It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Sister Siena!

This is a Nun. This is a Super-Nun. This is a Super-Nun at Siena.

To be inspired, read and see what she's up to in the new R(e)flections magazine. (I used to edit the Reflections magazine, back in the younger day 18 years or so ago!)

Sister Pat started teaching at Siena sometime while I was a student. After watching the video, I know that she's the same vibrant, caring, action heroine that I remember after (that's right!) 20 years. Seeing her and listening to her just now brought me home to Siena.

Competent, purposeful, ethical.

She epitomizes it. The best that I can do...try to live it in my own way. I am competent to the best of my ability. I try to be purposeful, although at times I am lazy, but in a recuperative way. I am ethical - no doubt (not the band, but the sentiment).

Sister Pat does good work. She has staying power at Siena and in my memory.

Waiting by the phone...

I used to wait by the phone for a dude to call, now I wait for my daughter.

Hannah went to the bar last night. Okay...not really, it was more like karaoke at the bowling alley for a birthday party.

Thank God for cell phones and texting. What did parents do before texting? Last night, we must have texted one another 20 or so times back and forth about various things.

What was the birthday-girl's parent thinking? They did not even go to the bowling alley until close to 9 p.m.. I thought Hannah was texting to say that they were on the way home from there.

On her way to the bowling alley, I texted her, "What will you do if the adult with you takes a drink of alcohol?" Correctly answered, "I will text you so that you can come get us all." I did not htink that the adult would do that, but I just wanted to see what Hannah would say.

Another conversation:
Daughter: "Mom, what song should I sing?"
Mom: "Dancing Queen"
Daughter: "No, they will think it's weird."
Mom: "How about 867-5309?"
No reply. They ended up group-singing to two country songs that Hannah probably did not know all that well. I say...just wait until the movie Mamma Mia comes out, and all those girls will be saying how cool she is for knowing Abba!

I had to stay up until 11 p.m. wondering how in the world would I do this for the rest of my life? Wait up and worry about her. I want to follow her around at all times and make sure that she is safe and happy. When did she stop toddling around the furniture? I could keep her safe from sharp edges then. How can I keep her safe from sharp edges now? This is pre-dating. Oh man...just thinking about dating? I'm dizzy...need to go lie down, cold compress on forehead.

How did my Mother ever manage all those nights I went out and stayed out late?

Thanks goodness that my Sophie will stay home with me and not cause me such distress! (Talk about a silver lining on Sophie Storm!)

Cleaning & Organization

I've spent the weekend so far cleaning house and starting to organize for Spring! If I can maintain cleanliness of house today while making other strides, I would be happy. However, you might remember my younger daughter, Hurricane Sophie, who can destroy a clean home in a few stormy seconds. I think she's coming down with a cold, and so maybe she'll be a little more settled today. (I'm not hoping that she has a cold, because that would be bad. However, if she has one, I can take advantage of the effects.)

My goal today is finish organized the family room. I bought more shelves and put those together yesterday. Now, I need to go through 2 laundry baskets full of papers, etc. and toss, file, or do! I also want to go through my closet and dressers and donate to charity, hand down to my daughters, or throw away. Sometimes, purging feels so good.

My friend Stacey came over yesterday and retrieved some fabric. Next up...curtains for Sophie's room. I cannot wait to post a pic of them! I love the fabric!

The best cleaning I did yesterday...I had the windows open! Fresh air and sunlight are the absolute best cleaners and clearers ever. It clears the head too!

Okay...Sophie just poured bits of ricecakes all over the dining room floor. It's been about 5 minutes, I fearfully wonder what the kitchen looks like since she started out in there. Better go!

Countdown to Vegas

12 hours to go...I'm packed. All I have to do is get up, shower, and put whatever I have to use in the morning into the travel bag into the suitcase. And then wait for Skip to pick me up. Okay, I do have to do the dishes in the morning when I get up...Don't feel like doing the dishes tonight. The only thing I wasn't able to do today is get Sophie in the shower. She'll just have to be dirty next week. I did my best. Her clothes are picked out for the week. Her lunches are packed. Her backpack is ready for Tuesday. I wrote a list of ingredients for her backpack so that nothing gets forgotten on Wednesday and Thursday. All laundry is done. I went to church. I went grocery shopping...in no way will this house run out of rice cakes or yogurt before I return. I straightened and cleaned every room, but the family room. I vacuumed...not that you could tell now.

