Early Birthday

Diana will be turning 17 while we're in Canada next week, so she celebrated her birthday at home on Wednesday with some friends ;)

I made a trifle and chocolate fondue, and then they had ravioli & garlic bread for dinner. They hung out together in Diana's room, and then played the surgery game on the Wii. I had thought they'd watch a movie (we had Benny & Joon in keeping with the previous Johnny Depp tradition) and also True Lies, just because that's a fun one. But they didn't watch either. That's okay. Everyone ate too much and laughed a lot.

Good stuff!

Music on the Half Shell

Another small town benefit. Free concerts in the park during the summer.

People get up early and leave their blanket or quilt/bedspread on the grass in front of the concert stage (the removable backdrop looks like a shell), and then that evening, you have a nice spot to watch the concert. No one moves or takes your blanket.

This sort of thing is not really up Connor's alley. Before he was born, we went a few times with younger Trevor & Diana. Now I go with my friend, Rose. This year, I joined her twice. The first band was African, and then these guys were from Nashville.

Most people bring a picnic or snack with beer or wine. Rose bought herself some little stakes to hold drinks when we were at the winery. That works much better than trying to balance your wine glass on a blanket. There are areas that are for blankets only, so you're not allowed to bring chairs that will raise you too high for the folks behind you to see. Then up the hill, people can use chairs. The right side of the stage is reserved for dancing... or for what passes as dancing - heh. You get some good people-watching in if you're checking out that crowd.

There's a big variety of acts every year. The folks putting on the show really work to bring in people from all over the world. There are symphonies, one-man bands (or one-woman), folk, blues, rock, whatever. There's usually one recognizable group - this year it was Los Lobos (La Bamba). I passed on that one - waaaaay too crowded. I'll bet they put blankets out on Monday night for that one (you're supposed to only start at 5:00 am Tuesday).

There's also the food vendors up at the parking lot area. Everything from BBQ to ice cream, if you didn't bring your own picnic. I guess they do okay, since they come back every week, every summer! The Girl Scouts are usually tapped to help with recycling efforts and collecting trash after the concerts - the girls get to keep whatever has a deposit to return for cash for their troops. Diana has helped out with that in the past, tho not this year.

This group was called Old Crow Medicine Show. Rose called it "mountain music." Lots of fiddle and harmonica & yodely-yelling. Very fun. The lead singer was really skinny and wore jeans that could only be loose on him. He's on guitar, one over from the right. I should get Trevor a pair of those.

Wine Tasting

Well, here I am on my little summer vacation before school starts again. It's short this year since I worked summer school. That's okay tho, it was a good thing - Connor was in school at the same time anyway.

I got a call from my friend, Rose yesterday. She wanted to get together this week and do something. I had been thinking about visiting a winery (seeing as how we have a bunch all around us), and I'd never been to the Henry Estate, even though every time I go to a place where there are samples, Henry Estate's wine is my favorite.

Anyhoo - we wound up heading out together around noon to go and check it out. We stopped for some Taco Bell first though, since neither of us had had much breakfast, and we were going tasting, after all!

I know the dry wines are the "better" wines, but I like sweeter stuff. Not quite grape juice, but definitely on the fruitier side is my preference. We went ahead and tried dry and sweet though. All the wines have a very nice "nose" with a good "body" and were very flavorful. Rose & I didn't pretend we knew what we were doing with the tasting though. The guy serving us helped us along with understanding what we were trying to taste :)

I also loved the grapevines hanging over the porch out front. And that little blue Hot Wheel is Rose's car. :)

We're going to the concert in the park tonight...

Lee's New Job

He started yesterday. Boy, that was quick!

On August 2nd, Dell called a meeting and announced they were closing our local store/call center. It also happened to be pajama day (Lee was not wearing pajamas tho). The employees were given 1/2 hour to get their stuff out of their desks and hand in their badges.

There's been a lot of flak directed at Dell for the way this happened. Lee figures the decision was made about 3 weeks before they closed. Up until that time, they were still updating and improving the facility. Then suddenly all that was dropped.

People around town say there should have been some kind of warning. But hang on - what happens when you warn people in a security-controlled job? They get pissy and download something evil into your computers -- or they grab names & numbers of customers for personal use -- or whatever else nefarious things pissy people do. Unless Lee cleared it beforehand, I wasn't even allowed to walk in where the desks were. He'd have to meet me at the security desk if he forgot his lunch or something. That's just the nature of this kind of business.

And they did set up job options. In the termination packet, there were a few flyers for the job fair on the following Monday, which is how Lee got this job. The company he hired into was hiring 35 people right then, and then they want to hire an additional 100 people once their new facility is up later this month (Lee is helping set that up now). There were more trainings set up at the local college by Dell. There were a few other contacts for people to try to make the adjustment as well as possible.

