Today was one really, really nasty, difficult and downright terrible day!
My internet connection (peoplepc.com) went wacky on me about 10 a.m. Monday morning and with the exception of two times during the day when I managed to log on and the connection held for about 15 minutes each time (tops), I didn't really get things resolved till about 1 a.m.tonight (or this morning)!
The first rep I spoke had me change some code in my modem properties thing which didn't work! The second rep couldn't get anyhing to work -I was gettng really pissed off by then And that guy was supposed to have his supervisor call me back in about two hours - after lunch! Well actually I am still waiting for that person to return from lunch I guess cause no one ever returned my call!
Then around 3 p.m., I called them again and my really obnoxious side was surfacing more and more! Still nothing was being done to correct the problem.
Around 6 p.m. I called back fourth try there and that guy told me I needed to get my windows 98 cd out and extract some kind of connectivty code to the computer to fix it. HOwever, I don't have a copy of windows 98 - have no clue n the world where THAT went to! So I ended up calling a friend to bring his copy over and we'd called peoplepc back and let someone work us through the problem, etc. So, he got here about 9 p.m. and although the young lady I got then tried her best to be helpfull, she finally decided about 11 p.m. there was nothing more she could do.
She did get me reconnect to the internet but not so as to be able to check my e-mail or get on interet explorer, etc. So, my friend dug out a cd he had and copied it to a file for me, and we downloaded internet explorer not just once but twice before it seemed to take. Then my connection started to whack out again but this time, I took the cd he had brought which is an installation disc for People pc, reloaded my connecction software again and that took two tries too be fore it finally worked but that's what I had to go through just so as to be able to get reconnected, check my e-mail and be able to access my blog again! But man, was I pissed! Told these reps a very large chunck of my mind and what I think about people pc. etc there!
The version of peoplepc that was on the cd that I downloaded is version 6.3 so maybe you are using an older version same as I was! If it hadn't been for this friend of ours coming over and bringing just the right equipment in the way of cd's to use, I'd have had to take the computer to the shop and it would have cost me between 80 and $140 to get it all operating again and we got it done now for free!
And now, I am really, really beat! Gotta get some sleep cause Mandy and the kids and I have to go for groceries first thing in the morning so I can get some more baking done! Got to get a LOT of baking done I should say!
So if anyone is having similar problems with this provider, don't believe them when they tell you it is all your computer, cause its not!
Anyone else have a nightmare story about a provider and what a pain in the behind being without e-mail, the internet, connecting and keeping from being disconnected on a steady basis - especially with peoplepc.com - feel free to share how you handled it and if your solution - or theirs - worked!
And now - GOOD NIGHT! Before I fall completely asleep right here in my chair!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Disconcerting
This past week was a bit of a wild ride. Problems erupting that sent our worries over the edge about or mortgage and financial picture had me so worked up that I felt the need to dip into the prescription my doctor had given me about 3 months ago when I felt this type of anxiety and subsequent forms of depression creeping back into me. Well, actually, this stuff didn't creep, it came barreling in and just about knocked me for a loop.
Thankfully, the xanax did what it was made to do - brought me enough calmness that I could function without totally blowing up at everyone around me and being able to stop and try to think things through in a calmer, much more logical fashion.
It took a few days - a lot of fears and tears surfacing too in the process -but we did finally manage to pull ourselves together to the point we are very near to acquiring the amount needed now to get the mortgage out of arrears and start the new year off on not a great footing, but at least on somewhat level playing field. The hard part will be adhering to what is needed - good communications for openers between Mandy and me when things are slipping a bit so we can work to keep that from getting out of control. I firmly believe we can do this and get bills paid so not are they current but paid off in some instances.
But today, although when I awoke this morning, I felt fine as the day passed and night came, I started getting that sick feeling - not nausea or anything like that - but a nervous tension I know all too well now from years of coping with depression. It was coming back and I don't want to be here welcoming it with open arms. I want to get a grip on it now, tell it to be gone - or as said in MacBeth -"Out damned spot out I say!"
I need to do some things to break out of some of my cycles that sometimes put me in this position - my disorganizational abilities need to at least be curbed if not remedied to the point that they are gone and I definitely need to stop procrastinating! It's been a while since I started writing the little articles I do for the West Branch Review and in the beginning and really, for the first year and a little over that, when Teresa gave me a suggestion for a topic for an article, she knew I would knock myself out and have it to her well before the deadline she had put in most cases. Once in a while I would have something that I cut close to the wire, but generally I had a good grasp on what I wanted to put in my piece and where to go for my story information too. That's something I haven't been doing for over a year now - part of that comes from picking up some of Teresa's style of putting off and putting off but I can't say it is her fault because I am the one responsible for this, not her. I am the one who can regain the control over that part of my writing and I need to really sit down and take the time - organize my time itself better - to work on those things.
But that isn't the thing that caused me to start floating in a downhill direction today. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can put a finger on that is bringing this uncomfortable feeling back into my life, into my mind. So how do I tackle this when it is still basically an unknown causing this?
My first response -to those who don't believe in the power of one substance - may seem far fetched to them, but to others, who like me, do believe in a Higher Power, I shall make sure I pray for mine to come and take charge of my problems.
That doesn't mean I am copping out. It just means they are stronger than I am now, they are trying to drag me down and if I place my faith in my Higher Power, He will then guide me, lead me where I need to be and I will once again be on a firm ground and can then handle things from there.
I need to stop worrying and remember how to "THINK" - clearly, logically, looking at more than what I currently see as the only path and not be rigid in my concepts there. I must unloose those chains starting to try to tangle me up in them that can, if not brought into check now, take months, even years, to eliminate them and return me to a good, calm and peaceful frame of mind.
I need to revert back to taking all the pleasure I can from the smallest things that life brings that are good and beautiful and give so much pleasure to me when I let it - my family! I need to breathe deeply, let the beauty of my grandchildren saturate me once more -let their sweetness their beauty, angelic looks (when behind some of their actions and in their eyes, you can see the devilish looks shining through) and enjoy these things for the short time they last too! All too quickly, they will be so much older and those sights and feelings of joy and pleasure from just being able to sit and stare at them and sense what a wonder God has given to my children and to me with these grandchildren.
I have very little with which to do special things with them - the things they might enjoy that do cost a lot of money - but if I think about this in the true, proper and pure manner I should be employing, I will return to the realization that the best things in life are really free and for me, that is simply watching them grow and remembering how Kurtis changed this day or Maya on that day and recording that so I can return later and remind myself how beautiful this was to watch them unfold, little by little, into the best and most loving children they can possibly be.
To have them give hugs, kisses, nose rubs - there are some of the greatest gifts God can ever give us and even more special when they come from the heart of a little child. It carries us a much longer way ultimately, than would buying an expensive toy and have the child tire of it in less than a day.
It returns the joy of life, of seeing, hearing, sensing, knowing this is the best thing God has ever given directly to me, to my life, and I need to remember how short and fragile the moments are and to file them in my mind (and in my journal) to remember them now and for always.
Thankfully, the xanax did what it was made to do - brought me enough calmness that I could function without totally blowing up at everyone around me and being able to stop and try to think things through in a calmer, much more logical fashion.
It took a few days - a lot of fears and tears surfacing too in the process -but we did finally manage to pull ourselves together to the point we are very near to acquiring the amount needed now to get the mortgage out of arrears and start the new year off on not a great footing, but at least on somewhat level playing field. The hard part will be adhering to what is needed - good communications for openers between Mandy and me when things are slipping a bit so we can work to keep that from getting out of control. I firmly believe we can do this and get bills paid so not are they current but paid off in some instances.
But today, although when I awoke this morning, I felt fine as the day passed and night came, I started getting that sick feeling - not nausea or anything like that - but a nervous tension I know all too well now from years of coping with depression. It was coming back and I don't want to be here welcoming it with open arms. I want to get a grip on it now, tell it to be gone - or as said in MacBeth -"Out damned spot out I say!"
I need to do some things to break out of some of my cycles that sometimes put me in this position - my disorganizational abilities need to at least be curbed if not remedied to the point that they are gone and I definitely need to stop procrastinating! It's been a while since I started writing the little articles I do for the West Branch Review and in the beginning and really, for the first year and a little over that, when Teresa gave me a suggestion for a topic for an article, she knew I would knock myself out and have it to her well before the deadline she had put in most cases. Once in a while I would have something that I cut close to the wire, but generally I had a good grasp on what I wanted to put in my piece and where to go for my story information too. That's something I haven't been doing for over a year now - part of that comes from picking up some of Teresa's style of putting off and putting off but I can't say it is her fault because I am the one responsible for this, not her. I am the one who can regain the control over that part of my writing and I need to really sit down and take the time - organize my time itself better - to work on those things.
But that isn't the thing that caused me to start floating in a downhill direction today. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can put a finger on that is bringing this uncomfortable feeling back into my life, into my mind. So how do I tackle this when it is still basically an unknown causing this?
My first response -to those who don't believe in the power of one substance - may seem far fetched to them, but to others, who like me, do believe in a Higher Power, I shall make sure I pray for mine to come and take charge of my problems.
That doesn't mean I am copping out. It just means they are stronger than I am now, they are trying to drag me down and if I place my faith in my Higher Power, He will then guide me, lead me where I need to be and I will once again be on a firm ground and can then handle things from there.
I need to stop worrying and remember how to "THINK" - clearly, logically, looking at more than what I currently see as the only path and not be rigid in my concepts there. I must unloose those chains starting to try to tangle me up in them that can, if not brought into check now, take months, even years, to eliminate them and return me to a good, calm and peaceful frame of mind.
I need to revert back to taking all the pleasure I can from the smallest things that life brings that are good and beautiful and give so much pleasure to me when I let it - my family! I need to breathe deeply, let the beauty of my grandchildren saturate me once more -let their sweetness their beauty, angelic looks (when behind some of their actions and in their eyes, you can see the devilish looks shining through) and enjoy these things for the short time they last too! All too quickly, they will be so much older and those sights and feelings of joy and pleasure from just being able to sit and stare at them and sense what a wonder God has given to my children and to me with these grandchildren.
I have very little with which to do special things with them - the things they might enjoy that do cost a lot of money - but if I think about this in the true, proper and pure manner I should be employing, I will return to the realization that the best things in life are really free and for me, that is simply watching them grow and remembering how Kurtis changed this day or Maya on that day and recording that so I can return later and remind myself how beautiful this was to watch them unfold, little by little, into the best and most loving children they can possibly be.
To have them give hugs, kisses, nose rubs - there are some of the greatest gifts God can ever give us and even more special when they come from the heart of a little child. It carries us a much longer way ultimately, than would buying an expensive toy and have the child tire of it in less than a day.
It returns the joy of life, of seeing, hearing, sensing, knowing this is the best thing God has ever given directly to me, to my life, and I need to remember how short and fragile the moments are and to file them in my mind (and in my journal) to remember them now and for always.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
A Week To Go!
Yep - Only one week away, the big day that so many people the world over wait for! Next Sunday will be Christmas Day!
Are you ready?
I'm not, that's for sure. I have accomplished very little -haven't baked anything and much as I used to look forward to the holiday and baking all kinds of cookies, I just don't have the zest for that anymore. It's no longer a fun thing to do and is more like a chore. And, who the heck likes chores, anyway?
I had hoped to get some sewing done too. Well, I did get 10 bibs made for Kurtis and Maya and a fleece sweatshirt too for little Kurtis. But the coveralls for Maya still need hemmed and buttons and buttonholes put into the straps. And, I should get busy doing that, but instead, I'm sitting back and doing what I do the very best - procrastinating!
I need to go shopping - get some groceries, maybe, if I have enough money left over get a print cartridge too for my printer. I'd like to figure out how much I'd need to add more whatever it is I need to add to my computer to give me more storage capabilities, maybe a little more speed to this old relic too. But I have no clue as to what I need, much less how to get it all installed and operating - all that technical mumbo-jumbo.
And, add to all the above, I need to sit down and make out a meal plan for Christmas Eve meals and for dinner on Christmas Day. Don't have a clue as yet how many will be here for either time so planning and organizing for either day is that much more difficult then too!
Right now, the only thing I THINK I know for sure, is that church on Christmas Eve - the big service will be at 8 p.m. I THINK that's the time although, who knows, maybe it starts at 8:30 p.m. I'll have to check the church's website to verify that one. I never had that problem before - until last year when our church eliminated the service we always referred to as the "Midnight" Service although it started at 11 p.m. Didn't end usually till about 12:45 either - but I guess because it was held OVER midnight, it was just called the Midnight service. That was my favorite and I'm not really crazy about trying to round up everyone in the family - kids, grandkids and now, stepgrandkids, and coordinate with this or that one's custody schedule and such to be able to get everyone ready and off to church on time. Just seems life is dealing a lot more problems lately than solutions and adding church services and attendance there into the mix, well that's just unfair!
Some things should remain stable - the same, year after year - and church at midnight on Christmas Eve is one of those, in my mind. But, I'm not the one in charge of that so I'll have to go when others say is best for the most - not just me or old tradionalists like I seem to be I guess.
And today, I suppose I should quite playing around here on the computer, trying to understand some technical stuff about blogs and such that I haven't a clue what the heck is being said there and I best get my fanny to the kitchen to components I do understand a lot better. I know where the buttons are on my stove, most of my pots and pans that others haven't decided to put away in a place I don't normally put things (which irritates the living daylights out of me too, I might add). And I best get something cooked for supper here since Mandy will be home around 7:30 and I would assume the son-in-law and my son too, will eventually come to the house and have a meal. Never know about those two either some days!
Look out kitchen! Here I come!
Are you ready?
I'm not, that's for sure. I have accomplished very little -haven't baked anything and much as I used to look forward to the holiday and baking all kinds of cookies, I just don't have the zest for that anymore. It's no longer a fun thing to do and is more like a chore. And, who the heck likes chores, anyway?
I had hoped to get some sewing done too. Well, I did get 10 bibs made for Kurtis and Maya and a fleece sweatshirt too for little Kurtis. But the coveralls for Maya still need hemmed and buttons and buttonholes put into the straps. And, I should get busy doing that, but instead, I'm sitting back and doing what I do the very best - procrastinating!
I need to go shopping - get some groceries, maybe, if I have enough money left over get a print cartridge too for my printer. I'd like to figure out how much I'd need to add more whatever it is I need to add to my computer to give me more storage capabilities, maybe a little more speed to this old relic too. But I have no clue as to what I need, much less how to get it all installed and operating - all that technical mumbo-jumbo.
And, add to all the above, I need to sit down and make out a meal plan for Christmas Eve meals and for dinner on Christmas Day. Don't have a clue as yet how many will be here for either time so planning and organizing for either day is that much more difficult then too!
Right now, the only thing I THINK I know for sure, is that church on Christmas Eve - the big service will be at 8 p.m. I THINK that's the time although, who knows, maybe it starts at 8:30 p.m. I'll have to check the church's website to verify that one. I never had that problem before - until last year when our church eliminated the service we always referred to as the "Midnight" Service although it started at 11 p.m. Didn't end usually till about 12:45 either - but I guess because it was held OVER midnight, it was just called the Midnight service. That was my favorite and I'm not really crazy about trying to round up everyone in the family - kids, grandkids and now, stepgrandkids, and coordinate with this or that one's custody schedule and such to be able to get everyone ready and off to church on time. Just seems life is dealing a lot more problems lately than solutions and adding church services and attendance there into the mix, well that's just unfair!
Some things should remain stable - the same, year after year - and church at midnight on Christmas Eve is one of those, in my mind. But, I'm not the one in charge of that so I'll have to go when others say is best for the most - not just me or old tradionalists like I seem to be I guess.
And today, I suppose I should quite playing around here on the computer, trying to understand some technical stuff about blogs and such that I haven't a clue what the heck is being said there and I best get my fanny to the kitchen to components I do understand a lot better. I know where the buttons are on my stove, most of my pots and pans that others haven't decided to put away in a place I don't normally put things (which irritates the living daylights out of me too, I might add). And I best get something cooked for supper here since Mandy will be home around 7:30 and I would assume the son-in-law and my son too, will eventually come to the house and have a meal. Never know about those two either some days!
Look out kitchen! Here I come!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
RE: News From Our High School
First and foremost - to any of you who read my post below here about the latest little flap at the local high school (West Branch Area High School in Morrisdale, PA for anyone interested), I apologize to you if you left comments and don't see them posted below the blog article.
I don't know WHY this happened because I never received the comment to allow me to approve it and have it published here.
