Babe Ruth in the Making!

Early on Cade has had an exceptional liking to balls of all kinds! Kick balls, baseballs, soccer balls, softballs, golf balls, plastic balls, any ball! If it's round he is on it, like white on rice! I think he has a ball-dar! If there is a ball anywhere in his vicinity, I don't care if it's in the woods with a pile of leaves on top of it, he some how finds it! He's been that way since he could crawl! I think he has a little bit of ball DNA in him!

Back in Mayish I started playing softball. There have been times that I have had to bring him with me to the games. Well he saw that softball and fell in love with the sport! He began walking around with my glove, holding it with both hands, hoping that someone would throw him a ball! Then he started grabbing for the bats while we waited for the game before us to end. It just so happens that the Easter Bunny brought him a little green vinyl glove with velcro in it and a soft green baseball. The velcro is so that the ball stays in his glove when he catches it...in case you were wondering. When he began taking an interest in my glove, I showed him that he had one as well. Just a few weeks ago I searched Jacksonville for a plastic bat. I found an orange one on clearance for 2.50, the kind that come with wiffle balls. It was hard to find because summers about over and I think they had those out in the spring. He has a perfect little batters stance! He even hit the ball one time, hasn't since, but one day he will get lucky again!

He is so funny, when he sees someone hitting the ball, especially an adult who really knocks it, he says "oooooooooooo" or "whoa" or "oh yeah" or "oh man" or something! He is so funny! I almost couldn't bat at practice tonight because he was cracking me up so bad! Every time I hit the ball he had some kind of reaction!

Anyone want to guess what his favorite movie is? The Sandlot! I hadn't ever put it on for him because while it's a kids movie about kids, I figured he was too young for it. It's not a cartoon. I don't have many movies, Robby took most of them, he left some kids movies, a lot of them, but there are only a select few he will sit and watch. And those few he was getting bored with. So one night I saw it and went ahead and got it out for him. He was glued! He loved it! There was a chance that maybe because it was a new movie he hadn't seen that it kept his interest. I ruled that out when I put on the Sandlot 2 a few nights later! He wasn't interested in that movie, it doesn't have as much of the baseball playing in it as the first one does. In fact almost the entire movie has those kids playing baseball in it. So he really just loves the movie!

I felt so bad for him tonight. While I was at practice he of course had his little ball and glove and was wanting the other kids to throw the ball to him. I always bring his glove and his bat when we go out to the field so that he will leave the adult bats alone. Because some times he grabs other peoples bats, people I don't know, people who have either just finished playing and are just watching the next game, or people who are waiting to play. Well the poor kid is left handed! He is so left handed it's not funny! There is no doubt about it that he is a lefty! Well when the Easter Bunny bought the glove it never occurred to him that he would be left handed. And honestly I don't think they had a left handed glove in that style. The only choice you had to make was if it was for a boy or a girl based off the color of the glove. I don't recall seeing left and right handed gloves, I mean it was wal-mart! So he runs around with this right handed glove on his right hand and has the hardest time catching the ball. He probably could if he had the right glove for him!

I had my softball bag in the kitchen, I had a late game the other night, so when I got home I dropped it by the laundry room and forgot about it. The next day I was cleaning up around the house, I kept hearing banging coming from the kitchen, I finally went to see what it was. Cade had one of my cleats on, my catchers mask was around his neck, and he was holding my glove with both hands...walking around! It was so funny! I wish I had my camera! But I was trying to keep the clay off the kitchen floor I had just vacuumed!

And of course he bats right handed! He mimics, that's how he is so smart, he watches and then does it! Well I haven't been able to get him to change his stance to the other side, that's the way I bat, so he figures he should too!

No dogs, cats, or humans were harmed during the incident...

This would have me doing the hibby jibby dance...no the hibby jibby jig! My brother is an animal control officer, he cracks me up! This is the second time he's made the news! I will include both stories, although the very first time happened in 2006! My brothers name is David Williams by the way!

Here is the link to the news story showing the video, my brother is the one in the swimming trunks...
http://www.kswt.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipId1=3934091&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Ten%2DFoot+Stray+Snake+Startles+Yuma+Family&d1=128100&redirUrl=www.kswt.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv

Here is the newspaper story...
http://www.yumasun.com/news/snake-51316-hsoy-constrictor.html

Here is his other moment of fame...lol
http://www.yumasun.com/news/williams-22273-princess-park.html

I'm so proud of my brother the animal control officer!

Fireworks...

We went to Surf City to watch the fireworks on Friday night. Patti is the one who told me about it, so she went, as did my nephew Noah. This was Cade's first real Fourth of July, so it was important to me that he got to see fireworks! But Saturday I knew we were going to be at the beach all day, plus having a cookout with friends. And no one else wanted to brave Onslow Pines to see their fireworks because leaving after the show is a nightmare! Onslow Pines is located on a two lane road, so getting out takes forever!

I didn't realize how busy Surf City was going to be, it took forever to get on the island. But we managed to find a good parking spot and ventured out towards the festivities. Just over the bridge there is a park right by the water on the sound side. There is a playground and a board walk that wraps around a portion of the sound. It is really beautiful! They had the board walk decorated in red, white, and blue, so it was really festive! They have a stage out there as well and a band was playing music. We walked the board walk as we waited for the fireworks to start. There is a little dock that come off the board walk that was empty. I saw that as the perfect spot to sit and watch the fireworks!

We took our flip flops off and dangled our feet in the water. I should have brought the bug spray with me though! The mosquitoes were horrible! They were even biting my back through my shirt! Cade became a little squirmy as we waited for the show to start. There was no railing or anything to keep him on the dock, so he kept trying to lower himself into the water! That was great! I just knew before the night was over he was going to end up in the water! But I managed to some how keep him dry! Much to his dismay I might add!
Here is a picture from the dock we were sitting at. Just across from us and to the right is where the playground and stage are located.



So The show finally started...and here are some pictures of that!

My first show...whether I wanted it to be or not!

We ventured out to the beach today, like so many other people did! I went to the beach Tuesday and Thursday and there were not nearly as many people out those two days like there were today! The other two days I went, I wore my apron back tankini, it has an open back. Today however, I chose to wear my black and white tankini which has no straps, it's more of a tube top! I wanted to let the strap lines I had from my other bathing suit get some sun.

Cade is scared of the ocean, I think it could be the waves he's scared of, although I'm not 100% sure. It's funny he is scared of the ocean because he isn't scared of the pool or the bath tub. He will climb into a bath tub by himself, turn on the water and plug the tub! He also has no problems climbing into a pool, whether an adult is with him or not! I will say it does make going to the beach with him easy since he stays away from the water! The waves weren't very big today, it was definitely calm compared to yesterday. Since it was so calm, I decided to take Cade into the water, past where the waves were breaking. The beach we went to today had tons of shells in the water, right where the waves were breaking. It hurt trying to get past that part because there were so many, I guess my feet are tender. When a wave broke it would send shells crashing against my feet and shins and that didn't feel really good either. But once we made it past the breaking waves it was calm with just tiny waves coming in from the ocean. We were waist deep, although when a wave came in it would rise to about chest level. Cade was a little whiny, not liking the waves that came in, but the purpose of going out there was to help him over come his fear! We stayed out for a little while and then I ventured back to the shore with him.

