And life begins again

God is in His heaven and all is right with the world

A tragic day

The decision has been made. I will not go back. I will not question again the validity of this decision. I will press forward toward the goal. I will not give in to guilt, despair or dismay. The line has been drawn. My choices are clear. I can either hold on to a purple wall that prevents me from selling the house, a wall that I cannot take with me when I sell. Or, I can choose to paint it, destroying the work of my own hands. Tearing down what I so carefully created. It must be done.

The purple living room will be painted a creamy yellow color sometime within the next few weeks. The stick figure notes that make me smile will be covered and the den will become a neutral sage color.

The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All Things Must Die, Tennyson

1A's graduation

Since, no one seems to check the side of the refrigerator anymore, I'm going to post this memo here. (hope this works)

The ceremony for 1A's graduation will be at the Monona Terrace in Madison at 1:00 pm on
Saturday, June 4th.

Family Memos

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been missing a lot of memos lately. There was the one about Daniel coming over today instead of tomorrow... which turned out to be a rumor that Betty started... until Daniel decided to make it official. Then there was the memo about Jessica and Eileen coming over today... which turned out to be half-rumor, half-truth. And there's the memo about dinner with Busia being moved to Saturday instead of Friday... There was even one about the sky turning orange with purple polka-dots every time there's a full moon. That one was definitely not rumor... although, come to think of it, there was just a full moon a couple days ago... hmmm. Anyway, I know bad communication is something family's do, but this is getting ridiculous. We need to use all this fancy technology of ours to create a better system for disseminating information, especially if it's really important like the memo about the sky (it's falling). Maybe we should impose posting memos on Buzz, but Gracie, sorry, Lady Tigger doesn't get Buzz, and I'm not sure about Dad. Maybe we could have them posted to the blog, but I don't think everyone checks it enough. Any ideas?

1A and I saw the Geminid meteor shower this morning. It was -3˚ F, static.

Just like Kindergarten!

(I just realized that about 90% of the readership won't get that title... but Dad will)

I got up early this morning. The sun was spreading a hazy rose glow across the horizon. I got my coffee and my eyes slowly opened. Then, it dawned on me.... today is the day that I get to register for classes!

So, I went to get my computer. I've been reading and re-reading the course catalog for weeks. I know what I'm signing up for; I even know the bio's for the professors. But, alas. I forgot to plug in my computer last night. It's at 29%. :-( Do I stand at my desk and register? Do I plug it in and just wait a half hour? No, I know I can do this quickly. I've already made all the decisions. So, I take my computer to the living room and just turn the brightness down to Chris level.

I login; I move all of the classes that I want into the shopping cart. I click proceed to next step. Error message.

After about 30 minutes of searching and reading through the website and the various "tutorials" they have posted to help new students, I finally discover.

Registration doesn't start until 8:00 AM.

I'm two hours early.

Boot camp address

PVT Spiewak, Joseph
Delta Troop 5th Squadron, 15th Cavalry
3rd Platoon
3576 Wilson Road
Fort Knox, KY 40121-5728

Letters are appreciated.

viajas seguro Jos

After defeating the dark, slightly creepy, intruder, our hero disappears 0ff to the wild blue yonder, riding into the sunset, dust settling in his tracks, the train pulled out of the station.

After the longest count down in the history of the universe, Jos is leaving (on a jet plane) for Knoxville KY on a most excellent adventure. I can't wish him well, because I know he's going to be so totally awesome. I can't really say have fun (is fun even possible in boot camp, where the core objective is to tear you down and rebuild you "the army way"?) ummm, so, godspeed, Jose.

ps- Grace, what do you think of my clichés?
pps- Did I ever punish you boys for playing with sticks in my living room? I remember watching this all take place.... did you drug me?

Last First day of School

Here we are again. Sitting in the kitchen at the table, Mom's got the bible, we're reading and reciting and singing the end of the prayer. Yep, school's started again. However, it is a bittersweet beginning because it's also the end. This is probably the last first day of school that we'll have in this house. It's also my last first day of school with the rest of the family. This year, it's just Mom, Betty, Grabo and I; next year, it'll just be Mom, Betty and Grabo.

Some things will never change though. I'm sure that we'll continue to sing the Fruit song when we're all together again. I bet Joseph will still get up in the middle of Bible, as always (no offense, Joe; it was just funny). I'm positive that Daniel and Grace will continue to try to beat each other at Romans 10:9-10. And I know for certain that each one of us will be welcome to join in when we're home for breaks.

So here's to the beginning of the end of the beginning. (And here's to anyone who understood that sentence.)

Last day of Summer

Even before I opened my eyes this morning, the house felt wrong. It's too empty. As I went through my pre-morning stretch routine it all started coming back. Jessi's in Madison; Dandle and Chris are in Milwaukee; Jos is leaving in 13 days. Ugh. Too quiet. Chris isn't here to share my morning coffee. No one has plans to drive 1/2 across the state to visit a sibling. Summer really is over.

But, school starts tomorrow. I love the first day of school. It is filled with hope and new beginnings. New books, new teachers, new ideas are all waiting to be embraced. It is life clicking back into it's proper order. (yeah, I guess that means I am most comfortable in chaos.)

Today, however, is not ordered. It is the finishing - or agreeing to not finish - all of the summer projects, the summer plans, the summer ideals. It is fringing end of a frayed season. It is the day before a journey. A day of packing, planning and good-byes. A day of anticipation, trepidation and sometimes tears. Has anyone noticed that the last day before school starts is always grey?

Congratulations to ME

I just finished 1 mile (on the eliptical) in 9 minutes 26 seconds!!

Sorry

Sorry that I had to switch the background picture. When I made it pandas for Daniels birthday I lost the other background that it used to be :( sorry

Tiggy

Happy birthday Daniel!

Best bad guy EVER!!!!















Sith too















The brother who brought a hands on approach to aerodynamics!











And how to kick butt with a stick!!!!!!!

Tabby picture

I'm speechless

ok, fess up

Which of you is in this picture?

And how did you get to Scotland?