Candy.24.Wife.Mommy.Pianist.Drummer.Trying to learn guitar.Poet.Songwriter.

12.24.2004

BURRRRRRRRRR! It's 18 degrees and I'm freezing my booty off! We slept with a lotta covers on the bed last night...the sheet, the comforter, 2 quilts, a fleece blanket, and an afghan. Michael had to go into work...he gets off around 1-ish I think, so he had to get out of bed and get out in this stuff. The roads are slicker today than they were yesterday. Am I in Mississippi, and in December?

The kids are watching all the little Christmas shows on Nick, Jr., and eating popcorn. Yes, popcorn. We were plum out of Poptarts, and thankfully Michael's Dad brought us a galon of milk when he picked up Michael for work. Travis begged and begged for popcorn, so ONLY because it's Christmas, I made a big bowl of popcorn, and both boys are munching away on it in front of the TV, lol. I told him "Don't get used to eating popcorn for breakfast." I can tell Travis is getting excited about Santa Claus coming! He keeps asking me "It's Christmas Eve?" except he pronounces Christmas more like "Chriss-isss", which is totally cute!!

EVERYTHING is wrapped, minus my Dad's gift card, and everything is put together, praise God. I had to ask my Dad to come over Tuesday afternoon to help me assemble Travis' "big" present. It took 2 and a half hours, even with my Dad's super handy skill and talent. He's such a perfectionist, I swear. Like, he would get parts put together, and then look over it and say "I'm not happy with that...I need to tighten this again," or "I think it would be better if we switched these two parts." I don't know what I'd do without him sometimes. I promise you there is NOTHING he can't fix or build. There's NO WAY I could've put it together by myself. The thing is HUGE!!! I acquired some of his perfectionism (is that a word?), I just don't have the "man strength" to go along with it, or the power tools he has, lol. Of course, last night I did assemble Jacob's "big" present all by myself, and I was quite proud :-) I have my very own tool box, believe it or not. Michael will tell you any day that it's mine, and even Travis knows "That's Mama's tools."

I enjoyed that time with my Dad, though, and it brought back a lot of memories of when I was a little girl. I can't help but wonder if he was thinking the same thing at the same time I was thinking it. I would always "help" him in his shop. He would give me little nuts and bolts to sort out or he would tell me the names of different tools and teach me what they were for. I think I could have learned a lot more from my Dad, probably could have learned how to fix cars, maybe even build stuff, but I never took the time to. I just always assumed all men knew how to do everything, because my Dad did, and that all Dads were that way, so I didn't think I'd need to know how to fix anything. After I grew up and hit the real world, I learned quickly that not all men are even remotely as good at fixing or building as my Dad. Actually, I learned there's no one out there much like my Dad in A LOT of ways.

I could probably write a book about my Dad and what a wonderful person he is. Yes, he has his quirks, too, like, he's very disorganized, he can't spell very well, he has poor hand writing, he can't type, he can have a temper at times, and he's bossy and demanding sometimes, but he has so many great qualities that it's so easy to overlook the flaws.

He always took such good care of us, we never went without anything we needed, and he would work even harder to give us something we wanted. My Dad was gone a lot working, and I honestly can't remember a time where he ever sat down and played with me and my sister when we were little, but even still I have so many wonderful memories of him and I was always so proud of him, and still am. When it came to Christmas, my Dad always had such a child-like heart, and he still does. He's always been full of Christmas surprises, whether it be pulling a trick on someone, or buying something extra special and thoughtful. My Mom always made Christmas special with her lovely decorating and yummy baking, but my Dad kept the Christmas spirit alive just by the way he would get into it. He's the type person that doesn't care if he gets anything for Christmas or not, he just loves to see the happiness in everyone else. You can shop and decorate and bake and wrap presents all day long, but if you don't have that kind of Christmas Spirit, all of that work and effort is in vain.

I know this was long...much longer than I intended it to be....but if you have a warm Christmas memory, I'd love it if you'd click the comment link below and tell about it. Let that be your Christmas present to me :-)

Merry Christmas to all!

12.23.2004

WOW is about all I can say about the past 48 hours. We just got home from our trip, FINALLY, and I can't believe that we went from 67 degrees in Florida to hearing about Memphis getting a major ice blast, wondering if we'd even be able to get home today, and we come home to 20's and Teens here in Mississippi, and lots of ice...very slick stuff.

