February leaves, blowing icy winds upon us, as though unwilling to let winter go. The mornings are frost-painted, white breaths upon dawnlit air, nipping pink into children's noses and cheeks and ears. Winter howls it's final cry with a vengence, the Arnold of the weather in reminding us, that it, too, will be back, much to our dread.

We huddle in our warm homes, or don heavy coats and hats and gloves to venture out, and complain to anyone that will listen about the cold, as if it were an affront to us personally that spring hasn't yet sprung. Surely, the trees have budded, and yes, the daffodils and hyacinth have already blossomed into fragrant show and gaudy color. Nature will turn as it has turned since time immemorial, without aid of man, without control of man, without any desire or need for the approval of man.

Spring will come...but winter will have its day.
posted by Steph at 2:21 PM[edit]

Exciting developments in the car arena. We may soon (hopefully) be the owner of a minivan. Keep your fingers crossed!! (And hope the letter isn't all just hype.)

Eva will be playing Saturday in her first real piano competition. I'll be sure to let you all know how that turns out. But you know as well as I that she'll do well. I have a lot of faith in her. I just hope she has as much faith in herself.

Work remains wonderful. Not too long now until I find out how many children I'll have next year, at least initially, and in what room I'll be in. If it's me by myself with six kids a day, I'll probably have the little room, which honestly won't be bad because it's right there next to the office. I can stick my head out the door to call for aid if I need to. If there are more kids than that, there will be two teachers and I'll stay in the room I'm in now. So either way, it will be good. I'm hoping to ask for an intercom to be put into my room if we get the big one. I'm excited about next year!!

So..what's going on with you?
posted by Steph at 6:40 PM[edit]

Seven things I am thankful for today:

1. An unhurried bath.
2. Laughter.
3. My youngest son coming up to me out of the blue to tell me he loves me.
4. A nap.
5. The ability to teach children.
6. The triumphant smile of a child as he finally gets it right.
7. Hot chocolate.
posted by Steph at 11:12 PM[edit]

"Won't turn back 'til we're through,
That's what explorers do.
Who's afraid, who's afraid?
Not me...are you?"

We spent our Saturday exploring. Really all it was was a long drive in a huge circle, but I enjoyed it, and so did the beast. The kids were ambivilent but we really only had one whiner..another slept the entire way, and the other read just about all the way.

Stockbridge, Conyers, Covington, McDonough, then Stockbridge and back home. But it took about two hours. I love driving trips, and this one was no exception. I always feel good, maybe because it's a period of time when only the road competes with me to have the beast's full attention. We talk so much when we're driving.

What a pretty day for it too.
posted by Steph at 10:28 PM[edit]

Don'tcha just hate it??

Henry County, where I work but do not live, seems to suddenly be swarming with police. I don't know why, and honestly, I didn't care.

Until this morning, that is.

I drive to work on the backroads, because there's not normally much traffic; it's faster even though it's a slightly longer route. I wasn't doing anything different than usual, driving along, be-bopping to the Morning X and telling Jimmy on the radio he's an idiot. (As if he could answer me back.) I come around a curve, and there coming towards me is our lovely boys in blue, Henry County's finest. Good ol' boy Bubba and his heavier counterpart Duke. Make sure you buy stock in Duncan Donuts, folks.

So he's coming towards me, and I let off the gas, figuring that if he's coming towards me he probably didn't radar me. Well, I'd be wrong, as I glance into the rearview mirror and see the bastid turning around in a driveway. Crap, crap, crap. Already two minutes late for my normal time to get to work (which is actually fifteen minutes early but I do get paid for it) and our little herky-jerky crew make me another fifteen minutes late. Fifty-two in a thirty-five. Pow.

To make matters even worse? I didn't have my license with me. My darling oldest daughter, bless her little fantasy-loving heart, needed money for a field trip to the GA Renfair this morning, so in giving it to her, I left my wallet on the kitchen counter. Our dear friend Bubba, in his thick-accented nasal twang, put it this way: "Yore gettin' this tehket fer not havin' a draiver's laisunce on yore person, ma'am." Geez. I couldn't have put it any better.

So I call up after I get home from work, with a raging headache that doesn't seem to want to go away (that I still have, btw) and find out that the damage isn't as bad as I expect. It'll be $135 for the speeding, and $60 for the license, which will drop down to $15 when I show them my valid license. $150 even. Why isn't that as bad as I expected? Well, in Virginia, where I was before coming to Georgia, the fine for speeding was $120 per five over the speed limit. At 15+ over the limit, we'd have been looking at a $360 fine.

Thank God for tiny miracles.

Anybody got any Percocet I could have? Anyone?
posted by Steph at 9:31 PM[edit]

Ah. I feel better.

