Loss.....

Well, I'm sucking in a deep breath, and letting it out. Otherwise known as a stress-relieving sigh. And the reason for my sigh is breathtaking, so I continue to sigh over and over today. Rambling? That I am.

Here's the skinny: Does anyone remember when I blogged the last week of 2009 and how I had hoped that 2010 would be a much better year than 2009? Well, if not, you are more than welcome to glance back and read that post. Otherwise, I'm here to say that so far, this year's outlook is pretty crummy. It hasn't been roses and sunshine and all things good for the past 3 months since we rang in the new year with Elvis singing "Burning Love" to me at Graceland.

Around every corner is bad news. It begins here surrounding me and stretches as far as Haiti and Chile. Just yesterday with Hawaii bracing for a possible tsunami after the devastating earthquake in Chile, I got news from an old high school friend. My BFF in high school lost her brother yesterday. So tragic and so heartbreaking I can't stop thinking about it. He was only 25 years old and owned a successful photography company. As a matter of fact, I remember he and I making this ridiculously silly pact one time (when I was a senior and he was a freshman in high school) that if we weren't married by the time he turned 30, then we would marry each other. He was incredibly sweet and good-hearted and always had a HUGE grin on his face.

Death is hard. It's so final. At least for those left on this side of Heaven. I feel like things have been so tragic lately that I found myself staring at Brennan's kindergarten picture the other day, thinking to myself, out of these 24 kids, who will still be healthy and alive 15, 20, and 25 years from now. Morbid? Absolutely. Twisted thoughts? You betcha. I've gotten to where that's how I think sometimes. I've been shown repeatedly in the past 5 years of my life just how short life really is, and just how there is no guarantee that my world will still be the same when I wake up every morning. How things can change before you can blink an eye. People get up out of bed every morning, get ready for work and school with the same routine as always, yet before the day is through something life-changing happens, and nothing is ever the same again. Routines are no longer routines. Things change, thought processes change, and heartbreak is something that ultimately you can never recover from. You learn to function, and you learn to find a new routine. But, there is still that crack somewhere in your heart and soul that you find still stings from time to time.

When I had my first child, I knew I would always have this little person that I was responsible for and to worry over. I found myself thinking, well, if he's born healthy, that's good. One hurdle down. Then you start worrying about other things. Everything from choking on his first piece of real food, to getting behind the wheel of a car 15 years later and never seeing him again. Or sickness. You hear so many parents say "Well, if I can just get my kids grown up and out of the house, I'll be okay". But, that doesn't mean squat. Things can still happen to your child. Your babies. That type of loss has to be one that cuts the deepest.

I don't do it nearly as often as I should, but from time to time I will peak in at my boys when they are fast asleep and pray over them. There is no kind of peace like the kind I get thanking God for these beautiful blessings and praying for their lives. I pray for my kids every chance I get. But, to watch them sleeping and know that at that exact moment, I am their protector. They are safe and warm and cozy and peacefully sleeping. That is my heaven at this moment in my life.

I had so desperately hoped for a wonderful year this year. I know that bad news will come from time to time. I had just hoped it would come a little less often this year. So far, I've had enough bad news to last me the rest of the 9 months we have left of 2010. My heart is heavy and my prayers are many, many, many. As a matter of fact, my house is quiet. Maybe God is telling me to shut this computer down and unload my heavy heart. So, that is what I shall do. May everyone be blessed today and enjoy this day that we were able to wake up and kiss our children and our spouses and our parents.

Amish bread....and cookie dough.....

So, a coworker of Chad's sent me some Amish bread to make, since her and I both like to cook and share recipes. I've heard about this Amish bread stuff, but have never done it. Okay, so it's just simple bread, but bread scares me. Also, it gives the directions after 10 days (since it's a 10 day process) to share some with 3 friends. I don't think I have 3 friends. But, I think that's the point of this bread, since I've also heard it called"Friendship Bread".

