Tina's Stuff

Diana's blog

2011-10-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

I am linking it on the right as well, but here's the link to Diana's blog about her trip to Japan. She hopes to update weekly. This one is long, because it covers the first four weeks :)

Tokyo Tea Time

My girl in Japan

2011-09-25T08:28:00.001-07:00

I don't know that Diana will be able to actually keep a diary or blog, although she'd like to - she is already having a tough time keeping up on Facebook - so I figured I'd post about what I can from what we've chatted & Skyped about her time there. :)

The trip started Monday evening, leaving Roseburg around 4:00 in the afternoon. Diana had packed all her stuff and I got off work. She said good-bye to her brothers (she'd already said good-bye to her dad while he was at work), and we drove down to Medford.

When we arrived, there were already lots of cars there. Diana's aunts & uncles were there for a little send off party. There was ravioli & sauce, salad & parmesan bread. For dessert, I made a crumble from my apple pie filling which we ate with ice cream.

I missed a photo with Grandpa or Myrna & Doug. :/

After everyone left, we chatted with Grandpa a bit more & watched some "Dancing with the Stars." Diana & I shared a guest room, and she set her alarm on her phone with a "cock-a-doodle-doo!!!" ringtone to wake us up. Yeah - I should not touch the dang phone - I could NOT get it to turn off when it rang at 4:00am! It cock-a-doodle-dood about 14 times.

Diana took a shower while I collected our stuff and got it to the front door. Pop got up and gave Diana a hug to send her off & let her know how proud he was of her :) We left the house by 4:40 and were at the airport by 5:00.

Both of us were feeling pretty anxious here. Neither of us likes to fly - but Diana said she was stubborn and was going to do whatever she had to so she could get to Japan! We figured out that Horizon was the same as Alaska Airlines, so she checked her big bag through to Tokyo, and got checked in. They had a metal cage in the dimensions for carry-on luggage, so she put her backpack in there to be sure it would fit. She had room to spare :) Then we went upstairs to the restaurant since she had almost an hour before boarding.

We both had the french toast, and while she's smiling here, she was nervous & only ate 1/2 of the food. At least the service was good & it was tasty enough! At 6:00 she headed down to security, we had a long hug, and she went to security (no line - yay small airports). She got through security fine, and waved to me from the other side. I went up to the observation deck & waited for her flight to leave. The observation deck is covered, but open air, so it was a tad chilly.

That's when I saw she was going to be in a prop plane. Diana's not really fond of prop planes - when she & her dad had to take one during the MADE, it swayed all over the sky like a boat. However, her Grandpa had assured her that early morning flights are not turbulent. It's the afternoon & evening you have to watch for :) That's Diana just in front of the nose of the plane in the walkway.

Her flight took off as scheduled, and I took a video clip to show Connor when I got home. She actually had already landed in Seattle before I made it back to our house :) But then she had a long wait there before she would board her flight to Korea.

She managed to find a plug and wifi, and was able to talk with me on Skype while she waited at Seattle airport. She thought it was pretty dang big :) She said Grandpa was right & the flight had been smooth. She prefers the larger jets when she flies though :)

At around 1:00 she logged off to get ready for her flight to Seoul, Korea. This was a long one - 12 hours. Lee found a program online that showed us the progress of her flight. They flew north over Alaska & Russia, then down south. About the mid-point of her trip, I found out there was a typhoon going through Japan. Now I was checking her flight AND the weather in Japan. I left her a message on Facebook that her flight might be delayed, and then I went to bed.

Around 2:30am, the phone rings. Diana is in Seoul, and her connecting flight has been canceled. The airline is sending the passengers to a hotel for the night. She was rather confused and very tired, so we just told her to stick with the group, listen for the instructions and have the concierge do a wake-up call so she's up in time for her shuttle back & flight. She had already made a friend by then, and we told her that was great & they could make sure the other wasn't missing when it was time to go - Buddy System!! I didn't sleep much the rest of the night after we hung up. Poor kiddo!

I went to work the next morning, but we knew she had Lee's number if there was another issue, but nothing came up. After I got home from work, she arrived in Tokyo (I checked the airline's flight status). It was 9:00 am there (5:00pm our time) by the time she was able to find a wifi connection & plugs. She had to wait until 2:00pm her time to meet up with her group. In the meantime she'd made it through customs, and had to stay with all her luggage while she waited. She found the meeting place, and kind of set up there to draw, study and whatever else she could do to stay busy. I went to bed while she was doing that.

When I got up at 6:00 the next morning, I logged on to see she'd posted she had met the group - but that was all... I was a little worried, as I'd hoped to see something about arriving at the University. Around 6:30 she logged on, and they had JUST ARRIVED at the dorm! There had been traffic and delays and who knows what - but that was pretty much 48 hours of travel for her from our airport to finally making it to her dorm!

There's no internet in the dorm rooms, and neither of her roomies were there yet (although one is a Residence Assistant, but had left the room a mess...). There's a common room next to the communal kitchen, and there's internet there, so that's where she was. She was really exhausted, and I thanked her for letting us know she was okay - and then she went to bed. Wow - what an adventure!

I just talked with her this morning on the phone (I wasn't up yet on my computer & she was ready to go to bed, so she called). She starts school tomorrow, with a placement test for her Japanese. She's not sure how difficult the test will be. If she scores lower, she'll basically be re-doing her Japanese from last year (which was actually a challenge to her - but she'd passed everything). If she scores higher, the class will count as Japanese 4 for a whole year at UO. Either way, her Japanese will improve tremendously by just being in the country, but one way she gets credit for it. I figure either way it's a win - she'll reinforce what she was challenged by before if she places lower. Her roomies are still not there. One might be sick & coming later? She's made friends and met people in real life that she's only spoken to online before :) She's done tours with the school and hung out with the other international students quite a bit.

One shock to me was that there was no food for the students. I understood they were responsible for making their own food at the university, but I expected they would have had some sort of welcome basket for when the kids arrived. They came in at 10:00pm and there wasn't anything there for them to eat outside of vending machines. The next day, they all had to go shopping - but it was a good thing Diana had packed bars & snacks so she had something for dinner & breakfast!

She's having a blast so far, and she's got a lot more photos up on Facebook. School starts for her tomorrow (like the schedule here), and I hope she does great & has a blast! I'll update more later.

Diana and Japan

2011-06-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Boy - this has been a long time coming.

My earliest recollection of Diana liking things of Japan was when she was in Kindergarten. She participated with me in the local community acting play, The Mikado. Even though she didn't need to, she memorized the words (I think they just *sounded* Japanese) to all the songs while she was onstage, so she could sing along. At 5 years old, she was very cute :)

About this time, she also started watching Sailor Moon on TV. This anime from Japan was very different from typical US cartoons, in that it had a story line that advanced over the season. The episodes stood alone just fine, but there was a definite romantic plot line which was pretty involved throughout the whole school-girl-transforms-into-super-hero theme. Sailor Moon's character matured as did her friends' as well. Diana started drawing around this time, mostly Sailor Moon & her friends. She was Sailor Moon for Halloween one year (2nd grade?) and she collected anything she could. Interestingly, we could get a lot more Sailor Moon stuff in Canada than in the states... Of course, Sailor Moon takes place in Japan, and they ate Japanese food :)

The interest in drawing continued, and Diana also discovered Manga - Sailor Moon started as a Japanese comic book before it was made into the cartoon anime. Diana found other titles and became interested in more & more Manga & Anime. She discovered a magazine called Shonen Jump, which featured five or six manga, plus taught about Japanese culture and writing at the same time. She managed to get a paper route, so she could continue her subscription, and that lasted at least three years, until she was able to build her manga collection by getting the actual books.

In Junior High, we found out there was an exchange program to Shobu, Japan through the school. It was kind of privately run, and there was a panel of people who interviewed the students interested in going. Diana was very excited and really did everything she could to be able to go. In the interview, she talked about going to the temples and gardens, and seeing the various historic sites. To our surprise, she was not chosen. Later, we discovered all the children of doctors had gotten in... even those not so interested in going. One even told her, "you should be going instead of me." So our economic level had something to do with her not being able to go. I told her that when she was older, she'd have a lot more control over doing something like this. Plus, this trip would have only been 10 days. It was barely worth the flight going. In the future, she'd be able to go and STAY a while.

Her favorite became Full Metal Alchemist (still her favorite), and by high school, she'd found a group of students also as into Manga & Anime as she was - the Japanese Club. She joined Freshman year, and was president for Sophomore, Junior & Senior Year. All the while, continuing to draw & read, of course. She was also part of the German American Partnership Program (GAPP) and learned a lot about traveling through that experience.

So off she goes to U of O through the Ford Foundation. At the first big family gathering as a new Ford Scholar, we hear about the stories of the graduating Ford Scholars, many of whom had taken advantage of the Ford Foundation's generous attitude toward travel and study abroad. Not only was she getting her tuition almost completely covered, they were going to assist her in travel to Japan!

All this time (she's just finished her Junior Year) she's been planning and figuring out when she could go. She's been acing most of her Japanese classes, and I guess she's pretty good with the speaking (she also speaks German with a minimal accent - she has a good ear for dialect). She really 'gets' the culture and the values. She applied for the program, and had to be accepted on both ends (UO and Senshu University) with letters of recommendation, GPA, etc - Just Monday she got the final approval from Senshu :)

We went and reserved her round-trip flight yesterday through a local travel agency. They were able to match what I'd seen online, but if there's any issue, Diana will have a phone number to call & have people help her :) She'll have a stopover in Seoul, Korea (she's excited about that too) and we'll be able to drop her off in Medford, and pick her up there too. She's leaving mid-September, and comes home mid-December.

She's trying really hard to find a summer job now. She has to pay for her UO residence to hold it, even while she's in Japan, and she wants spending money, obviously. If she can't find something, she'll have to take her first loan out since she started her college journey (which is a testament to her frugality as a student), but she's very hopeful for the summer - she has applied for a variety of jobs, and has an interview lined up. She can work in either Roseburg or the Eugene area, and even though she doesn't drive, there's the bus or hopefully a carpooling situation can be set up once she's employed.

Oh - and this summer she gets to be a bridesmaid for her friend, Becki. Wheeeee!

Summertime is coming! Finally!

2011-06-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

The weather in Oregon has felt like March/April until just this last weekend. It has finally gotten warm enough to get out in the yard. I am hoping my tomato plants will take off, now that I put them outside, finally. I already managed to overwater one of the Roma plants while they were waiting in the kitchen for the weather to get warm. Oh well.

This is our last week of school. Both Trevor & Diana have finals this week, and Connor & I will be done on Thursday. He & I will do Extended School Year starting after the 4th of July, but until then, we're completely open. I think he intends to jump a lot on the trampoline. I intend to reclaim my house. I get it into great shape for the Open House at Christmas, and it just declines from there. Obviously, the main household needs are met (meals, laundry, dishes), but other things kind of grow (papers, recycling stuff, things that need sewing/fixing). While the living room & kitchen stay relatively clear and 'company friendly,' the bedrooms & laundry room tend to get less tidy.

So over the next couple of weeks after school is out, I will be picking something and tackling it until it's done to my satisfaction. If I can keep on track, I may even attack some of the boxes in storage under the house :) I'll only do a few hours a day - because there's still my family, the yard, and fruit-picking season is rapidly approaching.

Diana will stay in Eugene during the summer, although I expect her to come home here & there for visits. She needs to earn money for her term in Japan in the fall. Trevor needs to find work to start paying down his debt from college. If he doesn't get a paying job, he will be working for me in the yard. For free (well, room & board). But as that's what he's done the last few years, I'm really pushing for a paying job!!!

We also recently bought a tent trailer for a fantastic deal, which is currently with Lee's niece, Karrie in Medford. After our nephew Tony's wedding on July 3rd, we'll be bringing the trailer home to stay. We need to create a pad in the back for storage. That's more Lee's thing than mine. I'm excited to have our own trailer. Connor will probably be using it all summer just in the backyard, and anyone visiting or passing through will be able to camp in the backyard for free again (like Carolyn & her family!). This one actually has a lot more amenities than the one we borrowed last year - lights, heating & such, for instance. We just need to get our truck's electrical hook-up fixed, and we'll be able to do short camping trips with Connor. Lucky for us, a 15-minute drive already gets you to river-front campsites in our area :) There's closer sites, but camping at the fairgrounds isn't really my idea of "camping." :)

There's no one really playing the fair this year that I know anyway - I don't know if I'll go to a country singer concert with a friend or not. I *will* be doing as many Music On The Half Shell concerts as I can. Those are free and always entertaining. There will also be Movies in the Park coming up to do with Connor. And three weddings to attend this year. We'll be going to Canada in August, when Lee has earned his Costco vacation time :)

My Birthday 2011

2011-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I had originally intended to take the day off. I was supposed to have a couple of days off in April, but the student I was working with didn't have those days off, and I had worked with the arrangement that I'd swap Mondays for Fridays. Well, that would have been fine had I stayed where I was, but then I moved again, and I lost my 2nd day. I don't know how it works out with my new schedule, but I figure it'll all come out in the wash.

So the plan had been for me to go up to U of O to meet with Diana and get to see On The Rocks perform. That's the acapella men's group that was on the show, "The Sing Off" this last year. They had a viral video with "Bad Romance" and they are just a lot of fun to watch :)

But - it was Earth Day, so they ended their show while I was still on the road with my friend Susan. Dang. Well, at least Diana recorded them doing a few songs, and they didn't perform the Bad Romance song anyway (which is what I really wanted to see).

Diana being my great daughter, actually followed and then got my favorite member of the group (Jonah) to wish me a happy birthday on video :) That was really cool.

Since we weren't going to be at a concert, we traded having Taco Bell dinner for going to Red Robin (Yum!). Then we stopped by See's Candies, and then we headed to the Yogurt Extreme shop. Turns out if it's your birthday, your whole yogurt creation is free! I was thinking maybe a dollar off or something.

We grabbed Diana's laundry & stuff, and went home. Lee had baked me a carrot cake *yay* and over all, it was a pretty nice birthday :)

Connor's fundraiser for Special Olympics

2011-03-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Connor's Spring Break Camping 2011 - all done!

