stream of consciousness

high of sixty today in mid-may. brrrrr.
funny how a high of sixty two months ago would send me to find my flip flops and tank tops. now it just makes me want to find a sweater, jeans and a pair of socks.
third weekend in a row of extended family gatherings. our kids called it "easter round 4." graduation celebration this weekend. next one is in two weeks {a bit of a reprieve} for FIL's surprise 80th birthday party {thank goodness they have dial-up internet and haven't discovered my blog… or know what a blog is… ha!}.

someone quit at our corporate office. it's a good thing because it's freeing me up to do what i've always done for our business, but it does mean extra work to an already pressed marketing director. having to say goodbye to blogging and blogstalking with any kind of regularity. heavy sigh. i love my OLF.
kids are home from college. at least for awhile. bamagirl begins nursing school in a week, and will be gone the rest of the summer. she'll finish in time to begin rush, which is a huge deal at the university of alabama. last year 1,700 girls went through.

boy wonder is working at the summer camp he worked at last summer. he'll be with 7 and 8-year olds again, which is right up his alley. he has so much fun tickling their vivid imaginations and comes home with the best stories. so many of his close friends work with him, too, making it not really a "job." the pay is awful, but the experience is worth it. and it frees him up in the afternoon to play golf and wiffle ball.

the third annual wiffle ball banquet is in two weeks. they've got a derby theme this year so i guess i'll have to get started on crafting a new hat. can't be the hostest with the mostest with a nekkid head!
i wish i had a computer in the shower. i write amazing blog posts in the shower.

still processing all the destruction in alabama {and mississippi, georgia, tennessee and virginia, too} and wondering how they fell out of the national spotlight in a matter of days because of the royal wedding, the killing of bin laden and the rest of life taking center stage. how a city like tuscaloosa can be classified an E1 disaster… only the third of its kind in the US {the others being katrina and 9-11} be literally forgotten in days. perhaps it's a testimony to how folks just pick up sticks {literally} and help their neighbors and don't sit around and whine about how much their lives suck. the FEMA folks said they've never seen anything like it… after one week, tuscaloosa looked like katrina did after six months. i'd chalk that up to southern guts, but new orleans is in the south, too.

i feel pretty safe just chalking it up to God. he's the ruler and master in this whole thing and it's awesome to see the stories of hope and redemption rising up from the rubble.

i'm planning on going myself next week. bamagirl has orientation on wednesday, then needs to come home for the banquet and the {shhhhh} surprise birthday party. so i'll drive her down, find a place to volunteer while she's in school, and then we'll come back. it'll be a quick mini-mini-mission trip, but i'm glad to be able to do my part to help.

so that's what's on my mind. a jumble of things, but it's okay. i'm used to it.
the photos are from bamagirl's debutante ball… it didn't feel right to blog about such an event in light of the tragedy in the southeast, but it was fun, and we did enjoy introducing our daughter to knoxville. not like they didn't know her already. it was a great evening to share with our family, too. {the first of the five get-togethers in a month!}