October is breast cancer awareness month. To remind you and me to go get our boobs squeezed I have turned my blog pink for October. Join the fun and turn your blog pink too.
For more information go to Pink For October
Written by Joshilyn Jackson - Between, Georgia is the story of Nonny who was born in the small town of Between. Nonny's biological mother conceled her pregnacy and gave birth to her at the home of her mother's least favorite family the Fretts. The Fretts adopt Nonny and when her biological grandmother finds out the animonsity between the families only increases.
The Frett family has money, the keep a clean house, and are respected members of the community. The Crabtree family, Nonny's biological family are poor, dirty and live life on the fringes of society. Hey. this could be my story. I enjoyed the rich descriptions used in the story. The neighborhood which was walking distance from the house where Nonny grew up, the houses surrounding her biological family home, had burned out houses, abandoned houses, the inside of the home was also described in vivid details. The squalor of poverty and knowing this is where you come from. Having those people want you to acknowledge your connection to them, while this squalor feels foreign to you. Meanwhile, the adopted family feels foreign in many ways too.
I loved the way that the story was told, it brought to life a lot of the things I felt being an adopted child. Feelings of not really belonging with the adopted family or with the biological family. Questioning, who am I - a product of my genes or a product of my upbringing? Never really knowing. There is also a lot of action toward the end, I was bawling my eyes out, but not in a bad way. You have to read it to understand. So go and read it. now for the question . . .
In September we read two books, Flirting with Forty and Between, Georgia. The discussion for Flirting with Forty is taking place at Kim's blog, Wheaties2bk, and can be found here.
I think I was the only one to participate in that discussion. There is no reason you can't still swing by and leave your thoughts. I also wrote a general book review and impressions about Flirting with Forty on my blog here. I enjoyed Flirting with Forty very much and the discussion about women and happiness that ensued.
Now it is time to discuss Between, Georgia. I am hoping that we can have more of a discussion than we have in the past. I guess we all come to the book club for different reasons. Most of us come to get recommendations for new reads, and that is fine. But, I really enjoy the discussion part and that seems to have been lacking. In an effort to get more of a discussion going, I am going to host the discussion for Between in a little bit different way. I am going to post my review of the book and answer to one question my blog tonight at 7 PM central time. You are welcome to come joining the discussion live. Or stop by anytime and leave your thoughts. If you read Between and want to answer one of the other questions, I am encouraging you to write a blog post on your blog, give your general thoughts about the book and/or answer one of the questions from the back of the book. I will link to all the people who participate in the discussion on my post, just let me know in the comments or via an email. If you haven't read the book you are still welcome to participate, my discussion question tonight will be on the topic of nature vs. nurture. Something we all have an opinion about.
We also need to pick a book for October, oops a little late notice. Send me an email, leave me a comment, let me know your recommendations for books to read in October. I will also be putting up a new pick a book poll tonight during our discussion. The poll will be open and submissions allowed until everyone has had a chance to participate.
Poor yourself a glass of wine, grab some munchies and let's get together and have a live book club tonight.
Sorry for the late notice, I realize that I will most likely be on my own. Next month we will have more notice and I know that all of you have plans on Friday nights.
Did I tell you there would be prizes? Anyone who stops by and leaves a comment on the Between, Georgia post tonight between 7 -9 PM tonight is eligible to win a used copy of either Between, Georgia or Flirting with Forty your choice. I will mail you my copy. See you tonight.
Mandy and I are huge Harry Potter fans. When the first movie was coming out we found ourselves living in Italy and not speaking any Italian. It was November 2001. We managed to convince Jeff that it would be a good idea to spend our Thanksgiving weekend traveling to London to see London, but really to see Harry Potter in English.
I was able to book our family a flight from a town less than an hour from our house, directly into London for less the $200 round trip for all three of us. Thank you Ryan. This airline is fabulous, it is like nothing I had ever seen before. You buy your tickets online, that is the only way. You are given a e-ticket. There are no seat assignments, you show up and sit where you want, like a bus. People pile onto the plane and sit down, the plane leaves. Takes about five mintues. They don't give you anything like food or water, instead they sell you stuff the whole flight. Water bottles are about $10 bucks. Just kidding, I don't remember how much it cost, just that we were shocked that it could be so much.
