No news yet

Well, nothing to report yet. My water has broken and the contractions aren't too bad....
Oh wait, wrong post.

No word from OU yet on the status of my application to Masters of Social Work school. It is reported that the envelopes were mailed Monday so maybe by tomorrow I'll know something.

Anticipation is not my friend.

One of those days

I would give anything to have five minutes with my mom right now.

For love of a sofa

My friend 'Nette was paranoid about showing up on my blog so hey, let's feed the paranoia.
No my friend, the sofa will live. It's just fabric. We have a lifetime of friendship and memories that are so much more important to me than any material item.

So there.
*smile*

It's not polite to laugh

I know it's not nice to laugh at another's misfortune but I do have to relay one of my giggles from yesterday, April 19th. Of course, the 19th is the anniversary of the OKC bombing and the day, in fact the week, has been marked with all sorts of memorials, services, tributes, etc. I was watching the televised service from downtown OKC that included Bill Clinton and several political dignitaries. At the end of this somber service, the congregation was led outside by a lone bagpiper (note-bagpipes don't sound very good via tv transmission). The news channel was panning the progression of the piper and as he came down the church steps he fell. Immediately the camera was switched to something else, but I burst out laughing. They went right back to the piper and it was evident he was ok, just jostled a bit. I felt bad for laughing but I realized that this very sorrowful occasion needed a good diversion and for me it was a reminder that it's ok to laugh and go on with life.

Whenever I hear bagpipes I think of the movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer" where Mike Meyers' dad plays the bagpipes and sings Rod Stewart's "If you want my body (and you think I'm sexy)." Always makes for a good chuckle.

Never trust a Texan

On the day we were coming home from Tennessee was also the South Central Region of Young Dems mtg, being held in Austin, Texas. I had planned my trip way before this regional mtg and decided it was not cost effective to fly to Austin for only a few hours. I was running for the position of Regional Director, meaning I would be helping out and assisting the states in our block. This includes Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. I had asked a gentleman from Texas, David, to run as my Deputy Director (as it's tradition to have a representative from each state as the officers). La and Mo are not really active states right now but it would be easy enough to plug them in later.
So, I sent my annoucement/speech with my state president, Kathy, who was attending the mtg with some other OK folks. Kathy is running for national YDA office (like I hold right now as Vice Pres of Programs) and she needed to campaign at this meeting.
Now it gets sticky....
One of the Texas leaders is a guy named Giovanni. Up until now he has been a friend and someone I respected and have enjoyed working with him. He knew of my intent to be Regional Director and all this time I have been the only one running. Giovanni is also running for national office, but with a different group than my state prez is. This basically makes the two of them competition. Giovanni apparently felt threatened by me and by Kathy and he lied to me, brought in someone last minute to run against me, and fanagled a deal so that the last minute person would win. It's shady....very very shady. So, I lost. I mean, it's certainly not the end of the world but what I'm angry about is how underhanded and deceitful Gio was to me.
So, I don't mind sharing my opinion of Gio with other YDA folks because if he can screw me over a tiny little regional director what will he do as our representative to the Democratic National Committee? Politics.

I'm just amazed that this guy, Gio, would do this to me because I've not known him to be of ill character like this. It's sad, sad for him, sad for his team and sad for YDA.
It will be interesting to see what happens.

Cha-ching!

The first part of the redneck vacation was an overnight stop in Memphis. We had the most fantastic bbq at a place called Corky's. I highly recommend the dry-rub ribs. The next day we traveled to Tunica, Mississippi for a day & night of gambling at the casinos. I'm not much of a gambler but I like to play slots. I took only a small amount of money, just what I was willing to lose and not feel bad about it. Of course--I lost. :-) Oh well. Our friend Dennis stayed up almost all night playing slots and table games but we managed to rouse him in the morning and get on the road at a decent hour. Casinos are a fun place to people watch because believe me you get ALL types there. Hmmm...I bet the people were saying the same about me.

Hooray for Dollywood

The trip to Dollywood/Gatlinburg was great! The cabin was just as great as the pictures/descriptions and we were right on the edge of a small lake and surrounded by mountains. It rained the first two days we were there but it didn't faze us as the relaxation and down-time were priorities. The Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg was really good (surprisingly) but nothing tops Dollywood. For those that don't know--Dollywood is the theme park created by Ms. Dolly Parton. There are lots of shops, craftsman, rides, and entertainment shows. The park wasn't busy on the day we went so there were no lines for the rides and we would just ride over and over again. Word of caution--don't ride the water rapids more than once because you'll be soaking wet. Danny and I rode three consecutive times and were drenched. It made for a good laugh.
For me the best part of the park was some ride called Dizzy Disks. It was a circular ride with chairs around the edge. Everyone was locked into their seat and you had handle bars in front of you to grip. Then, the ride starts going around and around, as well as sliding way up in the air on the right, sliding down and going way up in the air on the left. Of course, it's spinning this whole time. I cackled the whole way--I couldn't stop laughing. My friend Pat was holding on for dear life and watching her made me laugh even more. Maybe that was the best part of the park---laughing. It's good to laugh.

I highly recommend Dollywood. Go now!

Imagine that!

Have you heard that cats don't like water? Well, I guess it's true. Go figure. Not that I really doubted what I had heard all these years but I thought maybe I should find out for myself. I decided to give my cat a bath tonight. As you can imagine, it didn't go so well. She likes to drink water, but she doesn't like to be IN water. So, at the moment I have a sopping wet cat running around the house. She won't really let me near her to dry her off.
And NO, I am not as cruel as I sound.....She needed a bath. She still needs a bath but I'm sure not going to be the one to give it to her.

Integrity

Today was one of the most challenging and mentally demanding days of my life. I am the chairperson of our Staff-Parish Relations Committee at church, meaning I oversee/assist/mediate the employment, policies, and concerns that come up between the staff and the people who attend church. Kind of a big job. Last night, we met with our District Superintendent (pastor dude who oversees this area of Oklahoma City) and the person who is being assigned as our new pastor. There are a lot of good qualifications and attributes of this woman (the new pastor) but the committee had some concerns that were not resolved. I spent most of today listening to and hashing out those concerns and relaying them to our D.S.
Finally, after talk about this for approximately 8 hours today, I told our D.S. that we would accept the appointment and hope that our concerns can be worked out.
Yeah, I know I'm being ambiguous here but I can't really reveal the details. I just know that I wrestled with myself and with God for a good portion of the day, trying to make sure I was raising questions that would affect our congregation and not just me. I have the church's best interest at heart and only want the best for my congregation.
I just got off the phone with our D.S. and he thanked me for my leadership and integrity in all this. I hadn't thought about the word integrity but I appreciate the compliment because I feel like I stirred up so much chaos in trying to do the right thing.

Sigh. I'm tired. My soul is tired. My heart is tired. My body is tired. I leave for vacation in three days and it can't come at a better time. Pray for me and pray for my church.

peace...........

Kuntry Kitty

Again, another blog post about my cat, Aspasia. I have discovered that she has very unusual musical taste. She doesn't like it when I play the radio and she gets all freaky and skittish when I sing. But, she loves when I play the harmonica! I'm not kidding, she really does like it! I found my harmonica last night and was playing a little and she came running from another part of the house. She climbed up on the arm of the chair and put her mouth up to the harmonica, I guess to try and understand what it was. I had put it up for a while and then got it back out late last night and as soon as I started playing she came over and stretched out and nuzzled me. I guess music really does soothe the savage soul.

Never trust a coin toss

It was a busy weekend in Rachel's world. Early Saturday morning I was up at the church, setting up and opening the free medical clinic. Then, I dashed across town to a union hall for the Oklahoma County Democratic Party convention. The biggest issue at convention was the election of delegates to the congressional and state conventions, which will be held in the next several weeks. All the county delegates divide up into caucuses (such as Progressive, Young Dems, Peace & Justice, Native American, Labor, etc). I decided to go to the Young Dems because I knew it would be smaller. So, we had 4 delegate positions to elect, two male and two female. I was tied with another woman named Amy for that second female slot and after three rounds of ballots we were still dead-locked. The suggestion was made that we flip a coin. Inwardly I groaned because when it comes to luck I have none! But, there didn't seem to be any other quick solution so we tossed and I lost. Actually, it's not a big deal but I just hate to lose. :-) I've been a delegate to state several times and of course I went to Nationals last summer so I guess it won't kill me to give a slot to someone else. Share the wealth, right?

After I left county convention I went BACK to the church to lock up & straighten up the clinic and ended up staying there about an hour and a half.

Sunday was our associate pastor's last day with us and I am going to miss her immensly. She's been a good friend and spiritual leader to me. We had a nice going away reception and I gave her a framed scrapbook page I had constructed.

Spent the afternoon over at Pat & Di's, having a cookout with the gang. What a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon.

This week is pure chaos for me, as I have church meetings 4 nights in a row! On Tuesday we will find out who are new senior pastor is and the anticipation is killing me.

Only 6 more days until vacation. I need it so badly!

I hate my hair

Hair is evil. I often threaten to shave my head and wear a wig and today is a day that I am seriously considering that option. I got my hair cut yesterday and I just don't like it. Now, I get my hair done at a nice, upscale salon. My stylist is really great & I don't blame him for this cut. My hair just has a mind of it's own and this morning it decided to terrorize me. It's like my hair was playing an April Fool's joke on me.

Sigh.

In the small, boring town I went to high school in, my friends & I had a theory: the bigger the hair, the bigger the ho. I'm always petrified that my poofy hair is going to somehow jet me into that philosophy so I try to keep it cut short. But, today I am having Bigger Ho Hair Day.
Oh well, there are worse titles to have..................

Happy weekend everybody.