Valentine's (ick. ugh. blech!) Day

It's that time of year again.
Time for all the lonely & alone to realllllly notice

how alone & lonely they are.

Not me! I notice it all year long without any problem.

Since I'm a single mom raising a 13 year old boy - -

yep --- I'm the role model! -

I thought I'd do something sweet for him to let him know

one) how much he's loved and
two) how no one will ever EVER love him as much as I do

Heehee.

I think I'm funny.

Anyway, I was up super-duper early this morning *ahem* 3AM

so while the oatmeal/butterscotch cookies were baking
I decided to make a Valentine for my Beau.
Beau is my son's name. Nope, today's not his birthday. But it could be, couldn't it?

Not your traditional Valentine card.
I think they're adorable! Wonder what he'll think?!?

Freezing, etc.

It's so cold!! Another snow is
on the way. We haven't had
a huge amount
this winter.

Yet.

I predict no school tomorrow.

I've been all over the
emotional map
lately.
Funny. That's so not true.

Not just lately! For a long time now. Longgggg time!!!!

Just jumping in.
Found a weight loss help site called
"Sparkpeople". Anyone heard of it?
Know anything about it? I joined but then
when I started making my profile page & stuff,
it got overwhelming. Logged off for now.

I've always wanted to lose weight, but
never want to do the 'work'.
Because it IS work, counting, calculating,

paying attention.

It's so much easier to NOT THINK about
food, eating, any of it.

Of course, do that, and...

you end up looking like me.

Here's a photo of a piece of pottery
my son made for me.
I can't express just how much I love

pottery pieces that my son makes for me.

YouTube - Judy Whacks The Turnips! (Thanksgiving 2009)

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Here's an awesome treat for you...my Mom, showing us exactly how to cut a turnip! With her bird on her head & a cameo by Beau *don'tblinkyou'llmissit* plus a pan over to the chihuahua who, frankly, looked kind of frightened...but it's too dark to see her. Filmed by Noelle, my niece. I was just sitting there minding my own beeswax. Haha. Enjoy!!

YouTube - Judy Whacks The Turnips! (Thanksgiving 2009)

The one where Beau makes the Honor Roll.

Beau brought home his 2nd Trimester report card yesterday. I didn't expect that he would do as well as he did last time, and he didn't. Luckily, I was prepared. He had a great many absences this winter, and I knew that it would affect his grades. Even though he told me that he made up his missed homework & assignments, I knew there was no substitute for actually being there every day. But it's okay, it really is. He's been having to deal with so much, and sometimes he's just not dealing very well. He did make General Honors, having all A's & B's in all subjects. I know, some parents pray for those grades and I can't take it for granted that every report card will be straight A's, because it won't. He's still my brilliant son, LOL.

My new camera seems to work nicely, but I still have to get an SD memory card for it. The one that came is faulty and is going back. So, no new photos yet. My plan is to go buy one tomorrow. The one I had was a 2GB, I think I'll see how much a 4GB is. I also have absolutely NO ink in my printer, and the cartridges I took to have refilled at Walgreen's failed their 'print test', so that was no charge, but they are going to Staples to be recycled and I have to purchase brand new ones. So instead of $25 to refill, it will be about $40 to buy new. That's on hold until it's really, really urgent. We can send things to Mom's to be printed.

My Dad isn't doing well. I just can't get into it...but he's really not well. It's heartbreaking. The cancerous tumors are back for the third time in the brain. Just thinking about the prognosis makes me feel like vomiting, so I'm surely not going to write about it. Please, keep sending your good thoughts.

There is no school today and it's the first day of Spring. I think that's a good enough reason for a vacation day, don't you?!? Beau & his buddy, Alex, are playing outside in the backyard. I just had to shoo them out of the living room, as they were doing some sort of very noisy wrestling/play fighting thing that sounded like it was about to damage something! It's sunny out, not really warm, in the low 40's - but pleasant! The window next to my desk is open right now for the breeze. And for some reason, I keep getting a whiff of baking brownies! I'm not baking. Weird! OH! Speaking of baking, Monday night we were treated to a batch of very special Snickerdoodles made by Miss Emma Lou Lou. The best part is that Emma & her Momma delivered the cookies in PERSON! We hadn't seen each other since August of 2005 (holy crap, really?!) but we all felt like regular friends who spend time doing things together all the time. I'm glad they decided to come over, and we plan to do something during April vacation next month. Not sure what, maybe just browse the new bookstore in town, play, have a casual meal...sound good, Lisa? Thank you for coming and for being a good friend to us! Next time we will visit Mom!

So what else...well, plenty, I guess, but I've just lost my whole streak of concentration I had going. I know I don't write anything anymore, and yes, I post a lot of David Cook stuff - but: the Cook stuff is mostly for me to keep, so I can watch it in the future when I want to and I'll know where it is. The writing thing is, well, a whole nother thing entirely. As Kat would say; It Is What It Is. I think I will write again later, or at least before the weekend is over. Opinions on the new blog layout? Boring? Dull colors? Or alright for early Spring? I tried all these flowery/springy/eastery ones, and they were blech, just yuck. Made my brain quiver. Happy Spring! XO

I don't know, so don't ask me.

