Cosmic Cutie Connection

Mixed feelings

2012-01-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

So Gary and I have come to the conclusion that we probably don't need a seven-bedroom house anymore, go figure. Since Bridget has returned home she has begun making plans to get an apartment with a friend or two and move out sometime in the next six months or so and I can't say I blame her. I'm not going to go into the "wailing momma" mode because I understand where she's coming from. I remember getting my first apartment with my best friend and it was a HOOT. (Remember that, Karen?) Some of my favorite memories to this day are of living there, so I would never begrudge that experience for Bridget. But that'll mean that there are only the two of us rattling around in this big house, and it's ridiculous enough being THREE rattling around here.

Doesn't it just figure that once I got my bathroom remodeled I would end up moving away?

I have already begun looking at the rooms with the eyes of someone who is saying goodbye. I look at each room and I don't see what's there now, I see what was there ten or fifteen years ago. I see little girls playing in knee-deep piles of stuff. I see a little dog laying on the top bunk of a doll's bed. I see a basement with three boys, in various stages of voice-changing. I see a room with a chinchilla named Chong, who was the softest pet ever. (He didn't much love coming out of his cage but once he was out, he snuggled really well.) I can also see Michael's room, which was more like a maze, really.

I look at my living room now and it's tidy but when I look through my "time vision" goggles I see gangly teenaged boys draped over all of the furniture and I literally have to count legs and divide by two to figure out how many are there and how much milk we'll need for cereal. (The heads are all obscured by the blankets, but somehow the feet are never covered up.) I look at the house across the street and remember neighbors long since moved away, who used to be able to tell when we were home and when we weren't because the dog slept on the kitchen table when we were away.

My family room has a nice little pot-bellied gas stove. When that thing is turned on that room is toasty and warm and cozy. On a snowy day there's nothing better and I remember when the girls would come home from school, cold and wet and tired. They'd snuggle under an afghan on the couch with something or other on the TV and they'd always fall asleep for a little while. (Getting up early for seminary meant always being sleepy enough for an afternoon nap.) That's what I see when I look at my family room.

I look at my kitchen, at my pantry, and remember keeping it stocked up with extra goodies because I knew that I would be feeding not just my own kids but that their friends felt enough at home here that they would open the pantry door to see if there was something interesting to eat, to "tide them over" till dinner was ready. And most of the time there were extra plates on the table at dinner time. As more and more of the kids have grown up and moved out I've found that I've cooked less often but somehow I haven't managed the art of cooking less QUANTITY, so when I cook there's always enough to feed an army. (Or to feed whomever is here for the rest of the week.) Gary is amused about that.

I look at my coat rack, for pete's sake. I have a sun hat hanging there and next to it is the hat Aidan wore whenever we went outside to "give the flowers a drink of water." (Aidan usually got as wet as the flowers.) They haven't lived here for a long time but I can't bring myself to put his hat away.

So how do you leave these memories behind? Gary says, "Change is always hard for you." Ya THINK?? Maybe it's because change has always meant pain. Change always means losing something I love. But how stupid is it to live in a house with seven bedrooms, six of which are not even being used? We shouldn't be making a house payment like this when we could sell it and buy something perfectly acceptable, maybe three bedrooms so we would still have room for out of town family to stay. We've actually even seen a few places, one of which I liked very much and could see myself living in. And then I come home and look at my house again and wonder how I'll live through giving it all up.

Change sucks.

:)

2011-12-20T12:30:00.001-07:00

SHE'S HOME!

My heart is breaking for her...

2011-12-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

I knew it would happen. I knew that she would love "her" kids and that being with them would enrich her. But with love comes the vulnerability that opens us up to pain and now that Bridget is due to come home, she has had to say goodbye to her students and it hurts. Part of me is miserable because I can't relieve her pain. But I know that there's nothing I can do. And would I change anything if I could? The only way to prevent the pain of loss is to never love anyone or anything. That's no way to live.

God bless you, Bridget. May you get over the pain of separation soon and be left with the sweet memories of your beautiful, sweet students who love you and will always remember the young woman who gave them her heart.

Odds and Ends

2011-12-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

So Bridget asked me if I was excited about her coming home and YES I AM! But part of me is a little nervous about it too, which I hated to admit, but there it is. I'm nervous that she won't like it here anymore because it isn't China. Maybe if I wash her hair and give her a scalp massage for $2? Seriously, though, I know she's had a wonderful time and I'm so happy about that. But I don't know how we can measure up. Oh well, I suppose it's not my job to "measure up" to a wonderful experience like that.

The job is going great, I am having a very good time. I really like having Mondays off because it means I no longer dread Sundays. Used to be Sundays would be horrible because not only did I not do anything like shop or clean house or whatever, the next day the work week started up again and that was the end of the long-awaited weekend. Shoot, not long enough to get anything done. Now that I have Monday off, I can get things done on Saturday, spend Sunday going to Church and enjoying family, and then finish getting my house tidy and get extra projects done on Monday. By the time I go back to work, the weekend is not that far away. Sweet. And the people I work with and for are really wonderful.

Today I got a retirement packet from United. There really wasn't much to it, only health insurance information, which of course is very expensive. (Almost double what it was when I was an actual employee.) It's the only information I have received about retirement so far, which is kind of surprising. I thought I would get a packet from my old boss, this is actually from WHQ. I was sad when I read through the information. Sure feels "final." I don't know that I'm really all that ready for final. United was part of my life for so long, still feels like it should be part of my life.

Tomorrow Gary and I are driving to Utah for a spur-of-the-moment trip to help out with a sewing project. (That's why we're driving, so I can get my sewing machine over there.) I'll be helping out with Carolyn's project (making a quiet book for the kids for Christmas) and I'll come home Tuesday. Gary wants to be back home for Sunday though because the Choir needs him if they're going to be ready for the Christmas program. He'll drive back Saturday. Since I don't want to try to haul my sewing machine on the plane maybe David and Sarah can bring it back to Colorado with them when they come for Christmas (please?) so I will have it back in its little cabinet.

I think I have become a little bit of a clean freak. I am in love with my Dyson vacuum and my floor steamer. I blame Carolyn, who introduced me to Dyson. And steam cleaners. And Gary gets a kick out of how much I can go on and on about my wonderful vacuum once I start talking about it. (At least, that is how I choose to interpret his eye-rolling.)

Since Bridget has been gone we have eaten at Taco Bell WAY WAY too much. That may or may not continue.

I think that's about all I have had on my mind lately.

Except to say that I really love my grandkids. :)

Update

2011-09-17T00:28:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note, I am surviving with Bridget in China. I knew I would but I also knew it wouldn't be easy. I haven't yet gone downstairs to torture myself by cleaning her room. :)

The job is going very well. I love having Mondays off and I have two really great bosses, so I'm very lucky. Also, next month Gary and I are going to go to Florida and stay in our new condo for the first time. Neato torpedo!

One bad thing, Gary is going out of town on Monday for the whole WEEK. Looks like it'll be just the dog and me. I see several taco bell outings coming up. (Audrey, I hope you want to visit?)

Oh, and am I the last person on the planet to discover NCIS? Good show, and Mark Harmon is easy on the eyes.

We have a new couch, we got it at Ikea. It's called the Manstad, and it makes into a bed. It replaced the futon in the front room (which is now being stored for Bridget, and yes Bridget, you get to have the little throw pillows, too, they just jumped out of my arms onto the family room couches when I was on my way downstairs.) I also got some pretty new pillows for it, so it looks really nice in there.

Bridget, I finished the second round of that brain scan at the hospital. I think I'm done with that booger stuff in my hair. Thank goodness for that.

Thoughts on Gary's release...

2011-07-10T19:03:00.001-06:00

1. No one told me it would be so darned difficult. I had no idea it would be an emotional thing, but it is. It is a lot like watching your last child graduate from high school, or realizing you have no more kids in primary. A major part of my life is over (that of being the bishop's wife) and will probably not come back, so I'm glad I enjoyed it and didn't wish any part of it away.

2. One of the reasons I am grateful that Gary was able to be the bishop is because it gave other people a glimpse of what I have always seen in him: a man who is loving and kind and thinks of others all the time. A man who is thoughtful without having to TRY to be thoughtful. (A lot of the time I have to remind myself to be nice, especially if I am in a bad mood. Being nice is Gary's nature.)

3. People are always so sympathetic towards a bishop's wife and that's just plain crazy. The bishop's wife gets a lot of blessings. The spirit in our home was warm, the ward members were loving and supportive, and even though Gary was gone often for various meetings and stuff, I always knew that if I needed him he would have dropped what he was doing and he would have been there for me. (But I was blessed to NOT be in that dire of need.) And the times when Gary was with me, for date nights or when we were spending time together watching TV or whatever, he just felt more "there" so I never felt like I was shorted in any way. Of course, if I had young children it would have been more difficult, but since mine were old enough to get themselves ready for church, I really reaped the rewards without pain.

4. I had the pleasure of watching Gary's love for the youth in the ward grow deeper and deeper as the years went by. Gary has always loved the scouts, of course. But to be honest I think the thought of being surrounded by YW made him nervous. (Maybe having three daughters who could wrap him around their little fingers made the idea of a whole room full of girls a little intimidating.) Over the years he has not only overcome the nervousness, he has become visibly more comfortable dealing with the youth as a group regardless of their gender. And he will always be known for being the bishop with that cool song game.

5. Gary is the first bishop in many a year in our ward who has not been bald upon his release. :)

6. I have been continually impressed that there has been no act of service, no work in the kingdom of the ward, that Gary has not been willing to do. Last night Gary said that he wanted to go down to the small 2nd building because there were a lot of dead moths that needed to be cleaned up (the building isn't in use much, especially in the summer because there is no seminary) and he didn't want the new bishop to have to go down and clean it up. So at 10:00 at night, we were down there vacuuming up all the dead moths. Well, actually Gary was doing the vacuuming while I played with the buttons on the podium. But then I went around and picked up the moths he missed and did some general tidying up. I love that building.

7. Gary is not perfect, of course. There is no doubt that he has offended someone here and there. But there is also no doubt that he would never INTENTIONALLY offend anyone. He has always done his best to do only what the Lord would have him do.

8. I have had five plus years to gaze at him on the stand, admiring how handsome he is. :) And when I occasionally caught his eye, I mouthed the words "I love you" to him, and he would get a sheepish look on his face and mouth it back to me.

9. Those times when he has dozed off on the stand? Well, for the most part it was because he had spent a little too long either working on bishop emails, genealogy, or some other worthwhile project. I hardly ever saw him fritter away his time, but if he did it was probably star trek related. (Yes, he is occasionally a bit of a trekkie.)

Gary, my love, thank you. Thank you for fulfilling your calling with all the joy in your heart, and sharing those great blessings with me. Eternity will be Heaven with you.

When it rains, it pours...

2011-05-21T01:58:00.001-06:00

Okay, so after nearly a year and a half of not having a job, I got a job offer as an executive assistant for a couple who teach leadership and communication skills along with team building to corporations and other high-profile clients. They've been doing this work for 18 years and they're very successful. They've authored several books and run workshops all over the country, internationally, and over the internet as well. I can't even begin to guess how high their IQ's are, they are both brilliant though the wife seems somewhat smarter than the husband. Either that or he is hiding it. They run the business from their home, where they live with their daughter.

When I applied for the job, it was almost an afterthought. I normally do my applying from jobs listed on Career builder, USA jobs, and the Colorado Workforce websites. Now and again I won't have enough applications in for the week from those sources (I have to have five contacts per week) so then I will check places like LinkedIn and Monster. This particular job was posted on Monster, and this was the last day that applications were being accepted. I hurried and sent in my resume and the very next day I got a call requesting an interview.

I went to the interview and I thought it went pretty well. I found out that there were about 300 applicants for the job. (From what I've seen this go-round, that's typical.) Anyway, they weren't interviewing many people. And they actually needed someone in the position several months earlier but they hadn't had time to go through the process of getting the position filled. They still didn't have the time, but they had gotten to the point of desperation. I let them know that I had another interview in one week, a second interview with CU, and they assured me that they would let me know before that time if I was successful.

A day before my CU interview, the man called me. He told me that although his wife liked me, he liked someone else a little more and his judgement prevailed. I was a little discouraged, but I figured I would just go to my interview with CU the next day and do my best. I was a little worried about that one because I didn't think that they would offer what I was asking, but I figured the interview would be a good experience and I liked the woman who was the hiring manager there.

The CU interview on Friday was actually three interviews in one: the first with the hiring manager, the second with HER boss, and the third with another person who would also be someone I would support. All three of the interviews were pleasant and I enjoyed them. Afterwards I drove over to Gary's office and we went to lunch together so I got a bonus date out of it.

On Monday I was doing some shopping at Office Max and I got a phone call. It was the husband/wife team from the job that turned me down. They wanted me to start immediately since their first choice hadn't worked out, and they offered me $2 more per hour than I had asked. I had scheduled a vacation with Gary the weekend coming up so I wouldn't be working the full week (or the full week after that) but they wanted me to work as much as possible up till then.

After my trip, I returned to work (I brought some little souvenirs for the family) and on Thursday, about 10:00, I got a phone call on my cell, which I went outside to take. It was CU, and guess what? I was offered the job at the university. They didn't offer as much per hour as the job with the husband/wife team, but there are a lot of other perks. First of all, they offered a tad more than my original asking amount. And they match contributions to a 401K (not sure what the cap is) so if I contribute the max, I'll be back up to what I was getting with the husband/wife team, maybe a bit more. Second, the university gives 13 point something hours of vacation per month (pro-rated for me, since I will work 3/4 of a full-time schedule, every Monday off, 30 hours per week) which works out to over 4 weeks of vacation per year, a lot more than I would get with the husband/wife team. I'd also get sick time and holidays. Also, and this is a biggie: although currently the university gives tuition credit to the employees only, they are going to extend the benefit to the spouse and children as well. Because it felt right, I told CU that although I had recently accepted a job, I really wanted to work with them and they said that I could think about it and call them back.

