Friday's child is loving and giving...(even though it's still technically Thursday)

So my parents finally called--they thought I might call them. Um, they are on vacation, a different time zone and this is the craziest time of my work year? Yeah, I think I'll wait for them to call me, thankyouverymuch.

This is one of those very boring posts, but I'm too tired to care.

Still working down the list. (Which seems to be growing--is that possible??)

Got caught in torrential downpour this afternoon whilst doing errands. (Happy Solstice!)

Both bosses (and possibly our director) are either at or en route to the American Library Association Conference in DC.

I'm going to sleep. I am EXHAUSTED. Sis seems to be feeling better, though still tired. In the packing/laundry race, she's winning. But I have tomorrow evening and all of Saturday morning to do that--although t-shirts need time to dry...I'll do laundry Friday night. Um, and compete with my housemate, Ms Second Floor.

I gotta go to bed. I can't process all this.

Oh, and I seriously need my sister to come and fix all my electrionics. The clock in my car is still in Daylights Savings Time, my answering machine thinks that it's Monday 6:48 am, and my computer, well, there's no help for that. (Although I just checked and it's not too far off. Earlier this week it was like a half hour off and I went bonkers.)

Must. go. to. bed.

Buh-bye.

I promise at least one more interesting post before I leave you to search my archives whilst I frolick in Montana for a week.

Live blogging the vacation preparation...

So we have the "Stay n Go" room booked at La Quinta. They don't take discounts for that particular package, but it means we can leave my sister's car at the hotel for a week, which saves us long term parking etc. etc. so we'll take it. (Stay n Go: you drive to the hotel, leave your car, take a shuttle to the airport, fly away, vacation or whatever, come back, stay one night, and have a lovely continental breakfast.)

It's raining outside. I hope all my car windows are shut. (I usually leave them a crack in the summer) (Live blogging indeed--I just ran down, double checked--they were shut but I got my umbrella out of the car.)

Most of the pills are ready except for the ones that are waiting at the pharmacy.

This has been the morning of phone calls--Sis has a cold and wanted advice on whether or not to stay home. I had a chance to reconnect a long lost friend. (Grin!) Also, I had to make all the phone calls--La Quinta was the only one that didn't put me on hold, so guess what, they got my business! Then I had to call Dad to let him know I had the reservation, which entailed first calling home, getting sick Sis, then calling Dad's cell, leaving a message, and then talking to him as he beeped in whilst I was leaving one of those long messages where you'd really rather be talking to the person...

I finally connected with Kelly (I left messages, she left messages...) She is going through a tough time--it's the whole "the boys are home for the summer," plus other stuff and her anxiety levels are through the ceiling. We prayed, which helped I think.

And now it's noon and I have to get dressed, eat lunch, and go off to be Madam Librarian.

Oh, I know. I told Dad the suitcase was open and I had my bathing suit in. "Well you've got the essentials then!" He then quipped that if I was going to Rio, that would be all I needed. Oh Rio. I'll blog about that day sometime...I don't think I have already.

The rain has stopped.

And so I go.

Well, I didn't have anything on that topic, so I went another way...

(Phoebe Buffet, from Friends)

So in the interest of writing about things OTHER than my social life or angst, I offer this: a blog post from Venice. (No, I'm not in Venice--would that be so!, but a blogger for the NYT is.)

Read on, dearies.

I may rant on the other blog later today.

Oh, and this just in: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is now on Thursdays. My Mary Kay consultant emailed me. I missed it, but I can watch it online at nbc.com.

I don't wanna work, another in a series...

So I'm alone in Tech Serv tonight. Ellie was here earlier, and she wasn't going to let me check DDC (Dewey Decimal) numbers if I still had videos to class and add.

I don't work well in Tech Serv by myself if I'm tired and not necessarily motivated. But I've added 8 videos or DVDs to the collection, and identified as many for lookup in OCLC.

I'm listening to Pandora, which is an Internet Radio Station (sort of). I've created a station that plays Brazilian samba, which I've called "The Girl from Ipanema." It's amazing how many versions there are of that one song and variations on other songs. But I love the soft jazziness and it's good background music. I don't really know any Portugeues, but it was my first language (we lived in Belem du Para at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil until I was two.)

