In 2007...

• I lost 70 pounds.


• Princess H became a Mama's baby.


• Super Z learned how to write his name.


• Randy started working again, part time.


• I started this blog.


• Princess H learned how to say, "Shup Zane!" We are so proud.


• Super Z started demanding to say (sing) the blessing at every family function.


• Randy got the first "nice" vehicle of his life.


• I read 15 books. This is not very impressive. I have to do better.


• Princess H grew 8 inches of hair.


• Super Z fell in love with the Back to the Future movies.


• Randy finally figured out how to take charge of the house and all of its many many needs.


• I was able to give my family everything that I wanted to give them for Christmas.


• Princess H spent the night away from Randy for the first time ever.


• Super Z stopped talking to "Little Zane", his imaginary friend.


• Randy discovered that he STILL can't sleep in our bed if I am not in it.

In 2008, I hope that...

• I lose 70 more pounds.
• Princess H gets potty trained.
• Super Z learns to read.
• Randy knows every single day how much he means to me.

Happy New Year to your family from mine. I can't wait to see you all in 2008!

Happy Birthday, Super Z

Zane,

I am putting this letter up ten days late because as you know, your birthday comes at the craziest time of the year. I always feel like you have been cheated somehow. Your day is usually overshadowed by Christmas prep and you party is always postponed until January. My poor baby, I would move your birthday if I could...well, maybe I wouldn't. I remember when you were born I called you my Christmas elf. You had the cutest little pointy ear. That ear is a testament. You were meant to be a holiday baby.

For your birthday this year I let you choose where we would go to dinner. The sky was the limit. I offered up all of your favorites..shrimp, pizza, steak. But no, you chose McDonald's. So on December 20 at 7:45 PM, 5 years to the minute after I brought you into this world, I sat in McDonald's Playland and listened to you laugh and play with your sister. It occurred to me that night, that the sounds of you have become the music of my life.

In the three years that I spent trying to get pregnant with you, there were a lot of silent moments in my life, moments when I would sit alone and read or think, moments getting to know my husband and best friend, moments when I would cry and think that I would never be a mother. I would not trade any of these moments for the world, even the worst ones. They were my preparation for you, my symphony.

You wake me up in the morning with your questions and your stories. You need to know everything...right now. You want to know where God is and who invented wheels. You want to tell me about this green motorcycle that you saw and a superhero that you dreamed of. You want to know where I lived when I was a kid and how tall you are going to be. Your laughter and your words never stop. Sometimes when I listen to you playing alone and talking to yourself, I stop to listen at your door. You are truly a song that never ends.

You are the son that I wanted with all of my heart. You are everything that I ever dreamed that you would be and more. Even now, as I listen to you in the kitchen playing with your cars, I am astonished that you are mine. I am astonished that I get to be your Mom...your best friend.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. I hope you like your new "Big" bike. I hope you don't mind being squeezed into the holidays. Just know that you are the best Christmas gift that I have ever gotten. You are my miracle and my baby and you always will be.

Love, Mom

Noses and Lips

I have a body part theme going on, first ears, now noses and lips. It isn't intentional. It just happened.
I need help. Does anybody out there have experience with extremely chapped lips?
Super Z has had a runny nose for three months or forever, I am not sure. He also LOVES to play outside and unfortunately he has the very bad habit of wiping his nose on his sleeve. As a result of all of this loveliness, he has developed the worst chapped upper lip in the history of the world.
His lip has been red and ugly looking for over a month. On particularly cold days it has even turned purple. It is awful.
We have been putting Neosporin on it everyday, multiple times a day. If we put any kind of bees wax or chapped lip ointment on it he screams in agony.
So I need fresh ideas. How do I get rid of this and prevent it from happening again? Give me all your good ideas. I know that you have them...

