A bit about Christmas and a sad, sad Day, and how I deal...

   Once again, I haven't blogged for a while.  This time however I have a few good reasons.  Christmas was a fun, but very busy holiday for us.  The Sweetest Guy in the World and I have very recently blended families and it was oh so important to us to spend time with both of our extended families for Christmas. We spent a few days before the holiday in Birmingham with his Mom, Dad, brother, sister-in-law, and 2 darling nephews.  We had a wonderful time...there was plenty of cooking, eating, presents, and family fun had by all.  We spent Christmas Eve morning making the long (6 hour) trek back home and had dinner with my sister and brother-in-law, and then cocoa and Christmas lights in the car with Sweetpea.  Christmas morning and day was of course church, presents and more yummy food with Sweetpea and my Mama. We had some lovely relaxing days and a few shopping days before New Year's Eve. TSGITW and I met last NYE (thanks to my bestie bringing him along when she came down to visit) so we did a full circle of sorts to celebrate. Dinner at the chinese restaraunt where we had dinner last year, buying champagne where we went to buy it last year, and then a party thrown by the same friends from the 2010 NYE party.  We all had a great evening. New Year's Day TSGITW, his brother and I headed to New Orleans for a SAINTS game at the dome!  I LOVE MY SAINTS, ya'll!  It was a great start to our new year together.  My New Years haven't been so stellar in the past few years.  January has  been for me in the past a very sad time. And although I have a wonderful man in my life now, I find myself still feeling very sad and really feeling loss at this time of year.  Today is a particuarly sad day for me.  Today, 3 years ago, I lost my husband.  Don was a very wonderful man.  He was sweet, funny, loving and a wonderful Dad to my daughter (although he was not her natural father).  Ours was a short romance, but he touched our lives in a way few have and Sweetpea and I still miss him dearly.  He will always remain in our hearts and minds.  TSGITW knows this and is very understanding of our feelings.  Last night, when I was having a particuarly tough time, he let me have my "moment" so to speak and then talked me thru it.  He just lets me have the time I need to grieve and supports me thru it...see why I love him so much???  I am not feeling particuarly eloquent today, but I needed to share some thoughts so I copied in a couple of past posts from an old social networking blog to tell ya'll some of my story.  One of my 52 in 52 (which I have yet to share) is to blog more often, so bear with me until I can get my mind wrapped around life and I'll be back.  Here are the past blog posts...excuse any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes please, my head wasn't in the best place when they were written, but you can get a pretty good idea of how things were going at those points in time.  Happy New Year! This one is going much better btw!

