I'm Sorry , WHAT?

Once again I have failed miserably at keeping my blog current, what can I say....I'm a big ol loser of a blogger. I've been called worse i'm sure.

So let's catch up, shall we?

Randy & I are good....we're still married and haven't killed each other yet. Since I last blogged (and that word really annoys me), I've had a complete hysterectomy, about 10 mental melt downs due to extreme hormone imbalance and could very well start growing a beard according to the side effects of the pill i'm taking. I don't sleep at night, except for Fridays because I can take something to help me sleep, so the rest of the days I'm just zombie-ing my way through life. I have gained 4 billion pounds in the last year, as you can see in the picture to the right. Please note that is a wig on my head....I've not gone THAT far over the edge. Randy has had 2 subconjunctival hemorrages in the last month or so....i'm thinking that it's increased pressure that's built up because he can't fullfill his secret fantasy of having me "put down". If Dr. White doesn't get my hormones in check, I fear one of us will be the next Dateline story. We are working some long hours at my job and are crazy as road lizards with the monsterous project we have going on, but I suppose we will survive. Oh and i'm trying to learn the ins and outs of being a coupon queen, so if you toss your Sunday coupons, DON'T.....I want them ALL. I'm attacking the art of couponing like monkey on stink.

Probably the BESTEST news that I've got to share is that there is a new addition to our family....a furry creature....and his name is Little Buck :))))) I will post the details of this precious creature another time. He can put a smile on my face no matter what. I'm completely and positively head over heels in love with my dog.

Preston is still Preston......in the 11th grade now......has a truck that gets him from point A to B with lots of gas between trips from what I understand, AND.....has a job. YES!!!!!!!!!!!! He works on the weekends at Seafood Junction. He is still determined that he wants to join the Air Force. I will support him no matter what as long as I know he's SURE that's what he wants. I just try not to think about it too much right now. "God Bless The USA" came on the radio a few weeks ago and I lost it, so i'm thinking that I might not hold up to well if it ever becomes a reality. His sister is already protesting and not entertaining the thought at all. I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't throw away military related mail that comes to him.....she's been known to swipe it and chunk it.

Ethyn is also a junior this year....goes to Tupelo and also has a job. We rarely get to see him unfortunately. Maybe one day that will change, but for now we deal with what we've got and are thankful when he does come around. He has a girlfriend that he is quite smitten with I do believe. I dreamed that they met Randy and me at Logans to eat and the whole time we were eating she burped and picked her nose. And at one point in the dream, I guess Randy could tell that I was in complete shock and pipes up with, "Aw there's nothing wrong with a little nose pickin' every now and then (shoves his finger up his nose), see???" And pulls out a basket of yeast rolls and honey butter. Maybe I should be thankful I don't sleep any more than I do.

Haley is in the 9th grade and is having a pretty good year. She is on the annual staff and seems to really enjoy that. She recently got her braces put on :) She is closing in on 6 feet tall, if not already. She was 5'9" last time we checked. I love it....wish I was that tall! She's been having more issues with her left ear again....lots of infection. We went back to Shea Clinic in Memphis today thinking we were going to get a surgery set up and boy was I wrong on so many levels. Her hearing is worse and we knew that going into the visit. We put closed caption on the tv several weeks ago and the neighbors can probably hear it down the street. Normal hearing ranges from 0 to 20 dB in all frequencies. Haley's left ear is around 72dB.......meaning....the poor child can't hear well at all. She is also going to have to have YET another PICC line asap and he says she will need it probably around 6 weeks at least, getting IV antibiotics around the clock. NOT what we wanted to hear of course. But the REAL kick in the pants is that the Dr. at Shea is refusing to do her much needed surgery. His reasons are "I don't know what's in there....Dr. McAuley has operated on it 3 times, he needs to be the one to do the surgery because he knows all the details, all of her history on the left ear." DO WHAT????????? Dr. Jim referred us to Shea Clinic because he said he didn't know what to do for her anymore and now the Dr. that is seen by patients ALL OVER THE WORLD, won't operate. I'm so so so frustrated and feel so helpless. It's like nobody can / will help her. I asked him if he would consider reading through her operative notes / hx from Dr. McAuley and discuss it with him and THEN do the surgery. He said no. I got out to the receptionist's desk before we left and she asked if I wanted to go ahead and make her "one year visit" now or later and I just started crying....nothing else I could do but cry. I felt so bad for Haley and so frustrated that at almost age 15 she is still having to deal with this. I know things could be much worse and I'm extremely thankful they aren't but it's still hard to watch your child go through stuff like this. She cried. I cried....it was a great day :'( We are both better now that we've "vented". Hopefully she can get her line put in asap, get this infection GONE then have surgery before summer gets here.

