Blogging Sabbatical...
I'm going to be off line for a week or so. I'm fine, personally. Mom's fine too! If you are one of my prayer warriors you may lift my family and God will know our needs. Thank you! :)
Rainy Days & Tuesdays...
... are always something to be thankful for.
Hope you're having a GREAT day!
I am!
Weekend Reflections
James, over at
Newton Area Photo,
hosts
Weekend Reflections.
It's not MUCH of a reflection...
... but it wasn't much space to work with!
It IS a reflection though!
:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Man! I MUST be feeling better today! I was up, had breakfast and coffee, and did my morning Bible studies and took a 2 mile walk -- all before 8:00!!! Whooo hooooo! (Dennis & Mom are still sleeping...) Now... what to do with the rest of my day.... Oh! I guess I could come visit some of YOU - huh?! I'm on my waaaaay!
Labels: Weekend Reflections
Flashback Friday...
Linda from Mocha With Linda hosts this meme. Come on and play!
This week Linda asks...
How old were you when you got your first (paying) job? Did you work during the school year? What stipulations, if any, did your parents put on spending, saving, etc.? What types of jobs did you have before you were, oh, 21 or 22? Did you go to college or a technical/trade school? If so, did you work while you were pursuing your post-high school education? What were your favorite -- and least favorite, if you wish to share! -- jobs? What did you learn from those early jobs?
Well... I spent most of my teenage years being a verrrrrrrry well paid babysitter! When other girls were making $2 - $2.50 an hour, MOST of my families were paying me $4-$5/hour! And I had 4 families that kept me booked up on Friday and Saturday nights for so long I might NEVER have dated had I not moved away the day after I graduated! Then I also had a "group" of families that paid me to watch ALL of their children together while they played golf on Saturday mornings ... through late afternoon. LOL! For that I was given $20/hour! Hey, I was 16-17 years old -- I hadn't learned how to NOT have patience yet! I loved kids and they loved me, and it was a winning situation for everyone involved! I had 8 kids between 1 and 7 years old and we had a blast! But for SOME reason... I'll never fathom why... in the Autumn of my 16th year, I decided I should get "a real job". This was CRAZY because there was NO WAY "a real job" was going to pay me what I was making babysitting! But I guess I figured I could do this during the week, after school (although I had an after school babysitting job too...) and make even more money! I dunno. But I got a job working at People's Drug Store - behind the soda fountain. I hated that job! I hated the woman who ran the soda fountain. I hated the man who managed the drug store. And I hated the people who ate there who were NEVER satisfied no matter how hard you tried to please them! BUT... I was not a quitter! For sOMe reason (probably peer pressure!) I wanted a REAL job! I vividly remember that I had to give up SOME of my babysitting jobs to satisfy their work schedule -- and I sure didn't like that! THEY were only paying me minimum wage which was $1.60 at the time! AND taking taxes out of it! BUT... I was NOT a quitter! Soooooooooo needless to say... I was absolutely THRILLED when they put me on the schedule to work THANKSGIVING DAY! I knew... there was NO WAY this side of Heaven, that my mother was going to allow me to go to work on Thanksgiving Day! LOL! I told the woman I couldn't do it. She said "You'll do it." I told the manager "I can't do it." He said "You better." And so the day after Thanksgiving I went into work, and they said "You're Fired." And that was the END of my first "real job". I went back to babysitting... making the big money!Now, the sad part about all this is, that when I graduated from high school 2 years later and moved out of my mother's house the next day -- and moved several states away -- I got my first REAL real job. The kind where you are dependent on it to pay the bills! By then the minimum wage had been raised to $2.10/hour and I was VERY fortunate fresh out of high school and NOT attending college to land a job paying a WHOPPING $3.25!!! I was a telecommunications clerk. That turned out to be a fancy schmancy name for mail clerk/telex operator! I LOVED that job! It was a great job! I got a little apartment - my rent was $450/month! You do the math! Overtime wasn't an option. My little apartment lasted about 4 months before I was starving and looking for a roommate! Boy, I wished I could go back to babysitting for a living! It doesn't work like that ... then it's called Day Care! Ya need a license and ya gotta pay taxes... it was a learning time of life... that's for sure!
I had to LOVE this...
It just made me SMILE!
And it's not a fluke!
God actually PLANNED it!
Yea... I believe there's a purpose for everything...
even if it's JUST to make me smile.
A New Baby In The Neighborhood...
Yep! We have a new baby!
A little boy...
He likes to stay very near his Mama...
VERY near...
I'm pretty sure she's already tired of having him under-hoof!
Occasionally he gets too tired to keep up though...
And I can finally get a shot of him by himself!
Black horses, like black dogs, are very HARD to get good photographs of!
He's fun to have around though... we enjoy watching his progress!
