Twenty Years?

A few nights ago, I was over visiting my parents and made the comment that a few high school friends and I were in the midst of planning our twenty year reunion for August. My mother looked at me as in disbelief and said "Twenty Years?". Until that moment, it had not really dawned on me what an awful long time that is, and just how fast the years have passed by. My oldest child will be starting his own last year of high school this year, but why is it that I don't really feel that old?

I guess because I seem to stay so busy with the kids...and the house....and church...and ballgames...and girl scouts...and this...and that...it doesn't really seem like I have enough time to actually feel anything. (Although I do know my body requires more sleep than it used to, even though I've always enjoyed my naps.)

As I think about this upcoming reunion, a part of me gets nervous. What will they think of me? Am I too fat? Will my outfit be just right? What have I done to show for myself in the past 20 years? I didn't turn out to be anything special...no fancy career, don't own my own law firm, no computer analyst or web designer, nothing of that nature. As a matter of fact, I'm still pretty much the same. I still live in the same town, substitute at the same high school I attended, still do the same things (with a little more discretion), still attend the same church, I sound the same, and yes, aside from about 25 extra pounds and less hair, I still look the same.

Ya know what? I'm happy with the same.

Here is your 1st introduction to my "big hair days". This turned out to be sooner than I expected, but since it's been twenty years...aw, what the heck....don't laugh too hard please, especially at the dorky glasses. (Yes, I know it is humongous, but it was the 80's!!)

Big Hair Photo: Taken of me fresh out of high school. My Freshman year in college.
age 18


Normal Hair Photo: Current Hairstyle. Recent photo includes crows feet and chubby cheeks. age 37

So what about you? Are you in your happy place?

Blessings

Today has been full of blessings and I'll tell you why.
1. Satan didn't win his normal Sunday battle with me. (Standing firm on my challenge)
2. God was the one working overtime today! Our Sunday message was awesome!
3. I was able to spend the entire day with my precious nephews whom I would like to introduce to you. Meet Curly, Larry and Mo. (even though Curly's hair isn't curly)

Sweet little faces, aren't they? Yes, they are and I have missed them terribly. My brother and his wife are currently going through a divorce. While I will protect their privacy by not airing all of their "dirty laundry", I will say everyone in the family needs your prayers. The thing that hurts the most is finding these precious little peas right in the middle of it all. We haven't gotten to see them much since this all began, but we had so much fun today! The kids played and played, and I joined them for an eternal game of Sorry. (which I lost btw). I couldn't get enough hugs and kisses from them, and they were eager to share them. Little Blessings.

Was your day filled with blessings? I hope so!

It's a Date

A Date? What is that? I hadn't had one in so long I had forgotten. Websters gives this definition: Date - A social engagement between two persons that often has a romantic character. Romantic? I've kind of forgotten what that is too.

If you have been reading, you know that Little Ann was off visiting her meemaw for the weekend....and you are crazy if you think for one minute Big Dan is going to be home on a Friday night. He is 17, ya know. And my dear hubby had just driven up from work. Little Ann doesn't usually get too far away from home, so these opportunities are few and far between...we had no plans...it just "worked out".

A few days ago we woke up to our mailbox in this lovely position.

I don't know if it fell on it's own, or if someone knocked it over, but it was embedded in concrete so I figured it would've been pretty strong. It had been standing for 9 years, so maybe it was on it's last leg. (That's supposed to be funny)

Hot Date: Part I - Household Project: I guess you could say our "date" began by our team effort we put towards assembling our new mailbox. I have to be around to calm my dear hubby. He doesn't have much patience especially when they only include 1/2 of the directions. Everything's going to be oooo kkkk. All in all, we finished the project in no time at all and wah-la!

