Happy New Year!

That is all I have time to write because I have stuff. Not fun stuff just stuff that I don't want to do so I put it off as long as I could.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fun talks

I hope that you all had a good Christmas.

I woke with a head banger. I tossed before leaving, on the way, then when I arrived. It was still a good Christmas.

Here’s a funny conversation I had with my daughter the other day.

Miss Littles: What does my name mean?
Me: One who stinks.
Miss Littles: Mom that’s not it. I know what D’s is but I can’t remember mine.
Me: Person of stinkiness.
Miss Littles: That's not it.
Me: Stinky shoe.
Miss Littles:MOM!
Me: Princess Stinky.
Miss Littles: It is not! It’s something like sweet or honey.
Me: One who draws flies.
Miss Littles: Sure I like flies, hey I even named one Jerry, but that isn’t it.

It’s Greek and actually means very dear one, beloved, or Grace.

Codepoke expected more words from me on Christmas Eve.

Here are my excuses and I’m sticking to them.
It was 4:30 am and I was getting ready for work.
I’ve had a melt down last week.
The ice storm took a week of shopping away.
Because I didn’t have my Christmas shopping finished (yet) I’m picturing myself shopping in QT at 2am.
I have yet to wrap anything.
One of the men at church went off on me over my husband leaving the church.
I have no clue. Really Not One!
I had to put worship slides together this week and some of them were a real pain.

Here’s the up side
Miss Littles did a great job as an angle in church and her solo rocked. Yes I had tears in my eyes.
I received tons of Merry Christmases, several hugs, way too much candy, and pizza.

It’s a wonderful time of the year to remember the gift that came to save us.

Have a Very Merry Christmas.
I need a nap. ;-}

Merry Christmas!

No swimming on this beach

As I was driving home from the cemetery, I needed to check on the arrangement because that’s what I do I always make sure things are taken care of, anywho as I was headed home I started thinking about how I haven’t been diving into the Bible lately. To be honest I haven’t wanted to sit in front of a book at all. I started thinking about how wrong I was for that. It’s God’s word I should be snorkeling in it. As I turned left into my neighborhood I realized that I was still living in the Word. I began to think about giving myself a break. I realized that it is fine and dandy to sit on the beach with my sun glasses on, a cold beverage in my hand, and not be reading the Word.

As I looked around my home I could see how blessed I am, even in the darkness I could see the blessings, possibly more because you can’t see the dust and dog hairs. Your feet find the dropped toy and the chair legs. *-* I thanked God for not letting me freeze to death, that I hadn’t broken a toe, and for the hot showers every night. We were all thankful for not having to smell each other. I enjoyed the peanut butter sandwiches. My children not so much with the power outages, they broke long before we did and moved out. I’m sure it had very little to do with the “When I lived in the country and the power went out. . . .” stories.

Back to the thought. I know I tend to wander around, I talk like that in person also. Call me ;-}

I was thinking about how I (we) need to cut ourselves some slack. Just because we aren’t pulling every Word apart doesn’t mean that those who do are better than those of us who sit on the beach once in a while. Thing around my house have been a bit crazy with the power outages, Christmas, work, and life. I deserve the time to just live in the Word. I need time to stroll down the beach.

I try hard to live the Word every day. I try to be the hands and feet of God.

If I fall short would you divers write something good for me to read?

It'sbeen 10 years

I miss you Mom.

We talk of you often and Miss Littles loves the idea of you. DK feels blessed to be the grandchild who knew you.

Thank You for being my best friend and mom.

WE’VE GOT THE POWER!

It’s warm and cozy in the house tonight. We’ve replaced some of the food that had to be tossed. All is good in our home.

We’ve offered refuge to a friend her home is still without power. She’s missed cooking so my dinner and breakfast are planned. :-}

It was quite a storm and has left some of the areas looking as if a bomb was dropped. It’s a sad sight.

It’s a disaster

That’s right Oklahoma is a disaster area. Some of Tulsa looks as if a bomb was dropped on it. It’s really sad because so many heirloom trees have been lost due to the ice.

I’m blessed because my family is safe and sound. We have lost only one small tree. It’s the one we call the bird bush. The poor thing is leaning and uprooted.
We are without power and our house is very cold but we didn’t have trees falling on the roof as others have.

I’ve heard numerous stories at work including a fatality. It’s really made me aware of how blessed we are to be safe and sound tonight.

Keep the firefighters and the folks working on our power lines in your prayers. We are thankful for those folks who have traveled from all over the US to help out.

