My New Favorite Day

Y'all know I'm a Friday kinda gal. It's always been my favorite day of the week. Fridays just have a good feeling to them; a mood all their own. It's an excited, almost giddy feeling.

We resumed our weekly Sunday Night Suppers at my mom and pop's last night. They got new carpet throughout their entire house in early June. They had the whole house turned upside down. They emptied closets that hadn't been emptied since we girls left home. They moved every stick of furniture in that house BY THEMSELVES. And then when the carpet was complete, they moved every stick back. BY THEMSELVES. My dad painted the walls, varnished the baseboards and spiffed everything up so nicely. The house is so fresh and the carpet looks great. I'm so thankful that they were physically able to do all of that themselves and that they had the desire to do it. I know it took a lot!

My mom went through all the things in the closets and gave us girls lots some of the most special things from our childhood. Some might refer to it as junk, but to me the things I got were priceless. My Viewmaster. My old cassette tape recorder that I used to record any and everything imaginable. Raggedy Ann and Andy. A book from my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Marcinak. What a good mama to hold on to all those things for me.

And with the house upside down, we've had to have our Sunday Night Suppers other places. Good, but not quite the same, you know. So anyway, back to my new favorite day. Sunday. The day when my family gets together at my parents' house. My mom made the best spaghetti, salad and bread for supper last night. We had a sparse crowd, but I enjoyed it so much. It was good to be back. Joseph was in Helen. Suz and the Parks bunch are on vacation in Ormond Beach, Florida. Cam was at work. I missed everybody and can't wait until July 28th when, hopefully, we'll all be back together again. Crystal and her family leave for Florida next Saturday. Maybe they'll pass Suz and hers on the way!

After pigging out on the spaghetti, Jeff went back to our house and got the watermelon we had bought for the 4th of July. Even though I like watermelon, I couldn't hold another bite. It was ice cold and they all said it was so good.
This is my mom and pop's new dog. They got her after their other dog, Bear, died. They searched long and hard to find just the right one and she was the one they chose. She's the cutest thing and very unlike Bear. They named her Bearly. It's a name that suits her perfectly. She was showing off her toy and was so proud of it.
When everyone had eaten more watermelon than they could possibly hold, we went back inside for Ross and Jeff to fix their digital converter box. My parents don't have cable, so they've had to get that dumb box. Even though they're geniuses, in my opinion, when it comes to technological stuff, they think it's like learning to speak another language. Their TV enjoyment has been severely impacted by the digital age. Ross and Jeff fixed it, so hopefully, they can watch the shows they want to watch again.

In all the stuff mom cleaned out, she came across some old board games we had when we were kids. Ethan and I got Upwords out and played. Man, that's one hard game. Really, really hard. We didn't keep score and we both stunk, but it was a lot of fun. Even my dad, who doesn't really DO board games, helped us play.
I think you can see why Sundays are my new favorite day!

Jeff and I had a nice anniversary. We didn't do anything special, just went to our favorite weekend haunt, LaParilla. We went with Nan and Ronnie and a few other couples. We decided not to do anything really spectacular because we're planning a trip here.

I've been to Biloxi once. I'm not a gambler, so it wasn't that great to me. But when we go in September, we're going to see a concert, so I'm excited about that. The trip will be our anniversary gift to each other. Works for me.

Feast or famine. That's the way my job goes. Last week I didn't go out for a single depo. This week, since Suz is on vacation, I'm going to have to work a bunch. I'm going to miss the birthday lunch for my great auntie Mattie Lou because I've got to go to Marietta this afternoon for a job.

We got glorious rain last night. Not sure exactly how much we got, but it'll be sucked up by all the thirsty plants and trees by noon today I bet. The sound of the rain lulled me to sleep and I slept better than I've slept in weeks. I never even heard Jeff get up and leave for work this morning. Even though he's quiet, come on. I must have been really sleeping.

Time's getting away from me, so I have to go. Till tomorrow, HAPPY MONDAY!

Pleasant Thoughts

Happy 22nd Anniversary, Jeff! I love ya!
The tomatoes are coming in fast and furious! It's impossible to eat them quick enough before a new day's batch comes in.

