The Last Day of March

Excuse me? Yes, you. Sitting there staring at the monitor. Got time for a question??? Where did the month of March go? I mean, it was just the end of February, and it was awkward with the leap year and all...but we are already at the last day of March? How is this possible? I need an explanation!!!

I feel like I've slept through the past month. It hit me this morning, I have to register for the summer semester today. My sign up time is 4:30 this afternoon. I have NO IDEA what to take. I mean, logically I have to sign up for my final two science classes - and the choices are limited - but I don't know what to take. And this just presses time further - now I have to commit myself to take the CLEP. I vowed at my parents' house last week that I would take the test by my birthday - which is less than a month from now. The Biology textbook is still sitting in the back of the car - I think I've moved it once....only because it was in my way. Notice how I said "moved" it rather than 'read' it or 'studied' it? That's got to change. I need to call my friend Jeff for reassurance that I can do this. I don't want to waste anymore time than I have to with school. I'm mean, I'm not exactly 19...the clock is literally ticking. At this rate, I'll start teaching about the time the UIC is ready to retire! And let's not forget how much I love my drive to campus. I don't want to drive to campus every day for a month solid just to take two science classes and then end up there on Saturdays for all day labs.

The weather is pretty rotten here today. The rains and wind blew into town late Saturday afternoonish - and the wind and the dreary has remained. It's like Eeyore weather outside. The UIC is back on days - talked to him on my drive. He said he actually slept last night and he's enjoying catching up with everyone. The Doodlebug is still at school and then we have Karate tonight. I'm thinking about signing her up for tennis this summer in addition to the karate. I used to play a lot of tennis BGF (before getting fat!) so maybe it'll make us all go back to the courts to play. And as for me, it looks like I have a lot of studying in my future. History quiz on Wednesday, Psychology exam next Monday and a History exam that Wednesday. I hate how they try to cram all this stuff in at the last minute....

Sort of like me with taking the CLEP. So hopefully next time you hear from me, I will have finished studying chapter one and be oh so knowledgeable about biology. But until that time, have a lovely un-Eeyore day where you are....

The Momster

Life As I Know It....

My life is slowly returning to normal. The UIC is no longer working nights - can you hear the choir singing? It's something that we have been looking forward to for a long time around here. Now, I just wonder how long it's going to take him to adjust to sleeping at night rather than during the day? The only one who might be bummed is his naptime buddy, Cinnamon. Apparently she's gotten quite fond of having someone to snooze with during the night and the day.

While I am glad he's going back on his normal routine, I must admit something. I'll sort of miss getting to have the bed all to myself. Or having someone who fixes lunches and gets breakfast ready while the Doodlebug and I are getting dressed in the mornings. Or those mornings when he stopped and got us all a Chickfila Chicken Biscuit for breakfast. But this may actually mean that I get to clean my house, on my own schedule, and get things back to normal around here! Which means I can vacuum when I want and make the bed!

We have one more week until the local school system is out for Spring Break. I am glad - the Doodlebug is thrilled. Even though we have nothing planned since I still have to commute to my classes, I think she's looking forward to sleeping late and having friends over and going shopping. Speaking of shopping, we went out to get cute shorts and tops yesterday and wouldn't you know it? Today is has been cold and windy...!

On a sad note, a parent who has a child at our school died last Thursday. The little girl lived with her mom and her grandparents and another sibling. The mom had a massive heart attack. It's been a hard year for third graders at school. One had a brother in Kindergarten pass away unexpectedly before Christmas, a week ago today another third grader's brother died unexpectedly and now this little third grader's mom is gone. Please say a prayer for these three families if you don't mind.

I hate to end on a sad note, but it leaves me speechless. I pray that God blesses you this week.

Until the next time....
The Momster

The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Have you ever seen the video by Nickelback for Saving Me? I don't know why I woke up thinking about that this morning - but it is resignated in my brain. That and Evanescence "My Immortal". The UIC says that the Doodlebug seems to be following my footsteps in the music category - I love music. I call it the soundtrack to my life - it does something to me... it's a connection that is very strong in my life.

Did you ever watch Ally McBeal? I used to love that show. And when Ally goes to see John Cage's therapist and she recommends that Ally find herself a theme song and 'something with bounce'. So, if you had to choose a theme song, what would yours be???? I'm gonna have to give this one some thought.

And have you checked out Google today? They've turned the lights out. They are asking everyone to turn the lights out between 8 and 9 pm in your time zone. Cool concept.

