Can someone pick up Jerry?

My father-in-law (he was Mike's step-dad) passed away this week. It was expected and he was ready to go. I am sad for my Mother-in-law but she is doing OK. I hope he is with our Father and seeing all of his family members. He was a very well read, intelligent man but had a very weird past... he had lost his first wife, 2 sons and 2 grandsons to unusual deaths. He has a daughter who never called him, never visited unless she needed something. This daughter and my Mother-in-law DO NOT like each other. My Mother-in-law's two sisters and family all live in the same town as her but haven't' been as supportive as I would have hoped and my husband is the only child, so I am ready to get there to lend support and help. We have been very blessed that she has good neighbors who have helped her immensely. I am sad that they don't attend a church and someone who didn't know him will do the service. I am grateful that he said he was a believer! But, Sunday afternoon if someone could go pick up Jerry Springer on the way to the memorial service I would appreciate it. Between the daughter, the sisters and a few odd friends I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss it. We may have to add chairs to the smoking lounge (her garage) for the after events...
No, but seriously, rest peacefully Harvey, we'll take care of Pat for you.

The Family, Elvis and our own Paparazzi

The little girl has been asking for a camera for a long time... she is only 8 and has been asking for her own camera or video camera for at least a couple of years...

One night recently when I was out of town, she somehow got her dad to agree to buy her the pink camera in the Target ad that day... After telling Jennifer about how I might have to kill her Dad for agreeing to buy a $100 camera for no good reason, she offered to send K her old camera since she had just bought a new one. The little one agreed to this offer, I think knowing my vote would out way dad's crazy vote! So, she eagerly awaited the box in the mail with the new camera. A few short days later it arrived... now, we have our own paparazzi in our house, everywhere, anywhere, documenting everything we do. She has pictures of her American Girl dolls, her favorite bear, and various other items... I think even the dogs are getting tired of it! She has taken more video and pictures of the Elvis the bulldog than you can imagine!!! Of course he is very entertaining. His favorite activities are watching t.v. and sleeping. While watching t.v. he barks at any animal, cartoon animal, or anything that might remind him of an animal. She's getting a lot of video of this if you ever need a video of a dog barking at a t.v. or snoring... I'll spare you the self portraits and pictures of us in p.j.'s etc...

It's a miracle I tell ya!

The big girl has struggled with 6th grade math all year long. The last two six weeks she has had a 'C' which she has never made before!!! So, as you can imagine, even after much tutoring, we were anxiously awaiting her TAKS results.
She passed!!! But, not only did she pass, she got commended! As she said, "today is my happy day"... she thought that was reason for a "Happy Meal", I happily drove her straight to McDonald's.
The Little girl got an award for 'A' honor roll, exceeding her Accelerated Reading goal, and Great Citizenship today. We however missed the memo on dressing up for this event. She proudly accepted her awards in rolled up sweat pants and an "I know fashion" tee shirt and it didn't faze her in the least. The big one would have had a stroke!!!
Thank you God for keeping Summer School off of our schedule and for one easy going child!

A Great Weekend

Mike took the boat out for the first time since we moved here. Even though he only caught one fish he said the lake was great, much better than he expected... I think I was hoping it wouldn't be so he would want to sell the boat. The girls and I tried out the 'redneck pool' today. We spent a couple of hours just floating around talking. It was good girl time. The neighbor came over this evening and her little girls went swimming. We ate burgers and sat outside. It was an ideal day at home.
The new house across the street is finished and a young couple moved in yesterday... we took them a cake and welcomed them to the neighborhood. I am hoping all the new houses starting on this street have such nice people. I am thankful for friendly neighbors... at our last house we never got to know any of the neighbors well. God has been so good to us in this move.

