I got so caught up with the Lisa thing.....

...that I forgot to mention a few things.

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This morning was 'take-down' day at Village Gallery so off I went. Dee asked if I'd get Michael's and Kris's work, too, while there. A nice lady helped me load the GIANT painting of a woman Kris did in 3-D. We had to lay my seats down flat to get her in. It was as tall (or short!) as I am, hard to carry on this windy morning!

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I took their stuff out to Hang Ups, as I was also taking Justin some money for buying sodas on the golf course. Jesse and he are taking part in a golf outing on this hot day, not thinking about the beverage cart that comes around. Justin saw my completed and framed acrylic piece, and really liked it. Frankly, I do, too!!!! This is the acrylic painting I started and then wanted to tear up into pieces, scattering it on Blanding Blvd. Between Justin and Dee's influence, it was saved from disposal and became what some consider as "art". Great Hang Ups was quite busy when I arrived so I simply carried the pieces in and bid a hasty retreat.

"A New Day" This piece is also shown at the bottom of my blogsite with "The Doors of Santorini"

Last night after the Building Committee meeting I stopped at the computer to check for e-mails before going to bed. When I click on the Profile page of my site and view the list of My Favorites, the underlined items, when clicked, direct me to other people's blogs with similar interests. Someone else liked "The Bucket List" so I started reading her blog. Very, very interesting! I left her a Comment saying we had similarities including the "problem" with being hooked on Diet Coke!

She wrote back, thanking me for Commenting. She'd also posted a Top 10 list of reasons to be "happy" so I was FORCED to write back, sharing my thoughts on happiness. Jami replied, thanking me for my assessment that joy in the Lord trumps the transient, elusive thing called "happiness". She lives in TX, is a psychologist working at a prison......I'll bet you can see how this is going to go! I think there is a chance for a long-distance friendship. How cool is this??

My brain was exhausted from the meeting, a good meeting, yet tiring. I got ready for bed and while going to the Preview channel on TV, ended up with local news. Oops! The story was a police officer relating the details of a traffic accident he came upon, how he helplessly stood by as a man burned to death in his overturned truck....oh, my goodness! In his 26 years of service, he'd never experienced anything as horrible as this, and will certainly be marked by this the rest of his life. This driver had swerved onto the median, and then ended up going the wrong way on A-1-A, hitting three vehicles coming toward him. The first truck he hit caused that driver to be ejected and then his own truck rolled onto him, crushing him to death. Bystanders struggled to push the truck off of him but it was too late....

So, as I lay in bed, trying to find a program to lull me to sleep, I had this horrible, sinking feeling inside of me, quite unsettling. The Prayer Chain had been activated earlier for a member in the hospital, but she'd called in the afternoon with an "all clear". Couldn't be that, right? I went over events of the day---had I said something I shouldn't have? Did I miss an appointment? Is there a deadline I forgot about? Had there been a close encounter in a restaurant or store? Hmmmm, what was it causing this creepy feeling?

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Then, suddenly it occurred to me: the news report about that man burning alive in his truck.....My heart aches for the driver in his suffering the way he did, for the officer/witness who tried but couldn't, for the other man killed by his own truck, the other cars involved and people injured, for anyone who had to treat people, rescue them, or remove them from the scene.....Why did it take me so long to figure out the cause of this upset? That's upsetting, too!

Poor Lisa!

Justin informed me first thing this morning that Lisa had trouble with the boys yesterday....he read Lisa's blog! Good boy! They took off on her and ran down the street, fortunately not in the road itself. She was scared, they were scared when she caught them, and a very somber mood was set for the evening. Lisa held her ground and wouldn't take them to "MacDonald's" as they'd planned. The boys knew they'd messed up and messed up good. Later both told their mama they would listen to her from now on.Does this look like that face of a child who would be so naughty when he's four????? He needs a shave........

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It's challenging being a Mom, no matter what age the kidlings are. How interesting this happened just prior to Mother's Day when moms are being reminded about how "good" we are, how "good" our kids turned out, what "good" examples we set.

I remember a sermon once when I was working in the nursery at church, and Justin was being a beast!!! The sermon went on and on about what a good mom or parent is, what God expects of us, the joy of parenthood, and so on, while I'm being pelted with cars and toys and books.......I think that's the most inadequate I've ever felt in my life!

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If memory serves, the three of us went to lunch at Ryan's Restaurant that day, my favorite at the time, where I had WI cheese soup, enjoyed the buffet, the yeast rolls, and ice cream. We went home, then, and Justin took a lovely, long nap. I read the newspaper and watched TV, peaceful and calm-like. I also remember feeling a tad guilty that I enjoyed being a mom more when my child was sleeping!

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When he got up, his father tended to him, and we decided to go out to Villages of Fireside to the model home pool and go for a dip with John, Mona, and JR (who is 3 months older than his cousin, Justin!) (turned 21 on Wednesday at West Point Academy!!). I believe our partner in business, Curt, was there, too, and we swam for awhile. All of a sudden we saw something strange in the water and got out quickly. Was it a snake? Not the right color....What is that thing??? Here it was the insides of a diaper, the gel stuff which serves as absorbent, and had freed itself from one of the diapers!!!!! What a good laugh that was!!!! No matter how you look at it--the stuff inside of diapers is plenty scary sometimes!

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After choir the other night, I chatted in the parking lot for a bit with another member. She told me something horribly frightening happened at their house that early a.m. It seems their 3-year-old son likes to roam the house when all are asleep and raid the office or kitchen, looking for nothing but mischief. His dad discovered in the morning that the child's bed was just loaded with kitchen knives!!! He'd gotten the knife block off the counter and was playing with the knives in his bed, with one jammed in an upright position where one false move...............I can't say anymore.............

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They've had to install a lock on the outside of his door so he can't go on a mission like that anymore, can't cut his hair or the dog's hair, can't mess with stuff on Mom's desk or put anything into the shredder, including his fingers.......I wouldn't trade places with them for anything! I'm too scared now, wwaayy too scared!!!

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On the bright side of memories: when Justin was a bit older, about 5, I was working nights at Sprint, his father took him shopping for Mother's Day gifts. He chose a beaded necklace, a little bag of M & M's, some Certs breath mints, and a tube of Chapstick. All these gifts carefully selected for his mama! Aw....he always gives gifts from his heart.