What I Want

Here are just a few of the things I want.

What I want for my son:
1. Happiness
2. When you get out of the military, I want you to find a profession that you love and enjoy and I want you to do it.
3. True, last forever, soul mate love
4. continue your education

What I want for my granddaughters:
1. I want you to make your own money in a profession you love
2. I want you to support yourself and live on your own for at least one year before you marry
3. Happiness
4. True, last forever, soul mate love
5. a college or university education

What I want for my grandson:
1. I want you to find a profession you love and be able to make a living at it
2. Happiness
3. True, last forever, soul mate love
4. a college or university education
5. I want you to also live on your own for a year before marrying
6. I want you to be all that you can be

I Really Like to Post

I really like to post on my blog. I mean I really like to do this. I feel like I'm talking to a group of friends, even if I have no idea if anyone is actually reading any of it. My goal is to post every day. I do miss days of posting -- sometimes, many days in a row. Then I'll come back and post three times on one day. I'll get lots of ideas and I don't want to end up with them flying out of my little old head. You'd think I'd keep a book for post ideas. I've thought of that, but there never seems to be one handy when I think of an idea, although I have at least half a dozen blank books around here somewhere. And if you have a peri-menopausal mind like mine, you know that I can hold a thought about like a colander holds water. You young ladies will understand this one day. Don't worry. Your time is coming. Anyway, that forgetfulness is my life at this point.

So, when I was visiting Tracey's blog Quietly Kickin and Screamin yesterday and she mentioned the blog Sunday Scribblings as a place to go for ideas and inspiration for blog postings, I headed on over. They post their new idea on Sundays (just like their name says) and since I looked in for the first time on Friday, I decided to just take a look around and grab an idea that suited me. This is what I'll try to do whenever I want to write and I have no idea of my own in the future. This idea comes from June 12, 2010 -- Superhero(ine).

I have a couple of real life Superheroines and a Superhero. The first is my Momma.

She went to work in the early 60's when most women were still stay-at-home moms. At least most of the moms I knew were. Then when I was 8, our dad went to work overseas and she basically became a single parent. When he returned, they divorced, and she became a real single parent. She raised my sister and myself with patience and grace. She made sure we had the things we truly needed and enough of the things we wanted to feel special and for life to feel magical at times. But she also made sure we didn't get everything we wanted. I think that is a gift, in and of, itself. Momma didn't drive back then, so it wasn't easy for her to get things done for us, but she did. She always found a way. Even if it meant riding three different buses in each direction to do it. She is the most patient person I know and she has the ability to stay out of arguments that my sister and I would have. That ability irritated me during the arguments (because I wanted her to side with me!) and I admire it greatly now. Momma and I have always had a good relationship. I'm grateful for that. She is my biggest Superheroine!

My other Superheroine is my friend Catherine. She is without a doubt the most honest person I have ever known. She will not give her opinion unless she is asked for it, but baby if you ask for it, you better put your big girl panties on and be ready the real, honest answer because that is what you are going to get. She never answers in a rude or cruel way, but she does answer truthfully and completely. I love that about her. Lots of folks can't handle it. Like some of the people she has worked with over the years. She doesn't play office politics. She's honest. There are many, many other things I love about Catherine. Things that I admire, but her honesty is the thing that makes her one of my Superheroines.

My Superhero is my son.

He got married very young. Right out of high school. A couple of weeks after graduation I think. He went into the Air Force just a couple of weeks after the wedding as a way to continue his education and to provide for his young bride and himself. He became a father after about a year and a half of marriage. Before long, two more kiddos came along. He reenlisted in the military, knowing it was the best option for his family. He plans to make it a career at this point. He is a good provider for his family. He is a recent widower and he is making sure his kids are OK. He is taking care of things. He knows he can call on us, but he wants to do it himself. He is a good man. A kind man. A good father. I cannot begin to tell you how proud of him that I am without dissolving into tears. My son is my pride and joy and it's because he's done it all himself. I'm happy to help him in any way I can. I want to help him. I hope that I can take some of the pressures off of his back at times. I wish for him joy and happiness, peace and love. He is my Superhero.

Sissy Dog

Sissy is my son's and grandchildren's dog. My son got Sissy for M before #1 was born. She may have been a Christmas gift, I can't really remember. She's a miniature pincher or minpin and is brown and tan. When she first came to live with them, she was smaller than a Coke can. M never had Sissy spayed. She had planned to breed her. I was totally against this. First of all there are way too many unwanted dogs in this world. Second, Sissy is really funny looking! No one with any sense would pay to have her or a puppy of hers. Oh, sorry son. I think you paid for her didn't you? Yikes! We'll she is a very sweet little dog. Anyway, Sissy has one ear on top of her head and one on the side! It's just hilarious looking! But you don't have to try to imagine for yourself, here are the photos to prove it.....

I'm Home for a few Days

I came home a couple of days earlier than I had originally planned when I left home. My son managed to get the kids enrolled in daycare earlier than I had expected. Mostly due to the fact that Angie got the paperwork she needed to sign early on Wednesday morning and was able to send it back out to us the same day. We got the paperwork on Thursday and he enrolled the kids on Friday. They start tomorrow. So many changes in all of their lives!


My son bought his new car too. I forgot to take a photo of it, but I will next time. It's a Hyundai Tucson and I am in love with it! I tried to get him to switch cars with me, but for some reason, he just wouldn't go for it. Wonders never cease!

On Friday, son, the kids and I went out to eat burgers. You may know (or remember) that I am allergic to beef, which gives me migraines and makes me itch, so I haven't had a beef hamburger since I discovered this almost 2 years ago. I was really craving a burger and had decided that we'd just go somewhere that served bison on Friday night. Well, it wasn't as easy to find as I thought it would be. But I did find a place called Irma’s Burger Shack in OK City that served beef that had been raised naturally with no pesticides, hormones or other stuff added. It comes from a small private heard at the No Name Ranch right there in OK. I'd been thinking for a while that it is really the things that have been added to beef that I may actually be allergic to and not the beef itself. So, I decided to chance it and try a "no name" burger. The last time I ate beef, I had a migraine within 30 minutes and was itching all over my body within 15 minutes. I ate the "no name" burger at Irma's and didn't realize until we were home that I was having no symptoms at all! I didn't even get a migraine the next day, which was possible also.



Friday night, after our burger dinner, the girls and I baked 22 cupcakes for #2's 8th birthday the next day. It was after 9:30 PM when they came out of the oven, so we waited until morning to frost them. Originally, #2 wanted strawberry frosting on chocolate cupcakes. Her sister, #1, said she didn't like strawberry, so #2 changed the frosting to red, white and blue. Now, I didn't quite understand how #1 didn't like strawberry since she'll practically knock you down to get to eat fresh strawberries when they are in the house, but I have a few oddities myself, so OK. The next morning we divided the frosting into three bowls and added food coloring into two of them -- attempting to make red and blue frosting. We did get a light blue, but never added quite enough red food coloring to make red. We ended up with pink as you can see by the photos. The cupcakes were then topped off with chocolate sprinkles.

Number 2's party was going to be held in a park, at noon, outside, in the hot. And I do mean HOT. So, I asked permission to skip the party and go on home. Everything I had come up to do was done. I was ready to go and let this little family get used to being on their own. I think they were really pretty ready too.

I'm a little down in the Dumps Today

I've been here helping my son and grandchildren for the better part of two months now. I didn't expect to be here this long when I said I'd come. To be fair, neither did my son. I'm ready to go home. I want to go home. I miss my own bed. I miss watching my favorite TV shows and sewing. I miss listening to the music I like and sleeping past 6:45 a.m. (if I'm lucky enough to sleep that late!). I miss my dogs and my hubby. I miss my momma. I miss my friends. I miss being able to get in my car and drive to wherever I want to go and shop or visit. I want to go home.

And in all fairness, I'm sure that my son is ready for me to go home too. The longer I stay, the shorter my patience quota for the day seems to be. The girls are really probably ready for me to go home too, although I don't think they'd ever say so. I've heard them tell me, more than once, that they want "gramma mode" back and "momma mode" gone. Apparently I'm pretty bossy right now and not just to the little kids. JT is the only one who seems immune to my grumpy periods.

I noticed yesterday that I have more gray hair than when I got here. Kind of a streak starting. I said something to my son about it and turned around so I could point it out to him. Only I didn't have to point it out. Apparently, what I thought was the start of a streak is more like a swath! He could clearly see it from 4 feet away!

So, today I'm a little grumpy and sad. I'm tired (haven't slept well this week) and want to take a nap, but I hate to "waste" some of my last precious alone time. Tomorrow is the last day of school for the girls and for some reason, JT goes one more day. Precious and few are the moments I'll have with you once they are out of school. Wish me luck.

The San Diego Zoo

We went to the San Diego Zoo on May 20th. That would have been M's 30th birthday. We took the kids out of school and hit the road. It was a 4 hour drive there and 4 hours back. It was expensive, even with the discount my son got for being active duty military and it was exhausting, but it was worth it. One tip I'll share with you, take a lunch and rent a locker to put it in. The lunch we had was very expensive and not good. The drinks were also very expensive ($5 each!) so you can save a lot of money by taking your own.



The zoo was in bloom and lovely. It was a great time of year to go. Also going during the week saved us lots of time in lines. We walked right up to the Panda exhibit and got right in. The Panda was really active, which was an extra treat since I didn't expect that and most of the other animals were asleep. It ran all over the place and at one time, got down on its knees with its back to us. It looked for all the world, like it bowed its head over its clasped hands. It made me think of a child praying next to a bed at night.



We got to see the polar bears in their new exhibit. It was wonderful to see polar bears! We missed seeing them swim though. Take a look at the polar bears yourself on their polar cam. There is also a new elephant exhibit and it was just great! We saw one of the elephants running toward another one! That was a thrill to me! The giraffes were a darker brown than the ones I've seen in TX. They had a baby giraffe and there was a baby camel too. I love to see the baby animals. They're all cute. No matter what the animal is. I could have sworn that the zebra had brown stripes instead of black, but it could have been the bright sun light. We even saw a white wolf (it was an animal ambassador).



I think the only animals we actually missed seeing were the gorillas and alligators or crocodiles. We also missed seeing the otters swimming, but we've seen them before. I think CV may have been the only one to see a koala. We all enjoyed the meercats. They had a really big exhibit and were fun to watch.




I was a little disappointed by their petting zoo, but we got there at the hot part of the day and probably just missed a lot. All in all, I enjoyed it, but I thought it was quite over priced. I do understand that zoos cost a lot to keep up and feed all of those animals, but I think they've cut a lot of folks out of ever being able to attend by their admission prices (Son was free and the rest of us were 10% off, three kids ages 6,7,9 and one adult was $106.00). That is really a shame. Zoos should be accessible to everyone. Just my humble opinion.

Rosemary

I've been wondering about this wonderful, HUGE plant in the back yard of my son's next door neighbor. It had these little blue flowers on it and I started to think that it just might be a rosemary plant. I love rosemary. The smell is just heavenly to me. Whenever I see it, I think back to when I bought this herb magazine that comes out quarterly. There was a letter from the editor in the first issue I bought in which she talked about how much she loved rosemary. She said she had a rosemary plant in the front seat of her car and that it reminded her of Christmas and that the smell made her happy. I feel the same way. The smell always makes me happy and it often reminds me of Christmas. I sure wish I had kept all those herb magazine issues.

