Turkey Burgers, Yum Yum

I've kind of hit a bump in the road. I've run out of ideas for the food that I can eat. I'm loving the George Foreman grilled catfish, shrimp, chicken, steak, etc. etc. The vegetables, green beans, asparagus, squash and sweet potatoes have all been great, more than once.

I've tried the salmon and I'm sticking to "There ain't enough ketchup in this world to make salmon taste right," and I'm adding to that statement, "and there ain't enough lemon pepper, cavenders seasoning or New Orleans cajuin seasoning, in this world to make salmon taste right." Besides, I can't have the ketchup anymore anyway, which really bites.

A light bulb went off in my head last night. I've always heard that ground turkey taste the same as ground beef without all the fat, blah blah blah. WRONG. While we were eating at our mother-in-laws house this weekend, Dianne @ Country and Loving It said that she had finally found something that cavenders seasoning did not work with, cabbage. Well, sister, let me tell you....cavenders seasoning makes ground turkey taste like spoiled mud. On the upside, I had a VERY lean supper last night. And yes, I know what mud taste like. I used to make my little brother Andy cook me mud pies while he was dressed up in my dresses and playing with my dolls.

I'm on a quest to find new recipes that require little preparation time and cheap. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip and you can't squeeze money out of my billfold. I went to the library in search of a diabetic cookbook or two and only found two. All of the other 20 something books on diabetes were checked out. If you are reading this blog and you have one of those books checked out, hurry up and take it back.

I made a new bloggy friend through the Challenge the girls and I are doing. Mary Margaret has decided that her track practice counts for her 30 minute challenge. Taylor and I walked with Dianna yesterday for our 30 minute challenge. My new bloggy friend, Rachel, has recently found out she is diabetic. She, like me, is just starting out, so if you have any advice drop by her blog and let her have it. This chick was still eating fruit! A huge no no. Ladies she needs our support!

Girls update: First good new for YARM14YOL, she made the disc team yesterday. She was so excited to make that team and not the hurdles. Next, YARM14YOL has been telling me for weeks now that her PE/Health class is going on a field trip, to a farm to ride a mule. She could hardly wait for the permission slip to be sent home. I have been wondering exactly why would the PE/Health class be going to a farm to ride a mule, cause, seriously, what does a farm and a mule have to do with PE/Health. I get the permission slip in my hand and she says..."Yeah, I already know I was wrong. Go ahead, laugh, cause I'm not going to a farm and I'm not riding a real mule. I'm drunking driving in a mule/golf cart." Can I point out that this child has already done this in the 6th grade.

Taylor has a boyfriend. His name is Austin and he has a northface jacket just like hers. Isn't that just too sweet? I asked her if he noticed her new jacket. "I don't know, we don't, like, talk to each other, we just stare at each other, he nodded his head at me today, oh my gosh, I was all so blushing. He's so cute. Not like Robert Pattinson cute, like, Austin cute." What?!?!?!?!? (MM, I'm not cussing, I'm showing the emotion shock) Where has my baby gone? She turns 13, becomes a woman, wants to primp and now has a boyfriend that stares and nods at her, and she asked me if we could go to the mall again this Friday just to get her makeup done. Do you all remember how dramatic the first boyfriends were with YARM14YOL? All her boyfriends were full blown love affairs with broken hearts and tears. DRAMA. I hope its different with Taylor.

Yesterday's post got 6 comments. One more comment and I would have beaten my record!

TGFweekends

Wasn't it just the best weekend ever? The weather was great and we had great company. My sister-in-law, Nicole came down this weekend. We always have a great time, for me it's like an adult sized play date.

We went to the Mall of Turtle Creek in Jonesboro, ate at Chili's where we saw Tara from Dear Momma, and then of course, we had to travel to Helena to eat crab legs. Always a must when Nicole visits.

Sunday, the real fun kicked in. No kids, they all went to the grandparents house. Sunday was Boot Camp Day. We both exercised with the Wii for over an hour each. Nicole is the Wii Master. She didn't complain, much, just a bunch of "Oh, Snap that hurts." and kept right on truckin'. Me, on the other hand, provided much entertainment for all to see. Nicole was all matchy with her workout clothes, me, I had on my white Donate for life Tee shirt with my CHRISTMAS pj bottoms. I'm talking, I was so stylish, I could have been on the model runway!

I learned a new Yoga Pose, called the Shoulder Stand. The correct way to do the Shoulder Stand...

The Wii Fit Trainer did it perfectly, the guy in the above picture did it perfectly, and Nicole did it perfectly, Kaye failed. If the Wii could measure this pose I would have been lower than a Couch Potato.
Nicole giving me the you better not put a shot of my rear end on your blog look.

