Happy Father's Day!

Me and my "baby daddy", Jimmy! LOL!!!

Today I celebrate my wonderful husband, Jimmy. He is an excellent father to our three kids, who are now young adults. I hope he has a most enjoyable and relaxing day!

I never knew my father. He passed away when I was four months old. Everyone who knew him said he was a fine man. He was 36 years old, had been married to my mother for 15 months, and was principal of the local elementary school. He had been in WWII, serving in Patton's Third Army. He attended and graduated from the University of Alabama after returning from the war. He minored in Spanish and mother said that when they went on a vacation to Mexico he was jabbering to everyone. My daughter Rachel has a propensity for foreign languages. She must get it from him!

Even though I didn't have a father in my life, I had two grandfathers who loved me and stood in the gap. My Paw Paw Smith was a farmer and a county road crew worker. He and my Maw Maw lived on a farm and I spent countless hours there when I was young. My Grandpaw Thrasher was a retired police chief and was a contractor. He and my Grandmaw lavished me with love. My daddy was their youngest child. Just one example of how they spoiled me...I was living in Jacksonville for the summer while my mother finished up her graduate degree. I DESPISED going to summer school. I was an A student and repeating all the work I had done the previous school year was boring me to tears! I remember my grandfathers both told me that if I would go and stay just one more week, I would have a surprise waiting when I got home.

The next week I arrived home and what did I have? A shetland pony! Not just any shetland pony, but one that was brown with a white mane and tail, just like I had always wanted! Grandpaw Thrasher had bought him and my Paw Paw Smith was housing him on his farm. I remember how I loved that pony, whose name was Thunder.

Well, that's just a little bit of a blog for Father's Day. I'm going to go and spend some time with my kids' daddy now!

TGIF

Well, it's been a rather quick week. The cold/allergies I had sure took a toll, but I'm about over them. Tuesday afternoon I went home at lunch and slept the rest of the day. Exciting anniversary, huh? Ah, we can celebrate any time!

The most exciting thing to happen to me this week happened yesterday. I was at work, paying bills, and I had bb.com up on the computer. Well, Bo got online and was posting back and forth with people. Suddenly he posted that the first three persons to call his SayNow number would get to talk to him live! I had my iphone in my pocket and I just so happened to have SayNow saved as a contact. I pressed the button right quick and imagine how surprised I was to hear a recording say I was next in line to talk! I flew out the back door of the library, praying the connection would hold, and I heard Bo come on the line. I said hello and he did too, and I told him my screen name. He laughed and said, "Hey, Lisa" and something to the effect that I was fast!

My goodness, my heart was beating out of my body, but soon I calmed right down. Bo is so easy to talk to that he immediately put me at ease. He told me to make sure and spread the word that this was REAL, that it wasn't a recording! We talked about several things- his kids, last week, how he's always been "country" (he said he didn't know what the thing was with people, that he had always been country) and that he listened to country radio; he told me about how he wanted to stay connected with the fans and that he wasn't doing things on a huge scale, he was playing small venues. He said he wanted to be a good husband and daddy. I told him how much I admired him for that. He spoke of how sad it is that huge artists are in the news for beating their girlfriends/spouses and things such as that. Let's see...I told him I was at work and really shouldn't be on the internet, but oh well! We chit chatted a little more and were about to hang up and I told him that last week was my 30th anniversary gift from my husband, that I can always remember their anniversary on the 15th because mine is on the 16th. He told me he was glad I came and for me to be sure to thank Jimmy and give him love for letting me come up and spend last week with him. Then my stupid phone dropped the call!! I'm so glad I got that much time in, though. He went back on line and posted that he lost me, he didn't hang up, he promised! He's such a sweet person.

That's just one way my ordinary life is sometimes extraordinary! I usually keep my Bo posts to my Bo blog (http://www.boonthebrain.blogspot.com/), but this was something totally out of the ordinary for me! I also have recapped every day I spent in Nashville and posted pictures over there. I'm doing it every corresponding day this week, so I'm up to Friday. I've got to work on it, then I'll have two more days of CMA Fest to blog about! Check it out if you're so inclined.

