Thursday, May 21, 2009

Do you know what an antonym is?

Do you? Do you know what an antonym is? this is the question posed to me the other day by my four year old son! "Mommy, do you know what an antonym is?" I looked at Daniel, and asked, "Do you?" His reply, "Hot and cold are antonyms! Up and down! Do you know any antonyms, Mommy?" Wow! Really? A four year old knows this? I was impressed!

This is the same child, that pleaded with great excitement the last few mornings to turn on the "swipeys". The swipeys are the window wipers, and he likes them to go fast! It is very amusing to him to watch the swipeys go back and forth, super fast! This morning, he asked if we could go straight, rather than turning right at 739, so we continued on 218 up to Blanding. He likes to go over the "new bridge", which is where they are lifting the bridge that crosses over Black Creek by one foot! There is currently a metal grate bridge, and Daniel enjoys the noise going over it, and he gets to see all the construction equipment in action! This morning, was especially exciting for him, because we hit lots of big puddles, throwing water from the side of the truck! Yes, just like all the other trucks out here near Middleburg, our truck was just right for puddle stomping!

Last week, I had the great misfortune of losing my job. I've been scrambling to contact job placement agencies, and post my resume out there on Monster.com, and other places. Yesterday, I finally upgraded my home pc's ram, so it actually moves now, rather than sits for what seems like an hour trying to open applications! It seems like a luxurious expense to spend on my pc, in a time when our money must be held very tight, but without the upgrade, surfing the net for open job positions would be near impossible on this old thing! I upgraded from 256MB of ram, to 2 GB of ram, and the difference is incredible! If I'd know the fix would be so easy and inexpensive, I'd have done it over a year ago!

This morning, I've checked in with the two agencies I'm working with, applied to a few things I've found on "Monster", and now as I play the waiting game, I'll attack the laundry monster that seems to have taken over our home!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Obviously, I need to post!

Please forgive me,I'm becoming such a dudd when it comes to blogging these days! Excuse me!

What have I been up to? Well, Friday, I went to have lunch up at the school for the kindergarten's Mother's Day lunch. It was nice, but needed a little more organization. Hanna's teacher asked me on Thursday night what I was bringing, if I was stopping somewhere, would I bring her something. So I stopped at McD's and picked up an additional Happy Meal for Ms.Kelly. When I handed it to her, she smiled and said "Thanks Mom!" Wow, I hadn't realized the age difference between the two of us all year until just that moment! I realized the 11 year spread between our ages was a lot! I smiled and said, "that's okay, I'll be your Mom today!" We sat outside in the grass, and I'll say, it got hot in the sun! "I tell you what!"


Saturday morning, Grandma picked up the kids and took them as had been promised to see their cousin Carter play T-ball, and visit with his sisters, their other cousins, Julia and Morgan. The kids were so happy to see them again! I went on my merry way over to UNF to observe yet another master class. This time, it was given by Augustin Hadelich, a 25 year old genius violinist, born in Italy, and Gold medallist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. His prize, along with the honor of being a gold medallist, is possessing the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivari violin. Oh my, what a beautiful instrument it was to hear! He didn't play any prepared piece; to see that I would have had to purchase tickets to see him perform in the Master Works concert with the JSO. However, he did play a bit here and there, demonstrating for these kids how he thought certain excerpts could be played. I might also add he hold the coveted Artist diploma from Julliard! I can only imagine the talent that young man possesses!




Sunday, we went to church "as usual" and the choir sang a new song,(new to us) God Give us Christian Homes. Kathy has been chosing a few out of "The Worship Hymnal" from The Living Way Ministries. It was such a touching song, once again I was moved to tears, and had difficulty singing along with it! Kathy and I have been going through this hymnal, trying to find hymns we could play together for pre/post service, and have had a lot of fun playing together going over them! I was very moved when she presented me with my very own copy for Mother's Day, with a special inscription written inside the cover! Thank you so much, Kathy! Your friendship is so very dear to me! After church, the kids wanted to ride with Grandma, so John and I enjoyed a nice quiet ride home. It didn't take long for them to show up, and we had the pool all cleaned up, ready for them to jump in, and the water slide set up for them to enjoy as well! John and Michael grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, while Judy and I floated around in the pool, keeping cool and relaxing. Judy was very impressed with Daniel's swimming this year, and how much he has improved since last summer. Mostly, his attitude towards getting in the water! I filled the dogs' pool up too, and they enjoyed themselves keeping cool as well! My Mother's Day gift came a few days early. I had told John I wanted a violin hanger to hang my viola on the wall, so it can be displayed for all to enjoy, and allow easy access anytime I wanted to play her! So, he asked me a few weeks ago, where he'd find the "gun rack" that I wanted. At first I was puzzled, then once clued in I just chuckled! I told him I really didn't think he'd find it anywhere in town, except maybe the one and only violin shop in town, out on Beach Blvd. A long way for him to go, looking for something he didn't really know what it looked like, only to have them maybe not have it! So, he told me to go ahead and order it, since we both knew there was no way in hell he was going to get on either of MY computers and try to order something online! It came on Thursday, and I asked him to please put it up for me on Friday, which happily did!

It was a very nice day, and I feel very blessed! Good times, loving family, and a happy home!