Tonight I was asked if I'm from the hippie generation - by someone older than me!  I replied that my husband says I'm stuck in the '70s, so there ya go.  Then we talked about the horror of '80s fashions.  That was the worst decade for buying clothes in my life.  Stripes I remember.  Everything was in stripes.  And those peg leg pants.  I was never so happy as when the flared legs made a comeback.

This video cracks me up.  It's a Pentecostal salesman.

I'm home.  It was a good visit and my dad is doing well.  Really well.  The diagnosis was correct and he's on steroids and is feeling the best he has felt since 2008.  He's been up and around.  Talkative.  In good spirits.  It is a delight to our eyes.

In San Diego I got to eat out every day.  We went out for Italian one night, sushi one night, Mexican one night, and Chinese.  It was delicious.

On the plane home I got a window seat and I saw the landscape all the way from California to El Paso.  It was neat.  I wished I knew exactly what features and cities I was looking at as we flew overhead.

San Diego has had lots of rain and was exceedingly beautiful.  It is one of the most beautiful downtown skylines that I've seen.

While in San Diego I had three inches trimmed off my ends by Dad's wife.  They look super duper nice now.  She did a good job.  I'm now at 46".  Again.  Can't seem to get out of the 40s.
  
Got my shoes back from the shoe repair and they're practically like new.

In San Diego, our eldest son flew in the same day I did.  One night we talked till 4:00am.  Makes me want to see his wife and his babies.  Makes me miss them.

Took Mayela to the Baptist Church for Good Friday today.  It was pretty good.  I don't want to go to my church because we have a visiting pastor that we don't particularly care for.  He's not the most dynamic speaker.  I'm gonna go to a different church on Sunday too.  I rather like visiting other churches now and then.  My friend has asked me to show her how to look stuff up in the Bible and I'm looking forward to it.

Went to look at piggies today.  They're still sucklings so we can't buy one yet, but boy, they sure are cute.  Our pen is almost ready.  We need a cover for it still and are thinking about upgrading the water drinking situation.  We learned last year that a pig who first drinks out of a bucket will never, never learn how to drink from a nipple spout.  Poor Winston would get so thirsty but it was hard to keep him with water because pigs always push water over to make mud.  A nipple spout would be better because they can drink as much as they want whenever they want, plus the water later in the day will still be cool instead of hot or warm.  Cool water makes pigs happier and maybe will help him grow better.

I have a Zumba training tomorrow.  It's Zumbatomics, so I will be learning how to teach Zumba to children ages 4 to 12.  I'm looking forward to it, but not to the drive or getting up at 6:45am to get there on time.  The classes are a little draining too.  I have genuine fun till noon or 2pm, then I want to go home!

I'm catching a plane at 1:40pm tomorrow.  Flying to San Diego to see my dad.  He went in the hospital today.  They think he has a rare autoimmune disease.  Doctors say they need to be aggressive in starting treatment with steroids and they will not wait for the results of the biopsy because the disease causes blindness so fast.  I want to go see him.

Psalm 121

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.
 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.

I did some alterations to my renaissance dress and it fits even better.  I took in the vest 1/2 inch on each side.  Moved some buttons on the skirt to make it show more of the underskirt.  I made some elastic bands to go around the sleeves to hold them on my arms better.  The sleeves are super long and the elastic that's in the sleeves must be for a football player with giant forearms.

My Madonna shoes from 1985 will go perfectly with the dress.  They look old timey.  We need to get the heels repaired though because they've disintegrated.  I have a leather necklace to wear with it.  Need earrings kinda.  Have to figure out what to do with my hair.  I'm liable to be hot if the weather's hot.  It's a lot of fabric to wear on a hot day. But.  It'll be worth it.

I got the sewing bug and tacked down the back pockets on a pair of cargo pants that every time I washed the pockets stuck out.  That took like ten minutes.  Ten whole minutes.  I felt very accomplished.

Think I need to trim an inch off my ends.

Glenn Beck is going off the air.  I won't miss him much.  He's depressing and overacts for the camera.

I did my toenails and they look nice.  Dark blue with a layer of glitter.  I feel much prettier with painted toes.  It's the second time this year I've done them.  I was going to do them regularly, I think it was a New Year's resolution I made in a moment of weakness, but after January I promptly fell off the wagon.

It's never to late to jump back on.

