Busy Lives

Update Time....

Michael ~ We don't hear from Michael every week and this is one of those weeks where we didn't.  If you had asked me if 5 or 10 years ago if this could ever happen (the not talking to him part), I would have never been able to imagine it. I might have even burst into tears at the sheer THOUGHT of not speaking to him daily. I only say this because I still run into people who feel this way about their children. And somehow, Life just takes care of it. They grow and go off on adventures, and luckily, it doesn't usually happen all at once. And you just kind of ease into it. I feel a little sad, writing that now, but he's happily cavorting around on adventures, and that IS what he wants. So that's what i want for him. I'm still planning to spend a couple of weeks in Nicaragua in November/December, when he has a work break. And he'll be back here for Alyssa's wedding in April. There are moments when I miss him terribly - but it's not constant, like I always thought it would be. I guess this is just what having adult children is like. :::wistful sigh::::

Katie ~ Katie is firming up her apartment options for Los Angeles. She and two of her friends are doing the paperwork to get a really nice 3 bedroom gated community apartment. Plenty of room for Mom to come visit!! She's working a lot, trying to save as much as she can for the California Life!  She and I will probably drive out there around the 15th of September.  It will be here before I know it!
Tomorrow, our friend Ari is coming over to do new Head Shots for auditions out there. Ari does great work, so I'm sure her photos will look wonderful. Katie's also making it to lots of free Midnight Movies because of her job at Cinemark. Fun!!

Alyssa ~ Alyssa is in Wedding Mode - big time. This week, she tried on dresses, signed with a caterer, made all the food selections, did a second meeting with the florist for minor changes - and I'm sure there was something else, but it tires me just to write all that!  Wedding planning with the internet at your fingertips is an entire different ballgame than when I got married in 1987!  Pinterest pictures, blog suggestions, online registries - wow! It's pretty cool, really.  Alyssa's other big news is that Milk n' Honey offered her a position in their new Apprentice Program. She started this week. Lots of studying and hands on work. It's going to be hard, but it will be so great to learn even more.

Ron ~ Ron has had some motorcycle problems this week. He broke down on the side of the road. Bummer - especially when it's 100 degrees by 11 am! But all that is forgotten because he's heading up to Lake Texoma in the morning for 3 days! This is an exciting trip because Katie, Alyssa, Josh, and I are all going to go up there on Sunday. The kids are so excited to go fishing there. We're all going to sleep on the boat!! I'll let you know how that goes. :)

Tonight's dinner:
Lemon Pepper Tilapia
with a hearty veggie soup/stew
Delish!

Sue ~ I'm not really sure where my week went. I spent a lot of time taking my mom to dental appointments. She had a crown fall off, so she has quite an extensive "treatment plan" for it. She'd love to be driving herself to these appointments, but there's just no way she can manage it. She doesn't agree. It's a hard spot to be in - for both of us. I'm still working out and trying to figure out what to eat. It's hard to know what to do - high protein, low carb? plant-based, non-dairy? high veggie, nothing processed? What does "balanced diet" mean anyway? It certainly changes depending on who you're talking to! But the exercise seems to actually be changing the shape of my body, and I'm down a couple of sizes. That' a good thing! Ron got the ladder attached on the boat, so I'm looking forward to lots of swimming at the lake this weekend.
Oh! And I have been busy this week blogging daily for the NaBloPoMo challenge. Some of the days, I even wrote more than one blogpost! I'm sure my friends are getting tired of seeing my Facebook Updates! haha!


Forgot to mention, Grandma is going to stay at our house this weekend with all the dogs! I think it will be okay. I guess we'll see!

Related Blogposts:
Videos, Boxes, and Even a Wedding
Ron's "New" Boat
July Update: What? July is OVER?

New York, New Sailboats, New Beginnings!

We're busy. And recording it here, helps with my memory issues. When I'm old and have my house by the sea, like Miss Rumphius, I'll use these blog posts to write my memoirs.  Maybe.

So, since last we talked, a few things happened....
We'll start with ME!

