My first granddaughter, Liza. I took this on a special outing I had with only Liza. We were at Jamestown VA in the Pocahontas village. Liza was grounding her own cornmeal just like Pocahontas would have done. I had so much fun with her, pretending to be Indians… although SHE got to be Pocahontas!
This was taken “from above”… in August, 2011, when she was only 2. I miss our time together.
I’ll bet you all were hangin’ on the edge of your seats in anticipation of our last day in St. Louis, weren’t you? So to recap – we had day #1 on the Delmar Loop and then day #2 on Laclede’s Landing.
So sad to leave our Hilton Hotel room! We naturally, pushed it to the very last second and left a little AFTER check out time. None of us wanted to get up and only ONE of us (guess who?) was responsible enough to pack. Here’s a hint, it wasn’t ANY of the 15 year olds! Oh and FORGET about the 28 year old.
Julia wanted to have a REAL tea party, just like in “Alice in Wonderland”! lol We reserved a table at the London Tea Room on Washington Ave. downtown. It was strange to be on Washington Ave. because only a few years ago, when I was still working, this place was a slum! Known for the prostitution and drugs. BOY have they cleaned up! Now, there’s a booming loft district and SO pretty. Birthday Girl wants to live there one day. I sincerely hope she makes enough money to live comfortably in a loft apartment 🙂
(They decided on the “Cream Tea”, which I guess in London consists of a scone and a pot of tea? That’s what a Cream Tea means at St. Louis’s London Tea Room, anyway)
(Julia said she felt so sophisticated and grown up just like the REAL English people! lol She’d never had a scone before. We ordered blueberry scones with “Devonshire Cream” which was TO DIE FOR! Devonshire cream is like butter, only better. I seriously need to figure out how to make this stuff! Anyway, the scones were light and fluffy… NOT like the scones we’re used to. I’d give this place 2 thumbs up for the tea and their scones 🙂
(Julia feeling all grown up and elegant drinking her Chai Latte. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that they didn’t drink Chai Latte’s in London. She liked the idea of the foamy milk.)
(So Katie tells me AFTER ordering that the taste of tea makes her sick. Here she is looking DEEP into her tea cup. I’m not sure what she thinks is going to jump out and hurt her. For my friends in the UK… in our defense, we’re REAL bonafide rednecks AND we’re coffee drinkers. We really had no business in a London Tea Room. lol)
(In keeping with tradition, Hannah wouldn’t be Hannah if not causing trouble somehow! lol All through our little tea party, the girls spoke in their very best British accents. Yeah, it was annoying so I kept my head down so as to not make eye contact with any of the other patrons. When I looked up, this is what I saw staring back at me (Hannah with a fake “stache”).
(I’m LOVING this pic of the girls walking down Washington Ave.! They look like models to me 🙂
(and so when it came time for the girls to take MY picture, I didn’t notice Julia walking like Derek Zoolander)
(This is Windows On Washington, where the presidents always come to hold their campaign fundraisers while in St. Louis. I used to deliver specialty foods here when I was working. How’s THAT for a fun fact?)
(The Loft Apartments where Julia swears she’ll live one day)
From Washington Ave., we drove around, stopping to take pictures of the awesome old city architecture.
(I literally parked in the middle of the street to get this one! lol This is a view of the city from Market Street. It’s a good thing it was Sunday and everyone who WAS out in the city happened to be at the Cardinals game! Go CARDS!)
(I’m not sure what this building is but it’s old and it’s beautiful!)
(Just more lovely buildings 🙂
We ended up at Kiener Plaza where all St. Louisans gather before a Cardinal’s game. Here’s where it got weird. I began taking pictures of the girls and a lady walks up to me and asks if I want to be in the picture. She offered to take my picture and being me, and being naive and being from the “country”, I said, “Sure!”. Well, I discovered this woman was homeless. Now, I love all people and the girls and I work hard to help stamp out hunger and homelessness. We hold fundraisers and work with area churches to help these people. BUT… I wouldn’t want one of them to hold my fancy new expensive camera! She could have run with it. Thank GOD she didn’t. The girls and I took this opportunity to talk with her and learn about what’s going on in St. Louis with the homeless. This opened the door for other homeless people to come up to us and tell their story. It broke my heart, really. However, it was good for the girls to learn what it was like to be homeless, straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. I’ll tell you their stories in another blog.
(Here’s the pic that the homeless woman took. Notice the Gateway Arch behind the old Old Courthouse? I love this scenery.)
(And here’s the homeless woman who DIDN’T run off with my camera. God Bless her! Do you know that NONE of them asked for money? They only wanted to tell their story to someone who would listen. She asked me to tell her story to whoever would listen… so I certainly will do that!)
(Homeless men sleeping in Kiener Plaza. They weren’t bothering anyone. They just needed a place to sleep and the shelters were completely full. This breaks my heart but it was an opportunity to show the girls how very blessed we really are.)
Next stop: City Garden! Guess what? It’s another FREE experience! I’m so proud of the way they’re beautifying our city! There was a time that I was ashamed to say I was from St. Louis. NOW is not that time 🙂
(Hannah the Ham inside the eyeball of the creepy head sculpture)
(Julia BEFORE she fell)
(volunteers take care of this garden)
(The girls and Pinocchio)
And this will conclude our tour of the beautiful metropolis of St. Louis Mo 🙂 We truly had a blast. Lot’s of bonding, fighting, posing and eating… Ah but it’s good to be home!
