Just Plain Tired

For heaven's sake....I am just exhausted! It has been a long week. Thursday and Friday especially put us all down for the count. Sarah marched for the first time at the first football game of the season. She did fantastic and looked so cute out there. I was very proud! Todd, Bailey and I worked the concession stands. I have to tell you.....I am about sick of popcorn. That is all I did last night is make popcorn. And I couldn't make it fast enough.....we sold between 500-600 boxes of just popcorn last night!!!! Anyway, after the game, Todd and I had to count all the money taken in from programs and concessions.......all $16,000 of it.......that is a lot of money spent on snacks!!!! We got in at about 12:15am. We all crashed immediately upon walking in the door. As much as I wanted to sleep in this morning, my body and brain were not in agreement. I was just anticipating everything I had to get caught up on around the house, so my mind wouldn't let my body rest. So needless to say, I was up at 6:30. It is around 5:30 pm right now, and I am starting to go into crash mode. Sarah is supposed to go to the movies tonight, so I am gonna attempt to take a little power nap before I have to take her at 7:30. Then I have to hit the grocery store to get a few things...pick her up at about 9:30 and then crash for the evening. I have never been so happy to have a three day weekend! I need to catch up on a ton....including my sleep. Well that is the update for now.....sorry such a short post.

Just an update

Two people died....the accident was caused by a wrong way driver......click here to see the story.

http://www.tiftongazette.com/local/local_story_239114007.html

Remember to be patient today and also to be thankful.
Hugs

God's Little Lessons

As I sit at my computer this morning, I just feel like typing a few of my thoughts for the morning. I like to think I learned one of God's little lessons this morning......
Yesterday was an unusually "cranky" day for me. You know, the typical monthly hormonal issues that most of us women deal with. It was a day I would have rathered to have stayed in my pj's and sat around and watched a dumb movie and eaten chocolate and potato chips, and not been a mom, wife etc....just let me be. But as most of us know, that is not an option even though I'd wished it was. I dealt with the typical morning bickering between the girls, dropped them off at school, and went on to work. The kids in my class were all in rare form yesterday....or actually I know it was me in rare form, and I just didn't want to be there, but for lesson sake I am gonna blame it on them. LOL I made it through the morning, but by 12:30 I was ready to be home. I arrived home to the tons of chores I had put off from my fun, yet rainy weekend. I did what needed to be done, and made it to car pool line to pick up the kids, only for the skies to open up once again, dumping more rain on us, and adding a little lightning to boot. I find out the evenings activities have been cancelled due to the bad weather which at that time made me very happy to be able to relax in my own little world. Then Todd arrived home from his dad's with yet another thing to add to his collection of "crap" in the garage around 8pm. This of course doesn't sit very well with me. If you know me well enough, all I want to do is park my car in my garage to unload groceries....haven't been able to do that since we moved here almost five years ago, and was one of the reasons I picked this house cuz the pantry is right off the garage.....I can't do that because Todd fills the garage with his "toys". Now I know I should be feeling blessed because we can afford these things and there are so many that have nothing, but me being in the mood I was in, and acting like a spoiled brat, fussed at him which in turn put me in an even worse mood, cuz then I am feeling guilty for being such a bitch. At this point I am ready to just go to bed. Just before I decide I am fed up with the day, I got a phone call from my friend, Susan. She tells me that an accident that happened earlier that morning involved a 13 year old from our church, and friend of Sarah's. The girl is in fair condition at the hospital, but it makes me stop and think......okay, my life could be worse.....so with that, I give myself a pep talk and try to resurrect the evening I was already ruining. Todd and I ended up staying up till about 10 just talking, and I know I wouldn't have had that time with him with the attitude I had started off with. The evening ended up being okay afterall. Lesson learned.......
Well then this morning, I wake up with my allergies killing me.....sore throat, headache, sinus pressure......just feeling yucky. I am dragging myself to get ready to take the girls to school. Sarah comes to me right at 7:30 and says, "Mom, I have a Y Club meeting at 7:30....I need to get there." I ask her why she waits until 7:30 to tell me this, and she replies that she just forgot, but can we please hurry up to get there. I am starting to feel myself get aggravated because I already feel like a NYC cab driver this school year, and now my child is becoming a disgruntled customer about my cab service. We all rush to get in the car. Bailey has to run back in to get her lunch she forgot. I tell Bailey that I am going to take Sarah to school first due to the meeting. This causes Bailey to fuss at Sarah cuz she likes to be dropped off first etc. etc. etc.. So as the two of them are fussing, I get on the interstate feeling my blood pressure go up. As we are driving down the interstate, I see ahead of me an accident take place.....a bad one......all I see is a semi slam on his brakes, a rust colored SUV fly up on the center wall and a black car just is a flash going down the highway. We all slam on our brakes. I tell the girls to look the other way because it looked bad. There are people getting out of their cars and running to the black car. I slowly drive around the wreckage and see the black car. I immediately know the driver is dead....there was no way someone could have survived that after seeing the car the way it was mangled. I feel a bit helpless, as I see others already on their cells calling 911, so all I do is say a prayer for the driver and the passenger and their families. I actually started crying because I realize if Sarah would have not forgot about her meeting and if Bailey had not forgotten her lunch...the things that started me off being aggravated....we would have left the house a few minutes earlier, and that could have been us. God's second lesson for me.....Lesson Learned again....it obviously wasn't learned the night before, like I thought. God knows I can be stubborn and pig headed at times so I guess he really wanted to hit it home for me. Sarah and Bailey were just silent for a minute, and then Sarah asks me why I am crying because I don't even know the people. I explain to her that despite that we don't know them, it is still someone's loved one, and it could have been us in that accident based on just a few split seconds. Needless to say when we get to her school, I tell her I love her.....with just a little more emotion than normal. Bailey is quiet on the way to her school, and then I ask her if she is alright. She says she is, but that she is sorry she fought with her sister that morning........God taught her a lesson too, one I am grateful for. I kiss her goodbye, and pick up the phone to call my husband and tell him I love him. I hear on the radio that the accident had one fatality, and no other details are known.......but I know the details that went on in my life and for that I am thankful for the lesson I learned today.
So I will go through my day with a completely different perspective. Remember, if you are delayed by a tiny detail...be it your children forgetting things, or a slow driver in front of you, or a long line at the grocery store, a train stop....just know you are exactly where you are suppose to be at that moment. God knows what he is doing. And as for the driver that died, God knew what he was doing there too.......we aren't suppose to question that I guess, so all I am going to do is say another prayer for her and her family.
Have a great day and remember to be patient.......

