Thankful Thursday--March 31

It's hard to believe that it's taken me four days to recover from DAR State Conference (maybe because I can sleep in or take a nap in the afternoon if that's what I need to get through and be a happy wife when J gets home...), but I'm finally getting caught up!

I noticed yesterday that I hit 200 posts with my Harry Connick, Jr. post, and it's so hard to believe!  (Remember, we just hit 100 back in October!)  So this week, I'm thankful for you--the folks who drop by to see what I've said this week.  You've no idea how much I love the Blogger "Stats" tab--it tells me how many visits we've had, which countries y'all live in, even what Google searches send folks here (Hedco Lamps are apparently very popular!)--and I know that the desire to see something pop up in the stats drives me to post when I might not be feeling it.  Thanks for being those bits of data for me!!

I'm thankful this week, too, for the DAR ladies who have served as my mentors, my cheerleaders, and my surrogate mothers and grandmothers.  One particularly dear friend flew in for our State Conference to not only assist our Pages (younger members who run errands and keep the behind the scenes part of the conference running smoothly), but to assist me.  I cannot begin to thank her sufficiently, but hope that she knows at least a bit of how much she means to me!

And finally, I'm so thankful for J, who kept everything at home running smoothly while I was wrapped up in DAR (and DAR recovery).  From blogging for me to cleaning the kitchen for me, he did it all this weekend.  I'm a lucky girl, and very aware of that.

The Smile You are Smiling

Lest anyone think I'm going back to using song lyrics as post titles, I'm not, but this post title is totally appropriately a line from a song.  I mentioned Sunday that I had an awesome Wordless Wednesday in store for you.  Now that I've downloaded the pictures from J's and my phones, I'm not so sure (cursing both of us for not thinking to take a camera).

The blurry picture above is of Harry Connick, Jr.  J and I had a chance at the last minute (Saturday evening) to purchase tickets to a fundraiser down in Richmond that featured a concert.  Now, this fundraiser was for a church school and was held in the church sanctuary.  There were maybe 500 people and certainly not a bad seat in the room, but we ended up with an awesome spot and were fairly close to the front.  Harry and his band were wonderful, and J and I had a fabulous time!

Title:  Where or When  J used to sing Harry's version of this song to me all the time when we were dating.  I chose this particular line because we were smiling a lot Sunday night!

Glitter Painting

Last spring, Martha Stewart Living had an article about Glitter Painting that intrigued me.  After reading the instructions and buying the glitter talked about here, I set to work.  Now, I don't generally do well at following instructions when it comes to creative endeavors.  I'll listen to (or read) the instructions, think about the basics that ought to be followed, and set off to create my own version.  I did the same thing when it came to glitter art.  I tried one piece where I uploaded a picture in the program and used that the create my first attempt.  Then, I took the tools I'd learned, grabbed a canvas and sketched out an idea.  Before I show you the finished product, understand that this was for a friend who was throwing herself a pirate themed birthday party, complete with flamingos (No, I'd never thought about putting flamingos and pirates together, either, but she was a one-of-a-kind sort of person).  This piece was her birthday gift to commemorate and help her remember the occasion.  The title of the piece is "Pirate Princess Turns 28" which is what the banner at the top says.  It shows up much better in real life!  Oh, and the yellow lump on her shoulder is her dog.

No Change...

Remember last week, when I prepped you all for nothing to have been crossed off the MP To Do list?  I was sure that wouldn't be the case and just threw that out to manage expectations...  Except that I was right.  I just pulled up the to do list and discovered that I can't cross a single thing off (or even update anything!).  It isn't that I didn't accomplish a lot last week, I just didn't do anything related to the house...or anything crafty so please don't expect much on Tuesday, either!  This week I'm hopeful I will be able to get the plumbers back in (have I mentioned that they've gone missing?) and get a bit more accomplished.  Right now, I'm just trying to catch up on sleep and get my feet back under me after a very long weekend (and not in a good way).

Husband Points

Do y'all have husband points (or wife points) in your relationship? J and I do.  They aren't anything that we actually tally, but they do accrue from time to time, and also from time to time, we have no problem cashing them in if need be.  This weekend, J racked up a lot of husband points!  Not only did he keep the house running and the dog fed while I was immersed in DAR, but he wrote that fabulous blog post for you to read Saturday (or Sunday, depending on when you stumbled upon it in sleepless stupor...was that just me?).  Then today, when I popped in to pick him up before heading out again, I found a spotless kitchen.  What on earth did I do to deserve this guy?  To round out his awesomeness for the weekend, he stepped away from the UK game this evening to do something special with me (you'll see what in Wordless Wednesday).  Now, he had it on the radio in the car, and streamed it live once he was out of the car, but he missed watching it live, and I know that was not an easy thing to do!  The husband points just keep adding up!

