Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my friend's daughter, Makily. If you get a chance and want to get an update here is her website address. http://www.caringbridge.org/fl/makilyangel/
Makily and her family are an inspiration to me. They are examples of what dedication, determination and a strong support system will get you. The Lord has used Makily in so many ways. She is proof that God still uses miracles.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Just Breathe
Do you ever take time out of your day to just breathe? I love the show "Grey's Anatomy." They often play this song that has the lyrics "just breathe." I used to think it was a dumb song until I really thought about the words.
I realize that we all breathe in some form or fashion or we'd be dead but it wasn't until I started doing yoga (I've been twice and notice I say it like I'm a pro, lol!) that I really understood the importance of deep breathing. It's calming. I've noticed that sometimes just by breathing deeply, I can calm my nerves, stop a headache, or even fall asleep.
I realize that we all breathe in some form or fashion or we'd be dead but it wasn't until I started doing yoga (I've been twice and notice I say it like I'm a pro, lol!) that I really understood the importance of deep breathing. It's calming. I've noticed that sometimes just by breathing deeply, I can calm my nerves, stop a headache, or even fall asleep.
My New Picture
I was in a wedding two weeks ago. So, before the wedding, I went to Clinique and had a makeover. On the way to the wedding I stopped by my parents' house to give Thomas a kiss. If you look really close you can see the lip prints on his cheek. Poor kid!
Humble Pie and Crow
My good friend Pat uses the saying, "I guess I'll eat crow for that one." I'm not sure if that's the exact way she says it but the reason she uses it is when she's made a mistake and has to admit it.
So today, I'll be using Pat's saying, "I guess I'll eat crow for that one." My brother-in-law is doing some repair work on my vehicle while I'm here in New Orleans. One of the things that has needed fixing is my driver's side window. It needs a new motor. For the past year and a half, whenever I go through a drive-thru I have to open my door because my window won't go down. If you need a humbling experience try it some time! The last straw was when I got stopped in downtown New Orleans and the police officer pulled a gun on me b/c I opened my door instead of rolling down my window. Sorry, I digressed...
Back to eating crow. So, for a $130 I bought a new motor for my window. The cashier told me that if I brought back the old one, I could get $30 back. Today, I went to pick up the motor only to realize that I had lost the receipt! I'm fairly organized but I have a terrible habit of throwing things away. I don't like clutter. Luckily, they gave me the motor but they would only give me a gift card instead of $30 cash. I got pissed and told them no, if they weren't going to give me the cash I wanted my motor back. Boy, do I sound like my pre-school students or what? All I could think about was what in the hell would I do with a gift card to Auto Zone.
Now, I didn't curse at the lady or raise my voice but I was adament about taking my old motor and going home. I got in the car and my sister calmly asked me what I planned to do with a broken motor. I told her what the lady offered me and she reminded me that there was plenty to buy at the Auto Zone for $30. If anything, I could buy $30 worth of gum and soda.
I came home and scowered my bedroom, pants pockets, and my purse (which wasn't cluttered) but I was unable to find the receipt. So, it looks like tomorrow I will be eating some humble pie and asking for a gift card. I'm laughing about my behavior as I type this but I am really embarrassed about going back to the store.
So today, I'll be using Pat's saying, "I guess I'll eat crow for that one." My brother-in-law is doing some repair work on my vehicle while I'm here in New Orleans. One of the things that has needed fixing is my driver's side window. It needs a new motor. For the past year and a half, whenever I go through a drive-thru I have to open my door because my window won't go down. If you need a humbling experience try it some time! The last straw was when I got stopped in downtown New Orleans and the police officer pulled a gun on me b/c I opened my door instead of rolling down my window. Sorry, I digressed...
Back to eating crow. So, for a $130 I bought a new motor for my window. The cashier told me that if I brought back the old one, I could get $30 back. Today, I went to pick up the motor only to realize that I had lost the receipt! I'm fairly organized but I have a terrible habit of throwing things away. I don't like clutter. Luckily, they gave me the motor but they would only give me a gift card instead of $30 cash. I got pissed and told them no, if they weren't going to give me the cash I wanted my motor back. Boy, do I sound like my pre-school students or what? All I could think about was what in the hell would I do with a gift card to Auto Zone.
Now, I didn't curse at the lady or raise my voice but I was adament about taking my old motor and going home. I got in the car and my sister calmly asked me what I planned to do with a broken motor. I told her what the lady offered me and she reminded me that there was plenty to buy at the Auto Zone for $30. If anything, I could buy $30 worth of gum and soda.
I came home and scowered my bedroom, pants pockets, and my purse (which wasn't cluttered) but I was unable to find the receipt. So, it looks like tomorrow I will be eating some humble pie and asking for a gift card. I'm laughing about my behavior as I type this but I am really embarrassed about going back to the store.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Clarification
Because I have anxiety I thought I should clarify what I wrote in my last entry. I'm not against being a mom. I personally feel its the greatest yet hardest job there is out there. I just feel that right now, its not for me, being alone and all. Maybe one day, it'll happen for me but if not, I'm fine being an aunt. Ok, I feel better now!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I'm fine for now!!!
