The Pooligans

Granny, What Big Ear Phones You Have.....

2012-02-13T18:49:00.001-06:00

On Christmas Eve we went to Oklahoma and had a great Christmas with the Osborn family. We gathered at my Uncle's Church. My awesome Mom (Granny) has decided to train to become and EMT so she can help keep the ambulance service going in their small town. This isn't an easy thing to achieve, it takes 9 months and you have to take alot of hard tests.

Well my sister, JoLynn, bought my Mom and EMT kit for Christmas. Granny got it out at the Osborn Family Christmas. She was practicing on everyone, taking blood pressures and listening to hearts and lungs. She got Madi stretched out on one of the tables and began "working on her". Madi being the drama queen she is was playing at patient with a dramatic flare.

Well Libby comes along and starts pawing through all the pockets of Granny's red EMT bag. I told her to quit that everything belonged in a spot and she would mess it all up. She picked up Granny's stethoscope, put it in her ears and said......."Wow Granny, these are some really big ear phones you've got!!!" She was dead serious. I wanted to ask her if she thought that little round thing at the end was the newest Ipod. LOL.

Reflection on 2011

2012-02-11T19:22:00.001-06:00

I didn't post anything for the whole month of January. No I didn't abandon my blog. It's just been even crazier than usual around here. I went to my first Physical Therapist appointment last week (that's a whole post on its own). And as he was look at my back issue he asked what was going on in my life......well let's see.

In January I was just getting settled in at my new job at Via Christi.

On January 28th, Lena's baby Amira was born and I got to be there for her birth. That same night, we found out that my 55 year old Aunt Marsha had passed away.
In February we moved in to the 3 bedroom 2 bathroom trailer house permanently because we got tired of running around like crazy people trying to clean up our house in town every time they had a showing. We thought it was only going to be for a few months.
Late in February, I took Libby by myself to a basketball tournament in Ark City. Between games I ran her to a department store and had a major grand mal seizure (never had one before) and was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
In May my Memaw went to the funeral of her first husband in Indiana. While there she had a massive stroke. They transported her to a major hospital. We weren't sure if she was going to make it.
As a family, we decided that my Memaw and Pepaw didn't have access to the health care they would need on their rural farm. So we started working on getting her moved to Wichita. We could not find a way to transport her.
Finally in June she was well enough to ride in a car, and my Sister-In-Law and Pepaw drove her (while she was on a matress in the back of their mini-van) all the way to Kansas and we got her into a Rehab Facility. Carrie (my Sister-in-law) decided to stay in Wichita to help take care of Memaw.
Pepaw brought his large RV up from Oklahoma and parked it on our land, and he and Carrie lived there while Memaw was in Rehab.
Lena totalled her car in July. She had to wait on insurance money before she could get another one, so she and Amira rode the bus to her school and baby sitter until she could get another one. And we also helped pick her up and get her places. She stayed with us alot that month that she didn't have a car.
In August, both Frank and Libby were in Junior High. And Bob started his first year as our head football coach. He wanted to make a good impression so he was immersed in football.
The first week in August I took the kids to get School Supplies at Walmart and had my second grand mal seizure and during the seizure was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher which gashed my head open and required six stitches and twelve staples and caused a concussion. I had to have an MRI and was officially diagnosed with Epilespy. I couldn't drive for 2 months, and had to carpool with my friend Sarah who blessedly lives a few houses down and works nearby the place I was working. It SUCKS not being able to drive BTW.
Our whole routine also changed as Madi and Carlie went to their new grade school and the kids began riding the bus for the first time. Frank was playing football, Bob was coaching football, Libby was playing volleyball. I couldn't drive anyone anywhere. And I was terrified that I would have another seizure.
Dec 7th we found out that Memaw had to leave the Rehab facility THAT DAY. We had no place to put her. They were working on selling their farm in Oklahoma, but it wasn't done yet. They couldn't buy a house here in Wichita until their house was sold. So we rented a hospital bed and moved Memaw into our living room. Along with a lift, port-a-potty, wheel chair, etc.
Then we had Thanksgiving and Christmas sandwiched in there.
Then Dec 30th, we learned that their house in Oklahoma was finally going to close on Jan 7th. So we rented a UHaul and went down there to pack up and move 30 years of house stuff and farm stuff.

So through noboy's fault....just that crazy thing called life....in the month of January we ended up with five adults (one of whom was in a wheel chair), four kids, three dogs (two mine and one theirs), three cats (Carrie is allergic to them BTW) living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom trailer house.

Oh, and did I mention that we were also building a house during that month, Madi and Carlie were playing Rec Basketball on Saturdays, Frank was wrestling at the Jr High, and Libby was on the Varsity Basketball team for Junior High. Oh and Frank also call 911 on us...but that's another post too.

So that brings me back to why I went to see a Physical Therapist. I hurt my back while we were doing all that moving and it wouldn't heal up. So when the PT asked me what was going on in my life, I started rattling all this stuff off. He looks at me with his mouth hanging open and goes "Well, you've got a few things on your plate!" A Yep!!!!

The Phantom of the Opera - The Next Generation

2012-02-10T18:28:00.000-06:00

I've been a hugh Phantom of the Opera fan since I was a teen. I've seen it live on stage a couple of times, loved the movie. Well yesterday I bought the 25th anniversary concert version on DVD. It is a live filming of a concert stage performance. Because of the location and the filming, it's not quite a complete stage set. But if you are a fan you've got to get a copy.

I've always been an u...nderdog fan so I would always cheer for the lonely Phantom. Carlie wanted to watch the DVD with me last night. So we watched it together in the dark. Now I must admit that Raul was drop dead gorgeous....but Carlie was immediately crazy about him. She told me he looked JUST LIKE Robert Pattison. Then the whole DVD she's cheering for Raul...I'm cheering for the Phantom.

Finally she goes "WHY would you even like the Phantom? He's ugly, he's very rude, and he keeps Christine transed all the time . The only reason she loves him a little bit is when he's got her transed."

Ahhhh my pragmatic daughter. I hope she marries a Raul someday!

Christmas Memories from My Mom

2011-12-26T16:27:00.000-06:00

Charlie, Shirley, Obie, Cass, Sharla, Brenda, Randy, Marsha

Christmas was always so much fun growing up in Wetumka. Dad would hitch the tractor to a sleigh and we would go down in the pasture and cut a Christmas tree. It was so hard to wait until he got a stand built for the bottom on the tree. Mom always did a lot of baking and candy making. We always got a sack of hard Christmas candy and an apple and an orange. That was such a treasure! Always enjoyed going to the May family gathering. What a joy to get to see all our cousins and uncles and aunts. I was always amazed at how many gifts Grandma and Grandpa got. I thought they were the luckiest people in the world. What a blessing we had!

After Christmas Sales

2011-12-26T15:45:00.001-06:00

The kids had money from Christmas burning a hole in their pockets. So took them shopping today at Walmart for the after Christmas sales. Boy did they haul in the booty. The little girls in particular had so much fun. I turned them lose in the store with their new cell phones, and let them buy whatever they wanted. They've never gotten to spend money like that before.

Carlie got two Monster High dolls, a punk zhu-zhu pet with a mohawk, a round bottle of Coca-cola, an 8 pack of Diet Mountain Due, a package of Starburst and a package of Starburst jelly beans.

Madi got a Fur-Real friend Rabbit, a zebra striped snuggie, a polar bear blanket holder, a beautiful diamond necklace, some beef jerky, a round bottle of coca-cola and a package of whoppers.

Libby was practical and got a set of clothes, some half price fuzzy socks and some gum for her boyfriend.

Frank bought a girl a SIXY-EIGHT dollar necklace!!! For a girl who is not even his girlfriend. He didn't tell me he did it. So he's going to have to return that one. I stand by my statement that boys are brain damaged until they are in their 30s.

First Shave - A rite of passage

2011-12-25T15:53:00.003-06:00

I took Pepaw to do his Christmas shopping this year. We had gifts for everybody but Frank. I'd been teasing Frank that he needed to get rid of that fuzzy black caterpillar under his nose. So Pepaw and I came across a shaving kit that had the razor, shaving cream, after shave, etc. He asked me if he could get it for Frank. I told him sure, that Bob and I had been talking about it anyway.

So he opened it up on Christmas Day. And Bob showed him how to shave.

Holidays

2011-12-24T16:02:00.001-06:00

I knew the Holidays would be a little different this year. But it all turned out great.

I let the kids have their cell phones a day early. We hid them in the house and they started ringing and the kids were searching for them. They are very locked down, they can only make and receive calls from people on their contact list, only have so many minutes a month, etc. And they can only make calls from 8am to 9PM. Every morning at 8:01am, Carlie calls Granny. LOL.

We started off with Christmas at my parent's house. I had asked for outside gear. Granny and Papaw got me a Carhart Jacket, Libby got me muck boots and Carlie got me a cool hat with a nose cover. They all came in handy when I had to go fix the donkey pen one evening when it was 18 degrees.

Bob got some wireless head phones from my parents. Which is great because he can listen to the computer or TV as loud as he wants to and I can't hear it. But the down side is that he sings along to whatever he's listening too. Where is the duct tape when you need it!

Then we went to Wetumka and had Christmas with the Osborn family. Almost everybody was there, and it was great to see and hold all the new babies. The kids had fun playing with their new cousins.

Then we finished on Christmas Day with the Pools. We didn't have alot of money to spend there, but just having Memaw there in the house with us, and Amira's first Christmas was a true blessing.

Memaw really enjoyed Christmas this year. She liked all her gifts, and she said "beautiful" everytime she opened one up. We she opened her last present, which was a coat she said it was "too much". Too many presents for her. She started started crying big tears of happiness.

Last night we were in OK, and Carrie had gone to Walmart. Pepaw came into the living room, and Memaw was leaning way over in her chair going through presents. She couldn't wait to start Christmas this morning.

Frank got a shaving kit this morning, and Dad showed him how to shave. Wonderful memories.

60 is the new 50

2011-12-03T16:14:00.001-06:00

My Dad turned 60 this year. "Still crazy after all these years." And good looking too. Just ask him and he'll tell ya!

This is what he had to say on his 60th birthday. "My Dad always said that if he'd known he was going to live so long, he'd taken better care of his body. So my Dad did teach me one very important lesson. I took it to heart."

In the same year, I turned 40, Angel Pool turned 50, My Dad turned 60 and Pepaw turned 70.

Libby Regarding Summer at the Lake

2011-11-26T19:08:00.000-06:00

Oh how I wish Memaw could read this!!!

This summer I went to Oklahoma To vis my grandma at the Ufalla Lake. My cusin Jody, J.C., Ema and Samal. My Uncles and Aints to. I swam in the lake. And I Drove the 4 wheeler in the forest with my cusins Megin and Buba and Frank. Frank almost ran over a dear. We sall lots of dear and rabbits.

And then my Aint had 3 cookouts in a row. First night I don't know because I wasn't ther I was at my grandma's house. The 2nd ay they had Fish they Fried us some Fish. The 3rd day we had hamburgers and hot dogs. The Food was vary vary good. That was the bestest thang I ate.

Then I go fishing with my grandpa evry morning. It is vary fun. I got to cut the fish. And clean the fish. And when were Done, I got to spash bleach water on the tables and floors. And then get the hose and sprad the tables and floors. It sormed bad 2 will we were cleaning the fish.

Then I went to My Memas house and we cleaned the houl house. When we came back to the lake nobody was ther but us. I was leving to come back to Kansas. We met my Dad at Ponca City. We at at a realy good Cina Star bufet. The End

Libby Regarding Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:38:00.026-06:00

My thanksgiving was awesome we went to my granny's house and when we got there the dog was barking and my pawpaw was on the phone. My granny was standen at the door. When we walked in it was 6:30 and it smelled like popcorn because my pawpaw was eating popcorn. When my pawpaw got of the phone he started to talk to my granny about what happened to the car like if it was totel or not. After that we at some dinner After dinner we watch 2 movies. We ate popcorn, chip, and we ate ice cream

When it was time to go to bed we just could not find out how was sleeping with each other. So about 10 minutes later I said Madi + Carlie sleep with mom. I sleep on the couch Frank sleeps on the other couch dad sleeps in the back room and my granny + papaw sleep were they usely do. So before we went to bed we had to brush are teath. We went to bed and my mom in the morning was yelling she was having a nightmerror. In the morning we had to get started cooking right away because we mad turkey, fruit saled, mashed potatos and gravey, and we also have to make pie. whe we ate the food smelled so good I just keep eating. When everyone was done eating we all just sat back and relaxed.

