Paying It Forward

After class today, I headed to Walgreen's to pick up a few things. I don't know how many times I have driven down Pryor Street and noticed all the graffiti on the buildings near the Veteran's Museum. However, today was different. There stood an older woman, armed with a single can of white spray paint, meticulously painting over the graffiti. I drove on past her but that image was glued in my mind the entire time I was shopping. Who was she? Did she own the building? Why was she using that little can of spray paint? I could not help but take that route home. There she was. Still spraying away. I don't know what it was. Lack of sleep. Hormones. But something lit a fire under me I could not ignore. I stopped and got out to approach her. You could tell by the look on her face that she was confused. I politely smiled and waved and as I approached I asked, "Do you own this building?" She timidly said no. I think she thought she was in trouble. Then she began to explain,"Everyday I drive by these buildings on my way home and everyday I think someone should do something about all that graffiti! So today I decided I would be the one to do something. All I had with me was this can of spray paint." I felt so ashamed. How many times have I drove by and asked myself that same question but never took the initiative to stop? Russell really stepped on my toes yesterday when he asked, "What type of personality do you have? The kind that thinks about taking action or the kind that actually does something." And when he read what disciplinary problems schools had fifty years ago compared to what they have today. What will it be like when Gabby goes to school? How am I supposed to teach my child how to make good choices when I am in the backseat waiting for the next guy to stand up and do what is right? I thanked the woman. Not only for taking the initiative, but also giving me the kick I needed. I promised her I would bring some paint we had left over and come back one day and pick up where she left off. I was so afraid that once again I had made a promise that I would end up not keeping. So, I drove home, got the paint, and headed back up there. It was cold and I felt stupid at first. But then I thought that if one person saw me and it inspired them like the lady inspired me, then it was worth the embarrassment. I feel like I haven't been shining my christian light. I have really been praying and struggling with the fact that I am not able to be part of one of the constructive groups at church. Sunday afternoon is the only chance I get to sleep before I go to work Sunday night. But you know what? Sometimes, GOD answers your prayers in small subtle gestures. And sometimes he gives you a wall of graffiti.

I have been on the ball today! Gabby and I met Mom at the pool to swim. Then, Mom took Gabby for awhile so I could clean house. My house is clean, laundry is almost done and the majority of tomorrow's lunch is cooked. We are having ham, green beans, corn, roasted potatoes, rolls and apple pie and guess how much this meal cost me! About six bucks!! The ham and the pie were good deals from my mother-in-law. I have told you how thrifty my mom is but I haven't told you about Nick's mom. Pam had to be thrifty raising two kids by herself but she has never been able to give up the mentality of having to budget meals for three on a part-time salary. She found the hams at Wal-mart for two and three bucks a piece and after one little apple tree of hers produced an abundance of apples this summer, she got the idea to jar apple pie filling. The rest are good buys that were on sale at Kroger plus double coupons. Nanny used to work years ago for the state helping young, low-income mothers shop on a budget. I would love to do that! Instead of handing them a check they showed them how to shop wisely! You have to get creative when your husband only budgets a hundred dollars for two weeks worth of groceries but expects a four course meal every night. This past grocery trip cost me $60 for two weeks because I had stocked up on meat when Piggly Wiggly had a sale. Hopefully this summer we can plant a garden so it will be even less! I know, what a boring blog entry! I get excited though about saving money and usually we go out to eat on Sundays. It will be nice to come home to a meal that is cheap and done! I better finish up. Nick and I are having to tag team getting Gabby to sleep tonight. For some reason she thinks she is going to stay up and party! I cracked up when she broke out in a dance when I was rocking her and singing "Clay in the Potter's Hands". Lately any song gets that booty shaking. So sorry in advance if my daughter drops it like its hot in church tomorrow!

At the beginning of last week, Nick called and told me to find a babysitter because he was surprising me Friday. Of course he is no good at keeping secrets from me so I got it out of him! He had made reservations for dinner at Ruth's Chris! Me being me, asked what the occasion was and reminded him that Nanny gave us a gift card to Red Lobster and to the movies for Christmas so we could go on a free date. I then realized that my husband was trying to be romantic. Something that well.....he is not the best of. But lately, he is trying so much. I am lucky to have a husband that loves me as much as he does and continues to surprise me. It was so nice to get dressed up and go to a restaurant that doesn't have peanuts on the floor!
Tuesday I picked Gabby up from Mom's and went to Nanny's to do my monthly cleaning. She was at the mental health center for activities. I think it really helps her deal with my aunt's death. Of course, the only thing she tells them that is wrong with her is that her son took her car away from her! When she got home I asked what she had done today. She told me that they were supposed to go deliver Meals on Wheels but she didn't want to. After the lady told her that everybody had to go she got on the bus. But, she told me when it was her turn to deliver the food up to the house she hid in the back of the bus so she wouldn't have to!!

