I GOT TO KISS MY BABY GIRL ON THE CHEEK

I GOT TO KISS MY BABY GIRL, BRAT, ON THE CHEEK.

SHE WAS LYING IN HER HOSPITAL BED

WHEN I ARRIVED ON MONDAY

AND MY KNEES ALMOST BUCKLED WHEN I SAW HER.

ALL OF THE FEAR, UNCERTAINTY AND CONCERN

WERE WIPED AWAY

AS I CAME TO THE REALIZATION

THAT MY BRAT WAS GOING TO BE OKAY.

I KNEW WHEN I SAW HER THAT

GOD WAS ANSWERING ALL OF THE PRAYERS

SENT TO HIM.

I HAD KNOWN THAT SINCE I GOT NEWS

OF THE ACCIDENT,

BUT SEEING HER PUT A SHAKY HEART TO REST.

WE'RE ALLOWED TO HAVE A SHAKY HEART.

GOD KNOWS THAT WE SOMETIMES FEEL

UNCERTAINTY, A MOMENT OF FEAR.....

WE'RE ALLOWED TO HAVE WHAT I CALL 'MOMENTS'.

WE JUST HAVE TO KEEP THEM IN CHECK.

SEEING MY LITTLE GIRL SMILE AT ME

MADE ME FEEL SO AMAZING.

OH, HOW I HAD BEEN LIVING FOR THAT SMILE.

TO SEE HER, TO BE ABLE TO TOUCH HER,

RUB HER ARM GENTLY

AND TALK SOFTLY TO HER;

HAD ME ON MY KNEES (MENTALLY)

PRAISING MY LORD

"OH, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU..."

I WAS ABLE TO SLEEP ON A COT IN BRAT'S ROOM

ON MONDAY NIGHT.

THAT'D BE WHY I WAS NAPPING ON TUESDAY

ALONG WITH THE DRUGGED PATIENT.

THE STAFF AT ST. DAVID'S MEDICAL CENTER

IN ROUND ROCK TOOK EXCELLENT CARE OF BRAT.

THIS IS A PHOTO OF BRITTANY AND

ONE OF HER FAVORITE NURSES.

AND, I SIMPLY MUST SAY THAT BRAT WAS

AN EASY PATIENT TO NURSE.

SHE IS SUCH A BRAVE YOUNG WOMAN.

MY GIFT TO BRAT ON THIS VISIT WAS

A DARLING PICTURE OF HER AND HER FIANCE, WILL.

THAT WAS ON DAY ONE.

DAY TWO I TAPED UP THE NOT-SO-PRECIOUS,

BUT GUARANTEED TO MAKE HER LAUGH OUT LOUD,

HAIRY PHOTO OF HER AND WILL.

IT WAS SUCH A BLESSING TO HEAR HER LAUGH.

BRAT IS NOW AT A REHAB FACILITY,

STILL NEEDING OUR PRAYERS.

SHE'S ON HER WAY TO BEING WHOLE AGAIN.

AND FOR THAT, I PRAISE GOD.

I PRAISE HIM THE WHOLE DAY LONG

BECAUSE HE HAS MY DARLING BRITTANY

IN HIS HANDS.

I love you all,

      Jan

A LITTLE ABOUT BRITTANY (BRAT)

MY BRAT, MY BRITTANY, IS A  FIRST YEAR TEACHER

AND COACH.

SHE WAS ON HER WAY TO SCHOOL

LAST WEDNESDAY, THE 9TH, 
AND BECAUSE OF THE ICY ROADS

SHE LOST CONTROL OF HER CAR.

SHE CROSSED OVER INTO THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

BUT, MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT

BECAUSE THIS IS MY 3RD POST ABOUT BRAT

AND ABOUT THE ACCIDENT.

I THOUGHT I'D TELL YOU ABOUT SETTING UP

HER FIRST CLASSROOM LAST AUGUST

BECAUSE THAT WAS A REALLY FUN DAY.

WHILE SHE ORGANIZED

I DECORATED.

WHAT A SURPRISE.

