Tuesday's Gone With the Wind

I love that song. Tuesday IS gone...it's almost time to go to bed, then in the morning I head off to Nashville with my friend Debbie! We always have the best time together and we're going to see lots of our friends that we haven't seen in a while. Can't wait!

Last night I went to the Town Hall Meeting here in town. Well, I could have told you exactly what would be discussed before I went. Hwy 431, rental property, mobile food units, retail business and ordinances. There was a good crowd of both whites and Hispanics there. But I really don't think anything much was accomplished, sad to say.

This morning I woke up at 3 a.m. with a headache. At 4 I finally got up and took something, then just as I went to sleep my alarm started ringing. Today was NOT a perky day. Work was work. I had gotten wind that we're going to have an internet policy enforced so I encouraged everyone to get a web email address if they didn't have one at home and to start cleaning off all personal pictures and documents if they had any on the computers. I don't really know what to expect except I heard that we would be randomly checked just like we're randomly tested for drugs. I personally think it's stupid, but I guess they are afraid that somebody is going to go to an inappropriate website or something like that. We rely heavily on the internet at work. I do all of my book and supply ordering online and I can find answers to questions instantaneously for patrons. Of course we'll be permitted to do that, but what if they see where we've looked up "venerial disease" and think we're researching privately for ourselves?? Where does the monitoring end and how do you police it? I guess I'll find out before too long.

Speaking of computers, I'm super pissed at mine right now. For some reason it will not complete the process of burning a CD. It burned three songs and then quit. Said I had a damaged disk. No way. It's brand new and I'm FURIOUS at the stupid thing!!! It does this all the freaking time.

Crap. I'm just going to watch Without a Trace and forget it for now. Toodles.

Stormy Saturday

Today has been productive around my house. Jimmy and I attacked that room of Layke's and I'm ashamed at how much junk we had accumlated. By junk, I mean clothes. We packed up I don't know how many bags to give to the thrift store. If I were industrious I would sell them on eBay, but I'd just as soon get a tax receipt.

After we finished up in there, we got ready and went shopping for Jimmy some new pants. He's lost about 25 pounds and really needed some. The only problem is he seems to be right in between sizes right now, but we did get one pair for him. I spotted a Fossil purse I would LOVE to have, but the thing was 78 bucks and I'm too cheap. I'll wait and find one on sale or just do without it. I had an outfit in my hand, too, but decided to put it back. I spend way too much money!

We went on and had lunch at Santa Fe and I had no appetite. I only had a few bites of my salad, 1/2 roll, about 1/3 of my steak and a little of my potato. I am still not hungry but I'm not sick. Strange.

Seth wanted to come home, so we dropped him off and headed out by Rachel's house. Naturally she wasn't at home. This was the second time we've tried to catch her with no luck. Then Jimmy asked if I wanted to go somewhere and I said sure, never dreaming he's drive all the way to Nixon's Chapel, through Snead, Walnut Grove and back up through Egypt to Boaz. I was SO tired of riding! He knew I wasn't real thrilled so he suggested we stop at Tuesday Morning. We ended up going in Peebles and of course I bought something. For Christmas I had given Rachel the cutest peace sign necklace and they had them 60% off today so I got one for me. :)

Next stop was Mother's house and we ended up going to the grocery store to pick up some things she needed and we did our shopping, too. When I got home I cleaned out the refrigerator and fixed a big bowl of scraps for my dogs. Well, I was feeding them and I looked down and my pug was just lying there, not moving, choking. I grabbed the little thing up and did the Heimlich Maneuver on him and this huge hunk of chicken came flying out of his little throat. He was so scared! Jimmy had picked the chicken off the bone and he warned me that Pugs would probably get choked but I thought the big dogs would wolf down the chicken. I was so wrong! I petted him and calmed him down and it scares the crap out of me that he would have died if I hadn't been standing right there! That's twice he's been choked lately. We decided to buy him canned food from now on. Poor baby!

