The Princess and the Splinter

We're having fun tonight. The kids are in the pool. The parents and grandparents are watching from the porch. The kids are planning on spending the night with said grandparents, giving the parents a much needed night on their own. Everything was going perfectly..... until.... Emily got a splinter. (DUM DUM DOOOOMMMMM) 

Let me start at the beginning.....Emily got up at 7:30 this morning and she had to clean her room. After she cleaned her room she had to help empty the dishwasher, after she emptied the dishwasher she ate lunch; after lunch she went swimming; after swimming for 3 hours she stayed at Gran's and played with her cousins. After playing with her cousins for 3 hours she ate supper. After eating she decided to swim again. After swimming for another 2 hours she.........got..........a.........splinter.

This was no simple splinter. It was the worst splinter of every splinter ever imaginable. This splinter couldn't have entered her delicate foot at a more inopportune time. See? Princess Emily was EXHAUSTED! It had been a most harrowing day for a six-year-old girl. There was no caffeine and there was no nap. There was only a long day and a  ginormous (not really) splinter.

She lost it. I don't blame her. She begged for a grown up to remove the splinter but it was SOOO ENORMOUS that whenever we got a good look at it, it just disappeared. Grownups couldn't ever catch it. It was a really sneaky splinter. 

So now she sits... in her daddy's recliner. She couldn't stay at Gran's. The pain was too much to bear. She's watching Frozen and waiting to fall asleep. She has the affected limb propped up to minimize pain/swelling. She's agreed to let me catch the sneaky splinter when she snoozes. She's super cute about it all. Even if I do wish that she would have spent the night at her grandmother's house. Basically, a teeny, microscopic, piece of wood or glass just ruined my sassy girl's day.

This splinter got me to thinking. How many days have I, or my husband, made it through a hard day at work or taking care of kids only to stumble on a splinter? How many days to I let a dirty dish left on the table (when the sink is a mere six feet further) or something, become my splinter? How many days is my better half just happy to walk into his loving home only to find a big ole splinter waiting for him (me)? I don't want to be his splinter. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be mine either. 

I know there are some days that we're not going to be able to control getting on each others nerves. It happens in every family. But I'm going to think about little miss priss and the splinter that stopped the world next time I am fuming about some little thing that really doesn't matter. I'm going to try not to let life's splinters ruin my day. 

My iPhone is only a NanoSecond Old in the Cosmic Year... whatever that means...

So, I ordered a new phone today. It's only been a couple of years since my last phone. My phone still works fine. But for some strange reason i HAD to have the new phone. My husband got his phone (we are iphone people and i still have a 4s to clear things up) and it's so much faster than mine. He gets his weather radar to pull up a whole second before mine does. His texts come through faster. His safari pages load way faster than mine. When we ask, "Who's that guy? I know he's been in something else...", his IMDB finds the answer before mine even loads the home page.

Two years ago, I had the hot phone. Two years ago no one knew who siri was. Two years ago people asked me to look stuff up to settle arguments. Two years ago my phone was cool.

This got me to thinking.... out of the last two years of my life, the only thing that has stayed true, that has stayed constant, that has not changed, faltered, or failed me, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've even got an app on that old iPhone for the Bible. Technology is a rapidly changing monster. I love it because I'm a technogeek, but I still know that God is the greatest creator. 

We tuned in to the new show Cosmos the other night. It's a really interesting science show. It's broadcast on network television which is unique because of the barrage of "reality" shows. Tuning in I understood that the show was about the universe: it's infinite reach, it's origin, the earth's place in it. The show did a good job explaining the Big Bang Theory. It also made a jab at Darwin's Theory of Evolution. It never mentioned Creationism, but I've learned that scientists almost NEVER mention Creationism. I watched this and let it go. I can debate a scientist another day. 

They focused a lot on the "Cosmic Timeline." The fact that humans have only inhabited the earth less than a minute of the "Cosmic Year." The idea is that the Earth is aged at 6 billion years and humans are aged at less than 10k. We are but a blip on the "cosmic" radar. I understand this from a scientific standpoint, but does it shake my beliefs in God? NO! I'm sure God has answers to these questions and if I am worried about these questions when I meet Him I am sure he will answer for me. (I doubt I'll be worried though!)