Sue
I did fib a little, when I posted the last family update. I had written most of it before I made the last-minute decision to go see Katie in New York. She finally confided in me that she hadn't given a lot of thought to the idea of my coming for her end-of-the-year stuff, because she thought the flights would be too expensive. But the more I heard about it, the more I realized it was a real graduation. And, since she had never graduated from anything before - I needed to be there! I got online on Friday, the 11th, booked a flight, and flew to NYC - La Guardia at 7 a.m. the next day. I was happy that I didn't have to use my seat extender that Michael picked up on one of our last flights. When I got to Charlotte, NC, I decided I should probably tell Katie, in case she made other plans. She was pretty excited to hear I was only a couple of hours away! I met her at her dorm, and we went to lunch at our traditional restaurant, The Barking Dog. It was the first place we went to eat when she first moved there. Mother's Day was far from typical, as I spent it in NYC.
Healthwise, I'm still working on it. While we did lots of walking in New York, we did lots of eating too! It was so good! But now I'm back on track. Kinda.

Katie
Katie finished up her year at NYFA and graduated on May 12th. She was so surprised that I flew in. She had a lot of fun with her friends in their last days in NYC. She has a couple of friends who are going to move in with her in an apartment in Los Angeles - which is where she'll do her second year with NYFA. She really didn't enjoy the NY winters, so I'm sure LA will be better in that regard. Several of her instructors told me that she could stay in NY and start working right away - and who knows, maybe she'll go back and do that. It's good to know they think she's good enough for it! Lots of compliments as to how driven and passionate she is about acting. I wish I could have seen her Scene Study that her group did the night before I got there. They all said she was incredible in that. Sean, one of the tech people, said he will upload it so we can see it. Here's more about Katie's graduation.
After I helped her pack up her dorm, she came back to my hotel to sleep in comfy bed. Dorm beds aren't that great. We ate breakfast and parted ways at the airport. She got the rest of her stuff organized, hung out with friends, and hopped on the plane for Austin on Thursday. The layover in Orlando was too short, evidently, because Jet Blue lost her huge suitcase. Actually, this worked in our favor - we didn't have to lug it in the Prius - with Alyssa, Grandma, Katie and me. They delivered it to our door the next day. Katie's enjoying open skies and lots of room in the house. She'll be looking for a job this summer.
Katie wrote her own blogpost about the highlights of this past semester in Birthday, Sick, Final Performances, and Home for the Time Being. 

Alyssa 
While I was in NYC, Alyssa got her call back on one of the interviews: Milk + Honey Salon in the Arboretum. They're working on an Apprentice program and are willing to start her as a Shampoo Tech/Salon Assistant.  She'll move into the Stylist role as soon as possible. For now, she's happy to have a job at a really pretty new salon. She gives a great head massage during a shampoo, so I expect she'll make great tips! Since she's only working 3 days/week right now, she's spending a lot of time fishing with Josh - and having great luck! This will be the first summer that she isn't booked solid with classes since 2008! She is definitely relieved to be done with all that!

The Magazine Cover!

Michael

Kathya's Graduation Festivities!

Michael has several new blogposts up at his blog, In the Nica Time. His Tumblr blog was too unwieldy for him - especially with his limited internet access. But the articles are still up there until he can get them all moved over to the new blog. So now he's at Blogger.  One of the really cool things that has happened is that he's been published in the Peace Corps Magazine for Nicaragua. His articles, Motorboats, Mansions, and Monkeys: las Islets de Granada as well as The Great Volcan Masaya, were both in the March issue. And one of his pictures of Muelle de los Bueyes was published on the cover of that issue! Glad that degree in Journalism is getting some use!
His girlfriend, Kathya, graduated from college with a degree in Engineering. He was able to get back to La Paz for the graduation and did a little more sightseeing. I'll keep you posted as he puts up more articles/pictures.



Ron

Ron's still motorcycling over to the train station and catching the train to work. Most of the time, he likes this little trek - reading his Kindle while people get on and off the train. He's looking forward to UT's Spring semester finishing up - much fewer people on the bus, no bicycles squeezed into aisles, etc.

Ron's big news, though, is the sailboat he purchased on Mother's Day Weekend. Here's the update on Ron's "New" Boat. He's taking lots of trips up to Lake Texoma, 4.5 hours away. The boat is actually 44 years old - something great about that!! I'm happy to say that the air conditioner he ordered from Amazon just arrived today, so I might be able to brave the Texas heat overnight on the boat. I expect the cabin will cool down quickly with that!


