Blah-Blah

My family has always been huge Razorback fans. My older brother, Rodney, had Briar and Brad calling the hogs before they could even walk.

On the flip side, Rodney is not an Arkansas State fan. You would think since they are closer to us he would at least root for them sometimes. Not the case. He is extremely anti-Indians (or whatever they turn out to be).

Saturday afternoon my family was gathered at my mom’s house for a birthday party for Rod’s daughter, Grace. Blake, my younger brother, walked in wearing a gray A-State hoodie.

Rod instantly told him to get out of the house with that shirt on. He wasn’t welcome. Blake just smiled and said, “If you only knew.” We all got a good laugh when Georgetta, Blake’s wife, let Rod in on the secret.

She had bought the hoodie the day before at one of the many “Black Friday” sales. It was to be Rod’s Christmas present… until Blake saved him from that fate and claimed it for himself.

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My cousin, Lora, has been battling cancer for several years. Every time we think she has it beat, something else happens. At a recent checkup at UAMS, she learned that the cancer has returned to her lungs and liver.

After having a reaction to treatments, they were stopped. Lora has been referred to MD Anderson Medical Center in Texas for an experimental treatment. We’ve been told this is her “last hope.”

Through all of the different diagnosis, chemotherapy and surgeries, Lora’s faith has remained strong. She has an amazing attitude, and I admire her for it.

My mom has organized a fund-raiser, to be held Nov. 17 beginning at 6:30 p.m at the Hoxie Service Center. The proceeds will help Lora with medical and traveling expenses. The Shaw’s will be performing as well as the Faith Worship Center Praise Team and the New Beginning Followers of Christ Dance Team.

It’s sure to be an entertaining night!

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I had an extremely entertaining ride while taking my nieces, Jarah, 7, and Kylie, 3, to Jonesboro for Jarah’s gymnastics class on Wednesday.

My son, Brad, is a huge Hannah Montana fan and has two of her CDs. They occupy slots number three and four in my CD changer. I was actually hoping that the girls would not remember that fact when we began our drive.

It didn’t take long, however, for Kylie to ask for Hannah Montana. She was singing at the top of her lungs, “Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.” She wanted me to play it over and over… I just couldn’t do it though.

I had to contain my laughter when Kylie said, “Aunt Angie, I got my flea shot yesterday!”

Jarah laughed and told her it wasn’t a “flea” shot, it was a flu shot. She told Kylie to say blue… then had her say flu. She said it perfectly.

After Jarah got out of the car, and I was getting Kylie unbuckled, she told me, “Jarah don’t know what she’s talkin’ about, Aunt Angie, I know I got a flea shot.”

I just smiled and let it go.

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My mother-in-law had her annual Halloween party Saturday night. She lives on the other side of Maynard, out in the middle of nowhere. It is a really good place for a Halloween party… lots of scary possibilities.

We had a big meal, then started a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. The crew my sister-in-law works with landed their helicopter in the field across the street and ate with us. Before leaving, they took some of the adults up in the helicopter.

Later in the night we had a hayride. My mother-in-law and several other adults dressed up in scary outfits and went to spook those on the hayride. The trailer they caught up with, though, wasn’t ours… they scared the wrong group.

To end the night, Briar, Brad and several others bobbed for apples. This is my least favorite thing… everyone slobbering in a pail of water, trying to bite the same apples. GROSS!

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It’s awesome that our two local high school football teams, the Hoxie Mustangs and Walnut Ridge Bobcats, will be going to state this year. Congratulations to both teams!

My family attended the Iron Mountain Festival this weekend in Walnut Ridge. I enjoyed myself and could have watched the provided entertainment all day long. However, Briar, Brad and Tim had other ideas of entertainment.

They enjoyed the shooting range, karate demonstration, aquarium and car show, but were ready to go after about 45 minutes. One trip through was enough for them.

Oldsalt, a LawCo Talk board member and moderator, brought me a three-button mouse for my computer today. A few weeks ago he made a trip to our office and was astonished by the fact that my mouse had only one button. I use a Macintosh and they have only one button “mice.”