As most everyone that reads this knows, we left Tuesday night for Mobile, Alabama for the GMAC Bowl to see the Tigers play the Bowling Green Falcons. We got to our motel between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Wednesday, and crashed. When I went to sleep that night, I had this horrible nightmare that we were driving home and there was lots of ice on the roads, and Michael was driving so fast that he lost control and we flew off a bridge. It was all happening in slow motion, and we both looked at each other and realize "We don't even know what we're about to land into" and it was a river or creek or something. We hit the water, Michael went under, but I was floating on the roof of the truck, and then I woke up. That scared the living crap out of me!! What's tremendously freaky about all of that is the fact that I dreamed that before the roads even got bad. It's weird.

So anyway, we got up the next morning and drove to Destin, Florida, which is about a 2 hour drive from Mobile. Yeah, yeah, it was a 2+ hour drive, plus lots of continuous rain & heavy winds, and a bridge over Escambia Bay (damaged in one of the hurricanes earlier this year) down to one lane for like freaking miles, but it was well worth it to go back to Destin for a visit. It's been 4 and a half years ago since we were last in Destin for our honeymoon. (Trust me, we are infamous for making long drives for only a couple hours stay...i.e. Hattiesburg last year...drove 10 hours round-trip for a 2-hour basketball game. A few years ago we drove 8 hours round-trip to Nashville to see Alan Jackson sing 3 songs in the Grand Ole Opry. Call us nuts...we love road trips.) We were in Destin long enough to discover Destin Beach Club (where we stayed on our honeymoon) was closed due to repairs which I assume were due to hurricane damage (sounds like the Griswald's luck, lol), it was too rainy and windy to go to the beach, we stopped in about 3 stores (story on THAT later), ate a WONDERFUL seafood lunch at the place we ate on our honeymoon, stopped at Walgreens, and then headed back to Alabama. We drove roughly 5 hours total for like a 2-hour visit to Destin, but like I said, it was worth it.

Now back to the 3 stores we went to, the first store we stopped at was Bass Pro so I could get my Dad a giftcard...he lives in that store, so that meant I had his Christmas taken care of. THEN we went to Build-A-Bear. We intended on going in there to get a bear for Jacob since we got Travis one from there a few years ago, BUT that all changed after we got in there. If you've never been to Build-A-Bear before, this is what you do. First you pick out the bear's fur...you pick out the empty shell of a teddy bear. Then you take it to this machine that puts in the stuffing through an opening in the bear's back. Before the lady sews the bear up, you pick out a little heart to put inside the bear, but before you insert the heart, you have to warm the heart in your hands, place the heart on your forehead so the bear will be smart, place the heart on your tummy so the bear won't be hungry, give the heart a kiss and make a wish. Only then is the heart inserted into the bear, and the bear is sewn up. Then you make your way to the next station where you give the bear a "bath", to fluff his fur and give him a brushing. Then you choose the bear's outfit, take him to the dressing table and dress him, then sit down to one of the computers to create a birth certificate and give the bear a name. WELL, the outfit we found I could NOT pass up. It was an Air Force uniform, and on its sleeves was the Chief stripes, just like my Dad's, and with his retirement, I HAD to get it for my Dad as his retirement present. And it was the ONLY outfit like it left in the store. And we named the bear "Chief Yarbear" (my Dad's last name is Yarbrough, for those that don't know, and of course his ranking is Chief, hence the name I chose for the bear. After you dress him and make his birth certificate, you check out and they put the bear with his certificate in a cute box that's shaped like a little house. So after we left there and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, almost literally, we went across the way to a toy shop and found Travis and Jacob a little something. We never go on a trip without bringing our babies back something.

