A Gradual Leaving

I just had a wonderful time with my family at Christmas. We never have to do anything special at all - just be together. We talk and laugh and sing - and I listen to the exchange of inside jokes and quotes from movies and I just never get tired of hearing my children's voices.

But then comes the hard part - the leaving.

It comes in stages - and it is gradual - but it is never, ever easy.

First comes the hugs and the goodbyes. I almost always cry, even if they don't see it.

Then comes driving out of town. That is the most awful part to me. Actually leaving the city limits. I cry and Jay just drives along and lets me.

Then we get on the interstate and eventually leave the state of Kansas and cross into Missouri. I don't like that part.

When the plane leaves the ground, the spot that gets empty in my heart is pretty evident. We are up in the air and the memories of the time spent is heavy.

By the time we land in DC, I sigh and realize that I'm once again many, many miles away.

Even with all that said, and as hard as it is, I wouldn't forego the trip just so that I wouldn't have to feel that difficulty of leaving. I am so thankful for Jay, for my children and for that sweet little boy who knows just who to ask for a book at IGA. I am so blessed for the relationships we all share and for Papa and Marmie who indeed are an extra blessing to me. We all share four wonderful children and a grandson - and God is good. He is so very good. All the time.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

I think that it goes without saying that the Christmas season brings with it so many memories and for me, it doesn't necessarily bring childhood memories as much as it does memories of when my children were little.

One of the things I think that I'll always remember is those two girls having to sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve. Never mind that their twin beds were about a foot apart to begin with. That wasn't enough. No. They had to sleep in the same bed.

And when I say sleep, I use that word loosely. There really wasn't much sleep. They whispered and giggled and I'm sure tried with all their might to fall asleep - but it was in vain - because truly "visions of sugarplums" danced in their heads.

It would always be late when we finally got to bed on Christmas Eve. For a good part of the time, we attended midnight Christmas Eve services in Idana. We would be at a family gathering that evening, attend the Christmas Eve service and then head home. There was always the routine of putting out milk and cookies for Santa - and then off to bed.

I remember sitting on the sofa listening for them to fall asleep so that "Santa" could come. As paper rustled and stockings were stuffed, I'm sure they heard every single thing. But as they were little, they never seemed to associate those noises with the arrival of Santa.

Soon, and I do mean soon, those little girls and eventually little brother in tow, were upstairs standing beside the bed - staring at me.......waiting for our eyes to be open. And being just loud enough so that we'd wake up. To say that our Christmas mornings started early would be an understatement!

To this day, those girls would sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve given the chance. I know that both of them still have trouble falling asleep - and if I were truthful, so do I. The "magic" of Christmas morning is very special. The sight of the tree all lit up - the hope of snow on the ground - the smells and the anticipation.

Today, on Christmas Eve, I remember that manger and the baby Jesus laying there - and the anticipation that was all around that Christmas morning. Nothing can compare to that event - and today, as I remember the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I wish everyone a very Blessed and Merry Christmas!

A Weekend of Friendship

This was just a warm-fuzzy weekend. We had a lot of things planned to do - and almost every single thing involved friends and doing friendship things.

I was invited to brunch with my friends Erica and Pria. They are relatively new friends, really within the last 6 months. We just have laughed so hard together and this brunch was no different. It was fun to connect with them again and share a lovely afternoon.



Then in the evening, our small group at church gathered for pie and prayer. Everyone brought a pie and I'm here to tell you - oh my goodness - these women can bake a pie. I made a blueberry pie. We cut them all in small pieces so that we could have a nice "tasting" of a variety of pies. I was STUFFED!

Here is a picture of one of my dearest friends Miss Edna (beside me) and my friend Helen.



Here is a picture of Carol and myself - another good friend who I shared the evening with!



What a fun weekend before Christmas we had. This afternoon I went to my friend Laura's house and she started teaching me how to spin. It was so pleasant and very comforting. She loaned me one of her wheels so now it's sitting in my dining room where I intend to spend several hours over the holiday learning a new skill.

The weekend went so fast - but we had a wonderful time making memories!

