Kate's Place

Where am I?

2009-12-29T13:25:00.001-06:00

The question of the YEAR!!

Busy, thats where. haha! All is good and fine and BLESSED here at the Azar household. Just crazy.

More posts to come I hope. I have so much to share. So little moments of get away time to share them!

Here's to hoping your New Year is blessed.

Kate

Azar de Piso

2009-06-30T12:49:00.002-05:00

I believe that this sign was made for me to swipe. I haven't seen once like it since, but ironically, I saw this sign the week after we began potty training Joey. I didn't take it (although highly tempted), but I did get this pic of it at the local Kroger. Its basically saying "Warning: Joey's most likely pissed on the floor you are about to walk on, so don't slip and bust your ass."

Pink: my new blue

2009-06-30T10:44:00.003-05:00

She's a complete mess. Adorable in EVERY way. You know, I thought I would have a hard time adjusting to a little girl, but to be completely honest, she's definitely more my style. Pink is definintely a color I love. This little girl is my new little sidekick. ((Joey still is too.... I just have a new addition to my clan!))

She's about 9 weeks old now. She's beautiful and sweet. Its been quite the adjustment as you can imagine. I've been nothing but overwhelmed.

She's sleeping through the night already for the most part. She smiles all the time, and throws in a giggle or two - just absolutely heart melting. I already don't know what I did with my time without her. Was it really just Joey and me during the day? Shoot....those were the days when I had nothing but "time" on my hands (eye roll...). Now - I have no time on my hands - hence the lack of blog posts in the last 9 weeks, and the urgent request for prayer.

I've been on the brink of losing my mind these last few weeks. I've needed a break. Not that I'm not enjoying every second of my world right now, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, right?

The thing that has pushed me over the edge is potty training Joey. About 5 weeks after we had Delaney, he developed a rash on his bottom (don't ever tell him that I mentioned his boo-hiney issues on this blog) and the doc told us that it was time to get him out of the diapers and into cotton underwear. "Oh Lord," I thought.

The reason I didn't attempt potty training before then was because when he was finally ready, I was too prego to get up and down off the floor with him while he sat on his potty. And plus, I heard rumor that most likely he would regress after the baby was born, so I figured I would do it well after Delaney was settled in. I didn't know it was going to come THAT quick.

I had already ordered this program off the internet for the 3-Day Potty Training and was armed and ready with 30 pairs of "big boy" undies, and prepared myself to throw away all the diapers. I did just that and dove head first into the program one weekend. Lucky for Annie-Bo-Nannie, she happened to be gracing us with her appearance, and I graced her with a weekend of poopy pants and peed-on floors. ((Sorry Bo Nannie!! You're an AMAZING SPORT! We always have a new project to attack when you come to visit... I'm sure I'll have another random project for the next time, if you want to come back. haha!))

The 3 Day Potty Training method "worked" for the most part, but Joey was too smart for it, and decided that he would try to get on our nerves by NOT cooperating. To this day, its still a power struggle. He STILL will not tell me WHEN he has to go. I just have to rush him to the bathroom to pee, or catch him before he goes. So needless to say, its been a struggle now that 3 days has turned into 6 weeks. I'm about to go out of my mind. He KNOWS how and when to go, but he's more stubborn than his father.

And his terrible twos have really shown up in the last 2 months. He's a little more defiant that usual because of Delaney's presence, but I honestly think that she doesn't stand in his way that much. We show him more attention than we show her (in his eyes anyway), but his little boyish nature is just exploding. he's a monkey. I've found him on top of just about every piece of furniture that is no more than 4 feet tall. He's figured out how to pull out bottom drawers of dressers for his "step ladder" and it has gotten him on top of about every dresser in the house. And chairs.... his new "thing." They are the step stools to a whole new world.

He's obsessed with washing machines. he has to sit and watch the full cycle of the washing machine every time I use it - so I've been doing most of the laundry post-Joey, while he is sleeping (which these days, he doesn't fall asleep until about 11pm if we are lucky, even if he goes down at 9pm. UGH.

In the midst of kid craziness, its been nothing short of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom here. In the last 9 weeks, we've had everything grace our yard. In one day, we had a 4 ft long snake in the pool, a mouse on our porch (of which Rudy caught), a box turtle on the porch, and a family of geckos and some other kind of funky looking lizard crawling on our porch pillars. Before that we had birds flying around in our screened in porch (snuck in through a torn screen from a storm we had a few days prior), cardinals, dogs, spiders of every kind, skunks, deer, frogs, armadillos, bunnies - you name it.

The worst is the snakes. Three weeks ago, I spotted a 5 ft long rat snake crawling across the drive. Two days later, we discovered a family of cottonmouths living next to the house. Since then, we've had a little bit of yard work done. We no longer have a lot of woods and brush up next to the house. We had it pushed waaaaaaaaay back in order to get rid of the snakes. So far, its worked!

I'm going to try to keep up more with the blog. I want to for sure, especially since I did so much when Joey was a baby. I want to do the same for my little girl. Thanks for all your prayers and patience!!!!

Please pray...

2009-06-09T23:15:00.003-05:00

I'm so overwhelmed. I'm going crazy. Please just pray for my sanity.

Little nose and baby toes

2009-04-30T17:04:00.003-05:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated until now. It has been an amazing week since LAST Thursday morning.

I'll get into the detailed story later, but please.... without further ado, meet my precious baby daughter.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for us in the time. And thank you for checking in on us! Angela, thank you for updating everyone on the comments page of my last post.

I promise - a better post is to come on our new world. Thank you again for all your love!

Still waiting...

2009-04-22T22:32:00.003-05:00

She's not here yet.

And by the size of my abdomen, I just don't understand.

I was out the other day and people were looking at me like I was a fragile water balloon, and that if I came within inches of a sharp or blunt object, I would burst. But I assure you, if I haven't broken open by now, God has a pretty good reason of keeping me in tact, and this little baby inside.

But am I ready..... please God...... I'm about to do a dance.

Security?

2009-04-09T14:55:00.003-05:00

Whenever Joey gets out this wagon.....
.... the dogs scatter. Last night, Rudy was trying to escape from my cuddling grip, but when Joey pulled out what we affectionately call "The War Wagon," he decided to stay in the safety and security of my arms.

My new project - finished, just about.

2009-04-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

Just finished up a site. Check it out: Jimmy Alleva

We are still tweaking here and there, but seemingly, I think I've done alright!

THoughts?? :)

Carolina Jasmine

2009-03-25T14:24:00.003-05:00

I have these beautiful flowers growing outside my back door. And boy - do they smell AMAZING. I'd like to capture this scent in a bottle, and sell it.

I'm about 5 weeks away from the due date and she's kicking my butt. Instead of laundry and ironing right now, my butt is plopped on the couch, praying that she'll disengage herself out of my lower pelvis and allow me to walk across the floor without buckling to my knees. I'm thinking that she'll grace this world before she's due, but I also thought that about Joey - and he came pretty much on time, one day before he was 'expected.'

The popular nesting feeling among prego women has set it. Can't seem to get the house clean enough. Little girl's room is done and ready, but the rest of the house could drive me mad.

Joey is in desperate need for a haircut. I may attempt again. I've done pretty well on all his other haircuts... but I get so nervous. He's wiggly and it takes me an hour to do it every time, (which baby may not tolerate well), but its worth a shot. I may attempt tonight. If so, pictures to come.

Hope all is well!!!

The taste of the basketball - not as rubbery as you'd think!

2009-03-18T15:49:00.004-05:00

I haven't had any real prego pics up on the site this go-around. So here's one from a few weeks ago. Yep - I swallowed that basketball. She's a big girl. Suspected to be over 5 lbs by now. This was at 26 weeks, and I'm currently 34 weeks, with 6 big ones left to go. I'm bigger now, obviously, but honestly, not by much. But SHE is bigger. I just don't have any more skin to stretch, or room for her to move. Believe it or not, no stretch marks. How in the world?!?! But I feel her every inch, from one side to the other, up and down. I don't know where my other gastrointestinal organs are currently located. I guess when I had my gallbladder out 10 years ago, I made a gaping hole where everything could slide into if need be - and they need be.

Rebel

2009-03-06T00:39:00.003-06:00

Joey met a new buddy - Rebel. its the neighborhood sweetheart puppy. She is 1/2 great dane, 1/2 lab and is only 8 months old. She's SO pretty, sporting a deep gray colored coat with white "boots." I have a better photo of her but I just haven't loaded it yet. I will post it soon.

Anyway, he LOVES his new friend. I haven't seen him go this crazy over a puppy in a long time! He asks about her all day, calling her "Reb" or "Rebels." When I told him we were going out for a walk today to find Reb, he ran straight for the door.

Almost better

2009-02-23T16:07:00.003-06:00

So the Rhino that visited a few weeks ago turned out to be the flu for Joey. I had the flu shot so I avoided the worst of it - but I caught the cold-turned-into-nasty-sinus-infection that I haven't been able to shake since. I woke up on Friday feeling like someone smacked the right side of my face with a baseball bat. Suddenly Tylenol and Afrin weren't doing the trick anymore. I had to get down and dirty with some antibiotics. It has yet to clear me completely, but you would not believe how much crap comes out of a sinus cavity at the rate of 50 times a day (or more). Puffs is making a fortune off of me.

My friend Anne turned me on to the Netipot to perform some serious sinus irrigation. Saturday, I looked like this.... (looks a little crude.....)

Since one side was completely blocked, I was in desperate need for a inflatable floating device - or so I thought - when it felt like I dove into the deep end of the pool. It did work for a little while, once that side cleared up, and I tried it again. I'll give it another whirl tonight.

Annie weathered our snot storm (it wasn't just me, but Joe was stuffy too) and came to see us. She's AMAZING. We hit the basketball game on Wednesday night. She wore her happy pants, but it didn't help her boys play ball. She assumed at first that it was her pants that brought them bad luck, but then decided it was all the smack she was talking before the game. ha! I hope it was just a case of bad luck and that they do better soon!

See.... happy pants! Looking good, Bo Nannie! Thanks for an INCREDIBLE WEEKEND! We miss you so much already and want you to come back soon for big ass steaks! :)

My Little Girl

2009-02-23T16:02:00.005-06:00

Last Thursday, we were blessed to have a 3D/4D scan of our little girl. She's right on schedule, healthy and wonderful. A pre-introduction for all of us..... Meet Delaney.

I think she looks a lot like Joey..... Once again, a difficult call on who she favors - hubby or me. I guess we'll just have to see!

How I Broke The News

2009-02-11T21:09:00.002-06:00

Dad has known about #2 who is well on her way for quite some time, but I stumbled on the "card" I made and emailed to him to break the news.....

Good times had by all. :)

The Rhino strikes again....

2009-02-10T14:03:00.004-06:00

I have to wake up the little man in a moment and take him to the DOCTOR.

Once again, we are facing some virus-of-the-moment that has entered our humble home. Over a week ago, I had the nasty stomach virus that almost had me involuntarily delivering a baby on the bathroom floor, and now this week, the little guy has caught the upper-respiratory-nasty- cold/fever .... and now my throat is that to the equivalent of hamburger meat, well on its way to duplicate the rhino virus my son has. Considering that BOTH TIMES sickness has entered this home, it was a result of a grocery store outing to the local Kroger (we really haven't been many other places to catch something), I would love to stay clear of that wretched place anyway. Not only do we catch viruses, but my tomatoes don't stay fresh for more than one day, among other foods that we are spending top dollar for, but don't stay fresh for more than a day or two.

Pray that we don't pick up the stomach virus again in the waiting room of the doctor's office in a little while. When I called today to make the appointment, the voice mail said "we are experiencing heavy office volume these last few days...." That makes sense.

On the other hand, I'm 80% finished painting Joey's room. It looks fantastic. Its a bit darker than we anticipated, but I actually really like it. The darkness of the walls (its a deep aloe green) make the ceilings look even taller, contrary to popular believe that dark colors make a room look smaller. I ran out of paint on my second coat. I have about a wall and half left to paint, which I will do once I get over the cold that's about to hit me sideways. We had colds (joey and I) back in December. He tripped it in 2 days - this time its taking him so much longer... I had it for a full week, but I couldn't take anything to ease the pain. Tylenol and Afrin are my friends, although they don't show me much love. I'll take what I can get.

All in a Row

2009-02-06T23:17:00.003-06:00

Joey has this personality quirk where he "lines" things up - trains, cars, ducks, books, cheerios... you name it, and he lines them up in perfect formation. We caught this picture of him around Christmas where he had gathered his 3 Lightning McQueen cars and lined them up on the floor. They aren't aligned hood-to-hood, but if you notice they are perfectly staggered. I wonder where he gets this quirk......

Whats even funnier - last week when mom was here, we were practicing some potty training with Joey, and we gave him some books to read and ducks to play with. Next thing we knew, he was sitting on his potty, lining up his ducks. "Well," we thought, "at least he has his ducks in a row!"

The fam

2009-01-28T23:04:00.003-06:00

You don't know how hard it was to get this shot.
Anyway, here's the latest. :)
Wish you could see my belly. Then you'd see "everybody."

Growing in Leaps

2009-01-06T10:41:00.003-06:00

The little sucker tried to jump out of his crib last night. He came pretty close. I've been putting a regular sized pillow in his bed along with his "pillow" blanket (a down filled snuggly blanket of which he so affectionately refers to as his "pillow"... he LOVES soft things). Anyway he was standing on the REAL pillow after we were punishing him by putting him in timeout in his bed for kicking Rudy, and he decided to use it as a stepping stone - the meaning goes two ways. First, his step up to leap over the edge (of which hubby caught him), and second, confirming my suspicions that "its time" to graduate him to a big boy bed. Believe it or not, I bought him new bedding yesterday for that day when this would happen - and I didn't think it would be the same day.

We didn't move him out of his crib last night though. The bed he's moving into next is upstairs and I didn't have the strength to help move it down. Plus I needed to wash the bedding first before he could use it. So instead, I removed the pillow from his bed, and put three couch cushions at the foot of the crib in the case that he decided to pile up a few stuffed animals as step stools to catapult his little body over the rail. Thankfully, he was tired when he finally went down that he didn't attempt such circus acrobatics. But I'm sure the day will come soon....

For goodness sake, he JUST turned 2. He needs to relax a little. Baby Girl won't be here until April, and I was hoping that we could do the bed graduation ceremony around then. Good thing I bought bed rails yesterday too because I don't think he'll wait that long. I'm not ready to fight the "GET YOUR LITTLE BUTT BACK IN BED" battle that is inevitably right around the corner.

Art

2009-01-04T18:13:00.003-06:00

My Aunt Barbara took this incredible picture of Joey a few months ago.
She says its too blurry... I think its art.

My Sidekick

2009-01-03T23:37:00.001-06:00

He's the BEST side kick a girl could ever ask for!

Ups and Downs

2009-01-03T23:17:00.003-06:00

We took down our Christmas Decorations today. I hate this "day" because it makes my home ... well, boring, again. But honestly, I hate putting UP the decorations in the first place because I know this day will eventually come.

I'm in a "Bunko" group ... its a group of 12 women who get together once a month to play "Bunko" and eat. Anyway, each month, a different member hosts the party, and this month is my turn. I wish that I could get away with having my Christmas decorations up until about the 3rd week of January so that my house won't look so boring when they all come. Ah well... what can I do, right?

Get on board the "Joey train!"

2008-12-28T19:39:00.002-06:00

Joey got a new train for his birthday last month and we are JUST NOW putting it together - and what better place than around the Christmas tree! He's entranced with his new train. He's memorized all the sounds already, and imitates them easily - and he's a master at the remote control. So funny to watch! Too cute!

Today's rant about 3 completely separate things.

2008-12-18T14:15:00.003-06:00

Three things today:

1 - The United States Post Office needs a drive through service at every one of their locations. EVERY LAST ONE.

2 - I'm OVER - repeating.... OVER - people calling and harassing me. First of all, the national DO NOT CALL list is a bunch of bunk. Second of all, I am NOT [insert name here of man who used to live in this house who has NEVER had this phone number], and I'm sorry if you can't find him or his family, and I'm not the one responsible for cleaning up his credit, or paying his bills. STOP CALLING ME. ((Anyone know who to call to get annoying creditors from threatening ME?? I am NOT HIM, and I am NOT HIS WIFE. My hands are so tied, and I can't call police about this...who do I call??)

3 - On a lighter note, Hershey's has come out with a line of Candy Cane Kisses. Mmmmmm. Its the best I've had next to anything with peanut butter.

Happy Thursday! :)

Honesty.

2008-12-13T19:11:00.003-06:00

My friend Doug hit me with a 10 things honest meme, and so here goes...!

1 - I hate telephones. HATE them. I don't exactly know when this phobia came to be, but I think it was when I was in Nashville. The phone would ring at work and I was deathly afraid of not knowing how to answer a question. When I went to work with my hubby, his business was such as political balance beam, and I don't know how to be political at all, and am honest to a fault (maybe that should be #2 in this meme??) - and I was afraid I would say too much. So I just wished that the stupid phone wouldn't ring. And I still have the same phobia today. I just hate the phone - period.

2 - I'm really hard on myself. I'm not as bad as I used to be. (Geesh - thank God for living and learning.) I have this thing where I try to over-reach a goal, and I get pissed at myself if I don't make it.

3 - I can be really mean when I'm tired, overwhelmed, depressed, being hard on myself. Very hurtful. The thing is - I don't intend to be, but my words get all boggled up, and before I pass my sentences and the tone I'm about to speak them in before the panel of judges in my head, they come spilling out - demanding, cold, and - frankly - bitchy. My husband has to take the brunt of this flaw - but thank God he knows when its his fault, or if its just me - tired, overwhelmed, depressed, etc.

4 - I rarely feel like I'm living up to my life purpose. I just feel antsy almost all the time. I feel like there is something bigger and more purposeful that I'm supposed to be doing right now in my life. But I'm hindered by my current life. I shouldn't say "hindered".... that's not the right word at all. I'm more "busy" with my current life - raising my son, and getting ready to have another. I have to remind myself that when its time, that big ol' purpose will show itself, and it will be something completely different than what I could ever assume.

5 - I'm often referred to by my husband as a walking rolodex. I can just remember that stuff. Usually.....

6 - I know a lot more than I let on. I really do "get" it - but I don't show it. I tend to, well, not play dumb, but I just don't always show all my cards. I'm not deceptive by ANY means. I just don't always open my mouth.

7 - I love to travel alone. There's nothing more freeing to me than being by myself traveling in a car, on a plane, walking down a street of a new city or country. I love my husband, and my son - but before I was married, this was the most liberating thing in my whole life. Given, its not that safe for women to do these days - but it is so intoxicating to me. I once walked down the streets of Lisbon Portugal for a few hours by myself in mid afternoon. I stopped by a little grocery stand and bought some fruit to snack on and brought my journal. I stopped a few times a long the way to soak up the sun, and write a few thoughts down. I even came across an old man, walking along, and he stopped me to have a conversation with me in broken English. He even sang a song to me in 1/2 French, 1/2 Portuguese, and then wrote down the lyrics on a piece of paper in broken English. I'll dig them up and put them on this blog someday soon. It was a love song to his wife. I cried. And so did he. It was one of the most memorable afternoons of my life. And I was traveling alone. I. loved. it.

8 - I love to sing. LOVE it. And even thought about going towards the "big" time with it - but then was completely turned off the business (after working so intensely within it), and even decided that I couldn't do it because - well, frankly, I didn't have the self-promoting narcissistic personality it takes to go with it. I just couldn't create a world that revolved around me. But I still like to sing. And not many get to hear me these days, except Joey.

9 - I don't hold grudges. I just can't. Life is much too short. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't often forget the moments that have hurt the most because I don't want to be a fool again - but I don't hold them against people. I have this (naive) belief that most people have the intention to do good to others, and don't intend to purposefully hurt or spite. I'm not THAT naive - but I think most of the time, this is the case.

