Could it get any worse?

So last night ended horribly. I went to take a picture of Parker opening some late Christmas presents and as I went to focus the camera the doorbell rang. I sat the camera on the kitchen counter (where my mom was standing) and went to answer the door. When I came back I picked up the camera and turned it on expecting to see my sweet darling child through the screen. Instead of that wonderful picture, I got a screen that looked like someone had thrown a baseball at it. I turned it off and then back on hoping that something was just momentarily wrong with it. Of course I was wrong and my little birthday present that I had saved up to get was broken. No big deal right? I bought it at Wal-Mart less than a month ago and surely they would help me get my memory catcher back to working condition, or at least replace it for one that is the same. WRONG! So this morning we went traipsing off to the store that sells anything you need with high hopes and great expectations. I left the store near tears and full of disappointment. Apparently they ONLY refund or exchange cameras 30 days after you buy them, of course my little jewel had decided to break 1 day too late and I decided to try and get help 2 days too late. After speaking to 5 different managers and having 1 of them tell me that I could exchange it for any camera I wanted as long as it was comparable in style and capabilities to the one I had that was sad and broken I felt much better. I went to the camera department, found the camera that was exactly like mine except for the fact that it was black instead of red and 80.00 more than the one I had purchased (Because I had purchased it while it was on sale). I went back to customer service (And let me tell you they should change the service part to let me just screw you out of any money or whatever you are trying to do, you should just know that all sales are now final) and of course this was only my 4Th time to stand in the long line, I got to the front excited and relieved that everything was indeed going to be OK. The lady rang up the broken and sad camera and rang up the new camera and told me it was going to be 80.00, of course I say, no the manager flagged me down and told me that I could pick one comparable to the one that I have. Then much to my relief the manager walks over just at that time, seemingly to me like she is going to save the day. This is one day I was wrong more times than right in my assumptions. She looks at the 2 cameras (which again I add were the exact same make, just a different model) and then tells me it will be 80.00 dollars. I of course ask her exactly what she said then when she flagged my mom and I down in the middle of the store (this was after of course I was ranting like a lunatic that everyone should buy their electronics at Target, Best Buy or Circuit City and not here), she tells me what she thinks she told me and I tell her that is not what she said. At this point she says "Well then, since you didn't understand me the 1st time let me be clear this time, you can buy this camera or you can take your broken one home". Of course by this time I was seeing red, and it wasn't just because the camera that I held so near and dear was that color. I snatched my camera from her (with my receipt, fat lot of good that piece of paper has done me) and walked off. Of course after telling her that it was fine I was just never going to buy any electronics from Wal-Mart again, what's the point? Now let me add at this juncture that not every Wal-Mart employee is mean and horrible, the 2 ladies that were originally helping me were very nice and kind and you could tell that if there was anything they could have done they would have. The thing that gets me is that Wal-Mart would not even give me my money back because it had been TWO DAYS too late, you see their 90 day return policy does not apply to cameras. I thankfully bought the extended warranty through Samsung and hopefully in the morning will have better news to tell. I am just praying that they help me, because Parker turns 2 in a little more than a month and it would be very sad if I had no camera to document the occasion. Especially if I did not have one because Wal-Mart is not willing to loose 80.00 to do the right thing. (Of course we all know they wouldn't loose a dime in the matter, they would just ship it back to the company) So, the point of this blog is: Buy ALL of your electronics ANYWHERE but Wal-Mart, they will not help you, replace it or exchange it. And if it's 30 days out they will not even refund your money so you could go somewhere decent that cares about their customers happiness. My advice is Best Buy or Target, we've had some problems with products from there and both places were helpful and courteous and it did not take me more than 2 hours to get the run around. Love to all, hope your day was better than mine and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

what could it change? I mean really...

