In The Zone

When I got to work yesterday, my neighbor across the hall said, "You really don't pay attention to anything when you drive, do you?" Uh-oh, I'm thinking....this has happened before!! "Uh, well, not really," I said, laughing, "why??" She said, "Well Joe-Bob (the name has been changed to protect the innocent) and I saw you this morning, and we honked and everything and you didn't see us!!"
Oh my! Can I just tell you how much of a zone I am in in the mornings!? First of all, if you remember, I like to sleep, you know, the whole snooze button deal? Yeah, so I don't get up until I absolutely have to. I stumble through trying to get the puffiness out of my face, so I at least seem half way presentable when I leave the house, and I have my big mug of coffee (see the horrible, out-of-focus picture) that comes along for the ride. I hold the coffee in one hand and steer and shift with the other. It's pretty much a straight shot with a bunch of traffic lights, so I don't have to negotiate very much. On top of that, I hate the fact that morning radio people talk. Who wants to talk that early in the morning? Can you not just play music? At any given time *five* of the six pre-programmed stations in my car are talking. It really bugs me. So, my brain is usually still fuzzy from sleep and the caffeine hasn't taken hold yet, but the funniest part of this whole story is (took me long enough, huh!?) that Joe-Bob says to his mom "She's not even taking the opportunity to wave at me!!"
He's three. Gotta love it!!

I'm So Honored....

Last night, I was doing my daily blog reading, surfing around when I came upon one I like to read. As I am perusing this blog, I glance over to the list of blogs she likes to read and I see my name. What?? A jolt went through me as I'm thinking...that's me!! Wait, maybe it's not really me...I had to click on the link to convince myself of what I was seeing! It was me!! Someone has me as a link on their blog....and not only that, she's a Deaf lady! I felt so honored, excited, I felt like I had won a blog award or something! LOL
When I started my blog, I thought it would be nice to keep the family informed, maybe a few of my friends would read it. And of course, you secretly hope that other people will like you and make some new friends. So, here I am, a little less than two months into my blogging experience, and I am just thrilled! It has morphed into more than I thought it would be. I have made new friends, found a new hobby, and I am just loving it. I may not be getting many comments anymore, but obviously someone out there is still reading! Thanks, Deb Ann!

Evil on the Wind

Well, the wind came sweeping down the plain yesterday afternoon taking the warmth with it and leaving evil. A few blocks from our house, a man decided not only was he no longer worthy of living on this Earth for some reason, but neither were his two children, ages 4 and 8. It was sad and disturbing and scary. We were asked to stay in our homes, and no one could come or go from housing. Children were stuck at soccer practices, and buses had to take children back to schools while the madness played out. We made Fox News....I'm not feeling particularly prideful in that accomplishment under the circumstances. Who has any ideas about why people feel the need to kill their own children? Is it better that he then turned the gun on himself rather than calming calling 911 saying he just killed his children like the woman in New York or previous women in Texas? Is there no place that would take the children off the hands of mad people? Would the scars from being abandoned be worse than being killed by a parent?

A Glorious Day!!

I had to run an errand during my lunch break. Not because I didn't have a stamp this time, which I found last time, by the way.
It is warm!! That thing called the sun is out and I can feel it's warmth. I cannot explain how thrilled I am. I cranked up the music and rolled the windows down. I would've had the sunroof open if it opened (which it was supposed to...instead it's just glass. I guess that's better than nothing. The volume control was supposed to be on the steering wheel, too. But I'm not bitter)....I thought about not coming back to work but instead going to change clothes and go for a walk, but I didn't.

I am missing my daughter lately. That's not glorious. But I'll get over it. Did you think when you were little the things you might do when you became a parent? I did. Life is much different in reality, huh? And suddenly, they're gone.

Crotch Stitch

One of my favorite hobbies is cross-stitching. When the kids were little, they couldn't say it properly, so it came out crotch stitch, so now that's the joke.

Here is an angel I completed. Dear Hubby likes to tell the story that I actually did this whole project twice. I did the project on a piece of fabric that wasn't large enough for all the beads that make up the bottom of her dress (they are hard to see in the picture), so I did the whole thing again on a larger piece of fabric. She's beautiful, my favorite. This one is by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum of Lavender and Lace.










I'm working on this piece right now. She's called Fall Queen by Nora Corbett of Miribilia Designs.
Check back in a year or five to see her complete!

Wordless Wednesday

Take A Picture!!

One evening as we were leaving a restaurant, I was looking back over my shoulder at the restaurant next to it. We hadn't lived here very long, and it was a restaurant that was unfamiliar to us, so I was just checking it out. Because I was walking to my car I would look toward the car, then look back at the unfamiliar restaurant. This happened a couple of times, when all of a sudden I hear "Take a picture!" This came from the at least 30 year-old woman in the car that was sitting in the drive thru.

I was laughing all the way home.....