I spent the next couple of hours tanning in my chair and watching Cade! While he doesn't venture towards the water, he will venture towards people, especially if they have food! He'll walk up and look at them and it never fails, they always give him whatever it is they are eating! I think he must have an, "I'm really cute, can I please have what you are eating," face that he puts on or something! I do try to keep him away from people! But he is a very busy little boy out there! And usually the people he walks up to are people he's already been walking up to because he is so curious and they go on and on about how cute he is! He really is a big hit at the beach! The other day this guy was throwing trash away and Cade was watching him as he did it. As the guy threw the trash into the bag Cade started clapping, which is what we do at home! The guy thought it was so funny! It was just a little later when he was eating and Cade walked over to investigate! He walked away with a Capri Sun! I probably don't have to worry about lugging a cooler out there any more! He could just pan handle off the beach goers! Actually they think he is so cute they just want to feed him!

Just before we were going to leave I decided to take Cade into the water again. Going out before did nothing to help his fear! He wouldn't even stand on the shore where the waves came in after they broke! This time I waited till really small waves came in to break, I had learned my lesson before with the shells! I started in and made it past the breaking waves. Just in front of me my two nephews, Caleb and Patric, were out on their boogie boards. As I headed to them I saw a bigger wave coming in, this wave began to crest a bit too early! It broke right where Cade and I were, sending me tumbling towards the shore with him. All I could think was, "don't let go, don't let go, don't let go!" I was afraid of losing Cade in the wave, I didn't want that to happen. I did my best to try to keep us somewhat above water as this wave had us tumbling about. Cade of course was screaming in between going in and out of the water. I managed to hang on to him and survive being thrown around in the ocean. The wave had broke early and had sent us back towards shore. I started to stand in order to try again, but as I did I realized that my bathing suit top had been pulled down in the chaos of being thrown about by the wave!

I immediately dropped back into the water and tried to fix my top! But unfortunately that wave had pushed us right to the very spot where all the waves were breaking! So as I was trying to fix my top a wave broke and sent us tumbling again! All I had to do was stand up because the water was very shallow, but if I stood up I would have been exposed to all the beach goers! My dignity was so great that it would not allow me to do that! Another wave came crashing down on us and then my bottoms were pulled down a little, so I definitely wasn't going to stand at that point! I had Cade with one arm and with the other I was try to scramble to fix myself before another wave broke! But the waves were coming in so fast that I could never quite get myself together before we were sent tumbling again. My adrenaline kicked in as I fought to keep us both above water, while trying to tug at my bathing suit, and keep the entire beach from seeing me naked! I began to panic just a little bit as Caleb happened to come in on the next wave that came crashing down on us. I yelled at him to had me his boogie board, he kind of just stared at me. I asked again for it and told him to take Cade. I'm sure he could sense the panic in my voice as I yelled at him. He took Cade who was at this point screaming from being bashed over and over by the never ending waves. I held the board in front of me as I again tried to fix myself before another wave broke. But the waves just kept coming in and breaking, knocking me and my bathing suit about. Tara had been standing on the shore just in front of me, totally unaware of what was taking place, because she was in the middle of texting someone on her cell phone. The crashing sounds of the waves were so loud that our screams could not be heard. I screamed at Tara to come help me. I don't know what she could have done, maybe stood in front of me so that I could have had something blocking me...I don't know. As she looked at me and took notice of the situation, she did as any true friend would have done, she busted out laughing at me! It was great!

Here I was with my bathing suit top pulled down and my bottoms not in place either! All I had was a boogie board that I was holding in front of me, which for some reason I kept trying to wrap around myself, but those boogie boards aren't very bendable! The waves just kept coming, I had but seconds in between each one to try and fight with my suit before the next wave knocked me over again! It began to seem like a hopeless situation! And my best friend in the whole world was up on shore laughing at me! Ok, I can't say that if the situations were reversed I wouldn't have been laughing at her!

Over and over again I was knocked around. I struggled against the waves pushing me forward and the receding force of the water as it tried to suck me back into the ocean. It was a struggle to maintain my position against an almost simultaneous pushing and pulling while at the same time trying to fix myself! Just as I would get one side of the suit in place another wave would come in and knock both me and suit around, my efforts were almost pointless!

I have no idea what happened, whether the hand of god came down from the heavens and stilled the water, or there was just a long pause before the next wave broke. But miraculously I managed to get the top and bottom of my bathing suit in place and stand! I could hear the angels singing hallelujah as I stood! I staggered in towards the shore, my body tired from the struggle. I did all I could do, I threw my arms up on either side of me and kinda leaned forward like I was taking a bow, with a big smile upon my face! I wasn't sure if anyone took notice of the show, but if someone had, I wanted to bow!

I walked back to my chair and collapsed into it, it was then that I realized that my bottoms were full of tiny shells! I could feel them poking me! As I sat there I began to feel the stinging of all the tiny cuts I had scattered about on my legs. As I looked my legs over I could see little amounts of blood escaping the cuts I had from the shells on the ocean floor!

Luckily I managed to escape that situation with out being butt naked on the beach...but I think it's safe to say that Cade will be terrified of the ocean for the rest of his life!

When we got home the first thing I did was shower! As I peeled my suit off the clattering of shells falling out could be heard! You should have seen my bathroom floor it was covered in tiny pieces of shell! At the very least I got a really good exfoliation courtesy of the ocean!

Is there a such thing as Computer Protective Services?

My name is Hewi, people call me HP for short. I'm a computer, a pretty loyal computer! My owner, Donna, she takes good care of me and keeps me clean inside and out. But her son, if he gets hold of me, well it's a nightmare! He pushes all of my buttons and causes me to freeze up because I can't process all the commands as fast as he bangs away! Yesterday Donna took a shower. She left me closed up on her bed, she forgot to put me up! She put on a movie for that crazy kid to watch in her room.

He pretended to watch the movie, that kid is slick! But as soon as she stepped in the shower he grabbed me! He opened me up and he violated me! I tried to pretend I was in a happy place as he banged away at my keys. But then he started prying my precious keys off of my keyboard! I can't take it anymore I tell ya! I need to be rescued! I've been abused by an insane little boy! I've been traumatized and I don't know that I will ever be the same again!

Donna called the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I heard her talking to them about me. She is going to drop me off with them, I'll get at least a week away from that little boy! She has an extended warranty on me and thankfully they don't consider a one year old prying my keys off as malicious! I will be put back together physically, but mentally I will never be the same! I need help! I need for someone to help me escape this tortuous toddler! I am planning to try to escape. Can anyone help me? Please help me! I need a get away car!

Check out Cade's Picture of the Day!

Brownie the Dog - A Touching Tail~

We hear stories of pet adoptions all the time. A family finds a dog and brings their new pet home. But how do we know if this pet really likes their new family? You never hear of a dog choosing their family.

I have a tail to tell about Brownie the Dog. A dog who went on a search for her new home and found the very best family a dog could ask for! She took matters into her own hands!