Well, I have already written this story once, but somehow it was deleted off of here, and I hope this one isn't going to be deleted. I will save it on my computer and I will repost this as many times as I have to! Anyway, on the insistence of my friend Heidi (I love you!) I am going to rewrite this. This is a testament to how great God is even when we're not trying to be involved in others lives and even when we're not trying to bless others necessarily. The other day Parker and I were going into a store and it was cold and windy, and all I was thinking was "Where is there a cart" and looking for one that I could hoist my 32 pound son into and my Mary Poppins bag. As we approach the entrance I see and old woman and a little boy probably 3 or 4 sitting on a well worn bench. Thinking nothing of it really I proceed to enter the store (or at least I try). As we near the entrance Parker pulls on my hand so hard we are no longer going towards the entrance but towards the woman and little boy sitting on the bench. As I am trying to get my scattered thoughts around what is happening Parker pulls off his hat and puts his brand new shiny hot wheel into it handing it to the little boy. He is sitting there looking at his grandmother and then to me. All I could think to say was "He has a big head the hat should fit." Now upon a closer examination the little boys hat is see through and the their jackets are clean but well worn. He asks me if he could hug Parker and of course I say "sure". And as he hugs Parker the Grandmother stands up, well worn with time and age and says to me "I have been sitting here praying to God asking how I was to get something even small for my grandson for Christmas this year, my husband has just lost his second job." Her eyes are threatening to spill the tears her eyes are producing and as I stand there with my son that is not even 2 yet, I realized how God takes care of everyone that is His. This woman is a faithful hardworking lover of God and even though they didn't have a lot of earthly possessions you could see the love and concern for others in her eyes. She asks me if she could hug me and of course I say yes, even though I am not a big fan of hugs from people I have not known a long time. I warmly take her hug and am appreciative that she does not see my own eyes rapidly filling up with water as well. All I could think to say as I took Parker's hand once again was "Merry Christmas and God bless you." As we turn I shove my hand into my pocket feeling a couple of dollars (Which is SO weird because I NEVER have any money) I turn back around and I hand her the cash saying "I know this isn't much but maybe you could buy some gloves or something". She says thank you, but more with her eyes than words. As we are heading into the store I see an old beat up van on it's last leg pull up with a cheerful old man driving. He shouts to the woman and little boy "Get in Ma", and his face lights up despite the cold and lack of heat in the van. Parker gives one final wave to the little boy who is now wearing Parker's old hat, and who knew, Parker's big head was the same size as the older boys. God is so amazing, and even when you're busy and bustling through life He seizes every opportunity to help everyone, even if He has to show a little boy not even 2 yet how to bless someone else's life. I can't wait to see how God is going to use my little man's life, it is amazing to me that He already is! After hearing Ed's sermon yesterday at church this story has even more impact on my life now! Love to all, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! And don't forget, you never know how some "silly" thing you do might be the very thing someone else has been praying for!

That's IT I AM DONE!!!

With finals that is! The pressure is off, I took the LAST FINAL OF THE YEAR today. It was actually pretty easy...that might be because I have been studying for it for the past week. Amazing that feeling of knowing all of the answers and not having to cram the night before! So now I am sitting here wasting time...because my kiddo is at PDO and I have NOTHING else to do. Well I guess that is a lie, I could be cleaning the house or making desserts for my family Christmas party coming this Saturday. But it feels nice just to sit and waste a whole bunch of time doing nothing important! MAN I never knew how much fun it was to surf the net without guilt gnawing on you because you know you should be doing homework instead :) It's a NICE feeling! Love to all, have a wonderful week!Oh, and this picture has nothing to do with this blog, but I thought it was cute. So stay warm today (Since it is FREEZING HERE!!) But just think, if you're cold remember all of us that had to trudge across Tech campus this morning in the freezing rain, snow mix. Glad I'm home now!

unhappy?

