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 You never know what you'll find - humor, ramblings, rants, randomness- it's all me! |
This description part is challenging. I never know what I will blog about until I start typing. I do know there will be typos. I don't reread or correct my blog. Otherwise it turns technical instead of my feelings and thoughts. Trust me, on stories and poems I'm a grammaraholic, but this is freedom. Sometimes to keep it from getting too personal, I even turn my head away while I type. Weird, right?. I hope you find this somewhat entertaining, thought-provoking, and humorous.   A little about me. The most important things in my life are family, especially my son, Reese, and my husband, Bruce, my walk with God, and making a positive impact in some way. I am a teacher, currently teaching 6th grade Language Arts. While at times my job can be trying, overall, it is one of the most rewarding passions in my life.   This is my wonderful son, Reese. He is now 20 and and a junior at Oklahoma State University. I may be partial, but he is an exceptional kid with the best heart I've ever known. He makes me laugh, think, and want to be a better person. We are both huge Oklahoma State Cowboy fans - Gooooooo Pokes!  This is Reese's dog, Betty. She shares a name with my mother. Reese named her that because she was beautiful and kind just like his Nanny (my mom). I'm not sure my mom is quite convinced it is a compliment though. Betty is a huge part of our family. She even had her own blog for awhile. Poke around at your leisure and shake your head at some of things that go through mine. I always return reviews/comments, though admittedly, sometimes it does take me awhile depending on what life is serving me at that point. Keeping the faith, Audra  |
| almost caught up - blog for June 23 It Was A Day - A Pretty Damn Good One Up early, and I blogged. Now I'm blogging twice in one day!! Crazy. Then hubby and I went to get errands done before meeting my nephews and son back at the house for a 'job'. I finally got my car back from the repair shop. 10 days without it. I felt like a princess driving in air conditioning again. I have wanted and needed a she shed (like a man cave except for women). And yes, needed! When you combine two lives after 46 years of life and my son (20 years) into a wonderful home - somehow storage room is scarce especially when the house was started around 1900. They obviously didn't have as much 'stuff' as we do nowadays. It is a lovely house! It's just that my husband and I both have a small problem of getting rid of things (he more than me - I have very few t-shirts older than 20 years). So I wanted/needed a she shed to put some of my things in without worry of getting ruined. However, that isn't in the cards, so I proposed cleaning out my husband's shop (it is kind of a basement, but better than a lot of basements I've seen) and making organized space. That way I could have a place to sew or grade papers and store things neatly. We hired my nephews and son to empty everything out so I could clean and organize and then put everything back in. They took two pickup loads of trash to the dumpster so we did do some downsizing! And we aren't finished yet! In fact, after 5 hours we are not even close to being finished, but I feel accomplished and burnt and sore but motivated. They are coming back tomorrow . . . hopefully. I will have to schedule an extra trash pick up and I killed a scorpion, tick, more spiders and roly polys than I ever imagined but I can visualize it as a working, comfortable place (after being sprayed for such creatures of course). My nephew had a good time teasing me about my eclectic cd collection. Music is sort of like a road map of stages of your life. Some of it made me laugh; some had me shaking my head. she shed, he shed, audra Gratitudes: 1. My parents had a safe trip visiting my sister and on the return home. 2. I got my car back. 3. My husband and I are always able to talk through life's decisions openly and honestly. 4. I had a lot of energy today. |
| still catching up - for blog June 22 Time to Appreciate Life Again (And Catch Up on Blogging) I missed two days of blogging this week - such a slacker, I know. :) I blame my son. He came home from a month long trip to Minnesota and I was distracted by wanting to spend time with him and such. But I will catch up. Now, to the main topic at hand - Appreciating Life Again. Yesterday, I completely allowed negativity in the world and obviously within me too, to bring me totally down. At one point, I realized how unappreciative I was being for all my blessings but yet I couldn't or wouldn't pull myself out of my pity party. I prayed, but apparently not with an open heart. I let 4 hours at the social security office followed with less than pleasing news define how I felt about life. Now, I still stand by the fact that the Social Security place is a non-positive experience - let's face it: 1. It (or rather many of the people) don't smell so nice 2. I had to pee and didn't dare go, because of course that's when my number would be called. 3. They don't allow you to bring in water - shockingly I guess people smuggle in 'other beverages'. I do have to agree with their no fire arms policy. I'm sure 3/4 of the people feel 'postal' after a couple of hours. 4. I'm pretty sure the air conditioner was set on 'humid' to encourage people to leave so that they might breath again. 