Another busy week

We have had another busy week here. Greg had to have his year book pictures taken. Neither one us was sure that we wanted to order them, but we came out of the session with such a good feeling about the photographer that we may just get a few pictures to share. Kyle got his uniform for ROTC this week, the only thing that he has to have altered is the sleeves of the jacket, which has to be down at a tailors near the school. Next week he goes in to have his senior pictures taken, not sure if we will order pictures or wait until he has pictures taken in ROTC, those always turn out decent. We will have to see how the photographer does. Because they go to different schools they have different studios doing the pictures. It will be interesting to find out how the two different studios compare. Greg liked having his pictures taken because the photographer was an artist, not trying to take a quick snapshot.

I am going to watch the granddaughters tomorrow. This is going to be fun. Evidently Lavieya is talking, everyone has heard her say something except me. She keeps her fingers in her mouth and refuses to say anything. Maybe tomorrow I can get her to talk for me. Of course Gynesis talks enough for the both of them. And, yes as soon as I have the most recent pictures developed I will post them.

All the things that I have planned to make this year, I now have all the yarn and thread for them. And even though I have yet to make a significant dent in these projects, I am confident that I will finish them this year. I have decided to change the pattern for the afghan that I am making for Ethan, he's a little old for puppy dogs on his afghan.

That is all for now.

Everyone,
Live fully......

Military Service

I have been listening to some of the reports about the woman who is protesting outside President Bush's ranch in Texas. While having a loved one die in a war is never pleasant, nor do I want anyone to die for any reason, it does happen. The men and women that have volunteered to serve in the military understand that they could end up fighting somewhere. They fight to protect our way of life and our rights, we have the right to say anything we want no matter how dumb it sounds, we have the right to protest what we don't like, even if no one else agrees with us we have the right to our own opinions. My youngest son is going into the Navy when he graduates this spring, his recruiter asked me what I thought about his going into military service. I told him that while I was very proud of his choice at wanting to serve, I was also very afraid that he might have to fight and possibly die. Yet I would rather he serve and maybe die or get injured protecting our rights than die here in fear because terrorism wasn't stopped. This Nation is one of the few that has an all volunteer armed service, some countries require that their young people serve in the military whether they want to or not. How good can a military be if some of the people in it don't want to fight? If we want our freedoms, there have to be sacrifices made, ask those that have fought if our freedoms are worth the fight. I think they are. Freedom isn't free.

Live well...

First week of school

What a week this has been. Both of the boys seem to like school. Greg has managed to arrange his schedule so that he has half days. Now he just needs to get a job. As for his truck, that is going to require a lot of fixing so he is going to get rid of this truck and fix up the old van that we have. I know it sounds strange but there is less to fix on the van to get it running, it needs an engine, than to keep buying parts for the truck that his dad fixed for him. Kyle has meetings with his recruiter every other week, it's supposed to help keep him on track with homework and graduation. He is doing everything that they have asked him to do, which is a very good thing. His truck will eventually fall apart, he described the way their dad fixed the trucks as Greg's being fixed with glue and his being fixed with super-glue. Yes we do have a truck that needs some fixing, I believe it is just replacing the head, anyway it will be a better vehicle for him. If their dad has just been patient he could have paid for the parts needed in the vehicles that we had and it would have been better for the boys. They still need to find jobs to pay for insurance and gas.

I have been writing in my journal on an almost daily basis, and it is getting easier to meet the word count that I am trying for. Jerry put a new operating system on the desk top in our room, I am still trying to find my files for my book. The computer now has two desk tops which it never had before, I'm thinking that I will have to go through his desk top to find all my files. This is very frustrating as I had been writing chapter nine and hadn't finished it yet so it hadn't been published to its blog yet. If I can't find it I will have to try to rewrite it. Oh well, everything happens for a reason. I'm sure that I will find the files, I just haven't tried to hard yet. I have been feeling very creative lately, and not just in writing, I have been doing a lot of crocheting and coming up with my own ideas on modifying patterns. I credit, at least in part, with my journal writing, it seems to have opened up the gates to the creative process. I learned a new stitch in crochet and have started a poncho for myself, and have had the idea of using this stitch to make smaller ponchos for Gynesis and Lavieya. I am so excited about starting them, I have to get measurements first though so that they will at least fit them.

I know that this rambles a bit, ok more than a bit, but this is the way my mind is working. That is a scary thought. Anyway, the more I write the better this and my stories will get, so please bear with me.

Now I need to get on my soapbox for a bit and put in my two cents on regulating of game content. Now I will agree that there is content that children of various ages should not see, whether it is in games, tv or movies, that is why there is a rating system. The ratings give us a guide line as to what the content of the movie or tv show, that way if there is something that we don't want our children to watch we can either not take to the movie or block it on the tv. There are ratings for games as well, if the rating is mature, then the content isn't meant for anyone under the age of eighteen, if parents don'e want their kids to have these games then they shouldn't buy them for the kids. And yes stores are not supposed to sell games to kids that have the mature rating on them. If we don't want our kids to be exposed to the content in the games then we as parents shouldn't bring it into our homes, we should also make any one that would buy games for our kids understand that we don't want mature rated games for our kids. Parents have a responsibility to their kids, what they see, what they hear, what they say. Do we really need a government control to do what we should be doing already?

Ok, so now I'm off my soapbox. I hope that this week has treated all of you well.

Live well...

School Starts Monday

School starts Monday, yay! I am both excited that they will be going back to school and kind of sad at the same time. Glad because they will be out of the house each day and sad because this is the last year of high school. Once they graduate they will be heading off to find their way in the world. Kyle wil be going into the Navy and Greg will be going off to college with the desire to go to Japan to learn about animation. So the last couple of weeks have been very busy.

Micael finally sent a child suport check and it actually paid off some of the arrearage that he owes, and there is supposed to be more money on the way. Because of this things that would have been bought on a more timely fashion are now being bought all at once. Kyle's truck had to have some repair, Greg had wanted a comcorder for a while, plus there is always clothing, school fees (especially since they are both seniors this year), and school supplies. Then there is car repairs and other things that needed to be taken care of. Money has to be put away for those expenses that will come after they graduate as well. Anyway I'm very glad that I finally got some of what is owed to me.

Maggie is really turning a very important corner in her life. She is actually enjoying becomeing a contributing member o society. For those that don't know, my step-daughter was arrested earlier this year for riding in a stolen car. This was a big bump in the slippery slope that she was going down. Being told that she has to obey the rules, check in with her PO, pay fees and fines, and take some classes. If her mom had done the same thing, said no when neccessary, hadn't been afraid of her then maybe Maggie would have become the responsible adult that she is turning into now. I am even going to pay for a seminar about getting published that she wants to take, she writes poetry, she needs to be encouraged along this path. I am also going to take a class on getting published.

I bought myself a laptop so that I will not have any excuses not to write. So far I have written more in the last couple of days than I have in a long time. None of it though was on the book that I have already started, every bit of writing is good though. The more you write the better and more comfortable you get with the proccess of writing. I would recommend that anyone who wants to write to read Stephen King's book "On Writing", there are lots of good tips. I may never get published, I will enjoy the writing though.

I will try to update sooner. Hope everyone has a good week.