Self Induced Coma

I am back, albeit not willing, but back from a self induced coma.  I had grand visions last Tuesday when I bid farewell to my gold fish Flounder, locked my office door, and headed out for 5 glorious days of checking off many things on my to-do list.  Some of those things included:

• Cook the best Thanksgiving feast ever, right down to the delicate desserts
• Decorate the house for Christmas, THE entire house….
• Make fudge and fruitcake cookies
• Have all the dogs bathe and groomed
• Make a budget
• Organize school stuff
• Catch up on blogging and make a Christmas blog design
• Begin Christmas shopping

That was my list…I really don’t think that any bullet point was totally finished.  Sad, kind of, but not really.  This is how my 5 days played out…

Wednesday, went grocery shopping, came home took a nap.  Wednesday evening looked at recipes and then decided that we didn’t need to eat early so watched TV and went to bed.

Thursday I managed to make a sizeable feast, but not all the delicate desserts, but we were to full to noticed.  Then I took a nap, watched TV and went to bed.

Friday I didn’t do the usual Black Friday 3am bargain hunting, I slept in instead.   Most of the day I goofed off, watched TV, took a nap and was then sound asleep and the bed by 8pm. 

(Are you seeing a pattern take form here?)

Saturday, I slept till 9am, got up cooked breakfast and was back in the bed by 10:30 for a mid morning nap….that lasted until my husband woke me up…that afternoon.  Then I goofed off and watched TV.  We did make an attempt to go to town late that evening, but it didn’t work out, so I went to bed early!

Sunday, woke up really refreshed, got dressed and ready for church, came home ate lunch and took a NAP! 

Yea, I know, I am pathetic!  I got nothing done I wanted to get done…but it was glorious! 

Yesterday was hard trying to get back into the swing of things, so when I finally arrived home after 7-ish, I had my son cook me a grilled cheese sandwich because I was too worn out to turn the stove on and fell asleep watching TV. 

Today, I am focused getting a life and checking back into reality!  I am fully rested, so there is no excuse!  I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as glorious one as well!  Now I am off to catch up in blog world!

Thankful For Our Son Joey

Our third born son, Joseph, blessed us with his presence on February 23, 1998.  He decided that after a full month of his mom being on bed rest, that he would indeed come a month earlier than his due date.  We were very scared during his delivery not knowing if he would need the help of NICU, but when the time came and the team arrived, he was born and screamed, showing them that he was indeed ready for this world.  By the looks of him now, you could never tell he started as a tiny porcelain doll that wore preemie clothes for the first three months of his life.

Joey is full of life, and loves all things electronic.  Cell phones, TVs, Ipods, computers, you name it!  He could program at VCR at three years old and still never ceases to amaze us at his ability to figure electronic things out.  He loves Facebook, the computer and any kind of game, board or computer.

Cars, trucks, RV’s and anything that is motorized is another one of Joey’s loves.  He can tell you the make and model of any vehicle just by looking at it.  He is always searching the internet for the next vehicle that we “need” to buy!!  He also loves the junk yard and looking at wrecked cars…it excites him and he will talk about it days on end!

When Joey was in the second grade he was found to have a learning disability.  He has dyslexia and a learning disability that is across the board that affects his learning at every level.  We were told that he would never read over a 2nd grade level, if he even reached that.  Through his struggles he has worked hard and now reads at a 7th grade level with a 5th grade comprehension!   Although he struggles in math and may not ever learn above his current level, we are thrilled at his determination at learning!  

A fun fact about Joey…even though he has a learning disability, he has this unremarkable and strange memory for tag numbers of vehicles and expiration dates for said tags.  He knows most peoples tag numbers and when their tag will expire!  That has came in handy on more than one occasion!   Cool huh?

Overall he is a great kid!  He does tend to have a tiny attitude and loves to instigate the daily fights with his brothers or anyone that he can riled up!  As of late he hates to take a shower, struggles to remember to brush his teeth and has a lazy streak as long as a country mile!!  It's all part of being a boy I guess!!

In a nutshell that is our JoeJoe in a short post….that could never do him justice!  We have been truly blessed with our sons and the uniqueness that each one has!  Today I am thankful for  our  youngest son and for his the love of God, love of life and his love for his family!

What Would You Do? Tough Love, Is It Too Much Or Not Enough?

Parenthood has many stages from infants who cry to teenage drama.  All of which can leave parents scratching their head wondering if they are doing the right thing.  Well as parents with a college student, we are still scratching our heads, trying to do the best thing for our child, is tough love the right answer??  It’s hard and I hope that we are doing the right thing…help me with this one, please!

Our oldest is nearing the end of his first semester of college.  He did not get scholarships, so after his student loan (which was not enough), we paid for the remainder of his semester, along with a dorm room, books and a meal pass which allows him 3 meals a day Monday through Friday and two meals a day on Saturday and Sunday and then $100 on his student ID to cover any other college expenses.  We brought him the staples of dorm life, bedding, towels,  laundry soap and all those fun items to set his room up to get him a great start to this new chapter of his life and before we could blink, we was driving off to college.  We were left feeling a little anxious to say the least, praying that he would arrive safely to his new life five hours away.

