Signs of Hope

I have been watching these little green sprigs growing for about a week and then yesterday--Poof! A flower! I will grab onto this visceral reminder that winter is not forever and hold onto it tightly! It's still absolutely frigid outside and the world still seems covered in ice (although patches of grass are peeking through), but spring is coming.

I also had a great meeting with Alex's teacher and case manager this morning and we shared equally about how we can continue to encourage him both at home and at school, because he has been struggling, especially with the winter blah's. So join me in blessing Miss Pam and Miss Kathy, the aide who works with Alex, as I do daily. They are wonderful! And God seems to work daily through them to help my sweet boy.

I will still post tomorrow, but I had to share the good news. And this hilarious picture:

Amen.

More Than a Little Grumpy

1. So last Friday my cold was at the annoying stage. By Saturday morning, it hit the miserable stage and I spent most of the weekend in bed. Ugh. I am up and functional at present, with the aid of cold medicine. But I am not recovering quickly. I have a doctor's appointment for Monday morning anyway (a "well" visit - Ha!) so if it isn't better by then, I can get some professional help. Sharing person that I am, I gave it to everyone else in the house, but most of them have mostly recovered, especially Alex and his steel-like immune system.

2. In spite of dire warnings, there were no school cancellations this week due to bad weather. The ice storm that was supposed to hit our region Tuesday-Wednesday moved north and all we got was rain. Of course, it's turned all of the snow in the yard into ice so it's not much fun to play in, but we feel blessed that God spared us from the worst of the storm.

3. In other, minor news (NOT!), my father had a successful knee replacement surgery on Monday. My mother stayed with him in the hospital and they returned home on Wednesday. So far, he is healing really well and physical therapy is going swimmingly. The Lord is gracious indeed.

4. On Wednesday, Marshall took the day off of work to escort our children to the dentist. Alex's appointment was at 10 am and Miranda went at 2 pm, scheduled to give Marshall a break in between and interrupt the school day as little as possible. We have a great dentist and work with a wonderful hygienist, but I have dental phobias left over from my orthodonture years and I was too scared to go with them. Marshall was a pillar of calm and both children were extremely well-behaved, which also resulted in good reports for everyone. Except that Alex finally has a loose tooth. At least it gave me an excuse to order the new Shaun the Sheep DVD: Spring Shena-a-anigans. It should be here in a few days. :)

5. Miranda is off of school of school today for a District Inservice but I talked my sister-in-law into leaving my niece, Lilly, here this morning to help keep my daughter entertained. They are having a good time together. I am so grateful for the extra company and it gives Leah a break as well. Win-win.

6. Since modern American television has been boring me lately (except for Human Target, Lie to Me and Detroit 1-8-7, which are all in danger of cancellation, which just goes to show that I continue to fall for the shows that are never popular enough to last very long which makes me wonder, again, what is wrong with me!), I've been watching a bunch of other things:

• Right before The Green Hornet movie opened (which Marshall and I still want to go see), the ScyFy channel ran the entire 1960's TV series. We've been watching a few episodes a night and enjoying it as the perfect light, entertaining affair. No angst, no drama, no worries, and lots of pretty people. 
• I finally finished Series 7 of New Tricks. Somehow, I missed the last two episodes until now.
• I found this new show called Strike Back that was amazingly entertaining and ended on a cliff-hanger! There is a new, 10-episode series scheduled for next year that I am really looking forward to.
• I watched Series 2 of Whitechapel that was, like the first series, not terribly interesting in terms of plot but the characters created by Rupert Penry-Jones and Philip Davis are fascinating enough to warrant a viewing. I guess I'm trying to get my nerve up to start Spooks, which is supposed to be one of the best creations of British television in recent years but I haven't wanted to get involved in it as of yet. Like other UK shows, it has no compunction about registering a large body count and kills off major characters regularly. 

Of course, none of the British shows listed above can be watched legally in the US. Sorry about that.

7. I finally hit my stride again with my cross stitch and made great progress this week (even though I had to do a bunch of frogging), which might account for all of the TV show watching. It does pass the time. Here's your progress pic:

Definitely past the halfway point. Woohoo!

Bonus: 8. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, inform me that you are claiming one of my few remaining copies.

And here's Jen.

