What book are you?

I got this link from Tim's Mom's blog.

You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!

by Lewis Carroll

After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind
opened to a number of strange and curious things.

As life grows curiouser and curiouser,
you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion.

Little is coming to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that
it's starting not to matter. Be careful around rabbit holes and those who smile to much,
and just avoid hat shops altogether.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

The job update

Oh you guys,
I wish I had something better to report than I do ...

The place is not very well organized.
They just got sued. A class action law suit about the overtime? I think I mentioned that...and now they have just gone over to a new system. And guess what? Mr. B and another fellow, who started before him, have the same ID #.

Yes, they have ID Number's now, so they can't give Mr. B any assignments until they get that straightened out.

So. Because he wasn't in the system, they haven't been able to give him any jobs and that means no money. Going to work. Leaving at 6 AM in the morning, and then not making any money for the day -- not very cool. That doesn't feed your family.

He told them, Look, I need to make some money. They said, please hang in there with us, we will get this straightened out and this is our slow time. I don't know what to think~

It's crazy. It's a world gone mad.

I don't know how most people survive it. There is no more retirement through your job like there used to be. Those days are gone. Save your money. Job security? I just don't know anymore. Even a hard working man can't depend on hard working being a way to make it or guarantee anything.

I know we live in a country in which spending is how we survive -- but that just doesn't work for everyone.

Oh well. We will see what happens on Monday. We are giving the situation a couple of months. We don't know what else to do.

Hanging in there

Keeping on the keeping on
of the keeping on
of the hanging in there
for representation of the what else are you going to do
as you can't lay down and die
as you know you must live to the fullest or you lie
lie
lie to yourself about all the stories you have ever told yourself
about going on and not cheating yourself out of no more days.
No more days lived looking back
and into the past with a real serious idea that you know what's going on.
You thought you knew but you didn't.
You thought you were winning
but turns out you didn't even know the score
or what the game was that was being played
and you were skating on thin ice
and then came the day it caved in
and you started to freeze
your emotions jumped into hold,
waiting for the sunlight to take hold,
and so you actually saved yourself without even knowing it.
And you didn't even step on the rusty nail.
So all that time, all those days,
no matter what the ice man had said,
it could have been worse.
Keep hanging in there.
What else are you going to do?

(An obscure poem written in an obscure moment
my Miss Roxie)

Update on the work situation

The training is completed. They did, however, add two days of practical training. And the trainers of the practical end of the job did continue to say, 'don't worry about what you learned in class.'

They also have not told anyone whether they have passed their academic test.

The good news and the bad news.

1. The good news is they gave him a truck. And, they are not charging the usual $40.00 a week (which is standard for the truck - blessing there).

They gave him plenty of shirts.

They changed the work week from 6 days to 5 days. You will still work on Saturday. (They just settled a class action law suit involving overtime. Apparently, they weren't paying it.)

2. The bad news is they haven't given him any work for two days, and he didn't get the area he was hoping for as far as reporting in to a certain city. The route he will be assigned is not in a very good area. I guess those worse routes are given out to the new guys? Don't know.

He did tell them yesterday (as this is his second day of no work), he does need to make some money.

He has to buy tools. Over a thousand dollars worth of tools. They do let you purchase from them and take it out of the salary for 8 weeks. The tools, hopefully, will be a good purchase.

We are moving forward, keep eyes open for new opportunities. Any prayers would be appreciated.
We are trying to be wise about this.

Billy Butterfly and Madam Blueberry

Yesterday, after living in my especially made Butterfly Guest House for 13 days, Billy Butterfly stepped out of his chrysalis. He dried his wings, gave Madam Blueberry a lovely show of those same beautiful wings before he flitted up and away to test them out.

His namesake, My Billy and I, had watched him leave the tree where he had stayed in so long,not moving we were a wee bit worried, and then thought, "oh home, he thinks this is home~! "

We really hope he stays around.

Billy Butterfly

Just born!! My first butterfly from my garden! Details soon!

