short, sweet and to the point

The weekend is over.
The girls didn't make it to the championship rounds in their DII state soccer tournament.
We enjoyed our time away, got some sun and ate too much restaurant food.
Once we came home, hubby made some awesome ribs for his birthday dinner. I made him a hummingbird cake. It was all very yummy.
Memorial Day was nice and relaxing.

We are now back at work and ready for the remainder of our week.

Short, sweet and to the point..........maybe I will be more inspired tomorrow morning.

weekend....and a long one to boot!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to everyone....see you back here on Tuesday!

here comes the rain again....and let's hope that's all it is

Wow. The states to the west of us are getting hit hard by tornadoes and some very lethal spring weather. I was watching CNN yesterday and heard the names of several Oklahoma counties I recognize from my hubby's travels. One of the sheriffs he knows was then on CNN. I gave him a ring at the office and he turned on the TV to watch and get an idea of the storm's path because one of his guys is out there on a site visit. All is well with his coworker, but the path of death and destruction is heart wrenching.

We are in for rain here today and I hope that is all we get. I'm not going to like being away from my kiddoes when the bad weather rolls in. It is the last day of school for the youngest as he is not going tomorrow.

Time for Mother Nature to put away the heavy artillery.

a bit of this and a bit of that

The textbooks are turned in and a variety of used and abused notebooks and other supplies fill my trash can. The boy racked up FOUR awards yesterday, three academic awards and one citizenship award. Whoot!! He was quite proud and we are quite proud of him.

Uneventful day at work yesterday except for the fact that my second screen arrived. I now have a two screen workstation!  Very exciting stuff. I feel very official and important.

The week is going to fly by as we get ready to leave for the soccer championships in Nashville. Unfortunately, the weather is preventing the girls from practicing. Both scrimmages were rained out yesterday as we had some heavy weather, it even hailed!

Not sure what Mother Nature has in store for us today, but some drying out might be nice.

I'm reading the next Flavia de Luce novel and so far it is off to a good start.

school is out and I'm overwhelmed

The girls finish the school year today as they are exempt from finals and do not have to attend the rest of the week. The boy will go, basically just to hang out, until Thursday. Why did this school year go by so fast? How is it that I'm going to have a senior and a junior the next time the bell rings?

Wow.

It will be a different kind of summer now that I'm working. No vacation for us this year. No trips to visit. No beach. Hubby and the oldest will make two college visits, quick, short and to the point. Things are changing. Things are speeding up and I find myself doing a lot of juggling, coping and making do.  I need to find a new balance, a new normal, a new way....all three have been very elusive.

But for now, I need to get ready to go to work and wish my darling daughters a good final day of their sophomore and junior years. I need to tell the young man how proud I am of his academic efforts as I can't make his awards ceremony today, but will be thinking of him.

Yep, I need to find a new way through all of this. For some reason it is feeling very overwhelming today.

willy nilly

I will be running to and fro willy nilly over the next 48 hours as I try and get everything done that is on the schedule. But, first, some happy news.

When I got to work yesterday I was one happy camper by the time I finished reading my emails. Getting two 'atta girls' brought a smile to my face and a bounce to my step.  A column I put together on public outreach is going into the national journal as a sidebar piece to the executive director's essay. Woot!  I also received a note from the head of the education department that my html coding was outstanding on the web pages I'm building for a new online course the Foundation is creating. Woot!

What a joy it is to go to work and receive praise for your efforts.

My 'to do list' is quite long and I need to get started....so Happy Thursday to everyone and see you on Monday! I'm taking tomorrow off!!

making a speech

I gave a speech last night during the public portion of the town hearing on the budget. Haven't done that for a while. Like, never!

But, I felt I had something to say, something to add to the conversation, so I got home from work and wrote out my comments. Hubby helped me with the first draft and after two more edits, I was ready to go.  The chambers were crowded, although a few empty seats remained.  The town administrator went through a 65 slide power point presentation on the budget for the next fiscal year.

Like many communities, expenses keep rising, but the revenue has fallen flat. Our town depends heavily on property tax revenue and our current tax rate was set in 2002. The tax rate has been adjusted down a few times so that the town doesn't benefit from the county property reappraisals. With most businesses, the biggest share of the budget is consumed by personnel costs. Police and Fire are the biggest chunk of that. 

I spoke in favor of increasing the property tax rate. Only one person there spoke against it. The rest of the 10 speakers also saw the need to step up and solve this issue now.

I felt I delivered my comments well, but the biggest compliment was when one of the 'old' town gentleman said during his turn at the podium that 'the young lady in the pink sweater' stole his thunder and said exactly what he wanted to say.  Afterwards, even the mayor told me that I had done a wonderful job and that for Mr. Stamps to make that comment was the highest praise indeed.

So, now, I can try and watch for myself on the local access TV channel.  I wonder how I looked on camera? My knees were shaking a bit, but hubby said I appeared rock solid.

Oh, and the other comment, from the lone female on the board, "you need to run for office."  I'm still laughing about that one!!