The irony of an Iris

Today was a great day - I had been monitoring my irises for days now and one of them finally opened up!  I was so excited!  

All my life, my Granny loved her flowers.  I can remember, clearly, walking into her house to visit and her first words being, "Did you see my irises are bloomed?"  Of course, depending on what flower was bloomed, you can substitute "irises" for magic lilies, Sweet Williams, 4 o'clocks, buttercups, or her lilac bush.  She loved her flowers!  I was never "into" flowers until I started to get older...and she started to get in worse health.  I knew that her flowers meant a lot to her, and therefore, that meant a lot to me.  Leah & I would pick some and take inside for her and she would tell us to put them in some water and then she'd smell them and her face would light up.   

As she got older, she wasn't able to tend to her flowers the way she used to.  The weeds began to over take most of them and they didn't bloom like they once had.  One year, Brad and I pulled up weeds out of her flowers for Mother's Day.  It was a job!  

After I got married, had Leah, and got our first home, I knew that I wanted some of her flowers.  I never got them, however, because I didn't want to have to move them (or leave them) when we moved again.  We knew that we wouldn't be in our "starter home" forever.  Those years, waiting to upgrade to a bigger home were filled with some heartache.  We lost two babies, and I lost my sweet, beloved Granny...After she passed away, I had Logan a couple weeks later, and a year after that, we started building our current home.   I knew that I wanted some of her flowers as soon as possible.

Last year, I finally got some of her irises.  It was a dreary, rainy day - much like the weather we've had lately, and I was a mess by the time I got some of them up and bagged.   I planted them in the back yard and have monitored them ever since.  At first, I was scared that they wouldn't live.  They shriveled up and turned brown and disappeared.  This Spring, however, I noticed little sprouts of green peeking through the ground!  They lived!  They have grown so quickly!   

The other day, I noticed that they had little bud type things on them and that they were going to have flowers soon!!!  I have been taking pictures of their progress. 

Today, I looked out, and there was one beautiful, purple iris opened up!  

I am so happy about my flowers...they used to be just that, flowers, but after I lost my Granny, they become more than that to me...they are a way to help her live on, to me.  Something that she loved her whole life and treasured, now grows in my back yard!!!

Yesterday, I got to thinking about the iris that was so close to blooming.  It was all wrapped up tight and I knew it was just a matter of time before it opened up and bloomed into something beautiful.   To me,  it is sort of like my Granny, in a sense.  She was wrapped up tight with her arthritis for most of her life.  She was plagued by pain and aches.  She was wrapped up tight in the aches and pains of her life, but in the end, I know that she blossomed into a beautiful thing the moment she passed away and entered Heaven.  A beautiful ending for a beautiful and special person...

You might not, but I find it ironic that something as simple as an iris can make me feel like a part of my Granny is still with me.  The thing that she loved so much in her life is now a part of my life.  I truly feel so blessed to have her irises and lilacs growing in my back yard and I can't wait for more of them to bloom!!!   

That Erin...she's, like, SOOO random

Sometimes I have thoughts running through my head and they won't go away until I release them!  That is the purpose of this blog - to release the thoughts from my head, so that my head may be filled with more random thoughts! 

I am working my little heart out trying to get ready for our yard sale on Saturday.  Brad commented, this morning, that Jason might be able to go to Haiti and back two or three times with the amount of stuff I have to sell.  I sure hope that most of it sells, cause I don't want to have to fool with gathering it back up!  

The rain is annoying.  It has rained...and rained...and rained...and rained...and yes, I could continue writing, and rained, a lot more, but I won't.   Rain is good, every now and then.  The whole month of April seems to have been wet, though, and I am tired of it!  Do you hear me weather???  BIG MAMA is tired of the RAIN!  My day lilies are HUGE and I need to dig them up and separate them.  I don't know where I will plant the ones that I dig up but I'll figure something out.   I want to add a little stone border around my irises in the back yard now that I know they are alive and well!  I want to buy some little pots and put flowers in them.  I want to make my house pretty with colorful flowers...that is hard to do when it RAINS so much.  

I sent Flat Stanley back today. 

My back hurts.  I don't know what has happened.  Perhaps I am sleeping strangely at night?  I don't know.  My sciatic nerve has been giving me fits, especially when I'm sitting down, and when I am driving.  Driving to camp was torture and it hurt so bad.  Mr Chiropractor said that everything in my lower back was "all jammed up" and asked me if I had been in a car accident or anything since I was there last.  Negative Mr Chiro.  

