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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Hard-Workin" or "Hardly Workin" in Life

My last day in Hot Springs with my little sister was one 'hard-workin' day!  We got so many things done and I felt really productive, BUT my arms and hands are so sore I'm a little regretful.  :(

Our goal was to decorate her front porch for fall.  She runs her business out of her home and so every year she really does a lot of decorating in order to make everything look festive.  People love that!

  As you can see, that part was super easy and a lot of fun to do.  I think it all really looked good by the time we were done.  Next, my little sister gets it in her head that all the shrubs lining her driveway and porch need some trimming down.  She goes in and gets two pair of clippers and we go to work just trimming the really tall pieces so that everything will look even.  Her neighbor comes out to admire what we've done and sees we are trimming.  He then offers to lend us his electric hedge trimmer.  We both jump to that offer because it would be so much faster, right? WRONG!  With electric hedge trimmers the only thing you can really do is massive trimming.  Just getting the real tall pieces goes straight out the window and I'm now shaping all her bushes to match one another.  Needless to say, three hours later my arms and hands are hurting so bad that I can hardly hold my water bottle but all the bushes lining her driveway and porch are all very neatly trimmed and uniform looking! 

They aren't the greatest shrubs in the world but considering she doesn't do any kind of landscaping they look like that all on their own... and because of me and my mad hedge trimming skills! :)

Now at home, and back at work, I'm getting a little bit of the 'hardly workin' syndrome.  It's just so beautiful outside that that's all I want to do.  I just want to be lazy and play all day long instead of being couped up in my office on this computer actually working!  Sigh...... oh well.... we got to pay the bills somehow, right?

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Beginning of Fall Life

I couldn't be in a happier mood!  Aside from being a little under the weather  with a kidney infection (BOOOOOO!!!!!!) I have been feeling so great because Fall is finally here.  This is my favorite time of year and I'm so excited about our first Fall in our apartment.  Lil Man and I have got little pumpkins to set in the big windowsill in our living room and I even got a cute little door hanger for our front door that has pumpkins on it and welcomes Autumn.

I'm spending another weekend in Hot Springs with my little sister and we are having a blast, as usual!  Friday night was a birthday celebration for a very close friend of mine and of course we all got a little drunk and a little crazy.  But if you can't get a little crazy for a dear friend's birthday... when can you??  Saturday morning begins about 11:30 to my mother calling me and harassing us for still being in bed.  Thanks Mom!  We get up, and because it is positively beautiful outside we decide we want to rent some bikes for the day and bike around downtown and possibly some trails.  Now this is where the biggest dilemma of our day happens.  There is not one place in the great city of Hot Springs, which by the way, is the only city within a National Park in Arkansas, to rent bikes.  You would think there would be a place or two that would offer some sort of bike rental to tourists because the downtown area and the National Park scenic trails are all so close together.  But there isn't..... so, we then start looking for garage sales or flea markets that might sell used bikes for really cheap.  That was a bummer, the only ones we could find were antiques and the dude wanted like $100 for it.  It is now like 2:00 in the afternoon and we are really wanting to be on some trails!  The only other option is to go buy some new bikes for ourselves.  We have both talked about this many times before but just didn't have the extra money to make it happen.  To sum everything up, we ended up buying a pair of Schwinn Avenue bikes that are absolutely beautiful and a blast to ride.  After loading them up and heading back to the house we rode all the way downtown and then a few miles out of town looking for a trail.  It was so much fun, but because neither of us is a regular on a bike our legs and butts are a little sore today.  :)

Today is going to be spent decorating her front porch for the fall season and then doing some more riding around this beautiful city.      

Monday, September 19, 2011

Happy Things from Last Week Life

His Daddy is already thinking he'll be a daredevil so protection is already owned!  This is a friend's motorcycle helmet.

My little sister's precious babies before aliens invaded.

My little sister's precious babies after aliens invaded!  (My camera totally did this all on its own, I have not edited this picture in any way!  They are both just looking directly at me in a crazy angle I guess!)

Mommy is preparing Lil Man in a much more productive and wholesome way, he now knows how to crack eggs in the skillet and then stir them to make scrambled eggs. 

He cooked dinner for me ;)

Fall is almost here and this is my favorite time of year.  I love the smells and the colors and so my secretary has brought in candles and flowers that set that kind of mood around the office.

Absolutely perfect for a rainy 65 degree day in September!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Beautiful Flowers in Life

These are the flowers that my secretary brought to work this morning.  She says that her roses must love the colder weather we have been having and I agree because they are absolutely gorgeous! 




Friday, September 9, 2011

Out of Town for the Weekend Life

This week has been the best!  It was a short week because of the Monday Holiday and then I took off from the restaurant all weekend so I could drive to Hot Springs and visit my sister.  I love the Friday afternoons leading up to a weekend out of town because the anticipation is ever so sweet!

Hot Springs is one of my favorite places in Arkansas.  I've lived here for half of my life and I've traveled almost all over the state for different reasons, but Hot springs is the place where the most history is and the most to do in one place.  I could spend all day just walking around downtown, or driving through the historic district marvelling at all the old mansion style houses.

My weekend is going to be great!  I hope all of yous is too!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Loss in Life


I am sad tonight.  I have had a fantastic weekend hanging out with friends and enjoying life, but this afternoon I got home from work to discover through an old friend on Facebook that someone I know of was killed last night in a car crash.  This person went to the same high school as me, grew up in the same community as me, probably has some mutual friends with me, and, according to my father, even has some of the same distant relatives as me.  Although I cannot say I have ever spoken to this person, or been properly introduced to this person.... The knowledge that he is gone from this earth forever and has left behind maybe a girlfriend, his parents, his older sister, and many other relatives and important people makes my heart ache. 

I have never lost a close family member.  I have only had to deal with death through losing a very dear friend.  That was devastating enough for me.  I cannot fathom losing an immediate family member.  The pain, the loss, the sadness,...... my brain cannot comprehend this.  I know I will be faced with this one day, but in the meantime I pray that by the time I have to, I am a much stronger person. 

On November 24 it will be two years since I lost my dear friend.  She was three years older than me and we met because my ex husband and her husband worked together.  From the very first times we hung out together I knew she was a very honest and sweet person and we just clicked.  She was born with Cystic Fibrosis and almost all her life had dealt with the medical shortcomings of dealing with this disease.  She would have good days and bad days, but overall she had learned to live with it very well.  I got pregnant the summer of 2007 and she got pregnant in August 2007.  We had our babies 6 weeks apart.  This was pretty cool and a lot of fun.  We became even closer through our shared experience.  Her pregnancy did not go as well as mine and she had her little boy about 4 weeks early because of her condition.  As best as I remember, pretty much immediately after having her baby the end of April she got sick and all summer long, no matter what the doctors did, she couldn't get well again.  She wasn't able to be the kind of mother she had always dreamed of being and had to have almost constant help with the baby because she was so sick.  By November she had been hospitalized numerous times but her body was giving up.  The night her husband checked her into the hospital for the last time her pulse/oxygen level was so low the doctors were surprised that she was still conscious when the got there.  They immediately hooked her up to a ventilator and her heart stopped beating 5 days later.  Her baby was exactly 6 months old when she died. 

This is the most tragic death experience I have had in my lifetime.  I know that it pales in comparison to the average person's experiences, but it is still pain.  It is still loss.

My prayers and thoughts go out to the family that I know of in this time of great sadness.  I wish there were more I could to do to ease the pain I know they must be feelings right now.

Not my most favorite picture of my big, pregnant belly..... but one of my most treasured because the girl in the background is her.  This is the only picture I personally have of her.