"If you are unhappy with your material possessions it's not their fault, it's yours. It means you need to work on your moral life." This was said by one of my Professors on the last day of class and I thought about it all day yesterday. It's really true. There is no reason in this country to be as unhappy as some people seem to be. I have food, a house, cars, a warm bed at night, people that love me, friends and my puppy. AND I do have MORE material possessions than one person would really need. So if this Christmas you are finding yourself feeling depressed because you didn't get your cool new red pair of skates, ask yourself..."Is it really the skates I am missing or something more?" At least you have a warm home, food and family. Don't forget the beginning of the word Christmas, and the holiday cheer that goes with it. I am so frustrated with people today talking about the new ipod or 1,000 inch tv they got for some great deal. That's NOT what this is about at all!! There are men and women that do not get to be home for Christmas instead they are fighting for our country. (So don't forget to pray for them and their families). I am sad that Gordon is not home every night but I am thankful that he gets to come home on weekends and he's safe in Texas. SO go out there, show some love and be lovable people!! (Myself included haha) So I LOVE YOU ALL!! And am so grateful for all of my fabulous friends new and old! Love to all, just thought I would share this thought have a great week and a wonderful CHRISTmas break!!

the days of being 26

Yup, I am posting 2 blogs in one day. But I couldn't fit all of my cute Abbie pictures in with my other ones so I had to do 2, so sorry! So I am now 26, officially. I have to say that this has been one of the best birthday yet (even though we were sick all throughout the weekend). One of my closest friends (the one that everyone thinks is my sister) took Parker and I to lunch at the Olive Garden, then I had a party on Friday and we had a great time! Then on Saturday we hung out as a family and that evening Gordy took me to the drive in and then Logan's. It was really nice, even though Tech could have won the game for me, but I guess not everything can be perfect. I got some terrific gifts but I think the best thing about it all is how many people showed they care about me. It meant a lot to me that everyone came to my birthday party and then all weekend I kept getting phone calls and e-mails. It made the whole thing well worth it. When I was a kid I wanted a lot of people to come to my birthday parties so I could get a lot of gifts, but now I just want people to come so I can see them (But I must say I did tell everyone not to bring gifts to this party and EVERYONE was so sweet and brought me awesome gifts anyway. You do all love me!). It was especially nice to see everyone since a lot of us are so busy that's about the only time we have. So love to all, I hope you had a wonderful Thanskgiving and I hope you have a great week!

Abbie days

So I got to watch Abbie the other day, and even though she slept most of the day we had a blast! I thought I would share a few of the adorable pictures I got. Of course this was before my new camera so they're not as of good quality as my pictures will be from now on. Parker LOVES her, he is now calling her "my abababy" It sounds like he saying my baby abbie. It makes me laugh. He cried when she left, and when she fell down (because she is not even 8 months old but she wanted to walk around with Parker) he ran to her and held her hand. It was so sweet! Then he held her hand as she held onto the couch and walked around that way. He also tickled her (even though she didn't laugh because she's not very tickilish) and he wanted to help feed her. Of course I only let him watch, I drew the line at him holding the spoon, it just didn't seem like a good idea.

We went to Tech on Sunday and took some pictures for our Christmas cards. Yes I know it seems a bit early to be thinking of that, but I have to send them out soon!! So, if I have your address then be looking for them in the mail soon! Since I am really bad about snail mail, you might want to wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to start looking for those. I figure I do not have class all week, (Except for Tuesday when one of my HUGE projects is due, and YEAH for me I am already all ready for it and VERY proud of myself) I will start addressing and sending those cards out. I am having the 1 year anniversary of my 25th birthday on Saturday so Happy Birthday to me! I am sure I will be blogging about how wonderful my husband is sometime in the near future everyone have a great week!! OH, and the pictures were taken by Erin Burgess, isn't she WONDERFUL?

