First Day Back to Work

I'd been looking forward to it for several days. I enjoyed my time off, but was getting just a little bit bored. Eric and I had made plans to switch cars this morning as the small car needed to be inspected. Dylan and I were on the way to the big car when he suddenly decided he better make a trip to the bathroom before leaving. I thought I'd load up the car, start it and go wait for him inside. After all it was 32 degrees and rainy this morning at 7 AM. When Dylan and I came back outside to get into the car I discovered that the car doors were locked, with the car running and the keys inside. I have never done this before and this was the wrong time to start as the second set of keys for this car had been lost by my son. My husband and son tried to pop the window enough to get to the lock, but instead ended up shattering the window. I wasn't around to see that part, since Eric had given me the keys to the other car and sent Dylan and me off to school. Thank goodness DJ had his back pack. I, on the other hand, had nothing--no purse, phone, drivers license, work keys, fob for getting into the building, coffee, lunch--just my coat and car keys! Let's just say it was an expensive day--and left us all slightly off kilter--you know how it is when your day starts off wrong.

Do you ever wonder?

...why we make the choices we do? What is the catalyst that pushes us in one direction or another?
I've recently become quite active on my Facebook account. Why not? I was home for two weeks, plenty of time to catch up with old friends, see family photos and check in with my alumni groups. So, pretty much all week I've been doing just that. Today, it dawned on me that I could probably find one or two genealogy groups to join, so I began a search and joined a few of them. As I continued the genealogy search, I found several names of a people who were family researchers too. One was from my hometown, was close to my age, does genealogy research and shares my birthday of January 7. So, I took a chance and sent her a friend request. After all, friends have been made for lesser reasons. She wrote on my wall, I wrote on her wall, you know how it goes, then we started emailing. By the end of this evening we were both amazed at the low number of degrees of separation. It started with her grandson dating a second cousin of mine, continued with her daughters attending the school district where I taught Then there was the fact they had lived in Texas for four years, but the clincher was when she mentioned her sister's husband whom she thought I might know because we grew up in the same neighborhood. Well, not only did I know him, I lived across the street from him and he was my second cousin. Small world, you say--we said it, over and over again as we marveled about how we met because I took a chance on Facebook to ask a "stranger" to be a friend. Moral of this story--sometimes we lead with intuition or heart as some people call it. We are impelled to make choices that are not necessarily based on reason and sometimes those choices are the best possible ones we could have made.

Happy New Year

Wow! Another year passes as I drift dangerously close to the opposite shore. When I was a college student, who'd have thought that I'd be writing 2009 on my checks--when I write a check that is. Things have certainly changed in my life time. Let's make a list of things that have happened between 1950 and now--no particular order.

color television
stereo
8-track tapes--bomb
microwave ovens
cd
video tapes and players
dvd's
digital cameras and digital videos
cell phones
youtube :-)
personal computers
laptops
online banking
LCD projectors--changed the face of teaching
Activboards--also a big change
blogs, wikis, myspace, facebook--any online personal interactions

Please friends, feel free to add to my list--if you can remember that far back. I look forward to your comments.

Two Days After

December 27--two days out from the big day. The little tree looks lonely now with all the gifts opened, played with, and otherwise dispersed among the toybox. I looked up at the tree this morning and spotted an ornament that Leigh has had since she made it in first grade. It's a sled made from popsicle sticks painted red with the words Merry Christmas 1981 and her name in silver paint. I am sure she had more than a little help from her first grade teacher. The sled has survived many Christmases, many moves, many trees and still it serves to remind us of those wonderful memories from long ago.

Now it's time for football, football and more football. Thank goodness we get a break tonight with a hockey game. Sports rule in this house and after 11 and a half years of marriage I have learned to at least like most of them. Hockey has always been a favorite of mine since my dad and I would watch as I was growing up. The Stars are looking better--let's hope they can keep up the momentum that might carry them into a playoff.

I am looking forward to another week of rest and relaxation! This has been the best winter break we've had in a long time. It is almost impossible to believe that almost half a school year has passed and we're about to start second semester. The library has been growing quickly thanks to an outstanding budget from the district and a lot of time spent meeting with vendors and purchasing a variety of fiction and nonfiction books. I was reminded this morning, when reading my friend Kristen's blog, about a special book that I had purchased for Freeman a few years back. I immediately went to one of my vendor's websites to order it for La Villita. My prekindergarten classes will love The Big Red Tub.

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas

We are 38 minutes into Christmas 2008. There are a zillion presents waiting under the tiny tree for Dylan to come home tomorrow. I can't wait to see the expression on his face.

Happy Holidays!

Just a few more days before Christmas and a few more hours before Hanukkah arrives. The holiday spirit hasn't really hit me yet. I think part of it is that my grandson is gone until late Christmas day, so no one to make cookies with or for, no one to help me drag out my snowmen and scatter them about, no one to watch in wonder as we light the Hanukkah menorahs. I haven't even done that much shopping yet--although I have to say the economy is more responsible for that than Dylan not being here. His presents have been hidden away for weeks.

I haven't sent out Christmas cards for years. I never sent them locally, but to friends I have made while moving across the country. I always liked to include a letter in each, but in this day of instant Internet access, email, blogging, wikis and the like there just doesn't seem to be a need. Usually you get a birds eye view of my life right here at A Piece of My Mind. I have appreciated the Christmas cards I have received, especially those with pictures of new babies and grandbabies.

I keep hoping the weather will stay cold for Thursday. I've long since given up the notion that it will ever snow for Christmas in Dallas. The most snow we've ever gotten since I've been here was in late February and looked more like a dusting of powdered sugar on cookies. Right now they are predicting a temperature of 64 for Thursday--which I am sure some of my northern friends would love--but it just always seems more like Christmas when it is cold and snowy. As a child, I used to love to walk outside in my boots when it was really cold so I could hear the snow crunch beneath my feet. I can remember many trips to get our Christmas tree when Mr. Wagner and my dad had to bounce the tree a few times to shake the snow from it's limbs before putting it in the car. That was, of course, when I became old enough to understand that Santa Claus resided in my heart rather than the North Pole. Before that time, the tree magically appeared on Christmas morning, along with the story about how Santa brought it, decorated it, and carefully placed the holiday gifts around it. The magic that was a child's Christmas kept me from realizing the impossible task that would have been for Santa. It truly was wondrous to pad down the stairs in my new slippers and jammies--which I am sure my mother bought solely for photo opportunities--to a first view of the tree and and the presents.

I've been so fortunate to share most of Dylan's Christmas mornings. It is amazing to watch through the eyes of a child and see once again the magic of the season. Since marrying Eric, I've also had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate Hanukkah with him and his family. Everyone usually gathers at least one night at our house to light the candles and share latkes, a traditional Hanukkah potato pancake. Funny thing is, I've always loved potato pancakes and my dad and I had been making them since I was a young girl. Thinking of those times and cookie baking times with my mother is making the holiday seem more real as I type away. Both my parents have been gone for such a long time, my dad for 23 years, my mom for almost 34 years but the memories of holiday traditions will always be in my heart. It is those type of memories I hope to leave with Dylan as well.

My wish for all my friends and family is a

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah & Prosperous and Safe New Year