Joy post #2

Here's my joy of the day:
I made a gingerbread house for my bulletin board at school, and we decorated it in class today. We used glue and glitter, pom poms, paper squares, among other things. Also on the board are their individual gingerbread babies. We had read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett---one of my favorite books for Christmastime. I let them cut their own gingerbread babies out of brown construction paper and decorate with markers. I didn't have my digital camera, but I ought to post a picture here---it's pretty amazing! Kinda messy, but looks good enough to eat.

My joy is in the creation! I love making something out of nothing. I love working on group projects with my pre-schoolers, and I love bringing joy to others with our artwork.

Thanksgiving picture post

Here is the "Tailgate Party" taking place in our driveway. The extra girls were daughters of Larry's friend from work. The boys are all cousins. The little one is actually my kids' first cousin once removed. Heehee!
Here he is playing with B's Little People. He is about 18 months old, I think! Yes, he is wearing totally different clothing in these two pictures.





The rest of these were at my parents' house. B and her cousin, E, in the wagon. it was quite warm during the day! Shorts weather.







J talking to S, who apparently has a shoe fetish. It was really funny to watch her walk around in everyone's shoes. The funniest were J's flip flops---nearly impossible, but she was determined!

Here's a good one of S and my dad.




And one of almost all the grand-kids. E was having trouble complying with our wishes for a group picture.

Daily Christmas Joy #1

I heard about this NamBloPoMo challenge for November to post an entry on your blog every day. I heard about it too late, that is! I thought I ought to challenge myself to write a post every day for a month. It could happen! My idea to keep me with something to write about every day is to tell of a daily joy of mine. I was also inspired by this blog, which tells of three good things a day. Positive thinking! I like it! I need to practice it. But this is my favorite time of year, so it ought ot be easy.

I ought to write at the end of the day and tell something that happened, since I thought of two great things to post last night, but I can't remember them now! Sleep clears my mind . . .

Well, I actually do remember one from yesterday. I took my new CD ("A Charlie Brown Christmas") to school to listen to with my class throughout the day. One little boy said, "Hey! That's Charlie Brown" when he heard the "Linus and Lucy" track. Yea for him!! But the joy I got from that little boy's insight is just part of the joy I get when I listen to that music. It's like a cup of hot chocolate for my soul. Mmmm . . .

I also am just joyful that my sattelite Tv station with 24-hour Christmas music is back on now. Really! Any activity can be festive and happy when you are listening to Christmas music. Folding clothes? Putting up the tree? Making dinner? All that is better with music.

And a joy for last night (I knew it would come to me if I started writing!) was that I got three sets of lights de-tangled and up on the Christmas tree. Yea! Now we can put up ornaments, which are strewn about the living room as I speak. B started looking through them after we got the lights and garland on.

So JOY! I wish you joy, even through hard situations. I know joy is out there for me every day if I will just look.

It's a smart thing!

Here's a smart thing I did: since I rearranged furniture for Thanksgiving tables, I vacuumed and then arranged the living room for the Christmas tree to go up. Yea! I'm ready to assemble the tree! Maybe B and I will do it tonight with some hot chocolate and my new Christmas CD: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" featuring the famous PEANUTS characters. That had been on my wishlist since 2004 on Amazon. I know you're not suppposed to buy anything for yourself in the month before Christmas, but I get a wonderful feeling listening to the piano of the Vince Guaraldi trio! It really made my day.

Smart thing #2: I got B's big present today, and I am so glad to have both kids' BIG presents out of the way before December 1.

Tonight is the memorial service for my Uncle John. I didn't go to Memphis after all, but it wasn't because Larry didn't let me. He asked me a couple of times if I was doing what I wanted. I am still not sure I made the right choice, but given all the factors, I did what I did. So I have a sort of longing for Memphis today. My "real" home in a way. My point of origin, and knowing my Mom is there and my Aunt. On the way to school this morning, "Walking in Memphis" came on the radio. And My family of four saw "Happy Feet" while we visited Granbury. The main character's Dad is named Memphis (with an Elvis flair). Strange, all these Memphis reminders.

Thanksgiving picture post coming soon!

Sad Thanksgiving

I am writing my sad family news. My uncle died on Friday in Memphis.

