Sleep and guns

As you know, for a good long while, Dad and I have been in need of a new mattress.  Since I took the week off from work, we decided to shop around for a mattress yesterday.  We didn't have any intention of buying one, but thought we would just see what was out there.  We went to Penn Square into a store called "Mattress Firm".  They sell Tempur Pedic mattresses there.  Another name for Tempur Pedic mattress is "Heaven".  We tried them out and wanted to just lie there the rest of the day.  They even have adjustable beds that can raise the head and foot of the bed to take the strain off your back.  I used to mistakenly think these were for old farts, but they either aren't only for old farts, or I'm now an old fart.  We visited one other mattress store, but there was no comparison.  We started the day thinking that we were looking for a sleep number bed, where you adjust the firmness of the mattress, but after lying on the Tempur Pedic, the Sleep Number couldn't hold a candle.  

Needless to say the TP mattress is not cheap, but we knew we would be spending a pretty good bit to get a mattress as firm as we needed it to be.  Dad has to sleep on the floor most every night now because our mattress gives him a backache.  We have a lot of pretty big expenses right now, so we really didn't want to spend the money on the mattress just yet.  We tried to figure out how we could make it work as soon as possible, including looking on Craigslist to see if by some chance there might be one for sale on there.  Kinda grody, but we really want Dad to be able to get some relief, not to mention that I've really been wanting a bed that I could set my glass of wine on and not worry about it spilling while Dad jumps up and down on his side of the bed.  We were also needing a bed that is so comfortable that we don't even need sheets or covers while I'm trying to sleep and Dad sits up to read the newspaper.  See how happy we would be?

We couldn't find anything on Craigslist, so Dad tried rigging up his own adjustable bed with pillows last night.  He informed me this morning that the ghetto Tempur Pedic did not work at all.  We're convinced at this point that we will never sleep again until we have a TP mattress of our own.  

Today we took Garrison, Maddie, and Chloe out to Lexington, OK to a free gun range to shoot.  Dad has been begging me to come shoot with them, and I really just wanted to tag along and watch, so I went.  I'm not ashamed to say that guns scare me to death, and I have no desire whatsoever to shoot anything stronger than an BB gun, and I can take or leave that.  Anyway, he has a 9mm, a 45(?, I think, but don't hold me to it), and Garrison has a shotgun.  Dad finally coaxed me to come shoot with them.  I realized that I will never be much threat with a gun, because when I'm holding them and trying to pull the trigger, I close my eyes in anticipation of the loud "boom" the gun makes when it shoots.  Needless to say, I'm not a very good shot.  I'm glad I had on sunglasses so the other people there watching me shoot with my eyes closed wouldn't laugh at me.   Then I tried Garrison's shotgun.  I stood up held up the gun, ready to shoot.  Dad told me that if I shot it the way I was standing, the kick from the gun would push me over backwards.  I'm sure everyone there would have enjoyed seeing that, but thankfully I changed my position before I pulled the trigger.  I really enjoyed going, but am as convinced as ever that guns are not my forte.  I just hope that if someone ever breaks in that they are scared to just have a gun in front of them.  That's probably as scary as I'll ever be.  Or maybe Boomie's snoring will scare them off, or maybe they would trip over his sleeping body and hit their head and I could just roll them out the front door and call the police.  

After we got back we decided to get a quick dinner.  We initially planned to go to Bueno, but Dad has been wanting to try a new Mexican food restaurant nearby.  It's a little place, but he said it's always packed, and he wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. It's called Birrieria Don Arthur, Simplemente La Mejor.  Just kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?  I should have known I was in trouble when we walked into the front door, and all the "No shirt, no shoes, no service"-like signs were in Spanish.  I couldn't find a word anywhere in English. 

 Those kind of places intimidate me, because I don't know what kind of food I'm ordering.  "Yes, I'll have the Coctel De Camaron Y Pulpo, Chico-sized, but would you please hold the cow tongue and the pork brain and add extra cheese?"  I did find tacos,  enchiladas and burritos, but had no idea what any of the ingredients were.  I decided to play it semi-safe and order a chicken enchilada.   I asked her what the other ingredients were, and the waitress told me "chicken, cheese, pork skins, lettuce, potatoes, and jalapeños."  I can make that work, but please leave out the pork skins and jalapeños, thanks.  It ended up being pretty good, but I took pictures of the menu so I could learn what the food was before I came back.  Of course it's Dad's new favorite place. Always the adventurer.

