Wow!

Can I just say Wow! WOW! I am now connected to the high speediness of the Internet!! After being trapped by dial-up and then satellite, I now am connected via fiber optics, and boy, oh boy, is there ever a difference.

Several years ago, we checked into getting cable and Internet via fiber optics, and the guy called back laughing. He left a message and informed us that the price of placing fiber optic to our house at that time would be $50,000 and he couldn't imagine we would be interested. Well, our interest was still there, but we would have to wait.


Never again will I have to watch video feed two syllables at a time, never again will I have to wait for sites to take forever to load! Never again will I have to wait on uploading my pictures to my humble little blog. I guess I should never say never. I am sure there will be glitches, but for today, I am happy.


BubbaLou was speechless when she pulled up Barbie and heard sounds in games she had never heard before. When webkins pulled up as quick as we could click, we were in awe. She basically had to enjoy her webkins for only their stuffed goodness, because the site was far to advanced for our satellite to keep up with up. We would have frozen webkins.


Popsaroo is beside himself over the video feed. I caught him watching WWF video without worrying about downloading too much and causing the givers of satellite signals to restrict our use for 24 hours.


So now a test, to see how fast this baby uploads.......

....that was FAST, like 1000 times faster!

Do you think St. Patty's day will get here that fast?

Tomorrow, starts the greenest month of the year! I can't wait to see what it brings! It sure got here fast!!

Here and There

This is here, in Florida. Where it doesn't snow.

This is one of our Chinaberry trees. We consider this a weed tree, because you see, it grows no matter what you do to it. It drops these chinaberries that look like a bunch of ugly grape shaped clusters and just litters up the yard. Our bird friends then scatter the seeds by their very own special seed delivery system. They pop up all over the place. You just can't get rid of them. But they do have pretty blooms. This is the tree that BubbaLou picked those blossoms from. It is hard to see them in the picture, but they are way up in the tops of the tree.

She can really swing that golf club!

This is there in Tennessee, where it does snow. It looks very cold.

My CuzinAmy sent me these pictures of the snow, she wanted me to remember the good times. She was happy, she was excited, she got a snow day!

Did you know that teachers get excited over snow days just like the kids?

I know two teachers who are like that. MzAmy and MzLisa.

Yes, CuzinAmy, the thought of snow days does bring back fond memories. I loved to sit in front of the TV, anxiously watching Snowbird and waiting for him to announce that Davidson county had no school that day. There is nothing like getting a snow day! Except maybe playing in it!

I also remember the snow cream. I loved snow cream. Snow cream tasted as good as snow smells. I guess it wouldn't be safe to eat snow cream anymore. So sad.

I also remember attempting to walk down our driveway to my car, so that I could venture over to MzLisa's house to pass the snow day away, when I fell flat on my tooshy! I must have been a site to behold as I crawled up the icy drive to the snowy sidewalk and then back into the house where I almost blacked out from the pain. Ahhh, memories.

Psalms 147:16

He spreads snow like a blanket and scatters frost like dust.

A little love token from BubbaLou

BubbaLou loves to pick flowers. She can hardly walk by a flowering plant without picking one. Loving family members have been known to turn their flower pots around or place the flowering violet and the prized Christmas cactus out of her reach when they know she is coming. They have learned from experience what will happen if they don't. She can never be accused of not stopping to smell and pick the flowers.

The other day, she even wanted to get out of the car while we were stopped at a light to pick the pretty white and yellow wildflowers growing on the corner. She is always on the lookout for a pretty flower. She always wants to give it to someone after she picks it.

Today, she brought this beautiful bouquet to me. She was telling me all she had to do to pick these flowers. She had tried a new approach, because you see, these flowers were growing in the tops of our chinaberry trees. She picked these flowers with a golf club. That's right, a golf club. Maybe picked is the wrong word. She knocked these flowers down by throwing her golf club up into the tree and knocking them to the ground! Then she picked them up.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Luke 12:27

Look how the wild flowers grow: they don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.

Something Great!

It was a true "Gals Day Out" today. My AntsieDot is down and we really haven't had the chance to show her a great time. She even had the nerve to tell my AntsieNell over the phone that she hadn't done "nothing great" yet. Well, that can not be! We can't let AntsieDot come down and not do "something great!" So Popsaroo, who is considered "First Class" by my AntsieDot, sent us out for some fun....the proper way. We went to the The Tea Cup Tea Room. We spent the afternoon doing something great-spending time with each other while we enjoyed the tea, the food, the decor, and each other.


It rained cats and dogs today, but that didn't keep us away from the tea room. We arrived and stepped over puddles to reach for that hot cup of tea. So comforting on such a day.

