Vacay Morning

My youngest .one’s travel buddy same and spent the night last night so we could get an early start this morning–I just woke them both up so they could get dressed while my husband showers I have all of my medicine and clothes and such packed–I’m not making a production out of myself because we’re going to spend one day at Dollywood so I’ll get all wet with the splash rides. If they’ve actually opened back up–I just realized I never asked Bob if he called ahead to see.

I aim to relax so you won’t be hearing from me for a couple of days. I think I need the total mental break, then I can do this MCIR story and then start revising on my thesis. Revise until August and try to start querying in September when I can officially say I have the MFA. We will see how this goes.

Hope everyone else has a good rest of the week and weekend. We’re about to go off and get breakfast and gas. Godspeed.

Day Before Vacation

So we pack today and get ready to leave for vacation. I will not be updating the blog the two days we are at Gatlinburg so feel free to wander in out archives. I have a link that might amuse you–my public reading after my thesis defense was recorded and is on Facebook. I’m the last reader of the night. (3) Facebook I’m reading from my memoir I did for thesis called “Not Quite Right”.

I need to finish my laundry and get together what I’m going to wear. I need to run an errand or two before we leave–gassing up my car and going to get a sturdy envelope for my thesis signature pages to go to the printer. I picked the monastery printer out of our list–it’s a group of Trappist monks in Oregon who print and bind books. It cost a mint but I ordered four copies–two for the W, one for me, and one for whom I am dedicating it to. So that made a nice order for them.

I watched the video. I didn’t look as fat as I thought I might–the lectern helped. I did a lot of hesitation sounds in my Q&A, so I need to brush up on my presentation skills some more. But overall I feel good about my performance, my defense, and all of that.

I slept late but don’t feel any desire to go back to sleep. So that is good.

Talked to Tillie yesterday about my dissociation symptoms and she said it was an anxiety manifestation, but to think about this as well–it could be that my medicine was working to keep me from feeling so overloaded and out of control. I think that is a better way to think about this, especially that some of the emotion is coming back but not overwhelming and devastating. So that helps.

I guess I will run my errands before Bob gets home so I can have the envelope ready to ship off my thesis signature pages when he gets back to the office after lunch. Hope everyone is doing well moving into the downswing of the week. I may be able to post a farewell post tomorrow, depends on timing. Godspeed all.

Whew

SO we go off to Texas Thursday and I got back at midnight last night. THe funeral was quite nice, but the real heart of the whole experience was watching my daddy talk in a way I hadn’t for a long time. He talked all the way over to me and my cousin Tim who was driving us, Then he talked all day and all night the whole time we were there. He finally took a break to take a nap Saturday morning so he would be able to stay up and keep Tim awake for the drive back.

THere were eleven of us that came from Mississippi. Me, Tim, Mom, and Daddy in their car, Summer, Kristi, Quincy, and Knox in Summer’s car, and Ricky, Regina, and Robert in Ricky’s car. And we all stayed at Tony and Linda’s house. Tim and Ricky have always been the closest cousins to him in age and he was really close to them when he did live in Mississippi. So they were the perfect ones to come. Neighbors brought in food so we didn’t want for anything the whole time we were there.

It was just very curious to watch my daddy take patriarch stage of the Liddell family just like he has the Vowell family He was always the youngest of the lot, and now he’s the only male relative of his generation left. So he told all the old stories and it didn’t matter if he remembered everybody’s name that was involved or not, he told them in his own way. It was a sight to see.

Traveling

So I am getting ready to go out to Texas for my aunt’s funeral. My mom and dad will pick me up in a couple of hours and wewill go the rest of the way together. I don’t normally like traveling without Bob, but we will see how this goes. I have all my meds and can get to them easily in my luggage so I don’t see that as being a problem. I’ve really been on an even keel lately so I don’t think any untoward is going to happen. It will just be a sad time for all of us.

I wrote and wrote and wrote yesterday and finished those two college chapters that I expanded with more details on me and Bob’s relationship. It was an awful lot of writing to get everything covered that I meant to. I don’t know if I conveyed exactly what I wanted to in those words–I’ll have to check on that when I come back and can look at it with fresh eyes.

I probably won’t be blogging the next couple of days. It will be from my cell phone if at all, so any entry will probably be short. But feel free to check back and see if I managed it!

I need to now go and write another BP Hope blog post before I leave. Then I will have discharged all my responsibilities that I can think of ANd then I will wait. But good love to all of you and stay safe. Godspeed

Hello Again!

We are back from Florida!  We had a good visit with my oldest and middle and youngest all together with us for the first time in a while. We went to Disney Springs, Silver Springs, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine.  A lot of fun and visiting and driving, too, but that was okay.

We met our oldest’s boyfriend and he seemed really nice and friendly. We found out a lot about him–he talked easily even though he said he was really an introvert by nature. But we got him talking about fishing and hunting and different things he likes to do so he opened up. It was a nice visit.

My nerves held up until the very last bit coming home–I wondered when we would see my oldest one again so I started sniffling a bit.  But I got over that fairly quickly.  I am glad to be home though. I missed my routine and my writing and all that good stuff.  I did get a writing book read while we were gone so that was good. I am excited to turn in my  story for MCIR then start in on my thesis again.

So we will see what happens this week as I get back acclimated to the house and to cooking. 🙂   Very glad for those of you who came by in my absence.  Godspeed.

 

Traveling

Going to see my oldest (and meet her boyfriend for the first time) this morning! WE have CD’s picked out, bags almost packed, and have woken up everyone for the trip.  So we are moving along well. I am going to pack up the last of my meds once I take them this morning and I should be good to go. Hope everyone else has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

 

Day Off

I’m taking today off.  WIll come back with more tomorrow.

 

Hiatus

I am taking a break from blogging to focus my energy on NaNoWriMo this month.  It’s a challenge to write a novel in a month, that designated month being November.  So I do not think I will have time or energy to write on both; therefore, I am taking a leave from Day by Day.

I do hope some of you will range through the archives and read something helpful to you–I will continue to check on the blog periodically and would love to hear from you in the comments.  Pray for me as I take this challenge.

 

Days Off

I’m going to take Thanksgiving Day off from the blog and maybe Friday too.  I will be without access so that is the way it will go.  I’m woefully behind getting ready so I will not be here long.  To everyone I say:  be thankful. Be kind.  Be good,  Show the love of Jesus to everyone you come across. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Back From Vacation

So Disney World was fun, fun, fun.  I only got furious one time and it was at my husband.  WE were in MouseGear at Epcot and he insisted that it couldn’t be raining that hard and if it was, then it wouldn’t stop in time for us to get to our dinner reservations in the Japan area of the World Showcase.  He was wrong on both counts, and I had told him so before we stepped foot out in it.  So that part was not fun. The dance was also difficult in that it gave both kids blisters that hurt them for the res of he trip.

But otherwise it was great particularly our last day when we saw a STOMP-style group called The Jammitors dressed as park cleaners playing garbage cans as drums.  I thought our middle child was going to go bonkers with joy.  She got to play their set after their performance and talk with them. So that was fun also.

So we got back yesterday and have been doing laundry ever since.  The oldest has checked on her job now that she’s home for good for the summer.  They said they would call her if they could use her to sub for other teachers at the daycare.  SO that was good news.  WE go next weekend to Dance Teachers United for our last competition.  So that is a good thing upcoming as well.  WE’ll have about a month or so off from dance practice, etc. and we will enjoy that.

So all is good on multiple fronts so far this summer.  WE will see how the rest of it goes.