Fischer's Visit

Fischer's home for a much needed visit with family here in Oklahoma. He spent the afternoon with Nana, Aunt Jessie, and the three cousins, and then the evening with Nana and Papa. He has grown so much in the past few months. He will celebrate his 1st birthday in about a week. Can't believe he's almost a year already!

The Places Life Takes Us

A couple of months ago (so much has changes in the last couple of months) we were traveling through Paris, TX on our way to Mississippi, at 2:00 A. M. Bill was in the back seat snoozing (where he says he gets his best sleep--he even likes to be moving 65 MPH when he is asleep). I thought back to the first time I heard of Paris, TX.

We were on our way to Houston, Mom, Dad, Julie & I. I was about 6 years old. I thought it was crazy there was a town in Texas named Paris ( I had heard of the one overseas), I couldn't believe they had pine trees (I thought they were only in Colorada) & Julie was sick at her stomach from trying to read in the car (we finally pulled over AFTER she threw up!).

The next time Paris, TX came to my attention was when William proposed to Rachel & they decided they would get married on her Grandparents farm, 30 minutes East of Paris. We & the wedding party stayed several nights in Paris since it was the closest town with a hotel. The wedding date was 7/7/2007. I was afraid it would be brown & dry by that time of year, but that year it had rained & flooded & there were rumors of the Red River flooding (the farm is in Red River County). Well it poured on us on the way there...it was clear the day of the rehearsal...clear the day of the wedding...& poured on us the next day traveling home. We transported wedding guests to the wedding site with two 4-wheel drive trucks...some rode in the bed of the trucks! It was so much fun...Rachel & her Mom stayed so cool & collected about the whole thing! (or they seemed to!)

There have been several places in my life I wanted to go...Hawaii (went there with the whole family), the Grand Canyon (seen it), Mt. Rushmore (seen it), the Great Lakes (seen it), San Fransico & Fishermans Wharf (seen it), Oregan (seen it--beautiful), Statue of Liberty (seen it), Alaska (still waiting), Niagra Falls (still waiting)!

I never dreamed I would have a fondness of Paris & White Rock, TX & the people there, add Honduras to my list (but there it is), or add my most recent place, Orlando, Florida (been there, but I am now despartly missing Fischer!)

Isn't it crazy the places life takes us!

Motherly Advice

As a Mother I hate to see my kids or grandkids stress. Whether it's over their health, school, money, friends, the economy, jobs or life in general.

I recently gave my daughter some "good advice" when her husband was having an extremely stressful week at work. I told her to be sure & watch his blood pressure, that he tends to hold things in & that they should check it the next time they made a trip to Wal-mart.

Well, my daughter & son-in-law were visiting with his family, & his sister was taking all their blood pressures. Jessica called to give me the results...Jon's blood pressure was fine! Well within the normal range. Jessica's on the other hand...was well above normal! Her blood pressure was about 140 over 100. I guess his stress was stressing her out! Boy, was I off! (She got that from her Daddy)

Even though my advice was a little off-the-mark, I guess it still helped bring a problem to light! I'll still give my "motherly advice" when I think it's needed!

January 17th AGAIN!

Yes, it is January 17th AGAIN! And yes, I am 49 years old! I told several family members that "This is the last birthday I will be celebrating", I later edited that to "The last birthday I will be acknowledging!"

I have always felt blessed to be born in the U. S. A., to a loving Christian Mother & a financially supportive & hard-working Father. I have a sister who is a good friend. As an adult I have a loving, fun husband who is my best friend and loving, healthy & happy children & grandchildren.

I know I have been blessed with a relatively sheltered life. I've not known war, hunger, cold, untimely death of loved ones, violence, abuse, or abandonment.

I have known family crises, health crises & financial crises. But, as I & my high school friends motto was "That's Life!"

A friend of mine told me before she passed away at the age of 49, that growing old was a blessing...so...I guess I get to add that blessing to my list.

No Room at the Inn

It was 1:00 A.M. We were in Beaumont, TX with a Hot Shot to be delivered at 6:00 A.M. that morning, looking for a hotel.

We got the call about 2:30 that afternoon. Threw some clothes in a bag, gave Sean some directions for the next day & took-off. We didn't even have to pull a trailor. We stopped by Jessica's to get our air-phone (Fed-Ex can never find us) & told Jon that we were headed to Beaumont. TX which is about 40 miles East of Houstan. He commented that that should be interesting, seeing where the hurricane hit. Oh yeh, seems like a long time ago.

We went to the Holiday Inn, Best Western, La Quinta, no vacancy. OK, try some generic hotels that look nice. Same thing. What is the deal. We 've encountered this before, especially this late at night, but usually after a few inquiries we find a room. Finally a clerk told Bill, "We've been full since October." The Hurricane.

We drove back North about 30 minutes & finally found a hotel. The whole time we were trying to figure out if the hotels were full of people who had lost their homes or workers traveling to repair the damage. Probably both. Either way, there were still a lot of people dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike just one state away from us, and we had already forgotten. How quickly we forget about other people problems.

A Blast From the Past

In one of our daily rounds--Home Depot, Lowe's, Locke Plumbings Supply--Home Depot, Lowe's, Tiles & Stone--Home Depot, Lowe's, Harbor Freight--we realized that Casa Bonita had opened up again! Bill wanted to try it immediatly, I said "Let's wait & take the Grandkids, they'll really enjoy it!"

Casa Bonita was one of our special occasion places. On Saturday after visiting our Bus Kids, the Church Youth Group, when we went to the Tulsa State Fair or Bell's, dates, a special day out with our kids . We would happily wait in line for an hour or two & there was always a line!

Well, there was no line! We ordered from the menu which was still to the left of the two cash registers after you round the corner! We picked up our trays, our food & our drinks just like always & requested The Cave! IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME!!! I thought it had been remoded & updated! The little monkey on the unicycle, The Jail, The Sopapia Window, The Cave, the little Flag you raise to request service,...the food.

The Kids didn't eat much they were too busy looking around. They loved the game room. They were hilarious bowling. Jennah & Joel got a little frustrated at Not Getting Any Tickets...Jennah finally started giving Jacksen her tokens so he could win HER some tickets. In one game Jacksen's hit the jackpot! His machine started spitting out tickets! They were rolling out of the machine so fast! Before the tickets stopped rolling out Jacksen had run up to the ticket desk & franticly told the girl the machine was going crazy. The girl was really sweet & told him the machine does that sometimes & he could keep all the tickets! You should have seen the smile on his face! Graciously he shared the tickets with Sister & Brother. You have never seen 3 kids so happy with their penny prizes!

Casa Bonita, the neighborhood is now a little run down. Bell's Amusement Park is gone, the McDonalds Caboose in front is gone, but it still works it's magic on kids & grown-up kids!

For Uncle Will and Aunt Rachel

Little Fischer is getting so big. He loves to watch his older cousins and just cackles at them. He went to the doctor last week and weighed in at 16.8 lbs! Enjoy!