2011-03-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

I awoke to a rooster crowing pretty early, but it was warm and snuggly in the sleeping bag, so I just dozed a while. Connor made some noises off on his end of the trailer - all happy sounds. He was really loving the whole experience :)

Lee had talked with his dad the night before about helping him get a new printer at Costco in the morning, and Pop had invited us to breakfast. So I kept on the warm clothes & started packing up. Nothing was damp this time, because I'd left a little vent open above Lee & my sleeping space, and outside, everything just stayed dry (how nice!). So I just started folding up things & packing stuff up. Lee came out to help me & Connor came out to explore the morning. Diana stayed "asleep" until I told her I needed her sleeping bag. :)

After Lee got most of the stuff packed we did the best cleaning we could of the trailer. I had brought plenty of paper towels & 409 :) Diana saw Nancy at the barn when she went to dump the trash, and then we drove over there & we gave her the stuff we'd borrowed & said thanks & good-bye. Nancy still wasn't feeling great, so we kind of had to keep our distance.

We headed out to Central Point to Pop's place and while he & Lee went shopping, Diana & I took much-needed showers (yay!). I should have stopped at a coffee place on the way there, though. I was really ready for the coffee once we got to the restaurant hours later! Lee & Pop got the printer installed & all, and eventually we headed back home.

Connor had a violin lesson at 4:00, so we really just had time to give Connor a bath & change of clothes before we went to do that. Everything is pretty much put away now, and we have the photos & memories of our adventure.

Connor's next request - Tent camping by a stream & go fishing. (Fishing? He won't eat the fish!). I think we can pull this off sometime over the summer :) But I'll need a camp mattress...or a cot!

Connor's Spring Break Camping 2011 - the fun starts

2011-03-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Okay - keep in mind, the forecast was for rain all week. Just a day or so before we left, Tuesday was showing, "Sunny breaks." We were really lucky - it stayed dry throughout our camping experience, with only a teeny sprinkle in the evening, just to make people nervous about having come out to join our campfire!

I think we all slept pretty well. It didn't get to freezing, but it was cold. There were enough blankets & sleeping bags to keep warm, as long as you didn't let them slide off. Lee & I had some dampness in our part of the tent, but that was because we forgot to open a bit of the 'window' to let out the condensation. It was strange not having a car right next to us. We'd put all the food in the trailer with us, since I didn't want to leave it out for critters. I would have normally used the trunk of the car as the 'pantry' during this time.

I think I got up first and went to start the fire. I was surprised how open the area was. In the dark, it had seemed like closed-in forest. There was a nice big fire ring off to the side of the site that I couldn't see the night before either. There was a good pile of cut wood nearby, but it was pretty damp. While we were working on building the fire, Nancy came by with Joshie and she had some dry wood. I was trying to light the stove by this time, but I couldn't get it to start. Lee checked the propane tank & said it was empty. He loaded it into the back of Nancy's car, and I went to go get it filled.

While I was doing that, Nancy went home and made a big pot of water & pancakes for us! No trouble! The guy at the filling station said the tank actually did have propane, and he topped it off for me. I got back to the trailer & Lee hooked it up again, but needed a wrench - so he took Nancy's car & went back to their house & jogged back. Once he tightened everything, we could get the stove to work! Hooray!! I had brought our small propane tanks, but not the stove, since there was one with the trailer. Later I found another stove under the bench seat storage, but I didn't know that was there until later :P

In any case, we had hot water & pancakes. We ate by the fire all bundled up in blankets, etc. Connor thought this was great. He kept throwing stuff into the flames, and running around the area to explore. Diana & I were just kind of hanging out, because that's the way we do it in the morning when we don't have to do anything important. Lee was still really worried about the car being stuck.

After we'd all eaten, Diana went over to the car to take photos of it stuck in the mud. I went through the trailer & tidied up & stuff, and Connor basically ran around the area & checked things out - always staying in sight of Lee or me. He did a great job of not wandering, which had been a concern for me when thinking about doing this sort of thing. He really did a great job of sticking close. There was a port-a-potty for the renter/campers that help Nancy with the horses, and it's a 'nice' one that has the blue stuff so it doesn't reek :)

Before lunch, I called Nancy to see about when we might pull the car out - she was about to call me, and said she was on her way. She brought her truck down, and Lee & I got in (me in the bed on a bale of hay), and headed through the muck to free our car. I had forgotten the keys (I thought they were in my pocket) so I ran back while Lee & Nancy got the chain onto the front end. When I got back, they were ready to go - Nancy carefully towed the car, while Lee drove inside. He said putting the car in low gear helped too. The car was pulled free, and then Nancy drove to where we could turn, staying ahead so if Lee got stuck again, she could tow more. Lee managed to drive through everything, all the way back to the good road :) Nancy had him follow her to the horse barn so we could clean all the mud off (there was a lot). Lee's comment was, "Gee, you really don't want us taking any of your topsoil, do you?"

Once we had a car again, we'd considered checking out the natural bridges (made by lava) on the way up to Crater Lake, but apparently there was a lot of snow up that way, so we gave it a miss. We went ahead and set up for lunch. Connor had canned spaghetti (which I didn't know if he would eat or not - he did), and we had tomato soup. I also had the pop n fresh biscuits, which Lee showed us how to wrap around the skewers to cook on the fire (mine was raw inside - just right!). Again, Connor was experiencing just was he was wanting to do - campfire lunch :)

Diana & I went back to where the car had been stuck & took photos of the ruts left behind - Diana used my mud boots to show the difference in depth - heh. And no, we didn't create ALL the ruts, but I did make some new ones on the left of this photo when I tried to avoid this big deep part - apparently there's rock below though, and it would have been fine (hard to tell that in the dark tho).

Karrie came to pick up Josh & had Ben & Micah with her, so we got a chance to visit with her. Kraig had come down sick the night before, and Nancy wasn't feeling great now, so Karrie wanted to help with cleaning out the horse stalls. When we got there, however, the gal that works there was already just about done, so instead, I went & got Connor & Diana, and Karrie got them set up to ride Sterling.

I got the dishes done, and when they came back & Connor messed with the fire more until family started showing up for the campfire/dinner time. Shane traded with Karrie, because she had a class, and he went off with his boys to do stuff for a while. They had pizza for dinner. Donna brought Lee's dad and Tony, and some yummy guacamole. Myrna & Doug came with Daniel, who did a cool time-lapse video of the campfire later. Tony's girlfriend Ashley showed up too, and he announced they are getting married in July :)

It was really nice that so many members of the family were able to come out. For the ones that couldn't make it (or were sick), I'm hoping we can come back during the summer and do this again when it's warmer :) Connor has already said he'd like to try tent camping, and after seeing how well he stuck close by, I think we can manage it. Maybe some other camping family folks will join us as well. I just need an air mattress... :P

Connor's Spring Break Camping 2011 - the adventure begins!

2011-03-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

He's been talking about it since last July, when Connie was with us. He kind of just made a decision in his head, and then informed us that we were going Spring Break Camping in the Tent Trailer in March 2011. At first he had a different date for Spring Break (I don't know how he even knew it was in March) but he adjusted after I showed him the school schedule. This month when I put up the white board calendar, he wrote in "Camping" on Monday of Spring Break. And he had talked about it often, but once it was on the calendar, he stopped. Seeing it written down meant it was going to happen, and he didn't need to remind us anymore, I guess!

I know it looks like we are catering to his whims, but really, he only has the one thing he wants to do. The rest of the time, he doesn't ask for anything (food excluded). Experiences strengthen the connections in his brain, so we try to help him make those experiences he wants to have happen. And he changes things and grows. Last year, he wanted to do Spring Break Camping, and we rented a yurt. That was kind of what he wanted, and he got to ride his bike, which was part of the request. He was careful to be more specific with "tent trailer" for this year (but we couldn't do bikes, and he didn't ask for that). Next time, he wants to do camping in our green tent - but I think we've gotten away from Spring Break, as it was pretty cold first thing in the morning! I told him summer camping is much more warm :) He also wants to be by a stream so he can do fishing. I think we can swing that too :)

I don't know if we'll ever get Trevor to join us on something like this unless we were to get a full-on, size-of-a-regular-apartment 5th wheel trailer. Or maybe one of those bus RVs with the pull-out sides. If it doesn't have it's own bathroom & shower, Trevor is probably not going to be into it. He gets physically ill if he's not comfortable, and his comfort is based on man-made conveniences - like flush toilets & heaters. Still, it's not a bad deal - he takes care of the mail & the dog. We don't have to worry about having left something electric on, and on longer trips, he takes care of the plants as well. And it's not like he's going to throw a party & trash the house. As it is, he knows he could have had a friend over, and he said he thought about it, but never actually called his friend! His computer kept him company, and after hearing of our adventures, Trevor was really happy he didn't come.

I'd talked with Karrie about borrowing their trailer and I'd asked Nancy about putting it at the campsite on their ranch. We were all in agreement, and Karrie had Shane set it up for us last weekend. Shane said the one mattress was kind of damp because there was a leak in the roof, so I made sure to pack extra tarps so it wouldn't be an issue.

As we no longer have the van, I had to be pretty organized with how we packed the Camry. Yes, the truck would have been a lot easier, but the truck eats gas like nothing. I brought extra sleeping bags to use as comforters because we can easily get below freezing temps at night this time of the year. Also, the forecast for the week was rain, rain, rain! I got our 4 camp chairs in, the large Rubbermaid tub with the camp supplies, and our smallest cooler. There were the 4 backpack/bags for our clothes, and then extra blankets, and foodstuffs & pillows. The space for the 5th passenger in the car was piled up with stuff, and the back window ledge was used as well. We were pretty stuffed in the car!

Lee got off work at 6:30, and I think we were on the road a little after 7:00. That means we made it down to the ranch about 9:15ish. By then, it was DARK. But it wasn't raining! I had a hard time seeing the little road to the campsites, so we turned around at the horse barn, and then I found it and headed toward the camp area. I was trying to see the trailer with my high beams, and I could tell the trail was really wet. However, I thought if Shane was able to tow a trailer in, we should be okay in the car... We still didn't see the trailer, and I actually passed the campsite area (in the dark, everything looks the same - woods). I could tell the trail was getting worse, so I pulled off into the grass more and we got a little ways, and then we didn't move :( Lee switched with me and tried to rock the car back & forth a bit, but only succeeded in getting deeper. So we all got out, and sloshed around to the back to find the lantern & flashlights in the trunk (I had them all together & they were actually accessible!) and then we hiked back to the road, and up to Kraig & Nancy's house. Lee's shoes (at least they were old ones) were completely soaked, but I was in my new Kamiks & Connor was wearing the mud boots, so we were okay. Diana had on cowboy boots, and seemed okay.

At least when we got up to the house, everyone could use the flush toilet! Nancy got in her truck and took Lee & me back down to the car, while Kraig kept Diana & Connor and was going to take them back to the campsite. Lee was not saying much. He wasn't a happy camper :( Nancy laughed about it, and I was okay - I've done the camping thing with Girl Scouts enough to have gotten to the "it's an adventure" point. Sometimes things just don't go your way. You work around it & do your best. Nancy's truck is a ranch truck - it navigated the mucky sludge great. She backed it up to the car, and we tarped the back, and then unloaded everything into the bed. It's actually pretty impressive how much stuff that little car can hold! Once we got everything we could see (still pitch dark), Lee & Nancy were in the cab, and I laid on top of the gear in the back while Nancy drove to the ACTUAL campsite. A spot I'd never seen - we never would have found the trailer on our own.

In hindsight, I really should have just driven to the house to start. I was trying to avoid bothering Kraig & Nancy. See how well that worked out?

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

I don't really have much of a plan - I'm hoping there's relaxation in here somewhere...

Diana arrived from school via a friend on Friday evening. Lee came home from work & took her skating, and then she went to see "Paul" with some friends from here. She & Trevor are both waiting to hear back on their grades from last term, but Diana was already pretty upset about her final grade for her Calculus class - looks like she's going to need to redo, unless there's a very generous curve (and that instructor is not known to curve). The class grades will post on Friday, and then she'll know for sure.

She brought a nice big bunch of laundry with her, so the washer & dryer have been going pretty much all weekend. I did get my shower scrubbed nicely, and hopefully I'll get a little yard work in.

Today is Monday, and I'm prepping for Spring Break Camping - Connor's request since last summer. We don't have the van anymore, so I'll need to be creative in stuffing the trunk of the Toyota. We'll be in a tent trailer, and the weather has been drizzly/rainy, so we will need extra tarps and blankets. Sure, sunny weather would be preferable, but this is the time we've got, so this is when we're going. Trevor will house-sit and hang with Liberty, since he just get stomachaches when we take him camping. And as we'll be on Kraig & Nancy's ranch property, there's no flush toilet nearby, and that wouldn't work well for Trevor.

On Tuesday night, we're hoping to do a big family campfire with Lee's sibs. I'm looking forward to that. During the day we'll see if we can get some horseback riding in, and maybe explore around the property a bit. In the early morning, I expect to see the deer & maybe other wildlife. It's pretty open spaces on the ranch.

Once we're home again, I have house stuff to do that I've put off for a while. I'd like to get my laundry room in order. There's plenty of work in the yard. I need to transfer stuff down to the basement after it's sealed up against moisture. My house feels very cluttered to me right now - it bugs me.

If I can get my sewing machine out, I'll do some mending and maybe start on a few smaller projects I've been thinking about. And maybe I'll get some reading time in. :)

Diana goes back to campus next Friday. The new term starts on Monday.

Connor Spring Concert - Phantom of the Opera

2011-03-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Auf Wiedersehen Grand Caravan

2011-03-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

A while back, Lee had a fender bender with our van. Car #1 was parked illegally, and then car #2 stopped right in front of him while he was avoiding car #1. Oh well, that's how it goes.

So for the last few months, we've had the van sitting in the yard, waiting for us to figure out what to do with it. The estimate Lee got was $3K to get it fixed. Even though the impact was about 15 mph, it still was enough to ruin the bumper, hood, light and driver's side fender. Enough got pushed into the wheel that it later deflated. It was still drivable, just not okay to drive :)

So eventually, Lee found someone to sell the car to - I expect they'll take it apart for the parts (which I checked as a possible option to repair - the good parts should more than make up what the tow cost & payment to us was). Lee had taken photos of the outside & inside to send to the buyer, and so when I went out the other day to make sure there was nothing in the van before the tow truck came to get it - I was dismayed to find most of the interior covered in MOLD. Ugh! Oregon is very damp in winter. Even though the van was all sealed up, it's not enough to keep the damp out.

