I'm feeling just a trifle rough around the edges today. Don't know if I slept the wrong way last night, if I'm coming down with another darned cold or if it's the flu -perhaps a bit too soon to tell for sure but suffice it to say, I definitely am not at my normal energy level. Not that I am always just full of energy and such to begin with -cause I'm not that way any more -but today, what little I had seems to have waltzed on out during the night and left behind the beginnings of a very scratchy, sore throat, a stomach that isn't flat out upset but just sort of queasy feeling and then, tired, just really, really tired!
Earlier today, a friend of mine stopped by for a quick visit. He had ulterior motives as he really needed to talk to my son-in-law about fixing the windshield wipers on his car but he stops by every now and again just to have a quick cup of coffee and gives us time to b.s. a bit about current junk in our neighborhood, a little bit about politics too once in a while and well, sometimes too, just to extend a hand in friendship so I know and remember I have him as a good friend.
Today, we were talking about stuff - the usual, just "stuff" -and Maya was doing her normal bouncing around the house. All of a sudden I hear these strange moaning sounds -well, they'd be strange sounds to anyone but those of us in this house -and there was Maya, leaning against the arm of the sofa, moaning, arching her back a bit, wiggling around and I knew what she was doing. THis is standard operating procedure for her when she feels the urge to do something that she refuses, flat out REFUSES, to deposit in the commode. Usually, shortly before this moaning, wigging, arching process begins though, she goes in the bathroom and removes her "unnywears" (her word for the underpanties) and dons a nice, soft, comfy pull-up. I hadn't heard or seen her do that though.
I spoke to her, asking her did she want to go sit on the pottie and she groaned out a "Noooooo." Ok, try that again and I tried to cajole her into going into the bathroom. About that time, all of a sudden, she reaches back and begins whimpering while holding her behind. "oooh, ooh, ooh. I got poopie in my unnywears." she announced. Ok, back we go to change the unnywears, make a big deal out of dumping the contents of those panties into the commode, wipe the little fanny clean and get new unnywears out of her drawer so she can revert back to her original methods, singing and dancing her way around the house.
I drop the contents into the commode and she looks over and comments to me, "Boy! That's a big chicken poop, isn't it?"
"Chicken poop" has been her latest addition to her vocabulary. This started on Monday when she'd had some chicken fingers to eat for lunch and shortly thereafter, had to go to the bathroom. Seems when she looked at the stuff floating in the commode it apparently (according to Mandy) was about the same shading as the chicken fingers she had eaten and she has now been referring to all b.m. as "chicken poop." Don't you just love the associations kids bring to things though?
I have been doing a little work today on a baby sweater I decided to tackle making and which I began last night. I have almost four inches of the back of the sweater knitted so far. Don't get all excited about that - four inches of a baby sweater, in a sort of lacy-type pattern is not indicative of any really fast knitting - not by a long shot. If my aunt were still around and knitting -with her fingers and needles clicking away almost at what seemed to be the speed of light -she'd probably have had this sweater almost completed by now. But my fingers and my needles don't click away near as fast as hers could -I have to glance over at the pattern, re-memorize each new row in the four rows that constitute the lacy part of this garment each time I start a new row! Not only are the fingers and needles slow -so is the brain in remembering the instructions. By the time I complete this thing I might have succeeded by then in memorizing the pattern of these four rows! That of course all hinges too on whether or not I can sustain my interest level in working on this and getting it completed.
On another note, the buds on Mandy's flowers she received yesterday from her dad are opening up just a tad more - still not enough so that it would show a marked difference from yesterday but I can see a few more buds here and there trying to open ever so slightly. I'll try to remember once they all are opened up to take a picture of the bouquet in full blossom -ok?
Mandy was busy today between doing laundry and talking on the phone with her brother, who was in Tennessee and then between Tennessee and Harrisburg, etc. -to help him get reservations for someplace nice where he could take his girlfriend out to dinner tomorrow and helping him to order flowers to have them delivered to her at work too. I know he is really thankful to have Mandy here, willing and able to be his go-between to get these things all set up for him while he is working.
And I am really grateful too when I see these two conspiring in that way. I know he won't forget that Mandy has been there to help him when he needs a little helping hand and I know too, when she's feeling really upset, put out, put upon by me or the kids or her husband or job -whatever -that he will be there for her to lean on and talk about the many things that bother her from time to time. There were years -back when they were much younger -when I worried about whether my kids would eventually be there to give each other a little helping hand, moral support, etc., but I know now I needn't worry at all about that not happening. What hurts one, hurts the other; what one can do to help is done -no argument about it, just done because the other needs just that little bit of help. '
Tonight too, Mandy is out - her very first church council meeting. She had to be at the church at 7 p.m. and her dear hubby had, no surprise here, forgotten all about that she had agreed to serve on the Church Council. When she wasn't back by 9 p.m., he started to mumble a bit that she should have been home by now till I explained there's no set time for these meetings to disband. It all depends on what issues are facing them, how difficult they might be to resolve, etc. It's now almost 10:15 and no, she's still not back but that is pretty much par for the course. Besides, since tonight was the Council's first meeting with the new members of Council, they had to be installed tonight too so that would take up a tiny bit of extra time too.
And, finally -today the kids had yet another snow day! Much to our chagrin as this marks 11 days straight that Maya has been home ALL DAY LONG! I am really anxious for school to take up again - even if it is only two days this week that she is gone for six hours, that six hour break from her is really a darned good thing! Not that I don't love her dearly - ya'll know I do that - but boy, trying to keep her occupied, trying to keep some tiny semblance of "clean" in the living room, to keep her fingers out of things she shouldn't be into, etc., is one big task!
So here's hoping tomorrow's weather is better, that school resumes, that Mandy and I both get a little rest then too from Maya's meanderings around the house!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Rest of the Story
I'm feeling a bit of "Paul Harvey" here as there is actually a bit more to the story in my last post -the one about my daughter's birthday, etc. By birthday, I mean the actual day she was born. And there are a few more thing to add to her day yesterday too.
First -on the other post, if you recall I mentioned I had gone into major cleaning mode the day before she was born. So, mark that date - February 10, 1976 - on your calendar as it is a very historic event for me, anytime I go into a major "cleaning mode."
If you recall, one of the things I said I had done that evening was to spray the oven with oven cleaner and then, I went to bed -leaving that stuff to work its magic throughout the night while I slept.
However, one small problem here - I didn't mention this to anyone that I had done that - sprayed the oven, ya know.
My Mom relayed the rest of this story to me, as she was here with my son, having got the older daughter up, fed, dressed and off to school. Mandy was born around 6:30 a.m. My ex-husband arrived back at the house Mom said around 10:30-11 a.m. and he decided he was going to have a bite to eat. No problem.
Mom said she was washing up dishes when he started rooting in the refrigerator and pulled something out to heat it up. I have no idea what it was - don't remember THAT much detail as to what our refrigerator might have held at that time - but anyway, whatever it was, he decided he would heat it in the oven.
He opened the oven door to find a really big mess! Ya'll know what an oven looks like when it has had that stuff sprayed in it and you let it set, I'm sure, don't 'cha now? Yeah, well that's what he was looking at there!
The first words out of his mouth were "Oh SHIT!" Understandable enough, isn't it? Then he tossed out a few more expletive deleteds to go with his first statement.
My Mom and my ex-husband never got along very well - at all -EVER! Do you see where this story is heading now?
Mom told me she glanced over her shoulder, saw what he was cursing about and turned back around to continue doing the dishes. She said she never offered to clean the oven out for him. Never even offered to lend a hand, lift even her pinky finger to help him out of his dilemma.
Her theory was "let him find out a little bit of some of the things involved in running a household."
Here logic worked fine and dandy with me! I came home from the hospital three days later to a nice, sparkling clean oven, I did.
So, that's the rest of Mandy's actual "birthdate" story. Now, on to more recent events.
Last night, while Mandy was still at work, the phone rang. I answered it and it was her Dad on the end of the line. He was calling of course, to wish his baby girl a "Happy Birthday." I'll give him credit right here and now in that although there were many years when the kids were growing up that he NEVER remembered any of their birthdays and if he did, it was usually just a phone call, often one that ended with that particular child in tears too. But, since the fall of 1993, he has been pretty good about remembering birthdays with a phone call and has usually sent a card and monetary gift. Once in a blue moon, he has actually maybe sent a present -picked out by either his last wife (#4), or his girlfriend before the one he has now -his current fiance, ya know.
He asked me if a delivery had been made to the house yesterday. "No" I replied, "nothing came. Why?" Then he said he had sent flowers to her for her birthday and was just wondering if they came. Ah, the lightbulb in my mind lit up then as I understood why he'd called her Sunday night to ask me for our street address here. (Our mail up until recently just came addressed to our post office box number but since they instituted the 911 system in our area, all mail now has to include our actual house number and the street name.) I'd given him the number - he remembered the street name though. How about that for a reasonably good memory for an old man? I said maybe they would arrive today and promised him I wouldn't tell her anything about the call last night.
We got up this morning to school being cancelled because we are in the throes of a big winter snow storm today. Heavy snowfall - at least six inches in most of this area with heavier accumulations possible in the area "north of Interstate 80." Yeah, ya know I live about 4 miles north of that old Interstate highway now, don't 'cha though? Certainly! So we can probably expect an accumulation of perhaps 8 to 10 inches here. Lovely. NOT!
By noon, although the snow had been falling since early this morning -and yes, it is accumulating -it wasn't that terribly deep as yet that it would have been a major hindrance to a delivery of any type. But nothing had arrived as yet. Around 1:30 p.m., I said something to Mandy that I was afraid maybe a package Dad was sending her might have gotten messed up or something cause I was figuring if he used the good old FTD floral delivery, they should have arrived by then. She asked what he was sending, if I knew, and I told her I couldn't say any more. Then she said well, maybe somethings here now cause she'd just seen the FedEx truck stop and then leave. But I hadn't heard any one knock on the door. Mandy went to the door and opened it and lo and behold, there was this big box there that obviously contained flowers.
If I'd been a bit better prepared then, I should have had the camera out to get a picture of the look on her face as she started to open the box.
It wasn't a look of shock or surprise -just a big smile, that "knowing" kind of grin folks often get when they get a surprise gift but have figured out already what it is and know who it is from too. Just a really pretty very happy look on her face as she removed the bouquet from the box, carefully unwrapped all the trappings around it and put it in a vase.
Every stem in this bouquet was closed buds! She got the vase all settled with water and such and we've been watching the buds slowly start to unfold.
She pulled the little gift tag card from the envelope on the front of the box and read it. I could see traces of tears in her eyes then too. It just said "Happy Birthday, Sweetie Pie." Love, Dad and Linda.
Yes, he can be a very sentimental slob at times and when he is, it's one of his saving graces in my book.
Here's my big attempt to photograph a "still life" with my still new camera! Keep in mind, my photography efforts might be considered to be at about the level David McMahon's (Authorblog, ya know) were when he was maybe about six years old! A whole lot of work and study needed here on my part, as you can see. But still, it will give you a little idea, I hope, of what Mandy's Dad sent her for her big Thirty Second birthday yesterday.
And here's yet another shot of the flowers -when they were first unwrapped, those yellow blossums were just tiny buds and they've opened this much in an hour's time.
The first picture I took - which is at the opening of this post - is a trifle on the fuzzy side. These two above aren't all that hot either but they give a little idea anyway I hope, of Mandy's gift from her Dad.She said last night, at work, no one knew it was her birthday as she'd never mentioned a word to anyone there about it. Until her last table came in and her co-workers then knew what the day was to her. Her last table? Her brother and his girlfriend. Clate's girlfriend left a hefty tip on her card for Mandy and her brother gave her a really cute, musical card, with a nice sized "bill" inside it just for Mandy.
Sometimes, my son is really his father's child in his actions too, ya know!
All in all- yesterday and today as well - both really good days as far as Mandy's been concerned.
And what did Mom give her? Two books - "DaVinci's Code" and "Eat, Pray, Love." (Along with the eight other books I ordered from B&N last week that arrived on Thursday -but they're for both of us to enjoy too, not just specifically for her as the first two are. I finished reading one of those eight books last night - "Change Baby" by June Spence. A good book in my opinion and I found it in the "Bargain Books" section - where I normally shop when visiting B&N ya know!
Now - hope everyone's day is filled with lots of love maybe even mixed with some flowers and snow -which if it is nothing else, is really pretty to watch it falling, ya know!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thirty Two Down and Counting
Thirty-two years ago - 1976 -a year that has so many memories for me. Some are very, very good memories, important events in my life. Others, not so nice to think back on. I had hoped to include some photos from that year -and a few more recent ones too perhaps, but I see that I either have many of my old, old photos on floppy discs, which I can't access right now because my lovely A-drive isn't functioning. Wonderful, huh? The computer isn't even a year old, I've barely ever used the A-drive since I got this machine and now -nothing! Gonna have to get that replaced. Everyone says putting in a new floppy disc thing is a "walk in the park" -"a piece of cake" to do but then, I am sure as heck not "everyone" and finding one of the two in my family who do maybe have the capability of doing this (i.e. either son-in-law or my son) will be like pulling hens teeth to get either of them to sit down and try to install a new one for me.
But anyway -without any of the visual aids I had planned to use -here's my remembrances of why 1976 was a memorable year for me.
December of 1975 had not been the best month of that year. Lots of things falling apart and things coming up for the early part of 1976 that impacted on some of those events.
