It was report card day today. DS#1 came home with straight A's and a note that said, "He is such a gifted student, willing to help his peers, a wonderful delight to have in class." His only failing was that he is sloppy in his work. DS#2 who struggles with school got and A+ in math!!! and a B in handwriting. None of my kids nor myself has ever had above a C in handwriting. It really gave DS#2 something about which to be proud. DS#2's comments were, "He struggles but is definitely trying his hardest to behave and read. Does need to concentrate on staying oriented to his tasks." That is a major improvement over previous years when teachers said he shouldn't be in a main stream classroom. Funny though, the only to disorders they could find in him were Dyslexia and Cognitive Auditory Processing. Neither of which is recognized by our state as a learning disorder so they have no grounds to pull him from the classroom. They are giving him one on one reading tutoring this year.
This has been a wonderful weekend. DH sold his 88 Chevy pickup. That gives us the money for our Thanksgiving vacation. I got the sewing room all clean and catalogued all my patterns. Found an empty daytimer case that I know will fit some of the schedule pages they have at All a Dollar. The filing cabinets are all organized. I found a kennel for the dog for vacation and one that I like and they've lowered their rates which is nice although we do have to make a trip to the vet for a new round of shots before he can go to the kennel. DH has two days of work this week and I get time off on Wednesday. I finished the Peacock Puzzle I was working on but the kids wanted to start another so we did that. We qualified for a free copy of Pirates of the Caribbean on DVD at the grocery store. I finished binding 1.5 sides of the first Harry Potter quilt and I should get even more done tonight during Monarch of the Glen. I've decided what to get for my youngest and my oldest for Christmas now it's just a matter of finding something for the middle son (who's 10). My brother called to tell me that he would miss seeing me at Thanksgiving but he understood that I had other plans. It snowed on Saturday! My dad brought over Chinese food for dinner so I didn't have to fix a Sunday dinner. I picked up and read Jo Beverley's Winter Fire over the weekend. I was in a nice hot bath Friday and fell asleep, which was rather pleasant. It's been rather a pleasant weekend. I just wish someone had made an offer on my daughter's daybed that we have for sale.
I loved that line in the movies and it’s even better when it happens in real life. Six months ago I wouldn’t have the connections or the knowledge to go forward with what I’m planning. This idea could build slowly or it could take off like a shot. It’s just a matter of staying organized and following through. I will do it. I will keep working at it and it will come together even more. A friend suggested that I get the business up and running before Christmas as a present to myself. If I devoted full time to it I probably could. It would be a stretch and Christmas would be really lean but it could be done. Working slow but steady guarantees that it will be done right and gives me time to get the necessary funding in place without putting my family into debt or jeopardy. Then again, I could just go back to school. However, when this works, I could do both. Now, off to talk to someone about grants for female owned businesses….
Rabbit fur coats are just a fad. They will be out of style before you know it. I just paid off the Express card so what if they are 50% off this week. The coat's aren't even real rabbit like they were in the 80's when I wanted one. They would be out of style before I even got the bill paid off. But they look almost like they did in high school and the sales clerk said it looked slimming. I can resist this. I don't need a half coat. I have a gorgeous distressed leather jacket for that. What I need this year is a long coat to wear with my opera dress. I haven't seen any long coats. But this looks just like the rabbit coat that I wanted in high school. But I'm not in high school despite what the rest of the neighborhood acts like. I can resist this temptation.
Country Music is not conducive to overachieving. I’ve come to this conclusion while trying to win Shania Twain tickets on a local radio station. I’ve been trying to consciously eliminate negativity from my life and it’s becoming very apparent that not much in country music is positive. Even the gospel songs deal with passively accepting death or fate and being happy that your life is crap. I think the only exception I’ve heard in the past few days are Charlie Daniel’s Devil went down to Georgia. Everything else is dysfunctional relationships and being proud to be where you’re at even if it is at the bottom of the heap. It reminds me of learning about opiates for the masses in college.