Storms started moving in and we were under tornado warnings. My big old Great Pyrenees is petrified of storms so he flew in the door as I was coming in and got right in the middle of our bed! When it started thundering louder he moved in the den with us. He's still in here as quiet as a mouse. My cat is in love with him and won't leave him alone! She wallows all over him. This was the first time my bird had seen the dog and you should have seen the way he was hanging off the cage looking at him! It was hilarious! Yes, I live in a zoo!

I'm patiently (yeah, right) waiting on a stupid basketball game to be over so we can watch something else. NCIS is coming on and we also need to finish up Twilight. I've seen it but Jimmy hasn't and last night we started watching it and he fell asleep halfway through. YAY!! It's over!! Maybe Jimbo will stay awake to finish up the movie!

Thursday's Ramblings

Oh, thank goodness, the work week is almost over! I've got to get busy this weekend and get Layke's room ready for him to move back into. Since he's been gone, it has turned into the laundry/ironing room and it's a mess. Where I'll put all that crap is beyond me, but I'll make do!

This afternoon Jimmy has a doctor's appointment in Huntsville. Wish I was going along for the ride because I know he'll stop at Starbuck's. But I've missed too much work in the past month to go today. Long story short, Jimmy, my mother and my daughter were all in the hosptial at the same time in February. Jimmy and Mother were in Huntsville and Rachel was in Arab and there I was, running around like a chicken with its head cut off! Thankfully they are all much, much better now and things are looking up. One thing I will say about their illness though- Huntsville Hospital is fantastic. They got wonderful care there. MMCN was ok with Rachel. MMCS ER- well, that's a whole different ballgame. Don't get me started. I don't know who nurse Angela is, but I'd like to claw her eyes out. Good thing I was stranded in Baltimore at the time- I might be in jail otherwise. Suffice it to say that nobody would let a dog suffer like they let Jimmy suffer that day. Incompetent bastards. Pardon my French.

Deep breath and I'm moving on...

I'm trying to make my mind up about going to the CMA festival this year. That is the week before our 30th wedding anniversary and Bo hasn't announced an appearance yet. It will be a load of fun but I just don't know if I can fork out that much money. I've got to make my mind up real soon. My friend Debbie has booked a room and I need to let her know something soon. Next week she and I are traveling to Nashville to see a show. Kelleigh Bannen, a recording artist from Nashville who lost her brother to drugs last year, has been doing "90 gigs in 90 days" in order to to raise awareness about the power of addiction and hope of recovery. Next Wednesday night will be the 90th and Bo is making an appearance with her. He had her open for him for four shows to help fulfill her 90 gigs. There are several of us "local" (TN and AL) girls going to support the cause and a few from other states, too. We always have a great time together.

Jimmy is going tonight to rehearse with the Classic Rock/Country/Blues band. The name of it is Morgan's Acre. They came up with that a couple of weeks ago. Two band members have the last name Morgan and they practice at their house, so I guess that's kind of where the name came from. Personally I liked Twisted Dixie that they had tossed around, but they were afraid it would give the wrong connotations to some people. The Contemporary Christian band's name is A 1000 Second Chances. One of the young guys came up with that. I like that group; it is such a hodge-podge of people. Their ages range from 16 or 17 to 48. They're really good and opened for Disciple in January. That was such a fun day! We got to be there from the time Disciple arrived at the church and we met them and listened to them do their sound check. My son Seth was thrilled to death. He has loved Disciple for years!

Back to the present...tonight I plan on watching Criminal Minds that I recorded last night, see who gets voted off Idol (Please, God, let it be Megan!!!) and I'm going to watch Grey's Anatomy. Sounds like a couch potato night to me!

My life story- I'll hit the high spots!

Some of you may not know me, so I thought I'd tell you about my life up until this point.

I was born to Jesse and Mary 15 months after they were married. Sadly, my father passed away when I was 4 months old, leaving my mother a 26 year old widow.

