Happy Birthday Lesa

Today is my aunt, Lesa's birthday. I've been busy this week and have completely forgotten to mail a card, so I'm trying to make up with a blog and a phone call. She's a sensitive soul and will readily forgive my forgetfulness.
Lesa is quite special. I have always loved spending time with her. I remember being taken to a movie by her and her friend, Ava, when I was in kindergarten. I used to love to lay under the willow tree in Granny's front yard and hear Lesa tell the Milk Jug Family stories--I swear, one day we need to write a children's book. When I got to spend the night with her at Granny's house, I would fall asleep to her telling me stories or sometimes by telling me about an episode of The Brady Bunch or The Beverly Hillbillies.
Lesa fostered my love for reading by giving me books such as The Secret Garden and Middlemarch. From her, I gained my love for James Bond movies at a young age. Much of the music she loved, I loved: Duran Duran, Prince, the Go-Gos.
When she left home to go to Atlanta, I remember being so excited that she was going somewhere--and that I would get to visit. And visit I did. I remember seeing an organ grinder and monkey at an Atlanta mall. I recall eating pizza at Everybody's Pizza across the street from Emory University.
Time marches on; we grow up; and sadly, we move apart. Lesa's now a mother to two beautiful girls of her own. I know she's a great mom; she got a fabulous start as a terrific aunt.

Happy Birthday, Lesa!

Lesa, Mama, and Martha
Tampa, June 2004

Let There Be Light

This is the tiny light that was in our front entry when we moved in. I can't figure out what the originial owners were thinking when they chose this dinky light for such a big space. Wait, yes, I do know what they were thinking, "This light is cheap."In October, we went shopping thinking that the light would be our Christmas gift. I can't remember what expense came up that altered our plan, but we didn't get the light. (Dave reminds me that it was tuition.) In February, we decided it would be our Valentine's gift. Life was busy in February, so we still didn't get the light.
Then a catalog came with our light on sale. We ordered the light and waited for it to arrive at the store. Meanwhile, we discussed how to install the light. Getting up to the 22' ceiling to wire in the light would be a challenge. I wanted to rent a scissor lift; Dave felt scaffolding was the way to go. So scaffolding it was.
Mike and Letha were coming on Friday, and I know Dave wanted to get the new light up before they got here. He picked up the scaffolding on Wednesday and started to put it together. There was a small issue--the footprint of the scaffolding was larger than the area in the foyer. No worries, Dave went to Home Depot and returned with feet for the scaffolding. One leg could rest on the stairs, with the adjustable feet on the other legs, keeping everything level. Dave was energized and dancing a jig. Not so fast. The footprint was still too big. Dave decided that we could run the crossbars from the bottom of one section to the bottom of the next to reduce the footprint.
Tired after a long day of work and knowing I didn't possess the physical strength to help him fit the second section of scaffolding onto the first, I persuaded Dave to wait for Mike's arrival--well, my tears of frustration and exhaustion did.
On Sunday morning after the Buffett concert, Dave and Mike began putting the scaffolding together. Being the nervous soul I am, I tried to stay in the kitchen and wash dishes. Letha disappeared for a mid-morning nap. So when the boys needed a hand, I was called in. Dave's plan worked perfectly; though I was nervous through the whole process.
Mike was brave and crawled on the scaffolding to wire in the light. The scaffolding came down, and a beautiful light remained (along with a few scuff marks that need to have some touch-up painting).

Pirate Looks at Thirty

This was our third Buffett concert. We went in the late 1990s in Atlanta, with Mike and Letha and other Kappa Sig friends. Lakewood Ampitheater is a great venue.

Last year, Dave and I went to the Smirnoff Amphitheater to hear Buffett. The tailgating area is great and the ampitheater is just like Lakewood. We had a great time on our blanket watching the show.

We were disappointed with the venue at Pizza Hut Park, a soccer stadium. While our seats were on the "floor", we were so far away, Buffett was ant sized. The big screens were a bit of a help, but I to stretch to see them.

Venue issues aside, the concert was great. Parrot-heads are a fun-loving, easy going group. Jimmy Buffett's music is fun and laid-back. Singing along with your favorites and dancing with the crowd is great. Being able to leave the pressures of modern life behind for a while is invaluable.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Letha and I smile for the camera.



Dave takes a minute to call Bob and Judy .
Dave says the party's this way. But Mike says it's this way.

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

Mike and Letha flew out for the weekend to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert with us. It is always great to spend time with them, and where better than Jimmy Buffett? We have great memories from a concert in Atlanta several years ago. (Sadly, I don't recall the year, but I could do some research to figure it out.)

Mike and Letha started the day with a one-mile jog, since she's training for a 5K. I went to the grocery store for the rest of our Buffett buffet. Dave decided to adjust the tension on the garage door opener, but he was distracted by some neighborhood dogs; I'll blog about that when I get a chance.

We loaded the Camry and headed to Buffett. Making a stop along the way for ice, then another stop for cheese, ketchup, mayo, and aluminum foil for our Cheeseburgers in Paradise, which Dave cooked on our camp stove, since propane was allowed, but not charcoal.
We had to park in a field, but were close enough to the grounds to set up our tailgate on a soft, grassy area with a view of a Port-a-Potty. Initially, we thought ourselves lucky, until we discovered that the potty was privately rented and had a padlock on it.

