Year: 2006

  • Don’t hassle me, I’m local

    Yesterday, Caroline and I went to the grocery store. Now y’all know how I feel about the store and to top it off I waited until the afternoon to make the trip. I don’t want to exaggerate because I want to be credible, so I will be completely honest and tell you that it was 140 degrees outside.

    As we made our way up and down the aisles, Dwayne (the H.E.B. manager) saw us and came bearing the dreaded Buddy Buck. He gave Caroline THREE Buddy Bucks and the news that they have a whole NEW Buddy Buck machine. You can imagine my excitement.

    Our whole trip turned into a barrage of questions such as “When are we going to be done? Where’s the new Buddy Buck machine? When are we going to pay?” At one point I was putting something in the cart when I heard Caroline say “Oh no, Mama! I dropped my beautiful thing.” I had no idea what she was talking about until I turned and realized she had dropped the Buddy Buck. She has lost her mind over these things.

    Finally, we check out and begin the beating that is the Buddy Buck machine. Keep in mind we get THREE turns because we have THREE Buddy Bucks. I’m trying to help her as much as she’ll let me, when all of a sudden I hear myself being heckled by some 8 year old boy in a private school uniform. He’s shouting “Not that way, you need to pick it up there. Move it this way, no this way!” Are you kidding me?

    Finally we get our treasured stickers and it’s a good thing because our milk was beginning to boil and so was my temper. Heckled by an 8 year old? Seriously.

    I called Gulley on the way home from the store to tell her about my experience and she said “Oh I know, they gave us FOUR Buddy Bucks this morning because they want everyone to use the new machine. But the good news is that we got Number 20, so we almost have enough stickers to get our FREE stuffed Buddy Buck keychain!” Apparently, Caroline isn’t the only one who has lost perspective on the Buddy Buck. Of course, me being the savvy mom I am, I didn’t even realize the stickers served any other purpose besides just being stickers. And you know what? I’m keeping that piece of information to myself.

  • The talk of the town

    I talked to Gulley today and she told me that my post about Nena has the whole town buzzing with excitement. Well, maybe not the whole town, but you know…their family and friends which is pretty close to being the whole town. Apparently her mom is there visiting right now and she told Nena and the family that I wrote about Nena on “the computer”.

    Nena said “you mean to tell me she wrote about me on her computer? Oh, my goodness what did she say? A blog? I never heard of such. A blog!” Next thing you know she’s on the phone with her friends telling them that I wrote about her on “my computer” and people “we don’t even know” read what I write. Yes they do, and all eight of them now know about Nena.

    So Nena wanted to read what I wrote and since she doesn’t have a computer, they called Mary Jo. Now Mary Jo is the computer savvy one of the bunch seeing as how she’s the only one who owns a computer, so they were going to see if “Mary Jo cain’t figure out how to print something off the computer.”

    Gulley hasn’t gotten a report back on whether or not they were able to “print something off the computer” yet, but I promise you that I will be getting a thank you note from Nena in the next few days.

    All of this happened today and I just noticed a few minutes ago that Boomama has linked to my post about Nena on her Thursday Thirteen. Nena’s famous! She’ll be so tickled. Thank you Boomama!

    In other Nena news, apparently the Bryan news has this special contest at noon everyday where they’ll call someone who sent in a card and they win a gift certificate to CJ’s Barbecue. Grandaddy has sent in multiple cards and if you call the house between 12-1:00p.m. and you’re not the news…he’ll just hang up on you. This has caused Nena an immeasurable amount of grief already and now that she’s got big news to share about her computer fame…she may be spelling a few cuss words to Grandaddy.

    I’m editing this to add that I just got off the phone with Gulley to tell her about Boomama linking to Nena’s post and I got the update. Apparently, Mary Jo couldn’t get “the blog to print off the computer” so Nena’s friend Dorothy Kay came and picked them all up and drove them to her house to read it off of her computer. Nena was indeed tickled and they decided they were all having so much fun that they loaded back up in the car and went to see The Devil Wears Prada.

  • In my shoes


    Every morning as I get dressed for the day, Caroline is right by my side taking in the whole thing. She goes in my closet and tries on my shoes, my shirts, carries my purses…anything she can get her hands on. When I put on my makeup she has to have some too. So I let her use my makeup brushes and we put on lots of clear lipgloss. If I have freshly painted toes, she wants polish on her toes too, “just like you Mama”.

    When I overhear her in her playroom, it’s like hearing a recording of myself as she talks to her baby dolls. I watch her tuck them in, kiss them, and say “Night night sweet girl, I love you so much. Go to sleep.”

    She got a doctor kit for her birthday and she loves for me to pretend to be sick. She’ll put her little hand on my forehead and say “Mama, do you have a fever?” And she’ll tend to me and pretend to cook me something and pour me a cup of tea.

    Right now she thinks I am the greatest. “Mama, you look beautiful”, “Mama, I want my hair to be shiny like yours”, “Mama, you’re my favorite mama”. It’s an overwhelming thought to think that I am the one who will show her, teach her and guide her along her journey to being a woman.