The deal is to slowly raise both legs, at the same time with your hands firmly on the floor, slowly push your legs all the way to the floor behind your head...

finally bring your hands to your lower back and stretch your toes to the sky feeling nothing but good energies exploding from your toes.
Nicole did this. I will not post that picture because I like her and want her to come back to visit.

First of all, I'm 35, unfit, unbalanced, and fat. I could not raise my legs AT THE SAME TIME slowly over my head. I had to rock back with my hands already behind be to get a "runnning" start. It took me 5 tries to just get my legs up. On the 6th try I got them over my head and my hands under my back. I must say, that I believe that the person who brain stormed and came up with this pose has absolutely NO CLEAVAGE. I thought "If I don't choke from having my neck all contorted, I'm going to smother to death, death by cleavage." Wouldn't that be fun to explain. "She was just doing the shoulder stand and suffocated from her own cleavage." Right there is my 15 minutes of fame. You know the Memphis News would be all over that one.
There is a video of me doing this and there is a picture of me doing this pose, but you will NEVER NEVER NEVER see it. Never. I am proof that God does have a sense of humor, a darn good one at that!
Pretty sure if I couldn't do the shoulder stand...none of this...

or this will ever happen at the Butler Diaries. My goodness...who are these people? My toes would break.


The last part of the boot camp was Tennis. We are not professionals. We played at Village Creek State Park, where there are four courts, we played every single court, in one game, cause we're BAD like that. We fished all three tennis balls out of the creek, more than once. We also decided that we could win a match against the Williams sisters. Our strategy would be to Daze and Confuse, they would never know which way the ball was coming. Cause we're bad like that. Real bad.

Prayer update, I have noticed a tremendous change in both the girls attitudes since changing our method of Prayer. Nicole even mentioned how different they were this weekend.

2nd Cup of Coffee Challange

If we update our challenge everyday, would you get bored? At Butler Diaries its always exciting! You will not see me. I don't do pictures unless in a controlled invironment, out on the track, sweatin', and wind blown is not a controlled invironment. So, check the girls blogs, where there will be videos and pictures of our challenge!

We walked for one hour at the high school track, met up with an old school buddy who was walking, told stories about the old days, and watch a woman jiggle all over.

Ouch and Say What???

Once again there is pain and agony at Butler Manor. YARM14YOL has been practicing for the hurdles tryouts like you wouldn't believe. Yesterday there was a boy at the track, who gave her some pointers. Do you remember what it was like, a teen girl, wanting to impress a teen boy (who by the way is way to old for her, but still)? It goes something like this...

(I'm not sure what dashes this kid ran, just go with me on this okay?)
Boy:Hey, I ran the 800 dash, lead for the high school last year.
YARM14YOL: Wow. Did you have to run fast.
Boy: Um, yeah? I also know a little bit about the hurdles
YARM14YOL: I know everything about them, but you should give me pointers.
(all dimples, long fluttering eyelashes and smiles)
Boy:Okay. You do like this... then this...blah blah blah
YARM14YOL: Oh, yeah I already knew all that. Let me show you.

So she then jumps the hurdles. What were the results?


And then she wanted the whole world to see this video...

Some of my blog friends made it over to her blog and commented, which made her day. She thinks Bugs In My Teeth gives good safety tips and Calgon Take Me Away gave her some good support.

Never a dull moment (well except for when I was bored on Monday, I think I jinxed us by posting about boredom).

Say What?
Spring Break here in Arkansas...

ME to Girls: Have you got your wallets with you today?
BOTH: Yes
ME to Girls: Good, we may go to the Cross County Workshop (thrift store) at lunch to see about getting Mary Margaret some clothes for her Mission Trip with the church.
BOTH: Yes!

Later...(10 min later)

Taylor to me: I'm going to pay at lunch today.
Me: What? Pay where? We are eating salads that we brought, remember?
Taylor: You just said we were going to The Old Pork Chop to eat today, is it a new place?
Me:??#@%*#$@?? What? When did I say that?
Taylor: Just a few minutes ago. The Old Pork Chop, where MM goes on her Mission Trip.
Me: I SAID....CROSS....COUNTY....WORKSHOP....
Taylor: Oh, so we're not going out to eat.
Me: No.
Taylor: Dang.

I know you all want to be me. Remember, if you get to be me that...Bugs in My Teeth advised YARM14YOL to run with a bat...YARM14YOL could be armed and smart once a day, Taylor will need a translator...ya'll come on!
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#

I need to clarify something....

The part where I inserted all the characters...I WAS NOT CUSSING...which is what MM said it meant. I MEANT IT AS CONFUSION.

She was all....OH MY GOSH YOU SO SORT OF CUSSED IN YOUR BLOG.

