Facebook

So, once again I have forgotten about my blog! LOL! I guess Blogsgiving did me in, and I couldn't even make it a whole month. Lesson learned, no more Blogsgiving!

I'm fully aware that I probably spend too much time on Facebook. I scroll and scroll trying to keep up with my friends and what's going on in their lives. Multiple times a week I tell myself that I should delete the app, however I can never bring myself to do it, it's how I keep up with everyone currently and in the past.

My favorite thing is looking at my memories. So many things show up that I either forget about or can't remember what the heck I was talking about! It is a great way to remember what I've done in the past, good or bad!

These last 3 -4 weeks, I've teared up almost daily reading my memories. Anyone who knows me and my family know that October 2014-October 2015 were rough times, specifically May and June 2015. As time goes on, memories become more distant, sometimes I'm not sure if reliving those memories yearly are good or not, but I'm leaning more toward good.

These memories make me cry happy tears. These memories are a reminder of God's goodness. Specifically seeing the post from my sister pleading for prayers for Claire as she is being pumped full of steroids to restore her vision and then again two days later with an update that Claire's vision is 20/20 again.  So many emotions flood through me as I read all of these post from three years ago. These post of hundreds of people from all of the country praying for Claire and standing with us as we prayed and believed for complete healing in her body, from her eyes, to her ears, to each additional procedure she endured. God's love was shown daily. Those memories are no fun, but the reminder of Gods healing is amazing.

Today I'm reminded of the love shown to me from my friends during this time.  I remember sitting at Amico's with my friends for our "Bonnaroo" meeting and leaving there having no clue what was discussed. I can't remember if Claire was still in the hospital or at home at this point, but I literally left there knowing less about our plans than I did before I got there. For a month or two before Bonnaroo, I contemplated selling my ticket, no sure why at the time, but the reason making itself clear later on. So much was on my mind at this time, that Bonnaroo was the last thing I was thinking about.

Claire came home from the hospital on Wednesday, June 3rd, on the following Wednesday, June 10th, I had my interview at TennCare, which I would get. I left there and headed to Krogers to grab my Bonnaroo groceries. As I had a cart full of groceries, I get the phone call saying that the family is gathering at the nursing home with Grandma Vernon because they weren't sure if she'd make it through the night. I was standing in the middle of Kroger's with a grocery cart full of food not sure if I should put it all back or buy it. I went ahead and checked out, went to Shelby's, left my food in her fridge, and we busted tail to Franklin. Grandma passed away about an hour after Shelby and I got there. I saw my Grandma almost daily for the majority of my life, and no matter how prepared I was, it was still a lot of sadness.

My Bonnaroo got postponed obviously! I was on the fence if I would go or not, but Thursday I met up with my friends and left them my camping gear, just in case I decided to come up and meet them. I ended up going Saturday afternoon after Grandma's funeral. I got there, and I was almost in a panic attack, I think everything hit me and I was tired, worn out, and just plain sad.


Today's memory reminded me of how awesome my friends were. Today's memory was a picture of my tent set up and air mattress blown up and made up with my sheets and blankets. Seems like a small gesture, but for anyone who's been to Bonnaroo, you know how hot it can be and no one likes setting up the camp, but my friends took the extra time to set up my tent so I had a place to sleep and wouldn't have to do it when I got there, even though I wasn't sure if I was actually going or not until Saturday morning.

I can't tell you who I saw at Bonnaroo that year, I really can't tell you much about my life from May-August, it's really just a blur. What I do remember is receiving hugs from my friends as I arrived. I remember just wanting to sit down when I got there, everything hitting me and on the verge of tears as they unloaded my car for me and let me just sit there. They helped me laugh and joked with me to help me feel some sense of normalcy for a few days. For my 2015 Mermaid River group, thank you!

So, to Facebook, thanks for the memories, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But mostly, thank you for reminding me of God's love!

P.S. I finally learned how to download a picture onto my blog! Life Changer right here! LOL!

I Have Not Forgotten About BlogsGiving

Yeah, pretty sure this is the first and last time I'll say I'm going to blog every day for a month! LOL! I have not even been by my computer since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I literally shut down for this holiday, it's been nice.

I'm sitting here with the sweetest dog in my lap.....a dog that I'm allergic to. That's not cool. I still love him and praying to see what the best fit for him is.

Thanksgiving was great. It's nice to be surrounded by some good people. Family is more then just blood. Grateful for The Streets and how much they are like family to us.

