Monthly Archives: October 2011

Our First Day of the New School Year

 (Originally posted on my old blog, September 7, 2010)

I have a high schooler now.
And I have another middle-schooler, at least according to his age, he is one.

I had read about a tradition of another home-schooling family (Sprittibee), in which they take their children out for a “back to school” breakfast on the first day of school.   So we did that last year, and had plans for that this year as well.  Because of limited finances both last year and this one, breakfast was only for the children, and it came from McDonald’s (a.k.a. “Micky D’s” or “Mac & Dee’s Roadhouse” around here).

When I woke up this morning and came out into the livingroom, Kylin was on the couch, dressed and ready to go (I wasn’t).  Heather came out soon after and she dressed for pictures (because she knew I would take them and she didn’t want to look like she had just rolled out of bed).    The plan was, for us to leave as soon as Kevin left for work (he took the bus this morning  so that we could have the car).

When the time came for us to leave, my son was out of the door and waiting by the car, and I was still inside the house, looking for the keys.  I couldn’t find them anywhere, so I finally sent Kevin a text asking if he knew where they were.   As it turned out, he had them.  So he got back on the bus and came home.  While we waited for him and the keys to arrive, the kids decided to get started on their schoolwork early.

So here is my highschool gal

and here is my middle-schooler boy

When my husband arrived home with the keys, we then took him to work and finally made it to McDonald’s for this breakfast

I probably would have ordered a hashbrown for myself (because I LOVE potatoes), but they tend to stick with me longer than I like.

What I really wanted was this:

“Mama’s Little Helper”

So by 9:30 I think, the kids were finally having something to eat

Pay no attention to the table, it has just become a catch-all for a family starting to pack for a future move (and a boy who likes to draw a lot of pictures and then not put his supplies away).

The weather seemed to know that it was the first day of school as well.  We went from decent sunny weather yesterday, to rain all day today.   I didn’t mind too much as it gave me an excuse to make chili and the kids had some hot cocoa!

Eventually, I’ll get back to posting about our Seattle trip, and also about the move that I just mentioned………..when I get another free moment.

Lp

Are We Old?

(Originally posted on my old blog, September 1, 2010)

Yesterday, we were watching “Live With Regis & Kelly”, and apparently a viewer had e-mailed the show stating that Regis wouldn’t have such a hard time dialing numbers for their trivia contest, if he had a rotary phone.  So, that brought the question out of my daughter, “What’s a rotary phone?”.  Did someone just slap me with an “old” label!

So I posted that comment as a status on my Facebook page and that brought on other comments.  I was reminded of the days when we had party lines.  I remember trying to call my grandma or my dad, and discovering that there were other people having a conversation on my phone.    Then someone commented on how when they worked in a thrift shop and a record player was brought in.  Apparently the 17 year old co-worker didn’t know how to put the needle on the record.

My husband and I have told our kids about our childhoods, in which we didn’t have personal computers (I didn’t, but my husband did when he was about 15), and our televisions only brought in 1-3 channels and we didn’t have cable (as Jeff Foxworthy once said about those days, “When the President was on, your night was shot!”).   When I was 12, my mother put our black & white tv in our pastor’s garage sale, so I wasn’t watching any channel for several years (until I had my own apartment and my own tv, and soon after that, my mom and stepfather acquired another tv and it was ok to have in the house again).

My kids have heard of records, but I don’t think that they’ve seen them.   My daughter likes to ask, “What are those?” everytime they’re mentioned.

So because they don’t know what these things are, does that make us “old”.  I’d rather use the word “classic”.

Lp

Our Weekend in Seattle—Part 2, Heading North

(Originally posted on my old blog, August 18, 2010)
So, now that my purse was packed, as our suitcases.  I thought that we would be able to get away with taking one suitcase, however after packing what I needed (for anything that could happen), I realized that there wouldn’t be any room for my husband’s clothes.  So I dug out another suitcase.  It was smaller than mine, but I’ve noticed that men don’t pack as many things as women do (I went on a trip with my dad once, and all he packed was his shaving kit, a coffee maker and a fresh shirt and underwear for the next day……just the necessities).    Women pack for any occasion or weather change that may come up, so I needed that larger suitcase for myself :)I was up late the night before, making sure that we had everything we needed, and that the kids would have everything they needed for their stay at my friend’s house, and making sure that the cats would be taken care of etc.  I think that I finally went to bed near midnight (all of that hard work and stressing paid off too because we didn’t forget anything!  I was a very good packer).