So that's our little world for now......

Later Tater ~

Yeah Yeah....

So once again I'm a blogging slacker. I think because of Facebook, I feel like everyone knows what's up with us and I forget about this blog. So for the 3 of you who read this and don't have facebook....here's you a Nuthouse Update :)

The greatest news I can think of at the moment is that I start my new job on February the 8th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am super SUPER super SUPER excited about this and I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while. My family is going to benefit GREATLY from this new job and for that I am extremely thankful. The downside.....I have to go shop for "normal people" clothes. A) I am NOT a fan of shopping and B) Regular clothes show things that good ol' scrubs can cover UP....who knows, maybe it will cause me to only eat granola for the next 3 months.
The kids are doing ok I suppose. These teenage years are about to do me in but hopefully with lots of prayer and possibly some medication in the near future...we'll all survive!

Haley will have her FIRST of who knows how many surgeries on her right ear coming up in March. I mean, what better way to spend Spring Break, right? I vividly remember how painful the first surgery was on her left ear, so I am dreading this for her big time. I figure she will be wearing a hearing aid for the next 6 months or so until she gets the bone implants put in her right ear. So just keep her and those ears of hers in your prayers.
My allergy meds are kicking my tail right now, so before I start making typos (and we all know I don't like them)....I'm going to stop and come back later!
Hope everyone has a great day!!!
~ Later Tater ~

Catch UP!

Well here we are again....5000 days later??? I should be fired from blogging.

My head hangs low and I'm ashamed. I vow to do better and be a faithful blogger until the day I die.

There.
Now that we got that nonsense out of the way, let's move on to more ME!

So it's been a few hectic and hairy months in my world. LOTS and I do mean LOTS of sickness. I'm still coughing up stuff that tastes like rusty nails, but hopefully that will end soon. If not, my lungs may possibly be rotting and I just don't know it.

I am hanging on with everything I have until the kids get out of school for the summer. I CANNOT WAIT, you hear me? I live for summers and NO SCHOOL!

Kiddo Update....
Preston is one happy camper these days. He has a new girlfriend who I absolutely LOVE, Ashley. She is adorable and I'm so happy to see HIM happy. He will be turning 16 in July, so driving is in the very near future. He does drive pretty well. There are some days I feel like I leave a stain on my leather seats, but most of the time it's good. He will be starting spring football training in a couple of weeks I believe. He has now gotten up in front of our church THREE times and done the Wednesday night lesson....very proud Mama moments indeed. His grades this year are better than they've EVER been, unless he is altering his report card in some way before it gets to me. No injuries to report -- YAY!

Ethyn is becoming the calmest child that I have...who would have ever thought it??? The child is so well behaved 99% of the time! He is still going to Tupelo High School and according to him hates every minute of it. He keeps telling me that he wants to move back to Pontotoc and I hope that comes true. We miss him and hope that everything works out for the best. He is still into the dirt bike scene, but last visit said he's ready to quit it....we'll see on that too. He has had a few injuries due to the bike, but none that were serious. Keep your fingers crossed for us that he comes back home! I just want him to be happy and that hasn't seemed to be the case in a while :(


Haley Bug....ooooohhhh my Haley Bug....she is having her ups and downs days but hopefully is getting more ups than downs. She passed smooth out on me this past Monday morning before school. Scared me to death! She had an echocardiogram done and we will hopefully get those results tomorrow. She is also having to wear a monitor for 30 days...didn't know a 30 day monitor existed but LUCKY us....we have one :/ She is still having some BAD ear infections but is clear at the moment. She has her next ear surgery coming up in May after school is out. Hopefully after he inserts these artificial bones and whatknot....her hearing will be restored. It's gotten PURTY bad here lately. We were going somewhere the other day and I said to her, "Be polite". She got a very confused look on her face and said, "Eat a light???" So yes...we are hoping and praying that her hearing comes back and we don't have near as many ear issues...NONE would be great but we'll take a major decrease too!