Anyway, I'll try anything once. So, we'll see how this bread gets to baking in a few days.

Also, Brennan is selling some cookie dough through his school. If you're reading this, I know you REALLY want some of that good cookie dough..... It's only $12 for a big tub that makes almost 50 cookies. If you break it down, that's a better deal than the dough you get from the grocery store to bake cookies. And these are better. That's all I'm sayin'.

Cancer awareness...

(Cassie and Matt, please forgive me for stealing this precious picture, but I HAD to!!!!)

For everyone else, this is sweet, happy, smiling, HEALTHY Xavian. For those of you who have been friends with me on Facebook or even those of you who have followed my blog in the last year, you all know Xavian's story. This is the same baby who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at 3 months of age. Who has undergone operations, and aggressive chemo his entire first year of life. And look at him now. What an angel. God truly answers prayers. Xavian is living proof.

There is a lot of cancer awareness going on not only this month, but it seems like it has been a regular thing. So many people being overcome with the "C" word. Chad and I are friends of the Blair E. Batson hospital and we purchased a car tag several months ago in honor of Xavian.

Please, if you know someone trying to raise money this month for American Cancer Society or Relay for Life or any area hospital, give what you can. It is so important that people give what they can for such a cause as this. There are lots of little Xavian's out there. And lots of Mamas and Daddies and brothers and sisters and daughters and sons and friends suffering with the "C" word. May God bless each family suffering.

This is worth watching.....

Okay. I love my children. Love them deeply. And one day my child will probably want to kill me over this. But I thought it was HILARIOUS. First of all, Brennan had shut himself in our (mine and Chad's) bedroom where I told him not to go. He pulled my brother, Brent's, Marine yearbook off of our shelf and was looking at it. Well, he in turn got a paper cut. Yes, paper cuts hurt. But he was being so dramatic I couldn't stop laughing. And then he was miraculously healed all because of a band-aid. Oh, I love being a mom. My kids are hilarious.

Ethan's speech.....

So, we just went for Ethan's 15 month check-up (yes, I'm a little behind!) and everything was great! I was a little concerned that Ethan's vocabulary, well, quite frankly.... he doesn't have a vocabulary. He says Mama and Dada, but EVERYTHING is Mama and Dada. BUT, he also knows who Mama and Daddy are. And, he does understand what we are saying and he is very quick to express his emotions. He just does it in his own language. He literally talks in tongues. He sounds like he came straight out of some South African tribe or some other tribe very foreign.

After I expressed my concern to his pediatrician, (and he reassured me that as long as he was expressing emotions and could understand our commands and whatever else we were saying, then he was perfectly normal) we put him on the table to do the usual heartbeat- listening and ear-checking and so on. The second Dr. Freeman put the ice cold stethoscope on his chest, Ethan looked him square in his face and let let him have it in his tongue-talking language. Dr. Freeman about fell on the floor laughing. He then REALLY reassured me that there was nothing wrong with his speech development. He said Ethan knows what HE is saying and he thinks everyone else can understand him, too. The doctor was very sure his speech would come in time. I had absolutely nothing to worry about. So, that was that and I'm thankful I have a healthy, beautiful toddler.

Book review

So, here is yet another book review. I can't quite remember when I bought this book. It's been a minimum of 6 or 7 years ago. I bought it when Waldenbooks was still open at Metro, and it was in one of the bargain bins. I remember nothing about it. Except one little sentence that has stuck with me all these years. I can't even tell you what the story line was about, except it was set somewhere in Mississippi in the 50's and it centered around a teenage girl. Well, for lack of other things to read, I decided to reread it. The first chapter or two were slow-going and I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it. But, once it sank it's teeth in me, I was hooked. It is a very good read.

The language is quite vulgar and offensive a lot of the time, but the story in general is very moving. I'm a little more than halfway through it at this point, so I will share more when I am finished. But, at this point I highly recommend it.

