The Untold Story

One day last fall, I received a comment here from someone I didn't know. A lady from far away. She was in Guam. Her name is Amy.

Amy asked a specific question about where I lived. Her husband would soon be assigned to a new station and she was curious if I was anywhere near it.

I laughed as I replied to her because I am right where she was going to be...and I'm in awe of how she ran across the blog of someone who happens to live near the place they'll be moving to next. I still have no idea how it actually happened. But you can NOT tell me that this was a coincidence. I do not believe in those. God orchestrated this...

We exchanged emails. I told Amy about the area...I gave her my opinions about schools, where to live...and invited her and the family to our church.

I told her that I would be more than happy to help her in any way I could. I'd look into anything she wanted me to look into. I'd scope houses for her. I wanted to help her feel less nervous about the big move to a new place.

We worked out the details of a particular school...and then she started searching online for a house. She emailed me one day to say that she thought she'd found one. She wanted to know if I'd go look at it for her. Well, of course! Hubs and I took the kids and met someone to see the house. We gave it a good once-over and took more pictures. We declared that it was a great house...we could be happy living there.

We sent my new friend Amy the info and pictures; they decided to take the house.
I have been nervous since then...what if I steered them wrong? What if their taste was completely opposite of mine? Amy had FOUND the house, but I was responsible for giving it the all-clear. Ugh.

Finally...moving time came along.

And I waited.

I waited to see the answer to my questions.

And then, on Facebook, I saw Amy's post..."Just saw the house we'll be living in...NICE!!"

Whew! I tell ya. I felt so relieved to see that at least she thought it was nice.

Amy has been quite busy with family visiting. They had been in Guam for three years so their visits with family had been few and far between.

I've been patiently waiting my chance to meet Ms. Amy.

Friday, I posted on Facebook that I was having a yard sale. It was at my cousin's house and I gave the address. I got there about 9:30 a.m. About 9:50, someone walked up and said my name.

I IMMEDIATELY knew this person.

It was Amy!! And her husband!!! And I nearly came out of my skin I was so excited!!! She had seen my post on Facebook and decided to surprise me. Boy was I surprised! I was tickled and I couldn't stop saying how happy I was that she had come. Wow. Her husband Chris thought that I might be freaked out by her 'stalking' me...but I was FAR from freaked! Elated is more like it.

Amy!! It was a wonderful first meeting...all 7 minutes of it! I am SO glad that you stopped by to surprise me!! I'm also very glad that you were able to get out that day and see the sights of the area...you've seen things I've never seen and I've lived here my whole life!!

Making a little dough at the yard sale was great...but THIS made my day!!!

To new friendships...in person!!

**Another nugget of info...I posted on Facebook that we wanted to sell our Rockband game. Amy, in GUAM, wanted to buy it. She put the money straight into our account via internet and I shipped the game. It took a LONG time to get to Guam, but they were able to enjoy it before the move. I suppose we need to have a Rockband party at their 'new' house soon!!**

Remember my meeting with Happy Momma? My sweet hubby made friends with their younger daughter...gaining her trust as he encouraged her to jump off their cofee table into his arms.

And so...we received the following email Friday:

Mr. Donald

This morning my mommy was changing my brother's diaper on his floor. I stood over him and said "wooon, twoooooo" and then I fell forward. On top of him. My mommy didn't think I would do it, either that or she thought to slow while I was counting. Either way, I'm quite sure my mommy said your name in a less than Christ like tone. I look forward to seeing what you teach me when we come this summer. Mommy has a few tricks up her sleeves to teach Ella and Evan.

Hugs,

Trouble in Texas aka "Happy Momma's Middle Monkey"

Ruh roh.

Bad Hubby.

So Hubby wrote back to the little Monkey:

Dear Grasshopper (Monkey),

You have learned well, excellent job! Don't worry about little brothers too much, they are highly resilient. Now, in order to really push Momma over the edge, I think you should try a few other "classic" kid maneuvers. Start out with something simple, like running with scissors for example. When you feel comfortable with that one, we'll move on to more advanced techniques like the ever popular, sticking a key in a wall outlet. If your parents are too sneaky for that one and have installed those pesky childproof outlet covers, then we'll have to go straight to the highest level of child mischief: turning on the garbage disposal while the cat's tail is in there. Anyway hope you have lots of fun!

Master (Donald)

P.S. Be sure to pass along this knowledge to your little brother one day.

And then, in Texas...

After hubs finished his half Ironman and got cleaned up, we packed up the car and headed a little further west.

