Saturday 9: Happy New Year!

I want to wish all of you a wonderful New Year, filled with hope, happiness, and love.




Saturday 9's questions this week are as follows:

1. Over all, how do you feel about what happened in your life in 2011?

Honestly? I'll be glad to see this year behind me. Some parts of the year were great, some goals were met. Other areas still need a lot of work! It has been an exhausting year on many levels.

2. Do you do New Year's resolutions? If so, what are they this year?

I don't do resolutions. I have goals, but those goals are subject to change as other things in my life change.

3. In the past 24 hours, I have reconnected with 3 old friends that I've not spoken to in years. If you could reconnect with someone from your past who would it be, and why?

I would like to know what happened to my friend Allison from elementary school. We were best buddies way back then. I left for private school after sixth grade and I don't know what ever became of her. She was a very kind, giving girl.

4. Do you have anything that you would have not done or done differently in 2011 as you look back?

Yes, but the list is way too long to put here. But, for starters, I wouldn't have gone so off course with food choices. I was making good progress with the vegan idea, but fell to temptation and haven't found my way back yet.

5. Going back to my ex-friends that I reconnected with, one of them ended over a boyfriend. She called to apologize. Do you have someone that you fell out with you and wonder how they are?

No one comes immediately to mind.

6. If you had a chance to reconnect with an ex (say for coffee), who would it be, and why?

There are no ex-boyfriends for me. The boy that I liked before I started dating my husband was killed in an accident and we weren't boyfriend/girlfriend. He was just a boy that I liked.

7. One of resolutions is about weight-loss. Have you ever struggled with your diet?

No struggle, really. Either I follow it or I don't. It isn't really a diet, per se, but a lifestyle choice. I am working my way back to vegan, though very slowly at this point.

8. What do you think was the top news story of 2011?

Overall for the world, I have no idea. For me, I guess it would be the earthquake in New Zealand. I still haven't heard from my friend down there. I can only hope and pray that she is OK. I saw yesterday that they've had another one down there.

9. What are your plans for (New Year's Eve) tonight?

My husband and I have watched the ball drop via Dick Clark's New Year's Rocking Eve every year that we've been together, with exception of the switch from 1981 to 1982. I was sixteen years old and in the hospital for a tonsillectomy then and they wouldn't let him stay in my room to ring in the new year. We usually watch it on television, but tonight we'll be watching it online. We will have sparkling grape juice with the kids, clink our glasses (and hopefully not break them!), hope for a better year, and then get on with life.
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Happy New Year to all of you!

Five Minute Friday: Open

Please click the button above and be prepared to be inspired by The Gypsy Mama's writing. Join the rest of us as we write life five minutes at a time, unedited.
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I opened the car door filled with both excitement and dread, not knowing what was before me. The drive would be over a thousand miles long...would I be able to do that?

I did and have never gone back.

That day simultaneously closed one part of my life and opened yet another and now I'd give just about anything to go back to the way that it was before I opened that car door, before my husband picked up the telephone, answering a call that changed our family forever.

There have been many openings and closings over the last seven years. I know that there are more ahead, though I don't know what they will involve, what will be waiting on the other side.

As 2011 sneaks away and 2012 is ready to pounce, I am hoping that this new year offers more openings than closings, more gains than losses, more open hearts, more love and laughter.

I hope this for all of us. May 2012 bring you days full of laughter, love, and blessings from our Heavenly Father.

Happy New Year!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Please click on the button above to join Joyce's Wednesday Hodgepodge fun!

1. Share something you loved about your Christmas day.

I loved having absolutely no reason to have to leave the house. We didn't have any jobs to do, the stores were closed (at least the ones that usually suck us in at least once a day!) and it was just a fine day of relaxing with nowhere to have to be.

2. You get to put five items in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years, what items would you choose and why?

First: I would start with a copy of my genealogy research so that future generations wouldn't have to fight the same battles that I've had to fight to get it.

Second: I would include copies of my pictures along with an index of who the people/places are in those photos.

Third: I would want to make a blessing gown and outfit (one for a girl and one for a boy) so that my future grandchildren would have something that I made and it would have my stitched signature and the date I completed it.

Fourth: I would include a copy of Enya's version of Silent Night, called Oiche Chiun. However, I have no clue how music will be formatted in the future, so maybe they'd just have to take me at my word that it is the most beautiful version of Silent Night in existence.




