Last night was my last class with the adult Confirmation group. I will love having my Tuesday nights with my family, and my Mondays and Tuesdays free of planning for the class, but I will deeply miss the people in the class. Trying to teach something makes you really look at it. Trying to teach your faith is mind-boggling, but ultimately brings the teacher closer to God. One person asked, "Now what do we do? Where do we find other places to do what we did here?" Good question. My church has loads of volunteer opportunities and even 2 Bible Study groups, an English and a Spanish prayer group, but they are all rather large groups. (My church has 3000+ registered families). Our class was a small, intimate group that basically went through the creed and discussed topics. There was lots of faith-sharing and a real community feel. It's hard to get that in larger groups. So I've gained more time but also have to say good-bye to a great class.
Tomorrow is my niece's birthday. Lauren will be 18!! That is simply a difficult idea to get my little brain around. Such a lady now. My memories of Lauren include her and the Singer having so much fun together. She's always been a role-model for the Singer who is a year younger. It's really hard for me to comprehend that she is heading off to college (the college-of-knowledge, a.k.a. William and Mary)in a few short months. That also means the Singer isn't far behind! ACK! I'm not ready for this.
A local story gives me hope for the future our country. This man 'did the right thing' (see earlier blog). This incident happened close by and has been in the news off and on since the accident. The man appears to be striving to live his life as best as he can. I admire him greatly, and pray for his future. What a lucky kid to have him as a dad. That the community recognizes his courageous behavior is also encouraging.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Costumes
The Imp's school is putting on "Beauty and the Beast." While she is still a little disappointed that she did not get the role of Belle, she is happy 3 of her good friends were cast as "Silly Girls" with her. Fawning over Gaston is not something that comes naturally to her. And at 13, even pretending to be infatuated with someone can have social ramifications. I'm so glad I'm not 13!
I have been volunteered to help with the costumes. I spent yesterday afternoon at play practice, discussing possibilities with the directors. The entire school (K-8) population has some role in the play. So the 3rd grade girls are all napkins, the boys cups. The 1st graders are all various silverware. So when we plan for the costume we have to consider that we have to make (or create) 30 or so of each costume. The "big" costumes (Beast, Cogsworth, etc) are being rented from a local costume shop...we know when to cut our loses. So we designed the plates, napkins, feather-dusters, silverware, cups and trays. The napkins costume consists of a simple skirt with a large "V" hem. Now my seamstresses are waiting for the measurements of the little girls so we can begin sewing. The feather dusters are also simple elastic-waisted skirts with a boa around the bottom edge. Not difficult, but we're already talking 60 or so skirts to be sewed. Good thing we have moms who like to sew! The production isn't until the end of March. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get them. This is actually loads of fun!
Two years ago, my mom got me a gift subscription to a cooking magazine, "Simple and Delicious."
It is a wonderful magazine. I've found loads of great, easy recipes. Every summer, I require the girls to be responsible for one meal each week (and they have to try new recipes). Their schedules are just too hectic to try to do this routinely during the school year. [When they find a recipe they like, they copy it onto a recipe card for their own recipe box, so when they leave home, they'll have a full set of recipes that they have already made and know they like.] Both girls have gotten a number of their experiments from this magazine. Yesterday, I tried a new recipe from the magazine: Switch-and-Go Ribs. 5 ingredients (1 1/2 pounds boneless pork ribs, vegetable oil, 1/3 cup orange marmalade, 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce and 1 tsp minced garlic). Brown the meat in the vegetable oil, then throw the all the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot for 6-8 hours on low. Simple, easy and absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it! Crock pot dinners are great on Tuesdays because our schedules are such that we often eat in shifts. Leave the crock pot on, and people can eat when they can.
