Second day of school

Yesterday was my second day of school. My first class was English 2010 (Intermediate Writing). Who would've guessed? My English teacher is English. She is very funny and unorthodox. She doesn't wear shoes, doesn't used textbooks because she thinks the cost is ridiculous, and cusses up a storm, although most of that is using British terms which nobody really understands. She has no idea that I was stationed twice in England so I understand them, not that she would care! I think this class will be lots of fun. There is lots of writing, of course, but meaningful writing and a laugh a minute in class!

My next class was Marriage as an Interpersonal process. Now this instructor is very interesting. She says she's been divorced twice. The first ended because her husband wanted to include other women in their relationship and the second ended because her husband liked men as well as women and in both she really didn't want to share. Hmmm. Now she says she's dating a guy in NY and a guy somewhere in the south. But who am I to criticize? At least she can get a date!

My last class was TBE or Intro to micro computer applications (Office 2003). I sat next to this kid who was about the most clueless person I've seen lately. He's about 18-20 and seemed to have no idea how to use a computer. When the instructor told us to turn our computers on he looked over to see how I did it! I had to show him how to find an email address in the address book and how to send a blind courtesy copy. At his age you would think that he'd be much more comfortable on a computer than me! I've decided that he was probably wasted. Yeah, so I think I'll find somewhere else to sit tomorrow!

After school I got good news from Chelsea. She made her school's softball team! She was nervous and doubted she'd make it but she did! Of course now that means I have to go to the school every afternoon to pick her up since they have a practice or game every day. I have no idea how I'll be able to pay for all the gas I'm using, what with having to take her to school every morning as well, so she can catch the bus to the High School she goes to for Project Lead The Way. You can check this program out on the link below.

As you can see we are busy. Guess I'd better get busy and do my homework!

My First Day of School!

Today was my first day back at Weber State. My first class was Math 1030. I've been dreading it since I signed up for it a couple of months ago. I should've taken Math 1010, but I had already taken it about 18 years ago when I was stationed in Las Vegas. I got an "A" but that was a long time ago. One of my friends, Dale, works at Weber so he got a 1010 book for me to borrow. I actually spent some time the first 6 weeks of summer break working through it. So I decided to skip it and go on to my LAST! math class. My teacher seems pretty nice and she quickly put my mind at ease. She said that if we come to class consistantly and do our homework we'll do fine. If there are things I do well as a student it's come to class and do homework. And I guess that's really about all you need to do to succeed in most any class!

My next class was Intro to Generalist Social Work, which is the first SW class. My professor is very personable and she is excellent at remembering names. There was one young lady from my English class last year who is in this class with me. I have to do 20 hours of community service for this class, so I am considering trying to work either at the Homeless Veterans Fellowship, Christmas Box House, or YCC. There are lots of papers due in this class as well so that should be fun.

Now my pet peeve! Why do women who are 40+ think they should or can successfully dress like they are 19? Today I saw several women at school who show every bit of their age in their face and skin, yet think showing their stomachs and wearing very short skirts looks attractive. Let me just say this: If your stomach is wrinkled it should be covered. Oh, and if you are fat your fat belly is not going to look attractive, and this is at any age. I'm not saying you can't be stylish (which I am not!) but there is a different standard of style for different ages. By the way, if you are 40+ it is highly unlikely that anyone will confuse you with a 20 year old. I have seen some 40 year olds that could pass for 35, but they are few, and most of them dress appropriately anyways. Okay, enough of that!

I did get my computer working again. I had quite a bit of spyware on it, but it cleaned up quickly and easily with the free AOL security software I downloaded. I am not sure why the McAfee software I bought when I got the computer (and yes, I do update it) didn't detect it. Oh well, another crisis averted.

I need to get busy and do some homework (yes, they gave it on the first day!). Mary

What a beautiful day!

Today is absolutely beautiful! Fall is in the air! Fall is my favorite season!