It is time to go home nobody wants to leave but it is time to. When we got home it was about 5:00. When we are at home every body just sleep. At 7:00 we made dinner and we ate. It is not time to go to bed but we all wanted to go to bed.

Libby Regarding the Coolest Place on Earth

2011-11-22T06:49:00.016-06:00

The coolest place that I have ever been is Granny + papaws house. I like my granny + pawpaw's house because when I am there it is fun. Another thang is that I have my own refrigorater and I can get whatever I want out of it. In my refrigorater is all diffarent tipe like lunchables. In the freezer is popsycles. I get to eat whatever I want out of the frige + freezer because it is mine.

My granny and pawpaw's house is the coolest place because I get almost everythang I want, 1 is I got my own school set 2. I got my own cooking set 3. I am a queen. I love my granny + pawpaw because they give me almost everythang.

My granny + pawpaw's house is the best. I get to play my granny's laptop. I get to sleep in my pawpaw's big and comphy chair. I get to watch what I want to. I get to have my friends over.

My granny's house is the best house. I get to play bord games and get to do puzzles. I love my granny's house because it is fun and there is alot of stuff to do there. I love my grann and my pawpaw.

Libby's View on Family

2011-11-20T18:37:00.006-06:00

I was looking for some paper and picked up a spiral notebook and found this. They were dated Aug and Sept 2009. Libby would have just started 5th grade.

All About My Family

My Mom's side lives in Madison a small town. My Dad's side lives in the country in Savanna Oklahoma. On my Mom's side I get mostly what I want. And I get paid. On my dad's side of the family I still almost get what I want.

On my mom's side I am spoledd. I get paid, I get a wii all to myself. I can eat what ever I want. My mom's Dad has a cool chair that I get to sleep in when ever I want. My Granny tot me how to sow like 2 years ago. I enterd a geen contest for how ever had the best geen Disin.

On my Dads side of the Family I get to drive the four weeler every ware. I get to go shoping. It is alot of fun. My Pepa alwas takes me to the lake. The alwase are fun even thow they are 68 years old.

About by brothers. My older brothers can be anowing. Frank can go into my room and take my Dairy and Privet stuff and read it. Witch I think is rude. My oldes brother JB can pull me down and hurt me. JB smokes and he has to share a 4th of closet with me.

My sisters can be rude to me and each other. My sisters are a messy. They have a messy room. When they get out of the warpool they have the floor like the water had fluded. My sisters ar picky.

Carlie is vary pike about what she eats or wares. Carlie is strong and she can bite like an animal (stopping here in my typing to fall out of the chair laughing). She is vary rude. Madi is a rude person. She all sweet at school but at home she can be a rude girl.

Lois my oldest sister is vary nice and sweet. She plays 3 insterment. She plays clarinet, and Drums and guitar. I love Lois. The End

I'm blind, I'm blind!!!!

2011-11-17T19:42:00.000-06:00

So Thursday was the first Jr High dance of the year. Frank is in 8th grade and Libby is in 7th and they both wanted to go. It was from 7-9pm. Bob took them. I was getting my hair done...so I was coming by the middle school on my way home. It was 8:30pm so I thought I would just grab them a little early.

When I pull up there....I see a sign and it says "7th graders picked up here....8th graders picked up here.....AT 9PM"

I go up to the front doors and sure enough, they are all locked. The doors are glass. I press my face to the glass to see if I could signal a teacher to let me in. What I saw HORRIFIED ME. The kids were in the atrium....it was DARK.....Miley Cyrus's The Climb was blaring from speakers....and the kids were SLOW dancing...with their arms wrapped around necks and waists. The was a disco ball flashing.

I staggered back from the door screaming "I'm BLIND. I'm BLIND!!!!" The sight of my "babies" slow dancing in the dark....well it doesn't even bare things about....no...not yet....PLEASE.

When I was in Junior High....the boys stood on one side of the room drinking punch and the girls gathered on the other side giggling. And one or two "fast" couples might be out there in the middle dancing. What the heck HAPPENED!!!!

Then the principal finally noticed me and let me in. I walk into the office, and I see row after row after row of cell phones lined up on the counter. The 7th graders had on color of sticky note with their names on them...and the 8th graders had another. Holy Smokes, Batman!!!

Bucket Lists

2011-11-15T08:02:00.007-06:00

How would you describe me: White, Female, Upper Middle Class, an IT Manager, a Mom of Four plus, a Christian, a Daughter of two solid parents who are still married, a Football Coach’s Wife of ten years, a Sister, an owner of a Master’s Degree in Mathematics. I have a solid 401(K), building a new house, have nice vehicles, I have 3 months of living expensive in savings, I’m healthy. I’ve been a Step Mom, a Foster Mom, an Adoptive Mom, a Biological Mom, and a Substitute Mom. I just turned 40. Pretty good, huh?

I don’t have a bucket list.

If I died right now, the only regret I would have would be time missed with family and friends. But mostly watching my beautiful children grow up.

I have traveled to most major cities in the US. I’ve also been to Jamaica, Canada and China. I’ve flown in a commercial plane, a Cessna and a float plane. I’ve been on a cruise. I have walked on a glacier. I watched someone be born, and I’ve watched someone die. I’ve been pregnant and given birth. I’ve stood in court and made three special children mine. I’ve lived at ten different addresses as an adult. I’ve spent long periods of time in: Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri. I’ve been diagnosed with Epilepsy. I’ve been taken by ambulance to an ER. I’ve totaled a car. I’ve bought brand new cars. I’ve been laid off. I’ve been a high school teacher, and a Manager of 22 people. I’ve built software systems that people still use 10 years later. I’ve played flute and piccolo on many a stage. I stood up and played the piccolo solo in Stars and Stripes Forever in a crowded auditorium. I’ve become an amateur photographer. I’ve held and comforted my sick child in the ER. I’ve dipped my toe in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve been to Disney World – twice. I helped start a church. I’ve been Baptized. I’ve been fishing – and caught fish. I have drank water from a pure stream in the Flint Hills. The longest I’ve ever worked at one company was 5 years. I currently own 4 inch heels, sandals, running shoes, steel toed boots and cowboy boots. I have ridden horseback. I have helped put out a prairie fire. I’ve had numerous dogs, cats, fish, goats and a donkey as pets. I have driven a go-cart. I’ve been married - twice. I’ve been divorced. I’ve stood up to a bully at work- twice. I’ve seen Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserable. I've been in a tornado,a flood and experienced an earthquake. I’ve been to the ballet, the opera and a symphony. I’ve had stitches. I keep a blog about my family. I’ve taken in two 17 year old boys who needed a place to stay. I’ve been blessed with a loving, faithful, loyal husband and four beautiful children. I’ve been snorkeling. I’ve fired a gun – and I THINK I killed a crow with it. I flunked suba diving class. I have suffered infertility. I heard Pavarotti sing in person and shook his hand. I have touched a wild buffalo and watched a wild bald eagle in flight. I watched more ballgames (of various varieties) that I care to count. I have lain in the bed of a pickup truck and watched the stars. I’ve seen an eclipse. I have been canoeing and rafting. I spent the night in a hammock on a beach in Jamaica. I lived through the Challenger Explosion, The Oklahoma City Bombing and 9/11. I’ve been to the top of the Rocky Mountains – but I have no desire to go skiing. I’ve put two loved ones in mental institutions. I went to court and watched another one be sentenced while he was wearing an orange jump suite and leg shackles. I’ve been to the World Expo in Shanghai and I’ve walked to the top of the Great Wall of China with my Dad. I’ve cried on my Mom’s shoulder too many times to count. I’ve been kissed by tiny sticky mouths and hugged with tiny sticky fingers. I’ve been pooped on. I’ve been a witness in a jury trial. I’ve been to the top of the Sears Tower and stood on the clear ledge and looked down. I’ve never been drunk or high. I’ve been in a TV commercial. I’m friends with a convicted felon – actually more than one. I have gained and lost 110 lbs. I put a hard drive in my computer. I have hired people and I have fired people. I have run a 5k race without stopping. I won a hair and make-up make over. I’ve cried while I held a dear pet while he was put to sleep. I’ve miscarried a dearly wanted baby. I have brush-hogged with a tractor. I made straight As in High School. I’ve called the Suicide hotline for a co-worker who was threatening to kill himself. I was Salutatorian of my Senior class. I started college when I was 17, got my college degree in 3 years and graduated in the top 10% of my class. By the time I was 22, I had a Master’s Degree. I’ve gotten a speeding ticket I deserved. I went to court over a speeding ticket I DIDN'T deserve and won my case! I have cut down a tree with a chain saw. I have let ducklings swim in my garden sized whirlpool tub. I’ve potty trained who knows how many kids! I have included into my wonderful core family: wonderful in-laws, multiple birth families, foster kids, step kids.

I have loved, and lost, and let go….and I understand the difference. I am confident in who I am. I’ve been loved….deeply loved.

I don’t have a bucket list. I don’t quit, ever. Can’t Don’t Live Here.

Food Fights

2011-11-13T11:11:00.010-06:00

As they say in "A Christmas Story"....every family has one picky eater.....in ours it was.....Carlie.

School lunches have gotten so expensive that we have the kids pack a lunch four days of the week. One day a week they get to have a hot lunch. They look at the lunch calendar each week....and each kid carefully selects and plans which day they will have a hot lunch.

Well Carlie's tastes are just too refined for a sack lunch. She hates anything we suggest. Turkey sandwiches taste gross unless we buy her the expensive deli meat. She won't eat peanut butter and jelly. She can't take soup or anything like that because they don't have a place to heat it up. She will only eat GREEN apples....not RED.....etc, etc.

Granny went up to the school one day to pick them up, and they told her that they were concerned about Carlie's lunch. One day all she brought was a green apple. And one day just a small kids' yogurt. Ummmm.....well thanks for sharing.....but you can look at her sister's lunch to see that I don't starve my kids....and look at both of them to see that they don't miss too many meals. One day she had no lunch at all. So on these days they let her get a hot lunch.

So I called the school and told them that Carlie is allowed to have ONE hot lunch a week. And she might just have to go hungry for a couple of days before she figured out she couldn't manipulate the system. She was very helpful and said she would let me know if there were any more problems.

So the other day I got this email.

Julie,

Thought I should let you know that on Tuesday Carlie only brought a bag of grapes in her lunch. When a asked her about it she said that she didn’t have time to eat breakfast so she ate part of her lunch on the bus and that she eat some more of it during morning snacks in Mr. Oliver’s class. Yesterday she ate a hot lunch and I didn’t think anything about it but when she ate one again today a said something like “Oh it must be a special week.” She looks at me and says, “I’ll tell my Mom when I get home. I slept to late and didn’t have time to pack my lunch!” Thought you might like to know.

GLM
Coe Food Service Secretary

Sigh. Now every time she has TWO hot lunches in a week, she doesn't get one at ALL the next week.

Contractual Agreements!

2011-11-11T19:21:00.001-06:00

Carlie got a new pair of glasses at the beginning of the school year. Her vision wasn't horrible, but she did need some. So I took her to pick out a nice pink pair. Within the third week of school someone had stepped on them and smashed them.

Being the bad Mom that I am....I couldn't ever remember to order her a new pair. So Monday, she got frustrated with me and she presented a "Contractual Agreement" for me to sign.

"I Julie K Pool will get Carlie Pool a pair of glasses by Saturday" with signature lines for each of us. She persisted until I signed it. Today was Friday....I still hadn't ordered them yet. My phone chirps when I get a Facebook Message. Mine chirped at work today. When I looked of Facebook, I see the following.

Carlie Mae Pool

mom I need you to get me glasses

Julie Morgan Pool

Thanks for the reminder :o)

Julie Morgan Pool

I ordered them!

I stopped what I was doing right then and there and picked up the phone and ordered a new pair. I made my deadline......barely. Maybe she'll be a lawyer some day??

5 hours ago · LikeUnlike.Carlie Mae Pool no

about an hour ago · LikeUnlike.

Who's a Puss?

2011-11-09T09:09:00.000-06:00

When the girls came back from seeing the movie Puss and Boots, I asked them "What's a Puss?" I wanted to see what they would say. Carlie goes "It's the name of a cat." Madi says "No it's not....that's what Frank is." Hahaha. That's what Bob calls Frank all the time.

Love in the Third Grade

2011-11-07T06:21:00.000-06:00

I didn't know it, but Carlie has apparently been dating Jacob G. He rides the bus with her, and they had been sitting together on the bus. His older brother is a Senior on Bob's football team.