Grandma
Did I tell you that after taking her car from her last Fall, my mom went out with a friend and bought another? A clunker with 130, 000 miles on it! She barely drove it, but desperately hated the idea that I was preventing her from driving. Last weekend, she threw her back out, so I ended up with the car keys. I've decided that much of this depends on the "presentation" of the info. So, for now, we are "sharing" the car.  She takes it for Mass on Saturday night when the parking lots aren't so crowded.  Going cold turkey on the car issue was just too much for her.

Family Updates

2 weeks in one!

We had a busy couple of weeks so I missed my Friday Family Updates.  I'm never good on any kind of schedule, so why that surprises me, I don't know!

So here's a bulleted list of what the Pattersons have been up to for the last couple of weeks:

• Alyssa turned 18 on the 26th. She had a little party with Josh's family the night before. Very sweet of them to do for her! We shopped, went out to eat at Olive Garden, and hung out with the family on her actual birthday.  
• Katie turned 21 on the 28th. First time to have a birthday away from me...EVER! She went out with friends all day long. Her big gift this year was 2 tickets (great seats!) to see Seminar with Alan Rickman (Snape from Hogwarts).  She took her friend Allie to it and they loved it. 
• Michael is doing well in Nicaragua. They have 3 day weekends every week, which is nice. This week, he's spending it in La Paz. They're doing a Peace Corps inservice on Spanish. He's going to be SO fluent when he gets home! The people in La Paz are wonderful to him, so this will be a fantastic week for him. 
• Pam Sorooshian came to visit for a few days. We worked on NHEN business and figured out a plan to sustain enough income to keep the website up. She and I spoke at an UCAustin event about The How's and the Why's of Unschooling.  We ate a lot of good vegan food while she was here and she's really encouraging me along this path.
• Ron and I went to Fredericksburg for a few days just for fun. We ate German food (decided we really don't like it that much). I tried every bread pudding offered in every restaurant. If you're going to be a connoisseur, A Connoisseur of Bread Pudding is the one to be! I'm also a Connoisseur of Stuffed Mushrooms. But not on this trip. We spent hours in a fabulous metal art place. I came home with a granite/wrought iron table, a blue ceramic pig and a chicken planter. We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast called Hoffman Haus. They delivered breakfast to our door in a basket. Very sweet AND yummy! A super cool blonde siamese cat hung out with me all morning on the porch there.. Just like home.
• I've decided to retry the vegan diet again. The goal this time is weight loss and getting rid of my medical diagnoses. Like I linked above, I'm Going Vegetarian. So far so good. I'll send weekly updates on how that's progressing. I've heard a lot of encouragement from people behind the scenes about doing this. I think I can do it. Now, the exercise aspect of losing weight...well, I'm sitting here typing instead of walking the dogs!!! :-/

I didn't get around to my wonderful idea about creating books or videos for the girls' birthdays. I wrote about it I Love A Party! I still might do it though. February always creeps up on me. 

I shared a lot of great baby picture reminders of when Alyssa and Katie were born. For those who don't really look at Facebook much, or just because Facebook stuff scrolls away so quickly, here's our Blast from the Past!

Kaitlin Jean Patterson 

Dallas, Texas     February 28, 1991

It's amazing how pictures can fade! The ones in the boxes did so much better than those in the scrapbooks. It's like the color was just sucked out of them! Katie had tons of hair, as you can see! Ron was away at the Gulf War and Michael was at his Uncle Scotty's house. The mum hanging on the TV says, Kuwaiti Katie. We always said she was born an activist, she stayed late inside me, refusing to come out until the war was over! That's a Sit In! 

And how 'bout that Dallas hair and make-up?? hahaha!

Alyssa Jane Patterson 

San Antonio, Texas    February 26, 1994

                                                      I love those pictures of Michael and Katie kissing their new baby sister, Alyssa! Julie and Zachary were in town for Katie's birthday (2 days after Alyssa's), so they were able to be there for the Big Event.  Look at her smiling!! So sweet!

"Friday" Family Update

It's getting harder and harder to actually do these ON Fridays! Not sure why that is, but... oh well.


Michael had a great week in Nicaragua. He's really settling in there and doing well. Here's his most recent Video Blog. you can see any of the vlogs, he's done since he's been over there. He has a blog too, Nica Time, if you want to keep up.