I went back inside and continued working, but it was a very long day. On my way home from work I called Gary and talked to him about the situation, and then I called CU and told them that I accepted their offer. They asked if I could start June 1, or if, due to my having a job at this point, I would need to wait until June 15. Since I had only worked 5 days at this point I really couldn't see the husband/wife team wanting me to stick around. In fact, I was fairly certain that once I told them that I had chosen to leave for a different job I would be asked to leave. Anyway, I told CU that I would let them know as soon as possible when I could start.

The next morning when I arrived at work, I immediately told my employers of my decision. Surprisingly enough, although they were astounded that I was leaving the job, they understood (especially when I told them about the tuition benefits and the fact that I have several family members who could use that.) Even more surprising, not only did they NOT ask me to leave immediately, they asked for not just the full two weeks notice, but anything beyond that which I could give them. (They have a book due on June 6.) Since CU was willing to wait until June 15 (CU hires only on the first or the 15th of the month) I will work for them until I start for CU or until they don't need me, if it's before that. The way I figure, it's the professional thing to do and they do pay well, so I'll do my best for them. And actually, I have to say that they have both been very gracious about my leaving the job (which I felt terrible about, after all.) I even got a "thank you" email, which I thought was above and beyond what was necessary, thanking me for giving them the extra time to work on their book.

Okay, that's the whole job story, whether you wanted to hear it or not. :) I'll let you know how the CU job goes, but I think it will be wonderful. My new boss's name is Emily and she is a very nice woman. She knows I will have "grandma duty" when Isaac is born and everything. Yay!

We did it!

2011-05-10T23:16:00.000-06:00

Well, we did it! Gary and I went to spend a few days in Orlando together, visiting my friend Mickey and enjoying one another's company. We also figured we'd touch base with the realtor to see what was going on with that town home we put an offer on months ago. (FYI, "short sales" are not for the faint hearted...)

Our New Home

Anyway, we had some spare time on Saturday, so D'Anne (the realtor) took us to a few places we hadn't looked at before and we saw a place that had just been reduced in price because the owner was getting pretty antsy to sell. Since our previous offer had fallen through (the owners decided to take it off the market and just let the bank repossess it) we were a little skittish towards anything bank-owned or labeled as a short sale, so since this wasn't either of those that was a big plus.

Also, since it was a vacation rental,, that was a plus to me. I know that this is a tough time for a lot of folks and it's nothing personal and all that, but it's nice to know that I wasn't yanking someone's primary residence away from them while they went to live with their parents or whatever. Also, since it's a vacation rental, all of the furniture (right down to the linens and kitchen items) are included, so even though I might want to replace items, I don't HAVE to buy anything in order to make it useable.

Living Room

The picture above is of the exterior of the condos. We have a unit on the ground floor, no stairs. (That made Gary happy.)

When you come in the front door and look to your left, this is what you see. The couch (which is barely visible in this photo) is a sleeper sofa.

Living Room

This is another shot of the living room area. The dining room table seats six comfortably, though the condo sleeps eight. (two in the master bedroom, two in each of the other two bedrooms, and two on the sleeper sofa.) Plus there are two porta-cribs and a high chair.

The second and third bedrooms each have two twin beds rather than having a full sized bed. They also have fairly ample closets. One has a walk in closet, the other just a regular closet. One is decorated with Disney bedspreads. :)

Kids' guest room

There are two bathrooms, the one in the master bedroom has a tile shower, the one in the hall has a tub/shower combination. Both have single sinks. There is a closet in the hallway with a full sized washer and dryer. The kitchen includes the fridge, stove, and dishwasher.

Adults' Guest room

Behind the front door is a securely locked, heavy duty closet called the "owner's closet." This is a closet that the owner can use to store personal items so that when he or she uses the condo for their own use they have a place to put things they don't want renters to have access to. (clothing, personal items such as curling irons, cosmetics, etc.) It's not a huge storage area, but it's nice to have some space to put a few items, especially since Gary and I fly standby and the amount of stuff we can take with us has to fit in one carry-on suitcase.

Master Bedroom

Currently, the condo has some summer bookings that we can either keep or the rental management company will re-book them elsewhere. I think Gary and I are going to let them rent the place out for the summer. For the most part, I don't go to WDW in the summer for 3 reasons: first, it's too hot and humid. Totally miserable. Second, it's too crowded and too expensive. It's Disney's peak season (which should make it easier to rent, too.) Third, it's horrible to try to fly standby. Summer travel to busy tourist areas = headaches all the way around. Since I don't plan to use it this summer, why not let the bookings stand and perhaps see if this is something we will do each summer to offset the HOA fee?

The last two photos are of the master bedroom, which also has a small TV. (There was a TV in the living room, too.) Gary and I will replace the bed with a king, but not until at least after this first summer of rentals.

Anyway, TA DA!!

Guess what?

2011-05-02T23:55:00.000-06:00

I found out today at 2:30 that I have a new job. :)

My take on tools...

2011-04-29T10:51:00.002-06:00

1. Why are there two kinds of screwdrivers? I believe they only exist to frustrate women. No matter which kind of screwdriver I need, I find the OTHER one first. And if one is obviously superior to the other, why aren’t all screws made with that type of head and the other done away with? I think the world was just fine with a regular screwdriver and some dude named Phillip came along and said “I want a tool named after me.” So he created a screwdriver, got all his buddies to agree to use it, and now we have about half the screws in the world with little “x’s” on them so when we’re looking for a screwdriver we need to know if it’s a regular one or if it’s phillip’s screwdriver.

2. Tool boxes are too complicated. Really, Handy Manny has the right idea for the most part. Have you looked inside a tool box lately? (Especially a man’s toolbox.) There’s undefinable garbage in there. I can accomplish most of what I need to do with just a few items, the most valuable of which is a hammer. And if I can’t find a hammer, a lot of other things will do in a pinch. (Gary once had a pair of shoes that was heavy enough to use as a hammer. Sorry about those chips in the soles, honey.) And as every woman knows, a butter knife will do as a screwdriver in all but the most precise screwdriver cases.

3. Tools do not automatically become the property of the man. I should not have to resort to buying purple flowered tools in order to guarantee they stay in my toolbox. However, I happen to like purple flowered tools.

4. Tools do not automatically become more valuable because they are filthy. It’s is acceptable to have a clean tool. Especially if you are borrowing mine.

5. Go ahead and mock my tools. I realize that I am the only one in the household that thinks it’s neato-torpedo that you can unscrew the head off my purple-flowered hammer to find seven screwdrivers inside. But then don’t resent my knowing smirk when I see you using it.

6. If you are borrowing something from MY toolbox (which should be fairly obvious because you found it IN my toolbox or you noticed that it is either a feminine color or it is a size you enjoy mocking) you should return it to my toolbox. It does not belong in the garage.

7. When a certain husband leaves a favorite hose nozzle out all winter so that it doesn’t work (cuz something plastic in it got frozen and cracked so that the water just pours over my hand instead of shooting out over all of the cool different settings, a sledge hammer is the perfect item to take out your frustration with it. But be careful, because it will scare the dog.

Something I have done that you haven't done...

2011-04-27T14:09:00.000-06:00

Here's a challenge. Name something I have done that I don't think anyone else I know has done. That's easy. I have driven down the runway at Lowry Air Force base. In a big white station wagon. It wasn't a terrorist act or anything, I was lost. I was trying to find the Cherry Creek mall and I took a wrong turn. (Okay, a couple of wrong turns.) I noticed that I was on the base, and the streets were getting narrower and twistier, so my logic was that since I was obviously getting deeper inside the base, I should look for streets that were wider and straighter. So I aimed for the widest, straightest street I could find. Once I found it and was driving on it, the first thing I noticed was that there were no other cars. Then I noticed there were no typical lines painted on it. (Not much gets by me, huh?) Then I noticed there was a big airplane in my way. I stopped driving.

As I was looking to see where I could turn around, I noticed a perplexed guard (complete with rifled across his chest) behind my car. I got out and said, "I'm lost." He replied, "No you're not." Okay, that wasn't what I expected to hear. He wasn't smiling, either. I said, "Yes, I am." He again said, "No, you're not. Where do you think you are?" I said, "I think I'm on a runway;" He said, "See? You're not lost." I said, "But I really don't want to be here!" He said, "Well, I'm not too wild about that myself. Where do you want to be?" I said, "The Cherry Creek mall." Then he got this "how-in-the-world-did-you-manage-to-get-here" look on his face and lowered his gun. He then gave me a bunch of compass words to get me to the mall, which of course I didn't understand at all. (If I spoke compass I wouldn't have ended up on that stupid runway in the first place) and I turned around and managed to get off the base. I wonder how many air force people were watching me drive around while I exited Lowry?

Of course this was LONG before 9/11. Thank goodness.

Weird...

2011-04-16T23:29:00.000-06:00

This may be a total coincidence, but since I made my blog public I have received three facebook messages from men I have never met before, who are all looking for the woman of their dreams. Reading back over my blog entries I can see absolutely NOTHING that would attract anyone, but who knows what others would find appealing? Like I said, it could be a coincidence but it's a weird one.

Today we went to Ikea and I bought some pepperkakor for Gary. I also bought a package for the kids/grandkids to eat in the car. Jack loved them. :) It's the first time I've seen him not just open his little mouth for the next bite, but actually grab the hand holding the next bite and help guide it to his little open mouth.

We also went to see the movie, "Rio." A few days ago we saw the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet." Both of them were cute little movies, and Alice seemed to like them. But neither of them could hold a candle to Tangled or Toy Story 3.

Tomorrow or early Monday I'll be headed back to Colorado and my real life, no more Grandma duty in Utah. I'll miss the babies so much. It's been a fun visit.

A stupid thing to be sad about...

2011-04-14T18:56:00.000-06:00

Okay, this may be low on the totem pole of things to be upset about, but my favorite soap opera, "All My Children," has been cancelled. I'm sad about that. I used to go to "Super Soap weekend" with my sister every year, till that event was cancelled. I even got kissed by Michael E. Knight (on the MOUTH!) seven (yes SEVEN) times. I saw Susan Lucci in person, and she is really, really tiny. Plus she looks even younger in person than she does on the show, no where near 63.

I actually got to be an "extra" on an episode once, too. A "groupie" in a concert scene. The funny thing was that there were all these paid extras who were dressed the part, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I ended up on camera while the paid extras did not. :)

So the soap that airs right afterwards, One Life to Live, is also cancelled. I have watched that one on and off too, but my favorite was All My Children, which I started watching back when I was in college. It will air its final episode in September. It'll be replace by some stupid cooking show called "the chew." I won't be watching.

An experiment...

2011-04-13T01:47:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm trying an experiment. I'm turning my blog non-private for a while. Apparently when it's private none of the updates show up so people have to actually visit to see if I've posted. That's too inconvenient, I know everyone is busy. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

It looks like Dad and I are going to try to make it to Florida (FINALLY!) for the weekend of May 13 through the 15th. I want to see Herman's Hermits (with Peter Noone) and besides, its the end of the Flower and Garden festival at Epcot. I don't know how long exactly we'll be there. Dad will be in Boston the week before that, on a business trip. But maybe I'll go down a day or two earlier. I haven't been there in months and I'm going through severe withdrawal. :) I'll have to rent a car or something, I'm sure. Unless, of course, I get a room on Disney property. We'll have to see what I can get for a reservation. There's not a lot of time and the rooms might already be booked, which means we'll be staying off property.

I got two dressers re-finished. One is in the family room, replacing a horrible particle-board monstrosity between the two couches. The other is in the front room between the sliding glass door and the window in the front room. Now all I have to do is finish painting my bedroom and I think I'm done with major projects in the house. I think. Oh, wait... I still wanted to make a quilt and I have several afghans to crochet. And the downstairs desk to re-finish too. And a backsplash for the kitchen. Man, the list never gets shorter. Oh well. I'd hate to get bored. :)

Via email...

2011-04-06T22:48:00.002-06:00

Got this via email, and it's worth a chuckle...

Things that kids say: While walking along the pavement in front of his church, a minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton wadding, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.' (I want this line used at my funeral.)

I hope I can figure this out...

2011-04-06T22:39:00.000-06:00

I just got this little video via email and I really, REALLY hope I can figure out how to post it here. Although it gives me a headache to watch it, it's also hilarious. :)

Vintage Pyrex

2011-04-05T00:29:00.000-06:00

For anyone who is interested, Sukie is selling vintage pyrex for a friend of hers via her blog. Actually, she's created a new web site to sell it. Check it out: http://networkedblogs.com/gf2cZ

It's strange to me how so many things have become collectible. It's also strange that once I find out it's collectible, I seem to want it more. :) Once I found out that older pyrex was considered "vintage" I found a divided dish at a garage sale for two bucks and I bought it. It's a cute pattern and all, but before I found out about "vintage" pyrex, I wouldn't have given it a second look. Also, I have looked around my kitchen and have seen a few more of my own pieces and they are much more attractive to me now than they have been in the past. I am SO easily influenced I suppose. Oh well. :)

Anyway, take a look at what she has if you get a chance. Some of the patterns are really unique, I haven't seen them before at all. Others are so old I haven't seen them in years so it's fun to see them again.

Cookbook link

2011-04-03T16:34:00.000-06:00

I have a new link on my blog, it's called "Susie's Cookbook." It's not exactly what I had in mind, but it'll do until I figure out how to make it better. In the meantime, I got rid of a bunch of emails I've been carting around since forever. If you want anything else posted in there that I have, let me know and I'll put it in. Or if you have a recipe that you want posted, I can put that in too.

