we had a ball this christmas!
goodbye, 2013!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
i cried.
it started like any other day...school drop off, gym, the daily trip to kroger. but, that trip to kroger is where things got interesting. somewhere in the midst of that kroger trip, my wallet got lost/stolen/just disappeared. i am a very organized person. i'm not saying that i couldn't lose something, but it's not in my nature to lose things. especially important things!! so i did what everybody would have done. i called my deli lady to come help me! :) doesn't everybody have the cell phone of the lady that gets your turkey? no….well, i do. and bless her bones, miss charlotte is one of my favorite people. she helped me looked in the store. she helped me look in the parking lot. she just helped me look. but we looked for nothing….it was gone.
i left my phone number at the customer service desk in case someone turned it in, but i knew it was for naught. and as i drove home and thought about somebody's grubby hands all over my stuff, i felt sick. i felt violated. i felt angry. i cried. i'm not a crier. sure, i cry at movies, and hand surgery brought on more than a few tears, but i'm not a situational crier. i don't know what came over me. i think it bothered me that i just didn't have any idea what happened. part of me would have felt better if some guy had come up and just said, "give me your wallet." at least then i would have known what had happened. i was also bothered by the fact that i NEVER have any money on me. like ever! 360 days out of the year i have two whole dollars to my name. i have had to tell my neighbor that i don't have change for $10 before. never have money. but this day, i had $60 in my wallet. reed had been on a field trip to memphis a few days prior, and i had gotten some money out of the bank in case i needed it for something. now somebody's grubby hands were all over my money. my poor husband could not understand why i was crying. "would you calm down? it's just a wallet!" that didn't help. but i got it together and sat down in the kitchen to cancel two credit cards and one debit card.
let's back up. bancorpsouth has some fancy new website. instead of just letting you login to pay bills or balance your checkbook, you have to change your password for their new secure site. well, you can't just change your password…you have to call them to do it. for the love. the day before my wallet went MIA, i spent one hour and ten minutes on hold for a lady who changed my password in 90 seconds flat. obviously, everybody is having issues with the new password law. or they only have one lady working the phone line. so, the next day i sat down and looked at the number that i was supposed to call to cancel my debit card, and guess what??? it was the same freakin' number that i had called and waited on hold for over an hour. i cried.
and then i just hung up and called the other number for the other card. "we're sorry. all representatives are busy. please try again later." click. how in the $%#! am i supposed to get anything done if i can't talk to a person on the phone. why is this so hard??!? guess what? i cried.
so….i get in the car and drive to the bank to take care of one of the cards. it's the one that we use only for medical/pharmacy stuff. anyway, i sit down across the desk from a lady and tell her my story. she says ok. she asks for my i.d. well if i had an i.d., i would still have my wallet and not be in need of her services, right? so then she asks for my social. and then she gives me a weird look, and she says, "this account only has your husband's name on it. so, i'm not going to be able to help you." i cried. y'all, i lost it right there up in that bank. "somebody is walking around with my wallet. i have called every single customer service number that i have only to be told that nobody can help me. now i'm sitting across from a living, breathing person, and you can't help me either??!? what on earth do you want me to do?" i'm not sure she had ever seen such a display. her eyes got wide and she told me to call chase and have him call her right then. so when he called, she said, "i'm not supposed to do this over the phone, but my goodness, your wife is sitting here crying, and i just have to help her." haha. maybe i should try this crying thing more often!
after doing the same thing at the other bank (because remember nobody has a customer service line that actually offers customer service), i had to go to the highway patrol to get a new license. i almost cried before i walked in because we all know you can't get out of there in less than an hour. but i had to tell God "thank you" when i walked out of there only 4 minutes after i walked in the door. i'm sure that will never happen again, but i'm certain He felt sorry for me at that point in the day!
i was spent the rest of the day, and my stomach still hurts when i think about somebody with my stuff. chase has assured me that they took my money and tossed the rest of it. he says they have no need for my lenny's card, my sam's card or my barnes and noble card. true, but it was mine. and it's distressing that SOMEBODY'S GRUBBY HANDS WERE ON MY STUFF!
then...
several different things happened that shined some perspective back on my situation. the most recent being the death of a police officer here in town who confronted a bank robber. a 38 year old husband and father to two young kids. a cancer diagnosis. a car wreck. a friend's mom who was struck with a brick and suffered a broken hip during a robbery. a three month old little girl who lost her life to RSV.
perspective. today i am grateful for perspective.
