Celebrate

No tradition is more precious than celebrating Mothers. I'm one of the lucky ones that grew up with a loving but strict mother who instilled manners, the fear of God, and meaning of family in us at a tender age. She was a single mom with three rowdy kids. Money was tight, but she never let us know it. She was lonely but never showed it. Often getting in trouble, as kids in the country will with nothing to do, she was quick to discipline but even quicker to love. I wouldn't change a thing about my childhood as it is part of who I am today. I often look over my shoulder to see where that voice came from as I bestow the same wisdom (or yell at them for being destructive) on my boys as she did me and my siblings. I love you Momma, and I hope today is as wonderful as all the days you have given us. Happy Mother's Day.

In honor of mothers everywhere that heal boo boos, wipe tears, hug tight, kiss goodnight, and always know when to let us take flight...this is for you.

Twenty Things My Mother Taught Me:

1. My mother taught me to APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me about RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me about LOGIC. "Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me about FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

6. My mother taught me about IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

7. My mother taught me about STAMINA. "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

8. My mother taught me about WEATHER. "This room of yours looks like a tornado went through it."

9. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

10. My mother taught me about the CIRCLE OF LIFE. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

11. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. "Stop acting like your father!"

12. My mother taught me about ENVY. "There are millions of children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

13. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. "Just wait until we get home."

14. My mother taught me about RECEIVING. "You are going to get it when you get home!"

15. My mother taught me about MEDICAL SCIENCE. "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

16. My mother taught me about ESP. "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you'll be cold?"

17. My mother taught me about HUMOR. "When that lawnmower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

18. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

19. My mother taught me about GENETICS. "You're just like your father."

20. My mother taught me about WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

Live, Laugh, Love

The past few days have been a mixture of emotions for friends and family. Some of the events that took place had nothing to do with one another other than the fact that I knew a part of each one.

Live: When death faces us directly or indirectly we often wish we had more time, had told those we love just how much, had done things that we now regret not doing.

Laugh: We forget to laugh out loud, afraid of doing so, but laughter really is the best medicine.

Love: We often forget to say 'I Love You' to those that matter most because we are too busy making a living.

Just for a moment slow down and look around you. If you can find even one thing to be thankful for cherish it. Tell those you love that you love them, hug them a little tighter, laugh a little louder, and in doing all of this you might just live a little happier ;o)

No more work...

I can't work today. Something crashed on my computer and the mouse is missing...

**Thanks, Leslie Rae!

TN Trip Part III

The Sunday adventure began early as my flight was scheduled for a 12:35 take off. The family wanted to grab breakfast before I left and get in some last minute site seeing. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast at one of my dad's favorite places, The Cracker Barrel. Our waiter, Abraham, was a one star newbie that tried his very best at keeping our orders straight. Short of forgetting part of the meal, he did a good job. With our bellies full, gifts bought (a must when I go there), and quick jaunt to the gas station we headed off to see some sites.

Downtown Franklin is an adorable array of shops and old homes. My SIL got us around the downtown chaos as they were having the Main Street Festival. I was able to see some great old homes and take my nostalgic pictures. Due to our lack of time before my flight I took most of the pictures from a moving vehicle. The one stop we made was at The Factory. This place was really interesting.
The Factory was built in 1929 to accommodate Dortch Stove Works, Magic Chef, and Jamison Bedding. Now it is home to many high-end shops and dining facilities. We didn't tour inside, but I met one very interesting fellow. His name is Rusty.

Formal name is Russell T. Mechanism, created by artist Kris Nethercutt out of recycled junk over a six year period, and erected in 2008. Rusty, as he has fondly become known, stands over 20' tall and comes equipped with "Knobby Knees", "A Bug in his ear", "Water Works" (sprinklers between the legs), and numerous other quirks that you really need to see to appreciate. The sign posted on one side gives a nice review of where Rusty came from, what he stand for today, and how he is forging ahead for the future. I like Rusty.

We left the Factory and headed to the airport in Nashville. I made it there by 11:00 which was perfect timing to check my bags (5 minutes if that) and get to my gate. I made a couple of pit stops along the way to window shop and to buy one more gift for my oldest son. He's not as easy to buy for these days as my little guy. I got him a mouth harp and the poor thing nearly chipped his tooth trying to use it!

