Craziness

Hello everybody. Hee Hee. Every time I say that, it reminds me of that children's book "The Monster at the End of This Book" starring lovable, furry old Grover. I love that book. It's so fun to read. If you haven't bought it for your kids yet, do!!! It's a riot.

So we have had a crazy weekend. The Halliburton Christmas party was on Friday night. It was nice, but speeches were way too long. And the entire time we could hear the music thumping from the party next door. Those people at World Health Club know how to have a good time. They had a disco Christmas party. How cool is that? We crashed it after dinner was over. There is something about dancing to Funky Town in an evening gown that is just way too much fun. We had a dinner party at my friend Christine's on Saturday night. I finally saw her gorgeous engagement ring and she asked me to be her maid of honor at their wedding in August. I'm so happy for her. She's one of those people that just never has anything work out in their favor. And she's starting to turn her life around, so I'm really proud of her.

Sunday was a pretty big day for us. We volunteered at the Christmas Splendor Feed the Needy banquet and it was a huge success. We fed over 3500 people in under an hour and handed out almost 1000 gifts to the children. Every year, that event amazes me in so many ways. It's incredible how many people show up to help out. Halliburton had a group of 63 volunteers alone. The amount of food it takes to feed all these people is shocking and the fact that complete strangers pull together for an afternoon to pull the event off is really great. The organization it must take to coordinate an event like this just blows my mind. It's really fulfilling to help out and give people food, but at the same time the sheer volume of people who had to attend this banquet to get a hot meal is really sobering. A good friend of mine volunteered with us on Sunday and it was his first time at an event like this. After we were done, I could tell he was just really bummed out. He said is was just way too sad to watch the families coming in to get food because they couldn't buy it on their own. And yes, it is incredibly sad, but one person can only do what one person can do. You can't save everyone at once. You can help by donating time and money. Without that, and without concerned citizens, the situation would be so much worse. So I think that put a positive spin on things for him. I hope, anyways. It's like Margaret Meade said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

I am completely exhausted today because we went to the Crue and Aerosmith last night. Wow, what a show! The Crue was great, because they're always great. Lots of lights and fire and explosions and smoke and best of all....really, really loud music. The best part of the Crue portion.... Home Sweet Home. Vince handed it over to the crowd which was probably a good thing, because his voice just ain't what it used to be. And I'll never get over how cool it looks and sounds when 20000 people are singing at the top of their lungs waving lighters and cell phones. I love it. And it was Nikki Sixx's birthday yesterday too. Very good showing by the Crue. With that being said, I must admit that it was Aerosmith who floored me last night. I've never been a huge Aerosmith fan, but they are amazing performers. It took about 1/2 hr after Motley Crue to tear down their stage and set up for Aerosmith, but it was worth the wait. They had a walk out stage into the middle of the floor and 2 ramps that went up each side. We had seats in row 6 so we got a few close ups of the group. They had no crazy lights or explosions, just a lot of incredible performing. Steven Tyler (no matter how many times I've made fun of him in the past) is so charismatic. It was hard to take your eyes off of him. The crowd was insane, singing every word along with him. He hasn't lost much over the years, his voice will still give you chills. My favorite part of the Aerosmith portion.... Cryin. All I could picture was Alicia Silverstone in that video! It's a classic. And my favorite part of the entire show.... Dream On. That song was the best live performance I have ever seen. Hands down.

Today's thought for the day... Patience is needed with everyone, but first of all with ourselves.

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if its just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away...