Ears

My sister got Princess H's ears pierced for Christmas. It took a little bit of convincing to talk Randy into it. He was 100% against anything that might cause his baby girl pain.
I was more open to the idea. In my experience, the younger you are when you get your ears pierced, the less likely they are to grow up and have to be repierced. Mine were pierced when I was 2 and I can go years without earrings with no issues whatsoever. My cousin Becky didn't get hers pierced until Jr High and she struggled with them She might still struggle with them. Beck?
So after much cajoling, the DADDY consented. Alisha and Dennis took her off to get her ears pierced. I didn't go. I am a coward. I knew that I could not watch. I wimp out at vaccinations and those are NECESSARY.
They said that she hated the lady touching her. She is not a big toucher, she gets that from me. She freaked out after the first ear and had to be held down for the second. I can't even imagine. I am sure that she thought her aunt and uncle had lost their minds.
After the torture..I mean piercings were over, they took her over to see Santa. She lay her head on Santa's knee and cried, "ears...ears." Santa declared her the most pathetic thing ever. Maybe that is why he got her that super cook kitchen??
She came home slightly distraught. But as the days go by she seems to like the earrings more and more. She makes a point to show everyone and declare proudly, "EARFRINGS!" It is pretty cute.
When I put the antiseptic on her ears she fights and cries, but other than that it is not so bad. If I let her put antiseptic on my ears first she cries a little bit less. SO my ears should be really healthy by the end of six weeks.
Have a great day!

Merry Christmas!

So, I am alive!! I told you that I would be busy..I just had no idea how busy. Christmas went off beautifully, Super Z turned 5 (he will have a tribute post this week and a party in January), two of my best friends became parents to twin boys, I worked, I had four separate family gatherings to celebrate the holidays, Santa came, and I got to goodies that will help make blogging easier...are you ready?? A laptop and a scanner!!! I know, I must have been good. I am through the roof over it. I can't wait to scan in a picture to show the world what a cute baby I was.
I just wanted to wish any wandering readers a Merry Christmas and throw out my first post with the laptop. I'll see you all tomorrow...I promise.

Thursday Thirteen

13 Christmas Memories

1. We always celebrated Christmas Eve at my Mom's parents house. It was a very busy loud celebration with tons of people (and still is, but a lot of things have changed over the years). I remember that my Uncle Woodrow would always bring fireworks and we would set them off at 8 o'clock on the dot. I have no idea why.
2. One Christmas when I was about 7, Santa's car broke down in front of my Grandparent's house. He was on his way to a party. He came up to use the phone. None of us saw him until he walked in the door. My Aunt Cathy was so surprised to see Santa that she fell over backwards in her chair.
3. One Christmas Papaw paid someone to dress up as Santa and he locked them in the basement. Halfway through opening presents we heard shouting and banging from downstairs. My cousin Treyce went to check it out. The next thing we know Santa is running through the living room yelling at Papaw that he had made him late. You can't even imagine how upset the little kids got.
4. My Mom's car had T-tops and the sky was always so clear on Christmas Eve night. I would lie on the backseat with my sister and marvel at the stars on the way home on those Christmas Eves. It always felt like magic was in the car with us. I remember that like it was yesterday.
5. I remember lieing in bed too excited to sleep on Christmas Eve night.
6. I remember squeezing my sister's hand at every noise and whispering, "Did you hear that??"
7. I remember getting up at 5 AM with my sister and sneaking into the living room to marvel at the riches that Santa had left. We couldn't wake our parents up until 6, so we were always very quiet, smothering our squeals of delight with our hands, handling all the gifts gingerly so that they would not be disturbed when Mom and Dad came in with us.
8. I remember charging into their room at 6 AM and tackling them on the bed. I remember two little girls screeching, Santa came ! He came!!!"
9. I remember my Dad teaching me how to ride a bike on my blue banana seat butterfly bike on Christmas morning when I was 6 years old.
10. I remember that Santa always brought my Dad a bag of oranges. He brings those for Randy now.
11. I remember marvelling at how Santa had eaten all of the cookies but one. The one that he left always had a perfect bite mark in it. It was unreal. I was holding a cookie that the man had bitten into.
12. We always spent Christmas day at my Dad's Moms. The drive out to her house in the country was always fun, but especially so on Christmas. We would sing Christmas carols the whole way.
13. When we got to Mamaw's it was all cousins and food and gifts. In the living room was the biggest live Christmas tree that you would ever see. The tree always came from the fields behind the house. It was simple. It was perfect.

