A Whole New Perspective to "Losing Your Mind"....!

I finally got my head together....now my body is falling apart....

Isn't this a great picture? Timbo had come home from work and was laying his head down on the bar while he was waiting on supper to be ready. I was folding the clothes (also in the pic!) when I looked up and noticed that shot. I (stupidly) said, "Tim, don't move," while I reached for the camera. So he raises up and turns around to look at me. I made him put his head back down so I could take the picture. It looks like I finally bit his head off! AND I did this all without any Photoshop or anything else. Just tired 'ole Tim and a very good picture. Enjoy!

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How did it get so late so soon?

It's night before it's afternoon.

December is here before it's June.

My goodness how the time how flown.

How did it get so late so soon?

--Dr. Seuss--

How did it get so late so soon? All of a sudden it is the last full week of April. I have four weeks of school left. In that time I have to clean out my classroom, pack it up for the new 'owner', pack what I am taking, plan a graduation party, plan a move, pack the house..................and it goes on and on. I feel time ticking away. I have so much to do! I realized it is the end of April and I have not even thought about, much less designed and had printed Luke's graduation announcements! Plus, I need to address the envelopes and get them sent. At the rate I am going, people will get them after the party. I need to figure out what we are having to eat, make arrangements for family who will be here to visit, order his name tags for the announcements, and the list goes on and on. Every day I add to the list far more than I scratch off. Time is ticking away! I have things I am writing that I want to get finished before I leave Kansas. I have so much to do that it is overwhelming me. Tim leaves for Oklahoma in less than five weeks. Does anyone else feel time ticking away? All this and none of it even touches on the fact that my baby, the last one of the brood is a senior in high school soon to graduate. Wasn't it only yesterday that he was toddling after all his brothers and sisters? How did it get so late so soon?

When You're Lucky Enough To Be Irish..........

I have written several times about my Grammie and Pop, my paternal grandparents. I was equally as lucky to have a maternal set of grandparents that were off the scales if one were measuring grandparents! With the spring weather we are enjoying (two days in a row now!) my thoughts turn to my Granddad Flanagan. Long before the weather was decent enough to go outside, he would have already been out getting everything ready so that when a beautiful day like today came along he was ready to plant. He was a wonderful gardener. I couldn't even begin to count the number of people that were on the receiving end of his garden's bounty. Perhaps it was because he was a full-blood Irishman, but my Granddad Flanagan was 'green' long,long before it was 'cool' to be green. My Granddad was the original 'recycle, reuse, reduce' man. We laughed at him about it. He took one mans junk and recycled it into something most of us never would have thought about. He made all kind of projects for his various gardens. He loved equally to garden fruit trees, vegetable gardens, herb gardens and flowers. If it could be grown he grew it. There was nothing that went to waste with my Granddad Flanagan. My Granddad gave practical gifts as presents. At the time, I never minded getting them, but I did not understand the importance of them until I got older. For instance, he gave Tim and me gifts such as a new wheelbarrow, a big gas can, trashcans complete with a handmade trashcan holder so dogs wouldn't get into the trash and an assortment of tools and motors. Believe me, all the gifts were handy and used all the time. It is only as I have gotten older that I realize the importance of what he was teaching me. One of his favorite gifts was to give us was a $100 grocery gift certificate. Wasn't that the best and most thoughtful? One gift he surprised me with, and totally out of character for his practical side, was a large painting of my three oldest children from a professional photographers. Every time I look at it still I not only "ooohahhh" over my three babies, but I think of Granddad and the fact that he knew I would love it, but never be able to afford it on my own. My Granddad was like that. He was also the most handsome man I have ever seen to this day. Period. No questions asked. When he was 80 he was still good looking (and not looking a day over 50!). He had the bluest eyes that were filled with mischief and kindness. His eyes looked like the ocean in the blue Caribbean. My Granddad never wasted time. He was always up and around doing something. He was a storyteller extraordinaire. He was a wordsmith with words. He was a man of many words and he knew how to use them well both written and verbally. My Granddad adored my Grandmother. She loved to wait on him and pamper him. Perhaps he was lucky, or maybe because he was such an outstanding gardener, but for whatever reason my Grandmother was a cook that cannot be matched. She could have made dirt taste good. She not only could cook anything and make it exceptional, but everything she cooked and presented to her family and friends to eat was like a picture. Her tables were beautiful and laden with fresh flowers and fresh food. When I see redbirds I know my grandparent Fergusons are around, but when I see gardens full of food and flowers I think of the Flanagans. As a couple it was unbelievable what they brought from the earth. I would love to hear them now if they could see this whole 'organic and green' movement. My Granddad, a true Irishman, talked often in Irish riddles and verses. One verse he repeated so often I can still hear him saying it, "If you're lucky enough to be Irish----You're Lucky enough." Just like the gifts that I learned in time were far more important than their surface value, I finally understand the depth of that verse. I was SO lucky to have them in my life........

Sometimes Life Is Just A Blur.......

