Use Your Imagination

Most everyone in North Texas was treated with an ice day today. We stayed home all snuggled up in our warm house. I had to work from home most of the day, so Jonathan was forced to entertain himself. Finally at 3:00 p.m. I turned off the computer and met Jonathan in the living room for some fun.

Jonathan and I decided that we would get a work out from the Wii Fit. Earlier in the day, I had put on a not-so attractive pair of sweats that I had in the back of my closet. These were left over from my chubbier days. The last time I cleaned out my closet, I decided to keep them. I don't have any other sweats and I didn't really think it was necessary that they fit perfectly. Really, how often do you wear a pair of sweats? These are the hanging around at the house kind; they are not the hanging out at the gym kind.

I thought it would be the perfect day for some aerobic activity. I started out with a little hula hoop, then I went to the step (I love that one) and finally decided to do a little running. Well, my friends, I learned that it is necessary for sweats to fit perfectly when you are running. Yes, that is right , my pants kept falling down below my hips. I kept hiking them up and they kept falling. Then there was the pressure. The pressure of Jonathan wanting to know what was wrong with my pants. And, the pressure of that crazy "game" yelling at me because I wasn't running fast enough. I'm sorry that I wasn't running fast enough. I was too busy mooning my 9 year old son.

I prefer that all my posts be peppered with pictures. Not today. There really are some things that don't need a picture. I thought of having Jonathan take one of me in the aforementioned sweats (pulled up where they belong, of course). I looked in the mirror and quickly changed my mind. These are the kind of sweats that make you look 10-20 pounds heavier. So, you are going to have to use your imagination on this one.

Good Golly, Miss Mollie

Due to inclement weather, Nouveau was kind enough to let us leave early on Tuesday. Several years ago they waited too long to let us go and it was very treacherous getting home. Now they are overly cautious. That is okay though, I'll take it. (None of this has to do with the story... I was just setting the scene so that you would know why I was home early on a Tuesday.)

Poor little Mollie was spayed last Friday. When I got home yesterday afternoon, I noticed that she had torn her incision open. Lovely! I called the vet and they got her in almost immediately. They used some sort of glue to put it back together again and then they wrapped it up so she couldn't get it open again.

Bless her heart... this is what she looks like. (Don't look at the demon eyes - I told you in an earlier post that I have to reinstall my photo editing software.)

Please Don't...

Please don't double click on the images in the post below. I purposely put them in teeny-tiny so that you can't see just how fake Garth and Trisha look. Please leave me with some of my dignity in tact. :)

I tried to add this little P.S. to the bottom of the last post. However, I kept getting some code that said that the picture files were corrupted. See... even blogger knows they are a fake!

More than a Memory

A couple of days before Christmas, Fred asked me what cd's I might like to have in my stocking. I told him that I would make him a list. Well, I never got around to it. Christmas morning, I found a couple of cd's in my stocking. One of them was Garth Brooks' Ultimate Hits cd.

Yesterday morning, as I was driving into work, I was listening to this cd. As I listened to Garth's voice singing "More than a Memory," I had my own memories that began to surface. I talked it over with my friend at work and we decided that we are ready to go public with our very humiliating story. Initially, we kept it pretty much to ourselves. I don't think he told anyone at all and I only told a handful of people.

Cody and I attended a Wal-Mart Doctor's meeting in Nashville. After we had spent several days manning Nouveau's booth, we were rewarded by getting to attend a bbq, dance, cocktail function. As we sat down to eat, our Account Director, Greg, came by and told us that he saw Garth Brooks. I think I replied something like "Shut Up!" He assured me that he was very serious and had me follow him.

To my amazement I saw Garth and Trisha Yearwood mingling with the Wal-Mart and Sam's doctors. Just mingling - not at a booth - not at a table. Just walking around talking to people. There were several people that called their spouses and Garth talked with them over the phone. Here is the crazy part of this story. I am not a big Garth Brooks fan. I like a lot of his songs. I also dislike a lot of his songs. And, when I say dislike, I mean that I would rather pull my hair out than listen to it. For instance, the song "Shameless" is like nails on a chalkboard for me. There are some of his songs that I absolutely love, though. I also hate his stage mannerisms. I always thought it was obnoxious when he would smash the guitars on stage.

