Crazy Place Again

It's strange. I seem to hit that crazy place on a regular basis where my schedule picks up and I go from the place of:

doing-just-the-things-I-want-to-do (or feel I need to do)

to the place of:

having-to-do-a-million-things-that-I-wished-I-didn't-have-to-do.

The millions-things place makes me feel crazy and confused. I can't remember which way I'm going or what time I'm supposed to be there. I do actually remember, but I constantly feel like I'm forgetting something. I'm actually not forgetting anything and yet that anxiety rests below the surface.

For instance, the plan for yesterday was to go to the school board meeting and deliver the survival kits we put together for the Board. It's appreciation week and we wanted to do something special. Many donations came in for the kits and we put them together with a list:

It was a lot of fun. I was looking forward to being there when they opened their kits and explored all the goodies... but alas, Terry planned the scavenger hunt for the youth group on the same night and needed me to drive. I temporarily forgot that both events were on the same night. Basically, I had to figure out how to do both things.

There were about 20 extra kids at my house all planning on participating in the scavenger hunt. Terry and I had to figure out how to make this thing work between our two cars and my other engagement. As we sat down to eat dinner (thankfully I was able to prepare a meal earlier in the day because I knew there would be a big rush)... as we sat down to eat, Noah (THE DAMN DOG) came in the front door, stinking to high heaven. He rolled in manure AGAIN!!!! AGGGGHHHHHH!! Great!! So, now I will need to bathe the dog when we get home which means I will need to clean the bathroom as well. Meanwhile, he can stay outside for the evening.

I loaded as many people as I could into the truck just as the pouring rain came. When I say pouring... YAH! We were completely drenched head-to-toe by the time we ran from the parking lot to the middle school. We popped into the meeting room, cheered hooray for the school Board as they ate their pizza, and ran back to the truck, completely sealing the "drenched" deal.

Now we would have to stop back at the house to put on dry clothes and find rain gear for the big scavenger hunt outing. Sophie donned Terry's waders, Anika found a wetsuit, but it was too small so she changed to a bathing suit worn over tights and a tee shirt (goofball), Jolene borrowed Terry's rubber boots, Caleigh offered Lizzy's rain boots to Samara, and I had to go to the attic to get Caleigh's rain boots. After doing all of that and getting back into the truck, the rain stopped. Ayi! I'm not even kidding you.

Anyway, it was a great night. We had a lot of fun. I was the driver for the team who won!!!! That should tell you something... not sure what exactly. But who was the winner when we arrived back home? Three of the teams stopped at our house to find the items and take the photos i.e. entire team in a bathtub. Did I mention that it had poured rain? Did I mention that each team had approximately 6 members? All traipsing through my HOUSE!!! Well, the dog and the bathtub are clean, but that's about it.

Now I must learn my lines for a scene study class. My character has a bit of a foul mouth, so if something slips out, just keep in mind, I'm only rehearsing. Tracy Letts.

What?!

Preferences

My preferences change as I experience life. It's an easy thing to recognize when I look at my music preferences. What I enjoyed in high school was not the same as what I enjoyed in college, which definitely changed during my young married life, and again in my "older" married life... er... now. Some of my music preferences have carried through for all those years, but in most cases my interests have changed. Times have changed, so it's fairly logical that the musical tastes would change, even though I'm not a pop music fan.

It's very probable that as my station in life has undergone changes, the musical tastes have been directly or indirectly affected. Presently, my preferred style of music--well, say if I am listening to Pandora or some kind of radio stream--is Broadway Show tunes. Seriously. It's the most interesting for me to listen to. It's not a forced thing, done out of this idea that I want to become more acquainted with show tunes so I can "land" some kind of role in the next show. I just find myself truly interested. I have other streams set and ready to go, like some jazz artists or adult contemporary artists or indie rock artists, but I always go to the show tunes when I'm at home alone. What's your preferred music these daze?

My reading preferences have changed, too. Let's see. So have my social preferences... TV preferences... (Ok, I used to not watch TV at all, and I may go back to that). Things change. Preferences change. I'm still me! I'm still wired the same way, but to some people it may come across to them that I've completely changed. I guess if a person bases their perception of another solely on their current preferences, then that person would think the other had completely changed after several years. Actually, the way that I'm wired with my passion and love for projects, I also love change. I don't like to be stuck in the same ole same ole. I need things to change. I need to find new passions. I'm not flakey, I just enjoy projects. I enjoy working on something for a season and I especially enjoy accomplishment even if it's merely a personal accomplishment. I don't mind seeing a project come to an end. It just means that I can grab hold of something brand new and adventurous.