Our Black Friday tradition of bowling continued this year. I dominated....enuff said! LOL! I'm glad I still have my bowling ball with my name on it. How cool am I?!?!

Busy week and possibly a busy December with work. I'm actually in the office 3 possibly 4 days this week, although 2 of those days hopefully will just be partial days in the office and the rest spent at home.

Friday, December 1st, is a big day. I my mammogram that day! Yes, it's upon us! Luckily, I'll be driving to Chatt-Town that afternoon, so it will be a fun evening spent with some of my favorite people.

Not looking forward to going back to reality, aka work. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a tough day, adjusting and what not. I'm sure it will be fine. I have a 1/2 day training, which is the only reason I'm going in on a Monday. It will also be Jack Jacks first full day home by himself. I got the baby gate for the bathroom, and he was in there while I went to Church today and then ran errands, about 5-6 hours. He did good. Chewed on some toilet paper....but if that's all he did, I'm ok with it.

Well, Christmas is a month a way and my birthday is 2 months away! Whoop Whoop!

The Day Before Thanksgiving

So, I know I missed writing last night. I sat down and it was blank. I stared at the computer and finally gave up on writing a blog. There was nothing there.

Today is the day before Thanksgiving. I'm working from home and boiling caramel as I type this. The sweet dog is just chilling. He got neutered yesterday and I'm pretty sure all of his anesthesia has worn off!

I'm making a caramel pie for Thanksgiving tomorrow, however I've been eating on one since Sunday. The Vernon Thanksgiving was cancelled, so I made my pie for my community group Sunday night and unfortunately had some left overs. I had caramel pie for lunch today! Whoo-Hoo!

I was thinking back on Thanksgivings of past and thinking how some of them were kind of weird. We had a 3 year period where something crazy was going on, and I remember for a few years afterwards, praying for a normal Thanksgiving.

Obviously, hands down, the best Thanksgiving was the one where Shelby came home from the hospital the night before Thanksgiving. She'd been in there for three weeks and it was somewhat last minute that she was discharged the day before Thanksgiving. Pop cooked up a turkey real fast and mom bought all of the Betty Crocker tubs of sides and we had Thanksgiving at Shelby and Johns house and we had so much to be thankful for that year. I still remember Caroline's cute little Thanksgiving shirt that Shelby got at the outlet mall in Destin a few months prior. She was so precious!

The next year was my grandmother having a stroke and mom and dad spent Thanksgiving at the hospital with her and the following year was when dad spent Thanksgiving in the hospital after developing an infection.

So, to say the least, I'm thankful for any type of normal Thanksgiving!

It Feels Like a Monday

Today totally feels like a Monday, even thought I worked from home. I'm exhausted. I'm sure I can blame this sweet doggy for it, but he's actually doing great, so not sure if I can blame him or not.

This is a short week. Thursday is Thanksgiving, which means only 3 days of work this week, and only 1 of those 3 days are actually in the office. Sometimes these short weeks feel long. I always say I still do 5 days worth of work, just in 3 days! So, today, I feel like I've already done 2 days worth of work! LOL!

Zealand Jack Jack is doing great. Still not sure of a name yet.....I really just call him sweet thing, but I'm trying to alternate between Zealand and Jack Jack. John Mark calling him Zealand was the cutest thing though! ZJJ, did good today. He snoozed in my lap all day. He snores too! He was sawing some logs at one point when I was on a conference call. Luckily, I was muted for the majority of this conference! LOL! May I have do something different when I'm actually more active on these phone calls.

I'm hoping he sleeps all night tonight. Last night he woke up at 1:00 and I took him to pee, but then not a peep out of him until 6:00 this morning. Tomorrow morning I'm dropping him off at the vet on my way to work for him to get neutered. He won't be happy with no breakfast in the morning, but he probably won't be very happy tomorrow afternoon when I pick him up either! LOL!

I'm assuming he is the reason that I'm dragging today, I may just blame him! He is just so sweet though, so far I'm smitten with him.

Still can't believe Thanksgiving is Thursday. Our Vernon Thanksgiving got cancelled this past Saturday, but hopefully it will be rescheduled soon. For the past few years, we do Thanksgiving with the Streets on actually Thanksgiving, so I am looking forward to that. Side note, since Thanksgiving got cancelled,  I had already made the caramel for my caramel pie. I luckily was able to take it to Community Group last night, however I still have some left over. I just want to eat caramel pie for each meal! LOL! I'm not though, but I want to. So good!

