Road Test, Attempt # 1

Rod & I get ready & get to the place to take his road test for his drivesrs license today before lunch. We wait, and wait, and wait. We have filled out our paperwork, signed in. We are the second on the list when we realize, it is suddenly 12 noon. The one man office (one lady) comes out & goes to lunch. She takes lunch from 12-1230. That's fine. Everyone deserves a lunch. We wait. Patiently we wait. Lunch is over & she comes back & three people that she ha obviously told to come back after lunch or something are there. She starts their driving tests. So, even though there is a sign in sheet & our name is second on the list, we wait. It is standing room only. Someone in there smells like they have dipped themself in pure nicotine & my head starts to feel like someone is trying to put an ice pick thru the right eye socket. I stood until my hips hurt, my headache has gone from a splitting headache to a full blown migraine (because I wasn't upset enough with my baby getting his drivers license). But the lady comes back from doing drivers tests for those three folks that weren't there the whole time. She gets them taken care of & gone. Then she says she has to take care of some of the folks that are in there & starts doing some other things (written tests, renewals, whatever). So we wait some more. I am thinking at this point, why do we have a sign in sheet if you aren't taking us in the order that we arrived? But, that is just my thought. I am hungry, I need to use the bathroom (the one there was totally out of order) and my head is to the point I would not have trusted mysef to drive. THe lady finally comes out & tells us that she won't be able to do any more road tests today because she has work she has to do here in the office & will be leaving at 315 to go back to Huntsville. The sign for posted hours say til 430. I am just furious at this point because if she had said this when she came back from lunch, or even after the first three drivers road tests, I would have been like, oh well. But to have us wait and wait and wait & not tell us until the last minute that you aren't going to go by the sign in sheet & you are going to do your own thing & you have decided to take off earlier than posted hours is ridiculous. Of course, we will hop our happy bottoms back down there in the morning bright & early because we have nothing in the world better to do than to spend all day every day down there. Rod is upset that he didn't even get to take the test. I am upset that I stood down there until I am sick from the smells.

End Result: No road test today on a pretty day.

Homeschool

http://bit.ly/dw3cJm

the link above is to an article about a school bus crash today.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.waff.com%252FGlobal%252Fstory.asp%253FS%253D12011435&h=e609a375e6c9b398573c8528687ce20b&ref=mf

The link above is to an article about a weapon found at a local middle school & the school being locked down.

Those were today. Here is the link to a gun found outside a school yesterday:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FdfHikq&h=e609a375e6c9b398573c8528687ce20b

This is a link to an article of survivors talking about the shooting of fellow staff members by a professor at a local college LAST Friday (a week ago)

http://bit.ly/aFqGFB

A week before that (two weeks ago today) a middle school boy was fatally shot by a fellow middle school boy.

All of these are within the area that I am from, a fairly safe area.

Now, ask me what made me decide to homeschool (and try to look confused when you ask!)

Thank you!

Crawmama's Pictures

These are really late being posted. The pictures are from when I was in AL the first part of Feb. celebrating Rod's 16th Birthday. We always wind up celebrating for a full month it seems. I think that no matter how old he gets, we all remember that we thought we were going to lose him & the older he gets, the more we thank the Lord for His mercy & His blessings allowing us to enjoy him.

Pics are of my Dad & my son Rod, My son Rod, My son Rod & me with the big Crawfish, My Mom & Dad, and all of us together at Crawmama's. Just a note: If you live anywhere withing driving distance to Crawmama's in Guntersville, AL & you haven't been, you are missing out on a real treat. Try a peice of Gran's Rum Cake or a piece of their Cheesecake. All of the desserts are made right there & they are worth saving room for. Delicious, big servings, homemade & not too pricey. The food is awesome! The seafood is great & Sunday lunch is also.

We had a great time, as we always do there. My parents had not been before & enjoyed it enough that we all went back. My son & I had not been since back in my dating years & we missed it a lot (Crawmama's, not dating, haha!). It is so enjoyable.

If you like seafood, you can see their menu at www.crawmamas.com. The atmosphere is great, the service is wonderful (ask for Red, she was awesome for Rod's birthday) & you will not leave hungry. I have never had anything there that I didn't enjoy.

I have great memories of us going to celebrate with my son.

Valentine's Day

Yes, I realize that my posts are out of order. I promise to do better once/if I have regular internet access ever again. When you are trying to share a laptop with DH & it's HIS laptop, your time is limited. That is why I am posting at 6 in the AM.