The only thing I can think of is that there is apparently some glitch going on with Beta blogger and the regular blogger that is prohibiting regular blogger's comments from coming back to me for approval. I think that because the comments posted with that piece are all from folks who use the beta blogger.
So, if you are checking back here about that article, looking for your comments and can't see them, that's what I think happened. And, if you would like for me to receive your comments, please feel free to e-mail them to me at jenniferertmer@peoplepc.com. I would like to receive all comments on this topic as possible and especially so if there is anyone reading this who commented and is from this area, your opinion on this would be especially very much appreciated!
I would like to go through the comments received then and compose a letter to go to both the local newspaper as well as to the school administrators. How I personally feel about this issue is really not the important thing - it is how this all happened seemingly "out of the blue" as well as comments reported to have been made by certain school administrators that were totally out of line and uncalled for in this matter.
So please, if you tried to comment and I didn't receive it, send your opinion to me at my e-mail address as shown above.
Thanks to all who have already done that for me as I very much appreciate your help and support!
I don't know WHY this happened because I never received the comment to allow me to approve it and have it published here.
The only thing I can think of is that there is apparently some glitch going on with Beta blogger and the regular blogger that is prohibiting regular blogger's comments from coming back to me for approval. I think that because the comments posted with that piece are all from folks who use the beta blogger.
So, if you are checking back here about that article, looking for your comments and can't see them, that's what I think happened. And, if you would like for me to receive your comments, please feel free to e-mail them to me at jenniferertmer@peoplepc.com. I would like to receive all comments on this topic as possible and especially so if there is anyone reading this who commented and is from this area, your opinion on this would be especially very much appreciated!
I would like to go through the comments received then and compose a letter to go to both the local newspaper as well as to the school administrators. How I personally feel about this issue is really not the important thing - it is how this all happened seemingly "out of the blue" as well as comments reported to have been made by certain school administrators that were totally out of line and uncalled for in this matter.
So please, if you tried to comment and I didn't receive it, send your opinion to me at my e-mail address as shown above.
Thanks to all who have already done that for me as I very much appreciate your help and support!
News From Our High School!
Our local high school made the evening news today. For our school, this is something BIG as it is small compared to most other schools in the area, this is a relatively rural region and usually nothing exciting happens around here to warrant coverage on the television news on both the early as well as the late news broadcasts.
The issue: Kids Clothing!
Actually, labeling the issue as simply "kids clothing" is rather deceptive, so I will have to elaborate here.
The school has, as do most other schools, a "Dress code policy." I suppose at the beginning of the school year, Kate - the 15-year-old here - brought home a copy of it and I am assuming I may have at least given it a passing glance, and surely Mandy - the stepmother in the house - read it at some point too. If this was indeed published in the dress code at the beginning of the year, I either missed it or just blew it off. But it has now become a major issue at the school.
The problem being kids wearing the jeans that are the fad now - tres, tres vogue you know to wear jeans that are very tattered, torn, worn, faded out in appearance and are not that way from use but are purchased in that condition. And, the prices of any jeans today - whether it be the type really popular which cost an arm and a leg - or the "plain jane" variety, which also cost - well, depending on ones' budget, an arm and a leg too!
It seems that yesterday the school principal announced that beginning today, any student wearing jeans that are ripped, torn, raggedy, etc., would either be sent home, would have to contact a family member to bring a different pair of jeans to the school, or if neither of those options could be fulfilled, the student would sit the day out in the school gym or auditorium, thus missing classes for the day and a suspension apparently would follow suit.
Now, considering the dress code that was never posted back when I went to grade school and high school but nonetheless was quite well known and understood too by one and all concerned - students and parents alike - this would never have been an issue to begin with then! Although by the time I hit high school, boys and girls were permitted to wear blue jeans but the apparel all had to be NEAT, Clean, not holy, exposing many areas of the body, etc. In other words, appropriate enough to not draw undue attention to the student's clothing and away from the reason for being in school in the first place - to learn, to study!
But, after watching the interview on the news with the principal and then, learning how he had responded to some students today about this issue, I think he - and the rest of the administration screwed up!
While I was initially in favor of their having a dress code and upholding it, why wait until mid-December to enforce this portion and why do it in this manner?
One student - a straight A-student too, she is - confronted him about this and the logic behind the school's actions. She was scheduled to take an exam today in her Physics class but, because of her choice of jeans, was forbidden to take the exam unless either a parent could bring her another pair of jeans or she could drive home and change and return - which would cause her to miss the exam. To force a student to miss an exam solves or resolves nothing pertaining to the basic issue here.
This young lady also questioned him about students whose parents perhaps could not afford to purchase new apparel at the drop of a hat and his response to that was "Who can't afford to go buy a new pair of jeans?" Excuse me? What did you say? This is an economically repressed area! Many people are struggling just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table and can't just go buy new clothes whenever the school dictates they must do that!
Personally, I don't like the fashion of the jeans manufactured with holes, rips, tears in the seams, etc., and to pay the exhorbitant prices asked for such items really brings forth the Scottish blood in my ancestry. Brings out my mother's frugal Swedish blood too for that matter! Frankly, if I were the parent buying clothes for a teen today, the stores selling merchandise like that would never get a sale from me! If I am going to buy new clothing, it better be well sewn, no rips, tears, fraying at all, any place within the piece! But, who am I to dictate to the fashion moguls, the designers who create these things and then convince these kids that this is the really cool look, everyone should have an entire wardrobe consisting of jeans like these!
At my age, with my children grown, in essence, I really don't have "a dog in this race." But, because this teenager in our school district does live here, in my home, with her father, stepmother, two half-siblings and me, then perhaps I do have a say in this matter after all.
And right now, in our home, economics, finances, finding enough money to keep the roof over our heads being of dire need immediately, and trying to figure out how to keep the house heated throughout the coming winter months, pay the electric bill, other incidental expenses of operating the home which keep going up but the income into the house doesn't do the same or not proportionately if there is an increase, then this man, the principal at the school was totally in the wrong for enforcing this rule this late in the school year, with only a one day's notice to the students and especially with the inconsiderate, rude comments he made about parents and what purchases he deems are within reach of any and all parents of these students!
My daughter is even considering writing a letter to the editor of the local paper but I reminded her if she does that, we will have to find the money to buy an ink cartridge for my printer as it is totally out of ink and those puppies run around $30 for a black cartridge and $48 for a black cartridge and a color ink combo! And no, we really can't afford that extra expense right now, especially since the school thinks we can afford to go and buy new jeans for this kid's wardrobe now too!
But, there is a very good possibility that the next school board meeting just might find me seated there and registered as one who would like permission to speak and address this issue at that time, in public and perhaps, explain a small lesson to the principal, the school board and other concerned citizens, parents, students of the community of what one person deems as affordable may be completely out of reach to many, many others in this little community!
How would you react to something like this happening in your local school, to your child - to your pocketbook too?
The issue: Kids Clothing!
Actually, labeling the issue as simply "kids clothing" is rather deceptive, so I will have to elaborate here.
The school has, as do most other schools, a "Dress code policy." I suppose at the beginning of the school year, Kate - the 15-year-old here - brought home a copy of it and I am assuming I may have at least given it a passing glance, and surely Mandy - the stepmother in the house - read it at some point too. If this was indeed published in the dress code at the beginning of the year, I either missed it or just blew it off. But it has now become a major issue at the school.
The problem being kids wearing the jeans that are the fad now - tres, tres vogue you know to wear jeans that are very tattered, torn, worn, faded out in appearance and are not that way from use but are purchased in that condition. And, the prices of any jeans today - whether it be the type really popular which cost an arm and a leg - or the "plain jane" variety, which also cost - well, depending on ones' budget, an arm and a leg too!
It seems that yesterday the school principal announced that beginning today, any student wearing jeans that are ripped, torn, raggedy, etc., would either be sent home, would have to contact a family member to bring a different pair of jeans to the school, or if neither of those options could be fulfilled, the student would sit the day out in the school gym or auditorium, thus missing classes for the day and a suspension apparently would follow suit.
Now, considering the dress code that was never posted back when I went to grade school and high school but nonetheless was quite well known and understood too by one and all concerned - students and parents alike - this would never have been an issue to begin with then! Although by the time I hit high school, boys and girls were permitted to wear blue jeans but the apparel all had to be NEAT, Clean, not holy, exposing many areas of the body, etc. In other words, appropriate enough to not draw undue attention to the student's clothing and away from the reason for being in school in the first place - to learn, to study!
But, after watching the interview on the news with the principal and then, learning how he had responded to some students today about this issue, I think he - and the rest of the administration screwed up!
While I was initially in favor of their having a dress code and upholding it, why wait until mid-December to enforce this portion and why do it in this manner?
One student - a straight A-student too, she is - confronted him about this and the logic behind the school's actions. She was scheduled to take an exam today in her Physics class but, because of her choice of jeans, was forbidden to take the exam unless either a parent could bring her another pair of jeans or she could drive home and change and return - which would cause her to miss the exam. To force a student to miss an exam solves or resolves nothing pertaining to the basic issue here.
This young lady also questioned him about students whose parents perhaps could not afford to purchase new apparel at the drop of a hat and his response to that was "Who can't afford to go buy a new pair of jeans?" Excuse me? What did you say? This is an economically repressed area! Many people are struggling just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table and can't just go buy new clothes whenever the school dictates they must do that!
Personally, I don't like the fashion of the jeans manufactured with holes, rips, tears in the seams, etc., and to pay the exhorbitant prices asked for such items really brings forth the Scottish blood in my ancestry. Brings out my mother's frugal Swedish blood too for that matter! Frankly, if I were the parent buying clothes for a teen today, the stores selling merchandise like that would never get a sale from me! If I am going to buy new clothing, it better be well sewn, no rips, tears, fraying at all, any place within the piece! But, who am I to dictate to the fashion moguls, the designers who create these things and then convince these kids that this is the really cool look, everyone should have an entire wardrobe consisting of jeans like these!
At my age, with my children grown, in essence, I really don't have "a dog in this race." But, because this teenager in our school district does live here, in my home, with her father, stepmother, two half-siblings and me, then perhaps I do have a say in this matter after all.
And right now, in our home, economics, finances, finding enough money to keep the roof over our heads being of dire need immediately, and trying to figure out how to keep the house heated throughout the coming winter months, pay the electric bill, other incidental expenses of operating the home which keep going up but the income into the house doesn't do the same or not proportionately if there is an increase, then this man, the principal at the school was totally in the wrong for enforcing this rule this late in the school year, with only a one day's notice to the students and especially with the inconsiderate, rude comments he made about parents and what purchases he deems are within reach of any and all parents of these students!
My daughter is even considering writing a letter to the editor of the local paper but I reminded her if she does that, we will have to find the money to buy an ink cartridge for my printer as it is totally out of ink and those puppies run around $30 for a black cartridge and $48 for a black cartridge and a color ink combo! And no, we really can't afford that extra expense right now, especially since the school thinks we can afford to go and buy new jeans for this kid's wardrobe now too!
But, there is a very good possibility that the next school board meeting just might find me seated there and registered as one who would like permission to speak and address this issue at that time, in public and perhaps, explain a small lesson to the principal, the school board and other concerned citizens, parents, students of the community of what one person deems as affordable may be completely out of reach to many, many others in this little community!
How would you react to something like this happening in your local school, to your child - to your pocketbook too?
Busy and Dizzy!
Boy, what a day!
Mandy worked today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. so I was the babysitter du jour. Not a problem, as both little ones were relatively cooperative with what I wanted and needed to do today. However, the older child - 15-year-old - woke up late, so she missed the bus. Mandy told her she could either go in late (having Mandy drive her to school) but she would also get detention then too since she has done this too many times this year or she could stay home but she would have to be the one actually "babysitting" the kids. Now, I wasn't aware of that deal having been struck till about 4 p.m. today - after the teenager had spent roughly 90 minutes or more in the bathroom curling her hair from about 11 a.m till 1 p.m. and then she disappeared upstairs to her room and didn't resurface till about 4 p.m. Meanwhile, I'm here, taking care of the two children same as usual. But, when she slipped up and told me about the deal Mandy had made with her, I was more than slightly ticked off and asked her if she considered her methods of babysitting to be the way Mandy had expected her to perform. We won't delve into the rest of the discussion cause I wasn't very pleased with her responses or her actions of the day!
But, since the kids were, as I said, being relatively cooperative with me, allowing me to mess with the computer a lot, I started to try to figure out what exactly I need to do for my part in a little experimental writing project I volunteered for online this week. This involves several other bloggers (and me) and we will be writing a "pull-it-together-novel" written by the group. Each person takes a turn at writing part of the story.
Now, this is a totally new thing for me! I've written a goodly number of small articles that have been published in the local monthly publication, but none of them were fiction, none required dialogue and sure as heck, none of them needed any "character" much less "development" of said characters!
So, from a couple ideas I did finally acquire, I started to try to list some characters I could perhaps foresee as being part of this story line. Naming the people was a huge problem as my mind, of course, went completely braindead! I finally resorted (since I couldn't find Mandy's copy of the book "What to Name Your Baby") to going through a notebook in which I had logged the names on tombstones in our local cemetery as part of a walk-through recording geneology project I began almost two years ago! Eventually, I ended up with several pages in a Word document of given names as well as many surnames too - at least something I can draw from there now.
Character development though - wow! But I did manage to come up with names and some sort of descriptions for five women school teachers, a "lunch lady" person and her brother, school janitorial person, a minister and his wife! Yippy skippy! Now how to fit them into this story and what roles they will play there remains to be seen too. So many unknowns there that I wish were posted - like more information about WHERE this fictitious town is located, geographically speaking and what genre this will actually be -a romantic piece, mystery, comedy - you get the drift there of my mental quandry, I'm sure! And, I suppose soon enough that type of information will be given to us but I'm just a bit impatient about wanting to know that so I can try to dredge characters up in my mind from bits and pieces about people I have known over my many years on earth!
HOpefully this whole little project will be fun to do, challenging (oh, of that I am sure it will be a major challenge for ME) and that I will perhaps learn a lot of things about writing, particularly writing fiction and using dialogue!
Wish me luck in this endeavor and pray for the poor folks I will be "working" with that I don't drive them all completely bonkers!
Mandy worked today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. so I was the babysitter du jour. Not a problem, as both little ones were relatively cooperative with what I wanted and needed to do today. However, the older child - 15-year-old - woke up late, so she missed the bus. Mandy told her she could either go in late (having Mandy drive her to school) but she would also get detention then too since she has done this too many times this year or she could stay home but she would have to be the one actually "babysitting" the kids. Now, I wasn't aware of that deal having been struck till about 4 p.m. today - after the teenager had spent roughly 90 minutes or more in the bathroom curling her hair from about 11 a.m till 1 p.m. and then she disappeared upstairs to her room and didn't resurface till about 4 p.m. Meanwhile, I'm here, taking care of the two children same as usual. But, when she slipped up and told me about the deal Mandy had made with her, I was more than slightly ticked off and asked her if she considered her methods of babysitting to be the way Mandy had expected her to perform. We won't delve into the rest of the discussion cause I wasn't very pleased with her responses or her actions of the day!
But, since the kids were, as I said, being relatively cooperative with me, allowing me to mess with the computer a lot, I started to try to figure out what exactly I need to do for my part in a little experimental writing project I volunteered for online this week. This involves several other bloggers (and me) and we will be writing a "pull-it-together-novel" written by the group. Each person takes a turn at writing part of the story.
Now, this is a totally new thing for me! I've written a goodly number of small articles that have been published in the local monthly publication, but none of them were fiction, none required dialogue and sure as heck, none of them needed any "character" much less "development" of said characters!
So, from a couple ideas I did finally acquire, I started to try to list some characters I could perhaps foresee as being part of this story line. Naming the people was a huge problem as my mind, of course, went completely braindead! I finally resorted (since I couldn't find Mandy's copy of the book "What to Name Your Baby") to going through a notebook in which I had logged the names on tombstones in our local cemetery as part of a walk-through recording geneology project I began almost two years ago! Eventually, I ended up with several pages in a Word document of given names as well as many surnames too - at least something I can draw from there now.
Character development though - wow! But I did manage to come up with names and some sort of descriptions for five women school teachers, a "lunch lady" person and her brother, school janitorial person, a minister and his wife! Yippy skippy! Now how to fit them into this story and what roles they will play there remains to be seen too. So many unknowns there that I wish were posted - like more information about WHERE this fictitious town is located, geographically speaking and what genre this will actually be -a romantic piece, mystery, comedy - you get the drift there of my mental quandry, I'm sure! And, I suppose soon enough that type of information will be given to us but I'm just a bit impatient about wanting to know that so I can try to dredge characters up in my mind from bits and pieces about people I have known over my many years on earth!
