The fundraiser is on Saturday.  Things seem to be going well.  I'm not too nervous.  That's good.

We've collected about $230 so far.  I hope people will come on Saturday.

I bought some rubber Zumba bracelets to toss out to the audience.  Three women ordered Zumba tops and they'll be happy to know they were delivered today so they can wear them Saturday.

Need to go by the newspaper and see if they'll run an ad for us.  I might need to off this recliner to get that done.

Celia has done the decorations and I'm excited to see what she came up with.  She's exceptionally good at decorating.  I know it's going to look really pretty whatever she does!  I'm so lucky to have met her.  She's quiet.  I like her very much.  She has pretty hair too.  She wears it about shoulder length and it's salt and pepper.  Her hair is strong and healthy.  I'm sure a reflection of her physical and probably emotional well-being.  She seems well anchored.

We are having revival for three days at church.  Last night was as full as the morning meeting.  I've never seen an evening service so full before.  The music was great.  The preaching was great.  Pastor Ayers was funny and thought provoking.  This is my first revival. 

The fundraiser is going well.  I'm praying people will come.  A local deejay offered his sound system which will be even better than my one speaker so I'm overjoyed about that.  Got two good women working the door.  Decided to give the water out for free.  Need to get playlists from other instructors.  Need a couple coolers with water for the ice.  Need to compose and send out email.

I had to abandon the two routines I've been trying to learn.  Sometimes I find Beto's stuff too hard to follow.  I picked two YouTube videos by Zumba instructors instead.  They're much easier and in three days I have them almost learned compared to three weeks of practicing Beto's and still not getting his timing down. 

Gee, where has the time gone.  The city had donated the use of the Civic Center for the fundraiser.  They only required a deposit which one of the ladies in my class paid.  So nice of her.  I made flyers and they turned out beautiful if I do say so myself.  Very blue.  The office supply store in town printed 60 for us as a donation.  I am keeping notes and after it's over I will run an ad in the paper to thank all the people and entities who are helping this fundraiser come together.  A t-shirt seller who is donating money from the t-shirts will have a table at the event.  A lady is offering some of her hand crafted jewelry for a raffle.

Today I did some practice with a group of about seven high schoolers who are gonna dance a routine with me.  They even choreographed a couple parts of the song for themselves.  I'm so proud of them.  They will not regret participating.  I told them today not to get hung up on technique.  The steps are secondary.  I told them have fun, ham it up, and even if I or they make a mistake keep moving.  I explained that if they're having a good time the audience will pick up on it and they'll have a good time.  If you are anxious the audience will pick up on it and they will be uncomfortable.  I think they'll do well.  I want to contact two more groups of kids and my goal is to do three routines with three different groups of kids.  I envision one set of kids running on stage for their song, then running off at the end as the next group runs in.

Checked the audio available at the Civic Center and it's quite sad.  It's only a PA system.  My music was no good on it.  Thought I was going to have to find a DJ.  But husband said to me to try my speaker out.  I didn't think my speaker would have enough power but guess what.  It did!  It's sounds way better than the PA system.  Happy, happy me.  Location, sounds, flyers, water.  The grocery store is donating water. Check, check, check, check.  Now to find donations for meals and gas for the instructors coming to town.

Got a bit of excitement when yesterday the Civic Center manager told me the 10th was double booked.  He was wrong.  Thank you for that.

Have a small glitch in that the other instructor here in town that I invited to dance has a Zumba training on exactly the day of the fundraiser.  She was supposed to do 30 minutes of routines.  Either I have to work something out or I'm going to have to do an hour instead of 30 minutes.  She does not yet realize her training is on the fundraiser day.  I don't think she's terribly organized.  Lucky for me I noticed it.

I got the church announcements done and they look pretty nice.  Pastor and his wife have both commented on how much they like it.  Pastor even used the word "awesome."  Funny thing is, I look at it and see all the parts I want to do better.  I think it's just okay.  I want to do better!  My hand is tired though from doing our flyer plus announcements video plus making tickets.  Ladies in class want to sell fundraiser tickets which is a grand idea but another thing I have to do on computer.  I need to figure out how to make a dashed line in Microsoft Word.  I tried so many ways to make tickets myself but to no avail.  Time wasted.  I can't put numbers on them that's for sure.  Too much work.

