A year ago

A year ago this weekend was a big time in our family. Andrew, Taylor, Robert, Jennifer, Chris, John, Marisa, Kaitlin, Carl and I were all here. Andrew and Chris were just starting their football trip of a life time. They arrived here after going to the Thursday night game in Starkville. One down and 16 more to go. One Saturday they left here to go to Fayetteville to see the razorbacks play usc. Andrew even wore a hog hat. They had planned to go to Uncle Luther's ( or some such) for breakfast but ended up sleeping in for just a bit. Robert enjoyed the football games we had on the satellite and keep me up to date on all that was happening all day. Kaitlin, Marisa, Taylor and Jennifer had a great time shopping, dyeing hair, and just being together.

On Sunday, Andrew proposed to Taylor. He did it after church. We were all here waiting... when they got back... we held our collective breath as they walked in the house... they didn't say a word. Robert broke the silence by saying " Did she say Yes?" She began flashing her ring and we all laughed.

On Sunday night the Michael ,Monica and Lilli came over for supper and to play Telephone-pictionary with our group. We had a laughing good time. Robert and Jennifer had to leave to get back home that evening.

Monday ,we had an engagement party. We had some close friends over for lunch and to congratulate Andrew and Taylor. The party was bitter sweet. Near the end, John left to go back to UCA, Andrew and Chris took Taylor and Carl to the airport on their way out to town. Carl was headed to his class for 8 weeks.

Today Andrew and Carl are loading a truck in Houston and plan to hit the road headed for Valdosta. Andrew hopes to be in Valdosta by 7:45 est on Saturday.

My Mama

My friend, Alyssa, has been helping me clean. The Physical Therapist told me that lunges, squats, stooping and bending over were not my friends. He said that I am to never to do a lunge or squat and to keep my stooping and bending to a minimum. So Alyssa helps me clean now. I might add that my house is cleaner than it has been in a long time. Yesterday we were working in the closet that we put things when we don't know where to put things. I found a letter that my mama had written me in 1986. I must include a paragraph.

After the Jo. Do.s left I went to the basement with my laundry and found a frog almost in the laundry alcove! I stared at the beast for quite a while in am effort to assimilate the information that some of my space was filled with an alien. At first I was nonplussed. How to get him out? It didn't seem reasonable to call John for a FROG. I was not a small frog but more a medium sized - an adult.

I came upstairs and got my strainer which put over him until I found a piece of cardboard to slide under the strainer between the frog and the floor. He really complained on his journey to the outdoors but when he realized he was back in his natural environment he happily hopped away. Whew.

Bookmarkers

KimT and I are going to help with the book club at church. We have picked out the following books to be read: A White Bird Flying by Aldrich, Martha Washington by Brady, Christy by Marshall, Manhunt by Swanson, Bridge to Terebithia by Patterson, Blink by Gladwell, and A Walk Across America by Jenkins. This is the order we plan to read them.

Kim wanted books that she could own and mark in if she wanted to. I just checked and all can be ordered from Amazon.com

I plan to offer the service of ordering them for some of the ladies if need be.

Our first meeting is to be the last of September. I am fired up!

It's all in the detail

Our friend, Zach, borrowed a van while we were at the wedding. As a thank you, he detailed it. He forevermore detailed it. It has not looked this good since it came off the show-room floor. I now wipe my shoes before I get into my van.

I thought I might like Zach to detail another van of ours. I took the van to him and picked it up a day later. I was not disappointed. Beautiful job. I usually don't drive this van as much but we have had some car trouble so now I'm in this van quite a bit. It was driving different. I thought something was wrong in the handling. I felt like I was at a ride at Walt Disney World. I was all over the place. Then I realized it was the seat I was sitting in. I was sliding all around. Then It dawned on me. This van has leather seats. Zach had cleaned then and cleaned then well. The dirt had held me in my seat. I was glad to know it was not something wrong with the van and I now get into the van being prepared for Mr Toad's Wild Ride and I do fine.

I wonder if they wax the seats of the rides at Walt Disney World. If they don't, they should. I may write them a letter.

