I should know by now

I have been a human for 32 years now, a wife for almost 10 and a mom for 9 of those.  I should know by now that my oversleeping sets the course for the day.  Mom can't over sleep.  I have this horrible habit of not sleeping good on Sunday nights.  Why you ask.  Well it is very simple, and very odd.  I am afraid I won't get up on time on Monday morning.  Don't laugh, or at least for very long.  I wake up about 12 times a night on Sunday nights.  I don't generally do that during the week.  I guess it is because I sleep in on Saturday and a little later on Sunday. 

This morning I woke up at 5:30 to my alarm singing to me.  I have it set to play "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line.  I also have a rooster that crows at 630, that one normally does the trick.  Not today though.  This ole girl woke up at 7:13 (imagine the Kevin McCallister running through out the house moment from Home Alone).  I jump up knowing I still have to pack a lunch box and get two kids out the door and a husbands stuff together.  All the while I am thinking, "Sure am glad I took my shower last night".  I some how managed to get myself and both kids out the door by 7:45.  I drop the kids off and am informed Thing 2 forgot his lunch.  Thankfully I ran back tot he house, and was back to the school, dropped his lunch off in his class room, and was headed to work by 7:58.  I am so glad we live very close to the school. 

Let's just hope the rest of the day slows down (not too much) and runs smoothly.

Have a great Monday.

And it begins again

We had our first baseball game of the season last night.  Let me just say that I LOVE this time of year.Even though it is considerably more hectic for me.  Nights like last night make it all worth it.  Let me set the scene for you.  Warm spring night in North Carolina, 10 little boys and 2 little girls gather in orange shirts, grey pants, black socks and black belts (actual uniforms are ordered just not in yet) They are warming up while the little kids finish their tee ball game.  These kids are throwing the ball back and forth and look to be having fun. 

It is time to head to the dug out, line ups are shared, and the batting order is set.  our first batter comes up and makes a good clean hit, and gets a double.  Then Thing 1 comes up to bat.  He steps into the batters box after listening to the coach remind him don't swing at the first pitch unless its right where it should be.  What does he do....yup swings at the very first pitch.  He settles back in and then his pitch comes in.  He knocks the fire out of the ball, and get a double, and his first RBI of the night.  Thing 2 comes up for his first at bat, and settles into the box.  He makes three good swings, but misses the ball.  He did it with a smile though.  Thing 1 then has 2 more at bats, he gets a double, and a triple.  The triple leads to another RBI.  Thing 2 gets another at bat.  He was making some great swings, it just wasn't his night to get a hit.  His night of going 3 for 3 will come.  He did however hustle like no bodies business.  He did amazing as far as that goes.  He is still learning, this after all is his first year on a non-tee ball team and its a lot different. 

We played a great game, and the kids all looked to be having fun.  I will say, and have said already today, nights like that make you realize some pretty important people are gone.  I can't help but think how much my Daddy would have loved to watch my boys playing ball, especially on the field I watched him play on so much as a kid.  Mama had one of those moments kind of slap her right in the face last night, but with my Uncle Gerald.  When the boys started playing so good she would have text him and told him all about it.

We have another game tonight, and I can't wait. Times like this are what life is all about.  Kids being kids, having fun, learning important life lessons, and having parents cheering them on.  

My mother gave me homework

I get a text from my mom yesterday, this isn't odd but the text it self was.  It was a mass text to all the grand kids telling us to think of memories of our grandparent, aunts and uncles from her side of the family. This has gotten me to thinking.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, I am just down right lucky to have the family I have.  Growing up I just assumed all families were as close as mine.  It was normal for me, so I just figured it was for everyone else.  As I grew up though, I learned however that we were actually the exception to the rule. 


I started my little stroll down memory lane with Papaw, I have mentioned him and the uncles here.  He was a little man in stature but big in heart when it came to his family, not to mention that man could grown ANYTHING!!  He had a green thumb that sadly was not passed down to future generations.  Then there is Mamaw.  One memory that sticks out the most, is her picking me up at school sick one day when I was in elementary school.  I remember going to the grocery story and her getting a can of chili beans and taking me home and fixing chili beans for me and letting me eat in bed. To this day chili is a comfort food for me.  Then there are the uncles.  These two men, left  our family entirely too soon and have left huge boots to fill.  My memories of them are more when I was older.  I remember one of Uncle Edwards visits from Oklahoma, he stayed with me and my family.  He slept in the race car bed in the kids room.  We would get up in the mornings and sit and have coffee and just enjoy the morning.  We might chit chat a bit, but mostly just enjoyed being there together.  Uncle Gerald went into the army when I was little, maybe 7ish.  He sent me a spud mckenzie dog all the way from Texas just because he knew I would like it.  You see, I was slightly spoiled as a kid, being the first grand kid and all.  My aunt Patricia is proof positive of this.  We were in a story when I was little and I found a pair of boots that I wanted.  Tricia didn't have the cash for it, so I so sweetly told her to write a check, and you know what happened next...yep she wrote a check and bought me boots (told you I was spoiled).  Then there is Audrey.  She is the only one I can count on to play with my hair, and braid it and it look decent.  Even to this day I love to sit down and let her brush and braid it..

