Just Say Julie

Prompt 1:  What’s your very earliest childhood memory? (Courtesy of Kristina) This one is actually easy for me.  I was two and it was during Hurricane Frederick.  Frederick was the last direct hit to Mobile and it occurred in September 1979.  It actually hit on my cousin's first birthday.  However, that isn't the memory.  I have heard lots of stories about that storm but what I remember is sitting on the couch watching my dad and my oldest brother, Vincent, walking out the back door of our house to check the damage to our house. (A tree fell on the house and did a number on the roof over my parents' room.)  I was sitting on the couch right across from the door and all I could see outside was gray.  (I'm not sure if it was early morning or why it was so gray.)  I remember thinking they weren't going to coming back because it looked like the had been swallowed up by the grayness. Prompt 2:  Do you have a habit that wouldn’t make...

Dear Jackson, Two years ago you entered this world in your own stubborn way after a couple of long, tiring days for your daddy and me.  At that moment, my life changed and it has remained that way ever since.  I never realized you were the missing piece of the puzzle I had waited 34 years to plug into my life.  Not a day goes by that I am not amazed by you.  You surprise me all the time with things you know that I didn't teach but you learned somewhere.  And I am so excited to see what is in store for you next. I will say that not every day is a picnic.  Some days you are very much 2 years old and that is the only way to describe your behavior.  Some days you are my sweet boy who gives me kisses and wants to snuggle.  Either way you are still my baby and I wouldn't trade you for the world.  I want to cherish all these moments because I know they won't last for long. Right now you love Cars and Memo but Elmo is still your buddy.  Pu...

I’m participating in  Ginger‘s Bring Back the Words (BBTW) link-up! Prompt 1:  What’s something you believe/support that 20 year old you would be surprised about, and why? 20 year old me would be surprised that I am a mom and I love it.  In college, I was always the one who said I didn't want kids.  I was going to be everyone's favorite aunt.  Even through my first marriage, I had no desire to have children.  Until I turned 30 and everything changed and then I got divorced and it started to look like having a baby would never be an option.  Even more so, I loved being pregnant.  I would go through pregnancy again.  I just don't really want another child.  This is not a surprise to me. Nor was the fact that labor was miserable.  And if I go back and think about it, that was always my issue with having kids.  But now I have and it wasn't fun but I'm glad I did because then my little J wouldn't be here. Prompt 2: ...

Week 2  Prompt 1:  Tell us a favorite summer memory. My mom and I actually talked about this on the 4th of July. Growing up my extended family would get together would get together somewhere near a body of water to celebrate. As we all grew older and got busier, we stopped having these celebrations. I miss sitting on the dock of my step-grandfather's beach house, eating watermelon, and spitting the seeds into the water.  Those were the days! Spent in and out of the water and in a bathing suit all day. That was the way I wanted to live life and, if I had my way, I would live near the water now (and I don't mean a lake like we have here). There is nothing like early morning with the sun rising over the water or the calm of the waves at night. So that is summer to me.  Week 2  Prompt 2:  What is your quintessential summer supply list? One of the things about summer growing up is that it was the start of hurricane season so summer always meant th...

So today is my birthday. Yay!  I'm at the point in life where birthdays aren't really a big deal anymore so it is nice when you end up with little surprises like this: One of my coworkers had decorated my desk before I got to work this morning.  Plus there was also a fun card and a box of donuts waiting for me.  Then they took me out to lunch and we shared a cake at the office afterwards.  The morning had started off pretty rough with Jackson being crabby (which is why he wore his crabby but cute shirt to school) and Chris taking something I said the wrong way.  So I needed a little pick me up and I got just that when I arrive to see my coworker's handy work.  It was a nice day and the great start to a long weekend. I really wasn't expecting much out of today and my mood the last week or so has been evident of that.  Pretty much since my mid 20s my birthdays have been a bit of a let down.  My ex was never big on birthdays and, even though I w...

I’m participating in  Ginger ‘s  Bring Back the Words (BBTW) link-up ! Prompt 1:  What is your best dating story? I can't really think of a best date because I was never a fan of dating.  Not in high school, not in college, not after college, and especially not post divorce.  I know I should probably say that Chris and I had a wonderful first date and while it was nice, it was nothing special (sorry, Honey!)  It was just dinner out and time to talk and it was good for us.  I didn't need anything fancy.  But what I will say is that Chris has been trying this year to find opportunities for us to "date."  About once a month we try to get a night out without the kids when we can get the chance (and preferably free babysitting) so we can spend a little quality time together.  It has been good for us as a couple because it is easy to get stressed out by work and home responsibilities and forget why we are together in the first place. ...

Since I was late to the party for Ginger's Bring Back the Words link-ups, I decided to go back and do a catch up post for the prompts that I missed.  Here we go! Week 1 Prompt 1:  Why’d you start blogging? I originally started blogging some time in 2005 when I moved to Texas because I thought it would be a great way to let my family and friends back home know what was going on with us.  I closed that blog and didn't save any of the posts unfortunately so I can't show what I posted back then.  This makes me sad because we did some fun stuff when we first moved and it was all documented there.  Then I started blogging on MySpace (ha!) when they added that feature.  I moved those posts over here after I setup this blog.  I decided to setup this blog because I like writing and, while I am not super consistent with it, I love having the option to get my thoughts on to paper so to speak. Week 1  Prompt 2:  What’s the best decision you ...

Now that we are half way through 2013, I thought it would be a good time to review the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.  Things have changed a lot around here since I set these goal in January so a lot of them don't apply anymore. Actually attend The Blathering this year. I am sad to say that this isn't going to happen. When the attendance cap was reduced, we had just moved and we just didn't have the money for it at the time.  I am still chatting with my Blathering buddies on twitter so I am sure I will make it back one year. Take Jackson to his first football game. This has happened yet since football season hasn't started but I found out my hometown college will be playing here this fall so that might be a great game to take him to. Buy a new rug for the living room. Bought it. Loved it. It's in my garage right now because the new house has carpet and we don't need rugs like we did over the hardwood in the old house. Read  The Grea...

I’m participating in  Ginger ‘s  Bring Back the Words (BBTW) link-up ! Prompt 2:  Share a small moment of happiness and/or peace from your week. While trolling through my blogs on Wednesday night, I happened upon a post for our local 4th of July celebration.  I had forgotten that the city puts on a pretty big event for the day.  With Chris working most holidays, I normally don't really plan for us to do anything.  However, I sent a text to Chris this morning asking if he wanted to head down to the parade after he got home.  I thought the boys would enjoy it and it would be nice to get out of the house for a little while. So we loaded up, grabbed some breakfast, and headed downtown to find a spot to watch the parade.  Jackson got a bit testy waiting for the parade to start but he really seemed to enjoy sitting on his daddy's shoulders watch the parade go by.  I had so much fun watching him point and wave at the different sights he s...

I’m participating in  Ginger ‘s  Bring Back the Words (BBTW) link-up ! I am a little late to the game on Ginger's BBTW challenge but I think it will be good for me to give me something to write about and a deadline to get the post up. Prompt 1:  What is your worst dating story? Oh, there are many bad dating stories in my past but I think the most appropriate thing to mention here would be how my anxiety would effect my dating in high school and college.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I understood what caused all my issues.  You see when I was younger, I would get so excited about something that it would make me nervous and would cause me to get sick.  I pretty much didn't go on a date in high school or college that didn't require me to run to the bathroom or else I'd get sick in front of my date.  Somewhere around my junior year in college, I finally got over this problem but man, was it miserable while it lasted.  I remember o...