Colorful Fall

I love fall.
I believe I've said that before
My only complaint about fall is that it's too short...

One day your tree is a blaze of glory and then next it's standing naked in your yard...

This is the prettiest fall tree in the neighborhood

It's not my tree but it is only a couple houses down so I get to see it every day.
Yesterday I just got out of my car and walked around their front yard taking pictures of their tree...
Hope they don't mind...

My Dahlia's are hanging on.  I love the water drops on the petals

This is what my Crocosmias look like after the red flowers have fallen off for the season... kinda cool.

Take the time to enjoy the colors of your life today ;)

Frychik

Make it stop!

Please, please make it stop!

I believe very strongly in voting...I really do

But the politicians just take all the fun out of it.

Women in particular fought long and hard for the right to vote in this country

So it really is a slap in the face to all those strong suffrage fighters when we don't vote...

Really, can you imagine being told you couldn't vote?!!  We would then fight, sneak, and demand the right to vote...

But I am so sick and tired of the campaigning, if that's what you call blitzing my house night and day with computerized phone calls and filling my box with fliers.  Just for the record, I don't listen to the messages they leave and I don't read the fliers.

As you can see they don't even make into my house, I leave them in the recycling container on the way.

And don't get me started on the stupid signs LITTERING the highways and the byways.

There just has to be a better way. Computers calling my house to solicit a vote.  It's halfway exciting when a real person calls to "remind me to vote" When I assure them that I will vote they then demand to know who I'm voting for??? Um, it's none of your business...now stop calling me!

Am I the only one left feeling bitter and totally anti-voting by the time election day rolls around? 

The one thing I truly enjoyed about voting was going to the polls.  I know people have mixed reviews regarding that.  I was proud to take my kids with me when they were small.  Proud to fish out my voters registration card and prove my identity.  I was proud to walk into the tiny square space and pull the curtain behind me.  It was deliberate.  It was the way it should be.

This year I sat on the couch with a book while my husband filled out both our ballots.  We discussed a few minor issues but that was it.  I signed the envelope and it was mailed away... to be counted, hopefully legitimately.  At least there aren't any hanging chads...

Now if there was just a way to send a signal out there so they would stop campaigning at my house!

The amount of money spent on campaigning is mind numbing!  You want my vote? Spend your millions on something concrete.  Something that truly makes a difference in my community or state.  That would get my attention!

Frychik

Sad

Sometimes life just has its really sad, nerve wracking times...
Yesterday I learned of someone who died in a plane crash.
I didn't really know him, but I went to school with his daughter.

That makes three people I know who have died in plane crashes.
That seems like a lot to me...

Today Jeff is flying to Medford...
I am always nervous when people I love fly without me.
I don't care how irrational it is... I can't help it!

He has 9 weeks left until he is out of a job...
There are no prospects on the horizon.

His life insurance premiums went through the roof when he tried to reapply.  The reason, his dad died of cancer... nothing you can do to fix that...
So no more life insurance...

That's what I do when I learn of tragedy.  I become very self centered.  I want to find away to be safe.  Protected.

I need a turtle shell to crawl into...

Frychik

It's what we do for our kids

We have had AMAZING soccer weather!  Until this week.  This week is playoffs for our grade school teams.  Yesterday the girls played their first playoff game and the weather looked like this...

But we don't let that stop us!

We pull out our faithful umbrellas, all shapes, colors and sizes...

Pull up our hoods and cheer our kids on!

Our girls won yesterday! They play again on Wed.  Our boys and my guy play on Wed as well! 
Rain or shine...

Frychik

I cheated...

I finished this book

But I cheated...

I really could find an interesting thread...

But it kept getting covered up in gobbly guck...

I was on page 350 - 100 pages from the end and I was seriously about to give up...

But I thought "if I give up now all of this effort and time will be for nothing!"

Plus I really hate quitting...If I quit would that mean I just wasn't intellectual enough?