Fifth: And last, but not at all least, a letter telling those in the future about how important it is to have faith in Heavenly Father in ALL things, not just some things. We are not promised an easy life, but if we keep the faith and persevere, happiness is waiting for us on the other side. No matter what is happening, we just need to make it one more day...I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow.

3. What do you like on a cracker?

I like several things on cracker, but not at the same time: peanut butter, cheese, seafood salad, and chicken salad.

4. Do you make resolutions? How'd that work out for you this past year?

No, I don't generally do resolutions. I have goals, but they are flexible and often change. Making resolutions is too much like setting it in stone.

5. What's a song or song lyric you'll associate with 2011?

My health battle isn't cancer, but like the song says, I just want to feel like a woman again and this is hard because of what surgery took from me. For those friends and acquaintances that have received the "c" diagnosis over this past year, this one's for you:



Jesus Take the Wheel...He's the only way this train will keep moving.




He's the only reason that I'm still here today.

6. How will you ring in the new year?

I will ring it in at home with my husband and remaining children, with sparkling grape juice and I'm not sure what else. I don't know if fireworks will be happening or not because I'm not sure if the burn ban is still on or not.

7. What is something you look forward to in 2012?

Although "freedom" was my word for 2011, it is my goal for 2012 as well. I won't go into details on that one. Also, I look forward to more family tree discoveries.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Childhood cancer is on my mind. It stinks. They shouldn't have to fight such things...and we shouldn't have to bury our babies.




For those still fighting, like Kate and Braden and so many others, please pray for them. For those little heroes that have gone on to Heaven, please remember their grieving families in your prayers. There's a cure out there somewhere and He's still in the miracle business. Please support the fight to end childhood cancer!


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Happy New Year, everybody!

Contest Announcement: Win an Amazon $25 Gift Card!

Dear Friends and Associates:


David and Suzanne McClendon hope you had a very Merry Christmas. We hope that you had a very Jesus filled holiday and that your New Year will be very prosperous. Remember to eat those greens, peas, and ham.

Today we would like to announce a contest we have to promote our blogs. As many of you are aware, we have a handful of blogs that, hopefully, will have a little something for most people.

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Please pass this contest along to all your friends and relatives.



Warmest Regards in Christ,

David E. and Suzanne G. McClendon

Writer's Workshop: That Red Dress!

Please click the button above for some really great writing prompts!

The prompt that I chose this week is:

5.) Put together a holiday outfit you’d love to wear at a holiday party should a holiday party ever be on your list of things to do.

It is totally weird because it is so not me, but the first dress that came to my mind was the red dress that Rhett Butler made Scarlett wear to Melanie's party in Gone With the Wind. It was so pretty and sparkly and a body would have to be thin to fit in it. I'm way too conservative for that dress, but I'd love to be able to fit in it.

In reality, I would probably choose something dark green and very conservative, as in not too short on either end. I would add to that diamond stud earrings and the necklace that my children gave me for Mother's Day one year. I would wear basic black pumps, not too low but not stiletto-height either. I don't want to break my neck! To top it off, I would consider getting my hair back to the color it was when I was a little girl because that red was totally beautiful with the green dresses that my mama bought me way back then.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Are you cooking Christmas dinner? How many will be round your table this year? What are we having?

A friend will be frying a turkey for us to bring home. We'll be having dressing and I'm not sure what else at this point. There will be five here: my husband, our three remaining children and me.

2. What is one must-have Christmas cookie in your house?

Sugar cookies! I love sugar cookies.

3. Santa likes a glass of milk with his cookies-do you? What kind of milk is on tap at your house-skim, almond, soy, full fat (Gasp!)

I love milk with cookies, but milk doesn't love me, so I don't have it very often. Santa and the little elves all drink 2%, when we can find it. When we can't, we buy whole milk. Skim milk is ICKY! For some reason, the local store has an awful time of keeping 2%. I can't imagine that there's suddenly been a high demand for it, but maybe everyone around here decided to lessen the fat in their milk to make room for more cookies?

4. Time magazine recently named its Person of the Year for 2011. This is the person the editors believe has had the greatest impact, for better or worse, in the past year. This year they chose 'The Protester'. Your thoughts? Who would you name person of the year for 2011?

