Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Free - Free At Last!!!

Yesterday I was informed that I was being laid off at work and that my actual last day at the newspaper will be on January 4th - my 11th year anniversary of working at the newspaper.

I know God has answered my prayer and I am so peaceful about this next chapter in my life - I cannot wait to see what is going to happen next! The way it has worked out is that Friday will actually be my last day of work because I had scheduled two weeks of vacation and that has to be honored because I scheduled it before the termination notice was given to me!

The next few days I am trying to get "my ducks in a row" as my mother-in-law would have said so I will be prepared for everything that I have to take care of - unemployment, Social Security (I am eligible), finding out about medical coverage and I am sure the list will get longer! It is an adventure and I am ready for it to begin!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Additional Thanks

Two major problems were solved at work - found an email list that I was missing and the designer from the newsroom volunteered to put the wedding announcements "on the page" each week. That last one is a major help!!!! I haven't had a good day like this in a long time!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Thankfulness

I've been getting buried under stress, frustration, failure, grief and anger lately and I need to turn it around.

Here is the beginning of my Thankful Monday list:
1. My "Quiet Time" early in the morning with my Bible, Steams In the Desert and the Power of a Praying Parent books.

2. Daughters - four of them - and they love and care for each other and bless me with wonderful sons-in-law and more family.

3. My Mom - 89 yrs old - and still imparting wisdom - and telling me to drive safely everytime I leave her home and sings "Day is Done" for us at dusk.

4. My car - it is old and the hood needs to be repainted - but it runs faithfully and it is all paid for!

5. The home I live in that is just right for me and is affordable.

6. Losing 10 lbs recently.

7. Christmas as coming and so are some of my grandchildren!

8. My laptop

9. Cell phones

10. The people that I work with everyday that are helpful, considerate, and always ready to laugh.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Sisterhood of Sisters!!!

About Sisters... "She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink..." ~Barbara Alpert

I have a sister like this - and I hope my daughters are sisters to each other like this.

I found the quote on Kari & Katja's blog - two really good sisters

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

"Weirdness Follows Wherever I Go"

Tonight I worked until 6:30 p.m. I stopped to pick up some groceries on my way home and when I got home I had to make two trips to get everything in. The first time I went up to my front door I thought I heard some loud voices and thought someone was having a party nearby - though I thought that was strange on a Wednesday night. When I came back out to get the rest I again thought I heard someone yelling but then it stopped and I finished and came inside.

I realized my garbage needed to be taken out - I had cleaned the refrigeratior out of some unusable food articles - so I got that together and came out my front door again - and again I heard loud voices - but they stopped and I finished my chores. When I was coming back along my walkway I heard the voice again and stopped to wait and listen - and then I really heard someone banging on the walls of a garage across the alley from where we park our cars and now yelling very clearly, "Help! Help!" I hurried over to the garage and yelled that I was getting help. I had a real strong sense of caution about this so I ran inside got my phone and called 911 - gave them my address and then they asked if I stilled lived in Unit E - they have me on record!!!!! - anyway they said they would send the police. While I was waiting it sounded as though the person was getting really agitated - I could hear glass breaking inside like he was thrashing about! One of my neighbors is a young man who works as a bouncer at a club - so I went to see if he was home and he was - he came out and went walking over but didn't feel led to get closer - the police were around but not finding their way to where we are so I went to try and intercept them - waving my arms - and all I got for that was to have him shine the big light in my face! The guy was still yelling and the policeman got the door open and released the man after asking several questions before opening the door.

The bouncer and I didn't wait around to talk to him - I think he had been drinking. While the bouncer and I walked back to our own places he commented saying, "That was really weird." I replied that yes it was but if you hang around with me long enough you'll find out that weird follows me wherever I go!!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

In Memory of Alex

This is from a greeting card that I bought for my husband -

Yours is the smile
I look forward to each morning,
and yours is the voice
I love to hear throughout the day.
Yours is the touch
that can reach my heart and soul,
and it is your understanding
that so often calms
my doubts and fears. . .
Yours are the plans
and dreams
that blend with mine,
becoming ours,
and yours is the love
that means the world to me.
My life would be so different
if you weren't a part of it,
and that is why no one
has more to celebrate today
than I do. . .
my husband, my soul mate,
my very best friend.

In memory of Alex
May 8, 1942 - October 22, 2004

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Girl in the Photo

I sit at my daughter’s dining room table, on the far side, against the wall with the sunlight coming through the window. Everyone has left the table and as I sit there I am looking at the different framed photos that she has sitting on the pine sideboard and I realize that I am looking at a black and white photo of myself staring back at me.

I know exactly when the photo was taken and I feel as though I can remember exactly what I was thinking. It is a photo of me taken in our backyard before we left for my graduation ceremony from 8th grade. I am wearing a white dress with cap sleeves and a wide skirt with crinolines (I think two) underneath and my mother had taken me to get my hair done at Robert Manning’s Hair Salon (where she always went). I remember I didn’t like the way the woman did my hair but couldn’t speak up to tell her to stop. I am a tall skinny girl and not feeling very pretty because I didn’t like my hair.

The girl in the photo looks back at me and I sit there, frozen for a moment in time, wishing this could be a movie with some kind of time travel and I could fly into the photo and whisper words of wisdom in her ear.

And so I sit there a few more moments knowing the decisions I made and thankful for the blessings that came from the good ones and thankful for God’s protection through all the wrong ones. And there were a lot of wrong ones.

“This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope
The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:21-23

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Five Things That Will Never Get Better On Their Own

Over the years and from many hard earned lessons I have learned that there are some things that will never get better on their own:

1. Plumbing
2. Teeth
3. Cars
4. Problems with the IRS
5. Unruly Children

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Monday, July 27, 2009

A Summer Evening

Today was Monday - at work - all day. They announced furloughs for all of us of five days - to be taken anyway we choose or can arrange with our manager. We knew it was coming. Two more people were offered "packages" so they will be leaving. Three left last week.

So what did I do tonight? I had a coupon for a book I wanted to buy, "The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society," at Barnes and Noble. I drove to the area where the store is - it is called Market Common - a really pretty "Truman Show" type place - with fountains and rocking chairs and places for kids to play and really good stores like William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Banana Republic and more. I walked around at Barnes and then went and got a personal pizza and a soda and went back to to Barnes and sat at one of the tables they have in front of the store and ate and listened to the sounds of a summer evening - feeling the wonderful balmy breezes - and just really enjoying myself. I thought I would read while I ate but instead I just ended up "people watching." The sky was beginning to turn into a sunset and the clouds were beautiful in the distance and I was happy.

I love this quote by Henry James, "Summer afternoon - summer afternoon...the two most beautiful words in the English language." I could add "a summer evening- a summer evening" to the quote.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

What Have I Been Doing?

This has been a kind of crazy summer so far - thought I would try and list it:

1. Family came to visit - not enough time because I had to leave and go to DC
2. Went to DC for Centurion weekend - great time of learning and getting to know other participants
3. Went back to DC daughter's home for a week of being with 3 yr. old grandson and 3 month old twin grandsons and youngest daughter (who also lives in DC) - loved being with them and cried like a baby when I had to drive away
4. Drove home by myself - took 4 hrs to go from DC to Richmond - bumper to bumper traffic and then when that cleared there was a tractor trailer/passenger/van/plus two cars accident
5. Started back to work on Monday - 3 more people are no longer working at the newspaper.
6. Major project due on Friday has been postponed until next Friday - God is in control!!!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Bathing Suit Debacle

I'm overweight - I know it - today June 1st I have started again - seriously - no - don't roll your eyes - I AM SERIOUS!!!!

anyway. . .

I went to the store on Saturday and while my sister was buying sheets I decided to try on bathing suits. The one I have been wearing is seven years old - I know this because I bought it to go to my oldest daughter's bridal shower in Houston. It is awful - but I really know what it is like to shop for a bathing suit when you look the way I do - but - I thought - foolishly - how bad could it really be????

A friend told me to try a tankini - I even went up a size just to make sure it would fit - and perhaps have the small pleasure of having to go to a smaller size - (cue hysterical laughter) so I picked out a nice chocoate brown outfit - and went in to try it on. Am I the only one that worries about hidden cameras ? I put the suit on - looked in the mirror and what do I see??? A stack of donuts stacked on top of each other with a head and arms --- aughhhhhhh!!!! I got out of the thing and got dressed - my sister called me and asked me where I was - I told her I was in the "fitting" room and I had just finished trying on a bathing suit and was trying to commit suicide with my nail clipper.

I decided to go to the jewelry department immediately - I needed something gold and something that would be my size!!! I told the saleslady I was depressed because I had just been trying on bathing suits and needed something to cheer me up. I talked myself down from buying the $150 gold earrings and then my phone rang - it was my sister looking for me again.

Today I planned out what I would eat - and wrote everything down - the journey begins again...

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Strange Verses

I try to read through the Bible every other year - on the other year I read through the New Testament. The only way I can do it is by using a program called Daily Walk (for the whole Bible) and Closer Walk (for the New Testament) - helps me get through books like Numbers!

Anyway - in my journey I have come across some "funny" verses - and I started writing them down in the back of my Bible - like verses about whistling:

Isaiah 5:26 He will lift up a standard to the distant nation, and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

Isaiah 7:18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Zechariah 10:8 I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before.

and then there are verses about clapping:

Lamentations 2:15 All who pass along the way clap their hands in derision at you;...

Ezekiel 6:11 Thus says the Lord God, "Clap your hand, stamp your foot...

Ezekiel 25:6 For thus says the Lord God, "Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet...

Ezekiel 21:17 I will also clap My hands together ...

And then I always get a picture of a pitcher on a baseball field with this one:

Isaia 22:17 Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly and roll you tightly like a ball, to be cast into a vast country...

Just thought I would share some stuff that I find unusual.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Reason to Quit

These are my two newest twin grandsons, Aldan and Theron, "visiting" their "Pop-Pop" at Arlington. Why am I posting this? Because it really hurts to look at this and to know that they will never know Alex. Alex was a smoker - Pall Mall unfiltered - he tried to stop many times but always went back to smoking. He had a quad bypass and carotid artery surgery - but he had emphysema and only quit smoking because they wouldn't operate unless he did.

He has missed or will miss seeing his daughter's new homes, meeting some of his grandchildren, knowing the sucesses of a daughter sawing a piece of wood for her home, a wonderful meal prepared by a daughter, a graduation, walking his daughter down the aisle for her wedding, the births, the phone calls, the recitals, the soccer games - I can't list it all.

If you smoke - please stop - please.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Grandchildren!!!



The twins arrived and we are all excited!!! Having trouble getting the photos on here - hope it works!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Twins Are Here!!!

Lauren gave birth naturally to two twin boys tonight!!! Aldan Douglas 8 lbs. 7 oz. 20 1/2" and Theron David 7 lbs. 9 oz. 21"!!!! We are all so happy - Mom and babies are doing great - thank you all for your prayers! God is good and greatly to be praised!!!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Anticipation!!!!

Tomorrow my third daughter enters the hospital to deliver their twins!!! And I am here in Myrtle Beach - I am so excited for them - and I wish now I had made arrangements to be there for their arrival - but - common sense prevailed - and I am flying up on Friday morning to stay with them after the babies and Lauren come home for the following week.

Trying to get everything done at work so I can leave with a clear conscience and be able to focus on the family!!!

Please be praying for a safe and happy delivery!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What Am I Doing?

This week I am getting ready for my weekend in D.C. I'll be driving up on Thursday morning and staying overnight with my pregnant with twins daughter, her husband and my grandson. Then Friday I pick up two other people and we drive to McLean for our Centurion Residency Weekend. There are 98 of us - I'm not sure how many will all be there - but we are there for the weekend to study, hear lectures and discuss all that we've been studying the last three months.

Every month, along with assigned books to read we also have to watch movies and the first group was, Amazing Grace, The Matrix and Inherit the Wind. Very interesting grouping. This month we are to watch Babette's Feast - which is one of my favorite movies. The whole program is unbelieveable and my brain feels as though it were a gigantic rubber band being stretched way - way out- I'm just hoping it doesn't snap back! I could do a whole blog on this program.

Anyway - I am desperately trying to get as much done as I can before the weekend because I am behind and at this point I am just trying to do my best. I've learned a lot these past few months about not wasting time - setting up better study habits - getting my work organized and now I am really looking forward to the next few months.

I'll be driving back on Monday - if my daughter doesn't go into labor and I end up staying on through the week to help!!!

Just a curious bit of information about my work situation - we have six couples that work at the newspaper and they laid off four wives and one husband of five of the couples - one couple gets to stay on. Interesting.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

We Thought It Was Over...

They announced two more people today - on my team! They were offered part-time positions or severance and it was a real shocker who they gave this notice too - the two people that run our front counter - and then they announced they are only going to have the front counter/lobby open from 9 to 3!!! Just when we thought we could breathe!!!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Monday

Today they made the announcements - 20 people laid off - good people - some are friends - some have been there over 15 years. My sister, who works in the finance department, and myself escaped one more time. Truly a bittersweet time. My immediate boss was laid off and the head of our advertising department. I'm going to bed now. My friend who writes the obituaries has come down with pneumonia so I will be writing the obituaries Tuesday and Wednesday - this is the perfect week to be doing this.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Will this be the Friday they tell us???

We are all still waiting to hear what is going to happen. They announced a few weeks ago the layoff of 58 people - all of our production people - that they were going to have the newspaper printed at another newspaper (Charleston???) and they would make the final announcement about that - we still haven't heard. Apparently it would be cheaper to have the newspaper printed somewhere else than to have the capital outlay for a new press and machinery as ours is getting to the point it needs to be replaced. -

Then they were suppose to announce the layoffs of an additional 20+ people - we have gone past being scared and worried and now we're just flat out angry and want to get it over with! the whole scene is mentally and physically exhausting.

I have to go to D.C. on March 12th for my Centurion seminar weekend and am trying to get all of my course work up to date - and my daughter, Lauren, is expecting The Twins on April 4th - and another big project, the church Easter pages, are looming on my horizon - and I just know it is all going to converge on one date and I will end up just going in circles!!!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Nothing!!!!

There was no announcement made today - I wish they would just get it over with - sorry for the "drama."

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Space Invaders

I didn't know how to write the Space Invaders noise that they would make as they approached the target - "Dun Dun Dun Dun" - getting faster as they got closer - I know my daughters are rolling their eyes at the mention of Space Invaders - one of my favorite video games - anyway - I digress.

"They" say tomorrow is the day for the announcement and "they" said 23 managers were going to be laid off - which is pretty funny because I think there are only about 14 managers. I can hear the Space Invader music getting louder. I brazenly took yesterday off - stayed home and worked on my Centurion class work. I have six weeks vacation due and will lose it all if I get laid off - so I thought I might as well take one day off!

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment - what drama!!!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day!!!

My youngest daughter, April, just called and sang one of my old nursery school songs to me and I loved it - I had really forgotten it until she sang it today. This is the song sung to the tune of "It's a Small Small World":


"There's a big red heart down inside of me

There's a big red heart no one else can see

and it's filled to the brim

with the love from within

and I give it now to you"

Don't know how to do a video but even if I did I wouldn't do one of me singing - trust me on that one - Happy Valentine's Day to everyone - go sing the song to someone you love and figure out the hand motions too!!!! Thank you April!!!

Friday, February 13, 2009

What???

The word is out - there is not going to be an announcement of layoffs today - "they" say it will be next week and "they" say it is going to be 23 or 28 people laid off depending on who you are listening too.

Good news - I brought the brownies in and another co-worker brought in homemade Red Velvet Cake - and Bojangles just came by and dropped off boxes and boxes of heart shaped biscuits (they are right down the road from our office) - so we are eating our way into oblivion!

More good news - suppose to be 70 tomorrow and Sunday and I am taking my books and going to the beach!!! I'll go for a really good walk and then sit in my beach chair and do some reading!!! Time to regroup!!!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Tick Tock

So the word is out that there are going to be more layoffs announced on Friday.

I remember the days when I looked forward to going to work on Monday morning - it could have been because I had been a stay at home Mom and then worked as a nursery school teacher for eight years and was finally working in a place with adult toilets and not having to wipe 18 noses or put on 36 snow boots - perhaps - but I liked being a part of the newspaper - loved the adrenalin of deadlines - seeing a "new" product produced every morning - walking back through the press area and wondering if the "smell of the ink" was getting in my blood - smile - and now there is tomorrow and Friday to get through - the sadness of seeing something that I have been proud of slowly disintegrating before my eyes.

Perhaps I need to bake something chocolate for Friday - brownies with chocolate icing - we need some good things happening on Friday!!! No matter what!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The Economy and My Life

This week they announced that they are outsourcing the printing of the newspaper and laying off 58 people in the press and production department of our newspaper where I work. They have stopped the matching 401k and all pensions are frozen with more layoffs coming up - but - because of a nifty thing called the *WARN* Act they now have to give us 60 days notice instead of two weeks before laying anyone else off. All of our artists have been laid off except for two full time and two part time artists and the artwork and design of the our newspaper ads is all outsourced to the Phillipines.

This is a quote that I keep on my refrigerator from my Streams in the Desert book - November 27th reading:

"Face it out to the end,
Cast away every shadow of hope on the human side
as an absolute hindrance to the Divine,
heap up all the difficulties together recklessly,
and pile as many more on as you can find;
you cannot get beyond the blessed climax of impossibility.
Let faith swing out to Him.
He is the God of the impossible."

I refuse to lose my sense of adventure in the twists and turns that my life takes - and what the next chapter is going to bring - God really is in control. I have been reading a really great book called, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day - How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars" by Mark Batterson. It is the perfect book for me for this time!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Walking the Talk

Today I had a half day at work because I worked the Bridal Show last Sunday. Left work and when I got home I changed and decided to go for a walk on the beach.

It was 3 p.m. by the time I got there (I only live a block and a half from the beach so it wasn't the driving!) - it was great - blue skies - clouds going across the sky - the sun was shining off and on through the clouds - it was chilly but I was layered up - you could see forever in either direction and the ocean was producing a fair amount of waves. I walked 20 mins. in one direction very briskly and then turned and headed back the other way - I always have such a sense of peacefulness when I can watch and listen to the waves.

I am hoping to get up and go for another walk tomorrow morning - my trainer is sick so she might not be able to come.

I don't want to talk about what I did for dinner - went to Steak & Shake with my Mom and sister - I really have to walk alot tomorrow! You don't want to know.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Exercise and other things

Monday night Karen came for my workout - killer - as always. I am so thankful she makes me work so hard. Tonight I promised myself that as soon as I got home - 7:30 pm - that I would change into work out clothes and do one of my exercise tapes - went upstairs to change and turned the TV on to watch while I changed - and started watching the crazy U-Haul chase in LA - finally turned it off at 8 pm - went downstairs and did the 30 min. tape - Success!!! Accomplishment!!! Now if I can just do it the next three days Karen will be so proud of me and so will I!!! I'm putting it out here so that I can report whether I do it or not.

Procrastination - it is what seeps into your life and takes over and stops accomplishment from being part of your life. It steals so much from you - especially self-respect - why can't you stop making those wrong choices - okay maybe they're not wrong - but they're not helping you accomplish your goals - and I am all about goals this year. I make lists only to have them mock me - I set alarm clocks - timers - I am an intelligent human being who wants to change and tonight was a baby step for me - and now here is the next one - I'm going to shut this down and go to bed at 11 p.m. - no matter about the list - I've done two things on it - exercised - oh three - ate dinner - and now go to bed at 11!!! If I could open up my front door and throw Procrastination out into the street I would!!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Full Weekend!

Friday night I went out to dinner with my Mom and my sister - and when we got to the restuarant my brother and his wife were there and they seated us next to each other! I had really good salad and fish and chips - in fact we all did except for my sister-in-law.

Saturday my niece came over - she is my personal trainer - and we worked out for an hour. I have to say that this is one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I have not been exercising and it appeared that I was only going to do it sporadically at best - and then Karen came to mind and I called her - she comes to my house twice a week - the holidays messed the schedule up a bit but we are back on track now - there is no escaping her - she is knocking at my door - the decision has been made and I am going to exercise. She has me working out with 5 lb. weights - for now - crunches - standing push ups - stair climbs - she really explains things to me and makes sure that I am doing them right - every time. My goal this week is to exercise for 20 mins a day between now and her next visit on Saturday! and write down what I am eating.

Saturday night I went out to dinner with Kik, Ken and his family - Olive Garden - ohh the breadsticks! I did eat a salad.

Sunday I went to church - came home at 10:45 - changed - got back in my car and drove to the Mariott Grande Dunes to work a Bridal Show handing out my brochures and brides's magazine for my newspaper to all the brides and their moms - because I write the weddings and engagements. Had to work that show from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. - left there - went home - changed my shoes and drove to my Mom's house so we could all go to the Long Bay Symphony at 4 p.m. because we have season tickets - just writing this is exhausting! The program was excellent and the last thing they played was Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky - and the music was so powerful and wonderful - the whole orchestra seemed to enjoy it - you could just sense that wonderful magic when everything comes together and the performance really becomes perfection! Everyone gave them a standing ovation and cheered and clapped.

I am reading a wonderful book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The story and people are really great - it is about the British island, Guernsey, and how it was occupied by the Nazis. You want to laugh and cry when you read it - though I did lend it to my next door neighbor and she returned it after awhile and said she didn't care for it because it was written in the form of letters - which I find really great - maybe because I'm being allowed to read other people's very interesting mail! I can't wait to see how it ends - but then I don't want it to end. Two other books have been recommended to me, The Space Between Us by Thrity Unger and Snowflower and the Secret Fan. Has anyone read them?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Catching Up

I haven't been "sharing" a lot lately because I didn't know where to start. So I will just try to start where I am.

Thanksgiving weekend I was really spending time putting together an application for the Centurion Program that is part of Prison Fellowship Ministries - you can read about it here: http://www.breakpoint.org/generic.asp?ID=2748

I had to wait until December 19th to hear whether I was accepted and I was - I am very excited about it - and overwhelmed by putting myself in a "learning environment." But I have just begun and am really enthusiastic about it. There is a lot of reading, writing, analyzing - even watching and writing about movies - check out the book list and movie list! Babette's Feast - one of my favorite movies is on the list!

Christmas was great - though very disorganized for me - and I am really planning on changing all that - this is the year to clean out - organize - and especially the "chaos room" that is suppose to be the guest room.

Last Thursday I drove up to DC - where Lauren, Caed and I then drove on up to PA - stayed overnight - and then next morning Heather, Lauren and I left for Bird-in-Hand, Pa. to stay at the Amish View Hotel for a scrapbooking weekend! Before we left Heather had to go to the ER to get three stitches in her hand because when she was packing up her scrapbooking supplies she sliced her hand open on an x-Acto knife - the drama and excitement never ends in our family - Lauren - who is pregnant with twins had breathing problems and we had to get a humidifier for the room. The three of us had such a good time - this was my first time scrapbooking and I actually did six pages of a memory book about my husband. We really had fun and it was just relaxing not to have any real responsibilities for a few days.

When we left the hotel on Sunday it was really snowing and that was fun to experience - and leave behind! - Sunday night Jonathan, Lauren, Caed and myself drove back to DC and then Monday I drove back to Myrtle Beach - going in the opposite direction of all the inauguration traffic - the drive was peaceful and a time for quiet reflection as I headed back home.