Hey, I did it again

Successfully finished NaBloPoMo with this post. This is my fifth year...now the question is, will I keep it up in December? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile is tomorrow REALLY December 1? In denial here...big time. 

Classic

After posting last night I lay down on the couch "just for a minute" and fell fast asleep. And had a classic anxiety dream. You know the one: I was trying to get ready to catch a plane somewhere and I just couldn't get ready. Couldn't pack. Didn't remember how to get to the airport. Not enough time. At one point something caught on fire and I couldn't remember how to make my cell phone work to call 911. Felt like I was in some sort of time quick sand. Crazy.

Consider the irony of me saying that I was going to try to do things a bit differently and then dream about FLYING somewhere -- since I never fly. The not-enough-time-to-get-ready part--not so ironic--just typical.

I woke up sometime after midnight to put myself to bed. I almost blogged the dream then because it was so vivid, and I kind of wish I had because I'm sure I've forgotten parts now.  But it truly was classic.

Tonight I shall go straight upstairs to bed.

Where in the world has November gone?

This is the time of year that starts getting to me, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I don't ever remember a year where November seemed so SHORT.

Being away for 11 days early in the month really messed with my sense of time. I arrived home exactly a week before Thanksgiving day, and it was a week packed full of work obligations, both to catch up with things I'd missed and to prepare for the immediate future--which included, of course, both Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent. I love Advent as a season, but I'm rarely ready for it and this year is worse than ever.  I know that Christmas will be here before I can really blink,

So I'm thinking about changing things up a bit. I'm pretty much a stickler about not decorating too early,  not getting caught up in the Christmas crazy, but I think that actually works against me in some ways, so I'm trying to relax my rules a bit. We went to the local tree lighting while we were in VT for Thanksgiving, and I really enjoyed it, and it helped me feel more in the spirit of the season. I'm planning on getting the tree earlier this year, and trying not to let Christmas prep pile up so much. At the same time, I'm already thinking there won't be time enough to get everything done, at home or at work. Couldn't we get an extra day a week or something? Maybe November ought to be where the extra days goes in leap year?

Back, safe, home again

After meeting all the gathered family at a favorite breakfast place and a stroll through a quiet (because it was stii early) downtown with frosty air and dancing snow flurries, we set out for home in time to be here before dark. But the best laid plans...you know how that goes.

By the time we gassed up the car it was snow showers instead of flurries and the farther we went the harder it snowed pretty much the whole way across the state. When we made a pit stop we hit a spot of blue skies and hoped we were through the worst of the snow but I had no sooner gotten out my sunglasses because the sun was glaring on the wet roads than we caught up with the snow squalls. The roads weren't awful buy it snowed hard enough that visibility was poor and traffic slowed way down. Mind you, I'd rather it slow down than for idiots to sped by but it did make for a loooong drive home.

I have to add that it would have been beautiful if I hadn't been driving in it.

Now it is on to the Advent rush...let the new (church) year begin!

Friday five~pies, pies, pies

Songbird had a plethora of pies yesterday, leading to this Friday Five.

Please answer these five questions about pie:
1) Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?

Yes! We had chess pie yesterday (along with coconut cake and cheesecake. Can't imagine not having at least one pie.

2) Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.

Can't speak to the generalization, but I prefer pie if it is good pie. I love pecan, and mince, and peach, and key lime and...well what's not to love if the filling is scrumptious and the pastry is flaky? Otoh, mediocre store made pies are not worth the calories.

3) Cherries--do they belong in a pie?

Why not?

4) Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?

I don't really care for meringue, but I've had really excellent lemon and chocolate pies sans meringue. Bake the meringue into cookies instead!

5) In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?

Chicken! Since I am vegetarian chicken pie isn't really on my list anymore. My MiL used to make really excellent chicken potpie with pototaoes and carrots and peas. Fresh veggies are definitely preferable to canned.