AntsieDot, being the southern lady that she is, took a sip of hot tea and then returned to her beloved ice tea. Look at that pansy cup! She loves the pansy, how did they know?

Mums ordered the oolong tea. She had no idea what it was, but she liked the name. She preferred our choice better.

BubbaLou is the only one who stuck her pinkie out. Way to go BubbaLou. She drank 4 cups of hot tea! She takes hers with three sugar cubes and milk. Let's see, that would be 12 cubes of sugar!!!!!!!

BubbaLou and I drank the black tea named Paris. I had to go for at least 10-12 cups myself. I did not use sugar cubes. This tea was great. I even brought some Paris tea leaves home!

May I tell you about one of the most spectacular rooms in the house? It was beautiful. It had a lovely soft upholstered chair in the corner, roses painted around the door and the window, and a pretty little curtain. Can you guess..... the ladies room of course! One of the most important rooms in a tea house, don't ya think!

One of the most important moments of the day is when AntsieDot presented BubbaLou with her very own tiara.

What a special day with AntsieDot! Then we got to call AntsieNell and tell her all about it. Oh, how we missed you AntsieNell! But at least AntsieDot got to tell you about doing "something great!"

The Creation of Laughter

Our Creator sure has a sense of humor. I mean, who else would create the animals that can entertain us for hours with their silly antics? Dogs chase their tails, cats can turn inside out mid air with their tail poofed out and still land on their feet, and hamsters and gerbils are just down right knee slappin' funny to watch.

Then Creator God, makes these animals that tease each other! What cat wouldn't give her last catnip mouse to tease a dog on a leash? No cat I know! The cats I have known, will flop right on their back with their belly in the air and just roll around in the dirt driving that dog mad! I think they even sing....."Look at my belly, you can't touch me! Isn't my belly fuzzy, you can't reach me!" They just laugh at that dog, I can just hear them! But then, what dog wouldn't give his last beefy bone to chase that cat right up a tree?




God made another funny creature. That creature would be the crane. Yes sir, the crane is fine specimen of bird. A family bird he is, always right by Mrs. Crane and the Crane children.




Mr. Crane has also been known to freak out when he sees himself in the window pane. He thinks he is another bird. He talks some smack and then commences to peck that noisy good for nothing bird right in the face! Almost broke my window, he did!

Mr. Crane is in need of a bit of therapy.


Dr. Thomasdog is ready to give it to him...For Free!!!!

The therapy is called.....Chase the Crane.....and watch him freak out!

Dr. Thomasdog does laugh sooooooo.

Gen 2:18-20 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him." So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names. So the man named all the birds and all the animals; but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him.

I can only imagine the crazy antics that Adam must have seen....it must have been the first time the first man laughed!

Coyotes and Checkmarks

I love the way that God made children. He made them so sweet and cheerful so that when they get on your very last nerve, your heart will still melt for them. He also made them extremely witty and funny.

BubbaLou excells in the witty and funny. She comes up with the stuff that will make you blow coke out your nose because you are laughing so hard! I only wish I had written down the thousands of times she has made me laugh. Or made Popsaroo laugh.

One time when she was three, she was already making blueprints of pranks to pull on old Popsaroo. She had logged several hundred hours of cartoons and thought she had those pranks down pat. She was just waiting for the right moment to get poor Popsaroo. They were outside one day and a water bucket was available. She grabbed the bucket and poured some water on the porch and called Popsaroo over, and when he didn't fall down like she had planned, she said,"Popsaroo, you didn't slip on the water like they do in the cartoons!" She was really shocked that her plan had failed. I think she identified with the coyote that is always after the roadrunner that day.

She often takes me by surprise with her observations in life. Isn't it funny how kids notice things that adults often overlook. We can watch the same commercial 15oo times and still not pick up on some little detail that they do. That is why I find some tv shows extremely scary.

The other day I was scraping my cupboard for breakfast foods and I made some potatoes for breakfast-okay steak fries. As she was dipping her fries into her ketchup she must have been examining them. All at once she became very excited. She held it up and said,"Look, this potato looks like the Vonage check mark!" She dipped it in ketchup and held it up again and with a great big smile on her face, she said," See! It really does look like the Vonage check mark!" She ate it before I could even think to snap a picture of it.

Only a child could get excited about a Vonage checkmark frenchfry. It's not like the potato looked like Elvis. If it had looked like Elvis, we could have sold it on Ebay and vacationed in some far off tropical land.


I am so glad that my God has blessed me with my kid! Thanks to Him for making her so much fun! What a blessing.

LOVE, The Real Deal!

