That Doesn't Bother Me....

Last night I spoke to a room filled with people. Not just a "room" but the middle school commons. And it was packed full. With people standing in the back and spilling out into the hallway.

So a full room. And I was up front, with my note card folded up tightly in my hand just in case the power point slide didn't show the points I wanted to mention, but hoping against hope that I would not have to use the notes because I like a speaker who just gets up and talks with an occasional look at the screen.

I didn't need my notes.

I cracked jokes, people laughed, I received very nice applause when I was done.

I should have reviewed my speech with my daughter before I'd spent all day practicing it, because when I made a joke about fundraisers being a dirty word as I reviewed my speech with her, her idea for a joke was better, 'now let's talk about the f word....fundraisers!' but I am the type of person who after practicing for hours, can not switch it up in the last thirty minutes.

None of that bothers me. I got up and spoke and smiled and didn't turn red. Faintly pink checked, but honestly, I'm always pink checked! I kept on topic, flowed smooth from one point to the next and am very proud of myself for keeping my talk to less than 5 minutes, since in my book report days I had a tendency to ramble and go on and on...

What made me nervous and jittery was......the microphone.

As a kid, I would have been over the moon excited to hold a real, working microphone. As an adult, I was a lot less enthusiastic.

But I did it!

And I came home, put on comfy pants, put my feet up and sipped a much deserved beer. Much, much deserved after having to use a microphone!

The Sky Is Falling!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Calm down, Chicken Little. It's just the bathroom ceiling.

Gasp!

The bathroom ceiling is falling! The bathroom ceiling is falling!

I heard the bump the tile made as it let loose of it's apparently tenuous hold on the top of the room and made connection with the bottom of the room, but with teenagers and dogs abounding every where in our house, I wrongly assumed it was a noise made by one of them.

No such luck.

Even better, my husband saying don't touch it, it's asbestos tile.

Gasp!!!

Oh, wait. Calm down again, Chicken Little. It's not asbestos. It's just a really old, dirty, gross "white" piece of the ceiling.

That will sit propped up against the wall waiting for reattachment or a bathroom remodel.

Whichever comes first.

I'm betting the remodel, and we don't have any plans to start that for at least a year.

The Nicest Guy In The World

I am very lucky to be married to the nicest guy in the world.

Now, before anyone gets upset and says they are married to the nicest guy in the world, let me present my sound reasoning.

This morning just before 4:30, I woke up a chorus of dog barks. I rolled over slightly and immediately, the nicest guy in the world woke up and asked what was wrong. The dogs are barking, I replied. He groaned and may have uttered a curse, but that was because he was getting up and his alarm clock was set to go off shortly and he was giving up his last bit of sleep to check on barking dogs.

The nicest guy in the world stumbled out to the dog crates and before long I heard the tub running.

Uh-Oh.

That could only mean one thing. Our daughters dog occasionally needs a bath first thing in the morning because she is still working on keeping her crate potty free. If the tub is going, then Olive is needing a bath.

I got up because I didn't think the nicest guy in the world should have to deal with that. I found him in the bathroom, softly talking to a very sad dog, telling her it was okay, that being wet with pee was not fun but he would take care of her and half singing a made up song about washing.

Reminded me of when he would bath our new baby and sing made up songs about washing to him....I always fall a little bit more in love with the nicest guy when I hear his funny little songs!

I cleaned up the crate while Olive was getting towel dried. I was ready to go back to bed because my alarm doesn't go off until 5:45 so I still had time to rest, but I found our bedroom light on and the nicest guy digging around in his dresser. I asked if he was looking for a work shirt (please let him have at least one clean one!) but he said he was looking for an old shirt for Olive. He was positive he had one he didn't need anymore, one that would be perfect to put in her crate so she would have something to lie on.....

That is why he is the nicest guy in the world. He got up, bathed a dog, and then thinking of her comfort, was willing to give up a shirt. All before his alarm went off.

I'm so very lucky.

And so is our daughter. Her dad never thought about getting her up to take care of her wet dog. At least, never thought about it more than once!

Viva Las Vegas

It's just the two of us, my husband and me, giddy with happiness, drunk on sunshine, ecstatic to be on a grown up trip to Vegas!

And because we are like, totally awesome, we don't just stay on the Strip and gamble....we do a lot of that of course, but we love to drive and explore....

Which is how we ended up at a "divorce ranch" over run with peacocks.....

On top of the Stratosphere, looking down on the Strip.....

At a petting zoo/fake ghost town.....

Red Rock Canyon and a really nice scenic byway.......

Fremont with it's covered street (covered with a giant TV screen).......

But without stopping at Fremont, we wouldn't have known the End Of The World is almost here....

Hoover Dam and all it's Dam tourist and Dam things to look at.....

A Historic Marker that marks the place where an old guy died a long time ago from thirst....

And a drive through a Valley Of Fire.......

With our very first side trip, we started grinning. We agree. We are dorks! But dorks who love to take the side road, to see something out of the way, to think that was very interesting.....

