A few short years ago, in 1966, a rather dapper young man took a lovely young lady as his wife and settled down in her homestate of Maryland. Now, 42 years, 3 kids and numerous pets later, they are still going strong.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, I love you both so very much, anything good about me is a testament to the love and support you've always offered.

So, its almost MDRF time. For the first time in 10 years I'm not squiring full time, and perhaps only squiring for tournament. I'm not even scheduled to work, and I'm not sure I'll even get a chance to go this weekend. It feels weird, there is something major missing. As much as I know its too much to add right now, and as much as I know I'm making the right choice for me, for my job and for the jousters, I feel really bad. I know I'm going to listen to people talk about the joust and I'm going to feel left out. It sucks. I never wanted to make the decision to not squire full time. Its part of me, I mean look at my journal name. But right now, with the stress of work in the fall, and the health issues of the last couple of years, I know I can't give them my best, and its not fair to them, or to the audience to not be on the top of my game. And there is nothing saying I can't talk to them about returning in a year or two if my circumstances change.

So, if I seem a bit melancholy, that is part of it.

OK, so, I have been pretty quiet, trying to conserve my energy for the next bit of crazy liz life. Its September, so back to school with the requisite work hassles which have already started. Please save me from overactive parents. Public service announcement, yes your kids are the greatest thing since sliced bread. That doesn't mean they get special treatment or don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else. Oh, and at some point, they are going to have to learn how to deal with taking care of their own problems with the bureaucracy.

Then it works out that we are going to have a house guest for the school year. I haven't said much about this, but Jims dad remarried and now has two step daughters and a step son. I'm not sure how I feel about the remarriage, but as long as everyone is happy, all will be well. But Matt, the boy, doesn't want to leave the east coast his senior year, so they asked if he could move in with us. I'm a bit concerned, yeah, he's 17 and pretty self sufficient, but I don't really know him that well and I don't know what they expect our part to be in this. Plus, the whole, I'm comfortable with the way I do things and how my house is, I don't necessarily want to make adjustments to having to live with someone else.

Oh, and a cat abandoned her kittens outside my house. No sign of her at all. I've already found a home, but for the time being I'm helping take care of them. They are only now about a week old. They are absolutely cute and adorable, and still pretty labor intensive. Its ok, who needs sleep right?

We've lost another of the rennie family. Joe Kudla , better known to many as Thomas Snot of Puke and Snot passed away today. http://www.magaga.com/Home.html
Fare thee well.

I think you have some competition... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDaszN9ByxM

Have I mentioned, I love Neil Patrick Harris?

Ok, I was up in Bethlehem PA last week for Musikfest, So much fun so much music!!!!!!!! I got to see Tempest, and as always they rocked. I had the pleasure of meeting fitzjustice whom I see is not unknown on my friends list already. Yay for small world. I also saw Jethro Tull, a whole lot of fun, and Stone Temple Pilots. Not to mention a whole bunch of new artists, or at least unfamiliar to me artists. Its a total blast.
Breakfasts- Dennys on Airport Road South sucked. The food was mediocre even for denny's it took forever and none of the staff bothered to mention, oh we're short staffed, here let me start you with some muffins while you are waiting. Waitress didn't smile once or even acknowledge the length of time it was taking.
Bethlehem Dinner, made of awesome. Food wasn't gourmet of course but it was decent, served quickly with a smile.
Then this morning was in a lovely celtic tea room in downtown Bethlehem.

Musikfest is a lot of fun, Music, everywhere you go, the two complaints I'd have are the price of food and the dearth of craft vendors. Yeah there are plenty of pretty things to catch your eye, but if you are there more than a day or two, you'll see everything twice. Plus, I know its hard outdoors in the summer, but it would be nice to have better/more alternatives to fried foods.

So much I wanted to do/see/eat/buy sadly, my fundage was cut really really short by the recent car issues. I mostly kept myself in food, and I bought a hat and some candles. ~sigh~ Once, just once I'm going to go on vacation with the budget I anticipate. Still, sitting in the sun, listening to music and having nothing to do other than find a good group to listen to is a really really good way to spend a couple of days.

Now I'm back home to pick up the absolout mess that is my home. Back to the real world.. Darn it.

Oh and My cell phone is dead, so I'll be even more incommunicado than I have been. Email me or call Jim if you need me.

I'm tired...
Tired of the highs and lows.
Tired of feeling like a yo-yo or a roller coaster.
Tired of looking for anyway I can find to get away from reality.

Had a good weekend, now I'm depressed to the point of crying over nothing. And before someone tries to take responsibility, its all internal, started over the weekend and isn't related to external influences.

Some days its tempting to just start walking and not stop.

I'd consider medication for the whole roller coaster bit, but every time I've tried I've turned into a zombie.

Ignore me, this will pass

Away for the the weekend.. YAY! Catch everyone sometime monday. If its important, call me, otherwise see you later, have fun!