ABOVE ARE PICTURES OF ONE OF THE

BULLETIN BOARDS.

BRAT STAMPED THE MUSLIN TRIM.

(I'D BE IN TOTAL DOO IF I DIDN'T MENTION THAT)

WE TOOK SOME OF THAT STAMPED MUSLIN TRIM

AND TAPED IT ANOTHER WALL

FOR THE ENGLISH THEMED BANNER TO HANG.

IT'S FLASHCARDS I MADE

WITH ENGLISH TERMS.

SHE TEACHES 9TH GRADE ENGLISH IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

I COVERED THE FRONT BULLETIN BOARD

AND THEN (THIS IS OUR FAVORITE PART)

I USED MY SEWING MACHINE TO GATHER

BLACK CREPE PAPER FOR THE BORDER.

OH, YEAH.

THERE WAS THIS BIG  BLANK BACK WALL

THAT WAS SCREAMING FOR SOMETHING.....

SO I CREATED A BULLETIN BOARD.

WE'RE HOPING THAT THE SCHOOL

THINKS THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN ONE THERE.

THIS IS WILL, BRITTANY'S FIANCE -

HE WAS THERE MOST OF THE DAY.

HELPING.

HE PAINTED THE HONKIN' HUGE WALL

CHERRY RED, THE COLOR OF MY CONVERTIBLE.

IT LOOKED SO COOL.

FOLLOW MY LEAD....I. SIMPLY. ADORE. HIM.

HE IS AMAZING AND I'M GLAD

MY LITTLE GIRL IS MARRYING HIM.

DID I MENTION THAT HE'S A LOT OF FUN??..............

AND, HE PUTS UP WITH ME FAMOUSLY.

MEDICAL UPDATE ON BRAT:

She is healing.

After she gets her pain under control

and starts eating better,

she is going to be moved to a rehab facility.

She'll probably meet some famous athlete there.

She's different than me - she'll know who it is.

Will is still off shore but will be home in about 3 weeks.

And, this part makes me sooooo happy.............

TOMORROW I'M GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE HER.

I KNOW!!

I'm going to spend the night in her room and will come back

home on Tuesday. (Remember, my mom is still here:)

I'm just so excited to be able to go now

even for two days!

Then, when I get back from up north (mom has to go back 'til next time:)

I'll be all Brittany's!

That's after April 11th, but the time will go by quickly.

And, there's phone calls, text messages

(you should see me text - I'm lightning quick.),

emails.................

I'm so grateful that she's healing and that she's going to be alright.

I love her so much.

She really is my little girl.

In my heart.

In my soul.

I feel her.

MOVE! BUSY THOSE HANDS! BUSY YOUR MIND!

 Move, Jan!

Busy those hands, Jan!

Busy your mind, Jan!

 And it will free your spirit for prayer.

Your fears, your longings, your troubles, they won't disappear,

but, you'll be able to hear God as he encourages you.

And, you'll remember to allow him to carry your burdens.

 And, that's what I did.

I started with the Creepy Doll room

and moved on to the living room bookshelves.

 I removed all of the books

except my Bobbsey Twins and

the Tank's Texas history books.

 I rummaged around in my

'needs to be listed on Etsy' cabinets,

in sacks in the garage

and found enough wonderful things to fill the shelves. 

 A few of the things are family heirlooms

such as my grandpa's pocket watch and

Thomason Civil War Bibles.

But, most came from my 'stores'.

 I'm not finished yet.

I'm going to turn the books around

so that the yellowed pages show, not the spines.

That will be my first move in my resolve

to fill my bookcases with creams, tea stained, and dirty whites.

That's the look I'm going for in this big re-do.

 But, for now I am happy enough with the look.

It was important that the changes I made

didn't involve spending any money

and I accomplished that.

 The most important thing that I've accomplished

in the bookcase make-over

is that it's kept my mind busy.

 Seriously?

When I'm idle Satan is able to balance on my shoulder

and whisper his lies in my ear.

 Jesus is holding me up this week

as I deal with my Brittany's serious car accident.

