What the Heck Did We Do This Weekend?

OK, I'll admit it...I miss blogging just a little.  I do not miss the daily deadline, and I do not miss the pressure of my self imposed 8:00 am deadline, but I do feel like I am forgetting to do something every day.  So anyway, here is my idea.  I have an awesome camera...I take a lot of pictures...Some of the pictures I upload to Kodak, and some I just save to the mysterious files of my c: drive.  So my thought is this...I will try to post some of my more interesting shots with a little background of how they fit in.  I will try and we'll see how it goes.  So, back to the pic above...does anyone have a guess?

This past weekend, my four boys and I took a little road trip.  The trip involved loading up Big Daddy (aka our big @#! diesel truck) and hitting the open road North.  The boys were so excited and so was I.  Our fearless leader (aka Daddy-O) has been spending a lot of time here, getting things ship shape for hunting season and all of his hard work has certainly paid off.  Clean, fresh air.  Beautiful trees.  A wonderful relaxing location that I know we will all enjoy on many, many weekends.

But back to the picture above.  It goes right along with this picture.

Turns out when you get property ready for hunting season, you have to know how to use a chain saw, and a tractor.  Speaking of tractors, you really hope that you don't end up like this

But, if you are a true mountain man, like my hubby, you know how to fix this problem!

I love my home town, but I know that I will love that this new home away from home is such a short drive away.  I got to relax on a porch with a tin roof ( no rain, but maybe next trip).  I got to do some hiking where I got to see an armadillo and a deer but not a snake. (Thank goodness).  I also got to see my boys have a wonderful weekend without an electronic toy in sight.  Hopefully the first of many...I can't wait to get back!

Thanks Everyone!!!!

I just wanted to take the chance while everyone may still be checking my blog to tell everyone thank you for helping to make my 40th birthday so great!  From all the texts, emails, and phone calls to the wonderfully sentimental and hilarious cards...not to mention the extremely thoughtful gifts.  I had a great day and it was all because of so many of you.

Thank you to my husband who brought tears to my eyes when I arrived at work to find this

Thank you to my office who brought a smile to my face when I got to work and found this

and this

Thanks also for the yummy cake that I will be continuing to eat all week.

Thanks to all my friends in town who took me to lunch and all my friends who couldn't make it, but sent their best wishes!

Thanks to my family who continued the celebration with a yummy dinner, another yummy dessert (homemade by MiMi and Blake), and lot of smiles and good wishes!

And finally, thanks to my three boys who make me proud to be a momma.  Blake who made my coffee this morning and was so sweet to come to lunch with his mom and her friends.  Zack who couldn't wait to bring me my present and who was on his very best behavior for homework time today.  Seth who gave me more than his fair share of hugs and let me hold him tight and promised me that it was not the last time.  I love you guys!

Many of you have asked me if I will continue to blog and my answer today is ummmmmm, NO.  But, I will admit that it has been fun, and I do have a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head for continuing.  But...not today...not everyday...and no deadlines!  We'll see.....................  Thanks for reading!

#365 - Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!

Well, I did it!  I blogged every single day for the last 365 days.  While visiting with a friend this week I told him, "One good thing about having a blogging deadline every single day for the last year...I am ready to turn 40!"  All kidding aside, what a wonderful experience.  I thank my sister for suggesting it to me because in a weird way, it has been my therapy for the last year.  I have been going back and forth between two ways to close out my blog.  One is more serious and heartfelt, and one is funny and sentimental.  I cannot decide which one says it best.  So...I will tell you both of my thoughts.  I love to read and surprise, surprise, both of these thoughts come from books.  Bear with me, the post is long, but for those of you who stuck with me for the last 365 days, I figure you can do so for two more stories.

A couple of years ago I bought a really cute coffee table book called, "I'm not too busy" by jodi hills.  I picked it up thinking that the title was great.  I put in on my coffee table where it has sat for the past three years and not once did I find the time to pick it up and read it.  Pretty funny right?  A few months ago, I was cleaning up some magazines and I found it...dusted it off...and read it.  It make me think, and think, and think some more.  It pretty much put into words what I have so often felt while writing about all of the 365 people that made my blog.  So many friends and so many good times.  These are the things that I cherish.  I sometimes get bogged down with errands, projects, homework, carpool...you name it.  These things are necessary, but they should never take the place of the things that matter.  I would like to share the words of the book with you.

I'm not too busy

by

jodi hills

(totally not my idea to not capitalize, but I figured if I'm going to plagiarize, I better do it exactly)

When we move so fast, we miss so much.

Sometimes, when you're not looking, hours go by.

