"Oy...what a day I had today."

No, I'm not "Sadie, Sadie, the married lady", but I had quite a day.

It started with computer malfunctions--malfunctions like I've never experienced before. I should have had my coffee first--when will I ever learn.

So I'm on the computer trying to look at a video a friend posted of a guy singing in the Gospel Choir last night, and the computer freezes up. I try to control/alt/delete out of it and the screen goes black. I don't have time for this, so I shut the lap top and go to get my first cup of coffee. Ahhh, there we go...when all of a sudden, I hear this incredible high pitched noise coming from somewhere nearby. I realize it is coming from the laptop. I open it up and the screen is still black and the little hour glass is flitting all over the screen. I push the power button. Nothing. I try it again. Nothing. I begin to smell that hot electrical smell that occurs when something gets too hot. Okay, my laptop is fried. Life goes on.

It's 7:30, the twins arrive--they're 2 1/2, approximately. This happens twice a week--no big deal. Well, today it was. They both wanted BaBa at the same time--NOW! And, in different rooms. I guess the worst was when I was in the "ladies room" and they were clear down the hall in my craft area. Payton was vacuuming up a little mess we had made. He's hollering, "BaBa, I'm finished". I'm hollering back, "Okay Payton, I'll be there in a second." "BaBa!! I'm finished!!" "Okay Payton, I'll be there in a minute." "BA BA!! I'm finished!!!"
"OKAY PAYTON, I'M COMING!!!!" Now I hear both of them coming down the hall calling "BaBa! BaBa!" Unbeknownst to me at the time, the vacuum was still running and there's no way they could of heard me. Ugh!!

Aunt Angela arrives to go out to lunch with us and to the park. I'm not even dressed yet and it's noon. We decide to go real cheap--C C's Pizza where kids eat free. We sit near the candy/prize vending machines. Big mistake! After wasting our breath trying to convince them both that neither one of us had any money, Angela gives in and finds some quarters in the bottom of her purse. She puts one in a prize machine--it eats the quarter, no prize. Next she puts a quarter in a pinball type machine where you actually win the little rubber ball. Each of the twins get a little ball. Marley immediately throws hers on the ground and it bounces up and hits her in the face. Except for that bit of excitement, the balls are boring so Angela tries a "Candy Crane" machine where you play until you win. Payton goes first. He wins a gummy hot dog in a bun. Payton's happy. Next, it's Marley's turn. She wins white plastic vampire teeth. When Angela hands them to her, she starts crying, "I don't want that." So, Angela puts them in her mouth and digs out another quarter. This time Marley gets like this super, super, sour piece of candy, that she licks on just long enough to get her hands super, super sticky. She doesn't like sticky hands so now she's ready to hand it over to Payton, who will eat anything.

Angela takes Marley to the "little girls" room to wash her hands--Payton and I stay behind with the purses. Angela and Marley return and it's my turn with Payton. He has to go pee. He stands up like a big boy now and I tell him not to touch ANYTHING! He does good. Now we go to wash his hands. He does good. Now I wash the sticky little ball. I hand it to Payton and he drops it and then he drops to his hands and knees and is crawling around on the bathroom floor trying to get it. Ugh!

Okay, now it's time to go to the playground/park as BaBa promised. We're there about 20 min. or so when we realize that Marley is not being her usual self--running all over the place and squealing as she goes down the slide. She's actually standing very quietly underneath the slide. Marley is NOT potty-trained. She has just filled her "pull-up". I take her to the hatchback of my car for a quick change. All is good. We enjoy all the unusual equipment at this park--well, Angela was more into it than the kids. She actually fell off of something that spins around. We never did figure out exactly what you're supposed to do on it, but decided it was "too dangerous". So, we decide to take a walk on the nature trail and go over the bridge. We stop at a little area with benches and the twins perform for Angela and I as their audience. Payton announces he has to "poo-poo". There are no "facilities" at this park. So, I lead him into the most heavily wooded area I could find and pick him up in a sitting position, my hands under his legs and wait. No poo-poo, just a pee-pee fountain. Ugh!

Time to head back to the playground. Marley's making cookies in a funky little area by the slide and Payton made doo-doo in his big boy pants. I have no change of underwear for him, he IS potty-trained. He really is and I felt bad for not just leaving after he'd already told me earlier that he had to go. The poor little guy apologized all the way to the car as I carried him, ackwardly so as not to "smoosh".

