Haunted MichMansion

Happy Halloween

They love me. ;)

anayeee

The boys came to see me this weekend.

*Note the delusion in that thought, (a) the boys were brought, (b) they came to see Michael's family, MeeMaw, and MiMi (c) I don't care about said delusion, I bribed the wee ones with presents.

And not only presents but I play hide and seek, trick or treet, pretend to sleep (that's my favorite) AND they were on my croquet team! They love Anayeee - not a delusion!!

Brody

He loves to giggle, and organize- see those mallets LINED up?! Wow.

Dylan
A silly boy, he is a sweetheart! And he likes to frown in pictures. Don't you love that hair? MeeMaw
She made it out to meet our new cousin Jarrod. Congrats Elissa! She is getting married on Saturday.

crowodactyl

Singing in the dead of night

Meet the large, frightening, prehistoric crow that lives in Sam Houston National Forest.

Crowodactyl

I must attract abnormally large birds. (If some of you recall the MONSTERS in Washington) Well, these were the BIGGEST crows I have ever seen in my life. They woke us up early Saturday morning with their booming "CAW CAW." And they stare and shoot death rays. I wish there was some perspective in that picture but the trees are quite large as well.

Let me paint this mental image for you....

4 of them could carry David off with their talons

1 could take me if it got a good enough handful of flesh (I'm sure it could)

I did what now?

I should probably clear up some confusion about me... camping. I grew up camping, and in Washington we would go to our favorite park, if David were home and if it wasn't pouring. But I guess I should clarify how I define camping b/c I am most definitely NOT a wilderness woman.

1. It can not be hot. I hate being hot.

2. I do not "go" in a hole. I don't understand the logistics of it, I must have a facility.

3. I need running water because it is 2010 and not 1300AD.

4. I drive up to my campsite- I don't hike my crap through the woods. That's just silly.

There you have it. I enjoy nature, fresh air, animals, trees, quiet, walks with gravel underfoot, tents, and little camping gadgets.

Glad I still have the ability to surprise some folks.

all things snuggly

Remembering sweet Juni today.

But as I was telling David, I wouldn't have my Abbey and Rigby without Juni leaving when she did. And I can't imagine my life without those two. Next month Abbey will be 6 1/2 yrs and Baby Buttons will be... I can't even say it.... 5 years old.

He loves to shlump against the wall. It's his "I'm too lazy to sit like a normal animal" possition. This morning he goes to flop against our bedroom door when it wasn't fully open, he rolled backwards! Tried again, rolled over! Then decided to scoot over to a fixed wall and shlump. This little kitten is five? Really?

Abbey is my sweetheart. She loves when I take showers and baths. She waits on the bathmat for me everymorning durning my shower and when I am done we sit on the edge of the bathtub and brush our teeth together. It's our snuggle time. When I take baths she tries to drink the hot water. Mommy is nice and gets a little handful for her to taste.

If I am getting frustrated at work I just call David to see what the kitties are doing. They make me happy.

unplugged

David and I went camping at Double Lake last weekend.

We have been super stressed and stretched as thin as thin gets. And that is just not good for anyone. But I got out of work a bit early, quick drive up, and had the tent set up by 4pm.

Note- if you think you might want to go camping plan early the Scouts had all of TX State parks booked, and we called 3 weeks in advance. But it allowed us to stumble upon little Double Lake. Mee Maw has swam in Double Lake- I couldn't help think of her as a young girl swimming in this lake and sitting under the trees.

It was perfect camping weather. I don’t think I have ever experience such perfect camping weather. I only got sweaty on our walk and never shivered. (It’s hard to keep me a comfortable temperature, I confess I am pretty whiney when I am too hot or too cold.)

Saturday we sat around, and I just let my brain idle, no thinking- no talking- just sitting. It was nice. I wish I could find that in real life. Here I am working on crisis at work, crisis at home, crisis here, there, and everywhere. How do you turn off that noise? Camping.

Please enjoy a couple of photos from our weekend:

new every morning

I’ve been blogging for 5 years.
I remember being all alone in an apartment in Washington, David was TAD on the Ragan, knew no one, my kitty was in Houston and I was searching for some way to feel connected to the world.

In my very first post, I talked about having this new life and being excited about the future- I can hear how young I sounded. I don’t think I can say that it was everything I thought it would be, life just isn’t that way is it?

Since the unedited and unfocused P.O. Times I have wondered, what is this blog? What is it for? Who is out there that reads this thing? What level of truth and openness is required?

I don’t have a perfect life to share and post pictures of. I’m hopelessly flawed as a woman, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a child of God. I struggle with comparing myself with others, I want to be good and hold myself to an impossible standard. This is going to be shocking (not) but I am a private person. I hide who I am so people will like me, I hide who I am to protect wounds, I hide who I am because I have secrets.

It is scary to me that God knows who I am, he knows me beyond the blog. He has seen the ugly, the mean, the evil, the careless- all the stuff I try to hide. But for some reason He still loves me and His eyes see me for the good, as the forgiven. As frequently as my life changes, God’s love is renewed. It is constant. Five years of blogging, five years of ups, downs, moves, and change. God is the constant.

Whatever this blog is or represents I have enjoyed the excuse to share my life. (and wish I still had time for the videos... loved those)

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

pep-less

There is a woman in my office who is always in a good mood, if she had a ponytail it would swing back and forth that is how bouncy her walk is. She works hard and plays hard, the woman even works out on her lunch break. That annoys me.

I have no energy to move. I am so tired and definately have no pep in my step. That can sum up September- which was heavy laden with my health problems, family struggles, school, work, "fall cleaning" and a quick trip to Abilene. And last Saturday we met Logan, Jeni and Chris in Waco and went to the zoo.

The good parts...

Maybe I am just getting old and there will not be anymore days where you spring out of bed refreshed.

ps- in case you were wondering what should accompany stewed bush meat please refer to the Bush Meat Cookbook. Side dish-Plantains. "Plantains are like bananas with machismo."