BOY HOWDY, DID IT RAIN ON BRAT!!

Yes, it rained on Brat......like a wedding SHOWER!

And, I went to it.

You wouldn't think driving five hours to the Ft. Worth area

would be that big of a deal for me.

But, you must remember that I am an old woman.

A very, very old woman, and that I made a huge mistake

in my drive north....I drove up I-35.

For you that know me, you know that I.DO.NOT.DRIVE.ON.THE.INTERSTATE.

I found myself 'talking' to the other drivers, using gestures (nothing nasty), and shaking my head most of the time.

It's the semi's.

Oh, yeah, S-E-M-I.'s.

You know the one's I'm talking about...

"Breaker....Breaker....

I'm going to pass you

now that we're approaching a hill"

"Breaker....Breaker....

This is Black Roots; can girls play?"

And, you (that'd be ME) average 40 mph a-l-l-l-l-l-l-l

the way to Euless, Texas.

Oh, my gosh, I wanted to smack someone.

(And, if you drive a semi, love someone that drives a semi, and this offends you,

just play Pass Another Semi on a Hill - you'll feel vindicated)

Okay, enough about me for a moment.

.....The shower for Brat was delightful.

The food looked amazing.

The house was beautiful.

And, it was apparent that all had a fabulous time.

This is the sign that greeted us as we walked up

to the house. When I saw it, I KNEW we were

going to have some fun!

These lovely girls met me at the door.

That's Brat, second from the left - isn't she pretty?

Oh, yeah, here I am trying out some layers

in Photoshop Elements 9 that I've just purchased.

This was an experiment and took me an entire

day, therefore, it's included.

This is a picture of the fruit that was served.

It tasted better than it looks.

THIS is a really good cupcake. Oh, my.





The room was filled with friends, family and

sorority sisters of Brat's.

Will's mom (on the right) came from Ohio

(I know) and though I didn't get but a minute

to talk to her, I hope to get to know her better

at the wedding. Brat says she's delightful.

(Just like my DIL says about me)

"Oh!!" I think Brat just opened

something that really excited

Hostess Heather!





                                                    

It's embarrassing how bad my memory is -

at the shower I introduced myself to the

same woman twice. Yeah.

But, for some reason, I remember who is in

this picture with Will's mom -

it's Jessica (in the middle)

(oh, dear, it could be "Jamie" now that

I'm writing it. SEE?? It's so embarrassing:)

and Will's aunt.

TaDah!!

                                         Now, for gift opening and, though,

I'm really not a selfish person,

I just really want to share the card

and gifts I gave her.

WELL??? It's my blog.

(Oh, hush, I'm just being sarcastic.) 

                                                  Okay, after 45minutes  of trying to get this to right justify, 

I give up and wouldn't ya know,

it right justifies. I can honestly say that I

hate blogger. The envelope I made is above.

This is the back of the envelope.     

                

The card. I loved being back in my studio!

All eyes were on Brat as she opened all of her wonderful gifts!

Brat's shower really did give me the excuse

I needed to clear off a 4" square of work space to make a wall hanging for her and Will.

It wasn't on her registry so I knew I'd surprise her!
This will be so handy on those

away games on the bus.



There's always that one gift

at every shower.....

This also wasn't on her registry,

this canister set, and Brat

was so excited to receive it.

If I could just remember who gifted it.



























Bed Bath and Beyond was a
very successful registry store.
Brat received so many great
gifts from that store.







Isn't this so cool?

I wonder if she'll give it to me

for my birthday?

 

I want to introduce you to an amazing

young lady - Jackie. She was one of

Brat's best friends (and remains so)

in college and was in a horrific

automobile accident that left her

in a coma for a very long time.

She came out of her coma and Brat

and everyone that loved her were

overjoyed! No one knows if she

knows who you are when you talk to

her, but after meeting this amazing

young woman, I know that she does.

Jackie is an honorary bridesmaid in

Brat's wedding and I think that's very

special, just like Jackie.

Y'all know what retail therapy is, right?

After two days in a row on I-35

(I didn't mean to take I-35 home, I just somehow ended up

on it. True story.)

I decided I needed some.

I stopped at my favorite shop in

Llano, Texas, and spent $75.00.

I picked up some wonderful things.

Unfortunately, it didn't help.

*sigh*

But, you know what did make me smile

after two days on I-35?? Coming home to

all of this mail. It's all donations, monetary

and art supplies, for kids that need our

love and something to take their minds

off of their problems - hopefully in JOPLIN.

My other 'little girl', Skyler, and I are 

planning a "mission" trip the first part of

July - God's plan and we're so excited!

And, btw?? I'm still smiling.

And, though it's not my usual sign-off,

I LOVE YOU, BRAT

                MOM2                                      

one more thing - if the pictures aren't spaced correctly with their text, I apologize, but I'm not re-opening this post. it's 8:45 P.M. and I'm pooped! I hope you've enjoyed reading about Brat's lovely shower.

Good Night! lol

OKAY, I PEEKED..................DID I MENTION THAT I HATE BLOGGER??

I NEED SOMEONE TO SMACK.

"Oh, Franki-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e"

I SEEM TO KEEP TRYING TO KILL MYSELF

I'm doing this post in "grey" to represent the color of brain matter.
I'll get to that in a minute.

First, let me tell you that I'm posting about my yearly summer reunion with my four closest friends from my college sorority, Kappa Delta at Oklahoma State University. We've been getting together every summer for, I think, about 27 or 28 years. We're not the original five because our sister, Susan Taylor Painter, succumbed to brain cancer several years ago. To keep us at five we added the always precious and fun, Rhonda Davis Carretero.