Ta DAA!

Susie

Do It Anyway

2011-03-31T00:09:00.000-06:00

I have seen this poem before, most of the time via email. Every time I see it I love it, so I thought I would post it here.

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.

Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.

Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today will often be forgotten.

Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Upcoming visit, another rejection, and new gadget on my blog.

2011-03-22T13:08:00.001-06:00

Okay, on Friday my brother Gary will be here for a week-long visit. I am excited about that. He has never been here. Carolyn and Erik will be here too (though Erik will only be here for a couple of days). It will be fun to have a full house and for Gary to have a chance to get to know us for a while. It's been hard on him, getting by since Vicki died. They were together all the time and he is very lonely without her. I hope that he has a good time getting together with his nieces and nephews and also his great niece and nephews.

I got another "thanks, but no thanks" from a job that I had put in for. Gary (Oviatt this time) asked me if I was relieved or disappointed and I said both. I really don't want a full time job, but I have to have five contacts a week to continue to receive unemployment benefits. Even so, every rejection feels kind of personal, like there's something wrong with me or with my skills. I would rather not get an interview than get one and then get the "you're not good enough for us" letter. I am grateful for the unemployment money, but part of me will be relieved when it is exhausted because then I can stop putting in for these obligatory contacts and just do what I want to do. Then I can just stay at home and if the perfect job becomes available, I'll put in for that and that alone. And if the Lord wants me somewhere, He'll clear the way for me to land there. Until then, though, I put in my five contacts a week and endure the interviews, getting my ego smashed to smitherines when I am told that I am not what they are looking for. :::sigh:::

Oh, and that new gadget on my blog? It's over to the right, it's called "Susie's pictures." I figured out how to do that all by myself. I have added little pictures that I have received by email, from my phone, and on facebook. Of course, there are a gazillion other pictures that I like but don't actually have handy. But at least I have a few of my favorites here. There is another gadget that I want to add, and Gary is going to help me one of these first days. I want to add a tab or a new page or whatever that is actually nothing but recipes so that I can put in all those good things I cook that never made it into the ward cookbook because I found them AFTER the cookbook was published. I might also add the best of what actually WAS put in the cookbook because a lot of what got put in there was put in wrong. (stupid cookbook.) Anyway, that way instead of trying to remember when I posted that lentil soup recipe, for instance, it'll just be searchable.

Fun plans for my blog. :)

More things to consider...

2011-03-19T15:44:00.002-06:00

1. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. (Maybe more so, since it’s in the basement.)

2. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. (same for my GPS.)

3. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. (Especially late at night)

4. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said? (Wow, it’s not just me!)

5. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters! (It’s so TRUE!)

6. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. (True again. I read an article that said jeans should not be washed the first time for six MONTHS. And then only every three months after that. Of course, I am assuming you own more than one pair…)

7. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. (Or in my case, my cell phone.)

8. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time. (In my case, very easy. I just wave my hand in front of the clock for a snooze. When I bought the clock I thought that was a good idea. Silly me.)

9. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1924. That means it only took 50 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Oh yeah, and then there's the blood sugar...

2011-03-13T17:40:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention the blood sugar. I've noticed that my fasting blood sugar was inching up, and I was a little ticked off about that since I am actually at my lowest adult weight. What's up with that? Then when I was poking around online I saw some research that linked taking glucosamine for joint pain with higher blood sugar. I've been taking glucosamine for probably nine months to try to get my joints to be a little less achey. Anyway, I don't know if the research is conclusive or not but I poked around and found a vegetarian alternative to glucosamine for my joints that supposedly won't affect my blood sugar and I have noticed that my fasting blood sugars are back down to 100 or less, which is where they need to be. And so far the vegetarian stuff works as well or better than the glucosamine.

Unfortunately, I'm also having a little more problems with rebound hypoglycemia. I have always had to be careful not to let my blood sugar get too high because not only will I have the long-term health problems associated with that, I also have a tendency to crash afterwards. Lately I've noticed the crashing has been worse, though, even when I don't eat "bad" stuff. I can get a spike just from eating normal stuff, which means it looks like I'm getting more sensitive to various carbohydrates. And the crashing can be kind of scary for me and people around me. I probably should start carrying more snacky type things in my purse. I used to be better about that but it wasn't a problem for a while so I got out of the habit.

My doctor said if I lost 20 more pounds we could probably remove the diagnosis "diabetes" from my record. Somehow I don't think so.

Not a pirate killer

2011-03-13T17:20:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I didn't get the pirate-killer job either. I have had a few phone calls and interviews and tests and stuff for other jobs (one of which involved a HORRIBLE incident getting lost in downtown Denver where I wandered around for an hour and a half trying to find the testing location, you would think that the city would employ people who knew how to give directions or who at least spoke English as their native tongue if they were in an information booth, RIGHT?!?) but so far no calls. I got my results back from my downtown Denver testing, and I got a 94. Considering how upset I was at the time, I suppose that was better than nothing. (You had to have 70 to pass.) It was supposed to be a 2 hour test, but I finished in half an hour so I thought maybe I had done something wrong. Apparently not.

I consider this "no job yet" a mixed blessing. I am pretty satisfied with my life and staying home. Okay, to be more accurate, I feel positively spoiled rotten. I love my life. I get to keep the house clean and all the laundry done and cook as much or as little as I like. (Most of the time there is good stuff to eat around here.) I get to bail Bridget out when she needs a ride to school and when that happens I kidnap Gary for a bonus date lunch (almost always Cafe Rio). When friends call and want to do something I can do it. I can help out when there is a need, like when a friend had to move with almost no notice.

For the most part, my day is as follows: Get up, make bed, tidy room, and shower/dress. Go downstairs, fix something to eat if I feel hungry, clean kitchen. Do whatever chores I have decided I want to do, whether it's cleaning closets, experimenting with various ways to get carpeting cleaned, doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming (I love my dyson), and whatever else I think needs to be done. After that I crochet while I watch something that I've recorded on TV or run errands or whatever. Sometimes during the day Bridget might need a ride to school. Occasionally Gary will have me do an errand or a job for him (typing up a resume for someone in the ward, something like that.) The point is, the house gets cleaned often enough that if something comes up and I have to postpone working on it, it's okay because it's been done recently enough that it's not a disaster. Oh, and in the summertime I add some outdoor jobs like watering flowers and vegetables, and mowing the front lawn. I tried keeping up with the back lawn but that was too much for me last year. I might give it a try again this year, though. (I'm going to miss having my little watering buddy, Aidan, around.)

I am still getting unemployment. I got six months' worth from the state and then the feds kicked in as an extension. I don't know how much longer I'll get that. In order to continue to get it, I have to have a minimum of five job contacts a week. These can be interviews, applications, second contacts, etc. I usually have more than five, but there are weeks when it's hard to find even five, so I'm glad that's all that is required. When I was laid off last time (after 9/11) jobs were so scarce that the required contacts were reduced to 3.

So since I love my life so much, why do I consider it a mixed blessing that I have not yet found a job? Well, I guess it's because I wonder why, if I am such a darn good secretary, no one wants me? How come if I am as good as Gary seems to think I am (and whenever he compares me to someone his company has hired, he assures me that I could work circles around them) no one has jumped at the chance to employ me? Whenever I get one of these "thanks, but no thanks" emails or letters, I breathe a sigh of relief, but I also think, "I wonder what's wrong with me." Yeah, I also miss the paycheck, but it's not like we're starving to death.

I saw a job posting on United's web site for an admin position in Orlando. It sounded like it was made for me but I wasn't eligible to put in for it because I am not yet technically retired (I can't be rehired till three months after my retirement) or else I would have applied. Bummer. Oh, and the fact that we still haven't finalized that townhome. :::sigh:::

Oh well. Life goes on.

A couple of random things...

2011-02-09T14:21:00.001-07:00

1. Bridget has moved to a downstairs bedroom. Since Gary and I have a new bed, that left our old bed (not a horrible one, but not one I wanted to sleep on for the rest of my life) with no good place to be. So once Bridget moved downstairs, we set up our old bed in her old room. Then I decided to put the sewing machine up there too, so when I finally got around to making that denim quilt I could leave stuff out and not have a huge mess visible.

Also, Bridget didn't want to take her old dresser downstairs with her, since it would have crowded her new room too much. Rather than leave it empty, I filled it up with all of the gift wrapping supplies that have been scattered around the house (but mostly in our closet) for years. Know what that means? It means that when I want to wrap a gift for birthdays, Christmas, weddings, or whatever, everything I need is in one place. It's amazing. One drawer has all the tape, scissors, name tags, and other tiny stuff, another drawer has a ton of bows, a few small drawers have ribbons of various colors and widths. There are a few drawers dedicated to gift bags (separated by whether or not they're generic or for a specific occasion like Christmas or baby/wedding). Plus there's a drawer for tissue paper and a drawer for boxes. And along side of the dresser is one of those big plastic holders full of a bunch of rolls of paper.

Of course, none of the drawers are packed full, so you can actually find all the different stuff. I suppose it could be considered a waste, having all this space dedicated to gift wrapping. After all, it's a whole dresser. But the way I see it, Bridget didn't want it in her room. All the stuff that's in it now used to be strewn all over but mostly in my closet.

Gift wrapping used to be so miserable, and for the most part I just yanked out the nearest roll of paper and did a hap-hazard job, skipped the ribbons and bows because I didn't want to try to rummage around finding anything else, and called it good enough. Now it's actually fun to do a decent job because everything is at my fingertips. Yay! And as for the rest of the room, it has a California king bed in it, which means if we have company they can choose to use the real guest room, which is pretty, or if they prefer a larger bed they can use this one.

2. We have a new dishwasher. The old one was leaving dishes mucky. Sometimes the glasses came out dirtier than they went in. You know what I mean, that light brown gritty stuff that gets deposited in the glass when you know darn well that nobody had anything to drink that even remotely looked like that. Anyway, the new one works great and I love it.

3. I am looking for a Manx kitten. A manx cat has been described as a dog in cat's clothing. They are people-friendly, seeking out human companionship. They are good rodent-hunters. They are the most hypo-allergenic cat because they do not produce the protein most associated with allergies. Gary is not thrilled about this, but I am FINISHED with the winters full of tiptoeing into the kitchen, with my heart pounding, looking for the inevitable evidence of mouse habitation.

4. I got an email from our realtor in Florida. The town house is still coming along. I am getting excited about it. :) I get even more excited about it when we have those stupid frigid days here. My WDW annual pass is about to expire, but I am hoping to renew as a resident. SO much cheaper.

5. I had a job interview with a company called "One Earth Future." They are a think tank. Currently their project is vanquishing pirates. (Real ones, swashbuckling pirates.) I am still awaiting word on whether or not I got the job.

And that's all the news that's fit to print...

No Delta connection for me...

2011-02-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it took some time but I finally got a response from Delta. It seems there will be no Delta career in my near future. But I can always apply again if I so desire. Well, to be honest the odds were not in my favor, there were a thousand openings and over a hundred thousand applicants. And most of those thousand openings were for non-English speaking flight attendants.

I still have an application in for Air Tran, and that's for an Orlando-based flight attendant job, so we'll see about that one. Since Air Tran has been bought out by Southwest, I'd be happy to have a job with them.

Oh, and I had an interview with a place called "One Earth Future." It was interesting. When I was offered the interview I searched all over their web site and couldn't figure out what they do so I asked Gary to search and he couldn't figure it out either. Carolyn searched and all she could find out is that they fight pirates (yes, the swash-buckling kind), which kind of excited Erik a bit. David couldn't find a lot of info either. So anyway, the first thing I did at the interview was ask them what the heck they did. (Okay, I asked in a little more professional language than that.) Turns out this place is a "Think tank." Or, actually, to be more precise, a "Think and DO tank." (An important distinction. I feel safer already, don't you?) Heh. Anyway, this place has decent funding and is a bunch of PhD holding geniuses who are taking upon themselves the burden of solving many of the world's problems, thus bringing about a greater likelihood of world peace.

I think the interview went well enough. I won't know for several weeks whether or not I passed muster. In the meantime I mentioned the interview to Lilia and she said if I'd rather have a part time job she could offer me that (she'd offer me a full time job if I wanted one) for 20 hour a week, which I admit would be nice. She'd be flexible with my travel, too. The biggest issue I have with that is the pay, which would be $3 or $4 less per hour than I made at United. If I were to accept that, I would then have to apply and accept for jobs which pay that in order to still qualify for my unemployment. (Basically, by accepting something that low, I'm indicating it's acceptable not only for this one job, but for all future jobs.) Not a way I want to go at this time, but maybe once my unemployment runs out if it's still available.

In Orlando town home news, we're still waiting on paperwork, so nothing new to report there. I hope they haven't forgotten about us.

An update on things...

2010-12-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, an update. First of all, we got a call back on the townhome I liked best. (the one with the garage.) The bank came back with a counter offer and we have accepted it. Now we need to get the earnest money to them and get the financing taken care of and we have our Florida home. Yay!

Second, I got a call from (wait for it...) Delta Airlines for a flight attendant position. Yes, first a few preliminary qualifying questions. Mostly to see if I would follow FAA rules and regulations. I passed those so I was offered a phone interview. I may be offered an interview in Atlanta. Keep your fingers crossed for me! The odds are still tough, of course. There were a thousand positions and over a hundred thousand applicants. But hey, not everyone got a phone interview, and I got that much so at least I can say I got that far, right? And that much of it was fun.

A mouse visit with an ulterior motive...

2010-10-25T21:31:00.000-06:00

Okay, so last week we were in Orlando to visit the mouse, but we had an ulterior motive... We were actually there to scout out a second home. We saw several townhomes that we really liked and ended up putting offers on two of them. They're both "short sales" which sounds like they'll be settled quickly but the opposite is actually true. A short sale actually takes a lot longer than a regular sale. Our realtor (a really great realtor, by the way. If anyone needs a good realtor in the Orlando area, contact "In Touch Real Estate" and ask for D'Anne Kincannon or Mary Henderson) said she's never seen one settled in less than three months and they usually take a lot longer than that.