HOpefully this whole little project will be fun to do, challenging (oh, of that I am sure it will be a major challenge for ME) and that I will perhaps learn a lot of things about writing, particularly writing fiction and using dialogue!
Wish me luck in this endeavor and pray for the poor folks I will be "working" with that I don't drive them all completely bonkers!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The Proof Is In The Pudding!
As you can see, I tried something new here today - a photo insert!
Since you've all heard me talk -incessantly at times too, as I freely admit - about my two little grandchildren who live with me, I thought I'd give a try at posting a photo of them today in my blog.
So here you are - I'm introducing the world to my two youngest grandchildren - Maya Kirsten, who is named after her great-great-great grandmother and whose name SHOULD have been spelled MAJA to reflect the Swedish spelling but her mother was afraid no one would be able to figure out how to pronounce it! However, we still have problems with the pronunciation anyway as some want to call her MIA, others like to think it is said as MAY-YA but it is pronounced as MY-A. Hope that clarifies that for once and for all.
The little guy in the pictures is my sweet little man, Kurtis Tyne, who just turned eight months yesterday. (His big sister, Miss Maya, was three in October!
And, Grammy here is yes, very, very proud of both of them as well as their older cousin, my little prince, Alexander William, who is all of nine years old now and I will have to go on a search and destroy mission to find a photo of him that I can post here too - just to show off that this old lady has managed to acquire three of the best-looking little ones around! For sure, they are!
Don't you agree with me?
Since you've all heard me talk -incessantly at times too, as I freely admit - about my two little grandchildren who live with me, I thought I'd give a try at posting a photo of them today in my blog.
So here you are - I'm introducing the world to my two youngest grandchildren - Maya Kirsten, who is named after her great-great-great grandmother and whose name SHOULD have been spelled MAJA to reflect the Swedish spelling but her mother was afraid no one would be able to figure out how to pronounce it! However, we still have problems with the pronunciation anyway as some want to call her MIA, others like to think it is said as MAY-YA but it is pronounced as MY-A. Hope that clarifies that for once and for all.
The little guy in the pictures is my sweet little man, Kurtis Tyne, who just turned eight months yesterday. (His big sister, Miss Maya, was three in October!
And, Grammy here is yes, very, very proud of both of them as well as their older cousin, my little prince, Alexander William, who is all of nine years old now and I will have to go on a search and destroy mission to find a photo of him that I can post here too - just to show off that this old lady has managed to acquire three of the best-looking little ones around! For sure, they are!
Don't you agree with me?
Changing Things
Yesterday and Tuesday evening were two very upsetting tomes for me in recent time and really, in a long, long time for that matter, Anytime I feel I have to resort to taking some kind of meds to restore some little bit of calm to me, is not a good time as I generally try to avoid things like that as muc as possible! I hate relying on drugs of ant type whatsoever.
I profess to having one drug - of my choice - to use to alleviate a lot of my stress issues but even the nicotine wasn't doing diddly squat for me so I dug out the prescription in this case. No, it didn't cure my problems over night, no bigcheck has magically appeared, no visit from Ed McMahon from Publisher's Clearing House, no winning powerball lottery ticket either.
But, I am much more relaxed, have restored a bit of peace, quiet and ease in my head and heart since I wrote that entry.
It helped a lot that I took the xanax - took a big part of the edginess away for a while. Lortabs to keep the damned shingles pain at bay, ever so slightly, helped too as did a pretty good solid sleep! Something I haven't had all that much of lately, being the good old SOUND, SOLID sleep!
Now, I have to throw in here something else that happened yesterday which had a positive impact on me, my thought processes too. Both things arrived in the mail yesterday and although at first sight, I was happy, impressed with both, but didn't look beyond that initial impact of these items either.
One came in a certified letter - and no, it wasn't from a bill collector either. The other arrived in a smallish package. The certified letter contained a gift card to Walmart from a couple who have been very close, good friends of mine, my family, for well over thirty years although they have been living in Florida for the past 27 years now. They are my son's Godparents and as such, always tried to do something for my son for his birthday, Christmas and one year, even purchased a round-trip air ticket for him to fly to Tampa and spend three weeks with them! Last year, they surprised me with a gift card to Walmart and I had no idea how much was on the card but needed a few odds and ends in the way of groceries so took the card with me figuring I would just apply it to my purchases and make up the balance from my checking account. To my surprise, the amount on that card was well over what I needed for my few groceries that night and we used it for about two months after the holiday for a supplemental means to get a few extras that way.
Now, I don't have a clue as yet, how much is on this card, but if it even alleviates slightly from using the checking accounts to purchase groceries, little things even just this week, it will be a big help!
The second item I received came from a very dear friend and her husband in Ohio. Upon opening it, there were five CD's that her husband - a true sweetheart he is as is his wife - of Christmas music - and of just about every possible carol or secular song you can think of in that category. That he had taken the time to make up these five cd's labeled them very nicely as to the selections on each cd - was such a special gift to me. Yes, it brought tears to my eyes when I saw what this was, still does as I sit her now listening to these beautiful songs and it re-instills the meaning of the season inside me. Christmas music is some of the most beautiful ever written (ok, my opinion there) and whether it is a purely instrumental version of a carol or White Christmas or whatever, or is a vocal rendition to which I sit and sing along to the cdt, it is a reminder of what the season itself is for, how much it means to me and especially how much I treasure the friendship of this couple for having thought to provide me with this much music, this means of hearing such meaningful songs and the words and in the doing, relaxing my mind, helping to clear away more of the fog the bad things of those two days had begun to push down into me.
Although I did make some phone calls as suggested by the lady from the mortgage company - avenues to look into that might possibly be able to help us, to give a little bit of assistance no matter how large or small that would make our problem here begin to downsize. And no, I didn't get any help from the agencies because they, like us and so many others across the country are also in major binds because so many people are in predicaments where they can't find a means to donate to help the agencies.
I did get some information from one agency though - and if things reach the point where the foreclosure actually begins, we can then contact them (HUD Housing via the fed'l govt.) to apply for a mortgage relief program. She was not all that encouraging as she told me that unfortunately only about 20% of those who apply for this help get approval, but because the process takes roughly 6 months to complete, in that time span, it does give the person a chance to perhaps catch up on other smaller bills, get them out of the way and better able then to work on staying current with things like mortgages, fuel bills and the like. No, it also doesn't make the arrearages with the mortgage disappear either - DRATS on that - but if approved, those figures are added into the new mortgage which is guaranteed to the bank by the federal government then. It's something positive then that could come from getting a foreclosure notice at any rate.
Sitting here, feeding my little grandson his bottle, listening to the carols on the cds also brought it home to me that I DO have MANY, MANY blessings in my life for which I am thankful daily but yet, don't really acknowledge them as such at the time.
Listening to the words of "Away in a Manger" as I hold little Kurtis, kissing him softly on his soft skin, his downy hair, made me hold him that much closer to me and say quiet prayers of thankfulness that he is a part of my life today. Watching the granddaughter struggle against my suggestions of taking a nap but finally, curling up on the couch with her binky, her special blanket, allowing me to put another handmade afghan made for her by another very dear friend and having her suddenly reach up to me and offer a hug - something she isn't usually one to do things like that - and it reinforced again, my good fortune that she is also here with me!
And yes, all these other obnoxious problems then tend to melt into the background and tell me they must be dealt with but it is not simply because the mortgage company holds the upper hand with me, with us, but rather that these two little beings are what counts and they are the reason we must and can work to find solutions to the issues at hand. And thinking of them as we do that makes it an act done of love, not anger that we screwed up the finances or other factions created some of the setbacks, but we - through the Grace of the Almighty also have the means to deal with this in a much more positive manner and all because of these two little children.
All of this reminds me that 2000 years ago God sent his Son to the world as a light for our way and in the past three years, he has sent these two beautiful little creatures for us to care for, to enjoy watching them grown, to laugh at their antics even when some of their tricks aren't exactly funny at the moment, but to see the humor of them after the fact.
They are my light and as such, are a reflection of God's Light to me, then, now and always.
Peace!
I profess to having one drug - of my choice - to use to alleviate a lot of my stress issues but even the nicotine wasn't doing diddly squat for me so I dug out the prescription in this case. No, it didn't cure my problems over night, no bigcheck has magically appeared, no visit from Ed McMahon from Publisher's Clearing House, no winning powerball lottery ticket either.
But, I am much more relaxed, have restored a bit of peace, quiet and ease in my head and heart since I wrote that entry.
It helped a lot that I took the xanax - took a big part of the edginess away for a while. Lortabs to keep the damned shingles pain at bay, ever so slightly, helped too as did a pretty good solid sleep! Something I haven't had all that much of lately, being the good old SOUND, SOLID sleep!
Now, I have to throw in here something else that happened yesterday which had a positive impact on me, my thought processes too. Both things arrived in the mail yesterday and although at first sight, I was happy, impressed with both, but didn't look beyond that initial impact of these items either.
One came in a certified letter - and no, it wasn't from a bill collector either. The other arrived in a smallish package. The certified letter contained a gift card to Walmart from a couple who have been very close, good friends of mine, my family, for well over thirty years although they have been living in Florida for the past 27 years now. They are my son's Godparents and as such, always tried to do something for my son for his birthday, Christmas and one year, even purchased a round-trip air ticket for him to fly to Tampa and spend three weeks with them! Last year, they surprised me with a gift card to Walmart and I had no idea how much was on the card but needed a few odds and ends in the way of groceries so took the card with me figuring I would just apply it to my purchases and make up the balance from my checking account. To my surprise, the amount on that card was well over what I needed for my few groceries that night and we used it for about two months after the holiday for a supplemental means to get a few extras that way.
Now, I don't have a clue as yet, how much is on this card, but if it even alleviates slightly from using the checking accounts to purchase groceries, little things even just this week, it will be a big help!
The second item I received came from a very dear friend and her husband in Ohio. Upon opening it, there were five CD's that her husband - a true sweetheart he is as is his wife - of Christmas music - and of just about every possible carol or secular song you can think of in that category. That he had taken the time to make up these five cd's labeled them very nicely as to the selections on each cd - was such a special gift to me. Yes, it brought tears to my eyes when I saw what this was, still does as I sit her now listening to these beautiful songs and it re-instills the meaning of the season inside me. Christmas music is some of the most beautiful ever written (ok, my opinion there) and whether it is a purely instrumental version of a carol or White Christmas or whatever, or is a vocal rendition to which I sit and sing along to the cdt, it is a reminder of what the season itself is for, how much it means to me and especially how much I treasure the friendship of this couple for having thought to provide me with this much music, this means of hearing such meaningful songs and the words and in the doing, relaxing my mind, helping to clear away more of the fog the bad things of those two days had begun to push down into me.
Although I did make some phone calls as suggested by the lady from the mortgage company - avenues to look into that might possibly be able to help us, to give a little bit of assistance no matter how large or small that would make our problem here begin to downsize. And no, I didn't get any help from the agencies because they, like us and so many others across the country are also in major binds because so many people are in predicaments where they can't find a means to donate to help the agencies.
I did get some information from one agency though - and if things reach the point where the foreclosure actually begins, we can then contact them (HUD Housing via the fed'l govt.) to apply for a mortgage relief program. She was not all that encouraging as she told me that unfortunately only about 20% of those who apply for this help get approval, but because the process takes roughly 6 months to complete, in that time span, it does give the person a chance to perhaps catch up on other smaller bills, get them out of the way and better able then to work on staying current with things like mortgages, fuel bills and the like. No, it also doesn't make the arrearages with the mortgage disappear either - DRATS on that - but if approved, those figures are added into the new mortgage which is guaranteed to the bank by the federal government then. It's something positive then that could come from getting a foreclosure notice at any rate.
Sitting here, feeding my little grandson his bottle, listening to the carols on the cds also brought it home to me that I DO have MANY, MANY blessings in my life for which I am thankful daily but yet, don't really acknowledge them as such at the time.
Listening to the words of "Away in a Manger" as I hold little Kurtis, kissing him softly on his soft skin, his downy hair, made me hold him that much closer to me and say quiet prayers of thankfulness that he is a part of my life today. Watching the granddaughter struggle against my suggestions of taking a nap but finally, curling up on the couch with her binky, her special blanket, allowing me to put another handmade afghan made for her by another very dear friend and having her suddenly reach up to me and offer a hug - something she isn't usually one to do things like that - and it reinforced again, my good fortune that she is also here with me!
And yes, all these other obnoxious problems then tend to melt into the background and tell me they must be dealt with but it is not simply because the mortgage company holds the upper hand with me, with us, but rather that these two little beings are what counts and they are the reason we must and can work to find solutions to the issues at hand. And thinking of them as we do that makes it an act done of love, not anger that we screwed up the finances or other factions created some of the setbacks, but we - through the Grace of the Almighty also have the means to deal with this in a much more positive manner and all because of these two little children.
All of this reminds me that 2000 years ago God sent his Son to the world as a light for our way and in the past three years, he has sent these two beautiful little creatures for us to care for, to enjoy watching them grown, to laugh at their antics even when some of their tricks aren't exactly funny at the moment, but to see the humor of them after the fact.
They are my light and as such, are a reflection of God's Light to me, then, now and always.
Peace!
"A Lost Compass"
I think I lost my compass. No, not the little round thing that point to what direction is where, etc. But I definitely misplaced my inner compass and I want it back. Not yesterday or a week ago or a week or months from now, but I want it back TODAY!
The compass I am referring to is the one that for quite some time now has been operating very nicely inside me, giving me my sense of humor again, showing me that I still have logic skills to call on and put to good use, and that compass that for many months now has kept me focused in a way that it didn't even cross my mind to want to go find a very secluded place - a nice little corner - where, out of sight from everyone else around me, away from the terrible thoughts and worries crossing my mind, I could sit and pull my hair out, one strand at a time and just cry.
Over the past 10-12 years, those feelings have frequently been a part of my composition. It became second nature most of the time to see only negativity and to moan and wail and thrash about because of all the worries and fears I had operating then.
The last time I was that depressed was four years ago when I had just been fired - about 3 1/2 weeks before Christmas and after only seven weeks on the job, as a staff writer for the local daily newspaper.
I knew going into that job - as did the management and my supervisor - that I was totally an untrained entity in the journalistic world. My only expertise in writing had consisted of the terms papers I did in college and a couple of letters to the editor I had from time to time submitted and which were published. A far cry from knowing anything about what it takes, what is involved, in trying to attend a township meeting - something I had done only one time before in my 50 plus years at that time - and take notes which I could later transpose into a good, readable text for the next day's copy at the paper. Two weeks before I was canned, I was called into a meeting with my supervisor and the editor and told there were problems with my work, with my writing and it was because I consistently wrote in the passive tense and they wanted - no required - the pieces be done in active tense.
I was lost! Had no clue as to what this meant. Active, passive. smasive - what did all that mean? They tried to give me examples and I thought I understood a little of what they meant but I knew I was far from being totally comprehending of this task to change my style. But, apparently they saw no improvement in my work and yes, they fired me.
I spent the full month of December and most of January at that time, curled up on the sofa, covered in a blanket, alternating between feeling like crying and just laying there sobbing, usually managing to keep the sobbing shoved down till well after my daughter and son-in-law had gone to bed. The dog we had then, good old Hercules, seemed to be the only thing in the house who had a clue of how dire my need was to feel comfort from some living, breathing thing - even if it was just a rambunctious little old mutt who would jump up on me on the couch, snuggle beside me and just stay there as if to say to me, "I understand; I'm here and I love you. Isn't that enough?"
It took two things to lift me out of that quandry that winter. One was sending a small essay I had initially written for the paper, but which my supervisor had poo-pooed as being trite and certainly none of that paper's astute readership would have a lick of interest in that piece, and I had sent it to the editor of a magazine called "State College" for their perusal. To my shock, the editor had almost immediately written back that she liked it and wanted to use it in their March edition. Needless to say, that tiny bit of acceptance did a heck of a lot to bolster my self-esteem.
The second thing that happened to me was I made an appointment with a counselor at the Vocational Rehabilitation Office to see if through them, I could get some medical care I felt I needed in order to be a viable employee again. Two doctor appointments later and a colonoscopy and I learned I had colo-rectal cancer and boy, if I thought my world had been turned upside down when I was fired, this turned it upside down a couple times and inside out too - again and again -in a matter of about 4 hours!