The show then moved on to Giordano Bruno, the Italian Astrologer, from the late 1500's. He was burned at the stake for heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. He preached plurality of worlds, that extraterrestrial life exists beyond our solar system. He was way before his time in his beliefs. He knew that the earth rotated the sun and that the moon orbited the earth. He was a smart guy. The church at this time was super suspicious of anything different. You have to remember that the Protestant Reformation was happening almost simultaneously. The old church was burning almost anyone that so much as snickered at the stake; much less, a man who preached that there may be life outside this earthly plane.

I fail to see why Mr. Bruno is relevant to the story. The television series made it out like the priests were evil and sinister. They brandished animated crucifixes on the screen in front of poor innocent Bruno's animated character. They depicted an animated Bruno rising out of his cell, arms stretched out (reminiscent of Jesus on the cross) into the heavens to see the planets as they orbited and solar systems beyond ours. The producer's intent was not lost on me. They wanted Christianity and Creationism, to be depicted as foolishness. They want us to appear to be the bad guys. They want our arguments to seem ridiculous to anyone that considers themselves "educated."

I am educated. I am smart. I was taught about the Big Bang and Darwinism and all the other theories in classroom after classroom. I still believe only one theory holds true; NOT because I'm smart, not because I'm educated. I believe in an almighty Creator because HE makes me BRAVE. I believe because I have FAITH. I believe because I have HOPE in a life after this one. I believe because my life has been CHANGED because I trusted in a SAVIOR who died to set me free. I'm no less smart because I believe. I think I'm smarter because I have something to believe in. If you haven't experienced this hope please contact me and we will talk about it. It's so easy to trust and let God take over. I encourage you to do the same. 

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." Hebrews 11:1-3

Concerning the Author

I'm torn.

Life as a "Mommy Blogger" might be "just fine." But somehow I want more.... I'm drawn to be the political blogger, the religious blogger, the family blogger and the comedic blogger. I just don't know which blogger I want to be right now.

So I choose to be ALL bloggers. You don't know what you will get with me. I'm like that in real life too for those of you that know me.

Which brings to mind the fact that, not all of you know me. Not all of you know me. I'm a stranger. So let me tell you a thing or two about me.... (see below)

I'm Heddy (aka Heather). I've had that nickname as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl I stayed with my Granny a lot. Granny was my mother's mother. She lived in an apartment adjacent to our house. I could tap on my bedroom wall and she would tap back anytime I needed her. We had our own form of Morse Code.

When I wasn't tapping on my wall I was at her house. She kept her fridge stocked with soda's and candy bars. She kept her bread box stocked with bacon cheddar fries, cheeze-n-crackers and more candy bars. We never wanted for junk-food when we were at granny's house. This is probably the reason I can be a Curvy Girl Blogger as well.

Am  I still confused about my identity? You would think that by now I would know who I am. Maybe I'm a healthcare blogger.... no.... I've been out of that for a while. I don't feel like i should alienate my self with the 'mommy blog' title. I just don't know yet what describes me.

I am an almost 32 year old mother of three blogger. You can do the math. My oldest is almost 14 years old. He's an angel. Maybe I could be the teenage mother success story blogger. I had my second  child two years later... Maybe that makes me the "I'm on the fast track to life blogger." My third child is a feisty curly headed product of my second marriage. She keeps me on my toes and she WILL be the cause of ALL my gray hairs. Maybe that makes me a mommy daughter blogger, or try for second love blogger. I could also review netflix selections for a blog, or maybe just write about how I longed for a vacation home.

But that doesn't really tell who I am either. That tells the mommy blog followers who I am. I am also a registered nurse. I worked hard for that title despite the fact that my marriage was falling apart at the time. I'm a stay at home mom now. I worked hard for that title too. It's an achievement in my opinion. I found a husband who could support my ambitions to be able to stay at home and raise my kids. I know at any moment I can go back to work. I also know that, if the opportunity presents itself I can run for office. I can go back to school, I can teach school, I can do WHATEVER I want to do right now. I graciously thank my husband for that and I'm not ashamed of being grateful.

First and Foremost I am a Christian, I'm opinionated, talented, creative, honest, intelligent, hard working, faithful, fair.  All of that is by the grace of God. I'm also a civil rights advocate living in the middle of a civil rights battleground. I hope that I am fair minded and thoughtful when it comes to political issues. I am staunchly Libertarian as long as being Libertarian doesn't mean that I have to staunchly be anything. I am strongly opinionated in my beliefs whether you like them or not. I will agree with you as long as you successfully prove to me that you are right. I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong as long as I have been proven to be wrong.