His idea of forever just sucks- JANUARY 13, 2009

Every little girl dreams about the their wedding day. Having been a little girl I know these things. Being young, we have alot of misconceptions about this, but basically we want to grow up, meet a rich, handsome man, marry him in a wedding just like the one Princess Di had and then move to a big house where we can run our own company, shop all the time and have a maid, housekeeper and nanny to take care of the house and the couple of beautiful kids that showed up from somewhere...and there you have it- the perfect dream. Well, the perfect dream for me anyway.That's when you're a little girl, but little girls grow up and their dreams change. However, you always have the dream of happily ever after but when you meet "the ONE" you just might not even know it. That's how it was for my husband and me. We met while I was working in a grocery store. Yeah, I know, not very exciting. Most of you know it already, but bear with me thru the story anyway. I was at work at our local grocery -putting in my time while I went to college, just another random afternoon of blase work, checking groceries when these two guys came thru my line. I had been having some difficulties in my non-existent love life and was feeling pretty down about it. A friend of mine had told me recently that the reason I couldn't find anyone to date was due to the fact that I was too aloof with men. Her basic theory was if I would talk to men I didn't know the way I did with my friend's husbands (because they were,as she put it, "safe") I would eventually meet someone. Well, I was a tad disbelieving, but thought ok, let's see. It'll never work, but... I'll try it. Sorry, I digress, so these two men came thru my line-they were talking to one another and I assumed that they were together. The first gentleman was an elderly man, late sixties maybe, and he was purchasing a six pack of beer. Well, I tried my skills out on him first, proclaiming him "way too young too purchase alcohol" and inquiring if he had any id to prove he was old enough to buy his beer. He took this rather good naturedly and when I got to the much younger man in line behind him, who was waiting to purchase his drink of choice-a two liter bottle of diet coke, I teased him about his purchase saying "Oh good choice, you're way too young to buy beer." He laughed and responded with "Honey, I've got socks older than you." We joked back and forth about this for a minute or two and he asked me how old I thought he was. I guessed his age at about 38 and he laughed and told me to guess again. My next estimation was 40.He then told me guess again, but if you get it wrong you owe me dinner. My final guess was 42, but he said no he was having his forty-fourth birthday in about two weeks. My flippant response was "Well, I guess I owe you dinner then. I'm off on Friday." The man replied that he as well was off Friday night. We shared a laugh and he left the store. A few minutes later I turned around and there he was at the end of my line. He handed me piece of paper with his name and number written on it and told me if I was serious about dinner to give him a call. And that was how I met my husband. He tells everyone we went out the first time because I lost a bet. Not that I knew at that time that he was the ONE. Oh no...I didn't know if I should go out with him, but my friends convinced me to give him a chance. So, Friday, January 5, 2007 I went out with Don. I really liked him, but as I told my friends and family, he had way too much baggage. Now this came from the fact that he was very honest with me. By the time our first date was over I knew that he was separated, but not divorced, all about his parents, the small MS town he grew up in, and all the friends and neighbors there, where he worked and lived and various unsavory things about his (soon to be ex) wife. We spent the next couple of weeks, talking on the phone...just being friends and made plans to go to a Mardi Gras ball together. Well, HE thought we were going together anyway. I was telling my mom and my friends that I was going to take this opportunity to reinforce the fact we were going to make better friends than anything else. We each paid for our own ticket and met there at the ball-I even went so far as to tell him that this particular ball was my favorite because I always went with a big group of close friends and gave him something off the food list to bring (chips and dip I think). LOL. We had a wonderful time and when it came time to leave, a couple I know asked us to go to a local bar with them. So, I ditched my other friends and rode to the bar with Don. Now admittedly, I had had QUITE a bit to drink that night, but I asked him before we left if he had too much and was he okay to drive. He assured me that he was quite sober and had only a couple of drinks early in the evening and it was almost 2 am at this point. We made it to the bar and each had a beer and around 3:30 am were ready to leave. He assured me again he was fine to drive and we left. Well, at some point down the road, he was listening avidly to me talking and turned to glance at me. At the same time, he hit a pothole and swerved slightly. At that point, the blue lights and sirens came on behind us. WELL...let's just say that some of the words that came out of my mouth at this point would have made a sailor blush in shame. I called that poor man everything but a white boy!!!!! I screamed at him that we were going to jail and that I had a child at home and what the HELL was he thinking. Well, the