    It’s an incredible responsibility and one that I am completely ill equipped for in and of myself. I can be impatient, I tend to get stressed out, and I don’t always know when to keep my mouth shut. I am flawed…really flawed. So as I pray for wisdom as I guide my daughter through her life and all that will hold, I realize that the best thing I can do is look at my Heavenly Father and make as much effort to imitate Him as she does to imitate me.

    “Be imitators of God therefore,
    as dearly loved children
    and live a life of love,
    just as Christ loved us
    and gave Himself up for us
    as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
    Ephesians 5:1

  • Marriage requires commitment. Of course, so does insanity

    Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. So yes, pretty much all of my major life events are packed into a 2 week window during the hottest month of the year. Caroline’s original due date was August 15th, so I could have had them all in a 3 day time period, but in a true case of foreshadowing, Caroline had her own plans and showed up 2 weeks early.

    This last spring, P. and I were at a wedding and as we watched the bride and groom take to the dance floor P. got all sentimental and said “those fools have no idea what they’re getting into”. We agreed that when you first get married, you can’t even comprehend all the ups and downs you’ll go through together. New homes, new jobs, new babies, sickness and health, rich and poor…apparently they aren’t kidding around with those vows.

    As well as you think you know someone, there are still so many unknowns until you live with them day to day. From small things, like how they tear a paper towel in half and leave the other half for later, to big things like what kind of parent will they be or how will they handle hard times.

    I can say in all honesty that as I walked down the aisle towards P. nine years ago, I knew I loved him and I knew he was the man that God had for me, he was without question “the one”. But did I realize that someday I would watch him turn white while he hugged me in a doctor’s office when we found out we’d had a miscarriage or that he’d be right next to me (and see things I don’t even want to think about) as our daughter was born? Did I realize the extent of his integrity and character? Did I know that he would still make me laugh and that I’d still be glad to see him walk through the door nine years later? Did I know that he would be the best daddy a little girl could ask for?

    I didn’t know any of that to the extent that I know it now. I thank God for the blessing that is my husband. Of all the things that are good in my life, he is the best. And as “iron sharpens iron”, he makes me want to be better.

    Happy Anniversary P.

  • WFMW – How to turn your frown upside down otherwise known as best chocolate dessert ever


    Yesterday was a day full of frustrations for me. I woke up tired and not feeling good and then experienced a series of aggravating things that put me in a grumpy mood. None of these things were that important in the whole scheme of things, but when you’re excited about your new AT&T television service complete with TWO DVRS and then they show up and tell you the only way it will work is to run a huge black cable down the side of your house, you get a little frustrated. On top of that, I’ve encountered some issues with the preschool that Caroline is supposed to be attending and now am having to re-think, re-plan, and most importantly re-pray, but that’s a whole other post.

    So, for my first WFMW I will share the recipe for the Best Chocolate Dessert Ever which is guaranteed to make any bad day better for the chocolate lover in you. As a friend of mine said “When you walk in the gates of heaven, I bet you get a piece of this cake.”

    Turtle Cake
    1 Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Chocolate Cake mix
    14 oz. caramels (about 48)
    3/4 c. melted margarine
    1/2 c. Pet milk
    1 c. chocolate chips (I actually use the whole bag)
    optional: cup of pecans (I personally don’t like pecans messing up my chocolate, but it’s a personal preference)
    Mix cake as directed on box. Bake 1/2 of batter in a greased 9×13 pan at 325 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Melt caramels, margarine, and milk on the stove. Pour over cake. Sprinkle chocolate chips (and pecans if you want them) over the cake. Add remaining batter. Bake 20-25 minutes at 325. Serves 9-12. You can serve it with vanilla ice cream, but I personally prefer just pure chocolately, caramel goodness.

    I promise it will make you feel better, even if for just a little while.

  • Just call me Dr. Dobson

    Caroline has always been an early riser. I can’t tell you how many days we have been up and ‘at ’em before sunrise or as Caroline says when it’s “still darken outside”. Really, I blame her father. Sadly, he too is an early riser. It’s all about genetics.

    I heard Tina Fey on The Tonight Show the other night talking about her new baby and she said that the worst feeling in the world is being up for the day and realizing that The Today Show isn’t even on yet. I feel her pain.

    This summer Caroline has started going to bed a little later, so I hoped that would translate into a little sleep in time for Mom. You know, like maybe 7:00 a.m. But oh no, she is still up before the crack of dawn.

    So last night in a fit of parenting expertise and brilliance, I put an alarm clock in her room with huge digital numbers. I also took a sheet of paper, taped it to her lamp and wrote 7:00.

    I showed it to her and told her that in the morning when the clock looked like the piece of paper, she could call me and I would come get her. I was truly inspired by my own brilliance and I stayed up late last night just relishing the thought of sleeping in until 7:00 (that’s a sad commentary on my life).

    At 6:03 a.m. I hear “Mama, come get me, Mama, come get me”. I gave her a few minutes thinking that my plan might work, but finally realized she wasn’t giving up. I walked into her room and discovered the fatal flaw to my plan.

    When it’s still dark outside, you can’t see a sign above the clock in your room that says 7:00. Feel free to submit this idea to all the best parenting magazines.