We were renewed, refreshed and revitalized. Our vacation was just what a couple who has been together for 20 years needs.....time away to reinforce that we are totally perfect together.

And we won $700 doing the usual Vegas thing. It was a very good trip!

Waiting For A Hold

I love the library. I adore the library. I treasure the library.

My favorite part of the library in the recent years is my ability to log on to the catalog from home and place holds on the books I want to read. It's not like the olden days, when I'd wander the shelves looking for a good book.

Now days, I wander the online catalog.

It's awesome!

That being said, the wait time for popular books is still killer! I could be number 596 on a hold for a book with three copies! That means, like, forever wait!

I have been waiting for a book for since the start of the new year. It's the last in a series, and all the questions will be answered and I have been so ready for it, I read the previous book again in January, so sure I would be getting the book any day.

Well, any day actually turned into months, and the library catalog system got upgraded and all holds were frozen for weeks! But I got the book last night. Made a mad dash in the pouring rain just to have the book for this morning's cup of coffee.

It has been worth it!

The only downside is that now I need to set it aside and get going on my actual day. I have so much laundry waiting for me....the nice thing about laundry is between loads switched over and folding, there is always time to sit and read!

Painting Clothes

Just like making pie crust is no big deal, I've never thought painting a room was too hard. (Thanks Mom!) You just buy your paint and roller and brush and get started.

For spring break, I told my son we would paint his room. He's had the same color since we moved in almost 7 years and he's grown into a teenager who's not as in love with his blue and green scheme as he used to be.

After trail and error, I've learned that if I clear out a room entirely, painting goes so much smoother. His room is EMPTY. I've swept and dusted and wiped down all the trim and I'm ready to start painting.

Except one little detail.

I have worn the same blue jeans and white t-shirt to paint in for 10 years. They are covered with every color we've done in the past, and I love that. But I was thinking today of maybe wearing a different pair of jeans.

I have a pair that I bought to wear to a Toby Keith concert (Ah, Toby with my sisters, there's nothing better!) and I've worn the life out of them all through the years. Seriously. They've got a hole right by the zipper that I think means they can't be worn out in public.

But for the last two years they have sat in my dresser because I am unwilling to part with them....

Until today. I'm not parting with them exactly, just going to move them into the painting clothes rotation. It's time I retired the stretch blue jeans with super tapered pant leg anyway. They were never a good look and covered with paint hasn't helped them one bit.

And, I'll be honest. I'm not sure where the old paint jeans are in my closet, and I'm too ready to start painting to keep looking!

Flip-Flops Are For Summer Only

One of the scariest things I have ever seen was in a public rest room in the middle of winter. The lady in the stall next to me was wearing flip flops. For some reason this freaked me out tremendously....actually, it still does! I got out of there as fast as I could because I was overcome with the certainty that I did not want to see the person who thought flip flops in winter was appropriate foot gear.

I made up my mind right then and there that flip flops are for summer only. End of story. And yet, here I sit, with flip flops on. It's not the middle of winter, but we aren't out of winter weather yet!

It's a slightly warm day, the sun is slightly shining, and even though I wear my flip flops year round in the house, today I would consider breaking my summer only rule and wearing them out to run to the store.

It's a case of spring fever, and I've got it bad. I will resist though, because I really don't like seeing flip flops outside, outside of spring and summer. It creeps me out.

The only thing scarier than flip flops in bad weather is flip flops with leg warmers.

Right?

Right.

My Kind Of Praying

When I was younger, the verse in the Bible where we are encouraged to "pray without ceasing" seemed ridiculously impossible. I mean, come on! I was barely finding the time for a ten minute devotional. How on earth could I pray all the time, eyes closed, hands folded, heart turned toward God?

I had babies, and that ten minute devotional turned into a three minute one, and my prayer time was not quite as quiet or calm or even closed eyed (if I took my eyes off the oldest, he was in the bathroom tinkering with the toilet, and the youngest would be flushing things like underwear).

And that is when I figured out how to pray without ceasing. For me, prayers are like the air I breathe, the thoughts I think. It's a continuous flow all through my day, and sometimes into the night. Only sometimes though, cuz I have no trouble falling asleep and staying asleep!

Part of it is I do pray differently than other people I know. God knows what I want. God knows my hopes. God knows my needs. I don't tend to spell those things out for Him. He's already got it all under control. I pray for His Will and my Spirit to be in accord, I pray for strength in time of trouble and I spend a lot of time sending up thanks for this wonderful world He made and the nice spot I occupy in it.

I've been thinking about prayer more this last week as we get our daughter ready to fly to D.C. with a school trip. I'm excited for her and nervous and worried and thrilled and proud. It's a confusing mess of emotions. My prayer has simply been, "Be with her."

That covers everything and I am at ease.

She hasn't left yet, though. We'll see how 'at ease' I am when the plane is leaving. My prayer might change to, "Be with us."

That's the nice thing about God, though. I know He will be.