10 - And for the biggie - (and this is STUPID but I'll never forget it because i'm embarrassed about it) - in kindergarten, I brought snack-sized candy bars to school to share with my class for my birthday. And while I gave everyone one, I took two for myself and looked at everyone at my table and said with a shrug, "Hey.... its MY birthday!!" What a jerk I was!

Ok kids..... I'm going to tag Kate from All Over the Place (if you have time! I know you are all over the place ....) and Daniel, my brother.

For Christmas: Zimbabwe, Somalia.... the World.

2008-12-04T14:42:00.005-06:00

The people of Zimbabwe are in dire need of prayer. I don't know if there is really anything that we can DO besides pray for these people. The cholera outbreak there is threatening to wipe out the people, and the bank issues are just..... unreal. These people need help. Read more here.

Rarely do I listen/watch our own country's news casts. Sometimes, but rarely. Most of the time when I'm in my car especially, I listen to the BBC. This is where real world events are reported, whereas in the US, I'm tired of hearing how damn spoiled we are. I mean, stories about how a man was trampled to death by the Christmas shopping rush when opening the doors to a Wal-Mart - THAT'S TERRIBLY EMBARRASSING, and I'm ashamed of the lack of concern of our country's people. This, among many OTHER embarrassing moments like this, should never EVER happen.

But turn around this Christmas season and donate to the cause of the almost-in-complete-famine country of Somalia.

Here's a good one: donate some money in the name of your friends and family (in lieu of a Christmas gift - like a Nintendo Wii, for instance) to the Blood:Water Mission. At least you'll be helping sustain the lives within a whole COMMUNITY. I promise - you'll feel great, and the person that was supposed to get that elaborate fruit cake will be thanking YOU!

Seeing PINK

2008-12-02T16:26:00.004-06:00

Well, friends....... we are having a baby GIRL!!!! :) We could not be more excited!! It didn't really matter, honestly - but we did think it was going to be another boy. My first instinct was girl, but then, as usual, like a ding-a-ling, I didn't trust my instincts.

I've never been much for girlie stuff - but I do like pink - most of the time - especially on my new little girl.

Come April, pink will be EVERYWHERE. :)

Business is good - so far.

2008-12-02T12:09:00.003-06:00

I'm getting excited..... I've just been so "blah" lately feeling a little discouraged about my new business. Sure things are progressing - slowly, but yes, they are progressing - but I've been in a rut on several aspects, and in the last few days, the clouds have been parting a little. I've gathered a new client in the last few days, and established my contracts. I'm still tweaking my contracts, but they are so close to being done, I can taste it. I think simply the fact of organizing my legals makes this whole thing a little more tangible - and that's exciting to me. Finally, something that's reachable and actually official and obtainable. Without contracts, i was feeling a bit naked, and vulnerable, not only by watching this interest of business teeter on mere existence, but also, with the fact of getting taken advantage of clientele because of my lack of an official legal protection and "lay out" of design progression. Its just as important to them as it is to me - clients need to see that an organized progression of my business and design ideas instead of string of emails that 'explain' my brain storms, terms and estimates. The world of web design is not a well known subject - and is easily misunderstood and underestimated- so it feel GREAT to be able to present something organized.

I have another client as well that I've known about - we've just been gathering content for their site, and I'm going to get started on that in the next few weeks. Its an optical shop that has a really cool vibe, and I want to reflect that vibe in the site. I can't wait to start!

In the meantime, over this holiday season, when I find my inbetween times, I will be designing my own basic business site. Its not going to be too intense right away, but hopefully in the future, as my own skills grow, I can make it great and a sample to my future clients.

Wee Hoo!

My faucet's a-drip

2008-11-24T13:02:00.003-06:00

My faucet is leaking. It used to be a steady drip that would come and go - but now its a full blown stream.

The plumber in town said they chard $90/ hour PLUS a $25 trip charge, and then for additional parts.

What?!?! A $25 TRIP CHARGE?!?!?! But you are 2 miles away.

I told them basically where to "stick it...."

Procrastinating....

2008-11-20T10:22:00.002-06:00

I am not a procrastinator by nature. If there's a job - JUST. GET. IT. DONE.

Not today. I have no idea why. I feel like working - but for some reason I'm just ... well, not. I even have a sitter today so I can rock and roll. I will in a moment. This morning, I wanted to do some blog cruising - something I haven't done in 6 months or more and I just miss it. Sometimes I can easily feel isolated in this place, and forget that there IS life on the outside. Maybe I've spent too much time traveling in my earlier years (I speak as if that was more than 5 years ago...). Maybe my travel days were a bad thing - giving me a taste of something that I couldn't have forever.

(Sigh) coming clean, I think I'm a little down because I found out last night that a particular family member and his wife are leaving today to spend a week in New York City. And I'm just ... ugh ... longing, I suppose. November/ December is my favorite time of year in NYC, and I suppose I'm a little envious that I won't be able to go there ...or anywhere, for that matter... for quite some time. Just feeling a little sorry for myself.

But on another hand, there's no way I could leave my little man here, but its much too hard to get around in NYC with a toddler - let alone being pregnant at the same time. So I just need to get over it.

Looking at a few blogs today, I noticed a few were writing random things about themselves. So I thought I would dig up a few that I *could* share. (ha!) So here's my procrastinators-list-of-random-facts-about-me:

1. I have an outie belly button. Yes. Its true. And it is accentuated by my pregnancy ALREADY. Didn't take long.

2. I love chocolate but don't care for other sweets. I'll eat some, but would rather have a coffee, chai tea, water, or an apple than a candy bar.

3. I absolutely LOVE eggs and peanut butter. Together. Mixed. Yum. Hey-don't knock it until you try it.

4. My name is Katie. Not Katherine, Kathy, Katrina, Katalina.....just Katie.

5. Love shoes, but can never find any I like, and always fall back on my Reefs leather flops, even in 30 degree weather.

6. I hate to shop. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

7. I love forensic science and crime scene investigation. If I was to start over again, and choose another career path, I would do one of the two.

8. I'm very simple and love simplicity. I love the classic pottery barn living style - no clutter, all organization, and matching colors. I don't have that right now due to the merging of lifestyles of marriage, and my lack of a sufficient budget. Maybe someday.

9. I dream in vivid color and detail, and often remember the most minute of detail.

10. My favorite places in the world: Home, Venice Italy, Sicily, Seville Spain, New York City, Sardinia Italy.

11. I love Sangria.

12. After my first pregnancy, i became allergic to a bunch of foods that I love: carrots, watermelon (any kind of melon), some nuts (not bad though), cherries, and many more.

13. I love tequila, but after pregnancy, my body will NOT accept it. (That's a good thing.)

I have so many more, but my procrastination hour is needing to come to an end. Tell me some of the random things about you! :)

Days go by

2008-11-19T14:16:00.003-06:00

Day by day, things are getting a little more settled, and I think before long, we will be more settled that we thought we ever could be. There's just so many things to do around this house that we simply just don't have the time to do - and its embarrassing that we've been here since June now, and our garage still looks like we moved in an hour ago. Pretty bad.....

I've been busy with designing sites lately. Not really building anything right this moment - but will be very soon. Still in design stages with a few clients, but its going pretty well. I'm still eating some dirt yet - but who doesn't in the early stages of a small business (or any business) for that matter. Photoshop is becoming very familiar to me, and I'm flying on it now. I still have worlds of learning to do, but I can at least compete now. And oh, so much to learn with web development. Its not necessarily rocket science, but the type of sites that I want to be able to build ARE in fact a slew of tedious tasks. I'll get there eventually....

Little man has a birthday coming up. Hard to believe he will be 2!!! Where has the time gone? He's still incredible. His heart is just simply amazing. He's trying to enter the terrible two's but I'm not taking any crap from him, so he gets shut down right away when the whining starts. He still hates diaper changes and going to bed at night, but what kid likes either of those?? The thing about him - he'd rather have a poop glob stuck to his behind, and run 100 mph from me than let me clean him up. The other day, he deposited a stealth poo that went undetected for about 2 hours (I'm guessing by the redness of his back side when I went to clean it up), and he's paying for it now with a raw bottom.

Halloween has come and gone - but here is the little pumpkin that stole the hearts of many...

I'm finding myself these days going batty if I have to watch another Thomas the Tank Engine video or Nemo or Cars. Yeaow.....

The baby is growing fast....I'm about 17 weeks now - and I'm getting so big. UGHHH. We find out in early December if we have a girl or boy. I'm READY! :) I've been feeling guilty because I just haven't put that much thought into this baby yet - but I think I was the same way with my first until I found out the sex. Then I could really start personifying him and feeling like I wasn't just getting fat for no reason.

Joe's kicking ass and taking names at work. Man - if they would just let him take the reigns on so much stuff, that place would flip upside down and profit intensely. He has all the muscle to do it - but no one to spot him. Well, he DOES have a spotter, but they choose not to do what's right. long story..... maybe someday.

Where am I .... Ecuador?

2008-10-20T15:50:00.004-05:00

There is coliform in my water. COLIFORM. Thank you, Mississippi rural water association. Who took a DUMP in the well THIS time?!?!

These are not your average jelly beans, folks.

The boil alert apparently was posted last Friday - but living here you tend to hear about these things 3 days too late, and from your neighbor, who heard from another neighbor, who heard from a friend. Turned out, the rumor was true, but being 4 months pregnant, this did make this hormonal mama HAPPY.

After a wild goose chase, I was finally able to speak to someone at the MS Health Dept Water Division. Our water association servicing my area does not have the funding to send out a "message" to their users about BOIL ALERTS, so word-of-mouth is apparently common around here.

Where I come from, you either got a call, and email, or a little flier tucked into your door so that you'd know immediately. This happened for us last Friday. So we're pretty much SCREWED. Look out - hepatitis, giardiasis, and dysentery.

No brushing teeth, no ice (i can do without anyway, but Joe...not a chance), no water in J's oatmeal (now that he's had 3 bowls since Friday, so that doesn't matter), no rinsing fruit and veges (oops...) and no bathing with open sores (we're ok too....). Oh yeah, and wash your dishes with BLEACH (that'll taste good.)

Wish us luck.....

How can you resist??

2008-10-14T21:52:00.003-05:00

He's my little rock star.

EHhhhhhhh I dunno about this....

2008-09-23T14:20:00.002-05:00

I grew up with cats. I like them. At times, I've loved them. Some. But.....at my new place, even if they are outdoor - I now have a screened in porch that I want to keep as my sanctuary, but these little cute - ahem - terrors will tear it, and any other tangible screen, to shreds.

Joe found them yesterday at the warehouse and its been his dream lately to have cats around to deal with our living-out-in-the-country mouse and snake problem. But Joe does not believe me that cats are capable of tearing your screen world apart. He's asked everyone else's opinion, NOT listening to mine. HELLO, JOE, honey - you don't have to go any further than ME. I know the relationship. I've never not had cats. Take it from me......

Plus, these little girls are driving Happy and Rudy (the pups) to a whole new level of crazy. Rudy is foaming at the mouth to eat them, and Happy - well, Happy just wants whatever Rudy wants. Truth be told, he'd probably just kiss all over them and cuddle with them if he just had the chance. But not Rudy.... his history concludes that he was bred to catch cats.

If I have anything to do with this (which, you know what happens if Mama's not happy....) they will be chasing mice elsewhere. But they ARE so cute........

I've been away for a while......

2008-09-23T10:38:00.003-05:00

I can't take it..... I'm simply in love. This little boy steals my heart every moment of every day. I kept waking up with horrible dreams of him getting hurt, and every dream had something to do with him getting something stuck in his eye. HORRRRRRIBLE dreams.

I don't sleep well these days, but I think its because we're PREGO!!!!! We are going to have another baby in April, and we are pumped. I wish I could sleep better, but that comes with the territory. I havent' slept well since I was pregnant with Joey, and I think that's just part of being a mom. You spend your wakened nights praying for protection over your children and your whole family, as at 2am, you simply have no control over the uncontrollable, or the unpredictable.

Anyway, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated the blog in a while. As many of you know, we bought a house back in June, and its really kept us pretty busy. Plus, I've been working really hard on my website building business. In addition to my mom's site (www.pencilworksbyjoyce.com), I recently built another site for a friend of mine who has put together an AMAZING cause for women who live and deal with breast assymetry. That site is called "Its Okay To Stuff Your Bra." I'm excited for her cause, and I was honored to be apart of the process. I really think it will reach a lot of women, young and old, who have spent their lives hating their breasts and in turn, loathing their bodies and struggling to feel like women.

I have several other clients lined up that I'm working with right now. I'm still learning my skills, but I build to the best of my abilities. I will keep you all updated as I build my sites.

Joe's been doing great as his business. He's turning the place upside down. I'm so proud of him.

We have a trip planned to go see my folks this weekend. They haven't seen Joey in a long time, and they are pining for him. Who wouldn't?!?! :)

Wally

2008-07-09T16:19:00.005-05:00

We had a pool visitor last week named Wally. Joey LOVED him, but we had to turn him loose.
Thank God. He was cute, but I'm not in to keeping reptiles in my house...yet. I'm sure in a few years I'm going to have to get over this - especially since we've already pulled Wally out of the pool, and just yesterday, we had 8 frogs in the pool. Joey is going to be bringing them inside, begging for an aquarium. I'm going to have to be ready......

"Dirt Poor"

2008-07-09T16:12:00.003-05:00

"You are the proud owner of a big ole pile of dirt."

These were the words spoken to me by my husband this morning when he woke me up.

"What??"

"The dirt people came today and left us a big pile of dirt on the driveway for the dog pen."

"Oh gooooood....." I said as i rolled over.

"And I'm robbing your purse of $34 to pay the dirt people. Hope you don't mind."

"You have to PAY FOR DIRT?" I thought. What the hell kind of deal is that?! I guess I knew that. Back when we were building our home in the midwest, they hauled away a bunch of black dirt, and when we needed it for filling in our landscaping, they tried to sell it back us. What the heck?

Ah well. At least we now have $34 more worth of fishing worms. Not that I'm going fishing any time soon.....

Blessing with Butterflies

2008-06-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

I know this is sounds strange, but this is the second time this happened in my life.

See this butterfly? I know its hard to see the detail and the beauty, but it's hard to find a rare and beautiful butterfly like this. Tuesday, we bought a home and Wednesday night, before we left the home (we're having to do clean-up before moving in), we spotted this butterfly in the garage, fluttering around.

The last time I saw a bizarre butterfly was on my wedding day. It was petite with two solid pink wings and two solid yellow wings. I remember thinking how significant it was to see such a rare creation on such a sacred, special day.

when we spotted this butterfly Wednesday night, I had the same feeling. See, the home we just purchased is nothing less than our dream home. If we stay in this town (er, villiage) we will most likely never, ever move. And just the blessing of this home is a significant moment in our lives, just like our wedding day. Its like the beginning of yet another chapter in this crazy life. And it begins with another beautiful butterfly.

She is not my friend

2008-06-02T10:18:00.003-05:00

In all her devilish pregnant glory, here is the black widow I pulverized with spider killer this morning. I found her not 2 feet from my back door, trying to enter my domain.

EEEEEEESH! I LOATHE SPIDERS and this mamacita I loathe on a scale of which I hate Brown Recluses (of which we have too) and the growing-in-popularity-since-Hurricane-Katrina, the BLACK recluse which is apparently when the Black Widow and Brown Recluse got together and... you know.

Why does God allow such demonic creatures to roam the earth? I guess for the same reason as murderers and sex offenders.....

Gratzie, Gratze, Belllllllla!

2008-05-29T13:31:00.003-05:00

Mmm! I just heard about the Memphis Italian Fest going on right now thru Saturday.

I've been doing some daydreaming lately - ok, honesty- everyday I daydream. I've been yearning to travel in a BAD way. Not just to Florida or some place in the US. No, I'm talking overseas. I feel Spain and/or Italy calling me. I just need to go to the places I adore. My little village here is just not doing it for me these days.

But ... (sigh) ... travel is probably not in my cards for a while. We are going to buy a house soon, and maybe #2 on the way in the next year (this is not an announcement....I promise!!), and ... well, just lots of other life things. When I was single, as my family knows (and was sitting on nerves about) I was picking up and going to foreign lands on whims. I feel blessed that I was able to do so then - but my appetite for such travel was just beginning to be fulfilled - and then (NOT REGRETFULLY) I decided to get married, and pop out Joey. AGAIN - NO REGRETS!!! But I do long to travel. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to travel as a family in the near future - but for now, its MEMPHIS ITALIAN FEST, watching "The Godfather" a few more times, and taking chances to make my own sangria. I wonder if Memphis offers flamenco lessons??

Pencil Works by Joyce

2008-05-23T16:08:00.004-05:00

*Sweat beads rolling down my face*

I've officially completed my first web design. It was finished a few weeks ago, but I hadn't officially spread the word until I had some more kinks worked out, and some blanks filled in. Now that those things are done, I can start passing the link around.

I'M STILL LEARNING.... and have a long way to go ... but I'm truly enjoying this extra-curricular activity, well ... soon-to-be business, or second household income (THANK YOU economy for making it hard to buy food and TP these days!!!!).

Check it out (but don't be too harsh on my inexperienced ass): Pencil Works by Joyce

It is still very amateurish, but that will come with experience. Let me know what you think. No use of templates... just completely built from blank documents - from the ground, up.

By the way, that's my mama's art site. I can only hope that I could do her incredible work justice.

Son of a .... gun buying ebayer?

2008-05-20T00:01:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it. Not that this is really something to complain about....

I've finally found a fragrance that I adore, but, at retail, it's $130. That's a little steep for my wallet these days so .... I found it on ebay, and started a bidding war.

Up until about 3 minutes ago, I was winning nicely. I was about to be the winner of some Prada Infusion D'Iris for $47 when I get this email ONE MINUTE AGO that said "Sorry, you didn't win."

While the war was on, I was receiving emails regularly about how I was being outbid, etc., and I finally went to the lead. Somehow, that final email that told me I was being outbid didn't arrive. So i lost.

When I lost, I thought "Damn...... Oh well, I guess she needed it worse than I."

My curiosity led me to see who the winner was. The past review of items bought and sold were composed of manual-loading guns, a E-6 series passenger van, and a package of Hanes boxer briefs.

Now he can add women's perfume to his list.

The 5k

2008-05-17T23:21:00.003-05:00

I made it.

I don't know how but .... I made it.

I actually did quite well (THANK GOD) for not practicing or working out to lead up to the event.

I came in 17th place over all (and there were maybe 300 or 400 runners??). I was the 4th female to finish, and I was 2nd in my age class. KEEP IN MIND THIS ROUTE WAS FLAT AS A PANCAKE. I can promise you that if we had even a hint of a hill, my ass would not have made it as smoothly and successfully.

I was SOOOO happy to see such a fantastic turnout for this first annual event. People of ALL ages were there to run/walk. The 2nd place winner was actually a kid that was about 10 years old... maybe younger? The 1st place woman was 42 (go girl!) and people of all shapes and sizes entered. I LOVED IT. A good friend of ours entered the race and finished without stopping, and he JUST started training 5 weeks ago.

I ran the Nashville "Boo Dash" in October of 2001 for a "Jog Run" Class at college (yes, they had this class, and yes I got credit.....sounds pretty unfair doesn't it?) I did alright, but not as well as I would have liked then. But, I must blame it on THE HILLS. And Nashville has them. Oh yes. They do.

But today was actually pretty "easy" (term used loosely) . I'm just thankful that I didn't blow my knee out or fall on my face as I actually almost did about a 1/2 mile in when my toe found my loose shoe lace. (Mom - I had to hold back a "SON OF A BITCH!.... oh my, I almost fell down!" when that happened.....**inside joke**)

The race actually had a weird twist to the whole thing though. The new contestants from The Biggest Loser were running with us, so there were camera crews EVERYWHERE following the race. It was actually quite annoying trying run around them.