A Mother's Day,,, of sorts!
Ohhhhhhhhhh PEOPLE! Life is taking a turn! This has been ONE of the busiest weeks of my life... with THE busiest week yet to come... and Mom is losing ground again. She has sloooooowed almost to a halt. Getting her across a parking lot has become an all day affair. Yesterday I was serving Mother's Day Brunch to the Preschooler's and their Mom's at church, and fortunately I always allow myself PLENTY of time - but Mom was moving ever so slowly - I really wanted to take her hand and DRAG her but I didn't! I turned around though and said
"c'mon Mom... pick it up - just a LITTLE..." and she said,
"well, these dogs keep runnin' in and out of my legs!" People, there weren't ANY dogs in the neighborhood! There weren't even any crickets or grasshoppers! I'm not sure - there MIGHT have been some ants! Oy VEY!
We are also having bladder issues. Or pants issues. We're not sure WHAT is causing it - sometimes her pants are wet - and sOmetimes her bed is wet - but MANY times everything is DRY - but virtually EVERY morning we have a naked from the waist down Mom wandering the house! This is a scary sight to wake up too, let me tell you! It takes you out of that sleep stupor post haste! I wish it took her out of HER stupor! I don't know WHY I bother to ask her why her pants are off... but excuses can be anything from
"he was holding me down and wouldn't let me get up!" to
"well, I thought the others were comin' along behind me..." to
"because I couldn't find that cup." ??? "Which cup Mom?"
"THAT one right THERE!" *points to cup* Oh... well... it's right there! Put your pants on!
This morning she is sO out of it that when I asked her why her pants were off (and laying over the kitchen trashcan, by the way) she did not even recognize that I was speaking to her. Her head did not turn in my direction, and she just continued to gaze off into space. I moved myself so I was right smack in front of her and spoke again. She looked up at me but no lights were coming on. I had to literally YELL her name to get her attention! And not Mom -- I had to say LOUISE! However, once I had her attention, it only took us an hour to get pants, shirt, and shoes on her. And a little while ago she told Dennis and I that "those sure are some pretty flowers coming up out there on the plantation." She was pointing to the "deck", of course! I was IMPRESSED she thought up plantation though! That's a BIG word for her!
Sooooooo... WE are celebrating Mother's Day here TODAY! The kids are coming over this afternoon and Dennis is picking up a bushel of crabs, and we are just going to relax and eat and talk and laugh... We're doing it today because Mathew has to work tomorrow and on Saturday Amanda won't be in a hurry to leave to get Luz home for bed for school the next day.
So, this is the last day of my immediate business! After church tomorrow I will have time to come visit EVERYBODY and get all caught up with y'all! I think! (things pop up out of nowhere these days..... I think I have a certain block of time to get "this" done, and all of a sudden whoooops it's gone! and I'm rearranging my schedule again...) But I AM coming around now to see some of you - right now!
Stuff... just stuff...
This is going to be a CRAZY week for me! I have church or Bible study stuff going on EVERY single day annnnnnnnd I have to prepare to begin teaching my adult Sunday School class this week ... AND we are celebrating Mother's Day on Saturday instead of Sunday... and I just have a LOT to do! So I don't know how much I'm going to be around... just lettin' ya know. I'll pop into YOUR stuff as I can... it's probably more MY blog that's going to suffer... *shrug*... that's the way it goes sometimes!
Had a GREAT Sunday this week! We had a baby shower for BirthRight at church yesterday inbetween the services, and I served at the reception. TONS of stuff was collected and delivered to BirthRight yesterday afternoon! AWESOME! Then music and sermon was outstanding yesterday! And then I spent the afternoon with Amanda & Luz - we had a picnic at Quiet Waters and then walked one of the trails and then played at the playground. Amanda and I had some really good "quality" time together... and I stayed and had dinner with them. I stuck to my diet and got some exercise and LIFE WAS GOOD! Got to see Mathew long enough to give him a hug, and then scoot home!
Now I gotta run! I'll be around later! :o)
Weekend Reflection...
Labels: Weekend Reflections
I have these.
And I have these.
I have black or brown all purpose shoes.
These work kinda nicely!
And THESE babies are ALL about comfort while walking!
... but it wasn't much space to work with!
Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday Fave Five in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Thank you Susanne for hosting this inspirational sharing game!
Help HER make Mother's Day gifts!
The whole family together. 
My FIRST radish! It was good - but kinda skinny! 
And even though he's not hers... not ours... 
Play this!
God actually PLANNED it!
Yep! We have a new baby!
He likes to stay very near his Mama...
VERY near...
Occasionally he gets too tired to keep up though...
And I can finally get a shot of him by himself!
One of the tulips Mathew brought me for Mother's Day -
By Your mercy we come to Your table
