Wordless Wednesday - Night Light

Ten Things That Worry Me

What, me worry? My Ten on Tuesday offering for this week:

1. Breast cancer
2. Alzheimer's
3. my children - their health, their safety, their futures, everything
4. money
5. Hubby's health
6. Hubby's job
7. the lump on Good Girl Dog's side - what if it's a tumor?? She is 7 years old today.
8. that cat hanging around my house, thinking he lives here, meowing at my door every night
9. my upcoming flight to Florida in November
10. not living up to others' expectations of me

This is not my cat.

But he/she REALLY wants to be my cat. Here he/she is at the window beneath my kitchen cabinets crying, "Let me in!"

This cat belongs to somebody around here, altho he/she has no collar. The kids and I happened across (we'll say him) one day out on the driveway. We petted him and stuff. We said he should be named Mustachio because of the funny black moustache he has. Then we went on our way. Mustachio decided he liked us. A lot. Sometimes he sits at the front door and meows. Sometimes he comes and looks in the windows. I promise I have not fed him anything. He just loves me. And I can't stand to be cruel to him and shoo him away. Besides, he just comes back.

I am not really a cat person. Ask D. I pretend to like her cat because that's what friends do. But I must admit, this little guy is pretty friendly. Very loving. But I DO NOT NEED A CAT! I have two doggies who do NOT like this kitty hanging around!

Is it possible to be adopted by a cat?

Na na na na na na - YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! Na na na na na na - IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, TOO, YEAH!

Thank you to everyone for the Happy Birthday wishes - and to Tish over at CrAzy Working Mom for this beautiful cake!! Everyone have a piece - it's delicious!

This isn't a "milestone" birthday for me - but in a couple of years it'll be the Big 4-0. Still, here are some interesting things about the day I was born....

(Info courtesy of this site, which I found via Dawn at Coming to a Nursery Near You)

7 October 1969

Your date of conception was on or about 14 January 1969 which was a Tuesday.
Nice to know, but no one likes to really think about their conception, do they?

You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Libra.

Your Life path number is 6. (This is pretty accurate if you read the description...)

Your fortune cookie reads: Be direct, usually one can accomplish more that way.

Life Path Compatibility:

You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9. (Hubby is also a 6! As is Bubba's Mom! Daughter is a 3!)

You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7. (NOT true - my BFF is a 1, and we love each other very much! Both my sons are 5's. Hmmmmmm.....)

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2440501.5.

The golden number for 1969 is 13.

The epact number for 1969 is 11.

The year 1969 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/17/1969 and ending 2/5/1970. You were born in the Chinese Year of the Rooster.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Raven; your plant is Ivy.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Choiach, the fourth month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 25 Tishri 5730. Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 26 Tishri 5730.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.16.2.17 which is 12 baktun 17 katun 16 tun 2 uinal 17 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Tuesday, 25 Rajab 1389 (1389-7-25).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 6 April 1969.

The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 13 April 1969.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 19 February 1969.

The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 25 May 1969. The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 1 June 1969.

The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 13 September 1969.

The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 3 April 1969.

The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 18 February 1969.

As of 10/7/2007 11:39:14 AM EDT -

You are 38 years old.

You are 456 months old.

You are 1,983 weeks old.

You are 13,879 days old.

You are 333,107 hours old.

You are 19,986,459 minutes old.

You are 1,199,187,554 seconds old. (NOW I feel old!)

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Shawn Ashmore (1979)
Rachel McAdams (1976)
Toni Braxton (1967)
Thom Yorke (1968)
Simon Cowell (1959)
Michael W. Smith (1957)
Yo-Yo Ma (1955)
Vladimir Putin (1952)
John Cougar Mellencamp (1951)
Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931)
R.D. Laing (1927)
June Allyson (1917)
Vaughn Monroe (1911)
Andy Devine (1905)
Niels Bohr (1885)

Top songs of 1969
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In by Fifth Dimension
In the Year 2525 by Zager & Evans
Get Back by Beatles (with Billy Preston)
Sugar, Sugar by Archies (I happen to know this song was #1 the day I was born!)
Honky Tonk Women by Rolling Stones
Everyday People by Sly & the Family Stone
Dizzy by Tommy Roe
Wedding Bell Blues by Fifth Dimension
I Can't Get Next to You by Temptations
Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.4320939334638 years old. (I'm younger than Good Girl Dog!)

Your lucky day is Friday.

Your lucky number is 6.

Your ruling planet is Venus.

Your lucky dates are 6th, 15th, 24th.

Your opposition sign is Aries.

Your opposition number(s) is 9.

Today is not one of your lucky days! (Oh, great.)

There are 366 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 39 candles. Those 39 candles produce 39 BTUs,or 9,828 calories of heat (that's only 9.8280 food Calories!). You can boil 4.46 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1969 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.

In 1969 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.

In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)

In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)

In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.

In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

Your birthstone is Opal.

Your birth tree is Rowan, the Sensitivity - Full of charm, cheerful, gifted, without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

The moon's phase on the day you were born was waning crescent.

There are 79 days till Christmas! (Yay! More presents!)

Tora! Tora! Tora!

The Wings Over Houston Airshow is this weekend - a 2-day event featuring some pretty awesome aerial demonstrations. This year the Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be showing off their precision acrobatics in the sky, the Texas Air National Guard F-16's will be doing fly-by's, there will be re-creatings of WWII battles, including the Tora Tora attack on Pearl Harbor, plus much more to delight the crowd.

