Simply Stacy

The Great Thanksgiving Debate

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So here's the great Thanksgiving debate:

 sweet potates....

with marshmallows or pecan/brown sugar topping?

Me? I grew up on the brown sugar/pecan topping myself, so that's what I prefer.

What about you?

Have a great day and hopefully everyone will get a great big nap this afternoon!!

 

Welcome my newest reader...

It has been busy couple of nights at the VA.  Apparently no one notified the veterans that we would be short staffed this week due to the holiday.  I have been in the lab by myself and usually it's not a big deal but the past couple of nights have been really busy.  I didn't even sit down much less post or read blogs last night. Posting not such a big deal but something just doesn't feel right when I haven't read my nightly allotment of blogs. 

I've got a quick breather right now and thought that I would make an announcement that may shock some of you.  I have been blogging now for three years plus or minus a few months and this month for the FIRST time, my hubby read my blog.  He is so not the techno savvy person.  As a matter of fact he is quite the opposite.  He would rather never have to deal with a computer in any shape form or fashion.  Has no desire for an iPod.  Has a cell phone out of necessity and I wouldn't dare repeat the phrases uttered while learning to use/set up a new cell phone.  (just think about the furnace scene in A Christmas Story) 

It's not that he can't because he is smart because the man puts me to shame in some areas, like percentages.  You know when there's a sale and they put that handy little chart right there to tell you that 20% off of $10 would only cost you $8, well he is a walking chart of percentages.  Now if I could just get him to like shopping!  

He is just a man of little patience for electronic devices.  He actually referred to my laptop as the devil box, or something close to it, the other day.  So when I got a email from him the other night saying that he looked at my blog, I was shocked.  Not only did he open the devil box, he found my blog and still had a reserve of patience to log onto his email (which he just signed up for a few weeks ago) to send me a quick note saying that he had been here. 

Wow!  I am just glad that I didn't have to be there to hear the things he surly mumbled while he was dealing with the devil.  I am just glad that he did!  Welcome, Pat!  Glad you stopped by.

Gratitude

I have decided with this being Thanksgiving week, it would be a great time to assess my life and share some of thethings that make me grateful.  Not just the normal, broad subjects like family and home, but much more specific.  So hear goes.

I am thankful for...

Freedom to worship or not to worship how we chose.  Not only for the governmental freedom, that so many have fought to protect, but the freedom that my God gives each of us to choose to follow Him.  If He took that choice and made it mandatory to worship Him, it just would not hold the meaning that it does when it is my choice to follow Him.  He allows me the choice and I chose, daily, to walk with Him.  It is something that I feel called to do, and that calling comes from my wonderful Savior. 

Food that is readily available to us.  At times, I complain that we don't have anything to eat in the house, when realistically we could eat for weeks on the boxes, cans and bags in our pantry and freezer.  It may not be the most appetizing of meals, but starve, we would not.  We venture out for quick meals when there's no time and there is always store calling my hubby in to grab a Mt. Dew and a quick snack.  Then when there is more time, we go out for sit down meals around another's table and let them do all of the preparations, cooking and clean up.  I am so glad that I can say and I am almost certain that my husband can say that we have never truly been hungry.  I hope that we can share that wealth.

The total and unbridled love of my children.  Not to say that there aren't times that they look at me like they wish I would totally disappear from the face of this earth, usually following statements like "Go clean your room" or "It's homework time."  But there are also times that they will, each in their own unique way, communicate how much they love me.  Charlie is more direct by saying what he feels.  He says at least ten times a day, "Mama, I love you."  But just this weekend, he looked me right in the eyes and said, "You are the best Mama I could ever have."  That's the love that I am talking about.  Britt is much more subtle.  I catch him watching me when I didn't know he is looking and his smile when I see him so reminds me of Pat.  He is just admiring me for me, ignoring the fact that my hair is a mess, I still have on PJs and I have yet to sit down and play that game with them yet.  He is patiently waiting because deep down he knows that he owns my heart.  And I think that I have a pretty portion of his too.

