Weekend.

On Friday, Paul left for some man time, at the Red River Gorge. He takes these backpacking trips about 3 times per year, and he LOVES it. This is what I would consider legit roughing it. Heck, my idea of roughing it, is if the ice machine is out of ice at the hotel, so maybe it's more like my idea of hades. Have I ever mentioned we are complete opposites? I digress. You want to know what I did Friday night? I put the kids to bed, and got wrapped up in a murder/mystery show. Why? Why do I do dumb things like that, when my husband leaves? I spend half the night, thinking someone was using a high tech glass cuter, to secretly get in my room. Ugh.

Paul told me I had to blog about his trip. Not exactly sure how I will manage to blog about this when I wasn't there.

Here's my best shot honey.

Two of Paul's bestest friends, Josh and Matt. Or should I use their trail names? Josh=black widow. Matt=Boone. Paul=Blade.

Have I ever mentioned we are complete opposites? Oh, I have?
Forging ahead, the manly man that he is.
I have to admit this is very pretty! He said this was at sunrise.
Blade being all Daniel Boonish.
I do love my man, and all his oppositness. I know that's not a real word, but you know what I mean.
On Saturday while my man was being a pioneer. I took the kids to two birthday parties. Kids had fun, and I ate lots of cake. That's a win, win!!

I did not know that birthday party #1 would have a pool, therefore I brought no swim gear. Hope had to put on BOY clothes. She was pretty embarrassed about that, but it was worth it to swim for all of TEN minutes. Geesh.
I've got to say, I am blessed that my children are so well behaved. Sure, they have their moments, but after party #2, I need to say I am blessed. I'll leave it at that. :)
Blade returned Saturday night and there was much rejoicing. Kids are always excited to see their daddy, and I didn't have to worry about rouge glass cutting evil people all night.

Check this out. During church Paul noticed this. 10 years ago today, Paul gave me this Bible! We had been dating for one month, and I'm guessing that he thought I needed to read up. ;)
We've spent a lot of time skyping with our family today. Skype is the best when you live away!! We were able to wish Sarah a happy birthday face to face, and see all the new cats!! :)
Kids have been playing in a 'tent' most of the day.
And I'm praying that New England wins so 'blade' ends the weekend in a good mood.
Happy Weekend!!

My absolute favorite.

Last night, not sure when, maybe 3 a.m., I heard a little voice, "momma, can I sleep wif you, I had a bad Star Wars dream." It was my little Hopie.

On average, I would say Pierce comes into our room 5 nights a week. Oh yeah, 5 nights a week. I know, I know, that's just bad parenting. He was my first, and I broke all the sleeping rules with him, and almost 7 years later, I still pay for it. He always gets sent back, unless he's sick, or if daddy just happens to be out of town, then I let him come on in.

Then I had Hope. I went hardcore with her. She was sleeping in her bed, by golly. I was determined not to go down that road again! It worked too! She's been a much better sleeper than her brother. Almost always stays in her bed, sleeps in later, all those things a momma dreams of!

Since last night was a rare treat, I decided to document the heck out of it. For a few reasons. 1) Who can resist a sleeping child? 2) I am obnoxious, and take pride in that. 3) My absolute favorite time with my kids, is when they first wake up.

Seriously, it was killing me to wake her up. She was out cold. So, why not wake her up, with a flash to the eyes? That wouldn't be annoying or anything.
The incessant flash was making her stir.
Can you imagine if I did this when she's say, 14?? I'm sure my camera would be flung across the room.
But she's not 14, she's 4, and just sweet as punch when she wakes up.
Messy hair, sleepy eyes, and eager to be held.
I treasure these moments.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

My first job. I would love to tell you all that I worked really hard to get my first job. How I had to go through a big long process to get the job, and I was picked above all the other applicants. That would be a lie.

My dad is a State Farm agent, since 1971 to be exact. The 1970's the ugliest era to date, when everyone appeared orange and brown, and appliances were puke green. What was going on in the seventies?!

I think at one time or another, my dad has employed everyone in the family, even my mom!! I don't think that went over so well, mom wasn't used to my dad being the boss, HA! (Hi mom!) Anyways, I think around my sophomore year of high school, I started going into the office after school and working. Working, in a very loose sense.

My sister also worked there, and mainly she and I would just goof off. You know, make fun of people, go buy Hostess cakes at the gas station across the street, jam to the 'Light 106.9' tunes, put up dad's awesome Christmas decorations that he surely bought in 1971, get in fist fights, etc. I did have a few VERY important jobs though. I put the gum in the birthday letters, filed, cleaned, and even worked up to the SR21 report.

