Where do I begin?

Will just informed me that we have not posted in two weeks and that it is my fault. That figures.
I really don't know where to start so this will be a "for your information" post. I suppose that I should start at the beginning...
All of September was pretty much filled up for me with Cranfest. Well, actually it started for me long before that, but I deal with at least a small amount of the fest each and every month.so it kind of builds gradually. It's a good thing I love it, otherwise it could be a real pain.
The fest was the last full weekend of September and was great! Things went so very smoothly this year. We all just worked together to get everything done. The worst problem we had was "lost people". The crowds were just so large this year with the military tribute that people kept losing their kids and parents. I spent lots of time walking through the crowd looking for people.
Jessalyn's birthday was the week before Cranfest so she had two cakes on Tuesday. One for her class and one for her Crantastic Singers practise. Then the week after fest she had our family birthday dinner which she shared with her Grampy for the first time. That was special for all of us.
Will's parents were here for the fest which was special for me since this festival is a major portion of my life and I'm always anxious when it comes to seeing people's reactions.

A couple of weeks ago they had "Homecoming" at the High school. Jacob helped his class design the float and then walked in the parade as "Darth Vader" (a very skinny Darth Vader). You should have heard the little kids. You would see Jacob (complete with mask and cape) walking back aways and hear the kids murmuring and then yelling "Darth Vader, it's Darth Vader coming". It was a hoot for all of us, but I know Jake enjoyed it the most.
Speaking of Jacob, I went to his first parent/teacher conference and this is the first year in 5 that he has passing grades in all of his classes (well, except one, but that is due to missing work that he is making up). I almost stood there and cried when the teachers were telling me about my son being a great kid and working really hard. What a change! I just love his new teacher and how hard she works with him. He is in a class that he does most of his work at his own pace on a computer. He has a learning challenge that is hard for him to deal with. A type of attention disorder that makes his brain work faster than the rest of his body can keep up with. He learns best when he is multi-tasking. It causes his brain to slow down and let his body catch up. His new teacher puts him on the computer with headphones and music and he just goes to town. When he has to hand write something, we now have a recorder for him to record it "just saying it" and then he can use that to type out his report. Handwriting up until now has been misery for him because he is still writing the first two words and his brain is already on the third sentence. Lots of adjustments still being made, but it seems we are on the right track and the best part is "no medication". Thank you Lord!

Jessalyn is doing very well this year too. She is in a harder class which is different for her. She has not really been challenged before in school, so is working to adjust to harder assignments. She also is part of the safety patrol and is planning on taking the safety patrol trip to Washington DC. Gee, I guess they might need a chaperon. Oh shoot, what a bother. Of course with my love of history Washington is one of my first and foremost fun places to visit.

We had an "Appreciation Dinner/Bonfire" for my parents the other night here at the house. They have retired, sort of, from the ministry. Although, it looks like they are busier now than they ever have been before. Dad even preaches at the churches in Texas when they go there for the winter months. The dinner was a surprise for them and I think went very well. Everyone seemed to have a good time. It was really warm all day, but as soon as the sun went down it got pretty chilly. Great bonfire weather.

Tonight I have a final wrap up Cranfest meeting that will probably last 5 or more hours and then we are pretty much done with 2007's fest and are on to 2008.

My 25th class reunion is on Nov 1 & 2 in Florida, but I will not be there. I really wanted to be, but work is busy. There are family obligations and I have meetings with the Wisconsin Tourism Board and Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureaus those same days. Prior commitments and all that junk. I'm hoping they will send me copies of pictures of everyone and what they are doing.

It doesn't seem like I should be this old. Think about it. By the time you graduate you are sure that it took you 30 years to get through school. The birthday that you really "want" to get to is your 21rst. After that you don't pay much attention. It's even easy to forget how old you are because they never ask you your age after that, only your birth date. Will and I have actually had to sit down and count out my age because I'm so used to going by my birth date and not my age. Now here I sit only 5 years younger than my mother was when I married Will. There is something just not right with this scenario. Aren't we supposed to stop getting older when we hit 25? Maybe even stop at 30? How in the heck did I hit 43? An even better question is how does my body know that I am old when my brain had no clue? Things are falling apart and I don't ever remember seeing a warranty.
Why don't your parents ever warn you about the weird things that happen as you get older? Is it some sick way at getting revenge on you for all of the trouble you caused? Do they not tell you, because they don't want to scare you? I mean weird things happen.

Take for instance the friend who bought Rog**n hair restoring shampoo for her hubby. He used it in the shower. No problem, except that now he has no hair on his head and his shoulders and back are covered! Coincidence?
What about the stray hairs that show up in very strange places? No one warned us! Think of all these men walking around with hair in their ears? No warning!

What about the sags in places that you didn't even know were places?

Think about these people that get tattoo's in places and 20 years down the road the tattoos have slid into unrecognizable piles of wrinkles in strange places. Where do the people that have these tattoos on their lower backs think they are going to end up when age and gravity take hold?

After you have children you can get back to your original weight, but it's never in the same place.

When do you stop being the one that weird stuff is happening to and start being the one to keep secrets from your children on what will happen to them?

Well, I have managed to ingress, egress and digress from any and all subjects. I hope you have a blessed day. I am off to work, then home to work, then to Cranfest to work.......do you notice a pattern?

God bless,
dea