The Hereafter...

Ok so for some reason I have been obsessed lately with the hereafter.... Especially since Scout, Shaw and Sager (well really not Sager since he didn't make it past the first 10 minutes of the movie!!and me watched a ClintEastwood movie that stared Matt Damon -I can't tell you too much about it or I'll start and then I can't stop and then it wouldn't do you any good to watch it unless you're one of those people who watches a movie over and over and over and over (kind of like my nephew, Jackson, who I kid you not watched John Wayne's The Cowboys no less than 10 million times!)  Now this movie had me and Scout crying and all of us mesmorized.  It's basically about these people who each are destined to meet up - one is a little boy who tragically loses his brother, one who is a psychic who is trying not to be a physchic and another woman who has had a near death experience and has many questions about the hereafter.  It was a great movie if you're looking for one to watch... Now this leads me to my new FAVORITE show The Long Island Medium...

 It is so something.... let me ask you this, if you could have a meeting with the Long Island Medium who do you think would make a connection with you? Friend, family? I absolutely can't watch this show without crying - it is so sad but yet so wonderful the peace that these people feel after they meet with her... it's like they just need to hear it from someone else that it's going to be o.k. and that they're absolved from their guilt - that's the biggest thing there is so much guilt associated with someone dying. You ought to check it out... Scout always ask me - why do you watch it if you're going to cry!! I say I don't know - it's just so sweet and fills me with hope, love, peace and happiness - it's like therapy!! Love it!!  Anyhoo - I've got lesson plans to type up, today was a holiday for us at school so I've made some cards, and some pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting... yum-mo!! Have a great week!!

Times are a changin....

Well tomorrow is a big day.... Shaw-lee-tamale will turn 12! yikes where has the time gone?? This school year has been a new and exciting experience for Shaw. Jr high... you remember those days don't you? I do - boy I'm glad I don't have to relive those days and don't even mention high school - geesh!

  Well this week Shaw had picture day and about a week ago, I noticed that Shaw had a little spot on his nose, so I did what any other mother would do... I teased him about getting his first pimple - got him pretty good - even cracked him up a time or two but then.... the pimple didn't get any better... in fact it started to look weird... so weird in fact that we went to the doctor... take a guess what it was - go ahead - imagine the theme song to Jeopardy and take a guess - yes Aleck - I'll take weird bumps on a 6th graders nose for $110 because after the co-pay and the creme for the offending bump - that's how much it cost me!!! The bump- could be ringworm but maybe not... what kind of diagnosis is that? I don't know but $85 creme should take care of many, many things!!  and of course he had to get his picture made for the annual with that thing on there... my kids always get me good when it comes to school pictures - one time Scout was so cute and dolled up when I dropped him off for school and when I got the pictures he's wearing a white hanes t-shirt, and one pant leg is rolled up - What the heck?? how about the time Sager got his picture taken and scratched his head right before the photographer snapped the picture so a giant tuft of hair was sticking straight up - yup - bought those too, so clearly a giant ring-worm-esque thing on Shaw's nose wasn't that big of a deal....

Look at that sweet boy - oooohh how I just love him... but this is what is really something... Brandon asked Shaw if anyone asked him about his nose and he said yeah that he just told him Sager got him with a stick... and Sager tells Shaw - ya know it's always better to tell the truth than to make up a lie.... such a smart brother but clearly Sager doesn't know how jr. high kids really are!

Fall is in the air....

Well here in Dogpatch as my dad so lovingly calls it, we've had a cool spell.  It's been around 80 degrees and it has been glorious!!! Glorious I tell ya!  We've had a long weekend what with Labor Day and all.

     So let me tell you about a phone call we received.  Scout received a call on his phone which in and of itself is a novelty because I don't know if you know this but teenagers don't answer phone calls... they answer texts.  It's much more impersonal and cold but that's just how it is.... Clearly my father doesn't understand that but that's a whole 'nother post in and of itself... anyhoo... Scout answers the call and low and behold it's his PawPaw... he called to reminsce about a pivitol time in Scout's life. It was the threshhold between child and young man, and without a doubt, Scout failed miserably.

