We'll Miss You

Remembering

Joey Smith

Loving Husband, Father, and Friend

"Jesus" in our Easter plays

Deacon and Faithful Servant

You will be greatly missed...we hope we can live out your example.

October is proving to be a hard month

We've just lost a good friend, valued co-worker to my husband, and much loved church brother this morning. His family has lost a husband and father. We're in shock and devastated. My husband had just dropped him off at his house last night after they rode home from a Louisville trip together. Bryan, Zoe, and I had had lunch with him and his daughter last week. It was just so sudden.

I'll give more details later as the news gets around. I know where he is now--happy and at peace with our Savior. But, death is so hard for those of us left behind. We'll really miss him.

You may call me crazy, but...

I moved our younger cat, Poncho, back into the house. When I originally put the two cats in exile, it was because Charlie (the older one who died) had began eliminating on my bed and in the house. As far as we know, Poncho never had that problem, but I didn't want to separate them, since they were so close.

I'm wondering now if Charlie had a kidney disease even way back then that made him do that. When I noticed he was very ill yesterday, I also noticed a LOT of urine near the litter boxes and a few small spots around the room in the garage. Cats will do that when they have a kidney disease sometimes. And those diseases can strike really fast. I think that's what killed him.

Anyway, I digress. Poncho is now living in our basement, as long as I don't see any signs of improper elimination. He was always more loving than Charlie to other people. I swear I've never heard that little cat even growl or hiss. So, I don't think he'll be a problem around the kids at all. I brought him in, trimmed his claws, gave him a bath, applied Frontline just in case, and brought in his litter box and food bowls. Zoe and I even went to the store this morning and bought him new fresh food, litter, and treats.

Right now, he's settling back in down there, sniffing and prowling around like everything's all new again, but EXTREMELY happy! He's rubbing the hide off my legs every time I go down there. I'm making sure I pet him and give him more attention today. He's really going to miss Charlie. They were like two peas in a pod.

Now, am I acting out over guilt? Maybe a little, but I'm telling myself that I never really wanted to put Poncho in exile anyway, so he's just back where he belongs. I hope it works out. I really missed having a cat in the house...apart from the hair and all.

Good news, bad news

The good news is our friend Kim came out of surgery well. The surgeons looked at another mass that they had been watching for a while, and thankfully it looked benign. I'll update with any info I get. By the way, if you want to read straight from her blog, "Maggie" is in charge of updating it until Kim gets back. Check out "Sing Me Home" in the sidebar over there.

The bad news....I lost my cat today. My Charlie is gone. He was about 9 1/2 years old and suddenly took ill today and died this evening. He is now buried in our backyard. I had him since he was about 8 weeks old, just a little ball of fur. He used to love to curl up under my neck back then and sleep with me. He and our younger cat had been living in our garage for almost 2 years now. I feel guilty that I didn't give him the attention he had when he lived in here with us. I'm trying to hold back feelings of guilt over not being able to help him and not having been there when he actually passed.

He had become quite ornery in his adulthood and really only liked me, but I can't help but be saddened over his loss. I'll miss him....mostly I'll miss the good days I had with him. His kittenhood, his curling up behind my legs to sleep, his purr. He had a way of comforting me when I cried. He'd come up to me with a little meow and put his paw gently on me. After such a good high day yesterday, it's hard to handle this low.

The girls are ok. They didn't really relate to him much since he had been in exile from the house for so long, but they were a little sad. They came out to watch his burial. Zoe said, "I miss you, Chardee." That pretty much said it all.

Some updates and prayer requests

First, my friend Kim from Sing Me Home (see blogs on sidebar) is having breast-cancer surgery in Louisville today....it will be a long surgery, and she'll be there 4-5 days at least, so keep her and her husband and daughters in prayer.

Second, my dad's oldest brother died over the weekend after a year or so in a coma after an accident. There seems to have been no funeral service as his wife supposedly had him cremated and didn't even tell any of the family he died until a couple days after he passed. He and his wife lived in Louisville, were rather backward and never spoke with any body much. I never even met him. It's still hard on the family, to say the least.

On a good note, Megan is doing great in school, according to her teacher at the parent/teacher conference on Tuesday evening. She's excelling in all subjects, and is one of the best readers in her class. We're a bit proud of her :)

Our baby is a......

BOY!!!!

I'm so sorry I couldn't post sooner! We had our U/S scheduled for 10:00 this morning, but they mixed up our appt and had me down for 8 am, so then I had to wait until 2:45 to get one. I had an appt at 11:30 today too, so we were out of town ALL day. I had to have "Maggie" pick up Meg at school for me (luckily her kids go to the same one) and then we had to pick her up and go to church for supper and Bible study. I've just now got home, and got the girls in bed.