I was pregnant at that time with my third child -Amanda -who was due in early February. In early December, my clothes dryer quit functioning. We'd purchased it about a year earlier from Sears and had taken out one of those policies -like an insurance policy for repairs -from Sears when we bought it. So, I had called them for service. They told me their repairman was on vacation and couldn't come down to check it out for at least a week. Considering the end of November and early December in this area is basically a major holiday for about a two-three week period with hunting season for bear, buck deer, then doe season, I figured the repairman was probably out scouring the woods in search of a trophy buck or doe.
Because I was pregnant then though -big as a house too -and it was along haul to carry heavy baskets of clothes up to the car to go to the local laundromat, carry the clothes in and out once there and then, bringing them back home and unloading the car again, I really wasn't relishing the idea of lugging all that stuff around. Any woman reading this who has ever been pregnant can grasp the concept of this picture quite easily I'm sure. Add to that, I had my son who was almost 2 1/2 years old and my older daughter, who was eight at the time, to take with me too and it was a very unappealing predicament.
I explained this issue to the people at the local Sears office and they said they would try to get him to come in for this service call. He obliged, came down to the house, went down into the basement, monkeyed around a bit and while he was down there, I thought I heard water running. I checked all the spigots upstairs -nothing running there -so I figured I must have been hearing things.
A little while later, the repairman resurfaced and informed me that he had fixed my washer. Hmmm. Why was he messing with my washer when it was the dryer that was broken? I asked him about that and he simply replied, "Oh." and went back down to check the dryer. Shortly therafter, he returned to tell me the belt was broken on the dryer and he'd check to see if he had one on the truck but he didn't think he did. He checked. He didn't. So he told me he would order one and when it came in, they would call and notify me. Said I could pick it up and have my husband install the new belt because he claimed it was a dirt simple task to perform. Ok, I was willing to go along with that because after all, he was supposed to be on vacation ya know and he had come out to check all this for me.
About a week went by before Sears called and I went in to pick up the belt. I had my two-year-old son with me and this was about 10 days before Christmas then and the lines at the catalog store were long -very long! I remember I had to stand in line for close to an hour, all the while trying to keep a two-year-old occupied and out of mischief, while feeling really miserable as my back and legs were aching like toothache. But, finally I picked up the belt and brought it home. The next day, my husband -after a lot of prodding -went down to fix the dryer.
I don't remember how long he was down in the cellar working on this task but I do know the air was very, very blue there - had to be because I could hear him banging things, cursing with every other breath at least and finally, he stomped back upstairs, threw a couple of his tools on the kitchen table and told me to call that blankety-blank-blank-blank, no-good SOB at Sears and tell them to send the blankety-blank-blank repairman back down here to fix the dryer because HE (my husband) was an automobile mechanic, not a blankety-blank-blank electrician. And with that, he left for the local pub to do a little indulging ya know. (Knowing him then, he probably deliberately sabotaged the job because he was looking for an excuse to go have a beer and get out of the house, away from me, the kids, anything there!
I called Sears, explained the situation and they said the repairman was on vacation. What? Still? Again? Gee, I wanted a job like that with vacation time like that. But, again they said they would see if maybe he would consider coming in to make the repair. A day later, he showed up with another belt, fixed the dryer and told me my husband had simply put the belt on backwards and of course, as soon as he hit the start button, it immediately snapped the new belt!
It was that kind of things that were the prelude to 1976 for me. Maybe it was an omen of things yet to come -only they would be worse, much worse.
At that time in my life, I was doing home party sales - for a clothing group - and on January 11th, I was at a home about 10-12 miles from here doing a demonstration. A lady who was present at that "party" was part of one of the couples my husband and I were very good friends with at that time and at the start of the party, she had asked me what was going on in the little village nearby where we lived. She said when she'd come by this one house there were police cars and ambulances all around it. I had no clue so she had called her mother who worked at the hospital about 10 miles from there and asked her if she knew what was going on.
The news she got was terrible, absolutely terrible. The house was occupied by a young couple and the man of the house was my neighbors two-doors over's son. A young guy I'd known all my life, terrific person, just one of the nicest guys you'd ever hope to meet and it was then I learned he had taken his own life. Thirty-two years later, his family still doesn't really know what set off this suicide.
I remember that night when I got home, I saw the lights were still on in my Mom's house - that would be this one where I live now. (My ex and I had built a home next door to my Mom.) I went in and told her what had happened. She and I sat up that night talking about this young man, so much promise; how much we both remembered of him. My mom felt about him almost like he was a son since she was there, cared for his mother, for him when he was born -at home, a mere 28 years earlier. And the question that passed between us, over and over, was simply "Why?"
Two days later, the evening of the viewing for our neighbor's son, another close friend of mine called to tell me of another tragedy that had just struck our little area. One of the guys from our high school graduating class -who lived about a mile down the road from the neighbor's son's home -had also just shot and killed himself earlier that day. Two suicides within two days and less than two miles apart! For our little township, with only five of six very small villages within it, these actions left virtually every one around here shell-shocked, to say the least.
To back up slightly to the day after my former neighbor took his life, I had taken upon myself to go to every house along our street to ask the neighbors if the would like to contribute to flowers for our neighbor's son. My Mom objected strenuously to my doing that because I was pregnant and she didn't feel it was a good thing for me to be doing plus the fact it was winter and it had not been a 'nice" winter either. The ground was snow-covered and under the snow, ice -solid ice -from some ice storms we'd had that had never melted. She felt for me to go traipsing around our street, up and down the hillside to houses, over sidewalks and walkways that were slicker than all get out was just asking for trouble. But I insisted this was something in my heart, I HAD to do that.
That evening, when I finished up collecting for flowers, as I started down through our yard, don't you just know my foot hit a patch of ice and I flew up in the air and came down on my back (thankfully) but I landed with such a thud -yes, it was really "earth-shaking" -that my Mom heard or "felt" the vibrations as did my husband, each in their own houses, watching tv! I figure it had to be all the extra weight I was carrying around at that time that was enough to make the timbers of both houses vibrate that way!
February rolled around and on the sixth of February, I started having contractions. I called the doctor and he said as soon as they got down to five minutes apart, to call him back and for us to head to the hospital. I called my husband -at whatever pub he was visiting at that time -told him he'd probably better come home, which surprisingly enough, he did that. And after about two hours, maybe three, the contractions just quit. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy that I had interrupted his Saturday night festivities. I wasn't all that impressed either as I was at that point then when you just want this all over and done with.
Over the next four days, I had more bouts with the contractions. They would start, get a little intense, get almost down to five minute intervals and then stop.
On February 10th, I got one of those wild and crazy ideas about cleaning my house. Started scrubbing everything and anything -did the living room and kitchen walls, vacuumed like crazy and even sprayed the oven with oven cleaner to let it sit overnight and I would wipe it down, clean it out in the morning. I went to bed and forgot all about the oven.
About 4:30 in the morning of February 11th, I awoke again with the contractions. Got up and went to the bathroom and when I went back to our bedroom I woke my husband to tell him this time, I knew it was for real and we had best get moving. I called my Mom next door to tell her we needed her to come over and stay with the two other children while Frank and I got ready to leave for the hospital. He made a pot of coffee, fixed his big thermos and filled it with the fresh hot coffee to take with him to make sure he had something to sip on. And off we went.
The roads were fairly clear but with a thaw here and there and then temperatures dropping sharply at night, there was always the risk of that lovely "black ice" on the highway and as we drove along to the hospital, my pains were getting closer and harder and I asked him if he couldn't please pick up the pace a bit. I've never known him to turn down the idea of driving a little faster before but he snapped at me when I suggested this saying, "Do you want to have this baby in the hospital or in the G-D, frigging ditch someplace?" Ok, given those options, I figured maybe we'd be best served to take our chances and drive a trifle slowly then.
By the time we got to the hospital it was 6 a.m. In the admitting office, the pains were really intensifying by then and the woman on duty, sensing this, called the Obstetric department and asked that they send someone down -IMMEDIATELY - with a wheel chair for me. Within a minute or two, the nurse showed up, had me in the chair and whizzing me off upstairs.
At about 6:25 that morning, my daughter, Amanda, was born! Weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds 13 ounces (yes, I am being sarcastic about the weight) and measuring only 18 inches in length, she even beat the doctor with her fast arrival. He was just running up the back steps to the delivery room as she entered into the world.
When I had both my two older children, they had shown me each of those babies in the delivery room. But, when Mandy was born, I didn't see her till close to 10 a.m. Her Dad saw her before I did and he came to my room, crying, telling me how beautiful she was.
When I did finally see her, she was so tiny -compared to the other two kids - a bit redder too and all I could think was oh my, she looks like a little rodent of some type there - so darned tiny you know.
When I came home from the hospital with her, three days later, my Mom came over to the house to inspect her new granddaughter. I had Mandy laying on the sofa and was going to change her when Mom made the comment to me that she was so small you darned near needed a magnifying glass to find her ass! I had to agree with her because this kid's behind almost seemed to be non-existant, it was so smal.
And now, thirty two years later, some things have hardly changed. Mandy's older sister decided a great nickname for her little sister -who is not only "little" to her in the sense of being nine years younger than Carrie, but she is also still "little" - just a slip of a thing and Carrie says since Mandy still has no butt, she deserves to be called "lizard butt."
Oh the endearing names siblings often give each other!
But anyway, that's the story of the chain of events - omens maybe -that preceded my youngest daughter, youngest child's birth.
Today, she is as said above, slim- very slim! She has a lot of her dad's temperment too - quick to anger, she can fire up in a flash, express her anger and then, generally, she is over it. She's not one to hold grudges - in that respect, she is much more like me. When she does get angry though, if you happen to pay attention to her eyes, you can see the anger rising as her blue eyes seem to turn almost blackish in color and they can pierce right through you -or so it appears. (She gets that from her Dad!)
She's often very inclined to enjoying being silly, has a very good sense of humor, quick wit along with also being much like her two siblings, she is also a very sweet, extremely sentimental young lady. Mandy's a hard-worker too -knows how to move and has long, slim legs than can transport her quickly -very quickly - as she does her work, still in the food service industry.
Mandy has always been the one who has loved children - all children -and watching her with her two little ones here, she really is a very loving, caring parent. She's the one of my kids who loves to get cards to send to anyone and everyone for birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, anniverary, sympathy -any occasion.
She's been here with me, for me during all my health problems over the past five years - keeping track of my appointments as well as her own and then her children's as well. She's put up with me when I've been at some of the lowest points of my life during those times as well. And, though I know when things have gotten difficult -with me - she's growled and complained a time or two -or five hundred or so to her siblings about how cantankerous her old Mom is, she's still here, putting up with me, day after day!
Can't ask for more than that can I, from a daughter? And it's nice to think if I make it several more years, she'll still be here with me, being her goofy little self along the way!
This picture, taken about two years ago of my older grandson, Alex and Mandy, when they were clowning around - the normal for both of them - together in the kitchen.
This is Mandy, taken about four years ago and is one of my favorite photos of my baby, with her first baby, my little Princess Maya.
Isn't this just a beautiful picture though?
Mandy has it in a 12 x 16 frame, on the back wall of the living room. and I just love it.
And here, this is a small collage of sorts, of pictures of Mandy and Bill, on their wedding day.
The top picture is, from left to right, Bill (the groom), my son Clayton, who was the best man and the usher, Shawn McCracken, a good friend of Bill's.
The middle picture is -from left to right, my older daughter, Carrie, who was a bridesmaid, Mandy and her best friend, Jen Lamb, who was her matron of honor.
And the bottom picture shows the entire wedding party -Carrie, Jen, Mandy, Bill, Clate and Shawn.
And that's all for today folks. If I ever find the box of old photos of mine and get them scanned in, I'll do some posts of the kids when they were younger, much younger.
So to my daughter, my baby (she's the only one of my kids who still gets that label too -"Baby"), here's wishing you a very, very Happy 32nd Birthday and may you have many, many more!
But anyway -without any of the visual aids I had planned to use -here's my remembrances of why 1976 was a memorable year for me.
December of 1975 had not been the best month of that year. Lots of things falling apart and things coming up for the early part of 1976 that impacted on some of those events.
I was pregnant at that time with my third child -Amanda -who was due in early February. In early December, my clothes dryer quit functioning. We'd purchased it about a year earlier from Sears and had taken out one of those policies -like an insurance policy for repairs -from Sears when we bought it. So, I had called them for service. They told me their repairman was on vacation and couldn't come down to check it out for at least a week. Considering the end of November and early December in this area is basically a major holiday for about a two-three week period with hunting season for bear, buck deer, then doe season, I figured the repairman was probably out scouring the woods in search of a trophy buck or doe.
Because I was pregnant then though -big as a house too -and it was along haul to carry heavy baskets of clothes up to the car to go to the local laundromat, carry the clothes in and out once there and then, bringing them back home and unloading the car again, I really wasn't relishing the idea of lugging all that stuff around. Any woman reading this who has ever been pregnant can grasp the concept of this picture quite easily I'm sure. Add to that, I had my son who was almost 2 1/2 years old and my older daughter, who was eight at the time, to take with me too and it was a very unappealing predicament.
I explained this issue to the people at the local Sears office and they said they would try to get him to come in for this service call. He obliged, came down to the house, went down into the basement, monkeyed around a bit and while he was down there, I thought I heard water running. I checked all the spigots upstairs -nothing running there -so I figured I must have been hearing things.
