What is the real price?

I know this is a capitalistic society, and I know that's in some ways supposed to be free and good, but it seems to me, it's getting a little crazy ...

Having just moved down here, my sister in law, and ourselves, have a need for some furniture, and have decided to look around for awhile at the really, really expensive furniture stores. Just to familiarize ourselves with quality, etc.

Well, last weekend, my sister in law fell in love with this beautiful dining room table. Really, really gorgeous wood and just an elegant design but too pricey at the sale price of $2789.00.

here's the table -- you can click to enlarge.

So, Wednesday she got a call from the salelady who had helped her and the message was, 'call me, I've got some news on your table.' That's all she said. Sis didn't bother to return the call, but we went back in there today, as a friend was visiting and we wanted to look again ...

Seems the table is being taken off the market and they are selling --in this beautiful place called Arhaus -- this table for $750.00.

She got that table for

Seven hundred and fifty freakin' dollars. I do believe that is a lot less than two thousand seven hundred and eighty nine dollars!

They have 17 left.

Now. Don't that make ya' wanna just slap somebody? I mean, my sister in law was so drooling over that table, she was close to writing a check if the woman would have come down just say $200.00 the first week -- and now the price is like $2000.00 less??

I find that just incredibly weird!!

I know, I know, be grateful and happy that she's getting the table at a great price. We did jump up and down like idiots in the store ...but still ~ is that game playing or business or what? Are there any kind of rules about this stuff, or is it all just the luck of the draw -- like where you find yourself and when?

Oh yes, and I realize I'm getting a little hostile lately -- I think I might join the gym tomorrow to get out some of this aggression!!

The Holy Yerba Basil Matte Life Experiment

This is a new herb to my knowledge but there is much information about it and seems it has been around for a very long time. Sometimes I wonder about how we ever get as sick as we do when these old remedies are available ~~ I mean, isn't our cancer and illness rate higher than other countries where they use these old fashion herbs and remedies?

But the one I am using is called Holy Basil. It's promises are good. I have a 30 day supply so I'll let you know how it goes. Of course, no one will know if it prevented any cancer in me, so what can we tell? Maybe I might be less stressed? I don't know.

Perhaps I'll be looking for that calmness and sense of well being that it talks about.

I will tell you this ~ I had window of time yesterday in which I could do 4 fours of work -- work that usually boring to me. But I was able to sustain it. I did rest twice with a cup of Yerba Matte - which I love and think I possibly crave now -- so I suppose we have to put that into the scenario , also.

I wonder does that interfer with my study as Yerba Matte is suppose to lift your alertness neurons as well.

Oh well. Let's call this a study on adding things of Well Being and Alertness. If I find anymore, I'll add them too. Hope altogether, they don't give me cancer. haha. Just kidding.

So, I have daily devotional and meditation with God.

Deep breathing.

And today I will be adding the Bar Method Workout.

I have been walking, but want to add more walking --
as in walking without breaks in order to tell Jacob,

'no Sweetie, you can't pet that kitty,'

'no, honey, you can't open their mailbox',

'no, Jacob, you can't knock on that door,'

'come out of their yard, Jacob,'

'what do you have there, Jacob?'

'no, dear, that looks like .....'

'no, Jacob, goodness don't touch that!'.....

Oh shoot.

"Let's go home, Jacob, and wash your hands."

Such a small thing for some

My bedroom is clean. Top to bottom, side to side, clean floor, clean sheets, clean furniture, etc, and all at the same time!!

I still need bedroom furniture, but I am not really concerned about that right now. That's a someday, and I'm sure it will help to have some nice furniture, but having it totally neat in there right now for the FIRST time since I moved in LAST August is just phenomenal!!

Let's see how long it lasts....

It was a major accomplishment for me. I focus on my needs last. Yes, well, isn't that just like most moms anyway...We become people we don't recognize because we don't put time into ourselves, and then society tells us things like 'we are out of touch', 'we are overweight', 'we need a makeover', we need an update in our wardrobe', but nobody makes banana bread like we do, and nobody makes chocolate chip cookies like we do, or whips up a spinach quiche that is our favorite, or makes spaghetti sauce that is to die for, or mends a torn lovely, or lends that perfect ear and makes that great cup of tea or coffee ....

no one.

Mom.

I'm glad I'm one. It makes me happy.

Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Which we ascribe to heaven.
~William Shakespeare,
from All's Well That Ends Well

Bold, bold young people

Last Saturday night, Mr. B went to run an errand up at Ace Hardware, less than a mile from here. It was about 6:30 PM.

As he was coming out of the store, he noticed some young girls together laughing loudly. No big deal. They got in their car and backed up at a speed not intended for parking lots with other cars parked nearby. And, yes, they did it ~ they ran into his truck.

He was approaching them by this point and spoke to the young woman on his side of the car. "You know you hit my truck," he said. The girl looked at the driver, saying nothing.

He walked around to the driver, who rolled her window down and said, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said, "You're not leaving are you?"

She rolled her window up and sped away. But not just straight away.

She ran over a curbstone. Backed up at such a speed she almost hit a man walking on the median. Ran over the median, shot forward, and then took off.

Mr. B called 911. He had the license number of the car and gave them the number on the phone.

They came out. Martin County's finest. I say this with tongue in cheek. I have other stories about this particular force of policemen.

The officer that came out knew that the car was from Miami. But he said, "Well, there's not much you can do. If you report this, your insurance will go up." ---excuse me? Her insurance should be paying for this, not ours ---

and basically he said, 'let it go.' But our vehicle is damaged. In my opinion, that is one lazy police officer.

We have a smashed truck and are left with just calling back everyday to this officer to see what he has found out. Somehow that doesn't seem quite fair.

When Mr. B called back the next day, the officer said, "What do you want me to do?" He had made no effort to call about the vehicle.

I'm thinking about those girls. Why would they run? Was the car stolen? Did they have drugs in the car? Did mom and dad not know they were out with their car? Surely, they wouldn't just take off because they thought they didn't owe anything at all for what they did because it was an accident, did they?

I don't know much, but I know this. This will catch up with them somewhere, somehow. Your sins always find you out, or find you and dump themselves on you again. Silly, silly, careless girls. They are in for quite a surprise about life if they don't mend their ways.

Meanwhile, somewhere in America, a hardworking, honest man has a damaged truck for no good reason other than he needed a part at Ace Hardware. I've got to think that this is just part of a chain of events. And somehow, someway, that girl won't forget what she did. She looked right at my husband. She saw the face of the man whose car she damaged with her carelessness. Will that forever mean nothing to her?

This makes me angry, but more than that it makes me sad. What kind of a world is this that young people can't own up to what they do?

What are they thinking -- 'my parents are going to kill me?' -- 'I'm too embarrassed to get into trouble?'

Do they think they will never, ever do any wrong? Are we so judgmental as a society that we scare people into not owning up?

My hair will forever stay fluffy with all the head shaking I do about things that happen in this world.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28.13.

Just a Monday in 2006

Thrown back into the portals of no more holiday for a month....

I did terribly badly on my diet, if you want to call it a diet, my eating plan, I suppose. I did well this morning and afternoon, but I think what happened was I didn't eat enough food for lunch, matter of fact, I don't think I ate any lunch, and that's what did it -- I got home late and ate a nice dinner, and then I kept picking and picking and picking - ham and donuts. For heavens sakes! Just a bite here and a bite there ...not a good plan. And not enough water either! Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I did mess up today.

Sean went to Tallahassee to see the Florida State/Florida game, which the gators won, and he was on television! Not just him, but him and his two friends! The boys have known each other since, well, since they were born actually. He was on the Sunshine network. Very cool.

Today Madam Blueberry told me about lobsters. How their claws don't match, and the lobsters are actually either right handed or left-handed. I thought that was fairly amazing.

