Ramblings and whatnot

Don't really know what to call this entry.
After debating back and forth with myself, because hey..that's what I do...I decided I wasn't gonna use the same format of a picture a day like I did last year.
1. because I haven't been taking a picture a day
2. y'all prolly don't care to see everything we eat/cook
3. my life is just not that exciting
4. I'm lazy

But I do like to post pictures, as reminders, because I'm fairly certain someday I'll have Alzheimers and not be able to remember anything.
And I like pictures.

So...what did I accomplish do this week?
Well...

Last Friday there was a little something on tv that caught my attention.


Of course we prepped all day for it at school.

There was a Razorback Pep Rally and we tied our learning into it all. Quite a fun day. There's even a website that has Razorback football coloring sheets that we used for several activities!

Saturday I tried to cook again...scalded my hand.


Most nights we sit around and laugh at the dogs chasing Greg's remote controlled helicopter. The minute he picks that thing up, they lose their minds.
Barking and jumping in the air trying to get it. Maggie can leap across the room mid-air and snatch it like a frisbee. Tate has been afraid of it up until the past few days. The minute it hits the floor, he'd be on it, barking and acting like he's gonna get it, but shaking his head....now, he does get it...and then he starts this backward circle thing, going round and round with it in his mouth...then pitches it across the room. We laugh so hard at them.

Molly and I started a "diet" this week. Mostly watching what we eat, counting calories. She's gained so much weight in the past couple years. She's getting taller, too, but she already ways more than I did when I graduated college! (and I wasn't small!) Our efforts paid off enough for her to see that if you can eat healthy, still eat good, and reap the rewards. She lost 5 lbs,and I lost 6.5 lbs. Mostly water weight I know, and I told her not to expect that much every week...a pound or so a week would be doing good. She's excited about it tho, and writing down everything she eats and checking labels. We'll see how long we last!

We also sat down one night and glued over a thousand Box Tops onto collection pages.

I've got to get all the ones I've collected for the school ready to mail in soon...and of course I haven't sorted/counted them or anything. Luckily, my daughter loves gluing them on, and even tho we could just bag them up in baggies of 50, the ocd in me needs them on the paper for easier counting!
May have to resort to baggies by the time we finish, but for now..it gives her something to do.

As my mom was packing up the rest of her Christmas things, she decided to send me a picture (and have me post it on her Facebook) of the Nativity set she uses every year.

It belonged to my Great Grandmother on my dad's side. It was passed to my Grandmother, and then she left it to my mother. It sets on an old chest that my grandfather (my dad's dad) made when he was in high school...which would've been somewhere around 1925-27. Stuff like that makes my heart leap and I hope they will have a home with me some day.

Speaking of my mom. Her health is failing her. Of course she is nearly completely blind with the Retinitis Pigmentosa (only able to see lights and some color out of one eye now, the other completely blind) and it has affected her hearing until she was finally able to get medicare to pay for hearing aids for her. I feel like she's suffering from early dementia, too..and now her body is rebelling against her. She has tremors and seizures when she sits or lies still. Has been on meds for those for some time, but now there is pain involved even when she's not seizing. She went in for tests, which we should know results tomorrow, but they are looking for Lupus (sp?), or Rheumatoid Arthritis mostly. Bless her little heart...she does so much for so many people, and she's falling apart.

My dad is still hanging in there. With the warmer weather so far this winter, his COPD and Emphyzema hasn't been horribly bad. Lungs are still deteriorating, and he'll never be w/o that oxygen tank of course, but he has been in good spirits everytime I've been by there.

I'll see them tomorrow.
We are out of school for MLK day, so Trey and I are going on another college tour. I'll have to go get him in Glenwood, then back track to Arkadelphia, then take him back to Glenwood, then drive back home to Hope. (Arkadelphia is about halfway between Hope and Glenwood).
We are going to see Henderson State University....the school that has offered him the Presidential scholarship of $4000/semester. It was not on his list, and is the rival of MY alma mater (Ouachita Baptist University) which sits right across the street. We will drive over there, too, while in the neighborhood...just to see it, for me....nostalgia.
Lots of driving...but I'll get to spend the afternoon with him, and see Matthew when I take Trey home.

With their dad and step-mom now divorcing, he's working 2 jobs and not able to help with transportation on weekends, and with gas so high, we haven't been able to swap the kids around every weekend lately, which means I haven't gotten to see the boys much. I'm excited about seeing Matthew tomorrow, too, even if only for a little bit.

School is school...wet/cold weather this week kept the kids all inside, which made them crazy. By Thursday I was barely letting them breathe out loud...my patience was that thin. But we survived with no casulties.

I laid around yesterday (Saturday) and did very little. Watched Grey's and Private Practice that I'd recorded Thursday, and Desperate Housewives, The Good Wife, and one of the Glees I've missed online. And lots of Grey's on dvd (last season). Tonight will be Guy vs. Rachel on Food Network, and I'll record the Good Wife. (since there won't be some dumb show about LSU to interrupt it again this week!)

So that's about it around here. Nothing to write home about, yet I feel the need to share. Life changes so fast...I guess I just like to document it all.
And now I'm off to school to prep for the upcoming week, since I'll be out with Trey tomorrow and won't be able to go then.

Ever on the go...that's me! Just wish it were warmer!