officer came over and got his license and insurance info and went back and called it in and then came back and made a BIG production of having him take a breathalizer. The cop was incensed and I was flabbergasted when the test read .000002 for alcohol. The officer then leaned in the window and said "Maam , I administered this test because there is a very strong smell of alcohol coming from this vehicle, have YOU been drinking tonight?"Well, I said the only thing I could say at the time...Yes sir, I have. Don took me home that night and the next day went home to Poplarville to spend his vacation with his parents. We talked on the phone ALOT while he was there and I slowly began to like him more and more. I was still,however, very reluctant. We began to go on more dates and he would tell me "I love you" and I would respond "thank you". Don was a funny guy and very romantic. He would call me on the phone and say go look out your window, or your door, or whatever -he would be driving to or from work or home and would see a sunrise or sunset and want to share it with me. Or we would be talking or watching a movie or just holding hands and he'd smile at me and say "Can we do this forever?" Soon, I knew that I did love him and went out of my way to make him a special gift to show my love. And the rest,as they say, is history. Shortly thereafter, he introduced me to his parents. Easter Sunday, Don formally asked me to marry him. We had discussed this previously and picked out a ring, so I knew he was going to ask me just not the when. Now when a man asks you this all important question, alot of things go thru your head...the dress, the flowers, the dress, the place, the dress, sex with only one man for the rest of your life (kidding), THE DRESS!!!!!! And all of these things did flit thru my head, but I can honestly say that the most important thing that stuck in my head was OH MY GAWD!!!!!I am going to marry this wonderful man who truly loves me and we're going to have happily ever after!!! However, things didn't turn out quite as we expected and this story does not have a fairytale ending. In January of 2008 Don began to experience some health issues. We decided to put our wedding off until November of 2008 and at first, the doctors thought these health problems were minor. In early May Don had a biopsy at Oschner's hospital in New Orleans and, though this biopsy proved to be inconclusive, we realized that life was uncertain and planned a small wedding at a friend's home. We were married on May 25, 2008 and I came became a Mrs.,lol!  We were married by my cousin under a beautiful arbor covered in magnolia leaves and, thanks to the hard work of our friends and family, had a wonderful wedding day. Shortly thereafter, Don was sent to Tulane Hospital and was diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis. This disease, in short, causes an overproduction of mast cells in your body and they attack various systems . Don's attacked his liver. He lost alot of weight, over a hundred pounds. He went thru several courses of chemotherapy,but maintained his sense of humor about it and we believed him to be doing better. Not cured, but certainly on his way. He went back to work and we began to talk of what plans we wanted to make for our lives again. We had a pleasant Thanksgiving and then Christmas with our families, but he was beginning to do poorly at Christmas.  Don was admitted to the hospital in New Orleans on Tuesday, December 30,2008 and on Friday January 2, 2009 the doctors told us he was dying. Simply put, his liver was failing and it could be weeks, it could be months, but it certainly would not be years. No one told us, however, that it would be days. Donald Wayne Burge, Jr left this earth on Sunday, January 4, 2009, one day short of two years since our first date. He passed away peacefully surrounded by his family and friends. His final I love you was to his mother, and I am okay with that. He had told me earlier that he loved me and that he did not want to leave me and Sweetpea. Before he took his final breath, he reached his hand upwards and outwards and his eyes were focused somewhere in that same direction. Now others can believe as they will, but I truly believe that God sends someone to bring us to him. Someone to guide our way and to make certain that we have no fear. And my husband showed no fear in those  last moments. I feel that he was reaching for the hand leading him to heaven. And we will meet again there one day.  I had only two years with this man, but those two years taught me that there are good men in this world. I had for two years with a man who loved me, a man who thought I was the most beautiful woman on this earth and told me so often, a man who loved my child as if she were his own and embraced my family and friends and included me in his. And for that I must thank God and be grateful. When Don asked me to marry him and all those crazy thoughts flitted thru my head, I have to admit not one of those thoughts was that I would be burying my husband just 7 months after our wedding, but there I was just a week ago at the funeral home in Poplarville, MS. Hard as it is to believe as I sit here at 2 am on Wed morning,we buried him a week ago today. Life goes on, but I have to ask myself "will anything ever be the same again without him?" and those who knew him will appreciate the sentiment when I answer myself- "I don't think so, scooter!" And Mr. Burge, because I know you can hear me, I won't say goodbye- just goodnight,and I have my own set of "whens".