Well I'm off. We have to take lunch to the UIC here in a little bit at the ball park. And I'm still trying to recover from the computer crash and rebuild all of my files. I just hate that I have lost so many pictures! I won't make the mistake of not sending them for processing again...!

Happy Earth Hour Day!
The Momster

Food 4 Thought

Ran across this quote and wanted to share:

"The key to loving how you live is in knowing what it is you truly love".

Until the next time....

The Momster

What Is Wrong Here?

I had an experience this afternoon - walking across campus. It's not something that I'm proud of - in fact it was rather embarrassing. I was zipping along on my 400 mile hike back to the car when I lost my footing - and I stepped off of the sidewalk and onto my ankle. Oh yes, you read that right... I landed RIGHT on my ankle. Thank goodness there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage. But...

At the time that this happened, there is this young guy walking right by me - and he continues right on, even when he sees what happened! After I got myself back together and thanked God that I didn't end up on all fours on the ground, I thought "how rude! didn't your mamma teach you any manners!?!" . Then I thought - I'm probably old enough to be his mamma - and that made it even worse. Because when did we decide to stop teaching our children to CARE? I mean, not that I wanted to be rescued, but couldn't he have said "are you alright?" or something like that? I mean, my husband stops on the side of the road and changes tires for elderly people and young moms with small children because after the Doodlebug was born he said it hit him, that could be us on the side of the road.

Are we raising a society of selfish people who can only see as far as the edge of their upturned noses? And yes I'm melodramatic - but this is the ankle that I ripped to shreds many years ago so it really did scare the daylights out of me.

Okay, I feel better now - maybe I need to go out and help some elderly ladies cross the street or rescue some kittens from trees....

Until next time -
The Momster

Welcome to Wednesday!

Where does the week go? Not that I'm complaining this week. This just means there are seven more groggy mornings until The Doodlebug's spring break begins. That makes us both extremely happy.

Our community has experienced a tragic loss this week. On Easter Sunday, a student at the local middle school passed away. He was only 14. He has a little brother who attends the Doodlebug's school and he is actually in a classroom where I do a lot of subbing. My heart goes out to this family. My mother tells me that, as a parent, you naturally expect to leave this earth before your children...you never expect to be here when they are gone. Please, if you have a moment, ask for God's peace and love to fill this grieving family at this difficult time.

But I do have some good news. The UIC is going back to his regular 'job' on Monday. That means no more of this wierd shift stuff that's been going on. I hope that management has accomplished whatever they set out to do with this crazy idea. I'll just be glad to have things back to normal. The Doodlebug is thrilled beyond words when he told her "only 2 more days" this morning.

Some other good news - I have heard from the University. I am now stalking their website to check the status of my application. I feel pretty good about my prospects of being accepted, but then again, it doesn't pay to get the cart before the horse. I love sayings like that!

And with that said, I need to get going and make it to my history class this morning. Where I hope that I do not fall asleep - the lectures after a while begin to sound like the teacher in the Charlie Brown specials.

Have a lovely day! Until the next time...

The Momster

Food for Thought

I am heading out the door to go teach 3rd grade, but I wanted to leave you with this from the Jamie Lee Curtis interview with AARP Magazine.

"As we get older, we say goodbye to a lot of people. We say goodbye to our friends, to our family, and discover our capacity to love and communicate and have intimacy—real intimacy, not the superficial intimacy we had in our youth. Strip away the bulls---; be done with that. Ask yourself these two questions: Did I learn to live wisely? Did I love well?"


My questions for you: Are you living wisely? and Do you love well?

More later today -
The Momster

Monday Musings and Accelerated Readers

Good Monday morning! I am sitting at the library on campus this morning, because I always get here way too early. And since I do that, I decided to get some work done. I have a professor who is wonderful and she puts all of her lecture slides on her website, so I've been printing them out so that I don't have to do that at home.

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day. We had great weather here in the south - it was a bit windy, but still nice. Saturday my mother, The Doodlebug and I went to my parents' home town for a visit. Considering we spent practically the entire day in the car, we all had a great time. When my mother goes to visit with my Dad, he likes to rush, rush, rush. So we decided to take our time and we drove out to where my Mom's family used to live when she was a little girl and then the house that they lived in when she was growing up and until she graduated from high school. She shared some wonderful (and funny) stories with me. We also visited a local apple orchard and had fried apple pies, which reminded me so much of my Grandma Hattie's apple pies. We bought one to bring home to Daddy and the UIC as well. They are lucky that they made it home - we kept talking about eating them! We also drove out to the lake which is a part of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Doodlebug found it fascinating that they use the Toccoa River to produce electricity, and that by the time it reaches that town, it's been used 9 times already for power. The water was a gorgeous turquoise blue - it was just a wonderful site to see considering how low the lakes have been from the drought.

