Miscellaneous

Husband and OS are on their way home.  YAY!  It's been nice to just have to take care of myself & YS, but it will be nice to have Husband home.  OS was suppose to start classes yesterday.  Luckily the university he goes to doesn't have the policy that the big university where MS goes:  If they're absent the first class, they get dropped from the class.  I guess the big u has people waiting to get into a class, and if you're not serious about going to class, there's someone else willing to pay to get in.
Husband sent me a picture from a campground a few nights ago.  He said this was about 200 feet from his campsite and the main building:

I don't know how y'all feel about this, but I would feel much better if this had been seen outside of a hotel, not in a campground!  Somehow knowing that a bear could tear through a piece of canvas isn't very comforting.

Middle son came by Friday night to get yet another piece of clothing he needed.  He had his rugby practice uniform on, and of course I had to take a picture.  I have to admit:  it looks kind of dopey; I think I caught him as he was looking at his suitemate and saying something to him!

 He is loving the big university.  I have to tell y'all something funny, though.  I got an e-mail from a blogging friend the other day.  She said that she was in the cafeteria and saw a guy that she thought she may know.  Then she realized it was MS!  She said that she didn't say anything to him because she wasn't sure how to explain to him that she knew me but didn't know me.  I thought it was pretty cool that she recognized MS.  I made sure he knew that she had seen him so that if she sees him again and speaks to him, he'll know that she's not some crazy person someone he can speak to!


High school football is in full swing.  Last Thursday was our big rivalry game.  This game has been played for more than 80 years, and has been pretty fierce.  There have been years of egg fights at the bridge, pranks on the other schools, and just down right not liking each other.  The dislike has seemed to lost a little of the edge as people have moved in and just don't understand what the rivalry is all about.  You have David Vs. Goliath; the small blue-collar school vs. the big white-collar school.  Last year our high school beat the other one; before that it had been 9 years since we had won.  It seems like every year we push each other to be better.  I don't remember many years when one school has been up and the other has been down.  So, how did it turn out on Thursday night?  Here's a photo of the final scoreboard, compliments of my friend Kimert:

YAY!  We won for the 2nd year in a row!  This had been the 1st time in 10 years that they had been beat on their home field.  Who beat them the last time?  Why, it was our little bitty school!  I didn't feel the excitement during the day that I had in the past; I guess it was because I don't have a football player this year.  The game was on tv, so I opted to stay at home and watch.  Y'all have no idea how crazy this game gets:  There are usually around 10,000 people there.  We only have 8,000 in our town.  People are in line at 4:00 to get into the gates at 4:30; the game started at 7:00.  This is a huge game for bragging rights in the county.  There are a couple of other high schools in the county, but they haven't had very good teams for a while.  Anyway, once the game was coming on, the ol' excitement came back!  Remember I yell at the tv during ballgames?  My jack russell mutt jumped off of the couch at one point and slinked off to the bedroom.  The game went back and forth; no one ever lead by more than 4 points at any part of the game.  Very exciting!


Another high school football game took place on Friday night that was exciting:  EHS (my husband's alma mater) had their first home football game in their new stadium.  The old stadium had been damaged during the tornado 3 years ago.  The students are now in their new school, which is the largest campus in Alabama.  The pictures of the school are amazing; that is one beautiful school!  If you choose to look at the pictures on the following site, you'll see the mosaic of the wildcat that was in the old school.  George Bush, when he visited the old high school after the tornado, insisted that the mosaic be preserved and put in its own place in the new school.
Home, at last. New Enterprise High School opens | Dothan Eagle

Does the whole town turn out for high school football games in your hometown, or is it just another night?

Picture Pages

Remember that song from a children's show?  It's running through my head now, and I have no idea what show it came from!  Maybe someone can help me out?
Anyway, I'm posting some of my husband's pictures from his trip this far.  Enjoy!

This was his campsite a couple of nights ago.  I love the colors in the background.  You may have to click on it to get the full effect!

This is known as "Aspen Alley".  It's apparently one of the most photographed scenes among Adventure Riders.

OS is having the time of his life.  This is the farthest he's been from home, and the first vacation he's had (not counting trips to the beach & DisneyWorld with the family).  He and a friend went 4 wheeling for his friend's birthday.  A little bit of bad news here:  The vehicle my son was on had something wrong with it when he returned it.  I'm sure it was just wear & tear; nothing different than what happens on a daily basis.  BUT, the policy is that you have to pay 1/2 of the repairs.  OS was extremely upset because he didn't have the extra money to pay for it.  It's just his luck that something would happen to his vehicle.  