- JANUARY 4, 2010

There was a great white elephant in the room with me today... or rather on the phone with me, I should say. I got about a half dozen calls today, all from people I dearly love and who I know love me. All of my callers wanted to inquire after how I was feeling, how I was coping TODAY... but not one of my dear friends wanted to be the one to acknowledge the significance of the date. So just to knock the elephant on its ass!, I will acknowledge it! Today, January 4th of 2010, is the one year anniversary of Don's death. There! It's out there and YES I have been aware of the date ALL day and YES I am okay! Well...sort of...as okay as I've been for the past year anyway. As I told my in-laws, I've kinda chosen NOT to acknowledge today. Today did not have a reflection of anything positive for me. To recollect today would have made it a reaaaalllly BAD DAY! For Don, today was a fabulous day. It marked the day he left all of the pain and misery he had here. Just imagine for the last year he has been HAPPY!!! No pain, no aggravation, no worries! No doctors, no treatments! He's had a birthday, a Christmas, an Easter...in HEAVEN! With GOD!!! So, I made a decision that, for myself, today would be an insignificant memory for me. I've decided to focus on better dates-tomorrow, for example, the anniversary of our first date, or January 18-Don's birthday,or our wedding anniversary in May. I want to remember the days we were happy together. Don't get me wrong, there were a few times today that I found my eyes "leaking". And I gave myself time to deal with those moments and "moved on" so to speak and kept myself busy and let the day go by. Now I know that may sound hardened, but I haven't forgotten, I will never forget. Don is the last person I think of at night and the first person I think of when I open my eyes each morning. He is with me throughout each day. I still wake up each morning and feel the need to kiss him good morning. I still find myself reaching for the Blue Plate mayonnaise at the grocery store even though I personally cannot tell the difference between it and Kraft ( I know-blasphemy!! LOL).When I am at church on Sunday mornings, I find myself laughing when the songs are displayed on the big screens at the front of the church and hearing him say "Karaoke at the Baptist church. Wonder if they're offering two for one well drinks?" When I see a beautiful sunset I want to sit on the porch and have him hold my hand and ask me "can we do this forever?". And when I talk to his Mama each night and hear all the stories she tells me about his childhood, I want to tease him about it. When something or someone aggravates me, I still find myself saying I have got to tell Don about this! He will calm me down and cajole me out of my bad mood and then make a joke about it to make it all better. And every couple of days I have to call his cell phone just so I can hear his voice telling me he's not available right now. So, as I said he's never far from my thoughts, but its been a year and little by little we are all getting by. We're slowly learning to live and cope with each day as it comes. We're learning that we have to continue on and live each day. And when I have those moments that my eyes just won't quit "leaking" I remind myself that I'm not crying for Don...as cliche as it may be he really is in a much better place than we are. No at those  moments, I have to remind myself that I am crying for me, and his parents, and Taylor, and all of our family and friends. All of us who miss him. So yes, my friends, its been a very long, very difficult day, and year, but I hope you will not place so much significance on today- the day Don left us-but on all the other days that he brought us all so much joy and place  focus instead on all the memories he left us! I love you all and thank you for thinking of me today!   

How my holiday season is going...if you can't tell from the bald spots!

 

 I want to write a quick entry today and link up to SS and IA's TTUT (because I lurve their meme's), but this post is bound to be as chaotic as my life is right now so I'm just going to apologise in advance for the psychobabble I'm going to throw out here.  Lucky for me... THEY have NO RULES! :)  It's been a crazy season here with work, Sweetpea's school stuff (again SENIOR YEAR people), and all the general calamities December brings.  I'm having to remind myself continuously of the REASON FOR THE SEASON!  It's just it's such a crazy time. On that note,11 Shopping days...ELEVEN! That's all I have left.  I hate last minute things, yet here I am.  Christmas is upon us and I have only half the house decorated and still only 5 presents bought. SERIOUSLY!!!  Wait, no make that four... Sweetpea had a funeral to sing at with her Madrigal's choir on Sunday and she didn't want to wear heels, so I caved and gave her the cute black boots I had bought her for Christmas.  (So sad, one of her favorite teachers passed away last week of ovarian cancer, only 32 years old). 
   So far I have the tree up and the living room decorated, I finished the dining room last night, I did only a few small touches in the kitchen.  The Sweetest Guy in the World hung some of the outside lights on the porch last night and put up that tree, he says he has only about 10 more 150 light strands to do-he thinks his last name is Griswald apparently.  So on my to-do list:

1. Make the front door wreath.

2. Make the two wreaths and decorate the garland for the porch.

3. Add the final touches to the wreaths for the bedrooms and the office door.

4. Finish the Christmas shopping.

5. Wrap presents-(how tacky would it be to give everyone but TSGITW and Sweetpea gift cards?)

6. Make the hors d'oeuvres for the Christmas parties on Wed and Fri nights of this week- Also pick up the hostess gifts for these parties...oops!

