Well, okay so I'm not keeping up

As usual I have been lost in time and space, doing my own thing, which apparently does not include blogging. Perhaps its because I am zombie-like tired, although I can't think of what has changed to make me even more tired than usual. In fact I have been too tired to even read. I brought home an Express Book last Friday...and am still reading it. Not that its boring, but I just keep falling asleep.

If I were going to find something to blog about I guess I would lament the passing of my PC's hard drive at work. For although I have no data on it (all that is safe--I hope--on the server), it had my "stuff" on it: desktop backgrounds, Netscape (and favorites), all my passwords, my Outlook calendar reminders all set up....etc. I'm trying to look at it as a fresh start, but I'm mentally anguished by starting over. I guess its the same nagging fear I have about all fresh starts. BTW, that reminds me, I wonder if Miss A. really would fire Jason so she could hire me? ;)

Since my last blog entry I have....

Been busy with:
Doing crafts with young children at VBS
Working VERY busy ref desk at work
Trying to clean house (trying is the operative word here)
Buying air conditioners--and trying to keep cool (here too)
Going to the airport
Reading Harry Potter
Going to Renaissance Faire
Grocery shopping (much needed)
Visiting Niagara Falls
Finally getting back to the pool and my Aqua Basics class (after 3 weeks without it)

Missed doing:
Getting enough sleep
Reading the newspaper--or listening to news
Computer games and email stuff
Blogging regularly

*Sigh* Where to begin?

Ten days on the road, and home again to a week of LONG days with VBS mornings, and work (lots of busy ref hours) afternoons or eves ( of course with more VBS prep squeezed in.) Every year we go on vacation the week before I need to do crafts with 150 or more kids. I know its crazy but I just can't quit (yet). I guess I'm not quite out of ideas.
Our trip started with a great day at Cedar Point. The weather had cooled enough to be tolerable, especially with the nice lake breeze, (and the breeze of riding a coaster at 70 miles an hour). And my horrible fear of crowds was unfounded. There was (by CP standards) no one there. We walked on to virtually every ride. And even the newest rides had merely a 20 minute wait (compared to 2 hours on a crowded day). Which meant we could easily ride Top Thrill Dragster more than once, ride every coaster in the park-- except the one they had closed :( -- and, best of all, we went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap and still got to do all this. So despite my original reluctance to go, this was definitely worth the effort!
Trip log to be continued...but the rest of today beckons...

Never enough time and yet here I am blogging

Why, oh why do I get myself all worked up over time issues? It'll get done, but I just need to get going...

Off to Cedar Point, Toledo, Ft. Wayne and wherever. See you back here in a week or so. Maybe.

Questions...We have questions

Did you ever get the feeling that your life was not real? That no one knows the real you? That if they did you would be friendless? Who is that person I see in the mirror (when I dare to look)? And do I really want to know?

Thoughts from going to the Drive-in movies last night

Well, I learned a few things yesterday by way of going to the movies. First, I should never say aloud anything I would like to do unless it is something I really am going to do, and I have talked to the hubby and secured clearance; otherwise it could be misconstrued as a promise. Second, I should never complain aloud about anything; also too easily misconstrued as criticism, or a statement of my own laziness. Third, 4 hours is a long time to sit in the car, especially without chocolate. (But the effects can be mitigated by other snacks...maybe). Pillows are good, but don't wear a big fat clip in the hair. And try not to park in back of a big monster SUV, even though they park the trucks and vans behind the cars...its not the same thing. (Luckily those people left after the first movie). A nap before leaving for the movies is a good idea. I thought about caffeine but didn't want to miss the movie while hiking over to the rest rooms. But the whole experience can be fun. And certainly it helps when the movies are good too. Really it was my best reason to go see "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" which blew in and out of the regular theaters too fast for me. I liked the movie, especially the very funny theme song "So long and thanks for all the fish". They also had a weapon I don't remember from the book, but which was fabulous; The point-of-view gun. Whoever you shot with it immediately could see your point of view on things. Couldn't we all use one of these sometimes? The opening movie was the improbable "Herbie Fully Loaded", which was not as bad as one could imagine. It was cute and you could hate the bad guys , and enjoy the great 80's music soundtrack. (Somebody obviously knew that you had to have something for parents to connect with so the film would be fun. Actually, now that I think about it a lot of today's parents probably grew up with Love Bug movies too. Okay I guess there is still an audience for it.)
Well, all in all it was fun. So maybe, possibly, if there are any more movies this summer that I sort of want to see, we might, perhaps, do it again. But no promises.

Deep thoughts from a real genius

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.



A collection of quotes from --Albert Einstein

Into the fire?

