Day 91 - June 30th

WARNING! MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS. I GET PRETTY PERSONAL IN THIS ONE ABOUT MY DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT. IT'S MY BLOG AND I THINK I CAN WRITE WHATEVER I WANT. RIGHT? ANYWAY...CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED...I USE "GIRLY" WORDS AND TERMS IN THIS BLOG.

Today I went to the doctors...again. For the fun girly pap-smear appointment that my doctor must think I love doing. It's the 3rd one in a year. Supposedly women are supposed to get this done once a year, but I'm an over achiever and like doing it more often (I'm lying). The nurse got the giggles when I told her that they must be mistaken and think that I actually like doing this. She laughed and said, we don't particularly like doing them either. Then we got into a conversation on how a man must have invented this. Then we laughed that men think they have it rougher because they have to have a prostate exam. Awww...poor babies! Not even close to this!! Then she thought she would make me feel better by saying, "Well, you only have to take your bottoms off this time since this is a re-pap." I told her if I had a choice, I would rather just take my top off and be felt up.

I've had two paps in the past year that came back with abnormal cells. One pap a year coming back abnormal is common for me, I've come to expect it. For years I've always had to come back and do it again and then learn that everything is fine. This is the first year, that two tests have come back with abnormal readings. They scheduled me for a biopsy two days before my wedding. I just didn't want anyone messing "down there" two days before I got married. I canceled it, didn't reschedule it, and finally talked my doctor into doing one more pap before doing a biopsy. After our "visit" today she told me, "No offense, but I hope I don't have to call you again this time."

These are a few pictures I snapped while waiting. The first one is "The Tray", it's a sterile environment for tools that will be quite unsterile very soon. The second picture is how wonderful my nurse is...she warmed the gel in warm water before the doctor came in. It's the little things like that that just make these appointments addicting. (I'm lying again. You know that right?) That gel can be SO COLD sometimes. The third picture is of speculums in their natural habitat not knowing that their days are numbered. These are still wrapped in the sterile wrap. These are at least plastic now, they used to be metal that I'm sure they kept in freezers. They also hook up to a light and microscope nowadays, which just make them so much more fun! They should sell tickets. And I wonder how many times a day an OB/GYN has to say, "Scoot down to the end. More. Keep scooting. Keep going. All the way down. Come on."

And really, there is just no conversation that seems normal in this circumstance. You can't see anything but the lights on the ceiling. And the paper they give you isn't at all comfortable or modest. Doesn't really matter anyway, they just crumble it all up on your tummy anyway. What do you talk about? This time we talked about the seriousness of the tests they are running. I'm not worried about them. I'm used to being a medical marvel. I am proud to say once I "Warm Chattered" my doctor years ago and sold her some Satin Hands when I was a Mary Kay Lady. She was a faithful customer for a couple of years.

Day 90 - June 29th

Ginger went home with Papa (my dad) tonight for dinner, swimming, and a sleep over. And I had a hot date with my husband. We laughed so much, like we always do together. We had just the greatest time being together. We went to Chipotle (of course) and then went to the movies and saw The Proposal. Very cute and hilarious!!! We then continued our date at Target! I was for sure we were going to get kicked out of there. I felt like high-schoolers in love and couldn't stop laughing, flirting, and just couldn't keep our hands to ourselves. I'm sure we were annoying the hee-haw out of some people. Oh well, we had a great time. And we decided this hat looks better flipped inside out.

Again, I just have to say how wonderful it is to be with the one God has chosen for you. Every day is full of love and taking care of each other. Our only arguments end up being because we are trying to consider what the other wants before ourselves. We've have never had to say "What about me?" Because we are so wrapped up in each other and making sure the other is taken care of first. It's so hard to not compare to the "before" but I can't help it. This is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I now know what it's like to have someone truly love me now and I want so deeply for him to understand just how much I love him. But he can't possibly understand the deep love I have for him. The words "I love you" are so small and can't possibly be big enough to hold all the meaning I want for it to have. That's why we constantly fight with, "No, I love you more."

