Ramblings of a Redneck Woman

On 6-18-09, Bekah suddenly decided she was a “big girl” and took off swimming underwater without holding her nose and with her eyes open. I can’t even do that lol. The video quality isn’t great…I took it from my Blackberry…and ignore my brassy, loud voice lol.

This is a classic…lol

will be released in late August, and some of you may know I’ve been anxiously awaiting the song “I Will Carry You” with great impatience (not a virtue, I know).  My post about the song is here.

Todd Smith, one of the singers for Selah, and his wonderful wife Angie lost their precious Audrey Caroline last year, shortly before I began to carry Ruby Mae. While our circumstances were different, the results were the same, and both our families had to say a heartwrenching “goodbye” to our precious little girls all too soon. They wrote the song that I’ve been anticipating so much, and that both touched me greatly and helped give me incredible peace during a time I needed it so much.

That said, Angie mentioned on her blog, Bring the Rain, that some families who wanted the CD and needed help getting it could let her know and she’d see what she could arrange. It was like I was punched in the gut…I just knew that I had to help somehow. So I emailed her, with an offer to pay for a CD to go to some family who were also mourning the loss of a little angel. It just felt like the “right” thing to do, and something I HAD to do. Thus began a series of emails back and forth that had me in tears and smiling at the same time. Angie is a wonderful, genuine person and while I’m so sorry to have “met” her under our circumstances, I’m grateful too that there is someone out there who understands, who “gets it,” ya know?

Anyway…if anyone would like to help out by sending a CD or two to a family (or families) who needs it, please contact me at disneyfreek@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how you can help out. This is such a small thing, and yet such a great thing too.

I will never stop missing my Ruby Mae, but if I can help someone else…it eases the pain.

Regardless of whether you can help out or not, make sure to go buy the CD on August 25th, or pre-order it now through Family Christian Bookstores (thanks to Angie for the link info). It promises to be a wonderful CD.

Jared and Katie (15 and 13) have been gone to OK on our church’s annual youth mission trip.  They left last Friday morning, and are due in this afternoon, in about an hour actually.

They work pretty hard when they go…doing construction, planting, a VBS (Vacation Bible School), etc., and while it tires them out, they really enjoy the heart work, socializing, and “Christian time” they get with the church they stay at, as well as the one they’re helping out.

I found out that Sunday night, Jared played his trombone (Amazing Grace and another song) and preached a devotional.  He was told that if he gains a few pounds he’d make a good preacher

Also Sunday night, Katie sang one of her songs she’d written, and received glowing reviews.  I think she’s going to sing it at our church now.  She’s really talented with her song writing…some of the songs sound like what you’d expect from a 13-year-old, and then she’ll surprise you with a song that just smacks you upside the head and makes you think, “WOW.”

I’m so excited that they’re coming home…I’ve missed them!!

THE HORMONE HOSTAGE

THE HORMONE HOSTAGE KNOWS THAT THERE ARE DAYS IN THE MONTH WHEN ALL A MAN HAS TO DO IS OPEN HIS MOUTH & HE TAKES HIS LIFE INTO HIS OWN HANDS! THIS IS A HANDY GUIDE THAT SHOULD BE AS COMMON AS A DRIVER’S LICENSE IN THE WALLET OF EVERY HUSBAND, BOYFRIEND, CO-WORKER, OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER!

13 THINGS PMS STANDS FOR:

1. PASS MY SHOTGUN
2. PSYCHOTIC MOOD SWING
3. PERPETUAL MUNCHING SPREE
4. PUFFY MID-SECTION
5. PEOPLE MAKE me SICK
6. PROVIDE ME with SWEETS
7. PARDON MY SOBBING
8. PIMPLES MAY SURFACE
9. PASS MY SWEATS
10. PISSY MOOD SYNDROME
11. POOR MEN SUCK
12. PACK MY STUFF
& MY FAVORITE ONE
13. POTENTIAL MURDER SUSPECT

You don’t have to appreciate art to be impressed by this! AWESOME.
Enjoy!

These young ladies build horses out of scrap driftwood they find…

Not only are they beautiful but they are using what Mother Nature has left behind in order to create another form of art.

All my life, I’ve never had to wear makeup. Sure, I looked nice with it on, but I looked just as nice without it. However, the sins of my past are catching up to me, literally overnight. I have horrible brown “patches” on my face…blotches that make me look like my face is always dirty. Makeup will cover them up, but only briefly. As the day wears on, the patches show through my foundation. Joy.