This is not even the tip of the iceberg of memories, but I have been thinking of tons of them lately.  I just blows my mind for this not to be the norm ya know.

What's time to a Hog?

Growing up we listened to Jerry Clower.  Anyone not familiar with this man has truly missed out.  He was a southern comedian that told stories of a family called the Ledbetters.  If you are familiar with him, then you may have heard the story that the line "What's time to a Hog?" was in.

We have recently changed time-you know the whole Spring Forward Fall Back bull crap.  I love the Fall Back part, who doesn't like an extra hour of sleep.  The spring forward though has been a real heifer this time around though.  It has effected everyone in my house.  The kids aren't even willing to go to sleep till 930, because really it is only 830.  They however do not want to get up at 7 because it is only 6.  We won't even begin to talk about my schedule being so off track that I am up till 11 and in bed till 7, well maybe we will talk about it a little.

It got me thinking yesterday on my way home.  Why do we have to lose an hour?  Where does it go?  There are still 24 hours in a day, no matter what.  I understand that way back when this crap started it was so farmers could have more hours to work in daylight-I get that.  I don't get why I have to lose an hour of sleep.  I don't get enough as is. 

My plan for tonight is to stay up as late as humanly possible--for me that should be about 1130 and I will be dragging.  Then sleep in as late as I can, if I am lucky maybe 8-830. Hopefully. 

It is suppose to be 70something here tomorrow, so I foresee doors open and windows open and music blasting.

The next gneration

This picture has been mentioned in a previous post but I am using it here to prove a point.  See that little mischievous fella up front, the one with the brown hair, that my dears is Lucas.  Even though we are 13 years apart, we are very close.  We have always had more of a brother sister relationship-fighting included. I remember how bad he cried when i left going to college, and remember coming home and he would be sleeping in my bed when I would get home from a date with Hubs.  I remember changing his

diapers, and taking him to school when he was in elementary school.  I remember him being at my house a lot when I was growing up.  He would have worker boy days with my dad, these were days spent working in the yard.  One particular worker boy day, Lucas fell asleep in the bucket of the tractor, I guess my dad worked him to hard :).  You see my parents were like his grandparents.  Always going to school functions and helping with homework, or just being there to lend an ear.  It was just a close knit family situation.  We were blessed to have uncles that were the same way.  If you needed to talk, you called, they listened, gave honest answers, and that is just how it was.  I remember it being very common for Lucas to spend the night with Uncle Edward when he was younger, and riding horses or just whatever.  He went with Uncle Gerald to sales and spent time just being, again that is just how the family was.

Now Lucas is grown, well in the numbers form of grown, he turns 20 in June.  He is a freshman in college and has really changed a lot in the last year.  I guess we all have because of the craptastic year we had.  It hit Lucas really hard though I think. He was home last week over spring break, and I realized, he spent a lot of it at my house.  He hung out with us Saturday night, then again on Tuesday and even helped my kids clean their room.  He then did something that shocked me.  He asked if he could get the kids from school.  So he did, and kept them that afternoon.  Well I get a call on Thursday wanting to know what the kids were doing after school, and he was kind of bummed when I said they had plans. 

It made me stop and think that maybe he is trying to be to my boys what he had growing up.  The more I thought about it, my boys don't have that kind of relationship with any of their uncles.  Don't get me wrong, all of their uncles love them very much, and enjoy spending time with my boys when they can, but they all work and have families of their own. 

We were just lucky, that is really all it boils down to, we were lucky.  We knew and still know that we have family that we mattered to and would make time for us.  They talked with us, told us stories, gave advise, and general life lessons that stuck with us.  They made memories with us that got us through the hard part of loosing them.  We were lucky.  I hope that my kids continue to want to spend time with Lucas and make the memories with him like he got to when he was a kid.  The way it looks right now, I don't think that will be a problem.

