Waiting for internet.

I'm not ignoring my blog, in fact I really miss it. But I have finally moved (so exciting!) and my internet will not be turned on until next Tuesday, July 6. Then y'all will get to read all my goings-on again, God love yas! Laughing My Head Off.....

Family pictures

Aren't they beautiful? This is where I come from. These are my mother's sisters, my precious aunts. Look at those beautiful smiles. I don't know about you, but I can just see the love radiating from each and every one of them. Maybe I'm a little biased. Good. Every one of these ladies has poured a whole lotta love into me. I remember Aunt Mandy bringing her guitar and singing songs with us, spending every summer with Aunt Julie, dress-up day with Aunt Ruthie, church with Aunt Harriann, and dance lessons with Aunt Rosie. What a wonderful way to grow up. What wonderful people to grow up with.

Aunt Julie is not in this one, but my Uncle David and his wife, Aunt Pat, are. They're great. The last time the boys and I visited with Uncle David and Aunt Pat, they sent the boys home with a great big bag of candy bars. Now that's how you make friends with a kid. Heck, that's how you make friends with me. Who doesn't love chocolate? That's how Uncle David wooed us as kids, too. I remember him giving us two quarters and saying "Now, go to the store, and get me a candy bar, and then eat it for me, okay?" Oh, we loved it when Uncle David came by. He and Dad would sit out on the car and drink beer.


I look at these pictures, and I feel such love. I have a great family. I come from wonderful stock, Christian women, strong women. Steel magnolias. If you could've know my Grandmother..... she was such a beautiful Christian woman. I'm so proud to be from this family, and blessed.
I can't wait to visit.

Packing, actually packing.

Today I have decided I will actually pack and prepare. It's quite an overwhelming task, even just the little bit of stuff I have here. Got to go get boxes, put everything in something...... I'm glad I'm not moving a whole house, though. I'm not sure how many trips will need to be made to get all our stuff to Austin. Hopefully not many. The fewer the better, you know. But yeah, today, we're putting stuff in boxes, making order, getting ready to throw it all in a vehicle and head on out. Hopefully we can head on out Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for me, y'all.

Beautiful Afghan

Is this beautiful or what? I've been following attic24's blog on another blogging site, and she is working on this. I think she's calling it Granny Stripes. Man, I love it. I think it's gonna be one of my next projects, quite possibly the next afghan I make, after I finish this Afghan Squared. I've just got a row or two or three to go. But this striped one is gorgeous, I think. She has the directions on her site, too, for starting this. She is taking lots of pictures as she goes, which I love. She has a flair for color, too, doesn't she? I go over to her site and download every picture she takes in the process, I don't want to make the same mistake I made with the Afghan Squared, LOL.

Is this a common pattern, does anyone know? I haven't seen it before. I sure do love it, though. I do not think I will be giving this one away, unless I make more than one.

Here's a link to her blog, in case you want to see hers. http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2010/06/progress.html

Ack, I hate waiting.

There it is, Austin. The city I will soon live in. I can't wait. There is so much about Austin that appeals to me. Of course, just the fact that it's a big city. Although I grew up in the country, I am not a country girl. At heart, I am a city girl. I like being close to shopping and restaurants, and all the conveniences right at your front door. And Austin is, you know, the Live Music Capital of the World. You know I am gonna love that. Also, there is water in Austin, lakes and rivers. I can't wait to do the whole boating thing. I want a boat.

And I hate waiting! It is making me nuts that I am down here in this itty bitty town and I have an apartment in the city! I need the power on. I need my money now! not on the regularly scheduled day! I need to go to Austin. I need to get on with my life, working, and shopping, and eating out........ don't I sound pitiful. Ah, ha, I know, you're all crying crocodile tears for me. Not.

Well, I'll hang in there. Just a few more days............. I guess I'll live.............

David and Autism

I love this picture. I think I could write several blogs about this picture, but I won't. LOL This is my son, David. Man, he is a sugar. David has autism and MR. He is a two-year-old in a sixteen-year-old's body. He has a really angelic presence about him. Truly, to know him is to fall in love with him. Now, you know I can say that with confidence, me being his Mama and all, but I have had a lot of people tell me the same thing, so I don't mind repeating it. People with autism have an innocence about them that is just precious. (Quick shout-out here, I have always admired the way Dustin Hoffman played autism in the movie "Rainman". He somehow captured that innocence, which could not have been easy. As usual, I digress.)

Lately, David has made some serious advances in talking. He is now starting to answer questions with words other than 'yes' or 'no'. That's a big thing. I asked him what his new stuffed dog's name was, he said 'Chihuahua'. That was the first time. By the way, it was not a little chihuahua toy, it was like a Pound Puppy or something. I ask him what he's reading, he says 'Ten Apples Up On Top'. That type of question/answer thing. This is all very new, in the last month, even just the last few weeks. It's exciting.

