Funny how it some times takes a holiday to remind you to sit and reflect on life - your family, friends, work mates, pets. For a long time I was doing really well on stopping for a few moments every day and thanking and appreciating everything around me that I could. But it seems that I have slowly moved away from that and, after Thanksgiving the other day, it was a reminder that I need to get back into the swing again!
One of my most favorite ways to reflect on the good things that happen each day is when our family shares "Highs and lows". We've been doing this for years now, typically at the dining room table during dinner - but some times the following morning on the way to school or after school is out - just depending on when it seems right. You don't have to have lows, and hopefully you don't have them very often...but if you do we try and say whatever our lows are first and then move on to the high, or hopefully many highs. At the very least, no matter how boring or mundane your day may be, you have to find at least one high! Some days there are funnies to add on to the highs and lows - and those are always a blast.
So, if you ever want to get a glimpse of your families day life, since you aren't always with them, "Highs and Lows" works really well!
Things have been very stressful at work these past few weeks. It's odd, since we celebrated Michaelmas and "slayed" the dragon you would think that things would be getting calmer and easier - but, maybe we missed slaying the beast this time and it's still creeping around out there or maybe we slayed the wrong beast? Either way I need to start reflecting on whether it's something in me that's causing the stress or if it truly is something out there that I need to battle. These past few weeks I've been doing more behind the scenes work to make a change but in reflection I think I need to take on the straight on, no bull shit work to get through the stress.
We were hoping to go up to the cape for part of our holiday break - but it seems that will have to wait. Money is tight, as I'm sure most everyone out there is painfully experiencing, so we will wait until Mr. Curtin's 8th grade graduation. Then Alex, Jared and myself will be heading up there to cheer those graduates on and say high to all our old friends! I wish I could bring Shannon along, but school will actually still be going on down here.
On the plus side we'll be staying put for two whole weeks. We get to open our gifts and then get to stay here the whole time and play with them! Now, if we could only have some snow too. But I know that's asking for too much! HA!
On Thanksgiving day, as we were sitting around the table stuffing our faces and having great conversation I looked up and saw our screen saver working hard on the computer. And there they were, Devin, Shannon and Sierra from our last Thanksgiving we had together and I really wished they had been here with us - or us there. Miss you guys lots!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
First High School Dance
Without further adieu here are some photos of last nights high school dance!
Of course, we couldn't have a dance at a Waldorf school without fairies!
Gangstah's and witches........................
Some dancing... though not as much as one would think at an actual dance..... and I'm not really sure what dance they were doing at this point...
This one was the Macarena .....
And we all know what this one is.....
So far I've heard that it was a fun dance. I'm sure I'll find out more as the week progresses at school. But from my perspective it really was an amazing dance. The kids were very well behaved and had lots of fun, though they did more socializing than dancing... and ate lots and lots of junk food!
I'm hoping we'll have another one in April or May and this time we'll go until 11:oopm instead of 10:30.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Of course, we couldn't have a dance at a Waldorf school without fairies!
Gangstah's and witches........................
Some dancing... though not as much as one would think at an actual dance..... and I'm not really sure what dance they were doing at this point...
And we all know what this one is.....
So far I've heard that it was a fun dance. I'm sure I'll find out more as the week progresses at school. But from my perspective it really was an amazing dance. The kids were very well behaved and had lots of fun, though they did more socializing than dancing... and ate lots and lots of junk food!
I'm hoping we'll have another one in April or May and this time we'll go until 11:oopm instead of 10:30.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Sadness and scary
I will write about the dance later today - once I get the photos off the camera. But I wanted to write about something that was a very sad ending to our fun night that turned into a relief this morning.
Because of all the stuff and boys we had we took both our truck and Mary's car to the school for the dance. So, as we were coming home last night, I was in front with Mary's car and Jared was with me. We were just chatting a bit about the dance, how Jared said it was fun, and also listening to the music on the radio.
