How can you mend a broken heart?

I would take a needle and thread and sew it right up. If I could. The hurt is the deepest possible. The loss of a child. Not even born. The mother is a friend of Daughter. Mother-friend learned the news at her doctor appointment yesterday. Daughter told me last night.

Today I think of how to tell children sad news. I think of Daughter trying to explain the death to her own children. I remember having to explain baby death to my children. Unfathomable. But. I remember their confusion. Like, this is not natural. This is wrong. This is out of kilter. How can this be? And. This morning. I am having those same feelings. I want to protect Daughter. I want to physically hold her. This grown-child of mine, I want her back for a little while. To comfort and protect. Just like she will want to protect her children. Oh, that we could. 

In the past few years Mother-friend has buried her father and then her mother. And now. This. This child-loss. 

In my thoughts I keen and make savage noises. I holler the sadness out of my body. Until I am spent. 

I want to wrap my arms around Mother-friend. Let her scream and cry. And grieve the loss of her child. Hold her. Love her. 

Tell her to breathe. Just keep breathing. 

Promised pics...

I attended my first Trunk-or-Treat event yesterday. Our group served ice cream sundaes. After I worked my shift I walked around to check out the trunks, as I had never seen this before. Here is some of what I saw...

Gypsies! 

Hippies!

A cheese-head!

A very pretty fairy!

The sweetest kitty cat. 

***

It's a new week. It promises new adventure. I hope you find some, too. 

Picture post.

Recap of the last few days...

Mr. Macho played football at EMCC. Fondly called Scooba Tech. We attended their game Thursday night when they beat ICC 59-13. Go Lions!

Me. And Leo. The Lion.

The wind picked up toward the end of the game. We got chilly. Then it was time to go. Game over. 

(Edit: See the man standing over my left shoulder? In the red sweatshirt? He is that guy. That guy that roared like a lion the en-tire game! Even on his way to and from the bathroom, he roared. He did cartwheels on his way to and from the bathroom. Never got tired. Roar.) 

Friday. Fun day. Shopping with the girl friends. This store goes all out every year with their Christmas decorations. It was holiday explosion!

Saturday. Fire pit. Marshmallows. Yum. 

Saturday. Whitt's #2 birthday party. Sweat Pea had a high time. 

The birthday boy takes a swing at Elmo. 

***

Rounded out the weekend at my first Trunk-or-Treat experience. Will post pics tomorrow. 

Peace. 

A little post.

I have begun to teach myself to quilt. I am starting small. Nine squares. I like it. So far. I really needed a new project. No. Really. I think I have been in a creative funk. I walk in circles. When I am in the funk. 

And now? I'm back to walking in a straight line. I am crocheting, again. I might even pick up a piece of charcoal or a paint brush pretty soon. 

I am also beginning to practice keeping my own countenance. The art of staying quiet. I am not good at this. I am better at interrupting and making myself heard. This morning someone in my Bible study group said I looked like I was about to erupt...didn't I want to share? I just said, "no". 

I called someone the wrong name at Wal-Mart this morning. She said hello and kept going. But it was driving me crazy. I knew I had said the wrong name as soon as we passed one another. Thank goodness she needed something on the flour/spice/sugar/oil aisle. That is where I apologized. She said she didn't even hear it. I said it obviously bothered me more than her. Whoops! It was all good in the end. 

We still haven't turned on any heat. Haven't needed it, yet. I am seeing facebook posts about snow and cold weather up north. Tomorrow night we might have a freeze. I think I want to leave the heat off and just pile blankets on the bed. It sounds so cozy. Hot cocoa! That's all I'm saying. 

I will leave you with my final thought for the day...internet shopping is way too easy. 

Do your best. 

Be sweet. 

Good times, man.

Getting the hang of uploading my new iphone snaps. I know I shouldn't take pictures while driving. Be assured that traffic here in the mornings is nearly nonexistent. I will try not to do it in the future. The road between my house and the YMCA was foggy and pretty last Friday morning. Love the sun coming through the trees. It was a little foggier than it looks in the photo.

The road home. 

Friday lunch with Daughter. Mine was a fried green tomato BLT. It was yummy. The slaw was not bad, either. 

I forgot the name of her sandwich. She got the pasta salad and 

potato salad sides. We shared. She gave her's a thumbs up. Edgar's Bakery is a repeatable eatery. 

Friday I realized some success and found that 18 inch invisible zipper. Daughter directed me to a new-to-me fabric store, Sew Delightful. I will return to that spot. Good fabric selection. Saturday I finished the sleep sack I was working on. A gift for the first baby of Daughter's college roommate. 

Miss Thang at the Kentuck Festival. She liked riding the yellow school bus from our parking spot to the festival sight. 

***

Word this morning is that the tummy bug has struck at Daughter's house. The Super Carrot is down for the count. Here's hoping that the buck stops there and no-one else is struck with the 'epizootie'. (Thanks to our friend, Squirrel, for the medical terminology.)