One morning right before Easter I woke up and started my normal routine. I let the dogs out and noticed a puppy standing outside. I of course wondered where she came from, but didn't have time to investigate. I had to make sure Kai was getting ready for school and get the baby dressed and fed. We finished getting ready and we went outside to head to the car. This puppy was very friendly and greeted us as we walked out. She even followed us to the car and was as sweet as she could be. I backed out and didn't expect to see her when I returned home. I dropped Kai off at school and headed to the gym. I returned home and there this dog was laying on my door step!

I thought for sure she must belong to someone in the neighborhood. I just knew someone would come looking for her. But no one ever did and she never left the yard! Instead she played with the kids and our other dogs and looked as happy as any dog ever did! The kids eventually named her Brownie, probably because she was brown, but the name stuck. And so did she! She never left. She slept outside and was always ready and waiting anytime we went outside. Weeks passed and still she never left and no one ever came to claim her. Tara finally bought her a bright pink collar and we invited her into our homes. Sometimes she stays at my house and sometimes she stays at Tara's house. We have shared custody! LOL!

I have never seen a dog more happy to wear a collar than our Brownie! Of course the pink collar isn't too pink anymore! It's dirty from swimming in our pond with the other dogs!

I don't know where Brownie came from or who she could have belonged to. I think she may have even been dumped in the neighborhood. Who knows. But I think Brownie was wondering around when she came upon our land. She saw that there were other dogs and kids that she could play with. She was fed and had a place to sleep. She even had a pond to cool off in and woods to explore. I think Brownie saw our property as a kind of Dogtopia! And so she adopted us as her new family.

She is a good dog! She knows the command 'sit' and she seems to be house trained for the most part. She is very loving, although sometimes she forgets just how big she really is! She doesn't realize that her size is capable of knocking Cade over! When she first arrived we had a problem with her knocking Cade over when she greeted him! She would run up and jump on him, knocking him over, and then she would lay on the ground in front of him and try to snuggle up close to him. All the while Cade would be crying because this dog just jumped on him and knocked him over! We finally got her to quit doing that. She didn't mean him any harm, she just didn't realize how big she was!

So that is how Brownie the Dog found a family and that has to make us the most special family around...because a dog chose us!

Brownie found her 'achuna matada'...no worries for the rest of her days!

Something Worth Thinking About

I am going to step outside of my humorous box for a moment. I watched a movie tonight. It doesn't matter which movie, just a movie based off of actual events. I watched a movie because I choose not to have cable. I choose not to have cable because I don't watch tv. I had it there for my oldest son Kai and he no longer lives with me. So more often than not, the tv was off.

I watched this movie about events that took place before I was born. Not too long before I was born, just a few years. I will be the first to admit that I live in my own little world! I do that by choice! I choose not to watch the news that comes on because I hate hearing about all the hate and violence that goes on, not only in my city, but around the world. It's rare to hear something good on the news. Or so it would seem to me. I found out about Ed Mcmahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson all at once...through Facebook, courtesy of my friends!

These are my thoughts on the news. They tell you about things to be scared of. I have always been a firm believer in ignorance is bliss and what I don't know won't hurt me. Now maybe that makes me an ignorant redneck or maybe that helps me live a more peaceful less fearful life. I don't want to run around in fear of swine flu or the Craig's List Serial Killer or what ever danger the ABC news feels I should fear.

I want to live my life and see the beauty of the world. I don't want to sit and wonder what kind of a world I brought my children into. Watching that movie made me think that. It's funny how everyone is trying to be politically correct now days and try to separate church and state. Has anyone ever realized that religion and politics kind of go hand in hand? The wars that are being fought today go back, way back, back to biblical times! And over land! And yet it is all political now.

I am sitting here typing this out and my little man Cade is sleeping so very peacefully next to me. He looks so at peace, so beautiful, and so safe. He feels safe. I feel safe. I feel safe in my ignorant little world. And yet there are mothers around the world who are staring at their children, just as I am now, and they don't feel safe. The sounds of gunfire and bombs exploding is an everyday reality. Does anyone realize how lucky we are to be Americans. How lucky we are to sleep safely and soundly in our little ignorant worlds safe from the chaos of the world?

I am a Marine Corps bratt! I live in a Marine Corps town! I hear stories from my friends that are Marines of Americans saying horrible things to them. In other cities of course. I don't want to stereotype any particular kind of people that do it. But that makes me mad. Perhaps they, them and their children, should spend a night in one of the unsafe places of the world. The places that are smack dab in the middle of a war zone. Maybe they should be forced to look at their sleeping child and wonder if they are going to make it to see sweet 16 or their 21st birthday. Maybe then they would appreciate those who keep them safe. Those who allow them to gaze down at their sleeping child and feel safe.

I wish we could live in a peaceful world! I wish wars were a distant memory in every country. I wish the children of today were allowed to live peacefully and that century old hate wasn't passed onto them. But that is unrealistic because we live in the real world. It's not a perfect world! But looking at Cade sleeping so soundly, I hope he can one day look at his children and feel the same as I do right now looking at him!

I would hate to think that some mother at this very moment is staring down at her sleeping little baby boy, just as I am now...Both of us feeling the same...only to have them grow up and fight against each other in some war. Some war that started with people centuries ago...that most have no idea why it started...that one of these precious little babies will grow up to kill the other.

I hope I just made you think...

Here are some pictures I took of Cade today...Pictures taken by a proud American Momma!

Eels...snakes of the sea

I went fishing tonight! It was fun! I mean all I reeled in was an eel and a blue crab, but I enjoy fishing! And tonight was so perfect! There was a nice breeze coming off the water and it was nice and quiet and peaceful! There is nothing I like better than the smell of the water! And it doesn't matter what kind of water, the ocean, a river, a lake, whatever...they all smell different but they all smell so good to me!

So I reeled in an eel...lol...The friend I was with got a pair of pliers to take the hook out. He needed me to hold on to the eel, with a towel of course, while he pulled the hook out. He was holding the fishing line with one hand, which is why he needed me to hold the eel.

So I grabbed the towel and walked over, I was saying over and over in my head...It's a fish, it's a fish, it's a fish, it's a fish...I wrapped the towel around his body and grabbed him. That's when his body started moving, he was flipping the tail end of his body and his head back and forth, fighting my grip. It was too much for me. His body and the way he was moving just reminded me of a snake! Totally! I freaked out and let go and did my hibby jibby dance! I couldn't do it, I couldn't hold him! He was just too much like a snake! LOL!

I have a can of hairspray & I know how to use it!

My baby left to go visit his dad and brother in Ohio. They left this last Friday. So I haven't blogged much...I should have blogged about the fishing we did the Thursday before my boys left! That was a hassle and a half!

So my house has been very quite! VERY QUITE! I've been kept busy though...last night I played a thrilling game of Phase 10...everyone kept getting way mad with me! LOL! I'd lay down and go out and everyone would still have their full hand! It was funny...My mother-in-law...what do I call her when me and my ex are officially divorced? It confuses people when I say mother-in-law and they're like, but I thought you weren't married, lol....I'm like I am legally married till my divorce is final in July...but we've been separated for so long I don't even count us as married anymore!

Anyway, my mother-in-law, Connie changed the name of the game to "Get Aunt Donna"....nice!

