I Bet It All on a Good Run of Bad Luck!

Hi All!

The stress is getting to me. Midterms. Training. Trying to get three videos done.

Let's just say . . . it isn't working for me!

One of the three videos will be okay. The other two. A whole different story!

My friend and I planned on getting together yesterday when I got home from work so that I could borrow her video camera to tape my two videos. Great plan, right? I thought so. Until we were all done (at 9:30 at night) and realized that I can't play the videos on my computer! This causes a bit of a problem since I am supposed to self-evaluate them and upload them to the internet so other people in class can evaluate them. Not going to happen.

So - I have to fall back on plan b. Of course, I don't have a plan b.

I guess I will be thinking today!

Ughhhhh!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing okay. However, I haven't seen Susan for a long time - she is out due to some minor surgery. I need to do more exercises but I just keep forgetting in the midst of everything else!

This Time Last Year

Hi All!

While my cold is still a constant companion at this point in time, I am working through because I really don't have any other choice!

Good news - I probably only have another week of training and then I will be jobless again! I know it is bad to say during this time when people are looking for jobs but . . . I can't wait to be jobless!

This is what my life looked like about one year ago this weekend . . .

I was deeply involved in preparing for the Destination Imagination tournament. As the Instant Challenge Challenge Master I was responsible for getting everything ready to go. You can see that it was pretty much an all-consuming project!

This year I will once more be heading to the DI tournament tomorrow but NOT as the Challenge Master! I will only be an appraiser! Someone else did all the preparation and training and everything else that was needed. Me - I am just going to show up tomorrow and have a LONG but fun day! That is one stress that isn't in my life right now!

And it is very good that I don't have that particular stress in my life right now! I have enough going on with this class. Once more I am not prepared to talk about what is going on - it will just stress me out more!

Anyway - that is about it for today. I am getting ready to head to the lab to do some work for class. Fun, fun!

I hope you all have a super Friday!

Trisha

Voice Update: I am having my ups and downs but, overall, things are still pretty good with my voice. I need to really concentrate on my exercises but with everything else going on . . . I keep forgetting! That isn't good, is it?

A Post From Skor

Hi All!

Mom is still struggling with her head cold so I decided that I would take over her blog for the day.

I know Mom told you about the books she bought. She told you that Miss Cleo and I had already checked them out. Well, she wasn't quite right. Let me show you the REAL story.


















Okay - wait. This camera is a bit tricky. Let me try again.



















Darn! Mom makes it look so easy!



















You have it upside down! Here, I can help you.



















Thanks. I think we have it now. Okay. Here are Mom's new books.



















As kitties, it is our responsibility to check these things out completely for any danger. Homeland security has nothing on us!

Each book gets a total sniffing and then we have to check the back and edges too. That leads to a bit of what Mom would call a mess.


















See? I am almost done with the pile. The only issue is that I can't pile them back up. Mess? I would call this a job well done!


















This is Mom's book cabinet. She will put the new books in here just as soon as Miss Cleo and I are done investigating them. The books in here are off limits to us kitties - I keep trying to get in there to investigate but, Mom won't let me in!



















After all that investigation, Miss Cleo and I are tired out and need to nap on Mom's favorite blanket.

Well, that is the REAL scoop on how kitties investigate Mom's new books. I hope you enjoyed the information.

I hope Mom is feeling better tomorrow. I don't know though - she has THAT class tonight and never is real happy after that.

Oh well!

Have a great day!

Skor (and Miss Cleo)

Head Cold

Hi All!

Ugh! I have a head cold. It continues to manifest itself as nasty headaches and a very achy body! Doesn't that sound like fun?

I didn't post yesterday because I slept in before heading to work. Today I got up to IM with Mom and to post something. Don't you feel honored?

Of course, I meant to post the playbill cover for The Phantom of the Opera - which Hubby and I saw on Saturday. I also have a couple more picture to show you. However . . . I don't think I am up to it!

So - for today. . . . I think this is it!

Hope you are having a healthy and happy week!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing surprisingly well despite the cold and drainage and all that stuff.

Saturday

Hi All!

Despite the fact that I didn't get enough sleep due to Buzzer . . . oops, I meant to say because of Skor! Anyway, Skor was determined to wake me up early this morning. I managed to ignore him for a bit but . . .

I am feeling pretty chipper this morning. I am listening to Sister Hazel.













I have liked this band ever since Hubby and I met the band members on a flight from Ohio to Dallas about 10 years ago or so. At the time neither of us had heard of Sister Hazel. We did a little research and got their album (I can't tell you if it was their first or what). We liked their album.

Last night I was talking to my friend Tricia (who spells her name TOTALLY wrong!) and was telling her about the availability of free albums on Amazon. While I was talking I happened to look on Amazon and there was a FREE album by Sister Hazel! I was THRILLED! Needless to say, I downloaded the album. It is what I am listening to right now!

Hubby did give me a moment's pause when he said that Al Gore likes Sister Hazel too. I wasn't given pause by the mere fact that it was Al Gore politically - I don't care. My pause was caused by the fact that he is older than I am and maybe I am liking "old person" music! Heaven forbid!!

Another reason I am feeling chipper is this:

Yesterday I stopped by the book sale put on annually by the school district I used to work for as a teacher. I love this sale. Every paperback is only 75 cents and there are LOTS of books. The sale is in an empty Old Navy store. There are long tables stretching across the space with an aisle in the middle. The books are all organized into different sections like a book store and there are literally millions of books!