A little while later, the repairman resurfaced and informed me that he had fixed my washer. Hmmm. Why was he messing with my washer when it was the dryer that was broken? I asked him about that and he simply replied, "Oh." and went back down to check the dryer. Shortly therafter, he returned to tell me the belt was broken on the dryer and he'd check to see if he had one on the truck but he didn't think he did. He checked. He didn't. So he told me he would order one and when it came in, they would call and notify me. Said I could pick it up and have my husband install the new belt because he claimed it was a dirt simple task to perform. Ok, I was willing to go along with that because after all, he was supposed to be on vacation ya know and he had come out to check all this for me.
About a week went by before Sears called and I went in to pick up the belt. I had my two-year-old son with me and this was about 10 days before Christmas then and the lines at the catalog store were long -very long! I remember I had to stand in line for close to an hour, all the while trying to keep a two-year-old occupied and out of mischief, while feeling really miserable as my back and legs were aching like toothache. But, finally I picked up the belt and brought it home. The next day, my husband -after a lot of prodding -went down to fix the dryer.
I don't remember how long he was down in the cellar working on this task but I do know the air was very, very blue there - had to be because I could hear him banging things, cursing with every other breath at least and finally, he stomped back upstairs, threw a couple of his tools on the kitchen table and told me to call that blankety-blank-blank-blank, no-good SOB at Sears and tell them to send the blankety-blank-blank repairman back down here to fix the dryer because HE (my husband) was an automobile mechanic, not a blankety-blank-blank electrician. And with that, he left for the local pub to do a little indulging ya know. (Knowing him then, he probably deliberately sabotaged the job because he was looking for an excuse to go have a beer and get out of the house, away from me, the kids, anything there!
I called Sears, explained the situation and they said the repairman was on vacation. What? Still? Again? Gee, I wanted a job like that with vacation time like that. But, again they said they would see if maybe he would consider coming in to make the repair. A day later, he showed up with another belt, fixed the dryer and told me my husband had simply put the belt on backwards and of course, as soon as he hit the start button, it immediately snapped the new belt!
It was that kind of things that were the prelude to 1976 for me. Maybe it was an omen of things yet to come -only they would be worse, much worse.
At that time in my life, I was doing home party sales - for a clothing group - and on January 11th, I was at a home about 10-12 miles from here doing a demonstration. A lady who was present at that "party" was part of one of the couples my husband and I were very good friends with at that time and at the start of the party, she had asked me what was going on in the little village nearby where we lived. She said when she'd come by this one house there were police cars and ambulances all around it. I had no clue so she had called her mother who worked at the hospital about 10 miles from there and asked her if she knew what was going on.
The news she got was terrible, absolutely terrible. The house was occupied by a young couple and the man of the house was my neighbors two-doors over's son. A young guy I'd known all my life, terrific person, just one of the nicest guys you'd ever hope to meet and it was then I learned he had taken his own life. Thirty-two years later, his family still doesn't really know what set off this suicide.
I remember that night when I got home, I saw the lights were still on in my Mom's house - that would be this one where I live now. (My ex and I had built a home next door to my Mom.) I went in and told her what had happened. She and I sat up that night talking about this young man, so much promise; how much we both remembered of him. My mom felt about him almost like he was a son since she was there, cared for his mother, for him when he was born -at home, a mere 28 years earlier. And the question that passed between us, over and over, was simply "Why?"
Two days later, the evening of the viewing for our neighbor's son, another close friend of mine called to tell me of another tragedy that had just struck our little area. One of the guys from our high school graduating class -who lived about a mile down the road from the neighbor's son's home -had also just shot and killed himself earlier that day. Two suicides within two days and less than two miles apart! For our little township, with only five of six very small villages within it, these actions left virtually every one around here shell-shocked, to say the least.
To back up slightly to the day after my former neighbor took his life, I had taken upon myself to go to every house along our street to ask the neighbors if the would like to contribute to flowers for our neighbor's son. My Mom objected strenuously to my doing that because I was pregnant and she didn't feel it was a good thing for me to be doing plus the fact it was winter and it had not been a 'nice" winter either. The ground was snow-covered and under the snow, ice -solid ice -from some ice storms we'd had that had never melted. She felt for me to go traipsing around our street, up and down the hillside to houses, over sidewalks and walkways that were slicker than all get out was just asking for trouble. But I insisted this was something in my heart, I HAD to do that.
That evening, when I finished up collecting for flowers, as I started down through our yard, don't you just know my foot hit a patch of ice and I flew up in the air and came down on my back (thankfully) but I landed with such a thud -yes, it was really "earth-shaking" -that my Mom heard or "felt" the vibrations as did my husband, each in their own houses, watching tv! I figure it had to be all the extra weight I was carrying around at that time that was enough to make the timbers of both houses vibrate that way!
February rolled around and on the sixth of February, I started having contractions. I called the doctor and he said as soon as they got down to five minutes apart, to call him back and for us to head to the hospital. I called my husband -at whatever pub he was visiting at that time -told him he'd probably better come home, which surprisingly enough, he did that. And after about two hours, maybe three, the contractions just quit. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy that I had interrupted his Saturday night festivities. I wasn't all that impressed either as I was at that point then when you just want this all over and done with.
Over the next four days, I had more bouts with the contractions. They would start, get a little intense, get almost down to five minute intervals and then stop.
On February 10th, I got one of those wild and crazy ideas about cleaning my house. Started scrubbing everything and anything -did the living room and kitchen walls, vacuumed like crazy and even sprayed the oven with oven cleaner to let it sit overnight and I would wipe it down, clean it out in the morning. I went to bed and forgot all about the oven.
About 4:30 in the morning of February 11th, I awoke again with the contractions. Got up and went to the bathroom and when I went back to our bedroom I woke my husband to tell him this time, I knew it was for real and we had best get moving. I called my Mom next door to tell her we needed her to come over and stay with the two other children while Frank and I got ready to leave for the hospital. He made a pot of coffee, fixed his big thermos and filled it with the fresh hot coffee to take with him to make sure he had something to sip on. And off we went.
The roads were fairly clear but with a thaw here and there and then temperatures dropping sharply at night, there was always the risk of that lovely "black ice" on the highway and as we drove along to the hospital, my pains were getting closer and harder and I asked him if he couldn't please pick up the pace a bit. I've never known him to turn down the idea of driving a little faster before but he snapped at me when I suggested this saying, "Do you want to have this baby in the hospital or in the G-D, frigging ditch someplace?" Ok, given those options, I figured maybe we'd be best served to take our chances and drive a trifle slowly then.
By the time we got to the hospital it was 6 a.m. In the admitting office, the pains were really intensifying by then and the woman on duty, sensing this, called the Obstetric department and asked that they send someone down -IMMEDIATELY - with a wheel chair for me. Within a minute or two, the nurse showed up, had me in the chair and whizzing me off upstairs.
At about 6:25 that morning, my daughter, Amanda, was born! Weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds 13 ounces (yes, I am being sarcastic about the weight) and measuring only 18 inches in length, she even beat the doctor with her fast arrival. He was just running up the back steps to the delivery room as she entered into the world.
When I had both my two older children, they had shown me each of those babies in the delivery room. But, when Mandy was born, I didn't see her till close to 10 a.m. Her Dad saw her before I did and he came to my room, crying, telling me how beautiful she was.
When I did finally see her, she was so tiny -compared to the other two kids - a bit redder too and all I could think was oh my, she looks like a little rodent of some type there - so darned tiny you know.
When I came home from the hospital with her, three days later, my Mom came over to the house to inspect her new granddaughter. I had Mandy laying on the sofa and was going to change her when Mom made the comment to me that she was so small you darned near needed a magnifying glass to find her ass! I had to agree with her because this kid's behind almost seemed to be non-existant, it was so smal.
And now, thirty two years later, some things have hardly changed. Mandy's older sister decided a great nickname for her little sister -who is not only "little" to her in the sense of being nine years younger than Carrie, but she is also still "little" - just a slip of a thing and Carrie says since Mandy still has no butt, she deserves to be called "lizard butt."
Oh the endearing names siblings often give each other!
But anyway, that's the story of the chain of events - omens maybe -that preceded my youngest daughter, youngest child's birth.
Today, she is as said above, slim- very slim! She has a lot of her dad's temperment too - quick to anger, she can fire up in a flash, express her anger and then, generally, she is over it. She's not one to hold grudges - in that respect, she is much more like me. When she does get angry though, if you happen to pay attention to her eyes, you can see the anger rising as her blue eyes seem to turn almost blackish in color and they can pierce right through you -or so it appears. (She gets that from her Dad!)
She's often very inclined to enjoying being silly, has a very good sense of humor, quick wit along with also being much like her two siblings, she is also a very sweet, extremely sentimental young lady. Mandy's a hard-worker too -knows how to move and has long, slim legs than can transport her quickly -very quickly - as she does her work, still in the food service industry.
Mandy has always been the one who has loved children - all children -and watching her with her two little ones here, she really is a very loving, caring parent. She's the one of my kids who loves to get cards to send to anyone and everyone for birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, anniverary, sympathy -any occasion.
She's been here with me, for me during all my health problems over the past five years - keeping track of my appointments as well as her own and then her children's as well. She's put up with me when I've been at some of the lowest points of my life during those times as well. And, though I know when things have gotten difficult -with me - she's growled and complained a time or two -or five hundred or so to her siblings about how cantankerous her old Mom is, she's still here, putting up with me, day after day!
Can't ask for more than that can I, from a daughter? And it's nice to think if I make it several more years, she'll still be here with me, being her goofy little self along the way!
This picture, taken about two years ago of my older grandson, Alex and Mandy, when they were clowning around - the normal for both of them - together in the kitchen.
This is Mandy, taken about four years ago and is one of my favorite photos of my baby, with her first baby, my little Princess Maya.
Isn't this just a beautiful picture though?
Mandy has it in a 12 x 16 frame, on the back wall of the living room. and I just love it.
And here, this is a small collage of sorts, of pictures of Mandy and Bill, on their wedding day.
The top picture is, from left to right, Bill (the groom), my son Clayton, who was the best man and the usher, Shawn McCracken, a good friend of Bill's.
The middle picture is -from left to right, my older daughter, Carrie, who was a bridesmaid, Mandy and her best friend, Jen Lamb, who was her matron of honor.
And the bottom picture shows the entire wedding party -Carrie, Jen, Mandy, Bill, Clate and Shawn.
And that's all for today folks. If I ever find the box of old photos of mine and get them scanned in, I'll do some posts of the kids when they were younger, much younger.
So to my daughter, my baby (she's the only one of my kids who still gets that label too -"Baby"), here's wishing you a very, very Happy 32nd Birthday and may you have many, many more!
Valentine's Day Presents? Maybe.
What's coming up this week?
Well, of course, Valentine's Day will be this Thursday coming. And for those of you who love to read about what the DUBYA has said better than anyone else could possibly say things, here's this week's accumulation of great quotations.
Monday, February 11, 2008 - 344 days left
White hunting for quail in Texas on February 11, 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his hunting partner Harry M. Whittlington with 200 pellets of buckshot.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 343 days left
www.awfulplasticsurgery.com adds Bush to its roster of bad rhinoplasties.
--February 12, 2004
February 13, 2008 - 342 days left
"The relations with, uhh--Europe are important relations, and they're, uhh --because, we do share values. And, they're universal values, they're not american values, or, you know --European values, they're universal values. And those values --uhh -being universal, ought to be applied everywhere."
--Washington, D.C., 2005
February 14, 2008 - VALENTINE'S DAY - 341 days left
"[Laura] is out campaigning along with our girls. And she speaks English a lot better than I do. I think people understand what she's saying."
--Third presidential debate, Tempe, Arizona, 2004
Friday. February 15, 2008 -- 340 days left
"Joe, I don't do nuance."
--Time Magazine, February 15, 2004, to Senator Joseph Biden
Saturday and Sunday, February 16/17, 2008 - 339 days left and 338 days left
"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have --he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road."
-About Senator John McCain, Florence, South Carolina, February 17, 2000
Now isn't that just about the nicest little Valentine's Day gift you could get? One that keeps giving, day after day after day.
Well, of course, Valentine's Day will be this Thursday coming. And for those of you who love to read about what the DUBYA has said better than anyone else could possibly say things, here's this week's accumulation of great quotations.
Monday, February 11, 2008 - 344 days left
White hunting for quail in Texas on February 11, 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his hunting partner Harry M. Whittlington with 200 pellets of buckshot.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 343 days left
www.awfulplasticsurgery.com adds Bush to its roster of bad rhinoplasties.
--February 12, 2004
February 13, 2008 - 342 days left
"The relations with, uhh--Europe are important relations, and they're, uhh --because, we do share values. And, they're universal values, they're not american values, or, you know --European values, they're universal values. And those values --uhh -being universal, ought to be applied everywhere."
--Washington, D.C., 2005
February 14, 2008 - VALENTINE'S DAY - 341 days left
"[Laura] is out campaigning along with our girls. And she speaks English a lot better than I do. I think people understand what she's saying."
--Third presidential debate, Tempe, Arizona, 2004
Friday. February 15, 2008 -- 340 days left
"Joe, I don't do nuance."
