my mom has been in the hospital since last tuesday night, so almost a week now.  so much going on with her out of the blue.  i’m alone with her at the hospital in east texas right now.  i need to run a couple of errands for her (pay bills, etc) but what if the doctor comes while i’m out?  i wish they’d tell me what time they’re coming and i could plan… but they don’t.  i really miss my family, too.  hurry up and wait seems to be what you do at the hospital…

…but sometimes it’s just hard to hear of the death of someone you admire, even if you never met them personally.  last night i learned that bob schultz had passed away after a brief illness.  bob wrote the books boyhood and beyond, created for work and practical happiness.  i just love these books, and when i was purchasing the latter one last month at the homeschool bookfair, i told another customer that i’d buy any book that man writes.

he passed away on friday, the same day has my 39-year-old next door neighbor, husband to a sweet lady and father to three young children.  he fought cancer for about one year.

even though both of these men are christians, and i know they are with jesus, it is still hard to think about leaving loved ones behind too soon…

i am taking the photography class offered at church this summer.  i enjoyed the first class very much.  but there is homework including a project and a *gasp* paper.  the project is supposed to tell a story.  so i had this great idea to take some pictures at my inlaws’ 50th anniversary that we’re attending next month.  my mother-in-law has hired a photographer to take a group shot of them with their children and grandchildren on the steps of the church where they were married.  i think that will be cool.

my idea was (after the photographer was done with the group shot) to take a picture of just the 2 of them, and then add on each family member one by one, taking a picture each time to get a progression of how the family grew. i thought it would make a really nice slideshow. until i remembered that one of the daughters has divorced and remarried.  so the man she married and had children with is no longer her husband.  i don’t even know if he’ll be there or how that would work if he was.  put him in, take him out, put in new husband?  so… i’ll think of some other project and besides, the timing was too short after the celebration to get the project together anyway.

i didn’t get hooked on the x-files until it was all over.  last year i started borrowing them from the library and am somewhere in season 3… then we found out that library was starting to get rid of the series because “they’ve had over 100 circs” and “besides, that show’s been off the air for years!”  lame!  then the costco coupon wallet came in the mail.  $60 off the set, woo!  i had to drive to plano for it, but i’m now the proud owner of this:

the complete collector’s edition - all 9 seasons plus the movie plus other goodies.  so take that, library!  ha!

i was on a fiction kick for a bit there. i go through phases of non-fiction, self-improvement, fiction (fluff or not). i just finished lisa samson’s embrace me. it was enjoyable - i like lisa’s characters and the stories make me think even though it’s fiction. i just started fast food nation and also have pagan christianity in my stack. i just finished reading how to eat fried worms to one of the boys (i think the movie was better - but was it because i saw it first?). now i’m reading the first of the alex rider books, stormbreaker, to another son. in addition, i am taking the photography class at church and should probably read the manual to my camera. since i bought it, i’ve only used the simple and macro mode, as well as the video mode a few times. we’re supposed to bring photo albums for show and tell - all my pics are trapped in my computer and i haven’t put a picture in an album since my 16yo was about 18 months old. i’m not bringing that!

In the doctor’s office awhile back I was making fun of (in my head) this magazine they had in the waiting room. - Southern Vanity. I can’t even stand the name. Well, for some reason, there was one in my mailbox today. I figure it was because I was rolling my eyes at it in the waiting room. Mostly it’s just advertisements for plastic surgery and expensive stuff. I can get some eyelash extensions, even. Who knew?

i have a problem finishing stuff. like…

…filing. i am behind and need to reorganize my files… again.
…painting trim. i have been putting it off because i despise doing it.
…beating guitar hero 3 on medium. devil went down to georgia (which doesn’t make me think of guitars anyway) is kickin’ my you-know-what. i am not too good at ddr either, but these are the only 2 video games i enjoy. at least the ddr gets me some exercise.
…decluttering. ‘nuf said.

what i will finish, even if it kills me (us?), is getting my son through algebra 2 before he leaves for mexico.

i answered the phone and got one of those survey people. while on the phone, i went out and pulled the tiny weeds from one of the front beds so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. mostly it was about plug-in electric vehicles, but near the end they asked my religious affiliation. i said “christian” and then they asked if i was an evangelical or born-again christian. i said yes. they asked which one - evangelical or born-again? i was stumped so i went with born-again because that’s in the bible, but i’m not sure the word evangelical is in there. yet another reason i dislike labels. i don’t even know what they all mean!