7. Get started on the Christmas candy making.

All over blogland I keep seeing all of these beautifully decorated spaces, craft projects, awesomely wrapped gifts, and yummy candies and snacks- I have one question...HOW IN THE HELL do ya'll do it all?  I can barely keep up with the few things I'm doing for Christmas this year and still manage to work and keep up with my family!  My list is actually pretty short, comparitively. Oh I'm sure I have lots of other things to add to that list, but quite frankly, I'm boring myself and I hate hearing myself whine.

   On the plus side, I have had alot more fun this holiday season than I have in the past when I thought everything had to be PERFECT!!!  I've made more homemade peppermint cocoa and sat drinking it with the ones I love.  I've seen my Saints win a few times on lazy Sundays.  I've spent more time with my mama.  I got to see my sweet girl and her friends perform in their Madrigal Feast (think Medevial Times, only seasonal, funny, and on a slightly less grand scale). My house may only be half-decorated and the dining room floor may look like Christmas threw up on it until these last projects are completed, but at least the majority of my stress has stayed confined at work.  I wonder if it will be worth it when I'm killing mself to get things ready in my few days off before the BIG DAY?  I'm thinking yes!
   We leave on the 21st to head to Birmingham for an early Christmas with TSGINTW's family.  We'll be back for Christmas Eve dinner with my mom and my lil sis and her hubby, Midnight Mass, then Christmas day with just us, my sweet Mama and Sweetpea, then the day after with my late husband's family, and working in a vivsit with the bestie and her sweetie (who just so happens to be TSGITW's bf).  I love Christmas, I just hate feeling unprepared.  Again, I need to remind myself that this season is about the birth of Christ and family...not all the other stuff that I seem to keep focusing on.
   I'm gearing up for the New Year in the midst of all this chaos.  I don't make resolutions, but I do try to set personal goals to be accomplished within the coming year.  I hope to share those soon. 
    I'm gonna leave you with a few pics from Sweetpea's Madrigal Feast ...my sweet girl works hard on this performance all year.  This is her last Madrigal dinner :( tear! 

SORRY, ya'll...got ready to add the pics and realized these are the only two I have on my puter at work.  Oh well, just like Christmas this year, I'm slacking. Thanks for listening to my crazy rambling, Merry Christmas ya'll.  Just remember :
The spirit of Christmas is not in the presents, but in HIS presence!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING...and I am so not ready!

CRIMINY!!! It's already been 2 weeks since I've posted. I'll say it again, a sad and sorry blogger I am making!  Thanksgiving has come and gone...fabulous and tiring though it was.  We had lots of guests for the holiday and if I WERE a good blogger I would have photos to show you of all my beautiful decor and table settings...but alas, I SUCK!!! I think my sweet Honey's mom or sister in law took a few pics for posterity, but I don't have any!  Oh well... we had a great holiday with LOTS of yummy food  (including a 22lb turkey TSGITW thought we needed).  I don't care if I never SEE another piece of turkey, but unfortunately we still have some in the freezer. That man is gonna make turkey soup. SIGH! After enjoying the holiday and our guests, we cleaned the house back to a recognizable state Thanksgiving night and at 1:30 am I set out to stand in line for a little Black Friday fun.  And I did have fun, but I am so particular that even after staying out til 5 am I only have 5 presents purchased.  No, that was not a typo on my part. I said 5 (five). That's it!  I so have to get my butt in gear. 5 presents and the decorating hasn't really even begun!  I am so far behind...so far I have the dining room about half done and that's all. Nothing else!  I feel like a scrooge. It's not that I don't love Christmas, I DO!!! I am just really busy and tired when I get home and I need a free weekend to get things done, but so far, no such luck. Okay, I will stop with the whining and go off to bed so I can begin again in the morning. Hope your holiday was blessed and hopefully I'll be back sooner this time! :) JENN

I am a sad, sorry blogger!

