Family time...

I love seeing my family! Sometimes I also love seeing my family leave and go home! This weekend was not one of those times, however. My Betsy came through Laurel with her boyfriend, Peter, and we had a fabulous birthday dinner for her and my cousin, Emilee. Betsy's birthday was Saturday and Em's was Sunday. We had all sorts of good food--- I made green bean casserole and my mom made pork chops, and we had deviled eggs and chocolate pie and corn on the cob. It was great! Pretty much the entire family was there, except Nicholas and Brandon. Other than that, it was a fabulous afternoon! Even Lori was there, our neighbor friend who is now like a member of the family! She's never getting rid of us!

I've only met Peter once before (Cotton Bowl of 2008) but I really like him. He's nice, he's cute, and he's continued to put up with Betsy. He even bought her a computer for her birthday this year so that, in Betsy's words, "I'd leave him alone while he was watching tv". That's brillant, and if only we'd thought of that years ago. Clever Peter!!!

Here are some pictures of the Birthday Dinner at my Aunt Ju's house.

Birthday girl Betsy and Peter!



The three girls:



Mom, Dad, Peter and Betsy at the "adult" table. Myself, Em, Ju and Lo were sitting at the "kids table". Aren't those flowers pretty??




Birthday Girl Em and myself



Lori (Lo) wondering why the heck she is hanging out with us when she doesn't have to:



The birthday girls:




Em and Ju taking a rest after all the family fun time!



Parker is super tired from all the fun as well- she is actually laying on my Aunt Ju:

It's been too long...

I've had internet problems since last week. Apparently the problems have fixed themselves. Last week my internet went down on Thursday, and immediately my thoughts went to the bill-- perhaps it hadn't been paid! But it was, and even after I paid the rest of the balance, it still wasn't working. This happens every so often and then I have to call ATT and they run me through some steps (that always begin with "turn off your computer and your modem." That advice hasn't worked yet.) and then we get to the point where I have to enter my id and password and internet key. Which I don't know, and have never known and we always have to reset my information and it takes forever. I really should write those things down.

Anyway, I call ATT, go through all the steps and get now where and then realize my phone is almost out of battery. So I get the charger to plug it up while still talking to Gina from ATT. Its not charging. And then, after talking to ATT for an hour and still not getting anywhere, my phone dies. So I head to CellSouth for the second time in a week. Get that problem fixed. Don't have time to figure out the internet problem. So this morning, I call ATT and while I am on hold, I open my internet browser. And, lo and behold, it works! Wireless and everything. Apparently my internet has fixed itself.

My internet-less weekend was lots of fun! I painted my porch and backdoor. The porch looks fabulous but I haven't been able to finish since its rained the rest of the weekend. The door is another story and I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that.

My aunt and I also did some shopping Thursday in Brookhaven for some fabric for curtains in my sunroom. I'm having some designer's block in that room and cannot decide what to do with the wall colors or curtains or anything. So we took a quick trip to the Garden Patch and found some great fabric. Everything there is $5.00 per yard so its a great place to look! Here are some of the fabrics , including two I almost chose:







Here is the one I did chose. I think it will look good when I finally get around to painting the walls.




We also stopped at Cowboy Jim's for an early dinner. Cowboy Jim's is my mom's favorite place so I brought her back some fried green tomatoes. However, this morning I realized I forgot to tell her and they are still in the fridge. Cowboy Jim's Riverside Restaurant outside of Collins is a great fish/steak/chicken place. Its yummy. Here are some pictures:



Here are the aforementioned fried green tomatoes:

OCD or inmate?

OCD or inmate? I cannot decide. When I see things like this, I admire their beauty and detail and usually think "I could totally do something like that." Then I think, "Why would I ever want to do that." Perhaps if I ever do have to sacrifice myself and go into prison for my Betsy or my Nicholas, I can take up this hobby. Then I will make them small little pencil pieces to remind them of the sacrifice I've made for them.

Really tired...

