Life is Good!

"Life is Good"....love those t-shirts and caps and purses and whatever else they sell! Yesterday I had a few"life is good" experiences...which was good cause I was not feeling too "bueno vida" yesterday!

The JV mothers take turns sending food to the boys before they go to an out of town game and yesterday was my day...snacks and chips. I put the bag of goodies in my chair at school, so I would remember to take it to them at 3:00. Wouldn't you know I forgot???? (Signs of Aging)....I was in mid sentence with Gina and I'm not even sure of what I was saying, but somehow it occurred to me to take the snacks....Luckily it was only 3:05 and they weren't leaving until 3:20....I had time to run to the high school gym, even though it was 30 degrees outside.

As cold as it was, I'm about to tell you something that warmed my heart! I gave Dillan the bag of snacks and hugged him and told him, "Play a good game. I'll see you there...I love you!" and I hugged him and he actually hugged me and (this is what absolutely warmed my heart and almost brought me to tears right there underneath the EXIT light in the Hamilton Gym) he replied, "Love you, too." This is the first time in almost six years that he has said this to me. I just wanted to cry...I was so happy! I wanted to smile as I ran all the way back to the elementary campus, but the temperature was so cold it froze my teeth!

Lost the game, and after the game he came up to where Hillary, Maddie, Donald and I were sitting. He even leaned against me as he put his armpit (yuck) on my knee! Sounds gross, but it was a lean...a touch...contact!

Now what makes this so special??? I lost lots of time with Dillan after my divorce. It nearly killed me and I've spent lots of lonely occasions...whether it was a game, a stock show, or a holiday....when he wouldn't speak to me. But he is now and I can't tell you how happy this makes me. He was mad and had every right to be angry as h*(( at me.....I just love him so much...he's my "baby" and I'm so thankful that he is finally coming around again..........

Life is Good....La vida es buena.....leven goed......das Lebgen is shoen.....

shut mouth...keep foot out!

there is so much i want to say but can't. i will keep my mouth shut and therefore keep my foot out. sometimes i say things i shouldn't. especially at church....i used to always make controversial comments and it would really make people angry....they didn't agree with my point of view and i didn't agree with their viewpoint.

i will instead write on something that is quite unimpressive...i am watching HGTV's house hunters and i do believe the wife who is buying the house with the husband could quite possible be the dingiest (dingy...like ding dong...not discolored) human i've ever listened to. i thought toddlers and tiaras was bad....but this particular segment was bad....just saying. i love this show cause i always like to guess which house the buyers choose, but tonight i don't even care. she is so weird i hope she gets a bad house. omg! she is so weird, she actually chose the bad house.

i will try to be positive about the the three games i watched tonight. all three teams lost. hmmm....like i said...i will try to be positive....hmmmm....can't....let's move on.

tomorrow is saturday and i am ready for a morning off. we will go to denver's basketball game and then the grocery store and then it will be time to go to crossfire to work.

i need a good night's sleep...
nytol................

New Book

Donald came in tonight from O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A (Oklahoma! OK!...I always have to sing that when I say or write Oklahoma.) It was really good to see him, but the best part was he brought me a gift! My sister-in-law, Karen (she's married to Donald's twin brother, Ronald) sent me a book called The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I loved it immediately! It's full of recipes and pictures and stories. He told me that he thought the writer, Ree Drummond, had a blog and I remembered that I had seen The Pioneer Woman blog somewhere....I went to Betsy Killian's blog and sure 'nuf...there it was! She follows her....I believe it's called a "professional blog".....and after looking at it, I understood the difference....she is a professional at blogging! WOW! Well, I've only been looking at the book (while trying to read her blog at the same time) for about 30 minutes and I feel like we are already old friends! Funny...she hasn't a clue I exist, but I'm sure we would be very good friends IF we could just meet! She also inspired me to write on my "unprofessional blog"! Let me just recommend this book. It may be a Christmas present or birthday gift or wedding gift in the future! That's how much I love it! And if you can't find the book you can go to her blog/web page http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Enjoy and thanks, Karen! I love it!

Monday's Signs of Aging 4

Tonight I feel the need to discuss hair color. I know this may come as a shock to you all, but my hair is no longer a true "warm medium brown." Once upon a time it was....or maybe more of a "warm honey brown." I have been coloring my hair for more years than I care to disclose. The first time I noticed my gray hair was the second year I taught and that was about 20 years ago. One day at lunch, one of my students looked at me and quite seriously said, "You have some gray hairs." I looked right back at him and glaringly said, "Yes, and you gave me every one of these gray hairs." After that I began to occasionally color. I was too young for gray hair. Now I'm not.

I'll never forget the day I waltzed into the room with a fresh color on my hair, and all the kids said, "Your hair is orange!" I was horrified and quickly told them, "It is NOT orange. It is ash honey brown." After examining it in the mirror during my break, I had to agree...it was orange. I called a hairdresser and had professional redo my color. Lesson learned...never use any color with ash in the description.

My sister is always quick to let me know I need to color my hair. I'm careful to always buy the magic box and color it before I see her. I knew if she could see me yesterday, she would quickly without any hesitation at all tell me..."You need to color your hair." I was beginning to look like a skunk, so yesterday I went to Target and started looking for the right color. I never can remember which brand or the exact color I used the last time. (I've already discussed losing my memory on Signs of Aging) I wasn't surprised that my memory failed me again. I grabbed a box of, oh darn, I've already forgotten....the magic color. After a dinner with Hillary, Dennis and Maddie, we drove home and at 9:00 p.m. I began to paint my hair. I use an old paint brush to color my hair...I'm sure the professionals would die if they could see the procedure, but it works for me. I can do the front and sides, but Donald has to come in for the beautification process and color the back. He forgot to put the gloves on last night, and he ended up with dark stains all over his hands! But we got it done and today I went to school with warm medium brown minus the gray streak that I had previously.