 She's better.

Her pelvic bone is fractured but no surgery needed.

Lots of P.T. and non-wieght bearing right leg for 3 months.

Her liver will heal.

I know why.

Why she's doing so well.

Oh, I'm not saying that she's

not in horrid pain, because at times she is in pain.

A lot of pain.

But, the precious Lord is being bombarded with prayers.

Prayers from those of us who love her

and prayers from other believers.

He hears them all so keep praying.

Please.

Because she will heal and your prayers will help.

You know what?

I can't imagine how I would handle life

without my faith.

How do they do it??

Praise the Lord.

I love you.

You're so, so special to me.

JAN

My Brittany ("Brat")

MY LITTLE GIRL, BRAT

I woke up this morning and thought it was going to be just another day.

A day working on the Creepy Doll room, of doing laundry, of fiddling around in the studio, of playing fetch with Sister and spending time with my mom.
Then I got "the news".

Christmas morning 2010

It happens to all of us at least once in our life.

News that drops you to your knees.

It's happened to me more than once, but, this time was different.

It involved my "child". 

'Brat', as I've called her since she was a child, is our daughter "in name".

In fact, I made up an adoption decree, framed it, and gave it to her for Christmas this year.

We adore her.

I adore her and love her like one of my own children.

Heck, she is one of my children.

Though I had known her throughout her childhood,

it was when she was in high school and worked for me in my art studio

that I got to know her best and became more involved in her life.

Day before T.G., circa 2004

I even taught her how to make her first cherry pie.

She has recently become engaged to the most wonderful  young man, Will.

I love him and am so excited that he's marrying such a wonderful girl!

This morning was when everything in my world stopped.

Brat's sister, Taylor, called me for her.

Brat's a first year teacher/coach in Austin, Texas,

and on her way to work today the roads were very icy.

She lost control of her car on one of those icy roads.

She headed across the center line into oncoming traffic.

No one was hurt badly

except Brittany.

She has a lacerated liver

and has shattered her pelvis on the right side.

I've been on my knees all day in my head.

Praying, texting, praying, calling, praying, taking calls.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

I trust you with everything in my life.

Most of all with my kids

and I know that you have Brittany in your loving hands.

I know that you're taking care of her

and will continue to do so.

But, oh, Jesus, can you please take care of me?

Can you please take care of all of us that love her?

My middle son, Blake, and Brat have been best friends

since high school.

Hardly a day goes by that they don't text each other.

Blake's a groomsman in her wedding.

And he drove to the hospital this afternoon

carrying his sleeping bag.

He's going to stay with her and sleep on the floor of her room.

I couldn't get there today.

Our roads are so icy.

No way I could make it to north Austin.

Tonight's supposed to be the coldest day of the year.

I hope to be able to go up on Friday and stay through Saturday.

I'll leave mom here to take care of Frank

and I'll sit with Brat and hold her hand and read to her

and tell her how much I love her.

And, all the while I'll be praying; continuing to pray.

Will you pray with me?

Please?

Brat

Did you notice that this post had photos and that they aren't sideways?

That you didn't have to go to Flickr to see the photos that went along with the post?

How about that?

I had a virus.

Yeah. And, I have a really good virus protector.

It snuck in kinda like a teenager getting home after curfew.

I was happy to pay the $75.00 it cost to get rid of it and my appendage back. *sigh*

Thanks for stickin' with me as I post oh, so sporadically.

I love y'all a lot,

Jan

A REASON TO POST

It's not to say that I haven't had other reasons to post, but I am really upset with blogger.
Like today I was excited to post about a canvas my little girl, Skyler, made for me.
I thought this would be a good way to get back into blogging.
I haven't blogged since November - I've been using Facebook to post pictures and keep people up on my life because blogger WILL. NOT. LET. ME. POST. PICTURES.

Today it wants to post them sideways.
Yeah.
So, I'm going to simply tell you that the pics of one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received are posted on my flickr page.
You simply have to go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/page2/ to see them.

You can also see the canvas on my facebook page.

