I was listening to a podcast. They were suggesting that sexual assault, for women, is a very rare thing. Some of the panel even went so far as to state that many women are lying, when they talk about this having happened to them. I do recognize that some women have lied. *cough*….Amber Heard. That’s so wrong, on every level, and should be punished. I know, for a fact, that the women in my life are not lying about what’s happened to them. I will never believe that all, or most men, are out here harming women. I do have to say, I don’t know many women, in my life, who haven’t been abused. Physically, sexually, or both. I am not one of the new generation of, so called, feminists, who believe all men are evil. I do know a whole lot of women who’ve been assaulted, though.

I don’t subscribe to the “believe all women” notion. I recognize that we live in a society where we should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. That never negates the fact that way too many women have been assaulted.

I don’t think women should lay hands on a man, either. I absolutely believe a man should be able to defend himself. Most men are bigger and stronger. Most men are raised to never hit a woman. If a woman is hurting a man, he has every right to use necessary force, to get away from her.

We need to shame men and women, who abuse. We can recognize that these things do happen, much too often, without saying all men, or all women. Most men and women are not abusive. Some are. It happens. Most of us would never lie about something as serious and devastating as sexual assault. For me, it’s almost embarrassing. I continue to look back, and wonder how I could have done things differently, so that hadn’t happened. There’s nothing wrong with teaching boys to respect women. I also believe it’s our responsibility to teach our girls to be wise and be cautious. That doesn’t mean that wearing a low cut shirt is inviting men to assault you. I only mean that, we have to be aware of our surroundings. We have to be prepared, and on “guard”, because as unfortunate as it is, evil still exists in our world, and it ain’t ever going to go away. I learned, the hard way, you never accept an open drink from someone you’re out with. I cannot blindly trust that people are good. I have a lot of faith in humanity, but I will not let my guard down unless I’m with my husband, my father, my brother, or a sober Jackie and my sister. Those are pretty much the only people I would ever accept an open drink from. I have already spoken to my kids, multiple times, about the importance of this. I’m doing my best to train them in the realities of life. If I could wave a magic wand, and make the world a completely safe place for them, I would. But, I can’t. So, I realize how important it is for me to teach them about the best ways they can protect themselves. You can do everything right, and still get taken advantage of. It happens. But, prevention is our first line of defense. I love my son. I never want him to be in a situation where he could possibly be accused of something he didn’t do. I love my daughter. I never want her to be in a situation where someone does something she doesn’t want them to. It goes both ways. Discussing these things does not mean that I think one sex is right, and the other is wrong. I simply do not ever want another person I love to get hurt.

My sister, Jackie, our dad, his girlfriend, and I all have iPhones. We always share our locations with each other. Sometimes, we play around with that. We can always see when Poppy is spending the night at his girlfriends, or when he’s at home. When one of us is making a trip somewhere, or heading to each other’s house, we can follow along. Last night, Jackie, my sister, and I were checking on everybody’s locations. I think it’s crazy how it can even show WHERE, in the house, we each are! I hadn’t ever realized that, until Jackie had me switch to the 3D map. Poppy was at his girlfriend’s place. We text them a screenshot and teased them about which room it was they were in? 😆

Baby Pj started a medication for her hemangioma, a few weeks ago. They were gradually increasing her dosage. A couple days ago, she was increased to the maximum dose that they were wanting her on. It can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), so my sister is to feed her within half an hour after she is given this medicine. Pj was refusing to eat, for the entire 6 hours they were here. She was irritable, and sleepy. Normally, that wouldn’t be a huge worry, but because of this medicine, it was concerning. She took Pj home, and called their doctor. Fortunately, she did finally decide to start eating again, later that night. She’s a little congested, today. We’re wondering if she might not be getting a little cold? My sister’s such a good little mama! She is always asking me for advice, but she does an amazing job looking after her baby. I’m so proud of her!

We’re going to grill those steaks for supper, tonight. Jackie really wants to go out driving, later on. There’s this little town, not far from us. They have this giant pink elephant statue, and another giant black and white cow one, wearing pink glasses. She wants to show Justin. I’m not sure if we’ll end up going, or not? I’d kind of prefer to stay home. Maybe play some ping pong or card games. I guess we’ll see how the evening plays out.

I’ve been on my period, the last several days. I think it’s finally done, now. I miss my husband! I’d really like to get laid, later on! Whatever we end up doing tonight, I know that’s my plan for the end of it.

It’s been a pretty lazy day. The weather is cool, only mid 50s, and cloudy. I swear, the weather seriously messes with my energy levels! Give me a warm, sunny day, and I’m ready to take on the world. When it’s cold and dreary, I just want to snuggle under some blankets. It would be nice to do something fun, with Justin and Jackie, though.

