Flower Month

I am on what I would consider the most interesting committee ever to be formed in a church. I am on the Flower committee. I have been asked to sit for committees before and have sometimes said no and sometimes said yes, but never really liked the idea of committees or the bureaucracy of committees. At work I am on the Scanned Records Committee--this decides what old records should be scanned into the new system for access from the computer. At other churches I have served on a Children's choir committee and a hospitality committee and I believe that there was some missions committee somewhere along the way.

This committee is right up my alley, though. I don't have to make important decisions, there are no reports to be made to the concregation, and most fun of all--I get to be creative. So this month is my flower month. I have a Flower Month buddy. We both work to create the arrangements in the sanctuary for the month of May. I was on the committee last year, but something about the second year, with some experience under my belt feels good. I can't wait.

April showers, brings May ...

Colorado trip

Lily is one year old.





On the trip, I went skiing (first time in oh--12 years). I went hiking. I baby sat. I had a great trip.

Re-Read of 2007

There are certain books that are so good to me that I re-read them annually, or at least every other year. Not to sound too much like You've Got Mail, but Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin is on that list. My first P&P exposure was actually through the A&E Mini series with Jennifer Echols and Colin Firth (still an enduring crush). Then I read the book. From there I have read and re-read all the completed Jane Austin books. I am on my third copy of P&P as the other two were falling apart from so many readings.

For my current Re-Read, I am preparing for a book I have waited, on edge, for a year. Harry Potter, Book 7. I wanted to start my re-read of book 1-6 and take my time savoring the books and the unfolding plot, but I have yet again, gotten caught up in a fever. I started less than a week ago and I am already halfway through book 3. I have pre-ordered from Book 7 Amazon.com and hope that 7/21/07 gets here before I have to re-read Books 1-6 more than once. I will confess, I was so excited about this pre-order until a friend told me that she did this with Book 6 and they lost her order--she got it 3 weeks later. Now I am nervous. I really want this book on the day that it comes out.

3, maybe 4 things to say

1. First session in my private practice went well today. I am well on my way to being private practice counselor extradinare. (Can you tell that I really like saying "private practice?")

2. I leave for vacation in Colorado tomorrow. Yeah, a little bit of much needed relaxation. Not to mention getting to see my niece who just turned one year old.

3. I have dogs fighting under my feet for my attention. Fighting, playing, what's the difference?

4. Teachers arrested in Sumner County--That is a little too close to home. I have been in all of these schools and have met some of these teachers. What were they thinking?

Private Practice

That is right, I said private practice. Well, it is just part-time private practice, but I see my first client in my private practice tomorrow. I am so excited. For those that read this--I am keeping my school-based job (insurance, money, etc. all make it necessary to stick with the day job). But I have had it officially cleared through said job to pursue this opportunity. This is an unbelievably empowering step for me.

Private Practice--it just feels so good to write it, to say it, to shout it from the mountains. Which is where I will be next week, the Colorado mountains. I will be admiring my beautiful niece that just turned one and relaxing as much as possible.

The Drama of the Eye Wash Cup

My Dad is a huge fan of the eye wash cup. Has used one for years. It is a great contraption that seals around your eye and washes out dirt. You would mix up a salt water solution that tasted like tears, put your eye to the cup, lean back and blink a few times to let the water you know, wash out your eye.

Here is where the drama comes in. My dad's eye wash cup that probably dates back to B.C. (my parents way of saying Before Children--oh, and that would be 32 years). As I was saying--his eye wash cup got knocked off the counter and got a chip in it. Hopefully, you recognize that something used to wash gunk out of your eye should never have broken glass anywhere around it or in it. So he threw out his eye wash cup and put it on the grocery list. Surely, Wal-mart carries this handy, dandy and very useful item, the eye wash cup. WRONG. And so the search began. Not at Wal-mart, not at Walgreens, can't be found at CVS and no sign of one at Eckerds. So, he went to the internet. Surely the internet would not let him down. You can find anything on the internet these days. Ebay, yes, Ebay did have a few eye wash cups up for grabs. Only these were antiques and in all sorts of fancy colors and a little on the pricey side of things. My Dad didn't want fancy colors and wasn't even too sold on the idea of an antique eye wash cup. After all, who knows what kind of shared eye diseases could come from that, not to mention the possiblity of small chips in this old glass.

How was the problem solved? He finally found a dealer that sold them wholesale. He bought a case of 15 in order to get one. So, everyone in the family got one. My mom and my dad now have their own eye wash cup--no sharing please. I got one, of course. I believe my brother and his wife will each get one--maybe even one for my neice (yes, the one year old). I am sure that my aunt and cousins are also on the list. And the rest, well they will go into storage just in case the current eye wash cup meets the same untimely end.

It Has Turned Out to be a Good Day

This doesn't always happen you know, bad start to the day turning around to be a good day, but today was one of those days (it actually wasn't a bad start, just a mediocre start). Last night before bed I thought about turning on the heat (after all the temperature was dropping). Thinking about the heat and getting the heat going are two different things. I have discovered that I am actually kind-of miserly--I don't want to spend the money to heat my house in the middle of April, it just seems counter-intuiative. So I grabbed myself an extra blanket and went to bed. I woke up freezing this morning. And I was not the only mammel in the house that was craving heat. Miriam (Austrailian Cattle Dog), Dodger (Some sort of Terrier Mix pup), AND Moses (the cat that usually shuns cuddling when the dogs are even in the house) are all laying around/on me. I had Miriam on my right, by my hip. Dodger was on my left in his usual spot (my armpit). Moses thought the best place for him was on my chest, stretched across my neck. Did I mention that I have allergies? Cat hair by my face, not so good. Normally, this would bother me, but I was happy for the warmth. I did not want to move from my little nest, but the animals sensed that I was stirring. Moses was first--he stood up and promptly went to stand on my bladder. Dodger began to lick my ear. Miriam, getting jealous that Dodger was getting attention decides to lunge at him--right over my belly. "I'm up," I yell.

Then comes a promise to fullfill--I was to go to water aerobics with my mother. Not too much of a big deal--I like water aerobics. Did I mention that this is Senior Swim water aerobics--my mother being one of the young whipper, snappers of the group? So, I stood out like a sore thumb, being only 30 and the only one without a swim dress.

So how did my mediocre day turn around? I found some beautiful sounding windchimes. That's right, windchimes. They are melodious. I am easily pleased--at least today.

Spring Break

This is the great time of year called Spring. I love Summer too, but Spring (aside from Winter and Fall) is my favorite. I understand what you are thinking, when it comes to seasons, I am a little wishy-washy. I will admit, I like them all. They each have some wonder about them, something great. What I like most of all about Spring is discoving the flowers that keep popping up everywhere. Just last week I was visiting a friend and her dogwood trees looked completely bare. This week I went back and they were in full bloom (she has about 20-25 trees that line her driveway). It was beautiful.

It is not just discoving flowers that come back year after year, it has to do with unexpected growth too. When I moved into the house two years ago the yard had not been well cared for. (Neither had the house for that matter). So, last summer I discover that I had a Peony bush. It came up, but never bloomed. Well, it came up again this year, but my expectations were low. Two days ago, I noticed a bloom--it is so beautiful. Spring truly is the best season (that is until Summer gets here).

Yes, this is actually a picture from my yard. And I did nothing to nurture it, just cleared back the burmuta grass.

Have a Happy Spring.