I'm re-reading Adriana Trigliani's Big Cherry Holler. It's wonderful, and good to be reading in times like these when the Sago families want answers not theories on why the mines killed their kin.

Well, back to work. I have about a half hour to get something accomplished or at least started...

Take Joy! A Tasha Tudor Christmas evening among friends...

Tasha (yes, that's her name, she was named after Tasha Tudor, a family friend) invited the rest of the Technical Services Department over for dessert. It will be small, she said.

Understatement of the year.

It was beautiful. First, their tree is a blue spruce, not trimmed. With real candles on the tree. She lit them for us after everyone had arrived, and turned out all the lights. All her ornaments were either big balls that have pictures from Tasha Tudor greeting cards or wooden from Germany. She's been to Germany many times. She also has some Scandinavian ones, which I recognized as such. She even had one Polish one, a blue bird, painted exquisitely.

Our tree, the one at my parent's house, has Scandinavian, German, and all sorts of ornaments, so I felt right at home.

We sat around the dining room table--Tasha had ice cream that was formed in molds--mine was in the shape of grapes, Alice got a hen, Ellie had a rabbit, and so on. Alice didn't want to pour hot fudge on her hen, or eat it--I offered to trade but she didn't want to do that either. We sat around and shared stories for two hours! We laughed and laughed--it reminded me why we have holidays (besides the religious reasons, I mean), to share food and fellowship with friends and family.

I'm still the junior member--I don't have stories about children or grandchildren, so no one asked me if I'd decorated my house yet. But I did entertain them with stories like when my brother expected a toothbrush from Santa (we got one every year) and threw his old one out Christmas Eve. It was the one year Santa didn't give out toothbrushes...

So it's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...did I mention my new favorite Christmas song, Trees on Fire? It's a parody of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire.

(The post title refers to Tasha Tudor's Christmas book, a perennial favorite in the Louise household.)

Where other people are obsessed with the idea that I am always reinventing myself, I'd rather think that I'm shedding my layers, and slowly revealing

myself. It feeels to me like I'm just getting closer to the core of who I really am. (Madonna)

Yesterday I was in a conversation with a woman after the budgeting class I've been attending and I said, I feel like I'm getting younger, as I deal with things. She asked me how old I thought she was. I, flabbergasted, said, I have no idea. The woman is fifty. I would have said 43 if pressed. She is gorgeous. And she's dating one of the nicest, most scatterbrained guys at Bellefield. He does roofs.

I feel like as I let go of Joy's death and Peter's death and as I let go of the sludge of my early dating life, I am becoming lighter. More Sarah Louise. The layers are coming off.

ooh ooh! Two literary allusions:

From the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when the boy becomes a dragon and then de-dragonified, and from The Ragman.

Hold the phone, lemme get my books.

From How the Adventure Ended, the de-dragonifying of Eustace:

"...and I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off?
...
...then the lion said...You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty near desperate now." (p. 89, C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

From The Ragman, (one of my favorite short stories of all time)

"...I myself walked up to the Ragman. I told him my name with shame, for I was a sorry figure next to him. Then I took off all my clothes in that place, and I said to him with dear yearning in my voice: 'Dress me.'
He dressed me. My Lord he put new rags on me and I am a wonder beside him." (p. 6, Walter Wangerin, The Ragman and other Cries of Faith.)

I'd write about this and stuff, but it's time to get this morning going, and as usual, I have quite a day ahead.

Oh, and check out a new link on Church Shoes, Adrian, a friend of Pat's who I think lives in SanFran. He's got some pretty interesting stuff on there, and it's easier for me if it's a link on the left, so there you go.

Oh, and last night (or this morning) I dreamt I went to Chestertown.

Happy Birthday to me! (updated, with more links!)

My mama loves me! I was in that "I had a bad dream I don't want to get up" place, forgetting completely what today is (today is the one day I'm not having lunch with anyone) and the phone rings. My mama loves me so much that even though she hates people using the phone when they're driving, she did, so that she could wish me a happy day. (Smile.)

