Hidden Meanings of a Name

What Connie Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily.
You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind.
A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable.

You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

time out for ME

This past weekend I went to a women's conference called Time Out for Women with four of my good friends. We had an absolute blast on the ride up, during, and on the ride home! It was so fun spending time with them. Sometimes we laughed so hard that our sides were hurting or our faces were hurting. I loved every minute of my time with them.

For the past couple of years I have been so busy taking care of Franklin and dealing with loss that I really haven't taken time out for me. I have learned that this is something that is really important not only for myself but for my family. So I decided to make the absolute most out of this trip....it wasn't a business conference so I didn't have to work while there; it wasn't a family trip so I didn't have to take care of anyone while there; IT WAS MY TIME FOR ME!!!

On our way up to St. Louis we stopped for a late lunch at Lamberts - Home of the Thrown Roll -- which is a fun place because they have great food and the best homemade yeast rolls this side of the Mississippi!!!! I love their yeast rolls and they will bring around a container of Sorgum Molasses for your rolls.....can I just say abosulte heaven!





Once we checked into our room we ordered room service and just chilled....one of my favorite things to do!!! We watched a little of the history channel since it was the anniversary of 9/11 and then we talked, laughed, talked, and laughed some more. THe things I know......ummmmm nah, I'm not sharing that!

The next day we all went down to the spa for a relaxing massage. I LOVE GETTING A MASSAGE!!!!! This was a fun way to do that as well; after our treatments they brought us out to a lounge area to sip fruit water and relax some more or just talk. Here are some pictures of our spa day. (Ignore the wonderful spa hair and face!!!)







Another wonderful thing about the Time Out for Women was that I got to meet Jane Clayson who used to be on CBS This Morning (with Bryant Gumbel). I love Jane!!!




It was a great weekend of fun and laughter!!! You know the old saying "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas" well, I must say that what happened in St. Louis MUST stay in St. Louis!!!! OR at least in regards to that game of "Truth or Dare" we played on our drive home.......ummm, yeah, you know what I'm talkin bout!

For now the doctor is out....wondering how soon it will be until the next girls weekend of time out for ME!!!

Baby Redneck

This past Saturday sweet hubby took Franklin four-wheelin'! They were invited by a group of people that sweet hubby does some business with from time to time. This was to be a "family" outing with these guys bringing their "women" and "kiddos." I however, passed on the adventure so that I could have a little time to do my own thang - scrapbookin' with some of my favorite people!

Now, don't get me wrong....I LOVE TO GO ATV 4-WHEELING!!!! But I was somewhat cautious in this particular adventure since I do suffer from social anxiety and being around people I am not familiar with gives me extreme social anxiety! But my not coming along didn't prevent sweet hubby and Franklin from going and having a great time!!

Sweet hubby did make a mistake in telling Franklin ahead of time about the adventure.....so everyday for two weeks "are we going 4-wheelin' today?" was what we heard constantly!! But, that also gave them time to prepare for the adventure. I mean, you have to plan what snacks you are taking, what drinks you want to take, you have to make sure you have your gear together - helmets, glasses, boots, ice chests, ect. Well, Franklin had his helmet and glasses (aka: swim goggles) laying out on our dining room table for at least a week awaiting this big adventure. But more importantly sweet hubby had to figure out a way to make riding comfortable for both himself and Franklin. Previously Franklin would sit in the front of sweet hubby with one arm holding him and the other driving the ATV. Sweet hubby just didn't want to do this on an 80 mile ATV ride, so something else needed to be done to help with the situation. Hence a car seat attached to back of the ATV!!!!!





Now they were ready to roll! Unfortunately for them, they come upon the shooting victim (http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0908/551534.html) and had to send the "women and kiddos" back down to the main road so sweet hubby and the others could help these people get the police etc. So their day started off pretty bad.

But on to the ride. Franklin and sweet hubby had a good time once the other stuff was taken care of. They went through mud holes, up hills, down hills, over rocks, etc. Then they stopped for lunch and even made time for Franklin to explore for bugs and catepillars!