Yep, we got us a boy on the way! God is so good! We're so excited! We're calling him Zachary Bryan. So far, he looked good and healthy. He didn't quite "spread em", but we could tell he had his boy parts :) The family is all excited and Megan is too. She really wanted a brother. Zoe's starting to catch on to what's happening.

Oh my gosh!

Tomorrow is the big day! We'll find out who's growing inside me. I'll finally be able to call the baby by name. We're so excited.

We're having a busy day today though. Zoe had a Halloween party at the local library's storytime so wore her scarecrow costume. She was adorable! I took pics. I'll try to post soon. We had snacks and candy and then went by Mc'D's drive thru for lunch--I won't be hungry for a while :)

Tonight, we have a parent/teacher conference with Meg's teacher. I hope we hear good things! I'm sure we will. She seems to be doing great.

I'll update tomorrow with everything we find out about child #1 and child #3 :)

Time for a laugh

When poo is flowing freely in your backyard, you need to laugh :)

My friend Marcia sent me this today. Enjoy!

Pregnancy Q & A

Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
A: No, 35 children is enough.

Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.

Q: What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
A: Childbirth.

Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
A: So what's your question? (I'm loving this one!)

Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
A! : Right after you find out you're pregnant.

Q: Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?
A: Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you.

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
A: Yes, pregnancy.

Q: Do I have to have a baby shower?
A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.

Q: Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
A: When the kids are in college.

Well, it's went from Woohoo! to Good Grief!

Friday after the guys finished resealing our driveway, our septic system backed up and started coming into the basement. We've been having trouble with it off and on for a couple years.

We have big old trees all around our house, and their big, hungry roots have grown all up in it and the lateral lines. The pipes will all need to be replaced. The place is some 40 years old, so the pipes are clay and the roots just love them! : (

I am NOT loving this mess. Our backyard is all dug up from 2 different plumbers inspecting it over the weekend. Bryan has had to buy a submersible pump to pump out the foul liquid that is backing up until we can get it resolved. So at least once a day, we'll have to go out and pump out our waste water so it doesn't back up into the house.

Until we get it repaired, that is. We got a very ballpark estimate from the plumber that is a lot more than we were prepared for. After we get a perk (sp?) test from the health department, then he can give us a more concrete figure.

I'm tellin ya....a condo in Florida sounds better all the time. Come on retirement! ;)

Woohoo!

Time to celebrate--we're finally getting our driveway sealed after living here for almost 6 years. It's cracking up badly...not as in laughing, but as in breaking. Each winter has made it a bit worse.

The sealing guys are here now. I'm happily listening to the sealing pumping motors as I go about my day. We'll have to stay off the driveway for a couple days, so we're borrowing our neighbor's drive for now.

How many of you are behind on home improvement projects? I can see a sea of hands rising now! :) I'm thinking about making a list (it will be a long one) of things we need to do around here and start doing them one at a time...as time and money allows.

We hated living in apartments for the first few years of our marriage, but there was the definite advantage of not having to worry about maintaining things. I wouldn't trade our house, mind you, but it's a lot of work to maintain one of any size.

What are some projects you're working on right now? And please send me any tips for em too--where to start, where to buy, etc.

A new season...time for a new header

After Maggie showed me how to make blog headers, I've been hooked. It's very hard, however, because it takes me an hour or so to get one done.

And I have a little girl rolling around on my bed, kicking my laptop.

And I need to go to Wal-Mart really badly and it's already 10:30. Where does the time go?

Well, I hope you like it anyway. Let me know! Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Uggh, so unmotivated

I've managed a few small menial tasks today, but other than that, I'm sooooo unmotivated. There is so much I want to do, but deciding on what to do first and getting it started is just proving too much for my pregnancy-brain.

Plus, I've got this whole "I'm pregnant with who will hopefully be our last child, so I just want to relax and enjoy it" attitude. Not a great attitude when I've got a husband, home, and two little girls to look after.

I'm getting a desire to have a yard sale, mostly to get some extra Christmas money which is in short supply this year. Getting started with that though--well, I'm just unmotivated! I sometimes wish I had telekinetic powers like one of the X-Men or something. :)

Blogfriends--I've been stalking your blogs this week, reading your wonderful posts, but have been too unmotivated to respond much. Just know I'm still there, watching you :)

I'm back!

We had a good fall break. The girls and I arrived back home from visiting the family on Saturday evening. To my amazement and delight, my wonderful hubby had cleaned the house and caught up all the laundry and dishes!!

I was dreading coming home to all that work, but I was able to relax this weekend because of his hard work. I told him I'll have to leave him here alone more often :)

I hope to get into some deeper posts this week, but I'm just not sure what direction to go yet. Hopefully some inspiration will come soon.

