Merry Christmas

To all my friends and family who might actually be reading this, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a New Year full of God's blessings. We spent last weekend visiting our daughter's family for a combination Christmas/baptism "event". We arrived late on

Saturday and immediately "did" Christmas. The grandkids are so adorable, and I just reveled in watching their excitement at what was coming next. Their parents were just as excited when they opened their gift from our other daughter - a handmade reversible fleece blanket - one side is the Buffalo Bills, the other side is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everyone was pleased with the (Pittsburgh) Zoo family membership from us, something we've done for a few years now. Even though it's not something the kids can touch, our daughter reminds them whenever they go to the zoo that it's because Grandma & Grandpa gave them the membership. One of these days maybe WE will get to go with them!



On Sunday, our little Sweet Pea was baptised. I got to hold her for quite a bit of the church service; can you say "Grandma Heaven"? The other two were in a cute little Christmas program. They were standing on the altar steps singing. At first Ladybug didn't want to go up, but one of her little friends came and got her (kind of ), so up she went. They were adorable, of course! Immediately following the service, all three of the kiddos were in the live Nativity being held outside. There was even a petting zoo set up around the manger scene, complete with sheep, goats and a couple of llamas! Our kids were a kitty cat (Superman), an angel (Ladybug) and Baby Jesus (Sweet Pea). We celebrated Sweet Pea's baptism afterwards at Ceci's Pizza with family and a few friends - nice.



Meanwhile, back at home (Western New York), it was, well, snowing... a lot, as in everything was closing for Monday already!! So, on Monday morning we went to Superman's Preschool Christmas program and then headed for home. It was dry roads and sunny skies when we left Washington, PA... somewhere around Meadville I noticed that it was pretty snowy... a short while later we were in the middle of extremely heavy snowfall doing about 40 mph on the interstate! There were cars going off the road all over the place, and I would usually be a basketcase, but God was there with us and He kept me calm (probably so I wouldn't bother hubby while he was driving!). Erie was awful, with more cars off the road and lots and lots of heavy snow. After stopping for a late lunch at Bob Evans, we braved the interstate again. When we got to the PA/NY line, the snow stopped and the road was absolutely dry, bare pavement!! God is good!

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... wherefore art thou Oh Christmas Tree?? My hubby and I like to put our tree up practically before the turkey is cleared away from the Thanksgiving table. So, what happened this year? It's pretty bad when you have to schedule an appointment to put the tree up, don't you think? I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that we have not had a free evening together when we could put the tree up. Finally my Honey was able to put the tree up and get the lights on it on Saturday. Is it decorated yet? Well..... it does look beautiful with just the lights :) Here it is Sunday (almost Monday) and we're about to embark on another hectic week. I don't hold out much hope for decorating unless we both have insomnia and decide to decorate at 3:00 in the morning! Stranger things have happened, I guess.

In other news, our church's Christmas musical was this weekend, and hubby and I were in it. We were part of the "faux" choir - that would be the unmiked people in the background who move their lips like they're singing (we were really singing) but usually don't get heard. Our big scene was after the opening carols. We stepped forward and sang a really, really bad rendition (on purpose, honest) of Joy To The World. The audience actually applauded (I called it "pity applause"). Then we were done until the last scene, where we joined the "real" singers for the finale - "Joy". It was a lot of fun, and I wish we would do more of that kind of thing. Who knows?

Knock, Knock

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Stupid.

Stupid who?

Stupid me, I actually clicked on something I KNEW was dangerous to my computer and I got a nasty virus from it. (And yes, stupid is an appropriate word for this situation!!)

Yeah, I really did. It seems that "timing is everything" as my hubby says. I thought one of my daughters had posted a video of me online, which they did not, however, I received a message from a Facebook relative saying he'd seen me in a video. Well, I fell for that hook, line and sinker. I wanted to know exactly what was online, and, yes, I clicked on a link that I had been warned about. So, why do I even mention this? In hopes that someone, somewhere will learn
from my mistake. Apparently this virus is called "koobface" and it is a very malicious thing. It has infected my home computer, but I'm still able to use my laptop, thank goodness. I'm not sure if my hubby will be able to fix it or not, but if anyone can, he can.

