On Being 46

In about an hour I will have completed the 46th year of my life and started working on the 47th. Here I am having lived more than half my life (much more than half, statistically speaking) and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. So I guess I'll just muddle on as I am 'til I get called home.

David would have turned 48 this year in December, not a number he would have enjoyed. He always took great joy in the fact that many people thought I was much older than he even though I was actually younger by 2 years. I remember attending open house when Courtney was in the sixth grade. David had on an old Skeeter t-shirt and Court's teacher thought David was her older brother who attended MHS. We were both in our mid-30's. Yes, go ahead and laugh - David and the kids sure did. I don't know how he would have reacted to being a Granddad although he would have loved the Grandkids.

In summation, if we are as old as we feel, then I'm dang old. Good night all you young whipper-snappers. This old lady is hitting the hay to get some beauty sleep.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day: a day of rest for workers. I am so thankful that I am a worker again and able to celebrate appropriately! lol After having Courtney and the g-kids since Friday night, I am ready for an afternoon of rest before heading back to work tomorrow. Although I do need to straighten up the apartment, do the washing and update 2 web sites for clients - stuff that I couldn't do while the g-kids were here. So maybe just a little rest later tonight. The g-kids are a handful, especially in my little apartment, but we had fun. Sunday afternoon we borrowed the Fike's house so that we could have the traditional Labor Day cook-out (Becky, we cleaned up, I swear). I REALLY miss having a backyard and grill. The g-kids and their Uncle Connor had fun running around in the backyard and playing in the little playhouse - I thought the g-kids were calling Connor 'Grandma' but Courtney says they were calling him 'Giant'. I guess that does make more sense. We had a cake to celebrate my birthday but Hayden insisted it was his. When they sang Happy Birthday he sang 'Happy birthday dear Hayden' instead of Nana. He's too funny sometimes. Then he kept repeating 'Give it to me!'. Morgan was so sweet, giving me a big hug and saying 'Happy birthday Nana, I love you'.

Oh well, their Dad picked up the g-kids a little while ago and I will be driving Court up the street to the bus station in a few minutes. Guess I should drag my butt to the washing machine and get a load of washing started! Thank you Lord for a nice weekend.

It's alive......sorta

For those of you who were waiting with bated breath for an update on my Blackberry, please feel free to breath normally again. She's working fine, most of the time anyway. Just sometimes folks on the other end of the line have to shout a bit to be heard. No problem. And Connor is happy to have his phone back so that he can drive me crazy listening to Miley Cyrus sing the "Climb". Happy Tuesday everyone.

Blackberry takes a dive

Happy Monday All!
I managed to drop my Blackberry into my tea glass last night. Yep, just call me Clumserella. But that's what I get for trying to carry a stack of folded towels, my tea glass and the cell phone on top of the towels. And it didn't help that I was carrying it all while walking with my cane. At least it wasn't the toilet.....again. LOL In the last 10 years I have managed to drop 3 pagers and 4 cell phones in the ol' crapper. Thankfully they were company issue and I could request a new one free of charge. But the Blackberry is mine and I don't want to pay to replace it since I got it free with the new service. It's separate pieces are now resting on a towel to dry out. Hopefully it won't short-out anything when I do turn it back on. Meanwhile I borrowed my son's simple flip phone and inserted my SIM card. He's not happy with that but it's not like he ever gets any calls from anyone but me anyway. Kids!

How I Met My Husband

I didn't have many boyfriends while in school. In fifth grade (Joshua, TX) I did pair up with a boy for a field trip 'cause my best friend Greg Robertson had paired up with another girl. He had a crush on her big time. I can't even remember the boy's name so I don't think he would really count as a boyfriend. And Greg was just a friend who happened to be a boy. Now I did "go with" our preacher's son Benji for a while my freshman year in high school (Mesquite, TX) but that mainly consisted of sitting together during church services and on the bus when we went on trips.

