So...I've converted over to Blogger Beta. I don't exactly understand the hype. It feels and reacts exactly the same as regular Blogger, but I know I'm not the technical type so maybe I never will notice a difference.

This week has been one for the record books. John ran a cross country meet on Tuesday - near 80 degrees and sunny and we were cooked. Then the County Meet was yesterday - barely 40 degrees, cloudy and windy, and we froze to death. It was particularly cold in our concession area - outdoors with a concrete floor. My feet felt like frozen bricks after standing there for 4 hours.

But anyway, he ran very well yesterday, setting his PR for that course and coming in first for his team and 8th in the county. I was proud of him!

Yesterday I told my husband that I wanted to go to Ligonier for lunch and to get my silk floss, and then maybe I’d want a quickie or two, also. He offered to drive and hopped right in the car…..I don’t think he realized that this was what I meant.

It’s a gorgeous fall day here. It’s one of those days with a bright blue sky, brilliant colored trees, and deliciously warm temperatures. I don’t especially like fall, but today is a day that I want to grab and hold on to!

This will be a completely random post. My daughter loves the word “random”. I don’t quite understand how she’s using it, but then again, I’m not 15.

Colleen’s soccer season is over next week. It will be a luxury to have evenings at home again. I love it and I love to watch her, but really….I’m tired. Once the games get started, the season becomes intense. Colleen played well this year – she was a varsity starter all year and I’ve watched her get better and better. The best thing is: She loves to play. Colleen (almost) always comes off the field or out of practice with a smile on her face.

My soccer season is coming to a close soon, too. My hips and my sanity are grateful. After working games all weekend, I really pay by Sunday night. I don’t know any way around it, and it seems that all of the referees my age are complaining about various aches and pains, too.

We’ve had yet another repair to this money pit of a house. The main furnace needed to be replaced, and as usual with my husband, that wasn’t enough. So now we have one new furnace and two new heat pumps. We’ve spent way too much money on the house this year….I don’t even want to think about it. And I still don’t have my new kitchen. Sigh….Dave thinks we’ll be moving in about 10 years, but he may have to pry me out of this house after having spent a quadrillion dollars on it to get it just right.

My (not-so) LNS called that they have my skeins of silk in for Tree of Life. I had to chain myself to my chair yesterday to keep from hopping in the car. But as for tomorrow? Well, that’s another story.

The world's slowest stitcher ACTUALLY has a progress picture for you today!

So…it’s been another two weeks since I visited my blog. I really enjoy all of your blogs more than adding to my own! You should know that I’m stitching vicariously through all of you….I’m doing stitch-alongs in my head, ooohing and aaaahing over your exchanges, lusting after your shop and festival purchases, and completely appreciating all of your project progress and finishes. And if my present life just won’t cooperate with my stitching life, then…(for now) I’m just happy that you’re all here for me to read about.

Soccer, cross-country, band, and work. That’s my life. But I don’t want to miss a minute of it because it has recently dawned on me how short these years are with my kids, and although over the years I’ve griped about the driving and the waiting and the bad weather and the concession stand duty and the late (or nonexistent) dinners, I will absolutely miss it when it’s over. John’s senior year has brought all of this home to me and suddenly the time seems so much more……precious?

Speaking of precious time, I went to see my parents last week for a nice long weekend. My dad seemed a bit worse – he’s sleeping more, and he has more “worried” time in his wakeful hours.

He’s started motions with his hands. I remember them with Dave’s uncle, and I hear it’s common. It’s as if Dad’s sewing something or making something. Once it was as if he was making a snowball, and then he bent down and released it, as if to let it roll to the floor.

Here’s a crazy wish. I wish I could enter that world he’s in for a little while and see what’s going on in there so I’d know how to respond to him. Because now Dad is almost nonverbal. Every now and then he says something understandable, so if you want to catch it, you really have to be paying attention.

And I hate that my visits end with tears. I worry about how awful that must make him feel. But I kind of lost it when I left this time. I had packed the car and I was ready to go, and he had just come out of bed, so I said, “Dad, I’m so glad that you got up so I could say goodbye to you.” And he said, “Well…I love you.” I swear it wasn’t just an automatic response. I know it. And I didn’t mean to cry, but I couldn’t help it. Then I beat myself up all the way home.

