Ms. Shizue and Origami

Micah loves "hot chicken" (General Tso) and begs to eat it. About 2 weeks ago, I caved and went to China Imperial because he eats cheap there....During our discussion on where to eat, I told Micah we would eat Chinese.....of course he wanted to know what is Chinese....hmmmm, I said....people born in a place called China are Chinese....

In the restaurant, I asked our waitress to tell us in what country she was born and that is how we met Ms. Shizue (she-zoo). Ms. Shizue was born in Japan and was tickled to death that Micah was interested. She came back with an origami balloon for Micah.....you blow on it and it puffs up like a paper balloon.

The next day the Honeytree was all abuzz with discussion about Micah's special balloon. Next thing you know, origami books have been checked out from the library and little hands are furiously working at folding paper. Today, the grand finale was Ms. Shizue visiting the class to make origami and talk about Japan. Each child received an origami balloon to take home and loved it!














Micah with an origami crane for good luck! Notice the map in the background. The kids have studied about Japan and origami. Micah introduced Ms. Shizue and pointed to Japan on the map to tell everyone where she was born. I am not proud! LOL


The boys were mesmerized! Jackson, Owen, and Ty, with Travis and Mason on the front right.


I couldn't catch these three watching the origami...it was a photo opportunity they refused to miss! Kayla, Isabella, and Chase with Alyssa in the background.

Summer Time

Micah and I journeyed out to purchase a $12.00 swimming pool from Wal Mart. Micah had a grand time playing this afternoon as evidenced by the photos above. I will tell you that I have never been able to go in Wal Mart and purchase one thing....always so much more that is needed!!! LOL.

Just a note to ponder:

Excerpt from an email my mentor Linda sent me: "In much the same way, when I shine, I believe I am reflecting the warmth and love of God’s love upon me. As I reflected on that, my inner God voice suggested that possibly the degree I shine is in direct proportion to how open I am to receiving God’s love. When I notice someone else shining it is because I am recognizing they are a child of God also and have become open to seeing God’s reflection of love upon them. I believe God loves everyone. So when I have a problem with someone, it isn’t because they aren’t loved any less by God. It is because I’m not open to seeing that love of God upon them."

Siblings and Best Friends

My siblings are my best friends hands down. There is a total of 7.5 years age difference between the oldest and youngest. My mother had the first three children within 3 years and 2 months. The baby lagged behind a few years. In the picture, far left is Leslie, Anita and Rusty.

Rusty will turn 40 in January 08....the baby.....I think we have finally let him grow up. Somewhere along the line, we realized that he was no longer 12. Rusty had it tough.....three women (Mother, me and my sister) in the family telling him what, when and where to do .....Consequently, he has made a very good husband!!!! LOL....he is used to being bossed around. He is great with his kids and does a ton of housework, laundry and cooking. Rusty and family live within 10 miles of where we grew up in Yazoo County, Mississippi.

Anita is the third born and will turn 44 in October and has two sons. Her first grandchild will be born in late September. It is a boy! Our family is so excited.....My sister had the first grandchild in our family almost 23 years ago! There was great joy and love to see our family grow in the next generation. Our Mother is still adjusting to the great grandmother concept! And of course we all take every opportunity to make her more aware of the situation. Anita and I share a very special bond and have been good friends since our early 20's. Within the last six months, Anita moved from Yazoo County, Ms to Lake Providence LA with her husband, 5 dogs, 1 cat and 1 horse . She is great at decorating and always has a project of some sort going on.

Leslie, the oldest, 11 months and 18 days older than me, lives in Brandon MS about 50 miles from where we grew up. He is someone that I trust with making decisions in my life and to look at them from a logical standpoint and help step back from emotions. I think we do that for each other. For about 12 days of the year, we are the same age. When we were very young, we would run around singing "we are twins" after I had my birthday. Leslie is divorced and enjoys riding his motorbike on cross country rides and is going to be a grumpy old maid!

That leaves me, second born, oldest daughter. I love my brothers and sister very much. My nephews tease us that we all have the same laugh and when we get together it sounds like a bunch of ducks quacking....and we all agree it does....but laughter is one of the things that keeps us close.

I hear so many people who speak of sibling rivalry and not being able to get along. We all have seen so many families fall apart after the death of a parent or loved one. We each say that will never happen to us......and I have to admit, the older I get, the more I pray it never does.....but the emotions brought on by death/tragedy can do strange things to our hearts. So we will continue to laugh together and know that if that day does come, we will work our way through it, just as we have worked through other stumbling blocks in our lives.

Home Grown Tomatoes

Homegrown tomatoes....nothing in the world can beat that taste. This year, I finally planted my first grown up garden...LOL....at 45 almost 46.....There are 5 tomato plants, 3 cucumbers, 2 yellow summer squash and 1 watermelon!!!! A very small garden compared to the gardens we grew when my parents had slave labor...one year we planted over 200 tomato plants alone.....there was almost 10 acres in tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers, okra, squash, cucumbers, and sweet corn ....my Daddy loved to have us pick it all and then give it away to people at church......we grumbled alot....

So I love my small garden, easy to hoe and keep the weeds down. Micah helped me weed early on without supervision and I ended up with 1 tomato plant left in the garden...the one giving us tomatos now! We have been getting tomatoes for over a week now....Micah loves to eat them straight off the vine like an apple. I have been meaning to get a picture of the tomatoes on the vine but it is hard to beat Micah to them!








P.S. Thanks to all who attended my Pity Party!
P.S.S. The windows in the picture really arent as filthy as they appear!!! LOL wink wink.....It is the flash....pictures were taken at dusk with no light on in the house....the top picture was so dark you couldnt see the tomatos until I enhanced it.....thought it was pretty interesting.....

Judy's Pity Party

Today's picture does not have a damn thing to do with the blog...the blog is about me!!!! I am struggling with being a single mom 24/7 and you are all cordially invited to my pity party. There are a few rules...this is all about me, not you and I am going to be the Center of the Universe for a night and Cinderella for the evening......... seriously, I need some ME time.....that could just be going to the bathroom alone and watching what I want to on TV with no one else in the house....Ugh, no one told me that raising a child was going to be 24/7....lol....I look at me in the mirror and now know why my Momma was crazy...there were four of us and we were stairsteps....course Momma had her children done by 25 and was a grandmother at 41.....I became a Mother at 41.....I know I am not alone and there are women everyday having children in their 40's but now I know why it takes a village to raise a child, why generations use to live in a household and why it is so important to have family close......I am slap worn out! Dad is in Denver, Colorado , so isnt much on giving me a night out...best I can expect is a phone call right before bedtime everynight......Micah and I are going to visit Denver during 4th of July and instead of staying with Jon (ex), I am going to leave Micah with him and do something on my on......whew, I feel better. Thanks for joining me and dont faint because I posted!