Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, everyone!
I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas Eve and are enjoying Christmas Day with family.  I hope your day is as wonderful as it can be and that wherever you are, you're finding yourselves in good health.

We've had our Christmas decimation of gifts under the tree.  We got a wonderful gift yesterday from Mother Nature--it snowed here!  This was our first snow on Christmas Eve that I know about in a long time.  I don't know if it's ever snowed on Christmas Eve in Texas, but it was beautiful!  Of course, today it's all melting off.  I took some pictures of the front walk...there was snow on our front porch and that was a big surprise.  We're on the second floor, so finding snow out there was a shock.  If I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone, I'll post them up here.  Right now, I haven't quite figured out how to sync my phone to the computer to download the pictures.

I'll be around a little later.  The cat just jumped up into my lap and it's conflicting with my laptop.

It takes talent

I took a spinning class with a friend last night at the Y. It was a fun class.  I have to admit that I have a rare talent.  I'm the only person in the class who managed to fall off the spinning bike and run over herself in the process!  It's actually rather funny!


Went to the Y, met K there.  She introduced me to the instructor, who helped me set up the bike.  He set the height and the distance from the handlebars, then told me how to ride it so that I didn't kill my knees.  (you use your heels to push and let your knees just come up.)  He also told me how to hold the handlebars so that I wasn't killing my upper body. Then he told me to hop on and we'd ride.
Okay.  I looked at that bike when I got there and thought to myself, "this is gonna kill me!"  I was ready to try it, so try it I did.


We started out riding, just as a warm up.  He had everyone do stretches, which weren't too bad.  I liked the music he was using for the warm up.  He had us get moving a little faster.  No biggie.  I was getting good and warm.  I thought it wasn't all that bad.  When he called a "saddle up" (where you get out of your seat and stand up), I got a bit of a jolt at first because I tried just jumping up.  BIG mistake as it jarred my ankle.  I had to slow down a little.
Made it through that "saddle up", but couldn't do the up and down thing everyone else was doing, so I sat.  Not a big deal, I hope.


I lost my left stirrup (toe clip?) on the pedal and spent about 5 minutes trying to get back into it before I had success.  We did a sprint, then slowed down down to get ready for the "hill" section he promised.  O...kay!  Mind you, I was wincing as I was riding...teeny tiny seats are not comfy!


We started on the hill section and did the first "climb". I was okay, thinking, "I'm doing okay!"  That was a mistake!  At that point, I lost my right stirrup and fell out of that toe clip!  My left foot was still on the pedal, in the clip, and was going full out "zoom!!"  I fell off the right pedal, my left food was behind me under the pedal and I hit the handlebars.  OUCH!  I know I grunted and looked like I was in pain.  K asked me if I was okay and I said, "yes".  Got back up and sat (painfully!) in the seat for the rest of the class.   
We did the cool down, then ended class.  We wiped our bikes down and rolled them to the back of the room.  I felt like hobbling as I walked out of the room with K.  It wasn't a bad thing.   I am highly appreciative of her because she DID get me off my hiney and moving!   She said she'll work out with me again, so I have a new buddy.  YAY!!
"

Today, my legs are extremely sore.  I'll get over it.  I'm still laughing about falling off the bike and "running over myself".  I've told numerous people today.  Makes for a fun tale. 

Sunday before Christmas

It's been a while since I've been in to my blog.  Time flies when you're busy!

Things have been hectic at work.  We *finally* hired a new guy in to replace one who gave notice and left just before Thanksgiving.  We also got the one who had been out due to a motorcycle accident back and that's a major plus as well.  It doesn't mean that things have been great.  I'm supposed to be training the new guy.  Somehow, it seems like the other people don't have much faith in my training methods as they came over and took him off to throw him on the phones on his very first day.  He came back, so that's a plus!

On the home front, things have been chaotic as well.  We're past the marching season for band, but now we're heading into a concert season.  I found out that Miss A earned herself a place in "Second Band".  She's fourth chair.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  I'm going to *have* to get her a new flute and that's about to drive me bananas because I don't know who is holding the note on the little Jupiter I am buying.  (The company we bought the flute from was bought out and nobody seems to know anything about the note, other than it's a company that handles the rentals.  I wish I knew.  I'm a bit tempted to have them research who took over the notes.  I'm thinking I will, looking at this as I'm writing it.  I need to get that under control because this next year, it's ours 100%.  I don't want to perpetually pay for a flute.