Yesterday I went to Chelsea's first Fall soccer game. She plays on a team with boys and girls, and they can be any age under 20! My daughter is playing soccer with boys with facial hair! It was a great game, although I don't remember the final score. I do know that her team, the Rebels, won. Chelsea had a great assist and made a great goal with a shot using her left foot. I was really worried she would be intimidated by the older kids and buy the guys, but I think she took that as a reason to try even harder to prove herself. And she did. At the end of the game there were lots of kids coming up to her and saying "Good game, Cheeto, great goal."

Yesterday afternoon I went to lunch with my friend, Laura. We had been planning on going to lunch all summer and it took us until the end to get around to it! We went to Applebee's. I had the Oriental Chicken wrap, which I loved. I enjoyed the company even more though. After lunch we went to Target where she bought her husband an MP3 player and I bought myself two t-shirts for "back-to-school".

I go back to school tomorrow, and I can't wait. I have Contemporary Math and, I think, Marriage as an interpersonal process. Guess I'd better check my schedule!

Today I finally fixed my plumbing problem. I got two wrenches yesterday and a new adapter thing. I have no idea what it is called. With some serious elbow grease and lots of teflon tape I seem to have stopped the leaking!

But now I have another problem. I went to get on the basement computer to update my blog, when I saw some pop-up windows, the first telling me I'd been infected by some trojan, then some gambing, pop-ups, then some sex pop-ups. I haven't been on this computer for awhile so all I can think of is that when my friends teenage son stayed here about a week ago he may have gotten onto some websites that Chelsea and I don't go to. I checked my programs and there were two programs installed on the day he was here. I removed them but still get this pop-up from www.thespyguard.com telling me that I need to pay for and download their anti-spyware software. I am running my own security software now to see what I really do have. This sucks because I've never had a virus before. I guess I probably need to have a password in order to use the computer, but he's not here that often, so we'll see. I'd suspect Chelsea but she was in Montana at the time so she is most likely innocent. I do know she has used this computer since she got back, and hasn't mentioned the pop-ups (maybe she was too embarrased, because the sex on is very graphic). Plus the downloaded programs were loaded while she was gone. Oh well, it was bound to happen sometime and I guess I'm pretty lucky not to have had this problem before.

My friend, Tammy, left for Iraq yesterday. She called me from Norfolk, VA a little while ago. She is waiting for her flight overseas. I worry about her, although the Air Force really tends to be a safe service and she will probably be at a very secure installation, but, none the less, she is going to a combat zone and leaving her family behind for six months. If anyone wants to send care packages let me know and I'll give you her address. I know anything would be appreciated, and she is more than willing to share any excess with all the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines she will be working with.

More Cleaning

After I dropped Chelsea off at the High School I came home and decided to mop all my tile and vinyl flooring. My Swiffer is good for quick clean ups but it really doesn't do that well for getting the floors really clean. I have a sponge mop which didn't work that well either so I ended up using a scrubby and a washcloth. My floors sparkle now!

And I finally sealed the grout in my kitchen. I think it's been about a year since my friends Jeff and Kelly helped me put the tile floor in and I am finally sealing it. Don't tell them! When I bought the sealer the guy at Home Depot showed me on the grout bag that the kind I used didn't need sealing, but Jeff told me to do it, so I bought the sealer anyway. It's been on my counter all this time. Now it's on my floor. Glad that's done.

I gave my bathroom a good cleaning too. The other night my friend and her family, including two boys were over, and one or both of the boys have a bad aim. Yuck, that is something I don't miss about having males in the house!

On AOL a little while ago it said that chain restaurants were lowering their prices because they have had a very bad year. Sounds good to me, but if business is so bad, why do I have to wait for 20 minutes everytime I go out to one of them???

Tonight I am going to do some scrapbooking. I have so many supplies and not much to show for it lately! This is the exciting life of a single, almost 45 year old woman in Utah. Pitiful, huh? But really I am quite happy with my life, including turning 45 in a couple of weeks. I still feel like I'm 35 most days and since I retired many people have told me I look much younger than I did when I was on active duty.

Speaking of feeling good, I went for a run today, 3 miles. It was the best run I've had since my surgery about 3 weeks ago. I did walk for a little and the nerve in my left hip acted up for a few minutes, but it felt good to be out there and the weather was perfect. I am going to go again tomorrow, and then my day will be filled with soccer. It's that time of year again!