I had a very racing day today. I went to pick up Jake, and then walked over to my sister in law's house. She needed to run an errand, which was about 45 minutes away to pick up a television set for her parents. It was at this place called Brand Mart or Brand's Smart or something like that. It was supposed to be a very good deal.

She had gotten a call from a salesman there that they were holding a tv for her. So, we go there. All the way there. And they can't find the salesman. And the two other salesman she spoke with are more than willing to cut the other missing salesman out of his commission, which my sister in law didn't want to do since he was good enough to call her. So there's a little commotion going on about that.

Jake and I watched the movie Cars on one of the televisions.

Then they told her, after about 20 minutes, that there were no televisions left. Then she said, well the other salesman told me there were 17 of them that had come in. Then the cut-the-guy-out-of-the-commission-salesman said, 'oh well let me check again.' He checked.

Then he said that he would go and 'put his hand on one.' She was like, 'huh?'

Jake and I watched Cars and he danced to a music video that was playing very loudly on another television. He's a very good dancer, that Jacob.

We waited some more. Cut Salesman comes back. Says, 'well there aren't any more.' Sis-in-law says, 'well, the other guy said he was holding one for me. Do you want to hear the voice mail? It's on my phone.'

'Oh,' says he now. 'There is one there with someone's name on it. What is your name?'

He goes back down, and then comes back and says, 'no, there aren't any more.'

Weird. Very bad business. Hour and a half to save $500.00 they didn't manage to save. However, $500.00 is a very big savings and maybe that's why there weren't any more televisions. I think the employees took them and sold them for a profit themselves.

“Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate." ~ Bertrand Russell

"History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom." ~ Milton Freeman

Today and last week

I count myselt in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends.
--William Shakespeare 

I've been away from posting too long. It's gets out of reach very quickly. Now, I come on and see that something is ready to switch me over to New Blogger? With new things? How am I ever going to learn it, or catch up, or anything? ~ Well, I don't want to be a whinger, so, I'll plug on ...

It's Sunday night. Our company has gone. My sister and family were here for four days.

For Thanksgiving, 22 people got together to eat at my son's house. That's a lot of people.

We had the standard fare of too much food - Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato pie, stuffing, gravy, green beans, carrots, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach quiche, peas, rolls, chocolate cake, cherry cheese cake, apple pie, and I think that's all, oh no, cranberries cooked from scratch that were just so good and pretty, and the canned stuff also.

We ate for two days. Had a birthday party. I went with my sister, mom and great nephew to the jail to see my niece, which was a very nice visit, even though it is a two hour drive, and it’s takes forever to actually get checked in, and today I was just exhausted.

I watched again Pride and Prejudice, the A & E version, and watched the new version, which Mr. B says is a total waste of time. He panned it so badly, the new version that is, that my sister wouldn't watch it and went home with my A & E version! I never imagined Mr. B would become such a fan!

Tomorrow I'm going to return to my healthy diet that I came home with when I went to visit Tim's Mom! You see, I am one of the statistics for getting e-coli from the spinach that was recalled, and I was on my second antibiotic and had a horrible reaction to it while I was visiting.

I was put on a good diet by Leslie and feed only green smoothies, fresh vegetable juice, very big salads, (although I pinched a little homemade bread and muffins) along with some radical new tea, which at first, I thought she was crazy to suggest, but turns out I love it ~ and I felt so much better! So, in the end, I had a wonderful visit! It was like going to a personal retreat.

It's good to have a friend get you back on track. I shall be forever grateful.

Then I got home, and faced Thanksgiving, knew I would fall the wayside with my diet, and so I did with the best intentions to get back straight tomorrow. There is no more cheesecake in the house so that's fine and good.

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the 
fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.  
I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving

  --Erma Bombeck

I’ll be great until Christmas and probably do a back flip again. But hopefully, I’ll be a little more ahead of the game.

Nobody can go back to the beginning and make things perfect again, but we can always start over!

At least this isn’t on my new eating plan –

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

--William Shakespeare Witches in Macbeth 

Just filling in the gap

This blog has temporarily been neglected. Not out of anything but time ~

I've been away. Before I left I had trip preparation and then returning, have to address the Thanksgiving weekend, which is 4 miles long.

I lost my shopping list. So I was hopeless to remember what my part was supposed to be. But you know what? I haven't been to one Thanksgiving dinner that I was not privileged to find very much to feast upon. So I'm not really worried about it.

I had two doctor appointments waiting for me, the grocery store, my little nephew, #2 sons laundry (Okay, I volunteered for that one) and just the general catching up that goes with life when you leave the ones you love.

So my solution? ~~ I declared this week a week off from school! I'm a genius.

I shall be back to post about my new discoveries and my week at my retreat!!

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. ~

Similarities create friendship's while differences hold them together. ~

~~both quotes from the famous unknown writer. Whom I really think is just ourselves

Brief flight notes:

First flight to connection was delayed. I made it to my gate, however, in time to find out my gate was changed. Ran over to that gate and was told the flight was conmencing to board but I made it on time. We boarded the plane and sat for about 45 minutes. Very warm in a small plane like that.

On the way home, my carry on was searched. I had a water bottle. Not allowed. And I thought I knew the rules!

My bags left together but did not arrive together at my final destination. I knew, just instinctively knew, that someone had taken my larger bag because my smaller bag was there, and there, on the carriage go 'round was a bag very similar to mine.

Even though I had put colored ribbons on mine, it didn't make any difference.

A little old lady took my bag. She called the airport the next day and they delivered it to me.

And there were notes inside that one of my bags was searched. The one with all the dirty underwear. Oh well.

The fellow who delivered my bag said that people put all kinds of things on their bags and they still get taken. He said he remembers delivering a bag that had the owner's picture on the outside of it! One bag he said was pink and had a purple ribbon around it. How could you think those bags were yours if they were not! Honestly. Just look at the little numbers and make sure before you leave. It just seems like just a simple thing to do. Again. Oh well.

I'll be back.

Have a very good day in the meantime.

Tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

The Terror Diet

Doesn't it make sense that the writer of this diet would be Stephen King?

I enjoy reading Mr. King's articles.

Read here for his Terror Diet Advice.

So it's better

...or 'betta's', as Madam Blueberry used to say when she was little.

You can actually _walk_ into my laundry room. Really. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but after the cookie sheet attack, I decided to fight back with some organization of my own. It's holding....I can see the floor.

We still haven't found the time to put up the cabinets we bought from Home Depot. They are making themselves at home in my dining room up against the kitchen cabinets. I've had to dust the top of the boxes; they've been there that long now. This cabinet project will involve Madam Blueberry as I have decided she should learn to use a power drill.

And you can see the floor in my green room. But don't try to open the closet door. Because where do you think all the stuff that was on the floor in the green room is?

I have put some things and books on the shelves in my closet. We doubled shelved in there, so now it's just deciding what will go where in there, then when. That will take me awhile. I probably need the month of January to do that and maybe a new piece of furniture to hold my home school stuff and I still need a desk.

I went for a walk on the beach tonight and it was so beautiful! It looked like a Dan Mackin painting (Mr. Mackin lives about 3 miles from me). The beach kind of reflects some things going on in the earth, like sometimes it just looks all gray and murky, but not tonight ~ it was a beautiful, captivating ocean.

My sister in law and her dog, Buddy, walked along with me. He does know how to enjoy himself!

The boys got back from Gainesville about 5 or so. They went to the Gator/South Carolina game and it was a close one!

I'm just finishing the book Hoot, by Carl Hiassin, a local Florida writer.

