Whatcha doing?

Not doing much here but always busy!

1.  After three long years, we have finally sold Mother's house back in Hometown. What a tremendous relief it is since we were just about to have to do some maintenance work.  I'd much rather that the new owners do their own thing.  It's hard to manage something like that from two hours away. It's a sweet house full of lovely memories, but Hometown is far from a booming center of commerce.  Not a lot of new folks moving in.  I understand that the buyers are retiring to the community.

2.  We spent last weekend at the summerhouse, joined by Will and Meg. We were so sad that Louis and Sue couldn't join us. On Saturday, we ventured into Beaufort and ate lunch at our favorite place..Wren, before returning back to paradise where Hank built a fire out by the water.  We sat laughing and talking until way after dark.  Will and Meg's son is getting married in May so we talked about rehearsal party themes and will all be together again for a party out at Folly Beach on March 10.

3.  Lorelai started her student teaching last week. I had to smile every afternoon when she called to tell me how TIRED she was.  Yes indeed...five year olds can give a gal a run for her money, although one little boy did draw a picture of Miss Southern, the princess.  She's happy that at least one of the children recognized her true inner princess.

4.  We found out last week that Mother has diabetes.  It isn't horrible and will be handled with "a pill" each day.  Bless her, she does love sweets and we've noticed as the dementia worsens that she pushes regular food around on her plate, taking a bite here and a bite there.  But sweets??!!!??  She loves them.

5.  Now I have possible genetic predispositions to dementia AND diabetes to look forward to. 

6.  I told you I'm reading the Happiness Project...haven't read a chapter in three weeks.  Maybe this afternoon since it's rainy and chilly.  Where is Hank???  I need him to make a fire in the den.  Let me go find him...

Hope everything is going well for you and yours.

Lorelai Update and Other Stuff

THANK YOU...a million times THANK YOU for your kind words, prayers, and offers of assistance for our little Lorelai.  At her appointment this week, the doctor told her that she should wait until after student teaching and graduation for the surgery on her foot.  Student teaching in kindergarten, combined with the three flights of stairs to her apartment provided too may opportunities for her to injure herself worse during recovery. She is being fitted for a special insert for her right shoe which will give her extra support and she shouldn't have to endure any more discomfort than a couple of ibuprofen can handle. In the meantime, our prayers are that between now and mid-May, the problem may resolve itself.  Wouldn't that be AWESOME?

I don't generally make new year's resolutions but I am setting out to try and improve upon a couple of points in my life.

#1- I consider myself to be a kind person...not that I don't employ tough love...that is a job requirement for a high school principal. BUT...tough love does not have to be mean-spirited, although from time to time I find myself making biting remarks that are unnecessary. In other words...my  mouth gets ahead of my brain. I want to do better. When I'm nice and thoughtful, things just go better. When I'm not...karma likes to nip at my heels.  For instance...for a first week back to school after winter break, this was a pretty good one.  I kept calm and took one issue at a time...until Friday...when I got a little aggravated with somebody (outside my work) who was not cooperating with my time line and I kind of (sort of) implied (maybe...OK, I did) that I might possibly consider placing a call (OK..I name dropped and I HATE it when people do that) to somebody (with a lot of clout) who would solve my problem once and for all. My problem did get solved, but my day went downhill from there. I was mean and impatient and karma GOT ME for it.  Lesson learned...here's to doing better this week.

#2- I'm on a two week gluten-free challenge. Turning 50 has made me acknowledge a number of things that I won't detail for you, but a fuzzy brain is a big one.  I've always blamed sugar; however, it was suggested to me that I might want to consider gluten as the culprit (along with a good many extra pounds!)...not celiac or anything like that, just a sensitivity to gluten. I am at day 5 and maybe it is all in my mind, but I think I feel better...fuzzy head-wise. For sure, I haven't had to pop a Pepsid or Tums since Tuesday afternoon. We'll see.

#3- The Happiness Project
I'm reading the book and we'll see how it goes.

What has happened in the first week of YOUR new year???

Our New Year's Eve Celebration

Legare and friends have headed back to Charlotte. All of the holiday decorations are put away and I'm trying to wrap my brain around going back to work tomorrow after eleven workdays off.  Lorelai still has a couple of weeks at home...please continue to pray as we work toward the decision about the foot surgery now versus after student teaching.

We had a nice evening here with friends and family on New Year's Eve.  My camera, when set for night photography, did some wild things with the giant sparklers.  On New Year's Day, Hank and I were so pooped that we sent the young folks down to Peninsula Grill and we stayed home and watched TV.  NUTS is what that was...but we were tired.

Hope that your first two days of 2012 have been fine and dandy. A post on my goals for the new year coming soon.