My eyes! My eyes!!!

If you know me at all, you know I love to people watch. You can see all kinds of weirdness out there in the world! In the last two days, I have not been disappointed.
On Thursday, I'm driving home from work as usual. Nothing great about my drive home. Same ol, same ol.....that is until I see two ton Tommy. He gives new meaning to the phrase "wind blown" or "feel the wind through my hair". Let me just say this, Tommy boy looks like he's sporting a dead animal on his chest and stomach. And do you know how I know this? Because he is riding in his Jeep with nothing on but Speedos! He's pushing 50 years old, and he's PROUD of what he has. All 3oo lbs of it. I'm telling you, those Speedos looked like they were working hard. I don't know what to do or think when I see this. So I just keep driving and praying that I just blacked out for a second.
And then today at lunch, I go to a drive-thru. I pull up to the window, and I'm sure I scared the dude handing me my order. I couldn't help but jump back a little when I saw that his lips were glossed up more than mine, his skin was perfect and his eyebrows were perfectly manicured. I am a lip gloss FANATIC, and it was all I could do not to ask him what kind he had on. But I used my better judgement and decided not to even go there for fear the conversation would turn into something I really didn't need to hear.
And then this evening as I'm coming home from work once again, I had to stop at the grocery store. As I'm pulling through the parking lot, I see this girl standing outside her car. She has to be two ton Tommy's daughter Tina. She has squeezed her size 24 butt into size 12 shorts, and there is just overflow like you wouldn't believe. When I finally saw her from the front, I thought to myself "wow, they make flesh colored fanny packs now". But no, that wouldn't be a fanny pack. I'll let you digest that for a moment......
Just because you can get it on doesn't mean it fits. As we like to say in the South, you can say anything about anyone you want as long as you follow it up with "God love it" or "bless her..."
So until next time.....bless her.

Friends

I was sitting on Facebook the other night and saw a post from a sweet friend of mine, Callie, that said "just ate with my best bud Michael". These two are seniors in high school. It made me think back to my time in school and the friends I had. Am I still friends with everyone? Do I talk to them all? Some of the answers were yes and some were no. And I've made many new friends along the way that I am blessed to have. This is a post about my closest friends. They are all close and dear to me, but for different reasons. I do want to preface this by saying that Kevin is my absolute best friend and so is my mom, but that's easy to figure out why they are. This is for all the others....

Melony - she IS me! We have been asked on numerous occassions if we are twins. We look alike, we talk alike, we dress alike. We can finish each other's sentences and with just a glance, we always know what the other is thinking. I can go for days without talking to her, but when we hook back up, it's like we never missed a beat. I am comfortable with her. She knows me inside out and despite my faults, she loves me. I know that no matter what I need or when I need it, she is the one person who will drop everything to help me out. She is THE BEST!

Shawn - my best "boy" friend since 5th grade. He is so devoted. In high school, he was the one who always talked me out of dating the idiots. Obviously, I didn't listen to him on a couple of occassions. But he protected me. He watched out for me. We did everything together. Even if we were out with a big group, it was me and him. He listened to me gripe about everything, and he still does to this day. I can send him a random text about the color of a car, and he will always respond. Even after 25 years, we still have things to talk about. We still meet for lunch 2-3 times a month. I love him, and I will have his back til the day I die.

Julie - my text buddy! It's funny how we used to not like each other because of a certain ex, but we both realized that friends are more important than any boy. We share a special bond through sports and our boys now. She may have moved off, but we text at LEAST once or twice a day, if not more. It's like she never moved.....except for the obvious.

The New Hope Girls - Niki, Nikki, Salee, Christie, Evie and Tina!!! I love these girls! I am so thankful to have met them through my dad and through Kevin. They make me laugh. They make me smile. I miss them because I don't get to see or talk to them much anymore. But they are there, and I know they always will be. Special girls!

Troy and Tiff - They are our "couple" best friends. We do all the couple things with them that normal people do. :) Me and Tiff swear that Troy and Kevin are brothers from different mothers because they are so much alike. It's scary really. I have a love/hate relationship with Troy. He can push the right button with me sometimes, and I want to just pinch his head off. But then he can be good and do anything for us. Tiff and I have a lot in common, especially Keith Urban! She is my KU concert partner! We go crazy and act a fool, and neither one of us care. We love him! Oh, and she and I love to people watch. We can just look at each other when we see "one" and know what the other is thinking. It's uncanny, really. Troy and Tiff are good to us. They always say yes when we need them to help with the kids or the dog! They are precious!

Leslie, Natalee, and Kelli - these three keep me laughing! I was one of Leslie's first friends when she came to Ardmore in 6th grade. And we are still friends to this day, and now we work together! Natalee was the best roommate I could have ever asked for. And Kelli, there are no words to describe Kelli! I just love, love her! She can say Hi and it cracks me up!

And for all those I haven't mentioned, you know who you are. And you touched my life in some way. And though I didn't call you by name, I am grateful to call you my friend!

Love you all!

Few and Far Between

Sometimes there are people that come into your life that have such a huge impact on you. Whether it be someone you have known all your life, someone you work with, someone you see at a family reunion every 5 years, or maybe just someone you meet once in your lifetime. I have recently experienced the latter one.
Back in September '09, Troy and I were busy planning Tiff a surprise birthday party. He was responsible for getting the guest list together and for picking the date. He threw around a couple of dates, but he finally decided on one in particular. And when he told me why, I remember thinking to myself, "Well, he must be pretty special". Anyway, he chose a date where a man named Wade would be there. He was coming from Georgia to visit family, and that was the only weekend he would be there around the time of Tiff's birthday.
Wade worked with Tiff for many years at Wolverine. He was her mentor. He was her "father figure" at work. She talked at length on several different occasions about how much she loved and admired him. I couldn't wait to meet him. It was the night of the party, and Wade, along with his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, were the first ones there. I had a chance to chat with him for a few minutes. I could tell right away why Tiff thought so much of him. He had a glowing personality and a gentle presence. A little while later, Tiff finally came in and panned the room full of guests. But when she got to Wade, she teared up. I won't ever forget that because it was truly special. I watched Tiff interact with Wade and his family the entire night, and there was so much laughter and joking and him telling stories of her crazy days at work. He even had a name for her....Radar. He said she always had her radar up!!!
Sadly, Wade passed away last week from a massive heart attack. When Tiff told me, I just couldn't believe it. It consumed my mind for the rest of the day and night. I couldn't figure out why, as I had only met him that one time and talked to him just sparingly through the night. And then it dawned on me.....I didn't have to know him to know just how special he was. I could see that by the way everyone else responded to him. Those kind of people are few and far between. But once they enter your life, they never leave.
May God bless your family Wade, and may you rest in peace.

A Lesson on Heaven

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, then you know all too well that Brody is your typical middle child...not a care in the world and will just say whatever is on his mind. Well, here is how the conversation went this morning on the way to daycare when Walker saw the book "90 Minutes in Heaven" sitting in my truck:

Walker: "What is this book about?"
Me: "It's about a preacher who died in a car wreck, went to heaven and then came back."
Brody: "It's so hard to get to heaven."
Me: "All you need is to accept Jesus into your heart."
Brody: "and a rocket...."

I really don't know how to end this blog cause there are no words.....just lots of laughs. Gotta love my Brody....

American Bandstand

Well, what would a Monday be without a posting of the happenings on the Dunn pew at church? The children's choir performed their musical yesterday morning, and it was GREAT! They did a wonderful job, as did Mrs. Brenda and Mrs. Jackie leading the musical. My children do not participate, cause let's face it, they would be bored out of their gourd because it does not involve a ball or a light saver. We settle into the pew, and before we even get started, Brody leans over and whispers "are we eating that bread thing and drinking juice today?" You know the love that Brody has for the Lord's Supper. So I have to break it to him that we won't be doing that today. A few minutes pass, and the children are ready to perform. The music starts, and I must say it's very catchy. And little did I know, but Michael Jackson is in da' house! Yep, Brody breaks out into a dance in the pew beside me. Boy has got some rhythm! He's got those shoulders going and that head is bopping! He is just a smiling too! And then I hear the giggles from the pew behind me....it's the Hogan's. Ruth and Kenneth are part of our older generation, and their son Brian is also there. Of all the people that have to sit behind us. At least they're getting a kick out of it. I get to giggling and can't stop myself. But I finally do and tell Brody to knock it off. He does. Until the next song and here he goes again. Then Avery and Walker join the dance party, and we have American Bandstand on the Dunn pew. Where's Dick Clark when you need him? Anywho....we finally get the Jackson 5 under control and enjoy the rest of the musical. Many thanks to the children of Piney Grove! :)

Well, it starts with an "F"

