Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it...............I have been so busy and didn't take one picture of Halloween and J. trick or treating..................truthfully, he went with friends and I just kept waiting for him to come home so I could take a picture, but by the time he did it was so late and all over with............so, just imagine this picture with an orange jersey over the pads..............of course, he was a football player!

Bloggers Game

One of the blogs I read had everybody post their 7th file 7th picture from their pictures files. Here is mine. It's my kids in Austin, Texas in front of my 4 times Great Grandparent's cabin which has been designated historic . How many kids get to see their own history like that from so long ago? We also saw the Grandfather's tombstone in the state cemetery. He was a Texas Ranger.

Ferns

The freeze last night didn't get my ferns yet. I have 5 that are gorgeous!! For 20 years I have gone through the same dilemma.......and I never learn..........do I put them on the sunporch and try to save them for next year? I have no luck wintering them over. I ALWAYS end up throwing them out in March.........and yet, here I am again, thinking I will try one more time!

Pumpkin Carving

Finished product!!!
The proud pumpkin carvers

These 2 are really into it...........T. even got a special saw from the garage
This one can't be bothered by all this nonsense
I did this one from a napkin and am quite proud of myself......
even better with the lights out!
Ok, it just hit me while these pictures were uploading that T. won't be here next year when we do this.................maybe we'll just take our pumpkins to VMI!!!!

New York Times plugs Charlottesville

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/travel/26hours.html

Chris likes to tell me I have lived in Virginia now longer than I have lived anywhere............I moved here after college in 1987............so 21 years........he is right... We have lived over 15 years right here in Charlottesville..............a town I still don't really understand. Maybe because we are a university town, with the most prestigious public university in the country, we get so much attention, like the article above..................and these articles come out about our little town and the city councilors and the like go nuts with pride and self importance! Myths are perpetuated and real help and progress for real people doesn't happen. These articles do more harm than good. Most of the govt. here is incredibly liberal and likes to vote on things like impeaching the President and freeing Tibet instead of doing their job like appropriating money to fix old sewage lines and issue dog tags..............Millions of dollars have been spent on housing and when questioned a few weeks ago city council couldn't account for a dime of that money..............there is no new affordable housing.... Our cost of living is higher than any other place in Virginia...............even Northern Virginia by D.C. We have the attitude of a New York City with the financing of a small town. We have the highest Foster Care and Mental Health care rate in the state...................and more public housing than any town our size in the commonwealth....We also have one of the highest drop out rates.............30%. But read the article............lots of people will and will move here, because it is beautiful and charming..............and they will buy expensive farms out in the county and the cost of living will increase even more.......................few people look deep into reality anymore. We had dinner on the downtown mall a few years ago with a developer who had lived here all his life...........went to a private school....................lots of the ghetto kids from the nearby section 8 housing unit were on the mall being loud and he asked, "Where did they come from?" Here was a lifelong resident, from the most expensive of neighborhoods, and he had no idea of the public housing in town...............I was shocked! We really are two worlds here. So, go read that article..........and learn from it that much of what we read in the media is a facade, like icing on a cake, but the real stuff is underneath.....and not everything you read in the newspaper is the whole truth. Unfortunately, most people spend lots of time with the media and believe it all....this upcoming election is a prime example...........we know these guys from what the media tells us.............we really don't know them at all, but most people viscerally love or hate them..............scary!

Still Looking

See the water behind this house? and the gazebo at the top of the tower? We kind of like it.....it also has a barn..................

The Northern Neck

Left View
Right View
Center View

Chris, J, and I got up at 6 this morning to head east 2 1/2 hours to the Northern Neck to Heathsville, VA to look at waterfront property.......................beautiful day and beautiful lots. Heathsville is very rustic...........and historic, we passed George Washington's home.........These pictures are of my favorite lot.........The lot is on a point and has wonderful views of the Potomac River..............with creek views on either side........so there would be water on 3 sides of the house.........The mouth of the Chesapeake is just a little bit aways.............There were big crab pots on the lot....it's all full salt water....we started getting excited.........we will see, we have only just started looking....

Quiet Rainy Day

Rainy Day View Out the Front Door

Rare Saturday here for us.............J. is at a friend's all day, E. is at a Theater Festival for school and T. is in Vermont seeing Emily.............that's a whole other stress, but for today........it is rainy and quiet...............last night Chris and I worked in the concession stand at the football game for the wrestling team. Exhausting, but always fun.......so today we are watching movies and doing nothing.........my favorite thing....especially since Alisia came and cleaned yesterday, so no pressure to clean up............

Fall Perfection

I wish you could see what I see everyday this Fall. Especially in the late afternoon, the sun on the Fall leaves is golden.......Wish it could stay like this till March!

