FOOTBALL!!!!

It is the start of a new season of football. I love to watch my son practice and play the game. I never really cared much for the sport until Shawn started to play. I am up in the stands screaming for him to plow the field with the little guys. My son is twice the size of most of the players so he looks like a giant to them. He is number 79 in this picture.I have had a lot of parents talking to me or family members about how big he is. They say stuff like " I don't know who that big guy is but he better keep his hands off my child." I just sit back and laugh cause they don't know that I am the big guy's mom. One of my husband's relation that we have not seen in years came to the game Saturday. She was talking to us about the big guy on the field and how she hopes he does not get a hold of her son. I just turned to her and said "well if he does I am sorry and I hope he doesn't hurt your son to bad. This is a picture of him with one of his team mates. He is knelt down in this first picture and standing up in the second one.

He is not happy and very tired. In these pictures he is number 99.



My brother, Chris, works with a couple of ladies who also have their children in football. From what he tells me Shawn is the talk of the town. They were complaining to him about the big guy and were asking him if he knew the kid because they know his nephew plays on the same team. Before Chris could answer them they started in telling him how the big guy better keep his hands off their kids. Chris just looked at them and laughed. He told them that the big guy was his nephew and if they didn't like it then the girls volleyball try outs would be starting soon and they can sign their boys up for that.





Shawn tries to be careful because he is afraid he will hurt one of them. Last year it caused a big problem because he was so afraid of hurting some one that he would not try his hardest to win. We finally convinced him that the other children knew when they signed up that they would get hurt so he is trying a bit harder this year but he is still afraid of hurting some one.

I Finally Got Some Me Time! ! !

I have been so busy the last week or so that I was longing to get back to the computer and write. I did not think I was ever going to get a break. My mothers birthday was on the third but because of the yard sale I was too busy to get her a gift. She understood because she was also busy with the yard sale.

I spent most of my weekend running around looking for her a gift and getting my son some school clothes. Most of the running had to be done on Saturday because my husband decided that he wanted to work on Sunday to make some extra money. I don't drive so I have to do my running when he is home. I will explain why I don't drive in a later blog. I went to about 4 different stores and could not find what I want to get my Mother. I had gotten all of Shawn's clothes, but could not find any thing for her. I finally figured out what I wanted to get for her. She has been asking for one gift for the past 10 years and no one has ever remembered that she has wanted one. I ran to Baskin-Robins and got her an ice cream cake. She just loved it! She ate one of the hearts off the top before I took the picture so that is why it looks a little messed up. I told her, now I would never have to hear about it again, WRONG! She laughed at me and said she wants another one next year.

Sunday turned out to be a very nice day. Kevin had gotten his work done early so he was home by noon. I decided I wanted to get out of the house so we took a bag of bread crumbs to the park to feed the geese and ducks. I stepped out of the van and they came at me. I thought for sure I was a goner! I had never seen that many geese in my life. My Grandmother had geese so I knew they could bite. I had been bitten enough growing up so I didn't want to get bit again.There was one little guy who wanted to bite my butt and would not stop hissing at me. I ended up making Kevin take the food out closer to the lake so I would not get bit, or maybe I would have gave the goose a little bite, at the dinner table. Ha Ha ! No I could not have done that.

I am standing there watching him when I here a very loud quack come from behind me. I turn to see the duck from those stupid insurance commercials standing there. All I could do was laugh.
We headed for home so I could cook dinner. I decided I wanted to make a huge meatloaf because I knew some friends and family would stop by and be hungry. I had gotten it all prepared and popped it into the oven. I turned to wash the counter off and there was a butterfly just sitting there. I took it's picture and then I was hoping to get a closer one when it jumped into my hand. I don't think this happens to many times in a persons life so I took another picture and then it just flew out my back door.

Yesterday was Shawn's 14 Birthday so we let him skip practice and we took him and a friend out for dinner. Afterward he had us take him shopping so he could spend his Birthday money. All in all even though I missed being at my computer I loved the family time. Kevin goes on vacation next week so maybe there will be some more outings.

Just another glorious weekend!

Today the heat index had gotten as high as 105 and boy was it hot. I had a yard sale over the weekend with my friend Beth and my Mother. I pick a bad weekend to have it. The news reported that this was to be one of the hottest weeks this year. Thanks a lot guys! It would have been nice to know this before I planned a huge sale. The sale did not go to bad. Beth and I sat in the heat waiting for people to show up. The first day went OK. The sun was out and there were not to many clouds in the sky.Beth was tired because she had sat up the previous night and made no bake cookies and marshmallow treats to sale. I had set everything up for the sale the same night so I to was tired.I did get a chance to get close enough to a butterfly to take it's picture. I could not believe it just sat there and let me get close to it. The second day was awful and we had to rush around to put everything under a shelter because the news reported rain, which they failed to report earlier in the week. When they did report it they said a small shower. Wrong! It poured like I had never seen it do before. By the third day we were ready to call it quits. People just did not want to come out of their homes to go to yard sales. My friend Michelle came over with her little girl,Faith, and I got a big kiss from her. Just seeing her made my whole day better. All in all we made over $150.00. We also got pretty good sun burns out of it too.

Is Having More Worth It?

Recently I sat outside in my back yard and watched as a neighbor's, a friend's, house burned. It was dark and the flames were shooting upward towards the sky. I watched the fire fighters risking their lives to put out the flames. I prayed "Lord please let him not be home, Let all his animals be save, Let there be no harm come to any one". The fire slowly dwindle to a flicker and then was doused out. The firemen walked around inside to check for any last burning embers. I could see them through the gaping hole in what was left of his roof. They were moving around the chard remnants of what was left of his son's room. To them it was just doing their job, but to me it was an eye opener. Happily he was not home and he had taken his animals with him. I realized then at any given moment I too could loose everything, that material things are not as important as we like to make them out to be. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

You never truly understand what it means to have nothing until it is taken away. We spend most of our lives working to make the all mighty dollar. We tell ourselves that we need to have just as much as the next guy. We tell ourselves that making more for our families is worth not being there with them. We are making their life better and easier so they don't have to suffer as we did. We try to justify our own selfish longings and our family and friends are the ones who suffer. We sacrifice our friendships for just one more hour of pay. Why bother having children if you are just going to make them cry by being away from them. Missing birthdays and Holidays just to make more and for what and at what cost? No one gave them the choice to decide if they wanted more or if they want their family together. If it is the family as a whole that has to suffer then shouldn't they have a say in the matter.


I don't want my life to be centered around what I own and what I aspire to own. I don't think we should spend our days trying to acquire bigger and better things. They are only things and they can't love you or huge you or kiss you good night. They can't be there for you when you need them. It is nice to own things and to give to your families and friends but not at that price. The price of one day coming home to your house, belongings and family gone. Regretting that you never got to say goodbye or that you wished you had more time with them. I want to be known and remembered for the love I shared with family and friends. We can't take it with us when we leave and frankly I wouldn't want too. I wouldn't want to mess up heaven like we did our planet. Take time for family and friends or even just time for yourself. You will find that your life is a whole lot happier if you do.