They put locks on everything.

When we were building this house 6 years ago I remember remarking on how all of the appliances came with lock buttons on them and how I felt like the makers of these appliances were just trying to add every bell and whistle they could to make you feel like you were getting your monies worth. I mean seriously, a lock button on the dishwasher? You close the door, you turn the dishwasher on, you open the door the dishwasher turns off, so what's that useless button for? Well, that all changed one day when Chase was 2. I was folding clothes in the laundry room when in he walks with white foam coming out of his mouth. Now, usually I would have gone into full panic mode, but this time I calmly asked him what he was eating, to which he sputtered and gagged and lead me into the kitchen where the dishwasher door was open and there sat a half eaten dishwasher packet, you know the one's, they have the dishwasher soap and yes bleach in them!! After a quick call to Poisin Control and a couple of glasses of milk later all was well and the mystery of the "useless lock buttons" were explained. Just like when one of us forgets to lock the ice/ water dispencer on our fridge we will find him using it as a carwash for his matchbox cars or trying to catch crushed ice into his mouth, which he is not that accurate at. I now use the locks on all of my appliances and wish that some other items in my house also came with that feature, like the vaccum, the bathtub, the phone the printer etc...

A Year of Firsts

Well, today is the first birthday that I can ever remember that I didn't receive a birthday card from my Grandmother. She passed away last March and thus began the dreaded year of firsts, the first year that she and Gracy couldn't celebrate their birthdays together, the first year that she didn't send me a card, the first Thanksgiving we won't see her sweet face at the dinner table, the first Christmas we'll miss her childlike excitement over every tiny little gift with her name on it and the list goes on and on. It seems that just when you think it is getting easier another first sneaks up and smacks you on the back of the head. So today I thought I would share one of my favorite stories about her. A little background for those of you who were not fortunate enough to meet my Grandmother: She was a petite little thing who was incredibly sweet and kindhearted who never had a bad thing to say about anyone maybe that's why the following story has always been so amusing to me.

When my mom was little they lived next door to my grandpa's sister and her family and one day Mom was over their playing with her cousins when one of the boys started being mean to my mom and Aunt Dianne. Well, for whatever reason grandpa's sister got really mad at mom and Dianne and told them to leave and not come back. So mom and Dianne went home upset and told Grandma what had happened and without saying a word Grandma in her robe with curlers in her hair, marched to her sister-in-laws house, threw open the door stormed through the house to the kitchen where she picked up a pot on the stove that contained the rice that had been borrowed from her earlier that day marched back out of the front door and without a word dumped the hot steaming rice onto the front lawn!!! She then returned the pan to the kitchen and went back home. Luckily she was not one to like confrontation or to hold a grudge so she got her point across and the incident was never mentioned again. Maybe that explains a little of where we, "Gillis Girls", get our feistiness from!!

She will always be missed but especially during the "Firsts".

9/11 Where were you???

I so clearly remember that I had awoken and turned on the tv about 10 minutes before the first plane hit the World Trade Center, seeing it was like watching a movie. I could not wrap my head around the fact that this was really happening. As the days went on I remember everyone just being kinder and more patient, and seeing the American flag everywhere, too bad that that part had to end. I also will never forget the strangest feeling of standing outside and not seeing or hearing a single airplane in the skies for days.

I remember seeing a news story on a little girl on one of the planes and she reminded me so much of Grace that I cried for hours just thinking of how her mother handled those last moments with her daughter. I know God was with them then and that she is with Him now, and I pray that all of the victims of 9/11 are surrounded by God's love and that they are all at peace. Please pray for all of the loved ones that they left behind and also for all of the incredibly brave men and women who fight to keep us safe.

I will end this with my favorite quote:

Bidden or not bidden God is present

I love this quote, because it reminds me that even when I'm not asking God to be with me that he is there. Just as he is in the foxholes and tents, in the jungles and crack houses. No matter what your denomination, God is there with you.

How Ike screwed up my birthday....

So last weekend I was very excited to find out that my favorite craft show was going to be held this coming Saturday the day before my birthday. John said that he and the kids would drop me off and I could shop as long as I wanted, or at least until Gracy's game starts at 1:00. Well now stinkin' Ike is churning up the Gulf of Mexico taunting us like a Jehovah's witness circling the neighborhood. You know he's coming to your door, you just don't know when. Not only is my craft show probably being cancelled but my family birthday dinner has also been cancelled until blue skies return. But this is not the worst thing that Ike has done to me these last few days, he has forced me to clean, yes people I have been stripping the beds and cleaning the toilets, why you ask? Because we have family in Houston who may at any point decide to pack up and evacuate to "Casa de Walls". Now on a good note these are people that we actually enjoy spending time with, but scrubbing toilets mere days before my birthday is not exactly how I had this planned.

Mom on the other hand is in OK worrying about us here in the Dallas area, she asked me tonight if I had thought about buying provisions in case our power goes out, I told her no but that I did think that I should go out and buy ice cream. Which did not in any way alleviate any of her fears. But as sad as it is the one thing I thought about when she mentioned that we may have power outages was that I needed to make sure that the portable dvd player was charged up for the kids. Not "we need bottled water, lanterns or peanut butter and bread", no I'm freaking out thinking how in the world am I going to entertain these kids in the dark with no a/c or electricity?!? Aha, I should charge the Nintendo DS too! Just bought myself another good 15-20 minutes of sanity. Gas cans! We should fill up the gas cans, we could basically live in our car, we'll have a/c, and the dvd player, and my ice cream of course, and when we run out of gas in my car we'll just move in to John's! Yes, Mom can now rest easy, I have a plan!

So this is what my life has come to....

Do you ever have those moments where you step back and realize just how old you really are? Let me give you an example: I found myself quoting a movie today and actually cracking myself up. The problem is it was an animated movie, not the cool movies I used to quote, you know the ones....The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles or Stripes, no, no I caught myself quoting for the umpteenth time, "Boog is sorry (insert gagging and vomit sounds here)!"and yes, I do make the very realistic sound effects. Yes, people this is what has become of me. I also recently found myself disgusted when I realized that the song that Chase my 3 year old was dancing and singing to on his mp3 is a song I used to make-out too!!! EWWWW!! And to make it even worse, it was not to his father!!!! If I were Catholic I would be at confession right now. But since I am Baptist, I guess I will just wait until he falls asleep and delete my "make-out song", and replace it with some obscenely annoying song from one of his kiddie cd's. Although getting the image of Chase singing "You Give Love a Bad Name", out of my mind will not be quite so easy. Maybe after I delete it I will take a hot shower and drink one of the Smirnoff Berry Blast I keep in the fridge in the garage specifically for moments just like this.