Tough days ahead

The last couple of weeks have been a bit rough. The days are drawing closer to the day my guy leaves to move to another state 600 miles away. I will only see him another time or two before he leaves and as much as I want to say I'm dealing with it, I can also feel myself falling apart.

If you watch Good Morning America, the weekend edition, then you have probably seen the bit they do every few weeks call "Three Words". The idea is to sum up your week in just three words. An interesting concept, somehow based on the idea of using only Two Words, but expanded to three. It also calls to mind the idea in "Eat, Pray, Love" when one person in the book asks another person what one word tells the most about that person. I decided that one word doesn't do it for me and picked the words "Sorrow" and "Strength" as I feel that from each Sorrow in my life I have gained great strength.

So now I'm going to try to put my feelings into a series of three word comments.

• He's moving away
• I'll miss him
• I love him
• Don't forget me
• Heart is breaking
• I'm so sad
• Please come visit
• Heart will mend
• I'll be fine
• I'll be stronger
• Never forget you
• Thanks for fun
• It was wonderful
• Always my friend
• Call me often
• Life goes on!

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day and I got an annual e-mail from a good friend that tells about how she reflects on Mother's Day each year and how wonderful motherhood is and how amazing her kids are, etc, etc.

Every year I get that e-mail and I'm so happy for my friend that she feels that way. My conclusion is about the same as hers but I go about it in such a different way.

I think I was a really crumby Mom. I was raised by a grandmother who did everything for me so I guess I kind of grew up thinking my whole life should revolve around me. I was spoiled rotten as a kid and I felt it should just continue into my adulthood. So I have my two kids, daughter Nicki and son Cory. I'm sure it didn't help, but when they were 4 and 2 years old, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a rather extreme case. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and within a couple of years of having a massive heart attack due to my body going completely out of control. Of course one of the tricks your body/mind plays on you is that you think everything is just fine when really you are falling completely apart.

I did make a complete recovery but did go from having hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism brought on by the radioactive iodine used on me wiping my thyroid right out. I was in such bad physical shape they didn't believe I could survive thyroid surgery. Mind you, this all happened in my early 20's, so I've been on thyroid medication for over 30 years.

I always use to say that my son turned out the way he did because of me being his mother and my daughter turned out the way she did in spite of me being her mother. Cory didn't have it easy during his childhood while Nicki always seemed to be able to breeze through life.

So now I'm in my mid 50's. Nicki and Cory are in their mid 30's. I couldn't be more proud of my kids! I don't try to take too much credit for how they have lived their lives. They have my genes so I guess there are things that can't be denied. I have seen them overcome some tough times in their lives, a child born with a disability, a divorce, addictions, watching their parents tear about their own lives in a divorce, changing jobs, listening to their mother rant when my life seemed to spiral completely out of control and so many other things that I've never been made aware. Oh yes, I'm proud off all their good things in life, producing wonderful children, working so hard at their jobs, having warm and caring homes, etc, etc. Those things are easy to be proud off. But I think I'm more proud of the rough time they have overcome and come out stronger people because of it!

So Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

A beautiful end to a dreay day

Yesterday was a rather cold damp type of day. I didn't do much outside at all. About 8PM I noticed the sun coming out and that it was raining so I figured there was a good chance of a rainbow and I was right!

The first three pictures are looking east at the rainbow. The fourth picture is what the clouds looked like at the time, looking west. The last picture is the clouds again while looking north. They were moving along at a pretty good clip.

What a Week

What a week it turned out to be. I got my E-Z Passes on Wednesday, I got my passport on Thursday and sold my Yamaha FJR on Friday! I loved my FJR but just couldn't ride it anymore due to my back and hip problems. I hated to sell it, but it was silly to keep it if I couldn't ride it. I had taken it to Don George's Sports Center to sell on commission almost a year ago. Yesterday Steve, my salesman, called me and let me know he had a buyer. I had recently told Steve to get whatever he could for it, I just wanted the money. So I was very pleased when he told me what my cut would be after taking out the commission. I got more then I thought I would end up with.

Within a few hours I was at the store to sign the paperwork expecting to get a check for the amount owed me. Imagine my surprise when Steve walked up to me and handed me a fist full of $100 bills! I went right to the bank and deposited it, most going into paying towards my home equity principal and the rest going towards paying off the work I had done on my Venture last month.

So now I have enough money saved up to have the new windows put in the house that I need so badly. My bills will all be paid up and now I can save up for my trip this summer up to the Adirondacks to spend time with friends.

I did spend a little of the cash to take Cory, Krista and Mason out for dinner and then later downloaded some music from itunes (Carly Simon's new album, some Goo Goo Dolls, some Kingston Trio that I was missing [drats, I still can't find the Tattooed Lady song] and one cut by Chris LeDoux [Life is a Highway])

This morning I continue fighting the cold or sinus infection I picked up this week, a relatively mild case but annoying just the same! I vacuumed up massive amounts of Saint Bernard hair and now must fight my way through a mountain of mail and get some laundry done. I also put the finishing touches on a couple of knitting projects so I can get back to work on a big knitting project that I'm actually getting paid for. Cory will also be over later so we can get some trash out to the road for the townwide spring trash pickup. No wonder weekends fly by so fast! There is just too much to do!!!!!!

