Ouch!

Well this is going to be a quick post due to hand pain. Over the last several months I've noticed a loss of strength in my hands. I guess I had chalked it up to aging or whatever. Honestly I had not given it too much thought. Well over the last couple of days I have been having quite a bit of pain in my hands. Some times the pain is acute and shooting when I try to use my hands to grasp, hold or manipulate something. Other times it is more like an aching feeling. It is uncomfortable to type and at times difficult to grasp a pencil. I have an appointment with my primary care doctor in a couple of weeks and would rather not move up my appointment but if my hands continue to bother me I'm not sure I'll be able to wait. If anyone has had this problem and has insight to share please leave a comment.

Peace!

Let it Snow!

Well yesterday it started snowing about mid day. I tend not to watch the news during the day so I had not heard anything about a snow storm. 'n' and I went out to do errands...the regular stuff groceries for us and groceries and meds for Papa. We dropped off our groceries and proceeded to go to Papa's to deliver his food and spend some time cooking and visiting. We made a lovely chicken soup and chicken salad. All the while the wind was whipping the snowflakes all around. Papa kept saying "Is it still snowing?'". So mid afternoon we heard the news that the snow was expected to last all night. It was then that the thoughts of a SNOW DAY entered our minds! All my life I have loved snow days. I think it is the excitement and anticipation involved in waiting to find out if we would have school or not. So when 'n' and I got home we did our snow dance. It was fun and it worked! At 5:30 the automated call came from the school dept that due to weather conditions school would be cancelled for the day. Yippee!!!





So I spent the better part of the morning digging out from 10 inches of snow! The kids enjoyed making forts and running around the yard. Then we warmed up and worked together to clean the house before moving onto working on our lego creations. We had an early diner together at the kitchen table and then enjoyed some family programming on tv. What a great day. So tomorrow we begin our school week. This is the third short week in a row. We are very spoiled. I wonder how we will feel in June when our snow days are added on the the last week of school. Oh well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

My plans had been to post about the Stand for Children Educational Summit today but I had to share the beauty of the snow. I do have a lot to share about the Summit but it will have to wait for another day.

Peace!

Stand for Children

Well last night was our Stand for Children founding meeting. We had about 20 people out of our 32 members come out on a very, very cold MLK evening. Valuable information was shared and I learned a lot about the actual education funding process. We even heard from a local high school student about what is going well and what needs to change in our local schools. It was very interesting. We also had an article published in our local paper regarding Stand for Children. I'm hoping that the article will generate interest in our group. It is so important for people who care about children and our future to become involved in providing the best possible education for all children. I would love to see every resident join. Not sure that will happen but it sure would send a message to the State House!

Now we will move forward with investigating local issues to tackle.

Peace!

In Case You Didn't Know....

My family is a huge Pat's family! Watching the games together on Sundays is a lot of fun for us and it is something we will miss once football is over for the year. So I thought I would spread the spirit again this week!

Go Pats!!!

and here is a little diddy that n learned at school

to the tune of Row,Row, Row the Boat

Pass, pass, pass the ball

Passes short and long

Running, hitting, passing, scoring

The Patriots are so strong!

Cheer, Cheer, Cheer the team

Shouts with every score

Everyone likes the Patriots

The fans cheer for more!

to the tune of Frere Jacques

Catch the ball

Catch the ball

Randy Moss

Randy Moss

What a throw by Brady

What a throw by Brady

Another touchdown

Another touchdown

Get a touchdown

Get a touchdown

Patriots

Patriots

Let's break some more records

Let's break some more records

New England

New England

So what team are you rooting for today?

Happy and Sad!

So I did not think that I would be posting again so soon but here I am.



The children at my school had today off so that the teachers could spend the day conducting overdue meetings, working on portfolios and planning and organizing for the next several weeks. The day was productive. We had general and individual meetings and enjoyed a lovely lunch provided by a new catering company. The food was delicious and we have enjoyed other luncheons prepared by this company and they have been equally as good. The web site is
http://www.yournextmeal.net/ . Anyway in one of the meeting I was asked if I had any interest in taking on more responsibility at our school. This is something that I have pictured myself doing however I was unsure if things would progress in this way. I was honored to be asked as I have the utmost respect for my colleagues and truly believe in their vision. So here comes the happy/sad part. As I left school today my first impulse was to call my Mom to tell her about my exciting conversation. Well , we just passed the 7th anniversary of my Mom's death on the 15th of this month. The urge I felt was so strong! As I drove home I didn't think about it much as I had to pick up the kids at school. When I was home and settled and had shared the news with R I had an incredible sense of sadness. This was a big conversation that took place today and all I wanted to do was share it with Mom. I have not felt so lost and so unconnected as I did today for a very long time. What makes this lost feeling even more intense for me is that her 'anniversary' almost went unnoticed. The evening of the 15th N didn't feel well so we went downstairs to get some children's Tylenol. I had to search through the medicine cabinet before I could find what I was looking for and during my search in the back of the cabinet I found a bottle of bath oil that belonged to my Mom. I took it out and showed it to N. I told him how when I was young my Mom would use the oil in her bath when she would get ready to go out and with the hot water and steam the scent would fill the house. I opened the bottle and it didn't smell as I remembered; as old as this bath oil is I was not surprised. I decided to try filling the bathroom sink up with hot steamy water like a tiny bath tub and I added a few drops of the oil. It only took a minute for the scent to fill the air! I ran my hands through the water and basked in the sensory memory I was experiencing! It brought me back to when I was a little girl. It brought me back to my Mom. I had N smell my hands. He liked the smell. Suddenly I asked N what the date was and he told my that it was January 15th. I couldn't believe that the entire day had passed without a conscious realization of the significance of the day! So N's random illness; was it random or something else? I choose to believe it was something else!

