Potty Party

Whatta day! Drove 5 hrs total to attend a Potty Party in honor of DS2's 2nd son, who just conquered the Potty. Here is a pic of him holding his Certificate of Merit.
Had a very nice time talking to Other Nana, Other Grandpa, DIL and DS2, as well as the kids. Also saw DIL's brother and his wife, altho we did not get to chat. Kids were precious, particularly the Honoree. Interested to find that GS-Ch is reading chapter books. He shared one with me and I was so surprised to find big words like, "identity," "thought," and "leopard." Not too shabby for a 5-yr-old.
Did not get to kiss the Man of the Hour goodbye as he was in the RR with his Mom resolving a little poopy problem. Well, it was a big day. I'm sure it was the final slip.

Going to a Potty Party

And the race continues. This morning we have church, then head out to Raleigh to celebrate the (finally) potty-training of our dear grandson. His heart is so big and he just didn't seem to embrace change. He is three now and has taken to the potty in a grand way.
Upon returning, I have to re, re, re proofread the grant that is due on Tuesday, and continue to work on the last one. The good news is that we have sponsorships from the community for TWO benches ($500 each). This is our first tangible item, and they both happened on the same day.
Monday morning before Girls' Coffee (10am every Monday), I am dressing up and going out to solicit donations to the auction. Trying to figure out if I should ask car dealers to donate a car, by myself, or if I should poll the neighborhood for someone who knows them personally, may be more likely to succeed. Have to think on that one. At 10 it's coffee with the girls, 2:20 pick up Little One, 2:30 piano lesson, 3pm meet with Parks director, home for supper. 6pm Little One to swim and 6:30 Auction meeting. Whew. It's like this every day lately.
Must dress now for church.....

Feeling Better

Okay, things are easing up a hair. I have been so overwhelmed with all there is to do, I was sort of frozen in place. Like when you dream a tiger/monster/bad guy is chasing you and you can't run? Or you try to scream and no sound comes out?
I made a detailed todo list and began knocking items off one by one today. Missed my workout, but I finished one grant (only one left), paid a visit to someone in the neighborhood who has been on my list too long, returned calls, made more calls, organized my dayplanner, and made a huge dent in the laundry. Bit by bit I am beginning to feel better and actually might reinstate my faith in myself as someone who can get things DONE.
The visit I made today was so cool. There was an elementary school in the neighborhood, and at some point in the past it was closed. I am pretty sure it was already closed when I moved here 15 years ago. About 12 years ago, someone bought it and renovated it into apartments. It has 14' ceilings and huge windows, but it backs up to our worst avenue, right on the edge of our neighborhood -- slumlords and crack houses and gangs, yup, all here in Smalltown, USA, and all concentrated on this one street. The apartments are nice, the building is nice, and the tenants are nice upper-middle-class older people. The problem is that it's not 100% safe outside their gates.
I made an appointment with the resident manager, a lady about 58 yrs old who is tiny, feisty, and fiercely loyal to her job and to our neighborhood. We formed a partnership: we are both going to contact the City about cleaning the area. We are going to increase our loudness bit by bit until something is done.
All the older folks from the neighborhood went to this school. She held an Open House 2 years ago and many of them visited, including the lady who grew up in my house. She collected copies of student photos, yearbooks, class pictures, and news articles, and compiled quite a scrapbook all about the school.
As I was getting ready to leave, she said, "If there's anything you need, please let us know. Our residents would love to volunteer for the neighborhood." BINGO. "Well.........we'd love it if you could compile ANOTHER scrapbook about the school. You see, we're having this charity auction on April 1 to raise funds for the park and I think it would draw quite a bit of money...." Of course she agreed, and now we will have this charming and unique item to auction off.
It was a better day.

Catching Up

I have not blogged in such a long while. I am really a little overwhelmed with all that is going on, and am struggling to accomplish all we have before us.

The neighborhood is so busy with many plans -- Egg Hunt on April 2, charity auction to raise money for the park on April 1, Centennial Celebration on June 10, with the groundbreaking ceremony that same day, grants due end of February and end of March. The one that is due next week is quite a bit more complex that the one I recently completed; the March one is more complex than that.

Two weeks ago, I learned that there really are two crack houses in the neighborhood. As I was starting to contact authorities and organize neighborhood efforts, we learned that our no-so-amicable neighbor, Doc-in-a-Box, is trying to add a same day surgery facility to their campus, and they are competing with our local hospital for the contract to do so. Our neighborhood traditionally fights anything that will increase traffic and this facility is actually on our street, down at the end. We met Monday night for 2.5 hours to get all the information and plan our strategy. The deadlines are tight: Letters to the State are due by 03.March; the State hearing is 21.March.

Good news from my editor yesterday that I have been approved for an article, just about overfilled my cup. I feel paralyzed and the house is messier than it has ever been. I feel like all I do is go to meetings, run home and cook, clean up a little, and drive Traci.

It seems I need to find an actual paying job, and soon, and have worked off and on, on my resume. How will I get everything done?

Good news is that I have been eating a strict veggie diet for 16 days now, and working out every day. Yesterday my old gf and I played racquetball for an hour. Sweated, laughed till we cried, hit air balls. hit the wall, and had such a blast we are going back tomorrow for another round. Who knows? One day, we might get pretty good. We couldn't help notice the little man who drives the floor polisher, standing in the same place for 20 minutes, laughing at us. GF remarked he was going to rub a hole in the floor. I replied that he was going to disappear. They'd find him in China, still holding the floor machine, and still laughing.

For today, I am leaving in a sec for the church to make the slideshow for church. This has been a regular Wed morning thing. I enjoy doing this and the woman who does it with me is great. We have a good creative energy together and enjoy each other's company. I leave at noon to get have my hair done, then off to pick up Traci. Run by market for a few things, then actually home for two hours before taking her to children's choir and dashing to the Y for today's workout. At 8 it's home again to watch American Idol.

In light of all of this, blogging has taken a real back seat. I miss it and hope to pick back up on it soon.

The Veg Thing

I shared with some of you in the fall my intentions to stop being a vegetarian after some twelve years of practicing vegetarianism. Your reactions were surprising. I had felt somewhat outcast even by my own extended family for years as you conspired on visits to run to McDonald's, and of course at the family gatherings when the ever popular "What will we feed her?" came up. Yet when we "announced" the change, most reactions were of shock and dismay. "It's such a part of you!" was the most popular response.

I had made the decision due to what I felt was an addiction to carbohydrates. I felt that introducing more protein into my diet would make meals filling and reduce my dependency on carbohydrates.

Well, after a 5-month struggle with being a carnivore, I am once again a firm vegetarian. I will spare you the glamorous details, but suffice it to say, my system did not care for the change. I've been veggie once again for two weeks and my body is finally beginning to heal.

I am glad that I gave it a try; it proved to me that this is where I need to be. I am once again a pretty strict veggie, foregoing broth and so on, and mostly eating vegetables with some tofu and beans for protein. I once again feel energetic and have been working out daily. We'll see how it goes.........

"W"

I realized how inappropriate I have been when our 10-year-old granddaughter began saying disrespectful things about the President of the United States.

"Little One," I began. "It's no secret that I don't like the man. I believe I have been too vocal in my feelings. He's still OUR President and he is due our respect."

"I can respect him, Nana," she replied, "but I don't have to like him, do I?"

Anyone who knows me may have turned here today to see me spew forth bilious responses to his oratory last night.

We are working on self-restraint here. You'll have to find someone else's blog today.