Back in 1980, my mom gave this uncle----her brother----her kidney. It's remarkable, but he has had great health for all these years. Since last month, though, this transplanted kidney has shut down. He has been in and out of the hospital since then, and on dialasis, and my Mom and her sister (in Michigan) have been going back and forth to Memphis. He has been been unable to drive himself, and with no wife or any children, it has fallen on his sisters and friends to take care of him. Mom was talking to Uncle John about re-locating to Granbury (where he had lived before) so he had family to take care of him. He was agreeable.

Wednesday he had surgery, and after thinking he had a blood clot in his abdomen for this month, they decided it was a tumor. Being a transplant recipient, this is not too uncommon, even treatable with radiation and chemo. So Mom called me with this news Thursday morning as I was making my house ready for Larry's family for that Thanksgiving meal. We drove to my parents' Thursday night, and we were having Thanksgiving 2 for Friday lunch.

Early Friday morning, Mom got a call and was told Uncle John was doing badly there at the hospital. He was bleeding somewhere and they didn't know what was going on. Something was bad enough that they had to put tubes down his throat, and Mom got a plane ticket Friday morning to Memphis. Dad had to drive her to the airport (1.5 hours each way), and with the turkey already cooked, my sister and I finished out Thanksgiving dinner for our families for lunch. No Mom, no Dad, boo-hoo. (But my brother-in-law declared I had done well on the dressing, the best ever from my family, he said! not too dry!) Mom arrived in Memphis, and about 5pm or so, we got a call that they had recessitated (spelling?) my uncle, and Mom put a DNR on him. She is a nurse, and could tell after they shocked him back to life that he would never be the same again. We went on with my Dad and all the kids to the Granbury lighted Christmas parade----life goes on, doesn't it? My kids and my niece and nephew are just kids and the fun must go on. Or not? I guess I just stuck to the plan we had made a week ago, with no use in wringing our hands here, two states away. At about 9:20p we got THE call------Uncle John had died about 6:30p. We had been shuttling the kids to the car for the parade, and my Uncle was leaving this world!

Dad is now making arrangements for travel to Memphis, and my Aunt is making her way down South, too. My Mom has her in-laws, my Dad's parents, to stay with while she's there. I'd almost rather be no place else than at Granny's house in times of crisis, so Mom is in good hands.

I paused there to figure out what else to say. I have gone on too long, I guess. I just need a few prayers, a few kind thoughts going my way. A little sympathy for my Thanksgiving weekend gone wrong. I am up by myself: I had falen asleep about 10, but I'm up again. I couldn't sleep until I had purged my brain of all this. I think I ought to go to Memphis, and I think I shouldn't. I wonder what I could have done, should have said, should have written to my Uncle while he was still here.

I think about how it's been a bad year for death in this family-----Great-Aunt Sally (who Uncle John took care of and lived with until her end in March, at age 94), and Larry's 47-year-old brother on April 1st. If I had gone to Memphis for Aunt Sally's funeral (I almost did), I would have been away when Rusty died! I keep thinking about this one picure of me and Uncle John, when I was about 5, sitting in the back yard on the ground in front of the bar-be-cue pit when we still lived in Memphis. Dad is grilling in the background, and Uncle John had his arms around me in a hug, and we're both grinning. I also think about another bad Friday-after-Thanksgiving when I was miscarrying. I'm too awake for this time of night, and the thoughts rush in. I am going to read my novel---At Home in Mitford---to quiet my mind, take me to a gentle place. Maybe then I can sleep!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I am in the midst of Thanksgiving prep. I have the shopping done, and I am hoping I get the turkey thawed in time. I only got an 11 lb. one, and I am thinking it *might* go into my crockpot. I don't think this is a conventional way to cook a turkey, but wouldn't it be pretty delicious if I can make it fit.

I just ordered a Lego advent calendar (amongst other very important presents for Christmas giving). I am so excited. We got the calendar last year and really looked forward to opening the little boxes every day. The picture to the right is the calendar from last year. And I don't remember what was going on exactly in this next picture, but it was January when J set up this display in his room. There sure are a lot of mini-figures there! I can see some of them are Star Wars and some are from the advent calendar, and maybe a Harry Potter figure or two.

What I really excited about is free shipping on my order and getting the "big present" taken care of. Yea!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

UIL Meet Pictures

This is the group from J's school who competed in events. This isn't everyone---all of these are 5th graders except one. I think there were about 35-40 kids who competed. Each student could only pick one event to do.



This is the high school cafeteria, a shot from the second floor. There were 19 elementary schools competing. All of these are in our town----it was a district meet only. It's a bunch of kids, isn't it?

I don't know who took this picture! But that is our J, being dramatic in the cafeteria where everyone waited. They were supposed to dress in their "Sunday clothes" for the meet.


This next one is of J hanging around with other kids from his class at school. I took it with the Zoom and he didn't know it. Heehee!




This picture is Lar with the girl who won 4th place in Number Sense. Larry coached the kids for an hour Friday mornings at school for the last month or so. In this competition, the kids have math problems, and they work as fast as they can. They do not "show their work" at all, and they cannot erase anything! J did not place, but I think he had a good time anyway. The hardest part about these competitions is that you have a bunch of kids together here who are used to being the tops, and still, someone has to lose!





This is B's new coat. It's from Target. She has finally outgrown her "Dalmation coat." Her arms were sticking out too much this year. And, frankly, it looked like a dirty dog sitting there anyway. J on the other hand, is still wanting to wear his coat that he got in 1st grade! I'm happy to not be spending money on that, but I will buy this boy a coat if he needs it. If he's happy with it, though, I am not messing with it.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Christmas, anyone?

Okay, I know there are people out there who do not like to have Christmas too early. I know that Thanksgiving is a big day, to be treasured for the stand-on-its-own holiday that it is. I know. I like Thanksgiving!! But I do like Christmas. I like it more. I am already buying some gifts here and there, and I love it. I LOVE IT!

I wouldn't be writing this post about Christmas except that J and I just watched Elf. It's one of my new holiday favorites. And dovetailing nicely this evening is the TV show Monk, another family favorite, and the episode is a Christmas one. Why is USA network doing this to me? Or should I say for me? Now I am thinking about all the Christmas shows I want to be sure to watch: A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas. None of those are anything new to anyone, I guess. How about A Muppet Family Christmas? Or A Muppet Christmas Carol? The MFC is something I taped off Nickelodeon when J was a baby, and it's a VCR tape I can't get rid of, and we can't go a Christmas season without watching it. I ought ot look for that one on DVD! I just read the Wiki article I linked to---sounds like the DVD won't have as many songs on it as the taped TV version I have. Plus, I have some funny comercials on that tape! The kids and I also always watch Fay's 12 days of Christmas. This video stars the William Wegman Weimeramer (spelling?) dogs. It is totally funny.

Now is the time to fill in the blanks:
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't ___________.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't make or eat____________.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't go do _____________.

Answer these for yourself before it gets too late! I will be putting it on paper and brainstorming with the kids. Maybe I'll share these later.

Today was the UIL event that J competed in, in Number Sense. He did not place, but one of his classmates was 4th place, and it was her personal best score. We have some funny pictures J took of his class mates, so I will post about that later!

Old Sames

I finished my book yesterday as I was waiting on my doctor to get back from delivering a baby. If I was having to get back to my job or was worried about where my kids were while I had to wait an extra hour, I would have been miffed! But I saw it as an opportunity to get some reading done. Rarely do I spend a whole hour just reading, but it makes the process more enjoyable! I got to read the most exciting part of the book all in one sitting.

This was the end of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It's about Lily and her "old same," Snow Flower, and how their lives are intertwined in China in the mid-1800s. The "old sames" are linked together in childhood as a sort of official BFF---best friends forever. They will likely be more loving towards each other than any other relationship in their whole lives. Thier parents are raising them for the future groom's family----and often parents try to disconnect from the daughters because of this. The husbands are arranged for them, and it isn't about love or attraction, but about making a beneficial match for both parties. So the "old sames" are support for each other through their foot binding, marriages, childbirth, miscarriages, difficulties with the mothers-in-law, and in death. There is also a "sworn sisterhood" that can develop in childhood, but dissolves when they're married. Another time for the "sworn sisterhood" can come after marriage with a different set of women. Since the girls were married out to another village, they would leave all they knew and be at the bottom of the ladder in the house with the in-laws until she started producing sons (who would stay with the parents , working the family business, and would in turn would bring in their wives, to produce more sons for the family, etc.).

