Life in a Two Cow Town

Happy Birthday to me

2009-10-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my 48th birthday. That's hard for me to believe, because I certainly don't feel that old inside,

The best part, so far, about being 48, is that I'm 55 pounds lighter this year than I was last year! Hallelujah! What a great birthday present to myself!

Guerilla Goodness Part 2

2009-10-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I realized (after my dad prodded me) that it's been a really long time since I updated my blog!

I never told you about our Guerilla Goodness adventure!

The day before school started, the girls & I went to Reedsport to help our friend Rachel chalk up the sidewalks in her neighborhood and around the schools with phrases of goodness & kindness & cheery little thoughts.
I have more photos on my facebook page if you want to check them out there.
The next day (the first day of school here), Rachel & her boys came here and helped us chalk up our sidewalks. What fun!

A few days later, at the school board meeting, both principals mentioned that "someone" had left some neat sidewalk greetings in front of the school and they wondered who was responsible. All I did was smile. Guerilla Goodness is good.

Guerilla Goodness Part 1

2009-08-29T14:26:00.001-07:00

Everytime I see this video it brings tears of joy & happiness to my eyes.

My friend Rachel, posted it on her blog along with this challenge for Guerilla Goodness (think random acts of kindness).

I can't tell you how much I LOVE this idea! I will be helping her with her act of Goodness, and she'll be helping me! If you love this idea too and want to help, call me!

A new face..

2009-08-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Danielle got her braces off yesterday. She's so funny. She keeps smiling and saying "I have a new face...new face..." She stopped by so she could take her first bite of an apple in almost 2 years.

Her first bite.

What a tiny little bite! She worked so hard for it, too!

At long last...a real bite! A bite worth waiting for!

Another visitor

2009-08-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Milca registered for school today. I think she'll do ok with her classes. She's got a good variety of subjects and nothing that she won't be able to do with a little help. She should have a fun year! We went to the beach this afternoon. This was the first time Milca had been to the Pacific Ocean.
The girls took a walk down the beach while I stayed near the jetty and hunted agates. I was having no luck finding agates until they came back, and then I found alot! Both Milca & Megan found several within the first few minutes! The first rock Milca picked up was an agate twice as big as my thumbnail! I was very impressed!

Milca is going white water rafting this weekend with all the Rotary exchange students in Oregon. Lucky girl! Tonight we had Andrea from Switzerland spend the night with us. She's staying with a family in Coos Bay and they asked if she could stay here in order to carpool to their event this weekend. They're going to have a lot of fun. Wish I could go!

She's arrived!

2009-08-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Megan made this sign. Isn't it beautiful? We didn't notice that something was missing from it until the morning we left to pick Milca up from the airport! I guess even though we can speak English, we certainly can't write English! Whoops! Milca also has a blog, where she posted the same picture. One of her Brazilian friends caught the spelling error! We all had a good laugh about it!

Milca arrived on August 21st from Brazil.

We were surprised to find that she speaks very little English! Our first night at home was very interesting. Milca is an exchange student with Rotary International, and Rotary has a list of "first night" questions that we are supposed to discuss the first night she's here. How do you explain curfew or how to turn the shower on or when to go to bed at night & wake up in the morning to someone that speaks little English? We managed, but it took us awhile. Every day, she does a little better, but I'm worried about what classes she will take in school.

Do you know what this means?

2009-07-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

It means..... 50 pounds baby!!

That's right. Officially today, I've lost 50 pounds since March, 2009! I'm wearing size 14 clothes (down from an 18/20). One of these days I'll post a pic of something besides my toes, but for now...look at that scale! Whoohooo!!

So here's a bit about what's been going on in my life lately.

Shortly after Bernie's birth of an 8mm kidney stone, we lost our Holly-dog. She was almost 14 years old. We think she had a stroke. The vet thinks she had organ failure that caused the stroke. Either way, our sweet HollyMolly is in heaven playing with Shadow, Cy & PoohBear. We miss her!

Megan's been at Girl Scout camp for several weeks now. She's having a great time. She gets to come home on the weekends, which is just enough time for her to get a few phone calls in to her best friend, check her email, wash some clothes and then get back to camp.

Cory is anxious to get back to school. He's tired of washing dishes at work and just wants to get back to all that hard studying & stuff. Go figure. We'll leave next week to take him back. He's very excited to be driving his "new" car.

Summer is in full swing here. Tuesday, our thermometer marked 90+ in the shade! Daddy & I went to the fair and practically melted while we were there. That's one thing the fair should try & do better - provide some shade on the grounds! As for what I'm doing to occupy "all my free time"... what free time?! Seems like every day off I have, it's filled to the gills with something that needs to get done. I do have some goals for this summer, but I've yet to accomplish any of them. I've been too busy! *lol*

More later...maybe even some pictures!

Giving birth...

2009-07-14T19:40:00.001-07:00

...to a kidney stone is nothing like giving birth to a child. It's worse! Ask me, I know. Passing a kidney stone is like trying to shove a bowling ball through a straw. It's pure hell, and it's something Bernie experienced this weekend, poor guy.

We'd gone to church on Sunday, then headed up the coast to drop Megan off at Girl Scout Camp (about 1.5 hours from home). About 30 minutes into the drive, he's feeling nauseous. We've got to get Megan to camp, so we push on. Before we get to our destination, he's lost whatever was in his stomach. We think he's got the flu. Fast forward to the drive home and he's miserable all the way home. Can't get comfortable. Feels nauseous and thinks he hurt his back at work. It should've clicked then, but it didn't. Both of us were focused on getting him home and into bed. By the time he got home, he was purely miserable but we still didn't put two & two together. No temp, but definitely sick to his stomach. It wasn't until early evening that he really started complaining about his back hurting. That's when it clicked. I described what it felt like when I passed my kidney stone. He didn't think it was that. I disagreed and called the doctor. Doctor said "get him to the ER." We got him there by 8pm, and after a CAT scan, chest Xray, blood & urine test, they confirmed kidney stones. An 8mm stone. EXTRA large by stone standards. The ER doctor was using his scan as a show & tell opportunity for all the ER staff. Great.

So, the urologist was called in. We could tell he wasn't thrilled about being called in so late on a Sunday night, but he agreed the best course of action was surgery to remove the stone as it was blocking (something - I don't know what), and everything inside and around his kidney was enflamed. They got him into surgery about midnight and out by about 1am. I stayed until he was resting comfortably in his room and then drove home for a little snooze. He was able to come home early Monday morning, and thankfully now feels 100% better. The CAT scan shows that he has more stones, but they're smaller in size. I guess that's the good news. The bad news, is that someday they'll try to pass and that means "here we go again." Hopefully because they're smaller in size, he won't be in as much pain and won't have to have surgery again. He'll see the urologist in a couple of weeks to determine if there are any treatment options.

Now, what shall we name this cute little prickly stone?

Seeing as I have followers...

2009-06-24T09:45:00.001-07:00

Eegads! I have followers! Hopefully y'all aren't STALKERS! *giggle* I suppose since I have a few followers (I feel so popular), I'd better think about posting an update, eh?

The best & BIGGEST news is that I finally hit that 40 pound loss mark about 2 weeks ago! YAY! I am so excited I can barely contain it. And to make that news even better, I got on the scale this morning and saw another 2.5 lb loss bringing the total to 42.5 pounds in about 3.5 months. I went in for my 2nd fill this week and I can really tell how much I can (or can't) eat. I find that when I eat small (and I mean small) portions about every 2 hours, I do ok. I focus on protein. Always the protein first, then fill in with fruit or veggies. I really do need to find some recipies for some tasty protein shakes though. I'm getting a bit tired with what I'm currently doing.

Other news...Cory turned 19 on Monday. Wow. Sometimes that is so hard for me to get my mind around. First that I have a child that old, and 2nd that he made it to 19! *lol* He had to work on his birthday, so his dad & I delivered a bouquet of balloons to his workplace. I think he was a tiny bit embarrassed (but probably a little bit pleased as well.) Megan is off to a "leadership camp" this week. She was SO excited to go. I think she was just excited to get her summer started. She'll be home from that for a week and then she's off to Girl Scout camp for most of the summer.

It sure is quiet in the house without Megan here! That girl is a whirlwind of yakky-ness. I think she only stops talking when she's sleeping! :) I think I miss her and she's only been gone for 2 days!