Now we're home. Nap time--well, clean up time first and THEN nap time. Marley decides to nap downstairs alone and Payton talks Angela into getting in bed with him upstairs. I take the opportunity to get in some computer time. Oh yeah, the laptop isn't fried, just overheated I guess. Angela falls alseep for a short period of time before being woke up by Payton lifting her eyelids and saying, "I have to go potty". Angela is taking no chances at this point so she quickly takes him to the bathroom. He says he has to poop, so she sits him on the toilet--pee fountain #2. Now all of his clothes are in the wash.

At the end of the day, Payton never took a nap at all, Marley slept until 5:00 and I got in trouble for giving them snacks so close to dinner time.

Again I say, "Oy!"

I was so tired this evening and probably would have just turned in early, but I had an obligation at the church. I help with preparing a meal for a class on Thursday nights. I almost cancelled, but couldn't. I went with no make-up on, bad hair and wore the same clothes that I wore last night to Gospel Choir practice. I was feeling very stressed, worn out, cranky...you name it, I felt it. But then a friend asked me to stay and join her for dinner and watch the DVD they were showing tonight. I'm glad I stayed. I needed the message--especially today.

So much to say and so little space on Facebook. ; )

Okay, so last night I was ready to go out and couldn't find my car keys. No big deal--I've got a spare set, I'll look for them "later". Later came at about 11:00 last night. I couldn't go to bed without looking for them--it was really bothering me. I remember exactly when I had had them last and what I was doing. It was Friday afternoon, around 1:00. I had just picked the twins up from their Halloween party at KK's (the baby sitter) and had taken them to trick or treat at "Mom's work". Because they were in their dinosaur costumes, I decided to take them through the McDonald's drive thru afterwards rather than going inside to avoid all the ooing and ahhing that I knew would occur if I took them in. When I get home and pull into the garage, the chaos begins. Both dinosaurs want their "Happy Meals" now! I spill the drinks in the floorboard and the music's too loud. Why is the music always too loud? I get the little "critters" out of their carseats, bring them in the house, strip off the most adorable costumes I've ever seen, set them up at the table and proceed to carry in all the "stuff". My kitchen countertop has disappeared--along with my keys I guess.

Knowing that they have to be here is the most frustrating thing of all. You'd think that might be comforting, but it's not. WHERE ARE THEY?! So, I looked until about 12:30 a.m. and decided I'd just look for them tomorrow--"after all, tomorrow is another day". Well, I couldn't look for them this morning because the Gospel Choir had two performances at two different churches--one in Lone Jack and one in Odessa and we had to get an early start. I'm really thankful that I had that going on this morning because it did take my mind off of the keys and my thoughts of how silly I felt about losing them.

So, I get home about 1:30 and start my new search for the keys. I look in every drawer in the kitchen, office and bedroom. I take every cushion off of all sofas, loveseats and chairs. I strip the bed of all linens and raise the mattress. I search under every stick of furniture. I went through the trash with rubber gloves on--TWICE!! I went through every pocket of all my jeans--I only wore one pair on Friday!! I looked through all of the dirty clothes and clothes in laundry baskets. I searched the diaper bag. I looked behind drapes, in the pantry, in plants, the bird cage, the fireplace, the closets and of course, the car. Everywhere in the car. They're no where to be found and now I'm crying. I am literally laying on the floor under the desk in the office crying like a baby. Here's where it gets good--scratch tha, this is where it gets bad! Angela calls to see what I'm doing. Well, I'm crying. She starts asking me if I've looked here, or there or wherever and I tell her yes--TWICE!! But she can't hear me--the desk phone has a bad connection--it has had for some time now. I hear Angela saying, "You might be talking Mom, but I can't hear you". This is very frustrating because I was already upset and I wanted to tell someone about it. She's still talking, but she can't hear me. I get so mad, that I actually try to pull the phone out of the wall. I can't do it. I knew it would feel good if I did, but I couldn't. I had to actually crawl under the desk (again) and disconnect the line from the power strip. Now I take this "good for nothing" phone out in the garage and I raise it over my head and throw it as hard as I can on the floor. Nothing. Not even a little chip. This really makes me mad. I pick it up and take it out in the drive way and I threw that thing harder than I ever thought I could throw anything. Success!! It shattered exactly as I had imagined. Ahhh....this felt good.

I leave the buttons, wires and receiver all laying out there and I came back in the house feeling much more in control of my life. I pick up the cordless phone to call Angela back. Nothing. Dead. No dial tone. "Oh it's crying time again...."

Why do we have days like this? What lesson am I suppose to be learning. Patience? Tolerance? Anger management? Just let me find my keys and I'll be fine...duh!