Following the race, I was blessed to meet some people. I made a new friend, Simone, and her two beautiful children. They are from Australia, and they moved here about a year ago. She beat me in the race (I don't hold that against her! haha!) but that did strike up conversation that we should go running together sometime when our "kiddo" schedules coincide. I hope that happens, because she is really cool. And I need more girlfriends here. That area of my new world here is coming around. I've made some good ones through events like this race, and at church, thank goodness. And the ones with kiddos Joey's age are coming out of their holes just like I am, because our kids are finally old enough to need buddies of their own. Its about time because Joey REALLY needs to learn how to play nice. (He swatted and screamed at Rudy, our dog, the other day, when he was playing with Joey's ball. Time to find him a good playmate when he gets mad at THE DOG!!! Holy smokes.)

Run Forrest!

2008-05-16T10:00:00.002-05:00

I signed up for our little town's Springfest 5k. I run it tomorrow. At 8am.

Crap. First of all, to do anything physical at 8am that requires getting OUT of bed (sorry mom) is not exactly my forte. And second, I've been running lately (when I can which usually amounts to about 2 or 3 times a week) but I haven't hit 5k yet....in fact, I doubt that I've ran a full 5k since BEFORE I was pregnant with Joey. But I'm going to do it this weekend. What the heck.

I'm going to suck bad. I'll let you know how it goes. I think I can do it ....

No pictures at the finish line please. ha!

Snip-Snip

2008-05-16T09:38:00.005-05:00

I cut Joey's hair the other day. WHOA, my heart was beating fast. I've never cut hair before (besides a little snip snip on my own hair where the beautician had missed a few after coming home from a trip to the salon), and he had never had his hair cut before. Talk about PRESSURE.

His beautiful little curls were starting to look a little feminine, so I decided that I wasn't going to be one of those moms that let his hair grown 1/2 way down his back, and have to answer the question "ahhhh so cute! Boy or girl?" every time we visit the grocery store.

Joe and I battled over who essentially should cut his hair. I wanted to take him to the lady that just cut off my hair (14 inches!!!!!), but he was adamantly opposed to someone else putting scissors near his eyes. I don't blame him, but I assured JOe that they had (a) experience cutting hair, (b) experience cutting KIDS hair, and (c) it would probably be much better than ME putting scissors anywhere near his face.

Joe went out of town at the beginning of this week, and I decided to get brave.

I did it. My heart about beat its way out of my chest. I think I did alright. :)

Here it was before the cut....
And here it is after the cut. (Sorry for the bad picture.... I can't really keep him in one place for a good shot any more. Seems like I just get the back of his head these days as he's bolting away.)

Music Meme

2008-05-05T16:14:00.002-05:00

I got this "meme" from Just Eat Your Cupcake . I decided this one looked fun, and so I did it, whether I really had the time to or not. ((I didn't, but what the heck...I needed some me time.) Some of the way these answers fell surprised me. Very ironic!

Here's how to do it: Put your ipod on shuffle and press next for each question. Write down the song that's playing as an answer.

1) How would you describe yourself?

Green Eyes by Coldplay – Well, I don’t have green eyes. At all. Not even in a different light. They are black brown. Just about as dark as can be. BUT…this happens to be one of my favorite songs on my whole list of tune selections. When I thought I might try to break out as an artist, I wanted to cover this song, country-pop style. But it is odd – every lyric that was sang is what my hubby has said to me at some point or another – even before he heard the song – except for the “green eyes” part….

2) What do you like in a guy/girl?

“Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones – You mean, MY guy…. He’s not as sentimental as this song, but the “I want to walk with you on a cloudy day, where the yellow grass grows knee high” and such is proverbial for our marriage. I love this song. Its just the classic love song. In fact, I’ve sang it at 2 weddings.

3) What is your motto?

“Oh Atlanta” by Alison Kraus & Union Station – “Same old place, same old city. What can I do, I’m falling in love… Oh Atlanta, I hear you calling, I’m heading back to youuuuu one fine day” MMMMMMM!!!!! This song is delicious! I love Atlanta, and I love this song!

4) What do your friends think of you?

“A Clean Pair of Eyes” by David Gray – This is an interesting irony. I should hope that my friends feel that I have a clean pair of eyes – a forgiving heart and ofference of a new clean start after blemished situation. The song actually is a prayer to God to be able to see with a clean pair of eyes following a mass of dreams that speak of fear, silence and doubt. In another aspect, maybe my friends think that I can be one that continues to hope for good things following negativity?? Now I’m reaching….

5) What do you think about often?

“Gravity” by Coldplay – You know, I thought that Gravity songs by John Mayer or Alison Kraus really fit more my style of thinking. And I’ve never really listened to the words of this song as much as I did the melody. But today I listened. And I cried. I see it as a song about the ultimate love, and then the tragic turn of losing the one you love to death – how you are pulled together through the gravity of love, and the only thing that can pull you apart is the gravity of death. If you do not have this song in your itunes collection, you must get it. It will set your mood. Its absolutely, absolutely….beautiful.

6) What do your parents think of you?

“Hurricane” by Mindy Smith – Wow…what a day to concentrate on the lyrics of the songs I really dig. I don’t know if this pertains to how my parents think of me, but this is such a beautiful song as well. If the lyrics were anything descriptive of hurricane, they could probably think this of me when I was about 18. But this is another song about loss and leaving, and the troubles of moving on. In this song, it would be best for a hurricane, or something of a natural force of destruction, force her to move on with her life, as she hasn’t the strength to move herself. Another good one for the lonely tune list. And what a VOICE……..what a voice. My dear friend Amanda has this voice on steroids, and every time I hear Mindy, I think of Amanda. I hope you are still singing, Amanda….

7) What do you think of your best friend?

“Bleeders” by the Wallflowers – Nah, Joe doesn’t “bleed” easy. I bleed much easier than he does. Emotionally, not physically.

8) What do you think of the person you like?

“Within You” by Ray LaMontagne – The only lyrics to this song is “War is not the answer, the answer is within you. Love, Love…..” Ironic selection. This has been his lesson of the year.

9) What do you want to be when you grow up?

“Sexy Ladies” by Justin Timberlake
Just the fact that I have this song means that I haven’t grown up – you may as well consider me a 14 year old girl because I have a little JT in my collection. But what can I say… I dig his stuff. And Joey and I like to dance to it. But yes, when I grow up, maybe I’ll finally be a “sexy lady.”

10) What do you think when you see the person you like?

“Fumbling Toward Ecstasy” by Sara McLachlin – Another ironic selection. The person I “like” of course is the one I love – my husband. There is fear hidden in love, at times. Fear and love are opposites, yet they intertwine. And I still have fears within our love, and yes, we fumble with each other towards the ecstasy of finding our love. We are in love, yet, it grows as fears are destroyed, one by one.

11) What song will they play at your wedding?

“Cold Water” by Damien Rice
Considering I’ve already had my wedding, and this song was not on the satellite radio mix going on in the background of our little reception, it SHOULD have been played…if you know what I mean.

12) What will they play at your funeral?

“Tripping Billies” by the Dave Matthews Band - “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die….”

13) What is your hobby/interest?

“If you could only see” by Tonic – the only thing hobbyish about this song for me is singing it. I love this song. Who doesn’t?

14) What is your biggest fear?

“Crash Into Me” by the Dave Matthews Band – well, you know. It’s a fear. I don’t like car accidents …. Or tornados.

15) What is your biggest secret?

“Turn Me On” by Norah Jones.
Getting a little personal, are we now??

16) What do you think of your friends?

“Slave Song” by Sade.
This doesn’t fit AT ALL.

17) What is your theme song?

“These Arms of Mine” by Otis Redding – Yearning for my man, only. And my baby boy. I gotta have hugs from my mens.

18) What do you think of your family?

“White Christmas” by Dean Martin – Ok, so this is my lone Christmas album in my itunes selection and somehow out of 1500+ songs, WHITE DAMN CHRISTMAS pops in on the list. I guess it kind of fits though. I like Christmas with my family. I love it, in fact. ☺ I’ll take a White Christmas right here. Perfect fit.

19) What is your best friend's theme song?

“Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant – this would be my man. ☺ I couldn’t’ think of a more perfect song….!

20) What is your mood right now?

“Everytime You Say Goodbye” by Alison Kraus and Union Station. – “There's a restless feeling knocking at my door today
There's a shadow hanging 'round my garden gate” I have been feeling VERY restless lately. I need a break. Bad. I need to have some “me” time, some away time. I need to recharge my battery. YES, this is my mood.

21) If your heart could talk what would it say?

“Hurricane Waters” by Citizen Cope – “I will carry you through the hurricane waters, And I'll remember you in the blue skies.” My sentiments exactly.

22) What do your co-workers think of you?

“Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor Opus 23” by Tchiakovsky – complicated and clumsy? Yeah, probably – but I don’t have any co-workers so its all good.

23) What does your future look like?

“Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5
hmmm…. Probably some truth to this, but I’m always hoping that it will be easier to breathe, metaphorically speaking. But as I get older physically, you know how the body gets. At least I don’t smoke.

Ashlyn Helene O'Keefe

2008-04-16T15:04:00.003-05:00

Hey hey! We have another addition to announce. My childhood friend, Michelle had a beautiful baby girl last week. Her name is Ashlyn Helene O'Keefe. She's GAWWWWGEOUS. Michelle is doing great and the baby is doing perfect.

Catch of the day

2008-04-10T12:46:00.001-05:00

Guess what's on the menu tonight?

(kidding)

We caught this little bugger in mom's shed in iowa trying to sneak catfood. The things we do for fun....

I'm no hypochondriac, but....

2008-03-06T18:57:00.005-06:00

I believe that I have what they call "Momnesia." I saw it on the NBC nightly news and thought "Okay....so it IS true, and I'm not crazy, and yes its true - I'm losing my mind - but its ok."

I used to have next to photographic memory. I could pull names, numbers and memories out of my head like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Now, I can't even remember what the hell I just did with my coffee cup literally 5 seconds ago.

My "momnesia" is also semi-A.D.D. I start one thing, and I rabbit trail off to something else....and then rabbit trail off from that trail to another, until I come full circle back to the point of origination, and NOT ONE SINGLE DAMN THING GOT DONE.

I also used to be sort of semi-Jason-Bourne-ish where I could walk into a room, scan it within a half second, turn around and tell you that there is are approximately 10 paces to the coffee pot, and 3 more paces to the conference room, a Green Bay Packers magnet on the fridge, a fat man about 57 years old in a green suit behind a yellow desk, a woman about 35 years old with scuffed brown high heels and a creme colored polka dotted dress is half drunk on her way to the back room to probably have a cigarette, and the clock is hung cockeyed, and a little to the left of center of the room, as well as there is water damage to the ceiling in 7 different spots. Now, I can't even remember where I was 10 minutes ago.

I'm tellin' ya.....I'm losing it.

Murderous Memphis

2008-03-04T11:50:00.003-06:00

Memphis is really starting to scare me.......

This just happened, and its just another bizarre killing. There is just so much violence. Its getting out of control, folks.

There have been home invasions just about every other night in really nice neighborhoods where the victims have been tied up with zip ties while four masked and armed robbers rip their houses apart for valuables. So far, no one has been killed in those robberies, but some have been brutally assaulted.

Murder, murder, murder - every day. Something new. Just two weeks ago, they found a dismembered body in the Coldwater River, only 40 minutes from here (maybe less).

There are mindless drive-bys. Several pregnant women have been murdered. Many drug deals going bad.

I watch a lot of forensic programs on tv, and many of the stories come straight out of Memphis. I was watching The First 48 the other night, and every episode they feature two murder crimes at one time, but in two different cities. Every episode featured a crime out of Memphis.

It has become number 8 in the top 10 most dangerous cities. Compton CA is safer than Memphis if that is believable. Surprisingly, St Louis was number one worst city. I'm not sure how credible the list is though.... it says that Coral Springs FL is a safe place to live and I know that's not all that true.

Anyway, I don't go there alone, and you can see why. Statistics say that violent crime happens to every one out of a hundred people.

Storm Damage

2008-03-04T10:30:00.002-06:00

Last night, in a twist of the unexpected, we had some really bad storms - again. This time, we had damage. We are all in perfect condition, and thankfully we have our lives. In the grand scheme of things, we lost nothing except a few things here and there.

We had been keeping track of the weather most all day, and toward 6pm, we had shut off the radio and we were flipping channels on the tv, not really concerned with what was going on north and south of us (of which, we had been told all day that was where the thunderstorm action was going to be, primarily.). Next thing I know, Joe says "OH MY GOD, Kate - there's rotation on top of our town right this moment."

"What??" I said. "I don't hear anything."

Right then, the wind kicked up hard and our satellite went out. We opened the back door, and it was straight line winds across our backyard. No wind blowing inside because it was blowing south to north, sideways. We didn't hear any sirens going off, but we still grabbed a bunch of couch cushions and headed straight for the laundry room. Once we were safe inside, we practically stopped breathing so we could listen. We could hear something ripping off our roof, and every now and then something bang up against the side of our house.

A few minutes later, we emerged from the laundry room to check out the storm. The winds were not straight lined any longer, but still blowing very hard in every which way. Rain pouring out of the night sky in buckets. JD, Joe's cousin who lives behind us, reported in to us that he had shingles all over his yard from neighboring houses, and the winds had taken down a portion of his fencing. This was the rain and wind situation was the condition for the next two and a half hours. Our street was a river, and our backyard was a pond.

About an hour after we had paid a visit to the laundry room, the doorbell rang frantically. Startled, we ran to the door to find our next door neighbor with a flashlight and raingear telling us that all the shingles in the YARDS were from our house, and that we were missing about 1/3 of our shingle coverage. I ran outside in the rain and flood to see. Sure enough......

I went back inside and began inspecting the house. Within moments, I had found leaks in several rooms in the house.

The attic had 2 major leaks. I crawled up through the insulation and boards and stablized some buckets. Next, our guest bedroom had 3 major leaks, and Joey's room had 2 major leaks. Joe and I moved some furniture and placed buckets out to catch the water. I went to the other attic entrance and found another leak. Our upstairs bathroom had a leak coming through the vent. After we had found all the leaks we could, and made mental notes of the other water damages that hadn't sprouted leaks yet, we calmed down, cooked dinner and TRIED to put Joey down in our room, as we didn't want leaks to sprout over his head in the middle of the night in his room.

Finally the rain stopped. The leaking continued for probably another 30 minutes, then subsided. We inspected the house one more time and found major water damage in our living room.

Our satellite system was still down - most likely damaged in the storm - so we weren't able to see if there were any other storm systems coming. We had a weather radio, but we weren't really relying too heavily on that since it didn't even warn us of the storm that had hit earlier. ((It warned, but not for our town. It just stated that our county was going to get a little hit, but nothing to be alarmed about.))

This morning when we awoke, we were able to see all the roof damages. About 1/3 of our shingles are missing on the south side of our house - we are going to need major repairs (thank God we are renting). One of our vehicles took a hit from flying debris.... most likely a couple of shingles.

And now.......its snowing.

Enid

2008-03-03T16:35:00.005-06:00

We took Joey to Enid Lake on Sunday afternoon for a little "beautiful weather get-a-way." He ran around like crazy and burned off some serious energy. We enjoyed getting him out to breathe some fresh air and see a little more of the world than just the inside of our house....

In the Motherhood

2008-02-28T10:57:00.000-06:00

This is going to be my situation in a few years...... HYSTERICAL!

Mom's art....

2008-02-06T00:20:00.000-06:00

No Laughing Matter

2008-02-05T18:36:00.001-06:00

We just spent the last 30 minutes in a 3.5 x 5 laundry room closet with couch cushions and every pillow we own, bracing for a tornado. Thank God it went over us. Whew...

Here we are... keeping it light. It was warm in there. Well, it WAS almost 80 degrees today. I know.... you want to move to south. Come on - SAY IT!

Being from the midwest, I'm not stranger to tornado warning sirens. Once they started blaring, we hit the deck.

Your girl can COOK!

2008-01-28T16:36:00.000-06:00

This weekend consisted of some fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cooking.

Do I cook? Hell to the no.

Did I try? YES MA'AM!

And how did I do? RIGHTEOUSLY, if I do say so myself. I don't normally toot my own horn, but this time, I gotta. I cooked more this weekend combined than I have in the last 5 years.

So what did you cook, Katie? Welll.........

I do have to admit I skipped right over PB&J stage to Rachel Ray level. LOOK OUT!!! I rounded up some taboulleh salad, along with some spinach triangular pies on Saturday night, and last night, I threw together a squash casserole.

My friend Anne taught me how to make the salad and the pies a couple of weeks ago, and so I decided, in order to keep my chops up, I better make them again so I don't forget. I didn't forget. ((Nice teaching job, Annie Bo Nannie!)) The squash casserole was a recipe that Anne sported me a couple of months ago. I was browsing through my recipes, feeling brave, and saw that I had all the makings for the casserole, and decided "What the heck? I'll give it a whirl!"

Joe actually called his mom and bragged about my cooking. Now, THAT'S an accomplishment! He devoured it last night, and the leftovers today. Even Joey at his plate full.

Can you believe it? Your girl can COOK! I have a hidden talent. :) haha!

Days like these

2008-01-24T16:29:00.001-06:00

Ever have those days where you feel like you have cobwebs crowding your brain? I'm having one of those days. Nothing in particular has happened to make me curse the cobwebs, but I just haven't been able to "get out of bed" today, in a sense. I'm fully dressed, make up on, hair pulled up, teeth brushed, fed, shoes on, already went to the post office and Joey's already on his 2nd nap of the day - but my head is still in a fog, and I have a dull headache.

I didn't have any coffee this morning. I just didn't have a taste for it. I'm out of chai and my little town grocery store has pulled it off their shelves (despite the fact that I was buying them out every week...Hell, they have grape leaves that don't sell here, but they pull the chai.).

Our state in the south is cold. Its impossible, I know. Not as cold as Iowa is - as those were the to-the-bone cold days - but it is cold here. I've grown used to the mild winters, and this one's getting me. Its less than freezing, which is not bad, but I just don't enjoy being cold.

I've been working on my business A LOT lately. I will be able to "open" in a few months with my services. I'm teaching myself a trade, and I'm having to squeeze in the tutorials in between Joey naps. I'm really enjoying it. I need to come up with a name for my business. More on this later.....

Joe and I started back on an exercise regiment. I'm not focused yet on it. Its hard when I can't get outside. I don't like exercising inside. But I'm stuck. The elliptical machine just doesn't seem to do it for me. I feel soreness, and I think its working, but mentally I'm just in a box. Warm weather and longer daylight hours are on the way.

In the meantime, I'm reading "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. Its pretty good. It gets me thinking. So far, I'm on Chapter 6. Thirty-four more chapters to go. They are short little chapters that are more like daily devotionals. I like it, I think. I just have to dive deeper into the words to find how it applies. I've already addressed a lot of the topics already in my own heart, but its asking me to reopen these thoughts and re-evaluate my path. Thats good, because up until a few weeks ago, I was feeling pretty frustrated and boxed in. I'm doing better these days, especially now that I'm able to dive into something that expands my purpose. We'll see....

A year in question for 2007

2008-01-13T21:57:00.002-06:00

Alright ..... courtesy of Maria, here we go.... :) Maria, this was a good one (loved your answers!!!!) so I did it too.....

1) What did you do in 2007 that you've never done before?

Never lived in "in this southern state" until 2007...