Cleaning day

I spent the day cleaning out my scrapbook room. It was so messy I couldn't stand to sit down and try to do any scrapbooking. I spent about 4 hours and 4 trips to the garbage can. I've sorted what is still usable, that I don't want, to get rid of. Now I need to sort what I do want. I found that I have enough ribbon to circle the Earth twice! If anyone sees me looking at ribbon, please just hang me with it!

I tried to repair my washer connections today, but I will most likely have to get someone (one of my friend's husbands) over to help. I always hate to ask because I am sure I can do what ever I want to do. Although in this case I really don't want to do it. I hate plumbing! It brings back memories of replacing my kitchen sink and faucet. Now that was an experience never to be repeated!

Chelsea tried out for her school softball team today. She thinks she did pretty well, but said there were several other girls who did very well also. They post "call backs" on Monday. She has soccer practice tonight for one of her two soccer teams. I am hoping that it won't be too long before she decides that one is enough! I'm not a big fan of quitting what you start, but making this decision will be a life lesson for her, since she has a hard time letting anyone down.

I am going to try for another 3 mile run tomorrow. Hope my left hip doesn't act up again. I had a nightmare that I had to give up running and was told I'd have to walk on a treadmill for the rest of my life. AAACCCCKKKK! I'd probably just give up exercise completely and become a big, fat blob! By the way, I haven't dieted since my trip to Idaho in July, and so far haven't gained any weight. In fact, I'm down .6 lbs. Not much but I'll take it! I may decide to try Weight Watchers again after school starts. If you are interested in a great website with ratings of all kinds of low-cal foods check out www.hungrygirl.com. Try signing up for the newsletter. I've gotten some good recipes and good advice. The best so far are the 100 calorie margerita and the Morninstar Veggie Corndogs! (only 3 WW points!)

First day of school!

Today is Chelsea's first day of school! It was an early morning for us, since we've gotten used to sleeping past 6:00, but we made it alright.

I took the obligatory "First Day of School" photo, although Chelsea thinks she's too big for that! Little does she know I'll be there with my camera for the first day of school, even if she goes to Medical School! Ha!

I went for a run, with my left hip bothering me again. I think I have a pinched nerve. I did walk quite a bit again today. I need to get back into shape. Funny how two weeks can make so much difference.

I am heading off to Mieir and Frank/Macy's since they had an ad in today's paper with a huge sale. We'll see if there is anything for me. I haven't gotten any new school clothes yet! I was hoping to get a smaller size, but unfortunately that's not going to happen.

Then I'm off to Costco to get a pizza. My friend Tammy is heading off to Iraq this weekend so tonight will probably be the last time I get to see her for about 6 months. She and her family are coming over to spend some time with us. I am really looking forward to that.

In the meantime I'd probably better get some housework done!

It's Monday!

I went running today for the first time in two weeks. And it was obvious! My left hip started acting up and I had shooting pains for a short time. I stopped and walked for awhile and it seemed to work itself out. I only ran 2.5 miles, but tomorrow I plan on doing 3 miles. I got my Road ID in the mail while I was gone and put it on my shoe this morning. I felt much safer running, knowing if I got hit by a car at least they'd know who I was! Seriously, I have been thinking about getting one of these for awhile so it was time. If you are interested you can check it out at www.roadid.com.

Today is just going to be a lazy day, getting chores done and then tonight is back to school night for Chelsea. She starts back on Wed. Yay!

I also need to go to Home Depot and see if I can find the stuff I need to fix my washer connection. They guy I bought my house from thought he was "Tim, the tool man" but he really made a mess of many things, most I've already replaced, like the deck and the sprinkler system. I really need to get the laundry room/bathroom fixed in my basement. I hate to cash in my mutual funds but just may have to so I can get this fixed. In the meantime I am going to try to do a little fixing myself, probably not any better than Arnie, the original owner, did, but at least I'll be able to wash clothes!

