Bob White, Canoes, and Missing Keys!

     Greetings everyone!  It has been so long since I have been on here that I had forgotten my password.  Alas, here I am today with a tale of humor and woe!
     Tuesday evening, June 21, 2011 started innocently enough.  Around 6:40 I headed out to meet the awesome Laura G-Money Gulledge at the movies to see Bridesmaids.  I decided to drive my mom's car, being it is much nicer than mine, she is in Oklahoma and left the keys to it!  I should have known the evening was going to be interesting after Laura managed to check us in to the Bob White Motel on her Iphone instead of Playhouse Cinemas!  (people that know about Alex City, understand the Bob White Motel).  This little error set Facebook aflutter with people trying to figure out what was going, all the while we were laughing hysterically about the mix up!
     After the movie is when the real trouble began.  I pulled in the driveway at home and went to my purse to get my keys to unlock the door.  Uh oh....no house keys.  I thought no big deal I will just go through the fence gate and to the screen porch to get the key hidden to that door.  OOOPS!  I forgot there is a pad lock on the gate so the dog can't get out!  What to do What to do?  Well it becomes fairly obvious that this big girl is going to have to find a way over the fence.  First I try to climb it and quickly realize there is no way I'm going to be able to that without breaking the fence or myself.  I then set off on a journey to find something to stand on to make it easier.  Score, 2 concrete blocks!  I carry them to the gate, stack them up and climb on....but still not quite tall enough.  Then it hits me....the canoe!  My dad keeps his canoe on a rack right next to the fence.  If it is close enough, I realize I can climb up and slide over into the backyard.  Thank goodness it was.  So, I move my blocks down to the canoe and restack them.  I stepped up on them and managed to roll and I mean roll onto the canoe.  This might be a good time in the story to state that it was raining during all of this.  It was not a hard rain, but rain none the less.  I get situatated on the canoe and begin my "slow slide" into the backyard, carefull not rip my pants.  (the pants survived in one piece but were filthy)  The sweet dog was barking at me the entire time, as if she was asking "What the hell are you doing dumb ass!?"  Ahhh victory....I'm in the backyard!  I proceed to the screen porch and the hiding place of the key!  Enter in possible profain word here....the key was not there.  So now am I not only locked out of the house...I'm stuck in the backyard as there is nothing for me to climb on to get back out.  To add insult to injury it dawns on me that I was the one that did not put the key back!  All I can say is thank goodness for friends that are locksmiths and always having my phone with me!  The locksmith came, jumped the fence and got me right in the house in less than 5 minutes.  It took me longer than that to get over the stupid fence!
     So what is the moral of this story.....1. Don't let g-money check you into the Bob White it only leads to more trouble later.  2. If you drive your own car instead of mom's you'll always have the keys you need!   3.  In a pinch a canoe can be used to get over a fence and 4.  Always put the damn hidden key back!

Memories and Dreams

     Well here I am with another post in less than a week.  Shocking I know, but I just had something I wanted to share.
     The last few days my sweet grandmother has been on my mind.  Understand that not a day has gone by since her death that I don't think of her and miss her, it has just been so much stronger the last few days.  Maybe it is because it is spring and she loved planting flowers and piddling in her yard.  It also could be we are coming to Easter one of her most favorite times of the year. But, for whatever reason she has been right there on my mind.  The other night I was putting something away in the refridgerator, when my eye caught her picture hanging on it.  It is a picture from her 90th birthday party and she is smiling that smile that only she could.  It was a smile that could light up any room.  A smile that exuded love and joy.  As I saw it I began to cry.  Oh how I miss that smile.
     Last night I was baking a whipping cream pound cake for a very good friend whose grandmother passed away.  Now this is not just any pound cake, this is my grandmother's pound cake and let me tell you, I make it just like she taught me.  Last night while I was baking, I was overcome with her presence.  I could hear her telling me each step and fussing if I put too much flour in at one time. I could hear her reminding me that you put the eggs in one at the time and never break them directly into the bowl.  What a feeling of sadness, yet overwhelming joy.  I realize that her spirit is always with me, guiding me through the good times and bad times and yes the cake baking times!!
     For the last week I have wanted my grandmother to come to me in my dreams just so I could see her and last night she did.  It was only for a split second but she was there.  During this Easter Season, that she treasured so much, I am reminded that while her body is no longer walking on Earth, her Spirit is with her Heavenly Father and all around me.  It is because of Easter that I will be reunited with her one day.  Until them, I will keep baking her cakes and remembering that smile!   Until next time.....

Counting my Many Blessings!