Day 89 - June 28th

Got to church just a few minutes late and it broke my heart to see Ginger run up on stage to sing with her VBS group at the very last part of the song. She was so disappointed and was crying when she came off the stage. I hated it. I didn't know she was supposed to be there early, I thought they would do it after the adults praise and worship. Oh well, she forgot about it by the end of service and was hunky dory after that.

Chuck came over and played a duet with Ginger using her piano books. She loves asking him piano questions and hearing him play. She has become quite the fan of Chuck. They all went out for a sno-cones in a cup and some shopping while I nursed a headache from a pony tail that I think was too tight, then I went and mowed the Tulsa house lot and came back and weed-whacked our other house. I was hot and sweaty and felt so good. I love mowing. Oh and a cold front moved in!! It was only 95 today!! Down right chilly!!

Also, another celebrity died. This time it was a favorite of Ginger's. Billy Mays. I don't know if this man had too many actual fans, but everyone knew he was. He was the LOUD OxyClean guy. The loud guy on TV that sold all sorts of stuff you didn't know you needed. Ginger loves infomercials and she loved this guy. She was upset that he died and wondered if we could still buy the sticky putty that when you mix the green part with the white part we could hold up a truck. (those were her words). We will miss you Billy Mays, you will always be remembered in our home as the guy who can cook 4 burgers at one time. And apparently, we still need this. We bought Aquaglobes in memory of him. I don't know if he was the one who promoted it, but still, apparently we needed them.

Day 88 - June 27th

Another miserably hot day but with 752% humidity. This is craziness!! I heard some old lady in line at the post office that we beat a new record. Not only did we make over the 100 degree mark in June since the first time since 1984. We also hit 5 days in a row over the 100 degree mark for the first time since 1936. I don't know if it's true, and I probably won't do the research on it, so please don't use this as a basis for a thesis.

Russell helped Tina move into her new home. Remember Tina? She was a part of our backyard camp out and cookout with Chubby Bunny. He helped her move and hung more Sheetrock at the Tulsa house. Ging and I stayed home and tried to clean, but remember that my little air conditioner is having a hard time keeping up. So besides dishes, laundry, and the shower being cleaned, very little got done. I still wasn't feeling too good because of the either the chinese we ate or what I had to look at while we ate chinese. It's also the 5th day in a row that I've smelled cooked macaroni (pre-cheesed). It's weird. And I don't know why.

We stayed home and made spaghetti that night and Ginger was in charge of the bread. She loves cooking and giving everything her own little "twist". They were yummy. The small ones were crunchy and the big ones were very soft. See the snowman she made...I mean "breadman"?

Day 87 - June 26th

Regular day in Oklahoma. Really hot with 274% humidity. While Ginger went to her last night at VBS we went out to dinner with the Knappers. (Pronounced - Kuh-Napper) We went to China Star, we all were craving us some Chinese food. I won't go there anymore, it all tasted the same icky taste and I ended up with a tummy ache. Ginger had a fabulous time at VBS and didn't want it to be over and can't wait till next year. YEAH to Ms. Ginny and all the fabulous workers! You rock!!

I went round and round on the merry-go-round in my head if I should post this POTD or not. Sad to say, it was the only picture I took today. Ginger thinks it's rude. I think it's rude too and I would just drop in horror and terrification if I found myself in this same position on someones blog. But here it goes. This may be the reason for my upset stomach. Sorry.

Day 86 - June 25th

Today is one that some will remember forever (probably not me, but some will). Two entertainment icons passed away today and that makes three for the week. Ed McMahon died a few days ago. But today Farrah Fawcett passed away when she lost her battle with cancer She was in the orginal Charlie's Angels (which I never saw) and had beautiful 70s hair that followed her through her entire life. She was only 62 years old and still very beautiful.

