It’s About Time…

Well, Well, Well; it's about time I updated this thing!

I know it's been more than a month since writing; my life has at times been boring and dull (which is a good thing sometimes), or exciting and busy, both preventing me from adding info to the blog –O-Sphere.

Let's start with my last birthday. It was a big one, that April 13^th. I've entered a new decade. I have "friends" telling me that I'm officially old now, but then I realize, too, that everything is relative, including age.

April 13^th passed fairly quietly. Then the next day started some magical festivities—my very dear husband and our two girls took me on a four-day cruise to Mexico! We visited Catalina Island first, then sailed down to Ensenada, Baja California, and then back home. It may have been my favorite trip ever! I'm thinking that cruising is the way to travel—we couldn't have driven down to Ensenada, stayed in hotels, eaten in restaurants or bought souvenirs for double the price of the cruise! Plus, we had an entirely great time on the "boat."

We returned home, Friday, April 19^th, a little tired, but certainly refreshed from our true escape from real life for nearly a week. The next night, Saturday, my friends gathered at a great restaurant for a birthday party for me—arranged by my very dear husband! The seating was a little inconvenient, but we had so much fun! Well, at least I did, and really, it was my birthday, now wasn't it.

Now, my dearest Uncle and Aunt (you know who you are), please do not fret at all—my b'day was very special, and it was so very nice to hear from you. I will always love you both.

Since then, I underwent surgery on my feet. The toes on my left foot have bothered me for nearly all my life. They curled too much downward. When I visited the podiatrist for a different issue on that foot, I asked about them. He ex-rayed them, and said he could fix them—in the office—with minimal "down" time, and very importantly, the insurance would cover it! I put myself on his calendar and had it all done. That was two weeks ago. Today, I go for a follow-up visit to get the stitches taken out. Hopefully then I'll be able to walk and soon wear regular shoes. I can't wait until they are fully healed—I may have pretty toes on both feet! I hope they heal well; I've been stepped on by a 50-lb dog, and subsequently by my own 10-lb dog—have stumbled, limped, and walked a little too much, but other than that, I've followed doctor's orders to the letter. It hurts, though and I hope that goes away soon.

Today I plan to make final arrangements for our school's annual Teacher Appreciation Lunch. I'm the "Hospitality Lady" and get to cater a lot of the events at my daughters' school. I have chosen a Chinese theme (last year it was Mexican). We have decorations, the food is ordered, I have only a few details left for the teachers' gifts—going into Chinese take-out boxes—and just want to find a beverage that imitates a Chinese alcoholic drink (or at least Asian) without the alcohol. I may have to just have tea, also. That will work out sometime this afternoon.

Update on the children: Sarah is doing delightfully, both in school and at home. At the mid term reporting time, she earned straight "A's" and both the teacher and the principal made some great comments on her report card. The staff at school comment to me often on what a jewel and sweet girl she is. She bowls me over with her knowledge of nearly all subjects! Most of the time, I have to ask her for information—she rarely has to ask us for (academic) help. She has learned the habit of doing homework first, the practicing her music, then time for herself. She's behaved really much better and more patiently with her little sister lately, who inadvertently finds ways to get into trouble, either by not paying attention to time, or getting into Sarah's things. Sarah still wants to be a vet; she works at learning all she can about all the animals, has worked on her Girl Scout Bronze Award to help a local animal shelter (she's just about to earn that award, too—just one more step and she'll be done). She recycled for awhile, gathered $50 to donate to the shelter, participated in a project to make blankets for the animals at the shelter, toured the shelter, worked on projects to help it, and now she has made a box, sitting at our local dry cleaners asking for donations of clothing, bedding, detergent, office supplies to help the shelter with it's operation costs. I'm very proud of my little girl, who seems more like a 25 year old at times than 11.

Speaking of Emily—she is my treasure. She is such a happy little camper, still joyously destroying many things, but at least not as many as she used to destroy. All of the staff at school tell me what a joy it is to know Emily. You can hardly look at her and not smile, if not giggle. She has a little impish look to her, and when she smiles at you the whole world lights up. She, too, got all straight "A's" on her last report card. Plus, she is in her second season of T-Ball. She has so much fun running around the bases and batting. She's batting really well, and does well most of the time catching fly-balls. She says she doesn't like T-ball as much as she likes soccer, and chose soccer over "winter-ball" softball, but when she plays, you'd never know she may not like the sport. She tries so hard and plays so well that you'd think she might have a career in softball. But I believe she still wants to copy her sister and be a vet. I think she'll change her mind, but if she doesn't, we'll have two doctors in the family…she has a birthday coming up on May 24^th—we plan to give her a bowling party on the 25^th. She also loves to bowl; I think she just likes to party, no matter what the occasion.

Scott, is slogging through his job at Bo(r)ing. The money is great; he's home in daylight hours and can go to the girls' practices and even assistant coach the teams. But the work is boring. It's a big tradeoff, and for now, at least, we're going to do boring until we just cannot stand it anymore.

Me? Ahh—lots of issues there. But, I think I'll be a lot better when my foot heals. The job situation is abysmal for me. I'm not a young vibrant darling girl anymore, and I believe, especially in California, that's what a woman needs to get hired. Plus, I still have a very bad taste in my mouth from my Cal State experiences, and have to get through that before I can focus on another job. Anyway, I don't think I want to work, at least during the summer months—the girls will be out of school, and child care during the summer is extortionistic. Costs can be as much as $350 per week! That would probably be my whole take-home salary if I did find something! I wish I knew what went wrong with my other job and could return to the scene, fix it, and continue working there. I did so enjoy it. Oh well.

That's enough catching up for now—there's laundry to be done, a doctor's appointment, and planning for two parties to complete. I hope I'll be back soon. Please, if you feel the desire, keep in touch.