In other news, our Women's Ministry held their annual Christmas Celebration this morning. It was absolutely delightful. There was caroling, a drama, really good food, and our Pastor's wife spoke. All in all it was a very nice morning.

Okay, that's about it for now. Have a blessed day!

Thankful

I am thankful - for a lot of things. Over the past few days I was blessed to have my family here for the holiday. There was this fruit centerpiece thing that I found in a cookbook at my daughter's house. Something compelled me to want to make this thing even though there would be plenty of other food for Thanksgiving. I learned that my girls think I am capable of doing something that I wasn't really sure about myself. As I was constructing what I felt would be a monstrosity, my girls both assured me that it was looking fine. Their words were precious to me. I was also in "Grandma Heaven" as it were. We ate, we visited, we ate, we played games, we ate... you get the picture. Somehow, having the little ones around gives a whole new perspective to things. I can never get enough cuddle time with my grandkids, so I took advantage of every opportunity (except when they went to Bounce Magic - it's just too noisy!!). Our final activity with the kids for this whirlwind weekend was making a gingerbread house. You know, the kind you buy prebaked with the candies from, oh, 2 years ago (maybe). We added some fruity loopy cereal to the candy assortment just because we could. Grandpa "constructed" the house and the kids did the decorating with the help of Aunt Holly. I am really proud of myself because, as a Mom, I always wanted everything to be perfect and would instruct my children in the placement of the candies, etc. - whereas, now that I'm a Grandma, I've learned to let go of the "just-so" complex, and we all really enjoyed the decorating. Did it look like the picture on the box? Well.....

I Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to tell you about my fabulous weekend - my Mom, niece, and I went to Shea's to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, and it was... spectacular, I mean. We were in the balcony - really, really in the balcony (read: "nosebleed heaven") - but that just gave us an awesome view of the goings-on on the stage. The music was great, the costumes were colorful, and the precision of the Rockettes was amazing - spectacular, even! I was very happy to see that the last scene was a Living Nativity, so even though the whole show revolved around Santa, he gave up his spot in the limelight for the real Star of the show. I highly recommend this show.

Thanksgiving is Coming, Thanksgiving is Coming!!

Oh my goodness, did you realize that Thanksgiving is this Thursday??? I mean, did you take your turkey out of the freezer?? I remembered about half an hour ago (something to be thankful for!) so my beautiful 22 lb. turkey is now residing in the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Actually I didn't remember; my wonderful husband did.

Our Thanksgiving starts out with the parades, of course. When I was little I didn't understand how my Mom could miss the parades (she was in the kitchen cooking already) - I loved them. Now, I still enjoy a good parade, but I guess with maturity comes a bit of "if-you've-seen-one-parade-you've-seen-them-all-itis". Besides, somebody's got to get cooking!

Here's a great cooking tip - use one of those Reynolds cooking bags for the turkey. They really work; the turkey is moist, and best of all it is done way quicker. The first year I used one, I had to call everyone to come early because the bird was done, done, done!! Now I wouldn't cook one with using a bag.

After the big feast, we settle down to dessert and some serious business - the Black Friday ads!! Yes, I do sometimes get up at 4:30 to be at a store by 5:00 - (Did you know there is such a thing as 4:30 in the morning??) - but only if necessary to get that must-have bargain. Oh yes, Black Friday is a unique day, and I'm glad it's only once a year (whew).

This year we are blessed to be having my parents and both of our daughters and their families joining us for the big celebration. It will be nice to have everyone together. As I was contemplating where to put all of my 11 guests (if you include the baby), a friend stopped to ask me what my plans were. After sharing, I asked about her plans - she and her 6 siblings and all of their families are getting together at a fire hall. All 90 of them! They are cooking 2 22lb turkeys, 4 turkey breasts, and 35 lbs. of potatoes!! I'm happy with my 11 guests...

Happy Thanksgiving

I Did It - Finally!