Craziness follows me

Yesterday in the grocery store I saw a VERY odd pair of women in line in front of me. Between them they only had about 6 items with each of them paying for a portion of the bill, then they had leave the line for minute to get something else, then the cashier had to call for help with something to do with the payment... so for their 6 items (that I had mistakenly thought would be the shortest line) it took them over 15minutes to check out, all they while trying to talk to me about stuff in my cart. I know its not terribly Christian of me to avoid talking to strange people but really, these women scared me a little...
There was a strange guy at Sonic that I always hoped wasn't working when I ordered, of course he always is... then one night we went to a restaurant and guess who the waiter was?
I was subbing today and had a couple of incidents where the choice of the parent completely made me wonder about their parenting.
And now, my own child... apparently she is just done with school because she has C's in few classes. This is the same child that before would have a small stroke if she made a B...
I could go on and on... is it just me?

The makings of a good day

1. rainy, stormy weather
2. lunch with friends
3. a pedicure
4. a phone call from my peeps at my old school
5. no where we have to be tonight
6. a roast in the crockpot
7. clean sheet day
That is all.. it doesn't take much... Elvis on the other hand doesn't look like his day was very good...

The last week or so...

I just haven't had much to blog about the last week or so. I guess things have been pretty normal around here. Mother's day was spent putting up my mother's day gift, the new "Red Neck Pool" as my cousin calls it.
We had planned on having a pool put in when we moved but decided the lack of in-ground pools here may be for a reason so we thought we would try this and see if we want to put one in later. Now, Sunday when we got it assembled, the crazy girls were sure they needed to go swimming. I'm pretty sure the water was about 50 degrees but they had a swim.
Tonight we went to a Mother Daughter dinner at my friends church. It was nice. Of course we had to go to McDonald's on the way home since the big girl didnt' eat 3 bites of the real food they served. The older woman who was in charge of the microphone at this event, talked about that fact that this is the first Mother's day without her mother. I can only hope that I get to spend that many with my girls and leave a legacy they will be proud of. I am thankful to have two such beautiful girls!

Glad to be home

I spent the last couple of days in the Dallas area helping my Mother-in-law get some decisions made about the father-in-law who is ill... He was doing so bad when I left for Dallas that I expected to be going to a funeral while there, however, he was awake and waiting to see me. He is still not doing well and is moving to the Hospice unit. That was the main reason I was there to help her with that decision. The visit with him was actually very pleasant. See, he is Mike's step-dad and has never really been our favorite person for many reasons, but while sitting there with him, knowing he does not have a lot of time, those thoughts went away... he was only a person who is aware he is dying. I realzied my being there was good for him also. When his wife was out of the room he asked me questions that she wasn't ready to answer. He asked about how much time he has, he discussed his desire to die and not linger and I asked him if there was anything he wished he had done in life... He briefly discussed God but before I could ask to much we were interrupted. I have worried about this and been hoping for an opportunity to discuss it... then last night his neighbor brought it up with me and said he was planning on talking to him about also, and I'm greatful...So, we had some good conversation followed a brief slightly confused time when he wanted his wife to buy two pony's for my girls to remember him by.
I spent the ride home thinking about how short life is...

A murder mystery and other Friday craziness

We had the big girl's birthday party tonight. We planned a luau and all outdoor activities but the 20mph winds ran us inside for some of the fun... There was alot of jumping on the trampoline, football throwing, a bit of the limbo, as well as good burgers and such. We moved inside to do the murder mystery...they did so good and enjoyed it so much they wouldn't slow down between rounds...so in all the fun and them skipping ahead the murderer admitted his guilt before he should have... so much for the prize for who guessed the killer correctly. They really seemed to have a fun night.
On a completely different note, Mike's step dad is in the hospital nearing the end of his life. I know he is ready to go because he has voiced this in the last few months, however watching him go slowly down hill is so hard on his mother. I pray he doesn't linger, I pray for Pat to have strength through this, I pray that he will meet our Lord and see his children that went before him.
So, I'll be going back to the Dallas area for a bit...

I've got a Mad Lib for ya

Tonights episode of the The Office was full of good lines but the uncomfortable factor is at an all time high..
its like a mock exicution...you are fired like a heart attack...