Beware...vent session

I wouldn't get too far out on a limb and call myself a genius, one of superior intellect, but I would say that with my average intelligence, I've managed to get along in life quite nicely. Working for the same company for 7 years before taking on the task of raising my two boys as a full time Mom. Yesterday when our Mortgage Loan Officer was trying to play me for a fool, he said, "Ms. Fortenberry, what's your business?" I said, "What?" He repeated himself and I, sensing where he may be going with this pronounced my previous employment of 7 years with a major Defense Contractor to which he retorts, "well, that's nice, my business is the mortgage loan business" as if to say, "FOOL!" Well, I'm not a fool. Our MLO is actually trying to pull the wool over my eyes, but he's messed with the wrong Domestic Engineer. Staying at home is more difficult than all 7 years of working to include when I was working full time and attending school at a rate of 11-15 credits four out of five weeknights. Take that MLO. Full time Moms are not inept morons with nothing better to do. Here's to ALL Moms out there who are skilled, gifted women with great minds and have been played by ridiculous service industry people who have NO idea that the most capable person on the planet is a Mom. Moms for President.

Happy Birthday!

Just want to put a little something out there to wish my friend of many fabulous years, 14 to be exact, a splendid birthday celebration! It's hard to believe that 14 years ago, meeting in a line at the Cranberries Concert, we would find the greatest gift of friendship. You have been and will always be a great inspiration to me and a great comfort at different times in my life. I'm looking forward to "pointing our rocking chairs toward the west" as we recount the "good ol' days"!
Emily Dickinson:
"We turn not older with years but newer every day."

Happy Birthday Merrilee! From your favorite "old soul!"

John Adams

I finished the John Adams book this morning, which is a good thing since it's due at the library today. I cannot recommend this book enough and strongly suggest you purchase it because it is meaty and thoughtful. One last quote from the book comes from page 650 and a letter written to his granddaughter

"The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough..."

My favorite scout...

We love our Dad, Paul Sr. Here are some pictures of Bug and Timmy with Dad. Additionally, as the assistant Den Leaders for the Cub Scouts, we go every Wednesday to an activity. I usually take Bug to Wolf Scouts (8 yr olds) and Paul takes Timothy to WeBeLos (10-11). Bug so very much wants to be a part of the Cub Scouts. He's working on memorizing the Cub Scout promise and knows the Cub Scout sign. He's hoisted the U.S. Flag on the church flagpole and participated in the "feats of skill" obstacle course. The boys earn stars for wearing their shirt, bringing their book, and good behavior. Bug cannot be left out, but I couldn't legitimately buy him his own shirt...he's only 3. Fortunately, after one call to Grandma, I dug out the Paul Sr. memory box and procured his Cub Scout shirt from some 22 years ago. Bug wore it with great pride to Cub Scouts last night and to the amazement of the other scouts who thought he had already earned all of his awards! When we got home, Paul wanted to wear it to sleep. Thank goodness for this shirt! I see many great scout memories to be made a second time around.

Because it's still summer

If you've read my reasons why you should move to the Woodlands, here's one more. It's still summer. Yesterday our neighbor Crystal took pictures of the kids eating watermelon, playing in the sprinkler and having a fabulous time.

Sit. I said sit.

So anyone who knows (me inside my home), has probably fallen prey to a hideous flaw. On occassion I have allowed a four letter word that rhymes with wit escape my mouth. Usually it is after being injured and I know this is not much of an excuse. Ages ago, when we were still in Maryland, the wind was whipping around, I was putting in groceries, it was late, I bent into the trunk and WHACK! the trunk smacks me in the head. I yell the word that rhymes with "wit" and then something like "get in the car!" As he has done before, he has saved for his mighty useful word bank, this special word. Fortunately, due to a small speech impediment, instead of saying the actual word, Bug says "Sit" and I am left wondering, "did anyone else get that?"

Hannah Montana and me...

Okay, so we admit it, we love Hannah Montana (and also High School Musical)! It started out as a program that Bug watched occasionally, now we are full-blown addicted to it and don't even mind the reruns. The only problem I have with Hannah Montana is that every so often, my already clever Bug will pick up a line and reposition it in a conversation later on, taking me completely by surprise. Case in point: this morning , I was feverishly cleaning the house, the kind of cleaning that uses Q-tips near the toilet...so you can imagine how little "help" I was interested in having. Before long I made some sort of empty threat "Bug, if you keep that up, I'm going to take your toy away." In typical fashion, without missing a beat, he responds, "the only thing you're taking is lessons from me, number one..." At first, before I figure out what he's done, I'm shocked. He's only 3. My parents would probably be glad to hear that not only is he smart, loud, and chatty, but occasionally sassy, and consider it my just deserts! But, of course, having watched the HM episode a few times, it comes to me. We both start laughing and he's won another round.

Next thing you know....

By way of announcement, we have finally found a place to call home and are in the middle of working out the inspections etc. Last night I took Bug and Timothy to the house and was explaining to Bug that it's likely that he won't remember living anywhere but in the new house - his fifth home in three and a half years. I went on to tell him that as we get older, our memory of things that occurred when we were young fades. I paused and without skipping a beat, he said, "and next thing you know, your whole life is gone and your old living in the local library."

Here's to getting "old"!

I'm telling you he's a smiling fella!

Paul's favorite pastime, being on the telephone (apple not far from tree!!!)
Fortenberry boys on Galveston Island over Labor Day.
The many talents of Bug! I can attest that he did this on his own, and that it is a serving spoon. Paul and I gave it a try to no avail.

New to the blog...

Okay, so we're jumping on the blog bandwagon at the request of Uncle Ben and his wife Missy. They being much younger than us, have the blog thing down and e-mailing is so v. yesterday. We've also enjoyed reading friend Lynn's blog. I can make a campaign promise to keep that my life is not nearly as interesting, I am not a quarter as funny, and I don't live in Hawaii so in the meantime I'll bore you with pictures and Kathy Lee like stories of my kids!

Paul (Bug) is keeping us humbled with his quick wit, incredible memory, and ability to put his parents in the naughty chair. Who runs this house anyhow? He is good to his brother and has now nicknamed him "Butterworth (pronounced "butterwurtz"). No explanation on this, so we asked him is it because he's so "sweet" like syrup? No, it's because I'm sweet. Okay. Like Lynn's daughter, Avery, Paul is v. loud and after reading her blog about the audiologist, I used the threat of taking him to the dr. to try to get him to tone it down a bit...has not worked completely, but I'll see what I can do.

Timothy is busy sleeping, crying, "talking," and smiling. You wouldn't be surprised to hear that April Fortenberry has another boy who is noisy and chatty would you? He has grown quite a bit, but still fits into NB attire and number 1 diapers (for those of you who don't know, number 1 diapers are gone after the first couple of weeks because they are a less superior diaper and require more frequent changing less you want to add to the wash.) A rift has occurred regarding Timothy's name and he'll probably end up needing a lot of counseling after all is said in done. As stated, Bug calls him "Butterworth," I call him "Timmy, Tim, Tim" and Paul says he wants to call him "Justin". I just want to state for he record, that there were some 8 months to have this all considered - why now?