Bowling 101

Ok. I can admit it. I am a grown up now, and my pride can be put on the back burners. It's cool. I get it. I understand. I'm not on a temper tantrum here or anything, but seriously? I AM the grown up here!!! I am quite possibly the most competitive person that I know next to Angel, and I think that we are real close when it comes to who wants to win the most!

My temper tantrum? I'll tell ya...

Rachel had a higher score than I did at our most recent trip to the bowling alley....on BOTH GAMES!!! Yes, she beat me!!!!

What's that about anyway? I blame beginners luck. That's got to be it. There's no way that she's that awesome...or am I just that bad?

One way or the other, here are some of the pictures of my demise. I hope you all enjoy them because it's, by far, the very last time that I will EVER admit defeat!

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Notice there are 10 pins up...

Now there appear to be 4...I just don't get it!!

Next thing you know, Sam will be beating me too!

This contraption is amazing. You just put the ball on it, and push!

Sam's favorite part of bowling? Waiting for the ball to come back! Every time, he would gasp as it appeared. It was hilarious!

Driving Miss Rachel

I love to sit and watch the kids use their imagination. This is their most recent adventure. I swear, I'm going to get them cardboard boxes for Christmas!!

Rachel and Sam sit side-by-side in their "car". They beep and honk at other "drivers". They steer the car. They even park the car and get out together. She'll get out and then get Sam out. Sam's too short to climb over the "car door" to get out. Rachel will get back in and then ask Sam to be a gentleman, and open the car door for her because she is a lady, and that's what men are supposed to do for ladies.

Every now and then, they get into an accident. "Don't worry, Mama. No one got hurt!" Rachel will say.

Every day it's a new adventure. Where will they go? Who will they visit? What will happen?

It's so funny looking at it from an adult perspective. I can remember doing that exact thing when I was a kid. What I don't remember though? I don't remember my parents watching us while thinking the same thoughts that I think now as a parent.

"I can't believe I'm a grown up. It doesn't seem but a few years ago when I was in that box with my brother. Yet, here I am...watching my kids do the exact things that I did as a child."

Wow!

Praying

Rachel's Prayer that she sings for each meal is quite interesting. She has been singing it for nearly a year now. A year ago, this weekend, will be the first time that she ever stayed at our house. It's hard to believe that it's already been a year.

In that year, Sammy has picked up on the prayer and has started to sing along. Occasionally, he peeks through one tightly squinted eye to see if anyone else is peeking. Here is the video of the kids' prayer before dinner.

God our Father, God our Father
We give thanks, We give thanks
For our many blessings, For our many blessings.
Amen, Amen.

Then at the end, they have somehow added, "God Bless the Cook! Aaaaaaa---Mennnnnn!!

Rusty swears that he didn't encourage it, but who really knows...

Enjoy!

Zoinks

A few weekends ago, Rusty and I decided that the kids had entirely too much energy. There is a place here in Tallahassee that is a room dedicated to those air bouncers that kids can get in and just go. Rachel had a blast, as usual. She is such a good sister. She helps Sam do all kinds of things that I am certain he would not do if it were completely up to him. She gives him a sense of confidence that a normal two year old shouldn't have. She's an amazing sister.

The hallway to the play area reminds me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

This place is SO huge! I couldn't even begin to capture is size in a picture!!!

Aren't they just the cutest?

This was SO hard for Sam to do, but you could see the pride all over his face once he finally reached the top!!

Rach just bounced up the ladder like she had been doing this her whole life!

Rachel and Sam rode the ""Jet Ski". The odd look on Sammy's face is because the jet ski vibrates! Ha Ha!!

She's so cool!!

Sam's 1st ride on a Merry-Go-Round

The Albino Squirrel

When I was 17 or so, I went to visit my friend, Jasmine in Pensacola. Jasmine had been given an ultimatum by her parents that she either get a job or move out. Jasmine had always wanted to get out of Florida. She had some bad times in Florida throughout her life, and she was ready to start anew. So, she joined the military thinking that she would easily be sent off to some foreign land. After she went through boot camp, her orders were to be stationed in Pensacola, FL. She was pretty upset with where she was stationed being that her entire purpose for joining the military was to get out of Florida, but she made the best of the situation, and ultimately was happy with her decision.

From where I grew up, Pensacola was a 6 - 7 hour drive (Depending on who was driving and if we had a radar detector or not). On a side note, my wonderful husband has invented a radar detector detector for the police cruiser to use to catch speeders. He absolutely hates speeders (except for his wonderful wifey).

Jasmine had been living on the Navy Base for a few months, and her Mom (Jeni), my friend, Angel, and I decided to go visit her. The Blue Angels were performing that weekend, so we figured that we could spend a nice day at the beach visiting with Jasmine.

We loaded up in the car that morning with our flip-flops, sunscreen, and beach towels. We were headed for a day of relaxation and excitement! As we left the barracks, we drove throught the military base.

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you see something strange, interesting, or exciting that no one else saw? You automatically start talking about the event with such enthusiasm that the people that did not see anything give you this, "Whatever, Rebekah" look. Well, as we were driving through the military base on our way to the beach, I looked out of the window to see an Albino Squirrel. I have never in my life seen such an animal, and had also never knew that they existed. Granted, thinking about it now, I guess anything could be albino, but then, I thought that I had made a rare discovery that no one appreciated. I got the "Whatever, Rebekah" look from everyone in the car. Then they asked me what I was smoking because they wanted some.

It wasn't until recently that I remembered this conversation. Rusty was driving down the road and saw, you guessed it, an albino squirrel! Since that day, Rusty has called me every single time that he has seen an Albino Squirrel.

This blog is dedicated to Jasmine, Angel, and Jeni (who passed away a couple of years ago). I told you guys that I saw an Albino Squirrel!!!

Turkey Baby Heartbeat

We went to the doctor today for our three month checkup. We were able to get a pretty good recording of the baby's heartbeat. You can hear it by clicking the link below.

Turkey Baby Heartbeat

Skating Fun

Like I said once before, we are taking the kids skating on Saturdays. It's so much fun to watch them. Here's a couple of pictures, and a quick video of our Saturday mornings...
This was the very first time that Sam fell down. He didn't get hurt. It just freaked him out a little bit. Rachel is always such a good big sister. She was right there to comfort him and help him up.