I'm developing a thick skin regarding my playlist for Zumba.  After we went to Cruces for a Zumba class and the teacher was so great I came home and hated my own playlist.  Ha.  Sad.  Some people in class want faster, some like slow, one wants more this, one wants more that.  Sigh.  Think I'll try making Mondays a faster class and see how it goes.  I can do faster it's just that my class grew when I slowed it down a bit.  It's a challenge keeping people happy and I really want to work on student retention this year.  I want to keep them coming back.

Mayela had a fab idea.  She wonders about setting up a class in a town that's 30 miles away and has no instructor.  I told her if they have 15 people who will sign up for a six week session I will do it.  We'll see what comes of it when she mentions it.

My hair.  It is about two inches from my knees!  Just noticed it yesterday.  And even better, the ends are good.

It's a small town here.  One of the girls in my class put out a flyer and tells me the boy's mama was at hospice and signed him up for hospice.  Hospice.  

He had a very, very good day today with no side effects.  He's visiting with family who came to see him and everyone is loving on him and the family very much.  He went to school one day last week and had a good time and everyone wanted to see him.  He seems exceedingly well adjusted, considering.   

The next round of chemo, a stronger chemo than before, begins next week. 

With much help from my Zumba crew, I have spearheaded a Zumba fundraiser to raise money for little JR.  I am scared and excited about doing it!  The date is set for Saturday, March 10th, 4-6pm.  We haven't yet got the location we want.  Must do it Monday.  It's not much time, but it would have otherwise had to be after May.  I've got five, maybe six instructors who've agreed to come to town from Cruces.  One is Ryan Grovey who seems to have a big heart.  The spirit of God is moving in our town.



 

My cousin died a couple days ago. Age 68.  In Vermont.  Fell on ice, hit his head, and died.  His sister got an email about it.  Usually you'd think a phone call would be in order but things are not all that they could be.  Things are broken.  So he's gone.  And it's very weird to think of that. 

Such a good night.  I had 23 people in class!  We finished with a big Conga line.  Haha!  It was fun, fun.  At my church it is the year of Double Portion so I've been prayin' and puttin' legs on my prayers and I got an answer even better than I'd anticipated.  I earned more than twice what I earned last January!  That's a double portion.  God is good, all the time.  Well, the way He works is not what I expected.  He closed Zumba at the gym for a month and made me the only instructor in town.  Still, I'm expecting good turnout in classes in the coming months.  I suspect numbers will drop when the hot weather arrives, but I'll work it till then.  Strike while the iron is hot as they say.  I also sold two sets of toning sticks and one t-shirt tonight. 

"...And Elisha said, I pray thee, let there be a double portion of thy spirit upon me."  Elijah performed seven miracles and Elisha, 14.

I bought new Zumba tops and they're duperly cute.  I needed some new Zumba threads bad.  But, I do not like how low cut they are.  They go all the way down to my bra.  I'd like them to be two or three inches above my bra.Tomorrow I'm going to Walmart to see if I can find something, not too hot, to wear underneath.  Necklines are so low nowadays.  Does everyone want to show 3/4 of their heavenly endowments?  I don't.

The pastors liked my video announcement slide show.  I have a second one almost finished.  I learned to make a reflection in Photoshop.  I've always like that effect.  It was easy.  Found a YouTube video that was a snap to follow.  I started with Windows Live Movie Maker.  I learned that the older version of Movie Maker (aka "Classic" Movie Maker) is better and a very helpful guy online helped me to find and download the Classic Movie Maker onto my Windows 7 machine.  Normally, it doesn't work on Windows 7, but he did something to it so it does work.  Smart guy.

My face swelled up yesterday.  Sad me.  It's my fault too.  It started at 11pm.  But.  I wanted to get a good night's sleep.  If I take Zyrtec before bed it makes me sort of tired yet not sleepy tired, yet if I sleep it's not a good, deep sleep.  So I thought it would go away by morning.  Big surprise.  Woke in the morning and felt my face then saw my face.  My lower left cheek swollen like a jowl and lips like Angelina Jolie.  Angelina Jolie's lips on my little face is a bad thing.

I sucked it up though and went to Zumba.  By 6:30pm class the swelling was down but not gone.  From the stage they couldn't see the swelling so that was good.  I was glad I went to class.  My face was sort of sore.  It felt like I'd been shot full of Novacaine at the dentist.  Well, enough about that.