Progress

There are things I've been thinking about that I kept putting on the back burner. You know, kind of like Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind saying "tomorrow's another day". So last week I got my act together and got some stuff done.

Number one was applying for my passport. I blogged earlier about having to get another birth certificate and how quickly it arrived. Last Tuesday I stopped to the post office with all my paperwork and money and got the paperwork sent to the government. Yesterday I noticed that my check cleared. Today I got my new birth certificate returned to me with the notice that my passport had been approved. Yippee! Now it's just a matter of getting the actual passport.

Over the weekend my fella' was away, visiting North Carolina, where he is moving at the end of this month and we got talking about how nice it was that the E-Zpass works in so many different states. I mentioned to him how I had thought about getting one and with his encouragement, after we said good-bye I went to the computer and ordered them online. I say "them" because it ordered one for my car and one for my bike. Turns out if you have an E-Zpass on your motorcycle, it's cheaper then paying cash, so I figured I might as well get them both. You are allowed up to 4 passes per account. Today when I got them mail, there were my passes. WOW, that was fast.

So now a couple things I've been talking about doing for what seems like ages have now been done! Hmmm, so what should my next goal be?

I did take most of the day off from work. Yesterday I felt a bit of a sore throat. Just a tickle really, but enough to remind me that I hadn't been sick all winter, which is a real milestone for me. During the night I found myself waking up every hour during the entire night. When I woke up to get ready for work I realized that I really felt grummy and decided to call in sick. I took the dog out quickly then crawled back into bed and fell to sleep waking up shortly before my guy called me. After talking with him, I decided to call into my other job and tell them I wouldn't be in there either. I stayed in bed until after 10am. It was wonderful. My throat felt worse and then I started with some head congestion. Call me slow, but it was then I realized that it's probably my sinuses that are acting up. I decided to go to school and work in the afternoon. My sore throat just about all gone but now my nose is feeling a bit congested and I'm on the verge of a headache. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel much better. We have a half day of school so a bunch of us will head out for breakfast in the morning between runs, then after the runs are all done I'll head to Aspire for the rest of the day. That's the plan anyway.

Podcast Freak

Ok, so I'll admit it. I'm a podcast freak. I blame my daughter of course. The last time she was home (at Christmas) we hopped in her car to do some errands and she plugged in her iPod and started to play a podcast. Something we laughed ourselves silly over (a conversation between Fred and Barney of the Flintstones after Barney had run over and killed Dino - it was hilarious). This was all the encouragement I needed to look into downloading some popcasts for myself.

I started out slowly, looking over each one carefully. I wasn't sure if I would even enjoy listening to the spoken word but within a few days I was totally hooked. Before long, my son had the hook up installed in my car so that it would play right through that system along with charging. Not that I'm in the car all that long, but suddenly my trips between my jobs and home seemed much shorter.

Let me see if I can find more podcasts I might be interested. Funny how just about everything looks interesting when your thirst is great. I downloaded things from NPR, APM, CNET and many independents.

OH NO, then I discovered video podcasts! A whole new genre to enjoy.

I checked for update almost every day. The heading into bed at night, I would put the iPod on the docking system I kept in there and watched any of the videos that were new that day. After I was done with the videos, I would listen to an audio podcasts and fall asleep. The next morning I would hook up the ipod in the car and try to figure out where I had fallen asleep the night before. I no longer went into the bus garage between routes. Why would I want to talk to anyone when I could sit in my bus and listen to a podcast? While grocery shopping I would walk around listening to another podcast. Waiting at the doctor's office, I would sit where I could watch for the nurse coming to get me so I wouldn't miss my name being called while I listen to another podcast. Out to lunch on my own, no problem, a podcast on the good old ipod would keep me company.

Reading became a thing of the past. I haven't touched a book in weeks. None of my friends listen to podcasts, much less own an ipod so I had nothing to share with them. On occasion when my daughter and I would talk we could share different podcasts that we enjoyed and amazingly, we have very similar tastes.

Today I sat down at my computer and deleted ALL my podcast. I wanted to start out fresh, wipe out all the old podcasts that needed deleted and then reload just my favorites again. Would I remember them all? I ended up with 18 podcasts, both audio and video. That's down from over 30. Now let's see if I can control myself!

But in case you are interested, here is some of my very favorite podcasts.

I guess I would have say the podcast I enjoy the most is NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me. It's a game show based on events of the past week, mostly political with guest stars playing for people who call in. It is hilarious. The host, Peter Sagal is a riot. I often worry about listening to this while grocery shopping because it makes me laugh out loud.

Another favorite is CNET's The Buzz Outloud. This is a technology podcast that is very funny and educational. Many time I don't have a clue what they are talking about but I still love the way they present things with so much humor.

More Hip Than Hippie is another timely podcast. Two woman talk about how to live a greener life with simple suggestions for around the home and also discuss much larger world issues of energy and the like. All is told with much humor as they sample the beer and chocolates that are sent to them. These girls now how to have some fun!

My week wouldn't be complete without Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion from APM, the news from Lake Wobegon. His calming voice is very easy to listen too as he weaves his tales about life in Minnesota. I think maybe it reminds me of listening to my Dad telling stories when I was a kid. It's amazing how a soft spoken male voice can pull you into the story so completely. This is another podcast that I find myself laughing out loud.