Happy Valentine's Day

1 Corinthians Chapter 13
4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; 5 does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; 6 finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

John 13:34

And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

A Valentine's Day LoVe

Every little girl loves...

a Valentine's Day manicure with...

60 second drying nail polish in a really cool shade and really cool nail decals.

Puppy Issues

It is that time of the year! Pirate time. Gaperilla brought the pirates to the Tampa Bay Area and the pirates in turn, brought their fleas...and left them. We are currently experiencing the Flea Invasion of '08. They even had a parade across the pup's belly. I think I even heard a few, "Arrrgh's, " hmmm.... maybe that was the dog.

While I was off having tons of fun at work, trapped on Davis Island by the Gasperilla marathon and the time clock, Popsaroo and BubbaLou found their way to the flea market to pick up a flea pill. This is a sort of magic pill that kills all the fleas in 24 hours. It wears off after that short span of time and then your back-up long-term flea medicine better be working.

Of course, Popsaroo and BubbaLou had a high time at the flea market. She saw a puppy, she met the puppy, and the puppy licked her finger. BubbaLou was in love with the puppy and wanted to bring it home. Yeah, right. Dream on kid. Popsaroo had the power of NO in him that day. So off they went to the car, puppyless.

Guess who cried, uncontrollably? Guess who called me at work, to tell me about BubbaLou crying uncontrollably and actually handed the phone off in the expectation that I do something?

She was still crying when we hung up, but I discovered something. It was almost 2pm and they had not eaten since breakfast! "Go feed the child!" I cried.

During this phone cry, they had left the flea market and were on their way to Universal Studios for a fun-filled adventure. The Mardigras parade and GOGO's concert were calling their names.

Popsaroo pulled off the interstate in Lakeland to stop at the handy Mickey D's when BubbaLou spotted the ROADHOUSE steak house. She heard the choirs singing and pointed Popsaroo in the direction of her favorite steak house. She said, " Popsaroo, you have to take me to Roadhouse because I have puppy issues!"

Being the softie that he is, he took her for a steak, she stuffed herself, and was then a stable member of society even with her puppy issues.

They had a great time at the parade and the concert. They found a place far enough back from the stage so it wasn't too loud for BubbaLou. While they waited, she befriended the "older than us" couple next to her and kept them entertained with stories of her pup, Thomas.

Some how, some way, BubbaLou thinks that if I see this puppy, I too will fall in love with it, and we will bring it home. She has made a date for us to go the flea market on Saturday. "Yeah, right, dream on BubbaLou, no more dogs!"

Ecc 9:7 Go ahead---eat your food and be happy... It's all right with God.

Mummsaroo, I want to do chores for FUN!

Ohhh, BubbaLou has done it now. She has gone and gotten carried away with her housekeeping skills. One little prompt to clean her room, and now I just can't take her anywhere! I took her to the Florida State Fair today, and all she wanted to do was chores. For FUN! I just can't believe it!

First, she had to pump the water. She actually had to wait in a small line to pump the water. What fun she had. She even used the gourd bowl to move water from one bucket to the next and then she pumped some more. Smiling the entire time. Hmmm, I don't remember her smiling when she was cleaning her room.

Here she is scrubbing clean diapers the old fashioned way with two strokes of lye soap. She waited in a big line to do this. Can you believe it? After finding out that lye soap contains animal fat, she was a little put off. She walked away saying, "I can't believe I touched animal fat!"

Diapers must be ironed. Every baby must have wrinkle free cloth diapers! What a good little housekeeper. She doesn't want to admit these are real diapers. She says they are just cloths that you wrap around a baby's butt.

What? Now she is even is grinding corn! The man said they used the very fine powder for baby bums. Of course BubbaLou, being the make-up expert that she is, pointed out that it could be used for face powder.

On to hard labor. She must find time to squeeze sugar cane. Oh, this was fun and sweet!

She bonded with the cow while completing the chore of brushing the cow. She went back several times to brush the cow, and before we left, she said good-bye and then hugged the cow around the neck. She claims she misses her cow friend, and says that I owe her a cow.

Yes, that's right folks. She even milked a cow. Udder and all. The cow milking lady even presented her with sticker that says...I milked a cow at the Fair. Oh, and by the way, I got a sticker too. First cow I ever milked. It was a big day for both of us!

What was the reward for all her hard work,you ask? Why, she got to wear a sealion on her head, of course! Did you ever hear of a sealion at the state fair? This picture only cost me $10 for a polaroid and a chance to use my own digital camera to capture this fine moment in BubbaLou's life. I am soooo proud!

Busy, busy, busy!