So yesterday, I was going to the grocery store...I was picking up one of my good friends, Jen...she's car-less till Friday. So I showered and everything was going good! I was clean! My hair was wet! So I broke out the hair dryer and blow dryed my hair.

Unbeknownst to me a wasp was lurking in my bathroom! And since this wasp had claimed my bathroom as his home, he was looking at me like I was crazy for coming in his house with all that noise! But he was too afraid of all that noise to do anything about it!

I finished up with the blower dryer and powered it off. Suddenly I noticed something black coming at me simultaneously in the mirror and from my peripheral vision. I wasn't sure if I should turn my head to look or continue to view this black flying thing in the mirror. I then realized it was a wasp and I moved to get out of his way. Only I wasn't in his way...I was his target! I have not been the target of a wasp attack ever...oh wait, I was stung by a nest of something when I was little, at my Mema and Papaw's house. I remember running down the slide of the swing set we had, it was a metal slide, and that loud noise sent them swarming! I was stung many, many times! Was that bees or wasps? Someone that was there will remind me!

So as soon as I realized I was his target my arms started flailing and I took off hopping and jumping my way through the house. That is the fight version of the fight or flight hibby jibby dance! I have discussed other versions in my other posts...There is the stationary hibby jibby dance, the flight version of the fight or flight hibby jibby dance and now the fight version! The fight version is when I am trying to get away from something while trying to fight and/or keep it off of me!

So the bouncing, hopping, running, and flailing of the arms was my effort to protect myself from a potential sting! They hurt!

I must mention that my ex had a horrible fear of wasps...he acted as if every single one that he ever saw was out to get him. If he ever saw one he would scream like a girl (ok not so much like a girl, but he still let out a crazy yelp) and take off running in his own version of a hibby jibby dance! I was the designated wasp killer of the house and I would always say, if you don't bother them, they won't bother you...I still stand by that statement...

I just didn't realize one had staked a claim in my bathroom and didn't take too kindly to me blow drying my hair! So I had bothered him without realizing it!

Once I felt sure that I had lost the wasp I looked around for my broom! I am always missing my broom because little Cade likes to take it places and leave it...I'm not sure where he left it...but I can't find it...and we are talking about a 5 foot tall broom!

He's good!

The broom is my weapon of choice when it comes to killing wasps. Well I was up the creek without a paddle! I walked back into my room and just to opening of the bathroom door. I peaked my head in, I saw no sign of my dive bombing wasp, so slowly I walked in! And he came after me again! I jumped back, keeping my eye on him! I wasn't going to let him shoot me, I mean sting me, in my back!

I was hoping my broom was in my bathroom. I didn't see it. What could I use to get him....I just didn't know! I scanned the counter for a deadly weapon...that's when I spotted it. Hairspray! I would "super hold" him in place! I grabbed the hair spray as he tried to dive bomb me yet again, this time he hit the mirror and fell to the sink! I started spraying! He never made another successful lift off! I doused him in hairspray!

But then I noticed that it seemed to be a most agonizing death...almost comparable to being burned alive! I then started to feel bad! He was throwing his body around and it was really horrible to watch! Mike, my brother-in-law told me later that I should have put him out of his misery! I couldn't, I didn't have my broom! Poor guy! I do feel bad! I mean I don't kill for the pleasure of watching something die! It was him or me! Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time! What have we learned from this? Don't mess with something 1000 times your size with a can of hairspray!

Man, that hairspray stuff is great! It's multi-functional!

The Good, The Bad, & The Evil

Tuesday evening the lawn mower kept sputtering and quitting on me. I know nothing about lawn mowers at all! It had gas. So I checked the oil. The oil was really low! Last night I put oil in it. I thought it must have been really low because it took the whole quart.

I pulled the cord and the mower started...then white smoke started billowing out of it and oil was leaking from something on the side...I know nothing about mowers, but that didn't seem healthy for a mower to be doing, in my opinion! So I shut it off.

It seems that lawn mowers don't take a whole quart of oil! I found that out after I called my brother-in-law, well I guess he won't be my brother-in-law any more. But any way I called Daniel and told him what I did and what happened. He said he would come look at it. There was no fill line or instructions on the mower! How was I supposed to know?

It didn't seem wrong, I mean a car takes way more. So in size comparison between a car and a mower, one quart seems ok. And it never over flowed! I poured it down the tube and it never even filled up into the tube, it just all disappeared into the mower! So I didn't think anything was wrong, it didn't seem to be too much!

So more tears of frustration! I suppose you live and learn! Lesson learned! But there should really be a manual of some kind for women who aren't familiar with mechanical things such as a lawn mower! Just a basic how not to screw things up guide...like don't put a whole quart of oil in a mower!

Since I couldn't mow, I decided to start clipping down some of the vines and trees and such that had over grown along the fence.

I have narrowed vines into three categories! Forget the whole binomial system of classification! I have my own!

1. Good Vines - good vines are any vine that will not hurt me! These do not have thorns of any size or kind. So I can safely grab them and not yank my hand back in pain!

2. Bad Vines - bad vines are any vine that will hurt me! These have thorns on them.. If I grab them, I will yank my hand back in pain! And sometimes the thorns remain stuck in my hand and I have to pull them out! The vines are bad all around because the tiny thorns are everywhere and you can not safely grab them to pull them away without wearing gloves! You can pull it from the ground if you grab it at it's base.

3. Evil Vines - evil vines are the thick green vines that grow straight up and have huge thorns. These vines have the potential to cause serious injury! If I grab one, I will yank back a bloody mess! There is a pro to this vine. The thorns are spaced far enough apart that I can safely grab said vine and remove it without injury!

It was hard to decide between the bad and the evil vines because of the size and spacing of the thorns. The evil vines don't seem as bad because their thorns are spaced so far apart when compared to the bad vines. The bad vines have tiny thorns EVERYWHERE! The spacing is practically non-existent, it is not possible for a human to place their fingers between two thorns for removal! What ultimately made the decision for me is that the bad vines will not cause you to bleed to death if they poke you! The evil vines will!

While clipping at the vines that were everywhere, they were falling to the ground. I was wearing short shorts and flip flops. I somehow managed to get tangled in an evil vine. I stepped away from the area I was clipping to grab the rake so that I could rake away the fallen debris. The evil vine caught me and I tripped trying to get free. By the time I got away I had a sliced and bloody toe and a puncture wound in my calf that was bleeding as well! I now see why people wear pants and boots while doing yard work! That will be another lesson I will not learn because it is just too hot for pants and boots! Plus I need to be getting my tan on!

Cade was his usual Louis and Clark expeditionary self! He likes to explore and refuses to stay and play around me! So every two minutes I was dropping my tools to bring him back! It was tons of fun!

Oh and lets not forget the mosquitoes! They are one of the best things about living in the south! Mosquitoes bite you and leave behind red bumps that then itch! So we humans use bug spray! My OFF, didn't keep them off of me! I'm not sure why! I sprayed Cade down with it and they stayed off of him. Except I didn't put any on his face! I misted it over the top of his head, but normally I spray some into my hands and spread it over his face. I didn't think to do that this time. So of course the mosquitoes got him around his forehead and temples! But no where else!

Science and PE all rolled into one on yet another adventure in Jumanji land! Thank God the mosquitoes aren't big enough to kill us, because they were in Jumanji!

