Sleepover!

This is my nephew, Terrance - he's 8. You'll remember him - he's the older brother to the "muffin maker" in Saturday's post. He wanted to come for a sleepover since I don't have to work today (well, not at the salon anyway!). I picked him up and we went to the store to get a few items for dinner with my kids tonight and, of course, we purchased a few extra things, i.e., a bag of chips, a couple of kids lunchables, a vitamin water or two, a Hostess pie, etc., etc. When we got home we rented a movie he said he wanted to see, but unfortunately, it wasn't the one he thought, so that was out! We watched cartoons, put his little "growing" toy fish in a panful of water, and went to bed around 11:00. Lo and behold at 5:53 this a.m., we were wide awake and feeling energetic! Oh my! So we played Uno, looked for Tanner's lost cell phone and played Uno again. Now he's playing a video game that Tanner set up for him before he has to go home for his family's activities for this holiday. When Maria was here, she just ate raisins all day - Terrance has eaten mainly chips - hmmm. Well, it is like a mini vacation, isn't it? I find myself already yawning and it's only 9:20 a.m., however, as I said before, the day may come when he won't be too excited about coming to Aunt Debbie's house, so for now, I'll take this fun whenever I can get it!

Muffins!

This is my niece, Maria. In the top picture, she's only 2 years old - but she's always loved to cook, even then. The other pictures are from today. After work I picked her up and we went to the store, made some food for a neighbor family who's moving today, and made her favorite - blueberry muffins. She LOVES to make them. We also had a parade, complete with instruments and Maria, of course, being the drum major in the front, leading the way. She had so much fun, cooking, watching Amanda put a puzzle together, watching Spongebob Squarepants (several episodes!), and orchestrating a parade. She kept telling Tanner how much she loves him. It was so cute. Then her dad called to let me know they were running to Walmart, so I wouldn't bring her home and find them gone. I told Maria her parents were going to Walmart, and her eyes opened huge, her mouth dropped open and she said "ALONE"? It was so funny! She thought for sure we'd better pack up her muffins and head to Walmart, so her parents wouldn't be alone. I kept telling her they had the twins with them and weren't alone, but nothing doing, she couldn't miss a trip to Walmart. What a cutie! We had a fun afternoon. Someday I'm afraid she won't want to cook with me, so I'll take it now when I can get it - mess and all!

Change

Change - "I feel the winds of change beginning to blow" I always tell my kids. It seems like I tend to "feel" internally ahead of time when things are getting ready to change. It might be my circumstances, but usually it's a change I need to facilitate - a change in attitude, a change in my business set up or practices, a change in how I do something (or somethings). Anyway, I'm feeling it. Of course, it is the time of year (one of the times of the year) that change of some kind is inevitable - school is out, temperature's rising, etc. Also Tanner will be joining me more at the salon - he's going to be taking appointments now, too. But it's something else. Deep down. Ever once in awhile, it seems, it's necessary to re-evaluate where things are - am I still headed down the path I'm supposed to be heading down? Am I going at the right pace? Did I detour somewhere? For me right now it's a matter of listening to that little voice way down deep in me that helps me figure things out a little bit and make a few adjustments. Change is definitely coming to my business in the next year or so and I'm assuming these next few months are going to be filled with the pre-cursors to all of that. Change is not really very easy for some of us - especially as we age; however I believe it is necessary or we become stagnant and burn out. And then, that's no fun for anyone, now is it?

Storming!

I was probably the only person in central Illinois that did not know we were expecting "pop up" thunderstorms today - thus, I wore rubbery type flip flops, puttzed lazily through my list of errands in between appointments and ran smack dab into the center of a huge thundering, lightning, pouring down rain of a shindig! I only had 4 little sacks of Walmart necessities, but it seemed like 40 and it seemed to take me an hour to put them in the back seat, while the rain blew in and saturated the front seat (of course, I left my front door open after throwing my purse in). The stoplight at Walmart was out and so each and every car in every direction had to stop and wait like a 4 way stop - that took some time! I had to go home to change clothes before my next appointment because I was dripping wet - it was like taking a cold shower with your clothes on. And the hair - oh my! Wet hair laying on your head is one thing, but wet hair that originally had "Bed Head" hairspray caked on it? Whew! My hair feels similiar to drying concrete now! Oh well, all in all, I LOVE thunderstorms - they're magnificient in their sounds, the smell of the rain, and of course, the sudden light in the sky parting the darkness (even though it's the middle of the day!) in lightning. Several of the streets seem pretty flooded, so be careful if you're out and about; and, oh, if you read my post yesterday, I made a particularly clever delivery today just before the rain hit! Shhhh!

Too old for Games?