So the pic of my hubby in his Captain America Tee is one of his Valentine's Day presents. When you marry someone like my husband (the non-romantic or anti-romantic type) this is what you get him for Valentine's Day -- Tee shirts with his favorite super hero on them.

The cupcakes were a surprise from my hsuband He made them & surprised me for Valentine's Day. They are (uhm, were, hehe) Red Velvet with Cream Cheese icing with pink, red, and white candies on top. He did a great job & it meant a lot to me because it made me feel like he was thinking of me while he was making them. Time & effort are good things to give on Valentine's Day in my book.

So, I am only like 4 days later than I wanted to be on this particular post. Catching up as time permits! Maybe things will settle back down soon. Or for those who know me better, this is as settled as they get. It is always something and I choose to disallusion myself into thinking things get better or easier. haha. But when/if the computer situation is solved, I already have other things/complications going on to make life seem like I am trying to hang wallpaper with an arm tied behind my back. I often wonder if everyone has this type of thing in the same amounts I do. I think into everyone's life a little must fall, but at times, I feel as if I get my share & a whole other family's share at the same time. I do feel like the amount of inconveniences & issues sometimes seem to outweigh what is normal. Of course, when have I ever gone for normal.

King Cake Anyone?

Happy late Mardi Gras to everyone! I hate that my posts will NOT be in order by date things happened & are late to boot. But I do not have computer access still as my laptop is still out & we have yet to replace it. So I rely on precious spare moments when my DH isn't on his laptop that I can steal away.

So yesterday morning sometime before 5 am (I didn't sleep, so the hours run together. We'll just say it was still dark out) my DH asks me if I know how to make cinnamon rolls. Since I haven't slept, I am achy all over & stifle back the comment that Pillsbury knows how. I looked at him & let the question register in this early hour. I said that I think it is like a biscuit type dough. That is the last I heard of it until last night about 6 or 630 when my DH decides he wants me to make a King Cake. So I ask him to see his laptop so I can look up recipes. Forever later when he is through with his computer he hands it to me. All I can find is the recipes that call for yeast, etc. Anyone who has baked any type of bread with yeast KNOWS you have ot let it rise, punch it down, rinse & repeat, etc. So at this late hour of course, not only do I, the great breadmaker (tring to keep a straight face on that! haha!), NOT have any yeast in the house (shock! shock!), but there is no time to go get yeast, bring it home, make it up & do the whole wait, rise & pounch down thing with the bread. Also, if you know me, you know that when I do something I like to do it from scratch (start with flour, I would mill my own if I could). So taking the cheat burns my butter! Also, anyone who has ever even passed by me on the street almost knows that I DO NOT do well with surprises, last minute changes, or last minute anything. I like to have a plan, be prepared, have a list, plan out a route, etc. But here I am last minute scrambling. So I find the easy recipe that calls for cinnamon rolls,. I take my stiff achy self to the Commissary, fight the evening crowd that had worked until just now & get cinnamon rolls. I did come home & make a King Cake by that recipe. As you can see, I did already have the dusting sugars here. I do like to bake. I just feel like such a cheater not doing it "right" or the homemade way. I also of course had no baby to put in. My husband said since it was just the two of us this Mardi Gras that the baby didn't matter. we put nothing in it. I didn't even have a penny in the bottom of my purse (which I think would have been disgusting even for store bought cinnamon rolls). It was decent as you can see. Pics posted are of the "finished product", my DH "the King" holding it, breaking into it & devouring it.

I guess it isn't bad for a first try. I just wish I had it all planned out & done before having to scramble around last minute & fake it. It really takes the fun out of it.

Anyone else bake one? Have a good recipe for one? I would love to hear about it. I will try (but no promises) to keep blogging, but right now it is proving very difficult. Thanks to everyone who follows the blog as I am learning as I go in life.

It has been quite a day. I woke up with it being my sons 16th Birthday & knowing hta the was an hour away & it was snowing. Well, it was snowing where he was & sleeting like MAD where I was. I drove an hour to go get him on unpassable patches of road that I shouldn't have been on probably, but my whole thought was to get to spend some time with him on his birthday, get him back to my parents house. I got to him & he is staying there for another couple of days. He was upset we weren't going to get to hang out all day together doing whatever since the weather was so bad. By the time I got there, the roads were closed & I had to stay. I finally got to come home in the late afternoon. It was good to get to catch up with my friend & ex-neighbor for a while & hold her baby, see her new dog.

I got home in time to eat supper & hang out just a little. It has been a whole different day than I thought it would be. But then again, aren't most of them?

My son said, "Well at least you didn't cry!" He just didn't see me crying on the way to get him, on the way back, all night almost. My little boy is growing up!