While we were going through the screening process to get onto the plane, this being only a couple short months after Sept. 11, we saw a sweet little old Italian lady being forced to throw her nail scissors in the trash. She was screaming at the Carbenari, his partner had a machine gun and a huge mean dog, this did not stop her from telling him exactly what she thought about having to throw her nail scissors in the trash. Later on the plane, one of the things the flight attendants tried to sell us along the way was nail scissors, just like the ones she had to throw away. I wanted to buy her a pair. I wondered if they took them out of the trash and then re-sell the stuff on the plane?
We were traveling on a budget, as we always do. We found a bread and breakfast, we had to take a train from the airport into London, get on another train and take it all the way out to the last stop on the line, walk six blocks and there we found our bread and breakfast, which was actually just a room in a sweet little old ladies house. Our breakfast actually consisted of a bowl a cereal and some tea. But, it was safe, clean and comfortable-and in our budget.
When I walked into that house I was immediately transported back in time to my grandmother's house. It smelled exactly like my grandma's house. I have never smelled another house that had that smell, I still to this day wonder what it was. My grandma's house was in Seattle, another damp climate and they houses were approximately the same age? I just don't know.
We ended up having a marvelous trip. We took the train back into London. We saw many of the landmarks of London. Spent the day walking and riding trains. We ate wonderful food, and of course we saw our beloved Harry Potter movie. The thing was that Mandy and I hated it, the Harry Potter movie. We loved the books so much that seeing the first movie, after having gone all the way to England for it, we were just so horrified with how extremely mediocre the movie was. The books are just so much and the movie was just ordinary. Since then we have watched it again, and gone to all the other movies, I guess we have gotten over the fact that movies are not books. But, that day, we looked at each other after the movie and I said, it was horrible, and Mandy laughed and said, she thought so too. Jeff on the other hand was horrified, he has not read any of the books and thought the movie was great, he was so upset that we had gone all the way to England to see a movie and then we did not like the movie. We liked London very much though.
Jeff had been stationed in England before Japan and he still had friends living there, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, so we even got to have our Thanksgiving dinner on our trip to England. Jeff's friend is Thai, her mamma actually grew up in Thailand, and she cooked us along with our turkey and all the trimmings, some wonderful Thai food too.
I wish that travel in America was like it is in Europe: planes, trains, cheap and easy.
Last night was the last home game of the season for Mandy's volleyball team. The stands were packed - every hit, every miss, was reflected by the entire crowd, with a cheer or a gasp. We were one, the parents, the players, and the boy fans who come to cheer for the girls. Those boys are so cute, with their cheers and their songs. What a hoot to see the boys in the stands cheering on the girls.
The score would volley back and forth like the ball. We were up and then they were up. Every hit and every miss counted. Our girls were smoking hot. After a season of losses, a season of fans watching players watch the ball hit the ground, the girls were finally putting some effort into their game. Doing the one-two-three, hit-set-spike. They were spiking it into the empty places on the other side of the net. It was like magic. Especially since we have not won a game all season. All season. The stands are always full, we parents invest our hearts in every game and we lose, lose, lose. So last night when we won the first game we were so very happy.
At one point a parent had to be warned to settle down. Later the ref asked the coach to take care of another rowdy parent from the other team. The coach was walking toward the stands, the police officer right behind her, the parent stood up and promised he would behave and the ref allowed him to stay. Everyone there last night was amped up and on the edge of their seats.
We lost the second game and third game, it was very close. Mandy was only allowed to play in the first five minutes of the second game. All the energy and success of the first game all the spirit of the parents and the high school boy fans, is for her team and not really directed at her. Her spirits have really taken a beating this season. She went from being a star player to being a bench warmer. Moving is hard. She is a gifted volleyball player. She has always been very good at sports. But, here she can't seem to find her grove. Starting out they put her on JV instead of varsity. There is very little discipline in the coaching style here. She went from having three hours of hard core practice everyday to having two one and a half hour long practices per week. Most of the girls on the team look as if running around the block would physically challenge them. But, Mandy is a bench warmer on JV here.
