Thoughts

I went to look through some of the blogs that I used to visit on a regular basis, years ago.  Many are gone,   some have been taken over by spam,  most are obsolete.   Blogging used to be such a big part of my day.   Not sure where I found the time,  I guess it was during the years when I wasn't feeling well enough to do much around the house.   It is now 2014.   I think back to some of the friends that I made while blogging......a few I still see over on facebook.  Unfortunately a few are such liberals and I am a conservative so our political differences made it hard to stay friends.  Liberal always have to try and make everyone see things the way they do......and get darn right mad if you don't.

My kids are grown now and I am getting old.   The things I once found quite interesting no longer really matter to me or draw my attention.   One being, making new friends,   just not all that interested in making new friends anymore.   All I do now is garden and take care of my kitty cats.  

I have recently been thinking a lot about returning to California,   I miss my kids and my former life, living in the South hasn't really turned out the way I had planned when I moved out here 15 years ago.  The kids have done well,  Ana made it through college,  Nick graduated from high school but now it might be time to return "home."

Ana and Nick when we moved to the south.

My Daughter and her boyfriend

Atlanta

Ana took her car and a group of kids down to Atlanta today. I will probably not relax until they are back. I worry because the road crews are once again tearing up and widening the freeway. And there are all kinds of conventions this weekend, plus she is relatively new to driving in a big city. Not to mention having a car full of teenagers with the music roaring and kids hollering. Like I said, I won't relax until she is back home.

Addendum: She got home safe and sound at 4 am. They went to a comic book and characters convention.

College

My daughter went for college orientation today and signed up for her classes. She has the Hope Grant and the Hope Scholarship which is money made available to A+ students, and can be used for college within the State of Georgia. If you go out of state to college it doesn't apply. It is paid for by our lottery, and it is totally free to any student that maintains good grades all the way through high school. I seriously doubt that Nick will be able to get one, but he will try. It is pretty hard to keep your grades up to where they need to be to get the Hope Scholarship, for four full years. But Ana is a high achiever and she did it.

She is going to work and go to school, she got her classes so that they do not conflict with her work schedule. She was going to wait to go down for orientation, and I advised her to go the first day, because with classes it is first come first serve. She doesn't actually begin until October. She opted for the fall schedule which gave her the summer and another couple of months off.

I am having a good day. I ate rice and applesauce yesterday. That is my food of choice after I have been glutened. It seems to be easiest on my intestines and stomach. Another of the problems that goes with Celiac's is terrible acid reflux. And after I have been glutened, it seems my whole system has been scalded. So anything with vinegar or citrus burns from my mouth to............well the whole system. Obviously, as the wheat protein eats away the vilia of my intestines, it leaves them raw inside. Not a pretty picture.

So today, I eat only food that is mild and easy on the stomach, and in very small portions. Needless to say I have been losing weight. My Dr. always thought that Celiac's patients would be thin. He admitted that he didn't really know that much about the disease, he only knows three people with Celiac's. Well I joined a Celiac's self help group, and far more are overweight than thin, the reason being you eat because you are always hungry. When you begin to once again get some nutrition from your food, your appetite goes way down. Or anyway mine did. I have lost close to 20 pounds since April.

Changing of the Guard

This ceremony is called Changing of the Guard, during which the Seniors "pass the torch" to the Juniors, amid a bevy of acknowledgements and speeches. This "show" was new to me, having not seen it in the past. They didn't have this type of ceremony in California. With over 300 students it was a rather long, although, nice ritual. The Seniors pass lighted candles to the Juniors. But after sitting on a stadium bench for almost 3 hours, I was plenty glad when it was over. I tried to get a decent picture, and couldn't, there wasn't enough light and for closeups I can never hold the camera still enough. But for some reason, I was able to take a movie. This picture is very brief, and you only get a glimpse of my daughter as she peaks over the tops of the other heads. Ana is the one with the short hair.

18th Birthday

They say that time passes quickly when you get older. It is true you know, it does seem to go by at an alarming rate once you reach middle age. Anyway, Ana had her 18th Birthday last Saturday and as I looked back over the last 18 years, they did go in fast forward. Twenty years ago when I moved to Los Angeles I was running away (with my two young sons) from a bad marriage. I had met Tom in August of the previous year and we had spoken with each other occasionally over the phone so when he invited me to move to Los Angeles and I accepted, it was more or less like going into the unknown. My sons didn't know Tom, but he was about as opposite from their father as a person could possibly get. I was approaching 40, had one grown son, another two sons, 11 and 6, well on their way, and it had not crossed my mind to start a new family. Tom had never been married, had no children, and it HAD crossed his mind. So when he said, "I would like to have a couple kids," it occurred to me that it might not even be possible. Well, that was December, by May I was expecting Ana; I was 40.

I had worked, before and after, having my other three children, and it wasn't easy. I had worked, cooked, cleaned, gardened, paid bills, grocery shopped, and spent a good portion of my time going from bar to bar trying to locate my drunken ex-husband. So this new marriage and pregnancy was a breeze by comparison. I had gotten a job at a bank as an AVP a week after I moved to LA, and I worked right up until the month Ana was born. I was supposed to return to work when she was three months old, but for many reasons, I just couldn't do it. Leaving a tiny new baby with someone that you just don't know wasn't something that I could do. So I kissed my career goodbye and became a full time housewife and mother. It would be many years before I had any desire to work outside the home again.

As we were all sharing in Ana's happy Saturday birthday it occurred to me, it had all turned out pretty well. And it was all worthwhile. Children benefit from having a parent at home. They really do. And they benefit double when they have TWO parents at home.

Senior Picture

Ana received her Senior Pictures today.....and I got two different poses. So you kids (Scott, Trevor, Darrin) need to decide which one you want and what size.

Christmas Picture of the Kids

This year is Ana's High School graduation and she had a professional sitting for her Graduation picture, and I have to select them from proofs, which I haven't done as yet. They do not have to be bought until May. And Nick, well he didn't care for his school picture so the little devil just didn't bother to bring his picture envelope home. So I didn't even know when his pictures were taken. They have a new way of doing it here, they take each child's picture, which they then can see on their envelope, and you can decide if you want to buy them. Well he didn't like his picture so he made my decision for me. His hair was a bit long, which was his decision, I had been trying to cut it for a month and he kept dodging me. So when they finally took his picture his hair was too long for his taste.

Well I am in the process of sending out Christmas cards and I usually include a picture of the kids. This year I didn't have one, so I took my own. I made them put on something red and I sat them in front of the tree and I snapped pictures until I thought they were going to hit me. haha. Anyway I finally got a couple that I thought looked fine. Ana was so tired most of hers made her look like she needed sleep, and I couldn't get Nick to smile. KIDS!!