Auntie Em, Auntie Em

Well we survived the storm. I posted pictures on here to show you how much rain we got. If you look at Friday's post, I put a picture of our pond in our backyard. In it you will see the boat barely in the water. But as you can see in the above picture, the boat is totally floating. We got A LOT of rain! We lost some limbs from our pine trees too. You can't really see it in the bottom picture, but right at the base of the tree to the right there is a branch that is literally sticking straight out of the ground. The wind was pretty strong at times. I had my friends over for a day of stamping, and around dinner time, the tornado sirens went off. We went and watched the news as they were telling us a tornado was heading our way. We put Bailey and her friend Emily in the hallway right outside the bathroom....just in case.....I have to admit, I never freak out in storms, but this one made me nervous. A bit too close for comfort I would say. But we were lucky and nothing happened, but it really makes you take stock when it is all going on.

Bailey had fun with Emily being here, and I had a great time with my friends as well. It was a nice day of just hanging out, which we all needed. Sarah should be home tonight from Atlanta. The only communication I have gotten from her is that last night they were eating at Chili's and their server was hot.......that is what the text message sent from her said.....such is the life of my teenage daughter. Todd called me from SC and said it was sunny and great there. He and his dad had gone to a car show together. So as our house was in the grasp of a tornado, and we are worried sick, Todd and Sarah were having a grand time......figures! LOL

Well, I just thought I would update everyone.

