In honor of...

In honor of my little boy, I changed my background for him. He loves all things vehicular. Trucks are his absolute favorite with cars coming in a close second. Tuesdays are THE day of the week as the garbage truck comes and the "clipping" trucks with its handy bucket to pick up all the leaves and grass clippings. This week promises to be wonderful for Jamie Troy as we had a huge pile of limbs from a tree in the back so they will be in our yard. Jamie will be beside himself.

Coversation with the Redhead

Today, I am running around...cleaning up the little things my loving husband did not get to last night. He cleaned up because my new meds kicked my feet out from underneath me. (I feel better today!) As I was gathering various items, I thought I would turn on the Ipod touch and make it into a little exercise. I don't know about you but I have to have music to exercise. Anyways, I have the Ipod, have the metal list of things to do and for some reason I cannot find the earbuds... mmmm

I scan the area I know I put them. I peek under the chair and find a sippy cup. I inspect the laundry basket to see if it feel in...eek... another sippy cup! But no luck...then I notice something..My precious, wonderful little redheaded toddler is acting as nothing is wrong with momma standing on her head... mmmm

For those who know Jamie Troy, this is odd as he is very curious about the doings of others..Nosy is the one trait I KNOW he received from the Heath gene pool. Pat would prefer if I called it inquisitive or analytical but sometimes you have to call it as it REALLY is...NOSY!! Back to the search of the earbuds... here I am digging through stuff trying to them and my son is not the least bit interested...odd to say the least!!

So I decide to question the RedHead...

"Jamie, have you seen momma earbuds?'
"I donna know"
"You don't know?"
"I donna know" this said with a shrugged shoulder. "Rockie?" (Rocket)
"Nope have to find momma's earphones..."
"Eaarr?" He touches his ear and smiles.

Now this smile isn't the cute smile that makes me smile but the I-did-it-and-you-can't-prove-it smile. He runs out the room and into his room and looks through his toy box and I watch as my son looks for something. He finally stops, looks at me and with his most serious face "I donna know"

This behavior leads me to believe he took them and lost them... He knows it and I know it but how do you blame a 21 month old when he is so darn cute... You don't!!

I will put new earbuds on the list and once again try to remember to put stuff up...

P.S. I got the exercise looking for those earbuds...

Gimme five minutes with All the Crazy Skinny Celebs

Time to look in the mirror and seriously evaluate YOUR body image!I rather not even worry about all the dorks who make stupid mistakes or hurt themselves. I rather take my 5 mintues to tell all the super skinny celebs that they are hurting more than themselves, they are hurting all those "regular" folks who look up to them.

The Not So New Beverage I Love

As I have stated in a previous blog I am trying to rid myself on the fizziness of soda. This means I am hunting for beverages that are great tasting, noncarbonated and low to no calorie beverages. These requirements make it difficult to find one that meets all of my needs. Oh, did I mention that it also should be caffinee free too? So you can see why I am trying very hard to find something I can have and have a lot of without feeling like I am cheating on my diet. I found a beverage I found but had put to the side because I was weak and went back to the fizzy goodess of Coke Zero.


So I turned to a tea and I feel it lives up to its press...

“Clasp your cup in both hands and inhale deeply. Sweet and indulgent, Lipton® Bavarian Wild Berry Tea tantalizes the senses with its vibrant flavour and robust aroma. Lipton® long-leaf black tea is made from just the two top leaves and the bud. These are carefully blended with real pieces of blueberry, blackberry and blackcurrant. Our unique pyramid-shaped transparent bags then allow fruity flavour and fragrance to flow freely for a warm, luxurious infusion.”

I simply love this tea. it has a nice, smooth taste. It does not leave behind a funny tea aftertaste some teas do. I just want to curl up and inhale the sweet smell the tea has. The aroma alone lets me know I am about to sip GREATNESS! The wonderful thing is there are more flavors out there. I have not tried any of the other flavors but I will be as soon as I can pull myself away from my mug of tea. Just a few of them are White Tea with Mango and Peach, Red Tea with Harvest Strawberries and Passionfruit and the one that has me wondering the most is Vanilla Caramel Truffle. I imagine it to be dessert in a cup. It recipe is a latte. This might have to be my next one to sample.

A fun sidenote: If you go to the website it has a comso recipe plus a few food recipes which use this very tea. i might have to bust it out just to try it. I onder if there is such a thing as calorie-free vodka???

My Little Black Dress...