I woke up at around 5AM as to get a shower in.  We have 4 people and a water heater that needs about an hour to heat the water between showers.  The ladies go first, because we have hair and we like to kind of fix it up a bit, kind of, sort of (well maybe not for a road trip, but I wanted mine to be clean and dry at least, I didn’t want my spouse offended by the filthy chick in the passenger’s seat).

We took the kids to my friend’s house, said our good-byes, thanked my friend again for taking them for the weekend, and headed off to find some fast food breakfast.

Our first stop was a McDonald’s.  Since we don’t eat meat, we usually order the Sausage McMuffin with Egg, minus the sausage.  We apparently only ordered the Sausage McMuffin minus the sausage (we didn’t ask for the one with egg I guess because what we discovered, once on the road again, was this:

That’s right, a grilled cheese English Muffin.  We had a good laugh about that and figured that it was probably the equivalent of what we’d normally eat at home.

Then we found a local coffee stand for our “morning fuel”

And we were headed North…

I lived on a dairy farm when I was little, so I like to see cows grazing in the pasture.

Then there was the rain of hay and it’s source (windshield wipers are of no use here)

Once in Portland, we found the sign leading to our destination!  Excitement is building!  And apparently, so were rain clouds, because once we crossed over into Washington, the rain started coming down.

Not only was excitement building, but so was the need to use the bathroom.  So our first stop in Washington was at a Winco in Vancouver………..to use their bathroom.  My apologies to Winco for not buying anything, but thank you for the clean bathrooms!  Just a recommendation or two.  A door on the bathroom would be a good idea, and duct tape isn’t adequate for holding hand dryers on the walls.

We finally made it to our hotel in Federal Way, with about 2 hours before needing to leave for the show.  As soon as we entered the lobby, we noticed other fans of the group.  Other than the time that we went to Portland to see a documentary about this band, I hadn’t seen so many fans in one place (and that was about to change later in the evening).  I forgot to take pictures of our room and by the time I thought to do it, my husband was already napping in the bed and I was putting on my contacts and sprucing up for the show.   However, it was a really nice room!

So, that was the trip, and my next post will probably be about the show…………

Ep

Our Weekend in Seattle—part 1, Packing the Purse!

 (Originally posted on my old blog, August 15, 2010)

Kevin’s favorite band was planning to perform near Seattle, last weekend.  For the first time, he asked me to if I’d like to go.  So I said that I would.  Before I married my husband, I had never heard of the band.  I remember seeing a record album cover at some point in the 80’s but had no idea or interest to know whose record it was for.   So when I married my husband, he was no longer listening to them, or really any other secular music. So I didn’t hear or see anything related to them.   So, since then, things have changed, and he listens to this group again, as well as several others.  So, in the past 7 years, I’ve heard more about this band and it’s members.  So, when he talks about them, I have a better idea as to what or who he’s talking about.  I’ve heard their music, and they play really, REALLY well, however, it’s not really music that I listen to.  If I listen to anything secular, it’s usually something that I listened to in my highschool/college years……………..or, the Jonas Brothers (thanks to my daughter, lol).  Mostly what I do listen to is on the Christian radio stations.

I never went to that many concerts and most of them were Christian.  The last secular one that I went to see was for Weird Al Yankovic at the county fair.  The last two Christian shows I went to, were in enclosed buildings, and they were so loud that the bodies of the audience absorbed the volume, and some of the opening acts, literally screamed at us.  I had heard that the venue for this latest show was open on the sides and back, so I felt that I probably wouldn’t be blown totally out of the place, and I learned that even though this group did scream out their songs in the early years, they really didn’t do that anymore.   But, in any case, I thought that I would make sure that my purse was ready for almost anything during the show (my husband wasn’t so sure that I should bring it, but most men aren’t carrying the things that we women are.  A purse is our home away from home as it has the basic necessities to keep our lives from falling apart..

So, here’s what I packed, and who knows, it might help other future inexperienced concert goers (one never knows…………)

Yes! Earplugs.  I wound up not using these because I was concerned that I might not hear anything at all.   The gal who frisked me and checked my purse (before I boarded the shuttle to the venue) laughed when she saw these.

Ok, don’t laugh at the brand of granola bars that I bought.   They’re low cal, and a nice substitute for the fried food at the venue, if one is trying to trim down.

How did we survive with out this stuff when we were kids and went to the lake and the only bathrooms were not the kind with flushing toilets or running water?   Always good to have when you go to a venue and you don’t know if maintenance has adequately filled the soap dispensers in the bathroom.

I was wearing my contacts to the show, that’s the only explanation I need.