Because I stayed up super late last night reading the final book Hunger Games Trilogy, Mockinjay, by Suzanne Collins. It was such a great book, even though there were some part of the final book I didn't personally like, or thought could have been different. But who am I to second-guess an obviously talented writer like Collins (I mean, she's creative and successful and has, let's face it, made several million more dollars off her books than I've ever made off writing a book!)

Mockingjay follows Katniss Everdeen (yeah, awful name) as she volunteers herself in place of her younger sister, Prim, into the annual Hunger Games-- a Survivor-type game where 2 teens, a boy and a girl, from each District (12 in total) enter into a huge arena until only one is standing, and the other 23 are dead. Its chilling, if you think about it-- kill or be killed. Can you imagine? These young kids, some of whom trained their entire lives for this, some had the unlucky fortune to be picked from the entire population, some strong and clever, others young and weak, forced to kill each other. And to make it a sick satire on our reality-tv culture, these "games" are filmed and watched live on every television screen in the nation. The people in the Districts, who are the workers, watch because they have to while the people in the Capitol city, watch for entertainment. They even place bets and cheer on their favorites, apparently never fully understanding the humanity, or lackthereof, that's involved.

I thought theses books were really good and I'm sure there are more intelligent people than myself trying to parse the language and themes to produce anti-war, or wicked consumerism messages, but I just thought it was a great book with some very haunting thoughts. I mean, reality tv exists today so that people can watch "real people" suffer through challenges (Survivor), or have their heart broken (Bachelor), or live their mundane/exciting lives (Kardashians, Tori and Dean, Housewives, etc.). Its not really a huge stretch of the imagination to imagine a wealthy class of people getting their kicks by watching stronger children kill off the weaker ones; remember the Gladiators in the Coliseum. I'm very intrigued by the scary aspects of human nature-- what one would do to stay alive, in very inhumane circumstances. So, dystopia books like this one make me think of what I'd be willing to do, or what my people would do to stay alive, or what they might be willing to overlook for fear of standing out from the crowd.

Its not a stretch to me to think I'd be willing to step up for my sister, like Katniss. In fact, its a running joke in my family that I'd offer to go to prison for Betsy or Nicholas, if necessary (I've not extended this to any other members of my family!) Partly because I KNOW I would be okay in prison (mostly from my obsessive interest in all things prison-related but also because I'm an attorney and I'm sure I could just spend my time doing Post-Relief Petitions in exchange for, you know, protection, cigarettes, etc.) and partly because I'd just do anything I possibly could to protect them.

But these books really made me think, long after I'd finished with each of them (and isn't that the best indicator of a good book?). In the Capitol area, the privileged, soft residents spent most of their time planning parties and outfits and getting extreme plastic surgery to make themselves beautiful-- the District workers see these people are grotesque and frivolous to an extreme. The Capitol citizens see the Districts as wild animals, less than human, only useful to the extend they can provide for the Capitol. Neither group really considers the other to even be human, and thereby, has no problems killing them or watching them be killed. To me, its super scary how one can stop valuing human life just because someone's different, and how that is a slippery slope into mayhem.

My deep thoughts on this book are over now (and they aren't really that deep!) but its still a great series and is actually quite funny with a large amount of teen romance (which I think is for the birds really- I mean, all teenagers think their love is the greatest, no one else has ever loved before them, no one understands their love, etc. Its all so dramatic, and frankly, useless, as so few of those dramatic loves ever last). Its a good series, which, despite my rather wordy and possibly confusing "review" is a quick read. Go buy it!

In other news, tonight's the first week of GA's for the year and I'm super excited about seeing all my kiddos! I love them! Plus, I've actually reviewed the lesson prior to class, and organized my thoughts so this week should be good! Each year, when Missions starts, I vow to read the entire lesson for the month and decide what to do, what supplies I need, etc. I've never actually done that till this month, so hopefully my dedication will pay off!! On a sour note, the church supper for tonight is lasagna. I don't like lasagna, never have, which is surprising since I love pasta. I don't know, I'm weird.

And finally, my friend Katherine, over at Its a Great Life..., are planning a big announcement soon. Its part of our attempt at "finding ourselves!". I'm sure no one will really be interested, but if you are reading this blog, you are exceeding my expectations already, so who knows!!!