All this might be worth it...if I meet my Tom Jones! Otherwise, not so much. Too stressful to leave my family and home.

~~~~~~~

2 hours, 40 minutes to go until I'm picked up for the airport. Dishes half done. Family Room straightened enough. Washed some blankets too. Drinking coffee. Just need to jump in shower after dishes. Grandma will be here at 9 a.m. to watch/get/take responsibility for my girls. (Sophie won't want to come home after spending so much time at Grandma's!) Weather clear here over to Vegas. It's 33 degrees in Vegas right now with a high of 53 expected at 3 p.m. Pretty much that's the weather for this week. I guess that's better than a real feel temperature of minus 14 degrees right now and a high in the 20s! I hope I packed right and enough.

Hannah's Narrative Poem

Hannah needed to write a narrative poem for English class - due tomorrow. I'm so proud of her! Here it is...(If you'd like an oral rendition, I'd be happy to give a reading as her proxy.)

Mother is on the phone.
Grandmother is there.
Mother is crying.
The girl is where?

The girl is upstairs
In her parents’ room.
Grandmother finds the girl.
In a sad gloom.

The girl wants her blanket.
She tells her Grandmother.
Grandmother says to wait.
Not to bother.

Grandmother doesn’t understand.
The girl was just making it up
To go and see her Mother.
Just to see what’s up.

Again, the girl said
She wanted her blanket;
That Grandmother could stay there,
And the girl would go and get it.

Grandma went instead.
And the girl followed.
Where she learned
Her Dad is dead.

Not really dead,
But only gone.
No longer coming home,
But out with Dawn.

Years passed
and time flew.
Life is better!
Who knew?

And the really funny thing is...when she was in the middle of the 7th stanza, she was trying to think of something that rhymed with gone. So, we started rhyming, and she said, Dawn. I burst out laughing. Dawn really is the name of the proverbial other woman! I am still laughing!

Ode to Shovel

It's snowing! It's blowing!
This old lady is insane-going.
She went to the garage,
wished for a mirage,
because she didn't find one shovel for removal-snowing.

Yeah, someone stole my shovels. I'm just glad that the snow looks like it will be fading soon. It's going to be a long evening of using the baby-shovel.

Snow Days

I'm awake early waiting to hear if schools will be closed today. So far just Ida in Monroe County. This morning, I'm thinking...hoping...that the roads are okay. I need to get to work, as you know it's the busy time of year. I have 2 contracts in and 8 contracts out. Those 10 won't even get me close to my goal, but I have to keep trying. I also need to get to the post office to mail a case verification package to Friend of Court. Such grown-up things!

(Already another school closed in Monroe.)

I read/heard somewhere that adults do not call themselves grown-ups. How did I get to this grown-up place? I must not be an adult yet as I do not feel like one of them. I look at people just 10 years older than I am, and they seem so old! (Shhh! Do not tell them I said that!) Am I going to act like them before I know it?

Remember when...we wished for a snow day. I remember that jubilant feeling of nothingness. When my Mom came in and wiggled my foot, and did not say, "time to get up," but said, "snow day - no school," I remember that feeling of happiness, relief, no anxiety for things that needed to get done. It was complete dispensation from your day, your responsibilities. A day off without guilt or regret. It was a day of sleeping in, hot chocolate, reading by the picture window, playing in the snow with your snowsuit, warming up by the oven, playing barbies and cards, just doing whatever you pleased.

Oh...to have a day without responsibility for everything, for the snow to wash away the stressy-sky and to cover the guilty-ground and to make it all pretty and bright and happy without a care in the world. That's a snow day!

Wacky "If You Could" questions:

Wacky "If You Could" questions:

1) If you could time-travel, and go back to any particular time/place in history, what would it be? I'd like to keep hopping back each generation and check out my family.

2) If you could go back and relive any time in your life, what would it be? High school...I was so, so stupid. I would have enjoyed more all the fun things that I did, and I wouldn't have worried so much about boys and what others thought.

3) If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be? I would be more muscular...stronger!

4) If you could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be? I would have my own foundation and give money away! If I had to work, then I would be an architect or a writer.

5) If you could only read one book over and over again in your life, what one book would that be? Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

6) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? My hometown! There's nowhere else to live. But...I would get out of town and back into the country.

7) If you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your days, what outfit would that be? Jeans, white v-neck tee, white cotton socks, and cute sneakers.

8) If you could have dinner with any one person (dead or alive) -- anyone -- who would it be? Pope John Paul II

9) If you could ask for any talent or skill and instantly receive it, what talent would that be? I could read minds (so that I knew what wonderful thoughts that my non-verbal daughter is thinking!)

10) If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? A knight in shining armor would be in my life.

11) If you could name your biggest regret, what would that be? Procrastination...can that be a regret?

12) If you could have exactly one million dollars right now in your hands, what would you do with it? $400K for a home in the country. A new car for me, therapy for Sophie, and a Jonas Brothers concert for Hannah! I would save, invest, donate, and share the rest.

13) If you could fix one major world problem on this Earth, what would you fix? Autism