No Internet

by sarahmfry, October 26, 2010
GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS

 
Just a little update from our neck of the woods:

 
We are waiting on a new internet bridge to arrive so that we can re-establish our internet connection. It has been a pretty long break this time.  And it's interesting:  instead of finding that our lives are suddenly so much more beautiful and placid because the horrid time-waster was gone, I have found that the internet is actually a very intricate and necessary and good part of our lives.  (Interpretation:  I'm going bonkers without it!)

 
What I miss the most:
  • balancing my checkbook
  • paying bills/working with online accounts
  • my online radio stations!!
  • focus on the family broadcasts while I do dishes
  • writing the occasional blog
  • checking the weather (If we had been prepared for the huge wind storm this morning, we might have saved our whelping shed!)
  • online airline check-in
  • google
  • craigslist - for general time-wasting and very specific purchases
  • looking up the exact recipe I need, when I need it,  with specific ingredients
  • answering emails and keeping in touch when I need to

 
What I do miss some, but not so much:
facebook

 
And I have been strangely pleased to find out that I'm just as busy in my little home - even without the internet!  It is not a completely evil culprit, but a very valuable tool that I miss.

 
I have camped out at my in-laws this morning and have paid bills and accessed accounts and caught up for now!  Now I return to my internet-free zone to do the rest of my day. 

 
David just left for Aldersgate and then I leave Thursday for Idaho, so maybe

 
after all the travels are o'er,
we'll be back online once more!

 
Until then, remember:  Only 9 weeks 'till Christmas!

Homecoming 2010

by sarahmfry, October 26, 2010
I came home from a wonderful GBS homecoming weekend and wrote this post, but lost our internet connection before I added pictures and got it published.  Now I'm using borrowed internet and don't have access to pictures. Oh well.  Better late than never....


Oh, what a weekend it was. 

What an incredible outpouring of love and honor.  It was such fun to see so many "dinosaurs" (the term of endearment for old music majors) and old friends from the last 33 years.  And so connect with some newer friends, as well!

Some of you are my dearest and closest and bestest friends.  Others are people who are names from the Music Division Hall of Fame...household names that we kids grew up hearing about, (some of you probably baked cookies in our kitchen or "dated" in our formal living room) but only met when we were very young.  What a joy to have conversations with you now as adults. 

My mind has been turning over the conversations and events of the weekend, relishing the bits of conversations I had with friends and wishing I could have connected longer with others.  

The list of thank-you's due is long and distinguished.  Mandy Mimier made decorated the place with her signature touch class and elegance.  Robbie and Rachel England worked for over a year, donated hundreds of hours, drove hundreds of miles with their family of 6...and were the masterminds of the whole weekend.  Robyn Clemens and her band of brilliant helpers put together an unforgettable Music Majors reception to wrap up the weekend.  I laughed.  I cried, It moved me, Bob. 

There is no way to adequately express appretiation to everyone who had a part in the weekend.  Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

I must admit that I have had mixed feelings about my dad's semi-retirement.  But I trust his wisdom and his heart and I can see God working the timing so beautifully.   And how fun to see such amazingly gifted (and hard-working) classmates and friends taking on Dad's various hats in such an incredible way.  I just love that school.  It was good to be home.


Hope Springeth New on the Horizon

by sarahmfry, October 04, 2010
So....Good news from sick bay.  After 5 days raging with fever, I finally  figured out that maybe this is more than a viral bug convention convening in every inch of my body.  SOMETHING has got to be infected.  So....great thinker that I am, I get to thinking that I have been thinking for awhile (like - for weeks) that maybe I was developing a sinus infection.  I've had almost constant congestion for no apparent reason.  So maybe, just maybe this sinus infection turned into an infection explosion that occurred during the annual viral bug convention.  And why, you ask, is this good news?  Very good question, my friend.  I'm glad you asked.


There is no known cure for the annual viral bug convention.  Dousing the little suckers with gallons of water, overloading them with vitamins and natural remedies and smothering them in sleep can give the illusion of progress for the afflicted convention host.  But the ugly truth is, those bugs ain't leaving until the convention's over, dude!  But infection?  Oh yeah, baby.  We've got ammo.  Bacterial Explosions and Viral Conventions are two totally different battles.  And while the Bacterial dudes tend to pack a more vicious punch, those little Viral devils will keep their slimy hold to the end.  So..back to our ammo.  Science, via my good friend Flemming,  has brought us penicillin!  And a lot of other "illins"  which are good for "killins"  the "villins". 


I need to stop right here and tell you that I am medicated.  Uh.  And I feel a little drunk.  Or. Something.  Maybe it's the small-iced-nonfat-caramel-latte-with-no-ice I picked up to give me the energy to accomplish today's impossible to-do list while my head spins.  After five days of Popsicles, maybe the caffeine was a little to much, too soon.  But I did get lost this morning.  IN FRANKFORT!  (shock) And I cried. (again, shock) And I'm just saying that I'm really woozy today.  So don't hold this post against me. Please.


