My prayer: God please send someone who can see this house with a full imagination for all it is and could be.

Our Moving-Friends' and Billy's prayer: God please sell this house quickly.

Saturday Event: House shows when it wasn't suppose to ... and the household items were strewn in passage-blocking ways from top floor to basement, in the rooms, in the doorways, in the hallways ... and they were displayed in perfectly disgusting ways. Trust me on this. The morning had been spent rearranging, breaking down, packing random items. It was a disaster zone. All we did was leave the house (we're currently in charge of it's care and packing) to run a few quick errands just to return and discover we'd missed all attempts to contact us for a showing confirmation and still we had been visited.

Saturday Evening & Early Sunday Morning Event: House mostly returned to normal showing standards and certainly it's better than it's ever been before ... which could not have been accomplished without the Saturday disaster event.

My friend Linda's prayer: Oh God, have pity on them (me and Billy). Make the person want to come back.

Our moving-friend's attitude: When anyone comes they just have to understand the house is being packed for a move. Really.

Yesterday Event: We began to suspect something seriously wrong with a major piece of equipment that will stay with the house. Service Company was called for an inspection and scheduled for today.

This morning: Realty co called for a reshowing of the house for early afternoon. Wife bringing Husband this time. I busted gut to really shine the house up. (Men don't always have great imaginations about houses.) ~~Also, I rescheduled Service Company for late afternoon.~~

Early afternoon: Linda came to fetch me away (as no one is suppose to be here during a showing) and as we were leaving the subdivision she said "OMG there goes the Service Company toward the house." We chased him down before he reached the house. We explained. He said he might not be able to reschedule until Thursday. Hmm Ok. Doesn't matter. Can't happen now.

Late afternoon: I was able to convince the Service Company to still send someone after the showing. A different guy came. I was relieved when he arrived. First, he'd serviced the unit before and knew exactly when where what. Secondly, I liked his attitude better than the first guy even though the first guy wasn't a horrible person at all.

This evening: It became clear there's going to be an expensive repair. I'm just going to be perfectly honest. My first thought was, "Our Moving-Friends really can handle the hit better than a young couple with children."

Then I became highly suspect. What if the family considering the house (or the family the house is really intended for) prays? What if their prayer is "Lord, we just want a house that isn't going to break down on us right away." I can tell you this: our Moving-Friends amaze me with the meticulous care they give to the home's equipment.

I hope I get to know if it was a collision of prayers.

You know. Bullet points. Outline. Updates from my life. Different random points about kids, Christmas, church, cars (life without them), coffee shops, snow, and R E S P E C T. Oh and health, friendships, Manhattan, etc. (What? you thought I could keep up the k sound for the entire list?) And there's even a "if you laugh ... God sees" story. I'm sure you're going to relate to some point along the way here.

Health first:

• Billy is doing much better. Yesterday, we hiked about 1.5 miles (in the snow) over to the church (last week just walking to the end of the drive was still painful). I only walked to the church. He made 1.25 round trips before a pick-up became involved. Yes, one of the church members went out to fetch him. So he walked about 3.75 miles total.
  
  Today, Billy went to the doc. The doc is happy. All is well. Ok, all is nearly well. There's still a little more healing to do but ... all is well.


• I'm feeling aches in all my joints now. I'm doing a lot of slow breathing and stretches, some ibuprofen, and thinking I'll probably break down and go see a doc after the first of the year. Some days are good, some days are a bit tender, some days ....

Have you ever:

• Been the first to understand something cool, tried to explain it, and get no one to understand exactly how cool it is? BUT you go on and you keep reveling in it's cool-ness and you grapple and struggle and come to an understanding with the impact of being so cool that no one understands you .... AND THEN BAM .... out of the clear blue, one of the people you've talked to suddenly gets it. NO BUT WAIT ... they don't get it the way you now get it ... they get it the way you got it when cool was new to you. Anyone who's ever home taught their kids should be able to relate.
  
  The whole scenario is called "Scouts, Pioneers, & Settlers." Scouts go out first into pristine surroundings. They know it's going to be rough. They prepare as best they can. Pioneers come next ... fiercely independent and resourceful. Then come the Settlers who've read alll about it and understand exactly how they will conquer the world and what the Pioneers did wrong and ... Yeah. Settlers are a pain in the whoo-ha. Getting them to slow down and listen is difficult. They tend to be spoiled & pretentious (because they've read allll about it, etc).
  