Now on to the parental unit...me & Randy!
Randy has seen better days. We are praying that he doesn't lose his job. People keep getting laid off...they're cutting their hours and it's getting pretty scary to say the least. Hopefully things will work out...lots of prayer. On a more positive note, he did our devotional at our last youth devo and did a SUPER FANTASTIC job. I was severly impressed and proud! He will be doing another one at our Spring Retreat this coming weekend. He had some minor knee surgery back in December that went very well. He doesn't sound so much like the 4th of July when he walks now, so that's nice.
I am about to be in the throws of some major candle business...and that's a good thing my friends. It's very exciting and I look forward to sharing the good news with all of you!
Randy & I both have gained an extra 5 gazillion pounds since we got married almost 5 years ago. I finally had to bite the bullet and take my wedding rings to get re-sized, to "fat girl size". I kept putting it off but Randy couldn't stand it anymore! You have NO IDEA how hard it was to walk in that jewelry store and admit, "Hey -- my name is FAT COW and I'm so stinkin' fat now that I can no longer wear my rings!!!!!!!!!" uuuuggghhh that was a depressing day. We are about to make a change though...we have GOT to be healthier.
I am VERY excited because I won the bid on that new p90x workout system on eBay tonight...won it in the very LAST second!!!! It's the newer version where the sessions are only 10 minutes of torture as opposed to an hour +. I was worn out just sitting in my chair WATCHING people do this workout. How sad is that???
But here today....I vow (along with the blogger vow already mentioned above)....to get in better shape along side my adorable husband. I want to know that I have cheekbones....I want to have one chin instead of 3+ and I want to be able to put my clothes on and tie my shoes without feeling like i've just run a marathon!!!!!!!

Here's a pic of us now.....
Do you see the 400 extra chins???? My head is the size of a large pumpkin. It got stuck in the neck hole of a shirt I was trying on the other day. I panicked and was REALLY dreading having to make that 911 call...somehow I managed to get out of that shirt...I'm still not sure how. I think I had an out of body experience. My temples are still a little sore.

Well....that's us in a Nuthouse Nutshell for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend and I look forward to keeping you posted on our new and improved lives!!!

Been a WHILE

I can't believe it's been September since i've added to this here blog. I'm waaaay behind to say the least.

Let's see...when we left off, I believe I mentioned Haley's upcoming ear surgery. I can only hope and pray that you or someone you know NEVER EVER EVER NEVER has to go through that procedure. I've never seen her in such intense pain as she was for several days after wards and she has has MUCHO ear pain in her 12 years. Her surgeon is FANTASTIC and has done an outstanding job. She has been back for several follow-ups and has one more to go in January. She even got to swim on our cruise during Thanksgiving - plugged of course! We did get some really good news after her surgery and that is he doesn't think that she will have to have this same surgery on the right ear. So that is GREAT. Hopefully that will stay true. She has one more surgery to go on her left ear to do the actual bone reconstruction. If her hearing is going to improve, it will after this next surgery, so we are keeping our fingers crossed on that. But things are going well!

We had a WONDERFUL time on our Thanksgiving cruise. It was a much needed vacation. And even though the kids went, it was STILL very relaxing!!! I highly recommend the Carnival Fantasy out of New Orleans....they have done some FANTASTIC upgrades to the ship, so try it out! The weather was beautiful with the exception of the day we went to Paradise Beach in Cozumel. The beach literally had a black cloud hanging over JUST THAT BEACH...it drizzled rain the whole time. You could look everywhere else and see nothing but blue skies...very, very strange. Preston was most disappointed that he didn't get to do the bungee trampoline, but he lived through it.