Back from Boise

I had a great time in Boise. On Friday I spent time with Tom and Sue and their grandkids, and Joe and Donna and their son, Adam. We watched Joe, Donna and Adam play softball. This brought back memories of watching Joe play on the Detachment 3 softball team at Mtn. Home AFB in the late 70's and early 80's. Then we went to the Burger -n- Brew for dinner. It was so nice to see these families. Joe and Tom really helped me to be a success in the Air Force and I have absolutely no doubt that if I hadn't worked with these guys I would never have had the success that I did. And Sue and Donna helped me to grow into a woman, from the silly, naive teenage girl I was when I first met them. I have such good memories of our times together and am just so happy that we have been able to stay in touch all these years.

We are planning on having a Det. 3 reunion next year. I think that will be a blast and look forward to helping plan it and also participating.

I spent Saturday with Cindy and her girls, Savannah and Paxton. They are such sweet girls and beautiful to boot! Cindy started IdahoScrappers six years ago and it has been a great time for me, and has enabled me to grow as a scrapbooker, by leaps and bounds. We went to dinner at Goodwood's, which is a BBQ place. I shared a plate of baby back ribs with Heather H. I had a great time reconnecting with my IS friends.

We cropped at Cut n' Paste. It is a very nice store and I did spend a little $ but not much since in the summertime my budget is pretty tight. We did a "Trading Faces" swap where we send photos to someone else and they send us their photos. Then we do a layout with them and return them at this crop. It is a little scary because you really want the other person to love your layout, but everyone has their own taste so you never know. My layout was done by Jennifer G. and it was so cute. The photos are of Chelsea and my Godson, Elias playing in the water. The layout I did for Jennifer was of her kids and sister-in-law and I won most innovative!

All in all the trip was wonderful, the drive both ways was uneventful, but it is good to be home.

Tomorrow I am going running for the first time in 2 weeks. Hope I don't keel over!

Off to Boise!

I'm off to Boise to visit a couple of my first supervisors and their families. They came here for my retirement about a year ago, but unfortunately I didn't get to visit with them very much so I hope to have a nice visit with them.

I am also going to scrapbook with many of my IdahoScrapper friends. We've been a Yahoo group for 6 years! It really is amazing how the internet can create a group of friends who probably would never have come together any other way!

We are having a big celebration with gifts and cake and of course we are going out to dinner too! We may even get some scrapbooking done, but I'm not counting on it!

Speaking of dinner, I went out to dinner with a friend of mine who just came back from Japan. We went to McCool's in Layton. It is a great place, trying to look like an Irish pub. Unfortunately everything is just too new to really be like an Irish pub, most of which have been around for hundreds of years. But the food was very good, the beer was good, the service was great and the company was very good also.

Well, I'd better get packed if I'm going to get out of here by 10:00.

Seasons in the Sun

Yesterday Chelsea and I went to a memorial service for Jon Francis, our Director of Youth Ministry.

It was a moving service with our teenagers providing the Eulogy, songs and scripture readings. Jon liked to get the kids involved with the services so I am sure he was smiling as he saw how well they did.

Chelsea read the following scripture from Eugene Peterson's "The Message" (The Bible in Contemporary Language). Acts 20:24-28

"What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extavagant generosity of God. And so this is goodbye. You're not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God's inaugurated kingdom. I've done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God's will for you. Now it's up to you."

This was Paul's addresss to the leaders of the congregation of Ephesus, but could have easily been Jon's message to our congregation, reminding us that we need to continue to provide meaningful ministry for our youth.

Above is a photo collage created by my friend Bob. It shows Jon with his great smile, Grand Mogul and Jon's entry in the logbook after peaking the mountain:

07/15/06-
*LHBC and Ogden Utah
Climbed avalanche field to east face and east ridge.
Great times bouldering!
All Glory to God for the climb and the beautiful Sawtooths.

Rest in Peace, Jon, wherever you are.

Look What I'm Getting!

I have been looking for an MP3 player for my daughter for awhile. She wanted an iPod Nano, but I really think iPods are overpriced for what you get. I found this great Creative Zen Micro Photo which has 8 GB of memory for less than a 2 GB Nano. This also has a built in FM receiver, can display photos, has a voice recorder and can hold documents as well. I ordered her an orange one since that's been her favorite color for several years. I also decided to order one for me. I got the dark blue one. I had a hard time deciding on color, first considering the green (too flashy), then the black (too conservative), then the purple (too expensive and hard to find). I settled on the dark blue, which is colorful without being over the top! Both should be here in a few days. They are birthday presents for each of us.

