It's 2009

It's a new year and today we have a new President of the United States. I wish him well. He is certainly taking over a huge job. I hope the economy improves and the wars resolve peacefully. Today will be one of speeches, parades, etc. Tomorrow, however, he will have to be working! I'm sure there will be things he does that I agree with as well as things that I don't. I'm also proud to have the Bushes returning to Texas.

Today, I went back to school. I'm taking a continuing ed class in the "office careers" group. I had to start with Beginning Windows. It has five units and I completed two of them today. It was fun to be back on a campus again. I even helped one lost soul find the building that his class was in. I thought I wouldn't learn anything in this class, but I did use Windows Paint which I'm not sure that I have used before. After this class I will either take Word or Excel.

Some of my random thoughts lately:
Tarrant County College does not have enough parking.

I'm not judging anyone who has a tattoo, I just don't see the point of them. I guess there hasn't been an image or saying that I want permanently on my body. I also worry about what they will look like 20-30 years later.

I don't know what to get my son for his 22nd birthday which is next week!!!

Today was the beginning of my daughter's last semester in high school and my son is now "working" (without pay) in a high school.

Isaiah 41:10 is now one of my favorite verses
"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Almost New Years Eve

I can't believe that we are about to enter 2009. I still remember when the saying was RUY2KOK? What the heck happened...how did nine years pass so quickly?

Tomorrow, we'll have a low-key party and my friend from college will be joining us -- Yea for longtime friends (sounds better than old friends).

Tomorrow Mark and Kevin return from their Boy Scout camp -- Yea to have them back. I'm sure Kevin will be leaving soon for Lubbock -- where his life is!

Kat mentioned today that she can hardly wait until we can really start shopping for college and I know that the next few months will just fly by and then she will be in Stillwater! - Yea Go Pokes!

Yea for my 50th post!

December anniversary and Christmas

In the last week, our family has celebrated my dh's and my 27th anniversary and Christmas!

For our anniversary, we went to Hooters. This has become a tradition for us -- many years ago, when we were still in the single digits, we went were going out to eat and I wanted wings. Well, I happen to like Hooters wings the best so that's where we went! Nobody believed us when we told them that we had gone to Hooters so it sort of became a joke. Since then, we have celebrated anniversaries that don't end with a zero or a five at Hooters and then we go somewhere fancy on the zeros and fives. We took the kids with us this year and had a great time. They also serve my favorite beer, Blue Moon, on tap. I loved Kev's twitters that night -- as we were leaving he twitted "going to Hooters with the family for my parent's 27th anniversary. Yes, my family *is* cooler than yours." Then when we were done he twitted "20 wings, an order of fried pickles, 1/2 pound of peel and eat shrimp, 6 mini burgers and 3 pitchers of Blue Moon later, we are back home." For what it's worth I didn't eat any of the mini burgers and I know I only drank 1/2 pitcher of Blue Moon!

The next day was Christmas Eve which starts out lazy but becomes a busy day for us. I made two kinds of soup because although it would be nice to have a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve -- that just isn't possible for us. Our church has services at 4, 6, and 8 o'clock. Kat's little kid choir sings at the 4:00; her teen choir and Mark's choir sing at the 6:00 and at the 8:00 Mark's men's choir sang, Kat's bell choir played, and she and I were scheduled for altar guild -- helping with communion. So in our tradition of not knowing who will be home when, I have fixed two kinds of soup for Christmas Eve -- and you eat it when you have the chance.

Then the next morning was Christmas! It is a little more low-key than when our offspring were younger -- but we still enjoy it and they still have their stockings filled! I got what I had asked for -- outside trash cans with wheels. Somehow it has become my job to take the trash out and I wanted new trash cans. Our old ones were over 20 years old! I also got a new camera which I desperately needed as my old one broke a week ago! My son is getting older -- he asked for and got an attache case! He also got money for clothes so that he can look good next semester when he is student teaching! My daughter got knitting tools -- one that she is very excited about is a yarn meter so that she can measure her leftover yarn. She also got a wonderful OSU blanket and an OSU magnet to put on her car and an OSU purse. I think my relatives in Tulsa are very excited that she will be close to them while she is in college. Oh Kevin also got a Jayne Cobb hat which you would know what is if you are a fan of Firefly. Kat, of course, knitted it for him and it looks great on him! After all the opening of gifts, etc. We went to my sister-in-law's house for a yummy Christmas dinner!

