Daddy's Little Girl

 

I am my daddy's little girl.  Still.  Which I think is great.  WE took this picture a couple of weeks ago while at a family gathering.   I have a lot of pictures with my Mom, but this is one of the only pictures I have taken recently with my Daddy. 

My Dad really spoiled my Mom and me.  When I became a young lady, if you know what I mean, my Dad was the one who would buy my supplies.  This was awkward as you can imagine but he would always include a little surprise of candy or gum. It was always in a brown bag folded down.

He also would write notes on cards and place them in my lunch ( My Mom did too).  That was really cute until he started speaking as if he was my bed and inquired why I never made it up, he was trying to sneak discipline in to my fun note, not cool,

He drove me to school most mornings ( he worked night shift and slept while we were in school) and put up with me and my bff blabbering over teenage girl stuff. 

 

When I was sick he would always buy me cherry ludens cough drops which tasted like candy and not cough drops, that was a major plus.

He never complained that I would chew all his Freedent green gum and I mean all, I think I lived off of gum and koolaid mixed with sugar.  I would eat it with a spoon.

He was nonconfrontational with me, which was a major plus, I don't like conflict, still don't.  I prefer to bury my head and not deal, just like Dad ( My Mom really loves this about us both bless her heart). 

 

My husband said that my Dad hung the moon and it is his job to hang the stars.  I am a lucky girl!!

Fright Night

 

We took a little road trip this weekend to Atlanta.  It was a fun filled trip.  We started our trip at Six Flags Friday evening.  We told the kids if we could get coupons for the park we would go.  We searched the local fast food restaurants for the coupons.  That search took us to a McDonalds one exit past Six Flags that had the BOGO coupons.  We decided we would eat there too.  As we were exiting the vehicle, an older gentlemen flagged us down.  He told us we did not need to eat there, this was a dangerous area and we should leave.  So back in the suburban we went towards Six Flags.  We went to another fast food restaurant at that exit too save time adn money, NOT !!  WE wasted 45 minutes waiting on the order , that was messed up, no surprise here.

 

Finally we arrived at the park to begin our adventure.  Our kids love thrill rides and were looking forward to the coasters. It happened to be Fright Feast at the park.  There were freaky looking people there to scare us.  Yes, we payed to be spooked.

While the big kids were on the Scorcher, little man and I decide to take in a monster show, or so I think.  I was thinking along the lines of Beetle Juice.  It wasn't.

They were blowing that fake fog all over the place.  Little man is asthmatic so we moved back away from that, BLESSING.  The show stared and dead people rose up from graves thrashing all over the floor, singing and moaning.  All the sudden I look down the aisle and see a dead man crawling on the floor grabbing people from behind.  I immediately jumped up and grabbed little man.  I am ready to race to the door , when dead man crawls toward me to grab my leg, I yelled NO and kept going.  I had to work hard to find the exit behind a black velvet curtain.  When we got out of the show, I realized I had little man in a choke hold.  His poor little neck and chest were red from my massive wrestling move.  I felt so bad!!  Luckily I hadn't terrified him too much.  It was crazy.  After I recovered from that episode. WE did have a great time.  I was prepared to find scary clowns and other monsters to jump out at us from anywhere.

Pretty huh?

 

We did have a lot of fun riding bumper cars.  It was my mission for me and little man to get everyone else !

Jackson was finally tall enough to ride the swings, the Big Ones.  I don't like them but rode them to protect him.

The most memorable event of the evening was Neal's cell phone going overboard on Goliath.  Now that was very unfortunate.

Thrift Store Make-over

Yesterday I was on the hunt at a local thrift store.  I found these.

I thought maybe they were used at a wedding or something.  I gave them a hint of Autumn.

They will probably also get a little love at Christmas. Not bad for $6.00 huh ?

Warning: Creativity in Kitchen Causes Injury

I decided this evening to roast an assortment of peppers today. I am not a farmer, I don't know which pepper is which.  I love the colors and shapes of them all ( especially yellow , red, and orange).  I decided to chop and roast them tonight.  I carefully sliced and seasoned the beautiful peppers and placed them in the oven to roast.  They smelled so fragrant.  So much so that my children were complaining of their strong aroma.  They said it burned their eyes.  Oh well, they don't like peppers( they get hot sauce for a sassy mouth).