"Oh yea, that's my men!"


Can't have a 4-wheelin' trip without a few bugs


What a way to eat your lunch!


A look at the group they went with.

Well, needless to say my guys had a fun trip inspite of the morning tragedy and I had a great day scrappin' with my own friends.

For now the doctor is out....wondering when she will get the time to scrap all of the pictures of those two rip roaring thru the mud in all their glory!

I need my diet coke!

When I met sweet hubby he was an ademant diet coke drinker. Diet coke for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all times between. He believed we were a match made in heaven since I too was a diet coke drinker. Sweet hubby must have diet coke the minute he awakes....absolutely must have it to function! Not to be outdone by sweet hubby, I too have that "I must have my diet coke" to function mentality as well. I mean who can get through their morning without a Sonic Route 44? Call me crazy but I will dig, and I mean dig, through the coins I drop in the cubby of my truck to come up with enough to get that Route 44. AND, do you know the greatest thing ever...Sonic happy hour...oh, yeah baby, half price route 44's.....nothing better than that!!!



Well, you know all of that is great for two middle aged people who are empty nesters, but oh, wait, we aren't empty nesters anymore....we have a four year old! Oh, yes, one morning I got up early and walked into our kitchen only to observe that sweet hubby was sharing his morning diet coke with Franklin who was about a year and a half at the time!!!!!!! What the heck are you doing giving a baby diet coke??? Well, that was just the beginning. Now Franklin loves his diet coke as much as sweet hubby and I do. It is horrible!!!! One night for dinner I made a quick trip to KFC for Franklin and myself (KFC doesn't have diet coke - they are pepsi people). So I just got a small pepsi along with the kid's meal thinking I would just drink that, only Franklin asked for his diet coke and I pointed the pepsi and told him he could have a drink of that.....spewww, spitt, yuk!!!! That isn't diet coke!!!! I am shocked that this child can take the pepsi challenge and tell the difference between the two drinks... Another thing he can do is tell you that the diet coke is old....sweet hubby has a bad habit of pouring a glass of diet coke and leaving it on the counter coming back later to drink it (sweet hubby doesn't care if it has lost the fizz, or isn't super cold, he will drink it) but Franklin will take a sip and go yuk this isn't fresh!

Well, yesterday was a holiday and the day before Sunday....so needless to say our stash of diet coke was running low and then with the holiday and people at our house we found ourselves without diet coke for the morning. Franklin got up this morning and wanted a drink of diet coke only there wasn't any!!!! OH, MY GOSH!!!!!!! You would have thought the world was coming to an end!!! Franklin cried and cried and cried and cried and cried some more.... He would not get ready for school ....I mean there was no amount of cuddling, sweet talking, or threats that could console this child. I have decided that I am a horrible mother......I let my child get ADDICTED TO DIET COKE!!!!!!!!

Until next time, the doctor is out....wondering if there is a diet coke anonymous for us addicted souls....could it be a 28 day program or a 6 month program.....

My First Day of PreK

To go to preK or not to go to preK....that is the question!!!

Sweet hubby and I just kept going back and forth on this preK thing. We were very concerned about Franklin not being ready to go. Franklin has had some developmental problems previously and I was just afraid that he would be to far behind the other kids and it would make for a very uncomfortable experience for him. Yes, I am the overprotective mother!!! However, Franklin did attend a mother's day out program a couple of days a week during the summer and he loved it. We had planned for him to stay with this program this year instead of going to the school district preK....those were the plans all the way up to the day preK started!!!! Then I woke up Monday morning feeling not right about that decision. So Franklin and I went to the district office and completed the paper work to get him into the "big school." They told us it could take a few days for his school assignment BUT, they called me at home around 8pm to tell me he had been assigned to a school very close to our home. The drawback was that the school requires uniforms and I wasn't prepared for that!! Luckily Franklin had a pair of khaki shorts and a yellow shirt that would suffice for the first day. I even made a 10pm run to the local Wally World (which I NEVER do since that WW is not in the best location - but I braved it anyway for my little guy) only to get there and find out there isn't a supply list for preK!!! So I bought a backpack and some lunch supplies for my little guy.

