and Cuteness has a sister ..

Fools follow up and the eyes of a 5-year-old

Some asked for a follow up on the Aprils Fools gag I pulled on the boy. I finally woke him around 9AM. We were going to visit Chris. He opens his bedroom door, and there it is, a new barrier. He poked it. It didn't go away. He called out.

"Hey?!?!"

Silence.

"Uh, can I get out of my room please?"

Snickering.

The funniest part was the reaction of our 2-year-old boxer, Dusty. He was jumping at the plastic. He could see Kyle. He just couldn't get to him. Finally, he jumped up on it and cut it with his toenails. Then Kyle used his sword to cut his way out. He said if it had been earlier, he would have walked right into it.

Now .. the eyes of a 5-year-old. We went to visit my middle daughter and her hubby and kids. Ian is 5 and Abby is 2. They love "Big Papaw". They gave me some static stick stickers. We had to go out right then to put them on the windows of Papaw's truck (yes, Debbie, the big red one.) While they were in my truck they went exploring. Now, the truck is a Chevy Trailblazer Extended. There was plenty to explore. One of the things Ian found in the truck was my camera. He asked and was given permission to take pictures. Here are some of those pictures from the yes of a 5-year-old.

Of course, he had to do a self portrait.

Then he had to get a shot of his sexy Mamaw.
There also had to be a shot of Big Papaw.
And a shot of his escaping little sister.
And a shot of the light at the top of the drivers side door, of course.

it's that V day thing again

We have been quite busy this week.

The week was capped by a grand visit with my daughter Chasity and grandkids, Ian and Abby. They were in town to attend a car auction to buy a second vehicle. While hubby was at the auction, TJ and I took C and the kids out for some supper. Then they came to the house. We visited for nearly 2 hours. I had a great time with them. Abby was scared of me last time we saw them, a few weeks ago. This visit, she talked to her 'big papaw' and even sat on the couch and brushed my hair. When it came time to leave, she ran to me and gave me kisses and hugs.

Today is Valentines day. (Thought I might let you know, just in case the floral or chocolate industry hadn't done enough to remind you.) Following is a poem I wrote for TJ early in our relationship. It still bears true today. She is my heart. We married just over 5 years ago (Oct 2003) after dating for about 18 months. I still love lying beside her at night and waking with her in the morning. We are still continuing our, thus far, nearly 7 year conversation.

Become

From whence,
From where,
How did you come,
To be standing there;

Was it from my mind,
That you were torn,
Or was it my heart,
From which you were born;

Did my fingers beg you into being,
To feel your softness beneath,
Did my eyes create you,
For the smiles you bequeath;

Did my lips beget you,
To feed this hunger old,
To pass gently across,
To press, ardently and bold;

Did my heart,
Beat you into existence,
Did you simply appear,
Full of yesterday and today’s presence;

Did I breathe you,
Born of winters mist,
Filled with warmth and sun,
By summers season kissed;

Did you become,
For me
Or did I become,
For thee?

Ron Simpson, Jr.
August 31, 2002

Birthday Visit

Today is Carol's 77th birthday. We visited her at the nursing home.

You are looking at 4 generations .. Top: TJ, middle: Chella, Carol, Sierra .. and then Cloe.

























Here are Cloe and Carol. (Great granddaughter and Great grandmother)
Cloe is looking at Carol as if to say, "I will take care of you."

Sharing the misery of the season

I know .. Christmas is a joyous season. I love Christmas. It isn't my favorite holiday, but it is close to the top. My favorite holiday is Independence Day.

I am not being unfaithful to my Christian beliefs by not having a religious holiday as my favorite. It is widely held that while Jesus was born, He was not born in December. More likely it was around August. Shepherds were still tending flocks in the field. Even in the Middle East, shepherds did not keep the flock in the fields in winter.

I know that early Christians were forced by Roman decree to celebrate the state holidays of Rome. What holiday we as Christian celebrate as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was in fact the Roman celebration of the Goddess of fertility, hence eggs and bunnies.

Early believers celebrated their own beliefs in the place of the Roman celebrations, and voila' Christian holidays were born. And that is our history lesson for today.