Checking in quickly

Just checking in while I'm home during fall break. We took a mini-vacation to a local town on Mon and Tues. Stayed in a hotel with a pool and had a pizza-campout in our room. The girls slept together for the first time in a double bed there (and not well, mind you). It was about 3 in the morning before Zoe finally stopped wiggling around--also, the Coke Zero we drank that hubby claimed had no caffeine actually DID have caffeine, so Zoe and I were both up half the night.

Anywho, the zoo the next day--a small zoo, but nice in that it's very see-able in just one day without getting exhausted. And back home last night.

Bryan will be out of town on business, so the girls and I are heading back to our hometown to visit family, and so I can help my dad out with a few important errands. Hopefully we'll be back by Saturday and back in Bloggity-ville. Thanks for sticking it out with me. Hope you're all enjoying fall!

Secondhand smoke hurts us all

I grew up in a home with a smoker. Every year I had terrible bouts with flu, pneumonia, and head colds. When I left home for college, I suddenly had fewer colds, and since I've been completely in a smoke-free environment since being married, I have had even fewer. I don't think that's a coincidence. Here's an article I found from www.medicalnews.com on the newest initiatives to keep our kids from being exposed to secondhand smoke and the dangers they face when exposed.

I've also added a new poll to the blog about smoking bans in public places. Please vote if you visit here and feel free to comment about your vote on this post. I'd love to know everyone's opinions. If it were a perfect world, I'd totally go with choice #1. I think choice #2 is the most logical--plus, it keeps the smokers contained in places where we non-smokers don't take our kids anyway, e.g. poolrooms and bars and they can puff away to their hearts' content (and lungs' destruction).

American Lung Association Commends Nationwide Initiative To Protect Children

From Secondhand Smoke25 Sep 2007

The recent announcement of a new partnership designed to protect children enrolled in Head Start from the dangers of secondhand smoke is significant. The American Lung Association commends Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu and the American Academy of Pediatrics and their partners for taking this step to protect one of our most vulnerable populations.

No child should ever be exposed to secondhand smoke. Parents, grandparents and caregivers all must take steps to protect children from exposure. The American Lung Association also encourages all health care providers and educators to talk with parents and caregivers about protecting their children from this deadly smoke.

Last year's Surgeon General's Report on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke made it clear that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, particularly when it comes to children. Today's announcement, "Children and Secondhand Smoke Exposure," emphasizes the harmful consequences to children. Almost 60 percent of U.S. children aged three years to eleven years-or almost 22 million children-are exposed to secondhand smoke. Infants exposed are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and children are especially vulnerable to other people's smoke, suffering acute respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, more severe asthma and ear infections as a result. Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children less than 18 months of age, and each year, hundreds of thousands of children with asthma have their symptoms worsened by being exposed to other people's smoke.

Currently, 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have already passed strong smokefree air laws that protect everyone from the dangers of secondhand smoke in workplaces including bars and restaurants. In January of 2006, the American Lung Association launched our Smokefree Air 2010 Challenge, urging all states to go smokefree by 2010.

For more information about how to stop smoking, please call 1-800 LUNG USA or log onto the American Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking® Online program at http://www.lungusa.org.

About the American Lung Association

Beginning our second century, the American Lung Association is the leading organization working to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. Lung disease death rates continue to increase while other leading causes of death have declined. The American Lung Association funds vital research on the causes of and treatments for lung disease. With the generous support of the public, the American Lung Association is "Improving life, one breath at a time."

http://www.lungusa.org.
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83433.php

A Snopes-ed out story

Hadn't had one of these for a while. My sweet niece Alycia sent this to me. Have you heard it?

State Police Warning (serious)

DON'T FLASH HEADLIGHTS AT ANY CAR WITH NO LIGHTS ON!!

Police office rs working with the DARE program have issued this Warning: If you are driving after dark and see and on-coming carwith no headlights on, DO NOT FLASH YOUR LIGHTS AT THEM!

This is acommon Bloods member 'initiation game' that goes like this: The newgang member under initiation drives along with no headlights, andthe first car to flash their headlights at him is now his 'target.'.He is now required to turn around and chase that car, thenshoot and kill every individual in the e vehicle in order to completehis initiation requirements.

Police Depts across the nation arebeing warned.Their intent is to have all the new bloods nationwide drivearound on Friday and Saturday nights with their headlights off. In order to be accepted into the gang, they have to shoot and kill allindividuals in the first auto that does a courtesy flash to warnthem that their lights are off.

Make sure you share this information with all the drivers inyour family! Please forward this message to all your friends andfamily members to inform them about this initiation ritual.

I Snopes-ed it out for you here: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/lightsout.asp

Thanks Alycia! Keep sending any thing you get that is questionable, and I'll Snopes out what's real and what's not.

Top 10 Reasons for NOT Smoking!

