The Messy Mom Turns One

I really can not believe that I have been writing on this site for over a year now. My first entry was August 7, 2008 and I started off with this short list of things I wanted to offer through my blog postings.

1. ENCOURAGEMENT
Through the good and the bad it is encouraging to know that there are people out there going through the same thing.

2. HUMOR
I never take myself too seriously. I am a self proclaimed sit down comedian

3. IDEAS
Tips tricks and advice on things from everyday life ☺

4. PHOTOS
I am a photographer so I cannot help but have VISUALS!

5. A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
We can all benefit from hearing from a point of view different than our own.

If nothing else has come from this venture I can at least look back at this point and say to myself "I did it". I said I wanted to write and share these 5 things with the world and for better or for worse, typos, bloopers, brain farts and all, I did it.

To commemorate this special occasion I am going to take this week to look back at the 52 topics I have written about over the past year. Check back tomorrow because I am really excited about this trip down memory lane and because I just can't keep it simple there is going to be a twist!

News Week

My plan for this week was to get caught up on all the latest happenings in the news stream and do my own assessment of it all. I watched a little bit of news, and read some articles on line, but my last two blogs probably indicate where my mind has really been.

There is a part of me that doesn't want to be the typical american that is oblivious to what is happening outside of their own little suburb. So I do my best become the studious philosophical type that is well informed on the global affairs and political matters, but the moment I think I can pull it off my son gets in front of the TV singing "I like to move it, move it" or I get a call from my brother saying that his band is in town and wants to crash at our place. Then I start thinking about more serious matters *like my dad being in the hospital for a possible heart attack, or my son's upcoming eye surgery.

These aren't just random scenario's that I made up, it's just a little glimpse at the the type of week I've had. These are the newsreels that surround my everyday life. So I might feel kind of out of touch when it comes to current events, but my main focus is going to be my family and community. Those are the headlining stories that matter to me the most right now. Not to say that I don't want to be aware of what is going on in the world, but I think I'm okay with the snip-its of news that I get in passing. For example did you hear about the 500 pound Houston inmate that successfully snuck a gun into prison by hiding it in his fat rolls? That's Texas for ya.



* My dad was in the hospital overnight this past Thursday being evaluated for symptoms of a heart attack, but Praise God he is healthy and everything is fine. As far as Z's surgery he has a pre operation appointment coming up next week and the surgery which we scheduled a couple days ago isn't until the end of September.

Goodbye Friend

A couple days ago I talked about the torrential rains that struck Louisville and my mom's car was stranded in a flooded parking garage. It is true that it was my mom's car, but it actually used to be my car.

It was 2001 when I bought my first car. I remember it being a cold night right before Christmas when the dealership gave me the keys to the 1992 Volvo 240. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was still an upgrade for me and I was ecstatic about my purchase. I was a waitress at the time and worked hard every month to pay over and above what the minimum monthly payment was until it was entirely paid off. It was a pretty smooth ride the first few years, but then it started to break down and it felt like we were constantly having it worked on. Eventually the air conditioner went out, the stereo no longer worked, part of the trim fell off the door, and the bumper started to droop down on one side. What was my pride and joy was quickly becoming a piece of junk.

In April of 2008 my mom and I were in a roll over accident in her car which was then totaled and she was left with nothing. By that time I was no longer driving the Volvo so I gave it to her. It wasn't the most regal ride, but it was a way to get from A to B. So for the past year and a half she has driven it. Then today my mom got a phone call from the mechanic giving the official report that the old Volvo 240 was dead and gone for good. Cause of death; drowning in a natural disaster. They said it can't even be used for parts due to all of the water damage. We expected to hear that, but it was still kind of a Marley and Me moment. I think this quote by John Grogan taken from the end of the book sums it up:

“You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you?” I whispered. “What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.” He needed to know that, and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went.
“Marley,” I said. “You are a great dog.”"


The same goes for the old Volvo, we might not have always said it, but it was a great car.



The photo above is of the old Volvo and that is a friend of ours that is leaning against it.

News Reports And Prayer Requests

We hear stories all the time that don't effect us and don't seem real to us until the story becomes a part of our life. The truth is, I have done a crummy job at catching up on the news this week. I hadn't really watched any at all, but yesterday my dad called with a weather related story that involved my family.

Louisville Kentucky received record breaking rain yesterday. Over 6 inches fell in just one hour causing severe flash flooding. Luckily there were no deaths or severe injuries although the list of damages goes on and on!

There have been a reported 20,000 people without electricity and 700 power lines down.