Our first night in St. Louis was SO fun, so now how do we top that? I left it up to Julia since it was HER birthday. My intention was to try and take it easy on the money situation but I NEVER ever succeed. Julia and her buddies didn’t create their itinerary based off of the FREE “things to do” in the city. Too bad for Hubby. He never likes to let me lose with the pocketbook. I’m beginning to understand why! lol
We woke up late and didn’t get out of the hotel until after noon. BTW… should you ever decide to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport in St. Louis, you should know that just because you spend a million $ on the hotel room, you will NOT be receiving a complimentary breakfast. Nope. Not even a stale donut or a box of cereal. However they DO invite you to partake in their $12 PLUS per person breakfast! By this time, my oldest daughter joined us so we were now a party of 5. I couldn’t justify spending $65 a day on breakfast food when we still had cupcakes. Granted, by this time the cupcakes were fairly hard, but they were still good enough for a bunch of teenagers. SO, because we were STARVING, we began our very rainy day at “Hodaks” (another St. Louis tradition) for all the fried chicken we could eat! Hodaks has been around forever and some people would say they have the best fried chicken and frog legs in the world! It was good but I wouldn’t say it was the best. The girls DID say it was the best and that made it all worth getting lost in the city 🙂 Have you ever been lost in a big city where it seems like every driver on the road wants to be in YOUR lane at the same time you are? Oh and let’s not forget all that AND screaming teenage girls who are literally punching each other in the back seat like a bunch of wild boys! I told them that THIS was the reason I chose NOT to have boys….
(We finally found Hodaks. Literally, people who move away from St. Louis and come back for a visit… HAVE to come back to Hodaks for the fried chicken. I know people who visit this place every time they’re in town)
(Not very fancy but tasty! I didn’t like the slaw at all and I thought it was funny that the chicken was served on top of a piece of white bread in order to soak up the grease! lol But despite the not-so-fancy plastic plates and such, the chicken was SO juicy and seasoned just right! And by juicy, I don’t mean greasy)
After stuffing ourselves with as much fried chicken as we could all eat, Julia wanted to go to Laclede’s Landing on the riverfront. No matter that a monsoon decided to visit us on this day. Anything for MY princess! lol If she wants to walk around WITHOUT umbrellas in the pouring down rain, then BY GOD, that’s what we’re going to do! Just as soon as we found a parking spot and stepped out into the rain, my oldest daughter flagged down a horse drawn carriage driver. If you’re ever in St. Louis and you want to take a carriage ride, you should know that you CAN negotiate a price with the drivers. They usually charge around $40 for as many people as we had with us. My daughter got them down to $25! Which is good because I hadn’t planned on spending ANYTHING on carriage rides! We did that LAST year! ARGH! It wasn’t HER money, it was just Mom’s, so who care’s right? lol Oh and don’t forget that your carriage driver works for tips. I didn’t realize that (even though there’s a big sign inside the carriage) so I walked off to hear our driver talking to another driver about how PISSED she was to have gone down on the price, yet she STILL wasn’t tipped! lol Ooops. Don’t worry! I made my oldest daughter tip her! It was only fair since it was oldest daughter’s idea 🙂
(Here’s our carriage driver trying to rustle us up some more blankets so my precious angels wouldn’t be so cold in the St. Louis rain! She really was nice to us even if she DID get a little perturbed that we didn’t know to tip her)
(The angels all snuggly and warm with their blankies)
(Mama Bear and her Birthday Princess)
(The Martin Luther King Bridge over the Mississippi River… a view from our carriage ride through the Landing)
(And because I love bridges… The Eads Bridge… BTW… check out that cobble stone road!)
(This is my favorite of the MLK Bridge)
(Laclede’s Landing)
(And because I love old clocks too 🙂
So the reason we were on The Landing in the first place was so that Birthday Girl could experience the creepy St. Louis Wax Museum. I HATE wax museum because they scare the crap out of me but that was the exact reason birthday girl wanted to go! I found a good deal on Groupon so it ended up being inexpensive. Thank JESUS something was a good deal! lol The people who ran the Wax Museum were SO nice too. They’re updating the place so some of the displays were in disrepair. Apparently, they’re in the process of getting all new wax creatures.
(Here’s oldest daughter with her idol, Michael Jordan. She LOVES basketball and still plays every chance she gets 🙂
(I had to get this one of “little bit” with Mark McGwire because it WAS here birthday and all about the year 1998, when a few months after she was born, Mark McGwire broke the home run record in St. Louis – I know… it was all too controversial… but STILL cool cause it happened right here in St. Louis AND in the year 1998!)
(Okay… so this may be in bad taste but it looks like they have Patrick Swayze embalmed here! We all LOVE Patrick Swayze but this was way too creepy and helped set the mood. We were beginning to be VERY afraid. We had to walk through 3 floors of dark and very scary hallways)
(I’m not sure who this one’s supposed to be. Possibly Tina Turner? She was from St. Louis so maybe? Whoever it is, she sure is CREEPY… Again there’s THAT word! lol)
(Again in bad taste… the kids said this one reminded them of me and all my stomach surgeries. They have NO sympathy for me!)
