This little fella and I became intimately acquainted last week at South Padre Island. He made a large hole in my ankle and I thought I had been bitten by a shark. Ouch. This story and more coming soon... 

Tapdance

After this week, I will be able to breathe again! Lord willing, this is my last five-day work week. I have become really guarded of my schedule... especially the after-work hours, because if I am not careful, I end up being out every evening, and by Friday I look back at my week and go, "ACH! I'm NEVER HOME!" So tonight we have to teach VBS. Tomorrow the youth are going bowling/pizza-ing, but they'll be done by 6. Wednesday is church. Thursday, I hope, is nothing. Annie is Friday and Saturday, last two shows.

Then I go to camp on Sunday. I'm looking forward to camp. I was only going because one girl from our group signed up, but now it looks like we're going to have 4 girls! Yaay! It's going to be really nice. I don't have to do anything at camp but just be available and have fun. Get to be a high schooler for a week. Cool.

Flo is back after being gone for a week. Although it wasn't too bad because we're finally both on Sprint cell phones so we can talk for free... so this week was full of text messaging and phone calls during the van drives. But I'm glad she's home... I have missed her. I'm looking forward to having more time together when I slow down.

Kathy, it seems, is still not online either...... haven't talked to her in like 3 months. We were going to start a notebook and write in it and send it back and forth, but I just now got a notebook. We are so much alike. Twins. We procrastinate everything, and end up missing each other for months, and then pick back up where we left off 3 months later. I really miss her too. We were together 24-7 in college -- literally.

Okay, okay. I really don't want to... but I must go get in the shower and get ready for work. I'm still sleepy.

Word to your mom.

Learning to stop

My goodness.... my life has not been my own for over a month now. I always end up resenting my life and my schedule when I get into this mode: leaving my house at sunup and getting home at 11:30 pm. I haven't seen Punky or David for a long time... my laundry is out of control... my dishes are unstoppable. I can't remember the last time I actually ate a meal at home. I'm at the point where anyoneone asking me to do anything extra gets a resounding and bitter "NO!" with a look of disbelief directed at them ("After I've just finished telling you what my schedule is, you have the AUDACITY to ask me to do more?"). I was actually asked yesterday at work to come in on my day off today to bring them tacos. Tacos! Umm, I live an hour away. Ordinarily, if my life were simple and I had actually seen my family once in the past month it would be okay. But today I am planning on laying out by the pool for the entire day. So no. No tacos from the Diva from Bandera.

We opened "Annie Get Your Gun" in Kerrville last night. Got to actually play in a bonafide pit... that was cool.

Ohh! David went into his old work yesterday to return some stuff, and all the Lange stuff was $1!!! For those who are not familiar with Lange, it's top of the line skincare products that are sold in exclusive salons for a TON of money (like $40-$60 a bottle)... well, apparently the owner of the company passed away last year, and his loser kids, who were the heirs, totally let the company go, stopped paying all their bills, and squandered his hard-earned money. So Lange is no more, and its suppliers, like David's old company, are left with all this product to get rid of. Hence the $1 clearance. We got a case of shampoo, 6 bottles of the facial cleanser that I so love, and a whole bunch of other stuff.... the shampoo alone would have cost $130 or so... we got all of it for $25. I love Princess Beauty Supply. See, it's the simple things in life that get me......

I must go to Super S in Bandera now and pay way too much for basic groceries. They are thieves. Example: Oreos are around $4.00 there. I think they are $2.50 in San Antonio. Super S believes that they must stick it to us poor hillbillies because we are totally dependent on them. We need an HEB out here so badly.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Madonna compares Bush to Saddam

BBC: Madonna compares Bush to Saddam
:

"Madonna wants to be 'part of the order, not the chaos' of the world
Madonna has said US President George Bush and ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are alike because 'they are both behaving in an irresponsible manner'. "

I'm sorry, umm, remind me again why I'm supposed to care about Madonna's expert opinion?........

I hate scorpions.

Ugh. I just came in from outside where I watched two HUGE scorpions climbing all over the outside of my house. Our house is all cedar, so I guess they like the wood. They are nasty creatures.... one of them had the stinger of another scorpion in its claws and was eating it. Beasts! They are surely inhabited by satan himself.

David's at camp this week... it was a last minute thing and we scrambled last night (after a very busy weekend) to get him ready. He's with 30 kids ages 9-13 at a sports camp and I'm sure he's going to be all worn out by the end of the week. He was fortunate enough to get his own room, though, so at least he won't be up all night trying to get the little buggers to sleep.

So Punky and I are on our own this week. We went shopping this evening because Punky was down to nothing clothes-wise. I love Old Navy. They were having a giant sale and I got Punky 8 shirts and a pair of pants for $60. He's going to be stylin' -- they're all little surfer boy clothes. Very cute.

Very tired. Must....sleep.... more tomorrow........

Patriotism and the Gipper

I missed most of Reagan's funeral yesterday because I had to work. I listened to some of it as Glenn Beck did a live commentary during the preliminary ceremonies and watched a bit of the recap on Charlie Rose last night.