Another story teller that I've become fond of is Baba The Story Teller, Timeless Tales Told Tastefully. Baba gives hints on being a good storyteller, gives a moral of the day and tells a very simple story, often very short but with much meaning.

Because I'm a knitter, I decided to download some knitting podcasts. I'm not down to listening to only one, Sticks and Strings done by a bloke from Australia. I guess part of my first fascination was to listen to a guy talk about knitting but after a few weeks I realized he was the only one I was listening to and have deleted all my other knitting podcast. With the accent, he's fun to listen to but I also really enjoy his style and what information he presents. In his "real" life, he's a school teacher so I'm sure that's why he present himself so well. What is most fun is trying to figure out what he is talking about sometimes as some of the terms he uses aren't what we use here in the states. Luckily I have an online motorcycle friend in Australia and he helps me out when I have a question about what this podcaster is talking about. An example, recently he was talking about knitting a jumper. Turns out that is a sweater to Australian, not a dress like I thought. Then I found out that they call sweatshirts sloopyjoes! Oh the many things I have learned!

There are many more podcasts that I'll be listening to in the future including The New Yorker's Animated Cartoons (a video), The Onion News Network (another laugh out loud item), The Twisted Wrist (motorcycling) and NPR This American Life (which takes a different and interesting look at life with three acts, extremely thought provoking)

There are so many other podcasts I would like to try but now that I'm riding the bike more I won't be listening to podcast as much. The spoken word just doesn't come across as well on my radio speakers. But there is certainly something for everyone in the world of podcasting!

What a Week!

What a week it was. I had the week off from school due to Mid Spring break. I was hoping to be able to really enjoy some time to myself, but I'm sure you know the saying "the best laid plans of mice and men........". All and all, I did have some additional time to myself along with more time to do things that had to be done and had been put on the back burner for a while. I guess I've also been blessed because no matter how out of control things seem to get, I'm usually able to find the bright side of just about each situation.

I was able to put in extra time on my Aspire job so that I was able to take a day off in the middle of the week. I had set up an appointment to meet with a social worker from the Catholic Health Systems to have Mom evaluated to see if she needed to be moved into a nursing home. I prepared myself for a week for this decision and how Mom would deal with it. Wednesday morning I meet with this woman at Mom's house and to my surprise, Mom is OK'ed to continue living on her own. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I explained to the lady that I was having some health problems, that I have no real support system here to help me out with Mom and that due to my health, I'm still trying to travel as much as possible while I can. I was assured that this is no problem, all I need to do if find some outside help and that Mom should be fine for who knows how much longer on her own.

I leave that meeting to head to the post office to apply for my passport. Fortunately I had notice there was a newer form to fill out and had that ready along with my birth certificate. I had the cash in my pocket to pay for it and knew that the folks at the post office would be able to take the needed pictures. The woman at the post office looks at my birth certificate and what the hey, they can't use my birth certificate because it doesn't have a raised seal! OK, nice way to make a person feel old. She explains to me that I have to go to the Buffalo City Hall to get a copy of my BC with the raised seal and all I can think if how much I DON'T want to drive into Buffalo and find a parking space and have to take time off from work in order to accomplish this whole project. Meanwhile, they went ahead and took my pictures for the passport and checked my other paperwork to make sure that was all in order.

I'm soon back on the road again, luckily on the bike so I can enjoy the beautiful day. I head on over to Don George's Sports Center to drop off my lien release on the FJR and also pick up the plate so I can turn it in. I also tell Steve to sell, sell, sell. I need, want, lust, desire for the money I can get for the sale of this bike.

That night I decide there has got to be a way to get a new birth certificate online and save myself the trouble of going downtown Buffalo and sure enough, there is a link right from the Buffalo Vital Statistics page to order new BCs at a cost of a fee of only $8.50. I'm pleasantly surprised at this as what I will save from not having to pay a parking fee and taking time off from work, this is a true bargain! So I proceed with the process then end up having to print up a form which I just need to fax to the proper office. The next morning I do just that once I get to work at Aspire. Then I figure it will take a week or more time to receive the goods. Surprise, Surprise, it's in the next day's mail! When I open it, what another surprise, it must be a copy of a microfiche or something as it appears to be a negative image meaning the paper is black and the writing is white! and it's tiny but sure enough, it's got the required raised seal so I guess it is official. This morning I take a good long look at it and find out it's really the very original with more information then what my regular BC has. I know now that I was born at 6:59PM which is something I never knew before. Turns out this is the form that the attending doctor signed, the same doctor who delivered my sister and most of my cousins. The only thing it doesn't tell me if how long I was when I was born.

Friday I get to go out to lunch with my buddy Jody. As some of you will remember, Jody was my "spiritual guide" during my divorce. The other day we realize how much we missed having some time to just spend together and really catch up on each other's life's twists and turns. Keeping true to form, we couldn't meet on Thursday as we had planned the week before but were able to meet on Friday. Jody had worked in the early morning at school doing some training of new drivers then came to my Apsire office but of course I was in a last minute department meeting which went a bit longer then I expected. Top that off with Jody having to get to the Vet's office to pick up Merle from his surgery by 1PM, well, our lunch was shorter and faster then what we had hoped but still very enjoyable. All I can say is that I hope we find time again soon to get together hopefully with Bev when she gets home from her winter in NC.

