Beth's Giveaway

Everyone loves a good giveaway, and my niece-through-marriage-to-my-wonderful-nephew-Sean is celebrating her Blogversary with some really great stuff! Who wouldn't love a fabulous FREE PURSE?! Her new business sounds fascinating and although I have no idea where she's finding the time to do it, I know it will be a total success. Visit her blog here. Good luck!

I've Been Traveling and I'm Pooped

Decided to drive to Birmingham last Wednesday to do what I could about selling Mom's place, plus I wanted to visit my Dad With The Broken Neck (he's doing great--a positive attitude will work wonders). Took Boo to the vet and left lots of food and water for Poonie with instructions to try not to vomit all over the place. When faced with unlimited amounts of food, Poonie eats too much too fast and, well, I just had to keep my fingers crossed (Poonie's been in the office with me all morning, talking, rubbing his head on my legs--now he's managed to get the closet doors open enough and he's sitting in the closet looking at me. Anyone who knows Poonie and how mean he's been all his life just can't believe this transformation--he's especially sweet after I've left him alone for a few days. Hey, it works for our marriage, why not with a cat?).

I need to finish my plantation posting but I have to tell you, I found the weirdest, coolest structure EVER right in the middle of Prattville, Alabama--plus Prattville itself, while having an "ugly" name, has an awesome historic downtown. It took way longer to get home than it normally would (8 hours as opposed to 5) but it was worth it.

It took me all day Sunday, though, to recover!

God Bless Them

I am extremely proud of several members of Mike's family who are or have been recent military. Mike's sister Julie has three sons and a daughter. The oldest, Mark, is a career Marine who was in Iraq three times and is now a drill instructor here in the States (prior to Iraq, he starred on the Military Channel's "Tank School" as the tough, profane--yet loveable--instructor. I'm sure he would not appreciate that description, LOL). Julie has twin boys, Wayne and John. Wayne is career Army and has been to both Afghanistan and Iraq. The youngest, Kristina, just married Doug, who was Army when she met him and was in a helicopter crew in Iraq, got out of the Army, and may return to active duty soon. For personal reasons, I am not an advocate of nor a supporter of war, yet I say a prayer each day for the safety of all those away from their families in the service of our country, and pray that one day soon all of them will be out of harm's way.

How To Feel Really Really Old

I'm not sure when this was taken, but probably in the 70's. There are so many things that have happened since then--two have passed, everyone who was married or got married has been widowed or divorced and some remarried. That's me in the upper left corner with the long blonde hair--#2 sister Sally to my left, #3 sister Susie sitting in front of me, and #4 sister Cynthia next to her. Cynthia died on May 27, 2004, bless her troubled soul. My sweet Grandma B. is there--a woman with a heart of gold who made THE WORST German chocolate cake EVER. OMG, it was bad! It's both fun and sad to come across photos like this. We were obviously having a good time and were young enough to think that the world wasn't such an awful place. Ya learn, don't ya? And at the same time, the learning was part of the process of living and maturing, and most of us are still around to celebrate our lives and the lives of those who've passed on. Can't ask for much more than that.

I Love My Husband

Here's my husband, Mike. When this picture was taken, he was filling tiny plastic cups with candy and nuts preparing for his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. He doesn't look like a nut cup filling kind of guy, but there are many things about Mike that surprise people. Like how romantic he can be--one day I came home from work to find these flowers:
with a beautiful handwritten note (and a beautiful peridot bracelet!!). It was all for "just because" since Mike doesn't believe in having to give someone something JUST BECAUSE it's your birthday or anniversary, etc. I didn't like that at first, but then he'll surprise me by actually sending flowers to me on our anniversary, which I forget every year even though I purposely had us get married the day before my birthday so I WOULDN'T freakin' forget.

Another time, I came home to find this sweet message written on the kitchen blackboard:

We met in 1988 and have been together ever since and there is not one day that I've ever regretted knowing him -- he is kind, he gets emotional, he "lets me" get tattooed, and he always makes sure to give me a kiss when he leaves the house and when he returns, even if it's just to go to the Home Depot. Some days, that means getting kissed three or four times, which is ok. I'm sure lots of women love their husbands just as much as I do, and I think that's great. Unfortunately for them, though, I have THE BEST husband! Ha ha!!

The Genetic Anomaly

My brother-in-law sent me this picture with the following note: "Here is a picture of Toni getting a new Personal Record (PR) at Florida State on Saturday 3/28". Toni Marie is my sister Cynthia's daughter who lives with another sister, Susie, and her family. At least, Toni's birth certificate says she's Cynthia's daughter, but I personally believe that Toni was brought here by aliens because NOT ONE spawn of my parents has a shred of athletic ability. Incredibly, those same aliens must have laid eggs in Susie AND Sally because all of their kids are athletic, as well! Does the Federal government know about this? OMG, maybe they didn't and now they DO know because I KNOW they're spying on my blog! Toni's PR is an amazing jump of 9'6"!!! She jumped over a bar that high after running toward it carrying a great big pole!!! Who but an alien would do that, I ask you? Toni, your auntie is very, very proud of you and loves you bunches. And just be sure you stay away from globby green things with a million eyes who want to take you back to Mars . . .

My Mother, Marian Bogs

Mom passed away on January 26, 2009 after battling Alzheimer's for over three years. About a month and a half ago, she fell and broke her leg, which meant surgery--where she suffered a stroke. She died less than two weeks after the surgery and I know she just didn't want to go on any longer. In fact, she told me she was dying and of course I poo-pooed that . . . but she knew and I believe she was comfortable with it. Having lived 81 years and lost both the love of her life and her youngest child, she was ready. Now she's with George S. and Cynthia and Mike Nordan and Beau and all her beloved horses, cats, dogs, goats and friends. Not sure if her mother went UP or DOWN, but I do know that her stepfather, Walter, was waiting for his daughter with open arms. I had a hard time dealing with the Alzheimer's and for the two years she lived with me it was a constant battle, lots of yelling and name-calling on both our parts. I didn't have the patience to deal with everything that comes with the disease and she would never admit there was anything wrong with her. But then again, who wants to admit to yourself that your brain is gone? She was stubborn, yes indeedy. Sometimes I hated her but I never stopped loving her.