I have been volunteered to help with the costumes. I spent yesterday afternoon at play practice, discussing possibilities with the directors. The entire school (K-8) population has some role in the play. So the 3rd grade girls are all napkins, the boys cups. The 1st graders are all various silverware. So when we plan for the costume we have to consider that we have to make (or create) 30 or so of each costume. The "big" costumes (Beast, Cogsworth, etc) are being rented from a local costume shop...we know when to cut our loses. So we designed the plates, napkins, feather-dusters, silverware, cups and trays. The napkins costume consists of a simple skirt with a large "V" hem. Now my seamstresses are waiting for the measurements of the little girls so we can begin sewing. The feather dusters are also simple elastic-waisted skirts with a boa around the bottom edge. Not difficult, but we're already talking 60 or so skirts to be sewed. Good thing we have moms who like to sew! The production isn't until the end of March. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get them. This is actually loads of fun!
Two years ago, my mom got me a gift subscription to a cooking magazine, "Simple and Delicious."
It is a wonderful magazine. I've found loads of great, easy recipes. Every summer, I require the girls to be responsible for one meal each week (and they have to try new recipes). Their schedules are just too hectic to try to do this routinely during the school year. [When they find a recipe they like, they copy it onto a recipe card for their own recipe box, so when they leave home, they'll have a full set of recipes that they have already made and know they like.] Both girls have gotten a number of their experiments from this magazine. Yesterday, I tried a new recipe from the magazine: Switch-and-Go Ribs. 5 ingredients (1 1/2 pounds boneless pork ribs, vegetable oil, 1/3 cup orange marmalade, 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce and 1 tsp minced garlic). Brown the meat in the vegetable oil, then throw the all the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot for 6-8 hours on low. Simple, easy and absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it! Crock pot dinners are great on Tuesdays because our schedules are such that we often eat in shifts. Leave the crock pot on, and people can eat when they can.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
These Towels Stink
Late Friday night as we began our typical weekend laundry-fest, we discovered our clothes dryer was not working properly; that is, it wasn't drying the clothes. So Saturday morning while Hubby worked on getting the dryer repaired, I hung the towels outside to dry. Hubby had to work way too hard to get a Sears serviceman out here. I think he spent about an hour total on the phone, talking to multiple supervisors, before a service-call to our house was set up. The problem began when Hubby used the automated service-request system set up on the Sears phone line. At the end of the call, Hubby was told someone would be at our house between 1-4 pm. Not 30 minutes later, we get a call telling us, that "we sorry but no one can make it out today." (okay, not my preference, but Monday will still be okay). "We'll have someone out on Thursday, would 8-12 or 12-4 be better for you?" Huh? How did we get from Saturday to Thursday? So Hubby called to register a formal complaint about Sears not keeping its word. He never raised his voice, was calm, but let them know he wasn't happy, at all. The funny thing, Hubby is so laid-back that had the original automated system told him Thursday he would have swallowed and taken it. It was the change that really got under his skin. At 4:30 pm yesterday we had a very pleasant serviceman fixing the heating element on our dryer. I will add that I'm personally disappointed in this dryer. It is a mere 18 months old and we probably run 5-6 loads a week. Not that much really. And it's already broken? We expect more from a Kenmore. We'll see how long this heating element lasts.
Yesterday afternoon, I bring the fresh, air-dried towels in from out back and ask the Imp to fold them. She picks up the first one and exclaims, "This is really rough and scratchy, and it STINKS!" "Stinks? You've got to be kidding. It smells like outside fresh air." "Well, it doesn't smell like it does when it comes out of the dryer and it's not soft either." The Imp would never survive "roughing it" in any way. Hubby and I laughed at her all afternoon. The idea that people used to dry all their clothes outside really blew her away. But she's glad that the dryer is working well today, drying all her clothes so they smell good and feel soft.
