Curiouser and curiouser

     My poor little blog has been woefully neglected lately! I haven't actually thought much about it...i'm a busy girl, ya know, between school and homework and running around after the grand baby. I'v been attempting to take better care of myself, which takes some time, and both grand babies had birthdays and we have had a baby shower since last I posted!
    This funny thing happened this weekend: my mom (who is hanging out with me for awhile to help me juggle all of my stuff while I finish this class and try not to die) my daughter Savanna, grand baby Natalie and I decided at the last possible moment to take a weekend road trip. Doing things at the spur of the moment hasn't always been my style...I like to mull it over and come up with every conceivable reason why I shouldn't do a thing! The past couple of years, though, have taught me to venture outside of my comfort zone.  We were headed to a church convention that actually began on Wednesday, but Savanna couldn't miss school, having just been home for a whole week  with hand, foot and mouth disease. That is not the same as Hoof and Mouth generally reserved for livestock. It is actually a funky virus, that seems to be maybe sort of like chicken pox, but the rash only appears on the palms of the hand, soles of the feet, throat and mouth. Normally, children under 5 contract this virus. We aren't entirely sure how Savanna ended up with it...but she did! So we could not begin our road trip until she got home from school. We put our hometown to our back around 4:30 in the afternoon. The first place we got lost was about 30 miles from home, in the first town we came too! (e got lost in the same town on our way home.) 3-ish hours into the trip, at Sweetwater, Tx, we stopped to eat, and then Savanna took the wheel while my mom navigated from the back seat. It was dark by this time, and if you don't know from Facebook, Savanna only recently got her license, and we do live in small town america. So here we go, on the interstate, and that got really interesting. Among other things, Savanna is not used to driving my car and it took a few miles for her to get a feel for it! I thought we were possibly going to die, but we didn't.  Hours later, we were off the interstate, wandering around in the dark in unfamiliar territory, and several times we had to turn around and go the other way! Our destination was Mountain Peak, and try finding that on a map! Finally, we were nearing the place, searching in the dark, and well, Savanna may have taken her eyes off of the road and forgotten she was driving for a minute, because she put us in a ditch right across from our turn off! But we didn't die. There were people waiting for us, but when we got to the place, there was NO CELL SERVICE! Apparently, that does still happen outside of scary movies! It was one am by the time we got settled!
Later in the morning, I made the acquaintance of a lovely lady. She mentioned that I looked familiar, and as it turned out, she recognized me from this blog!!!!
WHAAAAAT??
I truly believed that the only people who read this blog were the peeps on Facebook who love me and felt obligated to read it!
Apparently, that is not true!
And so now I feel a little more motivated to keep it up!
To all of my invisible readers, HI!
And here is a shout out to my new friend Kristen from Sulpher Springs (or Mineral Wells...?) Anyway, you know who you are!!
I don't know if it is lack of oxygen to my brain, the meds that cause drowsiness and dizziness, or if i'm just getting stupid, but I feel a little bit like Dori these days. (Not YOU, Dori from Tennessee, Dori from Nemo!) :)

So we had a fabulous Saturday and half a Sunday, I am SO SO SO glad that I agreed to this impulsive road trip. We headed back home after lunch on Sunday, this time with me at the wheel, as Savanna remembered that she actually left her license at home!!

^^ That is grand baby Audrey on her very first birthday on Oct 4th. That is, 10-4 in this family with roots in truck driving.

^^This is Savanna and I the day we ordered her class ring. We went on a mom-daughter date afterwards.

^^^ Chanelle's baby shower! Oldest daughter Charity, Chanelle and I. I guess we picked a really bad weekend, as we didn't have many guests, but it was great fun anyway, and Charity picked the best baby shower games! Baby Hill is really making his/her presence known. The Hills have made the decision to keep that nugget of information unknown until the new Hill makes it's debut into the world.

^^ Here is Audrey, talking on the phone! Well, not really, but she thinks she is.

Recently, a vintage market was held at our local event center.  There were quiet a few of these vintage travel trailers fixed up and showcased, and now I really really think I need one so that I can fix it up just how I want and use it for a writing studio!! (A room of one's own and all that!)

^^^ This is a truckstop on our road trip route! That was Sweetwater.

^^That is my car, and I just like taking pictures of my car. Because. I like my car.

^^^Savanna and Natalie, at Cracker Barrel, on our trip home.

^^Me and my mom, across the table

This is Savanna and Trevor. Facebook recently announced that they are "in a relationship". I think that means that Trevor is Savanna's boyfriend.

^^And this is the Hill family! They spent the weekend in Colorado on a "babymoon"...a last vacay as a childless couple before the baby comes! 

I throw random pictures into my blog, because it just doesn't feel like a proper blog without pictures! 

My writing class is going really well! 

Poetry is not my favorite thing ever, but we are required to write four of them in this class. 

Here is my first one:

Mama Duck

had five little ducks

and a handsome drake

they laughed and quacked and splashed

around

in a little lake.

Haha, not really. I did not turn that poem in.

Here is the real poem that I turned in:

Grief came for me

On a bright June day,

Riding a wild stallion

The color of muddy water.

Thundering hooves

Carried me away

And we rode that horse,

Grief and I,

Through violent storms,

Over treacherous ground,

Across burning desserts

And raging rivers.

Mile after mile-

Day after wretched day-

Through months-

and years.

Still we journey,

Reluctant companions,

Down still valleys

And along quiet meadows

Now on a gentler steed

and I hold the reigns.

-Valerie Russell

This poem was well received and no changes were made during workshopping. Now I have to write three more, and this one took forever!! 

And so I better get crackin' on that project!

Quackity quack!