I need to be food brave like you, but I'm just a big fat food weiny.

Love you so much!!!

Mom

Pedi day

Today was the 2nd day of Spring break, and the first day of spring.  Yesterday was rainy, rainy, rainy, and I loved it!!!! Dark and thundery and a perfect day to veg at home.  That's what I did all day, except the obligatory daily (or what feels like daily) trip to Wal-Mart.  Today was lunch at Chick-Fil-A with girlies and pedicure day.  Here are my toes:

I enjoyed our time, but wished so bad you were with us.  It just isn't the same.  But I keep reminding myself that you guys can't live with me forever, no matter how much I wish you could.  I'm thinking we could all just become a big commune.  Wouldn't that be fun? You could even invite your friends to come live with us!


As you know, Sunday was Geema's birthday.  Things went really well.  I told Brooke that, surprisingly, lunch turned out perfectly.  The roast was big enough and still tender, we had enough mashed potatoes even for Keypa, the rolls rose nicely and cooked perfectly, and the pound cake was moist and didn't cave in when I pulled it out of the oven.  It was shocking.  I'm not taking the credit.  It was just a lucky day.  Geema seemed to really have a great time.  She showed up an hour early with Grayson, Garrett, and Emma.  I was still cooking, and not yet expecting company, and was slightly annoyed, especially when Grayson came in the kitchen with two huge grocery bags filled with ingredients, announcing that he was going to make chocolate chip cookies.  I told him, "We'll see! But the kitchen is really full and busy right now!" As you know, this means, "No freaking way you're going to get in the middle of everything and make an even bigger mess!".  I know.  I'm a terrible aunt.  Geema felt bad about showing up early and went in, even after I insisted that she relax, and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.  I felt really bad for being annoyed with her.   I think she enjoyed lunch though.  She acted like it, anyway.


Garrett spent the entire time announcing that he had a sore throat and didn't feel well.  I heard that approximately every five minutes, except when he stopped to tell me that he was now 5'10", and almost as tall as Garrison.


I took Garrison to a dermatologist today.  We went because his face has been really broken out, until about 2 days ago.  I haven't seen it this clear for about a year, so I think the dermatologist thought I was 1) Lying, or 2) incredibly vain, or maybe both.  When the nurse (or whoever it was that checked us in) asked if Garrison's current medicine was working, he just waved at his face, essentially saying, "Well, dumb butt, just see for yourself," and I had to say, "His face has looked like a pizza for about a year until about two days ago, and of course, since we had an appointment with a dermatologist, it completely cleared up and made his mom look like a total idiot."  Not really, but you get the gist. He pretty much acted like he couldn't have cared less about his complexion, even though he ALWAYS takes his pills and uses his acne cream and is quick to let me know when they're almost out.  We only went because the pediatrician, whom (who?) he hasn't seen about 2 years, stopped refilling his prescriptions.  While we were there, he remembered that he had some warts on his fingers, so he had those frozen off.  I watched her spray liquid nitrogen on his fingers and just about died watching his fingers turn a deathly white.  She looked over at me and said, "He didn't even flinch!"  I just had to laugh.  Of course I had to tell her how he didn't cry when he got immunizations as a baby, as if that made him super-brave or made me the best mom ever.  Sometimes (often) I have no idea why the words I say fly out of my mouth.  Anyway, it was a productive visit, and we're trying new creams.  We go back in 2 months, and if these don't work we'll try something new. She said one wart-freezing treatment doesn't usually do the trick, so we may be re-freezing the warts too, so Garrison can prove his bravery, thus confirming my amazing mom-qualifications.


So glad we got to see and talk to you Sunday!  I know everyone thought it was fun to have you a part of the day!  Keypa was sitting beside Geema the whole time she was Skyping with you. He acted like he was scared to talk to you.  It was so weird!


Love you!!


Mom

HELLFIRE

I found this on our front porch last night.  I thought about what an effective way this was to win people to Christ!  Scare the Hell out of them!!  I don't know why in the world Jesus himself didn't use this most effective method of bringing his disciples to Him!  What was He thinking??!!!