2) Did you keep your resolutions, and will you make more next year?
I never make New Years' resolutions. I have to make my resolutions daily, or else I'm just completely over-expectant. I've learned thats an easy way to get discouraged. But if I renew my self daily, there's a better chance of accomplishing what I want to do.

3) Did anyone close to you give birth?
My dear friend Heather had a little baby boy named Gavin. My cousin Jason had a baby boy named Kaiden.

4) Did anyone close to you die?
Yeah....my dear friend and music buddy Michael Bushnell.

5) What countries did you visit?
Well...physically, or in my mind? ha! I didn't have a chance to venture out to the great abroad.

6) What would like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
More chances to travel and see more of the world.

7) What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
January 21 - Joey's christening.
October 31 - Gavin's birthday.

And a whole slew of other dates..... "Joey" dates, like June 1 - cut first "toof" and November 16 - first steps. I have many more....

8) What was your biggest achievement of the year?
We successfully moved (with an infant) - a task that is nearly as difficult as climbing Mt Everest - really. If you could see how much "shit" we actually have, you would break down and cry. I did. A couple of times.

9) What was your biggest failure?
Losing a few relationships - got lost in the move.

10) Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really - none that I can think of. Thank God I had my health this year. A lot of stress, but I don't really know if that counts.

11) What was the best thing that you bought?
My computer.

12) Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friend, Anne. She stuck by us through thick and thin with the move, and everything before and after. We are growing as new sisters every day. She's my heart. I love my Annie Bo Nannie! She also has the most twisted sick sense of humor that keeps me belly laughing. She has my mind in the gutter about 98% of the time.

13) Whose behavior made you appalled or depressed?
Well... frankly, my brother in law and his motley mix of business supporters. Anyway...

14) Where did most of your money go?
You mean "all," right? Well, frankly, to my brother in law and his motley mix of business supporters.

15) What did you get really, really excited about?
Joey's first steps. November 16, 2007.

16) What song will always remind you of 2007?
This is a hard one. I have many. I think just one of them would be "Keep it loose, Keep it tight" by Amos Lee.

17) Compared to this time last year are you a)happier or sadder b)thinner or fatter c) richer or poorer?
I would have to say (a) happier, (b) thinner...that's only because I was pregnant most of 2006,
(c) poorer.

18) What do you wish you'd done more of?
Sing. Laugh. Run.

19) What do you wish you'd done less of?
Raging. Last year, my bad side showed up when I got angry, and my raging bull would bust through the fence.

20) How did you spend Christmas?
At my inlaws with my niece and nephews and Joe and Joey. It was great.

21) Did you fall in love in 2007?
Oh yeah.

22) What was your favorite tv program?
Frasier and King of Queens

23) Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Naw. I can't hate. I don't have it in me. I'm very disappointed in a few people, and hurt, but no hate. All will work itself out in time.

24) What was the best book you read?
"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

25) What was your greatest musical discovery?
I realized that I had a copy of "Cantique de Jean Racine" in my itunes collection. Oh man.....I love that song. We sang it in college and it ripped my heart out.

26) What did you want and get?
To get out of our business situation.... Thank God for Miracles.

27) What did you want and not get?
A home of our own....but I'm not unfaithful or impatient. The Lord's got it in His hands...

28) What was your favorite film this year?
Bourne Ultimatum

29) What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I turned 27 last year. I know, I know - but I'm not as "young" as you think. ha! On my birthday...... I had breakfast with my Witt family who was in town visiting. We had gone out the night before to the Como Steakhouse. I took my dogs to the vet for "teef" cleaning. That night Happy was less than perky from the anesthesia, so we kept close eye on his progress.

30) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A trip overseas.

31) How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2007?
My fashion consisted of my favorite pair of Bebe jeans (that I bought back in 2004, and have nearly worn holes in all areas because I wear them 4 days out of a week), a ribbed wife-beater styled tank top, and flip flops, or sketcher sneakers, or black heels. I went for easy-to-throw-on style, because my life was less than informal, and I was dodging pee squirts and spoonfuls of green beans being knocked my way from a frustrated infant who didn't want to eat his greens. This style continues to be my wardrobe. I'm sick of it, frankly, but hey, its "fast." Its not catching any 2nd glances from the cute boys. ha!

32) What kept you sane?
Not much kept me sane last year, because last year was the first time in a long time I lost my sanity. I think the few things that kept me pieced together were Joe, Joey (because i needed to stay together for them), as well as the Lord, chai tea, coffee, my computer, music, sunshine, Joey's stroller, my running shoes, my new brown sweater, flowers, hugs and smiles. Really.

33) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Ehhh....I don't know.

34) What political issue stirred you the most?
Where do I start.......?

35) Who do you miss?
My family .... I miss them all. Every last one of them. Even those I haven't seen in a while. I miss my friends that I've fallen apart from when we moved. I miss Kellie, Alison, Glenda, Annie, Nathan, Heather, Amanda, Addie, Terrie, and so many more. I miss Rob, whom I found out about his death last October and it nearly crushed me. And Michael....ugh....

36) Who was the best person you met?
My friend Elsa. She was the first person I met here after we moved. She befriended me whether I wanted a friend or not, and I've loved her ever since. She's awesome. And Miss Evelyn, Joey's babysitter, and her husband Felton. They are angels.

37) Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2007?
Love. Always love. People will be people - but just love.

38) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I'm going to have to think about this.....

To All Who Have Wondered...

2008-01-03T12:09:00.001-06:00

.... YES, we did capture magic on this photo, and YES this IS in fact Joey on our Christmas card photo (courtesy of Stroud Photography).

He wasn't necessarily "scared"of Santa, so much as he didn't really know what to think of him. He's never really been scared of anyone, thankfully. But we did have a hard time getting him interested. He missed a nap on the way to the studio and was hungry by the time he sat on Santa's lap, so he wasn't too interested in saying "Cheese."

We put a book in his lap and he went crazy telling Santa everything he saw on the pages, but we still could not get him to smile or look at the camera. Towards the end, the photographer said "you know, i just have a few left. Lets see what we can get out of these." And then we got it - this shot. It was the last picture she took, and I knew that it was magic.

Oddly enough, that day, he also took his first steps in the lounge/waiting area of the studio.

Whew!

2008-01-03T11:29:00.000-06:00

Well, that was close. Holidays come and gone. We're still existing, thank God!

They really weren't that bad honestly. Not at all. We spent Christmas with Joe's family, and we had a great time. We left on Christmas day so that Joe could get back to work the day after Christmas. We caught colds while we were there. I'm still fighting mine off. Last night was the WORST. No sleep at all, trying to breathe. Sudafed dried up everything BUT my nose. I was slugging down water like a fish, all the while blowing my nose, keeping Joe up all night too. Joey has a cold too - hopefully not my version of a cold - but I've been wiping his nose constantly. Joe's been fending off the flu. We're quite the family this week..... I'll be fumigating the house soon.

Joey's growing so much every day. Every moment just gets better and better. He's communicating really well. He's learning a lot of new words. He's getting really strong on his feet. He's a curious little booger though, like all kids his age. He's touching everything, and poking his fingers in light sockets, and electrical outlets. As soon as we feel better, we are going to go find him some "squeaky" shoes - he's so quiet when he walks. He sneaks up behind us and we have to look behind us before we move because he might be there. We've knocked him over a couple of times already.

The other day, he went running after Happy. He ran up to him, and stepped flat on his tail with both feet. Happy was startled and jumped up, running into the kitchen. It was as if Happy pulled a rug out from underneath Joey. He went flying up in the air, and landed on his head.
It all happened in slow motion. I saw it all happen. We had been sitting on the floor together looking through a book when he got up suddenly and went for Happy. He probably won't be doing that again anytime soon.

He likes to do "fly by nose touches" on the dogs. He'll be running by Happy, and stick out his first and middle fingers and lightly touch his nose. It happens before Happy can react, so once he knows Joey's done it, he's already gone. Its cute.

Rudy (or as Joey calls him, "Roo-Roo") has a green squeaky fish that Joey likes to find and chase Rudy with. Sometimes Rudy will play with him, but most of the time, he won't. Its just depends on what mood Rudy is in.

I finished "The Secret Life of Bees" the other night. I loved the read. I highly recommend this book. I love the writing style of Sue Monk Kidd.

Addie is just about ready to pop - just a few more weeks and she'll be having a little boy named Aidan Christian. I cant wait. We won't have a chance to get up there until after he's born. And even after he IS born, we want to wait until the snow clears. We just dont want to take a chance in bad weather with Joey. She is finally able to enjoy being pregnant, now that the last semester is finished. I was so worried about her - she had more going on than anyone I've ever seen - taking a full load of classes as well as working full time, and at odd hours of the day. I was afraid that her crazy schedule would take a bad toll on her baby. Hopefully it hasn't. I've never seen her more excited about something though. I'm so happy for her and Danny.

I think we are going to try for #2 in the near future. We were going to try this month, but I think I want to wait until February or March. I just need a litttttle bit more time. I've got a great handle on Joey, but only recently. I'm back under control, and I want to feel that stability for just a little while longer before life flips upside down again. We'll see....

This has been the year for babies though - My cousin just had a baby boy (Kaiden) in Wisconsin. Joe's cousin Joey is going to have a baby in about 7 months (his first! Very shocking - last time I talked to him, he just wasnt' ready to "go there." Well, its time....haha!) And my friend Michelle is having a baby in April. Heather had her baby in November. Something in the water....

Later: My cousin Mary Jo just called to tell me she's pregnant. ha! My other cousin Presley is trying so she's next.....

Christmas is on the way.....

2007-12-13T11:22:00.000-06:00

I finally decorated my Christmas tree today. We've had the tree since last Thursday, and we've put off decorating for a number of reasons - usually consistent with lack of time or energy. I know Joe wanted to decorate together, but I just didnt' see that happening for another 3 weeks - and of course, Christmas would be long gone by then - so my ambitions were on fire today for the tree.

I found out today while decorating that I have minor allergies to pine and cedar. Go figure. My arms are covered in red itchy bumps. But my tree and mantle look good. Where's the cortaid??

Its been a hard week. Joe's company VERY UNFAIRLY lost distribution rights of beer for the county straight south of here. The county had a vote Tuesday, allowing the sale of beer. A few weeks ago, Joe and his co-workers gave a BEAUTIFUL presentation to Anheuser Busch about why THEY should have the rights to distribution for this county, should they go wet. There were two other distributorships in the running, but neither one of them were as qualified as Joe's company. They announced yesterday that one of the other two wholesalers were awarded the rights, not because they were the "Best" for the job, but because of "hardship" - apparently when they went into their lobbying efforts, they went with a sob story about how they'll lose their distributorship if they don't get the rights. Bull shit - ((sorry mom)) - but they are going to go broke anyway. Plus, the president of that wholesalership is also a good "huntin' buddy" of the man that made the decision to award them the rights. Joe was simply out-politicked. That's all. I have other conspiracy theories, but I'll keep them to myself.

My Christmas cards are done. I have 98% of our shopping done. We didn't go nuts this year. Funds are low, bills are hight - you do the math. Christmas shopping - over-rated, thank you!

I wish I could afford to go to New York City. Its my favorite time of year to go. I don't think I'll be going for a few more years though. We're hoping to try for another baby early next year, which will count me out until ... probably 2018. Ah well. Maybe I'll get surprised. Annie and I are going to try to take a "girls get a way" to Hilton Head this February. I haven't told Joe that yet, nor have I asked my sister-in-law if we can borrow her place yet - I'll bring it up when we pick a date.

I've been diving into "The Secret Life of Bees" lately. It pains me to put it down when I have to break away. What an amazing book.

Joe and I saw "No Country for Old Men" last night. GREAT movie. Big time bloody. Not for the kids. But great. I love the Coen brothers' directing.

Elfed

2007-12-10T14:59:00.000-06:00

I spent some time on this, only to look like stupid fools, so watch it, dammit!

Joe is only too eager to do the "Macerena" in this..... a little scary.

The Azar Elves

Mom

2007-12-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

Mom and Dad were in Missouri last week and became refugees at our place instead of heading back north to a snow and ice storm. Nice surprise for us. We had a great time and it was perfect timing for a little visit.

My mom continues to amaze me. Lately, she's been saying funny things out of the blue that just shock me. Two things t-boned me yesterday that I loved:

(#1) We were getting JOey out of the car yesterday at a restaurant, and he was excessively whiny. He was terribly hungry so it wasn't his fault. We just couldn't get to feeding him right on the schedule. But my mom, she grabbed him from my arms so I could morph the back of my car into a changing table, and said "Shut up, kid. Life's a bitch." I busted up laughing, turned around and looked at her. She said ".....What?!?!"

(#2) Joe was prepping dinner with Dad and he said "Hey Kate, make us some drinks! Dad and I want Jack and Coke's, your mom wants a barcardi and coke." I gathered all my bartender needs and went to making the drinks. I know mom and her ability to NOT hold an alcoholic beverage, so I was careful not to make her's too strong. I accidentally made it stronger than I should have, but figured, ehhh...she's not driving. I handed her the drink and said "Mom, it might be too strong." She replied with a "It might be just right!"

Mom.... she's great. What a hoot.

Update at the homestead

2007-11-25T22:12:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving was nice. We spent time with my inlaws at Joe's grandmother's house. I always love getting together with everyone, but I also miss my family too. We've had some good Thanksgivings together back home. Joe's mom and dad, aunt and uncle, another uncle, grandmother, brother, sis-in-law and 2 kiddos were all present. Joe's grandmother and mom cooked a big Lebanese dinner complete with kibbi (baked and raw) and grape leaves and cabbage rolls, as well as sweet potatoes, turkey and stuffing, etc. I can't tell you how delicious the food is. Its UNSPEAKABLY great! Joe's mom sent us home with a whole turkey to pick on all this week. Its amazing too.... We weren't allowed to leave without some leftover english peas and kibbi and cabbage rolls.

JOEY IS WALKING. He showed his first signs of cutting loose the Friday before last when we were getting his Christmas photos taken. I was at the photography studio with Evelyn, Joey's babysitter. She was along helping me out with a few things with Joey. He cut loose on his own and took about 8 steps before he fell over. Since then, he's been a maniac on two feet. He prefers to walk now, not crawl. He still enjoys his walker, but he LOVES it when he's allowed to just explore on his own two feet. He's still pretty wobbly, as to be expected, but he'll be master in a few weeks. I was hoping that he'd be on his feet before his 1st birthday. Perfect timing. He turns one on Thursday.

I've been feeling a lot better these days. The weather is growing wet and cold, but this state doesn't call for too much of the cold part. Thank God, because I can't take those Iowa winters. I can if its only for a few days, but not for long periods of time like when I was a kid. No way.

Joey has a few new words - Elmo, cracker, kitty cat, hello, Rudy. Of course they are HIS versions of the words, but you can kind of tell what he's saying. I can, and Joe can, but others probably wouldn't catch on.

Joe has a big presentation tomorrow with the regional representatives to stake his claim on distribution rights for alcoholic beverages for a dry county just south of us as it is expected to be voted wet in about 2 weeks. He's nervous - there's a lot weighing on his shoulders. If they don't get this county, it could be very detrimental to their business. They are already servicing non-alcoholic beverages to the county, but if a surrounding distributor obtains the rights for alcoholic beverages, then that distributorship will also take over distributing non alcoholics. Joe's business will lose sales from within the county on the non-alcoholics, as well as sales from their county line stores. They need this county badly. I honestly don't think there is any chance that they will not get the county as they are closest warehouse to all the customers, as well as the most equipped with trucks, warehouse space, and proper routing. Joe's just nervous because he hasn't been in the business long enough to feel confident that he knows what he's talking about. I think he's going to do just perfect.

We're going to start getting ready for the holidays soon. I've already done a little Christmas "browsing." We can't go crazy this year. We are more limited on funding that ever before, but that's absolutely fine. Its not about that madness anyway. We haven't made our Christmas plans yet, as far as family gatherings but we'll figure that out soon. Joe doesn't have that much time off, if much at all, so we could be tied up here. I hope not. I'd like to make it home to see my family for a few days, and I need to see Addie - she's getting so big and pregnant! :) I haven't been able to be there for her at all through this pregnancy and I have wanted to so badly.

I'm getting so close to finishing the book "The Lovely Bones." I'm really enjoying it. Very interesting and very haunting. I haven't been able to sleep much lately so I'm always up reading between midnight and 2 am. ha!

Inky

2007-11-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

Meet the company kitty cat.

Job description: hang out with Joe all day long and guard the door. Oh, and chase mice.

good kitty, kitty.

(((ahhhh-chooooo!!!!)))

My Memorial Day Irony and a Goodbye to My Dear Friend

2007-11-12T22:05:00.000-06:00

This night ..... oh this night. It is so ironic that memorial day was yesterday, and observed today.... so ironic.

I was just doing some research on some old friends that I hadn't heard from in a long time. I do that from time to time, to see if anyone has a myspace, or a blog, or any news about what they been up to - that sort of thing. I think of people in my past life that I've lost touch with as life has tugged us our separate ways, and every now and then, when someone comes to mind, I'll look them up.

Tonight, I looked up an old "boyfriend." He was more of a friend than anything, we discovered. We weren't "right" for each other. We were, but then we weren't. We lived two different lives, lived in two different cities, two different occupations. We were drawn to each other though at one point, but for the ultimate purpose, we discovered, was to encourage each other and be essentially, a friend.

His name was Rob Elortegui. He was a navy pilot. And I found out tonight .... that he was tragically killed in a Seahawk accident in September of 2005 off the coast of North Carolina. He was buried 2 days before my birthday. He was the only pilot to be identified in the accident.

My heart breaks. I remember the news, even now. But at that time, they didn't announce the name of the departed. Every time I would turn on the news, I would shutter at the headlines of fallen soldiers, especially navy pilots, as I knew Rob and many of his friends. I remember shuttering specifically at this news because I knew Rob was often off the coast of NC, flying, but it didn't occur to me that it could be him.

Joe used to make fun of me when I would come to work back then, right after I met Rob. I had fallen "in love" with this handsome, intelligent, navy pilot from Florida. I had met him at Autech base on St Andros Island in the Bahamas on one of our military tours. We connected instantly, and were inseparable the entire time I was in the Bahamas. Joe used to call him a "block head" and then laugh at me as I would get mad. It was all at my expense - not Rob's. He just wanted to see me riled up in Rob's defense.

A few weeks after we met and we had both returned to the states, we made plans immediately to meet again. I flew down over New Years to spend the holiday. We had a terrific weekend together. My favorite part of my visit was when all our walls came down and we talked about life. We talked about faith. Up until that point, I was searching for depth in his eyes, and I knew it was there, but he was so guarded, so protective, over his heart. He opened up to me in a way I don't think he had ever done with anyone.

He spoke of his hardships as a child. He was originally from Venezuela. (While we were together, he called his mom and grandmother 3 or 4 times, and spoke ONLY Spanish to them, as English was his second language, but one could never detect this in his fluent English dialect.) His mother and father divorced when he was young, and he and his younger brother were sent to live with his father and his new wife (or, wives, as it became over time, as divorce after divorce left Rob and his brother jossled around from family to family). Rob and his younger brother were mistreated severely by these rich entitled women who claimed Rob's father as their own
, and Rob and his brother were sent to live in the maid's quarters while the step children gained custody of the veloptuous absurdly rich homes. Rob's childhood was no less than a Cindarella story.

His mother had left Venezuela to pursue a law degree in the states. When Rob and his brother were in the mid teens, they were able to move to the states to live with her.

Rob told me of his faith. He said that if he hadn't have become a pilot, he would have become a priest. His faith was the only thing that brought him out of the wreckage of home.

His demeanor was one of gentleness. He was a gentle giant. His stature - just like Joe. A rock. Square jaw. Solid.

