I got tagged

Sherria Tagged me!

Here are the rules: Once you are tagged, you must post 6 [six] things about yourself, which are either weird, unusual, habitual or just plain fun to hear about (and true!). Once you post these things in your blog, you must gently tag six others, who then, must read words like these and follow the same rules you did. In addition to listing those you tag, you should nag them a little with a comment or two. After that, all reprimands for ignoring the game and rules are solely physical and mildly serious.

1. I absolutely love being in the water, it is probably my favorite place to be. However, I really really do not like GETTING in water. It takes me quite awhile to actually get into the water, then I am fine.

2. I really love to eat liver and onions.

3. One of the closest people to me, I have only met once. (Brandi)

4. My license plate says "Peculyr." I am peculiar in the biblical sense: set apart for God.

5. I like spiders. I usually don't kill them unless they are brown recluses. Otherwise, I put them in my hand and take them outside. I don't mind other bugs and don't usually kill them, either, but I don't like swarms of anything. I would love to have a tarantula but the rest of my family is not keen on the idea.

6. I want to get an old truck (1956 Dodge) and restore it. I know little to nothing about engines or bodywork but plan on figuring it all out eventually.

Okay I am tagging Denise, Melanie, Brandi, Heather & Melissa.
(I don't know many bloggers! LOL)

"Lollipop"

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you are familiar with my wonderful friend Brandi. Brandi is the mother of 7 children so far, the 7th now awaiting her in heaven. We rejoiced with them at the news of Brandi's pregnancy and we rejoice with them now that their darling daughter is forever with Jesus. However, because we are made of flesh, we also mourn the lost dreams of this family and their chance to ever hold little Zoe this side of heaven. Please keep Brandi and her family in your prayers.

Kutless - Shut Me Out

Shut Me Out
By Kutless
CodesAndLyrics.com

In Honor Of my Beloved Companion for the past 17 years: Mercedes Valentine

We had to put my 1st baby, Mercy, to sleep yesterday because he had diabetes. He hadn't been looking good for a few months and we thought it was still an allergy he had. Once we realized it wasn't the allergy, we thought maybe he had worms. We had him tested this week and it wasn't worms either. So, Michael took Friday off, figuring what was probably going to happen, and he and Mercy went to the vet and only Michael came back. It was a really rough day for me. In honor of him, I am making a Saturday Seventeen.

1. He was born on Father's Day of 1989. My college roommate and I went to get kittens from an ad in the paper. She got an orange cat and named him Micky and I got the runt and named him Mercy. They had identical markings but one was orange and white and the other was black and white.

2. I took him to get spayed but he ended up neutered. It took me quite awhile to get over calling him "she."

3. I named him Mercedes because he zoomed around everywhere, as a kitten. His middle name was Valentine because he had a heart shaped black mark on the back of one of his legs.

4. I used to take him to work with me when I worked at UNM. I helped migrant workers' children earn their GEDs. He was their "mascot."

5. One time he got scared and ran away from work. I found him by his extremely loud cry. He had burned part of his paws on the hot pavement and had to wear bandages on his paws for about a week.

6. When he was declawed, they messed it up really bad. His paws were sensitive forevermore. You could really tell who he trusted, by who he would let touch his paws. They also left one partial claw in there.

7. I had only had dogs before him so I trained him like a dog. He would sit, stay, and fetch. He used to meet me at the door everyday too. And, occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would walk on a leash.

8. Because I was in college when I got him, he had to work hard to get my attention away from my books. He would lie on top of my books and papers to get attention. He kept up with that for the rest of his life, loving to lay on filler paper or open books.

9. When I got another cat, he didn't purr for about a year. I guess he forgave me after that.

10. He didn't like to ride in the car. He would curl up where the passenger's feet would be and meow the whole time.

11. He once saved my ex husband and I from a fire. We lived in an apartment that was long with one hallway. I got up one morning to start some water boiling and got back in bed to keep warm. A potato chip bag accidentally caught on fire and then spread up a decorative towel on the wall. The whole wall went up in flames, but David and I had no idea. Mercy came in meowing frantically. We tried to ignore him but he started biting us and trying to pull at us. We got up to see what on earth was up and saw the fire. We were able to get past the burning wall just in time before the hallway was completely blocked off and we would have had to jump from a 2nd story window. He was our hero. :-)

12. He used to sleep on my head. It was very cozy in the winter.

13. He used to be very big (about 20 pounds and it wasn't fat, he was just a BIG cat) and my friends would all tease me by saying he was a fat cat. I always said he wasn't fat, he was just fluffy. :-)

14. The last few months he had started becoming very hungry, to the point of ravenous. Although we understand why now, and it isn't really funny that he was so hungry, a few of our favorite memories were because of this.... One day we were eating pizza and we had the pizza on the coffee table. He picked up a whole (large) piece of pizza and tried to sneak away. The pizza was bigger than him and it was so funny watching him try to be sly.