Lessons Learned in the Land of Jumanji

Yard work has been a real challenge for me! Don't get me wrong, I have done yard work. But the amount and type of work that I now have to do is insane. Maybe not really insane, it was let go for a couple of summers, so now I am having to deal with the clean up process.

First let me explain about where I live. I live on the back end of six acres of land. My ex's grandmother bought this land a long time ago, over 20 years ago. The main house was built in 1903 and there was another house that the hired help lived in that was built around that time as well. The property used to include a lot more land because it used to be a peanut plantation, but pieces were split and sold at some point. With exception of the front of the property, the land is surrounded by trees from one side all the way around to the other. Behind my house there is a pond and the tree line is behind that. All I'm trying to say is, I don't live in some neighborhood where over grown means the yard has weeds in it and that's as bad as it gets. All together there are five homes on the property. With exception of the rental, the other three homes are occupied by my ex in-laws! LOL! I get along with all of them! Plus the house is in my name!

During my marriage I mowed the lawn, with a riding lawn mower. I don't exactly have a small yard, my yard is apart of the six acres. And it would take a riding lawn mower to keep six acres mowed! But it wasn't like I was a lazy ass on a riding lawn mower mowing down a 6x6 area of land! I even pulled some weeds. But for the most part, my ex took care of the yard work.

There is a piece of land that my ex's grandmother had fenced off for the animals she had. She had goats and geese. And of course the pond is included in that fenced in area. That fence runs behind my house and then to the right all the way to the property line. I am so bad judging distance, I'd say there is 18 feet, probably a little more than that, between the back of my house and the fence. It's a pretty good size area!

Last summer the yard behind my house was let go! I couldn't do it because I had a baby. Cade was under a year old and it just wasn't possible to get it done with him. I want to say it was even over grown from the summer before, mainly because my ex had a bunch of stuff going on and didn't keep up with it. I was pregnant and taking it easy. I had a difficult pregnancy, swelling really bad, so I had no business out there! As it was the baby was born at 33 weeks. So the prior two summers I was just unable to do anything with the back yard.

So lets fast forward two years, back to today! Looking at the yard was just overwhelming! It made me think of that book, Where the Wild Things Are! When we first moved into the house we planted a weeping willow tree. It seemed to struggle and struggle and I didn't think it was going to make it! Well after two years of no yard work, that tree flourished and finally grew! There were trees planted along the fence line that were just out of control. Weeds were every where! I am talking tall weeds! Honey suckle grew out of control every where, as did raspberry vines. I even noticed that the entire yard was covered in vines. They crisscrossed the yard in every which direction! The flower bed that my mom and sister helped me plant was a bed of weeds! It even had oak trees growing in it! It was just insane, an insane mess! And for someone used to managing an already kept yard, it was definitely a task!

I am by no means a diva! I can hang outside and get dirty! I love to fish and camp and just be outside. But at the same time I am a girl, I like to be pretty and keep my nails filed and pretty. I am by no means a Paris Hilton, but imagine for a moment throwing Paris Hilton out in a wild jungle and her having to clean it up! Well really she probably wouldn't do it, she'd just give up the first second she was pricked by one of those damn thorny vines! But here I was outside attempting to clean up the mess, acting like I was some pro landscaper!

The first thing I learned...ok maybe I didn't learn...was that you get blisters from using yard tools for a long time! And blisters hurt! And they really hurt when you take a shower! I want to say I have never in my life had a blister on my hands. But the first day in the yard, I walked away with a couple on both of my hands! I realized, oh yeah, that's why people wear gloves! But I still haven't learned my lesson because I have a brand new pair of gloves and I still haven't worn them! And I got another blister last night! But this one was no where near as bad and really didn't bother me!

I of course started with mowing the yard. I was hoping the mower would maybe chop up the vines that ran across yard. No such luck! And really the mowing I was doing was just to mow down the weeds and what grass there was. It used to be lush and green. But I soon realized that the grass was brown and had died because of all the vines! It looked like someone played a game of Jumanji and wild vines came out and attacked!

So I had mowed the yard and cleaned out the flower beds over the last couple of weeks, it's been a process! I have a 19 month old remember! LOL! Sunday evening and last evening I mowed the yard, cause you keep having to do it! LOL! I then started the task of trying to rake up the vines that were every where! Talk about back breaking work! Some of them came up easy but some of them didn't! There were vines growing up the fence and even some that had grown up into the weeping willow tree. These vines had actually pulled the branches to the ground, so that vines grew over top the limbs, trapping them between the ground and the vines! I had to go in and clip the vines out of the tree! In doing that I saw species of insects that I have never seen before! So it was like PE and Science all rolled into one! I worked for a few hours raking and pulling at the vines. I raked up lots of dead brown grass as well! I would say that I have about 3/4ths of the yard raked up.

By the time I stopped I was so black from dirt! I am going to say I have probably never been that dirty. Maybe at some point as a child, but never as an adult!

So let me tell you about the fun parts. Trying to keep Cade with me so that I could not only watch him but accomplish my task was nearly impossible. He kept following our puppy Brownie into the woods, when I say "our", she belongs to everyone who lives there! That's a whole other story! Cade was tromping around in the woods like Survivor Man! How he wasn't covered in ticks is beyond me! Every five minutes I was having to drop what I was doing to chase him down! At one point Brownie and Duke, my sister-in-law's dog were chasing each other. They chased each other around this huge magnolia tree and finally went under it to play. They were making tons of noise as they ran through all the crisp dried leaves that had fallen from the tree. Well a noise like that is too irresistible for any child! He was all up under the tree with the dogs, trying to climb like Tarzan! This tree covers a large area and has branches all the way to the ground. So keeping him out was nearly impossible! At one point I was yelling for Cade to come back to me when I realized that my nephew Patric was home. He came outside and I looked at him, I said "Patric, come play with him so I can do some of this yard work!" He could tell I was frustrated! I usually ask, I never just tell him to do it. So Patric played with Cade while I tried to accomplish something! I kept a check on them! I didn't want a repeat of the coffee cup massacre! But Patric is really good with Cade, very responsible for his age!

But through all of the work, the yard has actually taught me some things about myself. First, yard work is relaxing, who would have thought! It allows you to think. It doesn't talk back or judge you and it's there to catch your tears without complaint! It is also a lot of hard work which is good! It allows me to release some of my pent up aggression and has me so tired after that I sleep well! But even more than that I see how my own hard work is shaping something that was out of control into something that will be pleasant. There is enough of my own blood, sweat, and tears in that yard that I think we could maybe be related! LOL! My DNA runs through it! But it's taught me that I can do anything! As overwhelming as it may seem, if I take it one little piece at a time, it doesn't seem as bad. Instead of focusing on it as a whole piece, I focus on just a tiny piece, and before I know it not much is left! So it has really become a give and take, 50/50 relationship! I am manicuring and improving, it is teaching me about myself and life! I think any overwhelming task can be faced as long as I face it one tiny piece at a time, instead of the the whole damn thing at once! It's about taking things one step at a time!