These skates are amazing. They go over the outside of the shoe, and close over the shoe. It makes it SO easy to take them on and off.

I'm so sorry that this video is so short. It's almost a tease, but the camera battery died on me. It seems that I can never remember to charge the battery...Maybe one day...

Ha! Notice how Rachel is posing for the camera..She thinks that I am taking her picture...

Rachel - Hokey Pokey

Rachel almost loses it right around 19 seconds...gotta love it..you can hear how good of a Mom I am as I am cracking up while she is flailing about...

Sorry, but it's a little dark...what do you expect...it IS a skating rink..

Enjoy!!

Turkey / Baby Day

So, it all started when Joey, Beth, and I had spent a good 10 hours in the car. We were traveling back from seeing my other sister-in-law, Patti, in Tennessee. You know how you can get a little "punch drunk", so to speak, when you have been in the car for SO... VERY... LONG...

I don't even remember how it started, but Joey and Beth started comparing the baby's size to food at different levels of development. For example, when we made this trip, back in the middle of April, the baby was only about 2 months along...they said that it should be as big as a pea....I just went along while inserting a hint of sarcasm here and there...

Next thing you know, Joey has named the baby "turkey baby". He then proceeds to gobble, gobble, gobble. It also doesn't help matters that the baby is due on Thanksgiving Day!! I swear, this is one of those instances that I try to retell a story, and while I laugh at the memory of what happened, those of you who have NO IDEA the humor involved in the story, look at me with a puzzled look. Don't worry...I completely understand.

So, in honor of our eventful trip to Tennessee, I have a countdown to "Turkey Baby" posted for you, so that if you ever wonder how much longer you can make fun of my "turkey baby", you can check. Once the kid is born, all bets are off. I'm pretty sure that Joey was the first person that Sammy pooped on...vengence will be mine...MMMMUUUAAAAHH!!

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I'm still here

Yes. I am a slacker. I have been gung-ho about this blogging thing, and I still am. I promise. It just seems that I haven't had much to talk about.

In a nutshell....

Everyone is doing well. I am now almost 12 weeks pregnant! Thank GOD that the 1st trimester is almost over. BLAH!!! Believe it or not (seriously knocking on wood here) I have not gotten physically sick except for the stomach ache issue (which was pretty bad) and the extreme lack of energy. I was to the point that I was getting up at 4:00 every monring and going to the gym before I got pregnant. Now, I'm lucky to be up by 6:00 (I have to be at work at 6:45).

The kids are doing great...We enrolled Rachel in "artistic roller skating". I'd never heard of it before, but she is having a BLAST!!! It's extremely cheap, and she gets to go skating every Saturday for about 4 hours. Awesome way for them to get out energy. Sam is a natural at skating. (He's free because he's under 3 years old!!!). I took some video of him, but I have to find my silly cord to put the pictures on the computer with...I swear, I'm glad my head is attached, otherwise, I'd lose it too!!!

Rusty is being wonderful. He's having to deal with the kids, as well as a hormonal wife with no energy. He's a trooper. He's cooking, cleaning, and still scratching my back. Gotta love 'em!

That's all for now....just wanted to update everyone on the Corleys.

Is Spring really all that...and the chips?

In my entire life, I have never really been scared of anything. There are some things with which I have a severe dislike, such as cock roaches, but I'm not really scared of anything..except for spiders.

Growing up in a strict southern household, my parents gave me chore after chore after chore. One of my chores was to keep my room in tip top condition: clothes up, toys off the floor, organized. If I did not have my chores done, I did not get to do anything else. I couldn't watch television or play outside. No fun whatsoever until the chores were done.

When I was 15 and chores were stupid, I wanted to "go to the movies" with some friends. Not that we ever made it to the movies though...Oh, I dread what my kids will try to get away with...

In order for me to be able to go, my chores had to be completed. Of course, I did the infamous eye roll, and I walked into my room. I decided that I would hurry up with the room so that I could get going. My friends were already on their way to get me.

I had this wicker bookcase that held, of course, books, but it also held my most valuable trinkets such as my porcelain clown, an owl made of shells, pictures, etc.

I decided to do a quick dust over all of the trinkets and remove any unnecessary items. This process took me all of 2 minutes. In that two minutes, somehow, somewhere, I was attacked.

Growing up in the woods, spiders have always had an obvious presence in my world. There are so many instances in which I walked out the front door to go to school, and ran face first into a spider web only to shudder with disgust.

Sometime in the two minutes that it took to clean up my wicker bookshelf, a spider decided to jump onto my shoulder and hang out like a parrot would a pirate. I was finished cleaning the bookshelf, and as I glanced to the other side of the room, I noticed the spider on my shoulder. In a matter of milliseconds, I was able to determine that there was a completely disgusting animal on me. I was able to determine that if this animal were to stay on me for any longer, I would surely die. I was in danger.

Instantly, I dropped to the floor, shoulder first, while shrieking in complete horror. I started spinning on my shoulder as a break dancer would. I had to kill the beast! To watch this display would have been something that one would see on America's Funniest Home Videos.

This has not been my only run in with spiders. It seems that there is always something.

You would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, but Nooooo...our house is in the thickest plot of woods in all of Tallahassee. Our house is completely covered by trees. Last year, I noticed the baby spiders (spiderlings, as I have learned). I had no idea the magnitude of this situation at that point, but none the less, I was disgusted.

Spring is great! I love it when the green starts to come back, the birds and the bees are out and about, and the weather is just fantastic in Florida. The two things about Spring that I despise? Mosquitoes, naturally, and spiders! Spring sets forth an abundance of these animals. Blah!

So, last year, in the beginning of Spring, I walked into our bedroom, and was instantly confused. I had taken my work clothes off and set them on the bed earlier that afternoon to change into my "around the house" clothes. I did this about an hour or so earlier. I looked at my work clothes, and there were little red bugs all over them. I figured that I had rubbed up against something on the way into the house, but I couldn't remember. I threw the clothes and the bed sheets into the washing machine immediately, and I vacuumed the mattress and surrounding floor. I didn't want any of the bugs to spread out throughout the house.