I had a roasted vegetable pie from WF a couple of weeks ago and I may try to replicate that at some point.

Suitably stuffed

Eleven adults and two kids around the table and and a bounteous feast make a wonderful Thanksgiving day.

Hope you all had a wonderful day, too.

Over the river and through the woods...

to the grandbabies house we go.
The car knows the way
To take us today
And we're hoping to see no snow.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We're off in the morning to Vermont for a big family dinner. 

When a short week doesn't feel like a good thing

~When you have to work on your day off to make up for it.

~When after you work on your day off you are still behind.

~When you don't have a parish secretary and despite having a substitute not everything can possibly get done.

~When it's right before Advent and you really don't have all your Advent ducks in a row.

~When you have to have a sermon mid-week and you don't have a spare day to write it.

~When you've barely unpacked from your last trip and you need to pack again.

More random bits

~I've been having some tooth pain off and on for a few weeks, but it never lasted long enough for me to decide to call the dentist. But over the weekend it got worse, and this morning it hurt when I ate, and my face felt a little tender....been.there.done.that. so I called the dentist, and sure enough I ended the afternoon with a root canal.

~The procedure itself isn't bad and my dentist is very good--I was out in less than an hour. But it sort of hurts now that the numbness is gone. The dentist gave me a prescription for vicodin, but I didn't fill it--I've never taken anything stronger than advil or tylenol, and I hope not to start now. We'll see.

~The other reason I didn't fill it is because I apparently didn't have the right insurance card for prescriptions. I have never once tried to used this insurance that it has worked right the first time. It always works out eventually (but I SWEAR they only sent me one card) but why does it always have to be such a hassle? The same thing happened when I went to the eye doctor.  Can we say single.payer.system?  Why is that so hard?

~I've cast my votes AGAINST Bristol on DWTS....have you?

~Monday is normally my day off, but with a short week and having just been gone for almost two weeks, I worked today to try to get caught up--or at least get a start on getting caught up. I wish it were possible to take time off without getting snowed under upon return.

Random bits of Sunday

~First time back in the pulpit in three weeks! Much better at the second service than at the first--I really need a warm-up I guess. Which is different than when I was teaching--I hated teaching two sections of the same class because the second one almost never went as well as the first.

~TOTALLY lazy Sunday afternoon. Although I had thought to go outside and fill the bird feeders and take the chairs off the porch for the winter and change the sign for church, I never made it off the couch. I read for a while, watched an episode of Castle, dozed for a while, and that was the afternoon!

~Even if you've never ever watched an episode of Dancing with the Stars, would you go on-line tomorrow night and vote for anyone EXCEPT Bristol Palin? That she is still there is a travesty. Seriously.  (Ha! Even my mother thinks so, which sort of cracks me up!)

~I  am so NOT ready to think about Christmas. I still have Advent planning to do. Why again did I think it was a good idea to be away the first two weeks of November?

~But I am really glad I went; it was a great experience. 

~I got the sixth season of Lost on iTunes so I could watch it on the train. Which I didn't do, but I watched some last night and tonight and all I can say is wtf?  I am still waiting for it to make sense.

~Loving my iPad, but I still can't make it send email correctly. I mean, it sends the message but without the content. Again, wtf?

~I completely missed my blogiversary last month--I actually thought about it but then didn't get around to blogging it--but I've been here for five whole years. FWIW.

~Maybe I'll stick around for a while long. NaBloPoMo hasn't been as hard as I'd expected, although I haven't posted much of substance.

~I was actually thinking about this yesterday: what's missing in my corner of the blogosphere is the conversations that we used to have, not here so much, but at other blogs where we seemed to gather. (Phantom, where are you? We miss you!) Some of that conversation migrated to FB, or Twitter, but since I don't tweet I miss out on that part.