Lots of news

2009-05-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

I had my first fill on 5/11 (6 weeks post-op) and let me tell you I was ready. Seemed like I was always hungry before that fill. Now I'm back to "normal"...my new normal, that is. I'm still losing weight...1-2 lbs/week. Very happy about that! My port site is a bit tender. I can feel it under my skin, and the area around it just feels kind of bruised.

I had a bit of a scare the other night. I mindlessly (and really, it was the first time I mindlessly ate anything since surgery) picked up a piece of roast off the cutting board and ate it. Obviously I didn't chew it well enough because within a matter of minutes I was in PAIN. OMGosh...it hurt. I thought I was going to either hyperventilate or die. I couldn't sit, couldn't walk. Was trying to figure out what to do when I finally figured I was going to have to throw it up or pass out. I went into the bathroom and was able to put my finger down my throat enough to cause a gag reflex and that seemed to solve the problem. Didn't throw up, thankfully. I will NEVER eat mindlessly again!

The good news is that yesterday I went through my closet. I put all the clothes that were TOO BIG for me now in a box and I'm going to donate those to our local weight loss support group. Then I dragged out the two boxes of clothes I'd had packed away for 10+ years and tried all of those on. Most of them fit! I was SO happy. It's like having a new wardrobe without having to buy anything!

I'm SO happy I had this surgery. My husband asked me the other day "Why didn't we do this 10 years ago?" I wish I had. But now is good too!

A noisey house!

2009-05-11T12:01:00.001-07:00

It's not that Cory's a noisy kid, it's just that when he & Megan get together, the noise level in the house goes up 20x, not just 2x.

We got home from Pullman yesterday afternoon. It was a good...but LONG trip. It sure was nice to be home again. And it's nice to have him home, too. Megan was VERY excited to see him and I don't think they stopped chattering to each other until it was bedtime.

Had a rough start this morning. I realized I'd left my purse in the truck last night after we'd gotten home, and that my keys to the truck and my office were locked inside. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that until this morning when it was time to take Megan to school. *Silly me* Had to ask my boss to come & let me into the office this morning, and am going to borrow my dad's car this afternoon so I can get into town for a doctor's appointment. Not a great way to start off the day.

Cory's off job hunting this morning. I sure hope he comes up with something. In a town as small as this, there aren't many opportunities. He really needs to work this summer to help pay for school. I don't know what he'll do if he can't find a job. I'm going to try not to sweat it too much, but I'll be much happier knowing he as work!

Skinnier Me!

2009-05-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

Let's celebrate! This is the first time I've been under 200lbs in over 10 years.

Here's a photo of me 2 weeks before my surgery.

And here's my 5 week post-op photo. I have a waist!!

Shopping!

2009-05-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

My clothes are baggy & saggy on me and it's not a pretty sight! I went shopping today and what fun it was to try on clothes that were two sizes smaller than "normal". I'm now officially out of the "plus size" size! YAY! Never to return!

Bird Poo

2009-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

This can only happen in a two cow town! A friend of mine who lives in a neighboring town mentioned the other day that the power went out in town. Nothing terribly exciting about that. Inconvenient yes, but exciting...not so much.

Well, today, as I was cruising through the newspaper I discovered the reason for the outage. It was listed in the police reports. The outage was caused from a "concentration of bird droppings that caused a line failure." You wouldn't hear about anything like this in New York City! Hilarious!

Tongue Heaven

2009-04-30T14:18:00.001-07:00

Today, after 6 long weeks of nothing but liquid protein, I'm finally allowed to start eating REAL food! I think my tongue will be in heaven! I'll let you know how it goes. Oh! More good news. I've lost 30 lbs! I'm going shopping this weekend to buy a few new pairs of pants. The ones I have now are waaaay too baggy! What a wonderful problem to have, don'tcha think?

I started walking this week. Finally felt recovered enough to do it. I'm walking 2 laps around the track. I know it's not much, but it's a great start! I felt euphoric after my first day of walking. It feels good to move!

Licking the hamburger

2009-04-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last night Megan cooked hamburgers for dinner. They smelled so good. My tummy grumbled just from smelling them. I asked her for a LICK of her hamburger. Not even a bite or a nibble. Nothing to chew on. I just wanted to TASTE it. She wouldn't let me. Darn kid. What good are kids anyway if they're not going to let you lick their hamburger. I even kissed Bernie, just for the taste of hamburger on his lips. Pitiful, isn't it? I'm so SICK of this liquid diet. I want food. I have one more week to go, and on Thursday next week, I'm having scrambled eggs, dammit. I'm looking forward to my scrambled eggs. With cheese. And a tiny bit of salsa. Oh yeah. Yum!

oh...the good news? I've lost 28 pounds! YAY! ok. I guess I can keep on with this liquid diet for awhile. *sigh*

I saved a life today

2009-04-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

...or at least I'd like to think I did.

I came out to my truck this morning to go to work and was surprised to see this visitor sitting on my windshield wiper.

He was just a little thing. Must've been pushed out of the nest and fluttered to a stop right there on my windshield. There was no splat mark. He didn't move, except for breathing, even when I snapped a few shots.

Megan brought out a step stool & towel so I could reach the little guy. Even when I plucked him off the truck, he was very calm. Like he expected me to help him. I carried him over to a bush and opened the towel. He looked at me very casually, then fluttered out of my hand into the bush. Hopefully to live a good long birdie life!

24 pounds!

2009-04-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, almost. 23.5 lbs is close enough. Can you believe it? I can't! I'm beginning to notice the weight loss in some of my clothes, but not enough so that I have to go out and buy more. I'm looking forward to that day!

Megan's in San Antonio, TX, with the Spanish Club for several days. She left yesterday and won't be home until Monday. I already miss that kid. My goodness. With Cory gone and Megan gone for several days...I think this is my first real taste of "empty nest" and lemme tell you, I don't like it. I miss my kids. What in the world am I going to do when they're both gone?

A Love Affair with Food

2009-04-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize how much I love food, until I couldn't eat it.

I've been on this liquid, high protein diet for 3 weeks now (3 more weeks to go) and I miss food. I miss the texture. I miss chewing. I miss flavors. I miss savory flavors especially, which surprises me because I've always been drawn to sweet rather than savory. The smell of cooking food overwhelms, and I usually have to go into another room while Bernie & Megan are eating.

Another interesting side effect of this surgery is that I've discovered drinking cold liquids make my tummy sore. I've been complaining about feeling like I have a "stitch in my side" for a week now. Someone suggested that I try sipping warm liquids. Guess what? That feeling has diminished! Warm hi-pro soup & hi-pro hot chocolate are my mainstays. Yogurt (I think because it's creamy) works too. I'm going to put the cold hi-pro drinks on hold for a week or so and see if that feeling goes away with time.

I didn't realize how much our lives revolve around food. It's on TV. It's in every newspaper or magazine I pick up. It's in the movies. It's around the corner. It seems to follow me wherever I go. I've never been interested in the Food Channel before, but I find myself drawn to it now. Watching them prepare food. I've never enjoyed cooking before, but now, watching the food channel I think, "I can do that, I just need the right ingredients and a sharp knife." Me. With a sharp knife. Scarey.

One week post-surgery

2009-04-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's been one week already. Feeling pretty good, usually. The incisions are still a bit sore, but I'm able to get up and around much better than I was a week ago. I get this weird "stitch in my side" feeling whenever I drink something. It's rather uncomfortable. Very sloshy. Hard to describe other than that. I've got a call into the Dr so he can explain it to me. I've also got something like a heat rash on my arms & legs. Very itchy. Have had that for several days. Going to ask the Dr about that as well. Other than that...life is good.

I've lost 19.5 lbs (15 of that was pre-surgery). I haven't really noticed it in my clothing yet, well, except for my tops. I was hoping I wouldn't lose it up there, but I guess that's where it came from because my tops practically look like huge potato sacks on me now! *lol* I need to start doing a bit of walking soon. I think I'll start that next week when I go back to work. This week of rest/recuperation has been just what I needed.

Can we say gas?

2009-04-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

*gurgle*
*rumble*
*burp*
*hiccup*

oh my....the gas. It's never ending. I think the gas bothers me more than the incisions, all 5 of them. I sure hope this feeling goes away soon.