(Thank GOD my oldest found herself a man! I was beginning to worry because she’ll be 29 this summer! I wonder if Obama knows his image is being tossed around this way? lol)
So the Wax Museum was Birthday Girl’s favorite thing to do all weekend! Who would have figured? I couldn’t get out of that place fast enough! I couldn’t wait to get back outside in the monsoon to visit Gibbol’s Magic Store (Gibbol’s Novelty & Costumes)! Carriage Ride lady told us there was a Magic Man there who would do magic tricks for us FREE! Well, by God, if it’s FREE, we’re going! Magic Man goes by the name of Andy G and has a separate business where he puts on private magic shows with a partner. It’s called Shift Reality. You can reach Andy G at #415-952-6394 or 415-95ANDYG… clever, huh? lol He’s pretty good and kept ALL of us fascinated and entertained with his free magic tricks! I’m pretty sure the owner of Gibbol’s couldn’t WAIT for me to get my destructive girls the heck OUT OF THERE though. Who knew girls could be into so much trouble? I only turned my back for a minute! lol
(Here’s Andy G doing a card trick for Birthday Girl)
(Hannah was SO mad when Andy G wouldn’t tell her how he did a trick. It drove her CRAZY trying to figure out what he’d done LONG after we left this place! lol He explained that, as a magician, he had to purchase magic trick secrets. He just couldn’t go giving his secretes away. He’d be glad to SELL us a secret though! lol)
(And of COURSE the biggest instigator of trouble was the 28 year old daughter! She can’t help herself from trying on every pretty little thing! lol)
(I never laughed so hard in my life! BIG TROUBLE daughter helped herself to the theatrical makeup and talked with Andy G as if this were her normal face! She didn’t even crack a smile so I’m thinking he really thought she wore her make up like this! He was having a lot of trouble looking her in the eye but SHE had no problem looking Andy G in the eye! lmbo Later the owner told us that they SOLD that make up and it cost money for them to apply it to our faces. So, in other words, my daughter helped herself to some free make up… I was laughing too hard to be embarrassed! No wonder I have trouble keeping the younger one’s in line! We’re not good at setting proper examples! lol)
Good day but SO long and cold and rainy! I couldn’t WAIT to get back to the hotel and read in my warm bed. THAT didn’t get to happen though! The girls wanted to go swimming. Oldest daughter and I took them for a little bit and left them at the pool. At 15, they’re old enough. PLUS the pool was only 4 ft deep. How was I to know that when I left they’d set off the alarm at the pool, use the handy cap chair lift and then set off more alarms on the elevator? I was notified BY SECURITY that my girls needed to be accompanied by an adult at ALL times! ROFLMAO Which translates to NO reading in my warm snuggly bed.
(Because I’m pretty sure Hannah was behind us getting into trouble with the hotel management, I’m going to show you all some lovely pics of her mascara lineds face in the hot tub 😉
(Looks like they’re plotting trouble to me!)
(Okay… so I MIGHT have known about them using the handicap chair lift. Shhhh….)
(And you thought your BOYS were messy? Honestly, I didn’t know girls could be such nasty slobs! How did toilet paper get ON the floor by my side of the bed???? But this is what I had to contend with after I left the pool BEFORE security notified me! lol)
(Don’t feel sorry for them! They TOTALLY deserve my invasion of their privacy! FINALLY, we got them to go to sleep. And then we picked at them until we disturbed their slumber. Check out Julia’s extreme annoyance in the black and white 😉
So all’s well that ends well! 2 days down and 1 day to go! This old mama’s getting too old for so much activity! At this point, the nursing home is beginning to sound like a vacation 🙂
I’m BAaaaaaack!!! Show of hands…. did anybody miss me? Ah, no matter, I missed YOU enough for all of us! lol My life has been PACKED with so much excitement and activity and I don’t really know where a good place to begin! I feel like I’ve crammed enough living for a year in these past couple of days. Or close to it 🙂
So, you all know that last week was my baby girls 15th birthday, right? I asked you guys for some ideas to help us celebrate in a special way. You all had some fantastic ideas and we used some of them, so for that I thank you! Carla suggested a photo shoot and a makeover. These girls live their LIVES doing makeovers so we didn’t choose that but we DID have a blast doing photo shoots. We spent the weekend touring the city of St. Louis and took over 500 shots. By the end of the weekend I think the girls wanted to HURT my camera! Maybe I over did it a little? Nah. But they really did have fun and felt so special being the star of the show. So Carla, THANK YOU! The girls and I had a BLAST and more importantly, we made some memories that we won’t soon forget.
You know how I am about showing you too many pictures, right? I do that because I’m proud AND I can’t decide which ones are the more important shots. ALL of them are important to me. Don’t worry though, I won’t show you all 500 of them! lol I’m going to do little segments, one day at a time.
(I think Hannah was the one to smash the cupcakes… look at her evil face! She wouldn’t admit it though)
We arrived at the Hilton with Julia’s birthday cupcakes NOT in one piece! lol One of the girls threw their luggage on top of the special cupcakes that I had made for the occasion! ARGH! NOT a good way to start the weekend. These cupcakes were delicious and SO pretty before they got smashed. There’s a place in a town near us called Sweet-T-Pies and they make the best cupcakes filled with any kind of filling you could dream of! OMG! They’re the most delicious little cakes any of us have ever tasted! Still divine even if they WERE smashed 🙂 Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right?