Let them eat cake, or pie or pudding

I got a text yesterday that I will admit made my day.  Very simply "what are y'all doing for supper?"  At the time this was received I was searching pinterest to find a way to turn chicken into something awesome.  I said nothing, then get back a happy dance inducing dinner invitation from my Mama.  She ask what sounded good.  The only thought I had was deviled eggs and biscuits, but am pretty sure my kids would not have liked that idea, well the eggs part.  So after some thought it dawns on me, Mother has a charcoal grill.  Beef it is.  So we settle in for hamburger steaks and the fixings.  Then she ask a very tough question....brownies or lemon pies.  *insert Scarlet O'Hara type swoon here*.  While brownies are always a hit, these lemon pies are just, well awesome.  I can't remember what all goes in them but its a cool whip based pie in a graham cracker crust, I mean really how can you go wrong.  So I picked pies just cause, well I can.

I go home and get my gang loaded and head to Mama's and see her grill setting out, I get a little giddy because I know there is a cooked onion waiting inside to go with the hamburger steaks she grilled.  I giggle a little because this grill was one of the spoils of our dumpster diving at the beach last fall.  She has made good use out of it.  The wild ones go in and are excited because they are at Granny's and we are eating (they are boys what do you expect).  We sit down and gorge.  There is no other way to put it, we gorge.

 We clear the table, and I bring out the pie, oh glorious pie.  We eat a slice each, and hubs ask for a second.  Well Thing 1 being his daddy's child ask for another. 

This is the end result, a little boy saying, I should have stopped after the first piece, my eyes are bigger than my belly.

Where as Thing 2, being my child eats his slice then heads to his favorite spot in the house...the couch, with the UNC pillow pet pillow and blanket.







Both slept great last night and were in a full belly type deep sleep.

I have spoiled the last few weeks with dessert at mama's...bread pudding, chocolate cake (after being in the fridge turns into chocolate fudge cake) now lemon pies, all to be culminated at Easter with the first punch bowl cake of the year.  


I get to enjoy some of these goodies again today for lunch...yaaay me :)

What if....

I am a firm believer in dreaming-not the sleep kind but the kind where you what if I *insert scenario here* kind.  We do a lot of what ifing in my house.  What if I won the lottery? What if you could live anywhere in the world?  What if you could spend x amount of money in just one place (that answer of course is Walmart)? 

I have noticed however that my children do this also.  Let me tell you those little guys dream BIG.  The big difference in our little What if game and theirs is one very simple little thing.  The kids don't say IF, they say WHEN.  For instance Thing 1, who loves baseball and the beach has said, "When I graduate from college and retire from playing for the Yankees, I am going to live at the beach and on a bait shop and tow service.  I will call it Hook 'Em Up."  The child has a plan.  I am all for this plan cause that means mom lives on easy street (well maybe not easy street but not so tight of a budget street).  Thing 2 says "When I am out of college I am going to own a ranch and be a cowboy".

I just love how my kiddos have the confidence to believe that they can do anything they want.  I hope that continues as they get older and do embark on fulfilling dreams.

I also love that as they are dreaming so big they make sure to include their mama and daddy. :)

Cook Cook Cook

I do believe I have mentioned before that I like to cook, mostly because I am southern, and well that's how we roll.  So this weekend I got my FILL of it.  I have a tendency to get myself into little projects, that seem so simple to start but NEVER end that way.

Hub's grandma turned 92 Valentine's day. So a few weeks ago while Hubs was on the phone with his mama (he's a good southern boy he calls his mama regularly) and I being the person I am tell him to ask if we need to plan something for her birthday.  So after a few minutes of back and forth with Hubs being the middle man we decided that yes we are in fact going to do something for her birthday.  That Sunday while at lunch we inform my Mother in law that if it is o.k. with her we will do Sunday lunch at her house the Sunday afterward and that the daughter in laws will take care of the meal. Simple enough right.

Here is a little background story on the family I married into. The family is huge.  They have each others back even though we may not see each other often enough, it's an understood that they are there no matter what.  We like to eat. They are just good ole fashioned good folk.

My little project of a simple Sunday lunch turned into an all weekend cooking fest.  I had to make my list so that I could manage my time properly.  My list started Friday night, with making potato salad.  In my husbands world potato salad is only starting to get good on the 3rd day.   I also managed to get my grocery list made and did some research on how to brine a turkey.  So Saturday morning rolls around(sadly not slow enough for a good full nights sleep) and I get to work.  I trek to the grocery store in the snow, because of course my weekend was slap full and snow was the icing on the cake.  After that came the deviled eggs, chocolate chip cookies, and getting 4 people ready to be at a lunch at 1.  Afterwards came putting a turkey on to brine, cooking corn, lima beans, and getting the 4 of us ready to go to a Hunter's Helping Kids banquet (yes more food). 

