Bragging!!

I had to include this in my "memory" book. I was a band geek in high school. While it was a public school, we had a really good program. Our director truly cared about the education and well-being of his students. Undoubtedly, he has provided many of today's middle school and high school bands with great directors. I cannot remember the count, but I can just about name 8 members of his band that have gone on to be band directors across the state, and country!

Fortunately, I made some life-long friends in band. Brenda was one of them. She's a couple of years younger than I am, but who'se counting??? Brenda worked hard, and despite a few obstacles, she went to college. I believe she completed more college than I did! I cannot remember if she got her masters or PhD. Currently, she is a band director at a local high school in our hometown. Brenda was recently awarded a very high honor, the Mr. Holland's Opus Award. As a result, the school she is at received funding for instruments and instruction that they would not have otherwise ever been able to come up with. The Opus award is one of the highest awards imaginable. She has done some UNBELIEVABLE things for that school and those kids.

To see a brief video, click here. This is soooo awesome!! Go Brenda!!


I'm so proud to know her. She is doing such fantastic things for those students. She has more than tripled the number of students. This school has never had a reputable band program. Now, they are nearing 100 members -- I think they may have been around 20ish when she started. (I realize that 100 is relatively small depending on where you come from, but we're talking an innercity, public school.) This past fall, we even saw her band perform at a football game. WOW -- they really looked and sounded good. I cannot wait to see her group perform again!

Weekend Plans!

Well, it's that time --- after lunch of Friday! (Not that I've had lunch, but technically, at 1 PM, I consider it, after lunch.) This week has been, well a typical week in my house/office. I really think much like separation of church and state, I need separation of house and office! :)

I've had a wonderful week of "Mucus" -- I hit my 30's and my immune system has been on vacation. I have no idea where I get these crazy colds, but they sure like me, alot. When they visit, they stick around -- I've been blowing my nose since Monday! I even had to cancel my dental appointment because if it! I don't feel bad, I guess it's like having family visit, it's just "draining" on me. I'm sure the cold just about to move on, and I'll be much happier because of it!

Last night, I felt better -- good enough to move furniture around! I should have taken some sort of design class, or maybe I should find one now. I have no clue on how to decorate a home. To be compeletely honest, we have been in the house for 7 years, and pretty much never moved the furniture! I find it hard to believe. My mom used to move the furniture in our house growing up, at least every season. I've moved it, but I never like what I do, or maybe I just don't like change, and I always end up putting it back, just like it was. At least last night, I ran out of time and we left things. You wouldn't believe how I moved stuff, I drew out the room, cut out furniture and everything. I just have such a hard time seeing how things will work.

Tonight, dinner -- somewhere where "He" can have a chicken fried steak. Tomorrow, something productive in the AM, baby shower in the PM, then Sunday, a Gem Show.

Chowhound???

I know the internet has been around for years now. I hear that it may even run out of space or something crazy like that. Of course, everyone says you can find anything out on the internet, and I believe that, too. I love the internet; we have a SPECTACULAR relationship.

The web provides me a place to confront my secret questions, things I would be way too embarrassed to ask another human! Additionally, it's providing me this great blog space so I can remember what has happened in my life. (Of course, lately, I have had a hard time knowing what to blog about because everything seems too personal to put out on the web...what would people think of me if they knew ____....I digress...)

Today, I was not asking it a personal question, but a very relevant one -- where to have dinner!? Last night we discussed what we'd like for dinner tonight --eating out is not something we do often, so we try to put a little planning in it! My hubby wanted a good, southern Chicken Fried Steak. He swears he had a really good one somewhere, but can't remember where. I was kind enough to go through our receipts for the year, and I cannot find where he's had one out, go figure. But when I did a quick web search, I came across a web site --- www.chowhound.com I was surprised! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. But it's such a nice little list of people's honest opinions! Since I have such a love of food, this could be a MEGA-time waster...so excuse me, while I'm off to read about Farmers Markets in the area!

Gardening...or something like it???

So, I fell victim to an info-mercial a few months ago. No, I'm not proud of the fact that I ordered this gadget. I'm sure there are worse things I could have wasted my money on, but this is what I chose!

Basically, it's a hanging planter. I ordered one, even got my parents one. We would grow our own vegetables without having to do all that ground work. Well, actually, it wasn't the ground work that bothered me...it was more like I didn't want the dogs "fertilizing" my efforts.

I believe I ordered these gimmicks back in February. Of course, I immediately rushed out to purchase plants to put in there. I opted for plants that had already sprouted, that's what we got. I've watched as these plants grow and grow. We've harvested one, yes that's 1, tomato so far.

Why it split open at the top, well, who knows. I'm newer than a "novice" gardner -- whatever that would be! I'm certain that at this point, I would not recommend this device to grow producing plants. Who knows, perhaps, this is all a test of my patience??? Luck for me, my mom knows several white-topped ladies who use these to grow bundles of them, or maybe it's bushels of them????



In all honesty, I cut it open yesterday. It even had a beautiful red color on the inside and it was delicious! There is undoubtedly a reason people grow their own gardens -- the taste of fresh produce is second to none! I'm optimistic that I'll get a couple of more -- I mean there's probably a few months to produce on these plants, right? Economically, this may not have been a wise buy, and for all I spent to grow one tomato, ouch! So, here's hoping to more tastiness in the near future!

Whew!

Ok, I've made a few changes to my little space here on this world of mine.

I've added a picture -- that's Daisy & Missy hanging out by the window. I've added a few of my favorite songs down below. Hopefully, I can remember how I did this and will add more in the furutre.

This was taken over the weekend. My younger cousin graduated from high school this weekend. It was a very exciting time. I guess in my mind -- and I'm probably the only one that thought about it -- this was the first of our generation that my grandparents were not here to witness such a proud moment. I'm probably the only one to be so sentimental about it, but all the same, it was very happy, but a little sad. I wish they could have congradulated him on such a great achievement. He's looking to go to school in D.C. That will be a big change for such at Texas based family!

That's life -- things a changin'!