A Southern Rehabilitation

July 2, 2018 Austin International Airport--1st Bump Dallas-Fort Worth Airport-Texas--2nd Bump Ok, well, I'm back at the airport... the Dallas Fort Worth Airport that is. I am trying to get to Seattle for the second leg of my trip. I was scheduled to leave Austin for DFW at 7:58am... I was bumped. I am flying Standby and that can sometimes happen. I made it on the next flight at 9:20 but once here in Dallas I was bumped AGAIN. So I'm scheduled on the "next flight" leaving DFW at 2:50. We shall see. Oh, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. My son, Jared, is already there. Hopefully, he will be able to get out and explore a bit while I'm trying to make my way there. (he was there five hours ahead of me, and yes, he did get out an explore Seattle for a bit before I got there) Let me tell you what. DFW is a HUGE airport. Since I've been here I've been on the SkyLink twice. I guess I've made an entire loop around the place by now. They've started calling "st...

One year ago almost to the day, I was waiting in an airport waiting to take off for a 10-hour flight to Zurich then eventually to Cairo. This morning I'm sitting at the same airport waiting to board my flight to Austin, TX. I really do enjoy traveling but it's the "getting there" that is so stressful (or can be). I didn't pack anything until yesterday. I'm going to be gone for the next ten days. Kudos to me because I packed everything in a carry-on and a backpack!! Crazy! I'm getting really good at this packing thing. :) I felt like I was well prepared this time--much more relaxed than last year's panic because my alarm didn't go off and I had to practically turn myself into a magician to get there on time! I got up at 3:25 this morning, left my house by 4:30, arrived at a friend's house (left my car and hitched a ride) by 6:00, left their house by 6:15 and was dropped off at Charlotte International at 7:00am. I even got through security in a d...

Honestly, I don't know how we do it... and by *we* I mean teachers. Once the hardcore press of testing is over, we are done. I mean, everyone is done. The kids most of all. They have had to endure HOURS of testing for days. Even the K-2 kids get tested and then tested some more... reading, math, writing... a seemingly endless cycle. The whole process wears everyone out so when the last test is taken and the pencils have been sharpened down to nubs, it's time to go home! BUT NO that's not what the state does. They say, "Let's make them all stay for three more weeks so we can get those mandatory 180 days in." If they only knew the ridiculousness of this decision! So we teachers try to come up with things to do for all of these days... the last week especially... things like: Game Day Water Day Class Picnic Field Day Pizza Day Arts and Crafts Day Get the cart of iPads and let them play for a couple of hours a day (or 3) Movie and Popcorn Day Sidewalk ...

I have never once watched " Orange is the New Black " but I titled my post similar to this b/c well, the setting is the same... jail.  For the past 3 months, we have had this REALLY BIG thing hanging over our heads. Truthfully, my youngest son has had this REALLY BIG thing hanging over HIS head and since it affects his life, it affects mine. I've debated whether or not to write about this, but I feel it's a good lesson to put out there. Plus, this "thing" has had its long ugly fingers wrapped around our necks for a lot of weeks. Back in January, while I was enjoying a girl's weekend at the beach, my son, while unbeknownst to me, was enjoying a weekend with some friends in the little town of Salisbury. His good friend attends college there. So what do typical college-aged boys do on the weekend? Well, they go to bars and drink and play pool and dance and hang out. These boys did just that except J drank way more than he should have and while all his f...

I don't know about you, but sometimes I think about past boyfriends/past relationships. (back in the day so to speak) I wonder where they are, who they married or if they married. How many kids do they have? What kind of job? Are they happy people now? And an even bigger question in my mind is "What do they look like now?" (shallow, I know. ha)  These are all things I'm curious about; I'd like to know.  Maybe it is more of a girl thing. I don't know. Some of those boyfriends lasted longer than others (for good reason) and some I enjoyed while we were together and when the relationship was over I was Okay with it. Like alrighty, that was fun but I'm ready for the next adventure. I've had a couple that really broke my heart. Then there was that one. The one who should've been "the one." Yep, I have one of those. I have rarely spoken about this person. My kids don't know this story. Most of my friends don't know this story. This ...

The sun came out in 2017... I feel like singing the theme song from Annie... "the sun will come out tomorrow... Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun! Just thinking about tomorrow clears out the cobwebs, and the sorrow 'til there's none! When I'm stuck in a day that's gray, and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say, Oh, the sun will come out tomorrow so you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow come what may ... Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow! You're always a day away!" And there it is... the key to life (or at least one of them)... so you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow come what may ! The sun WILL come out tomorrow...it's always a day away! At the end of each year, I always like to do a recap of "all the things." 2017 was a monumental year in my life. Big things happened. It sure as heck beat out 2016 which was by far the worst of my life. It takes me awhile to gather all of my thoughts for the y...

This is actually the second year in a row for me "choosing a word." The idea is to choose a word for the new year. I'm sure you've heard about it. It's all the rage these days. It is supposed to be a word that challenges you; a word to adopt and put into practice for the coming year. I heard about this in 2016, but I'm sure it has been a "hot" thing to do for longer than two years. It only came to MY attention sometime in 2016 when I started seeing Facebook ads for bracelets, necklaces ( The Giving Keys ); talk shows were talking about "Word for the Year." Then my daughter received a necklace from one of her best friends. It was a "Giving Keys" necklace. Her friend had asked her to think of a word that would be "her word" for the 2017 year. Katelyn chose "JOY" and Lindsey had the word JOY engraved on the necklace and gave it to her for Christmas. I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided I needed to choose ...