I started Searching for God Knows What last night.  I could barely get through it because I was laughing so much.  When it started with, "It was in a big hotel down South and hotels always make me uncomfortable because the bedding is so fluffy and the television swivels, and who makes coffee in the bathroom?", I knew I was going to love it.  If you want to buy other books on the Nook, go ahead, within reason of course.  :)

After I don't know how many years, I cleaned out my closet last week.  I was trying so hard to stick to the "if you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it" rule, but I failed. I'm pretty sure that I only wear about 4 things, especially now that I don't wear dresses to church on Sunday anymore.  How depressing!  On the bright side, I filled up two huge Sam's bags with clothes that I can donate to the poor people who only have millions of others' discarded clothing items from which to choose their wardrobe.   Kinda makes me sick about all the waste in this country.  But that doesn't keep me from wanting to go pick up a few new items so maybe I'll have 5 or 6 things to wear instead of 4.  What is wrong with me???!!!

Just got finished Skyping with you for a whole hour!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!  That was fun! It was so nice seeing you and your long hair and your tan face and meeting your friends!! I loved your story about your new Turkish friends.  Please write that story down somewhere.  You can even put it on this blog if you want.  

Nina and Granddaddy are getting new phones soon.  Their contracts are up in April, and they've decided that they want a phone like one of their friends has.  It is a smart phone that has phone service and a great camera!  You don't have to have a data plan or messaging, but I think the phone has the capacity to have these things.  I just had to laugh when they were talking about it.  I guess I still have to be proud that they're in their 70's and use a cell phone and a computer.

Ok, I'd better go.  I still need to shower, and to start getting the house clean for the big Taylor sha-bang on Sunday.  I have no earthly idea what to get Geema for her birthday.  Maybe I'll get her a gift card.  She always says how she likes those.

Love you, Babe!

Mom

Fallopian tubes, laundry, rotten green beans, and other things

Boomer refused to stand up to have his picture made

In this picture, it looks like he's saying, "MOOOOOOM! Stop taking my picture!"

The motherlode of green beans for Boomie!

I was at work yesterday and was with a patient who was having a PET scan (a scan for people who have or had cancer), and was talking to another guy who was waiting to have his scan done.  He was telling me that he had lung cancer, but they couldn't remove it surgically because it was in his lung tubes.  "I can't remember what they're called.  Is it fallopian tubes?  Yeah, it was in my fallopian tubes."  I couldn't even correct him, because I was afraid I would laugh out loud instead of in my head.  I just bit my lip and nodded.

In trying to organize my life better, I'm considering having all the kids do their own laundry.  That will work great for Brooke and probably for Maddie, but I'm thinking not so much for Garrison.  I can't decide how much pain and suffering I want to cause myself.  As I thought through my great idea, I figured it would go something like this:  Brooke would wash her things about every other day, dry them, fold them, and put them in her room.  Maddie would wash her things about once a week (hopefully when they're dirty and have been worn once or twice, dry them the next day, and put them in her room).  Garrison would wear his clothes, throw them in the hamper, get them out of the hamper when he needed them and they weren't clean, listen to me fuss because his clothes are dirty and/or smelling, throw them in the washer after I nagged him about it for days, forget about them, throw them in the dryer after I fussed at him, forget about them, get them out piece by piece as he need them, no matter how wrinkled they are (embarrassing me because he's wearing horribly wrinkled pants to work), and finally taking the pile of wadded clothes in his room and putting them on his dresser.  I just don't know if the mental stress is worth saving the few minutes of physical work.  Probably not.

By the way, James is now working at Jersey Mike's with Garrison!  They are both "pumped" about it!  Garrison told me he has about $6000 in the bank right now.  He wants to have $10,000 in the bank before he starts college.  The boy has a plan.  I think he wants to be able to buy a house after college.  I don't know where he got his incredible saving skills.  Probably Granddaddy.

I walked in on Garrison getting CHEWED OUT by his girlfriend's (we'll call her CJ) mom the other night.  Dad and I were LIVID.  It ended up with Dad calling CJ's dad back and telling them not to interfere in our parenting our son, and if they have issue with something Garrison is doing, they need to take it up with Dad or me.  Dad and CJ's dad met at McDonalds in person on Monday and sort of smoothed things out, but Dad did not back down.  I'm glad.  He didn't need to.  We have told Garrison that it is never to happen again, and if it does, we'll be dealing directly with the mom.  It was really messy, but pretty much over for now.