As for my mom – she’s awesome. I’m not saying that she’s handling all of this perfectly well, but she’s doing better than she was a year ago. And better than 6 months ago. Taking care of my dad is an incredible amount of work, and most of it right now is mental. Thinking ahead. Anticipating his needs. Making decisions. Trying to understand him. Giving Dad the opportunity to try to do things, but knowing that he really can’t do anything. Dealing with the grief over the losses that happen daily. And all the while, not totally freaking out over an uncertain future.

Mom has taken lots of positive steps, like getting a dog for company. She’s arranged for a visiting nurse, and though the nurse is there for Dad, she is a wonderful resource and comfort for my mother, even if it’s only once a week. Mom joined Weight Watchers and is doing fabulously – lost 21+ pounds. And she’s made steps to sell the big family home and move into something smaller and more accessible for them. She’s really quite remarkable.

Mom and I had a nice weekend together. Mostly, we cooked, and it came to me that she’s been having a hard time planning meals. Mom was never what you could call a good cook….my dad was the cook of the house. He loved to cook. And now he’s kind of picky, so she gets discouraged.

Funny thing though – he ate everything that we cooked all weekend long. He ate platefuls at every meal, and believe me, I’m a passable cook, but I’m no Julia Child. It makes me wonder about the energy around the “family meal”. As if conversation and company will stimulate us to eat well, no matter our age or infirmity. And with Mom and I talking and laughing, the energy was positive, whereas when they are alone, Mom tries, but it’s hard to have a conversation with yourself. So I’ll bet their meals are quiet.

Ah well. That’s the Dad report.

I’ve been plugging away at “You’re a Star”, but I’m still less than halfway along. Eighteen squares, 17 stitches by 17 stitches, with identical stars inside the squares, and some simple lettering, and I’ve been at this for over 6 months! I may set a new record for lingering projects!

I continue to run and enjoy the peace of it. Sometimes when the music is just right and my pace is comfortable, I feel like I'm floating. And I want to close my eyes and just float. So sometimes I actually do close my eyes. I know I'm going to fall on my face one day, but until then...it feels so good. So I'll live dangerously!

So, if Anna doesn't know the Bushel and a Peck song, maybe many more of you don't know it either. And when I say "many", I mean the three of four other readers that put up with my nonsense posts besides Anna!

Ok, it's from Guys and Dolls, and you can listen to Doris Day singing it here:
http://www.ziplo.com/BushelAndAPeck.html

And you can be certain that I sounded exactly like Doris Day when I sang it, too.

Hmmm. This is an odd coincidence.

When my kids were little, I sang to them a lot. You know…in the car when they were fussy. Or in the middle of the night when they’d get up and I’d rock them a little. And I suppose that you sing the songs that just come to your mind. Not even necessarily soothing songs. For nighttime rocking we liked Amazing Grace, We Gather Together, and Tell Me Why.

In the car, they loved Take Me Out to the Ballgame. It was also one of the few songs with words that Dave knew. It would calm them right down.

They also liked You are My Sunshine. So you know I was tickled to see this design a few months back:


Of course, I ordered that one. Especially after I had seen the wonderful stitched pieces on a few blogs.

And now, here they come with another of my kids' favorites :


Can you even believe it? Isn't that funny?

I have this feeling that the next La D Da design will be the baseball song….

Thanks for the get well wishes! Dave brought me home some probiotic capsules, "to restore my intestinal health". I'm feeling better already. I was actually able to eat and NOT run to the bathroom after 10 minutes. So all is well.

Sorry that I haven't posted for the past week.

I don't know if it's stress or if I ate something nasty, but I've been pretty sick for the last seven days. I manage to make it through my work and kid obligations, but I feel like a walking ghost.

I'll be writing again soon, though, because this can't last forever.

