Finding the Funny
Wednesday, July 2, 2008, by Sherra
Nominations are now opened.
Feel free to nominate yourself.
Because I am.
Nominating myself that is.
Here’s why.
Phone call at 11:40 a.m. yesterday…
Me:
Hello
(Okay I might have said “What?” because I don’t really like to talk to anyone before noon.)
PhilBillPaul:
Don’t freak out…
As you can see he’s been diligently working on improving his communication skills.
That kind of opening line always has a calming effect on me.
…but my mom is at the Atlanta airport and if we can find a good flight for her to get back to Austin, she’d like to come to the house and stay with us for a week. (She was flying home from visiting her sister in Florida.)
Me:
Silence
PhilBillPaul:
Obviously I am at a customer’s doing my job so I can’t get on the internet. Do you think you could get on your computer and see if you could find a good airfare for her so she could stay?
Me:
Silence
PhilBillPaul:
I mean, if that wouldn’t stress you. She has a two-hour layover and if we can find a flight she’d like to stay.
Me:
I’ll look.
PhilBillPaul:
Thank you! Call me back if you find something.
Me:
Bye.
I open my laptop, do a quick search for a one-way flight.
At 11:54 a.m. I call Granny on her cell phone and tell her what I have found. She says that sounds great and I book the flight for her. I tell her that I’ll call PhilBillPaul and one of us will come and get her and call her back in a few minutes.
The airport is 46 miles straight through downtown Atlanta which could be 46 minutes IF there is no traffic.
Which would be when pigs fly.
Just in case you’ve never driven through Atlanta.
I call PhilBillPaul and tell him his mother has a ticket for next Tuesday and he’ll need to take a 1/2 day off work to take her to the airport next week.
I ask him where he is (he travels throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area almost daily for his job) and he is not really close to the airport. But he says he should be done in about two hours if she could “hang tight” at the airport then he could go get her so I wouldn’t have to.
He knows I’m in the middle of a big work project and I really don’t have time to stop and take three hours to go down to the airport and back.
Here is more of his always-improving communication skills…
PhilBillPaul:
Will you call her and ask if she can wait at the airport for two hours?
Me:
NO.
You call her yourself and take care of getting her to the house.
PhilBillPaul:
Okay, you’re right. I should call her back. I’ll handle it from here. Thanks for getting her the ticket.
Come on now - I’m not bragging but I would like to know how many of you would welcome your mother-in-law to your home for a week long visit with two hours notice?
I should tell you one more thing that does make a big difference about how much spontaneity I can handle.
I love Granny.
The kids love Granny.
PhilBillPaul is very lucky that we all love Granny.
He is also lucky that Hormone Hell Week was last week or he wouldn’t have a calm, flexible wife who booked a flight for his mom.
Good timing Granny!
I cannot name one friend I have that would welcome their mother-in-law for a week in their home with virtually no notice.
Bring on the nominations - just leave a comment below and then we can all vote next week on the winner. (Remember to click through to the blog to leave your comment if you are reading this through an email update or RSS feed reader.)
Please don’t let me win this award uncontested.
I’m all about a good healthy competition! 
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Moments
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Friday, June 27, 2008, by Sherra
Flexible that is.
Well, let me clarify. She is very flexible as an athlete. She is, after all, the one we called our circus baby.
But she does things her way, in her time frame and has always marched to the beat of her own drum.
She is also the dominant twin. “They say” (whoever “they” are) that one twin is typically the more dominant twin. We watched this from the very beginning. She was a tiny bully. She plucked Wizzy’s binky out of her mouth. She scooted and crawled over to Wizzy and took whatever toy she had or was even thinking about having. She learned how to jump and catapult out of her crib and land in Wizzy’s crib and jump on her.
One day I heard Wizzy crying intermittently and I quietly went around the corner to see why and Roger Leroy was hitting her and with a gleam in her eye saying,
“Cye, Wizzy, cye again”
She has overcome the speech impediment but not necessarily her penchant for teasing and tormenting her twin whenever she can.