I did it - I finally finished something! If you are not a procrastinator, you don't understand, you CAN'T understand, how thrilling it is for me to be able to say that I have finished something. My friend, Linn, has been quilting for a few years now and has dragged me along through the basics. I did a small potholder size sailboat as a beginning piece, and put together a table runner which was something called a "flip and fold" (which does not require binding on the edges). I just completed a Thanksgiving table runner with a binding and everything. What makes me even happier is that I found out this morning that my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren will be coming for Thanksgiving after all. So, this will be one full house - woohoo!!

Did You Vote, Did You Vote, Did You Vote, Vote, Vote??

Okay, the title of this post should be sung to the William Tell Overture, as you dance your way out of your local polling station - and by the way, DID YOU VOTE?? If you did, thank you; if you didn't, NO COMPLAINING!!!! We are still hours away from knowing who our new President will be, but what I'm most thankful for is - no more political ads on television, no more phone calls from political candidates; it's over, done, finito - finally. Do I sound a little, mmm, tired of it all? Well, I am, and I'm sure I'm not alone. This seemed like the looonnnngggest presidential campaign in history. Well, I just wanted to vent a little; after all, what's a blog for? Did you vote, did you vote, did you vote, vote, vote......

Since last I blogged, several things have come to pass -

1. We celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday with a surprise party - the surprise being that the weather was anything but October-like. We actually had the party outside at my sister's house. What a gorgeous day, and I think Mom was very pleased.




2. My daughter and son-in-law were able to come for a visit the following weekend, so my parents were able to meet the newest little one, SweetPea. During this visit, my Mom's church also held their annual fall bazaar, so we enjoyed the delicious chicken barbeque they had as well as purchasing some of the bazaar offerings.




3. My amazing husband and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. When the kids left for home on Saturday evening, we decided to go to the Sat. evening worship service at our church. We spent all of Sunday at Niagara Falls and had a wonderful time, finishing up with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It's so nice to be able to spend time with the one you love.

I believe that's all for now....more in another week or two :)

Happy First Sunday in October

By now it should be obvious that I don't blog every day...or every other day...or even every other week - well, you get the idea. My life has been extremely hectic lately and I can't figure out why. I love my part time job, which accounts for 12 hours a week (well, 12 hours on the clock... many more than that off the clock), and I volunteer at the HUB on Friday evenings [check out their website: http://www.thehubsite.com/], which accounts for another 4 1/2 - 5 hours. Worship on Sunday mornings is another 3 or so. Grand total: 19 1/2 - 20 hours a week. My coming week is just as busy! Monday morning my l'il pup gets groomed, we stop to visit my parents afterwards, I have work and a staff meeting. Tuesday is even busier - Ladies' Bible Study in the morning, fingerprinting (for work, not because I committed a crime), work, and an informational meeting in the evening about a small group program especially for women. Wednesday is craft day with my best friend, followed by work, and a "take-out" dinner from the church which my parents take back to their house for me. Thursday is a special day - it's my Mom's 80th birthday!! Obviously we'll spend part of the day with her; not sure what the plans are yet. And Friday - a morning doctor's appointment, grocery shopping (my favorite thing in the whole world - NOT), dinner and the HUB. Okay, maybe I'll just go to bed now.....

Tutoring??

So, have I mentioned that I'm a reading tutor for the Ephraim Initiative through Peace of the City Ministries? My schedule is Monday - Thursday, three hours a day. One of my students is an adorable little girl, age 6. My first "job" was to get to know her, so we played a word game which involved categories of cards (think "rummy"). Unfortunately, one of the categories was food. I knew I'd lost control when she began telling me ALL of her favorite foods - quite an extensive list, I might add. I thought I'd finally drawn her back into the game, and we had each taken a couple of turns when, all of a sudden, she put her cards down and said, "I hope we have pizza for a snack today! I really, really, really like pizza!!" This is going to be an interesting year.

Stressed spelled backwards is Dessert!!

Procrastinate, procastinated, procrastinating, procrastination.... any way you use the word, it still means "to put off, esp. habitually, doing something until a future time."

Stress... what you get when you procrastinate!!

Migraine ...a severe, recurrent headache, often debilitating. My major triggers?? Yep, stress. Oh, and chocolate. Which just stresses me out more, because I am a chocoholic.

Let's review - when you leave for work and you're driving on "E", is it better to stop and fill the gas tank and be late, or keep going and pray that you make it to work on time?? A perfect example of procrastination causing stress. When you are going on a youth retreat THIS COMING FRIDAY, and don't have laundry done, or anything even remotely ready (that's the procrastination part), well, you get the idea. Now, some months are better than others, but my calendar usually looks like I let a toddler scribble all over it. I guess I'm just a l'il bit busy... September has been no exception. In the past 10 days I have squeezed in a picnic (Labor Day), two doctor's appointments (I'm fine, thanks), a staff meeting, four days of work (albeit part-time, it is still work), a weekend out of town visiting our new grandbaby, a committee meeting at church, and a Bible Study. Whew!! And the rest of the month isn't much better.

So, after all that complaining, let me leave you with this cute l'il joke: A husband and wife were traveling through Pennsylvania and decided to stop for a bite to eat in a town called Zelionople. Now, they couldn't decide how to pronounce the name of the town, so as they ordered their food, they asked the server - "Would you please say the name of where we are - slowly?" The server looked at them oddly, then said, "Bur - ger - King."

Introducing...

My newest granddaughter was born on Tuesday, September 2, bringing my total to three grandchildren. She is beautiful (of course). Sweet Pea debuted at 4:49pm, weighing in at 6 lbs. 13 oz.; she is 20 inches long. As previously stated, I was not able to be there, but I was notified almost right away, causing everyone at the staff meeting I was attending to applaud and cheer - how cool is that? Anyway, we are headed there for a weekend visit on Friday, and I can't wait!!

Labor Day...Well Almost!

Although today is the holiday known as Labor Day, I am actually more interested in tomorrow - my daughter's "labor" day. She is pregnant with her third child, and scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning - and I can't be there. I'm feeling so, not depressed exactly - well, yeah, I guess depressed is exactly how I'm feeling. Hubby and I were blessed to be there for the births of our first grandson and our first granddaughter. Not being there this time is, according to my daughter, no big deal, but it is to me. What makes matters worse (for me) is that my counterpart (J's mom) has been there all weekend, and will probably be there tomorrow, as well. I suppose I should model "grown-up" behavior, but when your heart is involved, it is sometimes difficult. Okay, here goes - I'm glad that my daughter has a mother-in-law who cares enough about her to be there for her. Hmm, not too bad for a first try. I guess I'll have to practice a little more. That's all for now. Oh, and Happy Labor Day!

What I Did For the Rest of My Summer Vacation

Since last I blogged, I have been busy with such things as:

• taking care of my grandkitties, Mocha & Onyx, while my daughter and son-in-law were out of town for a weekend - they are so adorable, and no trouble at all (the kitties, I mean);

• helping in the kitchen at Mission Meadows camp for a week - yeah, this was a challenge since I don't do early morning real well, but it actually turned out okay. Can you say "exhausted"??

• taking a 10 mile bike ride from Bemus Point to Chautauqua Institute and back - this would be my "reward" for helping in the kitchen at Mission Meadows camp. I thought Lou liked me... instead I think he was trying to kill me!!!

• and finally, last but not least, I began training today to become a reading tutor for Peace of the City Ministries. I'll be working four days a week at Cornerstone Manor starting next week.

Camp Grandma-Grandpa

Can I tell you about the week I just had? It was fantastic, crazy, wonderful, exhausting... our grandkids stayed with us for a whole week! It all started with an innocent phone call on Saturday, August 2nd. My 4 year old grandson, Superman, was telling me that he was wearing his 2 year old sister's sleeping bag/backpack. When my daughter got on the phone, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I'd invited the two little ones to come visit - for the whole week - a four hour drive away from their parents. Arrangements were made for the next day and so we met our daughter, son-in-law and prospective house guests at Presque Isle in Erie, PA to make the "pick-up". We spent a little time at the beach, then at Waldemeer Park before the 1 1/2 hour drive back to our home. Now, I could bore you with every little detail of the week - but I won't. I will say that we were very busy every day with one adventure or another. One day we visited my parents (aka "SuperGrandpa" and "SuperGrandma"), another day we went to Chestnut Ridge Park for a picnic lunch and to play on the playground. We also found time to paint a whole bunch of rocks the kids had found at the beach on Sunday. We went to the Erie County Fair aka America's Fair, which was, without a doubt, one of the bigger highlights for Superman and Ladybug. We also found time to play at the school playground, ride scooters, and fly a very cool VeggieTales kite. Oh, and I can't forget to mention wonderful Aunt Holly and Uncle Munchkin (we adults call him Tony) who took the kids for an evening - dinner, playground and a movie (Shrek) with popcorn! The day finally came that we had to return our two little sweethearts to their "rightful owners", so we set our course for Meadville, PA yesterday and turned them over to their loving parents. Camp Grandma-Grandpa had finally come to an end. For this year. But there's always next summer!!

"Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. " - Proverbs 17:6

I Hate Computers

Well, I've been trying to upload pictures to my computer for the last three hours now, and I am not having any luck. The Easy Share program doesn't want to open - at all. I put my little SD card into the slot on my computer tower and it automatically transfers the pix to the Easy Share program; well, that's what it's supposed to do. Today it transferred the pix and then.... IT DID NOTHING. Nada. Zilch. So, I clicked on the Easy Share icon on my desktop, and waited. Not just a few seconds, not even a few minutes. It still hasn't opened and it's been, well, a long time - a very, very long time. I hate computers.

My July...So Far

I spent the first week of July at Pine Springs Camp in southwestern Pennsylvania helping to watch my two grandchildren, ages 4 & 2, while my daughter & son-in-law directed a special middle school youth camp. It was called "Mission Ex", and the kids did mission projects in Johnstown, PA during the day and returned to camp around dinner time. My daughter also brought another young lady, Laura, to help watch Superman and Ladybug. As it turned out, we spent every morning after breakfast at Chrysallis, the craft cabin. We (Laura, Ladybug, Superman and myself) all did a LOT of coloring and painting, but we also did some other fun things. Ladybug & I collected some pinecones, so one morning she made a caterpillar with her pinecones and pompoms. Another morning we painted rocks we had picked up at the playground. Superman wanted to make a picture frame, and in fact made two - one with pompoms and the other with puzzle pieces. One morning Superman announced that he wanted to make a musical instrument. So, he and Ladybug made shoebox drums that day. I think their favorite project was probably the beaded necklaces they made the last day. I was surprised that they both sat and strung the beads for as long as they did. From my standpoint that craft was a huge success! We would walk back to our cabin with our treasures just in time for Lisa to pick us up for lunch. The afternoons were usually swim time and the kids both looked forward to that. I'm convinced that Ladybug has grown fins! When it came time to leave, the kids wanted to stay - what else is new? - The ride home was punctuated with comments Ladybug and Superman were saying to each other. My personal favorites?
Ladybug: You're a Bossyhead!
Superman: You're a Chicken Nugget!
and
Superman: We are inappropiate
Ladybug: Yes, we are!

Our church has VBS every year and this year it was Power Lab. The Friday before VBS I was talking with the Children's Pastor who said that a few people had kind of bailed, so they were short Crew Leaders (an adult who shepherds a crew of kids from place to place). Of course I volunteered to help, and I'm glad I did. The kids in my crew were awesome, and we all had a good time. I did miss the closing on Friday, because Holly & I left for the Sisters & Daughters Retreat that day.

So, we left here on Friday morning and went to Washington, PA to pick up my other daughter, then we headed for Sugarcreek, OH, in the heart of Amish country, for a long weekend with hubby's sisters and their daughters. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we shopped.... It was a fantastic weekend, and it was over too soon.

