Thanks to everyone who cared.
I made the journey, it seemed incredibly long while making it yesterday but I am here. I am still coughing and weak, but can tell I am on the upside now.
I really truly felt your prayers and love and so appreciated them.
Hopefully tomorrow I can come and play for a while.
Love you all.
~Whisper

Yes, I have become a statistic of the influenza epidemic.
I came down with it Thursday afternoon and have been bed ridden until today.
It has been a miserable journey and I take my drive monday morning.
I am on soft foods and still can't be up too long without coughing hard and feeling weak.
I want so bad to get to Maryland on time so I can be babied a little. Don't get me wrong the girls were absolutely wonderful. They made and I managed to eat some chicken noodle soup and applesauce.
My friends are awesome. They are calling and checking up on me and I am gaining some strength, slowly, but truly. I haven't been this ill in a great long time, I just can't wait to be well.
I just wanted you all to know that I probably won't be back here until after Wednesday since I missed 2 days of work as well and will be driving Monday, Lord willing.
I covet your prayers. Thanks!

It was a great time. My neighbors and I survived.

My mother has insight into things I thought were private!
She said she could tell my life was not only good with my girls but that I was having a great life with Matthew. Then she winked at me, twice! I knew then what she meant, Whit knows, it's that 'drive of all drives'. Mothers are scarey. I am 42 years old and my mom is hinting that I look like I am having great sex?! How does that display itself and why does she feel the need to wink at me! UGH!
I am sure my eyes widened, and my mom just grinned, like the cheshire cat and acted like we had a shared secret.
I am still recovering from that.

I learned that my nephew not only likes me but wants me to meet his 7 year old demand. The household did not get to sleep until midnight Saturday night. My nephew woke at 5thirty am, came to my room and asked for me to play Mario cart with him. After some mumbled conversation, I learned that there was no other substitue for him, it was only me that he wanted to race.
This would be a compliment at any other hour,but 5 am? I finally agreed and sat in jogging pants and sweatshirt racing on the game with stiff fingers, frozen brain and bleary eyes.
Did my little man-Nephew notice?
Did he find it in his heart to be careful with me?
Oh No, instead he jeered and shot my little vehicle and mocked me in sheer elation, but the coffee finally kicked in and I became the challenge!
I best get the "Aunt of the Year" Award!

My brother dozed out while dad read our National Geographics while in charge of the little ones and the girls and I were off doing the Birthday thing with my oldest. The rest of the weekend was a quiz session of the articles from my dad. I did not know that I needed to read for study, I will be better prepared next visit.

We all had a great time. Mom scrubbed the apartment down before she left. It really wasn't bad but she likes to feel like she was a help so she vaccuumed all the rooms, and laundered all the towels that were used. Bless her heart. She even washed the plastic throw away plates and cups that we used for Pizza Saturday night.
So much for convenience.

Anyways, Make sure you check out the interview Rita B conducted on me on Lucy's blog. It was a good time. I like that gal! And despite being a bit nervous, It was fun to be in a spotlight for a bit.
"Sun so bright I have to wear shades!"



http://tryinotocomeundone.blogstream.com/

This week has been frantically busy and interestingly snowy.
We (Hope Unites) sent 4 teams to the Gulf Coast to work on disaster relief, one to Binghamton NY to help with flood relief and one to Buffalo to help with deep snow damage.
(We boasted 18 inches (in one day), and though it created havok to our little hamlet, it paled in comparison to Buffalo's 11 feet of snow. )
I caught some evil bug that played with my system for three days.
It put me to bed for one whole day and created the oddest of dreams.
I caught some day time tv that I have been missing or not missing, that may have contributed to the odd dreams.
Today we had to wrap some loose ends for the teams. The girls had a half day of school so I waited, took them to school, and then picked them up before heading to work.
Oddly enough I had put my make up on ONE eye only and my girlfriend who is the Executive Director and should conduct herself with dignity, laughed so hard she bent over double. To top it off, she would not sober when I explained I was going to be coy and wink all day.
We had purchased a new printer, scanner, fax machine and to our wonderful ignorance it did not come with the standard USB cable.
So now I understand the sale!
I was not amused either when it had claimed that it came with ink, but that was only the colored ink, the black had to be ordered. Nice! This is new to me, to order your plug and cables seperately from the purchase, neat trip Hewitt Packer, you earn the 'slick deal' award.
Anyways, Mom and dad, brother, sister and kids are here for the night to celebrate Sarah's big 19 day tomorrow.
Mom, Sarah, Robyn and I are going out to eat and mall shop. *makes soft gagging noises*
While the guys watch the kids and wait for the pizza delivery.
In which I will return to see the kids running wild, the house littered with Juice packs and the guys dozing in recliners.
*chants*
I will survive this...I will survive this...