A good friend of ours recently got a job doing talk radio on the Catholic Channel (159) on Sirius radio. There's a great article about him, and an audio clip as well. He used to do the local morning show and our girls grew up listening to Gus Lloyd and we miss him getting us to work/school each morning. We don't have Sirius radio, but are definitely thinking about it. If you have it, I recommend listening to Gus. He is, as stated in the article, a genuine sincere "guy next door" person. He's got a quick wit and is enjoyable to spend time with (on the radio, or in person). Hubby and I are blessed to be in a couple's prayer group with him.
Yesterday afternoon, I bring the fresh, air-dried towels in from out back and ask the Imp to fold them. She picks up the first one and exclaims, "This is really rough and scratchy, and it STINKS!" "Stinks? You've got to be kidding. It smells like outside fresh air." "Well, it doesn't smell like it does when it comes out of the dryer and it's not soft either." The Imp would never survive "roughing it" in any way. Hubby and I laughed at her all afternoon. The idea that people used to dry all their clothes outside really blew her away. But she's glad that the dryer is working well today, drying all her clothes so they smell good and feel soft.
A good friend of ours recently got a job doing talk radio on the Catholic Channel (159) on Sirius radio. There's a great article about him, and an audio clip as well. He used to do the local morning show and our girls grew up listening to Gus Lloyd and we miss him getting us to work/school each morning. We don't have Sirius radio, but are definitely thinking about it. If you have it, I recommend listening to Gus. He is, as stated in the article, a genuine sincere "guy next door" person. He's got a quick wit and is enjoyable to spend time with (on the radio, or in person). Hubby and I are blessed to be in a couple's prayer group with him.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Materialism
Cindy's blog led me to read the story, "Digging Out of Debt." I am constantly amazed at how many people feel entitled to luxuries. The quote from the article that really struck me as indicative of so many people's philosophies was made by Suzie Peterson, the mother in the family, "Suzie, however, has no regrets. She saw the vacations as a way to bond with her daughters. 'The cruise was my gift to my family.'" Huh? You need a cruise to bond with your daughters? I bond with my daughters as we do the dishes or wash the car or play board games or over the dinner table. This family of 5 (parents plus 3 children) say they can't live on their MONTHLY income of $8,750. Yes, that was monthly income of $8,750. The whole article was mind-boggling. Recently on some talk-show (I think Oprah) there were families in which the parents complained that their kids were spoiled. Again, HUH? The parents complained the kids were spoiled. Um...isn't that the parents job? To make sure the kids aren't spoiled? After much discussion, the parents said they hated saying "No" to their children. They didn't really like conflict, so they gave in to the demands of their children (some of whom were only 10 years old). The parents whined that they had to give in because the kids would beg and beg and the parents just couldn't take it and had to give in! I sometimes feel like I live in an alternate reality than these people. I taught my children not to beg when they were 2! They both tried the ploy a few times growing up (usually after going to a house of a friend who begged and got what they wanted). In my house we have the "Two Time Rule." This saved us from much aggravation. You can only sing a song 2 times in a row. You can only repeat a statement 2 times. You can only watch the Barney video 2 times in one day. So...asking for the same thing more than 2 times breaks that rule. Consequences are varied but often include the removal of the very thing being asked for. "Can I have ice cream?" "No." "Oh, please.... Can't I have some ice cream?" "No." "Mom....I want some ice cream." Not only do you not get ice cream, but there are no treats (desserts, whatever you want to call them) for a week. As they got older, a simple "Are you sure you want to ask about that again?" from me usually gets the response, "That's okay." They had clothes taken away, toys confiscated, TV time eliminated. Would it be 'more fun' if I could always say "Yes"? Of course, but parenting is a responsibility, not something you do for fun. There are moments of great joy and fun, but that is not the goal.
The biggest problem I see from all this materialism, is that these people are so empty even with all they have. Nothing is ever enough. This is where faith comes in. With faith, you look to God to fill you up, not things. You search out the simple things because they tend to keep you connected with God. How sad, that so many children are being raised with the idea that if only you have ______________(fill in the blank with whatever) you will be happy (successful, fulfilled, etc). No. Nothing outside of God can do that.