as i sat in the kitchen confronted by these situations, i thought about the meaningless pieces of plastic that i was so worked up about.
and i cried.
i left my phone number at the customer service desk in case someone turned it in, but i knew it was for naught. and as i drove home and thought about somebody's grubby hands all over my stuff, i felt sick. i felt violated. i felt angry. i cried. i'm not a crier. sure, i cry at movies, and hand surgery brought on more than a few tears, but i'm not a situational crier. i don't know what came over me. i think it bothered me that i just didn't have any idea what happened. part of me would have felt better if some guy had come up and just said, "give me your wallet." at least then i would have known what had happened. i was also bothered by the fact that i NEVER have any money on me. like ever! 360 days out of the year i have two whole dollars to my name. i have had to tell my neighbor that i don't have change for $10 before. never have money. but this day, i had $60 in my wallet. reed had been on a field trip to memphis a few days prior, and i had gotten some money out of the bank in case i needed it for something. now somebody's grubby hands were all over my money. my poor husband could not understand why i was crying. "would you calm down? it's just a wallet!" that didn't help. but i got it together and sat down in the kitchen to cancel two credit cards and one debit card.
let's back up. bancorpsouth has some fancy new website. instead of just letting you login to pay bills or balance your checkbook, you have to change your password for their new secure site. well, you can't just change your password…you have to call them to do it. for the love. the day before my wallet went MIA, i spent one hour and ten minutes on hold for a lady who changed my password in 90 seconds flat. obviously, everybody is having issues with the new password law. or they only have one lady working the phone line. so, the next day i sat down and looked at the number that i was supposed to call to cancel my debit card, and guess what??? it was the same freakin' number that i had called and waited on hold for over an hour. i cried.
and then i just hung up and called the other number for the other card. "we're sorry. all representatives are busy. please try again later." click. how in the $%#! am i supposed to get anything done if i can't talk to a person on the phone. why is this so hard??!? guess what? i cried.
so….i get in the car and drive to the bank to take care of one of the cards. it's the one that we use only for medical/pharmacy stuff. anyway, i sit down across the desk from a lady and tell her my story. she says ok. she asks for my i.d. well if i had an i.d., i would still have my wallet and not be in need of her services, right? so then she asks for my social. and then she gives me a weird look, and she says, "this account only has your husband's name on it. so, i'm not going to be able to help you." i cried. y'all, i lost it right there up in that bank. "somebody is walking around with my wallet. i have called every single customer service number that i have only to be told that nobody can help me. now i'm sitting across from a living, breathing person, and you can't help me either??!? what on earth do you want me to do?" i'm not sure she had ever seen such a display. her eyes got wide and she told me to call chase and have him call her right then. so when he called, she said, "i'm not supposed to do this over the phone, but my goodness, your wife is sitting here crying, and i just have to help her." haha. maybe i should try this crying thing more often!
after doing the same thing at the other bank (because remember nobody has a customer service line that actually offers customer service), i had to go to the highway patrol to get a new license. i almost cried before i walked in because we all know you can't get out of there in less than an hour. but i had to tell God "thank you" when i walked out of there only 4 minutes after i walked in the door. i'm sure that will never happen again, but i'm certain He felt sorry for me at that point in the day!
i was spent the rest of the day, and my stomach still hurts when i think about somebody with my stuff. chase has assured me that they took my money and tossed the rest of it. he says they have no need for my lenny's card, my sam's card or my barnes and noble card. true, but it was mine. and it's distressing that SOMEBODY'S GRUBBY HANDS WERE ON MY STUFF!
then...
several different things happened that shined some perspective back on my situation. the most recent being the death of a police officer here in town who confronted a bank robber. a 38 year old husband and father to two young kids. a cancer diagnosis. a car wreck. a friend's mom who was struck with a brick and suffered a broken hip during a robbery. a three month old little girl who lost her life to RSV.
perspective. today i am grateful for perspective.
as i sat in the kitchen confronted by these situations, i thought about the meaningless pieces of plastic that i was so worked up about.
and i cried.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
and it's over...
did y'all know it was christmas yesterday?? the tree is back in the attic. the mantle is clear. and except for a dancing, solar christmas penguin that i overlooked and the cd still in my car, you can't even tell that it was christmas yesterday in my house. (and if you were wondering....that makes me very, very happy!) however....along with the goodies that we all received, we have plenty of pictures to document that a good time was had by all!