After an immediate emergency appointment at the local assistance office and signing away any further unemployment checks, making arrangements to cash in what little money was accumumlated in my life insurance policy and applying to cash in on an even smaller IRA through Penn State - all of $700 dollars for which I had to lose $200 in penalties for early cash-in, at least I knew I could get the medical care necessary to tackle the cancer.
It was at that point in my life that my outlook changed and stayed on a fairly positive note for a long time. Chemo, radiation, surgery followed by more chemo was the game plan laid out for me. And for the most part, it all followed suit with one small glitch. About 2-3 weeks after the surgery, for some unknown reason, I began to have excruciating pains in my left buttocks region - starting at the backbone, fanning out across the cheek and ending at the leg-hip joint. Several tests later, it was determined I had do herniated discs in my lower back and that necessitated heavy-duty physical therapy for the next 3-5 months before I could walk, sit, even sleep with any degree of comfort.
Those issues, the back and the cancer, all led to my applying for social security disability and 18 months after my diagnosis, I was one of the very lucky ones who was approved for disability. There was no way I could possibly return to any type of work of the nature where the bulk of my experience had been - mainly food service -so, at age 59, I was washed up in the employment arena.
Since then, I have discovered I like to write. I even found a small local newsletter that is supposed to be a monthly publication but because the editor/publisher is, as I like to joke and say, even more disorganized and much better than I am at procrastination, which explains why she and I get along quite well together in her endeavor to get the paper out and mine, to try to put together little pieces that the locals here would enjoy reading. It's a gratis venture too for me as she is not in any financial picture to pay me at this time - hasn't been able to pay anything for the past 18 months for that matter. And, as long as things were running pretty good at home, it wasn't all that much of a necessity for me to get paid for my writing either. The joy of putting thoughts together in printed form and having people come up to me on the street, in the stores, at church and tell me they had read this or that piece I had done and they liked it. Everyone likes compliments from time to time, and even if I had been severely depressed then, I could appreciate those words very much.
But last night, my bubble really broke - again - after four years (almost) of being on my own little happy cloud. I got a phone call - second one this week - from the collection agency for the mortgage company who holds the deed to my house and to whom I owe a bunch of money after seven years of their mortage which at over 11 percent interest rate means I've actually only paid about $200 towards the principal of this thirty year debt! The only way this thing will be paid off will be when I croak!
It seems my daughter had not made a mortgage payment for three months and a fourth payment is coming due on January 1st and how would I like to make arrangements to bring this payment "au currant" the lady asked. I was dumbfounded. I knew my daughter had been behind in the payment about 2 months ago but since she hadn't mentioned it lately, I was under the impression the only bill we were behind on now was last year's oil bill. WRONG! Seems we now need to acquire about $1,500 big ones between now and January 1st in order to start anew for 2007.
I don't know about anyone else, but I sure as hell don't have an extra $1,500 laying about anywhere, nor do I have parents, siblings - heck not even kids - who are in a position to come to my rescue with a small business loan!
At the request of the lady who had reached me on the phone, I sat down and listed all our monthly expenses as well as our combined monthly income and the breakdown was such that - without allowing for any emergency expenses, such as something the 15-year-old stepgranddaughter might need at school, clothes, the least little thing that would provide some type of respite and discontinuing having the subsidized day care for the two little ones here, we would have a total of $59 a month left over and that was all contingent on no one using more than the allotted amounts for gas for the cars or food expenditures either!
I wasn't surprised then when the lady on the phone told me that because of our income and bill levels, she couldn't offer us any type of alternative payment method to try to bring our account up to par either. She did however give me three phone numbers I could try to see if any of these places could offer any type of assistance.
I called all three numbers today and learned that United Way is in the process of administering severe cutbacks to any social service agencies they assist, Salvation Army had no one available to talk to me so I left my name and number there and the HUD Housing number I contacted said until we receive an Act 91 letter of forclosure, there is nothing they can try to do to help us either. And even then, all they do is assist with filling out the application and to guide people through the process which, if they are among the lucky ones, they can get their mortgage refinanced at a better interest rate and it will be a guaranteed loan too with whatever bank might pick it up.
So, as it stands right now, it looks like the ACT 91 letter may most likely be in the mail come January 2nd and we can look at filing an application for that program. Whether or not we will get the assistance needed - or win the lottery - make that the POWERBALL one to boot - in the meantime, the possibility that after 103 years, this old house might be on the market and my daughter, son-in-law and the three kids living here plus me - the oldster of the pack - may just be out on the streets looking for some kind of cheap house to rent.
And, as anyone across the country looking for affordable housing today can tell you, finding that entity is virtually impossible! My son-in-law thinks our mortgage, which runs $408 a month now, is ridiculously high but he has absolutely no clue how much rentals are going for - even out in this region of the absolute boondocks of central Pennsylvania.
Today, I was so worked up, nervous, edgy, miserable, bitching, on the verge of tears at the drop of a hat, that I actually dipped into a little prescription my doctor gave me about 2 1/2 months ago when I was horribly on edge because of recent health issues and determinations. I took a Xanax tablet! It pretty much knocked me out for about 3 hours of sleep so sound that I didn't even hear the noises of 5 children racing around the house in celebration of the step-granddaughter's 15th birthday.
But when I got up from that nap, I was getting edgy and really grumpy and upset all again, plus the damned shingles were doing the rat-a-tap-tap jackhammer action on my right side and so, about midnight, I ingested yet another xanax along with one of my lortab pain pills in the hopes this would give my system the impetus to want to crawl back into bed and sleep like there is no tomorrow.
Maybe tomorrow, I will be a little calmer, more stable in my thinking patterns, more able to look at things and comprehend some base not yet covered that would help us resolve this issue in the required time.
Maybe I will find a part-time job I can manage. Better yet, maybe that winning powerball lottery ticket will be mine.
Or best of all, maybe, just maybe, I will locate my compass again and get back from being lost in this forest and swamp that right now constitutes my mind!
One thing at a time here though and right now, that one thing calling is sleep. So I think I'll go see how much good that does me tonight! Cross your fingers, say a prayer, get out the salt and a rabbit's foot, light tons of white light candles to send their vibes my way!
Best of all though - let's pray!
The compass I am referring to is the one that for quite some time now has been operating very nicely inside me, giving me my sense of humor again, showing me that I still have logic skills to call on and put to good use, and that compass that for many months now has kept me focused in a way that it didn't even cross my mind to want to go find a very secluded place - a nice little corner - where, out of sight from everyone else around me, away from the terrible thoughts and worries crossing my mind, I could sit and pull my hair out, one strand at a time and just cry.
Over the past 10-12 years, those feelings have frequently been a part of my composition. It became second nature most of the time to see only negativity and to moan and wail and thrash about because of all the worries and fears I had operating then.
The last time I was that depressed was four years ago when I had just been fired - about 3 1/2 weeks before Christmas and after only seven weeks on the job, as a staff writer for the local daily newspaper.
I knew going into that job - as did the management and my supervisor - that I was totally an untrained entity in the journalistic world. My only expertise in writing had consisted of the terms papers I did in college and a couple of letters to the editor I had from time to time submitted and which were published. A far cry from knowing anything about what it takes, what is involved, in trying to attend a township meeting - something I had done only one time before in my 50 plus years at that time - and take notes which I could later transpose into a good, readable text for the next day's copy at the paper. Two weeks before I was canned, I was called into a meeting with my supervisor and the editor and told there were problems with my work, with my writing and it was because I consistently wrote in the passive tense and they wanted - no required - the pieces be done in active tense.
I was lost! Had no clue as to what this meant. Active, passive. smasive - what did all that mean? They tried to give me examples and I thought I understood a little of what they meant but I knew I was far from being totally comprehending of this task to change my style. But, apparently they saw no improvement in my work and yes, they fired me.
I spent the full month of December and most of January at that time, curled up on the sofa, covered in a blanket, alternating between feeling like crying and just laying there sobbing, usually managing to keep the sobbing shoved down till well after my daughter and son-in-law had gone to bed. The dog we had then, good old Hercules, seemed to be the only thing in the house who had a clue of how dire my need was to feel comfort from some living, breathing thing - even if it was just a rambunctious little old mutt who would jump up on me on the couch, snuggle beside me and just stay there as if to say to me, "I understand; I'm here and I love you. Isn't that enough?"
It took two things to lift me out of that quandry that winter. One was sending a small essay I had initially written for the paper, but which my supervisor had poo-pooed as being trite and certainly none of that paper's astute readership would have a lick of interest in that piece, and I had sent it to the editor of a magazine called "State College" for their perusal. To my shock, the editor had almost immediately written back that she liked it and wanted to use it in their March edition. Needless to say, that tiny bit of acceptance did a heck of a lot to bolster my self-esteem.
The second thing that happened to me was I made an appointment with a counselor at the Vocational Rehabilitation Office to see if through them, I could get some medical care I felt I needed in order to be a viable employee again. Two doctor appointments later and a colonoscopy and I learned I had colo-rectal cancer and boy, if I thought my world had been turned upside down when I was fired, this turned it upside down a couple times and inside out too - again and again -in a matter of about 4 hours!
After an immediate emergency appointment at the local assistance office and signing away any further unemployment checks, making arrangements to cash in what little money was accumumlated in my life insurance policy and applying to cash in on an even smaller IRA through Penn State - all of $700 dollars for which I had to lose $200 in penalties for early cash-in, at least I knew I could get the medical care necessary to tackle the cancer.
It was at that point in my life that my outlook changed and stayed on a fairly positive note for a long time. Chemo, radiation, surgery followed by more chemo was the game plan laid out for me. And for the most part, it all followed suit with one small glitch. About 2-3 weeks after the surgery, for some unknown reason, I began to have excruciating pains in my left buttocks region - starting at the backbone, fanning out across the cheek and ending at the leg-hip joint. Several tests later, it was determined I had do herniated discs in my lower back and that necessitated heavy-duty physical therapy for the next 3-5 months before I could walk, sit, even sleep with any degree of comfort.
Those issues, the back and the cancer, all led to my applying for social security disability and 18 months after my diagnosis, I was one of the very lucky ones who was approved for disability. There was no way I could possibly return to any type of work of the nature where the bulk of my experience had been - mainly food service -so, at age 59, I was washed up in the employment arena.
Since then, I have discovered I like to write. I even found a small local newsletter that is supposed to be a monthly publication but because the editor/publisher is, as I like to joke and say, even more disorganized and much better than I am at procrastination, which explains why she and I get along quite well together in her endeavor to get the paper out and mine, to try to put together little pieces that the locals here would enjoy reading. It's a gratis venture too for me as she is not in any financial picture to pay me at this time - hasn't been able to pay anything for the past 18 months for that matter. And, as long as things were running pretty good at home, it wasn't all that much of a necessity for me to get paid for my writing either. The joy of putting thoughts together in printed form and having people come up to me on the street, in the stores, at church and tell me they had read this or that piece I had done and they liked it. Everyone likes compliments from time to time, and even if I had been severely depressed then, I could appreciate those words very much.
But last night, my bubble really broke - again - after four years (almost) of being on my own little happy cloud. I got a phone call - second one this week - from the collection agency for the mortgage company who holds the deed to my house and to whom I owe a bunch of money after seven years of their mortage which at over 11 percent interest rate means I've actually only paid about $200 towards the principal of this thirty year debt! The only way this thing will be paid off will be when I croak!
It seems my daughter had not made a mortgage payment for three months and a fourth payment is coming due on January 1st and how would I like to make arrangements to bring this payment "au currant" the lady asked. I was dumbfounded. I knew my daughter had been behind in the payment about 2 months ago but since she hadn't mentioned it lately, I was under the impression the only bill we were behind on now was last year's oil bill. WRONG! Seems we now need to acquire about $1,500 big ones between now and January 1st in order to start anew for 2007.
I don't know about anyone else, but I sure as hell don't have an extra $1,500 laying about anywhere, nor do I have parents, siblings - heck not even kids - who are in a position to come to my rescue with a small business loan!
At the request of the lady who had reached me on the phone, I sat down and listed all our monthly expenses as well as our combined monthly income and the breakdown was such that - without allowing for any emergency expenses, such as something the 15-year-old stepgranddaughter might need at school, clothes, the least little thing that would provide some type of respite and discontinuing having the subsidized day care for the two little ones here, we would have a total of $59 a month left over and that was all contingent on no one using more than the allotted amounts for gas for the cars or food expenditures either!
I wasn't surprised then when the lady on the phone told me that because of our income and bill levels, she couldn't offer us any type of alternative payment method to try to bring our account up to par either. She did however give me three phone numbers I could try to see if any of these places could offer any type of assistance.
I called all three numbers today and learned that United Way is in the process of administering severe cutbacks to any social service agencies they assist, Salvation Army had no one available to talk to me so I left my name and number there and the HUD Housing number I contacted said until we receive an Act 91 letter of forclosure, there is nothing they can try to do to help us either. And even then, all they do is assist with filling out the application and to guide people through the process which, if they are among the lucky ones, they can get their mortgage refinanced at a better interest rate and it will be a guaranteed loan too with whatever bank might pick it up.
So, as it stands right now, it looks like the ACT 91 letter may most likely be in the mail come January 2nd and we can look at filing an application for that program. Whether or not we will get the assistance needed - or win the lottery - make that the POWERBALL one to boot - in the meantime, the possibility that after 103 years, this old house might be on the market and my daughter, son-in-law and the three kids living here plus me - the oldster of the pack - may just be out on the streets looking for some kind of cheap house to rent.
And, as anyone across the country looking for affordable housing today can tell you, finding that entity is virtually impossible! My son-in-law thinks our mortgage, which runs $408 a month now, is ridiculously high but he has absolutely no clue how much rentals are going for - even out in this region of the absolute boondocks of central Pennsylvania.
Today, I was so worked up, nervous, edgy, miserable, bitching, on the verge of tears at the drop of a hat, that I actually dipped into a little prescription my doctor gave me about 2 1/2 months ago when I was horribly on edge because of recent health issues and determinations. I took a Xanax tablet! It pretty much knocked me out for about 3 hours of sleep so sound that I didn't even hear the noises of 5 children racing around the house in celebration of the step-granddaughter's 15th birthday.
But when I got up from that nap, I was getting edgy and really grumpy and upset all again, plus the damned shingles were doing the rat-a-tap-tap jackhammer action on my right side and so, about midnight, I ingested yet another xanax along with one of my lortab pain pills in the hopes this would give my system the impetus to want to crawl back into bed and sleep like there is no tomorrow.
Maybe tomorrow, I will be a little calmer, more stable in my thinking patterns, more able to look at things and comprehend some base not yet covered that would help us resolve this issue in the required time.
Maybe I will find a part-time job I can manage. Better yet, maybe that winning powerball lottery ticket will be mine.
Or best of all, maybe, just maybe, I will locate my compass again and get back from being lost in this forest and swamp that right now constitutes my mind!
One thing at a time here though and right now, that one thing calling is sleep. So I think I'll go see how much good that does me tonight! Cross your fingers, say a prayer, get out the salt and a rabbit's foot, light tons of white light candles to send their vibes my way!
Best of all though - let's pray!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
A New Addition
I decided today to add a new item to my favorites list. This one is actually a website, not really a blog, but it's one of my favorite places to visit - both online and when the opportunity presents, in person too.
What trace remnants are left of this former prosperous coal mining town are located about a mile and a half from my house. It was to this little place that my great-grandparents, my grandfather and at least five of his siblings migrated in 1884. The town they left behind, McIntyre, PA, located in Lycoming County of Central Pennsylvania is also a ghost town and has been for many years too.
The gentleman who started this website is a professor at a college in northwestern Ohio and between his teaching, research for his job and trying to be a good husband and father to two little ones, he has found it very difficult to keep up with information and changes that need made from time to time with the website. So, he is looking for someone to take it over, "run it" so to speak and I might be doing that in the near future. But, we have to determine first if he can give me a crash course in website information plus I will most like need to add space to my computer with a massive upgrade, add some software to it as well and then see if I can actually handle the job. Cross your fingers that this idea/plan will work because I would hate to see it go to the great Cyberspace cemetery where ever that may be!
The research I have mentioned from time to time in the Writers Life Group as well as in my blogs has to do with reading old newspaper issues from the local daily paper here (accessed through the historic newspaper data base with Ancestry.com) and transcribing items about Peale and other villages in the township, events of the date I am reading about along with including data on the residents at that time.
