Portrait update

I am trying to finish this in time for the art show next Friday. I am having a hard time staying motivated to do it, though. I hate deadlines!

Another 'Know thyself' moment.

I will never be a successful artist.

I am not dedicated enough.

I am actually okay with that. I am happy being my children's mom and wife to their father. Everything else in my life is just extra frosting on the cake.

The $200 cat fight

One night last week, I accidentally left Tigger outside overnight. This isn't a first for him. When he is inside, he wants out. When out, he wants back in. That night he wanted out, but didn't turn up when Bill called him to come in, so he stayed out. In the morning, I found him curled up in the dogs' kennel in the garage. That is his solution when he wants a warm bed for the night.

On Thursday, Bill noticed that one of Tigger's front paws was swollen and infected. For a couple of days, we tried to keep it clean and let it heal. It didn't seem to be working. Today, we took him to the vet (after that nice long soak in the tub I told you about). The vet verified that he had been bitten on the paw and the puncture went clear through.

Two hundred dollars later, we have antibiotics, pain meds, and a lovely bonnet for Tigger. You can tell from his expression that he really loves his new fashion accessory!

Lacrosse - a double header - cancelled!

Will had two back to back lacrosse games scheduled for today, but the weather forecast was far from promising. Bill and I spent a goodly part of our date night last night hunting down a decent golf umbrella so that we would be prepared, come what may.

We arrived 1/2 an hour before the appointed hour for start of game, and a slight drizzle had started. The game currently finishing up on the field was going overtime as the drizzle turned into a steady rain. Bill and Helena left to go home and get more layers for her (we had picked her up from ballet on the way to the game and forgot to warn her to dress appropriately).

By the time the game really began, it was raining in earnest! I was huddled under that new golf umbrella (thank heaven for it, at least!) with another parent, Dallan's mom. At the end of the first quarter, the wind had picked up and was blustering right in our faces, forcing me to place the umbrella right in front of us so we couldn't even see the field. There were no other parents on the sidelines by then. We both laughed incredulously. How could they keep playing!? We were numb with the cold.

Thankfully, they didn't keep playing. The refs cancelled the current game, and the second game, too! We packed up, and Bill and Helena arrived just in time, bringing donuts and hot cocoa. When we got home, I immediately jumped in a tub of hot water and stayed there until I felt completely thawed out. Will had a nice hot shower.

Oh, it was good to be home!!!

Nosce te ipsum

In Latin, this means "Know Thyself".

We journey through this life constantly rediscovering ourselves. Each new turning point, each new milestone reveals something to us about our own nature. Experience is the best teacher, and all that. That is why the young are rarely wise. The old are only wise if they have paid attention along the way and recognized the bits of wisdom that are gleaned through the trials and experiences of life.

As you have probably guessed, I have had a 'know thyself' moment recently.

The school wide art show is coming up next Friday. I inadvertently volunteered myself to be in charge of the school wide end of the year shindig by volunteering to have an art show at all. The principal and I (let's be fair, after all, I stood there agreeing with him through the whole conversation some months ago) both agreed it could take the place of other, less popular (by teacher standards) events, such as the dance festival. Almost all teachers groan when we have to do a dance festival because it involves so much effort.

I was placed in charge.

Here is the moment of recognition;

I DO NOT LIKE BEING IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS!

I typed up a comprehensive agenda, telling all the teachers and staff just what should be done, and in what order, to be ready for the show. Every teacher has a part to play, and if everyone just follows the plan, no one will be overburdened at all.

Hmmm.

I can't tell you how many teachers have come up to me in the past week with comments such as these...

"When am I supposed to hand you all the kids artwork?" (um, never! You are supposed to prep and hang it in the hallway outside your classroom door!)

"I saw the note you put in my box, I haven't read all of it yet, but what am I supposed to do?" (this is a direct quote from a teacher, I kid you not!)

"I have a parent who brought in his own artwork, what am I supposed to do?" (read the agenda)

"Am I supposed to put something in the art show, too?" (read the agenda!)

"When is the art show, again?" (READ THE AGENDA!!!!)

Nope, I DEFINITELY don't want to lead anyone anywhere, because I am so frustrated at their lack of ability to follow that I am likely to lead them off a cliff for the pure satisfaction of it!

In Loving Memory

Marilyn Winn Green is my sister-in-law's mother. Deanna's mom. Eight months ago, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and began to battle for her life. A week ago she was sent home from the hospital with a hospice nurse to make her as comfortable as possible while she lived out the last week of her life surrounded by her loved ones.

