Patricia Harrelson

So much is going on and no time to blog (blogging in my head certainly does not make it public). So I’m opting for a summary of some pretty fantastic times with pictures of some of the notable events.

The first picture is at the “It’s a Jungle Out There” Awards Dinner at which Cody and Taylor were among winners of the the essay contest. YEHAW! Cody & Taylor! The next picture is the field trip to the Wild Animal Exhibit at the college to which Jenny and Jennie Lou brought the kids. The children were quite fascinated by this unique display of wild life. I also had a wonderful picture of the gang who attended Cindy’s birthday party at the bowling alley, but we somehow deleted all of Cindy’s birthday pictures when uploading new pictures. We’re trying not to be sad and planning on requesting pictures from others who were there.

In addition to these, highlights, here are a few other things I’ve been doing, starting with the playful things and ending with more work related activities:
1) We’ve attended 3 plays: “Our Town,” “Escanaba in da Moonlight,” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
2) We are consistently watching at least one TV show a night, including “24”(a surprising choice for me in terms of action/violence, but I’m hooked), the last seasons of “ER” and “The L Word,” and “Bones,” “House,” and “The United States of Tara,” as well as some documentaries on PBS.
3) We’ve been to the movies several times and saw “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Taken” (I had my eyes closed for most of this one.)
4) One Sunday, I attended the Chapel in the Pines to hear Charles preach and Ra sing, then went to All Saints where August’s confirmation peers hosted a lunch and a silent auction; after which I went to my friend Meryl’s Open House.
5) We went to the Mother Lode Christian School Jubliee and got some wonderful buys in the silent auction, including a box of classic books and a sweet musical carousel collection.
6) I’ve read several good books, including Steps & Exes and the Life of Pi and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
7. My writing group meets 2 times a month and they are truly an inspiration as well as a huge motivating factor for me.

Working Life includes:
1) Working on the Women Inventors book with Julia. We are conducting phone interviews right now with some AWESOME women.
2) Home school with 2 families. It’s a delight to watch how much growth the kids have made since last fall. Everyone has some new-found skill, and Cody headed off to “real” school this month which was an exciting and momentous change.
3)College work is steady. I have about 18 assessments underway and hope to finish them all before we go to Mexico at the end of April.
4)I’m part of Distance Education Cohort Group at the college which as me deep into designing an online version of a course I taught for teachers before I retried.
5) Cindy and I are working on a collection of Ashley’s writings, a project that is tender and unbelievably special.
6) I’m on day 12 of the Maker’s Diet and feeling more settled into this new way of eating (and food preparation).
7) I get to yoga class anywhere from 2-4 times a week with an occasional Zumba class in there and I walk on the fire trail most days. (Here I am on UTube doing Zumba)

Life is rich, but I do miss blogging. I’m going to work on doing more regular posts. If I write short ones, I’m sure I can do it!