Here are a couple of his pictures:

He is loving it out in Wy.  I have a feeling if he gets the chance, he's going to be out there after he graduates!  He's having a great time, and he deserves it:  he's been working hard in school, and trying very hard to do the right thing.  

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures!  Have a great day!

Wild, Wild West

Y'all know how husband enjoys riding his motorcycle (aka "the ugly green bike").  2 years ago he and a couple of friends rode to Alaska, making sure they rode to the Arctic Circle.  This year he planned on riding the Continental Divide with those same 2 friends.  About a month ago, his friends told him they couldn't make it for various reasons.  OS had  planned on going with him and spending a few  days with some friends of his who are river guides.  So, what did husband decide to do?  Here's a hint:

Saturday husband loaded up the car with the ugly green bike in tow, and he & OS headed west.

I have proof that they didn't kill each other on the way over, unless some stranger took this picture:

Yesterday was husband's birthday...these are a couple of his  birthday views:

(I told you the bike was ugly!)

When I was growing up, birthdays weren't that big of a deal.  I guess when you have 10 kids, it's hard to make a huge deal out of everybody's birthday.  That being said, when husband said something about not being with the family for his birthday, I pretty much shrugged it off and told him it was just another day.  (Yes, I can be mean that way.)  It looks like  he's enjoying himself.  Prayers for a safe journey would be greatly appreciated!

MS is in his first full week of college life with classes.  He's dropped and added a class and has found something to occupy his time (like he needs anything else):  rugby.  Whatever.  I don't understand it, and don't understand why a group of big sweaty guys would want to get together and hug each other in the middle of a field.   But, hey, if that's what he wants to do...

I did get an amusing text from him today.  It read:  "You have to pay to wash clothes here."  No _____, Sherlock!   (Sorry, there's nothing else can describe that text!)  He just cracks me up!  I have no idea what he thought....this university takes it to you every which way ($250 for a parking sticker if you live on campus is a bit much!), of course they aren't going to let you wash your clothes for free!  Oh, the life lessons he's learning!

As a plus for husband being out of town:  YS made dinner today! We tried something new:  Carne Guisada.  He said next time he'll put in some refried beans for some awesome burritos.  (We believe in eating carbs at our house!)  


Okay, guess that gets everybody in a post!  It doesn't happen very often, does it?  Hope everybody is having a Terrific Tuesday! 

Photo Roulette

This is a meme that I've been meaning to participate in for the past few weeks, but have had other things going on.  Yesterday, the Flashback Friday's prompt was pretty good, especially since last night was YS' high school's first football game.  (3 hours away.  Because no one in the state will play them.  Because they've won the past 6 state championships in their class.)  Here are the "rules" for this meme:  Cara at Mischief and Laughs randomly (I'm assuming) picks a folder and picture from the photo album.  This week was the 3rd folder, 25th picture.  I didn't have 25 pictures in that folder, so I picked the 5th instead.  You post the picture and give a description of it, then go link up.  Yes, it's that simple!  Here's my picture:

 This is Youngest Son (YS) with his bike in 2008.  Husband is an avid biker (he has a couple of bikes...no Harleys allowed in this house, though!) and he really wants one of the boys to share his love of motorcycles.  OS rode for a while, and will occasionally ride; MS has never expressed a desire to even learn; so husband bought this bike for YS in the hopes that he would learn to ride.  Husband says YS is doing well with the learning, we just have to get down to the DMV for him to get his bike permit.


As with any meme, if you join in and want to meet new people or share your picture with others, go visit Cara for Photo Roulette and link up!

Another Random Without Linda

I thought Linda would be back from her Random Break, but I guess she needs more time off from having to think so hard!  I still can't blame her;  my brain is still on summer break.  Once again, I give you a random half-dozen of things that have been going on here in the small town:

1.  Getting into a "new routine", one that consists of husband & I going to work, and YS to school...alone.  It feels kind of weird just getting up 1 boy for school.  At least the one that I have to get up does really well getting out of bed when he's suppose to!  Pepper helps him by "doing her job":  she'll  jump on the bed and bestow morning kisses until he gets up.

