Buon compleanno quarantacinquesimo alla mia cara amica, Kelly

Italian to English translation: Happy 45th Birthday to my friend, Kelly! :)

I hope it's full of wonderful and exciting and fun things. Hugs to you!

How's this for a blast from the past? Kelly sent this old photo to me a while back and I was waiting until today to post it. I believe she said it was probably 7th grade.

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

"Learning emerges from discovery, not directives; reflection, not rules; possibilities, not prescriptions; diversity, not dogma; creativity and curiosity, not conformity and certainty; and meaning, not mandates." -- Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

from CreatiQuest website

The Remains of the Day

If pictures are worth a thousand words, whew! After this post I'll be up 4,000.

A peck of pickled peppers, anyone? As you can see, we have plenty. They're gorgeous. They're tasty. And we're taking orders ;-)




Here's the wine gift bag I made the tag for:




A picture memorializing our traditional Saturday "Movie Night":




Hope you have a wonderful rest of this weekend!

July 25, 2009 Happy New Home to Emily & David

A coworker and his fiance were having a housewarming and birthday party. I made this little gift tag to match their wine gift bag. Not colors I would've chosen if I were left to my own devices, but they do look nice together. The kids sort of enjoyed meeting "just a bunch of grownups" (ahem, guess who said that?!).

July 25, 2009 Brenda Leigh Johnson

"Everything changes when you say it out loud." - Brenda Leigh Johnson

One year already-

July 21, 2009--one year at my "new" job. I suppose I can drop the new after this anniversary! I can hardly believe I've been back at work for one whole year.

A fellow came into the office a month or so ago with his elderly mother. She was very solemn and quiet, but he was chatty, and talked to our receptionist as he waited for his appointment time. He asked me what I did there and I told him, and he asked me if I liked it. I told him, "Some days I do." His mother laughed and so did he.

I've made friends and I've made enemies at the office. I haven't loved every single minute there, but I have loved some of it! I've made mistakes there that I know I'll never make again at any other job. I've discovered things about myself, and learned things about myself from others. I've been brought up to date on how things work in my chosen field, and figured out what nobody does anymore. I've learned more about and been reminded of group dynamics, and gotten a refresher course in human nature. And it's been invaluable for me to interact with professional people who acknowledge and appreciate my good work.

Ok, I'll sheepishly admit.... it was worth the year considering all the knowledge I've gotten. Who would've guessed?

No post from July 21, 2008

I was going to post my blog entry from my first day of work last year! But I didn't blog about it. Apparently I was too shell-shocked to write . . . lol. I remember having a sore back from cleaning the water slide and having to go up and down the stairs a lot on my first day. I wore hose in the morning and took them off at lunch, ha.

:)

49 and holding!

One of my dearest, most beloved relatives is having a birthday today. She would be very mad if I told her name and age - coughcoughDebSoxis49coughcough! This is the only cake I had time to whip up today; hope you like it! Does it have enough candles? I lost count after 30.....

Happy Birthday, Debra! Love you!

Lamest post

It's pretty bad when you post saying you don't have anything to post, except you still want your post count to stay current. lol

I've been laying out a lot of scrap pages but haven't made the time to glue down. Once I get going on the glue dots, I should have plenty to post.

"And that's the way it is..."

I'm very sad to hear that Walter Cronkite has passed at age 92. His voice in the background is like a comforting relative from my childhood. I remember listening to that unique voice on television in all the houses we've lived in since I was six years old. I've never admired a newsman as much as him; in my opinion no other newsman ever achieved Cronkite's caliber. Tuning in to the evening news was never the same after he retired.

There'll never be another like him, ever. And that's the way it is.

Walter Cronkite

Quote from Tsunetomo Yamamoto

"There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the present moment."
--Tsunetomo Yamamoto

Toothless Blue

I keep forgetting she doesn't want to be called Little Blue anymore!

Little Green has lost her second tooth on the top! It bled a lot and she said she didn't feel good; I think she swallowed some of the blood. Ewwww. She fell asleep right away, and the Tooth Fairy will be visiting again.

Back online

AT and T service guy came first thing this morning as the kids and I were leaving for camp/work. Tonight I have been online for 20 minutes and wooooohoooooo-- I haven't gotten kicked off once. Too bad I don't have anything to blog about. :P

Birthday Card #2

This one was for "Judessa," and features a couple of her favorite colors (lime green and turquoise). Happy Birthday, you paralegal goddess you!

