Don't you hate it when someone cheats so that they can win something, then brags about winning? What is that? And I really really hate it when I know that the person cheated, as in competed in a region other than their own, in order to avoid the competition they knew would beat them in their own region - then brag about it!!
Ok, that rant is over now.

D3 is safely home from China, about 8 lbs lighter than she left and she barely weighted 100 pounds when she left - so can you say no butt at all? We'll get her all fed up soon though and get her back to that whopping 100 pounds (soaking wet). Kid can't afford to be loosing pounds. When you are already a size 0 - loosing weight is not helpful, they don't make size -1. Anyway, she did take some pictures so I'll try to get some of those posted this week. She also brought home two Chinese instruments of which she is very proud. Especially as she managed to get them for about $20 US each by haggling. You'd think the kid had traveled and haggled before :)

I'm in a bit of a pissy mood of late... wonder why?

Thank you rings hollow, tears flow when I think of them. I see faces I want to touch, hands I want to clasp. My heart aches with gratitude and sorrow.




Last August, as my D3 and I sat at the airport in Shannon Ireland, waiting for our flight home, we were suddenly surrounded by men and women of the US military. Some smiling and chatting, some quiet - grabbing some rest. They were on their way away from home (Texas)- toward danger in Baghdad. We took time to chat with some, there was one young woman in the group who had a tiny mandolin in her hands. She was trying to figure out how to tune it. She'd bought it to bring along and maybe learn a little how to play during her precious down time. My D3 reached for the mandolin with a smile, quickly tuned it and handed it back. Then explained the tuning and gave the soldier a few tips. I was so very proud - of both of them. D3 probably gave the soldier a gift greater than anything I could have. I hope that young woman is safe now - maybe even home.

Thanks to Joan I found a new place to visit for a good belly laugh this morning. Try this old dude for some good giggles. He is now officially one of my morning visits!

Sorry for the sparsity of posts these days. With home school in coast mode (most of my blog time is sitting at the computer whilst the boy does his work next to me) and D2 home I'm hurting for time to blog. D3 will be winging her way home from China tomorrow evening and we are all going to meet her boyfriend to welcome her back at the Charlotte airport (2 hours from here) then we'll stay in Charlotte as a family for a few days while himself works. I'm gonna take S1 to discovery place for a day, take the cello to the cello doctor for some minor surgery, then spend a day at Carowinds before heading home (S1, soon to be 12 years old, has never been to a theme park of any sort).

But I'm still here. Just busy busy busy.

I'm finally hearing from D3 and the ASU orchestra at least a little bit. They seem to be having a wonderful time. My emails from her tend to be rather short. I am informed that less than 7 days into their trip she has already spent most of her money... But she is excited about her purchases and plans to surprise us with what she got upon her return to the states. Hopefully she is not disappointed at not being able to pick something up further into her trip - so much for carefully rationing her Chinese cash! At the end of the day it doesn't really matter, she needs to spend it there cause it sure isn't going to do her any good here... at least not yet.

She took a camera, and is a pretty good photographer, but we'll see if she remembers to snap anything. I sure hope so.

They have already had several performances, the first couple the ASU orchestra was teamed up with the orchestra from a Chinese University and they performed together. Sounds like communication with the Chinese conductor was an adventure. Somewhere along the way in the second half of their trip they are supposed to be teaming up with a traditional Chinese orchestra playing traditional Chinese instruments. I sure wish there was going to be video of that!

Just in case I've left anyone wondering, D3 was four when she was diagnosed. She is 19 now and going gang busters. She doesn't remember much from when she was sick, though I think she remembers more than she realizes. It is just that we worked so hard to keep her days fun at the time that she doesn't realize all those days she dressed in kitty suits were days she was going for chemo : ) Anyway, sometime along the line I'll share that story plus the rest of her story (some has already been posted - check for D3 related posts if you missed them) but since I already shared D1, I'd probably better post on D2 next to keep her from feeling skipped.

A very uncommon sunny day here - after a morning low of 34! I'm taking the opportunity to bail hay in the front and back yards ; ) Then I think a trip to the park to throw frisbees for the corgis to runrunrun is in order...

Happy Birthday Joanie!!! Hope the blues weekend was a blast!

I've been tagged. For the very firstest time : ) Thanks for thinking of me Hapkido?!

Rules:

1) Post the rules on your blog.

2) Tell 5 random things about yourself.

3) Tag 3 people at the end of your post.

4) Pass on the tag.

Random things... ya know, since I only recently wrote my "about me" I'm gonna have to think about this to come up with 5 more random things...

1) I hate (fear) flying. But if you've read my about me you know I've been a lot of places that I couldn't have gotten to without flying, so obviously I don't let my irrational fear keep me from going places.

2) I have a parental form of PTSD. My third daughter was diagnosed with cancer when she was four years old, while we were in Europe on vacation. That time, the trauma of discovering her tumor - getting her into a hospital in a country with socialised medicine (that post is coming folks) - trying to get home a week before our scheduled flight at the height of tourist season - going straight from the airport to DUMC - and the following year and a half of trying to get her safely through treatment have messed with my ability to handle crisis.

3) I got my YMCA SCUBA certification when I was 12 years old.

4) I won an equitation class (judged totally on the rider) in a horse show when I was competing against a whole bunch of teenagers (I was 40ish) that ride all the time - I almost never rode by this point. and I WON, I WON, I WON, so there you snot nosed brats!!!!!!! the only class I ever won....

5) I once hand stitched an entire wedding gown from fabric that cost $300 a yard (my job at the time was sewing wedding gowns, prom dresses, etc)

hmm now whom to tag...

Jana at Speak,Dog! Speak!

vw bug at One Happy Dog Speaks , I mean it follows right?

and Joan of Argggg at Primordial Slack because himself likes to say "joan of Argggg!!!!!!" when he catches me reading her blog.

So there, another first for me :)

I'm no photographer, but here are some of my flowers. Note for the last 4-5 years my gardening has been limited to killing weeds so my plants are not flowering as well as they used to, but you can't tell from these pictures :) Some of these are worth embiggening.










I haven't tried roses yet, though I hope to get some heritage roses in some day. I just don't have much sun and I know roses need their sunlight. So I have peonies instead, and I love them.













I love iris too and I used to have tons of these old iris which are called flags by the old timers here in the mountains, but if you don't dig and split them every couple years they get too compacted and stop blooming - and I already told you what I've been doing so... I also used to have so many forget-me-nots they were like a blue cloud across the garden when they bloomed, not so much any more. Love me some johny-jump-ups.


These are called "Carolina Geranium" and are a wild flower that I cultivate - sort of. They are very prolific so some folks call them weeds :)




These blue ones are bell flowers.








Azalea




I have forgotten



















And that, more or less, is how MY garden grows.

PARAMUS, N.J. (CBS)
Christine Sloan

"I had to notify just around 50 people today that our business has been terminated, that they no longer have a job," said Kevin Ormes, owner of the dealership. Ormes got a courtesy call on Thursday morning delivering the news, and he's angry. "Over the past months, they've begged us to buy vehicles, they've begged us to do everything for them and when it came time to do something for the dealers that basically invested everything that they have, they've turned their back on us,"

full article

By Anthony Faiola and Lori MontgomeryWashington Post Staff Writers Friday, May 15, 2009

Outrage spread in Canada, with the Toronto Star last week bemoaning "a plague of protectionist measures in the U.S." and Canadian companies openly fretting about having to shift jobs to the United States to meet made-in-the-USA requirements. This week, the Canadians fired back. A number of Ontario towns, with a collective population of nearly 500,000, retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts

full article