Talk to you soon.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head

Well Hurricane Fay has hit South Georgia and all we have is rain, rain, and more rain. There is some wind at times, but not hurricane force by any means. It is just kinda dreary out, as you can see in the backyard picture I posted. We got home from school today, and Bailey and her friend Emily went and put on pjs and said that they wanted to have a pj weekend. I have to say I kinda agreed with them, so I went and put my pjs on too. Weekends like this require no thought....just have fun and relax. That is my opinion anyway. They are predicting 4-6", so we really don't need to be out driving in it anyway. So Bailey has her play day planned with Emily and they already have gotten into it by playing dolls together.
Sarah is heading to Atlanta with her friends for a birthday weekend. Her friend Laura is celebrating her birthday by going to Atlanta, spending the night in a hotel downtown, going to Hard Rock Cafe and going shopping at the Mall of Georgia. Todd headed to South Carolina to go to a car show and work on his car he is rebuilding with his dad. So I have a play day planned too. My friends, Susan, Beth, and Stacey are coming over and we are gonna stamp all day. We are gonna order lunch to be delivered, and we are gonna just have fun too. So the rain is forcing us all do relax and do what we want, and I am so okay with that.
Well, I guess that is the update for today. I hope you all have a great weekend....I know I will....wet but enjoyable.
Hugs to share.

Pudding??????

Well, my days at school continue to be great....don't know what I did to deserve it, but I am gonna take it and just say Thank God!!!
Today's funny story has to do with my child. At about 11:30 this morning, I got a call on my cell from Bailey's school. When I answered it, it was Bailey. She was crying and telling me she was in the nurse's office because she got "poopie" on her pants. I of course tell her to calm down and tell her I will be there in a few minutes. I proceed to get my boss to fill in in my classroom and rush home to go get her clothes. I rush up to the school to give her the clothes. I walk into the nurse's office only to not find my child in there. The nurse says, " I sent her back to class because it was only a spot about this big" as she holds her hands up into a circle shape. I am kinda ticked at this point that the nurse has sent my child back to class with crap on her, but I just proceed down to her class to get her, to mad to say something rational at that point. I arrive at her classroom and open the door. She comes walking out, and then says "Mom, it is strarting to dry already"....I am a bit afraid to look, but I do and notice it doesn't look anything like poop......but more like pudding. I say, "Bailey, why does that look like pudding". She says, "it is pudding". I proceed to fuss at her cuz she told me it was poopie on the phone, and I had to get a sub for my class, only to rush over to find out it is pudding!!!!! She said, "I said pudding mom". We go back and forth about it and I ask her why she was crying if it was just pudding. She said because she thought I would be mad if she got pudding on her new clothes! Now I know I can be a strict mom, but I never have gotten mad at my children for spilling stuff on their clothes! I told her she better not call me for silly stuff like that again. See I am having to retrain her after her teacher last year fell for every whimper she ever had......grrrr...it makes me so mad! So the next time you have some pudding, you can all think of me driving like a mad woman to Bailey's school to give her some new clothes!!!!
Have a great evening!

Great First Day

Well, just a quick post today. But I had to tell everyone I had a GREAT first day with my kids. We had only one that cried and it lasted all of 3 minutes. As soon as the mom left, she stopped. It was a wonderful day! I am kinda in shock cuz I have never had a first day like that. I had 15 children all listen, participate, and follow everything I asked them to do. It was almost scary how well it went. We actually accomplished everything we need to do in the first week on the first day!!!! Woo Hoo!
Anyway, the girls are doing great. Bailey is starting to settle into her class and seems happy. Sarah is running on a full schedule but still seems upbeat and enjoying it all.
I guess that is all for today. I have to clean up the house before I have to head to carpool.
Have a great day!