I never “worshipped the sun,” but neither did I protect myself from it. When I was overseas during the first Gulf War, I was way up north, and didn’t have access to the supplies of sunscreen that were sent for the troops. To be honest though, even if I had, I wouldn’t have used it…for the same reason I never wore makeup…it was a huge hassle that I didn’t want to deal with. I got burned, and burned badly shortly after my arrival there, but it soon turned to tan and I just didn’t worry about it and continued to stay out in the sun with no protection. When I came home, I was so brown I looked like another race’s blood coursed through my veins. My parents were shocked at my brown skin and sun streaks in my previously dark hair. I liked it though…I thought I looked healthy.

Now, not so much. I’m wishing I’d listened to the news and all the information out there that said to wear sunscreen every day, even for just casual exposure to the sun, such as you’d get from a brisk walk or going in and out of work during the day. I also wish I’d listened about the hazards of popping my knuckles, but that’s another story.

So does anyone have any advice? Mom or someone suggested the juice of a lemon, but so far I haven’t seen any results from that, so quit trying it. It was a sticky mess. I’m convinced this is sun damage…but have no clues on how to repair it or even just to hide it.

Justin bought his brother’s truck.  Its only a year old, and fully loaded.  Its definitely more truck than we could have bought new, so Justin is happy with it, which makes ME happy with it.  OK, I was happy with it already, but it makes me happier

We’d been borrowing vehicles since September of last year, when the motor in my van decided to go kaput.   We got a “new” (i.e. refurbished) motor in February, and Justin and his other brother took a couple weekends and got them swapped out, but we’d gotten the wrong motor…when Justin bought it, the guy asked him, “Do you have a California Emissions Vehicle?”  Justin said “I don’t know, how do I tell?” and the guy said “Oh, this is south MS, it can’t be a CA EV.”   Well when Justin and Lee were switching the motors, they discovered a LOT of stuff on the old motor that wouldn’t attach to the new motor, and Lee said “Oh, this is a CA EV.”  DOH.

So we thought we were going to have to buy a new computer, but Justin talked to the Chevy dealer maintenance guys, and they said our old computer will work, we just have to bring in the van to them.  So…Justin has to put the wheels back on the van and get it up on a trailer and take it in.  Hopefully it won’t cost too much to reprogram the computer and that is in fact all that is needed to make my van run again.  I can’t WAIT to have it back…I’ve missed it!

And the best part of all, my yard will no longer look like the typical redneck yard, with a vehicle up on blocks!

Sorry I haven’t written in over a week…I switched up some stuff on my laptop, and couldn’t access my blog afterwards.  Then when I tried to get the password changed, the emails went to my spam folder, which I didn’t think to check until today (bad Kandy).  I’ve been all flustered, trying to figure out how to write on my blog again!

It must be my gray hair…

to discover Google Reader!!!

Some of you know, while I was in the hospital in February, recovering from my thoracotomy, Justin went and got me an early Valentine’s/birthday present, a new Blackberry phone.  I have been *thrilled* with this gift and am always looking for new apps to download.

Tonight, by accident, I found a free Google maps app (it was a linked ad on one of my apps that finds movie listings).  After installing it, I saw there was a free GMail app.  Even better!  Then after installing THAT I saw the Google Reader app…I installed it and it said to go to a regular computer to set it up, and I did.

WOW.  I love this thing.  I was able to quickly add Being Frugal, Chocolate, The Other White Meat, Daddy Papersurfer, In the Life of a Child, and others. Its such an easy-to-read format, easy to navigate, easy to figure out (important for me lol), and just overall EASY. I love it.

I’d heard of it in the past…but I’d resisted it because I know many sites get ad revenue only when you actually view their blog, not read it in a reader…but I’ve finally made the conversion.

The best thing of all is that I can now catch up on my favorite blogs with no excuses. You see, I’ve been negligent and just kind of drifted away from many things on the internet that reminded me of Ruby, and my friends’ blogs were one of those things. Then I was no longer in the habit of reading them, so just forgot.

But now, with the app on my Blackberry, I can check the blogs no matter where I am, and I LOVE THAT. I’m hoping I can easily comment from the Blackberry too…hmmm I’ll have to go see about that

By the way, if any of ya’ll know of any great, free Crackberry Blackberry apps, please feel free to le tme know