Amazing Monday Musings

No, that blog post title has no correlation to me or my actually doing my Monday Musings post...but the fact that it snowed overnight. I opened the window blind beside my bed this morning and said, "Wow!!"

It's certainly not much, and it won't last as "there's a warm wind coming." *wink* Still, the kids are psyched.

Happy Monday to you -- the Monday before Thanksgiving. (Can you believe it's nearly the holidays??) That's also amazing to me.

I'm typing my musings this morning on a older, used laptop (Stuart's dubbed the "Jacktop" for my Jack story. *grin*) I bought with birthday money. It's quite exciting as I hope to use this laptop to help me get back into writing professionally.

So let's see...new week, new happenings.

We're finishing a week's worth of lessons today and tomorrow so that the kids can have school vacation from Wednesday through Friday. They're excited and motivated...so here's hoping.

No new shows since the writers' strike is still going on....*grrrrr!* There is a glimmer of hope since the two sides have agreed to sit down and talk again (finally) on Nov. 26th. So the 24 countdown is still on hold but may begin again?? Okay. Okay. Let me keep my rosy glasses on for a bit longer...

We've been enjoying a new show called Life. It has a very interesting storyline and a good cast of characters/actors. Until all our favorites start up again, we've been enjoying the DVD sets we have for How I Met Your Mother and The Closer.

We head to my aunt's as always for an enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. She lives outside of Honey Brook, a small town about 40 minutes from us. Hopefully, the weather will be conducive to taking a walk afterwards...the yummy dinner always makes the whole family sleepy afterwards.

Last Friday night was our monthly TMHB (teacher's mental health break), the movie night so dubbed by my "bff" homeschooling friend and me last year. It's the night we get together once a month to share our favorite movies and eat snacks and "yack." This month, I brought The Right Temptation and she had Crash. Let's just say 4 hours later we couldn't believe both movies were over. They were so intense and involving that we didn't realize how quickly they passed until the credits rolled. My rating on both movies? Definitely recommended.

I spent Saturday at the Schuylkill Mall in Frackville for my annual Christmas shopping trip with a dear friend and former colleague from Highlights magazine. We figured out that this was our 13th year of meeting there. It's really a "Podunk" sort of mall...in the sense that there's not much there. But we don't really meet to shop. It's more of a "eat, chat, shop a bit, chat some more, eat lunch, chat even more, shop some more, etc." sort of time together. One year we said we'll have spend the night before at the Holiday Inn Express down the hill from the mall. Then we can catch a movie and shop, eat, chat, etc. *smile*

Speaking of the mall, it's located about an hour north of me, and the drive there this year especially was breath-taking. We've been experiencing a very late Autumn, and as I drove through the mountains I saw trees with leaves of yellow and orange and then deep red...truly amazing! I wanted to take some photos with my cellphone, but then I realized the little camera was helpless to capture the beauty of that moment. So I had to settled on mental photos...

Sunday night was the Ladies' Night for the small group Bible study we belong to at church. We met at a local eatery called Stoppers and enjoyed some good food and fellowship. It was encouraging, as "kid-free" times always are. We were missing two ladies, but I'm sure they'll be able to join us next month.

Emily had her last Friday night practice for the Nutcracker. We start the longer Sunday afternoon practices next Sunday...and then in a couple of weeks it's the tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and SHOWTIME. It's always such a fun experience for her. We're thrilled that she has the opportunity. I'm going today to get our tickets...hopefully they won't be too high in "the nose-bleed section."

Heard in the car this afternoon... Edward: What if we had square butt cheeks... Emily: Then we'd have square toilets...

And on that note...

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• a cup of Darjeeling with a lemon slice

• a burst of elation

• stepping out of a limo

• a gentle answer to a difficult question

• broken-in ski boots

* * *

I love tea.

So whenever we go back to England, I'm thrilled to get lots of cuppas during my visit.

On one of our journeys back, we got a ride in a limo...a long, white, stretch variety. It drove up to our apartment in the middle of the city, causing a bit of excitement for our neighbors.

(We had a very simple wedding. We didn't use limos (not that we would have wanted to), and I had a fairly sheltered existence so I didn't have one for the prom either (not that I would have wanted one). So I am not well-versed in the art of gracefully "stepping out of a limo" like you see on TV during the awards ceremonies.)

We were accompanying Stuart on a business trip. Emily was just over two years old and very newly potty-trained....

While we were riding in said-car, enjoying the roominess and luxury and free sodas, Emily announced very sweetly that she needed a potty.

Now, like every newly-potty-trained soul, when she announced that she needed a potty that meant she needed a potty NOW.

Hmmm...we didn't know what to do.

Then we noticed that the limo driver -- who was apparently a newly-trained, new-brain-transfer recipient -- went the wrong direction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike so that we were heading towards the Pocono Mountains instead of the Philadelphia Airport.

Being worried about missing our flight entered our brains but in front of that worry was the urgency of Emily's needing a potty. Did I mention the free sodas?

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention...

The free soda came with free glasses (to use only, of course); glasses wide enough to hold under a poor, trembling 2-year-old who was desperate for a loo.

The cup proved instead to be the perfect item to create "pee lock," thus we were saved from having to leave behind an unexplained glass of "yellow soda," in a variety not previously offered in this limo...

And the "stepping out of the limo" at the airport?

Well, it was hardly graceful -- more of leap at the curb in front of Departures -- as we rushed to get our newly-potty-trained little one to a real bathroom before the lock released.