Lazy Sunday

It's been a lazy day, mainly because when I woke up my back was hurting and I didn't really feel like doing anything too active. I hate feeling this way, because I like being active! I went to church this morning and it was great, as always. Then, I worked a little on the YA novel that I've been talking about. I'm still doing some pre-writing on it because of how complex the story is going to be. I'll have pages and pages of notes before I'm ready to actually start writing! I really should have done that with Deadly Council. It would have saved a lot of time. Oh well... live and learn.

I also worked on Hannah's scarf today, and since she came over to my house I let her have a first look at it. She held it in her hand and kept stroking it as if it were a cat or something. It was cute. I really needed to check the length, so I had to drape it around her neck to check length. I really don't want to make it so long that it drags the ground when she walks. But anyway, she loved it. I can't wait to give it to her when it's complete. Which means I really need to keep working on it! I plan to do just that tomorrow, along with some other relaxing activities (such as reading one of the three books I have waiting to be read) I love the days when our office is closed. It's great to have a day off!

Next week is going to be interesting. We're starting a new program in Florida, so we will be doing some work with that, and I have two grants due and all kinds of stuff to do before we go to LA at the beginning of February.

On a more personal note, I've been reading a lot of the posts on the Soldiers Angels forum, and have really enjoyed "meeting" the great people there! They are full of helpful advice and wonderful tips, and they are all so encouraging to each other. It's wonderful! I feel great to be doing something positive for our troops. I've also decided I'm going to knit a hat for my soldier. I'll have to guess at his head size, but that's okay. I talked to some of the ladies on the SA forum and they said a hat would be a great gift and that he would be the envy of his unit. I might just knit more and send them for him to give out! I've never done a hat before, so it'll be a challenge.

I always avoid getting too political here, and there is a reason for that. But I have to say that even though I don't like war (in general, not specific wars) it is so important for us to support the troops and to show our pride in being Americans. When we were in the middle of Operation Desert Storm, I was in middle school. We had studied Vietnam and all the accounts we read talked about how the soldiers were treated badly when they came home. I hated hearing that, and wondered why people would treat the troops that way. So when radio stations across the nation played "From A Distance" by Bette Middler on the radio all at the same time one day in support of the troops, I arranged to play it over our school's intercom system so that all the kids could listen and think about what the troops were doing and how important they were to us. Later, we all tied yellow ribbons on trees for a safe return. It was cool. That experience really taught me something about being patriotic, and I think there's nothing wrong with loving our country. There are some things about our government that I really, really don't like, and things our president does that really don't appreciate at all, but I still love our country. Okay, off the soapbox. :)

Also, we got some sad news yesterday. A little girl who attended first grade at my mom's school died yesterday after two weeks of being in the hospital. She had complications from a routine surgery and suffered a lot of damage. It's so sad when someone that young dies. Her life really didn't even begin before it ended. I am so sad for her family and my thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

I want to leave this on a brighter note, so as not to depress any readers who might happen to wander by. I've been watching Scrubs as I typed this message, and the Christmas episode from season 1 just ended. In this episode, there is a song called "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone. Such a great song! I absolutely love it! I have the original version of the song (which was very hard to find, by the way) and the techno mix that was played in the Miami Vice movie. (yes, I saw that movie) I really prefer the original, though. There's just something about that song that really gets to me. There are a few songs like that... "The Promise" by When In Rome is another one. All this talk about music makes me want to get to work on the second CD in my mix CD project. B is for Broadway, so I'm going to make a CD with my favorite show tunes. I need to do it soon, because I plan to send it to Chris with the Circle Journal (yes, Chris, I am aware that I still have it) So that's it for today. Tonight will be very mellow. I plan to keep watching Scrubs, knit some more, work a little on my jigsaw puzzle, and then watch Desperate Housewives at the appropriate time, and then Brothers and Sisters, which is addictive!