I'm new to the blog-o-sphere but I can guarantee you that I will talk about my family. I will talk about my religion. I promise to talk about my political beliefs. I also promise to talk about any social/ethical/economic issues that come to mind. I'm not promising to be your favorite blog, but i promise that I will try.

I am me and only me and I hope that's enough for you.

Bad Weather and Granny

I originally penned this back in the days of MySpace. It was written as a MySpace note, if ya'll remember those.... My Mom had saved it (to my good luck) and I, thanks to her, am gonna share it once more in honor of  "Severe Weather Awareness" week. I have some good/bad memories regarding severe weather. Lots of people in my family are really anxious about these NWS warnings that we so frequently get down south. So in honor of them and my dearly departed grandmother, I give you this. It's dedicated entirely to Mary George Chaney Boyd; may she look on me and smile.



It's supposed to be bad weather tonight... most people don't even mind. They go on with their lives as if nothing is any different. I, however, always think back to my childhood.........

My grandmother (Granny) lived in my mother's house from about a year after I was born until the day she died. She convinced my poor unsuspecting daddy to build her an apartment (adjacent, but not with open entrance to his living quarters) attached to his house. Poor daddy didn't know what was coming. On the plus side, in Daddy's court, she kept me and my brother a lot when we were little. Anytime the wind blew wrong, she threw my brother and me in the hallway.  If it was especially windy, she would throw the couch cushions on top of us.

The worst nights were when we had a bad storm and the power would go out. Remember Daddy has tolerated Granny's presence in his home since he was in his thirties. He has also learned to keep his mouth shut and deal with it. On stormy nights she would always sit at the end of the kitchen table usually smoking a Kool (she quit when I was seven). She had several rules for the four grandchildren and their parents.....

1) Stay away from the front door... you'll get hit by a flying limb.

2) Stay away from the sink and don't go to the bathroom (apparently aunt somebody got struck by lightning washing dishes)

3) Don't sit under the ceiling fan (if the house blows away the last thing you want to hit you is the ceiling fan)

4) Turn the TV off and unplug it (even though it is our best way to get the weather). We don't want to buy a new TV if lightning strikes.

5) Don't go outside... even three hours after it passed. Some man was standing on his deck three hours after a storm, one time, and lightning struck him and he hasn't been the same since.

6) Forget the rest of you... "I'm (Granny) getting in the hallway... get off the couch so i can have the cushions."

We always heard the same rules. But i digress, when the power went off (inevitable in rural Mississippi) we would sit around for hours and figure out how to entertain each other. My sisters were way too good to play with my brother and I; they usually sat on the couch and ignored us. My dad would look for batteries for what seemed like hours, and, if he was lucky, he would locate enough for a radio and at least we could listen to country music. My mama lit candles and my great grandmother's oil lamp. This "Lamp" was a fixture in our house. It was your typical hurricane lamp. But... according to Mama it was "a hundred years old" and "it will set the whole house on fire if you touch it." Many a time I was informed that "That Lamp will blow you to New Jersey". 

Granny's job during all of this chaos, was to try not to get on Daddy's nerves and to entertain me and Gabe (my little brother). In that spirit we played games. Not board games, no, we were way to creative for those. We played "My Ship Goes Sailing", "I Spy", and, my all time favorite, "The Quiet Game". We always fought, I always lost the quiet game. Nikki and Lisa ended up playing with us despite their "I'm too cool to play with little kids because I am a teenager" attitudes. Gabe would spy nothing so that he could be "it" all night long. Mama would guess occasionally and Daddy would grumble for us to be quiet (from his perch on the recliner) every now and then, although we never complied. 

Hours would pass until, inevitably, we heard that familiar "hum" and every light in the house would come on. At that point, we would all say "The power's on! YaY!" (in unison) and we would go back to our corners. Granny would go back to her house (an apartment on the end of ours) unless there was another line of storms on the way. In that case she would sleep on the couch, just in case her end of the house were to blow away and ours didn't. It never did. 

It's weird though... I never had a scary experience with thunderstorms/tornadoes. Yet, no matter how many storms move through I find myself warning my kids, just like my Granny warned us. "Get away from the windows. Get out from under that ceiling fan. Don't you dare take a shower, or wash dishes." I repeat those warnings because, once upon a time, I had an aunt, and she got struck by lightening while washing dishes." I still don't know if she recovered.