Remember the game that was popular a few years back - Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon - or is it Five Degrees TO Kevin Bacon - not sure which there right now - but it is my theory that many people who came to Peale, were born and raised there and then migrated to other points across the country now have descendants who could be classified as being X-degrees From Kevin Bacon type people, except in this case it would be X-Degrees from Peale!
Because I have roots in my family to Peale, to McIntyre, PA and also to another ghost town here in Clearfield County (Gazzam), studying these places, learning about the towns themselves as well as who lived there over the years, is a fascinating part of my history and that of many, many others too!
I've written several articles about this town and events around it over the past two years and am hoping to compile some more in the near future.
But for now, I just wanted to share this particular interest of mine and show you what there is currently available on the web about Peale - a beautiful little ghost town that was once a major hub in this region.
Check it out - it's the second link on my favorites list. Let me know if you too don't find it just a good bit on the fascinating side!
What trace remnants are left of this former prosperous coal mining town are located about a mile and a half from my house. It was to this little place that my great-grandparents, my grandfather and at least five of his siblings migrated in 1884. The town they left behind, McIntyre, PA, located in Lycoming County of Central Pennsylvania is also a ghost town and has been for many years too.
The gentleman who started this website is a professor at a college in northwestern Ohio and between his teaching, research for his job and trying to be a good husband and father to two little ones, he has found it very difficult to keep up with information and changes that need made from time to time with the website. So, he is looking for someone to take it over, "run it" so to speak and I might be doing that in the near future. But, we have to determine first if he can give me a crash course in website information plus I will most like need to add space to my computer with a massive upgrade, add some software to it as well and then see if I can actually handle the job. Cross your fingers that this idea/plan will work because I would hate to see it go to the great Cyberspace cemetery where ever that may be!
The research I have mentioned from time to time in the Writers Life Group as well as in my blogs has to do with reading old newspaper issues from the local daily paper here (accessed through the historic newspaper data base with Ancestry.com) and transcribing items about Peale and other villages in the township, events of the date I am reading about along with including data on the residents at that time.
Remember the game that was popular a few years back - Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon - or is it Five Degrees TO Kevin Bacon - not sure which there right now - but it is my theory that many people who came to Peale, were born and raised there and then migrated to other points across the country now have descendants who could be classified as being X-degrees From Kevin Bacon type people, except in this case it would be X-Degrees from Peale!
Because I have roots in my family to Peale, to McIntyre, PA and also to another ghost town here in Clearfield County (Gazzam), studying these places, learning about the towns themselves as well as who lived there over the years, is a fascinating part of my history and that of many, many others too!
I've written several articles about this town and events around it over the past two years and am hoping to compile some more in the near future.
But for now, I just wanted to share this particular interest of mine and show you what there is currently available on the web about Peale - a beautiful little ghost town that was once a major hub in this region.
Check it out - it's the second link on my favorites list. Let me know if you too don't find it just a good bit on the fascinating side!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Too Soon To Tell!
Having been rudely awakened this morning at about 5:45 a.m. by what felt like someone ramming a jackhammer against by right side, I knew it was necessary to "rise and shine" and go take a pain pill!
The "jackhammer" affect stems from the stupid shingles I've been dealing with since the end of August now and trust me when I tell you this much, it's something that is getting old, very, very old now. And, with that in mind, please dear shingles, you have completely overstayed your visit in my old body! Cease and desist, go away, leave me alone and furthermore, don't bother coming back for a rerun visit!
Sure do wish these suckers would go away with a couple of verbal commands or waving a magic wand or even by taking a few pills.
Which reminds me, I just took another pain pill about 1/2 hour ago and although it isn't making the pain disappear, it has done enough work to make me groggy. Well, that combined with the bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats I ate and having been awake since 5:45 a.m.
Oh, and did I say I got up at 5:45 a.m.? Just checking there cause my system is much more inclined to be settling down, snuggling in to go to sleep, not getting up at that ungodly hour.
And now, I think I'll retire for a short mid-winter nap. Sounds like a darned good game plan to me and who knows, maybe when I wake up from that I will have at least a little bit of a clue as to what to do today!
In an hour or two - maybe more - my system might have made some decisions for me. But for now, just let me nap a while.
OK?
The "jackhammer" affect stems from the stupid shingles I've been dealing with since the end of August now and trust me when I tell you this much, it's something that is getting old, very, very old now. And, with that in mind, please dear shingles, you have completely overstayed your visit in my old body! Cease and desist, go away, leave me alone and furthermore, don't bother coming back for a rerun visit!
Sure do wish these suckers would go away with a couple of verbal commands or waving a magic wand or even by taking a few pills.
Which reminds me, I just took another pain pill about 1/2 hour ago and although it isn't making the pain disappear, it has done enough work to make me groggy. Well, that combined with the bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats I ate and having been awake since 5:45 a.m.
Oh, and did I say I got up at 5:45 a.m.? Just checking there cause my system is much more inclined to be settling down, snuggling in to go to sleep, not getting up at that ungodly hour.
And now, I think I'll retire for a short mid-winter nap. Sounds like a darned good game plan to me and who knows, maybe when I wake up from that I will have at least a little bit of a clue as to what to do today!
In an hour or two - maybe more - my system might have made some decisions for me. But for now, just let me nap a while.
OK?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Looking For Leads!
As some of you who read my blog already know, I write articles from time to time for a very small, local "monthly" newsletter. (I put the monthly in quotation marks because sometimes it comes out fairly regularly - every month - and then, there may be some blank months when it doesn't appear.)
But anyway, I'm posting this now as a request for help from any of my readers who feel so inclined to offer up some information for me.
I'm currently working on an article for the next issue of this publication and the topic is New Year's Eve/New Year's Day celebrations.
What I'd like here is if anyone would be willing to share with me how you celebrate either the bringing in of the New Year or New Year's Day. What activities do you generally have for your mode of celebration, special foods, community activities to where you live now or where you used to live or any ethnic traditional events or foods that you would like to share that I can incorporate in this article.
I'd like to show different ways people across the country ring in the New Year - not just report on how folks in this region usually spend the holiday - and thus, give people a broader perspective, perhaps give people new, interesting ideas about New Year's Eve, New Year's Day activities.
Anyone interested?
If so - either post to my blog or e-mail me (jenniferertmer@peoplepc.com) and please state your name and location (city/state or country) and whether or not I can quote you directly or indirectly in my article.
Any help you can give me in this project will be greatly appreciated! And who knows, maybe even a subscriber clear across the country will see your name and realize that he/she knows you but had no clue that you in turn, know me!
Now - how's that for an angle too? A way to meet new friends that way maybe?
But anyway, I'm posting this now as a request for help from any of my readers who feel so inclined to offer up some information for me.
I'm currently working on an article for the next issue of this publication and the topic is New Year's Eve/New Year's Day celebrations.
What I'd like here is if anyone would be willing to share with me how you celebrate either the bringing in of the New Year or New Year's Day. What activities do you generally have for your mode of celebration, special foods, community activities to where you live now or where you used to live or any ethnic traditional events or foods that you would like to share that I can incorporate in this article.
I'd like to show different ways people across the country ring in the New Year - not just report on how folks in this region usually spend the holiday - and thus, give people a broader perspective, perhaps give people new, interesting ideas about New Year's Eve, New Year's Day activities.
Anyone interested?
If so - either post to my blog or e-mail me (jenniferertmer@peoplepc.com) and please state your name and location (city/state or country) and whether or not I can quote you directly or indirectly in my article.
Any help you can give me in this project will be greatly appreciated! And who knows, maybe even a subscriber clear across the country will see your name and realize that he/she knows you but had no clue that you in turn, know me!
Now - how's that for an angle too? A way to meet new friends that way maybe?
The Week Ahead!
My son was home for roughly 36 hours - his big time off! He left about 2 p.m. today to return to driving the highways as they criss-cross across this nation in a big rig. He just completed truck driver training about 3 weeks ago and was hired immediately and last week was his first week on-the-job.
I miss not having him near-by daily but I am so happy for him that he found this job. I'm happy that yes, simply put, he is employed again. A big relief with so many around not just this area but all over the country who can't find even sub-standard employment. A very big relief that he got THIS job and it pays quite well so maybe he will be able to finally get himself on a decent financial ground for a change! And the best part of this job - for him and for me - is that he likes it. He REALLY LIKES it! That aspect of any employment - one that people often overlook and opt for a well-paying job that they hate at times and fail to see the forest for the trees that work like that can do more harm than all the big wages in the world may help!
A prime example of that would be my son-in-law here. He has a job now that he likes but, as is the case all too often too, the pay is not bad but still not really enough to provide a means for him and my daughter to get the stability they need financially. So now, because my son got this better paying job driving tractor trailer, my son-in-law is talking about how he would like to get a job doing that too. How, he would fare so much better if he would/could do that and if my son's employer is considering putting someone on there, part-time even, he will go try to take the CDL driver's test and get hired driving big rigs too with my son.
Now, on the surface, to him this sounds like an excellent solution. To my daughter, his wife, and to me, it is pure and utter nonsense!
Two years ago, he quit a job he'd held for about 7-8 years as a mechanic to take a position as a laborer with a local coal/construction type firm that paid very well. The drawback to that job was that it was seasonal - lasting from about April thru November and unemployed over the winter months plus, there was no insurance for medical care and with a wife and five children in all, medical expenses without that commodity can keep your potential for any net gains to an absolute minimum, if any at all.
So, he quit that job and returned to the old postition of mechanic but was very disgruntled to be back at that job because of the methodology of the shop supervisor/owner and he found the job he now has, as a mechanic, but in a place where he likes the actual work better. The drawback here - to him - is this job pays less than did the previous job as a mechanic thus making that dream of some type of financial stability that much more difficult for him and my daughter.
Ok, so he now thinks this truck driving possibility would be the best thing for him since sliced bread, but he's dead wrong there. You see, he HATES to drive for openers, plus he is completely unfamiliar with ANY big city traffic, dislikes traffic in general and city or rush hour traffic, he abhors. So, how would this job be a good thing then for him when it would make him more and more miserable in the end over his predicament! If he enjoyed any form of driving at all - which my son does like - maybe it would work for him. But considering his base attitude about driving, travel, traffic and all those components rolled together, the finanicial aspect that might improve slightly would not be strong enough to off-set the migraine headaches he would be getting on a really strong and constant basis nor would it help with his qualms about being away from his wife for any length of time either. Because his first wife ran around on him, he does have a tendancy to worry that my daughter will do the same - not to a really bad point there in the jealousy things that can erupt from things like that, but you can tell this is still something that creeps into the back of his mind, nonetheless.
Which avenue would you try if you had a choice about employmen and wages: increased earnings and a job you really didn't like, or liking a job and making do with the earnings?
I miss not having him near-by daily but I am so happy for him that he found this job. I'm happy that yes, simply put, he is employed again. A big relief with so many around not just this area but all over the country who can't find even sub-standard employment. A very big relief that he got THIS job and it pays quite well so maybe he will be able to finally get himself on a decent financial ground for a change! And the best part of this job - for him and for me - is that he likes it. He REALLY LIKES it! That aspect of any employment - one that people often overlook and opt for a well-paying job that they hate at times and fail to see the forest for the trees that work like that can do more harm than all the big wages in the world may help!
A prime example of that would be my son-in-law here. He has a job now that he likes but, as is the case all too often too, the pay is not bad but still not really enough to provide a means for him and my daughter to get the stability they need financially. So now, because my son got this better paying job driving tractor trailer, my son-in-law is talking about how he would like to get a job doing that too. How, he would fare so much better if he would/could do that and if my son's employer is considering putting someone on there, part-time even, he will go try to take the CDL driver's test and get hired driving big rigs too with my son.
Now, on the surface, to him this sounds like an excellent solution. To my daughter, his wife, and to me, it is pure and utter nonsense!
Two years ago, he quit a job he'd held for about 7-8 years as a mechanic to take a position as a laborer with a local coal/construction type firm that paid very well. The drawback to that job was that it was seasonal - lasting from about April thru November and unemployed over the winter months plus, there was no insurance for medical care and with a wife and five children in all, medical expenses without that commodity can keep your potential for any net gains to an absolute minimum, if any at all.
So, he quit that job and returned to the old postition of mechanic but was very disgruntled to be back at that job because of the methodology of the shop supervisor/owner and he found the job he now has, as a mechanic, but in a place where he likes the actual work better. The drawback here - to him - is this job pays less than did the previous job as a mechanic thus making that dream of some type of financial stability that much more difficult for him and my daughter.
Ok, so he now thinks this truck driving possibility would be the best thing for him since sliced bread, but he's dead wrong there. You see, he HATES to drive for openers, plus he is completely unfamiliar with ANY big city traffic, dislikes traffic in general and city or rush hour traffic, he abhors. So, how would this job be a good thing then for him when it would make him more and more miserable in the end over his predicament! If he enjoyed any form of driving at all - which my son does like - maybe it would work for him. But considering his base attitude about driving, travel, traffic and all those components rolled together, the finanicial aspect that might improve slightly would not be strong enough to off-set the migraine headaches he would be getting on a really strong and constant basis nor would it help with his qualms about being away from his wife for any length of time either. Because his first wife ran around on him, he does have a tendancy to worry that my daughter will do the same - not to a really bad point there in the jealousy things that can erupt from things like that, but you can tell this is still something that creeps into the back of his mind, nonetheless.
Which avenue would you try if you had a choice about employmen and wages: increased earnings and a job you really didn't like, or liking a job and making do with the earnings?
Getting An Early Start
Ask anyone who knows me really well - family, some of my close friends and neighbors - and they'll attest to this. I am a Night Owl! In my mother's family, this is considered to be a family trait as many of us from the good old Eld family clan, have a propensity to staying up very late, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. There are many times when I am going to bed when others are getting up to start their day. This ability or love for staying up all night or maybe just not liking getting up at terrible hours -like say, 5 or 6 a.m. is what enabled me to survive working the graveyard shift at a nearby truckstop for several years!
This past Saturday night was one of those "all-nighter" type events for me. It was about 5 a.m. when I finally decided to shut everything off and crawl into bed.
What possessed me to stay up that late? I decided about 11 p.m. to work on the 4 remaining bibs I had cut out to make for little gifts for my two youngest grandchildren. After getting them completed, I then decided to experiment with a pattern I have had for quite a while but never got around to using it and I cut out and made a little fleece type sweatshirt for my grandson, Kurtis - who will be 8-months old this coming Wednesday - December 13th. It turned out really cute and Mandy, his mother, liked it. So, at least I know -provided it fits him ok - she will wear it on him.
After that, I cut out and almost finished a pair of corduroy coveralls for my granddaughter, Maya. She's the three-year-old who really keeps me - and everyone else here too - on their toes, getting into more mischief at times than I care to think about! I used a dark blue corduroy for these coveralls - not a bright royal blue, not a really dark navy blue, not sure what color this blue would be called - maybe "periwinkle" - but anyway, what I have completed thus far of this project, it looks like they will be a nice item for her wardrobe. I have a piece of knit fabric - a blue floral design - that I thought would coordinate nicely with this color of blue, but Mandy voted that fabric down. She isn't really into "floral" designs, or so she says now! I do have another piece of knit fabric though which is also sort of a floral type, but it is a combination of hearts and flowers on a white background and I noticed the blue flowers in this material will match up nicely to the blue corduroy, so looks like Miss Maya will be getting a turtleneck out of that fabric now too!
The dinner at our church tonight and program was very nice although the attendance this year was down a good bit from what it generally is. I don't know why this would be since the weather today was fine - unlike some years when we had so much snow the weekend of the dinner/program that we had to cancel it completely! That happened the year my daughter, Mandy, was scheduled to have her day in the sun as St. Lucia and she was really upset - quite hurt, thinking she wouldn't get to wear the wreath of candles on her head, serve the little St. Lucia buns and spend the rest of the week getting all the wax out of her hair too! Lucky for her, at that time, we didn't have an abundance of young girls in her age range, so they allowed her to be St. Lucia the following year!
We were concerned about the church event today though with respect to Maya as she has had an "attitude" about going into the church for several months now - dating clear back to May of this year! We have two services here - on at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and the Sunday service at 9:30 a.m. - which often is difficult for me to get my old self up and out of bed and ready to make it there at such an EARLY hour! The Thursday night service is no easy thing for me to manage either because often, due to Mandy and/or Bill's work schedules, we are just getting ready to have supper then. And, I hate to serve several different meals - getting it all ready to put on the table for one family meal can be hard enough at times!
