Hey! I'm a Guest Blogger!

On Friday, I was the guest blogger on one of my favorite blogs -- the blog of Singer, Songwriter, Motivational Speaker, and all-around wise woman, Christine Kane.  Christine is doing a month of guests speaking on the power of setting a single-word intention for your New Year, rather than the more conventional New Year's Resolution.

My word was "Refine."  Please click over and have a read.  And you might, as I did, end up coming back to this great blog again and again.

7 Random Things

So, my best friend Cheri at "Keeping up with HIS Plans" participated in this fun game.  I'm sharing to help her out.  

1.  After a prolonged and valiant battle against the computer cancer euphemistically termed "planned obsolescence," my nine-year-old beloved Dell Latitude went up in a triumphant puff of electronic smoke after my son dumped a near-empty soda can into the back port yesterday afternoon.

2.  I finally found a really good website to assist me with all those ballot issues in Montgomery County, Maryland.  And it's written in language you can really understand. Now, I'm just trying to figure out the best time to arrive at the polls so as to avoid the crowds and the rain.

3.  I'm on the committee organizing my 20th High School Reunion (Class of 1989) for Roy J. Wasson High School in Colorado Springs, CO.  If you're wanting to attend, it's July 17-18, 2009.

4.  My entire family is sick, and as a result, my children have watched entirely too much TV in the past three days.

5.  Sunday is my 5-year wedding anniversary.

6.  My sink is full of dirty dishes.

7.  I talk to my mom on the phone almost every day.  I love that my long distance is (very nearly) free these days.  There were months when we lived overseas that the phone bills made me want to cry.

Thanks, Cheri, it's been fun!

St.Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

"On the Road Again...

...like a band of gypsies we go down the highway."

Well, in our case, it's not exactly a highway. It's six airplanes, followed by a 5-day highway trek across the US. We could have gotten there in four airplanes, but decided to take some decompression time in Waikiki on the way home.

It's always something to watch your belongings packed up into boxes, and packed into crates, and then loaded on a truck. It's amazing that despite moving 8300 pounds of stuff away, we are managing just fine with the four plates and saucepan that we kept behind while we wait for our scheduled departure.

I learned something new...

Yesterday, I learned something new about my host country. When you park on the street in a parking spot that's been delineated by white borders, you have to pay to park there.

I guess it's like having a parking meter there to shove quarters into, but it was just different having a Korean man approach me and try to explain this to me, when the only word I really understood was "Musso" (which is the name of my car -- kind of like someone would use "Accord" or "Mustang").

Well, problem solved thanks to a little explanation by a store owner who spoke good English. The price? 1,000 Korean Won per half hour - about $1.10.

Time for some new art work

Well, despite being too busy to think most days, I took some time this Wednesday to attend my art class. This art class is held every week, but I have only found time to attend three times in the past two and one-half months. But, I am going on an extended trip starting next week, and I wanted to finish two paintings that I had been working on. I HATE to have unfinished projects hanging over me (which should tell you how happy I am going to be in about 6 weeks when I can say I've finished my graduate project and exams, and am just waiting for graduation!)

So, here's the debut of these two new paintings. The one featured here was inspired by a photo of a hibiscus bloom that I took while vacationing in Hawaii in November, taken outside our beach cabin at Pililaau Armed Forces Recreation Center in the town of Waianae on Oahu. It is a departure in subject matter for me. I've now painted four paintings, three of which have been landscapes. This is the first time I've stepped out of that subject matter.

The other painting has been added to my sidebar. It depicts Kimchi pots on a roof top. Anyone who's been to Korea will instantly recognize this icon of Korean life. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing Kimchi, you can read more about it here. But, truly, kimchi is not something that you can truly know until you have tasted it. (As an aside, I had the best cabbage kimchi that I have ever tasted this week at the home of a friend, Lee JooYeon, who is the wife of our chaplain. Like many things, the store-bought kimchi pales in comparison to that made at home with love.) If this painting looks familiar, it's because I posted an in-progress look at it before during this post on January 15th.

Encouraged by my teacher, Mrs. Shim JungAe, I am entering both into the local military fine arts exhibition and competition that will take place late April through early May.

No, not a blog party, a pity party!

Okay, the fact that my good friend Cheri actually posted a link to my near-dead blog has embarrassed me into posting.

Why no posts last month? I just didn't have the energy. Princess Pea was sick 3 out of 4 weeks of February (stomach flu, cold, ear infection in that order). So, every shred of energy that I had was pouring into taking care of a sick toddler, then trying to arrest the chaos that my home was descending into, then trying to finish my graduate project (now only 5 weeks to go until the deadline). No energy left for personal blogging.

Plus, what time I did dedicate for the internet didn't suit itself for posting to the blog -- you see, often when I try to access blogger, even when I'm logged in, everything displays in Hangul (the Korean language). It makes it really hard to post. I can't do anything except click on the orange button, which I can usually remember means "publish."

Okay, pity party over. Now let's resume blogging...