I so wish I had taken before pictures! I am still not finished with the yard. With a 19 month old, it isn't exactly something that can be accomplished really fast! But already the difference is huge! It's something I can be proud of! I can stand back when it's all finished and say, I did that! I did it in spite of the thorns, the snakes, the blisters, the heat and in spite of how impossible it seemed for someone like me! And I did it all by myself!

The North Carolina Coffee Cup Massacre!

Have you ever seen something that just didn't make sense...and your eyes are seeing it and sending the message to your brain, but your brain is like, "hey stupid, what you are seeing isn't possible!" And your eyes are like, "ummm yeah it is, haven't you heard, 'seeing is believing'!" So while your eyes and your brain fight, you have neurons or something misfiring in your head...and you stand there all confused and looking around for something that makes sense? Yeah, me too! LOL!

I was mowing the lawn...unfortunately the grass just keeps growing and doesn't realize I have a 19 month old baby I must keep up with! But we were doing pretty good! I was mowing and he was playing right in the area I was in. I had a little kiddie pool set up, so he was in and out of that. I had just a little bit of water in it, since when mowing you are going back and forth and it is nearly impossible to have your eyes on a child at every second. But the area I was mowing was a small one, just the little part in front of my house. So I was never very far from him and I kept a constant check on him.

It was just before lunch and I had just finished mowing. I was putting back the chairs to my lawn furniture and a couple of other things that I had moved in order to mow. Again, if I had my back to Cade I was constantly checking behind me to make sure was he ok.

I had just slid a chair under the table and turned to get Cade and go into the house. So as I turn and start to walk towards him, I noticed he was walking towards me and staring down curiously at his hands. He was turning his hands and looking at something that I began to realize his hands were covered in. I then noticed that his legs, chest, and arms had this same substance all over them. Then my heart bounced in my chest as I realized that it was blood.

But the situation didn't make any sense, he was quite covered in blood, but he wasn't crying. There was blood every where and yet there was no worry, panic, or tears of any kind coming from Cade. He was just staring curiously at it, as if it were finger paint or something. My eyes darted around the yard looking for anything to help me make sense of the situation. Quite frankly if someone has that much blood on them, well they should be crying! That should just be a rule! Covered in blood...ok cry! I wondered to myself if I had perhaps hit the dog with the lawn mower and she was bleeding to death. But nothing was out of place and there were no signs of anything that could explain the scene before me. The whole thought process only took a matter of seconds and my brain was just not comprehending what was going on.

I hurried to him and began checking him to see just where the blood was coming from. He had so much of it I couldn't tell where it was coming from. As much as there was I just knew there had to be a gaping hole somewhere on his body. I stripped him down to his diaper and still had no idea where he could be bleeding from. So I rushed him into the house and into the bathroom. I put him in the tub and began rinsing him off in order to find the source of the bleed. He was standing in front of the faucet and had his right hand on the side of the bath tub. His hands were so bloody that the side of the tub was smeared with blood. I used a cup to rinse his body, so there was blood splashed about the tub. Had anyone walked in at that moment, they surely would have thought it a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Never at any point did he cry, so I just couldn't figure out what he could have done. I never found the gaping wound that I was sure I would find.

I soon found the source of the bleed, it was his right thumb. He had a vertical slice on the ball of his thumb, not directly in the middle, but to the outside right. It wasn't more than a few centimeters long. Blood was coming from the slice quite fast, so I grabbed a towel and applied pressure to get it to stop, which took a few minutes. I couldn't believe so much blood had come from such a tiny wound! After the bleeding had stopped I tried to determine just how deep the incision was. I would have never taken him to the doctor for such a tiny cut, but because so much blood had come out, I kind of thought it must be deep. It wasn't gaping so I had to apply just a tiny bit of pressure on either side in order to open it. But when I did that blood would spurt out. I couldn't tell how deep it was, so I determined it was deep enough to see the doctor. I put a band-aid on him and then wrapped his thumb with medical tape in order to keep pressure on it. I also didn't want him taking the band-aid off and messing with it.

I called the doctor's office and explained the situation. They of course told me to bring him in right away because if he needed stitches that was something that needed to be done as soon as possible. I was sweaty and dirty from mowing, not to mention the smears of blood on my arms from carrying Cade inside. I wiped myself down with a wash cloth and changed clothes. Then I dressed Cade and left for the pediatrician. I have never ever left my house looking as I did. My hair was wet with sweat at the top of my forehead and the base of my neck. I appeared sweaty in general and my feet and legs were dirty. I wore flip flops while mowing, which I know is a no-no, so my feet were clearly dirty from being sprayed with the fine debris that came out from under the mower. While it wasn't a life threatening emergency, it was something I couldn't take time to shower and beautify myself for. So I looked like white trash from the sticks when I walked in. To top it off, Cade's Nike sandals were wet because he put them in the pool, so he was barefoot! We were a sight!

I checked in and was told to go sit in the chairs behind the reception office. That was good because I knew I was going to be seen pretty fast. I also wouldn't have to sit in the main waiting room with people staring at me and wondering why I came to a doctors appointment all dirty! So I sat down with Cade in my lap and for the first time actually started to relax a little. After a couple of minutes of just sitting there something really weird happened. I was suddenly over come with some serious emotion! I just had an overwhelming urge to cry my eyes out. It took everything I had to control my emotions and not break down and cry. And I couldn't understand why! I knew the cut wasn't so bad and I knew Cade was ok, it wasn't a life threatening injury. Looking back, I think I went into auto pilot when I saw Cade covered as he was with blood. I have never been in a situation where so much blood came from one person. So I think when I finally arrived at the doctors office my auto pilot shut off and my body took up where it left off. So I suppose crying would be a normal reaction if you saw your son covered in blood and didn't know where it was coming from or how bad it was!

It wasn't long before the nurse called me into a room and had me strip him down to a dry diaper. I had to take a minute and compose myself so that I wouldn't lose it when I had to explain the situation to her. She weighed him, took his temperature, and asked me a couple of questions. We were then sent back in the room to wait for the doctor. It took a little longer for the doctor to come in. She came in and of course asked what happened as she unwound the medical tape from his thumb. I explained what had happened and felt like the worst mother in the world since I really wasn't sure what he could have cut himself with. I truly was never more than a few feet from him and had a pretty constant eye on him. I just couldn't figure out how he could have cut himself and had enough time to smear blood all over his body because I was right there! But the blood was rushing from his thumb really fast!

The doctor determined it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't exactly something that could just be left to heal on it's own either! He is only one and the cut was on his thumb. The doctor went to get the PA who she told me does all of their stitching. The PA came in and determined that putting a stitch in his thumb would probably just rip him further because it was on the ball of his thumb. So she cleaned the wound really good and applied glue all around his thumb, being careful to keep it off the cut. She then applied butterfly strips to help keep it closed so it could heal. She then wrapped a little bit of gauze, the kind that sticks to itself, around his thumb. He sat there the entire time just watching her as she did it. She told me that any other kid his age would have five nurses holding them down so she could do it. She said, "he's very curious." I was thinking, I know..tell me about! That's why we are here! He is too curious for his own good!

She then wrapped his hand up so he couldn't remove anything she had just put on his thumb. He didn't like that part so much, but he still didn't have to be held down! She thought for sure he would have the gauze off in no time. But he actually adapted and moved on! He didn't allow his bound up hand to hinder him too much!