And there was also a decent severance package. They are continuing insurance benefits for those who were covered for the next three months (we're under my insurance anyway). So there is a little time to try to move on to something else.

Since Lee got the job so quickly, we're actually ahead financially because of this. His income at the new job was based on his income from last year, which was a pretty good year for him at Dell, and they even rounded it up! And of course, we still have the severance coming too.

Why they closed our Dell we may never know. Was it the lawsuit started at our Dell regarding the overtime nonpayment (their arguement was that it was commissions or something)? Was it because the peripherals (cameras, printers, etc.) weren't selling as well as they'd hoped? Was it because HP cut into their market too much?

Lee was actually enjoying his job, but he was kind of stalled. There wasn't any benefit to becoming a manager, since sometimes your team didn't perform as well as they needed to for commission bonuses. People sometimes would go back to a job like Lee's because they earned more on their own.

I'm hopeful this new job is the start of something bigger for Lee. His actual title is "IT Manager" and they are supposed to hire in people for him to manage once they get into the newer location. I think he'll excel at this. It will be a challenge, but he likes challenges - it's a lot less boring! Go Lee!

2007 Fair

That's a bunch of piglets. We got to the fair bus by 10:00, made it to the fair by 10:15, and then had to wait a bit until they opened the line to buy tickets for the rides at 10:30. We checked out the pigs and some booths, but Connor was really there to do the rides!

First in line for the best ride EVER! The Super Slide!!! He must have done this 30+ times. He'd come down and ask, "Again?" We'd say okay, and he'd hand the mat to the guy working there, get in line, get his armband scanned and off he went with a "Thank you!"

He tried a few other things - the carousel, spinning bears, Fun House, & the big Ferris Wheel. The second best ride was the airplanes.
Saturday is the only day you can buy the armband which allows unlimited rides from 11:00 to 5:00. Lee & I lasted until 3:00. By then, Connor was okay about taking the fair bus and going home again (he could have made it to 5:00 easy). Diana & Trevor could have stayed if they'd wanted, but they decided to come home with us. It was pretty hot out, so I think we were all ready to go (except maybe Connor). All in all, I think we got our money's worth!

Fair Food

We went as a family to the Fair on Saturday. I'll put some photos up in the next entry, but I was just thinking about the food today. A lot of people around here go to the fair, just for the food!
A lot of our local restaurants set up a booth for fair week. In the past, the Greek restaurant was a favorite of ours, but the owner has had so much business at the actual restaurant, he didn't want to do the booth this year. It tends to be the newer restaurants that are still trying to get regular clientele. They will try new stuff at the fair, just to see how it goes over before adding it to their menu.
Or it's brand-new booths, just trying out an idea for a restaurant. Or it's just folks that travel along with the ride company, and that's their summer. I suspect the Curly Fries (as big as your head!) & Lemonade stands are like that.
Other booths are fund-raisers for local groups. The Lions Club gets to use the Umpqua Ice Cream booth & gets part of the proceeds. The Boy Scouts sell water & sodas at their booth (they also had an oscillating fan that sprayed water, which was really nice in the heat!).
There were also local wineries with booths - I sampled that on Tuesday before the concert I attended with my friend, Rose - dinner was ice cream that night :)
Diana went to the fair 4 times this year. With Daniel on Tuesday, as a Girl Scout to volunteer with me on Wednesday, again to volunteer but also hang out with Mary on Thursday, and then with all of us on Saturday. She was using her own money for food except Saturday, so she scoped out all the booths for the best prices. She found out caramel apples were the best price near the rides ($2.50). At the food court area, they were as much as $4.00! Her favorite place for selection & price was called the "Inner Space Cafe." This may have been a booth trying to see if they can make it as a restaurant. It was mostly salads & wraps and they had the best veggie options for us. To make it even better, they had a mic and amp set up and you could Sing for your Supper! If you got up there & sang a song (no music or anything) they just gave you your order for free!
Diana & Mary sang two songs - the first they thought was a jingle so they didn't count it (it talks about Taco Bell), but the second was a GS action song and they happily got their free food! See? Girl Scouting gets you free food! How else would you be able to sing "Stay on the Sunny Side" in perfect unison?
Lee & I could have sung as well, but he didn't wanna. The sauteed mushroom wrap I had was pretty tasty tho :)

Ice Cream Break

We have some great ice cream here. Our local dairy Umpqua Dairy has won the top national honors for two years in a row now. The quality really shows in their ice cream.

When you go to the grocery stores or wherever anyone scoops their ice cream for you, the scoops are HUGE. It's .90 for a single scoop at our grocery store, and dang, it's about a pint of ice cream!

