Stellar Mom Moment (repost)

This post originally appeared on Live Journal, 1/29/2005.
It is a scream, so, I am posting it again for your reading pleasure.
It is snowing again!
Q had a friend spend the night.
We had a soccer game at 8 am.
Did I mention it was snowing?
And before that there was freezing rain?

Here is a little background info….

We got to the game no problem because it was warm enough for the ice to melt off the road (but not off my car…I *love* ice scrappers). During the game it started snowing, BIG, white fluffy flakes like you only see in the movies.

My grandfather gave Q and his friend 5 bucks so they wanted to run to Speedway and pick up some of those knock off lance armstrong bracelets (they have them for a buck and most of the words on them are religous, but the kids don’t care they just want 50 on each arm LOL).

So, after that we are heading home and the easiest way to get from MY house from speedway is to take a side street. I don’t have to deal with train traffic, (if you go the main way you have to cross the tracks and then cross them back to get here) or red lights, or 4 way stops where people don’t obey the rules of the road. Now, there is a small issue with this street, it has a steep hill with a 90 degree curve at the bottom. HOWEVER, I would be going UP the hill, not down, so I wasn’t concerned. I also wasn’t concerned that NO one had driven on the road, because in general, i have better luck in snow when it is fresh instead of packed down and slick.

OK, now that you have the background, what happens next should be written for all future generations to read of HOW NOT to react .

We are progressing along steadily when I hit the curve…and the car slid a little…of course the peanut gallery thought that was great fun “DO it again” was being chanted from the back seat. So, up the hill we go. At this point there is a car stopped at the top of the hill waiting for me, so if one of us slides, we won’t hit the other (which was very nice of them by the way).

I slowly start up the hill and then stop.

I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t plan on stopping, but the snow and the car agreed, that I wasn’t going any further.
Wheels spin. I am in the middle of the hill, not going any further. The car waiting for me thinks that I am being JUST as friendly and they come on down and pass.

I tried to go again.
Nothing.

“Give it LOTS of Gas!”
“Yeah, I did that, and the wheels just spin, we are going to have to turn around boys.”
“Oh this sucks!”
“Yes, it does.”

I put the car in reverse. I was planning on backing up 4 ft and turning around in the driveway we just passed.

The road and the snow and my car had other plans.
We started sliding again, in reverse and I have NO control.

I dropped the F bomb.
More than once.

Yeah…that was all I could manage to utter as we flew down the hill backward. Of course on ice the brakes don’t work, and the steering isn’t a big fan either.

FINALLY, I hit a spot that isn’t frozen solid enough to whip the wheel around and turn into someone’s yard. We head back down the hill and a round the corner and then home.

The long way.

**Update-I don’t like not having control, I think this is painfully obvious from the above story.  And, as soon as we got back home, I called the kids mom, who I happened to go to high school with and told her that her son has a broader vocabulary thanks to me and the icy roads.  Thank God she is a forgiving woman.**

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First Christmas Without…

(This was the first Christmas that my family decided to scale back and that is part of what this post is about, but it is also about my popaw.  This was the first Christmas with out him.  People always say that the first holiday after a death is the hardest, but it gets easier over time.       God, I hope so.)

"Arvis of the Popaws"

"Arvis of the Popaws"

That is my Popaw.  When I was a kid I dubbed him “Arvis of the Popaws” like he was The King of England.  In my book, he was the the coolest popaw of them all.  He would go to a farm auction and take orders.  Asking my sister and I what we wanted.  We would say “baby chicks” or a horse or “Popaw bring us home a baby cow”  and he would.  Two things he never bought us, a baby goat (not sure why) or a baby pig.  Now the pig he said would grow up mean and they are only cute for like a week.

He was right.

Pigs are gross!
But the goat.  Popaw was very much tied to goats to us, not just the kids, but all of us.  You see, he used to sing “Bill Grogan’s Goat” when he was younger it was only after much partaking in the Kentucky state beverage, Bourbon!  Because my popaw’s version was a bit more adult.  About a week before he died, he sang it for us, one last time.  I wish we had video’d it.

But the best, that I had forgotten was when he was in his early 60’s my sister and I were at their house and my little sister said she needed a coat (from the front closet) and he mis-heard her.  He needed a hearing aid badly but kept putting it off.

“What?! You bought a goat???!”
We all laughed for years about it.  Every time anyone mis-heard anything we said “What? You bought a goat.”
It has been a huge family joke.

This year in honor of my popaw, my family bought a goat to send to a family in Africa from Food for the Poor.