Katie's show, Pillow Talk, opened at the Player's Club in NYC. Ron was able to go up there (for a whirlwind 36 hour trip. More about that below). Katie had the lead in her One Act play, and Ron reported back that the audience LOVED her!  He heard many glowing compliments of how well she is doing, what a hard worker she is, how great she is in class.  Yes!!!

One of Katie's friends at school found someone that Katie could room with in L.A. They met and chatted and it looks like it might work out.  She's having so much fun with her friends there - I'm glad several of them are going to go to LA for the Second Year of film acting with Katie.

Alyssa has moved to her final phase of her program. Students in "Avenue Four" are taking clients on the salon floor all week long. She's really good at cutting, and especially good at color - so if you need something done... :) Notice in the pic how all my gray is gone. Thanks to my own personal stylist, Alyssa!
Alyssa and Josh are getting excited with their wedding plans. We've firmed up the cake person: Krissy's Cakes. And they're trying to decide on different flavors for Groom's Cake. They're also furniture and apartment shopping this week. It's fun to watch them figure out what to choose!
Alyssa turns 18 this weekend. She'll be spending the day before with Josh (he works on the 26th), then his family is having a little party for her. She'll be with us for the actual day, and luckily, she doesn't have to go to school that day!

Ron is adapting to his new diabetic diet. He's not happy about how much time he has to dedicate to staying on top of his blood sugars, but he's doing fine with it. He added the laminate flooring to the new "Guest Room" this week. The new (old) bed moved in there. You can't really see the flooring in this pic, but at least the stained carpet is gone. We splurged and got a new bed. Just when the kids start moving out and we should be downsizing...we go the completely opposite direction! This is our queen sized one we've had since Michael was a baby, now in the Guest room.

Since we missed last week, you should know that Ron took his first trip to New York City! He actually had a great time - adored seeing Katie in her show, and had a great time with her as she showed him around NYC. They skated at Rockefeller Center, toured the Empire State Building, visited her dorm, wandered through Times Square, rode the subway, ate a little cafes.  Katie took more pictures and they have an adorable one at the Empire State building. I'll write a blog post next week about it and link it here. I'm so glad they got to spend that time together - just the two of them.


Sue: My birthday was this week! 51! We went to Mandola's for Italian food. It was delicious. Alyssa and I indulged in some yummy dessert.  This is the way (for me) to go! Often, I'm the only one who continues to munch on cake for the rest of the week. So just getting one really fabulous dessert (Zuccoto Cake!), I'm spared the bazillions of calories of HAVING to finish off an entire cake over the course of the week! Alyssa is a new gelato fan. She brought me a very sweet card (from Josh too) and some lovely purple tulips. Beautful! Michael and Katie both called, and we had long talks. That's really all I need for a perfect birthday. Still, Mom took me shopping for clothes. And many lovely comments on Facebook  and texting greeted me all day long.  

My friend Lillian shared this with me today:

Friday Family Update

even though I'm not getting around to it until the weekend!


Alyssa
Tonight was a Fashion Show at Avenue Five. Alyssa did one when she first started as an "Avenue 1", and now as she's finishing up "Avenue 3", she's did another. Ron, Josh, Grandma and I all went. It was loud and fun and the stylists did great work. At the end, the stylists walked the runway with their models.  Fun evening!
Another biggie for Alyssa this week is that her school held a Mock State Board Test.  They all had to go through various procedures with no assistance from teachers or communicating with each other. They worked on a mannequin for most of it, but had to use each other to be checked off on "Nails". They did a manicure, a facial, a chemical, a color, a cut. She was really nervous because they tried to make it as similar to the real State Boards as possible. All serious. No talking. She doesn't really like the First Run of anything. She prefers to sit back, take it all in, THEN take her turn. She didn't get to do it like that this week though.  But...she passed with a 90!! I'm impressed! And by the end of the week, she received a card in the mail saying she's eligible to go take her State Boards.

Katie

Katie's been super busy with classes this week. And she added in rehearsals for her show next week (Feb. 17th).  It sounds like it's going to be wonderful.
She learned how to make her first Pork Chops in the Crock Pot recipe! Success! I think she's going to try Spaghetti next.
We've decided that she can come home for Spring Break. All of her friends are going to be gone, so it will be better. She wants Alyssa to trim her hair, so that will work out too. We're going to postpone taking the trip to LA over spring break. We'll just wait to do it in May. Pam's friends have been checking out various places that Katie finds online. Then they give the Thumbs Up or Thumbs down signal.

