Sunday, October 26, 2008

I've been tagged!

Thanks to Jen for playing Tag!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes!

1. Ooh, like Jen, I LOVE forensics. Charming gave me a set of Quincy, M.E. dvds for my birthday. (oh, the primitive forensics before DNA...)

2. I got saved during the Jesus Movement. (One Way, Jesus!)

3. I took a ride on the Wabash Cannonball. (listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar...)

4. My fingerprints are on file with the FBI. (see here for details.)

5. In 2000, Charming, I, and five of our children voted at the same precinct. (three of them still lived at home, one across the street, and the other down the street just three houses.) We, along with my three youngest, walked to the voting station. Three of them were voting for President for the first time.

6. I don't like jazz music (except for Mr. Rogers and Charlie Brown). I'm probably the only person in the universe who doesn't like jazz.

7. Ditto for Star Wars. Never seen it. or them. even the new ones.

Now for the tagging: I choose Michelle, Angel, Ruthie, Cindy, April, Julie, and Brenda.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Wow, What a Week!

I feel at loose ends today, because there has been absolutely no routine to my week. At All.

Violet, who is a dorm rector for a women's dorm at a university, was on Fall Break this week, so she planned a visit for Mon-Thurs. Ordinarily, we would have been able to do at least a modified schedule of academics, between visiting and FUN, but she had news that Eclipsed Everything Else.

Violet has a new boyfriend.

It is a story that was 18 months in the making, as that is how long they have been emailing each other. Not secretly or anything, (even though she never told ME) but just in a pen-pal way. Because he is French. As in, from FRANCE. And, naturally, if you have a Frenchy pen-pal, you are not looking to meet IRL anytime soon, you know?

Mr. France finished up his Ph.D. in Chemistry last month (he studied for four years in England) and decided to reward himself with some travel. So he asked Violet if she would be amenable to a visit to the U.S.A. He had been once before, at age 2, when his parents visited NYC and Disney World. Guess they thought they'd get a True Picture of the U.S. !!

It was a little scary, having never spoken to each other, but it all worked out. Having a solid friendship-base made the relationship thing easy to begin. From all reports, he is a Keeper. Loves the Lord, and anxious to both learn more about Violet, and to do things to please her.

So, by the end of ten days, they had what my Mother used to call an "understanding." His mother asked Violet to visit, so she is going after Christmas.

Suffice it to say, since Violet planned to tell each sibling the "new News", that we had lots of company. Charming was off Tuesday and Wednesday, so FUN was the order of the day. Under those circumstances, schoolwork was pretty much impossible.

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Violet went home yesterday, but I had to cram all of the week's errands into one day. Today (Friday), I am at Forget-me-not's house (it is 6am) because she is scheduled for gall-bladder surgery at 8:30 am. It is very strange to have one of my children going through something without ME in the waiting room. I have even been with both Forget-me-not and Lily at the births of their children. But Blueberry and Oxford will be better off, keeping to their routine. The surgery is supposed to be just an hour long, so hopefully, Rocky and Forget-me-not will be home later today.

So here I am at Friday. Forget-me-not will still need help for a few days, so my need for Routine will have to wait a little longer. Yet, I am grateful that she lives just five minutes away, and we are able to "do Life together." No mommy wants to be far away when one of her babies is goin' through something.

I still have to deal with the fact that, if Violet and Mr. France end up in a Positive Conclusion, that she *may* not end up living five minutes away from me. More likely 4000 miles away.

Sigh.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Charming Has Been Busy!

My darling, Charming, blogged three times yesterday. He's been thinking a lot lately.

Go check him out!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Jumbled Week

Random happenings in my week (in case *anyone* cares?):

Blackeyed Susan took a week off from ballet classes, thinking she might want to quit altogether. At twelve years into her dance education, she has well passed our time-rule of "you have to do it for at least two years before you can quit" that we instituted 'way back with our first Band Student. Five weeks into the dance year, she seemed to dread every class. She has other things in her life she wants to pursue (by high school, many of the ballet girls do nothing else but ballet and school--six days of ballet per week can do that to 'ya). And she said that she was finding it more difficult to finish her schoolwork this year.

So, quitting was fine with me. As the week went on, I didn't hear any Wistful Sighing of things missed. But, Wednesday night, she told me she'd like to go back, at least for a few days, to Reconsider.

Smart girl. She went back last night to pointe class, but will miss tonight because of a promised babysitting job. We'll see how next week goes.

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Driving home from church two weeks ago, my car broke down. Charming's diagnosis, from the white smoke coming from the exhaust and potent gasoline smell, was Blown Head Gasket. ($$$$$$$$$$$$). The good news was, if that was indeed the problem, my '07 was 33,588 miles into a 36,000 mile warranty. But, as we had No Money to fix a car unless it was a warranty issue, we waited until Charming could get together with our wonderful Mechanic Neighbor. He concurred with the diagnosis, so I called the dealership. I now have my car back, after several tries by the service department. Their notes read (paraphrased into my own shorthand):

Head gasket and fuel injector bad. Fixed that, car still misfired. Fixed something else, car still misfiring. Took wheel off, found so-and-so wire melted. Fixed that, installed new computer ($$$$$$$$$$$!!!), finally runs good.

How much did I love that right-hand column of N/C, N/C, N/C's because it was All Covered Under The Warranty!

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Lily talked me into sharing a table at a Craft Bazaar on November 1st. Thing is, most women who do that sort of thing Plan For It for an entire year. I had two months. So far, I have made twenty cute-as-pie aprons, sixteen shopping bags (I'm calling them Eco-Friendly shopping bags so I can charge Big Bucks for them...) and seven purses. Still to come, three more purses, and (hopefully) a number of cutie Christmas smocks for toddlers, like I made for my grandkids last Christmas.

The thing is, my house is suffering big-time. It is not good for me to be un-balanced. This weekend, I need to re-assess, and get things back right-side-up.

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Today is Charming's day off! It may be more of a Sabbath, stay-at-home day, rather than a go-do-stuff day. We didn't set an alarm, and so far, I'm the only one up.

Do you find it difficult to take a Sabbath kind of day, especially during the week? Charming works most Sundays, and, on days he "opens," doesn't even get to church. Yet, on his days off, he feels the need to get things done. We know from practical experience that taking days of rest and reflection are vital. It's just So Hard To Do, you know?