Cute Kid..

Watch this ya'll...it's hilarious.http://www.godvine.com/Adorable-Baby-Reacts-to-his-Mom-Blowing-Her-Nose-305.html

I have no idea what I just ate.....

Ok, I do know, but I couldn't tell by tasting..you see, my taste buds are on strike. As is my sense of smell. I have had this before, but NEVER to this extent. I mean, I forgot about supper on the stove one night this past week. Normally, I could have smelled it when it started burning. But not this time. I didn't smell a thing. Then Tony walks in and asks me.."What are you burning on the stove?"...uh..." I'm not burning anything!" I reply indignantly...and then I remember that I am cooking something on the stove..but I don't smell it burning...So I go in there and sure enough, I have a charred blob of something in the pan...but i'm not upset that I burned it...I was freaked out cause I didn't smell it burning! I mean, the house could have been on fire for all I would have known! I told Tony that maybe I could salvage it...stupidly, before I could think, I stuck my non-smelling nose in the pan and said that it didn't smell burned... ha ha ha...DUH...ya think? Tony said there was no way he was eating that...and I guess that's when I realized how bad my sense of smell was...he was saying the whole house stunk...I didn't smell it at all! Then to make matters worse, a lady came by later that evening and brought me 2 candles as a gift...(did she smell the house all the way from where she lived???)....one was Blueberry, one was Pineapple...they both just as well been plain brown mud cause I couldn't smell either one of them.....I told her of my dilema, and apologized that I couldn't make over how good they smelled cause I couldn't smell them, but I was sure they smelled wonderful... and told her I would call her when my smeller got better and let her know how I liked them...LOL....Erica comes over the next day. The pan is still sitting in the sink...(I couldn't smell it so I had forgot about it..)...when I told her that my smell was gone and that I had burnt dinner and didn't know it, I remembered the pan..I held it out for her to smell....and she bout puked. LOL...nah, she didn't ...but she said it smelled horrible! I stuck my nose in the pan again...and could not smell a thing! Amazing....but not being able to smell is not near as bad as not being able to taste...........
There is something about eating a marshmallow and not being able to taste it. I mean, you are chewing on the rubbery peice of food, but you can't taste it. You begin to think all kinds of things..like...I wonder if this is what chewing on .......would feel like. I mean, i've been on a diet, right? I couldn't even get any satisfaction outta cheating on it...I mean, if i'm gonna pay a penalty for breaking a rule, then you better believe i'm gonna get the satisfaction of at least tasting what it is that's gonna cost me!...and if those two aren't bad enough....
My right ear is completely blocked up. I can't hear worth a flip outta that ear. I feel like I am talking in a drum. I have yawned, swallowed, pinched my nose and blew back in my mouth, used nose spray and chewed candy. It will not unplug. I am beginning to feel a lot of pressure behind the eardrum. For now, there is no pain with it..I am praying it stays that way.
So folks, 2 out of my 5 senses are useless right now..and a 3rd is on it's way out. All that is working right now correctly is my site..(no these are not glasses on my nose...ok..yes it is).... and the sense of touch. Of course this one would be the only one working...LOL.....

Oh To Be Well Again....

I must admit that this post isn't about me...altho I would love to have knees that don't creak and a back that will allow me to stay bent over for more than 5 seconds before it sends me into a tizzy...this post is about my kids and grandkids.....

I have the most wonderful, funny, loving, cutest and SICK grandkids you've ever seen. I mean it...I feel so sorry for these kids, both the grown ones and the grandkids. It seems like about the time that one gets back on track, another one is down for the count..and most of the time more than one of them is sick...like right now...Carter has to have surgery on Fri morning for an unexplained cyst-like something that has come up on his abdomen. He had this when he was a little fella, had to have surgery then too...and it has resurfaced..almost, if not, over night. So he goes in to have it removed on Fri..the doc thinks it's benign, but they are going to send it off nonetheless..then yesterday and last night, Caden coughed and coughed, and run a temp..haven't heard if he was able to go to school today or not...then I call Erica to see if she knew about Carter, and she told me that she had to go get Kristen from school because she was sick...I kept baby Crimsyn a few days ago, you know he just got out of the hospital about a week ago with the flu...and altho he is much better, he was still coughing...Resiana is on the top of the "Well" list right now, but even she had a slight cough yesterday...I told Slick the other day to send me the well ones and maybe they could stay well and not catch it until the sick ones were well again...But then Crystal, Slick and Erica, all 3, have been battling this crud for weeks. They all are getting better, then worse, then better again, but they still sound a little...uh...cruddy..LOL...