So...back to the good news.  What I'm saying is, I think maybe the convention is over, the bugs have moved on to another host and I am left with a massive Bacterial Explosion that is nothing - I repeat NOTHING against half a bottle of slightly outdated Dicloxacillin from.......well......okay, from when Corin was born.


So - Basically I just used 373 words (literally - I checked) to proclaim that I think I might be on the road to recovery because I'm taking an old bottle of antibiotics from my fridge!  Told you it was good news.


And - as icing on this riveting story, I am nearly certain my werewolf eyes are going away, thanks to a magic little tube of stuff smuggled to my mother (legally and honestly, of course) from our midwife Nelda from the maternity ward.  Hmmm....interesting.....Just think how hopelessly sick I'd be right now if it weren't for having babies.


It's okay if these tidings of good news leave you feeling baffled and slightly confused.  Just bang your head against a hard surface for 5 days, set yourself on fire, jump into a tub of icy water then take drugs and caffeine on an empty stomach.  It'll make perfect sense. 


The fact that I'm sitting here alone in my house laughing out loud somehow troubles me.  Hope I'm okay.


Okie Dokie, then.  Lots and tons of work to be done before the caffeine wears off and the boys get home. 

Many many blessings upon you for reading these good tidings of great joy.

And may the force be with you.


I should have been using these valuable minutes of time, I suppose, to work on the article which is due TODAY.  But I ask you....Do I SOUND like I am in any condition to be writing an article of any kind? Really?  I rest my case.

I'd also like to say that I dedicate this post to my.....um....very refined, dignified almost-PhD husband.   Just wanna make you proud, Babe.





photo credits (not an endorsement of the sources):
pills:  reemerginginfectiousdiseases.wordpress.com
flemming: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/health_penicillin0_the_first_0wonder_drug0/html/2.stm
 crazy lady:  http://www.wonkydonky.net/archives/2008/06/vegetarians_at.php

Slow Motion

by sarahmfry, October 03, 2010
It's been five days now....huddled sick in bed, burning with fever, shaking with chills, hugging a heating pad, turning on the fan.  Throat raw, Head pounding, Body aching.  Waking up with both eyes glued shut from a double eye infection. (And oh, am I LOVELY.)  Drinking my water and taking my herbs and eating my veggie soup.  Cancelling my lessons AND my make-up lessons. (Which I don't believe I have ever done in 15 years of teaching.)   

I know.  This is starting to sound like a whining session.  I'm starting to kinda get ticked, actually.  Bear with me.  Or click the red x at the top of your screen if you've had enough.  I have too.  This was supposed to be a 3-day virus.  I suspect there is more than one bug wreaking havoc on this body.  You know I'm sick if I missed Sunday Dinner with the family! Today when David got home from church I asked him...what am I doing wrong?  Do you think all this resting is keeping me sick?  But I kinda think not, because there have been times in the last few days when I've drugged up just to attempt to get a few things done.  And I'll tell ya, Ole Bessy ain't doin' so well!

But...it has - majorly - slowed me down.  Into slow, slow motion.  I have laughed at the kids, looked at their art projects hanging on my bed.  I have put them to work to keep the Fry ship sailing. (They even managed to match their own school socks from the clean laundry basket without being asked!)  I have let them scramble around on the bed with silliness until it got to me and then kicked them out.  They have brought me toast and water and fruit and kisses. I have even curled up in a chair some and done nothing (!). 

And I have a fresh appreciation for having the health and energy to be busy with the daily!

You know, some people struggle with health issues that steal their energy every day.  I ache for them.


So I'm expecting to be so much better tomorrow so I can get on with my wonderfully full life!  And I'm very excited about seeing some of you at GBS Homecoming in a few days!!  Unless, of course, the double eye infection doesn't go away.  Then I'm not so excited to walk around campus looking like a werewolf with red eyes swollen shut. (Like I said, I am lovely.)

Have you noticed what a gorgeous day it is in Indiana?  Awesome. 

Have a blessed Sabbath.  I'm off to bed -  again.





Just remembered a funny-awful story from this morning.  All of this sickness makes me feel insecure cause I can't do my normal schedule and keep up with things and I feel sorta...well....WORTHLESS!   David is, of course, almost eternally patient.  This morning, while he was, I think, printing the Sunday School lesson for today (which I usually help with)..I'm standing behind him feeling all bad and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to help... and would he like me to iron his shirt (which he is wearing)?   And he, without even looking up...

"No...I already ironed it." 

Oh.  Oops.  So not helpful.  So I just collapse into a werewolf-eyed ball on the couch and have just a very few tears.  So glad he's a patient man.
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