Day 5

Today was interesting.
 My hands are drying out from all the
Hand sanitizer I used!!!

I had to pick a day that I was teaching preschool>
Oh well so much for planning.

Anyway tomorrows challenge is pretty simple

Don't wash any clothes or dishes.



That's really not me!

 I'm taking it at a free pass to lay off the laundry.



Okay this could be me


Let em know if you have chosen something different
and what it meant to you.

I would love to hear your stories!!!


Photo courtesy of anntaitor.com

1 in 4

I did not fail today. I didn't have a coke or tea!!
Tomorrow's assignment is--- and I know this is going to gross everyone out

but try to think of the immunity building opportunities!!

Here goes:
Do not wash your hands for an entire day.

Grossing you out?

Think you might pick up a germ or two?

Afraid you might get sick?

You might ,

But is probably will not be deadly.

In Africa it very well is.

1 out of 4 deaths, under the age of 5 worldwide are  due to

Water Related Disease.

To bring this alive: 

Take a look at the picture of the children above

There are 8

1 out of 4 can die--  that is 2 children gone from the 8

1 out of 4 are dying.

So what does not washing your hands tomorrow have to do with this;

and how could it possibly help save anyone?

YOU can help

YOU can change statistics

YOU can change history

I hope by giving up something water related each day

it will cause you to be mindful

and grateful.

Mindful of another's plight

and grateful enough to give.

Give your prayers, give your time , give your money.

Dig Deep Give Well is just

one organization that builds wells in rural Africa.

It has made a difference already in over 5,000 peoples lives.

Check out the web page for facts,solutions and opportunities.

 (http://www.digdeepgivewell.org/)

Pray with us

Come to Africa with us

Inspire your community, school, place of worship to be the solution for the 1 in 4.



No dice on ice

okay  I messed up
I am all into the water challenge and yet in the midst of my day
I had to do a chick fa la drive thru

all in between  school, tutoring and b-ball practice
I somehow forgot to eat ..........
and I swear I was going to pass out or eat my own liver if I didn't
get some food.

so after getting my kids meal with lemonade I realize
that my drink has ice in it and I am a loser

Hope you were more successful.

Anyway I am way tired
Mr. Rogers is out of town for his yearly hunting camp

when the girls turned 13, 10 and 6  he felt the need to relieve a little stress
and hunting was the only legal killing he could do. 
But that's another story

Anyway  I'm turning in early tonight

Tomorrows challenge is this:
No sodas, pop, cokes  whatever you call em'

They all need water to make them  and they are off the list for tomorrow

and remember why we are doing it and think of those who dont have the same choices

and I let it make you act on thier behalf.

let me know if you did better on the ice gig

One Down 29 to GO

okay y'all I am headed to bed and I will NOT
get my customary glass of cold water
I was so one of those kids who asked "for a cup of water" about 3 times and drove my parents crazy.

I am opting not to brush my teeth
I already feel fuzzy.....

I will go to bed thirsty and wake up thirsty

BY no means do I mean to suggest that I am
as thirsty as those in Africa or other parts of the world that lack clean water.

I am just trying to get closer to their situation than I was before.
And I hope you will to so that
together things can change.



I will probably really notice the thirst as I wake throughout the night.

I keep a glass of water by my bed and drink out for it when I get dry.
I'm pretty sure I do it in my sleep.

But not tonight.

That being said, the water challenge for tomorrow is :  (drum roll please)

Do not use any ICE. 

Yes ice, that would be frozen water. :)

So no ice in the teas which might just mean no ice tea

Hang in there my Southern Sisters!!!

See you tomorrow

Water Challenge Day One

Today we made it back home to Sweet Home Alabama.

It's always good to see family but oh how sweet it is to be home.......

Tomorrow we are going to decorate for Christmas .
I love this part of Christmas....
everyone else .....
well not as much.

So looks like tomorrow will contain a bit of Forced Family Fun
or the triple "F" as we refer to it at times

But it also start the 30 day water challenge.

So to start things off I will make it simple.

In the a.m. I will brush my teeth
S-L-O-W-L-Y  

and I will think about how easy it is to get it straight out of the faucet.

I will be glad it is cold and doubly glad it is clean.

But at night the challenge for me and you will be this:

Pretend that after your evening meal you have NO available water.

So that means no sleepy time tea for me,
or chocolate milk for the kids (it it takes water to make it -its off limits)

and (brace yourself for the grossness)
NO BRUSHING MY TEETH.

Now I have crashed out of exhaustion before with out  polishing the pearls,
but this time I am going to do it because "I will have no water."

Now you and I both know we do- but I am going to act  like I don't and dwell on that a bit.