All of that being said, Cody and I started to stalk the man. I discovered that I didn't have my camera in my purse. I gave Cody all of my cash and sent him out into the Gaylord Opryland hotel to buy a completely overpriced disposable camera. Cody and I lined up to get our picture made with Garth and Trisha. I just giggled and thanked them for letting me get my picture made. I think Cody must have been all of 2 years old when Garth Brooks first hit it big. He spend an extended amount of time telling Garth about how he remembered the first time that he heard one of his songs.

Cody & I are now excited and have that feeling of euphoria because we just met someone famous. Greg had found someone high up at Wal-Mart and asked if our Garth and Trisha were the real deal. Sadly, the answer was no. They were impersonators. I felt deflated and robbed of my wonderful evening. Then I realized that there were tons of people that truly thought that they had met Garth and Trisha. Maybe that was better. They were still feeling the euphoria of having met someone famous.

Cody and I waited anxiously to look at the pictures that we took with "Garth and Trisha." It stood to reason that once people saw how close they looked to the real deal that we wouldn't look so stupid. The pictures came back and Garth and Trisha looked as fake as the day is long. In "the moment," they looked so real. The flash on the camera definitely highlighted the fact that they weren't real. So now you know why I've never talked about meeting Garth and Trisha.

For My Grandma...

A grandma is a remarkable woman.

She's a wonderful combination of

warmth and kindness, laughter and love.

She overlooks our faults, encourages our dreams,

and praises our every success.

A grandma has the wisdom of a teacher,

the sincerity of a true friend,

and the tenderness of a mother.

She's someone we admire, respect and

love very much.

A grandma will always have a cherished

place in our memories and in our hearts.

She's someone for whom we want every happiness

in return for the joy she always brings.

A grandma is all the dear and precious

things in life...

When she's a grandma like you.

-author unknown-

Georgia on My Mind

As you may have noticed, I still have not posted anything on Christmas. My computer has been giving me fits for about a month or so. Things are better, but I still have to reinstall my photo-editing software. So... until I can clean up my Christmas pictures, there will be no Christmas posts. :(

However, I do have a few pics that Mom took in Georgia. Mom, Dad and Jessie drove 13 hours to visit Jeff and his girlfriend, Emma. Jessie was a little nervous about the trip. She wasn't sure that she a) wanted to be in a car for 13 hours and b) wanted to be so far away from home. Once she found out that she probably wouldn't get to see Uncle Jeffrey for a while, she happily joined the traveling team.

Jessie had a great time in Columbus. I hear that Emma is an animal lover, so Jess loved her right from the start. Jessie even managed to keep herself busy on the long car ride. She brought along with her any magazine she could find on Twilight and she read Breaking Dawn. It sounds like everyone had fun and I'm sad that Fred, Jonathan and I missed it. We really miss Jeff being in Oklahoma (I know you don't miss it, Jeff). That is a much easier trip than Georgia.

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Jeff and Emma, for making Jessie's time in Columbus very special!

Your Mother Knows Everything

For those of you that don't know my very talented brother, he plays trumpet in the Army. He is stationed at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. He has the not-so-fun job of playing Taps during funerals. Because of his job, he gets mentioned in area papers and sometimes there will be a video clip of him on the local news.

Apparently, my mom googles Jeff's name occasionally to see if his name has been mentioned in any of the papers in Georgia. Well, I'm assuming that is why she googles his name. I'm sure she isn't checking up on you, Jeff. This last time she googled him, she received several hits. Turns out Jeff played at Former Attorney General Griffin Bell's funeral. He was the Attorney General during Carter's administration.

Jeff, how do you forget to tell your family about something like this? At least, President Carter wasn't able to attend the funeral. I'm sure Mom would have been really mad if you had played in front of a former President and then "forgot" to tell her.

Here is the quote from Fox 5 Atlanta:

Members of the Georgia National Guard Military Funeral Honors Team served as pallbearers and Sgt. Jeffrey Forthman from the 283rd Army Infantry Center Band at Ft. Benning played taps. Afterward, the honor guard folded an American flag, which was presented to Bell's wife, Nancy Kinnebrew.

By the way... I love this picture of Mom and Jeff. We got that look A LOT growing up. If I could do that, I would never have to raise my voice, again!

An Almost-Vegetarian

A couple of weeks ago Jessie decided that she was going to be a vegetarian. Actually, she went grocery shopping with me and we bought all sorts of meat products. Maybe it was the trip to the grocery store - not sure, but something made her decide to become a vegetarian the very next day.

