Getting Along

I'm so glad today is done...and tomorrow is Friday :) We had a double header today - two funerals with about an hour between the end of one and the beginning of the next - and I'm pooped! No major mishaps, so it's all good, hehehe. I say that because not only were there no mistakes on our part, but there were no fights to break up :) One of our services today has some family trouble and not everyone has learned how to play nice. There was some tension there and peeps in one camp didn't want to set on the same side of the chapel as those in the other camp.
I've never understood that, but it happens a lot. We've had to have police come and escort people out before, break up fights, we've had to tell people that the family has requested that they not attend. That always looks good: Police dragging someone kicking & screaming out the front door of the funeral home. Yeah that's good advertising...Can't we all just get along?? LOL

Yesterday (and today) was enrollment for the 09-10 school year. Enrollment consists of filling out forms (the same forms you already filled out if your kid went to Kindergarten Roundup) and going from step to step to make sure you filled it all out correctly, then paying your fees. It's all backwards and totally silly - I mean the only people who should have to do all this is the ones who are new. Back in California they sent home a letter asking if your child will be attending the same school again and you indicated any changes on the form and you were done! And if you were new, you went to the office and filled out your stuff, gave them copies of birth records, etc. - easy! This is designed to drain you of all energy and make you completely insane. Here is a priceless moment from yesterday: step one is filling out forms, step two is fall sports sign-ups and I wasn't going to need step two so I started looking for step three...nowhere, so I go to the lady at step four (which I can't remember now hehehe) and ask her where step three is. She looks around and says "I have no idea (laughs)" On to step five, lol...

I was kind of in a hurry, I needed to get back to work, so I pretty much flew through it all, as much as possible anyway. At the form filling table there was a BIG biker dude, who from the smell of him had been drinking a lot of coffee, sitting next to me. He quite obviously was not happy about being there (I did not blame him a bit!) because he was having what I call explosive sighs. And everytime he did I got a whiff of coffee breath - ugh! But you gotta give him credit for being there and getting it done. I did feel bad for him though, because after 20 minutes and nine steps, I was leaving and he was still filling out forms...Yikes!

Uh...Yeah...

Ok, so today was apparently one of those 'special' days. You know, like 'Backwards Day', or 'Stupid Hat Day', only more along the lines of ' Unleash Your Fury On The Unsuspecting Day'! And nobody told me about it :( ...

I work at a funeral home, in a S M ALL town....when a body isn't in the chapel or other stateroom yet, we put the register book up on the front counter, aka; my desk, and it usually isn't printed until the day before the service. The reason for that is we don't always have all the info yet.

First thing this morning, a lady comes in to sign the book and starts flipping through the pages and literally screams in my face that there's no darn (my word) name & she is NOT signing it and then she storms out. Her face was purple, she was so mad! She was still yelling at me (herself, lol) walking down the sidewalk. I was like "what just happened??"

And then...another elderly lady and her husband come in & go into a stateroom where we have a photo display and some flowers (it's cremation, so there's no casket) and then when she comes out she says "you need to turn on the lights in there! Can't see nothin'!" Then her husband says "no, it's just because it's bright outside." And she lights into him, lol, saying "No, it's not! They need some darn (my word) lights!" What the heck??...the lights ARE on...

Fireflies

Or Lightning Bugs, or whatever you want to call them, fascinate me. Growing up in California, I never saw them until I took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Now that I live in Kansas, I get to see them every year once the warm weather sets in. Soft, slow little lights drifting around gardens, in trees and bushes - mesmerizing! A couple of years ago, the little neighbor girl confessed to me that she likes to catch a lot of them in her bug box & let them go in her big sister's room, hehehe! I had to admit that I had not thought of that - good one!

A couple of nights ago there were so many outside that it looked like a firework display viewed from a distance - no sound, just the twinkling lights. There is a lot behind our house that is owned by the neighbors behind us to the south, and they use it to plant gardens of vegetables and flowers, and that's where they were all gathered. Some kind of firefly festival of lights.

