I'm Such a Bad Liar!

I started a post this morning about how the economic situation is stressing me out, and put on top of that the need to keep a good supply of insulin, test strips, needles, etc. (all to the tune of $600/month without insurance [but we do have insurance that covers a lot of it]) and wondering if a depression like The Great Depression would affect our ability to keep Allie alive and safe (don't worry Al, I would do Whatever It Took), but I deleted it and instead, put the post (see below) about my Russian lesson last night, trying to give the appearance of having a normal day.

But I am not having a normal day.

So then I sat here at the computer, crying, being stressed out and desperately looking for something to pick me up. I saw CrazyMama has posted about Sharting, and if that can't bring a laugh, I don't know what can. Go see CrazyMama's post about Sharting! (<--click that over there).

Then I went to cJane's post and found that Gigs just turned 2. That got me bawling all over again. Gigs is one of the Nielson's kids...you remember--the couple who are in the burn unit, survivors of a plane crash. Gigs turned 2 without his parents there to celebrate with him. But they're alive, they're alive, and they'll be at his 3rd.

Okay, I gotta go cry some more. And plan out our food storage. And pray for the Nielson's. And pray for a cure for type 1 diabetes. And study Russian. And get my work done that's due Friday.

Help a girl out: Tell me something funny.

My First Russian Lesson (in years)!

Yesterday I went to my first Russian lesson since 1990 (wow, that's 18 years...longer than I thought!). My lesson was with a wonderful lady from Moscow named Emilia. She's funny and smart and very nice. I liked her so much!

Most of the lesson, Emilia spoke in Russian. I'm sure I had an intense look of concentration on my face. It was challenging to understand everything, but I got most of it. She told me funny stories and scary stories (like having contractions at the top of the Eiffel Tower!) and things about her life. She's very interesting and has been many places.

I came home with a test to take (I took it last night...it started easy, then got hard, then harder!), all in Russian, of course, and another worksheet to do.

I was actually physically exhausted after having my brain work so hard yesterday!

Russian is a difficult language, but very beautiful and mysterious. I'm so excited to be relearning it!

Geneology: My Maternal Grandmother

This is my maternal grandmother. She was a "bootlegger" during The Great Depression. The family was really poor during the depression, so they had to do something to get by. I don't know how they came up with distilling moonshine, but there it is! The picture on the left is "Nanny" with her still; on the right she's holding a barrel of moonshine. Nanny was a tough old cookie; oh the stories I could tell. And I might...someday!