These are pictures of the first tomato sandwich I made from the tomatoes Jeff grew.
As you can see, the first tomatoes off the vine aren't usually the prettiest ones.

But when you slice them up, looks no longer matter. This is my very favorite tomato. It's called the Cherokee Purple. It has all the elements of a perfect tomato.Not normally a big mayonnaise fan, I must have it on my tomato sandwiches. No Miracle Whip for this gal.
Salt and lots of pepper make it even better.
Slather on the mayonnaise. Not too heavy, just right.
Best lunch ever!"It's difficult to think of anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."
~Lewis Grizzard~

Till tomorrow, enjoy your Saturday!

Before I Became A Girl Named Kelly Kelly The Final Chapter

In October 1986, there weren't grocery stores on every corner. There were just a few convenience stores between his house and mine. He couldn't find an apple pie, but he brought over ice cream. He never asked about the game and I sure didn't mention it. I was as humble as the apple pie that he couldn't find. Up until yesterday, believe it or not, he never even knew who it was that I took to that game.

We worked through the issues that brought us to the breakup and it was a complete forgive and forget. We continued dating like nothing ever happened.

By the middle of December, we started talking about getting engaged. Seems like we didn't date very long before we were ready to get married. That's because that's the way it was. When it's right, it's right.

For our first Christmas together, I gave him a watch. I don't know why I chose to give him a watch. He doesn't even wear watches. But I guess I thought he needed to keep up with the time or something. Anyway, he wore the watch until the battery went dead and never bothered to get another one. As you may remember from the comments he left in this post of mine from January, he still carries it with him every day.

We got engaged in February 1987. I knew exactly what kind of ring I wanted and I knew I wanted an emerald cut diamond. My dad knew a jeweler and when he pulled that diamond out of the safe, I knew it was made just for me.

I loved his family and he loved mine. Back in those days, Jeff's mom cooked lunch for the whole family every single Sunday after church. I remember so well, one Sunday before we were married, leaving his parents' house and he told me that things just couldn't get any better. But that turned out to be untrue.

We got married on July 11th, 1987 at Mount Carmel Christian Church in Decatur. That's the church that Jeff grew up in and it made his mom so happy that one of her boys got married in that beautiful church.

I must say that I think that your wedding day is one of the most exciting days of your life. At least it was for me. We didn't hang around the reception too long, we had things to do, don't you know. But not the kind of romantic things you're probably thinking. No, we had to go to Southlake Mall because I needed a bra. Why I needed that, I don't remember.

We went to Panama City Beach for our honeymoon. We hardly had any money because we had used every bit we had for our new house. Jeff had been feeling sick for several days before our wedding and by the time we were on our honeymoon, he was really sick. All he wanted to do was sleep. I'm on my honeymoon, away from my parents' house for the first time ever, and all my new husband wants to do is sleep!

We took him to a doctor in PC and he was instantly diagnosed with mono. Our honeymoon wasn't one of our more romantic trips to say the least.

Thankfully, you don't need a fabulous honeymoon or a really long engagement to make a marriage stick. I always cringe when I hear people say that marriage is such "hard work." Hard work isn't fun to me. Being married is fun to me. I'm no marriage counselor for sure, but in honor of my 22nd wedding anniversary, here's a little list of things that I think make a marriage work.

1. I'm not perfect and neither is he.
2. Patience and tolerance. God made individuals. Even though I love him more than anything, he and I will always have different ways of doing things. (Mine's always right) We'll have different opinions (again, mine's right) and just see things differently at times. That's okay.
3. Humor.
4. Give and take. This is a must in my opinion. And I include this in ALL areas of my marriage.
5. Get mad, get it out and get on with it. When we fuss, I yell. Sometimes he yells back, sometimes not. Either way, we get the source of our frustration out and we move on. No grudges allowed.
6. Remember the love you had in the beginning. I've never, not once considered not being married to him. I just think sometimes people give up too easily. But who am I to judge. I've not walked in anyone's shoes but my own. I'm just saying don't forget that you loved each other in the beginning.
7. Share your life. Maybe not every, single minute detail, but most of it. I think that's one of the things I enjoy most about being married. Communication is another must in my mind.
8. Pray. And when and if you have kids, pray some more. When they start driving, pray even harder.
9. Find the way to his heart and show him the way to yours.
10. Live, love and laugh. Together.