Everything had black, white, brown, grey mold on it except the ceiling, and surprisingly, the driver's seat. The worst places? The seatbelts. They were all fuzzy & disgusting.

I got a bucket of soapy water & Clorox wipes, put on some rubber gloves & set to it. I didn't want the tow people to turn around & say, "Um, no - we didn't sign up for the mold-mobile." I got most of the mold off the upholstery and seatbelts and carpet areas where it was the worst. I hope if they decide to repair & resell the van, it'll be cleaned really thoroughly!

At least that made it a bit easier letting go of what was my favorite car to date. It did a great job hauling us all back & forth to Canada and down to California. It was comfortable, reliable and totally Girl Scout worthy.

True, I no longer need such a big vehicle - and with the gas situation we're in now, it's better I don't have one - but I will still miss it. It was a good van.

Now I have my eye on something more along the lines of a Ford F-150 or Toyota Tacoma. Four doors & the power to haul a tent trailer across the USA. Ford is making an Eco-boost something that's supposed to work better for mileage...

50 meter final - Special Olympics 2011

2011-03-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

Special Olympics 100 meter final

2011-03-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

Connor's birthday bouncy ball

2011-03-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday Connor!

Dry Spell

2011-01-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Daniel commented on my Facebook that I haven't posted a blog entry in five weeks. I hadn't noticed. I've been dealing with some un-fun stuff at work, and its been taking a toll on me. Hopefully I've turned a corner now, and I'll be able to get back to my regular stuff.

Like clearing 2010 out of file cabinet, and setting aside what I need for taxes so my kids can do their FAFSA stuff.

Like getting all the Christmas stuff back down in to the basement where it lives the rest of the year.

Like organizing the closet and doing the sewing/mending stuff that's gotten backed up.

Like posting to my blog :)

I have photos & such to put up for the last few weeks, and then I'll start in on the new stuff. We have Division Winners coming up next month in my TOPS club, so as the leader, I need to prep for that. Also, Connor & I are doing the Special Olympics Cross Country skiing again this year, and this time we'll compete at the Regionals in Bend near the end of February.

Yep - plenty to do!!

Stay tuned...

Big K Ranch & Murder Mystery Dinner

2010-12-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Every day on my way to work, I listen to the AM radio news station, because the FM cuts out pretty soon after leaving Roseburg (mountains & stuff). They do a contest every week called "Know Your News." If you email in the topic they say everyday, you're entered into a chance to win something on Friday. Usually it's dinner for two at a local restaurant. THIS time, however, the Big K Ranch was hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner, and I think if they offer a prize they might get a discount on the advertising. Anyway, I emailed every day, and Friday before last, while I was home prepping for Open House, the radio station called & I'd won!

I had driven past the sign for the Big K on Hwy 138 on the way to the coast many times. I kind of knew where it was. I got home from work a little early since it was the day before the break, and we waited for Connor to get home so we could go to Costco for fittings for new glasses for Connor & Diana. I have my eye appointment today & I'll get glasses too. Lee has a voucher for each of us that allows us all to get another pair for free (well, Connor is getting TWO pairs for $4.00).

We wound up leaving for the ranch around 4:45, which meant it was dark by the time we got to where it was. It has a long, windy packed dirt road to get out there & it was DARK. 2,000 acres of ranch land with no lights till you reach the lodge! It was an adventure!

Once we got there, it was obvious this is a really nice well-kept family-run place. The cabins look like log cabins from the outside, but inside they are more like studio apartments. There was no TV, but we had entertainment at the lodge anyway :) Normally there's a game room in the lower level of the lodge with pool tables & arcade games, but the cast of the show was using that for their staging area.

I really want to go back. Especially in the daytime so I can see the 8 miles of riverfront property. They do boat floats & horseback riding and all kinds of ranchy stuff here. They also do big brunches for special holidays like Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, etc. They do package deals with the brunches so you can combine an overnight at the same time (although for us, we are close enough we could just do the brunch). They also do corporate retreats, weddings, and family reunions. The cabins are $129 - $179 depending on the season. They do package deals that include meals. And the cook was GOOD. We had called ahead because of the vegetarian thing, and she'd made this wonderful portabello mushroom/spinach Greek thingamabob that was outstanding.

The Murder Mystery would have been $45 each, so we got this little romantic deal worth $230ish for free because I listen to the radio. Good stuff!!!

The Big K Ranch, Elkton, OR They have videos & stuff on this website, if you're interested.

Lee got a "role" as the mayor, although he didn't have to do much. They had a lovely Portabello mushroom layered dish for us for dinner. It was great!!

The cast of "Dead in the Sled - Ho, ho, ho.... Oh No! It reminded me of the Birdcage Theater @ Knott's.

The murderess & her latin lover.

The cabin we got had a queen bed & hide-a-bed. And a huge bathroom.

I think it's easier to photobomb a digital camera, because I really tried to avoid letting him do this.

Open House

2010-12-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Donna & Jim, their friends the Sacketts, and Kraig & Nancy.

Diana & her crowd :)

Rocky & Melly by our tree (isn't it pretty?)

Lee's folks - Bill & Rita. I'm so glad the weather cooperated so they could join us :)

Our Spread: Spinach dip & sourdough, regular & cranberry salsa & strips, chips & onion dip, sliced apples (thanks Nancy), soft cheese & crackers, Trevor's fudge, Diana's Linzer & Gingerbread cookies, Connor's Juicy Lemon Cake, Rice Krispie Treats, Stollen & chocolate truffles. There was also hot spiced cider, coffee, tea & hot chocolate. YUM!

Still lots to do

2010-12-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

I wish more readers of my blog could actually attend this little event... Maybe after we retire?

I have an Open House again tomorrow. This is our annual 'gift' to our friends & family to come & spend some time & snackies with us. We invite pretty much everyone we know and can have 20-40 people show up. The parking is a bit tricky, but people seem to come in waves so usually we don't block the street with cars all at once.

I have a plan I follow to get the house ready. It's pretty thorough, and at the end, I have a clean house that lasts through Christmas. All the decorating is done, and I can focus on my family after Open House is done. I really like that part.

Today I still have an enormous of stuff to do - the living room is the only room that's actually "ready" right now. But it looks really good :) I'll be working mostly on the kitchen, my room & prepping food today.

Diana is home from college & Trevor is done with his finals too. I have to remember to delegate stuff to them :)

I'm off to make their lists of what to do today, as well as mine! Next blog entry should be photos from Open House :)

Violin Scholarship

2010-12-01T21:45:00.000-08:00

Connor gets a little fixated on things, being the kid he is.

A while back, he assigned everyone in the family a color. He also assigned the Holy Family colors, because, you know, they need to have them too. He is green, and Trevor is red, by the way. Trevor doesn't like being red - but that's how it goes :)

Once all the colors were assigned, Connor moved on to musical instruments. We coached him to let the people who actually play a specific instrument to have that instrument assigned to them. So I have guitar, and Diana has flute, etc. Connor chose the violin for himself.

I think Lee & I have both posted in the past about Connor's enjoyment of classical music on YouTube, specifically Brahms, Bach and Beethoven. Something about the "B's" - I don't know. In any case, he especially loves pieces with violins.

This last year, he started doing choir at school as well (last year it was art). He has an assistant with him in choir class who is very impressed with Connor's ability to learn notes & sing. He did really well at his Fall Concert with the choir - better than I'd hoped. It was great :) What impressed the assistant was that Connor would sing the harmony, while the rest of the class sang the melody. It's not that he knew the songs (we don't go around singing "Shenandoah" around here), he just read the notes and figured it out. Because we explained this to Connor's teacher & aide, they realized he has a bit of a gift when it comes to music.

There's a local Arts Center here that likes to sponsor students in music, among other things. Connor's assistant found out about a scholarship available to kids his age, and sent home the application form for Connor. When I filled it out, I obviously made mention of Connor's autism, and then his love for classical music. I never know how people will take in that information. On the one hand, there are some pretty dang cool autistic savants in music. On the other hand, he may have already gotten what he wanted out of violin, and is ready to move on. It's really hard to tell.

One thing is for sure, though. We were not intending to spend a lot of time & effort trying to teach him violin. Neither Lee or I knows anything about it, and we don't know how well Connor would take to it. We don't have a budget that includes music lessons or instruments at this time.

After we filled out the paperwork, Connor's choir teacher decided to loan Connor a violin. Wow. That's pretty brave :) I'd been looking on craigslist for something that it wouldn't matter if it got ruined. He has actually been very good about putting it away carefully. He has no clue how to play it, but he likes trying to 'serenade' me when I take an afternoon nap (NOT helping!!!).

So today I got a letter from the Umpqua Valley Arts Association. They have decided to award Connor $250 for lessons and the use of a violin! It goes through his teacher, not us, so it's going to be set up and all we have to do is get him to & from lessons! Wow! I'm so excited for Connor just to see what will happen!

I really hope he can figure out & put together that holding his fingers in a specific position on the strings makes a specific sound with the bow. Once he's got that part, I am anxious to see how far he can take it.

Too cool!! Go Connor!

I'll keep you updated :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

The desserts kept in Myrna's bedroom. Connor made two lemon meringue pies :)

We always called them Stuffing Balls - but Pretzel Dumplings might sound a little better...

Getting ready to say grace.

Myrna's busy kitchen with LOTS of food!

Myrna & Doug hosted Thanksgiving this year. There were 30 of us in attendance. Pop brought Mom to join us, and she did really well. At the end of the evening, she said, "I love you" to Lee, which was unexpected & caught Pop, Lee & Myrna off-guard. I guess since the Alzheimer's really took hold, she doesn't say that much anymore.

We met Jonathon's girlfriend Erin from Colorado, and Crystal turned 30 (which means Megan is also 30). Brian also had his girlfriend from California (I can't recall her name at the moment, but she was very nice!). Tony was there too, and he seems to be doing very well. Trevor & Diana spent most of their time with Daniel, as usual.

Connor played a lot with Karrie & Shane's oldest & middle son. They are rather rambunctious, and he had to hide from them now & then :) He gets so far, and then it's too much :)

Besides the regular visiting & such, I kept tabs on Connor. He loves the yard at this house, but it's pretty wide open, and I like to know where he is. The cougar mounted on the wall was killed on the property, after all. Connor's going to miss the house when it gets sold, but he's been very good about changes lately - including us missing the tree hunt this year.

Lee had to work at 5:00am yesterday (Black Friday) and he's also working today. In the past we'd spend a couple of nights with someone in Medford and join in on the tree hunt on Saturday. We are trying to figure out a different time to get our tree now. There's a U-cut tree farm just outside of town. They're more expensive than the $5 any-size tree tag to get from the mountains, but that doesn't count the cost of gas, food, etc. when you do that day trip. And I'm not wanting us to go all alone to get a tree anyway. Two years ago my co-worker & her husband were doing that, slid off the road & he had to trudge 12 miles to try to find help, while she stayed behind in their truck. She wound up spending the night alone in the forest and burned the wood flooring and carpet of the truck to stay warm. Eeek! That was around the same time the Kim family got lost & Mr. Kim died of exposure trying to find help for his family :(

Anyway - there are plenty of places to get trees around town, even if we don't do the U-cut. Connor is already more or less resigned to that. However, we WILL have to take him up to the snow at some point for fun. Probably some week day during the holiday break we'll go to the "Sno Park" and take him for that.

This coming Saturday I sign him up for Special Olympics Cross-Country Skiing anyway. :) I took the kids to see Tangled yesterday & Trevor & Diana will go see Harry Potter either today or tomorrow. Then we have to get Diana back to Eugene & everyone goes back to school for two weeks (college) or three (Connor & me).

At least it warmed up & driving is safe again :)

Prepping for Open House

2010-11-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but I have to parcel out my weekends so I have everything done that I want done. There was enough of a break in the weather today to allow me to rip out all the dead wild sweet pea stalks in my front planter. I went out to put bark mulch around my baby hydrangea to hopefully protect its roots from frost. I think I read that in a book somewhere. Anyway, I still had some bark mulch and I had to clear the weeds out of the front planter before I could put it down. I have a bunch of bulbs in there that will be fine poking up through that, but I'd prefer to not have to yank out a bunch of grass when the daffodils are blooming.

In any case, I went ahead and made up my little invites for Open House that I can pass out at work & stuff. I won't do that until a couple of weeks before - it's on Sunday, December 12th this year, so I still have some time. I'm also composing the Christmas letter so I don't wind up sending it in January as has happened a couple of times :( We will take the family photo at Thanksgiving at Myrna's house. Lee is working on the following Saturday, so we won't be able to do the mountain & tree one this year. That's okay, I think it's been a few of those in a row again anyway. I'll order the photo cards & should be able to get those out on time :)

I also worked on the menu for Open House today. Usually we make everything pretty much, but dang - Costco sure has a lot of great pre-done stuff! I have to see what the cost difference is. Like I'd usually make the spinach dip, but the one at Costco looks pretty inexpensive. After I add up the ingredients, if it's a push - I'm getting it at Costco! I know the chips are cheaper there too. I had Lee take a photo of the regular price at the store on the crackers the other night to see how they compare to Costco as well. I'll be pricing things as I go & get the stuff I need to make my share of the Thanksgiving food - probably tomorrow.

Obviously, some things will be homemade still. Trevor's fudge, Diana's (she hasn't decided yet), Connor's Rice Krispie treats, my Stollen. Lee usually preps the veggies & dip, but he will probably be working through some of Open House. We'll ask to have him be scheduled as early as possible - he never has Sunday off because it's time & a half.

The cleaning part is pretty much on schedule. I am procrastinating on clearing the dressers in my room right now, but they'll be done by the weekend. I'm working on some knitting & intend to do some sewing too. The knitting is easiest, because I can work on it during my lunch break at school. The sewing shouldn't take too long if it goes the way I hope (you never know).

As for Thanksgiving, at this point Lee has Wed-Thur-Fri off, but we're not sure that's right as Lee has heard EVERYONE works Black Friday. We will head down to Myrna's on Thursday, and we don't know yet if we have to drive home the same night, or if we might crash at Pop's and leave in the morning. I'm not a fan of mountain passes in the dark with winter weather. As I said, we will have to miss the tree hunt this year though. I'm going to have to figure out a different time to get Connor up into the snow to play. He's already looking forward to it.

