08
Mar 10

A Perfect Start to a Springtime Break.

The first official night of Intercession break deserved a celebration.

Some-mores!

This is also a very good way to get the children to pick up all the sticks that litter the yard.

I sent them off with the Radio Flyer wagon, and they came back with loads of sticks.

We started a fire and WOW those little dry sticks became a huge conflagration.

Don’t tell anyone ~ but I started scanning the back for the hose just to make sure it was close. But soon enough, the flames settled down and into the perfect marshmallow roasting fire.

Some-mores for dinner! What a great way to start a school springtime break.

Later in the evening my 6 year-old said, “Mommy, don’t ever give us some-mores for dinner again. I need something more for dinner.”

Alright then, Mother-of-the-Year plummeting into a Twitter #momfail moment.

Actually, that’s a most fitting way for a week off of school with the children to start.

Happy Intercession.


06
Mar 10

“Where’s Jake?” Hmmm.

Today, was a family day. Well, minus our eldest.

I got up very early and ran 15 or so miles.

Came home and my husband said, “I had no idea where you were. Jake is gone…do you know where he is?”

“He went to soccer. Didn’t you take him?”

“No. I just woke up and he and you (stare, stare, stare) weren’t here.”

“Well, he told me he had to be at the school at 7:45. I told him I had an early run scheduled. He asked for my phone to set the alarm. I assumed he’d wake you up and you’d take him.”

“I haven’t seen him.”

Hmm.

And for the first time in my adult life. Well, my adult life since my now 16 year- old son has been born ~ I didn’t know exactly where he was, but I didn’t PANIC.”

Believe it or not, I have an active imagination.

We stumbled upon “Silence of the Lambs” last night and this morning in the pitch and cold walking the dog, it was a brisk walk (and not because it was cold) to say the least.

But I didn’t fret about Jake.

I just knew he bummed a ride to the high school.

Of course, there was that moment in Bishop coming home from Athens at 5:10 this afternoon,  I thought…where the heck is my son? I think he has been all day at a soccer tournament ~ but what if? I thought I’d call another mom who was probably at the game.

Then I remember I signed “the pledge” not to call or text.

I didn’t call.

And he came home an hour later…by himself.

He’s growing up. He can figure these things out by himself. How wonderful.

I’m so happy.

I think. This is normal right?


05
Mar 10

The Great Hang Up. No MoTexting 4 Me. (While driving.)

John Michael Robinette helps with the Hang Up effort.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Yesterday was the Great Hang Up Day at Morgan County High School.  Between the hours of 11 and 1 p.m., anyone could stop by the school auditorium and sign a pledge not to text or make cell calls when driving.
 
 
 
The program is Atlanta television station 11 Alive’s effort to get the message out to teens and parents how dangerous distracted driving can be.  http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=140932&catid=360     
 

Halley Hudson, a freshman from Pepperell HS in Floyd County signed the pledge and wanted to take a sheet home for her mother to sign, ”Because she won’t stop texting and driving. She drives with her knee,” said Halley.      

Drives with her knees. Okay. I’ve never done that. Well, maybe a few times when my cell phone rang while I was holding a cup of coffee. All of a sudden, it’s uh oh ~ I’ve got a cup in one hand and a phone in the other…Just how am I going to steer this 2 ton piece of motorized machinery?         

Yesterday, my son was helping with the effort when I showed up a little before noon.         

My son. I wonder if he looks this interested in class?

   

I read over the document very carefully, and signed.            

“I understand that driving while distracted is dangerous to me and to others on the road.   

Understand: “To perceive and comprehend the nature and significance of.”  

Now, I didn’t get to talk to many Morgan County students because I got there just as a herd of freshman had been ordered to class,  but here is another quote from a Pepperell HS student. Sophomore Dayne Elrod admitted he won’t stop texting and driving. When asked how much he texts while driving he said, “about everyday on my cell.” He said he pretty much does it the whole time he’s driving.    

Unfortunately, MCHS know all too well, the consequences. Last December, a 2009 graduate of Morgan County, Caleb Sorohan was killed in an accident caused while he was texting. The school is selling bumper stickers in Caleb’s memory to help all remember how tragic the consequences can be.  