  Settlers tend to die off faster than the Pioneers because ... they think they know it all already, they've decided it will be easy etc etc etc etc. The ones who do survive probably have a pioneer spirit, listen well, seek out guidance ... OR... they've survived because they settled near pioneers and seasoned settlers who know search and rescue techniques.
  
  All I'm saying at this point is "sigh." I've been here and done this before. I'm always in that little crack between the Real Pioneers and the True, Absolute pain in the who-ha, Settlers. Right this very instant, in Second Life, I'm watching the less experienced settlers die off left and right and, now, now, this person whom I've talked with before ... who did not get it before ... now ... after reading allll about it.... "Sigh"
  
  I can tell you this right now: I am about to get sucked into something ... I can hear the whirlpool ... it's nearby. It sounds a lot like me in a teaching capacity. Imagine that. If this new "wanna be settler" slows down and listens, there could be some really great things that could happen, though. Really great. If not, I'm not going to participate. I have an aversion to watching settlers die.


• Have you ever ... Listened to someone explain something, researched it, thought it could work out -- if you ever needed it ... then you reach a point were it could actually be handy but ... ? Well ... when we first moved in, the landlord tried to tell me about a bus system. I had already done the research. I knew about the bus. I've seen the bus pass me (going the other direction) while I was out walking.
  
  It makes this long circular route that takes a little over an hour to travel. It only runs one direction in the circle. To make it simple, let's say the bus runs in a counterclockwise direction. Pretend my home is at the 12:00 position and all my fave locations are at the 1:00 & 2:00 positions. This means I can walk to my fave locations more quickly than I can ride the bus around most of the loop. But lately ... I've actually wanted to go the same direction as the bus and go much further than I am willing walk. I keep saying, "I need to call and confirm some details about the bus." Well ... there's always something more going on and, besides, it's not a crisis that I go that way, yet.
  
  But today, while Billy was out, he did some exploring around and discovered the bus system for himself. He loved it. He collected all the info that I'd been planning to call and collect. Life is good. Every hour. In front of my house!

Kids & R E S P E C T

• Having your kids call me by a title does not mean that you have taught them how to show me respect. In fact, it does not mean that you, yourself, have respect for me. This is not the first time for this event to happen to me. It looks like this:
  Parent to (often nearly grown) child, "Call her Miss Pam."
  Me to parent, "No, I prefer to be called Pam"
  Parent to me, "No, they will call you Miss Pam."
  Me to parent, "No, it's my name and my name is simply Pam"
  Parent to me, "They are my children and they will call you Miss Pam. It's respectful"
  Me to parent and entire audience (always an audience), "It is my name and you are being disrespectful to me."
  Parent to me, "But they are my children ... .... "
  etc
  
  Now, usually, these are the types of kids that already understand respect means 1) look a person in the face when you talk to them (without contempt), 2) give a straight answer, 3) enjoy people as unique.
  
  How is it that parents can raise their children to do these things but cannot themselves extend to me the same courtesies? AND how is it that they think that because I have a name preference for myself that I am denying them the right to call their children their own. I never question the parent/child tie. It is not about whether the child is related to the parent. It is about what I should be called.
  
  However ... I have come to a solution ... I have found a title that I think goes with my name and my station in life on this planet while waiting to leave and go on to my heavenly rewards.
  
  If you MUST require your child to call me by a title, the correct title is Princess. Princess Pam. End of discussion.


• If you or any organization you are associated with, are blessed by one or more talented, hard-working, willing teenager who is taking on responsibility you are not even remotely capable of accomplishing ... I have a suggestion for you ...
  
  SHOW RESPECT TO THE TEENAGERS IN YOUR LIFE AND ORGANIZATION.
  
  OK THAT IS NOT A SUGGESTION ... IT IS AN ORDER FROM PRINCESS PAM.
  
  Just let me assure you ... that there are people in my life who are about to be sent to the guillotine if they don't drop and kiss the feet of certain teenagers I know.
  
  Nothing infuriates me more than jealous, self-righteous (yet often ignorant), adults passing judgment on teens who are accomplishing miracles with equipment that is second-rate, second-hand, and are performing in less than desirable conditions.
  
