Congratulations, President Obama!

"We have chosen hope over fear." ~President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009

I've been watching TV all day. Strangely, I didn't get bored! I listened attentively to every word our new President spoke. And I liked it.

While watching his speech, one line popped out at me and at the end, I wrote it down, saying to myself, "That spoke powerfully to me, that was the best part. THAT is what I'm going to remember most about this speech!"

I get online an hour ago and what do I see? The exact - EXACT - line I wrote down. True story.

I love him. I love THEM! Did you see how she playfully slapped him on the chest and he laughed? Did you see, while watching a band march by during the parade, he was dance/swaying a little, and he 'bumped' Michelle with his hip and they laughed!?! I think I really love them.

I feel recharged today.

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics." ~ President Barack Obama

*can't get the paragraphs or format right to save myself! i giveth up!

Bar-ba-sol

I don't know, so don't ask me.

I'm not writing lately because I have nothing to say. But that's not true! There's plenty going on inside my head. I've hit one of those plateaus again, where writing it in black and white and actually reading it over, just looking at it - makes it too real. That's always been the most difficult thing for me.

I'm full of sadness lately, but there is joy as well. I am worried about so many things, yet confident that it will be okay. I'm conflicted. Always. I am a Gemini, so much so that I almost never read a horoscope and think, "Well, that was crap. That's nothing like me." And yet I rarely read my horoscope. I suppose because, deep down, I do believe it's all crap!?

I shoveled more snow today. I've lost count of how many storms we've had. If I guess, I would say 6? Not sure. There have been 2 snow days, with no school. There's also been a delayed opening. I think there was only one. The storm before this one, on Wednesday, was all sleet & ice. That was hard to clean up. I'm out of rock salt for the driveway, have to go buy more. And more Ice Melt for the porch and steps. Found out last year that rock salt eats holes in my steps. Oops. But it worked great on the driveway! Turned an inch of ice to slush in 1/2 hour, so I could go out and push it aside.

Beau is doing alright. He missed several days of school in the past few weeks. He had a cold and then a bit of an anxiety problem...but that's better now. I haven't watched little Brittany in almost 2 weeks, because her mother is now in-between jobs. I still have a house full of little girl things, a lot of her clothes, diapers, toys, etc. I really don't know if I will be watching her again. Seems most of the anxiety my son was suffering was because of the babysitting situation. She is a wonderful, extremely well behaved toddler, but he had his own issues and reasons for being upset with her being here. I am missing the extra cash. A lot. It sure did help me tremendously when I was Christmas shopping! Beau received everything he wanted, all that was on his list. He was very grateful, and I reminded him just HOW I made all the money and that I thought it was worth it! I spent nearly all of it on Beau, and virtually nothing on myself. I literally bought myself one large package of ultra-fine Sharpies, and a DVD of 'The Dark Knight', 'cuz it was on SALE.

For Christmas, I got 2 movies from Beau and he got 2 from me, LOL! I have watched them all, and have taken some out from the library recently. Dave Jr. spent several nights with us, we watch movies and cook, he sleeps on the sofa. He and I shopped for groceries the other night and cooked a big pot of chili together! That was really nice, and fun! He's doing really well. He starts college classes on Jan. 23.

I haven't been in any swaps since before Christmas, I just couldn't get to them. My crafting desk is a mess, as I started cleaning out the drawers, and was organizing stuff on top of the desk. I walked away from it a few times, and haven't finished up yet. I was going to do a couple of ATC swaps this month, but I've dropped them for now (sorry, Liz!) because I'm just not confident that I'll get them done in time. I've made some informal resolutions for the new year, one is to ORGANIZE my things! I started in the basement, and now that's a work in progress. My desk is next, and it's been started. I have photos literally in every room of the house. One goal is to have all the photos in one room, haha. They don't have to be in albums, but boxes would be nice. I have loose piles of photos in dresser drawers mixed in with my socks, I swear to God! I don't know how I got so sloppy! My long term goal ? To have photos organized by year, and then subject! All in photo boxes stacked on the closet shelf! I'll let you know how that's going. Har-dee-har.

ATC "Dunce Cat" by Marie, Barnhart, MO - August, 2006

2009, Day 3

I meant to post a Happy New Year entry sooner.

Like, 2 days ago.

Really, I did.

I've been lazy.

And busy.

But mostly lazy.

Happy New Year! Good health & much wealth to everyone!!

Oh, and my boyfriend says "Hi." His video, 'Light On', is back up to #1 on VH1 today!!

Christmas Eve

I took this photo a couple of years ago on Christmas Eve. I was walking into my local grocery store and as always, I looked up - really, who could walk outside anywhere and miss this! - luckily, back then I had a camera that I carried with me all of the time.



I wish I'd had a camera for this past week, there have been many photo opportunities for me. The main ones have been the snowstorms, the 3 & 4 foot long icicles hanging from the awning over my back door, and best of all, the BEAUTIFUL snow angel my son made last Saturday. While I was busting my back shoveling and clearing off the cars. But it is really the perfect snow angel.



Today the sky looks nothing like this. It's raining. And over forty degrees. I'm afraid when we walk out the front door today, our shoes are going to plunk right into a huge bucket of slush. Got to get ready to go out soon - we just found out we are having an overnight guest and I want to put together a stocking for him! It's my oldest stepson, who we haven't seen for the last couple of Christmas seasons. He was off around the country being a 'backpacker', I guess you could say.



Merry Everything!! Everyone have fun the next few days!! XO

"I want a snowblower for Christmas..."