Boxed Sets

I have never understood why people would buy a boxed set of a television show. Just watch the reruns was my philosophy. Well, that has changed. For our trip down to the wedding, Kaitlin bought the 1st season of The Closer. We had seen it hit or miss on Mondays and had really enjoyed it. She watched it with Katie and Marisa in the back. By the time we got home they had almost finished the season. Katie wanted to come over and watch the rest once we were home. We now own season 1 and season 2 of The Closer. Before I had missed the subtle story that threads its way through each episode. I have now watched all of season 1 and 2 and my favorites twice. After we have watched a few Kaitlin and I end up talking like Brenda Lee - Thank You, Thank You very much.

I just found out that on Labor Day there is to be a 3rd season marathon of The Closer. I know what Kaitlin and I will be doing.

I have decided that if I get into any trouble with the law, I want Brenda Lee Johnson to investigate and Ben Matlock to represent me.

Foreign Language

One of the requirements for Kaitlin's degree is 2 semesters of a foreign language. She has chosen American Sign Language or ASL. Her first class was yesterday at 8am. It is 'no voice'. From the moment the class walked in the teacher was communicating with them in sign. The teacher had her name written on the board and asked every student what their name was. Soon every student had written their names on the board. Then the teacher went around the classroom to see if she could learn every name- this with no voice. By the end of class she had learned them all. Kaitlin loved it. She has this class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of John's birth. He was born at 7:15am. He weighed 8'10" and was 20" long. Gappy and Uncle Charles were with us. Uncle Charles thought that Charles Austin sounded like a good name to him. Kaitlin found another baby in the nursery she wanted to take home instead. Granddaddy, Grandmother, Ted and his wife all came from Alabama to see John. They took Andrew and Kaitlin to the Audubon Zoo. We have video of Uncle Charles and Andrew on a camel.

If John had been a girl, her name would have been Susannah Clare. Kaitlin told folks it was to be Hosannah Clare. When I went to the hospital if it was a boy we were to name him John Austin but call him Austin, when I came home Carl, Andrew and Kaitlin kept talking about baby John and I said " WHO". Carl said that they had voted and like John better. We compromised on a double name John Austin. He was called that until he was four when he said that he didn't care for that. So he was John. At seven He asked for a nickname because there were too many guys at the ball field name John. I offered him Jack, Jam, Jammer, etc. He picked AJ. When asked what that stands for he will tell you "Adorable John". So he was AJ for several years. Now he is John.

For the record we have met some interesting folks named Austin. Some have been nice but I'm thankful a vote was taken and we didn't call him Austin.

What a fun 20 years. I'm hoping for about 100 more.

3rd Anniversary

This week is the 3rd Anniversary of my retirement from teaching. It has been an adjustment. I don't have to remind myself as often not to go down the home school aisle in the local book stores or even realize that I have books in my arms for things I want John to learn this year or a skill Kaitlin has said that she wants to master or a war book we don't have because Andrew may need it as a reference.

My friend, Hazel, refers to your life as your 'yard'. When my children were small, I took care of most of their 'yard'. There are certain things in my children's 'yards' that I have been taking care of for quite awhile. Now I can stand in my yard and offer very helpful (in my opinion) suggestions for them to do but more and more they are responsible for the upkeep of their 'yards'. I am realizing that I need to be happy with the upkeep of my 'yard' by planting new plants and cleaning up debris and whatever else I find to do.

I am finding that when I am busy in my 'yard' and not worrying about what all is going on in their 'yards' that I get invited into their 'yards' more often and my opinion is even sought.

My Lip Gloss Be Poppin

When my children were younger and all at home, they each had two days a week when they could sit in the front seat of the car as we ran errands. When you sat in the front seat you could also control the radio or the cd that was selected. All three of my children like a WIDE variety of music. I have been exposed to lots of stuff. So now I must confess that I like rap music. I also have realized that I have just heard the "G" version. My children won't let me hear all the words to most songs. My friend, Sam, told me about My Lip Gloss and said that I could listen to all the words.

