Off-line

OMG

I just had my longest dry blog spell. It was totally unintentional. I have SO much news.

First up, the reason for my absence: the short story, someone invaded my unsecured wireless service and changed the settings around. It took awhile to diagnosis it, but my wonderful internet provider patiently guided me to resolution just this evening. I am now "secure" and on-line again. (I think the kids are happy, too).

Second, Ragged is a dear and sent me her homemade CD of Luv songs. It's great because it's a mix of new and old songs to me. I love Mandy, because it took me back to the feelings of sixth grade when Mandy was my favorite song. I don't want to stay there real long, necessarily. She included Lyle Lovett, one of my favorites, whom I saw in a great concert in Kentucky, her home state. I've really enjoyed this in the car and hope to add it to my Shuffle next week. Oh yeah, she warned me a couple of times that one particular song is not appropriate for little ones, so I preveiwed it, then promptly played it for Boys12 and 13. They weren't offended, but it wasn't really their style either.

The past two weekends I have had to drive in adverse conditions for different reasons. Last weekend I met my sister at a state park in Indiana, traveling snow packed and blowing snow conditions. When the road actually got better (interstate) I passed 25 cars in the ditch on an 80 mile stretch. I guess they were not very good drivers, because I thought the conditions were improving immensely. Today I drove in freezing rain for two hours, to take my mom to a plane which was cancelled 10 minutes after we got to the airport. Turned around and brought her home, two more hours. There's a family emergency and she was trying valiantly to get to North Dakota.

The picture above is a giant icicle we saw on a short hike we took. I was wearing some very uncomfortable boots, but it was worth hiking out a ways to see this. It helped my pedometer steps as well.

I have gotten way off my walking and swimming plan this week. I'm disappointed and afraid I have lost my healthy ways. Too many meetings, classes, emergencies and activities this week. Correspondingly, I have been cranky, blue and PMSing the past two days.