I spent much of the weekend trying to figure what crafts I actually want to do with 170 little kids at VBS. I am still not 100% sure, but sure enough to place a $300 order from Oriental Trading. I love to look at all their stuff, and this is the only time of the year I usually justify doing it. (And I had to order now so I can get the stuff and sort it out before I leave on vacation). We are doing a safari theme, so I looked at all the animal stuff and its soooo cute. But I'm trying to be realistic about the skills and (limited time) of my victims...er students. I've asked members of my church to save toilet paper tubes for one goofy craft, and you can't get any lower than that, so its all uphill from here. (Is that what I really meant?) And then there are the thousands of beads...Oh shoot, I may just end up ordering again anyway. Just for fun.

Out of the frying pan...

Whew! The school year is over and I'm all done with volunteer stuff at school. Not. Actually I have agreed, with my kids, to help do the automation of St.Rita's school library. Its actually been kind of fun so far, and makes me feel great because I've invested a lot of time in the library over the years. Its good to see this finally come to pass. Its also an ego boost because I really know enough about cataloging, and how it has been done in this library, to be able to offer an expert opinion.

On top of that project, I also have agreed to do Vacation Bible School crafts once again. This year there are about 170 kids signed up. I am always excited at this point deciding what things we will make and doing the shopping for craft stuff. (Our favorite place is the Recycle Shop!) I am privileged this year to once again have my kids working with me, and offering their expert opinions. I think Matthew is an invaluable sidekick to have, because he never lets his emotions get in the way...the ideas are just very sensible, and he never has to stop and blab like I do, so he's quite efficient. Elizabeth actually teaches the little kids in her classroom during VBS and seems to know what they will really like. And she's invaluable as my "boring meter". I have high standards to meet. And for the second year I will have Josh to help too. He might not always be a great idea guy, but he'll help with the getting ready part (I can count on him to get his hands dirty). Hopefully I'll be all calm and ready two weeks from now so I can go on vacation and relax...but VBS is the week we get back, so we'll just wait and see.

Help! I'm suffering from introspection again

Things have conspired lately to make me look at my life and where I'm headed (or not): a friend's pregnancy, the Library Assistants conference, reading "The Mermaid Chair", the untimely death of a friend's brother, and even the "Little Burgundy Book" readings on Stewardship. Unfortunately, no matter how I look at things, I never quite measure up to anything. The fact that I feel like I'm drifting with no clear direction is one thing, but there's also the fact that I've no idea which direction I want to go. And is it this fact that depresses me? Or is it that I'm depressed that causes this lack of direction? And would I really be happier if I just stopped thinking about it? Or do I need to do something, take a step, in order to feel better? Or am I just afraid of the answers? Or maybe I should just quit thinking its all about me and just be there to support other people? Perhaps this is why I just keep playing Snood instead...

Dwarves Walt never knew

Flaky, Sloppy, Creepy, Sexy, Pensive, Loony, Saintly, Nerdboy, Sticky, Dancer, Vixen, Baby, Randy, Arty, Greedy, Leaky, Cheeky, Droopy, Froggy, Flipper, Seabiscuit, Nosy, Lazy, Stretch, Chilly (and his brothers Chili and Chile). I'm sure there were others as well!

Its too hot to blog

Okay, so I tried to figure out why I have not blogged in over a week, and all I can say is that its just too wickedly hot. I don't deal well with heat (or extreme cold either, but right now I'd even take that). I just feel totally wiped out, no brain function, no body function....I'm melting, melting.....The heat just makes me crabby and nauseous and very lethargic. So there.

Yahoo - my kids are baking!

There's a bake sale at the Fiesta this weekend. But now I don't have to bake because somebody else wants to! Hurray! (But I might help frost cookies...or even eat some.)

Approaching the "lasts"

Today marked the last school Mass any of my kids would have at St. Rita. And the "Moving Up" ceremony was touching. We were also invited to a brunch for parents whose youngest child was graduating from the school. When realizing that we have had a child at St. Rita for 17 years...It is another of those unreal moments. Where does the time go? Sister asked us if we would consider adopting a five-year old...But of course she knew better. (I can't imagine I would have the patience to do that again!) The next weekor so will bring more of the "last times" but no doubt we will move on to bigger and better things. No point in living in the past. After all, come September (and hopefully sooner for some other family members) we will have plenty more "firsts" to celebrate too.

