Last in a 3 part post... go down and start at 1st Annual Cardy Awards....

Seriously, these posted backwards.... you need to go down 2 posts and then read "up" to this one.



So that is basically the bulk of the awards. The last card I got will get the award for the biggest card!!!! I swear this card is like 12" x 6" and, like the Arinders, I have no idea how she sent it without extra postage!!! This is from the Wardlaws, and we got it Christmas Eve!!! Better late than never.

They also come really close to getting the cutest kids award too. I can't really give an award for that because I'll make folks mad. And my kids are the cutest of them all anyway! :)
So that is the conclusion of the "2008 Cardy Awards." I hope you'll all want to get involved next year and that my card numbers will shoot up! HA! And just in case you didn't get ours, it was a folded card that was blue with real funky colored trees all over it and on the front it said, "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." and you opened the card to this picture:

And the inside said, "YEAH RIGHT!!! Merry Christmas!"
I thought it was a pretty cute. And this is another pic we took that nite. So we hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and you have a great New Year!! And we don't really have plans yet....so if you know something good, let us know! ha!

Part 2 of the 1st Annual "Cardy" Awards! (go down one more if you haven't read part 1)

Have you already read part one of the "Cardy" awards? If not, go down one more post then read up to here. If you've read part one already, you're in the right place!



Shelly and I talked and decided that me, her, and my friend Tamar won the award for funniest/most creative. We're all like that though, and try to be different with our Christmas cards. So they tie for the award for Creative Cards!!

Shelly's had her girls with mad looks and "Naughty" hats... then in "Nice" hats with cute looks. It was cute. With the year Shelly has had, it's a miracle she got a card out at all. So she gets extra points for that.

Tamar's had her kids fighting with candy canes. It was very typical of her boys. She also had cute pictures of them too. Very cute.

This card got raves from me and from my girls. This is from the Burchfields. They just had a new baby girl on Nov. 26. The card was a collage and featured all the girls. I tried to get the girls to pick their favorite cards. They had a hard time doing that. They leaned towards cards with babies, of course. So these cards get Cute Baby Awards. So Emily said it was a tie between the Burchfields, above, and the one from Mark and Anita Phillips, below, which featured their grandson Jace. It was signed from "Mimi and Pop" (I think) and that was cute too.

We also had to pick a favorite non picture card. We liked the one from William's brother and his wife which I forgot to get a pic of. It was a striped glittery one. My favorite, so the award for the Best Non Photo card goes to William's cousins James and Paoli Ellen. Beautiful silver glittery Noel card. I normally really don't like glittery stuff, but it does make for pretty cards.

Ok, so now we'll have to go to part 3 for the conclusion of the "Cardy" awards!

1st Annual "Cardy" Awards!

Christmas cards are a very big deal at my house. Everyone knows I anxiously await for Thanksgiving to pass so I can start stalking my mailbox each day! I start planning what I'm going to do for my own Christmas card sometimes months in advance. I don't like just a simple photo, Merry Christmas kinda card. The Durr Christmas card has come to be known as usually pretty comical, so I have to build on it each year. But I also love getting everyone's cards. My friend, Shelly is really responsible for making this card obsession. She's more obsessed than I am. She's even had an "A" list and "B" list for her cards.... if she liked ya, you made the "A" list. If you were just so-so or she hadn't gotten a card from you or you were close to going off her "list," then you went to the "B"! She and I have to talk daily to compare how many we got (she usually beats me like 2 to 1) and critique ones that we both got. It's quite funny actually. It has even been the butt of jokes. Someone told me last year they were going to buy a box of cards and send them all to me. And someone actually did that to Shelly! Wrote all kinds of funny stuff in them. It was really funny.
So since this is such a big deal, I decided to blog about it. Also decided that I would start the "Cardy" awards. You know- Emmy, Espy, etc - so I'm doing the Cardy! So welcome to the first annual, Durr sponsored, Cardy awards!!!

We always hang our Christmas cards on the door mouldings in the living room. I want to do the garland thing that Matt and Kyle did last year. When we get about half way down we have to move to the other door. If we don't, Josh likes to pull them down and tear them up and flush them down toilets and eat them and throw them around the house.

I will start by giving away an award for the first card I received. This award also counts as my card from the farthest away. It was from William's cousin, Stephanie, and her family who currently reside in China. I don't know if I'm supposed to say much more than that.... don't want to get them in trouble. And we are definitely going to give an award for a family card, and cutest pet, to William's cousins Matt and Kyle with their dog, Buford. We love their cards every year. Always cute, and we adore Buford.

The second card we got is also one that cracked me up. It is from Ronald and Susan Smith. Cute pic of their cute kids.... their little boy's name is Mitchell. For some reason Jay calls him Bencho. I think he can't say Mitchell. But he loves him... and it is so funny to hear him say his name. But anyway- Susan didn't sign her cards. Not even a name on the envelope. Just an address. Said she doesn't like her writing! It just cracked me up. You have to know Susan. I love her to pieces and she makes me laugh.

This next card gets the reward for "Card that is like a package." I have no idea how they mailed these without extra postage. It is from my pastor and his family. It was a really pretty card, and inside the pocket was a picture on cute paper and then a letter about their year which was told with Grant and Lori's usual wit. But it was seriously like getting a gift. It was thick and heavy and Lori seriously put a lot of work into it. Congrats.

Since I can only put 5 pictures per post, you must go to Part 2 to see the rest of the awards!!!

just a little tradition.......

Just a few pics from us visiting the nativity scene at Memorial Funeral home I told you we go to every year. Usually the lambs are very tame and you can pet them and feed them from your hand, but not this year. There were two cute, cute little lambs, but they were very skittish! It was still fun and Josh was old enough this year to get a kick out of it!

Full and Fun (yeah right) December (I'm kidding!!!)

