Did You Signal Before Making That Left Turn?

Those things I said I wanted to talk about yesterday? Gonna have to wait. Wanna know why?

Because my boys may be coming here this weekend for the Team Impact Crusade! I don't want to get overly excited like I did here (too late!) but just in case they do visit, I've got stuff to do and clean! And right now my stomach is all in knots with anticipation and worry. The last time they were here with their stepmom, things ended up going terribly wrong. I'll know for sure by the end of the day and will come back to update y'all.

So I'm off to start my To-Do-List.

And just in case you didn't have enough links in this post, here's another. Kinda freaky considering the past few months, no?

*****UPDATE*****
10:00 P.M.
Boys and stepmom will be leaving tomorrow morning (not sure exactly when yet) and will be here for awhile before we have to go to the crusade thingy. All three will be sleeping HERE (yes, even stepmom) and returning home Sunday. I'm so excited. I still have a few things to clean, but the big stuff is either already done or not gonna get done. Right now, I'm just taking a breather so I don't collapse and end up missing out on a great weekend! Even Lil' Miss is full of energy and ideas for her visit with the brothers! Y'all take care; I'll be back with pictures!!!

Wedding Words

Friday night I was throughly exhausted and enjoying some relaxing time alone on the computer. I was waiting for Lil' Miss to fall asleep, as she had had a very long and busy day and knew she should drop before too long.

So then she came in and asked me to tell her all the words for getting married, and I told her she should try it herself first, especially since I was really tired and not in the mood for dictation. She crawled up on my bed and began to write. I laid down beside her resting my eyes as she finished the vows for her Barbie dolls Annaliesse and Dominick. When she was done she read them to me before she closed her eyes and fell right to sleep.

I was quite impressed so I decided to share with y'all her "wedding words" as she wrote them, punctuation, spelling and capitalization as well.

"We are gatherd Here Today For true Love, if you Have a ring give it to who you are giveing it to Prinsess aniles do you take King dominick to Be your Wedded Husbund? _____ King dominick do you take Prinssess aniles to be your Wedded Wife _____ if anyone thinks these two should not be Married speak NOW you may kiss the bride."

Soon She'll be Cruisin' the Hood

Quick Question for y'all: Have you ever eaten "hummus"? If so, I'd like to know what you thought of it. I was given an entire case of little cans (3 oz./85g) of this stuff and don't have a freaking clue what to do with it. The only info I've found so far had something to do with using it as a spread on pita bread.

Ok, now on to something more exciting!!! Lil' Miss is NOW officially a "two-wheelin' chick!" I'd asked her earlier this week when she thought she might want to give up those training wheels and to my amazement, she said "tomorrow." We'd tried weaning her from them about a year ago, but she was too scared and swore she'd never take them off.

Well "tomorrow" was a school day with other afternoon plans so I told her we'd take the baby wheels off her bike this weekend. Several times a day, every day she'd remind me of her new found excitement to ride like a big kid. (She's dying to ride her bike to school, which I think is the main catalyst here.) Saturday morning came and mom was dead tired and not exactly thrilled to be out running around but I told her we'd do it, so I got her to give me a break until the afternoon. By the time I was almost ready, the boys' stepmom called and then I talked to my big babies for close to two hours. Then the girls (neighborhood teenagers) stopped by to hang out. Lil' Miss was so eager to get out there and practice.

I'd taken the extra wheels off while talking on the phone, so her bike was just sitting there taunting her to get on. I asked her to give me just a few more minutes to relax then we'd go. Finally she picked up the bike and just sat on it, getting the feel of the unbalanced bike. One of the girls told her to just walk around with it for now, picking up her feet (without putting them on the pedals) and try to balance herself. A few laps around the driveway and Lil' Miss gained some confidence to put her feet up on the pedals for just a moment. Then another moment. And another.

Suddenly, she just started pedaling around and without ANY help, she was riding her bike!!! We just sat there in shock at how easy it was for her. I remember lots of crashing, tears and blood from my boys. Her high pitched squeals of joy were unbelievable and I really wished I'd had a camera to capture this rite of passage!!! Daddy sounded very sad to have missed the moment, so by the light of the full moon and our bright orange Halloween lights, she showed him when he came home from work, riding like a (semi) pro.

And we just smiled and felt the warmth inside as we beamed with pride.

(I dread the thought of her falling and getting hurt, as will surely happen soon, but for now her confidence is sky-high!)

I Love Living In Texas

I live in a fairly small city. As of the 2000 census, there was only about 32,000 people here. There has been some major economic growth since 2001 and the city is probably well over 40,000 strong now. But in the southern part of town where I live, it's still usually pretty mild. I have a fire station directly across the street from me and across from it is rural land with farm animals and lots of trees and such. This might seem strange in some places, but to have horses and cattle so nearby is comforting to me. It lets me know I'm still close to the country.

So last week I'm sitting outside going thru a cookbook trying to decide how I'm going to cook a pot roast (Dad sent me some money so I bought a roast- the first real meat I've had in the house for some time) that I want to be special. When suddenly comes this really LOUD "Moooooo!" Hearing the cows from time to time is normal, although they tend to stay more north of here especially so early in the morning when kids are going to school. Well I look over to see what the fuss is and what should I see? But the biggest darn cow running in the street, coming my way! Whoa, mama! There are two animal control trucks trying to "herd" her back to safety, but she's not having any of their nonsense. People trying to rush to work are getting pissed that they aren't able to get by the blocked intersection (hello! there's a cow running loose ya morons!) Along comes Farmer Brown, with his lasso in hand running down the street trying to catch ol' Bessie as she zig-zags back and forth between the fire station, the houses nearby and the fence that she is clearly on the wrong side of. I'm standing on the corner in my sweats and stocking feet, looking like white trash, hoping they catch her soon before one of the morons hits her. It takes about 15 minutes and 3 quarters of a mile, but they finally get her out of harm's way. I just laughed as I thought, "I know I'm in Texas NOW!"

And as if that weren't enough excitement for one week, on Saturday morning there was a major accident up the street (thank God I knew the "backways" home) requiring CareFlight to land in the field behind the fire station which is always exciting to watch. Later that same day, I happen to look out the window and casually trotting on by is one big beautiful horse, (with his owner seemingly unaware that it's not exactly the safest area for slow moving farm animals due to the speed demons too careless to slow down for the stop signs).

A cow AND a horse on MY street, only two days apart? WOW! I love TEXAS!