A short sale is one where the asking price is actually less than the bank is owed. But the owners are about to be foreclosed on and they're desperate to sell and they're hoping the bank will allow them to sell the property at the lower price to enable them to have a sale and avoid the foreclosure. Many times it's in the bank's best interest to accept the short sale because a foreclosure costs the bank money too, but if the short sale is too low, the bank won't accept it. It takes a lot of negotiating, which is why it takes so long for a short sale to go through. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

The first one is the one I hope we actually get. It has three bedrooms. One of them is downstairs as you come in the front door. It's a decent size. There is a full bath downstairs as well. There's a dining area (pretty large), a living room area, and a decent sized kitchen. There's a one-car attached garage. There's also a small screened porch. Upstairs has two bedrooms and two baths. There's also a balcony that's accessible by both bedrooms and a laundry closet with a stacked washer and dryer. The place is in good condition but will need some pretty thorough cleaning. The location is good, about 15 minutes away from Disney, and at the opening of a small cul-de-sac that's gated and has a pool. The view behind the house (from the screened porch and from the balcony on the second floor) is of a wooded area that probably won't be built on for a long time, if ever.

The other one is also very nice and I would be fine if we got that one, too. It has four bedrooms with the master bedroom and master bath on the main floor (which Gary likes, since he's starting to not love stairs so much.) The master bath has a jetted tub, which would be fun. The living area is a little on the compact size, but not unlivable. The kitchen is small, but nice and open to the rest of the living are so you don't feel closed in. Upstairs has three more bedrooms with another full bath. The real plus for this particular townhome is that the complex has a lot of amenities. There are several playgrounds and four pools. There's also a theater and they play movies a couple times a week. And the security is excellent. This location is 95% vacation homes and short term rentals, so they make sure that only people who are supposed to be there get through the gate. It was very impressive. Oh, and there's a fitness area as well.

There were also several houses we saw that were nice, but I feel like a house is more than I want right now. For the next ten years we won't actually live there, we'll only be vacationing there and I will be there without Gary a lot of the time since I visit Mickey more often than he does. I felt I would be a lot safer in a gated community than I would be in the houses.

Anyway, that's how we spent the week. And between realtor visits we visited with Mickey, so we had a good time. It was good to be in Florida again, with my sweetheart.

A bolt out of the blue...

2010-09-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

I have applied for a job. And of all the jobs I have applied for, this is the first one that I really, REALLY want. Of course, I have no idea how many openings there are. And I know that for every opening there are probably a thousand applicants. But that's okay, even applying for it has been fun and imagining the possibilities has been a blast. Want to know what I applied for?

I applied to be a flight attendant with Delta Airlines. :)

As soon as I applied I texted Dad, and he called almost immediately. I answered the phone with, "I figured that'd get a call out of you." He was laughing with a really delighted laugh, which made me happy. I didn't know at first if I would need to talk him into this or what. Shoot, for that matter I didn't know if I would have to talk MYSELF into this kind of thing or not. But Gary's been super supportive, which I appreciate more than I can express. Gary's always been supportive, it's one of the things that I love most about him.

Like I said before, I don't know if this will actually go anywhere because flight attendant jobs are not easy to get, but the more I think about it the more I really want to do this. My last baby is in college, for Pete's sake. Michael and Melissa will be moving out soon. What better time is there to take on a brand new kind of life?

If I am successful, there will be 8 weeks of training in Atlanta, GA, and I'm not sure when it would start but the sooner the better. Room and board is provided, and I'll get a small salary in addition. After that, I'd be assigned to one of Delta's hubs. I'm not certain which it would be, but I assume that it would be one of the following: Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, or New York City (JFK). (I would be hoping to be assigned to SLC, or course.)

Anyway, I'd have to stay in the area where I'd be assigned, so I'd have to have an apartment, most likely shared with other flight attendants. These are called "crash pads." Flight attendants work 3-4 days per week. The rest of the time I could be at home. Flying home would be on a space available basis, but as a flight attendant I would have the option of using an unoccupied jump seat if the passenger seats on the flight were full so it would be somewhat easier to get on a plane.

Anyway, in other news I just got back from a wonderful trip to Vacaville where I spent over a week with Mona. She treated me to an early birthday gift, we went to see a production of "Wicked," which is the story of the Wizard of Oz told from the witch's point of view. It was absolutely amazing and the music is memorable. We also had a wonderful dinner afterwards and I tasted veal for the first time. Delicious. (For a couple of days of that week I house- and kitty- sat for Mona while she was on a business trip to the Reno area.) I also cooked a couple of times and filled up Mona's freezer with some meals she can pop out when she's in the mood for some home cooking. It was fun. Mona has a great house and her back yard is a little slice of heaven. I could stay back there for hours and watch the play of shadows across her little plants and statues. So peaceful and comfortable.

Well, I suppose I should get this posted. I probably should have some dinner since it's nearly 8:00. Oh, and Mona and I saw both Inception and Toy Story 3. :)

Even the tomatoes know...

2010-08-26T22:52:00.000-06:00

Even the TOMATOES know about hidden mickeys!

See that? It's a hidden mickey in my very own garden! I love it! I saw it when I was watering the garden this morning. Amazing.

On another note, I have now seen Toy Story 3 10 times. I don't want to call it pathetic but I believe that some of you have used that exact term. Oh well. There's just something about that movie, and yes I cry every single time I see it. And I plan to see it again tomorrow. Milk duds, pop corn, and coke zero included.

The job hunt...

2010-08-20T16:57:00.000-06:00

Okay, the job hunt goes on and on... Now how do I describe this? On one hand, I feel kind of pampered and spoiled that I can stay home and look for a job, not necessarily snagging the first thing out of desperation. I haven't had to resort to working at McDonald's or whatever. I apply for 5 jobs a week unless something looks REALLY tempting, then I'll go ahead and apply for that too. (Five is the number of job contacts I need to make in order to qualify for unemployment.) Once I make my five contacts, I pretty much don't worry about applying again until the next week.

On the other hand, It's now been nearly 9 months since I lost my job and I have had only two real nibbles job-wise. The first nibble was a phone interview followed by an in-person interview that I thought went pretty well. Unfortunately I got a "thanks but no thanks" letter about a week later. The second nibble was this last week, an email requesting a phone interview, which led to some computer testing, which in turn led to an in-person interview (today.) The interview went pretty well, I think, and if I do NOT get the job I am pretty sure it will be because I have some travel plans coming up for the remainder of the year (Carebear's baby, and the family vacation in November) that will make me a less-desirable candidate than whomever else they are considering. Other than that I think my skills are what they're looking for.

So now I'm trying to figure out exactly how I feel about this. I kind of want the job for a couple of reasons. First of all, the pay is okay. It's not spectacular. It's about what I was getting at United. The problem with that is, airlines pay notoriously low because they can get away with that due to their benefits (mostly travel benefits.) So here I'm going to be getting about the same thing, but for a company that isn't going to offer something spectacular like free flight. (Yes, I still have that from United, but even so.) But at least it's decent pay, not LESS than I was making before. There are so many jobs out there offering in the $10 to $12 range for what seems like a whole shopping list of requirements. Getting a job that pays about the same is almost a relief. The second reason I kind of want the job is because I'm starting to feel like Gary is really, REALLY the only one who thinks my skill set is amazing. If it were all he thought it was, wouldn't I have a job by NOW? It's hard not to doubt your worth when no one has beat a path to your door and you've been available for 9 months. The jobs I've applied for I have been very qualified for, and yet very little interest has been shown.

Okay, so why do I NOT want the job? I was hoping for a part time job and this is definitely full time. Also, it's further away than I wanted it to be, but it's not horribly far so that's workable I suppose. Also, it offers only 2 weeks vacation and I was up to 4 weeks vacation with United. It'll be hard to slide back to the beginning again, especially with my travel benefits. Most of my traveling hinges on being pretty flexible since it's standby travel. I've been pretty spoiled for the last 9 months, being able to look at a flight and not having to worry about not being back in Denver to get to work. If a flight has looked full, I've been able to say, "Eh, I'll wait till the next day." That will come to a screeching halt. And I haven't traveled nearly as much as I would like to. I planned to do it, I just didn't get around to it.

If I do get the job, I will miss being at home, keeping things clean and keeping all the laundry caught up all the time. It's actually been nice to be on top of things again. I think Gary will miss that too.

Well, no sense counting my chicks before they're hatched. But I think if I am offered the job I will counter with an additional week of vacation. I don't even care about whether or not it's a paid week, I just want to be able to have the time off if I need it. We'll see.

I still need a girl's lawnmower...

2010-07-18T20:35:00.003-06:00

I can finally start the lawnmower by myself, which makes me proud of myself, but even though Michael has discovered there is a way to keep it running even when you don't want the wheels to turn by letting the "dead man" thingie go about halfway, that only works for men or women with longer fingers than mine. That means that when I need to turn corners I still have to try to drag the lawnmower backwards a little bit so I don't miss great big hunks of lawn. This is not easy considering the lawnmower is already trying to go forward much faster than I am comfortable with. (And this is on the slowest speed.) In fact, this last time I mowed the lawn, the lawnmower was absolutely determined to get away from me and nearly escaped to the street on two occasions.

The Wizard has pronounced it painful to watch me mow the lawn. Well, he can call it painful if he wants to but judging by the twitching of his lips I would say he laughs in the face of pain.

I also got the flower bed all weeded, and my zinnias are beginning to bloom. That makes me happy. That plus I am about 1/3 of the way through with cleaning out my closet. I love de-junking the house. The Wizard hates it when I get into this kind of mood. :)

Vicki

2010-05-31T16:18:00.006-06:00

I got back a few days ago from a funeral. My brother, Gary, called several weeks ago to let us know that his wife (I don't know if they were actually married technically, but they've been together for 26 years so at the very least they were common-law husband and wife) had passed away. She was diagnosed in January with lung cancer that had already metastasized to her liver and bones, so they knew she was not long for this world.

I hadn't seen Vicki for many years, but my memories of her were that of a very kind, courteous woman who brought out the best in my brother and allowed him to let go of the more difficult parts of himself. He would be the first to admit that because of her he became the best he could be. He has said that he hadn't realized, until she was gone, how much they were connected soul to soul. When they were together they were always very kind and considerate to each other, and that always impressed me. You never saw one of them go into the kitchen to get something only for themselves, they always asked if the other wanted something as well. And of course that extended to anyone else who happened to be nearby as well. Anyway, it always struck me that they were thoughtful of one another's needs...

After a little considering, I decided to go to her memorial service, and of course Dad went with me. He is always so supportive and I appreciate that so much about him. I didn't know if my brother would really want me there, since we don't always see eye to eye on things. In fact, we often tend to take offense at the things we say to each other so I worried that maybe it wouldn't be a good thing to go, but I wanted to show my support and to be honest I wanted to bury the hatchet, if there was one to be buried.

I shouldn't have worried about it. Gary was grateful to see us. Dad and I stayed with Mona (thanks Mona!) in her new house in Vacaville. (more on that later, it's the first time I've been there and I want to talk about that.) We drove to Sacramento about an hour before the services were to start and when we arrived most of the people were waiting outside since the weather was nice. We got out of the car (a rented new beetle) and saw Gary right away. He was standing with my step sister, Barb (who I also hadn't seen in a very long time) and daughter Grace. As soon as I saw him we hugged and of course I cried and told him I loved him and that I was very sorry for his loss. He and Vicki were very much in love and I hated to see him hurting. I asked him if the two of us could just start over and forgive and forget any past offenses and he said yes we could.

After chatting for a few moments with Gary and also Barb, and being introduced to her daughter Grace, we headed into the church for the service. The service itself was short, and Barb's son Mack (we called him Mackie when he was a toddler) read scripture for part of the service. He looks a lot like his father, Mack, who we also got to talk to for a little while. After the service there were some refreshments served for those who attended.

Gary didn't want to keep the flowers from the service so Barb and her family and Dad, Mona, and I drove to the cemetery and left some of the flowers on my dad's grave. It's actually the first time I've been to his grave, he died when I was pregnant with Carolyn. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a couple of the pictures I took with my phone.

Anyway, later that day we had dinner with Mona, Grandma Marilyn (my dad's widow), her daughter Sherri, and Sherri's husband Ashley. It was nice to see them and get re-connected. Dad left to fly home early the next morning but I decided to stay a few extra days to visit with Mona. Her home is a wonderful place. There are three bedrooms, the master bedroom, a bedroom Mona has set up as a home office, and a guest room. There is a "great room" downstairs that consists of a really nice kitchen with upgraded appliances, a dining area, and the living area. There's a 2-car garage, and the best part is a backyard that's small but perfectly designed to be a retreat from the real world. My favorite part of the yard is a solar fountain that's a mermaid. Plus there are all kinds of tiny little succulents and perfect little plants and a few small statues... Everywhere you look you discover something else. It gave me a lot of ideas for a tiny yard in Florida. :)

Well, anyway, that's what I was up to for the last week. Now let's see if I can get the pictures posted. Oh,, look... I did it.

Male Chauvinist pig Lawnmower

2010-04-27T23:08:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I have become more interested in gardening since I have been home and that has led naturally to being more interested in the appearance of the front yard. I refuse to take on the back yard, I have my limits after all. So with all the rain we've had the front yard has managed to become all green and has those funny lumps of green grass that have grown more than the rest of the lawn (crab crass, I think) and it needs mowing. Since Dad is sick (some sort of flu bug or maybe food poisoning) I decided to mow the lawn myself. Actually, I have toyed with the idea for several days now, but to be honest I am a little scared of the lawn mower.