If you have a Facebook account, you can view my truckload of cruise pics on my profile. If you do not have a Facebook account.....WHY NOT??? It's GREAT!

One of my most favorite parts of the cruise...getting to see that AMAZING water....


Me & the hubby....

& P-Mite....taking one for the team on the new slide
We got back from the cruise on the 29th and I just couldn't grasp that Christmas was right around the corner after being in sunny, warm skies surrounded by beautiful water and palm trees. We put the tree up that weekend....and that tree stood there naked with the exception of lights for DAYS. We just now, got it decorated. We figured that Christmas was going to happen whether we were ready or not. Ask me how much shopping i've done...."How much shopping have you done, Amy???".....NONE. Well, I have gotten my neices a few things but my own family - nada. I think we are going to get that done tomorrow and Saturday and call it quits.

The kids have ONE more day of school and they are OUT, thank goodness. I can't wait!
Hopefully our holidays will be peaceful & injury free....a mother can dream I suppose.

LATER!

Let's ALL Get Hurt...

So this past week our family decided that it was a great time for some injuries. And why just let it be one family member. I mean, that would be INSANE. Let's ALL be injured.

Victim #1 - Preston
His Story: As you can see from this picture, the boy has killer skill. So I gets a call from the school this past Thursday that my boy has taken a HARD hit in football practice, is dizzy, has blurred vision, and a gooood headache. Of course, he's got a mild concussion. He's already had 2 in his lifetime, what's a 3rd?? He's better now, but still has trouble with the old melon hurting. Hopefully it won't last too much longer. We may have to look into getting him a bubble.

Victim #2 - Haley

Her Story: I dropped Haley off for our church lock-in this past Friday night. She did not want to go to the football game....she's really anti-warrior support this year for some reason! Anyway, I'm an hour away from Pontotoc and I get a call saying that she has fallen in the parking lot (that part did NOT shock me) and bent her wrist backwards. "It's really swollen and purple". Allllrighty...just what we needed, right? So I tell them to slap some ice on it and call me in 30 minutes with a trauma update. Nobody ever called, so being the ever so "on it" Mother that I am, I call back and she's HEALED. The swelling is for the most part gone and she's now a normal color. Whew! That's one ER bill we avoided.

Victim #3 - Randy
His Story: He decided to play Gargoyles with the kids at the lock-in. First off, let me say that this game makes me crazy. It has no rhyme nor reason that I can tell. It's completely unorganized, and add to that unorganization the fact that you play it in the pitch black dark. It SCREAMS disaster and injury. Besides the fact that he got his swollen belly hung up under a church pew, somehow he jammed his finger on Ethyn's foot as they were running. I still don't get it but since the game fuels my insanity, I didn't really question him too much. He claims that if he had been alone he would have cried and that it almost caused him to "thow up". I'll leave it at that. Better luck next time Gargoyle Man.

Victim #4 - Ethyn

His Story: Another lock-in tragedy....I'm still not 100% sure of what actually happened, but it involved a toe, and if you know anything about me at all, it's that I DON'T DO FEET, unless they are attached to a baby. Come on Ethyn!!! Why did it have to be a toe??? There was another nurse there, who works med-surge and deals with funky feet all the time. She took a gander at it while I sat close by with a sickened look on my face and we got a "positive" on swelling. GEEZ!!! At this point I'm thinking that there is literally a tiny black cloud of funk looming over my head, bobbing up and down ever so gently. He hobbled around for the next little while and he too is HEALED.