Do I get caught up in materialism? Of course. I've been struggling with this lately. I'm going to a surprise birthday party in February. It's friends we haven't gotten together with in a long time. I want to look good. I've been trying to figure out what to wear, and the idea of buying a new outfit has been crossing my mind. She's an interior designer and dresses accordingly. But, these are my friends, and my slacks and top that are a little old will be just fine. Sure beats living in debt! The party's not until February. I still have 3 weeks to wrestle with the temptation of buying a new outfit. Having read the story of the Peterson's, I think I'll be able to resist.
The biggest problem I see from all this materialism, is that these people are so empty even with all they have. Nothing is ever enough. This is where faith comes in. With faith, you look to God to fill you up, not things. You search out the simple things because they tend to keep you connected with God. How sad, that so many children are being raised with the idea that if only you have ______________(fill in the blank with whatever) you will be happy (successful, fulfilled, etc). No. Nothing outside of God can do that.
Do I get caught up in materialism? Of course. I've been struggling with this lately. I'm going to a surprise birthday party in February. It's friends we haven't gotten together with in a long time. I want to look good. I've been trying to figure out what to wear, and the idea of buying a new outfit has been crossing my mind. She's an interior designer and dresses accordingly. But, these are my friends, and my slacks and top that are a little old will be just fine. Sure beats living in debt! The party's not until February. I still have 3 weeks to wrestle with the temptation of buying a new outfit. Having read the story of the Peterson's, I think I'll be able to resist.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Physics
The Singer and her 3 teammates met here at the house today to begin their physics project. The have to create "Mouse Trap" (for those old enough to remember the game)type contraption that has at least 10 "functions." I listened to tennis ball-launcher, flag raising, dominoes, marbles, popped balloons, etc. all afternoon. I don't remember doing neat kinds of projects like this. I'll take a picture of the final project (due in March). Most of the meetings will be at our house so I'll get to watch it grow.
Weekends and work
Hubby's birthday weekend was very relaxing until...10:30 last night work called and he had to go into work to solve a production problem. He arrived home at 2 this morning and was back at work by 8 am. The job is wearing on him. He's on-call the 1st thru the 10th of every month. But with a recent resignation, he's really on-call all the time. He's not too pleased.
But back to the nice weekend. The Singer woke up early Saturday morning to run to Dunkin' Donuts to get Hubby donuts (chocolate coconut) and coffee. It was waiting for him when he got up. He was very impressed and so glad the Singer has her driver's license. I gave him lounge pants made from Buccaneer material. He loves coming home and putting on comfy clothes and putting work behind him. He'll enjoy these pants for a long time. The Imp got him salad dressing from the pizza parlor we went to for dinner. It really is very good dressing.
The weather is back to being down-right hot. Ugh. A "cold front" should be coming through tomorrow night then our highs will only be in the low 70's and lows in the upper 50's. Yesterday was gorgeous and sitting outside by the pool was a must.
We finally got our house put back together after taking the Christmas tree down and packing away the decorations. We've re-arranged our family room and that always makes me happy. After moving 13 times before heading off to college, I have a need to re-arrange furniture or I get antsy.
With the warm weather comes allergies. I'm sneezing and trying to see through watery eyes and am fighting the sinus headache constantly, and my nose is dripping. Yuk. I try hard not to just pop pills, so the hot water bottle and heating pads have become my constant companions. Coffee is a must in the morning, too. (Is coffee a liquid pill?) The cars have a nice coat of pollen on them. And it's not even oak season yet. Oak season has that nice yellow thick pollen that is everywhere. My girls are very allergic to oak. Right now Cedar and Juniper are the trees in bloom.
Sorry to see the Pats progressing to the next level of the playoffs. I'm really hoping Dungy's Colts put a halt on that next weekend. This household supports Dungy all the way. He did a lot of great things for the Tampa team and for the area. He's a class act. We were sorry to see him go and have 'adopted' the Colts (unless they're playing the Bucs).