One thing I'm surprised about is that I "gained" 7 pounds after the surgery. I'm not sure how that works...if it's all fluids they pumped into me, or the air they inflated my tummy with or what...but the scale weighs me 7 lbs heavier than when I went in.

The day after...

2009-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Surgery went fine. The surgeon did find a hyetal hernia, which he repaired. He said that is the reason I was experiencing acid reflux/heart burn. With it repaired I shouldn't have that anymore! YAY!

So I stayed in the hospital one night, and was released to go home this morning. I'm sore all over. My tummy feels like a mac truck ran over it, then backed up and ran over it again. Hopefully that feeling will go away soon, cuz it hurts to laugh, cough, hiccup...and the air bubbles...oh my. I guess part of the procedure is that they have to fill your tummy with air. They try to remove most of it during the surgery, there is always something residual...and your body has to find a way to release it. Burps, coughs, sneezes, etc. Not fun.

I'm so glad I did this. I'm so excited to lose weight because this time I know it's going to work. I just have to stay on the plan. And start exercising as soon as I can. So, it's all good. Yay!

Defining Moments

2009-03-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

We all have them at some point in our life. A moment so strong, so poignant, so memorable that we pin point it in our memories as the moment our life changed.

My moment happened in January, 2009. I was talking with my knee surgeon again about a recent fall I took that injured my knee again. His assessment was brutal. He wasn't kind. He was honest. And in no uncertain terms he told me, "Joanne, there is nothing I can do for your knee surgically that will make it feel better. The best thing you can do for yourself and your knee is to lose weight. For every pound you lose, you'll remove 7 lbs of pressure on your knee. If you lose weight, it won't hurt as much and you'll be able to move more. There is no other magical cure." I left his office crying. I felt broken. I felt betrayed. I felt like I was at the end of my rope.

It was that afternoon, driving the 2.5 hours home from the surgeon's office, that I decided I was going to look into weight loss surgery. My family doctor had mentioned it a year ago during my annual exam, so I called him back and made an appointment. Within a week of the exam, I was talking with the bariatric surgeon. We determined that I was a good candidate for the Realize Lap Band procedure. Two weeks ago I started my pre-op high protein liquid diet. On Thursday, April 2, 2009, I go in for my surgery.

I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm a little bit scared. But I'm more excited than anything else. I know this is the right thing. I'm excited that at last I will have a tool that will help me control my eating and I'm determined to stick to the plan. This time I can and will do it. I haven't told anyone about this, but my family and my pastor. I was embarrased to admit that I was so heavy that I needed weight loss surgery to help me lose weight. Posting this in my blog is my first step to "come out of the closet" so to speak. I'll tell others. As they ask. As they begin to notice the changes. But I didn't want to be totally public about it, so for now, only you & my family know.

I was a bit wary about the liquid portion of the diet, but it really hasn't been that bad. Most of the products taste good (slight aftertaste), and those that don't taste good...I just don't use them again. I don't feel hungry and I'm drinking lots of water. Since my consultation I've lost 15 pounds (11 of which are since I started the liquid diet). I'll have to be on this liquid diet for 4 weeks post-surgery, and then will slowly bring solid food back into my diet. I'm looking forward to that day, but until then...I'm content.

Defining moments...a fork in the road....taking the road less travelled.

Calling All Crows

2009-03-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

The other day, my dad & I were standing in his living room, looking out the front window when we hear this strange noise. Imagine, if you will, a very large crow. A sick-sounding large crow. Crowing at the top of his voice. Got that picture? Now, as we're standing, looking out his big picture window, we see his neighbor-lady walk across the street with a large plastic bag in her hand. What is she doing? Where is she going with that bag? Was she planning to do something with the poor, sick-sounding crow? Was she going to put him out of his misery, and ours? Again, we hear this poor, sick-sounding crow. But we can't see him. We see lots of crows flitting through the branches of the trees across the street, but no BIG crow. I mean, by the way this guy sounds, he's got to be BIG. Again, the crowing. And that's when we realized. It was the neighbor-lady. Crowing. To the crows. Calling the crows in. For dinner.

Only in a small town. No. Only in a two cow town. With crows.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2008-12-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

My baby is 16 today! Hardly seems possible that that many years have gone by already. She's such a beautiful girl, with a great head on her shoulders. Yes, she's goofy as all get out, and irresponsible at times...but that's just the normal part of being a teen! She is growing into such an outstanding young woman and I am so proud of her!

Getting Cory Home

2008-12-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

The worst winter storm in 40 years - that's what the weather experts are calling it. We've been trying to get Cory home since December 21st and have had no luck so far. His flight was supposed to leave on that Sunday from Pullman, fly to Lewiston, then on to Seattle to make connections to Portland, then Eugene. If it wasn't for the weather, he'dve made it. But weather was conspiring against us and his flight was cancelled.

He was told if he could get to Lewiston, he'd be able to catch the flight there (they couldn't land in Pullman - too much snow), and then continue on with is flight. Poor kid...didn't know a soul at the airport, only had $8 in his pockets, with no way to Lewiston (45 minutes away on a good day). Luckily, God was watching out for him because he connected with another student who had to do the same thing. She had a car! So they drove to Lewiston, met the plane there, had their bags loaded and were just waiting to get on the plane...when that leg was cancelled. Total chaos ensued. There were going to be no more flights in or out of Pullman or Lewiston until after Christmas!

He finally arranged a flight out of Seattle on December 25th. And thankfully, the girl he caught a ride with to Lewiston, also got a flight on the 25th, so they can travel together. She (her name is Danielle) drove Cory back to his dorm, and there he's been waiting. I'm so thankful he's somewhere safe (and not stranded at an airport). But I hate the fact that he's ALONE in his dorm. There is not another soul around. He's bored out of his mind and tired of eating ramen noodles! Poor guy!

He & Danielle are supposed to travel to Seattle tomorrow (Weds) where he'll spend the night with his roommate and then hopefully fly out on Christmas afternoon. There's another storm brewing that is supposed to hit tomorrow...so we're praying that it misses the northwest altogether and that Cory can get home. If he can get to Seattle, and the flight is cancelled from there, we'll drive up to get him. I just want him home for Christmas!

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

Wow. Need I say more?

This is what the fuss is about...

2008-11-11T21:39:00.001-08:00

So, I signed up. And within 20 minutes of signing up, I found my best friend from High School. I've been looking for her for almost 15 years. We lost contact about that long ago, and every so often, I'd try to find her through various internet searches - with no luck.

The funny thing is, she had signed up for Facebook the day before I did. On a whim. Just like I did. On a whim. How funny is that?!

I was so excited when I found her, I cried. We talked on the phone and have emailed several times, and maybe this summer we'll get to meet up with each other. She's trying to convince me to attend our 30 yr HS reunion. I'm not so sure about that, but maybe we'll be able to get together some other time!

As for Facebook...yeah...I'm hooked. So many fun games to play like Mob Wars, Dragon Wars & Mousehunt. It's stupid, I know...but sometimes you just need to spend some stupid time on the computer! Now if I could just break away long enough to work on some scrapbooking....

What's all the fuss about Facebook?

2008-09-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. Facebook. What's all the falderol about?

I first heard about it when we were at Cory's college orientation. The college staff members said, "It's a great way for kids to connect here at school." Cory heard the same thing, and the very instant he could, he signed up. Of course, it was "off limits" to us because he didn't want us checking up on him. OK. Well. Be that as it may.

Now, a bunch of my scrappy friends have it. I keep hearing about it. "Join!" they say. "It's fun! It's addicting! You'll get to play with flair!" Do I really need to be addicted to one more thing? You betcha. Of course, today I signed up. I'm not impressed. What's flair and how do I get it? Hmmm...I think I'll stick to blogging. I have a hard enough time keeping up with this! hahaha. And Cory has no worries...I haven't invited him to be my friend. Don't want him checking up on me! *giggle*

Goodbye Pooh Bear

2008-09-09T14:14:00.001-07:00

She was 14. We had to put her down today. In the last couple of weeks, we could tell that she was failing. She wasn't able to walk easily and wasn't eating much. Today though, her breathing was labored and she couldn't stand at all. It was time, poor baby. She was a good dog and she lived a good long life. I'll miss her. Goodbye big beardog.

