Sixteen Candles

On this day, sixteen years ago, my sweet, darling, little girl was born. At almost 5'11 she's not so little anymore and, at times, like most teens, she can be less than darling - but she's mine and I love her. Besides, the statute of limitations has run out on being able to return her.

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Renny!

Day One.

10 months old. We're thinking she's never going to have any hair.

Almost 4. And, thankfully, no longer bald. If you look closely enough toward the back of her right cheek (on your left) you will see her birthmark, what Ren called her "beauty mark", which was removed over the course of 3 surgeries from ages 4-6.

Jazz - second grade.

Third grade. Let's go, Raiders! Clap-clap. Clap-clap-clap.

On the porch steps of Laura Ingalls Wilder's home - Summer 2006. She was a major LHOTP fan!

In pee wee basketball - sixth grade. Much to my chagrin, the sport that didn't pan out.

Basketball Homecoming attendant - 8th grade - in a red Maggie Sottero wedding dress. Hey, it was on sale and the right color.

October of her freshman year of high school.

Watergirl!

Mikasa Dinnerware

My newish, 8 pc. place setting of Mikasa Italian Countryside dinnerware. My favorite piece? The bowl. I see potato soup on a chilly fall evening in my future.

It took long enough (almost a year, and yes, I am ashamed to admit that. Honestly, though, do you not know me at all by now?) but I finally unpacked the dishes I won through a contest sponsored by Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch. It just so happened that I won, not one but, TWO sets of dinnerware just in time for the holidays last year.

Well, both sets remained in their shipping boxes in my garage until this past weekend when I decided it was time they see the light of day. Now, I know it's still officially summer but fall is in the air and as it is my fave of the seasons, it always puts me in a domestic sorta mood. Let me tell you, I cannot wait to use my new dishes.

The 8 pc. place setting also came

with 8 Christmas dessert plates (in 4 patterns).

I'll be sure to put pics of the Nativity dishes (that I won through Stone Gable) on closer to Christmas. I love them, too.

There's only one down side I can see to winning such great prizes...I'm running out of cabinet space.

Wednesday Q&A: Road Trips

I found out long ago...
It's a long way down the holiday road

Okay, before we get started here, I have to admit I just love the fact that Mamarazzi and Queso sponsor these weekly Q&As. For one thing, it makes for an easy, not-a-lot-of-effort-needed post and that's a good thing when you work full time and still want to blog somewhat regularly. Also, these questions usually bring enjoyable memories to mind again and give me the chance to write them down for my kids. So, thanks!

This week's Q&A focuses on road trips. John and I love, love, love them. Ren? Not so much anymore. And, well, we haven't been on many with John-Heath yet, but considering how he is stimulated by EVERYTHING, he would probably love them, too.

{1} What are 3 must haves for a long road trip?

It’s been a few years since we went on our last true road trip so I’ll give you my past list of “must haves” and, what I’m sure would be my new list.

PAST
Snacks
Magazines and music
Toilet paper

PROBABLE LIST SHOULD WE GO ON ANOTHER ROAD TRIP IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
iPods and headphones for both children.
magazines
earplugs for me
(so that I might enjoy reading above-mentioned magazines in peace and
quiet should my children get bored with their iPods and resort to their next favorite pastime while riding in the car - arguing with each other.)

There would probably be no need to invest in snacks and toilet paper, considering we all would probably need frequent mini-breaks from the enclosed space of a car and John-Heath’s favorite hobby, it seems, is checking out the bathroom of every business we have ever entered.

{2} What was the destination of your most recent road trip?

We headed out west a few years ago and just drove until we ran out of time and needed to head back home. After stopping at different places along the way for a day here and there, we made it as far as Dodge City, Kansas.

{3} What do you miss most about home when on a trip?

Clothes that don’t come from a suitcase and family, of course. You might not think I’d be this way, but I tend to get homesick for my mom, dad, and sister’s family (even at my age) if we are gone for more than a few days.

{4} What is the furthest you have traveled on a road trip?

Several summers ago, the one just before Ren entered fourth grade, we went on what we affectionately refer to as our “New England Blitz.” We went as far as Kennebunkport, Maine, staying in a different place every night.