Elephant Car Wash (my footage)

2010-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

Video from German TV on the "Elefanten Car Wash"

2010-11-19T16:06:00.001-08:00

My cousin, Heiner, contacted me today thru Facebook - he saw us on TV! So here's the link :)

German TV station RTL Elephant Car Wash

Click the link!

Elephant Car Wash

2010-11-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

Life is funny. I was home on Friday because our school opted to use the day after Veterans Day for conferences. Around noon or so I get a call from our neighbors who run the comic book shop downtown. Our local drive-through style zoo is going to be featured on a German TV morning show. They wanted to have a family do the "elephant car wash" so they can put that in the clip. Wildlife Safari called the comic book shop, because they figured they'd know families. Heh. Comic book shops know kids who buy comics. They don't know whole families that shop for comics together. However, the folks running THIS shop are our neighbors, and they knew we'd done TV stuff before, so they called us. I got the number of the guy in New York who was planning this out, and called him. At first I looked at the wrong schedule & thought Lee could join us. He actually had to work. However, the fact that I can speak German was very exciting to the New York guy anyway. So this morning, the boys & I drove out to Wildlife Safari for the elephant car wash :)

Dan, the manager at Wildlife Safari, with Silke, the German reporter.

Alice the elephant flapped out her ears when spraying.

Lots of water in the trunk!!

Silke & Douglas the camera guy, interviewing the elephant handler.

Alice wipes the window with a sponge. Connor thought this whole experience was great :)

Connor's How to Make Juicy Lemon Cake

2010-11-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

This was last Sunday :) Sorry I couldn't figure out how to add music like Diana did. Enjoy folks!

S.O. Swim Meet 2010 Freestyle 25m

2010-11-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

S.O. Swim Meet 2010 Backstroke

2010-11-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

Bunch of Stuff

2010-11-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

I have the day off today. Connor had Friday off because our town did the inservice day then. I'm working in a different town, and they chose to have their inservice day AFTER Halloween - which I actually thought was pretty smart :)

Anyway - I'm home today since I had no inservice to attend (yay), and trying to get stuff done that typically escapes me during the week. My list grew to 18 items. So far, I've gotten eight done. I'm currently heating the iron to do Lee's shirts.

Granted, some of these things are fun (like dropping off a travel bug for geocaching), but others are pretty menial, like finishing the laundry. Others just need time, like sorting out Connor's clothes he's outgrown. Still others will be moved to tomorrow's list when they don't get accomplished today.

I have been productive - I got a document notarized, talked with Financial Aid about Trevor's account (they are very slow & he still hasn't gotten his award letter), and I did my physical therapy exercises twice of three times so far today. I only have one laundry load left (but then I need to sort & fold - I may delegate that to Trevor after he reads his assignments).

I still have my Girl Scout Leader meeting tonight, and some sewing I'd like to get done, although I did get some things sewn yesterday afternoon, too. It's a good day for this sort of thing; overcast & windy. I'm not missing out on great weather by doing chores & running errands.

Iron's hot now, so off I go.

Halloween 2010 more

2010-10-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

This was at school on Thursday - I had made this costume a LONG time ago for Diana at her request. It was just stuck in a tub under the house for years, so I pulled it out to bring in to school. I figured if one of the Jr. High kids didn't have a costume, I could give it to them. Turns out one kiddo thought it was pretty dang cool, so he wore it to school on Friday :) I was happy to get rid of an oversized pillow, but I kept the wig.

Saturday morning we had our TOPS workshop at the library. Different clubs bring a raffle basket, and this was ours. Our "trick" to getting lots of tickets sold is to have real money as part of the basket. This year it was $25 in cash. Tickets are a dollar each, or 6 for $5. I had to go bring Connor to Special Olympics, so I don't know yet who won our basket.

This was my treat from Lee. Costco has these chocolate-covered caramel apples for $4.99 in the bakery dept. They are massive though, and even cutting it into quarters took three days to eat! Really tasty tho - I love caramel apples :)

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Connor drew on the design, and then I did the gutting & carving.

It came out pretty cute, right? His name is "Jack."

Cute Cowboy Connor. He had to wear my cowboy boots, since Diana took the pair he'd outgrown.

We have some folks in this town that do a great job with costumes. This is my favorite this year. And he was such a nice guy!! EVERYONE was taking photos with him :)

After we got home, Connor took off all the costume clothes & wiped off the mascara moustache, and said, "I'm normal again!" Hee.

Mack the Knife

2010-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

The first Choir concert

2010-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last night Connor had his first choir concert. Last year he took art class, and brought home some interesting clay pieces - this year the schedule worked to have him try choir.

When I asked the choir teacher at conference time how he thought Connor would do on stage, he didn't have any idea. Sometimes Connor sings extra loud, and he's managed to teach himself to read music, so while his class sang the melody, he'd sing the harmony (all by himself!). So, not always following directions.

Last night, however, he was just so excited to be there and on stage. Lee & I sat up close in front so if there was any issue, we could snag him quick and get him offstage so he wouldn't affect the rest of the performers too much.

No worries - he stood straight & tall, sang the correct part, and kept his voice level appropriate for the stage :)

Great stuff & a great first effort for him. He let us know later that night that he wants to sing in the choir in High School - We really enjoyed watching him up there. The video below is a clip from "Shenandoah" and the one above is Mack the Knife (which I'm uploading right now).

:)

Connor's 1st Choir Concert

2010-10-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Preparing the eggs

2010-10-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

First, you draw faces on the eggs. They should all be happy.

Use a crayon, because Sharpie goes through the shell.

These eggs are happy eggs.

Until you crack them. Then they scream (you'll need to make the noise like Connor does). Then put X's on the eyes, if the shells are still whole enough. He has an interesting mind, my son :)

Lack 'O Posts

2010-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

I know I've been bad about posting lately. One reason is I can't access blogger (or facebook, or anything else interesting) from the computers at school. Everything is "Access Denied!" I used to use my lunch break to post when I was working full time.

Another problem is the things going on right now are on the confidential side. Most of my time & energy with work has been centered on one student, who gets off on hurting others.

Yesterday, the police had to be involved and that student is no longer in my class.

That's pretty much all I can say.

I should be doing happier posts soon again, now that I'm not stressed so much about going to work & wondering if I'll manage to continue catching chairs being thrown my way...

Aw Diana

2010-10-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

She had to break up with her boyfriend today. He was apparently clueless as to his lack of boyfriendy behavior.

First off, they "got together" to be BF & GF before they ever went on a date. They had hung out together in group stuff, mostly other kids from church.

Just before heading home for summer, Diana had initiated the 'relationship' by letting him know she liked him. See, that would have been a cue to go on a DATE. But they kind of went straight to 'go steady.' When I pointed this out to my daughter, she said that kids date differently now. Um... yeah.

So they had a big hug (no kiss) and then they both went home for the summer. Sure, they texted & phoned now & then, and he even came over during fair week and spent a couple of nights in the trailer. More hugs. Still no kissing.

Also, when we'd gone to the fair, and we were waiting at the Billy Idol concert, Diana decided she wanted fries. There was a huge line. First, no offer from him to get them, or even go with her - I wound up going & keeping her company. Then later when she wanted a drink, the same thing again - he just sat like a lump. Even with the dark rides & other opportunities, there was no kissing. Hmmm.

So last month she gets back to school. By now, he's not really texting much to her anymore. She's back in her place, and he's in a new place - no call to come check his place out, or stopping by to see her.

On Wednesday, they see each other at church. She asks if they're going to actually go out together any time soon. He says he hasn't been much of a boyfriend (doh) and another hug.

Friday night there's a spaghetti dinner at church. When Diana is ready to leave, she has to find him & there's a quick hug. He knows she has to walk home in the dark through an area that is not the safest - no offer to walk her home or help her find a ride or anything.

That was the final straw. She was pretty upset.

Basically, she was carrying the whole relationship. It even sounded to me like he didn't care about her much anymore, and so it should be pretty painless to him to break up.

I told her to make a list of stuff she had expected out of having a boyfriend (like, oh, say - going on DATES), and see how many things he'd done. Zero.

So - not much of a boyfriend (boyfriend) but he's the only one I got...

He got a clue when she changed her facebook status from "in a relationship" to "it's complicated" and finally called her. She set up a meeting on campus today to talk to him.

He was totally blindsided. He said he thought she was mad at him. Well, in a way he's right. That's probably NOT the best way to handle it though - ignoring your girlfriend. He tried to tell her he had a present coming for her if she was still his girlfriend (wtf?), so she said nope. She did list off the things she had expected from him that never happened. And she let him know that if he wanted to ask her out in the future (like next year) that she might be okay with going out for starters. But she's already decided it was too much work with him.

She grew up with parents that are more partners in life than anything else. She needs a guy who will contribute to the relationship & be a best friend to her. Not a puppy, doing what she tells him to do.

Honestly - for a first break-up, it could have been a LOT harder on her. The pain of this one is already being repaired with the help of girlfriends & ice cream. Go Diana!

Connor's Cooking Show

2010-09-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out how to burn a DVD with my system - I am missing something, but dislike downloading programs. So I'm posting this to my blog so I can access it from anywhere to share with others :)

This probably doesn't happen to you...

2010-09-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, about 8:30pm I'm at my computer & Connor comes in. I have a photo of him on my computer desktop holding a line with a fish on the end from his Summer Camp this year. Connor says, "I have the fish!" and leaves the room. No biggie.

He comes back in the room a minute later holding a plastic bag with 6 almost-foot-long fish in it. I think they're rainbow trout (there's a pinkish line along the side). Huh, what?

I knew his class did a field trip to the fishing pond, but usually it's just catch & release. I didn't expect to find fish in his backpack, so I didn't look.

They aren't cleaned or anything - just the whole fishies in a bag. I stuck the whole thing in the freezer.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with them now...

Ouchie-wa-wa

2010-09-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

I've been going to the physical therapist regularly for my shoulder, and it is getting better.

Thing is, every time he treats me, he's forcing the shoulder up higher, and out further than it wants to go. He eases it as much as he can, but there's a definite stopping point where I grimace and say, "Yeah - that's it!" And he'll say, "Yup, that's not going any higher." OUCH!!

Still, I'm doing my exercises at home and at work when I can, and I am improving by 3 - 5 degrees each time, which he says is really good.

I'm scheduled through the rest of September, but then I'm going to have to take a break due to change in insurance. As of October 1, my new insurance will take effect. I am going with the least expensive (highest deductible) because about a month later, Lee will get a much better rate for the family than I could get at my job. I will have already been locked in, and can't change my coverage by that time. We'll be double-covered, but mine won't kick in unless there's a big need (which we hope won't happen!).

If I change to a different job that has less hours, my insurance will be gone anyway (my eventual plan) and we'll just have Lee's regardless.

The nice thing is the physical therapist I have is pretty cool. I told him I wouldn't be able to come in October, and he said he was fine with having me come in weekly at no charge so he can keep monitoring my progress. :) Once Lee's insurance kicks in, I'll get the actual therapy again :) Or maybe I'll be better by then? It's supposed to heal faster now that I'm past 90%...

Coping with Connor

2010-09-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

The other day, Lee & Connor took a bike ride again to Burger King. Connor just likes the fries. While they were there, a woman introduced herself to Lee as a reporter for a local small newspaper here in town. She wanted to know if she could do a story on our family and how we cope with Connor.

I don't know how Lee responded to her, but afterward, he told me he felt like "what do you mean - coping?"

Now, yes, it's obvious if you watch him for a little bit that there is something different about Connor. Most people are figuring out the autism thing now, which is good. More & more attention is being called to the difficulties of autism, and maybe that's why the woman wanted to write the story.

The thing is, we don't see it so much as 'coping' as just doing things a little differently to accommodate our boy. And yes, while you can label that 'coping'- to me, that word is a more negative connotation than just adapting what we do.

Of course we had to make a lot of changes, especially when he was small. Before he could talk & express himself, it was very hard. At times he will still have a crying meltdown and we don't know why, but there's nothing you can do but hold & comfort him for the hour or so until it's gone. But that's much more rare now that he can communicate effectively. Thanks to a lot of people with a lot of knowledge, Connor was able to go through the work and do what was necessary to get to that point. He's still going to need help through his life, probably throughout. Is that what she meant with coping? Lee & I won't get to retire & travel the world? (Newsflash - I'd rather have Connor - better yet, bring him along!).

Lee & I put in time & effort to help Connor as well. We didn't go out on dates, because there weren't people knowledgeable enough to babysit our boy. Trevor & Diana could only help so much when they were grade-school age. As they got older, more of the babysitting fell to them, which happens in any household anyway. Lee and I adapted our 'date time' to be in the virtual world. We were off traipsing around the worlds of Dereth & Paragon City, and later Azeroth. We were off doing our thing, but still at home at our desks. It was cheaper than going out, actually. And of course, Connor knew we were home and didn't have the anxiety or other issues. I guess the reporter would call that coping as well (although we'd probably have done it anyway - that's the kind of thing we like to do).

We did avoid taking Connor places that would be too hard for him - he still only goes to the fair on the Saturday with the daypass for rides, because he'll only do the kiddie rides anyway. We haven't even talked about going to Disneyland, because he's not in a place to do that yet either. He LOVES going to Canada for vacation every year anyway, and so does the rest of the family. I didn't take him tent camping, because I worried about his safety & the fact the tent has four exits. The tent trailer situation is much better for us - one locking door. Plus, Lee would have refused to tent camp anyway. He 'did his time' with the Boy Scouts back when. He wants a mattress if we're camping together. Over time, we've been able to take Connor to most places anyway - it just took a little longer to get him to a movie theater (4th grade), to church regularly (2nd grade), to have First Communion (6th grade). But eventually, he does get to do most of what he wants to do. I guess taking his time means we have to cope there as well.

Because of Connor & Trevor's autism, I did get much more involved in Girl Scouts than I would have otherwise. I wanted to make sure Diana had the kind of time with me that might not happen when we were focused on her brothers so much. Scouting together guaranteed time together every week, and occasional weekends. She & I have an extremely close relationship now. I'm the first person she comes to whenever she has any issues or questions about anything - even though she's living in a city an hour away most of the year. She will send me instant messages at least every evening and let me know how her day went & that she's home safe. I call that a big bonus - not really coping.

Between the two boys, Trevor would probably be considered more challenging now. But it's not any worse than any teenager who is disorganized and thinks he knows more than he does. And eventually, he'll come around - it will just take time (and lots of headaches). But the reporter didn't know about Trevor.