I also got e-cards from BJ and Lauren. Lauren's had a hippo and two frogs singing, which is appropriate, since in our family a full birthday sing is in three languages (at least): English, Portuguese and Polish.

Sto Lat, Sto Lat... (It means 100 years in Polish and is sung at any happy occasion--like when they brought Lech Walesa in as president.)

8:11 am--my father just emailed me (so typical!) a link to the wikipedia entry for today. Apparently November 28, 1959 is a pretty big day for the town in Argentina named Veintiocho de Noviembre.

2:16 pm--The entire SL clan has now wished me a happy day. Also, instead of Thursday, Sally and I went to lunch TODAY at Mad Mex. At work, I've gotten all kinds of cards. And a mystery: I Inter-Library-Loaned a book that is a Junior League Cookbook from Atlanta? I have no recollection of requesting this book...

Also, Happy Birthday to Jon Stewart, Nancy Reagan, and Gary Hart, among others.

Enjoy the pics.

...it's always ourselves we find in the sea

(e.e. cummings, "maggie and milly and molly and may")


My dad called this a three bit dollar. I've as of yet not found a whole dollar on the beach, though my aunt has.



"She's his lobster..." (my sister will maybe be the only person that understands this inside joke)

The ocean at sunrise, near Pawley's Island, South Carolina.

I'm still learning how to use different settings on this camera, but small you can't see how out of focus it is (I hope.) Waves.

Another sunrise picture.

We went kayaking. I did not take my camera along. I ended up in the reeds, a lot!

The Marsh. I asked two guys at church last night if they'd seen Dawson's Creek, ever, and they both said, never! (Not sure I believe them...) Anyways, if you've seen that show, that's what my aunt's marsh looks like. I like the houses in the distance--I do not like being in the middle of nowhere. But for my mother, nature lover, it took awhile to get over the houses in the distance.

We love sea turtles in the SL household. Someday I'll tell you the story about why.

Happy Online Shopping Monday! (click on the link--you won't be disappointed!)

What day is it?? (and other vacation thoughts)

Even my aunt can't keep straight that yesterday was Friday, not Thursday. I walked the beach twice today--once at sunrise with my dad, and a second time around 11 a.m. with my sister. I picked up some shells--mostly shards.

I'm at Litchfield Lattes, enjoying a small decaf. (And Internet access.)

We had lunch at a sweet place on the marsh. Yesterday I had crab cakes and today, fried grouper.

Yesterday after lunch Sis and I went to a used bookstore appropriately called (when you go with your sister) "My Sister's Bookstore."

Today after lunch, the rest of the SL clan started the long drive back to Northern Virginia. I leave tomorrow, early. One of the great things about church in the evening is that I won't miss it tomorrow!! I'll be back in da Burgh noonish.

I got birthday presents: two turtlenecks from Eddie Bauer, yay!, a calendar featuring verses from the Psalms, and hair stuff from my sister. Ralph and Sylvia, my aunt's neighbors from Eastern PA, who are down for a few days, gave me a crocheted and starched Christmas ornament (you'd be surprised how many ornaments I've gotten for my birthday over the years), and my aunt gave me a check which covered the books I bought at "My Sister's Bookstore": Blue Like Jazz, Pushing 30, and a few others.

I read Goodbye Nobody on Wednesday: I bought it at one of TWO Border's Books at that airport and by the time we had hit ground in Myrtle Beach all I had left was to finish the interview with Jennifer Weiner in the back of the book. I highly recommend Weiner's latest, which is a murder-mystery. The cover says "Hilarious, begs to be read in one sitting" and while I agree with the begs to be read...part, I wouldn't call the book hilarious. It is very good, though, and I think there will be a sequel. Unlike most of Weiner's books, which are set in or near Philadephia, this novel takes place in suburban Connecticut, one of those New York bedroom towns where all the women have given up their careers to raise their perfect 2.5 children.