I've not spent much time in Texas, so I thought it'd be great to go west and visit a few places like Sea World, the Riverwalk and check out a little something called the Alamo. The icing on the cake was that I have a bloggy friend somewhere along the way in TX...one who was really hoping that my husband would find a job that would have us relocate close to her. The relocation didn't happen, but we have continued to grow our friendship through our blogs, emails and facebook pages.

I will have to call my friend 'Happy Momma' because I don't believe she has ever used her true name on her blog...I must respect her privacy.

Happy Momma writes Pink Explosion...only now she has a touch of blue. She has two daughters and a four month old 'pork chop' son. Again, my terrible memory leaves me clueless with how we came to know each other, but it's been a while now...

HM first said that we could stay in her home with her family...but days before we were to arrive, her hubby put the kabash on that plan...he was convinced that we could be axe murderers. My husband wanted to show up with a plastic axe from the party store...but he settled for introducing himself as 'Charles Manson, but most people call me Donald.'

I cannot fault her husband at all for protecting his family...but to hubs and me, it was just funny that someone could think we would be harmful. Crazy, yes. Harmful psychos, no.

Oh, wait...HM gave me 'her' cell phone number so I could call her, but, it was oh so funny when it turned out that she actually gave me her husbands cell phone number. So...I called the guy who thought I might have driven hundreds of miles to off his family. Good laugh.

HM and her sweet children met us where we ate breakfast Monday morning. We chit chatted and then made the trip to downtown San Antonio. HM = supermom. Handling all three of her children without any help...she would not let me push the stroller...hmm...maybe she just thought I'd get too many germs on the handle. HM is, how shall I say, very aware, very cautious of all the germs out there...her children learn early that mom will dish out 'soap' (aka Purell, GermX) on a regular basis while they're out in public. Made me chuckle quite a bit...but I did partake.

So we went to the Alamo. Poor memory. Hubby had to tell me the story of the Alamo. (see, I plan to get re-educated when my kids go to school!)

We then went to the Riverwalk. The kids got a kick out of watching the ducks. The mommas just got nervous. Nervous that one or more of the children would jump in the 'river'. It didn't happen...but that's probably just because we tied them to trees. No. We didn't. But you would've thought they had leashes on because of how they were pulled back every few seconds.

We had a yummy lunch at Chilis...and a wonderful time getting to know each other in person. It was so great, so comfortable! It felt so good to 'click'...you just never know. I don't think I had any expectations, but I certainly was not disappointed!

We then went to their home. But not without cracking jokes. We asked HM if she had called her husband to let him know that they were all still alive. Maybe we are sick!

The kids played together so well. I got to hold and squeeze on sweet-little-pork-chop-baby, and Donald found a friend in their middle child...and taught her how to jump off the coffee table into his arms. That wasn't such a good idea, but they did have fun.

We shared a wonderful dinner with the whole family...and even the husband decided that we weren't 'that' kind of crazy afterall. In fact, he has added us as friends on Facebook. Now that's a good sign!

The next day, we took the kids to the park and small lake before we had to hit the road. (hmm...why did we take the kids to another place where we had to keep them from jumping in water??) The kids had a good time throwing rocks at the geese/ducks in the water...and no one got wet!

Happy Momma and Me...make that Two happy mommas!!

We have truly found great friends in Texas!! And the best part? They are coming HERE!! Eek!

We will get to see our new friends in a few months. They are going to East Tennessee and they now have a reason to stop in West TN. Can't wait!!

I bet they'll show up with a plastic axe from the party store.

**P.S. SeaWorld was closed. Boo**

**P.P.S. I will post more of our pictures tomorrow!**

While in Texas...

When we started planning our trip to Texas, I began to daydream about meeting a blog friend while I was there. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to happen, I just knew that I was determined to make it work.

One day, this Texas friend and I went back and forth on Facebook about how excited we were that we would soon meet...when another Texas friend noticed the conversation and said 'What?!? You're coming to Texas?!?'

Why, yes. Yes, I am. Want to meet??

And the wheels started turning.

I am not exactly sure who found who in blogland, but Kim and I have been reading one another's blogs for a while now. Kim's blog, Beanish & other languages I'm learning, is a wonderful journal of her family life. She has a very adorable daughter, whom she refers to as The Bean. Kim is married to T...and they are getting ready to close on their first house at the end of this month. They are a couple of super busy folks these days!!

Kim found a place for us to meet for dinner. Originally, Kim said she'd be bringing The Bean (whose birthday was the next day) and her mother, but when T's work schedule changed for the day, T and Kim's father decided to join us as well.

