Hey there... quick entry today... got to much to do today.  Kristin and Noelle kept me up late last night.  Had dinner at Noelle's it was really yummy, but didn't get to bed until 12:15.  Woke up at 8:00 not enough sleep.  

 

Going to slug away on my dissertation until I have to stop because my brain goes bye bye... I continue to creep along.  Getting nervous about writing my abstract for my presentation in the fall and about writing my syllaubi for my classes in September.  Going to make a broshure about my house for sale to post at copy rooms at school.  Hmmmm

 

Cloudy today... hopefully we will get more rain.  Love and kisses, Marilyn  

Tao I look forward to reading your blog... it will keep us close.... have a good trip.   

 

I am still struggling... to write every day.  Got another two pages done... that makes six pages now or twelve double spaced.  

 

Met with the moving guys to get two more estimates.  I need to decide tomorrow which company to use.  I liked all three guys.  One estimated 7500 lbs and other 9500 lbs... they charge by weight.  Haven't heard from the last one yet.  Had good news that these last two guys won't have to change my stuff from truck to truck.  They can deliver my furniture and boxes to Savannah in two days.  Hmmmm

 

Noelle, David and I swam together, it was so much fun.  She has invited Kristin and I to dinner tomorrow night.  Hope your day was great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn    

Hey there!  Another day of pulling teeth to write but I have four pages written single spaced... that is eight pages double spaced... hmmm I guess I am getting there.  Still 25 pages of interviews to go.  Had a great lunch Mad CAUS meeting.  It was sad to say farwell to Tao.  We shared our progress and stratigities for getting through the rest of this.  

 

A private investigater came to my house today to ask about my former neighbor Larry.  He had given them my name to the government as his neighbor.  I guess I should not go for a high security clearence job... he asked if Larry had any international friends, have traveled abroad recently, and suspicious visitors...  Hmmmmm I don't think I could pass those question... I have many international friends and travelled around Europe with my in laws... and must have suspicious visitors... hmmm luckily the guy had a sense of humor.    

 

Swam tonight my arms gave out just as I was finishing my 200s... Hope your day was good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

Hmmmm I reread his ten points.  I feel really good, I do all but two... I need to work on the number thing... turning 57 this year was hard on me.  Most of the time I feel thirty because most of my friends are 30, but sometimes I feel older than Mathesala (spelled wrong so I don't have to dash it).  The other is the guilt thing... Elizabeth and I talk a lot about not accepting inapproperate guilt.  I can't remember what she calls it this morning... but I accpeted a huge share of toxic guilt for stuff that I had a small part in or did not even do... and I need to be on guard to not do that ever again.  I am not responsible for things that my parents did to my friends and loved ones...  

 

Sat on the porch reading last night as the sun set.  It was beautiful all peachy pink.  It was so peaceful out there with the frogs cheerping and the fire flies flashing.  The air coolish, but filled with moisture from the rain in the afternoon.  I love this house and the wonderful peace I have found here. It will be hard to leave it and my friends.

 

Hope your day is great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Well I worked on my dissertation today, but it was like pulling teeth.  I could not seem to get started until 11:00 and by 2:00 my brain was totally closed down.  I struggled for over a half an hour just to get motivated to try to start.   Vacation was nice but it was not enough to overcome two years of writing.  AND the hardest chapter.... it was easy to put this hard one aside while I worked on other easier ones.  Well that is only pratially true... I have written two or there or maybe four hard chapters ... maybe realizing that will help me tomorrow I need to get more than three hours in a day.... In the late afternoon I got started on taxes... hmmmm oh my life is so much fun right now...  

 

Swam... it was good.  Got my feet cracked.  Found my bikini's tonight... had packed them, but found them in the first box I looked in.  Ha... And I think my brain is fried.  Need to find where I packed my backpack to carry a pic nic.  hmmmmm Hope your day was good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

7/15/2007
By George Carlin
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses >and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate >too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon >and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to poduce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter >to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or >to just hit delete.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands >and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
> >HOW TO STAY YOUNG >
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and >height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's >workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move. The only person who is >with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
 
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

As you can tell from the pictures we had another great party.  We are all sort of battle weiry from our writing and sad that we will soon be spliting up to go our own ways.  Tao is heading to Chicago Thursday...  Then me in six weeks to Savannah...  and Sarah to Egypt.  Vidya has already left for DC area (next year will move to the Bay area in CA) and Gesille for Chicago and now out west.  It is hard to split up our group.  So sad and yet it gives us lots of places to visit.  

 

Last night David dropped off K on his way to car races, he forgot to leave the baby seat, well actually the new todler seat, for Elizabeth's car and so she and K stayed here late.  We took a walk, she wanted to pet the cows like we did a few weeks ago.  When we got back K took a bath, (she liked my bathtub too)... put on her new Ocr-acoke teeshirt and was put to bed in my guest bedroom.  Elizabeth and I watched a movie and talked while we waited and I posted the photos from the day.  When David arrived at 11:00 with the buster seat.  I carried the half awake K to the car... when she saw her dad she asked "how was the race, Dad?"  That is so cute. 

 

I then fell in bed, I had a late night the night before and was tried.  This morning I met Vidya and Arul at Gil-lies for brunch... he has gotten a job in San Francisco bay area and Vidya now has a job at the Wo-rld Ba-nk.  They are doing well.  It was great to see them, they got stuck in traffic on 81 and did not make it to the party....

 

I came home to work and took a nap instead.  Hmmmm Hope your day is great.  Love and kisses, Marilyn   

Okay here are some Whitneyisms.... Thanks Jenn for this idea... random stuff packaged together.... laughing at myself....  I know that I am too involved in my dissertation because I am a very smart woman, but I am not acting like it...

 

Yesterday I had Krisitn over for dinner for tuna noodle casserole and I had to go to the store to get mushroom soup... when I got back I opened the tuna fish and assembled the ingrediatants together and served it on the deck... hmmmm I forgot to put the tuna in the pot. 

 

When I drove home from the beach, I needed to wear my glasses while driving at night... I could not see the road very well without them when it got dark. hmmmmmm They say that they eyes are the first thing to go. 

 

There was something else happening that I wanted to tell you about, but I don't remember what it was.  hmmmmm  

 

I know that my readers are getting tired of my dissertation... me too, but I still have months until I finish it.  This is my venting space so you will have to bear with me.  The reason I will be called Dr. is because what I am doing is very hard... The average Ph.D. takes 7.5 years... I have only been at this for four and a quarter years.  hmmmm

 

Bas-tille Day party today... should be fun.  Hope you day is great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn