Mango Maniac Chow Hound!

So last night we got take out for supper. Fried Chicken dinner. I got some breadsticks too. We got home and I was sitting on the floor eating with J sitting on the floor leaning on the crook of my knee. I bit off the end of a breadstick and started giving him bites of the soft bread in the middle. (He loves bread!) After about four little bites he suddenly reached out and literally snatched the breadstick out of my hand and stuck it in his mouth and tore a chunk off. I just sat there staring at him slack-jawed. R was cracking up laughing. He continued to rip hunks of bread off that stick till all that was left of it was about the size of his little fist. We took that from him and gave him the other breadstick, which he just about finished as well. All the while he was accepting small bites of coleslaw and chicken from me also. When the breadsticks were gone he decided to get on to the business of playing with his toys. Till he crawled over my leg and found the box that my chicken meal came in. I’d been dropping my bones and pieces of chicken skin into it, so I reached to take it away from him before he got himself all greasy. At that point he literally DOVE into the box and retrieved a dinner roll and bit a giant hunk out of it before I knew what happened! So I guess it’s safe to say J is now a skilled self-feeder! LOL Later on he started to act hungry again. I thought it was not likely he had much room left after all that and his bottle, but I was wrong. I decided to let him try something new. The boy LOVES mango! I ran it through his baby food mill and he flat scarfed it! It gave him the full body shivers a few times, but that never slowed him down one bit. Man, this kid is so much fun it’s freaky! Ha Ha!

Holy Incisor Batman!

Ysterday my little man had a much better day! He had 30 ounces of milk! HOORAY! When I went to pick him up, he was in his high chair sharing some cheerios with Gammo. (he is learning to "share" by giving us bites of his food) I sat down next to him to get him to give me some, and he grinned real big, and I gasped. There was another tooth! He cut the second incisor on his bottom left side. That brings us to a current total of 7 teeth! That explains why he didn't want to take his bottle yesterday. That's the same thing that happened the last time he cut teeth. So now he is back on track, and back to acting like his normal self. We played and ate and acted silly and took a bath last night, and he was up till about 9:00. I enjoyed the heck out of that.

When we got home we found a very large box had been delivered. We opened it up and found TONS of new clothes for J. Big Bird has been at it again! She always finds the most absolutely adorable clothes. Last night J slept in his new ba-dreamies (pajamas) that say "future Mr. Right." Too funny! (Too true!) He also got an OSU Cowboys shirt, some new shoes, two pairs of jeans, a jumper, and several onsies. My favorites include "Mom's Lucky Charm," "Lion Around" (with picture of a lion), "as fun as a barrel of monkeys" (with three monkeys), and the funnest pair of little Bermuda shorts! We will be taking lots of pictures as he wears his new clothes so we can share with everyone. Last night I tried to get pictures of him in the ba-dreamies, but everytime I got on the floor with the camera, he would crawl to me before the camera had time to focus. LOL I did get one good one of him playing with the box they came in. So thank you thank you thank you Big Bird! You are just too good to us! We really love you a lot!

Sleepy Boy!

Last night I called my mom when I got home to see if it was ok if I ran by the grocery store for a minute before picking up J. She said that was fine, and commented that he was very tired and sleepy. When I got there to pick him up, he was indeed acting real sleepy and laid his head on my shoulder while we talked about how his day had been. At that point he'd only had about 12 ounces of milk for the entire day! He slept well, and ate his solids just fine, but would not drink any milk or juice out of either his bottle or cup! So I took him home and daddy was playing with him while I unloaded the car. He began to get cranky, so I sat down with him and his bottle, figuring he was probably hungry. He would have no part of that bottle no matter what I did! He got MAYBE another ounce out of it, and was just being a total booger head, and giving me all his classic sleepy signals. So I laid him in his bed around 7:00, figuring he'd have a little evening nap and then wake up for his supper and bath. Well, guess what? My poor little guy slept SOUNDLY till 5:30 this morning!!! I even tried to wake him up at 9:00, but he was totally out! The poor kid slept in his clothes and everything. I missed him so much last night for not having a chance to have our usual evening playtime. He sucked down 6 ounces right away this morning, then another 4 at mom's house before his morning nap, then another 4 when he woke up, then had his breakfast baby cereal! He's off to a running start for today. I don't know what the heck was going on yesterday, but I for one did NOT like it! LOL

I see all my friends have posted at least a little something. Thanks guys! At least I know you are in fact reading this, and I'm not just writing all my thoughts and experiences for the great black void! Ha Ha! Hope everyone is having a great day.

Where Have all my Bloggers Gone?

Ok, so I know four people who blog besides me. That is all. I guess I need to expand my friend list because none of those people have posted in like a week! (some of them much longer) C'mon you guys! Get with it! I am faithfully putting up at least two or three posts a week for you. Then I get on here and there is nothing to read! No one is even commenting on my blog! It's like you all disappeared! If you all keep this up much longer, I'll get so lonely I'll have to make actual live human contact. Can you imagine?

Moving on.....

We had a really great weekend. Friday I got out of work early due to inventory. I took the opportunity to do my shopping before going home, since I was already in the city and had the time. So I didn't have to go anywhere this weekend. I just stayed home and played with J and did my chores for two solid days! It was wonderful! We were able to have some great family time with Daddy too. He has been working so hard we hardly see him lots of times. We got lots and lots of pretty snow on Saturday, but it was so warm on Suday that it all melted away.

Answers to prayer....

So it appears that R is going to be hired on to the new company and that they will not be decreasing his pay. More details will be forthcoming, but that was a huge relief!
My friend E has found a new sitter. I do not know much about the situation, as we haven't spoken much lately. (Her baby has been sick, poor girl!) I hope this one will be the right fit for the family.

And the BIG news.....

J began crawling this weekend!!!!! Yep, you read that right. He managed to get himself coordinated and figured out how to locomote himself right across the room! He practiced at it all weekend. Most of the time he does a sort of half crawl, half commando scoot, but on several occasions I saw him lift all the way up and take several strides in a traditional crawl. When I showed R I thought the man was going to jump up and do cartwheels! He was more excited than I've seen him be about anything! It was so adorable. I just love my men!

A New Product on the Inventory List

So, when we have inventory our headquarters sends out “auditors” to supervise the process and make sure we do everything by the book, and they look over all the offices and desks etc. to make sure we aren’t hiding material instead of counting it.

The room where I pump has no lock.

(you already see where this is going, don’t you?)

I put a sign on the back of the door, and everyone in the office knows what I’m doing in there, so I never worry about it.

Apparently my sign fell off the door, which I never saw because I never approach the room when it’s closed.

I was sitting there doing my business when I heard the door start to open. I turned my back to the door quickly and said, “shut the door please!” What seemed like forever later, but was likely only a second, I heard the door close again. I have no idea who it was, though I assume it was an auditor.

So if the inventory this year lists “Two Exposed Boobs” you know why.

You gotta love inventory! :)

Prayer Warriors, Get Out Your Knee Pads!

I am here today to ask all my dear friends in Christ to get out the heavy artillary and go to battle against the foe who tries to separate us from our Father's love and His will and plan for our lives. There are a few particular issues I have to ask for your specific prayers.

• My husband R was informed today that the trucking company he works for lost thier contract with the local grocery company. They will be laying off thier entire staff who have been servicing this contract. Thier last day will be March 8. They will provide contact information for the new company which did get the contract, so that the drivers may apply for any positions that may be open in the new company. We have no way of knowing if the pay and/or benifits will be comperable with the new company. Please pray for God's leading to provide a new job for R wherever He would have him be. Please pray for provision for our family in these uncertain times.
• My dear friend E has recently lost her babysitter. She has been patching together friends and family one day at a time while looking for a new sitter. She is becoming concerned about the possability of being forced to put her baby in a daycare center. Please pray for God's wisdom and leading to be revealed to her, and for her to have peace in His plan.
• My friend L is struggling with a chronic, dangerous illness, and is in the process of being placed on the transplant waiting list. She lives with pain and various medical difficulties daily. She swallows a virtual pharmacy full of pills every day trying to stave off the many effects and side effects of this illness. In spite of this she does nothing but shine the love of Christ to everyone who meets her. She never stops giving to others. Please pray that God would pour out rivers of healing and showers of blessings on her beyond measure so that her cup will truely runneth over.
• My step-dad's father is elderly and in poor mental health. He becomes confused as to place and time daily. He gets worried and agitated without cause regularly. He is still at home. Please pray that his faculties will remain intact and he may have peace and clarity from now till his end of life, whenever the Lord sees fit that may be.

If anyone else has a prayer request while we are at it, please mention it in the comments section of this post. Thank you all in advance for your prayer and concern. God Bless!

1Ki 8:28
Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.
Psa 141:2
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Mar 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Rom 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Phl 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Jam 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Psa 6:9
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.
Psa 66:20
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Psa 88:13
But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

A Dedication to My Big Bird

For those of you who don't know, I have a dear friend that I call Big Bird. This morning I read a story that she wrote about her trip to get her cast re-done. (She fell on the stairs a while back and broke her wrist.) As a little background, she is battling an illness that is affecting her heart and lungs, caused by damage from a prescription drug she was given many years ago. This is a progressive and dangerous illness, and she is in the process of getting on the list for a heart and lung trasplant, which is the only cure for her problem. She has handled this whole situation with her standard grace and joy and desire to give and give and give some more to others. She continues to reach out in incredible ways to friends, family, and total strangers daily. I just wanted to say here on my blog, for the record, how HONORED I am to be her friend. Here is her cast story, it will give you a taste of what she is like. Then I will put my response below.

HELLO! It's me.....L! I am going to do my best to type this out one handed! I am so glad to be back among the living..at least that's what it feels like! I left the house today long enough to get my hair cut and colored, finally. Thanks Quinn, it was long overdue and looks great! I will try and take a photo this weekend as it is much shorter and darker.Now enough of that. My fever finally broke Friday AM. I was beginning to think it was never going to happen. I honestly can't remember a time I have been so ill and felt so bad. C and A were amazing and took great care of me, as always. I am continuing to take it easy this weekend as I need to get out of this house and back to work!!!! I am sure all the guys are missing me!I will also try and get a photo on here of the new cast. When I went in on Thursday to get it changed there was a little girl there, about 3 yrs, getting casts put on her very turned in feet. I felt so bad for her mom, this little thing was so scared and could not understand what was happening. So I started talking to her, asked her name...Emily. I showed her my cast and told her it didn't hurt at all. I let her feel it, tap on it, and finally got her to stop crying some. I told her she could watch them take mine off first so she would know what was going to happen. How it didn't hurt and sort of tickled. I even told her that if she didn't cry I would let HER pick the color and we would both get the same color casts! WHAT WAS I thinking? I was thinking...this is a little girl..no problem, pink or purple! No problem! So off mine came and for Emily there were no tears in sight! Her Mom was looking at me with these most greatful eyes! And kept thanking me. I am thinking...it's just a pink cast right? WRONG! Apparently there is another stick with cast choices for kids! I am now sporting a cast that has little green teddy bears holding blue and red balloons!!! I suppose it is better than the camo but I am not sure! I stayed until Emily got hers on and she did great. Not a tear in sight! The tech guy thanked me as well and said they probably would have had to hold her down to put it on. :(The things I get myself into! So I hope little Emily does fine as I only have to wear this for a week or so.I hope everyone is tucked warm in there homes as it is miserable outside here. Cold and wet with snow on it's way. Hugs and lots of love to all. And thank you for the continued prayers, thoughts, and wonderful heartfelt support on here.Please keep the Joel Wagner family in your prayers this weekend as this little guy lost his battle yesterday and is not in pain anymore. God Keep Blessing all of them.

My Dearest Big Bird,
I am trying to write this to you without tears (of joy) but I may just end up with a wet keyboard. It is amazing, even astounding to me how every once in a while God gives us little glimpses into his bigger plan. Just little crumbs of the banqet he is preparing for us. He shows us just enough to help us know him better and trust him more. Now we see why you slipped and fell that morning! And here all the people who loved you were so upset wondering why such terrible things happen to such a tremendously good person. Now we can see that something was happening to a sweet innocent little girl and her family too, and they were wondering why. They were asking why God would allow something to be wrong with thier precious baby's feet that she would have to endure a frightening procedure that she was too young to understand, and why would she have to endure casts on both her feet and all the hassles that go along with it. Now we have a glimpse at part of the bigger picture. He was preparing for this moment ALL ALONG! He allowed Emily's problems, and your fall to happen so that he could bring you into each other's lives at a very precise moment and in a very precise set of circumstances so that he could teach his precious little Emily (and her Mommy, and you too, Lora) something about the nature and character of God, and the value of his true followers.
I know that you have walked through a LOT of fires in your life, L. And I know the one you are in the midst of now is the longest and hottest one yet. But you are being refined and beautified like no one else I have ever known. God is burning off the dross, the extra junk that is mixed in, and turning you into one of the purest souls on the planet. You are a tremendous instrument at work in the hands of an awesome God. I know you like to shrug off this high praise because it all feels so natural to you that you think it's no big deal. But that it feels so normal and natural to you to give away so much of your heart to so many strangers, just proves my point! I watch you, L, and I just sit back in amazement and wonder what He is going to do with you next, and I know that you are so tired and so spent, so when I see you find something else to give to someone else, I know that the extra is coming straight from Him through you. You are my living example of what it means when He says that "in our weakness He is stronger." I am genuinely honored to be one of the many many people that he has placed in your path. It is a gift just to know you. I love you with all my heart.
Now please excuse me while I go finish off a box of Kleenex! :)

My Girl!

This is my god-daughter K. Isn't she cute in her new hat and her new hair-do?

I love you K-bug!

My Funny Valentines

My two precious Valentines! These are my men. I love them so much more than I can say!

Blogger Tag: Getting to Know You

Here are the instructions: Copy these questions onto your blog and answer them. Tag all of your friends by posting a comment on thier blog. Add links to their blogs on yours. Have fun, and learn more about your pals!


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE

My middle name is after my Grams.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Yesterday

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING

yes

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Turkey and pepperoni

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

yes

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Yes, I am freaking hilarious!

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

No, never. Not even once.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS

yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

NO!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

Cap’n Crunch

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

no

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG

more now than ever before.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

German Chocolate

14 WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

The expression on their face.

15. RED OR PINK?

PINK! PINK! LONG LIVE PINK!

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

Poor health

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

Tracy

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO PLAY ALONG WITH THIS GAME?

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have sent it to you.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

Cream pants, black shoes

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

cashews

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

Office Din

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

PINK! PINK! LONG LIVE PINK!

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

My baby, after his bath!

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

A sales rep.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

Yup. She’s mah sista!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH

EEEWWWW!!

27. HAIR COLOR?

Brown

28. EYE COLOR?

Brown

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

no

30 FAVORITE FOOD?

free and cooked by someone else.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

happy endings

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

Spaceballs………(I am so ashamed)

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

PINK! PINK! LONG LIVE PINK!

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

spring

35. HUGS OR KISSES?

hugs

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?

free and cooked by someone else.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

my leedle mudder

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

the people I didn’t send it to.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Innocent Man by John Grisham (makes me angry!)

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

at work nothing, at home my baby.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?

The Biggest Loser, Law & Order SVU

42. FAVORITE SOUND?

my baby’s laugh

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

neither

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Earth

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I once squeezed an entire human out of my body!

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

In the hospital

47. WHO'S ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING?

Everyones of course !!!!

http://cherylmccoy.blogspot.com/
http://unofficially-nameless.blogspot.com/
http://dadofteenager.blogspot.com/
http://beckycochran.blogspot.com/

Nine Months Old

Does that just melt your heart, or what?
My happy little boy!
This is one of my favorite pictures ever! I adore this face!
James got a visit from his Grandpa. Now you see where he got his cheeks!

A Pie Chart of My Life

Amy Winehouse? Not in Mine-House!

Let me just warn you in advance. I’m about to take a step up. Up onto my soapbox! This may offend some of you, or you may simply think that I’m a stodgy old conservative prude, or that I take things way too seriously. If so, post a message and tell me your thoughts, or just shrug your shoulders and laugh at me and move on. With that, here is my opinion:

I gave up watching the grammy’s years ago. I no longer listen to popular music. I don’t like most of it, and find some of it downright offensive. I was content to just ignore it for a long time. If I listen to the radio, I usually have on either oldies or Christian music. But this morning I happened to see the “big news” on The Today Show. They showed this chickie Amy Winehouse singing her famous song “Rehab” for which she won the honors of both song of the year and album of the year. The most memorable line of the song that they chose to play for their soundbite said, “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no.” Excuse me? Then the story went on to explain that sadly, she was not able to be present to accept her awards. She even had to give her live performance via satellite from London. (she’s British) Why? Because her “drug problems caused her to loose her Visa.” Oh? And so this is the person we want to reward and proclaim as the best the music industry has to offer?

Now I know that some of my friends who loyally read my blog would say, hey, she’s an adult, she has freedom of speech, she’s not the cause of the drug problem, yadda, yadda, yadda…. (Yes, I just yadda’d you, deal with it!) But the thing is, the majority of the people buying those CD’s, downloading those MP3’s, and listening to the onslaught of crap that the industry churns out for them, are teens and young adults. The most impressionable members of our society! And what kind of a diet is our entertainment industry feeding them? Lets see: Drugs good, Rehab bad. Women worthless, Men Superior. Shooting anyone who disrespects you good, Maturity and conflict resolution…huh? What’s that? Gangsta’s equal cool. Slut equals popular. I could go on and on and on, but you get my point. I see kids even as young as 8, 9, 10 singing along with these tunes, spewing lyrics they don’t even yet understand, and gyrating their little pelvises like they see their musical idols doing in the videos. Our future leaders are swallowing this garbage like candy, and its scary as hell to me!

And every time we buy the music, read the tabloids, and talk about the latest exploits of Brittany and K Fed over lunch, we feed the growing beast. It sickens me that the nightly news is now filled with stories about which starlet was caught stoned, and which leading man got a DUI. We glorify these idiots by making them mainstream. And when they get out of jail after their grueling 12 hour stint, we clean them up, put them in front of another camera and shoot the next video or the next blockbuster movie and glorify them like they are the gods of our culture! There was a time not so long ago, I’m sure my parents can remember it, though I cannot, when a star would be publicly shamed and then shunned for such behavior. Now, they get to add an extra million dollars to their next movie or record deal, because they have so much more “publicity.”

Well, I for one, am finished feeding the beast. I intend to do the best I can not to give any of my time, attention, or money to the selfish, hedonistic, overpaid, drunken, drugged, oversexed “stars” that we have created.

It's a God Thing!

It was one of those mornings that you wonder, “why me?” But I think it was really a God thing. J was up at 2:00 this morning, had some milk and was ready to play. I let him roll around on the floor and make eyes at Daddy for a while, then I put him back to bed and hoped he’d go to sleep, which he did. I remember my alarm clock going off this morning. It is set for 5:30. I guess I must have turned it off in my sleep somehow. I’ve done that before, but usually J wakes up by 6:00 so it’s not a huge deal. I’m not sure just what time J was awake today. I had the monitor receiver in our room turned on, but the button was positioned just so, and even though the light was on, no sound was coming out of it. So by the time J was loud enough that he woke me up through the bedroom doors, it was 7:00! YIKES! I hurried as much as I could to get us both ready, but I need to be on the road out of town by 7:20 at the latest in order to make it in on time. That was certainly not going to happen. I was on the road at 7:45. I called in and explained what happened. The girl at work laughed at me, by the way! I was just past the "B" exit on the highway, when I noticed that both lanes of traffic were really backing up this morning. I thought that was odd, as usually only the right lane exiting onto the interstate backs up. "B" is the last possible exit before the interstate, which is where I need to get off and go south to my office. Moments later the news report on the radio tells me that there is a multiple vehicle accident on southbound interstate, and police are blocking traffic from the highway. GRRRRRREAT! So I sit forever in the backed up traffic, have to drive past my exit and go on to the next exit, which takes me to an area I’ve never driven before. So I am trying to figure out what I think the best route is to get back to my office. As I go over the bridge across the interstate, I look to the south and see that the traffic is flowing very slowly on the right lane, and the left lane is filled with stopped cars about as far as I can see! That must have been some accident! Then it hits me……..if I’d been on time this morning, I very likely WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE CARS! As far as I know there were no major injuries reported in the pile-up, but my SUV is the only decent vehicle R and I have that we can depend on to drive any distance at all. And our credit is totally shot for trying to replace it if it were wrecked! So today I am singing praises to my God for caring even about the smallest details of my life, and for causing all those little factors to line up just right to keep me out of that accident! Isn’t he an AWESOME God?!!! Amen.

Visual Instructions for New Parents

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

Here is my sweet boy with me at two weeks old, and nine months old. I cannot believe he's this big already!

Smart baby, Bad weather, Dumb doctor's office!

The night before last after J had finished his supper, he was acting a little “snacky” hungry, so I decided to try giving him some cheerios again. Previously, he had a hard time understanding that they were intended to be food, and when I put one in his mouth he gagged on it a little bit. So Monday night, I set a handful of cheerios on the table in front of him. He mostly played with them till I put one just inside his mouth right between his teeth and he bit it in half. Then it was like voila! He figured out what they were for. He was trying so hard to pick them up, but he would either accidentally bat them off the edge of the table, or finally manage to pick one up only to drop it before getting it to his mouth. But my boy is SMART! You bet your bottom! He finally got one positioned just right in front of him, planted both hands flat on the table, leaned forward, and ate the cheerio right off the table! It was the funniest thing I ever saw! I clamped my hand over my mouth trying so hard not to distract him with laughter. My shoulders were heaving in silent gales of laughter. He repeated this two or three times before he got tired of sitting at the table. It was so great! Last night we tried again. He has figured out how to move the cereal around in his mouth so that he can bite it with his front teeth. Too cute to watch! I managed to get a few shots of the “doggie style” eating, and then he finally started to get the hang of picking them up. He would pick up a cheerio with his right hand, then grab his wrist with his left hand and pull the right hand up to his mouth to eat it! I’m telling you, my child is a genius! He’s a problem solver! What a joy to watch his mind work! He is such a blessing everyday.

We got slammed with about five inches of snow last night. It was just getting started good when I was on my way home. So I decided it would be a good idea to flip the windshield wipers up so that they wouldn’t be iced to the windshield in the morning. I lifted up the driver’s side wiper and went to wipe the blade clean of ice build-up and it FELL OFF! I struggled and struggled, but couldn’t figure out how to get it back on. I finally just took J inside and figured I’d go work on it some more when he went to bed. Well, it turned out the thing was broken. It had been broken for a while, but R had it rigged up to stay on and work right. He told me he would put it on when he got home in the middle of the night. Well, I woke up at 5:15 this morning, and R wasn’t home. The first thing I did was call him and make sure he hadn’t slid into a ditch in the storm or something. He was still waiting to get his trailer unloaded! Oh great! I went out and cleared off the car and tried again to get the wiper back on, but it was just not going to happen. I was going to have to wait for R to come home. So I made my phone calls to tell people I would be late today and why. R had his own fiasco to deal with at work last night, and didn’t get home till after 8:30. He stopped and bought a new wiper and put it on for me and finished cleaning off my car for me. I love my husband!

At this point it was clear that I would not be able to make my 9:30 Dr. appointment. I called in to reschedule and they gave me a 10:30 appointment. So I called in to work to tell them what I was doing. Not five minutes later the doctor’s office called again to say that my account was noted that I’d have to pay my entire balance when I came in. I told them that the account was on a debt payment plan and they are receiving monthly payments. She said oh, ok. Later they called back and said that in fact, because the account had at one point been turned over to collections it was their policy not to provide any more care until the bill is paid in full. I would have to bring in $700+ in order to be seen today. WTH?!!! Talk about a bunch of MORONS! So, long story short, I am not going to that doctor, and will be looking for a different practice at some point in the future.

RITHER

One of my personal pet peeves is the latest trend in Hollywood of referring to famous couples with a singular moniker composed of a melding of each of their names. Examples include Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, “Tomcat” and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, “Brangalina.” Aside from the fact that it bothers me that the practice strips these people of their individuality, it is just silly and stupid sounding! So I decided that it might be fun to make a few “melds” of my own, to see if it sounds as ridiculous when applied to regular people as it does with our favorite (or not so favorite) stars. Here goes:

Rick + Heather = RITHER
Beryl + Becky = BERKEY
Duane + Jo = DUJO
Leeland + AnnaLee = LEELALEE
Bill + Jean = BEAN
Phil + Cheryl = PHERYL
Charles + Liz = CHIZ
Jim + Jodi = JIDI
Jack + Jackie = JACKACKIE
Charlie + Lynna = CHINNA

Do you have any more to share? Add them to the comments on this page!

Hey.......my husband is NOT gay!!!

Ok, I don't know how many people pay any attention to it, but over there on the right side of my page, there is a "google ad." I placed this there because when I read about how it works, I learned that the program will "crawl" my page and see what kind of subject matter I write about, and post an ad that relates to it. So I thought it would be interesting to see what kinds of things it comes up with. Also, it said that I would get paid for each time someone "clicks" on the add. But the balance woudl have to be at least $100 before they'd send me a check. Now, I didn't read all the fine print, but I'm betting that it pays like a penny for every 37 million clicks, so that is NOT the reason I chose to put an ad on my page. I like to go to my page every few days and see what is being advertised there.......till today.

Imagine my shock when I pulled up my little page of yammering about my baby and my silly little life, and seeing this title on the google ad: "How I Made My Husband Gay."

WTH?!!!!!

I have no idea what on earth I ever wrote here that could be constued as having anything remotely to do with gayness or anyone being made that way. Of course, now that I have written this post, it will probably come up with all sorts of new off the wall things to advertise. I just wanted to go on the record that my husband is NOT gay, and I have never "made" anyone either gay or straight, thank you very much! Get a clue, Google!