It was 30 years ago today...

I married my true love on this day 30 years ago. Where has the time gone? We were such kids, yet thought we were so grown. Throughout the years we've had good times and bad, but we went through them together and came out stronger. I cannot imagine life without him.

My most vivid memory from that day was how he looked at me during the wedding ceremony. And he still gives me that same, sweet look and smile today. I adore him.

Three days in a row?!

Left to right: Me, Karen, Terri, Pam, Janet and Cindy

Can you believe it? I must be in a chatty mood. Sometimes I just cannot shut myself up!

Things are awfully quiet at work today. I did my yearly employee evaluations and I've still got to pay some bills, but other than that nothing is pressing too much.

Jimmy asked me last night if I would like to go see Diamond Rio Saturday night. Well, yeah! He's going to see if he can score some tickets to the Alabama Poultry and Egg Festival. That's where they are performing. We've seen Lonestar there before, as well as Little Big Town. It's always held at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center and tickets are like $150 each. It's a fundraiser and usually Jimmy's company has some tickets floating around. We shall see.

Ya'll, I am addicted to Scrabble. I have it on my home computer and when I got my iphone that is the first app I bought!! I lay in the bed and night and play in the dark until I literally drop the phone. Am I sick or what?? Since I got my phone on Mother's Day, I have played 68 games with 1 Draw and 11 Losses. Not too bad. And what is so funny is that I typically win by playing three letter words! I'm just really picky to use triple letter, double letter, and double word placement. That helps a lot! So use that little bit of advice for whatever you think it's worth!

When I went home for lunch today I played two games while I was watching One Life To Live. Now that is my show! I think Todd Manning is sex on a stick. He is gorgeous. Today Jessica remembered everything surrounding the birth of her baby. Now the dilemma is...will Starr and Cole be willing to let Marcie have the baby as they had originally planned? Drama, drama! It's mindless entertainment, but I've done it for so long that I just can't abandon this group of people that I've known since I was like 17 years old!

Now that all of the regular TV shows are in reruns for the summer, I have not even been watching television at night. I've spent my time outside on the patio or on the computer or listening to music. It sure makes the evenings last longer, which is a good thing.

Tonight I have nothing planned. I really should get my clothes out and try on stuff to see what I want to take with me to the CMA Festival next week. My goodness, I'm going to be gone from Monday-Sunday, so I'll have to have a LOT of stuff! And I want to be comfortable, that's for sure. I hope I see some good stars. I know I'm seeing Bo at least four or five times. He's busy all week at charity events.

Ok, that'll do it for now. I'm not promising I won't come back and type more, though!

Oh yeah, I'm putting up the picture of me and the girls from work taken out at Santa Fe Tuesday night. We were celebrating Janet and Karen's birthdays. Funny how we always choose something that we enjoy ourselves to give as a gift! ;)

Things get complicated sometimes

Have you ever done something that inadvertantly hurt one of your friends and you felt like crud because of it? Well, this has happened to me today. Well, actually last night. Plans were changed which I didn't think would be a big deal and apparently it is... I sure do hate it. I'm hoping that she realizes that I would never, ever do anything intentionally to make her feel bad or left out. :(

I need a piece of quiet

That's what Seth used to say when he was small...he'd say, "Mama, do you need a piece of quiet?" I guess he had heard me say I wish I had some peace and quiet quite often!

Jimmy and I went out riding around Sunday afternoon like we do sometimes. We take back roads and pass lots of nice wooded areas and pastureland. We live on a very busy road and even if it's late at night or early in the morning, I can hear traffic. I sit on my patio and I can hear the little birds chirping among the noisiness of the cars. I told Jimmy Sunday that I just crave to be out in the middle of a field somewhere in the complete and utter quiet. My house is never quiet. Jimmy thrives on noise. He says he likes the tv on even when he's studying his Sunday School lesson. That just blows my mind.