     When Scout was a Kindergartener, he went to the Grand Canyon with PawPaw and ChaCha.  It was quite the ordeal... but suffice it to say I should have probably thought twice about sending one of the sweetest little boys off with his grandparents but I had another sweet little baby at the house, was working full time and going to school - I thought Scout might enjoy a little break from me... so after days of riding locomotives, rock climbing, and traversing the Grand Canyon, PawPaw and the gang are at the hotel... a hotel which has a pool... which Scout was dying... DYING to get in... PawPaw says Scout can you swim? and here is where it gets tricky... knowing that he can't but wanting so badly to be able to,  Scout says with all the bravado a Kindergardener can muster and says... why of course PawPaw... there was the line - He wanted to be big, wanted PawPaw to be oh so proud of him, wanted to go swimming but here was the problem... he COULDN'T no more swim than the man in the moon!!!  PawPaw gets the towels, and trapses  Scout downstairs to make all of his little wishes come true... Scout runs and jumps in and promptly sinks straight to the bottom of the pool and before anyone else could react - Selden promptly jumps in after Scout with his wallet, boots, jeans, knife and belt on... Long story short - Scout calls me and says (hiding under the blanket on a cell phone trying to whisper... PAWPAW NEARLY DROWNDED ME!!!!!) and immediately starts crying and the jig was up.... well this weekend ChaCha washed PawPaw's jeans which had his wallet in it and as he was laying his money out to dry, the act of airing out all his business reminded him of a time not so long ago... when a little boy tried to be big, as big as his PawPaw and failed miserably....

      Isn't that the sweetest thing but wait it gets better.... PawPaw also called to tell me that he got my high school annual for me... that's right - I'm nearly 40 years old and I never got my senior high school annual - and quite honestly I only got one annual - they were kind of pricey... so I never got them... for the record - I never got my senior pictures taken either... well so I had asked my dad to get the annual when I figured out that I wouldn't be going to my 20th high school reunion and he hadn't mentioned it... so I figured he just forgot about it - it wasn't that big of a deal besides - most of the people I went to school with probably don't remember me and that's cool but deep down inside - I wanted that annual... I longed for it... but it would be silly to tell people that... so after Scout got off the phone, he and I sat side by side and teared up a little bit.... because he knew what the annual ment to me and I knew what the memory meant to him....

Summer is over... in approximately 2 days!!

Memories... like the
corner of my mind...

Summer will be over in two days.... sigh.... sob.... no really I'm ready for school to start - are you? well too bad - it's starting whether you like it or not! ha! Today I have been reflecting on all that has been this summer... how about you? was it all that you wanted and more? yeah? not really for me - it was something... Scout was busy running, he ran at Tech for track camp, he ran in Cloudcroft New Mexico with Tech cross country camp (which I highly reccommend!) Sager was busy growing... it took 9 years and 9 months to get to 40 pounds and 3 months to get to 51 pounds! wowzer...Shaw also is growing - he's wearing the same size shoe as Scout and he's officially starting Jr. high... I have a kid in Elementary, Jr. High and High School - holy crap!! I can't take it... you know what else I can't take it's this... seg way into what this post is really about...

misty water-colored memories...

People can we get real? Can we get honest? There are a lot of people who need to get real... honestly is there a way for one person to know everything? NOOOO... and quite frankly who would want to? I have a ton of useless knowledge in this ole noggin of  mine and if I worried about everything and tried to know everything, I couldn't function... heck - I can't find my keys half the time and if I had more useless information I would need a chauffer.  There is no way for one person to know everything about every situation... I love a fair amount of gossip but there is a place and time for people to just get on with their life... and that's all right... let's make a pact - you and I to get real with our lives, this year this is what I'm gonna do - I'm going to encourage and try to be as in tune with my kids as possible.  These are important times - I'll never get them back once there gone.  I'm gonna check and make sure Sager is happy and being successful (whatever success is for him...) in school and in his life.  I'm going to make sure Shaw is finding his niche in Jr. High, that he knows he's one of a kind and that's important.  I'm going to make sure that Scout has his eye on the prize (whichever prize he wants...) and not worried about how long his side burns are... just saying - it's one example... I'm going to be positive and encouraging.  If people don't like me, I can't change it.  I can't change them.  I'm going to be honest and I'm going to be real - no delusions of grandeur.  

of the way we were...

What are you going to do?  Tell me because it's a fact that if you tell someone you will become accountable for your words and actions.  Let's have a great year and do something great or good or even pretty good. I have faith in you - you can do it!!!

I know two posts in one day...

As I am making dinner the other night (fresh fettucine with pesto with turkey meatballs - notice I'm trying to be healthy here!)  I'm halfway listening as Scout flips through the channels occasionally landing on something and he lands for just a minute on TLC's Toddler's and Tiaras.... are you familiar with this tidbit of Americana? Holy moly... now while most people would be appalled at the outrageous antics of stage mothers (or cage mothers in the case of my sister - ha!! if you know my sister you'll have to ask her about this!) and their proteges, I love it!

