Friday Is My Favorite Day!

Do you know those movies where people dance around alone at home? Well, that's not just something they thought up for the movies. I'm the girl who, a few short hours ago, was dancing around dressed in my drinkin' pants (men's blue plaid pajama bottoms) and a tee-shirt to the cranked up (very loud) music of Jackson Browne. My tune of choice was a slightly obscure song called "I'm the Cat". It's good that I was home alone because I probably played the song twenty times - over and over and over:) Jim may like Jackson, but I think he would have have run screaming from the house. It just felt so good - dancing, singing along, and doing a little housework, too. Rosie and Briscoe are my best audience.

Jim has installed Windows 7 on our computer. I do not know how to do anything with photos now. Our old photo software is gone. I have a half-finished painting to post and I want to show you our patio, but I can't do anything until Jim has time to teach me how to use the new stuff he has installed or is installing.

Diana Strinati Baur (see my blog list - creative structures) has a very nice post on things that previous owners have done to her home. She shares my feelings on the subject and writes so eloquently about it. Our house is old by Las Vegas standards. We bought it in an estate sale. The original owners lived here almost 40 years. My big old love of a dog Teddy and I stumbled upon the house when we were walking one day. I peered in the windows and could see the possibilities. We made an appointment with a real estate agent, didn't even walk all the way through the house and made an offer on the spot.

The couple that had lived here left the house to a nephew. He took everything he thought was of value out of the house and put it up for sale. The house was full of good vibrations even though it was dirty and in a bit of disrepair. We got some of the house's story from the real estate agent and put together other pieces of the story as we cleaned and began moving in. Connie and George (the original owners) hadn't been able to keep up with things in their later years, but they stayed in the home that they loved up until the end. We have preserved some of the imprint they left on the house. For example, the door to the linen closet is at the end of the hall. It has a wallpaper scene of a Middle Eastern alley which has definite funk value. Also, the light fixture at the front door has the colors of the rainbow. I almost got rid of it, but Jim said no. Now I'm glad he did because I love it - more funk value.

In our shed, we found old maps on which Connie and George had marked the routes they took on vacations. There were some huge pots and pans. It turned out that Connie and George had owned an Italian restaurant here for many years. We found cards and a cake decoration for their 50th wedding anniversary. Connie and George had a good life here. Candy and Jim love it here.

Pottery

I stopped by Diana Strinati Baur's blog http://creativestructures.blogspot.com/yesterday. She recommended checking out Liz Kinder's work http://www.lizkinder.com/. Please check out both sites. These are wonderfully creative women. When you stop by Liz's site, be sure to read "About Liz Kinder". She is very funny!

Well, I have to get ready for school. Enjoy your day!

Gratitude Friday - Back in School

After a month off, even though I love my job, I felt a bit grouchy being back in school. I've come home exhausted every night. However, I had two things happen that reminded me how fortunate I am to have this job.

We were working on the simple past tense of regular verbs. I put examples of the spelling rules on the board. If you haven't studied English grammar lately, you really don't spend much time thinking about the rules. If a single syllable word ends in consonant, vowel, consonant; double the last consonant and add ed. If a word ends with a consonant plus y, drop the y and add ied. If a word ends with a vowel plus y, just add ed. There are more rules, but I'm sure you get the idea. (By the way, I love grammar, but I know not everyone feels the same.) Halfway through the lesson, one of my students said, "I understand! I understand!" She was thrilled. She had a great big grin on her face. I am grateful to that student for making me feel so good about teaching. I'm also grateful to her for making me remember how cool it is when you're working hard to learn something new and all of a sudden, everything clicks. Yahoo! I get it! (Time for me to take some more classes myself.)

Yesterday as I was getting into my truck to leave, a student came running over to me. She threw her arms around me and gave me a big hug. She hadn't been to school in at least six months, but she told me she was there to register and was coming back on Tuesday. I'm grateful to her for making me feel so good. She didn't give up. Hooray!

One more thing. (Did you used to watch Columbo when you were a kid?) I'm grateful to Celeste for taking time to stop by my blog and comment. She really brightens my day. Check out her blog. You won't be disappointed! It's pure magic.

As always, I'm grateful to Diana Strinati Baur for starting Gratitude Friday.

Oh! One more thing. I'm grateful for my "blogger friends". (Please see the right side of my blog.) They are the most interesting people! I love getting glimpses of their lives.

The Gratitude Friday Club

Diana Strinati Baur came up with the idea of The Gratitude Friday Club. Please check out her blog. The link is on the right side of my blog under "More Blogs" creativestructures.blogspot.com For some reason, I can't get the link to come up in this post. It's a terrific idea - each Friday you list the things you are grateful for. Here are some of the things for which I am grateful.

I am grateful for a loving husband who enjoys many of the things I enjoy (and indulges me in the ones he doesn't give a hoot about:)

I get to talk to my mom, dad and two sisters often and see them once or twice a year.

I have 4 cats and 2 dogs who are full of love and also create mischief to spice up our lives.

I can paint and I'm getting better at it the more I do it.

I have access to beautiful art and a little glimpse into the lives of the most interesting people all over the world through the technology of the blog.

I am grateful to the person who invented air conditioning.

I am grateful that we were approved for a solar energy rebate this week. Woohoo! We will now begin construction on our solar power system.

I am grateful for good friends.

I don't remember learning to read, but I must have learned when I was 4 or 5. So I'm grateful to the person who taught me to read. That would be Mrs. Sislo or Mrs. Bubalo my kindergarten and first grade teachers. Reading opens up the world.

I am grateful that today is Friday. It's my favorite day of the week.