         

          

          

So I signed and did really well yesterday. Though my hand was itching as I approached the square with all the after school traffic backing up.  

 Green rubber bands serve as a reminder…NO TEXTING or CALLS while driving.         

Now I know it’s hard.  Waiting in my driveway to pull out I see semi-truck drivers holding out their phones texting. This morning I saw a guy in an Expedition turning by the post office looking at his phone extended — texting. I’ve seen many of you driving with that cell up to your ear.   

I’m a writer ~ not a talker. I don’t talk a lot on my cell, but this texting, tweeting stuff is near and dear to my heart.    

          

         

As a parent, with this issue — and any issue — if you’re gonna talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.  My children are watching ~ our children are watching.         

The stakes are so high.  Is any message, email, phone call that important that it can’t wait 5 minutes? And if the answer is “yes,” take the time to drive 50 yards and pull off the road. Is this that hard?         

Remember if you’re gonna talk the talk…just be sure to not to do it while in DRIVE.         

I only tell you this because I care.

I want you all to be here for a long time.


04
Mar 10

After 25 Performances, the MCT is a Living Monument ~ Under a Master Gardner’s Care.

The mighty oak starts as a tiny acorn. Anything of significance begins with one small idea, one nudge that keeps waking you in the middle of the night.          Continue reading →

03
Mar 10

The Sky’s the Limit. A Chat with MCT’s Kathleen Bryant.

Last week, I sat down for a moment with Kathleen Bryant, Artistic Director of the Madison Community Theater. She is quite the busy woman. We talked during her lunch break at Morgan County Middle School where she is the drama teacher. This school year, Bryant was named system-wide Teacher of the Year.

Okay, how did all this start: The MCT was incorporated in 2005, but we started in 2002. We started under the name Children’s Community Chorus. Our first show as “The Tale of Three Trees.” It morphed from there. Our Board decided to change the name to Madison Community Theater to include all ages, especially the older children. Shortly after we changed the name, we got non-profit status. 

After 25 performances, is this what you envisioned when you started: Honestly, I went to a very large Methodist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. They always had a children’s musical camp. They produced a children’s musical that was Christian-related. I thought ~ I’m going to do this in Madison. For several years, we just did a summer show. It was crazy, working everyday, all day for two weeks to pull it together. But there was such interest, we added more shows.  We have evolved into having an actual season with a straight play in the fall, big musical in the winter, sometimes something smaller in June, then a July camp.

So if  wasn’t a vision at the beginnging, could you articulate a vision now? “The Sky’s the Limit,” we always tease. We have so little as far as space. We don’t really have a theater. WE don’t really have the technology that the other counties have, but we pride ourselves on finding a way to make whatever we need to make on stage happen ~ happen. We’ve had flying people, pyrotechnics, minimal sets and elaborate ones. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we have ~ the skies the limit.

You’ve given so much of yourself to this program for a number of years, why? What drives me in this whole thing is finding good stories and presenting it to the community. Growing up in Moultrie, Georiga, we had a very developed Fine Arts and Cultural Center program, but we had to wait till high school to do anything. There was nothing for kids. This is a theater program to open the door for younger kids. The vision is to keep the door open for younger kids.

What is your theater background? My training is vocal and performing, so I come to this as a performer. But anytime I go to an International Thespian Society (ITS) or InternationalTheater Association I am in training and going constantly to any professional workshop I can to learn. All that has helped me grow as a director.

It is not about becoming a star; it’s about personal growth on stage. Building something that is maybe bigger than somethings they could do by themselves. To see young people develop is unbelievable.

Check out the MCT website http://www.mctheater.org/.


02
Mar 10

March 2. It’s Been Four Weeks. Hey, Groundhog…What’s Up?

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I filed a complaint. 

Master groundperson, you put yourself out as an expert causing thousands of Morgan Country residents to actually think about cleaning some drawer space for shorts and t-shirts. (Or  boxing up some of the colder weather play clothes so you can find the shorts and t-shirts in the bottoms of the crammed drawers you never put up last fall.) 