A Candlelight Tour of Mt Vernon

I decided to have a surprise for Jay this time. Sunday late afternoon we headed out but Jay didn't know where we were going..... that is until we found out that there was some bridge construction and I didn't know another way to get to our destination - so I had to tell him. That was ok though - he had patiently waited all week to find out we were going on a candlelight tour of Mt Vernon, George and Martha Washington's home. It was so pretty and not nearly as cold as the night we toured the zoo. They had a lot of lanterns to light the paths plus there was a nearly full moon. The mansion was beautiful but we couldn't take inside pictures there - so you'll have to use your imagination!




This is a picture of one of the slaves quarters - there were many beds in this one little room. And....hay for a mattress.




This was a small room outside of the mansion that belonged to their land manager. Doesn't look very cozy - and nothing at all compared to the mansion.




There was a lot of nice music to listen to outside around the gardens and walkways.






Inside the museum, there were many beautiful Christmas trees. It was a nice evening and we enjoyed seeing the historical place!

A Chilly Surprise

Last Sunday was my Christmas surprise. Last year, Jay surprised me by taking me to the Bull Run parade of lights. This year, he told me that I needed to dress warm and as we were getting ready to walk out the door, he told me I had to bring my Metro card. As I opened up the door to the outside, I realized I hadn't dressed warm enough. The wind was blowing and it was really, really cold outside. So - I added layers. Good thing.

We got on the Metro until we reached Metro Center where we changed to the red line and rode until the Woodland Park stop. All this really meant nothing to me because when we get that far away, I have no idea where anything is. We walked out into the cold and he told me that we needed to walk about three blocks. Translated - three VERY LONG BLOCKS INTO THE WIND. I'm telling you - it was freezing. Really, I wasn't bad except for my face. My face was frozen. So we walked. And walked. And then finally around the corner.........





The zoo was decorated everywhere with beautiful lights! The buildings were decorated along with the trees - but also there were wire lights in shapes everywhere!



Even though it was very cold, it was so pretty. They had music playing, plus at one stop there was a brass ensemble playing (bless their blue lips stuck to their mouthpieces)






Somewhere in the middle of the zoo was a giant snow globe with a panda in it. Not a real one you understand - but some poor soul dressed up in one - inside the snow globe. You'd certainly not want to be claustrophobic would you!




It was a fun surprise - we even got to have hot chocolate at the zoo! By the time we arrived safely back home, we had finally warmed up. Another Christmas surprise! Thanks Jay!

A Wintery Day

Today was a nice wintry day. We started the day out by going to an "All Church Breakfast". The men cooked breakfast and it was delicious! We had scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage links, biscuits, cereal, bagels and blueberry pancakes. mmmmm After we all ate and chatted, we sang Christmas Carols. It was just a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

After breakfast, I had choir practice. Our presentations will be three times next weekend - so we were of course using every opportunity to practice.

After I got home from choir, we had a small snack and then headed downtown on the metro. My friend Erica was celebrating her 32nd birthday at a Mediterranean restaurant that we had never even heard of. The food was delicious and it was fun to meet new people.

When we left the restaurant, it was snowing! Just a beautiful, soft snow. After the ride home, we decorated the apartment for Christmas. Jay had already put the lights out on the deck last Friday - so we decorated the tree and put the nativity scene up along with all the other decorations.

It was just a wonderful Saturday - and now the house feels a little bit more like Christmas!

And the word is....

Well - the problem is that there must be TWO words that start with sc and have 9 letters - because scratched certainly fits that category. The word they told us was screeched. Interesting - and good job to Amy! She is the grand winner! Sorry - no prize - except that you did come up with a 9 letter word and without any help!

So - I looked it up... and there are a few other words.

scratched, scrounged, scrunched, stretched, and the plural nouns straights and strengths (all with nine letters).

So there you go. Apparently First Watch didn't have all their information together when they asked the question. The place I googled said that screeched was the most common answer. :)

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you! Thanks for playing!

