HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

I want to say that I hope that my daughter Crissy & her husband Michial had a wonderful time celebrating their 8 year anniversary today. I love both of you!
Oh yeah, and thank you so much for the wonderful grandchildren you have given me! :-)

Go earn your own 7 bucks!!

Stay out of my driveway looking for $7. Go sell your body or your shoes or your clothes if you need 7 bucks that bad. We all have earned our own money. Do what you have to do to earn YOUR OWN money.
Hated it tonight. Kinda spooked taking Weevil out to piss knowing that someone had envaded my own personal space that we spend OUR OWN money paying for. I hope to see you the next time you decide to be stupid again and I will then shoot you with my BB gun. I hope to hit you in both of your eyeballs so you can't see how to take other people's money.
I dislike weirdos & I hate liars and thieves!!!!
That's all for now.

Family & Friends

I love my family & friends! Ashley spent the night with us last night and we sat and sipped for a few hours and talked ALOT. Enjoyed immensely (but missed my Boo). Cooking breakfast this morning and Casey calls and needs help packing boxes at asshole's house. Like I need to be anywhere near him. I just want to spit in his face! Anyway, low & behold, my bestie shows up while we are eating. Imagine that! We so often have that ESP with each other. So Tony, Caron, Ashley & me go over to weirdo's house to box up all of Casey, Nolan & Chloe's stuff. Wow am I glad my friend must have been feeling that I needed her. :-) It took us about 3 hours but we finally got it done and now my boys can go load up everything in pick ups tomorrow and get it into storage for Case. Thank you Caron & Ashley for loving me and being my friend. I love yall!!!! Thank you for your help today. Probably wouldn't have finished today if it hadn't been for yall. Night all

All Grown Up

Our children will always be our little ones but they have all grown up to be some mighty fine adults. They all graduated from Lone Oak High School (as did my Mom & Dad and Tony & myself). Go Purple Flash!
Our oldest, Casey (30), has her bachelor degree in marketing from Murray State University and she works for the McCracken County District Judges Office. Her bosses are Judge Tony Kitchen and Judge Chris Hollowell (our cousin). She has 2 children, "Nolan" James (18 mo old) and "Chloe" Layne (3 mo old). Casey lives her in Paducah. She is newly divorced which makes her a very, very busy single working Mother. She is doing a wonderful job. Hang in there Case!
Next is Michelle (28), who has her bachelor degree from University of Kentucky in family development. She is in her 2nd year of law school at the University of Kentucky and works part time as a waitress. Michelle is hoping to go into family law and possibly become a family Judge one of these years. She has a little buddy named Lucy, a little chihuahua mix. Michelle lives in Lexington and is newly divorced too and is stuggling in her own way with school, work, and paying her own way in her small little cutsey apartment. You can do it Mitch!
Our next is Shane (27), who is our professional student for now. Haha!! He graduated from Murray State University with a bachelor degree in biology (I think) and then graduated in 2008 from the University of Louisville School of Denistry. Yep, he's a dentist & we can call him Dr. Williams now. Kinda funny but at the same time very neat. He is still just Shane to us. He is in his second year of Oral Maxofacial Residency at University of Oklahoma. He will be an Oral Surgeon in 2 1/2 more years. That will be somewhere around a total of 22 or 23 straight years of school, hence the professional student label. Shane has a beautiful wife, Whitney and a Boxador named Wilbur. Whitney got her bachelor degree from Murray State University and her masters degree from Bellermine. She works for an architectural firm in Oklahoma City, OK where they live. Keep it up Dr. Shanus!
Crissy (26) is next. You could easily call her a professional entrepreneur or jack of all trade. You want something done-call Crissy. I guarantee she will get it done. She manages 2 Quizno's here in Paducah. (Might I say that at present she has 2 other businesses wanting to hire her right now.) You don't find Crissy sitting around very often. She has taken a class her and a class there. She will get that degree before you know it. Between work, some classes and her kids, she is a very go, go, go person. Crissy is also who keeps us closest to God and we thank her for that. She is married to Michial who I might add has been a part of our family the longest. :-) He has been a hard working route man for Bunny Bread for quite a few years now. Crissy & Michial have 3 children, "Alexis" Nichole (11 yo), Michial "Stone" (5 yo), & "Jade" Richelle (3 yo). Go, go Cras!
Next is our twins. I will start with Kurt since he is 1 minute older than Kinsey.
Kurt (25) is our Soldier. Everyone needs a Soldier. Our military is something else. He has been in the US Army National Guard for 6 years and has reenlisted for another 6 years. He is SGT Bell who has done one tour of duty to Iraq 4 years ago and he will be leaving for his second tour to Iraq in January. Neat that both of our sons have titles/ranks before their names. He was an electrician apprentice as a civilian and will return to that profession on his return from Iraq in 2011. He is married to cutie Libby and they live here in Paducah. They have 4 girls, "Tia" Corin (11 yo), "Krysta" Elyse (9 yo), "Sydnee" Renee (almost 3 yo), "Olyvia" Lynn (9 mo old) and a little rescued dog named Chili that Kurt got after his first tour. Libby used to be a SGT in the army also. She got out after her tour to Iraq and became a mother again about a year later. She just got laid off in July and will be drawing unemployment while Kurt is in Iraq. Funny how things work out sometimes isn't it. Something interesting.....Libby's given name is Liberty. Can you believe it? Liberty Bell is now her name. Awesome! Liberty & the rest of us will be waiting for your return from Iraq, Kurt. Be safe and keep your head down Dirt!
Last but certainly not least is Kinsey (25). Kinsey got her degree from West Kentucky Community & Technical College. She works for Dr. Wade Poat as his dental assistant. (Dr. Wade might not like it, but if brother Shane ever came back here, he might lose his assistant.) Kinsey is married to farmer Jeremy. They live on a dairy farm in far southwestern McCracken County. They raise dairy cattle & beef cattle and then farm soybeans & corn. There are other crops too. I just don't remember all of them. My biggest hope/wish for now is to live out there by their farm. It is so peaceful out there. I envy them. Just kidding. I love it for them. One of these days maybe I'll be out there and can help Jeremy milk the cows at 4am every morning. Just joshing....Don't hold your breath on that one. Jeremy also is a pipe fitter apprentice. When he is not farming or pipe fitting, he is working for his Mom's lawn care business. Oh and he goes to school 2 nights a week. Kinsey & Jeremy have 2 girls. "Kaylee" Landyn (5 yo) & "Kendal" Page (3 1/2 mo old). They also have a pitbull mix named Gator. He lives and acts as a cow. It is the funniest thing. Another funny is that Kinsey lives on a farm. Last person on earth you would have believed would be living with cow smell and huge flies everywhere, everyday. She loves every minute of it. You go Kinz!
I'm closing now. Sorry for another long post but when you are UNIT 8, there is alot to learn about us. It's only just beginning. Mom sure is proud of all of you and she sure does love all of you!

