I miss my blog so here’s some random thoughts from me!

I haven't blogged in what seems like forever. Between school (my job) and school (FSU) and church, I'm just swamped. I left school nearly in tears yesterday, and just wanted to drown my frustration in chocolate. I couldn't find any at my house. That's not good, I need a secret stash. Of course, facebook has been sucking up time too. I've connected with some old friends, some new friends and some family that I don't see enough. My cousin Michael is on facebook and he posts the weirdest things that I just have to answer. My cousin Melissa is on there, too, and even though she lives closer, just in Clewiston, I haven't seen her in a long time. My friend Melissa found me as well, and I haven't seen her in a LONG time either, probably 10 years at least. I have some new friends, too, our friend Cindy who moved here from St. Louis, and her friend who is now our friend, who we call "Best-Friend Debbie." She has two rescued dogs, one of which is quite the escape artist.

I have to give a devotion at a ladies meeting on Saturday, and the theme of the meeting is "My Favorite Things." It wouldn't seem like that topic would be too hard, but I'm having a bit of a struggle to get it together. I'm also supposed to speak at a Girl's Retreat at the end of the month, and that lesson isn't going so well either. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Here's another random thought - have you ever watched "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern?" I am just amazed at two things about that show. One, how much he can eat, and two, how much he can get in his mouth in one bite. I must say, this is the only show, except Fear Factor that has EVER made me gag. One day, he was drinking this medicine/health food junk made with aloe. We used to have an aloe plant in our yard, and I actually have a small one that one of my kids gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I know how slimy and icky feeling aloe can be, although it's great for sunburn. BUT, watching him try to drink some sort of juice with aloe in it, and the stringy, slimy looking parts reaching from his mouth to the cup. . . I nearly couldn't handle it. As I type this, he's eating southern soul food. Now, I love southern food, and a lot of what is called "soul food" we ate my whole life at my house. This is not what I expected. He's eating raccoons and possums. Now he's watching some guy make "chittlins" which I think that's actually spelled "chitterlings." He's cooking them in a big cast iron skillet just like my momma had. Now, he's on to fried pickles and fried green tomatoes. I love fried stuff. . . I may have to come back to this topic later. . .

Library Thing

We had to use this website called Library Thing for some of our classes and this week, it is an extra credit assignment to use Library Thing. How cool is that? If you've never heard of or seen Library Thing, you should check it out. Go to http://www.librarything.com and take a tour. It is a great site for cataloging books, discussing books and reading what other people think about books. I'm trying to figure out how to add a widget to my blog that will show random books from my library, but haven't figured that out yet. Anybody who has and likes books needs to use LibraryThing.

Right now, I'm messing around with Library Thing, while I'm sort of watching the movie "The Punisher" on recommendation from one of my students. I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake, but at least I tried. Andrea and I are almost finished with our final, the last thing we have to do this semester. I am so-o-o-o-o- glad it's almost over. Today I actually shopped; I'm looking for sneakers, a particular kind of sneakers. I'm looking for Nike Air Max Zen 95, color number 771. I found one pair today in two Nike stores, on sale, which was good, but a size 8 1/2, which is too small for me. Luckily, we think they'll fit my friend Robyn. She called the Nike Outlet Store in Ellenton and we may have a line on some others. Wish us luck in our search.

T-shirt, Turkey, and Thanks!

Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break and boy, am I thankful for this break. We are lucky in our county that we get off for the whole week of Thanksgiving, so we have NINE days off. I am so excited. Today was a good day all the way around. Two weeks ago, I lost my camera at the soccer field at Makiah's game. Well, I assume I did, because that is the last place I had it and I haven't seen it since. It made me furious with myself, because I just learned how to use some parts of it while I was in London this summer. So, I tried to buy a new one just like my old one –not possible. So I got the new version of mine and it came last night, but was downstairs at my sister's house. I had to go down and get it this morning, and got to play with it today. That was the first really cool thing today. Also, I bought a small video camera this summer, and while I was in London, I dropped it and it quit working. I found it last night and was looking for my receipt to take it back to the store. I decided just to try it, so I put new batteries in it and turned it on and it works perfectly. How great is that??? I was so excited. Then today we did my new favorite thing. My radio station, the JoyFM (www.thejoyfm.com) does this thing during the month of November called "T-shirts for Turkeys." It is this really cool thing where they design a special T-shirt and on certain days, at certain Publix stores, you can trade a frozen turkey for one of the specially designed T-shirts. You can't buy them anywhere; you can only trade for a frozen turkey. The frozen turkeys are donated to local food banks and homeless shelters, to provide for people who need it over the holidays. I LOVE my JoyFM shirt from last year so much; I wore it all over London. I actually have some pictures of my Joy shirt in London. Last year, my sister, my niece and I traded turkeys for T-shirts. When we left, Makiah said "This is a good thing we did isn't it?" We told her yes and she said, "Can we do it again next year?" So, we did. Today, we went to Lakeland, got our turkeys in Publix, brought them right outside and traded for our new T-shirts. So now, it's vacation time, I have a new camera, my video camera works, and we did something good for people who need it. Tonight, by 8:00, I had my nice hot shower and was snuggled in my pajamas on the couch with a new book and time to read it. I have much to be thankful for. . .

Tshirts for Turkeys

My heroes for today

When I was little, my favorite cartoon hero was Underdog. I can still hear it "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" I only went to half-day kindergarten and my best friend Randy lived next door to us with his grandparents. We were poor as church mice (our mom didn't work and our dad was in college and was the janitor at the Lakeland Ledger) and we didn't have a TV. So, some days, I got to go next door to Randy's house and we would watch Underdog at 2:00 and drink cranberry juice. I don't remember why that was so special, but hey, I was only four and turned five, what did I know???

For some strange reason, I've been thinking about heroes and what it takes to be one. I've read some great articles lately about people who do great things but I'm noticing that my heroes tend to be people who do quiet great things instead of loud, in your face great things. For example, I heard a great story about a women's college softball team, and one girl hit a home run, but missed first base and went back to tag the bag. On the way back she hurt her knee and couldn't walk. Two girls from the other team carried her around the bases. That story made me cry! You can read it here: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24392612/

I read about a teacher who donated a kidney to a student in her class. That is unbelievably awesome... If you don't believe me, read it here: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20131192,00.html

Those people are certainly heroes but I'll tell you about some more – only these, I know personally.

I know a lady who does stuff at my church. She owns her own shop and she sews. We do the Awana children's program at our church, and she sews on all the patches for all of our kids. Last year, she would come to church, get the awards, take them to her shop, sew them on and bring them back – ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT! At my old church, most of my own personal awards were held on with melted plastic zip bags. (They work great for a short-term iron on - the cheaper the better!)

Another woman I know has only been at our church since March. Since March, she's moved four times and one of those times was from Arkansas! She teaches a pre-K Sunday school class, is the Sparks director in our Awana Club, works in the time before Sunday school, and takes great care of her husband and her two boys. Besides all that, she keeps the most spotless house I've ever seen. I can't keep a spotless house and it's just the cat and me!

I have a friend in my Master's program that just had a baby. She has another child who was born in June of 2007. She teaches third grade, is doing the Master's thing, and has a brand new baby and a 17 month old. . . I don't know how she's not just crazy. Get this – she was in class ONE WEEK after giving birth.

Another remarkable woman I know does a lot too! She teaches first grade, is a single mom (who gets NO support from a dead-beat dad) is the greatest greeter I've ever seen at church, and is the Commander of our Awana clubs. Her daughter plays soccer, practice two nights a week and a game on Saturday, does dance class and never misses Awana club on Wednesday nights. This mom does this every week, with no dad to help. Also, at her school, they don't just send home report cards, they have report card conferences. So, in the last two or three weeks since report cards went home, she's done 18 parent conferences.

I think the most amazing thing about all these people is that they don't do these things to be the center of attention or to have people notice. They'd probably be embarrassed to read this. They just do it. I see other people who seem to have this need to have all eyes and all attention focused on them. I don't get that and I don't think it's necessary, it's actually selfish and self-centered, as well as annoying to everybody else. I have a poster at school that says, "Freedom is everywhere you look." So are heroes!