Once we got checked into our room, we made Julia hide in the bathroom so we could decorate for her. Notice the little princess crown on her head? Part of the deal was that she had to wear her birthday tiara everywhere we went so that the whole world would know that my princess was having a birthday! Did she do it? Nope. She’s way too shy and doesn’t like unnecessary attention. I’d say this was a weekend where the attention was NECESSARY! lol
Remember those expensive pretty little smashed cupcakes? Yeah, as IF smashing them wasn’t enough, HANNAH (Julia’s bff) decided Julia should wear one too! Silly girls 😉
(Street car or trolley like the one used in Meet me in St. Louis. Don’t mind the white cloud streaming into the pic. It’s not a ghost… just the smoke from my cigarette cause I’m classy like that! lol)
Do any of you know the Judy Garland movie “Meet Me in St. Louis”? Of course, being a St. Louis native, I grew up watching this classic and LOVE it still. Every Christmas, it’s a family tradition at my house and we all sit down with popcorn and watch. The song “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” was first sang by Judy Garland in this movie. The whole movie was filmed in University City on the Delmar Loop. It used to be known for it’s streetcars or “trolleys”. Well here’s a street car just like the one featured in “Meet Me In St. Louis”. I can’t get the “Trolley Song” out of my head now! lol
(I know this is too dark but I wanted to show you the neon sign for the Blueberry Hill restaurant)
(Chuck Berry’s guitar and other music memorabilia)
(Julia can’t decide which crappy food item to order)
The first stop of the night (besides shopping at one of the cool stores on the strip) was Blueberry Hill Restaurant. You all know Chuck Berry, right? He’s a St. Louis native who’s legendary for his guitar playing and song writing. One of my favorites is “Roll Over Beethoven”… Anyway, this is his restaurant. It’s a landmark, for sure but if you ever come to St. Louis and decide to visit Blueberry Hill, don’t judge our cuisine based on what you find in this restaurant! It’s pretty sucky. Only go here for the atmosphere, the music and their toy collection. As soon as we walked through the door, we were greeted by a young college kid who didn’t say hello, instead he barked, “All minors have to be outta here by 10:00 p.m.”. As IF I was going to keep my kids there doing shots of tequila! So, not only was the food bad but they weren’t even friendly. Too bad cause I’m generally a really good tipper and I LOVE to write reviews! lol The girls had fun and soaked in the music and atmosphere though. THAT was the important thing 🙂
(I love neon signs and city streets at night)
(the Tivoli lobby where we spent most of our time waiting for the couple to stop their love making inside the theater… it was beautiful though *NOT the love making* … I felt like we were transported back to the year 1924 when this place was new)
(the ceiling of the Tivoli… LOVE the decor of these old city buildings)
(my girls were a little bored and didn’t know when it would be appropriate to enter the theater room where the couple was making out… they didn’t want to interrupt)
The big event of our first night was to catch a midnight showing of “A Place Beyond The Pines” with Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. I couldn’t WAIT to show the girls the Landmark Tivoli theater! This was a theater that made it”s debut in 1924 and it was known for it’s luxury. For the day, The Tivoli was considered one of the most luxurious theaters in the USA. It went through a period of decline in the early 90’s and eventually shut down. The owners of Blueberry Hill renovated it in the mid 90’s and restored it to it’s original state. However, it would appear to be going through another period of decline. First of all, I should tell you that the Tivoli is THE place to go if you want to catch an “artsy” film. Granted, “A Place Beyond The Pines” is NOT an artsy film (the girls HAD to see this one because they’re all in major LOVE with Ryan Gosling, and REALLY…. who could blame them?). That being said, you’d think that a theater known for their showings of the “artsy film genre” would be a clean and well kept theater. Or at least I would think that to be true. Well… it was clean in the lobby. The room where we watched the movie had sticky floors and the seats were worn and appeared to have been new in the ’90’s, when it was last renovated. Upon walking through the door, we were a little shocked to find a college couple doing some pretty HEAVY “petting” and making out! The girls felt uncomfortable to have interrupted this lovely couple. Soooo… we had to wait in the lobby until the movie started. You all know me and MY big mouth! I suggested LOUDLY that they get a room, which only seemed to embarrass my girls further! lol I’ve said this several times before… SUCKS TO BE MY KID! lol However, the couple didn’t take me up on my suggestion. All in all, it was fun to stay out late and watch a midnight movie. What was scary? Walking the streets of Delmar after the bars closed down. We were followed by a man who appeared to be way TOO interested in my girls. I invited him to let me know what his intentions were. He didn’t appear to want to mess with “Mama Bear”. GOOD for him. He, apparently wasn’t TOO drunk to miss the evil gleam in my eye 😉
And this is how our night ended! 2 of the crazy girls crashed just as soon as we got back to our room! I wanted to sit up and talk but THEY were tired and wouldn’t humor me! lol
Like I mentioned in my last post, there’s a lot of devastation in America right now. I don’t like a lot of what’s going on here politically but I do LOVE my country. Sometimes, I think it’s good for all of us to remember what we love about living here. When you think of America, what do you see in your mind? What does it mean to you?