Michael
Michael is learning why Nicaragua needs Peace Corps volunteers to help them teach English - the teachers there have a lot of resistance to it. They just don't think anything will work. The Peace Corps is starting to lean toward the concept of focusing on the Learner instead of the Teacher...so that's a good start. He is really enjoying his new living arrangements though. They stay up late asking questions about the program, his life, etc. All in Spanish - so he's going to get really good. The other house had several English speakers, so the others would often defer to them, and Michael wouldn't get much Spanish practice. Not here though! The only pitfall is that there is no meat in this house, they simply don't have the money for it. Nor is there much in the way of fruits and veggies - just rice and beans. So Michael is going to use his weekly money to help subsidize the food there.  He also told me that he and Kathya are getting very serious about each other. They are going to work on getting her Visa so she can come with him for Alyssa's wedding in April 2013.

Ron
The Sonogram showed no mass, no real structural problem to note. But why he's at 40% on his kidney function...? He has an appt. with the nephrologist on Monday. He's having no pain now. He's also thinking it could be from that really hard fall he had in a hockey game a month or so ago. Possible.

Sue
Nothing new this week for me other than the big Police Operation in our neighborhood on Friday night. Helicopters overhead shaking the walls. Police cars everywhere, talking over their loudspeakers - not that I could understand them. And then as quickly as they arrived, they left for the next neighborhood over. And within the hour, it was all silent again. A weird night in Suburbia!

Friday Family Update 2/3/12

What's up with everybody? Some of it's good, some not so good...so I'll just lay it out here.

Selva Negra Coffee Plantation

Michael packed it in this week. He completed his first youth group class on his own last week. He was supposed to have help, but his answer to why didn't you? "Well, it's Nicaragua." His class size was supposed to be about 15. He started with 36 and grew to 62 students! Since he teaches English, he had to figure out a way to do oral exams for all those kids! 51 passed, so he felt really good about that.

He just got back from a Peace Corps training at the famous and gorgeous Selva Negra coffee plantation and resort. It's located in the Matagalpa Highlands. Michael said it was really cold up in the mountains. After the training, he went to La Paz afterward and stayed with his Nicaraguan girlfriend, Kathya's, family. They are really nice to him (as is everyone in La Paz! It was his first town to live in and his host family was wonderful.)
Michael did get a new place to live. He hasn't spent much time there yet, but I'd imagine we'll hear more soon.
Oh! Michael has a blog with posts, pictures and videos called Nica Time. You might want to check it out!

Katie with NYFA students

Katie had a roller coaster of a week. She auditioned for a 4 man show (2 girls/2 guys), that the teachers were producing. It's going to run at The Players Club, which isn't a school location; so it seems like a big deal. She did her audition, and felt like it went well. They asked her to sing something (she always has something prepared for these things), and then she left. Callbacks were the next day. Well, that day came and went - no call back. I think *I* was more disappointed than she was. She reminded me that that's just how this goes and I was  struck by the idea that that is why SHE is doing this and I am not! But 3 days later, the director called her, offering her a part! It turns out he didn't need to see her a second time to make the decision - he knew on the 1st audition! So the show is going to play on February 17th, and Ron has decided he's going to go to brave New York and see it! We just made the flight reservations tonight!
Another rough part for Katie's week, she and her boyfriend (who lives here) broke up. When the phone rang at 11:30 p.m., all she could say is "Mom?" then sobbing and near hysterics. I had no idea what was wrong. My disaster mind took off and every possible scenario of what COULD have happened to Katie in NYC, flashed through my mind in those 3-4 seconds!! Not Fun. Finally, she was able to say what happened, we talked a for a while, and she decided to go to bed. The next morning, her friends at NYFA comforted her, took her to lunch and out shopping after class. When I talked to her around 3 p.m. the next day, she was all better.  And then, today, she was invited to audition for the part of Maureen in RENT! I'm not sure where this production will be, if it's a NYFA version or off- off- off- Broadway. We shall see!

