A Break & Break-up

(I apologize for the email(s) you may have received yesterday that lead to a dead link, the button I wanted was right next to the “publish” button, and I totally hit the wrong button.  Twice!)

One of my favorite people told me the other day “I’m so sorry, I haven’t had time to read your blog” and I was all “That’s okay, I stopped writing it!”

And I did, and I needed the break.  I was serious when I told y’all that I wanted to live my life and not keep mental notes in my head of “Oh, I need to blog about this!”

The break did me good! But now, oh my gosh, I have stuff that has to be shared!! I mean, I would be doing every single one of you a disservice if I didn’t share it!

Last  we spoke, Mr. T had started his freshman year in college, a friend of his was borrowing our guest room and I was dating Adam.  You can catch up here if you are so inclined, but you aren’t missing anything if you don’t!

Humm… I can’t remember if I used his real name or not in my last post – but he isn’t active in social medial, so I can’t imagine it matters to him! He has social media, but he doesn’t even follow my Instagram account! Dude, we’ve been dating almost a year!

But let’s move on!

Mr. T is in his 2nd semester of first year and it is just awesome! He seems to be doing so well, and he really enjoys it – and he is still cheering!  In fact, if you follow me on aforementioned IG account, you’d be over-run with pictures from the last two competitions we attended!

It’s pretty awesome.  Both events were out of state, and I got to stay with one of my best friends in the world – it was worth the extra drive to get back and forth!

Mr. T’s friend who was borrowing the guest room moved out.

And moved back in 2 weeks later.  He is paying rent now.  We are working on getting him moving forward in his life.  He talks about all these grand plans, and I’m a task master helping to keep him on track!

Adam and I have been together almost a year – and guys, it was awesome.  It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a great relationship.  We were open with each other, we laughed, we adjusted and adapted.  I learned some good lessons about myself during this time.

Have you noticed that I am using the past tense?

He is moving away.  Just a few weeks shy of our 1 year anniversary, he is moving.

I’m not even upset – it’s for family, and it is the right move for him to make.  We’ve spent the last couple of weeks letting those in our life know, and now I’m sharing it with you! I will miss him terribly, and he  feels the same.  In fact, we both  decided that his mourning period should last about 6 month. We feel that is how long it should  take to get over me.

Okay, I feel that is how long it should take.  He just humors me by agreeing!

But, you know what this means?

That’s right.

Online dating is coming!! And you’re coming along for the ride!

You’re welcome. 🙂

For those runners out there – I’ve complete two races, one virtual and one in real life – both 5k’s.  And now I’m training for a 10k.  I’ve been working on increasing my mileage and I’ve hit week 11 of my training program, after having to take a week off, and then a recovery week – apparently I was pushing myself a bit too hard and my body rebelled!  I’m feeling better, I’m dealing with a medial ankle pain, trying to determine if it’s fallen arch or a nerve – it’s kinda in between the two symptom wise – but RICE is my friend, I’m doing ice compression at least once a day, and twice if I’ve done a run that is 5 or 6 miles long.

Love and missed you guys!

Kate

Save the Excuses and Look up Dog Videos

So, remember My Ex, who wanted to mend our relationship?

I was open to it and worked hard to remain open, because really, all I wanted to do was slam that door shut.  Lock it.  Throw away the key.  Add a chain.  Lock it.  Throw away that key.  Then put up bricks.

But, instead, I left the door open.

He set up a time to call me.

And didn’t call.

A few days later we connected.  Blah, blah, blah.  The discussion was had about how no one has time for anything anymore.  If it’s a priority, you make time for it.  I made it clear, I will never hold it against him if he misses a call, as it shows me where on his priority list I am.  It shows me how important this is to him… or not.

So, then he sets up a time for a second call.

And maybe a 3rd call is set up.

After a certain point I’m all:

Now, blog friends, let me fill you in on a secret.

I was really rooting for My Ex.  I really, really wanted him to follow through.  I know that in the past I have provided many opportunities for him, I’ve opened the door and he hasn’t been able to step through.