I was all NO I DIDN'T!

I was Informed that when you are YOUNG and COOL this @#$&*@#$@%$ stands for cuss words.

Obiviously I'm not young and cool. Im old and boring.

FYI: Kids on Facebook CAN'T SPELL. And they are rude. I learned today..304 mean "Hoe". However you spell it.

Boredom

Boredom has set in at the Butler Diaries Manor again.

Reasons to not be bored:

• Madagascar Jungle has taken over my yard.
• The Loch Ness monster could possibly be living in our Blue Lagoon Pool.
• The Potato bugs have disappeared, I could be dancing a jig
• I'm thinking there's enough dust on the entertainment center to possibly stuff a pillow with.
• The couch laundry basket is over flowing AGAIN
• Someone should wash dishes, wiping them off with paper towel is not good
• Who broke in my house and ramshacked it like this? Seriously, there is girl clothes, underwear, socks, you name it, its everywhere. (See not just boys are messy)
• I could Wii
• I could exercise on my own seeing how I'm mad at the Wii
• I could watch HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3, the best gosh darn movie EVER
• I have vacuumed, didn't take up enough time
• I did take my blood pressure several times, that only took up a few minutes
• One can only check their sugar so much before it begins to hurt
• I could pay attention to the Memphis News, but I'm afraid I might learn something
• The baby sitter is coming to MY HOUSE tomorrow, so I should really finish housework

I've read all your blogs, I've checked out YARM14YOL's friends on facebook, I've looked at ebay, I cooked dinner, ugh....I'm bored.

Third Day

It was a girls night out Friday night. Tim ended up not going with us to the Third Day concert, so, Taylor was allowed to invite Ruth. They had such a good time. Third Day was awesome. Brandon Heath was awesome. I bought my very first concert Tee Shirt EVER. Our seats were not great, live and learn.
MM, Ruth, Taylor

Third Day

Brandon Heath

Too Much Gum

I heard that chewing gum when you are craving a snack would help. I have chewed A LOT of gum lately, a pack a day or more.

My top picks so far are these:


Whats your favorite?

Early Morning Spiders

The sun has not risen yet. The day is young, peaceful and quiet at Butler Diaries Manor. It's 5:30 AM. The first order of the day is always starting a load of laundry. Normally, Kaye checks the dirty clothes tossed carelessly into the laundry room, just to make sure there are no creepy crawly spiders lingering around. This particular Tuesday morning, she was in a hurry because she overslept 30 minutes. She has separated the clothes into piles the night before. She starts the washer going over her mental to do list for the day. Bends over to pick up the load and low and behold a huge wispy spider is in her face. Quickly she throws the laundry down on the floor and picks up a discarded flip flop and beats the poor thing to death, so she thinks. She rummages around through the pile, and low and behold, there it is moving every time she moves MM's sports bra it comes at her. Whats a girl to do, beat it again. This time something looks different about the spider that won't die. Now it looks more like something sewn into the bra.

It looks a lot like the Danskin Dancer logo.

Prayer

Our week seems to be going better. We have started eating breakfast, in the kitchen, at the same time, and we have a morning prayer. Mary Margaret has learned how to fry eggs, so, very willingly she has gotten up and fried our eggs, made toast and set the table. She's doing a wonderful job. They are learning quickly how to pray differently than just the bless everyone, etc. I am proud of them both.

Here's the thing. I have to learn to not bust out laughing during the prayer. I know, you would think that a 30-something person would know better. I got corrected by a 13 year old. Taylor was very irritated by the fact that I busted out laughing while Mary Margaret was praying. That was just rude of me. It was.

Wanna hear her prayer? It's good. No she didn't pray for the driving blind, though she should.

Wednesday morning...
We are holding hands, Mary Margaret starts us off...

Dear Lord, thank you for the food You have provided for us today, thank you for all of my family, keep me safe today, and please, please, help my sister through her first menstrual cycle this week, its going to be rough, she'll need Your help, I should know...
(Imagine me busting a gut, with just half my make up on, in my pj's)
Taylor picks up and says...yes Lord, please help me with what she said and everything...
They sat silently while I gained my composure and finished the prayer up.

No eyes rolling at me this time, just the looks of "I can't believe you laughed at me" coming from both of them.

I really am sorry I laughed, it was really sweet of her to pray for her sister.

Funny Days at Butler Diaries

The movie Quarantine was rented at RedBox. There was much cheering on the way, finally I've let them rent a REAL scary movie. Not a fake one. (quoted from the 14 year old, I have no idea what a fake scary movie is, but you must remember, blind people DRIVE in her world.)

You have to have a little history from the movie for you to really enjoy the next paragraph.