Maybe I will fly to San Diego for the Zumba Gold for seniors training.  I want to go to California for the class so I can get a different teacher.  Vanessa Lupercio from Arizona is good, but I've had her for every single training.  I want to experience a different Zumba Education Specialist. I want to be the best that I can be.  A student tonight said she took a Zumba class in Cruces.  She said my class was so much better.  Aw, I think she's just used to me, but nevertheless I felt happy that she gave me such a nice compliment.  It motivates me to try, try, try harder.

I'm praying frequently for a little boy age 13 in town who had his arm and clavicle amputated.  Cancer.  And I'm trying to answer questions from people about why God is doing this. I tell them God is good and the devil is bad and don't ever get the two mixed up.  Disease is not from God.  It entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden when the serpent convinced them to eat what they were told not to eat.  Here they are in paradise, clothed in shekinah glory, and they can eat anything they want except from this one little old tree. I tell them, we can't know why the young become ill with awful disease until we see God and can speak to Him and ask him ourselves.  I need a better answer though.  Is there one?

More scuttlebutt!  Well.  Suffice to say, I don't think the instructor I know is renegotiating her deal.  I'm not going to ask her what happened. I don't want to make her feel any more down than she's probably already feeling.  But, word on the street is she was fired.  Fired!  That's the word from the gym.  Well, I don't know what really happened for sure, only what I've been told.  They say she missed too many classes.

It's a shame it came to that.  She worked there an awful long time.  I feel bad for her.  I know people think I'm peculiar feeling that way on account of, technically, she's competition for my business.  But oddly, I do not feel threatened at this time.  Perhaps it will change when there are six Zumba instructors in town instead of two.  My belief will not change though.  I believe if I apply myself, practice regularly, listen to students, be reliable, begin class promptly, choose the right songs and the right moves, and keep it fun, keep it fresh, that they will come.  They will continue to come.  I was told that one student said I was "organized."  I suppose I'll take it as a compliment!  I still pray every day before class and after class.  And when I arrive to the center I pray real loud because the Holy Spirit inhabits our praises says the Bible, and I hope my praise hangs in the air for the next hour and blesses each person.

That's today's excitement in my town.

I had 19 in class tonight.  I love the chatter before class.  It was loud tonight.  Sweetness to my ears.

I earned enough to order a new pair of pants tomorrow!  Purple!  I was thinking maybe a red daisy instead, but I'm drawn to the purple daisy.  Yet, I already have one pair of purple tie-dyed pants.  Too much purple you think?  Naaah, ya can't have too much purple.

Karaoke.  I sang tonight.  My first time.  I had such fun.  Now I can't stop thinking of more songs I wanna sing.  I sang Bye, bye, Miss American Pie, drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry.  The words were really easy to see in front of me and the word you're supposed to sing lights up.  I killed part of the song because I only know the chorus by heart, but luckily my friend, Sarah, from Zumba came and sang with me and she has a duper good voice and she knew the tune!  She's in her early 30s and she knew the tune in its entirely better than I did.  We got a big applause when we were done.  I'm not sure why because my voice was pretty bad in parts, but it was fun.  On my way out they said, "Why are you leaving so early.  You sing and leave?"  I told them it was time for me to go home because it was already a late night out on the town.  It was 8:15pm.

Going for a two hour hike tomorrow with Audon leading.  He says he found a place here that's nearly as pretty as Sedona.  Can't wait to see what he speaks of.  Mayela's coming too and hopefully my husband.

One of my favorite times to go to sleep is when my tummy is full.  I just heated up the delicious dinner husband made and it's so good.  Meat and potatoes.  I can't live without him.  I can't really eat other people's food.  Very little is as good as what he makes.  I would wither without him.

Chocolate cheesecake husband bought from the store is my dessert now.  Mmmmm.

There is Zumba excitement and change going on.  Evidently there's been some sort of unrest at the gym - same gym where I started and left within a month.  In retrospect, leaving was the best decision I could have made.  The pay is low.  Extremely low.  Well, the scuttlebutt is that the instructor I know is wanting to renegotiate her deal there.  I hope it goes well for her.  She loves Zumba and she has done fitness for 17 years.  She's good at it.  Well!  If they won't work with her, she wishes to go on her own.  And!  She asked me if she got a studio and made it a Zumba studio would I want to join her.  I said, if I made as much or more money as I do now, I would be interested.  We'll see.  It could be a potential opportunity.  Other news...the gym is going to get Zumba licensing for four people.  My goodness. I think it's overkill, but whatever works.  I love Zumba and I expect it to grow but I don't think six instructors here would all fare well.  Nevertheless, I will do what I love and hope students will come.  I'm expecting a good Zumba year.  January has been good so far.  I'm working on a hootchie mama routine.  Haha!  The song is "Buttons" by the Pussy Cat Dolls and it has no profanity.  Hard to find that, ya know.  I think the ladies will get a boot out of it.  I have a 'pull your lace stockings up' move in it.