The other was, Michael Jackson. Don't really know what to say about him. I was never really a big fan, although his older music was catchy. I guess he would be considered the "Elvis" of my generation. He was labeled the King of Pop. He was weird. A weird like an unusual car wreck weird, you just couldn't help watch and look at this man. And I'm trying not to roll my eyes at those who are crying and crying over him. It's never great when someone dies at the age of 50, but it's not going to change my life. I didn't personally know him and I didn't have tickets to one of the 50 venues he was playing this summer.

Wow, I sound really compassionate don't I? I'm sorry he died, I hope he knew Christ and found Him in his last moments. But it's amazing to me how many people are letting it affect them, in a profound way. I won't be found dressed in black, with a padora, a white sequence glove, white makeup with red lipstick, wearing some sort of a toy-soldier jacket with huge shoulder pads, and holding a candle and crying for the next 23 days. It's intresting and I'll be curious to know what they found was the cause of death.

Tonight we got to go out on a double date. Thank you Joy for letting my kid sleep at your house!! You rock!! Russ and I went with Russ and Amy to see Transformers 2. I was more than shocked that I actually liked it. I went to support my husband in participating in the kind of movies he likes. But I really liked it. Yeah, I didn't catch my breath until the credits rolled and it was hard to figure out what truck was fighting what truck and which trucks were on the good side or the bad side for that matter. But I'm a fan of Shia LaBeuf! He's so stinkin' cute! I've watched him ever since he was on Even Stevens on the Disney channel.

Day 85 - June 24th

There are very few facts in this world. And one of those facts is, I am one of God's favorites. In fact, I'd say I am God's favorite. I mean really, I love colorful skies and God knows this about me. So He gave me beautiful color after beautiful color during His whole sun set tonight. It's like He was looking down on me saying, "Here Amber, look at this one." "Ok, how about this one Amber?"

"You ain't seen nothing yet Amber, look here!"

He was painting one beautiful moment after another just because He knows I love them so much. Why else would He paint such beautiful sunsets, bloom such gorgeous yellow Tulips, make such fun bugs to watch, make puppies to cuddle, make those silly duck-billed platapus' that I love to watch, make cool pillows to sleep on, the smell of little babies, make citrus smell so good, give me such a wonderful man that loves me no matter what, and amazing friends and family. I mean, seriously, I'm God's favorite. Then after God showed me all those amazingly beautiful sunsets tonight, God showed me something even more beautiful! Something that I have loved since I was a little girl and always wanted. God spoils me day after day but when He gave me this gift, it just gets better day after day. This is a picture of my gift that God gave me soaking wet after VBS tonight.

Day 84 - June 23rd

Ginger has always been curious about the spiritual things, about God, Jesus, angels, just everything. Her mind is so literal it's really hard to have these conversations. I used to say, "Ginger and I don't talk about Jesus because it always ends up in an argument." Her questions about Jesus living in your heart, about Heaven and hell, and what it was like to be a "Christian". She told me a couple of days ago that she thinks she asked Jesus live to in her heart but then asked me, how do you know for sure He's in there. She said she didn't know because she didn't know all of the answers to the questions her Sunday school teacher asked. I asked her if she wanted me to pray with her and we could ask Jesus in her heart and she said, Not now. Yesterday she asked us if she got baptized could she use her nose plugs. We told her she could. Then on the way to work this morning, while we were saying our morning prayers Ginger said, "Mom wait. Can we tell Jesus to come in my heart?" I said sure, when do you want too? We can do it anytime. I said we could do it tonight at VBS, or tonight with Daddy, or right now with just me and her. She said right now. So I led Ginger in the sinner's prayer and she asked Jesus to live in her heart. After we were finished, I looked at her and said "Hi Sister!" She said, "Hi! Since you're my sister now in God's family, does that mean I don't have to obey you anymore?"


Ginger went to VBS tonight at New Heart and absolutely loved it! She told her friends and teachers that Jesus lives in her heart now and she got all sorts of hugs! When we finally got home and got her in bed at almost 10pm, she asked, "Can I get a toy to play with in bed?" I said No, it's late. She asked, "Can I read my Bible?" How do you say no to that? Turns out she had been reading her Bible for a few days and even made a bookmark from some paper she found. I love my girl and watching her grow spiritually is such a wonderful miracle to witness. I am so blessed!

