Well we are finally finished the three week institute. We survived!!! I think I have consumed more tylenol in the past week than I have in the past year!!! I am trying to fix some things on my blog, but I have to confess, it isn't going well. I have had to revert to an older version of my blog, I had saved the source code. Anyhow, it isn't what I want it to be. Also, on the right side, the first several words show up as the title...with the exception of the last one. GRRRRRR, I wish I knew more about fixing this....or maybe disabling it until I figure it out. hmmm....

My dad passed away in April, and even as I type the words and I know it to be as true as the words I type, it is still hard to comprehend, still hard to grasp that he is not just a few doors away. For the first 8 months of Ethan's life, Pop got to see Ethan pretty much each and every day as I would make my daily trek to help out my folks. Ethan, we believe, shares his Pop's piercing blue eyes and we (in my family) believe he is watching over us. My mom has noticed a wee little bird each day perching on the clothesline all by its lonesome, and though my mom has never talked about reincarnation or anything "uncatholic", she is starting to believe perhaps the bird is dad, or that the bird has dad's spirit in it. I am not sure if I buy the bird theory, but I do very much believe in the afterlife, in angels and that sort of thing. If you are interested in the topic of angels, try http://www.ibelieveinangels.com/ and have a look around.

About a week or so before class started I wondered how does one go about making a blog. I decided to just do an online search, came up with a site called squarespace (no not Spongebob Squarepants!!) and voila, I produced something with some thoughts on literacy. If you would like to take a look, by all means go to http://chuxter.squarespace.com and browse through the journal found at the left. If you would like to set up a squarespace yourself, go to http://www.squarespace.com/join and have fun!! But if you try out my space there after the middle of August, the link will be broken. I am not going past the trial version of it, simply because trying to figure out this blog site should keep me busy enough!!

It is hard to believe that this time last year I was VERY pregnant, expecting baby #3. Well, if you surf to my husband's blog from last summer, you can scout around and see evidence of my "condition", so to speak. We were renovating then, and it seems each year we dream up new projects. The house was built in 1924, but it is as solid as a church. We haven't been able to knock it down yet anyhow. http://huxter.blogspot.com

Temperatures Rising

Well our first week at Marble has been a real treat. At times the combination of very hot temperatures and the task of tackling a piece of research, bit by bit, made the room seem even warmer than it was at times. Today though, a major epiphany. The big R isn't research afterall, indeed it stands for RELAX! No one has to present their abstract, no one has to present the practice evaluation.....I kind of think of this week as the "WAX ON, WAX OFF" moments of the institute. (For all of those who are as old as me and remember the Karate Kid, you'll understand that analogy in a heartbeat) We'll all do just fine I am sure. Cooler heads will prevail and if it is any comfort, the temperatures next week are expected to be in the high teens, low twenties!!!