It's funny what your mind can do to you. I know that not a single bug got on me, but for some reason, my entire body itched because of the idea that they may have touched me.

I immediately jumped into the shower. After I was "bug free", I went back to the bed where I had put my house clothes. Again, bugs!!! What is going on?!?!

I have always said, jokingly, that I only keep Rusty around for opening jars and killing bugs! Of course, I love him, but it's funny to see his reaction!

I called for Rusty. Upon further examination, we realized that the little red bugs, the size of a pin head, were in fact, spiders! Oh!! My!! God!! I have SPIDERS in my bedroom...on my bed!?! This will not do! Immediately, we run outside to see if I had brushed in to a hatching nest or something. We looked around the outside of the house, beside and inside the car, on the porch. Nothing!

Walking back inside, stumped, Rusty and I are standing in the bedroom facing the bed. We look up, and whammo! Who would think that spiderlings would hatch from your ceiling fan and spread from there occasionally falling onto your bed? Certainly, I would have never thought that this could happen.

So, we take the proactive approach. I move out of the bedroom and into Cody's room. Rusty blasts the spiders with Raid, and we vacuum all the little boogers up. The pest control company can do nothing for us. The Raid seemed to work, so I moved back into the bedroom sometime over the next few days.

Skip forward to Spring, 2008. Okay, this year has been a bit different. I noticed the spiderlings outside on the bannisters, benchseats, and cars. I thought to myself, "Oh wonderful. Here we go again!"

April Fool's Day seems to be a day that I jinx myself. Three years ago, I told a friend that I was pregnant for an April Fool's prank...turns out I was. This April Fool's, I should have known.

I notice that Rachel sees the spiders outside, and she, like her Momma, is terrified of spiders. So, me being the "wonderful" mother that I am, tell her that she better be careful because the spiders may come through the ceiling fan and get her in the middle of the night. Yes, I know. I'm horrible, but it was a good one. And, yes..We told her that we were kidding.

So, when I say that Rachel sees the spiders, I mean, she SEES the spiders. They are EVERYWHERE! They are on the bannisters, the porch, the patio table, the front door, the car, the ground. EVERYWHERE! And there's not just a random spider here and there. Oh no! There are thousands of them. So much so, that it looks like anything that they are on is moving. They have to be falling out of the trees and landing on the house. This is my best guess!

So, today is April 11th. Since April 1st, we have probably seen 6 million spiders. I remembered last year's incident with the ceiling fan, so I decide to take another proactive approach. I immediately go to the store and get a fumigator. I have Cody slap that sucker in the attic, and we leave. We'll get the little terds.

Problem solved...or so I thought.

Over the next 2 weeks, an occasional spider began showing up in the house in random places. The kid's bathroom, the kitchen wall, the dining room table, etc. I could not figure out where they were coming from, so I just figured that they were falling on us, and we were bringing them inside.

Next thing I know, there is a swarm of them in our bathroom sink. Okay, I can deal with that. I have gotten used to them in the last two weeks, as disgusted as I am to say that. We Raid the sink, and they slowly, but surely go away leaving hundreds of red dots on the counter where their dead bodies lay/lie (Rusty always tells me that my grammer is wrong when it comes to this word, so I've included both as to not be incorrect).

As long as they don't come out of the ceiling fan like last year, I'm okay. I truly believe that because they are so small, they are just getting into the house in all the little unsecured locations, and are just having a hay day scaring me to death.

Because of last year's experience, I have been glancing at our ceiling fan every time that I walk into the room. Up until Tuesday night, there have been no signs of the little beasts. Of course, Tuesday night, they start coming out of the ceiling fan. I immediately grab all of our linens out of the room, cover up anything that I don't want to get pesticides on, and set up the fumigator. Picturing this may be as funny as my break dancing moves when I was 15. I grabbed a storage bin, and two taller boxes, and I stack them on top of each

other on top of the bed. This makes a pretty impressive tower that tops out about a foot underneath the ceiling fan, and we place the fumigator on top of the tower. That'll get the little boogers.

Three hours later, and all the are spiders dead! Woo Hoo!!! Victory!!! At least that's what I thought. I clean up all the little spider bodies, and wait another couple of hours to see if any more sneak out and fall onto the bed...nothing! Clear!

I go to bed thinking that I had won the battle! Nope, I was wrong. They didn't come back that night, no, but they did play a good game with my mind. About 3:30 in the morning, I woke up, and I pictured myself lying in bed, covered in spiders! Talk about nerve racking. I was terrified to get up to look because I may have died, but at the same time, I didn't want to lie there as spiders crawled all over me if that was the case. So, I jump out of bed, and turn the light on. Nothing. Rusty just grunts at me because I woke him up, poor thing. Must be miserable to not be bothered by spiders whatsoever!

So, I go the next day, completely drained from the lack of sleep and the continuous stomach aches that this pregnancy seems to have brought with it, thinking that I am the victor of such a dramatic battle!

WRONG! Last night, yet again, spiders coming from the ceiling fan! At this point, they are numbering in the hundreds and they are falling all over the bed. I run to the store to get more Raid, and Rusty (my bug man) takes care of the problem. They were gone instantly, and the bottle said that it's supposed to keep them away for 4 weeks! Stupid spiders. Mess with me. Of course, I had a repeat of Tuesday night in the area of sleep.

I think that they have won the battle, but I will never openly admit it. They have infiltrated my house, kept me from sleeping, and have made me itch for 2 weeks. Relentless little terds.

Spring is always welcome in my house, but when it comes to spiders, I'd prefer it to be winter all year long!

An Eventful Easter!

There have been several Easters where I felt that one was not necessarily "better" than another because each Easter is special to me, but I would have to say that this Easter has been the BEST Easter that I have ever had! There were so many aspects to this year's Easter that made each and every moment more and more special as the day went on.

If you can believe this, I actually planned this year. Typically, I am one of those "last minute, go out and grab a couple of items to throw into last year's Easter basket, hope they will like it type of Moms. This year? Completely different! I hit Wal-Mart when all of the good stuff came out a couple of weeks after Valentine's Day. One thing that I have never understood is why holidays always start months before they actually are. It seems like Christmas shoppers are starting in September anymore.