Ice Ice Sunday

When my alarm lightly woke me with a wonderful song from my dainty slumber I wondered if the freezing rain would keep us from church. Ok the truth is what you expect when you read this blog so the truth is what you’ll get. When I heard the beginning of Michael W. Smith singing I pushed the snooze button and rolled over hoping that the ice storm would allow me to go back to my drool and snore fest. I think I was dreaming about having a maid, a chef, a nanny, and a life coach who is willing to do all the work for me. You know the dream that all of us married with children ladies dream. I had been interrupted once and was about to the part of the dream where my husband realizes how wonderful I am when again Michael began to sing to me. (Note to self change that CD because he seems to be nice and you are not thinking nice things about him at 6 AM) I quickly jumped out of my bed to see if the roads were too treacherous for travel hoping beyond that we could make it for services. That’s right I’m telling the truth. Slowing left my warm bed and stumbled into the family room to check for church closings. Not on the TV. I then hit the web site. Nope. I then check emails. The worship minister sent changes late so we’ll be dealing with those this morning if we have services. I happily start getting ready for church. Not. I call my boss to see if we are indeed having services. He’s setting up and people are there. Yea! I skipped. Who am I kidding I dragged myself out to the family room to find my children waiting. Oops Miss Littles is dressed in a spring dress and its freezing, I remind her so she dashes up the steps to change. By stomping and yelling “when am I ever going to get to wear a dress to church again?” I think to myself “How precious” or was it “Just get changed people are waiting for me. I could leave you here with your dad.” That’s it the last one. I marvel at the fact that she’s now wearing wine pants and a purple shirt complimented by a red jacket with Dalmatian fur cuffs and collar, she tells me it is real puppy fur. (No covering that one up I was a bit horrified until she agreed it was a bit cruel.) The real deal is that we needed to go and I had already sent her up to change once.

I can't keep it up any more here's the way it really was:

I arrived at church late so I dropped my stuff in the booth and rushed to the room where we copy stuff to copy a CD for the holiday season. I know I should have rushed up to see if I was needed in the booth. I then rushed back to the booth and began to help with the rehearsal. Other churches were closed today so a man in a truck dropped off several boxes of donuts. That was good because the boss and I had a discussion about me being the woman and my roll. I should bring food because that’s what good women do. I rushed down to get him a donut so that I was now redeemed. When I got back he was already eating one but happily took my round offering after all it is a holey food and can be eaten on the Sabbath with or without coffee.
It turned out to be a lively morning and if you listen to my minister you might get a hint of things that took place.

During a reading someone did a rebuttal from the audience, our worship minister asked if we had other gods up there, tattoos were shown, we had a song mix up that I thought I had fixed, and my boss forgot to advance a slide during one of the songs making both of us laugh out loud.

It was a fun and silly morning.

Most of all it was a wonderful reminder of why I love that bunch of folks. God took a morning when all that I wanted to do was sleep to remind me why I get out of bed to be with these folks.


God showed me something so beautiful on my way to work. Just as the Michael W. Smith sang Son Of God I hit the part of town hit hardest by the ice. The trees were bowing from the weight. I wished for a camera as I passed them. It was wonderful timing as if God had them show me how it was to be done.

Sunday at work was an interesting one. I have to say that I will fall for jokes. I can easily be set up and played. I was played well by our LP and another coworker. It was classic. I was full in hook, line, and sinker. It had me laughing. I spent most of the night pushing credit. Yes I have to do it and yes I do it well. The truth is that I ended up helping folks and loving it. The storm was really hitting folks hard so helping them find what they needed was a good thing. It was reminded how blessed I am when two homeless men were in the store tonight because it promises to be a hard night for them. It was an easy drive home and the heated seats felt nice. I came home to a nice house with family in it .

And to think I wanted to sleep in today!

Life in film

On Thanksgiving Day my aunt gave me a DVD of our family’s home videos. Today I sat down to watch this video. I wish that I could have watched it with my family I would have been a hoot hearing everyone making commits. Even alone you know I had a few.

Put down the camera and get the sharp pointy stick away from the little kid!

Hey look my brother just ran over me!

It was a given that he was about to do that!

What is going on with the obsession with filming the back sides of the women?
Yes they need to stop bending over in front of the camera.

Almost all of the adults smoked.
How do you folks feel now?

What was with taking us to fields?
We must have thought it was a vacation.
Can't pull this over on us now. :-}

I can see why I had to do PT to walk.
My feet had to compromise to get me anywhere.

My brother and sister loved to wrestle.

I could see the look on my dad’s face when Uncle B got that paper towel holder as a gift.

I could see the look on my dad’s face when he came into the room and saw the mess my brother and sister made.
I was a good girl daddy.

No car seats.

Ugly lamps.

Who chose that sofa?

Wigs!
Big wigs!

It was great to see those who aren’t sharing the table on this earth with us anymore.