Well, hopefully this is a good, restful night! Maybe ZJJ will want to go to sleep early tonight! Even thought that's all he does....sleep!

Dog Mom

So, I'm sitting here typing this blog with the cutest little 7.5 pound maltipoo sitting on my lap. A maltipoo that will hopefully be my forever dog. This week, I'm on a foster to adopt with this sweet dog and so far, I'm in love!

I actually have a draft that I started a few weeks ago, with the title, I Think I Want a Dog! I didn't finish it, but I guess this can be that blog!

I've always wanted a dog, but knew I wouldn't have enough time to devote to one, plus there is the fact that I'm allergic to dogs. A few weeks ago, when I was at that craft show in Lewisburg, I saw the most perfect dog and I wanted her sooo bad. She was adopted, however I have been looking at rescues since for a dog like her.

Two nights ago, my crazy dog lady best friend called me and told me there was a 3-4 year old maltipoo in Mississippi that was an owner surrender, and asked if I was interested. I of course said yes. Well, today, this sweet little dog was on a transport to Spring Hill from Biloxi, Mississippi.

Caroline went with me to pick him up and sign the paper work. I was immediately taken with this sweet, but scared dog. So far, he is perfect, granted, it's just been a few short hours!

He slept in Caroline's lap the whole way home. We went to Shelby and Johns house where the kids, and the adults loved him. John Mark asked if he could spend the night and also told me that Poppa would probably like  him better if he stayed at his house! LOL! Luckily, I know I have some good babysitters lined up!

Mom and dad seemed to like him, he is too cute not to like.

In Mississippi, he wasn't properly taken care of. His hair was a wreck and he had been vaccinated at home instead of at a vet! I didn't know that was such a thing. So yesterday, after the rescue in Mississippi got him, they took him to the vet to be vaccinated and groomed. He looks completely different. He isn't neutered, but hopefully will be by the end of the week! I ain't got time to have a dog that's a baby daddy!

He is pretty skinny too, he came home and ate like crazy! I didn't want to over feed him though and mess his stomach up. He may not be used to good food!

I also have not heard him bark once! When we got to my house, he just looked at Knievel, didn't even flinch. I'm not sure Knievel realized I was carrying a dog in either! Hopefully tomorrow they are still calm like that.

I'm  not sure he fully understands how to walk on a leash and he is not interested in any toys that I have for him. He has seriously been sleeping in my lap since we got home. He better sleep tonight too!

I kind of felt nervous when I left my parents house, heading to mine with this cute baby.   It's like I was bringing home a new kid, which for me, I kind of am!

I'm thinking it's going to be a match made in heaven. He better not be tricking me with how good he is!

Friday

So, once again, not much to write about today, however, I think tomorrow may be an interesting post. Please come back again tomorrow......

Once again, it's a Friday night and I did middle aged stuff.....Cotsco on a Friday night is still pretty crowded.

Question: Does The Dollar Tree have Black Friday sales?!?!?! I was pondering that as I walked out tonight, can it get much cheaper than $1????

Wow.....I wish you could live vicariously through me and some really cool blog reading, but not tonight, tonight is not your night.

Tomorrow, I think it will be better.

Ramblings From a Thursday

I don't really have much to say today. I probably should, but this is still the world wide web, I don't want all my business out there! LOL!

I'm so thrown off on my days. Obviously, I love working from home, but I forget what day it is. Today is only my 2nd day in the office this week, and I keep forgetting that it's Thursday. I guess that's somewhat of a good problem to have.

I have a feeling this next month is going to fly by. There's a lot that's happening at work this coming up month, so it's keeping me nice and busy, just like I like it!

I found this to be funny, however, it's not really funny. I got an alert from Channel 2 news that said, 2 accidentally shot at East Tenn. church during discussion about Texas shooting. WHAT???? Were they having a re-enactment and forgot the gun was loaded?!?! I need to know more about this headline, cause that just doesn't make any sense at all.

I was excited to see that the Titans played on NBC tonight, you know because that's one of the channels I get. WRONG....I get CBS. I was bummed when I turned my channel to "NBC" and saw Big Bang Theory. I found an analog box that my parents gave me to get more channels. I tried hooking it up tonight, but didn't understand the directions so I didn't. They were TERRIBLE instructions.......seriously, it's the instructions, not this un-tech savvy person trying to hook this box up to her TV....the instructions.

I'm tired....it was another long day in the office and driving to and from the office. Seriously.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have something better to write about.