Coffee Queen

In the past couple of years or so I have built what I call my "corner." It has my coffee pot, my coffee canisters my mom gave me, my very first (years ago, and ONLY) oil pastel canvas, and a couple of other things that make me very happy in it. It has the Starbucks French press Uncle Steve bought me in Oxford that has saved me so many times. It has a couple of things that Tamar has given me that are very "me" so had to be in the "me" corner... a canvas that says "Be careful or you will end up in my novel." and a little plaque that has various little cute things on it but also a quote she found by Dave Matthews (HELLO!) that says "you lean on me and i'll lean on you and we'll be ok" which is very true for me and Mar. And also in my corner is a funny canvas that Emily painted me that says "mama mama mama" she said she painted because that's all I hear! I also have a hilarious piece of "Delta art" that is a cross made out of beer caps bought at Cat Head studios (is that right Tamar or Anna??) I had to have it... A recent inclusion is the monstrosity of a bread box that had awful avocados all over it I found at Bits and Pieces for a steal that William spray painted black and now its fabulous. I keep extra coffee in there, biscotti, creamer, splenda, etc, etc.
Well, fast forward to Valentine's Day and William gives me the MackDaddy of all coffee pots as a gift. So I have to figure out how to fit this bad boy into my lovely coffee corner. I think I'm gonna have to put it by the wall. I really need to find a place for my atrociously large bread box since my kitchen is the size of one in a pop up camper. But man, this coffee pot is AMAZING. I can keep 1/2 lb. of fresh beans in the top. Then I can push buttons to say how many cups I want to make, how strong I want it, etc, etc. IT CAME WITH AN INSTRUCTIONAL DVD. Yeah right. As William and Joshy are showing, we didn't watch some dvd. I feel like I live in a shack and have a Hummer parked out front with this coffee maker in my kitchen!! HA!!! But it has seriously been an adventure getting it figured out. I think I about have it all straightened out, and my morning coffee has just been luscious. :)
Now get out of my tiny kitchen and you get to all the recent talk of me being the "Coffee Queen" for those of you that heard it. Our church just finshed some major renovations and they are awesome. Part of the renovation is a welcome center and coffee bar. I was named "Minister of Coffee" by Grant which Jay Burrell turned around and decided should actually be "Coffee Queen." I got to 'decorate' and get the coffee makers, coffee, organize, etc ...everything to go with the coffee bar. It was like a dream come true! Still waiting on my crown... :) kidding. I love the smell when I walk in the door now. I know it's not the Taj Mahal, and now that I look at the pictures I think, "well, it's not nearly as cute as I thought it was..." but it is still a really nice hang out on Sunday mornings. I need to get some artwork up. So anyway I took some pics of Calvary's new coffee bar! I noticed today we added several coffee cups to our rack this morning... looks so cute. Tamar and I are currently working with a couple of other ladies to finish off decorating the rest of the Welcome Center... I'm so ready to get it finished!!!

WoW!!! I have nothin.....

It is like I have lost all my wit!!! What is wrong with me?!?!?! Ok, I will have to really find good thing to blog about soon. Seriously. I mean, SERIOUSLY. I'm starting to freak out that this over $200/month med they have me on for my head is messing with my sassiness. If it is they're going to have to find something else to put me on. I have been writing down "Jay-isms" though, so I want to run through some of them here. I do want to give you a brief update on my stupid head because everyone keeps asking.
The MRI came back clear... good, I suppose, but it is a tad frustrating. So they are currently treating me for migraines. (note the ridiculously expensive meds mentioned above) This medicine is making me able to move about and get out of the bed, but I am still having headaches. I can just move and function. But still keeping a headache everyday, some worse than others. Pupils are still uneven. I am still having blurred vision. So who knows. I guess I'm just destined to be a freak. We already knew that!!!! :)
Steven arrived and got his 3 min phone call. We have his address. If you didn't get it from us through email or Facebook and would like to have it, contact me. I'm sure he'd love any mail anyone wants to send him.
We are letting Kirkland join the 6th grade band for next year. Emily starts soccer practice back today, and has decided that she must keep her toes and fingers done in a french manicure. yep. Josh is just destructive and messy and clingy as ever. That child will put me in the funny farm if Emily doesn't... you watch.
We did get Jay officially signed up for T-ball... this ought to be hilarious. Ok, so for the funny Jay-isms: (and if you didn't read the post about Jay, you might have to go back and read it. He is my 5 year old son who is just an absolute trip.)

"hey daddy, when i grow up, i'm gonna ask you if i can fly on a plane and you're gonna say yes and i'm gonna fly in the plane and i'm gonna jump out in china and eat some of that good china food."

