Little by little...

Left school around 1:30 today with head just a-pounding. Thought it would be a good idea to come home early and lay down for awhile - still feeling a bit weak and under the weather. However, the pounding continued...

but this pounding I can live with! My new bamboo floors are underway...literally! Gorgeous - the photos don't do it justice at all. There was a lot of prep work to do, leveling the floors and so on. Michael's son Dane and his friend Steve will be back tomorrow to finish this room, the hallway and the living room so more photos coming your way!

I couldn't remember if I had posted any photos of our new flagstone patio and I know you all love looking at rocks so here you go! We need another bag or two of sand to bring everything up to the same level.

Looked outside a little while ago to see the FIRST WHITE STUFF (I refuse to type SNOW...oops) falling onto our patio umbrella...perhaps a not too subtle hint to put the umbrella away for the NEXT SIX OR SEVEN MONTHS?? 
EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! 

Good thing we bumped our internet up to 100 gigs a month -  we've become addicted to Netflix, well "Breaking Bad" to be exact. It's giving me ideas of what I could do when I retire...

.....such as...

• have a baby
• build a meth lab
• collect rocks, minerals to be exact
• buy a car wash
• eat a lot of chicken

What should I pick???

Happy Father's Day!!

Had to share with you my Father's Day Card.  This isn't the first time Kazi has given me a Father's Day card and I have to tell you it really warms my heart that she acknowledges the challenges of single parenting. 

My little baby is graduating from university on Tuesday! I'll post pictures of her in her $250 silk dress that I helped pay for. I gave her $150 towards the cost of the  dress - I decided to NOT give her the whole amount because if she's going to make such expensive choices then she needs to pick up part of the tab! 

It's rather ironic (or perhaps mystifying would be a better work, or stupefying) that she has developed such expensive tastes. For the first 10-12 years of her life all of her clothing came from second hand stores. Even as a teenager she would come with me to the second hand shops occasionally and make a purchase or two. But somewhere along the way (perhaps when I started buying her $100 jeans for her birthdays) she adopted the old adage of "PAY TWICE AS MUCH MONEY FOR HALF AS MUCH CLOTHING"!!

She now only shops at the best stores and buys only top quality items. Personally, I find that hard, no impossible, to do.  I was raised by parents who grew up during the great depression and learned to re-use, recycle, redevelop every item that they had.  Flour sacks were turned into quilts, empty juice cans held nails, nuts and bolts, scrap lumber turned into a chicken coop and so on. This generation is different - AND I do admire her "less is more" approach.  Instead of having 10 second hand dresses she has 1 or 2 really good ones.  Once I retire I want to practice that strategy...Anyhoo I digress....

I am very PROUD of my daughter. It couldn't have been easy having an absentee father. She has never complained about that, instead she acknowledges the fact that I've been both mother and father to her. I've been working on a MEMORY ALBUM for her as I have saved every scrap of paper she ever wrote or drew on, every art project, every report card, every award, every EVERYTHING she's produced or received over the past 21 years. I thought one album would be sufficient but I've filled the whole album and have only gotten as far as GRADE ONE!! YIKES!! So I purchased some insert pages so I can at least get to highschool by her convocation date!

These two photos were taken Friday night. Can you tell Kazi didn't want her picture taken?? The young man she is with is Michael's son, Dane. He kinda forced her to get her picture taken...she can be a bit of a grumpus from time to time lol! She reminds me of my mother who never wanted her picture taken unless every single thing was perfect: hair, makeup, clothing, lighting, angle etc etc!! My poor dear - she doesn't realize that she's absolutely breathtaking even first thing in the morning with NO makeup, NO hairdo, NO amazing outfit! 

Anyway, the step-siblings usually get along great and even though he works as a firefighter on the airbase in Trenton they stay in touch by texting and calling. He's a lovely young man and was raised in a single parent family too - Michael was the main custodial parent so both kids grew up as only children of single parents - and they have turned out just FINE!!  thank you very much! (That's a slam against all the studies that show kids from single parent homes grow up to be serial killers!)

I sure am rambling on and on today. What was my point?? Oh yes, Father's Day. Celebrate the men (or women!!)  in your life and appreciate their vast contributions to our lives. Even the negative experiences can be great teachers. 

What are you doing to celebrate Father's Day?

Happy Birthday to ME!

Since I'm at school I had to choose a photo from what is stored on my work computer, so this is a picture from my birthday a couple of years ago eating cake with Todd. Todd is graduating this year and I am going to miss him more than I can say. As one of my EAs said to Todd once "you light up my life!"

There is somethings so wonderful about a person you can lavish all of your affection on and who just soaks it all up and freely gives it back.

Just try it. One day, when you're feeling blue, give a friend or a family member a big hug, you'll feel better for it.  Not a day goes by that I don't give Todd several hugs (and a few kisses but shhhhhh, don't tell anybody)!!

It's still only 7:20am but already two people have bought me coffee, I had a "Happy Birthday" note on my mirror this morning and on my blackboard at school.  I found a cute card from Kazi, Michael and Dane (Michael's son) on the kitchen counter.

How wonderful to be able to give and receive love!

Gotta go!!