I've been tagged

2008-08-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Charlee, tagged me. I'm supposed to share, with the world, 7 strange things about myself. I don't think I know five people with blogs, and there is certainly NOTHING strange about me. I'm practically perfectly normal in every way! *snickergiggle*

Here are the rules:* If you are tagged, you must firstly post the rules:* Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!* Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.* Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

ok, here' goes...nothing strange here:

1. I collect Winnie the Pooh stuff. Started with a wrist watch that my Grandparents bought me at Sears when I was 9 years old. Back then, Sears was the only place licensed to sell Pooh (besides Disneyland/World). My Grandparents thought I was weird (ok strange) to want Pooh. Didn't I want one of the princesses? NO! I wanted Pooh. So now, after a few years (ok, LOTS of years), I've amassed quite a collection of Pooh stuff. A whole houseful! That doesn't make me strange...just weird.

2. My first car was a 1965 Mercury Comet. I named it Clyde because there was a little "mercury man" emblazoned on the steering wheel. My Dad bought it for me from my Uncle. It was supposed to be a "good little car." Ha! The first time I drove it any distance (like off to college), the water pump broke. Every time after that, another weird (not strange) thing broke. The right front wheel fell off one time, the tie rods broke another time. I had to change the spark plugs frequently. If it wasn't one weird thing, it was another. I finally got rid of that car and bought...guess....another COMET! This one was a 1964 Comet. I named it Claude. Ok, so I didn't learn from the first time. Go figure.

3. I love going to the beach and hunting agates. Hate the wind. Luckily, I've found a place reasonably close to home where I can hunt agates and stay out of the wind. Bandon Jetty. My family thinks this is a strange hobby and usually refuse to go with me anymore. I can literally sit for hours sifting for rocks, looking for a prized agate that is the size of a pinhead. If I'm lucky I'll find one the size of a thumbnail, but those are rare. I just love being at the beach and photosynthesizing. The dog goes with me. She doesn't mind sitting on the beach with me!

4. My daughter will disown me when I admit this...but I love John Denver & Barry Manilow. Now that's music you can sing to and understand all the words!

5. Nothing strange about this, unless you ask my husband...I love to camp but HATE sleeping on the ground. YUCK. Who wants to do that? I remember as a kid, I'd tease my mom about "camping" in a motor home. "That's not really camping," I'd say. Now I have to laugh at myself, because I'm thinking camping in a motor home would be perfect....though I do settle for tent camping if I can bring an air mattress with me!

6. My husband says this is strange (only because he has NORMAL knees)...I've had 2 knee surgeries on the same knee in less than a year, and it still hurts.

7. Ok, I guess the last thing would be...I so want to be creative. I look at other people's scrapbook pages, their art, their creations and I want to do that. I want to be that. I want to create like that. And try as hard as I can...I just can't. I'm not. It isn't there. The desire is, but the talent isn't. And the strangest thing of all is...I keep trying.

So thereya go Charlee! Now I've got to go see if I've got 5 bloggie friends I can tag and hope they haven't been tagged already! Here's who I've tagged:

1. Rachel. She just took a photo walking tour of Portland. Her photos are awesome!
2. Anne-Marie. She has the most amazing blog! Her artwork is beautiful!
3. Kathy. She took a trip this summer on Route 66.
4. Shirley. Hoping this "tagging" will inspire her to get blogging again!
5. Becky. I've "known" Becky for a long time. She is one of the most amazing scrappers I've "met". Someday I want to grow up and scrap like her!

Home again, home again. Jiggity jig.

2008-08-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

We dropped Cory off at school on Sunday morning. We had driven up to Kennewick on Saturday (an 8 hour drive) and then another 2 hours to get to school on Sunday morning. The dorms opened at 10am and we got there right when they opened. There were already dozens of families there before us.

We managed to snag a hand truck to haul most of his boxes & fridge up to the 4th floor. We didn't have much time to spend with him once we got him unloaded...1) because the parking police wanted us out of there as soon as possible (to make room for others; 2) because I think Cory was ready for us to go. He's not much of a decorator, so really didn't want us to spend time getting his room put together and 3) because by the time we got him unloaded it was close to noon, and he had to have lunch and then dash off to band practice. It was hard for me to leave him there. I think we all had a little cry before we left.

We had a long trip home. After we dropped Cory off, we had to drive another 10 hours to get to Daddy's house, where we spent Sunday night. Monday morning we headed down towards Eugene to do some school shopping and then finally made it home today (Tuesday). I still don't know when Grandma's service will be, so I may be driving back up to Portland at the end of this week.

We've talked to Cory on the phone a few times already. In fact, he called me about 30 minutes after we'd dropped him off to let me know that he'd had his first PB&J sandwich as a college student! I couldn't help but laugh through my tears. Today I woke up missing him a lot. The hardest thing about him being at school is that I won't get to talk to him every day or hug him every day. That makes my heart hurt.

Megan and I had a great time shopping. Once again, spent way too much money, but I think we got enough clothes for her to start school with! We both decided we're going to work hard this fall to lose some weight because we like the clothes that are offered in the smaller sizes better than those in the larger sizes! hahaha...

Off to College and other stuff

2008-08-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

Cory's all packed up and it's everything I can do to keep from crying. I'm excited for him, really I am...but I'm going to miss him like crazy. We leave tomorrow and will drop him off Sunday morning. I think I'll be a basket case by then. I know it will be hard for Megan as well. Thankfully, I'll still have her at home! *happy smile* Cory's going to have a busy week besides getting moved in. He starts band camp on Sunday afternoon, and that will keep him busy until school starts. He's got a heavy schedule (chemistry, calculus, economics and a gen ed course). I think he is in for a big surprise...this isn't high school anymore, where you can get away with no studying and waiting until the last minute to turn in your assignments! Hopefully, he'll realize that early on!

Megan's been busy this summer. She went to church camp as a camper for a week, then back to camp to be a counselor for the younger kids, then she volunteered with the Spanish Club at the county fair - cleaning toilets. YUK! After that, she, Cory & I went to Corvallis for a Christian youth conference for a week. It was a crazy July. She's also babysitting twice a week. She's earned a bit of extra money for new school clothes. I think it's burning a hole in her pocket right now! Cory also had a job and earned about $1500 for school! I think we're all looking forward to school starting again.

I've been busy clearing out the clutter in my scraproom. That room seems to be the catchall for all things we don't know what to do with! I also have boxes of old photos & stuff from my mom that I have to go through. I ran across some old family Bibles from her side of the family that have details of our family tree in them. Very interesting stuff. I gave the info to Daddy to put into his family tree program. I also have a bunch of old/heritage type photos. I've gotta figure out what to do with them. Maybe I'll post a few here from time to time! For now though, my scraproom is a huge mess and I haven't been able to scrap in about a month! YUK! Gotta get that cleaned up so I can scrap again....SOON!

Grandma

2008-08-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

I created this layout earlier this year for my Grandma. It was from a challenge at tallyscrapper.com to use the lyrics "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes is how we measure our lives with love." I gave it to her as a belated Christmas gift. I knew she was missing Grandpa and I wanted her to know how much they both meant to me. I have so many great memories of spending time with them.

The journaling reads "There are 525,600 minutes and moments in every year to remember the love of my Grandparents. I remember listening to Grandpa's stories; having breakfast at the kitchen table and dinner at the dining table; watching Grandma cook; Grandpa reading the Bible on Sunday mornings; Grandma taking me to the library; Grandpa's fudge; Grandma's Holly Hobby plates; watching Grandpa work in his shop; how they called each other mama & daddy; picking lemons & tangerines with them in the backyard; Grandma's quiet yet strong voice; the way Grandpa would pick me up when I was little. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes is how we measure our lives with love."

Grandma passed away, peacefully,in her sleep yesterday morning - August 14th. I miss her.

My Wordle

2008-08-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

The kids & I just got back from a Christian youth conference and are still on an emotional high from the event.

At Tallyscrapper, Minda posted a link that does some cool text formatting. I took some of the words & phrases that were important to me from this conference and created a wordle (that's what it's called) for it. Here it is. Wish I could figure out how to make it a bit bigger. Check out the program at Wordle.net

The Last Lecture

2008-07-25T14:03:00.001-07:00

Several months ago, I stumbled across Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" on YouTube.