Hot Date: Part II - Dinner. Can you really have a "date" without food? Not when your married...right? I mean, ya gotta eat and I jump at every chance to get out of cooking. We actually had "adult" conversation for a whole 2 hours (give or take) face to face. No breaking up squabbles, no whining over what we'll order (because we're too good to eat off the kids menu), no arguing over who will sit on which side of the table, no attitudes because we opted out of dessert to save money. No people, none of that and we were definitely doing it up right tonight! Dear Hubby and I (I think I want to actually give him a bloggy name tonight instead of referring to him as my hubby) Hmmmm.. let's see. I will call him "Pistol Pete". How about Pete for short? I'll explain the name later. Everyone....meet Pistol Pete sitting across from me at our fancy, shmansy, restaurant.
So, anyway, we ate fried mushrooms and split a delicious rack of ribs. Yum.

Hot Date: Part III -Dessert. I know this is so terribly mean of us. We NEVER order dessert when we have the kids, mainly because our bill is so high when we finish dinner, we would have to wash dishes to afford dessert for everyone too. And we even had two spoons! (that's about the extent of the "romantic" part of the date. (and btw...Pete was totally weirded out by the fact I took a picture of my food). He just doesn't have a clue.

Don't you wish you had one now?

Hot Date: Part IV: Trip to Walmart. What's a date without going in to Walmart? I mean, you gotta go buy something...and this is usually a good time to throw in something you've been wanting, but wouldn't buy for yourself. (especially if he has his own stash tucked away) And..that just about concludes our hot date. As soon as we got home, he got on one computer and I got on the other. Today, I went to pick up Little Ann, Big Dan will be home at Saturday night curfew and thus tomorrow begins a new week of chaos! (But I'm not forgetting my challenge).

Had any hot dates lately?

A Challenge to Myself

Today, actually, in all the silence, I've been pondering. Mostly about my relationship with my children, and the rift between my children. Something's just been in the air lately. I'm not sure what, but everybody, and I mean everybody has just been edgy. I'm sure Little Ann was happy to get away.

I read God's word. I know what it says. I know there is something in it that will help us in every situation in our lives...the key...actually applying it to our lives. Proverbs 4:24 - Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. I admit that's a tough one for me. I'm a nagger and a yeller....and yes, my mouth does tend to get me in trouble frequently, so why is it that I am surprised when my kids act the same? Don't they know they aren't supposed to do what I do, but what I say. Yeah, ok. Actually, it's usually my tone of voice that initiates their tone back to me...and I get mad because it is at an inappropriate heightened level?

Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers (or in this case, Mothers) provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Could it be that I "provoke" my children to react the way they do? Not that that is an excuse for disrepectful behavior, but what can I do differently to help change the outcome of the situation?

Proverbs 15:1 - A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.

So....my challenge to myself. Think swiftly, speak softly and cherish every good moment I have left with them. I don't have the promise of tomorrow and neither do they. Feel free to take this challenge for yourself!

To Grandmother's House We Go!

I've not been much good the past couple of days. One very sore left finger and one even more sore right shoulder. I declare on this day I will NEVER get another tetanus shot. I know, I am such a wimp, but I really didn't need much of an excuse to laze around. It's summer vacation for goodness sake.

Today, I mustered up enough energy to meet my mother-in-law half way with Little Ann for a little summer visit to grandma's house. She and her husband live 2 hours from us and we rarely see them. They live on what Little Ann calls a ranch. It's not really a ranch, but more like a small farm. Her house is decorated in western type decor which is where I guess the "ranch" comes from. Little Ann loves it when we go visit. They have lots of things to entertain her...baby goats, baby kittens, baby chickens, horses, a mule and lots of pigeons that fly in neat little patterns in the sky....not to mention dish network (which we don't have). The thing that surprised me about this trip was that she wanted to go all by herself for the weekend.

Little Ann is normally, I guess you could say a "mama's girl". She likes to go places, but she doesn't like me to be too far away and she sure doesn't want to be gone overnight, away from her own bed full of her favorite animals, her noise machine and me to snuggle. This is a child that adores church camp, but will not go unless I go with her and even better....push our beds together so she can sleep with me. I am glad she is still like that at 10 years old because I know there will come a day when I will be longing for her to snuggle with me again and that just won't be cool.

After we downsized from 3 bags to 1, we headed out. They had big plans to buy up some of her favorite groceries tonight, see a movie tomorrow, and spend the rest of the time with the animals. I was a little disappointed when I didn't hear from her tonight. I'm sure she is snuggled all up tightly in bed, watching the Disney channel, eating Hershey kisses, being spoiled rotten.