I have decided this summer to add summer dresses to my wardrobe to battle the heat. It is hot and muggy here in the South Georgia. Everything sticks to you and it makes hot, blistering days even worse. I have found Old Navy for this experiment. I am a big woman but I still want to look nice. I shudder with the idea of ever wearing something that could be described as a... muu-muu! I am not rich so I need my sundresses to be rather cheap. So I hunted through the Net trying to find my "first" sundress. Something I could dress up and feel girly but I could turn around and dress it down as the mood suited me. I believe I have found it in Old Navy. I bought it and it arrived this afternoon. I pulled it out of the plastic bag and looked at it. It is black and very soft. I slipped it on...wondering if it will look like a black bag on me.
And it DID...until I adjusted the tie then it was FABULOUS!! It is light and airy. I have plans to add ties to add color. It is long enough my modest is covered but short enough to be cool.

So go check out Old Navy and find a fab dress yourself...

My New Favorite Beverage

So in my quest to find something new to drink, I have found a beverage that meets all the requirements but one. It is Sierra Mist Ruby Splash. I normally drink water and Coke Zero but Coke is getting old, water even older and to top it off,  I am "trying" to wean off caffeine.  Plus the whole Coke is truely evil for your heath, read the article about all the heath problems "diet" Coke causes. It could scare some folks just what diet Coke can and does do to a body. But I ramble... Yes, it is carbonated which is a big no-no in WLS world but I have 5 months to remove all the fizziness from my diet. It is hard to diet and while I believe I am getting a hang on the food portion of my diet I am still having problems on the beverage side. The nice lady at the support group would call it liquid candy. She might be on to something. So here is to finding a new drink I can drink (sorta)!!!

Step out in FAITH and know HE has your back…

I love my guys. They are the reason I push myself to be a better person. These two make me a more caring, understanding individual. I have always viewed the world in black and white. Wrongs wrong and rights right but I can see why there are the grays areas now. Compassion for a woman with screaming children is easier to feel when you have the child who screamed at the store or some other place where individuals without children frown at you. I can understand women (and men) steal to feed their children because I have struggled. I have faith in and men who struggle to better themselves in order to succeed.

This post was another "how much I love my life" post but I see where my mind is. I am not surprised as I see how many of us are struggling to pay for food while trying to keep a roof over our heads. I have a friend who is in this position. I don't live well but I can afford a Blizzard once in awhile. She can't… her home was sold on the steps of the courthouse. She is praying her husband can find another job as he has been laid off twice now. She is supporting her family of 4 with her parapro pay, which I know is not a lot. God has heard our prayers and people have been able to gift her money and even a place to live. She is taking a bold step and going back to school. She put if off due to the lack of money but she prayed for a sign and received it so she is going to start school in a month or so, I believe.

The power of FAITH is incredible. In these times, Faith in God is essential. I am pray every morning and every evening for my family and myself but also for all those who are reaching out wishing help but have not been helped yet. I see how my prayers are being answered and I am wowed by the power of pray.

Step out in FAITH and know HE has your back…

Mommy's 1st Flowers

 
Jamie came racing into the house and hit the fireplace before he realized I was sitting in the chair. He turned around and in his little hands was this bouquet of flowers. I have to be honest and say I teared up. Here was my little boy carrying flowers for his mamma... He was so proud of them. He handled them over and then demanded I sniff them and he too had to sniff them. So together we went and found a vase to put my pretty flowers in, all the while Jamie is supervisoring my actions.

I placed them on the table and we took another sniff. My sniffs being of the tearful sort and off we went until they caught his attention again and he dumped the vase to sniff them on his own. My baby boy is no longer and in place I have a active toddler, who loves me so.

God blessed me so much the day He choose to give me Jamie Troy. He is truely the reason I strive to be the very best so I can show him how to lead his life. He will one day help his son bring home flowers to his momma and I don't look forwad to those days as I enjoy these ones too much. Motherhood has made me a better person and a sappy one too... I would not change it for anything.

Flower Power...

I have become a picture taking fool. I look at everything and see how I could take the shot. It is addicting to see what I could do. I have outgrown my little camera and have started a camera fund so maybe by the end of the year i can have a "semi-pro" camera. I also want to buy Photoshop or a similar program as I am held back with my Picasa 3 program. Don't get me wrong, I love Picasa but I am outgrowing it. So I am on the hunt for something a bit more sophiscated.

I asked to borrow my Dad's Sony a700 and with the desination in mind went to see what I could do with his "fancy" camera. I took dozens of picture at the Bamboo Farm Festival. I have played around and come up with these 20 shots I love for various reasons.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

There are so many reasons I enjoy these pictures. I think they are some of my best. I experimented with many different cropping and lighting features.

Who's Gotta New Phone...