I went and had my hair done. It's about four inches shorter, now, and a new perm to boot. My hair wasn't horrible, but it was starting to get to the point where I knew I needed something done. After all, it's been ten months since I last went to the salon. I know women who have a standing weekly appointment. I just don't have that kind of time or money. And even if I did, I'm sure I could find better uses for it.

Not that I begrudge my stylist anything she makes. She's a fantastic stylist. I was extremely lucky to find her when I came to GA. I make sure and tip her extra so that she takes care of me. People who work in the service industries, and really love doing so, are a special type of people. They love what they do. Otherwise, you couldn't pay them enough to spend eight hours on their feet with their hands immersed in hair and solutions, or food, or laundry water, or whatever other thing that their mostly thankless job requires.

For me it's potties, diapers, and love. But you knew that already.
posted by Steph at 8:25 PM[edit]

Darnitdarnitdarnit.

I had a great post all written and now it's gone because I hit the wrong button.

Crap.
posted by Steph at 11:57 PM[edit]

I am constantly amazed at the ability of a child to make a mess with whatever he has in his hands at any given moment.
posted by Steph at 1:52 AM[edit]

Saturday in the park,
I think it was the fourth of July..."

Actually, it was too cool for the fourth of July. Still, pretty nice today. A good day for flying kites and doing all that sort of springtime family thing.

The kids also all got haircuts. All three of them were beginning to look a little shaggy..they all look quite nice now.

Jono (aka Qale as per an earlier post) has his DSL line in, finally, and I'm expecting to see him back online any day now. I miss him a LOT. These last ten days he's not been online have been awful...but my bestest friend will be back soon. It will be great.

Another friend is on her way to Australia for four months. Francie, when you read this, good luck and be careful.
posted by Steph at 10:50 PM[edit]

Valentine's Day. For some, it's an irritant. For others, it's the best day of the year.

I kinda split the middle.

I did get some pretty flowers, a half-dozen yellow roses. My favorite! And a box of yummy (and fattening) Godiva chocolates. I'll have to have one a day for a while. It would be a much nicer day if Valentine's didn't fall on a Thursday this year. John is in class tonight, and when he gets home he will doubtless want to study to do whatever homework he has.

I love him to death, I really do. My life would be incomplete without him. But there are times when his constant, constant studying gets to me. If he's not studying, he's reading. Sometimes I think he'd rather have his nose buried in a book than...well, I won't say that. But I can think it. If he gets below a 95, he obsesses. Drives me nutz.

But I do love him, regardless. There was never a more gentle man, a kinder man, or a sweeter daddy to my children.
posted by Steph at 7:26 PM[edit]

Old MacDonald had a site,
E-I-E-I-O.
And on this site he had a blog,
E-I-E-I-O.
With a tweak-tweak here,
And a tweak-tweak there,
Here a comment,
There a guestbook,
Everywhere a teensybanner,
Old MacDonald had a site,
E-I-E-I-O.

Never settle. I love my blog and the way it looks now, but I'm likely to keep tweaking it a little here and there. It's fun, you know, to add stuff and mess around with things.

So what's news? Wil doesn't seem to have updated his site today; neither has Qale but then, Qale has a valid reason. He doesn't have his DSL line hooked up yet. I'm assured it will not be much longer. (I need my Qale fix!!!)

Not much new with me. Enjoyed a couple of nice games of M:TG with Qale; I trounced him one, and he returned the favor. He's much better than I am, and if he hadn't walked me through that first game I'd have lost both of them. It's fun, though. Qale is a really cool guy, you know. My bestest friend for seems like forever. Long before he was legal. I can not fully remember if it was Jan 95 or Jan 96 when we met. Six or seven years. Long time for a pair of friends who started out as just text online. We don't get chances often enough to spend time together personally..usually now it's on the phone or IM's. It's the IM's I miss.

I'll be glad when he gets his DSL line in.

posted by Steph at 9:58 PM[edit]

Hey, it worked!! I now have a comment area (as if anyone will use it...)
posted by Steph at 12:34 AM[edit]

Testing Comments...testing, testing...
posted by Steph at 11:38 PM[edit]

It's been a nice birthday. Not a great birthday, but hey, great birthdays stopped happening once I passed 21. But all in all, it's been nice.

Work was rather easy today. Got to talk to my bestest friend, still rather without his computer. Actually took a nap for a change. Quick stops to take my daughter to piano, then I got to be taken to dinner. Mmm. Outback Steakhouse, which I'd never been to before. A nice walk in the mall...my favorite cologne in a new store. Looking at (but not buying) diamonds. My favorite candy.

And now I'm back home, spending time on my favorite addiction. No cake, no balloons...but it's been a nice day.
posted by Steph at 9:11 PM[edit]

In the immortal words of one Cartman....

"It's mah berrrth-day, mah buh-buh-buh-berrrrthday..."

Not that I'm going to say how old I am. I *am* a lady, despite what some think. And a lady never gives her age. I'm old enough to know better, and young enough not to care.

