Favorite Quotes

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  • "I'm so busy.... I don't know if I found a rope... or lost my donkey! - Unknown"
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Well THAT Burned My Butt

Well whatever I've done to generate all of this bad luck is still plaguing me. We were supposed to have our family pictures taken two weekends ago. The outfit that I wanted to wear had spaghetti straps, and I had a mish-mash of farmer's tan lines. So I decided I'd go get one of those sunless tans.

On Thursday, I made an appointment to get the tan applied. When I arrived at the place she told me the tanless stuff would work alot better if I'd lay on one of the tanning beds for a few minutes first. I TOLD her that I DID NOT want to get burned. She said she'd just put me in there for 12 minutes. So I did the bed, and then I did the spray on stuff.

That night I had my band concert at 8pm. Our mini-van has leather seats with seat warmers. Everythng was fine at the concert, but when I got in the car afterwards I told Bob "Hey, I think the seat warmers are on for some reason." My butt was on FIRE. He checked them and said they weren't on. And then it hit me. I raise up my shirt and had Bob look at my back. It was firey RED and so was my butt.

Then that same night, I spilled a rootbeer float in my lap.

The next Tuesday, on the way to band practice I spilled a 44 oz size pop in my lap AGAIN. And had to go home and change.

Then Thursday my basement flooded. A pipe broke and flood Libby's room, the bathroom and half of the living room. Ugh!!!!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Swimming With The Dolphins





Granny and Papaw just came back from their cruise. And they got to swim with the Dolphins while they were there!!!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Story of Grumpy Growler

This is a story that has been passed down from Mother to child. Most little kids LOVE it. And whenever they see my Mom (Granny), she has to tell it.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was screaming and crying and throwing the awfulest fit. She heard a knock on the door. She thought it was her Grandma, but it wasn't. It was this old woman. She had long stringy hair. She didn't have any teeth and she had FINGERNAILS JUST LIKE CLAWS (said while pointing fingernails in the child's face to make them jump).

That old woman looked at that little girl and said "Was that you makin' all that racket." That little girl was so scared all she could do was nod her head.

So Grumpy Growler picked up that little girl and put her in a tow sack...and took off with her down the road.

That old woman walked and walked and walked..and that little girls was so scared. She cried "I want my Momma. I want my Daddy." But eventually Grumpy Growler stopped for a rest. And she opened that sack up, and made that little girl eat old dirty bread...and drink old yucky water from a pond. Then she put her back in that sack and went to sleep.

But while Grumpy Growler was sleeping...that little girl snuck out of that sack and ran all the way back to her Mom and Dad's house. And she never threw a fit again.

So you better not throw any fits either....or Old Grumpy Growler will get you too.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Killing Cats is Bad Luck



My Grandpa Cass passed away six years ago this month. In his honor, here is one of my favorite stories about him.

I have found that people are either cat lovers or they can't stand them. My Grandpa is one of those people who can't stand cats. I happen to be a cat fanatic. I have two of them.

My grandparents lived out on a farm without indoor plumbing. So they had alot of barn cats outside. My grandpa, Cass, thought that there were too many of them around one summer, so he rounded up a bunch of them and was going to kill them. My grandma, Obie, told him not to do it. She said it was bad luck to kill a cat.

He didn't listen to her, and took the cats out and killed them. That evening, he went upstairs to take a bath. There was only one room upstairs and when they took baths, they hauled a tub up there and heated water to fill it up.

When my Grandpa was finished with his bath that night, he came down the stairs with a towel wrapped around his waist. About two steps down, his damp feet flew out from under him, and he fell down the stairs losing his towel on the way down.

Luckily, his diginity was hurt worse than anything else. When my Grandma, Obie, came to make sure he was alright, all she said was "See, I told you that it was bad luck to kill those cats."

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Where's Bootsie?

When we went to Madison Days, I took Boots and Duff with me so that they wouldn't be alone in the house.