Wow. December has flown by. It seems like we've been so busy but it has been good. I have some pics from some of the stuff we've been up to, and I forgot my camera a couple of times which I hate. One of the most fun things we did was our Sunday School Christmas party where we were introduced to "Filthy Santa." You've heard of the "Dirty Santa" game... well, as Heath Peeples told us that night, "If that's dirty, this is filthy!" It was a lot of fun. We laughed until we cried, and that is always positive.
Then we also went to get-together with some friends, the Wardlaws, where they hosted a Spades tournament!!! It was a night of great company, great food, and GREAT competition. We had a really, really good time and hope to do it again soon.
We always get together with my mom, my sister, and my sister's family every year on December 22. (that was my step dad, Joe's, birthday. He passed away Christmas Day, 1995.) We exchange gifts and eat and just let our kids hang out for a little while. We had to move it up a day this year because of work schedules. We had spaghetti and yummy snacks made by my mom and we had a really good time.



My emily, with cousins Cora and Abby.






Jay and Preston and Cora.

If you know me, you know I'm very particular about my main Christmas tree. That's why we have 6 trees up in our house. The one in the living room is just mine. The kids all have trees in their room decorated to match their rooms. Then we have a 6 1/2 foot tree in the kitchen (which I think will have to get about a foot taller next year!) that has the kids ornaments we get them every year on it, the ornaments they make, and ornaments friends get them and just generally any other cutesy ornaments I get or buy that don't match my big tree! Ha! So I put a picture of it on here, because it's one thing they really enjoy. I also allow colored lights on this one, and don't do that on the rest.

The kids also love our advent calendar. It's a Hallmark Christmas tree that has drawers in it for each day. Each day they open the drawer and it has tiny ornaments in it that hang on little hangers. It's cute. They get up and do it every morning.
This year we also discovered Baker's Akers, which I think will probably become a new tradition for us! It's in between Louisville and Noxapater, and it is awesome. This family decorates their property and you can ride through it. It is really, really worth driving to. I am just putting one pic on here from it. But there is a lot of fun stuff, this is just a pretty picture looking across the lake at the house. There's a lot of "kid" stuff too.

Of course there is also the normal array of kids programs. The girls did a program at church, and Emily had a singalong at school. Jay had a program at Methodist which is just a hoot to watch the little kids. He did a very good job! He likes to sing.


We also had KidStuf the first weekend of this month which was so much fun. And Christmas cards are a VERY big deal at our house. After today I'm going to do a blog on those as well, and name the ones we've decided are our favorites. I have to wait though because I have some friends who are behind and just mailed theirs yesterday!!! I want to make sure to get theirs in. We will do our normal stuff this week as well. Steve will come stay with us starting tonite, and we'll go to my grandmother's house tomorrow afternoon. We also have an old tradition of going to Memorial Funeral Home and looking at the lambs in the nativity set. We've done it ever since Kirkland was a baby. Rain, sleet or snow, we go see those lambs. We'll probably also open gifts with the kids tomorrow too. At some point we'll get together with the Burrells (friends as close as family) and do gifts with them. So it'll be a busy day or so here. We hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas as well!!! We'll blog about the cards tonite or tomorrow! Til then!

My Poems....

I don't have time to do a real entry right now. But I am copying and pasting my revised poems that were turned in for Creative Writing. I'll try to get a real entry in soon!

Debacle

Trail of water,

drop after drop,

leads down the hall.

The dog sits outside the door

staring at the mess, and she

barks out a warning

to the culprit.

Toilet paper is strewn

from the toilet,

to the door,

to the tub,

and back.

Oh! And on the ceiling!

How in the world?

Your clothes are all soaked

and dripping on the rug

that is soaked too.

Wet toilet paper is

paper machéd to your cheek

and forehead.

Water sliding down

the side of the toilet

like water down Niagara.

Drip drop, drip drop.

I look down at the dog

She could’ve helped,

I think.

Looking back at the child-made

flood,

your two year old grin greets

me as you flush my toothbrush.

Grabbing towels,

I stoop and wipe and

I feel your chubby wet hand

pat my head and

your look out,

the dog, licks my cheek and

hand in bowl,

I find my lipstick and

you laugh and

I laugh,

because if I didn’t

I’d go insane.

mary virginia

I am red:

gingham curtains, white and blue,

state on the news, silky pajamas, bank accounts.

I am blue:

cobalt bottles in the windowsill, suede heels,

berries on mama’s pie, toenail polish.

I am yellow:

bungalow behind the sycamores,

yield, don’t stop, couch at the coffee shop.

I am green:

crunch of rock candy, stained glass in my place of refuge,

the worst kind of dirty diaper, pawpaw’s swing.

I am orange:

clementines, crushed velvet chairs,

sweet potato pie, swimsuits on the beach.

I am purple:

cough syrup that makes me gag, giggles, paint

on the living room walls, pansies in the pot.

I am brown:

glass beer bottles, hazelnut coffee,

chocolate brunette, melting pralines.

I am black:

speeding asphalt going by, computer keys,

2000 Calorie mascara coming off, sleepy.

The Wicked Bean

Th

Ah we meet here again as morning breaks.

I wrap my hands around your perfect heat,

inhaling your scent and my body aches.

I pull you closer until my lips meet

your warmth and I feel you inside of me.

It takes a minute to get me going:

I’ve just woken up and I’m still sleepy.

I come alive inside, pleasure flowing.

Without you I don’t know how I’d survive.

My time spent with you gets me through each day.

My head falls back and I let out a sigh.

You’re certainly worth the extra I pay

for hazelnut whole bean, ground extra fine.

My first cup of coffee is just divine.

Thirty

This is the big time!

Time of the big stuff:

big schedules, big hips,

big mouth, big dreams.