--Time Magazine, February 15, 2004, to Senator Joseph Biden
Saturday and Sunday, February 16/17, 2008 - 339 days left and 338 days left
"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have --he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road."
-About Senator John McCain, Florence, South Carolina, February 17, 2000
Now isn't that just about the nicest little Valentine's Day gift you could get? One that keeps giving, day after day after day.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
The New Picasso
Mandy left for work around 5 p.m. Bill was here when she snuck out the front door -he had Maya distracted back in the bathrooms. Saves a little bit on the nerves with less risk of a major meltdown occurring from the separation anxiety factors that often crop up when Mandy leaves for work. Tonight, it went smoothly -no tantrum. Only asked one question about "Where's Mommy?" to which Bill answered her "She went out." He offered no more explanation than that and for a change, it seemed to satisfy her.
Last year -or maybe it was clear back in late fall, early winter of 2006 -not sure right now - but for a while then, we had a lot of problems with Maya wanted to draw or color but she preferred the walls to her coloring books. Mandy and I had many days back then when we spent hours trying to scrub crayon circles and drawings from the living room's ecru walls. Then she seemed to lose interest in that type of mural artwork.
However - yes, you know there is always that damned "however" don't you? - it seems she has decided to go back into the mural-type art again.
This morning, Mandy scrubbed the wall by the hallway and bathroom door - all done up with not just crayon scribbles but she had discovered and managed to snag some pens too - so it was not a happy camper that Mandy was as she rubbed and scrubbed to get those designs off the wall.
Tonight - not ten minutes ago -that dangerous time had entered here. You know, when you have a small child who is usually either busy zipping around the house or jabbering but when that child gets quiet for more than say 5 minutes, alarms go off in your head. Yeah, those alarms went off for me as I was typing in a comment on someone's blog and realized I hadn't heard any activity from Maya for a little while. I swiveled around in my chair and there she was, standing on the sofa, my little Picasso junior, hard at work.
Notice, in the upper left corner, it looks kind of like she was drawing a car or maybe a train -nicely outlined though and with a different color between her outlining too. I thought the fact she had written "MOM" in the center to be a very nice touch too, don't you?
Here we have the bottom portion of her talented drawing. Kind of looks like she was attempting to show a dinosaur there -maybe. Apparently watching a Barney video was quite inspiring to her!
Now, to find the "Mr. Clean" or a clorox sponge - whatever will work to remove this artistic display without taking all the skin off my knuckles or making too many scratch type marks in the paint and plasterboard here and to get it all done before her Mom and Dad both return home too. AH yes, time to clean.
I'm not going to complain too much though -it could always be worse. She could have decided to draw with the same substance her uncle and mother used to use on the walls of their bedroom when they were about 2-3 years old. At least this stuff doesn't stink.
Last year -or maybe it was clear back in late fall, early winter of 2006 -not sure right now - but for a while then, we had a lot of problems with Maya wanted to draw or color but she preferred the walls to her coloring books. Mandy and I had many days back then when we spent hours trying to scrub crayon circles and drawings from the living room's ecru walls. Then she seemed to lose interest in that type of mural artwork.
However - yes, you know there is always that damned "however" don't you? - it seems she has decided to go back into the mural-type art again.
This morning, Mandy scrubbed the wall by the hallway and bathroom door - all done up with not just crayon scribbles but she had discovered and managed to snag some pens too - so it was not a happy camper that Mandy was as she rubbed and scrubbed to get those designs off the wall.
Tonight - not ten minutes ago -that dangerous time had entered here. You know, when you have a small child who is usually either busy zipping around the house or jabbering but when that child gets quiet for more than say 5 minutes, alarms go off in your head. Yeah, those alarms went off for me as I was typing in a comment on someone's blog and realized I hadn't heard any activity from Maya for a little while. I swiveled around in my chair and there she was, standing on the sofa, my little Picasso junior, hard at work.
Notice, in the upper left corner, it looks kind of like she was drawing a car or maybe a train -nicely outlined though and with a different color between her outlining too. I thought the fact she had written "MOM" in the center to be a very nice touch too, don't you?
Here we have the bottom portion of her talented drawing. Kind of looks like she was attempting to show a dinosaur there -maybe. Apparently watching a Barney video was quite inspiring to her!
Now, to find the "Mr. Clean" or a clorox sponge - whatever will work to remove this artistic display without taking all the skin off my knuckles or making too many scratch type marks in the paint and plasterboard here and to get it all done before her Mom and Dad both return home too. AH yes, time to clean.
I'm not going to complain too much though -it could always be worse. She could have decided to draw with the same substance her uncle and mother used to use on the walls of their bedroom when they were about 2-3 years old. At least this stuff doesn't stink.
Snow
I woke up this morning and, as I looked out the front window, saw snow falling - big thick flakes that were accumulating fairly quickly too. That was around 8 a.m. and a little after noon now, the snow is still coming down. It's finer now, but still coming, still sticking to the ground.
I'd estimate we have two, maybe three inches of new-fallen white fluff now on the ground. But early this morning, the amount sticking, the way the roads were at that hour, put a crimp in the plans Mandy had for this morning.
She'd enrolled Maya in a swimming class at the YMCA in Clearfield and today was to have been the beginning class. Last night, Maya had tried on the new swimsuit - in pinks and lavenders, her favorite colors -that are splashed across the fabric in a wavy pattern. She was so excited, so proud, so preening in that little outfit and also, very excited about the prospect the morning held for her. She loves the water. In the tub, in the little pool Mandy had bought last summer and had set up in the front yard for the kids, Maya was definitely a "water baby!"
But with the roads being what they were this morning, Mandy decided a drive to Clearfield was just to risky at that time and the first swim lesson was out-of-the question for today.
Then she called the YMCA to inquire about the swimming lesson program, making up the missed lesson, etc., and learned some good news in the process.
Seems she had marked the wrong date on the calendar for the beginning of this class. It didn't begin today but starts NEXT Saturday! Yay, yay!
She then told Maya they would go outside and "play" in the fresh-fallen snow - a move that totally delighted Maya. She'd received one of those saucer sleds for Christmas and we haven't had all that much snowfall this winter nor anyone available at times when we did have enough snow on the ground to be with her so she could play in the snow with the sled, so she was really excited about that.
Here's Maya actually "using" the sled too.
And, while Maya was having so much fun playing in the snow, sliding on the saucer sled, here's what her mother (Mandy) was doing.
I look at these pictures of Maya at play in the snow, then at Mandy shoveling it to clear our parking area, and they bring back lots and lots of memories to me. Times when, as a child, I didn't slide on anything like a saucer or sled in our yard as my grandma would have had a hissy fit, telling me it would damage the yard somehow to do that. But my peers and I had better places than the slight slope in my yard to ride our sleds back then anyway. We climbed the hill across the road from my house and depending on the depth of the snow and how much energy we had too, could choose to have a short ride down that hill if we only went half-way up, or if we wanted a really good, long ride, we could drag our sleds behind us and trudge the whole way up the side of that hill to where the old railroad tracks had once been and then, throw the sled down with our bodies on top of it and really have a great ride. Depending on how much we had packed our sledding path down, our ride might end at the street that goes in front of the houses here or it might have continued on down the alleyway between our house and that of the Little family next door. Some times, when we had REALLY big snowfalls, it could even extend further down through the back field and stop at the "sulfur" creek (Moravian Run is its proper name) that cuts throughout the village.
Ah, those were the days. Indeed they were! Sled riding, ice skating out in the stripping cuts, building snow forts or igloos and snowmen in the yards, making snow angels in the fresh-fallen snow too - all great fun for kids of so many different ages who would come together and just enjoy the weather, being outside and each other. All things I rarely see happen with the kids who live on this street today.
They have no idea how much fun they're missing. Hopefully, the enjoyment Maya had today will follow her each winter as she grows up and maybe in a year or two, her brother, Kurtis, will be able to be outside frolicking in the beautiful white snow covering the ground too.
I hope they both learn to savor the joys of snow, of sled riding, snowmen, forts, igloos and to leave behind those angels in their wake. Angels made by those I consider to be my little angels today.
I'd estimate we have two, maybe three inches of new-fallen white fluff now on the ground. But early this morning, the amount sticking, the way the roads were at that hour, put a crimp in the plans Mandy had for this morning.
She'd enrolled Maya in a swimming class at the YMCA in Clearfield and today was to have been the beginning class. Last night, Maya had tried on the new swimsuit - in pinks and lavenders, her favorite colors -that are splashed across the fabric in a wavy pattern. She was so excited, so proud, so preening in that little outfit and also, very excited about the prospect the morning held for her. She loves the water. In the tub, in the little pool Mandy had bought last summer and had set up in the front yard for the kids, Maya was definitely a "water baby!"
But with the roads being what they were this morning, Mandy decided a drive to Clearfield was just to risky at that time and the first swim lesson was out-of-the question for today.
Then she called the YMCA to inquire about the swimming lesson program, making up the missed lesson, etc., and learned some good news in the process.
Seems she had marked the wrong date on the calendar for the beginning of this class. It didn't begin today but starts NEXT Saturday! Yay, yay!
She then told Maya they would go outside and "play" in the fresh-fallen snow - a move that totally delighted Maya. She'd received one of those saucer sleds for Christmas and we haven't had all that much snowfall this winter nor anyone available at times when we did have enough snow on the ground to be with her so she could play in the snow with the sled, so she was really excited about that.
Here's Maya actually "using" the sled too.
And, while Maya was having so much fun playing in the snow, sliding on the saucer sled, here's what her mother (Mandy) was doing.
I look at these pictures of Maya at play in the snow, then at Mandy shoveling it to clear our parking area, and they bring back lots and lots of memories to me. Times when, as a child, I didn't slide on anything like a saucer or sled in our yard as my grandma would have had a hissy fit, telling me it would damage the yard somehow to do that. But my peers and I had better places than the slight slope in my yard to ride our sleds back then anyway. We climbed the hill across the road from my house and depending on the depth of the snow and how much energy we had too, could choose to have a short ride down that hill if we only went half-way up, or if we wanted a really good, long ride, we could drag our sleds behind us and trudge the whole way up the side of that hill to where the old railroad tracks had once been and then, throw the sled down with our bodies on top of it and really have a great ride. Depending on how much we had packed our sledding path down, our ride might end at the street that goes in front of the houses here or it might have continued on down the alleyway between our house and that of the Little family next door. Some times, when we had REALLY big snowfalls, it could even extend further down through the back field and stop at the "sulfur" creek (Moravian Run is its proper name) that cuts throughout the village.
Ah, those were the days. Indeed they were! Sled riding, ice skating out in the stripping cuts, building snow forts or igloos and snowmen in the yards, making snow angels in the fresh-fallen snow too - all great fun for kids of so many different ages who would come together and just enjoy the weather, being outside and each other. All things I rarely see happen with the kids who live on this street today.
They have no idea how much fun they're missing. Hopefully, the enjoyment Maya had today will follow her each winter as she grows up and maybe in a year or two, her brother, Kurtis, will be able to be outside frolicking in the beautiful white snow covering the ground too.
I hope they both learn to savor the joys of snow, of sled riding, snowmen, forts, igloos and to leave behind those angels in their wake. Angels made by those I consider to be my little angels today.
Friday, February 08, 2008
The Book Meme
Tonight, one of my favorite bloggers "Singing Owl" who writes an excellent blog "The Owl's Song tagged me for an unusual meme -called the Book Meme.
Here's the instructions: including who tagged Singing Owl for this meme too:
Dr. Platypus has tagged me for a book meme. Hey, this is fun!
Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.
I don't usually do many memes, but this one appealed to me -probably because it looked easy and interesting, I love to read and just happened to have the book I am currently reading laying here, atop my printer.
So, here's my contribution to this meme:
Barb at Skittles Place - If she hasn't found a place to buy her books wholesale yet, she should, cause she always had bunches of books she was or is reading!
Shelby at Time With Shelby Yeah, she's even got her current book mentioned on her blog today!
Terri, the Lattegirl at Inner Dialogues - who has a bloggers book club on her sidebar!
Another Terri -of Terri, Terri, Quite Contrary - who likes to buy books in bulk at times too!
Vic Grace at Cariboo Ponderer - Who I know sometimes likes to get into reading some really deep, spiritual type readings among other things.
There you have it - my choices, my current piece of reading material as well. Oh, and I received 8 of the 9 books I just ordered this past Monday from Barnes & Noble today (the 9th book is intended for my older grandson so isn't necessarily my type of reading) plus I just picked up two books at Walmart the other day too for part of my daughter Mandy's birthday present -she'll be a big old 32 come Monday of next week! So, now I have restocked myself and Mandy too in new books to read. It's something she and I both love to do as does my older daughter, Carrie! P.S. my ten-year-old grandson is off to a good start in the reading theme as he is already showing that he is really MY grandson, his Mother's Son and his Aunt Nephew because he loves to read just like we do! Isn't that super though?
Take a trip around the world and never leave your armchair when you pick up a good book!
Here's the instructions: including who tagged Singing Owl for this meme too:
Dr. Platypus has tagged me for a book meme. Hey, this is fun!
Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.
I don't usually do many memes, but this one appealed to me -probably because it looked easy and interesting, I love to read and just happened to have the book I am currently reading laying here, atop my printer.
So, here's my contribution to this meme:
The name of the book is “Sula” by Toni Morrison.
Page 123 – The first paragraph contains five sentences. So, starting with the next three sentences:
She was pariah, then, and knew it. Knew that they despised her and believed that they framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay with men. Which was true.