Back to the 'sharing the misery' of the season. If there is anything miserable about this season it is traffic and crowded stores. We were mostly finished with our shopping and avoiding the traffic and crowds, until my daughter told me that her middle son already had the gift we got for him.This meant returning the gift to the crowded mega-store and venturing back into hell (toy section.) The only real mega-store here in Podunkville is Wal-mart. Several surrounding towns do not have their own Wal-mart, so ours picks up the slack. Today, we went into the belly of the beast. We needed a few groceries and to pick up a gift for the boy. It was horrible. There was rudeness, pushing, shoving, and cursing. And, that was just me pushing kids out of the way in the toy aisles .. KIDDING .. (I started pushing long before I reached the toy aisle .. again KIDDING.)

We also needed a gift for my youngest daughter. While I was in line, I spotted the perfect 'sharing the misery' gift. It was so obvious. She keeps telling us that she really doesn't want anything. So, I got her the gift of sharing. I purchased for her, a Wal-mart gift card.

Now, sometime, she has to go out in the traffic. Admittedly it will be less after the holiday, but the taste is still there. She will have to go into the belly of the beast. (Wal-mart is always crowded with rude people .. and some of them are even customers.)

I will write something cute or clever, but she will know, I am sharing the misery of the season.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a crowded mall.

The Grandkid Anniversary

I am not sure which anniversary the fifth one is, exactly. You know, there is the golden anniversary, the diamond anniversary, the paper anniversary, the china anniversary, and all the other ones. I did check and the fifth anniversary is the wood anniversary, according to one site.

According to Wikipedia, the first anniversary is traditionally paper and modernly clocks. Hmmm, I am thinking with lots of first year couples it is divorce papers or the little clock attached to the bomb under the car, LOL.

Accordingly, the second year anniversary for the survivors is traditionally cotton and modernly china. Yeah, nothing says the honeymoon is over quite like the gift of a new cotton flannel nightgown.

Again, according to Wikipedia, the third anniversary gifts are leather traditionally and glass modernly. I am quite sure I didn’t give TJ anything leather for our anniversary, although, there are several interesting leather things around the house. Somewhere, there is even a leather rose.

Now, the fourth year anniversary gifts are linens or silk traditionally and appliances modernly. I have bought TJ several silk things. I don’t recall if one of them was for our anniversary last year, but it is possible.

This brings us to the anniversary of today, numero cinco. It is, as I said the wood anniversary. Modernly it is the silverware anniversary. We haven’t bought anything for this anniversary as of yet. However, this afternoon, my daughters are getting together to celebrate my youngest daughters 21st birthday (yesterday) and it appears it is going to be a libationary one. My oldest, (the one that remembered to call me on my birthday one week ago,) asked me if we could watch her children. That would be three precious angels, (sometimes equally referred to as demons.) we agreed. Then, Tammy’s oldest asked if we could watch her 15 month old angel/demon while she tried to catch up on some rest. Of course we agreed.

So, it appears that the fifth wedding anniversary is going to be the grandkid anniversary. Or, as I like to call it, grandpa locked in his room while grandma pulls out her hair. Oh, the fun we will have.

OUCH !

The weekend is over.

It was a busy and painful one. Saturday morning, we went to grandson Christopher's baseball game. There are pics of him at bat and in the outfield on my Flickr. That link is other there on the right. When we were leaving, grandson Kody expressed interest in going home with us. We asked mom and dad and it was a go .. until we got to the truck. Once he was in the TB. he changed his mind. Chella started him back to the grandstands. When Tammy arrived with Cloe walking all the way (she was behind because those little 14 month old legs don't take steps as big as us Grups [old Star Trek reference .. bonus points if you know the episode]) she had granddaughter Kyleigh with her. It seems Kyleigh wanted to stay at Papaw and Tammy's house overnight. She and Chella got in the third seat and giggled as we drove home (Kyleigh - 6, Chella 17.)

Since we didn't have clothes for the overnight stay and the next day church activities, we stopped at the Rescue Mission to buy some clothes for her. For $4 plus tax, Tammy got her a leather skirt, a top, a princess dress, a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and a shirt for Kyle, and three novels. Then it was on to Mt Sterling. we dropped Cloe off and the fun began.