On a lighter note, Angela comes over and we decide to meet up with Ashli and the twins at Chilis and have a drink--a margarita of course. We had a nice meal, the twins were in rare form and I fogot about the keys for a while. And to top off this bizzaro day, Payton pees in the bushes in front of the restaurant. Yep...me and the girls are standing there talking and getting ready to get in our respective cars to leave when a lady comes up and says, "That little boy has his pants down". All three of us turn around, and there he stands, facing the restaurant, peeing on a bush--totally unaware of the people on the other side of the window trying to enjoy their meal.

Keys? Who needs keys? Laughter, that's what we need more of. ; )

I Had A Blog

Kind of like "I Had A Dream", but not. Martin Luther King pursued his dream and made a difference in the world with what he had to say. I have a lot to say but I don't seem to have what it takes to even write on my blog page everyday. Maybe it's because what I have to say isn't that important and doesn't affect the entire world. Yeah....I'm sure that's it. ; )

I know what would change the world and I'd like to share it with everyone: Do what's right. It's so simple. Just do what you know to be the right thing in every situation. "Be the change you want to see in the world" (Ghandi) I'm trying to live by this philosophy and as easy as it sounds, I still mess up. But, I don't mess up big and my mistakes rarely affect other people.

But think about it...if we were a nation of honest, helpful, generous, selfless, compasionate people instead of the dishonest, greedy, selfserving, heartless people that seem to dominate the world, wouldn't this be a better place to live? A world full of the children of God who strive to be more like their Father. I know I feel better knowing that this is my goal. I hope you make it yours.

What's cooler than nature? Nothing!

Seriously, what is more awesome than waking up to the sound of birds singing outside an open window in the spring? A cool breeze blowing through the house with the smells of earth--new mowed grass, spring flowers, a lake? The colors of spring flowers and blossoming trees alone is an awesome sight. The redbuds, the Bradford Pear trees, the dogwoods. Baby bunnies hopping around in the grass, birds bathing in the birdbaths that we have provided for them, squirrels sunning themselves on your deck rail. It's absolutely incredible. The entertainment value is priceless and yet, it's all free.

I know that scientists, are very intellegent people, but if they don't get that this was all planned, not just some weird accident, then they're really not as smart as we give them credit for.

Dropping the Ball

Well, I've pretty much dropped the ball as far as wanting to report only good news here. It's out there all right, I've just not been deligent about finding it and reporting it here. Too many other trivial daily issues have gotten in my way. The "good news" is, I don't think anyone reads this, so I've only disappointed myself. ; )

Speaking of disappointing one's self, I did that big time yesterday. A found myself in a situation where I could really help someone that was in a very bad situation and I failed. And I'm sure it's because my heart/mind was not in the right place when I decided to take the task on. Here's what happened. I stopped to help a very distraught woman who was walking (tripping and stumbling) down the highway and having difficulty carrying what looked like two very heavy bags. I pulled over thinking I'd give her a ride as far as I could in the direction that I was going. This is something I have never done before--picked up a stranger on the road. It ends up, she didn't need just a ride or even money--she had no place to go, she had been kicked out of her boyfriend's place. Instantly, my mind went from "How can I help this woman?", to "Oh no, now what am I going to do?" All my thoughts suddently were focused on my personal safety and
the inconvenience to me that this has become. I don't want to turn this story into a novel, so here is the short version. A police officer arrived shortly, we discussed the situation and I ended up taking the woman back to her boyfriend's place with a police escort. I felt safe, she was off of the highway and I could go about my day. The end.

Not hardly--all I can think of now is what kind of person am I? What may have happened to that woman after I left? Tammy was her name.

I guess this is the good news: I will be soul searching now (for however long it takes) to figure out who I am and what kind of person I really am. And hopefully, I will be able to make any changes necessary.

Be blessed.

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Good News

I love it when I get good news. Someone I know is getting married, or having a child, or buying a new home, or graduating, receiving an award--just all kinds of good news. I am assuming that most people would feel the same way. Good news generally brings a smile to your face. Bad news on the other hand, is just that--bad. It doesn't make me happy. It doesn't make me smile. It can make me hurt, sad, cry, be fearful. But, bad news exists. And the real bad news is, that the media (in all forms) profits from delivering bad news from us everyday, all day long.

Most of the bad news that is reported on TV and radio, in the newspapers and magazines and on the Internet we can't do anything about anyway--except be saddened or fearful. I don't need to know about every murder and every detail of it, or every psycho that shoots up a school or mall or restaurant, or robbery, or hollywood scandal or even all the news of the bad economy. And yet, that's what we get fed and people are eating it up.



Not me. I'm tired of it. I want the good news. I want to read more stories like the one about Susan Boyle, the Britain's Got Talent phenomenon, or the guy who gave his entire lottery winnings to his church or the heroic actions of a bystander in a crisis. They make me cry too, but tears of joy and utter amazement at the goodness of people. Good news happens every day all day long too. Why don't we get to read or hear more about it. I'm going to make a point of finding it and reporting it here on my blog.