The neighbors moved a couple of weeks ago and no one else has been assigned the house (we're on base) so, this afternoon, I sent my granddaughter CV over the fence to get a piece of it so I could see what kind of plant it is. It is indeed the largest rosemary I've ever seen! I hope to get some cuttings off of it before I leave so that I can attempt to root it. I know it won't be easy since it's such a woody herb, but it will sure worth a try. I also don't know how it would do in TX, since it's obviously thriving here in the desert. Beautiful!

Almost There

I'll be having one of those decade birthdays in a couple of days. The ones we were taught to dread or maybe it is some kind of ingrained thing that we're born with. I don't know, but I do know that I'm not dreading this birthday at all. I'll be 50 on Thursday and I tell you what, it sure as hell beats the alternative. Maybe it was the high school reunion I went to a while back where I learned of the early deaths of so many of my classmates that did it, but I'm just glad to be here!

I'm still married to the man I fell in love with when I was 16. We've been through hell and back and sometimes we're right back in it again. The last year and a half have been very difficult for us. There have been times when I wasn't sure we'd make it and even now, I'm not sure every single day that we will. We've made a life and we keep plugging along in it. Not because it's easier than splitting up, because it's not, but because we feel that it's worth fighting for.

We have one son. I can't begin to tell you how very proud of that boy I am. He also got married very young, even though I tried to talk him out of it. Their life has not been easy. His wife has a lot of medical problems. They have three children and live far away from all of their family. He's in the Air Force and has been for more than 10 years. He plans to make a career out of it. This makes me proud and scares the hell out of me. There is just no telling what our military will be put through in the coming years.

Those three grandchildren are such a beautiful blessing. I'm so very thankful each day that I'm here to see them grow. I have a very close relationship with my granddaughters and I hope it continues as they age. My grandson is becoming fond of me too, I do believe. He's been labeled autistic, but never given any idea of how "severe" it is. I think that if the label is correct, it has to be some lesser form such as Asperger's or something like that. He's made amazing progress this year! He entered kindergarten, was put on ADHD medication and is now learning to write and so many other things. He's always been a happy, loving child and now he's thrilled to be in school and learning like his sisters. I don't see any limits in what he can achieve.

All of this is to say that I am very blessed and happy to be alive. Happy Birthday coming to Me!

Thank You, Charmaine!

I've shown you the photo I took of my son and father before. Now, you get to see it with the painting my wonderful, talented sister-in-law Charmaine painted for me. I'm just in awe over her talent! You should see her quilts. Her applique is amazing. Now, she's taken up painting and after just a very few lessons, I think she's ready to teach. I hope to have her paint our Elly next year. Elly escaped our fenced yard and was hit by a car that ended her life last April, in the prime of her life. She was only six and a black German Shepherd dog. I miss her so much.

Charmaine has been such a blessing in my life. I met her when my mother-in-law (her mother) had had a heart attack and she, my hubby (her brother) and I were going to drive to Mississippi together to see her. As it turned out, we didn't make it in time, so we went there to plan and attend her funeral. That was in 1983, I think. Since then, she's always been there when I've needed her. She's a true friend. A sister. I'm blessed to have a sister by birth, a sister by marriage and a soul sister. I have an extremely good friend too and a mother that I love and get along with. Who could ask for more?

Thank you, Charmaine. One more thing -- I did have trouble deciding where to hang the painting. I knew it deserved to be in the living room where everyone who visited could see it, but I wanted it in my bedroom. That way, if there was ever a fire in the middle of the night, I could save it. Now, I just hope that if we're ever unfortunate enough to have a fire, that I'm wide awake and I can get it and the watercolor of our home that is upstairs.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 25

This is my favorite photo that I have ever taken. It was taken, I think in 1983, late summer. I'm thinking it was August or September. The photo is of my father and my son. My son turned 3 in early September of that year. My father was building the log house that my husband and I now live in. Our son lived in it too, for many years, until he married and went into the Air Force at the age of 18.