I know this ain't funny, but it is almost comical. I told someone the other day that if my little family EVER gets EVERYONE better at the same time, we are having a party! A "Everybody's Healthy" party! I'm gonna serve vitamins, juice and antibiotics, give away presents of air filters, thermometers and humidifiers, and send home party favors of cough suppresant, fever reducer and face masks!

I know that my kids read my blog..and I know they'll know i'm kidding here...there are many more good days than there are sick ones...altho right now that might be up for debate..lol...all kidding aside tho...my heart goes out to them..And Erica would agree....especially to Slick and Crystal....you guys are such heroes...to know that if you hadn't opened your hearts and home to these little guys, there is no telling where they'd be at now...and if they have to be sick...i'm so thankful they have you to take care of them...all will be well again in a few days...weeks......by summer...(hopefully)...LOL

Recovering from the weekend...

Whew...This was 5th weekend and I feel like it has been...I'm wore out..not as young as I used to be...duh....it's better than the alternative I guess. We had so many visitors Sat nite and Sun morning..it did my heart so good to see everyone of you that came. There was a great feeling there Sat night as the Lord blessed our visitors, and Sunday morn the Word of God came and it was wonderful as well...I've got left over Taco's in the fridge, and a few brownies, but everything else pretty much got wiped out, and that suits me just fine because I started a diet this past Monday and I didn't want all those goodies just sitting on the counter sending out signals to my brain that they needed to be eaten and not wasted. I had to fix 4 desserts for Sun and I gave all my leftovers away...I was a good girl....Me, Darrell and Sis Janice Sanders have started a diet and we're doing great! Our first week, and actually is wasn't really a whole week, just Mon-Fri and we all lost...now we will weigh from Fri-Fri..we're doing it biggest loser style, not pounds, but percentage..makes it fair for everyone. One of the rules I chose was I could only have 2 cans/bottles of regular pop per day. No big deal one might think, but when you are used to drinking at least 6 or more a day, well...let's just say, it is gonna make a drastic drop in Mt Dew sales at the gas station..lol. The first day/night was so hard for me...I actually woke up at 10:36pm and thought I have 1 hour and 24 minutes and I can legally go get me a can...but then that would be 1 of my 2 for the day, and I willed myself back to sleep....lol. After Mon tho, it seemed a lil easier, I have to have one (I think) when I first get up, then I drink water, or sugar free tea til about dinner, then I splurge and have my 2nd one...I've gotten it down to a science now tho..my other rule is I can't eat after 7:30pm unless it's a church night...seems kinda limpy huh...well, a LOT of nights Tony wants to go to Crackerbarrell after church, and I hated to have to say please no all the time...I mean, he could go without me, but won't hardly. And I certainly don't want to go and sit and watch him eat...UGH..who can do that?????? We have to keep our rules, each one of us have our own rules, chosen by us, and have to be a challenge for us to keep...I mean, if I chose no eating after 9pm that would be too easy for me...we'll keep these rules every day, no exceptions unless something beyond our control occurs, until St Patricks day..oh, I might mention that we have a penalty of $5 every time we break one of our rules...the one who loses the most percentage gets it at our final weigh in...I honestly fought the first day to drink that 3rd can of pop, but wasn't willing to pay $5 for it...almost, but my pride refused to let me be the first one to fall, much less on the first day...lol....Darrell would have never let me lived that one down..we are very competitive though, and I might add, he had to pay the first penalty..hee hee..course Donna says I should let him slide cause he just forgot, but nope. I could just "forget" how many cans of pop i've had too..LOL...gotta be tough in this competition...Sis Janice is in the lead so far percentage wise...way to go Janice! Wish it were me, but it's not...so woo hoo for her...we'll i'll try to keep ya'll updated on our diet progress...stay tuned!

First Blog of the Year...