I had planned on removing the gauze on Monday. But he was very restless and had been messing with his hand in his sleep. So about 4:30 in the morning on Monday I cut the gauze off! I don't know why she thought he would be able to get the gauze off, I tried peeling it off and couldn't find an edge! So that's why it was cut off! I removed the gauze on his thumb as well as the butterfly strips because I knew he would take them off anyway! The cut on his thumb wasn't shut all the way. Actually it appeared as though it had closed but re-opened because of the moisture. His hand was sweaty when I took the bandage off. So I think all the gauze was hindering the healing process. He even had sores on the knuckle of thumb, the webbing between his thumb and hand, and the top of his wrist. I am assuming it was from his hands sweating all weekend.

We went back to sleep and by the time we woke up again his thumb had scabbed. It's hard to believe that there was so much to-do over such a tiny cut!

It was a clean cut, straight into the thumb! I later scoured the yard for signs of anything so sharp he could cut himself. I came across a coffee mug that belonged to my sister-in-law Tara, who lives right next door to me. The handle had been broken off and one of the edges pricked me as I picked it up. It didn't cut me open, but I could tell that it was sharp enough to! I found the coffee mug in the pool. So my best guess is that he picked up the mug and threw it into the pool. I can't imagine why it broke because it was a plastic pool on top of grass! But I think that he probably leaned over and tried to pick up the handle which then sliced his thumb. So we had to talk to Tara's boys about leaving cups outside that the baby could get a hold of and cut himself with.

Never a dull moment I tell ya!





The picture below is a good picture to give you an idea of just how close we were. I stopped the mower right there by the pool, which is where he was. I had planned on moving the pool and mowing the grass after I put everything back. The bush on the right is a rose bush which sits right next to Tara's house. I was on the other side of that bush putting something back, the side closest to the pool. Just to the left is where my house sits, which you can't see. So really we weren't so far apart and it didn't take me that long to put everything back. Not to mention I stopped the mower right by the pool which is where he was and I never saw him with a coffee mug or bleeding! Kids are fast!

Define Trim...

Trim: To make a slight reduction in

Today we had an incident that had me just a bit upset! There are many arguments that could be presented and really it's not so bad...but it still comes down to what I, as his mother wanted and didn't want. I took Cade to get a haircut today, let me re-phrase that, to get a trim...I have slacked off on getting his hair cut recently and it was starting to grow into his eyes...well obviously at that point it is time to trim it up...but I had put off getting his hair trimmed because I was in talks, trying to find a photographer to take some "head shots" of him. When my hair dresser trims his hair, for a couple of weeks after, it just looks funny to me. But after it grows a bit, it looks good. Well I was planning to send these shots off to talent agents in Wilmington. I can't tell you how often strangers tell me that he belongs on tv...he gets tons of attention...and his hair is what makes him stand out from other children...It's his "it" factor, what makes him unique.

Well our normal hairdresser works at a Salon that is a higher end salon and requires more training than what a normal hair dresser comes out of beauty school with. So it is hard to get in to see her. I can't call one day and expect to get in any sooner than a week later. I didn't think about it until his hair was in his eyes, so it would have been another week or more before I could have got him in to see her. I needed a trim too, so I took him to the new Fantastic Sam's over by our new Wal-mart. It is only up the road from me and since I was only getting our hair trimmed, I didn't see anyway anyone could mess it up.

So we go in and there are no customers at all. I tell them that I want to get both of us trimmed. Well because he was sooooo good and sat in the chair all by himself with hardly any hassle, the other hair dresser decided that she would cut my hair while his hair was being cut. Of course I had that little voice in my head saying, "no, don't do it!" I really have no idea why I don't listen to that voice, usually it's always right, maybe one day I will learn. But I had told the girl cutting his hair that I just wanted it trimmed. In my little world a trim means take just a bit off the ends...I've had my hair cut by many, many different people in my life and a trim has always meant the same thing no matter who cut my hair. Kind of like the universal symbol for poison is a skull and crossbones, I think the word trim has a universal meaning as well.

We can argue both ways here, I should have never left him being that he was that young and there should be some kind of store policy most especially when dealing with children that young. But I was only a few seats down from him, there was no one else in the store...I was right next to him....and I only told her to trim it!
So I get some chick that acted like she has never cut hair before in her life! I had a stacked style that was shorter in the back, but came around and was longer in the front coming to a point. I decided that I wanted to grow it out and have been. So I washed my hair this morning when I had a shower. I didn't straighten my hair, instead I left it wavy because I knew they would only be re-wetting it while it was being cut. So she asked me if I wanted it washed and I said no I have already washed it. So I told her that I wanted to have layers put back in my hair and I wanted my swoop bangs cut back in and said that I didn't want the stacked style any longer, I wanted my hair to be the same length all the way around. Well she proceeds to cut my hair without wetting it and while it was wavy and had no idea how to do swoop bangs. I was getting frustrated because I just knew it wasn't going to be right!

Imagine my surprise when I look over and all of my baby Cade's hair was gone! Every last curl! Talk about shock and awe...that was some shock and awe! I was furious, but I paid and left and didn't know how to handle the situation. I mean on one hand, the hair was gone, there is nothing they can do to put it back...but on the other hand, I said trim!!!!Not cut all his hair off!

So I got home and was nearly in tears just because of Cade's hair...and I don't cry over hair because I know hair will grow, no big deal...but I started straightening my hair and realized after it was all straight that it looked like a two year old got a hold of a pair of scissors and took chunks out of my hair. Actually I looked like someone had turned me upside down and put me in a paper shredder! Which would make sense because you shouldn't cut someone with dry wavy hair when they style it straight! So of course my hair wasn't straight! That pretty much did me in, I started crying! My baby's curls were gone...my hair was all chopped...now what...

So I called the manager and went in to the other Fantastic Sam's across town. I showed her a picture I had of Cade on my phone, which clearly showed his curls and just how much hair he had. She told me she didn't see anything wrong with the cut, it was a little boys cut, that it was actually still a bit long even to her, and that to her that was a trim. I said no, that's not a trim! That's a whole new hairstyle from what he had. And she told me that for boys they cut their hair short...so she was making me feel as if I was keeping it too long, like he looked like a girl. He didn't look like a girl! He had long curly locks! I made the point of his hair being his thing, that I was going to have his pictures taken, and the whole talent thing...But my most important point was that he is my son. He is not even two yet. I was not ready for his curls to be gone...and because I was in such shock and speechless, it never even occurred to me to grab a lock of his curls...so how do you put a price on something like that, that most people consider priceless?

She fixed my hair, if you want to call it fixed...but I wasn't worried as much about my hair as I was about Cade's. I just really felt that a decision was made to cut his hair off and I wasn't the one who decided it. I wasn't ready for him to have really short hair. And the stupid manager, in trying to make a point, told me that the type of hair he had, in her opinion would no longer curl. So I suppose she was trying to point out that his curls would eventually not be there anyway. But all she did was point out that his curls weren't returning and I had missed my opportunity to get a lock of his curls...yeah thanks cause that just made me even madder...