My new neighbor...

is incredibly strange. His name is Evan. Evan lives in one of four apartments in a house two doors down from me on Hill, which is a dead-end street. I've seen Evan's truck parked outside the house for a while and I've even seen him coming outside a few times, but only recently did I have the pleasure of meeting Evan. Lucky me. First off, let me say that his truck has a small sign in the back window. Its obviously printed on a cheap printer and it indicates that all drivers should be aware that this vehicle is a US Census Worker's vehicle, and thus it will be making frequent stops. I don't know why I think its funny. Perhaps its the tacky, obviously homeade sign-- I mean, I am sure if the US Government could buy a SuperBowl commercial hyping the Census, then they could splurge for professionally printed signs to make drivers aware of the sudden and often stopping and starting dangers of their workers. Or maybe its the fact that I've never seen any other signs like this, or anything else similar, ever. Not even when Census reporting was in full swing. I'd like to think Evan uses this to impress people, or get a good parking spot at Logan's Steakhouse or somewhere.

Back to my meeting with Evan. Its middle of the afternoon and Nicholas has just left town to head back to Oxford. I am walking Parker, and as I usually try to do, I have guided her over to the empty house about 4 houses down from mine so she can do her business and then roll around in the grass (preferably not in the same area) and annoy me by wanting to stay outside when its ridiculously hot and I'm dressed for work.

Evan comes down the stairs and outside his house for a smoke break. Evan's probably early 20s and has shaggy, stringy hair and is wearing Jesus sandals. My dog Parker is a bit nosy and anytime anything happens anywhere near where she is, she has to stop, take in the situation (heh, "the situation") and watch until whatever is going on is over. She likes to know what's going on. We are similar in that respect. So, of course, Parker stops what she is doing and stares at Evan. She then decides she needs to sniff him and we walk over. We make introductions and he stops to pet Parker (which, I'll admit, is nice of him and I like it when people like my Parker. Because its like liking me! She's my best girl!!)

Below is what happened next, to my best recollection:

ME: Its nice to meet you. I live in the house on the corner. (Points to my house)

Evan: Yeah, I've seen you around. Do you live there? (points to empty house where, to be fair, is the direction I've come from, but is opposite the direction I just pointed when I said "I live there". Also, this house is entirely empty, and has been since I moved in over 2 years ago. The garage is empty and we can see directly into the garage.)

ME: No, I live there (points to my house. Again).

Evan: Oh did you just move in there? (points to EMPTY HOUSE. AGAIN).

ME: No, I live on the corner. There (points to my house). On the other side of your next door neighbor. The house with the fence.

Evan: Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't think I knew you. I know lots of the other neighbors, including Mrs. Faye and the Cornell family. So, you live in the house with all the State stuff.

ME: The Ole Miss stuff?

Evan: Yeah, all the State stuff.

ME: Um, I live in the house with the Ole Miss stuff. We are big fans of OLE MISS (emphasis).

Evan: Yeah, yeah, I love State too. I'm going to law school there.

ME: To, um, (pause) Ole Miss? I went to law school there. I have an office here in Laurel. I work by myself.

Evan: Oh, you are an attorney. Who do you work for?

ME: I work by myself. I rent an office from a local attorney, but I'm a solo practitioner.

Evan: What firm do you work for?

ME: I, um, I work by myself. I don't work for anyone. I am solo.

Evan: That's awesome. I used to work for [insert name of local, liberal attorney that I don't know very well]. I'm going to law school. Well, I am planning on going-- I just took the LSAT and now I have to retake it soon and then apply. I made a 550 on the LSAT so hopefully I will do just as good this time. What did you make on the LSAT.

ME: [thinking-- the LSAT only goes up to 180. What is this guy talking about? What did I make on the LSAT? Am I crazy? I don't think I did very well, but I know I didn't take any test that goes to 550 or above. Am I losing my mind?] I made a 149.

Evan: Oh yeah, that's not very good.

ME: Yeah, it wasn't really good. It was on the low end of the average, but obviously it wasn't the LOWEST. I mean, cause I did GET IN (defensively) (thinking-- and you haven't gotten in, loser).