   Wow! I haven't blogged, or even logged into my blog, since April! I know, sad, pathetic, shows a real lack of motivation...right? Well, that's probably how it looks anyway. Let me see if I can do a quick catchup...bahahahhahaha! Quick...riiiiggghhhhht! I'm Southern ya'll, so grab a glass of tea, sit back and relax, this could take a while.  We Southern girls can get long-winded. I had just (barely) started blogging and life just took over.
   My job went nuts, to begin with.  I work for a Safety training and consulting company, that's fancy speak for a company that trains and drug tests construction workers, ya'll.  Yeah, I know, glamorous... right?  Anyway, we were a relatively new company, but owned by a gentleman with a big name in that industry so when the business took off, it went 90 to nothing!
   The Sweetest Guy in the World and I decided to combine our households, so we set off on an apartment/house search (apartment won by the way...due to the fact that we are staying in my hometown for only a year and then moving to his...we figured an apartment would be a MUCH easier short-term arrangement).  We started the moving process June 1 by moving Sweetpea and I out of our former digs and into the current place and then moved onto his place. NOT as easy as it sounds folks! We are talking THREE (3) WEEKS of moving...yeah FUUUUNNN!!! NOT!  We had 2 FULL households! Two of everything! From livingroom and bedroom furniture, to pots and pans (we kept his because he has a fetish for expensive cookery and his was way nicer than mine lol!), to toilet brushes! And then there was the cleaning of the old apartments, the painting of the new one(what, surely you didn't think I could live with ALL beige walls for a full year!)-just a bit though...2 accent walls and of course the spoiled one had to have her room painted entirely!
   Let's see, then there was the getting ready for school...It's Sweetpea's Senior Year! Then school itself, Friday football (SPs in Guard), Saturday football (USA JAGS-college ball), Sunday football (SAINTS!) and all the usual school stuff X ten! Hellooooo??? Let me say it again...SENIOR YEAR! AAAARRRGGGGGHHH!Now let's add in the fact that my dear sweet Mama had a total knee! And spent several months unable to do much for herself or even drive...so I helped her out with grocery shopping, bill paying, laundry...all the everyday, mundane stuff we all take for granted being able to do...and WHEW! I was one tired chick!
    So, I've really missed blogging and am ready to take it back up and enjoy the fun again. Hopefully, I can get my 2 followers back, lol. I'm gonna leave off with a few pics of our new home and whatnot in completely random order to really catch you up!  I'm so glad to be back!-  JENN

We really like holidays!

 Around here, Homecoming means Junior/Senior war with tping houses...so glad I live in apartment. Here's Sweetpea and friends off to mess up some poor Junior yards-as payback, of course, for cars that got the tp treatment!

 A shot of SP's room (while in progress...will take some new pics and show you how really cute it is)!

 Some random "rock-bandin" the night away!

 SAINTS BABY!!!!

 SP and her Dad on Senior night for the athlete's!

  

It's Friday! That means it's confessial time ya'll!

I CONFESS...

that I haven't blogged since last Friday's confessional.  I know, I suck, but I've been crazy busy!  I had the best Easter weekend with TSGITW, his family, Sweetpea, and my own darling Mama!  I'll try not to bore you with tooooooo many details... I'll just say that there was shopping, wonderful seafood (I went to Huck's for fried crawfish TWICE last weekend), a birthday party and cookout, midnight egg-dying, Easter baskets, a spectacular performance by Sweetpea at our church's Easter service and a very relaxing Sunday... followed by a week of actual work at my job.

I CONFESS...

that I have caught up on work and am now blogging from my desk at work, because I forgot to pay my home internet and,well...still haven't gottten around to doing so.

I CONFESS...
that I only took a half dozen pictures this past weekend and they were all of the midnight egg-dying.

Sweetpea looks adorable, as always, TSGITW and I just look tired...ah youth!

I CONFESS...
that I'm being a bad Mama this weekend and leaving Sweetpea with my Mama to head to New Orleans with TSGITW for his birthday. In my defense, she's a teenager and it's just not as much fun to hang out with your Mama when you're sixteen, so other than the fact that she's ticked at being excluded from a trip to The Big Easy...she's good with it.

I CONFESS...
that I'm boring. Yep, that's all I got for this week. Hopefully I'll get up to some debauchery in New Orleans and have more to share next week. You just never can tell! ;)
Ya'll have a fun weekend!

JENN

Okay, Okay....I CONFESS!!!!!

Okay...having some Mamarazzi fun....Friday Confessional!

