School's out for summer!

I'm almost a week late with this post. Darrius' last day of school was last Wednesday. Darrius is no longer a 5th grader. He is now a 6th grader. I can't believe it. Thank goodness Darrius' school goes up to the 6th grade so I have one more year where I won't have to start dealing with middle school madness. He turns 11 in August and from what I've read, that makes him a"tween". I don't think I'm ready for this. I still see him as my baby. He will always be my baby regardless of his age.

To keep him occupied this summer, he's going to summer camp at Yong In Martial Arts Academy. He goes there every year for summer break. It's very laid back and relaxed. The kids have tae kwon do lessons in the afternoon. They do a different activity each day. They has take the kids to Six Flags every week. The only thing extra we have to pay for is his Six Flags season pass which I think is a great deal.

This year Darrius' vacation is 6 weeks long instead of the typical 5 weeks. School starts August 3rd. We will be in St. Maarten. So lucky him, he will be missing the first week of school. And of course he's not complaining.

Here's to a great summer!

Happy Father's Day

I know I'm a day late. I was trying to find a pic of me and my Daddy. Unfortunately, my scanner is not working so I couldn't' scan a pic to my laptop so that I can add it to my post. I will be using a pic of my parents. I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

I am a Daddy's girl. I think my Dad is the BEST. He loves my mom and you can see that love in the way he looks at her. When I see how my dad is with my mom, I think to myself - that is how a man is supposed to treat a woman.

Growing up, my dad was tough. We didn't take his quiet nature for granted. He instilled in us great morals and values. We knew that in order to make in life, education was key. He didn't mess around when it came to school.

And now my dad is the best Pop-Pop out there. The grandkids have him wrapped around their fingers. And he continues to deny it.

Happy Father's Day Daddy. No matter how old I get, you will always be Daddy to me.

The Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

I love the HBO show "True Blood." It's my new favorite obsession and I was counting down until the season premiere last Sunday. While perusing the blogs that I follow, I found a reading challenge that I can really sink my teeth into. Ha-ha. I've never read any of books in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series. But since I've started watching "True Blood" I've been interested in reading the books; mostly to compare the books to the TV show. And now, here's my chance!

Here's the link to the blog post that explains how the challenge works.





I can't wait! Summer reading here I come!

Side note: I'm nowhere near finished with my VCA reading challenge. I have a lot of reading I need to do!

Goals Update

We're almost halfway through 2009. Boy time does fly! Here's a quick update on my 9 Goals for 2009.

1. Run a 5k Race - Unfortunately, I haven't done that yet. I was hoping to be ready for my first 5k last week (The National Race for the Cure). No excuses - I let laziness get the best of me. But I'm back on track now. I'm 4 weeks into my training and it has been kicking my butt - in a good way. I hope to run a 5k by August if not sooner. I will be walking in a 5k race next Saturday. I'm going to attempt to run/walk so that I can get the feel of running outside.

2. Read a Great American Novel - In my last update I mentioned I read "The Great Gatsby". My intent was to read another novel. I haven't as of yet. I don't know what to read. I may just close my eyes and point and whatever my finger lands on, that's what I'll be reading.

3. Be a better citizen of the world - I have been keeping up with this but not as much as I would have liked. My efforts have been steered more towards recycling and going green. I've started purchasing "green" cleaning products. I recycle as much as possible. And I now use reusable bags for my groceries. No more plastic for me! The little things go a long way.

4. Stop sweating the small stuff - I find myself still doing that. It's a hard habit to break. But I intend to break it. I just need to be more cognizant of doing it.

5. Stop using negative phrases - I think I have gotten better. I do make the conscious effort to suppress the inner pessimist. The best way for me to do that is to keep my mouth shut. Period.

6. Take a writing class - I hope to sign up for a writing class in the Fall. I was going to sign up for a summer class but I waited too long. Hey - another goal should be for me to stop procrastinating!

7. Decide what I want to do with my career - I know what I want to do. It's just a matter of getting there. I know that I want to work in a Library. But the jobs I've looked at all require a Masters in Library Science. I need to get off my arse and research and find out what I need to do to make that happen.

8. Finish swimming lessons - I was hoping to have this done before we go on vacation this summer. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'm tempted to ask hubby to give me lessons in my father-in-law's pool. It's free! But I think we'd argue too much. Let me rephrase that - I will be arguing too much! LOL!

9. Continue to improve - This is ongoing. I'm slowly getting there. Baby steps, baby steps.

I'm baaaackkkk!!!