Day 83 - June 22nd

Russell's great-grandmother passed away last Friday while Russell was waiting through one of many lay-overs in Memphis. This was Tammy's (Marmy) grandmother. Grannie Mullins. She was 93 years old and led an amazing life. I never got to meet her, but I met most of her family today. We went to Westville, right on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border. Little tiny town full of good 'ol country folk. Pentecostal women with bun after bun parading through the funeral home. I got quite the tour of the little town, this is where Tammy's parents grew up. She spent a lot of time there. We saw church that was brought over on the trail of tears and Ginger was amazed at the dates on the headstones in the graveyard, most from the mid 1800's. Since she was born in 2000, anything even in the late 1900s is old. My dad is thrilled that I am being paid back with my child calling me old. It was SO HOT today and everyone melted their "buns" off during the graveside service. It was 102 with a heat index of 117. Our little air conditioner is having a hard time keeping up.

Day 82 - June 21st (Father's Day)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I have one the two best Daddies ever and I am married to the other Best Daddy ever!! Seriously and Literally these are the two greatest men I have ever known and I'm so blessed to have both of them in my life. And get this...turns out that my Father-in-Law is in the group of Best Daddy ever too! God just keeps on spoilin' me!!

Ginger went to Guts with her Dad and cousin, Amaya. After that we went to Outback Steakhouse with Russell's parents, Cliff & Tammy (Marmy & Boppy). We sat there for over 2 hours and loved every second of it! What great wonderful people! Ginger loved it beacuse she LOVES steak and baked potatoes, her absolute favorite!

After lunch we reaced Marmy & Boppy down 71st. Until we both reached the speed limit, I'm pretty sure we won. Our Escape beat their little Mini. I'm sure though if there weren't other cars in the way and no speed limit, they would have left us in the dust. That little car is fast!!

It was so HOT today! We were exhausted and got sweaty just walking to the car and waiting for the AC to cool it off. We went home and watched Bolt, what a cute movie! Then when it cooled down all the way to 98 Ginger and Russell went down to the school parking lot to ride her bike again and I mowed the lawn...in two parts. I learned that 98 was not cool enough. I did the front yard and part of the backyard. I couldn't stand it anymore. I came in to the living room and fell right in front of the air vent. I waited until the yard was shaded and it cooled down to 94 to finish it.

I think Russell loved his first Father's Day. Ginger kept hugging and kissing him all day saying, "Happy Daddy's Day!" Those two were inseparable and I loved watching them all day. What a terrific day! God is awesome!

Day 81 - June 20th

We all slept in and it felt so good. We all goofed off and played and tickled and really enjoyed having Daddy home. I went grocery shopping with the rest of Broken Arrow and came home and made a Sopapilla Cheesecake for my dad for the Father's Day cook-out tonight. While I did that Ginger and Russell had some time together and went on an afternoon date. When they had finally come back I was napping on the couch while my cake was cooling. I think I got about a 2 1/2 minute nap. Ginger was so excited to show me what they found! They got a new bike for Ginger! I big girl bike, with only two wheels and it was beautiful. They even found it at a thrift shop for only $19. It's shiny, no rust, and almost the full tread on the wheels. It's not that old at all and is really nice. We are thrilled and Ginger wore herself out riding it!

Tonight we went to my dad's for a Father's Day cook-out and swim. I haven't swam in years, I don't even own a suit. I hate being wet. In the water is fine, it's the getting out of the water and trying to dry off is miserable to me. I don't know why, I just hate being wet. Ginger is quit the opposite, she's a fish and would live in the water if she could. I wore Capri's and a tank top and stuck my feet in the pool. It felt so good, the water was perfect and the weather was so stinkin' hot. Something came over me and I couldn't help myself, I jumped in! Clothes and all!