  If you spent time with me in the last 10 days, examine your attitude and your knowledge ranking. Check your assumptions at the door. Basically, if you spent time with me in the last 10 days, you probably shouldn't talk to me for yet another 10 more days. Apologies are being accepted by email. There are two exceptions, no three. Okay, basically, If you spent A LOT of time with me in the last 10 days, you are probably safe. If you said things to me in passing, or I hustled you out of a small room, chances are exceeeeeedingly high that you're on my "adults who don't know how to show respect and feel insecure around accomplished teens" list.
  
  And, Daddy, if you're reading this and you, in your leadership responsibilities, are suddenly God-Blessed with this type of young person, .... well I know I can count on you to defend, guard, and encourage them. Still, I know you know this ... but, still, I'm going to remind you ... this type of teen is very often the hinge-pin of organizational growth. On top of that, it's just a travesty against a Child of God to use a teen as a scapegoat (especially when said teen is working in such conditions that most adults would refuse by siting the conditions as "a prime example of being set up to fail").

oh well ... I'm going to take a break here and let you mull this all over. What? You thought I was upset about kids who didn't respect me. Pooh. I've not seen one of those in a very very very long time. Yes, I do consider myself very blessed. But, I find I very often receive from children and teens what I hand out.

There's so much more ... I'm a little less Texan this year. Yep I'm afraid it's true. Snow. Snow and I'm not freaked out. And as another fellow Texan now living on the Southern fringes of Upstate New York pointed out to me, we are not running around trying to photograph the one falling flake of snow. Yep. Multiple inches of snow and the city isn't shut down. It's got to be over 12 inches and it's ice capped and yet the roads are clear and things are going on pretty much as usual. Pictures? Ummmm yeah ... uhh well ... I uh ... sort of.

Tell you what. Pictures tomorrow. I'll tell you about the Christmas play at church, the snow, my three Second Life coffee shops ... yes three ... it's gone from one to two to one to three so many times in the last month that my head is spinning. And there so much more ... I might actually have to blog all week.

Have fun,
Enjoy,
Princess Pam

Princess Pam is a Texan living on the Southern fringes of Upstate New York. She has added a few blankets to her bed this last week and is (once again) surprised to find that wearing three layers of clothing is not difficult and can feel cozy ... very cozy. Very very very cozy ... even after walking over a mile. Also, she is considering replacing the word "very" with "exceedingly." "Very" is feeling used and over-used.

Do you wonder where the lady who started this blog wandered off to? Remember sh e always seemed to have so much she wanted to say ...

Sometimes I wonder where she is. But again and still she mostly feels inclined to be quiet.

Tonight much of my quietness comes from pain. I actually have my right hand wrapped up so that i will use it much less. Yes, it's that repetitive motion thing catching up with me. I'm feeling very motivated to just take up audio posts.

But still I wonder what I would tell you. Would I tell you of the things I'm not getting to do? Would I tell you about everything that is on hold -- waiting for other people? Would I dare to dream out loud?

Someone was trying to encourage me the other day: "So? You're hesitating because you're bound to look odd? But you tell me that people already think you are odd. So, why not just revel in your uniqueness?

Now, I have to tell you ... it seems mighty wrong to be approaching fifty and still find myself worrying over how I am perceived.

But that is only part of what keeps me quiet. There is so much I would like to discuss with you ... but I've not yet finished discussions with other people who are more closely involved. It would simply be wrong for others to find out how I feel or think about a joint project by them reading it on my blog.

So I feel intensely boring here. I think shortly though I'll be able to talk about some other things -- provided the hand behaves.

Have fun,
enjoy,
pam

Pam is a Texan living on the Southern fringe of Upstate NY. Today she listened to her neighbor cheer for Texas A&M. No, the neighbor is native New Yorker. She graduated from there. Yes, she was key to Pam getting our little place to live. No, Pam didn't go to A&M with her. It's a really long story.

Well when he's good, he's really pretty good. When he's hurting, he's HURTing. I'm praying tomorrow goes really well. Today was pretty good. We got a lot completed and started towards tomorrow's lunch.

Turns out the man who's cooking up the turkey had hand surgery a couple of days ago. It seems like everything we do these days, we are with the walking wounded.

Sooo ... the family that is hosting the lunch is sending round the van to pick us and our food up at around noon ... then we pick up the man with the bird ... then we finalize the dishes and eat.

Billy's thinking of eating only a little and eating slowly ... with it all spread throughout the day. I think that's an excellent plan.

I hope ya'll have a very excellent Thanksgiving.

Have fun,
Enjoy,
pam

Pam is a Texan living on the Southern fringe of Upstate New York. She would never make it as a full time scullery maid and cook's assistant.

