Doing My Happy Dance!!!

Well, there are little bits of joy in everyone's life that makes all the hard stuff worth while.

For Me, it is when there is a new book out by my favorite authors. Today, Nick Bantock's new book Windflower came in the mail and I couldn't be happier!!! It is laced with Nick's art along the bottom edge of the story ~~ what a cool bonus to a provocative plot!

Today, I can deal with all the math homework. This is an incentive to get that stuff done quickly so I Can Read!

Gotta Go! More soon...

Hearts For Heros

There is an organization out there that I think really deserves some attention. It is called Hearts for Heroes, and it is run almost single-handedly by a wonderful woman, Linda Weeks. She sends tiny hearts to the troops, with a card reminding the recipient just how much they mean to us here in the States. She has been doing this for almost 2 years now, and most of the money for the project comes out of her pocket. Please go and investigate the site at http://www.palousenet.com/h4h/, or at her other Websites,

www.itsjesterclay.com
www.hearts4heroes.com

If you are a crafter, please consider making some hearts yourself, and see how good it feels to be a part of all this! I have made some myself, and gotten back lovely letters from the servicemen and women thanking me for the gift. It made me smile for days getting those letters!!! The servicemen and women get by on practically nothing over there, and the sentiment that goes into the hearts means more than you might realize for a lonely guy or gal overseas. To date, Linda and River, her co-founder of the project, have sent out over 16,000 hearts and the orders just keep piling up!

What side of the bed did You wake up on today?

Well, this has to get marked down as one of the weirdest and saddest Tuesdays I have had in a long time.

My poor son started high school this morning, and I just feel like I had to throw him to the wolves. He never got his paperwork packet, so we missed orientation, and he was totally lost this morning going to class. I Know he was intimidated there in the masses of milling teens. All I could do was tell him to do his best. I helped him find his first class, and the others were staring at us even then. I hope he gets through it OK. I have been on the verge of crying ever since. He is a special needs kid, and I don't think either one of us was really ready for this... I really wanted his first day to be special!

And my mother has been weepy for the last 2 days, ever since she found out that the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin died. It was her secret dream to one day go to Australia and meet this guy, now that will never happen. She gets really emotional about some things, and this was possibly the worst blow in her life. I know that sounds strange to some people, but that dream has kept her going for a long time now, and suddenly it's gone. She has been acting like it was a family member who passed on. I think she took my nephew's leaving harder than she let on and this just took it over the edge for her. I wish there was something I could do to cheer her up!

To top it all off, I have a test in math today. I have to get my head together, since I cannot fail this class if I want to get my Bachelor's degree. Math is NOT my subject, as I am sure anyone who has ever trudged through my past postings will be able to relate! I really just wish this day was over already!!!!

I sincerely hope that the rest of you started your back to school in better fashion. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Jeffery

Today we sent my nephew on his tour with the Marines overseas. It was a heart-wrenching morning, and he will remain in all of our prayers until he comes home in April...