It’s almost 4:00pm. I suppose I should fix my face, and get the scalloped potatoes going. I’ve got the pasta salad ready. We love to grill things. Adam doesn’t cook much of anything, but he’s awesome with his charcoal grill. Everything he makes is delicious. He always knows just how I like things, too. Which seasonings I prefer. How done I like my meat, (well done). It’s funny, when we first met, he didn’t eat anything spicy. After being introduced to several spicy dishes, being with me, he has now come to enjoy much hotter spices than even I do! He adds jalapeños to almost everything. Adam is down 11 pounds now! He’s been working hard to get that extra weight off. I have consistently remained between 96-98 pounds, which is 6-8 pounds more than I was last Fall. On my body, even a few pounds makes a big difference. My boobs are bigger. My jeans fit tighter. I don’t particularly mind it, but I’m not sure I’d like to put on anymore weight, now. My grandma, on my mother’s side, was a very very heavy set woman. I loved her so much, but there were so many things she couldn’t do, because of her obesity. I have such a fear of not being able to do things I once could. I still do the handsprings, one handed cartwheels, and headstands that I used to do, back when I was a cheerleader. I make sure I can still do random things, like that, because I don’t want to “lose” it. I want to run and play, with my kids. One day, with my grandkids. I want to be healthy. I’m terrified of living in pain, or addiction, so I work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. I do not want to become my mother, or her mother. Even my grandma became addicted to pain medication. I try to be responsible, and careful. We drink a beer or two, when we’re hanging out. I never drink when im upset, though. I rarely drink too much. I don’t even like to be drunk, and I absolutely never take drugs of any kind. I don’t even like weed. I am going to do everything I can, to make sure that I don’t fail my family, or myself. We only get this one life to live. I am determined to live it up, healthy, happy, and to make my family proud.

To make the white gravy, you only need butter, flour, and milk.

Melt about half stick of butter in a saucepan, over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup flour, slowly. Stir constantly, using a whisk, until bubbly. Mix in milk, slowly. Adding about 1/2 cup at a time, to total about 2 cups of milk, and stir well.

I use 6 packages of Buddig brand corned beef. I just slice it into pieces and add it to the gravy.

Once everything’s been heated and mixed, remove from heat. Gravy will thicken as it cools.

I bake some biscuits in the oven and make mashed potatoes. If you don’t have biscuits, take a slice of bread, and split it in half, instead. Split the biscuits in half, put a scoop of gravy in the middle (or on top of them, whichever you prefer), and top with the corned beef gravy. There’s another name for this, we had growing up…”Shit on a Shingle”. No clue where that comes from, but that is another name for this meal 😉

It’s very very filling! My family all enjoy it, though.

When we were playing cornhole last weekend, at that first place we all went to, someone walked in front of Jackie and I. There were other people watching us, and one guy yelled at the person who walked in front of us, “Dude! They’re professionals! Go around!” 😆

Adam didn’t get home from work, until nearly 8:00pm. He played a couple of games, and then we went inside, got the kids in bed, got showered, and went to bed. Since Adam ended up being stuck late at work, we just made pizza, instead. We’re going to grill, tomorrow evening. Tonight is just going to be a quiet night, with the kids, at home.

My sister is bringing Pj over, in a little bit. We’re just going to hang out awhile. I love to spend as much time as I can get, with those two!

Tonight, I’m making corned beef gravy, for supper. I serve it with mashed potatoes and bread or biscuits. We sort of sandwich the mashed potatoes, between biscuits, and pour the gravy over them. It’s rainy, and much cooler, today. I think the high is only supposed to be 55 degrees. I even heard the furnace cut on, this morning. It hadn’t ran for several days. Oh well. I am grateful for the breaks in cold weather, like we’ve had this week.

It’s Friday, so I’m going over my “book”. I have a little planner, where I keep track of all our bills. I know I’ve messed up, a few times, but I’m usually very on top of things like this. I’m a weirdo who actually enjoys accounting. After that’s done, I’m going to finish putting away this laundry, so I can have a couple hours to spend with my sister and baby niece.

Dierks Bentley sings a song called, “What Was I Thinkin”. There’s a line in it, where he says, “I was thinkin bout a little white tank top sittin right there in the middle by me. I was thinkin bout a long kiss, man just gotta get goin where the night might lead…”

Well, it’s another tank top and shorts kind of day, here in Tennessee! That’s my favorite thing to wear. Either a tank top, or a sundress. Anything you wear when warm weather permits, is always my preferred choice. Summer is my season! I hate being cold. I’m in such a good mood, now that days are getting longer and warmer. The trees are blooming. Flowers are popping up. I love it! I spent the whole morning running errands, so I’m happy to be home, where I can enjoy this beautiful weather.