So I cheated... ;)

I thought of "Sparknotes"

I looked up Sparknotes and found chapter summaries

I skimmed the summaries for the next two chapters...

found something that looked interesting and then picked up my book and began reading again.

I really found Sparknotes to be helpful.  I read the characters bios, plot and summaries of some chapters before.

There is so much in this book it is very hard to keep track of.

And you must keep track of it because all of those disjointed  story lines come together.  And that part really was interesting.

But it was a tremendous time investment on my part.  I get impatient at the end of a book...

I want to know how it will end..

And I start thinking about the next book on my list...

I have several books waiting for me...

Happy reading!

Frychik



Friday

I survived.

It's what we women do
We figure it out...
We adapt...
We flex and bend and twist and turn inside out if we need to...

We are strong...
We are soft...
We are passionate...
We are tired...

We have hopes...
We have disappointments...
We have dreams...
We have realities...

And we can ROARRRRRRRR when we need to...
And Purrrrrrrrrrrrr when the mood is right...
And then we just want someone, anyone really to look us right in the eye and say...

You're amazing!
Thank you!
I'm glad your here!
I miss you!

Frychik

I'm not ready...

I accomplished a lot yesterday...
I really did
Phone calls were made
Appointments lined up
15 pumpkin pies bought
Errands run...

But what I didn't accomplish yesterday will haunt me today...
I didn't finish the tests (they are half way done)
I didn't write the quiz I'm to give today
I didn't plan anything for class today....




Have you ever been in charge of 19 Sophomore boys for 95 min?
And then 12 Sophomore girls for another 95 min?
It can be challenging on a well planned smooth day....

It will be a loooooong 95 mins today....

Sigh...

Frychik

To Do List

Yea it's my "day off" and it looks like it will be the last gorgeous fall day we will have in awhile.  These last several days have been gorgeous and I have been stuck inside:(  I will try to make certain to have some time outside today!



I have found that I accomplish so much more with a "to do" list so here it is for today

1. Download soccer pictures for the school yearbook
2. Choose two soccer pics for the alumni newsletter
3. Buy 18 pumpkin pies and 5 pumpkins...
4. Grade 31, 6 page tests (1st quarter ends on Friday)
5. Make reading list for 2nd quarter
6. Buy dividers for binders
7. Return sweater to Eddie Bauer - maybe find something else :)
8. Look for new black shoes...
9. Sweep my floor...the dust bunnies are taking over...
10. Take some pictures outside of the beautiful fall
11. Call and make vet appointments for Teddy and Ella
12. Call and schedule Josh's wisdom teeth removal
13. Call and schedule my dentist appointment :(
14. Meet with a parent
15. Order those bifocals - sigh
16. Buy milk
17. Read more of that stupid "Great Expectations" book...
18. Go to Book Club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you have a chance to enjoy this beautiful fall day!

Frychik

Travel Bug

Almost a year ago I got a call out of the blue inviting me to travel to Peru...

 Those are the very best kind of calls you can ever get...

I have the travel bug...but sadly I have no plans for travel...

 Having the Travel Bug is entirely different than having the Flu Bug.

 The travel bug is persistent, it doesn't go away until it is fed...

 I do best when there is a trip in my future...

something to plan for look forward to...

 (pause) -Yes he's peeing, in the middle of the market and yes, I got a very dirty look from him right after I snapped the picture, but it was totally worth it!

Not only do I not have a single trip planned any time soon...

 My passport expires next month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 That terrifies me!

 What if the phone rings and I'm not ready?

 Peru was my last passport trip...

The country and the people were beautiful and amazing..

 The opportunity to share that experience with my mom was priceless!

 I better go get my passport renewed...

 Not that I expect the phone to ring...

 But you never know...

 It has happened before!

Frychik

Great Expectations

I survived my sickness!  All better! Man that was a drag!

