Look Through My Window

My favorite window in my house is looking out my little dining room out onto the porch being able to see all the pecan trees. Yes, pecan trees can be somewhat of a pain with all the stain they leave on your siding and brick, but with a Clorox and a pressure washer it comes right off.

The pecan trees are about 60 years old and the neat thing about them is that my grandparents planted them when they were first married.

Usually every other year we are abundantly blessed with pounds and pounds of pecans. This past fall we gave away over 50 gallons of pecans. I hope to have enough "spare time" (when that will be I will never know) one day to pick, shell and sell the nuts at the local farmers' market.

For those of you wondering.... the kitten's name is Greys. He's the newest member of Cason's minizoo.

Monday Memories (on Tuesday)

Just a little background, from good ol' Punkin Center, I live on the same road I grew up on. I know you are probably thinking, "Girl, move on why don't ya?", but I really like it here.

This memory came to me on Sunday while spending the evening with my oldest and dearest friend, Brandon. He lives around the road from our family and he has lived on the same road all of his life as well. Growing up in the household with grandparents you can imagine that my sister and I were raised in kind of an older way of thinking.... No video games, only washing our hair in cold water (another day another post) and even stranger Old Wives Tales, but one of the greatest things about growing up at thier house was the time we spent playing cards in the evenings. Remember we were NEVER allowed to have an ATARI (I know taking everyone back a few years) and cable wasn't even an option in Punkin Center, so we played ROOK everynight.

Has anyone ever heard of or better yet played ROOK? It was always the best fun and made Brandon and I friends for life.

I revisited this when Sunday, Brandon came over for the first in many many years and we picked up right where we left off. Friends Forever.

The cool thing is... Cason is just the right age to start playing and hoping it gets him away from the Wii/DS/Computer!

Until next time,
Andrea

btw... Cason loved playing ROOK and can't wait until next Sunday!

Freaky Friday

Spring... One of my favorite times of the year. Everything from azaleas to Bradford Pear trees begin to bloom. Allergies run wild and tornadoes seem inevitable here in the South. I have never been one to the scared by the weather, but when you have children of your own; weather is a whole different animal.

Good Friday was yesterday and school was out and I had a sitter, Faith, lined up for Cason. They had plans to eat at Red Robin and go over to the Monaco to see Monsters vs. Aliens. While in the movies, a severe weather treat was imminent and the Monaco had an Emergency Plan in action. Hats off to them for having everything in place!!They moved everyone to the center of the Monaco to make sure they were in the safest part of the complex. Whew.. that was relief, but that feeling (do you know that feeling I am talking about?) the one that makes your stomach do somersaults worrying about your child when they are not with you... I was just sick. The only good thing was the movie had started late and the Monaco gave everyone a FREE movie pass for the next movie they go see.

I must say one reason we love Faith, the sitter, she kept me up-to-date on everything that was happening where they were and didn't completely freak-out (almost but didn't officially)!!

After everything Faith and Cason had been through they drove home and rode around the block (3 miles around Brown Road in Punkin Center, USA) on bikes and was chillin' out by the time I got home.

Kuddos to you Ms. Faith Plunkett.

The Day the Squirrel Went Bizerk!! (Not the Ray Stevens Version)

Well, it's spring here in the south and the grass is starting to grow and folks are beginning to spend a lot of time outside. Earlier this week, my son and I were outside when we noticed our dog, Dojo, chasing a squirrel. Cason yelled for him to "STOP" and about the time he stopped the squirrel made a "beeline" (that's word some of us southerners like to use) up the telephone pole. There the squirrel sat scared out of his mind and Dojo patiently waiting for him at the bottom. Cason and I were so interested in what the squirrel was going to do we sat there waiting to see just what was going to happen next. I thought to myself "Well, he only can come down because he has no where else to go?"

About 10 minutes passed and with Dojo waiting for the squirrel to come down; the squirrel made a run for it and about half way down the pole jumped off and ran to a tree, unbeknown to Dojo as he was still sitting at the bottom of the telephone pole. We laughed and laughed as Dojo just sat there with nothing on the telephone pole.

This whole situation made me think of my personal relationship with God. Sometimes WE are like the squirrel feeling like we have been run up a telephone pole with no where to go. We sit at the top of the pole waiting for God to do SOMETHING and then we realize the fact that He has given us the ability to "jump to another tree" and that He has been with us the whole time! The world is like Dojo waiting at the bottom ready to eat us alive if we come down the telephone pole of life and let our guard down.

Praise be to God for always being with us, and giving us wings to fly or the know how to jump from a telephone pole to a tree...

Until next time,


Andrea