"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure."
- John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day
RIGHT NOW, and then again tomorrow and then again the next day and on it goes day after day,
1/2 OF THE WORLD lives on LESS THAN 2 DOLLARS each day.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Do all you can and don't worry about the odds against you. Wield the miracle of life's energy, never worrying whether we fail, concerned only that whether we fail or succeed we do so with all our might. That's all we need to know to feel certain that all our force of diligent effort is worth our while on Earth.
Carl Safina, Voyage of the Turtle
Zamboni and Mim graduating from obedience class. He won a few dog toys that night because he obeyed the quickest in the class when given a command. He made the paper and Mim was quoted in the same article.
Yesterday we attended a "Dog Days of Summer" day hosted by a local feed company that also operates a pet store. The day is all about dogs...mainly anyway. Each of the girls brought one of our dogs. They competed in many different dog trick events. No matter whether they won or lost each participant received a participation prize that consisted of doggy treats...we ended up walking away with 20 bags of doggy treats, plus several different dog toys. So we made a haul....and the funny part was the most non compliant of DaVinci, Rembrandt and Zamboni is Rembrandt, mainly because he is the only dog of ours that DID NOT attend an obedience class and he was adopted at 7 months old, anyway he, along with Mim were the only ones who won a grand prize out of our crew.
We almost didn't make it to the Doggy Days either. The girls put all 3 dogs in the car, along with my keys. Zamboni proceeded in stepping on my remote, thus locking them in and us out. I don't have a spare key since it was a used van (something I will rectify soon). As I was about to call the Police station for assistance, Zam stepped on the remote again and activated the horn. The Police department informed me that I need to call a locksmith. I did, one was busy and the other wouldn't arrive for another 2 hours.....so luckily for us, Zamboni once again stepped on the remote, stopped the horn...and about 10 minutes later, he stepped on it again and unlocked the doors, so we were able to go to doggy days even though our doggies almost prevented us from attending....what a scary half hour or so trying to figure how we were going to get out of the mess we were in.
minutes of running today, but it was a difficult 14 minutes because I was feeling tired. My knees felt great and my feet are holding up well too, so it may have just felt yucky, but was good overall. I find that as I am increasing my minutes of running, I am more tired thus once again proving to me that running is the most effective exercise for me. Sixty minutes of the elliptical or 11 miles of biking don't leave me nearly as tired as running or can I achieve the level of fitness I want, and it is for a lot less time or distance.....amazing.
I loved it, yet at times I was restless because there were moments of little to do. Summer school is very different than regular school so I had the luxury of experiencing life as a principal, yet it is more laid back than the regular school year. I will say I felt less stress as a principal than I sometimes do as a classroom teacher, not completely sure why this was. This summer at our school there were over 450 students grades 4k to 4th grade, an all time high. We also had a high population of students with cognitive disabilities and emotional disabilities. These students made for some very interesting situations. Elementary school is very different than junior high school, some ways better, students are much more loving and huggable (I got hugs everyday), someways not better, the students have less ability and strategies to self regulate. I wasn't use to this in such high numbers.
I handled situations in which I wasn't sure what I would do if presented with it, so I gained confidence Sometimes I felt I did a smashing good job, other times I knew I needed to improve, lucky for me I am a quick study if I mess up, which I do often enough to know that I am a quick study...
I took this elementary internship because I wasn't sure at what level I wanted to be an administrator....and I still completely don't know. I loved working with the teachers and the students. So what I can honestly say is that I wouldn't rule out this age level if I was offered a job in an elementary school.
Today I canned 2 1/2 quarts of yellow beans and 5 quarts of dill pickles and ended up with 11 loaves of apricot bread and 4 pints of apricot jam.
minutes of smooth, feel good running with a distance of a little over 1 1/2 miles. I decreased the pace for every minute I ran. I ran before I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then lifted my arms and abs. My knees were a lot less sore by switching up my routine. Feet still going strong.....