Well, it's 2011. Can't believe it...where has the time gone? I'm looking at Christmas decorations, i'm ready for them to be down, and yet, it just seems like I did that??? And it won't be no time, til i'll be dragging them out again...I've heard some say they are ready for summer already, well, I love summer, but i'll wait..why wish your life away? I plan on enjoying a couple of months of NOTHING...I plan on doing some winter cleaning. Gonna start at one end of the house and go through drawers, cabinets and closets and get rid of some stuff. I don't know how in the world I accumulated all these things! I mean, you'd think I was a compulsive buyer, or worse, a hoarder, from the looks of some of my cabinets. I am determined to put the stuff I haven't used in 6 months in boxes and see if Erica or Crystal want it. And if they don't, Goodwill here it comes. I mean..I have Arbonne that's never been opened..I just thought I wanted to look younger..ha ha. And then I have Tony egging me on..he wants me to throw away all of my dishes and get new ones that match! Even silverware! I told him that some of those bowls were Mom's and Granny's and I wasn't doing nothing with them, but I guess i'll be cleaning out kitchen cabinets too. I think I would like not opening a cabinet and then throwing up both arms to protect my head from falling plates and bowls..ha! I got new cookware from Tony and Crystal at Christmas, he got me stainless steel and she got me T-Fal..I really like both. I was dreading cooking some stuff in the stainless steel pans, so she took care of that with the T-Fal. But now that means I have to go through my pots and pans and decide what to get rid of. I'm keeping my cast iron stuff...got too many years seasoning them babies...lol.
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I think I enjoyed this year more than I have any other in a long time. It's been a couple of years since I lost anyone in my family, so it wasn't as sad for one thing. Darrell got me the sweetest gift..a portrait of me, Donna and him when we were young..it made me cry..(Thanks Br Shannon)...then we had Resiana and Crimsyn this year, and it was so good knowing they were a part of our family now. And I had many grateful thoughts that the Lord had allowed Crimsyn to come home to us. I guess our little family is complete now, and we'll just sit back and wait on the Great Grandkids to come along...I suppose Kristen will be the first to marry...she's a couple years older than Carter. I know one thing, she won't marry without Todd Davis having heart spasms..haha...it'll be payback for him taking Erica away from us so young. She's already got her a fella, he's a cutie too...Stuart Higdon. Of course Todd says she won't be getting married til she's like, 13546 years old...yeah, that's what we thought about Erica too. Carter has a girlfriend, her name is Josie. I told him she already scored points with me because that was my grandmother's name! He was a good lil fella and bought her a nice bracelet for Christmas..spent his own money too! Man, I just know that one day i'm gonna think about this night, sitting here writing this blog, and wonder at how the time flew by...
I loved getting up Christmas morning to the snow! I couldn't believe it...I ran back into the bedroom and woke Tony up...at first I just thought it was just real foggy. Erica, Todd and Kristen almost didn't make it down the mountain to come to the house. And Slick had to try several times to make it up our hill (driveway)..but it was so good when they all got there. Tony had built a fire in the fireplace..breakfast was good, Resiana got to help Tony play Santa. This was her first official Christmas. She said she knew about Santa, but he didn't bring her anything. That wasn't true this year! I felt a pang of sadness for her birthmother and all of the people, which includes children, living in the park. Felt guilty. Crystal had sent care packages over there to her for herself and to distribute to those in the park with her. Crystal is such a good person. She truly does care for others and i'm glad she's my daughter-in-law.
Well, I guess i'll close for now...need to hit the sack and get ready tomorrow to head to Florida Monday morning if i'm able. I've taken a slight setback with this cold, and if i'm not able to go to church tomorrow night, I won't be going to Florida...I do feel better than I did yesterday, but i'm still coughing...there is so much sickness going around..I guess we just need to pray for everyone, sick or well, and believe that things will turn around for those that are sick soon....til next time!

Christmas Memories......

