Rhyme Time

I’m actually in Italy right now hopefully enjoying some gelato while gazing at a lovely Italian man.  I’ve had these blogs scheduled to post while I was away.  This is the last one before I return home late tomorrow night.

To prepare for the trip I spent lots of time practicing my Italian; and by practicing Italian I mean eating pasta and speaking with an Italian accent.  While in the shower a few days before we left I came up with a great string of words that somehow need to be hooked together in a story or song.  Here they are:

Stanley Tucci

Susan Lucci

Wearin’ Gucci

Bella Lucci

Hoochie Coochie

Scoobie Doochie

Tootie Frutchie

Have a brewsky

The movie Tootsie

Stay tuned next week for Italy pictures and highlights!!

Questions:  Can you think of any other words to add to the list?

CATcerto

I know I have had several posts lately about cats, but I promise this will be the last one for a while.  I really don't want to get a bad reputation for being a cat crazed single gal.  Anyway, you've got to admit this is pretty amazing.  Not just the cat, but the man that composed the music around the cat's playing.  Love it!

My Little Furry Friends

Okay, so the E-Harmony chick from last Thursday’s post was pretty scary, though I have to say, I too love cats.  But not to the point of wanting all the cats in the world to live at my house so I can roll around with them and keep them in baskets on rainbows with little bows around their necks.  I think we all can say that’s a bit much.  But, I do love cats!

Mary and Martha

My cats are like my children, and I believe God demonstrates his love for us through our children.  And since I don’t have human children, I think God teaches me through my cats.

I have aptly named my cats Mary and Martha.  One evening I was sitting in my favorite chair reading my Bible.  Sweet Mary was sitting at my feet and gazing up at me in admiration, while Martha was busily chasing her tail around the room.  All we needed was a room full of men needing to be fed.

I adopted these lovely felines from the Animal Shelter.  They are precious little things, but are not always easy to love.  They pee on things to punish me, hawk up a fur ball for me to step on during my middle of the night potty run, shed enough fur for me to create a third cat, jump up on my lap when I’m trying to read or eat, rub up against my black pant leg and get fur everywhere, dig their claws into my leather sofa, jump up on the kitchen counters when I’m gone (I know it’s you Mary!), wake me up with their food crunching in the middle of the night as well as other gloriously annoying little habits.

But still, I love them.  I love the way they cock their neck and look at me as if to say, “I love it when you remember to feed me!”  I love that they need me.  I love that they want their scent on me even if it means cat fur on my pant leg.  And I don’t really mind the claw marks on my sofa because they got there when they jumped up to be near me. 

And when they don’t show any appreciation for my care of them is when I remember I haven’t shown much appreciation for God’s care of me.  And I think, oh yeah, Thank You, God!  Thank you for loving me even though I’ve hawked up a mess or two in my life.  Thank you for helping me set things right again.  You always let me climb up in your lap and forgive the unsightly marks I made to finally get back there.

And thank you for giving this single gal some furry friends to remind me how much You love me.

Question:  How does God work in your life to show you how much He loves you?

A Touch Act to Follow

Daddy loves Christmas wind-up toys.

I am so blessed to still have my 93 year-old dad in my life.  Maybe I never married because I couldn’t find someone as wonderful as Bill Brown.  He is a tough act to follow.  Watching my father hold hands with mother after 50 plus years of marriage warms my heart and makes me smile. 

My parents making out during a card game last Christmas.
(Get a room!)

He is the best dad around! 

Happy Father’s Day.

Question:  What are some of your favorite memories of your father?

E-Harmony Cat Chick

This is why I have kept my cat quota to two.

Question:  Does she frighten you as much as she does me?

Senior Citizen Day

So the other day I’m going through the checkout line at the store when the young cashier looks at me and says, “We have a senior discount here, would that be something that applies to you?”  My response was a calm, “Wha...you…wha…wha…how…me…are you ki…how dare…wha…who…mmm…Noooooooo!”

She went on to explain they have to ask everyone that question, and I countered with, “Well Missy, you didn’t ask my friend ahead of me.”  Who, by the way, was standing there getting a great kick out of the situation.  To make matters worse, the woman behind me said, “I’m 20, can I get a discount too?”  Such fun they were all having at my expense.

The poor cashier looked at me and apologized for suggesting the discount.  I said, “Oh no, Honey, you’re giving me that discount now no matter what.”

I saved $2.30.

Question:  Has something like this happened to any of you yet?

Last Day of School Eve

I Have Great Students!!

There is nothing like the feeling a teacher gets the night before the last day of school.  Tomorrow, our last day, is a half-day field day.  I can do without the field day part but the half-day I love.

Teachers can handle anything that last day.  Even though they know the morning will be filled with hectic chaos and sad goodbyes, the sheer knowledge of the following 2 ½ months being filled with nothing but selfish indulgences leaves them ready to face the challenges that will unfold on that last, crazy day of their scholastic year’s schedule.