Last Clue

Thanks Amy and Bridgette for your guesses. Amy - you had a good guess with it starting with Sc - and Bridgette you had an 8 letter word which is also close.

I'll give you three clues actually.

#1 It has 9 letters
#2 It starts with Sc
#3 It is NOT plural

Ask your class again Bridgette - good job! :)

I'll tell you tomorrow if you haven't already guessed it!

A Clue

Good guess Amy! But not correct - but honestly, a VERY good guess!

Here's a clue: It starts with the letter S.

Keep guessing my friends - it's pretty cool when you find out what it is. :)

A Trivia Quiz

Saturday morning we had breakfast at "Morning Watch" and as you walk in the door, there is a large chalk board that has the day's specials etc. They also had the morning quiz listed and here was the question:
WHAT IS THE LONGEST SINGLE SYLLABLE WORD?

So, I asked the waiter if he knew the answer and he said that he did. Through the entire breakfast I tried to think of the answer. Toward the end of my last cup of coffee, I asked for a clue. Finally, as we were leaving, I had to ask for the answer. I came very close to coming up with the answer, but fell short.

See if you can come up with it - and if I don't have any answers by tomorrow, I will start giving you clues.

There is one rule - you have to think of this on your own. No googling - no dictionaries - no spell checks - nothing like that. Just use your brain. :)

I'll be waiting for your answers! Have a good week!

Mr. Peabody and the Way Back Machine

Jay reminded me today that I was going to post a "Way Back Machine" every Friday. Well, I'm 2 weeks late and today is Saturday, but I'm going to post one now. Thanks for the reminder!

I was remembering cleaning out my mother's house several years ago after I had moved her into a nursing home. You will notice that I didn't say "when she moved into a nursing home." I had to move her - it was an ugly scene and I wouldn't wish that kind of episode on anybody. That being said, she is comfortable there now. She will occasionally bring up to me the fact that I made lots of money from the sale of her house. Another reminder that she is unaware of things going on around her.

You have to appreciate the fact that people who grew up during the depression learned the "value" of things. It's widely known that they rarely throw things away as an adult and my mother was no exception. If I threw away one bottle of glue, I threw away 9 bottles of glue while cleaning out her house. She had rolls and rolls of paper towels. And fabric? Don't get me started. She could have easily opened her own shop.

But I would say one of the areas that I enjoyed cleaning out the most was her den. There was my dad's area (about 1/8 of the room) where he did his drawing and "figuring" as he called it. My father was a carpenter and this was where he drew up plans and figured estimates for people. It was fun to touch the papers and tools he used for his business. Everything was in a neat place and it really reflected his personality.

The rest of the room belonged to mom - and honestly, it reflected her personality as well. Her sewing machine was in there and inside of it housed any color of thread you could want - and not just one spool of each color either. You never know when you'll run out of a color and need one waiting in the wings. She also had a round metal box full of buttons. She bought buttons on cards - and it wouldn't have mattered what she was making, she was ready. That thing was FULL! She had several half-completed projects laying around and lots of patterns in a file drawer. She really was a good seamstress and used to sew quite a bit.

Her desk contained all the equipment she needed for bookkeeping for my father's business. She had a box of yellow sharpened pencils - and I exagerate not when I say there were probably 80 pencils in that box. She also had a huge assortment of pens - and little tablets. I never really had looked through those drawers before, so finding all of these was like opening a treasure box.

One of the things I found was an autograph of Jimmy Durante. If you haven't ever heard of him, google him. He's gone now of course - and I truly cannot remember where she saw him to get his autograph, but I remember she was always very proud that she had it. She also had Jim Nabor's autograph. You know him - Gomer Pyle. Again - google it. :) It's funny to me that this woman from small town USA had two pretty significant autographs.

The prize I found in that room was a photo album with metal covers that belonged to my dad. It had many, many photographs from when he was in the Phillipines in the Air Force. I had never known this album existed before and it made me so sad that it had been there all this time. My father rarely talked about his time in the Phillipines and this would have been a perfect "vehicle" for me to use to get him to talk. As I look through the pictures now, I have no idea who the other men really are. He has some of them labeled with first names, but to hear the stories behind them would have been the best. I wonder why this was stuffed away and forgotten? I'm guessing they didn't think I would be interested in it.