Stubborn and quirky are words that describe her.
On her first birthday, it took about seven adults watching her and saying “Sit back down” to keep her in her high chair. Even when strapped in, she was a little Houdini baby who could get out of anything.
At one year-old they each weighed 16 pounds. 16 pound tiny people are not suppose to walk.
Or try to climb out of the cart at Home Depot.
Only by God’s grace did I catch the hem of her dress before she hit the concrete floor head first.
Here she is stuck in a toy bucket…
I think she had underwear on but I can’t really remember.
Here she is sleeping with a ball balanced on her eye. PhilBillPhil found her this way and he took this picture.
Are you getting the quirky vibe yet?
Here she is with Silly Putty.
Yep, we have all done that with Silly Putty, haven’t we?
Here she is on our driveway wrapped and tied up in her bedroom comforter…because we always take our bedding outside to play with it on the driveway.
I think they referred to this as the “burrito game” and she would then free herself from all the knots her siblings had tied. This, by the way, was at her request.
She can walk on stilts, bounce down the street on a pogo stick, juggle, ride a unicycle and shoot a basketball and make the shot on the unicycle. She has yet to meet a sport she couldn’t play and excel at.
She is “mama junior” to Scary Baby and has always had a special bond with her. She makes good grades and has an internal drive to do her best. She excels at anything she puts her mind to.
When she’s not irritating her twin sister, they have a lot of fun together.
Like last summer when they went to Tampa. They went over to Luci’s Alzheimer’s facility several times.
She fell in love there.
His name is Oscar.
Another picture I had to frame. Pure joy in both their faces as he gave her a kiss when she went over to tell him goodbye.
And when she’s not being a total jock or an L.C. (Little Crud as PhilBillPaul refers to her) or rolling her eyes at me…
She actually cleans up nicely and is a beautiful young woman.
We love you, circus baby…
P.S. Celebrate with me that The Twin Birthmonth Party is now
OFFICIALLY OVER!!! 
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Moments, Rants, Raves
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008, by Sherra
It is official!
They are seventeen years old today.
Here’s that “bday plan” I told you I’d share. As if this very neat and tidy written plan gave them permission to plan TWO MORE DAYS of birthday festivities.
Huge sigh…
Here are those tiny babies I had seventeen years ago and was sure I would die while birthing two babies…
Luckily I had PhilBillPaul to remind me that while I was having two babies I needed to relax and these were his exact words, “Because they don’t come out at the same time.”
That made me feel sooooo much better.
5 pounds 13 ounces and 6 pounds and 1/2 ounce still adds up to TWELVE pounds of babies and NO ONE in my family had twins.
Lucky for us and for them, they were pretty darn cute…
And it was nice to have a next-door neighbor who had her first baby eight weeks before I had the girls. We were both rookies at this parenting gig and we helped each other in those early years. Thanks Elizabeth for helping me with my three even when you just had one. (Who would have ever guessed we would both have four now? Neither of us!)
All through my pregnancy, one of my closest friends in my life was back in Tampa, calling, checking on me and cheering me on. She was so excited that I was having twins. Because she is a twin. She thought it would be really cool if I could have them on her birthday. Since I was due in late July, I told her I probably couldn’t schedule that for her.
Until my blood pressure spiked and the midwife said, “We need to induce labor and deliver these babies today.”
“WAIT” I might have squealed in the doctor’s office that day. I didn’t have my little bag packed for the hospital that they tell you to have ready. I had no childcare for The Grunter. I was huge and uncomfortable and high risk and delivering twins in the heat of an Atlanta summer is an added bonus but I wasn’t ready that day!
She gave me no choice and said she’d meet us at the hospital. We had only lived in our neighborhood for four months but southern hospitality was alive and well when neighbors we barely knew pitched in and took care of The Grunter who was not yet two.
