My Hometown in pictures…

As promised, pictures of my small, tiny old hometown of Eakly, Oklahoma.

This is downtown main street….The BRIGHT yellow building is the only remaining ‘grocery store’ in town.  I say “Grocery Store”. However, I don’t know how much of a grocery store it really is now.  When I was growing up  It was owned by the Veals.  If I remember correctly.  And when I was in High school if you didn’t want to eat the cafeteria food.  You could walk “uptown” to get something to eat.  This grocerystore was one of the places I went.  In the meat and deli section they would make sandwiches for anyone who wanted one.  Of course, you had to pay for them. 

This side of the street is where the newspaper is.  That newspaper is still running.  However, covering SEVERAL small counties.

Two doors down in one of the little white buildings is where I used to get my hair cut and perms.

This is another view from the same side of main street as the Newspaper is on.  The ugly blue/grey             building used to be a small type of quick food restruant with hamburgers and fries.  They had the best Hamburgers and also hot dogs.  I would also go here to eat lunch.  The brick building used to be a bank.  I don’t know if it still is.  The building to the right of the blue/grey building used to be a grocery store.

Eakly Elementary and Middle School (well part of the middle school)  Seveth grade was in this building but we also had classes in the high school building when we were in 7th and 8th grades.  In 9th grade you were only in the high school building.  I started going to this school when I was in the 4th grade. 

Another end of the elementary which the cafetria is at this end of the building.  Our cafetria served all students in Headstart through 12th grade and the faculty and staff.  The medium size building in height held two special ed class rooms.  This was also how you would walk into the Old Gym.  when I started driving to school, I used to park my pick-up right underneath that dead tree.  Of course then, it was full of greenery.

The High School….

There is no stop light in Eakly.  Just a One 4-way stop.  That is it.  This is Broadway street heading out of Town…

This is the Methodist Church.  I didn’t attend this church.  However, My 5th grade teacher Mrs. La Fever did.  I think she was one of my favorite teachers.  Although, she was quiet sturn.  However, I knew she loved all of us kids.

I have a lot of fond memories of this little town.  I had great fun cheerleading, being in FHA, Music, And playing basketball.  I had a few teacher’s that I just love!  Mrs. La Fever ( 5th grade teacher), Mr. Fleming (my 6th grade teacher and 4-H leader, he would let ya get away with just about anything).  However, the one teacher that left a big imprint on me was Mrs. Epperly….I was in her class room 85% of the time both my Junior and Senior years. 

I hope you all had a great weekend.

My Hometown…

Hey Guys,

  Today, I got curious….and decided to look up my hometown the populations and such.

I grew up in Eakly, Oklahoma.  My graduating class was a total of 8 kids.  We could all say we were in the top 10% of our class.  There were only 2 boys in my class.  And 6 girls.

At the time the population of my very small hometown was just over 500. 

I do still have some family that live there.  And my grandfather lives there. 

So here are the stats of my tiny little town.  And even these aren’t accurate now.  Since these stats were taken from the year 2000.

Males: 126	(47.5%)
Females: 141	(52.5%)

That equals to a total of 267 people.

And look at the median house prices…

Eakly

$52,300

  This has already fallen to below $35,000.

Eakly is the home of Mike Moore.  Okay, so you will not know who he is if you do not follow baseball….and you might not know who he is even if you do.  He played ball for the Oakland A’s and the Mariners.

And while searching the net I actually found some pictures of my old hometown….and it is run down….

Well, I can’t get my uploader to cooperate with me.  So maybe I will post them tomorrow.

It is a shame how run down small towns get.  Kind of makes me sad.  I can look at the pictures and remember….”Hey, that is the store I used to walk to to get a Hot Dog for Lunch.”….etc.

I will get the pictures posted tomorrow…On a follow up of my old hometown.

I hope you all have had a wonderful day.

Favorite Quotes….