I turned onto our street and as we were getting close to our house there was something small in the road on our side but not too small. So I started to swerve around it to the left, and as I did the headlights went over it enough that I saw what it looked like.
I pulled over and quickly put the car in park - on the left side of the road - and said out loud to Jared, "My god! That's Dot!" And so we both quickly jumped out of the car to go look. At this point Shannon was driving up and he slowed down right on the road behind the dead cat.
I went right down and started petting it - to see if it was still alive and to try and confirm if it was Dot. It was a brown tabby, about Dots size and it was dead and had been for a few hours at least. I went to the end of the tail and felt the tip - looking for her break, but I couldn't really find it. So for a fleeting moment I felt relief that it wasn't her.
Shannon picked it up. The only injury was on the right side of the skull, by the temple where it had been hit. There was blood there. The eyes were still open, so it must have been a quick death. In the meanwhile Alex had run down to our house to see if he could find Dot to know whether it was her or not.
Shannon took the cat and walked to the house and I left Kimani and Jared next to Mary's car while I drove the truck the rest of the way home and then walked back to get the car and the two boys. I passed Shannon near our driveway and he said that he thought it was Dot, but that Alex was looking in and around the house - calling out for her, to try and find her.
I got back to the car and the boys and we hopped in, in silence and sadness as we drove home. We were in shock and I was saying, "Dot never goes this far, she's too lazy. When she's outside she always just hangs out near the house."
We got to the house and Shannon was sitting on the steps near grandmas door with the cat in his arms. I asked if they found Dot and he said no, they had not. So, we knew this had to be Dot kitty. I went and got a trash bag to put the body in, as it was way too dark to bury her since it was just around midnight. I helped Shannon get her into the bag and we put her in Mary's covered porch to keep any animals for getting at her.
Then I gave Jared a very long hug as we cried. Dot kitty is his baby. He wanted us to keep her so badly when he was only 5 years old and so she's been a part of our life for 10 years.
Eventually we all went to bed with a great sadness in our heart.
Then this morning Shannon is startled awake and says, "Cat? What the? Dot!" and I roll over and see that Dot kitty has hopped up into our bed this morning!!!! She is very alive and wanting to get some love and be fed. We pet her tons and tons talking to her and then I asked Shannon if he would take Dot kitty up to Jared's bedroom and put her on him so he can see she is okay.
So the boys are all happy and back to normal - and Dot kitty is enjoying all the extra attention!
We are going to check with some of the neighbors to see if anyone knows who this other tabby cat belongs too. We had never seen it before. We had no idea there was a Dot kitty look alike. If we can't find the owners we'll bury it ourselves - but I want to make sure that some poor family isn't missing their cat like we were last night.
Update: Alex and I went to a few different houses around our neighborhood and finally found the owners. The cats name was Pookums and the oldest son, who must have been around 18-22 drove over to our house and identified that it was their cat and took it home. We are very sad for them and Pookums.
Because of all the stuff and boys we had we took both our truck and Mary's car to the school for the dance. So, as we were coming home last night, I was in front with Mary's car and Jared was with me. We were just chatting a bit about the dance, how Jared said it was fun, and also listening to the music on the radio.
I turned onto our street and as we were getting close to our house there was something small in the road on our side but not too small. So I started to swerve around it to the left, and as I did the headlights went over it enough that I saw what it looked like.
I pulled over and quickly put the car in park - on the left side of the road - and said out loud to Jared, "My god! That's Dot!" And so we both quickly jumped out of the car to go look. At this point Shannon was driving up and he slowed down right on the road behind the dead cat.
I went right down and started petting it - to see if it was still alive and to try and confirm if it was Dot. It was a brown tabby, about Dots size and it was dead and had been for a few hours at least. I went to the end of the tail and felt the tip - looking for her break, but I couldn't really find it. So for a fleeting moment I felt relief that it wasn't her.
