Christmas Music in August

Hi All!

I am sitting here listening to my iTunes shuffling my songs for me and I am pleasantly surprised each and every time a Christmas song comes up. It is interesting how much more meaningful they are when you don't hear a whole bunch of them clumped together - or hear them constantly in the stores!

Hearing the Holiday music made me think about how our society focuses most of our charitable giving around holidays. It is so natural to give to charities during the "happiest time of the year" but, what about those other times? The times that might not be so happy - like the "dog days of summer" or the rainy season of spring? What about that time when all of the kids are going back to school? These are all times when people who are struggling would really appreciate a little extra help.

I think that radio stations should play a Christmas song every once in a while to remind us all that we can be giving at all times of the year - not just at Christmas. Maybe if we hear that music about cheerfulness and happiness we will feel moved to donate more all year round.

What do you think?

Trisha

Voice Update: Got a nice massage from Susan yesterday at work. Things are going pretty well. It is August and I should be planning another meeting for the support group but . . . I am being lazy! Plus - I don't want the hassle of trying to find a location. Should I get on the ball with this or just let it pass????

My Weekend and Phineas Gage.

Hi All!

I hope everyone had a very wonderful weekend and is ready for another great week this fine Monday! After my "stream of consciousness" post I think I can focus for a simpler post today . . . I hope.

My weekend was very nice - restful and peaceful. Hubby and I went to Sam's club on Saturday to get his contacts (much cheaper than other places he could get them). Of course we had to "shop" the entire place. We ended up with several things (a book for me "slipped" into the cart!) which we needed and even some we didn't know that we needed. You know how that goes!

Prior to our shopping we had a nice dinner at Boston Market. I tried their new crispy country chicken - it was okay but not my favorite. Their meatloaf is still at the top of my list!

It is always fun to go to Sam's. They have so many different things to look at!

Yesterday Hubby and I went grocery shopping - together! It has been a long time since we went to the grocery store together. It was nice to have help getting stuff into the car and then out of the car and into the house!

This weekend I also spent some time up in the bonus room where my sewing machine is and where the computer I use to play with my music is. I hemmed one t-shirt I got while on my cruise and put bias tape trim around the neck and sleeves. I had made the bias tape a couple of days ago and finally got it onto the shirt! Yeah! I still have a couple more shirts to hem but - one baby step at a time, right?

And then - I read a book on Phineas Gage.

Do you know the story?

Phineas Gage was a man who worked for a railroad company in the mid 1800s blasting to clear a route for new tracks. He was blasting and the black powder he was using accidentally went off and shot his tamping iron through his head. Yes, you read that correctly - through his head.

AND Phineas not only didn't die - he was walking around and talking minutes after the accident! His head healed and he seemed "fine." Except for the fact that he was a "different person" because the accident destroyed part of his frontal lobe - which controls personality.

Phineas and his accident helped advance the knowledge doctors have about the workings of the brain. It is very fascinating - and somewhat gruesome reading.

If you have never heard of dear, old Phineas, you might want to Google him - there is a lot of info on him on the web - plus some pictures which make you thankful that you don't work blasting for a railroad!

Trisha

Voice Update: Still doing pretty well. I didn't do as much exercising as I should have this weekend because my back was bothering me. Apparently, I can only take care of one thing at a time!

Stream of Consciousness Post

Hi All!

There are just days where I can't focus my thoughts on one particular topic to post. Usually I sit and think until I decide which train of thought I should blog about. Today - I think I will let you take a little peek into what is going on inside my brain . . . sort of a stream of consciousness kind of thing.

I want to blog about something other people will find interesting so that I get some comments. But then again - do I really blog for comments? Or do I blog for myself? There are some things I could blog about but I don't want to since that would reveal just a little bit too much about me to everyone. I am not sure I want readers to know THAT much about me!

I could blog about my cats - but I do that too much already. Besides, who would really be interested in hearing that Skor can't leave me alone to blog and has to jump up on the desk and lay down right in front of me - sometimes on the keyboard so there is no way that I can type. I could post what ends up on the screen when Skor is wandering around the keyboard - but that would just be annoying!

