Sweet Expression

Starkville Bound

2011-06-22T12:18:00.000-05:00

So, we've spent our first week in Starkville or Boardville as my girls call it and I must say that everything has gone better than expected. I really think this is what I needed, to be with just my girls with no one else around. It's very nice to have my mom and grandmother there with me, but I don't think it's a good thing for my girls to have that much authority around them. Don't get me wrong they still have been fighting some, still have been defiant some, but all in all I feel like they have respected what I've had to tell them, well at least Hannah has. So far we have gotten them a pool to put in the back yard, but it's had to be drained and redone. Gone to a public pool for an afternoon of swimming. Played games, which is something I didn't do much before. Ate dinner every night at the table as a family. Watched TV at night as a family. Slept in till 9:30 almost every morning, that's been the best part. We have had one set back. Hannah came down with some kind of viral infection and has been sick for two days. She began started complaining about her legs hurting late one afternoon, then by the next morning she said her throat began hurting. That afternoon she had fever of 102 and was in bed the rest of the day. I think it's just a short lived virus because she is already acting like herself again, but we'll see when the ibuprofen wears off. That's pretty much been our first week. We'll be going home this weekend to spend some time with my Aunt who is visiting from MN then back at it again Sunday night. Hopefully the rest of the summer goes just as smoothly.

Jersey Boys

2010-01-31T21:14:00.000-06:00

Today was a good, but tiring day. I got up and went to church as I do every Sunday. I always feel refreshed after hearing a weekly sermon. Then the fun began. I have to give a big thanks to my brother and sis-in law for not only watching my girls, but taking them to my sister-in-laws grandfathers 90th birthday party so I could go see The Jersey Boys with my mom and one of her friends. I don't get to get out much so this was a much deserved break. The show was awesome!! I'm so glad I was able to get out and see it.

Living in the Mid South

2010-01-30T21:58:00.001-06:00

Well, here it is a year later and I have not done as I said I would keeping up with my blog. I guess I can look at it in two ways: one, I've just been way to lazy and preoccupied with other things i.e. facebook has gotten the best of me, and two there is now only three more years left till Will is out of Vet school. I can't believe one year ago he was going to the interview and sweating it out. Let's try this again!! Start over.

The purpose of this post is not to ramble on about my laziness, but to talk about the mid south where I live. I absolutely love living here, I mean we have the SEC (South Eastern Conference), great southern fried food, and we are some of the nicest people to be around. I wouldn't trade living here for anything. Well there is that one thing, our winters. There CRAZY!!! Last week we had the most beautiful weather. Tempetures in the upper 50's to mid 60's and sunshine. Yesterday, holy ice!! We had an ice storm. Right here where I am we had freezing rain and sleet all day. Just to the north of us they had snow, and to the south of us rain. As a kid I used to love "snow" days, especially when school got out. I know Hannah was thrilled to be out of school yesterday, but me, oh no hated it. It's funny how your perspective will change once grown up. Sure it was nice not to have to get up, get dressed, make breakfast, and get her ready for school and out the door, but I had other concerns on my mind. Is Will going to be able to make it home? It's tough enough going all through the weeks not seeing him, but the weekend to is even tougher. He was unable to come Friday night like he usually does because of a meeting on Sat. morning, but plans were to come home after his meeting and stay till early Monday morning. Well, plans changed. He did not make it home this weekend, so here we go second time this semester that we only see eachother every two weeks. I know one day we will look back at this and laugh at what we went through, but for now it seems as an eternity and this next three years cannot come quick enough.

On a happier note, I get to go see Jersey Boys tomorrow and I can't wait!!!!

Things I've learned (good and bad) from living in a trailer

2009-08-10T23:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, since I'm going to be writing about things that my family will be experience over the next four years, I've decided to start a series called "Things I've learned (good and bad) from living in a trailer".