My son thought my father hung the moon! Oh, how he loved that man. Dad passed away on December 1st, 1995. It's so hard to believe that it's been almost 14 years since that day.

The day this photo was taken, dad was building this house. My husband helped him on the western wall of the house, up high standing on scaffolding. I carved the date into one of the logs on the NE corner of the house, which happens to be the laundry room wall. My son was playing in the dirt with his little Hot Wheel cars and running all over under the trees trying to have fun and keep cool in the hot Texas weather. Dad and my son took a break at some point to have a little visit. I still can't believe I had a camera with me that day. That I captured this wonderful photograph, that says so much about my son and father and their relationship, is to me a small miracle. It is a treasure. So much so that my dear sister-in-law Charmaine recently painted a portrait of it. I picked it up from her a couple of days ago. After much debate, I think we've finally figured out where to hang it. I'll take a photo of it hanging in a day or so and post it, so that you can see how talented she is.

I guess it's not fair to claim this photo as my art for today. Really, that was not my intention. I have been racking my brain all day, between choirs and errands, to think of quotes for the quilt I want to do. I've also read several older posts on a favorite blog, ornamental. Ornamental is definitely an artist date you can take for yourself right in your own home. That's what I did for my art today. I checked out a beautiful, inspirational blog that feeds my soul and creativity and I found great phrases for my quote quilts.

Happy Halloween!

I've always loved Halloween. When I was a kid, I loved to dress as a gypsy every Halloween. My momma would make me a black skirt by dying a bed sheet black and then sewing it into a skirt. For some reason, we never saved the skirt (or maybe I played with it until it died a shredded death of it's own) and would have to make a new one the next year. I know I was a gypsy at least three or four years in a row. Poor momma must have been sick to death of dying and cutting up her sheets for me, but she did it every year without complaint. She also let me wear all of her costume jewelry! Which of course was the main reason for me wanting to be a gypsy in the first place. I loved momma's necklaces! She had so many fun, colorful necklaces back then. I remember nothing else about my costumes, but those were fun and I loved them.

It wasn't quite the same when I had my son. They had all of those plastic store bought things that he wanted to wear by then. I thought they were horrible, but if that was what he wanted, then OK. I doubt he has any of the same great memories like I did.

Then we moved here when he was eight. We're in a rural area on over 27 acres. You can't see the neighbors homes from our house. A perfect place to live to me, except on Halloween. We've never had one trick or treat-er. That makes me very sad. My son had his Halloween festivities elsewhere after we came here. He'd go to a school carnival or party or hay ride. Something like that. I'll be forever saddened about that little piece of childhood that ended early for him.

Now, I get to see photos of my grandchildren dressed in their costumes and hear tales from other family members and friends. It's almost as good, but not quite. So, enjoy every minute! I'll be thinking of you.

Happy Birthday Dear Son!

You are my pride and joy. You are a good dad, husband and son. You are a good person and a good man. I'm so very proud of you.

Dallas World Aquarium

Last Saturday, my son and I took the granddaughters to the Dallas World Aquarium. Here are a few of the things we saw. Most of the photos we took didn't turn out well. There were a lot of people there. Granddaughter number one wanted to take photos, but was having trouble with the glass, even with the flash off. She did take a great shot of the spotted stingray. Don't know the proper name of it. Granddaughter number two took the great shot of the octopus. I never could get the shot I wanted of the manatee.

Photo of the week 17 of 39 -- 9:00 AM

This is my son at 9:00 AM this morning. Of course, I could have taken this photo on any of the mornings that he's been here and gotten the same result. And as my hubby said, I probably could have taken the same photo at 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM. He rarely gets to sleep in (he's in the military and has three children) and he is on West Coast time instead of Central time like we are.

Next week's theme is "Crossroads".

Photos of Re-enlistment

With my hubby's help, I have now added photo's of our son's re-enlistment signing and extremely small ceremony. If you would like to see it, click on the link.