As we got off the exit for the hospital, I called Luci and said, “I have until midnight tonight, right?” You would have thought she was having the babies. She screamed and was so excited and added another request…which I thought was a little greedy… since I was trying to comply with the birthday request…”If they’re two girls, name them Luci and Lori, okay?”
Because up to this point, we only knew that “Baby A” was a girl so “Baby B” was going to be a surprise.
I delivered twin daughters 4 weeks early on Luci and Lori’s birthday.
Because that’s the kind of friend I always strive to be.
In Tampa near their first birthday Luci and Lori got to hold the twins that were born on their birthday but are not their namesakes! As you can see, Luci and Lori are as fraternal as my two lovelies.
Last year for their milestone 16th birthday, they got to spend the week with Luci and Lori and their families in Tampa. This was, of course, before I knew we’d be having this Birthmonth Party this year for their 17th year.
I did have one special request for Luci. I asked if she could “recreate” as best she could, the picture of her and Lori with my twins. It’s a big deal for them that Lori, the firstborn, was paired with Roger Leroy and Luci was paired with the younger (by 18 minutes) Wizzy.
Being one of my funny friends, Luci not only complied with my request…they actually woke up the girls before they were leaving early on the last day my girls were flying home. Not such a great picture of the girls but I still framed it and it always makes me smile.
Luci is the friend who brought PhilBillPaul to the hospital after the car crash. She and I were roommates before I got married. She has been there through the best of times and the worst of times and continues to be one of those lights in my life and we have loved each other through some giant life milestones.
It is a double birthday today in our extended family.
Happy birthday to Luci (and Lori) too!
Okay, I’ll wrap up this double long post (that’s what happens when you have twins) with a photo tribute to these daughters of mine who continue to tempt me to start drinking alcohol. Stupid mom #2 pointed out that the reason we have baby pictures is to remind us of how cute they were when we’re not feeling the cute during these teen years. Sage observation!
They were pretty darn cute kindergarten girls.
Basketball at church at age seven was darn funny to watch. This was Roger Leroy’s boy haircut stage and she loved it.
Daddy really loved having twin daughters. In the early days, they were “chick magnets” if he pushed them in the stroller at the mall. Looking back now, I guess I should have been more concerned about this…but I was too tired to care.
5th grade uniforms made me very happy! Roger Leroy’s hair growing back also made me happy.
A giant growth spurt in 6th and 7th grade made Wizzy very happy.
In the early years, they actually let me (okay, it was a rule) fix their hair. And they wore girly colors like pink and purple. I obviously did not win on the girly shoe or sandal selection.
Apparently I traumatized them because they will wear nothing in any shade of pink or purple now unless it has a basketball or cross country logo on it.
As you can see, they have also been traumatized by a mother who took pictures incessantly. Some day they will be grateful for this. Some day they will understand the historical value of a picture like this one taken in 1997…
And they will forgive me for insisting PhilBillPaul take them out last night to pose for this one…
Look at the joy on their faces. It is so sweet that we have that moment captured on film.
In spite of all the ups and downs of parenting them, we couldn’t imagine our life without them. We are very proud of the young women they are becoming…
And every single day we tell them we love them. Because we do.
I love you baby girls…
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Teens
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Monday, June 23, 2008, by Sherra
We have recently learned that 5 days in Nashville is not significant enough birthday celebration for twin girls turning 17.
Um, and who decided this?
NOT the parents.
Appparently, the Nashville trip falls under the Never Enough Syndrome.
Because getting to personally meet AND touch Taylor Swift was not enough.
Wednesday, which is their actual birthday, I’ll be sure to show you the sheet they tossed on my bed entitled “Bday Plan” early last week.
Because when I was growing up, we spent the whole MONTH celebrating whoever was born that month. NOT.
In a family of six, that would be half the year spent celebrating birthdays.