I want you to know that this is NO WAY that I left my dog in the mini-van over night when we returned home. It was late and the kids and I were tired from our fun day at Madison Days. I guess the dog was tired too as he was stretched out in the floor in the back of the mini-van.

My husband most certainly didn't ask "Where's Bootsie?" and I did NOT reply "I dunno. He's around here somewhere." (with a shrug). That would be totally irresponsible if I just assumed my dog was laying around the house somewhere.

I'd NEVER admit that my 11 year old son went out the the mini-van later the next day and discovered our poor cocker spaniel inside and very anxious to get out and go potty. Didn't happen!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

To Walk A Mile



We are trying to give the older two kids some opportunities to show/demonstrate responsibility on their own. While Libby was at Granny's by herself, she was allowed to ride her bike downtown by herself to get the mail, stop at the little convenience store, and sometimes go over to Papaw's shop to visit him.

On the last day of her visit, she made her daily trip, but also asked to take Granny's cell phone with her. While she was gone she called everyone she could think of. LOL. I got a call from her about mid-morning. So did Lena, so did Bob, so did....

They are starting to learn that bad consequences pile up on each other. I came home on Thursday to find their bikes parked in the garage in the spot where I park the mini-van. That is one of my pet peeves, and they've been warned several times. So they were grounded from their bikes for a week.

So on Sunday they wanted to go to the pool for the afternoon. Since they were grounded from their bikes, they had to walk. I told them to stay together and to go straight there and straight back. They were told to be home at 5:30pm. And Bob even gave them the advice that if they wanted to make SURE they were home on time to leave the pool at 5pm.

Well they didn't come strolling in until 5:50pm. They both swear that they left the pool at 5pm. But they couldn't explain why it took the FIFTY minutes to walk the mile back to the house. Frank said it was all Libby's fault because she took the long way home and he followed her. Libby said it was all Frank's fault because he kept stopping every few minutes saying that his stomach hurt. THEN it came out that at some point they'd gone in to Gambino's Pizza to see what time it was. So we never did get a straight answer on why it took so long. But now they are grounded from the pool AND their bikes for a week.

Hopefully they'll learn these lessons now when its a bike were are grounding them from instead of a car!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Madison Days = Family






I bet Carlie had 7 or 8 Shaved Ices on Saturday. She just couldn't get enough of them.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Spill-My-Guts-Libby Strikes Again




She just spent a week by herself with Granny and Papaw. They went to Applebys to eat out one evening. At a table nearby the waiter brought out a huge dessert that was piled high. Libby and Granny were talking about what a huge dessert that was. When they got done with their meal, Libby walked by the table where the lady was eating the dessert. The dessert plate was completely empty. She paused at it and said loudly "Wow, Granny. She really DID eat that whole thing by herself!!!"

Granny said she just pushed her forward and didn't look back. LOL

Friday, June 19, 2009

Madison Days - Train Rides and Hoola Hoops





The guy who was supposed to be giving the train rides had an emergency and couldn't make it. So Granny hoped on and gave Train Rides all afternoon. Libby took second place in the Hoola Hoop contest. Madi didn't last long, but she sure was cute.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Shark Bite



The gentleman pictured in the purple shirt is named Bobby. He works with my Dad, and I've known him for ohhhh...about 22 years now. I have always known that he has an artifical leg. I remember him showing it to my when I was a teenager, but really I'd forgotten about.

Well I learned from my 7 year old daughter this weekend that she'd met Bobby during Madison Days and asked him all KINDS of questions. I've known the man for over 20 years and never knew that his leg was bitten off by a SHARK. Imagine that!!!

And here all this time, I thought he lost his leg in a farming accident. Hmmmmm.

I met up with Bobby later that day and told him that I couldn't believe I'd known him all these years and he'd never told me before that his leg with eaten by a shark. You could tell for a second there he didn't know what I was talking about. And then he just started laughing.

