Today was a good day.  In school, I have an artist in residence doing a workshop with my students on the 100 years war.  She is having them create characters and families and stories and doing research and will be interviewing them in character and having them interview her character and a whole bunch of other things.  It is really interesting and I think the kids are enjoying it.  (As much as 8th graders enjoy anything that smacks of uncoolness) :) 

After school, Julia had a friend over.  This little girl is the daughter of a woman that was a year behind me in school, and who also went to my church.  Watching Julia and this girl reminds me of me and my friend, Erin, when we were real little.  Erin had her own sister, but she and I were very much like sisters as well.  It's hard to explain, but we were completely comfortable with each other.  There was no embarassment or discomfort when we were together.  It was like we just were meant to be.  Julia and her friend are the same way.  They just enjoy each others company, and even when the disagree, they are over it quickly. 

I've been very lucky in my life.  Erin was the earliest of my friends, and I was fortunate enough to gain two other friends, like Erin, as I got older.  Kim was in my elementary school, but always in different classes.  We became good friends when we were a little older.  Michaela went to a different elementary school, but we became close in middle school.  The friendship was the same with them.  We were all never afraid or embarassed to be silly or goofy or funny or smart or sad or anything when we were with each other.  It was just so easy to be with them, and it still is.  The four of us are still just as always, although distance and our lives definitely part us.  Kim is a human resources guru at a big national company in that is headquartered in NYC.  Michaela is a photographer/world traveler/non-profit organization maker/woman of the world.  Erin was the head accountant or CFO or something brilliant dealing with money for a few dot.com websites and now is home with her two beautiful little girls.  We all definitely don't see each other enough, and are currently trying to coordinate schedules to get together for a girls night out.  However, when we are together, it's like no time has passed.  I remember that my college roommate used to leave the room to study when Erin would call me at school because I would immediately revert to being an 8 year old giggly girl.  That's just the way it goes with us. :)

I'm excited because the organizing system that I bought for the playroom has finally shipped!  That means that I'll have it by Friday at the earliest, and it just so happens that there is no school that day, so I can get everything in there and organized!  I've already purged the papers and dried out markers and other craft items that can go, and everything is ready to be loaded in.  I am psyched.  I'm currently mapping out a plan for the spring break for more purging and organization.  The problem is, I think I've purged just about everything that can be purged around here.  I've also created organization systems for just about everything that can be organized, and really, the only thing left to do is to have a garage sale.  I'm planning that for May.  I've been looking into professional organizing some more, and have found lots of varying information.  Some sites say that you must be certified in order to work as one.  Others say that isn't necessary if you can get a network going.  So, we'll see.  I'd love to get my hands on my Dad's office.  That would be FABULOUS, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Julia is so much like me.  As I type, she's sitting at the counter doing some make-up work that she missed while absent.  She is just chatting away while she works.  Not to me, mind you...just to herself.  It's exactly what I used to do as a kid.  My parents would always knock on my bedroom door and ask who I was talking to, but it was always just me.  I was creating my own television show or talking in accents to various people that I was "interviewing" or having conversations with people I wanted to meet, or just telling the events of my day to the various stuffed animals that were strewn about the room.  She does the same thing. When she's on the computer, she chats and chats about everything and nothing.  In her room, she talks to herself in the mirror or to her stuffed animals.  In the back of the car, she tells me stories and then gets off on tangents about make-believe things or real things that happened, but with some major embellishments.  Sometimes you are hearing from Julia, but other times, it's some British girl, or a little Irish girl or someone else.  Her imagination is HUGE and it's great.