~And I guess if I started tweeting, it would signal that it's time for people to move on to the next new thing, because that's the kind of trend setter I am :)

Transitions

The 11 days I was away seemed to mark the end of fall and the beginning of winter in my little part of New England. The big maple by the church was still adorned in golden red, and the northern dogwood that hides my back door from the parking lot had just begun to change when I left, and now they are completely bare. The leaves are gone behind the fence, and at night when I look out that way I can see the lights of cars on the highway rushing by, a reminder that I am still in the midst of things. The shops down in the town center become visible if I peer through the bare branches at the edge of the driveway.

One last tree in front held on to its golden brown leaves. This is the tree where, if I were a kid, I would build a treehouse. Its branches spread out just right, and one could sit just so and watch the world go by on the deceptively busy street corner.

It must've been a windy night, although I didn't hear it. This morning the leaves from that last tree cover the front lawn, like an unexpected golden snow fall in the night. The light is different in the living room now. I can feel winter in the creaks of the furnace, in the rustling of the bare branches, in the chill of the air.

Reenty is hard

I pulled into the driveway around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, came in and took a shower, started some laundry and then went over to the church to check the mail and get ready for a meeting.  Almost from the moment I walked in the door, nothing went as I expected it.

Most of it is non-momentous....just more of the same-old same-old things that happen--a plumbing leak, no heat in my office,  a problem with a staff member, all the aggravations that go with running a parish, or a small business for that matter. A couple of bigger, more complicated things thrown in for good measure, the details of which I don't need to go into here, but that are at the very least disappointing and at the most troubling.

Part of the conference I attended involved discernment around one's vocation. I went with some questions to ponder, and I left a clearer sense of how to focus on the next couple of years. I felt--and feel--good about that. I want that positive energy to help carry me over the rough spots that are inevitable. I just wish my bubble of positivity hadn't been pricked so soon. 

Happy birthday to the Kid

Who turns 19 today!!

I haven't said much about the Kid here lately. His first year of college earned mixed reviews But good fortune shined on him with regard to a summer job--a dear friend helped him get a job at a music school in the city and when he decided to take some time off from school, he was able to continue working there. So he's living in the city with friends and working and even singing in a young men's chorus. He's lloking into taking some classes in the city and who knows what will come next.

Only one more year and I'll no longer be the mother of a teen. Wow.

Train blogging 4

Breakfast in DC with a view of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial outside the dining car window, lunch at Penn Station probably and hopefully home by 4. I slept pretty well last night all things considered. When I woke up we were somewhere in Virginia and it was very frosty outside.

I have never misssed Florida since I left it to move to Vermont, but the last 10 days helped me appreciate why people like to be there in the winter. I don't thinK I'll ever be a snowbird--I would miss winter--but I might consider a week or so in the south some March.

Train blogging 3

On the way home at last. I continue to be amazed by how many people are traveling by train these days. Every train I've been on has been full. I didn't get a sleeper car for the trip home which I sort of regret, but I can generally sleep any time, any where so it should be ok.

This whole trip feels a little surreal at this point. The CREDO conference I attended far exceeded my expectations, and then my visit with my mother was totally unlike anything I could've foreseen. Before I left for the train today she let me take her to Starbucks--about a 6 block walk each way. I think the curbs made her nervous in her chair, but the neighborhood is pretty accessible and it went fine.

I've tried not to let work intrude while I've been away but I haven't been 100% successful. I have to hire a new parish administrator and my attempt to post an ad on craigslist failed not once but twice. I'm wondering if the second failure had something to do with me trying to od fit from my iPad--it shouldn't but I just discovered the other day that email isn't sending correctly. Eh. And I have a whole slew of meetings to deal with, to say nothing of sermons etc.

But it is getting quiet now and I'm going to try to sleep.

NOT the day I expected

So I spent the day with my mother.

I hadn't seem my mother in longer than I care to admit, and the last few times I did see her were rocky. And as I've written about here before, we couldn't even talk on the phone without conflict popping up when I least expected it, although since she moved into assisted living she's been more mellow (but in that mellow state we've had only the briefest of conversations).