It's a movie now. It's been described as 'blandly generic family film.' But it's gotta be cute. I'm reading it because my great nephew is reading it, and so my sister and I decided to read it with him so we can discuss it. I thought that would be fun. It takes place in Florida, and has some Jimmy Buffet in the sound track (who has something to do with it's production along with playing the teacher Mr. Ryan), and since we live in Florida, we thought, oh well, we'd read it, too.

There are reviews of the movie Hoot that just panned it badly because of the behavior of the kids, taking actions in their own hands in a less than get-a-permit-for-a-petition-way. One review admonished parents to keep their kids away from this film. (But I checked out all the films this person did like, and oh well, to each his own.)

And I suppose, if your children are going to learn how to act in this world from a film, you shouldn't take them or rent it. But I look at it as, well, just a movie.

But like a lot of movies, the reviews I read didn't really follow the book's story many times. I think they do that with movies. Ooops, did I give away anything about how the world works? (LOL)

The good old days

This is proof I save everything ~ I'm still sorting out papers and notebooks.

I found a skinny yellow theme notebook with barely the 70 pages. But on one of them I found a note written by Sean, who is now 20.

It says, "run away tomorro at 7:15 AM". It is dated 8-17-98. That's the only thing on the page.

This must have been in the middle of my teaching the lesson on organizational skills!

Learn to support your Core

I had my last session of physical therapy because that's all my insurance would cover for me. I probably could use more, but oh well ...

The therapist really recommended the ball as the best work out tool for Core Strength training. She has been using this only, she says.

I found a couple of sites for the exercises - one gives what they call a slide show, and the other shows some photos.

I will be trying these as I already have a ball. What I didn't have ~ so I thought ~ was the time to take care of myself. So basically what I have done, is spent on hospitals, doctors and pills, the same amount of money I could have spent on a two year membership at the gym for my whole family. And. Probably could have thrown a personal trainer in there, also.

So, if I was allowed to give anyone who wants to listen some advice today it would be this:

The strength of your body is more important than you would ever think it is. You have to do something to keep yourself fit. You don't have to be really buff or married to a gym; but you need to take all this stuff seriously.

All the wrong things you have done to your body over the years, regarding bad posture (and who has perfect posture while carrying all those babies? whether in your arms or into the world?), exercise neglect, sitting wrong, straining your shoulders for reading or washing dishes, or baking, or whatever pulls us forward,

and stress~! Dealing with stress can also do damage.

Stop right now and look at your schedule. Can you fit at least 20 minutes in a day to work on Core Strengthing? Can you fit another 15 minutes a day in for weight bearing exercise? (If you are like me, you are thinking .....ummmm, I could lift weights while I, uh, do this 'other thing'!)

I do regret that I put myself in this situation and neglected my body the way I did. I knew I had something wrong with my spinal column for 20 years. I took care of it until I got involved in this moving project, and then I took advantage of it by totally neglecting it and thinking everything would hold together for just a little while longer. Reflecting back now, it was not worth the price.

What's it worth to you to take the chance that you could end up in my situation?

Please find a way to fully take care of yourself. I'm sure a lot of people depend on you.

~~Miss Roxie

PS ~~ Madam Blueberry is walking almost everyday, but she has tapered off her exercise so I made it a part of her school assignment. She has to exercise for at least 20 mintues everyday. This is apart from her walking. We don't consider school finished until the an exercise is done.

When we get the finances straightened out, we will join the gym again. Unless we manage to get in shape first! I am looking at this wall behind me and thinking ....ummmm, I wonder if a bar would work there!

Miss Dickenson

All but Death, can be Adjusted—
Dynasties repaired—
Systems—settled in their Sockets—
Citadels—dissolved—

Wastes of Lives—resown with Colors
By Succeeding Springs—
Death—unto itself—Exception—
Is exempt from Change—

~~Emily Dickenson

Belly up to the bar in a new way

I was doing a search on the flat back ~ as those seem to be the main muscles I have damaged and found this Bar Method of exercise. I think I like it. I just need a bar.

Today a Post it moment

I learned today that the muscles across your core are for posture only. They are paper thin. They are like the plastic around the six pack of soda. Once they are stretched, they may not go back, or they may with time.

I don't know. I'm trying to play by the new rules and undo the damage I have done. I feel like I'm in a Neil Young song.

I just came home from physical therapy. I reached up to get some ibuprofen and someone had not tighten the bottle. Probably me. And there are probably about 50 or more ibuprofen pills all over my kitchen.

I bought Jacob a garbage truck today. He picked it out. He loves it! It comes with two little garbage cans and they empty right into the truck, and he kept asking me today for 'more garbage! I need more garbage!' Too funny.

My mom made me a grill cheese sandwich today. I mean, what's a grilled cheese sandwich? Bread spread with butter and cheese in the middle, right? Well, let me tell you - this was the best grilled cheese sandwich I'd ever had!! "MOM," I said, "Why is your grilled cheese so good?" She gave me a look, piercing, I thought, at first, and she said, "I'll tell you what I tell everyone else who compliments my cooking. It's made with love." Okay, then. I'll take a grilled cheese any time.

Did you vote today? Go ahead and get out there if you haven't! Every vote does count. However, I do wish they would word the amendments a little simpler. Like just say, 'we want to take your money and spend it on this,' _not_ -- and if we thusly find thatly so wasn't there in the last place after the first place of the party that was removed on a 3/4 to a 66th percent vote of a majority of county men who must be elected by the sherriff's brother Carl, after January 1st of the following year closest to the moon's latter day phase of counterproductive and negative balancing of the swale area near the river or within a 5 mile radius of said such roadway of the contact with the pizza palour on 32nd avenue....--- you get my drift ....

Have a nice day.

~~Miss Roxie

Face value

What a weird way I've felt all day. Don't know what it is. But yesterday I did get whacked in the face pretty hard.

I was cleaning out a closet that was packed with stuff from the moving, and in the meanwhile was alternating with rearranging things in the laundry room, and I placed a heavy cookie sheet and a cooling rack in a place that I thought temporarily would work, only thing I didn't realize was how temporarily it would be, as it came flying down in my face! Whacked me square in the center of my nose and right between the eyes as well! Couldn't have asked for a better hit had they been aiming! Two places of sensitivity.

Now I have a swollen nose and a bloody mark on my face. I'm trying out some scar therapy, as I don't think I needed a stitch, but well, when your skins apart in the center of your face, you feel a little self conscious. However, no one noticed. Bunch of blind people out there.

I found Emily Dickenson in a Book about ADD

A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish, some way back,
I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely, what it was,
Have I the Art to say.

But somewhere in my Soul, I know
I've met the Thing before;
It just reminded me--t'was all--
And came my way no more.

~~Emily Dickenson

So what about you?

Your Hidden Talent

You have the power to persuade and influence others. You're the type of person who can turn a whole room around. The potential for great leadership is there, as long as you don't abuse it. Always remember, you have a lot more power over people than you might think!

What's Your Hidden Talent?

It's overcast and warm and What do the neighbors know?

Again, today, to much on my To Do list ... It's just a time thing.

I know there are the same amount of hours for each of us, and I don't know what I am doing with mine that is wrong, but I am unable to complete things by the end of the day. It's very frustrating.

I have put back into my life some of the time that I wasn't spending with Madam B in the mornings. I needed that. It's a calming sensation in my day having spent some relaxed one on one time with her. She has things she likes to read to me that she has discovered in her books. It's a habit she has that I don't want to break.

My 80 year old mother in law, and my 90 year old father in law are outside mowing the lawn. On Halloween night, one of the neighbors stopped by my son's house to say that he should not be allowing them to do that. I felt bad for him being accused of some sort of elderly abuse because I am here to tell you, it is not his fault! We have tried everything to not get them to do the lawns, but they are just out there no matter what we say or do. Why? Because they like it. They love lawn work. They are from Ireland. It's in their blood.