On the move. Be sweet. 

Black and Gold.

It is Homecoming tonight. Our beloved Trojans will play one of the toughest teams in the division, if not the toughest. Who made the schedule? Anyway. Finally we have football temps. It was 48 degrees when we woke up this morning. Brrrr. I am still wearing shorts and t-shirts. I haven't taken out fall clothes. Yet. Perhaps this will be on my agenda for the weekend.

What is surely on my agenda is a big pot of chili tomorrow!! Yum. I like to cook it for hours. Also, we have lots of small branches that need to be burned. I think we will put our little fire pit to good use and get rid of that pile of kindling out in the yard. When it burns down to coals we might just light some marshmallows up and enjoy! Gooey. Warm. Slightly charred on the outside. Score!

One by one my pumpkin decorations have grown beards and started to rot. I don't know pumpkins. I guess they were out in the weather too long before I bought them. One by one they are making their way to my compost. My Thanksgiving cacti are  looking rather healthy right now. No buds. But healthy. I do hope they bloom.

Today? Today I am on the hunt for some slacks that fit. And hunting for that 18 inch zipper. Will travel far and wide in the search. I'll let you know if I find success.
Be sweet.

Keys.

I am feeling slightly recuperated from the weekend. Yesterday I was on a roll...workout at the gym, washing clothes, changing sheets, scrubbing bathrooms... I found a good stopping point in the early afternoon to get in the necessary shower so I could run to the local dollar store for a few small items. On my way out I got distracted putting this and that away. I had my phone and credit card in my hand, I thought, "lock the door" - and I did. That is when I realized that my keys were still hanging inside the house. Now. I haven't locked myself out in a long time. And. When I do - Mr. Macho is never readily available. And so. Thank goodness I had my cell phone...he couldn't be home for an hour. I just sat myself on my nice back porch, enjoyed the breeze, prayed a little, surfed my phone aps, and before long Mr. M. was there and all was well with the world. I will figure out how to not do that again. I promise. Once again, I am very thankful for my back porch. The air was pleasant and I was safe from the mosquitoes.

Monday night dance lessons left both of us worn out. All good.

Today I had the pleasure of babysitting Millie, again. She is learning to smile. It was sweet. Very little fussing after an episode of hiccups. She took a bottle and fell asleep. Easy. Peasy. Daughter-in-law stopped and picked up lunch on her way home. I enjoyed eating and visiting with her.

More clean sheets on beds today. More clean bathrooms. More is better.
Be sweet.

The party's over...

The celebration goes on. We tried our best to celebrate Mr. Macho's 60th birthday. Friday night was pretty calm inside the house. Unbeknownst to Mr. Macho, his sisters were decorating our front yard with signs and balloons that he discovered when he took out the trash early Saturday morning.

Besides this one the other signs read - "Speed limit 60", "60 rocks!", "Say it ain't so Mike is 6-0", "You old fart", and "Guess who is 60". I had decorated our mailbox with a big black and silver bow on Friday. The effect was bright and funny. 

Mr. Macho was a good sport and wore his oversized "Over the hill" button all day long. 

After lunch we all had to get outside and stretch our legs.

Dudes to the right. 

Dude-ettes to the left. 

With the help of Daughter, Merritt, and Peyton, Mr. Macho blew out his birthday candles. The cake was delish! Yellow cake. Chocolate frosting. His favorite. Accompanied by vanilla ice cream. 

We attempted to add suggestions to Mr. Macho's bucket list. Uncle Jay had the funniest one, only I can not post it here due to it's X-rated content. 

Mr. Macho read all the bucket list suggestions and his birthday cards aloud for all to enjoy. 

Fun cookies that were really good. Only I forgot to pass them out while everyone was here. 

Sweet cousins about to say goodbye for the weekend. 

***

After all were gone Mr. Macho very nicely said that I out did myself and he really appreciated all the trouble for his birthday. That simple statement made it all worth while. 

Celebrations begin...

First. Thanks S-I-T...I figured out how to get around my computer and upload this sweet picture. 

I call it "Millie's sweet dream". 

Next:

Yesterday I posted a 'throw back Thursday' photo of Mr. Macho on facebook. He was tickled and surprised with how many responses and comments were left. The fun has begun.

Last night we shared a birthday dinner with six of our friends. The friends insisted on a birthday candle for Mr. Macho's free dessert at Harvey's. And. Much to his chagrin, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. 

 ***

More cooking and cleaning today. Already have the brisket in the pot. Family will start to arrive after dark. This party is on!

*****

And. Lest I forget...Go Trojans!!

Tech glitch.

Have tried twice to retrieve photos from my iphone to this blog unsuccessfully today. I give.

Only 2 days until Birthday Bash. I think everything is getting done. Only things left are to clean house, cook stuff, get ice, pick up cake and cookies and chicken...

Tonight we will dine with 3 other couples in celebration of Mr. Macho's upcoming birthday. This afternoon I will scrub bathrooms and steam mop a few floors and wash some dirty clothes.

