Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Name that baby....

OK, here's your challenge. Down there is an admittedly awful picture of the girl (Well, OK, the pic is of me... not the best from the shower tonight, but it'll hafta do).



Now that you've "seen" her, you have to help name her. Her middle name is Melinda... her last name is something like VanSteinwalkenheimerwagonerer... or maybe even longer. So....... given her middle and last names (unfortunately non-negotiable), what should her first name be??

I know that a few of you have been tossing around ideas. I promise I won't be offended (but I might let out a guffaw or two)... I want to hear your suggestions. ALL your suggestions. Really, I do. And if anyone picks the name we've been leaning toward, I might even fess up.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Southerners, pt. 2

Y'all may remember a post I made last month about Southerners. I did say they were nice folks, right? Well, here's another proof of that....

Male half of said neighbors just came over and asked "if my husband would be upset" if he mowed our lawn for us. Would he be upset?? Heck no!! He'll probably dance a jig when he gets home & sees the lawn freshly cut (in a half-hour of the neighbors time on his riding mower instead of the usual 3 hours it takes hubby with the push mower)!!

As neighbor-man put it, "I'm in a good mood today." I'm pretty sure this will leave husband-man in a good mood too! No grass to mow this coming weekend. More time for playing Rome Total War....... eh, never mind.

Here's to good neighbors!!

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Prayer request....

This from a friend...

Hey Everyone…I am calling on everyone I know who is a believer to pray for me, my family, and my friends right now. We have had a couple of awful ironic things happen over the past 5 days.

On Saturday night (a week ago tonight), a very close friend of mine, L, and her husband, J, went to a party. J is an alcoholic along with some other mental issues. He does not see himself as an alcoholic. L’s marriage is pretty miserable, as J does not see any need to change, and L keeps trying to “guilt” him into changing. Of course, this will not work, so the cycle continues. L stays in the marriage because she wants the “perfect” life—nice house in an affluent neighborhood, good looking husband, and beautiful children. She stays in a marriage rotting from within because she so badly wants this image intact. Despite her shortcomings, she is a dear friend of mine, although one who can be emotionally draining due to her neediness.

Anyway, they attend the party, and J gets very, very drunk. L drives them home. When they get home, they have a fight over his drinking, and she tells him to sleep on the couch. She goes upstairs to brush her teeth, and hears the garage door open. J left in his car. She drove around looking for him at convenience stores and the local bar. When she can’t find him, she calls the police to report a missing drunk person.

When the cop arrives, he takes the report and leaves. In a matter of minutes, the cop comes back to her door to tell her that he has been involved in an accident. He was driving southbound on the northbound lanes of a 4-lane divided highway without headlights. He hit another car head on, killing one person in the other car on impact. J, despite immediate appearances to the contrary, was alive and will recover from a broken hip and ruptured spleen. He will recover well enough to spend a minimum of 5 years in prison for vehicular homicide and assault by auto, and that’s with the high priced defense attorney his and L’s family’s are hiring. I have been dealing with this since L’s panicked phone call Sunday morning, trying to be a supportive friend. This can be very difficult when she vacillates between making excuses for him and being angry. So far, J is unrepentant and has even gone so far as to blame L for not stopping him from driving away.

Today (Friday) was the second day of school. I was in the middle of going over the rules with my 1st period class when my boss comes to my classroom door. My mom is on the phone. She tells me that my dad’s youngest sister has been killed by a drunk driver in a head on collision. The drunk driver was going northbound on the southbound lanes of a 4-lane divided highway. She was killed on impact. She was an on-call hospice nurse, and was returning from a late night call from a patient. My aunt had been a job drifter and an excuse maker until she recently found happiness and her niche in hospice nursing. She was very highly respected by her co-workers and boss, as my mom has found out from speaking with her boss. Now she’s gone. She was 45.
My dad has now had to mourn 3 siblings in the past 7 years. All were lost at a young age: one at 62 to breast cancer, one at 61 to heart disease, and now T at 45.

I am reeling from having to live the same tragedy and identical accident scenario from both sides in one week: as the victim’s family and as a friend of the perpetrator’s family. Nobody wins. Nobody.

Please be praying for me and my family and the families of both drunk drivers. This is a lot to handle. I am trying to figure out what the Lord is trying to tell me through these circumstances. I, as yet, do not understand. This makes panic disorder look like a piece of cake. Love, _____

*UPDATE*
Hi…To add to your prayer list, the drunk driver, a 20-year-old, who killed my aunt, died last night at the hospital where he was taken after the accident. There are a lot of people hurting! Thank you for your support and love and prayers.

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

37-42

Nope, neither my age range nor my hip size I'll leave y'all to guess which side of 37-42 those fall on.

No, really.... 37-42... the magical 5 week window during which Little-Miss-Kicks-like-a-Mule needs to make her appearance in order for the midwives to legally assist with her birth. I'm all about being legal.... and I'm getting to be all about getting "LMKlaM" OUT..... so y'all pray for us (mule & me). She must needs stay put for at least another 3 weeks, then she needs to get the heck OUT of my ribcage. Sheesh... you'd think I was short or something!

For the uninitiated, mom's lack-of-height means the baby spends a lot of time cramped up under your diaphragm--making it dang hard to breathe in any position but concert-pianist-straight-backed or laying down. Me? I'm not short...*whines*... and I really prefer slouching.... Oh well... only another 7 weeks & I can slouch to my heart's content, with babe in arms instead of ribs.

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Gender Fluidity?!

I might have known this article was coming out of San Fran.... When is it OK for boys to be girls and girls to be boys?

(and if you're not the slightest bit interested in reading it... don't.... It's just... um... odd. Current, no doubt, but odd.)

Saturday, September 2, 2006

Here's to friends...

Friends who let you store stuff in their house... taking up their space... for years (literally)... until one day they become:

Friends who let you steal your stuff back.... right out from under their unsuspecting house-guests... and then treat you to lunch for "no particular reason" at all...

Friends like that are good ones to have...and keep...and not take advantage of....too often!!

Thanks, friends!! (You know who you are!)