Last night my sister prepared me for a mother who was if anything worse--older, grumpier, and not the least bit mellow. That is NOT the mother I met this morning and spent the day with. She was chipper at breakfast, kidding around with her table mates. She asked me to take her for a walk outside, and then to the bible study that was going on when we came back in. (She lives in a Lutheran facility and a pastor is around quite frequently). She definitely shows age related memory deficits--certain things she asked me over and over--but she is not as far as I can tell suffering from serious dementia.

She looks better than I expected, too. My sister said she'd gained a lot of weight--and she has, but not as much as I had envisioned. She's confined to a wheel chair, and she has to have oxygen sometimes. She doesn't wear her teeth (but she never DID like wearing them, ever since she got full dentures befor my dad died.)But for 83 it's not too bad.

I spent the morning being gobsmacked by the difference between what my sister prepared me for and what I had been expecting based on past experiences and how the reality was just SO MUCH better. We spent a pleasant day talking about old times, and she went out of the building for the first time in maybe more than a year.

Maybe I just caught her on a really good day. But whatever the reason, I am so grateful for this day. So very grateful. I don't know what our relationship will hold in the future; I don't know how her health will hold up, but we've had this day togehter without rancor or recrimination, without complaint about ANYTHING. Maybe it it will remain something we can hold onto as we let go of some of the past.

Here I am

My conference ended this morning (and it really was wonderful) and after waving goodbye to my colleagues as they departed by bus for the airport, I had lunch with a seminary classmate who lives nearby and then boarded the train for Disney City where my sister met me at the train.

Now y'all know that I have been anxious about this visit. My sister and I were never close and our relationship is all tangled up in my relationship with mother. The two of us jut don't have that much in common--other than that we're sisters. But I have resolved that as far as I can help it, this visit is going to be non-controversial. And so far it has, I think. We stopped for some dinner and we talked a little bit about our mother and a little bit about our kids.

But it just feels so weird. And my sister said one thing that really floored me although I didn't react or respond in any way. She ssaid being around mother now reminds her of why she disliked her so much when we were growing up.

Huh. Really?

I'm afraid to probe that, but I'm really curious about what exactly she meant. I mean my mother has always been challenging in different ways. But i just don't know if I would say I disliked her. On the contrary what I remember most is always wanting her approval and never knowing how to get it. I found/find her frustrating and puzzling and difficult. So maybe my sister is just saying the same thing in different words. Which is also funny in the not ha-ha way because my sister (after a few years back in adolescence) seemed to be the golden child.

To be fair my sister has shouldered the burden of dealing with my mother since daddy died 8 years ago, and that has become a big responsibility. Huge actually. And she has her own issues to deal with. So I don't blame her a bit if she has negative feelings about dealing with our mother.

I hope when/if my kids ever need to take care of me it's not this complicated and sad.

I'm meeting my mother for breakfast in the morning. So I'm sure there will be more to say tomorrow.

Sabbath time

A completely free Sunday morning is a rare thing indeed for clergy, but that is what we had this morning. Nothing at al was scheduled. Although we had tasks to work on if we chose, how we spent the morning was entirely up to us. Some went to the beach, some read the New York Times or worked the crossword; others watched the Sunday morning new shows. I chose to sleep a bit later than usual, have breakfast on the patio, and then work on my end of conference project a bit.

Tomorrow we all head out. Eight days seemed like forevah when I got here, but now it seems like it went by incredibly quickly. This time tomorrow night I should be at my mother's place where I'll be until mid day Wednesday when I leave for home. Where it will be crazy busy from the time I get back--Thanksgiving week will be upon us--and Christmas won't be too far behind. Yikes.