     Why? well even though I am pretty much a tomboy, what with my love of jeans and pigs... I love, LOVE pageant hair and makeup!! I do... is that sick or what?    If I had a make-up artist and hair stylist,  would show up for school in FULL pageant wear!!!  I would.  I absolutely love the look of perfection.  The heavy foundation, the liquid eye-liner, tri-colored eye shadow, fake eye lashes... oh my... be still my heart.... and the fake teeth - the flippers!!!  gasp and swoon!!  Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to cover every flaw that you have... granted I'm really talking outside flaws but let's not quibble... how could you act ugly when you look perfect! Not me...  well I'm off to find me a form fitting sheath pageant dress with just the right amount of sequins for the first day of school!!!  Let me know if you've watched this fabulous show (psst... I won't tell anyone if it's your guilty pleasure...) and what you think about it!!

Summer is almost over...

Summer is almost over... and that is a little disappointing because it doesn't seem like we really did anything because it's been sooo HOT!! Every day I wake up thinking that it will finally be the day for it to cool down but it hasn't happened yet! 

 I've made a lot cards, washed a lot of dishes, cleaned out closets, helped re-model a bedroom, watched our bathroom get re-modeled, traveled to Colorado to watch my nephew play baseball, read a bunch of books (I'm reading one right now about a man who went to federal prison for kiting checks who ended up at the last colony of lepers in the United States... it's fascinating...), watched Scout run near Palo Duro Canyon, watched Sager and Shaw play video games - we haven't even hardly played in the water since we're on water restriction because of the heat... gone to Dallas and Lubbock and will go to Amarillo soon for Sager's doctor's appointments.... so a lot of things done but none tooo exciting.''  Have you had a good summer or have you had a GREAT summer?

Sager's birthday is coming up and he had wanted to have a party ot the city pool but they've drained the pool so that's a no go!! oh well... we'll figure something out...

  

I love, love, love skin damage....

I know - the title of this blog is definitely not politically correct - I almost put a disclaimer on here that said if you are Sharla Miller please do not read this!! (because of Sharla - a skin cancer survivor - I vowed never to go to a tanning bed again!) however - I didn't promise to stay out of the sun.... sorry Sharla!!!

When my sister and I were little we would "lay-out" all summer long.  When I say "lay-out", I mean literally lay out in the backyard, the city pool, the Amarillo Town Club (remember those days Sarah - that's a whole 'nother post!!).... even the pool in Gruver, Texas (that is the "new" pool that probably is quite old now but when we were little they had an indoor pool and that was the old pool - at the high school - how swanky is that? - but then when we were in jr high or high school they got a new pool that was totally outside... )  We would go outside in the backyard and take drinks, chips, sandwiches, our boom boxes - you know the ones with the D size batteries... geesh - those batteries were expensive (and half the time we would just use an extension cord and plug in the radio - ya know.. po') because you couldn't be going inside all the time and missing the sun and letting all the cool air from the swamp cooler leak out of the house (do you know what a swamp cooler is?  my kids probably don't know what they are... it's an evaporative cooler, you know the ones with the pads that you had to run water over in order for the fan to spin and cool the air - and when it was really hot someone would have to go outside with the hose and spray more water on it....geesh! how ghetto is that!!!) and lay outside for HOURS....HOURS I tell you.  Sarah and I had given the topic of tanning many, many thoughts. (at just a side note - Sarah grew up to marry Shawn - a total tan-orexic who goes to the tanning bed EVERY day.... hmmm.... and he just thought it was his charming personality, mullet and mustache that hooked her!)

Since we tanned pretty easy and we were poor... as in po'.... we couldn't buy the expensive tanning lotions that smelled like coconut (hello hawaiian tropics - I would wear that as perfume if I could!!!)  no, no we had to improvise.... only now that I look back at what all we did, does it seem really, really ridiculous.... especially since I was out in the backyard today tanning.... sorry Sharla.... watching the boys play in the water when I decided I needed some sort of oil to really get me good and tan so I asked Scout  to get me the canola oil out of the pantry and when I did... he stood there for half a second and stared at me like I had spoken swahili.... then and only then did I realize... I have a little problem.... When my sister and I were in our prime tanning years, we would get baby oil and put iodine in it for a really nice tan - anyone know where that came from? If someone is reading this and knows the origin of the baby oil, iodine concoction, I would love to know!  We also used crisco, laid on aluminum foil,  pooled money together and went in for a baby pool to lay in so it was like we were at the pool, (because everyone knew that the reflection of the water off your skin was necessary for optimum skin damage...) we did the sprinkler with the lawn chairs, you name it we tried it...

Those were the days.... I smile at the idea that as long as I was tan, I was beautiful.... how simple....I had a friend named Jennifer Carroll who got a tan and didn't want it to peel and she took her big ole' bottle of lotion to jr. high school (because everyone knew that you must keep your skin properly hydrated so your tan wouldn't fade....) clearly it wasn't just my sister and I who wanted to be tan.... anyhoo...I'm off to watch baseball and try to sit in the sun... just kidding...I'm just kidding.... sort of.... I have a sickness - you people shouldn't judge me!!!