We finally get home and it is time to cook the turkey, cook a lemon pound cake and take stock of everything that I have.  Somehow I start to fret that we don't have enough so I decided we needed some other type of meat and another veggie. 

Sunday morning rolls around(again not slow enough for a full nights sleep) I fly out of bed-fly maybe a bit strong by this point it is a very ungraceful stumble- put rolls on to thaw and rise, make a big bowl of creamed potatoes and start getting the gang ready for church. 

I will say that I crashed and crashed hard Sunday after spending the entire weekend running around and cooking. I always say after doing something big like that, that it is the last time, and next time someone else can cook.  I reminded myself of that as I sat down to finish up baby shower invitations for a friend of mine.  Maybe one day I will stop giving myself little projects, but I doubt it.  I kind of like being the planner.

Comfort food

I am a fan of food.  That is obvious by the shape of my waist line.  I am not sure if it is because I am southern, or baptist, or both.  :)  I have certain foods that I love more than others and certain foods bring back great memories for me.  One of those foods I love (but never get to eat) is salmon patties.  For anyone that doesn't know, salmon patties are the redneck crab cake.  You take canned salmon, dig all the not so great stuff out, and then mix stuff with it, fry it up and enjoy.  Now hubs is not a fan of these, he thinks they stink.  So out of the desire to have harmony in my home, we never have them.  Well Friday night I got the rare treat of salmon patties thanks to the best mother in law a girl could ask for.

Coming off my lovely supper Friday night, I get a text Sunday night wanting to know if we want to eat supper at mama's Monday night. As you can imagine my answer was yes (what person in their right mind will pass up some else cooking supper, especially their mama).  So I get another text Monday stating the menu for the night...country style steak, mashed potatoes, purple hull peas, and homemade biscuits and bread pudding.  Now let me just say, all mama would have to have said was purple hull peas and I am there.  These were my Daddy's favorite bean of all time, and next to green beans they are mine.  Not to mention I had a craving for them earlier in the week. 

The wild ones and I get to mama's and there set a plate of deviled eggs on the table...I just about got giddy, I love my mama's deviled eggs.  The smell of biscuits are in the air wafting through the house.  I am then informed she made two pans of biscuits, one pan of regular, and one pan of baby biscuits.  I was so excited.  She then tells us its time to eat.  Oh my gosh, was I in hog heaven...so much so I put it as my Facebook status.  I manage to gorge sufficiently on all the glories on the table.  Then she fixes a bread pudding.  This is my top two all time favorite dessert, after her chocolate cake with chocolate icing (are you catching a theme that I love my mama's cooking).  I am waiting as patiently as possible for it to come out of the oven and cool enough not to hurt my mouth and I dive in...heaven on a fork let me tell you.  I really and truly gorged that night, and felt like a pig but I was a happy big and got to bring left overs home.

Well last night I come home from work, and there on my stove is our big shiny pot.  I got excited again.  I look in the pot and there lo and behold are chicken and dumplings that hubs made.  SCORE again.  That is one of my top 5 favorite things to eat.  And they were delish.

I have been spoiled this week with my favorite dishes but could really get used to it.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I have found myself being in the position of saying something that maybe I just shouldn't have said.  However this morning I was on the receiving end of such a moment.  I walked into the kids school to deliver a package for a friend of mine.  The lady that I was giving it to asked if I was this friends mama.  Now let me just say that the friend is 27.  That is a grand total of 5 years younger than me. 

It has been a running joke in our family that my mother is often mistaken for my aunt's mom.  There is only 8 years between them.  I called her this morning and said you want me to make you feel a lot better about being mistaken for Tricia's mama.  I then told her what happened. She of course found the humor in it.  I did to, thankfully.  I told her it was so hard for me not to say yes, I have a 6 year old an 8 year old and a 27 year old.  I was the whore of the kindergarten play ground.  That got even more laughs out of her.

There are times it is best to really think about what you are saying before you say it.  Ya know, to keep from asking a pudgy lady if she is pregnant (had that happen to) or if the teenager with a woman with gray hair is her grandson(that would be my mother) or any number of other awkward moment questions.

I am so thankful I don't offend easily.