Spring training will begin soon. Hoping the Devil Rays get some pitchers.
But back to the nice weekend. The Singer woke up early Saturday morning to run to Dunkin' Donuts to get Hubby donuts (chocolate coconut) and coffee. It was waiting for him when he got up. He was very impressed and so glad the Singer has her driver's license. I gave him lounge pants made from Buccaneer material. He loves coming home and putting on comfy clothes and putting work behind him. He'll enjoy these pants for a long time. The Imp got him salad dressing from the pizza parlor we went to for dinner. It really is very good dressing.
The weather is back to being down-right hot. Ugh. A "cold front" should be coming through tomorrow night then our highs will only be in the low 70's and lows in the upper 50's. Yesterday was gorgeous and sitting outside by the pool was a must.
We finally got our house put back together after taking the Christmas tree down and packing away the decorations. We've re-arranged our family room and that always makes me happy. After moving 13 times before heading off to college, I have a need to re-arrange furniture or I get antsy.
With the warm weather comes allergies. I'm sneezing and trying to see through watery eyes and am fighting the sinus headache constantly, and my nose is dripping. Yuk. I try hard not to just pop pills, so the hot water bottle and heating pads have become my constant companions. Coffee is a must in the morning, too. (Is coffee a liquid pill?) The cars have a nice coat of pollen on them. And it's not even oak season yet. Oak season has that nice yellow thick pollen that is everywhere. My girls are very allergic to oak. Right now Cedar and Juniper are the trees in bloom.
Sorry to see the Pats progressing to the next level of the playoffs. I'm really hoping Dungy's Colts put a halt on that next weekend. This household supports Dungy all the way. He did a lot of great things for the Tampa team and for the area. He's a class act. We were sorry to see him go and have 'adopted' the Colts (unless they're playing the Bucs).
Spring training will begin soon. Hoping the Devil Rays get some pitchers.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Don't Know Why I Worry
I don't know why I fret so much about stuff. I truly believe that God is watching out for me and that I'm as happy and content as I decide I'll be. With some financial set-backs in the recent past, I began fretting over our future. "What if..." and "What about..." Once again, things have fallen into place. I will get to continue my consulting work as an moderator for online classes, and I got a phone call today 1) asking for me to conduct an additional workshop for a group I've done workshops for before and 2) asking if they could give my name to another group that was looking for someone to conduct a workshop for them. Somehow it all works out. Always has. I don't mean to sound Pollyanna and I don't believe God rewards us with financial gain. I believe that when we turn to God, suddenly we see all the opportunities and goodness out there instead of seeing all the pitfalls and misery. Guess I'm seeing that glass half-full right now. And even if it's only filled a quarter of the way...it's something. It's all in attitude not circumstances.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Insured Home
While the saga of home insurance continues, as we try to get restitution for a delinquent payment by our mortgage company, we do have our house insured with another company. Miraculously, there is one company that is writing policies in our neighborhood. Looking on the bright side, the cost is less than if we had to go with Citizen's Insurance (the state-run program). Looking at the mounting bills, it is about 1 1/2 times as much as we would have paid had our mortgage company paid the appropriate amount. No use crying of spilt milk, but it may take me a few days to digest this reality in our budget. As to my ability to work, I will be able to work this Spring (Feb-May)session but still have hours of work to get my paperwork to a point where the auditors are happy. Ugh! The worst part of this fiasco is I could have prevented it had I used better foresight. When leaving the classroom, I renewed my certificate. To get the proper endorsement added to my regular certificate required extra money, although I had the courses required for this endorsement. Not seeing what my future would hold, I saved the 30 bucks and didn't get the endorsement written on my certificate. Oh, those 30 dollars is looking very silly at this point in time! The Singer is still dragging her behind after working as a peer minister at a retreat this weekend. She absolutely LOVES going up to the retreat center and helping out. She gets to sing, act and dance (all in God's name). Life doesn't get much better for her. She'd go every weekend if we'd let her, but she gets little sleep and the retreat lasts from Friday night until Sunday at noon. Doesn't give her much time for anything else on the weekend. The Imp begins play practice. She is not too thrilled with the casting. The role of Belle went to her rival in almost all things at school, and she was cast as a "Silly Girl," one of the girls who follow Gaston around and swoon over him. I told her, she'd definitely have to act to carry that off. She wasn't amused. She'll have fun once practice begins as 2 of her good friends are also "Silly Girls." Hubby's birthday is coming up and I'm still trying to finish his gift. Saturday will head out for pizza at a local pizza parlor and then Sunday we'll have his cousin over and eat cake and ice cream. I'm working on my crocheting. It's finally got cold enough to work with yarn. I enjoy doing things with my hands. It helps me not eat while watching TV and frankly most TV isn't engrossing enough to have me give it my undivided attention.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Happy New Year?