Miss A also has another piece of news...she's got her first boyfriend.  He's another kid from Band.  He plays the trumpet.  He's a nice boy.  The girls all called him "the Teddy Bear" because he gave them all hugs last year at school.
I haven't met him yet, but the hubby took Miss A and T to the movies today.  They're seeing Avatar.  I haven't gone because I don't believe it's age appropriate for the nine year old.



I've had major car issues in the past two months as well.  I had to get the hubby's car repaired (it's here if you want to read about it.)  I just had to put another chunk of money into my own car because I had a flat tire on Thursday and had to buy four new tires.  They were all in bad shape.  The good news?  I'm driving safely again!  Yippee.

I've been cleaning up my apartment today in preparation for Yule/Christmas.  I've not sent out any Christmas cards yet.  I have the box beside the couch, but haven't made the time to write them.  With me training the new guy at work, plus things going on after work almost every day, I've made excuse after excuse not to start them.  I WILL write them out tonight.  I have to!  I want my cards to get to my friends.  My very first card of the year was from Guatemala, from my good friend, Claus.  Thank you!!  You made my day!  

So, on that note, I have to go back and clean some more.  I have too much to do today and not enough time to do it.  

Christmas parade

The band marched in the Christmas parade.  Here is one of the pictures I snagged off the site of the flutes.  My daughter is in this picture...

 

Winter dreaming...

Winter is one of my favorite seasons of the year.  I love the coolness of the air, the crispness I feel on a chilly, frosty morning.  I love seeing my breath as I walk to my car.  I have fun with my daughter, seeing who can catch sight of their breath first.  Unfortunately, those times are few and far between down here in Texas.  It never really gets cold anymore.  I remember a few years ago, when there was ice on Thanksgiving Day.  I remember watching a football game with my husband and seeing one of the Dallas Cowboys fumble the ball and touch it in the "ice bowl".  I miss that type of weather.


We have had a lovely, misty-type of day for the past couple of days.  The band marched in the Christmas parade in this mist.   I went home in the mist yesterday and came to work in it this morning.  It's the perfect kind of weather to enjoy sitting by a fireplace, doing some needlework or reading.     I won't be doing that any time soon!  Ah well.  I can dream, right?

I hear tell on the news that the weather is going to be more of the same this week.  I've heard that there will be a "warm front" that pulls through (NO!!!!) today or tonight. It's *supposed* to get cool again though.  I really would like to see it get COLD and stay that way for a while.  I love cold weather.  I know, I'm odd.  What can I say?  I have friends in Idaho and New Hampshire who are getting snow.  One of my Sales Managers, who lives in NH, said he forgot to bring me my snow when he came down here for a sales meeting.  He was going to take a picture of it just for me!  He'll send it to me when he gets back home.


What I wouldn't give for just a little bit (6 feet!) of snow, something to enjoy for Christmas.  That's a dream, I know.  It's MY dream.   I guess if I want that, I'll have to move elsewhere.  




 

The Allen Eagle Escadrille

I'm a little bit proud of this band.  Here is the Allen Eagle Escadrille, performing at the playoff game between Irving Nimitz and Allen High School.  This was the game from November 14th.  We won this game, 35-0.  It was a great game.  Of course, I live for the halftime show, mainly because I highly respect the director who got 600+ kids together to produce this show.

When all is said and done...

There is something to be said for being a band mom.  I have had the pleasure of meeting my daughter's new friends, of associating more with people I would normally be intimidated by and of experiencing first hand the fun a High School football game can be.

We had a heartbreaking loss last night which ended our football season for the home team.  It was a 35-34 double overtime loss to the Southlake Carroll Dragons.  They just seemed to want the game a little more than we did.  One of our broadcasters said that the team (the Eagles) was like a "wind up toy.  They feed off the emotions of the crowd."  We were loud and raucous last night for sure.  I am working on a diminished voice myself from all the screaming and yelling I did.  

The game started late--it was supposed to have started at 8:00 but in actuality, it started at 9:00.  We didn't get on the field for half time until after 10:00.  We left the stadium after 1:00 am. Got to the school at 2:00 and everyone headed home.  The band was dejected.  The football players, from what I observed, were thoroughly disheartened.  One of the guys was so disappointed, he hunched down on the 30 yard line and hid his face in his hands.  It was a heartbreaking end to a fantastic season.  The only game they lost this year was to the Longview Lobos.  Oh well.  We're going to try again next year!  We will have new players on the team, a new quarterback and we will have a renewed sense of determination.