Another day goes by in a blur

A short and boring post (because it is NaBloPoMo) just to say it's been another crazy busy day here at CREDO. I'll likely have more to say about all this later, but for now suffice it to say that it has given me lots to think about, and I've met some wonderful new friends. AND we went to the beach, and tonight we had a party, so it's not all work and no play. Tomorrow is our last full day; always mixed feelings about something like this ending. Ready to go home and sorry to say farewell. But now it is late and I must sleep.

Friday Five~~Winter is coming

I am currently in sunny Florida (and it has been SO pleasant) but I know that when I arrive back home next week, winter will soon be upon us. Apropos of that, here is this week's Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite movie for watching when curled up under a wooly blanket?
I love a good romantic comedy, some thing like Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail

2. Likewise, what book?
Harry Potter (any of the 7) or a great historical novel like Winds of War.

3. What foods do you tend to cook/eat when it gets cold?
A big pot of soup.

4. What do you like to do if you get a "snow day"?
Sleep in, read, sit by a roaring fire.

5. Do you like winter sports or outdoor activities, or are you more likely to be inside playing a board game? Do you have a favorite (indoors or out)?
I might take a walk in the snow, but otherwise I'll be inside playing Apples to Apples or Scrabble or Bananagrams if there's a crowd, or a computer game if I'm alone.

Living in another world

I've been here at the conference center since Monday evening.It's a great conference--one where our every need seems to be anticipated and taken care of. We are working hard, but we are also well feed- three delicious meals a day , chocolate and healthy snacks in the meeting rooms, wine and snacks at the close of the evening session. I feel quite pampered.

It's easy to forget about the 'real' world out there. I realized tonight that I haven't even glanced at the news since I arrived--no New York Times, no NPR, nothing. it's not for lack of opportunity. I have my iPad and iPhone ( and indeed we are a wired bunch; there are 22 of us and at least half a dozen iPads, and many, many iPhones here. is it a bad thing to feel completely insulated foam whatever is going on out there?

Seriously?

Bristol the Pistol Palin STILL hasn't been voted off DWTS? Despite having the lowest scores for the last four or five weeks? Craziness.

I know it's all about having a fan base but come on--it's past time for her to go.

Thumbs up for the train; the taxi...not so much

The train got me here right on time late yesterday afternoon. I spent a lot of time gazing out the window at the ever-changing landscape as we went first west to Tampa and then back east and south. There were miles and miles and miles of citrus groves, followed by some pretty barren areas dotted with palms and pines and scrub oakes, but very little sign of human habitation. There were a few fields of cattle grazing so there must have been farms but they were not very visible. And then you emerge back into civilzation which grows increasingly congested.

Once I was here I needed to taka a taxi to the confernce center. I had google mapped it, and it was about a 5 minute drive. So I gave the address to the driver, who seemed to know wehre it was but then proceeded to get lost and drive around for about 30 minutes looking for it. It turned into a very expensive taxi ride. I paid it, but I wish now I'd been a bit more assertive about saying that I shouldn't have been charged so much.

The conference has beeen great so far, with a really interesting mix of people. The day has been long, but I can say that I was never bored, nor did I feel like my time was being wasted or manipulated. And the weather here has been perfect--warm and sunny with a gentle breeze. So far so good.


On an unrelated note, I'm typing this on my iPad. Using both a touch screen and an external keyboard is different--I have to stop and think occassionally about doing something that would be obvious with a mouse. But I'm sure it will soon be second nature. It's funny to see how many iPads are here, too--at least half a dozen spotted so far among 22 people.

Train blogging 2

I've lived up and down the east coast, and it's funny how this train trip is passing by or near the places I've called home. Right now we're in northern Florida, where I spent seven years. The view brings back so many mnemories...some good, some not so good. But it is beautiful county in it's own way--the spreading live oakes draped in Spaninh moss, the scrub pines, the lakes and springs and rivers, the palms and palmettos (not the tall impressive kind, but the lower scrubby ground cover kind.)