Paypal gifts may be sent to snowbloom@aol.com. Heh.
posted by Steph at 1:57 AM[edit]

Gotta guestbook now. Still working on new coolness (or new geekiness, whichever you prefer.) I'm getting pretty good at making the teensybanners to look nice. Most of them, if you didn't know, are hand-created. I like making them. They're fun. Oh, and you can see, my hit counter didn't reset, which is nice. Far as I can see I didn't lose anything though I may have to go check my archives and make sure.

I have half a poem floating around in my head that won't come together. Once I actually start writing it, it'll probably settle itself nicely, but it's not time to sit down to write it yet. I know when it's time. If I force it, it won't come, but if I wait for the poem's time, I can usually have it written and finished in about five minutes.

You might notice I have a link over there --> to wilwheatondotnet. Some people think it's a hype, and it may be. But I like it. It's just as geeky, or geekier, than mine.

Hey, Jono, if you're reading this anytime soon, I need help figuring out how to put blogback comments on my page.
posted by Steph at 1:09 PM[edit]

So the name is changed. But then, everything is changing.

I hope you found your way here okay. The email is still the same, the pic of me is still there. I haven't looked to see if my hit counter is reset, but if it did, it was around 840 or so.

I decided to keep my three columns, but I'm going to do a little reworking. The left column will be all about me, and the right column is everything else - my friends, my business ventures, the things that interest me or help me. I'm hoping to make all the banners pretty uniform in the next few days.

I'm glad you found your way into my world.
posted by Steph at 11:35 PM[edit]

Alright, here we go!!!

As you may or may not notice, I'm in the midst of doing a long-needed overhaul of my site. I'm thinking of getting rid of the three colums, putting all my links and teenybanners on one side or the other. Which side, I haven't decided yet.

Keep checking back!!
posted by Steph at 2:36 PM[edit]

Thursday night and no one to share it with. Hubby is off to school, bestest friend is in the process of moving, and no one else cares much.

I think I'll go take a nap.
posted by Steph at 4:50 PM[edit]

So Jono is finally moving in with his love. And as he couldn't be happier, so it goes that I couldn't be happier for him. Today I went and took him a small token; a pair of silver bands. After all, they're as much married as they can be here in Georgia. He said to me not two days ago, he feels married. So why not have the symbols?

Granted, I don't know much about these things. Do gays wear their rings on their left hands or their right? Ring finger, middle finger, index? I like the idea of having a symbol that says, hey, I'm off the market, and look but don't touch because this little rump roast is already being eaten.

(Oh, hush, Jono. I know you're laughing and I don't care. ;P )

In other news, my birthday is coming up. For such an occasion, most people would head to Amazon.com and make up a wish list. But there is so little I really need. Friendship, some good talking, a few laughs. A little music and a little warmth. Chocolate. No, I'm not going to make up a wish list. (Not that anyone would look at it.) However, PayPal is accepted through the link to your right. Heh.
posted by Steph at 9:13 PM[edit]

Baby, it's cooooold outside. Which isn't so bad, you know. One more day, a few more dollars, and the sweetness of playing with my babies again. Ahh, heaven.

I'm glad to say that I'll be able to play with my babies for at least another year. The academy where I work was going to discontinue my class, on the grounds that it was the most unprofitable of all of them. My argument was that the children need a beginning somewhere...if they can play and have fun while they get used to following routines, it will be easier to teach them later. The board agreed with me, but made my class smaller..instead of two teachers and twelve children, it will be one teacher and six children.

Ahhh...I still have my babies.
posted by Steph at 7:24 AM[edit]

And the Patriots win the Superbowl.

(Not that it was any big surprise to me. I always wanted them to win. No, really.)
posted by Steph at 10:21 PM[edit]

BTW. Vote for Wolfie!
posted by Steph at 9:54 PM[edit]

Eech. A whole month with no updates. I'm really not that shallow. Really.

Actually, what it is....time flies too fast sometimes. If you don't sit down and look at it once in a while, you might miss it. (Apologies to Mr. Bueller.) My good friend Qale gets to his update every day, and I should take example from that. So much I could say, I suppose. Not that most of you reading don't already hear it from me in one way or another. But journals are useful for other things. Venting. Memories. A record of things past.

Like today. It was a very strange sort of day, and I'm still a little baffled, but in a completely happy way. The day started with being woken up with breakfast in bed. A nice, relaxing, leisurely morning, then an afternoon out with my daughter for some shopping and girl time. Then, daughter watches her brothers (her very first official babysitting job!) and hubby and I go out to dinner and to see Lord of the Rings again. I'm in seventh heaven.

Why is that so odd? Well...it just came out of the blue. My birthday isn't until Monday week, the 11th. But I'm not complaining!

In other news....my bestest friend and I started a business together called Pride Expressions. Go take a look and see if you like. Send mail if you want to order!!
posted by Steph at 9:48 PM[edit]