Friday afternoon was topped off by taking Mom to the doctor's office. I called her to remind her that she had an appointment which of course she had forgotten. It was a long wait at the doctor's office but it was good to see her leg had healed up very nicely and the swelling in her legs had gone down very nicely as well. While we were waiting in the office I received a phone call from a florist telling me they had just delivered flowers to my home and left them on the front porch. Flowers! Wow! I texted Nicki and sure enough she had sent them to me. I couldn't wait to get home to see them. I get Mom home and then get to my home and there are my beautiful flowers.

A couple of weeks ago, I found half of a $20 bill laying in the bus garage yard. I took that to the bank just the other day, hoping to get a new $20 but alas, you have to have both side with both numbers in order to get it replaced. I'm assuming the other half was blown away when the snow uncovered that half. I'm not sure it's worth hunting around the yard anymore. That same day I finally turned in a lottery ticket worth $2 that I had received as a Christmas present from a family of some kids that ride my school bus. Hey, $2 is more then I expect! While I was disappointed not to get the $20 from the bank, then next day I open my mail and there is a check for $20 from Mercy Hospital from something I had done in May of 2007 which would have been a co-pay. Must have been for some x-rays I had taken last spring. So that was like found money in it's own way.

The worst news/event of the week was that Russ has pretty much made up his mind that he is going to move to North Carolina. He recently sold his house and after some time in the hospital and having a stint put in one of his arteries for a blockage, his company came to him asking him if/when he was going to be ready to move. While he says he is still conflicted about the move, he is going down there next weekend to look for a place to live. They expect him to move there by the first of June. He needs to be out of his house just about the same time. So our time together is limited now. Not that our time hasn't been limited all along due to our/his circumstances, but now he will be 600 miles away, not 10 miles. Yeah, I fell apart for a while, but I'm dealing with it and I know I will be just fine. After all, I have in the past and I know I will be just fine in the future.

With all the ups and downs of this past week or two, the weather has finally turned around and spring is finally here. The flowers are blooming and the trees are starting to leaf out which means that the grass is starting to grow so I guess that means I need to get the lawn mower out. I'm started siphoning the water off the top of the pool, the peepers have been peeping for the last couple weeks and just a couple days ago I started hearing the boy toads making the love calls to the girl toads. I've been able to leave the bedroom window open over my bed during the night and Penny, my new Saint Bernard, is shedding as is Dickens the cat.

I'll try to be more in touch with my blog, but not making ANY promises!

Happy New Year and Happy Groundhog Day!

Guess I should start out by saying I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post anything. Things sure were crazy around the holidays and then just didn't seem to slow down afterwards.

Today I'm enjoying a nice lazy day. Oh sure, I've had a couple easy days recently, including MLK Day when both the school and Aspire were closed so I didn't have to work. This past Monday the school was closed for a staff development day so I just had to work at Aspire where I put in a little extra time. But today is really sort of special because it couldn't be planned for in advance.

The weather people were calling for wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour and they were right. About 4AM this morning the winds kicked into high gear and the temperature dropped quickly from in the low 50's down into the high teens in just a few hours. I haven't heard how much snow has fallen, but with the strong winds, none of it has hung around for long. It just sort of blows on through. All the schools are closed and when I called into Aspire, all the programs had closed, all the drivers had gone home and due to my empty schedule for the day, I decided I would just take the day off as well. I also called the doctor's office to cancel an appointment.

Now I'm a professional driver, I'm sure I could have gotten to work or the doctor's appointment, but there is also the problem that my car is sitting in the yard over at the bus garage. Last night I worked later then normal so I had permission to bring my bus home. My first route in the morning starts right down the street from my house so I do bring my bus home when I work late. That way I get to sleep in a little bit more. It's amazing what that extra half hour can do for a person's soul!

So here I sit in a cold house (I'm almost out of fire wood so I let the fire go out during out recent warm spell) and every time I walk past a window in the front of the house, I'm surprised to see that big yellow bus in my driveway. Of course my poor car is not use to sitting outside, but at least I had a remote starter put in it just a couple days ago, so at least I can get it started tomorrow when I pull into the bus yard so it's warmed up before I head on down the road back to Aspire.

I've also been very busy with some knitting projects. Between watching a DIY network program called Knitty Gritty and now listening to the many knitting podcasts I download, I've become inspired to try some new projects and I'm thinking about trying some new yarns including alpaca. I've even learned about a big yarn show that is held in October near my daughter's area so we are thinking about heading there later this year. I've even toyed with the idea of trying to dye some yarn myself. Meanwhile I'm content with using my cheapo yarn and putting it together in interesting patterns to make scarfs. I'm also contemplating making socks, which is something I swore I would NEVER do! I guess I finally feel like I'm up to the challenge. I'm also hoping my feet have forgotten the socks made me back when I was in elementary school!

So the New Year has brought new challenges to my life. I'm just as busy as always but even with the awful weather today, I'm amazed at how quickly this winter seems to be going by so I'm glad that I've been keeping busy to make it zoom by!

