Mine that Bird!

So I intend this to be a quick post but the last 2 weekends have been so full of fun that I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep it quick… also I’m not sure that I shared about our experience with having a teen ager in the home either… lol

I guess I should start there… about 3 weeks ago… it was during the week after Easter… Jimmie and I did respite for a family who has a 15 year old boy in their home… respite is fancy talk in the foster care world for “babysitting”… basically, they went on a trip and couldn’t take him so he stayed over at our house for about a week… and we had a blast! It was a whole new world for me and Jimmie. The first night we were eating dinner and the boy (I’ll use initials cuz I’m funny about protecting the identity of my foster children… W.A.) WA asked what the phone rules were… Jimmie and I just looked at each other and laughed… we said… I dunno… I guess we should get some of those huh! Lol… and then Jimmie basically told him if anyone called the house after 9 pm they’d be getting a return phone call from Jimmie at 4am… and seriously, after watching WA spend sooo much time on the computer the first few days he was there, when he spent all afternoon on Sunday on the phone with a girl, I was totally down with that because at least he was talking to a real live person! It was so cute too because oh about Tuesday night (he talked to the girl on the phone almost all day on Sunday, then a lot on Monday evening as well) and then on Tuesday almost every other word from his mouth was “I love you”… so cute… do ya’ll remember being that age? I do and I wouldn’t want to return to that age but it was just fun to watch… I’m telling you, this kid totally fit in our house… he had a sense of humor and wit about him as if he came from us! Lol… smart kid too… with a story that would break your heart… bless his heart… for as much as he’s been through he definitely has his head on a lot straighter than I would… but he was pretty adamant about not being adopted at this point. Although I did express to our social worker that if he changed his mind, we’d really be interested in considering that… it was just a very positive experience… I think he liked us a little bit too… as much as any 15 year old likes adults our age I suppose… lol…

So then the day he left, I was off to Ohio to go to Women of Faith with sister and the cousins… I so enjoy spending time with the girls… I’m so thankful for this special bond and friendship we have in our family… and the conference… the speakers… the music… everything was just a level above it’s usual awesomeness this year… sometimes when we go, it just feels “fluffy”… but this year there was just so much that sunk in and hit the spots that I needed to have hit… it was just a wonderful weekend overall and I was sad when it ended because I wanted more… more time with the girls… more talks… more songs… but alas… all good things must come to an end… I was felling pretty good that evening after I dropped sister off at her house so I decided to drive on home… about a half hour in to that trip I realized that I wasn’t nearly as alert and fresh as I thought I was… so it was a rough ride home but I made it home alive! Wahoo! And it was so good to be home once I got there too…

Then 5 dull days later, I was heading to Ohio again… to go with mom, Missy, Joy, and umm oh Joy’s cousin (she reminded me so much of Darrell’s Mandie that I can’t remember her name! lol) to the Vera Sale! Wahoo! So we left bright an early on May 1 for the 2 hour or so drive over to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

When we got there, the parking attendant told us that it was an hour wait to get in the building… what? Let me just say, that if it had been just mom and me, we probably would have turned around and went shopping somewhere else then went home… lol… but instead we parked and got in line… the line moved quickly and after a little while we made it in to the sale! Wahoo! Lots of bargains too… if it weren’t for the great deals, I’d say that I wouldn’t go back again next year… but the deals were too great. Eventually, I did get overwhelmed by the crowd, and I felt as if I had seen everything 3 times at that point, so I got in a long line to check out… about an hour and a half later I was finally free! However, the rest of my party was only just getting in line and by that time the line had almost doubled. I found out later that they were standing in line among the merchandise and actually continued shopping in line… that’s what I get for getting overwhelmed early! Lol… so anyway it was probably about 2 and half hours later when we were all finally free… for as crowded as it was, they really did a great job at crowd control… and I’m already looking forward to next year… crowds and all! Lol

So we finally got home (well back to mom and dad’s house) about 10:30 that night… I sorted through my loot and added up what I would have spent retail for all my treasures… my boss also had given me $100.00 to buy some things for her. Counting all the things I bought (hers and mine) I would have spent retail approximately $1357.00. I actually spent just a little over $300.00 ($100.00 of which was my boss’ money – so my stuff totaled around $200.00). I did not spend over $15.00 for any one thing and 3 of the bags I bought were originally $90.00! So I went to bed a happy girl… although I was being jealous of some of the patterns my sister snagged… but again… if I hadn’t gotten overwhelmed and left early, I would have gotten those patterns too…

So Saturday mom, dad and I went to Faith Anne’s t-ball game… that was stinking cute! Some of those little guys looked like bobble head dolls… Faith is such a good little ball player too! I was so proud how she just stood out there and paid attention! She looked over at our crowd for advice rather than her coaches… but she’ll learn to watch the coach and not us… it was just precious though!

Then mom, dad, and I left to meet Jimmie at Turfway in Florence to bet on the Kentucky Derby and have dinner. We went and put in our Derby bets… I bet on 3 horses “Across the Board” (14, 15, 16) - 2 of which I thought had a real chance of winning and one was a long shot. Mom and I also bet on the race before the Derby… I bet on a horse called Court Vision… because I work in the Courthouse… and it came in 3rd so I won like $3.20. When I went to cash in that ticket, I decided to bet on one more long shot “across the board”. I heard someone in line talking about Mine That Bird… it was 50-1 odds… so I placed a total of $6.00 on that horse… we went to dinner… while we were at dinner, we watched the race. Long story short… I had the first and second place horses and Jimmie had the 3rd place horse. When I cashed in my tickets, I won over $200.00!! So I literally made my money back that I had spent at the Vera sale! How exciting!

Well… I better get some other work done… I think that about catches me up for now anyways… have a blessed day!