Jolly Old Saint Christopher, Lean Your Ear This Way...

It's after midnight and I just got home. Went into work at 10:30 this morning and had to pick up Zach on the way. I had a thirty minute break between shifts, Zach worked pretty much straight through.

The Blackberry my brother gave Massey died an unexpected death the other day. Massey has no qualms about calling her uncle when she has any wants or desires. She called and asked if he had another one she could use? When he said he didn't I guess she sighed a little too sadly , and that's all it took.

Today he picked her up after school and took her to Verizon where we were due for an upgrade. After they left Verizon they came into eat dinner at Mama Lucia's.

Massey snapped this picture of Jolly Old Saint Christopher with her brand new iPhone4.

When she told me he had bought her the iPhone all I could think of to say was "Shut the front door!"

My brother takes wonderful care of me and my sister and has helped us out far too many  times to count (although I'm sure he's probs counting fo sho!)  Massey...he spoils like a princess.

He has saved my neck probably almost as many times as he's wanted to wring it but still seems to love me. He also loves to torment me (small price to pay if you ask me) and I absolutely love him to death. I can honestly say I have never met anyone who doesn't like him, except maybe the garbage men who worked in our neighborhood when we were kids or maybe crazy Joe Brown, the custodian at our high school.

Massey said it was an early birthday present. For Pete's sake...her birthday isn't til  the middle of August! She is on cloud nine and most probably already picking out the car she wants him to buy her for an early Christmas present in the middle of August.

I love that he spoils her though. I wish I could. When we hit rock bottom it was tough on her. She goes to a high school where a lot of kids get brand new cars for their sixteenth birthday and wear nothing but American Eagle, Lizard Thicket and Izod. Massey wears hand me downs, thrift shop finds and "Ross Dress For Less."

 The thing that I DO admire about her is that she has never ONCE complained about it and is always THRILLED when friends of mine give her hand me downs.  I have friends that have taken her shopping and friends that simply went out and bought her things of their own accord.

I have said it before and will repeat it again and again..."I am a lucky woman."

Teen status is so over rated. (unless you are a girl and sixteen) I can at least remember THAT much  about being a teen. If I wanted cool looking clothes, my Momma made them on her Singer sewing machine and they looked better than the store bought ones the other girls wore. I guess I need to say this as well..."I was a LUCKY teen too."

Let's give inmate 547 some blog time too...

This is a pizza Zach cooked tonight at work.  Bless his heart he got his butt kicked from the time he went in at 10:30 AM til I picked him up at  11:15 PM. Lunch was off the chain. I consider myself a seasoned veteran but felt like I was in a cartoon much of the lunch shift and at some points could swear I heard that bongo noise Fred Flintstones feet used to make when he was running really fast through the cave passing the same chair and lamp four times in a row.

I came back for my dinner shift and the chaos started again. For some reason everyone wanted  a pizza. The owner,  Len came out to show me a pizza Zach had burned...and he said "I told your boy if he burned something so bad that even I wouldn't eat it he was in serious trouble. He's lucky I'm starving."  Then he took a bite of the most charred pizza pie I have ever seen. He sat the pizza down in his office and when he walked away I took this picture. Jeez...he ate almost half of it!

I left after 9:30 and felt like I was walking on upward facing thorns. I came home and cruised through FB for a while. I headed back to pick up my felon around eleven and when I walked in the front door he was picking up the phone at  the host stand to call me.

Took him back to his current digs and came home for the night.

Tim called the Major in charge at the prison today and found out Zach will get released this Saturday. Glory be to GOD!!

My life ain't pretty sometimes but at least I am willing to admit it. My kids aren't perfect but I love them as if they were.

The thing I like about my blog is that I just put it out here..."The good,  the bad and the ugly."

No one is perfect and to pretend you are,  fools no one but yourself  and in fact makes you look like one.

I deeply and tremendously appreciate all the support I have received and don't think for a minute... or even a second I don't intend to pay it forward for a long long time. The road I have traveled these past couple of years has been tough  but has brought out the best in me. It has brought out the best in my family and it has brought out the best in my friends and even strangers.

I'll say it one more time here and say it every night in my prayers..."I am a lucky woman."

Getting up and doing it again...COTTON