This morning I finished I feel bad about my neck and other thoughts on being a woman by Nora Ephron (the lady who wrote When Harry Met Sally and co-wrote You've Got Mail.) It was a little bizarre reading the chapter about parenting while my aunt and parents were preparing breakfast. There were a ton of read aloud moments, but it was the wrong audience...One chapter is about her love affair with a particular apartment. Now she lives elsewhere, and she likes it, but it is where she lives--she does not have nightmares about losing it (as she did about the previous domicile.) This is a book I'll probably buy in paperback. The back cover is an author photo showing Nora pulling a turtleck up her neck (the title, the title!).

This morning my dad and I were talking about a friend of his who went to Collegiate and I thought, who do I know that went there? It took awhile to realize that it was one of the school choices for Grove, the four year old in The Nanny Diaries.

I'm a little subdued--I've been taking naps every day and having bad dreams--this too shall pass!! It's bizarre to label it as depression as I am fairly happy right now, but depression is not necessarily just the emotion of sadness but also the symptoms. Luckily, I am able to regulate my meds a little and so this morning I increased my Zoloft by 50 mg.

Tonight dinner is leftovers: last night we had Chinese carryout with candles on the pumpkin pie. Tonight I think we'll only be four at dinner--my aunt, myself, and my two not by blood cousins (they are my cousin's cousins on their dad's side) who have been working on their grandmother's beach house, tearing out baseboard heating, leaky skylights, and myriad of other items...their aunt Lilly died a few months ago.

Well, I think I'll go see if yins have posted anything of note...tomorrow I'll be back in the garret!

Internet link established!

Thankful doesn't begin to describe this oasis of time and place. Yesterday's meal was the best I'd eaten. This morning we went kayaking, with myself in the reeds more than five times. As Sis recounted it to the neighbors, "You'd just hear laughing, and you'd know she was stuck again."

I have pix (of course) but they'll have to wait til I return to da Burgh.

Last night Sis and I watched Pretty in Pink. She was the one who figured out the DVD player...

Today we're doing seafood for lunch and Chinese takeout for dinner--with candles on the punkin pie, as my birthday is approaching...

It is gorgeous out here. I don't think I'll want to leave...my aunt's house backs up on a gorgeous salt water marsh. If you've ever seen Dawson's Creek, it's like that. We've seen merganzers, egrets, kingfishers...

Tomorrow I hope to join my dad at the beach for the sunrise--and get some seashells!!

Oh, and this is being written from the "internet cafe" at the Egg Place. We walked--it's less than half a mile but you know, no one walks anywhere here...it's all highway...

Cheers!

Are there actually people awake?

Well, internets, this is it. In 20 minutes, I'll be off to the airport. What's that Peter Paul and Mary song? Leaving, on a jet plane....but I do know--I'll be back Sunday noonish!

Since I asked her to not vacuum after 9pm my neighbor has stopped talking to me--so I'm leaving her a Thanksgiving card and some of my birthday flowers. I can't believe they're still good!

I may be able to blog at the beach--my dad just bought an Mac laptop.

Yawn...okay, gotta go!

Just because I feel I need to be positive to offset the last post....

So, it's that time again. I've added two new links to the right.

(Poppy is sure to remember when I posted and said they were on the left--I still use my left hand to make the L and "the other left" would be a common phrase in the SL household if I didn't live by myself, n'at.)

I added Katy and Sandy to my "church shoes" section. I hope they don't mind...since my blogroll is set up for me to navigate to my favorite blogs easily, that's where I put them, since they do go to church. Katy lives in Chicago, though.

Badger and Behind the Stove are smart to be in the B's, you see, as they are also blogs I visit too often.

I'd link this up n'at but this is the moment where if I don't get moving, I won't get a walk. And since tomorrow morning will be spent with those charming TSA guys, I think I'll catch yins later.

Pretty soon, you'll have to get by on the archives....

...cuz I got no clue if I'll have internet at the beach. So I probably won't be winning any "I finished NaBloPoMo successfully" awards. And frankly, I probably won't care.