We turn all the lights off, YARM14YOL on the couch, Tim in his manly chair, me in my comfy chair, Taylor stretched out on the floor. This young pretty reporter woman follows around a crew of firemen who get called to an old apartment building where one of the tenants is having a medical trauma and no paramedics are available. The old lady is foaming at the mouth (I said rabies right off and everyone told me I was wrong.) She attacks one fireman, pretty much eats him up speed of light fast. The other firemen kill her. Others in the apartment have been bitten. The government knows about this and seals the building off, no one can leave. The cable, Internet, cell reception, lights all shut down very dramatically one by one. After an hour of everyone hiding from the infected ones, lots of jump at you thrills (to which I screamed at one of them) we are down to the last two people. The young pretty reporter and her camera man. The camera man has lost his light on the camera and has gone to night vision, which makes the ending even more scary. He dies and we are left with the scared reporter, who can not see whats coming at her, but we can. The last scene you see the reporter shaking on the floor, something grabs her feet, pulls her into the dark, while you hear her screaming and watch her nails dig in to the hard wood floor. Boom its over.

Taylor gave up in the middle of the movie and went to bed. Mary Margaret stuck it out. Tim locks up and goes to bed. Mary Margaret and I stay in the kitchen wrapping Taylor's birthday presents. I forgot to get the tape from my room. I send MM to my room at the end of the hall to get the tape. All the lights are off except in the kitchen, we just had the sink light on. MM goes skipping down the hall, half way down, she screams and falls to the floor kicking, screaming bloody murder, crying. I look down the hall to see what in the world is happening (cause I wasn't going down the hall myself) What do my little eyes see?

My 6'4", flannel wearing husband was laying on the floor, half out of Taylor's bedroom, trying his best to not get kicked in the face. She gets away jumps up and runs back to the kitchen crying so hard shes heaving, gets behind me and says, "Look down the hall, I can't stand it, tell me what got me."

Tim.

She had to lay with us in our bed for 30 minutes before she would go to her own room and sleep with the lamp on. This child has never slept with a light on and has always from day one slept by herself. He got her good.

It's been a long time since Tim scared one of us. The last time he got me. I was home alone, showering, in my own little world. We have a shower curtain. I did not hear him come in. He comes into the bathroom wraps his hands around me. I brought down me, him, the shower curtain, the rod attached to the wall and scraped my back on the water faucet. My legs were all bruised up, my back was bruised, the whole bathroom got soaked and I had to buy a new curtain and rod. He decided to stop scaring us so much. He was afraid he would cause a heart attack one day.

That's how we roll here at Butler Diaries. I know you all want to be me.

Say What...again

Today is a 2 post day.

I've been whining about my girls not being babies anymore, today marks the day that I officially have no more babies. Taylor turned 13 and became a woman all in one week. She called me during lunch all crying and pitiful. I rushed to the school, took care of business and hugged and kissed her, I DID NOT CRY wanted to but didn't. I was so worried the rest of the day about her and her tender feeling.

Boy was I wrong. I'm almost positive she told the entire school. She was one happy kid after school. My nephew Philip should be thanking his lucky stars that I caught her before she called him to tell him the good news. She wants to tell Tim all about it. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. Those of you who know Tim, you know this conversation WILL NEVER HAPPEN. He would move. To Antarctica. Live in an Igloo with his converter box and TV, I'd let him take those, cause I'm nice that way and he can take his brilliant dog with him for company.

Moving right along...

Say What
I know you all love these post.

American Idol
Blind Guy comes out to sing.
ME: Girls, this young man is blind.
TAYLOR: Cool, he's good.
MM: Really? I can't tell he's blind.
TAYLOR: Well if Kaye says so, its true.
Awww how sweet right?
MM: Wow, I wonder how he drives. Oh, how does he shower? How does he get his clothes? How can he find his food?
ME: Back up, you seriously want to know how he drives?
MM: Well, yeah. I bet its hard for him to drive.

At this point I really don't remember the rest of the conversation, I'm still worried about all the blind people driving around in YARM14YOL's world. Her world is dangerous.

Kaye Story...I'm so together all the time, I bet you all won't believe there's a Kaye Story.

Kaye gets out to walk at the track. It was so crowded today. I was talking with my friend Dianna on my cell as I prepared to walk. Put my headphones on my head, look at the end of the headphone cord and think...wow, something looks different...NO IPOD. I took it off the headphones while getting out of the van and threw it back in the van. I did. Really.

How's the diet/C.I.A. Torture Techniques going you ask? Wonderful, considering I SKIPPED all last week, plus I just realized that I missed two days of medicine, blood pressure and diabetes, oops.