Logan is in an eating mood today.  He has eat two pop-tarts, a Popsicle, a big bowl of SpaghettiO's, and I'm pretty sure he had something else.  He's standing here, now, asking for more food.  He's a little dude, where's all that food go???

Caterpillars are great entertainment for the kids.  They played with their caterpillars yesterday, for hours!  They even named them.  Logan's are named:  Billy, Ana, Jason, and Jordan.  Although I'm pretty sure that he came in the house yesterday and told me that he had to stomp Ana because she died and her body was broken.  Leah's are named:  Princess, Billy Bob, Baby Bob, and McKenzie.  Fancy names for them there caterpillars.  

I like the Katy Perry song, E.T.  It is my fave song right now.  I like the beat.  I'm all about the beats.  Maybe not, but it sounded good.

In February, I had a dude come to look at our broken couch (a reclining sofa, oohh fancy name).  He said he'd order the part and fix it.  It is now the end of  April and no word from him.  I called once and talked to some foreign chick - that was a pointless call.  Called back yesterday and talked to some guy who said he didn't know why it wasn't here and he'd leave our paper work out and try to find out.  Thank you random guy on the phone.

I have decided that I am going to stop posting comments on people's pictures and status updates if they never comment on my pictures, like them, or post on my status updates.  I know I post a lot of updates, but if you don't like it, you can 1) block me 2) remove me from your friends list.   I know my kids are gorgeous, I don't need the confirmation from people but it is nice to know that people look through your pictures.  I try really hard to click *like* or comment on people's stuff.  That way they know that they aren't putting them up for no reason.  Plus, I really do enjoy looking at people's stuff.  I'm nosy like that.  However, there are certain people - that I shall not name in this blog - that I really don't care if they like any of my stuff or not!  So booyah!

Well...I guess that's about all I have for you now.  I am already preparing another blog in my head that I am going to write when my irises finally open up.  So stay tuned for that one.  Hope everyone is staying dry!!!

Erin...Out...

16 Girl Scouts, 4 Mamas, and some wasps

Well...another Girl Scout camping session was survived by everyone.  This was my 3rd camping experience.  The first two were troop camp and had the camp staff there.  Ms Maya got brave and took us camping on our own, no staff there to direct us, or cook for us, or plan activities for us.  And I must admit - it was quite a fun time!   The only negative was that we had really crappy weather.   Granted, it could have been worse, but the cool, damp air is not friends with my sinuses, and my hair rejects moisture like crazy!  I turn into a horribly frizzy mess when there is moisture outside.

This here is the results of moisture.  I went to camp with my hair pretty
and straight and woke up like this.  Thank you rain.

I think that the girls had a really good time!   I heard lots of laughing and enjoying each other.  I also heard lots of screams because the cabins all had wasps on the ceilings when we got there.   Kerensa and I got a good system going of smacking them down with a broom while the other person waited to whack them with the fly swatter.  I am pretty sure that, if there was a wasp killing patch for Girl Scouts, we would have earned it!

NEVER FEAR - Kerensa and Erin are here!!!

A big adventure for the girls was listening to them talk about having to use a latrine.   There was lots of talk about "squatting" and the such.  I think that, although the latrine wasn't pleasant to use, that all the girls were proud that they DID use it.   Just for future reference.  The camp latrine makes this sound when you pee in it:  pssssssss (that's the pee sound) and then, echo....when you poop in the latrine it makes this sound:  plop and then echo...LOL.

The lovely latrine 

Inside the latrine - it's not pretty folks, but it's better than wiping with leaves - LOL

The girls also got to man the fires and cook their own foods.  What a great experience and adventure for them!   I am not sure how much smoke I inhaled but I got pretty darn good and blowing on the fire to make it start back up again.   The packet chicken and taters was delightful, and I was so happy that Maya brought her Tastefully Simple garlic pepper seasoning!  Woot!  

Big Mama mans the chicken packets

Leah fries up a sausage on top of a can!

I know a lot of folks say that they couldn't go camping or don't do the "bugs" and things, but it really isn't that bad.  I look at it this way - it is an experience - for the parent AND the child.  Some of my favorite memories that Leah and I have in the last few years are from camp!  Even a couple years after we first went, the girls STILL talk about some of the stuff that happened.  The first year we were there, we saw a snake...all of us that were there still laugh about it.  Last year, we had a bat in our tent.  It was scary at the time, but even the scary things are memorable!  As long as you are making memories with your child and the other girls, it is all good!

Weather wasn't great, but there are still lots of smiles!

So here's to Girl Scout Camp!  The place that memories are made (hey, that sounded so good, I should get paid for it!  LOL)

Troop 637 is going hiking!

This is the wilderness, folks!