"hey mama.... look at the moon! part of its broke!" (it was a quarter moon)

(while showing someone his little 'doug & melissa' wooden maze puzzle game thing, he pointed to each corner and said:) "Ok, this is me, this is the bad guy, this is the dragon, and this is God."

(when he was hanging out at brother, steve's, apartment with steve's friends playing video games he just had to tell them this story about his test he had done on his bladder:) "i went to the doctor to look at my wee wee and he had to do the poke thing and then he said what's your favorite cartoon and I said spongebob and he said what's his friends name and I said patrick..."

"tis the season to be charlie, fa la la la la la la la la"

"when I grow up I want to be a policeman but first I want to be an ice cream man like steve"

"when I grow up I want to be a stitches doctor."

"spiderman has another name. it's steven. because he is in disguise."

(when asked what his favorite part of church was:) "Well its not the very long talking"

"I have a way to make Lil Bit (our new little dog) dance. I hold her by her back legs and hold her up and do it. and she sings too while i'm making her do it!" (poor lil bit!)

Ok so I will continue to write down all the funny crap Jay says. I wish I could remember to write down more than I do!!! Ok, I will work harder on my blogging in the future!!! :)

Transitions

Seems like there is always some sort of transition taking place in my life. Things are always changing... but change is good. I have a quote written somewhere... and I forget who it is by right now... but it says, "Some people are afraid of change. I am afraid of NOT changing." So, it's ok with me... but there's good change, and bad change, and always adjustment. And sometimes it can hurt. Anyway.
So this week/weekend was our last for awhile with Steven. Last monday, we and some of his friends (pic above) and some of their parents and some other grown ups (who aren't in the pic) took him out to Mi Hacienda. He also had several other parties/dinners/etc during the week. He moved his stuff home this past weekend, spent the night here Sunday night, and I took him to Columbus yesterday. While waiting at the recruiter's office for him to leave (I was a very big girl, by the way. William was at work, so it was just me and the boys. I didn't cry til after he left. Then I wailed the whole way home.) the recruiter asked him some question which Steven mumbled some reply to. The recruiter looked at me. I told him, "You should know him by now!" He laughed and nodded. I said, "By the way, are y'all going to fix him??" His recruiter laughed and said, "oh yeah, we're gonna fix him!" But it was good. So he got to Jackson yesterday afternoon. He was resworn in because he redid his enlistment for 6 years instead of 4. Everything went fine, we've talked to him some. He was named team leader of his crew until they arrive at Basic Training because he was the highest ranked out of their group. He called right before I sat down to type this to say he was boarding his plane to Ft Worth... he is to arrive there around 6:20 then on to San Antonio. He will get to let me know he arrived safely but that's it til sometime this weekend he will get about a 1 minute phone call.
Everyone asks me how he is, or was when he left. He's good. Really. He's excited. He's ready. I think Steven feels like he's found what he wants. Steven has great great potential inside of him that many of you have seen..... and he knows just like we did that he needed a push to get to where he could use that the most efficiently. So how am I? I'm ok too. I'm mopey, of course. Nothing prepares a mama for this. He's my biggest baby. It hurt my heart so much to let him leave yesterday knowing I won't pat his sweet cheek again for at least 2 months. It hurts that he gave them 6 years. I mean, I'm SO proud of him.... but the thoughts of a Christmas without one of my babies seems so sad to me. But I know that this is all a part of life, of getting older. I just feel too young to be here. I worry about Jay and Josh... I want their big brother in their lives. But since the days they were born, I always knew this day would come... through marriage, college, etc.... so here we are. I'm so proud.... but I'm selfish. I miss my son.
When Steven called to let us know he was boarding the plane, we were working in Josh's room. See, Steve brought us his bedroom suit. So, Josh's crib also came down this weekend. Emily got Steve's bed, and Josh is now getting a twin bed. No more cribs in my house. For the first time in 12 years, there is not a crib in my house. This time when it came down, there wasn't another baby coming. It was put in the attic. All the crib sheets were sorted and put into the consignment pile, except for a few. My littlest baby is growing up too. He has a big boy bed now. And Jay will sign up for Tball next month. This is his first year to be old enough..... and he starts kindergarten this year..... and Josh will start going to day school ...... life goes on..... and we all get older..... and hey perry? I'm crying.... where are my headlines????
Oh yeah, and Bubba the cat became an "it" after a trip to the vet this week.
Ah, transitions.
P.S. I added the picture from Bops, where Steve worked... They put "We'll miss you Steven" on their sign last week. I took a pic, so I put it on here.