The People That Call Me "Mama".....

In the South.......your kids call you "Mama."
"Miss Priss" ESPECIALLY calls me that.....my boys mainly call me Mom.



I love all these "people!!!"
I call them......."my kids."

Wishing all of you ......."A VERY Happy Mother's Day!"
Be Blessed,
Joyce

"ASPI(RED)"....to learn new things

UGH!

I am SO not the technical one.

Tonight I loaded a new CD Miss Priss bought today onto my "ITunes" library so I could then get it loaded onto my IPod at some point. And then I goofed up something. I think.

I didn't want to ask Miss Priss for help and be mocked.
You know what I mean. Teenagers. Ugh!! Every notice how they EVERYTHING on the planet and the parents do not???

My kids can accomplish so many "techy" things and I always FORGET how to do them.....especially the IPod thing because I don't do it enough.

Another thing I am bad with....is my cell phone.....blah!
That one really gets my kids.

I JUST learned how to "text message" last year and only by accident because someone sent me a text at 3:00am one time...and I was determined to find out WHAT that bizarre sound was coming from my phone and I presumed it was a text message but I had never opened or sent one before.
I played with it until I figured it out....
The message just so happened to be from our very good friends who were in South Africa at the time.

The wife was writing to "ask for 'prayer' because the husband was going to be 'bungee jumping in a few moments".....to which once I read it and absorbed the message I thought to myself..

"WHAT.... are you kidding me????"
Because by then it was probably like...4:00am in my part of the world and I was thinking that the "prayer needful jump" was probably over by then. Yikes!

Now, I just said all of that to say this.....that event...forced me to figure the text messaging thing out because I wanted to know something bad enough.

Now I "text" all the the time with Miss Priss.

Sometimes we have to get OUT of our "comfort zones" even in the most common of everyday things....which may be hard for us, yet easy for someone else.

Last month when Gabe was home...I asked him how to put my phone on "vibrate" and he said...."Mom...I showed you that a long time ago."

Eeegh..I didn't even remember him doing that at ALL. HA! But I remember how to do it now. After that comment. He was nice, I just felt a bit ummm...."forgetful."

I drive Miss Priss nutty pretty much all the time with this kind of stuff because she's with me the most, so she's the one that has to "fix" these things for me when they go awry.
That in turn drives me nutty Well, the fact that I can't do it and they can.

Tonight I figured I would just call Gabe my IPod savvy oldest son instead because I knew he could help me out.

He started giving me this IPod "tutorial" over the phone and via "instant messaging" on the computer all at once... and he's telling me to do this and that and go to "advanced" and blah, blah, blah.....before I know it....my entire library is backwards and shifted around....so it's pretty much messed up a bit worse that it was.

He doesn't know what happened because he can't see it because he's in Connecticut for Pete's Sake.

Then he "rats me out" by sending a "text message" to Miss Priss to have her "go see what Mom did." I KNEW the minute she came prancing into the office to see what I was doing that he had told her so I asked her "did Gabe call you".....she said..."no he sent me a text"...urrrrr.
Anyway....she too couldn't "undo" whatever happened either.

I mean it's not a "world crisis" or anything.
Just a bit frustrating is all.

Is this just me or what?
I really don't do any of this stuff on a consistent enough basis....I've learned in life that "repetition" really does help us to remember.

I guess I need to change out the ol "IPod" more often......especially since I haven't done it at all since Christmas.

ALL the Christmas music is still loaded on it.

Often times I'll have the IPod playing in the house somewhere and then all of a sudden....here comes Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" and I have to nearly break my neck to run over to the dock to get it switched off really fast before someone hears it.
ESPECIALLY my teenagers.

My husband heard it one day thought it was weird. HA!Since it is June.
I can put up with teasing me....it's these kids that make you feel old and dingy.
That I can't take.

I sort of like to take the Scarlett O'Hara approach when it comes to these technical things though.....the....

"Oh I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters? Tara! Home. I'll go home."
Well.......all except the "Tara" being "home" part of course. And I just leave it alone and don't fix it.....even though it's broke.

I am going to ASPIRE to work on these things I tell myself...
One day.
I want this very cool, "Product (RED)" IPod but I can't keep up with the very nice black one I have already so I don't think I will be getting a new one just so I can have a (RED) one.

I LOVE all the "Product (RED)"stuff....I'm wearing one of their shirts even now. It says.......

"ADO(RED)".....
and I think I am.
Especially by these people who call me "Mom"....who I drive mad.
And who also drive me mad.
:~)

Check out the (RED) campaign.....it works for a worthy cause.
I'm ASPI(RED) to get out of my "comfort zone."
In more ways than one.

Rainy Days

WHEW! We sure have had us some rain here in Louisiana the past few days......too much really. It's always a bit "soggy" here anyhow....but we were overloaded with the stuff right now. Every canal and ditch and bayou is flooded.

It's looking a bit dreary out there right now even. I just checked the ol' "Weather.com" and it looks like we have more coming. Yikes!
From the storm we recieved Wednesday, we woke up the next morning to find our neighbor lady's big back yard tree down and over the fence even into our yard....

