The Smell of Lilacs

You know what one of my most favorite spring smells is? Lilacs. Love the color of the flower. Love the fragrance. Problem is, I don't have any of my own. I have to stop on the sides of the roads and pick them or go for walks and steal a flower or two while walking by. They're usually pretty big bushes, surely nobody will notice!!

The Actual Braces

So I finally got out my camera and loaded the pictures. Here are the before the braces and after they got put on. You can't really see from the picture but the bands she put are are aqua and pink. She informed me the other day that the next colors she is putting on is purple and black.

End of School Year

Chelsey reminder me the other day they only had like 24 days of actual school left. I'm not sure where we are in the countdown but it's approaching very quickly. This year is sort of a milestone. Chase will complete 8th grade and be a Freshman next year. OMG - is this possible!
Chelsey will complete 5th grade and be a middle schooler next year as she starts 6th grade. She is so ready to be done with the elementary. I hear about it every day.

Chase and Track

With the exception of the very 1st track meeting being cancelled due to really cold weather and another one being cancelled because of the wet track conditions, the weather has been very nice for the rest of the track meets so far. This is Chase's first year in track and I guess it is going well so far. I only went out for track in middle school and I can guarantee you it wasn't for the sport of it....purely a social angle. Chase did not originally go out this year either, but the coach came to him and asked him to give it a try and he's been ok with it. He's done the long jump some and then runs the 400 m run and the 400 x 4 relay. It's hard sometimes when they announce the winners to know how well he did. I know he's brought home one medal for a 3rd place in a relay. Not all of the meets are medal meets. But it's good that it keeps him active.

Braces

So Chelsey is about 2 weeks into her new set of braces. She's really done very well. It's not like I have anything to compare it too but if I didn't know it and occassionally see them when she talks, I don't think I would even know she had any on. Ok, the pink and aqua bands are a little hard to miss!! She tells me next month she's going to change them to purple and black. If it makes her happy - what's the harm?!?!

Here Come The Updates....

I'm sure these posts are going to be randomly posted in no chronilogical order as I try to remember what has been going on these past 3 weeks.

Let's start off with this weekend. Chase went to a friends house Friday after school for a camp out birthday party. He took his four-wheeler. To be honest, I haven't asked too many questions. He didn't come home with any broken bones so I guess all is good. Chase also found herself over at a friends house to playing. It was a lovely evening so we walked over and got her and then ended up going uptown for a late bite to eat.

Chelsey and I arose early Saturday morning to go over and babysit for Rhett, my 1 yr old nephew. He was spending the weekend with grandma Lola but she had to work Saturday morning. Justin and Jason were turkey hunting and Megan and Allison were gone to St. Louis for the weekend to attend the Taylor Swift / Kellie Pickler concert. I haven't heard all the details about the concert yet but from what I understand Allison was mesmorized!

It wasn't as warm out Saturday morning as I had hoped, but it was still ok to take Rhett for a stroller ride. We strolled him uptown and stopped in at Rus T's and Chelsey picked out a shirt to use a gift card she'd had since her birthday. After we left there and got back to grandma's, we went out to visit my cousin Susan at Tim's Home Center. Rhett was quite the little ham out there and found himself a pretty blonde who let him sit on her lap ( oops, don't tell his dad! lol). We took him back home and had lunch and then he went down for a good nap.

Rhett just turned a year old at the first of the month and he's really starting to do some funny things. He whistles and he hoots like an owl. He's got the prettiest blue eyes. He got up from his nap and we had fun along with Grandpa Ed playing with him. We left there around 2:30 pm and went home for the Baker girls to arrive who were staying with Chelsey.

Chelsey, Jordan and Jessie Mae are like triplets but they really aren't. The girls think it's funny when the go places out of town if people ask to play along with it. The girls played basketball, took Sadie on a walk, played Wii and whatever else they could find to do.

It was such a beautiful afternoon that all I wanted to be was outside. I pushed mowed and then dug around a little in my flower beds. I had nothing to plant yet but I got the weeds out and softed the top layer of dirt up at least.

They wanted homemade pizza for supper which really wasn't too hard, even for me, once I got the dough to quit sticking to my fingers. (more flour) Chase was gone fishing so he didn't get in on the pizza when it was hot out of the oven but I don't think that stopped him later. The girls concluded their evening by watching Beverly Hills Chiwauwau.

I woke up this morning, Sunday, to another of my wonderful headaches. Actually, I had one Friday where it affected my vision but the medicine somewhat worked, then I started gettig another one Saturday afternoon but took my prescription and it warded it off. And I woke up this morning with one that was more on the painful side. I took some medicine and in a couple of hours it had let me and I became functional. Had a pretty productive day. Did tons and tons of laundry, MANUALLY washed dishes as my dishwasher is leaking ( repair man is scheduled for Tuesday), cooked lunch and then got ready to go to a baby shower for my brother Jason and his wife Gina.