She tried to give it a go for a couple of days. It was hard. First of all, I hadn't planned for the switch. So there were several times we had casserole type meals with the meat mixed in. This made it very hard for my budding vegetarian. Jessie isn't a very picky eater, but she discovered that she doesn't like enough vegetables to make the vegetarian lifestyle a success.

However, she gave it a lot of thought and decided to go with Uncle Abie's method of thinking. She will refrain from eating any animals that walk on 4 legs. Two legs are fine, though. Grocery shopping has become much easier with that addendum. She has shown that she is very committed so I've decided to help her. So far, in the last two weeks, she only cheated once. Way to go, Jessie.

June Cleaver, I am not

This Christmas I put in an order for an apron. Mind you this isn't just any apron that I ordered. I requested a June Cleaver-esque apron. I think my Mom thought I was crazy. However, on Christmas Day, I discovered the my request had been fulfilled. She had made the perfect apron. (I'm sure she wishes that I had taken an interest in sewing. If I had, she wouldn't have to continually fill these kinds of strange requests.)

The apron didn't turn me into June Cleaver, trust me! However, it sure is fun to wear on Sundays after church.

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

We have a song in primary that says:

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear,
Things I would ask him to tell me if he were here.
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
Stories of Jesus tell them to me.

It seems my calling in church has always been in Primary. I have taught in junior primary, the sunbeams (technically still jr primary, but completely different), nursery and senior primary. I have heard people softly complaining that primary or nursery isn't a very important calling. I disagree. We are working hand-in-hand with the parents to give these young people the foundation they need to gain their testimony.

After I was released as Nursery Leader, I was called into Senior Primary. I was nervous because I had never taught in Sr. Primary. It turned out to be a wonderful calling. I had been spent the last 2 years either working in nursery or teaching the sunbeams. It was nice to prepare a lesson on a much higher level and be able to read straight from the scriptures. They taught me just as much as I taught them. These kids had been well taught by their parents. I thought that Senior Primary would be my home for awhile. However, it turned out to only be a year long calling. Back in November, the primary president asked if I had any preferences on which class I taught (I thought she meant within Sr. Primary). I said, "oh no, you put me wherever you need me."

It turns out she needed me back in Junior Primary. I am teaching CTR 5A. This little group just graduated from Sunbeams and they are all starting out as 4 year olds. I have one that will have his birthday in January. The rest will be turning 5 later in the year. Preparing the lesson is different than preparing for my Valiant 9's. A craft is a definite necessity and then I have to be prepared to play a game - just in case we have time left over at the end.

Our primary president told me that she had really prayed about the teacher placement and which classes to place each child. I think she was truly inspired, because the Lord knew that I needed to be back with these young kids (even though I didn't know it). I love my older ones. The girls showered me with hugs and always fought to sit next to me. I even had one cry on our last day together. However, I just love being with these little ones. They are so precious to me. I am helping set the stage for their entire primary experience.

It doesn't matter if these kids are 2, 4 or 9, they all want to learn the stories of Jesus. They are very eager to learn. I just pray that I am able to magnify this very important calling.

Happy Birthday Jon Jon!

Our little Jon Jon just had a birthday on Sunday! It is hard to believe that we brought him home from the hospital 9 years ago tomorrow. He was just a little squirty guy weighing in at 4lbs 3 oz - he started out at 4lbs 8 oz, but quickly lost some weight. He had a teeny-tiny body with a huge head. His big sister met him at the door wearing her shiny Cinderella costume. She excitedly cooed at him in her high-pitched 3 year old voice. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. And, quite frankly, she wasn't sure what to make of him. She had put in an order for a little sister. Up until the last minute, we thought she was getting a little sister named Ashley Nicole. Hopefully, Jonathan won't read this post, because he might be a little embarrassed by that fact.

To further embarrass him, here are my two favorite pictures:


Jonathan had just taken some Benadryl. I guess it kicked in before he had a chance to finish his "business." Mental note to everyone reading this: use Benadryl with caution. I was cleaning house on a Saturday morning and he kept calling "I'm in the bathroom and I need a Mommy in here with me." I kept answering that I would be there shortly. Finally, I realized that I hadn't heard anything from him in a while. I asked Jessie to check on him. She told me that I had better get into the bathroom fast. This is what I found.

There is no special story behind this one. I just think it is a cutie patootie picture of him. He looks kind of like a frog.

Happy Birthday, Jon Jon! We love you.