I live about 2 miles from the runway. Every so often my house shakes with a fly-by. It's going to be a loud weekend.

Friday's Feast #17

My feast offering for this week.....

Appetizer

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you look forward to your birthday?

An interesting question - my birthday is Sunday! I would say probably an 8 - I think the day you were born is pretty special.

Soup

What is one word you don’t like the sound, spelling, or meaning of?

slacks

Salad

Do you wear sunglasses when you’re outside? If so, what does your current pair look like?

deep red plastic frames - not too big but not too small - scratches on the lenses of course

Main Course

If you were to write a book, to whom would you dedicate it?

my mom - the strongest woman I know

Dessert

Name a beverage that you enjoy.

Sometimes there's nothing like a cold beer....

Wordless Wednesday - Three Generations

Sucker Punch

That's what a cancer diagnosis is. A sucker punch. Life can be going along just fine and then BAM! You're battling a serious disease. In the past year I have known five people who have gotten a cancer diagnosis. Two of them have already passed on. It's downright scary.

Not all of the cancers I've brushed up against lately are breast cancer - but October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that's the cancer I'm most afraid of. I've seen Bubba's Mom - MY mom - fight it twice. She's a survivor. I'm so very proud of her.

Today she was sucker punched again. I'm right beside her to fight Round 3. She's going to beat it once again. Cancer, be damned.

Ten Television Shows I'd Like to Have on DVD

This week's Ten on Tuesday list really made me think - I'm not one to watch TV shows - or even movies - over and over. I don't own any TV shows on DVD. But these are some of my favorites that would be cool to watch again - from the beginning....

1. Alias
2. Ally McBeal
3. All the Amazing Races
4. All the American Idols
5. Dallas
6. All the Dancing With the Stars
7. E.R.
8. Friends
9. Lost
10. Will & Grace

Drama Queens

Today Drama Daughter and her BFF participated in the first Drama Festival of the school year. They both competed in the same five events: Individual Prop Improv, Prepared Audition, Dramatic Acting, Humorous Acting, and Individual Pantomime. And they each received four Superior ratings and one Excellent rating (ribbons for awards), which also earned them each the Five Star Trophy for excelling in all five events!!

Me and D....we're some mighty proud mamas tonight!

Friday's Feast #16

Hungry? It's time for yet another Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

How are you today?

a little tired, but OK - looking forward to the weekend!

Soup

Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.

Dancing With the Stars

Survivor

CSI

Salad

What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?

Hurricane Alicia in 1983

Main Course

If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?

someplace that's really having fall right now - Canada maybe? - it's still in the mid-90's every day here

Dessert

What do you usually wear to sleep?

just a pajama top - can't wear the bottoms because they get all twisted up!

Wordless Wednesday - Stuck!

Dancing With The Stars - The Men

Another great show tonight! We didn't get a production number by the professionals tonight, just a review of what the women did last night, but then the men turned it on for the competition! I have a theory about why mostly men have won DWTS - in ballroom dancing, it is mainly the woman who is showcased. The audience's eyes are naturally drawn to her. So if the woman is the professional dancer, the couple will naturally look better than the couples consisting of a male professional and a previously-untrained female. Just my theory.

My early favorites of the men are Indy car driver Helio Castroneves and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban - both of them surprised me with how well they did! Soap star Cameron Mathison didn't do too bad, and he's easy on the eyes. (Did anyone else see Edyta's thong showing??) Model Albert Reed (who?) was just odd. Not bad - but he's kinda dorky. I wasn't too impressed with Floyd Mayweather or Wayne Newton (Bubba's Mom calls him Fig Newton). If I had to pick one to go I'd say Floyd - Wayne deserves to stick around for a little while just for being the icon that he is. And he's lovable in a Jerry Springer kind-of way.

But only one will go home tomorrow - will it be a man or a woman? My prediction? Josie Maran. But we shall see....

Ten Things I've Been Putting Off

What a great Ten on Tuesday topic for a procrastinator such as I! I mean really, if it weren't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done! Here's what I've been putting off lately:

1. getting everything unpacked from the move
2. organizing my closet
3. making my appointment for my yearly exam - I'm usually quite vigilant about this, and I'm not that far behind, but it just hasn't happened yet.
4. going to the dentist - yeah, not so vigilant about this one, and we won't discuss how long it's been since I was last there.
5. cleaning out my old refrigerator that is sitting in the garage
6. calling Goodwill to haul off all the crap I didn't sell in my garage sale
7. taking my dogs to the vet for their yearly shots - again, usually on top of this type of stuff.....
8. getting the registration sticker for my car - it expired at the end of August. What can I say? I'm just flirting with getting a ticket.
9. finding a new exercise program now that I'm not teaching dance this year
10. finishing this list

Dancing With The Stars - The Women

Let me just start by saying I LOVE THIS SHOW! From the opening number tonight I was enthralled. I want to dance like that.

Tonight the six women of Dancing With The Stars started off the competition; they did Cha Chas and Foxtrots. My early favorites are Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan and Spice Girl Mel B. Next would be Jane Seymour and Marie Osmond. They really all did well tonight! Model Josie Maran was a little clumsy, and Jennie Garth was quite obviously nervous. But all in all, I was impressed! Can't pick a winner yet, but if I had to pick one to leave it would be Josie.

Tomorrow....the men!