25 things you know if you have a son ....

I received the list below from a friend of mine.

She and I pretty much raised our same age sons side by side as in right across the street. We were neighbors for 18 years. Our boys meet when they were 3 years old. They are both 21 now. We have such funny and good memories.

One thing I know for sure, it sure was easier having someone close by going through the same things as me. Our boys did a lot of things together; it's such a long list! Rode bikes, played with every lego there was, tinker toys, swimming, played soccer on the same team as little kids and soccer in high school together, and became lifeguards together, crazy times ~

25 Things You Know If You Have A Son...


1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 x 20 foot room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up in the air a few times, before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old boy.
11. Playdoh and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a five-minute response time .
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
25. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid

When weeding, ....

... the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. ~Author Unknown

(That was just too funny to me. Been there, done that.)

The Dense Gardner

Mr. B says that's what I am. A dense gardener. It's not as bad as it sounds. (But it's sorta true in all senses of the word.)

Mr. B had a Lawn Care and Maintenance business for over 20 years. He says the people who plant like I do, i.e. putting things in difference sizes close together, are dense gardeners.

Oh well, I just like looking at a lot of plants together. I like putting colors together that bring out other colors. I like dimension.

And also, I don't really follow gardening rules. I mean I use the best dirt I can afford. But I fertilize with food. I feed my plants anything that's pure food. I feed my roses coffee and coffee grounds. I prune when I think I want too to encourage a growth a certain way. I take careful care not to overstress any of my plants.

My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Ale

I talk to them. I can't help it. It comes naturally.

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban

Today I moved some plants that had grown together beautifully. Some portulacas and some blue dwarf, and as I was putting them in their new place, I whispered 'I love you' -- my mother in law walked up. She was smiling as me. I really don't know if she heard me, or if she was just smiling.

The portulacas are orange and the blue dwarf - well, they are blue -- they look really nice near the white rose. This is really no good without photos. I have to get that straightened out.

God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

We Will Homeschool for Food

~For Nature Study, I decided to have Madam Blueberry grow food.

I found a kit that had Sweet Peppers. It was in a cute little container, everything included, and I decided we would start with that. Madam B was happy with the idea and cheerfully set it all up and has been taking care of them.

And then came yesterday.

She moved the cute little pot out in an area for sun. And surprisingly, it poured here. Poured, poured, poured. She hasn't seen the little pot yet. I moved it this morning. I'm not sure the peppers are going to make it ... they look really, really wet.

I am trying to decide what else to plant this year. Last year we grew tomatoes and lettuce and herbs successfully, and my one cantaloupe, that I took 40 pictures of - could also be counted as a success.

This year I am expanding, and putting Madam B in charge.

We have to do something. Food prices are just rising.

I'm thinking about a lemon tree and a lime tree. I friend of mine grew these successfully on her porch.

I'm thinking about bananas. A friend of mine grew these on his porch.

(Did you guess I have a porch?)

What do we use? What do we use, I muse. What could I be successful with? I really want the peppers. They are so expensive in the store! Onions, maybe garlic? I use a lot of garlic.

Herbs are easy. They are so friendly and faithful and smell good. I'll do more herbs this year.

I have some chili peppers out there. It's a really pretty plant. But someone told me you can't eat them the first year. You have to let that crop die off, and you can eat them the second year. Problem is, I don't know who died off already. And, I don't know what degree of chili pepper hot these are -- I think I've talked about this problem before ...

There is a Pepper Heat Scale. When I tried to post the link, it wouldn't work, but it's very interesting. This scale was invented, or founded, or discovered in 1912 by a man named Wilbur Scoville. There are units of measure for pepper hotness and apparently, some people can get addicted to the affect that the peppers give. And, separate from this issue, I have read eating hot peppers can be very good for men's health.