I am really disappointed in blogger...I just wish I knew how to reach Mr. B. so I could tell him that I'm ticked enough that this is going to be my blog post until something is done that will allow me to post photos.

So, look for me on facebook (become my "friend") and on flickr.
Not much of a story to go along with the photos but at least the photos won't be upside down AND I'll be allowed to upload them.

Love you, Jan

YOU'RE INVITED TO THE REHEARSAL DINNER. . .

***Once again I am unable to upload all of the photos that I have taken, cropped and 'fixed' in my software program, uploaded to Flickr for protection, and am ready to post on my blog with, of course, my running (on and on and on...) commentary of the event at hand.
WHY?? Because ever since blogger changed their "it worked perfectly" photo uploader, it turns 'only some of' my photos sideways and causes old people (me) to be reduced to tears simply because I want to share with you something important in my life.
Shame on blogger.***

So, you are cordially invited to share in Craig and Jana's rehearsal dinner (and see how I spent all of those wondrous hours in my studio after so many, many months away) through the photos that you will find in my photostream on Flickr.

And, following the rehearsal dinner, won't you please stay for the wedding and reception?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/

(remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it and see the details)

As a side note, I want to tell you that I LOVE my daughter(in law). Yes, she's my DIL, but I like to think of her as my new daughter.
She loves Craig so much, that is very evident.
Craig loves her so much, you can see it in the way he looks at her.
And, after getting to know her I have found myself "in love" with her. I see us having a lot of fun in the years to come!

Please help me welcome Jana into our family by viewing the pictures that I took of the weekend and come back here and leave a comment - I would love for you to welcome her to our family with your comments.

Blessings to you all and I apologize that you have to jump through hoops to see the photos of the weekend.
I will miss telling you about everything, but until blogger fixes what wasn't broken, I have no recourse.
Even T.P.'ing Mr. Blogger's yard has had NO impact on this issue. I don't know what I'll do next - I'm leaning towards dog poop in a bag on the front porch, set on fire, ringing and running.

Have a blessed day,
         Jan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/



POOR BAXTER

I was pulling up this particular post for a friend of mine tonight and before I sent it to her I re-read it for like the hundreth time and found myself still laughing as I finished it.
I've re-posted this once before but it's been a long time ago so, knowing we could all use a laugh right now, I'm re-posting it again.
Enjoy yourself and pee before you start reading...just sayin'.

*disclaimer: this story is a lot like the short stories I used to write in the past......a bit of sick humor........if you have a love of animals that is so strong that it would not allow you to see the humor in a story entitled "Poor Baxter" knowing that Baxter is a family pet, a dog, then don't read this.

If however you can appreciate me laughing until my stomach hurt and I couldn't breathe, read on and enjoy yourself......



*do not look at the pictures yet.....first read this:*

 POOR BAXTER


We own a dog named Baxter. He was found running around the Office Max parking lot in Kerrville in the middle of the summer about three years ago and a friend picked him up because he had no collar, no tags, and it was over 100 degrees. To make a long story short we ended up adopting the little dog.
 This was Frank the Tank's idea, not mine.

Baxter didn't seem quite right and I couldn't get past the fact the he never closed his mouth and his tongue was about 1/2" too long so you could always see it.


Oh, and he had an underbite.


He looked ridiculous.........he had these Fruit Bat-like ears, too, and he walked like an armadillo (really slow and rocking-like) - he was a goober.


I let Frank keep the little mutt but I got to name him. Thus, his name "Baxter" *from Anchorman*.


This afternoon I was working in my studio and a friend stopped by - Amanda Jones. After we finished visiting and she was fixing to walk out the door to the driveway she looked out the window in the door and said to me *as she giggled*,


"Baxter looks dead!"




NOW YOU MAY LOOK AT THE PHOTOS BELOW

I looked out the window and sure enough, Baxter was dead.

You can see by where the truck is parked that Frank evidently hit him when he pulled in to park going his usual 110 miles per hour.

Oh, my gosh, Baxter was dead.

