The MAYONNAISE JAR and 2 CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the Empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are
important to you.

So...
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked".

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

First day!

Well we survived our first day of school! Ashlee is now in high school, she took off this morning before I could get a picture, but she was so nervous last night she couldn't go to sleep lol. I was able to wrangle Ayanna long enough for a picture. The green tag tells the teacher what bus she's supposed to be on. She didn't want to wear it because "it didn't match" LOL

I can't believe its been 6 years

I can believe "Baby Butter" would be 6 years old! He was born August 1, 2001. Of course I always think about him this time of year but this year has been a little different. I've heard of 2 other SIDS deaths within the last few weeks. So its made me think about him even more. Man how my life would be different! I'm posting the pencil drawing that was printed on his program. This picture still amazes me. There's a story behind it as well :). My sister, Becky, who was my ROCK during that time was with me at the funeral home making the arrangements. The woman helping us left for a minute and then came back with a picture. She said "I think I'm supposed to give this to you." My sister and I immediately started crying. I SWEAR the baby in the picture was Butter! So she gave it to me and I had it framed. She also copied it and reduced it down so it could go on the program. It wasn't just us though, EVERYONE that saw this picture asked me who drew Butter's picture for me. Its still amazing

Oh and so those that DON'T know me dont' think I'm a nut case and named my son "Butter" :) my daughter, Ayanna, was 4 at the time and couldn't say "brother" so she said "thats my baby butter". So he was and always will be "Butter". His real name is Vinson Lewis Curtis, Jr. but that was too big of a name for such a little boy :)

New man of the house!

Here's the new man of the house! This is Domino. He's about 4 months old and as crazy as they come. He still hasn't figured out the cat in the mirror is him. I think he has brain damage from all the flying leaps he's taken off my bed head-first into the mirror. Only to bounce off and land with a thud ... he a little off but we like 'em that way :)

Museums Museums Museums

So one thing I love about Houston is there's ALWAYS something to do (no matter WHAT my children say). This past Saturday was District Museum Day. There is a museum district downtown FULL of .. well Museums. Anyway, one day a year they are all FREE!! Which is awesome because some of them are pretty expensive to get in! They also have a free bus that shuttles between them. We weren't able to go last year so we've been waiting a whole year to go! The girls had a good time despite being hungry, humid and tired :)

She gets her looks from her Mama

So I went to download the museum pictures off my camera and low and behold I found about 10 pictures of Ayanna ... taken by ... Ayanna. This is my favorite

You say Monsoon ... we say Hurricane

So Karen Sue posted a blog about Monsoons ... it made me laugh. Monsoon ???? I WISH ... try a HURRICANE on for size! Yes Dean was headed right for us ... but thank goodness he decided to visit someone else. While I feel really sorry for the people that received his visit .. i am VERY thankful he didn't come to Texas. He hit Mexico as a category 5 with 165mph winds. I can't even imagine the devastation! We had lots of rain last week and flooding in many parts of Houston but luckily I'm far enough Northwest that we didn't get the flooding, just the rain which brings its girlfriend humidity!!

Of course we're not out of the woods yet, I'm sure there's a few more surprises this hurricane season. Just keeping our fingers crossed we don't have a Katrina & Rita repeat from 2005. That was quite the "Welcome to Texas"!!

Here's a picture of what we went through in 2005 when we tried to evacuate. We were right in the middle of this traffic for 10 hours with no A/C

Woo Hoo we're BLOGGIN' now

So for my first post I was thinking I should do something really clever and funny ... but I couldn't think of anything so ......

WOO HOO WE'RE BLOGGIN NOW!!

Watch this space for further developments .....