Lots of my mom she loved making faces at the camera.
So beautiful.

It was fun seeing us as kids again.
The Christmas memories, grandparents, cousins, fun, and love on that little DVD .

It’s a blessed life!

I’ll have a copy for you Mark when I come to OKC for sister’s weekend out.

Dark Moments

In the dark moments of the night they whisper softly as a friend might do to give comfort.

They twist their words and temp your heart.

I try to shut them out I beg for sleep.

They promise to take the pain away.

Just open the lid and smell my wonderful scent.

Close your eyes and remember the way I felt the warm burn.

I can take the pain away.

Just open the lid and take a sip.

I close my eyes and let the faces of those I love chase the demons away.

When morning breaks I have won another day to feel pain again.

14 and all that

My son turned 14 yesterday. I love this kid he’s tender hearted, funny, and smart. People told me it would be hard having a 13 year old in the house. Aside from his messy room he’s been rather easy.

He doesn’t eat much.

I think I'm gonna like 14.

He’s wonderful to talk to and has a great way of seeing the world. I love the moments when he and I just talk. That would be when he isn’t wrestling around with his sister, they act like puppies at times.

Thank you Uncle Mark, Aunt K, and G for the gift. It was just what he wanted. ;-}

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!
I love you!

I thank God for you!

Treed for hours

I spent eight hours outside at work last Saturday in the cold, in that time I realized that Christmas gets a bad rap. In my eight hours I had about ten or so customers. (Note to self the next time you’re scheduled to be outside bring something good to read.) Most of my customers wanted Christmas trees. Some came with the kids. They would hold out a tree for the other to see someone would inspect it as if this was going to be the last tree ever. After several rejections they would choose the best one and proudly carry it to me. The kids love to watch the tree expert trim, cut, and wrap the tree for them. Nothing like seeing a woman in chaps, a mask, and wielding a chain saw. Their big eyes made me smile. The best thing was that the parents wanted to make the kids happy. They wanted special memories for them. One woman, with a baby in her arms, asked for help shopping. She wanted to surprise her husband wanted a live tree. That was very cool.

I remember fondly going to the tree lot with my parents we were always sure that we had chosen the best one. It was about the hunt for a special tree for us kids, it was the hunt for a memory that made my parents load up three kids to romp around a tree lot inspecting each tree to be sure that we had the best one ever.

My parents loved Christmas, they played along with the thought of Santa. I’m not in any way angry that I was lied to. I still believe in the magic of it all. This year we are making our decorations for our tree because we want memories for our children also.

Sure I have a distain for some of the shopping that I have to do. I wish that money didn’t come into play. To be honest I wish that I could send ya’ll gifts from Oklahoma. Hideaway Pizza, Eskimo Joe’s stuff and so on.

I can send you this:

It’s a time to celebrate when Christ was born and the Gift that was given to us.
Christmas is a time for making memories in someone’s life.

Turkeyish Prospective

Turkey Hand art by Miss Littles

Sometimes prospective hits you like a speeding garage door opener, you aren’t sure how it got wedged under the car seat until the next afternoon when you find a bump in the shape of a rectangle in your forehead then you have an ah ha moment. It’s then that you realize how blessed you truly are to only have a few bumps and bruises from the night before when a person drove his car into the back of your car at a high rate of speed. Opener flew off the visor bounced off my forehead dropped to my knee bounced to the floor slammed under the front seat.

Why do we have to have bump on the head moments?

Why do we have to be deep in the ocean before we can feel the sand on our feet?

This morning I had an ah ha moment.

I am blessed.

I live in a rather large house in a good neighborhood.

My children are healthy.
I have a family that supports me.
With all the problems at church I’m still able to worship there.
I have a job that I enjoy most of the time.
I have way too much stuff in my life.

I began to think of those who have had to worship under harsh circumstances. Hiding how they feel from those around them.

I don’t have to hide my love for the Lord.

Why do we have to be on the edge of a cliff before we look back?

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful for the blessing that God has given us. We have so many blessings. God understands that we feel pain, Jesus felt pain when He was on this earth. He knows His children mourn the loss of our mothers he knows that we worry about earthly things and issues. He sees our faces when we find ourselves over our heads, He holds our hands by using others. He helps us tread water and sends us a life preserver when we’re smart enough to grab it.

I give thanks for sending me friends to listen to my ramblings. Even if they didn’t want to listen to me go on and on, they still listened and asked and that means a lot to me. I won’t have a house full of people Thanksgiving because someone else wants to host the event. THAT'S A BLESSING! We will have way too much food for one sitting. We will laugh discuss politics and watch football. My family will spend time in a house full of blessings. . . .each other.