As far as having an impact on the world as a whole, I cannot answer this. But impact on me personally and a large number of other people who are praying for them, I would have to say Braden and Kate. These two little ones have gone through so much in their young lives, more than many of us will experience in our entire lifetimes. They have cancer. They suffer tremendous pain and yet they keep on fighting. They hold onto faith. No matter what happens, they are fighters and they will win. They will find healing and I am praying that this healing brings with it long and happy lives for each of them.

They have been teachers of priorities, detours, and perseverance. They have taught what really matters: love, being happy in the moment, and being thankful for what you do have. These children are heroes in my eyes.

Here is a link to the foundation that Braden's family has set up to help all children to some day be free of such tragic illnesses: Braden's Hope

This site has been set up by Kate's family: Pray for Kate

Please pray for these precious children and all like them, fighting battles that are difficult even for adults. Thank you!

5. December 21st is National Flashlight Day...when was the last time you needed a flashlight? Did you know right where to find one?

We almost always leave something in the car that we meant to bring into the house and don't remember that we forgot it until the middle of the night. This is an almost nightly occurrence. "Fishy" (the name our kids gave the flashlight) lives on the stand beside our television.

6. candy canes...yum or yuck?

I think that candy canes are pretty but that is about as far as it goes for me. They make me sick to my stomach. I don't think that they taste bad, really, they just don't agree with me. They make great Christmas tree ornaments.

7. What Christmas carol lyric means the most to you?

I like all of Silent Night, especially the version done by Enya called Oiche Chiun. It is the most beautiful, most peaceful version I have ever heard. The song says "all is calm" and this version of the song just washes me with that calmness. Just beautiful.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas filled with love, laughter, and family all around and a new year full of the same. May Our Father bless you all richly as you seek to be the best that you can be.

Meet Me on Monday

Please click the button above to join the fun at Java's!

This week's questions:

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I prefer wrapping paper, although gift bags are easier to deal with.

2.Real or artificial tree?

I love the smell of a real tree, but that is where it stops. We have an artificial tree. My husband's family used a real tree in one of their rooms when he was a boy, but I grew up with artificial trees.

3.When do you put your tree up?

Our Christmas season officially starts on December 18 as it is the birthday of one of our children. However, our tree stays up all year long.

4.When do you take your tree down?

We don't take it down. We used to take it down on the Day of Epiphany, but now we leave it up year-round.

5.Do you like eggnog?

I don't know. I've never had it.

6.Do you have a nativity scene?

I would love to have one, but we don't yet.

7.Favorite Christmas Movie?

There are two and, no, I can't decide between them. They are: It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street (the old version). They are classic and both have a wonderful message of faith and love.

8.Favorite Christmas cookie?

I love sugar cookies, unfrosted.

9.Where will you eat Christmas dinner?

My husband and I will be at home with our three remaining children.

10.Angel, bow or star on top of your tree?

I prefer to have an angel on top of the tree. I collect angels and try to get one each year in memory of our babies that are waiting for us in Heaven.

11.Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

The crowds and crazy drivers...and the commercialism are the worst things about this time of the year.

12.Do you like Fruitcake?

I'd rather have chocolate cake or my granny's pineapple-coconut cake.

13.What are you most excited about the holidays?

I'm not really excited, per se, but I do enjoy seeing the way folks have their houses decorated. It is really pretty driving through town at night seeing all of the lights.

14.Do you open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?

Yes! It just really depends on our mood at the time. This isn't something that we've been really tied down on over the years.

15.Will you still be wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?

No. There's nothing left to wrap.

Merry Christmas, everybody! May your day be blessed with laughter, love, and lots of family all around to thank Him for the wonderful gift of His love, born as a baby in a lowly stable that silent night so long ago.

Five Minute Friday: Connected

The Free Dictionary has this definition for "connected":

con·nect·ed (k-nktd)
adj.
1. Joined or fastened together.


Life these days is all about being connected, how many friends you have on Facebook, how many followers you have on Twitter, how many connections you have on LinkedIn. In reality, how many people are you truly connected with instead of to?

Are you just passing through this life, being connected on the surface, but failing to be truly fastened together with those around you in real life?

