A new, fresh day. How will I use it? I got my period and I feel like laying in bed all day. Can't though. I have a zit under my chin, so I wanna stay home all day but I can't do that either. I have Zumba tonight.

For the adults I'm working on a fun song called "Zumba He Zumba Ha." For the kids next week, I think I'll do a bit of dance history and teach them how to do the Twist. With style.

I ordered a new pair of pants for Zumba and I hope they fit. They look cute in the pic. They have a wide foldover waistband which might look good on me if it shows the curve of my lower back. Most of these kinds of pants make me look like a puffed up marshmallow because I'm short waisted. They're worth a try. Love the tie-dye.

I also ordered a top. Got a size large even though I'm not a large, but their tops run tiny a lot of the time. If it fits I'll wear it for the free class that I plan to give to celebrate my one year Zumba anniversary in August. I'm giving a free class for my Zumba people to thank them for coming to my classes.

I ordered black in adult size, of course. Ha! Who grows out of loving fringe?

Just found a note by the computer in the kitchen. Husband and son have gone to look at a used horse trailer! It's almost all the way in Alburquerque. They'll be home about 3pm. I hope it's a good buy at a good price. Bella goes to begin two months of horse training next week!

Here comes a Facebook post

I tried. I tried to do Facebook, but I just can't keep with it. People started posting more on my page and I can't deal with it. I'm a blogger at heart. I can't tolerate that smile that I call the 'Facebook Phenomenon.' It's a frozen grimace people do with the camera right in front of their face and they call it a smile. A lot of times they do it to themselves. What is this holding a camera in front of yourself and getting all the odd pictures: thoughtful, depressed, pretty, grimacing. It's constant, constant, never ending posing.

And since being on Facebook for nearly one month, I now can't stand a photo of two people kissing. Do I wanna see a big old lip lock over and over again when I visit a page? Don't get me wrong. I'm not against kissing. Kissing is good. I like kissing. But too much of a good thing, isn't good anymore. I have to stop going to the page until they change their photo.

The status, which says in light grey text, 'what's on your mind' - you can't type more then 420 characters! And face it, no pun intended, most of what people say amounts to less than 10 words. Descriptions of emotions and experiences are cryptically condensed into a single word or a few words that I guess you'll only understand if you know the person intimately. There's "Depressed." "Awesomeness." Or maybe it's a line from a song, seemingly disjointed because you have no idea what the context of the thought is. Do ants have emotion? I don't know, but I think if they did they are so small they could use one word. If a human being is going to express an emotion or a thought I really need more than a couple words.

Plus, I started surfing other people's pages to see what they did today. What an incredible waste of my own time. It's like everyone wants to be looked at. And I try to look at everyone. One click leads to another. It mimics a chemical high.

My favorite Facebook experience comes from a handsome young man named Forest. He's 16 years old. Our son asked him if he had a Facebook page. He said he did. He said it seems like everyone is on Facebook and he had a page and was really into it for two days. Then he forgot his password. Hasn't been on since.

Well, Forest is my hero!

Let's see. How do I say this. I was utterly disappointed by the turnout. Gosh, I was sure there would be more. Even the teen volunteers did not show up. Five out of five failed to show. Meh, teenagers. What can you do. I tell ya, I'm not feelin' the love, that's for sure. Fifteen kids came, total of both classes together. Where was everybody on this fine night? Earlier I felt like crying just a bit. Get a little cry done and move on, I thought. But my friend said what I needed to hear and the need to cry, poof!, disappeared. She doesn't even know the great disappointment it was to me as far as numbers go. God gave her the words to remind me of Him.

I did balloons and gave them away afterward. I should have given all of them away because it's not like I can use them. And I'll never publish ads in the newspaper again. They helped not a whit.

But the smiles on the children's faces made it worth everything. When they laughed I felt so good. I was exceedingly pleased that about four boys showed up and one was quite overweight and even though I'm not his mom or even related, this feeling of being proud of him washed over me. He was movin'! God must have put that in my heart because I've never experienced it before. It felt, how do I say this? It felt good.

So I will just keep on trying and doing what I love to do. I was so worried about having enough material and doing the speaking part right. Turned out I had plenty of material and I think I talked okay. I told them if you wanna be old like me and still able to dance, always do the cool down. Every single child did the cool down. Go figure. I guess they were listening.