It was an awesome trip! We visited some great places and saw some wonderful things...Boston (greaaat town), the Liberty Bell (Philly is another must-see), Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA (every child should take a field trip there!), Mystic Pizza (didn’t much care for the house special, but got a t-shirt just like Julia Roberts wore in the movie), and locating and talking our way into the ultra private community of Fenwick, Connecticut to see Katharine Hepburn’s home (John and Ren are big fans and she had passed away just weeks before), and sooo much more. I have wanted to go back from the moment we left.

There were only three things I disliked about that trip...

One, the motel we stayed at during our night in Bennington, Vermont.

Ren: (as we pulled into the parking lot well past midnight) Momma, what is this place?
Me: It’s called a motel.
Ren: You mean it’s not even a real hotel?
Ren: (days later back at home talking to my parents about our trip) ...and we stayed in a MOtel.

Two, all the freakin’ huge mosquitoes in Maine. They were like something straight out of a 1950s Sci-fi movie.

And finally, all the bridges and tunnels we went over and through. NOT a fan of bridges and tunnels. Not a fan, at all!

{5} Will you "stop for the largest ball of twine, etc" or are you a "hurry and get there" road tripper?

Ohhh, yeahhh. We could be related to Clark Grizwold, so we’ve seen our share of twine, wax figures, reptiles, meteorites, and deep, hand-dug wells, at least during the going part of trips. Once we head back home we kinda get in the “hurry up and get there” mode.

What about you? Are you a fan of road trips?

P.S. Before anyone out there gets all up in arms about the motel reference, let me clarify. I have stayed in many a motel in my life. There are some wonderful little ones that are quite near and dear to my heart. However, the one mentioned above was not one run by a local mom & pop. Instead, it was rather dilapidated, looked as if it could be the place of business for ladies practicing the world's oldest profession, smelled, and was poorly furnished. In fact, I spent what was left of my entire night hanging on to the mattress for dear life in an effort to keep from falling out of the lop-sided bed onto the nasty floor. Bennington (at that time) was a one horse town when it came to chain hotels, and on that night that horse happened to be full!

A Life Well Lived

Ms. Mabel on her 100th birthday with our State Representative, Mike McDonald.

One of my favorite songs, “Don’t Blink” by country music singer Kenny Chesney, describes the brevity of our life, our short thread in the tapestry of human history; “100 years goes faster than you think, so don’t blink.”

No one knew that better than a dear friend of our family and our hometown community, Ms. Mabel McDole. Ms. Mabel passed away this past Sunday morning at the age of 100.

An evening with friends. Ms. Mabel is in the white dress.

I suppose it was fitting she passed away on the anniversary of an important date in our country’s history, always a very patriotic woman, she serenaded guests who had gathered this past May 27 to celebrate with her on the day she became a centenarian with “God Bless America”, but probably more important to her was that she hung on until the birthday of her husband, Mr. Graidon, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 99. I heard someone say she left just in time to celebrate with him.

A former school teacher, she began in the profession as a teenager. Erma Fuqua, 89, who was in first grade when Ms. Mabel taught there, had this to say about her, "She taught us right from wrong. She is the best teacher I ever had." And, yes, you read that correctly. One of her former students is now 89!

Playing cards with friends. Ms. Mabel is in the back.

I, myself, never had Ms. Mabel as a teacher but I remember hearing stories about her and have enjoyed knowing her as an adult through my husband’s association with her family.

Each Halloween we always made a point to take, first Ren, and then both children trick-or-treating at the McDole home and, of course, she always invited us to come in and visit for a few minutes, too. Once, ever with an eye for well made clothing, she remarked how nice my daughter’s costume was. Ren was in first grade and I had had a Wicked Witch of the West ensemble made for her from a Simplicity pattern, complete with sleeves that were puffy at the top and fitted below the elbow, a separate drawstring corset, and large woolen cape. We were very pleased with how it all turned out and, it seemed, Ms. Mabel approved, too, stating, “Oh, honey. You can tell that’s not a store-bought costume."

Halloween 2007 with John-Heath.

Halloween 2008 J-H and Ms. Mabel

Halloween 2009

John-Heath's last Halloween to visit with her. By Halloween of 2010 she had moved into assisted living.

At her recent birthday she remarked, “It seems like I'm turning 16. I feel real young and happy!" and that “It's wonderful to be 100, and to have wonderful friends."

We should all be so fortunate. Goodbye, Ms. Mabel.