And dreams being forgotten,

Or maybe just rethought.

Year of the big three – o.

Responsibility multiplies as again, cells divide.

Waist disappears, baby cries.

Rub a sweet soft fuzzy head,

take a breath, let out a sigh.

Immortality is mine.

Bliss in a family complete,

as statistics are filled.

Two of us, two kids, and the dog.

And three decades have passed. Gone

are the parties, but welcome to the clubs:

soccer moms, PTA, carpool.

Not fifty fake acquaintances,

but five real friends.

Best night out is a movie night in.

Me and you and buttery popcorn on the couch.

First time I’ve gotten to laugh

with you all day!

Comfort, security, and resting.

Feet tucked under, head on your shoulder.

Getting to breathe slow, wear my pjs

and be still a minute.

Because tomorrow I’m running

all over again:

Run to the bank, pay those bills,

watching kids kick goals,

and a grocery cart to fill.

Fifteen times two, sixty divided by two.

10,950 days of one life used, hopefully about

twice as many to go.

2 things.....

Just a quick note to say a couple of things. One, my entry for Jay was kind of rushed, and I apologize for not giving him the time he deserved and not having enough of my fabulous wit in the entry! :)
Second, I just have to announce that my last Creative Writing class is Tuesday!!! Oh no!!! I tell you that for a couple of reasons. I know a lot of you are big fans of my blogs on that class, and this Tuesday is open to the public! We can bring a friend or more to class because it will just be a day of readings. Isn't that funny? I know if you live out of town it wouldn't matter, but if you live in town you could come meet Dr. Skinny and the gang!! HA HA HA!!!
More importantly, I have a final portfolio due that day. I have to have a revised version of my short story and my three poems. Also I have to have a new poem, written in one of five forms. Then I have to have a 3 -4 page critical analysis. And THEN I have to have a one page retrospective. I have been so swamped here lately, and I have tons this week as well.. I know, excuses, excuses. But needless to say, I'm a little stressed so please say a little prayer for me to make it to Tuesday sane. Well, as sane as I normally am. :)
As far as William goes, he took his finals in mid November and did fantastic!!! He'll most likely finish with all A's and B's. Yay William!!!
Ok, I'll let y'all know how it goes. And then in a week or so I will probably delete all the blogs about my class. I know they might be offensive to some. But I have others that love it so much I felt like I needed to finish out the semester. Ok, off to writing......

Gingerbread!!!

We decided to enter the first annual Starkville Festival of Trees Gingerbread contest. We'd never made gingerbread houses before or baked gingerbread at all for that matter. So we took the stuff above (except for the horse, I cut it all out free hand) and with a little help from Jay and the girls,



Made it into this:

And this:


and won!!!!


We took first place for our farm in the children 8 - 12 years old division. All of the entries were really, really good so I don't know how we got chosen. They were all family projects, gingerbread houses made by parents with assistance from kids. Then there were some professional ones. They were fun to look at too. Anyway, we got a nice blue ribbon. The houses were all auctioned off at the party Friday nite. Ours was bought, but I'm not sure by who. All proceeds went to the United Way of North Mississippi. It was a lot of fun!!! We're looking forward to next year.

Jaybird

Well, Jay decided he wanted some candy. So Jay proceeded to climb on the counter to get some. Then proceeded to fall off of said counter and shove the bottom cabinet door into his face. Everyone thinks I'm talking about his lip, but it's actually not. It's just above his lip. So I got called out of class, took him to the ER, and he got two stitches. The first of my children to get stitches, so I'm pretty lucky. He did very well, and bounced back to climbing the cabinets immediately! :)





James Benjamin is our 5 year old. He was the first boy born into my family in like 45 years. He came in to the world beautiful, and well behaved. He still threw me for a spin.... for some reason that third little one just about did me in!! But I recovered, and I'll tell ya.... he has his mama wrapped around his finger like a thread. He is definitely all boy, don't get me wrong. But he is so sweet. And everything anyone ever said about moms and sons is absolutely true.

It doesn't hurt that Jay is absolutely gorgeous and has this hilarious accent. I can't explain it, he just has an accent! He speaks in very proper English, and almost sounds like he's from up north. And he's just so funny. He says things that just crack me up. Like "I wonder how a unicorn poops?" He can really really push my buttons and he is incredibly messy and sometimes he talks too much. But he loves me and loves to tell me he loves me.
He goes to First United Methodist Church dayschool three mornings a week from 8:30 - 11:30. He loves it. He's been going since he was 2. His birthday falls where he missed starting kindergarten this year by 4 days. So I have an extra year of him at home. Everyone tells me this is really good for boys, though, and great for sports. Jay loves school and his friends. He has two main friends at school he talks about all the time, Christopher and Christian. Then he has friends at church, Will and Karis.... whom he actually met at school and whom we have an arranged marriage with her parents... well, unless Tessa Loving comes knocking, then we'll have to honor our original arrangement!!! Tessa is a little girl he used to go to church with and was his first kiss!! He just leaned over when he was about 2 and planted one on her!! And then he has some friends, Mitchell (who he calls Mencho or Benjo and we're not sure why) and Mason (our friends from Natchez). Jay loves his buddies and loves to play with them.
He gets along good with his siblings. Except Kirkland, for some reason they drive each other crazy. And he does like to aggravate Josh. Steven used to use him to pick up chicks! But when Steven is around now, Jay is all over him. He adores Steve. William says that he will make him a Daddy's boy, and that probably needs to happen. But I think he'll always be a mama's boy deep down.
I'm hoping the boy will play basketball or football. Of course his father is pushing for baseball. I don't like baseball. I like basketball (indoor sport) and football (my fave sport, and cooler weather!) He may not play anything. He's scrawny, but tall. He should be as tall as Steven (6'2" ) or taller, according to his pediatrician.
Jay doesn't look like the other Durr children. They all look so much alike except him. JC used to say when looking at a family picture of us, "aw, all of your children look so much alike, and then there's Jay who looks like he was just dropped down by fairies!" I used to tell William I thought she thought that I messed around with the milkman!!! But he looks more like William than you think, and he looks a lot like I did at that age. And has my coloring.
Well, I'll have to keep you posted on Jaybird as he gets older. Let you know which sport he decides to play!!! (whether william wins or me! ha!) Ok, so I've covered Steve, Kirkland, Emily, and Jay.... all that's left is Josh!! I'll get to him soon!