24 Miles on the Erie Canal!!

We met our cycling group after church yesterday and drove to Lockport, a city on the Erie Canal. From there we biked to Middleport, a smaller town, also on the Erie Canal. After riding around Middleport for awhile, looking for ice cream, we finally found a pizza place that had ice cream novelties. Needless to say, we stopped and enjoyed various ice cream treats. Some of us got Klondike bars. I was thinking of the commercial that asks, "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" - when I mentioned it to one of the other riders, she took a picture of us. Maybe we'll send it to the Klondike people. Who knows? They might send us some free ice cream treats!! (Can you see the commercial now? "We rode 12 miles one way for a Klondike bar!") I was fine while we were in Middleport. It was the trip back that had me concerned. But God is good, and He kept my feet pedaling all the way back. We did stop a few times to rest, but those times were such fun. On one of our rest stops, we stood under a bridge singing the old Erie Canal song - you know - "I've got a mule, her name is Sal; 15 miles on the Erie Canal" - I didn't realize how many verses there are to that song, but we were all laughing and having such a good time. As hard as the last couple of miles were, I'm glad I went on this ride. There is such a feeling of accomplishment when you've done something you thought you couldn't - and the encouragement from the other riders meant so much.

This morning I awoke expecting to be in extreme pain from yesterday's outing, but all in all, I'm feeling okay. I did beg off a driver training session with Abbie, because I'm not feeling THAT good, and I do have to go to work this evening.

That's about it for now. Have a great day!

Wonderful Wednesday

Wednesdays are craft days at my friend's house. So there we were, crafting away, each of us intent on what we were doing. The weather has been unseasonably chilly the last few days, so I asked Linn if she wanted to go for french onion soup at Ilio's. We both decided it was a good idea, so we headed there around noon. Let me tell you, Ilio's has the best french onion soup in Western New York, maybe even the state. Really. We started this little tradition of going there for soup the first day our kids went back to school each year. Well, our kids have all graduated and moved on with their lives, but the tradition carries on. This isn't the beginning of the school year you say? No, but it sure felt like it. Brrrr.

In other news, I have been asked by the same friend if I would teach her daughter how to drive. Ab will be starting grad school in September and really needs to be able to drive herself instead of relying on her dad all the time. Linn was totally serious about the request, and Ab is up for it too. So, we start on Friday. I have to say that I'm a little nervous about getting in the car with a new driver, again. I thought I was done with that forever. But, I took a spiritual gifts inventory a few years ago, and one of my gifts is teaching. Do you think God meant driver's education?? I know He has a sense of humor, but....

Father's Day

Well, yesterday I woke up and thought, "Oh, great. It's Father's Day and I don't have a card/present for Dad or Hubby." Now, I knew that Father's Day was coming, it's on the calendar every year, and yet somehow I managed to be totally oblivious to the arrival of the big day. I recall having laughed at my mom when she told me that she'd given Dad his card and present last weekend because she thought it was Father's Day then. Maybe God is trying to teach me a lesson? But I digress...Upon my sudden realization that I was cardless/presentless, I quickly formed a new plan for the day. I'm good at altering plans - I do it a lot. So, instead of going to 9:30 church, I decided to go to the 11:00 service. Besides, the graduates were going to be honored at that service, and we have some young friends who would be there. This gave me time to hit Walmart for cards, after which I also had time to stop and see Dad before heading out to the church. After worship, I spotted friends in the Fellowship Mall, who recently had their second baby. I spent some time talking to them and holding their precious little 3 week old son, John. I thought back to the first time I held my own beautiful daughters, and then, many years later, my grandson and granddaughter. The awe and joy I felt were incredible, and the love for those tiny little babies washed over me totally and completely. I look forward to meeting my new granddaughter sometime in September, and expect that I will have those same feelings again. God is good.

We finished up our day with a picnic at my parents' house, mostly because it's easier to bring the party to Dad, who is a semi-invalid (and also because the US Open was on and he didn't want to leave his beloved big screen t.v.). So, a good time was had by all. And I will buy the cards/presents ahead of time next year.

No Bike Ride For Me

The church Hubby and I attend has something called "Interest Groups" and we just signed up for the Bicycling Group. Our first meeting was this past Sunday and our first ride was yesterday evening. I was so excited; I'm not very active, but Lou (the guy in charge) had assured me this ride would be fairly level and not real long. We were to meet at the church at 5:15pm to car pool to our ride beginning point at the base of the North Grand Island bridge. We would be riding to Niagara Falls and back. I woke up yesterday very excited at the prospect of riding. I spent the morning and early afternoon at my friend's house doing "crafty" stuff, and then it happened. I started to get a migraine. The end of the story? I didn't go on the bike ride, although Hubby did. He had a great time. They rode to the Falls, then out onto Goat Island, and all around the Falls before riding back to the cars. The next ride is supposed to be from the Erie Basin Marina up to the South Grand Island Bridge area, but I'm not sure when that will be scheduled. I guess I'll have to get biking so I'm ready for that one!

