Pearls...

D called me today, as C and I were on our way back from the orthodontist.
D: "What are you doing?"
Me (very tersely): "Oh, I'm sitting in the car with C..."
D (laughing): "Oh, is she full of happiness and joy..."
As he said that, she was in the passenger seat, grumping and grumbling under her breath about how I was mad at her no matter how much I assure her really, I'm not, and how much her teeth hurt and how no one understands her...
So D gets on the phone with her and, VOILA! she's a different child, talking about her new braces on her bottom teeth and how she got to pick out the colors (lavender, sparkly purple, and plum, thank you very much!), and how we're going to Fazoli's so she can have spaghetti since that's easy to chew...
I live with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Sometimes she's still my little girl, like today when she took not one, but TWO stuffed kitties with her to the orthodontist's office, to guard against probable pain...
And sometimes she's an insufferable almost teen, like today with her patented "Are you mad at me...Yes, you are!  I don't see why, I didn't do anything, whine whine whine..."
LOL!
No, really, life is so much fun here!  That whole split personality thing really keeps me on my toes! 

! ! and did I mention !

I took off work early to take my daughter to her doctor's appointment...
Only to hear my voicemail, after I get home, telling me that the doctor's office will have to reschedule today's appointment for some other time.
Normally, yay, I rejoice in getting off work early...but I'm still on special assignment and until it's over, getting off work early just means more work the next day...:(.
But I'm also not driving all the way back there, either! 
My mother and grandmother had a yard sale Saturday and roped us in to helping.  My daughter made $24 dollars.  My mom made $9.  I think my grandma made about $15.  Obviously, the answer is to let the child do the selling! 
My brother and sister-in-law and nephew came AFTER the yard sale and heavy lifting was over.  Why do my daughter and I have to help ALL DAY with the yard sale, and why do THEY get to show up after?  It's one of the great mysteries of life...
My four-year old nephew is so cute.  He came in the kitchen the other day and saw the puzzle that's been sitting there for two weeks and said, "Oooh, can I help?  I'm really good at puzzles, Aunt Michelle!"  And then he proceeded to really help me...for seven minutes before his attention span fell apart and the puzzle pieces started flying.  I had to dispatch him to the living room to play at that time...
Then my brother came in the kitchen ten minutes later and it was sooo funny...he saw the puzzle sitting there and said, "Oooh, can I help!"
I nearly choked with laughter...like father, like son!
The stupid puzzle is still not done, though.  It's gotten to where I close my eyes and see puzzle pieces on my eyelids...it won't go away...
(subject shift)
(light bulb)
I'm thinking this unexpected free hour is the perfect time for a nap!

So glad it's almost midnight...

Father's Day.  Bah, humbug, I'm very glad it's over. 
Okay, my morose moment is over, too...
Went and saw 'Batman Begins' last night...I loved it!  Batman's always been my favorite...he's just your average emotionally disturbed human, like all of us are (except for that whole billionaire thing...) - ANYONE can be Batman!

(Except for that billionaire thing, again...Batmobiles don't come cheap...)
:)
Took my daughter with me to work on Friday for 'Take Your Kid to Work' Day - she had a great time!  She sat next to me at my desk, and for about half the day sketched pictures and generally had no interest in my job at all.
Probably because all I do is sit in front of the computer all day...she can see me do that at home! LOL!
Then she went in the breakroom and read her book and watched TV ('Lizzie McGuire', of course...), until we left for the day.
SHE says she worked hard all day, because she 1) stapled some things for me, and 2) got some things off the printer for me.  She told me today she wants to work where I work when she gets older.  I'm thinking she's imagining work being like Friday, where you go and draw and read and watch TV and get paid for it!
Doesn't that sound like a wonderful job?!  She's definitely on to something...

Peace...

My daughter and I went to the drive-in tonight, to see 'The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl', and 'Madagascar'.  This was the first time she'd ever been to the drive-in, and she was VERY mad at me when she saw all the other families there, pulling out lawn chairs and blankets..."Why didn't WE bring lawn chairs, Mommy?"...
Because I didn't know that was the thing to do! But now that I'm fully versed in the drive-in experience, I'll be sure to bring supplies next time - apparently your CAR is not enough...
'SharkBoy' was okay...we left halfway through 'Madagascar' because we kept falling asleep - not that it wasn't good or anything, it was just too late...
So of course I get home and I'm still not asleep!
I finally got C's report card in the mail today...thank goodness!  It's such a relief to finally be able to put this year behind us and determine that next year will be sooo much better.  How many times was she absent this year? Fifteen. FIFTEEN!  Between her illnesses and doctor visits (and doctor bills) and surgeries (well, just that one), I'm so thankful that now she's healthy and doing better and she managed to pass all her classes even though she wasn't there half the time. Goodbye, awful terrible 7th grade!
(Remember 7th grade?  I started my 7th grade year in Kitzingen, Germany, and ended it in Louisville, Kentucky.  I remember EVERYTHING about that year - the culture shock of being back in the states after a childhood in Germany will probably stay with me forever.
But the bad thing is, remembering everything, I remember well doing things I wasn't supposed to, and the stuff I was exposed to...and here my daughter is, at that age!  She'll be thirteen next month.  I need some amnesia, I think...)
Sheesh, it's 2 a.m., and I have to be up by 6:45 a.m. ... WHY do I stay up late and write nonsense when I should be in bed? 
And why do I get up at 6:45 a.m. when I don't need to be at work until 8:45 a.m.?  Because I have to be in and out of the shower by 7 a.m. - that's when 'the pretender' comes on.  I have a new addiction...

I hope this Thursday will be better than the last...

Work...last Thursday...
Supervisor called a meeting...
Passed around an anonymous letter she received about one of us, accusing one of us of unethical behavior, stealing company time, etc...
Wow.  Talk about a huge downer in the workplace.
Nobody (except our supervisor) knew who the letter was about, or who it was from. 
It's been a horrendous week since then.  Everyone feeling guilty, even those who are not...everyone wondering who wrote the letter, and no one trusts anybody anymore.  Not to mention expecting to be cut off/terminated/booted out at any moment.
It's kind of like we're on Survivor.
Next week is 'Take Your Kid to Work', and my daughter has been looking forward to it all year, after the fun she had last year.  SURELY the awfulness will be over by then...please please please...
I seriously need a day off!

A way...

My daughter woke me up at 1:30 a.m. to tell me she couldn't sleep...
Oh, the drama that ensued...
I finally got her settled down and not crying any more (don't ask me why she was crying, I think it has something to do with being almost 13)...
She finally went to sleep...
But here I am, still awake.  Have to work in the morning.
And can I wake anyone up and tell them I can't sleep? Nooo...
The joys of parenting...:)

I love this world, even when I'm extra tired...

