Buddy, you and me go way back…

After the floods in Nashville, I thought about an old friend who I worked closely with about 5 years ago but had lost touch over time. He lived downtown really close to some of the floods. I looked online to find his contact info but instead found an obituary. He was only 39 years old. Craig was from New Jersey, unlike many from the Northeast he had a great personality and of course the accent. My best memory of Craig was during a summer party we held at the house where Craig brought his guitar and sang for my friends. We had this party in honor of my birthday which I always think is a national holiday. Craig originally came to Nashville to be a singer or songwriter. At this particular party he sang several songs by Craig Morgan songs (one of my favorite country music singers) and Darryl Worley’s song, ‘If Something Should Happen’.

When I first met Craig, I couldn’t remember his name for some reason. He always wore sweater vests to work so I nicknamed him ‘sweater vest man’. He made me laugh and was always a lot of fun to be around.

He always joked about how lucky I was to have a beautiful family and to be close with them. His family wasn’t so close. His mother would visit once a year from New Jersey and I don’t know about his father. He did have a twin brother who he talked about a lot, he would beam with excitement when he talked about him.

I was very sad to learn of his death. I wrote to several people online who might could tell me more about what happened to Craig. Apparently in 2008 his twin brother passed away and Craig had trouble coping with it. I wish I would have been in Craig’s reach when he needed a friend the most. I know he went to church every Sunday and tried really hard to be a Christian. Despite his circumstances, I believe he is in heaven.

I want all my friends to know you do mean the world to me. I hope if life ever gets tough and you need a friend that I am here for you and will do whatever I can to make things more manageable.

Catch up…

I’ve been busy since the warmer weather has hit our area. With the warm weather brings more activities for us to do as a family. This weekend Jason opened the pool so it can start warming up in time for swim season. I can tell Jackson is going to really enjoy the pool this year. He is curious, which  could be a bad thing. I will definitely keep my eyes on him around the pool.

For Easter, we went to Fall Creek Falls. I’ve always wanted to visit this Tennessee park. I was really  glad I had been working out as I don’t know if I would have made it to the bottom of the falls and back  if I had not. The hike was strenuous in my book. I think I enjoyed the ability to connect with my little  family the most that weekend. We didn’t have cell phones, laptops, televisions, or anything to keep us from talking and really enjoying the company. As you can tell, this is something we don’t get the opportunity to do very much.

The park had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday (Jackson’s first hunt might I add). He didn’t quite get the hang of it. We also went to the impossible craft project. The project was to make a bunny out of beads and string. Way too tough for Mackenzie at 8 years old. I ended up staying through the instructions (along with the other adults) to make the bunny. Quite challenging to be honest. I had more patience than usual.

Our little camper did great. Saturday morning it rained for a few minutes, but we stayed dry. It was a little cold at night, but Jason brought the heater along. I was glad he did. The temperature was in the mid 40′s one night. I couldn’t imagine what some are forced to endure and was thankful for all that I am fortunate to have.  A really great Easter in my book.

We are planning other camping trips. I am hoping to pull my Dad away from technology for a weekend getaway with us before my brother moves away to college. By the way, my brother who is graduating in May has decided to go to UT Knoxville! I am super proud of him. I really expect great things from him — super smart and responsible. I can still remember when he was just a few hours old. (this makes me feel old!)

I’ll try to blog more often as I have so much to write about but often so little time.

This made me feel warm and fuzzy….

If you know me well, I am a compulsive news reader. I absolutely live to know whats going on in the news. Most days the news is depressing instead of heartwarming so what I am going to tell you is not your average story.  

Some of you may have heard about this but the story is worth repeating.

 Dallas Blackwell found an envelope in front of a Arby’s that contained $1200 in cash. Blackwell, who works at Papa Johns Pizza, turned the money over to the Murfreesboro Police Department for safe keeping until the rightful owner claims the cash.

The rightful owner came forward and identified the money. He also gave Dallas $100 in cash for being so honest. In turn Arby’s also rewarded Dallas with $1000 scholarship for his honesty. (not to mention this was a huge move for Arby’s–made me want to go there and eat just for hearing this heart warming story) While the man was only out $100, I’m sure the student feels great about his good deed.

I reflected on this for a few minutes. The guy who was the owner was a truck driver. This could have been his $ for gas for the month or anything. He probably really needed his money back. It sort of gave me chills when I heard the story because it made me feel so good.

I’m comforted to know that some people are still honest.

