Mama Mia

What a fun way to end a hectic evening with friends!!

Thursday, after work, the plan was for the five of us to meet at a pricey little restaurant for wine and dinner, then carpool over to the play. On the way, one buddy got into a nasty fender bender [well it also bent her hood, her front left panel, etc.] but she was able to drive her vehicle to the restaurant and join us. My buddy is in a wheelchair and the crash made it almost impossible for her to get out of her car--the door not opening wide enough for her chair so she could transfer from the driver seat. The first twenty minutes or so of our limited dinner time was spent arranging for a tow-truck, calling her insurance, and figuring out how she would manage without a car for a couple of days (at least). Our waiter didn't want to give us a "tour of the menu" as he put it, until we could all listen to him. Ugh!

The play started at 8:00 and at 7:15 we still didn't have our dinner! By 7:20 the plates arrived, but then, so did the tow-truck and we tried to inhale our very pricey dinners, slam down our very tasty wine, get the car on the truck, pay the check, and load up into my car. Whew!

We arrived at the theater only to find no handicapped parking. Luckily they reserved the front walkway [large bricked surface] for overflow handicap parking. We got out, put the chair together, got my buddy unloaded and ran to the door of the theater, just as the lights started to flicker, indicating the play was about to start. We found our seats and the lights went out immediately after.

It took about 20 minutes, but once I let go and got lost in the musical, I started to have such a good time. You can't help but buck up seeing young men dancing in snorkel gear with flippers! It really was a fun production.

Afterwards, I drove everyone back to the restaurant for their cars, and drove my buddy home. Just to top off the evening (now 11:30 pm) my poor girlfriend realizes that in the chaos of the evening she gave the tow truck driver ALL of her keys! She was locked out. Fortunately, she has a friend who lives relatively close, who also had a key. So we woke her up, went to get the key, chatted with her briefly, headed back to my gal's home, then I finally headed home. I was exhausted, but all the while one refrain kept ringing in my head...

"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen."
-- ABBA

Special Olympics

In an effort to encourage my children to volunteer to help others and an effort to help them appreciate how capable they are to do anything they put their minds to, I signed up the whole family to volunteer at the regional Special Olympics today. My husband knew about this months ago. My son I told days ago. My daughter was suprised when we arrived at the stadium.

We, as a family, were assigned as timers for four of the eight track lanes for the 50-meter dash. Athletes of all sizes, ages, races, abilities, and gender ran in that event. It was nice to watch my kids get excited for the runner they were timing, and to see them cheer on all the athletes. It was nice to see them get comfortable with the athletes, instead of fearing or maybe even mocking them, [which I've never seen them do, and I would like to believe they never do, but they are in Junior High, so it is possible]. I'd like to think they learned something today about people with special needs and hopefully, about themselves. I did get in a few of my "moral of the story" points today, but you never know what they really absorb and what bounces right off of them.

So four hours later we were hot, tired, sunburned, and hungry, but hopefully a little more sensitive to what is possible in the world.

"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats."
-- B. C. Forbes

Churning Butter

Have you ever heard the inspirational tale about the mouse that falls into a bucket of cream? He cannot get out. He is at risk of drowning but keeps trying to swim for so long that eventually he churns the cream into butter and survives.


I don't have butter yet, but I am churning and trying to keep my head above it all. I hope to be walking on butter soon.

My new job is great! I really do love it, but I am soooooo busy that the day just flies by and I am still swampped. I have been going in early and staying late trying to get in front of it all. It doesn't help that I am exhausted from my personal life as well.

I got back from Denton on Sunday. I worked until 8:00 on Monday. On Tuesday I had dinner with some old friends that I see about one or two times a year, and on Wednesday I attended a Happy Hour that I set up weeks ago in an effort to play cupid for a couple of single friends. [I don't think that I ever tried to set up anyone before.] Don't know if it was a "love connection' but they seemed to have a good time.

I look forward to a relatively quiet weekend at home with my family--the people I have seen very little of over the last seven days. I also look forward to catching up with the workload at my new job and getting to a normal pace. Oh, and sleep would be nice, too! Guess I should head to bed now...

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."
--Gandhi

Denton bound!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

Twice a year I escape to a little house in Denton for a weekend of cropping (Scrapbooking) with some great friends. We first met in September 2004, through scrapbook.com. Over the years we've all moved along to other scrapbooking sites, always scheduling our bi-annual retreat. We ocassionally have new guests and maybe we miss one of our original gals, but we always have a great time.

We named ourselves The Firstborns! After several gatherings we discussed how well we all get along together, and we determined it could be because we are all firstborns who have always been responsible and done for ourselves. No one leaves messes for others. No one abuses or takes advantage of the others. We all work very well together and truly enjoy each others company.

It is a weekend full of laughs and lots of catching up. We have all been through numerous life changes since 2004, and have all supported each other through good times and hard times. It is a weekend of just being a "girl" again. We are not mom, or honey, or whatever. We just hang out in our PJs scrapbooking, talking and laughing. We clean up on Saturday night and hit a local eatery, but the rest of the meals are prepared or bought by us - each sort of sponsoring or hosting a meal. We always have tons of snacks and food left over.

The drive up there is usually when I start to relax. I love a good roadtrip. The drive home is always a bummer, but when I do get home, I am usually renewed and ready to step up to my roles again - roles of mommy and honey and co-worker and neighbor and ...

Ahhhhhhhhh..... Counting down to 4:30 tomorrow when I hit the road.

The mind should be allowed some relaxation, that it may return to its work all the better for the rest.
-- Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD)

It's not her fault!

She was just swinging her new $1000 flute like a baseball bat, and nothing happened at first. But after a few times the headpiece flew off, hitting the wall, making a hole in the wall, and smashing the connecting end, rendering it useless.



This after a two week period where she got caught cheating on her homework, watching TV instead of doing homework, calling us from school again in the middle of the day, losing a purse, losing a lunchbox, writing on her jeans, etc. *sigh* Only six years to go...

Children are a great comfort in your old age - and they help you reach it faster, too.
--Lionel Kauffman

Transition

So when changing from a contract employee to a company-badged employee, you must take a day off inbetween the two positions for a transition. So I am thinking "Yeah! a day off!" Then I realize "DANG! The kids are out of school for Good Friday!" Not really a day off. :(

My hubby, realizing my stress level, working late every night while trying to close up my contract and get all my work done or transitioned to someone else, and while trying to hold back on the work already coming to me for my new position, stepped up and took my daughter to day camp today. Whew! My daughter is someone who needs a lot attention and really canot be left at home on her own--a large opportunity to get herself in trouble. My son will gladly entertain himself all day with video or computer games and I am free to go run those errands that you can only do during business hours, get all my packing done for my upcoming trip to Denton, and try to prepare for next week, which will surely be a whirlwind. Yeah hubby! Big points for you!

As for the new job, my new manager has been wonderfully pro-active. He already ordered a brand new computer for me, requested access to all their servers, ordered a new phone, and put me on his team's distribution list. I also attended a meeting last week for the new post. That is all cool, but then I was asked if I was ready to take on some of the new work. It was so hard to say no, but I did, in a very diplomatic way. I was also invited to a meeting on April 17th. I noticed other managers and acouple of Directors were also invited. Cool! Then I get another e-mail about an hour later telling me that I will be presenting at this meeting!!! On my progress on a project that I have not yet touched! Yikes. I will have been on the job 8 working days by then--first day is all orientation and paper work, and I am taking Friday off for Denton, so really 6 working days! Not too much stress there.

So, today, my day off, is errand, shopping, packing day. Too bad it is not Spa Day.

"Beginnings are always messy."
---John Glasworthy