Victim #5 - ME

My Story: I was the LEAST injured of the family because I have it "together" a tad more than the others...yeah, i'm sticking with that. I decided to play a trick on one of our dear friends, Heather. There were about 5 of us playing a game and she had to leave the room for a minute. For some reason, I thought it would be funny if we all got up and left. And now that i'm sitting here typing this i'm thinking, "WOW. That's really not funny at all." I'll blame my extremely lame humor on the fact that I had had very little sleep going into this lock-in, I was running on fumes and it was 2amish. That's 2 am- ISH...not 2 amish. There were no amish people there that I can remember but again, I was really tired and there very well could have been 100's there and I just don't remember. But I digress....my action plan was to exit out through the side door of the building and in doing so, I was trying to haul fanny too fast and twisted my ankle. My body is not used to moving at a rapid pace and I feel like my ankle was in shock and just didn't know what else to do. I apologize, ankle, and I promise not to move too hastily ever again.

Here's hoping that our family unit can progress safely through this next week. On a more serious note, my HaleyBug will be having her FIRST of FOUR surgeries this coming Tuesday the 16th. She has been having major ear issues and it's come to this. She will be in surgery for 2-3 hours Tuesday, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully these surgeries will get her ears back in good shape.

Have a GREAT week everybody!
We "almost" look normal here....man, so so close.

Washing Machine Woes

I must needs back up a spell and give you the FULL history behind my "new" washing machine. It became very clear to my husband and I close to 2 years ago that we were going to HAVE to invest in a larger washer / dryer.
***I am still completely convinced that fairies enter my house every night and wear our clothing, because we do manufacture a buttload of dirty clothes daily**
Anyway....our dryer bit the dust about 2 years ago, so we took the plunge and bought a nice set of GE front end loading bad boy machines.
OH THE SHEER JOY of being able to wash 20 pairs of jeans at one time as opposed to 2!!!
My life is complete!!!....or is it???

So, it's like Christmas at The Nuthouse the day the beautiful machines arrived. My wonderful husband and brother-in-law brought them in and hooked them up. No worries?? They've done this PLENTY of times with other washers & dryers, right? Yes they have, so we're good.

For some reason the kids were all gone (aaaahhhhh peace) so Randy & I being completely infatuated with our new toys, decided it was washin' time! Oh boy! I will admit that when I first looked at them, the dials and buttons looked like something taken from a space ship and I was convinced I would never learn how to wash and dry clothes for my family, but alas!....It was fairly easy to learn.

So, lets put in 20 pairs of jeans and test this sucker out! What else do we have to do? Absolutely nothing...."Go get the jeans, honey!" So in the jeans go and here the two of us sit (yes, we pulled up chairs) as if we were at the movies, watching our first load of clothes wash. Sssshhhhh....what's that noise??? Wait! There is NO NOISE. It's the quietest thing, so unlike the last washing machine. NICE.

It was truly amazing....it would turn one way for about 15 seconds then stop and go back the other way for 15 seconds. How does it know how much water to put in? I have no clue but it does. A site to behold....we just needed some popcorn and a coke and we'd be set.

Could we have sat there and watched the entire cycle? Yes, because remember we had nothing else to do. But, seeing as how it was a Friday night...no kids in the house....we decided to watch some tv (YEEEHAAAWWW) etc....Remember how quiet I said the new, glistening white machine was??? Well not for long my friends. Our ears were soon pierced by the loud noise one makes when it gets unbalanced. WHAT???? It can't be....this sucker says it will wash 500 pairs of jeans and by golly it better not have been no fib! We got 10 legs in this house that have to wear pants!

So we race into the laundry room to see the "beast" rocking back and forth on her pedestal. Not good. Well, maybe we got over zealous and put a few too many pounds of denim in on the first round. So, I took a few pairs out...still thinking I shouldn't have to be taking these out...It should wash all of this with no problem!!!

Nutshell: This happend 3-4 more times with me taking out more and more jeans and getting more and more furious with each denim deletion. This can't be happening???
And Randy...boy he is all red-faced and fuming at this point.

I think the last time, she only held 2 pairs of jeans. I go about my business as does Randy and AGAIN...only this time it's REALLY loud with more noise than usual, almost as if the machine was trying to tell us something (ya think?)....I go flying in there and to my amazement my brand new washing machine has rocked almost all the way off her pedestal (what a crock of crud that word is), is leaning forward, which means the water hoses are pulled REEEEALLY tight at this point, and the corner of my machine has put a NICE hole in the closet door directly across from the machine location (which by the way is STILL not fixed).