Fighting with myself

For about the last week, I have been fighting with myself. The good news is, when you fight with yourself, you always win. However, you also always lose. . . Strange thoughts I know, but if you know me, you're not really surprised. I'm fighting with myself over my compulsion to be negative instead of positive. Last week in Awana, I encouraged our TNT clubbers to be thankful for five things every day. Easy, right, we have five fingers, at least once a day, while we're praying, thank God for five things, one for each finger. Well, I tried to do it, but every time I try, I keep coming up with something negative for each positive thing. Why do I do that? What's wrong with me? Here are some of the odd thoughts running through my head. I'm thankful I have a job (I heard today that something like 10 million people are unemployed) but I'm irritated because I have so many children and we didn't get a raise (or even a step this year. According to our county, my year of work last year counts as . . . NOTHING!) I have a new car, but I have car payments. I have good friends, but no time to see them or talk to them. (Thank goodness for facebook—at least I can see pictures of them occasionally.) I am working on my Master's degree, but it's nearly killing me. See?? No matter what good thing I come up with, part of me comes up with some negative thing. I hate that! I wish I could just look at the positive. I'm going to have to work on that. Maybe I should just make a list of good things and carry it in my head, and jump right to the next one every time my mind wanders over to the dark side. I can use my habit of jumping from topic to topic to my advantage. . . So, here's my list of good things.

1. Master's classes – we are on week 12 and the semester goes to 15.

2. After nine more school days, we get a whole week off for Thanksgiving.

3. Thanksgiving. Yeah turkey and dressing, and I know Robyn will make a pound cake using Granny's recipe. .

4. My Aunt Mary Ellen is going to be fine, just fine.

5. My friend Stacy had a perfectly healthy baby.

6. I'm not the one who delivered a 9 lb, 6 oz baby last week.

7. My cat doesn't require around the clock attention (like a new baby does) although he is staring at my fingers while I type and watching the mouse move suspiciously. . .

8. Publix makes this great Chocolate Trinity ice cream. Chocolate, with Denali fudge and caramel cups. (It's incredible!)

9. I've got some great new friends at church (and on facebook!)

10. Those new friends have a great new business that is going to be incredibly useful for people.

See, my list of good things is MUCH bigger than the negatives. . Focus on that!!!

Random thoughts on a random day

Once again, I'm using my blog to blurt out my feelings about anything I want to.

My students at school this year may actually be more stubborn than I am which is saying a LOT! I have never seen such a group of kids so determined to have their own way. I, of course, am just as determined that there are things that must be done MY way, so it's not going well. Even after 10 weeks of school, it's still rough.

I'm irritated at some judge in my county who says that this guy that nobody knows can have all our private information because we work for a public entity. You can read the exciting article here: http://www.theledger.com/article/20081031/NEWS/810310360

This guy, who nobody knows requested information from the School Board, some of he got. Other information, they told him, they were unable to provide due to the HIPPA law. He sued the School Board, and won, which means that the district has to hand over private information, names, addresses, phone numbers, even names and birthdays of dependent children, of everyone who is on the School Board's insurance plan. According to my attorney friend, the judge just did what the law says. Well, then the law is stupid and needs to be changed. In the mean time, let's all just hope and pray that nothing happens to anyone's dependent children that this man gets information about. . .

Election Day is tomorrow. I'm so glad it will be over, but I'm so worried, although I know I shouldn't be. I'm so unhappy with all of my choices. I just want it over! I'm also tired of advertisements on facebook for one particular candidate. It's either him or the acacia berry colon cleanse all the time. I'm not sure which one is worse. I'm also sick and tired of hearing my 6^th graders expound on politics. We're voting for a potential new state bird because they are just out of control with this election. They are saying mean, nasty things to each other about the election and the strange thing is, hardly any of them really have a clue. I wonder if parents have any idea how their children twist what they (the kids) hear their parents say.