Hey guys,

  Since I have had an exhausting week. And it is just barely half over.   I thought I would share some of my favorite Quotes.  Maybe you can share some of yours as well.

1. ” When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”-Sophia Loren

2.  “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.”-Irish Proverb

3.  “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”-Jewish Proverb

4.  “Mother – that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.”-T. DeWitt Talmage

5.  “Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”-Elizabeth

6.  “If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.”-Linda Sunshine

7.  “More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you’ve been bad and good.”-Linda Sunshine

8.  “In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips.”-Author Unknown

9.  ” Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer.”-Louise Glück

10. “A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.”-Isadora James

11. ” I  love being married.  It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. -Rita Rudner

12. ”Don’t marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can’t live without.”-James C. Dobson

13. ” The Difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”-Sarah Palin

I hope you all have had a wonderful Day.

Emotionally Drained….

Hey Guys,

  Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.  Lots of things have be going on in this Chaotic Household.  I say chaotic.  But really it is controlled chaos……Really it is..

Let’s see. We (meaning my husband and I ) are 99.99999% sure that our son Zachary has AD/HD.  Also ODD ( Oppositional Defiant Disorder).  We will be filling out paper work shortly to have Zachary seen by a specialist.  He has had the ’symptoms’ of AD/HD for as long as 2 years.  <—I think Eric and I (or at least I was) in denial that something was wrong.

Zachary’s teacher’s don’t necessarily complain.  However, they discuss with Zachary’s resource teacher how he ‘pushes’ other kids in his class and aggravates them.  Which now, I can see him doing……He has daily outbursts at home.  At least one BIG outburst a day–that in-tels, crying, screaming, jumping up and down uncontrollably, turning beat red and SWEATING—-A lot.  Then he has a least 2 mini-break downs a lot where he does everything that he has in a  HUGE meltdown—except he doesn’t sweat or turn beat red.

He also pings back and forth he loves jumping on things.  You can tell him to stop it but 1 minute later….he is at it again.  He can’t sit still at the dinner table.  He gets up and runs circles around the first foor of our house.  Thereby causing our 4 year old to join in with him.

There is a lot more symptoms, I just don’t have the energy myself to sit and type them all out (I myself am emotionally drained)…..So Thursday is Parent-Teacher conferences.  And we are taking in the teacher’s there packet that the doctor needs.  I just hope they cooperate and get them filled out in a timely yet efficient manner.

I might blog more about this as things happen.  I might not.  I might have to—to at least have a outlet to ‘vent’ to.  I have my husband, mother and sister, which all three are awesome.  Some extra ears couldn’t hurt.

I hope you all have had a wonderful day.  I am going to sit and watch Dancing with the Stars and try and relax….if I can.

Yo-ho-ho, Me hearties~~A Pirate blog!

Arr me maties!

If you haven’t guess it by now.  Today is Talk like a Pirate Day!  Which is pretty cool don’t ya think.  I have three boys that are very into pirates!  So today, I thought I would give you some pirate vocabulary.

Here are some pirate ’sayings’. 