Here’s what it means to me. This is America where I live and I’d protect her any way I was able 🙂
Isn’t this beautiful? It’s just a little farm I drive by all the time and most days take it for granted. Love the plainness of the bars against the brilliant green of April!
Sandy Creek Covered Bridge. She needs some work, eh? This is actually a National Park that we visit and it’s only a mile or two from our back door.
(Entrance into our covered bridge. It was closed to the public for repairs. I’ve never been much for rule following so I didn’t give much thought to jumping the gate. Obviously, neither did my girls. lol It was worth it to get these shots though)
This is just a little farm getting ready to be flooded out. I’m just loving the April colors again, even in the rain 🙂
Just another farmer’s field.
Just another house I drive by all the time. My daughter tells me this is a “foster kid” house. Kind of like an orphanage. They just take care of a lot of homeless children who the courts have ordered into the “foster” system, for one reason or another.
Sometimes even weeds can be pretty, right?
I see this almost every day but have never stopped to take a picture. Can you see the eagles nests in the trees? They nest right by the flooded creek that I posted about in my last post. Pretty dang cool!
The farm below my house. Right now it’s flooded.
Here’s the reason I love to drive home! This is probably the coolest barn I’ve seen ANYWHERE in the USA and it lives right below me.
Some more weeds with muddy flood waters.
Okay, this is another favorite of mine. The 6 silo barn that used to be the old Pevely Dairy. People actually have transformed the ENORMOUS barn into living quarters. A wedding was recently held there and it was beautiful!
Really I have no words for how this one grabs my heart! I might even have it framed. It’s the front of the 6 silo barn. Americana at it’s best!
One of the best things that happened to me a few days ago, on my birthday, was receiving a birthday card from my Mother-in-law. Most years she forgets to send out cards so I’m ALWAYS honored when I go to the mailbox and see her handwriting on the outside of an envelope. I’ve got to give her credit though because she’s a whole lot better about remembering than I am! I’m ashamed to admit that I truly suck at making a day special for my loved ones. The people living in my house reap the rewards but those that don’t live here rarely get remembered.
The point of the post isn’t to talk about remembering though. It’s to tell you how I’ve been SO blessed by my husband’s family. You all know by now, what MY family is like. I don’t know what it’s like to have a close family or what it’s like to truly be loved by a family. I know what it’s like to be “judged” and “used” by my family. It was a shock when I was shown unconditional love by a family who didn’t have to show me love.
First of all, I want to tell you what the card said from my Mother-in-law…
“Any woman can be a daughter-in-law.
But it takes a certain spirit,
an openness,and generosity of heart
to make the “in-law” part
drop away,
leaving that comfortable word
“daughter”.
You’re a caring person…
loving wife…
giving mother…
and your presence
in the life of our family
is simply a gift. “
Dang! That made me cry. I don’t even know how to accept love or compliments! I guess it hit me so hard because my own mother doesn’t feel the same way AND I know that Katherine (Mother-in-law) really feels this way.
She didn’t have to accept me the way she did. Ben’s family had gone through the horror of his 3 other marriages before I arrived. They’d “accepted” every one of these former wives, even when they knew they’d never last. Ben had a definite “history” when it came to women, that’s for sure. But that’s a post for another day! I’ll save THAT for when he makes me mad 😉 lol I need to tell you that these people are Christian’s of the Southern Baptist type. They scared me and that’s NO joke! I’m Catholic and it’s no secret that Baptists don’t like Catholics. These people actually READ the bible and LIKE the bible. Except for religion class in Catholic school (a million years ago), I’d never read even part of the bible. Ben’s family doesn’t just go to church on Sunday morning but Sunday night and Wednesday nights. Their recreational activities revolve around church. Mine never have. They’re also very “Southern” people who didn’t really know or trust “Yankee’s” such as they think I am! lol They’re the type of people who say “Well, bless her heart”, in the sweetest most loving way. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that Southern people say this only when they think you’ve done something really stupid and they’re too kind to call you out on it.
When I tell you about Ben’s Christian family, you might imagine people who don’t live what they preach. Christians get a bad rap for being hypocrites but not THESE people and most especially NOT his mother! She lives what she preaches and believes. Only she doesn’t preach at all. She leads by example. She very quietly sits and reads her bible and only talks about it if you ask her about it. She’ll mention something in passing but doesn’t shove it down your throat. She’s so kind and loving that you can actually FEEL her love as soon as you get out of the car to hug her. I’ve never been around anyone like this. She believes in being a submissive wife. It’s no secret that I DO NOT believe that I should EVER be submissive to ANYONE, but most especially my husband, her son. I could go on and on.
Okay, you can imagine the amount of adjustment my new Texas family had to go through and that I had to go through for a few years. Although, they never let me see that they were having to adjust to me. I’m loud and bossy and sarcastic. I say words like “God” when I get mad (that’s a very bad word to them) and I call people “dumb asses”. They probably dropped to their knees at night in prayer over the things I’ve said and did! They only showed the world how proud they were of me though. I have ONLY ever been shown love by my mother-in-law. She’s cried with me and laughed with me. She’s felt my losses as if they were her own and she’s shared her thoughts and feelings with me.