47 1/4"

47 1/4" today. Humidity 43%. Hair likes it. Wore it down to churchity church this morn.

I have Zumbatomic on Monday. I have playlists ready for both classes. I'm getting nervous. I thought I was ready but now I'm not so sure. I did a practice run with a few kids on Thursday and it went okay. Just okay. The kids who stuck with the whole 30 minutes, about seven girls, seemed to love it. I think.

Basically, I'm worried. Even with the little group I forgot a few of my steps. No one knew it except me.

It'll be alright. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Repeat to self as many times as necessary.)

I got another birthday present today and it was oil for my hair! I'm getting to know so many people. Ladies. And it's because of Zumba. Tonight there were 14 in class. It's amazing. It's so hot and humid and we sweat buckets yet they keep coming back. Praise the Lord.

Today I went to a haircutter's place. I should say stylist. Or I should say cosmetologist. She is so nice. And I realized how many people are hurting on the inside but to look at them you would never know it.

I've been feeling stressed with my blog. I love my blog. It's me times three. But it's crept into my mind, what if someone in this little town finds it. Why, it would spread like wildfire. Not that I'm conceited or like I have anything much interesting here. But it's such a teeny town. And it would be my luck that someone would sit down and read through the whole thing.

I think I must just forge ahead and not fret over something that may happen. Worst case scenario, I could privatize my blog. That's sound officious. Privatize. When we traveled I wrote all about traveling. Now we've settled in a place and my life is becoming more about people. Gee, who could ever see that coming?

Seriously need son to measure my hair. It's the 14th. Where has half of July gone?

I know a namby pamby person. No. Wait. I know a person with a namby pamby attitude toward God. They know, seemingly, one piece of Scripture. I mean, it's a great verse, fer sure. But man, there's a whole entire Bible to keep reading. They've deemed the OT not worthy of reading. Says God is a loving and forgiving God and that's his God. That's it. Game over. Isn't that like eating the icing off the cake and then wadding up your napkin and throwing it in the plate so the rest of the cake in inedible?

My church is considering starting interest groups. I guess it's akin to cell groups but based on interest. So say for instance, bikers. There would be a Bible study group for bikers. I like bikers. Can I go if I'm not a biker.

I tell ya. I wish there was a small group that's mixed. When I studied in a home group my favorite meeting was when some teens were with us. Normally it was like the middle age group. It was, ohhhhh, a little dull. Let me say this about that. There were a lot of polyester pants.

Zumbatomic launch is July 25th. I'm swinging between great enthusiasm and excitement and on the other side, fear and anxiety.

I had the most wonderful Friday and week-end. It was a bit of heaven on earth.

I have made friends. Even, I have made more than one friend. It's all because of Zumba.

They made for me a birthday party on Friday. A surprise birthday party! Mayela was the prime mover. She made it happen. They were all so kind. There were presents. There was food. Cake. Balloons. And friends.

I got some Zumba scuttlebutt recently. The other instructor in town told everyone in her class to come on Thursday because there would be a big surprise. They went. The big surprise was free margaritas for everyone.

We're watching Fiddler On The Roof tonight. Such a good movie.

6

I have six friends online and they all made me feel better. I will keep concentrating and continue to feel more and more better. In my heart. Truly, a little bit of stumbling is good experience because it's the only way you keep moving. I didn't stumble actually, but I thought I'd feel different is all. Or maybe I didn't know I could feel bad like this.

My friend said I'm too religious and I felt blue about it. I know for certain that if she knew it bothered me she would not have said it and she'd say she's sorry. But I don't want her to be sorry! I would rather she say what she thinks. It's good to hear what people really think.

I can't stop being who I am. I love the Lord so much. I always think it doesn't show, but it must show. Although, I talk to her more than anybody else. She knows me better than anyone else here does. Doesn't take an Einstein for that.

On the up side a good thing happened in Zumba class today. A lady said she heard I have a Facebook page. She came up to me and said she heard from so-and-so it's got a lot of religion on it. I said, "Yup, I don't have many friends and I don't quite know what I'm doing on Facebook so I use it as a repository for my thoughts on faith." She said, "It's like witnessing, right?" She said, "Aren't you supposed to witness." I said, "Well, that's true. The Great Commission is that we ought to go and tell." And then she said, "You have that song in here that I love. I feel closer to God when you've played it. You're witnessing to me with that."

Knock me over with a feather.