But…

I really, really hoped this time would be different. As hard is was for me because I wanted to board the door shut,  I was championing his cause to my friends – I knew he could do it! He seemed really sincere and like he really wanted it!  I wanted it for him!  I can’t tell you how badly I wanted him to be able to make this work.  Not for me, but for him.  I felt he really needed this and it would be good for him.

In the end, I had to give up.  The second time it went 2 weeks past the time he set up to call, and he hadn’t, well, I can only hold my pom-poms so long.

He showed that mending the relationship was not a priority for him.  He showed it every time he didn’t follow through.  Every missed phone call and every unanswered text. No response is a BIG response in my book.

It is what it is – but I wanted to provide closure for y’all! Sometimes your phone will betray you and FaceTime your Ex and it will lead you on a grand adventure full of intrigue, mystery and suspense!  But, most days you’ll just use it to look up dog videos!

 

Apparently My Profile Picture Sucks

And thank goodness for that! We were hanging out in the concession stand Saturday night, working a very slow playoff game, and I’m not sure exactly how it happened, all I know is all of the sudden one of the teenagers was going through my photos to pick a new profile picture.  Because mine wasn’t very flattering.

So I’m looking around at everyone – what do you mean? I love that picture! It’s an awesome picture!!

And I got “you know, kudos to you for using natural light.”

All I know is that more people should speak up when a profile picture isn’t good!

But, do it in a nice way! And that teenager really was so sweet!  Later that night I tagged her on Instagram and asked if the one I picked was better – she agreed, so whew, I have a replacement! I’ve been trying to figure out where all I have the old picture so I can replace it! 🙂

Okay, I have two replacements.  I’m pretty much afraid to make any decisions on my own at this point!

Oh! You want to know what is not my profile picture? 

That is me at the start line of my very first 5k run!  It was a last minute decision… like 3 days before the race I decided to do it!  I’ve never run that far before, it is 3.1 miles and I run about 2.7 most mornings.  I had no clue what I was doing.  At all.

And, I am so shy that I was in line and these two girls were talking and included me in the conversation, and I ended up scooting a bit out of it, cause nerves and insecurity!

At the end of their conversation, they introduced themselves.  To each other!  They didn’t know each other, they were just there in a shared experience!

AGH! I have got to learn how to do that!!

But that’s not the point!  Spoiler alert, I lived to tell about my race!

I finished!

Not only that, I finished in the top 5 of my group!  I was pretty darn proud of myself and now I think I’ll have to do another one!

Of course, if you follow any runners at all, it’s all about the meals.  The meals leading up to the race, and naturally the post race meal.  And boy was I thinking about a post race meal!

And then I remembered that I didn’t run but less than 1/2 a mile more than usual – LOL, it’s not like I burned an extra 1,000 calories that day!

So, I compromised.

What is Happening in the Land of Did That Just Happen

There is no reason for that meme, I just found it the other day and LOVE it!

Okay guys, here is a quick recap of what is happening in the land of Did That Just Happen.

We took Senior Pictures.  I am blessed that one of my dear friends is a photographer and she has known Mr. T since he was little, so I knew I could trust her to capture his essence, and she did a great job.  Plus, she let me get in a few of them, and be still my heart.  I’m about to go pick this picture up, I had it blown up and put on a canvas!

After work the other day I ran into town and Flocked a teacher.  🙂  It’s a fundraiser we are doing for Senior Celebration, and seriously, when I waved at one of their neighbors as I was surreptitiously putting up almost a dozen flamingos, I was sure I was busted! But the flock of flamingos is up, and the teacher has been a good sport, and even tweeted it!  Our goal is to raise awareness and now raise some funds!