Joe, to this day, still picks on me about Rob. He knows that I fell hard for him, but our relationship was eventually translated into a beautiful friendship, as we realized our differences, chalked them up to good times, and agreed to stay in touch over time. Joe often says with a smile and chuckle, mostly in reference to Rob, "I have to watch out! I'm a goner if you catch eye of a Navy Pilot!" I always say "That's right baby! That's my WEAKNESS!!!"

The last time that Rob and spoke was late 2004. I would email him every now and again to check in and see how he was, and to see if he was getting lonely out on the high seas, as they would go out to sea for MONTHS at a time - sometimes up to 9 months solid. Sometimes I would hear back from him, but not often. After Joe and I got married, he crossed my mind every now and then, but of course, not all that often.

He crossed my mind out of nowhere yesterday, and tonight, I decided to take a second to google him.

My heart is broken, but I'm so glad that I found this out. He was a beautiful man - on the outside, yes. But on the inside - 1000 times more. You know, sometimes, I just don't understand why the Lord takes the good ones - the ones that touch peoples' lives and hearts, simply by just "being."

My friend Rob ... I know you are in heaven tonight. I know that with every ounce of my being, and I'm so, so happy that you are with our God. Rest in eternal peace my friend......

No Chance

2007-11-12T19:53:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you'd rather sit down and cry?

That's how I'm feeling today. To many little bitty stupid things to do, cluttering my big things to do. I have dreams. I have ambitions. I can get those things done if I didn't have to spend 3 hours on the phone with Hewlett Packard because the 3rd All-In-One printer/copier/fax machine is proving itself to be the 3rd piece of crap they've sent me to replace the original. (I spend the first hour on the phone with India, the PC department - after I've selected the MAC dept - trying to explain to the dummy that he can't help me and to transfer me IMMEDIATELY to MAC, where they speak perfect English.).

And I could be free if I didn't have to straighten out mis-charged bills.

And I could be without stress if AT&T didn't send me 5 bills a month instead of one, like it is SUPPOSED TO, and not overlap the charges.

And I could study my ambitions if Quicken would work right, and download my finances properly from my online banking.

.... if I didn't have so many things cluttering my house that I can't put away yet because THOSE THINGS represent things that I still have yet to finish.

...if I didn't have to do dishes. (I know I have to do this...)

.... if I didn't have to clean my house. (I know I have to do this too....most of the time I don't mind.)

I can't even enjoy my book.

I'm just ..... ugh. I just want to throw things, sometimes. Just wing 'em across the room. I need a day off - being a full time mom is great - but dammit if I DON'T NEED A DAY OFF TOO.

No chance in hell.

"The Lovely Bones"

2007-11-07T14:42:00.000-06:00

I don't read much. I think it shows in my writing...a lot. I love to write, but I notice that I could write better and more expressively (and with much less spelling error) while I was in college, when I started journaling everyday. I "practiced" with my journaling as well as my reports and assignments.

But last Thursday, I took a fast trip to Nashville to visit Heather and Daniel in the hospital when Gavin was born, and I crashed at Anne's place that night. She was telling me about a book called The Lovely Bones by Anne Sebold (and just recently found out that they are making a movie out of the book). I started reading that book, which I found on her guest bedroom shelf that evening before I went to bed, and I could NOT put it down.

I read slow. THat comes from a long history of A LOT of detailed reading since 8th grade, where my classes were so difficult, college was a breeze. I used to have to read EVERY SINGLE WORD in order to not miss anything, as my tests were absurdly nit-picky. Once I arrived in college, the reading was actually a lot lighter, but I carried my detailed reading with me, and my extensive note-taking. TO read a book for pleasure for me is absolutely unheard of, as I can't just READ a book. I don't trust that I can remember details of the book the next time I pick it up to continue where I left off before.

I decided to take a chance on reading again. I want Joey to read more than I did. I can't say that I've read any great classics and I feel less rounded because of that. I have less time now, but I want to make time to do so.

Anyway, I started this book ... and I love it. Its so interesting. I'm barely to page 100 and I've had 2 reading sessions. I wish I could read faster. Its driving me nuts. But I'm enjoying the read. Anne brought me a book this weekend that I'm going to read next, IF I finish The Lovely Bones. Its called "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kid.

So much to do today. I have several projects in the air, but I'm so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open. Coffee is brewing, and so I'm going to get to work....

Great weekend

2007-11-04T21:06:00.000-06:00

What a great weekend.

Anne was here this weekend, our dear friend and neighbor in Nashville. She's the greatest on so many levels. Not many come with a heart like hers. We're blessed to have her.

Last night we went to a Delta Waterfowl fundraising event in Drew MS. Whew. Very interesting mix of people. We had a great time. It was about 5 different shades of red in there though. They had a silent and live auction of hunting gear and duck photos. Hunting is not really my "thing" but I go along with to these little events because (a) Joe's company sponsors the events with beer and prizes, and (b) Joe LOVES to hunt. ((I'm not against it - I actually have hunting in my blood - but I just didn't really grow up hunting, although my grandfather would rather hunt than eat. I support Joe's love, and I'm interested in learning about it, so these events are more "educational" to me than anything.)) We bought some raffle tickets and sure enough, we won a single shot 12 gauge shot gun. HA!

The first and last time I shot a gun was almost 2 years ago. Joe and I went on a duck hunt with our friends Danny and Charisse. Charisse and I were along for the ride, basically. We had a great time nagging Danny and Joe because they couldn't shoot a duck to save their lives. Joe handed me the gun and said I could have a go. I'm not comfortable AT ALL around guns so I was nervous. He helped me position the gun and when the next set of ducks flew in and began to fold up, I aimed and fired.

BANG!

Next thing I remember was my arm was in TERRIBLE pain. The kick had moved the butt of the gun to my shoulder and damaged the ligaments. I haven't been able to throw a ball since.

The gun we won last night is the same gauge shotgun that ripped my shoulder to pieces, so I will probably give that gun to Joey when he's old enough. Maybe.

Anyway, the best part about last night was Anne had a guy ask her if she was single. "Yeah, I'm not married." "Well!!!!" he said, "why don't you just come over here and sit down on my lap and pretend I'm Santa Claus!" in a half-drunken slur. "Why don't we pretend I'm sitting in my car getting ready to drive away," I believe she replied. Jerk. Who does that?

Anne left this afternoon. I was so sad to see her go. She is just the kind of person that every one needs to emulate - full of love, compassion, honesty, and faith - and not to mention a twisted sense of humor. She had us ROLLING!

Passive Aggressive Machinery

2007-10-31T09:33:00.000-05:00

A city worker just knocked on my door and asked me if I had been washing clothes or dishes. "No, not this morning, but I did last night," I said.

"Oh...ok."

"I did just run some water a few moments ago though," I said, thinking about the bottle I just prepped for Joey. I used a filter, but still.....

"Maybe that was it. We might have hit your sewer line and we're trying to figure it out."

"Uhhhh.....ok. Well, let me know if I need to do anything, or NOT do something," I said cautiously, hoping that they would actually TELL me if something was wrong.

Looks like that swamp thing out in my front yard is causing me problems. Maria, you're right, he looks like a transformer, but he hasn't spoken to me. :) I think he's the passive aggressive type - just tearing holes in my sewer line with a smile. :)

If that "thing" is still in my front yard tonight, it should add to our lame haunted house affect. It might scare the kiddies away. I might string some orange lights around it, and put a jack-o-lantern in the top, with some cob webs. The city won't be happy, but hey - they might have ripped my sewer line.

The new fad in lawn ornamentation

2007-10-30T13:46:00.000-05:00

Word is that our neighborhood is getting cable. That's the good news. Bad new is a few of us have new yard decorations until they finish the project. Here's my eye sore. Lookin' gooood!

Sippy cup, anyone?

2007-10-29T16:25:00.000-05:00

Anyone know how to get a child to take a sippy cup? Joey is ADAMENT about NO SIPPY CUPS. He sees one and cries horribly. Doc says he needs to get off the bottle by the end of November and head straight for table food. The food part I don't think will be a problem, but the no bottle thing - that will be a challenge. I know he doesn't have to be off the bottle right on his one year birthday, but I'd like to try.

Something

2007-10-23T17:40:00.001-05:00

The new Starbucks is finally open. Just in time, because I've asked a girl from our church here to help me out with Joey once or twice a week after school. I just need an hour or so of "katie" time. I want to have some time to renew my spirit during the week. I really don't have a break otherwise. Joe and I go out on a date once a week, but I don't have much alone time to write, or read, or run, or just go unwind.

ANyway, so Starbucks is open. Today was my first day having Emily help out. So I jumped in my car, drove through the misty air to find a quiet corner of solace and a cup of tea. I arrived to find that it was about to close in 10 minutes.

A Starbucks that closes at 4 in the afternoon? WHAT?!

Apparently, since they are so new, they haven't set their extended hours yet. No biggie.

I do hope this town accepts the new coffee addition. Its such a small village, and its a bit off the interstate, and sign is smaller than it should be, not recognizable to the untrained eye. This town may not be willing to pay the prices either.

This town needs a privately owned, hole-in-the-wall coffee shop, someplace where you can sit and read, gather on a Friday night, buy coffee for a buck and a latte for a little more, maybe even a sandwich, with soft lighting, dark wooden floors, and an eclectic blend of music. Not a Starbucks. A hidden spot on the quaint square. After I left the store, I went driving to find SOMEWHERE else to go. Nothing. There is nothing here. I can't go to "O" - not enough time to drive to and from. I ended up parking at the square, and propping my journal up on the center console and writing there. Uncomfortable, but "something" I suppose.

(Sigh) I hope I don't drown here. There's a purpose for everything. We're in such a better place. Its true. But now what.....?

Cotton Harvest Season

2007-10-20T15:05:00.001-05:00

Its cotton harvest season in this southern state. Check out the enormous cotton bails. Believe it or not, the cotton used to be more prevalent here than now. This year, about 75 percent (or a figure close to that) of cotton fields are now corn fields. Farmers have had to reroute their strategies and invest in new equipment to grow corn, while most of America's cotton crop has been assigned to foreign countries such as Vietnam. The corn in this state is going toward catfish farms, and of course, ethanol. When we moved here, being from Iowa, I felt right at home. Although corn is becoming more of a profitable crop than before, I'm not exactly sure how the true cotton farmers feel about it down here. I guess they are glad that they don't wear corn underwear.

Testing the email-to-blog feature

2007-10-20T13:11:00.001-05:00

If you see this message, then this experiment worked and I have a heck of a memory of the the email address to use for blogging from email. Woo hoo!

Joey Uh Ohhhh

2007-10-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

Joey has been saying the famous "uh oh" phrase. The funny thing about it is, the dogs know this phrase to be the "oh s***, I did something wrong and I'm about to be punished" phrase. The first few times Joey said Uh Oh, they hit the deck. They are used to it now, but its still cute....

Kroger bathroom

2007-10-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a little cooking lately. Last night I made Szechuan Chicken from my Sandra Lee's 20 Minute Semi-homemade Meals book. I didn't do too badly (but I must say that this DID take longer than 20 minutes - ah hem). Joe left me alone in the kitchen to prepare the meal, and I know it was killing him. He finally came in to fix brown rice. His curiosity was killing him, and he's always made it known that the kitchen was his turf, not mine. I'm not much of a chef, and Joe tends to think that the kitchen is no place for me. I prove him wrong every now and again, but he does teach me a thing or two.

The meal turned out fabulous, I thought. Anything I make with chicken tend to be as dry as the Sahara, but I didn't ruin it tonight. I think this is something that I'll make again. Joe was worried that it was too much trouble, but it honestly wasn't more trouble than anything else.

The day before, I threw together a Chinese Chicken Salad that was amazing. We ate on it for 2 days, and honestly I could eat it every day of my life. EVERY DAY.

(See, I can brag on doing well in the kitchen because its not an every day occurance - let me gloat a little!)

So, I spent an interesting afternoon in the grocery store the other day. My goal upon entering: get the basic needs for survival (i.e. eggs, produce, flank steak, baby food, etc) as well as ingredients for Chinese Chicken Salad and Szechuan Chicken. What made it so interesting was the fact that I had to go to the bathroom - badly - within 20 minutes of entering the store. "Damn," I thought, "Why me?" This was actually the second time I've had an emergency need to use the restroom in a Kroger in two weeks. Last time was in town, and I had Joey with me, and didn't know what to do with him while I used the facilities - and Joe was close enough to leave work and jet over to help me. This time - not so much luck. I was with Joey, and a semi-full cart of food, but no Joe. We were in a neighboring town, 30 min away - and I was on my own. Uggggghhhhh.... that meant I had to carry him into the filthy bathroom and figure out how to juggle him and using the bathroom at the same time without getting his little hands on everything.

I wheeled my cart toward the bathroom. I asked the pharmacy next to the bathroom if I could leave my cart there while I used the restroom. "Yeah, of course." I really wanted to ask if I could take my cart into the bathroom with me, but I knew they wouldn't let me, plus, what's worse - juggling Joey, or knowing that my cart of groceries was in a nasty bathroom. I decided groceries in the bathroom much more gagging, and that I can always wash JOey's hands, if need be.

I pulled Joey out of the cart, grabbed my purse (another thing to juggle - thank goodness I could put that on the hook - hopefully it wasn't one of those stalls that the hook had been ripped down), and went in.

I found the handicapped stall. That way if Joey decided to get touchy feely, the walls were spaced a little farther apart. I thought about strapping him into the diaper changer but it was outside the stalls, and it was nasty, so no. Joey was just going to have to stay in my arms while I did everything else one-handed.

FOr my first trick - untying the draw string on my pants. Should be easy. right? Especially one handed. WRONG. The dad gum thing knotted up as I pulled one side of the string. I laughed out loud. "Really?? You're kidding," I said. "Where's the camera?" Joey was actually pretty calm through all this - just sucking his little thumb and glancing around the stall. But when I laughed, he giggled too and grabbed my face, thinking I was laughing at him. This made me laugh even more. The whole situation was just funny.

Finally, I was able to untie the knot and unbutton my pants. Next trick, pulling them down each side a few inches at a time. I finally managed, and sat down. Hovering was not an option this time with Joey in one arm. Yick.

The toilet paper dispenser was junk. Plenty of paper (for once) but the dispenser was next to being as dirty as the toilet bowl itself and it was broken - which meant that it the access panel kept coming unlatched and falling on us. After several frustrating attempts to snap it back on I finally gave it one last shove, and it made a noise so loud, Joey cringed and almost cried. "I'm so sorry, buddy. This stupid thing is broken." He regained his little composure, popped his thumb back in his mouth, and continued to observe. The dispenser again, fell on us. He tried to help me put it back up, but I was adamently pulling his hands away so he wouldn't touch it.

By that time, I didn't have to go anymore. I had held it enough that my body was in "survival" mode. I decided to try to do "business" anyway, and quickly, and be on our way.

Done. I next had to figure out how to redo all my tricks from before, only backwards. Pull up the pants. Button with one hand (much more difficult that it sounds...). Draw string - that was going to wait. As long as i could get everything else done, I could finish the string later.

Shifting Joey into my other arm (my left arm biceps were bulging and cramped at this point from carrying him), we exited the bathroom stall to head toward the faucets. Another lady had entered the bathroom and looked at us. "How you doin'?" I asked, and proceeded to turn on the faucet and wash each hand separately. She dove into a stall not saying a word, and Joey and I exited the bathroom. Once outside the door, I shivered a "GAWD that was NASTY" sort of twinge and put Joey back in the cart, tied my drawstring. I only prayed I didn't have to go again before we left... I had a lot more shopping to do. I'm still shocked that Joey was SO good through that whole ordeal. Didn't touch hardly ANYTHING! I'm not going to be so lucky when he's just a little older, I'm sure.

Was this post inappropriate? :) Hush, mom. :)

Baby Steps

2007-10-16T15:28:00.000-05:00

This is me these days (uh...as the big carrot), photo courtesy of BENT OBJECTS blog that I truly ADORE. ((This man's imagination and artwork is AMAZING!)

Joey is learning how to walk. He's climbing all over me these days. We've removed the one piece of furniture that keeps me up late at night worrying that he'll bust open his little head, and let me tell ya, life is good, now. He has free reign of the living room with no big heavy coffee tables in his way with sharp corners. And yes, now he's pulling up on the couch like a madman, and then reaching for my hands to help him take "baby steps" across the floor. He's a cocky little fella and thinks he can almost run and jump and bounce. Not so, little man. Take your time. You have NOTHING BUT TIME. He can stand on his own now for about 30 + seconds at a time. I've been practicing taking one hand away from his to see if he can learn to support himself by just holding on to one of my hands. He's almost there. I'm thinking he may have this down by the end of the weekend.

Coffee and Effe - turkish delights

2007-10-11T22:42:00.001-05:00

I'm listening to Sanders Bohlke tonight.... so chill.

Joe had a long day, and he's already made it to bed. My kitchen table's a wreck. I've cluttered it up with eBay items-to-sell. I have a few things up, but nothing is selling. I keep plugging along.... I have to straighten up this table before I go to bed. Straightening up anything before I go to bed is a sickness of mine. The pillows on the couch have to be straight before I go to bed, even though Rudy will demolish them in the morning when he decides he doesn't wish to sleep cramped under the bed any longer. The dishes have to be done or else I can't sleep. I think I do this because if I don't, then tomorrow is just an even longer day, and most likely I won't have time to "fix up" my area until the next evening. Also, clutter confuses me. It makes me take more effort to think about things, as if I have a thousand people in the room all talking in loud voices, all at one time. Joe isn't like that at all. He can hear a quiet TV when 30 bombs are detonating in chair next to him if he wanted to. I'm jealous. I don't know how this is - maybe its because we were raised in different volume-leveled households ... or maybe its the fact that he's a man and I'm a woman (I doubt this to be the fact of all facts, but it may contribute...) I don't know.

I'm up late tonight - and for once I'm "awake." I don't really understand why, but I can think of a million things to do, but I'm not going to do them. Joe had some work to do tonight analyzing a potential purchase for their company and I put my college skills to work analyzing and comparing income statements (see mom ... I'm still using my degree). I still have more energy (which is good because the dishes aren't done yet...)

Joe joked that maybe it was my Turkish Sultan Coffee that I brewed at 8 this morning. I had one cup at 8, and it was AWESOME. (Hey...the history of coffee is very interesting.....check it out). He bought me a can for my birthday last week. VERY creative gift. I was in Turkey a few years ago for a short stint and have been interested in it since. Anyway, the coffee was not like Folger's as you can imagine. It had more of real coco consistency. And the smell.....Ohhhh the smell. Delicious. The taste, just as amazing. The taste seemed to be a familiar one - maybe similar to the taste that I experience while visiting - I can't believe that I would remember such a taste, but maybe.

My turkish experience was a very interesting one indeed. I was with a motley mixture of 6 very different individuals. I'll never forget the afternoon we arrived in Izmir. We dropped our luggages at our hotel, and proceeded to venture out into the city in search of food. I was rooming with Jeff as he was a close friend, and we didn't worry about the "awkwardness" of sharing a room as there was an odd number of women and men. The other two women were - well, they were what they were - both carrying their own luggage of insecurities and female caddiness, and I simply didn't care to room with either one of them. We found a place to eat, and throughout, the leader of the band casually spouted rude and abnoxious orders at the wait staff. I wanted to sink under the table and I kept flashing apologetic looks to each one. I even grabbed one by the elbow on my way to the ladies room and gave my best "i'm so sorry" and apologetic gesture, although he probably couldn't understand me, he could read my eyes.

