"Dad, do you believe in God?"

Dad: Mmmmmmmmm possibly.

Riley: Well, I know I do! Mom does too!

Dad: Hmmmmm, Why is that?

Riley: Because when I lost my retainer the first time Mom prayed that we would find it. She didn't want you to get mad. Then when Rodney came over to ask if I could play she said, "no, Riley can't play 'cause he lost his retainer." Then Rodney said, "oh, I'll go get it". I left it at his house.

Dad: oh really?

Riley: Yeah, and then when I lost it again before dinner, mom was REALLY REALLY mad at me and re-grounded me to my room. Then I prayed for God to help me find it again, even though I didn't deserve it and when I woke up and picked up a pair of my jeans off the floor I felt something in the pocket!!!!!! My retainer was in there!! God did help me after all!

Mom: *Big, proud smiles*
(I think this little man is helping a lot more than he knows to break down a very big wall)

Curiosity CAN kill a Donna

I have a new addiction, of the worst sort. Genealogy. It was a complete accident too. I have actually listened to friends of mine go on and on about their own addiction in tracking down all the branches of their family tree and thought they were crazy. I did not inhale! Then, one night when I was supposed to be studying but ended up googling and playing around on eBay instead, I stumbled upon a genealogy website that caught my eye. Something on the front page caught my attention and I started reading. Then, of course, my fingers started googling away. I ended up at ancestry.com and started entering what I knew. I thought I could just play around with it and not actually subscribe. NOT! I put in some information my mother-in-law told me about her family and the next thing I knew there where these little twitching leaves all over the place which meant they had some cool morsel of information about my family but were going to dangle it in front of my nose like a carrot.....until I subscribed. It also had some sort of record of my husbands grandfather being in the army. So I told my husband about it all while he was sleeping and he handed over his visa without the slightest qualm! Really. He said, "here, charge whatever you need to" and rolled back over. I started gathering up all the information they had available and before I knew it I was in Ireland, then England....... and Scotland!! My family wasn't so easy and I've been chiseling away at the minds of old people trying to get details ever since. Now I sit here awake in the middle of the night because INQUIRING DONNA'S NEED TO KNOW! NOW!

There is no way I can sleep when I have a website that allows me to search endless records. Every now and then I get a break and find something that works. Then I call my parents and jog their memories. Then I can sit back and listen to the stories roasting over an open chestnut. Sometimes the stories don't relate to anything but bad backs and sore feet but sometimes I get something I can use. I've tracked down graveyards and found out about relatives I never even knew I had and about children that died to soon. I also found out that tomb stones have "type-o's" too. Now that I've shook the dust loose from the nooks and crannies of my dad's mind he has started to write his autobiography. I am sure it will be primarily about hunting bears and other critters. I wonder what he will called it? "how to get yourself killed in 3 easy steps"?

Now though, I have to pry myself away from all of that new knowledge and get some sleep...... and tomorrow I have to try to study in between 4 doctor and orthodontist appointments. Crazy me scheduled before I checked my calendar. I'm hoping though that they will figure out what's up with my stomach.

Sick of being sick

I have been sick or allergic or both for all of the month of July and frankly......I'm sick of it. I missed two weddings that I really wanted to go to too. Two good friends of mine are now happily married and I MISSED IT! I had planned on doing so much more this summer! I planned on having the best garden ever this summer since I would be home and not working. I planned to sew a bunch of new clothes with my sewing machine. I planned on getting out my sketch books and my paints and taking a lot of pictures. I planned on reading a bunch of books. I planned to knit something wonderful. I planned to volunteer at the hospital and the literacy council and I've just been sick or had my eyes swollen up to where I couldn't even see to drive let along read or paint. This month I barely made it to my classes because my eyes were watering so bad. I have to drive into the sun to get there and at 5:30 the sun has been playing chicken with me. I had to pull over (be the chicken) 3 times a couple weeks ago to put in eye drops and clear up my eyes and ended up being 30 minutes late for that class. The instructor let me take the test I missed after class and I got a 101 on it. I am finally starting to get this stuff!! I'm hoping to be about to pull off a B at least. Anyway, I missed out on so much this summer. I only read about 5 books which mostly weren't even on my reading list. I have only volunteered on a limited basis at the literacy council and I've been limited to riding my stationary bike in my garage instead of getting outside unless it's raining. People think I'm nuts but it really is so beautiful when it rains and the color of everything is intensified. Mainly though the air is CLEANER! When it's raining I don't have an allergic reaction to anything and the clean air is wonderful. I am not the only one that realizes this either because I always pass other people out walking and jogging and biking in the rain. It's funny though because I can see people that pass in the cars look at me like I'm crazy and sometimes actually read those words on their lips. They don't know what they are missing.

Well, I'm scheduling a doctors appointment to see what's up with my stomach. I'm worried they will tell me to stop drinking coffee. Is there a 12 step progam for coffee-aholics?