A week into the new year and I'm not real thrilled with 2007. Friday we received a notice in the mail that our home insurance had been cancelled. Cancelled? Huh? What? Our mortgage company is suppose to pay the insurance. What happened? Well, if you live in Florida, home insurance is a crap shoot from the get-go. Many companies don't write home insurance in Florida, claiming the threat of hurricanes makes it financially unwise for them to do so, (insurance companies have seen bigger profits the last 5 years than ever...even with Katrina and 2004 year of 4 hurricanes to hit Florida). But I digress. Apparently (we figured this out after 6 phone calls and much time on hold on a Friday afternoon), our mortgage company underpaid our 2006 insurance by $30.12. So, our insurance company cancelled our policy, even though our mortgage company had already paid our $1000+ insurance for 2007. Go figure. Desperate to have some coverage (sure that lightning would strike our house over the weekend and us without any insurance), we traipsed to AAA on Saturday morning. Apparently, some insurance companies are setting homeowners up for such short-falls and therefore have a "valid" reason to cancel the insurance. If a company cancels too many policies without valid reasons, they can lose their ability to write other types of insurance in Florida. Our former insurance company is not writing new policies in Florida, therefore we can not simply get new insurance. In fact, no company is writing insurance for our neighborhood (much of which is a flood zone...even though no hurricane or major flooding has occurred in the 11 years I've lived here.). Our only option, Citizen's Insurance. Citizen's Insurance is a state-run, last resort insurance option for people like us, who can't get insured. It is typically much more than a private company's (to prevent a competitive nature...the state doesn't want to take business from private companies, just provide insurance when nothing else is available.) In our case, our insurance would more than double. What a head-ache. And they wonder why growth in Florida has slowed drastically? We are hoping to get this resolved and have our former insurance company re-instate us, especially since it was our mortgage company that 'messed up.' I'm sure this won't go away quickly. Prayers for a resolution (and no fires or floods) are appreciated.
Of course, troubles rarely come in single instances. I also found out Friday that I may not be able to continue working as a moderator for on-line courses. Even though I've done much work for these courses beyond simply moderating (editing, suggesting revisions, creating moderator documents to streamline the entire process). Apparently, I don't have the correct credentials, or more aptly, I don't have my credentials accurately portrayed on my teaching certificate. With our financial challenges, even losing one "session" (Spring, Summer, Fall are the sessions) could make life more stressful. Again, I'm hoping for some resolution but as I'm no longer in the county system because I don't teach in a county school and as the State Department of Education doesn't like to work with individuals, but with district personnel, it could take a while. Again, prayers are appreciated.