My husband says I have a good thing going and don't fix what ain't broke.  He's usually right.  He says they want what I have and that's why all the hullaballoo.  Funny thing is, I went through a phase when my confidence was shaken because a student I really liked changed to the other location.  But after a week, I shook it off and realized there are more people out there and there's no need to fuss over the exact same students.  I will find new students!  I have. And she has come back occasionally so it's not that she hated me.  She just likes someone else a little better.  That is okay!  My goal this year to improve as an instructor is to be more verbal.  I'm doing it every night.  It's a challenge because I'm naturally quiet.  But I can see it helps to give verbal motivation and to share information.  I spend time reading online to find something to say. I like finding quips that make people smile.

Life is good.  Although, I've had no swelling for awhile and I told a friend I had no swelling and I guess I shouldn't say it out loud because the next day I woke at 8:00am with my left pinky swelling up.  Dang.  Took a Zyrtec and it stopped and went away in a few hours.  God is good.  All the time.

I bought a totally cute top online.  I wore my new knee high boots, black leggings and the top to church last week.  The boots...hurt my feet.  Booo.  But they're really cute.

Fifteen students tonight including some new ones who returned from last week.  Sold two sets of toning sticks.  They'll love 'em.  I sure do.

So I saw a thread at the Zumba forum tonight.  Questioner says, "My classes are small and I want growth, so how do you get an old hippie community inspired?"

The answerer says, "even old hippies need to exercise, don't they? Perhaps, you could include some of Beto's rock 'n roll music. The old hippies (italics are mine) are beginning to have a variety of health issues like high cholesterol, heart, etc. So play up those elements. The hippies  (italics are mine) loved their music & they loved to dance."

Dang.  I resemble those remarks.  "The Old Hippies."  Puh-leeze.  Are they lab rats?  Do Old Hippies not have a heart?  Do they not have human feelings?

I got called a hippie last week.

I woke early.  At 10:30am.  With Zumba music playing in my  head.  Then I got butterflies in my stomach.

Twenty-two students Tuesday night and I expect a generous turnout tonight too. I'm learning and improving as an instructor I think.  To my mind, the class is a little bit easy but to non-dancers and those who are just getting into a fitness routine, it is not.  I've slowed myself down a bit and took more time to do the steps without style and flavor at first and then as a song progresses add style so they can digest the steps more easily.  I'm not sweating as much but it appears the students are getting a good workout.  I forget that I'm in fairly good physical condition and then I would tend to go all out in the routines and I think I was alienating new students.  On Tuesday night I had that realization.  I realize now I must cater to the needs of my class.  It is not my own workout.  It's for them.  I learned this from Diane at Zumba.com.

I'm excited and anxious for class tonight.  The new routine I introduced Tuesday was a hit.  I believe a few people might come back just for that one song!  "Taki Country."  I earned enough Tuesday night to help with the new car payment.  Praise God.

Also on Tuesday two ladies came and watched and they spoke to me after class and sounded very interested in returning to do the class.  I hope they enjoy doing the class as much as they enjoyed watching it.

God is great and greatly to be praised.

It went very well and on my husband's advice I decided not to make an announcement to the entire class, but rather take the one person aside and talk with her when class was over.  She started to cry and apologized half a dozen times before I even said three words.  We talked a few minutes.  She hugged me.  I hope it never happens again.

I think she's a binge drinker.  That's my take.  My heart breaks for her.

Had a student in class who had been drinking.  I have to address it tonight to the entire class.  Not especially looking forward to it, but I'm a man.  I can handle it.  I can do it.  I will do it right because I want it to be a good class.  A righteous class. 

I read a girl's blog and it was interesting and I was fascinated to get such straightforward insight into her thoughts on things and her life.  She comes to my Zumba class and she invited me to read her blog.  I'd love to leave her some comments but I have to sign up.  Like I need one more profile and password on the internet.  She's at tumblr.com.  I'd never heard of it.  From what I gather it's great for photography and people repost others' photos.  They "retumble" photos. I may sign up just to see what it looks like.  But I'm going to tell her about blogspot because she's definitely a word person.  Definitely.

