually lose heart and stop regaling you with my wit. Stop that...you will hurt my feelings!
I will be doing some school pix shooting for the next 2 weeks. I know I vowed never to do so again, but the dogs need to eat, I on the other hand can live off my reserves for several years.
I got to see my good friend Judy yesterday for a moment. I miss her a bunch, we always have the best time. Anyway, she is my best Mary Kay customer (thanks Judy!) and she came by to pick up her recent order on the way to a shower. She is such a good gifter, she is on everyone's guest list. This will be my last post today since it is almost 6:00 and I don't expect anything riveting will happen at this late hour. Kisses, kisses
PS By the way, if you want to put lipstick on your pig, please let me sell it to you, I have some lovely new shades that will be equisite on the porcine set.

All Cake......No Pie!

I am trying this again after my frustrating inability to remember to publish what was written last night. Of course, I'm sure it won't be nearly as pithy as the original but I will try.
Saturday was my be everywhere day. Took the granddaughters to G's soccer game. I had Kaitlyn come and help me on Saturday because she is good to entertain the littles.
It is fun for me to see how much Genevieve and Audrey's personalities are developing. Audrey (AKA Chatterbox) is loving the fact that she has a much better grasp of her language skills and is using them very freely. She also has a wicked sense of humor that I am really enjoying watch develop. She was in the car carrying on a complete conversation with herself and I heard her remark that she couldn't eat in Meemaw's car. A short time later, she was offering her sister a bite of her cereal bar when I said "Audrey, remember, you can't eat in my car." To which she replied, "I KNOW that, I just said it."
The soccer game was fun. Genevieve made some really good plays but her greatest skill seemed to be cooling off after she had been on the field. I observed her from across the playing field pouring her water on her head, down her shirt, in her shoes and all over her socks. After the game, she told me she was really thirsty. I wanted to suggest she suck on her socks, but I didn't. Kaitlyn walked both girls to the concession stand and by the time I got there with the car, Audrey was having a mini-melt. When I got up to them in line, Kaitlyn told me Audrey was wanting to go to the front of the line. I told Audrey she needed to keep her place in line and she tearfully told me, "But I know what I want." I'm usually not this adept at handling these types of things, but I told her show me what you want. At this point, she walked to the display board and pointed out her selections and then she was happy. Maybe she was afraid she wouldn't be able to properly vocalize her need of a ring pop and a pixie stix when it was her turn.
We came home from the game, had lunch and then I made 3 cakes. I made a strawberry cake and a chocolate cake for Jennie's birthday bash. And, I made an angel food for home. BTW...I make the best angel food cake icing ever. (sorry, I just felt the need for self serving self gratification). But, there was no cherry pie.......sigh!
We managed pretty well all day but the girls finally wanted to go out and ride their bikes and scooter. Since they were barefoot we had the whole we need to put on shoes talk. Well, according to them, their parents let them ride barefoot ALL THE TIME! This actually worked out until Genevieve crashed and burned and scraped the hide off her elbow and her big toe. As we were in the PawPaw emergency area rendering first aid, I thought I would teach a lesson and told her "This is why it isn't a good idea to ride our bikes without our shoes." To which she curtly replied, "Then why did you let us." Duh........you're the adult here Meemaw!
Well I think I'm going to close this out before I forget again to publish. Have a spectacular Monday.......I plan on getting out of my pjs today. Huge plans. Smoochies

Blog Sobs

Just spent a good 1/2 hour posting and forgot to publish so that all has to be done again. Not now though, I am going to bed. Hopefully I will be in a better "blogging" mood tomorrow. Keep the fruit flies out of your cherries!

Nothing on earth should be this cute!

My Biscuit.

Here is the Mini-MiaHamm (aka the beautiful Genevieve), however with all those missing choppers she looks more like a hockey player.

Say Pits and Farts Gage!