Then the girls and I checked bluebird nest boxes out at Standing Rocks. We checked them to get a photos for where the boxes were located so I can bring my class out there in the spring. We walked a little over 3 miles but it was very pleasant and in the end, the girls said they enjoyed it as well.
This morning it was the girl's first day of VBS and tonight Zamboni graduated from his obedience class.
Now I am sitting downstairs while the girls are sleeping because I am waiting for the apricot bread to finish baking. I think in the end we will have about 12 apricot loaves of bread, 4 pints of apricot jam, 1 gallon of apricot wine and about 2 lbs of dehydrated apricots..all made today between all the other business...and then on to the peaches predicted in arrive in about another week.
I also have some cucumbers that need pickling and I plan to do that tomorrow.
My wine making vat
Zamboni with a very patient DaVinci
Ve at the fair...she loves babies animals!!
Ve on the slide ride
Tuki at the bottom of the slide ride
Mim on the bumper cars
at my surprise party today with the family...the girls did a good job keeping it a secret!!
my 50 year old roses and my wine glass
Me and step mom/grandma Jill
Tuki with the duck chuck she invented with two others at Camp Invention
Tuki and cousin going down the slide
the three amigos
Me and the girls from today.
The photos are out of order, but you get the feel for our last few days!!
It is significant for me. I am not sad about it either.
I feel liberated because I feel I have dodged the ghost that I have been running from my entire life.
The ghost of cancer past. As I have stated on this blog before, since my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35 and then eventually dieing from the cancer that took over her body 15 years later at age 50, I have been making very conscience choices to prevent cancer. I ate or didn't eat certain foods that helped prevent or caused cancer. I never smoked, drank limited alcohol and I have been a exercise nut nearly my entire life.
Needless to say, at 48 when I was diagnosed, also with breast cancer, I was hit hard emotionally. Logically I knew God gave me a gift in allowing the docs to find the cancer in a noninvasive form, rather than years down the line after it had become invasive. Emotionally it was a gut punch. Yet it was a gift of time to allow me to decide what I planned to do with the information. What I did is now history, it was hard, but oh so much easier than it would have been if I had to have gone through radiation and chemotherapy and with the nagging fear that it was going to return. What I chose has given me peace, a real down, ghost busting peace. The demon has been removed. I can now enjoy my life, and I mean really enjoy my life in a way I have not done since I was five. Enjoy my new found freedom in my renewed health, and the knowledge that I have a very strong chance of watching my girls grow up into adults and maybe even see grand kids someday. I know far reaching, but it is a real possibility and it feels oh so good.
I have two more milestones to clear, the age of 55, the age of my brother's death and 58, the age of my father's death. Both passed from deteriorated heart conditions. Fortunately I have been told after the EKG and stress tests that I have a very strong heart and according to my lyme and breast docs, all my years of healthy living has allowed me to bounce back from my last four years of bad health relatively quickly.
So as I sit here drinking a glass of my homemade cloudy but very tasty blueberry wine (I moved it to the secondary today so I could start the apricot wine batch) I say Happy Birthday to me and as Wallace yelled at the end of Braveheart..
F R E E D O M !!!!!
BTW the girls gave me a pair of earrings and two beautiful blouses and I happen to know that they have a surprise party planned for sometime this weekend....I know about it, just not privvy to all the details..I will fill you in once it happens!!!
so I say good job old lady, you made it to hump year and good luck in the next half of my life.....
Started cleaning the garage today, and I mean major overhaul, needed to make room for our kayaks, so now we have about a circle 10' in diameter in which we placed all the outgrown kid toys, like kitchen set, strollers, etc. The plan is to place them on Craig's List in hopes they will sell.
My nephew's girlfriend is in labor so I just may be sharing a birthday with my nephew's daughter whom they plan to name Taelyn...very close to Mim's name.....just might get confusing.
Tomorrow is Tuki's last day at Camp Invention, Ve didn't want to do it this year since it requires so much thinking and working inventing stuff. Tuki comes home exhausted everyday.
Tomorrow is also the girl's last day of the month long swim lessons.
