Happy Valentine's Day!

Since I couldn�t upload my entry *AGAIN* yesterday because Dland was down, here is my entry from Wednesday. Thursday�s entry is at the end of this one.

For some reason, our internet access is down again, but this time it's the new ISP and it's been down since at least 2:30. Ack! This doesn't doesn't bode well.

Joey came home in a delightful mood and I made a deal with her--do her homework and piano practice right quick and I'd take her to the new park for an hour before we went shopping and to meet Ed. She was amazingly effective with her time and had it all done in about a half hour. It was magic. I wish it could be like that every day!

Joey and I ate a yummy dinner at Baja Fresh and then met Ed at Pier One. I needed to get something for Stacey for Valentine's Day and Joey wanted Ed to take her somewhere to get something for me so it was a good swap. I also went to the fabric store to get some fabric for putting liquid emulsion on. I'm very excited about this project! It will be a fun collage of different media. I can't wait to start putting it all together. I just hope that the pictures I took on Saturday will work for that project. I still need to get some more watercolor paper. I think my base paper will be some very heavy hot press watercolor paper so that I have a smooth texture for my base picture and all the nubbly textures will stand out better that way. I hope the photo is sharp enough to blow up to 16x20. Since I used 100 speed Ilford Delta film, the grain should be fine enough to go up to that size if the focusing was tight. I just can't wait to get started!!

Stacey and Jaimie and I are meeting for lunch tomorrow at Sushi World. Mmmm. Good stuff. It will be a lovely girls' Valentine's lunch. I'm quite looking forward to it.

I have this sinus thing going on now, thanks to those damn hazelnut pollen grains flying all around right now. My right suborbital sinus is rather impacted right now and was making my face and teeth hurt on that side. It doesn't feel infected yet but if I don't get it cleared out soon, it will be.

I'm going to bed early tonight. Really. I am. I'm going to go right quick so I can get up in the morning and stay up all day since I have things to do in the morning before lunch like laundry and wrapping Valentine's gifts. And don't let me forget to pick up a potted plant for Grandma tomorrow. She'll love that. Last year we brought her a miniature azalea in bloom and some chocolate-dipped strawberries. Ooh, that sounds good. I think I'll see if I can get more of those berries tomorrow--she loved them last year. And with her memory loss, she won't even remember that we gave them to her last year.

I'm watching the ski jumping (I know, I was going to boycott but there's nothing else on, dammit) and it is bringing to mind the recurring dream I have of jumping really high in the sky and then being all panicked when I have to land. I'm always afraid I'll break my ankle or hurt my knees or something awful. I hate that dream!

Thursday:

Ok, hold on to your hats, Folks. I got up at 7am and I STAYED UP! This is the first time in ages that I haven�t got back to bed after getting Joey off to school. It felt pretty good. I was asleep by about 11:35. It was sunny and gorgeous today and it has been all week. I think this is the reason I�ve been feeling better. Whether it�s psychological or physiological, I don�t care. I just like it. I�m going to try to keep my momentum going even though there is rain predicted for tomorrow and through the weekend.

I went in to volunteer in Joey�s classroom tonight and did 3 reading groups. I had what I�m sure was the lowest group, a middle group and one of the highest groups. It was amazing to see the difference between the lowest and the highest readers. It must be difficult to have such a wide range of ability in one classroom. How do the low-end readers do their homework and their workbook packets? I just can�t imagine�I�d be worried that they�d get kind of left in the dust.

Thankfully, Joey is one of the best readers in the class. For a time, it was worrisome, though, because she seemed to always be switching her letters and having real trouble sounding words out, but in a period of just a few months, she leapt up about 4 levels in reading. It was just a huge breakthrough for her and a relief for us. She had it in her mind, though, that she wasn�t a very good reader because her best friend Baylee is reading at about a 5th grade level where Joey is reading at about a 3rd or 4th grade level. What I had to remind her, though, was that they are both in 2nd grade and she is a very good reader. Once she figured that out, her confidence bloomed and she reads even more and better now.

When I went into the cafeteria to say goodbye to Joey, one of her classmates came up to me and asked me if I would talk to Brandon and make him stop saying "bad things." She said he was telling her that he has 5 wieners. I told him to stop talking like that and I will talk to Joey�s teacher on the phone tomorrow morning to let her know what he said and what I said. Joey and another girl told me that he says stuff like that, and worse, all the time and then she sang a song of his to the tune of Yankee Doodle where wieners figure prominently as well. What is wrong with this kid? The girls at school told his older sister what he was saying and she said "I have to listen to him talk like that all the time at home so if he talks like that at school, it�s your problem." Great! I just don�t get it. What is wrong with that family that they let this little boy mouth off like that? Criminy!

Stacey, Jaimie and I met for lunch at Sushi World and it was delicious and lovely. I was so happy to be having one of my favorite meals with my two favorite friends. What a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. After lunch, Stacey and I talked until 2:20! She gave me a tin of Elvis chocolates and a card for Valentine�s Day.

Joey and I brought a potted tea rose and platter of chocolate dipped strawberries to Grandma for Valentine�s Day. She was delighted to see us and even had a card all ready for Joey. It had a cute picture of a cat on the front and after Joey read the sentiment inside, she smiled and said to Grandma "I�m going to keep this forever." It was really sweet.

We had roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli for dinner tonight. I bought the chicken pre-roasted. That is my favorite grocery store innovation�rotisserie chickens. The ones at Costco are really great, too, but the Safeway here in town does a good job and it�s a lot closer and easier to get in and out of.

Ed and Joey gave me a DVD player for Valentine�s Day. I know it�s a family gift, but I�ve been jonesin� for one for awhile now. They also gave me the new No Doubt CD (great CD, by the way) and a DVD of "O Brother, Where Art Thou," one of my favorite movies ever, and 6 red roses. What a lovely gift! I gave Ed a Hawaiian shirt and a T-shirt to go under it along with some woodworking stuff. What a slacker I am!

Joey loved her new Groovy Girl, fancy rhinestone headband, Pink CD (I like that, too!), candy, Beanie Baby and dial watch. I think her most exciting thing was the new watch. She was totally stoked about that. That and the chocolate-dipped strawberries we had for our own family. Mmm�they were mighty fine, too.

All in all, it has been a great day, five-wiener-boy notwithstanding. Hope your Valentine�s Day was equally lovely.

--L