I am lagging behind! In everything; my Bible studies, my reading, my blogging, and unfortunately my housework. I do have an excuse. I was busy! I am trying hard to catch up on everything. I even got to day 3 in my Beth Moore homework this week. I just let everything fall apart as I was preparing this Thing for work. I have been trying to get this Thing done for a while. Okay, a couple of years. I have been working on it... Slowly. But I got it done, and turned it in. I made it to the box. The box was somewhat of a let down, a plain brown box. I had trouble putting the Thing into the box, I couldn't seem to turn it the right way. I got flustered putting a file of important papers and letters into a brown box! AND... there were no trumpets, no chorus singing, no confetti, no snacks or drinks. Just a box. Now I wait. 4-6 weeks.

So while I am waiting, I will catch up! I started with my Bible and then I moved to housework and then to my book. I need to work on all of them daily to catch up.

Yuck! I hate housework. BubbaLou doesn't like it either. Unfortunately, we still have to do it. It is one of those things in life that you really try to figure out a way to make it bearable. One way I have found, is to get your child to help, whether they like it or not. I made BubbaLou clean her room. Is that asking too much? I didn't think so. She just can't see the logic. I tried to tell her I am doing her a favor, I am catching her up too. See, if I fall behind, so does everyone else.
Popsaroo took pity on her and offered to trade his veg-out TV time to help clean her room. He has my nomination for Dad of the Year! However, this trade-off just made him grumpy enough to think we had bad attitudes. He thought I was too happy. What? A girl can't dance and sing along with KC and the Sunshine Band while she cleans the dishes?

He thought she was too, well, I don't really know. I don't think BubbaLou was too happy. She came in and asked me, no, told me, " Mom, quit singing. Me and Popsaroo don't want to hear you sing!" And then stomped off to her room as I called, "Go put your music on so you can't hear me sing!"

Popsaroo called me into the bedroom after finally getting my attention in the midst of Shake, shake, shake and wiping off the kitchen counter. He had found two unopened Christmas cards under BubbaLou's bed. One from my Uncle Eddie and Aunt Betty and one from my friend Chris. I can't even imagine how they got under her bed. Well, yes I can, but I don't really want to go there. Oh joy! A little Christmas in Febuary. Another little something to make me smile while cleaning the house.

They finally finished up, and do you know that Popsaroo came out and called us curlish?

Hmmph! He called us curlish!
Hmmm. He has been reading my blog. I had to correct him, "Churlish" I said.

"Yeah, you both are curlish!" he insisted, with a little smirk all over his churlish face.

Proverbs 17:12 It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project.

A little afternoon escape!

I survived a mommy-daughter afternoon at the Hannah-Miley Concert Movie! My eardrums are intact and I actually enjoyed myself. I was a little unsure of what we were getting into. It had been reported that many movies were loud of screaming girls. The shows over the weekend were sold out so, Popsaroo, who tried so very hard to get her tickets to the real concert was at least able to get her tickets to the movie. We went right after school today and it was wonderful! No crowds, only about 35-50 people in the theatre! BubblaLou doesn't do loud and was a little nervous. She was very pleased with the low-key activity that was present in the theatre.

BubbaLou thoroughly enjoyed herself.

She did complain. She leaned over to me, whispering loudly in my ear, "Somebody needs to call the Fashion Police! Look at the Jonas Brother's hair, it looks terrible. Their jeans are too tight and that gold jacket is UGLY!" One of them was wearing a checked black and white vest over an olive green shirt which gave us flashbacks to laughing over the link we found over at BigMama's Fashion Friday. We did have a good laugh.

BubbaLou's kind heart started to show concern, "I hope that Miley doesn't turn out like Brittany," she said.

Guess who just went in our prayer closet!?

Do we really get wisdom from a Groundhog?

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.

Six more weeks of winter it will be!"~ Punxsutawney Phil

I don't know what to say, Phil is sorta cute, in a furry rodent sorta of way. But wise???

I say, "It's hard to be too mad about the winter weather when that little groundhog fellow is so cute!"

Do I sound like a true Floridian who hasn't seen a snowflake in years?

I have to say that I am not surprised by a few of the posts that I have read this week. It seems like there was snow falling yesterday, like here and here.

I hate to rub it in, but... the weather here in Florida is beautiful. A little nippy in the morning, but somehow, I don't think that really counts in the whole scheme of freezing your tailfeathers off!

See! I am feeling your pain.

Did I mention that today, BubbaLou made the comment, "Gee, this is a warm beautiful afternoon!"

Ahhhh.... just living the life!

Oh, by the way, if you come down, you can always take a leisurely pink cadillac ride!

Oooh! Was that rubbing it in again????