I knew I had not posted in a while and I was reminded of it by my good friend Sarah, but I really had NO idea how long until I ventured back into the blogging world tonight. Why has it been two months??????
I have no idea. I really enjoy getting on my blog and trying to think of things to write about. ACTUALLY, I get on here and have to limit my thoughts.
I will say though, in the two months time I have not been on here, I was not just sitting around. First, I ended my mother-of-the-ballplayer-career. That will be a whole other blog. I just need to be in the right frame of mind to write it. All year long Timbo and I were on what we called "The Farewell Tour". You will hear about it soon. Next, I gave state assessments. Now that is enough to stress out anyone!! My students did very well though and as the scores came in I could feel a LITERAL weight off my mind, shoulders and neck. So much emphasis are put on those tests and the teachers that give the tests. So those tests encompassed several stressful weeks of my life. Then, Tim and I got new jobs and resigned from our present jobs. NOTHING STRESSFUL THERE!!!! Tim got his job in Oklahoma first and then I interviewed in the same school system about a month later. They offered me the job on the spot and I think it all had to do with ----TESTING!! I am not kidding. They talked and talked about testing and how well my students had done over the last five years. Now, I must learn the Oklahoma test and disect it to a million pieces to teach the students. OK, so we got new jobs and resigned from our others. That was hard to do because the people at my school have been very very good to me. Then we had to begin house-hunting. Not only that we had to figure out what the youngest two boys were planning to do. Was their plan to go to Oklahoma with us or stay in Kansas? The answer to that went back and forth on a daily basis. At this moment, both are going with us.....But we all know that could change again a million times. It is so hard to look for a house when we didn't know what town to look in! It was so hard to look for a house when we had to look over the internet most of the time! It was so hard to look for a house when everything is SO expensive!! MY GOSH!!! More stress!! Then we began to clean out and pack up our house. Another OH MY!! We have lived in this monstrosity of a house for seventeen years and five children. Every nook and cranny of the four floors is filled with something. We have thrown away so much already. We have one whole room for a garage sale (that we scheduled and cancelled when it was SNOWING IN APRIL). So more stress....just trying to pack this house up. Then more stress figuring out who would want this house that needs work but has wonderful bones. And don't think there aren't a thousand different emotions churning along with every decision we make. We want to do what is right for the children, our parents and of course us; but there are so many factors weighing in on every decision. Don't forget I still get depressed everytime the weather won't cooperate. I just want warm weather so badly! So, that is what I have been doing for the past two months. I also have been just plodding along with my every day life and getting through each day. In the back of my mind I think about my diet. I have great moments/days/even multiple days in a row, then BAAAMMMM! I get stressed and immediately turn to food. I have to learn to find something else to turn to when I am stressed besides food...Which in turn gets me back to my blog. It is such a stress reliever to write. It is almost (almost being the key word) as good as chocolate. Why have I been away for two months????????? The good news: I'm back!

So Let The Game Begin!!

My sister, pictured here, is in on the diet now. Quite by accident she has become my competition. She has agreed to go on TV and tell all of OKC (and its outreaches) about her weight and let them join in watching her lose. She and several others in OKC, who are in various stages of overweightness (new word) are being filmed by the local Channel 4. They are also being provided with a personal trainer five days per week. The film crew is going to follow them for as long as it takes, to watch them lose their weight. The day began with them filming my sister at her house and filming her pantry. My sister is a mover and a shaker in OKC. She knows everyone and everyone knows her. For her to do this in front of everyone is very very brave! Now the term 'mover and shaker' is going to take on a whole new meaning! I think she may also be blogging about her experience. I am sure that too will be professional and superb. Don't forget about me and my amatuer hour please! So, quite without planning it, my sister and I are pitted against each other. This is a fact: you will never find two more competitive spirits than my sister and myself. Now everytime I want to be weak, I will just have to think of K. and her personal trainer and the fact that half of Oklahoma is watching her....and just pass up the temptation facing me. Let the game begin!

The 'Large' family

Maybe it is not the BEST idea to follow up the eating healthy blog entry with one about the LARGE family, but that in fact is the sad truth of the matter!!  Pictured here is just a smidgen of the food I made for the family when we were celebrating Luke's Sweetheart night and ballgame.  I just couldn't resist putting them on the blog since I keep talking about eating healthy!

Obviously I had to make a lot of food.....just look at the boys I was trying to feed!  I love the picture of Ford with all the 'big boys'.  The funny part is not that he thinks he is cool being with the 'big boys', but he seems a little transfixed by pretty little Tiffany and her red dress.  I guess boys are boys at any age when they see a pretty girl!  

Now about the Large family:  We dubbed ourselves this quite accidentally.  "We" being my extended Ferguson family.  I have many, many cousins and we all tend to be very tall and 'big-boned' as we like to say.  "Good breeding" material as hubby likes to say!  Hearty stock.  Sturdy Scottish people.  As I said, I come from a 'large' family....as in many people.  We are a close knit family.  I have already talked about how we all used to spend every Sunday afternoon together at my grandparent's house.  We were a lucky family as well.  Three generations of my family had been deployed to different wars.  From WWI, WWII, the Korean Conflict through Viet Nam, we had family members deployed at each war.  These family members saw active duty and front line duty.  They all came home.  No women died during childbirth, no tragic accidents happened, no babies were stillborn.  No one in my family died until my grandparents did.  They were both in their late 90's when they died.  Tragically, that unbelievable streak of good luck ended on Halloween night 1991.  My cousin, Barb, was killed by a drunk driver that night.  We had never had to deal with tragedy before, but because we are such a close-knit family we immediately rallied around one another.  Although my  Dad had many nieces, he always had Barb at the top of his list.  She was feisty and talented and smart.  My Dad was asked to deliver the eulogy at Barb's funeral.  He, being the seasoned politician, was used to delivering speeches to all kinds of crowds.  That day found him struggling more than he thought he would.  When he got up to speak, he looked out at the family.  I'm telling you we are a big family (once again...number wise).  We can be imposing.  We take up an entire side of any given church.  And there we were.  The funeral was sad, as Barb was not quite forty and left behind two young sons, not to mention we had lived in our little utopian world where tragedy did not happen.  My dad's speech seemed to make us more sad as he talked about things we had all done as a family when Barb was there.  Then he said his now famous line.  I don't even really remember the exact words, but however it was that he said it, we ALL