Another Auld Lang Syne

Thanks to Anne at d21c.com

So here it is, December 31, 2008. In less than 12 hours, it will be 2009. That being said, I’m going to take a few minutes for some profound blogule introspection.

I started blogging back in May of 2006. I know this because WordPress kindly keeps track of my posts in the Just Plain archive.

Now, the reason I started blogging was because my son had driven out to California to work. I remember this clearly. It was the week before Mother’s Day and I remember that Mother’s Day was best spent curled up in the fetal position because my only child had just driven to California to start a job and perhaps find his fortune, his wife, his children and his home not in any particular order. Clicking here will bring you to his first post. It was a good one and he had more. Sadly, he hasn’t blogged much recently. I’m not sure why. He really was entertaining. He did come back east and he didn’t find a wife, kids or a home but fortune seems to be smiling on him.

So I started a blog on blogspot.com because that’s where his blog was. One Friday night I wrote this amazing post and published it. I wrote it at work while waiting for this blonde headcase to finish a highly sensitive project. I wanted to make sure she got everything she needed so she could FEDEX the RFP and we’d get a lot of business for her work. The post was filled with the ridiculousness of her thought process about how to burn a CD on a PC that had no CD burner. And other equally ridiculous thought processes. The next morning, I re-read it and attempted to correct a spelling mistake. Blogspot farted, I lost the post and immediately went to wordpress.com.

I came to WordPress through a friend of my son’s, Julie Luongo, a novelist and very entertaining blogger. Through Julie, I met Sissy and Cap who write from across the river and Sissy’s sister, Spank, who really should blog more. I also met WindyDarling who writes for herself these days. These four women keep me entertained. Because of Julie, I also enjoy Gary, who spends a lot of time parenting, and Michael, who takes amazing photographs.

My sister-in-law, my sister and my niece started blogging and it’s interesting to get their take on a situation that I may or may not have my own take on. I hope they get through the holidays and deadlines and start to blog again. They are amazing and insightful.

Now, let’s see. Through Windy, I met Eileen, and as luck would have it, last winter I worked a few miles from where she lives but our paths never crossed. Windy recently introduced me to this dude who led me to The Girl You Don’t Bring Home to Mama who lives in the next town over, the town where I grew up.

Through Eileen and Windy, I met some folks who don’t blog much anymore but from THEIR sites, I found Epiphany Girl,  Maleesha and PJ Miller. I found Sunday Scribblings, a blog that provides a writing prompt on Saturday so that you can post on Sunday. What an idea!

On my own, I found Jen who writes about my favorite place in New Jersey – the Shore.

Oh, but here’s the beauty of blogging and the Interwebs. When I found Maleesha – which was, in fact, last night, she had just posted Be My 1000th Commenter. I peeked and sure enough, she had no commenters and she was offering tea or coffee  from Rocky Mountain Roasting if you happened to be the 1000th. So I commented and clicked and, by golly, we traded comments, email addresses and snail mail addresses and I just got back from the post office because I mailed her a copy of Julie Luongo’s book, The Hard Way, which I promised I’d send in gratitude for the coffee/tea and being her 1000th commenter.

So there you have it, my end of year Blog Wrap Up.

Now as for resolutions:

I will read more.

I will write more.

I will eat less.

I will exercise more.

I will play more.

I will pray more.

 

Ok, the end.

Merry New Year, friends.

TV Time

I think I’m addicted to HGTV. House Hunters, Property Virgins, Deserving Design, Design on a Dime, Curb Appeal… Yep, I’m hooked. I usually flip through other stations during commercials but since I was doing some online stuff I didn’t tonight and happened upon this commercial:

Now I need to lose weight – I blew it during the holidays and I’ve been fighting some kind of upper respiratory thing since the day after Thanksgiving so exercise has been out of the question – but I have to ask this question: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MARIE OSMOND???

God Only Knows

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a little out of sorts. I grew out of that funk and embraced the hustle and bustle of the season. I didn’t bake or send out Christmas cards again. And I don’t feel like a failure. I actually feel ok with how little and how much I accomplished.

I spent an inordinate amount of time preparing music for A Festival of Lessons and Carols which we presented at the high school. At one point on my older blog post, I mentioned that I loved what I was doing but I felt like the rehearsals were a challenge – me against them. In the end, I was pleased with the result of all the hard work. The students were amazing – vocalists and instrumentalists. They worked hard and long hours to accomplish a performance that was way beyond what I had ever imagined possible. That music was difficult for their age level.

I waited until this afternoon to rehearse the group for Christmas Eve Mass. We have 12 instrumentalists: Tuba, 3 Trombones, Baritone Horn, Alto Sax, Clarinet, Flute, 2 Trumpets, Violin. Cello, 2 guitars, 7 vocalists, and a pianist. If Mass goes as well as our rehearsal, it will be heavenly. Again, I spent hours arranging and rearranging parts for that mix of instruments. I will estimate over 40 hours spent on music for both the Festival and Christmas Eve. Not counting rehearsals. And these instrumentalists range in age from 7th grade to, well, I guess I’m the oldest so we’ll leave it at that. Again music that is not easy at all for that age group.

You can go to this page and click any of the three mp3s to listen to some of the music we’ve been preparing.  It’s not us, it’s the 2003 Loyola University Choir performing at their Festival of Lessons and Carols. Those songs, particularly Great Joy and Ave Maria have gotten me through some rough moments while I’ve waited for the days to start getting longer again!

Oh and that little ceramic tree in the picture above – that’s a gift from THEM as in me against them. Yep, the students presented that little beauty the day of the concert. Caught me completely offguard. Made my Christmas….

A Merry one to you all.

WTF?

Your Colors Say You Are Hopeful

When you are at peace, you are: Energized and innovative When you are moved to act, you are: Confident and optimistic When you are inspired, you are: Spontaneous and adventurous When your life is perfectly balanced, you are: Connected to nature and the world Your life’s purpose is: To reach enlightenment

The Ultimate Color Test   Thanks to The Girl You Don’t Bring Home to Momma.

Today – yes!

Washing Machine Resurrection

I dunno. It worked today. I’m totally grateful. I don’t know why or how. Two weekends and it’s fine and dandy. Ok. Cool. Merry Christmas.