I had to say goodbye to my faithful Razor this past Friday. After 2 years of love and constant companionship I had to trade my phone. It is not be a sad thing for many but as I was reviewing my phone for pictures and videos,I realized this is the phone I took my first pictures of Jamie with.



It has been there for all my drama and text messaging. I LOVE my Razor!! would have been a bumper sticker for me. It did no wrong as I sent videos to Pat of our precious baby boy while he worked.

The Shiny Pink was becoming very dull and the delay between pressing a button and getting a response was becoming longer but the straw that broke my poor Razor would be my Jamie. He dumped lemonade on top of it. I thought all was good and Razor made a valiant attempt to be itself but as I text I realized I could not add a space so my messages looked like this...
hidadIamhome.jamiefellasleeponridehome.loveyoucallyoulater

So in true Melodie fashion I put the Internet to work and researched phones and read over comments and looked at photos and I made a decision with a tear in my eye for my little pink phone.

I present my new phone....



The DARE!!!

I love my Touch Ipod. I love the touch screen so I knew I could enjoy a touch phone. If Version had the IPhone I would have gone with it. I looked at the Blackberry Storm but the additional cost was not what I wanted. I have had the Dare for 3 days and must say a new and wonderful relationship is developing. I am learning all its quirks and I believe I will come to love this phone as much as my pink Razor.

5 Pounds of FISH...

What does one do with 5 pounds of fish??? Better yet, why am I asking this question??
Because over the weekend, I was faced with this dilemma. It all started with my desire for fish. In our home, we are turning over a new leaf and trying VERY hard to be HEALTHY!! So after days of chicken breast cooked in every imaginable way I sent my love of life out to bring home a different meat. And proudly doing so my husband brings me a box of fish, never mind I had said a bag of fish he brings me this BOX of whiting. I like whiting. It is a fish, which forgives the clumsy hand that sprinkles too much seasoning. I had learned this when living in the Taj. But that is another story!!
So I decide to crack open the box and grab a couple of fillets, defrost and bake away…But oh no that does not happen in the Heath home. Instead I crack open the box and discover a 5 pound fish-sicle. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…A popsicle with fins…This was not the pretty fillets I was waiting on but almost whole fish. Thank God not heads and guts but never the less, whole fish in my eyes. So I do what a sane woman does and start laughing and the kind your whole body moves and later you are sore from…My great urban hunter arrives to see what has me gasping for air (all the pun intended) and discovers the fish-sicle. He is upset and says to throw it out as there is no way to defrost a portion of the fish-sicle…it is all or none! So I decide to think as I defrost the fish, what can I do with all the fish?
Do I cook a portion of it and throw the rest out…the wild (so the box says) fish who gave their little fishy lives for my belly only to end in the trash can…NO, I say and start to formulate a plan. A daring plan which I have never done before. I will cook ALL the fishies!!!! Never mind, Pat and I will most likely be the only ones to see the fish. I am determined. So I set on my mission…I decide to divide and conquer. I will pan fry some and the others will go into the oven. I will have fish for dinner and then have fish cakes later. I am too smart for my own good. Now I have my plan there is a problem…the frozen fish. It takes FOREVER to defrost the fish. While this might not be a bad thing the smell soon developed leaving the home in a odd fishy smell. Hurry, Hurry and wait for the melting fish-sicle. Finally, they are all separate and I can begin the GREAT fish cook…
I have my beaten eggs, my seasoned flours, heated oven and hot electric griddle…the fish have been patted dry to allow for maximum coverage of flour. I am set. And so I begin, I first neatly lay the fish destined for the oven in my pan. A little salt and pepper and oil and they slide into the oven to bake away. Next I face the griddle…I spray some PAM and begin the process with Pat as my sidekick ‘cause I sure wasn’t doing this on my own. He dips the fish into the egg, next I cover with flour and put them on the griddle. All done, and we wait. But we don’t wait for long as the most DELICIOUS smell beginnings to hit our overwhelmed noses. It is a smell I liken to my Nammy’s home. She cooks a lot of fish and my home is beginning to smell just likes hers…my mouth begins to water and I stare down my little fishies wondering how long I must wait before I can EAT ONE!!!!
10 minutes later….

And 20 minutes later…

I have conquered the BOX of whiting. Will I do it again? NO!!! But I have learn a sad and wonderful lesson….After cooking all the fish I could not bear the thought of having to eat fish for dinner and I ate …CHICKEN. Pat said the fish was good and tomorrow we will be having fish cakes, hopefully my poor nose can handle it.
Love to All,
The Heath Mom

Craziness in a Word

The online Webster Dictionary defines crazy as distracted with desire or excitement or passionately preoccupied. There were more but these two work for my purposes.

