Hi! I'm glad to see that typhoons and monkeys haven't dragged you away yet.
: Its not even really disclipline--but its so easy to type it
: back, and you
: can wait until you have time, and it can be short or long at your
: convenience. I dont like to talk on the phone, and sometimes
: I dont have
: time or money to go out, but I cna always dash off a quick email.
This is true. Email is incredibly convenient. I'm afraid for me it's become my best mode of communication. I sit at the computer all day most working days, and my t1 to the Internet is always up. People can generally reach my computer with more reliability than they can reach me! Yikes.
: Actually, I am getting a little homesick (please dont tell
: Jim or Mom--it
: will upset them, and there is nothing they can do. The busy
: schedule from
: here on out will keep my mind busy and will help the time go
: fasxter, so Im
: all for it. Hopefully, it will be easy to sleep on the
: plane, and if not,
: there is always dramamine. (smile)
Can't say as I blame you for being a little homesick; I think it's pretty much to be expected. We all miss you, too! I won't inform mom or Jim, since I understand what you mean about needlessly upsetting them. It only makes it harder on you when everyone's worrying. When is your flight home?
: Me, too. Have you seen Dogma???? I think you would really
: like it.
I love that movie. Forest and I have seen it several times! It's hilarious; and I actually like the point of it.
: I definitely believe in god and the power of faith, and many
: things in the
: bible, but I like to take a broader view as well.
Certainly. I just have trouble accepting one type of mythology over another, that's all. To me the 'Eight Baskets of Truth' are just as true as the 'Nicene Creed' I grew up with. I think my beliefs fall in line with the general spirit of the bible, and I have faith overall, but I see organized religion and religious texts as human's ways to try to interpret and present god. Some of them are brilliant, some have gone too far, and some of them I think directly oppose what I intuitively feel the nature of god is. I guess if I recite the creed with a mental note after each line, I still make a reasonable United Methodist. :)
We believe in one God, (with many faces)
the Father, (the mother) the Almighty, (the gentle)
maker of (physics, and thus) heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen. (and unimagined.)
You get the picture. It's not lying, exactly, it's just omitting a lot of things. That creed was written in about 300 AD to help people adapt the new testament to their faith practices. It was also intended to combat Apollonarism (he thought Jesus wasn't really human) monarchism, and a hundred other -isms, including my-ism.
I guess if I maintain the belief that all religions are right in one way or another, and that diversity is the first love of god, it's okay though. Or maybe I'll just hang onto Dogma's idea that the best religion is a good idea.
: I love you and I hope everything rocks with you. Tell Kirstin happy
: birthday.
Everything is going along well. I just got done doing Kirstin's birthday shopping, and am feeling particularly broke. This past weekend cost about 8 times as much as our planned camping trip would have, so we're still reeling from the impact. Still, I don't think Kirstin will be too disappointed. Forest and I got her a stereo/cd player/tape player for her room, which is bright blue and semi-cute. We also got her a book we think she'll like, made a scrapbook with all her stuff from camp in it, and I think we're planning to pick up a CD store gift certificate and a copy of A Bug's Life.
Mostly, though, I think she'll be glad to see who is coming. Bill, Kathy, and Allyn will be there, along with her friend Jen and her daughter Madeline. Mom, Sam, and Ruth will all be there, along with Yeffy and Reagan, Daryl, Tiffiny, and some other of my friends. Jeff is coming and bringing Alex, which will surely make Kirstin happy, and Forest's sister Darcy and brother Sean are also planning to attend, as is Will, Forest's friend who is the first adult Kirstin has had a crush on. (Aww.)
I will be sure to wish her a happy birthday for you, and I'll let you know when your postcard arrives.
Rehearsals for the play are going along very smoothly. The actors are all very experienced. We've only had three rehearsals, but last night we ran all of act 1 with blocking, and it went very very well. Almost too well. Sometimes great success that early in rehearsals can be a bad thing; but I'll knock on wood and say it bodes well. I still have until August 21 to be off-book, and I'm sure that will be easily do-able.
The city of Eaton Rapids has finally declared our water drinkable again. I'm a little frustrated with this whole thing, because there was never any explanation for how our water got contaminated in the first place, and I'm not real happy about paying $50 per month for NO customer service. Our water is provided by the city, and there isn't anyone there to talk to about it, and they haven't made any of the information public. I don't like paying for things when I don't get good communication from the company. In this case, though, I have no choice.