I didn’t take any pictures of the show with my phone (I used my camera to take about 4………….my husband took many, many more).  I carry this everywhere so my daughter can text me if they need me (but she was having too much fun with her friends to send me anything, so she didn’t need me after all).

It’s summer, and I assumed that it would be sunny, and that I would need these.  However, once we crossed the border from Oregon into Washington, the sky became cloudy, and it started to rain, and continued to do so off and on for the rest of the day (and the day after that, so I didn’t need these after all)

Hey, I may be in my 40’s, and the rain kind of flattened my hair, but a girl still wants to look cute & pretty for her guy at a concert!

More posts about this trip to come!

Lp

Who, me? Apologize?

 (Originally posted on my old blog, July 30, 2010)

Yesterday, my son spent the latter half of the morning playing with his model train set, out in the garage.  It provides a quieter home for the rest of us when he does that.

(I realize that I’ve used this photo before, but he’s wearing the same shirt as he did yesterday and he is playing with the trains!)

So at lunch time, I fixed their chicken burger sandwiches and set the lunch on the table.  I called out to the garage to let the young engineer know that his lunch was ready.  Normally, he’d say, “coming” and be at the table in no time.  Not this time.  No, this time I was told, “I’ll be there in awhile”.  So I said that he needed to come to the table right now, before his lunch is cold (which would bring on complaining if that happened).  So he reluctantly comes in and sits down, and then asks me, “Mom, have you apologized for interrupting what I was doing?”

Uh, no, I make no apologies for refusing to starve my kid!

Lp

My Girl is Home!!!

 (Originally posted on my old blog, July 23, 2010)

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a picture of her getting off of the bus.  By the time I arrived at the church, she was off of the bus and had her luggage and was ready to go home.  She had a touch of sunburn on her face, and she’d had a long week.  She wound up being sick off and on at camp all week.  This was also the first year that she had a cell phone with her, so we were texting back and forth all week.  If the week was rough for her, the one benefit from camp is that she was so glad to come home and see her brother, and us.

Ep

Summer………..So Far……..

 (Originally posted on my old blog, July 22, 2010)

So now that the “protesting season” is over, there have been several other things keeping our summer busy.

So one of the first things that I did, and I was in the mood to do until my muscles needed to recover, was to pull weeds in the flowerbed.  Then I found some perennials (and a few annuals) and a bag of bark, and made a 3 foot section look pretty.  There are many more weeds to pull, and flowers to plant, and I’ll take care of them, a section at a time.

Then, there was a trip to see my grandma and celebrate her 92nd birthday, in the area where I grew up.  Before I left, I went to the site where my grandparents used to have a dairy. and took some pictures.  There used to be another building on this site in front of the white building where the machinery and the cooler were located.    One of the most prominent memories from when I was little was being told to wear shoes (red top/ black rubber boots….year round) and being told to watch out for wet areas or puddles as it could be caustic soda, which was acidic and could burn the skin.  My dad came home a few times with some nasty burns from that stuff.  Yikes!  To describe it would just not please the imagination of the reader!

Then, there is the summer ritual for kids everywhere……camp!  Our church is having camp this month and my girl has been looking forward to this since June.  Thanks to us being busy with the road renaming business, there were many opportunities for her to watch her brother, so she earned most of her money that way, and a donation from her grandparents helped too.  We did all of the summer camp shopping (Do we have enough t-shirts & shorts?  Does she need a new swimsuit? etc).  I bought snacks for her to take with her to give out as “bribes” to the cabin inspectors there.    When the day came for her to leave for camp, I think that I received one hug good bye and she was on the bus, anxious to leave (however, this is our first year of her being at camp with her own phone, and I’ve been getting a lot of text messages from her all week).

So with her being gone all week, we only had one child at home.  What does a younger brother at home do with his time, without his sister at home to play with, or tick him off?

Well there’s time in the garage with model trains………..

Videogame time………

(and a little “Phineas & Ferb” to fill in the rest of the time)

Swinging and burning some energy at the park…

I think that the park made him the happiest.  He was able to run all over.  Then about a half hour after I took this picture, someone was smoking pot nearby and the smell was rather strong.  So we thought that it was time to go before the boy started to say something out loud like “People shouldn’t be smoking!”.

So we then went to the store and restocked our Oreo and chip supply (no, the smell from the park didn’t give us the “Munchies”, we just all have a sweet tooth and like salty food) and took the boy home.

More on our summer, as it progresses……………stay tuned

The Protester’s Follow-up……..and other things……….