That I get to pay back in a small way the great things that the veterans of this country have done for us.  When I walk the halls of this VA Hospital, I feel like bowing and thanking them for their sacrifices.  Because in one way or another, they all made sacrifices.  And the most amazing thing about it, most are too humble to accept praise for it. 

I hope to keep sharing these as the week continues.  The boys are out of school all week so I am sure there will be some stories to be shared as well. 

A useful waste of time....

I spend a considerable amount of time on the Internet.  On average, I spend around 3-4 hours, daily during the work week here.  That's more than I spend sleeping some days.  I love the whole idea of it, that there is a vast amount of information just waiting for you to access it when needed. 

Lately, I have been asked what I do on line for that long.  Here's the breakdown.

First, I check my email.  It is so exciting to see that little number, even more exciting if it is a big number, pop up beside the in box.  I can't hardly wait to click on it and see who wrote me.  And even though I get A LOT of junk emails and not as many but still a considerable amount of forwarded emails (most of them amusing), I do get personal emails.  Little letters from friends and family.  People say that letter writing is a dying form of communication, well it can go as long as I still get emails.  (and an occasional package in the mail)

Next, and I may be a bit embarrassed to admit this one.  Ma, don't leave it's not that bad.  I usually check Typepad for my stats on the blog.  Just fun for me to see how many people have checked in that day.  It even may brighten my day when that little green bar jumps up unusually high. 

Then I am off to read blogs.  I have a blogroll listed here but if I were to tell the honest to goodness truth, which is no where close to the I swear on my Mama's life truth.  Which now that I am a Mama better be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God complete with your right hand on the Bible.  That's how much we love our Mama's in the south, y'all.

I check about 50 blogs daily.  As time allows of course.  The blog concept is wonderful.  Share anything that you want, no editors, no publishers, just raw written words straight from the heart.  There are so many amazing amateur writers blogging their hearts out that I feel it is the least I can do to frequent 40 or 50 of them daily. 

Oh, and another thing, I have always had this thing with wanting to read other people's diaries/journals.  I would never do it without permission.  I swear on my Mama's life!  That would just be wrong.  But, my mother in law writes in a journal EVERY. DAY.  If any of us needs to remember when something happened, like when was it that Britt got those stitches in his leg?  Just ask her.  She is the Google of our lives.  Not that I EVER want anything to happen to her.  But if I happen to still be alive when it does, I am so reading those boxes of journals.  (Don't worry Ma, I will wait the appropriate mourning period of course)  

If I have time I may venture into the world of retail.  I love window/monitor shopping.  Especially this time of year.  I can get so many ideas and may actually do a little bit of ordering, but usually just shopping.

Another site that I frequent is Two Peas in a Bucket's NSBR (non-scrapbooking related) Message Board.  It is a message board made up 1000's of mostly women from all over the world.  They talk about anything and everything, are not afraid to give their opinions (sometimes unprompted) and are good to lend support in anyway they can.  I am always entertained and usually end up learning something.  These women are intelligent!  There is something to be said for the power of women.

I also frequent Google.  I believe that even if I end with Alzheimer's like Pat thinks I may (see At A Loss), I will be able to get by, by Googling whatever I forgot.  It can find anything! 

About three days a week I post on my blog.  If I post more often than that I find that I am just rambling.  In person you have to tolerate ramblings for fear of offending said rambler.  Here, not so much.   You are just one click away from the next, much less scattered, with a lot fewer run on sentences, more interesting blogs that....WAIT.  Don't click that I was just getting started.

Because I am mostly on line at work, I don't get to do Facebook, Youtube, etc unless I am home (government filters such sites, Uncle Sam doesn't approve).  Home only has dial up.  So, I only get on line when I have to do something that can't wait until work time.  But I do check Facebook occasionally.  I guess if we had high speed and I could cruise through it then I would find it much more useful.  However, it just seems like a waste of time which is fine at work, where I am bored and looking for something to do, but not at home where the to do list is exhausting. 