I did make me think about how very fortunate I am to be living where and when I am. I do not endure beatings by my parents or by my husband or his family. I did not get tucked away in an upstairs room with a bunch of ofther women trying to one-up each other with the mother-in-law. I did not have to endure harsh living conditions with high expectations of behaviors, very much dictated to me by society. I did not have to put aside my love for my daughter just because of her gender.

But there was something to be admired about the system and the bond the women felt for each other. The support they could give to each other, and this secret written language, rich with stories, songs, and poems. I hope that I can cultivate this kind of relationship more and more. There are just some things that are between women, that only women can support other women in. An attitude of "oh, I've been there!" and advice.

I did like this book a lot. There was a lot of death---which I suppose was part of life back then. That made for some sad parts. I was surprised by some of the twists in the plot, and I love that. I was disappointed in the main character at times, and in her "old same." They didn't always do the thing that would have been best. But isn't that true to life?

So, do you have an "old same" or a "sworn sisterhood" in your life? I am pondering this topic for a few days myself.

Things are coming together . . .

I should be getting on to work, but here are some new developments around the Adams's household:

• I will be taking my "final" test for my CDA credential on December 8th. Tammy, Penny and maybe Patricia will be doing it, too. Gotta wrap up those papers in my Resource File! This is a credential that means I am an expert in Early Childhood, the preschool years, and mine specifically is ages 3-5.
• B and J got their report cards, and B's lowest grade was a 97. woo-hoo! Her spelling is just as good in Spanish as it is in English, which is a 100 almost every Friday. And she is no slouch in Math, either. J is staying on that A-B Honor Roll, which I think is wonderful and truly he is *mostly* doing his best. :-) His comprehension in Spanish is not as good in English, so it's a tougher row to hoe for him in 5th grade.
• It looks like we will be going to Junior high next year at the school that houses both Dual Language (maybe Histories and Math conducted in Spanish) and (thank goodness) GT kids. I am thrilled that they are helping our kids stay bilingual throughout their school time. We got to hear from the Assisstant Superintendant herself last night at our DL Parents meeting. Everything is still "maybe" but she had a good feel for what is happening and developing. There are some amazing possibilities for our children here, and with their biligualism, doors will be open to them if they choose to take them! It is very exciting but a little scary, too. But they are God's children, and he has a plan for them. I am so excited about how their opportunities now will help them be a part of God's plan later in life.
• My Uncle John is still not doing great, but he is at home again. My Mom is supposed to go to Memphis again. She might be there already! I am not keeping up. But news with her is that she defended her paper for her Master's degree, and she is on her way to graduation in December. Yea!

Our Weekend

We once again had a full weekend. Both kids had Scout fundraiser food products pick-up! J was getting his Boy Scout Popcorn, B was getting her Girl Scout cans of nuts. J is almost done delivering, which is great! Yea! There's a problem delivering B's though---we lost her order form sheet, so I ordered more than I think she ordered, and are having to go back and guess and ask again, and whatever leftovers we have---Merry Christmas! For us I ordered one of each thing. The only real snag is the neighborhood sales---Lar took her around, and I have no idea who bought and who didn't. We didn't take up much money ahead of time, and the money isn't lost! So if you want some nuts from our Girl Scout, they are just $5 a can . . .

Saturday was also Lar's last workday at Kyle Field for the season. I think he has enjoyed his "free ride" into Kyle Field. His supervisor told him he was standing in the most difficult to manage spot---right on the track, at the corner where the visiting band sits and the visiting team comes into the field. I think we saw him on tv for an instant this week, during a touchdown by our quarterback. His supervisor also said he can have that spot to work for as long as he wants it. I think at this point, Lar would say he'd do it again. Payday will be December 8th . . . we're waiting!

With all the activities Saturday morning, I had to meet J and Lar in the parking lot where Lar parks for the shuttle to Kyle. It's a lot near the Geo. Bush Library. J hopped into my car, and Lar walked to the shuttle stop about 11:15 (the game was at 2:30---the ushers have to be there 2 and a half hours before the game---it's early!). As we came in front of the library, J and I saw a l--o--n--g limo parked out front. A Suburban limo. I told J, "Hey! I bet the former president is coming to the game or something." And as we got closer, I realized he was standing right there on the sidewalk! J is impressed and so am I that we were so close to famousness.