5. At least in my case, good news was not received or explained. Empathy. . . where have you gone? 6. There were A LOT of screaming babies with parents who must have mastered the ability to tune out blood curling screams and wails. But fair is not always fair. Usually, that saying goes fair is not always equal, but sometimes fair is simply not fair, but I refuse to allow it steal my joy. So, I'm going to try to start or end my blogs with a list of 4 (yes, my love of the #4 again) things I'm grateful for trying not to do repeats. If you happen to follow my blog (ha ha ha ha) don't feel like you need to read them. .. I mean you can but more than likely it won't have to do with whatever I write about, but then again who knows. Enough stalling. Gratitude Journal: 1. I'm grateful my nephews and son are coming over today to help us organize and clean out the 'shop' aka the sort of basement where things go that we don't know where else to put. 2. I'm grateful that I love my husband's family and they love me. 3. I'm so thankful it is summer break. 4. I'm grateful that my hair is long again. It's up to me, Audra |
| (playing catch up - for blog June 21) Not necessarily a game but a reality nightmare. I got here early before it opened and got in the line outside. The line is similar to black Friday outside Walmart offering the lastest video game system. And of course now I need to go to the bathroom. I get in and of course set of the alarm checking because of my artificial knees. So I get scanned by the policeman and everyone is staring at me like a criminal though I look less threatening than 95 percent of these people. But hey it is always the innocent looking ones, right? People watching here is more interesting than a bus station. The guy sitting across from me has the strangest tatoos on his leg. I think it might be an underwater scene but things are really out of proportion. For some reason it is strangely unsettling. They dont call the numbers in order so when you hear someone calling the next person your heart speeds up with anticipation. I am not mentally ready for this game. My husband was disabled a year and half ago by a stroke and yet I am still playing this game of him being denied. Hey, I just made it passed level one! I got checked in. Basically that just means they make sure I am still here and havent expired during the wait. But captain tatoo is gone so thats a bonus. Now the guy in front of me works at a body shop. I know this because thats what his uniform says. His name says Peace. Thats pretty cool. Im not sure the air conditioner is working. Maybe they are trying to sweat us out. I better save my phone battery; looks like I will be here awhile. Wish me luck, Audra |
| Some Buildings Just Give Off Vibes I haven't been watching Ghost Hunters with my husband, but I do believe that some buildings do have 'personalities'. Example: Today, I went to my 'pain doctor' to get shots in my back. Something I have done quite often in the last 2 years. We usually go to the north office but I couldn't get an appointment for a couple of weeks there, so I agreed to go to the south office. I mean, I'm on summer break so it's not like it's any big deal, plus, Bruce and I would get to try out a new restaurant. (We did; it was good. I give it a 7 out of 10 rating). When we got to the office, we both immediately felt weird - and it wasn't the Japanese food we ate. The thing is, apparently, the staff travels to the south side once a week or however so often too. Same receptionists, nurses, doctors, technicians. But both of us couldn't wait to get out of that building, which is odd in itself since we were getting into an un-air conditioned pickup truck on a 96 degree day with an hour and 1/2 ride home. This doesn't happen often, but once in awhile. It took us awhile to find a place to get married two years ago too. Face it, you don't want a bad karma location. But we eventually found a wonderful railroad warehouse that was built before 1900. Some friends of ours had bought it and are renovating the upstairs part to live in. It was perfect (well, it was a little warm - no air conditioning; what is it with me and no cold air?). The downstairs they have turned in to a place to have small parties/get togethers. Not to rent out (though they definitely could). It had great vibes; and it being free was an added bonus! As I sit here pondering what makes some buildings have good feelings and others not so great feelings and yet others are just buildings, I can't help realizing they are similar to the people we meet. Some are blessings, some make us realize we need to be more thankful for the ones that are blessings, and some are just people who don't affect us one way or another. But yet, to other people they might be the biggest blessing they've come upon. Okay, I need wine or either it's a reaction to the shots - I don't usually go deep. Honestly, I don't even understand the last paragraph I typed, but hey, that's just me. Definitely going back to north side office, Audra |
