Def-y's Categorizing: October 2007 Archives

I think this has been the busiest October in the past 20 years! Mother and I have the usual standing appointments at the salon. We go to exercise three mornings a week, shop for groceries at least twice a week, visit the library, the bank, and the post office. We're normally pretty busy, and that doesn't take into account the office work I do.

October is one of the busiest birthday months for my family. Dear Husband and I both have birthdays in October, as well as one of my sisters, his brother, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

We traveled to Indiana to see one of my nieces compete in Marching Band. Elegante Mother and I watched one of her great grandsons act a role in a "Midsummer Night's Dream." We visited the Farmer's Market, and ate out five or six times. We traveled to the far North side of Chicago to have dinner with one of my nieces and her husband last night.

We've shopped, and gardened. I shared my quilts with the ladies of My-Sister-The-Nurse's church, and the Empty Nester's from EM's church came for their monthly visit. We visited with a church member who is going to machine quilt four quilts that we've made for the church bazaar.

We've enjoyed amazingly warm weather for most of the month and we're hoping it lasts through tomorrow night, when kids will be out celebrating Halloween. We don't expect to have visitors, but we're prepared, just in case they should come. Our drive is too long, and too dark to make it profitable for kids to trick or treat at our house, but a lot of visitors would bring this month to an appropriate end.

I enjoyed everything we did, but I could use one day of calm a week. It would be nice to be able to build up reserves so that I could go full tilt the rest of the week. Oddly, Tuesday seems to be the only candidate at the moment, and it looks like it could be swallowed up, too!

We're just busy people!

Or maybe that should be Mooooooooovable Tyyyyyype! Our host at RedEagleSpirit has upgraded our Movable Type program. I can blog again, but it's going to take some time to find all the parts to the program. For now, I'm happy to be able to post.

Dear Husband took 30 minutes today and repaired the light in our clothes closet. He tells me that it was a ballast problem. The bulbs that were installed 17 years ago are still functional.

Ahhhhhhhh, LIGHT!!! *G* It almost made me want to go in and change over our wardrobes for the winter. Instead, I cleaned out parts of my quilting stash, and began making a list of quilts to take to show the ladies at My-Sister-The-Nurse's church at the end of the month. In two weeks, I'll have three more full size quilts bound!

We're home from Indiana. We had hoped to be doing a victory dance for the fourth time in a row, but it isn't to be. I'd like to think that I am not prejudiced in favor of my niece's band. I watched from the top of the stands as seventeen bands performed. I rooted for them all, but more for K's band. I marked my program with the five I thought would go on to state. I was confident that her band would be one of the five. While they received a gold for performance, they weren't selected for State.

This is the time when they begin building for next year. The band will go to Indianapolis next Saturday and watch the performances of the ten bands which will compete in their class. They'll come home to pizza and a party to end the marching year, and immediately, work will begin on the program for the next year.

To K.....Sweetie, to go three years in a row, and rate as high as your band did, is an amazing record. You've had an incredible experience over these four years that will travel with you all your life. I'm very proud of you for going the distance, and you did a fine job. Be proud of your achievements!

I have a new game for you all. It's called "Choosing Clothing by Flashlight." The winner is the one who is able to best dress herself despite being unable to see most of her clothing choices in the dark.

First you need a walk-in clothing closet, which has no windows. Rules allow for lights and/or skylights in the adjacent room. You get extra points for dressing correctly on an overcast day, and more points if you dress before the sun comes up. You loose points if you end up mixing navy blue and black.

The light bulbs in my closet have been flickering and failing to light for weeks. Every couple of days, I talk with Dear Husband about the difficulty of choosing clothes in the dark. My youngest sister, bless her heart, came to his aid and suggested I take a flashlight into the closet with me. (sigh)

We've been in the house 17 years. It's more than possible we just need to change the light bulbs. My friend, Midnight, tells me that it could also be as simple as a starter needing to be replaced. He described it for me, and I'll try to see if that could be the problem. Failing that, the ballast has gone out. DH tells me we have a spare ballast ......somewhere.....

Midnight has been counseling me to do the repair on my own, coaching me on what to look for, and telling me how easy it is to replace. I think he's planning to become a marriage counselor in another life. Personally, I think this is a GUY thing.....one of the few indoor things that shouldn't be my responsibility!

Sign up for the game in the comments, and I'll get back to you on a start time.

This weekend, Dear Husband and I plan to drive to Indiana to watch my niece's band compete in the Class C Northern Indiana Regionals. I'm really looking forward to the trip. The kids march just before 1:00, and the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s. We watched in the snow one year, and have worried about rain occasionally.

Seventeen Class C bands will be competing tomorrow, and only five of them will be selected to go on to State Competition at Indianapolis next Saturday. My niece's band has gone to state at least the last three years, and you know that she hopes they will make it one more time. Tomorrow could possibly be her last chance to march on a football field as a high school student. Or, she may get to go out in a blaze of glory, at State, next week.

I sent her a note, to tell her that some nervousness is fine. I used to tell my students that if they were not worried, they weren't really prepared to perform. If you are absolutely calm, the chances are good that you've overlooked something. Her concern is that the band is very young this year. The ratio of beginners to experienced students is far too in favor of the beginners. Still, I've seen inexperienced students rise to the occasion when you least expect it.

On the other side of the coin, the band has a tradition of excellent shows. The music and movement always compliment each other, and this show is the type which gets points for daring moves, well executed. The assistant director and the director of bands have swapped responsibilities this year, but the basic band program is still in place, and there is a HUGE parent's group helping behind the scenes.

All they can do now, is take the field and do their best. I'm sure they will do well.

K.....I'll be with you in spirit on the field, and in the stands screaming myself hoarse. Have faith, sweetie....have faith!

Our new granddaughter is still at the hospital. The kids hope that she will be coming home early this coming week. DH's daughter sent us the link below to explain why the doctors have kept the baby this past week. She has an enterovirus.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/non-polio_entero.htm

When the doctors release her, the baby will have to visit for developmental tests during the following month. Given what they know about enteroviruses, I'd rather the doctors be aggressive about her care. Of course, we're hoping for the best, and that we will have a story to tell about the scare that turned out to be nothing. Your prayers are welcomed. *S*

It's been a stressful week. Our newest granddaughter developed a fever and was moved to NICU. Her fever spiked at 104 and it took several days to bring her back down to normal. The doctors believe that she may have picked up a virus that hit her family just before she was delivered. They're keeping her for a few more days, just to be sure that she'll go home healthy.

My step-daughter is recovering nicely. The docs let her go home Wednesday, but they travel back to the hospital each day to feed and visit with our newcomer.

I'm looking forward to a little more baby holding. I need to practice my lullabies. This is the first of three babies due within the next six months. There must be something in the water...

FINALLY! We're having one day that looks like Fall. Clouds moved in yesterday, and late last night a line of storms came through. It rained pretty heavily. We needed the rain. Everything was dry and sere.

Today, it's overcast, and there's a little bit of wind. Leaves are falling and a carpet of yellow and brown is starting to build up.

I know.....I think of Fall days as being sunny, and crisp. We all watch for the beautiful color changes, and enjoy the pumpkins and taffy apples. But, this is the other look to Fall, where the trees and shrubs are storing up moisture to hold them through the winter.

I'm going to spend the day in the office, catching up on filing and paperwork. I plan to make a pot of tea, and plug in the mug warmer to keep it hot. Elegante Mother and I put a pot roast in the Crockpot. Dinner will be an easy fix, and Dear Husband will get the roast beef hash he has come to enjoy, later this week.

I hope you're all having a great day!