I confess...

that I need some  help here...I'm still not sure if I'm doing this whole link thing right, but it's so darn much fun that I had to try anyway.

I confess...

that I am writing this in a towel at TSGITW's computer and that I tried to hack his password before calling him at work to ask for it. I mean, REAAALLLLYYY??, why, oh why is his home computer password protected anyway when he is the only one who lives here (and with a totally random password that I couldn't remember if I tried)...oh well guess that's just one of those computer genius things huh?

I confess...

that after TSGITW left for work this morning, my OCD side came out and I cleaned his kitchen, took out the trash and started a couple of loads of laundry.  I couldn't help myself... his house is usually so neat and put together, but he's been terribly busy at work and sooooooo....well, you know.

I confess...

that my reasons for cleaning his house up a bit weren't totally selfless. I did it partly because it was bugging  me and partly for the gratification from him that I know it will bring. What can I say, I should have been born in the 50's...I'm a stay at home and take care of my family type of girl.  I work due to circumstance, not because I'm a "modern woman" and I like it. I like doing things for my honey and seeing and hearing his appreciation and wonderment.

I confess...

that I am feeling like a totally crappy mother right now. For the first time in Sweetpea's 16 years, it is Good Friday and I haven't done a darn thing for Easter yet. Well, that's not totally true...I did take her to the mall last Saturday and buy her a new dress to wear Sunday ( I have to brag a bit...she's singing the Easter offeratory...I love to hear my baby sing...she's got real talent ya'll). But, I have done nothing, nada, zip, zilch about an Easter basket.  Even though she says she's too old for an Easter basket, ya know she still NEEDS one so I gotta get off my bum and get something done. I am just so not in the mood this year, but I better figure it out or I'm so gonna lose my "Martha Stewart of MS" title, lol

I confess...

 that instead of doing the afore mentioned Easter shopping (and the grocery shopping and the birthday gift shopping for the party for TSGITW's dad and nephew's bday party tomorrow) last night after work I instead hightailed it to AL to spend the evening going out to dinner and for drinks and karaoke with TSGITW, JO, and her darling bf.  I couldn't help it ya'll, Sweetpea was spending the night with a friend and I wanted to see my honey and my bestie. But oh, the guilt!!!

I confess...

that I feel so much better now! Confession really is good for the soul! Happy Easter to my bloggy pals! Hope ya'll have a great weekend!

MUAH!

JENN  

PS....Oh and btw, I confess...

 that I am doing a total no-no and just linking up now and reading and commenting on other confessions later (cause I'm way behind and in a hurry to get my errands done so I can pick up Sweetpea on time), but I promise I will be a good blogger and do it from my blackberry while I'm in line (cause ya know the lines will be long shopping on Good Friday) at the stores. But, Mamarazzi, if you're reading this I really appreciate the fun and I WILL be a good bloggy friend :). 

We Want to Know Wednesday!!!....my first link party...yay me!

FRIENDSHIP

   Okay...so this is my first attempt at a "link party" post...so excited! But first, a great big shout out of THANKS YA'LL!!! to Impulsive Addict and Mamarazzi. They are so sweet and I have already received comments back from both of them after commenting on their blogs. They even helped me to get my email set up to my blog! So, again, THANKS!!!

   My blog today is posted in the color PURPLE because today's theme for WWTK is friendship and my bestie loves purple!!!

   The QUESTIONS (and my answers, of course):



  

{1} Do you make friends easily?
     Um...typically, I would say no...I make acquaintance-type friends quite easily, true friends (you know, the ones that grab hold of your heart and won't let go?) I have a few and I have known them forever. I am one of those love -to -make -new- friends type of people, however. it just takes me a little time to get to that "you are my friend and I trust you implicitly" stage!
{2} What 3 qualities are a MUST in a friend?

     A. HONESTY!!!! Lies will ruin a friendship! BIG lies (ie: "I wasn't kissing your boyfriend, I was telling his lips a secret...so I had to get really close."), little lies (ie: "No, you look great in a bikini...you should totally buy that."...to hear later at the pool..."Wow, check out the fat chick in a bikini"...yeah, not so much loving you then) ALL LIES STINK!!!