 

I had a little itch in my eye, oh yeah you know what happened next.  I did it . I touched my hand to my eye, briefly, lightly, and OH MY GOSH !!!  The pain was worse than child birth.  I then began rubbing , yes RUBBING my eye with my hand, my chopping hand.  My tear ducts were paralyzed.  I was sure I was going to be blind.  At this point I was wondering if my epi pen could be used for this.  Anything.  I put my head under the sink and began running my eye under the cold water.  I had a brief flashback to my childhood of a blue bottle of eye wash we always had for emergencies ( wishing I had one now )

No relief, no help, what to do.  I took my pitiful ,burning, eye on fire to the bathroom where I contemplated plunging my head in the toilet but opted for the bathtub instead.  It began to get a tad better, like I was no longer contemplating removing my eye ball.  And then I had a light bulb moment.

I remembered that if you eat hot things that milk helps sooth your mouth.  I will give it a try.  So I gave myself a milk eye wash and instantly felt better.  CRAZY !!  It felt so refreshing.   I then took my little friends out of the oven and thought I should get a teensy taste of what caused me such pain.  BAD  IDEA !!!  I had a repeat experience only with my mouth.  I had to down about a half gallon of Chocolate milk .  My house smells like hot sauce factory with hints of dairy.  Maybe that could be a new Yankee Candle scent.

I will make you fishers of men

Yesterday our church held its annual fishing tournament. This event is meant to be a fun filled day for the kids. The only problem is that for our family we are not gifted in this area. Apparently our parents did not expose us to this sport often enough. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have been fishing. I do however remember being scarred for life after cleaning fish. Ick !! Now my husband is not any better than I am. So here we are the whole family plus a friend. Fishing poles in hand ( given to us by Mr Troy ) , ready to go. MaryEsther gets busy fishing while Jackson plays with the already caught fish that are in a separate vat. Madison and his friend fish for a while before giving up and playing football. Neal was busy talking church business so I attempt to help Jackson get started. I am sure I was comedy relief to all on lookers. First of all I came from the gym so there I was in yoga pants, tennis shoes and a blinged out shirt. Secondly, I had no idea what I was doing. The only difference with me and Neal is that I will say that I need help. He on the other hand wants to prove his manhood with his fishing abilities, so he will suffer through it. MaryEsther was successful, she caught 3 fish. Jackson did have a bite but it got away.

Well although we are not very good with the whole hunting, fishing, camping stuff we do excel in other areas. We sure appreciate all the help from people who are gifted. Dana, fellow blogger and friend said that Neal was a different kind of fisher, a Fisher of Men. I thought that was great. I am so glad that God made us all unique and gifted us all with our own talents.

Here is a fun pic of Dana and I flirting with our favorite garden gnome.

Happy Birthday to You !!

September 24.1945 at 6:25 a.m. David and Dolores wore born. Now these were not your average twins. They were born 6 weeks early and weighed in at 2 and 2.5 lbs a piece. Dolores was the largest ( that didn't last long). They were raised in Montgomery . They used to play on the capitol steps. Here is a picture of them when they were 4 years old. I believe this is Easter Sunday. They grew up attending Second Baptist Church downtown. At that time downtown was bustling with excitement. They have witnessed a lot of historic moments during their life time . Their father was a Montgomery police officer during the civil rights movement.

These two precious twins grew up fell in love and married. Each having a son and daughter. David is my father and Dolores my aunt. Although their nick names were Butch and Susie. Most people who have known them a long time ( meaning over 50 years ) call them that too. I actually had difficulty when purchasing Aunt Susie a gift on whether to have it monogrammed with an S or an D. I went with the S.

I love them both dearly and wish them both a great birthday. Here are a couple things I have learned from them both.

My Dad: If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is all the way to the bone!!

Treat others the way you want to be treated

Just pretend you are hard of hearing, then people will leave you alone.

My Aunt: Days of Our Lives and Young and the Restless rule.

Lunches are made of tab cola and figurine bars ( now it would be diet dr pepper and a fiber one bar )

Teach your husband to clean the bathrooms, they love it !!

Walking is great exercise, just beware of large insects.

( don't you love our red neck candles , they are toothpicks )

They still are so cute !! Check out her necklace ( that is the one I gave her ) !!

Happy birthday!!

Fun for All

Here are a few pics from my weekend in Montgomery. THe kids had fun playing with their cousins. My Uncle Jerry is retired from the Railroad and is now managing the carousel at the mall. This is always a huge highlight for my kids. My eldest was looking for shoes ( he is worse than a girl, at least they are athletics ones and not stilettos ). They got a little rowdy on the ride as you can see. Uncle Jerry hooked them up with bouncy balls that they attacked each other with. We terrorized a couple of shoppers and left. My nephew Mason is in navy with my kids. More stories to come this week about my trip home.

