our cold tuesday

It is soooo cold outside! On lunch today I HAD to get gas... and it felt like the wind cut right thru me like a knife... then I had to put air in my tire (I have one tire with a slow leak... I need new tires. Maybe this weekend!) After work I had to get some groceries... it was cold and dark and windy and miserable outside. Don't get me wrong- I am LOVING the cold! I am loving wearing my warm woolies! I have this beautiful embroidered sweatshirt that I got for Christmas last year - and never really had the opportunity to wear it in Florida. I wore it today OVER my work clothes because I can't stand to drive in a coat. I had another really thick warm hoodie that I had given to Austin to wear and the goofball lost it at school today.

Austin is in a great mood today because he has FINALLY connected with his second cousin, Devin. He and Devin have been "best cousins" since they were little bitty. Devin was a part of my calculus in deciding to move up here... and then we were not able to get in touch with him or his parents. After running into them on Sunday, Devin and Austin have been able to talk on the phone and Devin is coming to spend the night on Friday night. Finally! Austin can have spend the night company without me having to worry about what kind of family the kid comes from! Devin's dad is my cousin Kevin... my mom and Kevin's mom are sisters... and we were raised fairly close with them. I'm happy for Austin.

I was able to connect with someone today as well. It was odd. I was having one of those mornings where I just didn't have my act together. My hair wasn't doing what I wanted it to... I couldn't decide what to wear... I started getting ready later than usual... just all kind of stuff. I didn't want Austin to ride the bus because it was so cold outside - but then I really didn't have time to take him to school (and had to)... I just was completely off from my normal schedule.

Sidebar: we saw the funniest thing on the way to Austin's school this morning! There are deer all over the place here... and lots of deer vs. vehicle accidents... I've seen a couple while driving and it scares me a little bit when I see them because I'm always afraid that I'll hit the one I see or that there will be others following the one I see that I don't see! Anyways... we saw a deer on the side of the road and I PROMISE YOU... this deer actually STOPPED at the edge of the road and looked both ways before crossing the road! It cracked me up! I would have thought I was imagining things if Austin hadn't seen it too. We both gasped and started laughing.

So I dropped Austin off at school and realized that I had not eaten anything. I used to be able to skip breakfast without a problem but the meds I take in the morning now make me feel a little icky if I haven't eaten. There is really NOWHERE to stop and grab something to eat on the way to my office. When I tell you it's all farmland... I'm not exaggerating. I pass about four gas stations on the way to the office but there is not a single restaurant that serves breakfast. There is only one restaurant at all and they don't open until lunch. The ONE place I know I can get something to eat in the morning is the BP Station - they have homemade biscuits for sale. They aren't the best biscuits... but they're better than McDonalds.

At any rate... I stopped at the BP and bought a biscuit and a banana. I paid and went outside to my car and when I was about to pull away I noticed that the cashier had followed me out. She said, "did you used to live in Jonesboro?" (keep in mind that Jonesboro is about a two hour drive south of where we are) "yes!" she said, "Are you Cody's mom?" "YES!!!" and then I recognized her - her son had played tball with Cody back in 1997 when his team was one of the best in the state. We played SOOOO many ballgames that year and spent way too much time together! The last I had heard about this woman she had developed a drug habit and was in bad shape. Today she looked good... looked healthy and (other than working at a BP station) seemed like she was doing well. I had to show her Cody's prom picture and she had to run back in the store to get her son's prom picture to show off as well. Her son is also named Cody. She's involved in church and some community programs and she was really excited see me.

It's weird... the other day I was praying about finding more connections here and just in the past three days Austin has reconnected with his cousin and I have connected with an old acquaintance.

Some other notable things:
I had a client come in today who has a chicken farm. He was describing his farm equipment to me and ... honestly... I just didn't get it. He was talking about a "spreader" and I confessed to being a city girl and said I didn't know what that was. It's the machinery that picks the chicken poop up off the ground and then they take and spread it out to use as fertilizer. He said, "it's grows the best alfalfa you've ever seen". I was cracking up! He invited me out to the farm so he could show me how it all comes together and I'm thinking I might just take him up on it. (and before y'all go match-making - this guy has been married 27 years, he's just an old country boy who was being nice).

I got child support today! Woohoo! Now I can *just maybe* catch up my bills for the rest of the month.

I still haven't sold any commissionable products this months and that has me really bummed out... but other than that, life is good...