I know it's not a sweet banana pepper growing out there, I do like those, maybe I'll plant those; the pepper I have is first yellow, then purple, then red with little white flowers. Doesn't look as dangerous as it is -- The information at the Pepper Heat Scale site explains that if you bite into a really hot chili pepper, your brain thinks you bit into hot coal! My eyes are sweating just thinking about it.

Strawberries! Fantastic, and I think they can be grown in pots successfully. I even saw a kit for Tabasco Chili Peppers, but I don't think I'd eat those. I would grow them, though, if they were pretty.

Looks like I'm going to have to get another job to support my plant habit!

More than a fair exchange

I've been a little short on the dollars lately, as we all go through this now and then, but just as soon as things got tough here, a special friend of mine was helping me out! And my heart was touched with the beauty of the gift and the love that sent it.

I love that, don't you? Helping someone when they need a hand? Getting by with a little help from your friends is a fine way to live, as long as you are being a friend to someone, as well. And I try to be.

Yesterday, I decided to help someone out even though it would mean I wouldn't be able to spring for lunch for myself; I picked up a gallon of milk for a hard working mother of two. Not that she needed the money, but it was the 'time' that she didn't have to go and get it, she had been out of milk for two days - so I went and picked some up for her and took it back over to her office. She was so grateful. It felt good.

Today, I go over to a friend's home to visit. She and her husband, as a way to make money on the side, have been emptying out storage lockers (rooms - people have so much stuff they can't keep it in their home, so they rent a place to keep stuff.) They get paid a very small amount to take everything out, and then they can keep the stuff and they have been having garage sales.

Well, you know as well as I, when you are short on cash flow you don't usually buy things for yourself, right? So, what am I into these days? ~~ my garden, plants ~~ and I have been looking for plant stands. Those things are not that cheap.

So, what does my friend give me today?

A plant stand - ?

Okay ...How about two plant stands?

AND, how about a great big planter pot? In yellow, the color I wanted? AND two smaller ones, not little ones, but smaller than the big one - in Yellow, also?
Oh, and one more thing ...one of the plant stands needs some finish work on the top. She and I said I could probably mosaic that; I was thinking something in blue - I'm planting blue, white and yellow in front of my house --

So low and behold, my friend has some plates in a bag that a lady had broken up for mosaic work and decided she didn't want them any more ...

AND guess what color?

Hah! Blue and White?

Yes!
Not just any ole blue and white, but a rich, beautiful looking blue!

I think I got back more than the $3.48 I spent on the milk!

Some days, life is just grand.

I know things like this happen to anyone who gives something to another. If only the whole world could just remember to be kind. We would all have more than we ever thought we needed and most of what we wanted!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anais Nin

"My friends are my estate."- Emily Dickinson

Someone squished my days

In the end, it's all about love...

I cannot believe it is Thursday of this week already. My feet hurt. I'm not sure why.

#1 son and I went on a holiday this past weekend. We visited my niece and nephew in Eustis for a baseball weekend. You may have never heard of Eustis, but there was hardly a hotel to be found because the weekend there was packed full of activity. A festival, a bike race for some kind of bikes, something else I think, and baseball!

(My mother calls the place "Huestis". I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe because Huestis sounds more like a place than Eustis? I don't know. It's a long list of things grandma calls things, that aren't really the things they are called, for the reasons we just don't know about.

When I finally did, gently, correct my mother regarding the correct pronunciation, after my niece had lived there about 4 years,
She said, "Really? It's not Huestis?"
"No. It's pronounced like You tis."
"Really? You tis? Are you sure?"
Okay, never mind.
Hey, who am I to correct grandma. I won't do it again. Hearing Grandma say Huestis is more fun anyway.)

Two of my great nephews (who knew I would be old enough one day for Great Nephews?) are playing their first year of baseball. Oh my gosh, it was just so much fun, I can hardly tell you to really explain it.

Kenny is seven, and Dakoda is nine. I almost said they were 5 and 7, because, geesh, they keep growing up! They looked so serious in their baseball uniforms (I almost said 'outfits' yikes!)