We had a great time and my daddy is great grilling genius. My dad and I raced in the pool from one end to the other, he had flippers and even grabbed my leg under water and I still won. He thinks I cheated and jumped the gun, but I don't remember. Ginger learned how to go from Belly-Buster to a dive. I'm so proud of her! Tim popped an elephant. Joy thought it would be great picture of the day to get a pic of him on the elephant. While he was posing and right before the shot, the elephant's head popped off. I almost drowned laughing. And Russell and I had a good time hiding in the huge innertube. (wink wink) After swimming we had fun eating watermelon and watching a raccoon eat the cat food.

Day 80 - June 19th

Russell is home! That little sentence doesn't hold enough drama that Russell went through to come home. He headed home from South Carolina without any trials at all...then he reached Memphis. His plane was delayed about 15 times at 1/2 hour increments. The air conditioning went out on the plane and they refused to cancel the flight, they just delayed it over and over for about 4 hours. Finally when they did decide to cancel it, all the rest of the flights to Tulsa were sold out. The closest he could get to Tulsa was Ft. Smith. Then he would have had to wait until the next day for a flight to Tulsa that would have gotten home about 4pm on Saturday. But Ging and I decided to take a drive to Ft. Smith tonight and pick up Daddy and two other passengers that were stranded that needed to get to Tulsa.

Ginger and I even did a little geocaching at a Love's truck stop. We had the time because Russ' plane was delayed again because they had to burn off extra fuel before taking off. We didn't find the cache box though, that one was hidden a little to well. Anyway, I met a couple of fantastic women that I got to know on our way home. One was a teenager that spent some time with friends and she was flying back home. She was from Cushing and her dad met us at Bass Pro to take her the rest of the way home. The other lady was a grandmother of eight who was flying to Tulsa to meet her husband who was already here to take a road trip to Kentucky then back to Louisiana. We got home about 1am all very exhausted, especially Russell who had been traveling for 13 hours. He and Ginger hugged and kissed then she wouldn't let go of his leg. They sure did miss each other. It's funny where life takes you sometimes. Sometimes you see things in your day that you would never think of seeing when you woke up that morning...like the Arkansas state line. But now my whole family is home and all is well.

Day 79 - June 18th

It our 8th Monthiversary!! And Russell is still in South Carolina. But he comes home tomorrow!! YAY!!! Ginger is really excited he's coming home and wow! Do they ever miss each other. Ginger made a big sign to take to the airport when we pick him up. I love the sign, don't tell her it's misspelled. She designed it all herself. This is just the beginning of the artwork, I'm sure the finished product will be the POTD tomorrow.

On the way home from work and a little shopping I was thinking about the POTD, forgetting I had this picture of Ginger. So I took these for your viewing entertainment, my space filling, and a mark in time about this day.

On this day, June 18, 2009

On this street... It was... And gas cost...

Day 78 - June 17th

We have a new addiction. It didn't take long to get hooked, in fact I was hooked before we even tried it. My friends, April & Alex in Branson took their girls Geocaching last weekend and it looked so fun! So I looked up what it was and how to do it. I bought the iPhone app and off we were. I tried to find one in the Arby's parking lot, but all I got was a bump on my head from a tree. Ginger and I found our first Geocache in the park by mom's house! We were so excited and went right on to the next one! We found two today! We would have kept going, but the battery died on my phone. It's so fun! I highly recommend it for the whole family! This is going to be a life long game for us!


Tonight we got to talk to Russell via webcam. How fun and silly. I love that so much more than the phone. So much easier to loose track of time. I didn't get anything done on my to-do list other than just one load of laundry. That's ok. Ging and I are having a good time this week, but we are both ready for Daddy to come home.

Day 77 - June 16th

What a hard morning for all of us. We all went to the airport to say our "See You Laters" to Russ.

Russ had a hard morning that turned into a very long day. He missed his connecting flight in Cincinnati which resulted in a 5 hour layover. He finally arrived in South Carolina at almost 10pm and lost the whole day of work.