My favorite time to watch is at twilight. Everything is bathed in that odd light - or absence of light - and the sky is purple and deep blue. The outlines of trees, grass, everything, are hazy - blurred, and time seems to slow down and stand still. And in the half light a slow, graceful dance of soft lights is taking place among the flowers and trees. First rising, then falling, drifting this way and that...ethereal. You can almost believe in fairies :) 'All creatures, great and small, The Lord God made them all' Maybe He did create fairies and we call them fireflies...

OMGosh!

I saw the funniest movie! OMGosh! If you haven't seen Confessions of a Shopaholic, you MUST! Hugh Dancy is, well, perfect, of course, and Isla Fisher is great. I don't know that I've ever seen her in anything before, but it was a great cast. It was sooo funny. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I won't tell, but you fashionistas out there will love it!! hehehe

I'm not a fashionista by any stretch, but I have my own thing, just like everybody. For me it's electronic gadgety type things, computers, things that have buttons and can be programmed and personalized... If I can personalize it - it's MINE!!! lol

The other thing I identified with is the inability to get rid of stuff. I have such a hard time with that. I can't get rid of anything! I think I may have gotten that from my mom, even though her house was never cluttered or anything. We swapped stuff back & forth a lot. I found evidence of our swapping while going through her clothes & personal things, lol, and it brought back some sweet memories.

The other movie I watched this weekend is an old favorite - Gone In 60 Seconds (Nicholas Cage). I like Nick, Giovanni Ribisi, and I will admit that I like Angelina Jolie. She was awesome as Lara Croft! Gone in 60 Seconds is so much fun - great cast & awesome cars. I love cars - particularly the classics. My very fave is a '57 Chevy Bel Aire, black of course, but I am also a Camaro girl. A 66 Camaro will turn my head, especially if it sounds sweet :)

Some Days

Today started off really well...got up to get ready for work & had some 'digestive issues', to put it delicately, LOL so decided to just chill for awhile & wait for things to settle down. So later, after my shower & with my head in a towel, someone knocks on the door. Thinking it is my mother-in-law or father-in-law coming to see why I am home (they do that, by the way), I discover the Animal Control Officer, whom I also know from church. I'm a little surprised to see him, LOL. He is there to let me know that the city has decided that it is time for the raccoon family to move out to the country and he has a humane trap to set up. Then later, I fought with the garage door and was defeated - I had to get out of the van & shut the door from the wall switch, then go out through the front door to get back in the van. Let's just say that if I had wet polish on my nails it would have smudged, if I was wearing pantyhose they would have got snags & runs...you get the idea, hehehe...
On the way to work I got behind every slow farmer in the county, and at one point there were about 8 of us behind one guy. And we can't blame Wally for the hold up any more - he died several months ago!
He was an old practical joker here in town and he loved to drive about 12 miles per hour, right around 10 'til 8 am, Noon & 5 pm...you're seeing the pattern aren't ya?? LOL, he loved nothing better than to slow someone down to a crawl & get a good string of cars behind him, straight through town on all the major streets. If you saw Wally coming, you got creative & tried to take side streets & alleys to get around in front of him. I worked at a photography studio next door to his appliance store a few years back & he used to play doorbell ditch on me. He would look through the windows to see where you were & then open the door just enough to set off the doorbell then run. A couple of times I was just around the corner out of his line of sight (he thought I was either upstairs or way in the back, hehehe). You've never seen anything as funny as an 80 year old man running down the sidewalk trying not to get caught LMBO!! Oh we got even...he liked to take walks downtown and we would wait for him to get close to where we were parked & we'd set off our panic buttons with our car remotes. Then he would get us back with styrofoam cups on the antenna or on the back bumper or on the trailer hitch...every summer when the grasshoppers get thick he would sweep his over in front of our door hehehe...I miss Wally :)

Ugh! Revisited...