Passing the Test

My son just called. He passed the test! He's a Tech Sergeant! Or will be as soon as he can officially sew on his new stripe. With that comes a pay raise and, I'm sure, more responsibility. He's 28 years old and has been in the Air Force for 10 years. I'm told that making Tech at this age and this soon is fairly rare. I don't know if that is as true now as it apparently was when his father was in the Air Force, but regardless, I'm his mother and I'm extremely proud.

My Son

My son. He's a good man. He's a Staff Sargent in the Air Force. He went into the Air Force right out of high school because he wanted to get married and knew it was the only way to support a wife right then. They started having kiddos and ended up with three of them. Their son is autistic. M developed many health problems. He's decided to make the military a career. He's got a lot on his plate for a 28 year old. Many of his friends are only just now getting married or are single. I would guess that many of them, even in these economic times, are living the good life, and still have disposable income. My son probably doesn't remember what that is, if he ever knew. His life, in the military, is always uncertain. He could be uprooted and shipped off somewhere else to live and work or be deployed at any time. Depending on the area of the job, his family may or may not get to go with him. Needless to say, I'm proud of him. I'm proud of who he has grown up to be. Of the father and husband he is. Of the man he is.

Trees

One thing my oldest granddaughter and I have in common is our love of trees. When CV was a tiny little thing, just learning to walk, she had to touch every tree she was near. She'd stretch out that little arm and say "tree" until you went with her to touch it or if she was walking, she'd just try to take off toward it herself. I always got so tickled about it. When she got there, she would just pat her little hand on the bark like she was saying hello to a friend. I believe she would have hugged the trees if she could have gotten her little arms around them.


I love to photograph the sun or sky through tree branches. I love the way the limbs all criss cross and reach up. I think they're just beautiful. A bare or dead tree is just as beautiful to me as one full of leaves. I've made quilted postcards with bare trees on them. Maybe I need to make a larger quilt of tree branches. Who knows, one of these photos could be my inspiration.


My father was also a very big tree fan. CV never met her Great Grandfather. He died when her father was 15, but she said something odd one day that led us to wonder..... I'll start with the quilt stories. I made my father a quilt when he was very ill. I chose to use red, white and blue and patriotic fabrics because he was a Navy veteran. I had hoped to have the quilt finished by Father's Day that year, but it wasn't. So, I showed it to him in progress because I was afraid he wouldn't live to see it completed. I told him that I'd give it to him as soon as I finished quilting it. I'm a hand quilter and I had hand basted the layers together. Basting stitches are big and are just there to keep the layers from shifting while you stitch. As you get to them, you clip them away from where you're working. So, in some areas of the quilt, I had fine hand quilting and in other areas there was basting. My quilting stitches were tiny and dad didn't really notice them, but he sure noticed the basting. I'll never forget what he said: "Oh, honey! You're quilting is kind of big.". He sounded so sad for me. I just smiled and showed him the quilting and explained the basting. He felt much better for me after that! Fortunately, I did finish the quilt before he passed and he was able to use it for several months. He told me he wanted my son to get the quilt when he died. After his death, I added an additional label telling about the passing down of the quilt and I added a picture of my son and father together.


Now, my son was very protective of his Granpa's quilt. After he was married and they started to have kids, no one was allowed to use the quilt unless they were sick. I can't remember how old CV was when this happened. She was pretty small and sick and getting to use the quilt. She asked her mom about the picture on the back. M explained to her that it was a picture of her daddy when he was a little boy and he was with his Granpa. She also told CV that her daddy's Granpa was her Great Granpa. CV didn't really understand all that Great stuff. She said: "Well, I don't know who that man is, but I know he's watching over me.". When M told me that, I got chills. It makes me extremely happy to think that my dad may be able to look in on his grandson and greatgrandchildren and be a angel watching over them when they need it.