Don’t get me wrong, we do celebrate (quietly, in our hearts) being the parents of four healthy children. We really do.
But these twin daughters of ours are testing our patience more than usual.
I’m sure it’s because they are twins and have had to share everything.
Starting with my womb. As if this is my fault?
They’ve shared a room. They’ve shared a birthday cake every year.
Mothers of multiples, no judgment here please! Remember we all get to choose whether we dress them alike and if they are split up in school and if one cake with two names works for our family and all those other major decisions that parents of multiples are plagued with.
On the positive side, they are literally best friends and it warms my heart…when they aren’t fighting.
Today I thought I would take a few moments to post about ONE twin instead of two. Yes, I confess, it is hard to not consider them a unit even though they are not siamese. Heck, they’re not even identical. It’s just easier to refer to The Grunter, The Girls and Scary Baby.
So today, I choose Wizzy.
Because as the younger of the two, she always seemed to have to go last for everything.
Well, that and her twin was the dominant a.k.a. bully twin for many, many years.
So here is my photo tribute to Wizzy who is the biggest people-pleaser of our four kids.
She is a peace keeper and a friend to all. She is funny and kind. She is sweet and fiery. She is a leader and is always the first to help. She has a huge heart and loves everyone.
She displayed athletic talent and basketball skill very early. Check out those Converse Chuck Taylor high tops!
She was the best belated Father’s Day present PhilBillPaul has yet to receive.
She let me dress her up in girlie clothes for years. She’s still the *easy* twin to shop with for clothes!
She is unique in every way. She didn’t really resemble her other 3 siblings and is our only redheaded child. Then her cousin visited from Texas and we realized she is a Humphreys through and through. We are still amazed at how much they look alike!
She was the last lucky duck to ride (and drive) Grandad’s golf cart. They had so much fun together with special one-on-one time!
She wasn’t so lucky on Friday when she went to play golf and an errant shot from another hole hit her in the stomach while she was selecting her club. I almost cried when she came home and showed me this horrible mark on her stomach. Notice that she smiled and let me take a picture. Did I mention she finished the round and injuries don’t get in the way of competition.
Disclaimer: Not a lesson she learned from me. I would have stopped playing and drove home crying and stayed in bed for a few days.
Finding out a “redneck” golfer (I’m trying to be nice here) did not even yell “FORE” which is proper golf etiquette when you hit a bad shot and you MUST warn everyone within the sound of your voice.
Thank goodness that she is okay and it didn’t hit her in the head–we would have spent the weekend in the hospital.
Sidenote: If you don’t know or understand all the intricate rules of golf, do us all a favor and learn them before you come out on the course and ruin the game for others. There are books that you can read about the rules or if you can’t read, watch a video. Or, you can’t learn the rules, take up a less complicated sport.
Finally, my lovely, tall, lanky daughter is truly a delight to be around. She wakes up singing like a bird (not inherited from either parent) and really does try to make the world a better place.
Before she embarks on her next journey to make a new friend, help a stray animal or bring a smile to a stranger’s face she has an important job to do. She needs to go shopping for some new jeans because Sunday night she bent over and split her favorite jeans and even if mama could sew, I don’t think we can repair these…
We love you, precious daughter…
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Moments, Raves
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Friday, June 20, 2008, by Sherra
Thought Flexible Friday was a good day to share a few of my favorite sites that I check out and catch up on at least once a week. I did that yesterday which got me thinking you might enjoy them too.
First, here’s a great fashion site that always has great photos of outfits and ideas for all ages, sizes and shapes.
Great ideas which are not necessarily in my clothing budget (but I’m sure I could put a similar ensemble together from Target.) It’s also a great checkpoint for me to see just how out of style I really am each season.
Second, you already know I love Pioneer Woman and she recently re-vamped her site and proudly shows off her cooking skill and gorgeous photography showing step-by-step recipe instructions.