My oldest, Walker, has a little condition called chronic rhinitis. Simply put, his nose will run like a faucet at any given time, and nothing triggers it. It just happens. No certain time of the year, it just is what it is. Well, it's been running a lot lately, and I couldn't find his Nasonex. So I call the doctor's office to get them to call in a refill for me. The nurse calls me back and says that Dr. C wants to know if I will try Flonase, which is the generic for the Nasonex. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, and then trying to explain to the nurse, that we've already tried something that started with an "F". I kept thinking Flonase did not sound right. And then it hit me, "we have tried Flomax before, and it didn't work." There is a moment of silence on her end, and then she slightly hesitates before she says "you mean Astelin?" Well, yea, we've tried that before too, but I'm pretty sure this stuff started with an F, and I think it's Flomax. I can tell her voice is different, and then at the same time I have a co-worker standing in my door laughing at me hysterically, and I can't figure out for the life of me why. So she calmly says, "we'll go ahead and call in the Flonase for you". Ok, thanks! Well, I hang up, and I ask my co-worker why he is laughing so hard. Well, let's just put it this way....unless my son has an enlarged prostate, there's no wonder the Flomax didn't work. :) So obviously, whatever I think we tried before definitely did NOT start with an "F"!

Hodge Podge of sorts

It's been quite some time since I've blogged. Needless to say, I've been a little busy with baseball starting up and with the beauty walk going on. Thankfully, the beauty walk is behind me, but baseball is in full swing! There's no need to type out separate blogs for some of the things I wanna talk about, so I'm just throwing it all out there in this one blog.



Avery:

Well, she cut her herself a few little bangs last night! Probably wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have a cowlick that actually looks like a moose licked it instead! All I gotta say about that is GROW BABY GROW!!!!! Also, a few weeks ago, we got home for the evening and she's running and playing in the house. All the sudden she screams "MY NOSE HURTS!!!!!" I rush to her thinking she's run right smack into something, but I couldn't be that lucky. As it turns out, she's stuck a rock up her nose. And it can NOT be seen! But I can definitely feel it up in the bridge of her nose! So I calmly lay her down and tell her it will be fine but I need to check it. So she calms down enough to let me look. Nope, can't see it. So I get her to blow her nose a few times, and snot is coming all out of one side, but nothing out of the side with the rock. So it's confirmed that there's definitely a rock stuck up there. So she blows and blows and finally, it goes flying out. And I will have you know that I saved it for her baby book!



Brody:

He is absolutely loving baseball this year. Which is a good thing, considering how last year he just wandered around in the field and could have cared less if a ball came to him. He hit two homeruns a week or so ago, and he thought he was the bomb. He come running across home plate with his arms spread to each side like "Get you some of this". Terry Bob is also letting him catch some, and he is everything you think a catcher would be. Stocky, mean, and slow. :) He just dares those players to run across home plate! He wants to catch more than anything.



Walker:

My little Walker...who is actually not so little. He's getting so tall. And he is such a loving boy. He is eating baseball up! If he's not playing or practicing, he's acting like he's playing at home. He'll put on his practice clothes, play shoes, and batting gloves and then take to the practice field at home. He's starting to have the fever for pitching. He is no Tom Glavine, but he does decent. He has this little "two-tap" he does with his foot, telling us that's how he gets ready to pitch. And his daddy has to remind him that it would be considered a balk. :)



Kevin;

My hubby just turned 35! We celebrated with grilled steaks and peach cobbler! SOOOOO good! He got thrown out of a game during the pre-season tournament. He made an argument about a call, which the ump was wrong. I have to give Kevin credit for that. Kevin told the ump he didn't know what he was doing, and apparently the ump didn't like it, so he threw Kevin out. Well, that was all it took. Kevin started arguing more, and then he made this motion toward the ump. I honestly didn't know if we were about to see Lord of the Dance or Daniel-Son (Karate Kid) in that moment. He raised his leg up like he was going to hop towards him and then stopped what he was doing. It was the funniest thing. Kevin said he was about to kick dirt on the ump and then decided not to....that's why he hiked his leg up like that. As you can imagine, I've had a dandy of a time telling and showing everyone I know!

And me:
Well, I'm busy as heck at work. We have auditors here for about 12 weeks. No, that was not a mis-type....12 WEEKS! As much as I've tried, I am not pleasant some days. I finally told one last week that I didn't particularly like him and I wanted him to go home because I didn't have time for him. I was only half-kidding. I'll let you figure out which part I was kidding about. :)
The beauty walk is over, thank goodness! I think it went very well. Of course, there were a few minor problems, but nothing that wasn't fixed quickly. I look forward to doing it next year, after a much needed break! :)

That's about it for now....I will leave you with a Brody-ism:

Kevin is patting out hamburger meat for hamburgers one night, and very seriously, Brody asks him "Are we having tacos?"

That's my boy.....