| My 20 year old son, Reese, asked me the other day what I had been doing. I ran off the list of things I'd done that day and finished with 'oh, yeah, and I added to my blog'. Apparently, he had no idea I had a blog or even thought of a blog even though I've had it off and on for about 9 years, I think. Heck, I even made a blog about his dog - Betty's Blog - while he was in Minnesota because he missed her so much. (Sadly, that blog got more attention than my blog, but hey, she's a pretty good dog. He asks me what my blog is about and I was like whatever I'm thinking about. He proceeded to tell me that blogs had to have a central idea - like the Pioneer Woman. He suggested I write about school/teaching. Blah! Tons of those I told him; plus, teachers don't have time to read them except in the summer and then they don't want to. He said, "How about living in the country?" I responded, "Pioneer Woman." He still wasn't grasping that I didn't care if it didn't have a central theme. While, I like to pretend this gets read, I'm not delusional enough to think I'm going to get enough followers to grab the attention of Steve Harvey. He is persistent though. 'You know, Mom, like a theme.' "Politics?" I say. "Don't be ridiculous. It has to be something you know about." He wasn't being sarcastic, but I was. He mentioned it again tonight. . . kind of like I was a lost cause. "So, how's the blog, that is basically just a journal of your day that you let people read?" As I sit here typing, I realize what I could write a blog about that would disturb him more than me not having a 'set theme'. In the morning, I will tell him I've decided to write my blog about 'Reese Stories' all the memorable, embarrassing things he's done. Maybe then, he'll realize the freedom of writing off the cuff, and that his mom doesn't tend to do things by the rules unless there is a risk of imprisonment. No law against it, Audra |
| This morning at 3:00 a.m., I was awoken. Now, this might be too much information, but this wasn't a real shock to me because it is normally this time when nature calls. I either read a book or saw a horror movie where this girl was awoken at 3:00 a.m. every night - so it freaks me out slightly when this happens to me, but it is such a re-occurrence that it doesn't faze me much - plus add in there that my barely awake mind is screaming at me that my bladder needs my immediate focus. When it happened this morning, I lie there longer than normal, because my back has been killing me and in my foggy state I wasn't sure which would be worse the back pain or peeing the bed. Eventually, I chose to be a good wife and not pee the bed I share with my husband, reasoning of course, that I would have to change the bed and that would really be inconvenient and painful to my back. On my way to take care of business, I saw a flashing out the front door - like a light bulb that can't decide if it wants to be burned out or not. But, we've never had a working light bulb out there for the 2 years I've lived here. Then, I thought lightning but this was continuous and usually lightning has a partner - Thunder - and I wasn't hearing any. Then my bladder screamed, "Who the hell cares! Go pee, woman!" I didn't notice the light out the bathroom window. So upon washing my hands (I'm pretty sure I did - it was 3:00 a.m. so who knows), I went to check out the flashing light again It was still going on; so, I decided I'd investigate. In retrospect, I realize now that I don't think clearly at 3:00 a.m. I had narrowed it down to 3 things: 1. Someone outside with a flashlight (we live on a farm, so this would not be a welcome guest) 2. Lightning who has had a feud with Thunder and they have separated ways 3. Aliens or supernatural beings (go ahead laugh - I understand). I opened the door and put my hand out to see if their was rain. No rain. Hmmmm. I thought maybe I should get a gun, but then I remembered who I am and that probably wasn't wise. I returned to the bedroom and could see the light somewhat out that window. I woke my husband to ask if that was lightning. "Woke" is not truly the right word. I said, "Bruce, is that lightning?" I think he said something like 'sure'. I'm almost positive he never looked. I asked where the thunder was. I guess he didn't know because he didn't say anything. . .there was a slight snore though. I watched it for about 20 minutes. I heard some faint rumbling. In my wakefulness I have come to 3 possible solutions that involve flashing lights and faint rumbling in the middle of the night on the farm. 1. A burglar/killer who so weak from hunger he couldn't continue with his evil ways. Thus, the rumbling was his stomach growling. 2. Aliens who were having engine trouble and sending flash signals for road side assistance via space, of course. 3. Lightning and Thunder were having a huge fight. Lightning was yelling all kind of accusations, but Thunder was giving the silent treatment with just a couple of sarcastic remarks thrown in here and there. I'm going with #3, because when I went out to get groceries the ground was pretty wet. Obviously, Rain came in as mediator and settled the spat and all is good in Storm Land now. Or either the burglar/killer or aliens really had to pee at 3:00 a.m. too. Happy Father's Day, Audra |