Kenny, as far as I'm concerned, was responsible for his team winning the game. He not only got a hit, he got two men out! (Men? Did I say "Men"?) He tagged them using his special "Eye On You" method. He catches the ball, runs after the runner, all the while eyeing them directly in the eyes, which probably paralyzes them with fear and then he tags them out! It was fantastic to watch. Brilliant. Just really top of the line pro-league stuff. Move over famous baseball people.

Dakoda looks like a shy player. But underneath that dimpled smiling exterior lies the heart of a bobcat..... Just waiting for the ball to come his way. He was always ready, glove up and into the game. He played third base his first game, and right at the beginning of the game, he showed what he was worth on the field! He caught a pop fly!

It looked like it was not going to stay in his glove. He had to stretch to get it. It was right there at the tip, but he held on! And Then! He threw the ball to second for a double play!!
Okay, well, they said the ball should have gone to first, and somehow it did end up on first, I can't remember now, how it did, but Kody saved the game with a double play.

He really did save the game because they won by one run!!

It was fantastical!!

But more fantastic than any baseball game I have ever watched, was watching my niece and her husband - The Mom and The Dad - just jumping up and down all excited at their boys out there on the field. It felt so good to see family love in action. It really did bring tears to my eyes.

I mean, I have seen my beautiful niece grow up into this really terrific person. I have such a great time with she and my nephew and her boys. She is seven weeks older than my #1 son, and who would have ever thought she would one day be one of my best friends? I get overwhelmed with emotion sometimes thinking about it.

What it is about life is, ya' gotta wait it out. People give up to quickly. The good stuff comes after the hard work and labor. People get tired of hard work and labor, oh that is gruelling, so many people don't stay for the good stuff at the end.

When Jesus stayed late at the wedding of Cana and they ran out of wine. His mother, one of the first to have faith in what he could do, advised him of the situation, and told the servants to do whatever he told them.
They did.
Next thing, people are praising the host for serving the best wine last. Of course, we all know that Jesus turned the water into wine (and apparently it was some mighty fine wine) The people who had stayed around were impressed! The good stuff was there to be savored at the end. They had been blessed.

That's what I'm doing at this time in my life. I'm living now in the good stuff now. And don't I just love it`I reveille in thinking about it! The wine is mighty fine and takes many forms, sometimes resembling shots of tequila in little glasses. But, fine, mighty fine, good chuckling way to pass the time at the end of the banquet when you think all the good stuff is gone. :)

Tell me who admires and loves you, And I will tell you who you are.
~~Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuvee


Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.
~~Denis Waitley

The Beatles did say it -- All You Need is Love, Love, Love is all ya' need--

Spread the word --
All ya need is love, dot dot-dot da-dah --
All ya' need is love, love,
Love is all ya' need

She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah ....

Note from postmaster -- look for photos to come soon.

What punctuation mark are you?

I was visiting my best friend's blog (Tim's Mom), and clicked on this Puntuation Mark test.

I am a Question Mark? Okay ... I would have guessed I was a semi-colon because I get along so well with Leslie!

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Leap Year 2008

I have to make a leap year post! Here's a leap year quiz I found on line --

1. Who first proclaimed the last day of February to be a leap year day?
A. Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt
B. Julius Caesar
C. Pope Gregory XIII
D. King Richard II of England

2. U.S. presidential elections occur every four years, but two presidents -- Thomas Jefferson and William McKinley -- won election in years that were not Leap Years. Why?

3. Which of these nations once had a Feb. 30 on its calendar?
A) France
B) Sweden
C) Russia
D) Iceland

4. What historical figure once used a celestial event on Leap Year Day to great advantage?

5. European countries gradually switched to the Gregorian calendar, which standardized our current Leap Year system. Because different calendars existed at one time, two famous authors have the same date of death, but didn't die on the same day. Who were they?

