Speed, I am Speed!

I couldn't help but to laugh, and say this phrase as I walked past the sofa in my living room this evening. "Speed, I am speed". Daniel hasn't been feeling well all week, as most of you know, and this evening he crashed. Yesterday, he stayed home with me, and returned back to his preschool today. He had stayed home Tuesday, went half the day Wednesday, and stayed home Thursday, so he returned today all day. He seemed to have had a good day, and ate his dinner very well; even had seconds. After dinner, we decided since we had left over firewood from our camping trip, not to mention it just wasn't bone chilling cold tonight, that we would make a fire out back, and enjoy roasted marshmallows. Mmmm, they were good. When enough was enough, we came inside and the kids got their baths. They thought they were all that, since they got to stay up late! They'd been watching Zach & Cody, then I heard Phineus and Pherb, and thought if they stayed up later, maybe, just maybe they'll sleep past 7:00 tomorrow morning. So, when Hanna came down the hall to my computer (gasp, I was on the computer again?) and asked if they could stay up, since there's no school tomorrow, I easily agreed! I heard whispering in the living room "we get to stay up late!". Couldn't help but chuckle. Not twenty minutes later, I heard John come inside from extinguishing the final embers of the fire, and saw him carrying Hanna off to bed, wrapped up in her blanket, arms dangling without response. Yup, they were asleep. I moved towards the living room to assist, and we stood there and laughed at Daniel. John and I looked at each other, and both said, "Speed, I am speed! Not!" Those are his Lightning McQueen pj's!


That little boy, I do believe, was in an attempt to set a record for getting into trouble this week while at home. At one point, I went into the living room, and saw the "junior chair" from the dining room table now sitting next to the kitchen counter, and there was my four year old son, standing on top of my kitchen counter, reaching up with his hand on the cup that holds scissors and nail clippers on top of the refrigerator. This occurred DURING a conference call and live meeting with a co-worker, and I had to excuse myself as I went to check on the noises I was hearing from the other room that didn't quite sound normal! That boy!

Daniel made me laugh yesterday afternoon, as we sat in the line at parent pick up waiting for Hanna. He said, "can we play flower darlin?" I said, "What?" He replied, "flower darlin, Mommy! You know, the one you just bought on the cd!" Oh, okay, Delta Dawn. A few weeks ago, as Daniel was taking a bath, he asked what the word on the shower faucet said. I said "Delta", and went into song.. singing "Delta Dawn, What's that flower you have on?" I got it stuck in my head so much, that I searched for it on itunes, and found an album of Tanya Tucker from the early 80's, including Delta Dawn. We have since played this cd likely 5 times a day, mostly this one track. He knows all the words to the refrain, and if you ask him, and his mood is conducive, he may just sing it for you... "Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on, could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say, he was a meetin you here today, to take you to his mansion in the sky hi..." That is his favorite track, followed by "We got trouble" also on this album.

Tomorrow I am off on a venture on my own. Months ago, I contacted a lady that boasted matching string players with playing partners. She tried to no avail to get me in touch with a woman who coordinates the JU Community Orchestra. This lady has yet to respond to any emails I've sent, and my original contact did not have a phone number. So, she suggested then that I attend this "Master Class" in January, and hope to be in contact with Marguerite, the lady that handles the orchestra. There is a String Quartet that will be playing Sunday at the Cummer Museum, that will be offering a preview of their performance tomorrow morning at JU, as well as a quartet from JU, and possibly another group. My hopes are that I can finally make contact with Marguerite and discuss the possibility of playing with the community orchestra. It will be interesting. John will be left home alone (NOT WORKING) with the kids until shortly after noon, and without a vehicle. He assures me, if anything were to happen, he always has his work truck. As you may recall our 2nd vehicle, the silver bullet (old diesel truck) was limping and hopping over New Year's weekend, and has yet to be diagnosed, let alone fixed!

I toyed with the idea of not going, but John said, "If you don't go, you'll be kicking yourself for months. Just do it!" My friend Lauren said today, "it's alone time! How often do you get alone time? Do it!" But, I managed to finally get in touch with an old friend this week, and was hoping to actually go visit her over in Mandarin this weekend. I haven't seen my sister since New Year's, and the 14th was Caitlyn's birthday, and I'd really like to give her the gift I have for her. And last but not least, we're going over to my mother in law's house for dinner on Sunday afternoon, as it is my brother in law's birthday. There's so much going on, and a trip all the way over to JU will be quite the time consumer, which I could use for other things. There's just too much! You see why I go camping, nothing to worry about! In the end, I believe I will head over to JU. Lately, I've been less motivated to play my viola, since my normal accompanist at church is on a break, concentrating on finishing up his college courses. I need to find the motivation and enthusiasm again within myself, and then I can pursue other avenues with other people, like my good friend and beautiful piano player Kathy!