Divorce

Someone that I really care about is having marital difficulties. I don't know what advice to give her anymore. I know what I would have said a few years ago, but as we get older, we see things from a different view. You realize you have no earthly idea what you are promising when you get married if you are young and/or desperate. You don't really know who you are yet, let alone who someone else is. Then there are children that inevitably come along and complicate matters. It is hard work and sacrifice. It's not always fun, and you cry. I don't know what to say to her. I want her to be content like I am. I just don't know if it can happen in the current situation. But I know if it changes, it will be much worse before it gets better. I've been there. I am sad.

Greeting Card Swap

I joined a greeting card swap at www.sallad.net. I haven't felt in the crafty mood lately. Today it's been raining and it was a great day to get it done. I think part of the reason I don't "craft" much is that I tend to spread all my stuff out and I don't particularly like the cleaning up part. I'd rather just leave my mess there and move on to something else fun and come back to it when I'm ready, and then it's all still out! We have a very very small house right now and it feels even more confining when cluttered. Plus there's work, kids, dinner to make, carpets to vacuum and all that jazz when school is in (No, I don't cook or clean in the summer. Just kidding). Maybe I'll do better at crafting when summer comes. Plus, I just want to sit around and do nothing. Except maybe read a book. Without breaking the spine, of course! Oh, in case you can't read it, the card says "I thought we agreed, no more garlic bread."

But wait....there's more!!

Act now and you'll receive a red rectangular vase! (Isn't that lovely? Well, minus the fingerprints)


Some beautiful Celtic music by Loreena McKennitt...

And hiking sticks!!

With the Texas State Seal on them! How awesome is that!? OK, now if it'll just get warm enough for us to go hike somewhere.

I spent my Valentine's Day with....

Yes, way....it wasn't fun.

There are Forty!!

Aren't these beautiful?!!
They came early for Valentine's Day....
There are *40* of them!!!
Wow.

That's Me

le·gal·ism [lee-guh-liz-uhm] –noun
1. strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, esp. to the letter rather than the spirit.

I guess I am legalistic. I expect everyone to follow the rules. People that don't follow the rules and get away with it make me really angry. That's where our society has gotten this "Well, if they don't have to, why should I?" attitude.
I'm not perfect, and I don't *always* follow the rules, but I pretty much do. Reminds of the time I was out of town and became very sick, sick enough to get an antibiotic injection. I had a paratonsillar absess, if you care....Anyway, the nurse said, you need to stay here for 20 minutes so we can make sure you don't have an adverse reaction to the medication. Then she had the nerve to be surprised when she came back and I was still there! She asked my husband if I always followed the rules that well and he didn't even hesitate when he said "Yes!"
You guessed it, someone didn't follow the rules today and it made me mad.

OKC Memorial

We went downtown to the Oklahoma City National Memorial today.
The large structure you see in the end of the reflecting pool has a duplicate behind us, blocking the inside of the memorial from the street. When you walk in, you see this beautiful reflecting pool. It was stunning. One of the gates is inscribed with 9:01, which is the time we were still innocent. The attack occured at 9:02, so the opposite gate reads 9:03, the moment we were changed forever due to the costliest act of terrorism up to that time on American soil.
Below is the Field of Empty Chairs. There are nine rows of chairs, representing the nine floors of the building. The chairs are placed according to the floor on which those killed worked or were visiting. The names are inscribed on the glass bases which light up at night. 168 people were killed, 19 of them children.


This wall is of a neighboring building that now houses the Memorial Museum. It is virtually the same as it was, with black bricks filling the shattered out windows. The message was left by a rescue team on April 19, 1995.

The whole thing was solemn and sad. I did pretty well until we got here:
This is the playground of the children's daycare center. There are metal crosses on the fence with red ribbons above them. Each one has a bell attached that you can ring to send up a prayer for the children who were killed.

NAD response

For those who are interested....The National Association for the Deaf's response to the AGBell response to Pepsico.

http://blogs.nad.org/president/?p=14

Important Information for Presidential Hopefuls

Hillary, Obama, McCain, Huckabee, Listen up!
Mr. Bush, I have some chores for you, would you please come tomorrow morning? I usually clean on Saturdays....maybe Air Force One can just drop you by.
Water....probably bottled mineral water.
My husband could use this service right about now.
Hmmm....maybe this kid is confused. I think she's talking about the principal, but OK, I'm game! LOL

Autism

This beautiful little girl's name is Claudia.

www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

Chinese New Year

Today we had a fun celebration for Chinese New Year. My friend's mom made eggrolls and rice and I am stuffed to the gills. People don't have gills....why do we say that? Hmm...I might have to research that.Monkey~"You are very intelligent and a clever wit. Because of your extrordinary nature and magnetic personality, you are always well-liked. The Monkey, however, must guard against being an opportunist and distrustful of other people. Your sign promises sucess in any field you try."

Hey, just like they always told us in elementary school: You can be anything you want, even the President. NOT that I would want to be President, mind you....which is what my post will be about tomorrow.

