Fall Thoughts

Hello!  Yes, it has been a long time!  School, and all that goes with it, has started. The beginning of the year is always so hectic.  One quarter down, three to go.   I am trying a new philosophy this year.  I do what I can, when I can, and then leave the heartache at school.  This works, sort of, but makes me feel guilty.  It is just that I know there are so many kids who have problems I can't solve.  There is no reason for me to allow myself to get sick over it.  I am there for them and do what I can, but am trying NOT to bring it home.  Anyway, there are plenty of problems at home.  Ha!  Andrew is regularly testing me, but I know in a couple of years he won't be here and I will be lonely.

The weather has cooled and now I start thinking about Christmas.  I have started making new necklaces this weekend.  I missed it!  I really enjoy making the pendants and time just flies by when I am working on them.  We can't eat dinner at the table, but who cares?  Tonight is popcorn and peanuts for dinner anyway.  This is my favorite time in the sports year.  One can watch football during the day and baseball in the evening.  The St. Louis Cardinals are always fun to watch in October.  While my love of all things Cardinals isn't passionate, it certainly has been going on most of my 47 years.  There was a time when the Cardinals would win a World Series every time a girl was born into our family.  No baby this year, but a Series would be a nice diversion.

Watch for a blog this week with pictures of my new pendant designs!  Until next time - Julie

Summertime

Hello Friends!  Yes, it has been a long time since I posted.  Things here are calm and uneventful - a wonderful contrast to last summer.  Andrew and I have been sleeping late, doing our own things, growing vegetables and herbs, and resting.  Why is rest so hard to come by?  I have become a homebody who fiercely protects my time at home.  I guess I am at a point in my life where there are few places I would rather be than home.  These past 2 years have been so humbling and have refocused my attention on what is really, REALLY, important.  Family, friends, work.  The rest is simply extra - nice, but not necessary.  Andrew and I are heading to Santa Rosa, FL next week for a vacation at Aunt Melissa's beach house.  It will be so awesome!  Nothing to do all day except lie in the sun, swim, cook dinner, and play cards.  Andrew's Florida grandparents and Melissa and Andrea will be there too, so it is a family vacation.  So many people think my relationship with my ex-inlaws is strange.  It isn't.  When I got married, they became part of my family.  The same is true with Ron's sister Melissa.  Just because my marriage didn't work doesn't mean they aren't still family.  I am very fortunate that they are great people, and I know others aren't as blessed, but I often can't understand why people just cut entire parts out of their lives.  I can't!  Plus, they are Andrew's family and it is important for him to have a loving relationship with them.  I am going to include a couple of pictures from the last time we were at the beach house in this post.

The Beach House

Tan and happy!

Infinity pool looks out to the Gulf Of Mexico

On a sad note, my friend Dianne is moving away.  You may or may not know that I have many acquaintances in my life, but very few close friends. When I make friends they are for life - as they will tell you!  I am very, very slow to let people in.  While this has been true most of my life, it is more so now.  I guess the philosophy is the same one I have about dating - if I don't let anyone in then they can't hurt me.  Let's not dig into that, the theory is flawed, I know.  Anyway, Dianne is moving to Rolla.  While she will be back some and we can go visit them, I won't have that close companion at school every day, and I am sad.  She and I haven't really thought about it all summer, but Tuesday in the pool  I realized that Friday will be our last day together.  She will be on vacation, then I will be on vacation, and then she will be gone.  I can't imagine how I will get along.  I am NOT saying that the other people I work with aren't wonderful, but our bond is special and I have become a better person by knowing Dianne, George, and Emilie.  My heart hurts!

This is Dianne wearing the highly covetted green necklace that my sister wanted.

The red truck Nana and Grandpa bought.
It is older than him, but he LOVES It!

I am LOVING Andrew being a driver.  He takes himself from place to place, can go to the store for me, and is being responsible about his own "stuff".  I haven't had the worry that goes along with him staying out late at night - that will come, but this new freedom on his part has added to the joy of this peaceful summer!  I hope your summer has been as peaceful and relaxing as mine has!  Until next time - Julie

Welcome Spring!

Hello friends!  Yes, it has been awhile since my last post.  I have been busy making necklaces and getting through the winter doldrums.  I am going to blame my last blog on that - although I did get a new printer.  My dad went out the next day with Andrew and bought a new wireless printer.  It lives upstairs, so now it is even easier to print and go!  Thanks so much Mom and Dad.  In this blog I am going to wish for a million dollars - think I'll get it?

Spring is finally here.  Andrew is struggling with allergies as he always does, but the house is so much better with the windows open and the flowers blooming.  I am preparing my deck for a bigger, better herb garden this summer and planning to plant more tomatoes.
Wal-Mart yesterday had tomato plants in a pot - already caged - with blooms and tomatoes already on them. I may have to go back today for one of those - I just can't resist!  Even though I know it won't be hot enough for a good tomato for a long time, I just can't get that tomato plant out of my mind!

Here is a sampling from my new Spring necklaces.  If you are interested, come to my classroom on Wed. April 20 at 3:30.  I will have them on display along with the wonderful Thirty One products.  I just discovered this company and love the products - purses and totes!  I have picked out the bag I want for my music.  I will have "Julie's Music" put on it.  Little things like that make me so happy lately.