When I showed my dad, he said “What, you bought a goat?”
“Yes, I did popaw, yes I did.”

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Then Sings My Soul Saturday-

I remember when I was a kid, I would hear this song on the radio and think it was so romantic.  And it reminds me of the new year more than any other song I have ever heard.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have all these years (lots since I first heard it)

Head over to visit Amy @ Signs, Miracles and Wonders for more great music.

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Sunday Scribblings #143

I Believe…

Wow, those words rolling around in my head came upon the Apostles’ Creed.  Which is true, I do believe all of those things-except the Decended to Hell part…oh where was i…
Ah yes…

I Believe….

Oh for petesake and a volkswagon!  Now the old Don Williams tune is chasing the Apostles’ Creed down the street in my brain….I Believe in You.

I Believe that song has stirred up some memories.
I Believe I won’t be sharing them here!

I Believe that there is some truth to that old country tune (and by the way, it is a CLASSIC Country tune)-and somethings I don’t believe. (I am a huge fan of Organic Food and I drive a Honda!)

I Believe we are entering in a very exciting (if uncertain) time in our nation’s history with our first minority president.
I Believe that to many people are living in and breeding fear over the state of affairs in this country.

I Believe in the spirit of Christmas and the wonder of a child when you speak of it (and Santa)
I Believe that Sonic ice is the closest thing to manna (from heaven) that we have today here in America.
I Believe that Sonic ice also has me spoiled rotten.

I could go on with this thread for hours, however…
I Believe I will go play with my Christmas gifts now.

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Eartha Kitt 1927-2008

All I can say is when I am 79, I wanna have legs like that.
Dang!

Fitting that this is one of her most famous songs and she died on Christmas day.

I wanted to be her when I was a kid.
She could purr better than most real cats.

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Christmas Wrapping!

DSCF6224

Visit my Christmas Wrapping Set on Flickr to see all the presents wrapped. Yes, it is a theme.

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Merry Christmas

to you and yours.

I will be back on the 26th with some crafty posts.

Until then-enjoy this:

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Wellness Wednesday

Wow, another week has passed.

This week I was on the elliptical 5 of the 7 days.  I am not sure about Monday, so I am not counting it.  I had dinner with ma’ girlfriends that night.

AND-I am holding steady at 183.  Last week there was a minor dip, but since I have been 183.2 every other day for the past week, I must have been dehydrated.  (rats)

Good news is, I haven’t gained any weight during this holiday season and we are entering the home stretch!

I have a family event this evening, but I have already decided that I am not eating there-it is a potluck casserole buffet (nightmare).  I will take something as my duty and then gnaw a bag of carrots.  Or, I may just show up for 15 minutes pass out hugs and hit the road.

I am reading at the 11pm candlelight service at church, so I need to be well rested.  I haven’t been up past midnight in a long time!

I hope everyone has a fan-tab-u-lous Christmas!

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Christmas Wrapping (1)

I think my favorite thing about Christmas is wrapping presents.

I know, I am odd, but I LOVE it.

Especially since I bought this roll of butcher paper at a yard sale for 5 bucks-I can stamp or paint or doodle all over the paper and make it part of a theme (in the case of Christmas) or specific to the person getting the gift.

I only buy wrapping paper when I am giving a gift to someone who doesn’t know me and my “peculiar-ness” -like for angel tree or secret Santa-wow that craft paper would be a dead give-a-way-so much for secret. heh.

I also created a cool gift card package, but I can’t post that until after my cousins open their gifts-because it would show them exactly what they got!

But, I can start with this:
2008 Christmas

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Addictive Crafty Project

Cathie Filan has instructions to make a Recycled Card Ornament on her blog.  And I think tons of people have made them in the past in art class or maybe geometry class….

I saw them in Martha Stewart Living last year and went completely insane making them with old Christmas cards and photos that I had never scrapbooked.  (odd not on her site)

Honestly, the photo balls were my favorite because you could do one for each kid or group them by family…I was going to say I wish I had pictures.
DSCF6223
And then…I just went and created one and photographed the whole process-so head on over to flickr and check that puppy out!

For this project all you need is the following:

  • Christmas Cards or Photos-enough to get 20 circles punched or cut
  • Scissors or a circle punch (that is at least 1 1/2″ big (smaller will be really hard to work with)
  • Glue (I like Sobo)
  • A TON of small binder clips-you can use paper clips in a pinch, but they create a wave in the cards
  • 6″ of ribbon
  • small scrap of cardstock
  • small piece of cardboard
  • pen

Between my pictures and Cathie’s DIY..you might have 10 of these popped out by tomorrow!

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