But boy, I wish David could talk more. Lately, he cries a lot. In bed, at night, or just when he chills on his bed like he likes to do. He'll just start with that big old crying, and he can't tell me what's wrong with him. I take a guess, maybe he's hurting, and give him Tylenol, and that usually works. So I think maybe there's something hurting him. The trouble is, this has been happening mostly every day. I mean, occasionally there will be a day when it doesn't happen, but not often. So I worry, is he having headaches, or toothaches, or what? I want to take him to the doctor, and I will, of course I will. But this has happened before, and I take him to the doctor, and it's so hard, because he can't tell us what's wrong. He can't say where the pain is, poor thing. We have to guess. And so, there's just not much we can do. Maybe this time I'll insist they do some bloodwork, do a work-up. If nothing else, a CBC, because I don't like those bags under his eyes, and it will at least tell us if he's anemic or something.... I'm gonna do some serious searching in Austin, see if I can find me some kind of a specialist, who understands what this mother of a child with autism is going through, and can do more searching.... I don't know. But I worry about my baby. I know good and well, it's hard for him, more so even than for me. Hmmmmm......

Well, I don't want to end the blog in this downer way, so look at that smile! He had insisted I buy Star Crunch that day, and after everyone had one and they were hidden (right!) in my room, he kept sneaking in there and getting one. When I caught him with the camera, he thought it was hilarious. This picture is priceless. That's why I love it.

The Afghan Squared

I think that most people who have crocheted for long, or who crochet much, know how to make a granny square. I'm not crazy about granny squares, for the most part. It's not that I don't like them, they are really cute. And things made with granny squares are very nice. In fact, one day I would love to make myself the afghan called 'Poinsettias In The Snow', which is a take on granny squares. There are so many nice afghan/blankets made with granny squares, or other squares, and a lot of them I would love to have. My problem with granny squares is only that I have never yet finished something that took making a bunch of squares and piecing them together. I lose interest in it. It doesn't seem to go as quickly as making something in one big sheet. That big sheet is so easy for me, and so enjoyable. That's why I make so many ripple afghans. They go so quickly.

Well, this is the first part of my granny square challenge to myself. I am determined to finish a granny square afghan or blanket. This is the first step. It's the Afghan Squared. I got this pattern from Lion Brand Yarn online. I admit, I didn't look at the colors first, my bad. In fact, I didn't even click through to the directions for this once I looked at the picture. I regret that now, but the thing is more than half done. I may do another, using the colors correctly. I tried to look at the picture and pick the colors here, but totally fudged it. In the Lion Brand pattern, there are eight colors. Due to color variations in the picture (and my stubborn cockiness) I ended up with eighteen. Yeesh! Still, it looks good to me. In fact, my youngest son has already told me he wants it when it's done, because it looks 'awesome'. Thanks, Jon. Lion Brand has pictures of this afghan done in several other color variations. I may make more than one more, because I do love it. I'm doing pretty well here, I will finish this one. It is, after all, really done in one big sheet, no piecing together afterwards.

My goal, after I finish this one, is to make that 'Poinsettias In The Snow' for Christmas.

Home Sweet Home

I picked up the keys to my new apartment today, and moved some things in, got a gander at my new neighbors, it was a lovely day. Things are looking up for me! I'm in a great mood.

I have frankly had one hellacious year this past year, beginning in March '09. My life just kinda fell apart, but I have come to the conclusion that it was all God lighting a fire under me, and spurring me on to new and better things. This is a new city for me, is Austin. Austin seems like a great city, and I'm excited to get to know it. I'll bet I'm gonna have lots of fun here. I think there's something God wants me to do here in Austin, and I'm excited to find out what it is. I already know where I'll be going to church, with Todd and Ben and the gang at Wells Branch Community Church. I can't wait to see what's happening over there, I'll bet it's mighty.

Hopefully I'll be all settled in here, working and playing and shopping and seeing the sights, and going to church, very soon. I'll let y'all know how it goes, you know I will!

Happy Birthday, Jon!

This is my son, Jonathan. It is his birthday today, his fourteenth. It is a day of much emotion for me, as are all of my sons' birthdays. I love to celebrate my kids' birthdays, love to spoil them. I hope that they all really look forward to their birthdays, because they know it's going to be great. I let them be rotten on their birthdays, no chores, and they get to hog the computer. Everyone is supposed to be nice to them, although as they get older, it gets harder to make their brothers cooperate. To me, everyone owns one day a year, the day you were born. Other holidays are wonderful, and we look forward to them, but you have to share them. Your birthday is your own. So today, we will go to Jon's favorite restaurant - Whataburger. Yeah, he's fourteen. He'll have two of those huge hamburgers, and he'll eat both of them, in addition to his fries and drink. God love him, it doesn't look like they hurt him, does it. He really only pigs out at Whataburger. He's not an overeater, so I don't worry about it. I got him a microphone for the computer as a birthday gift. His father and his grandparents gave him money, which, you know, he's fourteen, he really appreciates. We'll have cake and ice cream later.