Of course, I am sure that there are others out there who know how wonderful it is to have a purring kitty nearby. They are so darn cute when they purr. They get all floppy - their little cat paws are limp and they just are blissed out. Oh - to be a cat!

But - I suppose I should blog about more serious things. Like the conflict I feel right now about "what I want to do when I grow up!" I am getting to the time where I am going to have to make some decisions. Work- with the speech therapists - is good but I just don't know if that is what I want to do with my life. It is good money and is only four half days a week so maybe I should take it. But then does that mean I am giving up on teaching?

And do I really want to go back to teaching with all of its hassles and stresses? I am so worried that my voice won't be able to handle it and I will be forced to quit mid-year for the second time in my teaching career. What would that say about my reliability? If I did that would I ever be able to get another teaching job in the future? Would I even want one?

I sort of like the idea of teaching Deaf children. But - would that be more hassle than it is worth? The only place where they have those programs in the area are either in Dallas - not a really palatable choice - or Irving - which is far from home.

Gee - my back hurts. I wonder if it is just stress about trying to make decisions or if something is off with my work set up like the chair or computer or something. Mysterious!

Right now Christmas music is playing on my iTunes. I have it on shuffle - like always - and just recently decided to put the Christmas stuff into the mix. It is sort of nice to hear it mixed in with other genres of music instead of just with all Christmas music.

Hmmmm did saying Christmas that many times offend any of my readers? I suppose it would be more "politically correct" to say "holiday music." But too bad - I happen to believe in Christ and think that this whole political correctness stuff has just gone way, way, way too far! So there! I will listen to my Christmas music all I want!

Speaking of Christian things (well, in a way) I have found some neat podcasts for my daily walks including a couple daily devotionals and a bible in a year podcast. I had put them on my iPod a couple days ago but didn't get to listen to them because my neighbor, C, walked with me and listening to my iPod while walking with her would be rude.

Has anyone tried the Pizza hut pizza rolls? They show them on the commercials and they look great but . . . we haven't gotten to Pizza Hut to check them out. I had hoped to go today but Hubby made pizza last night (Digiorno) at home so that is out. Not that I couldn't eat pizza every day of the week but Hubby is a bit more particular!

Oh well!

Skor is hanging over the side of the desk right now with part of his body laying on my hands while I type. So adorable!

I guess I will stop for now. I hope no one got lost on the edited version of my thoughts. I promise to think of something more . .. concise for tomorrow's post!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing well. I don't want to talk about it though. Just feeling sort of grumpy!

My Blogging Bane - Breakfast Out!

Hi All!

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday but . . . I had breakfast out with my ASL friends. Having breakfast before working meant that I had a choice - skip walking to blog or skip blogging. As you can tell - I skipped blogging. I am trying SOOOO hard to keep up the walking as a daily thing. Plus, my neighbor, C, walked with me so I couldn't walk, now, could I?

Okay - breakfast. There is a small, core group of women from my ASL 4 class and my Deaf Culture class that like getting together to socialize and practice our signing. We go to a Deaf church every once in a while. It is fun. We all like each other and our personalities seem to mesh well.

Yesterday we went to La Madeline's. In case you don't know it - it is a French style bistro/cafe which serves incredible fresh foods like crepes, omelets, breakfast croissants, quiche, etc. along with a selection of soups, salads, and fruit. They also just happen to have excellent pastries as well - the fruit tart is my personal favorite.

We all sat around a table and chatted (in both English and ASL) and had fun meeting S's friend, B. B is Deaf and is from Houston so he was just in town visiting S. It is always fun to meet Deaf people and to find out that they are just like us except that they speak a different language! B was very interesting and fun to be around.

My friend - the "other Tricia" - brought her two kiddos who were very nice young boys. They were a bit shy at first but really livened up to blow straw wrappers at us. I have to say it was fun to be a bit childlike with the straws!

After breakfast I had to leave for work so I don't really know how long everyone else stayed and chatted.

*sigh* getting together with friends is so wonderful and recharging for the soul!

Oh - a side note about another friend, J, whose husband left her. She recently found out that her husband has been spending a lot of money on a psychic. Pray for her folks, pray for her!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing well but I need to get in some more exercises. It is so hard with work!