Ren with Ms. Mabel on her 100th birthday!

"You best start puttin' first things first."
'Cause when your hour glass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again.
Take every breath God gives you for what it's worth.
Don't blink.”

On September 11, 2001...

...I was a 3rd grade teacher at our local elementary school. Ren was a first-grader at this same school. The day began like all other Tuesdays. Undoubtedly, I was late for work. I have always been late for work. As students began to arrive they put away their personal items, turned work in to the appropriate baskets, and got started on the first assignment of the day. This assignment, you can call it morning work or a bell ringer, is an important component of classroom management and I always tried to have one ready to go. It was 7:35 a.m.

After a few minutes of housekeeping procedures - taking roll, accepting excuses for recent absences, taking up daily folders, and making sure those who failed to turn in their weekly work folder the day before returned it this morning - it was time to officially begin our day. By this point, the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, had already hit the North Tower (1 WTC), and events were in motion which would forever change our country. But for my group of 8-year-olds, it was time to begin math.

My classroom at the time was just a few steps from the office and I was there turning in my absentee when I first heard the news of the situation in New York. Our bookkeeper had a small television in her office and I remember thinking, during the very brief moment I stood watching it, What a terrible accident! How could you not keep from hitting a building as big as that? I bet the pilot had a heart-attack. For some reason, I walked to the door of a fellow third-grade teacher’s room and told her what had happened.

It was just after 8 and I found myself back in the office. For what, I don’t remember. We had not yet begun math. Something had delayed us. This may have been the reason I was back in the office but, again, I’m not sure why. I do remember walking in just as the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the South Tower (2 WTC).

Knowing something of greater significance than an accident was unfolding, I returned to my class and positioned the t.v. that was mounted in the corner of my room at an angle that was viewable from a certain spot. I went to the front of the class and began math. As trivial as it may seem, I wish I could remember what math skill we worked on that morning.

Once the skill had been taught and the assignment made, it was time to circulate and check for understanding. It was during this time, while walking by the t.v., I saw the news reporting on the attack (yes, it was obvious by now we were under an attack) on the Pentagon using American Airlines Flight 77 as the weapon. Among those aboard this flight were teachers from D.C. area schools accompanying some of their students on the field trip of a lifetime sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Teachers just like me. Students just like mine.

At this point, students, too, understood something big was happening. Usually, the only time the t.v. was ever on in the classroom was when an educational video was being shown for science or social studies or we were having a movie as some type of reward, but never in the morning and never as part of math. Some asked why I had it on and I remember saying that, although I could not be certain, it seemed “some very mean people have taken over some planes and crashed them into a few of our country’s important buildings”. They asked to watch, too, and I obliged. I was a teacher, after all, and this was history unfolding.

There was no fear (had there been, I would certainly not have allowed them to continue watching). My students were rural Tennesseans born and raised. The acts being described on t.v. could not have been more remote and foreign to them had they been happening in Phuket, Thailand. In fact, only minutes after I swiveled the television around so that they could watch, the South Tower began to collapse. One student, a small blond-haired, blue-eyed boy said, “Cool”, as if he had just watched the deliberate implosion of an old Las Vegas hotel. I explained that this was not cool, that several thousand people worked in that building, and that many people were probably just hurt very badly. I also suggested that we should all say a little prayer in our hearts for everyone involved. This act would probably get me fired or, at the very least, reprimanded today. Moments later a fourth plane crash was being reported from the farmland of Pennsylvania.

After a short, impromtu Q & A session it was time to return the focus of my children to their regular routine. This was not hard to do, as our related arts period was coming up shortly and PE was our class for the day.

I don’t remember much else from that school day. I can’t remember the next time I saw Ren, though I do remember feeling ever so fortunate that my little girl was safe and sound and close at hand in a classroom just “up the hill” from my room.

Two things I clearly remember is being transfixed to my television that afternoon (and for many afternoons to come) feeling almost hopeless, with a great need to do something, anything to fill that awful hole and also how the fear of the unknown was palpable, even in our small town. People were lining up at the gas stations filling their vehicles and stocking up on supplies at the grocery store. That evening, John and I, along with Ren, attended a short special called service of prayer and song at a nearby church. This was a much needed start to lifting our worries.

We changed as a country that day. I wasn’t alive when Kennedy was shot, but I understand how my father still remembers, almost half a century later, where he was the moment the news of his president’s assassination came.

