It's Hard to say Good-Bye

It's always hard to say Good-bye when you lose someone you love. Be it a family member, a friend or a member of a friends family. Don't put off the I love you's and a get together whenever possible. We never know if we'll see that friend or family member again. Live today because tomorrow is not promised.

Saturday I went to the funeral of Margaret Pope the mother of my sister-in-law, Lynn Pope Kennedy. There was no warning. It was just a tragic mis-hap. Margaret was a wonderful and sweet woman who loved her family deeply. She had the bluest blue eyes that shined when she smiled. She will be missed by all.

Thursday morning the 24th I received a call from the father of my close friend Amy Finley Carter that she had passed away at 6am. When she was diagnoised with lung cancer in December we all had high hopes that Amy would beat it and the doctors felt positive that they could put it in remission, so how can this be?....... Amy was so young and always full of life. Amy fought the battle with courage and faith. I am going miss her pranks, our pep talks, choir practice and everything about her. It's pretty lonely knowing I can't call her with the latest happenings around here or my life. Her services will be Tuesday, April 5th.

May God grant his peace to the friends and families of these two lovely ladies who will be missed.



Keep the families and friends of Margaret and Amy in your prayers. 

SMILE ;o)

Yes Mandy  if  you’re reading this I started harassing folks with my camera long before I ever joined the Quilt Guild. I figured I'd be safe with this picture of you. You look to be in thought but I know you were really trying to ignore the camera pointed in your direction that evening. I don't want to get in too much trouble with you or you won't guide me with your quilting expertise. Which I truly a appreciate.

My daughter has been my primary victim for the last 24 years.   And I might add she's not always a willing victim. Photography is  and has been a great way for me to document events and happenings in my life, just wish I was better at it. I remember when I was about 10 and my dad bought me my first camera.I sat in a lawn chair in Chicago while visiting my dad and took a whole roll of film of airplanes as they flew over the trailer park on O'Hara flight pattern.  LOL. It was a green Kodak Point and Shoot that I think I may have passed it down to my little sister when she was about 10. I wish I had been better at taking pictures when I was younger of my friends but the ones I did take have come in handy in the past few years. I really got into the photography thing when I was in high school. When my high school boyfriend joined a photography club that was part of the Boy Scouts of America thru Kaye Marvin Studios, I joined too and was the only girl. That was fun.

When I graduated from HS and was working I bought my first 35mm camera, a Mamaya Sekor 1000DTL that they now no longer make. In a land before digital. After I got married my husband bought me a Minolta SLR. I have a small collection of cameras now on a shelf in my sewing/craft area. An old Pentax that a friend gave me to display and David gave me his parents brown box camera. You know my parents had a black box camera. hmmm I wonder where it is now day? I currently use a Nikon D50 digital that I bought with money I made from working a second job. Love it.

Now I have missed some good shots by being either so amazed or no camera in hand at the right time.  There’s this stretch of road where people forget to slow down to make a curve on 149.  One rainy day we were coming home from rustic store we like and this truck pulling a big trailer came around the curve too fast and started swerving into our lane. I should have had my camera snapping but I was to scared that the truck wasn’t gonna get control before it took out my highlander along with us in it. The truck made one manuerver where the trailer fish tailed around into our lane and everything was sliding towards us. The trailer  our car  by inches and then crashed into the fencing on his side of the road. Thank you Lord. Pictures would have been blurry from me shaking so bad. Another  picture moment would have been when our book club had a meeting at this restaurant and the girls at the oppossite end of the table caught the bread basket napkin on fire and couldn’t put it out. No staff person or anyone else came to the rescue. I was too busy laughing and watching to to snap a picture.  Obviously I wouldn’t make it as a photo journalist. I’d miss all the good shots.

But that's not to say I didn't catch some good or at least decent action shots when my daughter played waterpolo for High School and College. 



Pam blue cap #12 gaining possession

Pam in blue cap steals the ball



Pam #7 trying to pass the ball

                                                                                                                 

Pam - #7 maroon in possession



I enjoy taking pictures at weddings, book club, our home, parties, quilting and crafty things and events.

 

UT Gal and Aggie Guy get married. Now this is how to arrive
Wedding reception in Blanco Texas

Houston Oaks Country Club



There's nature and landscaping

2008 My Dad & Family in Missouri

There's family and more family

2010 Pam, her mimi (my mom) and Poppy

 

or whatever comes my way.
Like these unique county road signs in Jamesport, Missouri down the road from my birth place. These are real signs.