This is the first real present I've gotten for my b-day in many years. Having an only child, with no money and no grown up to take her shopping or help with a project, means I usually get breakfast in bed and a great card, which I love. But now I am just going to spoil myself for once! And of course spoil her, too, but that is a more frequent occurance.

Click on the word: Link below to see what we are getting. Mary

A Day of Rest

Yesterday was a very busy day. I picked Chelsea up at the airport at 5:30. Then we headed of to the REAL SL vs. REAL Madrid game. The traffic was horrible since the game was a sell out. I was sure we'd have to park about 10 miles away and then walk back to the stadium. I got to the VA Med. Center where they were charging people to park in their far off parking lots. I approached the guard, flashed my VA medical card and asked if disabled Vets could park in the actuall visitors parking lot which was empty. He did let me park there and I didn't get charged! So we were only a few blocks from the stadium!

The game was great and even though RSL didn't win, they played well against one of the best teams in the world. They announced that it finally looks like there will be a stadium in Sandy with RSL agreeing to stay in Utah for at least 30 years. Looks like we'll have plenty of time to watch soccer games.

We left the game about 5 minutes early and we really beat the traffic. I was relieved about that because we had to get to Uintah. I agreed to watch my friend Tammy's boys while she took her husband for a wild and crazy night with her husband to celebrate their 18th anniversary. Tammy is heading off to war in about 2 weeks so she really deserved this time with her hubby.

We went to church, as usual, this morning. We went to the late service which isn't the norm for us and we got to see some people we don't normally see when we attend the early service. We did get to see our friend Norma McMahon, who seems so well considering she has terminal cancer and is under hospice care. She always reminds me that life is short and live it while you can.

After church we came home and rested. Both Chelsea and I were exhausted. I tried to nap but for some reason couldn't sleep. Chelsea did take a nap while I went out to run some errands. She is now making Swaps for her Girl Scout Camporee this weekend and after I am done typing I am going to pour myself a glass of wine and relax. Later!

Parking Pass Pandemonium

I hate the parking pass procedures at Weber State Univerisity! After arriving about 5:30 am I saw hundreds of people who had camped out all night to be able to purchase the coveted "A" parking passes! For quite a while I thought I was just too late and would be stuck taking the shuttle bus from the Dee Events Center. There were only about 400 passes available and when I got in line I was #378. I did eventually get a pink wristband which gave the right to wait in line for several more hours to buy an A-9 pass. Certainly a long way from the A-2 pass I wanted, however it wasn't as bad as the A-6 and A-7 passes that were also left.

Just about everyone I saw near the front of the line was under 20. As I walked around I saw some people I knew. They had been there since 3:00 am and were only about 25 people ahead of me in line, so I guess coming much earlier wouldn't have done me any good, unless I came Friday afternoon!

I think next year I'll spend some money and hire someone to camp out for me! I pity the people who couldn't get there early or couldn't get there at all. I plan on writing to the Dean of Students and suggesting they either assign online times based on seniority, like they do for registration or sell via the US mail. They could set a date that applications had to be post marked no earlier than, then just fill them as they come in. When they run out they run out. At least more non-traditional students would have an opportunity to get a pass!

I came home and slept for about two hours, and I have a little housework I want to get done beforeI go pick up Chelsea's friend, Jessica. Chelsea doesn't know it but Jessica is coming with me to the airport to pick up Chelsea, then we are all going out to dinner before heading to the REAL Salt Lake vs. REAL Madrid game. So far the weather looks good, so it should be a good night for soccer! I'll probably be the only one there rooting for REAL Salt Lake, but someone has to. :)

America Loves Ogden

At least that's what they said last night at the end of the concert. It was a nice evening for an outdoor concert. And it was nice to share with Bob and Carol. America is not a band I really remember paying much attention to growing up, but the concert was free so I had to go, didn't I?

