Contractual Agreements!

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?

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

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

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....

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....

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

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

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....

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....

....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!!!!

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....

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

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

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

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

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....

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

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....

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

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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