I am in day 2 of being under seige with no laptop. So here I am using the TV internet which requires me to hold the keyboard right in front of the TV while typing.
Did I mention it’s worse than dial up?
Hard to believe, but it is y’all, it is.
Did y’all know that you can get internet access on your T.V. in hotel rooms? Neither did I until desperation drove me to find a way to get online.
I’m out of town for ironically, some computer training and the first thing they did when I arrived was take my laptop from me. I immediately began to experience symptoms of withdrawal. Then I noticed that TV internet was listed under menu options and a chorus of angels began to sing.
The COMPUTER on T.V.? That should be high tech, but sadly it may be worse than dial up. So with that sad realization, I’ll say Goodnight.
In blog tradition, this is my 100th post so here are 100 things about me otherwise known as maybe a great way to put yourself to sleep.
1. I was born in Houston, TX
2. The year was 1971
3. My hair was so thick and long that it was down to the middle of my back at 2 years old
4. I wish it was still that thick and long
5. Sadly, pregnancy did some irreversible damage
6. Talk about big hair, you should’ve seen me in the 80’s
7. My first real memory is the day we brought my little sister home from the hospital
8. She is 3 years and 9 months younger than me
9. My parents divorced when I was 9
10. My sister and I lived with my mom
11. We moved to Beaumont when I was 12
12. My dad drove to see us every other weekend
13. Sometimes we rode a Greyhound bus to Houston to see him
14. My Mema and Papa would take us to the bus station to catch the bus
15. Mema always packed my sister and me a sack lunch
16. There was always a can of Coke and some Nutter Butters in the lunch
17. I loved going to the bus station because they had a Ms. Pacman game and Papa had an unlimited supply of quarters.
18. I didn’t really like riding the bus
19. One time I caused my little sister to wet her pants because I made her finish her Coke so that I wouldn’t have to hold it for her
20. My dad called me on the phone every night of my life
21. He still does
22. I didn’t realize when I was younger what a rare man he is
23. I do now
24. After we moved to Beaumont we lived down the street from my grandparents
25. When I was 11 my sister got the chicken pox and I purposely tried to get them too so that I could stay home from school
26. It worked
27. I was sorry about one day into my pox affliction
28. My favorite subject in school was English
29. I was in honors classes
30. Except for any subject related to math
31. I failed Algebra II my junior year in high school
32. My senior year I had to take Geometry and Algebra II at the same time so that I could get into Texas A&M
33. I still have nightmares about it
34. I brought my teacher apple fritters every morning and I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason I passed the class.
35. I chose my major based on what would require the least amount of math
36. I took Business Math 141 and made a D
37. I was thrilled to make a D
38. I took two semesters of Japaneses in college
39. The only thing I remember is “Hajimimoshte” which means how do you do?
40. It took me 5 years to graduate from school
41. Mainly because I wanted to stay for one more football season
42. My last semester I only took 4 hours
43. I had a lot of free time
44. My dad bought me a briefcase for graduation which was his way of saying “I’m so proud of you but you have to go get a job”
45. I got a job selling financial products and helping people invest for retirement
46. Which was kind of ironic considering I’m not good at math and can’t really balance my checkbook (I didn’t mention that in my interview)
47. I had that job for 2 years
48. I wasn’t sad when it was over
49. P and I got married August 16, 1997
50. It was a noon wedding on the hottest day of the year
51. I loved, loved, loved my wedding dress
52. P and I waited 5 years to have a baby
53. I love being a mom more than I can express
54. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done
55. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done
56. The first year after I had Caroline I self medicated with plain M&M’s
57. I spent many nights praying she would sleep and bargaining with God
58. I hold no nostalgia for those days
59. Although I’d pay a million dollars to smell her little baby sweetness one more time
60. My favorite movie ever is Gone with the Wind
61. I’ve seen it more times than I can count
62. I’ve probably got a little more Scarlett in me than Melanie
63. If I love a book I’ll read it over again at least once a year
64. I’ve read Lonesome Dove and Gone with the Wind several times
65. I’ll also watch Lonesome Dove on DVD about once a year
66. I may have a small crush on Robert Duvall as Gus McRae
67. My favorite food is Mexican food
68. I love chips, salsa and queso and could eat it everyday
69. I also have a major weakness for chocolate chip cookies, especially the dough
70. I’m not really a candy person but when I crave candy it’s always Sour Patch Kids
71. I obviously have a very sophisticated palate
72. I love getting pedicures but not necessarily manicures
73. I have a stomach like cast iron and can truly have a stomach bug one day and eat a Frito pie later that night.
74. I love watching sports
75. Watching a team win a championship will make me cry 4 out of 5 times
76. I myself am not an athlete
77. I did play soccer in high school, but just because my best friend talked me into it.
78. I was more of a cheerleader/dance team kind of girl
79. It takes alot to make me mad
80. I get my feelings hurt easier than most people would think because I tend to act a little thicker skinned than I am
81. I’m usually quick to forgive because I don’t like feeling angry at someone
82. I hate making decisions and would usually rather someone else make them
83. I don’t have a large group of friends but the ones I have are friends for life
84. I tend to seem a little quiet in groups of people I don’t know
85. I am anything but quiet around my friends
86. In fact, one time P came running into the house because I was cutting up and talking so loud to Gulley on the phone that he thought I was hurt
87. My first car was a Honda CRX
88. I drove it for 8 years and by the end it had duct tape on the front fender and you couldn’t open the doors from the inside, so you had to roll down (manually) the window from the inside and reach out to open the door.
89. My dad never understood how I could run up a $100.00 a month gas bill with a Honda in a small town like College Station
90. I admit I sometimes may have bought adult beverages for myself and my friends at the gas station
91. One of the best experiences of my life was going to Sicily four years ago and getting to see the towns where my great grandparents were born
92. It gave me a whole new appreciation for my family history and I didn’t understand the meaning of ancient until I saw the ruins of Greek temples
93. We went to the Vatican and I started crying when I walked in St. Peter’s because my mind couldn’t wrap around the beauty
94. Our camera got stolen the last night of the trip and it still makes me sick to think of the pictures that we’ll never have
95. The memories of that trip will stay with me forever
96. The thing I worry about the most is am I being the best mom I can be to Caroline
97. Some days the answer is yes, but others it’s no
98. The most important thing in the world to me is being a good wife and mother
99. I want to live the life that God has intended for me to live
100. I feel more blessed than I ever imagined and even during the struggles I know that I have been given much, and in return hope to give back just as much
Caroline’s school has show and tell once a week and we’re supposed to bring something that starts with the letter of the week. Last week was the letter “A”, so I did some serious looking around the house and found an arrowhead. Perfection.
I showed it to Caroline and told her it was a rock that Indians had carved to make an arrow so that they could use it to hunt. She was intrigued and I could see the wheels turning in her mind.
Mimi and Bops showed up a little later to see her and she wanted to show them her precious arrowhead. She launched into a long story about someone named (as near as we can tell) Nibblewise. Apparently this arrowhead belonged to an Indian named Nibblewise and it was very IMPORTANT. He used it to shoot “Hiyotes” (coyotes) and Javelinas. She was very serious about her story and it went on and on and on. At one point I picked up our phone bill to look it over and she said “Mama, you need to put down that paper and listen about Nibblewise”. So I did. And when she finished her tale, she looked us all in the eye and said “Now you need to clap”. We gave her a thunderous round of applause.
The girl has a future in fiction writing. I can’t even do justice to the telling of the legend of Nibblewise. I’m not sure if the class got the same story during show and tell, but if they did, it was a real treat.
There is a quote by General Patton that is famous in Aggieland and last night as we played Army it was seen on t-shirts and signs everywhere.
When I was 10, I went to a YMCA camp with a group of girlfriends. It was my first summer camp experience and I loved everything about it, except maybe the salamanders in the showers.
My counselor was named Carla and I thought she was the greatest thing I had ever seen. She was so mature, pretty and grownup. Looking back, she couldn’t have been any older than 17, but to a 10 year old she was IT.
Carla was a Christian and she played a song for us called Mountaintop by a singer I had never heard of named Amy Grant. I fell in love with her music immediately and for years she was pretty much the only Christian artist I listened to (well other than the occasional Petra song, but I’m not sure it stands the test of time as well).
When I got home from camp, my mom bought me an Amy Grant casette tape. I can’t remember the exact name, but it was a live recording. I listened to it so much over the years that it completely warped. One song stood out to me more than any other. It was a song that Amy wrote when she was 16 and to this day when I am struggling with something in my life the words come back to me and envelop me like a familiar friend.
Are the words simple? Yes, but they resonate in my core. I get so busy trying to be or do what I think God wants me to be or do, that I forget to stop and ask Him. Sometimes, I just press on and press on and work so hard to be something or do something that ultimately I’m not cut out for. I’m just me, but He created me and knows better than anyone all of my strengths and weakenesses and has plans for me just the same. All I ever have to be is what He’s made me.
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