Seasonal Depression... is it real?

I tend to think so.  I hear about it more and more.  Although hype like that sometimes causes "suggestive infection", the longer this winter drags on, the more I personally feel down.  I've had several say that they didn't want to give any more talks on the TM School until they are able to break this cycle.  WOW.

Of course, this morning we awoke to the sun shining in the sky, and although its still cold outside, it is GREAT to see the sun.  There is hope for and end to this.  Reminds me of one of my favorite Beatles songs... "Here comes the ... "

I hope we can soon actually FEEL its warmth enveloping us... you know that tingly feeling you get all over when you come from the cold into a warm place.  Ahhhh.

For you guys in the northern areas... I feel for you.  Hang tough, then when it gets really hot here we'll come see yous.

Love,

MC

FINALLY!!

Well... it took 8 months and a lot of suffering.  You can just trust me when I tell you that.  Friday night, I was watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.  The little one on the right passed first... and since I thought there was only one stone, I couldn't believe that this could have caused me all this trouble for so long a time!  Then the feeling returned... and the big guy on the left was born... yeah I said "born". 

I don't know if I really have any enemies... well I can think of one big one, but other than that... I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.  I guess you could say I won the first medal of the Olympics... hah.
Life goes on. 


Love,
MC

Snow!!!

Yep... snow.  Here in mid-Tennessee it is a rare site.  Strange thing is... this time it stuck mainly to the road surfaces.  Very little on the grass so as to have fun playing in.  Like a few years ago, we had about 8 inches of snow.  We got out our ski gear, and skiied all the way from the top of the hill in our back yard down to the road.  Sounds great doesn't it... it wasn't that great.  Not the same kind of snow at all.  This stuff was really sticky.. oh you could go a little bit, but trying to turn in it was exhausting.  This is a photo from that event.

Nowadays we find that our favorite snow pastime is the Wii.  Last weekend we had a couple of the young guys (Trevor & Myles... 15 and 11, repectively) from our cong. over to play Wii.  Josh Nichols and I wore them out... or perhaps they did that to us, I dunno.  We played for about 5 hours, then we did what you can always do with other peoples kids... we took them home. 

Its funny how the Wii reminds you every so often that there is a real world out there somewhere.  When you switch from one game to another, this screen comes up showing the Wii-mote sitting on the table next to a window with a nice breeze blowing through it and it says, "Why not take a break?" 

Getting really excited about Reed and Kelly's wedding.  They're excited as well.  Lots of planning going on.  she was here last weekend and she is delightful.  I hope she's patient ;-).  Actually, Reed is moving back to Atlanta probably next weekend (Marietta).  It's really strange for Micki and me this time.  We kind of dealt with the "empty nest" syndrome the first time he moved out.  Trust me when I tell you that this is not a "made up" syndrome... IT IS REAL.  Not sure how this move will affect us... I suppose we'll see.

Love,

MC

"Honesty is the Best Policy..."

Its really nice getting to know Reed's fiance'.  She got in yesterday and Micki and I really enjoy having her around and getting to know her better.  She is a certified sweetheart.  Looking forward to the rest of the weekend... and beyond.

What a day so far!  Still trying to get Reed's car fixed.  Lots of intermittent problems with starting... it cranks away, but after sitting overnight, etc, it just won't turn over.  Replaced the fuel filter Wednesday and thought we had surely found the problem.  After I got it off, I poured the residual gasoline out of it and it looked like muddy water with chunks of grit in it.  Got new one on, cranked and turned right over... yahoo!  Next morning, same 'ol same 'ol.  Trying to just go through piece by piece and narrow it down.  arggghhh!

Woke up this morning to a "spewing" sound in the laundry room where the water heater is.  Water all over the garage floor... yahoo!! Water supply line had failed.  This is the 2nd of this type to do this to us in the past 6 months (one on the hot side, and this one on the cold side).  Its was one of these WATTS brand, supply hoses with the woven steel outside.  It failed right where the metal ring meets the woven steel.  Whatever you do... NEVER use one of these.  I replaced both of them with the flexible all-copper hoses.  Hopefully these will last.  whew!!

Something funny happened relating to our work this week.  A few weeks ago we picked up a couple of really nice frames from the Art Conservator we work with.  Sent out quotes to the client to restore the frames... waited... didn't hear back.  Usually after a few weeks we give them a call to be sure the quote didn't get lost in the mail.  She was this wonderful "country " lady and said that she was sorry she hadn't sent the quotes back but she wanted to have us "fix 'um up real nice".  So we asked... "So you want to go with Option 1?"  She said "Is option one the most expensive one?... yes? then I want to go with option one."  We love clients like this... I'm sure that many people they work with take advantage of them.  Its a good thing we just studied this in the God's Love book recently... "honesty is the best policy."

Love,
MC