Oops!

Umm, I've been busy. Very busy.

Bat Boy was great! We are in full swing of baseball and soccer season. As of right now, I have only 18 school days left(can I get an AMEN!)

Prom was.... well, see for yourself.


http://picasaweb.google.com/murphymom/Prom2007/photo#5058889258279605122

Hold Your Bat Boy

It's been a long time since I last was here! I've been SOOOOOoooo busy working on the musical "Bat Boy."

I just saw this list and wanted to post it here to help me remember/keep track of my reading. I've bolded the ones I've read so far.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible - most, but not all
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Wow! I've read more of those than I initially thought!

Ukulele phenom

Have you heard this... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=829401773913198414

oh my oh my oh my.

I cannot even believe it is a ukulele.

because he first loved us

I play the piano at my church. I play for the morning service. Our organist retired, so I am the sole musician now.

Growing up, I would literally get sick playing the piano in front of people. It's not that I wasn't prepared or felt self-conscious, I would just get sick.

Shaking hands, bouncing legs, sweaty fingers, occassionally a nosebleed. Sick.

I play the piano at my church. I play for the morning service. There are usually 200 people in attendance.

I don't get sick anymore.

Bear down

The last time the Bears were in the superbowl, my neighbor drove a shopping cart through a wall in my apartment. Hopefully, today, my party won't be quite so wild and the Bears will win again!

You're the pride and joy of Illinois
Chicago Bears
Bear down!

Leaving a mark

I saw the movie "Freedom Writers" last night. It really touched me on so many different levels.

As a student in high school, I was lucky to have many wonderful teachers. One especially stands out, John Robb. John taught me so many things about life including the art of the argument, a love for literature, noticing the small things in life and following your passions.

John was instrumental in my growing up. He was the director for our community theater of which I was a member. John had a vision and passion for the theater that could be viewed as some by overwhelming. He was hard-working, driven, a perfectionist and critical. Nothing was good until he said it was good. The song would be sung over and over until he approved. The scene would be run again and again until he approved.

He was able to take simple people and mold them into being larger than life. He made us actors, painters and entertainers. John gave us an opportunity to become something we didn't even know we wanted to become.

John pushed me, angered me, and expected more of me than anyone else in my life. He also encouraged me to look beyond my own expectations of myself. When I though I couldn't, he told me I would. When I cried, he told me to use it for motivation. He taught me that life is full of small things, small moments and that these moments are the essence of what makes us great.

John left an indelible mark on my life. No one has made a movie about John Robb. No one has written a book about his work. But, I do know for certain, his mark, his passion, his vision is one that I carry with me everywhere I go.

What mark will I leave?

My Love

Growing up, I was sure I was going to be famous. I envisioned myself either a star of the stage or the music scene. I worked toward my goals taking dance lessons, acting lessons, voice and piano lessons. I auditioned for numerous plays(and got a lot of parts), played in different bands and worked hard on perfecting my "craft".

When I met my husband, my biological clock started ticking so loudly, it totally derailed my vision of my future. I abandoned my dreams of superstardom and set my sights on having a family with this man.

I really didn't have any idea how to make a family or a marriage work. My own parents were divorced and while they were married, they were very unhappy. My grandparents had had a happy marriage but having viewed this relationship as a child, I wasn't sure that I hadn't made things look better than they really were.

Seventeen years later, this man and I are still married. My marriage has lasted longer than my parents marriage. By one year. We have 3 wonderful sons that were very much wished and hoped and prayed for. Our marriage has gone through some very difficult times ~ try raising 3 sons while your husband works and puts himself through college and then you work full time and get a masters degree. But mostly, our marriage has had wonderful times.

Tonight, when I sat down to write this post about my upcoming anniversary, I realized that I am famous. I might not be a famous actress or rock star, but I am famous. I am loved and adored and appreciated by my husband and by my three sons. And that, is better than any fame I ever imagined for myself as a young girl.

Google is everywhere....

everywhere, everywhere....

It's been a long long time since I lasted posted. Hmm.

School is .... good.

Home life is ... great.

my inner peace is ... right at this moment .... really really good.

All in all, things are much better since my last entry. I'm not saying that EVERYTHING is perfect, but, definitely better.

I've taught myself to knit(actually the art teacher at my school helped) and I'm almost finished with a scarf. I find knitting to be so fulfilling. It is so satisfying to create something that I can actually wear!

I've read a LOT of great books. I would like to start a list of what I've read in my book group both to keep track and also just to be visually impressed by the length of the list

Gotta go make supper now..

rj

Mom of 3 boyz

Have you ever had a day that was so ..... that doing the laundry was the most soothing and calming part of your day? I have and it was today.

My oldest was called into the office today to answer questions about a very important person in his life. A person that is and has been very important in our lives for as long as I can remember. My son, answered the officer's questions with a self-assuredness that most adults won't possess ever. Ever.

You know the old joke about driving someone crazy, and it's a short trip? Well, I have arrived and while I know that with everything going on at work I am most assuredly crazy, I don't feel crazy and I think that's what crazy people walk around thinking so I must, afterall be crazy.




Mom of 3 boyz

New Home

Jen from Jenorama challenged me to start a blog. So, I did.

Rebecca