After we left the restaurant we started back toward the hotel. The two women and one of the guys were walking a head of Jeff, Howie (another one of the guys that I bonded with) and I. We made sure we spaced ourselves well, as the "leader" of the band was red-headed and LOUD, spouting to every person that walked by that she had to pee, and she needed to pee NOW and where could she find a bathroom (believe it or not, this woman was 38 years old). The other woman was proudly wearing a bandana that sported the print of an American flag, along with a denim jacket with the same print. The guy - well, he was just slightly tall, slightly anorexic-looking with middle-of-the-back length scraggily hair, with round glasses, and was half lit (of which he stayed mostly lit the whole trip). Jeff, Howie and I kept increasing our distance behind these 3 as we headed toward the hotel. Thank God all 3 of us had dark hair, dark eyes, and kept our mouths SHUT. (THe general opinion of Americans in that area of the world isnt' really of the kindness of thoughts, and we knew that, and decided it was best for us to remain silent.)

The "leader" finally was able to tag two young men in their 20's and asked them where she could relieve their bladder. They gave her a sideways look, and pointed her in a direction that looked quite sketchy. As they walked by, we said "Thank you for helping her. We're sorry she's such a nuisance." They smiled kindly and stopped to talk to us further. "You are American?" "Yes," we answered, cautiously. "Wow! This is great. We are studying Western Culture in college. Do you mind if we speak with you a while?"

We let the crazy 3 go on to the hotel, as we hung out with these two. I can remember my caution antenna was WAY up, and my intuition radar was going about 500 mph. They seemed like decent people, very sincere. They asked why we were in Turkey. We cautiously mentioned that we were a traveling band, here to sing for the U.S Airforce Base at Incirlik. They thought that was a very noble cause, but also mentioned to us that it was smart for us to kind of keep that under wraps. We agreed. They made mention that we all mixed well with the Turkish culture. Dark hair and dark eyes.

Next thing I remember, what seemed to be a riot broke out down the street. We all turned to see what was going on. A wave of caution and fear rushed over me as I watched people chanting and marching in the streets with signs held high. Cars and trucks driving fast in parade-like fashion around the roundabouts and through the streets. The two gentlemen walked on ahead to find out what was going on. They returned a few moments later to tell us that the people were celebrating in the streets as their soccer team had just won a regional cup and was on their way to finals for the World Cup. (How exciting that was because a few years back, I had a chance to be in Austria when France won the World Cup in 1998. I was awoken at 3 am to parading and yelling of celebration in the streets. Why don't we do more of that here in the U.S.??)

We watched for a short while, making small talk, and then the two gentlemen decided it would be a treat to take us for an Effe, a turkish beer. "Sure, why not," we said. We were EXHAUSTED but we were only going to be there for a short time - we HAD to stay up.

The rest of the night was slightly blurry for me after that. Whoa, Effe. What a strong beer. And to think, they tried to force another one after I STRUGGLED to get the first one down. It was sooo thick. A real beer drinker's dream. I'm more into wine, so a beer is such an occasional occurance for me (even though my husband is now in the beer business.... how ironic!). About 1:30am, we decided to head back (or in my case, stumble back) to the hotel. My little body was HURTING from that one beer, and instantaneously. I crawled in bed around 2:15, praying that I wouldn't have a worse headache when I rose the next morning that I did when I finally fell asleep.

The next thing I remember - I'm wide awake. Its 4:45 am and my window is wide open, and streaming in is a frightening sound - the morning Islamic call to worship, prayers over the city's loud speaker. "What the hell....?" I think to myself, as I try to pull myself out of my Effe fog. I'm half awake, half asleep. Jeff is snoring. Now - to one who has never heard these morning prayers over a muslim country's loud speaker - its a bit unnerving, especially when you've had a heavy alcoholic beverage not 3 hours before. My mind started reeling (and my head was already hurting) - and paranoid visions of masked, yet stealth and undercover al qaeda members crashing down our hotel room door, and jumping through the window to kill us for being American. I suddenly panicked for telling the two gentlemen the night before about why we were in the country. THe prayers over the loud speaker only grew more intense as the 20 or 30 minutes passed. I contemplated waking Jeff, but was petrified. Finally, the loud speaker went off. I somehow fell back asleep. Thirty minutes later, I was awakened by my alarm. Time to get up and head towards the base.

The most memorable part of the day at Incirlik wasn't necessarily our performance - as it was our first together as a band (we had one lame practice - and when I say "lame" I really mean it) so we had some very rough edges - but the most memorable part of the day was when I rode my very first camel. Yes. And he stunk. And he was mean. And the man giving the camel rides hadn't showered in close to 2 years and was equally as mean, and maybe his name was Saddam Heussein (or he was his long lost twin brother?), I don't know. And the camel's name ...... Effe.

I'll try to dig up the photo.

More Happy Drama

2007-10-08T15:49:00.001-05:00

I'm so bummed we don't have a decent vet here. After going to a "new" place in "O" that was AWFUL (we took Rudy and Happy there 3 times for "full works" baths and they only did 1/4 of the job), we decided to go to a different place that seemed a little more legit.

Friday morning, I took the boys to this new animal clinic for several things - and maybe I'm the one to blame for having too much to do on the checklist for one day - they had teeth cleanings (and they had to be put under a local anesthesia for this overhaul), as well as ear cleaning, all vaccinations, and the topper - anal expressions. (ick)

I called around 2:30 to see how they were doing and if it was close to time for pick up. The doc said to give them until 4:30 and then they should be ready to go home.

I arrived at 4:45pm. I waited in the waiting area for 30 minutes before the assistants finally brought Happy and Rudy up to the front. I signed the papers, swiped my credit card, and a young man helped me to the car with the boys. Happy was still a little drunk from the anesthesia and he was stumbling back and forth. The assistant helped me get all 70 lbs of him in the car, and Rudy plopped on the back seat and laid down for the ride.

The doc came out to give me the report.

"Well, they have really good teeth. We cleaned them up good. No bad teeth at all. Didn't have to pull any. All the vaccinations were done. Kate will have your shot records and collar tags up front. Now, Happy has a really bad ear infection. About as bad as it can get, so here's some antibiotics for him, and some ear cleaner. Take good care of his ears, and let me know in a week if he's feeling better."

He handed me two bottles of antibiotics - one for Happy, and the other for Rudy, and then explained that Rudy needed a week's worth of antibiotics as well - just because. "ooooookkkk...." I said, looking at him confused as to why Rudy would need meds when he wasn't sick. Catching my confused look, he said "We just give all our dogs antibiotics following teeth cleaning, just to keep from any infections."

I grabbed the shot records, the tags and all the antibiotics and ear meds, and jumped in the car. I raced home, fighting the clock. Joe and I were supposed to go out to dinner and the babysitter would probably beat me to the house.

When I got home, I looked at Happy's pills. Keflex. Hmmm....that name sounded eerily familiar. I wrapped his pill in a piece of cheese, as I did Rudy's, and tricked them both into thinking that they were treats. They gobbled them down without missing a beat, Happy still stumbling across the floor as if he had one too many tequilas.

Joe and I left to go to dinner, returning home around 10.

Happy was still groggy when we returned. We figured it was probably just a delayed reaction from the anesthesia, and that he'd be normal by morning. Joe and I had this bad feeling that he didn't feel right though. He would follow us around the house lazily, no matter where we went, even the bathroom. He laid outside the shower until I came out and then followed me over the my side of the bed where he stayed most of the night instead of crawling into his own bed. And if he wasn't on my side of the bed, he was over on Joe's side. About 4 am, he was wimpering, and breathing with a long wheezy whine. We didn't really know what to do.... he was able to walk around fine, and he was going to the bathroom fine, so we figured we'd wait until the sun rose to see how he was.

Sure enough, when we awoke, we found that he had finally found his way over to his own bed sometime in the night, but nothing was going to move him. He got up finally, looking as though he was in terrible pain, and drug his way over to the back door to go outside. He couldn't even lift his head. It was almost as if his ear were too heavy for him. After he did his business on the patio instead of in the grass, he stumbled his way back inside and back to bed. When Joe opened the fridge, he didn't even budge from him bed, which usually is the key incentive for him to hurry to the open door to beg for cheese treats. Joe had to bring him a piece of cheese, and even then, Joe had to give it to Happy while he was lying down. We instantly called the doctor following.

Doc said he should have worn off the anesthesia by 8pm the night before so this was terribly wrong and to bring him in right away. We piled into the car immediately and took him in.

We walked in, and the doctor was in surgery. We waited for about 30 minutes for him to call us in.

The moment he walked in, he apologized. "I'm so sorry. Look here ..." and he pointed to a page where I had written down that Happy was allergic to Cephalexin. "Keflex is cephalexin. I didn't even see that you wrote it on the page. Happy is in pain because he is allergic to this medicine." Happy yelped in horror as the doc pinched lightly on his neck and front legs. He asked about how we found out that he was allergic to Cephalexin and I gave him the short version of the story. He gave Happy a Rimadyl shot in his backside to counteract the Keflex and asked us to keep him in the loop on his progress.

Thank God, within a few hours he was doing 100% better. I'm soooo thankful we didn't have another Vet trip from Hell like before, 2 years ago. The med mix-up could have been fatal.

Visitors

2007-10-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

Its quiet here today. I had to take the doggies to the vet for teeth cleanings, etc. I had to wake Joey up early to go, and now he's down for a hard nap. I haven't even turned on the TV yet, which makes it unusually quiet in here.

We just had the best past 24 hours we've had in a while. Our dear friends - Pat, Amanda and Ashely from TN - came to visit us. They all took off work (Ashley was on Fall Break anyway so that was perfect timing) and trekked down to our house for the night to spend some time with us and little Joey. That's very humbling....its quite the haul down here, and gas is not cheap.

THey are the announcement of light. I don't know if that makes sense, but they truly are LIGHTS of life. They bring joy to a room. And Bill, Pat's husband and the girls' dad, he wasn't able to make it this time, but I miss him dearly.

We had a GREAT TIME. They arrived around 1 pm yesterday and we plopped down in the living room and talked all afternoon and played with Joey. They brought me a little surprise - JOURNALS! Homemade! They are ADORABLE and I cannot wait to start writing in them. (thank you!!) Last night, we hit Como Steakhouse a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that's fantastic. We stuffed ourselves and then went for a drive to show our friends our little town - in the dark, nonetheless, but they could see its quaintness.

This morning, Amanda went with me to Oxford to the vet's clinic, and she fed and entertained Joey in the back while I drove, and then wrestled Happy and Rudy out of the car. (With Happy, you have to throw a kung fu move on him to get him out of the car. He's such an awkward beast!) Then we drove back and met Ashley and Pat for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel.

Joey and I were sad to see them drive off. We miss them so much. They, among a few others, are part of our Nashville family. When I moved to Nashville, I moved in with a dear friend, Katie Paxson (that was riot....two Katie's under one roof!!) and she introduced me to Alison Carmona, who became my dear sister. Ali took a risk and asked me to sing BGV's in her band, and in turn, she introduced me a whole slew of people that have become my family. Butch and Debra, Bill, Pat, Ashley, and Amanda, Michael (God rest his beautiful soul), Ali's mom and dad all her 7 brothers (yes, she IS the only girl) and many many many more that I didnt' even mention here. I fell in love. We are like family, and I miss them. SO dearly.

Thank you Ladies for coming to visit us. That meant the world.

Same dream, same time, different night

2007-10-05T11:18:00.000-05:00

Smokies.....i had the same dream last night....at 2:30am. This time I realized I was dreaming but that didn't necessarily take a way from the irony of the same dream and the same time as the night before.

OH - I forgot to mention yesterday that Joe had a dream that night too that Joey was in bed with us - not the same dream (as OBVIOUSLY he didn't spend 30 minutes trying to problem solve the situation) - but still... weird!

Another wierd dream

2007-10-04T22:23:00.000-05:00

I had a really wild dream last night - one of these where are awake but you aren't fully out of dream world yet, and you are "living" in your dream - as if are you seeing visions while your eyes are open, and you are fully aware that your eyes are open, and you have to try to distinguish between if you are inside a dream or if you are in reality.

I "woke" up and started to panic. It was 2:30 am, and Joey was safe and sound, sleeping in his little crib, and I could hear him breathing in the monitor. But I was panicking because I was convinced that ANOTHER Joey was sleeping in our bed with us, between Joe and I, and my fear wasn't necessarily that he was in our bed or that we'd roll over on him - but my fear was that he would wake and we wouldn't hear him, and that he would crawl to the edge of the bed and fall off. So I was determined to find a place to put him so he wouldn't fall off the bed.

I never looked to my left to see if there was actually a Joey in bed with us, but it was if I knew he was there, but I also knew that there was a Joey in his crib. So there is a Joey #1 (in his crib) and a Joey #2 (in our bed). ((Got it?? I know this can get a little fuzzy after a few times around with Joey's, especially after my Pensacola post....ha!))

I didn't want to pull the play pen in our room because then I would have to clean out all the toys first, and then I might wake him in the transition from our bed to the playpen.

Or, I thought, I could always take him to the crib with Joey #1, but he might roll over on him or wake him up, PLUS, I might wake him in the process of taking him to his room.

I literally was in this partial dream for 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do.

I finally had to convince myself that I was in fact in a dream, and that I was crazy, and that I just need to let the Lord take care of this one, because I need my sleep.

I'm nuts.

OR....you know what else I'm thinking.....that might have been a prophetic dream that we'll have twins the next go 'round. Wouldn't surprise me. The Lord has crazy ways of messing with me. :) What do you all think?? By the way, usually when I start dreaming, I will go several nights on a dream-rolls - so I may have many more crazy ones to post. They get pretty entertaining too....

Pensacola

2007-10-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

We pulled into Pensacola Beach around 11:30 pm on Friday night. The moment we knew we were close to the beach, we rolled down all the windows and just breathed it in.

Joey lives in Portofino. It’s a resort and spa area with six towers of condos. Absolutely beautiful. Joey lives on the 11th floor of one of the towers with a breath-taking view of the beach. WHen we arrived, he gave us the tour of his beautiful condo. My favorite part was the balcony. We walked out and instantly I felt like I could breathe again. I didn't realize I was deprived of such fresh air until it was blowing in my face. THe view, even at night, was beautiful. You could even hear the ocean across the street. It was amazing.

Joey had already fallen asleep in the car on the way over, and was now up. We quickly put his bed together and put him down for the rest of the night. Thankfully, he didn't go down with much fight.

The next morning, we woke around 8:30. Cam and Bella had already left for Bella's soccer game, and (Cousin) Joey was working on a big case (he's an attorney) and he had to make his way to Mobile to make sure he was ready for trial on Monday. So Joe and I got up with Joey and fed him some breakfast. By the time Joey was done, Cam and Bella had returned from the game, and we played with JOey for a while before he had to go down for a nap. We decided that we'd wait until after Joey had lunch before we'd go to the pool and beach.

While Joey slept, I had a little time to spend with Cam while Joe went to get some lunch for us.

**Sorry so many Joe's and Joey's. You don't belong in this family unless you're a Joe or a Freddy. haha! I haven't even touched the Freddy's in this family. Uncles, brothers, cousins, sons, grampas - you name it. I'll try to stay specific.

Cam and Bella went down to the pool to meet a few friends while Joey stirred awake, and was fed. We decided we'd meet them downstairs whenever he was done. I didn't want to hold them back because of Joey's schedule so I was hoping that they'd go on with their day without waiting on us.

As soon as he was done, we loaded him up with sunblock, pulled on his little swimmer diapers and his trunks (which were too big....thank God the drawstring worked. I just eye-balled them before we left and figured they'd fit.), and headed toward the direction of the pool to meet Cam and Bella.

They hadn't gotten their lunch from the pool grill yet so we waiting for a while and swam in the pool. Joey always does fine in the pool. We were a little nervous about how he'd do next to the ocean though.

After the girls had a chance to eat, we all headed down to the ocean. I wanted to make it there soon, as Joey was going to have to go back up for another nap, and I didn't want him to be too tired and crabby when we made it to the water, so he could have a chance to MAYBE enjoy it.

Here's a shot of Joey's first experience in the ocean. His first "toe dip."

Not 3 seconds after this photo was shot, he was bawling. The ocean was much to overwhelming, and the waves just wouldn't stop crashing. :) Poor kiddo. He was scared. From what I've heard, this is the reaction of most little kiddos so I'm not worried. I'm sure the next time we make it to the beach, he'll be all about it.

Here he is as we are walking away.... not happy.

We did manage to get a little family shot, albeit blurry.

That night, we went to Peg Leg Pete's. It's right next to where Joey used to live before Hurricane Ivan. THe house is still standing, but the roof is still messed up. Believe it or not, just the night before Ivan hit in 2004, I slept in the very room of which the roof above was torn off.

The trip - so much fun. Much too short. I wish we had more time. Next year, I think we are going to try to take a week down at the beach. Maybe. If I'm not carrying #2!!! Whew.....

House of Flies

2007-10-03T15:16:00.000-05:00

Its a beautiful day today so I decided to open up my back door, wide open. I not only did that for fresh air, but I was feeling a little stifled today. Its amazing how much better I felt mentally after opening the door as well as all the blinds and windows. But with that came an influx of FLIES right about lunch time.

I've killed 10 so far and there is a serious horse fly that sneaked in (that I can't find right now...) and two others lurking, waiting to jump on my coffee cup when I turn my back. I just smashed 3 - two with one swat and another in mid air that landed in my open dishwasher full of clean dishes. UGH. Needless to say, I had to shut my door. This house needs a couple of screen doors.

I like this house that we are in. Its been a blessing. We are renting, and I simply cant wait until we can find something we love to buy, but it works great for now. WHen we first moved in, you wouldn't believe that spiders. I have a slight case of aracniphobia .... understatement .... and Joe's worse ... but when we moved in, no one had been in here for about 6 months to a year, so it took a little while to ask the spiders kindly to MOVE OUT. I think we've scared the brown recluses back into their holes, and the black widows are mostly outdoors. We've seen these "water spiders" a lot in here, and THOSE BABIES ARE HUGE. But now, since we've been here a few months, they are mostly gone, or hiding. We have a can of spider spray at each corner of the house, and Joe laid a thick line of poison all around the house to keep others from coming inside. As I'm tying, i just realized that spiders like flies..... I wouldn't mind if one or two came out to get this horse fly.

Ok, Pensacola post coming next. I promise. :)

By the way, JOey STILL doesn't like carrots. He's getting close.... He'll eat them, but not willingly.

Soldiers

2007-10-02T15:54:00.000-05:00

I am going to post about Pensacola in a little while, but first this.... THis uproar about Rush Limbaugh speaking about "phony soldiers" struck a chord with me. I have a mixed feeling about his comment.

Before I was married (and even after I was married, I had another opportunity to do so), I went on 3 different tours overseas with the Department of Defense singing and performing in a cover band for our troops. I wasn't necessarily in Iraq, but I traveled to "satellite" bases in other countries, i guess you could call them. SOme where safe havens for those coming and going from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as some were simple posts for national presence within allied nations.

I had a chance to travel to Turkey, Italy (several locations within, including Napoli and Sicily), Spain, Portugal, the Azores, Puerto Rico (two locations within), Honduras, Andros Island, Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and several others. I have had a chance to meet many soldiers, and many families directly affected by the war. I have met those who have been on the front lines of battle. I have met those who collect the bodies of the deceased off the streets of Iraq following battles or suicide bombings, and roadside bombings. I have met these men and women. They train, they work out, they study, they travel, they don't sleep, they work hard, they play hard - they love their country. I have not once met a soldier who is not proud of the country they stand for, and that they have chosen to fight and give their lives for. Not once. I knew there are some out there that complain about this, and about that. Maybe those should be considered "phony" soldiers. I'm not one to say. But I do have to say that the power behind their allegiance is so intriguing, and so inspirational that it is a possibility to think that soldier who opposes the very reason that he or she fights for could be considered a "phony."