• Ahoy: Hey!
• Avast: Stop!
• Aye: Yes
• Black spot: to be ‘placin’ the black spot’ be markin’ someone for death.
• Booty: treasure (I love this one!)
• Buccanneer: a pirate who be answerin’ to no man or blasted government.
• By the Powers!: an exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island!
• Cat o’ nine tails: whip for floggin’ mutineers
• Corsair: a pirate who be makin’ his berth in the Med-…Medi-…that sea ‘tween Spain and Africa, aye!
• Davy Jones’ Locker: the bottom o’ the sea, where the souls of dead men lie
• Doubloons: pieces of gold…
• Fiddlers Green: the private heaven where pirates be goin’ when they die.
• Furner: a ship which be yer own, not one ye steal an’ plunder.
• Gentlemen o’ fortune: a slightly more positive term fer pirates!
• Go on the account: to embark on a piratical cruise
• Grog: A pirate’s favorite drink.
• Jack: a flag or a sailor
• Jolly Roger: the skull and crossbones, the pirate flag!
• Keelhaul: a truly vicious punishment where a scurvy dog be tied to a rope and dragged along the barnacle-encrusted bottom of a ship. They not be survivin’ this.
• Landlubber: “Land-lover,” someone not used to life onboard a ship.
• Lass: A woman.
• Lily-livered: faint o’ heart
• Loaded to the Gunwales (pron. gunnels): drunk
• Matey: A shipmate or a friend.
• Me hearty: a friend or shipmate.
• Me: My.
• Pieces o’ eight: pieces o’ silver which can be cut into eights to be givin’ small change.
• Privateer: a pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
• Scallywag: A bad person. A scoundrel. 
• Scurvy dog!: a fine insult!
• Shiver me timbers!: an exclamation of surprise, to be shouted most loud.
• Son of a Biscuit Eater: a derogatory term indicating a bastard son of a sailor
• Sprogs: raw, untrained recruits
• Squadron: a group of ten or less warships
• Squiffy: a buffoon
• Swaggy: a scurvy cur’s ship what ye be intendin’ to loot!
• Swashbucklin’: fightin’ and carousin’ on the high seas!
• Sweet trade: the career of piracy
• Thar: The opposite of “here.”
• Walk the plank: this one be bloody obvious.
• Wench: a lady, although ye gents not be wantin’ to use this around a lady who be stronger than ye.
• Wi’ a wannion: wi’ a curse, or wi’ a vengeance. Boldly, loudly!
• Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter

Here are some speaking pointers to get ya soundin just like a good ole’ pirate!

• Double up on all your adjectives and you’ll be bountifully bombastic with your phrasing. Pirates never speak of “a big ship”, they call it a “great, grand ship!” They never say never, they say “No nay ne’er!”
• Drop all your “g”’s when you speak and you’ll get words like “rowin’”, “sailin’” and “fightin’”. Dropping all of your “v”’s will get you words like “ne’er”, “e’er” and “o’er”.
• Instead of saying “I am”, sailors say, “I be”. Instead of saying “You are”, sailors say, “You be”. Instead of saying, “They are”, sailors say, “They be”. Ne’er speak in anythin’ but the present tense!

And if you want to learn even more on how to pirate talk. Go here to Talk Like A Pirate!  I think I am going to be practising up on my pirate talk.  My 7 year old will get a kick out of it.

I do want to mention that Today is also National POW/MIA Recognition Day.  Please say Thanks to a Military Veteran Today.  And To our POW’s.  Without them and our military service men and woman of today, and Our Veterans.  The United States would be in FAR worse shape than it is now.

So I want to Thank all of the RIGHT now!  A BIG HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL MILITARY PERSONEL BOTH AT HOME AND OVERSEAS!  FOR THOSE MILITARY SERVICE MEN AND WOMAN OVERSEAS RIGHT NOW!  I Truely thank you for your hardwork, dedication and sacrafice.  You give up a lot.  What you give, we receive back in our freedom.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! ~GOD SPEED!

And I also want To thank the Husbands, wives , and children of our brave men and women.  They have to put up with a lot. I should know……I used to be one of them.  So thank you as well…for being so brave, for sending your loved ones in harms way.  I know how proud of you are of your soliders.

Please know that my family prays for you nightly.  All of you!  My 11 year old son always prayer for the soliders…and there families.  To me, Thank you just isn’t enough.

I hope you all have an AWESOME day!~And at least try to speak to someone in PIRATE!

What equals insanity????

Hey Guys,

  I will tell ya what equals insanity.  Having to take care of 4 kids (ages 11, 10, 7, and 4), 3 Goldfish, 1 cat, a house and of course a husband.  Not to mention all the cooking and laundry I have to do but I guess that falls under ‘house’.