2.  Does this need any words?

Husband was going for a ride on Saturday; this is how he was dressed when he came into the kitchen, and yes, I was laughing!  He waited for me to grab my camera and take a picture.  He said something about me mentioning in a blog post that he had to marry me so he wouldn't walk around looking like this!

3.  This trifle bowl:

This was my mother's bowl.  This is the bowl I use when I make Mexican Trifle Bowl.  I knew if I borrowed it enough, mom would  tell me to just keep it, since I'm the only one who uses it.  Well,  it happened last Thursday:  When I told her I needed to bring it back, Mom told me to just keep it!  She said if she ever needed it, she knew who to borrow it from!  One of my sisters called me a brat when we talked about the bowl at the 4th of July.  Hmmmm...wonder what she meant by that!  (hee-hee!  I love being the youngest girl!)

4.  Flowers not only surviving, but thriving!

                                                    May                                                           

July

                                                May                                                                    

                                        

July

(No, I didn't get mulch out, and I didn't take a picture of the groundcover that may or may not make it!)

 

And hummingbirds stopping by for a quick snack:

 

5.  It has been so dry this summer that the hickory tree outside of our living window is already losing its nuts:

 The squirrels are having a field day, but the nuts falling and hitting the house startle us from  time to time!  There's also a lot of crunching going on when we drive out of /into the driveway.


6.   Reality update: 
Tuesday night's Real Housewives of New Jersey was relatively calm.  Danielle made a point to say that her daughter's Sweet Sixteen Party was very expensive, but that everything was donated.  I thought it was interesting that they never mentioned  the charity where they were donating the money, or how much they raised.  It was nice that her daughter's father/ her ex-husband showed up, but, man, did he look extremely uncomfortable when she hugged  him!  And of course, she turned on the tears.  No doubt it was because she saw the $$ that got away!  Next week's preview showed Kim G. finally having it with Danielle and really letting her have it.  Can't wait!  
Sunday night on Next Food Network Star I was shocked that Aria pulled a fast on on Aarti.  I really liked Aria in the past, but apparently she's a wolf in sheep's clothing.  If you didn't see it, Aarti was in charge of talking to the dinner guests so she could introduce their concept.  Aarti has a bit of a confidence problem to begin with, and Aria decided to be a little  sneak and get her rattled.  After a couple of sentences, Aria broke in and interrupted. Aarti did a good job of not appearing to be rattled, and Aria claimed that she wasn't sure if Aarti wanted her to introduce the concept or if she was going to do it herself (even though she asked as they were going out and Aarti said she'd  do it.).  What goes around comes around:  Aarti won the challenge, and Aria was in the bottom two.  You know what they say about Karma...!  Unfortunately, Serena (who was a little weird seeing before she presented) was the one who was sent home.  I  bet Aria isn't going to be far behind!


I know that long posts are some people's pet  peeves, so I'll end it here.  Hope everybody has a good  "Hump Day"!

Friday's Fave Five, Friday Follow, AND Flashback Friday

1.  This has to be #1 on my list for this week!  Spending the day with this handsome young man:

2. A quote from one of the school psychologists from her Facebook Status:   
"I'm going to alter my thinking so that instead of looking at this as the last day of summer vacation, I'm going to think of tomorrow as the first day toward next summer break."

3.  An unexpected dinner out.  I bought some chicken that already had marinade on it.  Add that to husband grilling at 500 degrees and what do you get?  WHOOSH!  I looked outside and noticed there was an awful lot of smoke out there!  Good thing the hose was close by!  And, to top that off, when we got  to the restaurant and I opened up the menu, the first thing I saw was:  Crispy Chicken Salad.  I think the waitress thought I was out of my mind when I started laughing!

4.   A quote from another friend on Facebook:   
"Some say the glass is half full some say half empty; I say who keeps drinking my drink?"

5.  The last lunch of summer with YS.  I go back to work today, and he picks up his schedule, then he starts classes on Monday.  Where did the summer go?   But more importantly:  when am I going to get in my afternoon naps?


 What are your FFF for the week?  Go visit Susanne and link up!   Don't forget to link up at Java's for Follow Friday 40 and Over!

Okay, okay!  This week's Flashback is pretty good, so I've gotta participate in it, too!