I just got back from Wal-Mart and the new tomato plants are green on my deck.  This, too, makes me happy.  Till next time, Julie

Yes, It's Been A While

   Well, here it is March and I haven't blogged since January.  So much for my good intentions. I will start again.  While time has passed, not much has changed.  Andrew was successful in his basketball season - and is sporting a jacket to prove it.  If he will allow me to take a picture I might add it later. That, it would appear, is the extent of the excitement here.  I find myself extremely sluggish.  I crawl into bed and watch the same movies over and over until I fall asleep.  While I have so much going on in my life that I can't keep track of it, I am overcome with the feeling that there is a lot missing.  I need to start with necklaces again - they gave me a goal and a purpose.  I felt successful.  I haven't made any lately because my printer isn't working.  How sad is it that something so simple has kept me from doing something I really enjoyed?  OK  - a new chapter starts today.
   This melancholy might come from my fixation on Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones movies this past month.  I find myself pining for a "Mr. Darcy".  No one has a fairy tale life, but I am a bit tired of being alone.  Even the most annoying habits of another human might be better than my current sense of aloneness. I guess I should watch "It's A Wonderful Life" again......... Enough, enough, enough. ENOUGH!
    The tax-woman brought good news my way, and so this year of trials, wake-up calls, and new beginnings is coming to a close.  I have weathered the most difficult year in my life.  One might say I am better for it - I know in my heart it is true.  I am strong, independent, confident, and surrounded by people who love me.  That gives me great comfort.
    You know that John Lennon song "Beautiful Boy"?  There is a line in there......."Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."  That's what this feels like.  This isn't the life I signed up for, but it seems to be the life I got.  That sounds like I am a spoiled brat, but really I am not.  I just thought that by this time in my life, I would have it all figured out. Sadly, I have nothing figured out!  Enough!  This is not a pity party.

Here are the pictures of my Beautiful Boy!

     Hopefully, I will have some blogs soon about new Spring designs for pendants.  I am going to shop tonight, print tomorrow at Mom and Dad's, and maybe post tomorrow night.  How is that for a fresh start?  Have a great Saturday night with your best boy or girl.  I will be with my boy - who now wants to go to the store for chocolate chips to make cookies tonight.  Until later, Julie

A New Year - A Thank You!

I have put this post off for too long.  I was waiting to be "inspired".  Then, late last week, something happened that had our house beaming.  Andrew has worked very, very hard on his basketball skills since last season ended.  He went to the weight room, open gyms, 2 team camps, and has dedicated most of his free time to that or his lawn business.  I am very, very proud of the effort he has put out and am very appreciative of the time and energy his coaches have given him.  Andrew knew going in as a freshman that he wouldn't see much JV time.  Then, they got rid of the freshman team - which a lot of schools are doing to save money - and he was disappointed.  His disappointment was displaced though because he has started every JV game this season - and has played very well in most of them.  Last week, he was brought up to the varsity team!  Mostly he will be the waterboy and keep the bench warm, but it has really, really been a confidence builder for him.  He was smiling when he came out of practice that day. (Of course, I missed it because I was sitting in a meeting....grrr)  It made me think back to my high school days and the one thing that changed everything for me.  The tennis team - or more specifically - Coach LaRue.

As a freshman in high school my parents literally forced me to join the tennis team.  I wasn't very interested and spent most of that year on the bottom rungs of the ladder and playing very few matches.  Coach must have seen something though because the summer between my freshman and sophomore year he really helped me improve by telling me about tournaments and opportunities to improve.  I did NOTHING else that summer except play tennis.  My father even learned how to play tennis to help me practice and get better - and I had the full support of my entire family!  We turned into a tennis family - or groupies if you want to call it that.  It didn't seem like work to me, it was fun and I was feeling much better about my chances on the team the next fall.  When the time came, I was #14 or 15 all season - out of 30 - 35!  I had improved so much that I earned my Varsity letter that fall - something I was totally unprepared for.  I was now hooked and kept playing and improving throughout high school.  My senior year I was #3.  That beginning, however, gave me the confidence to do other things - try out for cheerleading again, (I had failed my first time and didn't intend to try again) take musical pieces to contest, be more participatory in classes, a long list of things.  I must also add here that there were many other teachers, music people,  and adults in my life that helped me gain the confidence I needed to success, but Coach LaRue was the biggest.  He helped me believe that I was a good tennis player - even when I was marginal.

My hope for Andrew is that this basketball season will do for him what my tennis season did for me.  I can already see it working.  Andrew is more focused and mature than he has ever been.  I can see that he has developed a good work ethic (thank God) and is willing to do what it takes to succeed.  I tried to talk to him about how this same thing can happen to every aspect of his life - even his schoolwork - but he didn't want to hear that.  He said "I knew you would turn this into something about school!"  Oh well, he will see it soon enough.

So this blog is a thank you!  Thanks to all the basketball coaches, past and present, that have helped bring Andrew to this place.  Heaven knows I don't know anything about basketball!  I am convinced that he has found his "Coach LaRue" and only good will come of it!  Till next time,  Julie