Suburban Musings

I really love spring.  Spent a couple hours in the yard on Sunday cleaning out dead stuff left from the fall and raking up the mulch, etc. Made a great difference and apparently the plants breathed a deep breath of relief, because the next day the bulbs grew about 3″ taller and the trees and bushes suddenly were in bloom.  Amazing!

We bought about 5 trees in total last year, from WalMart and BigLots (last of the big spenders, I know) and all but one are looking great.  It takes so long to grow a great landscape, when you build a new house.  This will be the 3rd season, so we still have big plans….slowly, but surely, as the money comes.  We’d love to open out our tiny deck and add a stone patio, down a step or so from the deck….but that will probably have to wait until next year. We really don’t use the deck now, since its so small;  use the screened porch a lot, however, which we love!  Teenaged son, K2, and his friend, even slept out there for 1/2 the night last night…how peaceful!  I always liked that magazine ad with the bed, suspended from the ceiling on chains and thought it would be great on a porch on a cool summer’s night…<sigh>

Icky day…rainy & dark.  Left car lights on during a meeting, and battery died.  Husband not happy that he had to come show his AAA card.  So much for saving money by not renewing MY card…

Feeling particularly down today…but was somewhat heartened to read these notes from a friend…I especially can relate to the hallway reference

And always remember….when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars — You don’t always see them,   But you know they are always there.

“Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though
Sometimes It’s Hell in the Hallway”

Okay, I know the real day is tomorrow….but today is the parade and the official “greening of the canal” downtown.  Of course, the “Pride of the Irish” of my son’s high school will be leading off the parade.  It will be fun, though I wish the weather was back to the 75 degrees of the other day, rather than the 40 degrees of today! Next year, they’ll be in the parade in Dublin, Ireland….and I hope to be with them!!

Its giving someone an idea, while making them feel like it was their idea all along. Its conveying a certain atmosphere, a certain comfort zone that makes someone want to be part of it. Its describing something using exactly their words and colors and photos to make someone feel comfortable. Its informing people. Its educational without being used-car-salesman-like. Its getting into their head. Its psychological without being pathological. Its fun and every-changing with society. What worked last year no longer works this year. Its hip and happening and yet still old and familiar. Its blogging and Super Bowl :30’s and postcards in your mailbox. Its your friend speaking to your Kiwanis Club and your mom telling you to use Tide and a 1/2 page ad in the Business Journal, and yes, coupons on your favorite website.
What is marketing? What do you need it to be?
Ask yourself….Exactly….Who do you need to reach and what do you need to get them to do… or think…or feel?
THAT is marketing.

Ah, Spring Break, when everybody north of the Mason-Dixon line heads south for a taste of warmth and sunshine.  Well, er, we USED to do that….before I was unemployed and poor :/

Anyway, college daughter found a cheap way to get her beach time in and managed to talk the boyfriend into it, too (she’s 2 weeks shy of 21, so what real say did I have here).

Check it out!

(you can always click on a pic to enlarge it)

 Built by a loving husband for his wife, the Taj Mahal is one of the 7 wonders of the world.  This clay model was done by my 13-year old, much to our amazement and parental pride.  And, it garnered him enough extra credit points to obliterate a bad test grade.  He even painted it at 4am, because a storm woke him up and he couldn’t sleep.

Yeah!  The ice and sub-10 degree days, plus surgeries seem to be behind us (fingers crossed) and I am officially back running.  Slowly getting back, really, with 2 days last week and 2 this week…I really am noticing better stamina already, though, believe it or not.  Our usual 4 miles felt pretty okay today…unlike last week, when I thought surely I’d have to crawl home.

One minor setback this week….I slipped on some ice running with my 13-year old on Sunday and dislocated a shoulder as my arm flailed back wildly, trying to catch myself.  *Ouch*….. 

Son said, “Wow…is your leg okay?” because he noticed I’d nearly done the Chinese splits….when in fact it was my arm that nearly had me shouting expletives.  Luckily, it popped right back and has been sore, but appears to be okay.  I don’t have a full range of motion, but I ran this morning with no ill effects.  And, finally posted you a pic!

The 46-year old brother of a friend from church was very suddenly near death recently, from some odd complications of cancer therapy.  As the family stood by at the hospital, hundreds of friends and family members prayed and kept an Internet vigil….there were regular blog entries kept, and every day hundreds of readers checked in on progress.  Its an amazing and wonderful use of the Internet, as it saved the family having to make all those phone calls, yet everyone felt very updated on day to day progress.

If you doubt that there are miracles….need a bit of a boost today….or whatever…..read the most recent entries, then the first couple ones, to see what an amazing transformation has occurred!  Jeff is really going to be okay.

www.genesisclass.com   This is our adult Sunday School class website, put to a new use through this ordeal.

Did you know that you can tell a butterfly because, at rest, its wings remain upright, where a moth rests with its wings flat and outstretched.  Wow, what you learn on Animal Planet.

Yes, I’m still home and still unemployed.  Actually, I haven’t really been home very often this past month;  my best friend has been my 78….er, 77-year old MIL (I was corrected), as I’ve been with them about 4 times a week, driving to various doctors, therapists, groceries, restaurants, etc.  Sucks to be old, especially with your body giving out to orthopedic problems.

Last week I was in lovely Hinsdale, IL (the country’s most gorgeous suburb!) with my hospitalized Mom.  Luckily, she ended up “only” with bleeding ulcers…could’ve been a stroke, or ?? after she passed out cold at the library.  Turns out that she had a vasovegal episode…just like I’ve had dozens of times in my life!  (details; http://www.healthscout.com/ency/407/754/main.html  For some reason, the link tool isn’t working)  The worst episode for me was on an airplane, which had to abort takeoff and taxi back to the gate to my awaiting ambulance.

Anyway, Mom is feeling much better now, Grampy’s broken arm is on the mend, and I’m back to looking for a job.  Its depressing, demeaning, frustrating, embarassing, humiliating, and just generally upsetting.  Goobers who partied their way through college are now CEO’s with company cars and posh vacation homes.  Goobers who are mean to their coworkers have gotten promotions and adulaton from their bosses.

I,  a great, caring coworker, who does everything and more that is expected of me, who never misses work and is always enthusiastic to learn and excel and provide a good example to less experienced and younger employees..is the one who is unappreciated, unemployed and trying desparately to pay bills.  I, who graduated cum laude from college and in the top 10 of my 550-person high school class…is driving a dented, dog-hair filled little 4-year old cheap foreign car and counting coupons at the warehouse store.  Eeeek!  Get me out of this place!