It is set in Petal, Ms in 1956. The main characters are Valuable, a 14 year old troubled girl who's mother is the town "prostitute" (and that's putting it nicely) and Even Grade, a 28 year old black man who was an orphan growing up. They are both trying to find their way in 1956 Mississippi, and it has little to do with the race issues from that time and more to do with them finding a place to belong.

This book was an Oprah book of the month years ago, and I'm not a fan of Oprah at all, but I have read several books that her club has recommended and have not been disappointed. So, again, two thumbs up.

Bad Mother of the year award

Well, Mama always said there would be days like this..... And today was a day like that. Let's just remember how much of a sense of humor God seems to have at times. I mean, a really, really big sense of humor. (That or I'd swear He was out to get me, and I know that God loves me too much to be against me.... RIGHT???)

For years all I wanted was to be a stay-at-home mom. Even in college, I just had it in my head that I would get married and have babies and stay home and be happy. I could always envision myself as this perfect little PTO mom who always had my act together, and always had a spotless house, and always had a rump roast or something fascinating in the oven when my husband (whoever that lucky man turned out to be) walked in the door. I also envisioned myself as June Cleaver (I know some of you already know that she is my role model and I kind of idolize her). But I pictured myself put together at the end of the day with my make-up on, a big smile on my face, my hair all shiny and pretty, and my kids sitting like little angels reading books to one another with their hair combed neatly and using manners in everything they do.

Um, okay. Fast forward to 2010. God gave me what I desired for sure. I've been a part-time job holder outside of the house for 3 years, and have been fortunate enough to stay home the rest of the week. God is sitting somewhere up there on his great big throne laughing uncontrollably right now. I really know he is. Now, don't get me wrong. I love my kids, I love being at home with them, and I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world.... BUT, I am certainly far from being a show-stopping mother and I certainly won't win any awards for being a good mother (if they gave awards for that kind of thing.) I'm also lucky if I get a shower in the morning.... that only happens if my toddler allows me to do that on any given morning.

Just today for instance....The day started off good, then went bad, then went worse. (And by the way, I did not get to have my quiet time with God this morning, and I knew it would effect the outcome of the rest of my day.... not because he was punishing me for lack of prayer, but because I did not start out with the kind of peace that only prayer and quiet time can give me.)

A few things that happened today. JUST today. Actually, they all happened withing a 4 hour span starting this afternoon:

**** I heard some clinking going on in the kitchen, so I went to investigate, and my 17 month old was drinking water out of a spoon that he stole out of one of our kitchen cabinets, and was drinking the dog's water straight out of the dog's bowl. Pretty sure he was having a good time, too.

**** A few minutes later he had a play-doh toy and was digging through the trash using the toy as a certain shovel. He then licked it and apparently thought it was tasty enough to try and stick it back in there and do it again.

**** That sticky stuff in the dog's hair that is sometimes orange, sometimes yellow, or sometimes just sticky, yeah, well.... I'm pretty sure it's not hair gel for dogs. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of drool and snot.

**** My toddler has also discovered that he can squeal so loud and high-pitched that only dogs in the neighborhood can hear.

**** My toddler bullies my kindergartner. Brennan has such a soft heart and doesn't even like to squash bugs. Ethan on the other hand finds bug squashing quite hilarious. So today Ethan decided to whack Brennan with yet another big spoon he got his hands on, and repeatedly kept whacking him until Brennan came into the kitchen with tears in his eyes telling me to "PLEASE take that spoon away.... he's hurting me!"

**** Today we started Brennan's new art class. What I originally planned to be a five minute course of action getting the boys out to the van and ready to go, turned into a 20 minute ordeal, and I'm pretty sure there was a meltdown involved. (I'll just let you use your imagination on who might have had the meltdown.)

**** My toddler refuses to speak. While I'm a little concerned about this, I do think it's more him being spoiled than anything. When I didn't get his milk fast enough as we were leaving, he started talking in tongues. And it had nothing to do with being overcome with the Holy Spirit, although he certainly needs Jesus. I'm pretty sure there were some curse words and profanity used.... I just can't quite tell which words were said.