They had about 26 hit Albums, so they kept saying, and they did play a lot of familiar songs so it was definately worth the money. Oh, yeah, it was free!

I am feeling better today. I think, finally, most of the CO2 they put inside me during my surgery the other day is finally gone, but last night I was feeling quite a bit of pain in my shoulders (really, this is a real side effect of laproscopy surgery).

Today my brother and sister-in-law will pick Chelsea up from camp and take her back to Idaho with them. She'll fly into SLC tomorrow evening in time to go to the REAL Salt Lake vs. REAL Madrid game. It should be a fun time and I will be glad to have her back home!

I am going to spend the day doing laundry and some light cleaning since I've been nothing but a slug the past few days.

I'm feeling better today, especially since I got lucky and won tickets to the America concert at the fair. My friends, Bob and Carol, won earlier in the day and also won a free fair pass. They called me and I decided to go out to the fair and walk around for awhile. Carol took me over to the radio booth where she won her tickets and I signed up. The drawing was scheduled for 3:00 and so at the appointed time I went to the booth and asked if I'd won. And I did! I am starting to think that I was the only one in the drawing since the booth was deserted both times I was there, with the exception of the two guys working it. In fact, I don't even know what radio station it was!

Carol also turned me on to a booth that does vinyl lettering. I have one of these in my dining room. It has a large "Blessings" and then in smaller letters it says "count your many blessings". I wanted to get one for Chelsea that said "Reach for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land in the stars." This is a quote from Sasha Cohen who is her current favorite sports star. I think it is a very inspirational saying and I know Chelsea will be excited to see it when she gets home. I also got a soccer ball with her number "17" for on the car.

I am going to take a short snooze so I am up to the rowdy concert. I need all my energy to be a good groupie!

I made it through the night. No getting sick after I went to bed. I have been able to eat small amounts of food today, but still feel a little queasy.

I am also very bloated, unable to put on pants this morning. Thank goodness I have several loose dresses I bought in Thailand. They are light and summery and always get complements so I am wearing one today.

All I've done all day is watch TV, clip coupons, and read. I sort of feel like going to the fair to watch Fair Idol with my friends Bob and Carol, however I am not really sure I'd be up to it once I had to park and walk. I think I'll probably just stay home.

Chelsea's soccer coach came by to drop off our REAL Salt Lake/ REAL Madrid tickets for Saturday night. I know she is very excited about seeing David Beckham play.

Her coach, Michael, also offered her an opportunity to be part of a soccer team he's organizing with a final goal of going to Hawaii in 2008 to play in the AYSO National Championships. He has only asked 6 of the 18 girls on his current team to play so that is exciting. He did say he wants her to run more and start a little weight lifting. I think that's great and could give us some mother/daughter bonding time while also keeping us fit. I've tried to get her to go running with me but she runs about a 7:40 mile and then can't go another step. I run about an 11:20 mile and can go for at least 5 miles. Looks like we'd have to compromise a bit in order to run together.

I feel like I should be doing some housework but then I don't feel like moving too much so I guess I'll just relax and have the last Diet Pepsi in my house.

I can barely sit at my computer. I should've known early in the day that things weren't going my way. My friend, Candy, took me in for my surgery at 7:30 this morning. By 8:30 all systems were go, with one small problem. My surgeon wasn't there! Seems he was called in for an emergency surgery, and then, after that, a delivery. So I don't think I went into surgery until about 11:00.

I woke up in the recovery room and the nurse said the Dr. couldn't do the coil placement due to complications, however he did do a normal tubal ligation. The Dr. came buy soon after and said my cervix wouldn't dialate so they couldn't get the coils in. Since they had to do actually surgery he couldn't do the ablation either. Bummer. He says I can get that done in his office in about 3 months.

When I had my daughter I was in labor for 32 hours. I was induced due to preeclampsia and they couldn't get me to dialate then either. This Doc says that if I'd had other kids they most likely would've had to do c-sections. So I'm defective.

I am home, throwing up, since anesthesia really makes me sick. I've tried apple sauce and peaches, but they just don't work. I am hungry but hate to throw up. I've had water and Diet Pepsi and soon I think I'll try toast.

