New Beginnings

It's been a while since I last blogged anything. Time has flown past and so many things have happened, good and bad. I happened to read someone else's blog and it inspired me to update my own. I can't promise I'll stick with it daily, weekly or monthly, but I'm here for now.

So, my kids are all grown up. They will all be in their 20's this year, God willing. I still remember the first day I took the oldest to kindergarten, and when the twins went also. I remember thinking, I have just a little more time before I could also have the youngest in school too and then I'd have a little more time to myself. Those years flew past, mercifully, and now they're all in college. They're getting old.

I couldn't take classes this past semester due to some financial setbacks but I plan to go this summer. Funny enough, my son is taking a class with me this summer. That should be interesting. The previous semester I had a class with my oldest daughter, she didn't finish the course. I don't know if I felt a little betrayed by that at first. I mean, her not finishing somehow, in my mind, reflected on my character. The professor never asked why she didn't continue but he knew she was my daughter and I imagined in my mind that somehow I had failed to teach her to stick with things even when they seemed a little rough at the moment. But in her defense, she was going through a very hard and emotional time. I might be able to talk about that later in more detail but not right now. My youngest has struggled this semester also...I attribute it to burn out. Not everyone can push through a full load during back to back semesters. They aren't me, I have to come to that realization sometimes that they aren't clones of myself. We handle stress differently.

I would like to share that the best decision I made was in October 2011 to renew my faith in Jesus and get back involved in church. Honestly, I've never been at more peace and happier in life. I've been going to a church for the majority of my life. Out of 40+ years, I can say I've probably not faithfully attending services for maybe 12 of them and those were some of the darkest days of my life, literally. Devoid of any true connection with God, life was as hopeless as having a glazed doughnut for a lifesaver in the middle of the ocean. I went through depressions, I had thoughts of suicide, my relationships with spouses, family and friends were tense and some were non-existent. I had nothing to look forward to but my eventual demise and who would miss me?

Looking back on events, I can see how God was working with me, setting events and people into my life that would call me back to the joy and love that I knew as a child, when I wasn't so caught up in what the world had to offer (illusions of wealth, fun and love). There's not enough praise I can give the Lord for taking me out of the world I once lived in. And as a bonus, me and my husband were baptized on the same day so me and my best friend can truly share everything with one another. Our hopes, our dreams and our faith. When people aren't really practicing their faith they sometimes think nothing of attaching to someone who has little to nothing in common with it. I've been there and done that. It's hard when you try to get back into it and you don't have that support from the person who's supposed to be the closest to you. Not that it can't be done, it's just harder. So I thank God for a husband who has a common belief as mine. And to make the prize even sweeter, my children are also more involved in church so we can now worship as a family.

I had to add this to my blog because it's an important part of who I am and my growth as a person. I don't plan to preach but I will share what I learn and know. Hopefully someone will get something positive out of reading about my life experiences. I hope that it will bring them some happiness, laughter or peace in their lives. I hope that it will give someone hope that life does get better and to hang in there. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. God bless.

Crying with Laughter

Nobody warns you that when you become a parent your sense of humor might become a little "off". And despite the fact that we're human, proven by the fact that we have human offspring, the look a child will give you when you find something so hilarious that it makes you cry, well, it makes you cry even harder because that makes it even more hilarious.

There have been at least two occasion in which my children have witnessed me laughing until I cried. Once was when we were looking at a Pippy Longstockings movie and just recently it was while we were looking at an episode of the The Amazing World of Gumball (TM-Cartoon Network) . In this particular episode Gumball neglected to return a DVD that his mom had rented and instead of taking responsibility for his actions he tried to hide the many overdue notices from the rental store, despite his little brother's pleading that they just fess up.

The episode was hilarious because it reminded me of one or all of my wonderful children. I remember how they would try and scheme when they were little to either get something or hide something. And then too, it also reminded me of myself and my siblings growing up. Usually I was the culprit and least likely to take responsibility for things that went awry.

I needed the laughter yesterday. It wasn't that I felt bad or even that I felt good. I was in a blah zone, if there is such a thing. Laughing woke me up, brought back fond memories and I now have a new favorite cartoon to watch, with or without my kids and without fear of possibly crying with laughter.

Not For The Faint of Heart (graphic pics)

The events herein described happened on Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I don't think I will ever forget that morning. I might forget the exact date as time goes on but I won't readily forget the events that unfolded. I woke up in good spirits because I had gotten a good night's rest. I woke up with the intentions of spending some time with my oldest daughter. Getting some exercise and going to the library to play on the computer for a while and also to

handle some business. One thing I wanted to do at the library was to get a pass to the museum. The passes allow you to visit certain museums and the admission fee is free. I wanted to go with my daughter and my sisters on that following Wednesday.

So I got up, took my shower, made some coffee and urged my daughter to do the same because it

was getting close to the time to go to the library. But I was hungry and wanted us to eat first. So I took some chicken tenderloins from the freezer and set them out to thaw in water while I did some other things. I figured we could have chicken and pancakes (waffles would have worked better but we had none) but then realized we had no syrup. But that didn't matter much. I could still use the pancakes as I would bread for a sandwich.

