My Cousin/My Sister

Being an only child has its ups and downs, you for the most part get everything, all the love and the hugs and kisses and for the most part you "catch" everything, all the grief , the bad days, the only one that colored on the wall is you, the only one that messed up your room is you and so on.

So when I speak of Jamie, my cousin(an only child as well) I might as well be speaking of my sister as she is the closest thing I will ever have to a sister, even though I never tell her.

My husband works hard all day outside, in the heat/cold , rain , I would like to say snow but this is South Louisiana. I CHOOSE for him to have a hot meal at night, he does not request it or demand it, I do. However, last night after another blow and go weekend which I truely enjoyed, I did not have it in me. So I picked him up fish from Ralph and Kacoo's which is on the way home. and let me add that anyone who might be passing thru the city of Baton Rouge needs to stop and eat there.

While Steven and I ate cereal (by choice) and Ronnie ate his fish he said, why would you do that? and with a mouth full of Coco Puffs(enjoying every little crunch as it is not on my diet) I said it is just one of the things that I do for you. And he said i dont know how you do what you do,work,keep a house,juggle kids and still make all of us feel like we are first. And there is was,because just Friday night in the middle of breaking up a wanna be throw down between the kids , I thought to myself WHY AM I DOING THIS AND WHERE IS YOUR FATHER? Well of course Ronnie had fallen asleep how in the hurricane of 4 kids I cant tell you but so be it.

Now back to Jamie. Here is a woman with 3 kids (of which 2 are a set of twins) all boys, doing a very good impression of the juggling act as we all do. It never fails that the things that she sends me (email) ALWAYS stop me from letting my ugly side show(which everyone has one). We were both raised by women who came from a STRONG family background. My "sister" sent me the answer to Friday nights question. Just when I felt like I was spinning my wheels and nobody was there is see my smoke.

Please enjoy what is below and be blessed.

If you had one bit of doubt as to the purpose of your calling as a wife/mother or wonder if all your efforts are ever even noticed this video will erase all doubt.

The Invisible Woman clip

A Lousiana Weekend---laughing at myself

This was our weekend with Drake, so I knew it would be on all weekend. We blow and go when we have him, well actually we blow and go all the time. We also had Seth and Hunter Friday night and then Jessica came to get them Saturday morning and asked if she could take all of the kids to Chucky Cheese. Sure , here is some money , please go.... So , all last week Ronnie kept saying I have ordered something for you and you probably wont like it , but if you do not then i will keep it, sort of conversation. So of course all week I have been trying to guess what it was and finally he told me that it was made in Hungry. Hungry?? What could it be, I spent no less then 3 hours last week looking at things imported from Hungry, you would be amazed. Anyhow, after Jessica( future daughter in-law) we went to go pick this "gift" up and as it turn ed out it was a hand gun. Only in the State of Louisiana does a husband buy his wife a hand gun as a gift. The sad part is , is that I was excited and he was that I was. Too funny. So we (I) drove the bikes about 30 miles away to the shop for me to get new tires and a once over, which that was my 1st real ride out of the subdivision, pretty cool and then we went to the firing range. I enjoyed that even more. Am I turning into a Redneck?? Hopefully not, now am I married to one? Absolutely. Not only was he impressed with my target skills, he was tickled that I enjoyed the day as much as he did. Too funny. I am going to bring my target to work and tape it to the front
of my desk and write on it that the complaint line starts here. It is not often that we get a weekend to ourselves and we try to make the most of it when we do. take care all

To be a Tigger or an Eeyore

This is actually from a news article on the memorial service honoring the life of Randy Pausch, "the last lecture professor"...his lecture can be viewed at www.cmu.edu/randyslecture , although I have ONLY viewed parts and have taken from it what I myself deemed interesting to me and my affection for Eeyore.

"In the lecture, which Pausch said was actually for his three young children,he urged the audience to"Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It is what drives us." He said it's true lesson was not "how to reach your dreams". It's about how to live your life." Live right now, he said , and karma would take care of the rest.
Stuffed Tiggers were placed on each chair as keepsakes.

"You just have to decide if you are a Tigger or an Eeyore. Pausch saw himself:energetic and optimistic, as opposed to the mopey Eeyore, even when faced with certain death."


by : Andy Van Dam , mentor to Randy Pausch

ATTA BOY - God Bless our Country

I was sent this in an email from Mr. Bob , who is the sweetest little old man and who recently retired from Barber Brothers, where I work..... I usually do not stray into the political arena but when it is in your face , you have to share...

I'm sure you've seen these before but they always elicit an 'Atta boy!' from me...

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush. He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'
You could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electric power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck...We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'
You could have heard a pin drop.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'
You could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE... A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically.Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.'
'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!'The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to!'
You could have heard a pin drop.

Realizing what God and life have instore....

The boss is out today so lunch time is actually mine....



