Bang of a Wake-up Call

I went to bed late - or very early - depending on how your perception of time might be - last night. I think it was well after 3 a.m., maybe around 4 a.m. before I hit the proverbial old sack. I was sleeping quite nicely too until about 7:30 when I was awakened with a bang. The banging, actually the slamming of the front door - just a few feet away from my room, from my bed, and by some not-so-friendly type parting words too as the person who slammed the door left the house for the day.
"Ah ha." I said to myself, "There apparently is some trouble here in paradise."
Then, not quite fully awake, I thought for maybe 10-15 seconds or so as to whether it warranted that I get up then and find out what the squabble was about or should I roll over and go back to sleep.
I opted for more sleep!
When I finally did decide to get up, it was getting close to 10 a.m. Just about enough time to get two wake-up cups of coffee in me before the first of Maya's therapists arrived today.
Maya was quite receptive this morning with her behavior therapist - paid pretty close attention to the tasks she had put before her, no meltdowns, nothing even close to looking like it might develop into a slight hissy fit, and that's always nice to have a session go like that!
But, because the therapist this morning also decided to join our "walk" and be a part of "Maya's Team" in the Cure Autism Now Walk on April 14th over in State College, my normal routine in the morning - check e-mail, read the CDT paper, read blogs - got way behind. I got the therapist entered on our team. Then we discussed places to try to see about getting donation cans set up. Add to all that mix, my son showed up and wanted me to do his registration for the walk then too since he had learned from his co-driver they would be leaving tonight, early hours of the morning (actually about 90 minutes from now as I type this) to be on the road for the next 4-5 days.
So, I got that done. Then my daughter picked up the mail and in it was a check from a very dear friend of ours to be applied towards our Team's totals. Got that recorded, plus the money that my ex-husband had sent home last Saturday with my son, after they had been able to have breakfast together in Needles, California.
And after that, it was to write a letter to the special events organizer for the Walk to see if he could correct an error in which a cousin of mine had made a very substantial contribution to our team but her confirmation notice didn't show that it had gone to our team's totals. In the process of doing that, I asked the gentleman if he could also fix it so that my older daughter, who had registered for the walk before Mandy and I had set up our Team could be moved over to be reflected as part of our team.
By the time the day was over, I had confirmation on my cousin's donation, got my older daughter over to our team report and with the two new walkers registered, other donations recorded, etc., I was really very pleased when I looked at our totals that we had collected thus far - $510.00! Not bad for a group of folks who have never done anything like this before as Mandy and I are! Actually, I think what we have raised to date is pretty doggone good!
Ok - enough of the pats on the back there!
I forgot until late this afternoon that today- the 28th, that is, was the day my neighbor and very good friend, was having heart surgery down in Pittsburgh at the University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center so please, keep our neighbor safe, say an extra prayer or two for her that the surgery went well, that she heals quickly and comes back home very soon! I have your birthday card here, ready and waiting for your return, Shirley! So, you'd best be home quick so I can run it up to your house and hand deliver it!
This afternoon, Mandy and my son took Miss Maya up to his house where they proceeded to take a bunch of pictures of Maya playing with Uncle Clate's drum set (Actually it's her Dad's drum set but he keeps it at Clate's house because he can go up there and practice and not annoy everyone here with the drumming noise!) They also took some pictures of her holding an electric guitar that belongs to a good friend of Clate's as well as pictures of her with the microphone to his stereo set-up as she was "playing" that she was singing. Then, they decided to take her outside (the weather was nice and sunny but a chilly edge to the breeze) and wanted to take some photos of her seated in Uncle Clate's old blazer with him at her side. They wanted these pictures of him and her together so they would have a good picture to pick from to use on the donation can they were fixing to put out at Cooney's Bar up on Route 53 for donations for the Cure Autism Now Organization. The thought being although a picture of Miss Maya would be enticing, very pretty, etc., a lot of folks might ignore it cause they wouldn't know who she is but if she were pictured there with UNCLE CLAYTON - who virtually all the regular patrons up at Cooney's know - well it might loosen up for some more donations that way. Oh, the things we will do, the lengths one will go to find ways that may ultimately help our little Miss Maya some day!
They did get some really cute pictures of her alone as well as some great shots of her with her Uncle Clate too and yes, I'll be posting some of these photos here today too. I hope so anyway, if I can find 'em here on ye olde computer!
Here's Miss Maya playing the drums up at Uncle Clate's house. Notice the way - very professional in our opinions here - that she holds the sticks. Looks like she really knows what she's doing doesn't she?
And you really do have to agree with me when I say she is just as cute as cute can be too, now don't 'cha? Come on, admit it, agree with me cause you know I'm right, right?

And here we have Miss Maya, the up and coming future country western singing sensation, showing Uncle Clayton how it's done! Considering the fact that the ONLY thing she really enjoys watching - requests it to be honest - is the Country Music Video channel. She has her little toy guitar that she holds and strums while watching this or that singer belt out a song and she even is developing the movements too - lean forward, tilt the guitar a certain way for effect, the lean back. However, her repertoire is still somewhat limited to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Jingle Bells," "Happy Birthday," and her lastest addition -"You Are My Sunshine." But she's learning and that's all that's important. You can't tell at all by the smile on Uncle Clate's face either can you now, how much he adores his little niece?
And, the last picture to go with this post is this one. Here's Maya and Uncle Clate sitting on the hood of his old Blazer parked in his back yard. If you look really close, you can see there is something in Maya's hand - yep, it's a microphone. Seems the only way Clate and Mandy could talk her into getting up on the old blazer with him was if she could take the microphone to his stereo setup outside with them. Hey, what can I say! The kid apparently has her own particular set of priorities now doesn't she?
And, that brings me to the end of my stories for tonight. Aren't you glad that's over and done with? And with the end of those stories also comes one more little thing on the blog - the Bushism for the day. And perfectly timed too this all has been as it matches up exactly for my last swallow of the last bottle of Yuengling beer from the six-pack my son brought down last night! Pretty good timing on my part there too I think!
For Thursday, March 29, 2007
"I'm thrilled to be here in the breadbasket of America because it gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here in America - we can feed ourselves." - Stockton, California, August 23, 2002.