My Emily and my Jessica.

These pics aren't very good. They were taken with my cell phone.

This is Emily (left).We were at Powell Gardens on this day, I believe the first Saturday of September 2008.

Emily is 11 and time does fly. She's had a lot of difficulties in this growing up process. Emily has something called "Asperger's Syndrome" which used to be referred to as "high functioning autism". It's still an Autism spectrum dissorder, but I think they figure if they change the name of it it sounds a little less intimidating. Still, the implications are the same. She is very intelligent, but has a lot of severe social impairments, as in her ability to empathize and read social cues. She has a very hard time making or keeping friends because of her social immaturity. She learns things in a completely different way than most people. She is great at route learning, but not good with conceptual thinking. Her processing speed is also slow, but her sense of humor is top notch. lol She's quite the little entertainer, and maybe that will be her calling. She's also GREAT at spelling. She took 2nd place in the district spelling bee last year. YAY EMY!

To the right is Jessica on her 13th bday last year. (Sep. 5). Fortunately, she doesn't have the problems Emily does. Actually, she's the complete opposite. She has a 3.75 gpa, she's on Student Council, in the gifted program, choir, band, does tons of volunteer work in the KC area, and is going to be attending the Jr. National Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C this spring. Yeah, she's a go-getter. If she has one serious fault it's that she expects too much out of herself. Noone should ever think they have to be perfect, but a B on her report card sends her into panic attacks. Personally, I don't get that. I never found grades to be anything of great importance. Jess is really not anything like me. lol Thank God! At this time she wants to be a pediatrician. Emily...wants to be a triangle. lmao!

Need a break...

Even though I'm a little nervous about my trip this weekend, I can't wait to get out of here. I am tired of seeing the same places and people every day. I am tired of missing people who've gone away. I figure I need a little escape.

I would much rather be setting sale for another cruise to somewhere tropical to escape the winter blahs, which I seem to get every year, but New Jersey will have to suffice. I will miss my kiddos over the weekend, but i need a break from them too. All the sibling bickering and arguing and testy little spats get very old very quickly. Like most other adults, I just want peace and QUIET! That's something you don't get with an 11 year old and a 13 year old, both girls. Quiet is simply a thing of the past.

My sister moved to Florida back in January. That was crazy for me, but I think it's a good thing. I'm the type of person who clings to the people around me and I don't ever want them to leave. I suppose you could say I'm co-dependent, but that fact has never bothered me. I feel more secure with the people I care about close to me, and security is hard to come by these days.

Well, here's hoping this weekend's trip is a success and I return ready to conquer every day life. GO ME!

Playlist

Not sure if this embed thing will work, but won't know til I try.

So...if it works. These are just a bunch of songs I enjoy. Just...stuff.

A great Sunday!

We had "band singer Sunday" for the first time at Unity Village Chapel yesterday. Everything was a great success. Myself, Todd Gillette, and Jessica Best each sang a solo and we also had some great congregational singing, led by myself and Jessica. We have very high caliber musicians in our band. There's not a single person either singing or playing that doesn't have a great amount of professional experience and it makes for quite a great music service every week. I rewrote the words to the Isley Brothers "Shout" to fit a more spiritual perspective and I think I got the workout of my life with that one. lol

Mike taped a couple of the songs. We have a new HD Digital cam-corder. It's a fun toy, but bless his heart he's no cameraman. It's kinda sad. GET A TRIPOD! GEEZ! I really don't enjoy random shots of the ceiling. The stucco isn't that interesting. Still, it's better than no recording. I'll post some of the videos he's taken here at a later date, so the world of blog can marvel at my magnificent vocal abilities. lol

Going to NJ this weekend for Mike's grandmother's 80th bday. I'll spend 3 1/2 hours on a plane the size of a thimble. W00t! I think I'll sedate myself before the flight. Sleep is my friend.

Have a great week any and everyone.

Zzzzzzzzzzz....what a wierd letter.

Here I am, rambling away at an unGodly hour of the night. I don't do well with snoring and Mike is...well, snoring, as usual. So...I am awake, as usual, when I would rather be catching some Z's myself.

That's such an odd way to put it... "Catching some z's." How do you really catch z's? Does it require bait and a net, or maybe a fishing rod of some sort, only shaped like the letter Y, so the z's know to follow it? What would you do with the z's when you caught them? Do you clean them and toss them in a pan with some butter and olive oil? Do they taste good fried? What if you just want to keep them for pets? Are they too wild to tame? Z seems like kinda a wild letter, not as wild as X maybe, that one's just uncontrollable, but certainly not as tame as the very domestic 's' or 't'.

These are the ridiculous thoughts that wonder through my head at 3 am when I'm not catching those over ellusive little z's.