And, I am supposed to tag five others. So I'm trying to remember who are the most voracious readers among my bloggers and hoping I remember this right too, here goes. I tag the following:Barb at Skittles Place - If she hasn't found a place to buy her books wholesale yet, she should, cause she always had bunches of books she was or is reading!
Shelby at Time With Shelby Yeah, she's even got her current book mentioned on her blog today!
Terri, the Lattegirl at Inner Dialogues - who has a bloggers book club on her sidebar!
Another Terri -of Terri, Terri, Quite Contrary - who likes to buy books in bulk at times too!
Vic Grace at Cariboo Ponderer - Who I know sometimes likes to get into reading some really deep, spiritual type readings among other things.
There you have it - my choices, my current piece of reading material as well. Oh, and I received 8 of the 9 books I just ordered this past Monday from Barnes & Noble today (the 9th book is intended for my older grandson so isn't necessarily my type of reading) plus I just picked up two books at Walmart the other day too for part of my daughter Mandy's birthday present -she'll be a big old 32 come Monday of next week! So, now I have restocked myself and Mandy too in new books to read. It's something she and I both love to do as does my older daughter, Carrie! P.S. my ten-year-old grandson is off to a good start in the reading theme as he is already showing that he is really MY grandson, his Mother's Son and his Aunt Nephew because he loves to read just like we do! Isn't that super though?
Take a trip around the world and never leave your armchair when you pick up a good book!
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Here's My Heart!
Back before Christmas, one of my favorite bloggers - Paula -had a neat little Christmas Trivia contest going on her blog and shortly after the holidays were over, she e-mailed me to tell me I had won the contest. WOW. I rarely ever win ANYTHING.
But she hadn't yet decided what my prize would be. She just said she would be making something as my present for winning and sending it along as soon as she was finished with it.
Well, if you read Paula's blog, you know this is a lady who is really big into crafting - knitting, sewing, embroidery, you name it and she does it. Not only does she make really pretty crafty things and sometimes puts them on Etsy to sell them but many of the things she makes are also designed by her too.
Having seen many photos on her blog of items she has made, I was really excited, anticipating the arrival of her gift.
Last week, Mandy brought this package home for me that arrived in the mail. She was really puzzled because she sure didn't recognize the return address - couldn't think of any family we might have in Oregon and she didn't know of any friends Mom had there either. She showed me the package and asked if I'd ordered something or what the heck could this be?
As soon as I saw the return address, I knew, this was it! My prize, my present, my "major award" if you will, from Paula.
I opened it and there before my eyes was the prettiest handmade heart you'd ever hope to see. Complete even with embroidery on it all designed, sewn and embroidered just for me by my Blogger Buddy, Paula.
I told the son in law I want him to put a little hook in the shelf directly above my computer - it holds lots of framed pictures of the kids but I thought if he just inserts a tiny hook there, then I can hang my heart from that and it will be there, a lovely reminder to me of my friend in Oregon, Paula and her talents.
Bill hasn't yet put the hook in for me -which is typical I suppose cause men frequently forget little requests like that of them by these silly women in their lives ya know. I had intended too that I would get a picture -since I now have this nifty digital camera too - and would post it here for all to see. Well, I'm just about as slow on the draw about things at times too.
But today, I decided I best take a photo of my pretty heart so I can show it to all of you.
I got Maya to stand by the back wall in the dining room - figuring there was less rubble accumulated in that area to deter from the picture. Getting Maya to hold the heart was no problem but getting her to stand still, to hold the heart in a place where I could get a good shot of it and her too -now that was a problem!
She has to be dancing around almost all the time - just fidgeting in some way or another. Then she had to scrunch the heart up under her chin which didn't show the heart nor did it give a nice shot of her either. It took me about 15 minutes, at least, to finally snap a picture of Maya, holding my lovely heart!
Take a look at this will you?
And the really funny thing for me is that I didn't even notice until after I took the picture how much detail this little camera can pick up too. I hadn't seen when I snapped it all the red stuff all around Maya's mouth and cheeks - residue from the nacho chips she'd been nibbling on here most of the day!
Oh well, that's my little Princess for you - and that is the lovely heart! Soon to be hanging over my computer, as a symbol to me of the love that spreads daily via the bloggers I've met here!
Happy Day to all of you! And again, to Paula, thank you so much for this lovely heart. It is really beautiful and you can tell at a glance it came straight from your heart and was made with love!
But she hadn't yet decided what my prize would be. She just said she would be making something as my present for winning and sending it along as soon as she was finished with it.
Well, if you read Paula's blog, you know this is a lady who is really big into crafting - knitting, sewing, embroidery, you name it and she does it. Not only does she make really pretty crafty things and sometimes puts them on Etsy to sell them but many of the things she makes are also designed by her too.
Having seen many photos on her blog of items she has made, I was really excited, anticipating the arrival of her gift.
Last week, Mandy brought this package home for me that arrived in the mail. She was really puzzled because she sure didn't recognize the return address - couldn't think of any family we might have in Oregon and she didn't know of any friends Mom had there either. She showed me the package and asked if I'd ordered something or what the heck could this be?
As soon as I saw the return address, I knew, this was it! My prize, my present, my "major award" if you will, from Paula.
I opened it and there before my eyes was the prettiest handmade heart you'd ever hope to see. Complete even with embroidery on it all designed, sewn and embroidered just for me by my Blogger Buddy, Paula.
I told the son in law I want him to put a little hook in the shelf directly above my computer - it holds lots of framed pictures of the kids but I thought if he just inserts a tiny hook there, then I can hang my heart from that and it will be there, a lovely reminder to me of my friend in Oregon, Paula and her talents.
Bill hasn't yet put the hook in for me -which is typical I suppose cause men frequently forget little requests like that of them by these silly women in their lives ya know. I had intended too that I would get a picture -since I now have this nifty digital camera too - and would post it here for all to see. Well, I'm just about as slow on the draw about things at times too.
But today, I decided I best take a photo of my pretty heart so I can show it to all of you.
I got Maya to stand by the back wall in the dining room - figuring there was less rubble accumulated in that area to deter from the picture. Getting Maya to hold the heart was no problem but getting her to stand still, to hold the heart in a place where I could get a good shot of it and her too -now that was a problem!
She has to be dancing around almost all the time - just fidgeting in some way or another. Then she had to scrunch the heart up under her chin which didn't show the heart nor did it give a nice shot of her either. It took me about 15 minutes, at least, to finally snap a picture of Maya, holding my lovely heart!
Take a look at this will you?
And the really funny thing for me is that I didn't even notice until after I took the picture how much detail this little camera can pick up too. I hadn't seen when I snapped it all the red stuff all around Maya's mouth and cheeks - residue from the nacho chips she'd been nibbling on here most of the day!
Oh well, that's my little Princess for you - and that is the lovely heart! Soon to be hanging over my computer, as a symbol to me of the love that spreads daily via the bloggers I've met here!
Happy Day to all of you! And again, to Paula, thank you so much for this lovely heart. It is really beautiful and you can tell at a glance it came straight from your heart and was made with love!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
It's Genetic!
Earlier this afternoon - a couple hours before I almost accidentally destroyed my blog -the behavior/play therapist who works with my little grandson, Kurtis, arrived for their weekly session. Although he was napping when she arrived, I got him up as I knew as soon as he saw her here, he would be happy as a little lark. And I was right. Those big blue eyes of his just sparkled like crazy and he was all smiles when he saw Carrie was here.
We got him situated in the high chair as, like Maya was too early on in the therapy work, it was imperative that the kids -either of them - be restrained somewhat to try to gain and keep their attention span. That's why he's in the high chair with this nifty new toy Carrie brought with her today on top of the high-chair tray.
It didn't take him long at all to figure out if he got a good grip on the ball his therapist, Carrie, had handed him and if he was really careful, handled it just ever so gently and inserted it into the hole facing him, the ball would then fall through the little slots in side the toy, flip, flopping around and then, finally roll out onto the tray in front of him.
But boy, as you can see him here, he was really concentrating on getting that ball in there correctly!
And here's the end result of his hard work -as he watched the ball falling down through the slots and out in front of him. That toy made for one very happy little camper today as he worked with it, happily, over and over again.
He's adapting fairly well so far to the play aspect of the behavior therapy -picks up on appropriate play with a good amount of ease. I had hoped to get a shot of him looking up, laughing, so you could really see the sparkle in his eyes and that smile that really captivates, but this was about as close as I could come to capturing that in the photos.
After supper tonight, I had just gone out and dipped myself a nice big dish of ice cream -yeah, I know - just what I need, huh -and sat back down at the desk when Katie -the 16-year-old asked me "Uh, is there a reason why there is a diaper wedged down between the arm of the sofa and the cushion?"
"Huh? Let me see it." I said. And with that, she gingerly picked up a diaper that was obviously "used" (fortunately it was only on the soggy side, not discolored) and held it up to show me she wasn't lying to me.
Hmmm. I looked at Kurtis as he was bouncing around in the playpen and saw no evidence -none immediately indicative of a recent stripping anyway but when I picked him up, it was also obvious there was nothing between the onesie he had on and his bare skin but the onesie (that's one of those one piece undershirt things that snap at the crotch for anyone unfamiliar with infant and toddler clothing) was still firmly fastened. How in the heck had he done that anyway?
He has on occasion recently figured been able to unsnap some of these onesies but they generally were older ones, that maybe the snaps were a little easier to get them to come apart or something and then, he'd bounce around in the playpen with the onesie unsnapped and the flap hanging down in the back. Once or twice he has stripped - taken the diaper off. But this was really a first that he'd managed to squeeze the tabs loose on the diaper, get it out from under the onesie too without unsnapping anything and then, to also very neatly manage to get it shoved down between the arm of the sofa and the couch cushion too. Pretty adept little guy my little man is, wouldn't you say?
I'm wondering though if this aptitude, and interest, in stripping certain items of clothing off is something genetic though.
His uncle when he was a baby couldn't be trusted in the crib or playpen unless he had either shorts or a pair of jeans or long pants over his diaper. Without that added bit of protection, he liked to dip and paint with the products in the pamper. However, Kurtis' mother was much more ingenious - she would strip everything off and then, do the dip and fingerpaint routine over everything within her reach - crib rails, the walls, her face, abdomen -whatever!
I really am hoping this ability of my grandson's doesn't become a big habit of his now. I really don't feel like having to take the playpen down and stick it in the shower to scrub it down, ya know!
The Idiot Blogger
Remind me, please, never, ever again try to experiment with my blog! Take a hammer and pound that into my head, please, please, please!
Why do I state that at the very beginning of this post? Because, when it comes to blogging, to the html factors, etc., yours truly is truly a blithering idiot and should not be trusted in any way, shape or form to play around with components of a blog that can do serious damage to said blog.
Doing that can also cause severe shock to said blogger's system too - as in a panic-type feeling, cardiac arrest may be following along in the wake here too, if I am allowed to monkey around, using my own devices to play with the inner workings of my blog.
What happened here was this. I registered today -finally - for this IZEA thing so that, supposedly, I would then be given access to my "real page rank" through their system as opposed to being ranked by the lovely, all powerful google machine. You know that one - the one that busted me down from the HUGE rank I had pre-December of a "three" to having no rank now -a big fat zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothing! Talk about a blow to the bl-ego - is that what Mimi would call a blogger's ego maybe? I dunno for sure there but I'm assuming maybe that's what it would be.
Ok, so we all know I have been a nobody, a "nothing blogger" for the past two months now, thanks to Google's form of showing love to bloggers. And the upshot of this is I can't get posting opportunities with some of the paid post places I signed up with because of that "no rank" ranking you see. So this lovely IZEA group has come along and said they have their own "real page rank" now that one can get hooked into. And it's all so easy - just like falling off a log, you know.
Well, if you all remember correctly a couple months back I proved how easy it is for me to fall out of my computer desk chair and I darned near did that to myself this afternoon when I tried to figure out how to install this "real page rank" via the lovely, simple instructions provided by IZEA. In the process, I scared the living be-jesus out of myself too because I thought I lost my blog!
Don't ever tell me to insert ANYTHING into the html code of my blog unless you also give me precise instructions EXACTLY where in the code I am to place said things. Don't tell me things like make sure there is "x" amount of space so there is room for "x" number of pixels. Don't leave any junk like that to chance with me because it is a given, a solid guarantee that I am then going to putsy around, meddle where my nose should never roam and run the risk of totally screwing up what I have spent the last 17, almost 18 months getting to look like it looks today - my blog! Whether you like its appearance or hate it, think it interesting or not, I have worked long and hard to get it to this point and when I messed around with it today and blipped out virtually all my sidebar, favorites, awards, pictures there - well, I admit I was totally on the verge of going into complete and utter cardiac arrest!
So, as much as I would love to be able to follow IZEA's "easy to follow" (NOT to me) instructions as to how to go about adding that little badge showing my real page rank through them, I'm not taking any further chances of messing around with my blog until I have a live person who is knowledgeable about these things sitting beside me, leading me through that process step-by-slow-painful-step! In lieu of no one being able to surface here in person, I will also accept instructions from any blogger knowledgeable in this area on one condition. The instructions have to be PLAINLY written! When I say plainly, let me stress, I do indeed mean VERY PLAINLY -you can even go the extreme by starting with "turn on your computer" then "now, click on firefox", then do this, do that, do something else, yadda, yadda.