It's Christmas time. All around you, there are Christmas decorations, the familiar ringing of the Salvation Army bell in front of the stores...a nip in the air early in the mornings and late evenings. All the stores are full of busy shoppers trying so hard to find that perfect gift for a loved one. Children all over the world are making their lists to send to Santa, and silently hoping that it really isn't true that he knows when you've been bad or good...or that if he does, there would be too many kids to keep track of and he would forget a misgiving or two...
I love Christmas time..it brings back so many memories of growing up. Mama always baked a ton of cookies and cakes and froze them. She'd take some out, we'd eat em all up, she'd take out some more..lol. Sometimes, I remember going to the freezer and sneaking some out so she wouldn't see me..Her cookies were simple, yet delicious! I remember one kind was just graham crackers with vanilla frosting. She'd sprinkle red and green sugar on them and that was it...they were so, so good. And she'd make a tea cake with a dab of grape jelly in the middle...Granny Brazier made those mostly...I miss Mama...and I miss Daddy too. He'd always act like Christmas was no big deal...but he sure did enjoy all that went along with it. He was our "Santa" when it came time to pass out presents at the family gathering...and at some point he always got us to gather round the piano and sing. I am thankful for the Christmases that I had growing up. Like I said, Mama made the holidays special. I would always get excited when Mama would come home from the store with apples and oranges which she would set out in a bowl, oh and the mixed nuts, still in their shells. She'd get out the nutcracker, and Daddy would make a mess shelling pecans..lol. I had to clean that mess up many times...stepped on a few shells too..ouch! Mama always bought a box of Chocolates too...us kids didn't like them much, except the caramel one, you know , the little square one...but Mama did. And I can still see the candy in the box, each one in it's little candy paper, and a bunch of them would have the top mashed in!...LOL..ya'll know what i'm talking about...she'd mash to see what flavor..ha ha....
What I wouldn't give to have just 1 day of one of those Christmases to relive again. Just one hour even. I would forget the gifts, the cookies, fruit and nuts, and sit beside them and just hold their hand. I would tell them as many times as I could how much I loved them, and thank them for all they did for me. I would shower them with hugs and kisses....but I know that will never happen. But their memories and Mama's Christmas legacies live on...Donna, Darrell and I still get together for Christmas, we still bake cookies and candies..I buy oranges and apples, altho neither Tony or myself ever eat them. I still get mixed nuts in the shell and we still gather round the piano and sing...sometimes it makes us cry..sometimes we get silly and laugh...either way, you can see, through us, Mama and Daddy there , ♫ if only in our dreams.♫

Vacation ahead...

Well, we are preparing to head out to Disney in 9 days. We are taking Kerry and Gayle Duvall and their kids and families. Kerry, along with Glynn, are distributors of the metal roofing that we manufacture. They have been good to us and our business, TJ's Metal. They have been our distributors for several years now. Tony decided a few months back that we needed to do something in appreciation for all their business...and.....aha! I know! Disney!...what else?....since Kerry and Glynn are partners in the business it was a no brainer that we would take them both..but Tony got to thinking, Kerry and Gayle only have 1 other child...hey..let's just take them too!...so in 9 days we'll board a plane and head to Orlando once again....We are also taking our other 2 distributors at the same time in January. That would be Tony's brother Neal and his whole family, and his sister, Melody and her family...they both are distributors of our metal. Tony and I love Disney...we enjoy going ourselves, but we love taking others..we love to see the faces of the little ones as they see the castle for the first time..or Mickey Mouse...Tony says he remembers us being a young family and not being able to afford taking us anywhere..coming to Alabama was our "vacation"...but that was ok..I knew we couldn't do anything else, and our kids had never gone anywhere anyway so they didn't know anything different....that's one reason we love taking others...maybe take someone that wouldn't be able to go on their own...and no kuddos to us...cause we get something out of it ourselves....lol.
I think after our trip in January, we are going to go on one more family trip..and retire from Disney...maybe go once a year or so... just not go so much. I am looking into us "retiring" with a Disney "land and cruise trip"...4 days at WDW, then a bus pick us up and take us to a Disney ship and spend 3 days at sea. We've never been on a cruise before and we've always wanted to, just kinda leery about seasickness...yuck..just take tons of Dramamine I guess..anyway...that won't be til round June or so..i'll worry bout that then. We would also love to go to Hawaii again...
Well, it's church night tonight..hope we have a good service..hope we hear the Word of God...hope I see myself if i'm found short...and I probably will be...usually am...especially if it's about Charity...ugh.