I first realized there was a euphoric Last Day of School Eve feeling when I wasn’t even teaching.  I was working in the Central Library downtown when a teacher friend of mine called and mentioned that the next day was her last day.  Her excitement, or more like her peace and tranquility, oozed through the phone line.  It was then I realized I needed to get back into teaching.  Full-time jobs with only two weeks of vacation a year are no fun.

Now that I’m a teacher once again, I only have a slight peaceful, easy feeling (I love the Eagles).  I work in a small, private Christian school so I also need a part-time job which turns into full-time during the summer.  But the break from the school year is still great.

Oh my, it sounds like I’m only into teaching for the vacation!  Well, it certainly isn’t for the money.  Believe it or not, it’s actually for the kids.  Really!  I’m not just saying that in case my principal or any of the parents are reading this.  Really!!

Some of my choir gems.

I’m able to see lots of my kids over the summer at church; but there I’m not in charge of them.  That’s the best part: getting to see them but not being responsible for them.  It’s like holding a sweet little baby until it starts to cry, and then giving him back to his mom.  She can deal with the dirty diaper and I can just say, “Ah, he’s so cute.”

By the time September rolls around we teachers experience another kind of excitement: the beginning of a new school year.  But until then, YEA SUMMER!!!

So even though I’ll be working, I still have great expectations for the next 2 plus months.  This single gal just may find herself a DESPERADO and TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT in my LIFE IN THE FAST LANE.  Now, I CAN’T TELL YOU WHY, but maybe ONE OF THESE NIGHTS I may just wind up in the HOTEL CALIFORNIA tryin’ to TAKE IT EASY.  Either way, I’m ALREADY GONE.  Love me them Eagles, I do!!

Question:  What are your summer plans?

Let's Hear it For Matilda

Mark and Matilda

Let’s see how I scored on my pre-Memorial Day camping trip list:

1.  Stay dry under our new tarp thingy.

Yes indeedio!  It was put to the test during a 20 minute hail storm--IN MAY!!

Our rainy/sunny/rainy/sunny weekend was sandwiched between two glorious, sunny weekends.  But I'm not complaining--really!

2.  Beat the pants off of the kids in Speed.

Sadly, I didn’t play any card games this trip.  Nor did I read a single word of a book.  Very unusual for me.

3.  Successfully dodge all the marshmallows spit at me.

As I was oh so very innocently sitting at the picnic table I noticed a few marshmallows sail past me, and I hollered, “We’re under attack!”  So that would be a no.

4.  Take advantage of any sun breaks and walk off all the chocolate I stressed ate last week.

Not once!!  I did take many a leisurely walk though, but I did not spill one ounce of sweat on a training walk.  Not one!

5.  Relax, rejuvenate and refresh…kind of like reduce, reuse, recycle…only different.

I relaxed as much as I could while dodging hail and combating pneumonia. 

Most definitely the funniest part of the trip happened on a walk with my friend Dawn, the instigator of building our tarp thingy.  She had seen it on a camping trip last summer and knew we must have one.  Anyway, while on the walk I pointed out an officially store purchased double sized pop-up.  She stopped dead in her tracks, gawked and said, “You mean you can BUY one of those things.”

She couldn’t believe I hadn’t at least mentioned we could buy one during the process of designing and building our own.  I just thought she wanted the joy of creating.  Who knew?  Anyway, Matilda, that’s what we named our glorious tarp thingy, is bigger, better and much cheaper than any store bought double sized pop-up tarp thingy.  Even though it does take a village to put it up.



Mark setting up Matilda

But Matilda did her job during our 20 minute hail storm.  The ground was a mid-January white but we were as cozy as could be under Matilda’s protection.  It was a proud moment.  

So I only accomplished one and a half out of the five on my list.  But that was all this single chick could handle under the circumstances.

Question:  If you knew you could make something cheaper than you could buy it, which would you choose?  Build or Buy?

Pneumonia: Fun to say, Hard to live with

There is a fear amongst single people of dying alone.  That’s why I have cats.  But, I try not to be the epitome of the single-cat-loving-woman, so I have kept my cat quota to two.  There were times I wanted more, but to keep the stereotype at bay, I decided against the third feline.

 

Mary

We’ve all heard the pathetically sad news stories of single women being found alone and dead in their apartment after days of no one knowing.  Alone except for being surrounded by hundreds of hungry cats just days away from eating their dead flesh. 

I really don’t want to be that news story.

Those are the kinds of thoughts that run through my head when I am sick.  Like now; I have pneumonia.  Never had it before.  Never want it again.  I was first diagnosed with it by all my camping companions on my trip last weekend.



Martha


I kept denying their claims until late one night.  It was cold so I burrowed way down inside my sleeping bag.  As I opened my mouth to breathe I noticed there was a motocross race going on inside me.  The sound of revving engines and squeaky brakes coming from my lungs was hard to ignore.

The next morning I told my friends they were probably right; and the doctor confirmed it this afternoon.  I have pneumonia.  And cough syrup with codeine that makes me warm and sleepy…zzzzzzz

I shall deliver my camping trip highlights next week after the drugs have worn off.

Question:  Have you had pneumonia?  Can you spell it correctly on your first try?