What were meals like when you were growing up? Did your mom (or dad) cook (and was it from scratch or from a box?) or did your family eat out much of the time? Did you eat together as a family or was everyone on a different schedule? What did you call meals? (Dinner vs. supper, lunch, etc.) 
As a rule, we ate supper together.  In fact, it was  rare when all 12 of us (10 kids  + mom & dad) didn't all sit down together.  We had a really long table with chairs on one side, and a long bench on the other.  At either end there were chairs for mama & daddy.  The older kids got to sit in the chairs, so it was a big deal  as they started moving out and someone else took their place.   Mom did all of the cooking since she was a stay at home mom.  Although, she says that she didn't know how to cook when she & daddy got married and credits daddy with teaching her how to cook.  For breakfast and lunch we were pretty much on our own.  I do remember when I was little, sitting down as a family for Sunday brunch. 
What were some of your favorite things that your parent fixed? What did you dislike and vow never to fix once you grew up? 
It seems like  we had roast a bunch on Sundays.  I absolutely hated lima beans.  One time, I came to supper with my batman boots, slid them off, and snuck the beans into the slippers.  (One of the advantages to being in a big family...my parents were preoccupied with someone else!)
Did your family have any food traditions, things that were a must on certain occasions (such as Sunday dinners or holiday meals)? 
I've already mentioned Sunday brunch.  Holidays were major meals!  Easter:  ham & potato salad, Christmas & Thanksgiving:  Turkey & mashed potatoes.  Of course we had other things; those were just the "main" parts!  OH, and how can I forget Friday nights?  Being Catholic, we either had fish sticks, mac & cheese, and peas OR "Catholic Casserole", aka Tuna Casserole.  It wasn't until we had all grown up that mama found out daddy didn't like fish sticks & peas!  The poor man stuck it out all those years!
Did your parent teach you to cook or did you wing it once you were grown? How similar or different are your family's eating habits today than when you grew up?
I pretty much winged it after I got married.  Mama was never farther than a phone call away, and she got plenty of calls!
We eat together as a family as much as we can.  That may mean that we eat later or earlier than usual, but we think it's  very important to come together at least once a day.  We eat out some...when I was growing up we never ate out.  I think I was in jr. high before I had ever even been to a fast food restaurant.  When I was in jr.high or high school (I don't remember exactly when this happened), daddy's job changed in the company and he switched shifts every week or so.  When he was on night shift, that was "hamburger week"!  It gave mama a little big of a break from cooking, and gave us a rare treat!
When people I've known for most of my life reminisce about coming over to our house, they always talk about the long table with the bench against the wall.  And the noise.  We were happy eaters!

Share your answers by linking up at Linda's!

Tuesdays Unwrapped

This post is going to be purely selfish.  This is the time of year when the temperature gauge is getting close to the century mark, and the humidity is close to matching the temperature.  It's hot down here, y'all.  And humid.  Unless you're in a pool, you're in the house.  With the air conditioner.  And the ceiling fans going.

I'm so very thankful for air conditioning.  You see, when I was growing up in this same small town, we didn't have air conditioning.  We had window & table  fans.  Did I mention it was hot?  Yep, during the summer most of my days growing up were spent at the pool.  On the weekends when daddy wasn't working, we headed up to the mountains to splash in the mountain stream.  It was so cold it would take your breath away.

After Husband & I got married, I kept the apartment cool.  I told him that as long as we had a penny in the bank, I was going to be comfortable.  (Yes, that's the princess in me coming out!)  So, not only am I thankful for air conditioning, I'm also thankful that we have a penny in the bank, and electricity to make the air conditioning work.

What small thing are you thankful for today?  Emily at chatting at the sky  is doing her weekly link-up.

Weekend Snapshot

*I have to start with this:

I attended my 30th class reunion on Saturday night.  We had a good turnout:  a little over half of the class was there!  It was absolutely wonderful to see a lot of people I haven't seen since we graduated.  Even our FES (Foreign Exchange Student) from Sri Lanka came; he's living in Canada now, but he made it down!  Here's a picture of me & a childhood friend:

I've known her ever since I can remember.  Her family lived up the street from us, and we were always back and forth between houses when we were little.  We fought like sisters, but always managed to make up.  We went to parochial school together in 1st grade and then started public school together.  I think I kind of tagged along with her at first; she was a lot more "worldly" than I.  I had stayed at home with my mom until 1st grade; both of her parents worked, and she went to Kindergarten, so she knew how to survive alone!  Toward the end of elementary school, we started to go our separate ways.  It was so good to see her again!  We picked up right where we left off!