Tired Day

Today was a tired day for me and I'm not sure why! It wasn't just a regular tired I felt exhausted. This was a short week too. We had a snow day Monday and then the kids had a half day on Wednesday. At my school we only had a half day on Tuesday and tomorrow is a professional meeting day so there will be no children at school, just the teachers working plans, portfolios and organization. So I shouldn't be tired. Oh well.

n and I have added a new element to our daily routine. Each night she will write me a note in our special journal and I will write back. This is actually not completely new to our routine. Over the past month or so she has become very interested in writing. Every night before she goes to sleep she spends time writing either in a notebook or on her wipe off board. I began responding so the journal was a natural evolution of what we were already doing. I so enjoy reading her little entries and she certainly seems pleased reading my notes to her each morning. It's nice to have that connection. I envision this journalling continuing indefinitely. I hope as she gets older she doesn't feel too cool to continue. I guess I should just take today and be grateful and enjoy.

I'm looking forward to a long weekend. I think we will work on some inside projects. We have some walls that are in dire need of painting. The upstairs hallway, the upstairs bathroom and the walls and ceiling of the stairway. The bathroom is what I will probably work on; first using a primer and then adding some sort of surfside color. Blues are my favorite. Almost every room in my home is painted in some sort of shade of blue. My favorite room is my TV room. I painted in a light denim blue using a special technique so that the walls look like sections of chambray or linen wallpaper. I always feel so calm in this room.

Well this has been a rambling entry but it feels good to write so I think I'll just go with the flow.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

GO PATS!

PEACE

Patriot's Pride

The game is just beginning. I thought I'd share my Patriots Pride with everyone. They are such a great team! I hope they go all the way.

Lurking About

So almost every day I check in with all the journals I have listed here on my blog. I rarely leave a comment but I certainly enjoy reading each journal and find myself interested in each person's life. It is kind of strange to feel a connection to people whom I only know through the Internet. Today when I checked into Forever Changed I read a post from the 10th regarding 'lurking'. I know just what Alicia is talking about. When I check my site meter I see that folks indeed visit my blog but I rarely receive a comment. I wonder who is reading and what they think about things that I find important. So I thought I would borrow a little bit of Alicia's post to share with anyone who is reading here in the hopes that folks will say 'Hello'. Especially folks who may be visiting on a regular basis without commenting-also know as 'lurking'!

From Forever Changed:

This is National De lurking Week, and today, January 10, is the official De lurking Day, so I say to you, Come forth!

What's your name? How'd you find me? What's your blog?

Just de-lurk darn it!

So say hello, I'm sure I'll be happy to meet you.


Peace!

Good Kids

Well I had such a great evening! When I got home from school at about 5:30 everyone was lounging on the couch. Today was supposed to be 'Walmart' day. N has been wanting to go out to spend some of his allowance and also wanted to get a gift for one of his little friends. I thought they would still be shopping when I got home but it turned out that n was too tired to go so they waited for me to come home. N and R went along to do the shopping. n and I had an enjoyable evening. We did homework, made something to eat and then read stories. She was in bed before R and N got home. It was nice to have some one on one time with her tonight! Once the boys got home I got N settled into bed and then spent some time with R. As usual I had to talk about my day ad nauseum! Finally he said he had heard enough. At that point I said something to the effect of 'If I can't talk to you then who can I talk to?" Well evidently N was listening to our conversation. He asked me to come upstairs and first asked for a hug and then said that he heard me ask who else could I talk to; he quickly said I could talk to him! What a great thing for N to say. I gave him a big hug and told him that he could always talk to me about anything at anytime too. He is such a good kid. I am proud to be his Mom.

Peace

Happy New Year

Well it has been a wonderful week off! Christmas was full of family, food and fun! The kids really enjoy spending time with the cousins, aunts, uncle and my Godmother. The day before Christmas Eve I drove up to Boston to pick her up and bring her to my home for the holidays. This has been a family tradition for over twenty years. For the last seven years, since my Mom passed away she has spent the holidays in my home. Prior to that she would spend the time at my Mom's home and we would go to them on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. My how times change. I now host the Christmas Eve family get together and we spend Christmas day at home. For the past several years we have enjoyed having R's sister spend the holiday with us as well. She is the pretty, fun Aunt. You know, every family has one. It used to be me before I had children. Now I'm Mom...a job I wouldn't trade for the world! Anyway, we had a great holiday and spent today preparing to go back to school.

Peace