And so once the chicken was thawed, I seasoned it and put the oil on to heat up. All is still well at this point. The oil was heated at the optimal temperature, I delicately placed the four chicken tenderloins in the hot oil. No splatters, the chicken was frying beautifully. I had accomplished to fry the chicken to a lovely golden brown and had taken all but one from the oil when it slipped from my handling utensil and plopped back into the hot oil.

Now I'm not sure how to describe what happened next but I will try. When you know that you

are dealing with something extremely hot with the ability to cause serious harm you do as much as you can to get away from it. But in the case of cooking and splattering hot oil with a very limited range in which to run, you have to decide pretty quickly what your exit strategy will be. Well, I knew for a fact that I did not want the oil to splash in my face so my first reaction was to turn away from it. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn or move away from the stove fast enough and I ended up with hot oil being showered onto my exposed left arm and also on my t-shirt and the floor where I stood some six inches away. I'm thankful that the oil didn't get into my eyes or on my face or neck. The pictures below show the full gravity of the experience more than my words can tell.

I told my daughter to get dressed quickly as we had to walk to the nearest clinic which was about a mile or so down the road. I took pictures along the way, I'm thinking out of curiosity of my own injuries and I'll admit, to share with others and gross a few out. Yes, I'm mean like that sometimes. ;-) The pain from the oil on my skin was as if a handful of bees had stung me. My reaction was to wipe the excess oil off myself and access the damage done. In hind sight, I probably shouldn't have wiped it with my hand as I did, but rather have dabbed the excess away. At first glance I could see where the oil had burned me, it stung and so I had to figure out what to put on it. I gingerly removed the remaining offending piece of chicken from the pot and turned off the burner. The sting intensified and so I turn on some cool water and gently splashed it over my forearm. As I did this I could see where the oil had melted my skin. With no butter (butter not margarine), cocoa butter, aloe vera or any other type of ointment, I assessed that I needed to get to a clinic as quickly as possible. Having been burned before I knew that this one was more serious than any others I had experienced.

To shorten this tale a bit, we made it to the clinic. I was questioned several times and looked at quite strangely when I had to tell how I got my burns. After all, how many people want fried chicken for breakfast. I was admonished to stay away from frying anything and to possibly consider cereal for breakfast. They couldn't have known that I prefer cereal as a late night snack. The nurse slathered my arm with ointment & wrapped it, then I was given a tetanus shot and given my return appointment date and a prescription for antibiotics & more ointment. We get back home and I don't try to go back into the kitchen right away. After all, I'm traumatized but when I decided to I could see oil splatters on the floor and over the stove. I had to clean that up before another incident occurred, like me slipping and breaking something.

Unknowingly, on our way home, my prescription had fallen out of my back pocket nearby the rail road tracks we had to cross along the way. I was informed of this the following morning when I called the docs office to tell them I had lost my script. Another patient of the same clinic had turned it in for me. That was very nice of them. I don't like to even, unintentionally litter. And so the story ends with me all bandaged up. Arm sore from the burns and a shot. And like the menace to society that I am, I sent picture messages from my phone and the next day posted pics of my battle scars on FB for friends and family to see so that they would take pity on me.

My sister and friends have offered to fry me chicken the next time I'm in the mood for eating some. You can believe that I will take them up on their offers. I never could fry foods that well. I've been warned to stay out of the kitchen. My dear husband asked me if I could get him a glass of water. Of course, I love him and want him to stay hydrated, but he had jokes. While I'm on my way to get water for us both he says to me, "Be careful. Don't burn yourself getting the water." And so many other comments from family and friends. I have a good sense of humor and have even poked fun at myself.

I've tried many times over the years to make the perfect fried foods. I was proud of how my chicken looked that morning and for all the trouble it caused me it still wasn't seasoned that well. I ended up adding BBQ sauce to it because there's no way I was going through all that pain and not eating it. My husband will have to forgive me because if we don't buy chicken already fried from some place else, he'll have to cook it for us. My frying days are done!

That Didn't Last Long

Eighteen days. That's how long it took before I decided that I wouldn't survive the whole summer without some kind of schedule. I had all kinds of good intentions. Ideas ran through my mind of what I could accomplish during a whole summer but in the end, I decided that I'm going to take some summer classes after all. What changed my mind you ask? Well...

• I can and will sleep most of the day if I don't have a plan. --Not good
• I procrastinate in making plans because I figure I have enough time later. --Not good
• The plans I made still left me with too much time on my hands. --Not good & asking for trouble.

So taking classes this summer will allow me to

• Pursue some of my summer interests and all are at the same location! --Very good (saves gas & travel time)
• I will be active (getting exercise)
• I will learn something new and also improve skills I already have! --Very, very good

So now I'm just waiting for all the financial details to be settled so that I can start in July. Once again I'm excited about my summer plans.