Stinky Cat is still Stinky Cat!

Around 2pm yesterday afternoon, I came down to check my emails and was overwhelmed by the smell of...
CAT.
And that's when I totally kicked Honey OUT of the mudroom.










I hate that smell.

Years ago, when we had our first icecream and deli shop in Charlotte, we would cook big fat juicy turkey's to make 'Carmen's Chicken Salad'. Of course, it smelled soooo good, wafting through the shop. But I remember when someone would order a turkey & swiss melt, a few of my workers would hold their nose in disgust at the smell of warmed turkey meat. It was 2 ENTIRELY different smells...freshly cooked turkey versus warmed-up deli sliced turkey.

Notice that I just gave away the secret to

'Carmen's Chicken Salad'.

I won't repeat myself, ya'll!

Anyway...I've gotta go there...so stay with me...

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Do you smell like freshly cooked turkey,

or do you smell like warmed up, microwaved deli turkey?

In your testimony to others, I mean.

Yep, it's a stretch, but I DO have a point that won't take a 4 part series to make.

In your life's testimony to others, do you come across as genuine? Do people believe your life and heart because you actually live it? Do people believe in your foundation because they see it in your life?

There's nothing worse than someone trying to be something they're not.
God made us all unique. And God wants us all to be genuine. REAL. He wants your word to mean something to those you come in contact with. He wants you to carry the confidence of Christ that He put inside of your being...inside of your character, like you truly know Him.

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And not just like you want others to think you know Him.

A freshly cooked turkey presents an aroma that is nothing like reheated deli turkey. The fresh turkey makes you want to pick it off the bones! It's really good!!! The microwaved deli turkey requires bread and cheese to make it believable. And don't email me with a good recipe for a warm deli-sliced turkey sandwich! The only way that would be good is to slice off THE REAL THING and make the hot turkey melt with freshly cooked bird.

Dude.

Stop trying to add things to your character

or to your personality

to "enhance" who God made you to be!

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God didn't need your help in forming you inside your Mother's womb, and He sure doesn't need help developing your character!

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So what's the word?







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.BEEEE WHO YOU ARE.
God knows you, anyway. Others will appreciate knowing if you're freshly cooked or if you're microwaved.

And you sure can't hide your heart for long!

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After all...a cat is still a cat. And Honey looks like a cat...he purrs like a cat...he is soft like a cat...
AND HE SMELLS LIKE A CAT!
Know what that means?
HE'S A CAT!
I'd rather know that before I try to make him an indoor pet (YUCK!), than after he's already stunk up my indoors!!! Maybe others want to know who YOU are before they reveal who THEY really are. Just a thought. And now I'm hungry. There's deli turkey waiting in my fridge.


Think I'll have a Lean Cuisine today...

I FEEL GOOD! NANANANANANNANA

I KNEW THAT I WOULD NOW NANANANNANANA

I FEEL GOOD! NANANANANANANA

I KNEW THAT I WOULD NOW NANANANNANANA

GOOD!

SO GOOD!

BAM BAM BAM BAM

OWWWWW

I FEEL GOOD! NANANNANANANAA

I KNEW THAT I WOULD NOW NANANANANANANAN

So can I express to you how good I feel this morning? Not for any particular reason...I just physically feel better than I have in a loooooooong time. God is good. In fact, He's A*w*e*s*o*m*e*!

And not just when I feel good.

He is AWESOME all the time.

If we look, we WILL see Him in the details of our everyday life.

This morning, as I was backing the Suburban out of the garage (can you even believe we HAVE a garage after 5 years in this house??!!!!!), I noticed a huge puddle of what I suspected to be anti-freeze that had apparently been resting underneath the 'burb during the night.

I immediately thought of Honey. The cat.
Nope...I'm not really an animal lover. I love the idea of the kids having the dogs. I love the idea of the girls having cats. I actually do enjoy watching the dogs interact and the cats pounce on each other. There goes that million dollar a year phys co analysis job I should be doing, right? I LOVE IT! Anyway...I really don't like the stinky animals rubbing on me and petting them always leaves me smelling...well...like dog...or cat.

I hate stinky smells.

ANYWAY...Honey...