It’s #SeniorYear so that means MUM SEASON!! I can’t show you a picture of the mum Mr. T designed for his girlfriend, as he doesn’t give it to her until tomorrow, but the above sneak peak should tide you over!  And, for those not familiar with Friday Night Lights, I wrote a post last year to help you understand how big of a deal Homecoming is for us! (Oh, just FYI, apparently the kids at T’s school were discussing mums and googled it and my post came up, and well, wouldn’t you know, one of the girls IN THE POST was the one googling and saw herself featured.  Hey, I asked for the picture before I took it!! But it still cracked me up!)

Speaking of Friday Night Lights:

I’ll deny this if you ever repeat it, but I am going to miss being a Cheer Mom.  I did great at it! I stepped outside my comfort zone.  I volunteered for stuff.  I talked to people.  Like, seriously, I voluntarily spoke with strangers.  And, some of those strangers have become my friends.  While I have not cheered in the crowd with poms for more than 2 seconds, I have worn bling.

Bling people.

I’m just saying.

And then some sad news.

My beloved Grandpa, who was so fond of having adventures with me, passed away Tuesday the 6th.  He went peacefully and I know in my heart he was ready and he is in a much better place, and Heaven was happy (and lucky!!) to receive him.  He served God, his Country and his Family with grace and humor and love and I am a better person for having had him in my life.

And that is my recap of the last couple of weeks!  #Unprocessed October is still happening, and I’m amazed at how well I am doing… I did discover that Diet Coke and Cheetos are still my go-to stress snacks, and yeah, there were a few days that that happened! But all in all, it’s been a good way to kick off the Last 100 Days of the Year!

Now to finish preparing for Homecoming – but what have y’all been up to?

My Life in Day 5

It’s finally Day 5 of my photo challenge.

I have been challenged by Tracie at Life in the Wylde West to the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge.  “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph, and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

To see what I’ve posted previously, you can visit Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 by clicking on the links!

I did not make it consecutive and I failed to nominate anyone – but I’m still calling this complete! 🙂

The problem is, I have no clue what to post for my 5th day.  I have sat down several times and just drawn a blank, but the challenge has been looming over my head – so guess what? I’m not making a decision – I’m throwing in every photo I can!

My view on the way home; I live about 2 blocks from these guys.

We did a painting class and got the cutest little instructor!

I went to a concert, For King and Country, and they were awesome!

So close I could smell the sweat!

Night before cheer camp we had a dinner for the team

Mr. T and one of his teammates.  Aren’t they just awesome?

While Mr. T was at cheer camp, I bought new shoes 🙂

And I happily proclaimed on Instagram that my job beats your job when the Chef made me a cinnamon chocolate brulee with orange whip.

Then, I saw this car the other day, and posted a challenge on Facebook “Name that Movie” and my cousin Wayne was all over it!  But, he and I are fierce competitors at our yearly trivia challenge at the Family Reunion, so I wasn’t surprised at all that he guessed first and guessed right!

Oh, after all the rain we’ve received, and with even more to come, this was a welcome sight!

And it all ended with this picture from Sunday.  I have my bible and iPad, coffee and candy, answering emails and working on Cheer and Snag.  If you wanted my life in one picture, this would probably be it!

My Son Loves Me

I have been challenged by Tracie at Life in the Wylde West to the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge.  “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph, and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

To see what I’ve posted previously, you can visit Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 by clicking on the links!

Day 4:

My son loves me so very much.

I mean look at this picture of us, it’s clear to see how much he loves me!

He loves me so much that we even dress alike!

And we hold hands!

It’s enough love to make a momma cry!

And it’s a lie!

It’s all lies!!!

I’m not kidding, that photo is one big work of non-fiction!

Yes, we were dressed alike, but it was the day of a Cheer fundraiser, and dressing alike is pretty mandatory, all of the parents were in their cheer shirts.  It wasn’t just me.

And yes, we are smiling and holding hands – but only because he didn’t want to smile.  He was being an I’m-not-going-to-smile-in-this-picture teenager, and well, my hair looked too good for him to not smile!

So, I started tickling him.

He in turn, grabbed my hand to hold it still and his girlfriend timed it perfectly when she hit the shutter button!

