Happy Holiday on July 3rd

It's time again for those "Only the Good Friday" postings -something I have been more than a bit lax about doing lately too. But today, I am actually awake early this morning, have my blog reading au currant too as of right now and I remembered today is the day for doing these things, so....tada!... Here I am and here it is!

(For those who aren't aware, Only The Good Friday is a series of postings by those who wish to remember only the good things and was set up by Shelley Tucker of This Eclectic Life. You can check it out at her site and get a better grasp as to what it's all about that way. Then come join us to celebrate the day!)

What's there to say today that is "only the good?

Well, for some folks, today is a holiday and they are able to start celebrating a day early since the actual holiday (4th of July, in case you've forgotten) falls on a Saturday this year and this way, they don't get cheated out of getting an extra day away from work. It's a nice way to get a good long weekend instead of just the usual two days in a row away from work.

Since I no longer "work" -in the traditional sense -aside from the things I monkey around with here at home, it doesn't affect me personally, one way or the other. And, for most of the employment I had the last years of my working life, the "three-day holiday weekend" thing never affected me because of the type of work I was usually involved in then -places that operated 24-7, 365 days out of the year. But, it's a darned neat thing for those who are able to enjoy that extra "holiday."

Some days, it's a bit tricky trying to find the good in things that happen. Yesterday was kind of one of those days. I was up most of Wednesday night into the very wee hours of the morning trying to get my poor little computer here to cooperate with me. It was running extremely slow and I have no clue as to why. I did all the maintenance stuff -clearing this and that, even did a defrag that windows told me I didn't really have to do right now and still, it wasn't co-operating and picking up any speed. It was so slow I was beginning to think somehow my internet connection had slipped away on its own and substituted the old dial-up on me in place of the lovely high-speed I'm supposed to have. It had me thinking -briefly -that maybe I should save myself the extra money and revert back to dial-up but then I thought about those videos I wouldn't be able to open or load if I were back on dial-up and I quickly shot that idea down. I'll stick with the high-speed service after all because for the most part, it works fine and it's a great tool to have available.

I'm finally nearing the completion of the strawberry tablecloth project I've been working on for the past 5, almost 6 weeks now. I probably would have finished it before now except for the fact that I realized late Monday night that I don't have enough floss of the light salmon color I need to finish it on hand. Now that aspect is not exactly a good thing because it entails a trip to Dubois or State College to the nearest fabric store that carries embroidery supplies and I had no plans to make that drive anytime in the near future. (It's about a 40-45 mile drive, one-way, and my budget was pretty well shot by the end of the month (June) and I couldn't swing the extra expense for a tank of gas for the jeep.) But then, I happened to remember my neighbor across the street often runs back and forth to Dubois because her older daughter lives there and maybe she and Joe were going to be going over there sometime this week -or their daughter might be coming here -and I could have her pick up the floss I need. She'd offered to do this for me in the past so I called and told her my dilemma and yes, they are planning a trip to Dubois sometime -probably Saturday -so that solved my floss pick-up problem. Then, a bonus popped up in that Mandy decided yesterday she and the kids, along with Kurt's TSS are going to go to Dubois today so she will take my list of floss colors I will need and pick them up for me today. Which then means maybe over the weekend I will finally finish that tablecloth! Yep, that's really a good thing right there!

The grandkids here are still sometimes quite the challenge but overall, they are both doing very well, learning more and more every day. Kurt's vocabulary is building a good bit, he's able to communicate a lot better with us through that and it does help immeasurably to make life a lot easier when you can figure out -sometimes -what the little three-year-old really wants instead of constantly trying to guess and playing hit and miss communications that way. For that little improvement in his life -and thus, in mine -I am really and truly very thankful.