So, the kids woke up LONG before the chickens and, after a pancake breakfast, they tore into their Easter baskets. Rachel gets excited when she gets stuff. She was so used to getting stuff all of the time before, and now, she gets stuff as a reward or such as this case, Easter. She ripped into her Easter basket, and just squealed. I tried to keep the candy to a minimum because of our healthy eating habits now, so there were all kinds of toys, figurines, etc. in there for her.


Sam followed Rachel's lead when it came to his Easter basket. He'd watch Rachel dig around in hers and see her get excited, so, the little guy dug into his and got excited. He had no idea what most of the stuff was, but he didn't care. He made this noise that sounded like someone was just surprised. It was quite possibly the cutest thing that I have ever seen!

After Easter baskets were devoured and jelly beans tested, we went to the Sunrise Service at church. They didn't have childcare at this service because it was so early in the morning, so the kids came to "big church" with us. It was, to say the least, interesting. Thank God that the church thought ahead. They gave each of the kids a coloring book and crayons to keep them quiet. This strategy worked on Rachel the whole time, but Sam was another story. Sam decided that he didn't want to color. He wanted to play with the crayons, the bibles, the chair, his shoes, Mommy's shirt, Daddy's shoes, his shoes, his socks, and whatever else he could see. Finally, after all of that became boring, he decided that he wanted to talk very loudly. So, to keep him quiet, I pulled out my camera and started showing him pictures. He loves to point at people that he knows, and tell me their name. So, for the rest of the service, up until communion, he whispered names to me...Whew! It was time for communion. Rusty went up to get ours, and Sam started crying because Rusty left without saying goodbye. So, Sam and I left to. We went out into the lobby and walked around.


Immediately after church, we went home. Rachel and I colored eggs while Sam and Rusty played. I had never colored eggs as an adult, so I wasn't very good at it. But, the benefit of having young kids is that they don't know any different!!!


After we finished the eggs, we went to my Mom's church for an Easter egg hunt. Rachel scored a whopping 32 eggs from the hunt, and Sammy got 1 egg. Sam didn't quite grasp the concept of the Easter Egg Hunt, so he was more interested in playing on the toys. The one that he did get was by luck. Sam was the youngest kid there, so all of the other kids snatched up all of the eggs long before I could help Sam find another one. We almost had two eggs, but as we were walking toward the egg to pick it up, a little girl grabbed it up. Oh well!


Nap time! We went back to Mom's house for Easter dinner, after we found her keys that she put onto someone's car that drove away (the keys were on the side of the road), and put Sam down for his nap. He sleeps about two hours, so in the meantime, we all ate dinner, and then I took a catnap. I love midday naps. Rachel borrowed Sam's sidewalk chalk that the Easter Bunny gave him, and took to the driveway. What a mess!


Mom was keeping the kids for us that night because both Rusty and I had to be at work very early the next morning, so at around 5:00, we started to leave. I wanted Sam to experience an Easter Egg Hunt, so I took the 33 eggs from earlier out into Mom's front yard and hid all of them. As we left, Mom had the kids outside hunting eggs...again. Rachel was a little bored with the process, but I think that she was in the beginning stages of her onset of walking pneumonia that she was diagnosed with on Monday (Another story, but she's doing fine now). Sam, however, tore into the game. He was running through the yard with his Easter basket slung over his arm. He would pick up the egg and chuck it into the basket. At one point, I saw him trying for two at one time! Ah, to be a kid again!


Rusty and I got home, and we just collapsed into the chairs on the porch. He called his Mother, and I think that he talked to Cody as well to wish them both a Happy Easter! While he was on the phone, my mind got to wandering, as it typically does. So, I loaded up into the car, went to the store, and as soon as I got back, I did it. Turns out that my suspicions were correct.

We are pregnant!

Yeah....us too!! We were just as surprised as you are! Rusty and I JUST started thinking about the possibility of having more kids...in the future. We never expected this to happen. Don't get me wrong. We are very happy, but I think shocked would be a good word as well.



Two weeks ago, I had my well-woman exam, and the doctor mentioned that because of all my weight loss (73 pounds now), it would be okay for us to get pregnant. The next day, my friend, Melissa, said that we better be careful because we could get pregnant (weight loss, again). Then, my Aunt Corny tells me that she'd love for us to have more kids, but thinks that it would be a good idea to wait until we get back from our cruise in September. I completely and totally agreed with that statement. Rusty and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend, and we have yet to have a honeymoon...this was to be our honeymoon. Don't worry, we are still going...I'll just be 6-7 months pregnant!


My unofficial due date is November 26, 2008 (The day before Thanksgiving), and I am 4 weeks pregnant. I have a doctor's appointment set up for April 11th, so I can update everyone on the due date, if it changes.


So, to say the least, our Easter was one for the books! I always said that I wanted to have three kids. But, I guess we are already working on number 4!

What is it with Toes?

So, I'd like to preface this with the fact that I would have normally not posted this as a blog topic because it is just disgusting. I have to warn you, if you have a weak stomach, you don't want to continue reading. Just know that I am an awesome blogger, and leave it at that..

You remember how I "broke" my toe a few weekends ago? Well, thanks for asking...it's doing just fine!

Rusty's toe, however, is not doing so good.

Rusty works Monday through Saturday at an electrical supply company. They basically supply Electricians in the field with their supplies: light bulbs, wire, etc. On Saturdays, Rusty and a coworker, Terrell, organize the warehouse for the next week's orders. It's very physical work more often than not, so Rusty loves Saturdays and all of the extra points (Weight Watchers) that he gets.

This past Saturday, Rusty and Terrell were moving spools of copper wire from one part of the warehouse to another. I never knew this, but Rusty tells me that copper wire spools are VERY heavy.

It is a known fact in our family, that the right hand can sometimes sabotage you. For whatever reason, Rusty and Cody both have issues with their right hands having minds of their own. For example, Cody could be holding the remote control with his right hand, and randomly, he'll drop it..for no reason. Rusty has issues as well, but none come to mind. Let's just say that we always blame the right hand phenomenon for dropsies...even if it has nothing to do with it.

