15 Months

Happy 15 Month Birthday, Sydney Lou Lou

Whatever are you doing these days?

A better question is...what are you NOT doing?

You continue to chew on EVERYTHING.

I'm wondering if you aren't milking this whole "oral fixation" thing a little too long.

Maybe it's cause you still only have 4 teeth and you feel the need to massage those aching gums.

Here you are chewing on one of MawMaw's scraps from her beloved scrap basket.

 You love books. You love books. You LOVE books.

You prefer page turning over any other activity.

You like to look at books while we're going down the road, and I don't really know how you do that without getting nauseated, because I definitely can NOT read and ride, but apparently you can. What talent.

 You are climbing into everything.

The dishwasher is one of your favorite haunts.

Here again, you are gnawing on a spoon. It's probably a dirty spoon that I neglected to take out of the dishwasher while unloading it. Here's hoping you have a bang-up immune system.

Here we are first thing in the morning before heading off to work. You are so engrossed in watching Baby Einstein that you can't even take a picture with your dear old mama.

The latest thing you do that is so cute I could just die is shake your head "no" back and forth furiously.

You can say: Da-da, da-dee, dee-dee, dee-da, hey daddy, hi da-dee, da-da-dee-dee, da-dee-da, bye daddy, by da-da, by dee-da, and bye bye daddy

You call me: Nanna

WHAT? I get the grandma name and you say every variation of Daddy that is humanly pronounceable?

Yes, indeed.

Back in the Saddle Again, Part Deux

Taking pictures/video from the back of a motorcycle takes skill, precision, guts, and lunacy

Isn't it cool how you meet people "by accident" and then realize that maybe it wasn't an accident that you met them? I think it is more than just coincidence.

That's how we met Dr. Henry Armington, the pastor of Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA.

Chris & Pastor Armington

It all started when my husband decided to sell his first motorcycle, a maroon '01 Ultra Classic. He put the bike on Ebay and waited for a nibble.

No nibble. He waited a little while and then decided to relist it. Shortly thereafter, he was contacted by Dr. A through the Ebay message center. They corresponded and the deal was done.

The DH and Dr. A have been corresponding ever since. They always have good conversations and Chris enjoys hearing about everything that is going on with his church. He invited us to participate in the Jericho ride and that's how our trip came about.

Saturday morning, the weather was still threatening and we thought the ride might be canceled, but fortunately, everything was still on go. The skies cleared up, the sun came out, and over 75 motorcycle folks joined together to ride around the city of Shreveport/Bossier City and pray for God's will to be done.

We made several stops and different pastors prayed for different things. It was very powerful  to witness all different denominations, churches, and races join hands in a big circle and pray for the Lord to bring down walls of division, prejudices, and pride.

Central Assembly of God

Bossier City, LA

Stop # 2

Of all of the group motorcycle rides I have ever been on, this one was the most organized, most planned out, safest, and best-executed events ever...hands-down.

We had police escorts through the cities and the road captains were phenomenal. No one got hurt and every one had a great time.

Let me take a moment to explain group riding protocol.

(Stepping on soap box)

When riding in big groups, it is important that everyone stays together. In order to do this, the bikes ride in a staggered formation. Road captains or blockers are typically used to hold back traffic while the group proceeds through an intersection. These folks should be wearing brightly colored vests to identify them as such. As the leader approaches the intersection, he signals his blockers to positions where they can hold cars while the group moves through. Sometimes, not all car drivers will be accommodating. I have seen many a driver shake their fist or drive around a blocker and nearly cause an accident. If you are ever in that position, chill out for a few seconds and let the bikes pass. It's better than taking a chance of running over somebody.

  Road Captains in neon vests

(Stepping off soap box)

At the end of the ride, we wound up at a beautiful park where food, music, and shade was waiting. We visited, laughed, and relaxed after riding 100+ miles around the perimeter of Shreveport/Bossier City.

Chillin' at the park

Then, it was on the road again as we headed home. We experienced 2 more light rain showers and drove into our garage tired, happy, and lonesome for our baby girl.

What I learned:

1. It's good to get away and have a change of scenery. Believe you me, I saw a lot of scenery...450 miles round trip of scenery.

2. I'm not as young as I used to be and my lower quarters are not able to withstand that kind of mileage on that kind of bike. My lower quarters have been through a lot, car accident, surgery, and birthin' a baby.

3. We are headed to Tennessee for 5 days in June, and you better bet your bee-hind I will be on the Ultra. Yep, me and my Ibuprofen.

Back in the Saddle Again, Part 1

 After a nearly 2 year hiatus from any motorcycle trip of extended length, I am pleased to announce that I survived my 450 mile round trip to Shreveport, LA.

Let me first explain the significance of this feat.

We have 2 bikes. Sick, I know...wasn't my idea, buh-leeve me.

The first one is the '97 Heritage Softtail. It is what my husband deems, "a classic." It is not designed for long trips unless your hind parts are made of steel. The Heritage is my husband's most prized material possession and I know that if anything ever happens to me, he and Heritage (who is a she) will be very happy together and live the rest of their days in a blissful state. It is covered in an sinful amount of chrome and it's shininess is appalling.

Me on the Heritage at a much skinnier time in my life

The second one is the '08 Ultra Classic Anniversary issue touring bike. This bike is a Lazyboy recliner with 2 wheels. It has a bang up sound system, heated seats and grips, air shocks, intercom system, GPS, garbage disposal, port-a-potty, etc... Well, I may have gotten a little carried away, but I'm not far off. It is great for long trips, but unfortunately is in the shop getting beautified right now.