Sometimes things don't go as planned..

even though you want them to. I am referring to the beginning of yesterday's post where I had my day all planned out. Yes, I managed to do a couple of loads of laundry and then I cleaned the kitchen. After starting the dishwasher, I went outside ready to tackle the next task at hand which was trimming my shrubs. May I add it takes alot to get me motivated enough to tackle this chore in the first place, but I was kind of excited about trying out this little tool my husband had gotten me for my birthday last year anyway.

Electric hedge trimmers. A wonderful invention. My advice to you people...(unless you are smarter than me), please read all warning labels!!

because if you don't, you may very well find your finger looking much like this... Youch! That smarts!

I know I'm not the smartest cookie in the jar sometimes. All I can say is I did it. I ignored the danger label and stuck my finger right where I wasn't supposed to. Luckily I had gloves on which I am pretty sure enabled me to keep the tip of my left index finger. It really didn't hurt much. As a matter of fact, I didn't really even feel much at all, BUT I panicked because I totally thought the tip was gone. The lack of feeling, and all the blood is what made me think it must be bad. Dear hubby was actually home and had just gotten off the mower so I ran to him holding my glove tightly and said, "we've got to go to the er now. I think my finger is gone." The more time passed, the more sheepish I got. I just couldn't look and they had to pry my hand from the glove. Luckily my finger was still there, but it was a pretty deep, nasty, cut. Thank goodness for gloves.

I would've posted pictures without the bandage, but I know chickadee reads and given her current state, I decided to spare the gore.

Now, it is beginning to hurt. So I will make hydrocodone my friend for a couple of days and try to recover from the tetanus shot (which in my opinion is almost just as bad). Forgive me if I am lacking in my typing skills for the next week or so of posts. Ever tried typing with a fat whatever thingy on your finger?

What is his problem?

Well, once again, so far things are calm on this Tuesday. I don't feel like I have any blog-worthy news. Much of my day will be spent doing my duties such as cleaning, laundry, trimming some shrubs and, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to reward myself by having a little extra time to do some scrapbooking.

This post is for all you fellow Bachelorette fans. In light of last nights episode, I'm going to share my 2 cents. First of all, Jesse is simply adorable, broken nose and all. Can you imagine being married to him? Never a dull moment there, and he is such a gentleman to boot.

Anybody with me here? Jeremy is just a little too perfect. Cute and all and my heart goes out to him in the loss of his parents..but for some reason I can see a little OCD going on. Maybe I should call Deanna up and let her in on what it's like being married to a "perfectionist". This is coming from the wife of a man who cuts his grass in "designs" and comes back and admires it, and has to have creases in all his blue jeans. ug! At least it gives us something to laugh about, even though it's at his expense.

And Jason..wow, this one hits home for me. I caught myself crying right along with the rest of the family. I think because for 2 1/2 years I was a single mom and it was a difficult process weeding through the prospects for a potential "daddy" for my son. My husband had to understand it wasn't just me he was marrying but a package deal. For a long time it was hard for me to give up all the control and "share" my baby with someone else. Deanna seems like she would really fit the mold as a potential mom for Ty and wife for Jason. I wonder though if it is all too much for her in the beginning.

Which brings me to Graham. Really, people, what is his problem? I could not believe he was that argumentative on national tv. Yes, he was easy on the eyes, but I totally think she made the right choice in letting him go. Physical attraction can not be the only thing going for a couple in a relationship. I have been through relationships in the past where I could never get the other person to ever fully open up to me and it is hard second guessing their feelings. And even now, my husband doesn't fully communicate things with me unless I sit him down and demand he talk. Is it a guy thing, or what? Are all men this way?

I can't wait until next week. Who will be the next poor, unfortunate soul?

All about me

Little Ann just finished the 4th grade and one of her favorite things they did (besides read), was her end of the year project "all about me". She had to write an essay about her family, hobbies, and favorite things. Then, post pictures, magazine clippings, etc. on poster board to be hung in the Elementary hallway. We had so much fun doing this together.