I have a patch that one gentleman named Caleb ripped off his jacket and gave to me in Andros. He wrote on it "Keep doing what you are doing, because it keeps us doing what we do. Love Caleb" This says so much to me. This was before our nation began contemplating the purpose of the war. This was not 2 years after 9/11. Now, our government (not our President) has significantly reduced the amount of support for our troops, and has dropped the morale in the country for the purpose of war and the very purpose of our soldiers' presence in this war-torn nations, not only degrading soldiers verbally, but cutting back on funding for housing and food, ammunition, and for entertainment to keep troops morale up. Despite the attacks of their own people back here in the lazy "freedom plagued" nation of America, they press on and they keep working toward their cause....for the very freedom that keeps us feeling "safe."

Saturday night, when we were in Pensacola, there was a table of 3 guys. One lit up a cigarette, and unfortunately the place was a non smoking facility. My cousin Joey was upset that he lit up, and I offered to go back and ask him to put it out. I stood up, walked over and leaned in and asked him if he would please put out his cigarette, and that I had a little guy in the next booth. He immediately threw the cig on the floor and said "yes ma'am, i'm so sorry." I winked at him and said "Thank you, my friend." As I walked away, I noticed a camo duffle bag sitting next to him on his seat, and he had a small set of stitches in his freshly shaven head. "Ugh..." I thought. He's in the military, and I just asked him to put out his cigarette. I wish I would have just let him smoke it. As I was walking out of the restaurant, I ran into him coming back to his table from the bar. I shook his hand and said "I'm so sorry to have asked you to put out your cigarette. I hope you don't mind." He said "No no, its absolutely fine!" Then I asked "Are you in the military?" He said "Yes ma'am, marine corps." I said "That's great, my friend. Thank you for all you do. Thank you SO much. It doesn't go unnoticed." He said as he walked away, "Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me."

I don't really know why I wrote this post today. I just felt that these men and women of our military need a boost of morale and the deserve a great amount of respect. I'm not one to speak about if we should or should not trust our government considering the spin of the media on the progress of the war. THe President and his staff cannot tell the American people EVERYTHING as we are under a microscope of the world. Would you send an email to your enemy with your battle plan so that they can defeat you before you even take the battle field? No. THe American people demand to know what's going on, and its not their place to know. Its our place to trust. We have the right to question, but we also need to trust our leaders to a certain extent. And also, we need to remember that our President is appointed, not only by us, but by God. There is no mistake to the fact that he is our leader, and there is no mistake to the fact that we are at war.

I'm done. :)

Here's a little photo from the past of Alison and I and the band in the Azores, singing with Bob Burger, the base's entertainment coordinator. Ali in the white pants, I'm with the tambourine. Caitlin on fiddle in the background. Bob just won the "Bob Hope Award" a few years ago for his accomplishments of bringing great quality entertainment to his base. Way to go, Bob!

Candy

2007-10-01T11:58:00.000-05:00

Friday was our last day in Atlanta. We left that afternoon. But before we left – so much went on.

First of all, last night, Freddy, Evelyn, Joe and I went to Two Urban Licks – GREAT RESTAURANT and unbelievably affordable. We had great food. Very cool atmosphere. We started with a drink. I had a Wine By Joe Pinot Gris. Our appetizer was what they call a “stack.” It was crab and fried green tomatoes with a balsamic sauce, topped with a avocado and scallions. For an entree I had the Alaskan Salmon over whipped potatoes. So good. It was very fresh with an almondie-butter taste.

Afterwards we went out back and played a round of “Botchie” ball – I’m not sure how to spell it. Girls against guys. Girls won, of course. During the game, Joe went in and bought a round of Patron Silver Tequila shots. That’s where MY trouble began.

The rest of the night was fine. After Two Urban Licks, we cruised back home. The babysitter gave us the run down on the evening, and surprisingly, Joey was fast asleep in his little bed. ((I told her before we left that there was a 50% chance he wouldn’t go down without a fight, so don’t worry about it unless he shows signs of passing out.. Evidently he rubbed his eyes raw, and so she thought that was his sleepy signal. She was right! Nice job, Margie!) We stayed up for a few moments after the sitter left, just shooting the breeze, and then we went to bed. I had a headache when we went to bed, but I had no idea what was about to happen next.

BAM. About 3 a.m., I woke up HUNG OVER and SICK. I was so mad at myself for taking that tequila shot. I forgot that the last time I drank a glass of wine and had a shot, I was DONE FOR. I would have much rather been run over by a truck. Not that much alcohol (as we hardly EVER EVER drink and if so, its so wimpy), but the combination of the two just sent me to the cleaners. So, I was back and forth to the porcelain throne until about 5 a.m. We had to wake this morning at 7 a.m. and I was DREADING the headache I was about to feel, and having to be functional for Joey at that hour. Joe was perfect. It didn’t even touch him. Poor Joey - I kept him stirring most of the night as I got up and down.

Believe it or not, we slept right through the 7am alarm (all of us did….even Joey, surprisingly), and I woke up to a text from Evelyn asking me if I was up. Ooops. We needed that extra sleep but it put us so far behind. We flung out of bed, my head REELING with pain, and tried to pull ourselves together. We had so much to do. In 45 minutes we had to leave to get our hair cut, and we also had to pack up a u-haul full of stuff from Freddy and Evelyn. I took Joey down to get his breakfast started while Joe got ready. Thank God Illiana, Evelyn’s housekeeper/nanny, showed up to help out at the house today, and she said she was going to watch Joey for us while we went out to get our hair cut. BIG RELIEF. I handed Joey over and went to get ready.

We bolted out of the house to make it to the appt on time. I was a little nervous – I have no idea why. I guess because I dont' really "do" salons and I get nervous around caddy women, and salons are chock full of them. We went to Jameson Shaw salon, and it’s a very well known place. Turns out, my hairdresser today was Candy Shaw, Jameson’s daughter. She is the star of the show there, apparently. She has quite a few high profile clients. She was my hairdresser, by chance, today. Evelyn booked the appointment, and she was my hairdresser.

The whole experience was actually comical to me. I felt like I was watching the Devil Wears Prada in the flesh. Even Candy’s assistant’s name was Emily.

We walked in, and we were greeted at the door, and given the grand tour. Everyone was really overly sweet, which made me think that their smiles were painted on, and the moment they turned the corner into their breakroom, they scowled and would say things like “Oh she’s such a bitch!” and “Did you see her tacky Wal Mart purse?” and “SHe wears such cheap make up.” Maybe I’m wrong, but….most likely I’m not. Haha!

The place was swarming with young wannabe hairdressers and beauticians. Several were already to their professional stage, but Jameson Shaw is also a “school” for hairdressers, etc. So I’d say about 75% of the people working there could be considered students. Mostly women, but there were some men.

After the tour, the guy that greeted me at the door, handed me a smock in a bag and showed me where the dressing rooms were. “Dressing rooms?” I thought. “Do I have to remove my clothes to have my hair done?” I ducked into the dressing room, and put my smock over my tank top and prayed that I wouldn’t be caught still wearing my shirt when they start the hair process. Besides, I was prepared to tell them where to stick their smock if I was asked to change. (Thankfully, no one said a word.)

I walked out and wasn’t sure exactly where to go (it seemed like one of those carnival house of mirrors – I was so lost) so I went back to the front and asked. They led me back to Candy’s chair and I was greeted by Shane, the young man that was going to shampoo me.

He was the coolest guy in there – the most unpretentious down-to-earth guy. He made some cracks about my long hair and I told him it was getting too hard to lasso so we had to do something about it. We talked about his girlfriend and that she was biochemist. I almost said the it seemed that their roles were reversed (him playing with hair, and her whipping up pharmaceutical chemicals to cure cancer), but I thought that might offend him, so I didn’t, and just chalked it up as “cute” that their dinner conversations where probably quite interesting. He then had a hard time combing out the tangles in my long wet hair. I told him not worry about my scalp, and that it would grow back. He laughed and figured that if I had hair this long, it was probably a close bet that I could withstand a beating by a comb.

After the shampooing (which, mind you, it was a 20 min process, which is 19 minutes longer than I spend shampooing AND conditioning my hair with my own hands), I plopped down in the chair for the cut. Candy came by about 10 minutes later, and asked me how I wanted it done. I told her “pretty simple, really. I like my length, but need help with shaping and texture” blah blah blah, and she knew exactly what to do. She went at it, and in 15 minutes, the cut was done.

I need to mention that she would be considered “Miranda” in The Devil Wears Prada, as she constantly had “an” assistant by her side to whom she barked orders to. Once one assistant was off to do a job, another assistant would fill her spot. Maybe I should call these assistants “runners” as Emily was her real “assistant.” It was interesting. You could tell she was large and in charge. That’s fine. It was interesting to see the dynamics.

After the cutting, she ordered two girls to double team drying my hair. Drying my hair is a task in itself that I hardly do unless I’m actually taking the time to style my hair, of which, most of the time, it styles itself without much effort from me. So my thoughts were, “You really don’t have to take the time to dry this mop…” What an ordeal. It took them 45 minutes to an hour to dry my hair. I wanted to tell them that if they would have just left it alone to air dry, it would have dried quicker. But the whole experience was pretty funny. I listened to these girls’ conversation the whole time they were drying my hair (believe it or not, I could hear over the dryer noise). It was easy to tell that they were slaves to the salon, but they couldn’t stand being Candy’s “runners.” They weren’t very savvy on keeping their salon secrets. “Stacy, should you or me go over and greet that girl in Jenny’s chair?” “How many times are we supposed to ask if someone wants a drink?” I smiled under all the hair they had flopped over my face thinking that they’ll get it someday. Maybe not. I hope so though for their sake.

After the drying, Candy came back over and cut some more off my hair, so maybe it was necessary to have so much drying going on.

Joe was finished only about 20 minutes before I was, so it was pretty good timing. Anyway, the place was pretty crazy. Lots of craziness and an interesting dynamic mixture of people. I’ll definitely be back. But I miss my Rhonda in Nashville. If I’m closer to there, I’ll go to her, Otherwise, I’ll go to Candy.

After haircuts, we bolted back to Evelyn’s to pack up. I was so messed up last night that I couldn’t pack the night before. We had to lightning pack and get on the road. Next stop – Pensacola Beach FL to visit cousin Joey and his family. And so my next post with pictures soon.....

Joey's lungs and a few other things

2007-09-27T14:01:00.000-05:00

Well, we are fully aware that Joey's lungs are fully effective. ha!

Joey and I visited the pulminologist today. First of all, I hate yahoo mapping system. I still love it over all the others, but today, we are not friends. I yahooed my way to the middle of nowhere and panicked. The stupid map took me to the middle of a residential area on Landsbury Drive. When I came to a "T' intersection instead of Lake Hearn Drive, I was quite irritated. Thank GOD for the great navigational system in my car. I haven't exactly figured out how to use it, nor have I really taken the time (looks like I should now, huh...), but it at least is GPS and knows where I am at all times. AND, ALSO thank GOD for internet on the cell phone. I was able to GOOGLE MAP my way from Landsbury Drive to the doc's office. Turns out that I wasn't supposed to go anywhere near Landsbury, but instead, get on the interstate and hit a few exits down. I did, and then got lost again. I had to call Evelyn to figure out where I was. We finally made it. I was expecting to arrive 15-20 minutes early to relax and fill out paperwork, but I walked in right at 10am, our appt time. Ah well. Can't do it all right.

They took us back and weighed him. He was 20 lbs, 14 oz. My arms could swear he weighs about 3 lbs more, but I'll assume their scale is pretty accurate! ha!

The nurse then took us back to the doc's room where we hung out for a few minutes telling the breathing story to the nurse. Then Joey and I went to have his little chest xray done. We both had to wear the protective garb, and I held on to his little arms while they took the xray. He sat so still and just smiled and waved. He was having fun.

We went back into the room and finished up the questioning with the nurse, and about 20 minutes later the doc came in. By then, I couldn't keep Joey entertained, so I was glad when she finally made it in. He finally had someone else to look at and reach for. There's only so many things you can touch in a doctor's office before you get into the "germy" areas.

She asked a bunch of questions, trying to lean one way or another, and dismiss other theories based on our answers. She poked and prodded a little bit, listened to his chest and his sinus cavities. She said he sounded great, and that his little chest xray was perfect. (It was so cute to see his little lungs and his heart. We even saw his jaw and all his little teeth. SO CUTE! So little!!!

She had 3 different theories but 2 of the theories didn't really hold a lot of water, so she narrowed it down to one. She believe that the muscle that rests between his trachea and esophagus wasn't quite developed properly and it was "floppy." Nothing to be worried about, thank God. It will develop on its own by the time he's about one year of age. It just "flops" around a little more than normal when he breaths in, and she said it will sound worse with time, because his little lungs get stronger with his age, pulling air harder and faster through his wind pipe than when he was younger. That makes sense, of course.

So there's nothing really to do, except for watching for warning signs that he is having trouble breathing. She said that most likely that won't be the case and that he will develop fully and perfectly.

Whew. Takes a big load off our minds.

After we left the doc office, thanks to the navigational system, i was able to make it over to a nearby mall. We walked around for a little while before a friend of mine from my Missouri days called me to meet me for lunch. We had been trying to get ahold of each other for a while since I had been here and we finally were going to be able to have lunch. Her name is Susanna and we haven't seen each other in close to 6 years. WOW...I just figured that up just now. That's a while. We were kindred spirits when we first met that long ago, and our "close proximity" friendship was short-lived, but in that short time, we were practically sisters, so much in common, and shared some fun times together.

She said she could meet us about 20 minutes away. So Joey and I, with the help of our lovely nav system made our way up to see her. We met at a BP station before we figured out where to go. It was sooo great to see her! She was as sweet and beautiful as ever, full of life and energy. She's a physical therapist, and she's been coordinating a Christian conference that's been very challenging. She spoke of a guy that she's interested in, but not sure where its going or what the Lord has for that situation. I can't believe that she's not snatched up yet. She's such an amazing person. She's picky though, and she speaks as though that's her fault. Its not. You HAVE to be picky. I'm glad she's been picky. :)

Our lunch was so short, but how do you pack 6 years into 45 minutes? Impossible, so we've vowed to stay in touch through phone and email better than we have done in the past. (How easy it is to lose touch!) I'm excited that we've reconnected, especially since we come to Atlanta often to see family. We'll be able to get together more often.

Joey is fast asleep now upstairs. He caught a few naps in between places, when I was trying to figure out where the heck I was going. He just needs a good solid nap so he doesn't terrorize the baby sitter tonight. Yes - we do have a sitter tonight for Joey and my nephews. We are going to check out a cool restaurant called Two Urban Licks. Sounds a little odd, but I've heard this place is AMAZING. I can't wait! Joey has been having trouble going down to sleep lately so I'm hoping that he won't be so bad tonight. I'd have to put that stress on someone else. Ugh....

Atlanta

2007-09-26T21:45:00.001-05:00

We drove over to Atlanta on Monday afternoon. Joe has been attending some Budweiser classes this week. We've been staying with Joe's sister Evelyn and her family in the north Atlanta area.

Holy smokes....there is some crazy money in this town. I mean, what do these people do? The houses in this neighborhood are NUTS. Evelyn's house was built by an AMAZING guy named Bill Harrison. Their home is incredible. I'm not sure who the other architects from this area are, but man.... I've been driving up and down these streets saying "Wow...I mean...are you kidding? WOW!" You just have to see it to believe it. North Atlanta. Unreal.

WHile Joe's been in class, Joey and I have been going to the mall, hitting the park for long walks (They have hills here, in the park, and elsewhere. My legs don't remember what hills are, and therefore, they hate me. I live on the edge of literally the flattest place on the face of the earth and there is NO hill action.), as well as just hanging at the house and playing. We're enjoying our time out.

TOmorrow we are going to pulminologist for second opinion, I guess you could say. He's had this breathing issue that we've brought to our doc's attention twice now. I dont' think its anything to worry about, but Joe's worried. The last time we saw the doc, he said it was either still Croup, or he had found a cool noise he likes to make, or it was just that his little trachea hasn't fully developed and it was as if someone was letting air out of a balloon every time he takes a breath. I don't hear him make the sound unless he holds his head a certain way and gets excited. The doc also said that he would be more worried if it were a "wheez" every time he exhaled. We'll see. I'm thinking he's ok, but we will know tomorrow. These guys will know what they are talking about...

Evelyn's boys, my nephews, are amazing. They are playing baseball, they are in school, playing instruments, and they are just all around great guys. I'm excited that I have a chance to be in their lives to watch them grow. They will be great for Joey too.

Friday, we are heading to Florida for the weekend - short weekend. Cousin Joey lives on Pensacola Beach, so we are going to crash him for a couple of nights and then make it back to MS on Sunday. It'll be a quick visit, but we've been needing to get down there to see him for quite some time.

More later....I'm just exhausted. I'll try to be more descriptive. I just can't hardly conjure up a complete thought. I didn't conjure up the word "conjure" though...guess I'm not too bad off.

Even better....

2007-09-23T22:58:00.000-05:00

Maria, why you gotta do these? :) haha! I love 'em! (By the way, your's were hysterical!) I needed a good laugh today.... Here we go...

Rock Star Name (first pet and current car): Sam Expedition (I must be kidding.....I think it needs a "the" in front of it.)

Your "fly" Guy/Girl name (favorite ice cream flavor and favorite cookie): Vanilla Monster. (This survey is only going to get worse.....)

Your Detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Red Dog

Your Soap Opera Name (middle name and city where you were born): Anna Mt Pleasant

Your Star Wars Name (first 3 letters of last name, first 2 of first): Azaka (that's awesome!!!!!)

Super Hero Name (The and 2nd favorite color/favorite drink): The Brown Bacardi

Nascar Name (first names of your grandfathers): John Harold

Stripper Name (favorite perfume/candy): Romance Peanut M&Ms

Witness Protection Name (mother and father's middle names): Anita Stephen

TV Weather Anchor Name (5th grade teacher's last name, major city that starts with the same letter): Taylor Tacoma

Spy Name (favorite season/holiday/flower): Fall Christmas Mum

Cartoon Name (favorite fruit, clothing you are wearing right now and ie or y): Apple Wife beatery (huh????)

Hippy Name (what you ate for breakfast, favorite tree): Chia tea ginko (yeah that sounds pretty hippy-ish)

Rockstar Touring Name (the and your favorite hobby and favorite element and tour): The Journal Collecting Water Tour (yeahhhhh!!!!!!!!)

The last post....

2007-09-20T08:58:00.000-05:00

In my last post, a few of you expressed your concerns about why I was depressed. You all are so considerate and amazing for checking in on me about this. I need to tell you that I think I misspoke - I didnt' meant to sound depressed altogether, but just "down" about the situation about having to discipline Joey that night. It made me so sad. Up until now, he's been too little to discipline, but that night, I realized that now is the time to start introducing a stern method of teaching of behavior. He gets it. He's a bright little guy, and he understood that I was putting him in time out, but I don't think he quite understood why his mommy was doing it. Its going to take him a minute to understand what behaviors are right and which are wrong. It just brought me down that I made him cry. Just a natural parent feeling, I suppose. I was just down about it. Thank you again for expressing your concern. I'm doing pretty well overall. My spirit is calmer than it has been in a long time. :) Thank God! I love you all. Thank you so much.

One of these "survey" thingies....GAWD!

2007-09-18T22:09:00.001-05:00

I never EVER do these things but dang it Maria .... I figured if YOU did one, I would too. haha! Here we go...

Hi, my name is Katie.

But you can call me Katie. :) or Kate. Whichever you like.

Never in my life have I ... done any kind of drug. Never. Nor have a sky-dived. I wanted to once. But it seemed as though drugs and skydiving went hand in hand, so I never did either...

When I am nervous ... I stammer and bite my lip.

The last song I listened to ... Holiday in Spain by Counting Crows. It was on the CD that made for Joey of "Cool Daddy Tunes" - my compilation of easy going music to lull him to sleep by.