Thankfully my job is a relatively calm one. But libraries aren't as quiet as you might believe! The hustle and bustle gets into full swing at times and there are babies crying, kids screaming and people yapping at one another full force. Cell phones ring even though we have a sign up for people to silence them.

Am I the only one who craves peace? It's like my soul needs it. If I can start the day out quietly, the entire day goes so much better for me! This morning I sat on the patio (my sanctuary, pictured above) and enjoyed the stillness and the coolness and the company of my animals. So far I feel very tranquil. :)

Back to work Monday

Well, I made it through the allergic reaction and a weekend of swollen eyes and sneezing due to outdoor allergies. I'm sitting here in an airconditioned office wishing I was sitting on my patio with my bird on my shoulder and my dogs sticking their heads through the gate to say hello. It's well worth the sneezing and swollen eyes!

I adore my animals. My little bird, Spunky Bogart, is the sweetest little thing. To me, anyway. He's a devil to everyone else, but he LOVES me! He preens my hair and my eyebrows, he gives me kisses and he wants a bite of whatever I have to eat. Last night the silly bird ate stuffed eggs!! I called him a cannibal.

My cat, Tiger Jesus, almost 10 years old. She was a little orphan who showed up in my front yard and I brought her inside. Her meow sounds like a quack. She's an odd bird. It took years for her to trust me. Now she and I have a wonderful cat/human relationship. She loves to sit on my shoulder when I'm on the internet and she always comes and sits beside me or on my shoulder when I'm sitting in the den. At night she snuggles up on my right side. She wouldn't DARE get in the bed next to Jimmy!

Oh, and then there's the dogs. Pugsley is 12. He snorts and sniffs and sounds like he's dying all the time. He's a cute little old man. My heart hurts when I think that a pug's life expectancy is only 10 years. I don't have that much time left with the little thing. And the basset just loves everybody. He is so meek he flips over on his back the minute anybody says a word to him. The Great Pyr is a big old baby.

I wish people were as kind and loving as animals are. I feel like I'm a square peg trying to fit into a round hole most of the time. This town is my hometown, but I have no close friends. I'm not comfortable at church, especially after the unfriendly woman experience on Easter. Jimmy is happy and thrilled with his Sunday School class, but when I used to go to it I just felt weird. I'm not sure who all is in there now, and I really should try it again, but when Sunday rolls around, I stay home.

I'm going to say something that some people might totally disagree with, but I'm saying it anyway. Throughout the years, no matter what church we were members of at the time, when hard times came, it wasn't church people who called or gave support. A couple, but on the whole it was the friends we had contact with outside of church who came, called, etc. And we've been through the mill throughout these years. Jimmy was sick a lot in his 20's with different things, the boys were seriously sick several times (Seth had to have a kidney removed) and Rachel has been through more in her life than anybody typically does in their entire lifetime.

I guess I'm saying this to say that I'm not depending on people, I'm not depending on a church, I'm depending on Jesus, because He has never, ever failed me or let me down in any circumstance. He's always there. Always. Whether I'm sitting inside a church building or sitting at home or shopping at Walgreen's, as Seth and I do quite often on Sunday morning. He's with me. I really wish I could find a church to worship with that was casual and relaxed. All I know is there isn't one around here. I do have one friend at church and we do lunch occasionally. She is the only person that I feel like I can be myself around.

Oh me. I got off track big time, didn't I? Oh well, it was weighing on my mind. I just keep in mind a scripture that God put into my mind and heart back when I was studying The Purpose Driven Life several years ago. I asked Him what was my purpose in life. And this is what He immediately put in my head.

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NIV

That about says it all.

And to reinforce the fact, when I got to work that morning I opened a package from a Christian book club and there was a 5x7 card with a pretty scene on it with the very same verse on it! Coincidence? I don't think so!