February 2. It was CLOUDY in Madtown. A reasonable woman as myself (Well, when I’m not in the down-slide to hormonal hell-part of my cycle), would have concluded you did not see a shadow. 

Conclusion. Spring in six weeks. 

March 2, four weeks later, I sit watching a very wet snow falling outside my window. 

This is a deal-breaker groundroundrodent! 

Yes, it is hard enough to get up every morning in the cold and step outside to walk the dog. This morning 4:20 a.m. I awake to the sound of rain… 

These steps were covered in all manner of pastel chalk yesterday. 

Yesterday when the sun shone, the wine flowed and I flirted with my sunroof. 

 

 

All gone.

All that chalk being tracked into the house yesterday started to peeve me. Now I yearn for pink and green puppy prints on our carpet. The mud returns.  

I dashed out of the car today at the gym at 6 a.m. (Well, 6:15 because an entire cup of coffee spilled on said floor as I was leaving house). This is what I saw. 

Bravo, Jamie.

Bravo, Jamie.

I did Emily Buck’s cardio-interval class this morning in my L.L.Bean lumberjack boots. My shins are joining the class action suit as well.  

When will the insanity end?

Oh Groundperson, I’ve got a very big shovel. Don’t make me use it.


01
Mar 10

Going to church in tights and sweatshirt. Now that’s a party.

Today, I had a choice.

I missed my scheduled long training run on Saturday. Here was the dilemma..

Sleep late  (Definition of sleeping late; not setting alarm, but guarenteed to be out of bed by 8 a.m. ~ 8:27 a.m. outside latest.) Or get up and perform long run early, thereby freeing the day for normal glamorous Sunday afternoon activities. Sleep, write, clean up after lunch or jet off to the Turks and Cacaos.

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I set the alarm. It went off (a few times). I got up, turned on the light and found suitable running togs for below freezing temps with 90 mph winds.

Had a little coffee, put on my watch, took a deep breath and out I went.

I hate those first few moments. You would think after doing it so many years…getting up early running for 2 hours…that starting would get easier.

It hasn’t. AT ALL. In fact, is gotten only worse. But that’s just me.

So why do I do it?? Why do I creep around in dark bedroom in freezing house gathering clothes? Why do I leave my coffee cup? My hand still burning from its warm imprint.

Beats me.

No, silly. (Though I do wonder sometimes.)

Because I know it gets better. Within those first three minutes it gets better. Ten minutes into the mileage, I am sooo happy I crawled out of the very warm covers.

Yesterday, the last few miles not so much. Mile 11 on…my nose was raw, leftover from being outside in cold and wind Saturday. I was little puny; it was so cold, I didn’t leave out water or food.

But once I made it home. YAY!

13 Miles before 9 a.m.Plenty of time to change for church.

Okay, I miss calculated on how much time to get the rest of the house for church and how small our water heater was. Not enough time for all to shower who needed cleaning, so I took the hit and went to my dear Women of Faith Sunday School class in my tights and sweatshirt.

Just a few more long runs to fit into weekends before race.

Won’t think about that now. I’m tired. Remember I got up real early this morning.

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When to you get your exercise in? Are you an early bird…or whenever the time allows?

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28
Feb 10

Thanks Twitter for Yesterday.

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Yesterday I arose early. Nothing new.

I walked the dog and sat down to collect my thoughts as is my custom most every morning. Well, as much as anyone can collect their thoughts with cats and dog fighting.

Sitting down to read my bit of Romans, I first checked my iPhone.

Weather and Twitter updates (you know).

I saw this tweet from Canadian Twitter friend @MistiPearl posted at 6:09 Saturday morning,

 ”Major earthquakes have hit Haiti, Okinawa, and now Chile…Pray and listen to the Holy Spirit…The times are changing.”

Rats.

I hate it when that happens.

Then I started seeing a few tweets here and there about this 8.8 quake that hit Chile. 8.8 is rather large, isn’t it?

It’s hard to sit reading the 14 chapter of Romans when you keep thinking the apocolypse has begun. So I got up and checked Fox News and CNN. Darn, there had been this horrible thing.

