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!