tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:45:18 +0000http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))Blogger508125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-5603487270436723638Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:00 +00002009-11-02T09:33:27.402-06:00Happy November Tooth!I promised you pictures but then the weekend sortof took on a life of its own and before I knew it, Sunday night had arrived and there were no pictures edited to post for y'all. Phooey.Good news is there are even more pictures to post now because I took about a zillion Saturday night and my Dad sent me a zillion more that he and my Mom took while we were at the beach so now http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/11/this-is-not-what-i-promised-you-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-298119987344661829Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:29:00 +00002009-10-30T11:42:25.868-05:00I got the sweetest email yesterday from Cheryl, a reader and friend, checking in on me. Got two other genuinely lovely (and funny!) little epistles last week and just Wednesday the sweet girls at Blogher Ads sent me a you-haven't-updated-in-two-weeks form letter that was worded so kindly and understandingly and thoughtfully that I actually WELLED UP a little when I read it. It's been two weeks http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunshine-come-on-back-another-day-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-6908004110648664151Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:46:00 +00002009-10-12T09:12:33.437-05:00I am not kidding people: I threw a couple of handfuls of dry Cheerios on the rug in front of the TV this morning and watched the kids eat 'em, one by one. Yep, there ya go! Breakfast! It has been, to say the least, an interesting few days.Y'all can subscribe to FriedOkra's feed here.http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/10/life-through-my-roseola-colored-glasses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-6609813259132032871Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:09:00 +00002009-09-30T11:26:29.930-05:00We're doing a little better today! Thanks for your well-wishes.I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago for 5 Minutes for Parenting. I forgot to link it here that day, but it seems a perfect reflection for this week. Hope y'all enjoy it.-------This Is HomeAs I sit at my desk in the stillness of this Sunday night after a busy, active weekend for our family, I imagine the front of our home as a http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-is-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-4945971978626629862Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:23:00 +00002009-09-30T11:25:34.464-05:00So. Hi. It's been awhile I know but we're all still here alive and kickin'. Fall's settling over the prairie in just that soft, gentle, quiet way it does every year this time and the FriedOkra family's also settling in - into a different rhythm that's a little busier, yet busy with activities of the cozier and comfier variety, so it seems like we're speeding up but slowing down, all at the http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/autumn-and-rudimentary-mother.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-5737973521615210139Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:05:00 +00002009-09-17T13:39:05.880-05:00My neighbor's kid is here eatin' again. Yep, I mean Okwa Boy. Whom we here at FriedOkra Manor all call Bubba, much to his family's chagrin. But that is another story for another day.Between Bubba, Bean and Peabody, they just polished off an entire can of Spam. Just the three of them! People, there's a LOT of Spam in a Spam-can. Now at first, Bubba did do his parents proud by makin' all the http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/now-im-not-sayin-which-one-of-em-ate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-8900452445513135995Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +00002009-09-16T07:47:49.783-05:00It's what you have to do, you know. It's what you have to do the week you send your very grown up all of a sudden little girl back to school for her second year, and she doesn't need you to walk her in. It's what you have to do the day you met with an estate planning attorney (because your fear of not doing it has finally gotten stronger than your overwhelming sadness about having to do it)http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-so-i-do.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-8244630847651785854Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:06:00 +00002009-09-15T09:13:49.519-05:00This is Bean's old Halloween costume I was trying on Peabody to see if he could wear it Trick or Treating this year. I don't know, I was hoping for something a little more cute and a little less terrifying. What do y'all think?Y'all can subscribe to FriedOkra's feed here.http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/ferocious-alidocious.