That is really all she has earned. She hasn't been able to show them what a great player she is. When I watch her play it actually hurts. I know how good she is and I am not really sure what has happened. It is as if she doesn't want to be there anymore. I can't help but wonder if she will even play again next year. One of the casualties of moving I guess. I think that the nerves, the pressure, the being relegated to the bench has been hard on her confidence and a spunky fabulous never say die player is now a girl who is just a bundle of nerves. Is it Mandy's fault for not doing her best? Is it the coach's fault for not bringing out her game? Is it my fault for making her move? I really don't know who to blame, but it is sad to see her lose something that could have brought her so much joy and fulfillment.
I can't help but wonder if having moved all around during Mandy's school life has been a good learning experience or a bad one. Has it taught her how to give up and that she just doesn't really fit in anywhere? Has it taught her to be a victim, who feels sorry for herself? Or is it eventually going to teach her how to pick herself up and make the very most out of life even when life is hard. This is the most important lesson I want for her. I want her to be able to love her life and not feel like a victim. I can't help but wonder if we had lived her entire life in the same place, if she wouldn't have been the star of the volleyball team. It would have been nice if Mandy had really put herself out there and gave volleyball everything she had. What a great feeling that would have been if she had been able to have that success. I thought I was giving her the opportunity to gain some inner strength but that didn't happen at all.
Her team this year was awful. Mandy played better when she started volleyball in the seventh grade than the best of these girls play today. I guess it was all just too much for her to overcome. I know that marrying Jeff was in Mandy's best interest overall. Marrying a man in the Air Force meant Mandy would have to move several times during her childhood. At the time I told myself that this would make her stronger. Dismissing the negative aspects of moving so much. In reality there really are negatives associated with moving. Consequences to the kids. It is not really all good and positive. It was the best decision overall, but that doesn't eradicate all the negatives. I feel bad that I took away her opportunity to be a volleyball star. All the emotional crap seems to have been too much for her to overcome. I tell myself that moving is going to build character and make her a stronger person. Give her the opportunity to learn how to adapt to new situations. But, right now it feels more like that didn't happen, instead it just made high school more difficult for Mandy. I guess Mandy didn't get the memo saying that all this moving was going to toughen her up and teach her to overcome adversity.
Check this video out over at Special K Family. It made me laugh. Have a great weekend.
All day I have been preparing for a hurricane. Now it appears we are just going to have a good storm. I am new to tropical weather terminology but I am pretty certain that is what is going on. Today at the Wal-Mart, which is usually pretty quiet at 10AM, it was totally packed, all the parking spaces were filled all the shopping carts gone, the lines were half way down the isles.
While I was standing in line, buying my emergency food supplies, I couldn't help but notice what the other people had in their buggies (shopping carts to you Yankees). I saw a lot of salsa, chips, beer, water, dog food, and paper towels. I didn't get any of those things, I am thinking I am not prepared. I almost got out of line.
I filled the car with gas, got some money, planed my escape route. Now I have to take with me two kids, a cat, a dog, extra gas, important papers, and....
What would you bring if you had to evacuate and you only had a little bit of room left in your tiny little car? I was thinking maybe the dog and cat could ride out the storm and I could take more stuff. Ha, ha just kidding. But, seriously what would you take? Your favorite jeans, some pictures, baby books, wedding album, jewelry, favorite book?
My Jeff comes home tomorrow, can you tell he has been out of town?
The nap warden has created an award, called your blog is out of this world. And she nominated my blog, isn't that sweet? I am passing this along to some of my friends whose blogs I have especially enjoyed this week. However, I love you all. Some of the world's best writers are on my blogroll but too busy living their lives to write on their blogs consistently. But, I still love you.
Thanks for all your kind words and support. Lily actually went to the dentist yesterday, first thing in the morning. And the hygienist was so patient and sweet that Lily did great. At the end of the appointment she said it was no wonder Lily had tarter on the insides of her back teeth, that Lily really fights you when you try to clean them. But, during the visit she was sweet as pie to Lily and that really put her at ease.
Later in the day we were picking up a couple of things at the grocery store and the cashier started a conversation with Lily. So, Lily proceeded to tell the cashier a lot. Her whole day, her whole life, in a long fast sentence. Lily has a lot of words. I heard the cashier remark to the next customer when we left that Lily is hyper.