I've been out for a few days and now I have 180,000 alerts to get to.
I got a good start tonight, but it's almost 2 a.m. and I'm losing steam...I have to work in the morning...
I earned a promotion at work (yay!) which means now I'm making more money (yay! yay!) but it also means that I'm the one who's expected to handle T's special accounts when she's out on disability next month.
So I've been training on these accounts for the past week and work isn't NEARLY as fun as it used to be!  I hate training on new things...accepting change isn't one of my strengths, AT ALL.
huh...
I was going to write something about my struggle with my checkbook today and how I finally was victorious and BALANCED it...
but I just now fell asleep in my chair.
sheesh...
G'night...

I know there's more to life...

...this week than STAR WARS.
But I can't help it!  The madness has taken me...
My Geek Quotient rose dramatically when I went to see the movie again Saturday night with D.  Suddenly I was one of those crazy people who saw it two times during its opening weekend.
And I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I had with my daughter's science teacher when I ran into her at the geek-fest Wednesday night...she asked me if my daughter was upset that I came to see the movie without her, and I was dumbfounded...C has never shown any interest in these movies...she's a total 'Lizzie McGuire' girl...
All day Thursday and Friday I thought about my daughter and her American-ism being in jeopardy by not seeing these movies...I concluded she was never interested in watching them because I WAS and it was some kind of backward pre-teen rebellion thing...
So this weekend I set out to introduce her to Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and the gang...
She refused to leave her computer.
I had to hook up a laptop in the living room.
I put the movie in.
For the first half hour, she was online and pretty much ignoring the movie...
I don't know at what point she started watching it...she never moved from the laptop, but she was watching the movie more than the computer.
When the movie was over, I asked if she wanted to see 'The Empire Strikes Back', and she didn't hesitate..."Yes!"...
Hooked, she was...
By the time we finished up with the trilogy today by watching "Return of the Jedi", we were curled up on the couch, eyes glued to the screen, as Luke and his father saved each other's life, and then we were sobbing as Anakin took off his mask, and died...
SHE'S A FAN!  SHE'S CONVERTED!
Now she wants to see 'The Phantom Menace' and 'Attack of the Clones', poor thing...

Episode...Three!

I just got in from the 12:10 a.m. showing of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith...
I have to get up for work in, oh, about three hours, but that's okay...
Because the movie was SO. GOOD!
Way better than Episodes 1 and 2...and I would also say way better than 6 as well...maybe even better than 4...
And the good thing is, D refused to go see it in the middle of the night (because he's so old, you know) and so I had to go see it with my sister-in-law instead...and so now I get to go see it again this weekend, with D.  I'll have to remember to take extra tissues this time.
Note 1:
There were six different midnight showings at the theater we went to...and inside our showing, I saw a former friend and co-worker of mine...and also my daughter's science and homeroom teacher, and her school counselor.
I went down and said hi to my daughter's teacher and asked her how she was going to hold up in class tomorrow...she said we all have to make sacrifices and she'd do the best she could! LOL! I can't wait to tell my daughter in the morning...
I was just imagining three people in that showing, times six showings at that theater, times five other theaters around town showing the movie at midnight times six...does that mean that possibly ninety people I know were watching Star Wars tonight at the same time I was?
Note 2: 
I saw a grown man dressed up like Chewbacca tonight.  And another dressed up like Darth Vader.  And lots of grown men with light sabers. 
My life is now complete.

Teachers Worth Remembering...

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #59: Teachers Worth Remembering...
We've all had teachers who have made a difference in our lives.  Tell us about one of yours.  It can be a teacher from any level of education, from kindergarten to graduate school.
Mrs. Donsky, my high school German and English teacher...
My freshman year in high school, I chose German as my foreign language because I had just come back to the States after living in Germany for three years, and I already knew the language.  It didn't occur to me to take something else! 
It didn't take long for Mrs. D to single me out...I don't know what she saw in me!  Maybe it was the German connection...
I had her for a second year in German...and also a third and a fourth year of German (no one else took four years of a language!).  She made me go to foreign language competitions all the time...and win! 
She also taught honors senior English, and expected me to be in her class, even though I wasn't in the honors program.  Explaining that little glitch to her didn't help.  I had to go to my school counselor and humbly request entrance...and of course, I got in, based on Mrs. D's request and also my perfect ACT score in English (somehow Mrs. D had found about that).
She made us memorize the prologue to Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English.  She made us memorize Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' speech, and Macbeth's 'Tomorrow' speech.  I still have all those speeches rattling around in my head!
She went crazy on my English papers, correcting my grammar...if I ever commit the unforgiveable sin of a tense shift, please God don't let it get back to her!
I was also her teacher's aide my senior year...that last year of high school I think I spent more time with her than a lot of my family!  She was so brilliant...she knew not only German and Spanish, but also less common languages like Russian and Hebrew and Yiddish.  With a mind like that, why was she teaching at the same high school that she had graduated from, even though it was considered the best high school in the state?  Who knows, but I was so grateful...
She was the only Jewish person I had ever known until then...she was kosher, she taught me all about what she could and could not eat, and the holidays when she wouldn't be at school...she was the only diabetic person I had ever known until then...sometimes her blood sugar would go all haywire during class and she would have 'episodes'...start not making sense...no one would know what to do...except me, I had learned what to do...cookie trips to the cafeteria...
I had always been the underachiever...that's why even though I was at the best school in the state (a magnet school, you had to apply to get in and keep up the grades to stay in), I was doing just what I needed to stay there...but she wouldn't let me continue to do that.  She created high expectations for me and expected me to meet them.  And because I adored and admired her so...I did!
Thank you so much, Mrs. D...
  
