Wednesday, July 9, 2008, by Sherra
I know I said that we could all vote but since I made up the award, I also made up the rules and therefore am allowed to change them.
First, I’d like to just say that I know it is a hard job to be a wife and *good enough* daughter-in-law when you find yourself in a no-win situation. I know that for many of you, living in your no-win circumstances creates more stress to the already hard job of, not just being married, but of staying married. So to Ann, Peggy, Tammy, Lisa and all the other “not good enough” wives out there, I bow to your struggle and hope you can hear my applause as I clap for you sitting at my laptop!
I don’t miss the irony of the fact that these bad mother-in-law situations are based on the very relationship that every one of us should be supporting. Women banding together to support one another through life. What the heck is wrong with the mother-in-law who doesn’t get that?
Um, probably a subject for another day.
Meanwhile, I must give you the update before I announce the winner.
Granny is gone and I miss her already.
She keeps the house running smoothly, does more laundry than is humanly possible and makes me feel a little less crazy…
A little less crazy…because she sees what pig-children we’re raising and she knows I’ve tried for all these years to show them the right way.
A little less crazy…because she hears their smart mouths and knows that this has never been acceptable and I haven’t given up.
A little less crazy…because she sees her firstborn PhilBillPaul’s quirks (a.k.a. annoying habits) and knows I’m not a total nag. They bug her too!
Most importantly, Granny has kept coming back for over 20 years and has never made me feel judged or made me feel like I wasn’t “good enough” for her son or a “good enough” mother to her grandchildren.
I just wanted to be sure you all know that I don’t take that for granted.
So when she calls from the Atlanta airport on a layover and wants to come stay for a week, you can understand why I welcome her with open arms!
As for the WINNER of Wife of the Year…
It really isn’t me because Granny makes it too easy.
Melinda and Diane are contenders because their MILs actually live with them but I think once you establish your boundaries and get into a routine, that would be a good thing…even Melinda admitted her MIL isn’t that much trouble and they both say they get childcare help which is a bonus no matter what!
JOANNE IS THE WINNER!!!!
Because 5 & 1/2 weeks is too long for a house guest, I don’t care who it is!! Then she did it again two years later for 6 weeks. WOO-HOO!!
Or we could ask her why she invited her back???
But sometimes the reasons show themselves later.
I’m pretty sure they have shown themselves since she shared this…
She now lives 8 miles from us since my FIL passed on Thanksgiving.
I must say that the kids love her and my husband does in small doses, like dinner or the movies. I’m the one who listens to her concerns, gives her practical advice, and makes her laugh when she’s down.
The line that got me though was this one that is a perfect little lesson we could all learn from…
It turns out that not expecting much from her for myself has been really good for our relationship and we have now started to become friends!
Congratulations Joanne and what a gift you have given your husband, your family and your MIL by making her a part of your life.
Just in case they haven’t noticed, I did!
Thanks to all of you for being candid and sharing - it’s exactly the kind of thing that I hope will continue to happen here often!
As opposed to you all laughing at my issues and dysfunction while keeping yours hidden. (tiny lol)
Truly, you’re all winners in my book!
Popularity: 29%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Friends, Little Lessons, Rants, Raves
Monday, July 7, 2008, by Sherra
Hard to believe that April was the last Wiener Dog Monday.
I was sure it would be at least a monthly event.
But life has a way of keeping us busy and distracted and we sometimes easily forget about the wiener (dogs) in our lives.
Luckily, my buddy Ann has a unique way to remind me about wieners (dogs) just when I almost forgot what started the whole wiener topic in the first place.
But before I share the story she sent me via email this weekend, I wanted to share this fabulous little gift that arrived in the mail probably way back in April after all the wiener talk.
My friend Leigh Anne sent a cute little cookie cutter so I could make wiener (dog) cookies.
It was a sweet gift but Leigh Anne obviously forgot that I do not roll cookies, pie crust or knead dough. Those are my self-imposed baking rules.
But in honor of Wiener Dog Monday, I did buy a roll of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, rolled it out between two sheets of wax paper and created these wiener dog cookies…
Yes, I am aware that they have abnormally large heads and one has an odd-shaped front foot. So now you all know why I don’t roll out cookies. Quit laughing Leigh Anne - I know yours would have turned out much better than mine!