The public ones were a bit of a walk, but you have to enjoy the crazy Parrotheads and the elaborate set ups many bring with them.

The Buffett crowd is fun-loving and friendly. Some folks tailgating near us invited us over to share their shade. Turns out one of their friends works in Hixon, Tennessee, where Letha's brother also works. These guys shared their port-a-potty with us, too.

Letha hitched a "cool" ride.

My Brother's Family

Sweet Hayden is growing, too fast. I can't wait to get back to Georgia to see him. I hope to go in June. Matthew and Cindy took him in for some Easter pictures. Hayden is six months old. He has two teeth already.






And, it seems Hayden has his daddy's heart, too. Matthew has never loved getting his picture made, but he couldn't look happier.












And, what a happy family. I think Cindy's new hair cut is adorable.

It's Been a Hard Week

To quote the Randy Rogers Band, it's been just that. Several times this week, I've thought of that song as I put myself on autopilot to make it through. While there are so many levels of thoughts, rationalizations, and philosophies I've explored this week, I think I'll stick to the facts, as much as possible.

A bit of background--December 2005, one of my female freshman students was found hanged in her closet. My English class had just finished reading an Agatha Christie murder mystery in which the last character hangs herself.

Good Friday, April 6, 2007. A male student from that same freshman English class was found dead in his bed Friday morning from a drug overdose.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007. The forty year-old husband of a coworker died of a heartattack. He had no prior medical history and leaves behind a wife of almost ten years (April 26th is their 10 year anniversary) and a five year-old daughter.

Friday, April 13, 2007. Two more students found in possession of drugs on campus. They left in handcuffs. In a separate incident, a vulnerable student hit in the stairwell by a bully, just because the smaller bully could . . .

Add into this the stress of high-stakes state testing next week--which I have to help organize--a graduate class on Tuesday night, and my principal's certification test this morning and you begin to get a picture of the week I've had. Plus, I have three papers to finish for graduate classes and some new planning for teaching The Catcher in the Rye.

It's been a hard week . . . .but God does show us there is hope. Another co-worker's wife went into labor Friday the 13th. I haven't heard anything from them, but I hope they are loving a beautiful daughter right now.

Stormy Night

We've had some interesting weather in Texas lately. Most of it seems to be hitting on the weekends. We were predicted to have tornadoes during rush hour Friday. Dave arrived home a bit before me. I had stopped at TJ Maxx for some "retail therapy", purchasing a pretty new purse to elevate my spirits. Dave called wondering where I was and cautioning that he would be parked in the garage since the threat of hail loomed. When Dave pulls the truck into the garage, we scoot the lathe and ban saw over to make room for both vehicles. I pulled into the garage a few minutes after him. We turned on the TV to watch radar of the approaching storm. In anticipation of the storms, we pulled a few items out of the coat closet under the stairs to make room for the three of us (can't forget Mason) in the event that we needed to take cover.
When the rain started pooring, we lost our satellite televison reception. Shortly after that, we lost power. Luckily, we have a hand-crank powered radio that we pulled out and tuned to the local newsradio station, turning the crank every few minutes to keep abreast of the location of the storm. We heard a few hailstones, but nothing serious.
After the worst of the storm passed, we called friends who live in the area that was reported as being hard hit by the storms. Devin and her kids were at the mall during the storm. Then we feasted on peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Dave pulled out the oil lanterns and candles. We found Monopoly and settled down for an evening of board games--never mind that certification test in the morning. Dave played his usual cut-throat game, purchasing each parcel of property he landed on. Then, noticing where I kept landing, he started building houses. Though I owned Park Place and Boardwalk, he won. After Monopoly, it was around 9:30 and time for me to retire before my big test. Before doing so, I noticed that a street light was on outside. When I went upstairs to get my #2 pencils for my test, I noticed that homes on the street behind us had lights; however, we didn't have lights, nor did neighbors across the street. I set my cell phone's alarm for a 5:30am wake up call. Dave decided to turn on the bathroom light so that when the power came on, he could get up to turn off all the lights and TV that had been on before we lost electricity.
I didn't get the studying done that I intended for the evening, but I did get to spent valuable time with my husband.

Easter Part Two

Here you can read Devin's account of Sunday and see her pictures.

Happy Easter

Dave and I celebrated Easter with Devin and Jimmy and their family this year.

We attended church with them this morning since we are still searching for a church. The sermon was great. After church, we headed back to their house to await the arrival of Devin's sister and family before going to lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant. Devin is about four-weeks away from delivering her precious baby girl and had no desire to spend all day cooking--who could blame her.

Jimmy, who always has a surprise, hired two white limousenes to take the eighteen of us to lunch. Landon snuggled in the back between Mom and Dad.














Following a delicious lunch, we found some blue bonnets for a photo-op.

All the kids pose.















Even the young at heart pose.














Dave and I pose in the blue bonnets.















Keaton looks at the flowers.














Then it was back to their house for an Easter egg hunt and cake.

Hayden runs around looking for eggs.















Landon takes a more leisurely approach to the egg hunt.
















The young'uns check out their haul.















A smart friend, Lisa, dropped by with a bunny shaped cake for the kids to decorate.



















We had a great time and are so thankful for great friends (who've become family) like Devin and Jimmy!