Since we've lost 3 cats in the past 2 weeks (the dog broke Brillo's spine and he died, Frisk was apparently hit by a car while we were on vacation and died the day we arrived home, and Shadow has disappeared), I'm more aware of Honey. I don't need any more boo-hooing from these girls!

So to keep Honey from lapping up the suspected anti-freeze off the garage floor, I told Summerlyn to put him in the 'burb, and he could ride to school with us. And...that I would put him in the mudroom/office/Carmen's computer room when I arrived back home.

So we're riding along on Hill Rd, just before we reach the goat farm...and due to an issue with Savannah's beee-hind, we've rolled the windows down. Honey "escapes" and Summerlyn starts boo-hooin'. Of course, it's my fault because I didn't roll the windows up (effectively gassing us all), and it's Savannah's fault because she was performing stinky tricks.

After dropping off the whole crew (Summerlyn, Jacob, Savannah, Anna, and Scarlett) at school, I returned home to find Honey in the garage, tail swaying, loudly protesting his adventure. Luke and I got out of the 'burb and I promptly dropped Luke's milk cup which splattered all over the garage floor. I couldn't have pried Honey off that milk!!!! So after he was done licking every inch of garage floor that had collected the spilled milk, I tossed him in the mudroom. Okay...I gently scooted him into the mudroom...AND CLOSED THE FOLDING DOOR that leads to the rest of the house.

Like...I'm doing okay without my OCD medication, but

cat hair in my house would drive me

OVER THE CLIFF.

So currently, Honey is being tortured by almost-2-year-old Luke. And I'm feeling GOOD sitting here sipping my Folgers and watching Honey being "played with". I called the school and left a message for Summerlyn,

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"Mrs. Lori, could you please call down to Mr. Leske's room and tell Summerlyn that Honey is in the mudroom and he's fine..."...and that he's being WELL loved...HeEheEEhheeEEE...

So Summerlyn should be in a wonderful mood after having had a wonderful day at school.

And me?

I'll go on with my blissful morning until that cat does something to tick me off or Luke gets into his next "adventure".

Then I might ride back down the road and throw the cat out the window myself.

A Life Lesson

Life is full of lessons.

I learned a valuable one last week.

This particular lesson isn't one that I've never heard before, and it's one I teach my own kids all the time.

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It's about respect.

When I started studying to teach my Sunday School lesson this past Sunday, I knew I'd be studying those 6 things that God hates (Prov 6:16), but I had no idea how subtly the first one could intrude into my daily thinking. And that's how the devil attacks those who truly want to grow in Christ. Those people who know the truth and aren't necessarily tempted by the "obvious" sins...things like murder, drugs, etc. People who are sometimes oblivious to the subtleties of sin.

People like me.

The first mentioned sin that God hates is arrogant eyes. I've never thought of myself as one who looks down on others. Most people don't, especially those who aren't filthy rich. Arrogance seems to be more of a materialistic sin, right? I have a better car/house, and more money, so I'm going to associate myself with those type of people...that way of thinking.

I LOVE to take certain words that I'm studying and look them up in the dictionary. Not because I don't understand what they mean. But because my perspective is changed every time I take a fresh look at the true meaning behind a word, and not just rely on my jaded view of a word's meaning based on my own experiences or what society says that word means.

Arrogant: Proud, Insolent.

That's the meaning of arrogant and arrogance. Okay, I get the proud part. We all do! But what about that second word?...insolent...? Do you know what insolent means? It means, "disrespectful". WOW! I never associated arrogance with being disrespectful. But if you really think about it...it's not hard to see the connection.

Back to my life lesson...

When my Mom and I were in our "dogfight" in Grandma's car last week, I was disrespectful towards my Mom. Insolent. Arrogant.

The life lesson I teach my kids all the time is this:

"No matter who is wrong or right...no matter what another person says or does to you...you are still responsible to God for your actions and reactions."

When I stand before God, and He asks me why I spoke that way to my Mother, He's asking ME why I spoke that way. And when I say to Him, "Because, Lord, she was ugly to me", I GUARANTEE YOU THAT HE WILL RESPOND TO ME BY SAYING, "I'm not talking about HER...I'm talking about YOU, Carmen."