So the last home game, Libby and Carlie went with me. After the game, Carlie grabbed my hand as we walked out of the stadium. She said, "Well, Jacob broke up with me tonight. It was awful!" I asked her what happened and she said "Well Mom, I don't really know. I was sitting by him in the bleachers. And he threw this little football at me and the end of it hit me in the head....and said I don't like you any more...I'm breaking up with you!!!"
I told her that I was sorry that happened to her. She said "It really broke my heart in two. In fact, it broke it into millions of tiny little pieces. I had to go sit in the stands and cry. I put my head in Olivia E.'s lap....cause she is like a sister to me....and I cried and cried in her lap."

Again I told her that I was sorry her feelings got hurt, but she was really too young to be dating any way.

Then her green eyes got a sparkle in them and she said "But I took him down and pinned him to the ground, Mom. And that made me feel alot better!!!!" Ahhhh, has a bit of her Mom in her.

The next school day, I asked her how her school day went. She said "It was GREAT. Jacob didn't really break up with me. It was all just a big misunderstanding!"

So Carlie is dating the younger brother of our Senior Linebacker, and Madi is dating the youngest brother of our starting quarter back. Hmmmm....I'm thinking this is a picture of my future!!!

Date Night

2011-11-05T17:39:00.000-05:00

Papaw took his little girls out on a date to see the movie Puss and Boots. He bought them Dairy Queen, let them buy candy, pop corn and pop that had SUGAR in it at the movie. And even let them play some of the arcade games at the movie theater. I don't know what they liked the most.....the movie or the junk food!

Trick or Treat....

2011-10-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

Madi was a zombie

Every cowgirl needs a rope and a good cow dog

Frank was a coach

Libby was a baby....ummm how fitting!!!

The Only Way I Can Get Hubby to Notice Me....

2011-10-30T18:41:00.001-05:00

The Only Way I Can Get Hubby to Notice Me during football season!!! I actually saw a gleam in his eye when he saw me in this. You do what you have to do, right?

Self Hair Cuts

2011-10-26T07:16:00.001-05:00

At 13, 12, 9 and 8, I thought my kids were all past the self hair cuts stage. Well apparently not. I noticed that Libby had been wearing weird clips in the front of her hair. Then I was looking at her phone the other day and there are pictures on there of her with bangs!! Now she had asked me several times if she could get some bangs cut, and I had expressly said no.

I asked about the pictures on her camera. And she tried to tell me that she'd just flipper her hair over from the back of her head to LOOK like bangs. I made her take the hair clips out....and THIS is what I saw. Unbelievable!!!!

Since she decided on her own to cut it, I made her go to school this way today. She also permanently lost her Facebook this weekend for harassing other people on the internet!

Connections

2011-10-24T19:11:00.001-05:00

We were sitting around the campfire this afternoon with Mom and Dad, and Carlie says "Hey! We can't connect to the internet out here. I guess we'll just have to connect to nature instead!!!" She cracks me up

Just stamp "Sucker" on my forehead....

2011-10-11T18:52:00.001-05:00

So my cat Duff is having trouble urinating. This can be a deadly situation, it killed one of my older cats. So I took him in Friday morning by the vet on my way to work. This is a country vet, and I notice in an outside pen a scruffy little black and white dog. There was a sign on the pen that said "Please Adopt Me". Well I have pets and kids running out my ears, so I didn't think much about it.

It turns out that I couldn't go get Duff until the next morning, Saturday. And I had to have him picked up by Noon when the vet closes. I also had to have my Sister-in-law to the airport by Noon. So I stop by at 11am to pick up my cat. The girls are in the car with me, and they are asking about the "Cute puppy". So I go in to get my cat and she's explaining the medication.

I don't know what prompted me to do it, but I asked about the little dog. And said "Oh, honey, we are going to put him down when we close at Noon."

I asked her why, and she said his leg had been broken and not set and it was crippled. Someone had brought him in for shots and then called and said they didn't want him. He'd been out there a while and no one would take him.

Soooo...do you see where this is going??? I tell her not to put him to sleep he can run around my farm. No problem.

Well I left him outside for the night and he BEGGED to come in. He's a terrier and we could see his head pop up above the window in the door every few minutes. I finally let him inside. He seems to be potty trained and hasn't bothered anything in the house. He LOVES to snuggle with kids.

Oh, and let me finish the story about Duff. We picked him up at 11am, and I didn't have time to take him back home. So he had to go with us the hour ride to the airport. I didn't have a cat carrier. So I told each girl she was going to have to hold him wrapped in a towel each way. So Madi held him on the way out there, we dropped off Carrie, and Carlie held him on the way back. On the way back home, he let the cat pee fly. I guess he doesn't have a problem urinating any more. It went all over Carlie and she tried to DIE.

I'm a nut.

I Kissed A Dog....

2011-10-09T07:15:00.000-05:00

....and I liked it. Well during basketball season we had a little incident with Carlie kissing a boy behind the bleachers. My kids have been raised at ballgames. They are "Bleacher Rats".

Well during the last away game, I found out that Carlie had kissed....not one....but TWO little boys behind the bleachers! And maybe what's worse is that Frank video tapped the kissing on his phone instead of stopping her!

Now I am going to pause the story to give you a little background. When we were little kids my Mom used to try to scare us into minding by telling us these horrible things would happen to us if we didn't mind.

So that Sunday we went to Granny's house. And I said "Granny, what do you think about a little girl who not only kissed one boy behind the bleachers, but kissed TWO of them?"

The look on Carlie's face was PRICELESS. Where is my camera when I need it. Her eyebrows went up, her eyes got big, she pursed her lips. Clearly she had not thought about that possibility!!! You could practically see the wheels turning. I let it go for several days before I told her that you can't get pregnant from just kissing.

So several more days go by, and Granny finds the picture above on the internet. She posted it on her Facebook page and tagged Carlie. I thought it was a cute picture. Dummy me, I didn't put two and two together.

The next time Granny came to visit, she asked Carlie "What did you think of that cat picture I posted on your page?" And Carlie said "I didn't like it!" And Granny asked "Why not?" And Carlie said "Well I just didn't really appreciate that you posted that on my page. I'm not going to kiss any more boys!"

What IS IT about Buses this Year!!!!

2011-10-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

Frank and Libby both had games at Wellington this week. I wasn't able to go because they were too far away. Bob couldn't go because it was steak night with the high school boys.

So Libby rides the bus to the Benton Middle School like she's supposed to. She calls when she's almost there, and I send Marcus to pick her up. While Marcus is on his way, Frank calls to say he's ready to be picked up. So I call Marcus and tell him to wait on Frank he's almost there.

Frank calls back and askes where Bob is. He says Marcus is there in my truck. Frank says he can't find it. So Frank hands the phone to his coach. Bob tells the coach that Marcus is on his way.

What we didn't know....was that Frank was still in WELLINGTON. And when Bob told the Coach that Marcus was on his way....the bus took off and left.

Bob called the coach back who says they left Frank at Wellington. So the bus had to turn around to go BACK to Wellington to pick Frank up. Bob calls the Coach back to make sure they found Frank, and the coach's phone is off. So we aren't sure they found him or not. So finally the coach calls us back and says they have Frank on the bus now. Ugh!!!

Then Bob had to drive back to the middle school to pick Frank up.

We are having bus problems this year!!!

Driving...The wheels on the bus...again....

2011-10-07T10:21:00.001-05:00

You know I really took being able to drive for granted. After my Epilespy diagnosis, it was recommended that I not drive for a while. I was very lucky that my neighbor and close friend, Sarah works close to where I work. And she was able to take me to and from work.

But once I got to work, I couldn't go anywhere!! I couldn't go out to lunch, or run down to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, or cash a check. Or even go get a pop.

One day I walked half a mile to the QT on the corner to get a pop and candy bar. One day I had a doctor's appointment and everyone at work was gone.

So I decided to ride the city bus. This is actually a very complicated procedure!!! I looked up the fare online and it said it was $1.25. So I made sure I had enough quarters to get there and back. I waited on the corner for the bus, and he waived at me that I had to be on the OPPOSITE corner before he could pick me up. So I jogged over there.

I step up to the bus to put my fare in, and he announces that the fare has gone up THAT DAY to $1.75. So I have enough change to get there....how am I going to get back!!! I dig a few more quarters out of the bottom of my purse. Whew.

I look a tad bit out of place on the bus with my business clothes on and my leather jacket.

And that was just a simple route....God Forbid you had to switch buses. I don't think I could have handled it. Transfers they called it.

But no one can say I'm anything if not resourceful!!! I made it to the doctor's appointment and back!!!

And I will add that many people were kind during this difficult people and took me places and offered rides. But it feels like a huge loss of freedom.

I have a Spiritual Family

2011-10-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

This week was homecoming, and Granny got the kids some really cool mohawk wigs. They had a blast with them. We were getting ready for the game, and Libby comes into the room. She has a yellow and a blue knee high sock on, blue shorts, and blue and gold shirt that didn't match the shorts, and the mohawk wig.

I guess I just wasn't thinking. I looked at her kind of funny and asked "Why are you wearing that weird stuff?"

She looks at me and says "Duh, Mom...I'm being Spiritual!!!!"

And I reply "Ohhhhh....you have school spirit, Libby. Spiritual is what you feel when you go to church!!!

This is Marcus

2011-10-03T08:16:00.003-05:00

He's going to stay with us this year and next year. Right now he's sleeping on our couch until we get our new house built.

He's been a really good influence on Frank. He's very wise for his age. He's a great football player and we enjoy having him stay with us.

P.S. He's also good a fixing things. Which is handy since Bob can't nail two boards together!!!

A couple of his original quotes:

"you no no one ever told you life was hard..... no one ever told you life is full of curves and up's and downs.......but all we can do you make the best of everything we are givin/delt.....don't let stuff keep you down for to long...cuz then your not happy and everything is harder than what it really is....ik something are really hard and others arent but we all have friends and family for everything we can get threw anything.... "

"Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. no one can focus when they are extremely mad or up set.....We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future."

He always has a smile on his face.

It's a Shoe Thang

2011-10-01T09:31:00.005-05:00

You know you hear about these women who have shoe addictions. I have like four pairs of shoes.

Carlie has a shoe problem too. We can't keep any one her feet!!! The other night at a football game she had on a parka and flip-flops!!!

Last year during the winter, Bob took the girls to school when he noticed that Carlie got out of the car and didn't have any shoes on. He had to take her back home to get some!!!

Whenever we get ready to go somewhere, she can never find two shoes that match. She'll wear anyone's shoes if she can't find her own.

Yesterday I was in the kitchen about ready to leave for work. I look out the window and the three girls are waiting for the bus, and....drum roll....Carlie doesn't have any shoes on!!! I yell out there and ask what she's doing without any shoes. She says she can't find any so she's just going barefoot to school and she'll put on her gym shoes there.

NOT. So I made her come back in the house and find some. She sits in the driveway to put them on. When she gets up, Libby trips her....maybe on accident....maybe on purpose....depends who you ask...and she skins her elbow.

So I finally head back to the house. The dog is whinning in his kennel. He hardly does that, so I think I'd better let him out one more time to go potty. He always stays close to the house. For some unknown reason, he took off running like a bat out of hell!! He would NOT come back. He ran all the way down the side of the road to the neighbors house and then crossed the road in front of the school bus into the ditch. When I finally caught him, I beat him all the way back to the house.

So now I'm really flustered. I get in my car and get out on the highway and realize that I do not have my phone. Now my Blackberry is like an arm or a leg to me. So I go aroun the country block to go back and get it. I make a turn onto a gravel road, and the bus that the girls are on comes barreling up a hill in the MIDDLE of the road. I almost got run over by my kids' own bus. As soon as I got in the house, my phone was ringing, and it was Libby wanting to know what I was doing on a dirt road.

Ugh!!!

Life of a Coach's Wife

2011-09-29T21:22:00.003-05:00

Monday night - Junior Varsity Game

Tuesday night - Booster Club

Wednesday night - MIGHT make it to church if there aren't any parents that want to talk to him.

Thursday night - Jr High Game. My son is on the team, but he'd go anyway.

Friday night - High School Game

Saturday - Review Film with kids. Work with Coachs for game plan for next week.

Sunday - Church in the morning, watch film at home in the evening.

When you feel like screaming at the Coach from the stands....remember that his wife and kids are probably nearby listening. Remember that they hardly seem him at all during the season. Remember that he gets paid about 50 cents an hour when you count up all the time he puts in.

I once went the High School Football Coaches' Hall of Fame banquet. The inductees got to give a speech. I don't remember this guy's name but he said

"...and I want to thank my wife. Because she raised our kids while I raised everyone elses" Sooooo true.

9/11/2001 to a generation who wasn't born yet....

