Very tired, Holly, and three-things thing

Having a two-day conference in one day is very, very tiring. Now I know. I was exhausted. I've slept a LOT since dinner Saturday. It was a good conference, though (HENA, in Tempe) and Kirby Dodd was there! And getting to hug and smell he-who-was-once-my-only-baby is energizing.

It's Tuesday and I still don't feel recovered. Holly has a new job. Now she has two jobs. One is half job (unexpected) and half learning a craft (which is what I requested, and offered to pay for). So I offered to pay a flower shop near us to let her work there, or to train her. I gave them links to some of her online artsiness, and asked whether she could somehow hang out and maybe help with the Mother's Day/prom season. I didn't hear for a few days, and then just heard "I'll get back with you." On our way to Phoenix I talked to Keith and he said the owner had called, very enthusiastic. He told her to call on Monday, even though she had wanted to call us on the road.

So yesterday she called me, and then talked to Holly a while, and we walked over for a tour and Q&A session, and then back to take Holly's paperwork and copies of two forms of ID, and she'll be working for money on Monday afternoons, and going in to help and learn a few other times each week, at two different flower shops! One has a designer who's American and trained for a month (plus lots of on-the-job experience), and the other shop has an English designer who trained for a year. Both are willing to show Holly some of what they know, in exchange for her assistance. WOW! More than I expected.

She still is working at Zumiez, too. She's there right now. And then there's another possibility:

When we were in the Phoenix area, we went to visit an unschooling family that needs live-in help. They're thinking it might be helpful to have an unschooler rather than the professionals but not-unschoolers they've had. Holly is under consideration for that. It would start in June and go six months. How do I feel about my youngest possibly moving away? Depends whether I'm being selfish or not. Unselfishly, I see it as a great opportunity for her to learn and to stretch her wings. Selfishly? I might be cheated out of the last few months of her being 17, and when she comes home she'll be 18, and all "nanny nanny boo boo." (Oh, did I mention that my selfish feelings are all about my childish feelings?)

If she does go to Arizona for six months, it would be after the spring floral rush season, and Zumiez might want her back for Christmas rush, if she were to want to come home instead of staying there. (All if/if iffy on that situation.)

But enough about Holly. Here's some more about me! (Meme-thing from Frank, who got it from Ronnie:)

THREE NAMES I GO BY
1. SandraDodd (like it's all one word, since Kirby was little)
2. AElflaed of Duckford
3. Mom

THREE JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE
1. English teacher
2. Office manager and trainer of data input people in ancient days
3. CEO/ED of a non-profit organization

THREE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Fort Worth, Texas
2. Española, New Mexico
3. Albuquerque, New Mexico

THREE TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
1. Desperate Housewives
2. Eli Stone (I hope I get to watch some more of that)
3. CBS Sunday Morning

THREE PLACES I HAVE BEEN
1. Bonfield, Ontario, Canada
2. England (mostly Cambridge and Kirk Ella)
3. Juarez, Mexico

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
1. San Francisco, with Holly maybe (she hasn't been; I have)
2. England again, in July, and maybe more if I get the chance!
3. Austin to see the house Kirby has moved into

THREE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
1. potatoes
2. chicken
3. green chile chicken enchilada, egg over-easy on top

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
1. going to London in July
2. going to San Diego in September
3. the Symposium on Unschooling in Santa Fe in January (this is the first public mention of it)

THREE PETS THAT YOU HAVE OWNED
1. Rat (Biggie)
2. Dog (Awshoo, and others later)
3. Cats (Sam and Pippin, and others later)

THREE FAVORITE BANDS/ ARTISTS
1. The Beatles
2. Weird Al
3. Flight of the Conchords

THREE FAVORITE TEAMS TO WATCH (The teams I watch most frequently, not necessarily my favorite sports or teams per se)
1. Skating pairs (each pair's a team, I guess)
2. American Idol last ten or so (kind of a team, by that point; a cutthroat last-man-standing team)
3. Dallas Cowboys (I don't watch them much, but when I watch I think "Jeff thinks this is wonderful" and I try to understand why)

THREE FAVORITE DRINKS
1. Tea (hot or iced)
2. Dr Pepper
3. Chocolate milk made with Hershey's syrup and whole milk. Not skimmed down; not storebought chocolate milk.

If I get to visit Frank someday, I'd like to taste "Hot malt Ovaltine with a generous slug of Bailey's topped with a healthy goop of marshmallow cream."

If alcoholic drinks was the real question:
1. Margarita with more orange base than other citrus
2. a regular margarita
3. Bailey's