I cleaned the bathrooms today.  Both.  They look better only I didn't have the energy to do the floors.  Used to take five minutes for the trailer.  Took me an hour in here.  Maybe over an hour.  Actually, I don't know because I lost track of time.

Got my period today.  Thank you, Lord.  Now I can be on the upward swing instead of continuing on the downward spiral.  Had sweats and a chill last night.  Legs ached.  Back ached.  Brain ached.

I want to cut a t-shirt today.  I didn't go sing in choir this morning.  I didn't go to churchity-church.  Partly chicken, partly just felt too bad to go.  I lay in bed till 11:30am.

I noticed on "Deadliest Catch" tv show that they bleeped out the word "God."  They bleeped it out when he said, "G-d*mn," however, they didn't bleep it out when he said, "Thank God"  which he said more than once.  Apparently it's okay to thank God, but not to curse him.  But why did they bleep out the word God instead of the word d*mn.  They edit out the cursing language, right?  To my knowledge, God is not a curse word, but d*mn is.

What was it the apostle, James, said?  Oh yes, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." The first time I read that one I took a double take.

Got my new Zumba apparel and I love everything.  Even got cute little Zumba bracelets and I'm gonna give one to each person who comes and participates in the parade next month.  

I'm crazy about these tee shirt cutting videos.  I have two tees from the craft section at Wal-Mart.  Only paid $2.95 for each one.  Will practice on them

Talked with my sister who never calls me or emails me anymore.  I know she loves me though.  She's had health trouble and her work is highly stressful on top of it all.  It was a good talk.  She saw Dad.  He's by himself for awhile.  He spilled some coffee and dropped some of his prescription.  She cleaned it up and stuff.  She made him dinner.  It was good that she stopped by.  I think he had had a bad day.

I'm going to go to Mayela's now!

It happened.  I knew it would someday and that day came yesterday.  Twenty years it took and I thought I could ignore it.

Got my tattoo when I was 31.  On my arm.  Got script.  My husband's name.  My dad has a tattoo on his arm from when he was in the military which now appears as a complete blob.  He was thoroughly unimpressed when I got mine.  Can't blame him.

And 20 years later, that calculates out to yesterday, I was asked "What does it say?"  You see, it's all blended together now.  My holy temple of the Holy Spirit quite desecrated.  Many times over desecrated.  Thank you, Jesus, for redeeming my pitiful, lost soul.

In other news, I earned over 1k with Zumba last month.  Maybe I'll send some to the scammers from Africa.  Not.  I was so happy to pay my rent out of it.  I was really proud.  It's not a lot, but I earned it myself.

When I was paying rent for my Zumba space I mentioned that our son is going to private Christian school next school year and she asked me if I'd be interested in working for them.  She said they'd be advertising next school year and my being a homeschooler was good experience.  Wow.  I felt very good that just from talking me as little as she has that she'd like to have me on as an employee.  Very nice.

I went to a Catholic church this morning just for the ducks of it.  My friend wanted to show me a book they use there.  It was good, but not as good as my home church.  I felt pent up and I was afraid a little burp might come out of my throat and everyone might hear.  They sure have a lot of tradition there all right.  Went to my regular church for Sunday night study.  Got three nice comments on the length of my hair.  I wore it in a side braid.  Pastor spoke about end times.  Super interesting.  I have the best pastor in the entire USA.

My husband threw his credit card in the garbage at a New Mexico rest stop.  It's been a problem.  So he has my card.

I just ordered a beautiful outfit for the renaissance fair. 

Mayela is a good listener.  She has a soft heart and very good ears.

She came to church with me yesterday morning.  I've been wanting to take someone to church for ages.  I asked her.  She said yes.  She thought it over for weeks. Best of all, she liked it.  I think she genuinely did.  Her son performed in a drama piece and he did well.  She was proud of him although she was quiet about it.  I could tell she was nervous beside me too.  I was introducing her to people, and this being a small town, and she being involved with the school, everyone already knew her.  Good grief.  I want credit for bringing a new person and she knows more people than I do.  For eight years she's never come to this church.  She could have, but she didn't.  I like talking with her because she's interested in the Bible.  Iron sharpens iron.  I'm looking forward to some good debate with her.