2011-09-16T09:11:00.001-05:00

My youngest daughters born in 2002 and 2003 were born after 9/11. Now in 3rd and 4th grade, this is the ten year anniversary, and they are old enough to somewhat understand. Both of them learned about 9/11 in school today.

They both came home talking about it. It was hard for them to understand that this happened before they were born. And they wanted to know what year I was born in....and was I born before or after 9/11....and what was I doing when I found out it had happened. That they recently killed Osama Bin Laden. We had a good discussion. Madi said she cried along with a bunch of the girls in their class as they watched movies about it. The magnitude of the loss is almost beyond their comprehension.

So maybe 30 minutes later I was reading a book in bed, and Carlie comes in and her big old green eyes are shimmering with tears. And she said "I watched five videos about 9/11 in a row and I didn't even cry once!!" in a choked up voice.

And I said "But you wanted to" and she busted out bawling and said "It's so sad." and threw herself into my arms. I held her awhile then told her to go find something cheerful to watch.

So she came back in a few minutes later and said "Mom, now I'm listening to Irvin Berlin!!!" I said "WHO??" She said you know Irvin Berlin....he's singing God Bless America. He's older than you...probably Memaw's age." Only my 8 year old would know who Irvin Berlin is. She said "I just thought of him and looked him up on YouTube."

Fire Fighter....aka Things That Can Only Happen to ME

2011-09-14T08:50:00.002-05:00

Had a great day Saturday with my parents and family. Sunday I went to church. After Church I open up the windows because it was nice outside. I was helping Bob do football laundry because he was behind and he was away at practice. Suddenly a fire truck comes flying down our road.

We don't ever see that because there's a highway a mile away they normally use. They turned at our intersection, and then went down two houses to our good neighbors, friends and preacher's house...the Lauxmans!!!

I immediately call Sarah and ask "What's going on at your house, a fire truck just pulled in???" And she goes "What do you MEAN. I'M NOT HOME!!!" Go see what's going on. Well I pulled in right behind their 18 year old son.

The neighbor between us had been burning trash and it had gotten away from him. We got their water house out and wetted down what we could. The fire got within 30 ft of their house!!! And burned up most of their pasture.

So I'm standing there with the hose watering down a hot spot, and the neighbor who started the fire comes by on his golf cart. He's in his late 70s, doesn't have a shirt on, and has a huge black smudge under his nose across his upper lip. He goes "Oh, hey. See you're fighting the fire. That's great. By the way, this is my wife, I don't think you've met her."

I'm standing there putting out a fire he started that burned up my friend's pasture and he's introducing me to his WIFE!!!!"

Luckily the house was saved and they got it contained pretty quickly. The fire fighters did a wonderful job.

The Things I Now Notice....

2011-09-12T20:48:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of our building they are remodeling at work. Notice that the fire extinguisher is attached low to the ground (unlike in Wal-mart) so that it will not fall and hit anybody on the HEAD. LOL. I notice these things now!!!

September Quotes

2011-09-08T23:29:00.000-05:00

Ommission or Commision - the end result is the same - DarkFever - Karen Marie Moning

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Remember, a river is one of the most powerful things on earth. When a river encounters a boulder, it goes over it, around it, under it. And over time that boulder is reduced to pebbles and washes to the sea. The same is true of organizational behavior and change. - Kirk Swilley

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In times of difficulty, you may feel that your problems will go on and on, but they won't. Every mountain has a top. Every problem has a life span. The question is, who is going to give in first, the frustration or you? – Dr. Robert H. Schuller.
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How I Became "The People Of Walmart"....

2011-08-27T20:07:00.009-05:00

In Feb of this year I took Libby to a basketball tournament in a city about 45 minutes away. It was just the two of us, and between games I took her to a local department store to get a tank top. While I was in there I passed out. I had started to feel faint and my vision was going Dark. I said "Libby Help Me". She couldn't hold up my weight and down I went.

They took me by ambulance to the local hospital. Libby was so grown up and calm. It scared us all. I had been changing some meds and one of the potential side effects was seizures. So we thought that was probably what happened.

I had pretty much forgot about it.

Well a week ago Monday...seven months later...I had taken the three girls to buy school supplies at Walmart. It was crazy and busy in there, and I was trying to make sure the girls got everything they needed. And they were "helping" buy throwing whatever they thought was cool into the cart.

We were almost done, and I started to feel faint again. I dug in my person and took some medicine, thinking that if I got it down it would keep me from passing out. Well it didn't work. Madi was at the end of the aisle, and Libby and Carlie were around the corner.

I went into a full Grand Mal Seizure. I fell backwards and into one of the support poles. This particular pole at Walmart happened to have a fire extinguisher attached to it. I don't remember any of this, but Madi said my head clipped the bottom of the extinguisher and knocked it loose from the pole. It flipped upside down and followed me down to the ground and the metal handle of the extinguisher slammed into the back of my head making a huge gash.

The girls said I was laying there in the aisle at Walmart with blood pooling around my head. Head wounds always bleed horribly. One of the employees ran over to the clearance rack and grabbed a shirt off of it to put pressure on the gash. I'm sure there's a good joke in there pertaining to that...I just can't think of one right now!

Libby was again very calm and cool in a crisis. She was able to tell them what meds I am taking, and used someones cell phone to call Granny. Bob wasn't answering his phone. They called 911.

They worked on me a while in the ambulance in the parking lot. My blood sugar was 63 and my heart rate was 180. I came too briefly in the ambulance. My Mom called Bob's sister and she came and picked the girls up at Walmart. Someone called the Butler County Sheriff's office and had them go find Bob out on the football field.

The first time I really came back to my senses it was 8:30pm. My parents were at the ER and so was Bob. The seizure had happened right after 6:30pm.

They gash went to the skull. They had to put in six stitches and fourteen staples. CT Scan showed that I did not have any tumors or skull fractures.

I saw a neurologist a few days ago. He says that I have Epilpsy and put me on anti-seizure meds. He said we'll probably never know why I'm having seizures or suddenly started having them in "Middle age". And YES he did use the phrase middle age. Humph!!! And yes he did look like he was 14 or 15.

He said he believes the meds will take care of it and that once we get it to the right levels I won't have any more seizures.

Being carted out of WalMart on an Ambulance stretcher in front of half my friends and acquaintances was definitely NOT on my list of things I wanted to do before I turned Forty. Just trying to be grateful it wasn't something more serious.

It really scared Madi and Carlie. They thought I'd lost all of the blood in my body.

Kissin' Cousins

2011-08-25T20:01:00.003-05:00

I have always suspected this is true. Now Family Tree Maker (Genealogy Software) has proven it. Bob and I are 6th cousins once removed. Me on my Maternal Grandma's side and him on his paternal Grandma's side. Explains alot!!!

The Wheels On The Bus....

2011-08-22T22:03:00.004-05:00

Now that we are living out in the country, the kids are getting to ride the bus for the first time. I have been warning them repeatedly about how unhappy I will be if they miss their bus...especially since their school is in the opposite direction from where Bob and I work.

Carlie is a bit ADD, she can't keep up with her shoes. If she can't find hers she'll grab the first pair she comes across and puts them on.

It just so happens that I can see the girls waiting for the bus at the end of our driveway from my bathroom window as I'm getting ready for work. I see Madi come flying back towards the house in a tizzy. She comes in bawling that Carlie has HER shoes on. So I told her to tell Carlie to come back in the house and find her own shoes. I watch as Madi goes back out there. I see yelling, shouting, waving of arms. It's clear that Carlie isn't going to give her the shoes. So I open the window an inch and yell out there for Carlie to give Madi her shoes.

About a second after I shut the window, the shoes come off of Carlie's feet one at a time and she throws them at Madi as hard as she can throw them. Carlie charges back into the house....puts on someone elses shoes and makes it back outside about two seconds before the bus gets there!!!

Carlie on Face Book

2011-07-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

Carlie Pool
i love my sisters and my brother and i'm thankful for them god bless them and bless my hole famliy wel i'm gonna take a nap soon bye

7 hours ago

Brenda Morgan What about your granny???

4 hours ago · Carlie Pool Granny you are included in "hole family"
about an hour ago ·

Bad Things Come in 3s...times two

2011-07-29T21:13:00.003-05:00

We've had a hard Summer. First Memaw had her bad stroke. Then a few weeks ago I had to take Carrie to the ER for high blood pressure. This weekend Lena wrecked her car...had to go to the hosptial via ambulance. Luckily just bumps and bruises, but now she has no car until she gets insurance settlement.

My parents had their new travel trailer break down on them. Then their truck got hit by a big limb from a freak storm. Then a few days later Granny and Libby were going to the post office and were hit by a run away truck that had gotten out of gear.

I hope we are done for a while!!!

A little squirrelly

2011-07-25T19:41:00.003-05:00

When we were kids, one of Mom's favorite jokes was "How do you catch a squirrel?"......"You climb up in a tree and act like a nut!!!"

So Mom posted this joke on Facebook the other day. “It’s so hot I saw a squirrel the other day holding his nuts with a potholder.”

I thought that was funny, and we were talking about it in the car on the way home last night, and Frank goes “Mom, Mom, I forgot to tell you this!!!” And I go “What?” He said “The other day, I was mowing the yard and I saw this squirrel jump out of a tree and land in our POOL!!!”

I go “Frank, you are SO lying.” And he goes “Really, Mom, I’m not I saw it!!!” So I said “So there’s a dead squirrel in our pool right now?!?!?” And he said “No, it swam across the pool and climbed out on the ladder!!!”

We continued to tease him and he goes “Really, I heard a BIG splash and I looked over there and saw it!!!” So I said “So it was a GIANT squirrel that was so hot he decided to take a dip in our pool???”

It was so funny.

Carlie put on her Towanda Suit....

2011-07-21T09:17:00.005-05:00

So the whole next day we still couldn't find Duff. He was under the trailer somewhere...we could hear him. Bob told Carlie and Libby that they needed to get under there and find him for me. Libby told Carlie that she'd pay her $5 if she'd go under there by herself. So Carlie went under there two different times but couldn't find him.

When I got home they tried one more time. Carlie got way back under the trailer. She had Libby's flip-flop to kill spiders and a knife to cut away the lining of the trailer house ('cause we thought that's where Duff was). She was crawling along when suddenly she sees the lining bounce down because Duff was walking above her head. So she used the knife and cut a hole in the lining. And she starts yelling..."I can see 'im....I can see 'im!!!" She cuts another bigger hole and starts pulling out pieces of fiberglass. Then the hole is big enough that she sticks her whole head and arms up there. She grabs him by the head and pulls him out!!!

She starts hollering and yelling. She said "That is the most extraordinary thing I've done in FIVE YEARS!!!!"

She was so excited. So I took her and Libby for a treat. They wanted to go to the convenience store. Libby just got a drink since all she did was direct and cheer. Carlie got a drink AND a snack. She picked out a giant bag of beef jerky.

I was proud of my girls. AND I got my cat back. Made up for that bad day the day before.

Lost cat, ER, termites, crazy boss, late for work...

2011-07-20T08:51:00.002-05:00

need I say more?

I knew it was going to be a long day when I realized about 25 minutes into my 45 minute drive to work that I'd left my laptop at home. At had to turn around and go back and get it. So I was 30 minutes late to work.

I hadn't been there very long, and I got a text from my husband saying "Your $600 cat got out of the house and we can't find it." Well Duff only cost $250...not $600 but he is a house cat who is declawed and doesn't ever go outside. I asked Bob to have the girls look for him under the trailer.

Then I had a meeting with my boss...well we aren't even going to discuss that.

THEN, we are supposed to sell our house on Friday. And I get a call late that morning (four days before closing) that the termite inspector found live termites in the garage. So I am on the phone trying to find someone to treat them...making sure the buyer isn't going to back out on us. The house is only 5 years old...how did it get termites!?!!?!

Work is crazy we are trying to plan an implementation that is going to start on Fri and end Monday night with people working shifts for 24/7 the whole time.

I finally get to head home. I get there, and Carrie (Bob's Sister In Law) said her blood pressure was high and could I help her make an appointment. She lives in Michigan, so I suggested that I run her up to Walgreen's Take Care Clinic. We get there at 7pm and they close at 7:30pm. Her BP was 209/102 and they told us to go straight to the ER. So I took her there. They gave her nitroglycern and put her on two BP medicines. We got home at 11pm.

When we got home, Bob insisted that I look under the trailer and call for the cat, because they hadn't found him all day. So I pull back a section of trailer skirt. And he's sitting there under the trailer about 20 feet away. So I crawl under there to get him...its just 20ft. I still have my work clothes on. I just touch his tail and he gets up and moves 20ft further under the trailer. I go after him. Finally he gets so far under there that its too low for me to follow. So I crawl back out with spiders in my hair and dirt all over my clothes...and no cat.

