And Summer Rolls In....

I have been absent from my computer for several days. Can you tell? Where should I start? Probably nowhere since excuses drive me crazy!!!
But.........just so you know........ (Tony says that not all people in this world are like me....need to know type people!)

I have already learned many a lesson this summer(creating a schedule for a Middle School doesn't count).........I know, it isn't officially summer, but who cares?!?
#1..If you are patient, you will get a good deal at garage sales. I got a great table for my office, and some chairs to go with it. Now if I can just paint them with the look I want.
#2..Grown men having sentimental moments (Tony's son graduated in Keller on the 7th) in a small car for almost 3 hours is some really goooood quiet time! I can keep my mouth shut! I was sooo proud! I am NOT afraid of the quiet.........well, not all the time.
#3..There are lots of "camps" in Abilene. We are taking part in 4 of them. Yep 4 in the month of June. Makaley is away at Leadership camp at ACU. IF you want it to rain in Abilene, send Makaley to an overnight camp. One where she can't take her cell phone and call me at the first clap of thunder or streak of lightening. She fears thunderstorms.....don't know why. When she was just a little thing, she and her daddy would sit out on the swing and watch storms come in from the west. So........she is in dorm, on the hill, with a wonderful counselor (one of my previous students), a really good friend, and no way for me to reassure her during the storm last night or the one predicted tonight.
She also attended a 4-H sewing camp (2 days). She made 3 really neat items (don't want to give away the Christmas gift list right here). She put in a zipper on the item they donated to the Noah project. She got home at noon on Tuesday, and was sick by that evening. Thought is was the roto virus, but who knows.
#4..One can become a statistic for the state of Texas with very little effort. Kauy became sick on Wed. evening, and one week later became a statistic. He was the proud owner of salmonella poisoning. AND NO........he did not eat tomatoes, lettuce or spinach. Those are considered poison to that 7 year old child. Who knows where or what or when, but we know the results! He was definitely not himself at all for over 7 days. I had to fill out those papers for the center of disease control about the out break. However, he is doing some better. He attended a camp at our local Frontier Texas (a great place to visit). It was a camp to teach the art of movie making. The camp was two days of western fun which co insides with the display about movie making and my favorite: Lonesome Dove. Can't beat that movie. Today parents were treated to the premier of the movie (we all got a DVD of the movie and T-shirt). The show started with a picture of each child (mug shots). There was some script reading, some filming and then John Wayne says to his friend (an old movie shot) "Go check the jail". All of the campers were in costume filing into the jail there at Frontier Texas. Hello? Where was Kauy and his lines about the cows?.......CUT! No, I mean don't cut the thought here, I mean..........they cut his lines. So everyone but my son is seen reading or saying a line (the sound was not too good). Oh well, he loved it anyway. He wasn't concerned because he "learned a lot about making a movie. You have to be quiet and wait a lot!" He goes to camp next week at ACU where he will be a wild man I am sure.
#5.. Prince Caspian is great. I did like Chronicles of Narnia better, but there were some good deep thoughts in this one too.
#6..After 7 1/2 years, Father's Day doesn't get any easier. This Father's Day was one of the hardest in a few years. I will admit that I didn't even go get cards until Sunday. I just couldn't. All these kids picking out cards for their daddy and mine are picking them out for "You're like a dad". No, I am not feeling the pity here; I am just feeling the hurt, frustration and things that we will not experience. I found myself many, many, many times this weekend with the "I wonder what's". What would our lives be like now? How would Kelly look? What kind of relationship would he and Kauy have? Would Makaley have him wrapped around her finger, or would he stand up better than I do and actually succeed in getting her to do the tasks I ask? What would our relationship be like? Would we be able to find "us time" with kids? I don't know why all this came to me this weekend. But, it did. I found myself listening to the CD from Lonesome Dove..and then going to Frontier Texas to read about the making of the movie. By total accident they wrote Kauy's name tag..."Cauy" which is the actual way his daddy would have spelled it. It took me by surprise.
#7..After 7 1/2 years I am living the Hannah Montana theme song "Life's What You Make IT". Backed up by the High School Musical song "We're All In This Together".
I could not have made it through the 2 sick children and 4 camps IF I kept a down cast attitude, and didn't allow others to get into the game with me. People who have a game plan but don't tell me the rules drive me crazy....everyone knows my plans, most of the time....even if they change at the last moment. Like these past 2 weeks.
As Hank Williams sings......."That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!"
#8....My co-counselor told me the other day: "If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans". Well, he is laughing because the only thing I planned that has worked out is that Makaley is in camp today. I planned to go to Austin, was planning to go to Odessa this week, planning to clean my house. The only reason I am writing this post right now is because my mom, sister, and I were planning to go to the movies today. Hmmmmmmmm not there yet. One is waiting on a call, and one has a sleepy 7 year old. So.....I will not tell you the rest of my plans. You will just have to read about my adventures.