**** When I dropped Brennan off at his art class, he was the only child who couldn't stop running his mouth. Period. I finally just had to walk away and hope his teacher had lots of Valium stashed away....

**** Returning to my van, my fabulous, feisty toddler somehow set off the alarm to my van. No, not the panic button. The actual, working ALARM. I could tell you about 4 words in the English language I was saying throughout this ordeal, but I won't. Some fellow Baptists read my blog.... and by ordeal I mean, my van has a really weird alarm built in. REALLY weird. And it's almost impossible to turn off. Even when you crank the van with the key, then the engine just shuts off. So I pressed the panic button thinking it would shut off, but NO, it only got faster. And on top of this I was in front of several businesses in downtown Brandon and I'm panicking about my alarm not shutting off, and Ethan is screaming and crying to beat the band because it scared him. That was the point I could have used a Valium.

**** After that ordeal I said some things I shouldn't have (something like I'm ready to just leave the kids and drive off and never come back) that were stretching it. I was mad, I had a crying baby, my nerves were shot to hell, and I had not had a moment to calm down. Apparently my husband really believes things I tend to say in the heat of anger because I think he was ready to come find me himself and escort me home making sure I still had both of our offspring. (And yes, I later apologized for being dramatic.)

**** Every day I feel guilty when I sit down on the couch and just chill out. But then, I think about how even though I'm at home with my kids, I still work my tail off. Cleaning, reading books, playing farm (and NO, not farmVILLE on Facebook), cleaning more, reading more books, trying to feed my child lunch, cleaning again, well..... you get the point. I work. And I work. I have two jobs. One part-time and one full-time. I shouldn't feel guilty for watching one little rerun of "Frasier" or "Will and Grace". I need laughter too!!!!!!!

My Valentine...

So in light of Valentine's Day (even though I'm a day late!) I have the greatest Valentine in the world. And because it's the small things that he does for me. Here are just a few reasons why:

-1. I can count on my hands the number of times I've had to put gas in my car in the last year. He always takes care of it, without being asked. Just this morning I expected to see my gas light come on when I cranked the van, but my needle magically shot to the full gauge.

-2. Following right behind on the subject of cars: I never have to worry about anything when it comes to my car. I've never had to get the oil changed, never had to get my tires rotated, never had to get an inspection sticker, never had to update the tags, never had to update insurance cards, and, well, frankly, I don't even think I've ever even washed our cars.

-3. I have NEVER had to balance our checkbook or pay our bills. (Honestly, I think Chad is AFRAID to let me handle any of our finances....not because I spend too much, but because numbers confuse me.)

-4. I've never had to mow the grass. EVER. And I've never had the desire. (Well, besides this one time, before we had a self-propelled mower and I pooped out in two minutes flat.)

-5. I still get tucked in every night. And I don't have to turn out the lights myself.

-6. I don't have to pick up after my husband. (Okay, well maybe that's stretching it a little.... but as far as dirty underwear on the floor or socks thrown around everywhere, he at least knows where our dirty-clothes hamper is.)

-7. I am not expected to have the house spotless and dinner in the oven every night when Chad gets home from work. It is an unspoken rule that I DO NOT cook on the two days I work. But, even when I've been home all day, there are no expectations as to what he demands to come home to. Besides, it makes it a little more interesting as far as I'm concerned. It's always a surprise..... he never knows what kind of drama or meltdown he might be walking into.

-8. I have help cleaning up after supper and putting the kids to bed. Yes, even when I've been home all day, he still helps me in any way he can. (Of course, he also knows the less stress I have, the less nagging and whining he will have to hear.)

-9. My kids have a real, true, genuine role model to look up to. And that's all there is to that.

-10. Sometimes when I'm in "one of those moods", he lets me yell, and cry, and say things that I shouldn't say, but then he's man enough to LETITGO. (Let it go.)