Meet Georgie. He is a little stuffed fish who visits my house and my friend Tracey's house spontaneously. I bought Georgie some time ago - another friend of mine gave me a Christmas decoration that is a fish - I named her Freida. But Freida is glass and would easily break, so I bought Georgie to be the object of a game that we play. Sometimes other people get involved to help us accomplish this game. It's loads of fun, and there really are no rules - here's how we play. Whoever found Georgie at their house, "sends" Georgie to the other person - by whatever means, whenever they wish, and however they wish. When Georgie comes to you, you may keep him however long you like, then get him back over to the other person. The fun of the game comes in with this: it's always kept secret. I never tell Tracey I found Georgie from wherever she hid him for me and she never lets me know she found him - you only know when you find him again in your possession. We never speak of him - in fact, she may not even know I named him "Georgie"! The challenge, of course, is to keep from telling - if I think of a particularly clever idea, it's hard for me to keep it to myself - and to not let the other person know when you pass Georgie back to them. Georgie has turned up under my pillow, in my medicine cabinet, in my car, at my shop - just to name a few. I think it's particularly fun when he comes right back quickly or conversely, when it's been a long time and I've actually forgotten about the game - then there he appears. What does this silly game do? Everytime I find Georgie, it reminds me of my friend Tracey - how much her friendship means to me and especially if I'm having a hard day, it reminds me that someone is thinking of me. I haven't sent Georgie through the mail yet - now there's an idea! If you have a good thought of how and where Georgie can travel to Tracey, just let me know!

Faithful!

As you may know, one of my customers was in a horrible construction accident last week. He has been in the neuro ICU at St. Francis ever since. Things were not looking real positive until last night when I'm told he has taken a turn for the better. We have all been praying and asking God to have mercy and compassion on him and his family, and I believe we are seeing that happen. Remember, sometimes all we can do for someone is pray for them - and that's the most powerful contribution one can ever make.

Want some cheese with that "whine"?

Well...I don't allow myself to indulge in this kind of stuff too often, but yesterday (and a little bit of today), I did. Let me warn you up front, if you don't want to hear whining, go ahead and close this blog for today and tune in tomorrow, when I'm positive everything will be back to normal. I am a firm believer that God made each of us to be unique and with a distinct purpose in this world. I very rarely compare what I feel like my calling and purpose is with what I see someone else doing. That procedure, in my mind, does nothing good for anyone. I don't know what God has asked you to do or where you are in your journey, so it would be like comparing apples to oranges. However, I do have a dream in my heart of what I feel like eventually I want to be doing with my business - occasionally I wonder when it's going to happen, if I'm doing something to slow up the process, if I'm being true to myself and my calling, etc., etc. And I try to be honest about myself and my flaws (believe me, I know I have them). But this week I learned of a person who I've known for years who is basically fulfilling my dream and I have to admit, I looked in the mirror and I saw pure unadulterated jealousy and anger looking back at me. (It was kinda ugly, I have to say!). Here I am (this is what I told myself - notice how I'm apparently not going to help myself out here by being positive!), busting my buns, doing everything I know to do, trying to be as helpful and as positive as possible, going the extra mile, yada, yada, yada - just indulging in a HUGE pity party! Why is it working for her and not for me, I whined. I have no answers and, believe me, I've said all the "patronizing" responses to myself already to no avail. So just for today (and part of yesterday), I'm allowing myself to wallow in some whining and feeling sorry for myself. See - I feel better already just getting it off my chest - thanks!

Best find of the pow wow

This is undoubtedly, at least at my house, the best find of last weekend's pow wow. This is a walking stick I purchased for Tan man. Now, he has a cane that he uses occasionally (in case you didn't know, he has degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, and bulging discs), but he has inadvertently misplaced it - hopefully just temporarily. At any rate, I came across this particular stick that is tall, so he can grab it wherever he wants and needs to for support, has a deer head etched in the wood towards the top, and has a rubber "foot" to keep it from sliding on slicker surfaces that when removed, reveals a hidden "stake" that can be used when hiking on ground or in woods that grips the ground and keeps it from slipping. All in all, a wonderful purchase for a very reasonable price, and awarded this pow wow's best find. Tan man loves it, and that's all that really counts!

Saturday we went to Mathiessen State Park for the pow wow. It was really very crowded. Last year the attendance was sparce, the parks up there were flooded, and only a few people and vendors were there - but this year they made up for it. We stopped on the way at Delaney's - you remember, the restaurant we usually hit at least once when we go up there - and Karen decided we needed these rings as a souvenir of our day. It was either those or tattoos she said, so we indulged her desire for acrylic rings! (Look how short my fingers are compared to theirs - hmmm!) Anyway, we had a great time - laughing at lunch until I thought we might actually be asked to leave Delaney's, except that I think all the older people around us began laughing, too, so I think the laughter became contagious. I don't hear well out of my left ear, so really that's usually all it takes for me to say something ignorant and totally unrelated to the current conversation and we're done - laughter all around. So we had fun, ate some wonderful fry bread, purchased a few fun things and another pow wow over. At one of the vendor's boothes, they had this - whatever you call it - not really a statue, not really a mannequin, but - well I didn't know what to call him and Tracey needed a rest, so she visited him for a moment. Kinda creepy. Tomorrow I'll show you the favorite purchase (at my house anyway). I'll try to remember to photograph it tonight.