It seems such a strange thing, to be told that you will die within the week. I cannot even begin to fathom what must have been going through her mind!

I will say this; while it is horrible to have life stripped from you in any way, and I sorrow for her sufferings and those of her family, what a beautiful thing to knowingly spend your last days in the arms of those you love! She had the opportunity to comfort and be comforted. To say last goodbyes until they meet again in the Lord's time. There will be none of the regrets that come from thinking, 'if only I had known it was the last time I would see her'.

She passed away quietly on Monday morning, surrounded by her grown children and her husband. I was told that Sunday evening, each of her grandchildren was able to go in the bedroom to talk to her one last time. She was lucid all the way to the end.

Her funeral was beautiful! She actually had planned it out herself! Again, I can't even imagine doing such a thing! The church choir sang her favorite song, 'In This Very Room'. All her grandchildren sang 'A Child's Prayer'. There were many funny remembrances from friends and family who spoke. One of her daughters told a funny story about the night they used their in-home movie theater room for the first time. Marilyn decided it needed a dedication, so she stood in the light of the projector and belted out "The Star Spangled Banner", off key. For years after that, she would break out in "The Star Spangled Banner" at odd moments, always on the wrong note at first, and wouldn't stop (no matter how much anyone pleaded) until the last awkward note rang out. Her daughters asked her if she wanted "The Star Spangled Banner" to be the opening hymn at the funeral and she told them 'No, because then everyone would have to stand up'. She also informed them that the funeral 'danged well better last only an hour!'

The funeral service ended with the hymn, 'Our Savior's Love', and a prayer by her father, Spencer Winn.

No parent should have to bury their child. No matter that the child is a grandmother herself.

She passed away the same way she lived her life, with humor and dignity. I am proud I got to know her and that she opened her home and her heart to me and my family. She will be greatly missed.

Volunteer, anyone?

Today was a very full day for me.

After work, I brought the kids home just long enough for Helena to get ready for ballet. After dropping her off at the studio, I headed for my afternoon inservice meeting at Shelley Elementary.

Inservice meetings are held for teachers to get together and learn ways to be better teachers. In theory. Often they are times for us to get together and visit. Most of the inservices this year were scheduled for times that did not work with my schedule, so I simply did not attend.

This meeting was different. The timing worked (mostly), and it was held at my local elementary school; the one my children attended. It was nice to be able to stop in and visit for a moment with the office staff and various grade level teachers who taught my children.

When I arrived at Joseph Germaine's classroom (the art teacher there, and a good friend), the room erupted with surprised delight that I had finally decided to grace them with my presence. You see, I know most of these people from having attended many other inservices and conferences with them in past years. I really do feel like I fell off the map a bit this year.

I did enjoy the meeting, and got a great clay lesson idea that I will definitely do next year.

The meeting was scheduled to go until 6:00 p.m., but I had another commitment for the American Fork Arts Council at 5:30, so I had to duck out early and head to the Fox Hollow golf club banquet hall. It is National Volunteer Week, and I was off to do a bit of volunteering.

Once there, I set up the centerpiece display for the visual arts board's volunteer booth. This was supposed to be the grand kick-off for volunteer week, with booths for all and sundry to come sign up to give service for whichever noble cause struck their fancy.

Oh, boy.

The speaker spent AN HOUR preaching to the choir, because the people running the booths were the only ones there! I was so highly entertained, that I spent a good half of her speech impressing a honeycomb pattern into the flesh of my forearm with the back of that little pencil they hand out to golfers before they head out to play! Bill thought that was very masochistic of me. I thought it made a cool pattern with a neat texture and it kept me from yawning in the middle of it all. There weren't enough people there to hide a yawn from the speaker, and I really didn't want to hurt her feelings, because her heart was in the right place.

After 2 1/2 HOURS of NO VOLUNTEERS, we started to pack up. That is when it happened! Two Boy Scout troop leaders walked in the door saying something about needing a community service project for their boys. Heidi (the Steel Days Art Show Director) and I flashed a glance at each other and simultaneously descended on those two unsuspecting men before anyone else had a chance to snag them. Of course, by then most of the other booths had long since given up and thrown in the towel.

So, after all, we ended up with a semi solid agreement to 'enlist' (or would the boys see it as 'enslave'?) 10 or so 13 year old boys for their own good (can you say Citizenship in the Community merit badge?) to help with the set up and take down of the art show scaffolding.