Don't tell Me Missouri Hwy Dept doesn't have a sense of humor.

Jamesport is an Amish town where they still drive horse and buggies.   

They tell me that when a new Amish family moves to town, the town folk start watching the ditches for free appliances. The Amish family will go in and pull out all appliances, lighting and modern conveniences and toss them in a near by ditch.. Free for the taking

Can you image driving down the road seeing a horse and buggy coming at ya? It's always fun to go back and visit. It's like going back in time. 

I  like to take pictures of friends. This is my Phi Mu Sorority Sister Sheryl. We went together to the 

2011 Ladies Nite at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Thanks to a friend I found SMUGMUG.Com. I have a link there where I store all my pictures and organized them by category and my albums are by date. Now you ask "Are you this organized in your every day life?" LOL. David would give you a "Hell No"if you asked him.

Digital Albums are so much easier than scrapbooking and dare I say cheaper. Since digital came along my scrapbooking has slowed considerably. I’ve scapbooked pictures up thru October 2006. I’m just a little behind.  I’m now a little more picky about what I actually scrapbook since I have the digital albums. Eventually I’d like to go back and scan all my old pictures into a digital album. My link has unlimited access and very little chance of loss since they back up on several different servers. Gotta Love it.

If you'd like to see other pictures I've taken

Go to http://hurricanecarla35.smugmug.com/    



 Until next blog .........  Some where, some how you could end up in pictures. So Smile!



.•*´¨ ) ¸.•*¨) -:¦:- Carla.♥

(¸.•´(¸ ;.•















It's Spring Break and it's time to have fun right?

Well Spring break started off alright. Pam came home for Spring Break.
David and I headed to the country for a fish fry and a good ole Texas Aggie bonfire. There might have been a few adult beverages handy. The hospitality was awesome and the food was yummy. David definitely loved all the food.  You could actually see all the stars in the sky. I could see living in the country but David figures I wouldn't survive very long. As long as there's a quilt shop within 30 minutes of the house I'm good. lol. Anyway after everyone had finished eating and it was dark everyone headed to the front yard where our hosts had piled branches and limbs for a bonfire. Once it burned down some of the kids, big and little roasted marshmallows. Again I lost my opportunity to take pictures but sometimes I actually get a little shy I guess when it comes to taking pictures. Only the Lord knows why. Everyone else was snapping pictures.  Yes I do have shy moments believe it or not.

Saturday I agreed to be a designated driver for Pam and her nursing buddy/future roommate when they went to a wedding in The Woodlands. I was starting to feel a little bad then but still felt the pollen was my enemy. Dropped the girls off at the wedding and I headed to my parents house in Montgomery. Spent the evening with them and headed back to pick up the girls around 10:30. The girls were just fine and didn't really need a designated driver but they didn't want to take a chance.

Sunday the sinus pressure was terrible. I took it easy all day. I had my week planned. Work Monday and Tuesday and then take time off the rest of the week.  That night I headed to bed early. A lot of good that did. I started having coughing spasms and started running fever. David and I got maybe an hour of sleep at best.
For obvious reasons I didn't go to work but did go to the doctor early. At 5:30pm the doctor called and my xrays confirmed her suspicions -- I have pneumonia. Well that's just great. I can't even enjoy having my daughter around and I'm quarantined to my room because I'm contagious. No one is home right now so I came upstairs to see what the rest of the world is doing this week and I figured I'd do a little blogging. This really sucks. So much for having my hair cut, a massage, lunch, shopping with Pam. Yep I'm whining. Time for more drugs plus my body is screaming at me it's time to go lay down and cover up.

Until next blog................... take your flu and pneumonia shots.

.•*´¨ ) ¸.•*¨) -:¦:-
(¸.•´(¸ ;.•Carla.♥

Did someone say Field Trip

At our June 1997 book club meeting for “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” by John Berendt some one said we should go to Savannah, GA.

Great idea! At that time only 1 of our 20 members didn’t work for WTS and 2 of them were VP’s of the company. And at the time there were 27 employees on the ocean freight side. Oops a trip might leave WTS a little short handed. hmmm...   Not everyone could go so it worked out and 8 of us took off for Savannah. The author John Berendt went to Savannah to write about restaurants but became entwined with the locals, their hospitality, and a murder.