The flavors are great too. My current favorite is Espresso Madness (but I can only eat it in the earlier part of the day - I won't sleep otherwise). Lee likes Mountain Blackberry Revel. Trevor is a Mint Chip guy, and Diana actually goes for anything ranging from Cookie Dough to Strawberry Cheesecake. Connor is strictly vanilla right now - there are three choices though - regular Vanilla, French Vanilla, or Vanilla Bean.

Whenever Carolyn & Carl are coming up or down on their way along the I-5, they will stop and meet us for ice cream, even if they don't have time to really visit for a while. This year we met at our house - by chance, the 1/2 gallons of Umpqua were on sale at $2.88 each, so I got a few to give us a choice. This year we tried Chocolate Peanut Butter (I don't usually like this, but theirs was really good!) and Tin Roof Sundae. Yum!

By the way, all the other dairy products are excellent as well. Butter, Milk, Cottage Cheese, Sour Cream, etc... They don't do tours so much anymore since 9/11, but I think you can still call ahead and get a tour if you really want. They are not a big enough operation to install a tour route through their facility (yet).

Fire

When I went to bring Dan to the bus depot to change his ticket for Wednesday, as I turned to drive down our street, you could see the flames in trees about a mile or so away (on the other side of the big highway - no danger to us). There were a couple of kids who'd decided to make a campfire in a little forested area near their house, and it got out of control so they *ran away.* (obviously not boy or girl scouts, who usually have more of an idea of how to control a fire). Still, as we drove down my hill, it was pretty interesting how high those flames got - easily 10-20 ft. higher than the tops of the pine trees... The photo shows the view from our street after the flames were contained - they had been higher than the tree just behind the white building - but where the smoke is in the photo.

After we got his ticket fixed (that consisted of the lady at the counter writing his name on a slip of paper with Wednesday's date - no actual change on the ticket itself), we picked up Diana at her job and she'd heard the sirens as the fire dept. went to work on the fire.




We drove down Diamond Lake Blvd. which was open, but people were driving slow through the smoke. As we drove, a helicoptor with a bag of water dumped it on the fire. I hadn't seen that up close before. I always thought they just opened the bottom of the bag somehow and it all dumped that way - but it actually opens slits up the sides, so it's more of a shower. Still, it's a lot of water & I wouldn't want to be under that! I missed getting a photo since I was driving. Those helicopters are stationed at our local airport all during the fire season months.





By the time we drove by, they had already contained most of the fire, so we just saw a lot of smoke. Ashes fell on our house, but not too much. One thing Oregon knows is how to fight fire! That's really our main natural disaster. No hurricanes/tornados, earthquakes (to speak of), volcano action, or flooding (out of the flood plains). If you keep your property maintained & green, you're pretty okay.





We would probably have to evacuate if a fire started on the hill above us - that's all wild, but we are surrounded by homes & a cemetery. So in that respect, we're about as safe as any other home in the world. Fire happens. I'm glad our city has a lot of experience in the forest and knows their equipment!

Reprieve

We had our nephew, Daniel, over to visit for a few days. His mom dropped him off on Sunday, and the kids spent time hanging out and playing the console games & stuff.
On Monday, I went to work & Connor went to school. The kids went to a World War II library opening, and got to talk to some old vets & hear their war stories. They actually seemed to like it pretty well :)
They also walked around downtown, and visited the comic book shop & stuff. In the evening, they were trying to find some good games to play - turns out we don't own a complete deck of cards (!?!) I had thought the kids could go to the fair, but then realized the fair only started on Tuesday. Dan showed Diana a little about playing tennis, and she should him a little about fencing. I kind of felt like Monday was a little dull for Dan. :(
On Tuesday, I went to work & Connor was back in school in the morning. Lee was took the teens to the bus depot to see Daniel off. Here's a tip - if you're riding a Greyhound bus, just because you have a ticket with a time & date, doesn't mean you have a reservation for that same time & date. You have to show up at the depot and sign up for a seat. Then they go according to the list from the top down depending on how many seats were available from people disembarking. Daniel was too low on the list, so he didn't get to take that bus. He was supposed to go home on Tuesday so he could work, but he called in and his boss said he could miss the day.

So now we DID have him for Tuesday! I had read Robert's blog about geocaching, and felt like I missed an opportunity for something fun for Dan on Monday, so while Diana went to her job, Trevor, Connor, Daniel & I went and found a few caches. The first one I had already found, so I let the boys find it just so they could get used to the GPS a bit better. The second cache we'd tried to find as a family, and Trevor found that one this time. The last cache has been hard to get to since there's been construction in that area - Daniel found that one.