| Two days ago we dug into savings and bought a 820 John Deere Gator. If you are like me, and aren't sure what I'm talking about, it's a farm man version of a kick ass golf cart - my husband will roll his eyes at that description. It's got power steering, a cherry (?) engine, 3 cylinder, four-wheeler drive, a cup holder, and can haul things.. . like a sprayer or trash, and can go about 50 mph. Knowing this lingo, is making me feel bilingual. We bought it in a town that seemed a long way away but was probably just about 40 minutes from home. Our Uncle Emmitt came with his flat bed trailer to haul it home for us. Here's the scene: We are following behind him hauling our beautiful Gator. We have some tunes going, drinking our Sonic slush (though I was wanting a 7/11 icee -no such luck in Midwestern small towns), talking about what a good decision this was - money well invested to help us both be able to get around the farm easier (and look a little cooler doing it), when my vehicle stops. Not the Gator (remember, it's on Emmitt's trailer), my jeep that I purchased in February. My Jeep Renegade with only 20,000 miles on it. I've never had a newish car like this. It stops while I'm driving. Just kaput. I pull over, because they frown at non-moving vehicles in the middle of the road, wait about five minutes, and it starts finally. I'm behind Uncle Emmitt again, going around what we refer to as the dangerous curve, and the jeep stops again. I find a semi-safe place to pull over, and Bruce calls Emmitt to inform him of this little snag in the road while I call roadside assistance. At this point we were a little over 8 miles from home. By the way, Oklahoma is hot and humid in the summer - it was about 98 degrees and 100 percent humidity. I don't do heat well. Uncle Emmitt needs to go back to his farm; I mean it is daylight and that means working hours to farmers. He unloads the Gator , and we decide after my Jeep gets towed (it took an hour and 1/2), we will ride the Gator home. This is about as country as you can get. We did take mostly back roads but at one point we were on a small highway in a farm vehicle - not like a tractor, that's fairly common, but a Gator. I guess it would be more backwoods and a more interesting story if it were an alligator, but it was still pretty odd. .. . but amazingly fun (even if I did have to pee extremely bad from the Sonic slush)! I do need my jeep back though; air conditioning is greatly missed. Sorry for the typos; my contacts are fogged up and dirty, and I'm not sure where I took my glasses off while sleepwalking. Google John Deere Gator - it's kinda a cool deal, Audra |
| Are you perpetually early or late? Ironically, I am about eleven hours late getting this blog in, but I am normally an early person. At least when I'm going somewhere or have an appointment. In fact, I get antsy if we aren't going to be somewhere on time or early. I come by this from my dad who will leave 45 minutes early when going somewhere that is 10 minutes away. It is ingrained in me. However, it is not ingrained in the rest of the world. . . or my sister which goes to show you being consistently late is neither a nature or nurture issue. When my husband and I began 'talking' before dating. You know how it is. . . you are just throwing all kinds of questions out there: Favorite music, types of movies you like, any sexual diseases not taken care of (kidding - my husband would have passed out if I casually brought that up), do you have most your teeth, and are you an early or late kind of person? My husband's response: Well, I try to be early but it never works out. I knew right then he was a 'later'. But, I still love him. And he comes by it naturally, too. His whole family is 'laters'. So technically, I shouldn't let it bother me if we are late to an event with them because we will still be the first people there, but it does. Case in point, we were supposed to leave at 10:00 a.m.; it is now 10:30 a.m. He's outside somewhere with the neighbor riding his new Gator. The things that keep me calm in scenarios like this is music and writing. I have some '80's tunes playing and I've written a blog. Tada! I would color but surely we won't be so late that I could finish one of those intricate adult coloring book pages. No use getting mad - honestly, it never makes me mad. It does however make me fidgety. Tapping my toes with the music and fidgeting, Audra |
| I know I set a goal to blog everyday in June, but I just can't tonight. And the irony is I actually have things to say tonight. But my body, mind, soul, feet, neurons are so exhausted they would be numb if they didn't hurt so dang much. I think I will write a few lines to remind me tomorrow what I had to say. A turtle pen Was built by men A gator out shined a jeep I am too sore to sleep The tow truck man Seemed to be missing a plan (and lasagna) The top of my foot hates me A huge kid stepped on it you see This is the worst poem, I know it's 98 degrees and I'm dreaming of snow I fell asleep typing that last line, My phone fell on my face...yeah, I'm fine. Sort of a blog, Audra |
| The Sacrifices We Make For Those We Love My husband and I are so alike but yet so different. The biggest difference that comes to mind is television shows. His Favorite Shows include car shows, ghost shows, cattle shows, PBS, big foot, travel channel, velocity channel, history channel, national geographic channel, Mystery at the Museum, etc. My Favorites are more along the lines of Criminal Minds, Real Crime channel, Joe Kenda, So You Think You Can Dance, Dateline, Big Bang Theory, The Voice, Impractical Jokers, etc. I stopped watching PBS after Sesame Street. He never watched Criminal Minds...until now. Wednesday is our date night. He watched Criminal Minds with me. I watched American Pickers with him. He critiques dances on So You Think You Can Dance. I pick a favorite on Forged in Fire. We compromise willingly because being together is more important than watching a favorite alone. Almost all the time.😀 Besides I can always DVR Dateline, Audra |
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