Evan: Oh, I took the practice LSAT! I made a 550 on the practice LSAT!! That's right! I've got to take the LSAT soon. Do you know so and so?

ME: No.

Evan: He is in law school right now. I met him when I became president of the USM Young Democrats after he was president.

ME: Huh. Yeah, I don't know him.

Evan: Well, its nice to meet you! Bye! (Waves brightly, throws his half-used cigarette down and goes back inside)

ME: (bewildered) Parker, let's go home right this minute. That guy is crazy.


I've seen Evan a couple times since then. He always waves brightly. I'm not really sure if our conversation was real or perhaps some liberal conspiracy plot to make me think I was going crazy. It kinda worked. I'm staying away from Evan. He gets me all confused.

Rain, rain, go away...

Despite the fact that its raining horribly outside, and it seems as though its rained and stormed the majority of the days in the last couple weeks, I am thinking of porch makeovers! I am ready to redo my porch and I've finally started thinking about exactly what I want. I'm thinking red/white/blue for a variety of reasons:

1) Its classic.

2) The majority of the celebrations you would have outside would involve a patriotic theme-- Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc. So, most of the decorating I would do for a party would be in these colors already.

3) I already have lots of red/white/blue stuff as a necessity for the Grove, so a lot of my cute decorations/linens/tablescapes/flatware would look really good with it. And save money.

Here are some of the cute porch inspirations I've found on the internet.

Ready for Fall...

Anyone who knows me well would probably know that I LOVE Fall. I love football, cooler weather, school supplies, fall colors, autumn smells, and everything leading up to Christmas. Any anyone who has been around me much this summer knows I am EXTREMELY ready for this particular summer to be over with. For some reason, I'm not handling the heat and the summer very well this year. I realize that every year its just as hot and every year, its just as humid, but for some reason, this year, I'm handling it poorly. Plus, personally, its been a tough summer. Lots of changes, and you all know it takes me a long time to get used to change. So, I'm super happy about school starting, and football season and fall decorations.

Yesterday, I got a wild hair and decided that if I didn't get a couch cover for my living room couch that every day, then life would not be living and it had to be done IMMEDIATELY. Again, those of you who know me well know I get things in my head and I can't let go. I'm a tad bit impatient.

So, I've got a new couch cover. I had bought a loveseat cover several years ago from Target which never fit my loveseat, so I found it, and returned it, without the receipt, hoping that I'd at least get some of my money back. It was a great surprise when I got all of my money back! Emilee and I went to look for couch covers, and even though they had a paltry selection, I was paralyzed by indecision. Finally Em helped me get one and I think I like it. Its lighter than I originally wanted, but right now the walls are a yucky orangey-neutral color (my mom and aunt think its fine, but I liken the color to a bad Clinque makeup line on a chin-- not blended it and way too orange. Its hideous.) so the lighter color looks okay with the awful walls and will (hopefully) look okay with the new paint color (when I decide what color to paint and actually paint it).

Here are some pictures:

BEFORE



AFTER




Also, here are pictures of my sweet Parker's new "couch bed!"




Isn't she just the prettiest girl!!

Perfectionist...

Frequent readers and fans will notice that this is a new background, and I hope you like it! I've spent WAY too many hours trying to find the perfect background and banner. Its not really that important but I'm obsessed with it being perfect, which is often a problem in my life! But I really like this one and am looking forward to Halloween cause there are some really cute backgrounds for that.

I'm killing time before heading to Newton for a few days. I have a trial Tuesday-- my first trial all on my own so I'm a bit nervous. I'm also heading to Newton County tonight for a Sweet 16 party for my friend Sonji's niece, Gabby. It didn't seem like that long ago when Gabby was born so its depressing to think she's now 16. Its a Mardi Gras themed party! Gabby's totally cool-- just like her Aunt Sonji!

Spent a lot of this morning making my mom look at blog backgrounds. She's tired of looking and, frankly, not a lot of help. I did cook her some yummy sweet and sour chicken with rice-- it was a frozen meal that comes with all the ingredients! My kind of cooking!!!