Ok, I'll admit, my major downfall is organization. I'm great at setting the system up, not so good at maintaining it. My current headache is that If something isn't top get it done right now priority, I set it down and sometimes loose track of it. I get busy, I let myself get rushed, and boom its out of my brain.
I can't be the only person who does this, so any suggestions for effective organization that will be simple for me to stick with?
Do you keep a phone/conversation log? if so do you do it by hand or on the computer?
What do you do to remind yourself to check up or follow through on something?

so yeah... ALL the brakes on Jims car need fixing...yeah ALL. I swear it hasn't been that long since we had the front ones done. I need to check on that and see if maybe the last place isn't responsible for some of it. I mean I KNOW Jim isn't that hard on his car. But in the mean time, we're left with a $1250 estimate and no vehicle while we figure this out.
I'm so not a happy camper. I don't know what to do. Any options I have are going to cost more money than we have. ~sigh~
I'm fine, I take the bus to work, but Jim can't and we do have plans this weekend that necessitate a vehicle.

Oh well, we'll figure something out.

So, I've gotten getting to work on time down to a science. I know exactly which bus and which driver I'll see every morning. I'm frequently the first person on the bus on this route. I smile, swipe my card and wish him a good morning. I've seen this guy pretty much every morning this summer. We don't particularly chat, but he's certainly been nice enough, not setting off any alarm bells.

I get on the bus, I'm doing my morning text messages, when all the sudden I see a cop get on the bus. No yelling, no arguing no shock from my driver he stands up and the cop handcuffs him and takes him off the bus. Very surreal. I'm not sure why they interrupted in the middle of his run, I have no idea what he was arrested for. The nice thing about MTA is there is always another bus, so we waited, and speculated about what it was. Drugs and armed robbery were the main contenders. I don't buy the armed robbery though, they didn't approach him like a dangerous suspect, and I would hope they wouldn't have endangered the passengers if they thought he was armed.

So eventually we get downtown and I walk over to charles street, and find it blocked from moter traffic and full of utility vehicles, mostly BGE. This http://wjz.com/local/manhole.hazmat.2.771074.html is what happened. It was like a weird movie scene. Lights flashing, but everything bizarrely quiet.

So, lets see what else happens today.

I think it might be a day to indulge in a drink after work.

Ok, so todays GoodStuff(TM)

1. Maintaining my weight despite cookouts, parties and steaks as big as my plate.
2. My boss sharing the pictures from his daughters lovely wedding.
3. Mom and Dad over for dinner last night.
4. Teasing Jim about not thinking to empty the canister for the vacuum.
5. Slim-fasts Cappachino Delight. Almost making me not miss morning coffee.

Ok, I understand that not everyone is computer savy. But in this day and age, email and faxing is common enough that when you call to ask for something it shouldn't be a shock that I ask if you can email or fax the request so that I have it in writing. It just seems like it shouldn't be that big a surprise when someone assumes you have the capability of doing something electronically. If you can't, ok, but please don't seem shocked when my first first response is to do it electronically which is more efficient for most of the world these day.

Do you need the wheelchair returned or shall we pass it on to another good home?

So,
I took Thursday off, had to go to a funeral in PA. Mind you, the funeral was in PA, but the burial was in Crownsville MD at the MD Veterans cemetery. A lot of driving, topped by the fact that a cop pulled us over on the way to the cemetery for the brake light that needs replacing. Then we got the fun of going downtown to pay bills and run some errands. But all in all it was fine.
( cut for rambling about my long weekend. )
So all in all, it was a really good weekend, As always I wish I'd gotten more done around the house, but ~shrug~ c'est la vie.

1. Getting to enjoy some friends acting in a really funny play( "Polish Joke" at the Spotlighters)
2. Snuggly cats
3. Lazy Sunday mornings
4. Midol
5. Quiet moments when I'm at peace with myself and my life.

Ok, Its late on well Saturday morning and I'm feeling pretty good, albeit tired so I'm gonna put out a thank you to the universe and do a five good things post.

1. I've got a good boss who lets me go early when I ask nicely.
2. finally playing an AD&D based game for the first time in years with friends I haven't gamed with before.
3. Chinese food for dinner (mmm fried dumplings)
4. I'm extremely well loved.
5. Two nights in a row with Jim where we didn't have to talk or stress about money or other issues, where we could get back to just enjoying each other.

Its good to be the Liz, and its nice to feel that way again.

Ok, I'm currently, well, not in a bad place, not at my best, especially with getting no sleep last night. So, I'm going to do one of my periodic returns to writing 5 good things about me, life, or the current situation when I feel I need it. BTW, thanks klytus for reminding me about this habit.

1. I've been consistent with my new diet/exercise regime.
2. I'm well loved.
3. I've got a good job, and the skills and background to find another if I need it.
4. Having an ipod shuffle to listen to during my walks. (20- 40 minutes every lunch)
5. Despite some health issues I'm able to do a lot of the things I want to.
and bonus one for today.

6. I'm taking control over my health while I can still do it on my own without medical intervention.

we're all used to accidently miss reading words. Frequently when I do it, its cause my mind lives in the gutter, but some days, I'm not sure where the substitution comes from. Today for instance, I read a students address as Cheapskate VA instead of Chesapeake VA