Daily Prompt: Pat on the Back

Tell someone you’re proud of just how proud you are.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us SUCCESS.

Our nephew, Jonathan, has overcome tons of odds to get where he is today. He has trouble with attention at times and has faught tooth and nail to keep his schoolwork up. He can be a bit lazy, but has made the grade every year and becomes more focused daily.

He loves the outdoors and working outside. His favorite pasttime is torturing his little brother. He has matured so much in the past year. He is turning into quite a nice young man.

He is so handsome at fifteen years old. The good thing is, he hasn’t discovered girls yet. I cannot believe they aren’t beating the door down. Hopefully he will not notice girls until he is in college.

He shows me such respect and is the only person around, other than Barry that doesn’t treat me like I’m a different person since the brain surgery. I’m still Aunt Jill to him. That rewards him the greatest respect from me. To have him show me that kind of respect at his age amazes me.

I cannot believe he is such a sweetheart. I beam with pride as I watch him grow into such a good young man. I’d love to think I might have had a small influence on him. It is an honor to call him my nephew. Who knows?

How to get from what if to so what? | Give it to God

My life is full of fear daily, my illness can pop up with a change at any moment, the good Lord helps me manage that fear. I have focused on what if this happens, what if that hapoens, I am learning to  focus away from the pain and find something positive to focus on.

Giving my pain and issues over to the Lord has made my life so much simplier. I do not stress as much as I used to about the little things in life. Allbeit my health is not a little thing, but the Lord eases my anxiety.

Although I am almost through with my chemo treatments, with radiation coming up quickly, I find myself wondering what next? My counselor says it is time to let that go and get to the point of saying so what when something new happens. Get straight to handing things over to the Lord and get on with your life. Just handle it and don’t worry! I’m getting there, but I need a little more practice. God is still helping eith my coping skills.

Setting boundaries with family is another issue altogether. I have to pray about it a little more. Still looking for answers on how to handle that situation. Wish us luck!

Daily Prompt: Drawing a Blank | The School Assembly

When was the last time your walked away from a discussion, only to think of The Perfect Comeback hours later? Recreate the scene for us, and use your winning line.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us HEATED.

I think I have been the slow comeback queen my entire life. Every single time I come up with a good comeback, it is always at least 20 minutes later. I’ve never been known for my quick mouth or brain. Brain surgery managed to only slow my head down a bit.

I recall an incident in the seventh grade. We were at an assembly and they asked for a group of girl’s to come out on the gym floor. I quickly ran out to volunteer.

The person leading the assembly started talking to the group and to my suprise the assembly was about birth defects. He stated “one of these young ladies will have a child with birth defects.” It will be because of the poor choices she will make as she gets older.

A stupid boy in my class, yells out at that moment. Watch it be Jill Hayes, she would be the poor choice in that group. She’d be the one to to have deformed children.

I knew exactly who said it. He said it loud enough for the entire gym to hear it. I was mortified. As we were leaving the gym, I came face to face eith him and could not come up eith a thing to say. I was still s embarassed I froze, I felt like hitiing him, but what would that solve. I still could not come up with a thing to say.

I ran into him again at lunch, by this time I had all morning to think about it. Esponding to his ignorance would only bring me down to his level. I decided to take the high road and just ignore him all together. He was just a stupid boy trying to act out. Why should I respond? We’ll grow up and never see each other again. I left it at that.

In the lunch room, I smiled, looked him dead in the eye and wished him a nice day. Mouth open, he just stared at me, as I walked away. I told him he might want close his mouth, he might catch a fly. When I looked back, he continued staring after me. I could never bring myself to like this guy very much, that day always stuck with me.

Kids can be so mean!

Daily Prompt: Life After Blogs

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

If I did not have a computer to do my blog and everything else we do online, the word old school comes to mind. I remember diaries, writing letters, land line phones, and actually talking to one another.

Kids today may not understand several of these things, but the human brain is an amazing organ. It can help you learn new things. They would learn to cope quickly.

My life without a computer just takes me back in time to pre-technology. I’d feel as if I were in high school again. The only negative I see in the picture, is paying long-distance fees for the telephone. Otherwise, I’m good!

Writing through cancer: For the Week of July 28, 2013: What Did You Notice?

I was unable to walk today, I’m not feeling my best, so I stayed close to home. We went to church this morning, but unable to attend tonight. I tell Barry to go without me, but he doesn’t like me home alone. I gave up and quit arguing.

Yesterday,  Barry and I walked the yard and updated our garden journal. I’ll use our stroll around the yard for this post. We started at the front porrch. We have a few Chinese Fringe Flowers that need pruning and a few new spouts have popped up, that need transplanting. A few weeds that need to be handled,  but nothing I cannot do.

My minature butterfly bush has come back out and is almost three feet tall already. I need to work on the decorative well pump by the porch. My butterfly garden is suffering from inattention. The hosta’s have come up beautifully and I have a few that need transplanting this fall. It may take us that long to get the garden back to glory to make room for them. A Sweet Gum Tree has taken root near the water spicket. That needs to go!

On the hill to the right of the house, we have planted two red maples and attempted to handle a bad wash area with monkey grass and lillies. They are filling in nicely. Might take a year or two for it to fill in.
To the left of the new trees, we planted a few Chinese Fringe Flower Shrubs to act as a barrier near the guidewire for the telephone pole. Looking good near the road.

At the drive, I have a combo of old-fashioned lillies, Stella D’odro lillies and knockout roses. We have tons of room to add to this area, I just need to figure out what to add. We recently moved the mailbox to the otherside of the drive. It needs sprucing up.

