Trip

The visit was much too short.  Back home at 5pm tonight and work tomorrow. 

Yesterday Gina and I went and got our toenails done, had lunch, picked up Del at school, then went to her work.  I got to meet her boss and office mate.  They are really fun and nice people. 

Must go finish packing.

Albuquerque

The weather is beautiful here.  Perfect upper 70’s.  No airconditioner or heat needed.  The front of the house faces the Sandia mountains.  One block away is the river.  The area is actually classified as desert, but it seems anything but, with all the desert flowers in bloom.  The grass and trees are greener than I have ever seen here.

I’ve been picking up my g/daughter Delanie from school every day.  My word, she’s all grown up.  Fourteen years old and brilliant.  The last couple of nights she and I have been playing our favorite computer game together. 

I am probably crazy, but I love teenagers.  Esp. if they belong to other people.  Namely GD and Greg. :-D  Their biggest problem with her is eating too many potato chips and getting homework done. 

Well, I’m gonna go play some more now.  I’ll be home on Saturday night and back to work on Sunday.  You know I CAN retire March 31st……

The Peace of the Lord be with You

If you are Catholic you’ve heard this greeting a gillion times.  This is what peace looks like:

And also with you:

Pictures jacked from Shannon.  I’ll confess…..

Soccer team

I’m off to Colleyville today to watch the boys play soccer.  

These kids rarely have played anything but gangster.  Most of them grew up in homes where the greatest challenge was surviving another day in their sick families.  Some of them have a reading level so low that they can’t read the materials they must complete to get out of TYC. 

So we teach them to read and we teach them to play.  Each are equally important.  I am convinced that if they can’t have fun clean and sober they will get high.  If we don’t teach them to read they will steal to make a living.

But today we play.  They aren’t great at it yet, this is only their second game as a team outside of the ranch.  I’m proud of them for being man enough to try.

UPDATE:

The score was 3-3.  They didn’t have a tie breaker and both teams get to count today as a win.

My throat is sore from yelling so loud.

Ugh!

Charlene sent me an e-mail this morning asking if I’m ok, since I haven’t posted in a while. 

I’m really not sure how to answer that.  I’m not ill, other than allergies and that is nothing new.  I have a nasty fever blister on my lip - therefore I can’t kiss all the men I know (as if I do anyway).

When I was a little girl I learned how to emotionally shut out the unpleasantness.  When I became a teenager and young adult, I drank it out of existance.  I must be going through my second childhood.

I was told I could use those survival tools, just as long as I didn’t stay there too long.  I must be able, at some point, to face whatever is going on in my life and deal with it.  Right now there is just too much.  Blech.

1906

My last post was about laying my G/mother to rest one year ago today.  It reminded me of the e-mail I got from a friend a couple of days ago.

In 1906 my g/mother was 4 years old.  This is what was going on back then:

• The average life expectancy was 47 years.
• Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
• There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
• The average wage in was 22 cents per hour.
• The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME.
• Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard.”
• Sugar cost four cents a pound.
• Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg
  yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into
  their country for any reason.
• Five leading causes of death were:
  1. Pneumonia and influenza
  2. Tuberculosis
  3. Diarrhea
  4. Heart disease
  5. Stroke
• The American flag had 45 stars.
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
  >
  >Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn’t been invented yet.
• There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
• Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.
• Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and
  bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.” (Shocking? DUH! )
• Eighteen percent of households   had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE! U.S.A.!
• Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you and others all over the United States, & Canada possibly the world, in a matter of seconds!
•  Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

  IT STAGGERS THE MIND, EH?

And my Grandmother saw it all.

G/Mother

A year ago today we laid our Grandmother to rest. 

I still want to be like her when I grow up.

Thought for the day 9/12/06

“OLD” IS WHEN….. “Getting lucky” means you find your car in the parking
lot.

My new car has one of those keyless access gadgets.  It also has a panic button.  I’m not scared of getting mugged, I’m scared of having to walk for hours to find my car.  A few years ago I hired a cab at DFW airport to help me find my car in a parking garage.  Now I just aim that gadget, press and hope the horn that starts blasting is mine.

Thought for the day 9/10/06

“OLD” IS WHEN….. An “all-nighter” means not getting up to pee.

 And that is a rare and delightful experience for me.

Role Models

 What could I possibly have in common these holy people?  The love of God, of the poor, of YOUTH!  Pope John Paul ll started World Youth Days 19 years prior to his death.  Mother Teresa spent years taking care of the poor and dying.  My kids are not physically starving but dying, just as surely, from addiction.  I could never make the impact of these two people.  But in my little corner of the world, I do believe, I can make a difference.