Growing up I was surrounded by loving grandparents, both on my maternal and paternal sides. Aunts, Uncles and cousins abounded and I didn't lack for anything. I spent many of my days at my mother's parents' farm where I played barefoot in the fields as the cotton was picked. My first dog was Lady, named after the Disney character. Lady and the Tramp was the first movie I ever saw at the theater. It is still my favorite Disney movie of all time! Sunday afternoons were spent at my father's parents' house where my aunts and uncles congregated. For a treat we'd go to the store and get a "cold drink". My Grandmaw's favorite was grape and that's what I usually got, too.

I lived in town and attended a school a couple of blocks from my house. In second grade my dad's father (Grandpaw) bought me a Shetland pony and I kept him at Paw Paw's farm. His name was Thunder and I adored him! He was brown with a cream colored mane and tail. I talked to that pony just like he could understand me. I also had a pet cow named BeeBee, and I talked to her, too! My favorite toys were my Barbies and my toy horses and guns (of all things!).

Elementary school was not fun for me. I didn't like it AT ALL and fought Mother tooth and nail about going! I was at the same school, Evans, for 1st-5th grade. Wednesday was "turnip green day" and I always brought my lunch! I rode the bus every afternoon to the high school where Mother was teaching.

Middle school is where I made the friends that I kept all through high school and many of them are still friends today. Mrs. Lumpkin was my 6th grade teacher and she read to us after lunch every day. She'd call us "Lazy Ray" if we didn't do as well as she thought we should at something and if we acted sleepy she'd have the entire class go and run around the tree at the front of the school! We sang Christmas songs for her study club during the holidays and we were all awed by her big home with its staircase that had ribbon-wrapped spindles. They looked just like candy canes!

Middle school also brought the first boy-girl parties and school dances. A group of boys our age had a band and they would play "Born to be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride" and a couple of other songs over and over! Inevitably a few of us girls would have a spend-the-night party afterwards and we had to discuss who danced with whom and if anybody got kissed!

I was also in the band, as were the majority of my friends. In 9th grade we were finally at the high school and marching halftime shows. I remember riding the band bus to away games and singing at the top of my lungs. A personal favorite to belt out was "Satin Sheets". How I knew that song is beyond me! My focus had been on Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman. Where does "Satin Sheets" come into play?? I was singing it to make fun of it in actuality...just like I did when I sang "On the wings of a snow white dove"!!

In high school I was in band, was in color guard 10th-12th grade and was captain my senior year, I was on the annual staff and was editor my senior year, I was in Beta Club, Future Homemakers of America, Junior Civitans and I even took Latin one year and was in the Latin club. One of my favorite memories is from Latin class in 9th grade. Every single day us girls would stand and look out the window of the 3rd floor and watch Freddy Carr, this drop-dead goodlooking senior football player, walk across the campus. Every single day, without fail, we'd watch him. He didn't know we were alive! LOL!

During high school I did the typical teenager things. I had a boyfriend, I talked on the phone for hours with my girlfriends, I took biology and put together the bones of a frog, I participated in class skits and attended rock concerts.

At the end of my Senior year I started dating Jimmy (hubby) and he was my Senior Prom date. We went to the lake after prom and stayed out all night long. I got home around 7 a.m. A favorite local band, WARM, played for prom and Jimmy had a man-crush on the bass player. We attended many WARM concerts and we always had to park ourselves right on the front in front of Lanice.

I graduated and attended the local community college and then transferred to Jacksonville State University. Jimmy and I had such fun dating. We went to the movie, hung out with friends, and attended I don't know how many Willie Nelson concerts! We went parking to the music of Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart and the Eagles. I can still remember the exact places in the songs where the 8-track would click over!

Jimmy and I married when I was in my Junior year at JSU. He had begun work at a local plant and we were ready to take on the world! I continued on in school for a year after we were married and was ready to do my student teaching and found out...I was pregnant! Child #1 was born on December 11, 1980. I started back to school to finish up my degree and WHAMMO, child #2 was on the way! I graduated when I was 7 months pregnant with him! I kidded him when he graduated from college, telling him that he walked across the stage with me when I got my Bachelor's so I needed to walk across with him! Child #3 was born 19 months after #2. I had my hands full!

