A friend like no other

My friend.. Kat... That's how I describe her. She lives in Texas and we met online, and then in person. WE don't see each other often, and there are times when we go awhile without talkign on the phone due to hectic lives filled with work/family/life. But when we do get a chance to reconnect, it's like we haven't been out of touch that much. We talk, we laugh, and we gripe about our kids. But most of all we laugh. SHe's one of the women I most admire in the world. Since I have met her, she's face more challenges than anyone else I know. She meets these challenges head on, and lets nothing stop her from doing what she wants to do. SHe loves her kids, even when they drive her crazy. She loves her family, even those that drive her crazy. SHe loves her friends,I don't drive her crazy. (shhh.. Don't wave no bs flags at me now.) We have lots in common, but are different in our own way. I wouldn't change a thing about her, well, except to move our houses closer together. SHe MY friend. My Kat.

It's the Most WOnderful TIme of the YEar..

It's the Most wonderful time of the year. For me anyway. I love Christmas. THe Whole Christmas season.. WHY?

10: The decorations. I am a kid at heart. I love seeing the lights, the trees, the snowmen (or plasticmen as we have no snow here). I love decorating the house and making it all festive. SLowly I am adding to my decoration collection (much to Steve's chagrin). Eventually I will have my house looking the way I want it to look.

9: The music. I love music, but holiday music always makes me smile and sing and just feel all good inside.

8: The movies: ooh.. I love sitting at home at night and watching Christmas movies. Yes most are cheesy, but they always make me feel happy.

7: The weather: I know. I know. My friend, Tigger, would say "bah, cold weather snow bah".. (or something like that).. but I love the cold weather in December. Maybe because I live in South Louisiana, and it doesn't get that cold down here. But I love the chill in the air.

6: The good cheer: NOT THAT KIND OF CHEER!!! (Get your minds out of the gutter you silly dawgs). I mean the good cheer that most people have this time of year. Yes traffic is a little worse, and the stores are a little more crowded. But it seems that people are little nicer to each other during the holiday season.

5: The parties: Christmas parties. where everyone dresses up in nice clothes and we gather to celebrate the holiday. Regardless of if we exchange gifts or just socialize. It's a lot of fun.

4: The cookies: I am not a huge cookie fan. But at Christmas I love the cookies. SUgar cookies cut in shapes and decorated with colored sugar and frosting; chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies, almond crescents, sweet dough tarts, peanut butter cookies... oooh.. I love baking cookies during the holidays. It reminds me of the times I spent with my mom and my grandmother baking cookies. It makes the house smell yummy.

3: The shopping: I Love shopping for others. I love looking for the perfect gift for friends or family members, thinking of how much I love them, and how much I hope they will like the gift. Sometimes it's just something as simple as a rice cooker that was mentioned by someone when their old one was giving out or remembering that favorite author a friend likes and then finding a new book by that author. When people say "it's not the gift it's the thought behind it", it's true. I always put a lot of thought into the gifts I buy. even gift cards, b/c I know how much teenagers like shopping.

2: The cards: Getting cards in mail from old friends and family that we don't see all that often through out the year. Sending cards to the same ones, with a letter about how our year went.

1: THe Christmas Story: I love going to church on Christmas Eve and listening to the Story of the birth of Christ. It's a time for me to sit and reflect on the year past, and think of the people who are no longer with us. A time to pray for the future. It's a time of peace during the hectic busy season. It's my rejuvenation.

it's been awhile...

School started.. I got busy.. it's been awhile... I need to be a better blogger.. I will be a better blogger.. I promise..

Random thoughts from a random mind..

I haven't really blogged lately.. school has been keeping me busy.. but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the chaotic hectic tunnel that is the beginning of the year. All of the paperwork is just about finished, and I am hitting the groove and stride that will see me through till the end of the year. (I hope).

Wyatt has started kindergarten. After some adjustments on his part, and mine, he is hitting his stride too. A new school year means a new bed time, and he carefully watches the clock so that he can be in bed on time.

While I am settling into the groove at school, at home I am not doing so well. I am used to coming home, starting dinner, putting a load of laundry on to wash. and working on my school stuff while I cook. THen having an hour or so to relax before bedtime. But with Wyatt in school, our routine's have changed. Now I come in, start dinner, put a load of clothes on to wash, and sit down at the table to help with homework while I cook. This means I am either doing all of my school stuff right up until bedtime, or bringing it all home to do on the weekend. I hate having to do my work on the weekend, but it's important for me to help Wyatt with his homework first.

Speaking of homework, tonight he had to use red and yellow counters for Math. Now as a teacher I am thinking "yeah manipulatives, hands-on, graphs, yeah"..then I read the directions: take a handful of counters and drop them in the square. Create a graph to show how many red and how many yellow counters you have. Discuss the graph." Now as a teacher, I have a full set of manipulatives at my disposal at school. SO I am used to the terminology and know how to be creative and make what I don't have. (Not to mention that I bought a small set of basic Math manipulatives last year in preparation for helping wyatt when he started school.) But the average parent, would not have these things on hand, and some would not know what a red and yellow counter is. (you know red on one side and yellow on the other). I think it is horrible when teachers send homework that requires things that you might not have on hand at home. (As a teacher I try not to do that, and we make lots of things to take home as needed.)

OUr new bathroom decor irks me. WYatt grew tired of the rubber ducky theme I had in there. SO Steve agreed. I was outvoted. Wyatt got to pick out the new decor. He chose lighthouses. (BORING!).. adn the ugliest shower curtain (which steve likes). I hate it. it stinks being the only female in the house sometimes.

I think that it all i have to rant, rave and let my mind wander over tonight.

I think I have a problem.....

