i am not lost!

Here I am!  Last weekend my computer was hacked and my aol account was frozen, took me an hour to get someone to unfreeze it.  It happened again today, even though I changed my password and added spyware protection!  There are days I just feel like getting rid of this stupid service but I've been with AOL since 3.0 A LONG TIME!  So I'll just deal.

Mother's day was a nice relaxing day for me.  Eric had slept over and Tim came over in the afternoon.  The sweethearts gave me a gift certificate for 1 hour spa massage!   Of which I will be using right after this school year from hell ends the beginning of next month!  Liz bought a necklace from Hallmark , one is for the mom and the other for the child, very nice of her. 

My two stepsons that I raised even called to wish me a Happy day too!  I was pleasantly surprised.

More later!

 

 

T. D. Jakes, grandbabies and mother's day cards

One of Mark and my favorite ministers who is also an author was having a book signing this morning so we drove the hour to the Borders to see him.  It was an honor to shake hands with a man who truly is a great teacher of the bible.  I have gained much strength from his ministering each and every morning, as he has a ministery that is televised.  We also met some really awesome freindly people there, one of which was a little African American lady.  She used to teach, but is now a librarian, all she wanted was for the copy of the Library book authored by T.D. Jakes to be autographed.  She was very early and misunderstood the time he would arrive.  Another lady offered to have it signed and she then would drop it by the library for her afterward.  Before she left she made sure we had a pamphlet that showed her work on behave of Africa, she told us she was black all year long, not just for one month a year.  What a spirit that lady has!  Just as I was losing my faith in mankind I get a wonderful reminder this rainy gloomy day.

Which brings me to my whiny attitude regarding the rain.  I am sure this rain is a long awaited answer to some poor farmer who has endured the drought we've had of late.  So no more whining, at least my husband has a job to go to and a raise next month.  It will stop some day hopefully soon!

We also babysat with the grandkids this evening.  It's only been three weeks since I've seen them, but felt like forever!  They are just as cute as ever!  Dakota did get mad at me tonight because even though I can't understand one word of his baby babble I cleary understood he was quite mad at me for not being talked into giving him a bottle.  He had to settle for a sippy cup and a nice long rock with grandma before bed.  The whole time he shook his head no while saying night, night.  I was so pleased that my sweeheart for a daughter in law gave me a card for mother's day.  My stepsons never honor me on Mother's Day, I am sure they are afraid their mother would have a fit.  But I know in my heart by how they treat me that I am loved and respected by them. After all actions speak louder than mere words and acknowledgments on Hallmark holidays.

My boys will be here tomorrow, my daughter will hang out too, even though her boyfriend is back for the summer from college. I will relax, let my husband cook/clean up, laugh with my kids and be grateful for what I have and the simple fact that the best is yet to come.  I am loved and that's what matters!

 

Happy mother's day!

rain rain GO AWAY!!!

My area of the world is stuck in some sort of rain/cold/windy vortex from hell!  It's been raining, cold, windy and just plain horrible for 2 days, and it's not supposed to move out until next week!  Put it this way it feels like March except all dressed up instead of mid May!  UGH!

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

-Marcel Proust

 

 

This has been a good week work wise.  I came in on Monday and my supervisor was very cool about everything that happened last week on the bus.  I deleted my entry discribing the incident.  I guess I just don't want all that out there in the universe.  Bad Karma and all that! ;)

 

The powers that be got another driver to trade junior high routes with me.  His is closer and although this bunch will probably be just as rowdy there route is quick and I think they will be easier and hopeful less vicious.  There is a bunch of them though they fill up the whole bus!  Either way first sign of trouble I am getting a camera, a monitor and doing write ups. 

 

 

But I have a postive attitude so it'll all be fine.

 

Otherwise we have been doing some work around our home.  We gave the kid's basketball hoop and our trampoline to my midday monitor.  She has 2 middle school aged girls and they will have plenty of use for it.  Of course as we were driving over to her home it started raining! 

 

Now that I am down to one very lazy, non digging older dog I am going to work on planting my backyard.  We want to put a patio or is it deck out there.  It's fenced in and has been the dogs territory for 10 years!  I do miss my dog though he was a good boy.  When my other dog is inside my one cat loves to sit by him on the back porch, like he thinks he needs a friend to replace his old pal. 