Four or five years ago if someone had tapped me on the shoulder and said"Hey your life is about to be upside down and this , and this is going to happen and oh btw you will have a baby in the middle of it all" I would have said "ARE YOU CRAZY?"



I have always considered myself to be a strong person and things were put infront of me that made me question my very being. I questioned my decisions, my motives, I questioned God himself. Why would all these things be happening AND put a baby in the middle of it all and other children? What did I do, certainly nothing to deserve all of this. Then Christmas eve 2004, my child's first Christmas, which should have been filled with joy and laughter, everytime I looked at him all I could do was cry, and heavy on my heart was the answer. Though out the whole "thing" I TRIED TO DO IT BY MYSELF. At 37 years old with a 9 month old baby it took a brick to the head rather than all the quiet taps on the shoulder that I CHOSE not to listen to, to FINALLY listen. I finally gave it all to Him and I could look at my son and not cry, I could see that what I was being told was to only benefit the other person, I could live with my decisions, and I could be strong again , but I had to do it His way and not Kathy's way.

So where do I go from that point? I went home and when I rolled into Baton Rouge I knew I was home. Even though I was scared to death , the fact of starting over, no job, no income at the time. Even with all of those bricks ahead of me, there was calm. I found a church , a job , a friend who in his own words" drug me kicking and screaming to the alter". It wasn't quite like that. I will admit that we have both backslid and even this Sunday found an excuse not to go, and here was that quite tap as I was folding clothes. It will not take a brick to the head or another tap. I have learned to listen to Him. Things do not always come the way you want them to, or when, but they do come, you just have to listen and try not to close your heart and ears so much that it does take that brick.

First ride after the drop......

Well Steven and I got home last night and Ronnie says" I will fix dinner, you can go ride if you want to" , so I put on the boots,the pony tail,the jeans and head out the door.....the knot in the middle of my stomach was crazy...dry mouth.. and I am thinking "I'll never make it to the end of the street" WHAT AM I DOING? Where was all my new found confidence? GONE, left at the stop sign, in the puddle with the spilled anti-freeze. So, as I am about to park the bike and get off , I decide that while I am scared to death that so should be able to do this again. So I take off and atleast made it around the big block and came to "THE STOP SIGN" , I made it, but it was not pretty , then I decided I needed to go home. Maybe this weekend

Help me to the be merciful in all that I do

IKE

Well as we prepare for Ike who is just hours away, my dependable employer is bound and determined to get a full day out of us, and the office is the only part working, my child is stranded in Alexandria and my mother will not give hime up until after the storm." my baby is not going through another hurricane" , you would think we were in new orleans. oh well.

And it finally happened and Ronnie said it would...I dropped the bike... not hurt except for my pride and a couple of bruises....lesson learned....never ride when you know you are tired and most important ,one must have a little speed when turning or you will fall over.....and of course the cute passerby that had to help me lift up the 600 pound gorilla and then the call to the husband that said "hey, i am ok BUT, i dropped the bike and antifreeze is coming out of the bike. can you come check it out?" He was there in about 5 seconds. So to date and only 45 miles of total riding later we have spent right at 100 dollars on things that i have "broke" , lost the brake handle on the drop. oops.

back to "normal"

Even though the back yard smells rancid. Yuck! Trees are still everywhere on the streets, people are still without power,the sky is littered with"blue tarps", however the gas lines are getting shorter and the grocery stores are getting their shelves stocked life in Baton Rouge is resuming. I feel for the people in Fla. and in Texas, I really do, but I am thanking God that Ike is not coming this way. On a happier note. Ronnie put the new shift lever on the bike Monday night and of course then the bike would only shift into first, so after the discussion of it would cost more to fix the transmission then the bike is worth I was heart broken. So a call to the local bike shop said that they hardley ever have to work on those engines/transmissions because they never break and told Ronnie to "get on it" hard and try to pop it into second. So low and behold at lunch he was working by the house and could stand it no longer, went home and had to try it a couple of time but finally it worked. I was so excited, so of course we rode for about 2 hours last night. Yee Ha. Have to work now, everyone have a Blessed day!

hurricane

well after a week of no power ,sweating and my mother-in-law, my husband's ex- wife and my step-son , i am glad to say that all the people are gone and my house is mine again. our neighborhood and baton rouge looks like a bomb went off, amazingly enough we only lost part of our fence and some limbs out of the tree. i dont know how. houses to the left and the right of us are really tore up and more then half the city is still out of power and will be out for another 7 to 21 days. steven's school is closed until the 15th and my mom is coming to get him tomorrow. i had to drive 20 miles outside of baton rouge to get groceries,thankfully where we work is letting us buy gas and pay for it later. we are still even as of sunday night under a curfew, it is crazy here and there are gi joes with m-16s at the stores that are open. cnn only really broadcasted from new orleans and when the leveies did not break they all left , while baton rouge got left behind. even watching it for ourselves i sat there wondering when they were going to show the rest of the world , oh well we survied now we are watching for ike. i am so tired.