My sophomore year I took drivers ed. We spent a couple of weeks driving "simulators" housed inside a portable building. Then we graduated to actual cars! Brand new Monte Carlos if I remember correctly. There were four kids assigned to each car. In my car there was a crazy guy who ate my hair spray, a senior girl who wore only dresses, a cute blond guy who was "going with" the senior girl, and then me. Later on in the semester, I got a note from a girl friend who was also in my drivers ed class. In the note she asked me if I liked the blond guy who was in my car group. Well, of course I said yes. He was really cute, funny too. And it was the first (and only) time I got that kind of note. After class the cute guy came up to me, handed me a note and walked away. The note asked me if I would "go with him". He and the senior girl had broken up. The next day he came up to me after class again and asked for my answer. I said yes. He asked me to close my eyes and hold out my hand. He hung something from my finger - a cute little puffball animal. From then on, we were a couple. The cute blond guys name was David. We hung out together at school and then he started attending our church. So of course we sat together during church and on youth trips. We had our ups and downs dating and breaking up. We married August 4, 1985, had three kids, and experienced many more ups and downs.

David died from a heart attack on May 6, 2005. We'd been married for nearly 20 years and had been friends for 25, more than half my life. It's been 4 years and I still miss him.

Blogging-Day 2

I'm feeling down today and a bit guilty. The grand kids have gone to live with their Dad for a while so I will no longer be babysitting. It was hard work keeping up with them everyday, usually 10 hours or more, but now I'm missing them and worrying about them too. Maybe it will be good for all of us to have some time apart. Morgan is on the left in the photos above and Hayden on the right. Aren't they sweet?

Anyone worrying about the swine flu? So far Fort Worth has closed all of their schools and I bet Dallas isn't far behind. Connor is hoping that Mesquite will also close soon. I've told him they would more than likely have to make up the days but he's still hoping. I'm wondering if this isn't just another of one our so-called crisis. Global warming, hole in the ozone layer, cow farts killing the ozone layer, avian flu, swine flu. What next? I guess it is something to think about but I'm just too tired. For those of you who are worrying, the World Health Organization has upgraded the current phase of alert to Phase 5-Pandemic Imminent. There are 1-6 phases. In Phase 6 a global pandemic is underway. For those of you who like to be proactive: Pandemic Protection.

On a happier note, Bones is on tonight! And I can watch without grand kids interrupting. Ooh, there's that guilt slipping in again. Hopefully Connor will stay in his room. He IS the one with cable after all. I just have regular TV.

Thank you to Linda, Jimmy and Sharon for reading and posting replies yesterday. Hugs to you all!

God Bless,
Barb

Look! I got my own Blog!

Everyone else is doing it so why shouldn't I? That's the teenager in me wanting to be part of the crowd. Of course the middle aged grandmother in me has no idea what I'm going to write in a blog. And who is going to read it? Anyway, I should be doing other things, like paying bills, cleaning the litter box or taking books to the used book store. I have MANY books. I tend to read - a lot. Yes I know that a lot is a parcel of land but what other word can you use? A bunch just sounds silly. BTW, my big sister is an author. Her books don't go back to the used book store. LOL Check out her blog at http://lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com/.

What's with the blog name? I am a Barbara, named after two wonderful Aunts, but known from birth as Barbie. In first grade I couldn't find my desk as none of them were labeled Barbie. The teacher had to direct me to the desk labeled Barbara. Yes, I was rather clueless then and I still am now. Being called Barbie, I was inevitably teased with comparisons to That Barbie. You know who I mean - the anatomically impossible doll. She of the innumerable professions from Airline Hostess to Medical Doctor. Thank the Lord there were no boys named Ken in any of my grade school classes! So while I am Barbie, I'm not That Barbie! LOL

Most of my friends call me Barb. But my family still calls me Barbie. A few years ago I got it in my head that they were all going to start calling me Barb. Or else! It didn't work out well. I just couldn't get used to them calling me Barb. Actually, most of the time it was "Barbie, I mean Barb". I gave up. It was just easier on everyone to forget the whole Barb fiasco.

So, here it is. My first Blog post. I hope that anyone who actually reads it enjoys.

God Bless,
Barb aka Barbie