I finished a blue and purple daisy chain necklace.  It has one boo-boo in it but otherwise is very pretty.  So delicate.  This is a progress photo.

Good grief.  Pastor's wife is holding a volunteer meeting on Thursday and Mayela wants to go.  I asked her if she realized we are supposed to show up knowing what we want to volunteer for.  She said no and asked what do I think I'd do.  Told her I would offer to give a beading class.  How to make a daisy chain bracelet.

I don't know what to volunteer for!  Look at me.  Look at me!  I don't know about this whole thing.  It has me worried.  It never works out for me.  I have not found what God wants me to do.  Supposedly he's given me at least one gift and talent.  I don't know what it is.  I can bead alone and I love to bead alone or with my sister or with a few ladies at the beading store.  But teaching people?  Teaching Zumba to the 10 to 15 year-olds stunk.  I was so excited to share the joy of exercising and fitness and dance and they were not interested at all.  Well, a few were.  Five out of 23 were interested and their faces were a pure delight to me.

She couldn't decide what to volunteer herself for.  I told her to think of what she likes to do or what she liked at the Catholic church that we could do here.  She said she likes retreats.  Oh Lord.  So tomorrow she's going to come over and we're going to brainstorm volunteer ideas.  I'm going to suggest she think of something, hello?, SMALLER, that she could do because she suggested she and I plan a retreat together.  I've never even been to a retreat before.  Ever.

Yikes.

Rose quartz

This is on elastic cord but when I get a magnetic clasp I'm going to restring it on regular beading wire. The rose quartz beads are not good quality so it pains me to have them strung with the purple amethyst because those are of good quality.  I got those for $18 for a string.  And when I first started beading I really didn't get the different between base metal vs sterling silver and a couple of the spacers beads had tarnished so I think the spacers are sterling silver.  The focal bead has hearts on it so I'm thinking about using craft wire to see if I can form some head pins with a heart to make earrings.

I fiddled with a variety of beads to get a good combination with the rose quartz, then I realized sometimes it's best to stick with simplicity.

I like the feel of these on my arm even though I don't care for the beads themselves.  I think I'm liking smooth, shiny semi-precious stones.

Etsy says do not use a flash when you photograph jewelry so I photographed it in natural light on the coffee table. 

Next I'm going to try making a seed bead bracelet.

Carnelian

Mayela came over today at about 1pm and we had a nice long visit.  We ate tamales for lunch then watched Passion of The Christ, then sat down for more tamales (I had chicken soup) and she, my husband, and I, talked over dinner for an hour.  Then we did a Bible study on the Parable of the Sower aka The Parable of the Four Soils.  Then at about 9pm she left.  Tomorrow we might go shopping.

So I took my bead box out a last week, or rather I had my husband get my bead box out of the shed.  I love going through all my old beads.  It's like seeing old friends.  All the plans I had that I never followed through on...hopes, dreams, desires.  Anyhoo, I decided not to go to bed until I made something.

I used 1 mm Stretch Magic elastic cord.  I prefer elastic bracelets and I thought I was making it for myself.  This one fit rather high on my arm but it felt good.  Or I could let it go to the bottom of my wrist and it wasn't too annoying. The stones are so big that they felt smooth and weighty on my wrist instead of light and flittery.

I love the look and feel of these stones.  The findings are all leftovers.  The stones are actually several of my least favorite of the string but still gorgeous to my eyes.

Carnelian is a quartz that has a waxy luster and is usually brownish red to orange but comes in a lot of shades and colors.  Geologists classify is as a chalcedony in the quartz family.  It has the same chemical makeup as agate so what one person calls carnelian could be another person's agate.  I suspect these have been heat treated to make the hues and lines stand out.  Some carnelian is naturally very red, but heat treatment enhances the color and beauty of carnelian.  It has a hardness on the Mohs scale of 7.

As I gazed at it while the glue was drying it did occur to me that it looked like a something Mayela might like.  She came over and I showed it to her and sure enough, she liked it.  I kind of wanted it for myself, but she'll wear it more than I ever would.  It looks real purty on her arm.  She wears bracelets every day.

So my first bracelet made in a long time went to a home where it will be loved.