And that's how I became A Girl Named Kelly Kelly.

Till tomorrow, when I'll be an old married woman for 22 years, Happy Friday.

Us. July 11, 1987.
The getaway car. Best Honda ever made.

Thank you notes with my new name.

Before I Became A Girl Named Kelly Kelly Part 2

I had bought two tickets to the Atlanta Falcons game to be played on October 12th, my birthday, at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Of course, since Jeff and I were dating when I bought the tickets, I invited him to go along with me. After the breakup, I sorta uninvited him. I remember that clearly. I also remember the dozen roses that he sent me to my office for my birthday.

Who wants to go to a football game alone on their birthday? Not me. Commonsense would tell you that a girl just broken up with someone she thought she was in love with should call her best girlfriend to go with her. Idiocy told me to call an old boyfriend. That's what I did. I called a very old boyfriend. In fact, my very first boyfriend and one I dated for several years through high school and about a year after I got out.

He agreed to go with me. I remember almost every single gory detail of that awful date. He picked me up in a new Grand Am. He thought I'd be so impressed when he revved the big engine. Uh, no, guess I'd grown up since our last date. Also since our last date, he had picked up the charming habit of smoking. He cussed like a drunk sailor and drove with his shoes off. What the heck was that about?

After spending four months with a complete gentleman, I was tortured spending four hours with this nut. My parents were tortured, too, because he wasn't a favorite of theirs. As the old saying goes, he really brought nothing to the table. Loserville. I'm sure they thought the old sparks would reignite.

Finally, the rainy game was over and he brought me home. Ah, home. Did I invite him in? No. Did I ask him to call me sometime? H*#* no. I made a quick dash out of the car, no goodbye kiss, no nothing. Just get the heck out as quickly as I could into the safety of my house.

It was early evening and it was my birthday. I was sad and I was lonely. I knew what I wanted to do. I picked up the phone and called Jeff. Lucky for me, he was home. I asked him if he wanted to come over and bring some ice cream and apple pie and spend the rest of my birthday with me.

TO BE CONTINUED

Till tomorrow. LLL.

Before I Was a Girl Named Kelly Kelly

Our 22nd wedding anniversary is this Saturday. In a way, I can't believe we've been married 22 years. I've spent half my life married to him. Lucky for me, I can't imagine being with anyone else and I love him so much more now than I did 22 years ago.

We laugh and we (or rather I should say I) yell. I boss him around. He doesn't listen and he doesn't care. He knows my moods. I know his. We enjoy being alone together more than any couple I know. We can make a good time out of working in the yard and end an exhausting day just putting our feet in the pool. He's my soulmate and God surely smiled down on me when we met.

Dena, who is one my favorite daily reads, coincidentally is also celebrating her 22nd wedding anniversary soon. She's writing each day the story of how she met her "Mr. Right." I thought it'd be something that I would like to do. To write it down is something I've never done before and I just think it would be neat to have.

Jeff graduated from the University of Georgia in 1985. He was on his own, living in a little duplex with his bachelor cousin, Ted. Jeff had four older brothers and they all love sports. Almost every sport there is, they have either played or enjoy watching and even coaching, umping and refereeing lots of them.

His mom was 39 when he was born. His dad was 42. The brother closest to him in age is eight or nine years older than he is.

I came from a family of girls. I am the oldest. I grew up playing no sports, watching no sports and basically knew nothing about any sport until I was 20 and started to enjoy watching football and even playing softball. I was the WORST softball player ever and pearls were always an essential part of my uniform.

In 1985 while I was playing softball, Jeff's oldest brother Don was the umpire at the softball park I played at. I didn't know him, but I guess my pearls stood out. He remembered me. Jeff had watched several games there and may have even seen me "play" softball. Like I said before, I was no good, so I'm sure he paid me no attention.

In the spring of 1986, Suz and Jeff's oldest niece, Kim, played on the same softball team at Fairview. Suz and Kim were good friends and went to school together. They were 12 years old. Don and another of Jeff's brothers, P-nut, coached the softball team.

