A Decade

A whole decade. That's how old James is today. So here's a shout-out to James and his fantabulous birthday!

On the day you were born, I worked half a day. We went to the hospital about midnight or so. We nearly hit a cow that was loping down the service road.

Since the day you were born, you have been our social butterfly. You're always ready with a smile or a hug or an "I love you." You hate it when others are hurting. Even though you had only met your grandmother (my mother) once or twice, you screamed and cried and hung on to my leg until we allowed you to go to her funeral--in your shorts because we didn't have "church clothes." (We weren't planning on you going.) You were 5. You insisted on going up to the casket. You waved to her.

At age 3 or 4, we would walk around the Logan City Cemetary while waiting for John to get out of his preschool. One day you found a pinwheel on the ground. You carried it around for a while and when it was time to go, I told you to place it by someone's headstone. You chose a grave, knelt in front of the stone, placed the pinwheel next to it, then waved and said, "Bye!" and ran off. I'm certain that somewhere, someone was smiling through tears. I know I was.

You wear your heart on your sleeve. You love deeply and get hurt deeply. You love video games (what 10 year-old doesn't?), but you also love to read. You discovered the Harry Potter BOOKS this year. You are a true middle child--you're room's a HUGE mess and you leave a trail of stuff from the front door to your room every afternoon. You're easily frustrated, but quickly over it.

I think that's one of the things I love best about you, James. You never give up on people. You keep trying. And you're honest. When you haven't done the work, you say so--quite innocently and honestly. But you stand up for yourself when you need to.

Happy birthday, James. I love you. "Have I told you you're my favorite?"

Menopause or Depression or Anxiety or...

what? I find myself more grumpy than usual. I don't like my students very much. I don't like my own children very much. I can't seem to get anything done. I'm behind on lesson plans. I don't want to clean my house. (Ok, that's nothing new, but I really can't get off my bum and do it.)

With everything going on, it wouldn't be a wonder if I were in a situational depression. But then again, it could be menopause too.

TMI Warning

I haven't had a period since last summer, although I had some spotting last month. I've had hot flashes and night sweats--except for last month when they stopped for a couple of weeks while I was spotting. I've got an appointment with my internist at the end of the month, but I'm going to call and see if they can work me in sooner. I don't like feeling like this. I take the dog for a walk every day, so I'm getting sunshine and exercise. I'm taking my vitamins and fish oil. I need to get my new thyroid prescription, so that's a possibility. And I've put myself on a diet--but not a YOU-HAVE-TO-LOSE-WEIGHT-NOW kind of diet. I weigh in tomorrow--so we'll see how I've done this week.

So...hoping to get this worked out quickly.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Can you tell what that is? It's frost. Stinkin' frost! On my windshield. Yesterday morning. Tuesday, April 7. In Texas. Now for all of you who live in the mountainous north or midwest or upstate New York, I apologize for my rant. I know you don't really feel sorry for me. But puh-leeze! The positive part of having moved back to Texas from the frozen Cache Valley of Utah was to have SPRING IN APRIL!

Ok, so I shouldn't get too upset. This was yesterday morning. By this afternoon--it was 83 degrees. Ahhhh...that's better. :-)

Conference Thoughts by James

At the end of the Sunday morning conference session, the choir sang "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet." During the last verse, they showed various pictures of President Monson. The following whispered conversation took place:

James: Why are they showing pictures of President Monson?

Me: Well, why do you think they're showing pictures of President Monson during this song?

James: Because he's the prophet.

Me: Right.

James: They should be honoring President Hinckley.

Me: Why?

James: Because President Hinckley was AWESOME!

It's amazing what our children learn when we're not watching, isn't it? Yes, President Hinckley was awesome. President Monson is pretty awesome too.

I'm a Better Photographer Than I Thought

As I walked around with the boys, I decided to take some pictures of something besides them. I think these turned out pretty nicely. Yay me!

I thought these were some really cool-looking trees. Neat shapes with the really blue sky.
I love the shapes of the branches. If I was any good at Photoshop, I'd get rid of the stadium in the background.

More trees. Again...I thought they looked neat against the sky.

This is one of the azalea bushes in front of my dad's house. It looks like a good close-up shot, but if you'll look closely, you'll see a bee/hornet/thing in the bottom left corner. The bush was alive with buzzing and as I tried to get closer, one of those hornets buzzed me! I backed up and used the telephoto instead. I still like the shot.

This is an American Holly tree in front of my dad's house. It's at least 50 years old. I've always loved this tree. Pulling off the berries in winter and smashing them on the ground. (Gee...wonder why I have boys!) I want one of these trees in my front yard. Wonder if I can get mine to grow this tall....

Last Full Day in Texas City

We decided to stay an extra day so that we could visit with my sister and her husband. We needed something to do, so we found another park. Nessler Park. It's been around as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, the cool rocket slide is gone--has been for a while--but the boys fell in love with the merry-go-round thing. They spent most of their time on it. Have they really never been on one? What the heck kind of mom am I? :-)

Remember these ladder-things? Yeah, video games are cool, but they don't really take the place of a good park, do they? Yay for parks!

Spring Break Texas City

We went to the Museum today. Normally the train room upstairs is only open on Saturdays, but a man was there working on them so he turned on some of the sets for the boys and explained a little bit to them. They both seemed to really enjoy it. We also walked around the downstairs. They had a quilt show—quilts hanging everywhere—so it was hard to see some of the displays. I did find a photograph display of 6th Street back in the day. I recognized a bunch of the stores, including Rock’s Five and Dime. I used to love to go in that place. It burned down when I was a kid. Mom and Dad used to play bridge with the Rocks and the Phelps (who had a men’s clothing store downtown) and the Tripletts. After the Rocks lefts, the Merediths took their spot. He had a shoe store with a really cool “automatic” foot measurer. We also looked at some of the things from the Texas City Blast. And saw some pictures from school in the late 40’s and early 50’s. There was one picture of a 3rd grade class at Roosevelt-Wilson Elementary School from 1947, I believe. There were a couple of names that sounded familiar, but the teacher was Mrs. Kelso. She was my kindergarten teacher!

After leaving the Museum, we swung by Hoffman Lumber Company to see Dad, but he’d already left. I stopped by Gus’ Barbeque to pick up some lunch for me, and then we came back to the house to eat lunch. Made sandwiches for the boys and found Dad here too. We sat around for a bit while Dad ran some errands, and then went to the parks on the Dike. The boys had a great time knocking down ant beds with their sword and dagger.

Killing ants--Rahr!

Don't leave us!!!! (Papaw was already in the car--we'd called them several times.)

This is a big anchor in front of the TC Museum. It's not from the Blast ships, but it does give a good idea of how big those pieces were.

Trains at the museum - the ferris wheel and merry-go-rounds move and make sounds.