If you haven't seen it, google it up and watch it. That lecture is the single most inspirational thing I've seen in a very long time. Since that time, I've been reading/watching his blog for updates on his journey with pancreatic cancer. I prayed that somehow, he'd be one of the very few who would beat the odds. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He died yesterday from complications due to the cancer. I knew how amazed he was at the overwhelming response to his lecture. I knew he did it for his kids. But I hope he knew how much he impacted lives other than his family by that lecture. How he impacted mine! If only we all lived our lives like that! What a world this would be!

"We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully." Randy Pausch

Scholarship Results

2008-06-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

God answers prayers, surely He does! And He answered in a BIG way when it came to scholarships. We knew about a couple of them, but most of the scholarships we applied for we didn't find out until graduation - when they were presented! Cory was awarded an additional $7,546 for a total scholarship award of $19,777! Can you believe it?! We feel incredibly blessed! Thank you Lord!

Graduation

2008-06-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my blog again! No excuses. Just busy.

Well, today's the day. Cory graduates.

I'm excited and happy and sad all at the same time.

Our parent group has planned for a year for this day, we've done a ton of fund raising for our drug & alcohol-free party, and we finished decorating the gym this morning. Now we're just waiting for the time to go back down to the school for the ceremony.

Did I mention that I'm excited and happy and sad? Tears keep leaking out.

Since I'm on the school board, I get to hand him his diploma. I don't know if I'll be able to hold it together then. I'm taking a box of kleenex with me! Right after graduation, we're boarding the bus to go to our party. I'm one of the chaperones (one of the benefits of being the president of the parent group). I'm looking forward to the trip...we'll have lots of fun...and hopefully by then I will have stopped crying!

The tough part begins

2008-04-05T23:18:00.000-07:00

We just received Cory's preliminary financial aid award notification and it's not good. We're about $20,000 short of covering his first year in college. *sigh* The way the financial aid office has proposed us to cover the shortfall is for Cory to take out a $3500 loan and for us to take out at $16,500 loan. YIKES!! There is no way we can afford to take out another loan for that amount.

At this point, I don't know what we're going to do. He's got a few more scholarship applications pending. We won't know final amounts from those until June. Even if he gets every single scholarship he's applied for it won't be more than about $3000.

He's looking for a part-time/summer job right now, and he's got a little bit of money in the bank, and we've got about $500 in savings bonds to put towards tuition. I just don't know what we're going to do.

I hate to even contemplate the options but he might not be able to go to the school of his choice this year. He may have to stay home and go to the community college, which would just break my heart and really disappoint him. He's such a bright kid and deserves better than he's getting. It's just not fair, I think, because his parents are "middle income" he can't get any financial aid. I'd like to know where they think we can afford a $16,000 loan?!?!

I have to put this in the Lord's hands because it's too big of a problem for us to handle alone. I know He has big plans for Cory and I have to trust that He will work this out. In the mean time, we keep applying for scholarships and hoping Cory can find a part-time job soon!

Pooh-isms

2008-03-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

To say that "I love Pooh" would be an understatment. Pooh is my hero. I love his philosophy of life. I love the way he thinks. He makes me smile and brings joy to my life. OK...before you call the men in the white coats...YES...I do know that Pooh is ~just~ a figment of someone's imagination...a fictional character. But I ignore all that. Period. End of statement.

Here are a few of my favorite "Pooh-isms". After you read them, how can anyone think that Pooh's not real?

* If it’s the thought that counts, why are there fingers?

* If you want to make a song more hummy, add a few tiddely poms.

* Nobody can be un-cheered with a balloon.

* It’s so much more friendly with two.

* I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.

* Those who are clever, who have a Brain, never understand anything.

* Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.

* Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the forest that was left out by mistake.

* Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.

* Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

* If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

* If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.

* Some people care too much, I think it’s called love.

* They’re funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you’re having them.

more great news!

2008-03-01T21:33:00.001-08:00

We got a letter today from the Engineering Department at the school Cory's going to...and found out he's getting another $2000/year scholarship based on his grades! And it's renewable each year if he maintains his grades at a 3.2 GPA or better! I'm so happy I could just bust. So far he's received $9500 (renewable) and $800 (non-renewable) for his freshman year! YIPEEE!

The Mom Song

2008-02-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time!

Growing Up too fast

2008-02-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

My little girl is growing up! I can't believe how pretty she is.

Today we went shopping for a "winter ball" dress. Found a cute little black dress with a red bow under the bodice. We found it at Ross for $10! Very sweet. But wow...ummm...my little girl is not 12 anymore and her father & I are having a difficult time adjusting!

Sadie & Heartworms

2008-02-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

I took Sadie in to the vet for her 2nd heartworm treatment today. Her first treatment was 6 weeks ago, and we've had to keep her confined for 6 weeks because as the little heartworms die, if the dog is active they can lodge in the heart & cause a heart attack. SO....it's been a tough 6 weeks on her and us.

Today, before he started the 2nd treatment, I asked him to run the heartworm test again just to be sure she still had them. The original test showed that she had a "low load", so I was hoping the first treatment would've killed everything.
Good news! Her test came back NEGATIVE!! NO HEARTWORMS! I'm so happy!! We don't have to go through anymore treatments. Just have to test her once/year and keep her on the heartworm medication!

And the best part?! Now she can PLAY again! She's such a ball dog and was miserable without them. First thing I did when we got home was to give her a ball!

Economic Stimulus Package

2008-02-15T16:02:00.001-08:00

We decided we'd do our part to help stimulate the local economy with our kickback check that we're supposed to be getting from the government (someday). SO...we went out & bought this!

We got the couch & loveseat. It's a beautiful suede-y material!

And we got these: a coffee table, cocktail table (for behind the couch) and an end table. All the tables have slate tops. Gorgeous!

And we got this pub table with 2 chairs to sit by our picture window that overlooks the valley!

The furniture will arrive next week. Who knows when the kickback check will arrive!

End of an era

2008-02-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend was another milepost for us. And for Cory. He competed in his last wrestling tournament. His last High School sport.

Overall, I think he did pretty well in the district meet. He placed 4th. Not bad, but it wasn't where he was hoping to end up. He was hoping to get 3rd so he could compete at the State tournament. I'm not sure if this was a major factor, but he did pull a muscle or tendon or something in his shoulder during his last match. I could tell he was in pain. He did his best though and worked through it, but I could tell he was very disappointed when he lost.

For us it means, wow...a change in lifestyle. Really. We've followed that kid around with all his sports since 6th grade! It already feels weird knowing that we won't be sport groupies anymore. Kind of sad. He's decided not to run track this spring, in lieu of getting a job. That will be good for him. It'll help him earn some money for college & maybe help with getting a car.

In the meantime...I seem to be getting closer & closer to that "empty nest." Yes, Megan will still be here for 3 glorious more years, but it will feel very weird not having Cory here too! And then, in the blink of an eye, Megan will be off to college...and then what?

My Excuse? I'm sick!

2008-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't been this sick in a long time. It started this weekend with a nagging cough, that quickly progressed to a long prolonged cough. I feel like I'm hacking up a lung. I haven't been able to sleep more than 20 minutes at a time for 3 nights without waking up coughing. I'm coughing so hard I'm having "stress incontinence". NOT FUN!

This morning I woke up all stuffy. So now I'm coughing AND have a stuffy head & nose. I'm sneezing in between coughs. I've had to change my pants three times today. Ok, I know...TMI.

That video I posted a few days ago didn't mention being sicker than a dog. So that's my excuse. Who can walk when they can barely breathe?!

What's your excuse

2008-02-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

I need to look at this EVERY single time I come up with a reason not to exercise!! I found it on our "To Iraq & Back" blog and wanted to post it here so I could look at it when I needed motivation.

25 miles

2008-01-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

I walked 25+ miles this month! I'm so impressed and proud of myself! I don't think I've ever done that before. My knees are killing me, but if I keep this up, it won't be too much longer and maybe they'll quit hurting! Haven't lost a pound yet, but that's ok. I feel better because I'm walking!