Now, just recently, my mother in law thought she was having some problems with her heart. She was so very tired and had passed out a time or two. This was all during the moving extravaganza last summer.

She had her appointment with her cardiologist yesterday. Do you think he told her you have problems with your heart?

No.

He said he'd never seen a heart so strong in someone her age. So what's her problem? She doesn't know how to process regular stress. She doesn't know how to separte the different kinds of stess in the world; she calls them all the same. One can't do that. Some things you've just got to take in stride.

Like the remark the neighbor made to my 30 year old son. She has no idea of the situation, yet has put an accusation on him. He can't let that bother him.

Tonight is a rain storm. See how fastly things can change?

November 2006 - Times a/wastin'...

Sometimes there is no next time, no second chance, no time out. Sometimes, it's now or never...

Take a look at that calendar! HOW did it get to the end of the year so quickly!

I am grateful to my blog because I would doubtful remember a day in the order of which it happened had I not had it logged in here. Reminds me, I better back some of this stuff up .... I am so bad at that. It's like I trust something in the universe unseen to keep me covered. I should know by now that’s not a fact.

I keep writing posts and then hitting 'save as draft', and I really don't know why. I get lost thinking 'I'm not finished.'

Well, woman, no, you are not finished. Of course, you are not finished. You are never finished nor are you going to be! Get over it.

Today I spent a great time talking with Madam Blueberry about Vermeer. She is reading a book about him from this series. I can't really explain it all to you, but she is hilarious with her opinion of things. I love her opinion of things. That's really what I miss the most about leaving everyday to take care of my nephew. It's like she's in a correspondence course now. I read over her material, and I write up questions. Then later we discuss her answers. She is just so funny.

I made some cookies this morning, and then I took them and Jacob, my three-year-old charge, to the Fire Department. I've never seen him at a loss for words before. But if I ever wanted to shut him up, I'll take him there again! I mean that in a funny way. He was just so overwhelmed!! The trucks ~ and he loves trucks, all kinds of trucks ~ were Huge! And the two Firemen who showed us around were Huge!! He'd never been there before. And I didn't tell him we were going because I wasn't sure what would be going on. I just, on a whim, decided I would go.

They let him sit in the truck, but he couldn't really stay there. He wanted to be in the seat, but he got down quickly. It was so high! The Fireman, Robert, was going to start up the truck for him, but I think he might have freaked had we done that. Maybe next time.

The Fireman found a little hat for him, some badges, and gave him a coloring book. They were extremely nice.

We also visited my sister in law. She's remodeling and painting and the place is a real mess. An organized mess, but a child's dream of wondering about in search of anything/something/everything. At one point he got himself stuck in the maze of boxes and couldn't find a way out. He was puzzled, but thought it was cool that I rescued him.

Her place is all a make shift of things for tables and counters. No drawers and no regular furniture in most of the rooms. It's like a really huge playhouse. Jacob said all the things were his, and he lived there. I do have to watch him closely, but my sister in law and I get to visit while she paints, and we talk and watch Jacob explore.

He had such a fine day. He got a little upset with me, you might say, as he realized we were rounding the corner to go back to his house, and he threw a little truck at me while I was driving. I’m not really sure quite what to make of that.

Things on a Plane

According to the FAA regulations of today - when you fly, you can take in your carry on luggage:

Aerosol Cans
Cigar Cutters
Corkscrews
Cuticle cutters
Gel Filled Bras
Knitting needles
Nail Clippers
Safety Razors
Scissors (Yes! Scissors! Metal with pointed tips, but blades no longer than 4 inches. But I would not dare take a chance with mine. They are too expensive)
Toy Transformer Robots
Toy weapons, but only if they are not too close to the real thing.

Hmmm, well, can’t do any damage with any of those things, right? I think I’ve cut myself with everything on that list except the Aerosol can and that I sprayed in my own face because sometimes I just can’t see that little black dot. That’s why I don’t use it any more. Thought sure I would go blind or get cancer from breathing that stuff in.

But you cannot take a

Saber
Meat Cleaver
or a
Sword (drat!)

You also cannot take, just about any sports equipment no Hockey sticks, Lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, pool cues, Bows and Arrows, Spear guns, Cricket bats, Ski poles, or Golf Clubs. Guess they have figured out what most moms and dads have not figured out and that’s that Sports are Dangerous! (Wonder why they left out Cleats?) And I can attest to the fact that the Actual Lacrosse player is dangerous – one of them ran into my son during a practice and that broken collar bone was no fun, still isn’t, and will always bother him when it rains.

Now, this also means you cannot take your Billy clubs, your black jack, your krubatons (I’ll be goggling that later, as I have no idea!), and likewise a resounding no, on your Nunchakus, Night sticks (thought that was a Billy Club?), stun guns, shocking devices, and Throwing Stars (drat! I love my throwing stars! One of them has a picture of Bruce Lee!)

And, I know you are not surprised at all but your guns are out. All of your guns, your BB guns, your pellet guns, your hand guns, even parts of your guns separated in a zip lock won’t get on, your starter pistols, nor your flare guns may board. You can only take your toy guns, as long as they don't look to very much like a real gun. So, best to leave all your guns and gun parts at home.

And all of you carpenters have to ride the bus unless you check your tools; your axes and hatchets, your cattle prods, and crow bars, and wrenches and screwdrivers – it’s a nope. Not even in the zip locks. However, if a lot of your tools, like the scissors are shorter then 7 inches, you will be able to carry them on. Oh. How comforting. But at least they are required to be ‘sheathed and securely wrapped to prevent injury to the baggage handlers’ (no mention of the people on the plane. Hmmm.)

The list goes on, but just so you know, they do allow Jello and Pudding and Whipped Cream, duty free alcohol, but not Cheese in a pressurized container! Gotta watch that Power of Cheese thing, I guess.

Many of the things they didn’t allow after that last terror thing in that airport in Britain, they allow now, if it’s in a teeny tiny little container. Itty Bitty, teeny tiny, and also, put your teenies in a Zip Lock Bag. Only the Quart Size.

Now – here’s your stock tip ~~

ZIP LOCKS! You gotta have a zip lock to get on a plane. Especially the quart size. You heard it here first. And me, I think I invented using zip-lock on a plane! But it was more for protecting my things from being gnawed over by strange mitts! Oh well, now it will be to protect my little teenies.

Story of the Week

Three year olds have to be watched every minute, don't they? As much as we'd like to think they are okay for just a sec....

This little guy was not only a fan of Sponge Bob with the Square Pants, but my guess is that he's also watched a little bit of Rug Rats, or maybe his dad has taught him his way around tools.

Whatever the reason, he saved himself with the assistance of the Fire Department of Antigo. The story is here. I'm just glad to hear he's okay.

Another Thursday

So here I am on a Thursday still limping around. I've found a whole new way to walk that doesn't cause me that much pain. The new doctor I've seen has recommended Physical Therapy, and I have an appointment for next week. I'm feeling like I should do something before then like get some kind of exercise, but then again, I have this fear of another muscle spasm like the one that landed me in the emergency room ~ twice.

So instead of exercising, I'm eating donuts and watching television. And television is just so boring. Truly. I should be reading. I know. But my concentration level is so low. I think I'm being over shadowed by all the things I want to do that I can't do.

Madam Blueberry is doing well. We're having exams this week and next. Seems like an easy week for me. We're not as far behind as I thought we would be! She's baking once a week and we eat whatever it is very quickly. I think we are all like addicted to sugar now?

I just got her Shakespeare book in the mail - The Merchant of Venice - and I had forgotten that I ordered it. Apparently, I thought I ordered it from Amazon but when it didn't come with my last order I thought I didn't. It came from someone named Eleanor in Washington state. But it's here, and it's a brand new book so that's good. We have the movie with Al Pacino, and it's a great one.