Lawn mowers are not friendly machines. For one thing, they're smelly. Also, they are noisy. And they don't turn on with a gentle turn of a key. No, you have to yank on a cord. And you can't use both hands to yank on it because you have to hold some bar down while you yank the cord so that the lawn mower will know you are not dead or something like that. Supposedly if you let go of this bar the lawn mower will assume you have died and it will stop. I don't know who dreamed up this "dead man" switch but I don't like it. Anyway, so here I am yanking on the cord and holding down this bar. I get "putt putt putt." I am yanking with all my might and I get "putt putt putt." I open up the gas hole and it is not only empty it is DRY. I get the gas can and pour some inside. I yank the cord again and I get "putt putt putt." I try yanking it with my other hand (my first hand is getting tired) and since my non-tired hand is my LEFT hand, this time I get only "putt putt." So now I rope an innocent observer (my home teacher Colin) into holding down the bar so I can yank with both hands and I am rewarded with "putt putt putt putt." Oh goody.

Now I rope my innocent observer into trying to yank the cord. He gives a half-hearted yank and what does HE get? "ROAR!!!!" I am only a little annoyed that my lawnmower obviously knew a MALE had touched the cord and therefore decided to roar into life. I move the switch from the "N" (which I assume is neutral) into the "1" position (which I assume is the slowest) and the lawnmower takes off at what feels like 10 miles per hour. I am leaning backwards with all my strength as the lawnmower pulls me all over the lawn and I trot along after it, trying to guide it to the hairiest parts of the lawn. I am finally able to steer it around the outside of the lawn twice before my other home teacher shows up, Colin's father. Colin's father decides that Colin can read a short story to the Wizard and me from the porch (no one wanted to go into the house because no one wanted to catch the Wizard's flu bug) and then Colin could help me learn the other intricacies of the lawn mower (like, what's the difference between throttle and choke? Does the little picture of the turtle and the rabbit give me a clue?) while he finishes mowing the middle part of the lawn. Why is it that Colin is able to mow without throwing his entire weight backwards against the pull of that lawnmower? I mean, yes I think Colin out-weighs me a little bit, but as near as I can tell we were in the same gear...

Anyway, after a few moments he was done. I am claiming credit for mowing, however, because I mowed around the outside of the lawn and that was the hardest part. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Afterwards, it was getting dark and I had Dad show me how to work the weed whacker. I used it to edge as well as I could, but I wasn't very pleased with the result around the sidewalk. The weed whacker did okay around the rose bed, but it looks like part of our lawn has slid over the sidewalk and I think tomorrow I might get a steak knife or something and edge the sidewalk edge of the lawn. (The wizard says we have a special shovel for this, and I will try that first, but I think a steak knife will work better.)

Once this is done I have a flat of snap dragons to plant and a flat of something else too. I don't remember what they are called but they have pretty little blue flowers on them. Plus I have some flower seeds to scatter. I just want our front yard to have some pretty flowers. Oh, and I ordered a tool to help dig out some dandelions.

Dad's happy that I am getting excited about the yard's appearance. But like I said, I draw the line at doing the back yard. That's for someone else.

The let down...

2010-04-22T00:11:00.002-06:00

Okay, so Elli was scheduled to return home this coming Monday, but today after school Bridget was checking her email on my netbook and I heard her say, "Oh, no..." I said, "What?" She said, "Elli's going home tomorrow."

Yep, less than a day's notice. The kids are all supposed to take their packed luggage with them to school tomorrow and they're all leaving at 2:30 to get to the airport by 3, for their flight which leaves at 6:00 p.m.

I know I got to keep her for several days longer than I was supposed to so I have no business feeling cheated, but that's exactly how I feel, cheated. Bridget had already made all these plans for a giant sleepover on Friday, and I'm sure there were other things that were going to happen too. And Elli has an American boyfriend now, too. Allen, a friend of Bridget's, who is a really nice guy. Of course they are both really hurting right now.

I've listed myself and checked in for a flight tomorrow so I can go to the gate and wait with Elli. One of the perks of working for the airline. Also, MJ is working tomorrow so she might be able to pop over to the gate and say goodbye.

I would definitely do this again if I had the chance. Elli has been a joy.

Volcanos and German Exchange Students

2010-04-19T17:12:00.002-06:00

Okay, so for the last three weeks we have had a German exchange student. When Bridget first asked if we could participate, I thought "Sure, why not..." We've had Japanese exchange students in the past and it's been fun so this was okay with me. And actually this has been easier because I've been a stay-at-home mom and I've been able to cook breakfast and make lunches for the the girls, plus I make dinners now so the brunt of it hasn't fallen on Gary at all.

Anyway, about three weeks ago we met Elli. She is quiet, but not necessarily shy. She observes us and then pretty much just steps right in and does what we do. Bridget has made sure that Elli has had a nice mix of activities so that her time here was a good blend of "regular teenager" stuff to do, like going to movies and going to the mall, typical tourist stuff like going to Cave of the Winds (and we saw some nice Anasazi ruins in Manitu Springs since we were close but we couldn't quite squeeze in Garden of the Gods), and she has left in plenty of just plain family time, too. Elli speaks English very well, much better than our Japanese exchange students did, so communication has been very easy. She speaks it well enough that she has been able to watch movies in English and enjoy them, which to me is a real test of knowing a language. She even laughs at the jokes, and I think humor would be one of the last things you would be able to get in a foreign language.

Anyway, Elli's three-week program was supposed to be over yesterday. Due to the volanic activity that has shut down air travel all over Europe, though, her stay has been extended for a little over a week. (Who knows if it'll be extended any further?) Anyway, we're glad to get to keep her for a little longer, she's really a sweet girl and the three weeks pretty much flew by.

I wonder if Bridget is going to want me to keep making lunches for her after Elli is gone home? I never did that before Elli came, I've only been doing breakfast.

In other news, I had a job interview (phone) for a part-time job and it must have gone reasonably well (I thought it had but what I mean is, the interviewer must have thought so too) because I have a 2nd interview a week from tomorrow. It's for a software company and they want a part-time office administrator to take care of basic administrative tasks that have been piling up. It's pretty much downtown and they're flexible with the hours, five days and 20 hours a week. I have to say I've got mixed feelings because I've gotten used to staying home and getting stuff done around here, but I'd rather be part time than full time so maybe this is the way to go. And anyway, there are probably a LOT of people who are wanting this so the odds of my getting it are probably about one in 50 or so.

Also, I have been having fun poking around with gardening. So far I have experimented with one of those topsy turvy things for strawberry plants. I also have one for tomato plants, but my tomato plants aren't big enough yet to put in there so that will have to wait a bit longer. I also have four pots to use for a couple more tomatoes, a few peppers, and some basil. And last time Michael and I were at Sam's Club, I saw a kit for a raised garden that was only $39 for 3.5 feet by 8 feet, so I got it and I'm hoping to get it put together this week and get it filled up with potting soil. Then I want to get some cucumbers and more tomatoes and other stuff in there. On my patio I have some trays that mount on the railing that have lettuce and spinach. Hopefully I won't kill them. I'm hoping to be able to go out and snip salad though the summer time. (The front was the only place we have that doesn't get too much sun, apparently lettuce and spinach don't like full sun.)

Also, I planted a new blackberry plant, pruned down all of the overgrown raspberry plants, and cleaned up all of the overgrown rosebushes and re-planted a couple of rosebushes where our old ones didn't make it. So far I have managed to not kill anything, we'll see how the rest of the summer goes.

Gary is out of town for the week. That means I get the whole bed to myself, but it means I have no one to chat with at night. I'd rather chat at night than have a whole bed to myself. I miss him already.

Stupid decisions make for good stories...

2010-03-21T02:19:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I was cleaning up the kitchen right before we were going to go to Costco today and I like to clean Aidan's sippy cup lids by hand because they don't get clean enough in the dishwasher. The spouts in particular get schmutz in them that can be kind of hard to get out.

After soaking the lids in some hot soapy water they usually clean up pretty easily with the dish brush, but one of the sippy cups must have been lying on its side with a trace of Aidan's favorite drink, chocky milk, in it. There was some particularly stubborn residue in the very tip of the drinking spout. I couldn't quite reach it with the dish brush so I broke out the bottle brush and couldn't get it with that either. I glanced up at the knife holder (magnetic) on the side of the cupboard and there was the perfect instrument to get out the last little bit of schmutz: a paring knife.

I took the paring knife and used the tip to scrape out the schmutz. I got it except for a tiny little speck of it right at the very corner of the spout so I decided to push harder with the knife to gouge out that stuck schmutz when WHOOSH! The blade of the knife (which I had no idea was that sharp) sliced RIGHT through the sippy cup lid and also through the tender flesh between my thumb and forefinger.

It's the kind of cut that opens every time you move your hand. Oh, and bleeds every time you move your hand, too. I hollered for Gary, twice, to come down to the kitchen and when he saw my hand he got sort of a cross between a "concerned for his wife" look and an "oh boy, now I can use my spiffy first aid kit" look as he trotted out to his car for his "3 by 3's." I thought to myself, "3 by 3's? I know what a 2 by 4 is, a hunk of wood. What is a 3 by 3?" Okay, I found out it is a piece of gauze. If he had said he wanted a piece of gauze I would have told him to get it from under the bathroom sink but then he wouldn't have had the joy of opening up his spiffy first aid kit.

Anyway, Michael took a look at it and tried applying some steri strips but due to the location of the cut he figured I would need a stitch or two because the cut kept opening up and doing that annoying bleeding thing, so off I went to the emergency room. But first I had to go upstairs and dry my hair because I had just washed it a short time ago and I was NOT going to the ER looking like white trash. Of course once I had blown it dry I needed to curl it. I managed to do my bangs but there again I found out that dang it, each time I used my hand it did that annoying bleeding thing again so I asked Carolyn to curl the rest of it so I didn't look like a witch doctor. I didn't take the time to put on makeup, though, Gary was having too much fun making fun of me for doing my hair before I left.

It took three hours for the poor overworked, understaffed ER folks to get me stitched up. I ended up with four stitches which have to stay in for 10-12 days (again, due to the location and how long it'll take to heal there.) Oh, and I was specifically told not to do dishes. To be honest, I was pretty peeved at the thought of not being able to keep my kitchen clean, and Bridget reminded me that she has the week off because of Spring break. She is such a sweetie.

Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my Saturday. And the very moment I felt that knife slice through my hand I realized cleaning the sippy cup lid with the paring knife was not one of my better ideas...

A weird experience...

2010-03-07T15:21:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I had a weird experience.

About a month ago, when Samara turned 18, she had a birthday party and a bunch of her friends played "bigger or better." She described it in her blog, and if you remember the winning team came home with a mini fridge. (traded up from a fax machine, which was amazing. All started from a freakin' clothes pin!) Anyway, what a harmless game for a bunch of teen agers to play!

So she had another chance to play with a whole bunch of her friends last night. She told me about it a few weeks ago, no big deal, right? Well, yesterday the Wizard asks me out on a date and I thought Woo Hoo, I will even change my shirt and put on makeup because he is worth it. Anyway, we went to Outback, and promised Samara the leftovers. As we are waiting for our table, I had a strange feeling of foreboding come over me regarding this activity. Not the activity itself, I know it's harmless and there is nothing wrong with it. But I had a bad feeling about the night itself and that Samara should not go. I texted her to tell her that I felt funny about it, and she called me. Since she called me, I stepped out of the restaurant (too noisy to talk) and told her how I felt, and because she is who she is, she said that she would stay home.

I don't even know how to express how grateful I am for her attitude. She can't have been very happy about that. I mean, for all she knew it was just me being a worry wart, but I know it wasn't that. I tried dismissing the feeling I had as just a whim, but I couldn't. Dad stepped out of the restaurant a few moments after I did, and as soon as I hung up the phone I started to cry tears of relief. As soon as I explained to Dad what had happened his entire countenance changed. It's as if he knew just from my telling him what I had experienced, that I had done the right thing.

I have no idea what would have happened if Bridget had gone to her "bigger or better" activity with her friends. That's the thing about promptings. If you obey, you will probably never know what would have happened. But I would rather live with the curiosity than be plagued with regrets if I had NOT listened.

And thank you, Bridget, for loving me enough to allow me the peace I needed last night. I love you.

A few random things...

2010-03-02T20:50:00.002-07:00

1. Those of you living in the Denver area need to go to Cafe Rio (located at 610 S. Colorado Blvd) to do your civic duty and make sure that place not only survives but THRIVES so that they will open up many more Cafe Rios in the area, and hopefully one further north so we don't have to drive so darn far to eat there. Seriously, the food is that good. They make their own tortillas there, and once you eat one you will never be satisfied with anyone else's tortillas again. Yummy.

2. If you have never heard anything by Jim Gaffigan (comic) you should listen to him. I watched a video with Sharon M. called "King Baby" and it was hilarious. The man can talk for fifteen minutes about bacon, and it's a scream. I thought of Michael and Jason the entire time. (You two are also hilarious.) Anyway, find something by him and watch him.

3. I actually slept last night WITHOUT a decongestant. And I breathed through my nose. I am so happy.

4. I am always amazed that the weather seems to know when February is over and all of a sudden we have days where the temperature gets up to 50 degrees. It seems to happen every year. We're supposed to get several more days like this for the rest of the week.

