what we've been up to this week.....

Well, this ought to be boring! :) No, seriously, we have been SO BUSY. Our schedules are just nuts and running all together and smashing up and just all over the place. One big thing is William's classes started this week. We sat there last night and he showed me all of his classes and I'm just gonna tell you ..... he's insane if he keeps this full schedule of classes. I have full faith that William can do it. I know he can. I'm just wondering how many more gray hairs he will have come December. Most of the classes are ok, pretty cut and dry, but his Biology class is crazy!!!! Wow. I'm glad that my classes aren't like his. He is just eating it up though. I'm so proud of him for finally doing this. He's so smart. He should've done it years ago.... I should've pushed him more. But really, the reason he's getting to take a full schedule like this is thanks to online courses and up until a couple of years ago that wasn't so common. So maybe the timing is right.
Monday Joshy had his 2 yr checkup. Got a great report as usual. He weighs 34 lbs and is 31 inches tall. He was a sweetie at his appt too. I love Dr. Ski.....This week I also started the first mural I'm doing for the business here in town. It's actually kinda in a bad part of town, but the guy who owns it just inherited all these properties. He's really trying to clean it up and he has some great ideas. In his favor are two things: one, the city has bought property on the corner right next to the business I'm painting to build a new Justice Complex (police dept, courtrooms, etc.) Nothing cleans up an area like adding a bunch of cops to the mix!!!Second, the Starkville Beautification Committee wants to focus interest (re: funding) to the area.... addding sidewalks, aesthetically pleasing lighting, etc. So ANYWAY.... I stayed there all day Wednesday painting. I am painting the ceiling of a patio .... he wants sun, clouds, etc. I got the sun done and one cloud... so today around lunch I am going back to finish the clouds. To complicate all of this, Tuesday the Police dept made this really smart (not) decision to make William's shift come in for a "training" exercise. He worked all weekend, slept some monday, then tues had to go to the thing .... well i was supposed to paint tues but couldn't because of the class. So William had to stay up Wed so I could go paint. Then he had to go to work Wed nite. Then yesterday was Thurs and he basically passed out!!! And I've been so crazy I got my days completely messed up. I got Jay up and got him ready for school and even took him up there.... my gosh. Jay doesn't GO TO SCHOOL ON THURSDAYS!!!!! My gosh. I felt so stupid. And on top of that, completely forgot that I had class that morning and an assignment due so I missed that too. DANG IT. I was upset.... I actually love to go to class. Sigh. On top of all of this I am in charge of the family production of KidStuf at church... it's an awesome program we're starting here and it is not being done around here. So therefore, its taking a lot of research on my part. So I've been working on that as well. As well as being in charge of it, Tamar and I are designing and overseeing the building of the stage. So needless to say, I'm kinda nuts right now. But honestly, I couldn't be happier!!! I am busy, but with things I want to be busy with. And I've kept my house clean too!!! My mother had to come help me clean up about a week ago cause I had gotten so behind and I don't care what I have to do to keep it clean so I don't have to do that again. Lord I hate to listen to that woman talk about how bad of a housekeeper I am. So I've been working hard to keep everything clean. Thrown in the mix are Emily's soccer practices....... I don't foresee anything slowing down for several months, honestly. But it's great. I'm ready to start on the (literally) 20' x 40' mural ..... wow, the challenges that brings!!! My grandmother has images of me flying around on harnesses and wires.... I don't think it will quite that bad!!!! but..... that could be fun!!!!!!!
Look for a blog entry about Kirkland and her Baptism coming up...........