Truth?

I love storms. I love the lightening, the thunder, just the awesomeness of the whole thing. Of course, I like them from inside whatever nice dry, warm building I'm in or watching from. I remember when I was little a neighbor lady (couldn't even tell you her name now) told me that thunder was the noise that was made when God was bowling. I remember thinking how weird that was - that God didn't really get to bowl very often. I tried to imagine God bowling but somehow it seemed a little "out there" to me even at that age. Sometimes I think about things I used to believe when I was little - you know, like how you kinda believed if you got under the table, no one could see you? You somehow mysteriously became invisible! You want to believe some of these things, but somewhere back in the very recesses of your mind, you have this nagging doubt. I wonder if I paid more attention to that nagging doubt now, how much smarter I might be???

Frustration!

I'm frustrated - now I know I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and expect alot; and I am acutely aware that I am in that "peri-menopausal" state of life which causes things to sometimes appear slightly larger than they really are, but still - I'm just saying, doesn't anyone have any pride in their work anymore? I do one small piece of advertising each year - not for the advertising really, but just to support the cause, and the printing company completely botched it last year (with no apology or financial restitution I might add) and has already not done twice what they said they would do for this year's ad and is now saying my payment is late, when I only received the bill in the mail today. Hmmmm...maybe part of this is because I used to work in the graphic design field myself and I know that with just a small amount of care and time spent, they could be taking better care of their customers (primarily me, since I'm the unhappy one right now), but really, shouldn't we care about the work we are putting out? Shouldn't we check out our facts before we start spewing them all over the place only to find out they're inaccurate? Shouldn't we at least apologize for our inaccuracies instead of just muttering out an "oh well". The sad thing to me is that I'm seeing this all over the place - most people are generally unconcerned about their customer service and/or the quality of work they're producing. No longer is it a concern for most if a company is going to keep a customer or not. No one worries over the unsatisfied customer who may be spreading the word around the community. And the saddest thing of all - this attitude is spreading rampantly through our work places, our schools, and our homes. Ok, now I've said my piece, but seriously, I want to make doubly sure that I do my best and require myself to do what's honorable and right in each situation. I believe we all owe that to each other.

Out of the mouth of babes

Yesterday and today I was hired to do chair massages for the teachers at a local elementary and intermediate school in honor of teacher appreciation week. It's always a privilege to go and bring some much needed (and earned, I might add) stress and pain relief to those who so diligently serve and work with our children. Today I was in a room with the door shut, where the people going by could not see me, so I heard alot of stuff being said without anyone knowing I could hear. This next statement made me laugh, then got me thinking. It sounded like a little girl, about age 5 - I don't know who she was speaking to, I assume a classmate, but she was rather loud and very adamant as she said, "I am REALLY mad - I am NOT agreeable to this anymore!" I snickered at the picture it conjoured in my head - a little blonde, hand on hips, speaking very pointedly to someone in particular. It kind of reminded me of the time my little blonde 5 year old put her hand on her hip and said just as adamantly, "You're not the boss of me". Hmmm...of course that didn't fly at my house! But I digress. I started thinking about that statement - filtering it in my brain with the line of reasoning I've been contemplating regarding the close link (I believe, anyway) between what we believe way down deep and what happens in our lives. What if I got really mad about things that I don't want in and around my life - injustice, prejudice, rudeness, etc., etc., and just point blank decided I'm not agreeable to those things being around me anymore? What then? Not sure, but I think I'll give that thinking a whirl and see what happens!

Parkinson's benefit

Last night we went to the benefit for Parkinson's Disease research. They made $4700! Wow! I think that was fabulous! There was a face painter, an auction, spaghetti dinner, and chair massages. Earlier in the day there was a "cruise-in" which apparently is when all those older classic cars park in the lot and people can come and look at them. There were several Bradley basketball players there, as well as a few people who suffer with this disease. Anyway, all the monies made will go to a research program right in Peoria at Bradley University. Hopefully, we aren't far away from a cure.

Hospital Visit

Mallory, Brittany, and I spent last evening at the St. Francis emergency room. A nice, quiet room with nice nurses and workers; however, the reason we were there was, of course, not so nice. Poor Mal has been sick for a few days and had finally reached the point of letting us make her go in to the ER (apparently there's all kinds of initials for different words - "hospital lingo" I found out! ER is short for emergency room). She has pyelonephritis - a severe infection of the kidney is the way I understand it. But at first they thought she might have a stone, etc., so they did bloodwork and testing and a cat scan (CT scan I think is the hospital lingo for that one!). Anyway she got to come home but not before we took a long walk down to the pharmacy to purchase meds for her and this was the way she travelled - Britt pushed her in this funky looking modern wheelchair thingy. Aren't they so good natured to let me take their picture at 11:30 or so at night at the hospital? If an evening spent at the hospital could be fun, it was - these girls are a hoot and I love em to death. Oh - p.s. mpo means nothing by mouth - figure that one out?????