     - I could have gone for coffee with the same friends I've cancelled on three previous times, but instead wen to the post office early, so I could avoid the traffic and maybe beat the lines, and still got held up behind the accident in front of me.

Sometimes, when you're not looking, days go by.

     - I encourage my microwave to hurry, as I'm checking my e-mail, and talking on my cell phone to my friend who's in her car, rushing to her next meeting, and we're both worried that time is actually speeding up, but we can't get together because...we're...just...too...busy...

Sometimes, when you're not looking, weeks go by.

     -  Calenders get filled, and we have meetings to set the next meeting, and lives are penciled in, easily erased by the next big event.

     -  Birthdays are belated.  Children become adults and grandparents' memories are forgotten.

     -  Holidays are celebrated before and after the actual date, because they just don't fit into our schedules.

     -  Hearts and families are replaced with "we'd really love to stay but" and "hate to eat and run, but" and "I'd love to, but... I'm just too busy."

Sometimes, when you're not looking, years go by.

     -  We have to choose to slow down, to actually see the time and space we're in...  to truly see people and accept them in their priceless moments.

Time isn't speeding up, we are.

     -  We have this urgency, not just to get places, but to get their first...even if it's just ahead of the slow, red car in front that's holding up all the traffic.

     -  There's so much pressure to pick the right line at the bank, or the grocery store, and how dare they have 11 items in the express line, when you are nearing the 14th minute of your 15 minute parking space.

Lines get longer and tempers get shorter and the only thing getting closer is the end of our rope.

     -  We even shorten our words, like thanx, and luv, as if shortening the word, allows us to invest less energy, interest, and time. (That one is for you Genvieve).  I'm not sure how much time we gain by writing two less letters...I'm certain someone has done the mat, created a study, and is now fighting with someone else to prove or disprove the figures...  But I am sure of what is lost, by not taking the time, to   say   the   words   slowly, to write them out fully, and to mean them with all that we are.

I need to stop and see things...too many years have gone by.

     -  To pay attention, to notice people, to care, to have relationships, to see the present, to enjoy the given time as a gift that is given - that changes everything, and slowly I begin to see...

     -  the smiling face that gets a thank you card, the hand that waves as you let me merge into your lane, the person alone on the bench, the heart that feels joy, the mind that seeks peace, the fronts that belong to the backs in the line.

     -  The tears, the anger, the frustration, the glee, the anticipation.

We all want to be seen...we all need to be acknowledged for that moment in time...

     -  that moment in time when you want to share your happy news, or feel the warmth of an unassuming hug, to let out the tears of a skinned knee, to unload the frustration of hurt feelings, or to rest your heart in unjudging hands, to look into someone else's face and know it's more than ok to be you...

We're all asking for a few precious moments, and looking for someone to say, "I'm not too busy."

With all my limitations, knowing that I cannot reverse time, save time, hurry it along, or slow it down...I simply and humbly offer you (and by you, I mean all of you that have read or are a part of my blog) a bit of my time, which is really just a part of me.

If ever, whenever you need me, know, please know that no matter how it appears, I'm not too busy.

 the end

Whew!  Lots of typing, but it really hits home with me and although I can type for days...I couldn't have said it better myself.  OK, for those of you who are still with me...the last thing that I want to say.  I have had many people ask me about my thoughts on turning forty.  "Are you excited?"  "Are you depressed?"  At different points in the last year, I had different answers.  But as I sit here typing with only about 1 1/2 hours before 9/29/10, I can't help but compare turning forty to one of my (many) favorite childhood stories, which was bought and read to me I'm sure first by my mom and then a million more times by my dad in his very best Grover from Sesame Street voice.  The book is called "The Monster at the End of this Book."  For those of you who have never read it, you can click here to hear it in it's entirety.  In a nutshell, it is all about our favorite furry old pal Grover who has heard that there is a monster at the end of the book.  He tries everything to get the reader not to turn the pages so that they will never get to the end of the book.  He nails the pages together, he glues the pages together, and he even erects a brick wall so that the pages cannot be turned.  He stops to tell us frequently, "Did you know that every time you turn another page...you get closer and closer to the end of the this book!  AND THERE IS A MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK!!!!!!!"  And so on and so forth until eventually...you get to the end of the book and guess what?  The monster at the end of the book that Grover is so worried about????  It is him!  He is not scary...he feels so silly...he is the monster.  There was nothing to be scared of all along.

I think the same can be said for turning forty.  I could try to stop it from coming.  I can Bo-tox and laser peel and run and diet and meditate and pray...but forty was always coming and now it is here.  And guess what?  When I look in the mirror tomorrow morning, I will see that I had nothing to worry about. 

It is just me...simple as that!