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-8274164682622639870Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:50:00 +00002009-09-15T09:05:43.180-05:00Mama: Since it's your first day of school and all, you get to pick: Do you want Peabody and me to walk you into school and help you get settled and give you hugs and kisses and stuff, or do you just want us to drop you off and let Ms. Linda walk you inside?Bean: MISS LINDA!Mama: Okay.Twenty-five minutes later, in the car.Mama: You know, Bean, Peabody and I wouldn't MIND walking you inside http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/mama-your-issues-are-showing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-1795182958293089433Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:21:00 +00002009-09-12T14:10:45.025-05:00Last Sunday we hosted a little Labor Day soiree at FriedOkra Manor.Since we are the PROUD! AND RIDICULOUSLY SMITTEN! AND COMPLETELY ADDICTED! new owners of an iMac, our party preparations included AN INSANE AMOUNT! A STUPIFYING QUANTITY! FREAKISH DURATIONS! of time using its extensive collection of nifty tools for locating, shuffling and sorting EVERY PIECE OF MUSIC EVER MADE, ANYWHERE to http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/desperado.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-779024312785242150Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:43:00 +00002009-09-10T17:50:54.918-05:00My neighbor's son is here havin' supper with us, spur of the moment. Rightthisveryminute.I had to share, though, immediately. It's that good.They sat down to their chicken nuggets and sliced berries and milk. Silence fell across the table as they took in the repast before them.And then:"Ms. Megan," Bubba asked, "You guys have any okwa?""Son," I replied reverently, "You have come to the right http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-then-i-quickly-emailed-neighbors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-7381220143731707495Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:34:00 +00002009-09-04T11:55:12.124-05:00I just wanted to say Thank y'all for all of the AWESOME advice and support and encouragement yesterday! We made it! I checked in periodically for your comments and they kept arriving like refreshing little drops of positivity all day long. Perfect!Peabody allowed himself to be coerced into taking not one but TWO naps during the day (Divine intervention, I'm telling you. DIVINE INTERVENTION!) http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/yall-are-wind-beneath-my-wings.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-2831103246359690067Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:05:00 +00002009-09-03T10:49:48.339-05:00I was up this morning with Peabody at 4:45 AM. For the DAY, people. Y'all know about Peabody's refusals to nap already so I won't go into long and boring detail, I'll just say that he doesn't nap, he gets over-tired, and his night-sleep (and mine) suffers greatly, which makes him more over-tired, which in turn keeps him from napping, and they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so onhttp://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/notes-to-mama-in-trenches.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-1424832163986048707Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:58:00 +00002009-09-01T12:41:08.077-05:00Up until that summer, I'd never lived alone, but now my young marriage was withering, I was separated from my husband, staring down the barrel of a divorce and living hours from my parents and sister. Apart from a few casual friends from work, I was on completely my own in metropolitan Atlanta. Returning to my hot apartment late in the day July 3rd I changed from my work suit into shorts and a http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/09/independence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-2447381172016402173Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +00002009-09-01T10:10:24.847-05:00I lay awake this morning in the whitening grey of first daylight. Another morning dawning, another jumbled morning of kisses and chaos and food chunks stuck to the bottoms of my feet and soggy diapers and James Taylor singing away from Al's iPod and a half-day of dressing and feeding and diaper-bag stuffing for a few errands that'll take 90 minutes, start to finish. Every morning I wake to the http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/dawn_27.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-2252554031467494937Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +00002009-08-24T07:43:27.607-05:00Bean, I asked, Can you look at the water for me? (This child is just her father in puffy sleeves and daisy sandals.)We trotted around town last Thursday with the camera, trying to capture some shots of the things we'll miss about the good old summertime out here on the prairie. Al and I say often, for these five months out of every year, Oh! So glorious! We will never-ever move away from herehttp://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/hanging-up-summer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-2800994943771590948Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:44:00 +00002009-08-20T08:12:29.814-05:00Have you ever noticed that when you're dieting, if you try to deny yourself that one thing your body's really craving (chocolate), you end up eating everything in the house to try and keep yourself away from that one thing (chocolate) and then, in the end, as you stand there in the kitchen burping up carrot and celery sticks, salami and cheese, rice cakes and peanut butter, dry colon-blow cereal http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/have-we-not-learned-anything-from-very.