Yes, I've been M.I.A. and I'm sorry. The last couple of months have been roadblock after roadblock. I had pretty much given up on the 5k training until 2 weeks ago. I found PodrunnerIntervals. This discovery has re-energized my goal to run a 5k race. I started week 2 of the training yesterday. And I feel great. I wanted to be ready to run a 5k by June 6th but it doesn't appear that I'll be ready for it. That is two weeks away. So now I'm looking to find something in mid to late July. The Podrunner training is for 9 weeks. If I stay on track and don't get lazy or let life get in the way, I will be 5k ready by mid July. I can't wait! I am determined to stick to this. Another thing that has me motivated is that it's officially the "start of summer" and I am nowhere near the shape I want to be in. I'm ashamed to wear sleeveless tops because my arms are too fat and jiggly. My legs are awful - cellulite city. I need to get my ass motivated and hopefully the goal of running a 5k will do the trick. I know, I've said this before. But I really mean it this time. I promise to stick with it and I look forward to the day when I post about my first 5k.

It's on like Donkey Kong!

Mother's Day

Dedication to my mom:

I love my mom. Who doesn't love their mom? I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a great relationship with their mother. I treasure the fact that when my brother and I were growing up, she stayed at home. I was lucky to have my mom at the bus stop in the mornings and the afternoons. Whenever there was a school play or function in the classroom, she managed to be there (even though she didn't know how to drive at the time). It wasn't until we moved from Memphis to Virginia that my mom had to get a job and work outside the home. I cherish the years when I didn't have to share her with the rest of the world.

My mom is a very outgoing person. Sometimes I wish I was more like her in that aspect. She's also funny, sarcastic and loving. Her laugh is contagious. I laugh like her - LOUD. She speaks her mind and does not mince words. With my mom - what you see is what you get. She does not believe in pretenses.

I realize as I get older, I am becoming my mom. At first I feared it. For a daughter, the worse thing that could be said to you is "You're just like your mother." I've heard many times from my husband and used to say "No I'm not". But now I don't deny it. In my mind I'm saying "Thank you" because my mother is da bomb! She's a strong woman. She loves her family. I know that I can go to my mom for anything. I grew up knowing that this woman loved me. And I always feel loved when I'm around her. Even as an adult, she's still "mommy" to me.

I tip my hat off to C.W. You are my hero. And I am honored to be just like you.

Happy Mother's Day!

"Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. "

"We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves."

I love my family

*NOTE* I started this post last Monday. For some reason I couldn't get my thoughts together to finish it so I saved it. I now know what I want to say so here it goes:

I haven't posted in a while and I hate that my new post is about death. But I feel that I need to express how much I love my family and how this tragedy really brought it to light. Thursday before last, my mom called me at work to tell me that my Uncle Bo died of complications from sickle cell. He'd been in the hospital for a couple of weeks fighting the latest crises. When I heard the news, my heart started hurting. Uncle Bo is my one of my dad's younger brothers. My dad has 5 brothers and 4 sisters. Living with sickle cell, my uncle was constantly in and out of the hospital. But he would always fight through. This time his body couldn't fight any longer. I was able to see him while we were visiting for Thanksgiving. I am grateful that I had that time with him. I am thankful that I had my uncle in my life for so long. People living with sickle cell don't have a long life expectancy.


We drove down to Arkansas to attend the wake and funeral. As always, it was great visiting relatives and seeing cousins that I hadn't seen in years. My mom's sister from Detroit drove down to show their support. My mom's brothers and sisters were all there to provide their support for my dad. They grew up in a small town in Arkansas so the community is very close-knit. I was having a great time, putting the reason why we were there to the back of my mind. I won't go into details regarding the wake and the funeral. Everything was beautiful and it was everything my uncle wanted. He wanted his funeral to be a celebration of his life. We can shed our tears, but know that he is in a better place. He's no longer sick, he's no longer in pain. That night (after the funeral, burial and repast) we went to a fish fry. It was a party-like atmosphere. We were laughing, rejoicing, watching NCAA basketball, playing cards, trash talking - being a family. It's a shame that death is what brought us all together.

While my uncle was in the hospital, he made it known that he wanted everyone to come down for the 4th of July. I'm sure he thought that he would make it through this last crises and would be well enough to host a 4th of July celebration at his house. In honor of him, we are going to keep that promise. Family is so important. Death should not be the catalyst for reaching out to your family. We're all busy doing our own thing but we shouldn't let that get in the way of keeping family first. We need to stick together and love each other.

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers