I’m going to be out of pocket for a few days.  I’m attending the Ladies Retreat with my church this weekend.  It’s being held in Eureka Springs.  DJ and I loved going to Eureka, it’s just a neat little town with a rich history.  We loved it so much that it was once of the places that we would spend our anniversaries. 

I am now a full fledged member of the First Baptist Church of Hindsville.  I was baptized last Sunday.  I was saved when I was nine years old but because of an unhealthy fear of water I was never baptized, that and I loathe being the center of attention and when you’re baptized all eyes are on you and the preacher.  I managed to get thru the baptism and didn’t drown, in fact I couldn’t believe that it was that quick and simple and it made me feel really stupid for letting my fears get the best of me for all those years.  Maybe if I had seen some one being baptized I wouldn’t have had those fears..who knows.  I was going to be baptized this past summer while DJ was still alive, it was the one thing that he wanted me to do so that we could be reunited in heaven.  The church that we were attending, the pastor said that he’d do the baptisms on a certain date and then didn’t do them that particular Sunday that he had told me about.  He waited until the next Sunday but failed to tell me so I didn’t take clothes to change into.  Plus, he was doing the baptisms next door in the above ground pool in his front yard.  I guess the place and way doesn’t really matter but all in all with the way things turned out, I’m glad that I waited and didn’t go ahead and be baptized in the pool even though I didn’t have dry clothes with me.  I seriously thought about it though.

Anyways, we’ll be back from retreat Saturday evening but rather than use the gas to come home and then go back Sunday morning, I’m going to spend Saturday night with my in-laws so I’ll be back Sunday afternoon.  Y’all have a good weekend!

Jezzie likes to sit on the TV beside the bird cage.  At first I was leery about her doing this and would shoo her away.  Then one day I decided to just watch and see what she would do.  I came to the conclusion that she some how knows that Mickey is important to me and she sits there beside him to protect him from Scrappy.  Scrappy enjoys taunting Mickey and will even climb up and sit on top of the cage.  You would think that Mickey would start squawking his little bird head off but he just sits there quietly in the middle of the cage and just waits until one of us discovers that Scrappy is pestering him.  I know it isn’t a very good picture, but it was one of those rare days we’ve had this winter and the sun was shining and there was no snow falling but it was still on the ground thus making the reflective light that much brighter.

We lost Froggy Frog (the albino african frog) last week.  I suspect that it was a victim of Scrappy but I don’t know that for sure.  I do know that Scrappy liked to dip his paw into the water in the aquarium either to play or torment Froggy and only he knows for sure.  So now that zoo is down to just the two cats, Scooby the beagle and Mickey the cockatiel.  It looks like we will probably be replacing Froggy with a hampster sometime in the near future.  At least it will be something that Garret can play with and be more fun than a frog was, but it was really fun to watch Froggy grab the worm out of your hand and swallow it whole.

I’ve finally found a church home.  I’ve started attending the church that my father-in-law and step mother-in-law attend.  The people there have been very friendly and welcoming and I feel very comfortable there.  The congregation has been very supportive of me since DJ passed and it was all because of my in-laws.  I’ve had more contact with the church there after DJ’s passing and before I started attending than I have had with the church that DJ and I were attending.  After DJ’s passing this church sent me cards and memorials for Gideon bibles in DJ’s name and we had never met any of them.  The other church-zero contact since DJ’s passing., not even a sympathy card nor even a call from the pastor.  Which is kind of sad in it’s own way and definitely says something about the true nature of that church. 

I look forward to Sunday mornings now.  It gives me a chance to worship God and also gives me a source for socialization with other adults.  It widens my world to other than these walls of this house.  I’ve thought about attending some singles functions but I just don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for that kind of interaction.  To much pressure and most of those functions are held in bars…just not my kind of fun.  I don’t have to have alcohol to have a good time. 

This Sunday the youth group of the church is putting on a Valentines luncheon for all the “Senior’s” of the church.  You have to be 55 to attend.  When the kids came around last Sunday everyone in my Sunday school class signed up.  The girls asked me and I told them I wouldn’t be 55 until September and they said that was close enough and signed me up.  So I’m looking forward to having a Valentine lunch at the church tomorrow with people that I really enjoy being around.

Have you wondered where I’ve disappeared too?  I’m still around, just busy-ing myself with different things. 