Today has been such a good day especially for a Monday. Mellow, I must say or rather peaceful. My husband is at work, Big Dan has been at work all day, rushed in and flew right back out to play baseball, and Little Ann is tucked away up in her room with 2 sweet friends, playing Barbies or Dress up, I'm assuming. So, where does that leave me? No drama for sure. In fact, I've pretty much been doing my own thing, reading blogs, of course, and with each load of laundry I fold, I am contemplating my own next post. Thinking about what kinds of things I want to talk about and of course which pictures I want to include.

Although, I still haven't taken the time to give you my entire life story, nor would you want to read that in one sitting, I wanted to share my own fairly condensed version of "all about me".

I love my community which pretty much includes our school, 2 stores, several churches and lots of chicken houses. I have always lived a pretty sheltered life and although we usually try to take summer vacations each year to expand our horizons, I always enjoy coming "home". Our house is in the country, positioned perfectly between our church and school, yet conveniently 10 minutes away from Walmart. I've lived here all 37 (almost 38) years of my life except the 2 years I did the college thing.

I love my family.
This is a recent picture of us at Christmas. I am the one in the black and white sitting in my hubby's lap. Big Dan is in the middle. He is the oldest grandchild and is sporting a fresh mohawk for the holidays. Little Ann is in the blue. She is the only female grandchild. The others are my dad and mom, brother, his wife and my nephews.


I love chocolate milk. I have tried repeatedly to shake this addiction, but it just won't go away. Ever so often, I will join Weight Watchers and rid my body from all the Nestle Quick toxins, but then I go right back. I can't help it. It calls to me in my sleep. Less Sugar, that should count for something.


I love my bed.
I think I inherited the "need much sleep" from my dad. He's usually asleep when his chickens roost at dusk, and can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. So...it's a gene thing right? Really it's not my fault, huh?


I love my scrapbook stash.
The newest item I have added to the stash is my die cutter. It is awesome!! After much consideration and forum discussions, I settled on the Klik n Kut Element. It cuts any true type font on your computer and you don't have to continually purchase cartridges. It was a Christmas present from my husband, and I have loved it. What I would give for my own room where I could spread out and be oh so neatly organized, but for now this will have to do. I have my rolly thingy that has all my stamp sets, foam stamps, ink pads, stickles, paints, punches, and pretty much the tools of the trade. Right now, I have separate rubber totes for chipboard, one for patterned paper, and another for ribbon. The carry on was a gift from my husband last Christmas and it pretty much has everything inside it. I load it down when I go croppin'!


I love mashed potatoes and gravy...and Diet Mt. Dew!

Ok, so by now, you can tell I am a little weird. I have always been a very picky eater and my mother didn't help that any. She catered to my pickiness by always creating an alternative such as "cookie pudding" instead of banana pudding since I didn't like bananas. (Which more or less is the same less the bananas) My hamburger is still plain with cheese even since the days of "Burger Chef" a million years ago. When I was a kid, I learned to love mashed potatoes and gravy. Instant was just fine. When I moved to my college town I lived off of the Colonel's potatoes and gravy. That was ok, because I never had enough money to include the chicken in the meal. Now, instead of the brown gravy mix, I have upgraded to Campbells beefy mushroom. I guess because now I have developed a liking for mushrooms that I have never had in the past and it's one less step. Just heat. No more add water and heat. Little Ann has fallen right into my quirky footsteps. This is by far her favorite meal as well. I have never been a fan of diet drinks, as a matter of fact...they are all pretty much nasty..that is except Diet Mt. Dew. That is my drink of choice...aside from the fact it has mucho caffeineo and I need all the energy I can get these days.

I sure love these little dudes!
I do love to talk on the phone. Not near as much as when I was younger, I admit, but I still do. When we built our house, I even had the electricians put a phone jack next to the tub. I can't figure out what it is about my cell phone that wants to attach itself to my ear the moment I get in the vehicle. I honestly don't know if I can drive and not talk. They go hand in hand.


And this is where I love to go to talk.
I often wonder why nobody ever wants to hold a conversation with me at home until I get on the phone. It's kind of like when I get in the tub to soak (another favorite of mine). It's like the world comes to an end when mom locks herself away. I have come to love swinging in my porch swing when I am trying to hold a friendly conversation. I have trouble focusing on the person on the other end when there is too much going on around me. Nobody bothers me there (mainly because they don't know I sneak out here). My grandfather made this for me before he passed away so it holds a special place in my heart. I can enjoy the hummingbirds flying around me, smell the gardenia growing right around the corner and have privacy all at the same time. It's lovely.

I know it's corny, but I loooooooove the Bachelorette. So sue me. I'm a sucker for these reality romance shows. I think I have watched every single season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. I think Deanna is doing an excellent job narrowing down the search. These guys are exactly who I would pick!! ooo la la.

I love the 80's. Who doesn't? The music was awesome and the clothes were rad. Oh, and who can forget that hair! GEEZ! Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to share my big hair days with you..or NOT! My friends know I am an 80's child. I force them to play my 80's version of Trivial Pursuit when we get together. My husband and I sometimes play "name that tune" with midi files from the 80's. I guess I'll always be an 80's child at heart!

Do any of these things sound familiar to you?

Seven Times Seventy

I know I'm probably not making the best of first impressions. Why can't I just get to the fun stuff like introductions and posting pictures of the hubby and precious children. I promise, I will get to that, but today I'm just not feeling it.

Once again, issues on the homefront halted the mood for luvey, duvey comments on what an adorable family I have. Don't get me wrong. I do love them. They can be adorable. I am beginning to wonder if my own crankiness as of late is rubbing my tolerance thin.

Just so you know, when I refer to my own crankiness, it's not what my bad moods normally get blamed on...usually pms. I absolutely hate it when every time I cry or yell my family automatically "assumes" it is my time of the month? uh, whatever!
Can I please just cry or yell for the sake of crying or yelling?

Trust me, it's not pms, but sometimes, I let myself fall into a "mood". An inexplainable one where I just want to feel sorry for myself. I just want to run away back to the days when I had no one to be accountable to but myself (so I thought anyway), back to the days of my youth when I let myself fall into some temptations that I'm not sure I have ever fully forgiven myself for.

And...that brings me to the next part of my post. Forgiveness. Yes, Big Dan "thrives" on making Little Ann scream. Anything he can do to irritate her, he does. Why he's the first born, more deserving than she. He never ceases to rub it in that he is "almost 18" and has way more rights than she does.

It's Sunday. I don't know why I am surprised at all the discontent. Satan works overtime at my house on Sundays, so I should've expected a knock down, drag out between Big Dan and Little Ann, or Big Dan and myself, or all of us for that matter. Hubby lucks out and misses most of the drama because he has a job that keeps him away from home most of the time.

I won't bore you with the details of what occurred between Big Dan and Little Ann, but I do know that it had hit it's all time high today. Little Ann got so angry she let the "h" word slip. Gasp! Something to do with hate. I don't know about you, but I just can't stand that word and it didn't go over too well, not with me or her brother. Big Dan was devastated. I couldn't believe it affected him that way. I couldn't tell if he was more hurt or angry or a little of both, but he was definitely affected by it. I didn't know he cared so much.

Tonight we had a family meeting on forgiveness and if I may, I would like share. This is really all coming to light to me because just last Sunday, our guest preacher, talked of this very thing. And..just this week, I have felt a little down regarding things that I have done in my past.

Who is to be forgiven? Forgiveness isn't just about forgiving one another, but ourselves as well.

Why should we be willing to forgive?
Mark 11:25,26 - And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. GET THIS PART...But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Well, That's scary. But, this is the hard part..what if they aren't sincere? Big Dan assumes Little Ann asks forgiveness to get out of trouble..and maybe you aren't sure of the motives of your oppressor either, were they sincere enough for you..did they show enough emotion to suit you...was it for real? I know. Sometimes I wonder these same things. I say leave that for God to judge.