Boomie continues to get skinnier (well, smaller.  I won't get ahead of myself).  I took a couple of pics that I'll upload later.  I'm at work now.  I was buying him Wal-Mart brand canned green beans, which I thought were the cheapest.  Then I found Green Giant green beans, which were 6 cents a can cheaper.  I was pumped!  He thinks he's getting fancy green beans now, and they're cheaper!  Dad said he found a can of Green Giant green beans at the office that expired a year ago.  He's going to bring them home to give to Boomie.  Nothing but the best for our dogs!

Gotta run!  I'll upload pics within the next couple of days, or tomorrow if I don't work.  I'm on call and figure I'll probably get called in.

Can't wait to hear about your Romania experiences!!

I love you!

Mom

Lent

I forgot to tell you on my post yesterday that I gave up "Friends" for Lent. Thought you'd get a kick out of that. Haha!

A bit of rebellion (sort of)

Last month, after debating it for months, I went and got my cartilage pierced!  I know, kind of silly to debate it, but I never want to appear as though I'm trying to be a teenager.  I've always liked Brooke's and wanted to do it myself.  What actually pushed me over the edge is taking Maddie to have her's done.  She originally wanted to get her nose and/or her tragus(?) pierced, but thankfully she's not old enough.  She has to wait until she's 16 to do any of that.  I'm hoping by that time she won't want it anymore.  Anyway, she settled for her ear cartilage.  I ALMOST got mine done at the same time, but didn't do it.  I went back the next day.  A lot of indecisiveness for something pretty insignificant.  When Aunt Cindy was here, she couldn't believe it.  I think Dad couldn't have cared less. 

You're never going to believe it, but the Blazer is FINALLY gone!  WooHoo!!!  Dad had to hound Garrison a million times, but he finally called Pull Apart and they came out and towed it away.  Our driveway looks so very empty now!  We had Holliday's jeep here until just this week, and now we're down to only driveable cars that belong to us.  SHOCKING!!!

I'm planning to attend a seminar next month to be come a cer-ti-fied, gen-u-ine Critical Care RN.  It means a little pay raise if I pass the exam (75 cents/hr), but I'll be super hot crap if I pass.  Not really, but maybe I'll feel like super hot crap.  I'm mostly doing it because there are days that I feel like there is a huge gap in my knowledge base.  I've learned so much since starting work, and I remember a lot from school, but since I didn't work critical care after school and use that knowledge, I need to re-learn a lot of things I've forgotten.  It's a little daunting to think about studying for an exam.  I think I'm going to have to clean out a lot of cobwebs from my brain.

More later.  I love you,

Mom

More Nothingness

I've developed a new addiction.  It's an app on my phone called "Draw Something".  I got pretty obsessed with it for about a week, and was playing it instead of doing things around the house, like talking to the family.  I was playing probably 20 different people, so having to keep up was a bit of a challenge.  When it started keeping me up at night, I decided I had to do something.  I cut out everyone I didn't know, so now I'm only playing Brooke, Maddie, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Bob, and my friend Keron.  As you can see below, I'm an excellent artist.  No one ever has any trouble guessing my pictures.  (By the way, Maddie's username is RocksAreGood).  Don't ask.  I have no idea.

Maddie went to the orthodontist this week, and is excited to report that she may FINALLY be getting her braces off!  She returns in 7 weeks, and if all looks good they'll make an appointment to remove them.  I didn't realize that it had been 3 years!  Needless to say, she's very excited!

You won't believe this, (unless we've already told you) but Bill and cyclone don't live here anymore!!  I got tired of them not being fed, except by me,  and smelling their stinky cages, so I told Dad I was going to put them on Craigslist.  It made me think of Nina giving Muffin away at her garage sale.  I had to laugh.  Anyway, we ended up giving both of them to Ariel.  Their whole family had been wanting a snake, so they were excited to get Cyclone, but they decided to take Bill also.  I sent them away with an, "Are you sure?" and a "Good luck!"  Maddie has been to Ariel's since then, and said they look much happier.  Not sure how she could tell, but I'll take her word for it.