Birthday Card #1

This card is for someone special, and is very late. I hope its beauty will make up for its tardiness. Plus, I really enjoyed making it. I'd forgotten how much I loved playing with paint and (gasp!) vellum.

Non-cooperation from the DSL

Let's talk about how many minutes I've lost trying to upload, reload, restart, reboot, and reconnect to the supposedly blazing fast speed of DSL. Actually, let's not go there. I need to let that go.

AT&T (formerly BellSouth) promises they will come out tomorrow, and from the diagnostic tests they ran while I was on hold, the problem is on their end and they can fix it from the outside. I also mentioned the no-longer-desirable but still recurring static on the line; it's their intention to remedy that also.

We shall see :)

Zig Ziglar

What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination." - Zig Ziglar

Beware of the auto post

Had a post about my work friend's birthday yesterday, along with a picture of her card. Checked tonight... and no automatic post at the date and time I specified? wtf?

Oh, bummer! Obviously I need a little more practice with setting the posts to publish at a later date.

Will put it up tomorrow as I am falling asleep now.

7-8-09

The numbers geek in me has loved writing the date today :) On the radio they took it a step further, and mentioned that at 12:34:56 P.M., the time and date would be all the numbers from 1-9 consecutively.

For historical purposes, I was at home sitting on my couch and eating lunch--turkey & mayo on white with Doritos and iced tea. Watching the Young & the Restless, of course.

lmao

SSDD

The last post was my 300th post and 4186 views.... Imagine that!

On to entry #301:

I keep running all these errands on my lunch hour and right after work, thinking that I'm saving all this time by going nonstop until everything is done. When I do get done with that and the other everyday stuff, it's 10 pm or so and I've got a smaller amount of time to do something fun or relaxing. It's a satisfying feeling to accomplish tasks, but creative me is needing some attention too. Going to Publix by myself doesn't count as mommy-off-duty time. ;)

I hope the rest of the week will be a slower pace so I can get in some paper crafts after hours, lol. Not sure yet about our weekend plans, but I'm penciling in some lazy minutes which will cosmically coincide with Nintendo minutes.

Amazing Harmony

"You are a living magnet. What you attract into your life is in harmony with your dominant thoughts." - Brian Tracy

Today I am focusing on the good that's right in front of me. Job is uncertain; a lot of sad things have happened both in the world and near those I love; and each day brings new messages that tomorrow isn't promised. In the midst of all that, I have peace that it's unfolding the way it should. Because I also need my own reminder, once in a while, on the way to school, I'll tell the kids, "Today something amazing is going to happen," and they always ask, "What?"

I smile and tell them we'll know when it happens.

Organizing In Full Swing

Except for the bedsheets and blankies, all the laundry's dried, folded or hung, and put away. Whew! I went through everyone's room and finished filling up our boxes for donation. In the process I got the following problem areas sorted and organized: My drawers; Caroline's drawers; John Sam's drawers; the hall closet, and both of our freezers.

So glad I'll be able to go to work tomorrow and uh, relax. ;-0

Fireworks!

I took pictures of the kids with their new July 4th shirts! They are both really cute, and I'm not saying that just because they're mine! Went to Lake Eola and saw a nice display of fireworks. It wasn't as crowded as I've seen it sometimes. It was pretty hot and humid, but we all agreed it was worth it. Photos of fireworks aren't that great; still not sure about the settings, ISO, etc. on the camera. Notice how John Sam stands exactly like his dad! Caroline crafted that beautiful American flag and used Glue Dots to attach it to her stick. They smiled so sweetly and then after that last picture, they were out.of.there.

United States of America

Today we celebrate the birthday of our beloved country! God bless America!

Confucius

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." -Confucius

A Change Will Do You Good

That's the name of a great song by Sheryl Crow. I think I'll be adding that to my iPod shortly... best at full volume at about 68 mph. LOL

More than a few years ago, the Orlando Sentinel held a poetry contest. I read some of the poems and cut one of them out. Ever since then, I've been saving the scrap of paper it has become. It's one of my favorite poems. (Of note: I didn't write the year on it, and I'm not sure why because I almost always do.)

When it appeared in the paper, a byline was also printed with it: This poem, written by John Rigsby, was submitted by his mother. John, who would have been a junior at Dr. Philips High, died July 19.

It seems timely today to share it.

The Mikasuki Indian
by John Rigsby

He stood
looking out
over swampland
nothing but mangroves
of an untouched Florida swamp
untouched by business
untouched by industry
just untouched
by anyone but nature herself
and the Indians

but the scene changes
for all things change
not always peaceful
not always simple.

He stood
eternally
and watched.