And now it's time for a rant. Why is it that schools push the Accelerated Reader program on children? What happened to allowing them to develop a love of literature on their own? I don't remember ever feeling so much pressure to read, read, read! I love to read - it is one of my absolute favorite pass times. They make it such a chore that I am surprised children today read at all! With that said, The Doodlebug is down to the wire trying to complete so many books this year - and she is really far behind. She just read "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" and loved it though. It's below her reading level, but it met the page number criteria and she really enjoyed it - it was also a favorite of mine when I was a little girl. I'm going by the library on my way home to get her "Tuck Everlasting" to start next. I have always wanted to see this movie, so now I'll have an excuse once she finishes the book. Which makes me wonder, what were some of your favorite stories growing up? Please feel free to share - we are desperate to find her some interesting stories to read.

Tonight we have Karate - did I mention that she was promoted last week? She was sooo excited when she came out of the classroom - there was a grin from ear to ear - and there I was, without my camera to capture the moment.

Well, I have to rush off to History - want to go for me? Until the next time -----

The Momster

Wishing you and yours a

Happy Easter Holiday...

The Day That Was

Today has been a really good day. I am relieved that my last 'official' classroom party is done for the year. It turned out really well and for that I am grateful. The kids seemed to have a really good time playing BUNNY BINGO and The UIC came along with me and was the official caller for the game. All of the kids won a prize - we had 4 students who won two rounds of Bingo but unbelievably the Doodlebug won four times! Two rounds of BINGO and then when we did the 'magic eggs' on the bingo cards, she had one of them and when we did the bunnies under the desk, she won then too! The UIC and I were like 'this can't be happening...' and the adults said maybe we should let her pick out some lottery numbers for the week! But in the end, I had 6 prizes left over, so I put them all in a gift bag and let these 5 children reach in for a special 'treat' and they all seemed really happy. Oh yeah, the ice cream sundaes were a big hit too. We had to make them stop to get their sundaes - they kept wanting to play the game!

While I failed to take some pictures last night, I did snap this picture before everything began. This is the Easter basket that served as the garden. When the kids one a game, they had to hop to the front of the room (that part was FUNNY) and claim an egg and 'crack it'. Inside was a number, which coordinated with something growing in the garden. That was their prize. Here you see a Cheetos 'carrot'. They're made with the Wilton's cake decorating bags - I find that they come in so handy - cocoa cones at Christmas and last year I did the jelly bean ones for the students that I had while I did a long term sub job. I like how the grass helped to hide the prizes until it was time to 'pull' one from the garden.

PS) I forgot - to move the students from one bingo card to another, I read a version of the left-right story that I just changed a little to work for Easter, we played musical chairs (with Barney - what a hoot!) , we made them move their cards to the left player and finally they had to walk around while I said all 21 letters of my names! This worked out really well so that they all had a chance to win at different times - or so we thought - until the Doodlebug kept winning !

Ready to P A R T Y

I never thought I would say this - but I think I am ready for the classroom party tomorrow. I must admit, everything has turned out really cute. The Bunny Bingo cards are all laminated and ready for play. For the markers, I punched little bunnies out of pink and white cardstock that I had laying around. The calling pieces are bigger bunnies - so as you can tell, it was a die cut kind of day around here. The prizes for the bingo are my favorites though. We've got cheetos, jelly beans, some kind of sour spray stuff and rock candy. They are all packaged in Wilton decorator bags and tied up with green curling ribbon and right now are nestled in an Easter basket with a number attached that coordinates with a number that is in a plastic egg. If they kiddos win bingo, they get to pick and egg...then I get to pick their prize out of the basket - so they won't know what they are getting.

I have been contemplating if I should go so far as to have them play "pin the tail on the rabbit". LOL I told The Doodlebug since it's there last party - I'm just not sure. We'll have to see what I decide either tonight or in the morning. I'm really hoping that Bingo and Ice Cream Sundaes bar will be enough to keep them all entertained. I'm also going to raise the stakes a little and make them 'shift' in their chairs after a few rounds of Bingo. I'm going to put a bunny under a few chairs and those people get an extra prize. So we'll see how it goes. I need to go back downstairs and take some pictures of what I've done for prosperity. I might ask the UIC to come along tomorrow afternoon and help with the party so that I am free to take lots of pictures. My favorite part.