Now, on to the email from Ann which could also go under the category of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” (if I had that category). Or it could go under the category of “That’s Just Wrong on So Many Levels” but I’ll let you make up your own mind after you read the real life news story.
And not that there is any relation but I lived in a small town named Roscoe where my mom and one sister still reside.
POLITE WARNING: Do not read while eating.
Directly from Ann’s email:
OMG!!! Consider this article for Wiener Monday!!! Dan and I were enjoying this lovely Independence Day morning by reading the paper out back and he read aloud to me this article:
Lapdog gnaws off owner’s toe: A disabled Alton woman decided to have her one-year-old miniature dachshund, “Roscoe,” euthanized after it is believed to have gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep. Linda Floyd, 56, who has no feeling in her toes because of nerve damage from severe diabetes, discovered the toe was missing after awaking from a nap. A veterinarian said the toe had been bandaged because of a healing hangnail and that may have somehow attracted the dog.
(The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus, Friday, July 4, 2008-Illinois News)
Ann’s opinion after the story:
…I think she could have done something better than have the poor dog killed, though!
Of course, I had to read this aloud to PhilBillPaul and Granny and we agreed that we thought killing the dog was a little harsh. Then again, PhilBillPaul had a pretty good point when he said, “How exactly would you word that ad in the paper?”
Owner took a nap, dog ate toe. Carnivorous wiener dog free to good home.
There’s no good ending to this Wiener Dog Monday. Just a sad story that really had two unhappy endings. My personal opinion is dogs shouldn’t sleep in people beds and up until now that was just because I have pet hair issues. Now I have a whole other reason I had never even considered.
On a totally unrelated note…there is still time to nominate yourself for the Wife of the Year Award and I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday. Just click on the link and leave a comment nominating yourself and tell us why!
Granny leaves tomorrow and we will seriously miss her - even though she did try to ride in my front “I am running for Wife of the Year” seat in the car Sunday - which I thought was a little pushy. 
Popularity: 25%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Friends
Friday, July 4, 2008, by Sherra
Today is 4th of July and you all know what that means…
Did you get your Old Navy t-shirt?
When exactly did this become a tradition?
I don’t ever remember my parents buying me a flag shirt on 4th of July.
I think the tradition began when Old Navy opened and we were all sucked in by some great retail marketing and the price of a $5 t-shirt.
I thought it would be nice to once again do my civic duty and remind you all what this holiday is all about.
Beyond the sparklers, fireworks, picnics, and the red, white and blue (and sometimes grey) Old Navy t-shirts, today is a day of celebration of our great nation’s independence! It is a day to remember how lucky we are to live in America.
It is also a great day to remember those service men and women who are the real heroes every day. They serve our country so we can all be free.
My heartfelt thank you to each and every one of them and when we light sparklers tonight in our backyard, they will be in my thoughts and prayers.
I would be remiss if I didn’t confess right here and now that we bought into the Old Navy marketing scheme. In fact, I did a little historical research and we bought into it starting in 1995 which was the 2nd year they were opened. I think it was the year they introduced those darn t-shirts. (But maybe I missed them the first year?)
Here is the photographic evidence and it is the only holiday where we have ever dressed alike as a family. No comments on the parents, but those kids were pretty cute in their flag shirts…but I know I’m biased.
I didn’t want to bore you with every year we did it but it was fun and the kids really did and still do like it. It was bonus fun when we added Scary Baby and had to buy SIX shirts.
And again in 2003. This is the year Wizzy was taller than everyone. Probably a year that The Grunter would rather I didn’t post here.
In 2006 I got really fancy and tried to take a picture in the dark with the sparklers. As you can see, my night photography skills need some work.
This might be the first year I didn’t buy the shirts. Oops, I forgot. I’ll let you know if everyone gets through the day or wears last year’s shirt. I’m pretty sure they’ll all be okay.
The kids have planned a bonfire and cookout with boyfriends and girlfriends in our backyard. Granny is here and did not adhere to my $20 fireworks budget which was clearly enough for a box of sparklers for everyone.