I have such a busy weekend ahead. Tonight the kids have an away football game in Ambridge - about 2 hours away. And even though our team will get crushed, Dave doesn't get many chances to see the kids perform with the marching band, so we'll be going to the game. Besides, it's a beautiful night to watch football.

Tomorrow I have 5 short soccer games to referee - about 4 hours worth and all in the morning. Then in the evening Colleen has an away soccer game in Belle Vernon (not too far away), so we'll be back on the road again.

Sunday I was scheduled to ref two long games, but one postponed, so I'll only have one long-ish game. I'm kind of glad. I'll need to catch up a little at the house on Sunday. And rest. Yup. Rest. Rest is good.

The 84 Lumber Classic Tournament starts on Monday, if any of you watch golf. You can see my "neighborhood". Nemacolin Woodlands is just down the road, and it's where my husband plays golf. Very lovely.

The weekend went pretty much as planned. So I won’t rehash any old stuff for you.

DS ran in a cross-country meet yesterday. The course was sloppy and had GIANT hills, but he ran very well. He worked really hard all summer, and I’m very proud of him. Here are some photos.

After 3 years of being a mid-pack runner, I’m thrilled to see him out in front of the pack.

Next, here he is at about the midpoint of the race, and that's me standing by the school bus.

And finally, a strong, first place finish! He ran a difficult, hilly 5K (3.1 mile) course in 18 mins and 40 seconds. And I'm pretty sure it's his first time he's won a high school meet. The boy was on Cloud Nine. And he really deserved it.


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Here's how it is: If you read my blog, you'll have to put up with photos of my kids from time to time. Here's my daughter. She's 15 going on 30. I wouldn't be lying to say that she's usually more mature me. I'm a very lucky mom.

Believe it or not, I think I'm almost caught up on all of the work I pushed around this summer.

So, today is Clean This Disgusting Office Day.

And then maybe I can spend a guilt-free weekend. I think this happens almost every Labor Day. It feels like a gift!

Weekend plans include:
1. Football Friday night. No, my kids don't play. They are in the Marching Band. Sometimes I just show up for the half-time show. (I'm a bad mother.) Plus, if we get heavy rains from this hurricane, they may not even perform, and in that case, I'll have sat in the rain with wet underwear for no reason at all. I like to watch football, but only in fair weather....
2. Soccer tournament Saturday from 10AM till at least 3PM, unless the girls win and then we go to a playoff, which could be later. I had better take some decent food and a good book. And yes - my umbrella. I'll watch soccer in any weather.
3. Soccer meeting on Sunday. We're putting together the program book for the season, and that means I get a sneak peek at all of the girls' photos. Love it!
4. Monday - NADA. Nothing. Maybe I'll watch The Closer on TNT all day. Maybe I'll take a long nap. And I'll stitch. Yes, stitch. Ooooh, I'll wake up Monday morning and get my coffee and sit in a chair till I feel like getting up.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

I did it!!

I've mentioned before that I've been doing some running. Well, on my route, just about when I've ran about two miles there is this hill. I hate that blasted hill. It has always confounded me and I have to stop and walk. Then I pick up running again after I've started back down the hill, but I've always felt a let down.

NOT TODAY! I made it to the top, and maybe I could have done more, but I had this fit of laughing once I reached the top. And I just had to stop and laugh some more. The kids waiting for the school bus sure gave me weird looks....

Crazy, old, sweaty women must be very frightening to kindergardeners.

There’s this line from a song on Roseann Cash’s Black Cadillac album: “I miss the sounds of Tennessee and the smell of heavy rain.”

I always think of that line when I go out for a morning or evening walk, because while I don’t live in Tennessee, summer in the mountains of Pennsylvania is pretty comparable. Such a smell. Just when I decide that I can’t take another moment of the heat and humidity, I smell that smell and it’s heavenly. You guys in dry climates don’t know what you’re missing.

I remember a couple of years ago, DH and I went to Las Vegas in early May. We came home on the red-eye, so we were just leaving the Pittsburgh airport as a misty dawn was breaking. I swear to you that as soon as we stepped out the door and into the parking lot, we smelled flowers. Not car exhaust or jet fumes. Flowers.

Day Two of peace and quiet. Life is good.