But, one Thursday evening, the stars, moon and sun all aligned, Mandy didn't have work that night so we loaded the two little ones into the car and headed out to church.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Maya began to throw a hissy fit - crying, then screaming. We got her out of the car, semi-settled her down and headed for the main entrance and she no more than set foot inside the narthex, but what she sat down in the middle of the floor there and really - and I do mean REALLY - pitched a royal fit then! Screaming and shrieking, she just about scared the living daylights out of one lady from our church. I swear I saw her jump about 3 inches off the floor as Maya let out one of the blood-curdling shrieks of which she is noted for around the house!! There was not getting her to calm down so Mandy took her home and left me there, with Kurtis, telling me she would return in about an hour to pick us up!
In early July, the day we had Kurtis baptized, Maya did a re-run of the screaming meemies and as a result, I spent the entire service between sitting out beyond the glass windows at the back of the church, on a bench in the narthex or out walking around the parking lot with her! And she sobbed or screamed for most of the entire time of that service! When it came time to take communion, Mandy had gone up to the altar and after she was finished, she came out and held Maya then for a few minutes so I could partake of communion too. And then, back to the narthex to hold and rock Maya and try to keep the decibel level as low as possible till the end of the service.
After the service was over though, she was fine - running around the narthex, being nice and friendly to folks we hadn't seen in a while and generally, happy! Go figure!
But tonight, although she started to fuss slightly when they first got to the parking lot, by the time they got her inside, she was fine. Sat in a high chair at the dining table where her Mom, Dad and Uncle Clayton and I were seated, ate fairly well, and seemed to enjoy the program and music too! She was fine with all the church members who came by and paid attention to her - even showing off a little of the latest things she has learned - "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star" as well as showing off how she can sing "Happy Birthday" and now, "Jingle Bells" which I just started teaching her that one this past week! Too cute. Her way of saying Jingle Bells sounds like "Jingy Beh, Jingy Beh" but she is enjoying learning the words - as well as trying to do the melody - and it is such fun for us to help her learn these things!
This year, Leah Lawrence, was our St. Lucia - last year, it was Alina Bumbarger, my next-door neighbor's daughter. Both girls are very pretty young ladies in all respects - attractive as well as being very nice kids too! Maya's big sister, Kate, was an attendant in the St. Lucia Court again - as were the other two children, Sierra and Shane - and Maya was thrilled watching them in the procession, each carrying a lit candle before St. Lucia entered the room. If all goes well, probably two years from now, Katie will have her turn at St. Lucia - as next year, it will be Katie Hulett's turn. That Katie's mother (Karen) is the same age as my older daughter, Carrie, and she is the granddaughter of my best friend here - Kate - who I wrote about two months or so in my blog.
My son got his first week of work as a long-haul truck driver in. He left Tuesday afternoon, got home about 4 am. Sunday morning and while he was out on the road, he drove from Harrisburg to Atlanta, then to Fort Worth, from there to Hagerstown, MD, then to Nashville or Knoxville - not sure which, but someplace in Tennessee and then, back home! He is really happy he says with the new job - enjoys the driving and also, being able to see so much of the country while getting paid! A good bonus there! He'll be leaving again Monday afternoon now and I will most likely have to drive him over to Clearfield to meet up with his co-driver and who knows what sights he will see this week then!
I'm hoping too after I take him to Clearfield - since I am finally allowed to drive again - that I will be able to stop at the nursing home there and visit with my Aunt and her daughter for a little while. I haven't had a chance to get over there since around the beginning of October and I suppose by now, she probably thinks I have forgotten about her and my cousin completely! Since she has no phone in their room, family and friends can't call her to talk to her - which to me, would be a good thing if my cousin who has power of attorney for her would see to it that they have a phone in their room. But, it's not my decision to make there so will have to deal with things as best we can then.
Since my lovely shingles - that I acquired across the right side of my back and around the right front of my body back at the end of August - are still with me, still pinching like crazy some days too, have been acting up a lot more again with the pain issues, I took a pain pill around 1 a.m. in the hopes it would make me drowsy enough to fall back asleep and I can now feel that the pill is finally starting to kick in! Only took it about two hours to begin to work there! So, I think I will head to bed now.
But it's an early time for me to retire - only about 3:30 a.m.!
But, I did get a "jump" on things - got at least one post entered here for today now. Look what my early riser readers have already and waiting for them today!
Nite, now!
This past Saturday night was one of those "all-nighter" type events for me. It was about 5 a.m. when I finally decided to shut everything off and crawl into bed.
What possessed me to stay up that late? I decided about 11 p.m. to work on the 4 remaining bibs I had cut out to make for little gifts for my two youngest grandchildren. After getting them completed, I then decided to experiment with a pattern I have had for quite a while but never got around to using it and I cut out and made a little fleece type sweatshirt for my grandson, Kurtis - who will be 8-months old this coming Wednesday - December 13th. It turned out really cute and Mandy, his mother, liked it. So, at least I know -provided it fits him ok - she will wear it on him.
After that, I cut out and almost finished a pair of corduroy coveralls for my granddaughter, Maya. She's the three-year-old who really keeps me - and everyone else here too - on their toes, getting into more mischief at times than I care to think about! I used a dark blue corduroy for these coveralls - not a bright royal blue, not a really dark navy blue, not sure what color this blue would be called - maybe "periwinkle" - but anyway, what I have completed thus far of this project, it looks like they will be a nice item for her wardrobe. I have a piece of knit fabric - a blue floral design - that I thought would coordinate nicely with this color of blue, but Mandy voted that fabric down. She isn't really into "floral" designs, or so she says now! I do have another piece of knit fabric though which is also sort of a floral type, but it is a combination of hearts and flowers on a white background and I noticed the blue flowers in this material will match up nicely to the blue corduroy, so looks like Miss Maya will be getting a turtleneck out of that fabric now too!
The dinner at our church tonight and program was very nice although the attendance this year was down a good bit from what it generally is. I don't know why this would be since the weather today was fine - unlike some years when we had so much snow the weekend of the dinner/program that we had to cancel it completely! That happened the year my daughter, Mandy, was scheduled to have her day in the sun as St. Lucia and she was really upset - quite hurt, thinking she wouldn't get to wear the wreath of candles on her head, serve the little St. Lucia buns and spend the rest of the week getting all the wax out of her hair too! Lucky for her, at that time, we didn't have an abundance of young girls in her age range, so they allowed her to be St. Lucia the following year!
We were concerned about the church event today though with respect to Maya as she has had an "attitude" about going into the church for several months now - dating clear back to May of this year! We have two services here - on at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and the Sunday service at 9:30 a.m. - which often is difficult for me to get my old self up and out of bed and ready to make it there at such an EARLY hour! The Thursday night service is no easy thing for me to manage either because often, due to Mandy and/or Bill's work schedules, we are just getting ready to have supper then. And, I hate to serve several different meals - getting it all ready to put on the table for one family meal can be hard enough at times!
But, one Thursday evening, the stars, moon and sun all aligned, Mandy didn't have work that night so we loaded the two little ones into the car and headed out to church.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Maya began to throw a hissy fit - crying, then screaming. We got her out of the car, semi-settled her down and headed for the main entrance and she no more than set foot inside the narthex, but what she sat down in the middle of the floor there and really - and I do mean REALLY - pitched a royal fit then! Screaming and shrieking, she just about scared the living daylights out of one lady from our church. I swear I saw her jump about 3 inches off the floor as Maya let out one of the blood-curdling shrieks of which she is noted for around the house!! There was not getting her to calm down so Mandy took her home and left me there, with Kurtis, telling me she would return in about an hour to pick us up!
In early July, the day we had Kurtis baptized, Maya did a re-run of the screaming meemies and as a result, I spent the entire service between sitting out beyond the glass windows at the back of the church, on a bench in the narthex or out walking around the parking lot with her! And she sobbed or screamed for most of the entire time of that service! When it came time to take communion, Mandy had gone up to the altar and after she was finished, she came out and held Maya then for a few minutes so I could partake of communion too. And then, back to the narthex to hold and rock Maya and try to keep the decibel level as low as possible till the end of the service.
After the service was over though, she was fine - running around the narthex, being nice and friendly to folks we hadn't seen in a while and generally, happy! Go figure!
But tonight, although she started to fuss slightly when they first got to the parking lot, by the time they got her inside, she was fine. Sat in a high chair at the dining table where her Mom, Dad and Uncle Clayton and I were seated, ate fairly well, and seemed to enjoy the program and music too! She was fine with all the church members who came by and paid attention to her - even showing off a little of the latest things she has learned - "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star" as well as showing off how she can sing "Happy Birthday" and now, "Jingle Bells" which I just started teaching her that one this past week! Too cute. Her way of saying Jingle Bells sounds like "Jingy Beh, Jingy Beh" but she is enjoying learning the words - as well as trying to do the melody - and it is such fun for us to help her learn these things!
This year, Leah Lawrence, was our St. Lucia - last year, it was Alina Bumbarger, my next-door neighbor's daughter. Both girls are very pretty young ladies in all respects - attractive as well as being very nice kids too! Maya's big sister, Kate, was an attendant in the St. Lucia Court again - as were the other two children, Sierra and Shane - and Maya was thrilled watching them in the procession, each carrying a lit candle before St. Lucia entered the room. If all goes well, probably two years from now, Katie will have her turn at St. Lucia - as next year, it will be Katie Hulett's turn. That Katie's mother (Karen) is the same age as my older daughter, Carrie, and she is the granddaughter of my best friend here - Kate - who I wrote about two months or so in my blog.
My son got his first week of work as a long-haul truck driver in. He left Tuesday afternoon, got home about 4 am. Sunday morning and while he was out on the road, he drove from Harrisburg to Atlanta, then to Fort Worth, from there to Hagerstown, MD, then to Nashville or Knoxville - not sure which, but someplace in Tennessee and then, back home! He is really happy he says with the new job - enjoys the driving and also, being able to see so much of the country while getting paid! A good bonus there! He'll be leaving again Monday afternoon now and I will most likely have to drive him over to Clearfield to meet up with his co-driver and who knows what sights he will see this week then!
I'm hoping too after I take him to Clearfield - since I am finally allowed to drive again - that I will be able to stop at the nursing home there and visit with my Aunt and her daughter for a little while. I haven't had a chance to get over there since around the beginning of October and I suppose by now, she probably thinks I have forgotten about her and my cousin completely! Since she has no phone in their room, family and friends can't call her to talk to her - which to me, would be a good thing if my cousin who has power of attorney for her would see to it that they have a phone in their room. But, it's not my decision to make there so will have to deal with things as best we can then.
Since my lovely shingles - that I acquired across the right side of my back and around the right front of my body back at the end of August - are still with me, still pinching like crazy some days too, have been acting up a lot more again with the pain issues, I took a pain pill around 1 a.m. in the hopes it would make me drowsy enough to fall back asleep and I can now feel that the pill is finally starting to kick in! Only took it about two hours to begin to work there! So, I think I will head to bed now.
But it's an early time for me to retire - only about 3:30 a.m.!
But, I did get a "jump" on things - got at least one post entered here for today now. Look what my early riser readers have already and waiting for them today!
Nite, now!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Festival of Light - in honor of St. Lucia
Tonight is the annual pot-luck supper, followed by a pageant honoring St. Lucia - patron saint of Sweden - at our church. This is also one of my favorite church-related events - topped only by Christmas, Easter and Reformation Sunday. (Being a "true blue Lutheran" explains my mentioning Reformation Sunday there. Of course, there are many who know me, from our parish no less, who probably would argue my assertion there as to being a "true blue Lutheran" because I am not among the faithful who manages to get to church every Sunday or for all the special services held throughout the year too, but whether they believe that comment or not, trust me, I hold the tenets of my faith deeply within me.
For those who have no clue about St. Lucia - and because I happen to thoroghly love this special celebration - I thought today it would be fitting to give a little information about her and why she is celebrated as a Saint.
I don't remember right now all the exact dates but will try to give you as clear a picture as possible with time approximates.
Way back around 300 A.D. - or thereabouts - Lucia was a young maiden in Italy who had been born into a well-to-do family and, was engaged to be married. She also, about that time, learned of Christianity, accepted it as her faith and gave of her wealth to the church community. This was also during the period when Christians were frequently persecuted, even slaughtered for their belief, and often, many hid in the deep, dark catacombs of Rome.
Lucia often took food and drink to these early Christians in hiding and to find her way through the catacombs, legend has it that she wore a wreath-type crown of candles on her head to provide light to find her way to bring aid and comfort to her fellow believers.
Her fiance was a non-believer and being upset for her giving freely of her wealth, to say nothing of her bringing sustenance to other Christians in hiding, he turned her in to the authorities and she was killed for her beliefs.
Many, many years later, when the missionaries first branched out to Sweden, Norway and other Scandanavian countries, the Vikings were quite taken by this story of the young maid who brought not only food, but light to her fellow Christians.
They likened the story of St. Lucia to a pagan belief pertaining to December 13th being the shortest day of the year, after which the sun's rays begin to stick around longer, providing more light, warmth, comfort to them and that, in a very small nutshell, is the basic story of St. Lucia.
When the Vikings compared her to the sun's rays, the coming of a new season, it is akin to the Christian beliefs that Christ's birth heralds the coming of a new season within us too - within the heart and mind - and St. Lucia brings the first light to remind us of the coming of Christmas - also a Festival of Light, if you will.
The Vikings then began to emulate St. Lucia by setting up a tradition with the ritual of having the oldest daughter in a household rise very early in the morning of December 13th to prepare a breakfast and beverages for her family. And, she served this meal to them while wearing a crown of candles to signify how St. Lucia also came to the early Christians, bringing them comfort and light for their way.
For the past 26 years now, our parish - which was founded by Swedish immigrants to this coal mining community in the mid-1880's - has chosen to honor St. Lucia on the first Sunday in December which falls closest to December 13th. For 2006, that would be today - December 10th.
We have a wonderful pot-luck dinner with church members bringing many delicious casseroles, breads and desserts and the church social room is decorated not just with a tree but with lovely small wooden Swedish candlestick holders on each table, including several large tree-shaped wooden Swedish candelabras on the large buffet table. There will be an abundance of other Swedish decorations around the social room as well to make it a warm, welcoming and truly lovely place.
After the dinner, we will have a pageant to re-tell the story of St. Lucia and one of the teenage girls from the congregation will be given the honor of portraying Lucia by her entrance into the dining room, wearing a crown of candles, and with her "court" in attendance. The court is made up of any of the younger members of the parish - boys and girls alike (the boys are called "star boys). They will enter the hall in a procession, led by the youngest of the children, each carrying a candle holder with one lit candle while the congregation sings the beautiful song "Santa Lucia."
It is just a beautiful program, to hear the story of St. Lucia retold each year and to watch as the young lady chosen to represent St. Lucia appears. It never ceases to bring tears to my eyes no matter how many times I see the pageant. Of course, the years when my daughters had the honor of portraying Lucia did make me a bit more weepy.
After the procession and St. Lucia's story has been presented, St. Lucia then carries a tray of "Lucia" buns - a specially made bread, formed into a croissant-like shape and flavored with saffron - and goes from table to table offering a Lucia bun to each person present.
This is followed by an old-fashioned Christmas carol sing-along and ends with any member who wishes to come forward - generally those who have at sometime or other belonged to the church choir and who know the Swedish Christmas carol - "Lyssna, Lyssna" which is then sung, always with great gusto!
Although I know the words to the closing song in Swedish, I can't put them in here mainly because I don't know the spelling or the proper placement of the little symbols over various vowels. And, I don't know the full English translation either, for that matter. But I do know what the first two lines mean in English: "Listen, listen, hear the angel's song."
When the choir sings that song as a call to worship at our Christmas Eve Candlight service, it will bring forth tears to me as it always does to hear the music, listen to the words and remember Christmases of my childhood when my Grandfather used to love to sing this particular carol. It was by far and away, his favorite as it is mine too.
But tonight, when we "old-timers" come forward to sing it, it will "rock" the room as the young people there might say. And, it is a fitting end to the program with much anticipation of a coming Day!
For those who have no clue about St. Lucia - and because I happen to thoroghly love this special celebration - I thought today it would be fitting to give a little information about her and why she is celebrated as a Saint.
I don't remember right now all the exact dates but will try to give you as clear a picture as possible with time approximates.
Way back around 300 A.D. - or thereabouts - Lucia was a young maiden in Italy who had been born into a well-to-do family and, was engaged to be married. She also, about that time, learned of Christianity, accepted it as her faith and gave of her wealth to the church community. This was also during the period when Christians were frequently persecuted, even slaughtered for their belief, and often, many hid in the deep, dark catacombs of Rome.
