Beautiful Day

Another week behind us makes me wonder what are we rushing to reach. Having a four day week was sweet, but felt so chaotic; everyone was wacky around here. I long for normal, but seem to have forgotten how normal looks. Probably like this week. Our resident wiseguy emailed "tomorrow is just a mirror of today" on our first day back. I threatened to take him out if I ever heard that again. I want a fresh start everyday, a new chance to get it right.

It was great to hear Abby's good report, Angela. What a thrill. Hope the doc has more good things to share at that appointment. What is her summer Starbucks treat? Having that tradition is great; we do TGIFridays after every Rileys visit with our girls. Who are doing great, BTW. Mackenzie has lost nearly 50 pounds this summer, the meds are being cut back and her body is relishing it. She looks so cute, still so short about 4'9" but so cute. And Maddie is blossoming, too. Loves being back in school with her friends and hasn't lost ALL her hair for several weeks now. It holds on to about 1/2 inch of red fuzz. Sweet. Oh, the blessings of healthy children.

I planned to start a quilt this morning, but just haven't made the move. Nina has the house all clean and I opened all the windows this morning. I just hate to mess it up with fabric scraps and flying threads. I've just kinda sat and looked outside, observing the sights and sounds so far today. Peaceful. I said "no" to every offer I've had today; no shopping, no festival, no going to lunch, just chilling here alone...ahhhh. Steve, Stephen and Caleb have gone to Elnora for the Antique Tractor Festival, Courtney took Shay and Kenz to Jasper for haircuts and lunch, Mom's gone shopping, but I stood firm, feeling I needed to be still for a day.

Angela, I'm going back to Chicago for the Ophelia Conference instead of ISCA. I really enjoy that group of presenters and think they are on target with most of our school's issues. I want to take the CyberBullying Workshop, but it cost so much more to add and extra day. I wish some of you would come to it. My sister is going with me again. It is such a nice few days for us. She loves window shopping during the day, scoping out places for us to visit in the evening. Her son, Joe, and his fiancee, Bonner, will join us one night. They live on the lake and work downtown. Joe is in financing and Bonner in marketing, she has been in some commercials but mostly works behind the scenes. They are a typical professional couple, I guess, but we look at their lives as rushed. Deb keeps hoping they will move back when they decide to have kids, but I doubt that. Orange county, or even Louisville cannot compare to Chicago.

It was interesting to talk to Jim again, he is at ISU working on his doctorate. Draper is gone, of course, in fact Dr. Boyer is the only full fledged professor in the counseling program. They have combined it with some other program just to keep it going. I am not clear on what, but something in the School of Ed. Tonya is in charge, but the cohort is full of complaints and concern; according to Jim. I don't understand how something so acclaimed can go to pot in such a short time. I guess Peggy was all that held it together. She hasn't been back since that time with us, apparently. Draper is in Utah, surprise, and those guys (Cindy, Jim, Shelley and Brownyn) are still in awe of him. Maybe there was more to him than I could see. I thought he just basked in the glory of their adoration a little too much. I might be wrong.

Has anyone heard from Staci or Carrie lately? I heard Carrie is pregnant again. Staci emailed for awhile, but not this term. I miss her craziness. What a role model she is for the girls at her school; strong, self-assured, pretty, and a fashion diva. I missed most of those boats.

Hope you have managed to get together at Anna's new place and met her new man. Nice that she and Kirstie can socialize together with their boys. Just like a storybook or movie script. Our waterpark is on track for fall, hope you all can visit down here. It looks so cool, towering over the town with its glass walls and watershutes projecting out into space. Someone is building an indoor racetrack, too. They've torn up a hillside right below the waterpark, which hasn't set well with some locals, but progress is an ugly business. We appear to be building new instead of saving the old buildings around. Downtown stands empty while next door new towers and landscapes spring up. Makes me sad, I wish we had the $$$$ to invest in restoring an old building and creating a shop or restaurant of some kind. Our son-in-law is an excellent chef and would love a place of his own, but that involves more risk than we can take. He created a shrimp pasta with white wine cream sauce for the place he is working now and it is wonderful, smooth, light and tasty. YUM. His desserts are terrific, too. We have him make treats for Shawn's jewelry parties and all our birthday celebrations.

How are you feeling, Janelle? No problems, I hope. I keep thinking about your cute home, it has such a cozy loving feeling in it. I'd love to have a living room that size, I'd be rearranging furniture constantly. What fun. Of course, Brian's big screen TV would have to go. I can never get them to work in MY designs. Hehehe. Steve doesn't like that about me, either. He eventually, will be caste off to the basement with his TV, deer heads, guns and bows. Or maybe not.

Jill, I don't think our friend will last out the semester here. He has become a target for abuse. if he supports something, it is cancelled, or blackballed. It is rough on him. We all are rallying around, but this week was real bad. Lots of loud yelling and public put downs. I hate it for him and have encouraged him to walk if he wants to. Life is too short for such bull. Hope all is going well with mom and dad in Gosport. Are you all getting closer to a decision? You are in my heart, Girl.

Miss you all and pray your lives are good. Love