The band parents in the stadium were there, offering support for our kids.  We ran "potty patrol" (to make sure we didn't have people loitering in the restrooms), we cleaned up after the game and we did what we could to make the experience a good one for our kids.  It was definitely a neat experience.  A lot of our band are Freshmen, so this means another three years for them if they choose to stay in Band.  I can feel bad for the Senior parents who wanted to see their kids get to go to a second State championship, but it wasn't meant to happen this year.  We just move on.


Since we got home so late, we didn't get moving until nearly 11am.  That's a bit late, even for me, but I'm glad I was able to sleep that long.  


I'm proud of the Escadrille and the football team for all the hard work they put in this Fall.  They worked hard.  I know it was a disappointment last night, but it was a team effort.  One man would not have won or lost the game alone.  It was a team.  The team is still there.  It's just time to work hard and prepare for next year.




 

One down

Last night was incredible!  Our football team went out and played their hearts out!  They won the game, 35-0.  It was a lot of fun to be there.  
We pulled into the parking lot and saw literally dozens of cars parked in the lot.  There were tailgate parties going on *everywhere*.  It was one of those "catch your breath" moments.  I know I sound sappy, but I truly enjoy this.  I'm having so much fun being included in this!!

We offloaded the kids and fed them dinner (and ourselves), then had them go back to the busses and get their uniforms on.  Then we volunteers went off to the stadium to see about cleaning the stands (we do that before every game).
After the stands were cleaned up (we mainly just policed for trash since there had been a game prior to ours!), the kids came in and started up into the stands.  Miss A is calling the stands the "nosebleed" stands, but in actuality, I think they should be called 'cardio' stands for the sheer fact that they were steep and there were a LOT of stairs to climb!! 

This is a small gathering of the band---it's the flute section.  You can see Miss A talking to her friends--they were trading glasses.  She wasn't aware that I took the picture!  

We're in the white uniform for the duration of our playoffs.  It's going to be an incredible thing for the next several weeks.  Hopefully they're going to continue on past next weekend.  We play a very tough team. We're playing at Cowboys' Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  Should be lots of fun.  I've heard from my husband that he's going to go to the game.  The more support for the team, the better.  

 

 

 At the end of our halftime show, our band spelled out "Eagles".  It's really impressive to see, especially given the size of the band.  

You can tell how high up we were from these pictures...

Playoff Bound

Our football team is heading to the playoffs.   Tonight is our first playoff game.  We'll be playing Irving Nimitz.  I don't know anything about them, but I do know that our kids are ready for this.  It should be quite fun.  I'm going to the game with Miss A.  We're going to be leaving in about an hour or so to go run some errands and head off to the school.  We have to be at the school at 2:30.  The kids will run through a dress rehearsal until 3:15, then we're loading up the busses and heading out to Standridge Stadium in Carrollton.  We offload and have dinner at 4:30, enter the stadium at 5:00-5:30.  Game starts at 6:00.  We'll be there until at least 10:00.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I've been waiting to be a part of something like this for a while.  I'm glad that I'll be able to share it with my daughter!!

She's currently practicing some music.  I'm getting my own private concert.  This is good.  She's playing a Christmas selection.  The band is marching in the annual Holiday parade for our city, so she has to learn this song.  After that, it's concert season.  The school has two concert bands, Concert 1 and Concert 2.  I'm not sure how they are arranged, but she thinks she's done well enough on her tryout to attain Concert 1.  If so, she'll have to drop her Geography class because 8th period will be over at the high school (she's still at the freshman center).  We will see how that works out.  Right now, let's get ourselves through the playoffs.

I'm not excited about the game or anything, but I'm posting the link to the broadcast of our game.  It's at Allen Eagles Radio.   I sure hope I can convince people to tune in and listen.  It's always fun to share things like this.

First Sunday in November

Last night, I went to a Dan promotion dinner.  We just had five people test for first and second Dan, and they've achieved it.  I found the dinner a lot of fun.  We had all the Dans from the school there to celebrate their achievements. 
It was a fun evening.  


This week, in addition to karate, I'll be participating in a Veteran's Day parade with my son's Cub Scout pack.  That will be fun!  This is the first year I've gotten to participate.  I am looking forward to it.  


We have a family campout next weekend, but again, I won't be attending it because of the football game.  The game starts at 6:00 on Saturday.  We'll be out at the stadium where the kids had their UIL competition in early October.  At least this time, it'll be dark, not full sunlight!  

Boo Bowl, continued

So...here's what we looked like last night in the stands:

The stars of this picture are Miss A, her friend J and then I'm in the background.  Makes me happy that I got a picture of the girls when I was there!

"Boo Bowl" and football

Last night was our "Boo Bowl". The kids in the band wore costumes instead of their normal uniforms. It was funny! There were a pair of seniors who were Neo and Trinity from The Matrix, there were duct tape people (I didn't see them), Gumby (check YouTube...it may be something that is unfamiliar to some of you, but it's funny!) There was a Sumo wrestler (a senior), Little Bo Peep and her "lost sheep". (Incidentally, that 'sheep' was shedding his costume everywhere!) Someone came as Russell from "UP". We had Carmen, several Zorro-like people, football players (not sure how they played their instruments with the helmets on!) and of course, several people being Mariachi players. They had serapes and the sombreros. It was fun! There were a whole lot more than I can possibly describe. I can't remember all 600+ kids.

It was funny to see them play Carmen on the field in costume.  Gumby played the trumpet solo in the first movement of Carmen (during the "taco plate", as the kids call it, when they're moving into a specific formation).  The drumline was dressed up as bananas and Energizer bunnies.  It's amusing as all get-out to see, but it was really fun.  I think last night was more fun than I've had all year. I have fun every game, but seeing all the kids go silly for one night was just perfect!

Speaking of 600+ kids, the Dallas Morning News (the local newspaper), ran an article about the band. It was an incredible article. They also have several nice pictures and a neat video on the band there as well!!  If you get a chance to look at it, please do.  You'll see what we've been doing lately.

Leader of the Den

I'm now officially trained as a Cub Scout Webelos leader!! I had my full day of Den Leader Outdoors training yesterday. It was COLD!! Considering that we've had 90% humidity on top of 75-80 degree days up until Thursday, then a cool front blew in and temps dropped into the upper 60s to low 70s, it was really chilly! The wind blew a lot, which didn't help as we were under a pavilion most of the day. It was warm in the direct sun, but we weren't out there much--only for the campfire/cooking section of our training.

We made foil packets for lunch. It really doesn't take that long to do. You only need a square of foil, plus your ingredients (which hopefully have been pre-chopped for you!). Layer your ingredients in whatever way you want. They offered us potatoes, hamburgers, onions, green beans and carrots, plus a "cream of" soup to use. I put potato slices on the bottom, my burger on top of that, then onion, green beans, carrots and finally, the soup. I should add that I also used garlic salt and paprika to flavor it. You wrap your packet up to make a square, then put it on HOT coals. It needs to be turned at least once, but that's it. Very nice meal. Hot and quite tasty!

We talked about campfires yesterday as well. There was much discussion about fire rings. You don't want to create a fire ring...use an existing one as it's less invasive and easier on the environment. They did mention not to pull dead branches off trees. For the kindling, gather only small pieces of twigs and whatnot. You'll probably have a firestarter with you, so you'll use that to start your fires.
In a lot of ways, it's a scary thought that you'll have 9 and 10 year olds around fires, but that's the first step toward being Boy Scouts. They have to know how to build a fire *safely* and how to tend to said fire as Boy Scouts. That's a lot of what I was learning yesterday.
oh
We talked about conservation a little, plus Leave NO Trace. I seriously would like to take my boys up to visit a friend who is a Forester. I believe she could train them much better than anyone else. It's also a pity I can't bring her down here for a Den Meeting. That would be soooo beneficial!! Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do that yet...and taking 7 boys across state lines and into another country requires a thousand pieces of paper in the form of permits that I don't want to even THINK about!

I'm now going to jump into planning my next Den Meeting. I'll have to push it back a week since I'm going to another meeting this coming Wednesday. Ah, the fun of planning. They emphasized making plans and sticking with them, so I'll have to work on that. I've not been a planner. Now I have to start. Yikes.

Marching band

For the better part of the last few months, the high school marching band has been playing Bizet's Carmen, which they are performing at a UIL (Urban Interscholastic League) competition. They had a competition on September 26th, one yesterday and one next week. They'll be finished with UIL after next week.

Busy Saturday

Today has been fun-filled and different. I didn't have a football game last night, so that was a bit of a nice change for a Friday night. We all sat around the house together, doing very little last night.

Today, Miss A had a marching competition in Plano to attend. I had to take her to the school, to get warmed up at 11:00. They didn't leave for the competition until noon, but they had to get in a last minute rehearsal. This is in anticipation of the actual UIL competition *next* weekend.

After dropping her off, I had to come back home and get hubby and the little boy. We went to the BTK picnic today. That was fun too. It was chilly...the temperature hovered in the mid to upper 50s all day. We had a pavilion at the park that was near the pond and caught the breeze blowing off that. It was a tad bit nippy!! They had games for the kids, but most of them spent time at the playground, so they kept themselves occupied. Mine spent time laying down in the gravel on the playground, which I STILL don't understand! At one point, I saw him laying down, turned away from the gentleman I was talking to and yelled my son's name. He heard me, got up and came over to me. Why he was down, I don't think I'll ever know.

Toward the end of the picnic, they had a drawing for some prizes. I was hoping to get my number drawn for that, but instead, I wound up with a "BOB". "BOB", for those who aren't familiar with martial arts, is a punching dummy that is a life-like torso on a stand. Getting him home in a tiny Saturn Ion was a bit of a challenge, but we made it. The stand rode in the backseat with Mr. A, the "head" of BOB was in the trunk. Mrs. MG was kind enough to offer us the use of her truck to bring him home. My friend, Ms. S, also offered the use of her minivan. It was funny.

This evening, we met up with a friend from F*Bk, who happens to have been in school with me back in Washington State. We're talking over 30 years ago!! It was a fun evening meeting up with him, his wife and daughter. We spent a bit of time getting to know each other, sharing our life stories We'll probably get together again at some point. It was fun.

Now we're home, waiting for time to go pick up Miss A at school. She won't be back until 10:30, so I've got a bit of time. I think I'm going to go read my new Funakoshi book that my friend, Ms. S, gave me. Her daughter got the prize with the book and picture frame and didn't want the book as they already had it. It is now in my possession. Thank you, Ms. S!

On a happy note too, I talked with my instructor about my situation and why I've not been in classes. I told him that I had an agenda--to get healthier and improve myself. He told me "get to class. You have no excuse not to go." Well, with that being said, I'm going to be in class on Tuesday!

A picture speaks more than I care to hear

I'm overweight. I don't deny it. I have some serious issues with my weight and have been battling it for over forty years. It's enough to make me feel like crawling under a rock at times.

Tonight was no different. We had our first Cub Scout Pack meeting of the year tonight. This was our "meet the boys and parents" meeting where we discussed what we are doing this year. At the end of the meeting, we had a presentation of a slide show from last year of our Pack doings. This is a fun thing to watch as our Historian puts it together with music.

It was fun (although noisy as 80 some odd boys can really SCREAM when they want to!) and amusing to watch it. I enjoyed it right up until I saw a few shots I was included in. Then I got disgusted. If I think I looked bad in the pictures, there's no telling what other people think of how I look. I just cringed when I saw them. It wasn't fun for me. I don't like seeing how big I am. In a lot of ways, it's just reinforcing what I heard last week..that I've ballooned up and have gained back my weight I lost in 2006-2007.

Definitely not what I wanted to see tonight. Of course, I'm pretty hard on myself anyway, but those pictures tonight made me feel like I need to make an enormous change.

Marching Band

In Texas, football is a *big* thing. In our city, it is no different. In the past month, my daughter has attended 4 football games. Here are some pictures of the band from game 1 (Longview, TX); game 2 against Monterrey, Mexico; and game 3 against Rockwall (HOMECOMING). Two of these games were rain delayed (Monterrey and Rockwall), but we managed to win them just the same.



This is the first game against the Longview Lobos. The band was coming into the stadium.

More of the band. They were paused in front of the stands.

Miss A is the one in the glasses, looking up.

Miss A and her friend, Jo. Jo is an upperclassman who "adopted" her for the year. It's a tradition. The Freshmen (also known as "fish") are adopted by the the upperclassmen.

Miss A, her friend JJ and I don't remember the names of the other two. This was taken at the Rockwall game.

I've attended two out of four games as a volunteer. I'm enjoying it because I get to help the kids, which is good, plus I'm getting to hear our band and see the football games. It's a win-win situation. Last night was a game against Euless-Trinity, which we won. I spent a LOT of time in the stands after my duties as a stand cleaner (we clean the stands so those white uniforms won't be too horribly dirty!) and "Potty patrol". (we hold the jackets for the girls when they need to go in to freshen up.)

I'm really excited about this. It has been a great start to the year. The only downside is that my co-workers are being snippy to me about leaving early for games, so I may not be able to attend any more of the away games.

Busy schedule

This should be a busy year for us. I'm now volunteering to chaperone at the football games, plus I have Cub Scouts. The Cub Scouts is really only 2 times a month--the Den Meeting and the bigger PACK meeting. I haven't figured out where to fit in my martial arts either.

I am sure that I'm a bit on the overwhelmed side at the amount of things the boys have to do to earn the various badges and whatnot they have to work on. I definitely have to plan more than I did last year. I hope the boys will assume enough responsibility to do their own things without me standing over them. We also have to go camping many times this year. That's a chore for the husband. I'm doing band with our daughter, HE gets to go out in "the wild" with the boy.

With the classes Miss A is taking, too, we have many projects going at once. She had to make ratatouille for her French class to work on learning the culture aspect of things. Then there's a "questionable topic" she has to work on for English. She has the topic of the War in Iraq. NOT my idea of a fun research project, but I didn't like her other topics (thankfully one was already taken...*I* had issues with it!). There's Biology, Health, Geography...you name it. This girl has a full plate. I'm exhausted thinking about it and it's not MY schedule (although I'm doing my bit to help her, so that does take a little time in and of itself.)

Mr. A just has the normal fourth grade things to work on--the reading, writing, etc. I've currently got him sitting down, reading his Webelos book to familiarize himself with the requirements for Citizen. Once he finishes that, he's going out with the hubby to go watch football at a local restaurant with his friends.

High school football

If you follow me on Twitter (yes, I tweet, therefore, I'm a "twit"!), you know that I've gone totally nuts about High School Football. I don't know why. I don't really care for professional American football that much. I prefer to ignore it. Given the choice of watching it or something else, I'll choose something else, every time!
I never went to a single game when *I* was in high school. I certainly wasn't involved in Band or anything like that. However...now that my daughter is involved, I find myself being very drawn to the game. It could be because the announcers of the game make it interesting. It could be because I like the band. Since my daughter is in band, that might be why!! I have gone totally crazy with the football thing.

The school sent out a notifier about the activities for Homecoming week and one of the things was to "Paint the town blue" and to have a "blue-out" on Friday night. Painting the town blue involved getting your car windows painted by the school's cheerleaders. I went for that because I'm excited to be a part of this. They're trying to make a second run at the State Championship, so it's worth supporting.

On Wednesday, I went to Lowes and got the cheerleaders to paint my car windows blue. Well, specifically, they are red, white and blue. It matches my car nicely. :) Tomorrow is the actual game and I'm planning on wearing my band polo shirt to work and then to the game tomorrow night. I've volunteered to help at the game and will be reporting to the band hall at 5:30 to get my orders. That's pretty exciting too!! This town is big on supporting their football team and their school, so I'm sure everyone there will be wearing blue. The band will be in blue and white. It's going to be very fun to be there. This will be my first football game (ever) and I'm looking forward to it. I guess I'm just a big kid at heart!!

Views from the inside of my mind...

*Note: this was posted originally at a different blog site about 3 years ago. I'm actually glad I saved it and have decided to re-post it because it ties in with where my mind is at present.**

Okay, so you’ll get really tired of this picture before it’s all said and done! LOL!
I am proud of this picture. I looked at the one picture of me and my friend, Ram, and I realize that I was *very* happy! I looked so happy and relaxed in that picture, despite being at work! LOL! That was a good thing. I didn’t win anything. No big deal. I didn’t expect to win anything. I just had fun because I got to step outside of my usual box. I thought past “safe”. I liked it. I truly enjoyed myself. Part of it was because I was happy being different. I didn’t dress the conventional part. I let my personality out for a short time. I let the mask down.
How often can we say that we’ve stepped out of the box? How many different masks do you wear? This is something that I have been thinking about since Saturday (in fact, it was the subject of my WW meeting). You are a mom/daughter/sister/cousin/best friend/lover/teacher/mentor/Betty Crocker/June Cleaver/Wonder Woman/Super Girl/Ms. Marvel/Spiderman/Superman/whatever. You’re a mother/friend/wife/lover. You’re an artist/teacher/leader/follower/employer/employee. All the masks we wear contribute to who we are or at least the public facade we present. Do we know who we really are? We tell ourselves we do, but when do you let the masks down?
When do you allow yourself to be the *real* you? When do you admit that you’re not better than anyone else, that you CAN say NO to someone? When do you say “ENOUGH!” and start treating yourself better?

Who do you think you are?

Me? I’m still finding out.