All in all - that room was horendous to go through - but at the same time, probably reflected both of their personalities very well. When it was all cleaned out, it of course made me sad. Not only had a put everything in boxes or in the dumpster, but I had erased a portion of two lives. I did keep the autographs though - who could resist showing off Jimmy Durante?

An orchid in winter

I have a beautiful orchid that was blooming when I got it. I have babied this plant along for quite some time now and finally it has bloomed again. It has to have just the right amount of sunlight and it wants orchid food in it's just-so right amount of water (room temp please).



I just wanted to share how pretty it is - the flowers are just lovely! It sits in the den which really is the chilliest room in the house, especially during the day when we're gone and the heat is down. So far, I guess it doesn't mind.

Anyway - no big news - just wanted to share my orchid with everyone! Have a great Thursday!

A shower with a mind of its own

I want to discuss my shower. More accurately, I want to discuss water pressure.

The water pressure in our apartment has never been tremendous. Sometimes, it is a trickle. Other times it's not so bad, but it has never been great.

The thing that's odd and the thing that annoys me is that it is not a continuous water pressure. I know what you're thinking - "You dork - when somebody else turns on the fawcet in the sink, of course your water pressure is going to change." Well, I know that and this isn't the case at all. I can be the only one in the apartment and be in the shower, and all of a sudden there is barely any water at all. Not a great thing when you have soap in your hair. Then, after a minute or so, the water pressure returns.

Other nearby apartments water usage doesn't affect us - we're separately controlled - so that isn't it. I just truly am stumped. And - it really only seems to happen in the shower. We have great pressure in the sinks and in the tub - and it stays constant there too.

I could always say something to the apartment office - but I just hate to walk in and say......well, my water pressure comes and goes. They would just shake their heads at me and tell me to either 1) live with it or 2)that somebody else was using water at the same time I was showering.

I really have no explanation. I just know that it isn't all that great to take a shower under a trickle of water.

Does this blog post go anywhere.... not really. Just venting. Thanks for reading! :)

An evening as a pirate

Tonite, the women's group at our church hosted a "Friendship Dinner". Each hostess had a table of 8 guests and could choose a theme for their table. Carol's table was so cute - the theme was Candy Land - and she had big game pieces and everything. The whole table was the game board.



As it turned out, nearly ever other table went for a more elegant theme. Here is the table that won the prize for the evening. It was Miss Edna's table and it was a Thanksgiving table - absolutely beautiful!



The table I hosted had a Pirate theme.



Here is Jay and I - in our pirate "outfits". We had so much fun and had lots of comments about our costumes.


It was just a nice evening and we met a lot of new people to the church.

Star Wars - An a capalla tribute to John Williams

I just had to share this - I think it is terrific!

Mr. Peabody and the Way Back Machine

There used to be a little cartoon on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show called Mr. Peabody and the Way Back machine. Mr. Peabody and his little friend Sherman would step into the Way Back Machine and travel back in time. I doubt it was all that educational and I would hate to count on it for accuracy, but I do remember it being cute.

So, with that said, I'm going to post a Way Back Machine every Friday and talk about something I remember from the past. There is the chance that it might not be interesting to anybody else but me. That's the chance you take in blogging. Live with it!

Today I want to remember two little girls and the year was somewhere around 1988 I think. Whenever we went to McDonalds or Hardees, we would get the kids meal of course and at that time, usually the prize was a small character made of hard plastic. The girls began to collect them. They stored them in a little tan plastic container with a hinged lid on it. This collection soon became known as "hard animals". Each girl had their own collection, though there were many duplicates. Hard animals were collected in various places, not just fast food chains. That bread-box sized case was soon full to the brim.

In trying to remember what some of them were, I could only think of Strawberry Shortcake and Carebears.