What one year can do

So here are 2 pictures of my baby. This is exactly one year apart...of course as you can guess they are both Halloween pictures. It seems that everyone I know is having babies right now (THANK YOU GOD I already have mine!!!) I was looking through pictures of Parker when he was little and thinking how amazing he was, yet how scared sensless I was. I am becoming to believe this is a normal feeling and all new mother's feel this way. This did not stop me from thinking that I was not really made to be a mom however. Everyone that knows me knows that I do not always revert to the "Mommy thoughts" as quickly as most of my fellow mommy peers. But somehow this little guy (now big) has managed to survive, and pretty well I would like to add. So as I am going into my field soon and becoming a "real live teacher" it gives me great confidence that if I can raise this little guy than I can do anything! Of course I must say that I am very blessed because he is one of the best kiddos there is. Of course he is full of ENERGY but he is very compassionate, helpful and very smart. I hold whole length conversations with him, which I always have done for some reason. Now he actually responds to what I am saying, so it is really amazing to see how far he's come in one year! It's hard to believe that he was once as small as all of my friends kiddos are now. I know I say this with EVERY life stage that he is in, but I think this is my favorite stage thus far!! He is SO curious and bright. If he can't figure something out the first time he doens't throw it like most of his friends, he sits down with it and keeps trying. He actually put a puzzle together this morning with my Dad. My Dad said he did very little, he just watched Parker figure it all out! Of course it wasn't 1,000 pieces or anything, but it is still amazing. It's also funny to see how much like my Dad and my Grandpa he is. He has the same personality as both of them. If it stays that way he will make an amazing Father and husband himself. I can't think of three better men in the world than Gordy, my dad and my grandpa. I also want to add that even though Gordy is gone during the week Parker and I have not only bonded more (if that's possible) but we've started to learn to cherish the time that we do have. Last week in our small group Donna and Steve asked us to share what God has been showing us. I think that through this ordeal God has been showing me that we need to cherish everything we have. In this time of economic crisis, meltdown or whatever you want to call it, we need to realize exactly how blessed we are. Every moment I have with Gordy now is cherished and I realize EXACTLY what he means to me. Before when I saw him everyday it was easy to take him for granted. Now I thank God everynight that I have such a wonderful man in my life and that I get to spend the rest of my life with him and raise our amazing son. I also think Parker is learning this too. We count down the days until Daddy his home again but at the same time we have fun together during the week. When Gordy is home on the weekends Parker takes full advantage of his time with him, and I love that! We only have 2 more months until Gordy's job down there is finished and I am expecting God to show us so much more before that time! Love to all, sorry this is so long!

Officially one of "them"

This past weekend was a lot of fun! So, I feel that I am now "officially" a Red Raider. I can honestly say this is the first time I have watched a game and actually cared who won. Not only did I care but I was one of the mindless fans screaming at the TV as if the people could hear us. It was ridiculous, but fun none the less. We actually missed the first part of the game because we were at the Corn Maze with a bunch of fun kiddos, Pat and Kara. Halloween was fun, we took Parker Trick or Treating, really for the first time. We actually did a lot of driving because there were so many people that wanted to see him so we just drove to friends houses and COTR for the candy and festivities. He had a BLAST! And he was actually allowed to go into one of the jumpers by himself because there was no other kiddos in line. (Thank you nice lady at COTR you made my baby boy's night!!) He was having so much fun I thought I was going to have to climb in there and get him! Sorry there are no pictures...well there are but I am not going to find the camera in my sea of papers and essays to download them right now. I promise I will post them later, hopefully before next Halloween. Love to all and WAY TO GO TECH PLAY THAT GOOD THIS WEEK PLEASE!!! OH and tomorrow is voting day DO NOT FORGET! And if you have any "I voted stickers" you can pass them to Parker on Wednesday night or Sunday morning depending on when you see me :) He was decked out in them all of last week, it was great. SO get your voice out there and VOTE. Again, love to all, I am now done with my public service announcment, carry on back to your lives.