But the really good thing here hasn't happened just yet. It's right around the corner though as come Tuesday, Maya will return to school for her summer class session AND also, come Tuesday, Kurtis will begin attending school too! YAY! YAY! Both of them, in school, for the next six weeks is fantastic! The only drawback is that Maya will leave here at 8:30 a.m and return home around 1 p.m. and Kurtis will leave about 11:15 a.m. and return home about 4 p.m. so that will only leave a little under 2 hours of time during which Mandy and I will have total peace and quiet here but still, 2 hous is better than no hours of the rest and relief from kids getting into everything imaginable and the fighting, squabbling that often takes place as Maya insists on bossing Kurtis around, taking whatever he is playing with from him simply because he's enjoying something. Yeah, all kids in that age range generally operate on the same wave length ya know -whether they are autistic or not -so it's a normal thing and that is indeed, a darned good thing even if it is a hassle to contend with at times.

Tomorrow -the 4th -will have us venturing up to Osceola Mills because there is another of those Fireman's Carnivals going on there now and they will end their carnival tomorrow with a big Fourth of July parade in which our local school band will be marching. And that means that Katie, the 17-year-old here, will be marching since she is a majorette and thus, a member of the band. Which in turn means we, the family, will attend the parade. Since this parade will be earlier in the day and we will be able to watch it from the front porch of some friends of Mandy's 'cause their house fronts the parade route, it will be a lot more comfortable for all of us with respect to seating and such. Mandy says I can even enjoy this one even more since we'll be at her friend's house and she just knows her friend's husband, Victor, will have beer! Hmmm. That does sound rather appealing since I might then be able to drink a cold one while enjoying the parade go by and I won't have to worry then about driving and risking getting picked up either because I will have Mandy to be my designated driver then too. Yep! That's a darned good thing, I'd say.

No other plans right now for the rest of the weekend -maybe we'll be able to do a little cookout of sorts on Sunday if the weather is decent. And if it doesn't cooperate,, that will be okay too cause then I can just stay inside and maybe do some more embroidering then. That's always a good thing, ya know!

Now, before I forget the best thing that is really good thing is the reason for this holiday here tomorrow!

This is the day when we celebrate the founding of this nation. On July4th, 1776, thanks to the foresight of those men (sadly, women were not included in things like this back then) who discussed the issues of the people of the land back then, argued a lot about what was important not just to them but for all of us and managed to come together in agreement and wrote our Declaration of Independance!

Granted, when it was all said and done, written up on paper, carved in stone and the like, that decree gives us so much for which we are -or should be -very thankful. Sure it's not absolutely perfect but it's pretty darned near to that, don't 'cha agree? It's the foundation for all the rights, the freedoms granted to us in this beautiful land to live and abide by.

Yes, this year is not exactly the best year so far that our country has seen -the economy is terrible, for sure. Like it or not, we are involved in a war several thousand miles away from our shores and those who are in the military, serving overseas, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, need and deserve our prayers and support and to maintain positive thinking that they will return home, safely, and soon!

Celebrate tomorrow that we have the many things we DO have in this country -a form of government that is -relatively speaking -fair and just for all who live here as well as those who may come to visit our land too. That we have an education system in place that tries to provide for ALL our children a place to learn, to appreciate and understand others and to be able to go forward and access even more learning throughout their lives is indeed an excellent thing. That we have a free press, media that can and does provide information so we are able to know what is happening here and around the world at a click of the mouse, the flip of a channel or turn of a page is, in my opinion, the very best there is in the world today. And, it -along with the educational opportunities we have available are, in my opinion, the best things about this nation! Without those, we would have nothing and would be nothing.

So remember tomorrow in the many and varied celebratory things that we will all no doubt be seeing, participating in perhaps, enjoying with friends and family the great standard of living we DO have here, how it came about and the price that has been paid over the centuries now to maintain all those many freedoms we have. Appreciate them to the fullest because there are many who don't have any type of government, freedoms, and such and realize just how lucky, how fortunate we truly are to be here and enjoy what we all do have today!

Sounds a little like a Thanksgiving speech there but we should give thanks every day for the bounty that is ours and the freedoms afforded us to make our lives even better!

Have a safe and very Happy Fourth of July and be thankful for the way of life afforded us by those who gave us the opportunity to live in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave!

It truly is America, the Beautiful in so many ways!