Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Opposites

Tonite as we were having dinner, I asked Callen what all they did in school today. Sometimes she says 'nothing'; other times she talks about playing outside or building things, etc. Tonite she said, 'we played opposites'. So, I proceeded to ask her what was the opposite of about 12 or so different things and she knew almost all of them. I was really surprised.

A month or so ago I bought some placemats for our table in the kitchen. One has the planets, one has A, B, Cs, another has numbers, etc. Callen knows the names of several of the planets by heart now. I am continually amazed that she remembers them! I have trouble remembering which one is which. . .

I think kids are smarter these days than when I was Callen's age, or else my memory of that period in my life is just not as good as it used to be : ).

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch


Saturday we met a friend and her two kids at a farm where they have a hayride to a pumpkin patch, mazes (corn and hay), petting zoo, hay mountain, and more! We all had fun. It was a glorious fall day.
This is Callen wanting to climb the fence to get to the hay mountain. We eventually convinced her to go around rather than over the fence.




Kira and Logan pose for a pix on a big bale of hay. Callen didn't care to sit on it (fear of heights maybe?). Kira and Logan made a great pix though!





Here's Callen and Bo atop the hay mountain. Yes, he had to go up with her and then ride down with her. There was a major bounce halfway down!









Callen and Logan had a lot of fun in the cotton bounce. They enjoyed throwing the cotton more than bouncing on it!












Monday, October 13, 2008

12 Years on the 12th

Bo and I were married 12 years ago Sunday. It is hard to believe it has been that long in some ways, but in others it feels like it should be much longer. For instance, we've lived in 4 different locales since we were married. When first married we lived in Fuquay-Varina, NC, then Boston, Baltimore, and now Birmingham. I wonder what the next 'B' city will be . . .

We've also lost many family members in the past 12 years. Bo's father died, along with two of Bo's old friends. Then both my parents died in 2000. We've both lost aunts and uncles during this time period too. It seems we've lost a lot of family and friends during such a short time period!

Luckily, we've also had a great joy during this time -- the birth of our daughter. She continues to bring us more joy than we ever imagined possible.

I hope the next 12 years will bring us many more joys and fewer sad times. . .

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Lesson Learned

Don't check your luggage if you think you might want to try to get on an earlier flight! According to the Delta people you can't switch! I have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta and there was another connection flight that had available seats. However, the Delta reps said the only possible way for me to even have a chance to get on the earlier flight was to go back out to the luggage check area (so go outside of security!) and beg them to get it off, then go back through security, etc. She said the chances that they would do it would be very slim at best and given how long it takes to get through security she basically said there was no way I'd make the earlier flight.

What happened to airlines calling their luggage people and asking them to pull a bag?? I've had this happen numerous times in the past. I even told her I didn't care if my luggage went on the later plane. Nope - you have to travel with your luggage she said. I should have said -- well, what happens when the airline loses my bag and it doesn't travel with me? But, of course I didn't think about that at the time.

Shelia (stuck in Atlanta for another hour or so at least - ugh!)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I Should Be Asleep . . .

but I'm not. I tried going to sleep and really thought I would, but as is often the case when my mind is 'running' I couldn't sleep. So, I got up and tried to do a few things semi constructive at least.

I've been wanting to post for the past few days but work has been so busy that I've barely had time to spend a few minutes with Bo and Callen before it is time to put Callen to bed. It always seems like the fall semester is frenetic feeling. I don't know why I hoped this one would be any different.

I had a grant project ending this week, 2 reports due for 2 other grant projects, an R&R (revise and resubmit for the non-academics reading this) on a manuscript that had to be done by 9/30 which required way more work than I had anticipated I'd have to do, a review of a proposal due for NSF, my normal teaching and service obligations, an abundance of research project related meetings, and making plans to go to my 25 year high school reunion.

Yes, you read that correctly - it has been 25 years since I graduated from high school. Oh, how old I feel just typing those numbers! I remember when Bo and I had just been married a very short while he was scheduled to go to his 25 year HS reunion. I remember thinking - wow, can he really have been out of high school that long? In case you haven't deduced it already, he is slightly more than a decade older than me. Yes, I was just a child when we married : ).

So, this weekend I'll see old friends and classmates that I haven't seen in at least 5 years since our 20 year reunion. I wonder how many people I'll not recognize and how many won't recognize me. I received my new passport in the mail today; my picture was not what I had hoped. Time has not been as gentle to me as I would have hoped. I actually liked my prior passport photo. I wonder how time will have affected my former classmates. . .

Maybe next week I can post some pix from the reunion. Hmmm, maybe more realistic would be to say maybe I can actually get the 200 plus pix off the digital camera that have been on there for way too long. Then, maybe I could post some updated pix of Callen and of the reunion. Wish me luck!

Here's to old friends, aging, and time . . .