I did not cheat much last week at all on the eating part. Today was beautiful day to walk. So far, I have pretty much had the track to myself, today, about 15 people were walking, most of them I work "around". A banker, school teacher, music teacher, minister, minister's wife, a few that frequent the funeral home. Basically, I could not escape these people seeing me in my workout gear. The young banker dude came up on me just as I stepped off the bleachers, sweating like a pig and jammin out to "Damaged". (I have no idea who sings this song, but it will get you moving and I think its funny that the first line is "do you have a first aid kit, do you, do you?" At some point I might need one with all the exercising.) He looked at me with that weird, Oh man, I so didn't need that visual today. Me with my head bobbing to "Damaged" and I'm sure the junk in the trunk was a pleasant visual too. I'm sure he's ruined for life. So young. I'm not speaking to the Wii right now, so there are no Wii stories. Sorry.

Come back tomorrow, you never know what's gonna happen around here.

Boom Continued

I so totally turned that last post into an "all about me fest" instead of where I wanted to go with it, which was, I have realized I'm not going about things in the right manner with the girls and my life.

If you haven't read the link to EmmaP's comment yet, you should really stop reading now, and check it out now.

I'll wait.

Gees, read faster.

Finished? Okay.

Learn. We learn from our parents. I should be the best example I can be spiritually. I should be the best example I can be in my actions. I know that I make light of some of the things the girls do (because they really funny and unbelievable). I don't like to be serious. Everything was so serious in our household growing up and I've just had enough seriousness. Several years ago, about the time I started this blog which is now coming up on its 3rd birthday, "I saw the light", and realized I was on that same path my mother took us all those years (I'm not shoplifting, fibbing, not paying the utilites, etc.). I was worried about money, work, house work, etc. way too much. I decided to live. Really live. I lightened up. Sometimes things with the girls got easier and of course there were all those tough times, most of you read about them.

I also realized, its not just me influencing these kids. Everyone and everything influences them. I don't talk much about their parents, buckle up, here we go, just mom today. Their mother influences them tremendously. The very small amount of time that she spends with them has a HUGE impact on both of them differently. Mary Margaret worships the ground her mother walks on, of course mom picks up on this and uses it. Mary Margaret worries all the time about what man is going to hurt her mother this time, does her mom have food, a place to sleep, clothes, etc. Her last whoa-is-me was that her current husband(#6) was planning to shoot her on Valentine's Day with a gun he stole from her father. How did I find this out? She wrote a note to someone about. My failure is that I haven't prayed the right prayer for their mom with them. I have to admit that I worry she will realize what she's missed out on and do right and I'll be out. Taylor is wishy-washy about her mom. I think she sees the truth and I know she loves her, she just doesn't, I really don't know how to say it. I think she sees that a lot of the pity party is just drama. Mom calls her a tattle tale all the time, calls her fat, says she can't tell her things because she'll just run back to Kaye with it. Her life is none of Kaye's business. She's going to take them away from Kaye and Tim because we don't raise them right. Taylor hears this about herself from her mom, the woman that is supposed to love them no matter what. Taylor hears Mary Margaret is their Mom's mini-me. What do you think that does to her? I have failed Taylor by not praying for her mom with her. It frightens me that they are learning this kind of behavior from a parent.

I see in both the girls, they are good. They make mistakes and so do I.

I see compassion in Mary Margaret in so many ways (just not for her sister so much). She is not rude all the time, She DOES talk A LOT. We butt heads constantly. I know she wants to do whats right, I can see it, I can also see a lot of our head butts are "you're not my momma". She hasn't told me that in a while. We went through some very serious head butting and tough times earlier this year, she has grown up a lot this year. She still thinks that I should not know everything about her life, we are making strides in this area. I tell her all the time "I'm here to stay and I, by George, will know about your life, ALL OF IT.

Taylor doesn't want to hurt any one's feelings. She just turned 13, the only head butting we have is who has done more housework. One more thing...when I ask her to move to a different spot, the dragon comes out in her. What is it with that? I know my days are numbered with the pre-teen Taylor.

I can pray. I can love them unconditionally. I can show them and teach them. We started our morning off a whole lot different. Prayer before breakfast. It was a joint effort. It felt great to pray with them what I call an Adult Prayer. I don't want to say we've been praying wrong, any prayer is good. Right? They are not babies anymore.

Does any of this make sense? I hope I didn't ramble too much.

Boom

Its official now, they are both teenagers.

I hope I don't make anyone angry, it is not my intent, and BTW it's my blog, I can blog what I want. Not my usual fluffy post.

I've struggled the last several months with a heavy heart, praying for strength for me. I thought this was all because they are growing up. I realize now, that was only part of my problem. I am sometimes so deep in thought about this both of the girls have wondered what I'm mad about.

