It made me smile

Yesterday I had to drive to my home town to make a delivery to a friend.  I decided to put in my Statler Bros. CD.  I am sure most people my age (and certainly younger) don't even know who they are, but I grew up listening to them non stop in my dad's car.  The song "Bed of Roses" came on and I couldn't help but smile at the memories.  And then I began to cry.  I miss that man so much, and I know that isn't going to change.  I also realized yesterday was the 14th of the month and my father passed away on November 14th, and the fact that it is the fall also brings back those memories.

It also doesn't help that my great-aunt is expected to pass away at any minute.  Actually, we weren't sure she would make it through last week, and then they were pretty sure she wouldn't make it through Monday night.  She's still here though, but I am praying for a peaceful passing and comfort for her daughters and grandchildren.  My heart breaks for my grandmother.  She has outlived her parents, husband, brother, and even her son.  When Aunt Margie passes her only immediate relative will be my aunt, and then my sister and me.  My grandmother is in fabulous shape for an 84-year-old woman, and I have every reason to believe she will be around for many years to come.  At the same time, it's all making me pretty emotional right now.

Playing catch up

I finally feel as though I'm starting to get a grasp on our lives again.  As ridiculous as it may seem, the computer situation really threw me for a loop.  I do pretty much everything on the computer, and while I'm grateful I didn't lose too many important things, moving everything around, and then moving again, while learning a new operating system was ridiculously time consuming.  Not to mention that my email decided to really go haywire and I'm the central source of communication for our booster organization.  AAGH!

In addition, I've been running kids here and there to various doctor appointments and follow ups.  I am VERY grateful that my kids are mostly healthy and these are just minor inconveniences...nothing life threatening.  My house, however, is beginning to look as though a  large windstorm came through and we haven't bothered to clean yet.  Part of that is also do to the fact that we are just tired and sometimes don't want to deal with the little things.

Overall, life is moving along just fine...and it's the beginning of a beautiful fall week!

It was a beautiful drive

Yesterday Robert had a cross country meet about 30 minutes away.  He isn't allowed to resume running with the team until Monday, but for team unity (and to see some folks from our former town) we decided to go as well.  Besides, I love watching cross country meets!  We had to leave right after the high school race because he had a band competition that afternoon.  I told my husband about the back roads we could take to get home, and he wasn't familiar.  We were so glad we took them though...what an absolutely gorgeous drive.  It was one of the most beautiful and serene 30 minute car ride I've ever had in my life.  Southwest Ohio is alive with fall color right now, and we were on back country roads full of trees, and along creeks.  Oh my goodness, it was more beautiful than I can describe!

We needed this day off

Today is the beginning of "fall break" for our school district and the local university.  It is only this one extra day, but oh goodness, it is absolutely wonderful!  Everyone in this house truly needed to get some sleep, and although Robert has to work today, everyone was able to sleep until 9:00.  In fact, I had taken NyQuil last night and slept a blissful 10+ hours.

I hate to complain because it is all "first world" problems, but it was a pretty stressful week.  Everything has turned out wonderfully, but everything has been a hassle...and some hassles occurred more than once.  I am so especially grateful for today and a chance to wind down!

It's just not funny

Today there was a general threat made against every high school in the county.  I learned about it by a one call our school made just before 8:00 this morning.  Even though it was a call letting us know that everything seemed to be fine, it made me absolutely sick to my stomach.  Not only is my oldest at the high school, but so is my husband.  Later I had some errands to run and was passing the high school in the next community over.  My cousin has a child at this high school, and seemed apparent to me that the complex had been evacuated.  I couldn't wait to get home and sure enough, the news confirmed my suspicions.  What is wrong with these people???  There is absolutely NOTHING funny or amusing about this.  We are dealing with people's lives here.  There has been a rash of these recently and I just don't understand.  I hope these people are caught, although frankly I can't even think of a suitable punishment for them.

Another new computer

We think, think, we might actually be up and running again with a computer that works!  My fabulous husband wasted no time when my desktop died last month in getting us a new one.  However, it never seemed to work quite right.  Many days I would just give up using it all together, especially if I needed the internet.  My husband finally called yesterday to the store where it had been purchased and they basically have a simple return policy...except that yesterday was the last day that policy was in place.  Fortunately, he was able to get down there and make the exchange, and (I'm almost afraid to say it out loud) everything seems to be working much better.  This is one hassle that I'm hoping is about to come to an end!

Life around here

I continue to find it difficult to write at times.  I  know that my children are entitled to their privacy, and their shenanigans are not for public viewing.  Because that is dominating life right now, it makes it hard to want to get on here and document for posterity.

We had a nice weekend though.  We met my mom & sister for dinner on Friday, then took off to visit my in-laws Saturday after Thomas's art class.  It was a very short visit, but my father-in-law turned 80 last week so we drove over to have dinner with them.  For the first time ever, my mother-in-law wept as we left.  Between my father-in-law's age and my brother-in-law's declining health, she knows their days of traveling to us will be rare, if ever.  Not to mention the toll that my brother-in-law's constant care is taking on them.  She feels that she is missing the kids grow up, and my husband felt sad and guilty as we took off.  We know that we can only do what we can do, but we've decided to look into some retirement and health facilities here to see if we can convince them to move here.  It doesn't hurt to try.

Other than that, life is moving along, and I pray every day for peace in my heart, and patience and strength to get through these teen years!