After Diana got home from work, we waited for my friend, Rose. She & I were going to see Sara Evans at the fair, and Trevor, Diana, Daniel & Trevor's friend Christy all caught a ride with us to the high school where the free busses were to take us to the fair. We split up at the gate & Rose & I went to get our seats. The kids did their own things and hung out & rode rides & all that stuff you do at a fair. After the concert, Rose & I headed back home. The kids took the bus after the fair closed at 11:00, and then Lee picked them up once they got back to the high school.

I was in bed, but I guess they all chatted a while before heading to bed again.

Wednesday, Lee tried to bring Dan to the bus depot again - a lot earlier. This time the bus was delayed until the afternoon. I took Dan later and once the bus came, he was able to board and finally get back on his way home. I was happy for the reprieve with him, since I think Tuesday was a lot more fun for him than Sunday or Monday had been :)

Danny Boy

So the other day, Trevor is complaining that the kitchen sink won't drain properly. We have a rollaround dishwasher, and you hook it into the kitchen sink, and that's where it drains too. We didn't want to run the dishwasher until the sink would draing again.

Lee unscrewed & opened everything up under the sink, and was set up with a bucket & towels & stuff. Trevor was on the roof with the garden hose stuck in the drain vent. Diana was at the spigot, and I was outside the kitchen window to be able to relay Lee's instructions to the kids.

Lee says to crank up the water, Diana does, and Trevor hangs on to the hose in the vent. Nothing happens at the kitchen sink. But Lee hears water somewhere else (not what you want to hear). He tells me to tell Diana to shut off the water, and then I run inside to see where there's water coming up.

No sign of anything in the bathroom by the kids' rooms, nothing in the new bathroom - but in the laundry room there's a wash sink - and it's got a bunch of blackish stinky goop in it - yuck!

Now everyone heads down under the house in the daylight basement (unfinished) where the drain out plug is located. We're getting buckets & towels & stuff down there, There was wire wrapped around the y-joint (?!?), and as Lee was getting that off, he sets his wrench on the plug itself. The whole y-joint cracked & blew open. All that black stinky goop from the sink above poured over Lee and down the plastic tarp on the floor - EW!

Apparently, there had been an issue in the past with this y-joint, and they 'fixed' it by using some kind of metal soldering glue. It was not meant to be a permanent fix, obviously.

We got towels down there & buckets & whatever and Lee went down to Lowe's and grabbed the supplies he needed to fix it for the rest of the house. We won't be using the laundry room sink as a sink until he can get the rest of it fixed.

All the mess got cleaned up, and enough Oxyclean and detergent in an overnight soak got the black goop out of the towels & clothes.

The black goop is mostly decomposed hair... The lines down there are all crusted with it - probably from before we moved in, and then whatever we added. Lee wants to replace those with PVC - in the meantime, Liquid Plummer or Drano should keep it clear.

Here's the reason for the title of this post: First Line of the song

Well, poop

Local News Story

Quick Visit

Carolyn & her family got into Oregon on Monday, and I met them down near Kraig & Nancy's ranch. They got to play with Trinity, the horse, and swim in the pool there. Connor & I got there earlier, and we saw Trinity get a bath and helped Nancy (by riding in the back of the truck) with feeding the other horses. Nancy currently owns 18 - that's about 12 too many according to her :) The barn has 20 stalls and she looks like she has a lot of boarders now :)

It took us a while to get back to our town, and I had called Lee and set it up that we'd go to Denny's for dessert after they got to their hotel room. Lee, Trevor & Diana were all home still.

Yesterday, Diana helped Carl & Carolyn go shopping, and they got to stop by my classroom which was neat. After I got off work, we packed a picnic and headed off to the big river park. I pointed things out along the drive, and then we found a shady tree once we got there and had our lunch. Connor knows the river is right there, so after a quick run through the play structure & the fort, he really wanted to go down to the beach part. Carolyn & I followed.

We helped him change into his bathing suit and off he went. He swam with the fishies and threw a bunch of rocks. Carl, Trevor & the little ones came down a little later. Everyone waded a bit except Carl & Trevor. Kaleigh & Carolyn especially enjoyed the little fish that kiss your feet.

On the way home, we stopped at Sherm's for ice cream, and then we dropped off Trevor so he could do his paper route. They all went back to the hotel & then Connor & I joined them to swim in the pool there. Connor & I went back home, and about an hour later C&C showed up at the house and the adults headed out for dinner. We went to the greek place again :) Salmon Gyros!

We spent the rest of the evening chatting & visiting. They head out early this morning for Canada - have a safe trip!!

:)

Small Town Stuff

Last month, about 40 banners appeared on our lamp posts, which are also adorned with hanging flower baskets. These banners were created by local artists - serious & not-so serious. One of the banners is from a Third Grade classroom at Connor's school. He may have participated in that, but I don't know. There are also some from our High School art students.