A Little Grumpy this Friday Morn

1. Even though there is school today, we're on a 2 hour delayed schedule, which means Miranda stays home (no preschool). Which makes it the third day in row I've been home with Miranda. And I need a break from her. She's hasn't slept through the night in I can't remember how long, which means I haven't slept, which means I now have a cold. Hence the grumpitude. I'm trying to think of decent ways to torment her today, like making her help me clean her room. What I should do is make her more banana muffins (like I've been planning to do for days but kept running out of energy) and let her play in the bath for an extended period of time (which makes all her sensory issues happy). Maybe we'll do all three. After I have some tea and put Alex on the bus about 10:30 am.

2. If you hadn't heard (HA!), it snowed here again on Wednesday. A whole foot's worth. So there was no school yesterday and Marshall stayed in a hotel across the street from his office courtesy of his employer Wednesday night so he wouldn't have to fight his way home that night and fight his way back to the office yesterday morning. Which left me with the shoveling, something, on a usual day, my husband graciously does on his own and without complaint. My arms are still sore this morning, but after I dug a minimal path through the driveway, our neighbor came over and finished it up with his snow blower. God bless Gary!

Alex came out to "help" me shovel during the first round (and he did actually help some) but he also had a great time playing in the snow. Here is my darling boy, getting happily soaked through all of his layers:

If you want to see all of yesterday's pictures, you can find them here. 

3. I haven't had a tremendous amount of energy to stitch this week and Page 8 of White Lilies on Red has been a beast, but I finally got some traction on it Wednesday night and came close last night to finishing it. By my calculations, I've reached the half-way point, which is a good feeling. :)

Of course, since I started it Thanksgiving of 2009, I probably have about a year's worth of stitching left to do. Or maybe not. The second half could go faster. :)

4. If you missed the story on Facebook, on Wednesday, Miranda managed to lock herself in my bedroom and then get stuck in our powder room (sometimes the door jams). And, being a foolish woman, I keep the keys that open all the interior doors in my dresser, so I had no way to get in and Miranda was too upset to get herself out. So I went around outside with a chair and climbed in through our bedroom window (which we leave unlocked because this has happened before) and have some impressive technicolor bruises on my legs from the windowsill for my efforts. But I was able to rescue my girl, and she promised not to lock my bedroom door again. Maybe if I'm smart, I'll find a better place to hide the keys!

5. Alex's current obsession is The Sorcerer's Apprentice, both the book released by Disney in 1974, and the music video from Fantasia. He earned the book this week with his consistent good behavior, which made him a very happy boy, but I swear everyone in the house knows every note of the piece. I keep telling myself to be grateful, though; I mean, he could be obsessed with Beyonce. :)

6. I finally finished watching Buffy's Season 4. I'm not sure I will go back and finish Season 2. Too much heartache. What I would like to do is go out and see The Green Hornet. It will be nice and fluffy and empty of any heartache. Too much of my life is high maintenance, so I need my entertainment to be mostly brainless.

7.My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, inform me that you are claiming one of my few remaining copies.

And here's Jen. 

Another Cold Friday - Updated

1. Starting the day after Christmas, we've had one snow storm a week. Then starting last week, we've had two per week. Yesterday it was sunny and the snow was starting to melt enough so I could start to see the front yard, but then it snowed again over night. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to cancel or delay school again, although when both children are protesting about wearing their boots to school AGAIN, you know the novelty was worn off. It is a white wonderland all the time now and I weary of spending my days shivering. Ugh. Excuse me while I go put on another pair of pants and some wool socks.

2. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, inform me that you are claiming one of my few remaining copies. 

Update: There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here.

3. I found this very funny poster mash-up as I was wandering the web yesterday and, as a big fan of Doctor Who, enjoyed it greatly!

4. I forgot to include this in my Star Wars fan post a few weeks ago, but it's too funny to be forgotten: The Star Wars Kids Alphabet.

5. My cross stitching has slowed to a crawl as we've had extended family visiting, off and on, for the past 2 weeks, and I've hit a particularly difficult section of the pattern. I even had to do some frogging last night, but only about a dozen stitches. But I keep slogging forward by repeatedly gazing at the finished project. Here's your progress picture, then:

6. The cleaning ladies are coming this afternoon so I really should be rushing around, picking up clutter and sorting through the thousand pounds of paper Alex brought home from school this week (I am not exaggerating too much) so the house will be ready for them when they arrive. It helps that I already cleaned up the kids' rooms once this week so those rooms won't take long, but the master bedroom could use some attention. Perhaps what I need is loud music to motivate me. My favorite motivating music from high school was the soundtrack to Top Gun. It worked perfectly for cleaning bathrooms.

