Beautiful, beautiful....

I had the opportunity to visit Assateague Island Saturday night. I went with the family of a friend and it was an amazing time. We drove on the beach, set up for dinner, had a magnificent fire...but the highlight, the incredible highlight was the stars. An unimaginably beautiful blanket of stars stretching across the entire sky. Do you know the words "when I think of all the heavens, the moon and all the stars, I wonder what you ever saw in me" Who could look at the beauty of that sky and doubt the presence of the Creator? It was a WONDERFUL "end" to summer. I am very grateful for the evening....

Official First Day

Ok...last week was as projected. Lot's of meetings....some torturous, some....well....to me, all meetings are pretty tortuous. :) The good news is that both classrooms ARE set up...(I think that's why pushing to the end with my house is doubly hard) I actually know what I'm going to teach today...always good. We had some interesting things last week....Pam and Krissy went out of their way to make our transition back into the school year pleasant. The highlight was a luncheon served by Jimmy's Grille. Now THAT is a good welcome back. It is always a physical challenge for me at the beginning of the year.....it is physically exhausting....but that's ok. Boy, I just keep getting more and more boring....anyway, time to figure out what to wear for the first day of school. (It is fun to see how excited the kids are) My prayer request??? That I remember how incredibly precious each child is....Each one is "the world" to somebody and I need to appreciate that aspect and not get bogged down by the sheer numbers of kids. Ok....That's it....time for prayer, time to get dressed and get on the road. btw...last night, I dreamed I had a flying car....what is THAT about????????????????????????????????????????????

ah me......

Remember when you were little and it was the night before school started?? You probably had your clothes laid out, and you probably had your little notebook and little pencils ready and maybe a new lunchbox? Fastforward about 45 years or so and here we are...first day for teachers...not for kids. My clothes are NOT laid out...my classroom is totally still stuffed in boxes, I don't have a clue about how I could "decorate" it so that it could look different, but I guess I have a tiny tinge of excitement....just a little one. Because you see, it's a blank slate right now....kind of like that new box of crayons you used to have....and teachers get to reach in that box and pull out whatever color we want and start to draw amazing designs....I think we call that teaching. Yeah, soon enough, those crayons will loose their wrappers and some will break and definately the points will wear down, but right now they are still awfully pretty. It's that hope thing...or optimism or whatever you want to call it. It's knowing that pretty soon you will see excited faces of kiddos, be the recipient of all kinds of hugs; gooey and otherwise, have to wipe some tears and shove some moms out of the door, and see little faces that are maybe a little scared, some with an attitude (how DO they get like that so young)...anyway....the start of a new year. One week of setup, hopefully the meetings will not be too deadly and then off we go. Fall is my favorite time...so many delicious events and holidays to sing about. That's what we do best.

A Grand Adventure....

A "grand adventure" is really the highest compliment I can give an activity. By defination, a grand adventure usually involves traveling somewhere, sometimes in an unusual mode of travel, there is sometime a tiny bit of fear as it often an unknown place, there is usually good company and there is always a measure of delight. An example? When I visited Carlsbad caverns by myself. Traveling to somewhere unusual, on HIGH mountains, and seeing the most incredible caverns ever. That was an extreme grand adventure. Last summer, meeting Christy in JAX and driving to Key West was a grand adventure. Tonight was a grand adventure....I was driving down rt 50 in MY CONVERTIBLE with the full moon shining after having a wonderful dinner with a good friend. Grand adventures can be found in lots of places...you just have to be willing to recognize them. :)

NOW HEAR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY UTILITY ROOM IS FINISHED. Just in case you didn't hear me, MY UTILITY ROOM IS FINISHED. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I guess it looks pretty good...actually, next to my upstairs bathroom, it is the best looking room in my house. Says a lot for everything else, huh? I did a lousy job pounding the nails in the trim in the dining room. Very sad about that. Other than that, still working on shoveling OUT. Anybody have a backhoe I can borrow?????????????????????

The clock is ticking.........

tick tock, tick tock....oh my goodness. 1 week until I go back to school. 3 weeks until I have a house full of guests....i think if panic could reach through the tiredness and overwhelmedness, I'd be there. no time for that....You might wonder, what is WRONG with that woman and her house???? If you look up the word packrat in the dictionary, my name is listed as a defination. Add into that my school job "stuff", my church job "stuff", my "stuff" that I KNOW will be useful somewhere, somehow, all of my music stuff, ALL of my books...let me repeat that one...ALL OF MY BOOKS...and clothing in many different sizes...WELL.....welcome to my life. Oh yes, my ANY SOLDIER care pkg stuff which just got put into it's own cupboard...(that was a happy day) EXCEPT for the Christmas anysoldier stuff....that won't fit.....and there you have it. The good news is that the secret shop stuff went to church to live there...probably until the deacons find it....ok...that's enough. Time to get off my caboose, stop whining and GET BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ps....I've got a couple of extra keyboards...any takers???

not bad.....

Well....it was a good evening. We didn't end up in jail, the newspaper, or the hospital, so you know it was good! Just kidding. A lovely time was had by all at Mama Mia....quite a few sniffles during the pre wedding scene and then things broke out into some clapping and dancing. Topped off by Kahlua milkshakes....what could be better???????????????

Getting closer..........

Well...................I know EVERYONE is holding their breath, waiting to find out how my household projects are coming!!!!! THE FLOOR IS IN THE DINING ROOM. MARY L. IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an amazing woman. She has power tools and KNOWS how to use them. My aim today is to paint the dining room and finish up the utility room. Something isn't quite working in there and I can't put my finger on it. AND....... Is there anyone, anywhere brave enough to help me clean out my car??????????????????????