Sweet Awakening

Last night Gabby had another night terror. There is really nothing you can do for her when she is having one. It takes me forever to get her out of it and get her settled down. As a result, she slept with us last night. This morning, half awake, half asleep, I felt her beginning to wiggle awake. I kept my eyes closed as I felt her crawl cautiously to my side. She gently stroked my face ( we have been working on that because she usually slaps the crap out of us) ,sweetly gave my a slobbery kiss on the lips and then in a part whisper part scream she said, " BITE BITE MAMA!" That was my cue to get out of my warm comfortable bed and fix this child some cereal. Waking up is not near as hard when you get to be woke up that way!

Wisdom From a Two Year Old

The other day my niece Kynsleigh was counting, " One, two, four, five..." My sister-in-law, Brandi told her that it was one, TWO, three, four..... Kynsleigh replied, " No it's not" and continued counting over and over again skipping three. Kynsleigh and Gabby love watching the "Doodle Bops" and Kyns has pretty much memorized ever song. After awhile of this going on my nephew Login said, "Kynsleigh, you are counting wrong.It is one, two, three, four...." Brandi said Kynsleigh just gave them a look and said," Well, how come when I sing my Doodle Bops I sing TWO-gether, Four-ever? There is no three." They really couldn't argue much with her after that.

What Did I Get Myself Into?!?!

I enrolled in one class at Calhoun this semester. After a late night of Bunco, thanks for hosting Lacy , I came home to a fussy child that was awake half the night. Then, for the second time this week, I sat my alarm clock wrong so was late getting up. So after rushing to take Gabby to the babysitter I made it to school just in time. I am going to try to finish my degree next Spring but I had one class to get out of the way...Speech. Everyone asks how I was able to avoid taking Speech my freshmen year. Well, Wallace State didn't require it and Calhoun didn't require it to get my license. So today was my first day back to school. I was the second oldest person in my class. I sat by a girl that wore Converse shoes with her initials written all over them. My teacher speaks with a heavy British accent. We're talking Ozzy Osbourne. So the majority of the class I sat and thought, " How is this man going to teach me how to speak when I can't understand a word he is saying?" He wore suede bell-bottom pants and looked like he stepped right off of Sesame Street. And if paying attention wasn't hard enough, the guy that sat right behind me was hitting on me. When I was at Wallace State I had two semi-stalkers. One was in my nursing classes and the other played on the basketball team. They both were......NOT of the Caucasian persuasion let's say. One called my parent's house about six months after I had gotten married. Apparently the nursing program thought it would be nice to post our phone numbers and email addresses in case our fellow students needed to get in touch with us. My mom had to break it to him that I was married and no longer attending Wallace State. This ghetto booty of mine is more powerful than I thought. Anyway, the guy today was also a brother from another mother and couldn't have been more than eighteen years old. He got my name off of the sign- in sheet so during half the class I heard him whispering my name. I wish that I could have taken the class online, but I can already tell I am going to have a lot of topics to blog about

Award

This is the first time in a while that I have been able to read everybody's blogs. Thanks Becky for my award! I think that we need to have a blogging educational workshop for Ronna. I tried to give my blog a new look in November. I don't know what I did but it was horrible so I just undid everything. And It took me a lot longer than it should have to put the award picture on my blog and it still doesn't look good. Here are my five addictions:

1. "Twilight" books. I was skeptic at first but now I am addictive. I am almost done with the fourth and I have this sad feeling when I think about not having another book about Bella and Edward to read.

2. My I-POD. I have everything from T.I. to Sugarland and Ozzy on there. (Nick swore when Gabby was little that the only way to put her to sleep was to pat the beat of "Iron Man" on her tush. I had to download the song to see and it worked! Can you imagine me teaching my mother the song? True story!) I got an ITUNES gift card for Christmas so as we speak I am downloading random songs that have popped in my head. And yes, I downloaded the "Twilight" soundtrack.

3. Bubble bath! Something about a hot bath relaxes me. Although now a days I spend more time trying to keep Gabby out of the tub than actually relaxing.

4. This is a combo. "Grey's Anatomy" and " The Mentalist". The only two shows that I attempt to watch now. I might be folding tons of laundry while I am watching, but Nick knows that it is "MY TIME"

5. Food. Of course you can look at me and tell that! The only bad thing about being a G.R.I.T.S girl. Southerners congregate around the kitchen table! Chocolate is my absolute weakness. Hmmm...maybe I need to try that all chocolate diet Nanny is doing. It seems to work for her.