 (originally posted on my old blog, July 10, 2010)

A few months ago, I posted a blog about how our governor had decided to change a state highway, after a friend who had donated to his campaign, at the taxpayer’s expense (during a time when he was telling our state lawmakers that we had to cut back on everything else during this recession).   Since then, my husband and the other co-founders of a group to stop it, started gathering signatures to get approval to put an initiative on the November ballot (they had no problem getting the 1,000 signatures for that…….especially if you go to a Tea Party rally on Tax Day).    Then, came a 30 day waiting period while the signatures are verified, and the Attorney general approves the ballot initiative, and then the 10 day period for anyone to complain about it.  When all was said and done, and we were given the green light to collect the 83,000 signatures, we had one day to do it.   We were given the “okay” to collect, one day before the deadline to have them in.    So, Mr. P. (my husband) and the other organizers, really had to be creative with how they could collect so many in such a short time.

So in the time leading up to “the day”, they:
~bought a banner featuring the name of their group and web address, as well as the date of the signature drive.
~spent a few days, holding that banner on the overpass that crossed over the highway in question, waiving & yelling.
~were interviewed on the morning radio program several times.

~because this was a statewide signature drive, and because they did have an online petition option (print it out, sign it and send it in), they rented post office boxes in 5 cities where those closest to them could mail them to us faster.
~also had volunteers (including me) gathering signatures in front of post offices all around town.

After a full day of signature gathering, and making trips to the post office boxes, we only had 1,117 signatures.  So Mr. P and company, took those signatures to the Secretary of State’s office (they couldn’t accept them as there obviously weren’t enough) and then to the Governor’s office with a handwritten note, so that he could see, just how many  people were opposed to this idea.

So, what do we do now?  Well, Mr. P, and his co-organizers are now running for office (two of them are running for State Representative and one is running for State Senator).

It’s interesting, in that we had no idea, when this started, that the road we were fighting for, would lead to this.

How Do You Get a Tall Boy to Practice Self Control?

(Originally posted on my old blog on June 17, 2010)
You bribe, er, motivate him with ice cream!  Kevin started this with Kylin a few months ago, in that if he had 21 days of “Good Reports”, then we would take him to Sonic for the frozen treat of his choice.  The first time that he succeeded was after 21 days of those good reports.  However, that last 7 days were really a struggle for him.  So, we made it a two week deal.

Tonight, he achieved his “Good Report” prize!

So here’s the happy boy.  He’s had dinner, and now he wants to fill up on a Reese’s Sonic Blast! (It took me at least 3 tries to get him to smile like he was happy and not give me one of his goofy faces.  At least he didn’t stick his tongue out this time)

Beulah Land!!

I was very good and had my 4 point ice cream cone (Anyone on Weight Watchers will know what I’m talking about)

He has the prize!!

It’s also pretty cool to be the sister of someone who earns trips for any frozen treat!

So long Sonic!  We’ll be back, to indulge our sweet tooth, another day (hopefully in two more weeks!)

Ep

Two Sisters

 

(Originally posted on my old blog, June 8, 2010)

Today, we had a rare treat.  The kids and I met up with my grandma (the lady on the right) and her sister (the lady on the left), her daughter, their niece and her daughter.  My grandma, Theda, is originally from Texas and her sister, Bessie, still lives there.    These days, they don’t get to see each other very much.   My grandma is in her early 90’s and doesn’t travel as much anymore.  Aunt Bessie is a little younger ( and a few inches taller) and she isn’t traveling as much either.  She flew out to  the state that her daughter lives in, and then her daughter drove her up here to visit.

You know, there are many folks who believe in population control and that having just 2 kids is more than enough (however, if those two kids are of the same gender, then it’s ok to have more until you get the opposite), or if you have reached your 40’s, you should stop.   Now if my great-grandparents had followed that logic, these two sweet and fun ladies wouldn’t be here (and neither would I for that matter).  You see, they are the fifth and seventh out of seven children.   Their parents started off with two children, a son and a daughter, and it was that way for about 10 years.  Then suddenly, they started having children again and within a few years added five more.   I think that there is 21 years between the oldest and the youngest.  Aunt Bessie was 5 when she became an aunt for the first time.    Over the years, all of the children married and had children of their own.  .  The cousins age range from the first to the last grandchild is about 40 years.    Anyway, these days, my grandma and her sister are the two surviving siblings, and they are very special to us.   Bessie starts her journey home tomorrow and I bet they’ll be talking on the phone on Sunday (or Saturday)

(I would type more,  but my computer is being slow and my husband is in bed nearly asleep and it’s getting late..and I “need” to check my Facebook…haha)