"The Secret Life Of Bees"

My neighbor texted me the other day, "I'm cleaning and have a bunch of books. Do you want any?"

So I head over. There is one in particular she wants me to read. It's "The Secret Life of Bees."

This was Saturday or Sunday. I started reading it on Monday and by Wednesday I had finished it. Yes, that is pretty fast for a mother of two. "How did I finish that fast?"

Well, it MAY be possible I read while the kids played, napped and ate, but that is just slightly possible. It is also possible I read while Chloe was at school when I should have been doing other things. Again, just slightly possible.

This book was written for people who have minds like mine; detailed, curious and has the ability to step into the book. It is SO well written! I like the little details this book brings to life like the way the air tasted or what The Black Mary looked like. The ending is awful, but the book is really really good.

So I finished the book Wednesday afternoon, got on redbox and tried to find the movie. I rented it and watched it that night. I spent the whole time picking apart the movie. It is very different than the book. I told Matt, "If people watch this movie and don't read the book they are doing themselves a great disservice." The book is filled with so many details that can not be captured on film, only with words.

The words require you to 'create' the people in your mind; what they look like, how they sound, how they dress and how they interact. I think the movie was very close to imitating that, but it wasn't perfect. A few of the main story lines in the book were changed in the movie!!! *grrr*
So I would say to you, "Read the book and only watch the movie if you want to pick it apart."

Do You Know What May Is?

I had a skin scare back in November of 2008. I had a spot removed from my chest that looked rather bothersome to the doctor. It didn't bother me, in fact I really didn't think twice about that spot. I always thought the moles were the ones that were scary. Not so. It ended up not being skin cancer, but had it gone undetected and not been removed it is possible it would have ended up being cancerous. "What did it look like before it was removed?" Just an everyday freckle. It was darker than any of the other freckles on my body, almost black. It was about the size of a pencil eraser. But size does not always matter.

Anyways, I thought I'd tell you May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

Sooo, find the nearest dermatologist and make an appointment for a skin check. Dermatologists across the country are offering FREE skin checks. Here is the link www.aad.org/public/exams/screenings

Because I spent way too much time laying out and not as much, but still too much time in the tanning beds, I will visit Dr. Anderson every 6 months for the rest of my life. That's what I get.

Research shows that the UVA rays you get at the tanning salon are three times more powerful than rays from natural summer sunshine.

Here is a really good article in Ladies Home Journal that is full of good, life saving information.

This is what I use EVERY SINGLE DAY. It has become my new normal for my morning routine. It came recommended by my doctor. I even use it on the kids.

It contains Helioplex which is very important. FYI: Helioplex is a sun protection technology that combines two active ingredients: avobenzone and oxybenzone. It's used by Neutrogena in their new products to provide strong protection against UVA and UVB rays.

Here is a link that will inform you on how to buy sunscreen and teaches you about SPF, it's very helpful.


"Do I still want to lay out?" If I wasn't fat, yes, yes I still want to lay out, BUT I desire to be alive for my children even more.

Cooper Species

The following are videos of the species Cooper freaking out because I would not let him have the prized cell phone. This video is him attempting to get it while I torture and tease him in an effort to get him to walk. The reason you can only see his feet? Because I had to hold the phone in front of him like a carrot, so he would walk and Chloe would not be a good videographer. If I scooted too far back he'd just crawl.



This video is just funny and very short.


Here you will see the Cooper species yell, scream, tear up and allow snot to fall out his nose all while trying to grab the elusive pink cell phone. While attempting this feat, he manages to take TWO small steps; the first of his kind.

My Mother's Day Gift

For Mother's Day, Matt took Friday off. Well, I don't think he intentionally took Friday off in order to celebrate Mother's Day. I think he took it off initially because I had a Dr's appointment that morning. Anyways, we got to spend the day together while the kids played at Mama's & Papa's.

Matt wanted to surprise me with a new camcorder, but he can't surprise me because I check the bank account just about every day and I pay the bills. So any odd activity and I'll notice. We stopped by Best Buy to browse. At least I thought we were just going to browse. We head over to the cameras to see if they have the Sony lens I've been dreaming about. They don't, so we go to the camcorders and Matt starts asking me which one I want. Him being a good salesman, he sold me on a Sony and I love it. Here is one of the first videos we took. It's about a minute but if you watch long enough you will see Coop stand for only the second time in his life....