So back in May I wrote this poor pitiful me entry about how depressed I was about the way my life has turned out. I think I'm done mourning.
Despite some of the mishaps here in New Orleans, this summer has been a good one. I realize that I LOVE being an aunt. Not a momma, but an aunt. Being an aunt means you don't do midnight wake-up calls (poor Molly and Eric), you don't spend your whole week cleaning your home only to have dozens of kiddos come and destroy it at your children's birthday party (great party by the way, Jess!). What it does mean is you can give them ice cream before dinner, you can take them to Chuck E Cheese and at the end of the day you return them to their rightful owners!
I also realize just how much I appreciate my 98 Honda CRV. Its paid for!!! I love my one bedroom apartment. When something is broken, I call maintenance. It takes me 2 hours tops to deep clean the place.
Finally, being single means I can pack up and go whenever and whereever I'd like.
I'm blessed. I'd still like to lose some weight but hey, we can't have it all, now can we? So as I long as I don't watch 'A Wedding Story or 'A Baby Story' I'm fine for now.
Traffic Court
How many 4 month olds can say they've been to traffic court? Well, now my nephew can! I got directions off of Mapquest to go to a place called Algiers to pay my ticket. Mapquest said it was 18 miles away and to allow 28 minutes. Well, it took me more than 28 minutes. More like 78 minutes! By the time I found the place I had paid twice to take a toll road, stopped at two Chevrons for directions AND driven the wrong way down a one-way street. I realize that I don't have the best sense of direction but I am not a total moron and I do know how to read. Sweet Thomas took pity on me and slept the whole way there. I think he knew I could not handle screaming this morning.
(If you read a couple of entries down you'll understand why I couldn't pay online. ) To top it off, I never carry cash with me. The Lord was looking out for me though. I had two dollars in my purse for the tolls and found an emergency stash of 10 ones in Thomas' diaper bag. I needed five of those ones to pay to park across the street from the court house.
I parked the car, hefted my 20 pound nephew into my arms with his diaper bag and purse on my shoulder. No stroller today, being as how the court house is not handicapped accessible and had 10 steps to climb to get into the door. The court house was old and dirty, shocker... like everything else in New Orleans. An 80 year old lady security guard told me where to go to pay the ticket. I went into the room where a guy wrote some code on my ticket and told me to take it to the desk in front of his. That lady told me to have a seat and wait because the ticket wasn't in the system. She took the ticket to the lady sitting two desks away from her. That lady couldn't figure out how to spell my name or where I was from so she yells across the room, "Janice Tucker... what is this city you're from?" Geez, where do they find these people? So, she finds the amount for the ticket and gives the ticket back to the first lady. $181 she says. So I ask her if she takes credit cards because the back of the ticket says, cash, cashier's check, money order or credit cards. Since I didn't know how much the damn ticket was before I got there I only had a credit card. She tells me she only accepts cash and personal checks. Yep, personal checks!!! Being as how I don't carry that kind of cash with me, I wrote her a check, got my receipt and left. I waited to cry until I got into my car. Thomas did too!
Oh how funny is this... while I wrote my check the cashier lady offered to hold Thomas. That was really kind of her. My sweet Thomas made a little surprise while she was holding him! Let's just say we had a code brown situation, hee hee!
While I'm going to be really sad to leave Thomas and Molly, I can not wait to go home. This is the most ass backwards place I have ever been in!!! Only 11 days left. Pray for me... I need it. Maybe its a good thing that I cry instead of getting angry. Bad things could happen if not!
(If you read a couple of entries down you'll understand why I couldn't pay online. ) To top it off, I never carry cash with me. The Lord was looking out for me though. I had two dollars in my purse for the tolls and found an emergency stash of 10 ones in Thomas' diaper bag. I needed five of those ones to pay to park across the street from the court house.
I parked the car, hefted my 20 pound nephew into my arms with his diaper bag and purse on my shoulder. No stroller today, being as how the court house is not handicapped accessible and had 10 steps to climb to get into the door. The court house was old and dirty, shocker... like everything else in New Orleans. An 80 year old lady security guard told me where to go to pay the ticket. I went into the room where a guy wrote some code on my ticket and told me to take it to the desk in front of his. That lady told me to have a seat and wait because the ticket wasn't in the system. She took the ticket to the lady sitting two desks away from her. That lady couldn't figure out how to spell my name or where I was from so she yells across the room, "Janice Tucker... what is this city you're from?" Geez, where do they find these people? So, she finds the amount for the ticket and gives the ticket back to the first lady. $181 she says. So I ask her if she takes credit cards because the back of the ticket says, cash, cashier's check, money order or credit cards. Since I didn't know how much the damn ticket was before I got there I only had a credit card. She tells me she only accepts cash and personal checks. Yep, personal checks!!! Being as how I don't carry that kind of cash with me, I wrote her a check, got my receipt and left. I waited to cry until I got into my car. Thomas did too!