Anyhows, I shall be catching up with you all Sunday night.
One good thing, All this family action should drum up a good post.

It's Friday and a week since I have been here. I have certainly not been bored, I have been extremely busy but I hate not getting here occasionally. I have been able to read and comment but have told you nothing as of late. I have been shopping for Birthday presents. My oldest Baby girl is turning 19 this month. She wanted "stuff", not clothes. After figuring out what 'stuff' she wanted I headed to the stores to obtain.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

Work has been keeping me very busy. We have spring break coming up and a couple of colleges are sending students to the golf coast to work. There is a lot of pride in knowing you are sending students to help build and construct and not just become a self indulging binger and decadent to society for a week or two.
The store has needed me, as well as home, and not to mention the time I spend on the phone with my kids to stay in touch, I forever feel pulled in many directions, but this is the life I lead and I like all the participants, so I must keep on doing what is best.

If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?

My oldest had a situation on her hands that I dealt with as well, she gave me a hypothetical question that threw me for a loop. Trying not to panic or reveal if it truly is a freind I confided that I could help her more if I knew for sure it wasn't her. She reassured me and told me it was a friend at work. I won't reveal the whole situation just in case, because I was held in confidence, but everything is doing fine now.

What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

We need to have the bathroom worked on and they can finally make it out here tomorrow morning. It will be around 9 am, that means I don't get my usual Saturday sleep in, instead I will wake early shower and reclean the room. I will get to enjoy the new sink, vanity, and medicine cabinet for 18 to 20 hours before I leave on Sunday. *sighs* Oh well.

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Well Peeps, I have to get changed and hit the road. We have been invited to my brother and sister in laws home. This is always fun, my hubby and brother have very similar humor and Jewel and I can only chime in when they get going. It will be a fun nite tonight.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

My Mom's maiden name is Brown, My dad's last name is Brown. No, they were not related. *grins wide*
So growing up we were referred to as the Brown-Brown kids.

My brother Mike attended Brownies when I started because my mom was a den mom, he was 4 and I was 6. He told everyone he was a Brownie and drew fists if you said otherwise.

Later on we were referred to as the 1,2, 3 kids. That was because my dad set a rule, we could not retaliate in a situation unless the foe hit us three times, he never counted on us to count them aloud. Many non-fights ended at two, but we considered it fair to carry the counts over so most never bothered us again.

My mom came from a very poor family, so butter was an expense when she grew up. Because of that, Every sandwich I ate as a child was buttered. I thought everyone ate them that way. We even buttered our hot dog rolls. I don't do that now, but my parents still do.

We camped a lot when I was a kid, the old fashioned way, with the kind of tent that you can't touch the sides because it leaks. You learn those type of things DURING a storm. Dad always let mom take it easy and he became the "chief cook and bottle washer".

We watched The wizard of Oz, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Sound of Music, every year. We were only able to get 3 channels while I lived at home and we watched, as a family, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Hee Haw, the Rockford Files and Walt Disney.

Our family are board game players, and cards game players. We grew up playing games almost every night and my Aunt and Uncle would come to play hearts or spades on the weekends. The most popular board games at the time was Parcheesi, Aggravation, Sorry, Scrabble and Monopoly, which was a usual Sunday afternoon winter game.

Now, You share. What are some usual or unusual things you remember about growing up? Do Tell!