Mrs. Donsky and me at my high school graduation, June 1991

My ABC's

I don't know where they started, but I got these from Anna:
A is for Age:   32
B is for Boyfriend:  That would be D. LOL! He hates when I talk about him...we're on year 9, and counting...
C is for Career:  Three careers...I'm a mom...I work full time in brokerage (international) accounting for a corporation...I have a degree in Philosophy but I'm still a student at the University of Louisville pursuing another degree.
D is for Dad's name:  Ray
E is for Essential item to bring to a party:  I try not to go to parties...when D makes me go, he always does the calling and asks what to bring (he's so nice and polite), usually we bring ice.  Oh wait, I have the answer!  Whenever I go to someone else's house, I always take my own Diet Pepsi...just in case they don't have any...
F is for Favorite song at the moment:  I have lots of favorites, I can't choose just one! 
G is for Girlfriend:  Sorry, I can't choose just one here, either... 
H is for Hometown:   Louisville, Kentucky
I is for instruments you play:  Piano.  Guitar.  Middle school clarinet.
J is for Jam or Jelly you like:   Strawberry.
K is for Kids:  C...she's 12...my everything...
L is for Living arrangements:  Small house...
M is for Month you were born:  February.
N is for Name of your best friend(s):   D.
O is for Overnight hospital stays:  Jaw surgery when I was 15, and then when my daughter was born.
P is for Phobia[s]:  Bugs.  Tornadoes.
Q is for Quote you like:  Easy... "The enemy's gate is down!"
R is for Relationship that lasted the longest:  See B for boyfriend, above...
S is for Sexual position:  Ewww, too much information, I'm skipping this one!
T is for Time you wake up:  Weekdays 6:30 a.m.  Sundays 7:30 a.m.  Saturdays I wake up about 7 a.m., realize that this is the day  I don't have anything to do, and then go back to bed until afternoon.
U is for Unique trait:  Nah, don't have one.
V is for Vegetable you love:  I don't eat vegetables...
W is for Worst habit:  Oversleeping. 
X is for X-rays you've had:  I don't know!  Chest, hand, arm, jaw...
Y is for Yummy food you make:  I make a good pasta...
Z is for Zodiac sign:  Aquarius

Small...

I had an appointment at my doctor's office this morning...
I got there at 10:20 a.m....
I was still sitting there at 11:20 a.m....
And 12:20 p.m....
It's not like this was an emergency appointment.  I've had this appointment scheduled for three months!
Fridays, incidentally, are my sleepy days.
I dozed off in the waiting room, through some show called 'Starting Over'? and through 'The Price is Right'...
When they finally called me back to a room, and said, "He (the doctor) will be here in a minute (Yeah, right!).", I was just relieved to get out of the waiting room with the staring people and the bad TV.
I fell asleep in the room waiting for the doctor.  This time, not dozing...I REALLY fell asleep.  I don't even remember the first ten minutes of our conversation after the doctor came in and woke me up, because I was, um, still trying to wake up...
I went to work after that, worked late to make up for it, and came home, took another nap, ate dinner...D and I started to watch last night's CSI but when I turned on the TV that Elvis thing was on.
So you know we had to watch that...well, I had to watch that...
Did I ever mention that I have an Elvis umbrella?
I DO live in the South End of Louisville, you know...
I tucked my daughter in bed and now I'm trying to write my entry and I have my left eye closed and my right eye open, that's the only way I'm getting this done. 
I'm so tired, the waves of sleep are crashing over me...and all I can think about are the hours I spent at the doctor's office this morning. 
Lack of sleep does strange things to your perception...

Gifts...

Someone forgot to take my daughter shopping to get me something for Mother's Day.  D thought my mom took her out, and my mom thought D took her out...
My daughter, being who she is, asked once for someone to take her (the request got lost in the excitement of Derby Week).  At that point, she figured she was on her own, and proceeded to make a present for me.  With her camcorder....
Yes...
She made me a...VIDEO.
I wish I could somehow post the video here so everyone could see it, I'm so proud...
On the video, I got flowers, and dancing kitties that sang 'Happy Mother's Day', and pictures, and plaques, and trophies, and cakes, and balloons...
and over and over on the video I was told, "I love you, Mommy."
Wow...
It was the absolute, best present, EVER.

Mommies...

Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #58: Post one of your favorite mother/child pictures...
The most important thing in my life is the special bond between my grandmother, my mother, my daughter and myself. I'm so blessed! My daughter feels it, too...she went on a school field trip one day this week and I didn't go...her grandmother didn't go...no, it was her GREAT-grandmother who sucked it up and chaperoned the seventh-grade field trip! My daughter is so lucky to have THREE mommies to depend on...
My favorite mother/daughter picture is of my beautiful mother and grandmother, but unfortunately I can't post that one with this entry. Why not? Well, because my mother is shy and she would kill me...and my grandmother thinks the internet is evil, and she would help kill me...
So instead I'm going to post my favorite picture of my daughter and me...circa 1992, just a couple of weeks after she was born.
The first few weeks after your baby is born, what do you remember? Being TIRED, boiling water and bottles, sleeping five minutes, feeding your baby, sleeping ten minutes, walking the floor with your baby, sleeping five minutes...
But mostly you just remember holding her and staring at her in wonder...she's so small...she's so beautiful...and even though she's asleep you don't want to put her down...
And so sometimes you doze off on the couch with her in your arms...

Unsuspecting, while another family member takes your picture!
EXTRA CREDIT: My daughter is 12, I'm 32, my mom is 52, and my grandma is 71...we have 'em young in Kentucky! LOL! No, that's not the extra credit, I just had to say it... The real extra credit fact about my mom is that she has NO sense of direction, AT ALL. She is extremely well traveled, in Europe and the United States, and I have no idea how she ever manages to make it back home! She's the only person I know who can go the wrong way out of a parking lot...in her own city...

Sleep

My alerts aren't working again...bummer...
I called D today from work to ask his opinion on how I should drive home from work, since Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs (big horse race the day before the Derby, just as crowded but more fun, kind of like the Golden Globes compared to the Oscars...) was going to cause all my feasible exits to be blocked on the expressway...
When I got him on the phone, he told me that:
1. He had talked to my brother today and I needed to call him later, to talk about Mother's Day stuff...
2. He had talked to my mom today and she wants us to set up a tent in her backyard for her Derby party tomorrow...
and
3. He had talked to my daughter today and she was at Kentucky Kingdom with her friend...
OKAY...LOL!...whose family is it again?  Mine?  His?  It is mine, right? 
They like him SO much better than they like me...

Wednesday...sheesh...can it be next year already?

24 comments on my Hubble entry...wow...stop the madness!  I'm SO not used to people visiting so much, but it was great fun while it lasted... :)
I need a pep talk...I'll give it to myself...
Self!  Stop sleepwalking through life...stop living in a fog...WAKE UP!
Since I'm sleepwalking lately, there's not much to talk about...or not much my subconscious wants me to talk about...is there a difference?
I can't find the film for the NY trip.  I put them on top of the piano and they disappeared.  No one has any idea what happened...
I read the book Angela's Ashes this week (yes, I know the rest of the country read it years ago!), which then led me to read the book 'Tis...it was very enjoyable reading 'Tis, which was set in NY.  Now that I've been there I can envision where everything is, it makes everything so much more clear!
I also just finished reading Angels & Demons, which was very very good...okay, I couldn't put the book down, it was THAT good!
I also took a break from serious reading and read a couple of my daughter's teen Meg Cabot books...I like Meg Cabot's grown-up books and since my daughter's teen books were just laying there, I just had to read them...they took about 45 minutes to read but hey! they were still good...stop laughing at me...
My daughter has slept in my bed the past two nights, because she saw a spider on the ceiling in her room.  The spider got away.
I have conflicting emotions on this...on one hand, I can TOTALLY sympathize...if the spider had been in my room, most likely I would be sleeping somewhere else, as well.  On the other hand, it is SOOOOOOOOO uncomfortable and crowded when C sleeps with me...she kicks me and elbows me (in her sleep!) and finally I get up in the morning an hour early just to get some rest!
I did a lot of talking and finally convinced her the spider was long gone and she could sleep in her room again tonight...
Sometimes it seems like being a parent is all about doing fast talking!

