The Big Easy was easy

This may sound shocking coming from me, but I might actually repeat this experience. Dee and I flew to New Orleans last week to present at the National Science Teachers' Association national conference. Yep, it sounds like a big deal 'cuz it IS a big deal, especially for those presenters who would rather chew off their own leg than speak to a bunch of adults and pretend to be an expert. Since chewing off my own leg was not an option, and I really did want to see New Orleans, I put on my big girl panties (as my dear friend is wont to say), xeroxed my handouts, kissed my family goodbye and was off to N'Awlins.
Result? I survived and pulled my own considerable weight. According to an audience member, I even spoke for 15 minutes straight. That might not seem unusual given normal circumstances, might even seem low at that, but these were not normal circumstances. The audience was 100 members strong-a full house, not an empty seat to be found (okay, one or two maybe). I am proud of our presentation and might even consider doing this again.

On the other hand, we saw lots of New Orleans (French Quarter, River Walk, Garden District, Warehouse District, French Market) and I continued to collect people. Some collect salt shakers, Meri collects shot glasses...Me? I collect people. On this trip, I caught a techie, a young mother and her even younger child (hello, migraine), a Boys' Town drunk, two Mad Hatters, and I almost reeled in a distinguished pilot-trust me, there are not as many of those as one might think. My husband is clearly the exception to that rule. Dee told me to quit making eye contact, but that is soooo hard...

List Work

Several months ago, Joey and I made a list of things we wanted to do. We are working on the list-both adding to it and enjoying ourselves. On Friday, we got to check off our first activity. We took Greg with us and went to Rookwood and the Cincinnati Art Museum in Mt. Adams. Rookwood recently reopened under new management, and while the freshly hand-cut fries were yummy, the sandwiches were a little greasy and not quite what we were hoping. Our expectations were fully met at the museum however. From the entrance to the stairways and balconies, much of the Cincinnati Art Museum reminded us of Night at the Museum. Joey especially enjoyed the mummies and the American artwork, but was a little freaked out by the tomb effigies.
Cincinnati Art Museum-check
Yesterday Greg's sister was in town from Vegas where she now lives and works, so Joey and I headed to Dayton for a visit. I am adding Visit Vegas to the List.
On our way home we stopped at IKEA. That place is crazy. I did not find what I wanted, but saw plenty of everything else. If I return, it will be without my child. Did I mention that place is crazy?
Today we went ice skating with Cassidy and the Wiethes. Or should I say ice-bucketing? Joey thought ice skating was fun, but he was so frightened of falling that he frogkicked his way around the rink using the bucket for support. I took my own spill and crawled to the edge of the ice to get up. I'm quite certain that my body will NOT thank me for adding this activity to our Must Do list, but we had a great time doing something new!
Adding to list: Indianapolis Children's Museum
Next up: The new dinosaur exhibit at Cincinnati Museum Center.

Lots and lots of snow

Obviously, we have had a lot of snow lately. Luckily we have a small, but perfect for us, hill next door in our neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, we trudged throughout our neighborhood with the snow and bitter cold in our faces before we found this perfect spot. As you can see, in my attempt to avoid the big tree in the middle of the run, I hit the bushes instead. Joey managed to pick himself right up, but I couldn't stand for laughing.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

I am very fortunate to have such great parents, just a great family really, but we were especially lucky to be able to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with our family and friends. My sibs and I pulled together a surprise party after hemming and hawing over what we should do to celebrate. Well, it worked and they were surprised! Not when they walked in the door of course, but Mom and Dad were definitely surprised when Brian pulled into Cindy's driveway and there were lots more cars than usual. A good time was had by all!

Calmness in Our Lives

I am not a fan of chain letters, be it snail mail or email. I especially hate the ones that promise something horrible will happen if you don't forward it to 7 friends in 3 minutes. What kind of friend puts that kind of pressure on someone? Having said that, there are certain emails that should certainly be shared with the masses. Here is one that I received today:


CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES
By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace.

Dr Phil proclaimed, 'The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.'
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a bottle of Riesling, half a pizza, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the chocolate chip cookies, some puffy Cheetos, and a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.

Who can't find the truth in those words of wisdom?

Seriously though

Even though I had a few cake opportunities (red velvet at school, a birthday cookie from a student, cupcakes at my parents) , I didn't get to make a birthday wish. I thought I could light a candle and blow it out, but wondered if that really counted if the candle wasn't in a cake or if nobody sang "happy birthday" to me before I blew out the candle. Jill said that she sang to me on facebook and that the things didn't all have to happen together. As I was looking for something to stick the birthday candle in to hold it up while I blew it out, I started to think how ridiculous I was being, so of course I needed to document my ridiculousness. I gave Joey the camera, stuck the candle in a red raspberry and blew out the flame. Well, of course I didn't like the angle of the picture, so we tried again. I didn't like that one either, or the next one, or the next two. Joey was getting sick of taking pictures so we quit. (This is the best photo cropped to within an inch-at least you can see the raspberry candle.) Then I realized that I never had made the darn wish. I started to make a wish without the candle, but realized that I really don't need to wish for anything. I have the greatest friends and family in the world. Thanks to all of you who saw me and remembered my birthday (not that I would let you forget), called with good wishes, sent cards and/or sent messages via Facebook and email. I couldn't wish for anything better than those of you who are in my life!

Happy Birthday to Me!

There comes a point in your life when you realize....
who matters,
who never did,
who won't anymore,
and who always will.
So, don't worry about people from your past;
there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Thanks to all of the people who are in my life now!