She tells me that she is allowed to spoil them while she’s here. I hope that means she’s going to supervise them with the gigantic pack of expensive, loud, explosive items they hoodwinked her into buying for them yesterday!
Take some pictures, enjoy time with family and friends and have a very Happy 4th of July!
Popularity: 17%
Categories: Moments, Raves
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!
Popularity: 28%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Moments
Monday, June 30, 2008, by Sherra
This is not how you are suppose to spend your Sunday afternoon.
One hour and 45 minutes on phone with wireless phone company disputing erroneous charges on your phone bill. The company shall remain nameless as I refuse to give them any publicity - either good or bad - until our contracts are up.
There will be a separate lengthy post at that time since I’m not willing to pay $1000.00 to get out of our five-phone contract. Oh yes, I have it all documented.
I can promise that I have enough material for a bad sitcom.
46 minutes on phone with phone company who provides your internet service because their outage caused your wireless network to stop working and only one computer can send things to the printer now.
Said technical support did attempt to blame computers and printer but I was prepared since computers and printer do work - please let me say this again, s-l-o-w-l-y…
“They all stopped working together when your company had a service outage.”
Seventeen years as a customer and he wanted to send me to the “Fee-based support desk” because my problem was beyond their free basic support. PhilBillPaul asked if paying our monthly bill constituted fee-based support.
If there was any fun to be had it was in relaying back to PhilBillPaul the ignorant canned response of Mr. Tech Support about my problem being out of his scope of service and that I had spent 46 minutes on the phone with him so he could tell me what I already knew when I called. Our printer doesn’t work within the wireless network and yes, it did in fact work with all computers up until their outage.
Thank you for reminding me of the problem I called about 45 minutes ago.
Apparently hearing what he said repeated back to him in my voice must have struck a chord on how idiotic it all was. He offered to overnight a new router to help us “isolate” the problem before we talk to the “fee-based support desk.”
Um, yeah, okay - great idea.
Could we have done that in the first 5 minutes?
32 minutes on the phone with cell phone manufacturer explaining that your teen son’s phone screen is broken and his father was with him when it happened so yes, we are sure it wasn’t from misuse or liquid or being carelessly dropped.
Side note: We happen to be experts on the liquid damage as two phones have gone through the washing machine and one has been dropped in the toilet. All done by teens at our house.
Lucky for us, the phone is under their warranty and of course, you must deal directly with the manufacturer, NEVER the place you actually purchased the phone. That would actually make sense and resemble customer service.
Well, I take that back. PhilBillPaul reminded me that we can pay the unnamed wireless phone company $35.00 to look at a broken phone under warranty.
The good news? I don’t have to make these calls on Monday morning when the hold time lasts into Tuesday. Sometimes I have called and listened to a company greeting that actually recommends that you call back on another day - seems like a staffing issue to me.
The bad news? It felt about the same as spending the day with defensive teenagers who seem to say every single day, “It’s not my fault” and “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maybe I’m still cranky from Sunday.
I swear I start out nice on these calls because I do feel sorry for these people who have these jobs and have to work on Sunday and have people like me call them.
But by the end of the call it is hard to be nice as I am exasperated and exhausted.
I think it is only fair to tell you as I rant about this that many, many years ago I was actually a customer service manager at a cellular company. In fact, it is where I met PhilBillPaul and he was the service center manager at the same company. We do know a thing or two about providing excellent service.
Customer service suggestion:
If companies want to really improve their customer service, how ’bout if they start paying the customer for every minute they have to waste talking to customer no-service whenever they screw up your bill or your service?
One more question:
Is it really that hard to provide excellent customer service?
Maybe I’m just hormonal. So really, how was your weekend?
Popularity: 21%
Categories: Rants
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!!! 
Popularity: 39%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Moments, Rants, Raves
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…
Popularity: 32%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Teens
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…
Popularity: 31%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Moments, Raves
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!
Popularity: 30%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Food, Random Thoughts, Raves
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.
Popularity: 25%
Categories: Finding the Funny, Random Thoughts
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