The lower level of the Louisville Library is under water causing an estimated 1 million dollars of damage.


The Kentucky Derby Museum was hit and historical memorabilia quickly became submerged in the floods.

Emergancy workers rescued nearly 200 people from the tops of cars and houses as the waters rose too quickly for them to escape.

Animals were evacuated from the local shelter where some kittens and dog had drowned.

I would be the first one to browse over these statics and say "oh my, that's a lot of rain" and move on. However, in this case my mom was working at the Louisville airport with her car in the lower level of the parking garage. When she went out to check on it the lot was already closed off. It was too dangerous to allow people to enter. Cars were floating around hitting each other. This happened the week after they had found out that the transmission was out on their other car. My dad was working out of town so my mom stayed at a hotel last night and went back into work today. Of course tensions are high as many peoples flights have been delayed or canceled and my mom said that on two different occasions customers drove her to tears. People can be so cruel, they have to take their frustrations out on someone so they go off on a ticketing agent, when not only is it out of her control, but she just lost her only vehicle, never even got to go home, and then put on happy face to go back to serving customers in the morning!

Please prayer for my parents. There is always insurance, but the car is old and not worth anything. It was towed off today and I should have more details tomorrow.



photo from USA Today

Look Back and Laugh: Jon Stewart

This isn't really a "look back and laugh" story, which is where every Tuesday I share a funny or embarrassing moment from the past. However, since I am talking about the news this week I thought I would highlight some of the more comedic sides of journalism. I think news/politics in general have become such a BIG part of our culture, that eventually SNL's weekend update wasn't enough and someone had to come along and point out with even greater sarcasm just how ridiculous the news media can be at times, and that is where Jon Stewart comes in.

My oldest brother has been on an Arrested Development kick lately and keeps calling me to reminisce about old episodes.

I guess he just wants someone to laugh with which is fine since I am an Arrested Development fan, but the show hasn't been on in years, so I asked him what the deal was and he said he found out he can watch each episode on Hulu.com. I related because my Hulu guilty pleasure is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. My brother was shocked that I would watch that show and warned me not to tell our parents. "Why?" I asked, "Because it's liberal or crude?"

That being said, I don't condone a lot of the content on the Daily show, and honestly I have only seen a handful of episodes, and with my recent TV fast I hadn't watched any at all. What I can tell you though is while I may not be a Jon Stewart lover the episodes that I have seen of The Daily Show crack me up, and have given me a lot of insight to how much the media can blow things out of proportion. I think the whole point of the show is that not EVERYTHING has to be a crisis and sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves, which I think I have become kind of good at.

The News

When the television signal switched to digital back in June I decided to start fasting TV. It's been easier and more rewarding than I ever thought. However sometimes I do feel just a little out of touch with what is going on in the world. Usually I find out about newsworthy events by peoples Facebook comments. That is how I heard about all the celebrity deaths that we have had recently, as well as the controversial arrest of Henry Louis Garrett, and even the universal health care ordeal.

A couple nights ago when we were at a coffee shop I caught a glimpse of the news that was playing on a TV in the corner, but the audio wasn't on. It looked like they were showing clips of a family and their beloved Shitzu who was now missing. The headline for the segment was "A Family's Loss". The thing that made me curious about the story was why it was on the news! People loose dogs all the time and they aren't on the news. Heck, sometimes people loose children and it's never on the news. Then they showed the image of the missing dog sign which read "reward $2,000 no questions asked." Oh, so maybe that's what makes little lost Foo Foo so interesting, she is worth a couple grand. I guess those people really loved their dog, although I am not so sure the feeling is mutual considering the dog is gone.

So I started thinking maybe I do need to check in and see what is going on in my community, or country, or the world. This week I am going to make it my mission to find out what is on the news.

Details

Now that I have let the cat out of the bag about this pregnancy and shared some stories from the past month I will finish it all up with some random details about where I am at in the whole process.

For starters I am 9 weeks along. That means the baby is about the size of an olive. However, I have talked it over with some friends who convinced me that there is no shame in wearing maternity clothes as early in the pregnancy as you see fit and the same rule goes for wearing them postpartum. That being said I started yesterday! Not that I am showing or anything, but I have a couple items that fit just right with the elastic around the waist and I love it.

I have my first appointment with my midwife in about a week. So that answers the question of whether or not I plan on having another natural birth, but whether I do it at home or at the birth center is still up in the air.

I am feeling well overall. Today, I felt like I had zero energy, but the fact that it has been raining buckets may also have a part in that. At this point there is not too much to share, but I will check back in as I find out more.