My list...

Here's my list, better late than never...I don't know where it started, but I believe I took it from Julie...
() smoked a cigarette 
() smoked a cigar 
() made out with a member of the same sex
(x) been in love 
(x) been dumped
(x) stolen
() been fired
() been in a fight
(x) snuck out of my parent's house
() had feelings for someone who didnt have them back
()been arrested
() made out with a stranger
(x) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend
()had a crush on a teacher
(x) skipped school
(x) slept with a co-worker
() seen someone die
() had a crush on one of your journal friends
() been to Canada
() been to Mexico
(x) been on a plane
() thrown up in a bar
(x) purposely set a part of myself on fire
() eaten Sushi
() been snowboarding
() met someone in person from journals/online
() been hxc dancing at a show (I have NO idea what this is!)
() been in an abusive relationship
() taken painkillers
(x) love someone or miss someone right now
(x) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) made a snow angel
() had a tea party
(x) flown a kite
(x) built a sand castle
(x) gone puddle jumping
() played dress up
(x) jumped into a pile of leaves
(x) gone sledding
(x) cheated while playing a game
(x) been lonely
(x) fallen asleep at work/school
() used a fake id
(x) watched the sun set
() felt an earthquake
(x) touched a snake
(x) slept beneath the stars
(x) been tickled
(x) been robbed
(x) been misunderstood
() pet a reindeer/goat
(x) won a contest
(x) run a red light 
() been suspended from school
(x) been in a car accident
(x) had braces
(x) felt like an outcast
() eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) had deja vu
() danced in the moonlight
(x) hated the way you look
() witnessed a crime
() pole danced
(x) questioned your heart
(x) been obsessed with post-it notes
() squished barefoot through the mud 
(x) been lost
(x) been to the opposite side of the country 
(x) swam in the ocean
(x) felt like dying
(x) cried yourself to sleep
() played cops and robbers
(x) recently colored with crayons/colored pencils/markers
() sung karaoke
(x) paid for something with only coins
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls
(x) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) caught a snowflake on your tongue
() danced in the rain
(x) written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) been kissed under a mistletoe
() watched the sun set with someone you care about
(x) blown bubbles 
() made a bonfire
() crashed a party
(x) gone rollerskating
(x) had a wish come true
() humped a monkey
() worn pearls
() jumped off a bridge
() screamed penis in class
(x) ate dog/cat food
() told a complete stranger you loved them
(x) kissed a mirror
(x) sang in the shower
() have a little black dress
(x) had a dream that you married someone
(x) gluedyour hand to something
() got your tongue stuck to a flag pole
() kissed a fish
() worn the opposite sexes clothes 
(x) been a cheerleader
(x) sat on a roof top
(x) screamed at the top of your lungs
() done a one-handed cartwheel
(x) talked on the phone for more than 6 hours
(x) stayed up all night
() didn't take a shower for a week
()pick and ate an apple right off the tree
(x) climbed a tree
() had a tree house
() are scared to watch scary movies alone
(x) believe in ghosts
()have more then 30 pairs of shoes
()worn a really ugly outfit to school just to see what others say
() gone streaking
() played ding-dong-ditch (I don't know what this is, either...) 
() played chicken [in the pool]
() been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on
(x) been told you're hot by a complete stranger
(x) broken a bone
(x) been easily amused
() caught a fish then ate it
() made porn
(x) caught a butterfly
(x) laughed so hard you cried
(x) cried so hard you laughed
() mooned/flashed someone
() had someone moon/flash you
(x) cheated on a test
() have a Britney Spears CD
(x) forgotten someone's name
() slept naked
(x)French braided someones hair
()gone skinny dippin in a pool
()been kicked out of your house
Pretty tame answers, really...

I'm losing my Friday night!...

Friday night is MY night...I go to bed early, or stay up reading...there's no fighting with my daughter about my bedtime, and if I'm not too tired from the week I can catch up on computer time...
I love my Friday nights...quiet, restful stay-in nights...Sunday through Thursday are full of stress and Saturday nights are full of fun but Friday nights are MINE...
Except tonight...
Tonight I have to take my daughter and go over to my brother's house so that we can sleep on his floor, all because of where we live...

You see that enclosed circle where the Derby miniMarathon starts?
That's my neighborhood...
(sigh)
Every year, those of who live here either try to make it out before the roads close, or just sleep in that day, because otherwise we're stuck making circles around our neighborhood for a couple of hours waiting for the 7,000 runners to go by...
But this year, I don't have the luxury of sleeping in, because my daughter has to be at Saturday School at 9 a.m...
Delinquent child!
So since the roads will be closed unless I choose to leave my house at 6 a.m. (I don't think so!), my brother's house it is...
I'm taking my laptop anyway, just in case...

Happy 15th, Hubble...

Monday Photo Shoot: Hubble's 15th Birthday:

Finally one I can do! Space geek that I am, I don't even need to look for any Hubble shots because I already have my favorites on my computer...and my very favorite is one that I've posted here before:
At the time this was taken, it was the furthest glimpse into deep space that we had ever seen...space so far away, and so long ago...
It boggles the mind...

I need a blanket...

I think I'm done writing about the trip, for now...at least until I get my pictures developed.. I had a very productive week...I caught up on the laundry...worked overtime and finally caught up at work...and I gathered up all the disposable cameras we took to NYC and put them on top of the piano by the front door.
I'm trying to avoid a repeat of the shame that I have over last year's field trip to Chicago...I'm sure we probably have very nice pictures of that trip, but I wouldn't know, would I, because I've NEVER GOTTEN THOSE PICTURES DEVELOPED, EITHER...
I have just a tiny little problem with procrastination.
Whatever.
Moving forward...for the past month it's been 70-80 degrees...everything is in full bloom...it was summertime here!  Then this freak cold front moved through...high winds...thunderstorms...hail...a funnel cloud touched down in downtown Louisville...and behind the cold front, oh no, it's so cold!  It's like I'm back in New York!
30 degrees yesterday and SNOWING, when it reached 80 the week before.  That's the Ohio Valley for you...
I'm standing in my living room yesterday, and I hear this airplane flying low over my house, and I think, "Hmm, that's weird."  It wasn't until I got in the car and turned on the radio that I remembered it was THUNDER OVER LOUISVILLE, the kickoff to the Kentucky Derby Festival, starting with the air show downtown over the river,and culminating in the largest fireworks display in the country last night.
We never go down there...last year, roughly 750,000 people flocked to the riverfront for the festivities..the crowds and the traffic getting home always seem just too daunting.  This year, though, because it was SNOWING, there was not that big of a crowd at all...I tried to convince D that this is the year we should go, since there'd be hardly any traffic getting back home, but he told me off pretty good...something about freezing to death/am I crazy/what's wrong with you...we didn't have one of those silver survival blankets like one of those crazy people down there...LOL!
So we were at home, watching it on TV, as usual...my favorite part is the music...my daughter likes to watch out the window, because we live close enough to downtown that she can see the sky glowing even though she can't see the actual fireworks...
"I see green, are they doing green now, Mommy?"...
"Yes, honey..."
"Ooh, red, I bet they're doing red now, aren't they..."
"Yes, sweetheart..."
"Ooh, yellow..."
This is the point where I break down and say, will you please come and watch it on the TV? Please please please... LOL!
After the show's big finale, it lives up to its name, as the shock waves from all the explosives downtown move through the city...it really does sound like thunder, and as it moves through the house, it actually shakes the walls...
Thus the annual two week party that my city lives for is kicked off...
All this for a two-minute horse race.
Here we go...

Spaces and the Lady...

We drove the rest of the way through Pennsylvania.  We drove through New Jersey.
In the distance we could see a skyline...
Yes, our leaders said, that is New York City.
Everyone oohed and aahed...the kids got their cameras out and started taking pictures, while the parents gazed thoughtfully into the distance...
It's like we were seeing two different things.  The kids were seeing the Big Apple, the Empire State Building, and an exciting adventure at hand.
All of us adults, having grown up seeing pictures of a very familiar New York skyline, could only gaze at it and think, "That isn't right..."
We couldn't see anything but the empty spaces.
Ground Zero was the first place we went to in Manhattan.  The area where the World Trade Center once stood is surrounded by buildings still being repaired...or buildings still standing but were so damaged that they're still in the process of coming down, piece by piece, all these years later.
But mostly you can't see anything but the empty space...
...
We went to the Statue of Liberty after Ground Zero...
that was a very good idea...
if Ground Zero made my heart hurt,
well,
the Statue of Liberty made my heart swell with a wonderful emotion...
What is it about her?
Is it because she's tall?  Is it because she's beautiful? 
Is it because she's GREEN?
Or is it because she represents freedom and a safe haven to oppressed people everywhere?
Yes, that's it! 
Those ideals that she stands for are pure and good, regardless of politics and borders and nationalities (I threw in that nationalities part because there were an awful lot of Japanese tourists on the ferry with us...they were just as excited about her as we were!).
Well worth it...

Excitement and such...

Kentucky-Ohio-West Virginia-Pennsylvania:
The first day we made it three-fourths of the way through PA before we stopped for the night...I LOVED that first day of traveling.  When else would I get to just sit, and listen to music, and stare at amazing scenery, and think deep thoughts...and the best part was, one of my daughter's friends actually came on the trip and they sat together the whole way (seat to myself - YAY!).
That was the first day, though.  I was so sick of sitting on that bus by the time we got back home!
Notes from day 1:
1. Winston Churchill called Cincinnati the 'most beautiful of America's inland cities.'  Hmph.  I guess he never made it as far as Louisville.
2. John and Annie Glenn have a State Historic site WAY UP AND IN Ohio...I know because we passed it...I have to go there!  We like to visit Dayton, OH, anyway, to the Air Force Museum, and it's just a few hours beyond that.  If I mention it often enough to D, I'm sure I can wear him down enough and we'll go, just so he can shut me up...
3. We stopped at a shopping center on the OH-WV border for lunch.  C and I were faced with many options...should we go to Taco Bell? Wendy's? Steak n Shake?  Or, if you wanted to walk really far to the other side of the parking lot, you could go to the McDonald's inside the Wal-Mart-
It was NO CONTEST - we were already on our way...we ALWAYS go to Wal-Mart when we go out of town!
I found some great pens I've been looking for...she bought a hundred different kinds of markers, coloring pencils, and sketch pads.  Because, you know, she doesn't have anything like that...(LOL! LOL!).
4. The drive through Pennsylvania was my favorite, it was so BEAUTIFUL!
5. I now officially know what a 'hex' is and have a much better understanding of Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker (I'm just a tiny bit embarrassed about this point - I didn't know that I didn't know, if you know what I mean...)
6. In PA, I started seeing more and more barns with green roofs, or cute little red barns...it finally dawned on me that I was seeing the transition from my part of the world to what is called 'New England'. 
Wow!
More coming...:)

I'm back...

...where all things are green and leafy and most importantly, WARM...
...someone forgot to tell me that not only would the trees not be leafed out yet in New York...
...it was also at least twenty degrees colder there than it was here (I'm thinking now that I actually live in The Deep South, and just didn't know it.  Is Kentucky The Deep South?)
As my daughter says, "New York was SO COOL, in both ways!"
More to come...:)

I am not EVEN ready to go...

But I work best under pressure...
I have to be there at 6:45 a.m., with two suitcases, two carry-ons, and one daughter...
I can do it...
So why am I sitting here in front of my computer instead of, you know, PACKING?!
My city has turned into the most beautiful place in the world this last week and a half...all the trees are green now, and pink and purple and white and yellow...TREES RULE in LOUISVILLE!  (That rhymes if you say the name of my city correctly...LOL!)
Okay, now that I've avoided the packing thing about as long as I can and now I'm getting kind of worried, I guess I have to get to it now...I've already packed the important thing (my laptop)...I do have priorities!...now comes the clothes and stuff...
I'm not sure about this, at all, at all...
Here we come, New York...

Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #54...

Mr. Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #54: Tell us all a single piece of wisdom you've learned from personal life experience.  It can be a small thing, it can be a big thing, a simple tip or trick or the most important thing you've ever learned from life.  But whatever it is, you should be able to state it in one sentence.  That way people will remember it easier.
Extra Credit: Tell us: Would you have listened to your own bit of advice as a teenager? Be honest, now.
Here's my 'wisdom'...I actually felt I could contribute something this week!:
When you're approaching an intersection and the light turns green, SLOW YOUR CAR DOWN ANYWAY, AND LOOK LEFT AND RIGHT, to make sure some idiot hasn't decided to run their red light...and right into you...
I learned this one the hard way, of course...that was the only car accident I've ever been in that wasn't my fault!
Would I have listened to this advice as a teenager?  I WISH someone had told me this, since I was a teenager when it happened...Yes, I would have listened!

Summer?...

My pear trees erupted and have pretty white blossoms all over them...but what I really like are those pink trees...what are they?  They're all pink and flowery and beautiful, and then just a couple of weeks later the pink blossoms are falling off and have made a pink blanket on the grass underneath the tree...
It's like we skipped spring and went right into summer, with the temps in the high 70s and low 80s this week.  We went into daylight savings time...I stayed up all night Saturday...I've got the air conditioning running now...all of that means SUMMER to me!
My iPod is my new favorite toy ... I'm trying not to love it TOO much, because usually, you know, you love your new favorite toy so much it usually gets lost, or broken, or some other bad karma-type thing...
But I'm loving taking my music with me wherever I go...even to work...it doesn't even feel like work anymore!  Hopefully that's because it puts me in a good mood, and NOT because I'm slacking off...
...okay, this is serious, I'm going to New York in less than a week and I really don't have anything to wear.  I'm not joking.  Unless I want to do laundry at the hotel every night, I have a big problem.  OR, I guess I could slouch around the city wearing my FORD sweatpants, which I don't think will go ever well on Broadway...it might fit in okay at the ball game, though... :)
I guess I'm going to have to go clothes shopping this weekend.
Darn it. 
The only thing I hate worse than clothes shopping is, um, ... I can't even think of anything I hate worse.  All that money that could be going towards new books, being wasted instead on clothes!
It's a good thing I have a brand-new iPod to take shopping with me, so I can take the edge off!

Miscellany...

No school tomorrow for my daughter...it's the first day of spring break.  So she is spending the night at her best friend's house.
So what did I do on my big Thursday night out with no responsibilities, not a care in the world?
I got off work, came home, and took a nap.  D called and woke me up twice.  He didn't come over because he has to work at the crack of dawn tomorrow... The second time he called and woke me up, I gave up, got up, and went into the kitchen.  I was starving...no one but me to fix dinner for...I fixed a can of ravioli and ate at the table while studying my laptop. 
And once I finished my ravioli, I signed off my laptop in there and came and got on my computer in here (my bedroom).
My life is obviously very, very sad, when there's no daughter around to fill it up!
But at least I got to eat ravioli.
LOL! Okay, I'm done now...I really did have about a million other things I could have done, but the prospect of having an evening where I did absolutely nothing but sleep and whatever else I wanted was too good to pass up...I would have turned the phone off but I was afraid my daughter would call so I couldn't...no phone really would have been the perfect evening!
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
1.  I took C to the ear doctor this week and she is healed!  Even the hole the doctor had seen has healed up...the doctor was amazed, she wanted to know what else we had done at home because she had been sure that we were going to need additional medicine and/or surgery.  As it is now, she goes back in two months for another check up.
I am just so thankful that this day is here...more than five months later, she is finally free of all that infection and pain.  Thank you thank you thank you...
2.  I am going to New York in less than two weeks and I have nothing to wear...
3.  Saturday evening, D bought me a present for the trip.  Yes...he took the hint...I can't BELIEVE he took the hint but then again I've never gone to NYC before...
I am now the proud owner of an iPod shuffle! Yay!
It only took me two days to figure out how to make it work with my computer, but it's oh so cool...
4.  After the good news about my daughter, I was on a wave of relief that lasted for approximately one day...then my mom told me that she has to go see an oral surgeon about a spot on her tongue...and then my grandpa's outpatient surgery on his nose that was scheduled for tomorrow was cancelled this week due to his heart rate being extremely low (40 instead of 80 where it's supposed to be) and he instead had to go see a cardiologist and is taking a stress test tomorrow...and my aunt has a place on her pancreas that the doctors are looking at...
What in the world?  I kind of felt like, sheesh, get rid of one worry, pick up three more...but I'm refusing to worry about it.  Breaking news today from the cardiologist was that my grandpa's low heart rate may be due to some medicine that he's been taking, so hopefully that's that and once he weans himself off it he'll be fine.  And God and the doctors will take care of my mom and my aunt and there will be no problem...I mean it!
5.  And now, to end on a positive note...you should be here in Louisville to feel how excited my city is about being in the Final Four this year, for the first time since 1986!  Pep rally downtown yesterday at Fourth Street Live...16,000 people attended it!  Even most...some...die-hard Kentucky fans are excited about it!  Go Cards...
(sigh)
I'm really missing my daughter...I'm sure SHE'S having all kinds of fun...here's the current background to my desktop, my daughter made it for me a couple of weeks ago...

Good night!

Easter...

I had a rough time getting out of the house on Easter morning...any other Sunday, I get to church on time (well, my usual five minutes late for Sunday School, no problem), but this Sunday...well...
I know what the problem was.  I usually just wear my work clothes to church...dressy casual dark slack-type clothes, and my black Skechers, of course!  I've gotten used to being the only woman at my church who doesn't wear dresses, I hardly even notice it any more. 
But my grandmother bought me this lovely purple skirt and jacket-type thing for my birthday, that's been hanging in my closet ever since, that she begged for me to wear at least for Easter, before it's relegated back to my closet with all my other lovely skirts and dresses that my grandmother has bought me...
So that was the problem.  I know it took me twenty minutes to figure out how the stupid skirt went.  It had TWO slits in the front, when I finally figured it out...whoever heard of that?!
When I finally emerged from my bedroom, all dressed and grumpy and purple, D laughed and laughed when I told him about my skirt confusion.  I think his exact words were, "You girly-girl, you...".  It's a good thing he also told me how nice I looked!
But after the rough start, Easter settled down into a good day.  What's a little skirt grumpiness compared to the magnitude of what this day means to Christians like me?
It was also my grandma's birthday.  After church, the whole family went to my grandma's house for dinner.  Then C and I, and my cousin, made Easter eggs.  After that, things are a little hazy because I fell asleep on D's knee in the family room, but I vaguely remember the kids having their Easter egg hunt inside (it rained outside all Easter long).  Then my grandma opened presents, we had birthday cake, and we watched the Kentucky game,
insert big sad :( here, nothing worse than fighting through two overtimes and still losing...but I'm still so proud of my team...I love my Cats!...
I was sitting around the table with my mom, and my grandma, and my aunt, and my cousin, and my daughter...everyone else was in the family room or the living room or elsewhere...and my grandma boasted about how she still had her eastern Kentucky accent...and my mom and my aunt said, no, not like you used to, and then they all started talking over each other in this old language...the language they all had forty years ago when they still lived in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.
I just remember feeling so lucky, sharing amused glances with my daughter and my cousin, that we all shared a moment like that, together, in 2005.  Every holiday seems like a precious gift, to make just one more memory with your family.

It's 3 a.m. ...

I'm sure that tomorrow I'll regret this whole staying up thing...but tonight my team made it to the Elite Eight (yay!) along with Louisville (yay!) and I was on a 'my team won' high...and my daughter spent the night at my grandma's and something about her not being here makes me not want to go to sleep...it's just different without her in the house!
I'm trying desperately to fight the urge to buy an IPOD before I go on my trip to New York.  While we were watching the game tonight, I virtuously offered D the chance to buy me one of the newer, cheaper IPOD Shuffles (because one of their handy commercials came on...), but he just laughed at me...he feels that I have a problem.
Which is entirely possible.  I'm a single mom, I work 40 hours a week, I go to school (or I did before I dropped this semester), I go here, I go there, yet every night after my daughter is in bed I still find time to feed my book/music/book/TV/book/movie/book habit, not to MENTION computer time...
My name is Michelle, and I guess I'm an entertainment junkie.
(whew) There, I've said it!
Okay, the confession took a lot out of me and I'm finally getting tired, I'm going to bed now...good night!

Campaign time...Go Cats!...

Remember the very nice guy (my supervisor's son) in Lexington who checked a book out for me at the University of Kentucky Library, not knowing who I was or whether he could trust the crazy girl from Louisville to get the book back there before it was overdue?
Well, he is a sophomore at the engineering school and is running for Mr. UK, representing his fraternity...will you go vote for him?
Vote for Drew Stinnett...here...
Thanks! I think he definitely deserves to win, don't you?
p.s. I actually got the book back three days late...but I paid the fine while I was there!

Is there anything besides this?...

March Madness (noun) -
1.  The annual college basketball tournament to determine the NCAA champion.
2. A state of mind associated with the NCAA Championship Tournament.
Symptoms are: desire to watch basketball games until 1 a.m.; compulsion to read every word of the sports section; and temptation to participate in office pools.
Help! I have all the symptoms...was there anything besides college basketball going on this weekend? 
Well, not really, not where I live...the city, and, I'm sure, the state, came to a dead stop Saturday evening when my team played (GO BIG BLUE!). 
No one knows what it's like to be caught up in the madness, until you visit Kentucky during basketball season and become infected...it's not a game, it's a religion!
I did manage to tear myself away from the TV a few times this weekend, though...we went to the Macaroni Grill Friday night...my mom called and asked if we wanted to meet her there, and having just been reminded by Angel of how nice it is (what a coincidence!), we had a very nice time...AND I got to draw pretty pictures on the table, that's always a plus!
I took my daughter to the Y Saturday morning, treadmill, strength training (me), rock climbing wall (her! not me!)...then we went to see 'Because of Winn Dixie' at the movies Saturday and was VERY pleasantly surprised at how good it was!  We loved it!  I had avoided going to see it because, you know, it's a 'dog' movie...but no sad ending for this movie, it was all good...
So can we talk about basketball some more? I know I'm a girl and this isn't a sports journal and I never talk about the fact that I watch every single Kentucky game, and that I record every single Kentucky game, every year, in case it might become a classic (e.g. the UK v. LSU 'Mardi Gras Miracle' that I DO have on tape because, yes, I recorded it!)...and I know that I'm actually a Louisville grad and they are also still alive in the tournament (yay) but it's not a conflict at all, I'm glad Louisville wins but I DIE if Kentucky loses...and how about that West Virginia-Wake Forest game? Wasn't that good? Two overtimes...take that, Wake Forest, I don't want to hear anymore whining about how come you were not a number one seed...Texas Tech still in it, I wonder if the players are afraid of Bobby...one last observation about Kentucky, three of the head coaches in the Sweet Sixteen this year are or have been Kentucky's head coach (Tubby, Slick Rick, and Eddie Sutton...pretty rare, if that's even ever happened before...and, okay, one last GO BIG BLUE!
Anyway, I just finished reading a Great Book, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk...I know that there's a movie out based on it but I've never seen it, but the book was first and it is awesome!  I finished reading it today and immediately started rereading it, which is always a good sign...
I think that's all for now, because I have to go and put some clothes in the dryer and more in the washer...I'm so hungry because I didn't get to have supper tonight, I got home from work and my daughter begged me to take her to the skating party so I had to turn around and go back out...there's poor hungry parents all over town tonight, probably, like me, who were stuck at the skating party with only the prospect of stale chips and candy bars for dinner, whatever was sold at the skating rink...but she had lots of fun, and me sitting at the skating rink for two hours...well, that's how I had two full free hours to finish my book!

Well, at least I don't have to worry about THAT anymore...

Why do people put their big huge trash cans in the middle of the road?
Why does my mom have to call me first thing in the morning as I'm taking my daughter to school?
Why am I such a terrible driver?
(sigh)
The latest episode of Michelle's Mishaps on the Road occurred yesterday morning, when I tried to do more than one thing at a time, and answered the stupid cell phone to talk to my mother as I was driving my daughter to school...
I heard a big THUD...
And my very helpful daughter informed me that I had hit that trash can that was in the middle of the road...
OOPS!...
Then she asked me if that meant we had seven years of bad luck...
WHAT?...
I looked over to where my sideview mirror...USED to be...now it's gone...
Goodbye, mirror.
That was some major trash can!
My helpful daughter then proceeded to tell everyone she knew, all day long, about the funny thing that happened on the way to school that day...
The other person in the car...(that would be me)...hasn't quite arrived at the 'funny' part yet...I'm still stuck at the 'mortified' part...and the 'expensive to fix' part...and the 'she can't grow up and get her license soon enough so she can drive me around town because anything is better than this!' part!
But I've always worried about getting too close to things on that side, and hitting a mailbox or something with my mirror...so at least I don't have to worry about that anymore!

Good news and alternate news...

Yesterday was both much better than I expected, in some ways...but the news we got from the doctor wasn't as glowing as I wanted!
Her surgery was at the Children's Hospital, which we've never been to before...and now I refuse to go anywhere else!  Is is made especially for children, and it's all about making them comfortable, easing their fears, etc.  It was perfect!  The last time she had to get an IV she cried and cried...but yesterday, she barely knew it was happening, the RN doing it was so good.  AND they let her take Purr (stuffed kitty) back into surgery with her...they even gave Purr a matching hospital bracelet to go on her paw, with her name on it!  My daughter was thrilled by that one...
The doctor came out after the surgery and let us know that there were layers of layers of gunk that she hadn't expected...and that she found a tiny hole on the edge of the graft (that had repaired the previous hole)...and lots of granulation tissue (whatever that is, I didn't think to ask so now I'll have to remember to ask at the follow-up appointment!).  As she's not sure that the infection's completely gone, C will have to take eardrops for five more days, and oral medicine for another week, and then go back in for a checkup, and then they'll see if the tiny hole is still there...and if it is, she may need additional surgery to repair that.
And wow, we were NOT expecting to hear 'additional surgery' yesterday, that really bummed us out for a while...
So then we brought her home and she laid in bed for the rest of the day and we waited on her hand and foot, because the nurses at the hospital told her that we would (Thanks, nurses, I appreciate that! LOL)...
At the hospital, a whole troop of our family was there, me, and D, my mom, and my grandparents, and our preacher from church...
And when we got home, phone calls from my brother, my aunt, and her friends, checking on her...
And a balloon bouquet from my friends at work arrived at the door for her - that was thrilling!  She also came out of this with the new 'Incredibles' DVD (D bought that for her...).
I'm very grateful to have such a support system of people who love my daughter, it means so much to me.
p.s. As for how she's doing now...she was very pale the rest of the day...so pale it really had us worried and we kept trying to push food down here so as to get our rosy-cheeked girl back...she cried and cried last night with the eardrops, which the doctor had told us to expect they would sting a little...she's also having some bloody drainage which really freaked her out but she's a lot better now after I talked her down...this morning she was MUCH better, still a little wobbly-legged but back to rosy cheeks, no drainage, no fever, and so I sent her off to school.  She's doing great!

It's a beautiful day, so far...

Today is hospital day!  I've been so nervous about this day for weeks, and now that today is here, I'm perfectly calm...the nerves seem to have finally caught up with my daughter, instead!  She's been assuring me for weeks that today was "no big deal"...but last night and this morning she's REALLY started to get nervous...maybe only one of us can be nervous at a time!
I'm dreadfully behind I'm on my journaling, I'm kind of hoping I'll get a chance to do it today after we get back home and I get her tucked safely into bed...
She's wondering if she can take her "Purr" (stuffed kitty) into surgery with her...I've assured her I'll keep Purr safe until it's over, and then she'll have her in recovery...
Now I'm going to go get in the shower and get ready for our trip downtown and only envisioning best case scenarios today!

Darkness? ...

or, as the name of the Douglas Adams book: "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul"...
Suddenly there's secrets back in my life, and I don't like it at all...I had secrets from long ago, of course...things I did when I was young and stupid that I wouldn't want discussed and that the people who know me today would never believe of me anyway.  But since I became, you know, a grown-up...or so I thought...I thought I'd be living my life without the need for deception.  Wrong! 
And I'm so !#$%^ tired it's hard to identify exactly where things have gone wrong so I can fix the problem...I definitely need a clear head for this one!
I don't know if it's secrets exactly...maybe distance, or a wall...I need sleep to figure it out...or maybe lack of sleep is the cause of the problem!
I bought my daughter's medicine again...because it was so close to the last time, the insurance wouldn't pay for it even though I explained we lost it.  So I had to pay for it in full...$120+...I'm keeping it under lock and key!  Very expensive, but well worth it.  She's doing wonderful at school and at home now...she's doing things like carrying on conversations with people, and studying and doing homework, stuff she just wasn't capable of before.  I feel so dumb for not realizing sooner that her other medicine had stopped working.  Dumb...
Every night I walk outside and I wish that I could see more than just the handful of stars that we see...it's always followed by the thought that there are those who've never left the city and have never seen the REAL night sky, alive with stars and dominated by the Milky Way...those of us who know it's there, even if we can't always see it, are very lucky...
Beauty like that stays in our hearts and our minds, even when we don't physically see it anymore. 
Last thing tonight! or rather, this morning! Quiz I found in Angel's journal, which was first in Anna's journal...
  
Your inner soul is calling for help!  You always seems so depressed, lonely, and feel like an outsider.  You may have a cold, sad exterior, but in all reality you are hurt inside and are bottling up all of your anger.  Everyday you wonder why are you still here when there is nothing left?  You used to once be a happy, loving soul, but it was damaged by 'them' and seems like it never can be fixed again.  However, you have yet seemed to realize that there are people out there that deeply care for you.  They secretly have a thing for you because they find you to be dark, mysterious, and full of secrets, not to mention being the prettiest person in the world!  You like to enjoy your time by yourself expressing your feelings through forms of art, and enjoy nice quiet sceneries that just dazzle your mind with awe.  Your bedroom is basically your sanctuary where you can hide out, hidden from those who gave you all of the pain.  Try to loosen up and have some fun!  Never start frowning because you never know who's falling in love with your smile :)   
 What is your inner soul trying to say? brought to you by Quizilla

It got just warm enough...

to bring the stupid crickets back to life, I guess...I encountered the first cricket of the year in my kitchen tonight.
My daughter helped me.  She brought the spray stuff to me, and then the shoe so that I could make sure the cricket was really, really dead.  I tried to get her to do that part, but she refused.
I've detailed my cricket trauma previously, here...
It's supposed to get cold again tonight, but it's too late now! They're awake and coming after me...
I. HATE. CRICKETS.
Maybe I'll post something happier later, when I get over this cricket depression...
Good night.
:(

Hello, world...

I wonder how a week goes by and I don't write in my journal...especially when every day something happens and I think, "I must remember to write this in my journal!"...but by the time I get here I'm just. so. tired.
The visit to the pediatrician went very well this week, my daughter was prescribed a different dose than what she is taking now, and it made a huge wonderful difference in her behavior Wed. - Fri. when she took the medicine...but by Saturday, the medicine bottle had disappeared...
That's what it's like to be us, things just...disappear...
So now I have to call the doctor Monday morning and humbly ask him to write out another prescription.
I spend a lot of my life being humble due to mistakes being made, things being lost, etc.  It's a learned skill that I didn't used to have, but I've since developed it quite well over the years!
It looks as if the New York trip is ON, since I sent the money in on Friday...so I guess we're going!  Manhattan in April...just me and my daughter...wow...I'm so SCARED! 
I'm sure there was much more I was going to talk about, but since I'm falling asleep in my chair I'm going to wrap up this pitifully small entry and hope to do better later...after sleep...I'm always chasing after sleep and never seem to catch it!