We tried not to hover, keep our distance, and let him call when he needed us, not when I needed him.   It’s hard having a child in your life that you talk to every day for 18 years, to not speak to them for days on end…but on the advice of a two time college student mom, she said let him have his freedom.  So we did.

Here is where we are having our issues.  Upon arriving at college with some money in his account that  we put there for “emergences” his first emergency was a much needed  Xbox.  We quickly pulled our money out and decided if that was an urgent emergency, he would have to call for the next emergency that arose.

He has yet to find a job.  He says his class schedule interferes with getting a job and his hours are not ideal for employers to hire him.  I strongly disagreed, considering all his classes are during the day, except for one night class.  I called two pizza places to see if they would hire him, and they were hiring…go figure, but to date he still has not been hired. 

He had developed over his many years of experience a bad habit, which is costly and something that his father and I are highly not happy about…smoking. 

His grades???  One B, one C and two D’s which are not good enough for us, considering the only responsibility he has as a college student is to well, study and do homework.  There is no job, remember??

Here is where the tough love thing has came in.  We, as parents, feel that the baby boy has made his bed and needs to be the adult that he has so claimed that he wants to be.  We are not going to support a habit.  If he has money to buy cigarettes, then he should have money to wash his clothes…priorities, I say!  There is no need to send money for food, because we have paid, in advance for him to eat three meals a day.  He lives on campus so if there is no job, why does he need to drive anywhere?  We pay for his insurance for his car, which is very high and also for his cell phone. 

I think he feels that we are not doing enough for him and seems to be highly upset with his current financial status and that we are not sending him money.  Just two weeks ago, he put on his Facebook status that he needed money and was getting ready to sell his stuff.  We didn’t send money, so hopefully he still has his Xbox, because it would be ashamed if he had to sell it to buy cigarettes….just sayin’. 

What would you do??

Tables Every Where! Warning, Lots of Pictures!

What am I doing with these???  Music sheets that are cut and folded in various shapes and sizes??

Making flowers for my banquet table for our churches annual Banquet of the Tables!  Check out my table…..

I usually do something big and outrageous, but this year I had this thought of doing a table out of nothing but paper, but then it evolved into paper roses made out of music sheets. 

There were many beautiful and outrageous tables this year, check these out…

Take a closer look, this table, it had goldfish swimming around in the plates!!

 

This was just a few of the many tables. 

It was a sold out event with Tammy Trent as  the speaker…can’t wait to see how the night turns out!!

My Day, A Yummy Morning, A Mexican Buffet & A Bath

Today started off as a typical morning…alarm clock goes off and I continue to sleep through it!  As usual I rushed to get ready and zoomed off to work.  This morning, I wanted needed something a little extra to get my day going so I ran into Starbucks.  I love my favorites, but I lived a little on the wild side and tried their caramel apple cider.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!  Pure yumminess!!  If you have not tried one, you must go now and get one!  I took one sip and told the barista that I needed to take another sip and then told her that it was pure bliss!  Y’all it was like drinking an apple pie!!  I tall ya, go out now and try it!

Now get this, my day gets better!  April, my cuz and co-worker, has been going on and on about a local Mexican place that has a buffet.  Today was the day, so we, along with the music minister and two other  friends met up at, what is now my favorite place!  We were so busy digging in to that glorious food that none of us thought to take a picture, but imagine the greatest buffet ever and then add queso!  Heaven on earth!! 

The rest of my day has not been great, but after the fantastic drink and food, who cares!  HA!  Higgins day did not end the way he wanted either…..

Even when he is grumpy and gets a bath, he is still so stinking cute!!

My thankful for the day is having a wonderful lunch, with wonderful friends at the Mexican buffet!

I Made Freedom Count…

Hopefully things will be much better after the election and there will be some seriously good change this go around!  Also, I will thoroughly enjoy not having to watch all the mud slinging commercials and having a quiet phone…our phone has been ringing off the hook with political phone calls!   Looks like others are ready for change as well considering the amount of calls we have received! 

My “Thankful” for  today is…The Freedom to Vote!

Giving Thanks Challenge

 Today I am thankful for…my Husband, he is awesome! 

Leah over at South Breeze Farm is hosting a month long challenge of giving thanks…Yay, how fun and appropriate for the month and actually every day!   I have said it a thousand times that I do not give thanks enough for what I am blessed with daily and here is a chance to focus on that for an entire month.

 

Here’s the deal, each day post something that you are thankful for.  Do it as a post or keep a running tab on the side bar, be creative or not…it is totally up to you!  I am thinking of doing both, some days I will blog about my “thankful” and some days it will be added to the side, it all depends on time and how I feel!

 

If you would like to join in on this Giving Thanks Challenge, go here to find out more.