FEEL GOOD FRIDAY!!!!!

Hosted by: Erika, the girl next door grows up

Welcome to

Feel Good Friday!!!

Erika had found that a lot of her bloggy friends reading posts about being positive, so she thought she might try her very own meme. She just wanted everyone to feel good and have some happy thoughts as you begin the weekend.  Go over to her blog for the details.

First I have to set the record straight, tee hee, last week I won an award that required 

as a condition of my acceptance of this adorable award, I have to share five things about myself.

In those five things, four must be partially fictitious, or enhanced realities (read - kinda true, but kinda not), and then one full factoid. 

1. My children are all named after famous people.

2. I won a Beauty Pageant.

3. I am an only child.

4.I used to walk 2-3 miles everyday and lost almost 80 pounds in one year.

5.I married my swim coach.

Well here are the answers:

1. My children are all named after famous people.

Sometimes it comes down to how you define famous.

Kristopher Scot - was named after Kris Kristofferson (love the movie A Star Is Born) and his middle name is the same as his dad's who is pretty famous in this house.  We went with a more traditional spelling of his first name.

Katherine Louise - was named after my maternal grandmother who was quite famous in her day in her hometown for her wonderful sewing talent and running a restaurant.  Plus I loved Katharine Heburn. Her middle name comes from her Aunt who is quite famous in our family.

Elizabeth Wendy - was named for both her grandmothers, but my mother Elizabeth was named after the Queen, and Jeff's mother Wendy, well who can forget Wendy in Peter Pan.

Jaymeson Boness - was named after both his grandfather's who were named James, but we went with the unconventional spelling like Bartels & Jaymes wine coolers.  His middle name is my maiden name, so he is truly named after both his grandfathers.

2. I won a Beauty Pageant.

I was 2nd runner-up in the Miss Columbus, Wisconsin pageant in 1979.  

3. I am an only child.

My sister is about 13 years older than me and my brother about 11 years older than me. So I was almost raised as an only child. They both used to tell me I was adopted, but my mother always said "if you were adopted I would have sent you back a long time ago."  Guess I was not an easy child to raise so late in her life. lol.

4.I used to walk 2-3 miles everyday and lost almost 80 pounds in one year.

This is the true one!!! In 1999/2000, I really got into walking, Jeff and I would walk with another couple religiously every evening or sometimes early in the morning.  The morning of my accident in 2001, I weighed myself and was less than 1/2 pound away from my goal of losing 80 pounds.  What a difference a day makes, being unable to walk anything more than very short distances, I have gained it all back and probably more.  I never look at the numbers on the scale anymore.

5.I married my swim coach.

Imagine my surprise, when finding an old scrapbook one day and finding a card stating I had passed Beginning Swimming and Jeff's name was signed on the back.  He is 4 years older than me and a much better swimmer than I ever was.

What made me Feel Good this week!!!

Well this is a total Mom moment.  I love all my children equally, but when the youngest starts doing on the things for the last time it is so hard.  Those of you with young children, take my advice, take lots of pictures, treasure each moment, they grow into adults in the blink of an eye.

Last week, it was the last parent night for basketball.  This week it was the last Senior night for basketball and Jayme even made the county newspaper.  

Fall River’s Jayme Caswell
goes for the block on this shot by
Abundant Life’s Jordan Rockwell (30).

From the Daily Citizen:

FALL RIVER – Dexter Oelke and Jayme Caswell are Fall River’s lone seniors. The two used the night set aside in their honor to spark the Pirates to a 73-46 rout of Madison Abundant Life in Southern Trailways action on Tuesday.

Oelke, a 5-foot-11 guard who last week surpassed the 1,000-point plateau, poured in a game-high 22 points. Caswell, a 6-5 center, scored only one-point but pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds and was a presence in the lane all night.

This was just one proud mom moment. It bought tears to my eyes as he was presented with this plaque.  My youngest daughter leaned over and said "save the tears for graduation."  Oh my, the flood gates will surely open then.

I am proud of each of my children, they have each excelled in different ways and all have promising futures.  It just when it's the last one, it's different.  

When I had my accident the older three children were all scared by the tubes, wires and machines hooked to me while lying in that hospital bed.  They were afraid to even touch me.  Not Jayme, he was about 8 years old, he crawled right into that bed with me, moved my arm so that it was around him and snuggled right up next to me and whispered, "Don't worry Mom, you are going to be o.k." and he stayed right there for the whole entire visit.  I don't remember much about those days, I think God helps us forget the pain and the bad days.  But He made sure those moments were not only ingrained in my brain but written in my heart.

In the past ten years my children and many others have added more special moments there too.  I just have the problem of thinking at each great event how grateful I am to still be here to share these moments so the tears generally flow.  Let's see Kaden starts school in about 18 months, then the proud Grandma school moments start. I can hardly wait!

That's what makes me Feel Good, 

I can't wait to read about what made you

Feel Good this week!!