Well this weekend was nice and relaxing. Friday I saw the special that ABC did on the DaVinci Code. It was a great book with some interesting theories. I found it amazing that ABC found a Catholic bishop who admitted that Christ could have been married. I worked on Noah’s Ark which is the focus piece on my rotation, realized that there wouldn’t be enough N79 Neon Rays to do the rainbow so I went looking for that and found it at Craft Center (ugh! I hate shopping there), finished up the Hardanger ornament that I was stitching for the TW exchange. Chris had a chess tournament and played well but didn’t win. He’s beginning to realize that he needs to study tactics. Saturday night John and I went out to dinner at Shogun. I had Sushi and steak. Sunday John went out shooting pictures and I taught his primary class. We had to get Logan’s parents 3 times, but according to the leaders, James is the misbehaving one. Sunday afternoon I was planning on stitching but instead I ended up sleeping. Then I spent time in the pub and had a great chat with brat. During Monarch of the Glen, which is the one show John and I never miss, I finished the beads on my JNIRR and decided which charms and treasures to put on it. Then that will be done and I just need to find some bell pull hardware and finish it. Today’s schedule includes a trip to traffic court for a ticket for changing lanes without signaling. I’m going to see if I can get traffic school even though it will be more than the ticket. Then tonight is the Grant family reunion. Thursday will be the interesting day this week. James has drum lessons, Liz has violin and I have a stitching class. I’ll be so glad when Liz can drive herself to lessons.
! You are most Like A Sapphire ! Dark, mysterious - but unforgettable. You have a deep beauty. Delicate, and shy you try to stay away from the limelight but often your intelligence puts you in at the deep end. You're like a Sapphire, because, your beauty is priceless. You're intelligent, full of opinions, and not big- headed about it all. Sometimes you need to put yourself out there, as you can be a bit shy. Congratulations ... You're the mysterious gem everybody wants to have and learn more about.
Because I've been a delegate in the past, many surveyors are calling me to test the waters for the governor's race. Not one survey has mentioned the current governor as a candidate. All the candidates mentioned are rich white men who have played in the political arena for a long time and the best candidate seems to be a man from the other party who's daddy was governor when I was a kid.
Not much of a selection this time, wonder if I should even go to the caucuses or let someone else be delegate this time around.
I finally got around to going to the store and getting a new black ink cartridge.
It's so wonderful to be printing again. I can download and print the freebie patterns that I see. I can print my kids homework out and I just ran some pictures through the printer too. I had forgotten just how wonderful it is to print from home instead of emailing it to the office and printing it tomorrow or saying, I'll just get that later.
So tonight at DD's concert, DH gets there early and has a great seat perfect view of center stage and perfect for sound, about 7 rows back from the front. As people start arriving they sit anywhere but around him. When the concert starts, the 3 rows in front and 3 rows behind him are empty. Most of the rest of the place is full. DH is late 30's, full beard, shoulder length hair, heavyset wearing black jeans, cowboy boots, a black turtleneck and reading photography magazines. Does this scare you at all?
I just came from one of the two large family reunions that we have this time of year. This one had a program where they videotaped the grandchildren of the ancestor we all have in common. Most of the grandchildren are in their 70's to 90's. It made me realize that I'm probably the only sibling in my family that remembers my great-grandfather (although my next oldest brother might remember him some). As a mother, I'm probably not doing enough to make sure that my kids have good memories of their great grandparents. I remember playing games and reading and doing fun things with my grandparents. When my kids go to their grandparents, they're more likely to be told to go play on their own with the Pinball or the Nintendo. I think that's more of a difference in time spent raising kids between my parents and grandparents generation. My parents didn't have much TV growing up, me and my sibs had a lot of the electronic babysitter. Unfortunately, my kids have even more between DVD's, Playstation and the regular junk on the screen. My kids also play on the internet a lot but only at supervised sites. It just makes me wonder what electronic babysitters and entertainment my grandkids will be hooked too.
The funny thing is my nickname in high school was Unicorn because I was still eligible to catch one!
You are Form 3, Unicorn: The Innocent.
"And The Unicorn knew she wasn't meant to go into the Dark Wood. Disregarding the advice given to her by the spirits, Unicorn went inside and bled silver blood.. For her misdeed, the world knew evil."
Some examples of the Unicorn Form are Eve (Christian) and Pandora (Greek). The Unicorn is associated with the concept of innocence, the number 3, and the element of water. Her sign is the twilight sun.