A Blonde Moment

Hi All!

I admit it. Over the weekend I had a major blonde moment. So did Hubby. So did several hundred other people. All at the same time.

How, you might be asking yourself?

We all went to the Music Hall to see Legally Blonde, the musical!

Having long been fans of the movie version of this production, Hubby (who only grudgingly admits to enjoying the movie) and I knew what we were in for - sort of. We knew the story line and the characters and we also knew that this wouldn't be a heavy-weight musical. It would be far fluffier and cute.

While we were right - the musical was fluffy and cute - we (okay, maybe it was only me who was impressed - Hubby won't comment) were impressed by the fun and humor the musical brought to the stage. While many of the songs were a bit "cheesy" such as "Omigod You Guys," "Bend and Snap," and "The Harvard Variations," there were many songs which fit into the plot line very well and brought just the right touch of serious emotion to the musical. These included "Blood in the Water," "Ireland," and "Legally Blonde."

The addition of two adorable trained dogs - one a chihuahua for Elle and the other a bulldog for Paulette - spiced things up even though the dogs weren't on stage very long compared to their appearance time in the movie.

Another stand-out performance was given by Natalie Joy Johnson, the actress who played Paulette. In this incarnation, Paulette is a hair stylist instead of a nail tech and she dreams of going to Ireland where everything is better (a big play on the whole "the grass is greener" metaphor perhaps?). Johnson blew me away with her strong voice and the emotion she brought to her songs. She was certainly a highlight of the performance.

The other actors were good - in particular Ken Land who played Professor Callahan - and everyone gave very enthusiastic performances. The dancing was well choreographed and performed and the sets were just colorful enough to add to the glitz of the show without stealing the scene.

The plot followed the plot of the movie for the most part with some minor changes and the musical as a whole was fun, upbeat, and cheery.

If Legally Blonde comes to your town, I wouldn't hesitate to take your family even thought Hubby would like for me to relay that there was a notable lack of men in the audience when compared to the pink clad women and girls. Of well - grab something pink and head to the theater. Legally Blonde will deliver a fun time without making you think too hard about the plot. It will also leave you with fun melodies running around your head as you leave the theater.

Just what a musical should do!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing well. Enough said.

Finally!

Hi All!

When I started my little garden in my side yard I had several motives. First - nothing grew in that area anyways - at least in terms of grass - so it was a blank canvas. Next, it was near the bird feeder and I hoped to plant some bird friendly plants to enhance the area. Then I hoped to encourage some hummingbirds to stop by (still not doing too well with that yet!). Finally, I hoped to get some butterflies to the area.

Well - some of my goals have been met.


The other day I was in the kitchen and I saw this butterfly making the rounds of the Cone Flowers. I grabbed my camera and took some shots through the window. Not the makings for the best picture but, I think I did okay! What do you think?

This post is going to be super short because I wasted too much time on Facebook this morning and I need to go grocery shopping before heading to work. That means I need to shower and get dressed and all of that good stuff too!

No wonder I feel like I don't have enough time!

"Talk" to you soon!

Trisha

Voice Update: I got a nice massage yesterday and am doing well! Yeah!

New Shoes (well . . . sort of!)

Hi All!

I have new shoes! Okay - so I bought them during my cruise but you know how slow I am being about posting cruise photos so . . .

While at the airport - I think it was in Albuquerque, New Mexico - I happened to see a Croc's store. That is right - a genuine Croc store. I had heard that they had heels so I was curious. We had the time so - I tried some on. They are comfortable! They had two different styles at the store that I liked but here is what I ended up getting . . .

I have the pictures in the reverse order that I intended but, I guess it will work!

The bottoms have good traction.

They have a fair sized heel.

Another shot to show the heel height.

They are strappy and fun and comfy. What more can you ask from a shoe? I love them! In fact, I am thinking I might go online and buy the other style in a different color.

I might have to do it quickly because I heard on the news just the other day that the Croc company isn't doing too well! Yikes! Just when I found fun heels which are comfortable! Isn't that just my luck!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing pretty well. I am certainly looking forward to getting a massage today though!