Make room for the new!

It has been a happy new year, so far!

Yesterday Mom got a good report! Hallelujah! God is good! She's still a long way from well, but I feel so much more hopeful now. It may take awhile but I feel good about how it's going.

Last night Randy played at a bar in Clarksville. They probably wouldn't appreciate me calling it a beer joint, but that's what it is. I went for one set & enjoyed listening to them. I always enjoy watching my baby out there playing his bass guitar. (all you who know me, you know how I am about those tall dark haired guys with guitars!) I know I was the only non-smoker in the place. I guess I am getting old but I can't take it like I used to. You wouldn't think I grew up in a family full of smokers. Mom never smoked, but my dad & all my grandparents used to. Granny Ione (the one who died in Sept.) quit many years ago. I didn't even know she ever smoked until years later. Dad's father smoked his entire adult life. Mom's mother quit a year before she died, from a totally non-smoking-related cause. Mom's dad quit over 20 years ago & is still around to tell you about it. We now have smoke-free holidays but when I was a kid, one had to go outside to get any fresh air. Now the smokers have to go outside!

So last night before I went to see Randy & then again after, I went to hang out with the youth who were having a lock-in at our church. Since I am old & had worked all day (& we had someone call in sick too, so I had a full day), I went home & slept in my bed last night. After I picked D up at 7 am, I came back to bed & slept until 11. I don't remember the last time I slept until 11! Around 1, I picked up Rachel from her friend's sleepover. Around 5, I took her to work on the movie the drama teacher is producing, then I picked up dinner for the guys & myself before coming home.

I was glad to get here too. It is cold & windy out. I am going back to the Bridge soon - hopefully next week. I wasn't in Nashville today or I'd have gone tonight. That wind makes me feel really bad for those folks. I wish I could give them all campers or something. Anyway, I am going back. I am kind of working on another music project too - more on that later.

Be sure you look at the YouTube videos listed to the right of the blog entries. I have added a few of my favorites. I watch some of them every day! I am also working on some changes on my main webpage. I even got on MySpace! Welcome to the 21st century!

It promises to be a good year! I'm still believing for that vacation & a slimmer body!

I don't want that much for Christmas...

Like everyone else, I wish for peace...and love...and joy.

I thank God for giving us His Son, whose birth we celebrate this day.

We get so far from the reality of the reason for the season. We put the focus on outgiving other people, not because we truly want to share but so that we look more generous (and therefore more prosperous) than the rest. And if you really watch the ads, you'll find a lot more ads focusing on keeping more of those expensive toys for yourself. When did "gifting" become a word? Didn't we already have a verb for that - GIVING? But really, it IS a different action. GIVING puts the emphasis on GIVE. GIFTING puts the focus on the thing, the gift itself, the item you have to buy.

Of course, God's greatest gift was not something that you can buy, although He was sold for thirty pieces of silver.

I got a great compliment from the man of the house this morning. He told me I've really come a long way in my cooking. I guess you could take that as a left-handed compliment, like I couldn't cook worth a dime before. But, really, cooking hasn't been one of my strongest points. Oh, I was passable. I could do really simple stuff like instant oatmeal & cheese toast & macaroni & cheese. I could always make attractive salads & fairly decent cookies. I could even do good mashed potatoes & chili. But breakfast wasn't a specialty. I always made biscuits from a can. Anyway, I felt like I did breakfast all right this morning, even with biscuits from scratch!

Merry Christmas!

Cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never find

Quick! Name that tune.

If you said, "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, you're right!

Last night I was angry. I had gotten stuck with a little job I didn't really want, & having been upset with Randy the night before for a similar situation, I blamed him once again. I don't want to get into the specifics of the argument, though I don't mind saying that it was one of those typical old married people arguments where one partner feels the other has taken advantage of them, but the fight's over & behind us now, so that's all I'll say about that.

After the argument was over & we'd made peace for the night (because that is very important for me), this song came into my mind while I was mentally reciting the Lord's Prayer.

This song came out just before this time of year in 1984, my senior year of high school. At first I felt like the song was a distraction, because it reminds me of a crush I had at the time, but I suspected that the song was there for a reason, so I let it continue to play in my head. To this day, when I hear the line about "the candle in the window on a cold dark winter night," in my mind's eye I see the single Christmas light in each window of the guy's home, overlooking the lake in my hometown.

The crush began - or at least became obvious to me - on Thanksgiving morning 1984, when I awoke from a very graphic dream about him. Before that, I barely even talked to him, though we had some mutual friends. The crush didn't last a terribly long time, but it changed me.

The guy was a lot like the man I ended up marrying. It's hard to explain, but I think I might not have given Randy a chance if I hadn't liked the other guy first. In my fiction, I also loosely based a boyfriend of one of my favorite characters on the guy & the feelings I had for him.