Oh gosh!! I'm being revisited by whatever I had last week, and so is my 9 yr old. Sully never quite got over it so had to call the doctor & they gave him an antibiotic for a sinus infection. Tucker and I went in today at 1:30. I could have gotten in sooner, but we had a funeral service at 10:00 - yeah, I would have liked to stay in bed this morning (I sure needed to!) but sometimes you just can't. Staying home would have put the guys in a crunch, and heck after a hot shower and some tylenol along with a cup of hot green tea with honey & lemon, I was feeling sorta functional.
Doctor put me on an allergy nasal spray (can't remember the name at the moment) and a once a day pill called Xyzal (something like Claritin). Whatever I have is viral and will have to be endured unless it would develop into a secondary infection (??) I started having allergy issues a couple of years ago, but never got any prescriptions for them. Doctor put Tucker on Singulair and Children's Claritin. In about 3 weeks he has to go back in for a Pulmonology Test to see if he has asthma. He gets a lot of colds/allergy symptoms during the year and gets severe chest congestion and the cough always lasts for weeks...not fun at all! he will most likely be put on regular allergy medication, but we'll figure that all out later, after he gets over this.
So, here I sit; fuzzy red socks, sweats, red nose, red eyes and drinking hot tea - in July...

Hey! That's MY Car...

Today was quite exciting, well, the afternoon was anyway. I was busy working at my desk, so I really didn't notice anything out of the ordinary...
Gary (he's an Admin Assistant, and, like me, he does several jobs around here) went out to the garage & came back in a couple of times, which is not anything unusual in itself because he does that a lot; getting cars ready, seeing to the landscaping, or any one of the 100 or so other things he does around here. So he's out in the garage and in a little while I get a call on my cell phone and it's Gary calling me from his cell. I'm laughing, thinking, "why on earth is he calling me on cells when he's just out in the garage??" He's all out of breath and tells me to call the police (he couldn't think of the number, lol) some kid just tried to steal his car right out of the garage, and he chased him down and is about 3 blocks away on the corner, of course it didn't all come out quite that coherent since he was running while he was talking to me. Then I hear him yelling at someone (presumably the kid) and nothing. I call 911 from my cell (I could've just called the police line, but I was worried about Gary) and told them the situation, and where he was and that I could see him from outside our front door, down the street about 2 blocks. Turns out a trooper was closer, so he got there first and held him for the Police. Meanwhile, Gary calls me again & tells me that this kid wasn't alone and would I please pull the keys out of his car. So I go out in the garage and get the keys out of his car, lock mine, and notice that all of the other vehicles in the garage - 2 limos, the hearse, the van, all have doors ajar, and the old International truck had its tail lights on. I shut the garge doors and lock the outside door and the door going into the building, just in case he's still out there. I grabbed my remote before I locked my van, and waited by the door thinking that if he tried to get out I would shut the door on him, lol.
It turns out that this kid is 11 years old and had been been listed as a runaway 45 minutes before he tried to steal Gary's car. Gary's car is a bright blue PT Cruiser, and we figure he finally settled on it after trying all the other vehicles because it was smaller and already pointed towards the way out - no backing or anything involved. Plus, it's a cool car! From what Gary said, he kept going out in the garage because he was hearing noises out there and then the last time he went out noticed that the tail lights on his car were on and the car was moving towards the garage opening. He ran up to the car and the kid turned off the car & got out. Gary asked him what he was doing and the kid, just calm as can be, says he's not doing anything and then ran. Gary chased him around the building, down the alley, around behind some buildings, down the street about a block & then turned & ran two blocks to where Gary caught him. Not bad for a 40-somethin' guy who doesn't work out or anything, yeah?? 11 year old kid with fear & adrenaline pushing him, & he caught him!
This kid lost his dad 2 years ago, doesn't know where his mom is, and lives with his Grandmother. He definitely has some issues, but it sounds like this other kid that was involved is older and was in large part responsible for all the trouble he got into today. Yeah, he didn't have to listen to him, or do what he said, but don't you remember being influenced by an older cousin, sibling, whatever and feeling like you couldn't say no?? I do - my cousin got me into all kinds of trouble when we were young, LOL, and even though I was a somewhat-unwilling participant, I was a participant, none the less.

