I am IM

Being an AOL user for many years, I instant message all the time - most often to my younger daughter. Sometimes I think she likes this form of communication with me the best because she is secretly im'ing several other people at the same time. Efficient use of her time or easiest way to cross off "call Mom" on her to do list?
The worst people to im are those who are slow typers. I im'd a friend once and her husband was on the computer and he replied "hi" to my message....I continued on and then finally the reply, "this is Ed" I chatted and asked where his wife was, added some cheery comments and nothing...nothing...so I logged off and seriously considered calling 911 or a filing a missing persons report. He later accused me of "hanging up" on him but hey, it's called instant messaging for a reason so I had to move on.

I im'd two libraries - the Hackley Public Library in MI - supposedly someone was online but no one ever answered me - maybe Ed is working there now? But I had better luck at the Livermore Public Library in CA. I was promptly answered. I asked approximately how many im reference questions do they receive in a day. She said around three after she averaged the month of May so far. The most in one day was 10. I asked if she felt their patrons were aware of this feature on their website and she said it is well publicized. I think im'ing for answers to quick reference questions is great. It would be great for a lot of businesses to offer this too - just think of the time we'd save not pressing one for this and three for that and never getting to a human even after playing their evil little games.

we pause this blog.....

RSS - had not a clue till I continued on with Gail Borden Learns.....but now that I am onboard - I like it! Signed up for Google Reader and then subscribed to the New York Times Book Reviews - and had to almost immediately toggle over to GBPL website to reserve/request book titles...sorry to whomever will get my numerous requests to purchase. Also subscribed to the Chicago Tribune Home section - home projects here I come or at least file away...and a blog I read - Haynorfamily.blogspot.com - my younger daughter's best friend who recently had a baby and is refreshingly honest about new motherhood - I keep telling her to save her posts to someday publish as a book. Her contest - Guess What Ava Threw Up On Today? - was priceless. My daughter's blog that turned into a book was recently translated into Russian and Portugese. So now I own the UK hardcover, the UK paperback, the US paperback, and now the paperback in Russian. Her editor keeps bugging her to write a sequel. Do our children live our fantasies? I played piano because my Mother always wished she did...I dreamed of being an author and my daughter is. Perhaps it's true - our children are better versions of ourselves.

prayer

Did that scare you? Is this going to be a religious rant or a call to pray? Have you stopped reading this yet? It certainly scares off those callers who ask me to donate to their cause - from the police guilds to pennies for orphans or whoever is asking for money. Stop them mid pitch and say, "I can't offer you a monetary donation but I will pray for your cause" - be sure to affect a southern accent - somehow it makes you sound more sincere. They stop in their tracks and thank you and hang up. A few might say - any small amount of money would help. But stick to your guns and offer to pray right then and there with them - believe me, they can't wait to get off the line. Or be indignant and insist your prayers are as valuable as dollars. (completely off the subject - another way to get them to cross you off their call list...."Paul, (Paula) come home, all is forgiven, you don't have to keep calling like this" - they usually protest once or twice, they are not Paul (Paula) they are from blah-blah organization. But continue to forgive them and urge them to return home. You won't hear from them again)

Prayer confuses even the pray-ers, like me. My Mother had lots of sayings about prayer. "You don't how to pray until you have children" - this certainly covers the first time your kid drives a car on their own. She also said you really shouldn't pray for anything but the health and safety of your family. A favorite phrase - "little lives, Lord, little lives" meaning be happy with what you have - what? What about the big life I've been promised? - as a selfish teenager I wanted to ask that. Okay, not promised but certainly entitled to. Now the prospect of "little lives" for me and my husband is wonderful....each other, our home which we love, our children and their spouses we love as our own, and the light of our lives - our granddaughter. Who needs fame, or millions...we have it all.

My Mother will be quoted here often. She was a homemaker and dedicated her life to her family. But she was smart, well read, witty, and taught her daughters to stand up for themselves. She had a circle of strong women friends who relied on each other - perhaps the best lesson I learned from her. She's been gone 10 years and almost everyday I still think of her.

getting started

I have always learned best in increments...break down the info and go step by step. Especially directions. If I have to stop and ask for directions...I listen to the first 3 - turn left at the stoplight, go 3 miles and turn right at the high school, go 5 more miles and you'll see a clown statue..... and....that's where I stop listening. I would have stopped listening just hearing "clown statue" but even with more normal landmarks, I would be at overload. After all, I can always stop again (near the clown statue) and ask for more directions. So setting up this blog worked for me....clear steps I could follow and voila! I'm here.

And what will be here? Hmmm....good question. When the long time partner of Gore Vidal was dying, Vidal asked him if he wanted to talk, "No," his friend replied, "there's too much to say." I always have a lot to say but here I will only write quotes that touched me and I have squirreled away either in my brain or on paper. Some are my thoughts - those moments when it hits you - I get this! and that can be good or sad or just simply true. I'll say right here that I will identify the author of any quote that I can...others I have heard here and there with no one attributing ownership. If it's mine - I will tell you that too. Only quotes you ask? No, not me...I have a lot yet to say.