Tales of a Shoebox Princess

I hope you have adequate tastebuds to enjoy the dinner on your table, brotherly (and sisterly) love in your heart to enjoy the people at your table, and ample footspace under the table. And someone else to do the dishes. I have been reminded that under blogger rules, I must post pictures of recent trips within 4 days of the end of the vacation. Rules are rules and I must bend to accomodate. And the consequences of noncompliance are too terrible to even think about. The stuffing can wait, I guess. So back we go to California. Jim at the Walton Lighthouse in Santa Cruz. And yes, it was cold enough to wear a leather jacket. It rained most of the time we were there. I am at Pismo Beach. You see my barefeet? I waded in the water. Jim and I are on the Pismo Beach pier. Here I am in a changing room on Morro Bay Beach. Morro Rock is behind me. OK. That's probably all I can do today. Got to get back to preparations. More tomorrow.

First of all, happy anniversary to me. And to Jim. Being back in CA sort of erases the 22 years of marriage. We spent yesterday in the town (San Luis Obispo) where we spent our first and second anniversary, and where we welcomed our first child. We visited the two apartments we lived in--not much has changed so I felt almost like my 21-year-old self again while we walked around. We checked out Pismo Beach and Morro Bay while we were down on the central coast. Not much has changed in either place. The ocean still looks the same, and is just as wet. And it has the same clarifying effect on my brain. I walked down to the beach in Pismo and felt instantly calmed by the white noise of the waves. I rolled up my pant legs and waded in a few feet. The water was chilly, but not as cold as I thought it would have been for a November day. I could see surfers in their wetsuits by the pier and an old man with his metal detector digging in the sand. I wanted to stay there for hours. Maybe ev...

(but instead I'm gonna post about Paul's last marching band concert) Yep, it's the last time I get to see Paulie in a marching band uniform. He'll still play the French Horn next year, but he says that marching band and Cross Country conflict--and he's sort of right. A few times this year, he's had CC meets on afternoons when he is supposed to play in the band at football games. And he wants to go to his meets. I don't blame him. So next year, for band, he will sign up for the Fall Concert band instead. The only extracurricular requirement for that is one concert in November. Plus he doesn't have to wear the marching band uniform (I think he is mistaken in not liking the band uniform. He looks so awesome with a yellow feather duster sticking out of his head. I'm sure if they had brass helmets with a broom-style mohawk--like Morgan's band does--he'd be much more attached to it. Maybe not). Anyway, here he is for the last time as a marc...

Matt was lost for about half an hour yesterday, but it was the lamest "being lost" ever. He was just sitting in the atrium by the middle school office waiting patiently for his sister and his mother as they looked everywhere in the two middle schools--that is, they looked everywhere but where the mother had told him to be. (I actually called a teacher on his personal cell phone to see if Matt had attended an after school band class because I couldn't find Matt. And Hayley had looked everywhere in the school twice--obviously except right in the entryway of the school) Geez, if you are going to be lost, you have to do it with flair; don't just sit there like a bump on a log waiting for your mother to find you. I should know. I am nearly an expert at being lost, particularly at big, meandering, heavily populated venues, like the MN State Fair. So, for those of you who do not know how to be lost adequately, here are a few helpful hints. 1. Run around, flailing your arm...

Look at that! Isn't it pretty? 8 inches plus of good old fashioned snow! What makes it REALLY pretty is that I don't have to drive anywhere in it. My workshops were canceled because road conditions were bad. The snow is still coming down. I've gotten more stuff done today than I have this whole week. I will be baking squash buns in a little while. Bonus picture: Other Jim doesn't have to work today (a rarity, and an especially good one because of all the snow. He'd be a miserable cart pusher today). Instead, he researched college classes and came up with a workable schedule. Now we just have to hope the sections he selected don't fill up before he is allowed to register on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed for OJ. PS I complained so loudly about losing my camera battery charger that the camera battery charger fairy brought me a new one. So now I can use my camera because I have a charged-up battery! California, here I come!! (on Wednesday)

It's snowing! There is about 4 inches on the ground. I'd take a picture, but alas, I still have not found my battery charger.

My van likes to surprise me, or maybe more accurately, play tricks on me. The van started up just fine this morning and we had no trouble on the way to seminary. All was well. When seminary was over, I went out to the car to start it, but it just sat there, ignoring the key turning in the ignition. We tried jump-starting it to another car, but that didn't work either. One of the teenagers who rides in my van from church to school noticed that there was a severed hose leading from the air filter to the engine. Jim drove the white car to the church and drove us all where we needed to be. I was half an hour late to work. Sigh. Jim then went back to church to see what he could do with the van replaced the broken hose and the van started right up. Now because it is November, the month where we consider those things for which we are grateful, I have decided to be more like Pollyanna and am going to list the "fortunatelys" in this situation. 1. Fortunately, there were still pe...