We got back to our hotel and got ready for the game and left for the stadium around 5 p.m. We had our backpack complete with pom-poms and rain ponchos. The game didn't even get started before it came down a major downpour and we had to break out the ponchos. We still got somewhat wet even with the ponchos, especially our feet and our butts, lol, but as the rain came down harder, the crowd got more excited. In my honest opinion, this year's bowl game didn't have anywhere near the level of excitement as last year's bowl game. For one, New Orleans is a really neat place to visit. There wasn't really anything that special or remarkable about Mobile. Another thing is probably simply because last year's bowl game was the first one after many years of no bowl game. This year's bowl game was pretty much *expected" all season long. AND the fact that I kept feeling like I was watching the game in a high school stadium. It's really hard to top a game at the Superdome, lower level, about the 40-yard-line. This time we were sitting on concrete, in the rain, in the end zone. So yeah, last year was just way more exciting and had lots more perks. My opinion. I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I wanted because I didn't want to fry my digital camera, but I did get a few good ones. There were a few moments in the game I felt there was hope for Memphis to pull off a win, but the Falcons ran over the Tigers in the end. Final score 52-35. We didn't even stay until the end...we left early in the 4th quarter. We treked through lots of mud to find our vehicle, got back to the motel, changed into dry clothes, and I was hungry, but so very tired. This was between 10:30 and 11 last night, and I wanted hot food and I wanted coffee. Well, the only places to eat near our motel (that we KNEW about) was Steak N Shake and McAllisters. I wasn't in the mood for a potato and I hate McAllister's sandwiches, so Steak N Shake it had to be. I think every Tiger fan staying in the general vicinity crammed into Steak N Shake and they weren't used to those numbers, and they were very understaffed...they had only 2 servers in the whole restaurant. It seemed that everyone in the restaurant had had their orders taken but us, so we just got up and left, and after driving around a few minutes we found a Waffle House. Michael just said "Be sure to tell them who found the Waffle House." LOL. Yes, it was a bit of an argument because we were both so dang tired, so we kept going back and forth like "Let's just go back to the hotel, sleep, get up in the morning and eat a good breakfast", but then it was like "Nooo, I'm hungry, I need food." Thank the Lord *Michael* found the Waffle House. I swear I think we ordered everything off the menu, and I chugged down like 2 cups of coffee. We got back to our room, passed out and I got up about 6:45 this morning, got showered, woke Michael up, and we hit the road home about 8 a.m.

We didn't run into the patchy stuff until about the Como exit, and then the interstate got lots worse right after the Hernando exit, which is only a few exits from our exit for Southaven & Horn Lake. Several things amazed me once we started seeing white. We had the radio on, and this beautiful instrumental version of "White Christmas" played, almost on cue. Some of the trees along the interstate were covered in ice, and the sun was shining on them, which made them look silver. They didn't look real at all...they looked like giant Christmas decorations. It was beautiful. When we finally made it into Greenbrook (my parents' subdivision...they kept our dog for us and we were picking him up) the song "Home For The Holidays" came on, again on cue, and it brought tears to my eyes. We finally made it to my parents' house and my Dad wasn't even there so I could give him his bear! He had ran over to Lowe's for something, but Mom said he'd be right back, so we waited for him to get back. In the meantime, Mom fed us homemade cookies and was busy making other Christmas treats. When he got there, I had the bear's box hidden behind the chair I was sitting in, and then I sat it up on the kitchen table so he could see it. He opened it, looked inside, and my Mom was like "Awwww!" and my Dad took him about of the box and got all teary-eyed!! That moment right there made the Destin trip totally worthwhile. About 20 years ago, my Dad gave me a teddy bear, which later became known as "Jelly Bear" (don't laugh), which I slept with from the time I was 4 years old until I got married. The bear even managed to find his way into my suitcase for the honeymoon (my parents did it as a joke). So I thought it would be sweet to give my Dad a bear that might mean something to him. From the look on his face, it's something he will definitely treasure. He even said he's going to frame the birth certificate. While we were over there, Dad let Little Bear (our dog) out of his shop and let him run around the yard. He threw a ball for him and he was going nuts, trying to bury his nose in the snow, but couldn't because it was solid ice, lol. We loaded up the dog, left my parents house, and slid on over to Michael's parents' house to pick up our babies.

Now THIS had us nervous to a certain degree because of their steep driveway. We just KNEW we'd get almost to the top and begin to slide backwards, but we just took it slow and easy, and climbed the hill all in one piece. The boys were very happy to see us! Travis was kind of whiney though because he wanted so badly to "throw a snowball" and "build a snowman". He couldn't understand why we kept telling him he couldn't. The stuff was solid...nothing powdery. It's the weirdest thing really....from what I hear, the rain came first, then sleet, then snow, so it appears to be snow with a glazed over effect. When we got home, after nearly busting our rear ends on our own driveway, we got the kids in the house, got them REALLY bundled up and took them outside for a minute. We turned the Christmas lights on the house and took a lot of pictures of the kids and the house. It's just soooo awesome to see the lights against the snow, well, ice that looks like snow. It's beautiful! Oh, and what's REALLY nuts....our front porch has an overhang and we have no gutters, and we have white icicle lights hanging across the front of the house. Well, when the stuff on the roof started to melt, it dripped down off the overhang, froze to the icicle lights and made GIANT icicles. The first thing I thought was now THAT gives a new meaning to icicle lights, lol. It looks really pretty now because the white lights are shining through the icicles hanging down. These things are so huge, I swear they could kill somebody if they fell on someone's head or something. I took a couple pictures of them so I could put on here later.