My dream

2010-02-26T20:40:00.003-07:00

Okay, so I know you are all tired of hearing me say this, but I have the most wonderful husband in the world. For years now I have told him that when he retires I want to have a condo in Orlando and a condo in Salt Lake City so that we can live half the year in Florida (cold weather makes my feet and hands really hurt, due to the neuropathy) and the other half of the year in SLC so Dad can be happy doing all that genealogy. Then I realized that if we live in SLC we'd have to fly to Denver whenever we wanted to travel because SLC's airport is fairly small and is not a hub for United. Since United is MY airline, it makes sense to live in a city that is a hub, so I amended my dream so that we'd live half the year in Florida (the winter half, summers there are unbearable) and the other half of the year here in Denver, and then Dad can just fly to SLC whenever he was in the mood to do family history stuff.

Well, since the real estate market in Orlando is so depressed right now, Dad's thinking that it's a good time to be looking and perhaps getting some property there. It's not a good time to be selling, so we'll be keeping our home here for the time being (probably another ten years or so) but buying a place in Florida makes good sense since the prices are so low.

Dad's looked online and there are 3 bedroom/2 bathroom condos for as low as $12,000 (although there's probably a good reason they're that low) and it's not unreasonable to expect to get something decent for $25,000 or so. How cool is that?

Anyway, the fact that Dad is taking my dream seriously enough to actually pursue it means the world to me. Not every spouse would do the same. When I asked him something about that, why he would try to make my dream come true, he said, "Making you happy makes me happy." Who wouldn't fall head over heals in love with a man who says stuff like that? Makes me love him even more than I did before.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough corny stuff for now.

Woo Hoo!

2010-02-23T23:04:00.004-07:00

One of my all-time favorite restaurants is Carrabba's. And one of my favorite things to eat there is the Sausage Lentil soup. I have searched all over the internet and found about 6 recipes for it, none are identical so I took bits and pieces of all six of them and created my OWN recipe out of the lot of them. And it tastes JUST like that soup, so now I don't have to wait till we go out for dinner, I can make it whenever I am craving it. Of course, it makes a pan big enough to feed an army so we'll be eating it all week, but since it seems like everyone in the whole family likes it that shouldn't be too difficult. In case anyone is interested, I'll post it here. You may want to cut it in half to make a more reasonable sized pan full.

Ingredients:

4 Tbs. Olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 ½ cup grated carrot
4 stalks chopped celery
2 garlic clove, minced
2 lbs bulk Italian sausage, spicy hot
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
3 quarts chicken stock
1 quart water
2 lbs lentils, rinsed and picked over
2 tbs. vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
4 bay leaves
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds

Heat olive oil in large soup pot. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and sausage to the pot. Saute, stirring often, until sausage is cooked through. Break up sausage into small bits as it cooks. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Remove bay leaves. Puree slightly with stick blender. If no stick blender is available, remove 1/3 of soup and puree in blender and return to pot.

Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve with a thick slice of crusty bread.

"Retirement"

2010-02-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, first of all let me say that I am WAY too young to be retired. And it wasn't my choice, either. But other than that, there's a lot to be said for staying home.

First of all, I am re-discovering the joy of having a clean kitchen. And by clean kitchen I mean that we don't run out of clean silverware. And most of the time I don't let more than ONE sink get full of dishes. If both sinks have dishes in them, I am going nuts and I HAVE to get them done. I have NO qualms about running the dishwasher even if it's not all the way full. I simply don't care if I am using a soap biscuit and a little hot water without the dishwasher being completely packed. I want a clean kitchen. One day after I got home from a trip I was in the kitchen with Michael. I mentioned that the kitchen was trashed and I needed to get it cleaned up. He kind of rolled his eyes and threw his arms around me for a big hug. I said, "What was that for?" (Not that I was complaining, mind you.) He said something like, "While you were gone we would have killed to have the kitchen look this GOOD." It's NICE to be that appreciated.

Second, I am enjoying making meals for my family again. Not just dinners, though that's nice. I have compromised and have decided to cook 4 dinners a week. That way we can have leftovers a few times and folks can forage for themselves now and again (cheese and crackers, that sort of thing.) Plus a trip to Taco Bell on occasion never hurt anyone. But it's nice to have a good, home-cooked meal on occasion, and knowing that I made it myself means I'll like the way it tastes. And knowing that Gary will be sniffing the air appreciatively when he walks in the door after a long day makes me happy too. I have also enjoyed making the occasional breakfast for those who are around to eat it. Blueberry pancakes are a favorite and I know I'm bragging, but I make awesome blueberry pancakes.

Third, I have a "to do" list but I am in no hurry to complete it. I have a bunch of stuff on there that I've wanted to get done for years, and since it's taken years to pile up there's no rush to get it done. But there's a lot of satisfaction in getting the stuff crossed off the list. Some of it is tough to do, and some isn't. Some days I cross off one thing, some days I cross off two. Some days I add another item, and some days (most, actually) the list doesn't change at all but just stays on the fridge where I can look at it and decide if I'm going to work on it at all that day.

Fourth, I don't have to panic if I am visiting family out of town and I get sick and can't travel back to work. Last month I was visiting David and Sarah and then Carolyn and Erik and ended up with the flu. I had to stay for a lot longer than I had intended but I didn't have to worry about using up sick time or missing any work deadlines at all. It was so much easier.

Fifth, when it's cold, snowy, and nasty outside, I can look out the window and decide that there's nothing I need to do so badly that I need to venture out there to do.

Sixth, when a friend of mine wants to go to lunch, I can stop what I'm doing and go with her. Or if I want to go and kidnap Gary and go to lunch with him, I can do that too.

Seventh, there is NEVER more than a load of laundry or two to do at any given time. Usually it's a stretch to even do that much at once. It's been years since I've been able to say that.

Eighth, I think I am caught up on sleep. (Will a lighting bolt strike me down for thinking this?)

Ninth, and this is a biggie: I get to see Aidan and Asher SO much more.

Tenth, I get to do things with my family (taking a certain birthday girl to the Grizzly Rose) that I just wouldn't have had the energy to do if I were doing the 2 1/2 jobs I was doing before.

I guess to sum it up, I still don't like what happened to me. I don't like how the circumstances forced me to make the choices I did. I don't know if I will ever get to the point where I will consider some of those people "friends" again. But I am at least at a point where I am content. I still miss the paycheck, it was very tangible proof of my worth and I often need some sort of proof that I am worth something. Maybe at some point in the future I can find a happy medium.

Something new...

2010-02-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed something new here, my blog is now "private." That's so I can post whatever I want and now maybe I'll actually update instead of waiting until I only have something to post that can be seen by anyone in the world. :)

Jack Handy Quotes

2009-09-16T11:02:00.001-06:00

Okay, these are not technically “Jack Handy” quotes, but they are certainly in the spirit of Jack Handy….

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. (Oy, can I ever attest to that one.)

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

There is great need for a sarcasm font.

How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. (Don’t say it, Wizard…)

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories. (I can attest to that one, too.)

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever. (I will, however, hang it somewhere to air out.)

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

A new guest room

2009-09-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

For the first time in my life I have a guest room. When you have a big family, you don't have a guest room. If you have guests coming, you do a quick glance in each of the kids' rooms, figure out which is the cleanest, move THAT kid into the a sibling's room for the duration, and give the cleanest room to the guest. Or if that's not practical you give the guests the family room or the front room, whichever has the most comfortable couch for sleeping and hope they do okay there.

But since we had a room that was only collecting stuff when we didn't know where to put it, I wanted to create a guest room. Carebear and I (with the help of Melissa, watching the babies) cleared out the garage (so we could sand and paint furniture, which is now a nice warm milk chocolate color), cleared out the landing so we could clear out and sort the contents of the room, boxed up all of the contents that belonged to others (to be stored until they can be collected by their owners), peeled all the stickers off the bed frames (hundreds!), sanded and painted two under-the-bed dressers and a bookcase, prepped and painted walls (three of them are light brown and one is mossy green), vacuumed the ceiling and the carpeting, and re-assembled all the furniture and made up the beds with new linens, comforters, and plenty of pillows. We also put down a small green area rug.

When we were at the store selecting the colors, the woman doing the mixing warned us that the room would be pretty dark. She's right, it is on the dark side, but it's not a depressing dark, it's a restful dark. It's like being in the forrest kind of dark. But the ceiling and ceiling fan are white, and when the drapes (about the same color as the moss green wall) are open, there is plenty of light in the daytime. There's also a little black gooseneck lamp on the bookcase, which is located between the two twin beds (which used to be bunk beds, but are now separated with an under-bed dresser beneath each.) That way if guests want to read in bed, they can do so in comfort and they don't have to try to stumble back to bed after turning off the overhead light in a strange room. There's also a clock radio on the bookcase and a wooden bowl full of toiletries that guests may need, like new toothbrushes, toothpastes, sample sized deodorants, and that kind of thing. Plus there are a few books and magazines in the shelf below.

The closet has been cleaned out as well, and the shelves contain all of the games that we own, which are a lot more accessible now that they're on shelves instead of packed into a chest where you forget they're there. The chest has been moved to the guest room too, and is filled with extra blankets in case they're needed. It's located at the foot of one of the twin beds and doubles as a handy place to put a suitcase in case guests don't want to unpack into the drawers. At the foot of the other bed is a small lidded basket that holds towels and washcloths. There's plenty of hanging space and hangers in the closet.

I just feel like now when people come to visit they have a space of their own where they can rest up from whatever running around they have done and a place where they can close the door and have some privacy, which is so much more comfortable than crashing on the futon in the front room.

The Wizard and I figure we'll probably be in this house for about another ten years. Might as well make it as comfy as possible for ourselves and whomever is here with us.

Profound short paragraph

2009-09-04T11:34:00.001-06:00

This is probably the best paragraph you'll ever read. This is one paragraph that should be in every book in every school room in every city in every state in our great Union .. Our educators should make a lesson plan on this one statement and beat these words into every head in every class in every state in these United States of America.

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."*

* Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005

Concentrate on this sentence

2009-08-18T09:28:00.001-06:00

A very good friend of mine sent me this today. I know I’ve seen things like it before, maybe not word for word but the overall message was one I’d seen before. But today this is really comforting. Most of you know my precious mother-in-law, Midge, died on Saturday. I’m happy for her because she’s in a better place where she can walk again, talk like she used to, use her hands the way she always has, and she can see the people who have gone before her, I know she has missed them.

For the past several years her health has declined and her body has nearly shut down. And recently it became a problem for her to understand others. She was no longer the same woman, physically, as she was for the previous 30 years I have known her, but her sweetness and her love was still apparent. I have to admit that I am sad, and feeling sorry for myself. I was not ready for a world that didn’t include Midge. At the same time, I know there was a heck of a reunion Saturday evening. When I received the following paragraphs via email today, I thought it was particularly appropriate:

To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.' Something good will happen to you today; something that you have been waiting to hear.

There comes a point in your life when you realize:

Who matters,

Who never did,

Who won't anymore...

And who always will.

So, don't worry about people from your past,

there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Back "Home" again...

2009-07-15T09:21:00.000-06:00

So tomorrow I am going to my happy place. :) And best of all, I am going with my honey, The Wizard. We aren't staying on Disney property because rates in the summertime are much higher, so we're staying off property in a cheapie little motel and getting a rental car. Although I like to stay on property best, it's nice to do this once in a while because having a car means being able to go to the grocery store and not having to pack all the snacks in my suitcase, plus we can go to church on Sunday and also nose around to see what housing prices are like there. My goal is to have a small second home in FL, and visit often. (Some would say I already visit often, but everything is relative.) Anyway, I'll be back in town next Tuesday and returning to work on Wednesday.

Speaking of work, things are going well. I have the best job ever, but unfortunately I have been shifted to a new and different location and I have some adjusting to do. I have a LOT less room there, so I've had to take some of those personal touches home, or move them to my alternate desk. (I have two jobs at the training center.) I'm sure I'll survive. In the meantime, working for an airline is the BEST, and makes trips like tomorrow's possible.

I'll try to remember to post a "trip report" when I get back. I'm sure you're all dying to hear about it. Love you!

Susie/Mom

The Darwin Awards

2009-06-08T09:16:00.000-06:00

You've been waiting for them with bated breath, so without further ado here are the 2008 Darwin Awards.

Eighth Place: In Detroit , a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve his car keys.

Seventh Place: A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who 'totally zoned when he ran,' accidentally, jogged off a 100-foot high cliff on his daily run.

Sixth Place: While at the beach, Daniel Jones, 21, dug an 8 foot hole for protection from the wind and had been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom when it t collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand. People on the beach used their hands and shovels trying to get him out but could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Fifth Place: Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.

Fourth Place: Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed as he won a bet with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger.

Third Place: After stepping around a marked police patrol car parked at the front door, a man walked into H&J Leather & Firearms intent on robbing the store. The shop was full of customers and a uniformed officer was standing at the counter. Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a hold-up! and fired a few wild shots from a target pistol. The officer and a clerk promptly returned fire, and several customers also drew their guns and fired. The robber was pronounced dead at the scene by Paramedics. Crime scene investigators located 47 expended cartridge cases in the shop. The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. Ballistics identified rounds from 7 different weapons. No one else was hurt.

HONORABLE MENTION: Paul Stiller, 47, and his wife Bonnie were bored just driving around at 2 A.M. so they lit a quarter stick of dynamite to toss out the window to see what would happen. Apparently they failed to notice the window was closed.

RUNNER UP: Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from a local bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and at least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30 AM. Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one had brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable, lay near by. They secured one end around Bingham's leg and then tied the other to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and tore his foot off at the ankle. He miraculously survived his fall into the icy water and was rescued by two nearby fishermen. Bingham's foot was never located.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt ( Paderborn , Germany ) fed his constipated elephant 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally got relief. Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded. The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked Mr. Riesfeldt to the ground where he struck his head on a rock as the elephant continued to evacuate 200 pounds of dung on top of him. It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that proves... 'S### happens'

IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPORTANT TO THANK THESE PEOPLE FOR REMOVING THEMSELVES FROM THE GENE POOL

Okay, I'm in...

2009-06-01T09:18:00.001-06:00

The first three people to leave a comment on this post will receive something made by me. However, there are some limitations:

1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it is going to be - cards, bows, a bag, frame or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and mail it to you .Who knows? Not you that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!

Here’s the catch, if you choose to do this. You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for three people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog. Now time to comment and start thinking about what you will be making for someone else!

Ta DA!

2009-05-19T11:30:00.001-06:00

This has certainly not been a good month or six weeks to be Susie. I had no idea when I got my wisdom teeth removed that it would be a 2-month ordeal till it was over. I will be on this antibiotic for another 2 or 3 weeks, and it seems to be sapping a lot of my energy. Or maybe it's the infection itself. I don't know. Plus the pain makes me tense up and then I end up with a migraine. It's getting better, but it's not been a picnic that's for sure. I have continued going to work and most of church (though to be completely honest, I have not been able to sit through the whole three hours yet), but I ended up missing David's and Sarah's reception in Michigan, which I felt terrible about. The surgeon felt bad about that too but he said with how severe the infection was he could not wait even through the weekend. He didn't realize I would be in too much pain to travel, but that's just how it worked out. I was popping percocet about every 2 hours. (I'm allowed one or two every 4-6 hours, so the way I see it that's the same as one every 2 hours if the pain is bad enough. Hopefully that's not cheating too much.) And I'm not supposed to take aleve or ibuprofen but I was so desperate that I did it anyway. (Percocet already has tylenol in it.) Anyway, the thought of going up and down in a plane was enough to make me almost cry in anticipation of the pressure changes, so I decided to stay home. Of course there's no way to tell at this point whether I would have been okay with it, but when something tells you to avoid something, it's best to heed the warning. It's when we ignore warnings that we are slapped in the face and we say, "Man I wish I would have listened to that prompting…"

When I went in for my first checkup after the oral surgeon re-opened me and scraped the infected bone away, he made it very clear that it had been an emergency that couldn't wait. In fact, I've been back for a few more checkups just to make sure the antibiotic is battling the bacteria sufficiently, and each time I go in another one of his hygenists tells me that they had to come in and watch part of the procedure because they didn't see this kind of thing very often. Woo hoo, I'm a celebrity.

Other than that, life is good. I am toying with the idea of visiting Carebear and her family, and the newlyweds, for the holiday weekend coming up.

Fun things to fill out

2009-04-07T11:01:00.001-06:00

6 names you go by: (this is not easy!)
1. Susie
2. Mom
3. Grandma
4. Suse
5. Susan (when I’m in trouble)
6. Mommy (in the past)

3 things you are wearing right now
1. Crocs with Mickey charms
2. Earrings
3. Blue sweater

3 Things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Dry socket (wisdom tooth removal) to stop hurting and be all healed
2. Whole house clean and tidy
3. More money. J

3 people who will fill this out:
1. Carolyn
2. Audrey
3. Bridget?

2 things you did last night:
1. Watched current episode of All My children
2. At a tostada from taco bell with Gary

2 things you ate today:
1. Banana
2. Cheese

2 people you last talked to on the phone:
1. Carolyn
2. Gary

2 things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Catch up at work
2. Watch American Idol

3 favorite drinks:
1. Pero
2. Water (filtered)
3. Crystal Lite

Hopefully this too will pass...

2009-04-02T21:46:00.000-06:00

Today I got the happy news that I have "dry socket." I don't even like the sound of that. They have treated it by putting in a little piece of gauze soaked in something that smells and tastes like cloves. I'm getting sick of the taste and smell. Tomorrow morning I go back in and they'll re-pack it. :::sigh:::

Anyway, no work for me tomorrow. The amount of narcotics I'm taking for the pain precludes driving. Or doing anything productive, really.

I also have four staples in my head, to be removed next week. I had a mole removed about a month ago and it came back as a basal cell, so it had to be removed better. And Chaelomen of course had to inspect the staple job. My new nickname is the "Bride of Frankenstein."

I'm losing my wisdom...

2009-03-27T11:08:00.001-06:00

Let me start by saying that every time I visit the dentist he gives me a hard time about my unpulled wisdom teeth. (The two on the bottom.) Since they really haven't caused any problems I have cheerfully ignored him while reminding him that he could not badger me about it with much credibility since he also still has two of his. However, the last time I went he said that there is enough bone loss around my wisdom teeth that food is going to start creeping back behind the gums so that it will not be possible for me to clean them. He said the result would be an abscess that would cause the loss of several other molars in addition to the wisdom teeth, and it'd be an emergency situation then, and a horrible, painful experience. So now I am left with the lesser of the two evils, getting my wisdom teeth out.

When I went to the oral surgeon, the office did one of those panoramic (and really, REALLY flattering… Makes your head look like a medicine ball) xrays and said that the roots are solidly fused to the jaw bone and that they are very close to the nerves. He is hoping to extract them without damaging the nerves (which would result in possible numbness and paralysis of the facial muscles which could be permanent) but if he gets in there and it doesn't look possible he'll just saw off the tooth a little lower than the gum line and let the gums grow over what's left of the tooth. That also sounds horrible. Thank goodness I will be unconscious throughout this. I have a vision of a hacksaw in my mouth, and I'm hoping he doesn't end up sawing my mouth open like a pez dispenser. I'll end up looking like the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker. I'll be off work until I can function without pain medication.

Oh, and what is it about hearing that someone has upcoming oral surgery that invites others to share their own oral surgery horror stories? I would rather hear them after I'm healed up, thank you very much.

I think I'm getting too old for this kind of thing...

2009-03-18T10:02:00.000-06:00

I'm not working as quickly as I usually do today, I did a major stupidity yesterday. About a half hour before I was due to go home (and I was the only one in the office) an employee came in chatting on his cell phone with my boss. The employee had left his badge in the security office and he was pretty desperate to get it back but everyone had gone home for the day. My boss asked me to try to get in there and retrieve it for him if I could.

I got into the outer office okay, but inside there were several cubicles (two with locking doors) for the security folks. The cubicle walls are about 7 feet high is all, not nearly all the way to the ceiling. I stepped onto a chair and my head was over the top and I could see the badge clearly. So I scooted a table over, but that still wasn't enough to get over the wall, so I scooted over a wheeled contraption that the security folks use for their coat rack, which has a shelf at the top. The guy who lost his badge held this steady while I climbed onto it. Then I swung my leg over, and he's thinking to himself, "Wow, she's pretty good," after which he heard a big WHUMP as I fell to the ground on the other side. Ouch.

But not to worry, I was able to slow my descent by sliding my face against the inner wall of the cubicle, which was thoughtfully lined with some sort of sandpaper-textured burlap. Since I'd had the air knocked out of me (landed on my chest) I wasn't able to get up for a few moments as he desperately cried, "Are you okay?" while he's thinking, "I can't get in there to see if she's alive, the door is still locked!" Anyway, I finally pushed myself into a sitting position and unlocked the door, then I struggled to my feet, went over to the desk, picked up his badge and handed it to him. Then I sat down for a few moments to get my breath back, while he's anxiously asking, "Do you want me to get you a cold cloth?" By this time I was feeling much better, so I said no and we put back all the furniture. He mumbled something about hoping there were no security cameras that caught it. Amen to that.

Anyway, when I got home I looked at where my arm was hurting and there is a lovely bruise there so I wore long sleeves today. I also looked at my knees and they're a beautiful shade of blue and purple as well. Plus I've got another big bruise on my left calf. And when I took off my makeup last night I noticed I have a bruise across the bridge of my nose as well. :::sigh::: And this morning when I woke up I was incredibly sore.

I'm obviously not as athletic as I am in my imagination, because that turned out so much better in my head than it did in reality. But I have to say that for a security office, it wasn't that hard to get in and I take a sort of perverse satisfaction in that.

What Susie needs...

2009-03-12T08:51:00.001-06:00

Enter your name followed by "needs" (with quotes around both of them together) in Google and list the first 10 responses that make sense. These are my top 10, number 5 is my favorite:

Auntie Susie needs YOU!
Susie needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Susie needs your help.
Sweet Susie needs a home.
Susie needs to be my wife so that I can begin the biological process of procreation with a female humanoid.
Mustang Susie needs your votes.
Susie needs to get some guts and self esteem.
Susie Needs our Purrs/Woofs/Purrayers.
Susie needs sleep.
Susie needs a husband, not a sex-toy stimulation.

FW: Debate

2009-03-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

This is literally a "church signs" debate, being played out in a Southern town, between Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic and Cumberland Presbyterian, a fundamentalist church. From top to bottom shows you the response and counter-response over time.

Word game

2009-02-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Rules: erase my answers, enter yours, and tag 10 people. Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, and things. You can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name: Susie

2. 4 letter word: Sing

3. A Boy’s Name: Sam

4. A Girl’s Name: Sarah

5. An Occupation: Sysop

6. A Color: Scarlett

7. Something you wear: Sandals

8. A Beverage: Soda

9. A Food: Strawberries

10. Something found in the bathroom: Shampoo

11. A place: Supermarket

12. A Reason for being late: Sleeping in

13. Something you shout: Stop it!

A good questionaire...

2009-02-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

I think my kids (especially Chaelomen) are grateful that I have found out how to post these in my blog instead of always pestering them. But this one was good and actually had more questions that I had to think about a bit and that, when I read others’ responses (I hope), will enable me to know them a bit better.

Make a list of things you can see without getting up: African violets, pictures of my grandchildren, Mickey mouse, candy dish.

What were you like when you were five? Insecure. I was much younger than the other kids in my class and I felt like the dummy.
What are you wearing now? Tan pants, brown crocks with mickeys, red shirt, gold and red earrings, Elmo socks.
What story/book/novel have you read over and over again in your life? The Ghost of Opalina
What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading? “The interruption of everything.”
Do you nap a lot? No, but I wish I did. I am perpetually sleep deprived.
Who was the last person you hugged? Bridgelet.
What’s your current fandom/obsession/addiction? I prefer to think of it as a “lifestyle,” but I guess I would have to say All Things Disney.
What was the last thing you ate today? Does gum count?
What websites do you always visit when you go online? My kids blogs and my email.
What was the last thing you bought? An eyeshadow. I already have the color, but I wanted one in my travel set and it was going for cheap on ebay.
What are you listening to right now? The song of the year, “Viva la Vida.”
What movie are (or were!) you most excited to show your kids? The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and all Disney films.
If you could have any super power, what would it be? Flying or invisibility. Or immortality. J
What is your favorite weather? Warm, not hot. Between 65 and 85 degrees with a nice breeze. (Warm breeze if it’s cooler outside, cool breeze if it’s warmer.) In short, the temperature at WDW between the months of late September and early May.
What time do you usually get up? Used to be 5:30 to get breakfast for Bridgelet before Seminiary. Then I started cooking it after seminary, so I could sleep till 6. Makes it easier to get a little more sleep but it makes me a touch late to work. I probably need to go back to the 5:30 wake up call.
What is your most challenging goal right now? Getting good nutrition.
If you could have a house–totally paid for, fully furnished–anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? In Florida, a nice condo with the HOA fees paid through the next few decades. Something nice and close to WDW. Three bedrooms, one for Gary and me, one for a good guest room, and one for a computer room/study, but with room for a futon for more guests in case people want to visit me and go to WDW.
Favorite vacation spot? WDW.
What is your favorite children’s book? I like an obscure book called “The Ghost of Opalina.” I read it in the 8^th grade, and loved it so much I’ve read it probably 10 times since. For little kid books, I’ve always loved “Go Dog Go.” Especially the page where they’re having a party on top of the tree.
Name one thing you just can’t resist no matter how bad it is for you: Milk chocolate, something nice and expensive.
If you could meet anyone famous – Walt Disney. J (Shocker, huh?)

one word answers

2009-02-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket

2. Your significant other? adorable

3. Your hair? thick
4. Your mother? Oofda
5. Your father? Eatitit’llputhaironyourchest

6. Your favorite thing? Disney

7. Your dream last night? absent
8. Your favorite drink? water

9. Your dream/goal? joy
10. The room you're in? office

11. Your fear? violence
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Disneyworld

13. Where were you last night? Home

14. What you're not? confident

15. Muffins? oatmeal

16. One of your wish list items? Money
17. Where you grew up? Caliente

18. The last thing you did? ate

19. What are you wearing? ring
20. Your TV? communal
21. Time is? hurrying

22. Your computer? slow

23. Your life? fun

24. Your mood? wistful

25. Missing someone? grandkids

26. Your car? cruiser

27. Something you're not wearing? necklace

28. Missing? sleep

29. Your summer? short

30. Your favorite color? green

31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? yesterday

33. Who will/would re-post this? Bridgie

34. Four people who e-mail me: CarolynAudreyBridgetBethie (ONE WORD???)

35. Three of my favorite foods: corn, berries, crab, chocolate (again, ONE WORD???)
36. Four places I would rather be right now? Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Disney Studios, Animal Kingdom (I give up on the “one word” thing)

I deleted 37, it’s one of those “who do you think will respond” questions which I hate.
Here's what you're supposed to do......hit forward, delete my answers, type in your answers and send it to a bunch of people - including me

Goodbye, little mommy...

2008-12-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

My mother died Saturday.

From what we can see from the physical evidence, this is what happened: Mom was smoking with her oxygen running (though she had tossed the nasal cannula aside while she had her cigarette) and she probably dozed off and dropped the cigarette on the floor. The cigarette was laying on top of her oxygen hose. It burned through the hose and ignited and burned about 8 feet of the hose itself, along with parts of the carpeting beneath the hose. It was probably sending out blue flames and some pretty noxious fumes due to the melted plastic and carpeting. She was trying to get to her oxygen machine to turn it off but she had grown progressively weaker over the last few weeks (and my guess is her blood sugar was very low, she's had a lot of trouble with crashing lately) and she went down. The "official" cause of death was listed as heart attack because her heart wasn't beating when the paramedics got there, but it may have actually been caused by smoke inhalation or even her blood sugar going too low. My brother in law was the one who found her. He tried to resuscitate her (he heard her sternum crack when he tried to do CPR) but he wasn't successful. The paramedics arrived pretty quickly (my brother was one of them) and they took over the resuscitation efforts without success. She was pronounced dead at the emergency room.