It often seems to me that the advances in technology are not truly bringing people together, but pushing them further apart. Sure, we can have friends that we've never met all the way on the other side of the world and we can learn about things that we never knew existed. All of that is great. But, when I'm sitting in the local McD's and see people come in together, but never look at each other because they are each on the cell phone, either texting or talking to someone that isn't there in the flesh, never saying a word to the person they are there with, it makes me sad. For all of the connecting going on out there, there is more of an unjoining than a joining with those right there in our presence. There is more Facebook connecting than face-to-face fastening together.

Is this how life is truly meant to be lived, based on cell towers and button-pushing, never looking or talking to those around us?

Citation:

connected. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved December 18 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/connected

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Do you put Christmas decorations in every room of your house? If not, what rooms do you decorate?

We have angels in the living room and on the tree. The tree lives in the dining room. Other than angels, we don't really have a lot of decorations.

2. If you could visit one of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) which one would you choose and why?

I think that I would choose Denmark. There is a large Danish population here where I live. These folks are really nice and I think that it would be nice to see the area that they came from.

3. What does the word faith mean to you?

It means believing without seeing. It means you don't give up just because things are bad. You know that He has it covered and Who wins in the end.

4. You can go back to your childhood for one day...what day and age would you choose?

I have been doing a lot of genealogy research lately, so those relatives that have gone on to their rewards have been on my mind. I think that I would choose age fourteen and the day before my Papa Gunter died. I would want to go back with the knowledge that I have now and be able to prevent the event that led to his death.

5. When did you last have 'punch'? If its not too much trouble share your favorite punch recipe.

I can't remember the last time that I had punch, at least not any that I made. When we make it, we make what we call "Gremlin Guts." I can't remember the recipe at the moment, but two of the ingredients are lime sherbet and ginger ale.

6. Do you fill stockings at your house? Are stockings opened before or after the bigger gifts?

We usually fill stockings. There isn't a particular order of events here.

7. What takes your breath away?

Physically, cigarette smoke, strong chemicals, and perfume/cologne so loud that it seems the person fell into the bottle.

Emotionally, my children and some of the things that they come up with. The twinkle in my husband's eyes along with that grin of his do a pretty good job of it, too.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I have been researching the family tree of Jesse James as well as my branch of the James family to try to find if and where our families cross paths. One thing that I decided last night is that Jesse's family tree is about as twisted as my own, so I won't be the least bit surprised to find that he is, indeed, a relative. Sometimes I wonder if other folks have family trees that look like the people were in a braiding contest!

Meet Me on Monday

Hop on over to Java's place to join in the fun!

Questions:

1. Tomorrow I'm going to _________?

Take my oldest daughter to one of her final exams and take another one to the dentist. From there, I'm not sure what the day holds. We're always on call and never know when we'll be called to do a job.

2. Pudding or Jello?

Can't I have both? I love them both, but since I have to choose, I will choose pudding, chocolate pudding. I'd like that with Cool Whip, please.

3. What book are you currently reading?

     

I actually have two going at the moment. One is Twilight Serenade by Tracie Peterson and the other is Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War by T. J. Stiles. I've been doing an awful lot of "help you feel better and grow into a better person"-type books lately. It is time for something light. What better than a book about love and life in Alaska and one about the Robin Hood of the South? I'm on a quest to prove or disprove my kinship with Frank and Jesse James, so am reading and watching as much as I can about the guys. If it turns out that we're not really related, it has still been an interesting adventure.

4. What is the first concert you went to see?

I believe that the first concert that I saw was a Sandy Patti concert. I think that she's great! "We Shall Behold Him" is my favorite of all of her songs. Just beautiful!



5. What is your current weather?

It is cooler than it usually is around here, but not cold. It has been overcast and yesterday there was so much glare that it made my eyes hurt. It never gets really cold around here although it did get to 27 degrees a few days ago. I put on my regular shoes for that one. Usually, I just wear my sandals everywhere.

Cross-Post: Duggars, Children, and Loss

Cross-Post: Duggars, Children, and Loss

The news is spreading about the loss of the Duggar family's twentieth child. Some people are saying some pretty cold and nasty things out there. One thing that I'm wondering: does it make the loss of a child any less of a loss of life just because we may or may not agree with a person's reproductive beliefs/practices?

What makes the loss of this child any less a loss because they were number twenty rather than number two and subject to vile statements of total disregard for the grief that this family is suffering right now?

Are we supposed to lack normal human decency and compassion just because we can't grasp children as a blessing or have faith that Heavenly Father takes care of His own?