I was supposed to go to church tonight to meet the parents of our youth minister. He's been missing for over 3 weeks, in the Sawtooth mountains. My friend, Carol, just called and said they are now speaking of him in the past tense and will be heading back to Minnesota.

I am very nauseous so I'm done writing for tonight.

Well I went for a 4 miler this morning but it was a terrible run. The weather was good and I tried out a new route that I like but I was just not doing well. I think it's because I've been a slacker for the past month. But I finished and thats what counts. My hips hurt but not any worse than other times so I guess that's something I'll have to live with.

I went for my pre-op appointment today and that went well. I'm having my tubes blocked and having an ablation so I don't have to have periods anymore! YAY!

I had lunch with my friend Tammy. She is leaving to go fight the war in a few weeks. Please pray for her safe return. I have another friend, Curtis, who is there now. I used to be Curtis' first sergeant about 10 years ago. I think it's great that we are still friends. Pray for Curtis' safe return also.

Tammy gave me some good news today. I was supposed to watch her boys on the 18th while she takes her husband on a surprise anniversary overnight. I didn't have the heart to tell her I had planned on going to Boise that weekend to meet up with my IdahoScrapper friends and didn't know how to tell my friend Cindy, in Boise I might not come, because that is a long drive for a one day trip. Now I can leave early on the 18th and come back on the 20th. That is if I can get someone to pick up Chelsea when she get's back from Girl Scout camp on the 19th and keep her overnight. I have a few people in mind so if you don't want to do it and you see me on your caller ID don't answer the phone!

I've been reading the Book of Acts and have found myself facinated with all these men who have a given name and then are called a different name. Why is Saul called Paul? Why is John called Mark? I've always wondered why people give their kids one name and call them by another. Chelsea has a friend whose name is Savannah but her parents call her Nikki. I asked why, thinking that there was another Savannah somewhere and all her mom said was "we always intended to call her Nikki, but we wanted a daughter named Savannah." HUH???

Okay, I need to get to the local Rite Aid and fill my pain medication for tomorrow. Wouldn't you know the base doesn't carry it. It's a cross between Vicoden and ibuprophen. And I need new pajamas since they told me to wear pajama pants and I don't have any really cute ones. I think I'll go to Old Navy and see what they have. Gotta go!

My friend, Carol, has encouraged me to start a blog. I have no idea why, since I rarely have anything to say! :) Okay, so I'm a 40 something single mom, full time college student (Spring and Fall semesters) and I don't work! I just sent my 13 year old daughter to church camp in Montana, so I have the week to myself.

Yesterday I cleaned out the closet in our spare room, mowed the front lawn I (my daughter's job) and cleaned my carpet. Today all I've done is go to church, eat lunch and take a short nap. I visited with my friend, Heather for awhile and now I plan on running to the base (I'm retired from the Air Force) to pick up a few things. Then when I get home I plan on cleaning out the closet in my bathroom. I seem to have about 100 bottles of shampoo because I forget that I bought some the last 99 times I went shopping, but no conditioner, because I'm always sure I have lots of that. So my logic is that once I can actually see all the shampoo lined up it will trigger my memory when I am in the store and maybe I'll remember to buy conditioner. Plus I seem to have a mini pharmacy in there as well. Guess it's about time to get rid of the medicines that are older than my daughter.

Tonight I plan on getting some scrapbooking done and watching some TV. Usually I don't have control of the television so I'd better get to it while I can! No Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, MTV, or America's Next Top Model for me!

No new news about Jon Francis, our Director of Youth Ministry, who has been missing for over three weeks. We did have a wonderful sermon by Pastor Steve. We really needed to hear it. My only regret is our kids didn't hear it because they are at camp. I am going to get a copy of the sermon and play it for my daughter. I know she is struggling and she isn't a big cryer (unlike her mother). Maybe this will answer some of her questions.

I plan on going running tomorrow. A 4 miler, which might not seem like much but I've been keeping it under 4 lately because my hips hurt after I run. I've tried stretching, before and after, but it doesn't seem to help. And then I'll find another closet that needs to be raided!