And finally, even though this does not affect me directly, it has me upset. Very good friends of ours, married for about 18 years, are speaking of divorce. It tears me up. Partly because I don't believe that divorce is the answer, but instead that they are in a spirally situation and do not have the resources to step back and regroup. The daily 'grind' of kids, family, and jobs create so much pressure the energy left to devote to the problems of the relationship is almost nil. They the wife may give it some work this week, but hubby doesn't see it, so wife thinks, "Why bother?" then hubby tries and wife doesn't react the way he envisioned. And the cycle of destruction continues. I believe they each care deeply for the other and in different circumstances they'd have made it. I guess, I just wish for everyone the marriage we have. I do, in fact, have the very best husband in the world. Marriage is work and I do get upset with him and yell and sometimes even wonder where is this relationship going? But I'd say, as a rule, we both approach our disagreements with the idea of solving a problem, not waging a war. We've gotten beyond "who's right?" to "how are we going to make this work?" Not speaking of my friends, but I've seen too many people approach disagreements with their spouses as preparing for battle. Ugh! [I've seen parents approach their children the same way, it doesn't usually work very well.]
On a positive note, vacation was absolutely wonderful. Have 2 weeks with Hubby off of work was beyond wonderful. We got to spend time with my family and we had a blast playing "Apples to Apples" with them. Lots of laughter. We also played "Imaginiff" with Hubby's cousin's family. Another great family game for various ages. The girls are doing well. They're back to school and swimming. The weather is hot (they like it, I don't). I'm ready for our 2 or 3 weeks of winter. If we don't get a freeze or two, the mosquito's will be horrendous this summer. Besides, I'd like to wear a few of my sweaters this year (it was even warm in Sumter when we went to visit!)
Of course, troubles rarely come in single instances. I also found out Friday that I may not be able to continue working as a moderator for on-line courses. Even though I've done much work for these courses beyond simply moderating (editing, suggesting revisions, creating moderator documents to streamline the entire process). Apparently, I don't have the correct credentials, or more aptly, I don't have my credentials accurately portrayed on my teaching certificate. With our financial challenges, even losing one "session" (Spring, Summer, Fall are the sessions) could make life more stressful. Again, I'm hoping for some resolution but as I'm no longer in the county system because I don't teach in a county school and as the State Department of Education doesn't like to work with individuals, but with district personnel, it could take a while. Again, prayers are appreciated.
And finally, even though this does not affect me directly, it has me upset. Very good friends of ours, married for about 18 years, are speaking of divorce. It tears me up. Partly because I don't believe that divorce is the answer, but instead that they are in a spirally situation and do not have the resources to step back and regroup. The daily 'grind' of kids, family, and jobs create so much pressure the energy left to devote to the problems of the relationship is almost nil. They the wife may give it some work this week, but hubby doesn't see it, so wife thinks, "Why bother?" then hubby tries and wife doesn't react the way he envisioned. And the cycle of destruction continues. I believe they each care deeply for the other and in different circumstances they'd have made it. I guess, I just wish for everyone the marriage we have. I do, in fact, have the very best husband in the world. Marriage is work and I do get upset with him and yell and sometimes even wonder where is this relationship going? But I'd say, as a rule, we both approach our disagreements with the idea of solving a problem, not waging a war. We've gotten beyond "who's right?" to "how are we going to make this work?" Not speaking of my friends, but I've seen too many people approach disagreements with their spouses as preparing for battle. Ugh! [I've seen parents approach their children the same way, it doesn't usually work very well.]
On a positive note, vacation was absolutely wonderful. Have 2 weeks with Hubby off of work was beyond wonderful. We got to spend time with my family and we had a blast playing "Apples to Apples" with them. Lots of laughter. We also played "Imaginiff" with Hubby's cousin's family. Another great family game for various ages. The girls are doing well. They're back to school and swimming. The weather is hot (they like it, I don't). I'm ready for our 2 or 3 weeks of winter. If we don't get a freeze or two, the mosquito's will be horrendous this summer. Besides, I'd like to wear a few of my sweaters this year (it was even warm in Sumter when we went to visit!)
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