I have two rap songs as ring tones on my phone. Andrew's is This is Why I'm Hot and Kaitlin's is My Lip Gloss be Poppin. I think this is surprising to most folks in public. I say this because Kaitlin and I were in the grocery store and we got separated. She called me as I was on the soda aisle. It was being restocked by two very large young African-Americans men. They were on one side of all the Pepsi's and I was on the other. Kaitlin called. One poked his head around to see what hot chick had this as her ring tone- He was stunned. Then he died laughing and called to his friend saying " Did you see That" I just kept on going with my lip gloss poppin.

First Things First

I am reading a book called Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Lane and Tripp. Here is a quote from it.
Every painful thing we experience in relationships is meant to remind us of our need for Him. To quote C.S. Lewis When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.

It is taking me awhile to read this book because I have to stop and think and ponder lots of it.

Andrew and Taylor

Andrew and Taylor are back in the USA. They called me last night. They had a great time in Costa Rica. They have pictures on Facebook. They said that the beach there is rocky not sandy. They learned to surf . No road is bigger than 2 lanes and they are strun ( I can't find a spelling for my word) with potholes. Once when they were traveling back to the resort from town a baby goat wouldn't get out of the road. They ended up taking it to the next farm up the road after repeated attempts to move it out to the road. They road horses 3/4 the way of a volcano and road a zip line down. The zip line had three parts. During the middle part they were traveling 40 mph. WOW. They took a boat trip down a river in a National Park. They saw crocs, monkeys, etc.

I went to Sam's this morning to get copies of the wedding pictures I have, to start a scrapbook. I plan to make the book such that I can add other's pictures as we get them. I have cleaned up the spot in the wreak room so that I can have my stuff out all the time.

100 degrees outside

I grew up in a home with no AC but I don't remember it being unbearably hot. I can hear my mama saying "Let's put this puzzle together and she would fix us all a cool drink" Sitting down together we would have a laughing good time and not feel the heat. The wonderful thing about no AC was The Attic Fan. I can still remember the anticipation of it finally getting cool enough in the afternoon/evening so we could turn it on. To turn it on meant going to the windows all over the house and shutting the ones not needed and leaving open only a few strategic ones. I can still hear the hum of the big fan and feel the cool breeze as it came in the windows.

I am sure I can write that with such fond memories because of the wonderful AC that is cooling my house even as I write.

Did you have AC growing up?

a million details

I have decide that when you have a wedding, there are a million details to attend to. Brains only hold so much. One needs to pick about 10 most important ones, write them down and tell them to several folks. If some get done, rejoice, and forget about the other stuff because it can't all happen.

Overwhelmed

That is how I feel after being so blest by all who came to Andrew and Taylor's wedding. Many driving 1000 miles round trip just to be with us. Those who couldn't come prayed for us. I could really tell. One of my friends even gave me the shoes off her feet to wear to the wedding and I did. Virginia , they were great! Sandy, Kim and Clare drove over a day early and set up the rehearsal dinner among many other things. My brother, John and his wife Elaine, came over on Thursday also to lend a supporting hand. Carl's sister , Marian, planned a beautiful bridesmaids luncheon with the help of Jennifer, Renee, Elaine, Tina, Frances and Meredith. It was fantastic. Our whole extended family was with us minus two cousins. I believe we had 30 in our family picture. Wow.

texting

I love to send out texts to let folks know where we are and how things are going. Thank you to all that answer. My favorite message today was from my brother, Charles, as we passed through Memphis- he told me to watch out for Elvis Impersonators that may be Hitchhiking. Charles, we saw none.

limericks

When Kaitlin was a little girl she would asked us " What is your poem of the day?" and we would all recite a poem that we made up on the spot. Recently she has changed to Limericks. So today we are driving in the car to the wedding. Kaitlin asked her question about Limericks. Here are two that I thought were great. From Katie

Kaitlin is totally stoked
the last thing she needs is a coke
If anything happens to the wedding gown
we will all know on whom to frown
If we have to buy another, we'll be broke

From Carl

Weddings are fun
glad we don't need a gun
we are on our way to Auburn
hope it won't be borun
we are driving into the sun.

What is your limerick for the day?