I'm thinking about sueing Sears for libel. I'm so tired of this! I haven't owed them money in 3 years. They were paid off in full, and I even have a statement from them showing a zero balance, and that I closed the account. Still, they persist in reporting that I owe them $800 to the credit bureaus, and they don't post that I've ever paid them anything. This is holding up my mortgage right now, and really pissing me off. I have called them three times in the past two weeks, requesting that they send a statement showing the correct balance (0) to the mortgage company. Three times they have promised to fax one to them, and mail me a copy. I have never received anything, and neither has the mortgage lady! We were supposed to close the deal early last week, but Sears' persistence in being assholes has held the process up. The mortgage underwriter won't sign off on the mortgage until he's certain that I don't owe on any unpaid accounts. I guess it's a Fannie Mae thing. They're cheap, but picky. In the meantime, I'm never shopping at Sears again.
It's driving me nuts not knowing how much next month's house payment will be, and how much cash I'll need to pay out at closing time, and when that will be! I like to have all my financial stuff done months in advance and then not think about it anymore. It's all automated on Yahoo Bill Pay. The payments automatically go out, and I don't even have to think about them. The uncertainty plagues this system. I have about $700 floating around in next month, not knowing where it needs to go. The temptation to spend parts of it is intense! But I'll be good. *sigh*
Other than bills, there isn't a whole lot going on. Forest is working open to close today, and I'm in bell rehearsal this evening with mom. When I get home, (around ten) I'm going to work on cleaning the house some more, and put together Kirstin's scrapbook. I got a bunch of doubles of photos from camp and Chicago for her, and should be able to pick them up today at lunchtime. I'm also planning to put in all the letters people sent to her while she was there, the camp songbook, and the letter she sent to me. As much as she enjoys looking at my photo albums, I thought she might really like to have one of her own.
I'm pretty happy that last night I got my kitchen mostly cleaned, and I'm working through the house from there. It generally looks like a tornado hit it, because Kirstin came home from camp, then we immediately had her teeth pulled, and she wasn't up for picking things up, and we didn't want to disturb her by doing it around her. We made gallons of soup and Jello, and the dishes piled up. Then we all went to Chicago for the whole weekend, came back late Sunday night, and started another busy week. The cats (well, Eilonwy in particular) made a mess by dragging the kleenexes out of the box one at a time and playing with them until they were shreds. The earliest we've been home since our trip is 9:30 at night. Needless to say the house is a disaster area.
To make it worse, we unknowingly let both of the cats drink the contaminated city water last weekend while we were gone, and they've both had diarrhea. The litter stinks to high heaven no matter how often we scoop it. It's truly foul, and I hate having company while that's going on! I think I'll probably put the cats and their litter up in the spare bedroom starting tonight, so the stench is at least isolated away from the dining area. Yech.
Forest and I both go nuts in messes, and get pretty obsessive about cleaning them up, but we have to be at home to do that. It makes it worse, in a way, because it means the messiness offends both of us, and there's nothing we can do about it.
Tonight when I get home I think I'm scrubbing the bathroom. Then I can do the lawn and Kirstin's room Friday night, and the living room and ninja room on Saturday, and hopefully be ready by Sunday.
Last night after cleaning, Forest and I stayed up insanely late. We snuggled under a big blanket on our couch and watched the original Lethal Weapon movie. It was really pleasant. Eilonwy is turning out to be a very affectionate cat. Where Leeloo has accepted us as her pet people and kept her position as a supreme being, Eilony has accepted us as her parents, I think. She treats us like cats. Forest believes it's because we got her when she was way too young, and bottlefed her and all that stuff. Last night she hopped up on our laps, and did her usual, un-cat-like maneuver many times; it looks like she's hugging us. She stands on her hind legs in our laps, and mushes the side of her face into the crook of our necks, a paw on each side, and purrs like mad. It's very cuddly and cute. She also gives human-style kisses, pecking her nose against our lips, and likes to rub her head under our chins. Inevitably, she ends up as she did last night, curled up on Forest's shoulder, sound asleep, and purring.
She makes a nice balance for Leeloo. Leeloo is all beauty and attitude. She likes traditional petting (and tail-base scratching, most of all), and pretty much seems to rule the household. She's very graceful, and dignified, and doesn't bother us much except for the occasional conversation, and to curl up on our bed after we're asleep. Eilonwy is a clutz, and loves to play, all the time. She has no dignity whatsoever, and doesn't like to be petted, but held and snuggled. It's interesting how distinctly opposite their personalities are.
Anyhow, it's time for me to go to lunch. Hope you have a good day teaching today!
Love, Wendy
