May 30, 2007

Just a day.  Spring has been beautiful here.  Not as hot and dry as usual.  I haven’t been at all productive since returning from the trip to Joplin.  I need to get my pics up from Charles’ graduation.  I can’t believe that he’s going to start college in a few months.  I hope he finds himself in these next few years, as much as I hate hate hate that cheesy phrase.  He’s drifting a bit right now I think, but I have no doubt about where his heart is.  He’s a really good kid, but I don’t think he’s content.  I want him to be beyond content.  I want him to be brimful and running over with joy. 

In other news, I’m watching Lost.  I’m so hooked.  It’s sad.  But hey, it makes the laundry folding go faster.  I’m also watching Gilmore Girls because they are very very funny.  And I’m about to start 24.  And I want to start reading more.  And I want to start practicing the piano in a serious, look I’m doing scales and arpeggios, hey I know what that chord is sort of way.  And now I have to go to bed.  I hope tomorrow is much more productive.

A very pleasant Sabbath

I haven’t been doing a very good job of imitating Baba and journaling on this thing.  Well, here I go.  I should be in bed, but drank a Mountain Dew driving back from church in Austin and, let’s just say I’ll be up for a bit longer. 

I expected traffic to be bad going through Austin since this is Memorial Day weekend, but we just whizzed through.  Now slow downs or anything.  I hope tomorrow is as easy.  We had a very enjoyable Sabbath in the SM’s home.  I had the pleasure of trying to play “Declare His Works to All Nations” for the last hymn.  It was a bit scary.  Botched the intro, which is always bad, but we muddled through.  The sermonette was a radio broadcast by Mr. Armstrong.  He always talks about the Kingdom.  It’s so cool.  Today though, he focused on the Holy Spirit and the Family of God.  Then the sermon was Pap talking about the meaning of Pentecost.  It was really good. 

 MM played special music and did quite well for, what? not quite 8?  She was very poised. 

 Much visiting and eating afterwards.  We have such a nice friendly group.  C and her mom and son were there, which was a nice addition to the group.  Her little boy is only three and is easily as big and IM.  He is a big ol’ boy.  It was kind of funny to hear his little three year old voice and speech come out of a 5 year old size body.  I hope he gets along well with the other boys tomorrow.

After most people had left, CB, JB and I sang some choir pieces.  It was kind of weird because nobody else joined in like I think was intended, and I hope it didn’t seem like we just wanted to sing for everybody because we so totally didn’t!  But, then again, I do enjoy singing with JB and CB.  We don’t do it as much on Friday nights as we used to, and I miss it.  We sang “Blessed Hope.”  I _love_ that song.  I hope we do it at the Feast–provided we have someone in attendance who can hit that B-flat at the end, and then those 4 consecutive G’s. 

Then we drove home.  And there was a bit of a slow down on the way back because apparently someone was killed trying to cross the northbound side.  And of course there was a lot of rubbernecking on the southbound side.  There was a man just sitting on the side of the road looking totally shell-shocked, and I think he might have been the driver.  I feel very bad for him. 

The thing about journaling is you don’t know what will be important to you 25 years from now.  So to be on the safe side, I’ll probably end up blathering on too much.  Oh well.  There’s actually more I could say–for example, I didn’t even touch on how cute Lilly is, and how big she’s getting and on how clearly she said “Stop.” when I tickled her.    I also didn’t touch on how William’s haircut that I gave him on Friday looks soooo much like a New Kids on the Block hairdo.  It totally reminds me of all the cool boys in Princeton Jr High (P-we are the Pirates, J-we like to jam, H-we have it all, P! J! H!).  Except that was back in the 80’s and I don’t think it’s a cool hairstyle anymore.  Oh well.  He’s really cute.  And his hair grows fast.  And I’m getting much better at cutting it well and quickly…so there. 

I think I am officially becoming a crochety old hermit.

I know.  Everybody’s like…um…that’s old news.  But seriously.  I am so tired of being not at home.  I’d like to be able to say that my general discontent right now has to do with the hearing being postponed.  Again.  But not really.  Whatever.  I just want to go home.  We have a long and exhausting weekend coming up.  Double Sabbath does not equal double rest.  In fact, quite the opposite.  I hate this feeling of just hanging around waiting for something to need doing.  I like to know my work hours and work in them, or at least have some control over them so I know when to expect them.  I feel like I’m not getting anything done.  I mean…I’m blogging a lot more frequently, and I’m getting caught up on reading blogs.  Relatively speaking anway.  And I’m watching some DVDs, but I feel restless.  I want to go home.  I miss my bed and my routine. 

Good call, Commissioner Stern.

Congratulations, Commissioner Stern.  Not only did you unfairly cheat the Suns out of a chance at winning the Western Conference semi-finals with your ridiculous suspension of two players who were only moving to see if their teammate was hurt, effectively sealing this series before game 6 was even played, you also cheated the Spurs out of an asterisk free postseason.  However far they go in these playoffs everyone will always remember, you were the team’s biggest contributor.  Good call.

The Best Mother’s Day Ever

Dear William,

You probably don’t remember this day, but I always will. Papa and Grammy were out of town over Mothers’ Day while we were living in Charlotte. You were four years old. Papa had been talking with you about Mothers’ Day and how you should do something special for me, and boy did you! You took me to the grocery store in Mint Hill, where Papa had told you the flowers were better. Then you talked the florist into breaking up a dozen roses so you could buy me just one. You took your own money out of your money jar. You wanted to get my one yellow and one red, but she only had red, so you got that. Then you took me to the candy isle, but made me stand at the end while you went and picked something for me. Then I couldn’t look until you’d paid for it all. You bought me chocolates with mint creme inside. I think you picked them because they came in green wrappers. I loved the way you took charge of this Mothers’ Day.  Your thoughtfulness and determination to do this all on your own made that Mothers’ Day my best ever.  But really, every day with you is the best Mothers’ Day ever.

I’m addicted to outdoor running.

I have been running on a treadmill, but one morning it wasn’t working. I was determined not to let that keep me from running, so I used the Nike+ map it feature to map out a route and then I ran it, and man! Running outside totally kicks the butt of treadmill running. Completely. I don’t think I can go back.

Daisy 5K..fun fun fun.

Jonathan, Crystal, David, Jarek, William and I all ran the Daisy 5K on Mothers Day.  It was super fun.  The boys actually only did the Kids K.  They came in 5th and 7th and were both happy.  I came in 8th in my age group and beat my goal time of 45 minutes by 3 minutes.  It was a great beginning to a great Mothers’ Day, although I did end up low blood sugary and grouchy by the end of the drive home.

William, under Jonathan’s careful tutelage, got me a box of Godiva chocolates and a gift card to Outback for Mothers’ Day.  I plan on using the Outback gift card to take Mom and Shirlene out for lunch/dinner/dessert at some point when we’re all three in Joplin.  Apparently William told Jonathan that I liked to eat at Taco Bell and Outback and Jonathan wisely chose Outback.

Yesterday was one of those days that reminds me why I homeschool.  William was reading me One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and got the giggles.  It was great.  Then we went swimming at like 9:00.  Great again.  I love spending time with him.  I love being the one to watch the light bulbs come on, like when we were doing piano yesterday and he was clapping along with the metronome, so serious and earnest.  I love it when he’s like that.  When he’s really trying and not afraid to fail.  It makes me feel like I’m really doing the right thing by letting him spread his wings here at home.

Play ball

I’m loving my sports viewing options right now.  I’m currently watching the Dallas/Golden State game.  I also love my Replay, which is allowing me to watch this game at the, to me, more resonable hour of 6 am.  Can I just say what everyone else has said already–Dirk is not playing like an MVP.  At this point in the game (almost halftime), he has yet to make a field goal.  I think he has two measly points from free throws.  Baron Davis on the other hand is a man.  He is actually something like the bionic man with all of the wraps and braces and other artificial supplements preventing his battered body from coming apart altogether.  I’m loving this series.  I’m officially on the Warriors bandwagon. 

Playoffs are awesome, especially since the Suns have already advanced.  Nash is the true MVP.  ‘Nough said.

But the playoffs aren’t the only fun sports going on right now.  The UEFA Championship has been very entertaining.  I know that penalty kicks are a crap shoot and a less than perfect way to end a game.  It would be cool if they could just keep playing and playing, but unlike baseball, I think people would die, actually physical expire, if there were not some limit.  And penalty kicks are like the ultimate suspenseful sports experience.  So I was loving the shootout at the end of the second Liverpool/Chelsea leg.  Especially since Liverpool won.  I feel a personal responsibility to cheer for whichever team has 20,000+ fans singing a Rogers and Hammerstein show tune at each match.  I can add that to my crazy dream travel wish list–a trip to Anfield.  I mean I know all the words to “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and I don’t want that to go to waste.

Unfortunately, Son did not enjoy the noise levels at the playoff game we attended last week, so I’m sure he wouldn’t be too crazy about an EPL environment.  I thought he was cheering with everyone else.  He was definitely screaming, I just couldn’t hear him over the din.  But then I read his lips and realized he wasn’t chanting “Defense!”  He was screaming “Be quiet!”

A fun Son quote from swimming yesterday: “We don’t have to worry about losing our lives any more!” (said to his cousin after they successful swam across the deep end of the pool).

Rainy Days and Mondays

The green van is having problems.  Sabbath before last the transmission went out as I was driving home from church.  Then this morning I finally got to go pick it up, supposedly fixed, and it didn’t make it 10 miles down the road before it died again.  Not the same kind of died, but dead all the same.  Even more dead, in fact.  Before, it would at least, with much complaining, move at 20 miles an hour or so, but now it won’t move at all.  The dying happened in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, and so suddenly that I didn’t actually make it all the way off of the road.  Kind of scary to be partly on I-35 with the traffic whizzing by and the visibility about zero. 

In other news, I’m not moving yet.  I’ve signed up for 8 more months here.  I’m happy.  I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time at the pool with William.  Maybe not in the pool so much at my current weight of 206 (eek!!), but I really want William to be able to take advantage of this blessing for as long as it lasts.  I also want to get my house clean and keep it that way. 

 Tomorrow begins a new month, and I can’t wait to make a fresh start.  I really fizzled after the Holy Days.  I get derailed so easily.  It’s pathetic really, but I try not to dwell on it.  There’s nothing gained by beating myself up.  I just need to do better tomorrow. 

 Not having a car is inconvenient.  The end.