Oooo, do any of the Moms have a videocam?  That would be an incredible thing to send the Barras (and to link here!)  That is TOO sweet.

Love, Columbine 

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i am a procrastinator. it's a problem, like, manic, therapy-qualified problem (well maybe its not THAT bad...).

ANYHOO as a stinky procrastinator i have put off getting my permit/license to drive. and this weekend had a wee bit of a break down when i thought that i wouldnt be able to drive to school next year. aside from the general theme at my school, which is only the extremely socially unfortunate children dont drive thier senior year, i really do need to be able to drive as i made Chamber orchestra (woot!) which means gigging. which means i dont want to inconvience my mom who works two jobs to come out and drive me to gigs, lessons i give at the middle school, and i also am an editor for our literary magazine, which means after-school sessions that can go to the 5 a clock hour.

as such, i NEED to drive. BUT i learned some great things these past few days:

if you get your permit, complete 40 hours of driving and 6 behind the wheel lessons, you can get your temporary license. and i can get a parking spot at my school with a temporary license.

because i am past the minimu age of getting a license (16 and 3 months) i dont have to wait 9 months to get a temp license.

anyhoo, it was a big relief for me realizing that i wont have to inconvienence my parents anymore next year, and be free as a bird (well, until curfew! )

so thats my long, silly, sb*

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Being able to drive yourself wherever you want, whenever you want, it truly SB*, you'll see!

 

My SB* today is my mom - she was 4 weeks post op yesterday and you'd never even know she had surgery!  Yeah, she has to rest once in a while, but other than that, she's just truly amazing.  She says she's learned a great lesson from all of this: 67 is far too young to retire!  She's bored stiff and misses her fellow nurses at the hospital so much!  (Not to mention the moms and babies, since she's a post-partum nurse.)

Cheers all,

Kati 

 

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"Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength." - John Wesley

Silence. Silence is definitely SB especially when I rarely experience it. I am up alone at the moment, Adrian is off to school, Chelsea is sleeping a bit late, hubby's asleep, and not even the animals are making noise. Enjoying my tea in the lovely quiet of a very cold May morning.

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

Peace of mind- I have finally gotten my summer vacation plans finalized Ahhh haaa!(big sigh). getting all those involved together was huge. Making the final decisions and book the accomodations that fit the final plans was a 3 day event, but now I can relax and know it will happen, and all will be O.K.

Newfoundland here we come!

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~The mind is like a parachute, It always works best when it's open~Edna Buchanan~

~Northern Spy~The Apple of my Pie~

~Audrey~

My Something Beautiful is Malik who writes a myth about how the Constellation"M" got into the heavens. I couldn't help but cry at the italicized line (my emphasis) as it's all too close to reality for him. We had a discussion about the Americans with Disabilities Act last week to prepare them for a visit by a "differently abled" person this week. He told us about taking care of his sister at his mother's house afterschool till she comes home from work and then riding the trolley home to his father's house, where he helps out his dad who was shot years ago and has control of only his right hand. Thanks to Malik for reminding me why I do what I do.

 

One day on Malik's birthday, he opened a present from his Dad. It was a silver chain with an M on it. Malik liked it so much he wore it everywhere, day and night. It brought good luck to him. He was doing better in school, played on a football team where he won all his games and was voted MVP. He made his Mom be a better Mom. After a long time living happily, hwe died one night. Some stars shone on the M and then they made an M in the sky. That's how the constellation M came to be in the sky.

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And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

Wow, Anne.  I hear these songs with supposedly grown-up guys complaining that the odds are too tough to be worth fighting, and then I read about one of your kids beating the odds.  No matter whether you're into faith or free will, it says volumes about either!

My SB* - A day off!

I have way too much to do, and I just don't care.  I'm taking the whole day off.  I spent the morning chopping up weeds and playing in the mud (and looking forward to having fresh cooking herbs later this year, as well as a red/yellow New England columbine blooming by the front stairs to keep the blue/white A. caeruleas company when they grow up).  This afternoon I'm going to a cookout.  The work will get done to the extent that it gets done in the time I've allotted, which is every day but TODAY.  I'm only one person, and if I bit off more than I could chew, well, we all make mistakes and it's not the end of the world.  I'll manage somehow, because I'm smart and I work like a horse.  It's always worked before!

It's a beautiful day, Smudge and I are healthy, and I'm feeling lucky, probably because I am.

Love, Columbine (who called the starlings a bunch of barbarians for chowing on a chicken wing they found in the garbage) 

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i had, quite possibly, the best weekend of my life.

friday night i went to the birchmere and saw the Punch Brothers, one of my FAVORITE bands, and met them all afterwards, and SHOOK HANDS with Chris Thile, who i would kill to have as a Prom date. (im a teenager, cut me some slack eh?)

i went with my Bestest buddy ever, and we had a blast in transit, and enjoyed yummy pizza and awesome seats.