pumpkin madness

So last weekend we had some friends over and we carved pumpkins! There is a picture of our finished pieces. It was so much fun and it was nice to see some people. Parker was a HUGE helper, he thought it was the coolest thing. He kept taking all of the pumpkin lids off and looking inside. I think he kept thinking "I know this was full of stuff a minute ago!" There are a few new words in his vocabulary now. He says "bubbles, outside" which sounds more like ouchide and he shakes his head yes and no with the correct word now. He is growing up TOO FAST! He can also drink from a straw, which I know most kids can do long before this age but for some reason he never wanted to try and drink out of one. Well now he wants a drink of everything! And he follows me around the house saying "Mo Mama Mo" even when I have nothing to give him. It's amusing. He also "helps" we with school work. As long as I give him a sheet of paper and a pencil he will help me with "sool" which is what he calls it. Love to all I know I haven't posted in forver! Homework and student teaching is getting the best of me I am afraid!

my cave

So, many of you have been asking how things are going. I NEED TIME!! There is NOT enough hours in the day to get everything done. I am trying to prioritize and just get the MOST important things done, but sometimes I feel like I am not doing a very good job at it. I have so much to do, and yeah I know here I am typing a blog! But in my mind this really helps reduce my things to do because now I don't have to answer the questions! So, we're doing good. Gordon is out of town Mon-Fri as some of you know. It's been hectic, homework, writing papers, homework, taking care of Parker, cleaning. You know busy day stuff. It's been really hard with Gordon being gone and some days I just am amazed I am able to get anything done. My child is into EVERYTHING!! But, thus far I have failed nothing (well one measly little math test...but I actually got one of the higher grades in the class) so I guess somehow I am getting it done. And even though I have not vacuumed the house in longer than I would like to admit there is no dirty dishes or mold anywhere. We're also all running around in clean (mostly) clothes, so I guess everything is getting done somehow. I just can't think about energy levels. On a better note my mom took Parker and I to the fair yesterday (it was his 1st time ever) and it was a nice break from writing papers and studying. Even though we only spent a few hours in the general population it was still nice! Parker wanted to pet the cows, of course I told him we couldn't, GROSS!! So, to everyone that ever reads this, caffeine is my best friend, lamps and my kitties keep me company in the late hours and pony tails have become the norm. I will hopefully talk to some of you in person when I can come out of my cave that has become my existence, a good time line for this would be after December 10Th :) Have a great week!

Pen snobbery

There never seems to be any time to do anything, yet somehow almost everything gets done. Although the laundry never seems to be finished, it is like a large animal of sorts waiting to attack me as soon as I step into the laundry room. Recently I bought some really nice pens. I mean, these are the pens that God intended people to use, they’re smooth flowing, perfect color and never seem to run out. Unfortunately for me they are rather pricey, but I have recently realized that my hand cramps do not care about price, just quality. So last week I decided I was going to become a pen snob, and yes it has gone straight to my head. Well, the other night I was getting ready to dig into a very long and labor intensive paper and I needed my snobby pen in hand. I proceeded to look in the obvious places, you know, the desk, chair, bed, dog toy bin, child toy bin and everywhere else a pen might escape to. After fruitless efforts of looking for my long lost expensive yet worth it pen I decided to give up and lower myself to the .99 pen from Wal-Mart. Just as I sit down to start writing my 19 month old son runs up to me yelling “Mommy, Mommy Mommy!!” Very loudly and very urgently. Of course I was at first inclined to ignore him and yell at my husband to come and get him. You must realize this was my only moments of free/quite time that I had sat aside and allotted just for this occasion. But anyway looking up at my son I see him running at me with fist high in the air holding something thin and small. His hand is an oddly stained dark color (from who knows what, and after living with him for these last 19 months I really don’t even try and speculate until I can get close.) As he is quickly approaching me I get a good look at his clothes and realize this dark substance has somehow traveled to his clothes as well. “Odd” I think. As he leaps into my lap proudly displaying whatever it is he has obviously won and grinning as large as he can. He hands me my sad, chewed, bleeding snobby pen. At that moment in time I can honestly not say if I was more upset about his clothes and inky hands or my dilapidated little friend that had only had the privilege of serving me but once in its sad and pathetic little life. Of course I wanted to yell, and cry and all of the above, but the look on his face made me stop. He had been looking ALL over the house for that pen for me, and even though he had, unfortunately for all of us, decided to take a chew while retrieving the pen for Mommy, he had still found it. So, on our way to the bathroom I tried (calmly tried) to explain that we cannot chew on pens because it has ink in it and it’s bad to get that in your mouth. Of course I am sure he didn’t really care, it has cool colors in it! Luckily this small sad moment also forced me to do some laundry, so there’s one chore down that I didn’t previously have done. I guess there is a silver lining in it after all. I have decided to traipse of to the store today and by myself another snobby pen. Hopefully this little troop can survive the Thornley household a little longer than its fallen comrade before it.