Shannon picked it up. The only injury was on the right side of the skull, by the temple where it had been hit. There was blood there. The eyes were still open, so it must have been a quick death. In the meanwhile Alex had run down to our house to see if he could find Dot to know whether it was her or not.
Shannon took the cat and walked to the house and I left Kimani and Jared next to Mary's car while I drove the truck the rest of the way home and then walked back to get the car and the two boys. I passed Shannon near our driveway and he said that he thought it was Dot, but that Alex was looking in and around the house - calling out for her, to try and find her.
I got back to the car and the boys and we hopped in, in silence and sadness as we drove home. We were in shock and I was saying, "Dot never goes this far, she's too lazy. When she's outside she always just hangs out near the house."
We got to the house and Shannon was sitting on the steps near grandmas door with the cat in his arms. I asked if they found Dot and he said no, they had not. So, we knew this had to be Dot kitty. I went and got a trash bag to put the body in, as it was way too dark to bury her since it was just around midnight. I helped Shannon get her into the bag and we put her in Mary's covered porch to keep any animals for getting at her.
Then I gave Jared a very long hug as we cried. Dot kitty is his baby. He wanted us to keep her so badly when he was only 5 years old and so she's been a part of our life for 10 years.
Eventually we all went to bed with a great sadness in our heart.
Then this morning Shannon is startled awake and says, "Cat? What the? Dot!" and I roll over and see that Dot kitty has hopped up into our bed this morning!!!! She is very alive and wanting to get some love and be fed. We pet her tons and tons talking to her and then I asked Shannon if he would take Dot kitty up to Jared's bedroom and put her on him so he can see she is okay.
So the boys are all happy and back to normal - and Dot kitty is enjoying all the extra attention!
We are going to check with some of the neighbors to see if anyone knows who this other tabby cat belongs too. We had never seen it before. We had no idea there was a Dot kitty look alike. If we can't find the owners we'll bury it ourselves - but I want to make sure that some poor family isn't missing their cat like we were last night.
Update: Alex and I went to a few different houses around our neighborhood and finally found the owners. The cats name was Pookums and the oldest son, who must have been around 18-22 drove over to our house and identified that it was their cat and took it home. We are very sad for them and Pookums.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Survived last night!
A quick update to say that we survived last night. Didn't even stay up as late as I thought we would. We were all tucked into bed just after midnight.
Lots of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and some x-box while waiting for the girls to start showing up - along with a huge sugar rush of Halloween candy and soda!
Once the girls started to arrive they started with the movie Scream. Then they watched The Ring - which was very funny for me - as two of the girls reminded me so much of Kim! (Ewww, ahhh, no no, can't watch this - covering their eyes and squeamish>) It just made me laugh!
The night wound down when the last two girls left at just before midnight. Then the guys went up to bed and probably talked for a good hour before it quieted down. All-in-all a good night was had by all!
I've just finished making 120 mini-cupcakes (icing and all). Shannon finally has all the music in order for the dance. All the guys are showed up and soon they will be having some spaghetti for lunch. Soon we will be off to start setting up for the dance. Wish us luck!
(yawn) and all I want to do is sleep! :)
Lots of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and some x-box while waiting for the girls to start showing up - along with a huge sugar rush of Halloween candy and soda!
Once the girls started to arrive they started with the movie Scream. Then they watched The Ring - which was very funny for me - as two of the girls reminded me so much of Kim! (Ewww, ahhh, no no, can't watch this - covering their eyes and squeamish>) It just made me laugh!
The night wound down when the last two girls left at just before midnight. Then the guys went up to bed and probably talked for a good hour before it quieted down. All-in-all a good night was had by all!
I've just finished making 120 mini-cupcakes (icing and all). Shannon finally has all the music in order for the dance. All the guys are showed up and soon they will be having some spaghetti for lunch. Soon we will be off to start setting up for the dance. Wish us luck!
(yawn) and all I want to do is sleep! :)
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