Suz was a way better athlete than me. She was a darned good little softball player. Being the doting older sister that I've always been, I never missed a game. Well, Suz and Kim decided they wanted to play matchmaker. Kim had this 24-year-old, single, good looking uncle and they wanted me to meet him. Only I didn't know their plan. Don and P-nut evidently told Jeff it was safe for him to meet me. I guess they didn't want to set their beloved baby brother up with just any old hag.

I was at one of the softball games and knew nothing about meeting Jeff or anybody else. Suz and Kim had all the plans worked out. As I was leaving, Suz and Kim brought Jeff up to say hello. When I tell you that it was love at first sight, I mean that with all my heart. I was instantly in love with him. He's been gray since he was in high school, but I didn't know it. I thought he had colored his hair because then it looked almost a little blond. He had just left work and was wearing suit pants and a dress shirt, with the tie loosened. Give me a man in a suit any day.
I'm sure you can imagine how awkward that little meeting was. Two twelve-year-old girls playing matchmaker. It was a quick hello and that was it. We all went home.

Later that evening, the phone at my mom and dad's, where I lived until the day I married, rang. It was a guy wanting to speak to me. And it was Jeff. He wanted to ask me out for the upcoming weekend. Ironically, I had another date scheduled with a different guy the same weekend. But thankfully, there is more than enough time for two dates with two different guys in the same weekend. Even more ironically, after the date with Jeff, my bachelorette days were over. I was smitten.

He figured that since I had "played" softball and always watched Suz's team play, that I must enjoy softball/baseball. Our first date was to an Atlanta Braves game. He was a true Southern gentleman in every way. He opened the car door for me, which impressed my daddy so much. He was polite and considerate and sooo good looking.

During our first date, he kept talking about Ed and Jean. Ed and Jean this and Ed and Jean that. I wondered who in the heck Ed and Jean were. Finally, I asked and found out that they were his parents and he'd always called them by their first names. It was obvious he was a family kinda guy, perfect for me.

I clearly remember as if it were yesterday coming home from that date and going in my room and writing Kelly Kelly and Kelly Kelley a million times. I didn't even know how he spelled his last name, but I knew after that date that I was going to be Kelly Kelly.

We dated each other exclusively from June of '86 on. We enjoyed meeting each other's family and my parents really liked Jeff. He was successful and he was good to their daughter. I think it would have been easy to see that we were a good match. After some of the other scumballs I had brought home, they probably thought Jeff was indeed Prince Charming.

We were rocking along great until early October. We had a major falling out and I ended the relationship. He understood and that was that. Or was it. . .

TO BE CONTINUED.

Till tomorrow.
Jeff and me. Fall 1986

Well, Whadda Ya Know

I started feeling so much worse throughout the morning yesterday. I could hardly breathe and just felt so weak and bad. My symptoms weren't really the same as Jeff's, so I got an appointment with the doctor and I have a full-blown case of bronchitis. Got two shots (ouchy on my hip) and five prescriptions (ouchy on my wallet). I wish I could say that I'm feeling a million times better, but not so much. At least I can hold my head up to type this post though.
Anyway, I don't know what made me think to check -- it was just as if a light went off in my head and told me to do a little research on this bedtime staple.
Putting two and two together, it just seemed as though the bronchitis and the diphenhydramine in the Simply Sleep might be related. After all, it's basically Benadryl, which is an antihistamine. Lo and behold, there it was. It was in teeny tiny writing, but it was there nonetheless. Consult your doctor before you take if you have a history of asthma or chronic bronchitis. Ah hah!

I'm not very good to read the small print on over-the-counter medicines. I don't know why I don't, because they can be pretty dangerous, obviously. I think the fact that you can buy them without prescription gives me false security that they're okay for any and everyone. Not so.

So now I'm up at 4:00 a.m. and have never gone to bed. Yikes! Plus one of the prescriptions is a steroid that may hype me up and increase my appetite. The cough syrup that has a big warning label that it causes sleepiness and clearly states "Do Not Drive While Taking This Medication" only makes my scalp crawl. I think I can drive with a crawly scalp.

Seems to me that now I'm not going to have bronchitis, but I'm going to have awful insomnia, be hyper and fat with an itchy scalp. Hmmmm.

Till tomorrow.

July 5th or December 26?