I’m not saying I make anything with green vegetables and she does have a lot of recipes with vegetables. Fortunately for us she hasn’t tried to sneak any vegetables in her dessert recipes (which I think is wrong on so many levels)!
I’m starting you with this breakfast item that I must try. Okay, I must have PhilBillPaul make it and I’ll try it–perhaps in bed on my breakfast tray that he will bring to me.
Don’t worry, he wouldn’t dare include the green chives!
Finally, this is subjective humor and some of you won’t like it and that’s okay. Much like TV and radio, you can just change the channel or not even click the link.
You’ll probably know from the name of the blog whether you’ll like it or not…it really shouldn’t be any surprise that I catch myself laughing out loud at some of her rants.
Visit White Trash Mom if you even cracked a tiny smile at that name.
Leave a comment and share your favorite blog or websites. Remember if you are reading this through an email subscription or an RSS reader you will have to click through to the actual blog to leave your comment.
Have a great weekend!
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Food, Random Thoughts, Raves
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008, by Sherra
I’m one of those annoying people who has always kept her photos organized and in photo albums.
I’ve spent years making photo albums for my kids. I’ve made many albums for friends and family and given them as gifts.
I don’t like to share the number of albums I’ve made because some people seem to get cranky about it.
I’m not bragging - I just love photos and I love to be organized. I also really understand the value of making sure the important people in my life know how much I love them and have some tangible evidence of my love through photos and my words.
Yes, I’m sentimental like that. I’d blame it on the coma but I actually made photo albums long before the coma.
15 years ago, my mother kindly sent me all the loose photographs from her house. Our family photos were stored in shoeboxes in a closet for as long as I could remember.
She suggested that I could make albums for everyone.
15 years ago I had three toddlers under the age of three.
Sure, I had loads of free time.
But being the keeper of the family photos has some great advantages. I have made some pretty special family albums and given some great gifts.
I made albums for my three siblings, my parents and my family.
But I have one small box of photos left that haven’t been put in an album. They are pictures of my growing up years.
I was recently sorting through that last box. I was thinking I might just make the time this summer to make an album for ME.
As I sifted through the photos, I came across these two from a trip to the Cincinnati zoo.
Though my sister Julie and I freely admit we have always been a little dysfunctional, our mom made sure we always looked our very best
as you can see from this photo!
Darn cute, weren’t we?
The second photo is where we are looking at the fascinating exhibit of prairie dogs. Here’s where my photo tip comes in…
Photo Tip
You should either discreetly ask your daughter to close her legs before you snap a picture or dress her in shorts instead of a sun dress for your trip to the zoo.
I’m just here to help.
Even at the expense of my own personal pride and white cotton panties.
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Random Thoughts
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008, by Sherra
It’s Tuesday night as I write my Wednesday post having totally missed writing on Monday. Being spontaneous can get in the way of blogging.
We spent an extra night in Nashville. You cannot believe how exhausting it is to listen to country music.
Actually, I think it was most exhausting to travel with three teenage girls.
From the teenage daughters’ perspective (because much to their dismay, I was both a teenager and a daughter) and as their mother, I am entitled to speak for them…
These are the observations I made on this trip that I realize will not be giant revelations for many of you. Think of them more as the beginning of the by-laws for our Mean Mother Club…
- Mothers are stupid.
- Mothers are embarrassing.
- Mothers should not dance.
- Mothers should not like country music.
- Mothers should not think a country music singer is
“good looking”, “cute” or “hot”.
My biggest personal revelation about teenage girls is that there are many ways that this season of their life is very similar to the one you thought you had already made it through–the toddler stage…
- They throw tantrums when they don’t get their way.
- They are loud at inappropriate times.
- They are very cranky when they don’t get enough sleep.
- They are very, very stubborn.
- Everything is a power struggle. “I do it myself.”
-
You have to keep your eye on them or they get lost.