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-5317603546176453686Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:34:00 +00002009-08-17T11:50:15.905-05:00Shame we had to have such ugly children, we tease one another as we watch them.Yep. Sad, isn't it?And that they hate each other so much, too.Just breaks your heart.(Giggle.)Y'all can subscribe to FriedOkra's feed here.http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/dont-even-try-to-change-our-minds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-2475196166646156855Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:22:00 +00002009-08-13T16:14:15.333-05:00This is a confession.I am a bad person. A very, very bad person. The kind you walk around in a big, wide, suspicious circle way off into the grass if you have to pass me on the sidewalk. Maybe hold the children's hands and pull them in a little closer against you as I go by.I am evil. And rotten. I have a book I should've returned to the local library (Yes, the Butt-on-Horn library. That onehttp://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/this-is-not-book-review.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-5990720443124452370Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:30:00 +00002009-08-12T09:36:27.141-05:00"Grandma's gone to heaven," Al said, as he returned our kitchen phone to its cradle. My breath caught. The news of Carrie Bell's passing wasn't shocking, really, just my husband's delivery. Matter-of-fact, tearless, a slight hint of relief. A tiny little woman of eighty-four when I first met her five years ago, my mother-in-law had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease a few years earlier.http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/funeral-part-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-1307879156451196214Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:56:00 +00002009-08-11T08:28:57.290-05:00So Friday, Bee-bop asked me to straighten her hair. Which is much akin to her asking me to extract some of her teeth the old-fashioned way, because this kid would rather have me dig out her one-year molars with a rusty grapefruit spoon than touch her head, for any reason, including putting out a scalp fire or flicking off a rabid tarantula. Not that we've had to test that theory, mind you, I'm http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/just-remind-me-to-be-out-of-town-come.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-6568904600027643863Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:58:00 +00002009-08-10T10:05:29.412-05:00Peabody's definitely feelin' his one-year-old oats lately. He walks around behind his little Fisher Price convertible car/walker like Frankenstein's baby, those precious chubby legs clomping along awkwardly, him stoppin' from time to time to find my eyes, wait for my applause, grin, and wave a fat little hand high up in the air before he takes off again. He's also finally stopped shoving aside http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/when-life-doesnt-give-you-actual-lemons.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-4983331592346774530Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:12:00 +00002009-08-07T09:18:29.933-05:00Happy Birthday Peabody! Oh, my little boy, what magic you do to Mama with those big melty blue eyes of yours! The crazy, reckless joy I feel just being in your happy, star-brightened company is a spell I hope will never, ever be broken. One full year into our life together, you're a still a breath-taking wonder to me. Every single minute we spend together forces me re-draw the outer edges of http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-only-one.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-6119407121070731898Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +00002009-08-06T05:00:06.347-05:00So Friday, people. THIS FRIDAY. As in TOMORROW. Is Peabody's FIRST BIRTHDAY. I kno-o-ow! I can't believe it either. But here's the proof. I wrote this post a year ago today, and the very next day I wrote one about how tiny Peabody's little ears were. It's funny, because in the comments on the original post, many of you said, "Hope Peanut gets here soon, now that Nana's there," and by Jovehttp://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-all-this-happened-before-i-even.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143954823825826966.post-1039939942710977931Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:26:00 +00002009-08-05T12:58:47.339-05:00As part of our trip down to the homeland last month, we spent a couple days visiting my family in South Carolina. One morning as Mom and I wrapped up our morning, she suggested we go visit my grandparents at their home in the assisted living center about 10 miles away. To which I answered "WellIdunnoyouknowPeabodyhastotakeanapandIhaven'thadashowerandHEYLOOKATTHEBLOOMSONTHATMAGNOLIA!"Y'all? I http://friedokra4me.blogspot.com/2009/08/not-only-that-but-we-also-managed-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Megan (FriedOkra))17