we started out last weekend in jackson with the henson clan. all of these cousins have a great time together even though honey and g were in need of some xanax and wine by the time we left.
on christmas eve back at our place, we made santa some marshmallow pops. he gets tired of cookies, right?? we also made some for all of our neighbors. unfortunately, only two of the neighbors were home, so we had more than our share of marshmallow pops!!
later that night after church and supper, the little people got to open one present from us. they were all so not thrilled because "uhhhhhhhhh....we know it's just pajamas. it's always pajamas." next year i'm wrapping up underwear. or a piece of bread. something to throw them off!!
they were a tad bit more excited the next morning as they waited to come down the stairs!
we proceeded to fill up on a gigantic breakfast before heading back to open gifts from each other!
this was the first year that each kid was responsible for shopping for every other family member. i took each one shopping alone so they could pick out what they thought each person would like. it was fun to see them think about their brothers and what they thought each one would like. and it was more fun to watch them give their gifts. reed was very confident in his gift shopping skills. "you're gonna love it!!!" was what he said as he handed his presents out! but apparently everybody has good shopping skills because everybody loved it all!
"you're gonna love it, daddy!"
we spent the afternoon making glow in the dark slime...
playing outside...
and william had to fight his daddy for control of his remote control helicopter! next year, i'm getting chase a helicopter.
and of course, several hours were spent playing legos. i don't know what i'm going to do the day that legos go out of style over here!
note: if you can't find grandma, go upstairs and check the bunk bed.
it was a fun christmas...
but, i'd be lying if i said i wasn't happy to hear maroon 5 and luke bryan back on the radio when i start my car rather than jingle bells and let it snow. don't even get me started on "santa, baby." hello to the new year!!
we started out last weekend in jackson with the henson clan. all of these cousins have a great time together even though honey and g were in need of some xanax and wine by the time we left.
on christmas eve back at our place, we made santa some marshmallow pops. he gets tired of cookies, right?? we also made some for all of our neighbors. unfortunately, only two of the neighbors were home, so we had more than our share of marshmallow pops!!
later that night after church and supper, the little people got to open one present from us. they were all so not thrilled because "uhhhhhhhhh....we know it's just pajamas. it's always pajamas." next year i'm wrapping up underwear. or a piece of bread. something to throw them off!!
they were a tad bit more excited the next morning as they waited to come down the stairs!
we proceeded to fill up on a gigantic breakfast before heading back to open gifts from each other!
this was the first year that each kid was responsible for shopping for every other family member. i took each one shopping alone so they could pick out what they thought each person would like. it was fun to see them think about their brothers and what they thought each one would like. and it was more fun to watch them give their gifts. reed was very confident in his gift shopping skills. "you're gonna love it!!!" was what he said as he handed his presents out! but apparently everybody has good shopping skills because everybody loved it all!
"you're gonna love it, daddy!"
we spent the afternoon making glow in the dark slime...
playing outside...
and william had to fight his daddy for control of his remote control helicopter! next year, i'm getting chase a helicopter.
and of course, several hours were spent playing legos. i don't know what i'm going to do the day that legos go out of style over here!
note: if you can't find grandma, go upstairs and check the bunk bed.
it was a fun christmas...
but, i'd be lying if i said i wasn't happy to hear maroon 5 and luke bryan back on the radio when i start my car rather than jingle bells and let it snow. don't even get me started on "santa, baby." hello to the new year!!
Sunday, December 22, 2013
angels
the last week of school of this semester, we finished up with two different christmas plays. both william and wes were angels. william was an angel in the angel choir for his play. he sang and danced his little angel heart out!
with his other angel friends….bounds and stuart.
wes' class recited and acted out luke 2. he was the angel of the lord. he recited his part perfectly, and he was super excited about being able to wield a sword! ha!
even the angel of the lord has to take a break before a big production!
he even sang!! he's a multi-talented angel. :)
these two angels didn't have a play, but they did party it up in their classroom!
and now, we are going to try to survive christmas break! with all of the legos headed our way, that should be a fairly easy task!
with his other angel friends….bounds and stuart.
wes' class recited and acted out luke 2. he was the angel of the lord. he recited his part perfectly, and he was super excited about being able to wield a sword! ha!
even the angel of the lord has to take a break before a big production!
he even sang!! he's a multi-talented angel. :)
these two angels didn't have a play, but they did party it up in their classroom!
and now, we are going to try to survive christmas break! with all of the legos headed our way, that should be a fairly easy task!
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