Speaking of that, my Mom was in Chicago and was in the hotel with Barak Obama and Mayor Dayley coming to a fancy dinner or something. Mom was not there for the dinner, but was in town for a Heart Association conference. (I hope I am getting that right.) There! A report about a Republican sighting and a Democrat sighting as well. Balanced---that's what strive to be.

B also had two fun events this weekend. Saturday morning B got to visit the local Animal Shelter with her Brownie troop. She was working on a "Sharing and Caring" patch, and part of it was donating some supplies to the shelter. They got to pet some cats and dogs, and there were even rats there! B said they let the rats climb on their shoulders! Yikes! I only got to see the cats and then the end picnic they had at the school where they meet. The other part of her morning was planting flowers at the school, but she got stung by a bee and didn't plant! She was fine when I picked her up.

Sunday afternoon, B had a "girls-only" party to go to. No 2nd-grade boy would ever even want to be in the room with ths party going on, I would guess! B was invited to go to My Party Palace. It is near Barnes and Noble, for my local readers! I had never been there, but it is a party room decorated for girls, with all the dress-up clothes, jewelry and music they like. They got to wear makeup, fingernail polish, and at the end, got to take home their own "Diva Dust." The part I liked the best was the girls' fashion show. Each one got to walk on the catwalk and strike a pose as the lady running the show read off their names, favorite foods, ages and where they like to shop. It was cute. And me without a camera!! Ug! B chose a little white gown that looked like a mini-bride's dress. I'd like to know how expensive that party was, before she gets too big for something like that . . .

Now we're off to the races again----J has a TROUPE class tonight.

Connections

I read Jane Eyre this summer. Jane falls for a much older man, a man that really seems out of reach for her because of social class. I recently read Memiors of a Geisha and in it the main character falls for a much older man (when she's a young teen), a man who seems out of reach to her because of the nature of her being a geisha. How did I pick two books so close in plot? The endings are similar, but sort of unreally ideal in Jane Eyre and sad in Memoirs.

I just started a book about China in the 1800s, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I picked it right after finishing Memoirs. It seems like a similar book, in that it's an Asian story, so that's another connection. The main character is Lily, who in this second chapter I am reading, is about to have her feet bound at age 8. Did you know that the ideal foot was 7 centimeters long? Is that possible? The book I just finished is The Secret Life of Bees. The main character was Lily. How did I do that?

These three latest books I read are all about women. The "secret lives of women" in a way. In Geisha, they are living in an all-woman abode. Their job is to entertain men and there's so many rules about that. In Bees, Lily runs away from the bad man and cloisters herself away in an all-woman home. The women save her, nurture her. In contrast, in Geisha, Sayuri is "saved" by a man, as is Jane in Jane Eyre. And now, so far in this Snow Flower book, it hints that as she enters the adult world, she'll be relagated to the upstairs rooms of women for most of her life, not being able to even enjoy a run because of the foot binding! And there's secrets, too---a secret written language for women only. I am not sure if I should so soon be reading another woman-centric book! But I am enjoying this book, and look forward to learning more about this foot-binding culture. And that secret language.

I have always enjoyed books where I could identify with the main character---I remember thinking I liked books told in the first person better when I was a kid. So a woman main character is great with me. I like books about women, strong women, women overcoming obstacles and hardship and in the end triumphing. But after Bees, I am thinking enough with the women books! It was too much of "the feminine devine." Maybe it was the weird, non-biblical, make-your-own religion ideas that really bothered me about that book. Or maybe too idealistic or too many "coincidences" to seem plausible. On the other hand, I do believe that when God's hand is involved, there are no coincidences. But would God lead a young teen to a house where He's not worshipped, but Mary is worshipped?

I also have always enjoyed books about the South, which I identify with again. So in that respect, I did like Bees. That's why I liked Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. Here we go again with the secrets!! That's again women taking care of women.

I hope I can come into a phase of life where I am well-read. I am finding time to read (in the middle of the night or the car-riders line at the kids' schools), but I have so many books out there, I don't even know where to go next. But my next choice needs to be something completely different!

Halloween leftovers

Here are more Halloween pictures. Pic 1----my neice S. She also went with two costumes this season, like B did. Ballet at a party one night . . .