I'm off to watch Lost - I had to tape it tonight so I'm stalling till it goes off so that I can catch up! Hope you've all had a thrilling Thursday!

As always,
The Momster

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my Dad's 71st birthday. He has had so many health issues since I got married that I consider each and every year that he is here to be a blessing and a gift from God. My Dad is quite the fellow- I cannot think of one thing that he cannot do. He can fix anything that breaks, he is probably one of the strongest men I have ever met, he can play any stringed instrument (and is self-taught), he repairs instruments for his friends, he is kind and sweet and gentle and I love him to pieces.

Daddy grew up on a farm. They had cattle and all sorts of other 'farming things' going on. I know that he would get up in the morning to do his work on the farm, go to school, come home and finish his work and then he would do his homework and study until bedtime. He is the oldest of four children. When I was little Daddy used to love to hunt and fish. He stopped hunting after Steve was killed but he continued to fish and still takes his boat down to the local lake (when it has water!) and enjoys it.

Last year we had a big 70th birthday party for him and his family and all of my parents friends came. My mom's best friend from high school told me a story about Daddy that I never knew that I found to be really interesting. Daddy had a band in high school and I knew that they had played at the local radio stations and he'd performed with some big named people at the time. She told me that on Saturday nights the town would block off Main Street and my Dad's band would play and they'd have dances. I just think this is the neatest thing ever. My Dad is pretty quiet so imagining Daddy up there doing that seems really neat. I just wish someone had pictures or an audio recording from back then, because I'd love to hear it!

There are a million other things I could share with you about Daddy. But for now I'll just end with saying how much I love him and how grateful I am that God gave him to me as my Daddy.

The UIC and I had a date tonight. We went out to dinner together and it was so nice. We went to a place that is close by and had a good time just sitting and talking over our meal. Talking about the Doodlebug and how things are going for her at school. We talked about my family. We talked about the horrible tornadoes that hit downtown Atlanta last night. We talked about our future plans, things we would like to do together. He talked about the opening day events at the ball park - he's the U(umpire) I(n) C(hief) for two local Little League associations now so he'll be pretty busy in his down time the next couple of months. Our lives gets so crazy that we try to find little moments of time to sit and talk to one another, so tonight was really a treat for the two of us. Then we went out Easter basket goodies shopping for the Doodlebug. And we picked up a couple of treats to give as prizes at her class party on Friday.

I have racked my brain trying to come up with something that was boy and girl friendly for the class to do. The girls would love a craft from what they've told me, but the boys would be bored to tears so I've decided we're going to have games. I found a site online that generates bingo cards and I printed those out and laminated them at the library Friday afternoon. I attached some diecut 'eggs' to the backs of four cards, so that we'll have four lucky winners at random during the games. I think I may even put a few die cut bunnies under their chairs so that we can have a random winner or two that way. I'm thinking about making them all switch seats during the bingo games - almost like playing the right-left game - but not sure yet. I've got a lot of relay type games that they can do as well but Bingo is usually a hit since they get candy and prizes.

The Doodlebug was one of the Masters of Ceremony at her school's Variety Show last night so I made sure to get pictures of her and the 5th graders who were performing this year. She had a really good time... she doesn't get one bit nervous in front of large crowds. I didn't have that nerve when I was her age! She is also an anchor on their morning news program so about every two weeks she does their newscast and has been having a blast with that this year.

And in other news - did you know that I am married to Garth Brooks twin? LOL The UIC picked up some Garth Greatest Hits CD thing at the store tonight - he's been watching the DVD that came along with it - and I walked in the room and looked at the pictures and said "wow, you really did look like him!" to which he said "remember people used to say that when we'd go to concerts? and that guy kept saying you looked like Trisha Yearwood" - I'll have to find some pictures of us from 'back in the day' to share one day soon!

Until the next time -

The momster

Spring

So I know it's a little early to talk about Spring. I mean, we just had snow on Saturday. It's like Murphy's Law - if you live in the south, if it snows, it must be March! But my mind is thinking of spring. I went shopping today to pick up some "Jellies" for the Doodlebug. I love seeing all the spring colors that are out in the stores. All the pastel colors and the new white shoes. As much as I love winter, I love discovering the new things of Spring.