* Husband had a nice, quiet Father's Day yesterday.  We watched some World Cup, saw a movie, and then went out to dinner.  He had already gotten his present 2 weeks ago (remember we thought the 6th was Father's day?), but he did get a phone call from Oldest Son.

* We saw "The A-Team" yesterday.  Being in a house with all boys, I have to bear through am lucky enough to have the opportunity to see a lot of action movies.  Some I like, some...not so much.  In the early days of our marriage, Husband and I were big fans of the A-Team when it was on tv.  We liked it so much that we named one of our dogs Murdock, for the crazy character who was the pilot.  (Murdock the dog went to live with my sister.  We lived in an apartment and he was chewing everything up.  He lived a happy life with her and her family and was very much loved.)  I really enjoyed the movie...there was action, but there were a lot of funny lines.  I loved Liam Neeson as Hannibal, and Bradley Cooper as Face.  Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as "BA" was a very nice replacement for Mr. T; he's a much better actor, for sure!  And, Murdock:  Sharlto Copley.  There were times when he was on screen I could've sworn he was the original actor, Dwight Schultz.  No nudity, some cussing, but it wasn't every other word, and it wasn't put in just for the sake of doing it.  A lot of things blowing up, a lot of action...perfect Father's Day movie! 

*  Army Wives:  I could've sworn when I watched it on 23 May they said it was the season finale.  (Guess it's kind of like the Father's Day mix up, huh?!)  But, I realized yesterday that they are still running new shows.  Thank goodness for all of the episodes being online! I got caught up and watched the new episode last night.  I watched "The Next Food Network Star" (Bye-Bye Dzintra...in my opinion you were there a week too long!)and played "Catch-up" with Army Wives during the commercials.   Then, when the "real" episode came on, I watched it, while watching last week's episode during commercials.  And now I'm all caught up!  WHEW!

All in all, we had a pretty relaxing weekend.  I'm looking forward to a wonderful week!

FFF

It's been a couple of weeks since I participated in FFF, so I thought I'd join in at Susanne's this week.
This is actually from the past 2 or 3 weeks, so bear with me!

1.  Check out this bowl that we got from Husband's uncle and lady friend (LF)  from Denmark:

       The designer is Georg Jensen, who is a very popular Danish designer.  He has the coolest stuff, but most of  it's  a little out of my price range!


2.  Sharing my mountains with Husband's uncle and LF:

3.  Discovering a series of books:  Andrew Greeley is a priest (I had no  idea until I finished the 1st book and read the bio on the back!), sociologist, and author.  He is the author of a series of books that begin with the word "Irish".  I read the 2nd book and am currently reading the 1st.   (The library didn't have the 1st one when I found the books.)   The main characters are an Irish young lady and an Irish-American young man.  She is from a poor  family out in the country, he is from an upper class from Chicago.  In the first book, she is an accountant student, singer, and actress working her way through school.   He does nothing.  He went to Notre Dame to play football, but quit the team halfway through the year.  He then went to Marquette, but didn't finish.  So, he worked with stocks.  Apparently he wasn't very good at it, until one day (quite by accident), he accidentally bought a lot more stock than he should have.  The next work day, he went in, and the stocks ended up making him millions of dollars, which he invested.  I should have such luck!
Anyway, (and this is the kind of strange part) she has visions that she has to have explained.  In the second book (which I read first), she sees what turns out to be people from a civil war prisoner of war camp.  They research (or rather, he  does because he doesn't have a job and she does!) and find out what really happened.  In the first book (which I'm currently reading), his grandparents were involved in the IRA, but they had to leave Ireland and were told if they came back they would be shot.  So, he is trying to figure out why.  Of course the books are fiction, but they do have some history and even a little bit of romance mixed in.

4.  Nice Metro workers in DC.  Anytime I had a question, YS' farecard didn't work, and LF's farecard not having enough exit fare, the workers were courteous and most helpful.

5.  A  short, spur of the moment  vacation.

To participate, link up at Susanne's Living to Tell the Story.

Random & 100th Post

Wow!  I can't believe it's already my 100th post!  Apparently, when you hit 100, you are suppose to do a list of 100 things about yourself.  You can find mine here if you really want to read it.
When I started my blog in February, I wasn't too sure about writing one.  I thought my life was pretty boring; I knew it wasn't nearly as exciting as someone else's I  started reading when her hubs posted her link.  One thing that I've learned in just the few months I've been blogging is that my life isn't as boring as I thought.  I'm enjoying writing and sharing parts of my life.

