Birthday Dinner

My sweet friend, Cheryl, called the other night and wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday. Stephen works at Gaucho's Grill and although it is expensive, it is a REAL TREAT to go there. That's really where I wanted to go, but didn't want to impose an expensive dinner on my friend. Well, Stephen came by Friday afternoon to bring be a Cold Stone Creamery Cake...YYYYUUUUUUUMMMM! and he told me to let him know if we were going to go to Gauchos...we did go and it was GREAT! Stephen was our waiter (of course) and "bought" my dinner, so it worked out great. As a special surprise, he brought out a chocolate creme brulee ...look at the picture...it speaks for itself. I got to spend my birthday with my sweet son and my good friend..what more could you want???? I also got to hear 4 little sweet voices on the other end of the phone singing, "happy birthday to Nammy"...as Master Card says, "Priceless!"
My birthday is not over yet, though. My best friend, Lu, is coming over this morning and we are going to the garden show and then to lunch..we're even throwing in a couple of flea markets afterwards....sooooo it's going to be a really FUN day!
I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
r

{

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tomorrow, February 27th is my birthday...I will be 57, oh, my! I really don't feel any different than I did when I was 37, except for a few more aches and pains occasionally. I will spend the day at work, then get some dinner and relax. It's Friday..love that day for a birthday!
My favorite birthday party was when I turned 5 years old. My birthday party was held at home with a Marrionette Puppet show that was brought to the house for all my friends. I have a picture of my birthday cake and all my friends. It's sooo cute! Birthdays at my house growing up were never THAT big of a deal. i remember making the chocolate cake (my favorite) and everyone singing "Happy Birthday"..I felt that it was MY special day and with 5 kids in the family, "special" days were few and far between.
My mother ALWAYS says the same thing to me every year on my birthday. "You were such a beautiful baby." I was born after 3:00 in the afternoon weighing in at a smooth 9lbs. 8oz. There were no pictures taken, so I have no idea what I looked like, but according to mom, I had lots of very dark hair.
Well, Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!

No Regrets, Just Wishes

Every day in my reading classes, the kids come in and write in their journal. Each day I put a topic on the board that they write a little something about. Today I wrote on the board, "Sometimes I dream about...." I was thinking about what I used to dream about when I was a kid and vividly remember a few.....I was about 10 years old when my mother signed me up for piano lessons. I really like the lessons and was practicing every day like my teacher told me to. Soon I was able to play a few songs and was really beginning to let music "take me away" like Calgon is supposed to do! I an a house with 7 people, the piano seemed to take me away from all the "family" noise and let me explore songs that I just made up. I'm sure they were terrible, but to me they sounded beautiful! Summer came and off to Camp I went (I was gone for 2 weeks). Well, I am sorry to say that when I returned from camp, my mother had sold the piano because the dining room was being redecorated and the piano didn't fit the "decor." I was sooooo mad! I still wish I could take piano lessons and learn to play...but, not going to happen.
Next dream.....age 12, swimmer on the local YMCA team. I was dedicated! Up and gone to practice by 6:00 am every morning. I rode my bike to get there! It wasn't just around the corner either...probably about 3-4 miles. That was a stellar summer for me...I won "best swimmer" award for the entire team because I had accummulated more points than anyone. I also placed 4th in the Jr. Olympics in Ft. Worth. I dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion. At each of the swim meets, the first three place winners would step up on the platform and receive their medals...just like in the Olympics. I would often imagine that the stands were full of cheering crowds and they were playing the national anthem! Unfortunately, my dreams of continuing my swimming career were cut short because "girls weren't supposed to be muscular" so I had to quit the team.
No regrets, just wishes.....