Hello fellow bloggers!

Yes, I’ve been neglecting our relationship. I’ve thought that maybe we should end this - But it’s not you…it’s me. (Are you getting all nervous and thinking that we may be breaking up? Such a classic breakup line!) I just needed my space for a while. No. Not Myspace. That would be lame.

But anyway, the kids are back to school today, and I promised myself that I’d jot down some thoughts for my lonely blog, so here I am. This may be long winded or it may be short and sweet, depending on if I get on a roll or not.

Summer – so glad to see it come and (except for the great weather), so glad to see it end. This was how I spent my summer:



Those are various trips to and from colleges, camps, and family. I estimated that I put an extra 3000 miles on my car this summer. Yup. I became a real road warrior. I’ve seen parts of the state that I’ve never seen before and I have to say that I enjoyed most of it. I wish DS had done a little more of the driving, and I started to hate his MP3 player (whoa, what a conversation killer), but all in all, it was ok.

So now John enters his senior year of high school, and there are school applications to complete, interviews to be scheduled, and believe it or not, probably one more campus to visit (Ohio State). And there are all the senior nights to prepare for. I know I’ll cry. In the meantime, while I’m not busy getting teary-eyed, I must find a perfect maroon and white outfit for the photos.


What do you think? A little too much maybe? Not enough? Well, I’m still looking.

DD had an interesting summer, too. She had many learning experiences, including a difficult stay at Girl Scout camp (she’s outgrown it), a great stay at soccer camp (it’s wonderful not to be a freshman anymore), and after practicing with the cross country team all summer, Colleen has discovered that she’s a pretty good runner. There have been lots of parties, lots of friends, and as far as I know, no romances and that’s just fine by me.

I have to say that my kiddos really make me proud. We have our ups and downs, like all families, but this summer was unusually smooth sailing, and that’s a blessing because in other family matters…..

My parents are in an ever-changing situation these days. I visited my parents in late July and was heartbroken to see the decline in my dad. Dad has lost most of his speech abilities. He uses nonsense syllables and words – we can’t understand most of what he says. And when he uses real words, they tend to be in random order and never on topic. Dad sleeps a lot. Most of the day, in fact, and he has a hard time distinguishing between wakefulness and dreams. He knew who I was, but not all the time.

Needless to say, my mom does everything for him, except feeding him. He’s still able to use a fork or spoon to eat. He can use the bathroom on his own, too, but he needs help with his belt and zipper.

So…you see where we are. Thank god my sister Janet is nearby and is so helpful to my mom. My other brothers and sister are nearby too, but for one reason or another, they aren’t much help. So Janet helps as much as she can, but now I think that my mom has come to the realization that she needs outside help, also. She’s arranging for some homecare and for some physical therapy for dad. And she’s considering the next step – selling the big house and buying a smaller, single level home in a community where she and dad can be comfortable and cared for. I’m sure I’ll have more to tell you later. I don’t see her making any moves this year, but I’ll bet that by next year we’ll be starting some serious house hunting.

And I’ll be back on the road again.

My cross stitch projects have gathered dust all summer. So many great things to do, so little time. And my reading list was pitiful.

Well, my 30 minutes of fooling around here have ended, so I’ll close here and pick up again next time.

Thanks for hanging in with me this summer!

I’m trying to put together some kind of meaningful post today that maybe even has something to do with stitching.

I’ve been waiting and waiting for an order of silk floss so that I can begin two large samplers that I purchased earlier in the year. I had ordered two 8M skeins in shades of red and one 25M skein of blue sometime back in May. After a short wait, the reds arrived at the LNS, but the blue has been backordered for months. Ordinarily, since the shop is rather far away, I’d wait till it all arrived and then they’d mail it or I’d pick it up. But I was driving reasonably nearby there last week, so I decided to go get the reds, since it seems that the blue may never arrive.

The dark red arrived perfectly. The lighter shade, on the other hand is completely different. I expected some variation due to dye lots, but this just won’t work:


The small skein on the top is the one I experimented with in the spring and really liked. It’s color #2921. The silk on the bottom is labeled #2921, also, but it’s more of a coral color than a pink.