Saturday was a "Tom Sawyer" party at my orchestra teacher's farm. we painted his fence, he got us pizza. it was soo much fun, with some AMAZING kids, and of course, it degenerated into a paint fight (OIL-BASED paint!...i STILL have some on my elbow).

there was frisbee, there was a treck across three fields to retrieve the frisbee after the dog put in the pond, and the guys promptly stripped to their unmentionables to retreive the frisbee, and i have NEVER laughed to hard.

there were soulful discussions, and lots of hugs. Sunday i worked, and was visited by two 5 1/2 foot long rat snakes, which was really fun. i also discovered a mice infestation under the goat pen, so the snakes can stay as long as they like, because the big mice/rats will bite the toes of the chickens. it was a fun experience, and i have pictures!

sunday night, the tom sawyer group and i went to a free concert at wolftrap, the marine corps band followed by a fireworks display. we picnic-ed with great food. since we couldnt get out of the park due to traffic, we all just huddled together and sang classic songs. (Hey Jude, Allstar, and various songs from Mulan...) we all just layed there, and i could hear a good guyfriend's heartbeat when we cuddled, and he kissed the top of my head :)

following that, we went to my freind's house and watched The Red Violin, an excellent movie. as we were all orchetra kids, we decided that Mr. Pope was the ideal badass, and all the guys wished the could play like him and make women's clothes fall off.

it was the perfect weekend with AMAZING friends, and i wish i could do it again and again.

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Once again my son is the focus.  He's grown from a little boy to a really great kid - here's a couple of  snippets from our lives over the last week.

His teachers have gone above and beyond.  Each parent received a hand made invitation to Senior Kindergarten Graduation. Including a picture of their child in a cap and gown. Made Momma cry. Well done Teachers! (Anne, this made me think of you - it's something I could see you spending the time doing)

In the car the other day - iPod on 'shuffle'.  Song comes on, Adam says "I don't like this" so I skip. This happens two songs in a row. Next song comes on - starts with a Beautiful clear voice singing acapella. Adam says "stop mommy - I like this one. It's Great Big Sea".  I asked  "Adam, how do you know?"  and, are you ready for this? My sweet boy said....

"Mommy, I Know their voices. That's Sean".    

He was right.  General Taylor.

What a beautiful, smart boy. 

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be safe,
eb

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"Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength." - John Wesley

That IS something beautiful, Kati! Your daughter should be so proud of herself! That story made me smile. I think she totally rocks too, and you can tell her so!!

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

Wow!  Kati, that kind of reminds me of when some folk singer from Newfoundland responded to a power outage in the middle of a concert (how I wish I'd been there!) by launching into an unplugged Process Man...

My SB* today was something really odd.  We're having an early heat wave here, and a bunch of my neighbors will be without power from midnight to 6 AM for repairs occasioned by yesterday's stress on the system.  Well, about midafternoon, totally unannounced and unpredicted, a heavy sea mist rolled into town, cool enough and massive enough to knock the temperature down 20 degrees in 20 minutes.  Now, I know that can happen in the morning or evening, and sometimes even at night, but in the middle of the day?  That was an anomaly and a freebie, and will do wonders for folks' health and safety around here!  (Not to mention my mood - I'm not really built for heat)  So I guess the lowercase great big sea is my Something Beautiful today.

Love, Columbine 

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Col...very cool, pun completely intended!

Along the same lines, my SB...air conditioning. Four days in unusually high temps without it was quite enough for me! I was telling my kids that when I was a kid, we didn't have an air conditioner. In fact, right up till I was an adult and moved out and got married, we never had one. Speaks volumes about global warming, I'd say.

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

My SB* my baby... well who is 5... some of you may know about all the stuff we had to go through to get Braydin were he is today... speech therepy twice, he was pre mature, blah blah blah... and fought hard to get him into the pre school program he is at, as they only take lower income families and we did not qualify so there was even more testing... more assessments... blah blah blah...

My baby will graduate pre school with flying colours... when he entered his speech was in the 8th percentile...(he had/has a stutter) and his ocupational (ie holding a pencil right, cutting and using scissors) was in the 10th percentail... my babe is now in the 50th percentail in his speech and in his OT is right on par... oh yes he is!!! they will continue with his speech, throughout kindergarten... and he is so smart... he knows all his letters, colours, he can count to where he is suppose to and them more... he knows his numbers, how to write them, can print his name... sound out his letters... he has "honours" in preschool... lol... we are just so proud of all the hard work he has done this past school year... he is more then ready for Kindergarten... which gives this mommy a big sigh of relief....

HUGE kudos to all his teachers.... his teacher in the class room, his "cutting" teacher he calls her... (his occupational theripist) and his "talk" teacher (his speech theripist).... they did their magic... and my son benifited for it... they do rock!!! and even though they will never see this... THANK YOU SO MUCH and that goes out to all the teachers out there... this parent appreciates all you do...

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~Is a downtown girl cuz I like waking up with my hair messed up!!!