What a day. I sure slept good that night.

Madison Days

2011-07-18T08:39:00.000-05:00

We always have a great time at Madison Days. This year they added some new activities including watching The Wizard of Oz on the side of one of the buildings downtown, mechanical bull riding, and Minute to Win It.

Doing Dishes

2011-07-13T08:29:00.000-05:00

Frank said that he couldn't do dishes by hand because he had never done them before. Bob said "Well I can sure show you how to wash some dishes!!!" So here is a picture of Frank washing dishes by hand for the very first time!!!!

The Pool's Pool

2011-07-12T08:09:00.002-05:00

The kids have really enjoyed having a swimming pool in the back yard this summer.

Libbyisms

2011-07-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

We were at a ballgame a couple of weeks ago and a girl from the other team hit her head really hard on the wall. A couple of hours later, we are driving to Granny and Papaw's house and Libby goes "Mom, you know that girl that hit her head?" I said "Yeah, she hit it pretty hard." Libby says very seriously "I bet she'll have anesthesia when she grows up!!" Ummmm....I think that's amnesia, Libby!!!

Then we were at Madison Days, and they converted the old pharmacy to a really neat cafe.

At the back of the store there is a window where you can see back into the kitchen. Granny said "When this was still a drug store people went up to that window to get their prescriptions." Take a good look at the picture above.

We kept eating and a few minutes later Libby goes "But I don't get how they did the drive by, with the window up so high like that!!!" Ummmm Libby....they didn't have drive through windows at pharmacies back then!!!!

Attack Donkey

2011-07-08T07:51:00.000-05:00

This is Lizzy

She's my attack donkey. She's a little over a year old. At first she wouldn't let us touch her, but I came home from work one day after she'd been with us a few days and Libby was out there brushing her. I told Libby that the donkey liked her because they are two of a kind!!!

She we have her in the pasture with the fainting goats. Bob had several high school boys helping him move our trampoline and play set from the old house. When they got to the farm to unload the stuff, Frank told them about the fainting goats.

So these big high school boys run at the pasture to try to make the goats faint. The goats couldn't have cared less, but the scared Lizzy. She started braying and charing at them and those big old high school boys took off running!!!

Dead Land

2011-07-06T07:44:00.001-05:00

Carlie was with Granny the other day and they drove by a cemetery. There was a fresh grave dug there, and they were discussing it. A few minutes later Carlie declares "When I grow up, I want to own a cemetery!!! In fact, I think I'll name it Dead Land"

Anyone who wants to reserve a spot, please contact Carlie Pool

Fishing and Camping with Granny and Papaw

2011-07-04T18:54:00.022-05:00

Man up!!! It takes a real man to get his daughter's fish off the hook.

Granny took the kids fishing for the first time last week. Carlie was the only girl who would put worms on the hook. To break the worms into pieces for the hooks, she would wind a section of worm around a finger on each hand and pull. When I told her that was gross she said "What...its just worm poop!!!"

Notice the worm breaking technique

She asked Granny if she could fish from those things in the the "cackle box" instead of fishing with worms.

The Cacklebox

Last night Carlie hooked Madi in the butt, whapped Frank on the arm with her pole when she cast it, and then hit Bob smack in the nose with a wad of worms on the end of her pole. Luckily the hook didn't get him in the nose!

A nibble

They spent the night in the camper with Granny and Papaw. Bob and I went back to the house to sleep. This morning, Libby was killing flies in the trailer with the fly swatter and she slapped at a fly on the ceiling and it went right in Papaw's mouth! Yummmmm....extra protein!!!

At the end of the day a rainbow came out over the lake

Dear Diary

2011-06-11T08:59:00.001-05:00

I found Carlie's Diary the other day. Hey I didn't go looking for it...it found ME. Here are a couple of my fav entries.

May, 30, 2011 3:00pm

I Luv Cory!!! But he does not Luv me. What should I do? Wah, wah, sniffle. OK. I'm goiong to slap him so he learns a lesson!!! I Luv him so bad.

Luv,
Carlie

10-1-10

I can be myself if I pay the price.

11-07-2010

Dear Diray,
I have a problem everything is geting in my life. Please help me.

Sincerely,
Carlie

11-07-2010 19:27

Dear Diray,

I need help. I'm trying to sleep but I can't do it.

Sincerely,
Carlie

May, 31st, 2011 10:00pm

I'm reading and writing tonight. I'm bored. So I don't know what to write. I'm reading Rio!! It's an awesome book! I Luv writing!! I Luv friends. I Luv Family. Well that's all folks!!!

Luv,
Carlie

Horseback Riding Lessons

2011-06-09T19:46:00.005-05:00

Libby and Madi are really, really liking them....Carlie not so much. But it's so nice to have a great teacher right down the road from us. I want to ride!!!

The Farm In Summer

2011-06-08T08:26:00.007-05:00

We are quickly acquiring animals on our “farm”. We now have two pygmy fainting goats, two angora rabbits, one dog, three inside cats, five outside cats, a litter of kittens outside. AND my kids are saving their money for a horse. They are currently taking horseback riding lessons and they beg incessantly.

I work on the farm with the tractor at least once a week. I’m turning into a farm girl. I have cut down trees with a chain saw by myself. And recently changed the box blade on the tractor over to the brush hog by myself. And that was NOT easy to do, certainly not alone.

And I got my first case ever of poison ivy last week. I’m trying to get in as many new experiences as possible before I turn 40 this Fall!

By the skin of my teeth???

2011-06-06T20:11:00.004-05:00

or the shirt off my back????

Frank and Carlie came running inside the other day shouting "Mom, Mom!!! Guess what?!?!?! It was SO cool". At this point my Mom radar goes off. Then my Mom radar starts SHRIEKING when I notice that Carlie doesn't have a shirt on. Hmmmm.

Well we have an ancient cedar tree in the front yard that is perfect for climbing. And they go up alot higher in it than Granny would like....maybe 30 feet up. I have warned them to be careful, but they don’t listen.

I caught Carlie the other day about 15 feet off the ground with a pillow and a blanket in the tree!!!! Can you see where this is going????

I’m not sure how far up Carlie was, but she lost her grip on the tree. On the way down the back of her shirt hung on a nail that had been there from a previous tree house. The nail ripped a hole in her shirt and she hung there by her shirt for a second, then the shirt turned inside out and skinned off of her and she continued falling to the bottom of the tree (shirtless) where her brother caught her. No harm done, thankfully!!!!

And they thought that was the coolest thing ever. Whew.

When You Can't Come To Easter... Part I Baby Sitting

2011-05-28T05:25:00.007-05:00

Easter comes to you.

Easter weekend, I had agreed to watch my great-niece Amira so that her Mom could work. The Pools decided that they were coming up. Well the Thursday before Easter I left work early with nausea, fever and chills. I called Lena and The Pools and let them know that I was sick and probably contagious as well. Lena didn't have anyone else to watch the baby, so Bobby said he thought he could manage.

So he picked the baby up Friday. Lena had packed one bottle, some formula, a container with powder and diapers. Bobby came and got me after he'd had the baby for about four hours and said she was crying. I picked her up and she had on a 20 lb diaper. So I recommended that he change. He he would change it if it was a pee diaper, but if it was poop, I was going to have to do it. So he got her diaper changed. She was still crying, so he tried to fix her a bottle. She still continued to cry so he came and asked me what was wrong. We finally figured out that he'd made the bottle with the powder in the container which was CEREAL instead of formula so nothing was coming out of the bottle no matter how hard she sucked on it. Poor baby!!!

I didn't know that, so I told him to get a fork or knife and try to open up the hole in the nipple a little bit. Well when he did that, the nipple split and all the contents came spilling out. I told him we HAD to go to the store and get a new bottle. He wasn't comfortable taking a baby to Walmart, and I was still sick, but I ended up going. That night the baby and I went to bed at 8pm and Bob crawled in with us. She slept between us snug as a bug in a rug. I told Bob that we are out of practice!!!

Ugly Cat aka Butcher Knives and Lanterns

2011-05-23T17:01:00.005-05:00

So last week before Memaw got sick, the girls we are a baseball game with my neighbors, and Frank and Bob were not home yet. So oddly enough, I had the house to myself. I walk into the master bathroom at the end of the trailer house, and I hear an awful racket. I listen closely and it appears to be coming from UNDER the trailer house. I "follow" the sound of running and crashing and it moves from under my whirlpool bath, under the cabinet....over by the shower. When we first moved in, we'd had a disconnected floor vent under the trailer, and a cat had climbed into the floor vents and "popped" the vent out of the floor i nthe middle of the night and came into the house. So I opened the vent and looked around, but couldn't see anything.

So of course, I "had" to know what was under there. So on that end of the trailer, the trailer sits close to the ground. The only way I can see under is to remove a piece of the trailer skirt and lay flat on the ground. Under the trailer there is a liner that protects the bottom of the trailer. It's drooping down on that end, and sure enough I can see something moving around inside the liner and it looks BIG.

I decide that I have to find out what it is. I'm thinking possum, racoon, large rabid rats. So I go back into the house and come back out with a butcher knife and a lantern (cause my kids always lose every flashlight we buy). I stretch out on the ground flat on my belly, set the lantern down and use the knife to cut a hole in the lining. Whatever it was...it got realllllly still. And the WHAM, it charges towards the hole that I had cut.

Now I am lying flat on my stomach on the ground and its hard to run from that position, but I do still have the knife in my hand. About the time I'm poised to run, I see a tiny nose and whiskers peek out of the hole.

Awwwww....Momma Cat's missing kittens!!!! Then of course I had to lure them out. So I go back inside and this time I come out with a weiner!! I stretch back out on the ground and home the weiner up to the hole in the liner under the trailer. I lure two of them out. Two of the ugliest cats that I have ever seen!!! We are gonna have to get Momma Cat fixed because she makes ugly babies.

The boy kitten is black and orange brindled...and then it looks like he was slapped around a bit with a white paint brush. Poor thing. I let the kids play with them a bit when they got home then slipped them back under the trailer.

I wonder if my neighbors watch me and laugh at me!!!

Hateful Butterflies

2011-04-24T19:15:00.009-05:00

You can tell that I have already parented a plethora of kids, because the school Spring and Christmas concerts aren't fun any more!!! We have grades K thru 4 together. You can look out across the crowd and see the bring shining faces of parents who have kindergartners in the program for the first time. The rest of the parents are tired, sleepy, playing on cell phones or fighting squirmy kids.

But anyway...it's not too fun for me any more. This year the girls had to dress up as insects. Granny bailed me out by bringing materials to make butterfly wings. She and the girls carefully cut out wings and decorated them with pretties. We even made some extras that they shared with kids who didn't have any.

So the night of the concert we get ready to go, and Carlie is mad about something and she is pouting horribly. Then Madi can't find her shoes. We are all waiting in the car and she's bawling on the steps because she can't find her shoes.

I had wanted to take their picture together so that Granny could see what beautiful butterflies she'd made. But what I got was one pouting and one bawling. I told them "You guys are the most hateful butterflies I've ever seen!!!" Carlie just looks at me and says with this incredulous look on her face "Did you just call me a hateful butterfly????" Ummm...yep....yep, I did.

Every Farm has to have ANIMALS.

2011-04-07T20:57:00.003-05:00

These are FAINTING pygmy goats. They faint if you scare or startle them. The kids asked if they could try and make them faint when we first got them and I told them No. Well we kind of forgot about it. Then this weekend, we got the lawn mower out for the first time. And when Frank drove it by their pen they took off running and then fell over on their sides with their legs in the air. I thought Frank was going to fall off the lawn mower laughing.

This is Bill and Gruff. The bunnies are Brownie and Fluffybutt. Oh, and Momma Kitty DEFINITELY has a Baby Bump!!!

Who's On First? aka Welcome to MY World.

2011-04-05T20:40:00.004-05:00

Granny picked the three girls up and took them shopping over Spring Break. I had $40 in Kohl's Cash, so she took them there to buy shoes. Granny had shoes picked out and wanted them to try them on. The little girls threw a fit and said they both had to go to the bathroom RIGHT THEN. And they couldn't wait. Of course the bathroom is on the other side of the store.

So off they go, and Granny and Libby wait....and wait....and wait. Finally Madi comes back alone. Granny said "Where is your sister?!?!?" Madi said "Oh, she was in there playing in the water and messing around. And she wouldn't come so I finally just left without her."

So Granny sent Libby to go get Carlie. As soon as Libby gets out of sight, Carlie comes around the corner. Granny asked Carlie "Where is your coat?" She said "Oh, I guess I must have left it on the floor in the bathroom (nasty thought) or maybe on the bend." So Granny sent her back to go get it.