So, Saturday, Rusty and Terrell are moving all of this wire from one place to another. For those of you that don't know Rusty all that well, he is a VERY strong guy. Where Terrell was putting the wire on a cart and pulling it over to the other side of the warehouse, Rusty was carrying the wire...silly man.

You see where this is going, but you would never believe how much damage an 80 pound spool of copper wire could do to a toe. Rusty dropped the wire from about 4 feet in the air onto the corner of his shoe smashing in to his entire big toe. A few choice words and possibly a few tears later, Rusty thought that his toe may or may not still be attached. He slowly took off of shoe. This was the last time that he wore a shoe for several days.

Now, Corley men want nothing to do with doctors. They will go out of their way to NOT see a doctor at all costs. Rusty STILL has not gone to the doctor about this toe. As you can see, it's black, blue, and all sorts of different colors.

I apologize for the graphic pictures, but you have to understand the "toe" situation. I break my toe last weekend, and then this past weekend, Rusty smashes his.

His toe is feeling a little better, but he is going to be forced into the doctor's office to get his toenail removed sometime this week. That's all there is to it. If he doesn't, his poor wittle toe will never be the same.

Comment

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If you have any problems, let me know.

R

Sleep Walking

According to Wikipedia, sleep walking can be entertaining as well as dangerous.

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepwalking

I have always had a problem with sleepwalking. I've had more a problem with talking in my sleep, but sleepwalking can be one of those random things that I do. Not too terribly long ago, I found myself standing in the middle of our bedroom trying to turn on the light by the pull cord on the fan. I had been there for about 5 minutes according to Rusty. Apparently, I wasn't pulling the cord hard enough. Rusty finally asked me what I was doing, and I guess I realized that I was standing in the middle of the room. I really don't remember very much about the incident. Rusty has told me most of it.

Some people have embarrassing moments while sleepwalking. I have never personally experienced it, that I know of, but a friend of mine has a story on embarrassing sleepwalking experiences.

My friend, Melissa has two sisters. I was talking to Melissa last night, and the subject of sleep walking came up. She told me that her sister has always had a problem with sleepwalking. One of the several stories that she told me was of a time that her sister came very close to an embarrassing moment.

Forgive me if I don't tell the story perfectly, but I think I can give you the general idea of what happened.

Melissa's Dad was asleep one night, and he was awakened to a noise coming from his closet. This was not your usual "middle-of-the-night" noise either. He sprang up into a sitting position on the bed, yet still under the covers as to not frighten the mysterious creature in the closet.

I can remember those nights where you think that you hear something unusual. I know, just as most of you do, that staying under the covers is more of a comfort for your sanity than for the noise's sanity.

Melissa's Dad took the covers off, swung his legs to the side of the bed, and listened. The noise was strange and frightening at the same time. It sounded as though there was a fierce wind blowing around all of the hangers in the closet.

As he opened the closet ever so slowly, he saw his daughter's blond hair. Melissa's sister was reaching into the hangers and moving them around. He asked her what she was doing, and she responded that she was looking for the light switch because she had to use the bathroom! This sleepwalking experience was a close call in the embarrassment arena.

Sleepwalking can also be dangerous. I would imagine that people could hurt themselves in many different ways while they were sleep walking. People could run into walls, cut themselves, or even fall down stairs. Sleepwalking, as funny as some situations can be, is a very dangerous behavior.

So, apparently, sleep walking is hereditary.

Last night, I was talking to Melissa on the phone. I stepped out onto the porch so that my talking would not awake the kids. Sometimes, I get a little bit louder than I'd like. It started getting cold, so I came inside, and as I walked out of the bedroom, there stood Rachel.

Rachel has a serious problem with sleepwalking. At least once a week (that we know of), she will come out of her room, stand in the hallway, and just look around. Typically, we ask her if everything is okay. She'll mumble that she's fine, and then continue to stand there. So, we send her back to bed where she collapses into a deep sleep.

So, back to last night. Rachel is standing in the hallway between the kitchen and the fireplace as though she has just left her room. The weirdest thing though, was that she was holding the jar of mayonnaise from the refrigerator. Of course, I ask her what she is doing with the mayonnaise, and with glazed over eyes, and a soft, slow voice, she said, "I waaasss mmaakinggg a sssnnnnnnaaaaacck."

I thought I was going to die laughing. Here's my daughter that NEVER goes into the refrigerator without permission standing in her footie pajamas holding mayonnaise. There's no telling how long she had been walking around the house holding the jar of mayonnaise. It was all I could do to not completely crack up in her face. She would have never known just what it was that I was laughing at, nor would she have ever remembered the situation, but my fear was that I would actually wake her up, and it would be difficult to get her back into bed.

So, I told Rachel that she needed to put the mayonnaise back into the refrigerator and go to bed. She had no qualms with my instruction. She put the mayonnaise back, and walked to her bedroom. A few minutes later, I ventured into her bedroom to make sure that she was asleep, and I think that she just collapsed onto the bed and that was that. If there is one thing that Rachel is good at, it's sleeping!

I seriously doubt that she remembers anything at all about the incident, and I'm sure that when I tell her what she was doing, she will crack up laughing as well.

As for the future episodes of sleep walking. I am now convinced that sleep walking can be very dangerous. We will be installing a chain lock on the front door tonight.

Some Cool Kids

Rusty and I visited our church's yard sale a couple of weekends ago, and Rachel just HAD to have a "brand new to her" pair of 25 cent sunglasses. Rachel decided that since she had her "new" pair of sunglasses, she would give her old ones to Sammy. She loves to give her old stuff to Sammy.

So, the next morning, we load up in the car to go to church. I look in the back seat, and there are my babies, cool cats that they are, wearing their sunglasses. It just touched my heart.

A Green St. Patrick's Day

So, today is St. Patrick's Day. Typically, everyone wears green in the spirit of the holiday.

Of course, I NEVER remember to wear green, so naturally, I put a green sticker on my shirt and call it a day.