In light of my God showing me that lesson through my studies,

I apologized to my Mother.

Did I really want to apologize? Maybe. Do I love God and my Mother? YES!!! And I certainly can't ask my own children to live by a life lesson or values that I'm not willing to live by, also.

Now, I have to admit that I don't believe for one moment that my reasoning for being upset was wrong. But I do have to admit that my actions due to my hurt/anger was wrong. Period. No excuses.

And guess what? When we stand before God...and regardless of what we believe, we WILL ALL stand before Him, we will have...

no excuses.

Family Vacations Part FOUR

Did I mention that we all ate well enough to pack on a few pounds last week? Yep...we definitely did NOT go hungry!!!

But HEY!!! My Grandma was incredibly generous, and paid to rent the house for the week. It was an 80th birthday present to herself (she turned 80 last February). So that grocery money and those extra pounds were WORTH IT!!!

NOW...

Let me get to the "go wrong" part of my 4 part family vacation "series".

On Wednesday evening after dinner (the sacrificing of the steaks), my brother wanted to play a game. Games are always fun, especially when JET plays. He's a goof-ball and makes us all laugh at his antics.

Apparently, he got up on the wrong side of the twin bed that morning.

After being frustrated because it took some work to get everyone settled down for the game, he started explaining the way to play. I took exception to one of the rules of the game, due to the fact that my teammates were kids (Summerlyn & Tyler). JET got upset and said something hateful to me as he threw the directions for the game, in my face. Of course that didn't set well with me, so I got up from the table and went downstairs.

Over the course of the night, my feelings suffered. I believed my brother owed me an apology for being hateful and saying something to me that he should not have said. Not to mention that 2 of my girls asked me why JET called me a name.

But nobody acknowledged that he'd done anything wrong, and that hurt my feelings even more. He's the younger of the two of us, and we all know that the "babies of the family" generally get a lighter reaction (if any) to situations of this kind.

The next morning was our "Girlie Day" and I was still upset about the previous night. My Grandma and I made it into the car before my Mom and Debbie, and we got to talking. She asked me about what had happened the night before with JET. As I was telling her about the previous night's happenings, Mom & Debbie came down and got into the car. We pulled out to leave, and my Mom stepped into the conversation saying, "Whatever...get over it", which TOTALLY "flew all over me". The result was for my Mom and I to say some really ugly things to each other. We got into a heated discussion that is most acurately described in my book as a "DogFight". That's probably putting it mildly. And of course, it all happened in front of my Grandma and my Aunt.

There are really only 2 things that my Mom said to me that I found offensive. The first being her opening comment "Whatever...get over it". Based on what I was taught by my parents, it is my belief that your sibling does NOT talk to you the way JET talked to me. JET & I both have been called down on that in years past, when a disagreement turned to the ridiculous point. The second thing was a comment she made in the heat of it all, "You're just mad because you didn't win"...the argument w/JET or w/her, I am still not quite sure of and at this point, it doesn't matter. The reason that comment bothered me, is that it wasn't a point of winning or losing. I have 5 kids and deal with that nearly everyday. What I was looking for was a validation of my hurt feelings. And there had been none. I wanted someone to acknowledge that my feelings were important and that JET shouldn't have said that...someone needed to call him out.

At some point, someone spoke to him, because he did come to me and apologize on Friday morning before we all left the beach. That's all I needed. I love my brother. I'll always love my brother. But I needed for my feelings to be acknowledged after he had stomped on them.

He acknowledged that and life goes on with no hard feelings.

Our family (Dean, myself, & all the kids) did truly have a wonderful beach trip together! I would do it all again (with a tweak here and there), and I wouldn't change one minute of the horse-laughing! I still look forward to spending time with my Grandma, Debbie & Jim, JET, and Mom & Dad. Again...I love spending time with family. We've even talked about hitting the outerbanks next year...

And I forgot to mention that we ate one night at Calabash. That was probably more to honor my late Papaw, since he always loved eating that kind of seafood. My 80 year old Ma requested that we go to Calabash and we did, and had a good dinner and a good time!

End of story, right?

Nope.

