Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How to give small town directions
The idea for this blog came to me last night after speaking with my father. My family is working out the finer details for the family reunion this year and a location had been decided on. During the conversation my father decided to give me directions to the new location and his directions were exactly how anyone who grew up in small town would give them.
If you want to crash our family reunion, here are the directions he gave me. Go on the road headed towards the castle, keep on that road until you get to where I showed you Aunt Jenny's old house. Now there is not much left to that house, but by where her house used to be, turn on that road and just go a little bit further.
When I was growing up we gave directions by town landmarks, even if the landmark was no longer there. If you were not from the town we were not much help because well you should know where cemetery hill was.
These are the landmarks I would still use if I had to give directions in my home town today and I bet few of them are still around.
Big Star, Cemetery Hill, Dairy Queen, the Walker's house (now this is the loop), city pool and the park.
If you want to crash our family reunion, here are the directions he gave me. Go on the road headed towards the castle, keep on that road until you get to where I showed you Aunt Jenny's old house. Now there is not much left to that house, but by where her house used to be, turn on that road and just go a little bit further.
When I was growing up we gave directions by town landmarks, even if the landmark was no longer there. If you were not from the town we were not much help because well you should know where cemetery hill was.
These are the landmarks I would still use if I had to give directions in my home town today and I bet few of them are still around.
Big Star, Cemetery Hill, Dairy Queen, the Walker's house (now this is the loop), city pool and the park.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Letter of Intent
I have finally finished the Letter of Intent regarding Maddy. It was hard to write and took me several months. For those of you who are new to my blog here is the original post I wrote regarding the Letter of Intent.
The short version of the story is that once the hubby and I are gone, someone will need a guideline to help Maddy and the more information they have the easier the transition will be for everyone. We know that Maddy can never live on her own, she will always need a support system in place. It is very difficult to sit down and write honestly about things that your child lacks.
I am now in the process of reviewing and updating the document. It will always be a work in progress and I will have to update it once or twice a year. I now need for people who know Maddy to read the document and provide me with additional input. The more information we have the better.
If you are a close friend or family just e-mail me or send an e-mail via Face book and I will get a copy to you. If you are a blogger friend and are interested in reading the document you can contact me as well. I will need to do some editing to protect privacy of people named in the document.
Thanks in advance to anyone/everyone who gives me feedback!!!
The short version of the story is that once the hubby and I are gone, someone will need a guideline to help Maddy and the more information they have the easier the transition will be for everyone. We know that Maddy can never live on her own, she will always need a support system in place. It is very difficult to sit down and write honestly about things that your child lacks.
I am now in the process of reviewing and updating the document. It will always be a work in progress and I will have to update it once or twice a year. I now need for people who know Maddy to read the document and provide me with additional input. The more information we have the better.
If you are a close friend or family just e-mail me or send an e-mail via Face book and I will get a copy to you. If you are a blogger friend and are interested in reading the document you can contact me as well. I will need to do some editing to protect privacy of people named in the document.
Thanks in advance to anyone/everyone who gives me feedback!!!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Time
Time means something different for everyone, but there are two basic camps when it comes to time.
The first camp thinks time is like a big project for school or work. You want it correct, punctual and early seems like a bonus. People who are in this camp can vary how important it is to be punctual. I was a more moderate person in this camp. I preferred the 5-10 minutes early. People used to joke that if I arrived exactly on time I was 10 minutes late. My grandfather however was a bit of an extremist in the punctual camp. We all decided as a family that everyone needed to tell him that things started an hour later than they really did. He was a show up a couple of hours early kinda guy.
The second camp when it comes to time are the people who see time as a suggestion or guideline. These are the people who will show up but you just never know when. They don't rush in with reason for the tardiness, they just stroll in and seem pleased that they made it to the location within what they consider a reasonable time frame.
My life has recently forced me out of the punctual camp and on the fringes of the tardy folks. When my Mom called recently to make sure I was alright because I was not at the restaurant on time I had to assure her all was fine. That is when I realized that because of Maddy time has become a guideline not a deadline for me.
While pondering this I realized what Salvador Dali was portraying in this picture.