6. Leap Year Day plays a crucial role in which of the following stage plays?
A. "Richard III" by Shakespeare
B. "A Marriage Proposal" by Anton Chekhov
C. "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan
D. "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller

7. A tradition once held that women may propose marriage only on Leap Year Day, but such proposals from women have grown more common regardless of the date. What well-known male athlete from the Cincinnati area famously accepted a marriage proposal from a female celebrity?

8. On Leap Year Day 1972, Don and Nancy Brazelton of Greenhills became first-time parents when Mrs. Brazelton gave birth to their son, Christopher, in a Volkswagen Beetle on the way to a Cincinnati hospital. To commemorate the blessed event, Volkswagen of America gave them what?
A. A free 1973 Volkswagen Beetle
B. A free set of tires
C. A $50 savings bond
D. Nothing

9: What's the name for someone born on Leap Year Day?


_____________________________________
ANSWERS
1. B.

2. The last year of a century isn't a Leap Year unless it's evenly divisible by 400. Jefferson was elected in 1800; McKinley in 1900.

3. B. In 1712, Sweden added two Leap Year Days to its calendar during the transition to the Gregorian calendar.

4. Using an almanac, Christopher Columbus successfully "predicted" a lunar eclipse on Feb. 29, 1504, convincing natives in what's now Jamaica to cooperate with him.

5. William Shakespeare and Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, on April 23, 1616. Shakespeare's death on the Gregorian calendar used in England today would have been May 3, 1616.

6. C. The character Frederic is apprenticed to pirates until his 21st birthday, but he's only had five birthdays because he was born on Feb. 29.

7. Baseball star David Justice, a graduate of Covington Latin High School, accepted a marriage proposal from actress Halle Berry in 1993. They divorced three years later. Other women who proposed to their husbands include Ruth (from the Biblical Book of Ruth), Queen Victoria and Patti LaBelle.

8. C. An urban myth held that Volkswagen gave free cars to parents of children born in VW's.

9. A leapling.


Hope you enjoy the Leap Year!!

I do know someone who has a birthday today. My #1 son's grandpa is 92 years young! And I mean, young. Whatever it is one needed to figure out about how to make the best of great genes -- this man did. He is as witty and sharp as he's always been. Now the body, well, that's not such an easy thing, but still - he takes care of everything on his own. A really great guy, father of 8, husband to a saint, I've lost track of how many grandchildren and greats, but I'll find out.

It's a chilly day here in Sunny Florida, and I will be making a trip with #1 son, and my mom to Eutis! Two of my little nephews are playing their first competition baseball games this weekend!

It's actually cold here

A. In Sunny Florida it is 67 today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be colder. Ready for this -- 45 lovely degrees! It will go up to 65, though, so no worries.

And what a beautiful sky tonight. All coral pink and brilliant, looks like lovely pink sand. When I figure out the picture thing, I'll post one of the sky tonight. Which hopefully will turn out better than my dot of an eclipse.

I get really frustrated with myself trying to learn these things!

B. Mr. B's job - His first day of on the job training. And his instructor said, 'if you do things the way they showed you in class, you will never get done.' Is that always the way? Is life like that? Is there a manual somewhere and then you read it, and say, 'oh yes, this is the manual, we took the test, but none of this will work in a practical sense?' Makes things tough to sort your way through.

And that is all we are doing. We are sorting our way through.

C. I have a house project going. Since I live in a small house, I have really needed to assess where does one actually need to keep things? What are our habits? How do we really live?

An example: Mr. B always put a handful of clothes to wear again - somewhere. His hand goes out - and the clothes go 'somewhere.' Since he has 'no where', he puts them on a my dresser. So, I need to create a 'where' of a place to accommodate that habit. And I will.

I am going to work on doing something brilliant in our closet. I don't know what exactly, and I'm hoping I can do it without a lot of money -- but that's my plan right now.

I have a lot of blankets in that closet. Blankets and comforters that we used to use all the time. But gone are the days when my house was daily a place for tents and forts, and children wrapped up in comfies to hear a story I was reading aloud ("wahhh, I so miss that!!" she says smiling through the tears).