Just remember this next time you see a picture on Facebook, what looks like a loving family could turn out to be a pack of lies! 🙂

Cheer Shoes: A Haiku

I have been challenged by Tracie at Life in the Wylde West to the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge.  “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph, and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

Now, getting me to do anything for five days in a row is a challenge – but because Tracie said the loveliest things about me in her post, well, I can’t refuse!

Plus, as a friend of mine recently stated “Kate is always doing challenges”

It’s true, I am!

But what is life without a few challenges!

Day 2:

I never thought life

Would consist of picking up

cheer shoes from the couch.

It’s not the life I

Would have ever imagined

But it fills my heart.

Like Sands of the Hourglass…

These are the Binders of My Life

I have been challenged by Tracie at Life in the Wylde West to the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge.  “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph, and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

Now, getting me to do anything for five days in a row is a challenge – but because Tracie said the loveliest things about me in her post, well, I can’t refuse!

Plus, as a friend of mine recently stated “Kate is always doing challenges”

It’s true, I am!

But what is life without a few challenges!

Day 1:

Do you see those four binders?  Those represent my life right now.

The fact that those binders are sandwiched in between my business life, on the right, and my personal life, on the left, is probably the most accurate representation of “balance” that you’ll ever find!

The blue binder is my Drama folder for church.  In here lives all of the scripts we are working on, plus meeting notes and upcoming events.

Next to it is a purple folder. Right now that purple folder is so small – but I know that as the months pass it will start to grow, and soon it will overflow.  That purple binder represents Senior Year.  That binder tells me that Mr. T passed his State mandated tests, that he only needs 4 credits to graduate and is on the recommended graduation plan.  It tells me when to start watching for cap and gown purchases and how much ads in the Yearbooks are estimated to be.  That purple binder is the one that causes a lump to form in my throat!

Next to that is my Cheerleading binder.  Not only did I join the Booster Club to support our team, but I am a member of the Executive Committee – for the 2nd year! I know, it freaks me out, too!  This binder contains all I need to know to fulfill my role on the committee, and it brings me such joy.  I get to be involved, but not intrusive, and it works for me and Mr. T!

But, if that wasn’t enough, the SNAG!16 binder has joined the ranks.  SNAG is Senior Night After Graduation and is our version of Project Graduation, which was started to give graduates a safe place to gather together after graduation. Sadly, graduation night is the night that has the highest incidents of our kids not making it back home and there has been a movement for many years, all over the United States, to give the graduates a place to play and hang out and have a big hooray before closing this chapter in their lives.  Since 2015 is our schools first graduating class, we are all kinda winging it – but guess what I did – I volunteered to be an Executive on this Committee, too.  We will plan and fund raise and do all we can to give our kids the best night after graduation, to give them memories they will carry with them for a lifetime.

I’m happy to report that I’m not the only crazy parent.

Which is good, because the other day I completely lost it on Facebook!

What is the secret handshake I need to learn in order to start getting info on Senior year? Is it too soon to be asking about if yearbook photos have to be a specific company? Or yearbook ads? Or when to take senior pictures? Or announcements? Holy cow, please tell me we get an order form for that! Am I the only one that has started to freak yet? Mrs. S, you’re going thru it now… can you just give me the answer sheet and I’ll copy it all onto my test!

How Many Times Can You Hit Refresh?

You know what is my favorite key on the computer?

This guy is amazing.  He is my refresh key.  And as of Friday night, he is my friend!

Let me back up.

Last year, the most awesome kid in the world became the very first Mascot of the new High School.

And, he rocked it!

Not that I’m biased or anything!

Mr. T also ended up joining the competition cheer team – even though he’s never cheered or stunted a day in his life.

He did great! He made major improvements and, he found a passion.

This kid has loved being a cheerleader.

It has been so neat to watch him grow and change along this journey.  To see him realize that seemingly small decisions can have long reaching consequences and making changes in his life so that he can follow his passion has been amazing for me as his mother.

He decided over the summer that he wasn’t going to tryout to be the Mascot for his senior year.

