Putting my degree to good use

I have spent the better part of two hours today transforming a shoe box into a Valentine's Day card keeper for Amelia to take to school. Check it out: 

I don't know what is more sad: the fact I spent so much time on a project that was technically supposed to be completed by me and my daughter or the fact I was so excited to have an "assignment" to which I could devote my attention that I just could not wait for Amelia to get home from school before starting work on it.

Sigh. Too bad I can't seem to get this motivated when it comes to tackling mundane chores like cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, washing clothes, dusting the furniture and cleaning the floors.

I am sure my professors in the communications department at Jacksonville State University are really proud of me right now. I don't have time to dwell on that though because I must get something to drink in order to wash this pathetic taste out of my mouth.

Flashback Friday: There were three, but now the baby stands alone

 Three sisters: (from left, pictured in the late 1980s) Gayle; Janice, my momma; and Teresa, the baby sister left behind.

My Aunt Gayle died last week. She was 71. She was my momma's big sister. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) killed her just like it took my momma almost three years ago. Their disease was caused by smoking something that each of them had done for more than 50 years.

Their baby sister, Teresa, or Auntie Tee as she is called by my girls, is now left without her big sisters with whom she was tremendously close. She's feeling kind of lost. She doesn't know how to walk through this world without her sisters in it. I feel sorry for her.

If you're a smoker, please consider quitting. If you love someone who is a smoker, try to persuade them to quit. Both my Aunt Gayle and my momma might have been able to reside on this earth a few more years with those of us who loved them so much had they been able to find the strength to quit.

Smoking took them away from their families. Don't let it take you from yours or your loved one from you.

I'm just so proud of my little bookworm

Amelia brought home a note from her teacher yesterday. It was a good note. So good, in fact, I feel compelled to share.

"I wanted to let you also know that Amelia has completed the kindergarten reading program in the computer lab. She will begin first grade reading in the computer lab on Thursday.

It is not very typical for this to happen. It only happened to one of my students last year so this is GREAT for her.

She really is a pleasure to teach. She will be receiving the Cub Award by the end of the week for all her effort she puts forth. She is one of the hardest-working students in my class. Thanks again, Shara Callahan."

I was so proud of her that when we stopped at the "candy store," which is what she calls the convenience store where we regularly stop to get gas for the cars, I left her pick out as much candy as she wanted as a reward.

She came home with a Hershey chocolate bar, a pint of Breyer's cookies and cream ice cream, a package of Hubba Bubba gum, a gummy Krabby Patty and a pack of Oreo Cakesters as well as a pack of regular Oreos.

Her daddy and I have showered her with praise and have bragged to everyone about our little reader. If we keep grinning like we have been there's a possibility our faces just might freeze in this position.

We are just proud as punch of Amelia and thrilled that our efforts to get her to enjoy books and reading have paid off.

Flashback Friday: Heeeey Kool-aid!

If memory serves, this photo was snapped by my momma during the summer of 1983. Me, pictured on the left, and my first cousin Dee Dee caught an entrepreneurial bug and decided to ply Kool-aid to travelers going past our grandparent's home.

Even though we were offering cool drinks for only a nickle, I don't think a single person stopped to partake of our inventory. That didn't deter us, though, because the two of us as well as me and some neighborhood kids tried a few more times to get this little business off the ground.

Sadly, we closed shop after, I think, three more tries without any customers. Having our stand set up way out in the country didn't help our business at all. Had we been able to sell our sugary beverages in one of the fancy subdivisions in town we might have seen our dream of having a line of customers with nickles in hand come true.