We visited all the places in the book we could;

like the cemetery but we forgot to bring the martinis;

 

Oh and by the way That's not an orb in my picture
I had take a picture of the scrapbook page and
my flash created a glare on the one




Clary’s Café with good food and reasonable prices; Churchhills Pub where I drank my first Woodchuck beer, oh yeah; and we stayed on Tybee Island. In the book there was a part where one of the characters said if he drove fast enough across  the Tybee Island Bridge he could get all 4 wheels off the ground. Now I was the driver of one of the two vans since I get car sick when riding.. Anyway we were driving across the bridge when Suzanne yells “FLOOR IT CARLA”   What!!?? For God’s Sake Woman we’re in a mini-van. LOL All 4 wheels stayed on the ground needless to say. We got to see the Lady Chablis in person at Club One and what a hoot that was. They were turning the book into a movie and it was going to start filming the week after we left. Tourism increased after the movie came out so we picked the perfect time to go. 

At 10 pm our last night everyone decided it would be fun to walk the beach to a bar just down the way. There was a short seawall and that we had to jump off of. I thought I had surveyed my jumping off spot well…Not! ....I jumped down, hit the edge of a rock which twisted my ankle and sent me flying into the sand…right knee hit first. Of course my knee found the rock under the sand.The Pain!  They half drug me (obviously they couldn't carry my butt) down the beach to the bar. When we got there the outside bar had been shut down because of a fight an hour earlier.  Great! We had the outside bar all to ourselves but had to go inside to get anything to drink.



The next day we raced to the airport to catch my plane only to find they’d made the last call and the gate would close shortly but I can’t run because my knee is now twice its size. So my friend Suzanne takes off to catch the gate as I hobble behind. She made it just in time.

I get on a FULL plane and cram myself into a seat with no relief in sight. My knee is killing me and it wants to be straight but not gonna happen in the middle seat. As we begin our descent into DFW the young lady next to me holding her 1 year old looks at me and goes “did you hear that”…? It's her first time to fly and she’s very nervous and now she’s starting to scare me because what she heard was the landing gear going down and back up. All of a sudden the plane literally shoots straight up into the air. Oh my God I’m having an Airframe experience and I don’t want to die. If

you haven’t read Michael Crighton’s book Airframe you need too.  Our Pilot comes on the speaker and apologized but there were wind shears and he had to abort landing. We circled for over 40 minutes. Now I’m looking at my watch and my connection to Houston takes off in 20 minutes and DFW is not a small airport. I’m getting a feeling of deja-vu. Remember the bum knee I can’t run. When we finally land I have barely 10 minutes to catch my connection to Houston and the moving tram to take you to another gate was broke. To my relief I caught one of those golf cart rides and made it right before again they close the gate. That’s how I ended my wonderful trip.



In 2005 we read “Isaac’s Storm” by Erik Larson which prompted another field trip. “Isaac’s Storm” was about the hurricane of the 1900’s that hit Galveston.  It’s hard to imagine the devastation and havoc during that time. Reporting the weather back then depended on the relay of messages from outer area like Cuba. The communication was lacking between America and Cuba.  I can’t share any good stories from this trip because I stayed home for my daughter’s senior prom and I felt being here for her was more important and I had volunteered to help with Senior Night After Prom. That's another story entirely.

Aren't they cute. Richard Allan Harper was her date.

We’d like to take more trips but time and money seem to stand in our way. One trip that is on the plannning board still is to go to Charleston. After we read the ” The South of Broad” by Pat Conroy we decided that was a field trip we need to take One day!

Okay enough about books and reading. I'll find a new topic or at least until our next book club meeting sometime in April. Books are a big part of my life so I can't help but write about them.

Until next blog………..….  Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.”  ~Mary Schmich~      

¨))-:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))-:¦:-
   ((¸¸.·´ Carla..·´-:¦:-

    -:¦:- ((¸¸.· -:¦:-♥

To Blog or Not to Blog

It seems every one is blogging or reading blogs these days. You can see on my blog page that I follow several Blogs myself. I find them inspiring, entertaining, and helpful. Then sometimes the blog just keeps me updated on folks I don't see everyday. I'm not sure where my blog will fall but hopefully I'll provide a little of everything then again I could just bore you to death. I started a blog for a friend of mine back in December to help keep our mutual friends and co-workers updated with her progress and her journey thru life with cancer then got to thinking maybe I could write one for myself. So here I am after a little push and encouragement from a couple of friends I'm trying my hand at writing. Now if you ask my husband about me writing he'll tell you that could be a scary thing since I tend to leave words out or my thoughts don't always flow. Oh well that's me.