Note to Self

Self, next year when I go to the rv show, "TAKE THE FOLLOWING MONDAY OFF!" We were soooo inspired by the beautiful new rvs, that we had illusions of turning our 50 year old camper into a modern, high tech machine! There were a few repairs that needed to be done first..like fixing the big bed which needed more support and we needed to vent the air conditioner better. We completely emptied the camper and went to work! Saws were buzzing and drills were humming and after 6 hours, we had completed those two jobs. We also stripped off the already peeling veneer, repositioned the refrigerator, and re-installed the frig. We went to Hobby Lobby and found new material for curtains....it is soooo cute! This weekend we will begin putting a "faux" finish on the walls. Cheryl has a car CD/radio player that came out of her trail blazer and we will install it in the camper. Camper speakers are both interior and exterior speakers...Stephen said he could help install it...We are turning "Sue E. Pig" into a beautiful "new' camper! One day (not any time soon) we will buy a 15-19 inch flat screen TV and install it on the wall. Our girl is looking "mighty fine" these days. She loves her new look! Promise to take a picture this weekend!..

'GO RVING!'

YIPEEEEEEEE! The weekend is here and it's RV show weekend! My friend Cheryl and I jointly own a 1963 'canned ham' camper. This weekend we are going to the RV show at the statehouse convention center. We recently took "Sue E. Pig" (the camper's name) into Fred and Jack's trailer sales and had some work done on her. Sue E was leaking somewhere and we had that fixed. They also put in the 12volt wattage we needed to run the lights off of a battery...a new outside light, fix some dent's she had in her, and a new overhead light inside... She really likes her new fixed up look .....this weekend maybe we will find a few goodies to add to her interior. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait...allllll thoooooseee neeewwww RVS! Makes my mouth water! Will post a picture of her this weekend...she needs a bath and the weather will be just right for that...Oh, she also got new tail lights. Marvin (the REDNECK previous owner) had rigged up some new lights, but the wires were showing. She didn't look very pretty from the back...Now she has all new lights and it's b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! We are thinking of putting some new curtains in her...maybe go to walmart shopping for new curtain material...who knows! We'll get plenty of ideas at the RV SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're thinking of taking her out soon...in a few weeks.

Never Say "Never"

In May of 2009, my sweet son will graduate from college. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. The odds were always against him.....albeit, he did make some rather dumb choices at times. He was born premature, 2 months. Throughout his toddler years, we would be in the hospital about every three months for a week or so because of lung infections, 3 surgeries for tubes in his ears, and then the worst news of all...............

at age 3 years, 10 mos. and 15 days old, he was diagnosed with a "massive brain tumor in the right hemisphere" of his brain. Those were the neurologist's words...I didn't hear anything he said after that phrase.....surgery lasted 7 and 1/2 hours. Complications arose and her underwent painful spinal taps, migraines, and ultimately another brain surgery. That was followed by eye surgery and then diagnosed with a total hearing loss in the left ear. All before he went to kindergarten. When he boarded the school bus that morning, I cried.....not because he was old enough to GO to kindergarten, but because he was ALIVE to go to kindergarten. Then the real work began...grinding out school ...

Unable to write his name until 1st grade, hearing issues, reading issues...putting out one "fire" after another until............

Then, March 5, 1994. He was accidentally shot with a .22 caliber pistol....shot in the face at point blank range...the bullet hit his mouth, through the back of his throat, and landed in his spinal cord in the neck.

.ICU on a ventilator...didn't know if he'd make it...but by the grace of God....

Slowly he recovered ,with deep physical as well as emotional scars.


one day at at time...

then.............

.the day he graduated from high school finally came. As I was about to take his picture with his graduation gown on, I peered through the camera lens and starred with amazement .....a pause, then he recognized it too....we had MADE IT TO THIS DAY......instead of taking the picture, we hugged and cried together.....no words exchanged, we just knew


Soon,

in May of 2009.........

will be another hurdle crossed....graduation from college.

Thank you Lord for keeping him here with me and being our rock of support throughout the darkest days of my life.

Stephen, I love you very much..... I am VERY PROUD OF YOU.....