I thought that maybe this was the cause of my heavy heart: Many of Mary Margaret's classmates are allowed to "date", remember she's in the 7th grade. Some of these girls are dating guys in High School. She wants to do what her friends are doing. I can't judge those girls parents, maybe they are doing what they think is best. MM asks some serious questions, some I'm not ready to answer, but I do truthfully. I can however let my girls know, dating isn't going to happen until high school and I'm going to be picky about who they date. How do I trust them. How do I trust their judgement in boys. How do I trust their judgement in friends. How do they act in public. How will I stand it when they start driving (this is a big worry). Are they acting like some of their church friends, one way at home and church and horrible at school? There are many many more worries that cross my mind constantly, and I'm sure anyone with kids has these worries.

I'm getting to my point.

Sunday.
Bro. Matt changed his message at the last minute. There was no power point to go with his message, I really didn't realize how much of a distraction for me that power point was. He said, after attending part of the Girlie Girl Getaway this weekend that he looked at his wife and said honey, I'm glad we don't have girls. Her response, looking over the crowd of girls, "You need to pray for our boys wives." Boom. Message changed. He had 5 characteristics of a Godly Woman. A few scriptures, Acts 16: 13-15, Esther 4:11-17, 1 Timothy 2:9-10. Bro. Matt should have the outline up on his blog soon. Listening to this, I had my own "boom".

The real reason for my heavy heart: I am failing Mary Margaret and Taylor. Hold on, don't get your feathers ruffled, I am failing them spiritually. I should not have been praying just for my strength, but for their strength too. I should be praying with them, not just bedtime prayers. Prayers about choices they make, choices Tim and I make, choices their parents make, choices. Is it silly to say "I've seen the light!"? Not only am I failing the girls, I am failing my marriage, I am failing Tim, I am failing my friends, I am failing my family and I am failing God. I needed this message.

I have to say that in all my years of church, I have never heard someone preach about this and it really hit home, in the gut so to speak. (I could have missed this during my kid/teen years because we were always busy writing notes during worship.) More importantly, I don't believe my mother ever discussed this with me or my brothers. To those of you who do not know or remember my mother, I won't say much, she was different at church, and different at home. I haven't had a conversation with her in a while, but I'm almost 100% sure she probably hasn't changed. I don't remember her praying with us, for us, or really even in front of us. She says she did. She read her Bible, alone, with her door closed, no distractions. I don't remember her ever telling us to read our Bible. We did read it, because our Sunday School, Bible Drill, or Youth Leaders told us to. My point is, actions speak louder than words. Makes me wonder, had she prayed with us, for us, for our future spouses, for our futures, what kind of Christians we should be, would my choices have been different? I know we are responsible for our own choices/mistakes. It was my parents job to show us how to really live a Christian life. Was it more my mother's responsibiltiy because we lived with her. Should Dad have tried harder? This opens up a ton of questions that I would never have enough time to post about. Is this placing the blame?

They (parents) should have shared equal responsibility. Instead they were selfish. Susan wanted everyone to SEE she was a Christian. There's more than just SEEING, you have to BE Chrisitan. Dad just hid from everything and still does. Does this make me love them anyless. No. I love both of my parents. I don't mean be perfect, you should try your very best to live your life inside and out for God, you will undoubtedly fail, pick yourself up and try again.

My goal. Love Jesus more than life itself. Love my family. Live. Laugh. Love. Learn. (I've always felt Learn was being left out of that little saying.) I might fail. I pray my failures make me a better person, wife, mom/aunt.

Girlie Girl

Mary Margaret attended a Teen retreat at our church this weekend. She enjoyed it. She'll post on her blog this afternoon.

This is the dress we ran out and grabbed Saturday afternoon for the formal dinner part of girlie girl. She failed to tell me that she would be needing to dress for the "fancy" dinner. We don't wear dresses in the winter to church, too much rain and mud for all that, so her dresses are packed away and too summery. I thought she did a great job of picking one out. (I liked it first and she didn't, but the new sales clerk, senior in high school told her how hot she looked and you guessed it...MM flew to the register).

In this picture I wanted to get a good upclose without the glasses because she actually had her makeup done so pretty. I told her to quit the stiff junk. She said, and I quote..."Taking my glasses off causes this kind of smile and I can't control it." She has a lot of undiagnosed diseases I guess. To name a few... only smart once a day, her glasses are for seeing, she can't read words with them, taking off the glasses causes her fact to freeze, and dry shaving causes some kind of disease...there are many more, not enough time.

Happy 13th Birthday to Taylor

Today, the baby of our little family turns 13. Taylor is officialy a teenager. She celebrated last night at Mazzio's Pizza with her friends. We had a great time. Today we will spend the day together with Mary Margaret spends the day at a church retreat "Girlie Girl". I will post pictures later.
Taylor is the one is front with the pink headband.