(Roger Leroy & Sharté got on the wrong shuttle bus and went to Opryland which is nowhere near downtown Nashville.)
Fellow Stupid Mother and friend Lisa and I did have tons of fun in spite of the teenagers.
The teenagers had tons of fun in spite of their mothers.
I think they would all agree that one of the biggest highlights of the four-day festival was on Friday.
First the back story…
They had to walk seven blocks because Stupid Mother #1 (me) overheard that THE ONE singer who they HAD TO meet and get HER autograph, was shooting a video outside on the steps of the Ryman Auditorium. I actually had to demand that they come because they were *busy* at the Sports Zone about to play some game or spin some wheel to win a laminated calendar or matchbox car.
What followed was waiting for over two hours in sweltering heat standing curbside just five steps from a drum set waiting to see who was coming out.
SHE came out and was darling and was overwhelmed by the crowd that had gathered. SHE sang a new song that no one had heard before. SHE came down to the yellow police tape and shook hands and thanked everyone for coming.
The crowd dispersed.
Stupid Mother #1 quietly said to Roger Leroy, “You know SHE has to come out of the building but it won’t be out of these doors. You all need to go around and find the door with a car or limo and maybe you can get her autograph.”
Roger Leroy said, as she rolled her eyes, “I’m thirsty and we’re going back to the Sports Zone. We’ll get HER autograph tomorrow.”
(Because standing in line with 800 people who also got tickets to get HER autograph the next day would be super fun.)
Stupid Mother #1 said to Stupid Mother #2 (Lisa) “I just told her that SHE will have to come out the building and the girls should find the back door but Roger Leroy is thirsty and I guess I’m just having another stupid idea.”
I gave it one more shot and asked Roger Leroy if she had told Sharté
(#1 fan) what I had suggested.
They had a private teenager conference. Sharté asked where I thought they should go. I suggested the alley and walk around the building.
They actually started down the alley!
About 30 minutes later, they came around the corner, running uphill in 100 degree weather screaming like excited, happy toddlers.
Because they met HER and SHE asked if they wanted a picture with HER…
Taylor Swift
is a delightful and refreshing role model for teenage girls.
HER debut album where all the songs she either wrote or co-wrote is triple platinum. SHE is a recent high school graduate and is currently touring with Rascal Flatts.
And she TOUCHED our daughters!!!!!
The Stupid Mothers were very happy for their daughters!
We hope they will always remember this special trip.
We hope they know how very much we love them…
through every season.
Meanwhile, the Stupid Mothers loved, loved, loved listening and looking at Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Chuck Wicks, Luke Bryan, Craig Morgan, Rodney Atkins, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins and many, many other great musicians.
Oh, and Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Kellie Pickler, Miranda Lambert, and many other ladies were really good too.
Teenage daughters will have to get their own blog to tell their side of the story.
P.S. Would you please send me an email and let me know if you received this post or my Friday post through your email subscription OR if you read my blog through an RSS feed? I think the service is not working again. I love to try to fix things that are out of my control…
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Friends, Moments, Teens
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008, by Sherra
Before I divulge the location of the birthday trip for the darling twin daughters, can I just say that I’m less than inspired that only TWO of you commented on Flexible Friday (thanks Kerri & Wendy) about whether you have a ME day or ME hour and what you do with your ME time?!
Ladies, seriously. No one schedules time for themselves and will share how they do it?
Or are you all so busy with your ME time that you’re unable to click the “Comment” link at the bottom of the post and comment? Come on, we’re suppose to be inspiring each other here!
Okay, I’ll stop ranting about that and move right into a rave!
I’m taking the girls to Nashville for the CMA Country Music Festival.
Stop laughing.
For many, country music has become more mainstream with artists like Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Sugarland, etc., who have all had crossover hits in recent years.
True Confessions
For me, I’ve loved country since I was in grade school. I have Charley Pride albums. I saw Kenny Rogers in high school at the State Fair.