I went to Po'Boys (Creole food) for lunch today where they serve the best fried pickles in the world! There are several locations in Tallahassee. The one by my office was cluttered with drunk college students fresh off of Spring Break. Everyone was covered in green shirts, hats, beads, etc. That location was serving .50 green beer. Blah...I hate beer.

The other Po'Boys is in the more "family" side of town, so we made the trek across town to the nicer one. This location also had people wearing green, but they were more of the business class, so it wasn't out of control. Ironically, the green beer at this Po'Boys cost $1.00. Hmmm..

So, I'm sitting outside, eating my fried, green pickles, watching people that are wearing green in several different ways and drinking green beer, proudly wearing my green sticker star, and I look over to the parking lot.

For some silly reason, every single car that was parked in this particular section of the parking lot had once been a shiny black vehicle...now, they are as green as everything else today.

The pollen around Tallahassee is absolutely ridiculous. EVERYTHING turns green. I don't remember it being this bad when I was growing up, but it seems that for some reason, it is just horrible here. The green seems to get in the smallest of places too. I don't understand how it travels underneath things. My porch is maroon in color, but ironically, it is green underneath the benches.

Whatever. I'm thankful for spring, but I'm ready for the pollen to go away! I love green, but not in the way that it covers everything!!

Why?

We painted again this weekend....a lot!

Rachel's room was bright blue, so not only did we have to paint it...we had to primer it as well...blah!!! We ended up painting Rachel's room, the hallway, and the kids' bathroom. Not fun at all, but blasting the music so loud that I'm sure they neighbors were singing along makes the experience not too terribly agonizing.

As if painting wasn't enough torture all in itself, I ended up breaking my poor pinky toe. It's inevitable that I will kick something and stub my toe(s) at least once a week or so. It seems that Rusty and I have this in common. My sudden hatred for any random object is something that I will never understand. Stubbing toes and biting your tongue. Why?

My poor wittle toe....I think it's about 4 different shades of blue, black, purple, and black.

The most frustrating thing about breaking my toe other than the obvious pain? I just bought two new pairs of shoes Friday night, and I can't even enjoy them!!

Oh well..

Painting

I really HATE painting.

I am one of those "crafty" people that only truly become "crafty" while standing in front of endless arts and crafts supplies. I see all these supplies and have high hopes, but ultimately, arts and crafts are not my forte'. I step into a Michaels or a Hobby Lobby, and that is the end. I INSTANTLY become a craft makin' machine. I buy everything under the sun that I "think" that I can do, and as soon as I step into the house, I lose my new found talent. Gone. Nothing.

I have a friend that can scrapbook like there's no tomorrow. Somehow, she can take a picture that would ordinarily be "not so nice", and she can turn it into this amazing page. She adds trinkets and stamps and who knows what else to the page. Ultimately, it becomes a work of art. She even makes a few bucks scrap booking for her coworkers from time to time. SHE is what one would call "crafty".

I love the idea of being crafty, but wishing for craftiness and having to paint your house is a completely different animal.

It's funny though. I realize that I hate it only after I begin the process. Somehow, I forget my severe dislike of this process.

This weekend, we started painting the house. We began in Sam's room because we are going to use his room to ultimately store stuff while we move. Rusty and I went to Lowe's to buy the stuff for painting (paint, rollers, brushes, etc). We get all of the stuff back to the house, and immediately, I am ready to get to work. I have somehow convinced myself that this will be an adventure.

Whatever.

Beth gets wind of us having to paint, and suddenly her eyes light up. She apparently LOVES to paint. Cha-ching! Jackpot! Finally, I don't have to do this alone. Somehow, Rusty is perfectly fine with painting...one strip of the wall...and then he's done..leaving the rest for me to do with him randomly coming into the room to take the paintbrush from me only to paint a new strip onto the wall and walk away. So, when Beth tells me that she LOVES to paint, I'm so over-the-top happy, I don't know what to do with myself!

So, we still have all of the house left to do with the exception of Sam's room. I have to say, Beth painted 97% of Sam's room with a smile on her face yesterday, and I loved every minute of it. It's so cool to have someone that loves to do things that you absolutely despise. Another thing that I despise? Gift wrapping...Guess who LOVES to gift wrap? And guess who gets to do my gift wrapping every year? You guessed it...Beffie!!

Love you, pookie!

FedEx - The World On Time

From the beginning of time, humanity has had to work for a living. Whether it be to trade goods with a neighboring village or to be able to afford luxuries that others did not have. Everyone has to survive. We are surviving, right?

I work for FedEx. I started working for FedEx nearly six years ago as a package handler. Being a package handler is more than likely one of the most physical jobs that I have ever had. The job description is inclusive to the job title. Basically, you move packages from one place to another, and they pay you $7.50 an hour for your services. Coming from Putnam County (Podunk Nowhere), $7.50 an hour was pretty good pay. I wasn't arguing at all.

After I worked as a package handler, the company realized that I was good enough to promote. They hired me on as a temp driver for the Christmas season where I worked from 5:00am to about 9:00pm Tuesday through Saturday (I was still handling packages in the morning).

I initially moved to Tallahassee to go to Florida State University (Go Noles!!!!). I can remember the Spring Break where my Dad brought me to Tallahassee to see all of the Florida history. My Dad and I didn't get a ton of alone time, so this was a very special trip for me. We went all over the place sightseeing and whatnot. He showed me all over the Indian sites, the Florida Government, and yes, FSU.

Now, a little background here...my Dad was a graduate of the University of Georgia. He was a die hard Bulldogs Fan. When it came time for football season, all you would hear come out of his mouth was, "Go Dawgs!". There were so many Florida Gator fans in my hometown, that conversations could become teasingly heated at times. He even encouraged me to go up to Gator fans and ask them what happened to the Gators every time that they would lose (which was quite often in those days). For some reason, Gator fans were and are typically annoying, but there are some from time to time that are tolerable. Usually, they proclaim that, "So and so cheated" or "That was a bad call" even when it wasn't.

I didn't really want to move to Georgia as a child because all of my family either lived in Florida or Virginia. Dad wanted me to become a Bulldog. I decided, being the independent thinker that I am, that I would just go to FSU and become a Seminole.