And a lioness for Halloween proper.
















My nephew is also dressed for halloween in a pirate costume---Arrrr! Pirates are held near and dear in my sister's and my heart because of our high school mascot. Why hide your eyes, E? This is year two for pirate costumes over there, with a pirate birthday party in between.



No costume parade is complete without dogs in costume. So here is the beloved Max, all the way from my aunt's house in Memphis. They are amazed he hasn't bitten anyone or maybe used "dark side" Sith powers to get the costume off of him. May the force be with Max!


I enjoyed this blog about possibly the last Halloween for a almost teen boy. I know I am almost there. And this one struck my fancy this week, too---scroll down to November 2nd (because I do not know hown to link to the one post). Can you tell the difference between rock band names and prescription drug names? I sure didn't do well! And I have to link you to this blog about free hugs. It was inspiring in a way, although "physical touch" isn't my favorite way of showing love!

I was up at 2:02 am (dogs), 2:30 am (dogs), 3:30 am (dogs), 4:00 am (Larry taking a friend to the airport), 5:00am (Larry getting back), and 6:30am (time to get the kids out the door). Needless to say, I am tired today. But being a morning person, I am go-go-go this morning, and I will crash this afternoon. I have children big enough that I can even nap while theya re in the house (watching TV and eating their Halloween candy unsupervised). Fortunately, they love to get each other in trouble, so B will tattle everything to me about how much candy J ate while I was asleep. Or maybe I'll instead just go to sleep tonight about 8:00! Very possible I will fall asleep before the kids.

I am keeping up with my Bible study---about 4 times a week, it seems. The goal is to get to doing it daily, but I am sitting here reading blogs and writing blogs too much!!

This week in pictures . . .

Monday: J's birthday.
I made a dinner of shrimp, steamed veggies, and grapes for dinner, and for dessert, we ate German Chocolate cake (it was a cake I owed Larry for his birthday!) and J's choice of pumpkin pie.







Tuesday: Halloween
Here are our 3 pumkins. I carved two of them, and one is an extra from my workplace. B designed the one on the right. It has ears, in the style of my Dad's pumkins of ages ago.


The next picture is of my little trick-or treat display. I wanted to create an ambiance!





And lastly, the kids right before they went out. J compromised his idea of a mental patient and instead getting a Halloween lantern that made creepy sounds and lit up in a cool way. Costume pieces were things we already had---Batman's cape! B changed her mind about the rock star costume at the very last minute. So, here she is in a princess costume we already had.

An Educational Halloween

I am a weird Mom. I can't remember when this started, but we have a Halloween tradition of graphing our candy when they get home from Trick-or-Treating. I wasn't even thinking about it thei year, but J got some paper as soon as he got home, and started sorting the candy by type. His graph is here first. The kind of candy he got the most of was Tootsie Rolls---which included the TR pops also. Looks like Dum Dums (suckers, too!) were his second place.

B had help from me to do her graph. She still had a pad of graph paper to work with---it's a little neater! She had three that were close at the top---Sweetarts (we were giving those out), suckers and Tootsie Rolls. The kids even compared how their take was the same and different.

There was a noticable absence of chocolate candy in our neighborhood this year. I only bought one bag of Crunch Candybars myself, along with a BIG bag of Sweetarts/Bit-o-Honey/Sprees, Tootsie Roll Pops, and Nerds. I totally bought all of my favorites this year. The kids didn't get to pick any! Now that all this is over, if I can find some Reese's for Larry, I'll buy some today.

So, add a little Math into your day! If you still have a bucket of candy, you, too, can make your own Halloween graph! I am so glad that both my kids feel like they are good at math. Here's one reason thay are.

Costume pictures coming later!

Doll

This is a "doll" that B made this afternoon. We saw the doll on Miranda's blog, and B had to make one, of course.

I will have a Halloween wrap-up blog very soon. We had a good Halloween evening.

I have a weird head cold, I think. I could see it turning ugly really soon---with a sinus infection or something. I am SO stopped up. Medicated, I feel much better and am functioning well.

I was working for one day a week for four weeks with an Aggie who is observing my pre-school for a college class. This was her last week, and I found out that her hometown is Granbury! Her mother worked at Sonshine Place, a day care that one of my friend's parents owned.