I posted this on our car club's website in August of 2003 when my mom was sick with lung cancer. She died on October 9 of that same year. Since it's almost the 4th anniversary of her death, I thought I'd focus on the dangers of smoking this week. If you're a smoker, I hope you're offended enough to quit. Debate with me if you wish. I've heard all the excuses in the book. There is no good excuse for smoking. Read on:

Top 10 Reasons for NOT Smoking!
10. It's disgusting.

9. Smokers lose more teeth than non-smokers. Real pretty, huh?

8. Pregnant women who smoke risk the health and lives of their unborn babies. (ACS)

7. Smokers die younger. In fact, smoking shortens a person's life span by 13 to 14.5 years. (American Cancer Society)

6. It's disgusting.

5. Smoking causes cancer. Tobacco smoke contains at least 43 substances that cause cancer. Tobacco use accounts for about one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States. (ACS)

4. Smoking can kill everyone around you. ETS (Environmental tobacco smoke) causes 3,000 lung cancer deaths each year in healthy nonsmokers. (ACS)

3. A disturbing statistic: Based on current smoking patterns, smoking will kill about 500 million people alive in the world today.(ACS)

2. You look really stupid standing outside Wal-Mart in January trying to puff away while you're shivering uncontrollably because you just can't wait for your spouse to finish shopping before you get your fix.

1. IT'S DISGUSTING!!! Get a clue! Your breath, hair, clothes, car, house and everything around you stinks. Do you know how hard it is to clean that crap off of car windshields, walls, and even from inside computers???

I must vent. I hate smoking. I see what it has and is doing to my mom every day. For those of you who don't know, she has advanced, inoperable lung cancer, and is going down hill day after day. She's currently in the hospital again for the third stay since January.

I've watched her go through months of chemo and radiation that has made her sick, tired, and lose about 45 pounds. Her skin is hanging off her and the right side of her face is swollen so badly that her eye is almost completely shut. Now she is developing blood clots that have her in the hospital on a heparin IV. But guess what? She still finds the strength to wheel her IV pole outside to get her nicotine fix.

One would think that after developing lung cancer, that a person would wake up and realize that they need to quit smoking. However, the nicotine (which by the way, is as addictive as cocaine and heroin) has such a control on all smokers, that even that won't stop them.

I've heard every excuse in the book trying to justify smoking.

To name a few:
1. "Smoking doesn't cause all cancers". Well, duh. Lots of people get cancer who don't smoke. However, smoking DOES cause almost 90% of all lung cancers, plus several others.

2. "You gotta die of something." P--lease!!! What kind of lame excuse is that? Why don't you just go jump off a roof or shoot yourself in the head? It's quicker, less painful, and cheaper.

3. "I could be doing worse things." Like....?? Maybe shooting your family at point-blank range? Again, quicker and less painful.

4. "I just don't believe it's as dangerous as they say it is." Well, do you believe the world is flat just because it LOOKS that way? Thousands of websites, articles, and scientific evidence is out there proving that smoking is deadly. The cigarette packs even say so--gees!

5. "I can't afford to buy patches, gum, etc to help me quit." But you can afford to die? Sorry, to go through months of chemo, radiation, hospital stays, and then die? Honestly...

Guess what? There is no excuse to smoke. If you think you have one, you're wrong. Smoking is stupid and deadly. The only reason this drug addiction is legal is the huge profits the tobacco companies are making for Washington. If you smoke, please do yourself and your family a favor, and do whatever it takes to quit!! There are many, many resources out there to help you.

Even if you're smoked for 30 years, quitting now can greatly improve your lifespan and quality of your life and the lives of those around you. You have to quit for yourself. But, please think of your family.

If you are thick-headed and decide to continue to smoke, even after you get lung cancer, emphysema, etc., don't ask them to leave their homes and spouses for days and weeks at a time to come clean up after you because you're too tired and sick from all the chemo and radiation to do anything but sit around and smoke.

It's very demeaning for me to have to go through this every week. I love my mom so much--that is why I travel 150 miles every week for days at a time to help her and my dad (who is disabled) out around the house. Yet, to see her keep killing herself and refuse to try and quit makes me want to drag her out and beat some sense into her. It is torture to live through this. Please don't do this to your family. I am done with my rant now.

Monday musings

It's been a stressful few days dealing with a situation that's required a lot of time and energy--too much to think about posting anyway. I may talk about it at a later date when there is some victory over it.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about a small conversation I had with Meg the other day. Hubby and I have been taking a parenting Bible study at church on Wed nights and it's really taught us a lot. One night one of the topics was about teaching moments for your kids, specifically when you do something wrong, you should bring it to your kids' attention and apologize for the behavior and talk about it.

Well, one afternoon, I was particularly stressed and grumpy, and I was snapping at the kids too much.

Me: "Meg, I'm sorry I've been so grumpy. I've been tired and worried and I've been too mean because of it. Everyone gets grumpy sometimes, but that's no excuse to use mean words."

Meg: "That's ok. You're still a good mom."

I love my kid!