So, soon after graduating from the local Community College, Rusty and I headed for Tallahassee. I'd been sitting around for about three weeks, not doing anything (and loving it), when Rusty packed me up in the car to get a job. The ONLY place that I applied to was FedEx, and that was because it was a mile from our house. They hired me on the spot.

After a few months of working 13 - 15 hour days for FedEx, I was promoted to a Part Time manager. FedEx has fantastic benefits, and one of the benefits that I was to receive was that they would pay 100% of tuition and books for college if I made As and Bs. Obviously, I made As and Bs!

Working my way up the ladder, for lack of a better word, I find myself 2nd in command at our facility. This has its advantages and its disadvantages.

Now, I'd like to preface this with the fact that I love my job, but there are some days that I tend to have less hair than my husband. If you didn't know already, working for FedEx is a very gruelling and trying career. There are a lot of ins and outs that if I tried to explain would make your head spin.

My specific position is called a Pickup & Delivery Manager. Basically, I am the manager of all of the Employees, Contractors, and Drivers. There are about 50 - 75 people at any given time that all answer to me. If you have ever worked in management, you know that there is a lot that can go wrong when this many people work for you. Thus, the lack of hair.

So, as part of my job, I have to monitor the Drivers' customer service, safety habits, and delivery efficiency. In order to do this, I have to go on the road with them on their route. If there is anything that makes me pull my hair out more than covering vacations for everyone that works with me, it is doing these rides.

I have to sit on a chair that I so lovingly call, "The Plank" ALL DAY LONG as the drivers go around corners, go over speed bumps, and bounce around dirty and dusty roads. "The Plank" is practically a piece of wood that is covered in fabric with no more than an inch of padding. It is miserable. Not only do I have to go on these rides with the drivers, but I have to spend the day with these drivers...in a closed compartment. Now, don't get me wrong because I like most of them, but there are some that just drive me batty.

These "men" are such babies. I swear, I will never understand why the male and female "species", so to speak, can not understand each other. Why can't men and women understand each other, but they can put people on the moon? Only God knows.

I have to do these rides at least two times a week. Mondays are Zumba days, Tuesday is Weight Watchers day, and Friday is just Friday. I'm not going to ruin a Friday by being on the road if I can help it! So, by process of elimination, I leave Wednesdays and Thursdays available for my rides.

Keeping in mind that I absolutely HATE going on these rides, I have had a change of heart this week. It occurred to me that I am one of the few people that get to go all over the place and enjoy things that I normally would not get to see.

Our facility services the Gulf Coast in the Panhandle. This past Wednesday and Thursday, I spent the entire day roaming around the Gulf of Mexico (Apalachicola, St. George Island, and several fishing villages). As I was bouncing through Eastpoint, I looked over at the Apalachicola Bay and realized that it's actually pretty nice to be looking out into the ocean. Bouncing over miles of bridges where you realize that the only thing that separates you from the 50 foot drop into the ocean is a seat belt strapped to a "Plank". This is very intimidating. Yes, I seem to put my life in the hands of these drivers that I may or may not even like...hmmmm..

Growing up on the Atlantic ocean, I've often wondered what I couldn't see lying just under the surface. As I was riding, I realized that I would never know. I don't think that I was discouraged in this finding, but more than likely intrigued by the "unknown" that lies beneath.

I did realize one thing though. Even in this miserable situation, I am able to look past the negative and see that the world is such a beautiful place. I may have a stressful career, a busy home life, and a ton of hobbies that keep me busy, but there's always going to be somewhere to escape to, if the need arise.

FedEx's slogan implies that it can cover the world in a timely fashion. Fast. Efficient. Effective. I believe that it accomplishes this feat relatively successfully.

I can't tell you how many times that I have wished for Friday to already be here. I love my weekends! I get to spend time with the family, catch up on some much needed rest (or not, depending on the weekend's schedule), clean up the house a bit, or explore a new neighborhood. Play.

We need to play more often. We need to stop and realize that if we keep wishing away our weeks to only enjoy the weekend, that time is going to go away. It never comes back. FedEx has it right. The world is always looking for the "faster" route. This serves FedEx well, but the rest of us need to enjoy each day for what it is. I can moan and groan about having to go on a ride, and I typically do, but in the long run, had I never had the opportunity to go on the rides, I would never have had certain experiences.

It is these experiences that make us who we are and who are to become. It is these experiences that mold our children. Our children are sponges. Our children see our actions and reactions to certain circumstances and absorb everything. I feel that it is my responsibility to enable my children to enjoy every minute of life and to find the positive in every situation. The "unknowns" of the world are always going to be there.

I may work for FedEx where everything has to be fast and efficient, but I don't live for FedEx.

I want to slow down.

I want to enjoy every minute of every day.

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Do-You-Think-He-Snore-Us

Snoring has always been a common household pest. To some, it rates right up there with the occasional lizard or cockroach. To others, there is really nothing better than snuggling up to the love of your life and falling asleep to the sound of his snore. I guess it all depends on the circumstances. Most of the time, I fall into the latter. Snoring has never really bothered me unless it's one of those nights that I just can't fall asleep no matter how much I try. Usually, it's someone else telling me how badly I snore, and I just deny it: mainly because I don't snore...

Last night, my snoring experience reached new heights. I had a dream last night that just floored me. If any of you have ever seen my Mom's old house, you'd know that it was a very tall house. Some parts of it reached over 25 feet tall, I swear. Well, last night's dream took place in my Mom's old house in Putnam County *which is weird all on its own*.

You all know how dreams are difficult to explain, so bear with me.

Starting at a pretty river in the mountains, I suddenly switch to my Mom's bedroom. There are, of course, dream extras, by which I mean that there are people there that I don't know. The extras were telling me to be really quiet. "Shhh", they said. Of course, I had no idea why anyone needed to be quiet as there was nothing in the house to hide from. I grew up here, and I knew the house inside and out. There was nothing.

All of a sudden, I heard a growl. Now, this wasn't your typcical growl. This was the growl of something that any modern day human had never heard before. I was immediately frightened beyond all belief. This was MY house. What the hell was growling like that in the house that I so know and love? I asked one of the extras, "What the heck was that?" He said, "It's a T-Rex! We've got to run!" Now because I am SO knowledgeable in the area of the T-Rex, and because I saw Jurassic Park like 50 times, I am well aware of what to do when encountered by a T-Rex.