By this I mean an actual trailer. My husband and I purchased a trailer, mobile home, recreational vehicle, what ever you want to call it, for him to live in while he is attending school down in Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, we're high class now, I mean this trailer park has a fishing lake, horses, beautiful seanry... ok I won't go overboard, but I'm sure I will come away with many lessons from living in this oh so wonderful shack.

The first thing I've learned. My actual house I buy to live in will have a hearth room. I love being able to be in the kitchen washing dishes and having my family right there with me either playing games, watching t.v., coloring, etc. You know, in our trailer we have a hearth room. It's also our living room.

That's my first lesson.

Many more to come :)

Day 1 before the big move

2009-07-31T17:44:00.000-05:00

Today started off as a somewhat regular day. Will and I had to get up and go discuss options for our oldest daughter. We have been having some difficulty with her and we want to make sure they are all ironed out before he leaves for school. He then went on to work and had a normal day.

We still had to do one last thing before he and my brother leave tomorrow to move all our stuff down to his small living quarter or slq which I'll be referring to it as and that was rent a trailer. I get so aggravated at the fact that he procrastinates so bad. He did not call until 330 in the afternoon to get a trailer for tomorrow morning. Luckily they had one, but we could have been in trouble. Well off we go to pack and move.

Come back tomorrow to see what happened! There's bound to be something exciting :)

The beginning of our journey

2009-07-30T14:48:00.000-05:00

Today is July 30, 2009. It is less than a week away that my husband will be going away for Vet school. Our journey is just beginning. I am going to be blogging along as our family endures this adventure.

Right now at this moment I think we are all in a well I won't say denial, but it's like that, kind of state. Tomorrow is the last day of work for my husband. It is bitter sweet for him. He has all different kind of emotions. He's excited about starting school, sad that he's leaving the place that he is most comfortable and the people he loves, and I can't help but think he is anxious. I know I am anxious, nervous, worried, scared, happy and the list goes on and on.

As for the girls, well I don't think they quite understand. It's going to be a long journey for them. They will not have their dad around everyday to tuck them into bed, see them in the morning, send them off to school, or be home at night for dinner.

We have bought him a "mobile home" as my mom would call it (I just call it what it is, a trailer). It's a nice on though. Both of us are going to be doing a lot of commuting in order for our family to try to be together on the weekends. It's a 2 hr drive, so really we're not that far apart.

This is just the beginning. Keep coming back to follow us as we engage in the next four years of our life. Should be very interesting to say the least.

Let the journey begin.

2009-02-25T08:58:00.000-06:00

Today I took my oldest daughter to an oral surgeon because she had developed a bump on the inside of her lip which looked like a blister. A couple of weeks ago she had gone to her pediatrician for it and he said that it would have to be cut off. I was told that it would be no big deal just some local anesthesia and the oral surgeon would cut it off. Well I proceeded to make my daughter an appointment thinking they would cut it out and I could check her into school. I got there early so we had to wait in the waiting room for about 35 minutes before she was called back. When we got back there we were told that she was going to be put to sleep since she was so young. My first reaction, in my head of course, was great I'm here by myself and I have to drive this child home by myself who has been put under. All I remembered was last time we saw this oral surgeon with her, she had thrown up as soon as we got in the car. I did not come prepared for this. I did not have a bucket just in case, I forgot my cell phone for any emergency that my have arisen. Long story short she was just fine. I got to hear several good stories. She rambled on about her fingers and how she had 20, she had been on a roller coaster ride with bugs bunny, she told me over and over again how tired she was. This was not my smart alack 8 year old who thinks she's 15 talking, this was a little girl innocent and sweet sounding. She did not get mad when I looked her in the eye and laughed at what she was saying. We got home and she was in the bed for most of the rest of the day. She is also out of school tomorrow and maybe Thursday, but hopefully she will be able to return on Thurs.

Our weekend trip to MN

2009-02-17T10:55:00.000-06:00

This past weekend My mom, Grandmother, Hannah, Tristen and I went to MN for a baby shower for my cousin's wife. She had already had the baby so we got to see him. We had a blast.