Something about Facebook reminds me of high school, maybe my friend list.  I have caught up with a large portion of friends from high school and that's pretty much were it ends.  Mary has requested to be your friend...check yes or no.  There may even be a note attached saying something along the line of, "Great to catch up with you again!"   From there it goes to sending each other Turkey Feathers for your virtual Thanksgiving Turkey.  Basically, what I am saying is it seems like a HUGE waste of time which is exactly what I would love to have while I sit here at work wishing for something to do from midnight until three. 

Uncle Sam, Stacy is requesting to be your friend on Facebook, please. 

That's it, my daily Internet grind.  

Now it is your turn.  Leave me a comment about your most visited site.  Don't be afraid, the comment button won't bite ;)  

Better than canned cheese...

The closer we get to the holidays the faster times seems to fly by.  I have so much going on that I have neglected to post about the happenings of last week and weekend.  I am going to slow down one day...yea one day.

So this past week I went with Britt and his CLUE class to the Renaissance festival.  It was a really cool experience for him.  He dressed as a knight, left over costume from Charlie last year - don't tell Britt.   As we were walking around, the people that participated in the festival, all dressed up themselves would stop and bow to him whenever they passed.  Most would say something along the lines of, "Good Day, Sir." 

At first this took my shy boy-knight aback.  He asked me why they were doing that and I explained that he was a knight and they were just showing respect.  He caught on quickly.  By the third or forth time that it happened, his little chest started puffing up a bit when he would see someone approach. 

The mom in me worried that someone would forget or just not do it and crush this little fantasy he had going.  But not one time the entire day did anyone pass him without acknowledging his knightdom.  By the afternoon, Britt was so into it that he would wait for the bow then he would just nod his head as if to say,"Well done my faithful follower." 

It was the coolest transformation I have ever seen in a child.  He is usually so shy and doesn't want to bring attention to himself for fear that he will be embarrassed.  But this time he was into the roll.  So into it that he wore that plastic chest plate all day long ignoring how uncomfortable it was just so he didn't miss one bow.  Heck, by the end of the day, I wished I had one too because I was getting a little jealous of all the attention.

We saw some really cool things like furniture being made by a hand, well leg powered, lathe.  He got, we bought - nothing is free anymore,  a medallion that was pressed right in front of him.  We watched a juggler that was really funny and actually quite good.  We also watched a Robin Hood play.  He got to shoot a bow and arrow. 

But the best of the day by far was the jousting. That's right real horses, real knights (real armor anyway), and really galloping at each other with huge lancets.  They even broke a couple of lancets on each other.  Then they got off the horse and fought with swords and shields.  It was pretty cool to me and I am a 37 year old mom.  Can you imagine how cool it was to a rough-housing, sword-fighting, gun-slinging 8 year old?  You guessed it.  Ranked right up there with canned cheese and whoopie cushions.  Especially when he got to meet the Knight afterward. 

I have a few more pictures but I decided to load them in an album on the side.  Enjoy.

Britt

During a discussion of who's your girlfriend with the boys, after watching a cartoon where a boy looked sweetly at a girl.

M: Who is your girlfriend, Britt?

B: {embarrased} Mom, I don't have one.

M: Is it .....insert any name I could think of here?

B: Moooommmmm

{Several more rounds of girls' names}

M: Well, who do you look at like that?

B: Flashes me those baby blues and says.....You.

Anyone know how to stop time?

At a loss...

Lately, I feel more at a loss than usual.  Stress is probably the biggest contributor.  And if anyone figures out how to get rid of that, well, they will be rich in living in a stress-free world!  And I will have me a huge bottle of whatever that remedy is!  Not likely though.

Now when I say at a loss I mean literally at a loss.  So far in the past five days I have lost:

iPod - kicked it out of the car while getting out.  Took awhile to find that one. Thanks Amanda!

Keys - several times

Sunglasses - gave up and started wearing the back up pair

Pen - at work about a million times in the past three days

Words - I was that person who calls you and then says, "Who is this?" once so far this week.

Checkbook - Found it under the seat in my car.  Perhaps I should close my purse before throwing it in the back floorboard.

Maybe my mind - I have a sneaking suspicion that it is still there, but may have decided to go on vacation without me.  I am patiently awaiting its return, hopefully well rested and rejuvenated!