Most of all, she’s treated my children as if they were her own grandchildren. I wasn’t expecting that and neither were my kids. We knew they’d TREAT my children with love and respect but we just weren’t prepared for them to actually LOVE them. My girls feel closer to Katherine than they do their own biological grandparents.
(Here’s one of my daughters snuggling in Memaw’s bed with “Ming-Shoe” the doll that Katherine made for her. Julia feels safe and comfy in Memaw’s bed and I love that!)
(she just sits, ready to give love to all her little one’s no matter their age)
Most of the time I spend in Texas, Katherine allows me to run her house the way I do everywhere I go. You know the Mother-in-law on the sit com “Everybody Loves Raymond” right? That’s how I expect mother-in-laws to be but not Katherine. She’s happy to sit and read a book while I destroy her kitchen. And TRUST me, I DO know how to destroy a kitchen. She’s so gracious and never imposes her will on me. In fact, I’m pretty sure I impose my will on her. She’s not used to a whole lot of commotion and when I’m there, I bring my chaotic life crashing into her’s. I’ll never forget the time she asked me if she could “help” in the kitchen. Of course, I thought I was being considerate and polite when I told of “of COURSE you CAN’T help in the kitchen”. I just wanted her to sit there and rest. I felt like I didn’t want her to go through any trouble when my family was there. For YEARS I did this. Finally, a few years ago, she so softly, and kindly explained to me that sometimes a mother wants to feel wanted and needed. We live over 10 hours away from her and she never gets to be a “mom”. Sometimes she likes to show US how much she loves us. Wow! She didn’t want me to be ashamed because she’d NEVER want anyone to feel shame BUT I was SO ashamed. I learned to step out of the way and allow her to be the mom when she wants to be the mom.
(here’s me not only taking over her kitchen but taking over her kitchen AND even wearing her apron! lol)
(Another picture of the mess I make in her kitchen but THIS time I had some help from my little niece Selah!)
(here I am even taking over her Christmas tree… Geeze, I’m just so BOSSY! lol)
Like I’ve already said, my Mother-in-law teaches by example. She rarely needs words. She’s watched, through the years, as I’ve ignorantly allowed my children to get themselves into trouble. I was a LOT more lenient than she would have been but I had more faith in my girls than I should have. I allowed one of my daughters to spend WAY too much time with some boys she met and became friends with in Texas. They were friends of the family’s so I felt like it would be okay. It got to the point where she was never home for dinner and she would only come in once a day to say hello to Memaw and GG (Katherine’s mother). I didn’t want to be too strict with my daughter and I wanted her to have fun too so I allowed her to spend the night camping with these friends and family. I could tell that it was bothering Katherine (mine and my daughter’s actions were not only improper but just down right rude) so I began to make my daughter stay home more often. After all, we were only there for a week or two. Later, we found out that my daughter was doing things that I won’t mention here. Point being that Katherine knew she was in trouble and instead of imposing her opinions or judgments on me, she quietly let me know that I was being too lenient by her actions. She prayed for my daughter and cried when she learned that my daughter was hurt and was going down the wrong road. She cried real tears like she would do for her own biological granddaughter. I still can’t get over that.
Over last summer, when I was hospitalized in ICU, my husband called his family and I guess told them that I wasn’t going to make it. They’ve been in this rodeo more than once with me and have never made the drive to St. Louis to come to the hospital. I didn’t expect them to this time either because Katherine is responsible for taking care of her 93 year old mother. Besides the fact that her OWN health isn’t great. The trip is very hard on them and impossible now for GG. My sister-in-law told me that Katherine prayed about it and felt like God was telling her to “go now”. They immediately packed the family up and made the hard drive with 2 small children and 3 adults JUST to see me one more time. I don’t think they expected me to be conscious but when they walked into my hospital room, I was awake and able to speak. I believe I was hanging on because my husband told me that I needed to hang on just a little while longer to see “Mom”. I remember feeling SO much love radiating from Katherine when she walked through that door! It made me WANT to get better for her. I promised her that it wasn’t my time yet and that God was good and I was sure I was going to live. Actually, I was more worried about her making that trip and then turning around and needing to go home the very next day. SHE wasn’t though. She was there for me, to hug me and to hold my hand and pray, in person, over me. The way a REAL mother would.
(Katherine lovingly does her mother’s hair for church so that GG can feel beautiful too.)
I feel unworthy to call Katherine “Mom”. I know she wants me to and she certainly deserves the title… but something inside me won’t let me most days. I feel like to be her “daughter” , I should be a whole lot more deserving or full of grace. I’m getting better about it but I’ve been in the family for 12 years. Today, instead of feeling unworthy, I just want to take a second to thank God for this woman who has shown my family and I so much love. I’m smart enough to recognize that’s it’s not very often that a wife can brag about the fact that they actually LIKE their mother-in-law. I don’t just LOVE her, I respect her and actually LIKE her. Thank you God for this woman. Because of her, I know the love of a real mother and I am blessed.
(she loves us all like we were her very own)
Today I’ve been working on my acceptance speeches for certain awards I’ve recently received. *snicker* Admittedly, I’m at a loss for words… I know, shocking, right? A couple of days ago, Deborah at Container Chronicles blessed me with the very inspiring blogger award! Gosh Guys! You’re KILLING me! lol I don’t feel worthy and I’m hoping everyone doesn’t get sick and tired of me! I love you all though, I do, I REALLY do 🙂 Thank you Miss Deborah!