And finally, how many times should we forgive one another (or ourselves)?
Matthew 18:22 - Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Wow, that's alot of times. Does that mean every time we are wronged? I do believe so. Even by the same person? Yep! Even when we do things that dissapoint ourselves? While this is the biggie for me, I do think we owe ourselves the same. Humm...maybe I should take my own advice and get on with it already.

Hopefully we can all forgive one another (and ourselves), for tomorrow is a new day!

Ya had a bad day

Ok, so I had a totally different post planned for today. Being my third time to write, I had full intentions of getting you all aquainted with the family and what better place to start than with the eldest child, Big Dan, but Big Dan and I didn't get off to a great start this morning. Maybe it was because I woke up cranky and I let the little insignificant things really get to me.

I do love my sleep, and it was distured bright and early this morning by the dear hubby who is out of town and needed me to run some urgent errands for him. That might have been why I was so cranky. I know he felt bad for disturbing my slumber because he offered me a tip to spend at the local Scrapbook store. (from his "own" stash, I might add)

I grumbled awhile and then left, and while I was driving, I began to think about some of the things that Big Dan had done to irritate me. Big Dan and I had a mother/teenager discussion when I got home, but suddenly my blog plans changed. No warm, fuzzy, meet the sweet, good natured, teenager...not today anyway.

Unfortunately, another scenario popped up, once again interrupting my lazy Saturday. This time I took Little Ann along for the ride. She opposed the trip into town too, because she was having her own set of issues over a rescheduled play date.

On the way home Little Ann and I weren't really engaged in conversation, just listening to the dull roar of the road and the radio turned down softly. She looked over at me and said "Daddy said you were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen".

How's that for turning a bad day around?

I don't like to read..

but my daughter does. She amazes me with how much she reads and I know that it's good for her so I do try to keep encouraging her. I have never been the type to be able to sit still and content for that long (unless I am sleeping or scrapbooking). I have been given book after book over the years...books for enjoyment, books finding me the key to a magical marriage, books to help me find the cure for bad attitudes and smart mouths...and I think I sent everyone of them sadly back to their owners half finished. I am convinced I cannot finish one entirely.

I have a friend who is not only immersing herself in a good book constantly, she even reads to her children! She makes her monthly trips to the library an hour away almost like a vacation, planning for it, checking out boxloads of books and returning the old ones. My daughter thinks that is the coolest and I am a terrible mother because I don't do the same. One day we happened to be in a neighboring town that actually had a library and she begged me to take her, and guess what? You can get movies at the library too!! That was much better for me, so instead of checking out boxes of books, we checked out a few movies of some books that she had just recently read at school. One of the movies was a classic..an all-time favorite "Where the Red Fern Grows". She watched the whole thing with me except the end, because she had remembered from reading it how sad the end was. How does this have anything to do with my blog? Well..if you have ever seen the movie, you will totally recognize my kids' bloggy names. My son will, from this point on, be known as Big Dan and my daughter as Little Ann.

(And if you are thinking a big fat affirmative for sure now on that bad mom stuff just because I named my kids after dogs, I did ask them first)

In The Beginning...

Yes, I admit it I've been nothing but a "lurker" so my real life/blogger friend, chickadee at a familiar path calls me. I've been lurking for some time now. I have gone months just reading blogs and looking over "My Space" pages trying to gain the courage to start my own. So, here I am....at the beginning. I am not the intellectual type, nor an exquisite writer and it makes me nervous that while I do want "some" sort of audience, I want to be able to share my days with you and express my opinions without running the risk of offending anyone. My bloggy name will be Scrapper Mom, mainly because I love to scrapbook. I want to be able to share my pages with you fellow scrappers out there and you "appreciate" the hobby. Anybody out there ever finish a page, gleaming with pride, only to run show it to your kids or husband and all you get is a "uh, yeah, that's good"? I love to take photos, and I take them all the time. I can't wait to share some of my favorites with you! Although I have kept a book journal most of my life, going public is a little intimidating. You may find I never have anything interesting to say..and that really wouldn't surprise me. I live a very simple life and the things that make me the happiest are my kids and the things that they say and do. That will be much of what I write about. I am looking forward to introducing you to the family....