I'm just not ready for a complete head of gray hair. I'll continue to hide this particular sign of aging until I feel old enough to have gray hair. Not sure when that's gonna be. I'm sure I'll be buying the magic box for several more years!

Another long day at the hospital

Well, our little Tristin is still in the hospital...I feel helpless! Cari said he didn't have a good night last night. They finally gave him Tylenol and that seemed to help him sleep. When I spoke to her at noon, they had put a feeding tube in his nose...oohh...makes me want to cry. He had not eaten since 7:00 a.m., so at noon they decided he needed the tube. He is so congested, it is just hard for him to eat. She said he slept from noon until 5:30, so he really must be exhausted! I think Cari got a little nap in there at some point. I assume they took the feeding tube out, because he nursed and then took a bottle around 6:00 p.m. and then he dozed back off. She said he finally smiled at them tonight...which is so unlike Tristin...he is such a happy baby. They will clean his nose again tonight, and that is no fun at all. They are watching his chest...that shows how labored his breathing is and it seems that he is still having a great deal of trouble. His lungs are still congested. Cari and Kevin are just exhausted. Please continue to pray for Tristin (and Cari and Kevin). Hopefully, tomorrow I will have much better news and they will be headed home!

Sick Baby

This morning Cari sent me a text saying she was in an ambulance taking Tristin to Dell's Children Medical Center! Scared me to death! I knew he had felt bad and was congested but AMBULANCE!!!!! I quickly went to the office and asked for a sub. We have a wonderful group of people to work for....they quickly found someone for me and I waited til noon and for word from Cari to see what the doctor said. Unfortunately they wanted to keep him, so I headed to Austin. I had never been to Dell, but it was a wonderful place for children. I wish I had taken pictures of it...everything there was geared towards children. I saw so many sick kids though! They all had on masks and you could hear crying and coughing and oh it was so sad! But I felt so comfortable and grateful that they had taken Tristin there. Kevin was holding a sleeping Mr. T when I found them in the ER. He woke up about 2:15 and we changed his diaper and he just lay on the bed like a limp dishrag! Finally he perked up and Nana got a itsy bitsy smile out of him. Soon, he was eating and smiling and was feeling a little better....I guess as good as a baby with RSV, two ear infections, and an oxygen tube in his little nose. They put him in his own room(complete with private restroom) about 4:30...which was good cause I had been needing to "tinkle" since I got there at 2:00, but I didn't want to leave him! We had lots of doctors and nurses to come in to check on him...all taking very good care to keep him happy...well, until they came in and put a saline solution up his nose and sucked out all the "boogers". He didn't like that...not one little bit. I had not eaten, except for my "perfect attendance" popcorn at 10:00, so I traveled the maze(got straight past the first elevator, take a left to the second elevator, go to the first floor, take a right yada yada) to the cafeteria while Cari was nursing him and Kevin went home to get clean clothes. I discovered lots of healthy food to choose from, so I got a salad, delicious chicken tortilla soup and a sugar free chocolate pudding. Then I did something I had never done before...I ate by myself in the cafeteria! Once I got back to the room, we watched American Idol. They hooked him up to oxygen again...since his oxygen level dropped. Cari had crawled up in the bed with him...they looked so sweet. Once Kevin got back, we put his jammies on him and he was getting sleepy. I knew he was in good hands and I also knew Cari and Kevin were exhausted...they had been up since 3:00 a.m. I was so glad I went to see him! He's such a precious baby...and as I left I knew we were so blessed that he wasn't as sick as some of the children there. Thanks to all my friends who prayed for Tristin today....and I'll continue that prayer tonight...for Tristin and all those other sick children!

Oh...and I think I figured out how to take the "verification" thingamadoochie off! Let me know if I did!

Monday's Signs of Aging 3

Clothing for the old but "young at heart" is hard to find, which is another aging problem I've encountered. Now I like to dress somewhat fashionable, but there are times when age gets in the way. Today was one of those days. I pulled out my Vera Wang (from Kohl's) black long sleeved t-shirt and topped it with my silky leopard blouse, so I wouldn't FREEZE wearing the silky top! I found my black skirt and pondered over what I should wear under my skirt on my "old" legs. I thought about wearing a pair of black Spanx tights, but I remembered I had purchased a pair of black leggings at Wally-World a few weeks ago. They were really cute leggings with black buttons on the ankles of each leg. What I didn't notice when I bought the little boogers, was the brand.....Miley Cyrus. OMG! When I put them on, I realized they must have been made specifically for Miley herself! The waist, or what I thought should have been the waist, only barely covered my, excuse me, crack! Who has ever heard of hip-hugger leggings? Now when I was in High School, I wore hip hugger jeans all the time and now it seems that the only pair of jeans I can find are what I consider hip-hugger. But who on earth wants to wear hip-hugger leggings? I pulled the suckers up ALL DAY LONG!!!!! Thank goodness I had a skirt over them so no one could see what I was exposing....ugh...makes me sick just to think about it! I'm not sure what to do with Miley's leggings. I can't imagine being that desperate to wear them again! They were cute, buy they felt horrible! If anyone out there needs a pair of slightly worn Miley Cyrus leggings, let me know...Age will not allow me to wear them again unless....no....there is no "unless"..............give me a call....they are free!