Kim and Me

T and the Bean

Kim's parents - Mr & Mrs H. Donald enjoyed chatting with them!

We had a great time talking in person...and it was SO comfortable...not at all like a first meeting.

Kim blogged about our meeting here. (Kim, you need to send me the pictures you took...I LOVE the picture of Donald and Ella!)

Because of the Bean's birthday and Donald preparing for his Ironman, this was only opportunity we had to meet...and it could've gone on forever...but all the little people we had with us needed to get home for bed!

I am so thrilled to have met Kim face to face. Miss Bean and T were great and her parents were a joy! Thank you all for taking the time to come meet us for dinner while we were in town!

Best wishes to Kim and T about the house...and congratulations to Miss Bean who will soon have a backyard all her own!! Maybe we'll get back to Texas to see your house sometime!

It's so awesome to get 'outside the box' to meet the people you're getting to know online...more to come...

Take a Hike Ike

This bloggin' business has brought me friends from all over this country.

Oregon
Washington
Ohio
Virginia
Utah
Kentucky

And Texas.

My sweet Texas friends, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for the safety of your families and the protection of your homes. I pray that Ike will leave soon...

Be safe...

Leaping out of the Computer

For a while now, I've wanted to meet a sweet blogging friend in person.

I love her blog. I love her style of writing. I love her humor. And folks, she finds humor in everything. Even through having back surgery, a bum foot and being bed-ridden...she has been in great spirits.

I'm talking about Amy @ in my life.

I've been living vicariously through Amy and her posts about her cruise to the Mediterranean...oh the pictures are gorgeous!

Amy found me through my comments on another blog. She and my friend Yvette found each other through comments on my blog. And they have formed a sweet, sometimes quirky little friendship, with their exchange of banter and gifts of turtles and frogs. They crack me up!

Yvette had already trekked her way down to see Amy...and now it was my turn. Yvette planned a little surprise for Amy. She had no idea I was coming with Yvette. And I worried that maybe she wouldn't recognize me when I got there...I was wrong!

Amy DID know me...and she knew my purse. My Vera Bradley. She asked me immediately, 'Is that Frankly Scarlet?' Why, yes it is. So I kept one eye on my purse the rest of the visit...that lady wants that purse bad!! (note to Shannon, Amy's husband: Go get her a Frankly Scarlet Vera Bradley bag right away. It's quilted. It can pull double duty if she's stuck in bed again...it would make a great pillow!)

We had a very lengthy, very comfortable visit with lots of laughter. Somehow we all managed to hold our bladders. Good times.

And how could you expect a red-head, a blonde and a brunette not to pose as Charlie's Angels? We couldn't resist!

I'm very happy that I was able meet Amy in real life. In her very welcoming home. With her very welcoming family present. And one fur-baby named Allie welcomed us, too.

Thanks for dinner and smiles, Amy!! You are a joy and I'm happy to call you friend!

I've been honored!

Have I ever told you how much I love blogging?

Have I ever told you how much I enjoy meeting new people??


Have I ever told you that blogging has helped me meet lots of new people!?!?

Dude, I'm killing two birds with one stone here. Just to be clear...not that I condone bird-killing...bird-watching, yes, bird-killing, no way. Glad we cleared that up.



I have quite a few bloggy buddies...people who keep coming back to read my nonsense stories, and I'm so glad they do!


And just like in anything you do, it's really nice to be noticed. To be appreciated. To have your ego inflated be praised for bringing a little 'Goodness' to someone's day.


Several of my sweet blogging friends have honored me with awards. What they didn't know when they gave them to me was that it would take me several years weeks to post about them. I think they're good enough friends to forgive...

My first award came from Sara. She is a super sweet wife and mother of three little darlings, who I met by clicking on a post title over to the right there under the Blogher ad. The day I met her, I had posted about a blog design giveaway...she entered and won it!! Oh, and one other really neat part of it all...she used to live where I am...and I will probably get to meet her soon!!


Sara, thanks for showing me some love with this award!!





I want to give this award to JMB Mommy @ His Grace is Enough Today. She is sharing the love, folks. The most important love...the love of Jesus. Her daughter recently accepted Christ and it was such a sweet post! Go show this mommy some love!



My next award came from Jody. I wish I could remember how I found Jody...or how she found me, whatever the case may be...but such is blogging. You just find people you enjoy and you hang on for the ride. She and her daughter are the master minds behind the Good Mail group I'm in...really sweet ladies!! Thanks, Jody!! I appreciate the recognition!

And actually, I got a double-dose of this one when a very new reader passed it to me. Sammi over at Little Ladybugs found me and found my little blog worthy of an award. Thank you Sammi...I'm looking forward to getting to know you!!