Oh, wait.


No he wasn't.


That's just the way he looks when he sleeps because his mouth never closes, his tongue always sticks out and his underbite shows.


It's quite confusing to visitors, but Baxter was simply napping.

The visual, however, was enough to send Amanda and myself into a fit of giggles.


I couldn't breathe.


And I was using stomach muscles that only get used when I laugh like that - um, at least once a day!


Oh, my gosh. We were dyin' here.
 Why, we must share this reason for laughter; what with Hillary and Obama duking it out for the presidency we are always looking for reasons to laugh.......what could we do?

Oh, I know what we could do.


We could make Frank think he had run over Baxter and killed him.


(Oh, stop it. It was funny.)

The problem was that Amanda wouldn't run into the living room where Frank was, yelling, "Frank, Frank, you ran over Baxter and he's dead!!"


Well, I couldn't do it, I'm married to the man.

What could we do????


Oh, I know.


We could prank the boys!


Craig's home for the weekend and he and Clay were both home.............


I knew I could handle this because I wouldn't have to look in their faces as I pranked them - I could just yell through Clay's bathroom at them.


And that's what I did.


"Craig, Blake, Craig, Clay. HURRY!! Baxter's dead!! He's been run over!!!"


Craig comes running.


Amanda and I have taken up our "backs to the room" pose at the door hoping that he would think our shoulders were shaking because we were sobbing....


Craig is followed by my mother who is followed by Clay who is followed by Frank.


They all realize that it's a joke after Baxter raises his head and looks at all of us crowded around the window.

"BAXTER! PLAY DEAD!!"


We're all laughing.


Oh, okay, my mother wasn't laughing but I know she thought it was funny because she had a wee bitty grin on her face.


We're all looking out the window at Baxter who is sitting there with his mouth open, his underbite glistening in the sun and his tongue showing about 1/2" too much and we're dying.




In the middle of our laughing Frank says, "Let's shoot him. Make sure he's dead."


We were on the floor.




The End - tell me you laughed.

I love you!! Jan

THE RANCH AT SUNSET - HEAVEN

When you haven't posted since August and it's November did you know that some people will email you to see if you're alright? Isn't that the sweetest thing?
And, in answer to that question, am I alright, physically - no, mentally - of course.
I'm working as hard and as much as I can on the rehearsal dinner things for my son's upcoming wedding and a wedding thing for Jana, the bride:). It's a chore since I am not okay physically at the moment but it is bringing me much joy as I am back in my studio and it has lost some of it's crack house aura. I'll post about that later.

Today I was going to quickly throw these photos up of the ranch and get back to work on the wedding, BUT, the new uploader of photos for blogger is stupid and it's turning my pictures sideways. (Anyone out there know Mr. Blogspot and could you call him?)

However, in this instance it's going to save me a lot of time because the pictures are already on flickr COMPLETE WITH descriptions so I'm just going to send you over there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/  But, read this next part first for it's important to set the mood...

.............I was driving up the lane about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and I glanced to my left and saw the black cows in the pasture of really green grass with the sun fixin to set. It was so, so pretty.
I sped up to the house, jumped out of my car (okay, I didn't jump), ran (ALRIGHT, I walked) and got my camera, jumped (did I say, "jumped" again??) on the four wheeler and raced (I did "race" - I love driving it fast:) to the front pasture to take pictures. Then I meandered closer to the house to take more pictures and to the barns and down the lane. It was fun.

For protection, the photos are stored in flickr and in this case, you can just hop over there and see them with their descriptions and just pretend that you're still here on my post.
Cool, huh.
Oh, and click on the pictures and they'll get bigger by magic. On some there's explanations and arrows. It's just who I am.

I've missed this.
Blogging.
Hope Mr. Blogspot fixes his uploader soon. It's very frustrating and kinda ticked me off for a minute or ten.

I hope y'all have a delightful evening and.........................
if you're reading this on Tuesday......................................

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE REPUBLICAN! (did I say, "REPUBLICAN"??)

LOVE YOU!! JAN

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/