Time flies even when you aren't having fun!!!!!

Hi to all,
Summer is really over--temperture wise--thank goodness. Otherwise, NO!!!!!!!!!!! I did not do my usual summer house cleaning and throwing away!!!!!! I am shredding every weekend. This past weekend I filled four (4) plastic bags of shredded old papers. What a MESS!!!!!!!!! I have one more large basket to go and then I start on the file cabinet in our bedroom. If I could keep only one years worth of bank statements and tax papers I would, but I think it is safer to keep five (5) years worth. Damn it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If the IRS audited us now, I would probably say "Come and get me!" This is crazy--there are files from 1984 (that's 25 years!!!). I have to shred for about 30 minutes and let the shredder rest for 30 minutes--I don't want to burn up the moter. This is going to take me until January to finish.

Gwen made me feel bad for not posting sooner--because she posted--she did not shame me into this. Things have been whirly, whirly--trip to Kansas stayed 23 days came home started school--flew back on Aug. 17 and returned Aug. 22. Whew!! Mama did not have hip replacement surgery because she has developed heart problems. Her heart doctor has put her on meds for heart arrythmia and also says her blood needs to be thinned. He wants to wait for 8 weeks before any hip surgery. She is so frail and can't walk. So, she is not doing any rehab for the broken hip right now. It is such a mess and very stressful for my sister--who has the total responsibility for her health issues. I am so sad that I am so far away that I cannot help take up the slack. Kirk and Linell are so lucky that they have each other to lean upon when they get stressed like this.

Back in the Saddle

Summer is over--workshops started today. A monkey wrench has been thrown in. Mama's hip surgery did not work, so the doctor has to go in a do a complete hip replacement on Aug. 18. I am more than a little worried about this because Mama has some heart issues now. EVERY TIME I THINK IT CAN NOT GET ANY WORSE--IT DOES. She is having EKG and blood work done tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers.

Just when you think...

...that everything is going pretty good--BAM! It turns on a dime. Yesterday, Mama fell and broke her left hip. She had only been home from rehab about a week--give or take a few days. She is undergoing surgery and I am leaving tomorrow morning to go up there and give Patsy some relief. I plan to just stay there until Kirk flies up on July 21. Mama will be 90 years old July 23. My aunt and cousin are going up next week, which will be a really good thing. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we weather this with Mama.

Hot Cha Cha

Where is the rain???? The three drops that we got yesterday, I am grateful for, however, we need more. I need to hand water my pot plants--they are gasping. It is even too hot to swim. Kirk mowed the lawn this morning and then we kept Cam and Landon--what fun they were. There is so much going on right now it is hard to keep up with it all. I am in the throes of cleaning out the closets--that got put on hold this morning, which is OK. I would much rather play with the kids. We are just waiting, and waiting for Liam to appear. We were in Garland last weekend and he is not ready yet to make his appearance. We will be sailing up there as soon as we hear something. Then we will be off to Kansas to celebrate Mama's 90th birthday. When I get back, I will be hitting the road running for school will be starting on August 11. So little time and so much to do.
Later.

The Disabled Butterfly

This morning I was watering my plants in the back yard and I saw a butterfly struggling in the swimming pool. I got a net and got it out and then saw why it was struggling. It had one perfectly beautifully shaped wing and one that was deformed. I almost cried, I was so sad. This poor butterfly had a disability that it did not deserve. I got to thinking about all kinds of disabilities. I have taught children with disabilities my entire teaching career. I thought about the rest of the "normal" folks who walk around. We ALL have some kind of deformity or disability of some sort. We all have things that happened in our lives that changed us one way or another. Some of us were born to two nurturing parents, and some of us were not--but we survived.
Like that butterfly, we all have survived. We have survived because we had that extra special thing within us that was the driving force. Thank God--and it might have been God who spoke to us in our sleep and told us that all was going to be all right. Now, I do not know the length of that butterfly's life--considerably shorter than ours, but I must say that I learned something today--we come down that shoot to be born to those two people that we are meant to be born to and we have to survive and live a life that is full and special. We must make some kind of difference somehow. Like that butterfly made a difference in me. God comes to us in very simple ways--even by way of a wounded butterfly.

A New School Year Ending

This week ends the school year. It has been very interesting to say the least. Keeping my job became paramount in February. Well, I did keep it, although, I am moving down to 5th and 6th grade--that's OK--I am still working. I still get to teach some good literature--thank goodness. I did not get thrown under the bus in that department. The new head of school is a literature groupie and he and I had some really great conversations about good literature. The only thing I am worried about is that his daughter is going to be in my class next year. AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! I really do like him and I think that I am one of the few who really do. That could get sticky. We will see how it goes next year. There is so much going on right now--I spent this weekend getting ready for the bridal luncheon for Bethany. I am really looking forward to it. I have planned for a garden theme and so far the decorations are good. I think that it will be good. I have to work the week of the luncheon, so I will probably get stressed the closer the day gets--hopefully, because I have started so early, everything will be fine. It should be great.
Later!!!