Put Your Little Foot

A beautiful fall night, fiddle music, good friends and family.

Now THAT'S the makings of a great evening! I wish that I had taken more pictures, but we tailgated before the band started playing and visited and laughed and ate THE BEST FOOD EVER (thanks D. and everybody) I just had so much fun I got distracted by the pure AWESOME of the evening.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Then we sat under the starry, starry Texas sky and listened to the C & W band that was heavy on the W. In other words, Western Swing. To prove it, the band had THREE fiddles, a mandolin, AND a steel guitar as well as a keyboard and heaven knows but I forgot how many guitars.

It had the added fun of an old-style wood dance platform and real outhouses with lanterns outside them that you actually take in with you when you go in.

Add to that NO shortage of handsome men ready to dance, including my sweet husband who can really cut a rug on a waltz, my nephew who taught me a new thing called the double two step, and my two great nephews......pretty much makes a perfect evening doesn't it?

You know, the stars at night ARE big and bright.....

I hope so much that you have a friend. And I mean a BFF, ya know?

For me, that means Christie. We have had us some times.

We have stayed friends through our marriage failures, our desperately alone days, our single-days, our disaster frog-kissing days and our weddings and now we're in a new phase altogether. We have stayed friends even when our sons, whose friendship originally brought us together, drifted apart.

I tell this to anyone who will listen: Christie is officially the most competent woman I know. If she could play the piano and sing, we would make her, like, "Queen of Everything" or something. She can do almost anything. I could list it all here, but sufficie it to say...if it needs fixin, or made up real pretty-like, she's your woman!

Although we didn't meet until our kids were in elementary school..she's the kind of girlfriend that I wish I'd had as a child. Really. We have code words, we adore each other's husbands, and we have sworn our undying love for each other. It's a little pathetic, reading that back. Still, we do have traditions that have stood the test of time. Most notably, we have coffee every Saturday morning. We go to the local coffee shop, chat about our week, catch up on the news and then run whatever errands we need to. There is so much comfort in this small custom that I almost cannot express it. Neither of us can remember how long this has been going on, but we both know it's been a long time.

At least two lifetimes ago, for sure.

It's comforting to know that someone in the world is truly happy for you when something great happens..or something just kinda a little better than average. But even better to know that someone shares your anguish when things are falling apart or you just need someone to shoot up a pray for you that day. Christie is that woman for me.

We have gotten into our share of mischief...we have a thing against gnomes and really worry about people who put those in their yards. I'll tell you about those antics someday.

We have completely different tastes in just about everything. We can shop together though, because we have the same shopping style which can be summed up in one word: RAPID. My daughter once said that the mall much be a mere blur to us as she was running along behind us on one of us shopping expeditions.

The very notable exception to this is purses. The very word gives me the shivers and I'll cover that in a later post if someone reminds me. Few can understand my trepidation, except maybe her Mom and Kevin.

If I called Christie RIGHT NOW and asked her to meet me TONIGHT and WEAR BLACK and DON'T TELL ANYONE.....I swear to you she would ask if we need to wear masks and bring a shovel. Because that's just the kind of friend she is.

Because Cooperation Really Does Make it Happen!

I LOVE ME SOME SESAME STREET!!!!

I forgot to tell you the reason for the possibly unexpected appearance of the Sesame Street band video....playing their breakout hit "Cooperation Makes it Happen" on my blog.

For one brief, shining moment..it was the only way I could figure out to get around the filter and show my students the video during the assembly even though it's on Youtube, which is blocked at school.

However, I have since found http://www.keepvid.com/ if any of you educators have the same problem.

My best friend once told me I had the widest vault of worthless knowledge of anyone she knew.

I hope beyond all hope that this proves it.

The End.

Can You Hear Me Now????

Whewww, what a bloggy slacker I have been!! There is so much going on in my crazy life right now I don't know where to begin. Because really, now that I think about it...none of it's all that intriguing, really.

I was required (oops, did I say required? I meant I volunteered in a duress-y sort of way) to write an article for my local newspaper. This happened during one of the administrative meetings that I have attended this year. They blur together and sometimes they last long enough that in a weak moment...lacking hydration and nutrition..in an attempt to hurry things along,out of desperation-- I "volunteer" for things. Sometimes it leaves me in a bind by adding something else to my already crowded schedule. This time, it just added a little pit in the bottom of my stomach because this would appear in the paper WITH MY NAME on it and my only instructions were "Oh yeah, it needs to be about 11.5 pt font and about a page and a half."

YIKES!! Even Mrs. Knighton (God rest her soul) in Senior English class gave me a topic. I really needed a topic. I thought for days about a topic. I asked my husband for his opinion, my best friend, my sister, my daughter. Really, now....just throw me a crumb of what the general public might be interested in. I'll bet you YOURSELF are wishing I would get around to a topic right this very minute, aren't you? Anyway, assuming it should be something somehow related to EDUCATION seeing as how it was going to be representing my school district and all. And also because that's basically the only thing I know anything about.

Then I realized that most of the research-y blah blah schtuff that I know would not be of interest to the general public or really to much of anybody in general.

So.
I fussed.
I worried.
I ate. (that's what I typically do, though--no matter what the situation, so that might not count) and finally I wrote.
Most people who read it might later wonder still what the topic is but I would say ...other than giving a few tips on the upcoming parent conferences, and being careful what you say in e-mails....it teaches the following lesson:

That while the the book of Timothy in the Bible states that they Love of money is the root of all evil.....I have come to believe it might really be what my friend says: Communication or the Lack Thereof is truly the root of most of our everyday problems at work and home.

And that something we can all take with us every day, isn't it?