Not to say I am really, really stupid exactly but ok, yes, when it comes to this stuff I am, REALLY REALLY REALLY DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!
Ok, my shattered nerves are starting to quiet down a bit, and because a certain 16-year-old is whining here (I should offer her some cheese, maybe?) about when I am going to cook supper and what will it be, etc., and I think now I can possibly handle something that involves frying, boiling, nuking things, I will head in the direction anyway of the kitchen and try to figure out a meal game plan for us for this evening! Considering other factors - like a need for a certain party to NOT eat, or at least, not eat as much -maybe I should tell her to get herself a bowl of cereal?
And that's the end of my endeavor to install "real Page Rank" to my blog - at least for today!
Why do I state that at the very beginning of this post? Because, when it comes to blogging, to the html factors, etc., yours truly is truly a blithering idiot and should not be trusted in any way, shape or form to play around with components of a blog that can do serious damage to said blog.
Doing that can also cause severe shock to said blogger's system too - as in a panic-type feeling, cardiac arrest may be following along in the wake here too, if I am allowed to monkey around, using my own devices to play with the inner workings of my blog.
What happened here was this. I registered today -finally - for this IZEA thing so that, supposedly, I would then be given access to my "real page rank" through their system as opposed to being ranked by the lovely, all powerful google machine. You know that one - the one that busted me down from the HUGE rank I had pre-December of a "three" to having no rank now -a big fat zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothing! Talk about a blow to the bl-ego - is that what Mimi would call a blogger's ego maybe? I dunno for sure there but I'm assuming maybe that's what it would be.
Ok, so we all know I have been a nobody, a "nothing blogger" for the past two months now, thanks to Google's form of showing love to bloggers. And the upshot of this is I can't get posting opportunities with some of the paid post places I signed up with because of that "no rank" ranking you see. So this lovely IZEA group has come along and said they have their own "real page rank" now that one can get hooked into. And it's all so easy - just like falling off a log, you know.
Well, if you all remember correctly a couple months back I proved how easy it is for me to fall out of my computer desk chair and I darned near did that to myself this afternoon when I tried to figure out how to install this "real page rank" via the lovely, simple instructions provided by IZEA. In the process, I scared the living be-jesus out of myself too because I thought I lost my blog!
Don't ever tell me to insert ANYTHING into the html code of my blog unless you also give me precise instructions EXACTLY where in the code I am to place said things. Don't tell me things like make sure there is "x" amount of space so there is room for "x" number of pixels. Don't leave any junk like that to chance with me because it is a given, a solid guarantee that I am then going to putsy around, meddle where my nose should never roam and run the risk of totally screwing up what I have spent the last 17, almost 18 months getting to look like it looks today - my blog! Whether you like its appearance or hate it, think it interesting or not, I have worked long and hard to get it to this point and when I messed around with it today and blipped out virtually all my sidebar, favorites, awards, pictures there - well, I admit I was totally on the verge of going into complete and utter cardiac arrest!
So, as much as I would love to be able to follow IZEA's "easy to follow" (NOT to me) instructions as to how to go about adding that little badge showing my real page rank through them, I'm not taking any further chances of messing around with my blog until I have a live person who is knowledgeable about these things sitting beside me, leading me through that process step-by-slow-painful-step! In lieu of no one being able to surface here in person, I will also accept instructions from any blogger knowledgeable in this area on one condition. The instructions have to be PLAINLY written! When I say plainly, let me stress, I do indeed mean VERY PLAINLY -you can even go the extreme by starting with "turn on your computer" then "now, click on firefox", then do this, do that, do something else, yadda, yadda.
Not to say I am really, really stupid exactly but ok, yes, when it comes to this stuff I am, REALLY REALLY REALLY DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!
Ok, my shattered nerves are starting to quiet down a bit, and because a certain 16-year-old is whining here (I should offer her some cheese, maybe?) about when I am going to cook supper and what will it be, etc., and I think now I can possibly handle something that involves frying, boiling, nuking things, I will head in the direction anyway of the kitchen and try to figure out a meal game plan for us for this evening! Considering other factors - like a need for a certain party to NOT eat, or at least, not eat as much -maybe I should tell her to get herself a bowl of cereal?
And that's the end of my endeavor to install "real Page Rank" to my blog - at least for today!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Pleasantries
This past weekend - after the not so nice weather we had last Friday (freezing rain, sleet, a little mix of everything) -the rest of the weekend went pretty smoothly. Mandy took a couple pictures on Saturday of the kids and Sunday, Mandy, Maya and I got out and over to the nursing home in Clearfield where my aunt and her daughter have been residents now since August of 2006.
I thought today I'd post some of the pictures taken by us over the weekend.
Starting with this one of Maya - all ready to go to bed on Saturday night. A fairly peaceful process that night - for a change. Some nights -like any four-year-old -she can be really rambunctious about doing that.
Prior to going to bed that night, Maya was busy playing with one of those tiny little digital cameras - this one had been Katie's, no batteries, doesn't work anymore, so Maya has been allowed to claim it as "Her camera!" And Saturday night, she was having a high old time pretending to take pictures all over the place. Looks like she has the hang of it there, doesn't it?
Maya decided the best way to take a picture of Kurtis - apparently she wanted a good close-up too -so she crawled into the playpen with him to get a better shot. However, Kurtis wasn't all that appreciative of having to share his space with her and that's him in the background, trying to get away from Maya the Photographer.
And, this was the upshot of Maya's pretend photoshot, up close and personal with Kurtis. He voiced his displeasure with the whole procedure, long and very loudly too!
Actually, I captioned this one of Kurtis as 'Sometimes, Maya really scares me, ya know!"
Poor little guy!
But, you know what they say - "All's well that ends well." Right?
So here's Maya then -after scaring the living daylights out of Kurtis a few minutes earlier, tryig to comfort him. Nothing like a big old hug from big sister to make a little guy feel better. Well, that is until she starts to use her strangle-hold on his throat! Sometimes, she forgets she's a whole lot bigger -and stronger too - than the little guy!
As I mentioned, on Sunday afternoon Mandy, Maya and I went over to visit our aunt and her daughter. My aunt, who was 90 last April, is now bedfast -rarely recognizes us anymore and if she does wake up, conversation with her is very rare now. She's my Dad's "baby sister" and the last of his family. Until Monday morning I had two aunts left - Aunt "Mike" (Anna Mae is her given name) and my Aunt Isabelle, the widow of one of my Dad's brothers, who was living in Alabama now. Sadly, I received a phone call Monday around noon from my cousin - Aunt Isabelle's daughter - telling me her Mom had passed away that morning. She was 98! She had done remarkably well for so long but the past year, her memory had begun to fail a lot and then, the past few months, her physical issues had begun to accumulate and she had a massive stroke over the weekend and then passed early this morning.
Meanwhile, my Aunt Mike along with her daughter, Jane Anne, have been residents of the Mountain Laurel Rehab center in Clearfield since August of 2006. My cousin, Jane Anne, is the reason my cousins and I believe our aunt has lived as long as she has because until they were admitted to the nursing home, my aunt took care of her daughter, pretty much by herself in the family homestead. This was no easy task either as Jane has many physical issues - cerebral palsy plus mental retardation to name just two -and just trying to move or reposition her is quite a task for someone my size and here was my aunt, barely 5 ft 1 inch, managing to bath, dress, feed, get Jane in and out of bed every day for over 49 years!
While we were at the nursing home, Jane's activity aide was there, working -or playing -with Jane and it was incredible to see how many things this woman has been able to achieve with Jane since she began working with her as her aide! It was more than obvious that Judy - the aide - doesn't do this just as a job but it is a career to her, one she is very good at and you can tell just by the way she responds to Jane that she truly cares about Jane and is trying very hard to give Jane every opportunity to have the best life she possibly can have too.
This is the aide, Judy, with Jane Ann and Maya -in the hallway just outside Aunt Mike and Jane Ann's room.I was so proud of Maya on Sunday because she reacted very nicely with Jane Ann. Sometimes, when we have taken Maya over to the home with us in the past, it has been a difficult visit for everyone as Maya was often upset or even I suppose not understanding and therefore, afraid. But this visit was totally different! She wasn't afraid at all of Jane, watched Judy interact with Jane with some of Jane's toys and Maya warmed up immediately to both of them.
I love this picture of Maya and Jane Ann, side by side.
When Aunt Mike and Jane were still living at home and we would go up there, Maya knew from the time she was about 20 months old where certain toys Jane had were located and as soon as we would get inside the house, Maya would run off to the dining room and get a particular puzzle Jane had, bring it into the living room and sit and play with it while we were there. It always made Aunt Mike happy to see the little nieces and nephews she had (in Maya's case, great-great-niece, you know) and especially to see them learn to interact too with Jane Ann.
When my children were growing up, they learned early on about Jane Ann - her issues, her abilities and because they were around her fairly frequently then too, they had no fear of her. My older daughter did for a couple years but that was because until Carrie was 5 years old, we lived in Maryland and only got back home to visit there maybe two or three times a year. So she wasn't really that well acquainted with Jane during her early formative years. Jane has always been a "people" person too - loves to have visitors and especially was always excited and happy when there would be small children around her. However, when Carrie was small, not only was she not very familiar with Jane but she also had long hair then too - which was an immediate draw for Jane to reach out and grab Carrie by her hair!
But when my son, Clate and Mandy came along, because they were accustomed to Jane from the time they were babies, they saw nothing different about her - just another child to play with, albeit one who was a good bit bigger than they were. But they - Clate and Mandy both, from the time they could walk, talk, play -would get down on the floor with Jane and play catch with her or play with her using other toys (which she had oodles of toys too they could pick from) and they learned very early in their lives then to be accepting of others for who they are, ignoring physical and mental abilities, they enjoyed and learned to understand Jane and others like her much better that way.
I wanted Aunt Mike to know my grandchildren and to be able to be around her and Jane and understand the place they both have within our family structure. My older grandson, Alex, who is ten was lucky in that he was able to spend a lot of time around Aunt Mike and Jane. As a result, he knows and loves them both very much and that love was returned to him ten-fold too as Aunt Mike just adored him -as she did all of her nieces and nephews over the years.
So many people tend to think so little of people who are physically and/or mentally challenged and because of the differences often seen in people like that, they teach their children to be afraid of those who are mentally retarded or who have physical things that make them look different too. And in doing that, all too often those children grow up having no clue, not a whit of understanding much less love and compassion for children like my cousin Jane Ann.
It's always been my belief that to raise children by shielding them from the realities of life - people who are different from us for whatever reason - that a huge disservice is then being done to the children by NOT letting them know how to treat all people with respect and decency when they become adults then.
By segregating children in that manner, they are deprived of learning so much about others, their abilities as well as their disabilities and how important it is too that people who face these challenges receive the best of training, care and above all, the love that is needed by everyone in order to function best through life.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Coming Up
Time again for those lovely Bushisms that so many of you have come to expect, to know, to love too I dare say, for the week ahead.
Here they are!
Monday, February 4, 2008 - 351 days left
"You work three jobs?...Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."
--Omaha, Nebraska, February 4, 2005 to a single mother of three.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 350 days left
"We ought to make the pie higher."
--Republican Presidential debate, February 2000
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 349 days left
"There is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of iron-clad absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon."
-Meet the Press, February 2004
Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 348 days left
""We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House --make no mistake about it."
--Washington, D.C. , February 7, 2001
Friday, February 8, 2008 - 347 days left
"In my judgement, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences."
--Meet the Press, February 8, 2004
Saturday and Sunday, February 9th and 10th, 2008 - 346 and 345 days left
"B ut the true strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of people like Travis, people who are willing to love their neighbor, just like they would like to love themselves."
--Springfield, Missouri, February 9, 2004
You know, reading those clips as I was typing them, it dawned on me that had anyone made the glib remark to me as he made in the first one -about working three jobs to support myself and my kids -back when I was almost always working two jobs, it would have been all I could do then to keep from hauling of and decking that person. And then to tell them if it's so great, why don't you try it - especially at these low-level wages!
Just my opinion there, folks.
Here they are!
Monday, February 4, 2008 - 351 days left
"You work three jobs?...Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."
--Omaha, Nebraska, February 4, 2005 to a single mother of three.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 350 days left
"We ought to make the pie higher."
--Republican Presidential debate, February 2000
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 349 days left
"There is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of iron-clad absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon."
-Meet the Press, February 2004
Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 348 days left
""We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House --make no mistake about it."
--Washington, D.C. , February 7, 2001
Friday, February 8, 2008 - 347 days left
"In my judgement, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences."
--Meet the Press, February 8, 2004
Saturday and Sunday, February 9th and 10th, 2008 - 346 and 345 days left
"B ut the true strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of people like Travis, people who are willing to love their neighbor, just like they would like to love themselves."
--Springfield, Missouri, February 9, 2004
You know, reading those clips as I was typing them, it dawned on me that had anyone made the glib remark to me as he made in the first one -about working three jobs to support myself and my kids -back when I was almost always working two jobs, it would have been all I could do then to keep from hauling of and decking that person. And then to tell them if it's so great, why don't you try it - especially at these low-level wages!
Just my opinion there, folks.
The Things That Pop Up!
Ok - everyone knows by now that the rodent from Gobbler's Knob saw his shadow yesterday, don't 'cha? How could he not see it what with all the lights from the tv cameras all glaring down on him!
