Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Independence Day friends!  I hope you are getting to enjoy some family time today.  We're going to have a family cookout.  I doubt that we go to watch fireworks as a family, but I'm just glad we'll have some time together.  Fun memory from before Mom passed is spending the 4 th in her front yard under the pecan trees watching the Denison fireworks display.  I can remember one from shortly before my husband and I got married.  So many fond memories of that house and time with Mom and my family.  I think that the allure of going to Mom's is that we could see most of the fireworks because she was only blocks away from the location of the display and we didn't have to deal with the crowds.  We often had friends and family that would come over and share a seat in the yard.  I am simply not a fan of crowds anymore.  I will suffer through when I have to, but I do not like it. What traditions to you have?   

I was feeling a little down last week.  Getting past the anniversary of my Mom's death and with Christmas approaching quickly, it has been difficult for me to get into the spirit.   I have been on an audiobook kick of late and happened to have finished my audiobook earlier in the day than expected.  I decided to take that time to listen to some Christmas music to try to help me get myself where I thought I should be.  I started out listening to the "pop" Christmas music.  I promptly decided that was NOT going to get myself in the Christmas spirit listening to that, so I switched to the Bing Crosby channel.  So many memories popped in my head.   One of the memories that came to mind was working on crafts such as pipe cleaner ornaments at our dining room table, while singing Christmas carols with my Mom.  We sang songs such as Silent Night, White Christmas and Silver Bells.  All this made me a bit melancholy, but I was reminded ...

Good evening friends!  At the end of last week, a young lady at the T-Mobile store asked me about my Mom and my memories of her.  I do indeed have some very fond memories of my Mom.  She asked me to share some with her...which I was happy to do.  There are truly so many and I shared only a few.  One of which is when we couldn't afford to pay attention, she would tell me to get dressed.  Once I would get dressed we would head south to the Dallas area and we would go window shopping.  There were nights when we would stay home and play Yahtzee or rummy.  Other nights we would create ornaments out of pipe cleaners and beads or make bracelets with leather and beads.  These are only a few, but were such fond memories for me. I was getting a little lax again and my friend Kate invited me to a FitBit challenge that I had not done before.  It really gave me a kick in the behind and I've managed to exceed my goals most days.  I am trying ...

With my birthday quickly approaching, I was reminded of the things that Mom used to do to celebrate my birthday.  She always tried to make it special for me.  I do recall her telling me that on my birthday she also got a present because if it were not for her, I wouldn't be here and she did all the hard work.  In my high school years, it seemed that Mom's go to was a taco salad recipe that could stretch quite a ways and didn't cost us quite so much.  Oh what I wouldn't give to sit down and have some of Mom's taco salad.  I sometimes make it myself, but it's never quite the same as hers.  I also remember a chocolate chip cake with a whipped cream frosting that was super tasty.   This is my first birthday without Mom and, while I know that the years still come, this one is a little difficult being the first.  For me, this journey is one step at a time and being thankful that God is with me on this journey to guide my steps.  

Some of you know that I have recently been undergoing allergy shots.  I can't remember a time when I didn't suffer with allergies.  I was recently reminded that my allergies were so bad for me at one time that the "eye gunk" would be spread across my eye sort of like a spider web across one of my eyes or the other and sometimes both.  I can remember crying out because I couldn't open my eyes.  Mom was always patient with me when this would happen.  She would grab a rag soaked in warm water and would lay it on my eyes for a few minutes to help wet my eyes so that the "eye gunk" would loosen a little easier.  It was never a pleasant experience, but she never made me feel like it was a bother for her to help me remove it.  She was always as gentle as she could be while still helping me remove it.  Suffice it to say, I think I have always been allergic to grasses and trees.  I was not allergic to cats until after I gave birth and, honestly, ne...

As I am fairly new to the bulk meal prepping bandwagon, I can definitely understand why the books I read said to write down your plan.  I was reminded this weekend of my Mom's meal plans.  She was amazing when I was younger about fixing something for us that while it may have been the same base to it.  For example, I recall her making pinto beans and cornbread.  Then the pinto beans may be had as leftovers or she would make chili beans.  We would use the chili beans to make Frito Pie or put the chili on baked potatoes.  I wish I had the ability to think of things that way.  Honestly, I could have beans and cornbread (especially Mom's special cornbread) for days and not get bored.  But my family is not entirely in agreement there.  I recall my Mom's special cornbread was posted in a PTA cookbook when I was in 2nd grade.  I know things like that seem to have gone by the wayside since the internet and Pinterest have made it so easy to s...

Today's memory of Mom is more recent.  I am so thankful that God blessed me with my sweet husband so that I could have this time with my Mom before she left us.  To honor traditions, we had lunch the Friday before our wedding and my husband did not see me again until I met him at the alter.  I spent the evening at my Mom's house preparing the centerpieces for our wedding reception with my cousin.  I would not trade that time for anything in the world!  One thing I recall Mom saying as we were nearing my wedding day was that if I really loved her, I'd have someone else do my hair.  Just a side note here, I had only had 5 other people besides my Mom do anything with my hair over my entire life.  I could not imagine anyone else taking charge of my hair on that day.  We went through several different ideas together and finally settled that my hair should be down.  Little did I know at that point that she knew I had a veil coming that I was not ...

Happy Monday!  This memory may be a rather mundane one, but it popped in my head this morning and I felt like it was necessary to share.  While my Mom didn't go to church when I was a youngster other than on holidays, she made sure that I made it there if I did not stay the night with my Nanny.  We had a ritual of sorts on those Sunday mornings.  We got up early enough that I could get ready for church and we would go by Jack in the Box and grab a Breakfast Jack and orange juice.  We would sit in the church parking lot and eat breakfast and talk until time for me to go in for church.  It may not seem like much, but those were some great mornings.  Honestly, I cannot seem to eat anything from Jack in the Box these days.  I suspect that as I have been trying to eat more real food, it seems that my tastes have changed so it no longer tastes good to me.   I was reminded again this weekend how much I enjoy spending time in the kitchen and cook...

This journey learning to live without my Mom is not easy.  Today's memory isn't one of my own, but is a story that I heard my Mom tell numerous times.   I have always been a morning person.  Mom used to say that I would come to her bedside and pat her to wake her up telling her "I hungy" in the wee hours of the morning.  She would tell me that she and my dad would lower my baby bed to the lowest setting and they could never figure out how I managed to get out of my bed, but I would every night or very many nights anyway.  When I was old enough, Mom taught me to pull the drawers out so that I could climb up and get a bowl.  I would do this in order to make myself a bowl of cereal.  I remember climbing up those drawers to get my bowl.  I was so tiny back then.  In fact, not much bigger than I am in this picture.  I think it used to make Mom crazy because I was always a morning person.  I still am, although now I am not quite as brig...

On October 29, 2016, my life changed forever.  My Mom, Linda Dobbs Williams passed away at 8:24 p.m.  In an instant, I lost my best friend, my confidante and my biggest support/fan.  My Mom was so many things to me and for me and I will miss her dearly.  For some of you that have known my mom/me for awhile know that while my Mom had many pictures displayed, she had many snapshots that were placed into an old hard sided suitcase.  I found that it  helped a little bit to go back through her pictures.  There were many memories that I shared that were captured in those pictures.  There are so many memories in there, but also memories that are not captured in those snapshots.  I thought that I would take Mondays for the next few weeks and share some of those memories.  This serves two purposes for me.  The first is that it gives me a chance to share some wonderful memories of my Mom and allows others to share them as well, but the second...