Oh how funny is this... while I wrote my check the cashier lady offered to hold Thomas. That was really kind of her. My sweet Thomas made a little surprise while she was holding him! Let's just say we had a code brown situation, hee hee!
While I'm going to be really sad to leave Thomas and Molly, I can not wait to go home. This is the most ass backwards place I have ever been in!!! Only 11 days left. Pray for me... I need it. Maybe its a good thing that I cry instead of getting angry. Bad things could happen if not!
ADA
I was thinking about this the other day and I thought I'd post it... Whenever Thomas and I go out I take him in the stroller. He is almost 20 pounds and I carry enough extra weight around without his.
So, we were killing time the other day waiting for Molly and Eric to get off of work so I thought I'd stop in this store called Rainbow. We don't have one at home but I remembered it from when I lived in West Palm Beach. Its a store that carries cheap, trendy clothes for Plus-sized girls. Let me emphasize the word cheap. If you hand wash the stuff you might get 3 wears out of it.
We stroll into the store, or should I say, I hefted the stroller with baby in it up into the store being as how NOTHING in this part of Louisiana is handicapped accessible. I never knew how annoying those little lifts could be. (you know, the entrance doesn't match up to the outside so they at a step.) I've always been a stickler for ADA accomodations being an ESE teacher and all but now that I have Thomas with me I really notice.
My point to the story... so once get inside I realize that all the racks of clothes are jammed together. There is NO WAY I can look at anything in there. You'd think that since its a store for large women the aisles would be bigger!
So, we were killing time the other day waiting for Molly and Eric to get off of work so I thought I'd stop in this store called Rainbow. We don't have one at home but I remembered it from when I lived in West Palm Beach. Its a store that carries cheap, trendy clothes for Plus-sized girls. Let me emphasize the word cheap. If you hand wash the stuff you might get 3 wears out of it.
We stroll into the store, or should I say, I hefted the stroller with baby in it up into the store being as how NOTHING in this part of Louisiana is handicapped accessible. I never knew how annoying those little lifts could be. (you know, the entrance doesn't match up to the outside so they at a step.) I've always been a stickler for ADA accomodations being an ESE teacher and all but now that I have Thomas with me I really notice.
My point to the story... so once get inside I realize that all the racks of clothes are jammed together. There is NO WAY I can look at anything in there. You'd think that since its a store for large women the aisles would be bigger!
Because of Katrina
So, I got a ticket for running a stop sign in downtown New Orleans on June 16th. "Running" sounds bad. What actually happened was that I yielded instead of coming to a complete stop. Thats not the point, the point is, I got a ticket and I need to pay it. There's a website you can go to pay online. For the past 20 or so days, I've been going to the website to try and pay it only to discover that the ticket isn't online. My sister asked around at work and they said that there's nothing I can do until the police officer puts the ticket into the system. I'm supposed to have 30 days to pay it but the officer wrote that payment was due by July 11th! They said the police officers are bad about not putting the ticket into the system on time. So today, me and my nephew are driving down to traffic court to find out what the hell is going on. I hope he pulls that stuff he pulls when we go to the mall. (He HATES the mall.)
Personally, I 'd rather not pay the damn thing, but I don't like the idea of having a suspended license over something like this. This will be my contribution to Katrina. Everything around here is because of Katrina. You know what, Katrina was two years ago! Find another excuse! I'm sorry for the people who lost loved ones or their personal valuables in the storm but two years later, websites shouldn't be down, and police officers shouldn't be giving me the wrong phone number to call to find out how much my ticket will cost! Seriously, I've sent 2 e-mails, left 3 voicemails but have gotten no response. Molly's friend said that's because that site and office I am calling is out of order because of Katrina.
Wish me luck. As pissed of as I am about driving downtown to pay this damn thing, you'd think I'd show it by being mean. Nope, I'll probably cry. The story of my life!
Personally, I 'd rather not pay the damn thing, but I don't like the idea of having a suspended license over something like this. This will be my contribution to Katrina. Everything around here is because of Katrina. You know what, Katrina was two years ago! Find another excuse! I'm sorry for the people who lost loved ones or their personal valuables in the storm but two years later, websites shouldn't be down, and police officers shouldn't be giving me the wrong phone number to call to find out how much my ticket will cost! Seriously, I've sent 2 e-mails, left 3 voicemails but have gotten no response. Molly's friend said that's because that site and office I am calling is out of order because of Katrina.
Wish me luck. As pissed of as I am about driving downtown to pay this damn thing, you'd think I'd show it by being mean. Nope, I'll probably cry. The story of my life!
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