This is the first of probably three posts about this summer's gathering.
I'm starting with the most graphic and unusual happening at one of our gatherings......

This summer we all met in Oklahoma City (Edmond) at Suzie's house. She acted as hostess instead of us getting a hotel or B&B as we usually do. She was just the best hostess and her house is lovely.

However, she has these stairs in her house that we had to go up and down to get from the first floor to the second floor where our bedrooms were located.

So that meant that I had to climb stairs.......and go down them...........

I am still having some problems with my ankles, though I'm not in leg braces any longer, but need to be really careful, especially on uneven ground AND STAIRS.

The first picture right after the fall. Well, first I had to yell, "Get my camera! I'll blog this!" See that lump on the right side of my nose? That's not normally there. And, of course, I didn't take the picture.

So, what could have possessed me to fill my arms so full to go downstairs first thing in the morning? So full that I couldn't hold on to the railing.........I even yelled back at Rhonda, "I'm fixin to go down the stairs and I'm not hanging on!"

What was I thinking???

All I could hear was screaming, "CALL 911!!" "GET ICE!!" "DON'T YOU DARE BLEED ON MY CARPET!!"

I hit the third step and took flight! I didn't "fall down" the stairs. I "flew down the stairs". All six of the remaining steps - we're talkin' airborne!

What stopped me, you ask?

The wall at the landing.

Face first into a wall traveling no less than 95 mph.

I'm so fortunate that the hit didn't send bone shards from my nose up into my brain.

Thus, the reference at the beginning of this blog about "brain matter". Rhonda and I played doctor after the fall, taping up my nose in this ridiculous manner and then we calmly walked into the den like we really had "dressed" my injury. It was a HOOT!

I'm serious (not about how fast I was flying) when I say it could have killed me.
Nope. God said, "I've told you time and time again, no matter what you do to hurt yourself, I've got plans for you and you're not coming over until you've completed your assignment." (Sometimes He likes to play Mission Impossible.)

We took this picture while out shopping either later that day or the next morning.

I don't remember. Probably have a bit of amnesia.

What if it would have killed me? It would have changed everything we had planned for the weekend.

I would have felt terrible.

After I got home, I just got prettier and prettier.

LOOK AT MY NOSE! And, the puffiness under my right eye.

And the WRINKLES!! Now I look 56!

I hope you've enjoyed reading Part I of our summer gathering. I'll post Part II sometime soon. First I really want to tell you about my birthday weekend trip so it'll just have to wait.

Thanks for taking the time to visit me. I'm all better now. (Except for the wrinkles. *shrugging shoulders*) Check ya later! Hope you're enjoying your evening. We're fixin to cook stuffed pork chops for supper. Yum.

XOXO, Jan

WANNA KNOW WHAT KEEPS ME YOUNG?

Ahhhh! It's a purple day! I wonder if this color will show up well on my, oh, so beautiful pale pink background? M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m, don't you just love pale pink???

Wanna know what keeps me young besides my convertible?
I wonder how many of you guessed that in your head when you read the title to this post?
My convertible, that is.
I love my convertible, my little red convertible that will literally be the death of me if I get hit in a not so bad way because it IS a convertible.
Still love it.
Still makes me feel young.

But, it's not the only thing, it's not even the most important thing, that keeps me young.
I'm 55 years old and have enough ailments that if I lost my mind and started telling you about all of them, I'd sound like some old woman, you know the one, all she can do is talk about what's "ailin'" her. Just shoot me.
Anyway, I mention this so those of you that aren't "in the know" because you haven't been reading my blog long enough or know me well enough, will know that I have a lot of reasons not to feel so stinkin' young.
I don't talk about all of it very much or with very many people. My cousin, Melinda, used to get so mad at me for keeping these type of things from her so with time I think I've gotten better - but, I'll never feel comfortable telling you "all".

So, okay, I digress...............all the time! LOL
And, while I'm digressing, have you noticed that I've posted several times these last two weeks? It's only because I'm glued to this chair and ottoman - don't get used to it.

Okay.
Here's what keeps me young:

MY ART. Really. My art.

MY ART FRIENDS and ART RETREATS

JUNKING & ANTIQUE MALLS, ESTATE SALES & GARAGE SALES.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY.

I didn't realize it until I was putting this list together, but my YEARLY SHOPPING TRIPS WITH MY SORORITY SISTERS FROM COLLEGE.

MY BABY, BEN.

MY SENSE OF HUMOR.

YOUNG PEOPLE! Which includes MY LITTLE GIRL, SKYLER,

and BRAT!MY F.C.A. KIDS

MY LITTLE GIRL, CHRISTINA, and ANA!

MY BOYS. . .here we are, mom trying to take the annual Christmas picture...

I can honestly say that I have laughed until I couldn't breathe, until I snorted, until I cried, until I PIMP, and/or until milk came out of my nose, at one time or another with each of these groups.

And, there's more.......more groups, more individuals, my sisters, my cousins, BF'sF, more times, daily for instance, that have involved everyone I love, or alone, because it's the way God made me - to see the humor *even if my mother doesn't - heeheehee* in even the oddest of moments.

And, hanging with the fun people, often the young people, is one of my secrets. Young people are a riot. PIMP!!

"OO" to my precious readers and especially to you - hugs are so important!

. . . .Jan