Holidays are Happy-days....but then what?

Guilty as charged! I had a wonderful Christmas! A spiritual Christmas Eve, playing Mass (decently I may add), mother to two "stars" in the Nativity pageant, dinner with family. Decent planning allowed "Santa" to turn in early! Pax!
Christmas morning greeted me with a beautiful movie made by my three boys. Their love for Wifey and Mommy, whether faked or not, turned me into puddles!!! It will be a gift I'll cherish forever! Christmas dinner, simple yet tasty, was enjoyed by dear friends (A & S) and family.
Our New Year's celebration is anticipated to be a wonderful event as well! Our dear friends from FL (J, E & I) are coming up for a short, but sweet, visit!!! We haven't been together in forever!!! A & C (their last New Year's as single people) will be joining us as well!! I cannot wait!! I am looking forward to the friendship, food and fun!!
The nail biting will begin after the guests have left and we begin to prepare for school. How many positions will be cut? Which positions will be cut? Will I be able to go back to the classroom, or will the music positions be cut as well? Am I going to be able to pay down my debt, the bills, etc.? My faith is wrestling with reality, hence the sleepless nights! My faith is saying that God will get us through, as He always does. My sense of reality, along with the gloom and doom messages from our superintendent, is saying, "The End is Near!"
I'm trying to remain positive, yet productive. I hope to start my trainer training in April. I'm also putting my family on day-to-day austerity. We need to pay down our debts and start saving for that rainy day. President Obama (forget the "elect" part) is banking on hope. I guess if he can do it, so can I...... Dona Nobis Pacem!

Life IS Good!

Too many blessings, too little time!!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

24 hours......

I am a WRECK!! Hopefully, Toot is now looking down making sure no chad is dangling!
YES WE CAN!!!!

Toss up...

Which is going to be more challenging for McCain: Appearing at tonight's debate or appearing on "The Late Show With David Letterman" tomorrow night?

You reap what you sow.....

STARTING to smell????????

I LOVE David Letterman! His intelligence and warped sense of humor make me dream of him being a part of my warped family. When I was younger, B.C. (before children), I actually watched him religiously during the week. Now, that is an impossibility. (The 2 teacher household does not allow for TiVo.) My only "Dave Fixes" are the local CBS station website "Top 10" posting and fuzzy clips from You Tube.

Sadly, someone dissed my Dave! John McCain not only canceled his appearance on "Late Night", but downright LIED about it!! He said something about flying to Washington to save the country, when in fact he went on a different program. When Letterman found out he was stood up, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is starting to smell!"

STARTING to smell? McCain has been decaying since day one of his campaign and Palin just added more maggots to the entire decomposition process. It is my hope that the two of them will just break down and be done with it. The one positive thing about their decay is that the stench might have woken up enough people to keep this country alive and not have it die along with the Republican Party. Lies, greed, blame and blatant nastiness have accompanied this putrid pair to the point where we need to say "ENOUGH!"

Besides, if we can't trust McCain to show up for Dave, will he be there for us? If he lies to Letterman, can we trust him to be truthful to the American people? I DON'T THINK SO! Ladies and gentlemen, it DOES smell!!

Emotional Joy Ride.....

August 11th marked the eleventh anniversary of my morphing into a Virginian. (I hesitate to say Southern. Ain't gonna happen.....y'all!) While there are times I miss my former life in NY, those moments cannot compare to the wealth I've accumulated in the past 11 years. Not the kind of wealth in the bank (although that would be nice), but wealth of the heart. The love and fun in my little part of the world cannot be replaced. If it were taken away, I would need to be taken away!

This leads to the emotional trauma that went along with SRR's surgery last week. While I knew that many people were thinking about and praying for him (many thanks to all), I was still a wreck. After the surgery, they let us back to see him and my heart sank. (I actually thought my milk was returning!) He was crying, make that screaming, as the anesthesia wore off. Although the nurses told me this was normal, it was not normal for my little man. The feelings of heartache and helplessness were intense!!

Happily, the anesthesia wore off and SRR began to become his old self again! When I knew that all would be well, I went to the closest restroom, dropped to my knees and thanked God for watching over SRR. However, a sense of sadness came over me as I prayed. I thought of all the parents experiencing this intense heartache and helplessness for their children with chronic and / or life-threatening illnesses. How do they cope? How do they function? SRR had a routine procedure: tonsils / adenoids out, ear tubes in. Granted, we had to get up a few times each night for pain medicine, but it just does not compare to the parents who have to get up and administer life-giving medicine or have to perform CPR because the monitor went off. I honor and pray for the parents of these children. May God give them the strength to cope.

Meanwhile, my SRR is on the mend, MGR and JOR are playing their game and I'm enjoying down time with a glass of cabarnet. Virginia is a great place for wine, not whine! Happy Anniversary to me! Life is good.

If you have nine minutes to kill.....

...feel free to enjoy this PhotoStory of our summer vacation. (I apologize for the blurry pics in Luray Caverns. Still not good with our camera!). You may also want to mute it. The music gets to be too much after awhile!