A Day In the Life of Brady

Now that Brady has started school, I hate to say it, but I really don't have as much material to write about:-(

I miss my little sidekick, he has grown up too fast! He is still a little Dennis the Menace and doesn't disappoint me on giving me new material when he gets home from school! That kid never ceases to amaze me with the stuff he comes up with and his little mind always at work.
He loves to ham it up for the camera, and cries and pouts if you take a picture of someone else and not of him. I can't imagine where he got that from. Me a camera hog? Never!






He wasn't excited about going to school, he was actually dreading it. When he and I discussed school, I would tell him he was a big boy now and needs to learn to read. His response was "I don't wanna learn to read!" Finally after a few times of him saying that, I said "Well Brady, if you don't learn to read you will never be able to text."

Lo and behold, that did the trick! He was suddenly all excited to learn to read so that one day he will be able to text too just like his older brothers and sister! Ahh, technology!
He loves all the Gameboys, iPhones, iPads, anything like that. Look at him in this picture below. It was just too funny not to capture! He had been running around acting crazy all night at one of Patrick's football games, UNTIL he noticed the cute little girl sitting in the stands playing on an iPhone! I think that was the only time he sat down all night!
Yes, he is definitely an entertaining little fella. I seriously doubt he will ever stop giving me blog material, something tells me he will always be a little funny character. It's just in his personality.

He is now loving school. He even has a girlfriend! Her name is Anna and she is a little cutie pie! I have been volunteering at the school two days a week for the kindergarten classes, so I get to see first hand what all Brady has been up to. He was sitting at the same table as Anna, but the teacher had to move him for talking to her too much. I've never had a kindergartner have a girlfriend before. He says he wants to marry her and even asked me to make her a necklace! He is not shy about professing his love for her either. I'm not sure if I should think it's cute or be worried! He won't even kiss me goodbye anymore, just hug me bye because "big boys" hug not kiss their mommy goodbye:-(

I guess that is what I get for telling him he is a big boy! whaaaaaaaaaaa!!

On a brighter, non-depressing note, next week I am going to revamp my blog a bit. I am going to post on certain subjects on certain days, so that way I will be more diligent and consistent in my blog postings. For instance, I will have "Easy Peasy Recipe Wednesday." I'll let ya know the other subjects next week. I will probably have a "craft tutorial day" too, especially since it is getting to be "Halloween" season and I love the "haunted crafts!" Speaking of haunted crafts, now is the time to check out Dollar General or Family Dollar to see the 70 -90% summer clearance stuff. Summer stuff makes awesome Halloween decorations. The styrofoam boogie boards make great tombstones, garden fence makes awesome grave yard fencing and garden statues can easily be made into spooky statues.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

"Duck"-Tape! Mommy's Little Helper

My bff Stephanie always makes fun of me because I bring duct tape with me everywhere. Once, I brought it to the beach and she just thought that was the funniest thing ever~well guess what?? That duct-tape came in mighty handy!!! It helped hold the tent together when the wind kept blowing it apart and it made a great waterproof sock for Patrick when he had stitches and couldn't get his foot wet! Shoot, we even duct taped Brendan's baseball shoes once when he was playing in the all-stars and his soles were coming apart! If I were to sit and think about all the things that I have done with that oh-so-useful tape, the list would run 50 pages long! They even sell it in all kind of different colors now, which is awesome!:-) Today while I was flipping through a home and garden magazine, I saw an article on it and discovered quiet a few interesting new things about it................................

Duct-tape was created in the 1940's and was created for a war-time tape that was strong, sticky and waterproof. It was originally army green and was nick-named "duck-tape" because it was waterproof.

When the GI's brought the duck tape home, Americans used it in air-conditioning duct-work, hence why the makers changed it to gray and started calling it "duct tape"

In the 1970's when an oxygen tank explodes, astronauts on the Apollo 13 made a lifesaving carbon-dioxide filter out of plastics bags, cardboard and.......... you guessed............. DUCT TAPE!!

In 2002 Doctor's discovered Duct tape gets rid of 85% of patients' warts!

There are countless uses for it, the list could go on and on...........................for sure it is one the the best "mommy's little helper" of all time!

What have you used it for?? I would love to hear it!!

I know it has been a while since my last post, so sorry and I promise to not stay away so long again! We have just been busy busy but I am vowing to blog at least 3 times a week from here on out..................and you can hold me to it!!:-) As a matter of fact........................Halloween post coming soon!!!!!! Have a great weekend yall!!!!

Emergency Brake........

