Let it snow!

Today the snow fell all afternoon. It was very pretty, and although it was only 2-3 inches, it caused major problems. Before I left work, I learned that there was both a 10-car and a 37-car pile up, closing the highway I take to get home. My drive home is usually 45 minutes, so I was anticipating a very long commute. I was pleasantly surprised that the mess was cleared up and the drive only took me just under an hour. I used to be a nail biter, but now the only times I catch myself biting them is in tricky traffic situations and while doing some creative problem solving. Needless to say, I now have 8 fairly long nails and 2 stubs.


As I drove home, I thought about the simple pleasures related to winter. So as promised, here's a list.....

1. My heated back massager. (My car has leather seats, and this simple $15 device makes me feel cozy and relaxed on days like today).
2. Chai Latte
3. Snow Ice Cream (haven't had that in awhile).
4. SNOW DAYS (should be # 1 on the list).
5. Coming home to find my driveway shoveled (my neighbor in Wichita used to do that kind of thing for me).
6. A fire in the fireplace.
7. Getting to wear boots all the time.
8. Trees covered in ice (as long as you don't have to go anywhere and still have power).
9. Sledding.
10. An untouched pristine snowscape (you know, no mailman tracks, tire tracks, kids footprints, or shoveling marks).
11. Snow so sparkly it looks like it's been glittered.
12. The plaza lights here in KC.


13. The end of winter (it's definitely not my favorite season).

Interview with God

Well, I'm tired and am actually going to go to bed early tonight (don't know how long it's been since I went to bed before 10:30). I did want to share this beautiful slideshow a friend sent me. The pictures alone are a breathtaking glimpse of God's splendor and majesty, but the words make it all the more special. Hope you enjoy!

www.theinterviewwithgod.com

Highlights of 2006

Well this blog, in part anyway, is supposed to be a way for friends to keep track of what's going on in my life. So here's an update on 2006 if I haven't talked to you lately.

At the very end of 2005, I was in a car wreck and spent the first 3 weeks of January without a car. I carpooled to work with a c0-worker who lives nearby and just got by on the weekends.

In February, I celebrated V-Day with my friends from Wichita. It's been sort of a tradition since I moved up here 3 years ago. Here I am with Patricia, Beverly, and Crystal. We stayed up late giggling and eating chocolate. I also got a chance to see my good friends Sharon and Deb whom I worked with a Project Bridge in Wichita.

Of course being close to family has been nice. My parents moved to Liberty (KC suburb) in fall of 2005 and my brother and his family moved there this year. So we've been able to have frequent family gatherings. Here is my sister-in-law Kim with her kids: Molly and Philip (who are now 3 and 15 months). Well, poor unlucky children have been the guinea pigs for my love of photography. Philip wasn't too crazy about posing in this pot, but he's sooooo cute, don't you think? And here's one of my favorite shots of Molly looking like a poster child for mischievous children. Can't you just see the tilted halo on her head? She really is a great kid and has a strong desire to please......The rest of my family lives close too. My brother Jim is in Marshall, MO, and Tracy and her daughter Abbey bought a house less than a mile from me.

Summer started with our regular Memorial Day weekend tradition. The family took our annual trip to Branson. This year we visited the Titanic museum and Predator World. Also this summer, I had a roommate. My good friend Michelle from Georgia moved in for about 7 weeks. She had visited me the summer before and while here, she met her boyfriend. They've been dating long distance for almost 2 years now. Since she is a teacher, it was the perfect chance for her to spend some quality time with Greg. In June, we went to the first York College Choir reunion. My best friend Niki was there too, and it was the first time the 3 of us had been together since college. Here's a shot of Niki, Michelle and I. Also in June, I had the opportunity to go to the TAC convention (yes I still stamp and scrapbook). Here I am with my stampin' friends Sandy and Cyndi.

In July I visited Chicago for the first time. I went with my friend Mary Jane, who is the music therapist at my school. One of the highlights was seeing "Wicked", which now is my favorite musical. It was excellent. We also took in the Art Musuem, Field Museum, Aquarium, Navy Pier, the boat cruise, and checked out one of Frank Lloyd Wright's homes. It was a great city and a great experience.

Well I came so close to sharing a birthday with my nephew. He was born the day before and turned 1 year in 2006. Here he is with his Birthday cake. We took a trip to the zoo. It was 90 degrees in October! Here are Abbey and Molly. That was my first visit to the KC zoo that I could remember, and it was a bit of a disappointment, I must say.

