Next Time!

Wow! What a night! My husband and I were up until 12:30am with our teenage children.  We watched both Senators make their final speeches of this race.  

In the early hours of the night we all went about our evening routines but we had our ears tuned into the radio. By 10:30, we were all gathered around the television watching CNN, I had a laptop...on my lap, checking our state and local results. 

At 11pm CNN officially called Senator Obama our President Elect. I turned to my son and said, "Guess what? You and I shook the President's hand." What a ride these past six months have been politically.

I know the four of us will be tired tonight. To witness history is worth a day of yawns. Last night was so major for our country. I recall back to my own parents and their political influences over me as I was growing up. I can't help but wonder what they would have made of last night. Would they have been progressive enough to have looked past political parties, race and age? Would they have been so open minded to have had some of the conversations with me that I had with my children this time around? I wonder.

On Monday afternoon I chatted with my brother and just before we hung up I said, "Have fun voting tomorrow!" A while later I received an e-mail from him saying he and his wife voted early because 'neither candidate was worth standing in line for.'  I beg to differ on that point. Republican or Democrat, ALL candidates are worth standing in line for. In America, having a choice and having your voice be heard makes it so. Hope, Democracy, Respect, Change, Improvement, Perseverance, Reform, Prosperity...just a few of the words that describe this wonderful country in which we live.

In 2012, our next Presidential race, both of my children will have the opportunity to make their voices heard.  Yes, they can!  

What was her name again?

It was Angie Riggins. She was the administrative assistant to the director of HR at a big corporation I used to work for BC.

Before Children.

We were good friends. I was a Mortgage Loan Examiner and she and I hit it off right away. We had lunch together everyday for over two years. We were part of the same group of gal-pals in the office. I remember back to when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I was elated and I couldn't wait to go into work and tell my friends there. Angie's response was quite shocking to me. With the news that I was pregnant was also the news that I was going to try and find a way to stay home with my child after he was born. I would have eight months to figure out how I was going to work this out. Oh, my friend was supportive of my pregnancy. She even helped host a baby shower for me at work. It was her response to my wanting to stay at home with my child that was shocking. "Well, we won't be able to be friends anymore once you leave." That's what she said. Verbatim.

We won't be able to be friends? I didn't understand. What would having a baby and staying home with them have to do with our friendship? Angie all ready had two children of her own. She knew what it was like to be a mom. Why would we have to stop being friends? In the end her prophesy rang true. We did stop being friends. It wasn't a mean spirited ending. We just drifted apart. I did take my new baby up to see her and all my other friends, but as the days away from that working environment turned into weeks away, I found I wanted less and less to go back. Each time I did go back into my former work zone, I felt the pangs of jealousy my co-workers were silently, and some not so silently, sending via telepathy my way. I did eventually stop visiting.

Several months ago I moved three miles away, into a new house and neighborhood. Although no one has said, "when you move we won't be friends anymore," it is obvious by the actions displayed by those around me that something has changed.

Making that choice long ago to stay at home with both my children was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Based on past history, I feel like it's time for me to adjust once again. Maybe that's the hint life is giving me now...time for new challenges! Ebb and flow.

A Visit From Tripod!

It's been just over a month since I last saw this gal! It was a spectacular, Fall/All Hallows Eve day in southern Indiana. In this first photo you need to look really closely and you'll see, just past the big tree, our three-legged deer in the woods.

She actually wandered into the yard and munched on the Serviceberry tree.

I've watched four-legged deer stand on their back legs and get berries. It's nice to know there are no obstacles standing in Tripod's way.

**********She seems to be surviving just fine.

Happy Haunting!

Kitchen Window Eye Candy

When I moved from my old house, I knew I would say goodbye to one of the birds I enjoy the most. Bluebirds are more of a field bird then a woodlands dweller. They do nest in cavities, but they prefer a more open area to live and raise their young. In a similar house setting to mine, my grandmother had hoped and prayed for Bluebirds to come and inhabit her wooded lot. After 10+ years of annual spring sightings, she finally had a pair of Bluebirds nest in the box she provided. It was true joy for her soul.

Within two months of moving into my old house I set up a Bluebird box, a birthday present from my Grams (the BB house) and my FIL (the pole), and was very successful in having Bluebird tenants over the years. My guesstimate would be that I witnesses 80 fledglings and their parents come through my boxes.

As a conscientious Bluebird enthusiast, when I moved a few months ago, I took my boxes with me. Not because they are great boxes, they are very worn and one needed to be thrown away, but because it was my responsibility. There is a certain code of ethics one must have when setting up a house for any bird. Non-native, invasive species need to be managed. Since I was moving, the birds I encouraged to roost all those years would now need to find others close by who would be as diligent in managing the area.

Recently I have put up the one salvageable Bluebird house I still have. Bluebirds can over winter in our area, but they do need boxes to retreat to in case of foul weather. I am hoping to encourage a pair of Bluebirds to reside here next spring! Planting the seed if you will. Since moving into the Burrow, I have heard several singers of the Bluebird song when I am out working in the yard. Last Sunday afternoon, I came home and saw a very familiar site out of my kitchen window. What a treat to actually see a pair of Bluebirds checking out my place!

Mix tapes...then and now...

As times have changed, the idea has not.

One of the nicest things to do for someone is to make them a 'mix tape'. In the olden days, when you liked someone you would take the time and compile enough songs to fill two sides of a cassette tape.
Even the order meant something. It's so easy to make 'tapes'...now CD's... today for certain events; travel, working out, sharing, sleeping, weddings, slide shows, etc.

Maybe my age, and the lack of receiving any mix tapes in the past 30 years, has made me melancholy. I wish the above old tape would play in a player still. As it has warped over the years no one can listen to it anymore. Thank goodness for iTunes. Gotta love the easy of downloading today. Still, I miss those days when I received my very own 'mix tape'.

an oxymoron...

...working out on a treadmill while watching the FoodNetwork...