Needless to say Franklin was estatic to be going to the "big school." We put his favorite "blanklet" in his backpack and he grabbed his lunch pail and was ready to go....


When we got to the "big school" - it was chaos with the parking and parents,etc. We had to go to the media center to fill out more papers and wait, and wait, and wait.


Actually Franklin couldn't get his mind off of ALL the books in the Media Center...he kept asking if he could get a book to "read."

Finally we are sent to the classroom to meet the new teacher! Franklin said hello to Ms. C and she directed him to a table so he could get started with some puzzles while I just watched to see if he would be ok. Finally I breezed over so I could take pictures of my sweet guy's first day of "big school" aka preK!





When I got ready to leave he said "Wait mom, I need a hug and a kiss!" So off I went with tears in my eyes leaving my little one at the "big school."

For now the doctor is out....wondering if she will survive this quiet house....ummm yeah, I think so!

Abbra Cadabbra!

For the past couple of weeks Franklin has absorbed himself with action figure movies. He has watched two different Transformer movies (one a cartoon) five million times in the past week; Power Rangers movie six million times; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles three million times! I think the content of these movies are affecting his behavior a little....


Franklin in his favorite chair watching his movie



A few weeks ago, I took him to see Kung Fu Panda and from that moment on we have had to watch him closely so that he doesn't do his own version of "kung fu" on everything and anyone around him! When visiting his aunt Mimi we caught him "kung fuing" her dog....oops! When his cousins did something he didn't like then he would kung fu them. Umm, not so good...they are quite a bit older than him! But the latest behavior is rather funny because it involves "Abbra Cadabbra-ing" everything.

Me: Franklin, please stop standing up in the chair and eat your lunch.

Franklin: ok.

Me: Franklin, I said do not stand up in that chair, do you want me to ground you from your movies?

Franklin: Abbra Cadabbra, make my mom not ground me from my movies!

Today we were having lunch with big brother, J.W., aunt Mimi, and Nana. J.W. likes to tease Franklin and "bug" him. I think Franklin had enough of the teasing when he said to J.W.:

"Abbra Cadabbra make J.W. disappear!"

Well it didn't stop J.W. so a little later we hear: "Abbra Cadabbra, let a big wind come up and blow J.W. away."

We all burst out laughing as he has said this. Franklin became upset with us and told us it wasn't funny. It seems that Abbra Cadabbra is a very serious business!



As you can see, J.W. is a very big guy, and I believe it does take serious concentration to "abbra cadabbra him away." However, I do think Franklin would miss J.W. if he really did disapprear!

For now the doctor is out....wondering if she should try "abbra cadabbra" instead of "grounding."

Funtime at Playtime

We have a new pizza place that just recently opened here in town so we decided to try it out (usually sweet hubby takes Franklin to Chucke Cheese). The new place is called Playtime Pizza. They have a "all you can eat" pizza bar, pasta bar, salad bar, taco bar, potato bar, dessert bar....now understand each of these "bars" have limited types of food (usually two to three different items) but none the less we found the food to be better than the local Chucke's but not the best food in town either. BUT, the rest of it ----- AMAZING! Franklin and sweet hubby had the best time ever! They managed to hit quite a few spots in the place. The PLACE is two floors and massive. So massive they have a miniture go-cart section, bumper cars, bowling, laser tag, and miniture golf. Plus all the other games, etc. Here are a few pictures of sweet hubby and Franklin enjoying the fun:


Getting strapped in for the ride.


Caleb's first go-cart ride.


Playing skee ball.


Bowling....he loved this so he played two games (about 30 minutes worth).


Simulation roller coaster ride! He laughed so hard I thought he would fall off the seat.


Shootout at the shootout saloon.


Driving his dreamcar - RED CONVERTIBLE CORVETTE!


Finishing the night off with dessert!

All in all it was pretty fun. A bit pricey but lots of fun.

For now the doctor is out....wondering if she should take a ride on that go-cart next time.