I got a new chair for my desk and it cost $160 and I don't like it.  I'll have to return it if our son doesn't like it.  I have a nerve in my behind that gets pinched in this chair and makes my leg ache.  I'm bummed about it.  Hate to package it all up and drive 75 miles one way to make a return.  Maybe I'll buy one of those giant exercise balls and see if it makes a good seat.  The executive chair also takes up more space than I expected.  I don't wanna tell my husband because he was so nice to make a special trip to take me to the store.

Proud Mary was the new routine we did tonight and guess what.  Everyone loved it!  It is the most rewarding thing when the class really likes a song.  It's so worth all the practicing.  A lot of them were singing it and a lot of 'em whooped and hollered and then they clapped afterward.  Wow.  What a rush.

After cool down I reminded everyone that Zumba is for all ages.  I told them that in the workshop I took there were people from age 18 on up to their 60s and 70s and it's a true fact.  One of my students today mentioned that we have a wide range of ages in our class.  That's a compliment although not an intentional one.  I hope it stays that way.  I told the class tonight that there's a wide range of ages because they are understanding that Zumba is for everyone.  You simply must adjust the fitness level for yourself and make it high impact or low impact dependent upon your body.  Then I told them to all give themselves a hand for doing a good job and we clapped again!  I love being a Zumba instructor.  I have such wonderful students.

But tonight we had a little incident.  There are movies after Zumba.  The movie people come in at 6:30pm and set up their stuff.  I was running five minutes late because I couldn't decide what song to take out of rotation, so Proud Mary put us at 65 minutes.  Well, James the movie guy pushed the button to bring down the giant movie screen.  I was doing cooldown and the screen, if I didn't move, would hit me and crush me.  Okay, might not crush me but it was right overhead.  I asked (while I'm teaching) him if I should stop.  He said no, but he did not stop the screen coming down.  So I moved but then no one would see me if I was on the wrong side of the screen, so he said move in front of it.  I was a little close to the edge of the stage then.  Well, I am too quiet.  This is a known fact.  And I just tried to finish on the edge of the stage.

So class was done.  I did my little talk.  We clapped.  Class is done.  And a visitor, a lady whom I chatted with before class, well, my goodness, she went off on James for pulling down the screen on me.  Oh dear.  I ignored it because I didn't know what to do.  Then two gals came to me and told me I better say something.  So I went over and said, "It's okay, it's okay.  He's a volunteer."  Well, she wasn't buyin' it.  lol.  She went on for a good five minutes.  I let James fend for himself.

Truth is, he shouldn't have brought down the screen on me.  He's a little quirky that way.  But I don't want to make waves and get kicked out.  I called Nadine to give her a heads up on the incident just in case she hears about it.  Ya never know.  Better safe than sorry so I'll let her know what happened so she doesn't get any surprises.  It's not a real big deal anyways.

I don't like altercations.  I don't like arguments, disputes, noisy arguments, or controversy, thank you very much.

I talked with James and he seemed okay about it.  He wasn't mad.  I said I was sorry.  I'm not telling my husband I said sorry because my husband gets mad at me for it.  Says I say I'm sorry too much.  Know what I say when he tells me to stop saying I'm sorry?  I'm sorry.  Hehe. 

I can't help it.  I have a sorry problem.

I'm one of 10

Uncle Jim put me in his will.  Me, and nine others.  And I can't tell him thank you because he's not here.  I would never have thought he would include me and my sister in his will.  I feel really bad and really happy at the same time.

Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hager has been abducted by aliens.  He says they downloaded his brain, or uploaded it, or both.  Happened in Fontana, California.  I didn't know he was a member of Montrose.  We luuuuved Montrose in the '70s.  Rock Candy.  Rife with angsty, angry lyrics and head banging for the 17-year-old.

Excellent article at WSJ, "Why do we let them dress like that" today.

Saturday night we went to a Zumba master class in Cruces. It was good. I want to try some things Nathan Blake did. Someday. I want to learn how to split the class and dance two sides facing each other.

I have two friends. I think. And I thank God for that. They are beside me in the photos. I feel good to be with them. They are both beautiful to my eyes. Mayela drove. She offered and I said okay. I didn't tell her the lights hurt my eyes at night, so I was very glad she offered.