Mr. B is liking, and not liking, his job all at the same time. He likes what he's learning, and he is determined to make himself seen as someone valuable to them. He sees little signs that that is working. Each day there seems to be some encouragement. Actually, it doesn't work quite that way -- it works like this.... he comes home one day all up and feeling proud and then the next day, bam, something happens and he feels awful; and then three days go by, and he feels good, and then one day goes by and he feels bad. So all things measured, I think the good might be out weighing the bad. And, this is a field that he is interested in learning. So, I put forth to him the idea that he is actually being paid to go to school. Seems to me you have to look on the positive side of things to survive.

Tomorrow I have a day off. I am getting a pedicure. For my birthday. Hahaha. No. Just because I want one. I’m using the birthday as an excuse because I think I need an excuse to do something for myself. I like getting pedicures. I had actually booked the appointment before I knew I had the day off. If I had known I had more time, I would have booked Madam Blueberry an appointment with me. It's just a fun thing to do together. One of those guilty little pleasures of life, I suppose.

"Short is the joy that guilty pleasures bring" ~ Euripides

And it's true, they don't last long, but I find it an enjoyable thing to do.

Oh, by the way, I realized that eating the donuts - be it four or two or even one - doesn't really satisfy anything, so I'm thinking, why bother? Maybe this is the last of my bingeing. I guess I'm feeling deprived. Deprived of what? Maybe control. A feeling of a lack of control can raise stress levels. That's probably what contributed to my back issue in the first place maybe. I internalized the stress. And I over think things.

But that's okay. I'll get it right. I'm just taking a little detour. Like the long way around, you know?

Also, I could be wrong, and I've just got a bad back that gave out on me! But seriously. I do think everything is connected. I just need to get all my dots in the right order! This random chaos is wrecking havoc in my career choice of being a calm human being! (What did she say?)

Didn't mean not to write

I have been neglecting my blog. And that is not a precedent I want to set, One’s blog should be tended carefully, and not carelessly.

To catch up, I’d have to look at a calendar – Let’s see on the 7^th of October I found myself in an extreme amount of pain at about 7:15 in the AM. My daughter was also up and found me on the floor and said, “mom, you’ve gotta go to the Emergency Room,” and she called my son Sean, who came right over from next door where he lives, and took one look at his mama on the floor and said, “mom, you’re going to the emergency,” and he immediately went and got his older brother Bill who also lives right next door– both boys woken out of sleep – and they loaded me into the car to some safe place, but new to the area, I wasn’t quite sure of my directions and the first place we went to was closed. I made another choice and called out the directions I thought were correct, but they ended up being wrong.

My pain was not stopping. That kind of pain that one can’t just get away from, I mean even labor pains ebb and flow, and bob and weave, but this pain showed no mercy. So off to the other emergency place I thought I knew, we flew.

But that’s all I can write about right now. I can’t sit for long because even though it’s been a week, the pain in my leg has to be controlled with pain killers and I don’t like to take more than two a day, and I’m passed my limit. I’ll have to take a sleeping aid to make it through the night. I’m setting a record for ignoring my blog. That’s not a good precedent. I enjoy my blog

I’ll tell the rest of the story at a later time. But God is good. Always, God is good.

Today's notes

Things of the day in no particular order:

1. Cleaned my house. Brought Jacob here to play with his new toys. Tuesday was his birthday, he is now officially three years old, so he had some really cool and interesting new things to do. And I am happy that things do look better around here. I got spoiled with a clean house there when my house for sale, and we lived under the Clean House All The Time rule. It was so lovely.

But. Even though Jake had the new toys, he played with this . And waited, he did, excitingly for the train! The luggage cart was used to haul his trucks to the garage for repair, and for rides of himself to appointed destinations. Nothing like a child's imagination.

2. A suggestion ~ If anyone in the world has not started to declutter their house, now is a really good time to start. The holidays are coming upon us very, very soon. And one can always use extra space around the holidays. Donate it, make it straight, or give it the gate.

One of the things I did, in my trying to organize here, is create a kitchen that holds only what we use on a daily basis. Then, I put the other kitchen stuff I had, which is plenty, in containers in the laundry room, in some kind of fake order. I'll go through it again after Christmas, and whatever I didn't use, I'll give away to a place near me called Jesus of Hope Thrift Store.

I have no regrets for all the things I threw or gave away. I did for about 12 minutes once on a Tuesday.

3. My niece from Lakeland is coming into town today. She was in one of those schools that was put into lockdown on day in late September, that made CNN the day that criminal shot the officers in Kathleen, Florida. Anyway, she coming in to West Palm Beach on the train, and the train is late. It's late because someone got killed by the train on the tracks in Orlando. Sad. I live near the tracks now, and People really shouldn't fool around with the train. You think you might have time; but there is no guarantee. Sometimes it's just a work train and it's just going back and forth, but sometimes it totally is not.

4. Mr. B is on his way home. He's late tonight. Overtime pay, but is it worth it? I suppose, if you want to buy food and books and pay rent, it is helpful.

5. So gasoline prices are down? Well, ha ha ha. Food prices are up. It's just a political game they play. It's like the property tax - property value game. They lower your taxes, but raise the value of your property. So do you get ahead? The only way you might get ahead, is if they are giving out cabbage.

6. Want to know how to stop the war? This will do it pronto. Go to Washington and tell everyone that Congress, and the President and all his men, should immediately go out the back door. There, waiting for them will be buses. Load them on the buses and take them directly to Paris Island. That's where the Marines train a few good men.

Have them deposit their suits and ties in a zip lock bag, and put thereselves directly into combat fatigues to begin their basic training with their destination being Iraq at the end of three months. What odds can I get that, within three months, someone will come up with a really good plan to get us out of Iraq? Sometimes you just need the proper motivation.

How did I become Anonymous?

I am perplexed. For some reason I have become Anonymous in the Comment Boxes. Not just on mine, but on any that I post. If anyone out there reads this blog and sees this question perhaps you can tell me ~ How did I become Anonymous and more importantly, How can I fix this?

It seems that I have lost my URL identification. I looked through Blog Help and didn't find what I needed.

Until then,
I remain, forever and the same,

Miss Roxie,
but to some
Anonymous

Oh October, How I love Thee

I don't know why I wrote that. I guess I just felt poetic at the moment.

Things here are still a tad unorganized (stop laughing). I worked all weekend at putting things away and still getting rid of things, and I'm tired. And still things are to be done. Mr. B went shopping at Home Depot ~ and, no, I did not go because I always want to stick a pencil in my eye while I'm there ~ and he bought more shelving. Yes, this will be the House of Shelving. "Where is it?" one will ask when looking for something, and someone will say, "On the shelf."

Okay, so that's one thing. What's the second thing? I can't remember.

My sister is coming this weekend (newsflash ~I just got a call, and she is coming tomorrow night, and I am excited about that. So that could be why I feel some pressure to do more straightening out/up or around because I would like things nice for our visit. I love orderly for visits. It helps me relax.

She and her husband and my great nephew Nathan will be sleeping at my son's house, who is right next door, so that part is good. He has an extra room with a real bed for guests.

I have heartburn today. And my mother says it's because of the self imposed stress of things not yet done. I was thinking I was eating too much pineapple. I don't know, but it's really uncomfortable. I think I'll try the Prisolec over the counter stuff for two weeks, and see if I feel any better.

I have just now got my list of all of Madam B's schoolbooks! I do hope I’m not missing anything else! A couple of them just arrived yesterday. I was going to go to Barnes and Nobles to pick up the books, but things were just so pressed time wise, I ended up ordering them and they were delivered to my door. I found the Math Tests last nigh in a blue crate, and the Science in a box of old work from years previous. How these things didn’t end up together in one box is so beyond me at this time. But I can’t dwell on it or I would go mad, mad, mad, I tell you!!