It wound up being an interesting night for sure. I will just say that no matter how many times it happens to you, when someone pulls the rug out from under you for no good reason, you are always stunned.

I am reminded everyday of a piece of wisdom I learned before. Todays was: YOU Teach outhers how to treat you by what you allow.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Rod

Sixteen years ago on February 6th, I went for a check up. I was almost 7 months pregnant with Rod. Everything looked fine. I come back home, get ready & go to work. I had to be at work at 3 pm. I worked my night shift at the video store, was a little sore, which I was told was normal every time you were examined from about 7 months on. No biggie. When I got home I was tired & achy, so I went to bed. It was late.

Today, sixteen years ago (February 7, 1994) I woke up with my back hurting. I tried & tried to think what I could have done the night before at work to injure it (most probably place I would have been injured). I couldn't think of anything I did. I knew I had to go into work that night and so I got up & started doing laundry & running around the house & it didn't take long of what I know now was "nesting" before I was beat. I wound up on the floor laying flat on a heating pad thinking still that I had hurt my back. I thought if I took it easy, by 3 when it was time for me to go to work, I would feel better. Guess what? I didn't feel better & had to call in to work. I was crying & worried that my co-workers were thinking that now that I was 7 months pregnant I was going to flake out on them & start calling in a lot. My work ethic got in the way. I wanted to try to make it in, but I didn't. I ate supper later on & felt that for sure I was having indigestion. It was the worst indigestion I had ever had, but I was sure that was what it was. By about this time (1030-11 pm) everyone but me was convinced I was in labor. I was an hour away from the hospital I was registered at, at night, and it was cold. I didn't want to get out. I wanted to go lay down, go to sleep, rest well, feel better in the morning. I was hauled to the car. I only had the barrett that was holding my long hair back, the clothes on my back & I brought my quilt because I was cold!

I told everyone they would feel REALLY stupid taking me to the ER in the middle of the night for them to tell me to go home, that I had indigestion. By this time, I was told, "indigestion doesn't come every 5 minutes!" So we are on our way from my parents house to the hospital. There is road construction where they are widening the roads & we are about 10-15 minutes away when I have to make a bathroom stop. We stop at the Shell station & I am grabbing my tummy & I still to this day remember the guy behind the counter saying "She can't have that baby here! You have to get her out of here!" I heard him through the bathroom. Seriously. I was thinking they were all nuts! On my way out the guy behind the counter looked like he was about to pass out. I still can't pass that station without thinking about it. Too funny.

We get to the ER, I tell them as soon as we get there that I am only almost 7 months, I think I have really bad indigestion or something. They take me back & examine me & tell me I am 5 cm dialated & I am having the baby. I am frantic in my mind, panicking a little now. I say, "No! I can't be having the baby! He isn't due until April! I don't even have my bag! I don't have a bag packed! I don't have any stuff here!" This was all happening about sixteen years ago from this very moment as I sit here writing.

My son was on his way. So in my head I am talking to Rod. I am trying to reason with him. Anyone who has ever met him knows it didn't work any better then than it does now.

My parents followed me to the hospital. No, I didn't drive myself. Then calls were made once I was admitted & before I know it my Aunt & Uncle are there. On the 8th, I am still in labor. Since I didn't have something that sent me into labor (an accident or something) then they thought I might stop labor on my own since I started on my own. They said I was too far along for them to try to stop the labor. On February 8, my cousin had a doctors appointment at the hospital. She was pregnant a the same time & actually due in February. She had heard & stopped in as I was in labor. It didn't take her much before she had enough of that I am sure. I don't think I had anything for pain & watching me was probably NOT a high point for her right then. Plus, I still had a room full of family.

While in labor, a nurse came into the room, pulled up a chair on my right side & sat there with a clip board telling me that statistically he may not make it through the birth process. If he does, he probably won't make it out of the hospital. If he does survive the night, he still might not make it & if he does, he will have severe mental & physical disabilities & may not ever leave the hospital. I was an 18 year old soon-to-be first time Mother of a premature baby boy. I kept on doing what I was doing. She then tells me all of this information again. And finally, since she did not know me, she must have thought it just wasn't sinking in, that I wasn't deep enough to get what she was saying. She asks me if I hear her & if I understand what she is saying to me. I told her yes very calmly. She didn't think I did & tried to keep explaining to me. I was so calm because I felt as sure as anything I had ever felt that Rod was alive. Rod was meant to be & he was going to be & that he would fulfill my purpose in life, which is to be his Mother. I didn't have a single thought or a single doubt that he was as alive as I was.