#364 - DSB

(Author's note - For all of you who are really, really counting down with me, you may note a slight # change.  I am getting a year older, but I know that there are 365 days in one year.  Looking back, I did #272 twice, so I had to fix the numbers today)

#364 is a friend that wasn't always a friend.  Not because we didn't get along when we were younger, but because she is so old!  she is a little older and much more mature than me.  I'm trying to remember when we really became friends and I just don't really know.  I remember going over for home cooked meals at her house in N.O. when I lived with her sister...  Then when we both got married we did couple things together...  Then our first-borns are only four months apart...  Then they moved back to Houma and fast forward ten years or so and here we are. 

I may not remember when we became friends, but I know why we are friends now.  It basically boils down to this...we like the same stuff and we move at the same pace.  Over the years, it makes me laugh because our tastes are so similar.  I will buy something that I like (for example a new set of dishes) and then I'll see the same set in her kitchen.  She actually lives in the house that I really, really, really wanted to buy when Jeff and I were first trying to move out of our apartment (100 years ago).  We looked at it, but it was out of our price range at the time.  We both love to take trips, especially the kind that involve tennis or shopping, and we usually manage at least one per year.  Oh wait...it is coming back to me now.  I think we first bonded on a now defunct annual shopping trip to Mistletoe Marketplace in Jackson.  For those of you who have never attended, it is a great holiday gift show.  (Speaking of #364, it may be time for a return visit...)  We both were invited to go on this shopping weekend and we were roomies. 

Since then, we have managed to shop (and hit every TJ Maxx) til we drop from Houston to Florida and from New York to Miami.  We are both the kind of shoppers that can go into a store, take a quick scan of the merchandise, and determine the length of time we will need to stay in the store.  Since our tastes are so similar, I don't have to wait outside or browse and make friends with the storekeepers while #364 looks at something totally uninteresting to me...and vice versa.  Walk in...look around...select your items...try on if necessary...check out.  It really is a skill that we have perfected over time.  Some of you (especially my male readers) probably have no idea what I am talking about but there you go...

If we limit our trips to shopping only, both of us would be broke.  There have been times that we have had to leave packages in certain people's garages and get them on our next trip because all of our purchases would not fit in the car on the return flight.  Although I will say that we do hold the record for the most stuff in the least amount of time piled in the back of my sub.  But because we don't like to be totally broke..., we always try to factor in other activities besides just shopping.  For example, we have seen a ton of tennis.  It all started with Mattress Mack in Houston for the Clay Court Championships, then the end of the season Masters Tourney, and most recently a few years ago the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.  We also made a trip up to the Big Apple to see the U.S. Open.  Quite an adventure taking the train to Flushing Meadows and trying to fit in touring the city while trying to catch some tennis.  #364 was actually with Jeff and I in NYC two days before the September 11th bombing.  We all flew out of Newark, NJ where one of the planes with the terrorists took off from.  When we got our pictures developed (back in the days of film) we had photos of the twin towers in the skyline.  A little to close for comfort for me!

While at these tournaments, we like to stalk the players, take paparazzi pictures, and still fit in some shopping in the tennis shops.  Speaking of paparazzi... I have #364 to thank for introducing me to my really cool camera and stalker lens.  She brought hers to the Miami tournament and I came back asking my hubby for the same for my Mother's Day gift.  On a trip years before I taught her all about ipods which she had to have once we returned home.  I like to think I keep her hip but... lol, I can't even type that with a straight face. :)

But shopping interests only does not this friendship make.  She always answers my crazy legal questions and in turn I promise to rehab her knee when she finally finishes blowing it out (see pictures below for full story).  I can always count on her to use all the legal words that she knows to write me a scary lawyer letter when I can't find the words to be mean enough myself.

Just a few weekends ago we had the chance to catch up on a fun tennis girls trip to Portofino in Pensacola.  Again for those of you who have not been there, it is really really nice...and not so crowed in September.

But the real reason that I am friends with #364 is that every year on my birthday, she makes me feel soooooooo good.  Without even really trying.  "How?" you may ask.  Is it because she gives me really cool gifts like a turquoise bag or a turquoise umbrella?  (her favorite color...not mine)  Nope, that's not the reason.  Is it because she always remembers to send me a really cool e-card?  Nope, that's not it either.  Can't guess?  OK I'll tell you.  It's because my birth day is her birth day too and no matter how old I am...she is ALWAYS OLDER!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks #364 for being older than me :) and for being such a great friend...And in the spirit of all my great friends...pictures please!

This first picture was taken at my wedding reception.  Nice white shoes and stockings...

This next batch was so funny that I couldn't just pick one. 

Please note the high tech brace (made of cardboard) and the awesome stretcher. 