He obviously had a good friend that had a teenage girl. I don't think the girl would even have to be special needs. The picture depicts when parents, as well as time, finally gave up the fight, wilted and surrendered to the girl. I am not sure if it depicts defeat or survival by surrendering their timeframe to teen girl time. However, I am pretty sure it is a statement of survival!
The first camp thinks time is like a big project for school or work. You want it correct, punctual and early seems like a bonus. People who are in this camp can vary how important it is to be punctual. I was a more moderate person in this camp. I preferred the 5-10 minutes early. People used to joke that if I arrived exactly on time I was 10 minutes late. My grandfather however was a bit of an extremist in the punctual camp. We all decided as a family that everyone needed to tell him that things started an hour later than they really did. He was a show up a couple of hours early kinda guy.
The second camp when it comes to time are the people who see time as a suggestion or guideline. These are the people who will show up but you just never know when. They don't rush in with reason for the tardiness, they just stroll in and seem pleased that they made it to the location within what they consider a reasonable time frame.
My life has recently forced me out of the punctual camp and on the fringes of the tardy folks. When my Mom called recently to make sure I was alright because I was not at the restaurant on time I had to assure her all was fine. That is when I realized that because of Maddy time has become a guideline not a deadline for me.
While pondering this I realized what Salvador Dali was portraying in this picture.
He obviously had a good friend that had a teenage girl. I don't think the girl would even have to be special needs. The picture depicts when parents, as well as time, finally gave up the fight, wilted and surrendered to the girl. I am not sure if it depicts defeat or survival by surrendering their timeframe to teen girl time. However, I am pretty sure it is a statement of survival!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Woo Hoo!! I am finally overweight!!
Wait..what???
For those of you that have a Wii Fit will know what I am talking about. I have been hovering the line between obese and overweight BMI for about two weeks now. Yesterday I finally dropped down to the overweight section and hopefully have said good bye to the land of obese.
The Wii Fit is a funny little thing and I know several people who got their feelings hurt by it and refuse to exercise with it. I happen to enjoy the Wii Fit and ignore the snide comments it will sometimes make. I know I am out of shape, so I look at as a challenge, and this frame of mind is working for me.
I have a long way to go to healthy weight according to the Wii, but when I get there, I will post a picture of my poor fat avatar and then my nice skinny one.
For now I will keep at it and might be ready for a bathing suit this summer!!
For those of you that have a Wii Fit will know what I am talking about. I have been hovering the line between obese and overweight BMI for about two weeks now. Yesterday I finally dropped down to the overweight section and hopefully have said good bye to the land of obese.
The Wii Fit is a funny little thing and I know several people who got their feelings hurt by it and refuse to exercise with it. I happen to enjoy the Wii Fit and ignore the snide comments it will sometimes make. I know I am out of shape, so I look at as a challenge, and this frame of mind is working for me.
I have a long way to go to healthy weight according to the Wii, but when I get there, I will post a picture of my poor fat avatar and then my nice skinny one.
For now I will keep at it and might be ready for a bathing suit this summer!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Dear Diary
When I was a young teen like most girls I attempted to keep a diary. I was not very good at it. Many pages were left blank because I did not have anything to write about. When I went back to read it as an adult I found many pages that started with "Dear Diary sorry it has been so long since I have written". The other pages were usually filled with silly things like the current boy that I thought was either foxy or groovy.
This month I have felt very much like my blog has gotten the Dear Diary treatment. There have been a lot more pictures than words this month. I have things to write about, but the few times I have had a chance to write the passion was missing. This month I have been so busy with friends, family commitments and having people over to the house I have not had much time to spend on the blog.
I will try to do better about making time, but know I love to write this blog and love reading the comments from readers as well. Soon I hope to get back to my regular schedule and know that I am a bit envious of the bloggers that can manage life and blogging in a consistent manner!
This month I have felt very much like my blog has gotten the Dear Diary treatment. There have been a lot more pictures than words this month. I have things to write about, but the few times I have had a chance to write the passion was missing. This month I have been so busy with friends, family commitments and having people over to the house I have not had much time to spend on the blog.
I will try to do better about making time, but know I love to write this blog and love reading the comments from readers as well. Soon I hope to get back to my regular schedule and know that I am a bit envious of the bloggers that can manage life and blogging in a consistent manner!
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