I did put my plans to further my education aside when we discovered Connor was autistic. I was going to get a teaching credential after he was able to stay in day care. That turned out to be a little dangerous when he escaped into the parking lot twice. I did spend time at home with him because of the safety issue, which was a huge crunch in our finances. So was putting a fence around the property. It cost quite a bit for the seminars I attended to learn how to teach him more effectively - I did two weekend conferences in Portland (hugely beneficial).

On the other hand, I was hired to work where I am now because I had special needs kids & had the patience and tolerance to work with other kids that needed that kind of help. I am making double what I earned in the regular schools, with my expertise & education - and that probably wouldn't have happened without the autism in my life.

Connor is the most joyful, happy child I have ever known. He loves to experience life and shares that love with everyone. Any person who has worked with him or knows him from something else really enjoys him. People who spent time over summer school, or helped him in Special Olympics or whatever will come up to us out of the blue to tell us how much they love working with Connor. One of the aides in his classroom told the teacher that her favorite part of the day is when she gets to work with Connor.

Yes, we did work hard to help him understand how to behave in public. Yes, we continually prompt him and praise him when he gets things right. Yes, we realize we will have him with us our entire lives, and then once we no longer can care for him, Diana will take up the reins. That's family. That's what you do. I don't see it as 'coping.' It's parenting. It's how you live life. I wouldn't change a thing.

Diana & Trevor at Kumiricon

2010-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Some dead bunny thing & Diana as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist

I'm guessing this is a friend of Sonic the Hedgehog? or maybe an evolution of Sonic?

Trevor just wore goggles from a Halloween store and my dad's old leather jacket. NEXT year tho...

So the kids went to Kumiricon on Saturday night, as soon as we got back from Amanda's wedding. Diana had worked long & hard on her costume. The hair is a wig she cut & styled, the jacket she sewed herself, the belt she altered & sewed, and the boots were Connor's snowboots last year (they are too small now). Diana also made the little clasp for her neck with Sculpy and then spraypainted it silver. She was missing the red coat the character wears, which she'd ordered to be made online. It wasn't any good, though. She would have done better making her own.

They got back to Eugene by 6:00 last night, and I got them & brought them home after getting Taco Bell. Then they slept until 2:00 PM today...

Trevor is thinking he really needs to get a job so he can go again next year. That's a good thing :)

Amanda's Wedding

2010-09-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

The wedding was at Sunset Bay, OR (close to Coos Bay).

Amanda planned the entire event - her colors were orange & green :)

If they know you're taking a picture - they all make a weird face. CJ, Mary & Anna rode over to the coast with us from Roseburg.

At the reception - Diana finally wearing that dress that didn't make it onto the show.

Most of Troop 371 - we are missing Renee, who was in San Diego. I'm sure she was with us in spirit :)

Connie's photos with us :)

2010-09-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Back to School

2010-08-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

I went back to work today. I wasn't really supposed to, according to the calendar with the number of days the union contract says that I work.

However, we're in a new room, in a different school, in a different district, and there's a whole room to get ready. Also, we service grades K-8, so all that information has to be available as well, even though we're starting the year with only four kids. Two of those should be transitioning out of our room pretty soon, but then we should also have some transition in.

So all week it's unloading, moving, sorting, and setting up in the classroom. There's also all the meetings to get to know who we're working with, as well as the families, and then all the paperwork meetings. We are working with the Mental Health dept., and the classroom will run with their staff working in conjunction with us.

There are five to six adults who are supposed to be working with these kids - but that stays constant whether we have 2 kids or 12. The teacher, other assistant & I are responsible for the education component, while the mental health people are supposed to work on teaching the skills necessary to help the students move back to regular school. Theoretically, this takes about six weeks...

Hopefully everyone will work together to achieve this goal - that's the plan, anyway...

As to my extra work days that are not contracted, I'll probably have to take comp time later. Most likely when we're low on kids so I don't need a sub. Fun & Games.

Happy Anniversary, Lee - Happy 20th Birthday, Diana!

2010-08-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

And it's also the birthday of our nephew, Jonathon. Party Day!!

Three days with Connie & family

2010-08-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

How to comfort Connor

2010-08-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

This morning, Connor had a bit of a cough. He's a little congested, and I don't know if it's allergies or a cold. He can get a little hyped up when he's not feeling great, so I asked him if he wanted to stay home this morning with Diana, or come to church. Twice he answered, "Go to church."

Anyway - Connor had been pretty good all through Mass. Our church uses communal chalices for receiving the Blood of Christ. Even though it's alcohol and they wipe the surfaces which come into contact with everyone, I still don't like to have us take it if we're sick. You still get the Body of Christ anyway - it's not necessary to take both, we just prefer to do it that way.

So Connor watched us all drink and stood aside like I'd asked him to do, and then patiently got into his spot in our pew. Then he started to cry. Not really loud or anything, just whimpering and wiping his eyes a lot. Diana tried to calm him down and so did I. I asked why he was sad, and he answered, "No Blood of Christ for Connor." So I asked if he wanted to get some root beer instead.

Connor hadn't yet been to visit Lee at work, and I'd noticed they had a 24-case of Thomas Kemper root beer there. So I told Connor after church, we'd go visit Daddy and get a BIG box of bottles of root beer.

He was able to calm himself and smile again, and we made it through the rest of Mass just fine.

I'm not sure how he liked Costco. He liked seeing his dad & giving him a hug. He also liked looking at the big TV's. He wasn't so interested in the samples, surprisingly. He liked the big refrigerated cooler though. The only sample he really liked were the fruit snacks, which I wasn't sure he'd care for anyway. Since he did, I got some for his school lunches & picnic snacking :) He was ready to go though, once we put the case of root beer in the cart.

Hopefully next week he'll be fine again and he'll get both Body & Blood of Christ again :)

Hey Carolyn!

2010-08-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Look what I found on Ebay! What a difference between old & new though, huh? Lee really wore that shirt to death!

You can barely even see the outlined Beaker on the old one. Once the new one is washed, the old one will become wash rags :)

Anyway - thought you'd appreciate it! Oh, it was about $14.00 with shipping for the new one :)

Doing the job he was hired for!

2010-08-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Lee started working in July, but today Costco opened it's doors to the members, and he was actually talking to customers & doing his actual job for the first time. Up until today, it was all moving, building, packing, unpacking, organizing & LOTS of lifting! We went shopping for shorts to wear at work, and he's down a pants size to a 34 now!

He is really in his element, and it was great seeing him helping the customers today :) Trevor, Diana & I actually had to wait to say hi when we arrived, and then I wanted to show him what we were getting before I checked out, in case I was missing something, and we waited again - people seemed very interested and had a lot of questions for him, so I guess that's all good :)

The store looks great, there were lots of samples to try, and I didn't go crazy shopping - mostly just the things we'd waited to get because we knew the store was opening soon - peanut butter, toilet paper, Stacy's chips, etc. Obviously there's a lot more, but I kept a tight watch on the total today :) I did get some snow gloves for when Connor & I go skiing because I needed a pair, they were inexpensive, and by the time we actually go skiing, they'll be long gone.

Good job, Lee!! Day One of many, many more working for this great company!!

Getting excited for Hockey!

2010-08-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

A friend from my old neighborhood is now a friend on Facebook. She is a really, really big Anaheim Ducks fan. She's met all the players and attends the muckity-muck events. I never knew she was such a hockey fan. Her whole family is way into hockey & the Ducks.

She posted her excitement about Teemu Selanne signing with the Ducks again (we all thought he was going to retire for sure), and that there are talks that Paul Kariya (my favorite player) might come back to Anaheim. Teemu & Paul played extremely well together, but the Ducks didn't do great, so they moved on to other teams.

They were able to stick together in the beginning, but eventually different teams called on them and they split. Teemu wound up back at the Ducks, and was with them when they won the Stanley cup in 2007.

With the new season coming up and free agents being signed, Paul is once more available. I really hope he decides to join up with the Ducks again. He has a big fan base with the people he started his NHL career who really want to see him come 'home' again. His career has been okay, but not near the potential and promise he showed in the Ducks.

If he does sign, I'm going to have to look into either getting a hockey package on our DirecTV or else figuring out which sports bar around town will let me watch Ducks that aren't playing football :P Between drinks & appetizers, it's probably less expensive to just get the satellite package, huh? :)

Yay Hockey!!

It got me!

2010-08-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, that's the first time in 15 years up here that that's ever happened. When the weather is warm, we drive around town with the windows down most of the time. We'll use the A/C if it gets really hot out, but we usually only have a week or so of the really hot weather. The rest of the summer is mostly 85-92 degree range.

So just before we reach our house, maybe a two houses down, a wasp ends up in my shirt! I feel it buzz, and then bite my chest on the sternum - I look down the front, see a wasp, and immediately flip up my shirt to get it the heck out of there! That's what I get for wearing a loose t-shirt instead of the current fashion of snug!

Anyway, Lee was driving, and slowed down enough to wave at the wasp when it flew up a bit, and it first went up into my bangs (I scream again) and then out the window.

We got into the driveway, out of the car and I went straight for the medicine cabinet, while Lee went online to tell me the best things to use to treat a wasp bite or sting. First I took an anti-histamine, to reduce swelling.

I swabbed down the area with bactine, and he got a paper towel and put vinegar on it - apparently the acid in vinegar or lemon juice neutralizes the venom. Then he got a cold pack and put that on top of the paper towel. I held it there a good 20 minutes, and then put cortisone cream on the area.

By the time I went to bed last night, there was no evidence of a bite or sting. It only hurt until it got frozen, and then I didn't feel anything there at all.

The photo above is the only way I like wasps. On a board with a big pin thru them! Ugh!

As for the neighbors & me flashing them - at least I was wearing my new VS bra!

Billy F. Idol

2010-08-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Billy Idol came to play at our fair last night. He tied the record for last year, with Huey Lewis & the News, but the Scorpions were here the night before, and they broke last year's record for attendance.

It was a fun concert. The kids had "sung for their supper" at the fair food booth that will feed you if you do a song (isn't that great?), but we got curly fries for the concert anyway.

Billy actually did a good, two-hour concert. He did almost all the songs I knew - only missing two I could recall. White Wedding was his encore, and he did a great job with it.

His band was spot-on for everything, but ol' Billy started off a few songs with the wrong lyrics here & there. He also did a chunk that sounded very punk, and I'm thinking it was Generation X stuff (before he went solo), but as I didn't follow him then, I'm not sure. The paying audience seemed to recognize it, though.

He is still in fantastic shape. For all the bare-chested stuff, we could see his abs & pecs from waaaay back. The photo from the newspaper article has a close-up of his face - his age is much more apparent there - lucky for us, we were too far back to see that!

I did have to wonder about some of the people attending the concert. When someone like Billy Idol or the Scorpions comes to town, you probably shouldn't be bringing in strollers with toddlers. Our ears were ringing from the bass & there were people sitting a lot closer to the speakers that had very small children. Not only that, both Billy & his drummer were rather liberal with the use of the F word. "I'm Billy F***ing Idol!" (hence the F. as the middle initial on all his equipment).

Maybe I'm just a little prudish in my old age, but it just seems wrong to me to have small children attend something like that :/ Ah well. According to Diana, the skunky smell that wafted over us once night fell was 'skunk pot.' Low quality marijuana that has a skunky smell. Lovely.

It was a great concert, but I preferred Huey Lewis last year by far. Not only did he not swear, he knew all his songs, and he played everything that made it to the radio. Still, for a free concert, it was a great show last night :)

Newspaper article - click Billy's image to see up close :)

Little River Band concert

2010-08-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the fair for the concert.

They were doing $2.00 admission from 10:00 to 1:00, and I intended to put down a blanket to save a spot on the grass anyway, so that's what I did. The hand stamp allowed me to get back in for the evening concert (when admission was $9.00).

I went with my friend, Rose, who likes to do the concerts in the park with me too. This year they started doing opening acts. They do a few songs before the concert, and then they move to a different stage after the concert.

The Little River Band came on about 7:30. They were a mix of younger and older guys. I don't know the band well enough to recognize any members, but I did recognize and sing along to about eight songs they played. They started with "Take It Easy On Me" and played Cool Change, Reminiscing, Night Owls, Lady (let me take a look at you now), and ended with "Lonesome Loser." Lots of fun & they had a good sense of humor too. "We're going to play our latest hit for you now.... from 1983..." hee.

I looked them up on Wikipedia after I got home (because I like to do that) and discovered the guys I saw in concert are like the fifth incarnation of the band. The actual original members still perform, but they lost the rights to their band's name! Little River Band

Some of the guys I saw were involved with some of the hits, but only a few. They were still very good and a lot of fun!

After the show, there was also an exhibition on a different stage (on the way back to the fair bus) with Chinese Acrobats. They were pretty awesome :) I hope they are still there on Saturday so the kids can see them after we do the Billy Idol concert!! Acrobats of Hebei, China

Even though Leonie is home in Germany....

2010-07-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I still have to get my blueberries picked! Lee went with me this morning for an hour or so. We got almost 13 lbs. That cost $13.40. W00t! Afterward we stopped at the store & they had little Starbucks samples This is probably the right size for the calories, huh? :)

The title is because Leonie REALLY liked eating Oregon blueberries :)

Birthday photos

2010-07-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

We're on the email list for Red Robin. We all get a free birthday burger when it's our turn. Plus a dessert & a song. Connor has come to expect this, and it works for us :)

We got there a little late since Trevor had taken Lee to see "Inception," and they only got home at 7:30ish. We stopped at the store to get a cheesecake, but we were too full from dinner to eat it (we had some today tho). I think it was a nice birthday. He got to relax after 5 days of strenuous work at the new job :)

Happy 49th Birthday, Lee!!

2010-07-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday's Child has far to go...

I think he's there now :) Lee is in better shape now than he's been since we got married. He's just landed a fantastic job from out of more than 4,000 applicants, and he has more energy than a lot of his much-younger co-workers :)

I'm extremely proud of my husband for all the hard work he put in to losing his weight, and the phenomenal job he did with his interviewing at his job. I knew he could do it, it was just a matter of time. Things had to line up right and it looks like they finally have.

Even though times have been tough with this economy and all, Lee has never lost his sense of humor, and there is always a lot of laughter around our house. Our kids are doing well - Connor is very happy in his school & continues to improve, Diana is becoming more independent and enjoying her college life, and Trevor is also maturing and figuring out he's responsible for himself & that his choices affect what happens later. I'm very optimistic about our future!

