April Showers bring . . . May Head Aches

I hope you don't mind, but I am having a pity party for myself. And yes, I would like some cheese with my whine. And, actually, I would not mind a glass of wine; or maybe a barrel!

Some unexpected family issues have arisen and, even though you can't pick your family, they are your family and issues have to be dealt with. I have given myself a self imposed exile to shuffle the cards and try to deal a better hand.

I know that many of you have gone through a period of putting your life on hold to help out a family member. It is often a thankless job. A few years ago, my youngest brother put his own life on hold for two years during the illness and passing of our mother due to ALS. He will always be a saint in my eyes. Now I am taking over a situation for a less sympathetic family member. I am hoping to get this situation situated by the end of summer.

I can't say I don't have support. I can put an alarm (or private message) on face book to my five children and their "others" and they jump to the rescue. My dear, long-suffering husband is doing his best to keep the home fires burning while playing handyman at my new headquarters. But dealing with the complications of a stroke which an eighty year old man doesn't think happened is exhausting. Almost as exhausting as the leukemia he refuses to acknowledge or share with medical professionals when he arrives in various emergency rooms . .  .  .

It is just that I am finding twenty four hours a day, seven days a week to be a very long time.

Due to a secondary complication, I really cannot leave the premises at all for a period of 30 days (the time required by law to give notice for someone else to leave the premises). A very uncomfortable situation. A very quiet (as in spoken word) situation. A very noisy situation if you want to count the doors and cupboards slamming. A situation that could become more expensive as I replace what is being packed because, even though I hope to empty the premises by the end of summer, you still have to replace the necessities that are going out the door (like forks. Tell me, if you were beginning to pack your belongings - would you start with forks? And what happened to the forks that were here when you moved in? - but I digress)

I am finding that I am a person really set in her ways. I like my own kitchen, my own placing of the towels, the milk in the refrigerator, the coffee cups in the cupboard by the sink and coffeemaker. I find that the news program that I normally watch in the morning is the "right" one and the one that we watch here is the "wrong" one. I like knowing that if I want to put items in the washing machine someone else hasn't beaten me there by 2 minutes. I like having my shampoo and conditioner on the shelf in my shower. I like sleeping in my own bed, not a fold up cot in a corner of a room of someone with a Cpap machine.  I like a moment to myself, not a moment by myself in a room with two silent people. I want to watch something besides sports on television. In case there are any other Queen of the Houses out there - do you know that these silly basketball games can last over 3 hours? And baseball games; forget it!

And the semi-potty-trained dog. All 2 1/2 pounds of ankle biting nervous energy.

And as much as I was considering retiring from or seeking a new job; this is not exactly how I pictured my life with my new found freedom.

I really don't need anyone to read or comment on what may become my online diary - maybe "How I spent my Summer Vacation"? 

Several years ago (gosh, maybe fifteen?) I came across this wonderful print by Mary Engelbreit on my desktop calendar. I was trying to make a "life-decision" and needed someone to tell me to stop second guessing myself. I want to share it with anyone else who is stuck between a rock and a hard place and needs to know that whatever choice they make, life will go on.

Snow in April

Our granddog has moved in with us for the time being. This morning when I took her outside before work, we were both shocked to discover that it was snowing. April snow is not a surprise in Ohio, but it is a shock after the 80 degree days we enjoyed in March.

It was a light snow - tiny little white dots all over my black sweater. I turned and saw that some spider webs in my front garden had caught the tiny flakes and turned them into (temporary) flowers.

I ran inside and grabbed my camera - hoping to catch a picture of what I knew to be a fleeting, fun tease of Mother Nature.

Bible CSI - Part 1

For nineteen years I taught the first grade Sunday School class at our church. Before you start thinking what a great gal I am, I will admit that the first thought that occurred to me when I was first asked was that if I had to be there to teach Sunday School, that means I will not be able to sleep in on Sunday morning. And that would assure that I would be bringing my own children every Sunday, too. The first day of year twenty, I was innocently sitting in the back pew (my usual spot) when the coordinator approached me and said, "We lost our middle school teacher, so I found someone for your spot and moved you up". So, before I could scream "NO", or even catch my breath, I became the middle school teacher. This lasted six years and last year I decided to retire. I am still available as a "substitute" and the new middle school Sunday School (or PSR as we now call it) is a nun! Much better suited to the position. Unfortunately she sometimes has better demands on her time and the students are forced to hang out with me. This is usually a last minute phone call and I am usually pretty unprepared.

When I was notified two weeks in advance that I was needed this Sunday - I decided to revive and refresh one of my favorite activities: BIBLE CSI.  I didn't come up with this on my own - I need to credit two websites where I found inspiration and activities. These are (this one is a sample from a book I need to purchase): http://www.righteousinsanity.com/BSIpreview.pdf  and http://www.studentministry.org/freebie-friday-54-csi-crime-scenes-from-the-bible/

The kids have no idea that they are participating in this activity and I am sure their expectations based on past experiences with this particular sub are rather low. I hope they are intrigued.

I have created name tags that say "Bible Crime Investigation Squad" and have numbered my squads from 1-6. My hope is to hand out nametags randomly and split up the "cliques" a little bit. They will recieve a 3 x 5 card and pen and head outside to write there first impressions of the crime.
I went out to church earlier today (in a rather biting February wind) and staged the six scenes. I will recreate them before church so that we can head straight to the scenes of the crime.  After a few minutes we will return inside where I have envelopes in the squad room for each team. Each member will recieve an official crime scene investigation report form to complete, an envelope of clues (bible passages to look up) and a set of the crime scene photos. They will need to write up the report with the suspect(s), victim (s), and crime hypothosis that they will have to justifiy with bible verses and commandments.



As you can probably tell, I am very excited and hope they will be, too. Here are pictures of all six crime scenes. Can you tell who, what, where, when? I will try to post pictures of the investigation and answers soon!

Crime Scene #1- O Brother Where Art Thou?

Crime Scene #6- "Put Your Hands Up and Step Away from the Dream"




Crime Scene #2 - "Gone to the Dogs"

Crime Scene #3 - "Flirting with Disaster"

Crime Scene #4 - "Family Matters"

Crime Scene #5 - "American Idol"

Groovy Groundhog's Day

For those who are unenlightened, one of my most favorite holidays of the year is February 2 - Groovy Ground Hog's Day!

At my former workplace, I talked my co-workers into quite the celebration. We would try to outdo ourselves with our creative recipes and more creative recipe titles. We would celebrate with See Your Shadow Pie and Sunshine Salad and even Chuck -olate Cheesecake. One of my co-workers and her husband had a hog farm, so our entree was always ground hog  (sausage). We would sign up with title only and try to surprise the others. The lone gentleman in the office would always choose shovels and pitchforks (silverware!).

My current workplace is mostly male. Although we have an occasional potluck; a celebration like this is more work than fun. I can't be let the holiday go by with nothing! Here is this year's entry - ready for public consumption on Thursday morning:

As you can tell, I baked late last night. What I am trying to show is a cupcake,

spread with chocolate frosting and liberally sprinkled with chocolate jimmies,

and a vanilla wafer groundhog with mini chocolate chip eyes popping out to see his shadow!

The one tray will be traveling to dinner at my son's tonight and the other will be a surprise for my co-workers. A surprise because I believe they are unaware of the impending holiday!