If they wanted to occupy themselves on a Sunday afternoon, they would get out their hard animals and go to the kitchen floor. One girl would sit on one end and the other girl would sit on the other. They would then proceed to meticulously line up each and every figure. I'm sure there was a specific place for everybody - each "person" had a place to be. I'm not sure if they actually ever played with them - though I'm sure they did. The bulk of the time was taken in setting everything up.

I rarely heard a peep out of them during this time. They really concentrated on what they were doing - it was important business.

So whenever I see little hard plastic figures, my first instinct is to take one to add to the girls' collection. But then I return from the Way Back Machine and remember that they don't collect them any more.

MegaSoundaphobia

Here's the deal. I have noticed that I have developed a "sensitivity" to noises. I don't mean noises like creaks or taps or whispers. I mean that whenever I hear things like sirens - a honking car - loud people in the next office - that little boy who visits in the next office on Wednesdays with a whistle that his mother seems not to desire to control (sorry, I got off on a tangent) - the neighbor upstairs who showers at 12:30 at night and when she stands in her bathtub it squeaks - and so on.

I'm not sure how this all started, but I notice that noises like that bother me now. They bother me to the point that I am distracted.

There is a parking garage next to my office. I had the window open today because my office was stuffy. Somebody's car started honking like when it's being broken into or you accidently hit the panic button. This went on for about 5 minutes literally and I was about ready to take a baseball bat to that car. I was - and I'm not proud of it.

The people in the office next to me are very loud at times - in fact they yell. I've discussed this issue before and I know that I need to just adapt. But it is very hard to adapt to a little boy and his whistle on Wednesdays. It makes me cranky.

It annoys me when people are outside of our apartment at 11 o'clock at night and they are loud enough that they wake me up.

Where did all of this come from?

I'm guessing that it's the fact that I spent many years living out in the country where you could hear a pin drop at night. You might hear a car drive by - maybe. You probably would hear a coyote once in awhile and you might hear Molly bark once or twice. But that's it. I've also almost always worked in an office where there wasn't a lot of noise. That and I've almost always worked in an office where the radio was on softly in the background.

At least these are the things I can point to right now that make me believe that I'm not just being crabby. I'm "adjusting".

I don't like "adjusting". I pretty much like things to go my way. And once again, I'm not proud of that fact.

So - what are my options?

I need to breathe. I need to let things slide by. I need to be happy that the mother in the office next to mine has a healthy little boy who has breath to blow on a whistle. I need to be thankful that people are happy enough to laugh outside my window. I need to be glad the lady upstairs takes a shower. Seriously. I guess I just need to get over it. Life is too short and yada yada yada.

OK - I will breathe.

A little boy's birthday

This past weekend we were in Kansas for Braylon John's 3rd birthday. It was a very big weekend for that little boy. His theme was motorcycles and oh my goodness - it was quite a celebration!



Phil brought over his dirt bikes and Braylon got to sit on them. He wore the helmet and boots - but when it came to actually riding with Phil on his bike, he just couldn't quite do it. Maybe next year...




Here he is with his new boots, cowboy hat and rope. He is ready to rodeo!




He really loved it when the candles on his motorcycle cake were lit and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. He just beamed!





Here I am with the birthday boy!




And here he is with his mama. It was a wonderful party and so much fun to be there with my children for the entire long weekend! Happy Birthday Braylon John! Nana loves you!

Pearl Harbor

One of the places I visited while on Oahu was Pearl Harbor. I've been there before, over 30 years ago I believe. But, I don't remember being so "struck" with the gravity of that place before. Just pulling up to the place where the Arizona rests was unbelievable. I immediately felt the reverence and the peacefulness of that place.



Just knowing that the Arizona was "resting" beneath me was something I'll never forget. It wasn't creepy. It was instead a quietness that everyone there felt. Well, almost everyone. One of the rangers kept having to tell this one couple to please be silent. The older gentleman was videotaping and he kept on speaking into the microphone, narrating everything he was seeing. The wife was "helping" him. If you know what I mean.





Standing there, looking at the names of the men who died that day in Pearl Harbor made me realize that men have died since the beginning of time, defending something that they believe in. There were names of brothers who died together. There were names of father and son who died together. I didn't know any of them - but someone did. And while I stood there, I said a little prayer for those left behind who grieved. It was a very inspirational place to stand.

Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941.

The top of the mountain

Friday afternoon, we went on a summit/stars tour of Mauna Kea on the big island of Oahu. The tour guide was so good - he had a wealth of knowledge about the trees and flowers, types of rocks and landscape and so on. This is a picture from the mountain when we were up above the inversion layer of clouds. The view was breathtaking.



This is the van that took 8 of us up the mountain. It was a narrow little road that was pretty bumpy in some areas. We went up 13,000 feet. We had to stop several times to get aclimated. He mentioned that probably some of us had been up on Pikes Peak, but the difference was that from there, we didn't start out at sea level whereas here in Hawaii, we did.



There were many telescopes on top of Mauna Kea - they were very interesting to watch as they got set up for the night's viewing of the stars.



The sunset on top was just beautiful. There were a lot of tour groups up there but everyone was as quiet as can be as the sun set.



It was extremely cold on top so the tour group provided all of us with parkas. There was no way I could have been outside without it! After the sunset, the guide took us down to the visitor's center which was not very far down, and made hot chocolate for us. We then spent about an hour looking through his telescope at the huge sky full of stars. He had great knowledge of all of the constelations and stars and we had a great evening listening to him while we viewed the stars. What a wonderful way to view Hawaii!

Knitting on Wednesday nights

I finished reading a book called The Friday Night Knitting Club a couple of months ago and every since then, I've really wanted to knit again. I learned to knit back when I was in 4-H - probably about 40 years ago or so. Surprisingly, I still remembered the skill! It was like riding a bike!



I had this urge to find a cute little knitting shop that would be close to me - somewhere where you could stop in and knit with new friends in the evening. I did a search and found a place right on the way home from work called Nature's Yarns. It was absolutely perfect!



It's open until 6 o'clock every night except Wednesdays - and on Wednesdays, it's open until 8:30, or 9:00 or 10:30 - sort of when everybody decides to leave. Everyone brings the projects they are working on - but more than that, they bring their spinning wheels and spin. I had absolutely NO IDEA that women still did this. They do - with gusto and with a passion! Two of the women have let me spin on their wheels and it was just very soothing. The sound of the wheels going around is just calming. One of the sounds I very much like is the wheel called a hitchiker that Laura has.



There are many kinds of wheels to choose from - and I wouldn't even begin to guess what I'd like until I've taken a class and tried out many types of wheels - which I thorougly intend to do!



I'm currently working on knitting a pair of socks....(which at this point does NOT look like socks) and a pretty blue sweater. I love knitting!



The ladies at the shop are just so nice! They are so helpful - always ready to answer all of my questions. Liz is even going to let me borrow her wheel for the spinning class in December!


Esther is going to be teaching the class - she has a very cool website that you can find here.


It's just a little place for some "community". I find it very refreshing here in the city - that a group of "real women" who know politics, who love adventure, who have families and jobs and husbands can get together and knit. I know this sounds funny to say, but it's earthy to me. And really - there just isn't enough "earthy" in the world sometimes. It's so teckie and so high speed and so stressful - that sitting listening to a wooden wheel spin around just makes the world right.

Say "NO" to Morphine

Today was my semi-annual throat stretching - for those of you who don't know what this is, don't worry about it. It's a long story without any great details - but I can breathe much better now and that's a good thing.

Let me take you back to December of last year when they put that stent in my trachea - and it got loose - and I spent 5 days over Christmas in an induced-coma - and how I felt like fuzz for about a week after I woke up -

Well, this morning when I woke up after they dialated my trachea, it kinda hurt. The nurse asked me if there was any pain and I said yes - and she had me rate it on a scale of 1-10 and I said 8. She gave me Morphine.

Let me just do a little evaluation here. The pain scale varies a LOT when you're just waking up out of anesthesia. If I would have been fully awake, I probably would have said 3. I remember saying 8 very clearly - but it always kind of hurts when I wake up after this and it also goes away within an hour. I certainly could have and always do "gut it out". Not today. Today I had Morphine - and I'm still paying for it. I just feel fuzzy. I hope that when I wake up in the morning I'll be more clear. My throat feels excellent - and I can breath wonderfully.

