I picked Hanna up (my Little Sister) and took her to the Y with me. She plays there while Bill and I do our work out. We had breakfast at Hanna's favorite place, McDonalds and undid that work on the treadmill that I did! LOL This is where we went our separate ways, Bill to work at the car lot and Hanna and I to work at the house. Hanna wants to enter a new painting in the Strawberry Festival this year so she is working towards that. I was amazed at how pretty her sky and clouds are. She's going to put another butterfly, larger, and then we will find a frame. She put in a lot of work on her project but was unhappy with it. I told her everyone was unhappy with it at first but she is learning so much, like perspective, the small butterfly then a large one and that if she left it along for a week and went back to her she might just be proud of what she did.
I worked a bit more on my painting of one of the windows in Italy and I will hopefully be entering it in the contest as well.
2008 wasn't great but it was good. I'm thankful for that. Now we look forward to 2009 being fine and that is something more doable. J
New Year's Eve Bill and I went to Outback to drink at toast to the coming year and gave 2008 a fine burial. We talked about the high points and then went on to goals for 2009 which we put in writing. We haven't met the New Year head on at midnight in many years and this year was no exception. We went home and were in bed before the festivities even started. We decided to just wake up blissfully into 2009.
New Years day started out with sunshine and cool breezes. We went out to breakfast and then to the new mall in north Tampa, Wiregrass. It's an outdoor mall, more like a Norman Rockwell outdoor scene, and we were correct in thinking it would be a good place to walk around and just hang out on this first day of the year. Bill even accomplished a good dead with a little serendipity there at the mall. While I searched out a 75% off bargain, Bill ran into the fire chief and was able to put in a good plug for a young man who has been trying to get on the fire department for years. It so hard to get on for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is they do very little hiring. Anyway, the young man is really excited about the opportunity and Bill is already feeling good about being able to give him a little help in a very hard system to crack.
We came home to chores around the house and went out once more to the coffee shop to talk some more about life. We are both all talked out. LOL Now all we have to do is put our thoughts into action in 2009.
One very interesting thing is we made contact with an old neighbor and friend, Ed Slingbaum and his daughter, Roci. It was wonderful catching up on the last 10 years or so and reconnecting. They are living in PA around the area that we used to have a place in the Poconos. They said they would visit here and we might go there this summer to check out our old stomping grounds and see them, Eddie's new wife, Roci's husband and two sons. We watched our children grow up together across the street from each other and we often spent holidays together. We celebrated our successes and whined over our rough times and it all brought back some wonderful memories of friendship and people we let slip from our lives.
Happy New Year to each of you who read this. I wish many blessings to you and yours in 2009.
2 comments:
How neat that you sometimes take Hanna to the Y with you. Isaac really likes going. Friday he walked (on two separate occasions) a total of 28 laps with me. After he walked, he went to 'kid care' where he always enjoys playing with other kids. As he can't get outside to play in winter, I am happy for the Y and also glad he now is interested in walking the track.
Hanna's painting is very good. How nice that you are helping her develop artistic talent. Glad too that you are working on your own paintings, such as your Italian window.
I am not surprised that you met 2009 by shopping at a mall that day. Nice to find a 75% off bargain too!
Happy New Year to Bill and you!
Happy New Year back at you and Bill, Judy. Great that you two made resolutions in writing together. Bob and I have done that many years but did not this time - just talked about hopes and a sense of direction. I think it is wonderful that you not only help Hanna get a chance to paint, but teach her about hanling disappointment with her work - and teach her the trick of letting it sit a week - I was probably thirty before I learned that one.
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