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th. Our Kimball get-together went great. Bobby and his family didn't get to come, so we didn't have nearly as many people as we did last year. We missed them and they missed a lot of good food and a lot of fun.

We always ask Eli to say our blessing. He does such a good job. I should make a video sometime so y'all can hear it. It's absolutely priceless. You can certainly tell he's a little boy that's taken to church on Sundays.
Jeff and I really worked hard getting ready for everyone. We did some things in the yard and around the pool that I've been wanting to do for a while. It was good to get everything done, but boy, were we tired.

This is me, my mom and Jeff's mom, Jean. Wish we would've posed for a better picture. I haven't had one with the two of them and me made in a while.

Cam and Reid patiently waiting for their turn in line to eat. Cam likes to aggravate the stew out of me by not smiling for pictures, so excuse the confused look on his face.
Crystal shucked and boiled 30 ears of corn. They were good and I appreciate her doing that for me. I did it last year and it was one heck of a job.

Suz and Jason in an unposed picture. Love it.Here's Hannah Leigh Kimball. She's five years old. That's Luke and Libby's little girl. Isn't she precious? She has PaPa Kimball's big blue eyes, but also resembles MaMa too. She's got the cutest southern drawl you've ever heard. She can take a one-syllable word and turn it into two or three. I wish they could've seen her. She'd be rotten. They loved their grandchildren and great grandchildren. And she lives close enough, she could've visited them a lot. They passed away the year Hannah Leigh was born. Here's my handsome Ross. He had gone to the lake the day before and gotten way too much sun. In other words, he was as red as a lobster! If it weren't for that, he'd have been in the pool throwing all the kids. They love it when he gets in. He throws them high and they get on him like a ride at the fair. Poor fellow. You can tell Jeff was pooped. He's still getting over the creeping crud of a cold or whatever it is. Jason, Eli, Hannah Leigh and Alayna. Cam throws the kids too. Here's Alayna and him getting ready for a game of chicken or whatever you call that game. Luke, Libby and Hannah Leigh. Bandit came out and joined the party. We discovered that she LOVES watermelon. I think it was because it was ice cold and so refreshing.After she would eat it, she'd roll around in the grass where the melon had been. I think that's how she shows her doggie love.My Pop and Jeff's dad, Ed . My Pop and his best girl, Alayna.
After everyone left, Jeff and I quickly got ready to go to another party. The house we went to looked like something out of a magazine. It was absolutely gorgeous. They had gone to Alabama to get some fireworks and it was quite a show. They've just done a whole bunch of stuff to their yard. Here are a few pictures.This is their garden. They had the healthiest tomato plants. This is just a cool picture I took after dark. So yesterday was such a big letdown of a day. I was as blue as if it were December 26th. What was up with that? Did anyone else feel let down? I guess it was just all the excitement before the holiday and then, poof, it was over. In my mind, even though I can look at the calendar and see that summer is only beginning, I just feel like it's over. And here in Georgia, the days stay hot well into September, so we have really long summers. My thought is that since my beach vacations are over and the 4th of July is over, my brain is thinking my summer is gone. I was really in a funk yesterday. Next year, I'm going to stagger my vacations a little more. Maybe not take the family one until sometime in July. Ross will be finished with school by then, so we won't have to work around his school schedule.

All this time I've been priding myself on being so healthy and having such a good immune system. Cam was sick for weeks with that cough thing. Then Jeff got it, started getting better, then had a complete relapse. Well, I didn't escape the wrath of that germ after all. I've got it now and it's kicking my butt. I feel like someone's choking me, standing on my chest and beating me in the head all at the same time. It's a very brutal germ.

Speaking of germs, my laptop is still sick. I'm hoping I can get it back today. It's got my vacation pictures on it and I want to share some more of them on my blog.

Got a little court reporting work to do at home. I think work is a little slow this week. I guess lots of people are on vacation. Suz is leaving Friday for the beach. She's in full work mode this week. We have to work so hard getting our work out before we go, it takes about two days to finally relax once we're gone. She'll go next week, then Crystal and her family go the week after that. I'm always glad when we're all back together again.

Well, since I've spent a couple of hours uploading my 4th pictures and everything, I've got to get busy. I know it's Monday because I just spilled coffee in my keyboard.

Till tomorrow. Have a good one!