So, life is all a mix of things, isn't it. Some will like, some will be lukewarm, some will be repelled, some unsure. This is okay. I'll get used to it. She made me feel so good. I guess the Lord let me trip a little, but he also sent her to me so I wouldn't crumple up completely discouraged in a mere two days time.

Well, at praise and worship practice tonight the pastor was adjusting his playing then he looked back at us and said, "You're all singing five part harmony, right?" I turned bright red. He was teasing for sure and everyone laughed. I continued to turn even redder and then the other ladies noticed and turned to me and said he's just kidding. Haha! Oh dear. Oh my. I love singing there!

I feel a little bad in my bones from my heart. It'll go away soon.

4th of July

I thought of Canada on July 1st. Went through some of my Canada photos. July 1st is their July 4th. Happy Canada Day!

And today I think of Ronald Reagan and how I miss him. London has a put up a 10' statue of him. Ronald Reagan was a man's man.

I sat on Bella for about 15 seconds yesterday. I might try it again today.

It was a good day

Had Bible study tonight. I always like it and learn a lot from it. We have a student from Oral Roberts University here on a summer internship and I would like to talk to him. He seems interesting.

My day was good.

But I got mad because I ordered two Zumba t-shirts for a total of $28.90 only to find a set of 12 for $42.95 on the Zumba shop site this morning. They weren't there last night. I have the worst luck with their shop.

Faith explosion

Due to things happening in my life and the recent responses to my last post, I'm having a faith explosion.

I can't stop reading scripture. I can hardly put my Bible away. I'm learning it remarkably efficiently and am finding verses I need to support my witness. One scripture leads to another and supports the one before and after.

I have five volunteers from the teen group to help me launch my upcoming Zumbatomic classes in July for ages 4-12, plus Mayela who blesses me with encouragement. The reaction from the teen group to my short demo was exhilarating. They clapped and smiled and had fun. This means I've picked good songs and choreography so far.

My uncle has blessed us with a large monetary inheritance.

I did wake up with the baby song "Chi Chi Ua" ringing in my head which could send me over the edge. I'm using it in my Zumbatomic class. It's terribly cute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S03RFm1xKY&feature=related

It's been on my mind. Keeps popping in.

At the Renaissance Fair last month an old woman (I say old but she couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 years older than I) asked me for money to buy a drink. She was thirsty and she had no money. It was a hot day. I had purchased a lemonade for myself and a friend an hour before. It lacked ice and good flavor and the price was ridiculously high for what we got, but we were thirsty and we drank them all up. The lady asking me for money was thirsty.

I told her no. I told her, sorry, but I have no money. A lie. I had about $20 in my renaissance purse. I feel bad about it. I've felt bad about it since the moment it came out of my mouth. My heart had no compassion. Do I have nothing to give? I did have something to give, but I would not give it. I kept it for myself. I regret it. I thought to myself, why doesn't she get a job?

I had no compassion. Would it have killed me to walk with her to the lemonade stand and buy her a drink? I think not. Have I not been blessed enough to part with three bucks out of my wallet that day?

One day about three years ago I was in Albuquerque at a Jewish convention event. It was the end of the night and about ten of us were piling into the van to go home. A homeless man approached us with purpose and we rushed to get in the van all the faster. After all, what if he had a weapon with which to kill us? Our pastor stood outside though and gave the man some money. I still remember that. I suppose there was no need for us to be afraid. It was only a man begging. I had no compassion then either. But I remember what the pastor did. Does Pastor not pass judgement? Do I need to do the same. I think so. Otherwise the Holy Spirit would not be clunking me on the head about it.

When I get the chance I'm going to fix this. I will correct it. I will repent. A lot of people think repent means to feel sorry or admit an error, but its literal translation from the Hebrew is to turn away from. That is, in other words, to stop what you're doing and turn away from it. I can do that.

Next time someone asks me, I will find in my heart some compassion.

Went to the laser hair removal lady today. She is sure sweet. I always rather dread the appointment, then after it's over wonder why I get so nervous. She is just super nice. The lady who answers the phones is a bit of a dork sometimes though.

Getting a little anxious about my Zumbatomic class for the kids and it's still over a month away. Don't know the routines yet. ODing on routine memorization. I think trying to learn too many and none are getting in my head. It's like they're just not sinking in.