I thought maybe this song was a reminder to be thankful for those weird situations like a crush on someone I'd never thought about before, because you don't always know what blessings a strange dream might bring. But when, in my mind, I remembered the lyric I used as today's title, I knew why it was there. As aggravating as Randy can be, he takes me to places that alone I'd never find. And I want to do that for him. I want to do that for EVERYBODY who knows me.

Maybe not in the same way, though.

may your every wish come true...

Happy Holidays, as the old song goes. Merry Christmas to everyone!

I am not on strike. I haven't written because I have been working A LOT lately. I've had weekends off, but they've been busy, filled with events like concerts & ball games & shopping & driving & visiting & the usual cleaning & catching up on the laundry. I've had days off during the week, but I've had appointments & unexpected visits to the ER & the walk-in clinic those days. Work has been extremely busy.

Having said that, all is well. Derek has a cold but he's improving. Rachel is over her sinus infection. I have been healthy as a horse, praise God! I guess Randy's all right...he's not home much. He's been playing a lot. Tonight, though, he is playing cards with the guys. I am not going to talk about that. Mom is doing pretty well, considering what she's been through this year. The rest of my family is fine. One of my cousins was in a car accident this week, but she is doing pretty good. She is home & that's a good thing.

I am finished with my Christmas shopping & most of the baking but I haven't got everything wrapped. I haven't sent out Christmas cards either. I am sending Christmas cards for New Year's this year. Why? Well, between me & the photo company & the middle school, we dropped the ball. It's a long story, a chain of events.

1. I didn't have the extra money for pictures when the photo envelope came home. That was when we were in "the paycheck gap," when we had to make it two weeks on a week's pay.
2. I emailed the photo company to ask if we could order late. They said sure. I had to wait a few weeks, but I got it in around the middle of November.
3. I waited until this week to get worried about it. On Dec. 17, we got Rachel's pictures (which came from another photographer, but were ordered the same day).
4. I called the photo company on the 19th & sat on hold for 30 minutes. I left a voice mail containing my home & cell numbers.
5. The photo company called while I was gone (went to the post office, then did a lot of shopping, then picked up Rachel, went to Vandy to try out for the community chorus, got the call about my cousin's wreck, visited her, shopped some more, & finally, about 6:00, came home). They did not call me on the cell phone, just left a message at home.
6. I was too swamped at work to even think about returning the call Thursday, the last day of school for the semester.
7. I called Thursday night & left them another voice mail to call me at work.
8. They returned the call on Friday to tell me that they shipped the photos on Nov. 26. Of course, by then it was way too late to get them. For that matter, it was about too late to mail pictures, but I am going to do it anyway.

By golly, I paid $50 for those pictures, I am going to send them out.

Well, that's all I can write for today. I hope to get back on track in the next few weeks, but that's not my New Year's resolution. That would be: to be more ready for NEXT CHRISTMAS!

Only God knows how different my life may be by next Christmas. I sure couldn't have imagined the changes that have taken place since the last one.

I'll say it again: Merry Christmas!!!

Time won't give me time

Remember that song? Boy George? Oh, I won't go there. I can't say I own a single Culture Club song - unless maybe there's one on a compilation CD I got somewhere - but those were all over the airwaves during my teen years, & I liked them well enough then.

Anyway, I chose today's title because my four-day weekend's half over & I have a few things to do & what I REALLY want to do is curl up & go back to sleep. It's cold outside. Oh, I am not complaining there. It was SO hot, for SO long, back in July & August, & this kind of weather is a welcome blessing. I just feel like hibernating when it's cold outside & I've just left my cozy bed.

I won't bore you with my to-do list today. I have a few little things I NEED to do & several things I SHOULD do. Strangely enough, a few of those "shoulds" actually conflict with each other. Here's what I mean. I SHOULD prepare a healthy breakfast for the family, none of whom have gotten out of bed yet, the time being 8:25 AM. Really, though, at this point I SHOULD only eat small but nutritious snacks if I get hungry & put off my next real meal until after 1 pm. Then when I go back to work Monday, hopefully I won't get ravenously hungry at completely inconvenient times.

I guess I COULD let 'em eat cereal this morning & wait until tomorrow to make whole wheat waffles. Or, maybe I could prepare the waffles for lunch. Oh, I am not going to worry about what I will eat. I'm not supposed to do that anyway. Instead I'll be thankful that I have choices to make! That there's enough food - and here in the house! - so that I don't HAVE to worry about it!

I didn't put the tree up yesterday, but I think I will today. In fact, I guess I'd better get moving so I can get the tree (& all that other stuff) down from the attic. But first, to walk the dog.