Cheap advertising!

I'm not sure this counts as a real post or an infomercial. I went to the holiday bazaar on campus ... first time I've ever taken any of my paintings anywhere. I ONLY took a sample of my door things that I'm doing now... I do them on metal or on canvas.... with artificial flowers (gerber daisies, sunflowers, etc) or with my cute little tin flowers.... They are completely 3 D, textured, and clear coated. Hung with coordinating ribbon. I say all this to say that I already have orders building for Christmas. I do holiday ones for your door too. I can send pics of more stuff I do (painted canvases, painted t shirts, christmas balls, etc.) if you are interested. But if you want one of the door things, they are $45 on canvas and $25 on metal. (like the pink one -it's corrugated). I can do any color combination. But you need to let me know soon if you want them by Christmas!!!!!!!

Random thoughts from the past few weeks in Creative Writing.....PG

9-30
Miss Superiority pulled seat up next to Dr. Skinny. She pays attention and looks at people as though she is making sure you are getting all of this. I might be a bit too hard on her.... but she kinda has this rep now in my blog and I feel the urge to keep it up....
Dr Skinny has on a very pretty flattering black top and great red bag.
I have to pee so freaking bad but AM NOT getting up to go. Of course, I could stop sucking down this coffee.... nah.
Oh Napoleon (Mr pre ass) is rambling. I so need to be at Lowe's
Dammit I got too much Splenda in my coffee.
I just made a face at Dr. Skinny that made her think I was totally agreeing with what she is saying- really i'm so tired and have to pee so bad I can't think and have no idea what she just said.
Something's up with Mag today.
Superiority is so clueless. She has like no life experience apparently. oh but wait.... she's been ABROAD!
Superiority is using a green pen today. She is STILL marking up this person's paper!
Ok I'm either going to pee on the floor or I'm going to blow up like the girl on Chocolate Factory and float out the window.

10-9

Miss Sup is back up Dr. Skinny's ass again.
Mag is back in her groove!
Mr Pretentious Ass is asleep. HA ha ha ha ha
Oh Super is being crazy ticky. But she did say something that made me laugh but I can't remember what it was. Mag has told me I have the complete wrong idea about Super. Maybe she's right.....
Curly said her family owned a holler. OH MY GOSH!!!!!! lol ha ha ha ha
Dr. Skinny has chiggers on her ankles. seriously.
Mag just made fun of my Miley Cyrus pen. I have 5 kids. I'm doing good not to be wearing Miley underwear!

10-14
late. but only 3 mins. but they've started.
Talked about "kitchenette building" by Gwendolyn Brooks.
I compare the poem to Dave Matthew's "Grey St." Yay me!!! I think Dr. Skinny liked it.
AH! Miss super came in later than me - and then walked back out. with her cell phone. Dr. S asks if she walked out to answer her phone, but Super says no. yeah right.
Pretentious Ass came in at 8:20. well.
Covered "Sixty" by Stephen Dunn. liked both these poems, by the way. Great line out of "Sixty":
"I think I'll keep on describing things
to ensure they really happened" great line.
Me and Mag both say "wah" when describing "sentimentality betrays sentiment."
Dr S. makes comment about our sound effect.
Poor Dr. S's marker is petering out. She sends Mag to steal one from another classroom but Mag comes back unsuccessful.
Me and Mag completely rag the poem she gives us for revision.
I even make the comment that my heart is so completely hardened to this poem someone needs to come in and kill all the kids in it.
Mag makes the sign to me "i heart you" and says cause your mind is so f-ed up. I laugh.

10-16
well whaddaya know. Miss Super went to a private all girls school. this fact doesn't surprise me at all.
Get into whole class discussion about plagarism. whatever.
Mag talks about the drunk butterflies at her feeder?????
One of the girls in my class says she was in the 4th grade when Titanic came out. WHA???????
We have to write a 10 line poem in 10 mins. I freak. Dr. Skinny says I look like I'm going to have a heart attack. I told her I have NOT had coffee this morning and so this isn't fair! ha!

10-30
Dr. Skinny brings us candy.
Mag wants mine, so Dr. Skinny just passes out more candy.
Dr. Skinny has on a shrug with a black turtleneck, gray skirt, black tights, and black knee high boots. Work it. you can see her cute little figure. I swear this woman looks just like Alanis Moiressette. Did I spell that right?
Girl in front has on really cute shoes.
We had to read a RIDICULOUS sestina that def killed brain cells. I'm almost offended I had to read it.
I wonder when we will pass out our poems.
My poem sucks.
The all say Elvis died in 1976, and I'm fairly certain that is wrong.

The poem I wrote in an hour..... had to be free verse, unrhyming, at least 14 lines..... yeah, it is what it is. I'm being workshopped tomorrow (yikes.)

Debacle

Trail of water
Drop after drop
Leads down the hall
The dog sits outside the door
staring at the mess
Barks out a warning
Toilet paper is strewn
Clothes are all soaked
Water sliding down
the side of the toilet
Like water down Niagara
Drip drop drip drop
I look down at the dog
You could've helped,
I think.
Looking back at the child-made
Flood
Your toothy grin greets
Me as you flush my toothbrush.
Grabbing towels
Stoop and wipe
I feel your chubby wet hand
Pat my hand and
Your look out
the dog licks my cheek and
I find my lipstick and
You laugh and
I laugh
Because if I didn't
I'd go insane.