Nick just got home so now I have to go talk to him. I will post pictures of Parker's new bed soon!!!

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were??

The above quote is by Satchel Paige and its something I've been thinking about since yesterday, when I discussed my dad turning into my Pop and myself turning into my dad. I don't think anyone who knows me well would think I'm not sorta an old person already-- I like to go to bed early, if possible, I love my heating pad, and I don't like loud music.

I've been thinking of time when I realized I was officially an adult and, kinda old.

1. When my friends and I spent an entire hour discussing health insurance, lack thereof, deductibles, and policies. And we weren't even doing this ironically.

2. When I started fussing about turning the lights off and the air up. I started this a long time ago (see, yesterday's post) but I really started pushing the issue a few months ago after getting our latest electricity bill. Of course, I rarely fuss about the gas bill in the winter because I HATE being cold, but I don't mind it being warm. In fact, my upstairs air stays on about 78 throughout the summer.

3. When I started driving past older men in the community I knew, waving and saying "Old-Timer". My dad used to do this.

4. When I started viewing my parents as less of parents and more of friends, peers.

5. When I started paying for my sister and brother's lunches sometimes, or I tried to slip them a ten dollar bill. Note: This used to happen much more than it does now. I'm self-employed.

6. When I started shaking people's hands a lot.

7. When I stopped going to my friend's baby showers and started going to their kid's birthday parties. And then started going to their school events.

8. When people started calling me "ma'am."

9. When I started carrying my reading glasses around-- putting them on while reading something, taking them off as soon as I am done, using them to make a point in conversation.

10. When I realized how much I love Office Depot. Its like Candyland for adults who work in offices.

They're dreamy...

So, this morning, in anticipation of my dad coming home from the hospital (he's fine!), I put clean sheets on his bed. However, I had trouble finding suitable pillowcases for his three pillows (like me, my dad has several pillows at any given time. Course they are all old and flat). Luckily, I was able to find this gem in the back of the linen closet. I sprayed it with some linen water and it smelled suitable-- of course, it probably hadn't been used in many years. (Oh who I am kidding, I am SURE Nicholas uses it all the time).

This New Kids on the Block pillowcase is a leftover remnant of a simpler time-- it is part of my sister's sheet set. I hate to think of what happened to the actual twin sheets. Betsy LOVED NKOTB. I remember her being obsessed with them (much like, back at Catholic school, her four-year old gang used to chase a five-year old Chad something-or-other around during recess. I mean, absolutely harassed the poor kid from the minute he came outside. Every day, he raced to the boys bathroom where he spent the entire recess, sitting in fear of what would happen if he went outside and they actually caught him. This went on the entire year. I'm sure that Chad, wherever he is today, has some serious women issues. Betsy was, and still is, quite bold.)

I liked New Kids, but not to the extent that Betsy, or even other girls in my class, did. I very clearly remember all the girls in my class picking their "favorite" and I felt sorry for Jon since no one else picked him. So, I picked him. I didn't really care, I just didn't want him to be sad that those 5th grade ICS girls didn't like him as much as Jordan or Joey. I'm sure my concern meant a lot to him.

Anyway, I'd like to think dad will be happy when he gets home from the hospital and sees this on his bed. Its not a great picture, but you get the idea. On the other hand, I doubt he will even notice. He's not known for details.

Wow, today hasn't been great...

I cannot believe how unbelievably rough today has been, already! First, some back ground. My mom has a lumbar sprain, or a spinal tap or something wrong with her that's causing major pain. Now my sweet mom lives with a lot of pain. My grandfather lived with a lot of pain and you would have never known it. Sometimes, with my my mom, you know it. But, she's pretty good about going through the pain and even when you know she is hurting, you don't really know how bad she is hurting. But the past three days, she has been in major, read-it-all-over-her-face pain. She's gone ton the doctor twice and they've given her medicine which hasn't really helped but merely knocked her out. Her conversations have been hilarious when she does wake up!

So, I've been taking care of her Sunday and yesterday and since she's mostly slept, its not been hard. I was planning to work today in Decatur, and usually, when I do that, I come spend the night with my dad. But last night I decided to stay and get up super early and come so that I could take care of her.

