Stuff

The word makes me shudder.   I ascend into my attic and my knees go week.  I go to the attic with the best of intentions.  Clean-up, clean-out, be done!  I would be able to make my attic into an office-a quiet place to write.  If it were not for all of the stuff up there!  UGH.

Where does it come from?  Did we really spend all of our hard earned money on it?  Why did I tell people I would take their stuff?  No more mister nice guy.  I don't want anymore stuff.  Thank you.

Their are things that were mine from my childhood that I do-not-want anymore.  My husband tells me I should keep it just in case one of our children may want it for their children one day.  I give him the look.  I have a lot of those-this one is the "That is not the answer I was looking for" look.  To which he replies "You asked me."  Grrr.

I have started liking the idea-"A cluttered house equals a cluttered mind".  Even when I am doing something else, I am always thinking of the stuff that I need to get rid of.  I got rid of quite a lot earlier this year.  Now, I need to do it again.  Just bite the bullet and dive right into the stuff in the attic instead of turning around and leaving the room.

If you don't hear from me for, oh, let's say a few days, send someone to find me.  The stuff may have gotten the better of me.

Weekend-end

I absolutely love weekends.  Even weekends I have to work aren't so bad.  Like this weekend.  Work was busy on Saturday, we watched our nephew's band, celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday, and saw lots of people we love to bits.  Can a day get much better?

Today was beautiful-we had soccer, played outside, sold some peanuts for scouts, and made chili for dinner.  Those simple days are usually the best.  It is the little things in life that make living worth-while.

Soccer will soon come to an end, so I need to enjoy watching my girl play.  My son will not be in scouts forever.    I find that a great deal of my posts are about the passing of time.  I try to recognize it and enjoy each second.

Now it is evening time and kids are getting ready for bed, lunches are being made, dogs let out, coffee made for the following morning's 6 a.m. wake-up call.  I hear laughter coming from the next room and am thankful for such beautiful days filled with the people I love.  Make it a great week!

Fall-A word with many meanings

Fall.  I just looked this up in the dictionary-I stopped counting at twenty-four different meanings.  I will use just a few here today.

Fall-autumn.  The leaves have begun to change.  They are turning their beautiful colors of reds, golds, oranges, and yellows.  They make all my windows look like stained glass.  It is a beautiful time of year.  I do enjoy the cool weather, the smells of cinnamon, pumpkin pie, and "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"-one of my favorite cartoons of all time.  I love to see Snoopy creeping through the bombed out towns after the Red Baron has shot his WWI Flying Ace airplane down.  Then dancing to Schroeder's piano playing-and then howling with shame.  Too funny.

http://youtu.be/B67w23x2cPM

When I look out the windows of stained glass leaves and hear the wind blowing, I think of another definition of Fall-to tumble down.  This comes to mind as I watch the leaves tumble through the air to the ground.  I am quickly reminded that those leaves will have to be raked and blown out of my driveway, off my grass, out of my plant beds, and not just once, but several times.  Some days I am up for the challenge-the cool temperatures and just being outside rev me up.  Other days, it becomes another chore that one of us that lives in this house has to tackle-when we have time.  This is when another definition of fall comes to mind.

Fall-to fail to keep up the pace;  to lag behind.  Yep-happens all the time, no matter the season.  Things seem to pile up that need to get done.  Whether it be getting up the billion leaves that will fall(there it is again) in my yard, the laundry, cleaning out the attic(a perfect Fall activity since it is not so hot), emails, you name it.  Sometimes I feel like a pro at falling behind-Elizabeth Burke, Ph(all behind) Doctorate.  Somehow I have the comforting feeling that I am not the only one with this degree!

So, with all of the definitions of "Fall", I think today I will enjoy the first one mentioned-Fall: Autumn.  It is much more appealing.  

A "Wicked" Week!

It is Friday the fourteenth.  It is my sixteenth wedding anniversary.  It has been a "Wicked" week.  In a good way!

I worked a few days and made a few bucks, wrote to a publisher about a children's book that I have written and have a meeting with him on Monday, and my hubby surprised me with an early anniversary gift of tickets to, you guessed it, the Broadway show-Wicked.  I was thrilled to say the least and the show was fantastic.  It is nice to have surprises and even better that my husband likes to provide me with them.  It makes me smile and love him even more!

The children's book manuscript has been fun to write.  I will tell you more about it later but to have a meeting with a publisher is pretty mind blowing!  I have sent it to one publishing company already and am waiting to hear back-fingers crossed!  Who knows where this will all lead, but I am hoping for the best and that one day I can walk into a bookstore and see my book up on the shelf.

My oldest daughter wants to see "Wicked"-I am sure it will come back to our town so that we can go together.  We watched some performances on YouTube and she loved it-I told her I would be happy to sing for her whenever she wanted-I just got one of those "Please don't" teenager looks.  Which made me start singing "Popular" almost immediately!

http://youtu.be/CsKH2tqoFJ8

Kristen Chenoweth does sing so much better than I-but I have just as much fun!


I have always wanted to sing on Broadway-it is on my bucket list.  We shall see-never say never!  I got a meeting with a publisher-anything is possible.  Singing on Broadway would be "Wicked" indeed!

Dear Father Time...

Dear Father Time,
Would you be so kind as to extend my days by a few hours?  Thank you.
Your faithful watcher(pun intended),
Liz

Oh, a few extra hours in a day.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Some would agree-yes more time to talk, to sleep, to shop, etc. Others would not-more time at work, more time doing homework, more time doing chores.  I have written before of wanting more time with my kids-I will always want that, but lately, I have been wanting-or should I say needing-more time for other things.  Some are fun, some are not.

I need more time for laundry-definitely not fun, to paint my bedroom-sort-of fun, and to read and write-way fun!

This week, it has eluded me.  Sometimes I wonder if Father Time is doing this on purpose.  Grrr.

As stressed and frustrated as I can get about doing these things, I have to remind myself of what I have done that day.  I have risen at o'dark thirty and gotten three children off to school, fed dogs, cats, let out said animals, and a list of other things.  This does include reading.  From 7-7:30a.m. I sit and read and watch the news.  My interest level in the news will determine how much I read.  I may also check emails and Facebook.   I try to have laundry going during all of this as well.  So, I am fairly productive between 6a.m. and 8:45 a.m.  If I am working in the morning, then I am working in the morning.  It is when I get home that my gears grind to a swift halt.  This is where my frustration comes in.

I want to lie down for a few minutes before the bus comes, but I know that if I do that, any hope of doing anything else might as well get thrown out the window.  I just have to keep pushing myself and keep going through my list of things to get done.  If I have to go back out anywhere, well Hello Crabby!  Once I get home I want to stay there.  Please?

Believe me, even if I do not lie down to grab a wink or two, that does not mean that I get stuff done.  I am good, but Wonder Woman I sadly am not.  It would be cool to be able to fit into the outfit though.  The kids' stuff comes first and everything else is after that.  As it should be.

But another hour or two to finish up a few things would really come in handy.  Did you get my letter Father Time?  I guess he will respond whenever he wants-he has all the time in the world.