I'm also looking forward to meeting a couple Venturer members. This weekend a bike from GA that is presently garage in Delaware will be transported to my garage until it's new owner from North Bay, Ontario can get all the paperwork taken care off. It's been fun being part of this transportation relay and it will be fun having another Venture in the garage.

I'll try to keep more up to date with my Blog, but I ain't promising a thing!

Life is Busy

Life has just been too busy for me to take the time to update the blog. Between the holiday season being in full swing, working three jobs and trying to get my Christmas shopping done, I've just been way to lazy to even think about writing about my life.

So please be patient with me and hopefully after Christmas, I'll find time to write and hopefully have something interesting to say!

Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Yakety Yak

I'm always hoping to have new experiences that are interesting and maybe a little out of the ordinary. Little did I know it would include the hide of an animal I never thought I would touch.

I couple of weeks ago I had some friends visiting from Canada, Will and Ed, some of my motorcycle buddies. My friend Michelle from work (Aspire) and her husband Tom also joined us for the evening along with my special friend Russ.

So we are sitting around the kitchen table drinking a little and eating pizza and wings while telling stories and just enjoying each other's company and laughing quite a bit. Somehow hunting comes up and Russ starts telling about the time he shot a Yak. I had never heard this hunting story. I'd heard about the elk in Alaska and the turkey in Texas, but a Yak? So someone say "Where did you shot it?" to which Russ replies "right between the eyes". We all start laughing until someone says, "no really, they are from Tibet, so where in the world did you shot a yak". Russ once again just matter of factly replies "In Ohio". Now we all go hysterical with laughter.

A couple of days later, Russ stops over to drop off some things he had picked up for me. I'm standing in the garage and he tells me to turn around and not look at him while he gets something else out of his truck. Oh wow, I'm thinking, he's brought me a gift. A minute later I feel something heavy over my shoulders. It's the yak skin!

So enjoy some pictures of the Ohio yak. This skin is from the shoulders back as he had the head mounted. I guess he also had the meat butchered. I'm almost afraid to asked any questions about that after the funny answers we got to the other questions about this yak! The second picture is a close-up of the tail. I have since learned that the long yak hair doesn't shed out but the shorter fur that runs along the back can be combed out and spun into a very nice wool yarn that some people claim is nicer the alpaca yarn.

Just in case you are still wondering, Russ did shoot this yak on a game farm in Ohio. He had gone there with a friend not really planning on shooting anything. The owner of the farm asked Russ if he would like to shoot the yak as it was beginning to bother the other animals and was attacking the owner's kids when they were trying to feed the other animals. Yaks are normally a pretty calm animal but this was a Yak who had gone bad.

R & R

Once I get something into my head, it's hard to move it on out. Last night about 8PM I decided it was time to move my bedroom furniture to a different position. I usually have a spring/summer setting and a fall/winter setting. So last night I decide to try a whole different setting that I have used a couple times that I rather like. At 10PM I finally crawl into bed to watch my little TV that now seems a mile away. Since putting the dvr on that TV, the picture seemed so small when I was trying to read the TV Guide.

This morning I wake up and I realize I'm really stiff and sore from all the activity last night so after laying in bed for a half hour, I called into work sick. At 9AM I call into my other job to say I won't be in there either. I decided I've been working way too much, not having a full day off to myself since just about Labor Day. It's a rainy cooler day so a perfect day to get things done in the house.

First I strip the bedclothes off the bed and start washing them. I vacuum in the bedroom then decide with the new furniture arrangement I have room to move my old TV from the livingroom into the bedroom. After moving that and getting the dvr hooked up I try it out and no sound from the TV. I find the two remotes for the TV but even with new batteries they won't work. I finally get the dvr remote to control the TV and yippee, sound!

Time to do more laundry, play on the computer, chat with a friend from Germany, make a couple meatloaf to put in the freezer, make some sloppy Joe's for lunch and dinner, got through some mail, watch some TV in both the livingroom and the bedroom, depending on where I'm working, went though my closest to remove some clothes that I don't wear anymore, downloaded music from itunes, backed up all my downloads to disk and talk to Russ on the phone. Later he stops and picks me up to take me to town to pick up my car which has been in the garage since last week. It was an expensive fix, but now the car is so quiet and sit higher then it has in a while. There is one strange noise in it that I will take it back up to the garage for them to determine what it is, but that will wait until tomorrow or the next day.

Now it's getting dark and I can't believe what a full and enjoyable day I've had! I feel so relaxed and content. I think I'll be able to go back to work tomorrow with a whole new attitude! Guess a little R & R was just what the doctor ordered!!!

More Lyrics

I've mentioned it before and I'm sure I'll mention it many times in the future, but I'm a person who love lyrics. Guess it's my way of enjoying a form of poetry.

Since owning an iPod, I have enjoyed more music, buying a single cut from an album I would never even considered buying. Today I bought a cut from the new Lyle Lovett album "It's not Big, it's Large", an album I learned about when reviewed on CBS Sunday Morning, one of my favorite programs where I have learned about many musical artists that I had never heard off before. John Prine being a perfect example!

So today I decide to check out this Lyle Lovett album because of a cut I heard on the CBS Morning News called "Don't Cry A Tear For Me". The lyrics touched me because I know that soon someone will be walking out of my life.