If most of us look back in our family trees we will see at least sixteen great-great-grandparents were there at some point otherwise we wouldn't be in existence. I have never heard, in all of my forty-six years, anyone say upon the death of a grandparent "Well, you shouldn't have had so many grandparents in the first place. You didn't need that one." Nobody says that, yet they think it is perfectly fine to make such comments upon the loss of a child, like any of the others will cover the loss of the one.

It just totally dumbfounds me that people can be so heartless and cruel and solely because they don't think that people should have more than one or two children.


I would like to suggest that, in spite of differences in beliefs over reproduction, we see this for what it is: the loss of a child. Plain and simple, the death of a loved one. I would like to ask that we all keep this family in our prayers for comfort during their time of grief as well as for the compassion for mankind that our Heavenly Father calls us to have.

Day 164 of One Thousand Gifts

What I am thankful for today:

...the children that Heavenly Father has allowed me to have and for those awaiting me in Heaven.
...those that have shown compassion to me during my times of grief.
...those that stand by their convictions in the face of objections.
...a full calendar where two days ago were blanks.
...the new year soon to come.
...the rain and cooler weather that we've had lately.
...varying perspectives to help me make the right decision in any given situation.

Writer's Workshop: George Bailey

Please hop over to visit Mama Kat for a bunch of laughs!

The prompt that I chose for this week is:

What is it about that movie that makes you cry every time?

The desperation that George Bailey feels, feeling like everyone would have been better off had he never been born, those things get to me every time. Sure, the scene at the end where the whole community comes to his rescue is heartwarming, but it is the bridge scene that makes the biggest impact on me. Maybe I don't bawl my eyes out on the outside, but it grabs my heart. I've been there.

When he's at the bridge rail contemplating jumping into the water, Mr. Potter's words drilling through his head and heart that he's worth more dead than alive, looking back over a lifetime of waiting for his turn only to have his turn always be just out of reach, I understand his frustration completely. He had hopes and dreams to see the world, to escape the force field of his home town and nothing worked out as he had planned at all. The harder he pushed to leave, the more things happened to hold him there.

In the end he realized that, although he didn't get to see the world, his world, his place, was right there in Bedford Falls. He had all that he needed right there and always had. What had seemed a restrictive force field before was now a comforting hug.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Please be sure to click the button to join Joyce and the Wednesday Hodgepodge fun!

1. Will you be hosting any house guests between now and the end of December? Does that thought make you happy or crazy? Do you do anything special to make your house guests feel welcome? How long should a guest stay?

We are not expecting any house guests between now and the end of December. I am perfectly fine with that. This house (and our schedule) isn't well suited for entertaining or for finding places for people to sleep.

2. Walter Elias Disney was born this week back in (Dec 5) 1905...what's your all time favorite Disney movie? Here's a list in case you're struggling...and yes, you have to pick one.

I think that my favorite would be Beauty and the Beast. The Beast reminds me of folks that have been in my life at points along the way. They appear rough and tough, but inside they are just big ol' teddy bears with hearts of gold.

3. What's the last thing you purchased that you realized was a mistake after the fact?

Definitely those Christmas Oreos! Unlike the Halloween Oreos where the orange was just a color and not a flavor, these Oreos were mint-flavored. Not exactly my favorite thing to dunk into a glass of milk. BLECH!

4. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done online?

This year, so far, it has been 100% online. It would suit me just fine for it to always be 100% online.

5. Amaryllis...snowdrop...poinsettia...your favorite winter blossom?

I think that all of these are beautiful. The amaryllis is elegant, but a big, bushy poinsettia is absolutely beautiful. I saw tons of them arranged just like a Christmas tree one year. Beautiful!

6. What is one thing on your personal wish list this year? I think we all want peace on earth so let's make this an actual item.

OK, since I'm not supposed to wish for peace because that's a given, I want the huge digital drawing tablet that that shows the art-in-progress on the tablet itself instead of on the computer monitor, the Adobe Master Collection newest version, and a computer with enough power to handle it all. Of course, I know it isn't happening anytime soon, but that is what I wish for.

7. If you could only use one word today what would it be?

The word would probably be "why". I always need to know the "whys" of things and "just because" doesn't cut it (plus, that's two words, not one!).