Pizza, Pop and a Play

E. had her play last night at school. The event, not the play, was called Pizza, Pop and a Play..............the teacher must be from the Midwest, because NOBODY around here would ever use the word "pop"..............but it was cute and we did have pizza and cokes and then saw a one act play which was one of the better ones they have done. She was part of a "Mexican Salad" and her main part, to cry....................she did quite well.

Picture Day

J. likes to really dress up for picture day at school................tie and all...............

J.

Had a meeting with J.'s teacher and various other support staff at school yesterday. They wonder if he has some of the same processing disorders that E. did at that age...........and that I think I may have had in elementary school too..........who really knows......E. was helped for a few years and then just didn't seem to need it anymore. His teacher's biggest worry is his lack of focus................which we have known for years...............hard to know what is just boy and what is really a problem...maybe both. He will stay after school 2 days a week to work with her and we will try some things at home and then meet back up in January. This is a big testing year for the state tests and I think they are trying to figure out what is up before he has to take those....I hate state tests!!!!

More Baking

With the kids home from school yesterday, I thought J. and his two buddies would like to decorate Halloween cookies..............so we did. Little boys and icing is a "joy" in the kitchen. Along with that I had baked my bread and made a lasagna for supper...............These 3 simple things took 55 hours............and then I had 15 loads of laundry...............extra kids running in the house every 2 minutes..........E. had a friend over too, plus I had to buy groceries earlier that morning and run a few errands. By 2:00 I needed to run T. all over town looking for wool socks for his Vermont trip this weekend.......Sheryl tells us we have never felt cold like the cold he will be in this weekend..........yuck! glad I am not going. After running to 3 places to find wool socks and other things we "had" to have, I made it home to get J. from a birthday party and get him home so he could sit in his room for an hour.....(long story of him being punished for earlier in the day) and to get ready to return his football equipment and go sign up for basketball. On top of all of this I had to order some "paydirt" for my flower beds to be delivered and make tons of phone calls for work. Oh, and I also threatened my children all day long to clean their rooms and to listen to me. I am exhausted and am ready to go back to work to a normal day!

Sourdough Bread

Today the starter was ready..........................and it was all worth it.
See my baked and unbaked pictures.

The Last Blooms From My Garden

We are supposed to have our first frost, so I cut all the last blooms from the garden and brought the basil in...........I'll have to wait for next summer to have anymore free flowers......

More LAX

LAX....................stands for lacrosse............at the clinic today we had some great girl coaches for these great girl players.....and of course about 70 little boys...............and then the team played soccer..............(which was weird to see these boys do) against the special olympics team.......what a great day!

Baby Lacrosse

At the lacrosse clinic today I fell in love with this child...........She has wanted a stick like the other kids for weeks and today she showed up with a little fiddlestick (little kids sticks) that matched her outfit...................she is a foster child of a friend of ours and she would NOT let go of her stick the whole time................I hope this is the beginning of a long love for the game.

Diplomas

One of my boys that I work with FINALLY got his diploma last night................He had passed all his academic classes, but not one of the state tests.......finally he did.........and his Football/Wrestling Coach and I went to his favorite restaurant for foot longs and presented it to him. I couldn't stand the thought of him just getting it in the mail.....

Sir Elton John

Last night the 2 oldest children went on the Church retreat..............J. had the fun fair at his school that I THANKFULLY got to miss, so he went to it and spent the night with his new neighbor and friend,,,,,who we already adore....... That left Chris and I to traipse off freely to a friend's for a dinner of appetizers and then to the concert...............My thought was that all I have to do is sit and listen at the concert so I could still go, even though I haven't been feeling well.
The noise, people screaming, people in my face talking.................was overwhelming.........at times I kept thinking of how to escape. Now the funny thing is I at one time was a singer. So, you would think I would adore this type of thing and be really into it...............and if I love the music I am.........but if I don't.....and I'm kind of emotionally picky about music................I am miserable. When this little man came out on stage..........people went nuts..........and you really got into the emotion of it...............you felt like Jesus had come back or something.........and then he just sat down and played the piano.............for a LONG time......my ADD kicked in and the synthesizers did too and I felt bored......He did say "I am happy to be in Charlottesville", but really he didn't talk to us all night.....I wish he would have engaged the crowd more.......He did get up a ton and point and wave at us.............this man is 2 years younger than my mother......and looks like my Uncle Gary.......with the same color hair as my Aunt Lucille always colored hers..........I have always thought these things, but last night confirmed it..............His energy and genius really are amazing...............he finally sang a song I recognized and even though he can't hit the top notes anymore, he is absolutely radio perfect in my mind. Here is the amazing thing about Elton John. There is probably nobody in the world, except maybe the Beatles, who could play their music for almost 3 hours straight and I know mostly every song. And those songs, why I grew up with them..............The song that says, sorry is the hardest word? I must have sang that in my teenage angst at the top of my lungs in my orange pinto a million times..........and the song about the sun going down on me? That has to be an orange pinto song too, really there were about 10 orange pinto songs.............yellow brick road, I guess that's why they call it the blues, you can tell everybody this is your song ( I don't know the actual names, just the chorus lines). I realized that this man has had an incredible emotional impact on my whole life..........and by the reaction of the crowd to songs like Bennie and the Jets and Pinball wizard..............so did they. He wrote songs back in the time when songs were stories about people and their lives...............Most of the audience was my age or older.............and they seemed to be reliving something too..... After he sang a song he got up pointing and waving again and then just walked off the stage............he did come back for two more encore songs............and then walked off again............He was gracious, but I guess after 40 years of performing you just go out and sing and play..........he doesn't need to engage with talk...................also, there was no intermission.............the man really is amazing.