Cats and Dogs

We, for the most part of our married life, have been a pet free family with the exception of one old fat cat. I love that cat. We got her 8 years ago from our vet.... she was older, fixed.... exactly what I wanted. You see, the more children I've had, the shorter my patience has gotten. So I have no time for a kitten or puppy. Thus the old, fat, set in her ways cat has always been a perfect fit. I tried to find a picture of her because I know we have plenty but for some reason I couldn't and I got tired of looking. :) Ok.. just added this pic of my fat cat because I forgot about it. They were sitting there and my sister was here and she said, "you need to take a picture of those two big booties together," so i did!!!
Well, fast forward to this spring and for SOME REASON we decided we were ready for a dog. So after much searching and thinking and talking to people, we decided to go to a rescue organization to get a dog... and then decided on Basset Hounds... then decided on Bonnie. We got Bonnie around the end of May. She is such a sweet dog with issues. She is as pretty as a picture. But why in the crap did I decide I needed another thing to bathe, feed, take care of, and clean up it's puke??? And we have already established I'm not the best housekeeper, and yet I bring in this thing that sheds all over my house! But I guess the good outweighs the bad: the children love her, she greets us at the door when we've been gone for an hour like she hasn't seen us in a week, she makes us laugh, and she tries to be a guard dog. William gets so tickled that she sleeps in a bean bag. She has her cute little dog bed and most of the time, she chooses to curl her big self up in the boys bean bags. One thing about Bonnie though... she's a basset hound. She loves to lay around and sleep. She gets wound up and wants to play every now and then, but mostly she just wants to turn over so you can rub her belly!!!! So, I guess that's why William decided to throw this latest surprise on us and tell us he wants to get this kitten from our insurance lady. He shows me this pic of this sweet little kitten. I definitely had my reservations, but I gave in and off we went to get the sweet little kitten. Well obviously she'd taken that pic about 3 months before then!!!! Cause this was a 3 month old (i called him adolescent) kitten. But he was adorable and the children fell for him immediately, and so off we came to bring him home. There were many names discussed on the ride home because he'd been called Cocoa and William said no, he needed a "manly, cool" name since this was going to be another male to take up residence in our home. So he got pegged Bubba. Yep, we have a cat named Bubba. Bubba is a pain in my ass. He gets into EVERYTHING. Seriously, I have a 2 year old who already does that for me, I have no idea why I have to have an animal to do it too. This cat jumps on my table and has now discovered my counter tops. Don't let him in your room at nite....because he will attack your feet through the covers and use your hair as a playtoy. He scratched on my couch....my fat kitty has NEVER scratched my couch. He attacks fat kitty and she's not real keen on that. But there are times when he is so sweet. And he can be so cute sleeping in his strange spots and strange positions that I usually have to grab a camera.And the other thing that Bubba has done has been to become Bonnie's best buddy. They have the best time together and it really is so funny to sit and watch them. They chase each other around this house.... we call them the "Bonnie - Bubba Express." You can hear them coming down the hall. They share each other's food. When Bonnie is wanting Bubba to play she'll get down on floor with her tail wagging and start moving her head back and forth in front of Bubba and barking at him. (ok, its doing that weird blue underlining thing again... WHAT is up with that???)They really are sweet. And now they've started sleeping together!!!How sweet are they? So I guess Bonnie and Bubba aren't so bad. They really do make me smile. And the boys need a dog .... and I guess a cat.... to grow up with and throw balls with and stuff. Just don't wear black pants to my house. :)
Ok, maybe this cheered you up after my last entry.... sorry!!!!!

