1:21am

I am off to my summer routine already. It is 1:21am as we speak, and I am busy doing marching band music re-writes. I spent the evening putting together the 2005 marching band cd for the students...after a lot of frustration with my CD burner I finally got it working right. we have some cool tunes this year...I'd tell you but they are a secret until the music gets mailed out next week!

I work best late at night. It seems I get a great burst of energy after midnight, and I start working like crazy. I will fall apart around 4am and head to bed...sleep late into the morning and then I am at it again. I think I would be SO much more productive if I worked 3rd shift. I need to look for a 3rd shift school somewhere to teach at! Man oh man I do love summer. In the midst of writing music, I looked outside (around 7:30pm) and said 'to heck with it!' and went out to the backyard with a good book...sat in the chair and read with my dog (Pasta) and my cat (Milkshake) laying at my feet. What a life. The only way it could be more perfect is if I could look out back and see my horses grazing. Instead I see the gang scrawlings on the garage behind us *sigh*.

Visiting other peoples' houses makes me realize a lot of things. Kevin and I sat around last night and talked about his friend's new house, how ncie it was, what a great neighborhood, how big, etc. Then we came home to our tiny little cottage. But you know, I'd live in a Maytag box as long as I had Kevin and the family around. I mean, a house is just a pile of sticks, right? Just a place to hang out, to eat, and to sleep. It doesn't define you or anything, right? I think what defines us are our life experiences...many of which we would never be able to have if we had a thousand-a-month morgage payment. When I am 90 and rocking in my rocking chair, I can look back and remember all the horse shows, the Florida vacations, a cruise or two, the new digital cameras, the horses I bred (and lost money on)...MUCH better than just looking back at life and just seeing a big old house!

That being said, I still will continue to buy lottery tickets in the hopes that I will win enough to buy my acreage in the country.