Updates

Ok, so this is just kind of an update blog. I read through all of my entries this morning, and realized there are a few things I need to give you some updates on. So, I don't know how interesting this will be, but if there are some things that you were like, "Hmmm, i wonder what happened with that?" this is where you find out!!! Anything I don't cover, just send me a comment and ask!!! :)
I'm trying to make my blog "prettier" because I went to my friend Kerri Wardlaw's blog and hers is like way cuter than mine so I'm gonna try to make mine prettier too! ha!!!! So that's why I have this groovy little fall background now. I'm much better at Myspace. ha ha ha. Gotta get my music on here too. If you know me, you know how I am about music. So it seems kinda stupid that I don't have music on my blog. I will also do a Halloween one at some point this week, since I'm actually not having to be in 14 places this week. I guess this is my "slow week!"
Updates on Steven: one, he moved out of his house. DO NOT ask me why. He's living in an apt until he leaves with another guy. He got his date for leaving for the USAF. February 3rd. Hope when Obama gets in he doesn't shut down the military before then. :) oh hush. I'm just kidding. He is hoping to be an air traffic controller, but that's kinda up in the air right now. I'll, of course, give you more updates as I get them.
Updates on Kirkland: well, just because it's what always happens when we take her to the dr, she has something ELSE wrong with her. But this is a little different because there's nothing we can really do about it. It seems that she is missing muscle mass in her behind. Her "gluteous minimus" is not there. I always knew something looked strange about her behind, and so now I know. Basically, her butt is concave on the sides. Strange, I know. But nothing can be done about it. Dr. Ski said that as she gets older, and her body fills out more, she can help fill that in with fat, but there will never be muscle there. Only complication that can really come from it is that she can have weakness in her hips, etc, and that there are some things her physical therapists can do to build the surrounding muscles and that will help somewhat. We are also trying some new approaches with medication with her. She is now on an anti-anxiety medication. Her anxiety problems were becoming almost debilitating to her. So we're trying this. Also, Dr. Ski wanted to try her on Stratera. This is an ADD medicine. Much talk has been had in the past about doing this with her, but there were problems with her other meds and ailments intermixing with the drugs that are available. Well apparently this is the only medicine she can take. She will have to also have liver panels done with this medicine as she does with her arthritis meds. All of this sounds rough, but really it not as many meds as she's been on in the past. She's down to one weekly injection, two pills at nite, and one in the mornings. So that's less than the 7 she was taking every nite at one point. Dental stuff: Dr. Curtis has now said there is nothing he can do to save her teeth. Did I tell you about her teeth? Lord, it's a long story. But basically, she's had tons of dental work done on her teeth since she was about 2, even having outpatient surgery on them. They are just horrible, and we've tried everything. With her acid problems and throwing up, etc, there's just no enamel. So, we had to take her to a grown up dentist who sent her to an orthodontist...... my gosh. And the adult dentist NOR the orthodontist are covered by our insurance. So we'll have to find a way to pay for them. (yay!) The orthodontist consulted to see which teeth can be pulled because her mouth is too small anyway. The adult dentist will pull them, and see about doing root canals on the rest to possibly save them. The chances are, none of them will be able to be saved. I'm not sure what happens at that point.....As far as her school stuff goes, we are still in process of getting the special ed ruling. She's been having lots of tests, etc. done. I'm not sure when we'll get all of the results.
Updates on Emily: well, miss princess puff missed a few days of school because she had a terrible chest cold. She's doing better now. While out, she missed awards day. She got a reward for all A Honor Roll (of course.) She got a good report at the dentist (of course.) Other than that, I don't think there are too many updates on her. :)
Updates on William: he did drop that stupid Biology class. My gosh, that woman was crazy with all the stuff she was getting them to do. The rest of his classes I've, I mean he's, gotten pretty good grades. :) He's gonna be in court this week to testify in a murder trial from several years ago. Gotta love the Justice System. His boat is looking good!!! Still looking for a motor for it. He's almost finished sanding and painting it, and has replaced the parts that need replacing. Looking forward to getting it on the water.
Updates on random stuff and me: I had to drop my Algebra class. Just couldn't do it. I just don't know what I'm going to do about Algebra. I swear I think I have some kind of learning disability where it is concerned!!! So I only have taken the Creative Writing class this semester. I am in the process of trying to get registered for the Spring. I haven't, and don't think I will, paint the big mural. Life is just kinda crazy right now. I also really really need a job. But I need a part time one where I can just work William's off days since I don't have the kids in daycare. If any of you know of anything, let me know! :) I'm STILL working on the girl's rooms. Yep, you know me!!!! I've been really busy at the church, but it all is going so great up there. We had our 2nd KidStuf production last nite, and y'all, it was SO fun. If you live around here, you seriously need to come. Our next one is Dec. 7 at 5. I PROMISE you will have fun and laugh your hiney off. I need to post some pics from the first 2 productions, and some pics of all of the other stuff I've been working on up at church.
Ok, well, I have to go get Jay from school and catch up on my housework. I'm going to do another quick entry about running commentaries I've been keeping in Creative Writing though. Just for Paoli! :)