But then I decided, who is she to say what a little boy's hair should look like? In her opinion it should be really short because she is probably married to a marine. And I can just hear Cade's two grandpa's now, lol! And I agree, little boys should have short hair...Kai has always had short hair! But the fact of the matter is, it is not for her to decided what little boys should look like. His hair should have never been chopped the way it was...and isn't the customer always right? Isn't that supposed to be the way that it works? I never once asked for my money back, but she said she would review the tape and if his hair was long she would refund my money. I said, I just showed you a picture. She said I believe you, but I have to investigate it. Well how about, two separate "hair dressers" jacked up both of us, and you should refund our money for that simple fact alone! Because what it comes down to is I asked for his hair to be trimmed, not cut!

And we could even argue about the whole talent agent thing. Who's to say one way or the other whether or not he would have found work because of his hair. Maybe he would have, maybe not. Maybe he still could. But we will never know because more than likely his hair won't grow back to what it was. So that very well could have been a college fund that was taken from him. I have read how they look for kids that are unique in some way. He is cute, he has big beautiful eyes, and he had hair that was curly and gorgeous. Granted it might not have stayed, but it could have stayed long enough for him to make a little money for the future.

But it really comes down to, I got something I didn't ask for and there is no way to fix it. So for the manager to totally not be sorry and not be kissing my butt is stupid on her part. Especially considering I happen to have a way with words when it comes to writing. And little does she know that I'll write the corporate office as well as the president of the company with pictures showing his hair before and after. And I will not only point out I asked for a trim, but I will point out that his baby curls are gone and may not return. That I was not able to get a lock of them because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to be thinking of that. That he was going to be photographed for talent agents. That his hair was one of the his features that stood him apart from other children. That potential income may no longer be a possibility since one of his greatest defining features was taken from him. Oh and I will of course mention the butchering they did on me. Because at this point, I am upset at the way the manager handled the situation. She wasn't sorry. And it wasn't like I was acting stupid. I never once argued with her or raised my voice or anything. I just simply showed her a before picture of him and said all I asked for was a trim. I knew they couldn't fix it cause you can't glue hair back on. But we both were butchered in that shop by two different people. Does that not sound like a problem to anyone else? Who cuts hair dry anyway?

Ok..that's my rant...but it just makes me mad that she was dictating what she felt little boys should look like...she wasn't seeing my point, that I only asked for a trim and his baby locks are gone...and I didn't get one for the baby book...That is something I can never get back...something was taken from me that can't be replaced, a lock of curls...and I did talk to my personal hair dresser after the whole situation...She did explain to me what the definition of a trim is, what every hairdresser learns...A trim is exactly what I thought it was, just a bit taken off the ends. So...lol...Fantastic Sam's is going down...LOL!

I did write corporate and it of course filtered down...all the way down to the manager I spoke with. She emailed me apologizing and told me I could have a full refund if I went to the store I originally had my hair cut at. I think I should let them keep the money, it's obvious they need it to spend on training!

More Monsters of the Yard...GOSH!

This is not for the faint of heart! If you have a weak stomach...proceed no further! Perhaps I am just over reacting, but then again...no, because I feel sick to my stomach now!

Cade and I spent the entire day outside. Him playing in the pool and me tanning in my lawn chair. I finally laid him down for a nap a little before two. I went back outside and fell asleep on my lawn chair on my stomach...so now I have the oddest tan lines on my arm because my head was laying on it! But that's not the bad part!

Duke, my sister-in-law Tara's dog, stayed outside with us most of the day. Tara is out of town for a wedding in Virginia...So I am on dog sitting detail. After Cade woke up, I went inside and we both showered. I put a diaper on him and remembered Duke was still outside. So we both went outside so that I could let Duke in his house.

I let Duke in his house which is right next door to mine....not very far at all! I came walking back towards my house in just enough time to see Cade start to put his fingers in his mouth...but there was something dark, kinda a purplish color on his fingers. I grabbed his hand before his fingers could make their way into his mouth! Upon further inspection I noticed that this same substance was also on his face, splattered about in various places, his forehead and nose, as well as on his chest and his other hand. I was looking at him and wondering what he got a hold of. So thinking out loud, I said "a berry"...This of course made me nervous because there are berries on many trees around my house, we even have raspberries growing. So my first concern was what kind of berry it was, I know some are not for human consumption. So of course I start looking around the area where we were. One of my patio chairs was right next to him. I saw a large round something sitting on the chair. What ever it was had burst and I could see the same color inside this "berry". But it was an odd color on the outside, a grayish color, it was so large it looked like a big blueberry or perhaps a small grape.

My first thought was that it was perhaps decaying and that would explain the odd color. I was still holding Cade's arm by his wrist, so I picked up this berry thing and told him lets go and proceeded towards my door. I was heading inside to clean him up and throw the berry away. I looked down at the berry to figure out what it was and more importantly where it possibly could have come from. As I turned my hand to get a look around the berry, my stomach jumped into my throat!

Realization struck...I looked down at Cade and said, "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....Cade....oh Cade....ewwwwwwwwwwww" as I hopped up and down. It wasn't berry juice spattered about...it was blood! That "berry" was no berry at all, it wasn't even a species of plant...it was the largest, most bloated tick I have ever seen in my life! I didn't even know they could get that large! I flinged my hand out in order to toss the little blood sucker away from me....it made me even more sick when it stuck to my thumb. My knees were coming up high one after the other, kinda like I was running in place, as I hopped around shaking my hand in order to GET IT OFF OF ME, saying ewwww the whole time! I call it the "hibby jibby" dance, the stationary version of course! I did the hibby jibby dance that day with the snake...but that wasn't the stationary version, that was the fight or flight version, of course in that case I chose flight! LOL!!!

As soon as the tick finally flung off, I grabbed Cade and went running inside! The whole way trying to control my stomach, as the thought of him picking up that tick and obviously squeezing it so hard that it burst ran through my head. My head was literally spinning! I washed him up with antibacterial soap, nearly in tears.

The funny thing is that, he found my reaction funny. So the whole way he was saying, "ewwwww" and laughing and trying to hop like me.

I went outside with a napkin to retrieve the little monster so that we didn't have a repeat of the little blood bath. I was thinking, maybe I saw it wrong, that couldn't have been a tick. That was way too big to be a tick...So I glanced at it again after picking it up with a napkin...Nope IT WAS A TICK ALRIGHT!

I am still disturbed! I have this thing with ticks. We live in a wooded area, so it's not uncommon to find them on the dogs. But I always have Tara remove them because my biggest fear is trying to take one off the dogs and having it burst....So that is why this disgusts me so very badly! Because one burst and Cade almost....I'm not even going to say it...

I just don't think my stomach can ever recover from this! I don't think I will ever eat again in my life! It reminded me of a story that my Mema and Papaw told me that involved my Dad (when he was little) and a frog...and two bricks...I don't know which is worse...

The things kids get into! I just don't see how in the world he could have found that stupid tick in the yard! Granted it was rather large, but that's almost like finding a needle in a haystack! So Gross! Being a single mom is great! I should probably just name my blog...Adventures of a Single Mom...Cause I would not have retrieved that tick if I didn't have to! I would have sent a man to do it! LOL! I am a girl, I am a wimp, and I have no problems admitting that!