I am enjoying the extra two buttons immensely. While my Mac mouse would do all the things as a three-button mouse, the three buttons are just easier. However, you won’t find me abandoning my Mac anytime soon. They are the far superior computer… at least in my opinion.

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I won’t deny that I have forgotten many things in my life … names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays … I’ve even forgotten where I was going on occasion. I have never, though, forgotten to breathe.

How do you forget to breathe, anyway? To me, the idea of forgetting to breathe is, well, crazy…

I don’t watch “Dancing With the Stars,” but I’m sure most people have heard about Marie Osmond “fainting” on the show Monday night because she “forgot to breathe.”

While they were talking about it on the news this morning, Briar walked through the room and heard them. He was unsure of what they had said, at first. He stopped and looked at me and asked if he had heard the TV correctly.

After telling him what had happened, his response was the same as mine… “How in the world could someone forget to breathe? That’s crazy!”

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Today is definitely Monday!

The day started off normal enough, my niece, Jarah, arrived at my house at 5 a.m. this morning. She normally goes back to sleep, but she didn’t this morning. She didn’t feel very well, so I tried to comfort her the best I could. She called her mom four times before I took her to school.

I had to leave work to take Brad to the doctor for a follow up appointment. Not long after returning, I got a call from the school nurse. Briar was in her office because he had hurt his hand.

I went to get him and took him to the emergency room … it’s broken.

I’m now having trouble focusing on what I’m doing here at work… I can’t help wondering what’s going to happen next.

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On Saturday, my family went to my husband’s company (LA Darling) picnic. The company has had the picnic for the past three years, and it is something we all look forward to.

As soon as we arrived this year, Tim and Brad headed straight for the NASCAR simulator. It is always their favorite thing to do. Briar and Brad raced several times in the Iron Man obstacle course. They had a mechanical bull, which Briar and Brad loved last year, but didn’t get on this year.

While eating lunch, we played Bingo, but didn’t win anything. Briar really enjoyed the Bingo games, so we spent a lot of the afternoon playing. Brad made friends with a boy close to his age. They kept busy playing on the giant slide and obstacle course.

The company always does a random drawing for prizes. In the three years we’ve been going, we haven’t won any of those prizes. This year was no different. The grand prizes were a flat screen plasma TV and a stainless steel, gas barbecue grill.

Even though we didn’t win anything, we got to spend time together and enjoyed the day.

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I was lucky to be raised in a stable home with both parents. My parents are now a big part of my children’s lives. Briar and Brad go to their house after school on most days and usually spend two nights a week with them.

I believe the time a person spends with their grandparents is the most special time in the world.

I was blessed to have both sets of my grandparents until my PaPa Tate passed away on the morning of my 23rd birthday. Ten months later I lost my Grandpa Jones and five months after that, my Grandma Jones. My Granny Tate was with us five more years, until July of 2001.

I loved to fish with Grandpa and Grandma Jones, and I will never forget all the afternoons I spent playing slapjack under the shade tree with my PaPa Tate.

Granny Tate was the strongest woman I’ve ever known. She loved life and loved to laugh and have fun. My brothers and I always tried to get her “tickled,” which wasn’t very hard to do.

I think of them often and try to pass their legacy along to Briar and Brad through stories, pictures and home videos. I also hope that I am nurturing the same type of relationship between the boys and my parents. After all, nothing can quite explain or compare to the relationship between a grandparent and grandchild.

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Briar and Brad are supposed to read every night for at least 30 minutes. Briar usually reads something by R.L. Stein and Brad likes biographies, but right now is reading a fiction book entitled, “The Desperaux.” They hate reading, and I don’t understand why. I love it … I always have.

While growing up, I read the Sweet Valley High series. The books are about twin high school girls and their life experiences.

Two of my all-time favorite books are “Where the Red Fern Grows,” I still cry every time I read it, and “The Outsiders.”

I also read a lot of Judy Blume books. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Fudge,” “Double Fudge,” “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” and “Blubber” — just to name a few.

These days my favorite authors include Laurel K. Hamilton, Dean Koontz, John Grisham and Sandra Brown. I have to admit that I love reading Harry Potter, too. I would actually read just about anything you put in front of me.

So… with my passion for reading, why can’t I get my boys to read?

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