Today was my morning at the local elementary school. I have volunteered there one day a week since 1997, with the same 2nd grade teacher. Next week is the last Thursday of the school year for me. Over the years I have half-heartedly looked for jobs, but never really wanted to stop doing the school thing. Well, the teacher I help will be taking a new position as a reading specialist in September, so she won't be needing me anymore. At about the same time, I became aware of a part-time position opening up in September at Peace of the City Ministries. I applied, and will be starting then as a reading tutor. I have always wanted to do something meaningful in a Christian environment, and I think this will be a wonderful opportunity. My Hubby says, "Timing is everything." I say, "God is in control."

"Heat" Part 2 - or, How I Survived the Weekend

So, there we were, in the midst of this oppressive heat, and I was blessed enough to be going away for the weekend. Three good friends and myself attended the Women of Faith Conference in Rochester, NY in an air-conditioned arena. We had such a good time. We found a really good motel last year, so we stayed there again this year. If you get a chance, try the Homewood Suites (Hilton runs them). We were able to save a ton of money by bringing our own food for Friday dinner, plus snacks, etc. Breakfast was provided by the motel, and I'm talking about fresh-made waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, yogurt, cereals, muffins, bagels, toast.....oh, yeah. Anyway, the conference was awesome. We went to the pre-conference on Friday morning, which featured Patsy Clairmont and Anita Renfroe. I about busted a gut laughing! They are such marvelous speakers. I can't begin to tell you about all of their stories - the lineup of speakers was terrific. Patsy Clairmont, Anita Renfroe, Luci Swindoll, Marilyn Meburg, Sandi Patty, Nicole C. Mullen, Natalie Grant, Sheila Walsh, Allison Allen, Steve Arterburn (he is the reason there is a "Women of Faith"). The whole program was so uplifting, I would encourage you to check out the website www.womenoffaith.com for the conference schedule, and make plans to attend one.
Okay, that's enough for today. God bless.

I Hate the Heat

Well, here it is Tuesday afternoon. The last few days have been brutal as regards the temperature. Today we are getting some relief, and have only to deal with the humidity. Currently it is pouring - absolutely torrentially (is that a word?). But, it is cooling off - finally. And the migraines have finally abaited, so I am able to use my computer again.

Happy Saturday

No, that's not a greeting to anyone who might be reading this - although I do hope your Saturday was good. It is, in fact, a description of my day. I have felt myself falling into a depressed state over the last week or so. In an effort to alleviate my sinking mood, my hubby aquiesed to my desire to go to the Super Flea Market. SFM is open Saturdays and Sundays and has a permanent building where a lot of booths are set up; other people set up outside in the huge parking lot. Anyway, we found lots of "deals" - sweatshirts, hats, toys for the grandkids, baked goods, electrical items. It was a good time. My original reason for wanting to go was to purchase a perfume oil my sister told me about. It comes in a little roll-on tube you can keep in your purse. So, all of our deals were great, but I wasn't happy until....yes, I found the perfume man in the midst of all the chaos of the place. So, my day truly was happy.

At Long Last

Well, here it is - my first official blog post. I must add my disclaimer right from the start - I am a procrastinator by nature, therefore this could be my only post for some time to come. I am also a perfectionist, at least when it comes to my writing, and I have to say that I felt as though I would have to blog everyday - did I say everyday?? Yep, everyday. But guess what? When I find myself falling into that pattern of thinking, I remind myself that I am a daughter of the King, and it's okay not to be perfect, because there is only One who is perfect. I just needed to get started. Oddly enough, the hardest part was thinking up a title for my blog. It had to be something catchy, you know, something witty, something that says I'm not a total nerd/geek/weirdo. So, have I done it? You be the judge.