Yesterday I learned I am in Uncle Jim's will. I feel bad about it, but happy also. Shocked. Undeserving. All the nieces and nephews are named. Ten of us. I cried to hear of it. My dad, dear, sweet, tender Dad, said, "Aw %$#*, you're not gonna start whining and blubbering now are you." lol. I'm used to him by now! I am a new creature in Christ, praise be to God! Uncle Jim and Aunt Delores worked hard all their lives and accrued much. I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that my sister and I would be in a will, in his will. He left $100,000 to his dearest sister who is closest to his age. She is my Aunt whom everyone loves. I think she can't stop crying. She misses him. They were close. It was always cute to hear the siblings chide one another. I will miss hearing that banter between all of them. If only we could save time in a bottle. If only.

No looting in Japan

There's no looting in Japan because they are Japanese.  They set the highest example for the whole world.

Simply the best

I had simply the best Zumba comment ever today.  After class I walked outside to put my speaker in my truck and two of the ladies were chatting.  I overhead the word "inspirational" but I assumed they were having some kind of non-Zumba related conversation.  They stopped me and said how much they liked the class, that the music was so inspirational.  And then the lady with no hair told me she's had chemo and that she believed that coming to my class helped her avoid a blood transfusion recently.  She said her blood levels were good and she was convinced it was attributed to her coming to Zumba once a week.  Wow.

It made my day.  It made my week.  It made my month!

I have two Christian songs in my playlist.  One hip hop, one for cool down.  I pray each person is blessed when they come to my class.  I pray before class.  I pray after class.  Without fail.  Sometimes I even thank the Lord while I up there dancin'!

The mom of a 16-year-old boy in town told me her son told her I have the body of a 24 year old.  My, my, what a nice compliment.  Then he said, althogether, I look 45.  Well, I'll take it as a compliment too, being as how I'm going on 52.  Then he said the thing is, I need to color my hair.  Bwa hahahaha!  Sweet kid.

The hair is not getting colored.  Eveh.

I didn't get sick!  Our son was down one day with a fever so I know I got it from him, but it's gotta be the Zumba that helped me to not get fully sick.  Yay for Zumba.  It's so curious.  I wonder if my body is better at making antibodies or what. 

The newest routine I introduced Tuesday was a big hit.  It received the most claps of almost any song since I started.  It's always nice to find a widely popular routine.  Once in awhile you pick a stinker and I did that once too.  Class was silent after we did it.  Haha!  I was petrified because I was new.  Live and learn.  I dropped it completely after a month.

I hope my cousin stops by on her way to Nashville.

Husband had a basal cell thing taken off his back.  It was small but looked very weird.  Last year he canceled the first appointment I made for him.  They did a biopsy about 10 days ago and I phoned about it today and found out it was cancerous.  He goes in tomorrow to get it scraped and cauterized.  Well, I told him, from now on you better not cancel any more doctor appointments I make for you!  Very quietly, he said,  "Thank you, Honey."  :)

Don't get sick!

A sore throat and fever are trying to get me. I think I'm beating them though. I feel better now than I did earlier  I was emailing with my friend, Mayela.  I have a friend named Mayela.

Rectus abdominus. I've been waiting to use that word, er words, since I took the toning workshop. Tomorrow I'm going to say it in front of people. When the instructor said it at the Zumba toning workshop I laughed because before she finished the whole phrase I thought she was saying rectum.

I was the only one who laughed.

Tonight I had fewer people, 27, and made $5.00 more. I earned $135.00. Apparently my book-keeping is not so good. I better not let Yr do an audit on me. Anyhoo. I'm sooo happy. I'm taking my husband and son out to dinner tomorrow to a nice restaurant.

I have a little headache so I took a Tylenol PM.

There's a movie called Julie/Julia on tv and I always thought it was about a transexual or something so was never interested, but it's about a girl who decides in one year to cook everything in Julia Child's cookbook and she makes a blog about it. So far it's kind of a cute movie.

It was a bad homeschool day. For me anyways. Couldn't get him to write an essay. So I let it go. It's optional so, hmmm. He did get 87% on his algebra unit test with his dedah though. My husband teaches the mathematics. He got "daddy" backwards or something when he was a tot and so Daddy and been Dedah ever since. I was overtaken by math in first grade of homeschool and husband took it over. What to do about high school. I'm still not sure.

My iPod isn't transferring a particular song very well. I had to re-download it and add it in. Tonight during class I noticed it was missing. Stopped and checked my iPod. Couldn't find it anywhere. By then it had been a couple minutes and everyone caught their breath. I'll be more careful to check the list on my iPod from now on. I let 'em off easy tonight. Oh! Three ladies came up and danced on stage with me. It was fun!

Hair is 49 7/8".