Back to School

Well yesterday was the first day back to school for the girls. They were both excited and nervous, as anyone would expect. At the end of the day, they both came home happy but exhausted. Sarah was more talkative then Bailey about her day, but it was mostly about her friends and her teachers. As any teenager is, she is just disturbed by the "rules" one of her teachers has, and is mad so and so isn't in her class or so and so is in her class.....I just laugh and know it is all gonna adjust in a few days for her. Bailey is a bit different in the sense that she is disappointed none of her friends are in her class, and is saying the year is not going to be good because she didn't get the teacher she wanted and she knows nobody. She is of course being Bailey with her drama, but in the same sense I worry more about her because she is already an independent soul who doesn't make friends as easily as her sister. I am hoping over the next few days things will get better for her, but please keep her in your prayers as she adjusts to this. Bailey started at a new school this year as well as her sister, so I think all of it is very overwhelming for her.
I have had teacher work days yesterday, today, Monday and Tuesday, and then the students come on Wednesday. I, myself, have been overwhelmed, I think, with all the emotions of my girls starting new schools as well as my own stuff going on, that I completely forgot about Bailey's piano lesson yesterday, which is not like me at all. Those of you who know me well enough, know that I am highly organized and I just don't normally forget stuff like that. I beat myself up most of the evening last night about it, but I am over it now. I am hoping today will be a better day for me. I am going to try and get caught up on a few things today around the house, and take this weekend to regroup and then hopefully things will be off to a better start on Monday.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I will not be posting this weekend, so I will talk to you all again next week.

Brigade

Here is my now high school baby......I cried when she put on her uniform for the first time. She has wanted to be in the Blue Devil Brigade for several years now....all she wanted was to were one of those "plumey-feathery" things on her head. Now she has one and she is so excited. Actually when they are in full uniform her hair is required to be pulled up, but for this quick snapshot for mom, her hair is down. She was so cute when she first put on the uniform. She couldn't believe that I started crying. She kept saying "Walk away, mom, walk away. Don't, mom, don't". But I couldn't help it.....if you are a mom, you understand why, and I don't need to explain myself.

This is a shot of the whole Brigade. You can't see Sarah in it, but she is in the second row. There are 126 members total this year which is a good size band for our school. This is Sarah's new "love interest"......yeah right! His name is Chase and he is a nice kid. He had all of us laughing all week. He is one of the drummers in the band. His parents are in the Booster Club with us. Bailey kept calling him "her man" all week because he kept calling her "his girl". I think Bailey was a little jealous of her sister when she got this picture made....LOL

Half way through the week, Bailey got her braces off finally! She was so excited to get them off! She kept licking her teeth and saying she felt like all she had in her mouth were gums. She kept biting her tongue all day because she was not used to having "smooth" teeth. She has a permanent retainer on the back of her two front teeth now. She looks different to me without them now.
This is one of the many long mornings that Sarah spent in the field doing the marching drills. She is in the pink. She was so beat by the end of the day, but as she put it she has some "power calves" now from all the exercise! It really was amazing how long these kids were out there and with little to no complaints. They did a great job learning parts of their half time show.
On Thursday night, the Brigade had a show and tell for all their parents/families. At one point they had the students go and get one of their family members out of the stands to make them march with their instruments and go through what they have done all week. Let's just say we are glad Sarah plays the flute cuz some of those parents had to carry a tuba or a set of drums that weigh about 75 pounds. Sarah got Bailey to do it, which I thought was very sweet of her. This picture is of Sarah giving Bailey the "instructions" before they started. Bailey did quite well for a first timer. She was so proud of herself when she was done, and Sarah was proud of her too cuz Sarah said she did better than the actual band girl that is in the picture in pink.
And here is my favorite picture of my baby! She looks so grown up and it was at this moment that I realized that my baby is officially in high school. I am so proud of the young woman that she has become. No mother could be prouder. She is such a sweet, beautiful, loving and kind person. I am very humbled by the wonderful child I have been blessed with. I know as she starts on this journey of her high school years, she will make mistakes and sometimes she will make poor judgement calls, but I know in my heart of hearts, she is a great kid. I can only pray that she will follow what she has been taught, and that she will come out of it all a better person than she already is. I hope that she has tons of fun, makes lots of memories and most of all that she fulfills all she can in what hopefully will be some of the best years of her life. I will end tonights post with the words from one of my favorite children's book, "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. This is a book I used to read to Sarah all the time when she was a baby........
I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I am living, forever my baby you'll be.

Have a good weekend.