It started Valentine's weekend with us receiving some tax refund money. We spend the day in beautiful Savannah buying Jamie shoes, clothes and other stuff, including my new Nike+ with the receiver so I can measure my walking. I have been using it and it is a great tool in aiding my walking. We ate at my favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel and directly from there we went to Ludowici. My grandfather and my dad and mom were here to visit. We spent the entire weekend hanging out with them. I especially enjoyed Jamie spending time with his great-grandpa. On Tuesday, we went back for a final spend off party, a good old-fashion oyster Roast. Mmm!! It was sad to go as I loved hanging out with everyone and it was a blast.

Here are some pictures of the boys playing in the yard and a few of them in those bushes...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

 

I wanted to share some pictures of the oyster roast. I took excessive amount of pictures but I shared my favorites. Oh and look for my favorite. It is my dad and grandpa together. I am going to frame it of my mantle.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

 

On Wednesday, I had dinner with David and Barb at Applebee's and had a wonderful time. My left wrist was hurting but I tried to ignore it. To make a long story short, I ended up in the ER for 6 hours with no idea what was wrong...just a could-be broken diagnosis. I went for my records and discovered I have NOT broken my wrist! It is related to when I broke my wrist in Japan. I spend the entire weekend with moderate pain, a 7 on the pain scale. lol I saw my personal doctor on Monday and was a referral was put in for me to see a specialist. Good news is it is the same practice Jamie goes o for his legs, bad news I still don't know when my appointment is. More interesting news, I am still taking my UOP classes and I refused aid i.e. a break in my school schedule to heal. Not doing that as I received my schedule and was sadden to discovered I had misunderstood them and it won't be until NEXT November (a.k.a. 2010) before I finish.

Tuesday, Pat received a phone call from his parents. They were coming up on Thursday to close on their home. It finally SOLD!!! They asked if they could see Jamie and we agreed. We went further and invited to take them out. It went better than I could imagine. I still was pretty much ignored but they bought Jamie a little tractor, which he played with at the table while we waited for dinner to arrive. They followed us home and they had a bubble blowing lawn mower for him. I received flowers too. It was very nice of them to do this. They stayed for about a hour and left after trying out our Wii (will post about it later) and loading up on some coffee. It was great for Jamie to visit and he did wonderful, Jamie kissed Martha as they were leaving. I hope this is a step forward in mending our family.

So today is Friday and hopefully the end of a very CRAZY two weeks...

Jamie's New Friend

My wonderful son has a new friend. My sister has moved out in to the country. A place where there is fish in the pond you can actually eat and horses roam. At least one horse does and he is Jamie's NEW friend. Montana is his name and carrots are his game as we found out.

The first meeting between Montana and Jamie was a cautious event. I not wanting Jamie to be eaten and Montana not wanting to suffer another child. It went well with a few pats and we off we went.

The second meeting included carrots. Jamie loves giving out carrots and having a bite in between Montana's bites. Jamie would not stay away. Finally, Kate and I had to walk away before he would follow us. He kept waving bye bye and Montana just sucked it up.I do believe the next time we go over Jamie will be running over to see Montana.

I took some pictures of these two days. I tried something new, courtesy of Jess, Smilebox to display my pictures so be patient with me.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Wonderful Quote For Education

I found the most wonderful quote that I believe describes education.

"Education is a painful continual and difficult work to be done by kindness, by watching , by warning, by precept, and by praise, but above all - by love.

John Ruskin

I have been thinking a great deal about the profession I have chosen to embark in and I can't wait. I realize all the negatives that come with the job, my husband is a teacher but I also know all the wonderful perks I get being a teacher. I am not talking about summers off or nice holiday breaks. I am talking about the ability to show children the love of learning. I see so many children who have lost the love of learning or worse yet have never been shown it. I want to be able to show it to all my students. I realize that I will not be able to reach all the students but I will give my best to ensure all my students have the opportunity to learn.

Missing a Loved One...

I have ben retreating into a shell, hiding in my home as I am trying to heal from a horrific wound. I am realizing that I give too much of myself and in my giving believe that others will give just as much as I do. I had to do the impossible this past week and walked away from my mother. She has decided to go down a path I refuse to follow. Her choices in life have made her into a person I do not recognize. She is consumed with self pity and hate. She refused to live in the present and look forward to the future, instead living in the past and blaming all others for HER problems. I have offered my hand to her so many times I have lost count. I have opened my home, gave her food, my love and still she takes more. Finally the lies are too great, the ugliness too nasty and my heart broke from the strain that she has put on it. It has been a week and I still feel lost.