Read my next entry for a life lesson...

Family Vacations Part THREE

Once we got used to the heat kicking in every half hour and the VERY idea of putting on our jackets/sweaters/sweatpants/jeans before hitting the beach, we moved on to the easier stuff.

Like spending $400.00 PLUS on food for the week. The $400.00 bill only including 3 full breakfast mornings, 4 hearty dinners, and desserts...for 13 people. The other 3 mornings, 2 dinners, all lunches, and all snacks...we were "on our own".

DUDE!!!

My 5 kids and 1 husband

are used to eating cereal for breakfast almost every morning...lunch at school ($2 a head and Dean eats leftovers), and a crock pot beef roast ($4 clearance from Food Lion) with green beans/rolls/rice, and MAYBE a scoop of ice cream for dessert! We totally have the LOWEST food bill per week of anyone I know! But MY portion of the grocery bill was a good chunk of change, as you can imagine!

I can't count the number of times my Mama wet her pants over the grocery bill! She laughed until I thought we'd have to do CPR. And that was BEFORE we left for the beach! Mind you, I packed EVERYTHING I could that I knew we'd use for our 3 full breakfasts, 4 hearty dinners (here's to YOU, Amanda), and desserts. That way, I wouldn't spend my TJ Maxx money on sausage, spaghetti, and chocolate! Of course, I forgot to cash a refund check I'd received the week before (isn't God good to send me some beach money just in time!!!)...for $125.00...so I was SOL, anyway. Ahhhh...sweet memories!

Hey...you don't need spending money at the beach, anyway. What you really need is a coat and a house with central heat...

We ate good...that's for sure! We had Mexican night...my favorite! Everyone loved what I fixed for Mexican night, until they had to potty. Then they didn't think it was all that good...

Steak night...until we came up one WHOLE steak short, and had a steak sacrifice to make sure my brother got some steak (I'm not a big steak eater, anyway!!!).

Shrimp boil/stew night...which turned out well, despite the fact that my Mom used FOOD LION FROZEN SHRIMP instead of fresh shrimp! After all...we were only AT THE BEACH!!!!

And potato soup/salad night...which, by the time us girls got back from our "Girls' Day Out", all the potatoes had been eaten and we enjoyed the broth from the soup (which was YUMMY!).

See what I mean by ADVENTURE? We'd think something was wrong if anything about our family was "normal".

keep reading...I think I'll make my point in the last entry (part FOUR)...

Family Vacations Part TWO

Moving right along...

We pulled into the driveway and discovered that the cleaning crew was pulling out. I practically BEGGED the crew to let us go into the house. Unfortunately, the cleaning crew inspector had not done her inspection yet, so we weren't allowed into the house.

DEAN, however, allowed the girls to run down to the beach. In 55 degree rainy weather. My parents would NEVER have allowed my brother and I to do that...for fear of pneumonia. But that is something I LOVE about Dean (don't tell him)! He allows our kids to do things that I wouldn't think to let them do, however, he's always keeping their safety in mind.

Things like running out onto the beach in 55 degree rainy weather.

They didn't stay out there long. And I didn't get out for pictures...

We were all piled up in the Ex (Excursion), when the horse-laughers pulled up.

My brother was driving, and my baby wanted to see who all was in the van. So I passed him over.

Feeling the need, I told Dean that I was taking our Ex supply of toilet paper and hitting the bushes. Now when I say that I need to hit the bushes...it's a BIG DEAL! Considering that I can hold it for a very long time (my bladder is the size of Texas, my mom has always said).

"Try the bushes at our neighbors' very expensive beach house", he says,"The one with the outdoor wet bar and swimming pool"...there was nobody at home, of course...and who WOULD be in rainy 55 degree beach weather???

"Seeing as how I don't want to go on myself, I don't care WHOSE bushes I try out!", I'm saying as I start to wiggle a bit.

Fortunately, the cleaning lady inspector pulls up just in time, so I ask her if I can use the potty PROPERLY, and go INSIDE the house.