All this & Lee looks hot in his new blue jeans! This is going to be a good year :)

Big Grocery Shopping

2010-07-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I don't even remember how long it's been, Lee created a 2-week menu based on foods we like that the kids will eat too (for the most part). We have one menu for summer/warm weather, and another for winter/cold weather. It really just revolves around the use of the oven for cooking, as we don't have air conditioning right now. And more salads in summer too.

In any case, it's two weeks of family dinners. Then Lee figured out how much of everything was needed to eat for two weeks, and he created a shopping list. The list has EVERYTHING necessary, so the first thing you do after printing the list is go through the pantry and fridge & eliminate things you don't need to buy on this trip (condiments, baking supplies, etc.). This does save us from running out of flour suddenly, and you also notice if you're getting low & should be looking for bargains.

Trevor helped me check what we already had, and then Diana joined me for the actual shopping. My arm is still healing, so I needed a helper for lifting and moving things. Usually we start at Grocery Outlet, which is exactly what it's called. There are often off-brands, but there are also Canadian and European items available for a lot less than if we got them at Safeway, for instance. We usually stick with brands we know anyway.

After Grocery Outlet, we go to the big warehouse-style store here called Sherm's Thunderbird. It's only in Southern Oregon, and they also have very good prices, but more in line with the typical grocery store. If there's anything still missing from our list, we'll go to Fred Meyer (again, NW store) or Safeway. Usually we're done after Sherm's.

Today, Grocery Outlet actually had 90% of the list. Diana & I were in the store, with Diana reading the list from the clipboard (it's in a spreadsheet format) and I was getting the items. A lady walks by, and does a double take to see the list. "Wow! That's really organized!!" she says.

I answered with, "That's for our two-week menu that my husband created. It's about $200 for a family of five for 2-3 weeks. You always have what you need on hand, and it really saves a lot of money."

She responds, "I've always wanted to do that and have never gotten around to it. I don't suppose you'd be willing to email me that?"

I'm like, "Sure - give me your email address. I'll send you the menu and the list. No problem!"

She wrote her info down & was really happy.

Wait'll she finds out it's a low-cal vegetarian menu - I forgot to mention that! Oops!

Kinda Weird

2010-07-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

For the longest time, at least since the advent of instant messenger & email, Lee has had ready access to a computer at home & at work. We would email each other during our breaks with questions, suggestions for dinner or just a little "how's it going today?" kind of thing. It would take me longer to correspond this way, since I work with kids rather than in front of a computer most of the day. The actual time for the message was less than a phone call, though.

Lee started working full days yesterday. There is no computer access as he's working on putting together a store for the grand opening on August 11th. Even once he's doing his regular job, he won't have any computers other than the ones he's trying to sell.

It's very odd to me to not have any access to my husband during the day now. I know this is pretty normal for most other people, but it's not how it's been for us. Yes, he can call, but if I'm out doing stuff or in the yard, I'll miss it & just have to hear the message. And once I'm back at work, that's not an option during the day at all.

Don't get me wrong - I'm totally thrilled he has a full-time job at a fantastic company, and all kinds of opportunities for advancement. I just kind of miss the electronic contact.

I'm thinking our weekly date after our TOPS meeting will be more date-like now - it's a good trade :)

For Carolyn & Co.

2010-07-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

See her cute paws? And the last picture she's smiling :)

Here's the deal...

2010-07-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

Trevor & Diana live at our house for free. They are both old enough to move out & live on their own.

To stay at our house rent-free, there is some work required. They have house cleaning & dishes chores daily.

When they aren't in school, they are also required to do yard work. They are not big fans of yard work. The deal is if they get jobs, they can hire other people to do their yard work.

The dog just watches :) But she has pretty paws because she just got groomed :)

Denied!!

2010-07-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

I got a call last night from our HR department. My SAIF claim had been denied.

Most people will be surprised to hear this. I think it goes back to the doctor I saw at the Urgent Care. For whatever reason, he doesn't like worker's comp claims. I had to press him into letting me get an MRI, and then the ones he ordered didn't even use the dye to check for things like a tear in the rotator. His wording was, "Well, that's expensive." Why the heck should he care? If worker's comp wasn't going to cover it, I still have good insurance - I was in pain! This doctor was also pretty rough on my arm and kept telling me to "relax" even though I had no control over the stiffness in the shoulder. I could NOT move it on my own.

Yes, it took me a while to file a worker's comp claim. I fully believed my shoulder was bugging me because of muscle tightness brought on by stress. I work in a stressful environment, and about this time we learned Lee would have his hours dropped to 20/week AND we found out Trevor had screwed up at college and was likely going to lose his financial aid - so yeah - I was stressed!

I tried 4 sessions over 4 weeks of acupuncture. A little relief, but then I got worse.

Then I went to the chiropractor. Again, a little relief, and then it got worse. At the last visit, he really manipulated things around, and it was very painful. At this point, he said he couldn't do anything more for me, as I probably had something wrong in the joint.

I had to think really hard to remember what I might have even done to injure my shoulder. During my work day, I wasn't doing much physical activity, other than morning stretches & carrying stuff like my bag/purse and stuff like that.

At home, I really only ride the exercise bike, probably to the detriment of my arms, since I took the arm attachments off to be able to use the bike while I play World of Warcraft at my raised computer desk.

I finally realized I HAD hurt myself on a day at school when we were moving books & computer equipment back to the warehouse. We knew we weren't going to get any other students, and we didn't need all the extra stuff. We also knew we'd be changing locations and everything would have to be moved anyway, so why not get a jump start on that?

The actual injury occurred when we were lowering a heavy box into the back of my van. The lifting technique was all good, it was the lowering & releasing when I felt a twingy-pop thing in my left shoulder. I shrugged it off though, and I seemed to be okay. Well, soon after that the tightness started, and just kept getting worse, no matter how much I babied my left arm.

So that's why I even went to the Urgent Care in the first place. I should have gone straight to a physical therapist, but I think I needed to see the regular doctor first for worker's comp anyway. Once I had the MRI's done & the doctor saw them, he told me there was nothing wrong with my arm. I still don't get it.

He did prescribe me some meds, which I used while we were in Canada. Once we got home, I got a referral to a physical therapist.

Flash forward to today. Physical therapy is working. The therapist thinks it's a tear which caused my shoulder to freeze up. He thinks the chiropractic manipulation sped up the 'freezing' process, which he now thinks is already on the 'thawing' phase. So I'm doing my exercises & I still intend to see the orthopedist next week.

On the claim - I know I can file an appeal. I did find out, however, that I can still get sick leave, since I was contracted to work over the summer in the special needs room - where I can't work since it's not safe for the kids or for me to lift them. I have a substitute in place, and I have lots of sick leave hours, so that's all good.

I have also gotten a couple of checks from SAIF before they denied my claim. I just put them into my savings account, in case they might ask for them back. I don't know - I've never dealt with worker's comp before. I found out to appeal, I need to hire a lawyer. It's supposed to be mostly covered, except the stuff like phone calls & travel expenses & such.

Now I'm wondering since I can use my sick time, and I've got insurance, if I should appeal after all. If the medical costs come out to be about what I got in the checks from SAIF, it's a push anyway. I have 60 days to file the appeal.

I'm going to wait until after I see the orthopedist before I make any decisions. While my shoulder seems to be doing better with the physical therapy, I still want to be sure I'm expected to completely recover before dropping the worker's comp completely.

Diana @ Day Camp

2010-07-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Every year, there's a week-long Day Camp for Girl Scouts during the summer.

I can't recall Diana ever being a camper, because it was kind of spendy to go. The girls are there from 9:00 to 4:00, and they get a t-shirt and lunches + snacks.

Diana DID participate for a number of years as a PA (program assistant) to a camp unit leader (like a counselor).

Now that she's graduated from Girl Scouts, she's helping out as a unit leader, herself. She gets to have PA's to help her with her group of girls. This year, she has the Kindergarten/1st graders. She started with 10 girls, but they may split her group up.

Either way, I'm happy she's volunteered to do this again. I know it's a lot of work, but it's also a great experience for her, plus it really helps the girls in our area.

Oh - She designed the logo for the t-shirts as well. :)

Go Diana!!

Facebook albums - Wyckhouse visit

2010-07-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Carolyn & I both took a lot of photos while she was here with her family. The links below are to the facebook albums I created. Let me know if you can't view them - they should be shareable.

Graffiti 2010

Carolyn & her family visit

2010-07-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Canada. We had a nice dinner with Mami & Connie's family & then we went to Cindy's house to visit a while.

It was a fun visit :)

Canada 2010 - 8th

2010-07-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

We got to go & see Aaron get 'graded' for his green belt. He did very well, and was able to answer all the questions, and also knew all his moves required. Master Dan asks a lot of historical questions, so his students know why they do their exercises when they learn how to to them. I think it's great to have a discipline like this while growing up.

Canada 2010 - 7th

2010-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Lee, Diana & I went to our favorite Indian food restaurant again :) It's called Chutney, and our waiter reminded Lee & Diana of cousin Daniel. We got him to take a photo with us, but he made a weird face, so it's hard to see. He had similar mannerisms :)

The food was outstanding, as usual :)

Canada 2010 - 6th

2010-06-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

After they reopened the water park (closed because of lightning danger), there were hardly any little kids anymore, so ours got the place to themselves :)

Canada 2010 - 5th

2010-06-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach a couple of times. The weather wasn't really cooperating for us, but we didn't care :P We went to Gyro Beach, just our family one afternoon. We went to the City Park on another day with Mikael & Catherine.The parking is interesting now. The meter prints out a ticket to put on your dash, showing when your time is up - so we put in for 3 hours at 1:15 and the ticket showed 4:15. We actually wound up leaving early because it got pretty cold, so we just gave our ticket to someone who had just come in to give them a free hour :)

The parking is the same downtown, so you can print out a ticket for your dash, and then move your car around if you want, and your ticket is still valid. That's better than individual meters for the spot where the car is. :)

Canada 2010 - 4th

2010-06-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, my mom took us to her favorite pub, the Pheasant & Quail. In the evening, we had Connie's family over for dinner & dessert.

Canada 2010 - 3rd

2010-06-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Aaron's 10th birthday. He had it at a bowling alley. Lee & I went along to help Connie & keep an eye on Connor. Aaron got a lot of gift cards & money - not very many actual presents. Hee. One of his friends is a gymnast (in the sky blue hoodie). We hadn't met him before. Another friend, Stevie, does Tae Kwon Do with Aaron. We'd met the other friends at prior birthdays for Aaron - I think we've been there for the last three now :) Connor had a great time & we all thought it went well :)

Canada 2010 - 2nd

2010-06-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

I had promised Connie I'd take her out for her 50th birthday when we got to Canada, so after trying to figure out a good place, we decided to go to the marina area & eat at Rose's because Connie had heard it was pretty good.

Well, it was. It was also THE hotspot for Kelowna, complete with drunken women who insisted on telling us about the fight they had with each other (they made up later). But the food was good & the company was fun. We enjoyed visiting sans kids.

This is the cart that sells German pretzels and breads. We got $20 Canadian worth (16 pretzels) and they were gone before we left for home again. You can store them in a paper bag, wrapped in a plastic bag in the freezer. If you leave them out though, they'll just get hard as rocks. They toast up nicely in the toaster oven though, which is how we enjoyed them after the first day (when they are fresh).

Canada 2010

2010-06-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice trip. I think everyone got to do what they wanted & see everyone they hoped to see.

Connor has been talking about going to Canada since April. He had it all set in his mind. First pack the car, then drive to Washington. Then stay in the hotel and swim in the pool. Then sleep. Then waffles for breakfast. Then to Canada & Omi.

I just booked the same hotel we'd used last year since I knew they'd have the pool & waffles :)

Because of my shoulder, we waited until Monday, instead of leaving on Sunday as we'd planned. I had done the MRI on my shoulder & neck on Friday, when we picked up Diana from U of O (the MRI office is in walking distance of her apartment). The results were in by Monday morning, and I was able to see my doctor by 9:30. The MRI showed nothing at all - which is good, I guess. But it also meant I couldn't get a cortisone shot, since it's not a bursitis or frozen shoulder :/ I got some new pain meds because the original prescription made me nauseous. I am still having pain in my shoulder and babying it as much as I can... We took off for Washington out of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

We spent the night in Kelso - Connor swam in the evening, as well as the next morning. He ate all the waffles he wanted :) This hotel is next to a mall, so the kids took a walk in the mall and also went to see "Karate Kid" in the evening since there was a theater.

The drive through Washington was uneventful. We stopped for lunch at the mall in Bellingham, and Diana & I got to go to the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale and get a really good deal on some merchandise :)

We didn't have any issues crossing the border, and the rest of the drive through Canada was fine all the way to my mom's. She greeted us with "Schnibbelbohnensuppe" (green bean soup) & vacation really began :)

Shoulder doing better!

2010-06-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while Lee watched Mikael do his Tae Kwon Do class, I visited the Massage guy. He's not Chinese - he's Korean. Here's the link to his blog: http://dahnenergyhealingarts.blogspot.com/

He calls it "energy healing massage therapy" or Hwal-Gong.

Some of it was similar to a regular massage, but it seemed to be more about loosening the joints with a lot of jostling around on the joint areas. He worked especially hard on my bum shoulder of course, but he also did my fingers, elbows, hips, knees and feet. There was cracking of toes and fingers!

He was able to loosen up my shoulder so that it doesn't hurt as much now, and I have twice the range of motion as before I went in. I haven't had to take any Tylenol so far today, although I can feel the shoulder still has healing to do.

He also gave me some exercises to help with the shoulder. He said that 50's Shoulder happens when you do something, and the muscles get stuck in place. I have heard somewhere else that muscles are in something like a sheath in various areas of the body, and they can swell and get stuck in the 'sheath' area. So I take it that's what he's talking about.

I'm supposed to do the stretching exercises & breathe properly while doing them. I will also go ahead & continue doing what my doctor prescribed, which is just different stretches. We'll see how it goes thru the week.

We figure we're here till Saturday :)

Vay Cay

2010-06-20T20:48:00.001-07:00

We arrived last Tuesday after an overnight in Kelso WA. Connor has been ready since April. First is hotel, then bathing suit, then pool, then sleep, then waffles, then Canada!

