Haven't posted in a bit

So I am in the mood to blog some this morning. We have been having a bit of spring weather lately and I love it. Last weekend was sunny and in the 70's. The gardening bug bit me and we planted peas, onions, garlic and lettuce. The kids are loving the garden. Up until this year we lived in an apartment that didn't allow planting or pets. Talk about making up for lost time! Our yard here was so bad when we moved here. Trash and weeds. My husband has been working hard to rid the garbage deals and so the kids and I are going to it with making our yard a haven.

Today is kinda nasty with rain and temps in the 40's but I'm in the mood to even enjoy that!

I love spring! I took the steps yesterday (thanks to Jo) to learn how to knit. I may be a dork. I'm still trying though even after realizing that I tie some really good knots! Even when it doesn't ask for them.

We found a field of daffodils in a town next to ours. So pretty!

My Newest Addition

I said no more animals. I mean we seem to have a zoo here. A couple of weeks ago we go into Petsmart to get more things to spoil the ones we have and the Humane Society has cats there. Of course we are big old softies and we go into there to play with them. There is this little black fuzzy cat that just goes berserk when we walk in. Her name was Frisky and she just seemed to know us. So kids start wanting and big ole mushy me says OK. Well in order to adopt you have to go about 10 miles away to the humane society. We go. Get over there and they tell me that there is no record of this cat. I stand there thinking...OK. So now what. They start pulling files and find out that she was adopted weeks ago and the parent hasn't picked her up. Well of course the kids are crushed.

I tell them we will go into the back and see what other kitties they have. We go back there and this little yellow kitten is just precious. I've already given in to getting a cat that day..so we get the little fuzzball and take him up front. One of the girls working at the front says oh that cat has been adopted! Crap. Comes to find out that the payment hasn't been made some people had just wanted him held. Well we stand there forever and a day and the final decision is since they wanted him first they end up with him. By that time I don't even want a cat anymore. My kids have big ole tears coming down their faces. I am pissed so I tell them we'll just wait. I can't take the silent tears though. We go back in yet again.

They end up loving another little black guy and I'm like whatever. Get him. Let's just go.

We end up adopting him. When we get home...this cat seems to know that he got here by chance. He follows every step I take. He is very talkative. He has decided that I'm his mom and he is going to stay.

I named him Leo Gursky from The History of Love just because he seems to be this little ole man in a cat's body. I have fallen for this cat! He is the best. He is the sweetest thing. My husband and I have had a rocky time this week to say the least and that cat has been my little angel. I was crying on the couch the other night and he gets up into my lap and licks my face. My husband was coming through the house and he hissed at him. I think he was taking my side. So now I have another baby. Max kitty didn't really like him at first but Max had been due to have some snipping took care of. Once that was done he changed his attitude and treats Leo like a pesky little brother. I have ever really been a cat person but these two have won me over. I wouldn't take a million dollars for either of them. Here's my Leo.....

My Wonderful Home

I love the area I live in..so rich in history and folklore. Georgia amazes me everyday. We have the Appalachian Mountains (which I live in), Southern Plantations, and our wonderful beaches including Cumberland Island. I can't imagine living any where else.

I thought I would share some of the close by wonders with you guys. The first picture I took yesterday. The Sautee Nacoochee Indian mound..I love the legend that goes with it. The famous Nacoochee Indian Mound is located at the corner of highways 17 and 75, just before entering the town of Helen. The legend of the Nacoochee Indian Mound states that Indian lovers from opposing tribes are buried within the mound. Sautee, a brave of the Chicksaw Tribe, and Nacoochee, the daughter of a Cherokee Chief fell immediately and hopelessly in love when a Chicksaw band stopped in Cherokee territory at a designated resting place. The two lovers met in the night and ran away to nearby Yonah Mountain to spend a few idyllic days together. When they later confronted Nacoochee’s father with the idea of creating peace between the two nations, Chief Wahoo ordered Sautee thrown from the high cliffs of Yonah Mountain while Nacoochee was forced to watch. Almost immediately, Nacoochee broke away from her father’s restraining hands and leaped from the cliff to join her lover. At the foot of the cliff, the lovers dragged their broken bodies together and locked in a final embrace and died there. The Chief, overcome with remorse realized the greatness of love and buried the lovers, still locked in death, near the banks of the Chattahoochee River as a burial mound.

Yonah Mountain overlooks our whole town.

I'll put more on as I stalk them out with the new camera..here is one from my backyard last night. Looking at the moon.