I love shoes. I own 51 pair of shoes. No lie.. I counted them... really and truly... 51 pairs... that's not a lot.. I know people who have more than me... the people who own Payless shoes have WAY more shoes than me and they don't even wear the ones they own.. I wear all of mine.. maybe not EVERY day.. but I do wear them..

Steve asked me "how many feet do you have? How many pairs of shoes do you need?" Umm.. I told him 43... umm... then I counted.. no no.. not 43..143.. yeah that's what I said..



I think I may have a problem... I have all of these shoes.. and now way of really organizing them...soo they just sit on my floor, waiting their turn to be worn.. sorry brown chunky boots, you will have to wait until it cools down.. it's too hot to wear you today.. but don't worry you will get a turn I promise..

now... where did I put the sales ad for Payless shoes? I just know there is a buy one get one half off sale this week... umm.. so I have to buy two pair right?? I mean.. really IT"S A SALE....

I cried a little Yesterday..

It was Wyatt's first day of Kindergarten. He didn't want me or his dad to meet his bus at school. SO I dropped him off at daycare, and went to work. I cried a little bit on the way to work. Just a few tears fell, a few compared to the many thoughts going through my head. Will he miss me? What will he do if he gets scared? Will he get lost? What if he can't find the bathroom? I calmed myself down by thinking of how much he loves to learn new things and how excited he was going to be. After school I rushed to daycare to pick him up. He told me all about his day, answering many of my unanswered questions. He got off the bus at school, walked up to a teacher and asked how to find his classroom. His teacher is really nice. He ate almost all of his lunch. He got candy on his back at nap time b/c he was laying on his mat quietly. Then he told me all about the story the teacher read to them. "The Kissing Hand". About a raccoon on his first day of school, and how the mom kissed his little hand to remind him of her all day long. I cried again when he reached over and kissed my hand and said "Now when you miss me, you can look right there and know I love you."

The good part is that he had a great time. AND he wants to go back. The bad part is he is growing up and I Cant stop him.

Just Tigger...

In my mind I have a list of people I most admire in the world. This list includes my mom, my friend Kat, Oprah, and my mother-in-law. ALso in that list is my friend, Sandi. Or Tigger as I know her. I don't think Tigger even knows that she is on that list. I don't think I have ever mentioned it to her. Tigger is not famous, or even infamous (unless you believe everything you read about her lol and most of it I Made up. lol). She is JUST TIGGER!!! I have never met her in real life, but I have known her for years. We met online at sb.com. Sooo... why does someone who is not famous and I have never met get to become one of the people I admire? The answer is simple.

One of the things that first drew me to Tigger was her funny posts on the message board at sb.com. A place where people talk about scrapbooking and much more. Tigger's posts could make me laugh and brighten up a cloudy day then, and even more so now. I often find myself laughing out loud at something she has written. Mostly she laughs at herself. SHe is not ashamed or embarrassed to tell us of things in her personal life that are funny or strange, and then laugh about them with us. She will join in the teasing, but she does so kindly and with love.

I admire Tigger for her relationship with her husband. I love how she never really "bashes" him for things he does wrong. She may complain, but she is always quick to come to his defense. SHe may not like some of the things that he does, but she knows that what it takes to make her marriage work.

I admire Tigger for her relationship with other people. She is caring and kind to others. She offers advice, hugs, or even good thoughts. Her teasing is done with kindness and love, and she is quick to apologize if she thinks she has crossed a line that offended someone.

I admire Tigger's talent at scrapbooking. She is truly one of the most talented scrappers I know. I think her work is much better than most I have seen in scrap magazines. (And I am not just blowing sparkles up her skirt either.) I have tried to "lift" one of pages, but I can't make them turn out like hers. Where hers are beautiful tributes to the people in her life, mine are more like a jumble of glue and paper with a photo stuck on top. But that's okay.. her scrapbook pages are beautiful to look at, and I am not jealous at all.

The thing I admire most about Tigger is her outlook on life. She has faced things that have made weaker people give up hope. She is a strong person and I admire that in a person. Yes, she is freakishly phobia challenged: certain types of pasta, sock monkeys, dolls with eyes that open/close, making left hand turns, cereal killers to name a few. (I won't go into having every illness that she reads/hears about.. lol) SHe has good qualities to balance out the strange ones: she loves animals. Especially dogs, although I do not understand the smelling of puppy feet, I will trust her that they smell good. SHe loves her friends and family. She loves to laugh.

I have not mentioned her beauty. No, Tigger is not a hideously ugly person. In fact, just the opposite. She is quite beautiful. Every photo that I have ever seen of Tigger, she is smiling. When you look at the photos, look at her eyes. She smiles with her eyes. A genuinely happy person has that gleam in thier eye. Every photo she has that gleam in her eye.. (well not the ones of her butt, but that's another story).

Now, I have typed all of this, and I know that when she reads this, she is going to ask herself "SELF where is the zing? WHen does MIssy make the crack about my age?" Well.. now.. I can't disappoint a friend now can I? Tigger is older than I am, but only by 11 years. In fact she made 50 this year. But to know TIgger, is to know that she does not seem to be 50. In my mind, Tigger is ageless. Yes I tease her about being "tigger old". But in my mind, Tigger Old is just a way of saying ageless. I mean, she goes down waterslides while drinking beer, she listens to a wide range of music that most people her age wouldn't never appreciate, she dances around her house with more energy than I have on a good day, and she laughs.

Laughing, scrapping, loving, caring, kind, talented, smiling.. she is JUST TIGGER. My Friend. (not my fifty year old friend.) I admire her! I love her as I do my sisters. Not many people get that distinction.

(NOW TIgger, NO CRYING!!)