     So I have spent the last few days throwing a pity party for myself.  We all do it from time to time, but this one has been way worse than it needed to be.  It is like this, I was scheduled to leave on a fabulous trip to the beach with some fabulous friends.  Unfortunately, I started punching the numbers and realized it was not going to be possible.  So I did what I do best, I pouted....more like sobbed.  I tried to blame my lack of sleep from the night before and my case of PMS that is going on...but basically I was just pissed.  I get so frustrated sometimes that I have always done what was expected of me, earned things not been handed them and tried to be a good person.  (Yes I've failed at that last one from time to time, but haven't we all)
To top off my pity party, as I was leaving work yesterday I realized I didn't have enough gas to get home and a negative balance in the bank so I was unable to purchase needed gas.  I called my mom in hysterics.  I finally found another one of my fabulous friends that came to my aid and I got home. 
      When my "Saintly" friend Carol arrived to rescue me at the gas station it was then I realized just how blessed I really am.  So what if I can't go to the beach.  Look at all the things that I am fortunate to have, food to eat, a roof over my head, a family that loves me and helps me when I'm in need, friends that are there to pick me up when I am down and even bring a little gas money and most importantly a God that loves me unconditionly and helps me see the things that truly matter.  Don't mourn what you do not have, Thank Him for what you do have!  God Bless

----until next time

How did that get there?

Ok, so the blog police (Tammy Wendling)  have been after me because I have not posted in a while.  I must say this blogging is harder than I thought.  At first I was all gung-ho and thought this would be so simple.  Well apparently I have learned my lesson.  Coming up with appropriate topics that I think you, my few readers, would enjoy is not all that easy.  Over the last few weeks I have started several and then scrapped them.  I don’t know if I just have too much going on in my mind or more likely not enough going on in my mind?  Either way, here I am writing for you today.

One thing I have had a problem with my entire life is getting up in the morning.  I just don’t like it.  I have never been one of those people that can pop right out of bed and be ready to go.  I have to trudge through getting ready and off to work.  Sometimes, even the first hour of work I seem to be on auto pilot.  Never before has this been so apparent as it was this morning.

I was sitting at my desk scanning away when my cell phone rang with a call from my mom.  I had an immediate oh no thought, as it is out of the ordinary for my mom to call me during the day unless something is wrong.  I answered and she immediately said, “I have a question for you?”  “What are your night shirt and underwear doing in my purse?”

To say I was dumb founded by this question is an understatement.  I mean really, there can be no good explanation when you yourself do not know why they are there.  So after a stutter of I don’t know, I just burst into laughter.  This is where the trudging though the morning gets to be a problem, we do random things then don’t remember doing them.  My only explanation is, I picked them up in the bathroom to take to my room on my way out the door, but stopped in the kitchen to fix my lunch.  I must have laid them down, not realizing where, and left without retrieving them.  Why I laid them in the purse I don’t know.  The only time I ever put anything in mom’s purse is if I need to her to drop a check off somewhere for me or to mail something.  (so if you get my night shirt in the mail, sorry about that!)  Thank goodness for an awesome mom that calls and asks why and to see if something needed to be done with them.

I guess the moral of this story is don’t trudge through life on auto pilot…you don’t know what you are missing.  If we go through life not paying attention to the world around us and what we are doing, we run the risk of either doing something stupid like I did or missing something great.  Pay attention to what you are doing not just in your daily routine, but in everything you do.  Don’t leave your night shirt somewhere it doesn’t belong!

17 Again

         17 Again, yes that is the title of a Zac Efron movie that came out a year or so ago.  This movie was definitely not what I thought it was going to be.  It was marketed as a teeny-bopper movie with Mr. High School Musical in the lead role.  However, I found this movie to be so much more.  It was actually more for an older generation.

            For those not familiar with the movie it deals with a man in his 40s whose marriage is headed for divorce, he hates his job and his kids hate him.  He is lost.  A guardian angel appears and asks him if he could go back and change it all would he want to and he of course says yes.  Poof, he is 17 again, but living in the same time as his kids.  What he finds is that he really did make the right decision by marrying his high school sweetheart when she found out she was pregnant and he desperately wants to get back to his normal life and save it.

            I have thought a lot about this concept the last couple of years, especially after losing my job.  If I could go back would I make the same choices?  If I had chosen differently would I be better off?  The truth is, I’ll never know.  I must play the hand I was dealt, better yet the hand that I drew.  Our life is a series of decisions and we must live with what each one of those decisions brings about. 

When I finished my college degree I could have very easily found a job and moved away from my family in Alexander City.  However, I chose to return home to be near my grandparents in their final years.  I know without a doubt that this was the right decision because it gave me precious time with two wonderful people.  I can’t go back and change that choice, nor would I want to change it.  I have figured out that I can’t live in the past, I have to look to the future and deal with what the present gives me.  There are dozens of other choices I could look back on and wonder if I made the right one, but really where would that get me now?

            Not long after I lost my job I read Elizabeth Edward’s book Resilience.  One of my favorite lines in the book states, “You can’t change the wind, but you can adjust your sails.”  Wow, why is it so hard for us to learn that lesson?  We absolutely cannot change what happens to us, but we can change ourselves to adjust to the changes that come about.  Remember, if you focus on what happened yesterday or worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, you miss what is in front of you today.  If we are all faithful and live life to the fullest, life can be an amazing journey.  Don’t miss it by looking backwards or wishing you could be “17 again and change it all!”  Until next time….