December musings

I have much to do on my to do list. Mail Christmas cards, wrap presents and mail them to Birmingham, Tulsa, and Denver. Today is bunco so on my list today was to get 2 tables and 4 chairs over to the house where we will play bunco, check the vanilla vodka and creme de cocoa supply, get chocolates, make an appetizer and wrap my bunco Christmas gift. I've accomplished all that and also went to the dentist. No cavities - yea!

I decided to have a break and have a cup of white chocolate coffee -- YUM!. I have also been watching Doogie Howser MD on hulu.com. I have watched about 6 episodes. I used to love this program -- I still do!

I used to be proud of the fact that I didn't take any pills. Not so anymore. I guess getting older means pills. I was recently diagnosed with low thyroid and low iron so now I take a thyroid pill in the morning on an empty stomach and then a multivitamin with iron at night. Somewhere in between I also have a calcium chewy.

Tomorrow is my tap class Christmas party and on Thursday Kevin comes home. I have a little more shopping to do for my kids but I don't know what to get them! Right now, though, I have to go to work for a couple hours!

Happy Day!

I had a mammogram last Thursday and got the call Friday that more pics were needed. I couldn't return the call until Monday morning. At that point, the earliest they could see me was a week; but then they called back because they had a cancellation. Today I went back, more pics were taken, doctor ordered an ultrasound, and my did they find cysts -- I counted at least 4. The radiologist came in and looked at the ultrasound and said that I was a "cyst maker" but no signs of cancer. Woohoo! He does want to check again in six months, but that's ok.
I was on a totally natural high when I left the medical office. I ran some errands and nothing bothered me...not the mercedes that parked way too close to me, not anything!

Yesterday I had lunch with my good friend, Kathy. We have known each other since high school and became good friends in college. So much fun to catch up with her. We only live about 30 miles apart -- we really should get together more often. My GPS told me that there was a Bakers Bros Restaurant close to where we were and I said maybe we will meet there next time. However, when I left, I decided to let the GPS take me there. I was directed to drive around a bit going past apartments into a very nice neighborhood, turn this way, turn that way, and now arriving at destination -- except that I was in front of someone's house with no restaurant in sight! GPS's are great -- but they are not perfect. I laughed and wondered why my GPS thought there was a restaurant there! Oh well, next time, we will pick a new place and I will look up the address before I go and just enter the address into the trusty GPS.

It's November?

Wow -- already the 11th month of the year! I spent the last week of October driving to Birmingham, visiting relatives, and driving back. Technically, I didn't drive, I rode. I also read Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris outloud! That way, dh and I heard the story together. It is the first of the Southern Vampire Mysteries. It is what the HBO show True Blood is based on. I haven't decided whether to continue the series or not, but it was pretty good for a vampire love story.

Today was busy. A couple weeks ago, I decided that I HAD to exercise and I found my DVD of Walk Away the Pounds. I decided that I could exercise every day and this would be an easy way to do it at home. Well this morning when I woke up I had this conversation in my head -- get up now and walk, I'll do it later, no you won't because you don't have time, I'll do it later really, no you won't because once you put on makeup you won't want to sweat it off -- and with that I got up and fed the dogs and did my 2 mile walk with Leslie Sansone and her buddies.

After the walk, I went to my Thursday morning breakfast group, tutored College Algebra for two hours, ran to Cabela's to pick up a package, came home and wrote to TCC for permission for dd to take 3 classes in the spring, called OSU to see if she needs more Spanish (probably not) and then went to work for 3 hours. So see if I hadn't walked this morning, I really wouldn't have done it.

Now, I'm off to bed and I'm going to try to work the NYT Thursday puzzle. Tomorrow I have to catch up on my BSF and I HAVE to walk again!

Time for a post

It's been awhile and although nothing earth-shaking has happened, I thought it was time for a post. I'm still trying to get scrapbooks finished before starting new ones. I'm currently working on daughter's volume 2 book. It is from about age 10 to 14. The next for her will be a high school one.

I thought that I wouldn't have very many pics for her high school book but we had her senior pics made last week. Now I have many pics to put in there. We went to Portrait Innovations and they did a superb job. They are very reasonably priced and even though I spent more than I had planned -- I still have spent less than other people I know!

Last week, our Connections group from church met for our first meeting. We will be studying parables. It will be interesting and we have great people in our group.

Work is pretty much the same. Math, algebra and geometry. I love it when I can get a kid that hates being there to smile. I also loved it when recently a high school girl told me that she brought her grade up from a 79 to an 89 since she had been coming for tutoring. I may not be making a lot of money -- but I am making a difference!