So, this morning, I wake up around 5:45 which is well before my alarm was set. I know I won't be able to go back to sleep (alert readers will know I have sleeping issues), so I lay in bed, trying to figure out how, once again, my dog Parker, all 14 pounds of her has managed to move me into the smallest corner of the bed while taking up the rest of the bed for herself. Did I mention I am sleeping in my brother, Nick's bed? Yep, the air conditioning upstairs is out at my house. Not to be confused with last month when the downstairs air was out. Yep, summer's been fun, folks.

Luckily for me, I was able to strongly suggest to Nick that he get lost and stay with a friend all last week and weekend and until we get this fixed. And Nick, knowing a losing situation when he sees one, agreed.

So, this morning, right at 6:00, my dad's friend Mr. Buster calls me. Naturally, I am confused since I don't typically get calls that early in the morning and its even more atypical for me to get a call from Mr. Buster. He apparently called my number instead of my dad's. And I'm thinking, wow, what could he be calling about this morning? I mean, I KNOW Dave's not up at this hour. So, I go on to get ready and thought I hear my phone ring again but then decided its my too-early-in-the-morning imagination. Thirty minutes later, I realize it wasn't, and my dad has called and text messaged me that he is in the hospital at Andersons. Minor chest pains. Like an idiot, I wake up my mother and spend 10 minutes explaining the situation to her. She's concerned (obviously) and thinks she should get in the car and head that way. Fortunately for all Central MS drivers, she then gets distracted by the bandage and gauze on her right arm where they presumably took blood yesterday. And proceeds to ask me what it is and why its there and will I take it off for her. I convince her that its probably not a good idea for her to drive and she agrees. I'm ready by then and Parker and I take off. Once I'm almost to the hospital, my mom calls again and asks where I am. She then tells me I've made really good time (which I hadn't). And she asks what time it was and gets confused as she thinks I only left a couple minutes ago. How in the world her medicine-laden mind believed I made it 65 miles in 10 minutes, and how that's labeled "good time" and not "faster than the speed of light", I'll never know. I remind her not to drive anywhere while I am gone.

I make it to the hospital. Dad's fine. Since he had previous heart problems (another post for another time), they want to keep him overnight as a precaution but they don't think its a heart attack. I stay for a while and call my sister, who is about to start her second day of her new job. She's freaking out and dramatic and suggests, only half-jokingly, that once she left town, everyone's fallen apart!

My dad is discussing heart attacks and health problems and issues with the nurses and making jokes and it hits me-- he has turned into my Pop. For those of you in the know (lucky you!), you will know my recently-deceased Pop had a knack for making friends and talking their heads off. I can't tell you how many times I've heard him tell the same story over and over to every single nurse/orderly/patient/doctor/random visitor/guy who happened-to-get-stuck-in-an-elevator-with-us. So now my dad's doing the same thing!!!

[Sidenote: this is NOT to be confused with the incident last week when I walked into the house at night, started turning off every single light that was on, and asking my sister if we were made of money and to turn off the lights please, cause we've got to keep our electric bill down. I felt like I'd turned into a mini-David Carr overnight, and that I should go to Hardees for a DC to celebrate!)

Anyway, Dad's fine-- he has to do a stress test in the morning and I'm to bring him a book to read, some tennis shoes and socks. Mom seems to be okay, last I checked. Its going to be a long week, I believe.

In other long, rambling, not really important news, my friend Katie is now blogging!! I am so excited. I want all my readers to rush over to her blog, here and check it out!! Hopefully you won't all go at once or else the server might get overloaded.

Seriously, I am excited about her blogging and me blogging-- it truly shows that great minds think alike in that we've started doing this at the same time!!! Hopefully we'll keep it up!! I love Katie. I've got lots of good stories to tell about her. Unfortunately, she has even better ones on me, so, never mind!

Long post today but its been a hectic day and I'm exhausted and I don't edit well when tired. Plus, its nice to get all this out of my head, like a diary! Or therapy.

Just bought...