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She says, "Sure!", and then afterward, my mom and I take a look around the house. It was really cute...not like the multi-million dollar house that my Crew beached at last year, but beachable, all the same. A little side note: Scarlett described our beach house (pic is of LAST YEAR'S beach house w/just my Crew)

to a "T" to my mama, complete with elevator

and all...when we were making our beach plans for this year.

"And where are you staying, Meme?", Scarlett asked her.

"I'm staying with YOU!", Meme replied.

At Scarlett's confused look...my mama laughed and burst her beach-house-bubble by telling her that we weren't staying at the elevator beach house this year...that we were staying at a different house, and this one definitely didn't have an elevator!

TOO funny!

So after some conversation, the cleaning crew inspector told us to go ahead and unload and enjoy the house!

The first thing we did?

TURN THE HEAT ON!!!

The weather was actually nice (not hot or even warm, mind you) the whole week at Holden Beach. I, for one, enjoyed it. Especially when I crawled under my electric blanket every night!

DUDE!

There's NOTHING like slipping under an electric blanket at night...in a 43 degree sunset...AT THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

keep reading...I do have a point...I think...

Family Vacations Part ONE

I learned something profound last week, while on vacation with MY side of the family.

No matter how well you know each other...no matter how comfortable you are with your family...no matter how much you truly love them...and no matter how big the house is...something can and most likely will...

go wrong.

Before I cause my family to set out a bounty on my head (and the rest of me), I must make this disclaimer:

I love my family. VERY much. In fact, I love my husband's family, whom I consider to be MY family as well. I love ALL of my family, and there is nothing more exciting to me than to plan a vacation with any or all of my family.

Except to plan a vacation for just the 7 of us (Dean, Tyler, Summerlyn, Savannah, Scarlett, Luke, and myself). I plan waaaaaaaay in advance for this one! My kids will only be this small and this innocent for a short time, and there is simply NOTHING I love better than to go on a carefree vacation with them, acting as if we had nary a care in the world! No stress and no clocks!!!!!

Back to my wonderful extended family...

Last week, my Crew went on vacation with my Grandma (MA), my Aunt & Uncle (Debbie & Jim), my Brother (JET), and my Parents (Mama & Daddy).

It was nothing short of an adventure, as is always true in the precious memories I have of my family.

Our Crew left at 2:30am from Knoxville. It POURED the whole 8 1/2 hours to Holden Beach.

P*O*U*R*E*D* the rain.

It's the first time in my life that my husband actually ASKED me to talk. To help him stay awake and drive through the rain...you know.

We somehow managed to "get lost" in Florence, SC. Florence is a little bitty town that I actually lived in when I was like...5. We always go through Florence to get to the beach...ANY beach! We missed the new bypass and wound up going through the main strip in Florence, upon which, they were having a parade. We got rerouted around "main street" and after a few wrong turns, we were on our way!

Meanwhile, my parents, brother, and oldest son (Tyler) were riding together and horse-laughing our little detour through Florence! It's okay, though, because we wound up beating them to the beach house because they went to Myrtle Beach and THEN drove up the coast to Holden Beach (in Supply, NC). Since Myrtle Beach is an hour away, and we drove straight in...we were pulling into the driveway as the cleaning crew was pulling out! The white van of horse-laughers pulled in about 20-30 minutes after we did!

Did I mention that it was raining?

Did I also mention that it was like...50 degrees at Holden Beach?

I started to doubt my expertise in beach planning, even though we've done this no less than 17 times over the course of our marriage. We always go in October. I just didn't realize that a cold front would be making it's way over our beach! I think the high over the next week was 70. Not bad if you don't mind the wind feeling like it's 55! But as I've always said...even if it rains the entire beach trip, it's still a vacation...a change of scenery...a break from the norm. And preferably a break from the kids if the temp's right. Say...80 or so...!

And YES, we've hit PERFECT weather in years past, going in October. And while we frequented North Myrtle Beach and Sunset Beach in the first few years of our marriage, in recent years, we have visited different beaches. This was our second visit to Holden Beach. Savannah was 10 months old on the first trip there. The temp then was around 50 degrees, too. But we visited in FEBRUARY! Dean had classes to attend to be re certified for the company purposes, and the kids and I stayed in our rented duplex everyday and had TOO much fun!!!

Keep reading...I do have a point...