The banners are on disply for the month of July & you can take a walking tour of our Downtown to see them. I am hoping to do that one evening with Carolyn & Carl, if we get a chance. There's a little tour map that gives the names of the artists so you can see who has done what.

Or you can look at this link: Salmon Run Banners on Ebay

The unsold banners will be displayed in the Fall at a Harvest Festival.




This one is my favorite ;)


They are asking for a minimum bid of $50, and then $30 in shipping, but encouraging local pick-up. If you see one you'd like to bid on, I could probably ship it for less.

Happy Birthday Lee!

First off, I didn't make either cake...

The night elf here is pretty fun though, if I were talented enough to create something like that. Somehow, I think Lee would prefer a version of his current highest level, which is a troll - Happy Birt-day, Mon!

The second cake is called a "princess cake" and European bakeries make them. It's covered in Marzipan, which would be a big hit with us anyway. However, we live in a small town, and don't have many options beyond the grocery store variety of bought cakes. I'm afraid a little pastry shop would just not get the clientele they'd need to survive here - at least not at this time.

I'm actually hard pressed to think of something that Lee would want for his birthday that he'd get really excited about. He's really kind of a homebody - he enjoys being with his family and just relaxing. He's probably looking forward more to the new Dr. Who episode tonight than anything else. I think he's pretty happy with life in general - and so it should be a good birthday, huh?

Happy Birthday hon!

Love you!

On page 660...

I will finish reading Harry Potter tonight. I had to stop this afternoon because we are going to a picnic with the TOPS club, and I had to fix an apple crisp to bring to share. Trevor found some nice apples on the tree for me - they look just like store-bought! ;)

So I get to finish it off with some chocolate - because I like chocolate when I read - and I'm saving it for the end (after I weigh in), or else I'd have eaten a whole Symphony bar without noticing. Yes, there's a reason I'm in a weight-loss support group!

Once I'm done, the rest of the family will be able to discuss the book, finally. They keep asking, "what part are you on? Oh... so you know _____ happened." So - finishing tonight!

Elder Son Frustration

As previously mentioned, Trevor is working for us over the summer since he chose to not get a paying job. Yes, he still has the paper route & does occasional garden work for people, but he could have actually earned some real money over the summer...

In any case, before I leave for work in the morning with Connor, I give Trevor a list of chores. Yesterday, he was supposed to pull weeds in the driveway area & the slope next to it. When I drove in yesterday, I could see he had just gotten started (he should have been 4 hours into it).

*sigh*

We haven't sent in any money to OIT yet... We could still yank him from that and have him learn welding at the community college.

Lee's all for letting him sink or swim at OIT. I'm thinking that's a dang expensive experiment if it doesn't work out.

I'm gonna need to see more effort on Trevor's part here pretty dang soon. Just because his sister is home now, doesn't mean he can let himself get so distracted he can't get anything done. Yesterday she was playing the game cube, so he "couldn't help but watch" and he had to "come and see what was going on" in the house.

Life is full of distractions. You have to learn to get your work done before you let yourself play!

That kid is going to feel some pain before he gets that through his head, isn't he? "Wer nicht hoeren kann, muss fuehlen" <-- Whoever can't listen, must feel (pain).

Let's see how he does today...

grumble, gnash teeth, grumble (stay out of my way today...)

New Found Freedom

I grew up in Westminster, CA. It was pretty flat & and the only 'hills' I had to deal with were freeway overpasses. I used to use my bike a lot when I was a teen - going to the grocery store for my mom, the library, dime store for comics, and later, I'd ride back & forth to the beach.

Our area here is rather hilly. When we lived in a different part of town, it was flat enough, but the road was the same as the quarry, so there were a lot of stinky trucks going that way too. Now we're at the mid-point of a good-sized hill, and you have to go over other hills to get anywhere. I'm not as fond of bike riding when I have to get off to walk the bike for stretches at a time. I'm not even as fond of going too fast down the hill!

The whole family has bikes - we use them here & there. Sometimes we load them up in the back of the truck, drive somewhere and then ride. That might seem beside the point, but we don't have real bike paths near our home, and again - the hill issue.

That being said - While Diana was in Germany, she rode bikes to school and back a lot with Leonie. When they wanted to get anywhere, they rode the bikes. Diana got more bike riding in within two weeks than she's done in her life, I think. She also discovered why I used to enjoy my biking. You get to places sooner, and further away with a bike. There is a feeling of independence & control about being able to go where you want on your own.

Part of that is because at this time, when Trevor or Diana want me to drive them somewhere, they have to do it on my schedule. I have never agreed with a parent just hopping up and taking their kids somewhere. So if they wanted to go to the comic book shop downtown or the mall, they had the option of walking (takes about 20 min downtown, 1 1/2 hours to the mall) or waiting until I was ready to run my errands for the day. If I didn't have errands, they'd have to wait for a day I did. Sometimes they had to wait three days before I was ready to go when they were.