Monday, Monday

Ok, so today is Monday. Is it Friday yet?? hehehe I'm just a little tired today, got a little bit of a headache. There was a death yesterday so I was busy today. The funeral will be on Wednesday morning, so I have a very busy couple of days ahead.

Today was the 40th anniversary of the Moon walk! I can barely remember it - isn't that scary?? Of course I was only 4, but I can remember watching it on TV. I didn't really understand what it was all about - I really just wanted to go play, lol. Mom & dad and my brother Robin, and my Aunt Marie and Uncle George were there too, I think - they were all glued to the TV, watching. I did watch for awhile, but finally went outside & climbed in the grapefruit trees (tried to) - something I wasn't allowed to do, but nobody was watching...lol. I guess a lot of people think it wasn't real - that it was a hoax. I certainly don't agree with everything that our government does, but I'm pretty sure the moon walk wasn't fake. That seems to be just a bit too paranoid. And ya know what? Even if it was faked - what difference does it make now?? Notalotta :)

Full, But Refreshed

Today was a very full day! Every Sunday is busy; I'm the Sunday School Secretary, I do the Power Point Announcements, plus any other thing computer or electronically oriented that may come up. Sunday School, Morning Worship & Service, lunch, laundry for the upcoming week, evening Bible Study, and if there's time - a motorcycle ride. Today we had missionaries for Sri Lanka come and we fixed a traditional Sri Lankan meal, so after a quick lunch & load of laundry, it was back to the church to prepare the meal. Curried Chicken and Rice: it had the most aromatic blend of spices! Just a few of them were cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, fennel seeds - several more that I can't remember! I learned to 'bruise' cardamom pods, and what to do with lemon grass stalks - lemon grass smells like lemon cookies and slightly like sweet grass too. you don't really eat them - they are for the flavor. It turned out really good. There was so much prep to it that it's not something I would do real often, but I would definitely fix it again.
After dinner we had the special evening service. The missionary couple brought with them their superintendent who is Sri Lankan, and so we got to hear from him as well. It really was inspiring and uplifting to hear what is happening there, and how God doesn't want us to 'stay where we are' spiritually. He wants us to keep moving up and out in our walk with Him. He wants us to grow, and be able to touch other lives. How can we walk closer to God, and affect others if we never get up from where we are? Anyway, God gave us, as in our family, a special message through him and the message was that God has plans for us, and that what we are experiencing right now is necessary for us to be able to minister to others who will come later that will find themselves in the same situation. That He is with us, and we have the desire in our hearts to do things but have not had the knowledge or direction before, but that will be changing! He is working in our lives and we shouldn't be discouraged. How cool is that?? I'm so excited about it! There were healings, and special messages for others, and such a feeling of expectation for what God will be doing down the road as well as right now! So, while it was a really long day & most of what I needed to get done didn't, I feel refreshed & renewed rather than tired & worn out. How awesome is that??

TGIF

I am SO glad it's Friday! This week seemed to just draaaag! Ya know?? We had a lot of hot steamy rain this week, and it has left things damp and sticky. It has just zapped what little energy I was getting back after the cold. But today the temps were in the low 80's and there was a nice little breeze. After supper tonight, we took the boys down to bobby's parents house and went for a motorcycle ride. Just a little cruise for about an hour or so - we went through the park & out by the lake and around town a little bit. It was really nice weather for being outdoors. We came back home & the boys were playing badminton out front of Grandparents house. They live 3 houses down from us. It makes it nice sometimes...but we try not to have them watch them too much. It's just not a good idea. The boys much prefer going to my dad's anyway, but we don't over do that either in order to keep things sort of balanced. It's a juggling act sometimes to keep things on an even keel, but I do my best and I try to remember that Jesus is the only one whose opinion of me matters :)
So we had a nice ride & then we came home & fixed popcorn & watched Spongebob, hehehe
Tomorrow will be a busy day - cleaning house & then we're going to put sealer on the back deck. Maybe another ride?? lol