I love my family and friends. I love my husband & I love my little poodle dog.

The Dreaded Pig Flu Shots

Well, today was a very interesting day to say the least. Stop now if you don't want to read a very, very long story about my day. I, yes I said I, came up with the bright idea for my Mom & I to take some of our grandchildren to get the H1N1 vaccine. The shots were offered at the school where my uncle is principal from noon until 6pm and was offered to family of students and faculty. We thought that would help my children out since they would be working all day. We felt it was a good move for all of the family but most importantly that we wouldn't bring the swine flu into our family around Kendal, 3 mo old, and Chloe, almost 3 mo old. Well, it's 11:30am & my Mom (Mimi), Tony & I piled into my Mom's Enclave after trying to buckle and secure 4 car seats in the back and middle seats. This is no easy task. What is even a harder task, is trying to buckle the children into these 4 seats when you only have about an 18 inch area to fit into while completing the whole buckling in process. We first went to day care to pick up three of the grandchildren. Mimi & I went in and checked in at the front desk and showed my id and signed them out at 12:10pm. (I am on the list to pick them up thank goodness.) After being buzzed through to the classroom area, we are then trying to find 3 classrooms holding each of our grandkids only knowing the approximate location of each. First classroom, the teachers are trying to get eight to twelve 2 years olds asleep. Mimi & I ask......."Is Nolan in here?" In a quiet voice the answer was "No he is in the next room." Whew! Didn't wake any of the little ones up. Second classroom, the teachers are trying to get eight to twelve 15-18 month olds asleep. We hear one kid crying on his pallet with a teacher trying to console him. Mimi & I ask....."Is Nolan in here?" The consoling teacher looks up and we say "Oh, that's Nolan and we are here to pick him up." Now, I am lugging a 30lb 18 month old (whose nickname is Tank and his name fits him) down the hallway looking for his cousins. We approach another room at the far end of the hall. All of the children are eating lunch. Great! We are interrupting the children's lunch. We stick our heads in and ask......"Is Jade in here?" The teacher replies "No, she is next door." We say "Thank you" and then notice about that time that our grandson, Stone is sitting there looking at us eating his lunch. "Oh, we are here to pick up Stone too." Stone runs to us only to be asked by his teacher to sit back down. The teacher then says "What do you say, Stone?" Stone replies, "May I be excused?". Teacher says "Yes" and he grabs his papers and we are on to the next classroom. Mimi and I ask "Is Jade in here?" and we almost immediately see Jade sitting at a table by herself eating her lunch while all of the other students are dining together at a separate table. Hummmmm. From the door, we tell Jade to finish her lunch because there was quite a bit left on her plate. Sure enough we then hear from the teacher about Jade hitting a little girl with a piece of paper, then the teacher was getting on to Jade and Jade preceded to hit the teachers finger so the teacher made her eat by herself at another table. So here is Nana & Mimi just standing at the door watching our 3 1/2 year old granddaughter finish her lunch with a 30 pound Tank on my hip and a 5 year old grandson going through the other kids cubby holes and us asking him to stop. Finally Jade finishes and heads to us. But NOOOOOO, the teacher calls her back and says "What are you supposed to do with your milk carton and sheets?" So Jade puts them in their proper place and off we go. Tank on my hip, 5yo and 3yo yapping and Nana & Mimi asking them to shhhhhhh. Dang if we need to wake all these kids up while we're walking down the hall. We get outside and use every bit of those 18 inches of working space I spoke of earlier and finally got all three of them buckled in. (Thank goodness Crissy showed up and helped us with the buckling.) Now Mimi, Nana & Pop get buckled in and off we go to pick Kaylee up from LOE. I push the button as it says outside and they FINALLY buzz me in and I walk into the front office of Lone Oak Elementary and tell them I am here to pick up Kaylee Powers to take her to get a swine flu shot. I tell them she is in kindergarten and is in Mrs. Collin's class and her safety # is _ _ _ _. (secret #) This one lady looks and