Lily (and, of course, Craig and Rhonda)

My niece got into town late Monday night and I went by my parents to see her last night. She remembered me. She got this huge grin and ran right up to me and gave me a big hug and said--"Bubbles". Well, what do you expect, they were blowing bubbles at the time.

Too cute. I'll have pictures later.

Go here and Click, DAILY

This Site has found sponsors that are willing to give donations if there are people willing to go and click on the site. There are several categories and I would encourage all to click on each one. Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, Animal Rescue. Even if these things are not your cause, it takes all of 30 seconds to do a click in each category. A page will come up after the click with a list of their sponsors, but there is no obligation to go to thoses sites.

Also they have great things to buy that also give more. When you purchase an item from this site part of the proceeds go toward the cause. It will tell you how much food, or money will be donated because of the purchase. You can also give a gift directly to the cause (such as high-efficiency stoves for Sudanese refugees from Darfur) and they will wave shipping costs. Start thinking Christmas Shopping.

This is just a win-win situation. Go forth and click. All these are causes close to my heart, esp. child health and animal rescue. Thanks for clicking.

My Garage Door has Issues out the WAAZOO

So, here is the story. My garage door opener ever since being installed has made this strange buzzing sound. Constantly. Not just when the door is being opened and closed but ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME. It turns out that there is a problem with the mother board. I, like many I have talked to, had no idea that a garage door opener would have a mother board, or that if it did it could go screwy. So the new mother board has been ordered and is ready to install, I just have to find the time to get it done. Simply put, my garage door has mother issues.

But, this isn't all. Like most people with mother issues, the door also has other issues as well. Apparently the "upforce" of my opener is improperly calibrated. This is why it didn't open all the way and I ran the back of my van into the garage door. To my defense--I didn't just back into a closed door. It open, mostly--so much that looking out my rearview mirror, I saw the outside world. Had I been in a regular size car and not the van (any one want to buy a van, anyone at all?), I would have cleared all but an antennia. As it is I hit the roof of the van--no damage to the van (you know for anyone interested in buying it--it still looks good), but I managed to pull the seal off the bottom of the garage door and knock it off track. Luckily my dad was available to come over and look at it--he called the garage door guy (it is still under warrenty) and that is when I found out that I have a garage door opener with mother issues and upforce issues (sounds like it needs Viagra).

I Think I'm Addicted

I have never worked somewhere where I have constant access to a computer. Never. The last place I worked I had to travel across the big city of Gallatin to the main office to get to a computer and even with that, I would not have access to email. But now I sit in front of a computer for most of the day and that means constant email and facebook access. And there is something about that which is appealing because I keep checking every 1/2 hour to hour to see if I have a new message. Have you emailed me lately???

Let me just say that this does not keep me from my work duties as days here are usually light (the exception being Mondays when I run payroll and the beginning of the month when we close out the previous month). That being said I still like to check my inbox and see what I have gotten. Usually it is from Old Navy or Amazon or even J.Jill.com--all worthy places to shop (if you have the finances, I do not). I have 3 email accounts and I check them all regularly. Yahoo and MSN only once per day, but my Bellsouth account, I just can't seem to get away from.

By the way, does anyone have a Bellsouth account. I do not like the new email. If I accidentally hit the right button a box will come up that will not go away even if I click somewhere else on the email. I have to actually make a decision to do one of options in the box (open the email, respond, delete, etc.). And I don't know how many times I have deleted an email that I want to keep because I had been reading it, then decided to highlight the ad emails in otder to delete them and it was still selected. Why does it have to open up a new window when I want to read an email? It used to be that I could go from one to another to another by clicking next.

So, the point of this blog. No such luck, because there really is no point, but to sum up...

... I hate Bellsouth's (or more accurately AT&T's) new email, but I just can't keep from checking it.

Ready to Work

I am so excited. My dad came over this weekend and we worked together to finish assembling my new workbench. I don't think I have ever been this excited about some thing made out of wood ever. I now have all my stained glass equipment (well all but a few items) at the house and I am ready to start my next project.

It is for my cousin's house and I don't have to pay for the glass. Get to do what I love AND no out of pocket expense. I am ready to work.

Bragging on Myself and L.T.

I have discovered a passion for flower arranging that I never knew that I had and here is some of the results. L.T. and I did the flowers for a reception this weekend and actually got to do a ton of flowers.

Sad

This week at church, our music minister retired. He had been at the church for 30 years. A very impressive number. This longevity hardly effects me (except for the Wow status) because I have only been at the church a little over two years. But I am truly saddened to see him go. He wasn't just a song leader or a choir leader, he was truly a man who had a heart for people and a desire to minister. I chose this church because of the music and I stayed at this church becasue of the music. Now, we all have claims on M.E. and rememberances of his ministry that is a blessing. For my own part he was the one I turned to for advice and prayer during my divorce. I go to a large church and feeling close to a pastor in that size churhc is next to impossible, so M.E. was my minister of choice.

Last night, I went to the first choir practice without M.E. and it was something of a surreal experience. The first thing our new interim did was switch the soprano and alto side. So I am singing from what feels like the opposite side of the world. This will take some adjustment, as will learning his directing style. On the up side, he is good. He will be able to carry this choir during this time of transition. We had a reception for him before choir and he truly made an effort to great each choir member as they came through and to get to know them a litt.e I really liked how he continually empansized that we are singing more than words and more than notes, we are singing a message. Another bright side is that my friend L.T. has come out of alto retirement to help support the transition (or maybe out of a sense of curiosity?). I think I will get into trouble sitting next to her--a little too much talking going on, but choir has never passed so quickly.

M.E. will be missed. Truly missed.