Both Trevor & Diana did Driver's Ed. Neither has a license yet. Mostly because neither of them needs one right now. We live in a town that's small enough you can get where you need on a bike, if you want. I'm good with that.

I told Diana, just remember you're like a Ninja on the bike - invisible to cars!

Busy with Harry

Diana will probably get to her blog on Monday....

On Friday, she & I went to see Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. I love the movies - I am hoping someone will turn them into a TV series though. You've got a good 6-year run (combine books 1 & 2 because they're shorter than the rest). So much is left out of the movies, because there just isn't enough time to get it all in. Especially Peeves.

The movies get all the important stuff across, but I miss the rest of it.

Diana attended the final Harry Potter party at our Waldenbooks on Friday night, after we saw the movie. She hung out with a bunch of friends and enjoyed herself enough that she didn't realize it was already midnight (and forgot to call me to tell me she already had a ride).

We had already ordered the final book from Amazon, so it came yesterday while we were visiting Lee's folks. As soon as we got home, Diana got the book & started in. She is easily the fastest reader in the house, so she gets first dibs. Trevor & Lee tend to 'share' the book, and then when they are done, it's my turn.

We all have to read it as fast as possible, so we can discuss it later :)

Connor isn't at the place yet where he can read books that long - he could read the words fine, but the comprehension isn't there. We haven't read to him much - he's a visual kind of kid - but he may be getting close to a point where he would lay still at bedtime and try to envision the story - not sure on that yet.

Anyway - until Diana finishes the book, she's not doing much else! She should be done today :)

Diana's blog

We are allowing Diana to do a blog, but it's by invite.

She has already gone thru her address book, but if you haven't yet gotten & invite & would like one, let me know & I'll have her add you to the "safe list."

At this time we're having her only allow people she knows personally.

Later, when she's older, she can change settings & stuff. Since she's going to have pictures & names, we just would prefer it be private for friends & family right now.

Last time I googled my name it just had me with a few newspaper articles from the local paper here. Nothing was connected to the blog since I avoid using last names for anyone.

Anyhoo - that's the haps!

:)

Diana's blog

Diana's Home!!

I dropped off Connor at summer school this morning, and then picked up Mary. We stopped at Bagel Tree for a breakfast-to-go, and headed up to Portland.

We were on the freeway still, when we saw the Lufthansa jet cross the sky just in front of us at 11:30. I'm all, "I think that was her plane!"

Mary & I watched a few more planes come in from the top of the parking structure, and then headed down to the baggage claim area of Portland International Airport.

We met up with other parents waiting on their kiddos, and about an hour later, Diana walked through the passage from customs. Whoo hooo!

Mary had made a special sign, so Diana would know she was home :P

We stopped at Subway for a quick lunch (no Salmon!!) and then headed the rest of the way home.

Diana unpacked all her stuff and showed us her photos (500+) and then we went to China Palace for dinner.

She made it through half an episode of Doctor Who before she started conking out. We put her in the shower for a quick wash-down, while we tidied up her bed for her. She's been up for 27 hours - with occasional snoozing on the planes. If she can, we told her to try to sleep until 5:00 or 6:00 am.

We're glad our (not so) little girl is home safe again with us, and Thank You so much to Martina, Juergen & Leonie for giving her such a wonderful visit!!

The Marybo

Looks like she's about to tempt some poor sap into doing something he shouldn't, eh?

J/K - we love you Mary!

Isn't Girl Scouts fun? You get to carry around massive snakes on loan from the local wildlife park! Wheeeeeee!

Diana, see what Mary had to do for fun while you were gone? And poor Amanda made a quick exit as soon as the snakes showed up I heard :P

She's coming home again

Today is Diana's last day in Germany. She will be leaving early tomorrow morning (their time) to take a short flight from Hamburg to Frankfurt, then a non-stop from Frankfurt to Portland. Tonight is their "American Evening" where our kids do a performance for their German Host Families (like a little talent show). Diana has a group doing a sketch her dad told her about. Hopefully it will run well & get a good reception :)

All the American students also brought something (or parts of something) to make as a dessert. Diana only needed to bring Graham Cracker crumbs, because they will have all the other ingredients to make a New York Style cheesecake. The German Cheesecake is made with Quark which is a very different taste from Philadelphia cream cheese <-- yeah - they have Philly over there too. I'm really looking forward to hearing all about the trip, and seeing all the photos. Diana would like to create a journal blog about her trip, so she'll do that once she's home again. It will be invite-only, however, because while I trust my daughter, I am also a little protective right now. :) If you're interested, shoot her an email once I post the link, and she can add you in. I absolutely love this photo of Diana & Leonie. They were at a Knight's Castle, role-playing being peasants in medieval times. They were split into 3 teams (all wearing different little hoods) and I guess Diana did pretty well at balancing on a log & making her opponent fall off. I'm gonna put that down to fencing training, plus an Opa who used to do the tightrope.