Being from TN my girls don't get to see that much snow, not that there was a lot of snow in MN this time of year, but there was some big piles of dirty snow, or should I say ice because it had rained and frozen over again, that my girls loved climbing on.

Since we were up there we took advantage of every possible thing that time would permit us to do. On Saturday we went to see my Gramma, my dad's mom. We ate lunch with her then my girls and I stayed with her while my mom went to help my aunt with shower plans. We decided to drive around the town. It is amazing what you remember. I moved down to TN when I was in 4th grade, but I can remember living there like it was yesterday. We drove past my old house where I grew up and saw both the trees that my parents had planted for both my brother and I when we were born.

Here is the house I grew up in.

After seeing my old house, we went to Lake Minnatonka and saw all the cars and ice fishing houses that were still out on the lake. My daughters and I even got out and took a walk on the lake so they could see what it was like to walk on ice. Here are a few photos.

The weekend was almost over, but we still had not had what we came for. The shower took place on Sunday. We had a great time there also. It was just my cousins family from both his mom's and dad's side that were at the shower, so I got to see some people I have not seen in a long time, but knew almost everyone there. My cousin dropped his wife and new son off at the shower and while he was there I told him I wanted a pic of him and his son with me and my daughters. Here it is. I know, it looks like a family pic, but it is my cousin with me.

The weekend came to an end. I was sad to leave everybody. I am such a family person and wish that my whole family lived close by each other. I never seem to realize it until I am around everyone and see all the fun that we have together. One last exciting thing happened for my daughters before we left. We boarded the plane in MN and the capt asked them if they wanted to see the cock pit. Of course we would not turn that opportunity down, so here is a pic of them "flying" the airplane.

Big changes possible

2009-02-09T14:50:00.000-06:00

Today my husband left to go down to MS State University to prepare for his interview for Vet school tomorrow. This is what we've been waiting for for 5 years now. If he gets in it will change everything in our lives. These four years will be the hardest four years we have ever endured as a married couple. We have always been dirt poor, but we will even be poorer. We will go from him having an income to not having an income. Being a preschool teacher I do not make enough to support our family. We will need a lot of prayer and support from friends and family to help us get through these trying times. After the four years of school our lives will be awesome. We will have made it to where we want to be in our lives.

2009-01-19T17:04:00.000-06:00

I finally came back to this blog, which I started over a year ago and my last posted blog was almost a year ago. I figured I would try to start it up again as one of my new year's resolutions. I went back and reread some of the "few" posts I have posted and did not even really remember that what I wrote ever happened. That's when I decided to try to keep up with it this time and plus write everything down in some kind of note book so I'll have it to hold on to and keep. Maybe I'll just print out what I write here so I don't have to write the "old fashioned" way. This time I'm hoping to write down everything that comes across my mind, events that happen within my family, and anything that I may want to say. I'm typically not a funny person so don't be coming to my blog if you want humor, I don't get to go on too many vacations since I am dirt poor, so don't come to my blog for good vacation spot reviews, but if you just want to come and see what my family is doing and has going on come on. Sometimes we can take you on a real adventure.

Why do we obsess?

2008-01-23T11:50:00.000-06:00

Last night as I was sitting in my chair reading People Magazine I decided to ask my husband if he had heard the news about Heath Ledger, (The 28 year old Australian Actor who was found dead in his bedroom). I then began to vent on how the American society obsesses over these actors and their lives. Wait, aren't I reading People Magazine. Yes, I am just as guilty. Why do we do this? They are just people, just like you or I. The only difference is that their job is for our entertainment. If there were not any actors there would be no T.V., no movies, or any other entertainment in that form. The worst thing that these actors have to endure is the media. In my opinion the media ruins everything. They did not ask to have a camera in their face whenever they go get a latte from Starbucks, go to Gucci and buy whatever they may want to, or even take their child to school, MDO, or on a play date. I am probably the only person in the World who feels sorry for Brittany Spears. Everyone is just watching the news and reading the magazines waiting to find out the next headline. "Brittney Spears, arrested again", "Brittney Spears, Loses custody of her kids for good", or worse yet, "'Brittney Spears, found DEAD at her L.A. home". There is no doubt that Brittney has problems. She is even crazy, I am not denying that, but I do believe that her problems stem from the media. The media should have backed off when she began to show signs of trouble, instead they pushed harder. They are at her house 24/7. She does thrive off of all the attention from the media and the public, but I think if the media would keep the camera's out of her face she would have a better chance at recovering. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the media will always be in the lives of all the actors and people will always read about what is going on in their lives, but it should be cut off at a certain point. When the lives of these people are threatend it's time to QUIT obsessing.

