......................And another one bits the dust.

So I'm sitting here checking my e-mails and I get one from one of my Thursday night students and she has to drop out of class for financial reasons. That is two in one week. I will be so glad when the economy turns around, not just for us but for all of my friends that are having a hard time too.

Of course I take all of this personally, like what am I doing wrong with my classes. Why aren't they filling up.....you know, things like that. I just have to step back and realize that things are hard for everyone and painting classes are really a luxury not a necessity. For me they are my job, but not for others. Maybe in the spring things will get better. I'll keep trying until then, if they haven't picked up then I will have to rethink things.

Prayers and good thoughts coming out to my blogging buddies.

.......................What to write about?

Phil has told me that he thinks I need to write a book, no idea about what kind of book but just write one. So as I lay down at night I run all kind of ideas in my mind about what to write. You wouldn't believe all the ideas that come across my mind. Do I write from personal experiences? Do I write a fantasy? Romance? Drama? Comedy? I like the idea about a comedy, that is our family lifestyle I think.

Who knows, maybe I'll do it and maybe I won't.

I'm a little bummed tonight. My class that I'm teaching on Tuesday's in Hampstead is dwindling down week by week. It was a small class to begin with, one lady has doctor appointments on Tuesdays at the same time, one is moving up north, and now another one is going back to work. That just leaves me with one person in class. I really like Ms. Ruth and I don't want to let her down and quit the class, but it is a twenty minute drive to the center, twenty minute back and I only make 13 dollars off of her. Is it worth my time?

I know I'll keep going up there, but it is really discouraging to have my class get smaller and smaller. I would like for it to have at least 3 students each week, not just one. My Thursday night class is growing slowly, I hope it grows bigger because I only make a little over a hundred each four weeks from them. Boy oh boy, I sure do wish the economy would get better so the arts and crafts world would pick up.

Okay, I need to get ready for bed. night.

..................It's an alligator Mammaw, it's an alligator.

So I come home today to find Samantha ready to have a heart attack. I ask her what in the world is wrong and she proceeds to tell me that there is a lizard in her bathroom and I've got to get it out of there. I try not to laugh at her, she is pale and ready to faint, if that is possible for her. But I guess some fears just never go away.

Back when Samantha was 4 we had come home to visit Mom and spend the weekend. We drove over to Mom's beauty shop to get something and as we unlock the door and get ready to step inside Samantha starts screaming and crying telling her Mammaw that there is an alligator. She is trying to get away from the "alligator" and trips and falls trying to get in the door of the shop. Mom and I have no idea of what she is talking about until we see this little lizard on the stoop of the steps. Of course being the loving and nurturing adults that we are we both start laughing to the point that we are crying. Bless her little heart, she was really scared.

So, 19 years later, I find Samantha in a panic because there is another "alligator" in her bathroom. Before I know it she is standing on the toilet and is telling me that she is getting ready to throw up. I finally get her down, trying to be that nurturing person that she needs me to be, and get her to calm down. I walk into the kitchen and she starts screaming and jumping up and down. Now you have got to picture this 6 foot tall young woman acting like a 4 year old. So I grab a bowl and a lid and go into capture this "alligator' so that I can release it back into the wild.

She is standing in our little hallway pointing to a pink shirt and on it is this BIG AND HARRY LIZARD, NOT!!! A tiny little lizard no bigger than my pinkie is on her shirt and she is going crazy. So I chased it to the door and we opened the door and let it go to lizard freedom in our front yard. Her heart beat is now back to normal and once again I'm my little girl's hero. lol.lol.

.................Samantha and her balloons.

Our family moved to Wrightsville Beach the summer that Samantha turned 8, and we stayed there until she was in the 10th grade. She had many summers of walking over the the beach each day and spending her time in the water or laying in the sun with her girlfriends.

Samantha had a friend by the name of Dana that was a little bit more developed physically than Samantha was at the time. Dana had come over for the weekend and they decided to go to the beach and play for a while. Phil and I were downstairs working on the yard when all of a sudden Samantha and Dana came down the steps and Samantha was carrying the towels in front of her body. Phil looked at her and realized that something didn't look quite right about her so he called her over to him. As she got closer his eyes grew bigger.

There was another man standing there with us and Phil didn't want to embarrass her, but let's face it, there was no way to avoid that......Samantha had blown RED balloons up and had stuck them in the top of her bathing suit to make it look like she had breast. Phil told her that she needed to go back upstairs and let the air out before she went to the beach, and she turned around and did as he told her.

Over the years we have laughed and laughed about her doing this. First of all, they looked so big, that you knew they were not real. And then they were RED, and you could see them under the bathing suit top. What was she thinking? Walking over to the beach to jump and play and not expecting them to pop.

Let's just say that was the last time that she tried to make herself look bigger with balloons, toilet paper is a different story.

.................Samantha and the hearing impaired.

So Phil and I are out to dinner with a friend from out of town and we have having a nice quiet dinner when all of a sudden my phone starts to ring. I don't know the number and so I don't

answer it. Within a minute it is ringing again. Once again I hit ignore and don't answer. But when the phone rings for a third time I answer it, with an attitude because I'm thinking that it is a bill collector, when the man on the other end tries to explain to me that he is calling because he is with the relay service for those that can't talk. I proceed to tell him that he has the wrong number because I don't know anyone that would need that type of service....then he starts to talk to me as he is reading what is being typed to him. I hear "Mom, it's me, your daughter!!!" I'm thinking what? Then I proceed to tell him to type back to her that I'm going to kill her....and then I hang up.

Samantha's phone had been cut off and she wanted to tell me so that we could get her phone turned back on. So she decided to use her laptop, get in contact with the relay system and pretend that she can't talk and has them to call me. I wanted to kill her,but at the same time I'm proud of her for even thinking of doing something like this. What a girl.

.......................I've got to share some Samantha stories

My daughter is one of my biggest joys, she makes me laugh when I don't feel like laughing. I've just got to share some of her stories.

This picture is from a night when she and her daddy were watching a funny video on-line, they were laughing about it and then she started crying. Phil asked her what was wrong and she told him that she thought that she had messed up her teeth. We both asked her what she was talking about and she told us that she put super glue on the gap in between her teeth. WHAT? Yep, she put glue on her teeth trying to fill the gap in her teeth. She has been wanting to have her teeth fixed for a while now and since we can afford it she decided to try and fix her own teeth. I am happy to say that she got the glue off of her teeth and the gap is still there. Where does she come up with all of these ideas?

***************************I hate bill collectors.

Okay, I'm venting here, so bear with me. Do bill collectors really think they have the right to talk to people like they do. They always take every opportunity to put the person down. Do they really think that I enjoy not being able to pay my bills? Get real. Do they even bother to look at my past 1 rating for the past 30 years and then not get the idea that something major must have happened? Where do they get the right to talk to anyone like they are so high and mighty? It might be them one day in this position, and you know what........for the ones that call and talk that way to all of us that are facing the hardest times of our lives, I hope that one day they get to walk in our shoes. I pray for the day when I can pay everyone off, I'm believing that one day we will be out from this terrible nightmare we have been in for two years now and be able to lay down at night and not have "fear" as a bed pillow. I know that our lives are in God's hands........."fear" just refuses to leave. But I know that our release is coming......we will be able to walk with our heads held high again and not worry every time the phone rings. Life is hard enough without someone telling you what a bad person you are and how worthless you are. Why did I answer the phone?