Madison Days - The Parade




Granny and Papaw helped the kids decorate the go-kart to look like a Fire Truck. It even had a siren. Frank drove it and Libby squirted everyone with water guns. Madi and Carlie decided to watch the parade and pick up candy instead.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Madison Days - Minnow Races






We had a wonderful time at Madison Days this year. The weather was perfect, and the kids all behaved well. Here is a series on the activies.

Frank, Libby, Granny and I all paid to enter the minnow race. You had to blow your minnow with a straw to the finish line. Granny made it to the finals, but she didn't win. An older gentleman named Earl beat her and won a 22 rifle.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Julie Pool's Series of Unfortunate Events

You know....nothing HORRIBLE has happened to me in the last few weeks. But when enough little things happens, it starts to wear on a person.

This all started a month ago. I went on a work related trip to Texas (that I didn't want to go on in the first place).

- The weekend before the trip, we went to the car dealership and traded my little sports car in for a truck for Bob. This made sense. We only needed two vehicles and we need two vehicles that could seat all of us. Plus I'm saving for a new house. But I still cried when we left it at the car lot.

- While I was on my trip, I had a fender bender in a rental car. THAT cause a hugh mess at work, because no one knew what to do about it, how to handle the insurance, I had to be drug tested, and there was a question about whether or not I had reported it to the correct people at work.

- In the middle of the trip, my beloved old cat Shadow became ill, and Bob took him to the vet.

- We thought Shadow was going to be okay. I brought him home, but he refused to eat. And I had to have him put to sleep that next weekend.

- The day before I put Shadow to sleep, I discovered that all three of my daughters had lice. And THAT was a huge mess getting that taken care of.

- Last week our refridgerator started spewing water on the floor. That was $50 for a new filter. Then the same day, my computer crashed without warning.

- I took the harddrive out and took it all over town hoping someone could get my year's worth of pictures off of it that I didn't have backed up. I waited in line for an hour at Best Buy. They told me they found the files, and they could do it but it would cost $100. I paid them. They called me back yesterday and told me that they couldn't get any of the data its gone. My precious pictures are gone.

- I bought a new computer. I should have been able to just plug it in and start using it. But I cannot get it to connect to the internet. I spent a great deal of Sunday on the phone with ATT and no one can tell me why I can connect to the internet but it takes over 10 minutes for a page to load.

- Then today, I decided that I would try to cheer myself up by dressing nicely for work. So I put on heels and a dress. I had been in my office no more than 30 minutes before I tripped over a cord and went sprawling. I bloodied my knee and jarred my hand, wrist and shoulder.

I just want to cry. Wahhhhhhhh. I want my car back. I want my cat back. I want my pictures back. I want my computer to work. When I get stressed out I get patches of skin on my face that turn red and then flake off. My face is about to peel off of my skull. Blech!!!!

Update: Whatever Gremlin has ahold of me just will NOT let go. I ordered a 44 oz Diet Coke with my lunch. When I got ready to go into the office, I grabbed the cup and my fingers went right though it. I spilled 44 ozs of pop right down my leg. I live 30 minutes from a clean pair of pants. Ugh.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Meet Duff



The name Duff is Celtic for Black Faced or Dark Features. By the time Duff is grown his whole face will be dark. He is a Ragdoll cat. I still miss Shadow so much, but at least having a new kitten is a distraction. His fur is soooo incredibly soft. And he's very sweet. He hates to be alone unless he's asleep.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Schedule

Every once in a while, I like to post our crazy-busy schedule. I'm sure I'll look back at it in 20 years and wonder how we did it. This is what yesterday looked like.