If I were to get married right now, it would be to ... my hubby. All over again. I would marry him every moment of every day forever. He's so amazing...

My hair .... is long. The longest it has ever been. I'm surprised I didn't I didn't cut it shortly after Joey was born. I can see now why so many new mamas cut their hair after the delivery, or even before the birth. My main reason I say that is because the moment that I wake up, before I go pull Joey out of his crib, I pull my hair back in this "thick hair" comb clippy thing, that, by the way, doesn't wrap all my hair up anymore its so dang long - and it is in that clippy thing all day, until I let it down when I go back to bed at night. Its still pulled up right now and Joey's been in bed for an hour.

When I was four... I was a dorky preschooler.

Last Christmas ... Joe hid Joey in the midst of the presents under the tree. Actually he just set him among the presents and asked me to play "Where's Waldo" with him (remember that game?). Joey was asleep so he didn't even notice. I noticed right away and scolded Joe for "putting Joey in an uncomfy position." Then we laughed about it because it looked so ridiculous, but cute. It wasn't hurting him at all, but it was funny. I have pictures, but I'm afraid that if I display them, one of you will turn us into Child Protective Services. But you know, JOey is the best gift ever, so it was quite appropriate.

I should be ... in bed. But I'm not. And Frasier is on. So sleep will have to wait.

When I look down I see.... (big sigh) You don't wanna know.

The happiest recent event was ..... kissing my husband when he came home late from work tonight, and ruffling Rudy's hair, and watching Joey scream-laugh at Rudy and Happy playing chase around his playpen.

If I were a character in Friends, I'd be ...... hmmmm..... I guess Rachel??

By this time, next year, I hope .... to be delivering another Youngun' again. I'm not ready yet, but I want to get all my kiddos out the way. there's nothing like it, but it takes a lot out of you. I'm up for the task, but I've always fought with my levels of patience, and the Lord is teaching me patience and self-control. More of "why" later....I had my first "incident" tonight with patience, and I nearly failed.

My current distress is ..... feeling like I have no tomorrow. I know that sounds funny, but its really a phobia of mine. I feel like tomorrow might never come. Ok Garth Brooks - forget that - but really.....it keeps me from falling asleep fast and calm at night... Thank God for prayer.

I have a hard time understanding ..... whats going on right now in our lives. I'm having an easy time "accepting" but a hard time understanding. I'm ok with that. I really am. It'll come. And believe it or not, I'm patient here.

There's these girls .... Lord, I dunno. I don't concern myself with girls, much. I've had enough petty la-la-la-la-la's and gossip that I don't notice if there are some "girls" in the corner sneering at me. Blah. Keep it. I have a lot more important things to worry about.

If I won an award, the first person I would tell is ... Joe. :) Offffffffff course!

I want to buy... a new dress. I love dresses. I just don't have a place to wear them. I suppose I could just "wear" one anywhere, but really..... in HERE in this small redneck town? When I wear makeup and I stand out.

I plan on visiting .... Italy and Spain. I don't know, but look out - I'll be back, dammit! (sigh)

If I could spend the night at any house, it would be ..... this house I saw tonight in "O." Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. If you could only hear me sigh. Its SOOOOO romantically beautiful for "round these parts." Its in a little subdivision called "Wellstate" I think (maybe its Wells Gate??) and its right on the [man-made] lake but its GAAAARRRRRGEOUS! Give me a full moon, my husband, a couple glasses of wine, a nice warmish cool night on the deck overlooking the water with some candles, a gourmet dinner, and a babysitter and I'm in BUSINESS. Oh my word youve got to see this house.........

The world could do without .... spiders. I know, they do a lot of "good" ...sometimes... but you know what - i think I could just do without SEEING them. OH and child predators.

The most recent thing I bought myself is .... ehhhh.....ummm.....i don't know. I think this is a loaded question, really asking what you've "splurged" on yourself lately, instead of hearing about my recent purchase of clorox and tuna fish. I'd have to say that I most recently "splurged" on some Aveda shampoo and conditioner. I love it. I went out today to find some blue jeans in "O." Yeah, I will never shop there AGAIN. That place is so ridiculous - $250 for a pair of jeans that I could buy in Nashville for $75?? Forget about it. I'll pay some money for some jeans now - don't get me wrong - I'll wear the life out of them - but not THAT much.

The most recent thing that someone else bought for me was ... a couple of books on Catholicism. Hmmm.....

My middle name is.... Anna. My great grandmother's name, as well as my aunt Julie's middle name.

In the morning I am ... wait - who am I? That's about the way I feel.

Last night I was ... up late, because the day stunk, and I decided that i would just stay up doing what I wanted to do, which was finish my damn trip post. haha

There is this guy I know who ... rocks my world. His name is Joe.....

If I was an animal, I would be a... dog. I know that sounds funny - but dogs don't have much to get depressed about if they are well loved and taken care of.

A better name for me would be.... i dunno about this one. I've heard all my life that I look like a "Jenny" but I don't like that name for me. I still ponder over the fact that my name is "Katie," as though its strange that I have a name, and that's what my name is. Silly, I know.

Tomorrow, I am .... writing 2 letters - one business, one personal. I've got to write a letter for Joe's Anheuser Busch marketing research (haha ...watch me work my degree now, mama!), and the other is a love letter for my niece Barbara Ann in Seattle. That one will be EASY!! SHe's AWESOME! I also need to come up with a cool "slogan" or rap for my nephew Thomas who is running for class prez.

Tonight, I am .... feeling a little depressed, but all is good. I'm hurting because tonight was the first time that I had to discipline Joey. My heart broke in half today, and I cried. He was whining BIG TIME because he wasn't getting what he wanted, so I put him in a timeout in his crib with no toys. I walked out of his room, closed the door, but left the light on with his CD player going. He wailed for 15 minutes. So did I, in the other room of course. I wanted to get him so bad, but my heart told me no. I went back in there after 15 minutes and picked him up. He struggled to get out of my arms. We sat down in the rocker and I held him and rocked him but he still screamed and tried to get away. I changed him into his PJs...kicking and screaming the whole time. Finally, I fed him his dinner, and Joe came home from the office late. He was ok then. But it was a struggle. I couldn't give in. I died today. I hope I get a lot stronger..... I know I will.

Ok......anyone else want to chime in on their lives? Be my guest!

He's musical!!

2007-09-18T00:04:00.001-05:00

I'm so glad he likes music........ It would break my heart if he didn't. Its a teeny bit in his blood so there's not really a way he can avoid it. I LOVE IT!

My man and me

2007-09-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

Found this photo today. My computer had been hiding it from me. We had some words. I like this picture. Thinking its one to be printed and framed. :) Isn't he a hunk? He's yummy!

Iowa

2007-09-14T23:12:00.000-05:00

TRIP POSTS, EVERYBODY. I know, I know .... its been so long, already. I'm just going to post some of the photos and tell a couple of stories.

First of all, we went home to spend some time with my family, of course. Second, I haven't been home for Old Threshers festival since I was 17, and I was curious to see what it was looking like these days. I spent quite a bit of time on the fairgrounds during this festival, and the moment I drove by the grounds, all the memories started flowing back. All good memories, thank God. Fun stuff. Like, walking around with my family to see all the little crafters, and looking at the steam engines, and riding the trains when I was little. As I got older, around 16 and 17, I spent a lot of time at the dance barn, afterhours, where I met a lot of friends. I ran into a couple of my old friends. I missed seeing a few. Heard a few sad stories about others. But most of all, I really enjoyed just walking around the grounds this time with Joey. He LOVED people watching, and he LOVED the big trains.

Here's Joey at his first parade. They have an Old Thresher's parade every year to kick off the festival. They put all kinds of antique cars and steam engines in the parade, along with horses and such. Its really cute. He enjoyed it very much!

I don't have any photos of this, but mom and I took Joey to see my dad's band play at the grandstand on opening night as well. He was grooving along in his stroller with the music and smiling and laughing the whole time. Im sure he could recognize his Papa's voice over the mic.

This photo scares Joe. :) It doesn't scare me at all. In fact, it makes me smile. While we were home, my dad sang a lot to Joey and played his guitar for him. Joey LOVED it. And he was bound and determined to get a hold of dad's guitar. Of course, we wouldn't let him, but I think its the start of something neat. I grew up very musically, singing with my dad and learning how to play guitar and piano. I know more piano than guitar, but maybe that'll change someday. I think this is the cutest photo in the world, and I know it makes my dad very proud.

Joe wasn't able to be with us most of the time. He drove us up on a Saturday and had to fly back that following day to work all week. Then that following Saturday he flew back to drive with us on Sunday afternoon. He ended up flying in later than anticipated, so when he got in, we were late, so we had to high tail it to the grounds to help mom with her art show, and spend some time on the grounds with Joe. He caught wind of the carousel and insisted to take Joey on his first ride. Here they are.... my 2 kids!

Joey and I had some time to ourselves. Not much, but a little. We always have so much to do when we go home. Here's a photo of my grocery shopping buddy.
When I wasn't quite a mom yet, I used to try to find coffee shops or quiet corners to go write in my journal. Now that I'm a mommy, those days are over for a long time. But, we did find a cute little coffee shop on the square that they opened a few years back. I've been there before, but I really enjoy going there every time i'm in town. Joey went with me this time and hung out with me in his stroller. We didn't have time journal of course, but I did grab an espresso and a turkey wrap. I met my dear friend Addie up there the next day too for lunch. It was great to see her. Its the first time I've seen her since she's been pregnant. She's due in February.

While I was home, Joey and I had some precious time spent with my grandparents. TO the left, is a picture of my Granny. We had a wonderful time visiting with her. All my grandparents are incredible people. (I'm not just saying this because they all will read this eventually.) They truly are. Each has their own unique personality and all are very wise. I wish I had a photo with my Grandpa John, and also one with my Grandma Mary. I had an incredible time with each.

My Granny (to the left) and I had a great time sharing together. As it always is, its never enough time. Never. And it was great to spend time with my Grandpa John too. My time with him is precious these days. We continue to hope and pray that he is ok. The Lord is with him, and all your prayers are more than appreciated.

My Grandma Mary and I had lunch together with my Aunt Gale, who was in town as well. Every time I spend time with my Grandma Mary, I have a chance to get to know her more, and the older I get, and more I understand about life, the more I learn about my Grandma. All my grandparents have been through their share in life, and I love hearing stories and experiences, and love seeing that no matter what they've been through, they all have brilliant vivid spirits. I'm inspired. I thirst for more time with each one of them!

Mom's set up was great! All her beautiful art was displayed very nice and classy, as always. Her black and white pencil drawings were gleaming against her antique screen door set up. This year, she hung up Christmas lights and it set it off. Really cute! Its really hard to sell to the people that come to Old Threshers though. Everyone like to buy prefabricated "stuff" ... not real art. I don't understand that.....

Anyway, it was good to be home. Mom and Dad ate Joey UP! :) That was the best part. Interesting how things don't change much in a small town. I worry about that here in this small town. Never mind. I guess that can be endearing about a small town, when you need a place to go where everyone knows your name.

Trip posts

2007-09-07T16:11:00.001-05:00

Well.... We're on my way back to Nashville a night earlier than planned, and we'll be there until tomorrow early evening, so I'm having to wait on my trip posts again. We are going back (for the first time since we left....YIKES) to see my friend Heather for her baby shower.

I'M SORRRRRRYYY for the trip story delays!!! Here's a photo to tide yall over...

This is "Mo" the horse. My friend from back home, Anna, is holding Joey. She said that the moment she walked him into the stable to see Mo, he instantly started "talking" to Mo. THey connected. Mo nuzzled on him. It was amazing. More to come...

By the way, I just got back from Joey's doctor appointment. Thank God, he's healthy and happy. Right on target. Thank God!

My Grampa

2007-09-06T21:48:00.000-05:00

A few of you wrote to ask me what was drawing me back home after I had already been there for a week.

Well, frankly, its my grandfather. Last week they discovered a large mass on his lung, and today they discovered that that mass is indeed cancer.

At this point, we don't know a whole bunch yet. We are still hopeful, as they announced that radiation is an option to shrink it. But first they have to do another procedure to make sure he does not have cancer in any other parts of his body.

Please pray. Cancer is such an ugly demon. There's a reason for everything in this life, and weaker people have survived such. I know my grandfather can pull through it. He's so sweet. He doesn't feel as though anything really has him down. He's a strong fighter. One of the toughest men I know. A true "man's man." We have hope that he can overcome, and he will if the Lord has that in the Plan.

Thank you for your prayers. Updates to come. I'm sorry that I haven't blogged about our trip yet. I will, I promise.

Love Kate

Hold Everything.....

2007-09-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

Before I post about the trip .....

Joe thinks that M&Ms are flavored appropriately to their color. Now, maybe he's just messing with me, but we had the following conversation about 30 minutes ago.

Me: Ohhh Peanut M&Ms, baby. Thank you for getting these for me. I'm starving. This will hold us over until dinner.

Joe: I haven't had M&Ms in a long time. I can't wait to taste the flavors.

"Flavors?" I rolled my eyes. "Joe, come on..."

"What?" he says seriously.

"Joe! All M&Ms taste like one thing - CHOCOLATE. They don't have flavors other than chocolate." I exclaimed.

"Like hell...!" was his reply - his common reply when he wants to go to war with me - jokingly of course.

He pops a yellow candy in his mouth. "Mmmmm....the citrus flavor is exploding in my mouth. Kate, you really need to close your eyes and at least TRY to taste the flavor in each M&M. You have to throw the candy back to the back of your mouth and just close your eyes and taste it."

"Joe ... NO WAY."

"Come on. Just try."

TO appease him, I did. It was red, and it tasted.... like chocolate, and I made sure I told him so.

"Oh whatever, Kate. Come on. I can do it with my eyes closed. Here. My eyes are closed. Give me an M&M and I'll tell you the flavor."

I pulled out an orange candy, put it in his mouth, and he guessed. "Okay.......this one......is brown. Its chocolate."

"Orange, you ding dong."

"Ok try again. That wasn't fair. i couldn't throw it to the back of my mouth."

I pulled out another orange and put it in his mouth.

"That's chocolate too. You're trying to trick me."

"No, baby, that was orange again."

"What? I dont' believe you."

"Joe, this is ridiculous.....I can't believe I'm having this conversation. You do know I'm going to blog about this....."

"Whatever. I don't care what you think, Kate. They are flavored."

We're back!

2007-09-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

Today - catch up day. So much to do it paralyzes me. But I'm happy to be home in some ways. I feel like I need to stay back in Iowa though - lots of things going on with my family that I feel I should stay. I may be going back sooner than later, I think.

I think I did a pretty good job documenting Joey's big trip to Iowa. I didn't have my regular camera, so my phone was my only choice. It works fine, right? My next few blog entries will be about what happened last week. I'll have photos too. :)

Last night, JOey decided it was time to manage his own bottle. Here the little guy is without assistance. He's all growed up. While we were in Iowa, he mastered the art of pulling up. We can't keep him on his hands and knees anymore. He prefers to be on his little feet. Next - walking. I predict he'll be walking - or teetering - before his first birthday at the end of November. Wow....

More trip blogs to post shortly.....

Moody Scanner

2007-08-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

I'm wrestling a moody scanner this morning. I'm learning how to build websites (Ang, I know you are going to tell me to STOP NOW before it ruins me! haha!) and I'm putting a temporary site together for my mom and her art work. I've been scanning her art work little by little and there is this one picture that my damn scanner keeps cutting short. I'm about to show it who's boss....

I bought a journal the other day. I really like it. I collect journals, and this one has a unique look to it. Two things that bug me about it: (1) it has lines. I'm not a fan of lines because I feel like lines tend to hinder creativity and thought. Surprising that I would think that way with as OCD as I am. Ok, i'm just borderline OCD. And (2) I bought this journal at Office Depot. That REALLY bothers me to know that there are probably about 100,000 other journals out there that look just like it. I typically like eclectic unique journals that are not mass produced and sold in a chain store. But I like the way this looks. It has a really classy design in a mohogany colored cover. Its "majestic" in its own way. I'll just have to pretend that there's not more than 3 other journals like it out there. I have journal that I'm using now for my more personal writings thats handmade, that I picked up in Spain. A few years ago, when I started writing, my brother gave me an amazing journal that was all natural paper with a brown suade cover. After I filled that journal to the brim (about 300 pages), i started another journal given to me by my friend Ryan and Tyler Rygmyr that was a beautiful rainbow-colored journal. I started my "spanish" journal after I filled that one up. I have several others that i'm debating on using next, but I really like this Office Depot one. I dunno....

I'm going to go visit Mammaw today, Joe's grandmother. A few weeks ago she tripped and broke her arm and she's just been miserable ever since. She's 90 and active as ever, and to sit and just "wait" for her arm to heal is just driving her crazy. Joey and I are going to go try to cheer her up for the afternoon.

TOnight, Joe and I are going on a date. Believe it or not, its been about 5 months since we went on our last "date." So much has gone down in the last few months that its prevented us from taking time for us. Now that we are settled in, and we have a friend to babysit for the evening, we're going to go see a movie. I'm nervous about leaving Joey though.... last time we left him, he was about 4 or 5 months old. Now he's almost 9 months old, and he has a little bit of, what they call "attachment" issues. haha We'll see how this works. I think he'll be ok. We're not even going to dinner - just a 2 hour movie - but we have to drive 30 min to the theatre, unlike where we lived in Nashville where we could practically walk to the theatre. That's alright....just like living in Iowa again. ha!

I'll call this post "Wednesday August 22"

2007-08-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

I had a strange brief dream this morning. I don't think it had much meaning, but maybe? It was kind of silly really. I dreamed that I was standing in my bathroom brushing my hair and water just started pouring out of my vent overhead. I stood and thought about the layout of the part of the house above me, and guessed that it was air conditioning, and that the pipes had frozen up, or the whole entire unit was a block of ice, and it had just thawed all of a sudden and came pouring out on top of me, and now my bathroom was filling up with water.

Then I woke up.

I'm going to have to read up on that. I've had dreams in the past (scary ones) where buildings that I was in were filling up with water.

On to other news, Joey pulled himself up today without mommy assistance. I was there to spot him if needed, but he was strong and decided he didn't need my help. I couldnt' believe it. Then he did it again on his own. He has a little radio flyer wagon "walker" that's supposed to help him learn to walk - and yes its working. He holds on tight and I'll move it forward ever so slightly, and he struggles, but then steps forward with it. I don't know if he'll be walking by the time he's one, but we'll be off to a great start.

Joe's been golfing. He was yesterday and today. He's not a big golfer, but he's had to with his new job, as to have some "buddy" time with the corporate office, and to get to know them. They tee off so late in the day. I miss him when he's gone that long. I guess I should be used to it by now, as sometimes he'd be gone for days on the road.

We leave Saturday morning for Iowa to visit my family. I'm looking forward to it. Joe's not going to be with me 80% of the time, which makes me nervous. Although I'll be with family, I'm not going to have much help with Joey. I should manage ok, I hope. I'm excited to my friend Addie. She's pregnant and I haven't had a chance to hug her neck in a while! When we get back on Labor Day, we'll be heading for Nashville the following weekend for Heather's baby shower. She's due in November. I think I started a trend with my friends. haha! :) I'm excited for both of them.

Not sure when Joe and I will try for another baby. I need to be mentally ok for another one, and I'm just not sure I'm there yet. The events of this year have delayed some post partum i'm experiencing now, so i think we better wait for a little while. I do want Joey to have a little playmate though. The Lord will time it right.

PS Maria :) That upside down chicken in the background would scare anyone! :) Its actually one of about 6 puppets i have "clothes-hanged" from JOey's Pet Net. He likes to look at them when i'm changing him, but you know what - I'm thinking it might have a psycho affect on him later in life. haha!