And I am here to say, Chad and I have not always had a great marriage. We still aren't always perfect, and we've been up a lot of mountains and hills, and down many valleys, (okay, I know that sounds so cliche) but we've always worked it out in the end, and a lot of that has to do with God and our faith intervening. I am so undeserving of the way Chad treats me and the husband he is. There are days when I still don't think I can get it right. But, he is my one and only Valentine, and he is a total blessing to me.

The Great Blizzard of 2010.....

Dixie was so excited about going out in the snow!

But then once she got out there, she was too prissy to step foot in it.

She finally decided to venture out.

Brennan's playhouse.

This is what Brennan decided to wear to play out in the snow.... I guess he knew he would get wet, so he put on his swimming shorts.

Having a ball!

Making little footprints.

The three boys having fun.

Catching snowflakes on his tongue.

Rosy cheeks.

A view down the street.

The view in the other direction.

We couldn't find Ethan's mittens, so we put socks on his hands.

Loving the snow.

This is the best picture we could get of the two of them together.

The creek by our house.

Brennan tried to ride his bike in the snow.

Ethan is ready for spring with the lawnmower.

Our house.

My little Mexican sun.

Our swing. (And yes, we are from Rankin County, there IS a car in our backyard....)

Our backyard.

About to make a snowman.

Now he has on Mama's gloves, because his socks on his hands got WET.

Snowball fight!

Ethan kept trying to make a run for it in the street. Fortunately we live on a quiet street.

This is after escape number......???? I lost count.

Snowman is coming along nicely.

Brennan's Valentine snowman.

Daddy and Brennan so proud!!!

What a "sweet" face!

Chad admiring the snow!

Brennan eating a real snow cone!

Today has been one of those days I wish I could capture and save it in a bottle. The entire family has had so much fun today. (Even me who likes the snow better looking from the inside out.) Chad, Brennan, and Ethan played their hearts out (as a matter of fact I can still hear Chad and Brennan having a snowball fight outside and Ethan is so worn out he had to go down for a nap a few minutes ago.) Chad is just as big of a kid as the actual kids. Brennan made a Valentine snowman complete with a heart nose and a smile made out of sweetheart candy. (Much to our disappointment, a neighborhood dog decided to try and eat the face off while they came inside for a few minutes... fortunately I took pictures.) Brennan had a snow cone made out of REAL snow. I woke up in the mood to cook, so I baked a cake and put some chili in the crock-pot and enjoyed some coffee.

So anyway, hope you enjoyed the pictures. Everyone had so much fun today.

Nothing spectacular.....

I feel the need to take the time to sit down and blog today, although I have nothing in particular to sit and blog about. Nothing profound has happened this last week.... no oven cleaning, no new found interests, no drama. (However, being a mom to children of any age always includes drama.)

But, here are a few updates since I'm here and typing away:

Football: Super Bowl Sunday was pretty much a bore at my house. I was sick all weekend, with something that consisted of, but was not limited to aches, chills, and fever. Chad went to a Super Bowl party Sunday night at a couple's house from our Sunday School class and I sat at home in my robe, guzzling Nyquil, and baking pizza for the boys. We were excited to see the Saints pull through, however, our household was cheering for the Colts. Either win would have been a good one, and so it was. However, I'm now sick of hearing about it. It's over. The Saints have their victory, football season is officially over, and now let's stop talking about it. Period. I hear it at home, I hear it at work, and I hear it in the grocery store line. Let's move on.