Our son got his baseball pictures back, yesterday. He looks SO grown!

Justin is coming over, this evening. We’re going to grill some steaks and play a few games of cornhole. The weather drops back down into 50s and 60s for the next several days, so we’re making the most of this last amazing day! I’m making a pasta salad, and some scalloped potatoes, to go along with the steaks.

It’s honestly so warm inside the house, I’m not sure how much housework I’m going to be doing, today. It’s 81 degrees, inside. It’s humid. I’m absolutely not complaining, and I’m certainly not about to turn on the AC, yet. I’m just saying it’s a little stuffy, which makes it kind of hard to get much done! I put off turning the AC on, every single year. I love to have windows open, letting fresh air inside. I love to be outside. I tolerate heat, way better than cold. Adam is just the opposite. In the winter, we argue over how warm I can set the thermostat. In the summer, we argue over how warm I can set the thermostat. 😆 I do 68 degrees, in winter. And, I do 78 degrees, in summer. Enough to cut humidity out of the air, but not cool enough it’s running constantly. Plus, I think we spend more time outdoors, when we’re not spoiled inside a house as cool as the freezer in a grocery store.

Mj was trying to play volleyball with her friend, yesterday. They only had a basketball, because Oliver has eaten all the other balls we had. I picked up a volleyball, so everybody can play, today. I also grabbed some ice cream cones. We’re going to have those after school, for a treat. I found a Twix ice cream bar, for Adam. I think he’ll definitely enjoy it, since Twix is his favorite candy.

I’ve only got a little more than an hour, until my kiddos get home. I suppose I should get something done. Jackie washed her bedding. I’m going to go hang it out, for her. I think I’ll go ahead and make the pasta and potatoes, so I don’t have to be inside cooking, when everybody’s hanging out, outside. Hopefully my good mood can be “contagious”, and y’all have a wonderful afternoon/evening, too!

~Percy Sledge

Listening to some oldies, now.

I just can’t with that little baby girl! She turns 3 months old, on Feb 25th. She’s already teething! She has been holding her head up from the day she was born. She reminds me of my daughter. She did everything early, too. She was saying “mama, dada”, “baba”(bottle), “caca” (cracker), and “hi” by 5 months old. She walked at 9 months, ran by 10 months.

A few years ago, we really considered another baby. I’d spent a couple years, before that, not so subtly hinting that I wanted another. Then, one night, Adam said to me, “If you really want to, let’s do it”. That’s when I walked that idea back. I hope I made the right choice. I think I did. I love being a mama, but I’m also enjoying this season of our lives. The kids are pretty self sufficient. We can play card games. They help with the chores. It’s been months since we’ve had our daughter climb into bed with us. She occasionally has a bad dream, gets sick, or thunder scares her. We get to sleep, all through the night. We can give our kids all the things they need, and a whole lot they want. I absolutely adore Pj! I just know, it’s easier when Adam tells me no, to having more babies. I know, if I truly wanted it, he would make it happen. He’s an amazing daddy. I think I’m content, though. I would like to get back into caring for foster children, one day. We had a baby boy for about a year and a half, about 8 years ago. We also took care of a 12 year old boy, for over a year, back in 2018. His parents had become homeless. He had no way to get to school, and didn’t have regular meals. We found out through some friends of friends, and offered to let him stay with us. I took him to school, everyday. We tried to give him some happiness. His parents were able to get back on their feet, and he’s with them now. I would definitely do that kind of thing, again.

Last night, Jackie and I were talking, in the kitchen. Adam came in, around 8:15pm, and wanted me to go shower with him. I asked him to wait a little longer. When it got to 9:30pm, he wasn’t waiting any longer. Jackie was worried I was going to be in trouble for messing around for so long. He wasn’t upset, though! If he didn’t want to wait on me, he would’ve just went in and showered, without me. When we finally did get in the shower, I was in a silly mood. We were laughing and goofing around. I ended up rolling my eyes, at Adam, which is why Jackie sent this to me…

The stubborn in me told him, it was worth it, after he slapped my butt for rolling my eyes. That wasn’t a good idea. It ended up costing me a much harder slap on my ass. He ain’t playin’ around, about me rolling my eyes. Just figured I’d mention this little “slip up”.

I’m making chicken sandwiches, for supper. I’ll make some French fries, to go with. It’s a good “summery” meal, since it’s so warm out.

Kiddos should be getting off their school bus, any minute now. I’m going to get some snacks ready for them. We’ve got grapes and apple slices, today.

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day!”