Taylor has her first "real" boyfriend. She was not all gussied up for her party...she heard that he was going to ask his parents to bring him to Mazzio's for dinner Friday night, just so he would be in the same building at Taylor's Party. She was watching the door like a hawk all night.
He didn't show.
I bet his parents had different ideas for Friday night!

Taylor, I love you more than you will ever know.

Love
Kaye kaye

Headline In Arkansas

Happy 400th Post to Me!

In the Jonesboro Sun Newspaper this morning the headline read....

"Teacher On Leave After Students Found Taped To Desks" I could not find a link to the Sun's article, I did, however, find one for the Rison Newspaper.

www.clevelandcountyherald.com

I've been tempted to Duck Tape mine to the wall a couple of times in the last 14 years but never followed through...wonder what those kids did to get on her nerves?

The Crud

Hello.
I have the CRUD.
I am not pleasant.
I want to be pleasant, but I'm not.
I'm also hot.
Why is it 80 degrees in the 2nd week of March?
It will be 40 degrees tomorrow.
Everything gets on my VERY LAST nerve while I have the crud.

Example of my very last nerve being overloaded:

• Drake, our stupid extremely smart lab, is barking at N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
• Taylor or the basketball has got to go, I'm having a hard time deciding which one goes
• My ears are popping
• I couldn't walk today because I CANT BREATHE
• Satan himself is walking a fine line tonight because I seriously think HE'S THE ONE that sent the potato bugs to my home
• The potato bugs are marching around and around and around and around my lamp
• Drake is still barking
• The heat
• My nose is dripping JUST ON ONE SIDE
• AND my nose is stopped up on the opposite side
• My eyes hurt
• The unfolded clothes are laughing at me
• The unwashed dishes are "ROTFL" at me, like wild hyenas
• The Vacuum cleaner snarls at me because I've neglected him today (for those who don't know, I'm a vacuum freak)
• The new McDonald's Fillet of Fish commercial, OMGosh, how many times must one endure pure stupidity during one show.

Whine, whine, whine...I need some cheese for my whine. Oh, how could I forget, IVE GOT TONS OF CHEESE because that's just about all I can eat and I have LETTUCE. Pity party. This is my first cold of the wintersummer season. What? In Arkansas we are allowed to call it wintersummer, we're rednecks that way.
Quick say what from the weekend...
Taylor: What are we doing, Now-ah?
ME: I'm going to clear the trip mileage and see how far we walked today.
Taylor: Uh...WHHHHYYYY
ME: Stop whinning.
Taylor: Okay, I'll help you add the miles up.
ME: Go for it.
Taylor: Um, don't you think that if you drive slower, it would mean we walked more miles?

Oh yes she did.
YARM14YOL didn't join in the conversation, basically, she barely talked all weekend because THE BEST AUNT IN THE WHOLE WORLD introduced her to Jon Bon Jovi on her Ipod. The 1980's Jon Bon Jovi.

Saturday Workout

Real quick post. Home computer is getting repaired, thanks goes out to Clayton!

Saturday we, basically I, decided that the track and Wii wasn't enough torture. I took the girls to walmart Village Creek State Park for some fun, exciting, exercise.

We walked a total of 4 miles, played basketball, did a few sit ups, Mary Margaret almost got ran over, saw Luke and Melissa Tolar,the Music Minister at church (I pretty sure they did not know who we were, cause we were decked out in all our workout gear) pretty much an exciting day.

I know the 4 miles doesn't sound like much, but, it was just about all hills.

Would you like to know what was playing on my Ipod at the exact time I started up the biggest hill? S.O.S. by Rhianna. No Joke, thought that was funny. The first line is S.O.S., someone help me...ha ha ha
A smalll hill that Mary Margaret though she could jog up.

Did you know that I exercise with a Movie Star?

The little hill

Baskeball Superstars

The Big Hill

Hey Kaye, what are you doing down there? Are You okay? Do you need 911?

We are almost to the Van! The end of torture is close.

Funny Signs

I'm not sure what you normally take with you into a bar. Do nuclear weapons fit in your purse or pocket?

Do you think he's scratching his head, wondering...what went wrong...



This one just really made me laugh

Have I Lost a Few Screws?

Sunday morning, Tim left early (5:30) for a wrecker call. I felt a cleaning spree was necessary. With Tim gone and both the girls at their grandparents, next door, I was free to CLEAN. Between the hours of 6 and 10 am, I swept my ceilings, mopped my walls, washed dishes, mopped the floor, washed and dried 3 loads of clothes, vacuumed the living room and the hall, scrubbed down my counters and finally cleaned the refrigerator from top to bottom. Oh, yeah, and txted happy bday to Scottie. That is not why I think I've lost my screws.