So, I have been washing them and refolding them (so I can store them properly), and I've found for them another place other than my closet to be. And I have freed up a lot of space! Okay, great. I don't know what the next step is, but I'll get there.

I realize my goal for the closet might be a little out of my ability to achieve it on my own, but if I don't do it that way, I think I would stall in mid air.

The incompetency train...

...runs straight through the DMV.

I misplaced my drivers license. I am so angry with myself. My son needs some information for his college application that concerns my drivers license number and, so, I took it out of my purse to get the info and from there it went into the abyss.

So, today, my son calls and says he needs the date I first got my drivers license in the state of Florida. Drat. Who knows that when they are older than Jackson Browne? I got my license to drive in the state of Texas in 1962. And then I moved back to Florida and got a license ...but who knows the date?

So, to get the date, I needed my license.

So, I had to go get another one! Drat. $15.25! And, I didn't know they would be taking a picture today and I looked like Methuselah's Crazy Mad Sister in Law! It rained! Not a stitch of make-up. My hair was frizzy. I'm just getting over a cold -- but nope, you had to have a new picture taken! And it's 4:27 PM and they close at 4:30. No time for primping.

Grrrrr.

So, I get this horrible thing done and then ask, "Okay, I need the date of when I first got my license"
and they say, "Sure" and so they click, click, click and say, "2003 -- October 19, 2003.

"What?"
That is not even remotely close!! Not even a tad, teeny bit in the right era!!

Okay, so, they say, "Well, this is what we have (insinuating, *I*, am wrong...) so, what you need to do is go to the Clerk of Courts office, They have 'everything' there. 'Everything' about your license."

So, I high tail it over to the clerk of courts office (alright, it's right next door, but still ....)--So, I go in and "blah, blah, blah" says I "story, story, detail, detail" all nice and everything,and the nice lady says, "Sure, I can find that information for you. Just give me $2.25 and I'll give you this report." (I'm thinking, how many nice plants I could buy with this money I've spent!!)

She prints out the report, hands it to me ...
AND
The report says ---
October 19, 2003!!!

What?
No.
That's not even remedially correct. As a matter of fact: That is catastrophically wrong! (My gosh, no wonder you people can't catch any criminals!!)

I don't know what happened on October 19, 2003, but I'm sure it didn't happen to me in the DMV!

Good Grief.

So, in conclusion, I can only conclude that, once again, there has been proven out the old adage, you can't tell which way the train is going by looking at the tracks. Especially if they run through the DMV!

Happy Birthday to my Darling Daughter

My only daughter turned 18 today.

To say I was overwhelmed by the event is one of those statements that one finds under things. Truly. I have been overcome by emotion for the greater part of the day. Reading cards in the Hallmark store had me weeping. I choose a card with what I thought were befitting words, and then ended up writing a brief novella inside the flap.

There's not enough that can be said about a mother's love anyway, not it's depth, it's height, it's volume, it's boldness, nor it's purity. A mother's love encompasses in the boundaries of those things that only God knows about and can explain.

And God explains things with rainbows and clouds and stars and moons and suns and flowers and singing birds. No Hallmark card can top that.

I am barely able to contain the joy of having a daughter such as this. God has blessed me. Her character is strong and resolved. She is introspective, reflective, and charming. I find her wit brilliantly entertaining to me. She and William Shakespeare would have shared a great laugh over tea and scones.

I love her truly, madly, deeply.
Thank you, God, for a gift such as she.
Her beauty surrounds her and runs through her like a river.
May she always be yours, this gift of mine.

Lunar left overs

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.~Charles Darwin~

Last night was an eclipse of the moon. It was truly lovely. Madam B and I watched it from the front yard. I tried to take a photo. All I got was this teeny tiny little dot in a black space. I held the camera as far away from me as I could, Madam B began laughing, 'oh yes, mom, that extra foot will definitely make the difference." It didn't.