I loved the thought that for one day, Democrats and Republicans were able to put aside their differences to pay tribute to this great American. Despite the complaints from a few crybaby liberals early in the week about how egotistical the Reagan family was for wanting a full State ceremony, for the most part the country did a great job honoring Reagan's life and legacy. He was indeed a great statesman, but more than that, Reagan imparted a sense of ownership and responsibility to us, the real America, the Average Joe. He made it clear that it was up to us to make America great, not Congress, nor politicians, nor himself. It was his belief in us that gave America our sense of pride, and his optimism became ours, and for that he will be remembered. And for those brats who just had to complain about the pomp and circumstance, I have to ask: where are we as a country if we have absolutely no traditions left to remind us of who we are? Whether you agree with Reagan's politics or not, we still need times of national mourning and celebration to serve as a touchstone... to remind us of our heritage, our identity, our freedom, and all the things that make this country great. And I would say the very same thing if it were Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter we were burying.

What really makes the liberals look bad are the embittered, angry, hateful folks that seem to be growing in number: Morrissey proclaiming onstage in Dublin that he wished it were Bush who had died; people like this who say that our loss is "hell's great gain," cartoonist Ted Rall's remarks about Reagan "turning crispy brown [in hell] about right now," a select few in a Prairie Home Companion live broadcast who actually applauded at the news of his passing... you people disgust me. You are the reason why I choose to not vote alongside you. Your platform is hate, yet you preach tolerance (as long as I agree with everything you say. When I don't, when I express my personal beliefs, I am a close-minded bigot). Tell me what's tolerant and peace-loving about reveling in someone's demise, and in his family's pain? Because that absolutely contradicts all your anti-war, anti-hate, pro-tolerance crap that you say you stand for. Tell me why you say that we need to stop the inhumanity of this war, stop the senseless killing, yet you carry around hatred and murder in your own hearts? How is that consistent? Michael Moore's entire career is based on hatred and division. Nick Berg's "dovelike" father has done nothing but spew hatred at Bush and use his son's death as a platform to promote his own socialist agenda. The absolute contradictions astound me. If you're going to stand up for something, you have to walk it out in your life. I would have much more respect for the liberal platform if there was actually some consistency and some integrity behind the words. I don't agree with you, but I don't walk around spewing hatred and wishing death on those I don't agree with.

I'm going to close with the ever-eloquent words of our good friend Dony Wynn, whose views I respect for their balance and logic:

"A Long Ride Into the Sunset

This week, ex-president Ronald Reagan passed from this world. Even though political discussion and contemplation dares not enter into my everyday, I will admit, I can vividly recall when he was president. I remember that as an American the U.S. of A. felt good when he was at the helm, and one felt a twinge
of pride to be known as an American when traveling abroad, too. Our country was alive and thriving. Vitality was running amok. The positive spirit he instilled worldwide was contagious. Rampant.
I don’t feel that way now. We’ve got someone else at the helm who’s recklessly traded our dignity and respect for personal gain and selfish redemption, leaving us vulnerable to serious retribution on the international stage
meanwhile. Playground bully by any other name. Sorry, I digress...
This week.
This week, my forty-eighth birthday will occur. There will be little fanfare, if anything. I prefer it that way.
There is much fanfare for our fallen president. Deservedly so.
A Native American warrior chief once said, “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the
sunset.”
President Reagan lived his. I’m living mine. Our precepts similar, our platforms vastly different. When my time comes, I will sing my death song and die like a conquering hero returning home. Just as he did, I’m sure.

There will never be another week like this one. He’s gone now and I live on, carrying the torch of goodness and service for my fellow man, best I can, as did he.
Our work here on Earth is never done. God willing, I’ll do my utmost. And if I should be so fortunate, I’ll win yet another one for the gipper. Like he would’ve wanted.
God bless you and keep you, Ronnie. You left the world a better place. A simple virtue to which we all should aspire."

St. Louis-Area Lake Vanishes Over Days

AP:

"WILDWOOD, Mo. - To folks around Wildwood, it is nothing but freaky: an entire 23-acre lake vanished in a matter of days, as if someone pulled the plug on a bathtub.
Lake Chesterfield went down a sinkhole this week, leaving homeowners in this affluent St. Louis suburb wondering if their property values disappeared along with their lakeside views.
'It's real creepy,' said Donna Ripp, who lives near what had been Lake Chesterfield. 'That lake was 23 acres - no small lake. And to wake up one morning, drive by and it's gone?'
What once was an oasis for waterfowl and sailboats was nothing but a muddy, crackled pit outlined by rotting fish.
The sight had 74-year-old George English scratching his head.
'It's disheartening, getting out on your deck and seeing this,' he said as he stood next to wife, Betty, and the 'lakeside' condominium they bought in 1996 for its view. 'One day it's a beautiful lake and now, bingo, it's gone.'
Some residents said they noticed that the lake, after being swelled by torrential rains weeks earlier, began falling last weekend. The Englishes said they noticed the drop-off Monday.
By Wednesday, the manmade lake - normally seven to 10 feet deep in spots - had been reduced to a mucky, stinky mess.

David Taylor, a geologist who inspected the lakebed Wednesday, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the sinkhole was formed when water eroded the limestone deep underground and created pockets in the rock. The sinkhole was 'like a ticking time bomb.'
The lake and surrounding housing development date to the late 1980s. The development now includes more than 670 condominiums and houses, about one-tenth of them bordering the lake.
Because the lake is private property, the subdivision's residents will have to cover the cost of fixing it, probably through special property assessments. George English expects it to cost $1,000 a household.

It is a price English said he is willing to pay. He just wants the unsightly pit gone, either by refilling it with water or dumping enormous amounts of dirt into it to create green space or usable land.

"I think it'll come back again," he said. "You have to hope they can fix it."