I have the Statler Brothers autographed 8 x 10 picture.
Ahem, your laughing is getting louder. I can hear it in Georgia.
It’s not the only music I love. I really love all kinds of music. I can’t imagine life without music. As I noted in the “About Sherra” page, I had an iPod before iPods were cool.
I was a teen in the late 70’s and early 80’s and also went to Summer Jam concerts and heard REO Speedwagon, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Head East, The Baby’s and even went on .38 Special’s tour bus.
See how well-rounded I am?
But Barbara Mandrell, Lee Greenwood, T.G. Shepherd were all concerts I loved too.
I can still hear the Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Roy Clark and Johnny Cash albums that my parents played.
Yes, we did watch Hee Haw at my house in the Midwest.
Should I not admit that? Sorry family.
It is a requirement to like country music if you live with me. PhilBillPaul tolerates it. The Grunter not so much.
“Poor Phil” (as my family likes to refer to him) has sat through Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney and some others I’m sure I’m forgetting.
All three of my girls love it. Maybe it is more of a chick thing?
I had always heard about this big Nashville event called Fan Fair and wanted to go. Some years ago, they changed the name to the CMA Music Festival and moved it to downtown Nashville.
My friend Ann shared with me that when Dan returned from Iraq that she wanted to do more things for herself (oh, that sounds like a ME day or even better, a ME trip and she might need a friend to go with her!).
One of those things on her list was to go to more music concerts because she loves music so much. She had just recently gotten more into country music and wanted to go to a live concert or two.
Don’t give me an idea if you don’t really mean it. I told her I knew of a concert that might be beyond her idea of a *little* live concert. It’s actually a four day event and anyone she could think of would be there.
We’ve been for the past two years and were going to go again this year. Alas, that darn husband surprised her with a trip to England.
(Nice job Dan )
I got over it and then mentioned to my girls that maybe we could go if they wanted to chip in and it would be their birthday present.
We’re leaving today and if you even remotely like country music - it is an event like nothing I’ve ever witnessed. You can check out the details and all the artists who will be performing at cmafest.com.
It’s an amazing event and this is fair warning that you will have to endure pictures that I will post next week when we return!
On Flexible Friday, I’m already thinking I’ll post some of my favorite country songs.
Yee Haw!
Admit it, you want to know what’s on my iPod.
If you stop laughing, I might just tell you…
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Friends, Moments, Raves, Teens
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Monday, June 2, 2008, by Sherra
No need to panic, I’m not actually creating theme days for my postings.
Although panic does rhyme with manic and I’ve been know to pen a poem or two, I’m not in the mood for poetry these days. Lucky for you.
I wondered if “manic” was the correct word for my Monday so I checked to be sure and the synonyms at dictionary.com included frenzied, agitated, and frantic so yes, my word choice does, unfortunately, fit.
I’ve had a very, very Weary Weekend. Teenagers who can’t seem to follow simple directions and/or rules especially when I know these facts…
•They are smart enough
•They are good enough
•They are not hearing-impaired
I know their brains are not fully formed. I know this is a test of my stamina and fortitude. I know that many of you have lived through it and come out on the other side…and you are my inspiration and my heroes.
I also know for those of you not at this season, there is no reason for me to tell you sordid stories that would curl your hair and create stress at what may lie ahead.
Instead, I just take this moment to vent. And thank you for listening and offering support through comments and private emails. Some day, when the teens have left the nest, I’m sure I’ll share the details. Maybe even with pictures.
Yes, however shallow or petty that may seem, it keeps me going because I do need other women to tell me I’m not crazy, unreasonable and there is a life to look forward to after teens.
One other reason for my Manic Monday is that I am in the midst of planning an semi-impromptu birthday trip for my darling twin daughters who will turn 17 in a few weeks.
I’ll reveal where we’re going on Wednesday so half of you can laugh that I’m a nerd and the other half will wish you were meeting us there.