Ok, so now I have to give my husband props. When he bought me this he said, "Aren't you excited about this?"
"I'm really excited. This is going to be nice b/c my cell phone is terrible at video."
"Didn't I do a good job thinking about this?"
"You sure did, very good idea babe."
"I think you need to give me props on your blog."
"I will, but you never read it, so how will you know if I do or not?"

Props to Matt for being thoughtful.

A Rare Find

I was cleaning around our bed, which was long long overdue, and found a Buck knife in it's leather case that hooks to a waist band. "Huh, must be Matt's," I thought.

I take into the living room, get it out of the case, "Is this yours?" I ask Matt while noticing an etching of a date on the top of the blade.

He looks at it, "Ya, your Dad gave me that."
I open the blade and see my Dad's initials carved at the base of the blade. The initials were only visible when the blade was open. "But why is your birth month and year etched on there?"

"Umm, I don't know, but that's kind of weird."

I email my Dad and ask him if for sure the knife is Matt's. He tells me it is and that it was his (my dad's) dream knife back then and that he had given it to Matt and Matt could give it to Cooper later on.

I ask him why he etched that date into it. He told me he must have done that when he bought it. "Why? Is that neat?" He asked, totally not getting was I was throwing down.

"Ya, it's neat because you bought that knife the same month Matt was born and we are married and now he has the knife YOU bought the same month he was born!!!"

I thought it was neat.

She's All Growed Up

We officially converted Chloe's crib into a 'big girl' bed, Saturday May 2nd, 2009 at approximately 1:00 pm central. I've been putting off the transition because I am a selfish mom and I enjoy my time eating lunch, sitting alone, drinking coffee, reading, blogging and or doing nothing in peace.

I must compliment Chloe though. She did not get out of bed once during her nap that fateful Saturday. I say she did not get out of bed. She did not come into the living room, just to clarify.

From the looks of the contents and occupants of her 'big girl' bed. It does appear that Miss Joy did in fact get out of bed and retrieve the stuffed animals that were NOT placed in her bed prior to her lying down. It appears she also 'read' a few books, toted one of her 5 baby dolls in the carrier because every good mommy knows the carrier goes to bed with you. There were many items on the floor. My guess is they could not fit properly on the 'big girl' bed WITH Chloe, so they took the best spot available on the floor.

Around 5:00pm central time. Matt and I decided it was high time to wake Chloe up. (sinners we are, I know) We wanted her to sleep like she was still in a crib that night. This is the reaction we got. (Proceed below)

That is Chloe's angry face AND the face of a sister refusing to let her younger yet larger brother play with the contents and occupants of her 'big girl' bed. Come on people, every doll, book, animal, little person, purse, truck, ball and string is for sure Chloe's and NOT Cooper's. Just in case you were curious.
Once Cooper is clear of the 'big girl' bed, all weeping and gnashing of teeth subsided. Then there was a slight silence.

She is doing really great though, I must say. I'll talk about that later though.

(The title is Okie talk for those of you not familiar with hick.)

You Don't Have To Understand Everything...

You don't have to understand everything to believe in something.
-craig g. lifechurch.tv

I was drinking chai with some friends a week or so ago. The topics of conversation bounced around to random things and ended up landing on the topic of "God providing for your every need."

One of the ladies said, "I don't believe that. How can there be starving children in Africa and yet God still provides for your every need?"

No one said anything. I'm not sure if they agreed, didn't know how to refute her comment, or didn't agree, but didn't want to argue.

I didn't agree, didn't want to make her uncomfortable (I don't know her well), and really didn't know what to say to show her why she was wrong. (I was going to share my story of God providing, but it's too lengthy, in a good way.)

When I got home Craig's quote popped in my head, "You don't have to understand everything to believe in something."

"Darn it!" I thought. "Why didn't I think of that then?"

He is so right. I don't have to understand why terrible things happen to young children at the hands of their parents, I don't have to understand why people do what they do. I don't have to understand it all.

BUT I do understand a few things and in those few things that I DO understand, it's enough for me to believe Him for everything.