How I spent my birthday~

What a fantastic 60th birthday. I stepped on the scale and rejoiced. As of today, I have officially lost 15 pounds. Didn't want a party. I celebrated just the way I wanted to. We woke early and went to two big subdivision yards sales where my friend Julia lives. Got some really good buys! I received so many birthday cards and well wishes; the grandkids called and sang happy birthday, as did friends from Boston.

Then, we went to Harrah's for lunch. Had fun playing; made a $20 donation, as expected. Lunch was awesome. I couldn't decide between turkey or oriental chicken, so I had both! Sabotaged my weight loss with a mini chocolate eclair, a slice of chocolate cream pie and a little square of gooey butter cake.

I bought a book, sat outside on the patio and read all afternoon in the warm breeze. This evening, Bill and I held hands like two old sweethearts and walked a mile around the subdivision. I silently whipsered to heaven, "Mom, Dad if you're with me, send me a dime." By golly, on the way home, as we rounded the corner to head down our street, their was a shiny dime right in our path. Today was a treasure.

Now you know...

Last evening we went to Austin's game. That kid is a slugger with dreams of making the pros. That would be awesome! Then, I wouldn't have to crash the gate like I did in the '82 World Series when the Cards were rocking the stadium downtown. In the 8th inning, I drove the kids downtown, satisfied to stand outside the stadium and be a part of history and just listen to the game. When a group of teenaged gate crashers plowed through, I tugged my daughter and SON by the hand and we hid out in the women's bathroom until the coast was clear. Then we proceeded to the seats. The cheering reverberated off the buildings downtown. My ex was personal auto mechanic to some of the team players who came to our house, but we still couldn't get tickets. Didn't stop me! We watched St. Louis go wild that night. Now you know Miss Linda's naughty little secret.

Please keep my daughter-in-law, Jackie Wenzelburger, in your prayers. Emergency Surgery today, back to square one and unknown prognosis. Doctor says her eye condidtion is rare, and it's like a train wreck; he can only deal with one thing at a time. She's blind in one eye from birth and in her good eye the retina detached in a couple other places, all stemming from a viral infection which attacked her eyeball a few weeks ago. Today they inserted a silicone bubble behind the eye. Thank you one and all.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Night baseball games for kids wear me out. Last night I froze the seat of my britches off on those cold metal bleachers. It felt like October football weather. Everyone was bundled up. The game was in the 4th inning when we left at 10:00 p.m. But, Wow! You should see 12 year old George, pitch; he's destined for the majors.

This evening we are heading south for 12 year old Austin's game. At least it is at a decent hour. Madison will be 12 in a few weeks; that's 3, 12 year olds in our family. Back then it seemed like pregnancy was contagious amongst our girls. Three daughters will be calling for advice this year, I'm sure of it.

seeking submissions

Anthology seeking submissions with deadlines from Aug. 2009-June, 2011. They don't pay much and they also do not give complimentary copies; they charge you $8.00 to purchase a book if you want to see your work.

www.PatchworkPath.com for guidelines and future titles in development.

7pm
sun is still bright, and I am going for a walk. Evening is my favorite time of the day.

E-F-G...exhausted, frazzled and guilt-ridden

Now I know why I had my children when I was young! This morning my daughter-in-law called and asked me to babysit from 7:30-10:00. I brought fresh fruit for the kids. Nicole, 19 months chomped on a piece of cantaloupe and spit it at me, sucked on a strawberry, made a face and drooled it back onto the plate, shook her head no and clamped her pearly whites at the sight of a banana. So I mushed it up and snuck it into her cereal. Her 7 year old brother woke up, sat down at the table and stuffed the sucked-on fruit into his mouth before I could stop him. I figured, family germs, what the heck! Nicholas was ready to walk out the door when he said he wanted a bologna sandwich for lunch instead of school lunch. Guilt-ridden AND late, I said, "Sorry, it's school lunch today." He asked me to walk him into school instead of drop him at the door. I hopped out of the car in the rain, and try as I might, I couldn't figure out the latch on the baby's car seat. I watched my sweet little grandson - who had just told me, "Nana, you're the best, and you only look 21, not
60," - look at me with sad eyes and droopy bottom lip, because I HAD to drop him at the door. Then, as I went to pull out, I saw a sign indicating that I could only make a right turn out of the school parking lot, and I needed to go left! So I swung a U turn and watched the cop watch me! Luckily the 21 year old kid saw a befuddled old granny and let me go. Then, I was half way to school when I realized I'd left the diaper bag in the LOCKED house!(Shame on any of you who are laughing at me) So, I called school and asked if there was an extra diaper. With my butt sticking out in traffic and cars whizzing down Kingshighway, I finally figured out the car seat code and hauled the baby into my classroom. I was exhausted and frazzled and guilt ridden to boot imagining Nicholas trying to choke down sloppy Joes, which he hates. Nicole had the time of her life playing with 5 little girls who doted on her, and well, she just bossed the boys. She took a 4 hour nap. I should have joined her! Now I know why I had my kids when I was 21 & 24.

Muphy's Law

It was one of those days where whatever could go wrong would go wrong. New student crying in the other classroom, so I ran to the rescue. His mother was in the hall crying, dad coaxing her to leave. I'm trying to comfort the kid and valdiate his feelings. Calmed him down, convinced mom to leave and told her to call in a few minutes. (Kid was fine) Two minutes later a man and woman and little boy walked in to observe my class in action, as my coworker walked out to take her kid to the doctor, so my students were crazy! I had to calm them down before I could even speak to the prospective parents. Tardy student arrived and clung to mom, screaming bloody murder because new people were in the classroom and my aide was gone. Had to pry her hands out of her mom's hair. I walked over to unplug the glue gun and burned my hand. This is all in the course of ten minutes. Finally I just rang the bell and told everyone to sit! including the new parents. The little girl finally let go of her mom who made a mad dash out the door which set her off again. So I had to hold her and present a lesson while pleading with her not to throw up on me. The father of the new student told me the woman with him was not the child's mother but a girlfriend and I was not to release the child to his biological mom. The girlfriend said the mother would never show up,so I shouldn't worry about it. I looked at both of them and said, "Don't be so sure. Just last week it happened to me." The mother of the crying girl came back at 3:00 and said, "I am amazed at how well you handled yourself under all that stress." I smiled like that woman on the Cheerio's commercial. Then the rain came down in buckets and drenched me as I walked to my car. Needless to say, I had an ice cream cone this evening.

Screwing Up~

A few weeks ago a little girl came up to me and said, "Teacher, can I please screw up today?"
I looked at her in disbelief. "Why do you want to screw up?"
She said, "Because Kenny screws up everyday."
I was about to reprimand her, when I realized she meant that Kenny, who has a few problems, has a bag of jars with interesting items glued inside. Screwing the lids off and then on, helps his small hand muscles develop.

Did you ever screw up? Whew! I did. I sent an irreverent woman's essay about weight gain to the Smithsonian instead of Sasee. I'm sure they'll think I'm a kook. Oh well, you have to laugh at yourself sometimes.