WordFUL Wednesday

This was going to be a Wordless Wednesday because I have 5,673 things going on in my mind, but not really wanting to sit down and hash them all out. Then I saw this post responding to a letter that was written to Pepsico from the AGBell association. I was annoyed. Then I started to get really mad. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I thought, boy, I have something to write about now!! But, because it's just what I do, I had to let it all mill around in my head for awhile. I went to the gym to pound it out. As I am riding the bike listening to a soaring soprano thinking there are never any good solos for us altos, I began wondering what about all of this hullabaloo has gotten me so upset. This isn't my fight. I'm not Deaf, deaf, or Hard of Hearing. My children and family are hearing. I started to realize that what infuriates me is the injustice of it all. The oral/manual debate among the deaf community has been raging since 1868, or maybe forever. My little mind can't even begin to speak to it, but of course, I have an opinion. Meanwhile, O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion~Contralto Aria came on my iPod and I thought~ah yes, a beautiful alto solo...But back to my rambling...
I have worked with children who, because they have a cochlear implant, there is NO sign language allowed. I worked for months (yes, I'm probably exaggerating a little to make my point) to teach this first grader the concept of big and little. We walked around finding things that were big and then another day finding things that were little. One day, he drew a big giraffe on the board and a little giraffe on the board. He had it! What a glorious day! All of that is fine....except that this child, 7 or 8 years old, didn't have any language. There is an important distinction between speech and language. It reminds me of the scene in Mr. Holland's Opus when the boy and the mom are in the kitchen and he's crying and pointing because she doesn't know what he wants and when the dad comes in the mom says "I just want to be able to talk to my son!" (I'm sobbing by this point)
There is no right answer, there are many communication methodologies out there and they all have pros and cons. But this is a very devisive debate. People on one side generally choose not to see the points of people on the other and innocent children get caught in the middle. OK, well, what I'd really like to say is that the people on the oral end of the spectrum usually chose not to see the redeeming qualities of total communciation or bi/bi. And so I said it. I'm sure I'll hear from someone about that.
I feel like doctors sometimes just implant kids and leave the parents to hear from someone else this is not going to magically make their child a speaking/listening child. It takes years of Auditory Verbal training to be successful, and it doesn't always work. The most successful little girl I ever met with an implant was 5. She was in a mainstream Kindergarten class with no assistance, but her mom said "When her implant is off or broken, she is still a deaf child." They used sign language before the implant and for a little while after it was turned on. The child functioned beautifully, but parents were realistic.
My heart went out to the guy in the post referenced earlier. He'd probably want to choke me if he knew that. He had a hard time, by his own admission, growing up Deaf. He doesn't want his child (if the child is or becomes deaf) to grow up in this world with the way people think.
I guess it would be too much to ask that we just all get along, huh?

Things

The weekend was ups and downs.
Down~my teenager. Enough said.
Up~my son's adoption is final. Almost 3 years ago we started adoption proceedings for my husband to officially become my son's father (on paper), even though he has been for over 10 years (in real life). Other than the lawyer we picked was incompetent, there was no reason for it to take so long.

My husband would like an edit on a previous post~the Cowboys don't stink. They made it a long way in the playoffs. They did well.

Super Bowl

There's going to be an awesome Pepsi commercial today during the Super Bowl. You can read about it here or if you want to see some cute kids...check this. Enjoy.
Since the Cowboys stink, I don't have a preference to who wins. Have fun!

My iPod

This is my iPod. Isn't it pretty!? I got it last year for Valentine's Day. I'll get back to that in a minute.

Dear Hubby likes to turn on music during dinner so we can talk rather than being distracted by the television. Thursday night he turned on Sirius Love Songs. The reason is two fold...he likes to sing to me dramatically which leads to the second reason...much eye rolling, laughter, and "Oh Brothers!" So, some 80's love song duet came on that I can't even remember and he's singing, and I'm trying to ignore him and eat and my son is giving the requisite eye rolls, when the song gets to the second verse (where the girl sings) and he says "It's Momma's turn." So I take off and know yes, cringe! every single word......


Which makes my husband say to my son....It's pretty funny that 'Metallica Momma' knows all the words to this song.

Which, in turn, caused me to start considering all the different kinds of music I like.
Here's what's on my iPod:

• Aerosmith


• Anuna


• Asia


• Avalon


• BBC Symphony Orchestra doing Mozart's Reqiuem


• Bebo Norman


• Black Sabbath


• Boston


• Caedmon's Call


• The Chieftains


• Clannad


• Coal Chamber


• Creed


• Dave Matthews Band


• dc Talk


• The Eagles


• Elysia


• FFH


• Godsmack
• Handel's Messiah
• Jars of Clay


• Jennifer Knapp


• Jeremy Camp


• Jill Phillips


• Journey


• Kansas


• Korn


• Loreena McKennitt


• Ludwig von Beethoven


• Lynyrd Skynyrd


• Madeleine Peyroux


• Maire Brennan


• Mark Shultz


• Nicole Nordeman


• Micole C. Mullen


• Nine Inch Nails


• Norah Jones


• Pearl Jam


• Phil Coulter


• Point of Grace


• The Ramones


• Ronan Hardiman


• Sara Groves


• Sarah McLachlan


• Secret Garden


• Selah


• Shane & Shane


• Shaun Groves


• Silers Bald


• Soulfly


• Steven Curtis Chapman


• Sting


• Styx


• Third Day


• Type O Negative


• U2


• Vangelis


• Velvet Revolver

So, what's on your iPod?