Not bragging, just blessings…

- It’s been a while since I have mentioned/updated you on my health. I am doing better. Slowly gaining my strength/stamina back. I don’t sound like a creepy stalker person when I walk down the hall and back at school and then try to talk to my class. I am even back on the treadmill. Probably not eating enough red meat (cough cough, Hubby, maybe you need to grill me some steaks!) But I do have a new found love of gummy vitamins. Chewy, fruity, and good for you.

-Still have the greatest friends in the world; cyberspace and real life. My former student and fellow blogger has the most beautiful new baby boy and her toddler is just as cute as ever (www.livingtheerwinlife.blogspot.com to see the most precious pictures.) My former classmate in high school is still inspiring me with all of her creative home school ideas and new tower plant garden thingy (www.homeschoolshus.blogspot.com to see this amazing plant thing.) Our neighbors took us out last weekend to the most fabulous, best kept secret, hole in the wall, 5 star quality seafood restaurant… gogo gumbo. It’s in Boyd, TX, and totally worth the drive. It’s fine dining taste in a casual atmosphere and byob. So I did. A bottle of Skinnygirl Margarita. Last night I met up with a friend that I went to school with from kindergarten to our second year of junior college. She left to become an Aggie and I left to become Mrs. Too Tall and a Screaming Eagle at UNT. We talked for hours. Literally. And ate our favorite soups and salad at Olive Garden. She is a great Mom, Wife, and Friend.

- Mom is ROCKIN’ retirement. Of course we all knew she would. Throughout her career she has always taken care of people. Whether it was as a nurse’s aide at a hospital in Wichita, KS, as a pharmacy tech in White Settlement, or as the receptionist/appointment maker/lab result caller for Dr. E, it was ALWAYS about the other person. She could teach a master class for Customer Service. Retirement is no different. She’s now volunteering and giving of her time and talent to the Senior Citizens Center. She has joined their choir; practicing on Tuesday, performing on Thursday’s, and helping out once a month when they have their “give-away” days. She is my inspiration. (She could really inspire me with some bread from her bread machine that has been waiting for her retirement to roll around  ) I love her more than all the shoes in the world!

-Dad is my hero too. He is still getting, well, I won’t use the most accurate term for what is being done to him by the crappy Arkansas government. It’s bad. And I have put my four-letter word filter on for this portion of my blog. If I was on live television, all you would hear is one long bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! They took his land to widen the road. They put in a bridge. In the WRONG place. Stupid hillbillies. And instead of correcting THEIR mistake by redoing the bridge, they are just going to take some more land, WITHOUT COMPENSATION, to make it work. Are you kidding me? My Dad is a bigger person than me. If I had to endure what he’s going through, I promise you that in a blink of an eye I would be front and center in the face of the criminals that run the Arkansas Highway Department WITHOUT my four-letter word filter giving them a piece of my mind until they dragged me away in cuffs. Of course, I would make sure they filmed me from my good side for the evening news cast. Geez. Every time we think they can’t find another way to “stick it” to Dad, they take a swig of moonshine and come up with something new. He deserves the biggest reward in heaven for the hell he’s been put through. Stay strong Dad. Karma has to kick in before it’s all over. I am so proud of how you have endured!

-We’ve got 6 days of school left. Now THAT’S bragging!