I want to bestow this award on Elaine @ The Miss Elaine-ous Life. I love the way Elaine uses her sense of humor in each post...she always seems to find the 'funny'. She is so witty and entertaining...check her out for yourself.

Last, but certainly not least, is an award I received from Mama Mia. Mia and I are still getting to know one another. We share a few bloggy buddies and we've started visiting each other. Mia is a tell-it-like-it-is homeschoolin' mama...and I really enjoy her blog. Apparently, the feeling is mutual. Thank you, Mia! I'm blushing!

I'm passing this award over to Beth @ A Mom's Life. She shares a great variety of stories...her kids give her the best material! I thoroughly enjoy her blog and so will you. Please go see her!

Happy Thursday!

One of my Fantastic Friends in Blogland...

...loves to pick the brains of her bloggy friends.

Amy at 'in my life', came up with a series of questions in order to get better acquainted with the blog authors she loves. The series is called Inside the Blogger's Studio. Amy's first guest was Mama Mia...I've just started tuning in to see what Mia is up to. I'm getting to know her better...you can read her interview here. Next up was Yvette...my old co-worker and friend-turned-master-blogger...you can read her interview here.

Back in June, Amy sent me a message to ask if I would be interested in being a contestant on the Price is Right, er, being placed on a pedestal for a day, um, playing along. I responded with a very enthusiastic 'Yes, you bet!'

And then she sent me the questions.

And they required me to think.

So they took me a while to answer.

I'm proud to say that I finished said questions the other day and sent them on for publishing.

So without further ado...

Head on over to Amy's to read my interview!!

Starting the week off right!

First up, I've got (Good) mail!

Kelli sent me a fabulous cake mix from Tastefully Simple. If you haven't tried something from this company, you are missing out! Thank you, Kelli! I can't wait to make myself a delicious cake!

But that's not all!! Yes, there's more than a cake mix in this picture. Elaine sent me the cutest card. Within this cute card was a Starbucks gift card. Thank you so much, Elaine! I will have myself a sweet little treat very soon!!

I have wonderful friends in blogland, for sure!

More evidence of that?

Two more of my friends gave me an award for my blog. Amy dished it out first...and since I stink at posting awards in a timely manner am a very busy person, I have gotten a second dose of this award from Jenny. Now, they'd probably like to snatch my award and run revoke the honor they've bestowed upon me, but maybe they love me enough to forgive me for being a loser super busy momma.

This is the Arte Y Pico award. I must admit that I probably butcher sorely mispronounce the name of this angelic award, but if that's the worst thing I do today, eh, cut me some slack.

I think somewhere in cyberspace, there are rules that go along with this award that say I'm supposed to pass it on to five blogs I read. Since my husband seems to think I read about 100 blogs, totally untrue, it shouldn't be hard to find a few to pass this to. (and I'm trying to make sure they don't already have it) So here goes:

Chris - Thanks for Noticing Me

Diane - There's a Circus in my Brain

Jennifer - Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Pink Explosion

Beth - A Mom's Life

These are only five of the blogs I love. They either inspire me to do things, give me a reason to laugh or simply entertain me...but I love them. Go see these fine ladies right away!

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And last, but certainly not least, the very best part of my Monday will happen when I march myself into the credit union and PAY.OFF.OUR.TRUCK! That's right! We paid off my van back in February and now we're finishing off the truck. No more car notes, my friends! Can't I get a fist-pumpin' woot woot!!?

Please join me...

I'm praying for this couple, Nate and Tricia, and their daughter Gwyneth.

I've mentioned them here before.

Gwyneth was born at just over 24 weeks gestations...she is nearly 3 months old now. Tricia has Cystic Fibrosis and is awaiting a new pair of lungs. Today is Nate's birthday...and they've been notified of a possible set of lungs for Tricia!! Their transplant team investigated some lungs just the other day, but they weren't suitable for Tricia.

I'm praying, if it's God's will, that these lungs will be for Tricia.

Will you join me?

Using my creative juices...& a little nerdiness

I think I've always had a creative bug. I can't remember a time when I haven't enjoyed crafts of all kinds. I've done all sorts of things. I've taken pottery and painting classes. I've made beaded Christmas ornaments. I've tried cross-stitching. I've painted ceramics at Paint-A-Piece. I've had a hand in a few mural-type projects. I've masterminded two adorable children's rooms. I make diaper bag tags. I've been scrapbooking for years...and that is still my love.