she looks and she looks and then she looks again at all of these lists of kids names. She asks me at least 4 times if I'm sure I have the correct # and I answer yes each and everytime she asks me. Finally she asks another lady to come help her that she believes I have the incorrect #. Other lady walks up asks the same information from me and I retell her the same info as I had shared with the first lady. Second lady goes to first sheet and points at Kaylee's name and #. Finally! After they call the room to ask Kaylee to come to the office, I bet it wasn't 60 seconds until Kaylee was standing at my side. Go to the vehicle and buckle her in. I then have to explain to Pop & Mimi why it took me so long. It is now 12:50pm and we are finally headed to my uncle's school. During the ride there and while we are walking across the parking lot after arriving, we listen to the two 5 year olds and the 3 year old tell us as they are whining and crying that they are NOT gonna get a shot. GREAT!!!!!!! Never thought about this happening. What was I thinking? This all was my idea! Of course I am explaining to them in a nice quiet grandmotherly voice that we all need these shots for the babies who can't get sick. It would not be good for them at all. Blah, ba blah, ba blah. Not working. Whining getting louder and we are nearing the front doors of the school and all of the needle sticking people are looking at us walking up. All of a sudden, Nana stops them and informs them in my low growling stern voice that they WILL get a shot and I better not hear another word. (I swear I am trying to make this a short story but you are going to hear the entire story.) We get inside and I am trying to talk with the needle women and fill out paperwork and trying to discuss with my Mom what order we will have the kids go in. Oldest to youngest or vice versa. We decide oldest first. Not a chance. She is squealing and squirming away from me and yelling NO Nana. Please Nana. I don't want to Nana. Etc, etc, etc. With my teeth clenched I tell her she better hush, you better be quiet, SHUT UP NOW! Well my uncle takes her down to the gym and we decide to start with the youngest then. Nolan, youngest at 18mo, sits in Pop's lap, cries for about 2.5 seconds and everythings fine. Jade, 3yo, next with a little wimper. Stone, 5yo, next and cries forever. Thank goodness Kaylee is down in the gym with Uncle Mike. Now it is Kaylee's, 5yo, turn. She asks for Alexis (her 11 yo cousin) to hold her. Hops up in her lap, tells us she wants to take her jacket off herself, gets her shot and we never hear a peep out of her. We all look at each other. Praises to Kaylee. I was proud of her. She said she had to do it for her little sister. I about melted. Mimi, Pop & Nana got their shots and we are out the door. Casey got her shot before we got there, Crissy showed up and got hers and Kinsey got there as we were leaving and got hers. Crissy took Alexis, Stone & Jade with her. Kinsey went home by herself to rest. She is sick. Allergies I think. I told her I would take Kaylee with me and go to SYMSONIA to pick up Kendal. Mimi, Pop, Nana, Kaylee & Nolan all get buckled in and we leave. We were told to give the kids some tylenol. Well all I have is cherry and Kaylee only likes grape. Mimi said she has grape at her house so we go there to get Kaylee some grape tylenol. Then Mimi takes us to our house. We unload the kids and 3 carseats and Mom leaves. I give Nolan some cherry tylenol when we get inside and I look at the clock. It's 2:05pm. Are you kidding me? 2 and 1/2 hours. I need drugs. Okay, Nolan is going to stay here with Pop while I go get Kendal and take them home. I'm gonna change his diaper. Dang it!!!! I left all of his diapers in the back of Mom's Enclave. I call Casey and she said she left 2 upstairs. Thank goodness. I get him changed and say my goodbyes to Tony. Kaylee gets in the car and here we go. It's 2:35pm. Oh no, I only have less than a quarter tank of gas! I go to super valu to fill up. Go to Mimi's to get the diapers out of her vehicle and finally on my way to SYMSONIA. Get Kendal and then head over hill and dale and around every curve in western kentucky and finally make it to Kinsey and Jeremy's house. It's 4:30pm. What? 2 hours! I go in. Talk and love on Kendal a bit. Get my goodbye kisses from her and Kaylee and head home. I finally sat down on my couch at 5:00pm. 5 and 1/2 hours!!! What a day!!!!! Whose idea was this??? Hey, I love em all! No pig flu in this house!! :-)

