Musings on a Sunday morning.

• I have been really enjoying Pinterest, a new site that touts itself as an electronic bulletin board.  I think of it more like a magazine: I look at pictures, click on things that interest me and go to the sites for more info, and I "pin" things that either look do-able to me, inspire me, or intrigue me.  It is a time waster, true, but it is also a great source of ideas and inspiration!
• Courtesy of Pinterest, I just found a watercolor artist whose landscapes really speak to my soul. His name is Z. L. Feng, and I adore his work! The colors are amazing and subtle, the play of light, shadow, and water....  I miss open water. I miss my lakes and rivers of home, and I miss the sound of running, moving water. I would love to have one of his prints to grace my wall, where I could look at it and dream.  What an amazing talent he has!
• It's as close to a perfect winter's day as we get down here, minus snow on the ground.  Clear, blue skies, sunny, and crisp but cold!  It's invigorating, and ennervating, and I want to bundle up and just stand outside and soak up the atmosphere!
• I continue to read the mystery series centered on Alaska and really wish I could see it "someday." Not sure why it speaks to me as it does, but I love the descriptions of the land, the people, the crafts, the way of life...  God knows I would never make it functioning on subsistence living (killing one's own meat, butchering and processing it, canning, living off the land...  I am too freaked out by dead animals and wouldn't know where to start for the rest!) but the idea of it appeals, especially the reverence held for the elders, and the passing down of ways of life and otherwise lost arts.
• Reimond's girlfriend lives in Alaska currently, and she just got permission to come down for his Prom in May.  She had lived here (on the airforce base, and went to school with him, which is how they met), and he has been invited to visit her in AK this summer, if we can make it happen.  I hope we can, because it would be an amazing experience for him, and a part of me is jealous at the idea (see above--I'd love to go too!)
• I learned yesterday that a dear friend who has struggled with health issues of varying sorts may have early stage Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I am in shock, because this news comes out of the blue, a result of an MRI on her brain because of some lasting damage she sustained in a car accident a few years ago.  The damage they found related to the accident would not explain some of the symptoms she is experiencing, but the damage they found would, and is unrelated to the accident but would explain some things she has experienced in the past few years.  I feel so lost right now, because I want to be there to help and support her; I feel helpless to be so far away; I started looking at patterns for things I might make to send her to show my love when I am so far away, and I want to cry, because I am familiar with worst-case scenarios.  This is a degenerative disease that there is no cure for, although everyone experiences it differently, and there are degrees of disability that accompany it.  I am torn because on the one hand I want to scream at God and ask "WHY!!!????" as this friend has had to deal with so many trials and challenges,and it seems so unfair; while on the other hand I find myself trying to accept, knowing that God has his reasons, and we need to trust in his mercy and grace. As I said, I feel so helpless right now as I pray, ponder, and prepare for what will be...
• I have been thinking a lot about my past (the single parent years) as I go through the various topics under discussion in my current class ("Topics in Child and Adolescent Development"). We are taking a look at development through the filter of a larger lens, that of public policy, law, and social values; a "macrosystems perspective" for those familiar with Bronfenbrenner, or a "multidimensional filter" as discussed by our primary source...  In the past few weeks I have reviewed the effects the economy and economic system affected my ability to parent and my decision-making during those years (child care, paying bills, spending habits, etc), healthcare policies (managed care, how changes in medical benefits created havoc in my budget because of increased co-pays), education polices (how it affected my children's education compared to my own, the differences between MN and IL); and this week's topic is mental health policies, which I am all too familiar with...
• I have been alternating various projects and trying to spend time on different things. I have returned to knitting on my Evenstar Shawl (such fine yarn!), I have continued to work on backstitching and beading my Lady of Shalott, I still have my second Feb. SKA sock to knit, and I have some sewing I want to do (including a polar fleece hooded jacket I want to make up using my serger!). It's hard to pick and choose things that I can do around Skye, because at times she is adamant in her desire to help me--and I envision her pulling needles out of knitting, unravelling skeins of yarn, and losing pins/needles on sewing...  I am focusing on things that need a minimum of concentration and few supplies when I am on baby duty, and save the more complicated things for when she is napping, sleeping at night, or I am off childcare duties.
• I have not been on Everquest as much as I would like to be (it's been a week again since I last logged on) because I just haven't had the time/interest in getting involved in anything too time consuming; By the time it gets to be 8:30/9 p.m. all I want to do is get into my jammies, find some simple handwork, watch a little tv, and unwind from the day, not log into a game that will suck me in for hours at a time. That, to me, is the biggest difference between EQ and video games: video games you can play, start and stop at your leisure. EQ moves on, whether you are there or not, and if you get too far behind, you are "lost." I love the social aspect of the game, and the competition of it, but I also like the "soloing" when I can just do what I want to, when I want to. Maybe that's what I will do today: play EQ on my own for a bit! (but I still want to sew too).
• I have been procrastinating on my meal planning, in part because I never know who is going to be home, and in part because I have been lazy.  I have been making some crockpot dishes lately that I love--fix it and forget it, and eat when everyone is home.  Love that kind of cooking!
• I went to the BX on Friday afternoon when I was out doing errands, and got some really cute new things for myself at 75% off, in fitted styles (mostly tops), and a maxi skirt that I really like.  Eric said we would go to the winery next weekend for our valentine's day celebration, and I wanted something fun to wear. 
• Brie, Skye, and Jason are getting ready to take off (didn't realize until a couple of hours ago that I was off babysitting duty--it's a drill weekend after all) so I have the afternoon to myself!