About the time that Carlie disappears down the aisle. Here comes Libby from the other direction with Carlie's coat. She said "Granny.....I looked all over for her. I couldn't find her anywhere. But here's her coat!!!"

So they wait....and wait....and wait for Carlie. She finally comes back and says she looked everywhere, but her coat was gone....someone must have stolen it.

And all this time the shoes have STILL not been tried on.....welcome to my world!!!

Goat Feeder?????

2011-03-23T19:15:00.002-05:00

I am driving home from work today. I pull into the driveway and Libby is striding purposely across the yard with my good Longaberger Basket in her arms. The EXPENSIVE.....LINED....LONGABERGER basket.

And what's in this basket you might ask??? Hay for the goats!!!!

Early Spring on The Farm

2011-03-22T07:28:00.000-05:00

The old shed is entirely down. Now we just need to clean it up. The girls are already asking about putting the swimming pool back up!!!

Mama Cat

2011-03-21T12:19:00.002-05:00

This is Mama Cat. She came with the farm. We are watching her carefully...we think we see a baby bump. We are hoping for baby kitties this Spring. I told Libby I thought she was pregnant. And Libby said. How do you know? Is she in heap?

Ahhh...that's heat Libby...not heap. LOL.

Billy and Gruff

2011-03-19T11:42:00.004-05:00

These are our newest members of the family. Billy is whiter and Gruff has more brown on him. Bo and Boots are FASCINATED. They have never seen a dog that looks like THAT.

Billy and Gruff are about six months old and they are pygmy fainting goats. They will faint if you startle them. They are so sweet and like to be hugged and brushed.

When we picked them up, I had them in the back seat of the truck. Billy was on my lap and he PEED on me abou 15 minutes from home!!! ALOT.

Letters from Carlie

2011-03-03T12:10:00.003-06:00

Bob and I went to Parent Teacher Conferences. Carlie's teacher had asked each student to write a letter to their parents about something. The topic was up to them. This is what Carlie wrote.

Dear Mom -

I know you don't want any more rodents in the house, but I really want a bunny. I'll clean its poopey cage and I will help buy it. I will wash it. I'll feed it. It will be a birthday present. Mom I will do anything.

Love, your intelligent, loving, most supportif daughter,
Carlie

Winter on the Farm

2011-02-11T12:00:00.001-06:00

So peaceful and quiet.

First Kiss

2011-02-10T21:36:00.002-06:00

When my girls were little we’d rub noses. I told them those were called Eskimo Kisses. But they thought I said Elmo Kisses. So that’s what we’ve always called them.

Last week we were at a basketball game. I was on the edge of the court taking pictures, my husband was coaching. My kids are classic gym rats running around all over the place.

I noticed that Carlie, our youngest at age 7…the one who’s a brainiac, has been missing for a while. So irritated, I go looking for her. I finally found her behind the bleachers with a little boy. I growled at her “WHAT do you think you’re doing back here!!!!” She calmly turned around and introduced me to her “boyfriend” Colter. Colter is quite a bit bigger than Carlie…so I narrow my eyes and ask him “How old are you?” He goes “Well I’m in first grade, and Carlie is in second, but it’s okay because we’re BOTH SEVEN.” Well….THAT’s a big relief.

So I ask them what they were doing back there. And the little boy says “Well, she’s my girlfriend, so I was kissing her!” He was quite proud about it. I blew a gasket. “You were KISSING HER….you’re both too young for that!!!” My daughter rolls her eyes at me and says “Geeze Mom, it was only Elmo kisses….so it was platonic!!!!”

I can’t even imagine what 15 is going to look like!!!

Carlie The Pest

2010-12-28T17:58:00.000-06:00

My sister sent me a note that we just HAD to watch the movie "Ramona and Beezus" because the little girl on there looked just like Carlie. We got to watch it over the weekend. Not only does she look like, she ACTS just like her too. So we've been calling her "Carlie the Pest".

Granny had to watch her for most of a week while she was out of school with a low-grade fever. One day Granny took her to a movie...just the two of them. Granny bought her a pop and popcorn and told her that she wanted her to go to the bathroom before the got to their seats. Carlie goes "Nah. I don't gotta go." Granny said "I bought you a pop, I want you to go before the movie starts so you don't have to get up in the middle of the movie." Carlie goes "Graaannnnyyy....I can hold my pee a long time. In fact, I can hold my pee like a camel!!!" (Not sure where that one came from...can camels hold their pee a long time???)

Then a couple of days later she comes up to Granny and says "Granny, do you have affordable health care?" Granny goes "Well, yes I do...but why do you ask?" Carlie says "Well I just saw this commerical on TV and it said if you live in one of these counties....and one of them was Butler...then you could get affordable health care if you needed it!!" Oh....glad she's looking out for us. WE live in Butler county, but Granny doesn't. LOL.

It all started with cake balls......

2010-12-27T17:18:00.000-06:00

Carlie was really sick the week before Christmas. She ran a fever for several days. Granny came to the house one day to stay with her. She cooked chicken and noodles for us, and made rice krispie treats and also the new "cake balls". You make a cake, crumble it up and mix it with cream cheese. Then roll them into balls and dip them in amlond bark.

That Sunday Madi had asked if she could take a cake ball in the car with her to church. I said okay. On the way to church I looked in the back seat and Madi had a tupper ware container full of cake balls, rice krispies and candy!! How did we get from one cake ball to THAT.

So I forgot about it.

Then Christmas Eve night we are going to the Osborn family Christmas in Wetumka, OK. Right before town, there was a highway patrol check point. There were several patrol cars there and they were pulling people over to the side of the road. The kids' eyes were wide. As we rolled down the window and the Officer asked for Bob's license and insurance the kids start pelting us with questions from the peanut gallery. "Wow, why are all these police here?" "Why are they pulling people off the road?" "Were you speeding Dad?" "What's a DUI mean?" I glare at them, as I am digging the insurance out of the glove box, but the officer must have heard them.

He said "Kiddos what I'm really doing is pulling people over, and everyone that I pull over has to give me a cake or pastry for Christmas. That's how I'm getting my Christmas dinner?" "You got any cakes or pies back there?"

Crickets chirp in the peanut gallery. No we don't have any cakes or pies...what are we going to do? Then Madi pipes up "Well I don't have any cakes or pies, but I have some old cake balls you can have!!!!" And she whips out the tupperware container out from under her seat (that had been there at least a week).

The officer quickly backed away from the car and said "Oh no, that's alright...you folks go ON...go on and have a MERRRY Christmas!!"

So the next time you get pulled over by a highway patrol just offer him some old cake balls, and he'll run for the hills!!!!

Bye Bye Barn!!

2010-12-21T11:17:00.002-06:00

The swimming pool is down...half of the barn is done...making progress. We are moving in during Spring Break if we haven't sold the house in town by then.

Frank and Papaw worked really hard tearing down the old shed.

Ten Commandments

2010-12-16T23:19:00.000-06:00

My favorite niece who is four years old and was born on my 35th birthday is a pistol. She told her Mom the other day. "I really wish God hadn't created those commandments!!!"

According to my sister: she thinks "thou shall not be touchy with thy friends" is a commandment? Also not big on the greed thing after she took 6 turkey cookies at once and got in trouble....

She has FOUR older brothers. And she's crazy about pokemon. On her first day of pre-k she head butted a little boy and made him cry. When asked why she'd done that her response was "well he should have been able to take that!!!"

You go girl!!!

Feliz Navidad

2010-12-14T21:24:00.000-06:00

Someone sent Bob a card today. The front had a cat with a collar that had Bob on it and bells on its tail. The inside said "Bells on Bob's tail Ring". It said Felize Navidad inside the card and had two dollars in it. LOL. Whoever did that gave me a good laugh!!!

I can bring home the bacon...du dum da du

2010-12-13T20:46:00.005-06:00

fry it up in a pan.....

Last night Frank and I went out to the trailer to take care of the animals. Frank went into the house to water the cat, and there was no water anywhere in the trailer. I hadn't paid the rural water bill last month so I was HOPING they had shut off the water since it's been about -87 degrees....well maybe 20 something.

So I went to work this morning and called rural water...and she said "No dear, we didn't turn it off...your pipes are frozen." I called my Dad and he said I'd have to call a plumber and that I'd probably have busted pipes when they unfroze.

I called at least 7 plumbers and all were booked until Wednesday or Thursday. So I went out there myself. I removed a wedge of the trailer house skirting until I found where the water came into the trailer. Sure enough it was not wrapped like it should have been. I drug an extension cord around there and a hair dryer….shimmed under the trailer with it.

While I was out there, I had let our half grown bird dog puppies out of their pen to stretch their legs. So I got the pipe unthawed and miraculously there didn’t appear to be any leaks, and the water in the trailer came back on. Hurrah for me!!! I drove to the nearest hardware store and got fiberglass wrap to wrap the pipe up. I get back to the trailer and shimmy back underneath it.

I’m all the way under there with only my boots sticking out. I’m stretching to wrap the fiber glass around the pipe and concentrating and something grabbed my booted foot that was sticking out from under the trailer and pulled. I shrieked and promptly hit my head on the beams under the trailer. It was one of the puppies pulling on my boot. I finished the job and proudly (there was my mistake) put the skirting back up around the trailer.

The puppies had also run off with one of my gloves and I found that. I made sure I had my keys before I locked up the trailer and checked for my Blackberry…it was missing. Sure enough, I had to crawl back under the trailer to retrieve it.

Late For Work

2010-12-07T23:32:00.000-06:00

We have never let any of our kids go to bed with us. But since she has been out of a baby bed, Carlie has snuck into our bed during the middle of the night.

The first full Monday of my new job started out at a really rough time for my family. It was also second week of high school morning basketball practice. So Bob was getting up at 5am, getting Frank and Libby up at 5am as well. And our whole morning routine was different.

Because we have half our stuff at the farm and half our stuff at the house in town, we only have one alarm clock.

Be patient...I'm setting the scene....all three of these things come together.

Because as a part of our "new" morning routine...Bob set his alarm for 5am, got up and then reset the alarm for me for 6am (because we only have one alarm clock). This had been working pretty well....until Monday morning.

I am sleeping like the dead. I vaguely hear the alarm clock buzz two times and then it stops. I sit up in bed just in time to see Carlie hitting the snooze button!!!

I look at the clock at it is 6:37am!!!! She has been hitting the snooze every few minutes since 6am. And I have to leave the house at 7am to make it to work on time.

I start shrieking and throwing on clothes. I asked her WHY she'd hit the snooze button and she said "Well, I was still sleepy!!!!"

I made it to work on time, but only because I was speeding!

Naughty or Nice?

2010-12-04T23:13:00.001-06:00

Granny was asking Carlie what she wanted for Christmas. She named several things.

Granny said "Well that's alot of stuff. Do you think you were good enough to get all that?"

Carlie informed Granny that she had never been given a lump of coal in her entire life so that must mean she was doing things alright!

How Many Babies Will You Have????

2010-12-02T23:01:00.004-06:00

When I was in school we always had several kinds of games that would predict how many kids you would have and if they would be boys or girls. One involved holding a pencil tied to a string over the victim's...er person's wrist.

Well I periodically ask my kids what they want to be when they grow up...what kind of person will you marry....how many kids will you have? I get answers that aren't typical since our family has been blessed with adoption, foster care and natural children...anyway I digress.

I asked Carlie the other morning how many kids she was going to have. She thinks about it and says "Wellll....I guess four." I told her "Just because I have four kids doesn't mean you have to have four." She said "Oh!! I just thought you got what you got."

So I told her that you can't get pregnant unless you have sex. And we believe that you shouldn't have sex until after you are married. And besides that, after you are married there are things called birth control that can help you have children when you are ready for them."

She says "Oh" and thinks about it a minute. Then she says "Well what about Lena then. I KNOW she told me when I was five, that she was NEVER gonna have kids....and now she's got one in her belly? How did that happen?"

Hmmm...er...choke....."Well, I think she changed her mind." Carlie goes "Well I'm almost pretty positive she said she didn't want any and now she's gonna get one."

Then I told Carlie "If Lena couldn't parent her baby (she'll be a single Mom without much help from the Dad) then she could place the baby for adoption. And we know all about that...right? So I'm pretty sure she changed her mind."

She goes "Well I guess so." But I still don't think she was satisfied.

The Sex Museum

2010-12-01T10:50:00.001-06:00

That's what I call it...it has some official name about Health. The 5th and 6th Graders take a trip there every year. The first year they learn how their bodies will be changing. The second year, they learn about more complex topics...like sex.