And besides, what the heck is all the hullabaloo about there anyway? If you remember the four seasons -equinox or something like that, isn't it (science was never my strong point), we all know that in mid-March, we have the first day of spring -and that's what, oh gee, six weeks from now!
But heck, the whole thing keeps good old Punxsatawny, PA kicking, living, breathing, pulling in some good touristo bucks, and that's what counts overall, isn't it?
I meant to post this last night and got tired, crashed relatively early (for me, anyway) -before midnight -but here it is now, today. Nothing much though, just a little Maya story.
Last night, Bill (the SIL) happened to notice something on the younger cat's eye - said it looked like a glob of goop - and he called out to Katie to bring him a paper towel. She asked what he wanted it for and he said he was going to clean this stuff off Nina's eye.
I don't know what else may have been said - probably something muttered in the kitchen between Mandy and Kate that Maya overheard and decided to take that ball and run with it.
But anyway, next thing we now, Maya starts running around and in a voice she uses sometimes when she is worked up, a little upset but not at meltdown phase yet - kind of small and squeaky is the best I can do to describe it -she's half-crying too "Camera, the camera! Where's the camera?" And she begins repeating these things several times then too.
Now what brought this out from her - who knows! We sure don't have a clue. But you can bet your bottom dollar anytime one of us is a little excited, mildly worked up about something, you'll probably hear someone utter, "Camera, the camera! Where's the camera?
Tag lines like that -and lots of others too - tend to "pop up" here with me, with my kids.
One line that the older daughter and I adopted years ago stems from an episode on that great old sit-com, "WKRP in Cincinnati" and it was the one where they all got stuck in an elevator. By mutual decision, they decided that Dr. Johnny Fever would lower himself down the elevator shaft and find help to set the rest free. They had no idea how far down the elevator had dropped so decided they needed a room to help lower him down the shaft.
When Dr. Fever began his "descent" it was discovered the elevator was only maybe a foot or so from a ledge of some type - something like that -and that a rope would be of no avail. Dr. Fever's line was "Tarzan no need rope!" Anytime one of us is looking for something we think we need -that's the usual circumstance that tends to bring out this response but it can be about virtually ANYTHING ya know -either older daughter or I tend to think of that line and say "Tarzan no need rope!"
It's a great catch-all phrase for us -one that often, if used in a somewhat tense situation, always brings a big laugh to us and lightens what ever problem seems to exist at the time then.
Try it yourself - you'll see how well it works. And, if you use it around others who have narry a clue what the heck you mean, you'll also get a whole lot of strange looks in the process too!
Probably should have titled this post "Tarzan no need rope!" -huh? Oh well, it's really just one of those things that "pop up" now and again.
And besides, what the heck is all the hullabaloo about there anyway? If you remember the four seasons -equinox or something like that, isn't it (science was never my strong point), we all know that in mid-March, we have the first day of spring -and that's what, oh gee, six weeks from now!
But heck, the whole thing keeps good old Punxsatawny, PA kicking, living, breathing, pulling in some good touristo bucks, and that's what counts overall, isn't it?
I meant to post this last night and got tired, crashed relatively early (for me, anyway) -before midnight -but here it is now, today. Nothing much though, just a little Maya story.
Last night, Bill (the SIL) happened to notice something on the younger cat's eye - said it looked like a glob of goop - and he called out to Katie to bring him a paper towel. She asked what he wanted it for and he said he was going to clean this stuff off Nina's eye.
I don't know what else may have been said - probably something muttered in the kitchen between Mandy and Kate that Maya overheard and decided to take that ball and run with it.
But anyway, next thing we now, Maya starts running around and in a voice she uses sometimes when she is worked up, a little upset but not at meltdown phase yet - kind of small and squeaky is the best I can do to describe it -she's half-crying too "Camera, the camera! Where's the camera?" And she begins repeating these things several times then too.
Now what brought this out from her - who knows! We sure don't have a clue. But you can bet your bottom dollar anytime one of us is a little excited, mildly worked up about something, you'll probably hear someone utter, "Camera, the camera! Where's the camera?
Tag lines like that -and lots of others too - tend to "pop up" here with me, with my kids.
One line that the older daughter and I adopted years ago stems from an episode on that great old sit-com, "WKRP in Cincinnati" and it was the one where they all got stuck in an elevator. By mutual decision, they decided that Dr. Johnny Fever would lower himself down the elevator shaft and find help to set the rest free. They had no idea how far down the elevator had dropped so decided they needed a room to help lower him down the shaft.
When Dr. Fever began his "descent" it was discovered the elevator was only maybe a foot or so from a ledge of some type - something like that -and that a rope would be of no avail. Dr. Fever's line was "Tarzan no need rope!" Anytime one of us is looking for something we think we need -that's the usual circumstance that tends to bring out this response but it can be about virtually ANYTHING ya know -either older daughter or I tend to think of that line and say "Tarzan no need rope!"
It's a great catch-all phrase for us -one that often, if used in a somewhat tense situation, always brings a big laugh to us and lightens what ever problem seems to exist at the time then.
Try it yourself - you'll see how well it works. And, if you use it around others who have narry a clue what the heck you mean, you'll also get a whole lot of strange looks in the process too!
Probably should have titled this post "Tarzan no need rope!" -huh? Oh well, it's really just one of those things that "pop up" now and again.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Bridal Preparations
Don't be fooled by the title of this post - no one here, in my family, is getting married or remarried anytime soon.
But this morning while reading my favorite blogs, Empress Bee of the High Seas, was discussing briefly the preparations going on now for her granddaughter, Lala's wedding this spring. One of the things on her list of "to do" stuff was that she now has to go shopping for a suitable dress for the Grandmother of the Bride to wear at that affair. And that gave my memory a bit of a jog back in time -oh about 11 years ago this past month- when my older daughter was planning her wedding.
At that time in my life, I was working two jobs - just barely covering the absolute basic necessities of my expenses and I was worrying about how I was going to be able to afford to take off not just one night, but two nights from work for openers - one, to attend the wedding rehearsal and the other, of course, to attend the wedding. And then, on top of that, I had to shop, very carefully, for an outfit to wear to the event as well.
For a good many years now, shopping for anything new in my wardrobe - other than oversized tee shirts with either a Penn State logo thing on them or perhaps some obnoxious saying -has not been a pleasant experience for me. Weight gain that made then - still does except is worse now-finding anything that fits and doesn't make me look and feel like a stuffed sausage, is something next to impossible and, has been for a long time. Add to that the challenge of finding something for an occasion as auspicious as the wedding of one's daughter that would be at all affordable on my really meager budget then and might even have potential of being worn more than one time (so that it would work with my Scottish ancestry of items serving more than one purpose, ya know), I figured I was going to be dealing with an impossible search mission.
Much to my surprise though, I found an outfit I felt would be very appropriate. Found this item at a J.C. Penney's store in our vicinity and to my real pleasure, it was on sale and not only that, it would be an addition to my wardrobe that I could wear to church, for work in an office setting if I ever managed to land a "professional" job, utilizing my degree, etc. Yes, it was an outfit I was quite pleased with.
It consisted of two pieces - a navy skirt and a blazer in a navy/light blue/mauve/violet paisley print (blazer type) with a "dickey" inset that buttoned in making it look as if it were actually a three piece set. The price was, for an ensemble like this, very reasonable as it was on sale for a mere $25.00! I was, needless to say, ecstatic over my find.
I was very excited as I called my daughter to tell her of my find. She was semi-approving as I described the colors and that it was of a "suit" type nature, which was acceptable to her. Then she said it sounded find but that "It better not be showing any cleavage!" And yes, she was quite adamant about that point too! This is the daughter who tended then to wear clothing along the "classical" lines of apparel -chic and stylish, but very office-dressy if you follow my drift there. (Today, the same can't always be said for her as she has in the past couple of years discovered some "water bra" that I believe Victoria's Secret makes and she makes no bones about telling darned near everyone she knows about these fantastic bras and the rounded curves they give, yadda, yadda.)
I told her I was quite sure this outfit would be acceptable to her and she kept asking me over and over though about how much cleavage did it show.
About a week or two later, there came a day when she and her future mother-in-law and my younger daughter and I would all be able to meet up at a very nice restaurant in State College (The Tavern, if anyone reading this is familiar with Penn State and State College) for supper. For having working both Christmas and New Year's shifts at my one job, I had been given two gift certificates for dinner at the Tavern, so older daughter decided that this would be a good time for me to make use of them, meet her soon-to-be mother-in-law, get acquainted, etc., and also, for me to bring the outfit I had purchased over with me so she could look at it and hopefully, give it her stamp of approval.
We met in the little entryway to The Tavern and the first thing daughter did was snatch the bag containing my outfit in it from me and yanks it out of the bag to inspect the jacket. She looked it over closely - the colors were fine, the paisley and the colors in it would really look excellent she felt since her attendants would be wearing gowns of a deep violet/purple shade so the paisley print would look like it had been coordinated to their colors.
And thankfully too, when she saw how the white piece fit in the front - that little button-in dickey - she realized it would definitely hide the cleavage problem completely.
I doubt Bee's granddaughter will put her through hoops like that though when she goes shopping for her "Grandmother of the Bride's dress!
Oh, and in case you're wondering, that outfit did see several years of usage -until unfortunately, I outgrew it.
But this morning while reading my favorite blogs, Empress Bee of the High Seas, was discussing briefly the preparations going on now for her granddaughter, Lala's wedding this spring. One of the things on her list of "to do" stuff was that she now has to go shopping for a suitable dress for the Grandmother of the Bride to wear at that affair. And that gave my memory a bit of a jog back in time -oh about 11 years ago this past month- when my older daughter was planning her wedding.
At that time in my life, I was working two jobs - just barely covering the absolute basic necessities of my expenses and I was worrying about how I was going to be able to afford to take off not just one night, but two nights from work for openers - one, to attend the wedding rehearsal and the other, of course, to attend the wedding. And then, on top of that, I had to shop, very carefully, for an outfit to wear to the event as well.
For a good many years now, shopping for anything new in my wardrobe - other than oversized tee shirts with either a Penn State logo thing on them or perhaps some obnoxious saying -has not been a pleasant experience for me. Weight gain that made then - still does except is worse now-finding anything that fits and doesn't make me look and feel like a stuffed sausage, is something next to impossible and, has been for a long time. Add to that the challenge of finding something for an occasion as auspicious as the wedding of one's daughter that would be at all affordable on my really meager budget then and might even have potential of being worn more than one time (so that it would work with my Scottish ancestry of items serving more than one purpose, ya know), I figured I was going to be dealing with an impossible search mission.
Much to my surprise though, I found an outfit I felt would be very appropriate. Found this item at a J.C. Penney's store in our vicinity and to my real pleasure, it was on sale and not only that, it would be an addition to my wardrobe that I could wear to church, for work in an office setting if I ever managed to land a "professional" job, utilizing my degree, etc. Yes, it was an outfit I was quite pleased with.
It consisted of two pieces - a navy skirt and a blazer in a navy/light blue/mauve/violet paisley print (blazer type) with a "dickey" inset that buttoned in making it look as if it were actually a three piece set. The price was, for an ensemble like this, very reasonable as it was on sale for a mere $25.00! I was, needless to say, ecstatic over my find.
I was very excited as I called my daughter to tell her of my find. She was semi-approving as I described the colors and that it was of a "suit" type nature, which was acceptable to her. Then she said it sounded find but that "It better not be showing any cleavage!" And yes, she was quite adamant about that point too! This is the daughter who tended then to wear clothing along the "classical" lines of apparel -chic and stylish, but very office-dressy if you follow my drift there. (Today, the same can't always be said for her as she has in the past couple of years discovered some "water bra" that I believe Victoria's Secret makes and she makes no bones about telling darned near everyone she knows about these fantastic bras and the rounded curves they give, yadda, yadda.)
I told her I was quite sure this outfit would be acceptable to her and she kept asking me over and over though about how much cleavage did it show.
About a week or two later, there came a day when she and her future mother-in-law and my younger daughter and I would all be able to meet up at a very nice restaurant in State College (The Tavern, if anyone reading this is familiar with Penn State and State College) for supper. For having working both Christmas and New Year's shifts at my one job, I had been given two gift certificates for dinner at the Tavern, so older daughter decided that this would be a good time for me to make use of them, meet her soon-to-be mother-in-law, get acquainted, etc., and also, for me to bring the outfit I had purchased over with me so she could look at it and hopefully, give it her stamp of approval.
We met in the little entryway to The Tavern and the first thing daughter did was snatch the bag containing my outfit in it from me and yanks it out of the bag to inspect the jacket. She looked it over closely - the colors were fine, the paisley and the colors in it would really look excellent she felt since her attendants would be wearing gowns of a deep violet/purple shade so the paisley print would look like it had been coordinated to their colors.
And thankfully too, when she saw how the white piece fit in the front - that little button-in dickey - she realized it would definitely hide the cleavage problem completely.
I doubt Bee's granddaughter will put her through hoops like that though when she goes shopping for her "Grandmother of the Bride's dress!