Alyssa is snipping away her hours at Avenue Five Institute. She took the 900 hour test this week and passed. It's required to pass before you can move on to the last phase, Avenue 4. She worked on a friend of mine's hair this week, cutting off 10 inches for Locks of Love. My friend was very pleased with the results and her husband even sent Alyssa a text saying how fabulous the color was! Alyssa loves to do color, so she'll probably add that as a testimonial on her website she's building.
We spent more time planning the wedding, booking people for the date. We are going with an Italian food catering company, Mr. Tomato, which will go perfectly with the Tuscan Villa theme. What they lack in their name choice, they make up for it in taste. We tried a variety of really delicious options, and they were so great to work with!  We also spent an INORDINATE amount of time with a photographer, Lisa Shepard who owns AIMAGE Photography. She was wonderful and we hired her on the spot. Tomorrow we go to secure the venue, so I'll write more about that next week.

Ron is running into some health issues. He ignored his pre-diabetic diagnosis from the doctor, eschewed the Metformin, and opted to try to keep his sugars in check with diet. That didn't work. This week, his sugars climbed higher and landed him with a Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis.  Add to that, his lower back pain he's had for maybe a year now - something he attributed to playing hockey or hiking - turns out to be a some kind of kidney problem. His numbers look bad, so they are scheduling him for a sonogram next week.  He is not happy about the dietary change I have in store for him, but I will wait until we hear from the doctor next week. He's actually excited about going up to NYC to see Katie perform, and I think I'm going to find some cool sightseeing things for him to do while she's in class!

Sue met with a new women's group at Toci over the weekend. This group is going to meet a couple times per month and really help each other stick to our goals and plans. One of those plans is to increase the creativity in my life. This week, my friend Cydney and I resurrected the Unschooling Blog Carnival.  Here's a little more about Behind the Scenes.  Another project is that we're going to start moving toward meat and dairy-free diets. It's going to take a lot of effort - I have such a steep learning curve with this. But I'm going to make this work!

Friday Family Update - 1/27/12

I thought I was going to do this EVERY Friday - but that was during November when I was getting all organized about blogging with NaBloPoMo!   So it's time for another update, because quite a few things have changed.

Michael

Michael is still in Nicaragua but he is having to change host families. He was with a family that was very nice to him (most of them), and it was their first time to host a Peace Corps volunteer. Michael liked the people. I talked a little about them in our Christmas Eve blog post.  I don't want to write a lot about the specifics, but the Peace Corps is apologizing to Michael and he has had the opportunity to canvas the town for prospective host families. His host families receive a good amount of money, so there were several in the running. One family that he liked very much needed the money a lot. They were really friendly and wanted to involve Michael in all of their activities. They had no door on his room - only a blanket. And the Peace Corps requires that the volunteers have a lockable door on their room. Michael and the family were brainstorming on ways to afford to fix this when the Peace Corps supervisor decided that the home would not be acceptable. It seems that the family lives within 50 feet of a river and they are on the side of a mountain. Michael told me the P.C. Supervisor said that's the kind of home that gets wiped out in a mudslide! Yikes!
Family #2 were in much better shape financially. Nice home. Offered to cook for Michael daily. But the teens in the home have a lot of drama going on in the town. Probably not a good place to put a High School English teacher.
Family #3 was full of young adults. The parents are out of the country most of the time, and the teens at the house are cared for by aunts and uncles who are in their late 20's and early 30's. Michael thought this sounded like a LOT of fun. But their home is across the street from a pool hall that serves alcohol. Peace Corps Rule #something - not within 100 feet of a bar. And this counted as a bar.  Squash the party house. (whew!)
Family #4 is a Hostel. An older woman runs it and offered to feed him if he will bring home some beans or a chicken once a week. There are several people that live there permanently (her family members) and also passing visitors.  All criteria were met, Michael liked them. Voila! New home found.  Michael is off on some kind of learning trip to go on for 3-4 days in the mountains, so he plans to move out as soon as he returns. I hope that all goes well!