copy cat

Well, after such a wonderful first week of school I am feeling very confident about this semester as a whole. I am now going to buy a bicycle so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them out there for me. Parker has done really well with me being gone so much, of course next week he starts PDO so I think that will be much more fun for him than staying at home all week with various people. Of course on Tuesday he stayed with Connie, and they apparently had a blast, of course tomorrow I will get a better story I am sure. My mom went and picked him up so she didn't really tell me any funny stories. I feel like Parker has grown up just in this week. We've started trying to potty train him (just getting him used to the idea) and this morning he went in it!! We think. You see we weren't exactly watching him 100 % so it could be from him..or his sippey cup. It's up for debate. But I would like to think he went in it. He also imitates everything Gordon does, I tell him he's being a copy cat and he throws his head back and laughs.(Which is something else he LOVES to do, I think he's being sarcastic because he crinkles up his nose while he does it, but it still makes me laugh) This morning we went to the store to get various things and Parker wasn't sitting in the cart he was walking (as he LOVES to do and rarely gets to). Gordon was squatting down looking at something and Parker walked up next to him and squatted down just like him and started pointing to things and looking at Gordon. It was SO CUTE! I would've LOVED to have had my camera. He says "dere" now, which I am interpreting as "there" although I could be way off. Anyway, that's not much news but I just wanted to share the "first" moments with the crazy "potty"time thing.

traipsing off to big BIG kids school

Well, today was my "official" day at big BIG kids school. Gordy and I used to call SPC big kids school so when I started applying to Tech he told me I was going off to big BIG kids school. The first day went pretty well. I wasn't hit by a bus, run down by a fellow biker or kicked in the head. I also had my shoes tied tight so I wouldn't get in a fight. I found my classes pretty easily and found a parking spot right off the bat. Of course I was there before 8, and there were hardly any left! Today I only had 1 class so tomorrow I feel will be the real challenge...since I somehow have to make it to 5 classes. But I am feeling much more confident than I was last week. And I KNOW Gordy loves me because last night he surprised me by taking me to the campus and walking around to the different buildings to find the quickest route. You see when I say "I would be lost without Gordy" it is not some figurative cutsie thing, I mean it literately. I would really be LOST without him, because I have NO sense of direction or a head for maps AT ALL!!! But he was so cute last night holding my hand and showing me landmarks that I could remember to help me find the right building. Because to me besides the library and the business building they all look the same. At least after all of these years he has finally learned I can not get a sense of direction by scouting out a bush or looking at the direction of the sun. All that does for me is want to make me sit in the shade and try not to stare at the sun too long before I go blind. I guess if I had been in the Army I would appreciate these things more, but alas I can not. So, here's to me sitting in my quite (Parker is napping thank you God!) cool office enjoying this moment instead of having tire marks on my forehead or roaming aimlessly around campus thinking "Man I thought I parked here!" And to all of my friends that went to Tech you should also be happy that Gordy helped me because you might all have a frantic phone call from me asking to help me find where I am :) And oh yeah Brandi I have your number now! Haha. So here's to a great semester, if all (or at least most, lets be realistic here) days go this well!!