7. My Wednesday Morning Bible study started up again this week (finally! Dang snow.) and I was overjoyed to be back with my prayer and study partners. We will be working through Beth Moore's book on The Patriarchs this semester and I'm thrilled to have another scripture and history intensive study; those are my favorite! My only problem is that I often miss the end of the video sessions, racing home to meet Miranda's bus, and loved having the opportunity, previously, to download the audio file from iTunes for a pittance to make sure I didn't miss anything. Lifeway now has the downloads available on their site, but for $5 a pop. Dang. This is when living 15 miles from church is a bit inconvenient.

And here's Jen.

Introducing a new blog

Jen at Conversion Diary has introduced me to a great, new-to me blog. It's written by Simcha Fisher and her blog is called I Have to Sit Down. And if you have an hour to spare and want a good laugh, read her post Pants: A Manifesto.

Happy reading!

Another Strange Week

1. As you know from my previous post, we had a snow day on Wednesday. I am glad my cousins were able to experience a real blizzard for themselves and my kids enjoyed a day home from school. But Wednesday afternoon, my cousins left to visit their grandma in Lancaster, PA, and the house returned to its normal activities. I'm really glad they came and visited and got to see my life here in NJ but I expect they will be happy to return to real warmth in San Diego on Sunday. Of course, there is a forecast for more snow tomorrow....  :)


2. Miranda announced this morning that her ear hurt and she didn't feel good. I can't remember if she's ever said something like this before. Neither of my children are terribly communicative about feeling ill; their disabilities make it difficult for them to comprehend and communicate those feelings. So she stayed home with me today and I have left a message with our Pediatrician that she needs an appointment today. Like my mother always said, "If you're sick enough to stay home from school, you're sick enough to see the doctor." But it's January and this is the first day of school she's missed, which is amazing! God is good.

3. I went to the movies with a dear friend last night to see Tangled and really enjoyed the film and the company. The music is not as memorable as, say, Aladdin's, but very little is. Nonetheless, it is a fun film and I do recommend it.

4. Courtesy of my cousins, Marshall and I had an evening out together on Tuesday. We went to Friday's for dinner (mostly for their fried green beans) and enjoyed the peace and quiet of talking to each other without interruptions.

5. Tomorrow night is the annual Italian Dinner fund raiser for Hope's Youth Group. This year it's being catered by Carrabba's--yum! Hope to see you there!

6. On Sunday night, my High School small group will begin reading Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs. I am excited to share one of my favorite Bible study-type books with the young women I love spending time with.

7. A few other links for you, in case you've missed them:

• Bathsheba's Lament by Lorita Boyle (remember, all you local readers, I still have 2 copies on hand if you want an autographed one)
• Our 2010 family Christmas letter

And here's Jen. 

Snow Day!

So my cousins are still visiting and experiencing their first snow storm. We forgot to move their car into the driveway last night (we had no expectation of being visited by the snowplow before noon!) so they had to shovel their car out of the piles made by the snowplow earlier today. Aaron, California dude that he is, opted to shovel in shorts.

But what I wanted to post about was the awesome book Marshall gave me for a late Christmas-New Year's Day present, The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by J.W. Rinzler.

I'll bet you didn't know I was a Star Wars geek. Or that my favorite version of The Phantom Menace is a fan edit by Magnoliafan called Balance of the Force. Or that I watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars but appreciate the artistry of Star Wars: Clone Wars. Or that I've lost whole evenings surfing around Wookiepedia. Then there's this new site that Marshall found called The Secret History of Star Wars that swallowed up another afternoon and evening of my life.

But, about the book. Marshall went to Borders with Miranda to pick it up (with a pile of coupons) and handed it to me at about 5 pm on a Saturday night. And I spent most of the evening reading the last half of the book (sometimes I start in the middle and work out from there) and am still working through the first half. We both highly recommend it for other geeks of our ilk. Of course, it's big and heavy so handle with care (or prop it up on pillows to read it, as I do) and enjoy!