It really struck me cause it was like a light bulb moment. I was thinking up until then that Lily is not hyper at all. Especially as I was reading the ADHD paperwork. But. it isn't all the time. I have the ability to get her out of a hyperactive episode and I worry that her hyperactivity will frustrate another care giver. I guess now I have some better terminology to take with me.
When I was reading the ADHD paperwork I noticed many of the questions had a lot to do with is your kid mean? Like do they hit when they are frustrated, do they get revenge, do they set fires? Etc. I was thinking then that Lily is never mean. I have never seen her be mean to anyone. She is a very sweet person. I also notice that the majority of the people who get frustrated by her hyperactivity which sometimes occurs at the most inconvenient times, that many people feel that she is in need of punishment. That she needs to be "taught" a lesson. They get an overwhelming desire to hurt and cow her into better behavior. They assume that my parenting skills are lacking and that this child just needs them to force her into submission. This is what scares me. This reaction I see in people, this anger and hate that emanates from people toward, this sweet little girl. I cannot help but wonder if this is why so many ADHD kids are angry and violent kids. Because of societies reaction to them.
Not saying Lily had ADHD. We are going to be evaluated for ADHD by a specialist, and then by a neurologist and then by a behaviorist. For the record, I taught preschool for about 15 years. I took many child development courses at college, and then I was previously on a path to become a high school math teacher and took foundations of education. I also worked at a Montessori pre-school and went through there intensive on the job training program and became a certified Montessori Pre-school teacher. I have been around pre-school kids a lot in my life and much of what I am saying comes from what I have personally witnessed in caring for pre-school children with behavior problems. Plus, I was not really treated well as a child at that age and I know a lot of my trust issues comes from that.
Lily behaves well at home because we are on a schedule and over the years I have worked very hard to get her past a lot of her issues. But, out in public in situations where she is uncomfortable, we have not gotten her to handle those situations yet. So, yeah I guess I do feel judged. I guess we all do. I work hard at being a good mom. Harder than I have worked on anything in my life, a good mom to both my kids, and to have so much judgement come my way every time I leave my house, has been incredibly hard on my spirit. I think MammaArcher up there summed it up when she said that even though she doesn't know me, Jeff and I need to do a better job of disciplining our child. You would not believe how many people make similar comments on a day to day bases to me, strangers.
Today was Lily's four year old check up. I made a list and talked to the doctor about her behavior issues. I think I did a good job. We have been refereed to specialists to determine if there is some sort of problem. The doctor also recommended that she go to preschool. Jeff agrees, I do not. I am going to try it. But, I am so scared. So very scared.
Lily is difficult. But, she is so sweet. No one has ever been mean to her. I am afraid that her teacher wont be able to handle how hard she is, I am afraid someone will be mean to her. Jeff and the doctor feel that if Lily is away from me she might be able to learn how to behave. Doesn't that sound like it is all my fault?
Today at the doctor, the person taking our information before we saw the doctor, he screamed at Lily. Lily was talking very loudly, she doesn't like it when I talk to other people and she talks over my conversations until I give her my attention. This drove him crazy and he yelled at her to sit down and be quiet. She proceeded to have a melt down. If telling Lily to be quiet and sit down would make her stop, I would have done that. If spanking, if yelling, if time outs, if rewards, or bribes worked I would have done that. Dude she has been acting this way for years, do you think I haven't tried asking her to stop? I have tried everything. The only thing that stops her takes a long time. This guy just wanted to ask me a few questions it was easier to ignore her and get it done.
The only thing that stops her is to redirect. But, first I have to get her attention. This is the challenge. If I can get her attention away from whatever she is focused on, and get her to listen to me, she will do anything I ask. She is really very sweet. But, when she is acting up she is not listening, she doesn't hear me. I don't know if this is her being stubborn or if she has something wrong. She can listen, but sometimes she just doesn't hear me. To stop her I have to repeat what she is saying a couple of times until she understands that I hear her. And then she usually has a few more things to say, which I have to repeat and then she will listen to me.
I know I am the mom and she should have to listen to me. But, for the life of me I can't figure out how to convince her of this. I am afraid that someone else will not be able to get through to Lily. Everyone who has ever tried ends up yelling at her. Gymnastics, swimming lessons, other moms, everyone gets really frustrated. Lily is so sweet and smart and she will be having this conversation with you like she is intelligent and all of a sudden she will no longer be listening to you. She is off in Lily land and it is hard to get her back to reality.