And the list grows...

What gives?  I am so blessed that I can only eat natural , unprocessed foods right?  The more I try to find what I can eat, the more I am finding out what I can't eat.  Apparently  I am allergic to a preservative that is not listed on food labels.  Nice huh?  Trial and error, armed with benedryl and epi pens.

 

Just when you think you have found a food free of sesame, soy, and peanuts, BOOM, it is preserved with a sneaky little unlisted preservative called sulfites. 

 

So just for me, enjoy your convenience foods this week.  Think of me eating fresh fruit and veggies.  Don't be a hater.  You too could join my epi pen club !!  Here is a pic of me enjoying a smore. This is a historic moment.  It was my last one, I would have eaten more than one if only I had known!!!

Homecoming

 

Crazy Hair Day

Gasoline

I woke up this morning at 6 20 to get ready for 7 00 bootcamp.  I got in the suburban and someone ( namely Neal) left it on Empty.  Not just empty, but out of gas.  So I went back in and to get the keys to his car.  I got in his car and guess what?  0 miles to empty.  Not only had he used all my gas but most of his too.  This was a great start to a CRAZY day.I prayed all the way there, I didn't have time to stop and fill up.  I am afraid when I get to heaven the Lord is gonna tell me I prayed more over gasoline than anything else.  I finished my bootcamp and headed the gym to train a client.  Actually I did get gas first.  Then I headed to the gym.  On the way to the gym my friend called to say they kept her husband overnight at the hospital and she could not complete the baby shower cake that I needed by 2 today.  I already had to move the shower to another home due to sick children.  Wow, my day was getting better and better.  So after the gym, I went to the store to get stuff to make frosting and other stuff for the shower.  I got home ,finished the cake, made both punches and got my clothes on.  Note I didn't have time to shower, yuck, I was feeling really pretty.  Neal took the 2 little ill ones to the Dr while Madison and I loaded all the stuff to the car.  I was going to drop off stuff early, pick up my monogramming, go by Publix, and take Madison up to the school before we set up for the shower.  You should have seen us, Madison was holding this 2 tier monstrosity of a cake I attempted to decorate, while balancing punch between his feet.  So we have configured the logistics when the unthinkable happens.  No Keys, I couldn't find them.  I called Neal to find out where he left them, he said they were with him at the doctor .  Oh, I was so not happy about this.  We had to call my poor friend who was now hosting to the shower to come pick up and all our stuff up.  She had to chauffeur us around on all our errands.  Her husband even helped get Madison to the school.  It was crazy.  We were afraid that cake was not going to make it.  I forgot to bring all my serving dishes and we had to make do but it turned out great.

I am now home , in my PJ's for the evening curled up with my laptop and now I am out of Gasoline.

And the Culprit is ...

sesame seeds peanut

and .  This means if I have any of these things that I will need this  or else .

time for a change

 

autumn

I love fall. I am not sure if it is the crunch of the leaves, the crisp air, or the excitement of my favorite holidays but I love fall !! Candy Corn, Candy Apples, and Hearty soups. Indian corn, gourds, pumpkins, and more.  So I couldn't resist going ahead and decorating for fall.  I should say I have started, no outside decorations yet.  My neighborhood association may write me up for that one.  I took a few pics of a couple of my fall scapes.  Let me know if you have any fun fall decorating ideas. They can't use real fruit of vegetables due to our heat.  My first pic is of my year round tomato cage tree.  I change the decorations for each season.  My daughter decorated this one yesterday.

This  next one is my version of a pumpkin patch.  Still working on this one.  I need more variety of pumpkins. 

You can't really tell but the pumpkins are resting on a bed of lit fall leaves.  Closer to Halloween I will turn the pumpkins around to reveal their faces.  Then after Halloween I will add all my pilgrims and Horns of Plenty.  Did I mention I love fall ?

Football Jamboree

 

Today officially kicked off our oldest child's football season.  He play's for his middle school.  We are so proud of him.  He plays halfback on offense and rover(linebacker) on defense. During tonight's game he ran a lot of yards and contributed with blocks and hits.  He also got a two pt conversion.  I asked him if it felt good to hear his name over the PA system.  He just grinned and said it felt pretty good.  It is really neat to see the boys learning to play well together.  Wait, that sounded like I was referring to a play group.  Ya'll know what I mean. 