When I had Rod, let's leave out the gory details & say it was a difficult birth (wow, that is mild). When he was delivered he was the color of an eggplant (deep, dark purple). When he was delivered I saw everyone in the rooms face look like they were in shock & didn't know what to say as the doctors kept talking to Rod & saying, "Breathe little man! C'mon now! Breathe! You gotta breathe for us little man!" THEN and only then when I saw the panic stricken faces of my family & my purple son did I falter, allow myself to sink for a moment, add into my brain that he might not be alive, but it was only for a second & he breathed on his own. My Mom & Aunt were hugging each other jumping up & down like cheerleaders. Everyones hands were broken where they had held my hand while I was in labor. Ok, not literally broken. And yes, my parents & relatives were all in the room with me. And I am so glad they were!

I wanted to hold my son, but I couldn't. They cleaned him up, brought him straight over to my bed to see me, touched his cheek to mine ( I couldn't have counted to 1 in the time I got to touch him) and they had to take him to the NICU nursery for oservation. Even though he was breathing on his own they put my baby on a machine that would breath for him incase he forgot to breath because he wasn't used to breathing on his own. Meanwhile, they are cleaning me up, sewing me up, moping up the room, backing the jaws of life out of my room, etc. & I am asking, "When can I go see my baby?" They kept telling me when they were through putting me back together. Finally (this part seemed to last for hours), they wheel me into my real room instead of the L&D room & I am ready to see him. It seems like it had been forever. I ask again & the nurse says yes, I can go see him. Well, I am so excited (Like I am the only woman in the world to have ever given birth to a son) so I hop myself right out of the bed & start walking. The nurse was in a state! She screams at me to get back into bed! That I am not allowed to be up walking yet! I have to be wheeled to the nursery. I let her know she had better find a wheelchair PDQ & meet me on my way because I was finding him. I get settled in the wheelchair, IV Stand at my side & am taken to the NICU nursery. I had to sit in the wheelchair while the nurse was nice enough to scrub my hands with those nice bristly, soapy spongy brush thingies that you have to use before you can go in the NICU. It is a good thing they had taken my son off the machine before I saw him, but they told me about it. They said he was doing good, except they said, "Whatever you do, PLEASE do NOT upset him. He has a TERRIBLE temper!" I had to laugh. He was already fighting. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. And I felt like the most important person in the world to be his Mother (still do feel blessed).

On February 8 at 3:15 p.m., I gave birth to a 3 lb 14 oz, 17 inch long baby boy. He was moved to the preemie nursery by the time I woke up on the 9th. He was the biggest baby in the preemie nursery at that time.

In a little over an hour, it will be Feb 8th. My son will be 16. He is a joy. All those severe mental & physicaly disabilities that I was warned about never came to pass & I am glad I had faith in what I felt in my heart at such a young age & didn't let that nurse, who I am sure was just trying to do her job, get me down. I have been blessed with him. What a joy! What a blessing! What a kid! The new center of my world had arrived--on his own schedule, not ours. And he has been making up the rules as he went along pretty much since then. I have the child of my dreams & a best friend. The bond between a Mother & son is an unbreakable, indescribable bond. I recommend it to everyone!

Happy 16th Birthday Rod. I love you son!

My Memories

When you look at these pictures, you see a pile of rubble I am sure. I cry. I see a gas station, a store. A fixture of my childhood. I see RB's. Tha twas the name of the store. It was just a cinder block building. It had an apartment on top of it that people lived in when I was growing up. I remember the metal stairs going up the left side. I remember walking up to the store all of my growing up years. I rememeber RB & Mazelle in the store & my picture along with all the other kids in the neighborhood tacked up behind the counter. I can see it. I know whose picture was beside mine. I know that we (all of us kids whose pictures were tacked up there) all felt a part of this store. I felt at home there, going in. I can see where the candy counter & coolers were.

I realize what a sentimental person I am when I saw the old store that had not been in business in years torn down. I stopped in the rain, took these pictures & cried & cried. Somewhere in my heart I longed for the store to be back open, RB & Mazelle to be in there & the safety & security of my childhood to be back intact. I wanted to be in the backseat of my parents Ford Granada (red with a white top of course) pulling up to the pump & RB coming out to pump our gas & holler at me, "Hey gal!"

Where do you go now that your gas is pumped for you? You are greeted by a friend? They know your name, your Mama, Daddy, Mamaw, Papaw, Uncles & all of your friends. Would I have been wrong while I was stopped to pick up a wet block, a piece of metal, something from the building, something to keep, a physical piece of the past? I didn't, but I still might.