No baby

Everyone has always told my "Kids grow up too fast." I always politely agreed with them, and now I find myself telling other people that. I have just gotten home from visiting my family in St. Louis and when we get home Gordon tells me that Parker has changed while we were there. Of course he is always growing taller (no really he is, one morning I went to put an outfit on him he wore the day before so we could run to the grocery store and it would no longer snap at the bottom.) Don't ask me to explain that, it just happened. So I have been watching him today trying to figure out exactly what Gordon meant. Of course I see Parker every day and here recently all day everyday. When I was in school I would go to pick him up and be amazed at how different he looked than what was in my mind's eye. Sometimes I still catch myself thinking that he is still a baby. Which I only think for a second as he runs the other way laughing or jabbers to me in his own language. So, here is some changes that have occurred in merely one week. He says "yeah" but only to something he wants or wants to do where last week it was "yeah" to anything, including a nap or bedtime. He takes my hand and walks me to the changing table when it is needed. (Don't worry we've gotten a potty chair and are currently getting him comfortable with it as told by multiple books and mommies we should do.) He can bite into an apple actually chewing the chunks up where before he couldn't bite into it and if he did it was reduced to mere dribble down his nicely stained clothes. He can also meow like a cat when he sees one (no really, I thought it was actually the cat this morning) I was surprised to find the cat in the other room and Parker pointing to the empty doorway meowing. Before it was a silly sound and not really recognizable by others. He can also take the back off of the remotes, which means no more play time with them. He also officially has 13 teeth, I think, of course this count could be off it was just merely done by identifying the amount of dents in my skin. I think that is about it, of course everyday there is something new, it's just so hard to keep up. Gordon swears by the time he gets home on Fridays Parker will be driving. Oh and one last thing he does, which is very funny, when you ask him where the baby is he says "No babeeee"

Traumatic cooking experience

Well, I was not going to share this story because as you will be able to soon imagine it is highly embarrassing. The only thing good is that my family hates computers and even more so the Internet, so I am safe in assuming that they will never read this. The other day I was feeling very inspired and decided to cook a family meal that would be different. Because you see I have this feeling that we eat the same things all of the time, which is really not so much a feeling as an actuality. So I get out my little cook book and I come across a wonderful sounding recipe that involves chicken, cheese tortillas and some various other parts. Of course this sounds very easy (and wonderfully delicious). So Parker and I go traipsing off to the store to get all of the essential ingredients. While I am standing in the produce section of our local grocery store I must have looked very lost (Of course you must understand I rarely buy fresh things that are unknown to me). I try very hard to stick to known substances which would be the major food group items. But for this recipe that I can already see Gordon raving over I needed fresh parsley. As I am standing there and Parker is looking at me like come on mom! a very nice older gentlemen that works there asks me if I need help. Of course I am not one to turn down free advice (especially not from him because he miraculously always seems to be where I need him when I need him and his advice has yet to fail me). I tell him I do indeed need help and I tell him what I need. He immediately turns to the section (obviously marked parsley) and pulls down a beautiful bundle of the aromatic green bundle. He asks me what I am using it for, and I tell him what my intentions are. He kindly informs me to remove the end form the skinny stalks before putting it in my soon to be delicious mix of things. I go home and start making it. Gordon gets home and starts helping me (because little did I know you have to cut things up, stir the hot boiling oozing cheesy stuff AND get the tortillas ready) all at the same time. To an expert this is nothing, to me this is a disaster. So while Gordy is stirring things I proudly produce my fresh parsley from the fridge. I wash it off tear the tops off and proceed to throw it in. As I finish the last bit of throwing the parsley chunks into the melting lava that was at one time cheese Gordon yells "WHAT are you doing!?!?!?!" Of course since I naturally have a sweet nature and am not at all given to panic I answer "putting in the parsley" which he then says to "You have to cut it up!! LOOK at the picture in the book, they are NOT hunks they are tiny pieces." Of course my first thought is to remove the large hunks of parsley, which at this time is looking more and more like spinach from the moulting lava. Of course after 5 years of marriage and being able to read me pretty well, Gordy at once says "just leave it, it'll be ok." Which is his code way of saying "I am not putting burn ointment on your fingers every 4-6 hours and cooking dinner!" So we mix the rest together put it in the tortillas and place them safely in the oven. As we are eating my fabulous dinner we had to occasionally pull out chunks of a spinach like substance that oddly tasted of parsley. Needless to say we did not eat all of the 12 chicken cheese things that it made. My dreams of a beautiful amazing tasting dinner was out the window, but who cares right? We didn't starve AND we got some good tips for next time we cook something that requires fresh items. Needless to say I don't think I will ever make that again, the huge chunks of parsley will haunt me forever. And when I go back to the store I will not be sharing my horror story of how the parsley ruined my wonderful dinner to the kind elderly gentleman that had faithfully guided me in the right ways of cooking for countless years. I just can't let him down.