Forgot Kendal & Chloe "Little Pirate & Little Tiger"

Some adults dress up too

Hello all!! In March of this year, I was going to do this blog thing about my family & I but somehow I never got past the first post. Haha!! Well, my newest best friend (Ashley)has a blog and she and my oldest and bestest, bestest friend (Caron) have told me I need to use this "Unit 8" blog. So here I go:

I will start out by saying that one of my most favorite things to do is be around Caron (I will refer to her as Boo, a nickname I gave her years ago) and solve all the world's problems and man have we solved a few. We can rearrange a room, build patio furniture, paint a house, move a refrigerator(up a step after lifting it from the back of a truck), cook anything and everything, build one heck of a fire, or simply sit around and all the while be solving problems. We work best when the loves of our lives, Tony & Steve, are not around because they tend to differ on what we are trying to accomplish. Imagine that! BUT, we love the heck out of both of them and don't like thinking of what life was like before they came into our lives. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! Thank you for loving these 2 very smart opinionated women. Heehee! Our newest family member, Ashley has been a positive addition to our sessions and Boo and I can't wait until all of my girls can join us for a much needed world solving session. (Of course you all know that our "world problems" are actually our own because we will let the rest of the world solve their problems. We have enough of our own!) Boo loves my children as her own as I do her boys. Our love and advice put together can keep any of our 9 children's heads above water and that is what Nana & Grasey are phenomenal at. :-) Yes Nana & Grasey are our grandmother names. We kinda needed something more matriachal than Rat & Boo. Haha!

BY THE WAY.................I want to thank all of our military this VETERANS DAY! I gotta send a special shout out to my favorite soldier, SGT Kurtis Landon Bell, my favorite youngest son. I pray for God to be with you as you start your second tour in Iraq. Your Madre loves ya!!

Damn, got off track there for a minute........it's hard on a mother.

My other favorite thing to do is spend time with my family. Man do I love my family!! Update since March. I have two new granddaughters. Yipee!! I'm up to 11 grandchildren and lovin' everyone of them so much. Kendal Page was born July 31st and Chloe Layne was born August 18th. I love getting all of us together. We just got to experience one of those special days on Halloween night. Tony & I have a party every Halloween for family and friends. We decorate all day, party all night(literally), and then undecorate all the next day. Rough but well worth it. 12 hours with those closest to me. Who could ask for more? Tony, Kinsey, Jeremy, Kaylee, Kendal, Libby, (Kurt was away at training), Krysta, Sydnee, Olyvia, Michial, Crissy, (Alexis didn't get to come:-(), Stone, Jade, Casey, Matt, Nolan, Chloe, Sarah, Lyle, Cousin Chris, Steve, Caron, Ashley & last & certainly least - New Dan (didn't know he was coming). Is that 25(maybe 23) people that love me? I think so. I am so lucky! (I missed Krisa, Josh, Annita Kay & Darrell this year.) We had a bon fire in the middle of our backyard in the middle of Lake Forest subdivision. Can I get a "hell yeah"!! We roasted weinees, made smores, shared much conversation, and drank a helluva lot of beer. All grandchildren were in beds or on pallets before much beer was consumed I promise!! I have some pics of my scary little monsters.