Okay, remember Linda's on vacation from the Random Dozen.  I'm being totally random with just a half-dozen things that have happened over the past week.

1.  Husband & I thought this past Sunday was Father's Day.  He found something he wanted:

And, it was on sale + he had a 20% off coupon.  (Auburnchick....you're rubbing off on us!)  Apparently this will help him with working on his motorcycles.  (yes,  that is plural)  So, I went to a part of the big city that I'm not familiar  with (but it was  incredibly easy to find) and picked it up.  For Father's Day.  Which we thought was on the 6th.  But it's not.  It's on the 20th, in case you're wondering.

2.  I know you can't believe I'm going on and on and on  you're not tired of hearing about my plants, so look at this:

Can you see the new growth on the plant?  I haven't killed anything yet!  In fact, they're actually growing!  My sister, the master gardener, came by on Sunday, and I showed off my plants.  She knows me so well;  she was very excited for me!

3.  Check out the amaryllis blooming in our front yard (completely husband's doing):

 And, the plant on my front porch:

4.  Walking around the yard, I found this nest in the crook of the gutter:

But then I found this one, too:

I wish I had seen the gutter nest earlier;  I would have liked to have kept an eye on the babies.

5.  Husband bought this for us over the weekend:

Not only is YS a blog hog, but  husband is becoming quite the blog hog as well.  He's been asking every day if I'd blogged about the table & chairs, and why I haven't  yet.  He threatened to take them back.  Hey, if blogging gets me stuff, I'll blog all day long!

6.  Another tough decision this week on the tv:  Kate Plus 8 or The Next Food Network Star.  Let me say:  Kate grates on my nerves.  The way she talks and over-enunciates everything, the way she used to talk  to Jon, and the way she talks to the kids at times.  The kids are just too dad-gum cute.  The little ones, anyway.  The twins are cute, but one of them badly needs an attitude adjustment.  But,  I'm sure that's one of the  drawbacks of having your life video-taped:  you have to be especially careful with how you discipline your child, or else you'll have Dept. of Children's Services on your butt.  The Next Food Network Star:  I didn't care for the winner of last year's show.  I knew I would never watch her show, and I haven't.  I have been watching since the first season, and I think it's  one of the best "reality" shows out there.  That Bobby Flay is just too cute.  So, The Next Food Network Star won out on Sunday.  I felt really sorry for Aarti & Das,  who didn't have time to cook their chicken all the way through, but I wondered if someone would tell the judges before they bit into it.  I also felt bad for Alexis:  his Beignets weren't cooked all the way through, and he received some harsh criticism from Wolfgang Puck.  I mean, if a world-class chef says that his wife would divorce him if he served that to her, that's gotta be bad.  So long, Alexis!

Weekend in Review

Friday night YS & I went up to the big city to see the high school jazz band.  The director got them a "gig":  they played for an hour at this place.  They sounded great and got a lot of compliments.  And, I got out of cooking that night.  PERFECT!

Saturday, MS' high school soccer team traveled to a town 1 1/2 hours away for the "make it or break it" game.  Win, and they go to the state tournament for only the 2nd time in school (or county) history.  Lose, and the season is over.  I don't want to say that the refs definitely had who they wanted to win in mind, but I will say that in the first half, I stopped counting the fouls at 10 on us and 2 on them.  In all fairness, there were some missed on both sides, but it did seem that they missed theirs more than ours.  With less than 2 minutes to go in the game, one of our guys scooted around their goalie after he dove for the ball and missed.  SCORE!  The other side was yelling that he was off-sides, but a couple of our parents who are very knowledgeable said he wasn't.  The score stood.  Was he really off-sides?  I have no earthly idea, but it is very possible that the ref overlooked it because it was really hot on that artificial turf, and I'm sure he was ready to go to the house!  One of  their students was told to leave the stadium after he had been yelling inappropriate things.  One of their moms said it was about time.  (See, it is okay to tell a child who is not your own that what he said is inappropriate!)  Apparently this kid had been yelling things all season long, and the line judge called him on it.  Final Score:  1-0.  It was an exciting game!