Daddy running away with junk

So because I am not in school right now I have had a lot of time to look around the house, something I rarely have time to do. It has come to my attention that my house is very cluttered. Every closet is filled to the brim and every nook and cranny has something in it. Of course you have to realize that we've been in this house for over three years, but this is still RIDICULOUS!! So, Gordy and I have been VERY motivated these past few weeks (I really have NO idea why) and we've been cleaning things up and moving things around. The first weekend we cleaned the backyard up...which is AMAZING, it still has stuff to be done but it's getting there. Then the weekend before we cleaned out the garage (that was NOT fun) but it is done now. AND this past weekend we cleaned out the office closet! I am so proud of us. The stupid thing is there was still clothes in there from when I was in high school. I decided that since I am a Mommy now it wasn't really very cool to be wearing scooby-doo shirts and care bears. I think I will leave that up to Parker. The sad thing is there is so much stuff in our house that we will never need! I really think there is elves of clutter in my house. It's as if there are little elves running around our house putting random things in our closets. Some of that stuff I have NO IDEA where it came from. BUT I am watching out for them now that I am aware and all of the stuff we don't need is NOT getting put in a closet...it's just going to Goodwill. Yes, I sent Gordy packing yesterday with his truck full of things that I hope others will love as much as I did...or at least not throw it in the closet and forget about it. So, the really cute story out of all of this mess is: As Gordy was leaving (with a ton of bags of useless junk and old clothes) I say to him "Are you running away?" And he says yes, with all of my old winter clothes at least I won't be cold in this 90 degree weather. And he walks out to the truck. Parker RUNS full speed to the front door, hits his palms on the glass and screams "NO DADDY NO Please No Daddy!!" It was pretty cute, well sad but cute. So I yell at Gordy to come back inside, because by this time there is a puddle of tears on the floor. It took everything Gordy had to take Parker seriously, it was quite hard not to laugh. Of course I have NO IDEA where my son could have gotten his dramatic streak. It surely is NOT from me, I am NEVER over dramatic. But what ever dramatic DNA Gordy and I have, I think we doubled it in Parker. Nothing is ever small with him.

No Sacred Place!

Well, our stories are not legends and folklore yet but I am confident that we will eventually be the crazy old people of the family. I have all the faith in Parker that our crazy lives will be retold in our family for generations to come. I also have no doubt that "Great Great Grandpa Gordon and Grandma Ruth" are destined to be loonies and will create much embarrassment for future generations. Of course this being my first "official blog" there is too many stories to tell and I would hate to make this very long. Here is the one story for this first blog however. This morning I wake up and start making coffee as usual (you know, the much needed first cup) and I am getting Parker's breakfast ready as usual. I walk into the dining room from our kitchen to find Parker sitting on the dining room table eating a (who knows how old) bagel he found. He was also happily sipping on a (also who knows how old) Dr. Pepper. Breakfast of champions right? Sadly enough our dining room table is no longer a sacred ground for the much needed place of inappropriate children's items. Soon there will be no safe place from the octopus arms that are attached to my child's body.