Emily's turn

I tried to put a slideshow on here, hope it works. Well, I covered Steven and Kirkland so I will move onto Emily.
Emily is our 8-going-on-30 year old. I call her my "mini-me." Sometimes it's just like someone cloned me. Everyone says she favors me the most out of all of them, but I honestly think Jay favors me more. I absolutely adore the sprinkle of freckles across her nose. While she isn't always very photogenic, sometimes when she's sitting there it takes my breath away she's so pretty.
I'm sitting here on this rainy cold ooky day and I'm actually finding it kind of hard to write about Emily. I mean, there's tons I could say about her but I don't know how to say them without either a, sounding like one mean hateful mother; or b, sounding like I have put her on a pedestal and I'm bragging. Also there is this problem that Emily is just like me. Just like me. It's scary. Our relationship is complex and complicated and some of you are thinking, "she's 8." And if that is what you are thinking then it just shows you haven't gotten to know Emily very well.
I guess the bragging first. Emily was a beautiful baby. But my first month with her was ROUGH. Talk about high-maintenance..... I swear I nursed that baby 24 hours a day with occasional breaks. But after that, things evened out and she was just wonderful. Emily shocked us because she was speaking in sentences at 18 months and we were coming off of Kirkland who didn't talk hardly until she was almost 4. So seeing this little thing walking and talking was almost funny to us. She has continued this same path. She is a genius and it is amazing to me sometimes to see how her mind works and how quickly it picks up on things. I was told by one of her teachers, speaking under the promise of anonymity that she had the highest IQ in her grade. I don't know if that was true then (last year) or if it still is, but I could believe it. One thing Emily has that I never did is she LOVES math and is outstanding in it. This past summer she worked Kirkland's whole 3rd grade math workbook for the fun of it. The lowest grade she's ever brought home on her report card was a 96 I think. On top of being ridiculously smart, she has the maturity to go with it. You can carry on an intelligent, mature conversation with Emily. Sometimes I think her mind is more 12 or 13 years old instead of 8. Sometimes its kinda freaky. And then on top of all of this, with everyone (outside of us) she is always polite, quiet, sweet, friendly, helpful, etc, etc, etc. She has never gotten in trouble for behavior, talking, anything. So everywhere she goes, people just love Emily. She's quiet and shy to the point I told her she's starting to look like a snob! :)
Ok, so now for the bad parts where I sound terrible. She can be the most hateful child. Now she would never be that way at school or church or anything, just generally at home. She can be so ugly to me or Kirkland or Jay. Just that teenager attitude that she knows more than we do. She knows exactly how to torture Kirkland...... I realize some of that is typical sibling stuff. She is incredibly strong willed. Has been since she was a baby. We had a whole battle with her when she was about 18 months old over my niece's bottle and that child never did give in. We should've known then. Clothes, for instance. If I pick something out, she's not going to be wearing it. If I pick out 5 of her favorite outfits, she will still change something before she'll wear any of them. The other day we had WW III over the fact that I wanted her to wear a shirt under a shirt.... she was convinced she looked stupid..... I thought she looked so cute I took her picture. And you know what?? Most of the time whatever it is she is battling me over not wanting to wear, she winds up loving it. Not that she would ever admit it. Emily also has this way of talking to me so disdainfully..... she can make me feel like a complete failure as a mother. I have to remember that she is just pushing my buttons and let it go, but it's so hard not to kill her sometimes! :)
Emily loves soccer. She's not the greatest player on the field, but her love for it makes her a good player. The child cannot play offense, but she is great on defense. She loves to play defender and goalie. Her coaches have told me before she really does have a gift for defense, but she needs to continue to work on it. She was on the traveling challenge team last year, but I don't know if she'll do that this year.
She has two very bestest friends, Grace and Maggie. If she could spend every weekend with one or the other, I'm pretty sure she would. She is quite the social butterfly.... she likes to socialize, and be around people, and do things. She is very tender hearted (even if she is hateful!), and simply dotes on animals. She isn't afraid of any of them I don't think, and she is so good with them.
I have a lot of guilt where Emmy is concerned. I know that I expect more out of her and sometimes maybe put too much on her. I trust her too much and count on her too much. She gets so frustrated having to help with Kirkland so much and I understand that, but I still need her help. She helps out more around the house and more with the boys. I probably let her get away with more sometimes just because I have a lot of guilt because I know I put a lot on her. But just like William said this past weekend, I assure you, if Emily doesn't want to do it, she doesn't. So while I do count on her and expect her help alot, she wants to give it most of the time.
She doesn't miss a thing. She is very observant, understanding, and inquisitive. She loves her family very much and was extremely close to JC. In the weeks that JC was in Batesville before she went to Sanctuary, anytime we were up there Emily stayed right by her. She retrieved things for her, fixed her drinks, talked and visited with her....... she just adored her JC. She is so much like her, too. Strong willed, intelligent, kind hearted. She also loved being with my PawPaw. She loves to fish, read (she'll knock out a chapter book a day if we'd let her), scrapbook and make stuff, garden.......
I love her so much. I had to do an in-class poem the other day and I wrote about the shirt war.... I had a line in there that I can't remember exactly and I don't have it in front of me but the gist of it was that it is so hard to raise a child so like oneself..... continually walking a line between bliss and failure. and it really, really is.

For all of you who make fun of my garage saling and junk shopping....

Now see some of y'all like to make fun of me for getting up at 5:30 am on Saturdays and heading out yard saling and so I'm gonna do a quick entry to show you why I do! And go to Caledonia and West Point "junkin" too. The absolutely gorgeous window above was found behind a barn in Montpeiler, MS. I was on way home from my sister's house last November and this lady had all this old antique stuff at a yard sale out in front of this huge barn. I stopped, and looked around, and didn't find too much for me. But when I was turning around behind the barn to leave I saw TWO of these windows behind the barn. I immediately went and asked about them.... and left with them both for seventy dollars!!!! Yes, you read that right. Today, one is on my wall and Tamar has the other and it sits on top of her entertainment center. William and I don't like where ours is so we're actually prob gonna move it soon.
This is one awesome lamp that was exactly the right size I needed for a spot in my living room. It is actually made of washers, but I didn't notice. William figured it out. (anna, you'll appreciate this) The bottom and the ball in the middle match a floor lamp I found for half off in the Delta back in May. Needless to say I was psyched when I picked it up at one of my fave stores in the world, "Bits and Pieces" in West Point for TWELVE BUCKS.