Nothing but the best when you decide to take a double black diamond down!

Good times!

Totally tennis!  Sometimes we even manage to get on the courts ourselves!

Thanks #364 for all the fun times, great trips, and good advice.  I know there will be plenty more of both,

and

Happy Birthday!!!!!

You don't look a day over 30 sha!

#363 - Prayer Request

I cannot even make my mind focus right now with the terrible news that our little town heard today.  Four lives taken away, so quickly, so unexpectedly.  I did not know any of these children personally, but that does not matter.  When it comes to tragedy such as this, we are reminded that our town is still a little town at heart and when one of us is hurt...we all hurt.

Just yesterday I was praising VC and how they have managed to keep up with the times and still teach strong values.  In the weeks and months ahead, they will have the challenge of guiding their students through the grief process.  A daunting task for all.

Within hours of the news, I received notification from the school via email, text, and voice message that a special mass will be offered tomorrow morning for the entire school and all family and friends are welcome.  Counselors will be present for all who need to talk.

There are several people I know personally who have lost children unexpectedly.  I cannot even begin to imagine their sorrow.  This blog post prayer is for the ones that I know, the parents and families of the four children who lost their lives last night, and for all parents out there who have ever had to live through this tragedy.  This is the prayer that was emailed to me by the VC Mother's Club.  Please pray it now.

Heavenly Father,
You sacrificed your son so that we and our children would transcend physical death. We know that you grieved when he was crucified. You know and understand grief as you know and understand all. You know best how to comfort all those who mourn these precious children. Lift our hearts up to you and fill us all with your peace. Your understanding is beyond our human comprehension, but give us the knowledge and faith to endure even that which we cannot understand. Let us be aware of you always, Father, and help us to remember that your love is Life that can never really be taken away.

We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

#361 - DK

I am a VC alumni.  When I went to school there, I went from the Bluejays and a class of 15 kids to the Terrier 8th grade class of 110.  I thought it was huge.  Fast forward 25 years and my oldest started 8th grade in a class of 217 kids.  VC has more than doubled in size since I was there and I was a little curious about how the school, staff, and facility responded to the growth.  I will say for the record that I have been pleasantly surprised.  Both years that I have attended orientation I have come away impressed with the professional front presented as well as a feeling of pride in my alma mater.  In the forefront is #361.  When I was a student, he was a teacher.  Now that I am a parent, he is the president of the school.  He makes it a point to stop and talk to many parents and always asks about all of my kids personally.  When Blake was in 7th grade, he called me to ask if Blake would like complimentary tickets to the VC play.  He had heard that Blake had done some some theatre and he just thought that he may enjoy coming to watch the high school production.  Totally unanticipated...great PR.

I'm sure as the years go by, I'll have my issues.  I don't think there is a school that doesn't have them.  But for now, I stand impressed that our little town has a school strong in pride, stressing education and higher learning, and turning out well rounded young men and women.  I'm glad that they have stepped up to the plate and grown and changed with the times.

#360 - LR

Now, LR, you didn't think I was going to leave you out, did you?

You know how there are some people you can travel with and some that you can't?  I have been on some disastourous trips where I wasn't sure if I (or my co-vacationers) would make it back in one piece.  Just one of these trips makes you appreciate the easy ones.  The ones where everyone can go and do their own thing.  Where no one is getting upset if the groups doesn't stay together.  Where there is no fighting or backstabbing.  Where everyone laughs and has a great time and you don't want to come home.

I have been on a couple of trips with #360 and I will say, she makes the cut.  From Florida to Vegas...lots of laughs and lots of fun.

Thanks #360 for making me train for last year's 1/2 marathon because it was totally worth it.  I will even go as far as to say thanks for making me get up and do my long runs in the morning because I was so glad to get them over with.  Thanks for sticking with me during said long runs and calming me down when the big dogs came running straight at us barking.  If you were not there saying, "Hey puppy, look at what a pretty dog you are," I would have been on top of the nearest mailbox and using my cell phone to call for rescue.  Thanks for making me stay up until midnight to go see Prince at Hooter Casino after getting up at 5:00 AM to run 13.1 miles.  Even with my feet killing me, that show was definitely worth seeing.

Then there was a recent relaxing trip to the beach.  Tennis...happy drinks...beach...happy drinks...an interesting trip to the ATM...shopping...repeat.  Lots of laughs and lots of fun.  Then on the way home we started to plan the next adventure.  Hiking the Grand Canyon????  Canoing in the swamp????  Running in Austin????  Stay tuned...

The Vegas Crew at the Wynn

Making the Guniess Book of World Records

In our awesome suite at PH

Race done...about the hit the town!