Until Wednesday…thank you for listening.
Popularity: 27%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Rants, Teens
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Friday, May 30, 2008, by Sherra
Running a home business for more than 20 years has given me a lot of freedom and fun.
The best part for me has always been the flexibility.
I have always loved to set my own schedule. I am a night owl by nature and the structure of a nine to five job was something I never enjoyed. I know myself well enough to know that my internal clock makes me most productive when most other people are usually going to bed. It’s also why I’m glad I have a few friends on the West Coast!
Being your own boss and/or working from home is a dream that many people have. But I have often shared that the dream can become
the nightmare if you don’t give yourself some structure and boundaries.
Since The Grunter was born 18+ years ago, I have always been a full-time mom first and a home-based business owner second.
The structure I set for myself many years ago was setting up daily theme days. Anyone who knows me knows I have to keep things simple. Complicated means confusing and coma patients really don’t like to be more confused than necessary!
Back in the day with three toddlers, naptime, preschool, 5:00 meltdown, etc., my theme days went something like this…
Monday
“Me” Day…this was the day I got a babysitter or later kept them in an aftercare program at school so I could play golf. Often, I went and played 18 holes all by myself. Some Mondays I had lunch with friends. If it was a rainy day, I curled up at home with a good book or a few magazines. I did NOT clean the house or do any kind of work!
Tuesday & Thursday
“Telephone” Day…a good part of my business was and still is spent on the phone. I learned that I didn’t have to answer the phone when it rang. I could return calls on Tuesday and Thursday. I could make business-building calls on those days.
Wednesday
“Wacko” Day…this was the day I made lists and ran around running errands and doing all those little things that piled up throughout the week. It always felt like a crazy day but crazy didn’t start with “W” and Errand Wednesday didn’t fit my theme week. This is where this form really came in handy because I wrote on it throughout the week and then took it with me on Wednesdays.
Friday
“Finances & Family” Day…Since Friday was usually pay day for PhilBillPaul and I always had bookkeeping tasks related to my business, I handled that kind of stuff on Friday. Friday night was reserved for pizza or tacos or whatever “fun” food the kids wanted to have. Then we’d play a game or rent a movie.
So now with these three teenagers and the nine year-old, most every day feels like Wacko Wednesday and my theme days seem to have disappeared.
It got me thinking as I’ve been working on this website and a few other web business ideas with a good friend, I should re-institute my theme days.
I also remember how many moms of multiples and other home-based business moms have told me how my “theme” days have helped them. It really is hard work to be at home without a boss or some structure. It’s easy for the days to all blend together and feel unproductive.
So as we start this summer and I know the benefits of setting boundaries for myself, I bring you “Flexible Friday.”
It’s a running joke with a few friends who will understand when I say this loudly…
“I AM THE MOST FLEXIBLE ONE IN THIS GROUP.”
Which is a big lie. Well, I guess it depends on the group I am in.
“Flexible Friday” for me means that I’m going to quit stressing about what to write about on Fridays. For some reason, I feel the most self-imposed pressure.
“Flexible Friday” will hereby be a day where I am free to blog about four or five fascinating or fabulous or free or fun or favorite facts (or fiction) I FEEL like writing about.
Are you feeling my theme? And because I’m sooooo flexible, I’m starting Flexible Friday…next Friday. Hush already, I don’t need the pressure.
I also hereby institute MONDAY ME DAY for every MOM who doesn’t schedule a day for herself. Come on, you can do it!
(Okay, start with a ME hour if the day concept is freaking your inner martyr.)
I really want to hear from every woman who has a ME day and I also want to hear from all of you who are now adding a ME day to your life! Click on the comment button and make a commitment to YOURSELF–you are worth it. Share it with us here!
Your ME day doesn’t have to be on Monday…see, I’m flexible like that.
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Categories: Finding the Funny, Moments, Random Thoughts
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