Thoughts on my first day of school

Just to warn you ahead of time so you can't say you weren't warned.... this one will be long and could possibly turn sappy. Oh... and just learned LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band passed away yesterday at 47. I'm crushed. But anyway.... on to the first day of school......
I set foot in a college classroom today for the first time in 8 yrs. William and I have enrolled in school this fall.... he is attending EMCC full time and I am attending MSU...one class, Algebra (God help me) online, and Creative Writing on campus. I lack about 3 -4 semesters before finishing my Elem Ed degree and basically algebra is holding me back. I needed another humanities course because one of my concentrations is in English.
I was a nervous wreck this morning. "Please let this be a class of a hundred people," I thought (my backspace button isn't working right and it is making me MAD. just so you knew.) But nope. I walked into Lee Hall room 206 today to a class of about 12 - 15 CHILDREN. I have a good 10 - 12 yrs on the oldest CHILD in the room. Half of them have a laptop on their desk... i have my little binder and pen. The desks are in this weird "L" formation in the tiny shoebox of a room... most of the desks being on the "long" side, and 4 desks sticking out in front. All of them are about 18 inches apart. OF COURSE I have to squeeze my birthed-four-kids hips into the front row of the dang part sticking out. I immediately pick up my phone to text william. One, to look like I had people that want to talk to me... two, to show I'm "down" with technology. I literally thought I would vomit.
Well in walks the skinny little "dr." that looks about 26 that will be teaching the class. Her syllabus is like 5 -6 pgs front and back and reads like a new yorker article. Oh yeah, and we got to introduce ourselves and tell a little about ourselves.... I cannot tell you how horrifying that was for me. As Dr. Skinny continues to read over her novel, a.k.a syllabus, I feel tears just welling up in my eyes. I honestly had to fight tears. I had 3 forceful emotions wash over me during my little class today.
1. Fear. I have not been this scared in a really long time. I just don't think I'm as smart as I used to be. I do not know if I can do this....especially algebra. Maybe I'm too far gone.... too far removed. I have to present each piece in the writing class I write to the class for criticism. Unbeknown to most people I write a lot. But it is generally thrown away or locked away somewhere deep inside of me. I'm scared of making a fool of myself. I absolutely despise criticism. I know I deserve it...need it... but I hate it. It shuts me down. I'm afraid of what it will do to my approach to my writing. So I'm scared of not being able to do it... and of putting myself out there. I just don't really do that a whole lot.
2. Overwhelmed. I am totally, completely overwhelmed. My house is a wreck. I am coordinating a new children's program at church. I am the PTA Boxtop coordinator for Overstreet Elem. I am taking these two classes. Emily is in soccer. Both girls have homework. I've been asked to paint a mural at a local business that could lead to at least one other, higher profile one. Kirkland needs all the attention she can get. My 5 unbelievable children, hardworking husband, and 3 pets crave my attention. And then I read the intro to Algebra and don't understand a damn thing and then I get this dang novel/syllabus for this class that involves a lot ..... I know people do this all the time but I'm thinking they are better, more organized people that I am!!!
3. Yearning. I felt JC all in that building... the words in the syllabus... the words even coming out of my mouth at times. I haven't taken a writing class without her since I've been married. I need her. I've known I miss her... of course. I had whole counseling sessions about trying to deal with losing her. I lost an ally, I lost one of my best friends, I lost one of the very very few people in this world that understood me all the way to my core. Believe it or not, JC and I were so much alike. I know she was my mother in law.... I Know that there are glaring initial differences. But we completely understood each other. We spent more hours at her house when she was still in Starkville reading my writing... critiquing it, getting off on talks of other literature, movies, thoughts, etc. But even more than the obvious English connections for missing her, I missed that talk I could've had with her after that class. I can imagine calling her and going over that syllabus and repeating all that Dr. Skinny had said. Telling her the examples I gave and hearing her laugh the way she did when I made her laugh and she got that good belly laugh.... her congratulating me on my thoughts. She would've eaten up my telling her about the morning as much as I would've eaten up telling her. I lost someone who truly, truly believed in me. That's a lot to lose. One of the very last nites JC was coherent we had the most meaningful conversation we ever had ... in her broken up talking, trying to get out words... she said more to me than she ever had. She'd been trying to communicate with me and I just wasn't getting it. I got so frustrated because I WANTED to know what she was trying to tell me. I couldn't stand this woman of great words not be able to explain herself to me and I was FURIOUS at myself for not getting it... for not being able to try harder to make it out. I laid my forehead on her hands and just cried. I told her I was so sorry. All of a sudden she lifted my head up so I could look at her and said to me in the very clear JC voice... "Don't you EVER apologize for yourself. Don't you ever apologize to ME. You are everything. You are everything... you are wonderful... my daughter. I love you. Don't EVER apologize for you." I have locked those few sentences away in me forever. In what she could get out... she told me not to apologize for what I am. Everything I need is in me. So everyday I try to hold it... I use it. I constantly apologize for myself, and I shouldn't. I am who I am, and its ok! And when I start getting down on me I think about that nite. And I will do my absolute best to get through this class with only her words in my heart. I will make her proud. Because she loved to take pride in me and the rest of her family. I lost so much when we lost her. But I also hold so much of her in me. I hope I never ever lose the part of me that she helped to form and shape. My God... I miss her so much.
So, here it goes. William and I are starting this little journey without our pepsquad JC. I know she's proud.