I was full time mommy for 13 years, living on McDonald's Happy Meals and Sesame Street. I watched my kids play soccer, cheer for the Pee Wee football team, take ballet and tap, go through school participating and excelling in the band and choirs, attending Bible school and church camp and growing into young adults. Where did the time go?

When my oldest was 13 I went and got my Master's Degree and began my job as a Library Director. I've been here 15 years now. My kids are all grown (as I said in my first blog) and Jimmy and I are enjoying ourselves, doing the things we like to do. He's a fantastic bass player and played for years in a bluegrass band. They played at corporate parties, weddings, and Panoply of the Arts in Huntsville to name a few places. Now he's traded in the upright bass for a jazz bass and a 5-string and he's playing in a Contemporary Christian band as well as in a Classic Rock/Country/Blues band. I'm enjoying myself being a Bo (Bice) Peep, traveling all over the U.S. to see his shows, visit with my friends, and I'm having a blast!

That's about it up to this point...maybe you know me a bit better now and will enjoy reading about my day-to-day life.

Here I go!

Off and on during my life I have written things down- a diary in elementary school, a journal in high school, on an old computer when my kids were little. What saddens me is the old computer and all those files are gone. :(

My sister-in-law has a blog and it has inspired me to write things about my ordinary life. Amazingly, ordinary things become extraordinary as time passes. So that is my goal. Hopefully I'll get by here every day or so and write something down!

Today I got all dressed up for work because we were supposed to have a department head meeting at city hall. Well, it was cancelled and here I sit in an outfit that I typically do not wear to work. When I first got this job in 1994 I dressed up every day. As time passed I noticed that our patrons are dressed casually, so I decided to do the same thing. Why should a librarian dress up like an executive? Not my thing, so now I wear khakis, sketchers, and casual tops.

On the personal front, my wonderful husband had grilled burgers when I got home last night. He had the potatoes cooked and ready for me to make potato salad. I told him, "Cooperation makes it happen- tm Sesame Street!" We spent the rest of the evening doing our own thing. He chatted with a friend on the phone, watched a movie and played his bass. I talked on the phone, surfed the internet, cleaned the kitchen and watched a little television. Our life is very comfortable. We are happy just being together, not necessarily doing the same thing. He's very generous in letting me go and do things that make me happy. I, in turn, wave him goodbye with a smile when he goes to play his music. After 30 years together, I can truthfully say we love each other more and more as time passes. He says he'd rather spend time with me than with anyone and I feel the same about him.

Yesterday I did it. I joined an organization that will tell the world that I'm old!! I did it to get hotel discounts. What a lame excuse, but hey, every little bit helps and 10% is 10%!! Admittedly I get depressed thinking about my age. I feel in my heart like I'm 18 and I know I always will. That's what makes me sad when I see people in nursing homes or people who are physically ill or limited in what they can do. I know that inside their hearts and minds they are still young and I feel so bad for them.

My kids are all adults now. My oldest son, who has lived in Maine for the past two years, is moving home!! Whoo Hoo! He will be here April 21. Hopefully he can find a teaching position. He is certified P-12 so surely he can find something somewhere close by.

My daughter is my oldest child. She's a medical transcriptionist and lives with her boyfriend. Not exactly thrilling to me (the living with her boyfriend thing), but she's grown and I can't make her decisions for her. At least she is independent and has a good job! She was married six years and is now happily divorced. She's the world's biggest Bob Dylan fan, is smart, funny and very talented.

And last but not least is my youngest. He's 23 and such a special person! I've never met anyone who is as kind-hearted as he is. He works at our local grocery store and is the world's biggest Nascar fan. He is his daddy's best buddy and he helps me out a lot around the house. And he's so funny- maybe I can remember some things he has said and I'll write them down!

That's it for right now. Hopefully I'll get in the groove of this and get more organized!