I nominate.....well I think all the blogs I read have been nominated! Thank you ladies for letting me take a little peak into your life. I know all of our lives our crazy working and raising kids and I don't always get to stop and talk to you all at church, but I just want you all to know how blessed I feel to have you as part of my church family. It is so uplifting to know that there is someone else going through the same struggles and obstacles as I am and that I have you all to encourage me. LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!

I am so glad tomorrow is BUNCO night!! I need a break!

I Think I'm Losing It!

Sunday morning Nick had to go to work so I decided to go to church with Mom and Dad since Meredith and the girls were there. I went to the auditorium class because I wasn't sure how Gabby would do in a different class and I wanted to be close. About five minutes after I sat down, Nanny walked in and when straight to the front. Not long into the lesson, I hear a chirping noise. After Nanny lost her fifth set of house keys Dad decided to get her one of those key chains that if you whistle it will chirp. Great idea, but Nanny can't whistle. Anytime anyone in class would cough or sneeze the chirping would start. Plus, the guy in front of me kept making random comments through out the entire class. Here is a clip it so you can get the full effect. "The same temptations we face today were faced fifty years ago.!! CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!! Today it is Crystal Meth, then it was pot and LCD." !! CHIRP CHIRP!! " Hey Mr. K, what exactly is LCD?" !! CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!! After the teacher politely explained, he carried on with his lesson.
Then he asked the rhetorical question," For example, what did ya'll do yesterday?"
!!CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!! " Well, Mr. K, I just piddled around the house. Didn't do much" About 10 minutes after the teacher changed subjects, the man in front of me pipes up and says, " I take that back, my brother came and got me and we went to M-a-c-donalds and drank cokes" !CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!! I mentally asked myself the question, " Am I tripping on LCD or is this really happening?" Thankfully, class was over! I really tried paying attention, but every time I would get deep in thought, either I heard a CHIRP or a random thought from the guy in front of me. I took the key away from Nanny and told Dad to do something with it till church was over. I think I would have screamed if I heard that CHIRP one more time! By the way, Nanny came to Marion Street Sunday night. If you missed her, she was the 87 year old with the ankle bracelet on. She just started wearing it after Christmas. Not quite sure what that is all about.

Pictures

These are a few of the Christmas pictures taken with Gabby and her cousins. By the way, if you happen to get a Christmas card from me anytime soon, I don't procrastinate that bad.Apparently, there was a screw up at the Post Office.

After my mother-in-law made me feel bad about not blogging, I decided I better catch up. I didn't feel so bad when I saw several people haven't blogged because the holidays. I can't believe Christmas is already over with! We had a wonderful time celebrating Gabby's first Christmas. Of course, she didn't care much. She did like her wagon. She sat in it for an hour and played with a ball. And of course, she got WAY too much. We are rearranging the office to become her play room.

The scary part is her birthday is in two months. I am having so much fun planning her party and picking out a cake to make her. I can't believe my baby is almost one! She has two more teeth and......

she is walking!!! Sorry the picture is blurry but you can't get her to sit still now. I will try to get Nick to download some video of her walking. Now for some Nanny stories! First one. Until a few years ago, my grandmother made noodles for Christmas. They are hard to explain, but they were delicious. She used to be a great cook. This year, she decided to make noodles again. We were kind of scared, given the fact that now she tries to cook everything in one pan. If she is having green beans, chicken and mac and cheese, she will just throw it all together and try to cook it at once. We thought she had forgotten about the noodles until Mom sent out a mass text message warning us NOT to eat the noodles. Apparently, Nanny thought a mouse got into them but was going to bring them anyway. Wednesday, we went to the get together with the people that go to church with Mom and Dad. The whole time Nick watched Nanny shove fudge and candy into her pockets. Nanny was tired so we decided to drive her home. Nick said, "Nanny, don't forget to take all that candy out of both pockets. I don't want it to melt." She just looked at him and said, " Two pockets?? I filled up three! Here you go, here is some for driving me home." I am not sure whether she remembered to take that candy out of her coat pocket or not. I doubt it. We rang in the New Year , I am sure, like any other couple that have a ten month old that hasn't been able to sleep well lately. Asleep. That was the first night in a very long time that Gabby slept thru the night. I start my taking my Speech class in a week! I am not looking forward to going back to school. I will being go two days and Nick will be going four nights a week! He is trying to hurry up and finish his degrees. I just hope he doesn't get burned out and I don't go crazy before he accomplishes them. Oh well, we will live thru it. Like he says, it is worth all the hard work and headache to become better for our family. Well, Bama just lost so I better go comfort my husband.