It is as she died. I know that the mom I knew and loved died a long time ago. I am left with a shell of the woman that resembles my mom. The woman that made dozens and dozens of cookies so her girls could have a reason to eat the frosting. The woman that would make spuds and eggs on school mornings just cause it was my favorite breakfast. The woman that hugged as if I was the most precious gift. She put my clothes in the dryer so facing the cold wasn't so harsh. The person that told me that anything is possible and that I was her moonbeam. The one person who knew me better than I knew myself. She believed that I would find Mr. Right and wouldn't end up as the old maid with 32 cats.

She loved me, faults and all before I loved myself.

I have spend the last several days trying to come to terms with my feelings. Tonight I realize that what I am feeling is the grief that a child feels when a parent passes away. I am a tumble of emotions. All that hurt and I wish she would wrap her arms around me and tell that all would be right with the morning. She isn't though and I am realizing that I rather remember the GOOD days than these last days.

I love you momma...

Praying Easing Me

My life is going crazy...I feel that I cannot gain any control over the events that are occuring in my life. I know that I need to take a deep breathe, maybe more thatn one and remember that I am not alone in my battles. That these jarring events are not of my doing and that I do not need to be in control of these events. Especially I need to have patience in these trying times.

I remembered a biblical quote that "covers" my turn state of mind.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience.
Colossians 1:11

I need His strength right now as I face a storm of difficult times. I am feeling like that little sparrow in the storm, a fish swimming upstream. Last night, I bowed my head and prayed that I would find the strength and patience to go on. I prayed for some time, just these words soak into my soul. Letting His words warm my spirit and make my confusion and impatience melt away as I slide into sleep.

This morning, I am feel better. The weight that has been pressing down on me is lifted. I am still facing these difficult times ahead but I know that Jesus Christ is with me.

Decorating This Blog

Haha... I have managed to make my own header. It took way too many hours that I should have spent on my paper, but I did it. I am thinking I might want to invest in PhotoShop or a similar photo editing program though. I have all these pictures and I could be doing so much more with them. I borrowed a background and just went crazy playing around with it. I would start it again and again as I discovered more I could do with it.

I am telling on myself, but I have been pricing the programs and reading reviews. Again all while I should be working on my papers for class. I know that this is bad but I rather be do this than wiriting a paper on the communication dynamics of the movie, The Goonies.

But I better go back to class and try to organize my Learning Team so that I do not spend another late night editing a paper.

The Power of A Smile

I have a confession to make...I can't help but melt when a certain red-headed boy smiles at me. If anyone had told me that a toothy grin would make my day absolutely complete a few years ago, I would have laughed. I had become jaded to many things in my life and my son has brought the wonder back into my life. Viewing this world through the eyes of a 17-month old is a wonderful opportunity.

My heart melts when I see a smile that is meant just for me. A smile that lights up my heart. I have to stop doing everything when I see just that smile. I can't help it. I have tried to captured this smile and it has been very difficult to remember to grab the camera but I finally managed to do so.

This is the smile that stops me. Can you blame me? I have had to put down the comptuer and take a break from the hustle of UOP and the boredom of housework to play with this amazing gift from God.

Rewind to Christmas

It is amazing that the Heathbar Gang is starting a new year. This year will be full of many new challenges and adventures and I, Mommy Heathbar, decided to start this blog as way to show others our joys and triumphs.

Going backwards, Christmas was wonderful. We celebrated Christmas with all of my family this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my dad and new mom, Barbara and my fabulous new sister, Melissa and her wonderful family. Jamie recieved to HUGE Tonka trucks, a talking puzzle and a Little Einstein sub. We were at home for Santa's arrival. My mom was there for the mass confusion and Christmas casserole. Finally, we spent that evening with my sister and her family. I think this is one of my favorite Christmases as Jamie Troy is reaching the age were he loves to unwrap gifts and play with the Christmas tree.

We celebrated Christmas with Lisa this year. We are so proud of her. She is finishing her Master's at La Grange College and will be home theis summer. Patrick is alrready looking for houses for her. Jamie and her are fighting over Jamie's newest gift...the Recliner!

I am not sure who will win but I will keep y'all updated. But Jamie Troy's favorite toy would have to be from Santa. He has been playing with one at his cousin's home, but Santa knew he wanted one of his own. Since Chirstmas morning, he has not left his car. The bar in the back allows for him to push it around the house and even out the door. Patrick and him took on the "road" to see how smooth the ride is and they reported back, saying it had a VERY smoooth ride.

This Christmas has reminded me of the JOY that comes from the season. I had become jaded to the holiday season and for the first time I felt the JOY and LOVE that this season provides us. My spirit is renewed and Myself and my family can continue on this new year with a fresh dose of JOY and LOVE.