Next up for the team is a school that they played last year, and beat them 3 times before the refs agreed that they had actually won.  The game went on for 4 hours:  a game usually lasts about 1 1/2 hours.  I have a feeling the other team hasn't forgotten that game, and will be ready for us.  Too bad the team that we played 3 times this season didn't draw them.  Luck of the draw, or....?   Hmmmm! 

Sunday was Pentecost Sunday:   the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples.  This marks the end of the Easter Season in the Catholic Church, so I guess I can take my Easter mailbox cover down!  Here the Apostles and Mary were, in a room, when it became really windy.  I'm sure they thought the building was going to blow down.  Then, they see a white dove, and, once they realize it's the Holy Spirit, they calm down.  Jesus had fulfilled his promise that he would send the Holy Spirit.

It was on that day that Jews from all over had congregated in Jerusalem for Pentecost.  After the Holy Spirit had descended upon the Apostles, bringing them the 7  Gifts of  The Holy Spirit, the Apostles were able to share the gospel with the Jews, in their own language.  Every time I hear this story, it reminds me of Babel:  In Babylon, the people became divided, because all of a sudden, everybody was speaking a different language and no one could understand the other.  But, at Pentecost, the apostles were able to bring the people together by speaking the language of each one.


Pentecost holds special meaning to me:  It was the day that husband was received into the Catholic Church.  Before we moved to SC, he told me that he would never convert.  I'm still convinced that that's why we were sent to SC.  We had a wonderful parish and made many wonderful friends.  Not only did we worship together, but we socialized together.  Then, one day, husband starts talking about converting.  When the big day was near, we told the boys.  Their one question:  Did he have to get up in front of everybody and sing the "Sunflower" song?  'Cause if he did, he'd look pretty funny!  The Sunflower Song ("Like a Sunflower") is a song that all of the First Eucharist participants sang every year.  It really brought tears to our eyes watching the little ones singing and doing hand motions.  I couldn't find a recording of the song in the internet, but here are the lyrics:

Like a sunflower that follows
Every moment of the sun,
So I turn towards You, to follow You my God.
In simplicity, charity I follow (2)
In simplicity, honesty I follow (2)
In simplicity, fidelity I follow (2)

I have to tell y'all what happened yesterday at Mass.  The lady doing the Children's Liturgy got up, but no kids got up.  The priest (who was a substitute priest) invited any children to come up.  Then, one little girl (my guess is that she's 4 years old) goes up to the altar, up to the priest.  He talks to her for a minute, then asks if they can pray together.  So, the priest, the Children's Liturgy person, and the little girl hold hands.  The little girl bowed her head and closed her eyes.  Oh, the innocence of that little girl brought tears to my eyes!  Then, the prayer is over, and the little girl goes back to sit with her parents instead of going out with the woman doing the Children's Liturgy!  Everybody got a bit of a chuckle at that!

Here is what I almost stepped on when I was in the yard yesterday:

Poor little thing.  Just a little too young to fly.  Husband came out and scooted it, and it ran off into a wooded area in our yard.  I asked him if his momma would come and get him, and he said she couldn't pick it up.  Then I asked him if she would come and feed him, and he just kind of looked at me and said, "sure".  But, somehow I don't think he was telling me the truth.

And, finally, I bought the first melon of the summer.  There is nothing like melons in the summer, even though it's really not summer yet, but we're out of school, so I'm calling it summer!

When I was pregnant with YS, all I wanted was melons.  It didn't matter what kind, I just wanted them.  I was 7 months pregnant, and walked into Kroger's produce section.  The produce manager and I talked just about every time I went in...he got to know me very well that summer!  Anyway, he introduced me to crenshaw melons.  (They are kind of like a mix between a honeydew and a cantaloupe.)

And, that summer day when I walked into the Kroger produce, he saw me and told me the truck came in, but there weren't any crenshaws on the truck.  WHAT?  I told him to get on that phone and tell them they have a woman who's 7 months pregnant who wants her crenshaws.  Well, he laughed and put a watermelon in my basket.  And I waddled away.

Have a carefree Monday!