So bit-by-bit, this is a crazy year, but things will come together. She has already been working about 3 hours a day on what she has, so she's not really excited that a plan of adding more work is in the works! But she will adapt. She always does come through. This year, maybe a bit more verbally, so is that to say, ‘she found her voice and it says ‘no, no, no, I say’ …?

Oh my, I just remembered! She finished her Shakespeare book – Comedy of Errors - about two weeks ago, so there’s another assignment for me! I have Henry V, that we tried once before, but it’s a tad to heavy for right now, so something lighter might be better.

Maybe tomorrow we will go to Barnes and Nobles ….Get a coffee, and chill. Jacob will want to play on the Thomas the Train table. Maybe I won’t do too much chillin’ after all. We’ll see.

A bit of Shakespeare before I go –

A bit from Sonnet 60 ~

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand...

The Busy Day

I just know that when I wake up every morning now, things are different. I am still not acclimated to the situation of the daily play called My Life.

Taking care of my 3 year old nephew from 10 AM to 3 PM, is a good part of *the active part of my mind* day. Madam B says, “That _is_ *the day*.” We are having to work on our school schedule. I’m doing a lot of writing of questions instead of talking with her, but I find if I wait until the end of the day, I am too tired to really get into the depth of real thinking, so I put my questions down in the morning, and she writes out the answers for me. This is disturbing me some, but I’m sure we’ll get things worked out. We need to be fair and give ourselves time. We are each in new surroundings. We’ll get it right.

We are trying to meet earlier in the morning. We were so spoiled by our prior years; it’s almost ridiculous to even go there! Such a private, quiet life we led on most days, compared to now.

At least with my nephew, he doesn’t care how I look or even smell…hahahaha…or what I am wearing. He cares that I care for him. My day with him can be challenging depending on what we might choose to do.

One of the best things is playing in the sandbox in his special play area on the side of the house. My brother lives on the water and has a pool, so Jacob has to be watched 24-7 and the locks on the doors have to be checked and double-checked. Jacob is the kind of child who challenges the ….ummm, how about Everything!

But like I said, the sandbox area is great. There’s an area to run and a slide and I give him the hose. What child doesn’t love to play with water in some way? And yes, the sandbox turns into the beach, so to speak, but his parents don’t mind because it’s easier than worrying about it, and he says he needs the hose. So there you are.

Yesterday, we did some cast fishing off the dock. Well. We were out on the dock feeding the fish, and I said, “We really need a fishing pole.” He mumbled something, and then he turned and began running towards the house, saying something about he knew where the fishing poles were, and danged if he didn’t lead me right to the poles – the real big poles – hung up on the wall in the garage.

“Nope,” I said, “that won’t do for us. We need a smaller pole. We need a stick to make ourselves a fishing pole.” Actually, what we needed was a cane pole. Remember them?

Jake got busy looking for a stick in the garage. Mumbling to himself, “a stick, a stick, a stick….” He found a huge piece of wood. “This stick?” he asked. Now, Jake doesn’t speak all the clearly. He says a whole lotta words, but it’s not so easy getting them into understanding. But I’m trying, and I knew he was asking ‘was this a stick that would work?’ And I told him “No, too big.”

Long story short, I found a piece of quarter molding about long enough, and then cut some fishing line off one of the hanging poles. I wrapped/tied the line to our pole and looked around for a bobber. So did Jacob. He didn’t know what a bobber was, but he sure tried to find one. At first I had said, “We need a weight,” and he ran right over to the weight bench and hurled a 3# weight in my direction. That’s when I clarified a bit and said, “something to bob up and down on the end of our line, a bobber, something light.”

That’s when I found an old traveling toothbrush. A fine bobber there; an inventive bobber. Not so attractive, but it did float.

I am no fishermen, fisherwoman, fisherperson, or whatever; I just thought it would be fun to do some casting out on the dock.

Okay. So got the pole, and the string, and the bobber, and now we need a hook. Are you with me? Where would you look for a hook that a 3 year old can use? In the kitchen! I got a bag tie and made a hook on which I squished our bread. And it stayed on long enough to cast that baby over his shoulder and into the water. I had some room to jump out of the way each time, so that was good.

“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.”

A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work. ~Author Unknown

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. ~A.K. Best

Sweet Emotions

Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it. ~Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. ~Dale Carnegie

I've discovered a new level of fatigue. The fatigue of many people around you. I'm not a person who has been around a lot of people during a day in the past, and now I am.

Everyday. New Emotions.

I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying it's good. I'm just saying, it's different, and it affects me.

The ages of the people range from 90 to 3 years old. There's a few generations in all of that. And I am a relational type of personality which is good, but I am, also, a private person, which is -- well, not easy to be right now.

I do get on with people just fine; I make jokes usually about things, but I am super sensitive, also. I make jokes to keep people at ease, but I am very attuned to pick up any oddities in emotions. And this is becoming a pull on the center of my own emotional gravity. That probably doesn't make sense to some people, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

I'm like a person that really needs to get up and go to the beach by themselves, you know, to regroup what is clashing around inside. And, I have to make myself do this, because I am also the type that will do that one more load of laundry just to get ahead of tomorrow. I'm am not my own best friend. I am not the type that takes care of me first.

I have to learn now how to be here. I can do this.

To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man's heart. ~Francesco Guicciardini

Tuesday, then Wednesday ....quickly it seemed

So it's Wednesday. Again. And somewhere else, it's Thursday.

I suppose to blog, one must blog about what one knows, or pass along information one has found out and think now they know something more than they knew before. I, for one, am still often astounded at what I think everyone should know and then find that someone obviously does not know and causes a huge ruckus with their lack of knowingness. Like left turns or simple right turns, or how to function at a four way stop, and not every place is a right turn on red, and your cell phone use while driving can interfere with your thinking.

When I am on my cell phone in the car, which is more these days then I prefer, if I'm in traffic, I just say, 'left turn' and put the phone down. Some people who call me don't even realize I have put the phone down.

Today the car in front of me was making a right turn into a parking lot area. Then. Out of the clear blue sky, the car in front of him decided he was making a right turn, also, into the same parking lot area without any warning or thought of anyone behind him. There was much honking and screeching of brakes. They were both turning into the exact same piece of road. Both were in little gray cars. Maybe they thought they were the same car. It was strange to watch. I was, apparently, the only one of the three of us paying attention.

Then it was funny to watch them try to figure out who should go, now that they were practically on top of each other. It was like a video game. Like someone was pressing a control button as one would edge forward and brake, and then the other would edge and brake. I think they were afraid to look at each other.

Down the street from me, on an electric wire, are a couple of pairs of sports shoes. They are tied together on a string - I think Madam B photographed them - they are not old shoes. Funny, that someone came home without their shoes, and I wonder what they told their parents. I've seen two other people taking pictures of the shoes.

Monday night my sister in law and I took both her parents to the emergency room. What a long day that was. My mother in law passed out at 8 AM. I told her to go to the walk in clinic.

"No, I'm fine now," she says. (She's 80 - did she forget?). I had a really long day with my nephew that day, as my mother had had surgery on her feet and I needed to keep Jacob from 9 AM until 6 PM.

I talked to my mother in law and sister in law a few times during the day and couldn't convince anyone to go to the doctors. I was sure she was dehydrated.

So I get home a little after six, and go over to their house (which is right next door to mine) and I hear my father in law coughing. And that was not a cough to fool with,

"You really should get that checked out," I said.

"I'm fine," he said ~ (He's 90 - did he forget?)

so finally, at around 7 PM ~ it took my husband, my sister in law and myself to convince them - you really need to go to the doctors. (Where is Mr. Rogers when you need him? "Can you say 'stubborn'?)