But if I leave you with one thing (I'll post at least once tomorrow...) it's this book: I feel bad about my neck and other thoughts about being a woman. Nora Ephron is the writer of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. She is a funny lady. And while I sat on the sofa, emptying out purses and finding all kinds of crap, I also came across this book, which had been hiding in my second bag (you know I'm stressed when I'm carrying a purse AND a bag.) Ephron's second essay is about how she hates purses, because they inevitably become littered with loose change and tic tacs and tissues that look used even if they never have been.

If I didn't need to sleep tonight, or check the laundry's progress, or finish packing, I'd finish this book right now, in a huge bite. So instead I'll spend four minutes telling you to read it.

Oh, and take your Vitamin C. You don't want to have a cold for Thanksgiving. So far the zinc and staying on the sofa most of today probably means I'll be okay for the duration, but be careful out there! I can't afford to lose any of my good and faithful readers and lurkers to airborne germs.

Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

(If they do, hit them with a shoe.)

This is what passes for a post...I think I'm getting a cold...

These are the rules. You bold everything you've done. I just through the NaBloPo randomizer found someone who added comments for each one she'd done. Which I thought was interesting, but I'm not going to do that. I might comment at the end.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

I think that was 44, if I counted correctly. I might take a few of these and use them as post topics. If you're interested in a particular one, comment and maybe I'll write about it! If I highlighted the number as opposed to the item, it means I did something similar or I know someone who did or I just want to remember it for some reason.

Off to do something about this burgeoning cold...

Sarah Louise's Traveling Tips for Air Travel

Well, the first stop is of course a google search.

I have my quart size bags, but what to do with my contact solution...which is not packaged in a 3 oz. bottle.

A few things I found:

Article from the San Diego paper

TSA Blog--the fact that they have one tells me we are not in Kansas anymore, baby. There's a new catchphrase that has to do with security: 311:

• 3 oz bottles
• 1 quart size bag
• 1 per passenger

An interesting website: nevercheckit.com, which offers free info and also sells toiletries with a free ziploc bag!

Hefty's website leads me to believe that quart size is not enough, the requirement is also zip-top.

More later....

It's FRIDAY!!

So, I'm 99% sure that I'm going to Light Up Night. On my ride to work I chatted with Dana, a family friend, who has a gingerbread house in the gingerbread house competiton. It's a Victorian house with a turret and a two story porch.

Dana brought me up to speed on her family news and my family news (she and my cousin were best friends in high school) and her son Cameron made chatter in the background.

She has caller ID, so when she picked up the phone, she said, "Hey girlfriend" and Cameron said, "Who is it?"

I had a long walk today. I did not do the stairs. There is a house for sale by owner...I might call to see what they're asking...AFTER Thanksgiving.

Already I have way too much just in the next three days:

• Tonight: Light Up Night
• Tomorrow after work: catch up on homework for Beth Moore and Stewardship classes...
• Sunday: either go to Stewardship class or go see bagpipes at Bab's church...
• Monday: still don't know if my therapist has decided to work next week...

Plus, I have to pack for the BEACH (I have my quart size baggies--now I have to see what toiletriese are permissable for carrry-on for my flight from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach.)

Oh, and I have to figure out if I'm going to have my mail held at the post office while I'm gone and whether I'm driving to the airport....

But did I mention, IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For lunch, I'm doing Chinese (it means I'll have Chinese for dinner). And I need to start pushing paper on the CD-ROM order now that I have made my selections...

Oh, and I saw a very fat cardinal just as I pulled into the parking lot. I almost missed it because it was the same color as the leaves on the bush. Oh, and I saw three blue jays on my walk.

AND DID I MENTION IT'S FRIDAY?????????????

okay, this is for the birds...

and I don't mean you, Sis.

We changed the levels on one of my meds as I was feeling better yesterday and today was just blech!!

However, in an effort to find a cheery something, I'll tell you the good things:

• I was able to put Babs and my coffees on my tab at Tazza!
  
• I was able to spend time with her and limpet (I mean Terzo) which was really nice.
• By the grace of God (so not kidding) I saved $700 when the officer gave me a warning. Let's see, missed a stop sign, hadn't signed my registration--go check yours, I'll wait, expired insurance card in the car (that is worth $382 right there!) Oh, and I was going 45 on a residential 25 mph road. Do you think it was the tears that got him?
  