Curious Snail Mail

I received two very strange letters in the mail today. The first came from my bank. Due to some problems with my dumbass ISP, I had to change my e-mail address last week. I made the correction on all the websites that have my e-mail address, including The Bank. Today I get this letter:

Notification of Undeliverable E-mail

Dear Bubba's Sis:

The Bank recently encountered some difficulties e-mailing the important information referenced below.

It is very important that The Bank is able to send you notices regarding your account. If your e-mail inbox is full, please go to your inbox and clean out some of your old e-mail so that The Bank can continue to send you important information.

This original e-mail was sent to bubbassis@oldemailaddress:

Greetings Bubba's Sis:

Your E-Mail address has changed. Thanks again for choosing to bank with us. For your security we wanted to let you know that your primary e-mail address you provided has been changed to bubbassis@newemailaddress.

Sincerely,

The Bank

Um.....hello? If you are notifying me that you have a new e-mail address for me, wouldn't you send the notification to THAT E-MAIL ADDRESS??? I have a new one for a reason! The old one doesn't work anymore!

The other letter came from my phone company. I registered with them online so that I could pay my bills online. Obviously registration requires giving them your personal information. They sent me a letter today that said this:

Dear Bubba's Sis,

Thank you for your interest in The Phone Company's self-service feature available with your phone service. You are receiving this letter as a confirmation of a change to your Phone Company Account Manager online account. The following change was requested on telephone number xxx-xxx-xxxx (my phone number)

This telephone number has been added to your profile.

Thank you for using The Phone Company

What?? They spent money on paper and postage to let me know that my phone number is my phone number??

Am I the only one who doesn't get it?

Fall TV is back!!

I'm so excited - it is finally time for Fall TV! A couple of shows I watch have already premiered, and most of the others premiere this week! It was a long summer with nothing to watch but Houston Astros baseball and the one good prime time show - Saving Grace.

I've added something new to my sidebar - Shows I'm Watching. As they premiere, I'll add to the list. If you watch them, too, let me know! I love to dish on the latest episodes! Here's what I think so far:

Kid Nation - great show! I was way impressed with those kids; I cried with them and cheered with them - I can't wait to see how it unfolds! My early favorites: Sophia, Taylor, Laurel, and Michael.

Survivor: China - off to a pretty good start. The last Survivor was kinda boring, but being the devoted Survivor watcher that I am, I stuck with it. I hope they liven it up a bit this season. So far so good. There are people I like and people I dislike on each tribe, so I haven't really sided with either one yet. I think the Gwen-Stefani-lookalike-girl needs to go. My early favorites are Aaron (easy on the eyes), James (big and sweet), and Leslie.

Some of my favorite shows aren't coming back yet - like Lost, American Idol, and Amazing Race. They'll be back mid-season. Something to look forward to!

Friday's Feast #15

My fifteenth Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

What is your favorite type of art?

dance

Soup

When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?

Bubba's Mom bought my lunch yesterday!

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?

Easily a 9.

Main Course

Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to emails?
Hmmm......maybe 30 minutes to an hour? I do it sporadically thru-out the day, so I've never really added up the time.

Dessert

To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat?

In the summertime, 77. In the winter, 72.

The Cost of a Free Education

My children go to public school. For one thing, I can't afford to pay college tuition prices for them to go to grade school. But even if I could, I wouldn't - because we have superior public schools where we live and I know they are getting a great education. However, this "free education" guaranteed to my children by the government is starting to break the bank around here.

First of all there's the cost of new clothes and shoes for them. Of course this is an expense I anticipate every year (because those darn kids keep growing!) and I try to spread it out by buying a little at a time. But it still ain't cheap. And they both needed new backpacks. Not wanted - needed - as in the old ones were filthy and worn out and had been used the past two years anyway.

Then there's school supplies. I was able to pre-order Daughter's school supplies - a great convenience offered by her school - and they cost about $35. Because she is in a program for gifted/talented students, she is "highly encouraged" to purchase all the novels they will be covering throughout the school year. So we did. $35 more. Little Son's school supplies also came pre-packaged - $65. And "oh-yeah-I-need-a-binder" - add $10. (Do you know you can get binders for $25???? Insane!)

So school begins. In the first week of school I wrote out $55 worth of checks for various class fees for Daughter's school. I then bought her approximately $30 worth of sewing supplies for Home Ec class. Her first Drama Festival is $3 per event - she is in 5 events. There's another check.

Then - THEN! - we're hit with the fundraisers!!! I bought a little something from Daughter's catalogue of goodies, but Little Son's school is selling "Butter Braids", which is frozen dough that bakes into a lovely pastry. For $10. Even Little Son agrees that's highway robbery. We'll not be purchasing one of those.

And it's also time for school pictures! I chose one of the lowest packages I could buy and still get pictures large enough to identify which child it was. Still came to $20. Each child. No, I didn't have to buy them, but what mom doesn't buy her kids' school pictures? The guilt would have eaten me alive. Now I'll at least have 1 5x7 picture to remember their 5th and 8th grade years by, and they can have the 500 postage-stamp sized pictures to hand out to their friends.

By the way, we skipped both Book Fairs. My credit wasn't good enough for the loan needed to pay for anything else.

Wordless Wednesday - Shark!

