Hi all,

Apparently we are expecting some horrible weather starting late tonight. My husband just called from work to make sure I knew about ice, icy rain, sleet, dropping temps and snow for 2 days followed by warmer weather and then a second drop. Yuck, I really don't like winter weather. It doesn't do well for me physically and much of anyone else emotionally. However, it will be spring in less than 2 months and that is what I am thinking about.

Lady got her stitches out yesterday--and except for bumps all over her ear and the area that has been shaved, she is none the worse for all that she went through. We took Frankie along for his annual visit and that made it a lot of fun. Lady hates riding in a car and cries the entire time she is in there, and she barks the entire time she is at the vet (until they take her away from us.) Frankie is a social little pug, silly boy and while I was trying to calm Lady down for everyone's peace of mind, he lifted his little pug leg and squirted the cat food display. I was pretty embarrassed, but the lady with the mop and bucket came out and cleaned it up, no big deal. Frankie was a good boy, not a peep when he had his exam and got his shots. He is such a different personality than my big basset hound girl. The most interesting part to me was how they lie on the back seat of the jeep on the way home and Lady didn't make a sound. I think I will start bringing Frankie with whenever she has to go somewhere because it seemed to have given her some sort of stress relief. (By the way, Frankie has a multitude of nicknames that include Lil Frank, Frankie doodle poodle, Franklin Delano, Franklin P Dinwiddie, and others that are escaping me at the moment. He answers to all of them!)

Physical therapy went the same as it has been. It occurred to me as I write the title for this blog that on Monday, it will be 6 weeks and I CAN GO TO THE POOL!! I will have one more week to be home from work (as far as I know) and I am going to get to go to the pool during grown-up time every day. That is sure to brighten my spirits and help my body get back to normal. I am guessing it will help my knee and my hip to do even better. I am so excited to think about the water, my first time in the pool this year!! WooHoo!! The Pool!!

I got the letter from my professor for my job application. It was so wonderful it almost made me cry. I was so touched by her kind and thoughtful appraisal of who I am as an educator and a learner. I will cherish that letter forever and it will be there for me to use when I need a boost. I didn't expect that to come of all of this, but it is such a blessing and a special gift.

Speaking of gifts, those of you who respond to my blogs sure help me along the way and in some of these blue moments, it is nice to be able to come back and read your thoughts and support. I need to do more with the blogs of others, but I don't know how to get enough computer time in to do that. I need to find out how the rest of you get in your daily sparking, your exercise and time for visiting spark friends' pages and feeds and the like. There must be a way to make it all fit in and I haven't figured out after over 3 years here. If you can help me to get there, please let me know!!

It's been quite a month and I thought I would be bored and have spare time on my hands. That hasn't happened though. I still have things to do, like 3 books to read (plus two more that I got for Christmas) and an afghan I am making for Megan. I am sure she is convinced that I will never get it done. I have a collection of books to sort out for Mitchell and myself. I also wanted to make some posters for my classroom. I am not sure what I have spent my time doing, but I haven't been bored. I think I could have been a full time mother and been busy all of the time without a job, had this been a generation where that kind of thing was common.

I need to do some shopping today, especially with the bad weather forcast. I sure don't want to have to send someone out for a last minute run for toilet paper or something similar. That will help me to get in my steps today. I am also hoping to go find myself a couple of neutral colored tops. My winter shirts are all too big and look pretty silly on me right now, so before I go back to work, I want to take care of things so I can use the majority of my wardrobe. At some point, I will be purging myself of a lot of things.

I hope it will be a good family day tonight. I haven't decided on dinner yet, I think I'll plan something when I go shopping. It should be a good trip and it should also be fun.

Have a great weekend--think of a tropical island and all of the great summer things we can enjoy. That is far better than thinking of dangerous winter weather in my book.

Gentle hugs,
Sylvia