I am sure it will start to bother me
and in the morning when my smile is covered with the velvet funk
I (along with others) are going to notice.

So there is Sundays challenge : NO WATER RELATED ANYTHING AFTER DINNER

I'll let you know how it goes
I plan to greet Mr. Rogers with some love first thing in the morning
I am sure we will be equally "freshtastic!!"

How did you start your day?

How do you use water?

Did you wake up and use the restroom?

Did you drink a glass of clean water form the faucet first thing this morning?

Did you make coffee?

Did you brush your teeth?

I did all of the above,

and I couldn't have done it with out WATER.

And I got to do it with CLEAN water. NO dirt , no plants, no animal feces
didn't have to share it with the fishes.

Just some food .....
 water for thought as you about your day today

Waterless Days

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Everyone is in the mood to be thankful,
to remember all they have been blessed with
 and all that God has done for them, especially this past year.

We all think of the basics:
 family,   friends,   jobs,
homes,  food on the table,
clean water to drink,
access to medical care,
freedom..........
and on  and on.

And then it is as if Friday brings out the dark beasts
 of complaining,
short sightedness,
greed and negativism
that we allow the other 364 days of the year.

Know wonder they call it Black Friday!!!

But here is what God has laid on my heart  :

The Water Challenge.

We as a family are involved in providing wells in Tanzania.(www.digdeepgivewell.com)

Happy Mouth recently went to Africa
this summer to help provide a well in the village of Ndevesi .
Don't bother trying to find it on google earth
 it doesn't show up!!-now that's "remote" !!

And yes I need to blog and provide more pictures (senior year is killing me!!)
So here it is the challenge and I hope you will join me:

• Everyday I will be blogging on water.
• I have listed everyday things that we do with water.
• Each day I will and challenge you to give up one aspect of water and

DO WITHOUT.

This will continue until Christmas Day
 and for extra measure of compassion
 I have thrown in a complete water fast day on the 15th of December.
(click on the link for instructions)

The challenge will start on Sunday November 27th  and end on Christmas day- 

30 waterless days

I hope you will join me

I realize I have 3 followers but if you ll re post

 then together we can bring more awareness

of Africa's water crisis and cultivate of  attitude of gratefulness

 instead of taking for granted the basic blessings of God,

 that here in America and other developed countries we have everyday.

Tomorrow I will post the "ways of water" 

(all the ways we use it)

and challenge you to pick a different one everyday to give up.

 And please let me know what you did and how it went!!!

Until then- enjoy your Thanksgiving ,

 undoubtedly made with water, and

celebrate the enormously costly gift of Living Water through Jesus!!

The Speech

okay  this post is politically incorrect
I'm just going to warn you from the start

Let me take you to a familiar scene in my home
perhaps in your home too

It could be 6:30 in the morning in a rush to school
or
it could be 11:30 at night after I have gone to be
or even
a text in the middle of the day, or a request the moment they have laid eyes on me

it is the inevitable

"hey mom  where is my_______________
or "hey mom do you have my______________

or my favorite "hey mom I need______________________

you can add whatever you want here in the blanks .

It really doesn't matter. 
the need, item or request is immaterial

and just once - just one time

I am going to lose it
and say what I really want to

I have imagined this scenario in my mind several times

I refer to it as : (here comes the un PC part)

"Let me just pull that out of my butt"  speech

(and depending on the intensity of the mood I may substitute a word or two)

Now you may be thinking "How trashy"  but just here the speech

and   then ponder how you can use it.

It goes a little like this;

Child 1, 2 or 3 (doesn't matter) says one of the above fill in the blank statements/questions
This being the 50th such utterance

I slowly turn around...................
Left eye twitching,  lip curling a bit
Eyes ablaze with thrusting daggers

and I begin

"Why of course sweetheart  Let me just pull this out of my butt.

I know exactly where your shirt, homework, shoes, keys, pen, curling iron, drink is.
It is right here - let me just pull it out of my butt

Can I get you something to eat even though I'm in the middle of cleaning up cat poop?
 why of course darling , have a 3 course meal , ill just whip it up out of my butt

Whatever you need , whatever you lost   I have it  yes and in an instant too.
(I'm starting to sound like an infomercial!)

Whatever your desire, I have it here
let me just  PULL IT OUT OF MY BUTT.

No wonder the dang thing is so big, its a storage area! 
 Whoo knew?"

Okay  , There I said it (at least on the blog)
at this point if I really did do this

My kids would look at me like I had lost it , and they wouldn't be far of.

Happy Mouth would only laugh at me and continue to state her requests.

Rollercoaster (who is about to be renamed -stay tuned) would just be mad
especially if I slipped and used a synonym.

and Forrest would just be grossed out.