Being sick: So as I mentioned earlier, I was a little under the weather this weekend. It started with the sniffles on Friday, and was a full blown cold or sinus attack or SOMETHING by Saturday morning. Now, let's get one thing straight: I can handle pain. Most of the time.... as long as it doesn't involve needles and my butt (or the HIP as medical professionals like to call it). But there is one thing I cannot stand! And that is being sick with "the crud". Stuffy nose, sore throat, watery eyes, achy body, chills, fever. Can't stand it. I would rather have the stomach virus, because usually that only lasts for about 24 hours and in the end you usually lose a couple of pounds. I am the biggest baby when I get sick with a cold or anything related to it. I whine, I complain, I irritate my husband. Even he said I act like a big baby. He said it's nothing for me to get sliced open on the belly, have a baby, and not blink an eye, but I get a runny nose and the whole world hears about it. It's true. I am that pathetic. Fortunately I was feeling better by Monday and was able to go to work. Now as for this cough that continues to linger.....

Valentine's Day: Just another excuse for Hallmark and Wal-Mart to take all my money again. However, Saturday night our church is having a V-Day banquet with childcare. Chad and I usually go to the banquet, but this year our church is providing additional childcare for couples who want to go out alone. So, Chad and I opted to take the rugrats to the church and instead of going out (you could not PAY me to go out to a restaurant in all the chaos of V-Day) we just plan to come back home and sit in silence. Literally. The last time we had the house to ourselves was probably before Ethan came along. I'm counting down the hours.

And that is all. Hopefully that is about as exciting as my life will remain for the next few weeks. I do not thrive on chaos or monkey wrenches thrown into plans. They are talking about snow in this part of the state Thursday night and Friday morning. We shall see......

The balloon...

Chad's birthday was yesterday. For part of his birthday, I tried to surprise him, and part of that surprise was "birthday-ing" his car up. Fortunately, for him, it was raining.... I was so disappointed because I was going to totally "trash" his car. You know, like they do when you get married. Thanks to Mother Nature, that idea got rained out. So, I continued on with the rest of my plan: I birthday-ed his car. Balloons on the inside, ribbons, and a new CD in the CD player to jam out to.

Anyway, my two boys have found the cheapest entertainment around.... the balloons. As a matter of fact, Ethan won't let his go. EVER. Not even when it's bath time. Which is why I took these pictures.

Ethan still has a death grip on the balloon.

No intentions of letting that sucker go.

Even while Mommy dries him off, he still won't let go.

"Oh, it's coming with me", says Ethan.

Streaking through the house with nothing but the balloon.

Stiiiiiiiill have that balloon...........

I was finally able to get his jammies on, but he wasn't happy about it. Notice, he still has that balloon.

This year, this is what he's getting from Santa. I can buy $20 worth of balloons and the entertainment and fun will last 6 months longer than the $200 pile of toys Santa left under the tree. I'm definitely making a mental note of this.

Quick fix for dinner....

Okay, so as a quick fix for dinner, I picked up one of these out of the freezer section at Wal-Mart yesterday. I give it two thumbs up. If I had 3 thumbs, I'd add that one in, too. So much better than any local Mexican restaurant and I mean that with all sincerity and being a fan of a few of these Mexican joints around town. It was really good. None of that frozen food mediocrity. The whole family really enjoyed it. Including Brennan AND Ethan who is the pickiest dang eater I have ever met! Yummy!

Cleaning and my oven.......

So, here is my oven. My disgusting, yucky, I -hate-my-oven oven. Our house is nine years old. This oven is original to the house. When we bought the house, we were stupid enough to buy it with no oven currently in the kitchen. (You live and you learn.) The previous owners had spilled something on one of the eyes and shorted out the system, so it had to be taken out and repaired somewhere else. They reinstalled the oven shortly after we moved in. However, they didn't install it right and I've had problems with this oven since. So, two or so days later Katrina hit, and we never got anyone out to our house to adjust what needed to be adjusting. So I've lived with it. I guess you can say I hated the oven from day one, so therefore it's been abused. All in an attempt to get a new one. Well, not really, but it would have been an added bonus.

So anyway, I decided to bake some potatoes last weekend, and some oil dripped down onto the heating element and down onto the already 5 year old burnt food at the bottom. My smoke alarms in my house work VERY well. Then my house reeked for the next day. I'm pretty sure my clothes even had that terrible smell which totally grossed me out.