Lucia often took food and drink to these early Christians in hiding and to find her way through the catacombs, legend has it that she wore a wreath-type crown of candles on her head to provide light to find her way to bring aid and comfort to her fellow believers.
Her fiance was a non-believer and being upset for her giving freely of her wealth, to say nothing of her bringing sustenance to other Christians in hiding, he turned her in to the authorities and she was killed for her beliefs.
Many, many years later, when the missionaries first branched out to Sweden, Norway and other Scandanavian countries, the Vikings were quite taken by this story of the young maid who brought not only food, but light to her fellow Christians.
They likened the story of St. Lucia to a pagan belief pertaining to December 13th being the shortest day of the year, after which the sun's rays begin to stick around longer, providing more light, warmth, comfort to them and that, in a very small nutshell, is the basic story of St. Lucia.
When the Vikings compared her to the sun's rays, the coming of a new season, it is akin to the Christian beliefs that Christ's birth heralds the coming of a new season within us too - within the heart and mind - and St. Lucia brings the first light to remind us of the coming of Christmas - also a Festival of Light, if you will.
The Vikings then began to emulate St. Lucia by setting up a tradition with the ritual of having the oldest daughter in a household rise very early in the morning of December 13th to prepare a breakfast and beverages for her family. And, she served this meal to them while wearing a crown of candles to signify how St. Lucia also came to the early Christians, bringing them comfort and light for their way.
For the past 26 years now, our parish - which was founded by Swedish immigrants to this coal mining community in the mid-1880's - has chosen to honor St. Lucia on the first Sunday in December which falls closest to December 13th. For 2006, that would be today - December 10th.
We have a wonderful pot-luck dinner with church members bringing many delicious casseroles, breads and desserts and the church social room is decorated not just with a tree but with lovely small wooden Swedish candlestick holders on each table, including several large tree-shaped wooden Swedish candelabras on the large buffet table. There will be an abundance of other Swedish decorations around the social room as well to make it a warm, welcoming and truly lovely place.
After the dinner, we will have a pageant to re-tell the story of St. Lucia and one of the teenage girls from the congregation will be given the honor of portraying Lucia by her entrance into the dining room, wearing a crown of candles, and with her "court" in attendance. The court is made up of any of the younger members of the parish - boys and girls alike (the boys are called "star boys). They will enter the hall in a procession, led by the youngest of the children, each carrying a candle holder with one lit candle while the congregation sings the beautiful song "Santa Lucia."
It is just a beautiful program, to hear the story of St. Lucia retold each year and to watch as the young lady chosen to represent St. Lucia appears. It never ceases to bring tears to my eyes no matter how many times I see the pageant. Of course, the years when my daughters had the honor of portraying Lucia did make me a bit more weepy.
After the procession and St. Lucia's story has been presented, St. Lucia then carries a tray of "Lucia" buns - a specially made bread, formed into a croissant-like shape and flavored with saffron - and goes from table to table offering a Lucia bun to each person present.
This is followed by an old-fashioned Christmas carol sing-along and ends with any member who wishes to come forward - generally those who have at sometime or other belonged to the church choir and who know the Swedish Christmas carol - "Lyssna, Lyssna" which is then sung, always with great gusto!
Although I know the words to the closing song in Swedish, I can't put them in here mainly because I don't know the spelling or the proper placement of the little symbols over various vowels. And, I don't know the full English translation either, for that matter. But I do know what the first two lines mean in English: "Listen, listen, hear the angel's song."
When the choir sings that song as a call to worship at our Christmas Eve Candlight service, it will bring forth tears to me as it always does to hear the music, listen to the words and remember Christmases of my childhood when my Grandfather used to love to sing this particular carol. It was by far and away, his favorite as it is mine too.
But tonight, when we "old-timers" come forward to sing it, it will "rock" the room as the young people there might say. And, it is a fitting end to the program with much anticipation of a coming Day!
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Big Mistake!
After reading this, you'll know it's been quite a while since I've taken care of a 3-year-old. I've certainly forgotten the cardinal rule of child care pertaining to toddlers - never leave them unwatched for even a second!
No, Maya didn't do anything that was really dangerous to herself or the household, but it did disrupt me for a good bit.
We've been trying for well over a year here to work with her on a very important issue but I think it is probably more important to those of us here who are the "caretakers" than it is to her. Potty Training!
Yeah, that dreadful part of dealing with little ones, you know. And, considering the difficulties I had 30 plus years ago with my son, I should be more attentive to this, but today, I screwed up.
The potty chair Mandy bought about two years ago -in anticipation of this part of child-rearing - is one that doesn't have a strap of any type on it. Which, for Miss Maya, is a bad thing because getting her to sit still in one spot for even a minute, it next to impossible. Add to that, she has absolutely no interest whatsoever in this potty training thing and well, you can see this is a problem area.
Today, I hit on the idea of finding a way to keep her seated and allowing her to work on the business at hand. I took a belt from her sister, Kate, (age 15) and wound it through the handles of the potty chair, across Maya's legs and lap and buckled it in the back. No danger there to her and it was a good, effective way for me to keep her where I wanted her. I had her confined to the potty chair for almost three hours solid that way.
Now, to some, that may sound like torture, but she was perfectly content to sit there like that, in front of the tv watching the country music channel and the videos on there. And, as long as she wasn't objecting, neither was I and I decided I'd see if somewhere along the way, she would be compelled to do something.
And yes, she did! And yes, I was ecstatic! Almost jumping for joy, really. My gosh, she had finally actually whizzed in there for old grammy! I was praising her, clapping my hands, hollering Yay, yay and she was all smiles too at getting so much praise.
So where did I go wrong?
Well, her mother had gone into town to pick up some things we needed while I was cooking supper and I decided, in my infinite wisdom here, to put the potty chair, still containing this wonderful content, by my computer desk so when Mandy got back home, I could show her what a good little girl her daughter had been for me. And, after placing it there, I went back out to the kitchen to finish making my home-made noodle/dumplings for the ham & bean potpie I have been making all afternoon here.
Listening to Christmas music in the kitchen, rolling out the dough, happy as a lark, I was until I realized it was really quiet in the living room. And yes, I know that is a very bad sign with a toddler on the loose. And yes, it was a not-to-nice thing I discovered that Maya had done too.
There, spread across a good portion of the living room floor was this nice big old wet spot, the little green pot insert from the potty chair sitting right beside it and Miss Maya, who was seated beside this spreading liquid and merrily (but quietly) spreading it around, almost as if she were scrubbing the living room floor with it.
You can bet your bottom dollar, I'll not make that mistake again!
No, Maya didn't do anything that was really dangerous to herself or the household, but it did disrupt me for a good bit.
We've been trying for well over a year here to work with her on a very important issue but I think it is probably more important to those of us here who are the "caretakers" than it is to her. Potty Training!
Yeah, that dreadful part of dealing with little ones, you know. And, considering the difficulties I had 30 plus years ago with my son, I should be more attentive to this, but today, I screwed up.
The potty chair Mandy bought about two years ago -in anticipation of this part of child-rearing - is one that doesn't have a strap of any type on it. Which, for Miss Maya, is a bad thing because getting her to sit still in one spot for even a minute, it next to impossible. Add to that, she has absolutely no interest whatsoever in this potty training thing and well, you can see this is a problem area.
Today, I hit on the idea of finding a way to keep her seated and allowing her to work on the business at hand. I took a belt from her sister, Kate, (age 15) and wound it through the handles of the potty chair, across Maya's legs and lap and buckled it in the back. No danger there to her and it was a good, effective way for me to keep her where I wanted her. I had her confined to the potty chair for almost three hours solid that way.
Now, to some, that may sound like torture, but she was perfectly content to sit there like that, in front of the tv watching the country music channel and the videos on there. And, as long as she wasn't objecting, neither was I and I decided I'd see if somewhere along the way, she would be compelled to do something.
And yes, she did! And yes, I was ecstatic! Almost jumping for joy, really. My gosh, she had finally actually whizzed in there for old grammy! I was praising her, clapping my hands, hollering Yay, yay and she was all smiles too at getting so much praise.
So where did I go wrong?
Well, her mother had gone into town to pick up some things we needed while I was cooking supper and I decided, in my infinite wisdom here, to put the potty chair, still containing this wonderful content, by my computer desk so when Mandy got back home, I could show her what a good little girl her daughter had been for me. And, after placing it there, I went back out to the kitchen to finish making my home-made noodle/dumplings for the ham & bean potpie I have been making all afternoon here.
Listening to Christmas music in the kitchen, rolling out the dough, happy as a lark, I was until I realized it was really quiet in the living room. And yes, I know that is a very bad sign with a toddler on the loose. And yes, it was a not-to-nice thing I discovered that Maya had done too.
There, spread across a good portion of the living room floor was this nice big old wet spot, the little green pot insert from the potty chair sitting right beside it and Miss Maya, who was seated beside this spreading liquid and merrily (but quietly) spreading it around, almost as if she were scrubbing the living room floor with it.
You can bet your bottom dollar, I'll not make that mistake again!
Something For All Seasons
The mail yesterday brought me something I will be able to keep that will be a reminder for all seasons for me.
It was a Christmas card, mailed to me by my cousin Becky.
What's so special about this card?
Well, it was made by Becky's mother - one of her last crafting projects, you see, and I knew it was a card made by my Aunt Mary as soon as my fingers touched the card as I removed it from the envelope.
This card is one of those that you do a small holidday message in counted cross stitch and then, paste that embroidered piece inside a card with a special sized opening to hold pieces like that. Aunt Mary, if you have been following my blog for anytime now, just passed away this past October and, I suppose the best term to give her, besides being a loving, lovely aunt, would be that she was my mentor, my guiding star, my surrogate mother, who I frequently turned to over the years for a shoulder to cry on at times and one to give me advice on just about everything.
The fact that her death, the loss there, is still very raw within me, caused me to go sit in my little corner of a room and weep as I read the message on the card as well as the note Becky had put inside with the card. In her note, Becky told how her mother had organized so many things - probably her way of doing things in anticipation of NOT being here with us much longer - and anyway, as such, she had made these cards this past spring, almost all ready to be mailed out. Beck and her younger daughter, Abby, had finished up what was left to be done on the cards, addressed them, made the beautiful little note to be inserted with them and shipped them out.
As Becky wrote at the bottom of the note, this was a message for Christmas, sent by her Mom, from her new home in heaven.
And yes, how much I do agree with Becky's thoughts there.
And also, because of how much Aunt Mary meant to me - to my entire family for that matter - this card has now been placed on the mirror above my dresser in my bedroom. Every day now, as I get up in the morning and look at that mirror, I'll see that card and remember her, the way she was, what she meant to me throughout my entire life and how she also thought to send this card from heaven.
It just makes life and the sadness it often brings much easier to cope with simply by looking at that beautiful card and the message it carries with it.
It brings the Christmas message and the spirit of the season now and enables it to be kept, for me, for all seasons to come, however many they may be.
It was a Christmas card, mailed to me by my cousin Becky.
What's so special about this card?
Well, it was made by Becky's mother - one of her last crafting projects, you see, and I knew it was a card made by my Aunt Mary as soon as my fingers touched the card as I removed it from the envelope.
This card is one of those that you do a small holidday message in counted cross stitch and then, paste that embroidered piece inside a card with a special sized opening to hold pieces like that. Aunt Mary, if you have been following my blog for anytime now, just passed away this past October and, I suppose the best term to give her, besides being a loving, lovely aunt, would be that she was my mentor, my guiding star, my surrogate mother, who I frequently turned to over the years for a shoulder to cry on at times and one to give me advice on just about everything.
The fact that her death, the loss there, is still very raw within me, caused me to go sit in my little corner of a room and weep as I read the message on the card as well as the note Becky had put inside with the card. In her note, Becky told how her mother had organized so many things - probably her way of doing things in anticipation of NOT being here with us much longer - and anyway, as such, she had made these cards this past spring, almost all ready to be mailed out. Beck and her younger daughter, Abby, had finished up what was left to be done on the cards, addressed them, made the beautiful little note to be inserted with them and shipped them out.
As Becky wrote at the bottom of the note, this was a message for Christmas, sent by her Mom, from her new home in heaven.
And yes, how much I do agree with Becky's thoughts there.
And also, because of how much Aunt Mary meant to me - to my entire family for that matter - this card has now been placed on the mirror above my dresser in my bedroom. Every day now, as I get up in the morning and look at that mirror, I'll see that card and remember her, the way she was, what she meant to me throughout my entire life and how she also thought to send this card from heaven.
It just makes life and the sadness it often brings much easier to cope with simply by looking at that beautiful card and the message it carries with it.
It brings the Christmas message and the spirit of the season now and enables it to be kept, for me, for all seasons to come, however many they may be.
"Hurry, Hurry!"
Several bloggers I visit regular do a thing called "Friday Feast" in which they select from a menu setup like a regular dinner type thing and post a comment pertaining to each segment of a meal. One of the questions this Friday was which language would you like to learn and why? If I were answering that one, I'd have to say Swedish because it is in my ethnic background, I have several things in the house that are written in Swedish but, I can't read, and also - if I ever hit the lottery, Sweden is where I'd absolutely love to visit so knowing a bit of the language would be a good thing.
But what does that have to do with my title today? Well, another thing about language came to mind and that was some remembering of the two years of French I had in high school. I don't remember how to spell the word correctly so will put it here in my phonetic spelling - veet - which in French as I recall means "Hurry." Our French teacher (Miss Radomsky) often used that word but in double - "Veet, veet!" and that is what I need to begin doing every day now - till the big Holiday gets here!
Last night, I got a small start on my sewing projects. I cut out ten bibs I will be making for the two younger grandchildren and got six (I think six) completed before my vision and energy level ran out on me at about 3 or 4 this morning. These bibs are made from either cute dish towels or fingertip towels and you simply fold one end of the towel down about 1/3 of the length, then fold it again but down the middle and cut down about 1 1/2 to 2 inches then at your foldline and cut a semi-circle for the neck opening. Then, using a knit fabric - preferably the rib trim variety - in a matching or coordinating color to make a crew or turtleneck closure and, after sewing this up, you then attach the "color" part to the towel and presto-magic, you have a really neat little big that pulls over the head, fits fairly snuggly around the neck and protects a multitude of the child's clothing then while they are eating! The dish towels work best for toddlers and the fingertip towels - if you can find any at a decent price - work better for babies. I've made many of these over the past few years and sold quite a few of them at craft fairs too because they are cute, but also are very, very useful. Just a thought there for anyone with little ones and who has a bit of a knack for sewing cause they are also very easy to make.
The "Hurry, Hurry" thing applies to me in lots of ways right now. I have a stack of fabric sitting in my room, with several patterns pulled out too, all ready and waiting for me to get busy and cut out some shirts, jumpers, coveralls and long pants things for Maya and Kurtis. The makings of some Christmas gifts there you know.
Then, there's the ham in my refrigerator that I have to cook off today and make up a big casserole of Ham and Bean Potpie for the church supper tomorrow that will be held prior to the St. Lucia Day celebration our parish has every year. I may blog more about St. Lucia - for those who don't know about her and this special day observed in Sweden and by many here of Swedish ancestry.
I have to finish addressing my Christmas cards too. Now there's one thing about Christmas stuff I really dread doing. My penmanship is terrible and after one or two cards, I start getting writer's cramp in my hand and my penmanship gets even worse then. Wish I had a Christmas Card Fairy who would show up here and take care of that task for me.
I don't have much left to do in the way of shopping - thankfully! Don't have much money to do any shopping with in the first place, so - well, that task will kind of take care of itself due to the lack of funding I suppose!
And then, there's the Christmas baking to consider. In years past, I have been known to take several nights in a row, stay up all night mixing up upteen batches of cookies and getting them all baked for the holiday. It used to be nothing for me to have baked anywhere from 15-20 different types of cookies - some in double, even triple batches too - and have every freaking tupperware container in the house filled with cookies! This year, I doubt I will go that crazy with the cookie list, but I am hoping to get at least 8-10 different varieties baked off. And, while I am baking, I will have to make several loaves of Limpa Rye bread for the family and also, enough extra to give to some of the elderly members of our church who can no longer bake breads but who I know love this particular type of bread - just a little thing I can do for them and it helps put me in a better spirit mode for the season that way too.
Yep - so much to do, never enough time! There'd be more time available if I would ever get myself organized but at this stage of my life, I doubt seriously that is going to happen!