Scholarship News

2008-01-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

Great news! That scholarship application we were agonizing over a couple of weeks ago was worth the effort. It was a national scholarship that has to go through a local group first, then on to district/state, etc. Well, we cleared the first round and he will receive $800 from the local level! Hallelujah! What a blessing! Now we just have to wait to see if he'll pass the next level! Keep your fingers crossed.

Progress

2008-01-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't made it far yet (only 15 or so miles) towards my goal of walking to Washington DC. Here's a map to help me track my journey. It's a bit wonky, but will give you the idea of where I'm headed.

*EDIT* I decided to take the map out. I'll add a different one later!

Into the Space Age

2008-01-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

This two cow town has moved into the space age!!

Yes, we finally have high speed internet!

And for those who don't remember what dial-up was like, let me tell you that I feel like I'm cruising down the open road at 120 mph!

Not only do we now have high speed, but I can actually be on the internet and on the phone at the same time! We could only do that before if we had two separate phone lines. We also have TV service with a kajillion channels! Most of which we'll probably never watch, but it's fun to go through them! We only had 20 channels or so before, so this is lots of fun!

Zoom zoom ZOOM!

14,000 miles

2008-01-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

I'm determined to walk more this year, and hopefully in the process do two things: lose weight and make my knee feel better! It still hurts as much as it did 2 years after the 1st surgery!!

So, I bought myself a pedometer, and I joined this awesome group of ladies who are tracking the miles they walk, bike, run, etc. We're trying to "walk" to Iraq & back because one of the ladies in the group has a husband who's going over there for a year. It was her idea and we've just all joined her in her efforts to get there! Check out our blog 14,000 miles. That's where we're going to keep track of our progress. Or you can click on that little blinkie below on my side-bar.

I'll be trying to post here from time to time about my progress. My personal goal is to "walk" to Washington DC because Megan & I are going there over spring break this year! I hope to "be there" by the end of this year. I estimate it's about 3000 miles.

I need encouragement...so please, cheer me on by leaving me a note!!

Scholarship Anxiety

2008-01-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

This is the season for scholarship applications...a time we go into hyperdrive looking for and applying for college scholarships. Let me tell you...it's NUTS! And a bit aggravating.

Cory's had this one particular scholarship in his hands since November. If selected, he could win $60,000 ($15,000/year for 4 years). Then there are incremental awards down to $1000/year for 4 years. ANY of those would be a HUGE help to us! So what's he been doing with this application since NOVEMBER? Not a thing. Ok, he's dinked around a little bit on the essay, but has he collected all the necessary attachements? Copies of awards. Letters of recommendation. Transcripts. Nope. When is it due? NEXT WEEK!

*sigh*

I've been trying real hard to let him make his own decisions, his own choices, not to nag him about stuff...but DANGIT...this should've been his first priority. $60,000 is nothing to sneeze at. And yet, he's been ho-hum about it all.

I told him this morning that as of now...THIS was his first priority. There was nothing else more important that finishing up all the scholarship applications he's applying for (because most of them are due mid-January!).

SO THERE! Mom steps in once again to make his life miserable. But how else is that kid going to get through college? He is BRILLIANT, but doesn't have a lick of common sense!

My Poor Neglected Blog

2007-12-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

I really need to do better about posting here because I do have a few loyal "fans" that check in. *waving at my mom & dad*

The best update in the last month & a half is that Cory has been accepted to college! We got his first acceptance letter a couple of weeks ago! SO EXCITED. His response (typical teenage boy response) was "Yeah mom, I'm excited. But I expected it." While I was trying to hold back the tears. I know deep down he's just as excited as we are! Now comes the hard part. Figuring out how to pay for it all. He's going out of state, and we were lucky enough to get a $7500/year grant from the school based on his academics! Now we just have to figure out how to get grants, scholarships & loans for the rest of it.

Wrestling season started about a month ago. Cory has finally come into his own. We were beginning to see signs of it at the end of last season, but wow...he's really doing well! He's confident, strong and knows what he's doing. His first tournament, he got 5th place, then 3rd place and last weekend he got 2nd place! He didn't wrestle well today (didn't place at all). He was upset, but I think he understands that he just has to chalk this one up to experience and the fact that you can't win them all.

I know I talk alot about Cory, and you know that he's not an only child. Megan's doing spectacularly as well. She's just not involved in as many activities as Cory is. She's more of a stay at home & chat with your friends kind of girl. She did perform a featured solo in the winter jazz band concert and did a fabulous job! I was so impressed. She plays the piano beautifully. I just wish she would practice more. She'd rather play SIMS or talk to her friends more!

Coming into the technological age!

2007-11-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

This two cow town is coming into the technological age! At last! The City has requested Verizon (phone company) and Charter (cable TV company), many times to provide us with high speed speed internet. Both companies told us in no uncertain terms that it wasn't cost effective for them to light the fiber optic cable that was already running through the center of town. Finally, this year, a small company called Comspan has agreed to bring us high speed internet. I'm SO excited.

Right now we can only connect here at home at 28.8 kbps (at work I can connect at 56.6). With this new service we'll get 2 Mbps!! Lightening speed compared to what we have now! WOW! We'll also get TWO phone lines (one with unlimited long distance) and 170 digital TV channels! whoohooo! We're dumping Verizon & Charter and I hope they feel it!

Senior Night

2007-11-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

This seems to be a year of "last times" for us. Cory's last year of high school, thursday was his last football practice, last night was his last football game. I cried. Especially when he told me that he handed over his lineman gloves to one of his teammates after the game. I know it's also a time of "first times" for us as well...Cory's applying to college, so we have his first application and will be looking forward to his first acceptance letter. But for now, it's a poignant time for us as we watch him finish one chapter of his life and begin another.

Here's Cory & two of his teammates. Cory's the smallest kid on the team and played left guard!

Family

2007-10-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a couple of pics.

Here's one of my new kitty...Gracie. She's a cute little thing. Weighs about 4 pounds now. She follows me everywhere and swats at my feet to get my attention when she thinks I've been ignoring her. The little purple house behind her collapses, and she loves to pounce on the house and flatten it, only to have it spring right back up when she gets off of it. We laugh so hard watching her antics.

Here's one of the kids.

We went to the Redwoods a couple of weekends ago. The last time we were there, Cory was about 7 and Megan 5. It was a beautiful day, and we took several short hikes through the some of the hugest trees in the world. The Redwoods are just amazing, and I could've stayed there forever.

Home Sick

2007-09-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my daughter woke up with a stuffy nose. She didn't have a fever, so I brought her to school. By 8:30am, she was calling me at work to pick her up and bring her home. She sounded miserable. So, home she went with instructions to take some cold medicine, get into bed, take a little nap, read a book, and relax.

Between 8:45am and 9:00am I get these phone calls at work:

Phone call 1:
Her: Mom? When do you get off work?
Me: 3 o'clock.
Her: Can you bring me some kleenex when you come home?
Me: ok. Go to bed now.
Her: ok. bye.

Phone call 2:
Her: Mom? Make sure it's the strong kleenex. And soft. Soft & strong.
Me: Ok. Go to bed now.
Her: ok, bye.

Phone call 3:
Her: Mom? The kleenex needs to be the Lotion kind too.
Me: ok. Anything else you need?
Her: Yeah, some cough drops. But not the Honey-Lemon kind, or the Cherry kind. They're gross.
Me. Ok. Are you in bed yet?
Her: Yeah.
Me: Go to sleep.
Her: ok. bye.

Phone call 4:
Her: Mom? Can you bring some juice. Pineapple-Guava juice. And something minty.
Me: Are you going to close your eyes at some point and take a nap?
Her: yeah.
Me: Good. Quit calling me!
Her: ok. G'nite.

Phone call 5:
Her: Mom?
Me: What now?
Her: I love you.
Me: I love you too honey, now put the phone down and go to sleep!

Conversations with a teenage boy

2007-09-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is a typical conversation with my son after he gets home from school. (He's 17)

Me: Hi son, how was your day?

Him: Fine.

Me: What'd you do today at school?

Him: Nuthin'

Me: How's Calculus coming along? Do you like the new teacher?

Him: unh (imagine this as a gutteral grunt)

Me: How was football practice?

Him: unh

Me: What did you get to do at your work experience place today?

Him: nuthin'

Me: oh. Good day, then?

Him: yeah, fine.

*end of conversation*

Ganglion what?