I did get all the pumpkins spread around the house. I am feeling like I am about to board this train. Once I get on, I can't get off. I'll just enjoy the ride.

I wish I could have up loaded those snaps. On Tuesday I got to babysit for Millie. I caught her smiling in her sleep. She must have been having sweet dreams.

Got to go clean up.
Be sweet.

Count down to birthday.

T minus 4 days. Until the party - 5 days to the birthday. I am wigged out. Trying to get all the birthday ducks to line up this week.

Today I am going to run by the newspaper and arrange for a certain someone's baby picture to be printed on his birthday.

And I am going to look for pumpkins to decorate.

And I am trying to clean up in and around the house.

And I am going to babysit Millie this afternoon.

So. Get out of here. I gotz to go.

*****
Had to add this little clip.

Things that have made me happy today....

This box I painted for the birthday popcorn this weekend.

This little solar dancing pumpkin man I bought at the Dollar Tree. I laugh every time I walk in the room. 

He is rocking away. 

Go on. Buy yourself $1 worth of fun!

Running shoes on. Check.

With Superman speed we whizzed through the weekend.

Friday night we enjoyed a lovely meal, compliments of Uncle Pete. He, Kaye, Paulette, and the two of us had a nice visit at Paulette's house then converged on J. Broussard's. Fried olives. That's all I'm saying. Yum. After we parted we had time to catch the second half of our Trojan football game. And we were victorious! Bonus.

Saturday started great. Ended poorly. Mixed messages and non-communication made it a tense day. I had arranged for us to dance at a retirement home with our friends. Mr. Macho's signals were not clear to me. Until. We reached the home and I realized he was angry. Instead of opting out of the rest of the day (he had a choice) he agreed to go ahead and go along with the social agenda that was planned. By the end of the day he was miserable and I was as tense as Dick's hat band.

Sunday dawned without any discussion of the previous day's stress. After church we drove east and met up with Daughter and family and enjoyed a lunch at the Northport Diner. It was pretty good diner fare, only everything in the place was so sticky. And there were no adults in charge. They left the place in the hands of harried teenagers. And. The check out procedure was inexcusable. So. We have BEEN to Northport Diner. (That means we won't go back.)

We dropped the children off at home. Daughter got Merritt settled for her nap. And we headed for Sam's. She shopped. We shopped. I got most everything on my list. Then we headed back to her house. Visited for a while longer. Then drove home.

We expected cool temps all weekend. They didn't start to arrive until we were on our way back home from Daughter's house. This morning, when Mr. Macho was leaving, I felt a rush of cool air when he opened the door. My computer tells me it is 50 degrees! Yeehaw!

This morning. I broached the subject of the weekend miscommunications. I apologized for subjecting Mr. Macho to a long afternoon that he did not enjoy. I asked that he be more clear when he is not inclined to participate. It will be easier. On both of us. I feel better now.

This week. We are in birthday mode. Yesterday we made some fun "Happy Birthday to Mr. Macho" purchases at Sam's. He got them set up. But dadgum if these gadgets aren't smarter than we are. We need our tech-savy chilluns to come home and teach us how to use these high falutin' thangs. I hope we eventually learn how to use and enjoy them. Geez. We are getting to be geezers.

Got to run to the gym. Then make it to my Loaves and Fish. By default I am the cole slaw mixer now. I am needed.
Be sweet.

Blah, blah, blah.

Whataweek. Political vomit. 

Yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed a Rotary luncheon where the guest speaker was our former governor, Haley Barbour. His topic was energy. Interesting and forward thinking comments about what our focus needs to be. His opinion is that we need to not be dependent on any one energy source. I liked his comment that went something like, "It is good to be hopeful. It is better to be knowledgable!" He is certainly knowledgable. He gave us much insight about what is happening with energy in our very own state. He spoke about nuclear energy, natural gas, oil, costs, and projections...

After he spoke he opened the floor for questions and the very last one had to do with our current "crisis". Wisely he said that the government shut down is not the answer. After, at least, 40 votes to try and repeal the ACA it is not going to happen. The votes to repeal, defund, or delay the health care act are simply not there. At this point we need to just let the chips fall where they may.

IF the ACA is as bad as we think it is going to be THEN speak loudly with your vote. 

Two of my girlie friends, the Guv-nah, and me. 

***

Son-in-town called this morning to let me know there was a red sky on his way to school. And we know what this means. Possible thunderstorms today. Guess I will get those baseboard finished, after all. 

It was a little comical to me that yesterday I was on my hands and knees washing the baseboards, took time out to shower and go rub elbows with the former governor, then come home and get back on my hands and knees to wash some more baseboards. That's how I roll. 

*****

Slowly, every so slowly, I am finishing the baby afghan with the bubble stitch that I started months ago. I feel like it is holding me up from starting other projects. So I must complete it! Soon.

And on with the day!

Be sweet.