I guess it’s back to the drawing board on this one.

I'm hot. I'm tired. I'm pooped. Two days on the road visiting colleges with DS in 100 degree weather will do that to you.

Between hauling kids to camp, visiting parents, and college visits, I've driven about a gazillion miles since the end of June.

I'll try to gather some thoughts in the next day or so to do a meaningful blog post, but in the meantime....From Anna's blog:

01. What is your favorite word? Fabulous. (don’t laugh)
02. What is your least favorite word? It’s a toss up between “hopefully”, which is a real word, and “irregardless”, which isn’t a word and sets my teeth on edge.
03. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? Lovely music on all three counts.
04. What turns you off? Laziness and lack of initiative.
05. What is your favorite curse word? Sonofabitch.
06. What sound or noise do you love? Rain on the roof.
07. What sound or noise do you hate? Fingernails being clipped.
08. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Chef.
09. What profession would you not like to do? Therapist.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Everyone has been waiting for you.

DD has been off at camp for the past several days, and I’ve taken this opportunity to “red” up her room a little. (For you non-Western PA readers, that means to tidy it up.) I had thought about painting it, but the volume of posters and magazine pages pinned to the wall kind of overwhelmed me.

She has some hunky young men on those walls! Of course, Johnny Depp has most of the wall space, followed by Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, and the young man who played Harry Potter. Cute, cute, cute. Then there are a few sports guys, and a few that even though I have no idea who they are, I can certainly see how they made it to the wall…

So it got me thinking about my pre-teen and young teen movie star crushes. Well, most of my posters were TV heartthrobs – we didn’t get to the movies as often as today’s kids seem to go. And I came up with this list of old flames. Most of them were from the 60’s and early 70’s. Once I was older I seemed to stop watching nighttime TV. Too many other, interesting, real-life boys were out there, I guess.
So, without further ado, here’s my list, followed by their TV show:

Lee’s TV Heartthrobs

Bobby Sherman: Here Come the Brides, and a questionable singing career

Michael Cole: Mod Squad

Christopher George: The Rat Patrol

Batman and Robin: I thought they were both hunky.

Paul Michael Glaser: Starsky and Hutch

Davey Jones: The Monkees. How could you not think he was adorable?? I know he has some funny dance moves, but back in the sixties, he was awesome. Hey - if you look at the video, doesn't the blonde dancer look just like Candice Bergen? I wonder....

Good Lord, it’s hot!

What a summer to lose the use of the lake! I wish I could swim. It hits me at about 3PM, because that’s when I’d be putting away my work and heading down to the water. And then sometimes later, too, when Dave would come home from work and we’d go for an evening swim.

We don’t have air conditioning. With living in the mountains, there are only a few weeks in the year that we really feel like we need it, so Dave and I have never thought it was worth the expense. Usually we pooh-pooh air conditioning. Hmm. I’m rethinking that attitude. Could be the menopause talking, though.

Ewww. I have to tell you this. It’s kind of about air conditioning. When John and I went to Bradford, I had thought that finding a hotel room would be easy. WRONG. We got what was probably one of the very last rooms in Bradford, at a Comfort Inn, and - - - - - it was a smoking room. And when we walked in the door, it was as if the room itself had been smoking. Between that “distinctive” hotel smell, the cheap air conditioning unit, and the smoke smell, the room reeked. Even opening the windows didn’t help. But our only other option was to keep searching and I was bone tired. No lie, I could barely sleep that night. I kept waking up, wondering what that smell was? I’ll never take a non-smoking room for granted again.

Some totally random stuff:

1. I’ve become fascinated with David Bowie. I have no idea why. I had friends who loved Bowie when I was in high school, but I never got into it. So why now?

2. I started watching a new TV series from Netflix. It’s an HBO series called The Wire. It’s pretty good so far, although the main character seems stiff. Either he’s not a very good actor, or the writing for his character is lame. I haven’t decided yet. Maybe he just hasn’t hit his stride, character-wise. I like the story line, and that’s enough to keep me watching.