Signs of the Times

Sometimes I look back in my life and wonder how things changed so quickly.  I feel like that right now.  Here are some of the highlights of our lives and some of the lessons learned within the past few months:

* Politics affect everyone.  When walking by the boys' room last week I heard Charlie say, "I'm Charlie White, and I approved this message."  Man am I glad the elections are over.

* I cut the boys' hair tonight and Britt didn't stand or sit in a chair.  He stood on the floor and was the perfect height. Also I was a little uncomfortable when I lovingly tried to prop my arm on his head while waiting in line the other day.  How did he get that tall?

* Boys could care less where their dirty socks end up.  They come in the door and strip off shoes and socks so fast that they resemble that tornado cloud that represents the Tasmanian Devil on Looney Toons.  In recent cleanings, I have found dirty socks in my flower arrangement, in the garbage, under, in and behind the sofa, in their closet, on the mantle, and most recently on the pantry floor.  GROSS!  (Note to Social Services: This was a one time incident. I swear!)

* Spelling certain words no longer works.  Both of my boys know how to spell certain words, but the one they pick up the quickest when orally spelled....LAZY. And while we are on language arts, I asked Charlie how the he liked Madagascar 2 after we left the theater.  His reply..."It was freakin' awesome." I shudder to think of what's to come.

* These two sweet boys who love each other dearly one second, cannot get within two yards of each other without fighting the next.  They have it down to an art form they fight so much these days.  It can also make you feel really stupid to say, "Did you hit him?  Then I am going to spank you."  Yeah that makes sense.

* You are never too old to make new friends! ;)

* You never know when you are entering the next phase of your children's lives until it happens.  I am relishing every public hug, snuggle on the sofa, and I love you mama from Britt because I feel the wind shifting a little.

More Halloween

I took a break in the Halloween recap to celebrate my anniversary.  I am sure no one minded.

So back to this past weekend before I have to say, back to the weekend before last.  That's when it is just over and you've missed it.  Too late to share.

I will lead in with a couple of pictures of the boys in their costumes.  Charlie is Optimus Prime and the pose he is striking there is all his own.  I simply asked him to stand in front of the hay bale and apparently he asked himself, WWOD.  (What would Optimus do?)

 

Britt went as a Motocross Racer, mainly because he wanted to wear his new helment.  And I think he struck the appropriate pose as well.  Because, anyone knows motocross guys are too cool to stand in front of the hay bale and let their mom take pictures of them.  They should be flying by on their bikes, right?   

   

After posing for Mom's lame photo session, they happily went to play in the hay and wait for the guests to arrive.  We had about thirteen kids coming for the neighborhood hayride.  They trick or treated at thirteen houses.  Pretty appropriate numbers for Halloween. 

Here's a picture of most of the crew.  We had a few that were too shy to jump in there and get a picture so soon after arriving.

It was perfect weather, not too cold but just cold enough to snuggle under a blanket on the long stretches. They had a great time and got tons of candy.  Country folks buy several bags of their favorite kinds of candy and then try to give what they haven't eaten in the two or three days to the handful of kids that come by.  That means tons of good candy!  One more plus for living in the country.

One more parting shot:

 

We have one more hayride, thankfully with no candy this weekend. It is always lots of fun and I can't wait because all I have to do is make a dip or something snacky, get the kids dressed and go have fun.  No work getting ready for this one.  I may not even bring my camera.  Now you know I will probably at least put it in the car just in case. ;)

Fourteen years ago today...

a small tornado came through McComb.  Why would I remember that?  Well, it happened to be on my wedding day. 

Many people have asked me over the years how Pat and I met. I have told the story dozens of times but I don't know that I have ever written about it in my many, many journals.  So here's the story.

I am not sure how we never met as children because we both grew up in McComb and if you have ever visited, it is just not that big a place.  We both have memories of crawling around under the clothes racks at the same stores, buying snowballs from the same stand and eating out at the same restaurants.  I bet when we get to heaven and view the story of our lives we will see some overlapping scenes.  It just has to be that we met somewhere and never knew it. 