My husband got me Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish!  I'm installing it now.  Merry Christmas!  One week of 2011 left.  We got our son a butler bag which is an all season sleeping bag good to minus -20 degrees.  He needs it for trail riding in the wilderness with Anthony.  We got him the book Killing Lincoln and a red patriot pen from the O'Reilly site.

I desire to go to Costa Rica with Mayela next year.  She's invited me.  I only worry some about my body.  The Zyrtec works very well but this morning it started at 6:00am and part of my hand is swollen a little.  I took a Zyrtec at 6:40am.  I should have done it as soon as I felt the slightest itch.

Whenever I leave my husband I go into entropy - inevitable degeneration.  I gotta find my man pants, but once I pull them up can I keep them on for a few days in Costa Rica far, far from home?

My back is killing me today.  I don't know exactly how I did it, but my lower back is aching like last year when I rode that mule for 45 minutes.  I'm just chilling with it today as if you can chill with pain.

Husband and son are gone to Cruces to get gifts.  I told my husband not to go get me a gift today because I want him to sit with me and watch football (this means I'm on my computer and he watches football) but he flat refused.  They went earlier this morning and came back after they did a 360 on the interstate.  It's snowy and icy here.  They got to Cruces okay on their second trip in the afternoon because the road is thawed out now.

I just don't know how I did this to my back.

Talked to my dear old Dad.  They're expecting company.  His voice was quiet.  I'll call my sis in a little while.  I hear she has a cold so they aren't going to Dad's today.

The new Zumba DVD has a routine with Celtic dance on it and I'm crazy about it.  Can't wait to learn it.  I have it half way learned already.  I think a sign of excellent choreography is when it's easy to learn.

Totally want to go see War Horse this coming week.  I want to take our son to see it too.  It's supposed to be excellent.  The horse is played partly by the same horse who played Sea Biscuit.  The story is based on a fictional novel written in 1982.  Set in WWI.  Directed by Steven Spielberg.  Supposed to be awesome.  Hundreds of extras and horses used for the acting.  I was surprised by how many horses were used to play Blackie in True Grit.  They are so super careful to treat the animals well nowadays.  I'm so glad.  In the small part where Blackie swims across the river five horses were used and one was a mechanical horse.  Amazing!  I'm always trying to figure out which shot is the mechanical one.  I think it's the shot were you see a close-up of Blackie's breathing and laboring through the water as he swims.  I think that three-second shot is the mechanical one.

Got infected by a computer virus this week.  Husband was able to get rid of it for me.  It's the second time in two weeks.  It was coming down via an automatic update from Adobe Reader.  It was a fake update.  I went to Adobe Reader in my Programs list and selected Edit, Preferences, Updater, and chose "Do not automatically update."  I had to check it a couple times too because once it unchecked itself.  Evil people have nothing better to do than design malevolent viruses to attack innocent people.  Some people need a life. 

November hair.  Uncombed.  I need to measure.  Will I ever reach 50"?  Will I ever reach knees?

Aw, I didn't get the job.  They said they'd call today and last time she called me for the clerical test she called at 10:00am.  Someone did better than I did on the interview and clerical test and that's not a far stretch to figure on.  Shoot.  So it was practice for the next job interview.

Right now I'm making some Christmas ornaments out of candy to keep my mind occupied.  They're super easy and kinda cute.

I used a hot glue gun instead of frosting for putting it together because no one will want to eat them after fingers have been all over it.  I used red pipe cleaners instead of string.

Tonight at 7:30pm we're going on a horse and carriage ride with Laura.  We saw her and Joe driving by to set up last night.  It was like a caravan going by!  It'll be cold out but should be a neat ride.  I wonder where she'll take us.

On my way home from Zumba Tuesday night I got stopped by the coppers!  I'm such a ditz.  I was driving my new car in the dark with the headlights off.  Seemed like I could see fine.  Surely I would have noticed they were off eventually.  Anyhoo, I don't know where he came from but suddenly, bam!, he's right behind me with enough lights pointed on me to light up a stadium.  I pulled over and sat in my car and waited.  He took a long time to come over.  I was waiting for him on my side of the car, but he knocked on the window on the passenger side and I jumped.  I suppose it's safer for him on that side.  I already had my wallet out and he told me my lights were off.  I was flustered and checked and sure enough someone, named "my husband", took the headlight control off of automatic.  Soooo.  That's why they were off.  The policeman never asked for my I.D.  He was very nice.  I got home and told my husband never, never take the lights off of auto again or I will get stopped by the police!