I realized that I’ve been rather self centered when it comes to what I think are huge problems. Golly no one tossed me into the hot oven. I do have to admit it was hot in that room and it felt small but no one actually put a match to me.

This week I will look at my blessings and think about how I can spend more time treasuring them.

Have a happy Blessing Day by giving thanks.

Life-down and up

I’ve had a rollercoaster week.

I met with the elders again, this time we played it our way. It went better, women should be allowed to speak and this one did.
One co-worker said an inappropriate word several times and was fired.
The baby of a co-worker died a few days after birth, his service was yesterday. You realize how small your community is when those things happen. Keep them in your prayers.

Now for the upsides.
I told those men in that room how it was and how I felt.

My son and I had a great conversation about whether or not babies go to heaven. We also talked about what the fired guy said and what it means. My son was clueless about the word. Yea! It’s a hard word for some to hear and someday it’s going to hurt my niece, which hurts our hearts that some stupid boy could say something that will cut her heart. I makes me want to grab the boy and shake him until he understands how harsh it is. I pray some day that the children of the world not know that word. I give praises that my son doesn’t use those words that hurt.


The son went with his aunt to a mission to serve food this week. The boy loves to do God's work there.

I had lunch with my daughter at school with one of her friends. I brought the chickeny goodness for us, it’s a great place to get fast food from because they are always so nice. Lunch with Miss Littles was fun. First I have to say that I handpicked the neighborhood and that school. I found a reserved for parents table when I arrived. They have a special table just for us! The kids were allowed to talk, discipline was a big thing at the old school so the kids had to be quiet. I heard a few no running warnings and one cafeteria attendant had to judge a “He started singing first argument”, She sent the boy back to his chair with a “stop it both of you.” Kids being kids is ok in this school.


I spent some time talking with a friend yesterday morning. It was a nice way to get my day going. Kevin is right a cup of coffee with a brother is valuable. I treasure the time we spent talking.

A season of change

Fall is to me one of the most beautiful times of the year. It’s not just because I can be outside without wilting and itching but because the colors and the smell of the earth. Fall smells so good to me. The earth seems to want for those leaves. I wondered as I walked home after walking my daughter to school why we rake leaves if we aren’t going to turn it into mulch. Why do they throw them away? Some bag them up for a land fill. It makes no darn good since.

No good since seems to be a theme this year for me and where I worship on Sundays. We rake leaves without trying to save them. When I found myself in the path of those who only want their yards to look nice I was struck hard. I knew that they would eventually want to speak to us about what was happening, I was preparing for it. I wasn’t prepared for them to pluck the leaves from the tree, they went way beyond raking the leaves from the floor of the forest they raked the branches.

Who knows what spring will bring.

Whisper

Codepoke wrote about a place where he spent part of his youth. It got me thinking tonight as I drove to the store. I live at the end of restaurant row now. I’ve traded the woods of my past for big homes and shopping.

As I drove to the store for tomato sauce and a timer for our outside lights I started thinking of that place of peace. It always seemed damp and cool wild violets grew in a small patch with moss around. In the spring the gully would be covered with white blooms from the dogwood as if a magical snow had fallen. In the summer the woods were alive with creatures. If you sat still you could hear them moving about. The fall brought the smell of earth the floor of the woods were covered with colors of leaves. Winter snow brought peace to us. It seemed that the entire world grew silent only the sounds of branches cracking under the weight of the heavy snow were heard.

I miss that place at times.

This Sunday may bring heavy changes to my home.
Uncertainty of what will come of it makes want to search for the place where God speaks through the trees.
If just for a moment of reassurance.

Same o' same o'

I’ve heard that we all have a twin out there in this big wide world. I’ve been told that my twin lives in same part of the state that I do, in fact she’s closer than I realized.

Several years ago a woman walked up to me talking as if we had known each other for years. I must have looked at her as if she were nuts. She explained that I looked just like the daughter of a co-worker from the same store.

I hadn’t really given it much thought through the years until one morning at work a customer started talking to me about the night before. I told him with a smile that my husband wouldn’t have allowed me to be out dancing like that.

A few weeks ago a man started talking to me about where he knows me from and is convinced that we know each other. He still comes in and asks how he knows me.

Not long ago a couple started talking to me and asking how long it has been since we last saw each other. I looked puzzled. They looked at my name and said aren’t you _____________
I said first name is right last name wrong. Turns out that she lived in a town not far from where I work and we have the same first name.

It’s a little creepy to think that someone out there shares the same name and looks like you.

Yep, It's my birthday

That's right Halloween and I'm 46

Wisdom from a cookie

I found this today while cleaning a shelf off.

The fortune cookie words ring so true.

Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots.