I am thankful for...

faith... family... health... a place to call home... and the vacation time I didn't take this summer that will supplement the severance package I received when I got laid off on Friday.

Yep, after 13 years of PATLive, I find myself free of the telephony business. I was really quite tired of telephone services, so there are some advantages of being forced to find a new line of work. Too bad I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

I know this is a terrible time to be trying to find a job, both being so close to the end of the year and in our current economy. I also know that God is bigger than a bad economy and will provide. I'm not looking for work this week, I'm on vacation. I'd really like to spend next week doing some projects around my house that have been put off for much too long. After that, though, I'll need to start looking. Please pray that the right job will come my way.

Meanwhile, I'm off to keep counting my blessings. Food in the fridge... pets everywhere... friendships...

Election Day

Maybe I'm just weird, but I like actually going to the poll to vote. Thankfully we have a lot of precincts around here, and I try to go during off-hours of the day, so I rarely have to wait more than a few minutes to vote. Yes, I can do it by absentee, or early voting locations, but I like going to my own precinct on election day. For some reason, it feels more patriotic than dropping the ballot in the mail. (More secure, too, since I don't have to worry about misdirected or delayed or lost mail.) I like using the felt markers to color in the bubbles on the ballot. I like feeding it into the machine to be counted. No hanging chads around here! And I get to wear a sticker like this all day long. Whee!

Regardless of your method of choice, I hope you exercise your right and responsibility to vote. You can even get some of these treats if these stores are in your area.

It's Wacky Tacky Day

Intro note: This is spirit week at Alex's school, leading up to homecoming this weekend.

As we were getting ready for school this morning, I asked Alex if he had any preference for what I would serve for breakfast this morning. He asked if we had any eggs left from yesterday. I said we did have some scrambled eggs and some hash browns left from yesterday, but it wasn't enough and I'd think of something to serve with it. He asked if we still had the leftover fish from Sunday that he had really liked. I replied with an affirmative, but said fish for breakfast was a little strange. (it's perfectly normal in some places, though, isn't it? just not what we are used to here in the US)

His response?

"It's Wacky Tacky Day!"

So we had fish, eggs, hash browns, and yogurt for breakfast today. Why not? Maybe we'll try green eggs and ham tomorrow.

VisionWalk success

Thank you to everyone that supported the VisionWalk with us. Thank you cards are almost done and will be mailed out tonight.

We'd had a penny war at work, and Alex spent Friday afternoon sorting, counting, and rolling the change for the VisionWalk. It took almost 3 hours to determine he'd rolled:
$14.88 in pennies
$11.50 in nickels
$9.00 in dimes
$13.75 in quarters

That was really quite tedious. I don't believe we'll be doing another change-collecting fundraiser for a while!

We were blessed with a gorgeous day for the walk. Some may have said it was chilly, but I thought it was great. Even my fellow walkers who believe living in Florida means it should be hot all year round agreed that by the end of the 5K walk, they had warmed right up. We didn't end up getting our t-shirts until we arrived, so we just pulled them over the clothes we were wearing. I really wasn't looking like such a slob when I arrived...

Field Day Fun

What a blast! There were a variety of team games for the kids to play, followed by a pizza party. Parents were serving the food, to make sure kids didn't go crazy and eat it all before the other kids got a chance. I'd made that huge platter of cookies, plus 2 pans of brownies, but they disappeared quickly when attacked by 160 kids.

They also had some Best Buy gift cards donated that were awarded to the top GPA grades for the first 9 weeks. I thought that was cool.

The game I was leading involved listening as your partner gave audible directions to guide you to a goal post. You couldn't see it, since you were blindfolded. The opposing teams can shout out other directions to try to mess you up. It was hilarious both watching the kids, and listening to how the directions were given. Some used the more traditional "Turn to the right." or "Move a few steps to the left." But then I heard several that went more like this: "Take 3 steps forward then make a 38 degree turn to your left."