• Watched Prairie Home Companion the movie: if you are not feeling tip top, I would not recommend this flick--it is not a barrel of laughs, and like all Bob Altman pictures, it moved slower than molasses. Which I can do some days, but not today. I did finish watching it though, and it does not (as most DVDs do) go through the stupid menu music until you finally shut the DVD player off. So there's that going for it.
• Lost my hat last night, bought a new copy at Target this afternoon, along with Jen Weiner's Little Earthquakes. Have no idea what tomorrow will be like--the only other time I worked the polls was the primaries a few years ago and primaries don't really bring in the crowds if you know what I mean.
  
• People keep RSVPing for the birthday bonanza coming up--dear internets, I wish you could come too...
• Ugh.
  
• Ugh.
• Ugh.
• In other news, Ugh.
• ....UGH.

Oh, but my tickets to go to Myrtle Beach are here! Here's me, thinking they're e-tickets and when I came home there was a door tag from FedEx. Since I won't be home all week, I get to drive dahn to the Strip (yes, sir, that's what it's called) to pick them up. So I guess that's a silver lining in all this...ugh.

Oh, and another good thing: Studio 60 is on tonight!!

Guess I'll go see what's for dinner...

Dinner is mac and cheese--yum. And while my mom just got a call from Bill Clinton, all I got was Ed Rendell (our current gov'ner, up for re-election)--thank goodness for Caller ID. Hillary called a few weeks ago when I was sick.

Over time, I have become more comfortable with mystery rather than certainty. (Phillip Yancey)

This was one of those wrestling with God weeks. A friend said to me, well, Jacob didn't give up (refererring to the dream where Jacob wrestled with God and got a new name, Israel, and a limp.)

Literature on bi-polar says that a regular schedule is what will keep you in check (read: healthy, out of the hospital, etc.). Literature on first borns (me) and only borns (I was an only until 10) say that I should be organized, using a Palm Pilot, and spoiled. Well, guess what, I'm un-boxable. I have seasons where I keep a regular schedule (if you can call it that) but I am pretty free-form and my doctors are always pleased at how healthy I am. I have a Palm Pilot (or is it a Pocket PC) that I used to play the games. I'll probably sell it, as soon as I locate it in my garret and get my ducks in a row. Literature on Global Nomads says that we either wander for the rest of our lives or find a place and stay put. Yes, I have found my stay put. I do not ever want to leave my garret. (Well, not never, but I do not want to have to move!) I love Pittsburgh and am forever discovering new things to do, new people to befriend.

And I love the old (make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.) I mourn the loss of old friends but work hard at making my new ones into faux and real antiques. Change has been the currency of my life, and I want stability! I've done my globe trotting--I want to go back to the places I've been before and see them again. Yesterday I found a picture of Old Town Warsaw, Poland (Stare Miasto) which was rebuilt after WWII. (So it's really new, based on the old.) I put it on the wall by my desk at work, so I can look at it. Places sometimes mean more to me than people--I wonder if Le Petit Trianon is still there, a French restaurant where my mother and I would go for crepes in the middle of the afternoon. I long to re-visit the sculpture museum, where they had a sculpture of three pregnant women. Oh, and a Rodin.

There are places I'll remember, all my life, though some have changed... I think of Paul McCartney, now 64, and not having someone to love him like in the song (will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?).

Right now I'm in that sweet place. It comes and goes, but it's that place where I have a smile lightly dancing on my lips. This week, contributing to the sweet place:

• Grocery shopping with Babs and Terzo. She knows I rarely say no. And she found individual yogurts--6 oz! (They used to be 8 oz, at the same price but this is about sweet moments...)
• Marzipan with chocolate for breakfast (due to Babs recommendation.)
• Second dinner and beer at the Sharp Edge with Babs, last night. Oh, it is so good to have friends!
• Listening to Back when we were grownups (Anne Tyler), read by Blair Brown. (need I say more?)
• Reading blogs: Telfair is moving, bb is traveling, and Babs is reading more books than humanly possible. Oh, and Erin is finding Play Doh in her car!