  Eric, who’s he??? No, really he is my husband.  That I know but I am thinking I am beginning to forget what he looks like.  I see less of him now then I did when he was in the Army.   He has taken on SO much this semester.  He is taking 15 hrs. of classes.  He ‘tutors’ a class once a week.  He works at Hobby Lobby 22-26 hours a week.  He is taking it all in stride and somedays ( if not everyday) he wonders if he might have taken on just a little too much.  I am so proud of him.  I just hope he doesn’t get sick.  One thing he does miss and mention often is how much he misses his family.  Well, We miss him too.  But know in the end it is for the greater good.

My kids—I never dreamed I would have 4 kids.  And if someone would have told me I would have 3 boys….I would have laughed it off.  But here I sit having 4 amazing kids. And I wouldn’t change it for a thing.  The kids are growing and of course boys….Well, the boys sometimes clash.  Don’t all brother’s clash at some point??? 

  Daniel is 11 going on 25.  Homework, is the last thing on his mind….lately. He thinkssometimes thinks that he rules his own roost.  He has decided the last few times he has gone out to play…just to walk out, not say a word and not even ask if it was okay.  I know where he is at, I can see him from my house.  So the last week has become a power struggle. And he has started to feel the need to back talk me more and more… And of course, I have puberty rearing it’s ugly face with him.  He keeps on asking about his voice changing.  Which it hasn’t ‘yet’.—Oh, Heaven Help me, I hope I am ready for this——>puberty.

Aimee-She is a book worm but lately every little thing the boys do gets under her skin.  And boy does she have a set of lungs.  She does do her school work….but if her brother’s even tease her…she gets upset.  I told her to laugh at herself once in a while it would do her some good.  And to not take everything SO personally.  I did that growing up and I so regret it.  And I got that great ‘p’ word (puberty) to look forward with her as well—Gosh, I am really not ready for this….not yet.  Hopefully, I have a few more years…..maybe??

Zachary—Well, he is becoming his own little man….and ‘wild’ is his middle name.  I often worry about him because I am afraid that he gets teased at school with his speech.  It is still pretty bad, and if you don’t talk to him enough or not around him….then it is hard to understand him.  We even sometimes have to say “Zachary, slow down, take a deep breath and repeat what you just said.”  He gets in such a hurry when he talks.

David—Yesterday, while I was cleaning the living room he went upstairs.  I ‘thought’ he was watching Backyardigans or Drawing (something he LOVES to do).  I run upstairs to get some cleaner that is in my bathroom closet.  I open the door to find David COVERED from head to toe in Eucerin.  Eucerin is a lotions that comes in tubs and tubes.  We have it on hand for Zachary because of his Eczema outbreaks.  We use the tub and it is thick—like Desitin Diaper Rash Ointment.  So, in the tub he went. Luckily, my 4 year old still takes 2 to 3 hour naps during the day.  Or I just might loose my sanity.

Now, please don’t take this post the wrong way.  I love my kids dearly.  Would do anything to protect them and do anything for them—within reason and that is legal.  I guess it just caught up with me today and I had to vent.

Sometimes, I really do feel like a single mother.   But I know this too shall pass and in less than 2 years.  We will be better off.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Looking like Fall…

Hey Guys,

  I thought I would share a few fall pictures today.  These just aren’t any fall pictures.  But Pictures from Tennessee.

1. A Church in Cade’s Crove, TN.

2. A Church in Townsend, TN.

3. A fall display in Townsend, TN.

4. The Rolling Hills of Tn.

5. Country Side of Tennessee.

6.  A Barn in Cades Crove Tennessee.

7.  a creek/fall in backwoods Tennessee.

I am really looking forward to fall.  Where I live the leaves haven’t really started changing.  It is getting cooler…but not much.  I love the colors of fall.  Matter of fact, they are the colors that I wear most often.

I hope you all are having a fantastic day.

Baloo is HOME!!!!

Hey Guys,

  Thanks for all the comments concerning Baloo.  He is HOME!  He went ‘missing’ at about 4 pm on Thursday.  And turned up at around 10:30 pm on Friday. 