Ren is now a junior in high school, my students from class that year graduated this past spring, my little boy (who wasn’t even a blip on the radar screen at the time) is now in first grade just like his sister was ten years ago, and I still remember where I was the moment that change came. I'm sure I always will.

As I live in Tennessee, times listed are in Central Standard.

The ABC's of Me.

Okay, I first saw this over at Amy's Kitchen Table, who saw it at Artsy-Fartsy Mama, who saw it...well, you get the picture. And thank goodness they did and that I did!!! How would you have ever made it through the week without finding out 26 more things about me! The drought of inconsequential bits of information about all things me since I posted my "100 Facts About Me" Series last year has been as dry as my backyard (thankfully, though, it did get a little reprieve yesterday and today with some much needed rain).

So here goes. Was that a collective sigh I just detected or perhaps the rolling of eyeballs? And yes, I can detect when eyeballs roll - even from miles away. I have a teenage daughter, so I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

A. Age: 41

B. Bed: Queen (with a fairly new, fairly pricey, yet very uncomfortable, mattress). The only stipulation I would have should someone want to break into my house and rob me is that they must take the mattress, too.

C. Chore I Hate: Manually washing dishes (and folding/putting up clothes).

D. Dogs: Nope

E. Essential Start to My Day: If you want to get really technical about it, it’s a trip to the potty, which could come at various times in the A.M. But something that really gets me going is a cup of Joe once I get to work.

F. Favorite Color: It’s always been green.

G. Gold or Silver? Silver.

H. Height: 5 ft. 6ish

I. Instruments I Play: The piano since the 4th grade and various percussion instruments in high school band.

J. Job Title: Librarian, but in today’s fancy schmancy lingo loving world I suppose I would be called a Library Media Specialist.

K. Kids: Two, ten years apart.

L. Live: The Volunteer State

M. Maiden Name: What? Who are you people? The Secret Service? You want my social security number, too?

N. Nickname: Twyla. Thank you, Mr. Brown ;)

O. Overnight Hospital Stays: Three (two c-sections and an adios party for my gallbladder - which happened on Thanksgiving Day a couple months after Ren was born. Pumpkin pie from a hospital bed was just sooo special. You know I'm kidding, right?)

P. Pet Peeve: Oh, my. I’ve become such an A personality there are way too many to mention here. Ummm, here’s one. People who honk their horns at the car in front of them the moment the light changes from red to green. Okay, one more. People who make fun of people for saying "honk" instead of "blow".

Q. Quote: " 'Shine', said the moon. And so I did."

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty! And how my husband, also a righty, and I managed to have two lefties, I’ll never know.

S. Siblings: One, my sister Shelia, whom I have always called Sissy because, I guess, I couldn’t pronounce her name when I was little.

T. Time I Wake: Unfortunately, I have a mortgage which dictates I work, which dictates I rise around 6:00ish, which is when I am still in REM mode.

U. University Attended: A swell little local community college for my A.S., a not-so-hot-to-trot university for my B.S. (if you live in the Nashville area and want advice I can definitely tell you of which one to steer clear), and Western Kentucky University for my M.S.

V. Vegetable I Dislike: I’m not particularly fond of brussel sprouts.

W. What Makes Me Run Late: Genetic engineering.

X. X-rays I’ve Had: Once for a broken arm. I was 5 and in kindergarten. I played a game of “Jump or Get Pushed” with some kids in my neighborhood. I didn’t jump.

Y. Yummy Foods: Just about everything except brussel sprouts. And hominy. I’ve never had it, but yuck!

Z. Zoo Animal Favorites: Stuffed ones in the gift shop. Sorry, but I’m a big chicken around wildlife.


Well, if you're still here, there you have it.

The 80's Called...

It's missing one of its Seagulls...

...one who just happened to stumble out of a bed in my house.

At Home with SpongeBob.

I am at home today with John-Heath and his typical sickness...fever. I'm beginning to think this kid is more my clone than my child. He looks like I looked, he acts like I acted, he has the same attention span I had (or lack of one thereof), and now it just dawned on me that he often gets sick in the same way I did by spiking a fever, often with no other symptoms. I have been told I had "fever convulsions" as a child, where my eyes would roll back in my head and out I'd go! Luckily, that hasn't happened with my son.