So, in the meantime - as the title reads, for me it will be "Hurry, hurry" over the next 2 weeks! Hope your life isn't too stressed out and jam-packed with all kinds of things to be done to make it a pleasant holiday. Still have to remember the reason for the season while doing all this too, you know!
Till later and off to "hurry, hurry!"
But what does that have to do with my title today? Well, another thing about language came to mind and that was some remembering of the two years of French I had in high school. I don't remember how to spell the word correctly so will put it here in my phonetic spelling - veet - which in French as I recall means "Hurry." Our French teacher (Miss Radomsky) often used that word but in double - "Veet, veet!" and that is what I need to begin doing every day now - till the big Holiday gets here!
Last night, I got a small start on my sewing projects. I cut out ten bibs I will be making for the two younger grandchildren and got six (I think six) completed before my vision and energy level ran out on me at about 3 or 4 this morning. These bibs are made from either cute dish towels or fingertip towels and you simply fold one end of the towel down about 1/3 of the length, then fold it again but down the middle and cut down about 1 1/2 to 2 inches then at your foldline and cut a semi-circle for the neck opening. Then, using a knit fabric - preferably the rib trim variety - in a matching or coordinating color to make a crew or turtleneck closure and, after sewing this up, you then attach the "color" part to the towel and presto-magic, you have a really neat little big that pulls over the head, fits fairly snuggly around the neck and protects a multitude of the child's clothing then while they are eating! The dish towels work best for toddlers and the fingertip towels - if you can find any at a decent price - work better for babies. I've made many of these over the past few years and sold quite a few of them at craft fairs too because they are cute, but also are very, very useful. Just a thought there for anyone with little ones and who has a bit of a knack for sewing cause they are also very easy to make.
The "Hurry, Hurry" thing applies to me in lots of ways right now. I have a stack of fabric sitting in my room, with several patterns pulled out too, all ready and waiting for me to get busy and cut out some shirts, jumpers, coveralls and long pants things for Maya and Kurtis. The makings of some Christmas gifts there you know.
Then, there's the ham in my refrigerator that I have to cook off today and make up a big casserole of Ham and Bean Potpie for the church supper tomorrow that will be held prior to the St. Lucia Day celebration our parish has every year. I may blog more about St. Lucia - for those who don't know about her and this special day observed in Sweden and by many here of Swedish ancestry.
I have to finish addressing my Christmas cards too. Now there's one thing about Christmas stuff I really dread doing. My penmanship is terrible and after one or two cards, I start getting writer's cramp in my hand and my penmanship gets even worse then. Wish I had a Christmas Card Fairy who would show up here and take care of that task for me.
I don't have much left to do in the way of shopping - thankfully! Don't have much money to do any shopping with in the first place, so - well, that task will kind of take care of itself due to the lack of funding I suppose!
And then, there's the Christmas baking to consider. In years past, I have been known to take several nights in a row, stay up all night mixing up upteen batches of cookies and getting them all baked for the holiday. It used to be nothing for me to have baked anywhere from 15-20 different types of cookies - some in double, even triple batches too - and have every freaking tupperware container in the house filled with cookies! This year, I doubt I will go that crazy with the cookie list, but I am hoping to get at least 8-10 different varieties baked off. And, while I am baking, I will have to make several loaves of Limpa Rye bread for the family and also, enough extra to give to some of the elderly members of our church who can no longer bake breads but who I know love this particular type of bread - just a little thing I can do for them and it helps put me in a better spirit mode for the season that way too.
Yep - so much to do, never enough time! There'd be more time available if I would ever get myself organized but at this stage of my life, I doubt seriously that is going to happen!
So, in the meantime - as the title reads, for me it will be "Hurry, hurry" over the next 2 weeks! Hope your life isn't too stressed out and jam-packed with all kinds of things to be done to make it a pleasant holiday. Still have to remember the reason for the season while doing all this too, you know!
Till later and off to "hurry, hurry!"
Friday, December 08, 2006
A Bone To Pick
Ok, something happened to me today and I have to get this off my chest. Sometimes, I feel like I just can't win in my struggle to get a few things done each day besides answer e-mail, read blogs and occasionally post an entry to my own blog. Alright, I do a few other things besides those above - I do babysit my 3-year-old granddaughter and her brother - now almost 8 months old - and yes, I do cook most of the meals here too. A little time maybe to read, knit or sew beyond those things and the tv - well, that is pretty much it!
But this morning, while reading through the blogs I ALWAYS try to check on, someone there had the nerve, the unmitigated audacity and GALL to send me to look at someone else's website before answering a question on her site. Brother!
As if I don't have enough reading of blogs to do in the first place ya know? Here she is telling me to go read this site and tell her my thoughts about an article posted there after I did that.
Well, being the dutiful little blogger (I use the term "little" very, very lightly there), off I went to the directed website. And I read the article, which was indeed very interesting. And then, I read an other entry, and another and yet another and well, by now, you see the plight I am in, I am sure.
And to add insult to injury, this happened to me with not just one of my favorite bloggers but with two of them who sent me off to read and I darned near never returned then!
Now, I have extra work to do in a couple of ways. First, I have to go find my bookmarks for the two new sites they shipped me off to check and then, add them to my list of favorite blogs, but every day, this will now extend how much time I will have to expend before I am able to get around to posting some really wonderful words in a semi-literate fashion here, for you, my faithful readers to peruse!
So, if I run later and later each day in getting to writing at least one posting here, don't blame me because it is all their fault. I won't tell you which bloggers of which sites are the guilty parties either. You'll have to check each of them - same as I did - to find that out!
Aren't you glad you aren't waiting for me to cook supper for you now too - everyday!???
But this morning, while reading through the blogs I ALWAYS try to check on, someone there had the nerve, the unmitigated audacity and GALL to send me to look at someone else's website before answering a question on her site. Brother!
As if I don't have enough reading of blogs to do in the first place ya know? Here she is telling me to go read this site and tell her my thoughts about an article posted there after I did that.
Well, being the dutiful little blogger (I use the term "little" very, very lightly there), off I went to the directed website. And I read the article, which was indeed very interesting. And then, I read an other entry, and another and yet another and well, by now, you see the plight I am in, I am sure.
And to add insult to injury, this happened to me with not just one of my favorite bloggers but with two of them who sent me off to read and I darned near never returned then!
Now, I have extra work to do in a couple of ways. First, I have to go find my bookmarks for the two new sites they shipped me off to check and then, add them to my list of favorite blogs, but every day, this will now extend how much time I will have to expend before I am able to get around to posting some really wonderful words in a semi-literate fashion here, for you, my faithful readers to peruse!
So, if I run later and later each day in getting to writing at least one posting here, don't blame me because it is all their fault. I won't tell you which bloggers of which sites are the guilty parties either. You'll have to check each of them - same as I did - to find that out!
Aren't you glad you aren't waiting for me to cook supper for you now too - everyday!???
Traffic Hazard
Last night, while watching the 11 p.m. news from one of the "local" channels in our area, one of the top stories of the night was about an accident that had taken place earlier in the evening on Interstate 80, on the eastbound side. Although the reporter did not state what milepost this happened, I told my daughter I would bet money, if it was on the eastbound side, it was at the 140 milepost. The reporter did state this happened between the exit at Kylertown and Snow Shoe, so that was my early indicator there.
Today, in reading the local newspaper from State College - The Centre Daily Times (or simply the CDT as we refer to it here) - had a write up about the accident, including 4 photos - and as it turns out, had I bet money on my theory of the location of the accident last night, I would have won a bundle.
This particular accident involved 14 vehicles - yes, a chain reaction accident. Fortunately, there were only three injuries and none of them considered to be serious. That alone is a blessing.
A year ago, there was a terrible chain reaction accident on I-80 - on the westbound side though, on the level ground too, not a hill or downgrade per se, which involved 50 plus vehicles and resulted in six lives lost too. Trucks went up in flames, cars too as well as some occupants. It was indeed terrible and shortly thereafter, PennDot staged a very large investigation to see if the highway itself - not the weather conditions - had actually been the main contributor in that case. (It happened during a white-out.)
Over twenty years ago now I think it was, there was an accident one Sunday night in the dead of winter during a snowstorm that took place on I-80 and also at the 140 mile post. That one involved 17 vehicles and three lives were snuffed out from it.
Now, because I live about 5-6 miles maybe - as the crow flies - from the 140 mile post but in actual driving distance it is about 12 miles - and because I frequently traveled this highway to and from work for at least seven years, five days a week, I am very familiar with that highway in general and with that milepost area in particular.
Situated just after you start down hill, after topping the ridge, the road itself has a slight curve leaning towards one's left which can create some issues for drivers, especially if one is not at all familiar with the lay of the land. Also, at the top of that ridge or crest - is a crossover point used by the police, emergency vehicles and PennDot crews. This factor - the PennDot crew usage of the crossover - can also be a contributor to accidents in that area because if the crew on the west side gets to the crossover before the crew from the eastern side, then travellers coming from the west may think because the road there is perhaps somewhat maintained, the road on the eastern side of the ridge will be the same. And that, more often than not is very far from the truth of the matter!
Plus, in winter weather, road conditions can change instantaeously - in the blink of an eye, a spot can turn to ice or a "white-out" can happen and reduce visibility to absolutely NONE at all!
And yes, PennDot's maintenance of the highways does configure in here too but that is a year-round issue and not one that should surface only as a winter driving problem.
Personally, I think many of the accidents that take place during the winter months stem from the lousy, inconsiderate drivers that so often permeate the highway.
One guy, interviewed at the scene of the accident last night stated that he had been travelling eastbound, at a speed of about 60 mph when he happened on to the accident but lucky for him, he was able to avoid crashing into any other vehicles. Well, gee I am glad you were that lucky this time but did it ever occur to you that driving on roads that have a slight skiff of snow, perhaps a touch of ice underneath too, that 60 mph might just be a bit too fast? Hey, I sure think it would be advisable to cut back a good bit on the speed there, fella!
Truckers always complain about the stupid four-wheelers - who cut in and out and around them and forget that those rigs can't be stopped on a dime. True enough. But how many of those truckers ever give a thought to the amount of spray they through off when they go barrelling through snow, rain, etc., and it comes back on the four-wheeler with such an impact that you become temporarily blinded by it?
Truckers and four-wheelers alike need to realize they bear the bulk, the brunt of the responsibility in the overwhelming majority of issues and accidents on any highway - not just on the interstates. Because the speed limit may be 65 mph, and you have a vehicle that will easily run at that pace, but it is snowing like there is no tomorrow - blizzard like conditions or even just light flurries - can both create mega problems on the highway. The spray from a truck, as mentioned above, can create a white-out in a snow storm just as much as the wind, when it is whipping around at 20-30 mph or higher can do and thus, that trucker who may be unaffected by things like spray from another vehicle has no business going merrily along at 65, maybe 70 mph or faster, during a weather event like this. And, the same applies to anyone driving a four-wheeler too. No need to throw caution to wind here because the road "looks ok" perhaps to you but around the next bend, even if it is only a very slight one, things could be totally different.
All these issues must be taken into consideration by both driving factions - truckers and four-wheelers alike. Having the road crews as coordinated as possible would also be a big help as would having the roads themselves all in exellent repair.
And yes, I know that makes for four variables right off the bad and the actions of the first three also hinge on how merciful or merciless - whichever the case may be - Mother Nature may be at any given time too.
Bottom line here is the only thing we - any of us - has control over is ourselves - our own actions, our own safe manipulation of the vehicle we may be driving be it one with 2 wheels (motorcycle), four, six, eight, sixteen or eighteen - it matters only that the driver of each one is operating that unit in a safe manner and when the weather is nasty, even slightly so, with every ounce of care possible.
So, if anyone is reading this and happened to be on the highway yesterday or recently during some type of snow event and you made it out and back safely, thank your lucky stars that you perhaps were doing your level best to be safe and that those you passed on the highway were doing the same thing!
Not everyone is always that lucky!
Today, in reading the local newspaper from State College - The Centre Daily Times (or simply the CDT as we refer to it here) - had a write up about the accident, including 4 photos - and as it turns out, had I bet money on my theory of the location of the accident last night, I would have won a bundle.
This particular accident involved 14 vehicles - yes, a chain reaction accident. Fortunately, there were only three injuries and none of them considered to be serious. That alone is a blessing.
A year ago, there was a terrible chain reaction accident on I-80 - on the westbound side though, on the level ground too, not a hill or downgrade per se, which involved 50 plus vehicles and resulted in six lives lost too. Trucks went up in flames, cars too as well as some occupants. It was indeed terrible and shortly thereafter, PennDot staged a very large investigation to see if the highway itself - not the weather conditions - had actually been the main contributor in that case. (It happened during a white-out.)
Over twenty years ago now I think it was, there was an accident one Sunday night in the dead of winter during a snowstorm that took place on I-80 and also at the 140 mile post. That one involved 17 vehicles and three lives were snuffed out from it.
Now, because I live about 5-6 miles maybe - as the crow flies - from the 140 mile post but in actual driving distance it is about 12 miles - and because I frequently traveled this highway to and from work for at least seven years, five days a week, I am very familiar with that highway in general and with that milepost area in particular.
Situated just after you start down hill, after topping the ridge, the road itself has a slight curve leaning towards one's left which can create some issues for drivers, especially if one is not at all familiar with the lay of the land. Also, at the top of that ridge or crest - is a crossover point used by the police, emergency vehicles and PennDot crews. This factor - the PennDot crew usage of the crossover - can also be a contributor to accidents in that area because if the crew on the west side gets to the crossover before the crew from the eastern side, then travellers coming from the west may think because the road there is perhaps somewhat maintained, the road on the eastern side of the ridge will be the same. And that, more often than not is very far from the truth of the matter!
Plus, in winter weather, road conditions can change instantaeously - in the blink of an eye, a spot can turn to ice or a "white-out" can happen and reduce visibility to absolutely NONE at all!
And yes, PennDot's maintenance of the highways does configure in here too but that is a year-round issue and not one that should surface only as a winter driving problem.
Personally, I think many of the accidents that take place during the winter months stem from the lousy, inconsiderate drivers that so often permeate the highway.
One guy, interviewed at the scene of the accident last night stated that he had been travelling eastbound, at a speed of about 60 mph when he happened on to the accident but lucky for him, he was able to avoid crashing into any other vehicles. Well, gee I am glad you were that lucky this time but did it ever occur to you that driving on roads that have a slight skiff of snow, perhaps a touch of ice underneath too, that 60 mph might just be a bit too fast? Hey, I sure think it would be advisable to cut back a good bit on the speed there, fella!
Truckers always complain about the stupid four-wheelers - who cut in and out and around them and forget that those rigs can't be stopped on a dime. True enough. But how many of those truckers ever give a thought to the amount of spray they through off when they go barrelling through snow, rain, etc., and it comes back on the four-wheeler with such an impact that you become temporarily blinded by it?
Truckers and four-wheelers alike need to realize they bear the bulk, the brunt of the responsibility in the overwhelming majority of issues and accidents on any highway - not just on the interstates. Because the speed limit may be 65 mph, and you have a vehicle that will easily run at that pace, but it is snowing like there is no tomorrow - blizzard like conditions or even just light flurries - can both create mega problems on the highway. The spray from a truck, as mentioned above, can create a white-out in a snow storm just as much as the wind, when it is whipping around at 20-30 mph or higher can do and thus, that trucker who may be unaffected by things like spray from another vehicle has no business going merrily along at 65, maybe 70 mph or faster, during a weather event like this. And, the same applies to anyone driving a four-wheeler too. No need to throw caution to wind here because the road "looks ok" perhaps to you but around the next bend, even if it is only a very slight one, things could be totally different.
All these issues must be taken into consideration by both driving factions - truckers and four-wheelers alike. Having the road crews as coordinated as possible would also be a big help as would having the roads themselves all in exellent repair.
And yes, I know that makes for four variables right off the bad and the actions of the first three also hinge on how merciful or merciless - whichever the case may be - Mother Nature may be at any given time too.
Bottom line here is the only thing we - any of us - has control over is ourselves - our own actions, our own safe manipulation of the vehicle we may be driving be it one with 2 wheels (motorcycle), four, six, eight, sixteen or eighteen - it matters only that the driver of each one is operating that unit in a safe manner and when the weather is nasty, even slightly so, with every ounce of care possible.
So, if anyone is reading this and happened to be on the highway yesterday or recently during some type of snow event and you made it out and back safely, thank your lucky stars that you perhaps were doing your level best to be safe and that those you passed on the highway were doing the same thing!
Not everyone is always that lucky!
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