The dog began wimpering.  I leashed him up and took him outside. Light began to outline Mrs. Hunter’s house. It was so clear, calm and peaceful.

The other side of the world, life would never be the same.

The earth ferociously opened and devoured.

Thanks Twitter.

Thanks for making me think about how Atlanta sits on the tip of a fault line. How my husband’s office is on the 19th floor of some high-rise. How I found myself praying that when the big quake hits the Southeast it is not in the middle of a workday.

Thanks Twitter.

Btw. I am really super, duper glad the tsunami was a dud. Right @daylilie222.


27
Feb 10

A 2×2 foot square of the floor from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Or was it?

It’s cold here. It’s pretty much cold everywhere.

I don’t do cold. It’s not that I’m being flip, snotty or sarcastically flip and snotty. I can’t do extreme cold without  severe physical reactions such as weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Yesterday mid-morning, the house was cold. The thermostat read 62. I turned it up to 69 the minute I got out of bed.

PANIC!!

The heater had been running since 6 a.m. (a late wake up for me, since I waited up for son’s arrival from soccer game in some county in the state’s nether regions) and the house wasn’t warm.

I called a heating and cooling professional. The second time I called a repair person to our house in as many days. :)  

The nice gentleman from B&H came in with his flashlight looked at the thermostat. Then he went outside under the house. He went back and forth by my window. Then I heard the back door squeak…

“Mrs. Miles?”

Sigh.

I got up and prepared myself for bad news. The nice man that has been walking back and forth in front of my window held up a 2×2 foot square of the floor from King Tutankhamun’s tomb. A solid 2×2 square foot of black tar.

Okay, it was really an air filter, but it was unrecognizable. It looked like the lung of King Tut if he had been alive for the last 3,300 years and a 6 pack a day smoker.

GROSS!! (This wasn’t ours. Ours was far worse and I child might stumble upon this post.)

We forgot to change the filter and the warm air kept bouncing back so the heater thought it was toasty in our house.

Over time, grit and grime ~ layer upon layer of grit and grime built up and shuts down our heating system. Well, the motor still worked but it was getting completely the wrong signal. It wasn’t dead, it was just utterly ineffective.

We can’t let that happen to our heart or to our minds.

Don’t let layer upon layer of dirt slowly build up rendering you functioning yet completely useless and in no way fulfilling your purpose on this earth as a heater to warm a very cold woman’s house.

As I type this I am very warm, thank goodness. 

Just remember…keep those filters clean, y’all.


26
Feb 10

He really didn’t want to go. But I insisted.

The other day I was running late for an appointment. I worked out and there was just enough time to slip into my house and clean up. 

At my backdoor, I heard something. I turned around and saw… 

 

This cute guy. Of course, at the time we met he had no leash. He was on the loose. 

Darn. There goes being clean and purdy for my appointment. I thought he might be from across the way, but need to check his tag which I couldn’t do because that would involve reading small print on his tag. 

I opened the door to get some glasses and he bounded in… 

It was so cute how he ran over to Tebow’s crate and they communicated. So cute until he marked the crate and my carpet. Dogs are funny that way.People just come into a room and act all loud and braggy or flirty and weird to assert dominance. 

Dogs teeter. 

Hi.

There he is right after teeter.  Terribly cute, but I leashed him up (cursing how stupid I was for letting him in our house) and took him to his home. I opened the fence and let him in.

 

He really didn’t want to go.

But I insisted.

 His owner pulled up right as I was leaving, so relieved that her pup was safe and sound. She had been so worried for we live on a very busy street. 

The dog didn’t have a care in the world. He just loved every teetering minute till I made me go behind the locked fence.Dogs are that way, so trusting. They often need the kindness of others to get them home. As a runner, I come across lost dogs quite often. I must smell a certain way when I run.They love the way I smell. It’s a curse, really. 

As one who has gotten many stray dogs home ~ get your dog a dogtag. It helps those of us who smell inviting to lost dogs get on with our lives instead of spending all afternoon trying to get this wayward creature home. 

But of course the most important thing is getting puppy home for they are dear members of the family. 

What lengths have you gone to get a stray pup home?