Preferences tend to change especially if, say... one goes from a single status to married with no children to married with several small children to married with teenagers, etc. Each stage is wildly different from the last. Children change everything and they are constantly changing. I think that is partly why my music preferences changed over the years. I went through several years of not even listening to music at all. If I had any time of peace and quiet, I wanted it to be quiet! No extra noise. "Quiet" was a seldom occurrence.

That's another thing... I used to be able to listen to music in the background while doing homework or writing a letter, etc. Now it just distracts me. I either want to really listen to music purposefully, or not have music playing at all. I need silence to take care of other things that need my full attention. Maybe I've become ADD in my older years. For me, music is good for cooking and cleaning and folding clothes and swimming in the pool and driving and having a party, but not for writing blogs or working in the office or reading. Can't do it. In fact, I have the music going now and I keep wanting to just hit the mute button, so I can concentrate.

Must mute for proofreading.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? Well, it IS a lot harder!

Here I am... an old lady with a new Mac and a new iPhone... when all my former years I've been a PC girl. I've been making my way along, discovering all things Apple. I've been finding out tricks and shortcuts, but not with much assistance from anyone who is Mac savvy. (I've used the help window upon occasion).

The problem is, I'm busy. I'm tired. I am constantly juggling. I don't have time to look up every little question that arises, or find the free program online that I can download, so that an incompatible document that was emailed to me from a friend can be viewed. I hate getting stuck.

Certain things have been complicated for me, when they probably are no-brainers for some other young buck. If I could just watch someone navigate their way around the mac for a day...

I purchased some software today, so I could be able to compress and expand large files. I was happy to do this because I constantly run into the problem where my files are too large to email. This software called stuffit gives me an easier way to share files... if I could freakin' figure it out. AGH!

So, I'm doing my thing, experimenting and reading, and making new accounts online for a variety of things i.e. uploading files, sharing music, playing games. Meanwhile, I'm still being pulled in all kinds of directions, having to bring one child here and another one there. Every time I start to make headway on understanding something, I have to leave it in the middle. When I am able to return to my experimental project maybe an hour later, I've forgotten the website, forgotten my password, forgotten what the heck I was even doing. Ayi. Plus I don't feel very well.

For this old dog, Multitasking is only getting more and more complicated. What's the name of that herb again that helps the memory? (Don't say garlic! because that's just a plain lie. I'd show you how my scene partner and I forgot the lyrics to our song if I could only figure out how to compress, upload and then expand the video file from my iPhone. It was a bit of a disaster. [sigh]

Garlic Mouth

Yesterday was Jolene's appointment with the specialist in NYC. It's a long day when you have to drive into Manhattan around lunchtime, which takes about 2.5 hours, find the parking garage, drive to the very tippy top of the parking garage which happens to be double parked the entire way up to the top where there's the one-and-only space left available. Then you have to wait 1.5 hours in the waiting room because the doctor is an hour behind schedule.

The appointment was 2:30 and we got out of there at 5. Ate dinner and left in the middle of work traffic for the 2.5 hours drive home. Got home around 9:30.

The report was very good! YAY GOD!! We have to go back again for another follow up in 6 weeks. Boooo.

By the time we were leaving the hospital we were starving. Thanks to the handy dandy iPhone we found just the restaurant. Tre Tutto. I think is was fabulous, maybe because I was starving. Everything tastes fabulous when you're hungry. I liked the decor and atmosphere, too. (1408 Madison Ave).

The problem I had was with my entree. It was tasty for sure, but I am certain that the chef used about 20 cloves of garlic for the single dish. And, I think the cloves were basically raw--thrown in at the end of the cooking. My tongue is thick with garlic today. The aroma is certainly oozing from my pores. And all I could think of while I was eating the dish was the fact that my scene partner is going to hate me for the Friday night showcase. (We are performing our scene and song for the conclusion of the 4-week Musical Theater class). Sorry Taylor. "Heads says you won't even notice."

The garlic turned my stomach all night long. So I should go take a nap now. I have no fear of vampires today!

Snippets

I never really finished posting photos from The Clique Goes to Vermont--but here's a final one! We had a great time together as always.

As for the week after our trip...
The kids had a field trip to the Sylvestor Manor on Shelter Island. Really beautiful place with a rich history. Nate. Gotta love that boy! He has a sick day today. He needs at least one a month. W/E!

Jennah was given the duty of photographer for the field trip. She had a better camera than mine, but I'm not sure how her pics turned out. Mine were purty!

Jolene and Adit were enjoying the grounds for lunchtime.

Anika with Ciena and Gen--such beauties, all of them.

Anika and I have been enjoying our Musical Theater Class on Monday nights. We've been learning so much! We are having an "in-house" performance this Friday of the scenes and songs we've been working on. Most of them aren't really ready for an audience beyond our classroom, but we figured--it'll just be family. No pressure. HAH!