OH MY DEAR HEAVENS!!!!!!!! "Randy get in here NOWWWWW!!!!"
Oh the fury and rage the 2 of us are now engulfed in. We get the machine back onto her pedestal (again...crock) and decide at this point we are not turning the beast back on until we figure out what the mess is going on.

Now keep in mind...we are now approaching 11pm on a Friday night and Randy has the phone in hand, getting ready to call Mr. GE himself. "Hey there hun?? Who do you think is going to talk to you about our washing machine on a Friday night at 11 o'clock?? Hmm?? To which he responds, "I don't know but SOMEBODY is gonna come fix this thing or come get it one!...You pay that much for something, it BEST work!"

So while he's furiously searching for Mr. GE's phone number, I calmly sit at the opposite end of the couch and decide to skim through the owner's manual. "Hey honey....did you read any of this before you backed that bad boy into it's permanent location?" "What? NO?? (with an "I KNOW what i'm doing" look on his face) It's a washing machine...it's no different than any other one I've put in except that you throw the clothes in the front instead of at the top."

You know, a man needs no directions for anything.

So...continuing to do more skimming, I stumble upon a big BOLD warning that went something like this:
YOU MUST REMOVE THOSE HONKIN' BIG SILVER BOLTS THAT ARE LOCATED ON THE BACK OF THE WASHING MACHINE OR YOUR APPLIANCE WILL GET OVERBALANCED CAUSING IT TO SHAKE VIOLENTLY AND SAIL THROUGH YOUR ALMOST BRAND NEW CLOSET DOOR YOU MORON!!!!!

"Hey Hun....did you take those bolt thingies off the back of it?"
"Those what?"
"It says here that there are some bolts on the back that you have to remove first...did y'all do that?"

Now, need I really say more? If you are a woman you can clearly see that I was the one who was now wanting Mr. GE's phone number so I could call him and ask him if he was going to pay for my lawyer fees to cover my DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So of course, he has to rant and rave about how he's NEVER EVER EVER NEVER installed a washing machine that had bolts on the back of it...yadda yadda yadda...."DID YOU SEE THE PRICE TAG ON THESE THINGS THERE RANDY???? THEY BROUGHT THEM IN FROM FREAKIN' NASA....DID YOU EXPECT THEM TO BE THE SAME OL' SAME OL' INSTILLATION????

Oh heavens...i'm getting all worked up thinking about it and it's been 2 years since it happened. It's amazing how many pairs of jeans that thing will wash with the bolts properly removed.

Now, fast-forward to the present time with a warning from ME..... research up and down and all around front end loaders BEFORE you buy one. We have had mucho trouble here lately with ours and if I can get a hold of that Sears repairman, he's gonna be walking back to his service van with a shiny, silver bolt inserted where the sun don't shine.

Oh my....i'm worn out now. Just the flashbacks and mental images and sheer anguish i've suffered while typing this.... I need a nap.

If you are planning on buying a front end loader....I wish you the best.....

Flashback

Let me say, so you don't think that I am losing my mind or that you are....I started a blog a few months back, so I have copied/pasted to this new one. So that explains why you are about to read a blog that starts off with a "Happy St. Patricks Day" as we are in the month of August. Clear as mud? Thought so.



Well, first-off I’ll say --

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Now that’s out of the way.
(that rhymed you know).

And next, I’ll give a quick update on the members of the Nuthouse. I’ll start with me because i’m the one writing this, and well, because I’m special.