As a member of Form 3, you are a curious individual. You are drawn to new things and become fascinated with ideas you've never come in contact with before. Some people may say you are too nosey, but it's only because you like getting to the bottom of things and solving them. Unicorns are the best friends to have because they are inquisitive.
DS#1 performed in competition this week. He nailed his piece but left the dynamics home. He did get candy and a discount for sheet music. He didn't seem too disappointed but wishes that he had a harder piece. But it wasn't enough motivation to practice today. DS#2 did practice drums today and he's improving.
Saturday the kids spent most of the day watching the Golden Days of Looney Tunes that we got on DVD. It's not as many as the old LaserDisk version but still more of the unedited ones than you can get on TV. Including a Speedy Gonzales cartoon.
I finished 5 hours on Fortunate Traveller and I'm ready to rotate that piece. I did work on it for 20 hours before getting bored. I'm almost finished with a Christmas ornament that I started tonight too. I have 2 exchanges that I'm in this year. I'm stitching similar ornaments for both. I've also graphed out an ornament to do for my sisters.
This year instead of getting something little for everyone, they decided to do a big present for the one next oldest to you. Since I'm the oldest, I get for the youngest. Which is easy to do. I'm not sure what I'll get from the one below me, it's not like any of my siblings actually know me anymore. It's sad in a way. I spent so many years taking care of them when my parents weren't there and I kept waiting for them to grow up and become interesting. Now they're grown up and interesting and none of them will have a thing to do with me. I don't know if it's because we're all just so busy with our own lives or if they just don't like me. I've been to their houses more than they've been to mine with the exception of the girls that live out of state. Even then, I've stayed with my brother that lives out of state and I think he's maybe spent a total of 3 hours in my house and that was for a family party that one of my aunt's arranged and decided that it was at my house the year that I moved in. So I wonder is it me, or are we just too busy. I know that my neighbors are just too busy to drop by but I was the topic of conversation for a day or too after Halloween. They couldn't believe that I would wear the costume I did. So I showed cleavage! I've seen thongs straps at church, and mini-skirts too. I'd rather show cleavage than butt.
I just wonder sometimes why I have to work so hard to keep friends. It wasn't this hard when I was younger, people flocked to me then. So what happened. Now that I can't do homework for people am I useless? It seems like I'm always the one reaching out. I'll admit that once in awhile people do reach out to me but it's usually when they were expecting to hear from me and they haven't. This sounds like such a self-pitying whinge today.
I don't know what's put me in this mood. I was feeling so great earlier. I got a lot of stitching accomplished and my house is somewhat clean and DH cooked two great dinners this weekend and he's in the mood to bake bread which is always wonderful. He's an incredible cook. I'm really lucky to have him no matter what my family thinks.
I can feel it, that swollen tickle in the back of my throat. The start of a cold arriving just in time for the first snowfall. I know part of it is just not taking care of myself: not eating well when I'm stressed out, not getting enough sleep and generally running on empty. That's when the system breaks down and the cold comes in. I'm already breaking out the ginseng and chamomile tea in preparation. I've moved the tissues closer to the bed and I spent the afternoon sleeping. Too bad I can't take Monday off work 2 days in bed would nip this quick and it would be over with. The big key will be to not let it get in the way of what I want to do for the next 2 weeks.
So it's 10:45pm and I've been in the office since 8 am on a snowy Saturday. It hasn't been too bad. I've been doing an IBM update and it was scheduled for 14 hours. Our backup just takes longer than most. I do like it when the instructions start with - go to the bookstore or library for a 1200 page novel. I brought stitching instead. I could have worked on things in the office if I didn't have to be in the computer room the whole time waiting for that signal that says insert next disk.... Today I've finished one project which was going to be for me but I think I'll send it to someone who is having a rough time right now. I also started another project that I signed up for and I'm almost finished with this section of the mystery piece. Next week we get the next section. I don't know if I'll have the time to get it done as quickly as this one. There's also the issure of Christmas ornaments that I need to get done. But those will wait for another day, I'm having too much fun with the mystery stitch piece. I'll do the obligation stitching later. By the way, I'm in the office in sweats and slippers. And getting close to done. I can feel a cold coming on and the 15 hour days don't help. :cry: Even if it was kind of relaxing, it was still the office and not my house.