I have thought a lot about how horrible those last few moments of her life were. She was declining in health quite a bit and there were times she had said she was ready to go, but all the same, it must have been terrifying to see the fire and the smoke. Since she could barely walk a few steps without being out of breath it must have been quite an ordeal to get halfway to her oxygen machine before she collapsed. I don't know if she was already unconscious or if she lost consciousness once she was down. She couldn't speak long without a coughing fit, and I can well imagine how the noxious smoke from the fire must have affected her.

I was able to see her for a short while before she was taken away to the crematorium. She may have had a terrifying last few moments on earth, but in death she looked peaceful, so that helped. She was wearing one of those muumuu's that she loved to wear, and a bed jacket. I felt her cheek and because my fingers were so cold she actually felt warm to the touch. I stroked her upper arm through the blanket they had used to cover her, and it felt the same as when I used to stroke her arm after kissing her goodnight. I kept expecting her to take a breath because she really did look like she was sleeping, but of course the deep, cleansing breath never came.

It's a comfort to know that she is no longer in pain and she is able to move about the same as she could when she was a young girl. She can see again, and I'm sure she's happy about being reunited with so many members of her family. I can imagine there have been some happy reunions for her with people she has loved, like her best friend who drowned when she was a young girl. And I'm happy for her about that, but at the same time I feel sorry for myself.

As we were going through the old pictures of her life, there were so many where she was young and vital and beautiful. The sad thing is that smoking slowly robbed her of every pleasure she had. She didn't get to do any of the things she had planned to do after she retired because her health was so poor, and nearly all of her health problems were attributed or at least made worse by smoking. But now she can do all the fishing she wants, and she can read and do crossword puzzles to her heart's content.

I still have my mother's birthday message on my cell phone voice mail. Goodbye, little Mommy. I love you and I'll miss you.

Fun little thing from Sarah, easier to post here than to email out...

2008-11-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Christmas edition of "Getting to know your friends." Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags, they’re so much easier. And we re-use them as much as possible.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I like the real ones better, but using an artificial one is more economical over the long haul. And the next one I get will be pre-lit.

3. When do you put up the tree? Late November or early December

4. When do you take the tree down? First week of January if I can get help.

5. Do you like eggnog? I never liked it till I couldn’t have it due to a milk allergy. Now I want it. J

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A big kid bike, with blocks on the pedals.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Gary, cuz he always wants stuff that I have no idea how to get.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Newly married kids, cuz they need everything.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? If I do anything, it’s an email update. But I only do that now and again.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I’ve never been a fan of getting those meat logs for gifts. I don’t like them.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34^th street and It’s a wonderful life.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Probably January.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey dinner, pies.

16. Lights on the tree? Of course. Hopefully next year it’ll be a pre-lit tree.

17. Favorite Christmas song? What child is this

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I have a star that Audrey brought me from Austria, and I have an angel I painted myself. I love both.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, after stockings which are in my room full of good things to eat.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Kosi radio has already started playing “all Christmas music, all the time.” I prefer a mixture.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like to have gold ribbon, red poinsettias, red balls, and then Disney ornaments.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I like to do prime rib, normally, but beef doesn’t always agree with me. We might have to do turkey this year.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I kind of want a Wii, but a GPS would be nice too because I hate getting lost, Or a new bread machine would be good since ours will probably not last much longer.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I hate this question…

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? I hate this question too.

OCD

2008-11-19T08:46:00.001-07:00

Sarah has been blogging about an OCD trait that she has and there have been a few replies about other various OCD traits. Last night when I was watching TV I decided to have a snack. I pulled a handful of crackers out of the box and arranged them before I ate them. It occurred to me that whenever I eat crackers out of a box, I arrange them so that they are stacked up by size. The whole crackers are at the bottom and the broken ones toward the top, with the smallest broken pieces being at the very top of the pile. Then I eat them in order, starting with the smallest and working my way down the little pile until nothing is left but whole crackers. I can’t eat them any other way. And if partway through my snack I decide to add more crackers, I have to insert them where their size would put them, meaning whole ones to the bottom and the broken ones arranged by size with the existing pile.

And yes, I did feel this was normal till Samara pointed out that it was not. J

Anyone else have any OCD traits? I suppose the only other one I have is that at my desk my stapler and tape dispenser have to be perfectly aligned. Okay, EVERYTHING on my desk needs to be perfectly aligned.

Love you!

Mom

2008-11-18T17:59:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to Mickey...

Happy birthday to Mickey.

Happy birthday dear Mickey!

Happy birthday to Mickey!

and me too.

Susie

My baby...

2008-10-31T12:45:00.001-06:00

Wow, my youngest has her driver’s license. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I’m proud of her and happy for her too. She got her license younger than any of her siblings, I believe. But on the other hand, everything she does is a “last” for me. I don’t think I’m going to cope well with empty nest syndrome. I may have horrified Dad because I told him a week ago that if I hadn’t had a hysterectomy I would have another baby right now.

On the lighter side, today is Halloween and I dressed up for work. I came as a UAL mechanic, since I’m the office assistant for that department. The real mechanics loaned me all the stuff I needed: a mechanic uniform, a tool belt (with tools, but dang that thing really pulls down your jeans when it’s loaded up like that. No wonder mechanics have plumbers’ cracks!), a flashlight, a hardhat, and a key ring with a couple dozen keys on. One of the other employees said I was the prettiest mechanic we had, which may not be a huge compliment when you see our mechanics, a bunch of testosterone-dripping middle aged men. One of the other employees said that when he first saw me he thought I was a real mechanic. I’m not so sure I’m happy about that, see description of our mechanics above…

Susie

Musical breakfast!

2008-10-30T16:05:00.000-06:00

So every morning I get up and fix Samara breakfast. She's easy to please, she wants an egg, scrambled soft with cheese mixed in to melt. Serve it on a slice of toast. Well, our toaster is both cheap and old, so it was starting to not toast one of the sides of bread. Carebear and Archie got me a birthday present and let me open it early, it was a new toaster and it imprints the bread with a Mickey Mouse face. Plus, when the toast pops up, it plays the Mickey Mouse march! Sort of reminds me of the little toilet we had for the kids when they were being potty trained. As soon as they peed, it played "Twinkle twinkle little star." :)

Love you!

Mom

Ooo... A survey. I know how much you love these...

2008-10-29T09:05:00.001-06:00

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. Answer the 30 questions at the end.

(X) Gone on a blind date

( ) Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

( ) Been to Canada

(X) Been to Mexico

(X) Been to Florida (many times!)

(X) Been lost (many times.)

(X) Been on the opposite side of the country

(X) Gone to Washington, DC

(X) Swam in the ocean

(X) Cried your self to sleep

( ) Played cops and robbers

(X) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Sang Karaoke/Tried

(X) Paid for a meal with coins only

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't

(X) Made prank phone calls

( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

( ) Danced in the rain

( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus

( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe

( ) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about

(X) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

(X) Been skinny dipping outdoors

(X) Gone to the movies

1. Any nickname: Susie Q, Susie Creamcheese

2. Mother's name: Hellyn

3. Favorite drink? Water, but not tap water or spring water.

4. Any Tattoo's? No

5. Body piercing's? yes, ears

6. Do U love your job? Yes

7. Ever seen or been in a tornado? No

8. Favorite vacation spot? Walt Disney World

9. Ever been to Africa? No

10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes

11. Been on TV? Yes

12. Ever stole a traffic sign? No, but I moved a Big Boy statue…

13. Ever been in a car accident? No

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4 door

15. Favorite salad dressing? Bleu Cheese (mom’s recipe)

16. Favorite Pie? Peach

17. Favorite number? 18

18. Favorite movie? My Fair Lady

19. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving or Christmas

20. Favorite dessert? Shortbread cookie

21. Favorite food? Corn

22. Favorite day of the week? Friday

23. Favorite brand of body wash? Amazing Grace by Philosphy

24. Favorite Toothpaste? Colgate

25. Favorite smell? Amazing Grace

26. What do you do to relax? Watch TV and crochet

27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Retired and living half the year in CO and half in FL.

28. How many siblings do you have? 5

29. Furthest Place you will send this message? CA

30. Who will respond to this the fastest? Audrey

How do I...

2008-09-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

So how do I add someone to my list on the right? I want to add David's blog, but I don't remember how. And by "remember" I mean that I didn't see Michael set it up so I have no clue how.

Berserk, I missed the boys on Monday. Valkyrie was going to bring them over while you two went out. I thought I'd take them to Mickey D's and let them eat and play. Maybe I can have them for a few hours on Saturday?

I love you guys!

Mom

JUST 2 THINGS

2008-09-16T16:27:00.000-06:00

Two names you go by:
1) Mom

2) Susie Q

Two things you're wearing now:
1) Mickey earrings (From Jason and Andrea)

2) Mickey necklace (from Gary)

Two things you would like to do again:
1) Go to Walt Disney World

2) Have one more baby (alas, tis not to be… but I keep dreaming I am.)

Two things you want very badly at the moment.
1) To go to Walt Disney World with Audrey

2) Kiss Gary

Two people who will fill this out & return it:
1) Bridget
2) Audrey, if I’m lucky

Two things you did yesterday:
1) Folded Laundry

2) Got caught up on my soap, AMC

Two things you ate yesterday

1) Kiwi Fruit

2) Blueberries

Two people you last talked to:
1) Dave

2) Lynn
Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1) Listening to a book on CD on the way to work
2) Working out, I hope

Two favorite holidays:
1) Thanksgiving
2) Christmas

Two favorite beverages:

1) Crystal Lite

2) Dasani water

Two people no longer alive that you'd like to talk to:
1) Dad

2) Dad O

This is harder than I thought...

2008-09-07T22:18:00.000-06:00

Okay, maybe it's not necessarily difficult, but I didn't remember how to make a new post and the Wizard had to remind me. Heh... Not to worry, I'll catch on eventually.

So the Wizard has already posted about the adventures of his CPAP machine. I spent most of our first day of vacation by myself, because he was busy chasing down a hose and a mask so he could get some sleep. (Okay, he got a little bit of sleep but not much because every time he started snoring, I had to wake him up, and he only got to sleep a few moments before he would start snoring. So neither of us got any rest.) Anyway, it's a good thing I made him drop me off at the park, because if I'd spent those seven hours in the hotel room, I wouldn't have been very nice about it.

The next day (yesterday) we went to Animal Kingdom, which I love, and then spent the next five hours in the Magic Kingdom. It really was a blast, but we were both exhausted. Today we went to church and then afterwards we went to Epcot, which is the Wizard's favorite. (There really aren't any bad Disney parks in Florida.) We had dinner in the Japanese restaurant and it was really nice. Unfortunately, it didn't agree with me so let's just say it didn't last as long as it should. Oh, well. I felt much better afterwards.

All I can think about this whole trip is how AWESOME it will be to have the whole family visit the mouse in January of 2010. The Wizard and I counted three times, and it looks like there will be 19 of us there. That means if we all eat at the Japanese restaurant, we'll need THREE of those tables with the big hibachi grill in the middle. That's nearly the whole room. (There are four of those tables in each room.) The poor, gentle Japanese staff won't know what hit them, huh? Anyway, chime in on whether or not you're wanting to go with us on this trip, because it'd be fun to know who and how many are trying to come.

Tomorrow will be our day at Disney Studios. It's my favorite park, I can hardly wait. My two favorite rides are Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller coaster. The Wizard will ride Tower of Terror with me, but he draws the line at joining me in what he calls my masochism, riding Rockin' Roller coater. But he said he'd at least go through the line with me and then use the "last chance to bail" door before the ride actually starts. We'll also watch "Four for a dollar" as many times as we can, since it's the main reason we came at this time.

Today the Wizard did something very romantic. He saw me gazing at some necklaces near the Germany pavilion, and after we had dinner we walked past them again. He said, "You keep coming back to this one," and pointed to a silver chain with a pendant on it. The pendant is three circles, graduating from smallest (about 1/2 inch) to largest (about an inch.) Inside each circle is a little Mickey icon, the large circle head with two smaller circle ears. The circles and the icons are all Swarovski crystals. It's really pretty, and very Disney. And now it's mine, the Wizard bought it and said, "Happy anniversary." He is so cute. :) After that we went back to Future World Showcase and rode "Soarin" again. Then we left to go back to the hotel. On the way home we stopped at a souvenir shop to get a couple of things to take home to Colorado with us. And now it's time for me to hit the hay so we can get a (somewhat) early start on tomorrow.

Mom

Well, it's about TIME...

2008-09-03T14:54:00.001-06:00

Okay, I’ve been MEANING to start a blog for quite a while now. I think it’s been great the way all the kids have gotten to know each other better as adults through blogging and I hate to be left out. I have no idea how often this will be updated, but at least I have finally started.

Dad and I are hoping to go to visit the mouse this weekend. The pre-show for Beauty and the Beast (called “Four for a dollar”) are singing their last acapella oldie on Sept. 20, and I want to see them one more time before they go. I don’t know what will replace them, hopefully something just as good. I’ll miss them, they’ve always been great entertainment. We should be back Tuesday morning in time to go to work.

Other than that, nothing I can think of to say…

Mom

This is only a test...

2008-09-02T20:57:00.000-06:00

Had this been an actual blog there would have been something interesting here to read. This is Chaelomen, just setting up the blog for Mom, and I need something here to see what the layout looks like.