Me: Please note that the picture to the left represents a current photo of myself, even down to the food stuffed into my mouth...uncanny I tell you..... I’m sitting here at the moment thinking of the laundry that I need to be doing, and the office that I really need to straighten up, and the Monkey room that needs some serious attention, and that I’m supposed to go have some lab work done today, and I smell my chicken that’s boiling on the stove for tonight’s casserole, and that I wish summer would hurry up and get here, and....ok...i’ll stop for now. Oh yeah...and the worst of it all is that starting bright and early at 5am in the morning, I’ll be working 36 hours in the next 3 days and that REALLY reeks. My body rejects work of that nature, so i’m not looking forward to it at all. I am however looking forward to Friday night. We’ve decided to have some friends/family over to grill burgers and then have an easter egg hunt outside in the DARK....something i’ve never done, but it just sounds like fun.....crazy people, dark, flashlights, brightly colored eggs, and a cemetery...now what could possibly be wrong with that mixture??? I’m so excited!

The Husband: Here he is with his mistress, Bill. This photo just screams SPECIAL, or as we prefer to pronounce it, PECIAL. They truly are special, and I often wish that they lived together instead of Randy and I. It would just make it easier on everyone...well, maybe except for Bill because then he would be stuck with Randy. Oh well, you can’t please everyone. Nothing really to update on Randy. He did have a small crisis over the weekend when he discovered that someone neglected to put the fingernail clippers "back where they’re supposed to go". I was able to talk him down and I think he’s ok. I suppose time will tell. He was a happy boy the past few days because Ethyn has been here with us. We would like that to be a permanent thing, but it’s not likely to happen, BUT we can keep hoping and praying that it does. We actually had a span of 3-4 hours alone Saturday evening and took the opportunity to eat at Harveys, one of our favorite spots, and actually saw a movie, Fool’s Gold (it was ok, but it’s one of those I don’t care to see again). I love you honey.

Preston:
(note he has a snowball in one hand and the phone to his ear in the other)Ah, the P-Mite....this child is here recently going to be the death of me. I have had to lower the boom on his obsessive cell phone use... during spring break, I thought I was going to have to have it surgically removed from his ear. I let him know that people who are engaged to marry don’t even talk as much as he and Amelia do??? I was taught growing up that if a boy wanted to talk to you, then HE would do the calling. I was not allowed to call boys, so basically I was never on the phone with a boy growing up because my buck teeth, bad hair and the "you can’t call boys" rule were all going against me. But that’s ok...if I had known then what I know now about boys, I wouldn’t have been near as bothered by it back then, but I digress. You drive me nuts, Preston, but I love you dearly.

Ethyn:This child also causes me to wonder why 8th graders need a girlfriend/boyfriend. Why can’t they just be content to hang out with friends of the SAME sex...playing sports or riding bikes or what have you??? I believe at the current second, he and his girlfriend Hannah are "together", but that can change in the blink of an eye. These two are a "on again / off again" couple indeed. I’m not sure what the deal is there. He doesn’t talk much about it when questioned. I do remember telling him a few days ago..."well, i’m sure you’ll be back together in no time," to which he responded, "NO WE WON’T". And of course one of them gave in ONCE again. I don’t know too much about Hannah because she’s not from Pontotoc, so I don’t ever see her. We did go see a production of Cinderella that she was in a few weeks ago. She played an evil stepsister and was REALLY good....has a great talent for that. I’m hoping to go see her in many more no matter if she and Ethyn are an item or not! You should probably avoid marriage at all costs Ethyn....but I love you.

Haley:Haley made me a proud Mommy when she went to her first band function where she had to play a solo in front of judges and made a "1"....or SUPERIOR...she was so excited and we were very proud and happy for her!!! For those who don’t know, she plays the clarinet in band. I’m hoping she sticks with it for many reasons, but one of the main ones is so I can be a chaperon for the annual band, Disney World trip!!!...I should get some fun and comfort after listening to the first few years of practicing, right??? Spring soccer season has started back, and she has her first game tomorrow night. I love to watch soccer, but the team aint so hot this year bless their little hearts. She wasn’t even wanting to play this spring because they did so poorly in the fall, but since it was already paid for and we had the tacky pink jersey with purple swirls on the shoulders, by golly, we’re playing!!! Look up buttercup....things WILL get better and I LOVE LOVE you!

Well, I suppose i’ve done enough here for one day. I’ll go do my laundry, fix my casserole, clean the office, straighten up the monkey room....yeah...you’ve heard it before......

LATER.....