I'd better make sure there are donuts there for them on set up day, or they may go AWOL for the take down!

texting a blog, anyone?

this is a quick test of the texting blog feature....

Why did the chicken cross the road?

I have to preface this post with a side story.

Our across-the-street neighbors 'adopted' a chicken that has been wandering around on our street since last fall. No one knows where the bird came from, nor why she initially decided that our street was the place for her. The neighbors bought chicken feed and leave it out for her every day. Now she roosts in the pine tree next to their front door and is quite tame.

Okay, now for my story.

Bill has been working in the yard today, removing damaged tree limbs and trimming the plum tree. He left the back yard gate open so that the dogs could follow him about the yard, front and back.

Eventually, the inevitable happened; Demi saw the chicken across the road.

Okay, so why did the chicken cross the road?

TO GET AWAY FROM MY DOGS!!!!

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Anyway, Demi tore off across the road after the chicken with Bill in hot pursuit. He chased Demi (chasing the chicken) all the way around our across-the-street neighbor's house and...

wait for it...

...across the road to our yard. There, Bella joined the fun and both dogs managed to catch the chicken in our back yard! Bella had it by the throat when Bill finally caught up with the melee!

I am afraid that Bill was not very gentle with Bella whilst rescuing the chicken from her clutches.

Fortunately, the chicken survived the ordeal none the worse for wear (sans a few feathers, of course) and Bill carried it back to the neighbors, who had come out to see what all the ruckus was about.

So there you have it, The REAL reason the chicken crossed the road! I should win the Nobel prize for solving one of life's greatest questions!

Ciao!

And then there was mud

Here is the last update on our April snow storm. Most of the snow melted off during the day, leaving my torn up construction site of a yard a complete mud hole!!! Oh, yeah! Don't you wish you had my yard?

Now here is the fun part. The dogs run all over the back yard, then want to come inside! Not without a bath!!!!

Cheers!

The morning after the storm...

I managed to get to bed a little after 3:00 a.m. The cats get really hyper at night! Urgh.

Anyway, I had every intention of sleeping most of the day away. Bill was going to stay home again today. However, at 7:15 a.m., Bill's work called him to go plow snow in parking lots. Before he took off with our snow shovel (to do sidewalks), I quickly shovelled our front walk, then went and helped our across the street neighbor get back into his house. He is a quadriplegic and got his motorized wheelchair stuck in the snow while trying to get his morning paper.

After Bill left, I walked down to Shirley Gray's house to help her shovel her driveway. She is a widow and really shouldn't be breaking her back over heavy snow! She needed her driveway clear so she could drive her daughter, Pam, to work. Otherwise we could have just let it melt on its own.

When I got home, Bill called and suggested that I drive Pam to work in the Expedition. The roads were clear, but the parking lots weren't and Shirley's car is not 4 wheel drive.

So I did. Shirley came with and took me out to breakfast afterwards at Burger King.

All of this before 9:00 a.m. and on only 4 hours of sleep!

The storm was between 4" and 6" of heavy, wet snow. Unfortunately, the heavy load was too much for many tree branches all over town. Our flowering plum in the front yard was a casualty of the storm. It has 4 limbs broken off. Once it is dry enough out we will trim down the tree and survey the damage. The center photo in the collage is a picture of the biggest break.

Hard to believe that Helena and I were laying in the back yard on Saturday, sunning ourselves!

By the way, if you click on the collage, you will see an enlarged version so that you can see each individual image up close!

SNOW!!!

No, this is not an April Fool's joke, although I wish it was!!! Yesterday, Bill stayed home from work because it was so wet and rainy that his job site was too swampy. Mid-day, it began to snow.

We spent the day indoors, playing games and otherwise being absolute lazy slugs! It was great! I love vacation for the unscheduled time it gives me.

We played so long that we didn't notice the time and ended up accidentally staying up past 2 a.m.! All except, Helena, that is, who went to bed around 11:00 p.m.

The rock invasion, part 2

Here are more photos of the work Bill did on the window wells and back yard on Saturday. As you can tell, I am very excited whenever something new happens around here! These are shots of Helena's window. It is hard to get a scale on it, but the window is 5 feet tall and the rocks come almost all the way to the top of the window. It is right next to the driveway, so Bill has built the well higher than the driveway to create a planter/buffer between the well and the drive. Hopefully, that way, no one will end up IN the well instead of NEXT to it!