Besides that, I'm uploading CDs for my iPhone. Oldies but goodies. Anyone have some suggestions on music. I like a variety of genres but I need some suggestions for jazz and maybe some indie rock or something else interesting and fresh.

Spiritual Food for the Day

Happy Birthday Mom! Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm a little bummed because I cannot locate the pictures I'm trying to find. Photos have gotten lost somewhere between computer changes.

Regardless of the photos I could or could not find, it's my parents BIRTHDAY WEEK!!! Hooray!

On Oct 11th Pops turned 75! On Oct 15th Mom turned 30--right Mom?

My parents are the BEST!!!! They did a wonderful job of raising six children. They been AWESOME grandparents. They have so much love and kindness, good humor, gentleness and they are fun-loving.

I miss them very much. They live in Florida and usually visit over the summer, but not this past one. My mom suffered a heart attack back in June. (She's doing great now). It happened only one week before they planned to head north, so we haven't gotten our fix of them this time around!

COME VISIT!!!! How about THANKSGIVING?!!
I love our family get-togethers. It doesn't occur very often unless they're here. :-(

Here my dad is officiating the wedding of Kris and Jamie in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Kris is my sister's first-born son.
This is my sister, Jane, with mom, as they are waiting for the ceremony to begin.
I look forward to a visit. I look forward to time spent together. I hate that our lives get so busy that we forget to take time. THANKSGIVING!!??

Crazy Times: The Clique Goes to Vermont

If you're not scared--you should be! Getting this group of people together in a different state, away from internet and cell phone service, with a bunch of food and games could be dangerous. VERY VERY DANGEROUS!!

They tagged our car on the ferry so that we drove the whole way with this on the back.

We started out our evening relaxing and settling in... playing a MEAN game of trouble. The next morning we were up for a delicious breakfast and then a Major League whiffle ball game.

Jack worked ALL DAY on a puzzle--NOT!

The weather was PERFECT!!! We decided to tackle Mt. Snow again this year.
The colors weren't as vibrant as last year, but it was still very beautiful.
Melanie (in blue) was trying not to feel nervous about the chair lift.
Minerva must have sensed how much pain her legs were going to experience after their particularly difficult descent. What you don't know CAN actually kill you!
Of course, LILLIAN can take whatEVER the mountain can dish!
Up, up we go. Melanie is holding on for dear life.
TEAM EXTREME would most likely be carrying Ronnie down! Theirs was the straight-down path called PLUMMET!
TEAM CAUTION took the chair lift back down. We had to practically tie Larry to the chair because he really wanted to walk down even with his knee problems which would have been a very bad idea. :-(
TEAM BEAUTIFUL (I named the teams myself) consisted of Terry, Cristina, Milena and me. We took the moderate path so we could enjoy the rest of our stay in VT without intense muscle fatigue. Tour Guide Terry showed us the way.
Some of our path had minor challenges, but we could still walk by the end.
Later that night, after an amazing lobster and filet mignon dinner... yum yum...

we broke out the VT survival kits--brought to us by Nicki and Lillian. That's when things got a little crazy.

Some of the pictures cannot be shown here--they just wouldn't translate HAHAHA. You had to be there to understand. And other photos were never even taken. But I will say that we had the most intense neon bracelet, ring toss battle, in the dark. It was another "screaming with laughter" event. Too bad that some of the boys went to bed at 9:00!!!! Cuz we woke those poor babies up. Awwwww. We're soooooo sorry boys.

I haven't gotten through the photos of the last two days, so you may or may not see the 2nd half of the trip.

Listen. If you haven't gone away with friends or gotten out of the house regularly with a group of crazy people, I highly advise it for the soul... unless you don't have a good sense of humor. These kinds of getaways call for light-hearted humor--at least its a requirement for The Clique.

It's Sandals in the spring. Anyone want to join us?

Science Project

How to make your tongue turn blue:

First, go to the store and purchase a lot of candy, icing, and food coloring.

Next, decide how each piece of candy can be placed upon a cake along with colored icing to represent a 3D model of a plant cell.

To turn the tongue blue, mix into the icing lots and lots of colors, and be sure to taste it as you go (and taste all the other candy too)!

In the meantime...
Don't give any candy to these boyz. They don't need any! They are busy.

I'm busy too chatting with my mom. But take my camera. You must document!!

There it is. The blue icing.

Want some, Nate? Did I tell you that Nate went from bald to curly in a year's time?

Cake's in the oven and no, it didn't drop. They placed a bowl in the middle of it to create a distinct hole.

I was going to clean this cabinet sometime today, before I even saw the photo. Would you ever post a photo of your cabinet in its present state? without organizing it? I'm just into self-humiliation and brutal honesty.
Back to the matters at hand...
Jolene and Jolee worked very hard on their project.

Tah Dah!!! This is a 3D model of a plant cell.

They were very proud of their work.