This is Bubba curled up with one of my latest finds. I wish I had a picture of this window where you could see the colors, because they are really pretty. William is going to hang it above my kitchen sink and when he does I'll take another pic. This was picked up at a yard sale here in town for ten bucks..... along with a Southern Living door bucket for $3.



Ah, one of the greatest finds ever. At mine and Tamar's favorite store, 3 Sisters (in Caledonia) we found these stools. They were exactly what we needed for our stage for KidStuf. If you ever are anywhere near Caledonia, you must go in this store. I have some other pics from there that I will use in another blog when I feel like being funny. (i'm kinda sick tonite I think. Not sure what's up.) Anyway, Grant and Jeff Smith got bases welded on them in no time and now they sit on our stage!

So, if any of you are ever looking for anything, you need to just tell me. I will find it. I saw in Southern Living that this woman has a job workin with Interior Designers doing just that. Now it's ridiculous that I don't have that job!!!! And again, if you've laughed at my little shopping ventures, you just keep right on laughing. :)

The Durrs go to the Debate!!!!

I made my font a little bigger cause I think it was hard to read before, especially in my more lengthy posts! :)
As most of you are aware, the first Presidential Debate of 2008 was held at Ole Miss. We had really considered going to Oxford to watch it, but just hadn't made a decision. Well, about 3:00 that afternoon when we picked up the girls we stopped by our house, threw blankets and lawn chairs in the truck, and headed off to Oxford. Now someone asked us if we really thought we could get in to watch it. Well no. We're not stupid. But we'd read that they were showing it in the Grove and on the Square, so we wanted to be there. This just isn't something that comes to Mississippi, or anywhere, very often. We wanted to be a part of it, and wanted our children to be a part of it.
It was great, it was exciting, it was full of Obama fans!!! :) MTV was there with Rock the Debate. We saw lots of tv sets, but not the big guys (Fox, NBC, CBS, etc) because they were in the secured area. My kids did well and seemed to understand that this was something important. When it was over as we were walking around, we were interviewed by Dutch television!!!! It was so funny. William told him he was an independent. HA! I had to look down so they couldn't see me laughing. Then they talked to me... I can't remember what he asked but I told them that my son was entering the military and I just felt more comfortable with McCain in charge rather than Obama. I could've killed William for even telling the guy we would do it.
After the debate we also took the time to walk around the campus some. William showed the kids where his mom's office was and we took pics at that big ole fountain.... I'm sorry it prob has some important name but I've just never spent a lot of time on the campus. It's a beautiful place... I've always said that. And that fountain is really gorgeous. So here are some pics from the nite:



This was as close as you could get to the building. It was this huge security checkpoint with Secret Service, etc.


Emily did enjoy a book for part of it! (by the way, shout out to Paoli.... she is working her way through all the Babysitter's Club books!)




Oh yeah.... forgot to mention that we jumped this barricade in a back parking lot and stood on a hill and watched the motorcades leaving!!! My children were most impressed! This is our law abiding police officer lifting his son's stroller over the barricade! ha!



3 of the Durr children at the first 2008 Presidential Debate.





This is for our Ole Miss alumni...... here we are in front of the pretty fountain. :) love y'all.

Workshop (aka A Horror Story)

Geez louise I have not been good at the whole blog thing..... and I've had some GREAT stuff to blog about lately, just no time to do it. But this week on the calendar is pretty much wide open for me so I'm hoping to get in maybe 2 - 3 blogs this week. Yeah, but don't hold your breath or anything!!! I'm munching on some tasty sugar free candy and sipping my coffee and trying to decide.... do I want to talk about Dr. Skinny first, KidStuf last nite, or the antique trips/garage sale finds????? Ok, since I've had requests for Dr. Skinny I'll do that. But I'll have you know I have to get up from my comfy spot on the couch and walk all the way (like 20 feet) to my truck to get my notebook from class to do it. Sigh.
Alrightty. Well, on 9/25 I had to have my short story "workshopped." What that means is this: we had to write an 8 - 10 page short story that couldn't be a love story or horror or something.... just had to be realistic fiction. Then you give everyone a copy and the next class they come in and we get in a circle and they critique it. They also go over their copy of it and make notes, corrections, etc. They also write you a letter about what they thought. While they're doing the in-class critique, you are supposed to sit there and not talk. You don't get a rebuttal!!!! :) I was absolutely terrified about going into my workshop. I don't take criticism well!!! Also remember, like the two boys in the class I am a novelty. I'm not 19. I've got kids. So I already feel like I either just blend into the wall for them or for some of them, they find me somewhat of a spectacle. But I was just scared that they wouldn't like it, or wouldn't get it...... yeah, I was right.
Well that morning for workshop I basically made the decision to look down and look like I was writing the whole time because you are supposed to be taking notes, etc. So what I'm going to do here is give you the train of thought I was having through the whole process, because I wrote it all down!!! But before I do, I need to give you a little background on some of the "characters" in my class. You all know Dr. Skinny. Well there is also "Miss Superiority." She is just one of those people who thinks they are far more superior to anyone else in the class. Whatever she says or writes is something all of us should pay special attention to.... oh and she has been abroad and no one else has so that immediately makes her better than everyone else as well! Her story was just an extension of that ..."look at me! look how special i am! i've been abroad! i'm so pretty! aren't you jealous???" Then there is Mag. I love Mag. At first I thought that she could be annoying.... she would talk too much, or that she over-explained things, or that she was totally in to the shock factor. Mag writes exotic/ fantasy stories I think. But she has become someone I'm just thrilled to see walk in the door. She makes me laugh. She's so "out there." Her story was good but ridiculously tame. I was shocked it was so normal and told her so! Then there is "Curly" who sits on the other side of me and she is one of the only other people in the room that I actually know her name because she sits by me. She liked my story and complimented in greatly in one of our small group pre-workshops so I like her. :) Her story was a fun read. It was cute and sweet and funny and kept me into it. Then there is "Mr. Pretentious Ass." He is one of the two boys in the class. I think he looks like Napoleon Dynamite and that's like all I can think when I look at him. But he is like the little class mascot because he's such a novelty and has more personality than the other boy in the class who sits quietly in the corner and I think just prays the estrogen in the room won't attack him. Mr. Pretentious Ass always has much to say. He got his name because my Mag sent me a note in class and said "blank is a Pretentious Ass." So that's what I'm gonna call him. His story was actually really good, and of course followed mine on the day of workshop. Ok, so plenty of background for the workshop I think. And by the way, if you want to read the story that got torn to shreds in this class, I can probably send it to you. So here goes "ginnie's train of thoughts through her horrible workshop." It might be hard to follow cause you weren't there and it's just my train of thoughts..... but maybe you can get through it.