   B. SUPPORT!!!

"Friends are like bras: close to your heart and there for support"...so true. The best friends in life are the ones that you may go long periods of time without talking to (you know, life happens and you drift away) but when you do reconnect it's like you've never been apart.One of those is my dear friend J1 (had to give her a # cuz there's a J2- btw the #'s represent only the order in which I met these 2...so you two if you read this quit speculating!!) Anyway... I've had some serious crap in my life over the past few years. Back in 2009, I lost my husband (D) to a rare form of cancer. J1 and I have been friends since we were 7 years old, but due to life we would lose touch, reconnect, lose touch again, yadayadayada...at this point in our lives, we had physically "seen" one another exactly ONCE in 17 years...but she supported me through this crisis 100%...even driving from TX to attend the funeral! ( I also had major support from J2 and S as well!)

  C.  HUMOR! I must have laughter in my life...I love the fact that my friends can say some random something and have me literally laughing out loud! Sometimes, I will think back on a convo I had days before with one of them and find myself giggling! I try to do this quietly or else I get strange looks from the people who aren't in on the joke. Plus, they must "humor" me and sometimes that probably puts a strain on my friendships.
{3} What makes YOU a good friend?
     Wow! That's a hard one...I guess the fact that I truly love and care about my friends makes me a good friend. Each of my close friends is family to me. I try to be a good friend and be there for them when they need me, even if all I can do is give them my undivided attention and listen to their woes.
{4} Have you ever met a bloggy friend in real life? Yes? Tell us about the meet up. No? Who would you love to meet?
     Nope...I'm new to "blog-world" so I haven't really gotten to know anyone yet, but based on the blogs I've perused (stalked :) ) and the people I've "talked" to thru e-mail...I'd have to go with Impulsive Addict...she's so sweet and helpful and besides, she looks like she's having so much fun in her pics I want to grab my bestie and head over her way for drinks!
{5} Who is your best friend? Tell us about them.
     Okay, now I know this is a long post and you're bored, but this girl is the BOMB so please read on! J2 (henceforth referred to as JO) has been my bestie for 23 years now. JO and I have been inseperable during this time (well except for that year during/after high school when we refused to speak to one another, but I don't like to think about that time in my life without her...it's just sad...not to mention STUPID since to this day neither of can remember WHY we quit speaking, lol). We have been thru high school (with stupid snotty people we didn't like or who didn't like us because we were snotty, but NEVER stupid), the births of our children, losing husbands ( thru divorce or death)," men that need killin", raising teenagers (okay, still going thru that one), and numerous bottles of wine (to make it thru all of the afore-mentioned things. She is a much better friend than I am, yet she still keeps me around. She not only helped plan my wedding (when I decided not to have a big wedding and instead to plan a wedding with 30 to 40 guests at a friend's home in 2 weeks), she spent 6 hours decorating for it and then showered and dressed in 20 minutes before helping me get ready.  JO was my staunch supporter while my husband was ill, during his death and afterward. This girl took almost A MONTH off of work during his last days and following his death. She drove from her home in FL to MS to Tulane Hospital in New Orleans, LA over and over and over. She took care of my daughter, she brought my Mama to the hospital, she did things for me and D that most members of my family wouldn't do. She literally stayed by my side throughout the entire process. She listened to me cry, withstood my rants and general bitchiness, and even chewed me out and gave "tough love" when I needed it! JO is my daughter's favorite "aunty" and spoils her rotten (I mean how many 16-year olds get Mikimoto pearls and the matching earrings for Christmas...and from a non-blood relation no less?). And to top it all off, she introduced me to "The Sweetest Guy in the World"!!! for which I will be ever grateful.(don't get me wrong, she's not totally selfless...she's demanding recommpence from TSGITW for introducing him to ME -all she wants is a little ole pair of Christian Louboutins) ( and btw JO I am working on him...don't worry, one day you'll get your Louboutins). All in all, she is the very best friend a girl could hope for and she's mine....she's the sister of my heart and I love her!

GOD made us friends because HE knew no Mom could handle us as sisters!