Today was the best day of this week (so far)

After months of waiting and hoping for a solution, we have now been approved for swallow therapy for Jackson. As you may recall, my son has had pneumonia several times since his birth. Dr’s at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital diagnosed (after many tests) his condition as aspiration pneumonia. Since his release, we have first been on the waiting list to be evaluated by the swallow therapist. After meeting with her in late January, I began to follow her instructions to thicken his milk (and only milk) with rice cereal. Can you imagine drinking nothing but thickened milk day in and day out? Ew… So finally today, after two more evaluations by the Tennessee Early Intervention System, we have been approved for the program! Yay, hooray! They will pay anything the insurance won’t cover for Jackson’s therapy. I understand the therapy is very expensive so you can understand my level of excitement when I tell you I have worked really hard to get him the therapy he needs.

I can hardly wait for summer now and Jackson to be able to enjoy water popsicles, watermelon, jello, Kool-Aid, and all the wonderful liquids he has been missing out on. The tips the therapist gave me have been working as he has been healthy and required a lot less as far as breathing treatments go. He has recently started to sleep from 10p.m. to 7 a.m. which is just fabulous for me and him. He has been in the best mood this week! He is also gaining weight, up to 20 lbs. as of yesterday.

And the best part is…its Friday.

Do you ever wonder?

I was driving down the road this afternoon and saw a random shoe. Just one shoe. In fact it looked like a Nike and I wondered where    the heck the other shoe went? Why did they throw one shoe out and not the other? I have seen countless         shoes on the side of the road in my lifetime and have had this thought more than once…

Yesterday at work I was adding some water flavoring to my bottled water (part of my weight loss initiative — drink half my weight in ounces of water each day–the flavoring helps tremendously),the flavoring turned my hand slightly red. I wonder what this is doing to my insides. If I drink grape flavoring is it staining my insides purple?

I’ve had a very long week. (Yes, I only worked 4 days if you were keeping track) I am really looking forward to this weekend. Which leaves me with this thought, wonder why the person who designed the work week decided 5 days on and only 2 days off? I am still looking for the career where I can work 3 and be off 4 or any combination to have me working less and playing more. But I probably couldn’t afford to play so much then.

Until next time…

Let’s Go Camping!

For quite sometime, Jason has told me we need a camper. You know me — frugal — not willing to give in too easy. It has been a couple of years since we went camping as I can recall. We decided after the last trip, two nights in a tent with scorching temperatures, we were going to wait until cooler weather to go camping or until we had a camper.

Back in November, Jason went on a hunting trip to Alabama during the coldest weekend of the year in a tent. He again came back with the “we need a camper” conversation.

I finally caved. He had been searching eBay and craiglist for weeks watching camper prices slowly climb. He found one in Jackson, Tennessee. I agreed to go and look. We took enough money to buy just in case this was the camper for us. Lo and behold, we are the proud new owners of a pop up camper.

Its not fancy but it will function just fine for our family of five. You may be thinking, wow your pretty spoiled. Well, I simply can’t be comfortable (especially with three children in tow) in a tent for more than a few hours. With this camper, we have air conditioning, a cozy little bed, and a kitchen area to make dinner. No bathroom but many of the places have showers/restrooms that are acceptable. I wouldn’t say they are wonderful but they meet my idea of “roughing it”.

I can hardly wait to try it out. I have been dreaming of all the wonderful places we can go and see that we previously wouldn’t have gone because it wasn’t comfy to camp there. Already on my list is Fall Creek Falls, Floating Mill (Center Hill Lake), and Mammoth Cave (I went there as a kid but they also have a camp ground on site).  I’m really looking forward to spring and summer just for the camping trips!

My question to you, where do you like to camp? What traditions do you have with your family and camping? If you want to go camping with us, let me know, we would love to have a big group camping trip to the lake for Memorial Day.

Getting started, I’ve wanted to blog for sooo long.

I previously kept a blog but my energy fizzled as I didn’t have very many readers because I didn’t share with too many people. So I am relaunching my blog today. I’m an avid reader of several blogs that I frequent each day.  Some are useful, some just a waste of my time, others provide insight into how I would like to make my life better. I’ll try hard not to be ranty in my posts but occasionally you just have to.

Today I am enjoying day 4 of being off work. Friday was Founder’s Day for my employer. We get this holiday based on when the company was founded. (silly in my opinion) But I will take the free day off. I had some appointments planned for the kids for today so I took the day off. Not bad– 67 degrees for the high, a day off, a little time with the family, and only had to use 1 day of time at work.

The best part — nap time. I haven’t had mine yet but Jackson is enjoying his…