I feel as though I should apologize to my dad now. Sorry dad you paid me to goof off, but please know Jo and I made some awesome memories at your pay check's expense.

After State Farm, I went on to work at Bacon's, in the junior department, circa 1995. Holla!! Then, Cracker Barrel as a hostess, boy that was fun. Then SIRH (Southern Indiana Rehab Hospital) until right before I gave birth. Last job on my resume, stay at home mom, 2004-present.

Addendum.

My post that I just did today, about our next blog off topic, had a mistake. April was sweet enough to point it out to me, and subsequently outed herself, as a secret stalker of JaimeMac.

First job post due Thursday. Or whenever you can!

Feel free to point out any other mistakes I am unaware of. :-)

Our first j-o-b's.

Amanda over at World of AME, suggested we do a blog off about our first job's.

Miss bossy pants over at The Farming McAfee's, said let's get it done by tomorrow.

Whoever would like to join in, feel free. Also, if you can't do it tomorrow but still want to do it, just join in when you can. I won't tell miss bossy pants.

I will tell you about good things from my visit to Indiana. The land that flows with milk and honey.

I had not been back to paradise since July! I do think that has been my longest stretch since moving. There was a very important thing that started this whole visit, and I'm glad, because I have missed the land that flows with milk and honey. So, let me fill you in on some good things from the visit.

Spending time with the family.

Watching the kids take great pleasure in the new toys Neena bought for them.
A 2 dollar microphone turned my daughter into a serious performer.
Oh mercy.
Okay, back to good things. New outfits for the kids. How cute is this right here? Pretty darn cute.
Cough. Cough. While the boy filling the clothes is too cute, the outfit?? (Janelle, remember when I saw you at Penny's? You said Jackson was all about Mario?) Well, this is what a certain little boy talked his Neena into.
Bless his little Transformer self.
More good things? My kids seeing their buddies from home. :)
Tracey, I tried my best to A) Get Maggie to look at me B) Smile.
Good thing #984? Spending time with my friends!!!!

Love these girls. And the good thing that started this whole visit? Celebrating Cameron's 1st birthday, at his fabulous party.
Good family. Good friends. Good times.

September 11, 2001.

On September 11, 2001, I headed into work at SIRH as a scheduler, I was 26 years old. This day was like every other day, I sat at my desk right next to Donna Poff, and we were answering the phone's that were always ringing off the hook. I had my brown sugar and cinnamon pop tart, and in between phone calls, was doing the usual morning chat. Around 8:50-8:55, Mike Hensley, came up to our desk kind of frantic, "Did you hear? An airplane flew into one of the twin towers!!"

I immediately thought of my trip to NYC when I was a senior in high school. I remember thinking, how in the world would a plane fly into one of those buildings? They are so visible, and all packed in so tight, that must be a mistake. Within minutes the buzz was that another plane flew into the OTHER twin tower.

Paul and I had only been dating for a month, and I called him. "Have you heard about planes flying into the twin towers?" Paul being the 'not get easily excited' kinda guy he is, pretty much gave me no information. So, I called Dana Albertson. She had the news on, and gave me the play by play of what was going on. It was bad.

It was so hard to work. What I remember though, was EVERYONE seemed to shut down. Phones quit ringing, except family and friends calling to give us the latest. We turned on the radio, and heard of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, and then United Airlines Flight 93. By this point it was madness. I didn't know what was true, and I just wanted to go home.

When I got home, I turned on the t.v., to find horrible, horrible images. I don't know that I moved all night. I had never seen anything like this, and I was unaware of terrorism. I had heard of it, but didn't really understand it at all. This was a crash course into evil.

I attended special church services, watched tons of t.v., and cried at the stories and images. One of the things I remember the most was having my radio on a public, secular station, and then hearing Bob Russell on there praying. Our nation was totally different for a while. Too bad that couldn't have lasted. This was also before I was a mom. I know that if this were to happen today, I would have had much different fears and anxieties.

Years later, I watched the movie, about flight 93. I sobbed. Those people knew the death they were facing, but they fought back as hard as they could. They also had the chance to call their loved ones and tell them goodbye, that breaks my heart.

Ten years later. Sometimes it seems much longer than that to me, and yet the feelings when I write about it, are like it was yesterday. As cliche' as it sounds, I will never forget. How could I? And I never want to. The least I can do is have a heavy heart, every year on September 11.