2007-09-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

My left thumb is numb. Not all the time. Just occasionally. Sometimes my left index & middle finger are numb. Weird, I thought, but not earth shattering. Maybe it was just the way I was resting my hand, or maybe I've been playing with my son's DS game too much. Until last week when I noticed I have a BuMp on my wrist...right at the base of my thumb...where your wrist bends. Hmmm...that's odd. It hurts when you press it. Ok...obviously the key is not to press it. SO I go to the Dr today and he says without much preamble...."It's a ganglion cyst." It happens when you age.

Great.

Gray hair, sore joints, perimenopause & weight gain aren't enough signs of aging? Now I've got to have a ganglion cyst? He said, "In the OLD days, when the cyst got big enough, people would just slam a a heavy Bible onto the cyst to make it ~PoP~". YUK! I don't think so. He said he could "drain it" if it got much bigger. Ewww.

Short of those two remedies...I'm now stuck with a bump on my wrist. He was a bit concerned about the numbness...apparently that is not a characteristic of this type of cyst...so has me going to see an orthopedic surgeon just in case I've got carpal tunnel syndrome.

I hate getting older! *sigh*

Malt Vinegar

2007-09-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Living in a small town is challenging at times, and down right frustrating at others. A friend of mine was telling me this story today about malt vinegar. She used to live here in town 6 months out of the year and then on an island in the British Virgin Isles called Anegada (see the small island on the map that's outlined by a box? That's Anegada). About 2 months before she was to leave for Anegada, she went to the local grocery store and tried to order 10 cases of 1 gallon jugs of malt vinegar that she would take with her. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong! Apparently, it was going to take 7 weeks to get her order in. She was flabbergasted! In Anegada, it takes 2 weeks at the most to get anything. The store's reasoning? "Because we live in the boonies." *insert rolling eyes here* I suppose Anegada isn't in the boonies, but Coos County, Oregon, IS!

This of course lead to a conversation about how we can't get high speed internet here for the same reason. And how high the gas prices are for the same reason. And it seems to us that someone is feeding us a line of balonie because if Anegada can get gas for the same price we can, and has high speed internet and can get stuff shipped there in two weeks...you'd think this little corner of Oregon could get it as well! Maybe Anegada is a three-cow town and that makes all the difference!

What Joanne needs...

2007-04-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Ok...this was a challenge from Scrapbook Chalet (one of my favorite scrapbook sites). It's a little Google game. Go to google and type in 'Your name' needs - and see what pops up. Here are a few that popped up for me. I put my comments in parentheses.

Joanne needs intellectual stimulation and companionship (had to laugh at this one)
Joanne needs to be very careful not to interrupt, ignore, or judge Paul when Paul is speaking. (Who's Paul??!)
Joanne needs space (YUP!)
Joanne needs some adult company (maybe I've been hanging out with Girl Scouts & the Youth group too much! *LOL*)
Joanne needs to make a difference (yeah, sometimes I feel like that)
Joanne needs to reassess situation (which one?)
Joanne needs more character development. She is gorgeous and has been in the background far too long. (OH YEAH...love that one!)

Roseburger

2007-03-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share one of my scrapbook pages that I completed recently. When Cory was little, we would stop at Burger King in Roseburg, on the way to & from my dad's house. It was a great pit stop for us because we could get something to eat, and he'd get a chance to stretch his legs. One time we stopped, but it was raining, and the playground was locked up because it was all wet. He really wanted to play and was disappointed that he couldn't. He called Burger King "Roseburger".

When I grow up: Blog Challenge

2007-03-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

I was challenged at STM to post a blog entry about what I wanted to be when I grew up. My first thought was "grew up"?! Does that mean I have to grow up? My husband has a phrase he uses frequently, "It's mandatory to get older, but not mandatory to grow up!" I think he likes Peter Pan too much!

OK, back to me.

I had this question posed to me in one of my college English classes. I didn't know what I wanted to be, even though I was in college and I was talking to the professor about it one day. I told him I'd like to be a lawyer (though I wasn't in law school), or a teacher (nor a teaching school). I told him I'd like to try a bunch of different things. He suggested that maybe I be a "Sandwich Board carrier". I was offended!

I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science degree in "Natural Resource Planning & Interpretation" but after struggling to find a job for several years, I decided it was more important to know HOW I wanted to be rather than WHAT I wanted to be.

For me, it was to be Happy. It hasn't mattered to me what job I held, what career path I followed, as long as I was happy doing what I was doing. And with that being the criteria for "What I wanted to be when I grew up"...I think I've succeeded!

You know you live in a two cow town when...

2007-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

...the high school has to ring a cow bell over the intercom to signify the end of a class period! Apparently, the bell and master clock system at our high school has bit the dust. Quit ticking, so to speak. And the only way the staff could think of to signal the end/beginning of class periods was to ring the cow bell over the intercom! Now that's quick thinking!!

Learning to Quilt

2007-01-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

We have a number of ladies at our church who meet every Wednesday to quilt. They've invited me a number of times to come over for their weekly potluck lunch and of course I accept! I love going over there to look at the latest quilt they're working on. They're all so beautiful. We have so many talented quilters around here. One of them is Roxy. Roxy has tried for the last couple of years to get me to start quilting, and I'd always put her off. I didn't have time, didn't want to start a new hobby, couldn't afford it, it was too complicated, already had too many scrapbooking supplies, etc.

Well, *hanging my head*....last December, several of the ladies dragged me into the Quilt store. Of course, I didn't put up too much of a fight. I love looking at all those beautiful fabrics. And I was smart! (Or so I thought). I left my wallet, checkbook and credit cards at home! I knew I didn't want to get started on a new project. So...what do I find when I'm in there?! The most PERFECT material ever! *happy dance* I've been searching for years for the "perfect" comforter/bedspread for our bed. And there it was, in a bundle of 6 fat quarters in the quilt shop. I just about died. And Roxy knew that she'd finally hooked me!! Of course, I dragged my husband back the very next weekend to show him the colors (get his approval, since it is his bed too), and to pick out the borders for the quilt. My husband indulges me so much and just kind of rolled his eyes when I told him I wanted to make a quilt. "But Roxy's gonna help me!" I said. *giggle*

So, today, I went over to Roxy's house and she gave me my first lesson. I learned how to measure & cut the pieces, and then actually sewed the first 2 rows of 8 for the top. I am SO excited. The colors are gorgeous! And it really is easier than I thought it would be. Though, I'm not sure I could replicate anything I did today on my own!

Roxy has a nify computer program where she can plug in the pattern and colors and print it on on her printer. The program does all sorts of nifty things with quilt patterns and I can see I'm going to need to add another room onto my house for this new hobby (cuz it won't fit in the room with all my scrapping supplies!)! Here's a computer generated drawing of my quilt. The real colors are similar, but not exact. The colors in my quilt are more foresty/green/deep purple colors, with a few lighter colors to offset the darks. I can't wait to get it done. I'll try to get a pic of it when it's done!

All it takes is a little confidence

2007-01-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

My son started wrestling when he was a freshman. Most of the kids on his team and those he's wrestled against have wrestled since they were little kids. He's a pretty good wrestler...knows all the moves...but just doesn't have the confidence to win a match because he feels so inexperienced. Until yesterday! Yesterday, he finally put it all together and realized that he DOES know all the right moves, and he went out like a bulldog and put this guy down. Pinned him in the first round. I was SO proud of him!
(Cory is the guy on the left). I know this isn't the greatest pic, but it's the only one I've got of the match.

I never thought I'd like wrestling, but after you watch a few matches, it's hard not to admire these kids. The strength, stamina & agility they've got to have to engage in this sport is amazing. My son plays on the varisty football team and runs on the track team as well, but it's wrestling that really challenges him to push himself. These kids are STRONG and atheletic and agile. It really is an amazing sport to watch!

Snow Day!

2007-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that we live close to the coast, right? We're about 15' above sea level, and rarely do we see snow here. Occasionally, we'll see it in the hills around us, but not down in the valley. This morning I woke up to this!
The weather reports predicted a sprinkling of snow, but what we got was 1/2" of the most perfect snowball making kind of snow! Unfortunately, the only one I could lure out of the house this morning was the dog! She wasn't interested in the snow! She just wanted to play ball! It's funny, though, at the first sign of snow, the whole county cancelled school!