But there you have it .
  It has yet to happen

but when it does I'll let you know

I just post  "Politically Incorrect"
and you'll know.

One in a million, one of a kind

Okay I love the fact that each of my girls has her own unique personality.


Sometimes I look at them together and think
 " How did these all come from the same womb?"
 (And I might add here the same loins of the father)

People often remark to me on how different they each are,
not just in looks but also in personality.

The oldest we know and have heard about often
(hey what can I say Happy Mouth provides me with plenty of material)

But Rollercoaster who has become a freshman this year is bit more of a Closed book
 with ever-changing covers.
 Once you think you have a clue-- BAM!!
 She has changed her ways (or her mood) again.

She recently has been a bit more of a mystery than usual.

And as an A+ neurotic mother
 I worry     prepare.

......about peer pressure,

about friends (who they are or lack of)

Worry  Prepare just to worry prepare.
 (It’s my job.   I mean 97% of what I worry  prepare for never happens
 --so it must be working right?)

Just stay with me here…..

There is a project at school against drunk driving since homecoming is coming up.

So Rollercoaster volunteers to

Get this…………………..

Get taken by the Grim Reaper!

Yes none other  than THE Grim Reaper, you know the death caller.

She is one out of 30 that can be taken by drunk driving.

Sobering thought. No pun intended.


The cause is good.
To have awareness about NOT screwing up your or someone else’s life
by being stupid and drinking on homecoming weekend.



So here is how it works

The school has 1 in 30 kids volunteer for this project.
 Rollercoaster of course jumps right in.

The Grim Reaper appears at the student’s door, says nothing
but holds up a sign with their name on it.

The student then gets up and follows the Reaper,
puts on  a black shirt that says

“Is it worth it?"

on the front.

And 1 in 30 on the back.

They wear THIS SHIRT ALL DAY and are not allowed to speak to anyone
 the rest of the day b/c hypothetically they don’t exist anymore.
This does give me shivers. It should you too.

The reality is horrific. http://www.car-accident-advice.com/statistics-of-teen-drunk-driving.html

Rollercoaster comes home and explains the scenario to me after school and exclaims

“It was awesome the Grimm Reaper came and had my name on a sign.

 I left, put my shirt on and didn’t talk to anyone all day.!!!!"It was Awesome!!!”


Awesome?
Really not being able to talk to anyone all day?

I would curl up and die and so would Happy Mouth

Not  Rollercoaster

My shy , maybe I will speak today- maybe I won’t - child.

She was on cloud 9, hog heaven, happier than a pig in mud!!

Yep!!! She promoted a good cause and got to do it by being virtually invisible

In Rollercoaster's world that is the stuff of legends!!!

Time keeps on slippin.....

Slippin'.....
Slippin'.........
Into the future.

Thank you Steve Miller Band.

I can't believe it has been almost four months since I have blogged.!!
It's such a shame really because so many wonderful things have happened and I have truly been
spot on with the funny!!

I am going to try to write everyday about something or someone
and not worry about making it spectacular .

I truly stress over the typing part b/c I'm a "looker of the keys" when I type
and I type so fast I am extra grateful for spellcheck!!

Just for the record I have not been
sitting on my hindquarters eating bon-bons.
(which I think I am entitled to as a Trophy Wife" and all)


I have sent off one daughter to Africa - without I might add, becoming an alcoholic while waiting for her return!! 
Gotten another through middle school successfully (snaps for bamammama)

I have been attending 6 Vball games a week and a tournament
every single weekend since the August plus a few Sball tournaments on a few Sundays.

 Throw in a few 100 practices, the beginning of school for Happy Mouth,
 Rollercoaster and Forrest , and my new teaching gig 3 times a week
 and you are starting to get a glimpse of the madness.

Add a dash of travel to help my mother, 2 college visits,
surgery consultations, doctor appointments
and the addition of 2 cats and you get what  my sister and I refer to as
"self inflicted stress" or "SIS"

So here I am on November 8th-Rollercoaster's B-day!!!



Mr. Rogers and Rollercoaster

She is 15 today!!! Can't believe it !!!!! 

That is how grown up she is , but in my heart I see this:



Tomorrow I will take her to get her drivers permit.
Soon she will be driving on her own.

She is actually interested in attending Alabama Math and Science High School.

She would have to live on campus.  That would make her away from home.

This would mean 2 out of 3 of my girls would leave home at the same time!!!
This is a whole nother story- but the point is

She is growing up. They all are.

And they will keep growing...........

and I will keep loving them.

Today is a great day

I can't freeze or rewind the time

but I can do today

I can do now

and I intend to do it well before it to

slips into the future.

Happy Birthday My Sweet One!!!