What I really can't get over is how freaking cold it is, in December. Tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve, it's going to be 12...yes...TWELVE degrees. Now that, my friend, is cold. It's so cold I'm having to wear like 2 pairs of socks, and I'm having to put towels down by the front and back door and inside the windows to prevent drafts. It's crazy. I thought it only got this cold in Michigan or Minnesota or something. I mean, it has gotten this cold down here before, but I think it's been years. And it almost NEVER happens until January or February.

Well, I must run now. I still have a few presents to wrap and I need to go snuggle up with something warm!! Have a Merry, WHITE, Christmas everyone!!

12.20.2004

As stated inside the Dove chocolate foil wrapper: "Life without chocolate is too terrible to contemplate." Very true indeed.

The hours are ticking away until the day when all things worked for & shopped for the past month will be ripped into and added to our collections of stuff. This time next week it will be all over with, and my poor tree will be kicked to the curb. How sad is that? But in the meantime, I'm going to remain excited about it. Yeah, I'm a grownup now, with kids of my own, but I still have a child-like heart when it comes to Christmas. I'm still the first person awake on Christmas morning and I wake up everyone else. I'm not just excited for me, but I'm also excited for my kids. The pure glow of happiness and excitement on their faces is just priceless. I get so happy for them, that a tear comes to my eye just thinking about it. Okay, enough of the mush for now, lol.

On Christmas Eve, we actually have no plans for once in our lives and so the tentative "plan" is to just have time to ourselves, just me, Michael, and the kiddies. We might sing some Christmas songs, and I would like for us to start the tradition of reading the REAL Christmas Story found in Luke 2. It's so EASY to forget what Christmas is REALLY about. Yes, the presents, decorations, food, family gatherings, it's all wonderful, but the most wonderful gift of ALL is God's gift to the world...his Son, Jesus, our Saviour. And I want to start the tradition of reading the Christmas Story while the kids are little, every Christmas Eve.

Michael has been playing Santa Claus and buying me all sorts of stuff. No telling WHAT he has up his sleeve! We still have to play "Santa's Workshop" and put together Travis' and Jacob's "big" present. They are still in the garage, in boxes, and we have NO CLUE when we're going to do it. Jacob's shouldn't be so hard, and it'll be easy to hide once it's put together. But Travis'...Michael thinks once it's put together, it can't be moved. But once again, there's no daylight hours when he gets home at night, so there's no way of putting it together in the garage. It's way too dark in there, even when the light actually works in there. I've about decided I'm just going to have to make Travis take a nap, and hope he stays asleep long enough for me to attempt to put it together MYSELF. How hard could it really be? I've put together a baby swing, a stroller, a toy box, various toys. I can read simple directions. I have tools. The only problem I run into sometimes is not having enough "man strength" to snap or push something into place or something, and that's when I need Michael. Seriously, if we try to assemble something TOGETHER, we get mad at each other and I have to do it myself anyway. I just don't work well with others. I have my own system of doing things and get aggravated when anyone helping with the job tries to do things differently. I received that curse from my Dad, lol.

On top of THAT, I still have a couple things to wrap and still have to find my Dad SOMETHING! Oh yeah, and did I mention we're going out of town TOMORROW NIGHT?!?!?! Like, my laundry pile is chest high and my house is upside down from having company over TWICE this weekend. Friday night, our Pastor and his wife and two kids came over for dinner...I made fried chicken...it turned out awesome. And then Sunday night after church, our friends Angie and Richard and their two kids came over. I had put on a pot of chili in the crock pot before we left for evening church, so it was good and hot and spicy when they got here. So needless to say, this morning I had a pile of dishes, too. And Travis' room is trashed from all the kids. I'm really too busy to be sitting here blogging, but I figured I needed to update because Lord only knows when I'll get back on here! Tomorrow I have to have everything packed when Michael gets home from work so we can drop off the kids at his Mom's and hit the road to Mobile, Alabama. Then we'll be back home sometime Thursday afternoon, and then the next day is Christmas Eve. I feel like Santa! So much to do, so many places to go, not enough time!!!!!

Oh and one more tidbit I wanted to add before I go, Jacob can play peek-a-boo now. He covers his eyes with both his hands, and I say "Where's Jacob?" and he throws his hands up in the air and I say "There he is!" and he just dies laughing! It's too sweet! He has such a bubbling personality, and he's learning how to gang up on his older brother :-)

Well, if I don't blog again before Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and STAY SAFE!!!