Month: January 2015

Tow.

Donald Skyped me the day before yesterday. (Otherwise known as qian tian in Chinese. I’m learning that Chinese has these beautiful words for today +/- three days which leads me to ask Vince for the word for the “day before the day before yesterday”.)  Skype works terribly on my Android phone and Donald is trying valiantly to switch me back over to an iPhone so we can FaceTime , even offering a gently used hand-me-down one.  But I’m loathe to change over because we have 10,000 cheap off-brand charge cables for Android phones and no chargers for an iPhone.   I would have to go buy 10,000 chargers because I want them in all the usual places I inhabit – next to the bed, next to work, in the car, in the bathroom, next to the front door, in my purse.  That seems too complicated to me.

Anyways, Donald skyped me from the road in Tahoe.  So lovely he thought of me on his little vacation to some arts/movie/celebrity festival that only people without dependents and who can own nice things without the threat of smeared peanut butter on them can go to.  Anyways, it turns out he spun his car out from the road (even with chains on) and was waiting patiently for the tow truck to come and he was trying to kill some time.

Skype was cutting in and out, so we finally did switch to FaceTime on Edda’s hand-me-down iPad (from Donald, of course) and set it up on the dining room table at an empty table setting and Donald joined us for dinner.

Passenger Rena Lee, .., You have only 30 Seconds Left to Board the Plane

I picked Mom up at the Nashville International Airport and drove to our hotel at Franklin, TN.  We arrived at a diner place at Franklin downtown called Puckett’s Grocery.  Only to find out that the whole restaurant had two seatings at new year’s eve, 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM.  But, it was completely sold out and reserved. Too bad.

On the way to our Franklin, TN hotel from the airport.  Mom told me she fell deep sleep on a waiting chair in front of the podium.  Until, the PA announced repeatly “Passenger Rena Lee, Passenger Rena Lee, you have only 30 seconds left to board the plane”.  She almost missed the whole thing.

Pretty funny I guess.  I clicked the check-in icon right before “24 hours – delta” and got a Southwest A32 for boarding.  But she became the last one to get on.

NYE.

Vince’s bedroom is room is done.  It was a lot of work.  But it looks fantastic!

Since Jeremy had to empty Vince’s room, he managed to convince Vince to give up lots of old toys (hooray!)  But Vince did want to keep all his old Legos (boo!).  Jeremy spent some time sorting through the Legos to weed out some of the non-lego toys in the bin.

Edda is enjoying her hand-me-down iPad.  Thanks Donald.  There is a bit more snot on it now than when you had it.

Dropped Mom off at National Airport today and we shared an oyster po’ boy at Legal Seafoods which was fabulous.

And finally, Vince is hosting a sleepover to celebrate the new year.  I spy four cans of silly string in the house. The boys promise promise me that they will clean it up tomorrow morning.  I’m not so sure this cleaning will happen.  Vince provisioned the house with Mountain Dew and cheese puff things.  The adults in the house are going to celebrate by going to bed early.

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Do I recap 2014?  It was good.  What are my resolutions for 2015?  I don’t have any goals.  I like showing up and seeing what happens – it’s almost always surprising and interesting (in both good and bad ways).  Oh, I forgot.  I do have goals for 2105.  #1. Get enough sleep.  #2.  Be nice.  (#2 is easier to do when you do #1).  So boring, I know, but it pleases me and makes my life a lot easier.

I read the book Wonder this year.  You should read it too, especially if you love a special needs child. Here are Mr. Browne’s precepts: (and at the end, there are some precepts from the characters in the book)

September
When given the choice between being right or being kind,
choose kind.
–Dr. Wayne W. Dyer


October
Your deeds are your monuments.
–inscription on an Egyptian tomb.


November
Have no friends not equal to yourself.
–Confucius


December
Audentes fortuna iuvat.
Fortune favors the bold.
–Virgil


January
No man is an island, entire of itself.
–John Donne


February
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
–James Thurber


March
Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
–Blaise Pascal


April
What is beautiful is good, and what is good will soon be beautiful.
–Sappho


May
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
At all the times you can,
–John Wesley’s Rule


June
Just follow the day and reach for the sun!
–The Polyphonic Spree
“Light and Day”

It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a good friend.
Charlotte’s Precept

Don’t be friends with jerks.
Henry’s Precept


If you can get through middle school without hurting anyone’s feelings that’s really cool beans.
Summer’s Precept


Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world.
Auggie’s Precept


Don’t try too hard to be cool. It always shows and that’s uncool.
Amos’s Precept

Sometimes it’s good to start over.
Julian’s Precept

John 16:33
“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”