One Frightening Moment

We pull up to a parking spot at our regular HEB. Not too many cars are out in the lot since it's only about 8:30 in the morning. I get out, get Cooper out and while he is standing next to me, an older man (I would say gentleman, but he proved otherwise very quickly....he does not deserve that title) walked by commenting on how cute Cooper was. At that moment I was lifting Aubrey out of her seat and he said "Oh, two cute children." I politely say "Thank You" and turn back to my business of preparing to enter the store.

Just as I was closing the door, the man began talking to me again. He was apparently parked in front of us in the older, 70 model light green Ford work truck. You know, the ones with tool boxes on the sides. I look in his direction as he begins talking to me and see that he has a bicycle helmet out and is saying something to me to the effect of asking for my help with mechanical stuff because his truck....blah blah blah. That is honestly what I heard, because I could not believe what was happening.

Here I am, holding two young children dressed in mom shorts and an old t-shirt, hair pulled up in a pony tail, no makeup on, and he's attempting to lure me to his truck to ask some mechanical advice! I'm pretty sure I did NOT give off the vibe that I knew anything about cars or how they work.

On a side note, let me just say that I have saved the day in our house before by my random thoughts of how something might get fixed on the vehicle...Randell will probably never admit that, but it's true. ALTHOUGH...I know nothing "technically" about vehicles....period!

So, I again politely, but firmly now say "I won't be able to help you, although there are plenty of HEB employees inside that are men that would be able to help you." I then grab Cooper's hand, turn around and begin walking into the store. I hear him behind me say "I'm sorry to inconvenience you" in a sarcastic tone. At this point I figure that I've blown this guy off and to not worry with him anymore, other than to tell the HEB manager that this guy needs to be watched.

Fast forward to me checking out. The manager that I told about this guy begins bagging my groceries. When she is finished, she says that she will have a bagger walk out with me. I look at her amazed that this guy is still outside and that he's still acting odd. At first I started to decline the bagger....after her insistence though, I agreed and I am glad that I did.

We walk out to see two guys at the this truck, both looking very shady. Appearance is everything in this....these guys screamed CREEPS from the get-go. I load the kids up all the while these guys truck miraculously begins working again (surprise!). The HEB employee and I then look over to the other door to the store and see that 4 managers are watching, even glaring at these guys along with 2 managers at the other door, the one that we had just walked out of. I have to admit that I feel very blessed that this is our regular store because, well, yes.....they knew me! And most of them know that I am a former HEB employee, not that that makes any difference other than that I feel comfortable trusting them in a moment like this.

As I start the vehicle, the managers confront the two men. As I am backing up, the first man who had spoken to me walks over to his side of the truck, glares at me and STARES at the license plate. I'm guessing that the managers made it clear that they were not welcome on their property anymore. I am waiting in the right turn lane to leave the HEB area and head home while the truck pulls into the left lane. After I turn and begin driving, I glance in the mirror to see them abruptly change their direction to follow me. I was able to lose the truck for a bit so I decided to pull into a firestation and see if these guys were coming my way. As I saw them pass in the opposite direction of where I was, I felt myself begin to shake. Thankfully I had lost them. I'm not sure what their intentions were, but I am glad that I never had to find out.

While I drove to switch vehicles with Randell, since we didn't want them to see me in the Tahoo anymore today, just in case, I had a flood of emotions.

HOW DARE someone feel that they have a right to place fear into someone just so they can feel powerful. HOW DARE they come to where I feel safe, comfortable, and secure and take that away just because they are CREEPS! HOW DARE they mess with anyone, let alone a mother of two small children that would die for her child's safety.

I've worked through a lot of emotions today, a big one being FEAR. I know these guys have no clue where I live, but tonight might just be a hard night for me get some sleep because my security has been shaken today.

Please pray for me.

Life is Good and God is Great.

To Tag or Not To Tag

It has happened....the annoying teenage (or tweenage) taggers have made it back into our neighborhood. While this normally wouldn't bother me before having children, now I look at tagging on a whole new level. I think it's trashy, disrespectful and when left up can make a neighborhood look and feel unsafe. It's amazing how a little bit of spray paint can bring up all of these feelings.

So, this morning I was on a walk with the kids when we saw a lady on the main street of our neighborhood scrubbing her fence. Apparently last night a 13ish yr old boy tagged her fence and her neighbors fence. She was irate! Swearing that WHEN this "punk" gets caught, he will be going to jail for all of the damage he has done. Now, in my mind I thought....really, must we use our tax dollars to pay for yet ANOTHER punk kid to be in juvy just because his parents have no desire to know where he is or what he is doing? Instead let's find a better punishment.

I am seriously contemplating printing up this flier and putting it on everyone's door in our neighborhood.

To the Disrespectful Taggers and his Ignorant Parents:

It seems as though your child's artistic ability has been ignored and over looked. While you, the parent, are doing who knows what, your child has decided to take his "art" to the streets. This would not bother the general public as much if it was done in a tactful manner such as in an art studio, for charity, etc. Since it seems as though your child has no concern for the amount of money a new fence costs or the amount of time and labor it takes to repaint, scrub, or pressure wash a fence, I have come up with a sensible conclusion to this matter.

First and foremost, we the neighbors who live in this neighborhood will now be on the look out for YOUR child. WHEN (not if, but when) your child is caught we will of course make sure to have this issue documented. At that point, we will then take matters into our own hands. There will be no "juvy" time for your teen (or tween), instead you will be able to watch as we destroy YOUR fence, house, grass, or whatever else your child has managed to damage while on his "tagging episode." Then, both you and your teen will be supervised in cleaning not only the damage to your residence BUT also the damage to everyone's house, fence, etc that is from the hands of your child. If it wasn't your child who tagged a particular fence, that's okay, they can still clean it.

Let this be a lesson to those out there....if it's not your property then LEAVE IT ALONE!

What do you think? Too harsh? I mean it's got to be better than the slap on the hand the cops seem to do with the taggers these days.

Life is Good, God is Great.

Fun in the Sun

Fun in the Sun.....and water.....and SAND! Sand everywhere! That's right, we went down to the beach earlier this month and had a blast.

Cooper enjoyed playing in the sand and swimming in the "pool" area of the bay. He was not a fan of the waves and would NOT even put a toe where they would come up to. While we were swimming in the "pool" area of the bay, Cooper was jumping off the wall into my arms. At one point I was putting him back on the wall, and a crab swam up between me and the wall. Now, this was not one of those little crabs that scurries along the sand. No, no....this was a BIG crab! It was technically not "scary", although I had a reaction of shock which sent Cooper into hysterics! He had no desire to jump back into that area.

On top of this incident, he was the target of a seagull's poo....we tried to not make a big deal of it, but it was pretty darn funny. Soon after this, Randell found some baby shrimps and went to put them into the mote that they had built in the sand. Cooper, who had already been through an eventful day, was not too excited about seeing shrimp.

All in all though, Cooper enjoyed his time at the beach. Even Aubrey loved the sand, water, and sun. I hope you enjoy the pictures , check them out by clicking on the link to your right.

Life is Good, God is Great