Jason and Gina got really great news the week of Easter, they found out Gina was getting transferred to Mason City, IL with her work. They have had a full couple of weeks as they have house hunted, offered and made a deal on a house and Jason got a job there as well. They were here this weekend for the shower and a birthday party of Gina's niece. I think they made the trip from Mason City to Shelbina in under 3 hours. This is such wonderful news. We are all super excited to have them back closer and now we'll get to spoil the new baby coming that much more.

I finished off the afternoon by getting on the rider and mowing the back yards of what I pushed yesterday. Anything to be outside!!

blog, blog, blog.....I hear I am sucking hind "tah tah" and need to get with it and UPDATE!!!!

ok, ok, I'll see what kind of magic I can create tonight

It's the wet hair look today! Wash, product, scrunch and go!

April 7, 1948 - April 2, 1992

In talking to co-workers, friends, or classmates, the question sometimes comes up, who do you look like? This is sometimes right around the time people tell me that my daughter and I look alot alike. I used to not see it, until I put a picture of each of us side by side and if you can picture us both with either blonde hair or brunette hair, well, there's your answer folks, Chelsey and I look very much alike. But before there was Chelsey or myself, there was my mom. And just like the comment that my daughter and I look very much alike, I think you will see the same striking resemblance in the following picture of me and my mom.This was my first grade school picture and I assume my mom to be around the same age. I always remember her telling me that she had long hair like mine until one day she went it for a trim and the beauty shop lady turned my mom's back to the mirror and the above hair cut is what she ended up with. To this day, I have never let a hair dresser turn my back to the mirror!!
Ok, so I found these pictures this morning and have updated the original blog posting. I think I may be about 6 mos older in this pictures on the left in the light pink, but change the hair color and the resemblance is quite similar.

My mom would have celebrated her 61st birthday on April 7; however, her life ended just 5 days before her 44th birthday in 1992. For those of you who know me, knows that my relationship with her was estranged for alot of the short 23 yrs I was alive when she died. As a little girl I worshipped her but that slowly faded and the feelings turned to disbelief and anguish. I grew up hating her for what she had done and who she was, but those were teeage years when we don't always know how to understand the pain of another. I don't think I ever understood it, but I learned to not harbor that harsh feelings and to learn not to expect so much of her and slowly I let her back into my life.

I sometimes feel it was too little too late, because she went to sing with the choir of angels 17 years ago. Alot of things I never got to say and do where my mom was concerned. It's hard to know if that opportunity would have ever presented itself but as long as she was here there was hope. But what I do know, is that there are some very well tailored angles in heaven, as my mom was a master seamstress, as displayed in the below picture with our matching polyester mint green leisure suits. (Ok, give me a break, it was the 70's, and believe it or not, we were really styling.)

Rest in peace.

2 Songs for the Day

The Climb

by Miley Cyrus

I Will Be

by Leona Lewis

Since I have such a long communte, the radio is always on, unless I am on the phone and lately, I haven't been feeling the love, nobody answers when I call. (maybe I should take a hin t.)Anyway, had the opportunity to hear these 2 songs today, the Climb this morning, which I also heard Miley perform live last night on the ACM awards. If that girls keeps her head on straight she's going places. Secondly, on the way home, I heard I Will Be by Leona Lewis. This is like her 3rd great song in a row.

My nephew Rhett's 1st birthday

My nephew Rhett will celebrate is first birthday on Tuesday, April 7, and his parents hosted a supper in his honor on Saturday, April 4. The big cake was a puppy, but this little cake was just Rhett's size and he enjoyed getting in to it.

Rhett unwapping one of his gifts.

Daddy Justin showing off Rhett's new camo boots!!!

So much for getting home and seeing the kids

I pick up Chase from track and he's off to spend the night with a friend.

Chelsey gets home and she's off on a bike ride with friends. The she asks if she can go to the movies.

Somebody please tell me this is normal and I just need to learn to cope.

Pay at the Pump???

Ok, so I made it home from my OK trip. It was late though last night, 11 pm. I left Tulsa at around 4 and got home at 11 pm. And once again, the GPS rocks. I was excited to be home although the arrival wasn't quite what I had expected.

My one major complaint of the trip...... what the H E double L is the purpose of the "pay at the pump" feature if you "have to see cashier inside" for the receipt. I was so flipping mad. If it had been a personal trip I would have said forget it, don't need the receipt. But business and the need to be reimbursed is a different story.