I have a new computer, and I'm not sure how to post photos on it. I have a new camera, too, and I don't know how to load the memory card on here. I'll put that down on my list for another thing for do. I only have 5000 things, so far, so now 5001.

My mom is ill. Things are not right when your mom is ill. We've all had this crude flu thing that the world is sharing, and mom started coughing on Monday. I could tell by the sound of it, ummm, not good. She went to the doctor today, for blood work actually, and my dad insisted that she speak to the doctor about this condition she's in, and the doctor didn't like it at all (the condition, not that my father spoke). So, she's being treated for pneumonia, she feels awful and she's laid up in bed (lain up? laying up? laid up? oh, she's in bed very ill). I don't like that picture. Me poor mum, so tiny in the bed. Nope. Don't like that picture.

Mr. B is still out of town doing his training. He misses me terribly but our friend Pam is an excellent cook and cooks a fine dinner every night. Which I hadn't been doing lately, so he's made out on this bargain.

He went by the house we lived in when we first got married. He says it looks so small! Well, it was small. It was only a two bedroom! Funny, how time makes things look differently to some people.

I'm still on the down low from the flu bug. I'm tired. I wanted to get a few things done while Mr. B was out of town, but I ended up being exhausted every night. Oh well.

I have done a lot of shredding. The shredder is actully fun. When Jacob comes over, as he did this morning at 9 AM, in his pajamas with a big smile on his face, he loves to do some shredding. Four year olds think things like paper shredders are really cool, something akin to large bulldozer equipment in their living room. I forget what he calls it, I'll have to ask him again, but I save up the papers for him, and we sit there together, and he puts them one at a time in the shredder and each time we are constantly amazed at the results. Jacob shouts, "Wow!" a lot.

He's learning the paper can't be to thick, can't be to thin, can't be to wrinkled, either. It's funny to watch him try to unwrinkle a paper. He once asked me to iron it, but I told him, nahh, it'll be fine. I let him mess up, too, now and again, when he doesn't follow my instructions. Of course, I don't ever put the machine in too much danger, and Jake in no danger, but now and again, he jambs up the machine, and we have to take time away from our fun to go unclog it. So far no damage has been done and a lot of paper has been successfully shredded.

I'm still working on my decluttering. I've begun to realize that one must surely not need as many pieces of paper as I keep. I must have some kind of fear of something. What kind of fear could a person have that doesn't let them throw away a copy of a bill that they paid right away? Maybe if I just start throwing everything out, I'll discover what it is when it happens to me! Okay, that will be my new rule - Unless it's tax related, shred it.

Oh my gosh! The cat just crashed into the sink!!

Life is always at some turning point.
~Irwin Edman~

Not Last Week of Training

They said it was 8 days of training. Now, it's 10 days of training. Which only proves one more time the old adage; you can never tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.

My flu has turned itself into the common cold. I don't know if I should stand up and cheer. Never mind. I'll get to dizzy.

Here's a cute story - A friend of mine took her three year old son to a Chinese restaurant. At the end of the meal, his mom handed him the fortune cookie which he carefully opened. As the little white piece of paper with his fortune popped up out of the cookie, he excitedly exclaimed, "Look Mommy! I got mail!".

Job saga - last week of training

Driving to the training place and back is costing $25.00 a day in gasoline. Friends of ours live about 30 minutes from the place (we live 2 hours), and have offered to let Mr. B stay with them to help with the commute. There is even an offer of one meal a day.

We have decided to accept the offer. This will be the last week of training. Then, we should begin to have an idea of what we are up against. It's really annoying not to know, but trusting God in all things is comfortable.

In my humanness I do have concerns, but they are for tomorrow. And the Good Lord will probably beat me there.

I often find myself constantly adding things up. I do have to remind myself to relax. Ah, but not that often - just now and again. I take a deep sigh and find something to do. There are lessons to learn, and by golly, we are going to learn them.

Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. --
Matthew 6:34 KJV