We had our typical Valentine's Day meal this year on the day before Valentine's day.  Just wasn't the same without you, but we did have fun.  Everyone made fun of me, as usual, for decking out the dining room, but I loved it.  I even had a Valentine tree.  Geema and Keypa bought us a little light-up Christmas tree for as a gift for hosting Thanksgiving.  They brought it over sometime after the first of the year.  It's so pretty that I think I'm going to leave it out all year and decorate it for the different seasons.  I put little plastic hearts all over it for February.  I should probably take them off now that it's March.  Haha! 

Okay, enough for right now.  Lots more to say, but I should probably get a few things done around here since I work the next two days.  

Love you so much!

Mom

Dear Reagan

Dear Reagan,

We Skyped today, and it was so wonderful to hear your voice, and see glimpses of you.  I say glimpses, because video Skyping never quite works out for us.  That's okay.  I'd so much rather hear your voice than see you.  I can look at pictures you take and see you and your new surroundings.  After we finished talking, I was sad.  There are so many things I want to say, but I feel that they're so trivial, I don't want to waste our precious few minutes talking about them. This besides the fact that I'm admittedly the world's worst phone conversationalist.  I mulled over it for several hours and decided I would start a blog for you.  It will be all the silly, stupid, mundane things that we would share if you were still living at home, but things I can't bear sacrificing our time for in our short conversations together.  If you don't have time to read them, I won't be hurt.  It's only the (mostly) insignificant things that won't change your life had you never known them, but are things that I think you might like to know.  Maybe they are things that will comfort you when you feel lonely and homesick.

Maddie has finally made friends with the next-door neighbor girls.  They are two sisters (11 and 13, I think).  Their names are Addison (Addie) and Skye.  They seem so sweet, and have been here 3-4 times in the past week.  They rang the doorbell last weekend and invited Maddie to play catch.  I thought I heard Maddie say no to their invitation, but Dad said she agreed.  They came over here and hung out with her for a couple of hours after that.  I can't begin to describe how thrilled I am with this!   She really seems to like them, and they really seem to enjoy hanging out with her.  She will even go play with Bella in the front yard, waiting for them to get home from school.  The only down-side, I guess, is that this is a combined family, and every other week, they are with their mom, and away from the house next door.  Maybe that's a good thing.  It might keep her from friend-overload, and give her some time to just chill at home without the pressure of friends.  The thought of that makes me laugh.  All of us (besides Dad, I think) crave that alone time.

Boomie is getting thinner by the day on his green bean diet.  I looked at him last week and decided that, at last, his head didn't look freakishly tiny compared to his body.  He looks almost completely proportional.  Aunt Cindy told me that Maggie got so skinny they had to start feeding her more.  I know that would so hurt Boomie's feelings. Haha!!

Speaking of Aunt Cindy, she and Morgan came to visit last week.  A good friend of Morgan's from high school got married last Saturday.  Aunt Cindy said she decided to make the trip here with Morgan because: #1, she doesn't need much of an excuse to come visit her OK family, and #2, Morgan had only $16 in her bank account, so didn't even have enough money to pay for gas to get here.  We had a good laugh about that.  Morgan stayed in Brooke's room, since Brooke hadn't yet moved back home, and Aunt Cindy stayed in your room.  I went in and straightened your room before they got here.  I haven't really been in your room, except to rummage through your closet to see if there was anything I'd like to wear (Brooke has done the same :)  ), but I got most everything thrown away, put in your closet, or organized before they got here.  It made me sad, but I spent a lot of time thinking about you and feeling close to you while I hung out in your room.  I thought about what you were doing, and thought about how quickly the time would pass before your mission trip would be over and you'd be home again.  I looked at all your Christmas decorations and thought how quickly the year would pass and it would be appropriate for them to be out.  I set up your Willow Tree nativity.  I've already bought your set for this year.  I can't wait for you to have it.  I wanted to set it up, but decided I would rather you open it at Christmastime.

I have so many other things I can't wait to share, but will save it for another day.  I'm just so glad I got to hear your voice today.  I can't wait to talk to you again on Sunday.

I love you so much, Baby,

Mom