This was the verse that hit me this morning (Yes, I've gotten back to reading the Bible, mornings.)

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of [queens].

(I changed kings to queens. It's my blog, I get to do that!)

Because God is clearly concealing a whole heck of a lot from me these days. But he is also reavealing to me that I am such a broken vessel, in need of grace and glue. I thank all y'all who have donated your Elmer's moments to me, whether you knew it or not.

Everyone's going to conferences...

Already, as a professional, I've learned a few things.

Some people love conferences.

Others, hate them.

I fall in the middle. A conference is generally 4-5 days in a city far away and it really screws up my routine. I love visiting new places, but I get homesick very easily. Yes, this from the world traveler, but most of my world traveling was actually with my family.

Right now, Terry I (as opposed to Terry II--some of us actually call them that, Terry One and Terry Two) is talking about the ho-hum-ness of General Assembly. My boss, we'll call her the Storytelling Lady, is on her way to N'Orleans for the American Library Association, where she will participate in committees and such (she was at least once on the selection committee for the Newbery Award.) My father is actually AT the General Assembly, in Birmingham, and having a grand old time.

And I'm loving the fact that I can keep in step with the General Assembly online, via the PC (USA) blog and the GA website. I'm reading about Milton Meija, who my dad met when he was in Colombia learning about the (growing) Presbyterian Church there. I'm reading about Alice Winters, who I think both of my parents have met, who has been a missionary in Colombia for 30 years. I'm reading about Rich Ulford-Chase (who looks so young in that picture...and dapper, I might add.) who visited the OD and said that we are the life-blood of the Presybterian Church. That we should keep doing what we're doing. Until a few days ago, he was the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) until they elected a woman, the Rev. Joan Gray.

Another way I get to connect internationally and yet not have to leave my garret (Thank you, God!) is by visiting the blog put up by the Bellefield team that is currently in Honduras. Someday soon (2007, 2008?) the Louise family (yes, all 5 of us, my parents and sibs) are going to go with Bellefield (the parent church of the OD) to Honduras. But for now, by the magic of fiber optics and DSL, we can connect online.

Oh, and look at the time! But I got to visit Birmingham and Honduras, and think about N'Orleans, sitting here in my jammies.

List Friday: Summer Fifteen!

Well, this week, Loretta wants us to talk 'bout summer.

Her desire is 5/5/5: five drinks, five foods, five activities that usher in the season that is all about SUNSHINE (unless you live in Bonn, Germany, where summer means rain) (as Badger would say, ask me how I know.)

Well, y'all know by all I don't always follow directions, so I'm just going to go for what I get.

5 Drinks Songs: (I drink Iced Tea year round.....)

1. In the cool cool of the evening (HOW I LOVE THIS SONG!!!) (and being so young, I only just discovered it a year ago.)
2. Summertime (and the living is easy) (from Porgy and Bess)
3. Low Rider (featured in A Knight's Tale) (again, showing my youth...)
4. Summer Nights (from Grease)
5. Wipeout

5 Foods: (and these are all summer.) Fresh tomatoes are assumed.

1. Fresh corn on the cob
2. Watermelon (spit them pits!)
3. Italian Ice (in the category of "things I forgot to tell you," our Italian Ice guy died. So he won't be coming out this year, or ever again. *moment of silence*)
4. Chocolate: (which has its proper season: "any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate"--Sandra Boynton.)
5. Potato Salad (Yes, I'll post my recipe at some point.)

5 Activities: (and these are all summer)

1. Movies at Flagstaff Hill.
2. Concerts at Hartwood Acres.
3. Summer Reading Club at the library (can you say it with me: I cannot wait until it is August and over!)
4. A visit to Sandcastle
5. A trip to the Lake (in the Poconos, with the fam.)
(6.) A graduation or a wedding. These tend to happen in the summertime...

Oh, and something to be sure to happen in the summer in Pittsburgh: in June, when we have the 3 Rivers Arts Festival, it will rain 75% of the time (or more).

(Which it is doing right now.)