So yesterday during a lull our three boys were "on it like Lumber Jacks" with chainsaws and their bodies, getting it cut down and hauled off out of her yard.

Miss Priss and I had to do a "Dr. Appointment" for her then we went on to do some clothes shopping for "Graduation" outfits for Monday night and for some "summer items." Then we had to go to a few more places...like "The Chiropractor" for her and so on and so forth. Blah! We were gone for hours and boy were we tired when we got home.

By the time we got back home.....our yard and the neighbor lady's yard was "ALL CLEAR up" from all the tree debris, and you would never have known that big ol' thing even came down. Better now I saw than during a hurricane. So that worked out.

I like that though. We can ALWAYS rely on our kids in a crisis.....or just in a hard situation. They act like "men" and get the job done whatever it may be. And don't complain.....they work as a team and I know they enjoy doing whatever it is. It's like a "Challange" for them.

I have to remind myself all the time......"ugh, they ARE MEN now"..even if they don't always act like it. HA!

Today Miss Priss and I BOTH are seeing a Physical Therapist.
Should be interesting. Hopefully this will help us both get some relief.

I myself have been having problems for two weeks now....all they can related to is the accient I had 6 days after Miss Priss and Italian Boy were hit by the Drunk Driver. I was just sitting at a stop on the road when I was rear ended in my truck but man I have had some issues with my back and neck that I never have had before nor thought I would even as a result of that accident. Crazy!!!!

We really don't have time for all this......Graduation is this coming Monday......then we leave right after that with Miss Priss for Texas for six days.

Life is busy! I hope we can both feel better SOON.

I also HOPE that you all are hanging in there......and I pray that some of this rain moves on and reaches some of the "drought" stricken areas of the south and upper southeast here in America, where they REALLY need it.

I figure that "God knows" and He does......He sends the rain where it is supposed to go.

"Trust the GUT"

Have you ever felt something "going on" but you weren't quite sure what it was?

Sometimes things are a bit ...."cloudy" but know you're aware of something "about to take place."

I AWAYS have tried to tell my kids to "TRUST OUR GUT"......because your usually RIGHT in what your feeling. So be "aware" of it.

Many times we "feel" something....or we "pick up" on someone or feel an odd feeling around someone...or you feel weird about a "situation".....I tell you to TRUST it. You may not always know why....at that moment. But there is a reason many times for what your feeling.

Sometimes it's revealed to you....sometimes it isn't. But it may very well be a "warning." I usually try to take note of it and process it at some point to see what it is.

Saturday after taking photos with Luke before Prom.....I had a "weird feeling" and once he went out the back door to leave.....I ran out the front door because I didn't get to hug him "Goodbye." I had a "feeling"......a sensation.....and I thought to myself.....

"What IF something happened to him tonight and I never got to hug him again?"
I wasn't scared....it wasn't fear.
I know it was a prompting and I have felt them many times. Sometimes I am LAX concerning these things and I let them pass and don't take proper action only to regret it later.

This time I knew I needed to do this.....so I did and I got him right before he got into my husband's truck and said....."I need to hug you Luke."

He said....."Mom.....ya'll need to quit being over so protective."

Hummm......I'm so glad I trusted my "GUT" that night. I'm glad we
"covered" our kids before they went to Prom.

When you feel something.....trust it.

In Biblical times.....the "guts" or in nicer terms "the intestines or bowels" were considered to be the "seat of the emotions"......much like the "heart" is today.

Trust the Gut people.

Many times God is "un-nerving us" for a reason.

Ariel told us once we got to the scene of the accident that night....."that she had a funny feeling on Friday about Prom...." Hummmm.....which now makes sense.

My older son has a very "keen" sense of all this....what we like to also call....."Discernment."

I tell him all the time......
"Trust it." Pay attention when you feel this or that.....if you have a "Check" about it..or a"reservation"....
then don't do or say it or go there or just whatever.

Don't give way to fear...but don't ignore it when you feel something going on.
I want my kids.....to seek direction. Many times when they are confused, they call us and consult our opinion or what we feel on whatever they are dealing with.

WE ALL can get "muddled down" in life and we loose our direction.
Sometimes...our inner "compass" can get messed up and we can get lost in this world.

All these things....can be fixed...that's the great thing.

Today the "DUI boy" was put before a Judge here because he has the 8 Criminal warrants against him that he has never addressed and basically has ran from.

We found out tonight..because of those issues alone.....he has been given some "penalties" for lack of the correct phrasing.. it's a sentencing of sorts basically....of ...1 year and 45 days in Parish Prison starting NOW. I guess?

I'll be checking into all this. Have I every learned a lot about our local "Judicial system" in the past couple of days but there is loads more to grasp.

I told my husband...after that last ordeal. I am ON this thing.
I will be learning the system because I haven't a clue how it works...and paying attention to what is going on. I have realized how ignorant I have been about this type of legal process and what happens when it's going on.

I need to tell you another "twist" to this story. But it will have to be at another time. I've been up late every night and I'm exhausted tonight.

I wish you all "Sweet Dreams."