The weather wasn't great when we got here, but that's okay. Lee has been doing lots of handyman stuff around the house for my mom, for which she is very grateful, the first of which was cleaning up the computer so it would actually run at a decent speed. :) He also fixed a curtain which wouldn't move, a door handle that had broken, and a sprinkler that was run over. The best fix was the nozzle on sprayer for the bathtub - it was spraying all over the bathroom instead of just downward. He also decalcified the coffee machine. Good stuff :)

My niece Catherine had her graduation ceremony about mid-May. You'd think she was done then with 12th grade. No. She has continued regular school for another 3 weeks, and she has all her finals this week. Where's the motivation??? She's already graduated!

Mikael is going to be 16 in a couple of weeks. He's out of school as of Friday. Aaron, the 10-year-old still has another week to go. We have been hooking up when we can.

My sister Connie had a very busy weekend, but we got in a nice dinner with her at the local hot spot, complete with blonde drunken bimbos (we didn't know it was THE hot spot!).

Today for Father's Day, my mom took Lee & I to her favorite pub, and then we did some shopping. For dinner, we had hot dogs for the kids & portabella mushroom burgers for the adults. My mom had gotten a very rich fancy cake as well, but most of the kids had ice cream cones. Okay, MY kids had cake & ice cream cones. :)

Anyway it's been a pretty good visit so far. Connie is leaving for a trip to Toronto tomorrow & we'll have Mikael go with us to the beach & stuff while his sibs are at school. Connie comes back Thursday & we'll see Aaron's Tae Kwon Do test. I think we'll have Diana make sushi for us that night and then we'll be able to do something with Connie on Friday again :)

Photos to come when I can figure out how to get them from my camera to a computer - maybe via Diana's laptop...

Oh - the arm is still hurting, but I have an appointment tomorrow for an ancient Chinese master who knows the problem just from the description - 50's shoulder. (I'm not 50 yet!!!)

Funner stuff

2010-06-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah - it should be "more fun stuff" - but I'm describing this stuff as more fun than what's going on in previous posts....

Friday we picked up Diana from college. As luck would have it, my MRI was being done only a couple of blocks from her apartment, so Lee dropped me off, took the van to Diana, and then ran back over to the doctor's office. The MRI took over two hours, and when we walked back to Diana's, the van was almost packed. Connor was watching Tom & Jerry from in Diana's bed & all was good. We drove to a very good vegetarian food stand, and got some pretty dang tasty Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Connor got a foot-long veggie dog. Then we went to the mall so Diana & I could check out Victoria's Secret (we don't have one in the Burg). Diana found some stuff on sale, but the things I wanted are about to be PUT on sale, so I held off...

Trevor & Diana both worked pretty hard from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon on getting the house cleaned. Diana's friend Corinne is starting off as a Pampered Chef consultant, and needs to practice doing shows. I invited probably 30ish people - six actually came. One was my teacher & her mom, so that was pretty fun to see them :) My friend Rose was there as well, and she's always a good time. And then another mom-daughter set from my TOPS club :) Diana's friend Haley, who is also friends with Corinne, came a little later.

Corinne did a good job - I still haven't ordered because I may have a couple of book sales. Turns out Haley used to live in Juneau, as did Rose. Rose used to work with Haley's grandparents :) Also turns out I have more Pampered Chef products than Corinne has in her kit (thank you Carolyn). Any time she'd mention stuff from the catalog that I had & she didn't, I'd just bring my own stuff out :P

I brought out some salmon 'candy' (sweet-honey-smoked), because I kept forgetting to bring it to work for Maureen to try. Everyone thought it was pretty dang tasty. When I went out to see off the other guests, I came back in the living room and the plate had been licked clean. I asked Diana if that was her - but it was actually Corinne!! Hee. After things were cleaned up, the girls went in Diana's room to hang out. Corinne's mom came & picked her up later, and Lee fixed dinner. Haley stayed and then the kids & Lee all went roller skating ($1 nite on Saturdays). They met up with Trevor & Diana's friend, Kyle, too. I stayed home with Connor.

When the group got back, we sat around the table & had ice cream & did a lot of laughing. I didn't squeak, although Lee tried to get me to - if Carolyn would have been there, we probably would have... The four kids had a good time together - it's nice to have Diana home & the family together :) I like this stuff :)

Here's the Sitch

2010-06-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Shoulder is still hurting a lot. I'm wearing an arm sling and I can't do much of anything, including drive, because then my OTHER shoulder starts to hurt because I've been doing everything one-armed for a couple of weeks now...

So I got an MRI done yesterday in Eugene. The gal at my doctor's office said they can bug them for results and maybe get them within 24 hours. That means Monday sometime. If that works. Otherwise, it could be as late as Tuesday evening. Hopefully it's the former, and I can get in & see my doctor by Tuesday. If it's a bursitis or frozen shoulder (seems to be the most likely), then I could possibly get the cortisone shot, and we could leave for Canada on the same or next day. We intend to overnight in Washington anyway.

OR we could just leave on Sunday, like we originally planned, and deal with the whole thing when we get home again. Well, and hope the MRI doesn't show something that they say, "You need to come in NOW!" and we drive home again after a day...

I'm thinking it would be prudent to wait and hear the results first. What do you think?

Still hurting...

2010-06-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried going in this morning to see if I could get a cortisone shot. Nope - gotta wait until I'm cleared through worker's comp.

According to the paperwork I got from SAIF, it can take up to 90 days to process my claim. Huh?

However, in the packet I got in the mail today, it also says you can get treated for pain management in the interim.

So I'm going back on Monday to the doctor I saw on the first of the month. I'll let him know the pain meds he prescribed are not doing enough, and can I please have a cortisone shot.

At least we don't have kids at school any more. We're just packing up the room now. Don't worry, my arm is in a sling & I'm not lifting anything.

Frozen shoulder or Bursitis?

2010-06-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

I went to the chiropractor today. OUCH!! He moved my arm up & around and it really, really hurt :(

Now I'm supposed to ice it as much as I can. *sigh*

Next stop is the Urgent Care on Saturday, because they will do an x-ray AND a cortisone shot. Ugh.

I just got my notice of temporary hire for summer school in the mail today. I'm praying this all helps so I can do my summer job...

No word back yet on whether this is a worker comp claim or not. I did today's visit on my regular insurance.

I understand a frozen shoulder can 'just happen' for people between 40-60 years old. Twice as much in women as in men. The best treatment appears to be cortisone & physical therapy.

If it's bursitis, there's usually a cause or injury. The chiropractor couldn't tell one way or the other, which is why we need the x-ray. The cortisone works for bursitis as well.

There may still be an MRI to determine any tissue damage, but it's probably one of these other two.

At least the aches & pains of getting old is still better than the alternative.....

A little loopy

2010-06-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday, and he had me do a bunch of pushing & pulling, using both arms, to compare them. He prescribed me Flurbiprofen (anti-inflammatory) and Chlorzoxazon (muscle relaxant). I think the Chlorzoxazon makes me a little loopy... but it would be an excellent scrabble word if it weren't a name.

Anyway - today I have another appointment at the chiropractor. I'm hoping with the muscle relaxant, the massage will be more beneficial this time. And if I use the sling and isolate my arm after my adjustment, maybe that will last a little longer too...

I'll keep you updated!

And Donna, I should be home after 3:30 today if you want to chat today :) Sorry I missed you yesterday!

Happy Birthday, Carolyn!!

2010-06-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hey little sistol - I hope you had a great day! I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday - as you can read from my previous post, I've been a little distracted :(

I'm hoping when you come thru visiting that we can do a lunch or something together as a belated gift?

Love you!!
Tina

Ouch

2010-05-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have my arm in a sling right now. My shoulder has not been happy for a while.

Last night while sleeping on Diana's futon-done-into-a-couch, I think I figured out what happened.

Back in the beginning of March, my teacher & I were sans students for a couple of days, so we decided to box up & move books & extra computers back to the warehouse for the ESD. We did use a hand-truck to bring the stuff to & from the car, and we used good body mechanics & worked together. However, we were loading into my van, and at one point, I overextended my reach. The teacher is an avid swimmer and has much stronger arms than mine :/

I didn't really notice much at the time, other than a little discomfort in my shoulder. Over the next few weeks though, I stopped wearing my watch, because my wrist would start to hurt. I thought maybe it was stress. My life has been a little stressful lately what with all this nebulous stuff about where I'm supposed to work next year (as they laid off my teacher & I'm supposed to be at a new site in the fall), plus knowing Lee is being cut in hours soon (although he's working very hard to find something else - it's just really super tough right now).

Anyway - as I kept feeling discomfort and aches in my arm, I decided to try acupuncture, because I'd heard good things about relieving stress that way. I did 4 weeks of treatment, using various Chinese herbs. I did have some relief, but then it would come back.

Last week I decided to visit a chiropractor & get a massage & an adjustment. He noted a lot of tightness around my shoulder & did an adjustment, which also helped a while. I also got a pretty strong massage - actually too strong for me. I was sore the next four days :( I'm supposed to get a lighter masseuse next time...

Toward the end of last week, I began wearing an arm sling. I am taking ibuprofen & acetametaphin pretty regularly when the throbbing won't stop, and when it wakes me up.

After all this, I think I really damaged something in my shoulder from back in March. No matter what I've done till now, it's not getting better. I've been babying my shoulder more & more, and it's still not getting better. I've readjusted my seat in the van, changed my keyboard on my desk to have a 45-degree angle at the elbows, and basically stopped using my left arm whenever possible.

Tomorrow I will go in to work, and make sure the teacher is covered before I ask to leave to go to the doctor. I will also email HR and let them know I'm going to put in for worker's compensation. I'm really really hoping something can be done to help, as I'm supposed to work in my old classroom for Summer School in July, and that will involve lifting students again!

Wish me luck & prayers are always appreciated!!
Thanks!

Connie's website

2010-05-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Connie has been doing mosaics from tile, stained glass & beads, etc., for a while now. She's really good at it & has a great eye.

I've posted photos of the things she's made for me before :)

Here's the link: Sharp Art Kelowna

Check it out!!

Connor's Quilt

2010-05-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

This is the quilt Connor sewed at school. His teacher said he really enjoyed it, and was pretty darn good at it. His lines were very straight, and they didn't need to guide him too much once he figured out what he was supposed to do.

Doesn't he look proud?

Super close now...

2010-05-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

In TOPS, every year there's a state convention. All the winners of the different divisions are honored, and a King & Queen are crowned to represent the state.

This happens in every state in the union, as well as the provinces in Canada, and various other countries where TOPS chapters exist. The Kings and Queens are all invited to the International convention, and from those folks, the International King & Queen are chosen.

Division winners are recognized for their weight lost in the year prior to the convention (so, for this one, the weight lost in 2009, only). A person is placed in a division every year according to their first weigh-in of the year. Divisions are separated by 50 lbs, with separate divisions for children, teens and people who have had surgery to lose weight.

Kings and Queens are the people who have gotten to their goal in the prior year - but it can take however long it takes. Our current Queen for Oregon took 16 years to get there. People who have had surgery are not eligible for Royalty.

Any state division winner or royalty will be recognized at the annual state convention for as long as they 1) keep the weight off and 2) attend the convention.

As you can see, Lee was a state division winner (2nd place is a winner, too), and henceforth, he will be able to inspire those TOPS members at any convention he attends.

He is currently 4 lbs from his goal weight... GO LEE!!!

Garden Update for May

2010-05-19T16:52:00.001-07:00

My baby rhody in bloom.
The calla lilies apparently don't die no matter what.
Double peony doubling over from rain.

New growth on the transplanted little Douglas Fir.
Hydrangeas in their cage.
Snowball bush in full bloom.

The very messy rosebush after a strong wind with rain.

Oregon State Recognition Days in Seaside

2010-05-16T20:01:00.001-07:00

At the site where Lewis & Clark reached the Pacific Ocean (according to the plaque). Seaside is a couple of hours to the west of Portland. These are my roomies as well as a couple of other ladies from our club.
Seaside is a great convention town.
On the balcony of my room just before the KOPS alumni go to inspire all the TOPS. I knitted the purple wrap during the convention because it gets too cold for me with the air conditioning!

With our area captain, Arlene.
Grilled salmon! Yay!
Lots of people were out crabbing this weekend :)
On our way home - we were so high up above Tillamook Bay, it felt like being in a plane!
This is me with last year's Oregon State King, Ryan. He has Down's Syndrome and just spent the last year visiting chapters all over Oregon, as well as going to the International conference in Florida last summer to represent our state with all the other states & Canadian provences. Pretty cool!!

It was a beautiful day for a Sunday drive down the coast!

My Mean Streak

2010-05-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "The Witches" by Roald Dahl to my students at school. It's a kid's book & we'll watch the movie when we're done. But it's kind of freaking them out a bit. I'm using it to teach them differences between real & fiction. I don't know if they're getting it though.

But I'm gonna keep reading it anyway.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Here's what Diana sent me just after midnight last night :)

I love how she has us wearing our 'real' clothes. Those boots she has on are the ones we bought when we went up to visit for my birthday. I'm wearing the boots, shirt & jeans I got from Macy's when she went shopping with me after Christmas :)

Happy Mother's Day to my Mami - I hope the card made it in time!

Happy Mother's Day to Mom K - I hope that card came in time too!

Happy Mother's Day to my sisters & sisters-in-law. You are all wonderful, inspiring mothers to your children!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of us - I hope everyone gets a nice day doing things you love with your families!

Missing it

2010-05-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

To help figure out Trevor's way of studying - I'm tutoring him through an online intro to sociology class. This is pretty easy for me - after all, my Bachelor's degree is all connected with Soc & Psych stuff anyway - I took a number of Soc classes for my degree.

I have him set up on a schedule (which he promptly mislaid - so now it's stuck to the wall). He is supposed to read his chapter and the supplemental texts, as well as post something on the online forum & read the lecture notes. The online forum is pretty cool - you can't see anyone else's answer until after you've posted your own :)

I have been skimming the texts, and then sitting in on his quiz at the end of the week.

The quizzes are timed at 30 minutes each. The first one he took in 10 minutes, and then clicked on the 'submit' key before I could stop him. He missed 3 of 20 questions - which isn't BAD - but it didn't have to BE.

The next time, I advised him to answer everything first, and then go back and check his answers, starting with the ones he was least sure about. After all, it's open-book and you can DO THAT. He got 95% on the next test.