I've never been south of Tampa, and I only briefly visited there, so I'll be seeing some new country before the day is out. I'm looking foreword to seeing a broad southern beach and beautiful clear water.

We've passed a lot of fields covered with black netting supported on poles...I've never seen anything like it before and I'm wondering what they are growing. Tomatoes?

Okay we are in Winter Park now, farther south than I thought. It looks like a lovely town. Often on the train you see only the outskirts, not always attractive, but not here.

Sleeping on the train wasn't bad...but once the bed is made up you can barely move in the compartment. I'm not sure that two people could easily share this space although it is supposedly designed to fit two. I went to sleep at a ridiculously early hour for me (around 10) and slept until after 7, only waking up a couple of times, and I feel really well rested. Breakfast was grits, scrambled eggs and a biscuit-wonderful Southern fare!

I really do like traveling this way. It takes time for sure. The Kid and I were talking about this--we've both recently (re)read The Winds of War, a novel about the two years leading up to WWII. The characters all travel a great deal, but they take it as a matter of course that it will take them days if not weeks to get where they are going. Now we expect to be there in hours or it's not worth it. We're so rushed. I am grateful for being able to travel at this slower pace.

Train blogging

On the train to Florida...

So far so good. The compartment is smaller than the Amtrak website made it look, but it's okay for one person. We'll see how it sleeps; the food in the dining car is not gourmet, but it's not bad either, and because I have a compartment it's included in the price.

I had a lzay, dozey kind of day; read the NYTimes on my iPad, did a little last minute CREDO paper work and relaxed, and I'm tired enough to go to bed very early.

I like traveling this way.

Leaving on a jet plane....um. train

I'm leaving at o'dark thirty in the morning to board a train that will take me to Florida. I know that people think I'm crazy to take the train for such a long trip, but I HATE to fly. And the stress of having to deal with airports and take-offs and landings would completely undo any relaxation I might get from this trip. As it happens, Amtrak goes right to the place where my conference is, and it stops in the city where my mother and sister live, too, so it works out.

I splurged and got a sleeper for tomorrow night.The conference starts about thirty minutes after I get there, so I thought having a place to really sleep and change clothes might be a good idea. I didn't get the sleeper for the way home, but I've slept on a train before and ti wasn't too bad. Overall, I like traveling by train; I can read and watch movies (even as I type I'm downloading Toy Story 3 and Lost Season 6), and I have a little bit of prep work for the conference left to do, so I won't be bored.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep up with NaBloPoMo because I splurged a bit and got an iPad this week--with 3G and wifi. In fact, I'm typing on said iPad right now with a spiffy wireless keyboard--so much easier than the built in one, on which (like on my iPhone) I make multiple and stupid typos. I can justify the iPad because I will be able to use it for work and the keyboard makes it that much easier. The only thing I can't do is download any pictures I take because I didn't buy the adapter I need for that (which at this point seems silly but whatever.)

So I still have a stack of ironing to do--ironing before packing is always at least a partial exercise in futility, but I do it anyway. Glad tonight is fall back night!

Friday Five~~It is well with my soul

From kathrynjz at the RGBPs:

We lead privileged lives.

True, some are more privileged than others but the fact that we are communicating right now via technological devices puts us in the privileged category.

There are many perks in my life for which I give thanks and then there are some that make everything right in the world during the moment I am enjoying them. I'm wondering what a few of those things - five to be specific - are for you.

1. I can pay my bills every month and have something left over.  That sounds pretty basic, but honestly, I've had times when that wasn't true, and those times suck--not to put too fine a point on it. So knowing that I can support myself (and I live not luxuriously, but really pretty well) feels great.

2. I have techy gadgets that make my life easier and more fun. An iPhone. A great camera. And, now thanks to some sweet perks at my job (see below), an iPad.

3. I have a job that is not only just what I want to be doing but also has some sweet perks.  Like a fund for professional expenses. And time and money for continuing ed. And four weeks vacation. And health insurance. 