I talked to a friend who is like a sister about it who lived up the road from me growing up. She cried when she saw it torn down also. Maybe I am not the only one who knows we lived in a whole different world. We hugged & cried together about it. So I don't feel like I am the only one.

Maybe I should just be thankful that I have these memories of the store, the apartment above, the little house that used to sit beside it, and the wonderful people that used to own it & run it with a smile.

Crypto-Quotes

Last night I was introduced to CryptoQuotes by my Uncle Ray. There was one in the local free paper that comes here to my parents house. My Uncle "made" me try it. It looked like a bunch of gobbledy gook. I had seen them before, but never paid much attention to them because I am too lazy to figure out what to do with it. So once he explained it, I did the Crypto-quote. It is actually really fun. So I was interested & found a site online that has a daily crypto-quote. Needless to say, I have already completed todays cryptoquote, but I won't spoil it for you by giving you the answer.

www.threadbender.com

So there is the site. It is really neat. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Grow Up!

Ok, so here is my RANT for the day. This is MY blog, so I will blog about this. Either read or do not read at your will, but do not leave me nasty comments if you chose to read. It is my opinion, my rant & I have a right to it!

Why do adults (not children that do not know any better yet, but adultswho should know better) get their drawers in a wad about a stupid facebook quiz result, urban dictionary definition, myspace post,or something equally trivial? It is meant to be funny.

DO NOT let it define you, get you down, make you think that some word on a stupid social network "re-defines" who you are. It is meant to be funny. Take it as that, do not get offended and move on with your sorry little life. Making a big fat hairy deal out of something that is so small really tells me more about you than the words on the page ever could.

If you are so small and judgemental that you can't see that it is just for fun, then get off facebook, myspace, or whatever, make a counseling appointment for yourself, call me & I will drive you to your appointment!

And don't give me the bull about, "but children might see". Facebook is for 13 and older, so is myspace. If a teenager goes to public school they have heard seen & most of them done worse than will ever be on facebook or myspace or whatever. If you are the parent of said child & they are younger than that on facebook, myspace or any of the other ones & you don't monitor & have your friends & family monitoring them, then that is on you, not me to babysit them! Adults: you should just get over yourselves with the pompous, pious, "Bertha Baloo Better-Than-You" attitude like the words "wild" or "crazy" offend your sensibilities. And the real shocker? The ones that are most offended are usually the ones that have the shadiest pasts. NOTE THIS: NORMAL PEOPLE READ, LAUGH & MOVE ON WITH THEIR LIFE!

Think before you type. You may do more damage than good with your little top button attitude. Don't throw around the word "Christian" like it is something you can hide under when things get tough either(like when I hurt your feelings with this blog). Christian doesn't mean you are perfect, only forgiven.

Look at yourself before you start pointing at others. Don't talk about it like "sinners" are a group of people you once saw perform on stage that YOU don't belong to! You are no better than anyone else & when you are standing in judgement of them (and over something so trivial, also) you truly need to ask yourself why you are spending so much time trying to make yourself look better than everyone else. Who are you trying to prove something to? Ask yourself that!

(Stepping down off the soap box)

Not Me Monday

So Here is Monday's Puzzle! I Only do jigsaw puzzles online. That way I can keep up with all the pieces.



I am not sure if that stupid link works because they always look like a bunch of hooplah to me. Anyway, it keeps my mind busy when it is time for me to be asleep & I am not even after a sleeping pill.

I got to talk to a longtime friend online Sunday night and I told her some of the things I can't even blog about. Part of me feels relieved that I have someone that I can trust enough to tell these things to and part of me feels like that by saying these things aloud, it made them true. Like if I had not typed them into the computer they wouldn't exist. Maybe it will all go away if I don't acknowledge it, you know?

So here is my "Not Me Monday's"

I didn't reveal my feeling about the "Twilight Zone" style happenings like dumping a load of chert out of the bed of a dump truck. Nope. Not me!

I didn't read a facebook comment written by a friend that hit home & made me think, "Hmmm, that's me! I am the one who promotes that!" Unh uh~ (shaking heaad)Not me again!

I wasn't glad when I got to my parents house & heard that their stove was out & wouldn't be replaced for about 3 weeks so I would have a few days of not cooking 3 meals a day & cleaning up he kitchen ALL DAY LONG. No. I wasn't glad at all. Not at all me.

I am not even enjoying the nice mattress to sleep on in the spare room here at m parents house. MMMM. Nothing to enjoy. Not me.