I want to give people something to smile about every day.



Be the change...

Life Goes On

Spring has finally sprung here in MO. The dogwood and redbud trees are putting on such a show. It's almost too distracting if you're driving. Seeing all the bare, brown, dormant stuff come to life again has made me think of how I've been feeling for the past year. Kind of dormant or lifeless inside. I don't know if it's the passing of time or the weather, but I almost feel like the nature I'm seeing around me--I'm coming out of it. I'm starting to feel like I can "bloom" again. I didn't even cry yesterday. The weird thing is, I feel kind of guilty about that.



I'm going to let myself feel sad and cry occasionally about missing my best friend/husband but I know that even though it is "just me" now, I am somebody and I have a life to live.

It's An Anniversary

On Friday, April 17, 1970, Chuck and I got married. That was 39 years ago today. Chuck is gone now, but I still celebrate the anniversary of the most important day of my life. After all, had I not married Chuck, I would not have 3 wonderful daughters, 3 beautiful grandchildren, a beautiful home, and lived such a full and happy life. Yes, there were lots of ups and downs--our first daughter was born with a birthmark on her head and face and had to endure many surgeries throughout her lifetime to remove it and allow her to look as beautiful as she does today. We survived Terrible Tuesday, April 10 1979 in Wichita Falls, Tx, when the most deadly tornado up until that time destroyed our apartment and most of the city. And, in 1992, Chuck was diagnosed with lung cancer and went through radiation and the surgery to remove the tumor and part of his right lung. Two years later the cancer had matasticized to his left hip and in order to save his life, doctors had to amputate his leg. Chuck handled it better than the rest of us. His comment: "Whenever I have thought about the important things in my life, I never thought about my leg."

I'm sure anyone reading this might not think that we did have such a wonderful life, but you have to understand that these life altering events just interupted our life--they didn't destroy it. Awesome things happened to us along the way too. We had two other beautiful daughters, Chuck became a Vice President of Western Auto, and when Sears bought them out, we were very fortunate to profit enormously from the sale of our stock. We had so much fun raising our family, traveling, building and creating beautiful homes--life would just not have been the same if we had not married each other 39 years ago today.

Be a blessing

That's what my daily devotional was about today--to be a blessing to someone else and let go of your own problems. A friend of mine lost her husband April 12, Easter morning. Together they had fought an 8 year battle with cancer. I have some knowledge of what her life will be like now. We are the same age (within a year) and she also has adult children and grandchildren who will be a great comfort to her especially in these first few weeks and months. But I can tell you from experience, nothing can fill the void of losing someone you've lived with everyday for 40 years. I'm going to help her deal with that and I hope by doing so, I will be a blessing to her.

There are a lot of hurting people in the world today, can you help?


Be blessed.

A Beautiful Day in a Wonderful World

Slowly but surely, we're getting some Springtime weather. Actually, we had warmer days back in February, which threw everyone for a loop. It got us all excited about Spring and then BAM!--snow, ice and some rainy dreary weather. Not today though, it's very nice here--reaching 60 degrees and very sunny. I just like to string a few of these kinds of days together. It's coming though--it always does.

I've got the twins today, Payton & Marley, 2 years old. What a couple of characters. I just wish there was some way to record every moment that they live and breathe. Special occasions or planned outtings we always make a point of capturing on film in one form or another. But it's those spontaneous little moments that happen and then they're gone before you even knew what was happening. A goofy look, a mispronounced word, a grown-up phrase that surprised the heck out of you. They come and go so quickly and yet mean so much at that precise moment. Maybe I'm getting old--aren't we all? And aren't we glad we are? ; )

Be the change...

Good Morning Sunshine

Yea!! The sun is up and shining and it's going to be a glorious Spring day. I will definitely get dressed. Amazing how a bright sunny day can literally change your whole outlook on life at the moment. Right now I feel like the people in the old Coke commercial standing out in a huge field singing "I'd like to teach the world to sing..." Yesterday--I didn't even want to go out and look at the world.

"Be the change..."

Lazy Day

I didn't even get dressed today. It was cloudy, rainy and cold outside so I just stayed inside and did nothing but eat left overs from Easter dinner, practiced a piece on the piano and played on the computer. The kind of day that some people just dream about. The kind of day that I regret later. Why? I don't know. I'm just one of those people that feel like if I'm up and able I should be doing something more meaningful. I did do some Bible study--it frustrated me though so I had to stop before I was finished. I'll get back to it--I always do.

"Be the change..."