Update on my dad

Okay...so for the first time in 28 years I have a dad. I wasn't sure how to react to that fact. It seems to be going okay. I'm not spending all my time there with him though. He did apologize and said he wasn't a father but that he does want to be a grandfather to our children. So far he is standing good to that word. My little one Nicholas is in heaven with it. He has all these plans to go camping and fishing with his gramps. It's funny how your life can change in just a few days. My friend Teri said we don't always get the parents we imagine we would get and she is absolutely right. We do have to accept and realize that we are who we are no matter how we got there. I'm good. So I'm giving it this try.

My Dad

I'll see my dad this week. I've seen him probably 4 times in the last 28 years. I don't know how to feel about it. It really wasn't by his choice but I can't not blame him for some of it. Since I've found out I've gone to being okay with it..to being that lost little girl without a dad to back to being somewhat okay. I mean I wouldn't be the same person I am today without growing up the way I did.
My uncle Don filled that spot for me. He took me in and I was a part of that family. I thank God for that man and his wife every single day.
I see Paul with his girls and mine and see that father-daughter bound and think what if???
We'll see though..............

in my head...

Okay as I sit here freezing (cuz Max the Kittie decided to wake me up way to early on a Saturday morning) I have random thoughts.

Brought on by me stealing one of the kids toaster strudels..never mind the fact that my butt gained weight over the holidays. I go to the toaster all drooling and when I try and open the icing package I ended up tearing the whole little package open and dropping one icing pack on the floor. Well I sometimes learn from my mistakes and grab the kitchen scissors for the next one. I clip the end and it plops out onto the chemical process that is my breakfast. I look at the box and wonder who in the heck had the time to do the icing like that??? and why? I wonder lots of stuff sometimes about advertising and the box that things come in...Can we say they have false advertising?? I've never made those orgasmic noises when using Herbal Essence shampoo...Calgon has never taken me away..

Well my mind wandering helped this morning by the time I had my stolen breakfast ready and took that first bite..it tasted like sugar cardboard crap..saved my butt!

Turning 40

Okay tomorrow is the day I turn 40. I've been thinking about it like a vain woman. Thinking more wrinkles will crease my face and those grays I've been fighting for years will start to outnumber Miss Clairol. But..I've reached a peace with it. I thought today of all the changes I've been through in the last ten years...lost a ton of weight, gained three children, met the man I love with all my heart, finished one degree and working now on something else.

Oprah says it well with this "At 40, something magical happens to you--something liberating and rejuvenating and exhilarating. You acquire a healthy disregard for what other people think. You gain the confidence to define yourself boldly and on your own terms. You don't accept anyone else's judgments but your own. In short, you stop living your life for other people and start living it for yourself. The force is with you because, at long last, it is in you."

I'm looking forward to this! I've always said yes to things when I knew I would have been better off to say NO! I have just never wanted to hurt any ones feelings or make them take on more. Now I'm discovering who I AM! I am healthier now than I've been in years. I am trying to stop the bad habit that I've hung onto. Here's to forty! Bring it on!

What have I signed up for??

Okay today was my first official day of class. I wasn't the oldest! whoohoo to that. I did see some interesting kids taking the cosmo class. One had this purple hair that I was just fascinated with. But then I like shiny things so I'm easily entertained. I don't know if I'm ready to go with the purple hair but stay tuned. You know me..it may happen.

I had a friend who has made me see the light of day on my smoking. Thanks friend. You know who you are. I tried to quit cold turkey yesterday and about kicked random strangers. So I'm cutting back majorly trying to STOP it. I did better than normal. I hadn't realized just how much I was smoking. BAD. I will stop! It ticks me off that I couldn't just stop. I am the kinda person who usually just decides something and does it. Drat it.

I need to be getting more water up off my bathroom floor. Nicholas my four year old put a car down the potty and flushed away. Needless to say we are flooded! Even after the wet vac got in there. He's a cutey patootie. So that kinda makes up for it. :P

Where I'm at Now

I've been thinking about doing a blog and the girls from Goodreads have all contributed to me doing one. I might not have alot to say but everyone needs a place to ramble.
I go tomorrow to sign up for more school. You would think at my age that I'd be past all that but so what? I loved being in school and I have the opportunity to do it so I'm going for it. I have the best husband who supports me in everything I want to conquer. It's taken me awhile to make this decision but I know I'm not happy in the job I have currently. I'm a nurse at a dermatologist's office and recently it was hinted that my personality didn't mess with what my provider was wanting. I'm too old to let someone tell me that! I'm outspoken and outgoing. I believe the patients deserve to be listened to! If they want to tell someone what's wrong I think they deserve that right. I can't look at them as just a number. I love them all and that's why I signed up for nursing. I hate that it's coming down to how many people you can squeeze in each day. Numbers aren't as important as people are. So as I get closer to 40 it's time to do something that I would enjoy. I decided on a cosmetologist because I can talk to the clients and not have to rush them out the door. It's going to be my time. Not about the money.