The following quiz, he was *sure* about a couple of answers, so he didn't want to double check them. Turns out different theorists have similar theories, but they use their own terminology. He got tripped up on the terms and didn't match the correct theorist, although it WAS the same idea...

This last time around, I skimmed the chapter he had also read, and I didn't read the other texts. If I had - I would have noticed the chapter topic was all about methods of research, whereas the supplemental readings were all about business environments. He was on Unit 5, but the text should have been Chapter 7. He read Chapter 5.

Within a few minutes of looking at the quiz, I recognized the questions were not at all about what had been in what I'd skimmed. Trevor was just confused. He actually insisted he'd read the right chapter. I had him go through the quiz and answer what he could to the best of his ability, while I quickly looked at the next few chapters and figured out it should have been Chapter 7.

I was able to help him find the right terms, but we didn't really have time to check everything. He wound up hitting the "submit" button at 1:26 to go (he kind of freaked when the 5 minute warning came up).

He wound up with 90% - which is pretty decent (especially since he read the wrong chapter - although there are only 10-12 questions for that - the rest are the supplemental readings & lecture notes).

Lesson this week? Don't assume the chapter number matches the unit number. I'm glad I was able to move him past the panic of having read the wrong chapter & get him back on track for the test. It could have been a LOT worse.

Acupuncture

2010-05-05T19:33:00.001-07:00

I'm trying it. I have been twice so far for pain in my shoulder. It is most likely a combination of stress & straining. I have had a couple of knots at the base of my neck for at least two years. I've tried various massage therapists, with one gal even using her elbow as hard as she could to try to loosen the knots - it didn't work.

The knots don't bother me so much, but now I have pain radiating to my left shoulder and down my arm. I'm guessing that came from pulling Connor behind me when he first started cross-country skiing. I know I had pain in my pectoral muscles from that, and I think the angle was bad for my shoulder as well.

Anyway - it's gotten to the point where it wakes me at night. I have to take ibuprofen or something to manage the pain, so I decided to give acupuncture a try.

After the first visit I was good until about 4 days later. Today she did a few things different, and we'll see how long it takes to come back again this time. She used a cigar thing this last time to heat the needles until I told her it was too hot. Interesting.

My shoulder is good right now... The knots are still there. It's hard to say if they're any smaller though.

I also have some chinese herbs to use to help things along..

I'll post again next week on how it's going.

Today's work

2010-05-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do some stuff to spruce up my front walkway. I have to be aware of what is or isn't 'deer resistant' since otherwise I'm just setting out a buffet :P

These are called Gazania, and they should grow 8 - 10 inches high. I'm not sure if they spread out or not, so I left some room.

This is the whole petunia pony-pack all in one hanging basket. These are the type that are supposed to hang out & over the basket.

Here's my little fence thing so no one goes off the end of the concrete by accident. I put a little birch tree in the large pot on the right. I have managed to keep that Christmas flower plant alive for four years now :) Ta da! Tidied front walk!

For Rita

2010-05-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the matted composition of family photos I put together for Lee's Mom.

I used different color pens to denote the families of the various siblings. For example, Kraig & Nancy, their kids and the grandkids are all listed in red.

If you click on the photo, it will go to full screen :)

Happy Birthday Cole!

2010-04-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

That's actually a card Connor got this year from Donna & Jim. He likes it really well, and I thought it would be fun to have him share it with Cole. I don't think he understood me saying 'sing' and heard 'said' or something like that instead...

Happy Birthday Cole!!

Test Driving fundraiser

2010-04-24T14:46:00.001-07:00

While we were in Glide, their High School was doing a fundraiser. The Ford Motor Company does a deal for certain schools where they allow people to test drive their cars, fill out a survey, and then the school gets $20 for each household that participates. They can get up to $6,000 depending on how many folks come out to test drive.
We tested the Edge first. Nice car :) It's a very spacious SUV with all the bells & whistles.

Then we tried the Escape. This is a compact SUV, and reminded me of our Ranger. The seats fold way down so the whole bed is flat if you need it that way. This would be a great Dad-Mom-Connor camping car :) This one had a sun roof, which was nifty :)

Finally, we tried the new Focus. This is the only one we'd ever consider trying to get. This was a stick shift. The A/C worked great, and it had lots of neat stuff tucked in & around it for comfort. There was all kinds of room in the back. It wouldn't work work our family all together, but as a commuting/get around town/something for the kids to use car - it's great! Nice MPG too - 35 to 40 :)

That was fun :)

Wildflowers & Running

2010-04-24T14:34:00.001-07:00

These are the lilacs one of my students gave me yesterday. They are out on the front porch because the scent is REALLY strong! It was a little overpowering in the classroom :)

This was the check in for registration for the 10K run, 5K walk/run & 1 mile walk.

We had breakfast while waiting for Lee to run past. :)

This is the guy who won - far & away the fastest. The 2nd place guy took another 10 minutes to show up. This guy has won the Portland Marathon, and the locals say he runs everywhere he goes. Later on, he ran past with a double jogging stroller with 2 kids.

In the community center, there was this great display of the local flora :)

I thought these were pretty cool.

Trevor surprised me a bit - he recognized all the stuff that grows in our backyard. Maybe he should consider botany?

48 & Feeling Great!

2010-04-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, great enough. I am making an appointment to see an acupuncturist for my shoulder...

But other than that - yeah!

Anyway, with a birthday in the Spring & having really nice weather, last weekend after all that yardwork, I had a couple of things I wanted to do in the yard. One was to take out the dead plum tree (after two years, it's not coming back) and replace it with a little pine tree that has been pining away in a planter (ha!). I also wanted to plant either a hydrangea or a rhododendron - both grow really well in our climate. I wasn't sure which one.

After church on Sunday, Lee & I went to Lowe's and found the rhodies & hydrangeas right next to each other. Turns out I could get both plants for about $20, so that's what we did. We put the rhody in to grow & hide the concrete walkway, and the hydrangea should grow to offer some privacy in the backyard. That's the plan, anyway.

My actual birthday fell on a Thursday. I got a call from my mom first thing in the morning to wish me a Happy Birthday. Right after I hung up, the phone rang again & someone & their kids were singing Happy Birthday to me! After they were done, the woman says, "Do you know who this is?" I said, "No - you guys sounded great, and my family always puts a cha-cha-cha in between verses!" It was AnnaMarie Vandewalle with McKenna, Lauren & Patrick :D That was just really sweet :) Then I got on my computer, and I had about SEVENTY birthday wishes from different friends & family! WoW!!!

Thursday is also a weigh-in day, and I tend to be super-strict with my food, especially since I'd been inching up on the scale lately. The teacher I'm working with gets this, and so she brought me a big bouquet of daisies, instead of taking me out after work, which would have been her plan :) So I stayed 'safe' calorie-wise all day :)

After work, Connor had his Special Olympics track practice. I baked my carrot cake & set it out to cool. Then I picked up Lee & we headed to the college track. Trevor met us there. He had a mug for me that says "I'm on my way to a MEETING to discuss what we MET about at our last MEETING." Apparently, I go to a lot of meetings (between Girl Scouts, TOPS, Bible Study and work - I guess I do!).

Right after the practice, Lee & I went to TOPS. I won the pledge contest (chances were good - besides me, there was only Lee & one other person who made their pledges!). Then I was on for the educational program as well. I talked about "Diet Traps." I guess most of the members in the group thought they fell into most of the traps - oops!

After that, Lee & I went to Red Robin for a nice dinner. I had a good salmon burger :)

When we got home, I made my cream cheese frosting for my cake. I didn't eat any because I was still full from dinner - I started my day with it today though :P I put in pineapple, extra carrots & coconut - YUMMY!!!

Connie called me in the evening & we had a nice chat. I'm really looking forward to getting up to Canada in June! Yay!!

At school today, I brought cake to share too. We did a little field trip with a picnic & some geocaching. At the second cache there's a feed store & they had little bunnies, so we had to hold those too. And I got myself a birthday present with a nice gardening hat :)

Tomorrow we'll go to the Wildflower Show in Glide. Lee wants to run in the 10K, and they are doing a fundraiser for the high school there where you drive new Ford vehicles & then fill out a survey - it's free for us to drive :) Sunday we'll go to Eugene & visit with Diana.

So... I guess we'll see what this year brings!

Out in the yard

2010-04-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first nice day we've had that was warm enough to work in the yard. Trevor did a great job on the mowing (we're on 1/3 acre, and it's hilly - not the best to mow!). Lee spent a good couple of hours cutting back the overgrown blackberry vines. I worked in the little bits of the yard I've actually tried to tame - my rose bush planter, clearing around the lilac bush & also some gladiolas. You need decent gloves for gardening around here - the blackberries hid in the weeds & you can grab a hunk of crabgrass & have thorns go right through the glove - ouch!

I had also asked Trevor to mow the grass really short in a trail for Connor. Now that he has his bike, he likes to try to ride around the backyard. As he likes to do the same path over & over, he'll create a nice little trail for himself pretty soon.

Connor kept himself busy digging "the cave." I'm not sure why he wants a cave, but he's using a pickaxe, a big shovel and a camp shovel to do it. He's got the wheelbarrow that he's filling as he goes, and it seems the cave is currently being dug straight down in a slope, so it's really more of a hole. That's fine. I can see where he is & what he's doing, vs. digging in the poison oak in the wilder back part of the yard :)

We'll see what he does today with it...

Spring pics

2010-04-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

I got some bulbs through Breck's a long time ago. The tulips that were just single blooms are now 5-6 blooms to a bunch :) The wood hyacinth are nice, big bunches now too.

Some of these have bent over from heavy rains, but they are still okay. There's a purple iris about to bloom in back, and you can just see the little round purple ball of a peony bud just above the yellow tulip on the right.

This is my front door planter & I love the strawberry & creme tulips in there :)

This was just one bulb when I planted it...

Our mutant grass. It should be dry enough to mow next weekend!

Trevor Trials & Tribulations

2010-04-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

First off, I have to thank Diana, because she's proving its not all me. *sigh*

Trevor has had a tough time with college. After not being very successful at Oregon Institute of Technology (although he absolutely LOVED being there), he came home and started attending our local community college. He has to take the bus, because he isn't driving (with no job, there's no car). He hasn't been as successful here at home as I'd hoped either, even with Lee & I "encouraging" him frequently.

In order to help him try for higher grades, he's been taking the minimum units needed to be full time (vs. Diana, who crams as many classes as she can in, so that she's already considered a Junior in her Sophomore year). This means, however, that if he fails any classes, he no longer has enough grade units to qualify as full-time. In addition, he has to have x-amount of successful units each term to qualify for Free financial aid.

So this last term, he let things slide more than he thought. He kind of lied by omission when we'd ask him if he'd turned in all his homework (this works in his head, somehow). He turned in his assignments incomplete. Or missed the date due, so was docked points, or didn't realize a question on the syllabus was part of the assignment. Stuff like that. Due to this, he got a D in Chem, and a D in CAD. This was his second time taking the Chem class. *sigh*

I really, really don't understand how his brain works.

He gets up in the morning, has to walk through all kinds of weather (in the dark for most of this term), has to sit next to strange people on the bus (who can't drive for whatever reason), and attends all his classes. He had no absences. I think that's the only reason he didn't get F's in those classes.

Somehow, his brain is not getting that the most important thing is to get the work done & in to the instructor on time.

The first Monday of this term, Lee went with Trevor to the college to figure out if anything could be salvaged. I thought it was over, and I just wanted them to figure out what he'd have to do this term to be able to qualify for financial aid next term. Trevor has some money in his bank account (thanks Omi) so he's able to buy books and pay for a couple of classes. We signed him up for an online Sociology class, because I can tutor him through that here at home (so far, he's turned in everything on time for full credit & got 85% on his first quiz).

The first thing Lee discovered is the Special Ed counselor, whom Trevor had tried to visit at her office numerous times at the end of last term, has been out for THREE WEEKS due to her husband dying of cancer. No one had contacted Trevor to help him through the final weeks of last term, or finals or anything. The same sign saying "Be back at 2:30" had been on her door all that time. Again, with Trevor's disability, it never occurred to him to ask anyone else where his counselor was. He'd see the sign, and turn around & leave.

Lee asked someone in the office where the counselor was, and got the story about the dying husband. Then Lee asked who was taking over for the counselor, and was told he'd have to talk to an administrator. Trevor immediately got discouraged because now you're supposed to fill out papers, make an appointment, etc (following the rules), while Lee just went up to the door of the administrator, who looked up and asked, "Can I help you?" (Go Lee!).

Lee let her know about Trevor's situation, and she saw the need for expediency. She let them know who to see next, and what might be done to help Trevor. And small town-wise, this lady is Connor's Sunday School teacher (although they didn't recognize each other at first).

Lee & Trevor next went to see the CAD instructor, and then the Chemistry teacher. The CAD guy said, "Sorry - there's nothing I can do at this point" (which was what I expected). The prayers come through at this next point - for some reason (thank you, Lord), the Chemistry instructor was willing to hand back Trevor's incomplete assignments & labs and give him a couple of weeks to FIX THEM! She said that she had thought Trevor didn't "get" how some of the assignments were set out - so she was okay with him giving them another try.

So - we left him enrolled in the four classes for Spring Term, and he basically worked non-stop on those plus his old Chemistry for a week and a half. Last Wednesday, he met with the Chemistry teacher again. She accepted his old assignments, graded them, and raised his grade to a "C." She then accompanied him to the financial aid office, and helped him file the paperwork necessary to qualify for financial aid again. He should get his disbursement check this week. Thank you Chem teacher!

To insure this scenario doesn't happen again, I am going to be having Trevor review everything with me after his classes every week. I will tutor him with the Sociology, and we'll track everything that gets graded from all his classes, so he knows where he stands on everything.

I feel like we're back in Jr. High. I don't know when the counselor will be back, or if someone has been hired to take over her cases or what. That's the next step. In any case, I'm going to just have to be a lot more involved with Trevor, and hopefully teach him through this where the priorities are in college. I'm not very happy with the college dropping the ball like this on a Special Needs student, and we might have to take this further somehow with them. I'll talk to the administrator after Sunday School (I'm her assistant in the class, after all!!).

He just needs to get the AA and find a job that lets him work in his little cubicle!! He can go back to OIT when he's older and has matured past an immature 16-year-old mentality. It's so weird how he can be so academically bright, and be missing such key common sense parts! Grrrr.

Welcome to Asperger's Syndrome!!