I'm happily breathing through both nostrils and the cough that made me sound like a seal dying on the beach has subsided.

So yesterday I did what I always do the day I decided I'm over my sickness, I cleaned like a madwoman.  I figure there are germs laying about and I must destroy them...That and the fact that when I'm sick nothing gets done...

I also made some serious progress in the book "Great Expectations"  I'm actually starting to like it...Here are some observations~

• I feel I can relate to Pip and his feeling of wanting more out of life that what he was born into.  That's the American Dream right?
• I don't understand why this was awakened in him after a visit to a creepy old woman's house?  Why is it that seeing her dark, cobwebbed, cake rotting interior and meeting the oh so snotty Estelle does he suddenly want a better life...like them?
• Who is his mysterious benefactor? Is it Mrs. Havesham? I wonder if it isn't the escaped convict in the bog that he stole the file for?
• Will becoming a gentlemen and coming into his fortune change him into a better or worse person?
• Ultimately will his "great expectations" be met or disappointed?
• Why do there have to be so many extra and unnecessary words in this book?

So if you've read the book I would love to have your thoughts on the matter..but don't spoil the ending :)

In other matters of my life I'm feeling slightly abused because I have to go into work today.  Let me explain...I'm part time...which means I get paid part time, I don't have benefits, I don't receive subsidy and there are other things that happen along the way of which I'm excluded because of my PT status.  However, meetings are scheduled on days I don't work and then I go in and put in my hours as if I'm FT....However, on the bright side I am looking forward to hanging out with my colleagues as a group.  I haven't had much chance to do that.

I hope you have an amazing day!

Frychik

Ugg I have a bug

So today I will definitely be on the couch.

As I was propped up in bed trying to sleep I had a few observations...

• I felt so much sinus pressure on my face it felt like an elephant had placed his great big round foot squarely on it!
• It literally felt like my head would explode if I swallowed
• My throat was so dry from breathing through my mouth that I needed to swallow every 30 seconds
• Robitussin doesn't do didly squat!
• I was amazed that I couldn't even smell the vicks I had rubbed on the end of my nose and all over my chest (some serious blockage)
• Why is it sometimes you can breath in one nostril but you can't breathe out of the same nostril? 
• You realize when one nostril does clear how very, very thankful you are that you have two

On a different note...

As I was sitting in my chair with a blanket feeling miserable I decided I should read my book "Great Expectations" I sent Ty out to the car to get my purse which is were the book was.  He came back in and announced my purse wasn't in the car...

Oh man, it has happened again!  I thought back to when I used it last.  Josh and I had run to Taco Bell for lunch.  I remember very clearly hanging it on the back of the seat.  I don't remember taking it back to the car.
I did a quick mental inventory of what was in my purse...about $100 cash, credit and bank cards, my B&N discount card! My new camera, check book...Not to mention the purse itself was one I had bought in Peru...

I have left my purse before... in fact several times before.  One time I left it in a shopping cart in the Albertsons parking lot and didn't realize it for 3 days! Got it back with everything in it.  I left it in another Taco Bell and got it back.  Left it in Burgerville, and left it in yet another Taco Bell in the Dalles when I was in high school and someone drove it all the way to Walla Walla for me.

I figured my luck had run out...There was just no way I deserved to get it back.  I held my breathe while Jeff called Taco Bell and was beyond amazed and grateful when they said they had it!  The next question would everything still be in it?  Unbelievably it was all safe!

So I would like to give a shout out to all the honest people out there in the world! 

I would also like to say thank you for prayers answered long before you even know to pray for them!

And I think I won't take my purse into Taco Bell's anymore.

I'll be on the couch with my book...

Frychik

One thing led to another and another...

My sick day wasn't at all like I had envisioned it.  In fact I never once sat on the coach and I didn't make any progress with "Great Expectations" and I'll tell you why.

It's because I had a massage scheduled...