I realize it is 11:00 p.m. as I type this and there is practically no way you will read it before Monday.  I do apologize for the sporadic (and late) nature of my blogging this week.  Perhaps by Continental Congress I'll have figured out how to juggle the two more effectively.  In the mean time, expect a late Melton Point Monday, pray I catch up a bit on my sleep tomorrow, and look forward to being back on schedule on Tuesday!

Saturday Smells Like . . . Spring or Hotel Sheets?

Hello all, J here.

I write this post to surprise my wife, who is toiling away at DAR state conference with little sleep. The thought to do this came to me while Zeppelin and I took an ill-advised walk around the frigid park walking trail. Despite the cold, I could still smell spring in the air, if a little different. Imagine someone you know who always dresses impeccably. Now remember that time you bumped into that person at Kroger on an early Saturday morning dressed in hole-ridden sweats and a hat, and you have the feeling I had---shocked by seeing the person from a different perspective, but also appreciative for the additional texture and authenticity of the person/season that the experience reveals.

Seasons, like celebrities it seems, are just like you and me, as US Weekly would say.

What about this walk inspired me to write this post you ask? Well, I treat walks as contemplative time. More accurately, my mind recognizes that something uncomfortable (exercise) is occurring and reflexively attempts to distract itself from such inhumane conditions. I, knowing my mind fairly well, prepared for just such an eventuality by taking my phone, loaded with a few audiobooks, and my headphones with me. As I'm walking (well, as I'm sheepishly looking away while Zeppelin scrunches up a haunch and does his business at the most public point in the walking trail), the author's voice booms over my headphones, "Love is a verb. Before one can experience love the noun, he must engage in love the verb. That means caring, empathy, listening and sacrifice for the needs of the other."

Now, I think it perfectly clear that I love (verb) JE, and I have love (noun) for JE. That said, the past few days with her focusing on the DAR conference at a hotel downtown and me managing pain until I can get my wisdom teeth out . . . . let's just say that perhaps I could have done a better job of listening, caring, empathizing and sacrificing, and if I'm having a problem with the verb end of things, it's fair to assume that she's having trouble with the noun end.

I continue kicking all this around while I'm settling in for a nap, as my wisdom teeth and the Cats win last night have meant a string of sleep-starved nights for me. After a while of thinking of how I could do a better job on the verb end of things, I checked in on the blog, and saw the last post.

Now, I do not know how many of you know this about JE, but she dramatically loses effectiveness if she does not get enough sleep. Seriously. In the "standing waiting for her to think of a word that she wants to use in conversation and that word turning out to be 'fork'" ballpark of ineffectiveness. (I attribute it to the fact that she is one of those people whose mind actually works things out while she sleeps. She will go to sleep pondering something and wake up with the answer, one of the many reasons I think she's awesome.) Despite this, JE goes to conference and, like many other women there, loses hours of sleep to support a worthwhile organization. JE's sleep-deprived slog results from her commitment to the DAR and its members, with her passion for the DAR trumping even the physical demands of her body.

JE also is committed to this blog. She stays up pretty late some evenings getting the post just right. She's also learned more HTML just to spruce up the website. And I know the concerns she had about balancing the blog and the conference in the week leading up to the conference, hoping that one or the other will not suffer.

So, knowing all that, I quickly determined how I could best listen, care and sacrifice for JE right now--I could write a blog post. Now, it isn't much. But hopefully, she will get to go to sleep a half-hour or an hour earlier after her long day today. Perhaps she will, before she drifts off to sleep, think of the love she has for me. . . . or at least add a proper amount of husband points to my account.

So here's hoping that JE's Saturday, instead of her early Sunday morning, smells like hotel sheets.

You're getting very sleepy...

Hi friends!  I'm sure you came here looking for a Furnishing Friday post (or maybe you gave up on Furnishing Friday and are here on Saturday!), but I don't seem to have any new pictures on my laptop and I'm completely unprepared to write a blog post (you know that already--this is about 12 hours late in posting!).
I think I've written before about how much I like my sleep.  A lot.  On an average day, I do best with about 9 hours of sleep.  Conversely, when things are a bit stressful and busy, I turn out amazing work by waking up early.  This week (state conference prep) has led to lots of early mornings.  Today is the first "official" day of our state conference, but I've now had three nights of being awake past midnight and back up at 5:00 a.m. to come back to my work with a clear head. 
Y'all, I'm tired!  (Seriously, you should see some of the "words" my fingers have typed in this post.)  I'm pretty sure a hypnotist would find me a rather dull subject today (hence the post title).  I am, in fact, getting very sleepy.
I'll do my best to write Saturday's post, but I'm rather concerned that it might be worse than this one (I'm looking at another short night).  Thanks for hanging with me this weekend.