Ginger had a hard day because she was concerned about Russell being bored in the airport for 5 hours. She was glad he took the DS with him and she kept asking all day if he was still waiting for the airplane. She was also concerned that he would miss the next flight and he would have to sleep at the airport and come home a day later.

I felt awful for Russ being stuck in the airport and I felt bad for Ginger being bored at my office. So I thought that we would skip out on work (with permission of course, thank you Phyllis) and just have a fun girl-day. So we left work early and headed to Incredible Pizza for an afternoon of fun. Did you know that $30 worth of game tickets can not only buy a bouncy stringy ball with eyes, but it can buy an afternoon full of hugs, kisses, and laughter!

When we got home I attempted to get the weed whacker to work. I so wanted to surprise my hubby with a gorgeous lawn, still full of weeds but at least they would be well groomed weeds. I could not figure out that silly thing. I thought I had really done something wrong when I couldn't figure out where the red greasy oily stuff was coming from, it was running down the top of the weed whacker and pooling on the a the grass. I was relieved to learn that I hadn't broken the weed whacker, it was my blood that was pooling on the ground. Later Ginger charged me 1 penny to bandage my finger with 3 band-aids. But first I proved "Parrishness' and mowed the lawn first, while bleeding, but doggone it, it had to be finished. I left the weed whackin' to another day though. (I made the picture black & white in attempt keep viewers from gagging **cough cough joy cough**)

Day 76 - June 15th

I think Russell did more stalling than Ginger did at bedtime. Russ is leaving for South Carolina in the morning for a business trip. I am so going to miss that man. But I think he has more trouble leaving Ginger, these two have such a special relationship. I love it that way.

We got Ginger in bed at 9 o'clock finally...after telling Russell that she HAS to go to sleep because she's going to work with me. I did laundry and then we watched that silly celebrity show and Here Comes the Newlyweds. I like that show, we would so cream all those Newlyweds on there. At about 10 o'clock I looked at Russ and said, "Don't you need to pack your bag?" He looked at me kinda shocked and pitiful and said, "Aren't you going to do it?" I replied with, "I need to update my Facebook status." That man has been single for years and years and all of the sudden he needs me to back his suitcase. I wasn't on top of my game, because if I was I would have left out his underwear, or at least switched it for mine. What is my problem? I can do better than that.

Ginger asked if she was cute when she was sleeping. I told her I would take a picture so she could see. I thought that would be easy, but it made me sad a little. When did she grow up? She looks so big. But at the same time, I still see that little face I saw on the first day she was born.

Day 75 - June 14th

We went to church early today, we had a lot on our plates to get done. And for the most part we did. 9am service at Church on the Move, lunch at 10:30am. Then we all went to the Tulsa House, cleaned up a room, and all three of us had to help hang a piece of Sheetrock up. Ginger is very proud of herself for "building a house". After that I dropped the two monkeys off at home and I went grocery shopping.

When I got home I witnessed a very determined Robin get her prize. I'd like to call this photo montage, Patience. (For both the bird and I)

First, she saw me, but she had a goal. I could see it in her eyes.

She decided I was "safe". After all I was just one of those humans sitting in her car in the driveway with a camera...completely usual at my house.

Then she spotted..."it"! I have never witnessed a bird working so hard this closely. I was thoroughly impressed with her. She worked for a long time, paying very close attention to every move and at the same time fighting off birds that were drawn to her challenge.

Then she grabbed and pulled with all her might! Look at the size of the earth worm she pulled up!! No wonder the birds love my yard, look what lives there!



The worm put up a good fight. Kudos to you little worm that once was. He wrapped around her legs and flipped and flopped. She pecked and nibbled until the battle was done. It was really quite disgusting after awhile.


I guess she had finally had her fill and she picked up what was remaining of the hefty worm and carried it off. Good job birdy. My groceries are hot now in the back of the car, but it was worth it watching the mixture of beauty, horror, and disgust of nature.

Click on the pictures to get a larger image. I love the determination in her eyes, and how she keeps looking at me, like I'm going to steal her prize. And you can also see what kind of earthworms I grow in my ground. Fishing anyone?