"Don't run!" I said. "I saw this in a movie once. You need to remain completely still. The T-Rex only responds to movement!" So, naturally, everyone listened to me, as it's my damn dream. We listened longer to the growling. Then, it's as like the dinosaur disappeared. We snuck (yes, snuck is a word) around the corners of some rooms, trying to surround the dinosaur on all sides. We wanted to see just what it was doing. Then...all of a sudden...the loudest growl that this T-Rex put forth yet. It shook our ears all the way down to our esophagus. We were terrified. What was the thing doing? Well, it looked like one of my stuffed animals had pissed it off because it was killing it; not that I really liked that one anyway.

The next thing I know, the dinosaur starts to growl again. This animal has figured out that we were watching it. The loudest growl of the dream happens, and I guess I got scared because I woke up instantly to the same growl. It was my loving husband snoring. Apparently half of my dream was a dinosaur growling and I came to realize real quick that my entire dream was brought on by Rusty's snore.

There I was, laughing histerically at 2:00am with the love of my life snuggled right up next to me.

Picture This

I know tons of people that have blogs. They sit down to their computer to discuss topics that vary from absolutely hysterical to an array of emotions that can bring readers to tears. I have thought about the idea of writing a blog for quite some time now, but I never really knew just what I would talk about.

I am sitting in my office at work looking around and thinking about a topic that I could discuss: some profound idea that will entertain the readers, and I'm thinking to myself, "Face it, Rebekah. You are not a profound person. You are simple. You entertain yourself more than you do others."

With that, I have decided that I will just create a blog that I post on random thoughts, feelings, or ideas. I am not a writer. I tend to blab on about random thoughts more than I do a particular subject. At this point, I have already written most of this post, but I have come back up to the top to put in this "disclaimer", if you will, that I'm a blabber... I'm not necessarily certain that I am good at this whole "blogging" thing. If you ask Rusty, he claims that he is the only reason that I passed Composition I in college, but I beg to differ.

For my very first blog ever, I will talk about....hmmm...pictures....

The word "picture" is defined as:

pic·ture - [pik-cher]
–noun
1. a visual representation of a person, object, or scene, as a painting, drawing, photograph, etc.: I carry a picture of my grandchild in my wallet.
2. any visible image, however produced: pictures reflected in a pool of water.
3. a mental image: a clear picture of how he had looked that day.
4. a particular image or reality as portrayed in an account or description; depiction; version.

I define a picture as a single instance. A moment. Less than a moment, for that matter of a time or a place or a thing or a person that touches your soul. It sticks with you throughout your lifetime, and that you remember every aspect of the moment.

I have tried to take pictures of the kids that portray them the way that I see them. I am rarely successful. I have tried to capture images such as flowers, birds, or sunsets that, in that moment, are breathtakingly beautiful, but no matter how many angles I use, no matter how many times I change the settings on the camera, it NEVER captures the moment like I see it or feel it.

I have images of memories in my head. For instance, I remember the way my summer camp counselor looked as I said good-bye. I remember the way the steam would come out of the smoke stacks of the electrical plant in my hometown. I remember the way that my daughter looked when she was born. These are things that I will always remember, but a picture would NEVER duplicate the exact memory that I have. Yes, it would help remind me of those things, but it would never be the same.

Pictures have been known to completely replace words.

For example: A smiley face. A smiley face automatically tells you that whatever the situation is, it is a good thing. Happy. Content. Good. A smiley face gives you the feeling that everything is or is going to be all right. A child in 2nd grade can get a smiley face sticker on a test because they received a good grade. But then, sometimes, it can be placed on a t-shirt and worn by a teenager who may or may not be smiling at all. Sometimes it is altered to give the person a little bit more of an idea of what the expression means such as sarcasm or silliness.

There are several ways that this blog could go from here, but I'm trying to minimize my blabbing. I look around my office and see pictures of my family and friends. In recent years, I have realized that my family is priority number one. I used to be so focused on work and school. Yes, being successful at work and finishing school have been a vital part of our family's success, but there comes a time when leaving work at work is crucial.

I look up from my computer screen to my picture wall. There are pictures of the kids (of course, they are the best of the best pictures). I pick the pictures that I feel capture the kids the best to put in my office. Naturally, they never truly meet my expectations, but they are close. There is one of Sammy that just kills me. Rusty is pushing Sam in the swing. You can see Rusty's smile as he pushes Sam, and the close up of Sam has him grinning from ear to ear. This is my boy. He is constantly smiling (even when he is eating...he eats ALL THE TIME). The picture successfully captured Sammy's smile, but it didn't capture all of the other emotions that go along with that day. What you can't see is that he is chuckling as he goes back towards Rusty and cackling as he comes towards the camera. You can't feel the breeze of that cool fall day. You can't smell nature.

There are pictures that Joey (my nephew) took last weekend of him and the kids. Sam and Rachel just love Joey. I think that it took Sammy nearly a year to even LOOK at Joey without crying (we think that it was his goatee), but now, it seems that Joey is his favorite more often than not. A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say. I think it should be more than that. I completely understand that its a "phrase", but c'mon. Just describing the events that lead up to the actual picture's outcome would take more than a thousand words all on its own. In these pictures that were taken with the kids and Joey, it looks like they are just playing around, being silly...which, don't get me wrong, they were. But, what you don't see is Joey's aggravation because this was about the 10th time of taking the picture to get it "just right". You also don't see that my house is a complete mess, nor do you see that Rachel and Beth are sitting idly by, waiting for their turn to have pictures taken.

What I don't get is why people put incriminating pictures of themselves on the Internet. For some reason, I guess, they don't understand that people are always watching you whether it be a potential employer, an incorrigible teenager, or a stalker. Society these days is not safe. I guess I kind of contradict myself with this statement as here I am on the Internet. Oh well, we all can't live in a shell and depend on a single picture to tell our story or the story of the world around us.

The one thing that we CAN depend on? Even though our pictures don't exactly catch the images that we feel, we can be reminded of that time of our lives and how special they were.