Long story short, we got home around 9:30 PM. My mother in law is dehydrated, but the passing out thing is something she has been doing for awhile. She probably has the same thing my husband (her son) has - neurocardiogenic syncope .

But. I've never been 80, and I've never been 90. I have not a clue what it's like to try to read your body signs that far down the road. My own aging body is tricking me now and again, and I'm not sure what is going on. A weird thing this aging stuff, but I think I can tell you - it's safe to watch your diet carefully, and drink water! (Yes, she was dehydrated, and my father in law has acute bronchitis, which I found out is something that just comes on quickly and is contagious), get exercise, and don't stress. It's just not worth it.

My mother in law will probably end up going to a cardiologist for further checking out Maybe she has a slow heart rate.

My father in law is supposed to get plenty of rest, but he just doesn't get that. He is sure that he should be walking every day. And I don't blame him one bit. He's wrestling with wanting to fall asleep and go for a walk. Mr. B says, 'you know, it's his life, and he should just make his own parade.' I tend to agree, but find myself reminding them of the doctors advice.

I did go to the library and check out about 6 movies for them, and got some books and some magazines for them to read.

I, myself, am tired. Just plain old fashioned tired. I should follow my father in law's parade and just go walking anyway.

Note to self

por1. Make a list of all you have to do.

2. Do not loose the list.

3. Do not loose the pencil.

4. Do not forget what you are supposed to write down.

5. Find Paper.

6. Find Pencil.

7. Or pen.

8. Gather thoughts.

9. On second thought re: #8 --
Better to let mind run random and remember things at will. Better to have more on the list than less.

10. Good Luck.

11. Do not loose the list.

Sweet little thoughts

Over the years I have been faithful to making my kids write letters and thank you notes.

Tonight my mother in law brought over a pile of them, and what a treasured time it was looking through them! There is no way anyone would remember these things without having them right in front of them. Just looking at the spelling and the formation of the letters and the grouping of words becoming sentences was one thing from the 'teacher' point of view in me, but the sweet sentiments of my kids! I just got welled up with tears reading them.

Sean wrote this letter to his grandma when he was 10 --

Dear Grandma,

When I think of you, I think of your fun spirit, working outside, eating raisins bread (my favorite) and best of all, you just being here. We also love Grandpa being here.

See, when you're here, I can sometimes skip school!! ha! ha!

Hope to see you soon.

Love,

Sean

I lauged so hard at this. It's in cursive, and you can read it. I'm not sure you can read his handwriting now that he's 20! There are words crossed out and replaced - like 'jest' crossed out for 'just', and 'hear' crossed out for 'here', and 'bear' for 'being' and 'raisins' has a big fat S on the end. But it's precious as all.

And my mother in law did the sweetest thing! On each of the cards and letters, she has written a comment! Like on that letter she wrote, "Sean, you are such a great writer. I love getting your letters." I guess she intended on giving them back one day.

So that's an idea for us. When we get those special little notes and cards from the special kids in our families, we can write a little message for them to have when they look at them when they are all grown up.

It funny about those things, that sometimes at the time, there might be a little fussing about the doing of it, ‘Oh, I already said thank you do I really have to write a card?’ …I held my ground, “Yes, you have to write a card. People need to know that you care and appreciate them.”

I am so glad I followed through. I have such trouble following through on so many things. Ask my closest, closest friends, and they will tell you – but with my children, I know deep in my soul that these are the things of importance. They involve love ever after.

Look up in the sky.....

Friday night Mr. B and I went to the beach. We took a couple of chairs and made ourselves comfortable. Just felt like looking and listening to the ocean for a while. It's got to be a good thing.

The moon rising was unreal. It was a red moon! It was about 8'ish in the evening, I think. Mr. B says it was earlier, but close. We thought we saw a ship out on the water, and it looked like it was coming closer and closer, first slowly and then moving very quickly. We thought, 'gee that's a weird light for a ship to have' ... then Mr. B realized that it was the moon rising. I thought we were being attacked by a UFO.

It really was an amazing thing. There is such power in the earth. People yell and argue and scream at each other and their kids and start wars and steal cars and swindle old people ... but they can't stop the moon from rising red over the ocean. Sometimes I wish the moon would crash down on the heads of bad people. And then just get up and rise back up in the sky.

Saturday we watched the launching of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from our front yard. Very unique feeling to go out into the front yard and see people being shot into space. I hope it does us, as a people, as the earth, some good. I really don't know about these types of things. It does give the mind something to do, I suppose, you know, going out into space. That's a lot of planning. I go crazy thinking about 16 people coming to my house for the weekend; I can't imagine planning to launch them into space! Ummm. Maybe I should.

Video Tapes

The list of things to do to keep my life from exploding right under me is growing beyond my minutes in the day.

For some reason, I was just thinking about my home movie video tapes. I did a little search on line to make sure I was storing them properly (not that I can find them at this moment, they are in a box somewhere), and I realize there is a great chance that I am not.

First, the tapes must be stored like book ends - straight up.
Second, tapes must be exercised. You should run your tapes, on fast forward if you don't watch them, periodically. We did this when the kids were younger, but it's been awhile since I've watched the home movie video tapes.

And lastly, copies of your orginals. Which I do not have.

If this were a test, I have failed.

A Challenge to all School Age Children

Dear Any Parents of Any Child of School Age --

(This challenge is being 'tongue in cheek' put out there because of the information in this post.)

I would like to initiate a challenge to you. The challenge is in two parts:

1. Give your child a Four Digit Number to memorize. This number must be known everyday for 100 and 80 days. If your child CAN successfully remember that number, your child is making a step toward independence of the common thinking.

2. Teach your child how to handle change. This might involve learning to get change out of ones pocket or bag and give this in payment for a service of say, about $2.85 will do. And I extend this challenge to add that the child also be able to know if he/she is given the correct change. You can consider that a bonus part of the challenge. And you can consider your child on his/her way to another form of independence, if this part of the challenge is mastered.

If you and your child/children should take and participate in this challenge, I would very much like to know if your child/children have been successful.

I thank you. And one day, America will thank you.

Sincerely,

Miss Roxie

And are you kidding me?

How did I survive the lunch line as a child?

This link is for a news story telling of the latest move regarding technology being misused for the continued dumbing down of our children.

In one of the states in our union, they have been given permission to switch to a scanning system of using a finger to pay for lunch at school. BECAUSE -- and I quote from the television interview I heard with my own ears, "It's easier than having the child fumble for change, or to have to remember a four digit number."

*Fumble* for change? Oh heavens. Can you imagine living in a world where children actually *fumble* for change in a lunch line? (Oh dear, they might learn about money and become responsible!)

And having to *remember* a *FOUR DIGIT* number? Oh heavens again! How could we inject such cruelty to the mind of a child. And in a SCHOOL no less? Oh how outrageous. Thinking! Who’d ever thunk it? Actually, remembering a four digit number? How can you require that from a child? (Oh dear, they might actually learn to think for themselves!)

I think the people, who came up with this idea, didn't look around and notice -- They were in a SCHOOL.

I can't, for the life of me, figure out what is wrong with a child learning about money and change. What is wrong with memorizing a FOUR DIGIT number? What about addresses and phone numbers? Is it out of fashion and requirement for children to bother memorizing such things? (Did all sense and logic die with Mr. Rogers?)


And while I'm asking questions, why are people - in schools no less - allowed to make children into blooming idiots? Are there really so many people in the world, so busy, that no one can take the time to assist a child in learning about how to buy his lunch?

Maybe I'm not seeing something wonderful and logical in this action of finger scanning. I just see stupid people doing stupid things, taking away more responsibility and desire of thinking and making more people more stupid and neglectful of personal responsibility.

One day 4 years ago

Two separate sides of the door.