Once we got home, Kyleigh met the BOYS. Samsom was his usual cordial self. polite and non-intrusive. The other two were still in their kennels. (They like to destroy things when left to their own devices .. a combination of curiosity and stupidity.) Lacy was loose and made a fool of herself, barking at Kyleigh. Regardless, it did scare Kyleigh. Then, when the boys got out, Dusty, in his exuberance at seeing a new person, jumped on her, nearly knocking her down and scratching her arm. She was terrified and ready to go home. We called the kids to see what arrangements to make if that did become a necessity. Audrey was in Lexington, shopping at the Fayette Mall with Kaye and Chasity. Apparently, none of them had cell phones with them. We finally got hold of Adam and decided to see if she would stay before either of us trekked out.

She calmed down. she made friends (eventually) with Rocky. Dusty still terrified her. Dusty stayed downstairs and she stayed upstairs. that worked for the most part. Tammy took her with her to do a little more thrift store shopping. She got more princess clothes and a pair of shoes. She was making out like a clothes bandit with Papaw and Tammy.

Then, she had to go to the bathroom. She just couldn't use our bathroom because there were faces on the walls. Tammy collects (among other things) Mardi Gras masks. She wanted to go home so she could go to the bathroom. Tammy took her into the bathroom, showed her the harmlessness of the masks, and all was good again. She would stay, until the next crisis.

About 10ish or so, Kyleigh decided, whle on the phone telling her mom good night that she needed to go home. Dusty had scared her again. She liked all the dogs except the 'bad' one. We explained top her that none of the dogs were 'bad,' Dusty was just excited. I am not one of those 'find an excuse for every behavior' type people, but this was the case here. We talked her into staying. She went to our bed, laid down, and promptly fell asleep.

The night was non-eventful.

I woke up the next morning around 7 as usual. Since Kyleigh was asleep, Dusty slept in our room as usuaul. I was at the desk, checking email, when I heard a noise behind me. Kyleigh had gotten up shortly after I did and was in the chair behine me. Dusty was almost in her lap. She was telling him to get down. She wasnt terrified. She was firm. She was fine with him after she figured out she could boss him around. Typical woman, eh?

We were getting dressed for church, when Tammy got a bit ill, and I had the beginnings of a headache. We decided to forgo church and take Kyleigh home. Kyleigh cried because she did not want to go home. Crimeny. First crying to go home and now crying to go home. I rmember why I like having children in their twenties.

Anyway, we took her home. She was fine. She told her mom and dad that she had fun and wanted to live with me. That was priceless. We took Sam with us on the trip. He loves to ride. Kyleigh wanted to keep him. Kody wanted to keep him. Adam wanted to keep him. Audrey wanted to NOT keep him. Sam left with us.

We went from there to see Chasity, Chris, Ian, and Abby. There are pics of Abby from this visit on my Flickr. Again, the link is over there ~~~~>

What was hillarious, was ... Chris was cutting Ian's hair. He had a spray bottle. Chasity sprayed the mist towrds Sam. He tried to catch it. She adjusted to spray from mist to stream. As she squirted Sam, he lapped the water in the air. VIDEO over there ~~~>

When we left there, my headache had just begun to really throb. By the time we got to Mt Sterling, it was hurting so much that my vision was affected. It feels like a sinus thing. It took Ibuprofen and retied to bed for the most part. I was up and down with it. It would go down in intensity but was still always there. It was there at 11 .. took Ibuprofen. I slept off and on. When I was up this morning at 6ish it was throbbing again. I took Ibuprofen at 7. It went away as far as the apin was concerned, but I could still feel it there. You know, it was like I knew my head was there. I always know my head is there, even if I dont alway suse it, but this was there other knowing it was there. Knowing it was there because ti didnt feel just right. It is noon plus now, and the throbbing is there. Not as painful, but throbbing right between my eyes and just over.

We are going out later and will get some cold and sinus headache stuff, we will see if that will fix it. Right now, it is mostly ok, except if i lean back in my chair and lean my head back, it begins to hurt in the center, at the hair line. OK .. not going to do that again .. OUCH !

Hope everyone else had a good weekend. Mine was great. I got to see all my kids except Chris.