Ten Things I Do When I Have Nothing Else To Do

As I was making this week's Ten on Tuesday list, Hubby saw my title-less list and said, "What's this? A list of how you spend your days?" Har har. I really do have lots of things to do with my days - this is what I do when I'm done with all that other busy stuff:

1. nap
2. surf the Internet
3. play a game on the computer (I'm really into Spider Solitaire right now)
4. snack
5. look over my calendar for important things that might be coming up
6. watch TV
7. pull weeds from my flowerbeds
8. read the newspaper (I try to do this every day anyway)
9. take the dogs for a walk
10. call Bubba's Mom and see what she's doing!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Space City

Having grown up in this NASA community, all things space were just a way of life to me. My daddy worked at Johnson Space Center for over 41 years - he just retired at the end of 2006. I attended the splash-down party for Apollo 11 in-utero (I was born less than 3 months later). My first grade teacher was an astronaut's wife. When Bubba and I were kids Dad used to take us to work with him sometimes. We have seen the parts of NASA that you don't see on the public tour - we've been in the shuttle simulator and seen where the astronauts train. We were never allowed in Mission Control, but Dad has been there several times. Even today Hubby and I know a few astronauts personally. They are the people we go to church with, have lunch with, and see at the grocery store. Their triumphs are our triumphs and their tragedies our tragedies. I can't even begin to explain how the Challenger and Columbia disasters rocked this community of ours. I had friends who lost parents in Challenger, other friends who dropped out of astronaut training after Columbia. You never get over those things.

But today Daughter got to experience one of the perks of living in this NASA area. In an assembly today at school, the students got to speak to one of the astronauts onboard the International Space Station (he has a kid at that school). It was a live feed and the students got to ask questions, such as "What do you do to exercise?" and "How does living in space affect your hair and fingernail growth?" Daughter was impressed with how clear it was - just like talking on the phone, yet this guy is orbiting the earth 220 miles above the ground!

I think Neil Armstrong said it best: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

And we continue to leap.

Friday's Feast #14

Happy Friday and Happy Feasting!

Appetizer

When was the last time you visited a hospital?

The last time I was in a hospital was in January when Hubby had surgery to remove the screws from his ankle (which were put in last November after breaking his leg/ankle).

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?

Eh, I guess a 5.

Salad

Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)

Apes need kind, loving empathy.

Main Course

If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?

I think a club to share vacation tips and info would be fun - I'd call it The Vacation Information Station! (**Disclaimer - if you already have a club named that, I'm sorry - I just thought of it off the top of my head and it's late.)

Dessert

What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?

oatmeal

The Conspiracy

I believe there is some kind of conspiracy in this world to discontinue making the products I like. As sure as I find something I really love - whether it be a cleaning product or food or whatever - they stop making it. Some examples:

• Glade Spin-Fresh toilet paper holders - a pleasant but subtle way to keep the bathroom smelling nice every time you use toilet paper
• Alpha Bits cereal - and while I'm on the subject of cereal, can I just say that while I appreciate the effort to make cereals healthier (lower sugar, sodium, etc.), doing so has made some of the oldies-but-goodies not so goodie anymore. Super Golden Crisp should have stayed Sugar Crisp. I'm just sayin'.
• Chicken by George - tender boneless chicken breasts that came in delicious flavors like Tomato Herb with Basil, Caribbean Grill, and Mesquite Barbecue; yes, they were over-packaged and a little over-priced, but they were great for a quick and easy meal!
• Scotch Brite Rescue Pads - soap-filled sponges with a scrubber side and a sponge side; while Googling this, however, I discovered that they may still be available online, so it's apparently just my local stores that are in on The Conspiracy
• Several Bath & Body Works products, including but not limited to the Stress Relief Bath Salts (the new ones aren't as good as the old ones) and White Tea and Ginger Bubble Bath (which also appears to be available online, but not in my local store)

So why does this happen to me? I can't be the only person who bought these products! Bubba's Mom has noticed the trend, too. She can't get her Revlon Moon Drops Moisture Cream anymore. What is this world coming to?

Name Game

**SCROLL DOWN FOR WORDLESS WEDNESDAY**

I stole this fun game from Stacey at JameeForever - it's silly and fun and guaranteed to make you laugh! Try it!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Muffin Venture
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chip! I think that should be just Chocolate Chip Squared or something....
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) J'Car
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Darlene Houston
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Carji
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Red Tea
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Albert Martin
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Design Whoppers (HA!)
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Marie Albert
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Giglio Geneva
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Tankie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Brownie Oak
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Dancing Storm Tour!

Wordless Wednesday - Rollin' on the River

Ten Cities I Could Live In

Today's Ten on Tuesday list asks for Ten Cities I Could Live In - forever or just for a little while.....here's what I came up with off the top of my mind. Some of these places I have been, others I haven't.....

1. Austin, Texas
2. Bastrop, Texas
3. Beaufort, South Carolina
4. Hilton Head, South Carolina
5. Charleston, South Carolina
6. Savannah, Georgia
7. Natchez, Mississippi
8. Gainesville, Florida
9. San Diego, California
10. Breckenridge, Colorado

Good Answer

Friday's Feast #13

Time for another Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

Using only one word, how does grocery shopping make you feel?
tired

Soup

What is your favorite part about the season of Autumn?
cooler weather

Salad

Have you ever had any bad experiences online?
I had a virus e-mailed to me once, but other than that, no.

Main Course

Name three things that make you happy daily.

my husband

my kids

my dogs

Dessert

What one household cleansing or organizing item would you not want to be without?

my calendar (that's an organizing item, right?)

Back-to-School Bugs

The last time Daughter threw up was 2 years ago - we were in Hilton Head, SC on vacation, and something she ate for dinner didn't agree with her. In the middle of the night it all came back up. All. Over. The. Bed. It was a strip-the-bed-and-throw-the-kid-in-the-shower incident. But after that she was all better and wasn't sick anymore.