I love this picture! We collect froggy lawn ornaments and this jolly old fellow sits under our flowering plum tree. A friend asked me, after reading this post (so of course I had to come back to edit), how long we've collected froggies. We've never really purposely collected frogs. It's just happened. I lovingly call my husband a ~toad~, so over the years I've purchased him a toad or two.

Here are a few more snow pics! One is of a snowman the kids made. He's only about a foot tall. Kids on the coast just don't know how to make a "real" snowman! *lol* His name was Pierre, until we realized that he looked more like a woman with that pink scarf. So he was renamed to Louisa. Hopefully, she won't have an identity crisis.

This one is of my son & his girlfriend.
He's a junior in High School and she's a senior. Cute, aren't they? Today is their 1 year anniversary.

The last one is of my daughter & her friend tasting snowflakes. They were so excited that school was cancelled!!

When do I have time?

2007-01-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Since I started blogging (what 3 or 4 days ago?), I've shared my spot on the net with a few friends. The question I get asked the most is, "When do you have time to do that?!"

My first thought was, "While the internet slows to a snail's pace and I'm waiting for pages to load...that's when I start composing what I'm going to blog about!" While that's the truth, I want to make it clear to everyone...even though I am a busy woman, I do get a few moments to myself!! I know, it's hard to believe, but there is a special time in the evening when everyone is asleep, but me, and I have a few quiet moments. (I guess the secret is out now!) :)

For those that know me, they may find that hard to believe. Let me tell you why. I have 2 teenagers. That should be enough for any parent right there! But no, I have 2 very ACTIVE teens. And I go to as many of their activities as I can (band concerts, football games, volleyball games, wrestling meets, track meets, piano recitals, youth group activities, etc.). I am also part of the leadership team for our church's Jr & Sr High youth group, and a Girl Scout leader. Last year I had 2 Girl Scout troops, but was able to pass one troop to another mom (thank goodness!) Until the end of January, I was a City Councilor. I chose not to run for re-election because I wanted to reprioritize the activities in my life. I am also on our local School Board. (yes, City Councilor & School Board at the same time...you read that right). With all that going on, it's hard to believe that there is any time in the day for anything else! Some days I feel like that, too!

For a lion's share of last year, I had meetings or activities every night of the week. I love being busy and supporting my kids, but let me tell you...it was a wee bit exhausting at times. On top of all that, I was recovering from not one, but two knee surgeries last year. Not fun. I managed to maintain my sanity, though. With a little help from my friends and family!

This year, I've reprioritized my life and dropped a couple of activities. Though I'm still busy, I find that I have a few more nights at home to relax!

Even today, while the kids were at school and my darling husband was off doing whatever he was doing...I had a day to work on my favorite hobby...... scrapbooking! I haven't felt inspired to scrap in a very long time, and it felt good to get into it again today! I will try to scan my pages and post them here soon, but please understand that I am technologically challenged. I have a scanner here at home, but 2 days after we bought it the cat thought it was a great place to sleep, and knocked it off the desk. It doesn't work anymore. I have the use of a scanner at work, but only feel free to use that when I'm not busy at work....so it may be awhile before it gets done! (Got to find the time...*lol*)

A Day in the Life...

2007-01-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a typical day (actually what I did today)...

Get up at 6:45am. Take a shower. Get dressed. Drive my son to school (it's way too dark for him to walk, and at 16 1/2 he STILL doesn't have his driver's license). Come back home. Get my stuff ready for work. Drive daughter to school (she goes to school 10 miles away). Come back to town and go to work. Work like a madwoman for 7 hours (no lunch break), then drive 10 miles to pick up daughter from school. From this point, my day usually varies a bit, but today we came back into town and I went back to work. Only this time to finish getting ready for a Girl Scout meeting, while my daughter worked on her homework. Stayed at the office until Girl Scouts, then had Girl Scouts for 1 1/2 hours. Stopped by my friend, Tonya's house afterwards. Helped her move her new treadmill into her house. Came home. Said hello to my son. Then he went to bed. 10 minutes later my husband comes home from Boy Scouts (he's the Scout master). Talk to him for 5 minutes before he goes to bed. Daughter soon follows, and here I am at 10:30pm...typing away in my blog. I saw my son for a total of 15 minutes today. My husband about 10 minutes and my daughter a bit more because she was at Girl Scouts with me. What a day!

Technology woes...

2007-01-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Living in a small town means you have to learn to accept that there are some things you just have to live without. There isn't a compromise. You just have to do without.

Unfortunately, one of those things we must live without in this two cow town is high speed internet. No DSL, no cable modem, no satellite service. Nada, nothing, zip. We have dial-up. Plain & simple. On a good day, I can connect at 32.1 Kbps. Most days I connect at 28.8. It's odd, though, at work I can connect at 52.1. I'm not sure why that is. Probably just another small town mystery.

Dial-up stinks. I mean, my service provider is ok. They are rarely down, and the customer service people are easy to deal with. But dial-up just stinks. Loading pages with graphics takes FORever. Try to open two pages at once and you can just about FORget it!

I like to play board games & card games at www.pogo.com (you'll find me there under the same nickname). I could walk around the block...TWICE...before some games will load. I also like to visit websites that are dedicated to my favorite hobby...scrapbooking. My new home is www.scrapthatmoment.com . I love this place. The ladies are wonderful and their artwork is GORGEOUS! I'm stunned when I look at their galleries. If you need to be inspired, that is the place to go. Anyway, when I try to go through the galleries (mind you they are full of GRAPHICS, and blinky bits, and swirly things, and stuff that fades off & on), guess what happens?! Yes, my connection slows down to a crawl. And once in awhile I think it just can't take it anymore and gives it all up by disconnecting from the net! Then I have to start all over again! *sigh*

I was on the City Council here for 4 years (my term just ended and I didn't run for re-election...more on that another day), and one of the things we tried to do was to convince the biggies (like Verizon or Charter Communications) to light the fiber optic string that runs through town. But they're not interested because it's not "cost effective" for them. (Can you hear the itty bit of sarcasm I have in my voice?) Why would whoever it was, pay all that money to install fiber optics and then NOT light them. *snort* Unbelievable!

So until we get something that crawls faster than a snail, I'll just have to learn to accept and to live without some of the modern conveniences of life! At least we have electricity & running water! :)

And so it begins...

2007-01-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

A new day, a new year and a new blog. I was challenged by my scrapping buddies over at www.scrapthatmoment.com to start blogging. "What in the world is a blog?" I said. "What in the world will I ever have to say that is interesting and meaningful?" And then, "Where in the world do I get one?"

So here I am. A newbie to the blogging world.

Life in a two cow town is really not that interesting, by big city standards. We do have our fun times though, and I hope to share some of our adventures (or misadventures) with anyone that cares to take a peek. We live in a small town (2400 people), where the number of cows & sheep out number the number of people. I call it a two cow town because of the lifestyle here. Very laid back and kinda red neck-ish. We are an agriculture/logging community, though logging has become a remnant of the past. We live 15 minutes from the coast, as the crow flies, but it takes 40 minutes to drive there. We're about 2.5 hours from the nearest "big" city...where there is any decent shopping. In our little town, we have 2 grocery stores, 3 banks, a gas station, 2 hardware stores...that's about it. We have to drive 40 minutes to get to all the "Mart" stores...Walmart, Kmart, Bi-mart, and Fred Meyers (which I call Fredmart). Pretty slim pickings when it comes to shopping variety.Today, my good friend Tonya came back home. She & her daughter, Dani left on a high adventure in August. They packed their SUV and drove from Oregon to New Hampshire in a week. Stayed with friends, then travelled to Florida for a month, and then headed home again. My daughter, Megan, and Dani are best friends, so it was hard for them to be away from each other. That meant almost daily phone calls (how can you keep teens away from the phone?!), and several times a day checking emails! And lots of tears when they couldn't get ahold of each other!The girls are in hog heaven right now, basking in the glow of renewed friendships. I'm glad they're home.Today is the day we pack up Christmas decorations. The house is a wreck. My darling husband is slaving away over boxes of decorations while I'm attempting my first blog. *lol* Poor guy.

I suppose I should go and help him....and so it begins....