Fred Fortenberry - Himself

We will be celebrating Jonathan’s birthday this Saturday. Jonathan isn’t a big cake eater and will only eat it if there is a significant amount of chocolate involved. Fred’s sister, Kristin, brought us one of their ward cookbooks a couple of weeks ago. Church cookbooks always have the best recipes – usually they are delicious and fairly easy. I found a chocolate cake recipe that I thought might be fun to try for Jonathan’s birthday. I bought quadruple the amount of items needed. I thought we would need to double the recipe and I also thought we should try it to see if Jonathan liked it.

Fred has been sick with pneumonia and has been sleeping not stop. I guess he had napped so much yesterday that he stayed up late and made the chocolate cake. I had absolutely no idea. I would normally wake up at the smell of chocolate, but I was really tired. He was so proud of himself this morning. He pulled out two small plates and dished out very large servings. I thought maybe he had dished them out for us to try before the kids got up. Oh no… those were for the kids.

Needless to say, they were in complete shock (and so was I) when they awoke to find that they would be having chocolate cake for breakfast. I was reminded of one of Bill Cosby’s early stand-up routines. He was telling a story about feeding his kids a breakfast that their mom wasn’t too thrilled about. Chocolate Cake. He reasoned that the recipe called for milk and eggs. It should make the perfect breakfast!

And Your Little Dog Toto

We have been babysitting this sweet little girl since the 21st. Her name is Toto - she was named by the same little five year old that took this very attractive picture of her Aunt Donna. (I think I was being loved to death when this pic was taken.) She belongs to Fred's sister and her family. On Tuesday, the 30th, Toto dug out of our backyard while we were at work. She discovered that the gate might be a great point of exit. She dug a teeny-tiny hole and flattened herself into a pancake and escaped.

I spent all night Tuesday walking the neighborhood and calling her name. I made flyers and Fred and I posted them throughout our subdivision. We knocked on doors. Nobody had seen her. We were also watching their beagle for them. I got their vet's number from Bailey's rabies tag. I felt sure that someone found Toto and called in and reported it to their vet. They didn't open until 8:00 a.m. I dropped Jonathan off at Kids R Kids and then sat in their parking lot and called the vet. They had no record of Toto. Toto has been on the run before. The Simmons' family is not her first home. Kristin found her running down the street one day and picked her up. They hadn't taken her into the vet yet for her rabies. She had a collar on, but nothing to identify her. At this point, I freaked out and started sobbing uncontrollably. What kind of aunt loses her 5 year old niece's dog? I freaked out while I was still on the phone with the vet. The poor lady had to calm me down.

I went to work with puffy eyes and started reporting her missing with everyone under the sun. Craig's List, Petfinder, SPCA, Collin County Animal Shelter - you name it. I had been working with the Collin County Animal Shelter. They had her picture and said they didn't currently have her, but they would let me know if she came in. I also used a pet rescue service that makes flyers and sends them to the local vets and shelters.

There were a couple of sightings (one was in Arlington), but none of them were her. After work last night, I went ahead and drove out to McKinney to the Collin County Animal Shelter. I walked in and told them that I was looking for a Shih-Tzu/Poodle mix and the lady opened up her book and showed me Toto's picture. She said they hadn't found her yet. She let me look at all the dogs so that I would feel better. Their facilities are really nice and I discovered that they don't take in a lot of small dogs. Any smaller dogs that they had were Schnauzers or Shih-Tzus. Those long haired dogs tend to start looking pretty rough when they have been out in the weather and not groomed. I guess people are more hesitant and call animal control.

I had given up all hope. I felt for sure that she had either gotten out of our neighborhood and been hit by a car or taken in by someone who didn't really want to find her home. This afternoon, our 4th grade neighbor and a lady with two dogs knocked on the door. They had Toto! The lady had come across Toto at our community pond just as the neighbor boy walked up. He knew we were looking for Toto, so he led the lady to our house. I can't believe she stayed in our neighborhood. She wasn't hungry and the weather had been so nice that she had enjoyed her little adventure. As soon as we got her, she darted through the doggy door to find her escape route. Her outdoor privileges have been revoked and I went to PetSmart and bought her a tag with her name and phone number on it.

Toto returns home tomorrow... she was found just in time. Her little 5 year old girl didn't even have to find out that she was missing. Lots of time was spent on my knees - before and after she was found! I am so thankful for our little miracle. I just wish it didn't have to take 5 days!