A Long Time Ago...

A long time ago, I wasn’t a wife, mom, gramma, grown up teacher lady.

A long time ago, I was 15, 16, then 17 years old and in high school and I did things that girls that age did back then.

I went to school and did my homework

Played my albums and went to dances

Read “Tiger Beat” and put pictures of music groups on my wall

Babysat (a lot)

Slept over at my friend’s house, talked all night and made prank phone calls

Went to Zuma Beach on the beach bus all summer

Talked on the phone to my friends (a lot)

Learned to drive

Wore “work shirts”, jeans, bandanas, and hiking boots

Tp’ed houses

Went to the movies and Bob’s Big Boy

Learned to play my guitar

Went to football games and was on drill team

Went to parties, kissed boys and drank Boones Farm Apple Wine

and a million others things that made me the grown up lady I am today.

Why am I telling you this?

Well this Saturday, FBG and I are going to my *ahem* 40^th High School Reunion.

40 th!

And guess what- I am excited (and a little nervous) to see all those people from so long ago. I know it will be fun!

I am also wondering if anyone will sneak in a bottle of Boone’s Farm…

Stay tuned!

Cut and Slice

Last week, holding my $40 Kohl’s gift card, I spied one of these babies for $39.99 and I just had to get it.

 

Isn’t it cute? I love red and I thought it might help me to cook gourmet, healthy,  halfway edible meals for FBG.  I couldn’t wait to use it. On Thursday, I made zucchini meatballs, light and yummy for meatball subs, using a new recipe from Pintrest. My little chopper shredded the zucchini and onions like a dream and dinner turned out just how I planned. My little chopper was easy to use and wash and I left it to dry in the drainer. I was so happy!

On Friday afternoon, I finally got around to putting away my new gadget.  As I carried it over to the shelf, the bowl slipped out of my hands… and guess what?  The little red chopper slices feet, as well as veggies!  The blade hit my foot, and I ended up with a beaut of a cut right between my little toe and the toe next to it. (Do you call that the “ring toe”?). O U C H! 

Luckily FBG was due home in a few minutes. He unwrapped the towel , and after assessing the situation, declared that since it was in such an odd area,  stitches were probably out of the question. He bandaged me up and gave me the appropriate sympathy. So, now I am a gimp, with a bum foot for a few days. Oh well, no pedicure this week!



Didn't he do a good job?
(I hope this isn't too gross...)

When things like this happen in my life, I try to think, “What is God teaching me in this?” I thought of the cute red chopper, and how this little machine, which didn’t seem too dangerous, caused me a lot of pain. And it came to me. Little sins can be like the mini chopper. They don’t look too dangerous, and yet these little sins can cause a lot of pain. I hope I can remember this lesson daily!

Song of Songs 2:15
Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

Add a Little Music to your Life

Last Saturday, my FBG and I, along with 18,000 middle aged surfer boys and California Girls, made our way to the Hollywood Bowl to enjoy a night of nostalgia listening to the Beach Boys. We sang and danced to car songs, school songs, songs about girls, and songs about the beach. Good vibrations abounded. (Did you like how I worked two Beach Boys song titles into this paragraph?) A fine time was had by all. How can a night of music and memories under the stars be anything but wonderful?

My standard bad phone picture

I don’t know about you, but music has always been a big part of my life. I remember listening to 1950’s music on a big stereo console that my parents had when I was a little girl. They played everyone from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, to Ray Charles and Harry Belafonte as well as Broadway show tunes. I knew all the words and sang along, but that was their music.

Then, when I was around 8 years old, I had to be in the hospital for a few nights for some tests. I was crying the first night because I was scared. There was an older girl in the bed next to me and she told me if I was quiet she would turn on the radio. She clicked it on and all of the sudden I heard a kind of music my parents didn’t play. The station was KFWB and the music was early 60’s rock and roll. And I loved it! Back home, I somehow ended up with a radio in my bedroom, and it was always on when I was in there with my music. It looked something like this:

http://www.loti.com/radio/md-images/DSCF0019.JPG

Over the years, my taste in music has changed. I no longer listen to the Beatles, Monkees, Supremes, or Paul Revere and The Raiders on AM radio, but music still plays in the background of my life. These days my taste in music runs to country, with a bit of classic rock, and on Sundays, I love to sing praise songs and old hymns. To me, music means memories.

And this brings me back to the Beach Boys. I have a special place in my heart for them. They weren’t my favorite group, but they were (and still are) my FBG’s all time favorite group. Their songs have been part of our married memories for so many years. He has played them on vinyl records, cassettes, cds, and now on his Ipod. I always smile when I hear him singing “don’t worry baby” in the garage when he doesn’t know I can hear him. Sweet.

So, I wish I could personally thank the Beach Boys for all the happiness they have given my hubby and me.  I guess the Hollywood Bowl concert will be the closest I will ever get to them. But you know what? That was pretty darn good.

“Funny how a melody sounds like a memory,
Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night”

~Eric Church “Springsteen”

180 Days



http://www.redhotbully.com/PICTURES/free%20balloons.jpg

180 days ago, 30 small children waited nervously on the ramp in front of room 23 at my little school in the desert.  180 days of school was going to happen in their lives and mine. And it did. 180 “good mornings”, 180 days of math, grammar, reading, history, and science lessons. Worksheets, tests, books, workbooks and learning filled our days.  Computer Lab, library and PE days came and went. Windy days, rainy days, sunny days came and went. Tears, laughter, frustration, and “a-ha” moments came and went.  Learning happened…and it was sweet.

 In that 180 days, the little class of 30 kids and I became a class-family. We began to know “about” each other. We felt each other’s successes and failures. We learned who struggled and who is the “smart kid”, who cried easily and who was the best dancer, who never had a pencil and who always wanted to go to the bathroom as a lesson started. Each year it is a weird, unique, wonderful world that goes on after the door closes each morning.

In my 180 days, I learned so much too. I learned how to help a child manage his diabetes and glucose testing. I had to learn to be brave when I discovered a child had been abused and I had to call CPS. I had to learn to leave it in God’s hand when another child was taken suddenly and put in foster care. I had to learn how to help the little one with “anger issues” start to change and see she is a good person. Every year I know I will learn so much that has nothing to do with academics and everything to do with life.

So, last Thursday, after 180 days, I said "good-bye" to my class-family. Good-bye to all my happy, sweet, funny children and I sent them onto to 4th grade...and I cried. And then, after summer, it will start all over again. Lucky me!

“Good-bye!” they called. Good-bye, good-bye!”

At last one little spider took time enough to stop and talk to Wilbur before making its balloon.

“We’re leaving here on a warm updraft. This is our moment for setting forth. We are aeronauts and we are going out in the world to make webs for ourselves.”

“But, where?” asked Wilbur.

“Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. Near, far. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go where we please.”

-Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White