While at the game we were all crammed in on the side with the shade.  So we were sitting with our opponents.  My friend Karen, and my two little ones were with me.  Neal help coach so He was on the field.  We were all comfy when this large family comes and practically sits on Karen.  She politely scooted over to make room for this family.  They even brought a stroller in the football stands.  CROWDED !!!  Anyway, I asked the "gentleman" if he had connections with our team.  he did say his nephew went there but he couldn't remember his name.  He finally was able to think of his loved one's name.  While watching the game, he noticed they called the name of #3 Madison &^^^&*^^ and asked if that was a girl.  Well, I thought He was kidding, so I said,: No , that would be my son!!" and then I thumped him on the ear. Don't ask me how it happened, it was just the right thing to do.  Then with all my southern charm apologized, I told him that if you sit within reaching distance of me you never know what might happen.  He just laughed, shockingly he didn't think much about it.  But after getting reamed about not having my camera ready at the hospital, I was not about to let my little friend get by without taking his pic.  So Karen snapped it !!

Look how red his ear is, that is the one I thumped !!!  He he !!

He is gonna kill me for posting this, he wasn't camera ready.

Can you find him?

Here are the coaches playing around after the game.  One of these great guys is mine and one is Mimi Lorie's .

One pic I missed that was priceless was our team praying with the other team.  We always ask if they would like to pray together in a huddle on the field.  We are so blessed to have such Godly men teaching our young men.

I'm Back

I have had quite a few exciting days.  It all begin with a trip to my local BK for gut smut. After gymnastics I drove through with the two little ones for what was supposed to be a quick meal.  The order was simple 2 cheeseburger kids meals, ketchup only , one fry, one onion ring, and 2 sprites.  Attempting to be more health conscience I ordered the apple fries ( no, they are fresh apple slices ) they are so cute and come in a little fry container with Carmel sauce that looks like a ketchup pack ( way to go marketing dept).  We got home and ate our food, I had my apple dippers, and 3 bites of Jackson's cheeseburger, two onion rings and threw the rest in the trash.  I sat down at the computer and all of the sudden had a burning sensation in my mouth , followed by a swollen lounge covered in prickly blisters.  I calmly went to the medicine cabinet and there was NO BENEDRYL .  Very calmly I went to my neighbors house to get some.  by the time I returned home , I felt a tightening in my skin, then numbness.  I went to the mirror and much to my shock I looked something like this, 

Instead of the massive eye swelling I had massive jaw swelling so I was a cross with the guy in Mask.  My husband was at scrimmage game with out oldest son.  So her I am with 2 children and a pretty serious allergic reaction going on.  I started making calls and took action.  I took the kids to Miss Shirley's house ( out stand in grandma ) .  She had arranged for another friend from church Miss Linda Kay to drive my to the ER.  Well Miss Linda is a priss, she said it took her a long time because she couldn't find her pocketbook and passed the street twice.  I think she was putting on makeup.  She looked beautiful .  Then there was me, trying not to choke on my own saliva that had no where to go in my mouth with all the swelling.  Fortunately the benedryl kicked in and I am her to write about this adventure.  Upon arriving to the Big people ER ( I had never been there), I was greeted by medical staff who obviously thought I was a frequent user of the ER.  They offered no help as to what to do, and where to go.  It was obvious that I was an alien in this foreign land.  Apparently allergic reactions are top priority so I only weighted about 20 minutes before getting in a room.  That was just a trick though.  It was like another hour before the doc came in.  They did put in an IV incase I started to die or something. My friend Amber came up to the hospital to play with me and relieve Miss Linda so she could get her beauty sleep.  Amber and I were pretty much the only normal people there so the nursed seemed to enjoy our company.  And 2 benedryl to me is probably like 4 drinks to someone else,  I was a little more playful than usually.  They don't know what caused the reaction since I had a variety of foods.  They gave me steroids, more benedryl and pepcid ( it apparently is an anti inflammatory too).  I am also a proud owner of an epi pen now. 

My poor husband wanted to come to the hospital, but he did what I wanted which was pick up my kids and get them in bed like normal.  I would have been stressed knowing they weren't at home in their bed all safe and sound.  So for now, no more BK for me.  I go to the allergist in a few weeks.  I will update you on the outcome.  If you have any guesses feel free to share them.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

 

A day late and a dollar short

( the story of my life ) 

Two of my boys doing bible study of Kids camp.

Sincerely Fro Me To You

If you look closely you will notice my belt buckles.  They had interchangeable leather strips.  You would also carry the bag with the changeable covers and don't forget add a bead necklaces. ( I still have mine.)  

Does any one remember Popagalo ( sp) belts ? I think that is what they were called.