Sitting at the gate, I heard good news over the loud speaker. "Flight blah, blah, blah to Orlando is 30 minutes early. We have 137 passengers and 135 have checked in. We will begin boarding in the next 10 minutes." Woohoo! Early is great as I dreaded the traffic from OIA back to Melbourne.

I peek at my boarding pass and see that I am in the last group to board again. Okay, no big deal. I see a few faces from the first flight as most of them were in town for the weekend like me. The Music City Marathon was that Saturday so most of them were also fairly "small"--meaning John and Bubba from the first flight were not there to crowd my elbow room.

I was getting ready to board when the loud speaker sounded, "Ladies and Gentlemen of flight blah, blah, blah to Orlando, we have all 137 passengers checked in and will be able to take off ahead of schedule." Fantastic! Then I heard this..."Dude, the run was like balls to the wall awesome!" I cringed. Are you f***ing kidding me? He's back? Yeah, the same guy from the flight there was apparently flying back with me...and was behind me to board in the open seating of Southwest Airlines! I practically ran in front of two other people and made my apologies as I boarded the plane. There was three open seats, two next to each other and one in between a 5-7 year old boy and perhaps his 7-8 year old sister as they were arguing, "Did not," "Did to".

Crap. I took one of the seats with the open spot and crossed my fingers. The "Balls to the wall" guy got stuck with the kids, sort of. The mother traded spots and the dad got stuck sitting with him. I got stuck with a lady that drank too much wine on the flight home and kept falling asleep on my shoulder. It could have been worse. I'll definitely check in online next time when there are not assigned seats.

The flight was a bit rough once we hit Orlando. The turbulence, though not paralyzing, made for a rough landing as we bounced...seriously, we bounced onto the runway and halfway down as we taxied to the terminal. The weather was warm, humidity low, and sun shining. I was home.

After settling in for the night with my boys I asked Bam (my youngest) if I could go "bye-bye" again. This was his response:

That means NO.

TN Trip Part I

This past weekend was a fabulous getaway to TN--though it went by entirely to fast. I missed my boys. Especially Bam who actually likes having me around. Anthony was gone himself, as is the norm on weekends, so he didn't know I was even gone. Bobby had a rough time, well...an interesting one at least! I left Thursday evening.

Friday morning came too early with a page from my hubster. When I spoke to him he said it must have been Bam playing with his phone. He had a rough night with Bam waking every hour, coughing, runny nose--sinuses. Then the poor baby coughed so much he spit up leaving Bobby to clean blankets and bedding as well as a milk-vomit child. He threw the bedding in the wash and the baby in the bath. Once bath time was over he was running loose in his birthday suit while Bobby got his diaper and clothes ready. Bam has a habit of squatting in a corner while he goes #2 and he did just that in his bedroom...without his diaper on. It landed on his heel and he took off through the house, leaving a poop trail for Bobby to clean, not to mention keep the dogs out of it. In order to do just that he wrangled Bam, put the dogs outside, and got the baby cleaned up and dressed.

Then he decided to try my method of containment while he showered--placing Bam on our bed to watch TV and eat breakfast. The TV was on, the breakfast was there...a pop tart. Yeah, Bam peeled the pop tart apart and smeared the jelly filling all over our bed spread and his newly cleaned self. Bobby jumps out of the shower, baby-wiped everything, and realized the dogs were still outside. Bobby got dressed, brought Bam outside to find that Doug (our bulldog) had made his way across the fence but couldn't get back in the yard. While Bobby coaxed Doug back over, Bam was running loose once again and stepped in...yep, dog shit.

Dogs inside, another round with the wipes, and everything at a stand still for Bobby to take a breath...whew. I got the phone call from him at 10:30 a.m. when he was on the way to the store with Bam and Ant (whom he let stay home from school because at that point he couldn't get him there on time anyway). That was the beginning of his weekend. Poor guy didn't stand a chance. Through the rest of the weekend it was similar chaos, sleepless nights with Bam waking and crying for me, and the occasional cute video or picture to show me they were all still alive. My weekend fun will follow in TN Trip Part II.