She'll be in the air for most of the day, so please say a couple of prayers or think positive thoughts for her "Uneventful" flights! Thanks!

Happy 64th Anniversary, Mom & Pop!

Lee's parents celebrate their anniversary every year with a trip down the Rogue River on the Hellgate Jet Boats.

We went along on the 50th & 60th year trips. I hope we can make it next year for the 65th.

Connor & I got to go last month again when his class went - he drew this picture this week, so I thought I'd share it.

I like the big glass windshield on the front :)

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Pop!

Rejected Cartoon Live

The actual Rejected Cartoons on YouTube are not really appropriate for little kids - but they are really funny (in a off-color, gross kind of way).
The Real Thing <-- click the link
Here's a sketch some teens did - it's funny, but it's funnier if you've actually watched the Rejected Cartoons.

Keeka - Don't show the kids

Hey - after you get all the dead bugs out of the pool, it becomes a bouncy pool!

Connie & I were trying to bounce Connor & Aaron off the sides. Connor was really good at holding on, though I suspect Aaron was letting himself be bounced off.

This pool is in it's second year which is really good for a end-of-the-season sale pool from Big Lots! We managed to fold it right & store it so it wasn't all icky the next year this time.

Connie & crew came in yesterday around 3:30. We did Subway for dinner (Connie agreed that that the Salmon 2 sandwich is fantastic - I'm so glad it's back available only in the Northwest).

We introduced Connie & her kids to YouTube's "Rejected Cartoons" so all the way home today she's going to hear, "My spoon is too big!" and "I'm a BANANA!" Sorry Connie!!

They left good & early this morning for the last leg of their trip. I made Rice Krispie Treats last night & packed them in baggies this morning. They had never had the homemade ones (!?!) and Connor will eat whatever is left.

Safe driving Connie! Thanks for visiting!

:)

Link to Amanda's 411

Amanda has been in my scout troop since I started as a leader, but I met her when she was in 1st grade (2nd?) with Diana. I was working as an aide in the classroom. Diana had been wanting to be in Girl Scouts, but we hadn't found a troop. Amanda had been in scouts since Daisies (Kindergarten), so she told Diana about her troop, and that's how Diana got in.


They were in Brownies together, and then when they went to Juniors, the leader there only volunteered as a leader for one more year - then her daughter was moving on to a different troop. That left Diana, Amanda & Heather without a leader, so that's when I took over (now in my 8th and final year!).


I love Amanda. She's got great confidence and talent (bari-sax player & bowling champ). She's very outgoing and always willing to try something new. She takes a stand, and doesn't back down. If she's your friend - she's always there for you. I expect Amanda & Diana to be forever friends, no matter where life takes them. I hope to be part of whatever happens to all my scout girls anyway :)


I don't have Photoshop loaded anymore on this system, so I just did a little editing on the photo. If you look close, there are red circles around me, Amanda & Diana. I was pregnant with Connor at this time :)

The link to Amanda's 411 is on the right :)

Thunderstorm

We had a nice thunderstorm yesterday. It was especially nice since the weather had been really hot lately. 103 degrees hot.

The evening before, I'd seen lightning flashes, but no thunder or rain. Last night it started around dusk (7:30ish) and we got lots of big, booming thunder & great zig zag lightning flashes.

Connor spent most of the storm watching out this window, which actually has a pretty good view of town. This was a better place than his first choice to watch - sitting on his swing on the apple tree. :)

Applesauce time!

Today I got my "Peel-A-Meal" peeler. It's supposed to work primarily on potatoes, but it also peels carrots, and APPLES!!

You put the food in a single layer on the bottom - it has metal sections with scrapers - kind of like a zester for lemon peel. You add a little water to help move things around.

It spins the apples around, and scrapes off the peel over about 4 minutes. It looks a little yucky, but it rinses off really easily.



Then you core the apples, cut them into chunks, and then nuke them in a little water for about 14 minutes. Add some sugar & cinnamon and Ta Da!






Chunky Applesauce!!

(The Peel-A-Meal has a lid, but you wouldn't have seen the apples, which come from our tree in back, by the way).

Off to Boot Camp she goes!

One of my girl scouts, Renee, was shipped off to boot camp for the Navy today. She called yesterday, and I was really sad I missed the call. I would have loved to tell her one more time before she left how proud we are of her and what she's doing.