Even though I know it is not going to work, I am going to do all the things being recommended to me. I may be wrong. Maybe Lily is fine and she just needs to get away from me. Maybe it is all my fault that she is not the well behaved sweet little girl all the other children are.
Last night as I was driving Mandy, my 16 year old daughter, home from work at 10PM, I asked her if she had done her homework yet or if she had put it off until the last minute. She said, she had put it off. I asked her if she needed the computer, we only have one, because I had also put off my homework. She said, no - that she did not need the computer for her homework.
We then proceeded to have a debate our DNA. Mandy believes that her procrastination was inherited and is therefore just who she is, out of her control. I told her that all things are within her control it is all about choices. When she puts things off she has made a choice. When I put things off, I have made a choice. We are both capable of choosing to do our homework early. Mandy does not believe she is capable of doing her homework early, she says she tries but just cannot. This is who she is and I should just accept that and move on.
What do you think? Is our tendency toward procrastination a flaw in our DNA or are Mandy and I just making bad choices with the ability to change? We debate this topic all the time, she chooses to be so incredibly stubborn, just like her dad and her sister.
I forgot to tell y'all about our visit to the dentist. We had to go and pick up Mandy from school because someone (Jeff) thinks we should schedule all our appointments at the same time. The process of getting your kid out of high school is excruciation. That took us a half an hour. But, still we managed to make it to our new dentist's office about 10 minutes before our appointment. I had a mountain of paper work to fill out twice, once for each of the girls. Before I was even done, they called Mandy back to begin her exam.
Jeff had purposely scheduled Lily's appointment before Mandy's, but they called Mandy first. So back she goes and we do not see her again for over an hour. She finally comes back to the waiting room, she has not had the chance to see the dentist. Someone cleaned her teeth and took xrays but no dentist. Another lady who came in 45 minutes after us was called back. Lily still hadn't been seen. After another 10 minutes I went up to the counter and told them I had to go. I rescheduled Lily for next week.
Lily was bouncing off the walls and there was no way she would have done well after all that waiting. She was already having a really hard morning, plus the waiting, I didn't think this I could handle it. The receptionist was clearly not happy with my decision to leave. The funny thing is that they made me sign a form stating that I understand their policy that if I arrive late to an appointment or don't cancel at least 24 hours in advance they are going to charge me for the inconvenience, I wish I could have charged them for the inconvenience.
The thing is that Mandy knocked out her two front teeth when she was nine. She has had to wear a retainer with fake teeth in it since then. Now that her mouth is finally mature she can start having the work done to get implants. The implants plus the braces she will need is going to cost us more than 10 grand. Our insurance doesn't cover very much of that. Having to spend all that money and be at the office a lot over the next couple of years I really think they should treat me a little better than to make me wait with no explanation in the waiting room for hours on end.
Perhaps I am overreacting because I was with a grouchy kid? The think about America is that there is always another dentist just down the street. I hope they are willing to forward Mandy's xrays so she doesn't have to do it all again.
Lily was furious at e for leaving. She had been promised a dentist was going to look at her teeth and by golly she wanted to sit in a big chair and have someone look at her teeth. She was not about to leave until her teeth had been counted. So I promised her candy right there in the dentist office (just kidding, I promised McDonald's). Mother of the year material here.
Jeff is currently running in the Air Force Marathon. His first. Please take a moment to send him good wishes, in hopes it will give him a boost. I will let you know how he does.
Update: Jeff finished, 5 hours and 38 minutes. Now we can all send wishes for a speedy recovery from the aches and pains.
I have been feeling like crap lately. It is a physical, emotional, spiritual, bla. Don't know why. I thought I would do something to try and feel better. The first thing that came to mind was fresh air and exercise. On that note, one day last week I decided to take Lily for a walk down to the beach. Our dog really wanted to come along and I thought why not.
First I coated us with sunscreen, then mosquito repellent (while I hate doing that we have fair skins and a number of west Nile virus cases have occur ed in the local area). As we were heading out the front door Lily requested the opportunity to ride her big wheel instead of walking. Thanks, to her dad who let her ride her big wheel down to the water over the weekend.