Just bought this new book, Lady in Waiting. Went to the bookstore looking for a Beth Moore Bible study book and found this one instead. So far, it's excellent. I am excited about getting back into devotionals.

Agape church

Went to Agape Church this morning with my cousin, Em. Its a non-denominational church that recently started up in Laurel. It currently meets at the Cameron Center, a couple blocks from my house but they've started renovating an old, downtown building that they will use. I've been going to church here with him for nearly a month now and I really enjoy it. I am sorta torn because I am loyal to FBC, Laurel, my home church which I love, and which I teach Wednesday night missions to elementary kids (which starts soon and I am so excited cause I miss my kids!). But, this summer, I've wanted to go with Em and I've really enjoyed the services at Agape.

This morning, Bro. James Hill, the pastor, spoke on prayer-- its the second in a month-long series. He did a great job discussing how we should pray with specificity, commitment and use God's Word to back our prayers up. We should also pray for others. Prayer is something that's really come alive in my life here recently and I'm taking notes on how to make my prayer life even better. For now, I will start praying for specific people and things in my life. Also, they gave everyone a book about prayer-- it lists different topics and corresponding verses to use in prayer (i.e., when you feel lonely, etc.). I am really excited about this book!

Nicholas and I went to Hattiesburg for a quick trip this afternoon-- Target and Books a Million. Bought some photo albums and photo boxes. After my Mamaw died back in April, we've done a good job of cleaning up and clearing out everything in her and Pop's house in order to get it put on the market. I've taken the responsibility of organizing all the photos that were framed on the walls, put into albums and stored in boxes. There are tons. And its really fun to look through. I will post some of my favorites sometime soon. I've tried to label as many of the old pictures as possible and I am going to enlist my Aunt Rita's help (she is sentimental like me and has a great memory-- better, thank goodness, than my dad's). There are some really cool older pictures-- my great, great grandparents in front of their house, lots of my grandfather, Pop and his three brothers, some of my Mamaw when she was young vacationing at the beach, and, my favorites, some of my Pop in Nazi Germany in 1945. I'm planning to frame lots of them! And put the rest into the cheap, black photo albums I bought today-- there were lots of colors and patterns to choose from and I went with safe, boring black, because I was overwhelmed!! Now, off to work on Junior Auxiliary before tomorrow's meeting!!

I'm back!!!

So, it's been forever since I've blogged and lots of things are happening, changing. Its been a pretty stressful summer and I'm extremely ready for the fall. One of the things I'd like to see change in the fall is me. I'm ready for a fresh start. And part of my fresh start is to get back into being more creative. That is, thinking about things other than my little problems, my work and my family issues. I have a tendency to withdraw into myself when things are bad-- its a strange cycle-- I feel sad, I withdraw from my friends, stop communicating very often, stop making efforts to see them, stop doing things, and veg out in front of the tv. Which puts me in a really horrible mood, and then I feel lonely and sad and left out, which makes me even more withdrawn. Yeah, its a dumb cycle. I never said I was very smart! This summer has been a lot of that-- I'm finding myself watching ridiculous, brain-numbing television, fussing with my family, feeling guilty over not keeping in touch with friends, worrying about work to the point I can't sleep.

I'm tired of being this way so I'm going to make an effort to get things together in my life. I don't really have dreams. I've never been the type person to say, "I want to be xyz when I grow up" or "in my five year plan, I'd like to see abc happen". I've never known what I wanted to do or be or act like, and I still don't. I'm not entirely pleased with the circumstances of my life at this second and there is no one to blame but myself. I am now actively attempting to change those circumstances by trying to make my life better for myself and those around me. Although I've never had serious ambitions to be, say a doctor, or married with two kids, or even a lawyer, I've always wanted my life to be in control. My dreams consist of having a clean house, organized life, work of which I can be proud, an active social life (don't mean dating here, I mean, seeing people, throwing parties, going to parties, etc.) I just want to be in control of my life, instead of it controlling me, which happens most often.

This blog is me taking action. I'm going to try to post as often as possible (which will make all my readers to happy, I am sure!) and include ways I'm trying to improve my life. Here goes!!!