My side:

I am in the laundry room while my daughter is in the
family room folding clothes.  The rooms are adjacent
separated by a door that is not closed all the way. I
am singing with enthusiasm while I rearrange some
things on the shelves. 

I come across a full  box of
laundry detergent that I hadn't realized was there.
It falls with a load thud.  I stop singing to pick it
up and hope it didn't break in the fall. A moment of
silence passes and I hear hysterical laughter from
behind the door.


My daughter's side:

She is in the family room folding clothes.  She hears
her mother singing loudly from behind the door:

"I get knocked down
but I get up again
they're never gonna keep me down,
I get knocked down
but I get up again
they're never gonna keep me down,
I get knocked down..."

*THUD*

silence....

she breaks out into hysterical laughter.  She is
picturing a great video in her head.

Jacob and The Giant Library

Tuesdays and Thursdays are library days for Jacob and I. It’s Story Time with Miss Vanessa. Jake is very friendly to everyone. Very touchy, huggie, sweet little fellow ~ most grown-ups find it charming...but some little girls just don't like it.

There is one little girl in attendance each week that wants nothing whatsoever to do with Jacob's friendliness. If he smiles at her, she complains, 'Mommy he's looking at me!'. If he touches her shoulder – (and he does this to just about any child he goes up and talks to) -- she yells, "Mommy he's touching me!"

In a way, I applaud the little girl for loudly and clearly protecting her space. But it’s difficult to explain to Jacob that some people just don’t appreciate ones friendliness.

The little girl’s mother said last week, "She has issues." Today her mom said to me, "He's fine, she's just like that. I don't know what's wrong with her."

I told the mom, I really didn't think anything was 'wrong with her', that someday that attitude might serve her well.

But it is all very confusing in the early stages of life, isn't it? All the 'having my space stuff'.

I do think that Jacob does not have an awareness of any ones *space*. It's all his space after all, and you just happen to be in it!

But he's like a doctor; he means no harm. He looks people in the eye when they talk to him, if he has met you once before, he’s liable to put his arms around you while you are talking to him, he's just that socially comfortable.

I told the mom of Miss Don't-Look-at-Me that both her daughter and Jacob have something to learn. These two just happen to be the extremes of all the Respect My Space problems in the world (and there’s no *we* in My Space). Perhaps they can learn much from each other. Such cute little grasshoppers they are. Maybe they will grow up and get married.

It is difficult having Jacob over at my house right now because everything is not neatly put away and organized enough for a two year old to just boldly go from room to room. And he’s a boy explorer who needs to learn about *space*…and because it was raining outside today and our park plans were squashed, all playing space was limited, and Madam Blueberry was trying to concentrate on her math, I decided to take Jacob home an hour early and finish out our play there.

On the way home, just in conversation, I asked him if he was happy. He said, “No.”

I asked him why.

He said, “I’m mad at you.”

“At me?” I said, “Why is that?”

He said, “Because you are taking me home.”

Silly as this may sound, this made me smile. Only because I was wondering, did he like me and want to be with me for 5 hours every day. I think his little bit of anger answered my question.

Soon the weather will get nicer, and Madam Blueberry will get better at her math. (She was even looking forward to going to the park with Jacob today.) Soon everything will blend nicely and find a place to be in my house, and so soon things will be so that Jacob won’t have a reason to be mad at me anymore.

The Standard

I spent a good part of the day in Home Depot. I don't enjoy Home Depot. I whine when I am in Home Depot.

We had to buy some shelving. There is a lot of math involved in shelving projects. But now, THERE is a homeschool project that could kill the proverbial birds with the one stone. Have your child put up shelves. Hopefully, they won't make as many holes in the walls as Mr. B did.

However, there is no guarantee in that. You see, contractors say - the studs are placed at 16" --and ha, ha, ha on the measurements of contractors. We had a stud-finder that says contractors rulers are off a tad.

Do you know what a 'standard' is? I didn't. But that strip that holds the supports that holds the shelves is called a 'standard'. How about that? I would have called it a support strip. Or in short perhaps, a strip. - but if you click on this, you can see what a standard is.

Live and Learn.

Tunneling through it

I feel like I have nothing new and/or intelligent to report.

I couldn't sleep last night, and I was to tired to read, so I just tossed and turned. I ended up sleeping in this morning, and was tired all day, then a most unusual thing for me, I went out looking for rugs. I need one that I can tolerate.

I have realized I don't like looking for things. Or maybe what it is, is that, I really need to get some more of this unpacking done before I can feel comfortable going out to look for things.

I need a computer desk. Unless I order it on line, I doubt it will come to me. I have to go out, and look for it. Why do I hate that? I must be lazy.

People ask me, 'have you checked on ebay?' I never check on ebay for anything. It's like in my world, there is no ebay. What does ebay stand for anyway?

I have no idea what is going on in the world. I sat down at my inlaws today for a cup of tea, and they had the television on. There was President Bush talking tough about Iran. And I thought, 'oh you have got to be kidding me, please don't let us go to war with Iran.' I hate the whole war thing.

We all decided to order pizza tonight. I dialed the pizza place and got my mother-in-law.
What?
What is your number?
She gave me her number.
Her number is one digit off the pizza place number!! She just got her phone Friday!
What are the odds of that? Now really!

What is more important - the longevity of life or the quality of life? Do you live like one of those is a real choice to you? Or do you just get up, and there goes a day?

This is only a Text

Today ~ more rain. Still Ernesto? I don't know!

We finally got cable uphook, and I didn't miss it a bit, and kind of wish (no, do wish) we had not bothered with it. My husband even said, "I was getting used to not having a television. There is really nothing on here." If you know him, you would be like, standing with your mouth open to hear this from him. I used to say, "there is really nothing on here" and he would say, "Yes there is, you just have to know how to look!" Too funny.

It's been said it takes about two weeks to change a habit, or make a good habit ~ actually, that is probably still being disputed ~ but I know it takes about that, and it takes _longer_ than that to undue a bad habit for a new habit, or just plain undue a bad habit ... but can you undue a bad habit without replacing it with something? What just happened to my brain right then? I got off point ...

Point was, we've been a month or more without television! So maybe Mr. B has developed a new good habit!

Found out - you can change your driver license address on line (and renew). That was cool; no waiting in line. They send you out a new license (if you have one with a digital photo which mine has), or a sticker, depending on what type of license you have. You need a credit card handy as they charge you $10.00. Someone told me it costs $15.00 when you go in, but I don't know.

Also found out, that to get any money back from overpayment on your homeowners insurance after you sell your home, you have to send them a copy of the HUD statement. Even if the Closing People tell you they will take care of it, according to the Homeowners Insurance people, they don't ever do. But I knew I hadn't signed anything regarding that, so I took care of it myself.

I know I haven't been blogging as much lately as I have been thinking about blogging. But I have interacted with more people lately than usual, and I have to say, it does kind of wear me out. I'm not used to this much socialization. I'm really a recluse.

Raindrops keep falling....somewhere

We got more rain here after Ernesto than during.
You see these huge black clouds forming in the sky,
and you know it's going to just pelt you a good one.

You run out of the grocery store with your few bags, in the torrential downpour,
and get totally drenched, and you fret for a second or two about your favorite shoes getting wet,
throw your groceries in the back seat,
which became saturated before using while you had the door open for that 12 seconds,
slide yourself into the driver's seat, and you are literally sitting in a puddle of water,

you wipe the hair back out of your eyes that is stuck to your head so you can focus better through the what looks like an ocean of water on your windshield that the wipers don’t seem to be able to move,

you try not to lean back in the seat because your clothes are soaked and you are freezing,
you make sure your shoes are not slippery before you take off...

The steering wheel is covered with water, along with your keys and you,

so then slowly,
you drive home ...

less than a quarter of a mile...
only to realize…
it's not rained a drop in your driveway.