CAUTION: Woman In Progress

I love, love, LOVE that Emmy and Lyssa get along so well. With such a huge age difference between them, it could've gone either way. But even though one is nearly four and the other is nearly twelve, they get along like BFF's. It sort of reminds me of the relationship I had with my aunt, Mary, who is 8 years older than me. Emmy's so patient with her and they adore each other. I don't know that Aunt Mary adored me, but she was always patient with me and I followed her around like a puppy whenever she came to visit--much like Lyssa does with Emmy. And you know Emmy adores Lyssa because see that picture up there?? She's letting Lyssa play a game on her iPod touch--the iPod touch she saved her allowance, birthday money and did odd jobs for (for family friends) for MONTHS to buy herself. I think her parents only had to contribute like the last twenty dollars for it and they did so because she'd been so diligent in saving for it. That, and she's such a good ...

God knows I love them, but I have just about hit the wall on the amount of "family time" in my life lately. Four days of family last weekend. A whole day yesterday. The coming weekend and next week. The weekend after that. If I survive the summer it'll be a miracle. So I never recapped last weekend. I was still recuperating from it. It was not bad in any way but it was long. And crazy. And there is only so much chocolate I can eat to sooth my family weary soul. Because ya'll? I had Sis1 with me for four days and three nights. Eep! By the end of night two I was ready to ship her back to Bama. I love her to death and wouldn't trade her for anything (except for maybe a deserted island somewhere) but ya'll...I thought if I was asked "Do you have (insert item here)?" one more time I was going to bash somebody's head into the floor--mine or hers, I didn't care. "Do you have a paper towel?" After she'd already been using the roll ...

Is such a mess. Literally and figuratively. He's eyeing my plate and contemplating what he wants to steal next.  The stinker. He was pretty happy with his selections. And seriously, how could you be mad at such an adorable little thief? I mean, just look at that face...And that mess! And of course, he had to help Sister eat hers, as well. Such a gentleman. ;-)

Paw-Paw H and Maw-Maw. This was taken a couple of weeks ago. Glad to see them both smiling and almost looking like themselves. It's been a tough year or five for the both of them. Between Paw-Paw's health issues (heart attacks, bypass surgeries, strokes and muscular issues, among other things) and Maw-Maw's anxiety attacks, they've both been struggling back and forth with bouts of depression. On any given day when asked how they're doing you may get a halfway jolly "I'm moving, so I can't complain" to "I don't think I'm gonna be around much longer." In fact, Maw-Maw has been saying for MONTHS that Paw-Paw was either a) not going to make it to his 80th birthday or b) was waiting for his 80th birthday to die. Well, his 80th birthday was yesterday and while he's not fit as a fiddle, he ain't dead either! Praise God! A bunch of us met over at their house yesterday for lunch to celebrate. It isn't every day that y...

Paw-Paw H and Mama's biological mother, Pauline back in 1963. I never knew Mama's mother. She died when Mama was around 13 or so. I don't even know what to call her. Grandmother Pauline sounds too formal. Granny is reserved for Daddy's mother. Mama's step-mother is Maw-Maw. Daddy's step-mother is Gran-Daisy. So what to call this woman who gave birth to my mother and died so young? I like to think of her as simply Mama. Because that's what my Mama always calls her when reminiscing about her. And because she looks so much like Mama. She was the love of Paw-Paw H's life, or so Mama and Aunt L's stories would suggest. He loves Maw-Maw but Mama Pauline was his soul mate. She died giving birth to my Uncle T, her sixth baby. Because he was a poor minister barely making ends meet and had six children to care for, Paw-Paw H married Maw-Maw about six months after Mama Pauline died. Maw-Maw had known them both for a while and probably secretly had a cr...