WEEK 1 DONE

There are always three weeks in late January/early February when I work alot of hours. Usually between 45 and 55 hours. So it was a real treat last night to be invited to a friend's house for an evening of great food, great games ("we are the champions!!), and of course great friends. There were 6 of us and we had lots of laughs and relaxation. We played multiple games of pool with OTR and myself winning the last game and declaring that we were champions. We only won a couple of games but it was the last. Then his wife and JR and OTR and myself played shuffleboard. The games were spilt 1/1 and we won the last game. I had never never played shuffleboard like this (it is not the one that everyone associated with "old people"). It was such a nice evening. Today it is back to my normal winter Sunday. Lots of laundry, some cleaning and maybe a movie. JR really wants to see Lone Survivor and to be honest, I know I will cry through the entire movie and I am somewhat reluctant to put myself through that. It is snowing and blowing once again. According to my calculations there are 55 days until spring. But who is counting.

JUST A WEDNESDAY

Actually there is not much new. I was scheduled to work until 3pm since I had a nail appointment at 3:30pm. Since I am scheduled for more than 40 hours and the office was dead, I left early and went shopping (more like browsing). I was hoping to find a new pair of blue shoes but did not find any to my liking. I then went to Hobby Lobby and bought a scrapbook for the pictures of our trip to Ireland. Of course you realize that the Irish trip was somewhere around 1994!!!! I am just a tad behind. I will put it on my desk and maybe do a few each night or so. The pictures are really good and they have just been sitting in a pile these oh so many years (granted a very neat pile but a pile nevertheless). I was not able to go to bridge this afternoon but called my friend for an update. I almost feel as though I was there. It is almost 9:30pm so I am off to bed. The last few nights I was able to get only about 7 hours sleep and I really need 8 or more to function and not need naps.

It is hard to believe that my last post was almost 3 weeks ago. That is what happens when one works and it is too cold to do much outside. I had been going to the gym about 3 days a week but for the next 3 weeks I am scheduled to work 43 hours, 50 hours and 55 hours. That is alot for me. It is hard to get up, get to the gym and back home to then dress and get to work. Oh well. There is always February. During the days when it was below zero and we had level 3's in both counties, I was happily snuggled like a bug in a rug reading books. I read the first two books of the Divergence series and throughly enjoyed them. Also, now that we can DVD up to 6 TV shows at once (I really only do 2 at a time, but at least we can watch while we tape)I caught up on some TV. It was truly a glorious time to be home. Many friends and co-workers indicated their restlessness at being homebound, but not me. On another note, last night while watching TV something flew by the window. I looked up and it turned out that there were 9 deer running through the yard. They came back and stood around for awhile and then (very gingerly and in single file), walked across the lake to the fairway. It is always fun to watch them.

NEW YEAR AND GOODBYES

I am aware that I dropped the ball on the Advent scriptures and song histories but I found that most of the songs originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and had almost exact origins. I simply lost interest. For Christmas, my son gave me the book "Paws to Reflect" by Devon O'Day and Kim Mclean. It is 365 devotions for the animal lover's soul. It gives a scripture and then a message. Day 2 hit home for me. There have been several changes in my life regarding friendship relationships. One friend moved to Colorado and one took a leave from our club. The first friend I will miss but the impact will not be as great as the second one. The second is my best friend and while I will still see her a ton (lunches, shopping, movies and dinners), I will not be playing much golf with her and sharing club experiences. This one has been extremely difficult on me and I have not been dealing well with it. The message that I read today I hope will help me. It talked about some friendships are merely bridges to help get us to who we are to become. The friend that moved out of state taught me alot about nature and natural living. I will be forever grateful that I have known her and will miss her enthusiasm and love for life. I hope that I will see her occasionally but she is not one for e-mail, blogs or anything techie. The second change I will come to accept and I will still play golf with close friends and share club experiences with them and occassionaly play golf with my friend. I just do not deal well with change and it takes me a long time to accept it and in one sense get over it. In many cases, it is the impending change that is so difficult rather than the change. Once it happens, the deed (so to speak) is done and I can then move forward. So I want to thank my son for the book. It had already helped me.