Finally

It's done. Jon closed on the house this afternoon!! He's moving in over this next week.

Oh and also I am getting a piano (for free!!)! It's coming home this week!

Oh and there's Thanksgiving which means stuffing, dessert, which makes me happy!

I am having serious issues sorting the degrees of excited I am about these things.

Precious

I was at the studio doing my normal teaching routine. After one lesson, my student (a girl we'll call K) asked me this:

K: "Is the guitar teacher guy your boyfriend?"

Me: (laughing) "No he's not, just a co-worker. Besides, he's too young for me."

K: "He's not [your boyfriend]?"

Me: "Nope. My boyfriend doesn't work here. He's a lawyer."

K: "A lawyer?!"

Me: "Yup."

K: "That's BORING!!"

Me: giggling beyond control.... if she only knew.

Little Secret

I have something to share- I dread my birthday. Yes, it's true. The dread I feel has nothing to do with age, nope- I mean age is a number and when it comes down to it I will be young at heart as long as I still breathe on this planet.

I dread my birthday because I never know what'll happen on the day in question. As I am estranged from my parents I don't get any talks about what we're going to do on that day, or how we'll have a family gathering to celebrate on or around my birthday- nada. It feels as if no one has any reason to want to celebrate my entry into this world. So, I get myself all in a 'mood' about my bday trying to set myself up for disappointment.

And every birthday since the estrangement has been great. So really, I should get OVER IT!

Case in point, yesterday I recieved dozens of FB messages wishing me happy birthday. As little as it sounds, I was touched. No one really has to take the seconds/minutes out of their life to do that and that's why I appreciate it so much. My massage therapist gave me a free massage to start off my bday, Jon's sister took me out to lunch, my roomie made muffins and cupcakes, and to top it all off Jon arranged for a surprise bday party at a sushi restaurant in town! My 28th year started off fabulous and I cannot express how much I appreciate my friends who in little and big ways made me feel I am someone special.

And now you see... I really should get over my pre-bday funk.

Changing Tone

I realize that my blog is chaulk full of not so happy or house buying entries. D-pressing!! It doesn't help that I don't have a working camera (my cell phone camera doesn't count) and thus, have missed some amazing fall foilage to take pics of and post. Believe me, I've been in mourning for weeks about this!

So to break things up I'll post some pictures of Louie. The first one taken right after I got him, the second taken in September (the most uptodate one I currently have).

What a cute fuzz ball!

Still as cute as ever- just bigger and more fluff!

I know I'm bias here, but, DANG I have a cute dog!! ;-)

Happy Friday tout le monde (everyone)!!!

I Usually Don't Do This Kind of Thing...But...

"Please help my friend Lynne by sending little Noah a card! Diana Harrison Biorkman has a 5 year old Noah. He is in the last stages of a 2 1/2 year battle with neuroblastoma cancer. The family is celebrating Christmas next week. Noah's request was to see how many Christmas cards he can receive. Please send a card to :...... Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountain View Circle.. South Lyon, MI 48178. Let's see how many cards he gets!"

A friend of my boss passed along this message to me and my fellow co-workers about a little boy she knew. As far as I know it's legit and there is a school in the Tulsa that will be sending cards. So, I'm copying it here and if you want to do something please do, if not, please spread the word if you are comfortable with that kind of thing. Thanks so much!

What Do You Do?

Life's been a bit distracting lately and, of course, I was going to blog all about it.... then all came to a screeching halt in my head. All it takes is life really handing you a doozy to make you gain some serious perspective on your measely 'distractions'.

I will back up and explain. As I was doing my usual perusual of blog and Facebook updates this morning I saw one of my friends post a picture of her father. I haven't seen her father in 10 years as they live in France [I stayed with the family in high school]. The picture was of her father flying and he looked exactly the same way I remembered him and that being so, I posted a comment on her photo.

About 10 minutes later I recieved a FB message from my friend. She told me that her father had passed away, two weeks ago, of a heart attack and that she and her family were having a hard time. I literally felt a Mack Truck hit me on the inside. I wrote back express my condolences of course, said what I could think of that would be comforting- felt like a complete looser for missing the status messages (no worries I didn't say that to her).

I don't think those words were enough. Though obviously those words were better than nothing. I wish there was more I could do, could say... I would love nothing more than to hop on a plane right now, go to Paris, and give her and her family a hug- cost be damned. Unfortunatly I don't have the cash to spare at the moment (one of those 'distractions' I spoke of earlier) and I have no clue what to do so far away. I am very unfamiliar with French customs when it comes to the loss of a loved one- I'm very familiar with American ones though, cards, flowers...food.

So... what do I do? Or is there anything I can do?

Ahhhhh

Computer is finally up and running... my connection with the world has been reestablished.... all is right in the universe.