3. I’ve made some progress running – I’ve broken the one-mile barrier, even if it’s only 1 mile plus 20 more steps. Altogether, I’m running/walking about 3 miles, but finally the running part is more than the walking part. YAY!

4. A friend of John's left for the Army yesterday. It's absolutely what he wants to do, and he's happy and excited, but it breaks my heart. He seems so young, at only 18.

5. There’s nothing better for summer dinner than a tuna fish/hot pepper sandwich, with potato chips and Pepsi.

And on that note….See you next time!

Such a week.

DS and I enjoyed the college visits last week. Both schools were very small, and the facilities were very nice. They were only slightly larger than his high school. Is that the best environment for him? I’m not sure.

Westminster was lovely. It had a beautiful campus, it was relatively nearby (less than 2 hours), and he had a wonderful talk with the professor who is advisor to the health career students. But expensive? Holy cow.

Pitt at Bradford was really far away – It took us about 4 ½ hours to get home from there and most of it was through the Allegheny National Forest, so not only was it far, it was very isolated. I know the choice is up to him, but I really hope he doesn’t choose that school. Getting him there and back could be a real problem, especially since Dave and I decided that he’s not taking a car. Now…wasn’t that a fun conversation? We’re sticking to our guns that a) he won’t need a car on campus; b) it would be a major distraction from studying; and c) it could turn out to be one giant PITA if it breaks, has problems, etc. Of course, John doesn’t see it our way at all and gets very frustrated because he wants to discuss (argue about) it and we say that there’s no discussion. It’s ever so pleasant…..sigh.

Within the next two weeks we’ll visit two very large schools – University of Pittsburgh (main), and Penn State (main). And then a couple more small schools after that. It’s a very exciting time.

We arrived home Friday evening, and spent Saturday packing for another trip. Colleen was headed to soccer camp with her high school team, and John was going to a Nike running camp in North Carolina, so since both kids were going away, Dave and I cashed in some airline miles for a trip to Las Vegas. Needless to say, we were crazy packing on Saturday.

Unfortunately, things had been very touch and go with Dave’s Uncle Joe. He was sick for a very long time, and about two weeks ago he stopped getting out of bed. Around mid-week he was in and out of consciousness. So Sunday, after taking Colleen to soccer camp, I stopped by his house and it was evident to me that he might not live through the night.

Dave was very close to Joe. Dave’s dad left when he was only 7 years old, and his uncle stepped in to fill that void. Later, Dave became a pharmacist, like his uncle, and worked for him for 25 years. Joe and his wife never had any children, and he treated Dave and his brother like his own.

Anyways, we unpacked our bags, canceled our reservations and flights, and stayed home. And Joe passed away that evening - it was the right decision. So it was a crazy week of funeral planning and crazy-ass family stuff. (and believe me, Dave’s family is crazy.) I’m glad it’s over for the time being.

This was one of the first funerals where I noticed that I wasn’t very emotional. Joe had been so sick for so long. He had hardening of the cerebral arteries and he didn’t seem to experience much physical pain, but he had awful hallucinations and he was agitated and scared and upset most of the time…. and there was nothing we could do. Sometimes I could calm him with a word or two, but not always. Joe was in such deep distress that I actually felt happy for him to be out of that state. I also think that my grieving occurred months ago when he took a really bad turn – my tears were shed and over. And since I visited him very frequently, I was more than prepared. Certainly I’ll miss Joe, but I just can’t cry. It sounds cold, but it feels more peaceful. It’s hard to explain.

I wonder if I’ll feel the same way when my dad dies. I feel like I say goodbye to a piece of him each time I go home…I’m really emotional and cry for a few days after I get back. I wonder….because now I look at photographs and I don’t see my dad, but a memory of my dad. Augh. It’s so confusing.

I have absolutely no stitching to show you or to talk about. I long for a day to myself. I thought when I quit my other job that I’d have all kinds of spare time, but that hasn’t happened. On the other hand, I can’t imagine what my summer would have been like so far if I had not quit. Talk about stress….So I’ll shut up and I won’t complain, and hope to have something to show in my next post!