Wanton Woman

Seems like I'm always "wanton" something and today is no exception.

My son emailed me today to ask for my help. One of his friends has a son in the 5th grade. Their class project this year is the 50 U.S. States. Their goal is to receive postcards from every state. They would like the postcards to be state-specific and postmarked in that state.

I am going to participate and I hope that you will too. I don't really want to put his address online, so I'm giving you his name and my work address. I will forward the cards you send to him as soon as I receive them.

Rosebud Conservation District
Attn: Peter Russell
PO Box 1200
Forsyth, MT 59327

Thanks in advance for your participation.

I'd also like to thank those of you who sent birthday cards to my dad. It means so much that you chose to honor him in that way.

And on a final note, I wonder what kind of google searches are going to bring up today's blog post?

And I'm off...

...probably in more ways than one!

This weekend is my birthday. I will be 51 years young! My son is, as I type, driving in from Colorado to spend a long weekend. I am about to hit the road to go to Billings to meet him. We will then go to visit my dad in the nursing home, travel back to Billings for dinner with the cousins and kid cousins.

Saturday, the actual day of my birth, we will spend with dad, my brother, Shasta, the cousins and kid cousins and Sunday we will probably go to a movie or have a picnic by the river if it isn't snowing. Monday, my son goes back to Colorado and I will come back to Forsyth.

Life's a whirlwind these days and I am loving it.

What are you all doing this weekend?

And they call her the streak....

In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure there's some humor in the story I am about to tell. I personally didn't find it...but my son certainly did when I shared it with him this afternoon. As a matter of fact, he laughed so hard he dropped his cell phone.

I worked from home today. There are a lot of perks to doing that. You can drink coffee with your keyboard on your lap, wearing your favorite pair of sweats. You can listen to whatever station you want on XM radio and play fetch with the cats for hours.

You don't have to shower, or wear shoes, or even brush your teeth if you aren't so inclined. It's really the best of the best, if you know what I mean.

About 3 pm I took a break and worked out, and afterward, even though I was waiting for an important call, I decided I needed to shower....so i slipped in for a quick one.

Well wouldn't you know it, I had left my cell phone in by the computer and just as I had the shampoo in my hair and shaving cream on my leg, i hear "Girls just Wanna have Fun" by Cindi Lauper, which is my cell phone ringer, thanks to my son the techno boy.

Knowing full well that this was probably the important phone call I had been waiting all day for for...I flew out of the shower, bypassing the rack of towels and ran nekkid into the living room to grab the phone.

I flipped it open only to realize that it wasn't my phone ringer, it was Cindy Lauper playing on XM radio.

Just as I turned around to go back to finish my shower I looked out the window. The drapes were slightly open thanks to my cats who push them aside to enjoy the benefits of the sun and there was our next door neighbor pulling weeds in the rose garden right outside the window...

Thinking that perhaps he had not noticed me I turned to flee back to the safety of the bathroom...and he waved.

If he suddenly decides to bat for the other team, I will certainly understand.

So how was YOUR day?

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

And I don't think it's a train!

I've been busier than a one-legged woman in a butt kicking contest. Between work and family obligations I have had no time at all to blog or more importantly visit your blogs. You've all been so kind, stopping by and leaving comments, emailing and checking up on me...I feel badly that I've not been able to keep up with what is going on in all of your lives.

My hope is that I will have more time to do so in the future. After I get my work website updated this weekend, I plan to visit each and every one of you and catch up on what is happening in your lives. Until then, I will leave you with a few photos.

My dear friend took me fly fishing on the Yellowstone River for a few hours last week. The river is very near where dad is now.

Just a cool rock I found, it reminded me of a heart. What do you think?

The clouds were really something that day.

A little different view of the Yellowstone River...

"Yes I know the weather is cold and your friend is fishing, but I am the boss and I am going swimming!"

"This stick tastes delicious!"

"It's all mine..."

"...And I'm spent!"

Celebrating Life

My friend from Forysth made this cake for my dad. She knew he had been in construction most of his life and made the cake accordingly. I am usually a fairly adept party planner, but I was confused as to who was going to bring the ice cream, so had to place a last minute call to my cousins to pick it up on their way.

Unfortunately they were late, so the guests had to wait for awhile for their treats. I was running out of (bad) jokes to tell and about to start juggling when they arrived!

Several of dad's lifelong friends came to the party, which really thrilled us all.

All of the surviving cousins came to the party. Dad was so glad to see them all.

In all about 45 people attended...including a lot of the residents.

My cousin guilted me into letting her take this picture. "Don't you think Wolf will WANT to see a family picture since he couldn't be here?"