Nickel/Free Beer: It'll Get Ya Every Time

                            

26 years ago, I said "I do".  I had only known this young man for 8 1/2 months, but knew the minute I saw him he was going to be mine.  August 31, 1983:  Fraternity Rush.  I was a Lil' Sis, having a good time at the Rush Party, when I see this really cute guy.  He's surrounded by a couple of other girls: one I had known since we were freshman, the other was a new girl on campus.  Those girls were crowding in close to him, not letting anyone else near him.  Like I said:  I knew the minute I saw him he'd be mine, I just wasn't sure how it was going to happen.  The girls had met him at a pizza place that had nickel beer, and they enticed him and his friends to the fraternity house for free beer at the Rush Party.
The next night was a "dry night"-no alcohol allowed, supposedly.  Not openly, anyway.  As expected, it was a pretty boring night...until that same guy walks in with the new girl.  Everybody else is in the tv room, but they're in the trophy room.  (I think that's what it was called...not exactly sure now!)  A couple of friends & I decided it's time to go somewhere more fun...nothing going on at the house.  So, we start calling out that we're going to a place down the road, then we leave.
At the hangout down the road, I run into a friend and am talking to him.  Lo &  behold, in walks the cutie!  Well, me being the good fraternity little sister that I was, I went up and talked to him and invited him to sit with us.  He said he had to go see some friends, but he'd be over in a bit.  Yeah, I know a brush off when I see it.  I had actually kind of forgotten about it, when, a little while later, he comes over to our table and talks to us.  We closed the place down that night, talking and dancing.  We were pretty much inseparable that semester.  We talked and talked and talked.  He ended up pledging the fraternity where I was a little sister.  We had pizza in the dorm lobby while I was on duty as an R.A.
I knew that he wouldn't be back that next semester: he had been called to Army Medic School in Texas.  I saw him before he left, then didn't see him again until March or April.  He never really asked me to marry him: it was more of a "Let's get married" over the phone kind of thing.  I was almost 2 1/2 years older than him.  I thought he was so mature for his age, and he was.  Now I tell him how stupid he was to get married at 19. 
Anyway, when he got back from medic school, he stayed in town for a couple of weeks, then went home.  I finished the semester, graduated, then he came up to my parents' house for a few days.  When he went to ask my dad if he could marry me, my dad was in his workshop with a saw in his hand.  Husband gulped, but he wasn't deterred.  I guess he thought it was all or nothing, to ask Daddy if he could marry his youngest daughter, his baby girl.  My dad agreed.
I know how fortunate I was that my parents were able to pay for my college education.  So, I didn't think it was wise or fair to turn around and ask them to pay for a wedding 13 days after graduation.  We decided to go down to his hometown and get married at the courthouse.  We were going to just wear our jeans, but husband's friend from high school talked us into wearing something decent.   Husband's dad was in Germany (he's retired military) for work, so the only other people there were my MIL, BIL, husband's friend from school, friend's sister & their father.  My MIL insisted that I have a bouquet, so she got me a silk arrangement that husband's friend's sister put in the freezer so they would stay fresh!  For our honeymoon, my MIL gave us a trip to the beach for a couple of days.  We  I bought champagne:  husband wasn't old enough to buy it!
We spent the first summer living with my in-laws, although they weren't there most of the summer.  I worked in a grocery store as a "crashier" (as my dad called it) and husband worked in a factory.  Then, we moved to North Ga. to begin our life.
When I look back, I realize how differently our life has turned out than what we had planned.  Husband was going to finish school, then go into the Army.  I was going to get to live in different places all over the world, and visit places I'd just dreamed about.  Well, life happens, and it didn't happen.  Who knows:  if we had done that, we wouldn't be the people we are today.  We've had some rough spots (what marriage hasn't?), but we've chosen to work it out and honor the vows that we said to each other 26 years ago, in a courthouse in South Alabama.  I love this husband of mine with all my heart; I can't imagine spending my life with anyone but him.
For my Catholic friends:  we did get our marriage blessed in the Church in 1986.  My parents were our witnesses; I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Oh, wait...I can hear people out in Blogland asking, "What about pictures?"  Funny you should ask.  When we got married, my BIL was 14 (I think).  For some really dumb  strange reason, we let him be in charge of the camera.  I absolutely love my BIL, but he was quite the brat when he was a teenager.  (You can see this coming, right?  Remember, this is before digital cameras, although I have a feeling the pictures would've been deleted before we got to download them!)  If I'm not mistaken, the door to the film was opened at some point, completely ruining the pictures.  Therefore, I have no pictures from the day I got married.  However, I do have a few pictures to share:
My bouquet:  My MIL had it put into a shadow box for me:

A picture of husband & me then:

And now (well, 1 year ago!):

We've had 26 good years; here's to many, many more!