You know, is it the same for all mothers? In my mind, quietly, I kind of view this as a holiday for myself as well. I think of what happened to me on June 20, 1996. I think of all the events, beginning to end. It was such a blessed day. The day my baby came into the world. It was a day of miracles. Jon, when he arrived, was not a healthy baby. He wasn't all bunched up and screaming as they handed him off in the delivery room. He was limp, and blue. He didn't cry, didn't even breathe. My OB handed to a neo-nate team waiting right there, because they knew already that there was trouble. The team worked and worked, while I fell to pieces, asking how my baby was. I remember at one point screaming "Somebody tell me my baby is going to be okay!" Thankfully, the neonatologist immediately did. He didn't interrupt his work, but he said "Your baby's going to be okay." They worked a little more, then he brought him to me and told me to give him a quick kiss before they whisked him away. That was just so awful. But we got on the phones, and called everybody we knew, and got them all started praying. A little later, the neonatologist came to tell me what was going on. He said my boy would be fine, but it would take a while. He said I could come visit him in NICU in the morning, but he wouldn't be leaving the unit. He said I would have to pump, that Jon was not strong enough to nurse. He said Jon would be in the unit for a few days. But he said that Jon would be okay, and that was what mattered. So my friends and I all prayed for a miracle. An hour or two later, here came a nurse, and said "Get up, Mom, your baby's hungry." I said "What? The doctor said he would be too weak to nurse." They said "It's the weirdest thing, he just all of a sudden perked up." Huh, weird, you say? I say God, but you say what you want. I nursed my baby. The next morning, I got up and went to the nursery to see my baby. When I got there, they said "We were just about to bring him to you." "Wait," I said, "the doctor said he would not leave the unit yet." "Weird thing," begins the nurse......... yeah, weird, hmmmm, maybe a God thing? But they didn't know. I'm sure I told them it was God, I'm really not the type not to. The long and short of it, God was miraculous, He showed all of us who were praying that night that Jon was born, just how quickly He can answer prayer, just how mighty He is. I bless God for Jon, as I bless God for all my children. I bless God for so much in my life, but I just am so happy that He gave me my boys.

Thank you, God, and Happy Birthday, Jon.

Jane

My sister, Jane, is one of my favorite people. She's top five, though I won't try to narrow it any further than that (being I have four sons). She's been really supportive of me, all my life.

I credit Jane with my being able to graduate high school. My mother was of that old school, where the kids were raised until they were 16, then told it was time to fly the coop. That's how my mother was raised, and how she intended to raise us. We were told that when we were 16, we were expected to quit school and make our own way. Well, in her freshman or sophomore year, Jane took a Business Law class, and I don't know if it was covered in class, or if they were just discussing it, but Jane found out that a child has the legal right to graduate high school, and the parent has to support them until they do. She informed my mother of this in my presence (I don't know if my presence was on purpose or not, but I'm sure glad I was there.) and told me to stick to my guns until I graduated. I appreciate that a lot. She was also the one to teach and encourage me in many ways throughout my growing up years.

One thing I have always admired about Jane is her artistic talent. I remember in high school, even her art teacher thought she was incredibly talented. When Jane and I lived together in our late teens/early twenties, she started a painting once, and told me it was going to be a carousel pony on the beach, with the city skyline somewhere in the background. Man, I thought that was going to be a pretty picture. I don't know if she ever finished it or not, or what happenned to it if she did.

The picture above is a picture Jane painted of me. When I was little I took piano lessons, and I fancy myself a fair pianist today, though not what I would like to be. I love this picture, it's one of my favorite possessions. (ack, I don't think that's spelled correctly.) There are allusions to two songs out of John Thompson, Book One. Can you find them?

Ah, ha, what a goob I am!

Look at that up there. My blog is called 'Hello'. What a goob I am. It said 'name of blog' and I thought it meant subject for today! So I put 'Hello', for want of what else to call my first blog here! I'm sure I'll eventually figure out not only how to fix that, but what to call my blog. Not sure it'll be soon, so we'll go with 'eventually', okay?

So there. That's me in a nutshell. a goob! Well, no always, there are some times, in fact, when I can be flat-up smart, and I'm not talking about alec. But a lot of the time, yeah........ ditzy.

So what I've been missing most about myspace is the blog capability, the ability to go on there and just write random things about what's going on in my life, because I know everybody is on the edge of your chairs, waiting to hear what Julie has to say...... now lookie here, I've found another outlet. Aren't y'all glad?

Hello.