We gathered her big wheel and proceeded to open the door. The dog shot out the door like a rocket and broke her retractable leash. Instead of just putting her back in the house, I coerced her to come back in the house with me by promising cheese. Gave cheese to the dog and to Lily. Got the other non-retractable leash and we were off.
Lily decided she did not want to peddle and was dragging her feet along the pavement to propel herself forward. I noticed she had chosen to wear her new shoes and thought we should probably change into the shoes she has already worn holes in, rather than ruining another pair of shoes. Back in the house, change shoes, back to the walk.
Lily's rides her bike without pedaling at this excruciating slow pace. The dog is pulling my arm out of the socket. It is hotter than hades. The sweat is starting to wet our hair a bit around the collar, even though we are barely moving. I start to get a bit more snippy than normal at the dog and at Lily. Lily tells me to be nice to Pixie, that she doesn't like it when I am mad. I am beginning to think that I am more grumpy now than I was before I started this remedy to feel better. No wonder I don't get out much.
From my front yard you can see the water, but there happens to be an alligator infested swampy area between my house and the actual beach. There is actually a couple of blocks between me and the alligators so no worries about alligators coming in my house and eating me in my sleep. (Even though I do have this nightmare). To get to the beach we have to walk down a block, over three blocks and down another block. Five blocks. Lily is a fast walker, but for some reason whenever we walk to the beach she becomes the world's slowest person. About two blocks into our walk Lily decides she no longer wants to shuffle her bike along and requests that I carry her bike while she walks. Which I do in hopes that we will go a bit faster. I am pretty sure it has taken at least four hours to walk these two blocks.
I am carrying the big wheel, holding the dog, and walking slower than a snail. Some how we manage to make it to the beach. We throw a couple of rocks into the water, we walk to the end of the pier, we see some pretty larks, we turn around and go home. Lily tells me she is so tired she cannot walk anymore. She begs me to carry her. She begins to that cry whine which lasts the next five hours it takes us to go home.
At one point, I shift the big wheel that I am still carrying to another position and the handle bars falls off. When I bend down to pick up the handle bars the back wheels fall off. Now I am trying to carry three pieces of the big wheel, hold the dog and I attempt to pick up Lily figuring that if I carry her this nightmare will eventually end.
A block into our walk home I ditch the three pieces of the big wheel on the side of the road, hoping that a lighter load will enable me to get home faster. I put Lily on my back and I walk as fast as I can the four remaining blocks home. By the time we get in the front door I am ready to die. Love is giving fresh cold water to the kid and the dog before yourself. We sip our water, watch the last five minutes of Teletubbies and jump in the car to retrieve the big wheel. On the way home I am thinking that cooking lunch doesn't really sound like fun, so I head the car toward McDonald's.
I notice that the conversation that Lily and I have on the way to McDonald's is silly and fun. We are giggling and laughing about all kinds of things. We come home and eat, I shower, she has a bath. By then it is time to go and get Mandy, etc. So the rest of the afternoon and evening I notice that my mood is indeed much better. But, was it worth it? Let's just say I haven't gone for another walk and I am back to feeling funky. This walk took over an hour, I am counting it as a walking day even though it was slow, carrying a kid has to count for something.
Lily and Mandy have dental appointments this morning. Lily woke up, immediately remembered that she was mad at me last night when she went to bed and started crying again. She hadn't even gotten out of bed and she was already crying again. I don't think our appointment is going to go well.
I tried cuddling her, while watching cartoons. I tried breakfast. She was still crying about how I sent her to bed last night before she had a chance to put her babies to sleep. It was well past her bedtime because we had to pick up Mandy from school after 9PM due to an away volleyball game. Lily had missed her nap because I had to take Mandy to school, to get on the bus for the away volleyball game.
Usually we spend ages doing our going to bed stuff. Last night there was too much drama. After reading books, drinking milk, going potty, washing hands, brushing teeth, I was done with it all and I made Lily go to bed without allowing her to put all of her ten thousand and one babies to bed first. So, when she woke up this morning, she usually goes and says good morning to her babies, and this morning they were not all tucked in and poor Lily remembered she is very mad at me. Last night she fell asleep after about 30 seconds of crying. I was patting myself on the back for making the right decision, she was obviously very tired. But, today, I am regretting it a bit.