   We let our kids stay up a lot later (later than they probably should) on Friday and Saturday nights.  Aimee was in our living room by our Foyer working on the floor doing a project for 4-H that needs to be done sometime next month.

  When all of the sudden she jumped up and said “I hear a meow.”  She went to the garage door and Baloo jetted in.  He is no worse for the wear.  A few cob webs on him.  It does look like he tried to get back inside at some point because there are some claw marks on the bottom of the door.  That were not there yesterday morning.

  We think that he hid out in our Christmas decorations.  He had red glitter all over his tail. I checked and triple check that garage.  I am sure he was outside roaming around at some point….who knows.

  Zachary is thrilled.  We actually woke him up to let him know that Baloo was home.  The first thing this morning Zach came down stairs.  Saying ‘Where is Baloo?”

  He must have done some roaming because he is really beat today.  He has slept a lot more than he usually does.  And that is okay.  At least he is home safe and sound.

On another note:

  Today, is International Chocolate day.  What are your favorite chocolate things????

  I absolutely love chocolate cover cherrys.  That is one thing I look forward to during Christmas time.  And I adore white chocolate.  Don’t really care for Dark chocolate.  And my favorite chocolate that I think Everyone should try is Lindt Chocolate.   The ones that I just love are called Lindor white Truffles.

You guys really should try these.  You can purchase them at Wal-Mart in the Candy Section.  They just melt in your mouth.  We like to put ours in the fridge and eat them when they are nice and cold.  And they are SWEET!  So one goes a long way.

I hope you all have a terrific Saturday.

Getting to know me…..The answers

Hey guys,

  I was really surprised by the few answers I received.  I don’t know if some of you guess to through some other’s off…or what….anyway, here are the TRUE answers….

1.  Eric (husband) and I only knew each other for 45 days before marrying. —-That is TRUE! Now, I don’t recommend this.  But it worked for us.  In February we will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

2.  I have meet and shook hands with Dolly Parton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Reba, and Brooks and Dunn. —-This is FALSE!!!!  I did meet a lot of country singer’s while I worked at Opryland Hotel.  I never meet Billy Ray Cyrus.  I did ‘meet’ Dolly Parton, Reba, and Brooks and Dunn in passing all though I NEVER shook there hands.

3.  Brittany Spears is a long distant relative of mine through marriage. —–This is TRUE!!!!  My husband does a lot of genealogy and discovered about a year or so ago….(just after the time she shaved her head) that he is 8th or 9thcousins with her.  This making me her LONG distant cousin through marriage to Eric.  She is a Louisiana Girl.  A lot of my husbands extended family still live in LA.

Surprising eyh?  It was a shock to us to. 

**Update to our Missing Cat**

Baloo is still missing.  Our kids search and searched for him.  We have looked everywhere we can think to look for him.  My kids are heartbroken.  It is there first pet ‘loss’ if Baloo doesn’t find his way back.  Maybe he will turn up soon.  Hopefully, he will get hungry and make his way back.  My kids are already asking for another cat.  We told them we have to wait just in case Baloo does come back.  We just pray he is safe and  not hurt….

A Sad Day for us…We have a missing cat.

Our cat Baloo is missing/lost.  He must of gotten out sometime this afternoon after Daniel came home from school.  He is no where to be found in the house. 

My 7 year old is beside himself.  He loved that cat.  And Baloo (our cat) actually calmed my wild child down a lot.

We have promised him a new cat if this one doesn’t return within two weeks.  A new cat can’t replace Baloo.  He was unique.  But a new cat will definetly help out Zachary.  And I think I can get one for free.  Or very close to it.  Baloo was one of the only things that could really calm Zachary down.

However, instead of a Black Cat….the next one will be Orange and white or just Orange.  I would prefer a white or grey one.  However, Orange  is okay as well.  Hopefully, we will not have to think about it….because Baloo will return.  At least I pray he does.  For Zachary and David’s sake.