Hooray...

I am back. I am ok with being back. I KNOW everyone always thinks that they have the cutest grandchild, but I'm sorry to have to correct them...I DO! I DO, I DO, I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is soooooooooooooo cute, and sooooooooooooo funny. Such an absolute sweetie pie. Very busy, but not too much. He loves his toys, and he LOVES books...except sometimes he eats them. Not so good. He is content to sit and look at a book and if you read fast enough, well, he'll sit and listen. He does an fantastic George Bush laugh, which makes me laugh. My favorite part????? Chasing a naked little boy around the house trying to get him in his bath!!!!!! Soooooooooo funny.......The next favorite part was our trip to Savannah....it was COLD, COLD, COLD. A friend of Christy's from the Naval Academy, Chelsea, Chelsea's mom, Christy, Logan and I took on my old stomping grounds. I lived there in the early 80's when I played in the symphony and actually got married there. So...we did the waterfront, had lunch, walked around and then went to the Tea Room for afternoon tea. We had a hysterical time, but it wasn't due to the outstanding service or food....because the service and the food was NOT outstanding. But actually because of that, it just got funnier and funnier....kind of an expensive laugh, but very funny. Logan slept through most of it, then he woke up and HE thought everything was funny too...which then made us laugh even more. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...this is a whole bunch of babble, but it was fun and i'm back and I'm ok with being back. TTYL

Christmas eve....

Christmas eve has always been my favorite....the anticipation, the pretty presents under the tree....the sense of magic. No, I don't mean real magic....I mean magic magic....try to figure that one out. This Christmas eve I am a mixture of feelings...nervousness...I don't know why....very nervous. Some contentment....kind of at the last minute I decided to put up my tree and I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad I did...I even put it in my family room where I have NEVER put it before...but that is where I usually am, so that is where the tree is too. It is grand....it is right here in front of me and there are presents under it and it makes me happy. I also put up my santa snow scene, also in my family room and a couple of other things.....I am pleased. Believe it or not, I'm going to do a little more decorating today. TODAY???? What kind of insanity is this????? Well....it's been busy, and Matt and his gf are coming over for dinner before church and if I can go bonkers to decorate for a 25 minute show at school or church, I would think i can do a bit here for them. So....that is basically the scoop. I am glad it is Christmas eve....if you think of it, please pray for safe travel for me as I drive to bwi very early tomorrow morning....very, very early.....I am going to see Christy and family and my good friend is staying here while I am gone. Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas is coming.....

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do...if you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you. I am re-grouping....how MANY times have I said that? But, I am.....so....have a wonderful Christmas.....and it the words of Arnold....I'll be back. :)

a small testimony....

Well...yesterday, I was so stressed out with all of these shows coming up, I was ready to just throw up. It was bad. So, I made a list. All the loose ends...all the worries....all the "stuff". Then, this morning, I went through the list and prayed specifically for each item. I didn't necessarily "dictate" the desired answer...just giving them up to God. SO.....I started off at school today and the stress immediately built....due to a lot of scheduling issues, I didn't think it was going to be remotely possible to get this show ready for the 10th...including that I can't decorate the stage until the 9th. That just isn't enough time...to try to teach all my classes, and do rehearsals and get the stage set up. Miracle of miracles...I went to see the principal about a couple of other things and lo and behold, she is getting a sub for me on the 9th so I can have the whole day to get ready. THis is amazing....absolutely amazing. I would NEVER have asked for that....but this way I can be at school all day but concentrating totally on the show and getting the stage decorated. wahoo. God gave me immeasurably MORE than I would have considered asking for.....very, very humbling.

Guess what I just did????????? I just finished shredding all the stuff I had set aside to shred. How about that???? pretty pleased with myself...at least with that. Much to do in the morning...but I think I'll finish up a couple more things tonight. Who cares, right???????? Nobody...but I'm telling ya anyway. :)

a very good day...

Yesterday, Sunday, was a very good day. WHy??? Well....I'm not 100% sure....but church was good, I had lunch with some good friends, came home, took a nap!, worked on some things in the house and MADE SOME PROGRESS. 3 trashbags of shred and old magazines and envelopes etc. Pretty impressive, huh????? Personally, I was VERY impressed and just a little bit relieved...actually a lot relieved. So....I have to go...much to do before school and what the next few days hold in store....so.........ttyl.

back....

well...it's been almost a month since I've written....why? Because I quit...I gave up. finito. Discouragement, disillusionment, disapointment, detour......I think detour is the most important d word. I don't remember where I was a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't know where I was going (driving) and without knowing that precise location, it took me considerably longer than the folks who could picture where it was they were headed. DOes that sentence even remotely make sense? Well...this is the thing I'm hanging on to right now... I don't have a goal...I don't know where I'm going...and because of that, it is taking me considerably longer to get there. I'm trying hard to figure out a goal...then maybe I can get back on track. that's all for now.

On the road....