15. His favorite place to sit was on the back of the couch. If I was eating on the couch, he would put his front paws on my shoulder and try to climb onto my plate or take food out of my mouth.

16. He was very friendly. He didn't have the usual "uppity cat" attitude. He always came to see whoever was here visiting and see if they wanted a lap companion.

17. He ruled our roost. Even though Madison (our lab) was 10 times bigger than Mercy, Mercy would keep Maddi in line with a quick slap on her nose. Shooky quickly learned who was the Alpha Male in the house and, although he tried to test him, Mercy consistently proved he was the "bigger man." Our little, old man cat, kept our two, silly, dumb dogs completely out of his way or would remind them with a little whooping. It was actually quite comical to watch.

I had him 1 year shy of half my life and I miss him terribly. I hope he knows how much he was loved.

Thursday Thirteen (17 minutes late)

13 Random Things about me and mine

1. One of our nurses (Renee) quit today because she likes to smoke better than working for us. LOL!

2. I watched "The Hours" tonight with Ria and it was not at all what I expected...although I am not sure what I expected. And I related to a lot more of it that I wish I did! But I don't anymore... okay, as if that made sense! LOL

3. I went to see my pastor today and my family couldn't find me and they really started freaking out and getting worried. Michael drove all over BA looking for me. (my cell phone was in the car and I didn't know I was MIA) But, on the positive side, I had a wonderful visit with Pastor Jerry. I love him so much!

4. Shooky chewed big holes in a raggedy ann doll that was mine when I was little. That made me cry.

5. Kaedra went down to 6 breaths per minute yesterday and is doing great. We also got her 12 foot circuits today so she can crawl around a little more.

6. Britty made a new friend at church named Jessica and she calls her "homegirl" and tells her "Peace out Napoleon" as "goodbye."

7. I cut the girls' hair Tuesday and Emily looks absolutely adorable. It is hard to talk to her without just grabbing her and kissing and hugging her.

8. We still don't know anything about when Kaedra is going to San Antonio. As soon as I know....everyone else will know.

9. I thought my dog and cat had worms but we took their poop to be tested and they don't.

10. I hate being uneducated about anything that is important to my everyday life and I know nothing about pools. I am going to have to find a "Owning a pool for dummies" book asap. I don't think I am a dummy, but I do like those dummy books! I read them about almost anything new I am getting into.

11. I bought the new Kutless CD today. Kutless is in town tonight. I was supposed to go hang out with Paula while Timmy was at the concert, but I was "grounded" after my accidental MIA time period this afternoon.

12. I got a new wedding ring set for my anniversary and I absolutely love it. Emmy says it is "sparkly and beautiful." I think so too.

13. I got Michael a rubber squeaky Polar Bear for our anniversary. He put it on the mantle. :-) (not quite as awesome as a ring set, but he likes it ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

13 Favorite memories of the past year
in no particular order
(okay, except maybe the first one!)

1. Bringing Kaedy home for the first time!!!!

2. Kaedra's first birthday

3. The groundbreaking at my church's new site

4. Coming home from San Antonio and seeing my kids and hubby after 3 1/2 weeks

5. Doing Ria's makeup for Halloween (and how pretty she looked!)

6. Chasing cows, two days in a row, at Paula's house. Herding a cow with my DH's Rodeo (aptly named SUV)

7. Getting our pool

8. Going to the Alamo with my mom

9. Stucco-ing the kitchen (and all the assorted mishaps that went along with it!)

10. Taking Kaedra outside for the first time

11. Going to visit Brittany at church camp and the baptisms that happened there in the lake

12. Kaedra standing up the first time, crawling the first time, walking the first time...all of Kaedy's firsts.

13. When the Zandi's moved in next door. (whoops, that hasn't happened yet, but I am looking forward to it!!!) :-)

Snow...and after......

This is what we woke up to this morning:















And this is what it looks like right now:




Brandi....do you think that is quick enough for Jim???? LOL!!

