Guilding - again

Just added a few new websites to my list, and fixed the links for some old ones.

Studied for social studies test and checked over homework. Had Carrabba's for dinner. Folded 2 loads of laundry, and now it is bedtime.

A New Look for 2009

It took longer than I thought it would to update and guild the lily that is my blog, but now that it's finally the way I want it at 10:11 p.m. EST, I really like the new layout. Let me know if it pleases you, too~~

:)

Feeling Better

Today our office manager remarked, "Frannie, you look like you're finally feeling better."

I had to agree with her. :)

I'm still not sleeping well, but I feel normal again. I've got my appetite back (and then some, unfortunately, lol). I don't feel weak anymore and doing household activities doesn't take all the wind out of my sails.

Tonight we had Game Night after we ate pizza and the kids got cleaned up. We played "Perfection," the one where you have to put the shapes into the holes in one minute or less. Even Daddy got in on the action and we all had a lot of fun. Then after the kids went to sleep, I organized and purged around my desk, and finally figured out how to copy all the songs from my CDs over to the iTunes directory so I can put the kids' songs on their iPod Shuffles they got from Santa. "Only boy songs, Mom, no girl ones," said John Samuel. Ha!!

Thinking of going with the kids to the Science Center tomorrow. I've lived here in O-town for 19 years and haven't ever been there. I believe it will be something the kids enjoy.

I won't promise, but I plan on getting out my new camera and getting it charged up and messing around with it. Looking forward to that.

Reading Area Completed

Here is the reading area I've created.... now that it's all done. After I publish this post, I shall sit for a short spell and read before retiring to the boudoir.





















Also putting up a photo of the littlest Baumgardner engrossed in reading. Not sure what it was about this photo that made me chuckle; most probably it was the pink socks and Mary Janes.

Pissed off

{ This post has been edited by the author, who, having gotten some sleep, decided the original post was somewhat in poor taste. But I will leave the last line. ;-0 }

Apparently sleep is overrated.

Time for bed

Wanted to blog, but just too darn tired. Remembered I wanted to start doing "morning pages" again - maybe tomorrow if I don't wake up during the night a bunch of times.

"Another one rides the bus"

Saw that on the back of a huge tow truck today. Laughed out loud. People and businesses take their parking pretty seriously here in Orlando.

Getting back in the groove after Christmas vacation isn't an event, it's a process. Finally last night I got the last of the ornaments put away. Funny how you admire the tree so much when it's first put up, basking in its beauty. Then after New Year's, you kinda curl your lip up in disdain at it--the green elephant in the room. But I guess when you've been looking at Christmas decorations since they were put out with the Halloween candy, you're over it by January 4. My ambitious sister said she took her tree down on Christmas night because "Christmas is over in this house." I hear ya.

We were almost 10 minutes late for school, and work was busy. Thank goodness Caroline had already done her homework at school, because John Sam's homework took some real maneuvering to get done. We had salad and spaghetti or ravioli, a rare dinnertime choice. I wanted to give myself a manicure, but it's so late and I need to get all the family's important dates onto the new Victorian calendar I treated myself to so I can get it hung up.

Over the weekend I got my rocking chair out of the garage, and it's going to go where the Christmas tree was with my new floor lamp I got from Target. Add in my footstool from long ago, and the whole thing's going to be my little reading area in the living room. I've got a nice stack of books ready to go--some of them I've already started on, some are brand new.

Digital TV Ready

Finally got our converter boxes hooked up so that we can get "digital TV" through our big ole antenna or BOA.

WOW, just wow.

Not only does it not matter anymore which way the BOA is pointing to get a clear picture, we also get about 15 more channels, including the public television station that shows the show Scrapbook Memories. Not that I have time to watch it, but hey, at least it comes in. Sure do wish that woulda been hooked up while I was feeling sickly.

Woo-hoo! For us, it's ALMOST like having cable. Channel surfing anyone?

:)

Joan Didion

Yesterday I finished Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking. From the title it sounds like a happy book, but in reality it was a somber one in which she chronicles the first year after her husband's death. I'd seen Ms. Didion on an episode of Oprah back when I still watched the show regularly, maybe as much as two years ago? I can't recall now the single thing that I found so intriguing about her (there were most likely multiple things), but I remember going to Target and buying that book within a week of seeing the show. But I didn't make the time to read it until a few days ago. Once I began, I stole every spare moment I could to finish it. I couldn't put it down, really. On two occasions, I burst into tears while reading her words, and turned those pages down for future reference.

Her husband's name was John. Her birthday is the same day as Caroline's. And she is a firm believer in the adage Information is Power. She said that all her life, in times of trouble, she'd been taught to read, learn, work it up, go to the literature. Damn! Is it an accident that I'm just like that when I've never read that before?!

I don't know Joan Didion personally, and unfortunately will probably never run in her circle of friends, LOL. No matter how remote the connection, I felt that I developed a kinship with her. Her words really moved me. Wherever she is, I hope Ms. Didion continues to share her words in her quest for information.

Serendipity ain't for sissies. Information is power. Drink it in, and thirst for more.

Be it resolved . . .

I decided to make some resolutions that should be fairly easy to keep. Why go through the motions of setting unrealistic goals? While for some it is admirable, as for me, I'm going for success this year.

• Read every day. Book, magazine, newspaper, or internet--the source isn't important. Reading is one of my life's most pleasurable endeavors.
• Stop multi-tasking. Doing one thing at a time will help me be more present, whether I'm mopping or living.
• Create every day - may or may not be scrapbooking-related. Could be writing, cooking, or even creating something better about my environment or my attitude.
• Carry my notebook with me so I can make notes of stuff I'd like to research, write later, or create at a later time. Also will be used to commemorate things that bring me awareness or joy that I'd like to remember or investigate further.
• Not take other people's decisions personally. I'm going to make a point to remember it's not always about me. Because it's not!
• Listen more carefully to my kids. They have so much to offer and I have so much to learn.
• Realize that growth isn't always pleasant, but that doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong. "There is always the agony of choice before the promise of change." - Larry Lea
• Pet my dog Tokyo every day, and let her lay on the couch beside me. Vacuums were made to pick up dog hair, weren't they?