I got tagged by Captain Picard for this story meme. People are writing this story one tag at a time. This was a great idea that Splotchy had. I had a lot of fun writing my section. I hope that at least one of you that I tag will pick it up and carry on Splotchy's story.

I woke up hungry. I pulled my bedroom curtain to the side and looked out on a hazy morning. I dragged myself into the kitchen, in search of something to eat. I reached for a jar of applesauce sitting next to the sink, and found it very cold to the touch. I opened the jar and realized it was frozen. (Splotchy)
"That's strange," I said out loud to no one in particular. My fingers slowly reached towards the jar again. My body experienced a wave of apprehension as weighted blanket covering me as I did so. The jar was completely frozen.I picked it up and stared at it, my fingers stung with little knives of chill.
"What the..." again I spoke aloud. Then I realized what had happened with a shock. Suddenly the jar flew from my hand. It shattered creating a collage-like mixture of frozen applesauce and glass shards on my kitchen floor, the lid lazily rolling to a stop across the room.(FranIAm)
I half noticed at first glimpse that there was something odd amidst the solidified apple sauce as I reached for the broom and the dust pan. As I knelt down to clean up the frozen mess, I could clearly see a tiny figure within the goopy mess. It was a human eye, with tiny arms and legs! I resisted my initial urge to pick it up with my hand, and then reached down to scoop it up with the dustpan. The eye looked up at me in horror and gave out a frightening high pitched screech as it ran for the living room.I was dumbfounded by this turn of events.
I didn't even like applesauce - And I had guests coming for dinner! It would not be proper to have a homunculus eyeball running around during the appetizer - I had to think fast. I crept into the living room so as to not startle the small creature. The eyeball was under the coffee table, peeking out from behind one of table legs. When I approached, it quickly darted under the couch!I got on my hands and knees to look under the couch, but I could not see the eye through all of the old newspapers and dust bunnies that had accumulated under there. I had to hurry! the guests were coming at seven o'clock, and I had not even started the buffalo chicken skewers with blue cheese dipping sauce yet! Not to mention the couscous and the broccoli noodle salad. (Zaius Nation)
I shook my head and leaned back against the wall. Surely this couldn’t be happening, surely there isn’t an anthropomorphic eyeball running around under my couch. It just couldn’t be real, could it?
“Ahem,” a little voice squeaked. “Ahem.”
I looked all around for the source of the voice. I finally found that it was from the eyeball peering around the back of the couch. I leaned in and looked at it closer. It still appeared to be uneasy (I mean, I’m sure that’s how it appeared, but then again I’m not all that certain about behavior patterns of walking eyeballs.
“Did you say something?” I asked it.
“You’re not going to poke me are you?” it asked. “I hate getting poked.”
“Uh no,” I answered dumbfounded. “I won’t poke you.”
“And you’re not going to lock me away in a jar of applesauce are you?”
“No, I’m not going to do that,” I replied, still bewildered by the sight in front of me.
“OK.” He made the eyeball equivalent of a nod, hitched up a pair of nonexistent trousers, adjusted the chimerical hat on his head, and walked up to me. “I am forever in debt to you, sir, for freeing me from the confines of that jar.”
“OK, sure,” I smiled lamely. “How’d you get in there?”
“The evil wizard trapped me in there,” he answered. “He knows the only way to trap a geneye is to use a jar of applesauce.”
“You’re… you’re a geneye,” I managed to blurt out. I may not get the appetizers done, but this may be one heckuva party anyways.
“At you service,” it bowed. “And to thank you for freeing me, I would like to reward you with two wishes.”
“Oh, so you’re like a genie.” It all started to make sense to me now. No, not really.
“Yes,” it rolled its eye. “Like a genie, only we’re geneyes. They sure do know how to warp a good story in Hollywood, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, again dumbfoundedly. “So I get two wishes? What about three?”