Don't Cry A Tear For Me

Go if you must go

Turn if you must turn away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Laugh if you can smile

Run if you are walking away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Shout if you can speak

Sing if you mention my name

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Low in the Valley

Stand in the wind and the rain

High on the mountain

See the sun shining again

Shout if you can speak

Sing when you mention my name

Don't Cry a Tear for me

So go if you must go

Turn if you must turn away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Another obsession taken care off

For about a year now, I've been doing research about flat screen TV's. Then my son bought a plasma TV for his fiance'. Next my daughter and her husband bought a LCD TV. I continued to do research, trying to decide what I really wanted, what size would work best in my livingroom, plasma or LCD, 40", smaller? Larger? Do I really want to spend the money? After all, the TV in the livingroom was working just fine and it was only a few years old, maybe 7 yrs at the most.

Then one day while I was looking for paperwork on something else, I found the paperwork on my TV and I realized my TV was at least 13 yrs old! Suddenly I didn't feel so quilty about lusting after a new TV.

Each work I would look online for the best deals at Circuit City and noticed each week they seemed to offer 18 month financing with no interest. This is the type of deal I've taken advantage of in the past very successfully so figured this was the way to go.

This Sunday for some reason, once I checked the ads, I convinced myself that it was the right day to buy the new TV. After church, I called my future daughter-in-law to see if she would be available to bring her truck to the store to pick up the TV for me. Off I was on the bike to go pick out which model I wanted and to apply for the financing. Krista got there while I was waiting for the good word from the bank that my application had been accepted. I took her over to see the two sets I was trying to decide between when the salesman walked up to me and told me that my application had been declined! I was shocked! I have an excellent credit rating. He looked sheepish, explaining it wasn't Circuit City but the Chase Bank that had rejected me. The only reason I could come up with in my mind was the slight mess I had with my taxes this past year that my "taxman" had screwed up on me but I had paid them off and the checks had cleared.

Krista and I walked out of the store, stood in the parking lot talking for a while and were just about ready to say good-bye when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but answered. "Ms Striegel? This is George the salesman at Circuit City. The bank just called us to let us know that their computer had a problem and you shouldn't have been declined. Are you still interested in the TV?"

Back into the store we went to finish the paperwork with me finally on the phone with someone from the bank to answer a few secruity questions. The last few questions would be her giving me names and I had to identify if I knew the people or not. Ok, I'm ready, what's the first name. Gerald Cook. OH SHIT, why did he have to come into this whole deal??? I told the lady at the bank, yes I knew him. "Where does he live". I then started to laugh and finally said to her, "that is my ex-husband and I don't care where he lives". She then gave me the town and yes, that is where he lives. Next name, Nicole Cook. "yes, that is my daughter but that isn't her name now, she is married now.

(At this point the rest of the blog for today was lost and I can't remember exactly what I finished the blog with but I'll try anyway)

So I finally get all the financing paperwork done, pick out the TV I wanted and start the paperwork on that. After all was taken care off, the sales guy says to me "I'm going to try to get you some money off of the TV for all we put you through today". Away he walks and of course I'm thinking I should get the TV for free, but when he returns he tells me that I'm going to get $50 off the price. I then try to give him a $15 coupon Krista had given me but he gives it back to me and pulls out a $40 coupon that he uses instead. So I got $90 off the price of the TV!

We get it home and set up and I enjoy the evening playing with the controls getting the best picture and sound for my room. I call Time Warner to take advantage of a 3 month price break on my HD DVR thinking I'll have to wait a couple days for the new cable box to arrive only to learn that my present digital DVR is HD compatiable and only needs the signal sent to it to set it up. How simple is that? Yippee.

I spend the rest of the evening seeing what channels are HD and which aren't and I'm even surprised by how many commericals are HD. As the evening progresses I'm beginning to think that the picture on the HD isn't really anything special. It was time to head to bed, goin in the bedroom and turn on the TV in there and take a look at it and think to myself, wow, what a crappy little picture! How quickly I've been spoiled!!!!!

Quotes

I love learning new quotes, whether they make me laugh or make me think seriously about my life, I like learning something new. Just take a look at the sidebar of this blog to see many of my favorite quotes. Look at the inside of my motorcycle trunk and you will see some rather off-color quotes that make me laugh and make anyone who happens to read them wonder if I really mean any of them. I get some of my favorite quotes from lyrics of songs. John Prine being my favorite in recent years. Look at a book I've read and you might see lots of highlighting, especially if it's a John Irving book. (sometimes it's hard to read a borrowed book that I can't highlight!)

Today I was enjoying my normal Sunday early afternoon ritual and watching CBS Sunday Morning News, which I DVR every week so I can watch it at my leisure after church. One of the features today was about a book about 80 year old people, containing interviews about how they see life at 80. Reporter Tracy Smith was interviewing several of the famous contributors, one being Norman Lear, who among other things is famous for his TV show "All In The Family". When asked "If you could do it over again......". I loved what he had to say, and I'm slightly paraphrasing here, but basically he said "I wouldn't trade anything.... If things go right at any given moment, everything that led up to it has to have been right. All the pain, all the agony, all the bad times. If you are living in the moment and the moment is great, everything that took you there is great"

I loved that! I realized that it's what I have been trying to live in my life in the last few years. Not to have any regrets, but to embrace my life and all that it has been in order to acknowledge that all my past has brought me to where I am today, a very content person! OH sure, I still have some money worries, I've lost some friends, my health isn't what I would like it to be at this stage but all in all, I'm so very happy where I am!! So what if I have some money worries, it makes me take stock of where I am and what is really important and needed in my material life. Sure, I've moved on from some friends, but many of my old friends are still there and even more precious then they were before and new friends are always around the corner to bring a new dimension to my life. My health? Yep, lots of time I ache, but I still get up everyday and go to work, I'm still riding my motorcycle and in the grand scheme of things, my body hasn't really failed me. I can still laugh and smile, l can cry and love, I might be depressed or giddy with joy. Life is good.