1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.
7 things about myself
1. I’m the biggest procrastinator that I know.
2. I’m a very loyal friend.
3. I love canoeing and kayaking!
4. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor.
5. I can’t WAIT till the weather gets warm enough so we can start fishing again!
7. One of my favorite summer time activities is camping! I still love tent camping. We usually go somewhere on the river where we can float and fish and swim 🙂
Now for the people who also inspire me 🙂
2. http://katestull.wordpress.com/
3. http://workingmansparadise.wordpress.com/
4. http://learus.wordpress.com/
5. http://rickmallery.wordpress.com/
6. http://angeloolegnaart.wordpress.com/
7. http://miartedoris.wordpress.com/
8. http://yeoldehumdrum.wordpress.com/ (gotcah back! lol)
10. http://realitydreamer24.wordpress.com/
11. http://melissawritesofpassage.wordpress.com/
12. http://emphaticasterisk.com/
13. http://petilea.wordpress.com/
14. http://moolta.wordpress.com/
15. http://mainstcuisine.wordpress.com/
Once again, I feel like I need to let you all know to NOT feel pressured. This is supposed to be fun so if you have time to do it, please do 🙂 If you don;t have time or don’t feel comfortable, don;t worry about it. Just know that I think of you and appreciate your inspiration!
I’ll have to admit that this award is intimidating to me ONLY because they take so much time to ask and answer specific questions. However, someone I admire VERY much, Comely Miss, nominated me and I love her AND am honored that she thought of me… so here I am again! Feel free to skip this post because I’m positive you’re all sick and tired of hearing all the fun facts about myself. lol I won’t know the difference and I know you all really love me, right? lol
Here are the rules:
1. The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions given to you.
4. Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award on to and link them in your post.
5. Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.
6. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
7. No tag backs.
Now the 11 facts about me.
1. It’s getting extremely hard for me to come up with anything new and this is hurting my brain.
2. My first “love” was named Pete and when he broke up with me, I started dating someone who looked a lot like him and his name was ALSO Pete. Pete #2 became the father of my oldest daughter.
3. I am an EXTREMELY strong woman who’s personality sometimes is intimidating to others, or so I’ve been told.
4. I’m not very proud of this but I like to smoke. I don’t ever smoke in the house or enclosed enviroments and I respect others right NOT to breath my smoke. I try to hide when I’m outside in a public place.
5. I appreciate art but am not good at it. I can spend ALL day at the art museum.
6. One of my favorite places to go EVER is the Smoky Mountains. I could live in a mountain cabin, away from everyone.
7. I’m a VERY social antisocial person
8. I’ve been very blessed to have my husband’s family in Texas. They’ve shown me unconditional love and are teaching me to show unconditional love. Sounds like a no brainer for most people but I wasn’t raised with anything CLOSE to unconditional love and sometimes I put too much pressure to be perfect on my own children. Here’s some pics of my family in Texas 🙂 They ALWAYS make me smile!
This is Bobby, our cousin. He doesn’t know it but he’s one of my hero’s. He’s just a regular man who is probably one of the most funny people I know. He’s studying to be a preacher but you’d never know it. He’s so non judging.
Bobby’s wife and our cousin Netta. She’s always annoyed with me for snapping pictures. lol Another very strong woman and so accepting. She’s a role model for me 🙂
My sister in law Lisa and her husband Stace 🙂 Love them both so much! Lisa is the stereotypical Southern Belle and exudes LOVE. She’s just like her mama. When you’re around these people, you feel like you’ve always been in their family.
9. In July of last year, I came very near to death. After I was released from the hospital I had a dream that God told me I was supposed to go to a hot spring. I woke up and told my husband that I needed to go to Hot Springs Arkansas so he packed us up on THAT day and we went. I spent a day at the hot spring bath house and drank the mineral water. I was barely able to walk when we arrived in Hot Springs. By the time we left, I was SO much better. I believe I was really supposed to be there and drink the waters. Crazy I know but it worked.
Here’s the view from our hotel room in Hot Springs.
The bath house we spent the day in. Awesome place.
10. The only time of year that my mom’s enormous family gets together is at Easter. She came from a family of 10 kids and between them and all of us grandkids and now great grandchildren… there has to be 100 of us who gather at my cousins house. I look very forward to seeing all my aunts and cousins every year. Oh and EVERYONE is a fantastic cook so the food is something EVERYONE would be jealous of 🙂
11. I’m having issues with “aging gracefully”. I mean I believe in aging gracefully BUT, in all honesty, if I had the money to have a complete makeover (plastic surgery)… I probably would. I know, vain. Honest though 🙂
Here are the questions that Comely Miss wants me to answer:
♣ What caused you to start blogging? (I like this question, so I’m keeping it!)
Okay, I started blogging for a site called Vox and I LOVED the sense of community! Sadly, Vox went away but I missed it and couldn;t get the same feeling on FB (although I love my fb friends). I finally found WP a few moths ago and LOVE it 🙂
♣ What career did you think you’d pursue while you were growing up?