“Ugh!” the geneye slapped the top of its head, or the top of its eyeball at least. “You get two. Two. Only two. That’s how it works. And no wishing for more wishes, we’re onto that. Aladdin tried that once, it wasn’t pretty.”
“OK, so I get two, let me think,” I said thoughtfully. Screw the party, this is way more interesting.
“Yeah, hurry up, I don’t have all day,” the magical homunculus eyeball tapped it’s foot. “I’ve got places to go.”
“OK, OK,” I answered. Well, I could always wish for a lot of money, except that never works in the stories. The villain always wishes for riches and gets trapped in the cave with the gold, or sent to the bottom of the sea with it or audited by the IRS because of it. As much as I’d like to pay off the mortgage, I don’t think I can.
“Well?” it asked impatiently.
“I want peace on Earth and good will toward men,” I say with a forfeiting shrug.“Peace on Earth and good will toward men?” it repeated.
“Is that one wish or two?”
“One,” I replied. “You know, ‘tis the season and all.”
“Nice choice,” it nodded. Then the geneye snapped its fingers.
“It is done.”
I felt it. For one moment, I felt nothing but peace and joy all around me. Others felt it, too but no one would ever be able to explain it. All around the world, people stopped what they were doing and just enjoyed the moment. Evil men stopped thinking evil thoughts and just smiled nicely. The hurt, the sick, and all who were in pain be it physical, mental, or spiritual, felt the warmth of a brief reprieve. Bells rang. Angels sang. Then I felt it end.
“Hey, that was nice,” I said. “Why didn’t it last?”
“Come on,” the magical being snorted. “I’m not that powerful. You got one more wish.”
One more wish. What should I wish for? Hmmm. (Jon, Intergalactic Gladiator )
"How about 'as many wishes as I'd like?"
"Hey! That's cheating." the Eye said, "It's not allowed in the Geneye Code Of Conduct. It's one wish only, and that's your lot."
"How about 'trying to understand the opposite sex?'" I suggested.
"Too tough" it replied, "No being is as capable of such an undertaking."
I sighed and thought. This was going to be harder than I imagined. I wanted this wish to be a good one that was value for money.
Suddenly I thought about it. Friendship."How about friendship?"
"It's possible." said the Eye.
"Would it last a long time?"
"Oh, sure." the Eye replied, "It's not like that peace and goodwill one where it applies to all. A wish like that means you'd always have good friends."
"That sounds great." I said, "I'll select as my other wish to always have friends, and no enemies,"
"Fair enough" and the Eye clapped his fingers.Suddenly the telephone started ringing.... Captain Picard
"Let me guess, that is a friend calling?," I inquired with a raised eyebrow towards the Eye.
"Well, it definitely isn't an enemy.," the eye said shortly, rolling around to check out the room as I sank down onto my knees. "Aren't you going to get that?," it asked after the third ring.
"I couldn't possible talk to someone else right now.," I said shaking my head. I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I was losing my mind. I had to get rid of this eye.
"You seem to be doing a fine job talking to me.," the Eye said as is sauntered over to check out a magazine that was lying beside the couch.
"Now that you mention that...aren't genies..or geneyes..or whatever supposed to leave once the wishes have been made?," I asked slowly.
The Eye scoffed at me, as much as an eye can scoff at least, and sauntered towards the bookcase.
"You have a lot of books. These could keep me busy for a while.," it said simply as it began to check out a few of the titles on the lower shelves.
"Don't you have somewhere to go? Somewhere to be?," I asked, struggling to keep the desperation out of my voice.
"Where in the world would I need to be? I am an eye with legs. I have been cramped up in a frozen jar of applesauce for the last hundred years. I just granted YOU two wishes. Surely I deserve a little break, don't you think?," the Eye asked as it focused its unblinking gaze directly on me.
The phone began to ring again. I could also hear my cell phone ringing from the bedroom. I couldn't look away from the Eye. (Serina Hope)