I’ve spent a long weekend out in the country with my in-laws and had a great time.  Another time I spent an entire week out there with them.  Both times they were having my truck worked on trying to get the heater to work.  The first try the mechanic added antifreeze and said that it didn’t have enough to make it heat (I had never heard that before but whatever).  He said it was blowing hot air now and that should fix the problem.  Great in theory but in reality it didn’t work out that way.  It about froze me out all the way home.  Next Keith put a new thermostat in the truck and that didn’t work either.  Then my father-in-law made another appointment with the mechanic and I took it back for him to work on.  Then as luck would have it this last winter snow blast came in and delayed the mechanic in getting started on it.  He finally found the problem, it was air-locked due to the low antifreeze problem.  They removed a couple of hoses to break the air lock, put them back in place, refilled the antifreeze and when I drove it home it about ran me out of the truck it was blowing some really hot air.  I enjoyed the ride home even if it was a little too warm, it was just nice to have heat after not having heat for almost two winters, I certainly am not going to complain about being too warm because it was much better than being too cold.  It’s fixed now and I am very appreciative of my father-in-law and step mother-in-law for having it fixed for me.

I’ve been spending a lot of time playing games on Facebook.  Until Hubby passed the only thing I did on Facebook was change my status.  I didn’t have time to get involved in any of the different game apps, in fact I didn’t even know that they existed.  Once he passed and I found myself lost and with more time on my hands than what I knew to do with, I got to exploring Facebook.  I now understand why so many people are addicted to it where before I couldn’t figure out what the buzz was all about…but I still don’t understand Twitter and it’s appeal.

Jezzie and I are still very happy with each other.  The night that I came home from being gone for a whole week she didn’t just sleep beside me curled into the back of my legs, she slept ON my legs.  I guess she was making sure that I stayed there with her.  She is sitting here on the computer desk with me as I type this, I guess she is giving me her editorial approval.  She has brought me comfort and given me an outlet on which to lavish my love and care.  She loves me unconditionally (just as Hubby did), she gives me something to focus on rather than focusing on my grief and loss.  Of course if she’d learn to have conversations, tease me and play practical jokes on me (like Hubby did) it would be almost like having Hubby here with me, notice I said almost, it isn’t quite the same but she is helping heal my broken heart.

So that’s been my life for the last few weeks.  It’s back to being rather boring and mundane but at least it hasn’t been filled with sorrow and sadness and that’s a good thing for right now.

By now you all know that I am a transplanted Okie living in Arkansas.  One of my childhood friends that still lives in Oklahoma sent this to me, it is the funniest thing that I’ve read in a long time. 

Oklahoma’s New State  Song,"SNOW….klahoma"
Sing to the tune of "Oklahoma." (Caroly Channell  Canida)
SNOW…klahoma Where the cold front’s sweepin’ down  the plain
And the piles of sleet, beneath your  feet
Follow right behind the freezing  rain.
SNOW…klahoma Ev’ry night my honey lamb and  I
Travel home from work and hope some  jerk
Doesn’t wreck our car in passing  by!!
We know we belong to the land
But we could use some salt and more  sand
That’s why we say…WHOA!! We’ve slid the other  way…YIKES!!
We’re only sayin’ You’re slick as snot  SNOWklahoma
SNOWklahoma  SNOW-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!!

I decided to go to bed a few minutes ago.  Before I could do so I had to do the usual routine, get a drink, go to the bathroom and make sure Jezzie was in her spot.  I wasn’t exactly sure where Jezzie was so I did the normal look for her.  I swiveled around in my chair and glanced back at the bed to see if she was in her spot-she wasn’t there.  I looked under the desk to see if she was laying on top of the floor vent-she wasn’t there.  I thought that I’d probably have to entice her out from under the bed where she likes to lay on the other floor vent.  I got up to get her treats, I can rattle the container and she’ll come running for a treat.  Just before I got to the treats this is what I noticed:

I had to sleep in an L shape last night because she decided to lay squarely in the middle of the bed and now tonight she has decided that she wants MY spot.  She doesn’t normally sleep this high in the bed and usually sleeps in the bend of my knees. And it even looks like she’s scooted her legs under the covers…I guess I’ll sleep on the other side tonight…spoiled brat