Adventuring to Chili

After attending the Memorial Day Parade in Webster, honestly just because Josh was walking with the "make a difference" winners, we headed out to Chili for the day. We started at Black Creek Park looking for a cache. Unfortunately Matthew could not get a good GPS signal and we failed to find the cache after about an hour of walking/searching. We knew we were close, but with no more clues we failed to find it. :( There were in fact tons of good hiding places, dead trees and such, but also many obstacles to comfort...prickly bushes, mosquitoes, animal droppings...but we just didn't want to spend more time w/o knowing how close we were. And anyway we were headed to Adrienne's for a Memorial Day picnic. I admit I was a little apprehensive, unsure of how well we would fit in only knowing a few other guests. The discomfort was mostly for my husband, but he did just fine (just give him a frisbee and some kids to play it with). I guess I just need to get him out more. And then there's the polar opposite... Joshua, the party animal. He seems to be able to handle any social situation with aplomb. I think maybe the rest of us could take lessons from him. I just wonder sometimes where he came from...genetically speaking. But in fact we really all had a great time.

Family Time

The five of us went on a family outing this morning. We finally made it to Highland Park to see (and smell) the lilacs while they were still in bloom. Also the gorgeous azaleas and rhododendrons. I love spring at Highland Park! We also did some geocaching...the fun sport of finding hidden caches by using latitude and longitude coordinates and your GPS. Luckily Matthew acquired the GPS and had gotten coordinates of a few caches in Highland. It was kind of fun...and certainly could become addicting (or maybe that's just me...I get attracted to stuff too easily). It was nice to be together since we haven't had much time together in the last year, and just to be relaxed and having fun. We had 5 cameras with us, so I guess we took some pictures too. :)

Surfing webcams

Came across an old bookmark in my "Fun stuff" folder and thought I'd check it out. Here are a couple of cool pages I found...along with lots of dead links unfortunately.
First is Old Faithful, (I was there a long time ago). Another cool site is The Azorean Whale Watching Base . I even found Fenway Park. Which I assume my Red Sox fan friends have already seen. How about a pool in Holland? You might have to read Dutch to know what's happening...And to be fair I should put a link to my favorite site in the spring, Kodak's birdcam, where the baby falcons are growing before our very eyes. And my favorite summer site Cedar Point! Enough fun for now...

Graduation

I feel like I owe it to my few regular readers to say something about the past weekend's events, but it all still feels unreal. I am numb either from the unreality of it all or (more likely) sheer mental exhaustion.

Actually the graduation was great. It was a little too chilly (like, I should have packed my winter jacket, or at least worn corduroy), but the sun was shining enough to cause sunburn on Steve's forehead. And although there were vast hordes of people there, things were orderly and well organized. I watched my son walk across the stage and receive his college diploma with a real feeling of pride and love and a touch of disbelief (not that he did it, but that it happened so fast). Because I was focused on getting a photograph of this event, I did not have time to get all teary-eyed and such. (No, that happened the day before while I picked out a graduation card...and then while I wrote mushy Mom words inside it). There was a nice reception afterward where the food was terrific (I think WPI has the best college food service I've ever tasted), including the fabulous cookies...and bottled water and soda, no sissy punch. And the campus was pretty, so we dragged Matthew around in his cap and gown and took lots of pictures.

There are lots of other things I could tell about...sleeping in the dorm (which actually was very nice and inexpensive and convenient)...The Japanese restaurant where they put on a show while they cooked your food in front of you...Cell phone madness...Packing the car with Matthew's stuff, but leaving him behind to go geocaching with his housemates...Living with a houseful of guests Sunday night (how it is possible to feel claustrophobic in your own bedroom)...and having to jump back into life today. But you'll have to ask, or wait, for details...my brain is too tired to go on. Proud, and relieved, but tired.

Good things & Bad things

1. The piano recital went well
2. The country project is done
3. Directions are emailed to everyone for Worcester
4. Steve will go pick up Elizabeth Wednesday & she'll be home!
   
5. I got a little bit of cleaning accomplished today
   

1. Graduation is still days away and I'm already a zombie
2. I don't feel like working this week, but I won't call in sick
3. Early morning tomorrow because I have to take Josh to school with "project stuff" in tow
4. I don't know why I feel so nervous
5. I still have to clean the bathroom
   

The attack of Caribbean boy

Josh has this wonderful, fun, project for school in which he has to create his own country. It is called Lukandria and is an island in the Caribbean. Part of the project involves creating a native dish, so we have been eating plenty of Jamaican style food (that I did not have to cook), including some delicious banana fritters. Unfortunately there are also about a million other things he needs to do: maps, culture, artifacts, flag, a long report and class presentation. And for some reason I am totally stressed about this, while he seems oblivious. Okay, maybe not. He is showing many stress related symptoms, as am I, lack of sleep, or inappropriate sleep, overemotionalism (i.e. tears), body aches and headaches. Perhaps he is pulling all that from me. I am too stressed for words. Its not just this project, but a variety of stuff going on... I am also inexplicably depressed. And since there are too many things going on in my brain I have shut it down. But my body is still freaking out. Well, that's all mon.