4. I get to live in a cool Victorian house. Also related to number 3 above.  I've always wanted to live in an old Victorian house.

5. Dark chocolate with ginger.  Available at Whole Foods.  And salted caramel hot cocoa at my neighborhood S*bux.

So.....going to see my mother

On the way back from CREDO, I'm stopping in Disney City to see my mother.

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit how long it has been since I've seen my mother...eight years. There, I said it. The biggest reason is that I live at one end of the east coast, and she lives at the other. Or maybe that's the second biggest reason; the real biggest reason is that we don't get along all that well. (See this post ....and this one...for details).

Ever since my mother moved into assisted living, our interactions have been brief. When I call her, she only wants to stay on the phone for a few minutes--just long enough to say that we're both doing fine, and the kids are all fine and then she says she has to go. On the plus side she sounds reasonably content to be where she is--in assisted living and confined to a wheelchair. I sort of think that they must have her on some good drugs. Dunno. And there are no arguments. But it also feels like I'm talking with a casual acquaintance, not my mother.

Apparently what I didn't realize is that my mother has some dementia going on. When I emailed my sister to tell her that I was coming, she was very surprised because my mother not only didn't remember that, she didn't even remember that she'd talked with me.

So the mother I'll be visiting is not the mother I last saw. I'm not really sure what to expect. I know it will be sad on some level. I just hope it is not contentious.

Not as bad as it could have been...

...but still bad enough.

The mid-term elections, that is.

I am mightily relieved that we don't have the (former) head of WWE wrestling as our senator--what an embarrassment that would have been. She spent something over $40 million on her campaign, about $15 million from her own pockets, and yet dared to say in her ads that she "understood" how regular folks live....really?

I'm also relieved that some of the most rabid Tea Partiers lost as well--like the nutcase running in Delaware.

But elsewhere, things look more grim. I guess I should have known that all our optimism of two years ago would evaporate before it came to anything. I don't blame Obama so much. I haven't agreed with everything he's done, but for the most part, he's done as well as he could with what he's got to work with. And the economic mess we're mired in isn't his doing--he was just left holding the bag. Not sure it's going to get any better any time soon.

30 years ago today....

NSLS was born. That makes me OLD.  Although I was younger than she is now when she was born.

NSLS was double footling breech. I've joked that she wanted to walk out, and that she continued to want to do everything the hard way. She was born by C-section though, because the ob thought it was too risky to even try a natural delivery. And she was my biggest--9 lbs +

Now NSLS is expecting her second baby! When we skyped this afternoon Little J was wearing a "Big Sis" shirt, and proudly informed me that she's a "big sister." So cute!

NSLS was born in a large Navy hospital on a Sunday afternoon. I'll never forget all the doctors walking around that Tuesday (election day) shaking their heads and saying, "I never thought Reagan would get elected." Hmmmmm.

Happy birthday, NSLS!!

NaBloPoMo

Despite the fact that I've haven't posted in almost two months, I just signed up for NaBloPoMo again, for the fourth year. I decided I needed to either sign up, or just admit that my blogging days are over, and I wasn't ready to do that. So here we go. Keeping up this month will be complicated because I'm leaving town Sunday for 11 days--on my way to Florida for a CREDO conference (clergy wellness conference sponsored by the Church Pension Fund) and a quick visit to my mother and sister. Long time readers will know that I'll have LOTS more to say about THAT.

Needless to say, I've been busy the last couple of months. Work has been.....well, work. With lots to do. So I come home often well after dinner time, sit down and watch an episode of TV on HULU or read, and that's about it. I spend some time on FB and reading blogs--although Blogrolling completely
disappeared for a couple of weeks, and because I never used a feed reader I was scrambling to find my links.

There are a few things going on around here, but I'll save them for future posts....I'll need something to talk about for the next thirty days!  :)