I'm pretty active with our singles group. Here we are at a fellowship at my house. In October, we had a retreat. Our new Worship Minister, Allen French was the speaker and it was a great weekend. This is a goofy picture. We went on one of those photo scavenger hunts and we had to act out a parable. Can you guess which one?

In November, I had the opportunity to go to the American Art Therapy Association conference for the first time. It was in New Orleans, so that was a first for me too. I took an extra couple of days to look around. The architecture was beautiful.

Christmas was fun. Here are the kiddos being cheesy. On December 29, my sister got married. Abbey was so excited, especially since she got to wear a junion bride dress and crown, like her mom. It was a beautiful wedding in the glass chapel in Eureka Springs. Here is Tracy with her new husband, Ben and Abbey.

Well, my friends, that's 2006 in a nutshell. Would love to hear what's new in your lives.

Rats and Apples Revisited

On Fridays at school, the routine is a bit different. I don't do my regular therapy per se (as if my therapy is "regular"). Instead, the music therapist, PE teacher, PE para and myself team up to do a group called MMARS (music, movement, art and rhythmic sensation). We have 3 1-hour long MMARS sessions in which we work with 3 or 4 classrooms at a time in the gym. We pick a theme and then come up with games and creative activities to go along with the theme. The general goal is to provide the kids with some socialization outside of their own classrooms and to work on team building, following directions, etc. Today's MMARS theme happened to be the Chinese New Year. Among other things, we read the kids the folk story of how the zodiac animals came to be in the order they are. Basically the emperor at the time had animals race across a fast flowing river to determine their order. I think I hate being a rat even more now after finding out that it did not depend on its own creativity, cleverness, or strength, but rode on the coattails of the ox (well, literally it rode on his back across the river). As it neared the shore, it pushed the cat off into the water and jumped to shore before the ox could make it. So, yes, the rat is the first of the animals, but got there through laziness and trickery. The poor puddy tat didn't even make the list:-( ....We ended our MMARS session by having the kids decorate some large paper dragons with streamers and then marched around the room in a kind of bizarre parade (I love our special needs kids, but imagine them trying to walk halfway in synch while having their heads stuck up under a huge piece of paper).

Speaking of apples, we ate lunch at one of our favorite places in town (I should say my favorite; I've burned everyone else out on it). You need some background info for this story, so rewind a few months. Last August, I was eating there with some co-workers. They had a wonderful new salad that I really liked and I asked the manager if I could buy some of the dressing. The tall, dashing assistant manager brought it out to me and through the course of the dinner, the girls noticed that he seemed to be circling the restaurant and glancing my way more than usual. Later he brought me a folded piece of paper that had the list of ingredients for the dressing. Well, we had to go back the next week. It's not often someone flirts with me in public. My friends tried to give me flirting tips, but none of them were really dating, so it was kinda weird to ask them for advice. Sure enough, the next week, he was still checking me out and I was making my lame attempts to increase eye contact and smile. So this went on for a few weeks (I know, you may think I'm a big chicken; I prefer to say that I'm a remedial flirter). Finally I psyched myself up to make my move. I left my name and number and email in an envelope with his name on it (and a nice little note). I was feeling very proud of myself. You may think this is not very direct, but hey....baby steps. It was a big step for me. Well, I never heard from him, so I wrote it off as he wasn't interested.

So a couple months went by before we went again. I was a little baffled to see he was still acting the same. My friends thought he probably didn't get the note and my overly optimistic side tended to wonder that too. Well today's events proved that wrong. We were eating when he came by to check on us. My friends commented at how he looked directly at me. They didn't catch that he actually winked at me. Then later, he came by, got my plate and said, "You finished with that, Tawnya?". I was shocked that he knew my name, proving he had to have received the note. So now I'm just baffled. Why is he still flirting when he had his chance? I'm kind of wondering if using my name was his way of checking to make sure that I'm Tawnya. I don't know. I obviously don't get men sometimes. If you have any insight let me know.

Well, I think I'll end this post with a version of "special needs kids say the darndest things"......

Overheard by my co-workers:
Kid 1: "You're a retard!"
Kid 2: "Hey, don't call me that! I am not!"
Kid 3: "Yes you are! We all are! That's why we're at this school, dummy!"

We were playing a game where the kids had to run around like different Zodiac animals and land on a rubber spot when they heard "Happy New Year". We were on the sheep/ram and one particular autistic girl was standing on a spot too soon. Staff said something to her and she replied, "I was being baa-aaaaa-aaaad (spoken like a sheep)". OK, that lost something in translation. You had to be there or know this girl to truly get a chuckle out of it. If nothing else, I'll look back at it later and laugh.