 

Can't believe it's Wednesday already!

 

What's important

Mark got up and went golfing this morning with his son Matt, Matt's father in law and a friend (Justin) of Matt's who is also dating Matt's wife (Brandy) cousin (Tiffany).  Does that make any sense?  If the girls are cousins and since sometimes we call Justin Matt's long lost brother does that make them all related??  Nah!

Anyway, my sense of humor is back and today I decided to look at my life the way I am used to...POSITIVE!

I have realized not only has my job been stressful, but so has Mark's.  He works in constuction so he only gets paid when he works so paying bills can be a first come first served proposition.  Especially after a long winter.  He still does not understand that unemployment doesn't always cut it especially since we still have a few things we are still paying off from our semi dump truck we used to own.  But it always works out and stressing out about it never helps.  And so it goes.

Here are some good things that have been going on----> Focus on the Positive!

1.  We made our last payment on our Pick up truck---it's  now ours and it still running great!

2.  Mark may get into the Union which means a raise, and benefits=no more worries about retirement (??!!??), me paying $200 + a month for insurance at my job.

3. My son Eric got a promotion---he is now front end manager at Menards, he is the head of cashiers and service.  YEA! 

4. Tim's job is secure.  He is an Engineer at a Bearing company, they think so highly of him they want him to some day run the department.  The are moving the company to bigger building. 

5.  My stepson Dustin, who tends to be very immature and horrible with money, is  moving up at his job where his brothers and Mark work.  Now my husband can relax.  He is always worried about that kid!

6.  Mark wants Liz to get a job this summer.  She has tried a few places with no luck. She mentioned this to her boyfriend Mike's mom and she knows a lot of people,  plus their family owns a large construction business, she said she'd help her find a job!

7.  20 days until school is out!

8.  I am not driving a bus this summer!  I am off!

9.  I am getting a new grandson in July!

10.The sun is out!  Matt's invited us over to eat dinner!  who hooo I am not cooking

Happy rest of the weekend!     

BIG!

Tonight is the last performance of Liz's play BIG.  They usually do calls afterward and go until midnight.   

Here's some of Liz's crew.  She is Assistant to Stage Crew and will head it next year.  She is taking some photo's and framing them for her crew as little thank you gifts.  Very sweet.  At least I made a thoughtful kid!  Sorry I still am beating the crap out of myself!

I am sure I had something to do with the way my kid turned out!!

I really have a great kid!

This is Zoltar's box.  Liz wore a purple head dress and purple shirt.  She sat really, really still for her part!  The choir director was the voice.  They even had a piano that worked when the leads walked on it.

Mark and I both were very involved in High school plays.  He was the lead in two musicals.  He was even Harold Hill in the Music Man!

 

 

Sunny Saturday

THANKS FOR THE ONLINE HUG!

 

I am feeling better today.   Liz's play was great, a bit too long for me, 3 hours, but as my darling daughter would say, "MOM, it's a musical!", it was supposed to be long.  She wasn't supposed to have a part, she didn't even tryout, she was one of the stage crew heads, but because she brought  the Zoltar machine out on stage, (the part where the kid wishes to be BIG), the director put her in the machine.  It was cute too she had to stay perfectly still during that scene.  She also was a delivery person, she was really really great!  THANK God I have a great kid.  I also saw a couple of my grade school kids whose mother thanked me for always being on time and taking such good care of her son.  She even hoped I would drive him and his little sister next year.  I also saw a girl I drove 3 years ago, she's now homeschooled but she was very sweet.  Made me feel like I wasn't such a failure. Sometimes I forget people make mistakes or at least I do and that I am not perfect.

I am thinking I'll be ok through this personal crisis.  It's really not about what happened, because I have been really edgy all week leading up to my incident with these girls.  I will figure out what I need to do different and correct my way of dealing with these types of kids.  Sometimes I forget I am not perfect and life really is about learning, growing and just plain being.  Works for me!

Now I am going outside it's a sunny beautiful day!