I'm not writing lately because I have nothing to say. But that's not true! There's plenty going on inside my head. I've hit one of those plateaus again, where writing it in black and white and actually reading it over, just looking at it - makes it too real. That's always been the most difficult thing for me.

I'm full of sadness lately, but there is joy as well. I am worried about so many things, yet confident that it will be okay. I'm conflicted. Always. I am a Gemini, so much so that I almost never read a horoscope and think, "Well, that was crap. That's nothing like me." And yet I rarely read my horoscope. I suppose because, deep down, I do believe it's all crap!?

I shoveled more snow today. I've lost count of how many storms we've had. If I guess, I would say 6? Not sure. There have been 2 snow days, with no school. There's also been a delayed opening. I think there was only one. The storm before this one, on Wednesday, was all sleet & ice. That was hard to clean up. I'm out of rock salt for the driveway, have to go buy more. And more Ice Melt for the porch and steps. Found out last year that rock salt eats holes in my steps. Oops. But it worked great on the driveway! Turned an inch of ice to slush in 1/2 hour, so I could go out and push it aside.

Beau is doing alright. He missed several days of school in the past few weeks. He had a cold and then a bit of an anxiety problem...but that's better now. I haven't watched little Brittany in almost 2 weeks, because her mother is now in-between jobs. I still have a house full of little girl things, a lot of her clothes, diapers, toys, etc. I really don't know if I will be watching her again. Seems most of the anxiety my son was suffering was because of the babysitting situation. She is a wonderful, extremely well behaved toddler, but he had his own issues and reasons for being upset with her being here. I am missing the extra cash. A lot. It sure did help me tremendously when I was Christmas shopping! Beau received everything he wanted, all that was on his list. He was very grateful, and I reminded him just HOW I made all the money and that I thought it was worth it! I spent nearly all of it on Beau, and virtually nothing on myself. I literally bought myself one large package of ultra-fine Sharpies, and a DVD of 'The Dark Knight', 'cuz it was on SALE.

For Christmas, I got 2 movies from Beau and he got 2 from me, LOL! I have watched them all, and have taken some out from the library recently. Dave Jr. spent several nights with us, we watch movies and cook, he sleeps on the sofa. He and I shopped for groceries the other night and cooked a big pot of chili together! That was really nice, and fun! He's doing really well. He starts college classes on Jan. 23.

I haven't been in any swaps since before Christmas, I just couldn't get to them. My crafting desk is a mess, as I started cleaning out the drawers, and was organizing stuff on top of the desk. I walked away from it a few times, and haven't finished up yet. I was going to do a couple of ATC swaps this month, but I've dropped them for now (sorry, Liz!) because I'm just not confident that I'll get them done in time. I've made some informal resolutions for the new year, one is to ORGANIZE my things! I started in the basement, and now that's a work in progress. My desk is next, and it's been started. I have photos literally in every room of the house. One goal is to have all the photos in one room, haha. They don't have to be in albums, but boxes would be nice. I have loose piles of photos in dresser drawers mixed in with my socks, I swear to God! I don't know how I got so sloppy! My long term goal ? To have photos organized by year, and then subject! All in photo boxes stacked on the closet shelf! I'll let you know how that's going. Har-dee-har.

ATC "Dunce Cat" by Marie, Barnhart, MO - August, 2006

Nothin' goin' on here...

Completely lazy this week. Last week was busy, setting up & decorating for the Harvest Party at church. The party was Saturday, and it went well. It looked like the kids had fun. The pinatas worked out alright.

Beau got to see Ben, his friend he doesn't often have the chance to see, that was nice. My mother came to the party because she wanted to see all the decorations that I'd told her looked so great. My niece Autumn came, too. I think she had a good time. Her costume was so cute! She dressed as a Southern Belle, complete with hoop skirt and giant hat held on with a wide ribbon. On Saturday night, Beau slept over Alex's house, and I picked them up, took them to Youth Center, and then back to Alex's at 9 PM. It was pouring & extremely windy.

Sunday, we went to the Corn Maze at Lyman Orchards. It wasn't as fun as I expected a corn maze to be. It was my first time, though, so it was interesting to see. It was a beautiful, bright sunny day and the place was packed. They have fruit picking there and a pretty good sized store, too. They also have a large pond full of ducks & geese.

I went to the library last night and have to go to the post office today. The price of regular gas is down to $2.55. I checked that out on the way by. Could my life BE any more fulfilling?!? I haven't watched the baby this week. Haven't really done much of anything. Swept my basement floor today and did laundry, woo-hoo!

"Smile" and "Moments" ATCs made by me, for Serendipity swap. October 2008.