Ugh. Yuck. Blech!! Shoveling sucks! I can't even describe how much it sucks. Entirely. I shoveled a 3 foot wide path from my back door, across the deck, down the steps and onto the driveway. Had to come inside and change my fleece jacket because the buttons weren't staying buttoned. Blew my nose 3 times, because you know, the 20 degree temperature mixed with the whatever-mile-an-hour winds make the nose runny. Put on my pullover fleece with the hood, yeah, that's better...so I go back outside and start to shovel a path down the driveway toward the road. I think I got about, oh, maybe 15 feet? Back is killing me, so I yell to Beau (who started out the front door and went toward the street walk) "I gotta go in and rest a bit, back is hurting too much!" I went in the back door, he went in the front, then yells for me to please get him something to stand on so the rug won't get all wet. His jeans were wet and snowy up to his knees! My jeans were damp around the bottom inch maybe. Somebody was playing in the snow!

So this is rest time. We were lucky enough to have our neighbor next door snow-blow across the front street walk again for us. When I heard his blower starting up at 7:30 a.m. I rolled over in bed and thought 'EGAD, man! It's fargin' SATURDAY, where DO you have to be (and will you get me a vanilla chai if you're goin' out??!!)', but my next thought was, 'I will ignore the noise and forgive you the early hour if you remove the snow from in front of our house, thankyouverymuch.' And he did. He's kind of a grumpy looking old guy, when I see him and say hello, he sort of just nods his head at me. But he takes care of us when there's a heavy snow, so for that I'm very grateful.

Anyway. I guess it's time to get out there again and shovel some more, maybe get the cars cleaned off. I've got my car here and my mom's, because my car battery was dead for a while. Now lucky mom doesn't have to clean off her car! We got quite a bit of powdery snow, maybe 9-10 inches, but it's still heavy for me.

Another storm is heading our way tonight, I haven't heard the latest forecast, but it's definitely going to be enough to have to shovel again. How's the weather where you are? Martha, you can just nevermind answering this one, I'm sure you took your beach walk this morning!? Can I come live with you? :)

Here it comes...

Our first big snowstorm has started! This photo is from a few years ago, I don't remember how much accumulation that was covering my car.

Today's storm is fierce - tiny flakes that are falling at a fast and heavy rate. They say we are likely to get 1" - 2" per HOUR until after midnight tonight, so we're looking forward to at least 12 inches. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that!

But here we are, a snow day (there was no school) and Beau and I are snuggled in with everything we need, pretty much - however, I would pay someone dearly to go to Dunkin' Donuts right now and get me a Vanilla Chai!!! Quite sure that's not happening...

Will update later after my nap, LOL!

I Am Lumberjack.

I knocked down a tree Friday in my front yard. I am brawny lumberjack!

I put the battery charger on my car battery, then took it off again, and the car started.

I was home here with a slightly cranky 22 month old, and a sick-with-sore-throat 12 yr old for 24 hours, and managed to keep them both alive.

I took out all the trash and recycling, all by myself.

I did not make any Christmas cards, and I'm not even feeling bad about it!

I dragged the knocked down tree into my backyard today, because absolutely nobody offered to help me do something with it.

I made this cute little ATC with the yellow bird on it.

I Am Wonder Woman.

Hey, Lisa L.!!!

Lisa L., fellow David Cook lover, you commented on my last two entries here...your profile is set to private. I'm fairly certain that I know you...right? Did we meet up North at my favorite beach once? I'm thinking so...let me know?! And get in touch, would ya? Missed you!

(( Oh, and gratuitous photo of gorgeous people added - okay, dazzling, beautiful, stone-cold hunk of Cullen vampire - just because I want to! I cannot stop looking at that mesmerizing man! ))

photo from some Twilight movie website

David Cook ~ 'Hunger Strike' video

My Little Boy is Growing Up

I loved my son's toddler years so much and as he was growing, I was wishing so hard that time would slow down so we could enjoy those days together forever. I was a stay at home, full-time mommy, never hired a babysitter for him. Still haven't, actually.

Now he is 12-1/2 years old and in the 7th grade. Middle School, the years I kind of dreaded. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from Beau.

Well, Beau is not anything like his 3 half brothers. He has never gotten a detention, and in fact yesterday, he was given a reward for getting no office referrals at all this year. He's half-way through middle school and so far, has a squeaky clean record.

He did very well academically on his report cards in 6th grade, honor roll twice and then the big finish - high honors to end the year! I was astounded and amazed. And beyond proud.

Pre-algebra was the recommendation for him for grade 7. The honors math that he was in for grades 5 & 6 were okay, but they wanted more of a challenge for Beau. He dreaded pre-algebra; thought the homework would be atrocious and his grades would slide. Well, he still doesn't love the class, but nothing about it is atrocious!

Last Friday, he came home with his first trimester report card. I wasn't even aware that it was due out already. I want to share with you my son's achievements:

Tech Ed 1 / A

Tech Ed 2 / A

P.E. / A-

Health / A+

Music / A+

Language Arts / A-

Reading / A-

Social Studies / A

Science / A-

Pre-Algebra / A-

The teacher comments are all 'Pleasant to have in class', 'Has positive attitude', 'Consistent effort', 'Valuable class member', and 'Highly motivated and enthusiastic'.

He received High Honors, with a GPA of 3.826

I am beyond happy for him, and sometimes I just can't believe he's MY KID!!!

The Colors of Fall

Hmm. Fall is about over here in New England. It feels more like Winter every day. The sky is bright some days, and on others it's a smoky white/grey.

It was nice enough yesterday to take a walk, although a chilly wind was blowing from time to time. With the way my hot flashes are behaving these days, it just cools me off!

Well, I just wanted to pop in and get that last post out of my sight. Don't really have the energy for a real update. Not much to say, anyway. Tired and busy these days. Quite busy.

"Colors of Fall" ATC made last month by little old me. I dig the owl!