True Grit

We're watching it for the second time. It is so good. The dialogue is unusual. My husband tells me the dialogue was the same in the original film with John Wayne. I need to watch it a third time to catch more of what they're saying. And not a single "F" word in it. Unusual for our times.

My daughter-in-law sent me a video of family photos that she put together. It made me cry. The pictures, so pretty. I did not know when my son married her that she would be such a blessing. I am very fond of her. I love my daughter-in-law. She is very beautiful too. I don't think she realizes it. She has pretty eyes and hair and lips and body. Well, I suppose that pretty much covers everything, eh.

There were 12 in my Zumba class today. Quite a crowd for our area for a Saturday. The energy was excellent.

My friend. I call her my best friend as I have a best friend now. She went to Texas to see futbol and she met her family there. They brought her gifts from Costa Rica where they live and she gave me two Costa Rica tops and a bag of candy. The candy is chocolate with guava jelly inside and it is so delicious. I don't usually care for candy, but this candy is yummy. One of my tops is a racerback and on the back it says "Pura Vida." Oh I like it very much. I didn't get her anything for her birthday though because. I don't know why. Because I couldn't think of what to give her.

I want an ironing board that attaches to the door and you fold it up to store it and down to use it. Helen has one. It's a very fine ironing board.

My new pants

Here I go to work!  In my tie dyed supplex lycra flare leg pants. 

Jonah Goldberg: It's Obama's economy, stupid

Jonah Goldberg: It's Obama's economy, stupid

Obama's conceit (he's a legend in his own mind), jobs creation (most in Texas which is business friendly), a White House report that indicates the unemployment rate would have been lower if no stimulus bill was passed. Then you have Mark Halperin, an analyst for MSNBC and Time magazine who says, "The president's ideas are still a little bit up in the air."

And the prez insists that Obamacare is a boon to the economy. Um, why all the waivers then?

Land of Enchantment

Today we changed our driver's licenses and registration from Texas to New Mexico.  My husband decided.  Now we can vote on local and state issues.  Yay.  Best of all, I took a good photo for my license.  I've never, never had a good driver's license photo.  I've had a lot of bad ones.

This state's motto is "Land of Enchantment."  Locals call it "The Land Of Entrapment."  Hehe.  

It's duperly windy out today.  We got Bella a fly mask to keep the flies from walking on her eyes.  She doesn't like wearing it.  She'll get used to it.

Sunday at 6:00pm is the big day.  We're buying our piggy for the fair.  He's going to be named Winston just like Winston of last year.  His pen is all ready with improvements.  We're so excited to add a pig to our family.  Well, he'll be in our family till October when we sell him.  We don't want to think about that though.  We remind ourselves of the good life he'll have before then.  Here's what they looked like on May 9th.  They'll all be bigger now.  They needed more time with their mom.  There will be 8 kids and they will draw numbers for who goes first to pick a pig.  Everyone hopes they're picking a winning pig, but last year the child who got last pick won first place!  You never know.

This little piggy was the noisiest.  The owner said we would have to be patient and wait a few minutes while he feeds her because she's the runt and requires hand feeding.  We couldn't talk till he was done because she was squealing so loudly. She gets some milk from her mom, but not enough.  She will be sold as a pet, he said.  It was awful cute.  You can tell she's smaller than the rest.

My favorite things

Summer is here and I like it hot.  We're running the air conditioner 24 hours a day.  It was 100 degrees today.

My favorite thing is to do Zumba from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, come home, eat dinner my wonderful husband prepared, change into horse clothes and go outside and groom Bella at dusk.  Then, lay on the back porch and look at the sky.  The other day a single great blue heron flew overhead.  He was so big.  Tonight I saw a satellite fly by.  Angel the cat was off gallivanting across the countryside somewhere so she didn't lay on my lap or on my tummy tonight.  I missed her.  I called but she didn't come.  She's probably off mousing somewheres.

My hair and nails are doing well.  Tonight at worship practice the ladies all thought my nails were fake.  I ask you, do I remotely look like the type to wear fake nails.  I told them Zumba made them strong.  I'm so proud of my fingernails.  What an accomplishment to have them all the same length.  Wow.  They're blue.  When I break one I'll have to cut them all off so I'm enjoying them while I can.

This is my hair today.  Meh, messy.  It has avocado oil in it from last night. I put it up and went to Zumba after this pic.

I love Benjamin Netanyahu.