This is an installment of Splotchy's Story Meme. According to Splotchy, "Here's what I would like to do. I want to create a story that branches out in a variety of different, unexpected ways. I don't know how realistic it is, but that's what I'm aiming for. Hopefully, at least one thread of the story can make a decent number of hops before it dies out." You can read all of the details here

I am going to tag the following lucky people. Good luck with this Eye guys.
Cat at Soulsurvive
Amanda at The Milk Bar
Bilbo
Secret Agent Mama
Bren at Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Mad Dash Monday

I am too freaking busy. The travelling has begun and yet there is shopping left to do. Let's not forget that there is still the daily grind of work and dinner to contend with. I may be missing in action more and more on these frantic days. Please do not be discouraged. Things will calm down one day...I hope.
In the mean time, I promise that I will post and surf as often as I can. Just remember, I still love you.
In other news, Randy and I got a Wii for Christmas. It is awesome. (Yes, we have already hooked it up, because we have the patience of a rabid wolf. It cannot be helped.) We get to have date nights right in the living room!
Randy: So, you wanna go bowling?
Me: Sure, turn on the TV!
No babysitter needed for these romantic dates, folks. You can't beat that.
Have a great Monday!

Haiky Friday

Happy Birthday, Britty

Britty was my first,

the first baby of my heart,

more than just a niece.

*

She looked like Snow White

from the moment she was born,

the prettiest girl.

*

She wrapped us all up,

capturing us in her blue

bluest eyes of all.

*

I was just twenty

and her Mama, my sister,

was only sixteen.

*

Some people whispered,

"That Alisha, she is pregnant."

People always judge.

*

They had no idea

that some wonderful Mamas

start out as scared girls.

*

They had no idea

that what they called a mistake

was really a gift.

*

And oh, that gift now...

it glows and sparkles and smiles...

My lovely Britty.

*

She is a good girl,

the kind that everyone loves,

on the verge of more.

*

I love you Britty,

my very first baby girl.

Have a great birthday!

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas 2006

Are They Ready For Christmas?

Yesterday afternoon I took Super Z to Wal-mart for our weekly shopping trip. He agreed to sit in the "baby seat" of the buggy (a) so he could talk to me and (b) because I let him have a sucker. Hey! I never said that I was above bribing my son!
We had a pretty good trip. He wanted everything in the store because, "Me and my sister need it!" We were able to strike a compromise. I only had to buy half of the contents of Wal-Mart. Half is better than all, right?
As we were checking out, a Hispanic couple got in line behind us, directly in the line of Super Z fire. Of course, Super Z attempted to strike up a conversation with them, he has to strike up a conversation with everybody that he sees. It would have been rude of him not to.
As I was unloading the buggy I heard him ask, "So, what are you getting for Christmas, Man?"
I looked up to see the man smiling worriedly. In broken English he responded, "Yes, yes, Merry Christmas!"
Super Z shook his head and ignored the shushes from the Mom end of our arrangement.
"No, I said what are you getting for Christmas," Super Z insisted.
The man and the woman both smiled hopelessly at me indicating that they had no idea what the boy was saying. I returned their smile and continued to unload my buggy.
"You know, Christmas? What are you getting? Christmas?What are you getting for Christmas?," Super Z implored becoming more and more agitated by the minute.
"Super Z, they can't understand you," I tried again, smiling at the cashier who was cracking up by this point.
He glanced at me briefly and then looked back at his audience.
"You have to know Christmas," he declared and then broke out in song, "Jingle Bells Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a four horse open sleigh! HEY!" (What can I say? It is four horses in Super Z world.)
The people just smiled weakly.
At that point my son threw his hands up. "Aren't you even ready for Christmas?," he asked sadly. He shook his head slowly as I pushed the cart towards the door.
"You know, Mom. I don't think they are ready for Christmas.," he said simply.
I just patted his little hand and smiled.