We went out to Bear Mountain today ... no ... why would we go to see the mountain? We've been here a year. We're normal now. We were going to go shopping. We just happen to cross the Bear Mountain area when we go to the Woodbury Common Outlet Mall. This was "hunt it down and bag it" day. Soooooo ....

Of course, I didn't even think to take my camera. Billy didn't even think to see if I wanted to take it so that he wouldn't have to hear me whine about not having it.

And of course ... there was a frosting of snow and autumn colors are still hanging on the trees up there. It was incredible. Beautiful. Sigh...

So ... I'll tell you about Billy's glasses instead of showing you pictures.

About two weeks ago he took off and went to the doctor's office with his friend who was in a bad motorcycle wreck a few days before Billy had his "little" operation. His friend's motorcycle slipped in a wet, oily spot in a curve and he (the friend) ended up in the windshield ... yes IN the windshield of an on-coming minivan. By God's grace, he survived with a few broken bones. He moves slower ... but hey ... he's a retired NY firefighter ... he can do anything ;). So he picked Billy up about three weeks after their inflicted wounds began and he took Billy to his ... he took Billy to Billy's appointment. Oh that's nothing. He also took Billy to his appointment about 10 days after his accident. That was an even funnier outing than what I'm about to tell you.

Ok so wounded friend is taking wounded friend to the doc's office. Billy grabbed his bag of this & that's and ran out the door. I took the trash out. I came back in. I took the recycling out. I came back in. Billy came back home. Billy went back out. Billy came back in. Billy went back out. Billy stepped on his glasses on the way back in.

Ok ... the only opportunity those glasses had to migrate from his desk to the front porch was when Billy grabbed his bag off the desk and went out the door.

After we got over being stunned, we decided that ... a) the lenses were not scratched. b) the frame was not twisted beyond repair. c) we decided that if they were going to break during a repair, it would be one of us to break it.

So, today we stopped off and picked up two pairs of little bitty pliers -- the size used in jewelry making. When we returned home, Billy used one pair to hold the frame and the other pair to bend the frame back in place. He did this for two damaged portions of the frame ...

Wa-la

Billy had fully functional glasses again. It would have only taken $900 to replace the glasses in their entirety. Listen, if no one has told you yet, let me tell you: It's expensive to get older! Our eyes have to have three focal levels in the lenses, now. And they don't give a "you poor thing, you" discount!

Okay, I'm off to bed.

Have fun,
Enjoy,
pam

Pam is a Texan living on the Southern Fringes of Upstate New York. Today, she learned that old adage "Don't leave home without it" actually was stolen from the photography clan by the credit card companies.

Yes, little bitty bits of it, just a little further north and a little bit higher. But yeah we're still just getting rain. I have no idea why I think this is exciting stuff. I don't really care for the cold weather ... but I like the white ... but it gets messy ... but I like the white ... but it's dangerous ... but ... ok fine I'll stop and move on to other news.

Oh. wait. I can't tell that other news yet. hmmm well. Okay let me tell you this. I found out today that people like to have me on their side. Of course, I know that they find me exceedingly useful. And I know that they all do their best to make it an even trade. So, I'm not complaining. It's just complicating my decision making processes.

Either my goal is to conquer the world ... or it's not. If I'm not going to conquer the world, I can keep playing with ever little opportunity that falls on me. If I am going to conquer the world, I need to pick one front to fight and go after it.

Don't you just love all this cryptic chatter? And are you wondering yet if I'm talking about Real Life or Second Life?

It's both. They have become fused together. Well not completely ... but really close to it.

::: tapping keyboard :::

Oh ish there's nothing more I can say. You'll just have to stay tuned.

Have fun,
Enjoy,
pam

Pam is a Texan living on the Southern fringes of Upstate New York. She gets her thrills by riding shotgun with her hubby in the zipcar up and down the hills, on narrow roads, in the dark, with little flecks of snow drifting down in front of the headlights ~ after, of course, eating gor-met food at the local cafe while listening to all the local musicians who gathered to play. (All of that is Real Life)

See this is the reason I should not post to my blog every day. I don't always want to talk about what's weighing on my brain and heart ~ mainly cause ... ya'll might shoot me for being overly pessimistic or sounding a little bit like a spoiled brat ... or maybe a gossip ... whiner ... complaining shrew.