Since my tire blow-out fiasco, Brady has hated getting in my SUV. He is afraid we are going to go "BOOM" again. I've tried to reassure him that mommy's tire is not got to blow-out again and that we now have brand new tire on it. But, my car had been making strange noises since the blow-out, especially when I was changing gears. I thought the transmission was going out or something so when Brian took it up to the car place to get the new tire I told him to get it checked out..............they found nothing wrong. After a few days of it doing this, I was talking to my husband about it and he said "it's almost like the emergency brake is on".................and a light-bulb went off in my head!!!! Oh yea, that nice man who changed my tire put the brake on so the truck wouldn't roll back on the fella underneath it!!! I ran out to check it and sure enough, the brake was down...............................so I drove all the way home from Collins.................and then all over town for 4 days without realizing my emergency brake was on!!!! Man, I knew it was having a funny smell, like burnt rubber..................oops!!!!!

Treasures

I know this is my 3rd post on my new little flower bed...........but I am so proud of it! It makes me smile every time I look out the window and see it. Yesterday afternoon I decided to fancy it up a bit. We had some bricks from my kids old school so I used them as a border. This little bed has turned out to be so much more than just a garden to me. It is more a sort of memorial. I guess I am getting sentimental in my old age. The fact that the plants came from something my grandmother actually grew and nurtured means the world to me. It's no secret that material things don't mean a thing to me............I'm the Dollar General Queen and I love hand me downs . Don't get me wrong, I like having nice things, it's just that I could take it or leave it. Especially after experiencing Katrina, and seeing my family and all my friends lose every single thing they owned. You realize the important things are the sentimental treasures in life............that is what means the most. My husband did clean-up work in the months after Katrina because his mortgage company office was wiped away. When he was assigned St Paul's Catholic School.......which was the school he attended and our 2 oldest sons, it was very hard on him. That school held many fond memories for him and tons of others. When he brought home some of the bricks that made up the school I knew I had to find something special to do with them. So all this time they have been laying around waiting to be put to use. It came to me the other day when I was watering my new plants.......Voila! This would be a PERFECT spot for them.............so here they are.................displayed for us to see every day!!!!

I hope you all have a very Happy Father's Day and a Great Weekend!!

Thanks for reading!!

C

My Grandmother's Flower Bloomed!!

This morning I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. I was thinking about my friend Angie who just passed away. I mourn so much for her................ and for her beautiful daughter, who looks just like her and for her young son that reminds me so much of my Brady. It is just heart-breaking thinking of them having their mother taken away...............Life can be so unfair sometimes. So this morning when I woke with Angie heavy on my heart, my husband goes out to water the flowers and sees the most beautiful sight!!!!! My dear sweet Grandmother's flower that my Aunt Janet gave me had bloomed the prettiest yellow flower................after seeing that I knew that Angie was going to be alright in Heaven and sweet Zola Mae is taking good care of her!:-)

Whenever I see that beautiful yellow flower bloom, I will think of my dear friend Angie.............and remember her always...............

Plants, Baseball & Pies......OH MY!!

I went home to Forest last week.........for one of my high school best friend's funeral. It was the 4th friend that I have buried since 2006. It was such a bittersweet visit..............being home for such a terribly painful thing but also getting to see friends that I haven't seen in over 20 years. It is so strange how you grow up with your schoolmates, spending every day together for so many years and then loose touch with them.......but when you see them again.......even if it has been 20 years, you pick right up like a day hasn't passed. Kinda like being in a time warp. I am so thankful for all the wonderful friends that I had growing up. They all had such an impact on my life and have helped mold me into the woman I am today. It was so nice reminiscing about "the good ole days" with them..............even though some memories could have stayed in the memory book!!haha I really feel bad for the kids of toady's age...........any dumb teenage mistakes or foolish things they do will be forever immortalized via digital camera, video cam, internet or cell phone, poor things!

While I was home I visited with my wonderful aunts........Aunt Sheila and Aunt Janet. My Aunt Janet gave me some plants and flowers that came from my grandmother, Zola Mae's yard. When I got home, my husband planted them for me, right in the corner in of my back yard so that I can look outside the window everyday and think of my sweet grandmother. I strive to be even half as good of a woman as she was..............I don't think there will ever be another one like her.

I just pray that I don't kill them!!!