So if you like quotes and wonder where they came from , I found through a google search some websites including http://www.quotationspage.com/, where you can type in a quote and hopefully find out who is attribbed the quote. Another of my favorite quotes is "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History". I was able to locate the author as Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938), who is a pre-eminent historian of early America and the history of women and a University Professor at Harvard University.

I am going to try to become a less well behaved woman as I age!

Labor Day?

Where the heck did August go????? I thought July had a nice pace, but August just flew on by.

Tomorrow my life returns to it's normal pace of working at school. I'll also start putting in "after hours" at Aspire to meet with staff who work the 2nd shift. I'm feeling tired already just thinking about it. I'm also playing for at least the rest of the month at my own church while they start the hunt for a new organist. I have already told them I will only be available for one Sunday in October.

The first weekend in October I'll be going to Nicki's for the Regan's annual Octoberfest. The second weekend I would like to go to WV for a Venturer's Ride-In but due to my taxman messing up my taxes, I have to pay some back taxes. (At least he will be paying all the penalties and late fees). The last weekend in October I'll be playing at St John's in Elma as well as the first weekend in November. I have also told them I will return for the winter as their organist, hopefully for the last time.

I started doing physical therapy in July and found out my back had several vertebrae that were not moving. After a couple sessions, one had broken loose and through treatments and exercise I'm living with a lot less pain.

The toughest part of the summer was learning that the man I have been dating/seeing since the beginning of the year, will be moving to NC in the near future as part of a job promotion. We have decided we will enjoy the time we have left together and then see what the future holds. He wants to give NC at least a year and I'm sure he will love it there. Drats, how I hate NC. OH well, I have decided I'm giving up on men (no I'm not becoming a Lesbian - no matter what my ex-husband wants to believe, asshole) but I have found I'm so content with my life now that I don't need a man to make my life complete. Oh yes, it's nice to have a warm body around from time to time, but I just don't think I need to have one around too much. I guess I always was more of a loaner then a people person.

My special friend Russ

Highlights of the summer? WOW, so many! The trip to Springfield, MO for the Women On Wheels (r) Ride-In. Seeing old friends, especially Kate and Liz Greenwood from Mulkeytown, IL and finding that travel by motorcycle with the extra wheels is still part of my life. Traveling to Nicki's for a couple concerts featuring Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price. Spending time with friends in Canton, OH to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Pastor and Kate Knauff. Spending time with Russ whenever we had the free time. Working, smiling and keeping the bills paid. And a real highlight was meeting and traveling around the area with fellow Venturers JohnJr, an American living in Switzerland, Rudy from Germany, Romek from Poland and Mike from Ireland. What a blast!

From left to right, Romek, JohnJr, Rudy and Mike at Niagara Falls.

Another fun thing was having some new neighbors move into the area. After much research and debate, it was determined that my new friends are Cooper's Hawks. I haven't seen them lately, but then I haven't been around too much either. It will be interesting to see if they return to the area next summer.

Bird's Eye View

I've been a church organist since I was 13 years old or for 42 years, which ever way I say it, it's been a long time. Most churches that I've played at, I'm usually sitting up front with my back to the congregation. But when I do play at my own church, as a sub, I'm sitting upstairs and can look out over the balcony and see the people below.

It's rather interesting what you see, children playing, some people snoozing, other people paying very close attention to every word and maybe just sitting there because they were made to be there.

Today I played for a funeral of a gentleman who was 90 years old and left behind his wife of 70 years. WOW! What an accomplishment. While listening to the sermon, I was watching the people below and noticed one couple, probably in their late 50's (I'm a very poor judge of age, especially when all you really see are the tops of their heads!) When I first noticed this couple, I noticed the woman and I assume wife, had her hand on the man's knee. Later I noticed they arms entwined and they were holding hands. How sweet!

A few years ago I use to watch a couple, Bill and Buna, as they sat together in their usual pew. I would see Buna rubbing Bill's leg during the service. They were in their 70's at the time. Bill has since died and Buna lives in an assisted living home down the road a piece from the church so is still often in church. But what I remember most about watching them was how I felt like I was seeing the must intimate feelings being expressed by two people who after so many years, they were still so much in love. How Sweet, How endearing, How Romantic, How Real. I would wish for everyone such tenderness of spirit for another person in their lives. What a rare commodity and one to be treasured! OH Bill and Buna, you were truly blessed and I hope the couple I watched today have the same in their lives.

Surreal Weekend

What a strange weekend this was. My ex-husband got married in town on Friday night. I had heard it was going to happen quite some time ago and laughed and smiled the rest of the day, heck, who am I kidding. I smiled and laughed the rest of the whole week!