The book club just read and discussed the book "The Wednesday Letters" by Jason F Wright. I used a whole box of Kleenex so keep a box handy if you read. Geez I'm such a cry baby. This book has sorrow, romance, anger, frustration, joy, and on and on. It covers almost every adjective possible. .... It's about a husband who writes a letter to his wife every Wednesday of their lives. Aaaahhhh......   It's an easy and fast read. I don't want to say too much about the book in case you decide to read it. The letters varied in length from two sentences to a page or pages. Don't worry you're not going to read 50 years worth of letters. After the couples' death the 3 grown children find the letters and start reading them. Through the Letters they discover unknown family history, they see love, dedication, faith, strength and they even find a way to heal old wounds. I thought it was a good book. Now the day before the meeting I had about 40 pages left to read so I took the book to work, 1st mistake. 2nd mistake was reading at my desk during lunch instead of going out. One of the boss's walked up behind me in my cubicle during my lunch while I was reading and caught me crying like a baby. Now I tried to not turn around but when I do he goes "Are you okay Carla, why are… (big smile) don't tell me you're crying over the book?" Of course I have to say yes and he couldn't stop laughing. That’s me, the entertainment for the day. Oh and just in case you do read the book and it doesn't have a final letter taped to the back inside cover of the book let me know and I'll send it to you. It kinda wraps the story up.

Those present at the book discussion all thought that the practice of writing a letter every Wednesday was a cool thing. We talked about our own possible letters, journals, diaries or blogs, should we or shouldn't we or maybe we already do. When my daughter was little I would write something in my planner every day. I would note what we did, what we saw, our moods, the weather or whatever to just leave her a hint of what our day was like. One day she'll find the calendars in my keepsake boxes and hopefully read. I'm such a sentimental boob and sometimes a pack rat of mementos of our life what can I say.

Maybe my blog can serve as my Wednesday letter of sorts but I won't be revealing any deep dark secrets or dead bodies buried, I mean that fresh dirt pile in my backyard is nothing. Honest….

So far I've blogged about one of my favorite things - reading/book club with a couple of stories of the day thrown in. I'm about ready to move into a new subject (Thank God right) and for my quilter friends I will eventually talk about quilty stuff. Oh and maybe some home renovation comments or recipes if I try something new. Dang I guess I better work on some quilty stuff if I want to blog about it. ;o) 

Reader beware you may find I quote you, share a picture or story of you.

Well this is my random journal of life. It's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Until next time..................................

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived. ~ Jean Luc Picard

¨))-:¦:-.•*¨).•*¨))-:¦:-
   ((¸¸.·´ Carla..·´-:¦:-

     :¦:- ((.•*¨))-:¦:-♥

Do I have to stop celebrating?

Oh alright I guess I'm done. The past 4 days have been great. On Thursday the 3rd my boss treated me to an early celebration of donuts, kolaches,biscuits, breakfast tacos, a cake, and Death by Chocolate dessert. Yummy! Now the Death by Chocolate was my favorite especially since I called it "Happy Brownies". No not that kind of Happy Brownies. That kind is magic or funny brownies. My brownies were happy. What you say makes them happy..... the kahlua. The brownies were soaked over night in kahlua then crumbled into the chocolate mixture layered with whipped cream and whatever else. This is one dessert that kept us laughing all afternoon. All I had to do was say "Happy Brownies" and folks around my cubicle would start to giggle. You would have thought we drank the bottle but we figure my boss finished that before she came to work. Just kidding!

Right after work I picked up my daughter who came home for the first time in 45 days to celebrate our birthdays together, and my Phi Mu sorority sister Sheryl and we head to Ladies Nite out at the Rodeo.

Too much fun. For the price of our ticket we were able to consume as much yummy food and drinks as we wanted, have pictures taken (of course I had my own camera too), face painted, get our make up done, hair styled and they even had a massage table there.

Oh and of course you got to watch the rodeo. Sugarland put on a great performance but the bartender behind us was just about as entertaining. He was dancing and grooving.