But then came blogging. It's therapeutic and a great way to keep friends and family updated on the latest happenings and meet new people

This blog thing comes with some pretty basic layouts...and I tire of them easily. I love changing the look of my site...it's my prerogative. When I got bored with simply changing the colors and fonts, I grew a desire for an overhaul. The first time I redesigned completely was a result of stumbling across a blog that led me to Blogger Buster. This site gave me instructions on editing HTML codes for several areas of my blog. I loved that first design.

As I wandered around the net, though, I saw many other designs that I liked. I am pretty sure that some of them wouldn't be very easy for me to learn, but the ones that look like scrapbook pages, well, that is something I just had to figure out how to do!

I asked Melissa where she got her backgrounds and how she did her page. She pointed me in the direction of Shabby Princess for free digital scrapbooking downloads, but from there, she really couldn't help me much because she uses PhotoShop. I don't have PhotoShop. But...I do have a program called GIMP. I've heard it defined as 'the poor man's PhotoShop', it's a free download. Right up my alley! I used it to create my first redesign...by the hair on my chinny chinny chin, ugh. I'm not sure how I figured that program out - and I'm far from knowing it completely - but I've learned enough to accomplish my goal.

I created my header and then learned to install it, along with the backgrounds, using instructions from SJH Blog Design.

I'm very happy that I've learned how to do what I wanted...but I didn't want to forget what I learned. And since I would drive everyone crazy if I changed my look every other day, I decided to help out a friend of mine. I corrupted Yvette into a blog-addict and she mentioned a while back that she'd like a new look. Her site is my 2nd creation...I'm really proud of it. (be sure to click her name to go see her new 'do!)

Yvette and Noodle have become bloggin' buddies. When Yvette's new look appeared, Noodle commented and found out that I had done the deed. I think it shocked surprised her. And so, talks began for me to redesign her blog. Go have a looksee, I'll wait...[whistling]...you're back? Do you like it?? I'm proud of that one, too.


Actually, I fear that now Yvette and Noodle look better than me! I'm certain that I'll be redoing my header soon. Afterall, I did mine first and now I know more stuff.



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I mentioned above that I make diaper bag tags. My tags have also been used as music case tags, luggage tags and backpack tags. Most recently I did some to be used as Easter basket tags...have a look!!

I ventured out of 'Blog World'

I've met lots of neat people since I started this blogging stuff. Sometimes I get to know enough about them that I wish we could hang out sometime.

Late, and I do mean late, Wednesday night, I had an email 'conversation' going with my blog buddy, Noodle. We were talking about several things and at one point, we simultaneously sent each other a message saying that we should get together and let our children play while we visit. I literally laughed out loud when I read her message to me...funny thing about 'great minds'.

We really didn't finalize our plans until around 10am Thursday morning...and we were going to meet at 11:30! We decided to meet at Chickfila so we could have a yummy lunch and let the kids play in the playroom.

Noodle has already written a post about our playdate. I must say, I've never spent 3 hours at Chickfila...but it sort of flew by...Evan had a lot to do with that. That kid. Whew. He wears me out! In. Out. In. Out. He could not make up his mind about the playroom. He entertained everyone. Several people spoke to me about him. His hair. His energy. His food-snatching skills. You would think I didn't buy food for him. That's it! I take my kids out to eat, let them down to run around and graze off of other people's leftovers. Genius, isn't it?

Noodle's children are delightful...mostly because they weren't nearly as loud as Evan. Her son has a huge love of reading and performing card tricks - he brought his loves with him for me to see. Her daughter is a sweet girl who loves all things artsy...my kind of girl! Ella loved Miss Sass and talked about her all.the.way.home. We will definitely have to let those kiddos play together again soon.

I love having faces in my mind to go with the names I read about.

Thanks for meeting us, Noodle, we enjoyed it!

***I spelled 'simultaneously' correctly without spell check!***

Ah, flowers

Most of my bloggy friends are mothers. Mothers who, at one time or another, have had moments, hours or days like the one I previously posted about here. I have a great group of online friends. It's been so nice to receive so many encouraging words. I 'heart' my blog friends. Oh and my dad, who also left a sweet comment...man I wish he lived closer!

One of my wonderful new friends is Kelli. She 'sent' me flowers to brighten my seconds, minutes, hours, days and the week I'm about to endure without my hubby at home. So sweet, Kelli, thank you!

And since I know there are women out there who have to endure a lot more than a short week without their husbands at home, I'm sharing my flowers. Please don't send me messages telling me to 'man up'...I know I'm a sissy. A sissy who's use to having her husband at home being a wonderful daddy and helper. It stinks no matter how long he's gone.