Lee & I both expect Renee to really come into her own during her time in the service. This is an extremely bright girl, with loads of self-motivation and tons of dedication.

She joined my GS troop in middle school (very unusual) without any prior girl scouting experience. At a time when other girls hide the fact they are girl scouts, Renee has continually embraced and proclaimed her affiliation with us. At the same time, she would claim she was the "worst girl scout ever" because of her sometimes extreme behavior and the drama in her life.

When Renee joined our troop, Diana wasn't really excited about it. This was a girl who had teased her at the Boys & Girls club, and didn't really seem the "type" to want to be doing Girl Scouts. In the beginning, I voiced my expectations for the troop a lot. I wanted all the girls to be clear on what we were doing and why. While all the other girls had been in girl scouts for years, Renee needed to learn all our safety precautions, the buddy system, the need for being respectful to everyone, etc. She figured it out pretty quickly, and became a great example to other girls with her enthusiasm and determination to see her job through, whether it was helping to cater an event, or selling cookies in front of Wal-Mart. Not that my other girls are shy, mind you, but Renee was so out there - you couldn't ignore her.

Over time, I watched her grow a lot. She's still got some issues, but she's so much more mature than when she came in to join us. I appreciated her candor and genuine devotion to the other girls & me (and our family). We all learned a lot from each other, I think.

The military might not be for everyone, but I really think it will do wonders for Renee. Her confidence, self-image and happiness with herself will all soar to new heights. I look forward to meeting her again soon as a sailor in the United States Navy.

Just so dang cool

Diana visited my mom's hometown last weekend. She got to see where my mom grew up and worked. Probably even more than that, but that's all she's told me about so far. The pub my grandfather owned is now a pizza place (hey, that works... they still serve beer, I'll bet!).

There are pictures on Martina's blog (Diana's host mom's blog link on the right). Diana also met my mom's Godson, Gerhard. She had a little trouble understanding him though.

One of the reasons they send our kids to Luneburg is their lack of dialect in their speech. It sounds very close to the german our kids learn in school. Conversely, German students learn British english, so it's kind of funny when they ask where the "loo" is or if they have to stand in a "queue" for a long time.

When Carolyn & I stayed in Lindau, that was Southern Germany and it took us quite a while to get accustomed to the dialect. Our first breakfast at the dorm, one girl started talking to us about where we were from, and all the other girls giggled. It wasn't the question, it was that the girl talking to us was speaking "Hoch (high)" german rather than the dialect. The others found it funny - it would be like someone you know adopting a british accent to speak to a german person. "I say, old chap, could you direct me to the nearest loo?"

If Diana hung around Gummersbach a while longer, or even visited a bit longer with her relatives, she would have caught on after a while. I'm glad she was with Leonie and her family as kind of a buffer. I think she might have been a little freaked had she been on her own. That being said, maybe she would have been fine. I managed okay when one of my dad's friends picked me up from that school in Lindau to take me out to eat with his son. He just wanted to visit with the daughter of his old buddy from school. I couldn't make out half of what he was telling me because of his dialect. But you know, after the "strong" beer, it didn't matter much...

Go look at the pictures!!!

Graffiti Night

This is just a cool tradition. This is one of those things that makes living here fun. Around 6:00 last night, I walked downtown to meet my friend, Rose, in front of the courthouse to watch the classic cars go by. There were vendors in the sidestreets along the cruise, selling everything from fried bread to polish sausage with sauerkraut (I got a blackberry smoothie). The streets along the downtown area were lined with folks in camp chairs or sitting on the curb, enjoying the show.

Trevor & Christy had gone down in the afternoon to visit the comic book shop. Christy is taking a photography class over the summer, and this was a good opportunity to take some good pictures.

A lot of the folks driving get dressed up, or play 50's music as they go thru town. One pink Cadillac had a white rhinestoned sleeve & bejeweled hand sticking out of the trunk :) The events leading up to the Saturday night cruise include a show-n-shine (they had 750 cars this year!) and an ice cream & pie social. There are drag races at the fairgrounds too. They will wind up the festivities today at various locations around town.

Once again, if you ever plan to come visit, the weekend after the 4th of July is a great time to come if you like classic cars!

Gummersbach

There's a new post from Leonie's dad this time :)

On Friday, they head out to Gummersbach, my mom's hometown, to visit with my 2nd cousin, Gerhard. Leonie's folks are going along as well, and I hope they all have a great time visiting!

I've been there a few times myself. My Onkel Gert loved to take us around, or his friend, Bernd-Udo. We would go to nearby Lieberhausen to eat the special pancakes (they were massive, filled with meringue).

Hotel Reinhold's Pancakes

Have fun Diana! Tell them you're Kleins Diana!