I have a bad neck.  I have spent thousands of dollars going to various people, I've been manipulated, electrocuted, injected, twisted, you name it (except acupuncture, not going there!) I've tried it.  What I have finally concluded is that a monthly massage is the most helpful and least expensive.

So since I had a massage I had to get up shower, shave (because I just don't want my mesuse getting cut on my stubble!) dress and head out the door when all I really wanted to do was sit on the couch...

The massage was worth getting up for but on the way to the massage my gas light came on...sigh I have to get gas.  Might as well go to Costco for gas and if I'm at Costco gas I might as well go into Costco and get some groceries we need...While checking out at Costco the checker asked if anyone had told me I looked like that movie star....he paused searching for her name,  I knew who he meant I had heard it before, however it had been awhile.  Geena Davis....I don't see it but in my life I've had probably 10 strangers say it...I'll take it.  Wish I could post a picture of her here...can't figure it out.



Then I was hungry and had 31 Global Studies tests with me so I went to Subway ate lunch and graded papers.

Then as I walked out to my car I noticed there was still blue/white writing all over the windows from our WW weekend and I better go through the car wash.



Then on the way home I realized I still needed to swallow my pride and talk to the optometrist about bifocals...and the Verizon store is right there and I need to talk to them about why everyone else gets my text except Josh...That just won't due.  That needs to be fixed immediately!

So by the time I'm headed home it is 3:30 and the sun is shinning and my 60 bulbs need to be planted...So I planted bulbs.  In the spring I'll be so glad I did!

And then I picked my two pumpkins!  They are so pretty! I'm still so excited about these pumpkins!



Then I sat down on a chair and finished grading tests, while I texted my friend in California who is also a teacher and had the opportunity to sit down with one of her kids parents... Cindy Crawford! How weird would that be?

Wish I looked like Cindy Crawford!

Today my throat feels better but I sound like Demi Moor... ;)

Frychik

Eeyore...

I'm sick! I went to bed with a sore throat and I've woken up with an even sorer throat! Uggh!  Thank goodness I don't teach today!

I hate being sick! It puts me in a very Eeyorish mood.  Everything is negative...I tend to wallow and be impatient with my sickness.  But that's probably normal...


I'm trying really hard to read Charles Dickens "Great Expectations"  It one of the many classics I missed growing up.  But it has such small type that it seems to take a week to just read 10 pages. 

But I wanted to share one part that I think is just the cleverest way of describing something

"It was a rimy morning, and very damp.  I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window, as if some goblin had been crying there all night, and using the window for a pocket-handkerchief. "

Isn't that cool!  I admire good writing.

As I get further into the book things are sounding faintly familiar...Mrs Havisham with her one shoe and a room which has frozen in time...

Have I read this before? Have I seen a movie? Or have I just heard people talk about it over my lifetime and that's why it familiar?

So, I will take advantage of my sick, weakened state and sit on the couch today and read without guilt.  Well, until it warms up enough for me to plant my 60 tulip bulbs which showed up on my doorstep...


I hate being sick! But having a book to read always makes any situation better.  Maybe someone should give Eeyore a book...

Frychik

Tigger or Eeyore?

Two years ago I read a book written by Randy Pausch.  His book The Last Lecture, was written after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  In other words he knew he was dying and he had a message to share.


Its good a powerful stuff.  I'm thankful to know it before I'm on my death bed.  Here are some of my favorites--

1.  "you may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."

2.  "The brick walls are there for a reason.  They're not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."  "...The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.  They're there to stop the other people."

3.  "No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.  At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better."

4.  "Time is all you have, and you may find one day that you have less than you think."

5.  "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"

6.  "Give yourself permission to dream."

7.  "If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problems, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out"

8.  "Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals, and it won't make us happier."

9.  "look for the best in everybody, if you wait long enough people will surprise and impress you."

10.  "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"

11. "Make a decision:  Tigger or Eeyore"


I'm wishing a Tigger day for you!

 

Frychik