I am just now sitting down after a busy Sunday! I figured I would post just a few odds & ends about what is going on with us.
I haven't subbed since the week of Christmas. I don't know what's up with that. I hope they call me soon. I realized that I prefer for the system to call me at night rather than at 5am in the morning. It helps me to prepare for the day when I know where I am going. BUT, I am not picky, I just have preferences =D lol.
I have been trying to "beef" up my exercise routine but the weekends are so flippin' hard! This weekend was a wash as far as eating healthfully. I keep hearing that quote in my head that says "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". It's so ESSENTIAL for me to plan my meals in order to lose more weight. I have set a goal b/c we are going to a wedding in July. I want to lose 40lbs. by the 4th. Say a little prayer that I persevere!
We have two more permanent friends in our house. Grant was given a bug habitat from his BFF for his birthday last summer & recently we took in two frogs. Grant has named them Shelly & Jumpy. They are teeny tiny. This feeding & care of these frogs has become a daddy & son thing. Grant has also reached a milestone in school. He can read/recognize all of his Kindergarten sight words. We are now working on 1st grade sight words & number words.
This Saturday, I signed him up to play T-ball. I guess it starts in March, I'm sure they will let us know for sure. He is excited & so am I! We also went walking on the greenway on Sat. & Grant walked 2.5 miles with me. He only complained a little but he did it! Today, we went swimming with friends from church & then went to see "The Tooth Fairy" with Duane THE ROCK Johnson! It was a really good movie, especially with The Rock as the main character. He is soooo delicious! lol = D
Its been a busy but great weekend. I guess that's all I got to say.....until next time!!!
ard

~reverting back to childhood~

We made the most of this Tennesse snow on Thursday. I have to say it was sooo fun to do this with Grant. This is acually the first time he's ever sledded. We used our driveway b/c I really didn't want to trapse across the road to the big hill behind the church. I felt like such a kid & Grant was having a ball watching me struggle. He had a couple of good runs himself. I have to say, it was cold but Man! it was so fun!

~KiNdrEd SpIRiTS~

Again, while I was in TX, I met up with my BF from Jr. High. We met in 6th grade & seemed inseperable. We were the quintessential best friends. We had fun doing crazy stuff & fought over a million different things. It was so great to see her again. She is the one who found me after we lost touch in the late 90's. She has a son too, he's 8 y.o. We all went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch so the boys could play, and we could talk & catch up. One final note, I still have ALL the notes she worte me in school & the ones she sent in the mail Corny, but Cool!

a Grant & a Grinch

Bill made reservations for us to eat "Breakfast with the Grinch" at the Gaylord Texan which is similar to our Opryland Hotel. Grant thought it was cool that they were serving green eggs & ham (he ate it too!). He couldn't wait to take his picture with him. The Grinch came around a couple of times & played small tricks on everyone. They also had a chocolate fondue fountain that was the color green. Everything was delicious!!!

[A Step Back in Time]

One of the things I did when I was in Texas for New Years was to visit the Childrens Hospital where I had my surgery to correct the scoliosis I had at age 11. I never really thought that I would ever be back here but in Oct. 09, TSRCH sent me a letter requesting that I participate in a follow up research study on patients who had this type of surgery. It was really kinda surreal to be back there and looking at things I had long forgotten. The top left picture is where the old entrance was. It was kinda funny taking this picture b/c a security guard told me, "mam if you want to get in, you have to go the other way" and I replied< "I know, I'm just wanting to take a picture of the sign" and he pretended to pose for me, and then I told him I had been here 20 yrs earlier, and he was astounded. Anyway, , the picture on the top right is me at the flag pole where there are bronze statues of children. This hospital has been here since @ the 1930's. The bottom left picture is the entrance sign which is different from what I remember. And finally, the last picture is of the Doc who performed my surgery. His name is Dr. Tony Herring & the rods that are in my back are called Herrington rods. Cool, huh? He is now #2 man as the Chief of Staff and is still doing surgery. I was hoping to get to meet him again, Good thing we caught him b/c he was out the door to bicycle home. Hence, the absence of a white coat. He was very nice & I really didn't expect him to remember me but it was so neat to meet him again.

~mY sWeEt mAmaW~

I can't begin to explain the many ways this special woman has impacted my life. She is truly an amazing woman & she has been a faithful servant to God & her family. She is the one who has & will continue to storm the gates of heaven with prayer for her children, grandchildren & great grand children. She is not just the tie that binds us together, she is the KNOT in which we are all connected to.
As a young girl, I remember spending summers with Mamaw. I remember helping her put clothes out on the line, snapping beans & okra, shucking corn, & canning a lot of fruit & vegetables for the coming winter. I remember going down to her basement in her old house where someone had built a ramshackle of a shower, and created a concrete drainage system going into the pump. I remember having to take a broom & sweep the water down the little creek (as I used to call it!). I remember her attic where there were two seperate bedrooms & it was so stinkin' hot up there but at night with the windows open & a fan blowing, it was the best place to be in the house. I remember her always making sausage & biscuits for breakfast and getting a cold Tab soda out of the freezer for her. Mamaw was a caretaker for this man Dave King who was once known as the richest man in Manchester at one time. He liveed in this huge house and her job was to take care of him in the evenings. I would go with her & just hang out. It was kinda boring but it was neat to be in such a big house. She would make us dinner, we would watch television for a bit & then she would get Mr. King ready for bed. I could tell that he loved her so much for being so kind & compassionate. Later on she became a caretaker for two children whose parents were in the medical profession. I went with her to their house every day she worked, and went right to the basement to go back to sleep for a bit. She would clean and take care of the kids. She worked so very hard during those years. She was like a second mom to those two & I know she holds a special place in their hearts too. As she got older & the kids grew up, she didn't go clean as often & eventually she retired from that job.
She is a pillar of strength & to the best of my knowledge has always relied on God's grace & mercy to get her through the bad times. We all thought for sure that after her second youngest son died unexpectedly, that she would fall apart & would not live another day. She made it through with lots of tears & prayer only to later experience the loss of a grandson. I can only say that God brought her through those dark hours. I think it was back in the fall of 2006 when Mamaw became really ill. She had to be hospitalized & there were days I think that my aunt thought this was the end of the road for her. She pulled through again with God's grace & mercy. That Christmas seemed to be the best becasue Aunt Martha Ella made an apron with all of the great grandkids' handprints on it & it said "Mamaw's Little Helpers". Then she took Mamaw's handprints & stiched the outline on an apron for each of the great grandkids so they would have something to remind them of her. It makes me cry just thinking about it.
I can honestly say that her spirit, her kindness towards others, her willingness to sacrifice whatever she had so others could have, and her undying love for God had inspired me & made me aware of what it truly is to be a child of God. Mamaw is now 82 yrs. old and is still as beautiful as an ocean sunset. I am so thankful that God chose her to be my grandmother. I love her so much & the miles make me miss her terribly. I will always be grateful for the time we get to spend together. I hope she knows how much she means to me & how much she has taught me about life. I love you Mamaw!

{a "spongy" kinda Christmas}

Here are a few snapshots from Christmas. You really can't tell that Grant loves Spongebob but REALLY he does! LOL =) It was a great day! I think I succeeded at keeping it minimal this year b/c he gets so much throughout the year especially when he pulls the heartstrings of dear ol' dad! haha. Santa brought him a SB robe, slippers, & blanket. It's hysterical to watch him run around in these slippers. He asks for the robe when he gets out of the tub....wonder how long that will last? so it goes.....