Where Were You?

Today, January 28, 2011, marks the 25^th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.  What a sad day for the United States Space program.  Millions of people sat glued to the television in eager anticipation of the lift-off, as this was no ordinary flight.  This flight carried the first non-astronaut, Christie McAuliff.  McAuliff, a teacher by trade, had won a contest to ride aboard the mission.  As her family, friends, peers, students and millions of us watched, the shuttled Challenger exploded into flames just after take-off.  Those of us that were alive and old enough to understand remember exactly where we were.  I was sitting in the common area with hundreds of other Kindergarten students at Jim Pearson.  We weren’t actually watching it that I remember, but I do remember teachers talking to each other and whispering.

            It is funny how when anything bad happens, what we were doing and where we were at that exact moment is engrained in our mind forever.  So many tragic events have struck our country and world over the years that at times it seems as though nothing good ever happens.  It is so important on days like today that we take pause and remember those who were lost in the pursuit of the great beyond, the pursuit of our freedom and the pursuit of their and all of our dreams.  We also must celebrate the joyous days and give thanks.  Something I always try to remind myself is to always praise and thank God, in the good and bad times.  For it is in the bad times that we learn just how special the good times really are.  Until next time….Elizabeth

A National Championship Straight from Heaven

Yes I dare say Auburn’s 2010 National Championship was sent from heaven.  Wait, before you ridicule me, let me explain myself.  I have a very good reason for believing this and it is not about thinking God is an Auburn fan!

               All my life I have bled orange and blue and that can be attributed to one special lady, my grandmother Frances Railey, better known to me as Bobo.  To say my Bobo was a tried and true Auburn fan is an understatement.  Nothing interfered with her cheering on her Tigers.  On Saturday she would dress in her colors and was ready to go!  Sometimes, she could even be found in church on Sunday after a big win in Auburn colors.  You learned very quickly that you did not talk about her Auburn Tigers in a negative fashion.

               After Auburn’s Overtime win in the 2010 Outback Bowl, we eagerly anticipated what Coach Chizik and the Tigers would have for us the next season.  We were excited for the season.  In the summer Bobo had a conversation with my brother (he cheers for that other team) and said, “You know, I think that Cam Newton is going to be something special.”  Boy was she right.  Unfortunately my grandmother did not live to celebrate the 2010 Season with me.  After 92 years and 1 month of blessing this earth she went to be with her Lord.  I will tell you, she did not go on her journey empty handed.  Just before they closed the casket for the last time, I slipped an Auburn shaker in her hand.  Believe me, Bobo wouldn’t have it any other way.

               As the months wore on after her death, I dreaded football season.  Who was I going to call when Auburn scored?  Who was I going to celebrate with when they beat the Tide?  For the first time in my 31 years, a small part of me dreaded the start of football season.  However, I knew that if I did not get up and support my Tigers 110 percent, I would be “haunted!”  The first game was the hardest.  I watched it at home alone, knowing I would likely be emotional and I was.  I had her lucky Auburn Angel Bear that says, “Bless My Tigers,” with me for the game and every game after that but one.  I held on to it for dear life during overtime against Clemson at Jordan-Hare.  I passed it around to strangers during the Arkansas game, letting them rub it for luck.  She held that bear every game so it was my duty to continue the tradition. 

I sweated through every close call, come from behind win, never losing faith in my Tigers.   That is until the first half of the Bama game.  I was so frustrated, as most Auburn fans were.  During halftime I took a walk in the woods to just think, not just about football but life.  While walking, my precious Grandmother spoke to me, saying “Elizabeth it is going to be ok, keep the faith.”  “We can do this.”  I returned to the house to watch the second half and most of you know what happened, Auburn 28 Bama 27.  Wow!  Believe me, I sobbed!  The next two games I never had a doubt.  I knew who was pulling the strings. 

Now yes my Grandmother loved her Auburn Tigers, but she loved God first.  She taught me to have faith in God, myself, my family and my friends.  If I keep the Faith, I can do it.  God Bless you Bobo, I will love you forever!  Elizabeth

PS: Thanks for the National Championship!

So I'm new to this blog thing!

Ok, so here I go or here I come!  I have decided to join the world of bloggers.  I feel I have lots to say and that the world will be better once I have said it!  Yeah, so that is a joke, I don't think quite so highly of myself.  I do, however, have stories to tell and thoughts to share and what better place to do it.  You can expect to read funny tales about my family (some living, some not), my personal thoughts on what is going on in the world around us, my thoughts on faith and politics and really whatever I feel like writing about.  After all, this is my blog!  Please remember on some topics (politics and faith) it is not my intention to offend or tell anyone they are wrong...just offer my take on it.  We are a diverse world with a diverse story and this is just my little corner of it.    With all this said, here we go!  I hope to have my first "real" post up this evening.  A preview for you, it will be entitled "A National Championship Sent from Heaven"  See ya later!