I am currently in the Charlotte NC airport and I even managed to score one of the rocking chairs near an outlet. I have 2 hours+ before my flight to JAX. I left Michigan this morning. Soo, the celebration of life service was yesterday. It was not a traditional service in the way we might have expected, but it was as Steve had requested. It was not without sadness of course....but my niece did an amazing job continually focusing things on happy memories. It was a day with some challenges. I had offered to organize and prepare etc. the food for the reception afterward and thankfully another lady was involved too. It was a lot of work , but I'm very glad I did it. Today I'm tired and I really wonder if my feet have it in them to walk all the way down to concourse b to Bo'Jangles chicken. :) My favorite thing at the charlotte airport. I don't know...I think the rocking chair might win out. I did see some noteworthy things on this first half of my trip. Michigan is in the midst of a beautiful fall. The trees are SO much prettier there than in Salisbury. It was crisp and beautiful. I saw a house made out of stone. Very interesting...round stones.....an old house made out of old stones. I saw deer eating apples in my mom's backyard. I saw me running through the Philly airport to make my flight. Yes, I did make it with about 1 minute to spare. I saw balloons being released in honor of my nephew in law. I saw my brother and his family rally around my niece in a wonderful fashion. Things I always wonder about when I travel. Do people REALLY want to share their phone conversations with me????? I'd be just as happy without that honor. Why do roller bags ALWAYS tip over backwards? WOuld it have been rude to have told the annoyingly perky flight attendant, that she was in fact ANNOYINGLY PERKY? (I did not. ) Have you ever noticed that when you travel, either all people look completely unfamiliar, or they all look like you know them from somewhere. I wonder WHY the lady I just saw, was pushing an empty baby stroller and was wearing black pants that looked like a wet suit...or perhaps liquid rubber, sprayed on. Whatever...I don't know where the baby went AND the rubber pants look on the mom was definately not a good look. I think I could make a career out of this. Sitting in the airport writing random things about people who walk by. Could be a market for it....as long I was didn't sucumb to total rudeness which is alway possible. Ok...that's it....ttyl

a song for the day...

OK...by now if you haven't figured it out I am extremely lazy and extremely side track able...i can get off on a tangent as easy as breath. BUT....today I am doing some cleaning and I decided to let myself just be my own happy scattered mess....do a little of this, a little of that...a little of whatever. THis is NOT good practice because you end up getting nothing done, but i think it will be ok today. NOW...in this cleaning, I made a discovery...well, actually, not a discovery, but I decided to do something about a problem. Many people worry about dust bunnies under their beds? That doesn't even cross my radar. MY problem is the dust bunnies on my ceiling!!!!! Yes, it's true. I have one of those icky popcorn finish ceilings and well...let me put it this way....one really doesn't need to go to the Carlsbad caverns to see stalagtites and stalagmites, cause, baby, I've got 'em here. So they inspired a bit of a song....just imagine a country tune.....

Dust bunnies on the ceiling, ai'nt no problem for me at all....
Dust bunnies on the ceiling, ya really can't see them if you're small
Dust bunnies on the ceiling make me wonder every day....
How'd they ever get up there, what will make them go away....

Oh dust bunnies on the ceiling.....they make it look like the paint is peeling...
but if you consider them a work of art....you'll accept they never will depart.....


Not my best effort, but mildly amusing.

Tuesday....Oct 6???

Yes, I am still here. Trying to stay on track is more than a notion for me. The good news is this...God is in His heaven which means all is right with the world. In my world, things are ok, but it occurred to me yesterday that I had lost track of part of my original goal....yes, the money moratorium was half, but that was prompted by me realizing that I have everything I need HERE in my house to do some significant transformation. So...I will attempt to make that my focus...AGAIN. I got a good start on my kitchen window view.....but to me the fun part is the part I've forgotten about or ignored.....I have STUFF, I have creativity, I have resources......that is what I need to focus on.....so.....what was that saying?????????? Oh yes.....press on. :)

BORING....

That's what I've been lately....just plain boring. Why?? Just so overwhelmed with school, church, planning, Salvation Army, personal stuff....not bad...I'M FINE. Just my mind is pretty full with getting through each day right now....and it is hard to look to other things. My current project is playing up, or finding or discovering the best features of my house. HA! No, I'm serious...so the one I started last weekend was the view out of my kitchen window and that is what i am still working on. Got the monster bush pretty much chopped down, but I need some extra hand to help move my swing so I hope I can get that taken care of in the next couple of weeks....I think my "easily correctable" will be a few minutes of attention to my side porch....I think a little rearranging and a little attention will make it someplace I can actually sit. This IS the perfect weather for it....ok...so there are a couple of little projects...I think I can do that. Maybe I'll draft some help for the side porch....might be fun.......we'll see.

did you know?????

did you know it IS possible to use a leaf blower in the house. WHY would someone WANT to do that??? I think I may hold a record for destroying vacuum cleaners....either that or they just break really easily. SO...............i was NOT delighted to see that my little 4 legged friend, Remy had totally shredded a basket of pinecones all over my living room carpet. I was extremely irritated and sweeping with a broom only does so much and I did NOT want to destroy my vacuum...SOOOOO....leaf blower to the rescue. Sort of.....yes, it did help, but it is kind of hard to direct the blowing aspect of it...:) I don't think i will do this on a regular basis, but I did blow off a little steam and sort of made things better. Funny, huh???

got er done...

Yup..."i done good" worked hard at the gym, did grocery shopping, went to church and did a little work, went to post office, came home...worked on chopping that dumb bush down which took a couple of hours, talked to my friends the Peipons via skype, cooked a turkey and now I AM POOPED. Supposed to go hear a concert tonight....snzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A busy day today...

Many things on my plate.....lets see if I can accomplish ANY of it.....first, gym, 2nd buy some stamps, 3rd chop down a bush...there is more....but if i can get those done, I'll feel it is a good accomplishment.....We'll see.

:)

First happy thing: Got to meet my little friend today at school. Can't tell you a lot on here, but the bottom line is her mom is serving in a far away very dangerous place. This little girl is new to our school and told her dad she wanted to learn to play guitar. He contacted me. I didn't really have anyone I could suggest he go to for lessons, and then...duh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could take part of my planning time here and meet with her here!!!! So we did. It was dandy. We played some guitar...her mom plays guitar she told me....we talked about dogs and brothers and visits to Maine. It was the best 1/2 hour I've spent at school in a long, long time. She is soooo quiet and I can't tell you what it was worth to see her smile. We will meet every few days. A good start. BTW...thanks for the suggestion, Lord. ALL good things come from You.