The one, the only, the Ultra

So, my DH was invited by a friend of his to participate in the Jericho Ride in Shreveport. This is a prayer ride sponsored by Rolling Radiant Thunder, which is a motorcycle ministry. We drove up Friday night after dropping off Sydvicious with the folks.

Our faithful steed. Take notice of the microscopically small and uncomfortable seat that I ride on.

Good thing my hiney is microscopically small.

We are experiencing a major drought in East Texas right now, so we weren't anticipating any rain. We were rained on 3 times while traveling to Shreveport which is about 2 hours from home. If you've never ridden in the rain while in an open vehicle, I can only describe it to you as this:

Imagine yourself wearing a tank top sitting in the back of a bass boat as it flies at unimaginable speeds across the lake. Now, imagine someone hurling hundreds of toothpicks at you while the spray is dousing you with water. Add a streaking lightning strike that makes you want to wet your britches (not that anyone would notice your pants are wet) and a tad of thunder and throw in the occasional large winged insect that splatters across your arm flinging white/gray bug guts on you, and you now know what it feels like to ride in the rain on the back of a motorcycle. If you are riding with my husband, go ahead and add to that experience the fact that regardless of your shouts, "LET'S PULL OVER!" you continue to be a wet toothpick target.

"Now, if you just look here at the GPS, it says that we can be in Shreveport in 43 1/2 minutes and then here is the number for the hotel, and we have gone approximately 67.3 miles, but with the headwind and rain, our average speed is approximately 64.2 miles per hour, and here is the number and address for our hotel, and isn't this cool...are you listening to me?"

We finally stopped in Carthage to get our bearings and decide that we wanted to head on to Shreveport and take our chances with the weather. The scary weather. The scary weather including black clouds and lightning. Yep, I'm a thrill seeker all right.

We finally arrived safe and sound and topped off the night with some great eats at the "Blind Tiger" in the down town area. WOW is all I can say. The heartburn was worth it, yes ma'am. Cajun food is a powerful thing and as I have recently discovered, gives me a severe case of insomnia. Thank goodness for late night reruns of "Whose Line is it Anyway."

Tune in tomorrow for Day II of the saga...

Chillin' with the Church Folks

Okay, so I'm going to give my mommy a rest and do a little blogging for her today.

She's had a hard week and keeps walking around making sounds like, "Ughh...Ohhh....Mmmm."

I think she needs to lay down and take a nap.

Let me tell you about what I did Saturday night!

My mama and daddy took me to this place that I had never been before.

When I got there, I saw my church people!

I saw my church buddies, too!

There was good food and good music.

 

But best of all, there was a chair.

Just for me.

They must have known I was coming.

 It took a little work to get into it.

I prefer the foot first approach.

But once I got situated...

I was SUPER comfortable...

 Ahhh...this is the life.

"Come on, boys! Play me some more foot-stompin', knee slappin', country gospel music!

But, let me get a refill first...

Dear Lord

Dear Lord,

I know that you won't give me more than I can handle, because you know my frame and you know that I am only dust... But, lately, I wish you didn't trust me so much.

Love,

Simplistic Joy

I smiled a bunch today.

I smiled so much today that my mouth muscles are tired.

I smiled when my kid started dancing an Irish jig when the local news came on the radio this morning. She loves the intro music. It reminds me of what you would hear back in the 80's when the 5 o'clock news starts. Very cheesy. Very funny. Perfect music to dance to.

I smiled when my kid sat down on the floor and opened up her favorite book while I was folding laundry. It was obvious that I was busy, but she opened up each page and pointed and I "read" (recited) what was on that page to her. She found it astounding that I had each page memorized and all she had to do was turn the page, and I read to her from across the room. She squealed with delight. I squealed too.

I smiled when my kid climbed up on the couch with me, patted my leg, and gave me puppy dog eyes until I gave up part of my grape sno-cone. She took a slurp, closed her eyes, and opened up her mouth again like a baby bird searching for a worm. After too many bites in succession, she began to smack her head repeatedly and shake it back and forth. Funny...I do the SAME thing when I get brain freezes too. I laughed and smiled and laughed some more.

I smiled when my kid was taking a bath and her dad was helping to wash her hair. She giggled when he poured the water over head to rinse off the suds. She leaned over into the bubbles and then sat up with a long bubble goatee. She said, "hey, hey." I chuckled all over.

I smiled a bunch today. Joy. Simplistic Joy.

El Cheapo

Call me weird. Call me sick and twisted. Call me crazy...just don't call me cheap! Well, I guess you can call me cheap, but I'm cheap in a GOOD way. I guess the word for that is thrifty.

I am also one of these who has a magical ability for stumbling upon unbelievable bargains.

Just this week, I was cruising the aisles at W-M when they began rolling out large racks of men's and women's clothes. Everything was a buck. I almost got trampled, but was able to grab a couple of really nice shirts for the DH, and a pair of shorts that I will now make my permanent summer garment.

Wait...the bargains that I found this week don't stop there. I have doing some Ebaying lately. I found a little dress from the Children's Place and I bid on it thinking, "Yeah, like I'm ever gonna get that precious outfit for that ridiculous amount of money." Well, I won it for 99 cents.

And then just a few minutes ago, I won yet another high dollar outfit, for....WAIT FOR IT...

WAIT SOME MORE...

Are you sure you don't want to sit down?

I think you had better sit down...you may faint dead away from sticker shock...

Okay..here goes...

10 cents.

I didn't stutter, sister. 10 cents!!

(I need a moment to wipe the tears of joy from my eyes, please and thank you.)