I have to come up with a craft for my daughter's class. 25 kids. Boys and girls ranging in age from 10-12. I have no ideas. It needs to be something to do at an Easter party. Why is it if someone asks me for an idea, I usually have plenty. But if I need to come up with something, I'm stumped? It doesn't help that the party is next Friday either. I have got to get on the ball! Any ideas?

Now for the drama - My niece KK, who just turned 19, is away at college. She rooms in a dorm with her cousin from my BIL's side of the family. Her roomie Lauren is a couple of days younger than KK. Anyway, at Christmas KK told me that they were going to get an apartment for next year. Apparently KK found out that Lauren has gone out with some other girls and gotten an apartment for next year and has completely left KK out in the dark. She is heartbroken. Her Mom called our Mom and told her about it, and Mom turned around and called me. I feel so sorry for my niece. I wish there was something I could say to make it better for her. Most of the friends that she has made at college this year are 'locals' so they live at home and take classes during the day. KK has a boyfriend, and I'll be honest, I think that Lauren is into him and is jealous. I think she's being spiteful to KK and it really does make me mad. I can't imagine doing this to someone and I can't imagine how KK must feel. I'm so glad to know that my parents at least raised their children to be better people than this!

And Doodlebug drama. She has been invited to a party this weekend. And her best friend "A" has not. And "A" and the person having the party, I thought, were pretty good friends. "A" is upset about not being invited and the Doodlebug is feeling conflicted about going. Apparently "S", the birthday girl, could only invite a limited number of friends. And when one couldn't come, she invited someone else ... completely overlooking "A". The Doodlebug doesn't really 'know' the other people who will be there. There's an odd number of invitees, which in my opinion is a mistake - just like 3 people can't be best friends, in the spend the night world, you cannot have an odd number of people - someone's always left out. So I told the Doodlebug to think about what she really wants to do. To be honest, since she's been sick, I really don't want her to be gone overnight right now. Thoughts? Opinions? Oh, and her other best friend "N" isn't invited either. And in reference to the 3s don't work - I know what I am talking about.... they have to work out a 'contract' on who can hang out when - it's crazy. But someone always gets their feelings hurt? Does any of this make sense? Blah....

I think I should stop here. Hope you had a terrific Tuesday and thanks for stopping by!

Until next time....

The Momster

Some things....

Just some random things about me -----

1. I hate the time change... I don't care if we are falling back or springing forward, this stuff seriously messes me up. I feel like I go around in a fog for a good month just adjusting to this mess.

2. I don't like myspace... sorry - but I think myspace is the singles bars of the 80s. Everyone I know that has a myspace is trying to hook up with someone. I reserve the right to change my mind about this, but right now I don't like it.

3. I have a 20 year reunion coming up this fall... and I am not going. I see enough people from high school just when there's a family event at my daughter's school. And I don't live in the same town where I grew up! So I'm not going. No matter how much my friend posts about it on her myspace!

4. I am a Christian. I believe in one God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and he died on the cross to forgive me of my sins. I celebrate his birth ,his death and resurrection. I pray. I believe that there is immense power in praying to God for help and for healing.

5. I always wanted to have 3 children. And a horse. Not necessarily in that order. But I'm happy with what God gave me. I consider myself lucky to have the Doodlebug in my life.

6. I think that Winnie the Pooh is the most adorable Disney character ever. Meeting him in 2001 was the highlight of my vacation to Disney. I even got to say "I've waited my whole life to meet you!" - cheesy, but true. BTW, he is not the Doodlebug's favorite character.

7. I still sing the vocal scales that I learned in sixth grade. I always made a perfect score on my All-State Choir auditions. While I can sing and play the saxophone, I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar and piano. I've sang solos at church. I've sang in quartets and also duets. I was always pulled to sing at any time that someone wasn't available at church.

That's about all I can think of right now. I'm just relieved that the Doodlebug was doing well enough to return to school this morning. Last week was really rough.

Until next time....

Is It Friday Already???

Wow, where did the week go? I mean seriously - I was just talking about Spring Break - and now I'm 'posed to be up here working on my paper that is due on Wednesday. Bummer.