How 'Bout Them Apples?

My friend Janay sent me this fwd and I liked the metaphor......

"Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right person to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree. Now Men... Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with. "

Beyond the humor value of this metaphor, I think there's a little bit of truth. I've certainly experienced it at times. I've watched guys choose women with lots of baggage while I stood by (virtually baggage free I might add) just shaking my head in wonder. Though it's easy to become jealous, deep down I know that I wouldn't want to be picked by someone who is happy with just lazily picking up some apple off the ground. I'd rather be the treasured apple that someone strives to reach.

BTW, I'm not a man hater and I don't agree with the stomping them into shape part, but it did cause me to chuckle.

Sometimes you just know

Well I have to admit the online dating thing can be tedious. I'm so tired of writing the equivalent of small talk in emails. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy getting emails and corresponding, but there are few people I'm having meaningful conversations with. It's weird what you can tell just from a person's writing. To a degree, you can judge intelligence. (Though spelling skills are not supposed to be a good measure of intelligence, I would think most intelligent people would at the very least try to spell the name of the person they're trying to woo correctly). After a few emails, you get a sense for whether the person is optimistic, self centered, cocky, funny, socially backwards, clingy, and/or afraid of commitment. Not saying I'm a grammatical snob, it's just the little innuendos you pick up on that give you a flavor of what that person is like. For example, a person that gives up writing in paragraph form and makes three different lists in one short email, may be a little rigid or analytical for my taste. I have nothing against lists (in fact, I probably will post some in the future). I just don't want a conversation to turn into one....... You're probably reading this and thinking, "boy she's picky". Really I'm not that picky. Sometimes you just know.

National Pie Day

So I heard it was National Pie Day. Sounds like something I'd wanna celebrate. Unfortunately my new "lifestyle change" isn't conducive to having a slice. Here's a random fact about me....I'm really good at making desserts. My friends say I should open up a bakery/dessert shoppe. Now that would definitely be a lifestyle change. If I ever give up on meeting Mr. Right, maybe I'll do that. (I say that because I'd probably gain 100 pounds and have to wear a mumu if I had desserts around all day every day). Maybe it'll be in a bed and breakfast. Better yet, I don't like mornings, so it'll be a bed and dessert. I'll wake up when I feel like it, concoct some deliciously sinful confections, mill around with the guests, take it easy and then of course, sample the goods (job hazard). Not a bad life. Maybe I'll marry a dentist who likes rotund women, then I could have it all.

So what's your favorite pie? I of course can't pick just one, but some of my favorites are Key lime, Black bottom chocolate pie, Caramel pie, and Turtle pie. Happy pie day! Have a piece (or 2) for me!

Rats!

Well, I am having a terrible start to my resolution to go to bed earlier (note the time), so my rant for tonight will be short...... Why of all God's beautiful creatures, do I have to be a rat on the Chinese Zodiac? And secondly, why is this important tidbit posted in my profile for all the world to see, as if it's one of my greatest accomplishments? I'm just not feeling it. I think we rats should start a revolt and declare ourselves a new animal. Whad'ya think? Dolphin, unicorn, leopard? Heck, even elephant would be better than rat. On the up side, at least I'm not a snake (no offense to you snakes out there....I feel your pain).

Worst Case Scenario

Well here I am in a place I never thought I'd be.....the blogworld. What am I doing in a place where people regurgitate their most intimate thoughts for all the world to see? Well, I can tell you right now that there won't be any of that. Worst case scenario comes to mind.....One day I'm typing along about my innermost thoughts and get carried away about how someone's done me wrong. They happen to find my blog. Not pretty. Or I start writing about my occasional bout of irrational thoughts. Some guy I've been getting to know finds my blog and thinks I'm neurotic. Or I post about one of my pitiful (but often humorous) adventures in online dating and the guy in question reads my blog. Could cause a slight problem. Anyway, maybe I'm just paranoid, but I prefer to keep my innermost thoughts in what Jerry Seinfeld called "the vault". Next best option....a locked diary hidden in.....well I can't tell you where. Am I a private person? Slightly. I mean we're talking about the girl who in the 7th grade went to Dad's workshop and built a box she could lock away her private stuff (which at the time included Maxipads). So anyway, if you're looking for really juicy tidbits about me, you've come to the wrong place. For me this is just a fun way to keep my friends up to date on the happenings in my world, post some pictures, which I love taking by the way, and rant & rave (& ramble).