Where did it go?

I blinked, and it's a new year. Seriously? I swear, it seems as if the days are flying by and I don't like it at all. When I was a kid, it seems like the summer holiday lasted forever. Now, it's like two weeks and we're done. Alright, rant over. About that anyway.

Did ya'll have a good Christmas and New Year? I did. We celebrated Christmas on New Year's day at Daddy's house. We traded names this year for a present swap, and ended up helping my brother out by getting the gifts for his family too. That was a whole lot of fun. We had to buy gifts for my brother, Brandon, my step-brother, Jeffrey, my brother-in-law, Nick, and my sister-in-law, Chrystal. I barely know Jeffrey, Nick, and Chrystal, for the simple fact that we never spend any time together. Isn't that sad?

After walking around Wal-Mart for 20 minutes without a clue, we picked up bead bracelet sets for the twins, Cadie & Clara. My nephews had gotten their names. I thought about how much the girls would probably enjoy that, and that set me to thinking... shouldn't I get the adults something they'll enjoy? So over to the Lego sets. I picked up a Halo Warthog set for Brandon, he loves to put them together with his boys. While we were checking the game section, Mike picked up a poker set for Jeffrey. (Mike remembered that he'd gotten someone lottery tickets last year.) Then it was over to sporting goods for fly-fishing lures for Nick. I picked up a manicure/pedicure set for Chrystal because I had no idea what to do there. I suck at buying gifts for girls. I really do.

The dinner was really good, I spent most of it holding Jeffrey & Chrystal's son, Carter. He's so precious. It was hard for me, too. I keep thinking, I'm almost thirty, and I don't have any kids. It makes my heart ache. I keep my head up and smile, though, because really, there isn't anything else to do.

Brandon, Nick, and Jeffrey loved their gifts. Brandon and Nick were a sure thing, but Jeffrey was kinda worrying me. He told Mike that he'd been needing some playing cards, he'd had to borrow some the other night. So, happy happy joy joy there.

Mike got gift cards to Gamestop and Books-a-Million. I got a gift card to Torrid, fleece blankets, and some really lovely picture frames from my step-sister, April. She can pick out awesome girl gifts. I'm so jealous.

Afterwards, we played a game called Catch Phrase. Have you ever played that game? It was hilarious, we were playing guys against girls, and the guys won 2 out of 3 games. Only because Nick and Jeffrey were stretching it out and trying to pass it off at the last minute. I wish you could have seen Daddy. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. He's never been the most descriptive person in the world, but he sure tried hard. The longer we played, the better he got.

After we left there, we went down to Brandon and Christina's house for a New Year's celebration. That however, is a story for tomorrow.

Love to all,
Allie

Depression and Black Friday.

Depression sucks. Majorly. I hate when I'm depressed. I know what is going on with me, but I still withdraw to the point of little interaction with human beings and only go out when I'm forced to. I don't understand why I get depressed. I know what causes it, I guess, but it still doesn't make it any easier to handle.

I miss my husband. I wish I was on the road with him now. I miss waking up beside him. I miss him being here. Hell, even the dogs miss him. (I say the word Daddy and they go off to the door, looking for him.)

Mike came home for Thanksgiving. He was in for 3 wonderful days. We had dinner at my Dad's house on Wednesday, because I had to work on Thursday. (No, I'm not complaining. It was time & 1/2. Can you blame me?) Mike went over to my Uncle Tim's house for dinner that day. When he picked me up, he had my cousin CJ with him. He's all happy... "Your Aunt Tish had brussel sprouts!" (A veggie that he and I both love.)

Anyway, we'd decided to go to the midnight sale at Wal-Mart. I had never been to one previously, and figured, why not? That's why we had CJ. To give a little background on CJ, he's days away from being 18. He's 6'7 and 235? lbs. He is the spitting image of his father. He is the most polite teenager I have ever met. Every time he sees me, he gives me a spine-cracking hug. He's one of the best people I know, really.

So, Mike is over by the video games with orders to pick up some that CJ would like, and to grab a griddle that is also on sale for Aunt Tish. (That was purely CJ's idea, btw.) CJ was with me stuck smack dab in the middle of panty and bra land because that is where they stuck the $20/500 threadcount sheets. Allie want!

So, CJ and I stroll up to the rack of sheets to check things out and it is already surrounded by some rude, older ladies, and a couple of girls my age. The older ladies took one look at CJ and automatically went on the offence. Going on and on about this is the Auburn side of the rack, you won't get any sheets, blah, blah, blah. Talking serious smack. CJ, being polite, said, "No, ma'am. We're Alabama fans." and proceeds to show her is Alabama tattoo. (Which I totally adore.) She laughs and says, "I bet if we cut him, he'd bleed crimson."  And, I love CJ for this, cause he's got the sarcasm that our family has perfected. He quips, "Ma'am, we ALL bleed crimson." Just smiling, waiting for her to get it. Greatness. That boy has it.

Things rock on, and another lady, probably in her mid to late 60's walks up and looks at the crowd and says, "Well, I doubt I get any sheets." She, another girl, CJ, and I get into a conversation about what sheets we want. I want a king size set, she needs 2 full size sets, and the other girl(Tuscaloosa girl) wants 2 queen size sets. The whole time, the old biddies up front are still talking smack and trying to covertly open the rack. Seriously?!

The associate walks up and makes them back up so she can take off the plastic wrap. And then.... it is GAME ON! CJ, with a quickness, hands me the one I want, goes back for the 2 the older lady wants, and then, hands me a queen size set. We back away from the crowd so we can see who has what. The old lady thanked us and left. I see Tuscaloosa girl (So named because that's where she lives.) and ask her if she got what she wanted.

She sighed and said, "No, I needed another queen size set." I hand her the one that CJ handed me and said, "Merry Christmas!" She smiled and hugged us both.

We were calling Mike trying to find out where he was while also trying to find the griddles. As we got closer to where they should be, We saw 2 ladies walking by, buggies piled high with griddles and crockpots. By the time we got there, the pallet was empty. I joked to CJ that he should've just ganked (thugged, thieved, stolen) one from the other ladies. He said, "Nope. If I can't get it the right way, I won't get it. Maybe I can find a decent one for Mama anyway." (I am telling ya'll, that is one good kid. Ladies, once he's out of college, he's going to be a catch. He's going for Civil Engineering. Smart, good looking, polite. Alabama fan. Some girl will be happy one of these days. :P)

After an hour, we locate Mike. Not only does he have a couple of games for CJ, he also snagged the last griddle. CJ just smiled. We paid for our things and headed for the Huddle House. Mmmm. Strawberry French Toast. Drool.

Anyway. That's the end of it. I'm sorry I've not been around for a couple of weeks. I pull into myself and don't really know how to get out of it. I'm going to try harder to be better at this. I love you all and thank you for the support.

Love to All,
Allie

Comfort.

The weather lately has... sucked. That's being nice. Don't get me wrong. I love rain. I even love storms with thunder and lightning. Once it escalates beyond that, I'm out. On October 25, a tornado hit Ider. For those of you who are not familiar with my area, Ider is the next city over.

Ider High School is my Alma Mater. That school holds a place dear to my heart. When I saw the photos I am posting below, I was devastated. (These photos belong to Melissa Smith/The Times Journal. 10/25/10 Ider Storm Damage for more photos) Yes, it has been over 10 years since I was there last, but that doesn't matter to me. I occasionally go to a football game there even though I don't know anyone playing. I always listen for the scoreboard update the night they are playing to see how my team is doing. Anyway, here goes.

This is the home side bleachers. The little house looking thing is the announcers booth.



A close up of the bleachers.

This just hurt my heart to see. There are more pictures in that link above that show more damage. I am extremely grateful that there weren't any lives lost.

I had no less than 14 voice mails when I woke up that morning. My cell phone is my alarm clock, you see, and I turn the ringer off at night so only the alarm comes through. My mom, my dad, my brother, and several friends were worried enough about me to call. I was fine, of course. I slept through the whole thing. I even slept through my front door being opened by a gust of wind and my living room floor being flooded with water. Let me tell you, that was awesome to stumble into when I got up to let the dogs out.

After I got over the shock of water, I listened to my voice mails. My heart was warm. Every time I get fed up with living in a small town, something happens to make me grateful for it. That's how it is around here. Yes, we are backwards. Yes, we are rednecks. Yes, we get a little crazy about the Alabama/Auburn game. When it all goes downhill however, we have each others' backs. People here give for their neighbors. It doesn't matter how little we have, how poor we are. We will always give what we can to take care of others.

Yesterday I spent my time cleaning and playing therapist. I hadn't made any plans for today. I figured I would wait until today to find out what I was getting into. Why yes. I am a procrastinator, thanks for asking. I'll tell you why tomorrow.



Lovely weather we're having.

This is what awaited me today. Blah. Seriously blah. I whined and pouted for a few minutes while the demon dogs laughed at me. So I kicked them out in it. It kills me. They love the pool, but hate the rain. What gives? While they were outside, I decided to have a me day. I made Cheeseburger Mac with Caramelized Onions. No, it isn't healthy. Yes, it is Teh Awesome. (Yes I am misspelling that on purpose. I did it the other day too. I'll explain eventually.)

I actually took step by step pictures because I do plan on posting it. I'm not sure if it will be tomorrow, but my magic 8 ball says "All Signs Point To Yes!"  Who had one of those? I did. I asked it about every single thing I could think of. Wonder where it went?

Sorry. I get sidetracked easily. My post is titled Comfort because that is what I needed today. So what did I do? I made a big bowl of comfort and piled up with my laptop to catch up on Hawaii 5-0 and Blue Bloods. Then a friend turned me on to something and I became addicted. Best of Craigslist Have you ever been there? You can waste hours on this site. I laughed so hard my sides hurt. A letter to my dead girlfriend made me cry so hard tears actually poured out onto my cheeks. That is a rare occurence for me. I tear up now just thinking about it.

Anyway. I'm going now. But here is a look at what tomorrow will bring. Yeah, the picture is weird. It looks that way to me, anyway. Steam is not conducive to good picture taking, but hey, at that moment, all I cared about was getting the shot and getting that stuff in my belly.

Love to all,
Allie