Ellysa got skates for Christmas and routinely rolls around our house. She has graduated to outdoors but still enjoys sailing by in her pajamas on skates.
Ahhh.... A new room accessory for Ellysa. Paige remembers the luxury of wall-to-wall carpets and can be found napping on this rug frequently!
Once a Lott's Leopard, ALWAYS a Lott's Leopard! The cell phone is a daily accessory for Ellysa; she has F R E E D O M when she can roam and still call home.
Emily's HS Physic's class did a several month project which involed tearing apart and rebuilding electric bikes. These populate the streets and sidewalks here, but none have the long forks and fancy paint job. None of us is too brave about our"street rod", so we have committed it to a charity auction event.
In case you were wondering how to get more "UT Orange" in your Christmas decorating, have no fear, there are still a few of the models like that one on the left available. They also come in purple and neon green but hurry, these are hot-sellers here!
In case you were wondering how to get more "UT Orange" in your Christmas decorating, have no fear, there are still a few of the models like that one on the left available. They also come in purple and neon green but hurry, these are hot-sellers here!************************************************************************************
To Blog or Not to Blog. Ah.... "THAT is the question". And it's one I've been asking for months now when I sit down to document more bits of this experience. I start a day with good intentions and then find myself uninspired to write or, more often, unable to rein in the emotions that swell up when I try to process "life" here. But, even with the risk of my posts sounding like "The Diary of A Mad Housewife", I have resolved to "do better" and start blogging once more.
(Sideways Thought Bar: Since I was only eleven in 1970, I am guessing that the aforementioned movie was not an appropriate film for me to see. I suppose my recollection of a (gulp) forty-year old film title reflects my current brain function. It randomly dredges up ancient memories yet cannot catalog and retrieve information from last week! Let's hear it for middle age!)
Anyway, one problem with taking a long break from this effort is that I don't know how to "re-start". It's much like my excuse for never being a scrapbooker : I find it overwhelming to go back and gather every photo I have.... so I just never tackle any "scraps" at all. In the case of this travel blog, I feel like I have failed to capture so many months of the adventure that I can't possibly retrace my memories in any just way. (Not to mention the all-too-true reference to my memory above!) But, I have heard successful scrapbookers say they the way to start is in the "present". Collect something meaningful, put it in a manageable pile and start some pages. So, with some trepidation that I may regret this public pronouncement, I am determined to begin blogging again. I'm gonna "Just Do It!"
Thanks to my friends and family who keep telling me they are looking for new blog posts. I know it is great to keep up with someone far away though this amazing (and vexing) thing called the "PC". I drink the words of my friend Cheryl on her funny, poignant, blog at: http://thedailymom-wiblogspot,com/ It literally "makes my day" every time I read it! Now our daughter Erin has stepped up to share her travel adventures from Europe to China to Chile. She's a great writer (I'm biased but it is true) and her exploits are more than a little interesting (to me anyway!) You can read her blog at:
http://groh-ingaroundtheglobe.blogspot.com/ . When I awoke this morning without an e-mail update from Erin, I went to her blog to read the details of her first experience with a significant aftershock from the Chilean earthquake. Reading her last words, "I'm safe", proved another value of a blog to this worried Mom on the other side of the world.
So, as we mark over 7 months in China, I will try to be more disciplined about this blog. I know it will be fun to read years from now. My children (and grandchildren?) will hear my "voice" in what I choose to write about and how. Maybe the pictures I manage to post will even be a small recompense for my lack of scrapbooking !
(Sideways Thought Bar: Since I was only eleven in 1970, I am guessing that the aforementioned movie was not an appropriate film for me to see. I suppose my recollection of a (gulp) forty-year old film title reflects my current brain function. It randomly dredges up ancient memories yet cannot catalog and retrieve information from last week! Let's hear it for middle age!)
Anyway, one problem with taking a long break from this effort is that I don't know how to "re-start". It's much like my excuse for never being a scrapbooker : I find it overwhelming to go back and gather every photo I have.... so I just never tackle any "scraps" at all. In the case of this travel blog, I feel like I have failed to capture so many months of the adventure that I can't possibly retrace my memories in any just way. (Not to mention the all-too-true reference to my memory above!) But, I have heard successful scrapbookers say they the way to start is in the "present". Collect something meaningful, put it in a manageable pile and start some pages. So, with some trepidation that I may regret this public pronouncement, I am determined to begin blogging again. I'm gonna "Just Do It!"
Thanks to my friends and family who keep telling me they are looking for new blog posts. I know it is great to keep up with someone far away though this amazing (and vexing) thing called the "PC". I drink the words of my friend Cheryl on her funny, poignant, blog at: http://thedailymom-wiblogspot,com/ It literally "makes my day" every time I read it! Now our daughter Erin has stepped up to share her travel adventures from Europe to China to Chile. She's a great writer (I'm biased but it is true) and her exploits are more than a little interesting (to me anyway!) You can read her blog at:
http://groh-ingaroundtheglobe.blogspot.com/ . When I awoke this morning without an e-mail update from Erin, I went to her blog to read the details of her first experience with a significant aftershock from the Chilean earthquake. Reading her last words, "I'm safe", proved another value of a blog to this worried Mom on the other side of the world.
So, as we mark over 7 months in China, I will try to be more disciplined about this blog. I know it will be fun to read years from now. My children (and grandchildren?) will hear my "voice" in what I choose to write about and how. Maybe the pictures I manage to post will even be a small recompense for my lack of scrapbooking !
(PS: If this post is dated January 2010, please ignore that. It is really March 13th, 2010.)