From that point forward every time I used my oven for something, the smoke alarms would sound and the house would smell terribly. I decided it was time to do something. Armed with internet knowledge I decided to use baking soda. It took a lot of elbow grease and from Saturday to today (Tuesday) and several layers of my homemade paste to even get halfway through the grime.

These were my weapons: Almost a full box of baking soda, a spatula (to scrape up the burnt on food), a grill cleaner, a fabulous washable cloth that has a soft side, and a rougher side that is also machine washable, a sponge that was disposed of in the end, a stainless steel bowl, an icing spatula to mix my paste, and something not shown in the picture- my Pampered Chef nylon scraper used for my baking stone to scrape food off. That was my lifesaver. It scraped and scraped and did an excellent job.

Okay, so my oven still isn't perfect, but this is the best I could do. After three days and lots of muscles and two kids and a dog under me, AND five years worth of burnt on food, I think this looks okay. That other stuff wasn't budging. I'm not too worried about it as long as my house doesn't smell and my house isn't consumed with smoke anymore. I just really want a new oven!!! Badly.

Also, while we're on the note of household cleaning, two fabulous items I have found I can't live without.

#1. The Bounce dryer bar. Stick that baby in your dryer and it does the same thing an individual sheet does, only you stick it and it lasts up to four months. My mom got me one and I love it. They're actually really inexpensive, too.

#2. Mr. Clean multi-purpose cleaner with Febreeze. I especially like the lavender vanilla scent. I have been using this on everything. I even pour it in my toilets every day, whether they need cleaning or not, and scrub it around and let it sit there. Brennan went to use the potty today and said, "MMM, Mama, that purple stuff in the potty sure does smell good!" I also use it to clean sinks and mop the floor.

A silly pre-coffee ode to coffee....

Oh Coffee, I love what you do.

I love how you sound the minutes you brew.

You taste so good, I could drink you out of a shoe.

Sweetened with cream, you taste like a dream.

I love a Cafe Au Lait, even in the month of May.

Don't give me instant as an option.

That is one nasty concoction.

So here is my ode to the coffee in my cup,

And don't speak to me until I've at least had a sip, for from there my day only goes up.

My boss and my boss once upon a time.....

Oh yes, it's time to brag. I have to say, I love my boss. And I had a wonderful boss before my current boss. I have been blessed with two WONDERFUL jobs in the 9 years I have been a dental assistant. However, I will have to say, my favorite of the 9 years is my current boss, Dr. Mike Harkins. He will probably be very embarrassed over this post on my blog. But, here is what happened: So today our first patient of the day is a bartender at a really happening nightclub (I guess that's what they call them these days?) who had been voted as number one bartender in the city of Jackson and he said something to Dr. H about being voted second best dentist in the city of Jackson. No one in our office, not even Dr. H had any idea! I was so excited over this. I wanted to call everyone I know and tell them I worked for one of the BEST dentists in Jackson. Literally. Popular vote had proven it.

Well, Chad calls me at lunch to tell me about the article, and then he said my current boss had tied for second place with a Dr. Mike Tramel. (Only in the article they spelled it Trammel which is SO wrong!) I couldn't believe it. Dr. Tramel was my first employer with whom I worked for for 5 years! I was so astounded that the past two jobs I have had, my two bosses had tied for second place!!!!

I am so grateful to be able to have a boss that is compassionate, caring, and down to earth. It really makes me proud that he won something that the people of Jackson voted on. No, he didn't get a medal, or a prize cash award or anything of the sort, but I felt like a proud mom or a proud daughter or SOMETHING. I was more excited than I probably should have been, but it proves to me that Dr. Harkins is a stand-up man and he's got enough support behind him to prove it! But, I didn't need a silly contest to confirm that. And as for Dr. Tramel, well, he's a great man, too and my hat is off to him!

And p.s. I had no idea about this little contest. Because trust me, if I had, Dr. H would have come in first. And it would have been a landslide.