Basically, tonight, I just feel grumpy. I am taking my husband and I am going to go to bed. I will try again tomorrow to conquer the world, do everything I want to do, and everything I need to do ~ Without being grumpy

Have fun,
Enjoy,
Pam

Pam is a Texan living on the Southern Fringes of Upstate New York. Sometimes it's best to just ... you know ... hide from her ;~p

Second Life, Church, Out to Eat, Hosted a live music event in the coffee shop, Talked Art, Shopped, -- In sort, more craziness and over-committing. Want to come along? Oh, I even found out more ways to commit you ... yes, Y-O-U! No. REally. You want to know about this.

Yesterday, I told you about packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. If you live in Putnam County, New York and want to help with Operation Christmas Child, now the boxes need shipping sponsors. It takes $7 to ship each box. Basically this covers the fuel for the plains and vehicles that move the boxes from us to the child. SOoo Patterson Baptist Church is the collection point for the boxes and the sponsoring money. You can get more info by calling them at 845-878-4160.

If you don't live nearby, you can do the Operation Christmas Child EZ Give or you can browse the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Gift Catalog. Here's a short chapter from it: Nine Gifts that Bless Children


So, yes, that's what I learned in church today.

Lunch with friends from church was a great blessing. Fantastic fellowship with people that really get excited about just being together. We tend to laugh really hard and confuse the rest of the restaurant's patrons.

And, speaking of patrons. The MarillaAnne's Place patrons had a very busy day. Today was the last day of the current art exhibit and I hosted a live concert in the coffee shop and forgot to take pics. "Live Music" in Second Life is like this: Someone somewhere hooks up a mic to their pc, then connects the pc to a server. They give me the server's address & I hook up the coffee shop to the same server. THen the person with the mic sings, it travels to the server, and then to the virtual coffee shop and the little 3d cartoon character's called avatars get happy and dance or sit around and chat. It is "live" because the delay between the person singing a note and us hearing the note is somewhere around 30 seconds ... give or take. Yes, of course, their avatar stands on stage and strums along and also dances some. Yes. Really.

Then I met with a potential artist ... I mean a potential exhibitor. If we get the sun and moon and stars lined up, he will exhibit in 2 to 4wks.

Then I went shopping ... Oh My GooodNess! I wanted this one table and chair set ... in SL. My current set is five prims ... those building blocks -- 1 table, 4 stools, 1 prim ea. The set I want, though ... the table is 17 and each chair is 10. Listen, I can build a very similar design in 5 prims for the table and about 7 for each chair. I'll let you in on a little secret. Things stay firmly suspended in "mid-air" in Second Life. Technically, chairs do not need 4 legs. If I remove the legs and just "float" the chairs and table, I could use just 1 prim for the table and build chairs, with backs, with 1 prim eh 2 would look better, though.

Yeah, yeah. That's a story for another day.

Have fun!
Enjoy!
Pam

Pam is a Texan living on the southern fringes of upstate New York. She loves living there. The people are friendly, the dogs strut, the churches are historic, and the swamp is great, and there's one cafe that really knows good eats: Magnolia's Cafe.

So it's Halloween. May as well deliver my scary news. I'm actually going to do NaBloPoMo again this year. Two blogs. Only one officially, though.

Right this second, my life feels like that crazy old woman who is constantly stirring up little potions. A little of this and a little of that and let's just see what happens. I'm actually afraid to count the number of experiments I've decided to try. Sooo, yeah ... Throwing NaBloPoMo in on top sounds perfectly fine, normal, it's just the sort of thing a person like me would do.

My Daughter V ... from this point forward known as VioletKey asked me ...

"So are you going to do anything different with your blog for November"

We had been talking about widgets and themes and etc that are available to the bloggers these days. I knew she was asking if I was going to do any of these things.

I thought about it.

"Yeah. I'm going to actually write posts for it."

Her response was

"LOL
LOL ROTF
LOL"

Five minutes later she was still "LOL"

Look it! You people are not allowed to do that LOL thing. If you do do that, I don't want to hear about it.

But I was walking home from the RL coffee shop today and I got to wondering about what I would write about ...

Finally, I decided. I'm just going to be honest and humble and tell you about all the things I'm toying with.

It's kind of hard on the ego to still not know what I'm going to be when I grow up.

If I grow up.

Alright ... I'll see you here everyday for the next 30 days.

Enjoy!
Pam

BTW by the way LOL means Laughing Out Loud and ROTF is Rolling on the Floor and RL is Real Life vs ... well you'll see.