New Blog

Today is the DEBUT of my new Blogsite - Digital Mama.
I am creating this blog page to share with other mothers who

A. Already use their computer and/or PDA to help organize and schedule their family and selves and want new ideas and/or reviews of software

-OR-

B. Mothers that are interested in learning how to organize and schedule themselves with technology.

One of my favorite subjects is organizing and I love to use my computer and my palm pilot to organize my life, my kids' lives and our family life. I use them for everything from alarms reminding me when to do things to keeping my recipes with me at all times to setting up my pda to have my grocery list in order of the aisles at the store. The things I do are no different than I used to do without a computer and PDA, however, they are SO much easier with technology at our disposal.

So check it out everyday to see how I use technology to help run our daily life and get ideas for yourself!

Giant Flying Squids

My friend Melanie and I were discussing schedules and plans one day and came up with a wonderful mascot for Mothers....a giant flying squid. Now, wait, before you laugh too hard or turn away in disgust, not wanting to see yourself as slimy or having suckers, hear why we have created this wonderful emblem to be henceforth an insignia for mothers everywhere!

Let's take a look at one of the creatures...




The first thing you see is the "Stabilizing Fins." I think this is probably the most important part of mommies. We are the stabilizing forces in our homes, marriages, and children. When Mommy isn't home, or sick, everything is chaotic, right? When we are home and running our house, our family's have a stable life.

Secondly, we see the mantle. I am not sure what a "mantle" does for a squid, but I will liken it to moms anyway. A mantle is the hearthstone of a family. It is where we put the pictures of the children, our wedding, or the precious crafts that they make in proliferation. It is the heart and memory of the family, something a mom keeps unfailingly in her soul, to show each member how much they mean to both God and the other members. (It is also the ability to remember, when meeting your daughter's future spouse, exactly where the most embarrassing picture of your precious baby making her first "do-do" is)

Next is the siphon. This is especially important for me. This is our ability to weed out the junk the world wants to inflict upon our children and let in only the best. It is especially essential to those who think that God has given us the charge to protect our children and keep them from evil influences. The amount to which each mother uses the siphon is a personal matter and varies widely.

The parrot-like beak and mouth can be both our worst and our best trait. It is our worst when we sarcastically answer the question "Do we have to do school today?" with "Yes we have to do school today!" It is our best when we remember verses or truths from the bible and use them to train our children.

In my opinion, every mother will understand the want for 8 arms. Who hasn't wanted another arm to cuddle with or to soothe a child while on the phone, cooking dinner and giving spelling words? Eight arms would be great for getting the whole kitchen cleaned at once, doing grocery shopping four times as fast and grading 8 papers (as long as we also had 4 times the brain power - which should be no problem considering our HUGE head). The suckers would be wonderful for keeping track of toddlers in crowded malls or near stairways. They would also be great for picking up all the toys as we walked through the house, in one big sweep.

The two long feeding tentacles have many uses. When we have babies, it would be great to be able to nurse them at the same time as being able to make a pb&j for our toddler. With the older children, what mom wouldn't want to be able to cut everyone's food at once! We could also feed toddler while being able to eat at the same time. AAAAHHHHHH pure luxury!!! And just think......for the mom who has quadruplets........

I already mentioned the huge head, but I will just re-iterate what every 4 year old will tell you....Mom knows everything. Therefore, we need the big head. :-)

And the eye, ah yes, the all-knowing eye. This is the eye that gets us the response "how did you know that?" or "how did you see that?" It is the "eye in the back of the head" or the eye that helps us see through walls. It is the eye that can detect a lie and see into every child's heart. It is also the eye that lets us see when our children need some mommy time or just need some fun time (and so we have a huge pillow/tickle fight which of course we win because we have 8 arms!)

The wings should also be self explanatory to any mother. For the new mother, when her first baby makes those beautiful little mewing cries that are quickly becoming screams of epic proportions from the bedroom across the house (heard over the monitor), she will just about fly over furniture, stairs, and visitors to get to her baby. For the older mother, who is feeding a toddler at the highchair and her older child gets up in a tree, wings would be a lot easier than calling the fire department. (and a lot less embarrassing) If our wings could go fast enough, we would nearly be in two places at once, which mothers (who are natural multi-taskers and constantly strive for more) would probably abuse and try to increase to three or four places at once.

I know by this time you are all convinced that the squid IS the perfect mascot for mothers everywhere. I expect I will be getting a lot of phone calls and requests for t-shirts and hats and book bags. Until I actually manifest 8 arms, however, I will not be able to fill those requests. So, alas, you will have to make your own. I will salute you (with one of my two arms) when I pass you, though, and we can wink that all-knowing eye at each other.