 

Now the good news: We have a great new couple at our church who I just like a lot. They just moved here from St. Louis and they are just the nicest people. They are starting a business here in our county and they found our church. Everybody who has met them so far just LOVES Cindy and Dan. I'm so glad they found us.

We had a Fall Festival on Saturday at a ranch that a couple in our church own. It was so much fun. There was apple bobbing, greased poles to climb, greased pigs to chase around, chickens to catch, lots of food and a dessert cook-off. There were some seriously good desserts there. The judges really had a hard time choosing the best one, and they all looked a little green around the gills later on. Our new friend Dan said he had to have something salty to get rid of all the sweet. Maybe we should make a cookbook with all those recipes in it. I really love my church.

What makes “FAMILY?”

What makes family? Is it just sharing DNA with somebody? I don't think so. I have my "real" family, and my church family, and then some people I just love a whole bunch. Today my real family and I (my 2 sisters, my nephew Josh and my niece) had lunch/dinner with some friends in Lakeland that we have known forever, I guess. Mrs. Rita and Brother Frank (that's what EVERYBODY calls them) went to church with my parents when they moved to Lakeland in 1970. My dad and Brother Frank picked up kids on a church bus and worked in junior church together. For years, Brother Frank and Mrs. Rita didn't have any children. They wanted some, but it wasn't in the cards. So, they picked us. We were dirt poor (we three little girls didn't know it, but we were!) and basically, Mrs. Rita and Brother Frank invested their time and energy in us. It was actually in my parents will for years that if anything happened to them, we were supposed to go to Mrs. Rita and Brother Frank. After years and years, they decided to adopt a baby. So in September they got Courtney. Her name is actually Robyn Courtney, named after my oldest sister. Lo and behold, in April, they had Whitney. After years of being told no, no, not possible, apparently it was. So, they went from no babies to two in nine months. We moved to Auburndale before that, but always at Christmas and holiday, we always saw each other. Fast forward a few years, until I'm in college. A freshman at USF in Tampa, my sister lives in Auburndale in my parents' house and I hate living in a dorm. So, I move out of the dorm at Christmas and into the house with her. We start going back to church with Mrs. Rita and Brother Frank again. One Saturday, Mrs. Rita is telling us her frustrations with the girls after school situation. They are in first and second grade now. We stumble upon the perfect solution. I am driving back and forth to Tampa three times a week, I pick them up at school, take them home, so the homework routine, until she gets home. She is driving back and forth to Tampa to work and Brother Frank leaves for work at 2:15. . It's perfect. This continues until I graduate from college. By this time, my sister has gone back to college and she takes over.

Time goes on, the girls don't need us anymore, we both start teaching, we change churches and don't see each other so much.

Then, we're sitting at the hospital in Marathon in the Keys waiting for the doctor to check our mom one more time. It's been three days, so today we have to tell him to turn off the machines. We hear something and look at the door, there's Mrs. Rita and Brother Frank. They drove hours to be with us. . We stand there together, around her bed. We pray, and we leave. A few minutes later, the doctor tells us it's over. So we cry and cry, together.

We go back to the rental vacation house. We have to get home, so while we pack up Mom and Daddy's stuff, Mrs. Rita starts to clean. By the time we're packed up, she's done. A few days later we call her and ask her the hardest thing ever, will she sing at our mom's funeral? She tells us that mom asked her to years ago, but she was hoping we'd forget. She can't promise she can do it, but she'll try. She can and she does. . .

One day, we get an invitation to a wedding in the mail. Whitney is getting married. Doesn't seem possible, but it is. Then, baby shower, then Courtney's wedding, baby number two for Whitney, then Courtney's baby shower. We see each other off and on again . . . but not nearly as often as we should.

Brother Frank and I share a birthday, so today we went to their house for lunch. I can't think how long it's been since I've been there, but it's amazing how it feels like home. We talked, laughed, ate, and tried to figure out how many hours we've spent in that house together. . . We can't even imagine. We catch up, watch the kids play, and wonder where the time went. We leave, promising that it won't be this long again.

What makes family? If it's blood and DNA, we're not related. If its memories and time spent together, and love between people, then today we had lunch with family.