Now - to get rid of the fuzz!

2 hours and counting......

#1 Dishes out of the sink.... check
#2 Coffee table cleaned off...... check
#3 Filing on top of file cabinet finished..... yeah, whatever
#4 Mail stacked neatly on the back of the sofa.... check
#5 Fridge cleaned out..... check
#6 Knitting put away in basket.... check
#7 Remote put back on the arm of HIS chair.... check
#8 Trash sitting by the door for him to take out..... check.

OK - I'm ready for him to come home!

When left to my own devices.....

Things I do when Jay is gone:

#1 I read until 11 o'clock at night
#2 I leave dishes in the sink. Heck - who am I kidding. I do that anyway.
#3 I watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 endlessly
#4 I watch Trading Spaces
#5 I let the remote sit on the arm of MY chair
#6 I wear socks to bed
#7 I find something to do on a Saturday morning that involves Starbucks and a book
#8 I fall asleep in my chair in the evening. Again - who am I kidding.....
#9 I think seriously about doing the filing on top of the cabinet.
#10 I make a list of things I need to get done the day before he comes home.

A scarey moment

The elevator in my building is somewhat suspect in that its reliability is questionable. From time to time it just doesn't work. The repairman comes, shakes his head, flips a few switches and "viola" it works again. Fortunately, this is not a tall building or I probably wouldn't ever get in it. I remember getting into the elevator at the Sears Tower in Chicago and being a little apprehensive - but I digress.

Anyway - this morning I got into the elevator to go up to the copier. The doors closed and nothing happened. I just stood there for awhile - thinking that the elevator thought processes would kick in and I'd be on the move shortly. But no. I stood there for about a minute, weighing my options. There weren't many. There is a little phone inside the elevator but I knew I'd feel like a real dork calling whoever is on the other end and telling them I was stuck in the elevator. Good thing I didn't.

Apparently you have to push the button of the floor you want to go to. Who knew?

I'm just glad I figured that out before I made the phone call. It's not even Monday.

Sarah and Hillary

What can you say about Tina Fey.... she is so good! :)

McCain Palin Rally

Today was a HUGE McCain rally here in Fairfax and it turned out to be the biggest rally for him to date - there were over 10,000 people there. The rally was held at a park which had limited parking, so they had a shuttle service from a nearby strip mall. My friend Donna and I arrived at the mall around 7:15 am. We were loaded onto buses and shuttled to the park. There and 9,998 of our closest friends made our way into the park and through security hoops (good thing I cleaned out my purse) and then down to the area where the speeches would take place. We arrived there around 8 o'clock. The speeches weren't supposed to start until 10 - so we stood for 2 hours just waiting. Patiently. I had originally thought I would take my book and/or my knitting along to occupy my time. Good thing I thought twice about that because #1 there was nowhere to sit and #2 my knitting needles would have never made it through security! They weren't even letting people take little flags through security!



On the way through the line was a group of Obama supporters shouting all sorts of things - it was kinda fun but made me uncomfortable seeing as how I am very much a non-confrontational type of person. Here in the picture, you see a lady who "jumped the fence". She is showing off her t-shirt which says "Democrats for McCain". It caused quite the uproar!



This is a picture of the long line of people waiting to go through security. You can see that I am pretty close to the head of the line. Not sure how that happened - but you gotta love it!



There were secret service agents everywhere. Here is a picture of one of them. There is just something about a secret service man that makes me smile. It makes me feel secure (as well it should) and I love how they all "look alike". Know what I mean?




When Sarah Palin took the stage and began to speak, the crowd went wild! She was absolutely awesome! A lot of people I talked to (plus interviews I saw on TV tonite) said that the only reason they came to the rally was because of her!



It was just cool to see John McCain in person. I loved both of the speeches - it was equally cool to be in the crowd and feel the energy. It was a very fun morning! Drill baby, Drill!