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Heaven!

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The only downer is that I forgot my book list - the list of books I have read - so it was hard for me to get books written by any of my favorite authors without being sure that I hadn't read them or not. Because of that, I wandered the aisles and picked up books by authors I had never heard of! That was fun! Also, I have a lot of "serious" books in my stock already - you know, mysteries and things like that. So - when I was at the sale I picked up "light" books. Romances and things like that. To balance out my stock!

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After giving my new books a thorough sniffing, both cats seemed to approve of my selections!

safg

Today is "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Music Hall at Fair Park. I am excited. This will be the second time Hubby and I will have seen the musical and the reviews in the paper have been excellent.

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Have a super weekend!

asfg

Trisha

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Voice Update: My stuffy nose and the drainage is making me a bit raspy in the mornings but other than that . . . doing fine.

More Memories

Hi All!

Yahoo! It is Friday! I have survived another week.

Did I mention that my bosses think they have hired a person to replace me? I am so happy I am almost bursting. Yes, I will miss the challenge that working brings each day but now I might be able to spend some more time concentrating on my class (and SUCH a lovely class it is!) and might actually be home when Hubby gets home from work! The potential employree is most likely going to come to the office on Monday to spend some time with me to see how things work and to meet Susan.

Speaking of Susan - did I tell you that she cut her finger - badly? Apparently, she is going to have surgery on the finger on Wednesday. She was told that she can't play tennis - her passion in life - for over a month. Needless to say, she isn't happy AT ALL!

Today I am going to show you two more pictures I found while roaming through my picture files.


This time you get to see my Grandma Denny.

Guess who the little girl is! That's right! It is me! Grandma used to cut my hair in her kitchen. I can't quite remember if I was happy to have my hair cut this time or not but I do remember having her cut my hair. She was a woman who seemed capable of doing everything!

As a side note - are those my shoes in the bottom right of that last picture? If so, they are HUGE! I must have been Bigfoot when I was little!

Back to Grandma. She was a dairy farmer's wife and could milk a cow with the best of them. Some of my favorite memories of her involved her milking cows and helping out in the barn with her "barn cap" on. Usually the cap had bright polka dots on it. I also remember her making "Grandpa's butter" from the cream from the barn. Once I helped her make apple butter. So many of my memories of Grandma involve cooking in that big, warm kitchen. Or out in the garden weeding the green beans or picking tomatoes!

She was quite a woman!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing well even though it seems that I have finally succumbed and caught Hubby's cold! Oh well!

I Still Remember

Hi All!

It is Thursday! I am tired from being out until nearly 11:00 last night (that darn class!) and I have a bit of a headache (probably because I didn't get enough sleep?!?). Mom is wondering why I am not feeling as happy as I felt last Thursday. I can't figure it out either!

Oh well! I am just pleased to have survived another class with little harm and with some pleasant interaction with my friends. That is one reason I really keep going to the class that I don't enjoy. My friends are there and I get to see them!

In addition to my friends who are actually taking the same class as me, I also have friends in the lab - Deaf friends who have worked with me for the past two and a half years as I struggled to learn the language. They are wonderful people and I miss seeing them more often. When I had class twice a week I would see them more but this once a week deal makes it difficult!

Anyway. I was looking at pictures from my old computer and found these.

This is my Grandpa Denny.


















This picture was taken when Grandpa wasn't as healthy as he once was. He was probably in his 80's in this picture. This isn't how I remember Grandpa Denny.

I remember Grandpa in his white t-shirt and his overalls just coming in from milking the cows and working in the barn. He would take off his work boots and wash up in the garage where there was a sink for just that purpose. Then he would come into the big, warm kitchen smelling like hay and manure (if you were raised in the country it isn't that bad of a smell!). Grandpa would sit in the rocker in the kitchen and chat with everyone before heading downstairs to take a shower before supper.

I loved seeing Grandpa like that. He always seemed so big and strong. He was a hard worker and even as a small child I was proud of that. Seeing him in the barn with the cows or on a tractor in the fields made me feel happy. He was a good, decent, hard-working man.

Grandpa might not have been the most educated person in the world but, to me, he was one of the smartest people in the world. I love him and miss him.

This is my Grandma Frank.

I think I got a lot of my ornery personality from Grandma Frank. She was an amazing woman. Grandma lived on the farm my father was raised on and loved those country roads. She was a speed demon in her car and I always believed that was because she drove the ambulance for the volunteer squad for a number of years. Grandma was also involved in EVERYTHING! She knew everyone and everything that was going on. Grandma enjoyed her gossip.

Grandma lived to be 95 years old and her mind was sharp pretty much to the end. One of my favorite memories of Grandma is when I first told her about meeting Hubby. My parents were living out of the country and so Grandma decided that she should ask all the questions a mother should ask her daughter about a man she met. Let me tell you, some of the questions were hilarious! The conversation ended with both of us laughing because Grandma asked if Hubby was an alcoholic kleptomaniac!

Grandma always had her own opinion of things and didn't do anything she didn't want to do. She was a strong woman and I miss her.

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing surprisingly well! In fact, Susan told me yesterday (on the phone) that my voice sounded excellent. What a compliment! Of course class got my neck and back all tight so I have to work on relaxing that again. *sigh*