Ok, I can't breathe. I had to read the first paragraph and now I really can't breathe and I didn't take my beta blocker last nite so I'm fairly certain my heart will now shoot through my chest and land on my paper on my desk and boy won't that just add to the scene.
This is excrutiating. I'm just going to write and write so i can look down the whole time.
things people said work in the story: familiar idea (bottletrees), Mrs. Ford (static character...huh??), it's not forceful but holds attention, narrative voice and its assertiveness that needs to continue. Need more sass rest of story. Got lost in there somewhere (hey, now I thought we were still supposed to be talking about positives!)
ok, people aren't jumping up to give out positives, things they liked.
Said description of husband and relationship, descriptions in general
Ok now Dr. Skinny asks for things that can be improved. oh hell.

sounded like an autobiography or excerpt from. too much inner dialogue. inner conflict. not enough set up of inner turmoil. what is she afraid of in taking down art? is she in fear of bad coming back?
More backstory, what happened in breakdown, etc
too interior and not dynamic enough.
Mag just leaned over and wrote "doo doo" on my notebook. makes me smile. i guess the tension is now radiating off of me.
speakers are redundant--- use space for backstory. choose one neighbor as representative
I feel like I'm gonna cry.
her feelings on council/mayor
Now Mag leans in and writes "don't think about penises" and Dr. Skinny now calls us out. She says, "LADIES." Mag looks up and says, "I'm writing her notes on her paper," Dr. Skinny answers with, "I know but you are distracting me." Now Dr. Skinny has never called out anyone in class. So this is not a good way to hope that no one is noticing me. Dammit. I just sit there, and I had never answered Mag's "notes."
What is a bottletree? lots of people don't know what a bottletree is. HUH????
Conflict sooner.... didn't understand what was going on, trial, etc
First name needed, her name seems formal and she's not, description of the protagonist, even of her change, chose to describe others throughout but not self.
Ending wasn't satisfying - either get mad or something- she conformed too easily. Why??
How far in healing process? maybe complies bc she's far enough removed from it that she knows she doesn't need the stuff.
change to happen gradually throughout story
i'm gonna puke now
prompted by something---point of change---could use husband's look
add more, not really take anything out
drug rehab steps??? wha??? the apologize step?? oh like earl. ha ha ha.
bottletrees description was choppy and miss superiority who is better than everyone else didn't follow. (it was not.) She says that narrator says there are 7 but only counts 5 in the description. she's wrong. Dr. Skinny attempts to point out that there are descriptions of 7 but miss superiority seems to not notice someone might be telling her she's wrong. Miss superiority is really confused because she doesn't know what a bottle tree is. might need better description. Dr. Skinny asks for show of hands of how many people know what a bottletree is. Only half, maybe more raise hands. Who doesn't know what a bottletree is? These people need to get out of house more. Are they from the south??? good lord.
I need liquor. and possibly a cigarette at this point. (and so Curly is apparently reading what I'm writing over my shoulder. so she busts out with, out loud, "Do you really??" I look at her and ask her what's she talking about. She says, "do you really need liquor and a cigarette??" I reach over and mock slap her ..... "HUSH!" she says she felt exactly same way day of hers. again, let's draw attention to me.)
Mr. Pretentious Ass talks about remembering an acid trip fondly but that this is a recovery story. HUH??? Oh my gosh. they think the whole story is drug related. Well crap. Maybe leave out acid reference? just lights maybe.
Miss superiority asks about kids. says story implies she has more but she only mentions one. why she have to ask that?? why was that important. i only mention one that is important to story, you idiot
Dr. Skinny has on pink shoes today.
Ok we're done with my story. I realize that Miss Superiority has completely marked up my paper with a pink pen. pink. and has totally re-written some of my lines cause she's so much smarter than me.
Ok Mr. Pretentious Ass's story is up. Oh everyone loves it. They just talk and laugh and smile! well shit.
Miss Superiority just HAS to reference herself being in Australia. how in the crap does she get that in???
Of course, Mr. Pretentious Ass has questions for the class. Of course.


Ok, so yeah. That was it. It really was much more horrible than it comes across. Sorry for the PG rating too by the way.
Ok well in the time i've written this blog Josh has: smashed a banana all over himself and floor. pooped his diaper. poured a cup of water on the ottoman. put 15 crayons in the cup with an eighth of an inch of water in it. used an orange crayon to color on the armoire. busted the gate down to get out of the living room. shaked his booty to Dora and loved it. used the colors to poke fat cat til she gets up and leaves without biting or swiping at him because she has far more patience than i do.
So now I have to go. gotta change a diaper and clean up smushed banana with water now dripping on it.