On Friday, when the hubby came home from work he went to lunch with Pamela and I. We rarely get David to go to lunch with us like this.We went to the Whistle Stop Tea Room in Tomball. If you haven't been you need to go there. It was David's first time there. Great food and awesome desserts. After lunch Pamela and I dropped David off at home since he had no desire to go shopping.

Then Saturday on my birthday Pamela and I headed to Montgomery to have lunch with my mom and Joe (my step-father). And guess what we did after that...........yep we went shopping. Now Joe went home he seemed to have the same sentiment  as David did Friday about shopping. Now  while it sounds like I like to shop trust me I don't but Pamela and I did have some birthday money that was crying to be spent.  ;o) That night David took us to the Taste of Texas. More yummy food and desserts. Maybe I ought to cancel that doctors appointment I have in April........eeekk blood sugar levels are probably out the wahzoo....

And when Sunday rolls around... I went to my postcard bee @ Quilter's Crossing (great quilt shop) in Tomball. One of the girls bought me a birthday cake that was yummy too. Had a great time with the girls and I actually completed some quilted post cards and a couple book marks.When I got home David figured I wouldn't want to cook on my birthday weekend so he took Pamela and I out to eat again for Mexican food. Pamela doesn't have classes on Mondays so she was able to stay home an extra night so she could go with us. After dinner we were watching TV when David says "Finally the weekend is over and you can quit celebrating". WHAT? I have to stop celebrating. Well maybe I will I'm kinda tired. This celebrating takes lots of time and work plus I think I've met my quota for desserts. Then David reminds me of the carrot cake he bought us for our birthday.

Until next time.......................... Celebrate like there's no tomorrow!

¨))-:¦:-.•*¨).•*¨))-:¦:-
   ((¸¸.·´ Carla..·´-:¦:-

:¦:- ((.•*¨))-:¦:-♥

24 Years Ago

I was going to post one or two more book/reading post that I’m sure you’re tired of by now.

So since today is a special day you'll be spared.

 

Today at 5:27pm in 1987 the most amazing thing happened. David and I welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world. Wow where did the years go? Of course this also means I get a year older too 3 days later. Now that thought is just down right scary.

I remember the day Pamela was born like it was yesterday. Every Monday morning for 4 weeks I had been going to the hospital at 5:30am so they could induce labor to perform the stress test to make sure the baby was okay. Pamela was just as stubborn then as she is now. She was snug as a bug and she wasn’t coming out.

That fourth Monday morning they told us today is the day. YAHOO!

Things were going slow and David was getting tired sitting there and discussing names. I sent David to lunch with a friend who stopped by and before he got back from lunch the contractions were coming about every minute but I wasn’t dilating so the doctor said they’d start prepping me for a c-section. That’s when I let them give me some drugs to to take the edge off  the contractions.  Well let me tell you I was flying high after I got the drugs.   Crazy!

I was lying in bed but my body felt like it was floating around the room.  When the anesthesiologist came in to tell me the side effects of anesthesia and the different options, all I could do was giggle. I kept thinking Okay like I’m 91/2 months pregnant and you're telling me all these side effects could happen if I have any of the 3 methods of anesthisiat, Right? So what's your point I don't think I want to carry a baby in me forever.

Finally the moment came and the doctors announced we had a baby girl. Laying there it hits me “OH Shit” I’m a mom. A little late for this thought but what can I say. So will I be a good mom or will I know what to do or not do? 

David and I must have done okay… we survived and she has survived.



Now of course there were tears, arguing, yelling,the usually I don’t like you, you’re mean, and the look that says parents are so stupid. 

 I used to always tell her it was my job to make her life miserable and ask how I am I doing?

Pamela has been our pride and joy. She got that treasured Aggie Ring and in May 2010 Oh Happy Days she got that Texas A&M Degree a

 BS in Health. We thought Yippee Pay Raise right ? Laugh is on us ...she tells us she's going to Nursing School.
Story to continue at a later date.

Happy 24th Birthday to our beautiful daughter

Until the next post..........

One tiny hand to guide and hold,
One tiny life to shape and mold;
each child, a gift from God above,
a symbol of His strength and love

¨))-:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))-:¦:-
      ((¸¸.·´ Carla..·´-:¦:-

        -:¦:- ((¸¸.· -:¦:-