This has been an interesting day. I have been really busy all day and have accomplished absolutely nothing. I got a new modem for our internet service which seems to be the only productive thing I have managed to make happen. I also got a new cable box for the bedroom, unfortunately, the danged thing isn't working right. How in the heck am I supposed to watch the recaps of all my soap operas from the comfort of my bed?
I had a great meeting with a fellow creative type and we are considering forming an alliance and conquering the world. Tremble earthlings, we are coming to vanquish you.
My sweet little husband is spending the night in a recliner at the hospital with his dad. I feel so badly for him having to go through this phase of life but the road we travel spares us few bumps and ruts. We can only hope for an easy transition through the next chapter for all concerned.
Went to my darling granddaughter's football game. No, she isn't playing football. She's in the marching band which means I only have to watch half a football game. Yea!
I went with my daughter and the beautiful Audrey after her little tap and ballet class and we enjoyed the visit with everyone but I was soooooo ready to get home to my little hideaway.
When I arrived, my ex-boss had been here with loads of cherries to pit so I know what I'll be doing all day tomorrow. Data entry, data entry, data entry.
Short post but I'm trying to unburden as best I can each day. Today is my first day as ungainfully unemployed (is that right?) my English teacher best friend will certainly not hesitate to red pencil my work and let me know how I can be grammatically correct. Rotsa Ruck, kiddo, you and I both know I write like I talk, mostly with my feet.
Going now.........smoochies!

The Circle of Life

Well, it finally happened! My life has made an interesting circuit. I have gone from aspiring Broadway musical theatre actress, to wife, to mother, to owner of my own business, to divorced, to divorced again to wife to step-mother (tired yet?) to employee of 17 years to unemployed, to re-employed to unemployed to cleaning my daughter's house! Let's analyze what I'm doing wrong.
The Broadway thing was a pie in the sky kind of dream, my voice wasn't that great and Broadway is a hell of long way from the Texas panhandle.
First marriage was to a slow talking cowboy a decade older than me in years and a century older in attitude. He gave me 2 children I adore and for that I will always be grateful. Of course he also left me with them to finish out, I am grateful for that as well.
First divorce....can you spell living hell. Tortuous, embarrassing and life threatening.
The business I owned was part of this marriage and we had such a fantastic opportunity to do really great things, but one of us (not me) got way too big for our britches and shot the wad to kingdom come.
Second marriage. What on earth was I thinking? Was I thinking? I think not. Wow, I was on a merry-go-round with the throttle stuck in high. By the time it slung me off the ride, I was dizzy and confused, older....broker......lacking in self esteem and just plain tired. That divorce was one of life's little blessings that I count (sometimes twice) whenever I'm looking for validation.
My kids and I had a pretty rough go of life for a very long time but I'm a survivor and we managed to muddle through. I know they carry the scars of past life just as I do and for that I may never forgive myself, but I always tried to do the right thing. Sometimes I did the right thing for all the wrong reasons.
Wait here.....I have to go get a bigger bowl to put these cherries in.
I was handed a blessing in my third husband. How does any woman deserve this man? He came with baggage but we have managed to unpack a lot of our trunks and invest in matching luggage.
Being a step mother to his kids has been the best and worst thing I have ever done all at the same time. I have learned many of life's little lessons trying to wrestle out my place in their lives. I know they have frequently not understood me or my motives. Perhaps someday they will be walking the road I have and will come to understand me just a little. The have enriched my life with grandchildren that I love just as I love the little curtain climbers that are part of my gene pool. Kids are great, too bad we often force them to be screwed up by inflicting our ideas and opinions on them.
And my career. Ah yes that has been fun. I worked for the same employer for 17 years and would still be there but they sold their business. What a lesson that was. After 17 years of treating their business as if it were my own, there was nothing at the end of the road...not even a thank you for all you've done. Wow....talk about the whole wetting your pants in a dark suit feeling. Yikes!
Being a Type A personality with not just a little OCD and AR thrown in for good measure, I rushed out and found another job right away.
(Insert Carnival Music here)
On any given day, there was a current wife, an ex-wife and at least 2 girlfriends on site. If Days of Our Lives would move their filming there, they could re-emerge as Emmy contenders in a few months. Given the drama my life has already unfolded, I just couldn't take any more.
Therefore, I now have a job cleaning my very successful daughter's house.
I'm closing for now....I have to clean up all the cherry stems and pits around my feet.

Welcome to the Bowl!

I've decided that I need a more constructive method of venting than inflicting my pains on friends and family. Therefore, I blog. It is my hope that my strange little views of the world will bring some humor to your life and the reality that things truly could be worse. Please feel free to bring your own "pearls of wisdom" in your comments. And, I can take criticism.....I may not take it to heart but I can take it. As Arianna says "Blogs and Kisses!"