Down the rightside of the drive, is considered mom’s territory.  We have a couple of things there, we planted prior to mom’s arrival. There are three heavenly Gardenia Shrubs well-established. One blueberry bush is closeby for the local critters to enjoy.

Behind those a Pin Oak is coming in nicely. It is large enough to sit a chair under to enjoy a little shade.  The rest on that side is is mom’s territory. I need to feed her a friendly reminder that she needs to do some weeding.

Under our bedroom window, we discovered a few surprises. Four O’clocks planted a few years ago have come back out and a lantana has popped up thanks to some sweet bird in the yard. It will transplant nicely when the time comes. The Hosta’s have come back out. They are huge and need a new home.

Beside the garage door the Smilix vine and lantana are gorgeous. The ramp and porch are around four feet tall. The lantana has out grown the porch already. The back of the house is more natural. We have two Corkscrew Willow Trees, a beauty berry bush, and one lone Pampas Grass. We need to do more in the back. I’d like to get a few hardscaping projects done. Barry and I will work slowly on those.

There is evidence of unknown wildlife either living or traveling through the yard. We watched a bunny run around for a few minutes. By the driveway, we saw a couple of lizards and salamanders playing aound on the porch. Barry got a wildlife camera for a retirement. We have been attempting to get pictures of what happens in the yard at night. No success yet!

image

                                 Gardenias

image

                                  Hostas

image

                                       Gerber Daisy

image

                                   Maggie and Mom’s Iris’s

Incognito Princess of Winder, Ga. spotted shopping in Snellville Target

Word on the the street has Princess Betty Lou looking for houses in the Loganville, Ga. Area. The princess is attempting to flee the hustle and bustle of the streets of Winder, Ga.

She is seen here shopping after taking a break for lunch at a locsl establishment with family. They took a side trip by Target to try on some local fashion sunglasses. More to come as news comes available……..

image

image

image

Daily Prompt: Back to School | Recess

If you could take a break from your life and go back to school to master a subject, what would it be?

Going back to school to master anything scares the pants off me, but if I had a choice and the time, it would be any and all forms of recess. I was always the shy kid picked last for teams (does wonders for your self-esteem), because I sucked. When I tried out for cheerleading, I got into a split (my first ever) and couldn’t get up. I had to help to get up. I was the laughing stock of the entire school for weeks.

I could not run fast to save my life. A sit-up in those days would kill you. They tried to make you do male push-ups, but that did not last long. No one could do one! Then there was the totally embarassing, “We must, we must, we must improve our bust, the bigger the better, the wider they spread, the boys depend on us!” How utterly embarassing is that in front of a gym full of kids?

Masteringing recess would boost my enthusiasm for exercise later life. If I had learned to enjoy excercise at an earlier age, maybe I wouldn’t avoid it like the plague today. Above I am talking about middle school, once in high school, we were given more choices. Band, chorus, drama, horticulture, and tennis along with a few others. I chose chorus and exercised my vocal chords.

My homeroom teacher in 9th grade was a coach, the JV girls basketball coach. He saw me walk in his classroom and started the recruiting. I’m a wee-bit tall. I had no idea how to play, much less whether I could dribble or not. He didn’t care, he was dertermined to teach me. I played one game, got my picture in the annual and quit. I sucked at basketball too! But my dad was proud because I tried.

If I was just a little more attentive, maybe I would have a greater interest in being fit today. My lazy days of middle school sent me into fearful choices in high school and I has been left has left out of shape st 47. It is truly tough to whip an old body into shape when it hasn’t been exercising all along.

My mother’s appetite

Today, we arrived at my sister’s home to sit with pop while Kristie took Little Man to an appointment. The minute mom walked in the house, she had a plate of what Kristie was cooking for supper and had made herself comfy at the dining room table. It was getting late, so they rushed off to the apointment.

The minute they walked back in the house, mom sat her drink down next to her bag of candy. She headed straight for the kitchen again. She returned with a bowl of bean soup and cornbread. After that, she returned with a slice of cornbread. She said she wasn’t full yet, so she made a ham sandwich for the road. She finished the sandwich before she left and went after the cornbread again. My sister asked me to get her out of there, so she didn’t have to bake more bread.

All of this eating took place in about 10 minutes. I took her bowl away and said it is time to go mom. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Parents: Raising them

Currently my father continues to have spells of v-fib and passing out. For some reason, his implanted pacemaker/defibrillator does not fire properly. 

I received a call from my sister, that it has happened again and he is in an ambulance on the way back to the hospital. She did not know his status once in the ambulance, but was on the way to the Emergency Room. She told me to stay home and take care of myself, that she swears she will call as soon as she has news.

I had a chemotherapy treatment last friday and a hospital emergency room is the last place I need to be at the moment. I’m exhausted and my bones ache like crazy, so I’m going to kick my feet up and rest.

My mother appears to be having an issue with the amount of attention my dad is getting from the three of us. She has a doctor’s follow-up after cataract surgery scheduled tomorrow. I asked if it was ok to reschedule, so I could be there with Kristie to help sign him into hospice. Mom agreed and went to her part of the house to makeba call.

When I went to tell her it was rescheduled, she was on the phone complaining that we are ignoring her needs and not getting her where she needs to be. She was talking to one of her sisters.

This is totally untrue. My dad is not well and not expected to live. I just do not get this childish stuff.  I know she has an ilness affecting her thought processes, but it is not exactly the same.

I asked her to please verbalize if she has an issue with a schedule change. She says she will. What else do we do?