Annoyed

2007-12-17T13:55:00.001-06:00

I guess when it rains it pours. Not really, I'm just going to post one more. I have never been more embarresed in my life than I was today. I don't really know why I am letting this bother me so much, but I guess it's just some hormones or something going on. Anyway, we just got back from Nashville yesterday and when I went to take Hannah to school today my van sounded like there was an airplane landing right down next to me. I took it to my machanic and he told me that my brakes were completly shot and that it should not be driven anymore to prevent further damage. Ok, so I left it with him, but started to think about my warrenty I had left. I called the Toyota headquaters and was told that I had warrenty that covered everypart for 6k more miles or until May of '08. Great!! I'll go get my van from the machanic and take it to the Toyota dealer to save me 2-3 hundred dollers (1st time to be embarresed, should have called Toyota first). When I got there I was told that warrenty does not cover break pad wear and tear. Tears now began to swell in my eyes. I knew I was going to be embarresed a second time because I was now going to have to take my van back to my machanic because I was not going to pay the price of what a dealer was going to charge to fix it. Here's the part that's not only embaressing, but also madening. I was just in the Toyota dealer last week before our trip because I heard a noise coming from the left side of my van when I accelerated. The same guy I talked to today told me that I needed to drive around with a technician because if they can't hear it they can't fix it. Of course he heard nothing. I was so mad I yelled at the guy today and told him that I knew there was something wrong with it last week and they did nothing. This whole thing could have been prevented if he would have put my van up on the rafters, or what ever their called, and checked it out. He again told me today that if we can't hear it we can't fix it. I told him your the machanic, you should have looked at it. Sorry to annoy anybody, if your still reading, but it really helps me let off some steam.

our vacation

2007-12-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

I have not posted in a long long time. There are several times I think about posting, but by the time I get to sit down and actually complete it I forget what I was going to write. Anyway we took a family trip to Nashville this past weekend and had a great time. We got to see the Radio City Spectacular staring the Rocketts, the ice sculptures celebrating the Grinche's 50'th B-day from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and we attended a dinner show by Pam Tillis. BUT... trying to go to sleep with a two year old in a hotel room was awful. Don't get me wrong both my kids were great the whole weekned, but Tristen would not go to sleep when it was time. We only had one king bed, so here we were, Will, Hannah, Tristen, and I all piled in. We had to turn the T.V. off and try to sleep. Will, Hannah, and I had to pretend we were sleeping just to try to get T to sleep. Next thing you know she's in your face saying "wake up sleepy head" We tried so hard not to laugh. Eventually she fell asleep and we had a good day the next day. Just thought anybody with kids would enjoy that because I'm sure it has happened to you at one point or another.

What we do for our kids

2007-09-11T20:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, so about a month ago I opened my big mouth to Hannah about Corbin Bleu (star from High School Musical if anybody didn't know) coming to this fair that we were having in Memphis. He was going to come and have a meet and greet session and be signing autographs. After I told her we just had to go. He came on Sat Sept. 9 and was supposed to be there at 11:00 and 2:00. We arrived to the fair at 9:30, thirty minutes before the gates even opened, just to find out that his plan had been cancelled coming into Memphis and he would not be there until 2:00. We waited around all day for him. Finally he arrived. We had front row seats at the HSM performance where he would be introducing the play. I got some awsome pics. While I was there taking pics. Will had gone to get in line for his autograph. It ended up that Will himself stood in line for three hours, and the rest of us for about one in a half just to get the autograph. We did eventually get the autograph, but did not leave the fair until 4:40. Talk about a long day. I was exhausted!