So I left her crying about her babies after an hour of trying to reason with her, I went and took a loooooong shower and did my hair and makeup. At least if I am going to be absolutely humiliated at the dentist today I will look respectable.
In the early 1980's my family moved from Mays Pond in Bothell, Washington to Elk Grove, California. It was mid January and on myu first day of school I remember walking around with a map trying to find my classes and having a group of kids point to my lazy eye and chase me around saying, look she is stoned, look at her eyes this girl is stoned. Fun.
Later that day I met Danel in my science class. We sat next to each other. She was nice. Turns out we had a lot in common, like both of us were taken from our bio moms at the age of five and both of us were placed in foster care. We were both the same height and weight too. We became best friends and remained so for over 20 years.
I am a fairly good typist. I was even a fairly good secretary in a past life. I took a year long typing class in high school. Yet, I cannot for the life of me do the comment verification codes. It always takes me 3, 4, 5 times to get it right. Drives me batty.
I don't really know all that much about insurance. Except how to pay the bill. I have never in my life had to file an insurance claim. We pay out more per month in insurance than we do to the bank for our house. Sucks. Watching all the coverage of the anniversary of Katrina here in the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, I learned a couple things about insurance that I thought I would share with you.
Thirteen things that make me happy.
Lorelei and Angel both posted pictures of where they blog. Here is mine.
To the gentleman who sat in front of me at the high school volleyball game last night.
If watching your daughter lose a volleyball game upsets you to the point that your face turns red and smoke starts coming out of your ears.
Instead of yelling at the ref, and the coach, and the team...
Instead of yelling,
Becky, Becky. Relax. Focus. Take your time.
I have decided t re-start the couch potato to 10K in 20 weeks plan this week. If you are unfamiliar with the plan you can read all about it here. This week the goal is to walk for 30 minutes, three times. Here it is Wednesday, I need to get a move on.
My long term goal is to run in a 10K. My short term goal is to get out there and walk three days this week for at least 30 minutes.
What about you? Do you have any long and/or short term fitness/better health goals you would like to share?
Lily hard at work.
Aren't we cute?
I have been tagged for this meme twice now, first by Kimberly and yesterday by Natalie from Gluten Free Mommy, who has a lovely recipe for cornmeal cranberry orange cookies up. Which sounds really good. Reducing or eliminating wheat may be something that you are interested in even without having a food allergy. Sorry it has taken me so long to put this list together Kim.
Eight random facts about me.
I finally finished reading Flirting with Forty, one of our BookWorms R Us books, the discussion of this book will be hosted by the lovely Kimberly, thanks Kim. I wanted to jot down a few of my thoughts now before I forgot them all. I was coerced into reading this book before reading the book I voted to read for September by both Kimberly and Angel, who promised me it would be a steamy romance. While there was a romance and there was some lovin' it was not in my opinion a romance novel and sadly there was no gratuitous sex.
I did not care for the main character Jackie at all, she drove me crazy and I just wanted to shake her. This did not keep me from reading the book or enjoying the story throughly. Surprisingly. It was a great story, full of suspense, a real page turner. I always enjoy a book that keeps me interested, keeps me guessing. Just one more chapter I have to know what is going to happen. That was there in Flirting with Forty.
There was more, however, than a compelling plot and a mildly steamy romance. There were some deep and provocative questions that our Jackie pondered and I pondered right along with her. The main pondering was about happiness. Are you happy? Do you smile, laugh, enjoy your life? Is that responsible, to be happy? Is it selfish? What kinds of sacrifices are you willing to make to be happy? Because let's face it, if you are a mom or a caregiver of any kind, putting yourself first has the consequence of putting someone else second. Can you do that? Are you willing to do that? Where is the balance? Where do you draw the line?
We all say that we need to take care of ourselves. But, it is hard, there is a consequence for always putting ourselves second, but there is also a consequence for putting our kids second.
I did a great deal of thought this subject throughout the book. I really enjoyed Flirting with Forty and I am looking forward to the discussion. Next up is Between, Georgia.
Are you happy?
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