I came home from our trip to Forest last Thursday so that I could make it to Bren's all-star baseball game. We left around 5-5:30......thinking I could just go straight to his game since it wasn't until 8 that night. I had Katie and Brady with me..........we were jam-packed to the gill with clothes, plants, old pictures and memorabilia from high school. When we got to Collins, as we were trekking along with the radio jamming.............I hear a big BOOM!!!!!! Really, it sounded like a bomb went off.........my car started pulling very hard to the left..........MY TIRE HAD BLOWN OUT!!! I don't know how I remained calm and didn't flip the SUV..............it had to have been Divine Intervention. I'm not the best driver, and I'm certainly not the calmest person around.....but all I kept saying to the kids was "be calm.......yall be calm......be calm!!" (they weren't saying a word, by the way) I think I was talking to myself more than them! We made it safely to a parking lot on the side of the highway.............where I got out to adjust the damage........knowing good and well I had know idea how to change a flat tire! I didn't even know where the spare was!(FYI-it was underneath the car! who'd thunk it??) I called my hubby who was all the way on the coast who tried to call a friend in Hattiesburg (who was outta town!!).............I'm freaking out and hot hot hot!!!! I called my high school friend Mechelle Dunn who lives in Hattiesburg and had been home for the funeral too. She said she would call around and call me back, but in the mean time 2 nice men stopped and asked me if I needed some help.........oh thank God for the kindness of strangers! They went to work right away changing the tire for me.......they even located the spare up under the vehicle!! While they were changing it another guy (a friend theirs) stopped by who was a volunteer firefighter. Mechalle had called her friend's parents who lived in Semenary, so they came up to check on us since I was a lone woman with 2 kids stranded on the side of the road with 3 anonymous men. They stayed with me the entire time the guys were changing the tire. And coincidentally, they all knew each other!! Small world............and believe me when I say Collins and Semenary Mississippi is the best place in the whole wide world to break down!!!! They are the kindest, most helpful people and I am forever grateful!!!!! The fellas that changed the tire wouldn't even except any money......not even a coca cola........and the poor guys were filthy with dirt and sweat when they finished changing it!! This was definitely an experience that I will try to "pay it forward"!!! Oh how I love the South and this great state of Mississippi that I live in!!:-)

Needless to say, I didn't make it to my Bren's game.............but I did go to his 3 games over the weekend........he played so awesome and he even hit a triple!! Lucky for me, I had my camera and got to get pics of his big play!!!

Brian watched the cooking channel again and he can recreate anything he sees on that show!! He made this ice-cream bar and it was divine!! I'll try to post the recipe for it as soon as I can.........and yes that is strawberry drizzled on the chocolate!!!! SOOOOO YUMMMYY!!!!

Hope you all have a great and safe week!!! Always remember the kindness of strangers and try to "pass it on" when you can!! I know I will!!!!

C

THIS IS CRAZY!!!!

As many of you know, I have been keeping a close eye on the privacy changes FACEBOOK has been incurring. I read up on all the techno blogs, research articles, and try to find all the information out there in order to pass the word and try to keep all of our personal stuff private. Facebook's new Instant Personalization is confusing at best........I'm not sure if this was purposeful or if the peeps at facebook are just stupid, but they have made it as complicated as possible for you to make sure all your info stays private. Previously I have posted how to set your settings in order to do this, how to opt out of the Instant Personalization, among other settings.......but just discovered today that even doing this doesn't protect you from sharing your information with the partners of facebook. In order to do that, you must BLOCK each and every partner's application. As of today, they have 3 partners. Whenever they partner up with anyone new, you must BLOCK them too. If you don't believe me, pay attention to the friend's list on each of the partners site, any of your friends that haven't BLOCKED the app will show up. Hopefully the peeps at facebook will be making changes for better privacy, the head guy announced they were working on it.......but until then you might want to go in and block the apps, just to be safe. It's crazy when you think you have all your info set to PRIVATE and discover that it wasn't as PRIVATE as you thought it was. Basically whatever your "likes" are, they are viewable for the whole world to see.......even if it was something that you would rather not share with everyone. I read a good analogy on one of the privacy sites........"it's like your best friend promising not to tell your secretes and then blabbing them to the whole class!!".......................................................We are very vulnerable in this day and age, but I think we are here to stay, people don't want to give up their facebook, their iphones, their laptops.........so the next best thing is to stay as up to date and knowledgeable as possible. I will certainly try my best to keep you all "IN THE KNOW"..........You might want to "follow" me and the network blog on my FB home page too to make sure you don't miss anything;-). http://networkedblogs.com/3xmiY

Thanks yall, stay safe on the net!!!
PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY!!!!
1st.......Make sure you have opted out of the Instant Personalization privacy setting. Make sure ALLOW is UNCHECKED....................
2nd.........Go to the page for Microsoft Docs, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
3rd..........Go to the page for Pandora, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
4th...........Go to the page for Yelp , click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up.
That's all the partners so far, but I will be sure to post updates of new partners as they join.

How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization Electronic Frontier Foundation

Oh, and FYI, there is a new book coming out called The Facebook Effect, I know I am a nerd to be excited about this, but my geekiness is yall's gain because you know I will blog about all the good parts;-)

http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-Connecting/dp/1439102112