On the homefront, The Doodlebug is still sick. In fact, we had to call the doctor's office this afternoon as it is day five and she is still running a fever. I had gone to the store to pick up a few necessary items and that's when they called back. But they talked to the UIC, which is good, because I think until this week, he never really grasped the idea of taking care of a sick child. And he has been the one who has been home with her while I worked this week. So when I got home, The Doodlebug had told me that they had called and the UIC informed me that they recommended that we bring her into the office Saturday morning. Which clearly means me, because he will be instructing at some baseball clinic tomorrow. So we'll get up tomorrow and drag ourselves to the office to see if they can finally tell us what's wrong. They did tell him that if it were a virus or the flu, she should start to feel better and the medicines should help take care of anything else - so time will tell what's really going on.

On the workfront, I did a little experiment today. We were talking about voting and living in a democracy and the whole process of voting in class. My students wanted to know if we could have a mock election so I said sure, at the end of the day, we'll vote. They wanted to vote on the presidential election. After explaining that we would vote for either Obama, Clinton or McCain, I started polling the class. McCain clearly won in a landslide over the other two with 78% of the votes and Obama and Clinton tied with 11% each. Then I explained how, in a true election, Hilary and Obama couldn't run on the Democratic party's ticket together, so we casted our "Super Friday" votes and they decided that Obama would win the party's nomination. Now, what was interesting about this discussion is that, if you stop and listen to what children say, you will hear the political and religious views of their parents. So clearly we have more Republican parents in this one room than Democrats.

On the slackermom front, I am going to spend the weekend taking sick people to the doctor. And cleaning up my house. And working on my psychology paper. And studying for a history quiz. And trying to study for the Biology CLEP exam. And trying to recover from feeling absolutely exhausted. Because we won't be hi karating tomorrow that's for sure...

Until the next time -

Slackermom

Just Another Manic Monday...

Update: We did not go to Karate and we won't be competing this upcoming weekend either. More information to follow....

Did the Bangles have any idea how right they were with this song's title? What is it about Monday's that seems to make them follow the Murphy's Law of 'if it can happen, it will'?

With that being said, it appears that the Doodlebug is sick. Right in the middle of my Spring Break. Not that I have anything important planned. Work. Clean the house. Catch up on laundry. Actually cook a good meal. But she's sick. And tomorrow is the class picture at school. Now what to do? I don't want her to miss out being in the class picture cuz as crazy as it sounds, I like my class pictures and as a scrapbooker, I find value in those pictures. So what does a crazy mom do?

She calls the school to find out what time the class' picture will be taken. Then she discusses it with the UIC and decides that tomorrow she's going to take the Doodlebug in for her picture and then take her to the Dr. She's not going to 'school' but she'll be there at 10 for the picture. Oh, and did I mention that I'm taking her to Karate tonight?

Yes I am. She has a tournament on Saturday, and since it's her first time, I really want her to be able to participate. It's for the first weapon and she's been working really hard on this. Supposedly it's rare to get to test on a weapon when you are this new, but she's doing an oustanding job with it and her Senei thinks she's ready. So yes, I'll give her some children's Sudafed and take her on out the door.

But all this parenting stuff aside, did you realize that today is Dr Seuss' birthday? Yes, that genius who gave us Whoville and the Grinch and Horton ... Our school celebrated today with the kiddies wearing their hats and we read books. It was great fun.

Live the Life You've Imagined

I have this quote on my desk...."Live the life you've imagined". It sort of makes me think of the Gandhi quote ..."be the change you want to see in the world". I have a tendency to keep little snippets of quotes around me. Hundreds of post-it notes have been covered in little quotes in my lifetime.

When I think about it - I want to have a positive impact on the lives around me. I want to be a positive influence. It's always been important to me to be a good friend, but I could do better. I try my hardest to be a good wife and mother, but there again, there is much room for improvement.

But it makes you think - are you living the life that you imagined? If you are, that is fantastic. And if not, then what is holding you back?

And on the subject of quotes, did you happen to see Valerie Bertinelli on Oprah? She seems a little kooky to me, but I liked when she read this part from her book :
"There's the weight you see on the scale every morning, and then there's the weight you carry around inside," she says. "One makes you look miserable. The other makes you feel miserable. Beyond the picture I envisioned in my head, I really prayed for a lightness of being."

Just something to think about....

The Momster

Finally The Weekend....

Today is my niece KK's birthday. She's 19. I was thinking this morning what I wouldn't give to be 19 again - but only if I could go back with what I know now... She is just such a gorgeous girl who has her entire life ahead of her - I hope she has a wonderful day!!!


The Momster