I thought I would be a psychologist. I also PROMISED myself that I would open up an abused women and children’s shelter. I have done work for some of these but I’m going to keep my promise, I think. One day, before I die I WILL open up one of these homes. I think it’s my destiny.
♣ Who do you think has had the biggest influence on your life?
Sadly, I think my mother has had the biggest influence on my life. I was CONSTANTLY trying to receive her love and her pride. I always, without fail, fell short of making her proud. I viewed her as perfect and knew that if I could EVER do 1 thing that would make her REALLY love me and be proud of me, I would have succeeded. That never happened. I feel like I’ve wasted WAY too much time not loving myself because I always felt like I didn’t deserve to be loved. If your mother can’t love you, there MUST be something wrong, right? The problem lies with her, not me. However, I feel pretty good about myself that I finally figured that out.
♣ What kind of games do you like to play? (I don’t care if it’s video, board, or mind games, I’m just curious. 
)
I LOVE playing LIFE with my daughter and grew up playing board games. Sometimes, I secretly play WOW (shhhhh… don’t tell), I loved Diablo and still love playing UNO, Skipbo, Yatzee and Dominos. I pretty much just like playing games. Oh and there Apples to Apples and Pictionary 🙂
♣ What is your favorite movie?
This is hard. Sound of Music? Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Gone with the WiInd? Beasts of the Southern Wild? Wizard of OZ? It’s a Wonderful Life? I just have so many 🙂
♣ How did you meet your husband/wife/significant other?
I actually met Ben online. American Singles. I didn;t want to meet another man in a bar! lol Although I’m not entirely sure online dating is any better, from what I’m seeing on TV these days. lol It worked out for us though! I met him when online dating was kind of new in the early 2000’s. I don;t think the weirdo’s perfected the games they played with people. I wonder, now, if I were single, what the best way to meet people is? It’s ALL scary!
♣ Have you ever had any “unusual” pets? (This may be unusual based on species or attitude.)
The most unusual pet I ever had was a rabbit. lol In the 80’s and 80’s though I used to show and breed Alaskan Malamutes. I also used to sled with them… like they do in the Iditerod? Pretty cool. I miss that!
♣ How do you unwind at the end of the day?
I blog when everyone is sleeping in my house. lol OR I’ll play a computer game or read or play the piano OR go on Facebook.
♣ What is your biggest pet peeve?
Oh GAWD!!! I have so many I don’t know where to start. I think the thing I bitch the most about is hair in the bath tub. I don’t like dirty bathrooms and am pretty anal about keeping it clean. When I go into the bath tub I don;t want to see little hairs stuck to my bath tub. It will NEVER change, meaning it doesn;t matter how much I crab about it. My husband is the culprit and I swear I’m going to start posting pictures of these little hairs. GROSS.
♣ What item is to your left?
HAHA! Good one! My coffee cup on a coaster! Never without coffee 🙂
♣ How do you think of material to blog about?
Whatever pops in my head. I haven;t really had a problem running out of material. If there’s nothing in my head, then I read all of YOUR blogs 🙂
Okay now I’m going to name some people to pass this award on to. I’ll get as close to 11 as possible but I think people are getting tired of me nominating them. lol It’s a lot of work but I just want you guys to know that even if you don;t want to do awards (and I don’t blame you)… at least you know I believe you’re deserving of the award!
2. http://kellyvision.wordpress.com/
4. http://theartstudiobymarkmoore.wordpress.com/
5. http://transcendingbordersblog.wordpress.com/
6. http://ssbits.wordpress.com/
7. http://otrazhenie.wordpress.com/
8. http://prayingforoneday.wordpress.com/ (haha gotcha back FINALLY!)
9. http://mamacristinasworld.wordpress.com/
11. http://canoecommunications.wordpress.com/
Here are my questions to all of you! Now THIS will be fun! And I hope that at least ONE of you will answer 🙂
1. What’s your favorite thing to watch on TV?
2. Have you ever experienced the death of someone close?
3. Do you color Easter Eggs?
4. How is the biggest influence in your life and why?
5. What do you enjoy reading in a blog the most?
6. What book are you reading now or what was the last book you read?
7. How many people were in your family when you were growing up?
8. What was the biggest disappointment so far in your life?
9. What has been your biggest achievement in your life so far?
10. Where do you go to find peace? For example, a river, the woods, a room in your house?
11. What do you want to be when you grow up?
*Deep breath* It’s over. lmbo Remember, I don’t want any of you to feel obligated. If you have time and feel like sharing, please do 🙂 If you don’t, that’s cool too.
“It’s nice to just be a kid and hang out with your friends at lunch.”
Karlie Kloss
Liza (our oldest granddaughter) eating her lunch in her sleep! lol What a sign of the times, eh? The busy American life… too busy to slow down, stop and eat. We were on our way to visit Jamestown in Virginia and we had to stop and get some chicken nuggets from Wendy’s. Liza was SO hungry but just as sleepy as she as hungry. Here she is with a nugget hanging out of her little mouth.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
I pray that my most PRECIOUS, intelligent and beautiful granddaughter will always be able to dream and have the courage to follow her dreams.
Here she is dreaming about who knows what. Maybe she’s dreaming of her knight in shining armor who will one day sweep her off her feet… or maybe she’s dreaming of the day she’ll take over the world! lol The important thing is that she dreams…
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