Until today.

It started at 6:15 this morning. (She did make it to the bathroom.) Since then she has thrown up 3 more times. This girlie is SICK. She's lying in her bed like a limp dishrag, trying to watch TV but dozing a bit, too. She can't even hold down water. I feel so badly for her, but I know that there is nothing I can do except hold her hair back and give her a cold washcloth - a stomach virus must run its course. This is only the second week of school - I figure all those kids came back with germs aplenty and Daughter was the lucky lottery winner of the tummy bug. Hopefully none of the rest of us get it - I'm Lysol-ing everything like crazy. Maybe I have Mommy Immunity.

Crazy Lady Say What??

***SCROLL DOWN FOR WORDLESS WEDNESDAY***

Whoopi Goldberg has started her stint on The View, and already she's stirring up controversy. She is actually DEFENDING Michael Vick! Kind-of the "he didn't know any better" defense. According to Whoopi, "where he comes from" in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual.
"It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico," she said. "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country." She said that for many people, dogs are sport, and it appeared it took awhile for Vick to realize that he was up against serious charges. "I just thought it was interesting, because it seemed like a light went off in his head when he realized this was something that the entire country didn't appreciate," she said.

Ummm....EXCUSE ME???? Maybe - just MAYBE - if Vick were some kid from the sticks who was being raised to fight dogs and had never known any different, this could be a plausible excuse. But this man is/was a professional athlete! A grown man who knew right from wrong! The abuse and torture of his dogs was despicable, and he had to know that. How on EARTH could anyone defend his actions? I'm from the South and I find it reprehensible, and to generalize Southerners in that way would be as bad as me saying that she's defending him because he's black. Which I'm not doing.

Come on, Whoopi - we thought you were gonna be so much better than Rosie!

**UPDATE**

Whoopi is covering her butt today, apologizing and backpedaling like crazy. Do we give her the benefit of the doubt on this one??

Wordless Wednesday - BFF's

Ten Things I'd Save In A Fire

Ten on Tuesday snuck up on me this week! Guess the holiday threw me off....

Assuming Hubby can get out safely on his own, here are Ten Things I'd Save In A Fire:

1. my kids
2. my dogs
3. my scrapbooks
4. as many photos as I could grab
5. my computer (well, the tower - the part that has all my "stuff" on it!)
6. my Bible
7. my calendar book
8. our box of important documents (no they are not in a fireproof safe - shame on us!)
9. the kids' baby books
10. my vacation spoons (collection started by my grandmother and passed on to me - very special to me!)

You like me! You really like me!

Not one but TWO awards for me this week! Wow - I'm feeling really special right now.

Misty Dawn at My Dogs Keep Me Sane bestowed upon me the Blogging Star award. She is such a neat person and takes AWESOME photos! Thank you Misty Dawn!


Stacey at Jamee Forever awarded me the You Make Me Smile Award - I am honored! She makes me smile every day both at her blog and the comments she leaves on mine. Love ya, Stacey!

I think I'm supposed to pass these along to others now, so I'm going to think about it some - I would gladly give both of them to USO Girl, but she got them, too! Lots of stuff to do today, so I'll mull on it and come back tonight to do my awarding.

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!

In Loving Memory

July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997

Friday's Feast #12

After two feast-less Fridays because of no Internet, I'm back! Dig in and enjoy today's Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?

Definitely Bubba's Mom, and USO Girl - aka D - she's my BFF!

Soup

If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?

the Mayans of Central America

Salad

What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?
the birth of a child

Main Course

If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?
be on Dancing With the Stars

Dessert

What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?

I was 24 when Daughter was born and I thought it was ideal!

Viral Tag

USO Girl tagged me!

Rules:
1. Copy and paste the story below, and the rules, on your blog.
2. Find out who you're going to tag. (2-3 people, or more, if you wish)
3. Write one or two sentences to continue the story, and use the titles of the blogs you're tagging or any word(s) associated with them as keywords in the links you include in your part of the story.
4. Remember to tell your taggees that you've tagged them!
5. Feel free to use this and start your own viral link story. I'd very much appreciate a link back to Mother's Home if you do. (Or a tag, if you prefer!)

Once upon a time, after the evil stepmom had put up a Barbed wire fence around everything, the Empress came and shouted: "I've come to give you A little piece of me mind!" The evil stepmom, Shelby, came out to see what all the Rambling from this Crazy person was about. The cranky, evil stepmom watched in horror as the insane person began to parade around singing "A Boy Named Sue."It seemed like forever this insane person would sing and for miles he would parade, all the while twisting and dancing to the song.

It was nothing short of sheer brilliance, though, this Empress, dancing like a wild monkey in an accordian store, waving goodbye to the evil (and I mean very evil) stepmom and heading off to her job as a Kelly Girl on a military base in South Carolina. It was there she was swept off her feet by Officer Gorgeous and signed up to be part of the USO.

It was day by day living with Officer Gorgeous. They went to dances, watched movies, star-gazed, & drank their fountain drinks from the same glass. Then, her Mother, Sister, and Friend came along.....

She hadn't seen them for years, and couldn't wait to introduce her new love to them. "This is Officer Gorgeous," she said. "He's really a misplaced midwesterner. We're crazy in love!"

"You must come all the way home with us!" her family cried.....

I tag:
The Misplaced Midwesterner
Crazy Working Mom
Whee! All The Way Home

Dancing With WHO??

This morning on Good Morning America, last season's Dancing With the Stars winner Apolo Ohno announced the lineup for this fall's show. USO Girl and I think they could have done better, so we present:

Bubba's Sis and USO Girl's Improved Dancing With the Stars Lineup:

The seasoned performers:
Instead of Marie Osmond, we want DONNY OSMOND!
Instead of Wayne Newton, we'll take DOLLY PARTON.

The TV stars:
Instead of Jenny Garth, we want ELLEN DEGENERES.
Instead of Dr. Quinn lady we want MATTHEW FOX.

The Disney star:
Instead of the Cheetah Girl we want ZAC EFRON.

The music star:
Instead of Scary Spice we want QUEEN LATIFAH.

The sports stars:
Instead of Hélio Castroneves, Mark Cuban, and “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, Jr., we'll take PEYTON MANNING, TOM BRADY, and DANICA PATRICK (since we need to throw in a girl there).

The soap star:
Instead of Cameron Mathison, we want JOHN TRAVOLTA (ok, he's not a soap star, but he used to be on TV and he's been on Oprah!).

The hotties:
Instead of supermodel Josie Maran and male model Albert Reed, we want...letsee, gotta be 2 girls here to make it even.....how about KAT VON D (from Miami Ink) and EVA LONGORIA?? They're pretty hot.

That makes 6 guys and 6 girls, right? (We had a much easier time picking the guys than the girls! Runners up included Will Smith and Josh Duhamel.)

The Men:

• Donny Osmond
• Matthew Fox
• Zac Efron
• Peyton Manning
• Tom Brady
• John Travolta

The Women:

• Dolly Parton
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Queen Latifah
• Danica Patrick
• Kat Von D
• Eva Longoria

Now THAT'S a show!

Wordless Wednesday - Sweet!

Ten Things About My Job

I missed last week's Ten on Tuesday list - Ten Things I Hate About My Job. This week's topic is Ten Things I Like About My Job. I only have a little part-time job anyway, so I decided to split the difference and do five of each so I'm all caught up! I can do that, right? Of course I can! It's MY blog!

Five Things I Hate About My Job:

1. My office is in a file room with no windows - kind-of like a cave.
2. The ladies' restroom is just outside my file room office - and every day the woman who works in the parts department takes a big poo in there and stinks up my office!!
3. When I'm not there, people take my stuff off my desk. Not my PERSONAL stuff, but my pens or my scissors or my stapler....ticks me off.
4. My computer at work does not have Internet access.
5. I am constantly fixing stupid mistakes that people who were there before me made.

Five Things I Like About My Job:

1. It's easy.
2. I set my own hours.
3. The pay is good.
4. I get to organize things - I like to organize things.
5. The guys in the parts department are funny and keep me entertained while I'm there.

Tagged - X4!!

While I was on my two-week hiatus from blogging, I was tagged FOUR TIMES! Being a good blogger girl, I did them all. Kinda.....


Jolene over at The Middling Monettes tagged me for the 8 Things Meme - since I've already done it, I decided to do another one I saw on her blog - the Middle Name Meme:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here's mine:

D - Dog-lover
A - Anal (not a great word - I prefer "slightly obsessive/compulsive" - but no S, O, or C in my name!)
R - Religious
L - Loving
E - Easygoing
N - Nap-taker
E - Emotional

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Next, Crazy Working Mom tagged me for the 7 P's Meme - I think you're supposed to put something about yourself after each P-word:

1. Passion: Christ
2. Purpose: to raise happy, healthy children and be a good wife (OK, so that was also Tish's answer but it's a good one!)
3. Pursuit: inner peace - sounds hokey, but I want to get to a point where I really don't worry about things because I know that God is in control; I'm getting there!
4. Position: hmm - well, my favorite sleeping position is on my side
5. Pummeling: Would love to pummel smokers! And rude people!
6. Progress: see Pursuit
7. Personality: fun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skittles tagged me with the Image Meme - this one was fun! Here are the rules:

1) Go to Google.
2) Click on Google images.
3) Type in your name and search.
4) Re post (w/ a link) the picture of the oddest, craziest, strangest, coolest, oldest, etc. person that shares your name. Post multiples if you find a few you like.
5) Pass it on to at least 5 other people.

At first I typed in my first AND last names, and was shocked to see a picture of MYSELF come up! I forgot my teacher picture is still on the dance studio's website. So I went back and did just my first name and here is my favorite:

I really do feel like this some days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, Michael-Lover-Of-Amy tagged me for the $50,000 Meme (I wish he'd just given me $50K, but I'll play along):

A philanthropist awards you $50,000 with the stipulation that you may use half of it for yourself and the other half you must use for the benefit of others. By "benefit of others" it can mean anything really, buying a gift for a family member or donating to a charity.

a. How do you spend the money on yourself? $25K would pay off some debt!

b. How do you use the money for others? Please be detailed, so if you say "give X dollars to charity, let us know what charity and why you select that one. There are several charities that I would split the money between - including breast cancer research, Habitat for Humanity, the SPCA, and a local women's shelter. Would also give a big chunk to my church.

c. If you were to spend part of your money to have a performer do a show for you, who would it be and why? Bon Jovi - because I love him.

d. If you were to use it on a new vehicle for yourself, what kind? probably a Chevy Tahoe, but $25K probably wouldn't buy the one I would want!

e. If you spent part of it to go to a "fantasy" camp, what type would you choose? baseball

f. If you were to use it to buy season tickets for a sports team, what team would it be? absolutely the Houston Astros!

g. If you were to use it to go on a cruise (assuming you like cruises) where would you cruise to? I do like to cruise and would gladly do the Caribbean again. An Alaskan cruise would be cool, too.

h. If you were to use it to go to NYC to see a show (or shows) what would you see? Phantom of the Opera, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago

and i. Totally off subject (but since Fall is coming) what is your favorite carnival food (I was watching "Big" while writing this and saw them at the carnival)? funnel cakes!!

**Since I've just done FOUR memes, I'm not going to tag anyone specifically for these - but if you want to play along, feel free! Let me know if you do and I'll come check it out!

Happy New Year

I love this time of year. Back-to-school has always seemed like New Year's to me - this is when everything is fresh and new and you have a clean slate on the year ahead (Bubba's Mom did a great post on this - read it here). This year is especially full of fresh starts for the Bubba's Sis Family - we are emerging from a Season of Change that we never would have anticipated just a few months ago.

To begin with, we have the new house. You know about that. We love it here and we are so happy with how everything worked out. Life is good.

Tomorrow the kiddos go back to school. Daughter doesn't have to change schools since she is in a district-wide magnet program for gifted kids; tomorrow she starts 8th grade - her last year of junior high school. She is very excited. Little Son will be at a new school for 5th grade this year - his last year of elementary school - but he is looking upon it as a new adventure and an opportunity to make new friends. Coincidentally, one of his two teachers is a friend I went to junior high and high school with, and ran into at our reunion just last month - small world, isn't it? Navy Son is starting classes at the Naval Academy Prep School - he has a fresh buzz haircut and is ready to go! He even made the cross-country team at the school.

There are other changes for us as well. Daughter and I have decided to take a break from dancing. She took for 9 years at the studio where I danced growing up, the same studio I came back to to teach 5 years ago. But Daughter's passion is drama, not dance, and she has made the mature decision to focus her energy on what she loves: acting. My ankles have given me problems the past couple of years, and the fun of teaching dance was wearing thin, so Daughter's decision to move on made an easy transition for me to move on as well. I will continue to do some part-time warranty filing at Hubby's job while the kids are at school, and enjoy being home with them in the afternoons instead of running off to the dance studio four days a week. It's all good.

We celebrated a fresh start for another family today - a family from our small group at church who welcomed the Daddy home from Iraq this past week. This was his second tour of duty in Iraq, and boy are they glad to have him back home!! It was quite a celebration today, with lots of friends and family there to welcome him home. Home safe and alive. God is good.

So Happy New Year to you and yours! The best is yet to come!

Still alive!

Don't give up on me, Blogger Friends - I am still out here! Just no Internet at the new place yet (6 more days!) and very little time to get over to Bubba's Mom's house to check e-mail, pay bills, read blogs, etc. I am exhausted from the past couple of weeks, but it's a good exhausted. I love our new house. I love the location, the layout, the trees, the peacefulness of the neighborhood, my red front door, my own office, the paint that is already my colors so we don't have to paint at all, the super-great washer and dryer that came with the house and are oh-so-much better than my old ones, the gas stove (my other one was electric and I like gas better), the big bathtub, and lots more. We've lived there a week and it already feels like home.

I'll try to do better keeping up with blogs this week, but know that after August 25 I'll be back online and back in the blogosphere!

Frustration and Stupidity

That's what I'm feeling this week. Having no cable or Internet has really made me feel cut off from the world!!! How did I ever survive before I had it?!? So I can only check my e-mail and blogs and stuff at Bubba's Mom's house or - if I'm sneaky - Hubby's desk at work. And having only 2 channels to watch on the TV? Well that's just boring. Add to it that we had Tropical Storm Erin rains all day and my kids are climbing the walls.

Today during the torrential downpours I kept hearing a honking sound - like an alarm or something - coming from outside. Further investigation - and wading into the back corner of my back yard under a HUGE oleander bush - tracked the noise to the cable TV box in my yard. This has got to be bad. So I called The Cable Company - three different numbers - and finally got someone to come out and investigate this horrible honking noise. A couple of hours later - honking noise getting rather annoying now - Cable Guys show up. They slosh into my backyard in the pouring rain and tell me the source of the sound. A frog. Do I need to even say how stupid I felt???? So I batted my eyes at them and apologized profusely - then asked as long as they were here, could they just go ahead and turn on my cable?? We're not supposed to do that, ma'am. Oh pretty please (more eyelash batting)? OK. So they did it!!! I have no idea how to hook up the TV's and stuff inside but Hubby does, so - cross your fingers - tonight we may have our cable back working! If I can figure out how to get my Internet back, I'll feel connected once again! And I can do a Google search from my home on "HOW TO GET RID OF LOUD, HONKING FROGS". Oh, the shame.

No Ten on Tuesday...

No Ten on Tuesday list for me this week - I have been so busy with the move and everything, I haven't even had time to think about it. And! No Internet at my new house until Aug. 25! AAAAA! Good thing I can use Bubba's Mom's computer or I'd have SERIOUS withdrawal!!

The move went swimmingly - we still have a few things to move over, but for the most part we are "settled in". Of course we picked the hottest days of the year to move - no kidding, it was 107 degrees both days over the weekend. It was exhausting. Thank God for A/C.

More from me soon!

Moving!

I really can't believe it. After months and months of wanting to move, we FINALLY got the perfect house for us! Everything came together so smoothly, and we are moving this weekend! Not a far move - only about 10 miles. But if I don't blog for a few days, you'll know why - lots of packing, moving, unpacking, etc. to do, plus I'm not sure when my Internet will be hooked up at the new place. If I have to, I'll blog from Bubba's Mom's house - we'll only be living about 3 minutes from her now! We are all so excited!

Friday's Feast #11

Happy Friday and Happy Feasting!

Appetizer

What is your favorite kind of pie?

Oh it's hard to pick just one! I love chocolate pie, but I also love coconut!

Soup

Name something that made you smile this week.

FINALLY getting the house we want!

Salad

What do you do to cool off when the weather is hot and humid?
stay inside where it's air-conditioned

Main Course

You receive $1,000 in the mail with a letter that says you can only use the money to redecorate one room in your home. Which room do you pick, and what do you buy to spruce it up?
I would probably pick my bedroom and get new bedroom furniture and bedding; make it a peaceful, beautiful retreat!

Dessert

Fill in the blank: My _Chinese Zodiac sign (Rooster)___ says _I am an early riser and do my best work in the morning___, but I __DON'T!____.

Wordless Wednesday

Ten Things I'll Never Do Again

"Never say never" is a pretty good motto, but I did come up with a good list of Ten Things I'll Never Do Again:

1. wear a white bathing suit
2. get so drunk I puke
3. get an adjustable-rate-mortgage
4. get pregnant
5. smoke a cigarette (for the record, I only ever tried it ONE TIME)
6. evacuate Houston with millions of other people running from a hurricane
7. shave in the bikini area
8. work for a lawyer
9. buy fudge for Hubby (I did this several times before I remembered he doesn't like fudge!)
10. watch the Astros play in the Astrodome

Why I Love Country Music

Yeah, it's Monday - but this will make you laugh:

The Kiss

Drama Daughter has wrapped up her stint as Ariel in The Little Mermaid - it was four weeks of fun, frustration, fame, and, well, DRAMA - onstage and off. Drama Daughter and her BFF - who also played Ariel in a different cast - learned a lot of lessons in this past month. They learned about acting, projecting their voices, how to run the lights and sound and how to pull the curtain. They learned that some actors may not have as much devotion to their part as others, and that despite having missing cast-members, the show must go on. And they learned that sometimes it is difficult to stay in character - to pretend that you are hopelessly in love with someone that in real life, you can't stand.

This is where The Kiss became a problem.

As the story goes, Ariel falls in love with a human prince. She swoons over him and sings to him - none of which were a problem for the girls, despite the fact that they found their "princes" completely unattractive and rather obnoxious. But at the end, Ariel marries the prince, which means....a kiss. Now, these are kids putting on this production, so no real kissing was expected of them. The first plan was to have them lean in for a kiss, but have a blackout just before their lips met. But the lighting crew was a little slow with the blackout, and the leaning in but not connecting became awkward. Giggling ensued. Character broken. This was not going to work.

While driving the girls home one day, Daughter's BFF was explaining how they were instructed to try the "French kiss". Whoa! I almost drove off the road! French kissing?!?!? But what they meant was the European style of kissing each cheek. Whew! So they tried that. It was silly, too. No good.

The final plan worked wonderfully - Prince Eric would hold up his cape to cover their faces and they would lean in and pretend to kiss behind the cape. Very cute! Worked like a charm and went over well with the audience. Success! Until the final performance. It seems Drama Daughter's prince - who really seemed like a nice guy but she assured me was an obnoxious boor - decided to go for a REAL kiss on the last show. The cape went up, they leaned in, then Daughter's head jerked back quickly! Not exactly the reaction of a smitten bride, was it?

As infuriated as she was, she did not break character and all ended well. Bravo!

And the grand total is.......

$890! I would say my Big Fat Garage Sale was a fantabulistic success - not only did we make some money, but we got rid of a lot of JUNK! We still have a lot of junk, but none of it is big stuff we'll have to haul away. That is good, because we may be looking at a move here in the next month, and the less to move the better!

The Texas rains stayed away during my garage sale - for which I was thankful. It was damn hot, tho - hot and humid and not a breeze stirring. But I can't complain - the customers came and they bought stuff. The rain at least waited until afternoon!

Now to get what's left organized, packed up, and given away to someone who needs it more than I do.

Friday's Feast #10

Happy Friday everyone!

Appetizer

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?

I would say a 9 - I'm not perfect, but I'm purty darn nice!

Soup

What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

probably something corny that I said myself - I often crack myself up; I love to laugh - it feels good!

Salad

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Main Course

Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.

The funniest teacher I ever had was not funny in the normal sense of the word - she had a dry wit that just cracked me up, tho. I was also scared to death of her. She never cracked a smile, even when she was saying something witty. Her name was Ms. Kevan and she taught Creative Writing my senior year. Now she is one of Hubby's customers, and she still remembers me!

Dessert

Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that __Jesus Christ is the Son of God and my personal Savior__.

My Big Fat Garage Sale

Tomorrow morning - and Saturday morning - I'll be up bright and early for My Big Fat Garage Sale. Everything must go. I have so much crap out there you wouldn't even believe it - clothes, shoes, jewelry, computer monitors, tv's, printers, toys, furniture, junk.....I'm hoping to make a ton of money in the next two days! I put an ad in the paper and have made several signs to stick out around the area. Hopefully it won't rain. I've always had good luck with garage sales in the past, so hopefully this one will be good, too. But I'm kinda scared no one is going to show up and then I'll have to figure out what to do with all this stuff. Hello, Goodwill???

My First Wordless Wednesday