~Jimmy Cliff

I’ve changed my outfit three times, today. I started off in pajama pants, that I put on when I got up. I changed into capri leggings, and t-shirt. I’m now in shorts and a tank top. It’s almost 80 degrees outside, and very sunny. It’s the south, so it’s also humid. My hair is even more out of control curly than usual, today. I love it, though!

I sat out on the deck, and drank coffee with Jackie, this morning. After she went to her place, to start her workday, I cleaned up the kitchen. I’ve been washing towels, and hanging them out on the deck, to dry. I swept the kitchen, entryway, and bathrooms. Then, I mopped them. The smell of lemongrass, after I’ve used my steam mop, is one of my favorite scents. I’m going to vacuum the living room, stairs, and my bedroom. Oliver is terrified of the vacuum, though. I decided to take a break, while he’s enjoying laying in the sun, before I bring out that scary vacuum cleaner.

Do y’all remember, awhile back, when I was fighting with our doctor’s office about a copay I knew I had paid? Well, I wound up paying them, again. Only because I didn’t want some stupid $25 bill to show up on our credit report. However, I continued to argue that it was already paid. And, guess what?

Jackie should be coming up for lunch, soon. I’m going to heat something up, and hang out with her, while she’s on her lunch break. I hope everyone is having as beautiful a day as I am!

You can’t ever break up with him. They’re like, best friends now!

Jackie just sent me these videos she took, from Saturday night. 😂

I swear, when we look through pictures, it looks like ALL we do is have fun!

~Thompson Square

When Adam first started to “pursue” me, I was very resistant to his efforts. Not in a mean way. I just wasn’t looking for a relationship. I honestly believed he wanted to have sex with me, and then he’d disappear. I wasn’t that kind of girl. He patiently stuck around. He’d bring movies and pizza over, to my place. He would play with my hair, while I laid on his shoulder. After months of having him consistently show up for me, I decided maybe I would like to kiss him? We were hanging out at his house. Jackie was there, with her boyfriend. We had a few other friends there, too. I walked away, to go get something, and Adam followed me. As soon as we were out of sight, I put my arms around his neck, and I kissed him. He asked me to stay the night with him, but I wasn’t ready for that. I think, in my mind, I still thought he would disappear, if I slept with him. Days later, I was drugged and raped, by an old coworker. Jackie and Adam were the first people to show up. Jackie stayed with me, in my townhouse. The one I was so proud to have gotten for myself. Adam brought me food. He worked on my car, changing the brakes, for me. He never tried to pressure me. I can’t predict what might’ve happened, had things not played out just the way they did. His buddies have suggested that Adam was attracted to the fact that I wouldn’t have sex, for so long. He wasn’t used to being turned down. Adam insists, he would’ve fallen in love, even if I’d have given in right away.

I cannot begin to imagine what my life would look like, without Adam. This man, who I repeatedly pushed away, is the love of my life. This man, who I “wasn’t interested in”, is my favorite person in the whole world. I’m so very grateful, that he saw something in me. Something that kept him coming back. The other day, I asked him when he knew he wanted to marry me? He told me he knew very quickly.

One day, he told me he was helping a friend move, but had actually taken Jackie and my sister, to help him pick out my engagement ring. We had been together for about a year, at that point. He spoke with my dad, before he popped the question. He asked me in front of my whole family. I honestly can’t remember what he said, but he got down on one knee, and nervously asked me to marry him. I cried, and said, “OF COURSE!” We were legally married, a month later. We’ve been “church married”, for 12 years, on March 26th.

We never told our family about our legal marriage, and we fully intended to give them a “real” wedding. Life happened, and we didn’t get it done, until 2 years later. Adam’s dad had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. We wanted to make sure he was a part of our wedding. We planned everything, in just two and a half months. Warp speeded our whole wedding. Adam’s dad passed away the day before we were married, though. He made us promise to go through with our wedding, no matter what happened. We did. It’s a very very bittersweet memory. We didn’t go on our honeymoon. The day after our wedding, we began to make the arrangements for his father’s funeral. I’m glad we followed through, and got “church married”, despite all of the sadness around it. Saying our vows, in front of our family, friends, and God, is something we’ve taken very seriously. That is also when I took Adam’s last name. We didn’t realize what that would later mean to us, at the time, but it’s a big deal. We both began to seek out a relationship with Christ, shortly after all of this. Adam’s dad helped both of us to facilitate a real relationship, with God. I so wish his dad could see our babies. I wish that Adam could have that man still in his life, too.

We have been through so many challenges, but so many more blessings. I truly grow an even deeper bond, with Adam, as every new year, together, passes by. It’s funny, sometimes I miss our “youth”, but I also wouldn’t ever want to go back in time, because I know the progress we’ve made. We’ve overcome so much, together. We’ve celebrated so many successes, together. We really are each other’s “better half”.