This ALWAYS provides me with great humor. The permission slip askes them to bring money for lunch at Wendy's and for the Gift Shop. I asked Libby "What would they have in the gift shop of the Sex Museum??? I'm afraid to find out." Libby said "Oh, Mommmmmm! They just have pencils and erasers and stuff." "Hmmmmm"

I don't go with them, but I always quiz them when they come home. So I was asking Libby all the details of what they learned, and she told me, and it was pretty explict. But then she says "Mom, you don't have to worry about me EVER letting a boy do that to me." I had to choke on a laugh and replied "That's great..but how come?" She says "Well first of all...if you let a boy do that to you...you could have TWINS. And not only that...you could have SIAMESE twins!!! And I'm NEVER letting a boy do that to me!!!"

Oh, Libby. I am SO going to make you read this post when you are 16 or so.

Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving....

2010-11-30T22:22:00.002-06:00

and all through the house....no one was sleeping....and I do mean NO ONE. My parents have a "designer dog" who is 3 lbs and about 6 months old. I brought our two dogs with us cause there was no one at home to let them out. Well when we arrived with dogs and kids, their little dog Bubba was like a wind up toy.

I went to sleep upstairs. There was a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and I asked Granny if I could take it down. She said she didn't care. So I went upstairs and went to sleep. A little while later Carlie sticks her head in the door and says "Mom are you in here?" and wakes me up. She climbs in bed with me. I go back to sleep and Frank sticks his head in my door and says "Mom are you in here? Which room are you in?" and wakes me up. Then a few minutes later, Bubba is in our room whining. I can't figure out what he wants, so I send Carlie downstairs with him. I get up sometime in the middle of the night....go by Frank's door and he is playing DS....take it away from him. Go down the stairs to the bathroom without turning on the light cause I know the place like the back of my hand. I get to the bottom of the stairs and flip over the baby gate that my Mom put back UP and crashed into the wall across from the bottom of the stairs. I hit my shoulder, elbow, wrist, turned my ankle and drug it on the carpet and got a carpet burn. And not one single person comes to check on me!!! So I go ...er limp... back to bed.

I sleep in the next morning and get up as say "Man that was a rough night. I fell down the stairs. Why did you put the baby gate back up?" Libby goes "Well I wish it HAD been down and all the dogs would have been upstairs with YOU." Apparently Bubba had whined and gone between my parent's bed and Libby and Madi on the fold out couch all night long. Finally at 3am, Granny got up and put him in the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs. Libby got up at 6am to go to the bathroom and didn't know he was in there and let him back out.

Meanwhile, Bob was sleeping in the back room with the door shut. He said Bo (our lab) was wanting outside every few minutes (there's a door in that room that leads outside and has a dog door)...I bet I let him outside 19 times. And then Boots (our Cocker Spaniel) went out the doggie door, but couldn't figure out how to get back in and started barking so I got up and let him in. About the time I finally got to sleep that little dog started squealing like a pig" (when Granny put him in the bathroom). Granny chimes in "Well that was the only time I got any sleep when he was in the bathroom!!!!"

I asked if anyone heard me fall down the stairs. Bob said he did, but he thought it was the resident ghost. Frank said he did but didn't think he needed to come check on me. Sheesh what a wild night. All things considered we had a great Thanksgiving.

Some Things Never Change

2010-11-29T18:50:00.002-06:00

Materialistic

2010-11-28T22:14:00.003-06:00

I don't know if this falls under materialistic, smart, devious, I'm smarter than the tooth fairy she obviously needs instructions??????

The photo isn't very clear. I found her WALLET under her pillow with a pointed note pointing to a compartment in the wallet and it says "Dear Tooth Fairy put money here".

Wow.

Leaving The Nest

2010-11-05T17:50:00.006-05:00

The last of my babies is "on wheels". Frank taught Madi how to ride her bike....Granny taught Carlie. And no, that's not a trick of the camera....she's riding at some really funky angles!! LOL.

Libbyisms

2010-11-04T21:36:00.002-05:00

Libby comes up with all these crazy phrases.

She saw a possum tonight at the farm. She didn't know what it was. She came in with her eyes big and said she saw a gray rat that was four times bigger than a cat and didn't have any hair on its tail.

Earlier she told her little sister "You can't drink any of that milk in the fridge cause it's all soiled."

LOL.

Halloween

2010-10-31T17:34:00.002-05:00

Madi was a vampire with a knife threw her head. Carlie was an old woman skeleton with a bow and a cane, and Libby was a recovering car accident victim. They all picked out their own costumes. I had no input!!!

Fall on the Farm

2010-10-30T12:59:00.004-05:00

Last night I made a fire in the firepit, covered up in a blanket and watched the sunset. Two kittens crawled up in my lap under the blanket and purred. And as it got dark the coyotes started howling.

This will be the view from my front porch once the house is built.

Hanging out laundry in the Fall Weather.

Ammonia

2010-10-27T06:51:00.002-05:00

We had school conferences tonight. The PE Teacher asked me if Carlie has had a cough at home. I told him that she'd had one for about two weeks now and that she has asthma. He said that her cough suddenly gets a whole lot worse when they are doing something in PE that she doesn't want to do.

On the way home, Carlie told me "I really think you need to start giving me cough medicine again. Because if you don't then I'm going to get Ammonia."

So I gave her a big dose of nasty red cough medicine before bed last night so that she wouldn't get Ammonia.

Updates on the Farm

2010-10-26T05:21:00.005-05:00

We have the new shed up. I actually got on the tractor and ran the brush hog. I was quite empowering. You just run over small trees and it chops them up into little pieces. I must admit I was imagining certain people as I mowed down tree after tree. I seriously love our little mini-farm. I stay out there as much as possible. The next couple of big projects are to tear down the old shed and start moving furniture from our house in town out into the new shed. Furniture that we know won't fit into the trailer.

Tractors are the bomb!!!!

Buddy and Rex. They are half Bird Dog and half Basset Hound. Carlie calls them our Bert Dogs.

Trying To Stay One Step Ahead

2010-10-24T17:11:00.003-05:00

When I stop posting, usually there are hard things going on in my life. I hope to get to post about those soon as they get resolved. But in the mean time, I still have a hard time staying one step ahead of Carlie Mae.

I was in the grocery store with her the other day. Her mouth was going 90 miles an hour. I was just the two of us. Finally she says "You know 15 + 16 = 31" Absent mindedly I reply "Yep, that's right" So she goes "We'll you know what that means don't you" "Ummm....no, no really" She exuberantly shouts "Today is Oct 16 and Halloween is Oct 31st. And that means you have EXACTLY 15 days to buy my halloween costume!!!" "Ohhh.....I see."

This Is What Country Life Is For.....

2010-09-18T22:48:00.005-05:00

Being a Fire Bug, riding the Tractor, and Burying your sister in the sand when Mom isn't looking.

We Labored

2010-09-06T17:13:00.014-05:00

I needed a good weekend, and we had a GREAT time. My parents came up, and Bob's parent came up and brought their tractor, one of our friends came over to help, and we paid 3 football boys to move rocks for us. We got a TON of stuff cleaned up on our land, plus we had a great time. My Dad brought his tiller and saw. We cut down trees, cleared off a pile of rocks by the well, rehung the tire swing that broke. Brushhogged most of the place. Granny brought a huge dish of lasgna and Memaw fixed the sides and we had a great family dinner. There were tractor rides and wheel barrow rides. A great time!!!

I don't think I've ever seen Bobby so dirty!!!!

Princess Pee-pee Head. Don't ask me how she got her name...and yes, I am talking about the cat...not Frank!

Carlie is driving the tractor.

Frank and Libby's turn

Memaw and Arlena

Madi's turn...she's turning into a true farm girl. She wants boots and a hat for Christmas.

Madi and Snowball worked so hard...they are worn out!!!

Frank is the master of the lawn tractor. No telling how many miles he put on it this weekend.

Pepaw worked hard brush hogging the whole place.

Frank and I piling up brush.

They are coming to pour concrete for the new building this weekend. As soon as the new building is up, this shed will come down.

My two "pet" Orb Weaver Spiders.

We were expecting to find snakes in the pile of rocks we moved. Instead we found a possum living at the bottom of the pile!!! We also saw mice, squirrels and a pack rat, but no snakes.

Cat Food

2010-09-03T12:34:00.004-05:00

You know you are tired when you make yourself a turkey sandwich for dinner, turn away to fix a drink....and when you go get your sandwich the cat is eating it....and you just shoo the cat away and eat the sandwich anyway because you are too tired to make another one!!!!

(Not that "I" did that or anything!!!)

This is what we live with

2010-08-29T21:47:00.004-05:00

And I say WE...Bob and I, the girls, and Frank. He refuses to do everything that we asked him to do. He quit football. Twice this week, he has run away and hidden in the neighborhood. Tonight he disappeared from 7-9:30pm because he was told to mow the yard. He was hiding in the back of the minivan most of that time, even though he didn't know that I knew that. Not sure what we are going to do with the boy.

When he ran away tonight, Carlie asked me where he was. I told her "He ran away because he was mad." She asked "Well where is he going to live then?" I replied "He'll come back when he gets tired or hungry. And then he'll have to live with the consequences." She looked at me straight faced and said "Who are the Consequences do I know them???" When I looked at her she busted up laughing and goes "Get it?" Yeah, I got it. LOL.

China - Buddhist Temple

2010-08-24T20:32:00.011-05:00

We got to visit a Buddhist Temple in Beijing called the Lama Temple.

Built in 1694, the Lama Temple (or Palace of Peace and Harmony) was the residence of Prince Yin Zhen, a son of Emperor Kang Xi of the Qing Dynasty. After the prince came to the throne, half of the residence was used as an imperial palace and the other half was converted to a lamasery. It is a current functioning monastery where many burn incense to Buddha.

I did not realize it, but there are actually many, many kinds of Buddha. When you enter the temple, you enter the first of five "halls". Each hall has a different type of Buddha. One of the halls has the "Happiness Buddha" which is the smiling Buddha that so many people rub for good luck. The last hall contains a Buddha statue that is 72 feet tall. It is carved out of a single tree trunk of white sandal wood. Before each hall are large containers where incense sticks can be burned. Then people kneel on the benches in front of the hall to Worship. This Buddha is in the Guiness Book of World Records.

I did not know until I visited China that the current Dali Lama is exhiled from The People's Republic of China because of his efforts to seperate Tibet from The Republic of China.

When China became a communist country, Buddhism was highly discouraged because it was considered superstitious in nature. But today, people are allowed to worship freely. We were told several times that now in China there are both more Christians and more Buddhists that Communists.

Yes....look closely...that is a Monk on a cell phone!!!

Coyote Breath

2010-08-22T20:51:00.005-05:00

We were out working on the land this weekend. Papaw was clearing trees from around our water well and he came upon a small patch of Rabbit fur. He just tossed it aside.

We've been trying to explain to the kids what country life will be like. Madi is terrified of bugs. Frank wants a four wheeler. Madi wants a horse. Libby says living in the country is alot of hard work. I am afraid of wasps.

I was working in front of the house later in the day when Carlie comes around the corner with the rabbit fur. She asks "Was this a rabbit?" I said "It WAS. Throw it down...its nasty!!!" She quickly tosses it down on the ground and said "Yeah, it did smell a little like coyote breath. I guess a coyote killed it!!!"

August Quotes

2010-08-21T20:27:00.000-05:00

•***************************************************
•The older I get the more I realize that most of the "normal" "Happy" people we see in our lives have hidden secrets, unknown tragedies, illness, hurts..pains. And the problems that I have to deal with are really pretty insignificant. - Julie Pool
•***************************************************
•In the chest of every single person, big or small, beats the heart of a champion. And in that heart is a purpose that will, if lived, bring something to life no other heart ever has, ever will or ever could. Something the world needs more now than ever before.
•***************************************************

The Blind Side - Revisited

2010-08-20T08:29:00.001-05:00

I posted about this movie when my family went to go see it.

http://pooligans.blogspot.com/2009/11/blind-side.html

I have a friend in town who shares a remarkably similar story to the one in The Blind Side as well as my own with JB. Her family is struggling right now too with many of the same issues we went through with JB.

It got me to thinking more about the movie The Blind Side. You know it is a great story...and when you watch the movie most people think how awesome and couragous that a rich white woman took a poor black boy into her family. Then used all of her southern spunk to fight for him to have the best. It's true that there are not alot of people out there who would do that....but there are many more than you'll ever know. Because you don't hear about our children...they are the ones who mess up.