Elton John

Tonight we go see Elton John...............I am neutral regarding if I like him or not, but Chris got tickets in the business box and we are taking a few clients/friends of his. I'll report on his show tomorrow.

The Dinner Before...........

Wed. night Chris grilled steaks and I made baked potatoes and salad......kind of nice for a weeknight, but we are all over the place and never home to all sit down together. E. had plans, but we made her stay home with us..............she wasn't happy at all, but seemed to get over it. Then that night it hit.............the most sick I have been in years................I FINALLY felt better at 4:30 this morning...........and 5 lbs. lighter........hell of a way to do it... I have to say as I am able to sit up in a chair this morning that I feel strongly very grateful for my health today. I am even grateful to have been able to wash a dish and make myself a cup of tea and some toast this morning...............My family was incredible..........as I could barely walk. C. and T. were so amazing. T heard me in the bathroom as I violently, and sorry, but that is the only word for it.........threw up and even though I kept telling him I was ok and to leave, he kept rubbing my back as I leaned over and was sick..............at 17 I find that amazing... I can barely do that for my own children.... I need to write him a note...........he also cleaned the kitchen twice.......without being asked...........he better stop being so great as I will miss him even more next year. The truancy officer at school called me yesterday and I must have sounded so horrible............he called back several hours later to say he was going to lunch and did I need anything............that really touched me because MOM, I kept waiting for you to come in with soup and stuff from Petty's.............some childhood things never end............and then my Step Dad Glen would go get 7 up..........Chris and Tucker both went to get me some, but it wasn't the same. So, the point here is being really sick is horrible, but it does make you grateful for things you REALLY take for granted.................and you get to see the real character of the people you yell at all day for dumb things like not picking the towels up off the floor.

Sick

I'll post a picture later.............I am in bed in what I call "school kid"sick mode..........throwing up, fever, diarrhea..........started over 12 hours ago and it hasn't subsided yet. I had a HUGE meeting at the Department of Education in Richmond today...............I am equally sick I missed it.....so goes life...........just hoping it doesn't run through the whole family.


UPDATE: No, I'm not posting a picture of me being sick......I guess it did sound that way. This was the picture I meant to post..................the maples are starting to turn and so beautiful....

Online Shopping

http://www.etsy.com/


So much better than a catalog..........and you won't ever see it on your neighbor down the street...
I am at that age where most clothes are made for people much younger than me............shopping is no fun anymore... but I love this site (above). Everything is homemade and you can find tons of things from all over the world..............and you may notice I am posting a lot as I am UP AT 3 AM CUZ I COULDN'T SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How miserable, but surfing on Etsy makes it easier.......

Doy

We called my father's mother Doy...............long story why, but she died over 15 years ago. Her husband, my Grandfather died last May..........at his funeral it was so good to see her only living sister, Aunt Jean and her daughter, Gay. Gay emailed me last week to tell me Aunt Jean had an old picture she wanted me to have of Doy's softball team....Her other sister, Maxine, is holding the bat............Doy is at the end of the same row. These girls look so young and sweet.........they all have these beret kind of caps on.........not sure what that is about. Maybe they wore backward baseball caps even then?

October

The leaves are starting to change in Virginia and I went out to take a few pictures of the maples and got sidetracked by the second blooming I am having of zinnias and roses.............it was in the 80's here today............but the nights are in the 50's and there is no humidity...........perfect! I hope to do some big yard work this weekend...........if my wrists hold out...........getting old is the pits.

Coq au Vin

Monday night, and not only did I not have to cook, I got to eat out at Keswick Country Club again.............Chris' business had a golf tournament fund raiser for the United Way and I got to go out for the dinner portion..........We started with butternut squash soup and apple fritters.........heavenly.......and then had prime rib and chicken coq au vin with the creamiest risotto I had ever had............There was so much more, but those things stuck out in what was a great Fall dinner. AND,,,, the dow is up 900 points...........all was well.