School Blues

2007-08-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

Today was Hannah's first day back to school. She started first grade. Of course she had the apprehension that everybody has right before they go back to school. For the past three nights before she went she could not sleep, sometimes she was in the bathroom thinking she was going to get sick, and has had the worlds worst attitude toward both Will and I. I actually think though, that I had a harder time sending her back than she had wanting to go back. I even think that I was more prepared for her to enter Kindergarten than first grade. My little girl is growing up so fast and I am just not ready for it. Before you know it she'll be leaving for college.

Life of Wishes

2007-07-12T08:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, so last night I only got four hours of sleep (nothing unusal for me). I wake up and can't help but think. I thought about several things, mainly my future. Anyway I have always been one to wish. I seemed to be wishing for bigger and better. My dad would always say "wish in one had and s*** in the other and see which one fills up first". Now isn't it ironic that I "wish" my dad could say that again? Right now my wish is that I can find my passion in life. I feel that if I knew what I wanted to do, I mean something I ablsoulty love, than my life may be fullfilled and I would no longer need to live on wishes. Just some thoughts.

Ready to have my kids back

2007-07-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

For the past week my girls have been out of town with their grandparents. I thought great, I'll have this whole week all to myself. I can go shopping, sleep in, and spend some good quality time with my husband ALONE. I did do all that. My mom and I took in the mall a couple of times. I think I slept in till around 9:00 everyday, and I got to go on a couple of "dates". But now I'm ready to be mom again. I miss having my girls around, even when they are in another room watching TV. They will be coming home tomorrow and I can't wait. I wonder if they miss me as much as I miss them?

Positive???

2007-07-06T15:57:00.000-05:00

I am trying my hardest to be more positive with my whole out look on life and everything around me. I mean what don't I have to be positive about I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters right? Right. But how can one be positive living in a world of hate, crime, and war? I am refering too two instances imparticular that are on my mind right now, I will explian.

The first one...
I live near Memphis Tennessee. For those of you that don't know what is going on about the Memphis Mayor "King" Willie Herrington I'll explain. This man should have never been elected in the first place, but somehow is going up for I think his tenth year re-election. Anyway it seems as though he is trying to segerate Memphis again (Black/White) what year are we in? come on. He has blamed the "white runned" meida, the news paper imparticular, for all his "problems". He has made comments about certian people being just like KKK bigots. I could go on and on about him, but lets look at Memphis as a city and what he has done to it. It used to be real nice. We had a nice amusement park, which is gone now, built a very costly, i'm sure, pyrmid, empty now, and even more recently built peabody place, which is still ok during the day, but don't go at night. Memphis, a city which could be a real nice place to live and tour seems to have been run into the ground by Harrington and his "thug" followers. How can i think positivly?

Second instance....
I had just read this past week in our local news paper about a twenty year old male who was fighting for our country become severaly injured by being shot point blank in the back of the head. Although this man survived he is on a ventilator, feeding tube, and permentaly blind. One would think that since this man was risking his life for the lives of everyone else in the the USA the US government would support him for the remaining of his life. Not the case here. This man's parents have used all their savings and their retirement to pay for all his treatments. How can I think positivly?

first blog

2007-07-06T08:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, here I am trying this out for the first time. I have never been good with words or expressing my feelings openly (to other people rather than family), but I thought I would give it a try. I am not a good advice giver, but I can listen pretty well. I am a house wife with two beautiful daughters whom I absolutly adore. There is nothing more rewarding, in my opinion, than being a mother.

I want to thank Amy for being such an inspiration. You are awsome. You have inspired me in trying this out, along with other things in life.

Here it goes. Wish me luck, and hopefully you will be able to read my thoughts. Hopefully this will get me thinking more as well.