While cleaning out my fridge I discovered that I already had 3 cartons of orange juice before I bought 2 more gallons of orange juice.

Friday I bought washing detergent Friday and again on Saturday.

Maybe I was distracted by the pretty snow.

My fridge also turned 30 this year...

I bet my screws are loose because of these people...

While walking through Wal-Mart, twice, this weekend, MaryMargaret was talking nonstop about Edward Cullen and how he is cheating on her with Bella, Alyssa was telling me that I was supposed to buy her candy and not me, cause her momma told her she could have candy but KayeKaye couldn't, and Taylor was singing along with her Ipod to Bon Jovi. THE WHOLE TRIP IN WAL-MART FRIDAY AND SATURDAY this was going on.
Did I get the item that I was COMPLETELY out of? Nope. No dish washing liquid. I rummaged around under the sink and found a bottle of Palmolive that had just enough to wash dishes Sunday morning.

Happy 30th Birthday Scott

My youngest brother Scott turned 30 on Sunday. I always forget that in Alaska he is 3hours behind my time. So, of course, I sent his Happy Bday txt at 8:30 AM my time. He wasn't up yet. I get this pitiful text from him around 5 PM my time Sunday night reminding me of his cell phone number. I'm pretty sure he was fishing for his Happy Birthday call. I txt him back and tell him to check his messages...
He found it.

A few pictures of Scottie growing up...I bet Shannon has never seen some of these...

Me, Andy and the baby Scott

Check out the 80's picture. We were so PREPS.

This was taken around Father's Day maybe 2000 or 2001

In 2002 after his motorcycle accident..."One Legged Lineman" is what he used to call himself

And finally....all grown up.
Scott and Shannon in Alaska

Papaw Clark always told me the story of the day Scott was born. He thought it was the funniest/scariest day of his life. He came to pick Andy and me up at the hospital and I was seriously mad. He said I was not happy about the new baby, so when I got my chance, I made a break for it. I was five and running away from home. I got away from Papaw and ran down the street like nobody's business. He said I was several blocks away before he could catch me.

No matter how much Scott annoyed me as a kid (list time) I still love him, I think after 30 years, I've decided that he's a keeper. I've kind of gotten attached to him.
-I've been gleeked on too many times to count.
What is gleek? Where your kid brother opens his mouth raises his tongue and spits at you from under his tongue. Pretty sure gleek is a made up word by my brothers.
- Popped his fingers in my face, right at my eye
- He hummed constantly
- He sniffed endlessly
- He made rain drop noises with his cheek
- He sang "On The Toilet Again" instead of "On The Road Again"
- They both could throw a bowl of cereal across the room like nobody's business.
- Kicked the back of the seat in the car EVERY time we got in it.
- Been to jail over his cowboy hat
- Too many car wrecks and motorcycle wrecks to name
- Scared the crap out of us with the last wreck
AND FINALLY, I could never make him play dress up with me like I could Andy and that annoyed me BIG TIME. Andy was the push over, he would do just about anything his big sister told him too. Scottie was NOT wearing LIP GLOSS AND DRESSES AND CARRY AROUND A STUPID OL' BABY. That's for sissy's he would say and then look at Andy, who would be all decked out in my dress, purse, baby doll and lip gloss and crack up, spin his feet out like a dirt bike and run off.

Happy Birthday Scottie-whattie

Love you
Kaye

Old Friends Revised

On Friday, I had lunch with an old friend from High School. I haven't seen her since we graduated. There was a time when we were attached at the hip, drooling over Bon Jovi, and ratting our hair to the sky. As a matter of fact, my friend told her daughter, that I taught her everything she knew about bangs and wings. I'm proud. We had a great time catching up. She lives in Indianapolis now.

Nyika on the right, Me on the left.

Me on the right and Nyika on the left. I played French horn during concert season and Sax during the marching season. How Hot are We?

Today Nyika on the left me on the right.

Souper Supper

Thursday night we attended the Souper Supper at Wynne Baptist. I invited my sister-in-law Dianne. We had a wonderful time sampling all the soups and, of course, desserts. I know, I know, the diet, the high blood pressure, the diabetes. I just didn't check my sugar that night, therefore I don't know what all that glorious food did to me. We sat with Mrs. Shay and her mother and Mrs. Winkler. We had good fellowship and a wonderful speaker, Kim Dillard. Her story touched everyone I'm sure. A true testament of placing your life in the hands of God and trusting whatever path He sends you down. I'm glad we went.

We saw a lot of old friends, made new friends and my sister-in-law got to meet the author of the blog Clay & Wattles, Pat Nichols.
Butler Diaries and Clay and Wattles