Katie

Katie is still having fun in NYC. She went back in time to watch the Ball Drop.  Temps are getting pretty chilly for her so we sent her an electric blanket. I love that she has a mail room IN her building. They even notify her if she has a package to pick up.  She's having fun in her classes and getting a lot of great compliments from her instructors.  So we were trying to think where she was going to live for her 2nd Year with the New York Film Academy. It seems that most of her class is going to take the 2nd Year at the Universal Studios campus.  And Katie would like to go! She said that she reads about great opportunities available for students, then reads it's at the LA Campus. So this looks like a good idea. Especially since she's really interested in film. I think she'd like to return to live in New York, but we'll see where the work is.  So. Now that we are all familiar with New York, we have to figure out how to do Los Angeles!  And she'll need a car.

Alyssa

Alyssa has only 500 hours left to complete her Cosmetology degree. That puts her graduation around the end of April/first of May.  I think she's getting a little Senioritis - she's been going non-stop since June. With no break over the holidays! But that's not her biggest news. She and Josh have decided they want to get married.  She plans to work for a year at a salon before the Big Day, so they're planning on an April 2013 wedding.  We went to the Bridal Extravaganza at the Palmer Auditorium and have been on the quest for venue and caterers ever since.



Ron & Me
Ron's still working his tail off and I'm working on my book. And hosting the Unschooling Blog Carnival.
But we did have a nice weekend at the Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains. We even trekked over to the McDonald Observatory (read more about that) and got to look through the 36 inch telescope!

Never a dull moment! Right?

Friday Family Updates!

Here's an update with what's happening in our world....

Michael has been in Nicaragua for nearly 3 months. He was in La Paz with a warm loving family. He had lots of classes, lots of supervision and it was all prep for the assignment.  But tomorrow he is moving to his new permanent location on the eastern side of the country, the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS).  This portion of the Nicaragua has been notably separate from the rest of country. Michael described it as "cattle country" and said it looked like scenes from an old western movie - dirt roads in town, saloon, old buildings.  That was when he was on a week-long visit to the new location. The elections are over, Ortega (a Sandinista) is still in power, and so maybe it will stay calm while he is there. It's VERY possible he will be the only white guy in town, definitely the only American. His Spanish still needs more work, but he'll get plenty of practice. Most of the people around him on this side of the country do not speak any English. And his original host family found it improper to correct him, so he's not getting it as fast as he had hoped. That will probably change! I think his biggest lesson might be to learn to not speak up when he sees oppression and political problems. He already told me that in the elections, there were sometimes more votes cast than there actually were people in the town. hmmm. (Michael, shhhhh!)

Katie has been in Manhattan going to acting classes full time.  Her roommate is from England, so that has been interesting for her. She takes special coaching classes now to help her with tightness in her body that she didn't realize she had. This weekend, she has tickets to see An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Patty LaPone at the Ethel Barrymore theatre. She will LOVE it!!  And she comes home for Thanksgiving next week. Tickets were half price to fly ON Thanksgiving Day, so she will be breezing in just in time for a 4 PM feast! Poor child has been living on Lean Cuisines and street vendors!

Alyssa is wrapping up Phase 2 of Avenue Five's Cosmetology program. She has been on the salon floor for 2 out of 5 days per week. Phase 3 moves into 3 of 5 days per week.  She has several aesthetician friends that are graduating (there program is 1/2 as long) and she's a little sad about that.  But she's on track for graduation in early May.  She has a 104% attendance rate (she clocks in early in the a.m.'s). This strikes me as funny because I think she had about a 64% attendance rate when she went to Pflugerville High School.  So I'm meeting her for lunch and we're doing a little shopping at Cavender's - right across the street from her school. "Mom, it's a Miss Me Jeans sale!!!"

Ron has been trying out different campgrounds each weekend. But THIS weekend, we're putting together a greenhouse for the backyard! No more lugging plants into the bath tub with a grow light for the winter! Now they will have their own winter home and that makes me happy!!

I'm trying to spruce up the house for Thanksgiving. Ron's brother Scott and his wife Pam are coming for dinner.  Alyssa and Josh are going to his parent's house at 1 p.m. and then back to us at 4 p.m. I might send them to pick up Katie.

Gracie...back inside, comfy on the couch!

*1 more update! Gracie escaped this morning! I heard barking and I thought it was the dogs barking out the front window. But the door wasn't shut all the way when Alyssa left for class and there was Gracie, sniffing around in the yard. It was sending Buddy around the bend, he knew it was ALLL WRONG!!!  So, one quick, "Hey Dogs! Treats!!" and she was right back inside. As Josh would say, "that's a trained dog!"