He was going to try out for the Varsity Cheer Squad.

And this kid worked for it.

Friday after school they had tryouts.

Now, the girls all try out, and then the judges review the scores.  The judges leave and after they’ve left the property the girls are then released to go home and the Coach goes to her office to post the results on line.

All of the girls went home and sat by their phone/computer/ipad and they kept hitting refresh.

Except Mr. T.

Mr. T walked across campus because he had a theater UIL performance to give!

Which meant, I was home all alone, not knowing when cheer got out, not knowing when I should start checking for the results… and hitting F5 every 2 minutes!!

I started seeing pictures on Facebook of other cheer moms posting their daughters staring intently at their phones… so I started hitting F5 every 1 minute!

Oh look – there is a new page set up!  Click on that.

F5

F5

F5

Oh, the page now had headers!

F5

F5

F5

And then the moment I had been waiting for, and wearing out the F5 button on my computer for, had finally arrived…

My heart was overflowing with love and pride – and I grabbed my phone and texted Mr. T so he’d see it as soon as he was out of theatre, and then my friends and family that had been waiting – probably not on as many pins and needles as me, but waiting nonetheless!

When he got home that night, he was so pleased and in his own understated way mentioned how happy he was, and how glad he was that his hard work had paid off!  He mentioned that he really felt he worked hard and practiced hard, and it was nice to make the team as a reward for all of that effort.

Me? I was doing my own cartwheels!

In my head at least!

So, yeah, that happened.  I’m still a #CheerMom and will be sharing plenty #CheerIsLife posts during his Senior year! 🙂

Aren’t y’all lucky!

I Would Blog, but Size Matters

I would blog, but…

There is Valentines Day candy in the stores! I fell in love with this, it was a heart, with a heart and had a dream catcher on it!  It was like it was practically calling my name in the store and begging to be eaten.

I obliged, by the way.

I would blog, but…

Mr. T ended up getting a different car.  I drove a little compact car for many years intending to saving money so I could buy me a car and I would give T the compact car when he turned 16, which I did.  And, he warmed my heart, because at least once a week he was telling me about an issue that had come up, but how fortunate he was that he had a car to drive!

We got this Expedition for a steal from my boss.  Mr. T went from a 4 door compact to a massive 3 row Expedition.  When we were at Walmart, I saw the decal that said “Size Matters” and cracked up.

That decal now adorns his new car!

I would blog, but…

I finished my Project Wall!  As soon as I got it up and all of the art work I had picked out in the frames, then naturally the Universe sent me new art – but – I was smart, and got frames that make it super easy to change the pictures!

I love my project wall!  I can’t believe I waited as long as I did!  And, if you look closely, you’ll see this:

It’s a beautiful postcard, made from an original photograph taken by Life in the Wylde West, it also has a feather in the frame, if you follow Tracie at all, you’ll know feathers are her thing, and the fact that she shared with me just fills my heart! (PS, you can purchase artwork from Tracie and many other local artists at Crated.com, I’ve ordered from this site before and had a great experience!) <— Not getting paid for that, I just really like it!

Speaking of filling my heart, I would blog, but…

It is tax time!  Mr. T grabbed my laptop, sat on the couch next to me and we did his taxes for the first time.  There just aren’t words!

I would blog, but…

I lost my pinky toenail.

It just fell off.  We all know how very graceful I am, well several months ago I was unloading a cooler and wouldn’t you know, turned around to pull more items out and walked right into it!  Stubbed my pinky toe, hopped around and wished that I was one to let loose with explicit language and then went on with my life!  Every time I got a pedicure we noticed that the nail was still bruised, but I really never gave it any thought.

Until it fell off!

I would blog, but…

We’ve been getting letters from colleges in the mail.  I’m not happy with getting letters from colleges in the mail.  It freaks me out a bit to tell the truth!

I would blog, but…

I’ve been spending time with teenagers that aren’t mine!

And time with 1st placers!

So, I would blog, but sometimes you just don’t have anything to say!