8. Insert your own random thought here.

That's a loaded one this week. There are lots of thoughts floating around in my head; some are pretty, some not so pretty. Mostly, I wonder why that man killed his babies over his wife leaving him. If he was bent on somebody dying, why didn't he just kill himself and leave the little ones out of it? He did end up killing himself, but why did the babies have to die, too? I wonder how their mother is, if she's even awakened yet, and how she is going to live once she finds out that she has lost all of her children. Such a sad, sad end to an apparent history of domestic violence.

Why can't people just be nice to each other?

Meet Me on Monday

Click on the button above to join Java for lots of fun!

Questions:

1. Monday's are _________?

Mondays are very busy around here. The majority of our merchandising jobs have to be done between Monday and Wednesday and we do what we can to get them all done on Monday in case another opportunity comes along.

2. What is your favorite kind of milkshake?

Chocolate milkshakes have always been my favorite. After chocolate comes strawberry, but I don't really like any of the other choices beyond those two.

3. What monthly bill do you most dislike paying?

I would have to say the water bill. It is ridiculously high at almost $200 a month. This is for water, sewer, and garbage pickup. Back home in South Carolina, the water bill was $18 a month and garbage pickup was $25 a month, with no sewer bill (we had a septic tank). At first, we thought it was just us, that we must have a leak or something else weird going on with the plumbing here. But, after talking to several others in our neighborhood, we know that we aren't the only ones dealing with an overly high water bill.

4. How many email addresses do you use on a regular basis?

I use three e-mail addresses on a regular basis. I am trying to cut it down to one because my main e-mail address has been taken over by the spam monsters, but I'm having trouble getting blog subscriptions switched over to one of the other accounts.

5. What color lights are on your Christmas Tree?

We only have one color of lights on our tree. They shine yellowish through clear covers.

Five Minute Friday: Tired

Each week, we write for five minutes on a given prompt. We don't stop to edit; we just write, whether it is right or not. So, find those home keys or your favorite pen and join us over at The Gypsy Mama's blog for five minutes of unrestrained writing.


This week's five minutes is about: Tired
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Tired. Heart-tired, brain-tired, that's what I am. And the non-stop questioning is making someone else tired. I can't let go or heal without answers nor without logic and some things defy logic. I'm tired of trying and tired of nothing ever being right no matter which way I turn. I'm tired of blow-ups and tired of "fake it till you make it" and failing at even that.

I'm tired of books that promise answers, but only cause more questions, questions that no one seems to be equipped or willing to answer and just get frustrated with me asking. I'm tired of blind acceptance being expected of me.

I'm tired of sleep that brings no rest. I'm tired of daytime fears becoming night-time realities. I'm tired of being tried and left behind no matter what I try. I'm also tired of negative feelings and trying to find a reason not to have them.

I'm tired of things being billed as my "choice" when I didn't, and don't, have a choice in the matter. I didn't choose this; it just is.

Mostly, I'm just tired, period. I wish that I had gone Home when I had the chance. I'm tired of time away from those that truly loved me and there's only one way that I will see them again outside of dreamland. There's only one cure for this kind of tired and only One that can offer this rest.

I'm tired of waiting.

Writer's Workshop: Little Mouths

Please hop over to visit Mama Kat for a bunch of laughs!

The prompt that I chose for this week is:

4. Kids say the darndest things…describe a time a child’s honesty made you think. (Inspired by Ashley’s Closet)

When my youngest daughter was an itty bitty girl, my mother-in-law and her current husband came to our house in South Carolina for a visit. My baby girl was maybe four years old at the time. The family was sitting around the living room talking and my little one put in her two cents worth. I don't remember what the conversation was about, just her little voice saying to my husband's mother "back when you were not fat". I think that I must have stopped breathing and I know my heart stopped. I couldn't believe my baby girl had said such a thing. But, it's a risk you take when you raise them to tell the truth. My baby girl is a lot like my granny. She speaks her mind and doesn't generally beat around the bush. She's like her mama, too. I tend to be blunt. We both got a good dose of Granny's DNA, I think. It causes some rather amusing moments.

Meet Me on Monday

Please be sure to click the button up there and join Java and the gang for some fun!

Questions:

1. I really need to clean my _________?

Mouth! Something upset me greatly earlier this evening and something not nice at all came forth. Where's the Dial when you need it?

2. What food makes you think of Christmas?

Sugar cookies...no matter what time of year I eat them, even if they look like Halloween pumpkins, they make me think of Christmas.

3. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?

I would choose to be forever nineteen. With the exception of the fact that I would not have my children because I didn't have my first child until the year I turned twenty-one, nineteen was the perfect age for me. Though I've never been rolling in self-confidence, at nineteen I was full of hope for the future and way more self-confident than I am now. I was nineteen when I got married. With the exception of asthma, my health was perfect, and I had the rest of my life with my husband to look forward to. While I still have the rest of my life to look forward to, that "rest" is now twenty-seven years shorter than it was when I was nineteen.

4. What was your first paying job?

I was a customer service representative, cashier, and gopher at my late father-in-law's Western Auto Store. Yep, I married the boss's son. :)

5. Have you read the Twilight series?

No, I haven't, but my oldest daughter has read the series. I'm more Blossom Street and get-me-closer-to-Him than vampire these days.

Saturday 9

1. There's a Time Genie. She can put you back in time to relive a day that you loved. If you could turn back the hands of time, what day would you relive if given this opportunity?

I can't pin it down to one specific day. The honest answer would be any day that involved a visit with my grandma and grandpa, my granny, and my Aunt Mae.

2. What did you do yesterday?

We did everything we could to avoid going into the Walmart, but ended up there in the evening. The place was basically dead. It wasn't nearly the madhouse we expected it to be.

3. You've been given 3 parachutes, but there are 4 people who need them. Who will you not give one to: Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Kim Kardashian, or Simon Cowell? Why?

This would be so much easier if I only had one parachute to give to someone else. I'd give it to Mel Gibson before any of the others listed. While he's flawed like the rest of us humans, overall I believe him to be a good person. The others, well, my mama said if I can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!

4. Where are you going and where have you been?

I have been to Columbus and I am going to not-Columbus tomorrow. :)

5. They say that books read as a child make more of an impact on a person than books read at any other time in life. Are there any books that you particularly loved, that shaped the way you thought when you were little?

I don't know about shaping the way that I thought, but The Silver Seven made me want to learn to ice skate. I thought that it sounded so exciting. I never had the opportunity, though, as there wasn't an ice rink anywhere near where I lived back then. By the time we got one in town, I was in my 30s and no way was I going to risk trying it at that point!

6. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?

I think the end of this year is what I look forward to the most in the next six weeks.

7. What was the last text message you received?

It was a text from my mama telling me that she gave daddy my message. We weren't able to get through to him on his phone and she was.

8. Do you prefer to call or text?

I have a horrible time hearing on the telephone. I can hear all of the whining of the electronics and it drowns out the voice of the caller. I would much rather text.

9. What were you doing at 9PM last night?

I was eating Thanksgiving leftovers and watching a movie with my husband.

Five Minute Friday: Grateful

Each week, we write for five minutes on a given prompt. We don't stop to edit; we just write, whether it is right or not. So, find those home keys or your favorite pen and join us over at The Gypsy Mama's blog for five minutes of unrestrained writing.


This week's five minutes is about: Grateful.
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I am grateful for a lot of things, such as my husband, my children, and my family that lives over a thousand miles away. I am thankful for the love and forgiveness that bridges those miles. Grateful...that expresses my feelings regarding the conversation had with a friend yesterday after he called us to come and pick up an "extra" turkey that he just happened to have. He was part of a miracle, though he didn't realize it.

There are things that are a part of my life that I am not particularly grateful for, but I am trying to learn to accept this process of growth and will be thankful for the joy on the other side of the junk. I am grateful for lessons learned, if not for the process of the learning.

Grateful, in some situations, also indicates obligation or indebtedness. I am indebted to many people that have crossed my life. I will be forever grateful for the spiritual lessons that my grandparents taught me as well as the life lessons that my parents and in-laws have taught me along the way.

I am thankful for friends that I have met over the years and more recently through the blogosphere. They have taught me that I am not alone. No matter what is going on, someone is dealing with something far harder, or has been through it and survived to tell about it. I am grateful for the hope of recovery that they have given to me.

Most of all, I am grateful for my Heavenly Father, Who sent down His Son to die for me - worthless, sinful, human me - Who loved me enough to sacrifice to grant me eternal life. I am grateful for those who shared the gift of salvation with me and for having church services as part of my earliest memories.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish all of you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving, full of laughter, love, and family.

Have a beautiful day!