 

We attended different schools and for that I am glad.  I have always said that if I knew him in high school I would never have married him.  He never attended a football game during his entire high school years.  Never, no not one!!!  What?  And he had a reputation of picking on the nerdy kids and while I didn’t hang out with that crowd, I wasn’t mean to them either.  As a matter of fact, I was known to always have a “smart” boy calling me because I showed him some attention or stood up for him.  BTW, that wasn’t meant to dis’ the nerdy kids.  I didn’t hang out with any crowd.  I had friends in almost every group in high school, including the smart group.

 

Anyway, we somehow managed to make it through those adolescent years without meeting.  I went off to college and he went to the local community college.  I did not do so well in my first stent in college and was home in two years.  More precisely, they asked me not to come back.  I am not sure but I feel it had something to do with having a 0.4 GPA that last semester.  He dropped out after one year to go to work doing what he knew he wanted to do…farming. 

I got a job in a factory and decided that college was looking better all of the time.  He was still doing what he loved.  I went back to school the community college and started hanging out with my dear friend Tammy.  I would go by and visit her at work and subsequently met Sandy, my now sister-in-law.  She and I hit it off right away.  She has a great sense of humor and we both love music.  We started hanging out more and more. 

One night we went down to the river to lie on the sand and watch a meteor shower, which was awesome might I add.  I had never met her brother but I had heard her talking about him. We were lying there watching the shooting stars and all of a sudden this tall thin version of Sandy comes walking across the river.  That was the first time I saw him.   He was, however, just Sandy’s little brother, the same one who came by almost everyday to check on her.  I worked evenings so somehow I had missed him. 

Eventually I was at Sandy’s house more than I was my own.  We decided that I was wasting money on rent and I should just move in with her.  I did.  Pat still came by and most of the time would sit in chair by the door for a few minutes and then he was off.  I thought it to be really sweet of him to come by and check on her. I noticed his visits growing longer and longer.  Then he started coming with us on our rides through the country.  Before we knew it, he was hanging out with us almost every night and he was a lot of fun. 

I am not sure when we realized what was actually happening but I believe that we both knew that there was more to it than friendship before we admitted it to each other.  There were signs like when I put the 100 roses in his house and tractor  (I got them for free because my step father managed the wholesale florist) and when he reciprocated by completely covering my car in black eyed Susans. 

 

One day he sent me flowers and asked me out on the card.  We went on that first date on November 6, 1993.  He took me to New Orleans and I think I changed clothes at least fifty times before he came to pick me up.  That is so not like me.  We ate in a little restaurant in the Quarter and then we went to Tower Records.  He bought me two CDs, The Cranberries and 10,000 Maniacs, still “our” music.  Then we walked on the Riverwalk until we got so cold that we huddled up in a window of the Aquarium of the Americas.  I had never felt so comfortable on a first date or maybe even any date in my life. I knew then that he was different.  I even felt comfortable enough that I fell asleep on the way home…something that I have been doing ever since.   I cannot ride for more than an hour without getting sleepy.

He sent me flowers every Friday and we went out every weekend.   Right from the start, our relationship was comfortable.  We would talk for hours and during those talks the world seemed to drift away.  I knew that he was the man I would marry.

 

On January 29, 1994 he proposed to me on a date.  We were actually just riding around listening to music after going out to eat.  There is not much to do in McComb.  He pulled over and looked me in the eye and said, “Do you want to marry me?”  He says I never said yes, and honestly I don’t know if I ever did.  But I did kiss him and that was more than a yes to me. 

 

We were married a year after our first date on November 5, 1994. 

 

I am not going to tell you that we have always been in marital bliss.  If I did you wouldn’t believe me, because I believe that is impossible.  However, we have always been together.  We have been through some tough spots but have always come out the other side closer for having gone through it.  

I love this man with all of his faults and he loves me despite mine.  We were made for each other and I thank God for sending him to me.  My world is a better place with him in it and I can’t imagine life without him. 

 

So, Happy Anniversary, Sweet Pat!  I love you, always.