Oh, and in case you're wondering, that outfit did see several years of usage -until unfortunately, I outgrew it.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Copy Cat
Yesterday was such a nice day -cold, yes but not near as bad as it's been of late. I didn't even bother to grab my coat when I went out to get Maya off the minivan when she came home from school and I didn't freeze my dupa off doing that either! Today, sad to say, it's a whole different ball game. Freezing rain, sleet, that misty kind of drizzly rain that with the least drop in temperature or wind speed/direction and presto magic, you've got the freezing rain again. Just what everyone wants - NOT. And, apparently this neck of the woods is gonna play copy cat to the likes of Chicago and those states in between and bestow this junky stuff on us all day today and tonight too. I'm not the least bit impressed with that decision.
Yesterday was a really neat day for me in other ways too -besides just the weather. It was the last Thursday of the month and as such, it was the day set aside when four of my friends from school had decided would be the day we will get together for lunch at a little local restaurant here. There was my good friend from very early childhood -like maybe age 2 or close to that -Kate, still my neighbor after all these years. And Rose, who grew up in the house right next door to mine and who lives about 2 miles from me. Rose and I share some nieces and nephews now too as her niece was married to my ex-brother-in-law, so my nieces and nephew there are her great-nieces and great-nephew and since my ex-sister-in-law is now a grandmother, thanks to two of those kids, Rose and I have three more nieces and one nephew "together" too. 'Cept they are her great-great-nieces and nephew and only my great-nieces and great-nephew. How 'bout them apples, huh. Then there's Linda -who lives in Philipsburg now and just retired and moved back to this area from Cincinnati about 2, maybe it's 3 years ago now. And lastly, Carol came over the mountain from State College for our gathering. I've known Linda since maybe 3rd or 4th grade when we met through the summer Vacation Bible School program here. She grew up in Winburne, which is about 4-5 miles from where I live. Carol, we got acquainted with in 7th grade when our classes were all blended together then at the Winburne school and we began having to catch the bus for 7th & 8th grades and of course, our four years together in high school. Carol's husband Ed, came over with her but didn't stay with us for lunch. Instead, he went and did a little "family" visiting of his own down at Jim and Charmaine's restaurant just up on the highway from my house. Charmaine and Ed are first cousins though so for him, it was a chance to catch up on what's what within his side of his family here.
Since we didn't have anyone available yesterday to watch Kurtis though, I took him to lunch with me. He did very well there too! Sat in the high chair beside me and was relatively well-behaved and as quiet as any 21-month-old probably is capable of being. I had a really good -big - grilled chicken salad and Kurtis ate most of the french fries that it comes with, served on top of the salad and the chicken pieces then, on top of all that. About mid-way through lunch, Linda remarked about how good, how quiet especially he was and I warned her that things are not always as they seem. You see neither of Mandy's kids has what I would call and "indoor voice" ya know. And about 10-15 minutes after Linda said that, apparently Kurtis was full of enough french fries and a couple bites of chicken, had his energy levels restored - along with his vocal chords being all ready to rev up as he started jabbering away. Much of his jabberings usually include some squealing type noises too - the kind that make you feel that sound just pierced from one ear, clear through your skull, brain and came out the other side ya see! Yeah, he did that. So I'm glad I did kind of forewarn them that noise was most likely gonna happen sooner or later there!
But it was a nice day, nice lunch, great visit and then, time to leave to come home. Now, before I left the house, I noticed the tire on the right front of the van was low but I figured I could make it up to the restaurant and then from there, down to the gas station at the I-80 interchange about 3/4 of a mile from the restaurant. I hadn't said anything to my friends about the tire but a lady who had pulled in about the same time as I had, came over to me when she was leaving to warn me - she didn't know if I was aware of this or not you see - but she figured she'd best let me know that my tire on the passenger side, on the front, well, it was flat you see. Now I didn't think it was really "FLAT" - just low. But this kind of worried the group so before we left, Carol made sure Ed came over to check it out and we decided I should be able to make it to gas station to get air in it and just to be on the safe side, Carol and Ed would follow behind me till I got there. Ok, Ed - ever the gentleman he's always been - also put the air in the tire for me too! By the way, did I mention to you I grew up about 2 doors from Ed too so I've know him since we were little kids too. Yes, it's a pretty close-knit little group around here at times.
This morning, I was messing with my computer though and decided to check out the file that holds the pictures and other gems other people send us via e-mail. The lovely "attach" file -that it took me forever and a day, or so it seemed, to figure out where the heck it is hidden on this computer with the Windows XP. Well, I know how to get there now and every now and again, I like to go in there and do a little "housekeeping," shall we say? You know, go through and trash some of the things that kind of land there unintentionally. In doing that today, I discovered something I didn't like too though. Seems I have something going on there that is causing two particular items to replicate. Many, many times over these two files have reproduced themselves in my attach folder! I started trying to delete them and that's when I realized every time I tried to delete these suckers, they reproduced some more! Talk about massive multiplication, it's going on in that folder, folks. So if anyone reading this has a clue how I can get rid of these two files and all the copies that SOMETHING here has made of them, I would very much appreciate a heads up on how to do that! I've run the anti-virus thing, done the "Clean disc" and even defrag too (although I don't thing defrag would have any ramifications on this issue, would it) and nothing seems to help.
Then, to add insult to injury, in order to run the anti-virus program, I had to uninstall it and reinstall it first because for some reason or other - I have no clue why -it was asking me for my dial-up number before it would upgrade the program this morning.
On a roll here now folks, I went to run the Ad-Aware thing and before running it, of course, I wanted to check for any updates but it wouldn't download any and was even telling me that it hadn't been checked for updates in -you ready for this - "963 days since last updated." Now that was a blatant lie because I haven't even had this computer yet for 365 days so how could that program dare tell me I hadn't updated it in almost three years then? Well, I tried and tried -everything that their help files said to try - to get it to update the program but it will only go to 5 percent and then it stops and says there is an error. I even uninstalled it and re-installed it too and still, it's a no-go. So anyone have any suggestions how to get my Ad-Aware program to update? Feel free to send those ideas along to me too!
So yes, from the weather here copying what's been happening earlier in the midwest, to the antivirus and anti-spyware programs trying to play copycat with each other, sort of, and then my attachments folder sending two files off on a major COPYCAT deal, I think I've more than had my fill today of things copying ya know!
If only it would do that with money. Now, wouldn't that just be every so loverly?
Yesterday was a really neat day for me in other ways too -besides just the weather. It was the last Thursday of the month and as such, it was the day set aside when four of my friends from school had decided would be the day we will get together for lunch at a little local restaurant here. There was my good friend from very early childhood -like maybe age 2 or close to that -Kate, still my neighbor after all these years. And Rose, who grew up in the house right next door to mine and who lives about 2 miles from me. Rose and I share some nieces and nephews now too as her niece was married to my ex-brother-in-law, so my nieces and nephew there are her great-nieces and great-nephew and since my ex-sister-in-law is now a grandmother, thanks to two of those kids, Rose and I have three more nieces and one nephew "together" too. 'Cept they are her great-great-nieces and nephew and only my great-nieces and great-nephew. How 'bout them apples, huh. Then there's Linda -who lives in Philipsburg now and just retired and moved back to this area from Cincinnati about 2, maybe it's 3 years ago now. And lastly, Carol came over the mountain from State College for our gathering. I've known Linda since maybe 3rd or 4th grade when we met through the summer Vacation Bible School program here. She grew up in Winburne, which is about 4-5 miles from where I live. Carol, we got acquainted with in 7th grade when our classes were all blended together then at the Winburne school and we began having to catch the bus for 7th & 8th grades and of course, our four years together in high school. Carol's husband Ed, came over with her but didn't stay with us for lunch. Instead, he went and did a little "family" visiting of his own down at Jim and Charmaine's restaurant just up on the highway from my house. Charmaine and Ed are first cousins though so for him, it was a chance to catch up on what's what within his side of his family here.
Since we didn't have anyone available yesterday to watch Kurtis though, I took him to lunch with me. He did very well there too! Sat in the high chair beside me and was relatively well-behaved and as quiet as any 21-month-old probably is capable of being. I had a really good -big - grilled chicken salad and Kurtis ate most of the french fries that it comes with, served on top of the salad and the chicken pieces then, on top of all that. About mid-way through lunch, Linda remarked about how good, how quiet especially he was and I warned her that things are not always as they seem. You see neither of Mandy's kids has what I would call and "indoor voice" ya know. And about 10-15 minutes after Linda said that, apparently Kurtis was full of enough french fries and a couple bites of chicken, had his energy levels restored - along with his vocal chords being all ready to rev up as he started jabbering away. Much of his jabberings usually include some squealing type noises too - the kind that make you feel that sound just pierced from one ear, clear through your skull, brain and came out the other side ya see! Yeah, he did that. So I'm glad I did kind of forewarn them that noise was most likely gonna happen sooner or later there!
But it was a nice day, nice lunch, great visit and then, time to leave to come home. Now, before I left the house, I noticed the tire on the right front of the van was low but I figured I could make it up to the restaurant and then from there, down to the gas station at the I-80 interchange about 3/4 of a mile from the restaurant. I hadn't said anything to my friends about the tire but a lady who had pulled in about the same time as I had, came over to me when she was leaving to warn me - she didn't know if I was aware of this or not you see - but she figured she'd best let me know that my tire on the passenger side, on the front, well, it was flat you see. Now I didn't think it was really "FLAT" - just low. But this kind of worried the group so before we left, Carol made sure Ed came over to check it out and we decided I should be able to make it to gas station to get air in it and just to be on the safe side, Carol and Ed would follow behind me till I got there. Ok, Ed - ever the gentleman he's always been - also put the air in the tire for me too! By the way, did I mention to you I grew up about 2 doors from Ed too so I've know him since we were little kids too. Yes, it's a pretty close-knit little group around here at times.
This morning, I was messing with my computer though and decided to check out the file that holds the pictures and other gems other people send us via e-mail. The lovely "attach" file -that it took me forever and a day, or so it seemed, to figure out where the heck it is hidden on this computer with the Windows XP. Well, I know how to get there now and every now and again, I like to go in there and do a little "housekeeping," shall we say? You know, go through and trash some of the things that kind of land there unintentionally. In doing that today, I discovered something I didn't like too though. Seems I have something going on there that is causing two particular items to replicate. Many, many times over these two files have reproduced themselves in my attach folder! I started trying to delete them and that's when I realized every time I tried to delete these suckers, they reproduced some more! Talk about massive multiplication, it's going on in that folder, folks. So if anyone reading this has a clue how I can get rid of these two files and all the copies that SOMETHING here has made of them, I would very much appreciate a heads up on how to do that! I've run the anti-virus thing, done the "Clean disc" and even defrag too (although I don't thing defrag would have any ramifications on this issue, would it) and nothing seems to help.
Then, to add insult to injury, in order to run the anti-virus program, I had to uninstall it and reinstall it first because for some reason or other - I have no clue why -it was asking me for my dial-up number before it would upgrade the program this morning.
On a roll here now folks, I went to run the Ad-Aware thing and before running it, of course, I wanted to check for any updates but it wouldn't download any and was even telling me that it hadn't been checked for updates in -you ready for this - "963 days since last updated." Now that was a blatant lie because I haven't even had this computer yet for 365 days so how could that program dare tell me I hadn't updated it in almost three years then? Well, I tried and tried -everything that their help files said to try - to get it to update the program but it will only go to 5 percent and then it stops and says there is an error. I even uninstalled it and re-installed it too and still, it's a no-go. So anyone have any suggestions how to get my Ad-Aware program to update? Feel free to send those ideas along to me too!
So yes, from the weather here copying what's been happening earlier in the midwest, to the antivirus and anti-spyware programs trying to play copycat with each other, sort of, and then my attachments folder sending two files off on a major COPYCAT deal, I think I've more than had my fill today of things copying ya know!
If only it would do that with money. Now, wouldn't that just be every so loverly?
A Very Short Trip
Well, my friends, my "peeps," it does look like I am about to go up and away -over the edge for sure.
It's not bad enough that I am already addicted to food, caffeine and nicotine and abuse/use all three quite liberally, but I came across something else yesterday that is probably gonna be the end all, do all, of addictions for me.
I learned I am 85 percent addicted to blogging!
85%
I was shocked! Really, really shocked by this bit of news. My kids, if they ever see this though will no doubt inform any and all who ask about their mother that this is incorrect.
The proper percentage, I'm quite sure they will say, should read at least 100 percent if not more!
By the way - gotta give credit here where credit is due too. I found this little test over at Pole Hill Sanitarium. Stop by and check out this blog for some really interesting posts - especially the series he's been doing about music and musicians and cds and such.
Now, looks like I need to take another gander over at my Google Reader, check in to see if there are any new posts that have come through in oh, maybe the last 2-3 minutes. Gotta keep up to date with these things ya know.
It's not bad enough that I am already addicted to food, caffeine and nicotine and abuse/use all three quite liberally, but I came across something else yesterday that is probably gonna be the end all, do all, of addictions for me.
I learned I am 85 percent addicted to blogging!
85%
I was shocked! Really, really shocked by this bit of news. My kids, if they ever see this though will no doubt inform any and all who ask about their mother that this is incorrect.
The proper percentage, I'm quite sure they will say, should read at least 100 percent if not more!
By the way - gotta give credit here where credit is due too. I found this little test over at Pole Hill Sanitarium. Stop by and check out this blog for some really interesting posts - especially the series he's been doing about music and musicians and cds and such.
Now, looks like I need to take another gander over at my Google Reader, check in to see if there are any new posts that have come through in oh, maybe the last 2-3 minutes. Gotta keep up to date with these things ya know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)