What the Touhys' did was an awesome thing. But the TRUE miracle in that story is Michael Oher. Because Big Mike came from a troubled, unhappy situation....and yet was able to ALLOW the Touhys to help him. He appreciated them. THAT is the miracle. Because when you adopt older kids and children out of the Foster Care system....it seldom happens that way.

Children come to you emotionally battered, angry, with low self-esteem. They have been taught that they are not lovable. They don't love themselves, therefore they believe that no one else can really love them either. They are unable to trust. And without trust and vulnerability, there can be no love.

Even when you've had a child years and years, you often fight these same battles. I've seen it in both my boys. I see it in my friend's son who is making poor choices right now. When they stand on the brink of success, they are suddenly afraid...because if they succeed, then there are more expecations placed on them. And they don't have the self confidence to carry those expecations. So right on the cusp of doing great things in their lives, they will unconsciously sabotage it.

And some children need to test your love over and over and over again. They need to show their dirtiest, ugliest self to you periodically to see if you'll still love them....no matter how badly they act.

Then you throw in genetic dispositions towards violence and mental illness, the neglect they've lived with, the lack of morals they've been exposed to, the drugs and alcohol they were exposed to in the womb. And the door is open for hosts of other issues to develop.....even if you've had them since they were little.

THAT is the reality of adopting older children. They fight the love and hard work you shower on them every step of the way. I'm not saying that to discourage people from adopting older children...but rather to give a pat on the back to those who have but didn't end up with NFL Football stars.

Last night I told my friend "When I came out of the movie "The Blind Side" I came out bawling.....but not because it was such a beautiful story (which it was). I came out bawling because "My" Big Mike...was not a star in the NFL, but rather a young man struggling with drug addiction, who is on parole...and if he messes up one more time will go to the pen. It's harder to love the JBs and Js of the world, than the Big Mikes....because I think Big Mike appreciated what he had." And THAT is the miracle.

China - Taxi Rides

2010-08-18T07:53:00.002-05:00

We had two interesting Taxi rides while we were in Shanghai. The car taxis there are everywhere....like you'd see in New York City. They are smallish cars, and one person can ride up front, and it is a law that only three can ride in the back. So four all together...wouldn't you know that there are five of us!! Some taxi drivers would let five squeeze in, especially if you gave them a few extra RMB. We left one area, and there was the young Chinese couple we are with, Libby, me and my Dad. We wait in a long line for a taxi. We finally get in one and squeeze in. The taxi driver starts yelling at us in Chinese. Are Chinese friend responds back. We can't tell exactly what's going on, but it appears that he doesn't want to take five of us. Our Chinese friend kept trying to explain that one of us was a child and shouldn't count. And the taxi driver took off....so I thought it was resolved. But he pulled up to a police officer in the middle of a busy road. More rapid Chinese is spoken back and forth. The policeman looks us all over. Then nods his head. The taxi driver screams at us and we all get out of the taxi in the middle of the busy road. Apparently he'd insisted that the law said only four. When we wouldn't get out he'd driven to a Policeman. The Policeman had told the driver that he didn't care do what he wanted...and he threw us out! So we had to find another cab!!

Most of the cab rides were very reasonable. They charged 8-14 RMB for most places we wanted to go...which is about $1 - $2 in American. My Dad, Frank and I went in search of a trumpet for him. We were told that there were many music shops on Jinx Ling Road. So we had a cab drop us off and walked down the road a ways. We found a great trumpet for Frank. By the time we were done it started to rain. We tried to wave down a taxi, but no one would stop. Finally this guy on a three wheeled ancient motorbike pulls up. It has a little covered seat on the back of it. He indicates we should get in. Frank sits up front with the driver and Papaw and I sit in back facing backwards. It kept us dry. We came across a large group of people cross the street in a cross walk, and this guy just plowed through the middle of them without slowing down. When we got to the hotel, my Dad asked him how much it cost. The man said "50". My Dad goes "Oh, no way too much....15". The old man says "No, raining...50!!!" So we paid him 50. It was worth it to stay dry. LOL.

First Day of School

2010-08-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

The first week of school is probably by far, the most difficult week I have in a typical year. And this one didn’t let me down. In fact, it started out the day BEFORE the first day of school. Bob is doing two a day practices. He was supposed to get the kids up and get them dressed before he left for practice, because Granny had said she was coming to get the early and take them out to our new trailer to work on getting it cleaned up. He was so excited about his first practice that he forgot. I didn’t want them to be in bed when Granny got there, so I had to get them up and get them dressed before I left. I had told Mom that Frank had a meds appointment in Wichita at 3pm and that the three girls had their “meet the teacher” night at 5pm. So she was going to have the girls back at our main house at 4pm so they’d have time to clean up.

So I take Frank to his appointment. The doctor decided to completely change every one of Frank’s meds…right in time for school to start the next day. That sounds like a GREAT idea…change all his meds on the first day of school. So I go by the pharmacy to get his new meds and they are out of stock. So I drive home with Frank, and it’s after 4pm after I get there. There is no sign of Granny and the girls. I call her cell phone and get no answer. I figure that if I drive out to the property they’ll be on their way in and I’ll miss them. So I wait ‘til 5pm and finally head out there. Granny had worked hard all day (the trailer looked GREAT by the way) and had forgotten about meet the teacher. So I rush the girls home to get their school supplies. They are in play clothes, swim suites and covered in paint, and we don’t have time to change. So I take them to “meet” their teachers….look out school…here comes the Pooligans.

After that we went back out to the land to swim in the pool and I started a bon fire. We roasted marshmallows. They wanted to spend the night and didn’t want to leave. I explained they had to get up early and go to school the next day. I was finally able to drag them home, get everyone bathed and in bed. We get lunches made, backpacks and instruments ready. By now its 9:30pm. Bob came in a few minutes later from football practice. He walks in the door and says “Juuulie” and I can tell by the tone of his voice that something isn’t good. He said “I just ran over someone’s cat…..and it’s dead.” So we walked back up the street and there is the poor dead kitty. We don’t know who it belongs to so we start knocking on doors. We finally locate the right neighbor. The cat belongs to his two little boys. We apologize profusely, and their Dad is really nice about it.

So we go home and go to bed. Then Day TWO begins…..

Libby is so excited about starting school that she got up at 4AM. By the time the rest of us get up and start getting ready she is so grouchy and hateful that no one can stand to be around her. She jerks open the fridge door so hard that it hits the back of Carlie’s heel and draws blood. So Carlie comes to me in the bathroom crying. I get her taken care of. Then Madi had this plastic stick shaped toy that makes noises. Carlie had it, and Libby was trying to reach over her head and take it away from her. Carlie let go of it, and it pops back and cracks Libby on the head. This makes her furious so she whacks MADI across the back with it…never did understand why she whacked Madi and not Carlie. So Madi comes in my bathroom bawling and has a big red welt across her back. So Bob takes the toy away from Libby and whacks her across the legs with it several times to see how SHE likes being hit with it…and now Libby is bawling too.

Frank now goes to Junior High which is in a different town. It’s on my way to work so we decide that I will drop him by school on my way. At 7am, Carlie is ready to go to school and insists that we take her RIGHT THEN. We try to explain to her that she isn’t supposed to be at school until 7:50am, and they only let us take them up there at 7:30am as a favor to Bob because he’s a teacher. But she throws an awful fit that she wants to go right then. So she’s sitting in my bathroom bawling. Then I ask her why she’s crying….and she says her eyes are hurting. I tell her that her eyes are hurting because she’s CRYING. Ugh.

So I’m trying to get a befuddled Frank and all his stuff in the minivan to leave…and I’m already running late. He starts crying because he’s nervous about his first day of Jr. High and he can’t find all his stuff. So we get in the minivan, and I realize I haven’t given him his new medicine. Did I mention that it was raining??? I dash back up the steps to the house and hang my toe on the first step, land on the side of my ankle on the second step and ROLL across the wet porch. So I get up, go in the house….errrr limp into the house….change my clothes and get his medicine.

I get to work, and my beloved Blackberry (Crackberry) is not on my hip where it’s supposed to be. I don’t know if I left it at home or if it flew into the bushes when I fell up the porch.

Awwwww….those good old days of school.

China - Shanghai

2010-08-16T21:01:00.016-05:00

Shanghai is a very interesting city. Probably the most memorable thing for me about Shanghai is the driving. There do not seem to be many traffic rules. I mean there are police men, stop signs, traffics lights, cross walks, traffic lanes....it just seems like most people ignore them!!! People drive on sidewalks, down the middle between two lanes of traffic. If they want to go somewhere in a car, they just go and assume that all other cars and pedestrians will get out of their way. Amazingly there seem to be very few accidents.

Since China re-opened to other countries during the 80s, it has become a very Westernized city. It's still a very old city, but it does not seem to have the history that Beijing has. Even when my parents last visited Shanghai two years ago, it was a very polluted city. But the younger generation in their 20s and early 30s are becoming very interested in ridding their cities and country of pollution. And even two years has made a big difference. The government hires many people to pick up trash in their big cities. This is a "trash boat" that goes along the River Bund. The operator scoops up trash with a net and puts it in the bottom of his boat. This picture is looking down on the boat from our hotel.

There are no "houses" in Shanghai. Everyone lives in an apartment, townhouse or condo. Most families of 2 or 3 live in 300-900 sq ft of living space. There isn't room for washers and driers. And I never once saw a Laundromat. So after people wash their clothes, they hang them out of the window to dry. Sometimes on lines and sometimes on long poles sticking out of windows. It isn't unusual at all to see undies floating about you in the breeze.

Shanghai has many of the same restaurants and shops that the US has. There are McDonalds and KFCs all over the place. They even have a Barbie store and Hooters.

Many American products are available. Its odd to see products we use every day with Chinese Labels. One thing China DOESN'T have is Diet Pepsi. They have Pepsi and Coke Zero which they call Pepsi Light. I really, really missed my Diet Pepsi. We got this can of Pepsi out of a vending machine. My kids didn't know how to open it!!! Show's my age that I remember when all pop cans opened this way.

This McDonalds is four stories tall!!

Shopping is always great fun in Shanghai. We got Ipod Itouches for $75. Designer purses for $25. Pearls at an awesome price. Crocs for $2 a pair. Brand new BlueRay DVDs for 50 cents to $2 per movie.

China - Tian An Men Square

2010-08-08T19:04:00.020-05:00

In chinese "men" means gate. Ironically Tian 'anmen means "Gate of Heavenly Peace" The Square is named after the gate which is on the north end of the square. It was a humid and foggy day when we visited and the buildings are mostly gray with some red on them. There was nothing particularly beautiful about the square its self. But looking at all that space its hard to wrap your arms around exactly how large it is. It covers a hundred acres of pavement. During the Spring Festival in China up to a million people crowd into the Square. It is the largest public square in the world, at the exact geographic center of Beijing and is the center of the Chinese Government.

I was a little surprised that our tour guide did not mention what Americans refer to as the "Tian 'anmen Square Massacre". It happened in 1989, the year I graduated from High School. University Students were protesting in Tian 'anmen Square. Soldiers came in with machine guns and tanks to disperse them. It's unknown how many died. Accounts vary from 10,000 to 241.

Above is the gate on the South end of the Square. It is called Zheng yang men or Qian men. Beijing was once surrounded by a city wall and a moat. This gate is one of two remaining gates of the old city wall. The rest of the wall was destroyed when a subway was laid in Beijing

Monument to the People's Heroes

The kids and I on the square in front of the National Museum

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. This building occupies the center of the square. Mao united all of China under The People's Republic of China in 1948. His body is embalmed and lies on view in the building. People stand in lines for hours daily to see his body. His picture his hung on Tian an men Gate. The same portrait is replaced once a year so that the color remains fresh.

Tian 'anmen Gate. It seperates the North end of the Square from the Forbidden City.

China Trip and Buying Land

2010-08-05T21:11:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while. We've had a very busy summer. Granny and Papaw allowed Frank, Libby and I to tag along on their vacation to China. We just got back on Sunday. Bob and I have also been working on purchasing ten acres of land a few minutes north of our current home. It has a 1500 sq ft trailer house on it. The plan is to purchase the land, sell our current home, and then build on the land.

I'm going to start a series of posts about our trip to China. It was awesome.

Pop Those Zits

2010-06-24T16:58:00.000-05:00

When my sister and I were preteens, my Mom ALWAYS picked on our pimples and we hated it. Now Frank and Libby are going through puberty and their face is starting to break out. And guess what, Granny's been picking on their pimples.

The other day, Granny took the three girls to the mall. She was getting her nails done and the salon was crowded. She was just getting the last coat of paint on her nails when Carlie wanders over and bellows "Gee Granny, I bet you sure can pop alot of zits with THOSE long nails!!!!"