Fun Monday

Our Fun Monday host this week is Robinella. Her topic is wonderful to me for two reasons.

1) I am suffering from NaBloPoMo Burn Out at the moment. Her topic allows me to share a wonderful post without actually having to come up with one! You can't beat that with a stick.
2) I get to share one of my favorite posts with you, a post that you probably haven't seen, because I wrote it way back in the day before I had many readers. Just in case you are wondering, that happened to be way back in August '07.

So, on with the show! Robinella's assignment was:

In honor of exhaustion, color and self-love, I present you with this week’s assignment. I want you to dig through your blog files and show us your best

effort. Why you consider it your best is up to you. C’mon, you know you have

a favorite - show it to me one more time.

It was a tad bit difficult to come up with a favorite. None of my posts are as wonderful

as the ones that you guys fling out effortlessly on a day to day basis. But, being forced at

knife point to choose, I chose Marriage Anyone? So now here it is in all its glory. I hope

you like it and I hope that you have a wonderful Monday.

Marriage Anyone?

Question: What are the three most important things needed to make a marriage work?

I had to think about this for a while, because I have to admit that personally I have spent more time around marriages that didn't work than around those that did. My Mom and Dad have each been divorced twice. My Mom's marriages have both died as the result of unresolved anger. So I would say that that is definitely a bad idea. I mean unless you are just really into being pissed off and miserable all the time... and if that is the case, I say go for it. I mean why forgive? Being perpetually angry and miserable probably burns a lot of calories... my Mom has always been really thin...
My Dad's second marriage ended because he was an idiot ( and an alcoholic ) who married a fellow idiot ( and alcoholic ) who he barely knew. So in big flashing lights I would have to say
* Don't be an idiot (or an alcoholic)* Those two things are definitely not good for a marriage. That divorce was actually a very good thing to us kids. We liked sober thinking Dad much better than drunk, stupid, married Dad. We are crazy like that.
Some would say that this legacy of divorce is a bad omen for me. I think not. Surely I must have learned something from all the failure, right? I really hope that I did. No, I know I did.
Randy and I have got it going on... in many many ways, but I have to pick three. I don't think I am an expert after only eight years at what is needed to make marriage at large work, but I can tell you the things that work for us.
So, I give you the top three things that make my marriage work:

1) We are best friends. I mean really, the man can make me laugh until tea comes out of my nose. He listens to me bitch (and commiserates!). He likes to hear me talk. He has even been known to let me put eyeliner on him...once, under duress...when we were really bored...and young...and drunk. But yeah, he is my favoritest, as Super Z would say.
2)We know how to keep it fresh. Now this blog is G rated, or PG-13 at worst, so I am not going to go into the bow-chica-wow-wow details with you ( I know, you were on the edge of your seat.), but we don't ever get tired of each other. We are not afraid to try new things. And let me tell you what, our grand finish conversations tend to be brutally honest and quite hilarious. Sometimes I can't believe the things coming out of our mouths. We should be critics... " Well on the plus side the lighting in the room was wonderful tonight..."
3)Nobody wears the pants in this house. No, we don't walk around naked from the waist down (Hahaha, I am so funny)...We are equal, team personified. There is no boss. ( There is bossy... but I am convinced that is a genetic flaw passed down through both lines of my family.) We are both more than willing to share our view of how the world should revolve and we are both willing to listen. Compromise is golden.