The Maniac Mommy: 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!!!!