5:30am - Bob leaves house for weights
6:00am - Julie wakes up, Frank leaves house for weights
7:00am - Lean arrives to watch kids
7:15am - Julie leaves the house
8:30am - Odessey picks Frank up from weights and takes him to Augusta
8:30am - Madi goes to summer school
9:00am - Carlie goes to Vacation Bible School
11:00am - Libby goes to basketball camp.
11:30am - Pick Madi up from Summer School. And Carlie up from VBS.
12:30am - Bob arrives home and Lena leaves. Frank is dropped off from Odessey.
1:30pm - Libby and Madi go to piano lessons.
2:15pm - Pick Libby and Madi up from piano lessons.
5:15pm - Bob goes back to Weights/BBall. Julie arrives home from work.
7:00pm - Babysitter arrives and Julie leaves for City Band practice.
10:00pm - Julie arrives back from City Band. Babysitter leaves.
10:00pm - Bob returns from Coaching Summer Bball.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Top Five Ways To Avoid Mowing The Yard



When you are 11 years old, here are the top five ways to avoid mowing the yard.

1. Mow one strip of the yard and then disappear into the neighborhood. When your mother finally locates you two hours later explain to her that you could not mow the yard because your NEIGHBOR'S sprinkler is on.

2. Mow another strip of the yard and then disappear inside the house. When located in the house 45 minutes later explain you had a bad stomach ache.

3. Mow another strip of the yard and then come into the house and ask your Mother if she will purchase you an ice cream from the ice cream truck. Forget to go back outside and continue mowing when she tells you No.

4. Mow two more strips of the yard with alot of theatrical grunting and groaning and crying so that you attract the neighbor's notice and the neighbor feels sorry for you and invites you to come over and have a glass of lemonade.

And the TOP way to avoid mowing the yard when you are 11 years old.

5. Leave the lawn mower running unattended on the lawn (because you've caught on that your Mom notices when it stops running). Jog down the block and flag down the ice cream truck and tell him you want to purchase an ice cream (despite the fact that your Mom said No). Disappear inside the house and riffle through the change jars and through the mini-van for spare change. When you come out through the garage and hear your Mom calling for you, freeze position and hide in the garage with stolen coins until the ice cream man pulls up in front of the yard and explains to your Mom (while pointing out your hiding place in the garage) that you had previously flagged him down and told him to stop at your house so that you could buy an ice cream.

Sigh.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Shadow - The Rainbow Bridge



I had to have Shadow put to sleep on Saturday. All three of my original Kittie Babies are all gone now. Pictured on the couch are Spencer, Tater and Shadow.

It was a hard thing for me to do, but it was what was best for him. And I got to be with him at the end.

When I went to pick Shadow out, I walked into this lady's house and there were five tiny kittens that looked exactly alike. I played with them a few minutes and couldn't figure out how I was going to decide. Then I picked Shadow up. He rolled over belly up in my palms and began purring SO loudly for such a tiny kitten. I knew he was the one.

When I took him home he followed me every step that I took, and I named him Shadow. He's been my companion through a first marriage and divorce, umpteen moves, step kids, foster kids and now my own kids. He had a good life, but I miss him so much!!! He was MY kittie baby. And until the very end, he had the best rumbling purr ever.








Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Monday, June 1, 2009

Which End Does It Come Out Of?


Libby gets the award for the dumbest question of the weekend.

When I was a little kid one of the joys of the summer was getting a turtle off the highway. I don't know which was more fun....actually having a turtle to play with....or the excitement of having my Dad stop the car in the middle of the highway, run out and grab the turtle from the middle of the road and scramble back to the car with it. Sometimes he even put the car in reverse and backed up on the highway to get the turtle...which I always thought was particularly dangerous and thrilling!!!

So while we were at the Pool's house this weekend, I saw a turtle crossing their black top road. Thinking about my Dad and fond childhood memories, I pulled over and grabbed the turtle for my kids.

My kids have always spent time with us at the 20 acres the Pools have and at the lake. So I don't think of them as being "city kids". But I handed the turtle to Libby. She looks it over and says "Mom, which end does it come out of???"

I give her my "you've got to be kidding me look" and said "It comes out of BOTH ends, Libby." She goes "Yeah, I know, but which end does the HEAD come out of?" Ummm...the one with the slanted side.

I guess I need to educate my kids better about country life!!!!!

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