By the way, I'm gonna write about the dog and cat tomorrow so I can get past this miserable little entry. :)

paint, paint everywhere

My girls have finally gotten their own rooms. They've always shared a room but in the past couple of weeks we decided to move our bedroom to the bonus room and give the girls their own rooms. I am arranging them and painting them and trying to make them cute girl rooms that reflect my girls. It's taking forever. I get in there to paint and I have the girls coming in wanting to help. Then an animal, or two, or three come wandering in there and I start having a stroke thinking they're going to step in paint. I decided to let the girls put the first coat on Kirkland's tv armoire because I didn't figure they could mess it up.... dang, you should've seen the thing. I've never seen paint so streaky and gooped up. But I fixed it...took 3 coats... and it looks good now. I will take pics of the girls rooms when I'm done so you can see.
When I was working on it the first nite, instead of rinsing out the little mini roller I was using, William just wrapped it in foil and said it would be fine. Well it wasn't fine. Because Josh.... our little "don't take your eye off him for a second" baby.....found the roller the next morning while I was changing clothes and proceeded to paint his head, his pajamas, his feet, MY WALL, and MY LEATHER COUCH. I managed to get to it while it was wet and clean it off my couch. The wall will have to be repainted. This child.... I swear... he's the same reason we have art work all over the house on walls, doors, tvs, furniture.... we always think we have pencils, markers, crayons, etc put up but the little joker always finds some. He colored all over himself with a hot pink permanent sharpie marker this weekend. We still haven't gotten it all off. He had to go to church partially "decorated" sunday morning. I guess it'll wear off eventually. And eventually he'll grow out of it...maybe. I mean, I'm still painting and drawing on walls! :)

First day(s) of school

3 of the 6 of us started school this week. Jay started school wed, and the girls started thurs. Jay was up and at 'em wednesday morning. His father took him, and picked him up. I did take pictures as he was leaving... I'm not totally a bad mother.

He goes to FUMC mon - wed from 8:30 - 11:30 each day. He said there was one bad kid in the room but wasn't able to give me names so I could check up on this bad kid. He said everyone was nice, and he liked his teacher. He usually has these quirky, funny observations to make about things, but he really didn't wed. I'm sure it was just the first day so he was sizing things up and settling in. He'll prob have more to say next week. Not real sure why this paragraph or so is blue and underlined? that's odd.

The girls started thurs. I let their father take them too. And this time I let him take the pics, too. On my behalf, I was finishing up filling out paperwork while he was taking the pics, and I did go to their open houses the day before so I did participate! Emily, of course, complained the whole morning..."Great, now we're going to be late!" (we weren't); "Come on Kirkland, you are making everyone late!" (she wasn't); "why can't I take my lunch!!". Kirkland just goes with the flow for the most part... she only got a little sick that morning, which was great! They both said school was great... like their teachers, like their class. So far, so good.
I took them to school the next morning. We got there in plenty of time.... kids did really well. Only bad thing was this conversation from the back of car:

kirkland: "MAMA!!!! EMILY IS USING THAT WORD AGAIN!!!!!"
me: "what word, kirkland?"
kirkland: "idiotic!!!"

So, apparently emily has learned a new word and is using it often. While trying not to laugh, I told Emily this wasn't appropriate. I'm sure she'll replace it with a new one in a day or so.
Of course I had to rehash the morning with my best friend Tamar. She had a similar experience with her boys which cracked me up so I had to share. She said that she had to beat hers to get them out of the house, and I think pretty much whole way to school. It seems her boys (same age as my girls) had a huge argument over who had called who "gay" the most times the day before. She told them they could quit that crap and have it one way or the other: listen to the radio in the mornings, or the "insane mother show!" Ah, so accurate!!!!

I guess I'm starting a blog

Well, I guess I'm starting a blog. I'm not real sure why yet. I know that I have tons of knowledgeable info and witty observations that I should be sharing with everyone, but I know I will never think of any of it while I'm "blogging." We are a pretty active family with no relatives in town, so I guess that could be another reason. I have also contemplated having 2 blogs, one G-rated with newsy stuff about the family and such, and one that is not G-rated that is just a "ginnie blog." Who knows, it may evolve into that one of these days. So, for the time being, I guess I'll just use this to document what is going on with the fam.