So the time rolls around for the wedding and I'm doing just fine. My daughter and her family came in for the "festivities" and I couldn't wait to see them. Of course they got here and left right away for a family gathering. No big deal, I knew that would happen. Then Friday I started getting a bit jumpy. I couldn't figure out why when I was so happy that some other woman was going to be stuck with him. Nicki and her husband were getting ready to attend the wedding, leaving their son Sean with me. I got edgier and edgier until I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. Suddenly it came to me in a flash. I wasn't upset about the wedding, not at all. I was upset to think that my children were going to be there to witness that lying son-of-bitch make wedding vows to another woman after the many years he treated out vows like shit. How strange. I can understand that my children love their father, but by going to his wedding I still felt like they were betraying me.

OK all you armchair analyst, go ahead and say to me "get over it". Well, a person can't help their feelings can they? The minute Nicki and Rick walked out the door for the wedding, I felt 100% better. I was glad they were gone, I was glad I didn't have to see them walking around the house getting all dolled up to head out for the big occasion. How strange.

This morning we went out for breakfast and I was feeling so much different than the night before. We enjoyed our time together and then parted ways, me heading out for a ride and them to go to the mall. As it turned out, they were home before I got there. We once again said our goodbyes and they were out the door again to get ice cream then head to the reception. How strange.

I spent the afternoon having lunch with my former daughter-in-law, then going for a nice long ride heading to the windmills to get some pics of my bike then an enjoyable ride home. What a day, what a weird weekend, what an amazing life. How strange.

The Birds, or at least one bird

AUGH! Do you remember the movie The Birds? It is a great Alfred Hitchcock movie, one I watched on a wintry Sunday afternoon with Cory when he was just a little kid. He says he still remembers watching it with me and how it scared him.

Well, I have a bird attacking my house, or rather attacking the bees that have been attacking this house for years. This year seemed particulary bad as far as the bee attacks on the house and so I guess the woodpecked attacking their holes has some good eats hiding out in the wood. I heard the pecking so grabbed the camera hoping to get some pics. I only got a couple and haven't made an identification yet for sure but it looks like it might be a "hairy woodpecker"

I think I hear the woodpecker out on the front of the house now so guess it's time to see if I can get more pictures.

Extra Wheels

I've been riding motorcycles for a few years now (20+) and it's just a part of me. I haven't been able to imagine my life without riding for quite some time. A few years ago a friend added some extra wheels to her bike and made a trip with me and another friend to AZ for a Women On Wheels(r) Ride-In. I remember thinking I would rather give up riding then ever add wheels to any bike of mine! How cavalier of me.

Fast forward a few years and suddenly I'm having some back problems which start affecting my legs and I start feeling like maybe I shouldn't be riding. I found myself doing some rather dangerous stunts when riding so I wouldn't have to put a foot down when stopping. I was so afriad of my leg giving out on me along with the pain it caused to have to lift my leg back up to the riding position.

Then another friend called me to let me know that he no longer needed the extra wheels on his bike as his leg had healed enough after an accident that he was able to ride on two wheels again. Next thing I knew, he was bringing the kit up to attach to my bike.

I take my first ride, heading out the driveway and down the road. Within the first few hundred yards I'm thinking, "this is the biggest mistake I've ever made". Then I get to the first stop sign and I don't have to put down my feet or worry about falling over and I start thinking "hey, maybe I could get use to this". I continue around the block, pull into my yard and tell the people gathered there "well, it's not great, but it's better then sitting in the livingroom in front of the TV". That was just about a month ago and now I have 3000 miles on the bike. I did a good 900 miles getting use to it, then took off for a week trip to Springfield, MO. I'm riding every day, back and forth to work, doing grocery shopping, running errands and going for ice cream. I'm on the Road Again and I couldn't be happier. Another lesson learned. Never say Never!

Mom feel and broke her hip

I haven't posted in such a long time. So here is my list of excuses

1. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

2. School just ended last week with the last couple weeks being crazy

3. Extra hours at my second job with lots of meetings, training, etc.

4. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

5. Weather has been so hot, I'm just whipped, spending time in pool to cool off

6. Had family reunion here last weekend so had to clean up

7. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

8. Been to hot to do anything in a room that isn't air conditioned

9. Mom fell and broke her hip...........

Oh, OK, so I've just been lazy. Actually thought of several really good posts to make, but always think of those things while mowing the lawn and then when I get back into the house I forget it. But Mom did fall and break her hip, had surgery, went to rehab and does get to come home tomorrow and now I can see how my life is changing. I've had to take over her finances, not that she was doing a bad job, but there were things that she was paying for that she didn't need and she thought she had removed her name from things and yet things were still coming. I've taken care of that for her. Now I'm getting all her bills on direct debit or payments online. I can view her banking online now and keep track of things that way also.

Next week I'm planning on leaving for a few days and just hope that my body will allow me to do the miles that I plan to do and also hope that my mind will allow me to not think that I'm a terrible daughter for leaving my Mom home alone. Looks like a number of her friends will be checking in on her and hopefully Mom will realize that she is 83 and needs to take things a bit easy.

Next post will hopefully have some wonderful pictures from my trip.